Another Year Over

Can it be that another year has come to a close and we’re heading into a new one?  It seems as I get older the years fly by much too quickly for my liking, but there’s nothing to do about it except go with the flow.

The herd and I would like to wish all our friends, human and horses alike, a Happy New Year with many new experiences. Learning more about each other and of course sharing exciting rides and exploring new possibilities.  But I’ll let them all speak for themselves since they do it so well.





New Year's Wisdom

From

“The Herd”

Donnie’s Words to Live By:

 “By showing kindness and gentleness to all you meet you will be rewarded with the same.”

Sami’s Words to Live By:

 “Please help abused and neglected horses when you can; it means so much to us.  And don’t forget to take time to play and have fun every day!”

Blue’s Words to Live By:

" Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference."

Mellon’s Words to Live By:

" There's nothing I'm afraid of like scared people - be fearless!"

Nate’s Words to Live By:

" I see my path, but I don't know where it leads. Not knowing where I'm going is what inspires me to travel it."

Dusty’s Words to Live By:

 “Be the best you can be at what you do and all eyes will be on you!

O’Grady’s Words to Live By:

"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: It goes on."

May you have a healthy Happy New Year, and may all you desire in the coming year become a reality for you.

Until next year!

Quote for Today

Like human beings, horses are all individuals with singular personalities, their own virtues and their own faults. We become bound to them for their beauty, their eccentricities, their heart and the love they so often return to us.
    - Lana Slaton

The Christmas Eve Myth

A myth in folklore, tells us that on Christmas Eve at midnight all horses are gifted with the ability to converse in human speech with each other and with us. I have never been fortunate enough to hear them chatting amongst themselves. Regrettably, this year will be another missed opportunity because of previous commitments; I can only imagine what their conversation would be like.

Sami (our youngest and most curious, childlike horse)
Sami has spotted something in the sky.
“Grady, do you think that light in the sky is Santa Claus and he is coming to give us treats?”

O’Grady (Sami’s best friend. As “older brother,” it is his job to torment Sami.)
“I don’t know Sami, but if it is Santa, I’m not sure you’re getting anything this year. Remember when you broke the fence? Well that was very naughty and Santa knows all about it!”

“Oh no, that was just an accident!  Santa won’t mind about a fence, will he?”

“Sami, Sami, you poor little misguided horse!  You are not getting anything from Santa.  Sure, he is bringing all of us treats and new halters, but we have all been good.  You, on the other hand… there is that fence incident and, of course, when you got loose and ran all over the farm and Mom couldn’t catch you. You’ll be lucky if you get a shriveled up carrot in your stocking!”

Sami is looking out his window and feeling very sad about all this, “but if I promise to be good will Santa bring me something anyway?”

“Well we will just have to wait and see won’t we? But I wouldn’t get my hopes up if I were you…”

Donnie (our kindest and sweetest horse who looks out and cares for every herd member.)
“Don’t worry Sami, I’m sure Santa has something in his bag for you. We all make mistakes and Santa is very forgiving.  I’ll bet he gives you the biggest treat because you are the youngest horse.  You really are a good boy so don’t let Grady tease you and upset you.  Now go to sleep, little guy, and wait until morning and then you can see what Santa left for you. Good night, little buddy.”

Nate (another sweet personality in the barn, who is friendly to everyone and quite a prankster with a twisted sense of humor)
“Now, Donnie don’t go getting Sami’s hopes up.  Grady might be right and Santa won’t leave him anything. Unless he stops being such a little brat during pasture time.  Maybe if he promises to stop annoying all of us with his antics I might be able to put in a good word for him. What do you say Sami, can you promise to be good from now on…humm”?

Mellon (is senior herd member and leader.  Age has not mellowed him much…)
“Will you idiots knock it off! I don’t see anything in the sky.  And, besides, who wants a scary stranger to come into the barn in the middle of the night with a bunch of reindeer and noisy bells everywhere? Not me!  And Nate, don’t you remember when you dragged your blanket into the stall and trashed it?  How do you think Santa will like that?  Stop teasing Sam-…

Wait! I see something.  Is it that light over there?  It’s moving!!!  What if it isn’t Santa at all?  It could be a meteor heading straight for the barn!  Or aliens coming to abduct me and perform strange tests.  Or worse, it could be the vet coming to perform strange tests!!!

Blue (a sort of free spirit who lives in his own world, above all the nonsense.)
“Listen you guys, I’m trying to catch some shut eye over here, so just go to sleep and see what happens in the morning.  If we have new stuff, then we have new stuff; if we don’t, who cares?  Take what the universe sends and be grateful for it. Tomorrow is just another day… life is all an illusion… yawn… nothing really belongs to us… yawn… renounce material… zzzz….”

Dusty (our self-absorbed mare, who has very little tolerance for silly boys.)
Ignoring Blue, she interrupts: “Hellooooo, why is everyone looking out their stupid windows when they could be looking at me?” Stomp!

“Can’t you see my beautiful blonde hair, and big brown eyes,” she says, wrapping a Christmas garland around her neck like a feather boa.  If anybody gets anything, it will be me, because I am the most beautiful. I will get all new brushes and shampoos and blankets and halters and saddle pads. You just wait and see! I have been as good as I need to be and I deserve it all.  You boys are just a bunch of brats who don’t deserve anything!” Stupid boys….

Until next time…

Quote for Today

Horses have as much individuality and character as people.
- C.W. Anderson

Today's Ride

I finally managed to get some saddle time today and it felt good to be on the back of my horse again.  For reasons known only to Dusty today she had a rocket up her butt.  In all fairness, the weather was cold and she hadn’t been ridden in two weeks so I was willing to overlook a little misplaced enthusiasm on her part.  

We started out trying to walk around calmly to warm up but she kept thinking it was a good idea to break into a trot.  After a while we had a discussion and she decided walking wasn’t that hard after all. I know Dusty is a very bright mare so I was surprised to feel that she has forgotten everything she knew about bending and softening in a mere two weeks.  Needless to say we had to take a step back and revisit previous lessons until she remembered how smart she was and how far she has come from where she began.

After her epiphany we did some easy yet challenging work to keep her interested in her lesson.  First, walking over cavelletti in patterns to refine her steering just a tad followed by trotting over the cavelletti in figure eight patterns to keep her bending on a circle.  I should say that we’re not big fans of drilling a lesson; usually we don’t do it more than three times before we quit, whether she got it perfect or not.  My feeling is, as long as she is willing to go forward and try to do what I ask, we can refine the exercise at a later date.  Dusty considers cavelletti work great fun and so I’ve decided to include it as a training tool  regularly.

We ended on a good note by regulating her pace to a medium trot, bending and softening.  Today I used the turning seat. In order to do this I simply sat up correctly, weighted my inside seat bone slightly, looked to the center of the circle, positioned  my inside shoulder slightly behind my outside shoulder and followed her mouth with a light connection.  Dusty really picks up on things quickly and it  worked like a charm. 

It always astonishes me how the slightest little movement on my part can influence her movement.  This is why I don’t believe in any sort of harsh treatment of horses in their training.  I feel it’s simply not necessary to  overdo the aids to get what you want. This, of course, is just an opinion that I have come to over the years.  With proper training and a little understanding on the parts of both horse and rider, there really is nothing that cannot be accomplished.  I'm of the opinion that we make training  much harder than it has to be.  Simple, direct and kind aids are very understandable and amenable to the personality of most horses. 

Until next time

Quote for Today
Correction does much for the horse, but encouragement does more.

Busy Days

" Maggie"

It’s been a while since I’ve posted.  All the usual scenarios that go along with the holiday season have made the days around here busy.  I’ve been decorating the house, shopping and wrapping presents for Christmas.  There have been a few unexpected problems to contend with, also.

My seven year old Australian Shepherd, Maggie, had to have surgery to remove some fatty tumors and cysts.  Trust me when I say these were huge; the one by her back end was actually visible when she walked away from you.  I’m happy to report that she now feels like a new woman (for a while there it looked like she might be a boy, if you get my drift.)

Last week we had another unexpected accident.  My daughter’s eighteen-year-old Aussie, Molly, was run over by our horse vet. I’m happy to report that Molly seems to be doing well, all things considered, and we’re optimistic she will recover fully from her many painful injuries.

One good note to be thankful for in all the goings on around here would be that our farrier trimmed and shod Dusty and her front foot is doing really well. There’s almost no more bruising left and he’s confident that when all is healed it might be hard to even spot a minimum of rotation to her coffin bone.  So I was relieved to hear that.

I haven’t had a chance to ride for a while because of the many trips to various vets and holiday duties.  Dusty doesn’t seem to mind at all.  In fact, she’s taken to ignoring me again.  Apparently, not only is she deaf to my calling her, she’s also gone blind and can’t see me at the fence trying to get her attention.  She’s decided she’s a wild horse and some nights even refuses to come to the gate.  There have been a few times I’ve had to track her down to bring her in (or give up and leave her out.  She has this special walk where she doesn’t run away, but walks just fast enough that you can’t catch her, making you look foolish for trying.

Other times I’m convinced she’s persuaded the whole herd into staying out all night in the back pasture to keep her company.  That’s way too far to even consider herding them in, so they’re on their own under those circumstances; we shut the barn down after 8 p.m.  My thoughts are: if you can’t make it in before closing time to a nice clean, warm, hay-filled stall with full grain buckets, then that’s your choice.  Sometimes a little touch of tough love needs to be administered for their own good.  It seemed to work because, after spending two nights out on their own, they were jostling each other at the gate to get in the next night, looking exhausted but none the worse for wear.

That’s about it for an update from the farm.  I’m hoping to get a chance to ride this weekend if all goes according to plan.  Then again, with the way things have been going, maybe it’s better not to try and plan anything and just see what happens.

Until next time

Quote for Today

I whisper to my horse, but she never listens!