Pasture Envy

I have a confession, of sorts, I've discovered I suffer from pasture envy. As I pass by homes with big country yards and lush thick grass I think: "what a waste of space, that would be such great pasture for my horses. If it were mine I'd put up fence and have lots of pasture for my horses. Why do they waste time mowing?"

Then there are the farms with, what seems to me, acres and acres of fenced grass fields. I find myself wistful that my two horses would love that much pasture field and the hours of grass grazing.

My two Spotted Saddle Horses came from a farm where they had probably a hundred acres to roam grassy hillsides. I remember the farm had so much grass I questioned moving the horses to our two small pastures. Granted we have over sixty acres of land, but approximately fifty of it is forested hills and valleys with creeks separating the hills. This area has been called The Foothills to the Smokys. Don't get me wrong, I do love the forests and it makes for great walking/riding trails as we carve them. I've regretted that my horses don't have more grazing area and that I took them away from some awesome pastures. I have no idea how they feel about it but I suspect if they could voice opinions, they'd prefer the awesome pastures.

My older horse was six when I bought him. He was used to roaming a big space and eating all the grass he could in a day. His body showed it. But my younger guy was two and I wonder if he even remembers the lush pastures he came from, I'm thinking, not so much. 

Over the past seven years we've worked at various rotations of the smaller fenced acres, which amounts to about ten acres. We use a portable electric fence in the front yard area of our house during the summer months, for a couple hours of evening grazing. It's more like a field anyway and I'm not a person who gives much credence to what my yard/field looks like out here in the country. God made grass for grazing animals, not so we would have to mow it. 

If I were to actually design, or buy another place, with my horses in mind, I wouldn't build it in a valley, between hills. I also would make sure there was not a tree line near my fence line. Seems we sporadically have to fix broken fence areas due to falling branches or entire trees. With a heavy sigh, I've decided, we'll deal with it all as it is and I'm going to quit complaining about it. I don't foresee us moving any time soon. The place is paid off so unless we were to sell it as a small horse farm and move to Kentucky,I love Kentucky,it is what it is. My youngest son lives in Maysville and when we go down that way to visit, I admire the green rolling pasture land, and feel that pasture envy creeping up on me. 

Hubby and I continue to work it out, for the horses, here on our little plot of the planet as best we can. Eventually, we'll have all the trees out of the back field and more grass will grow there. Realistically, because of the ground composition, we'll never see lush green pastureland back here. When I've brought this subject up to my vet a couple of times, about my lack of good pasture grass, he looked at my guys and said "You're probably better off with less pasture. You don't have to worry about founder and these guys look like really easy keepers."  So, evidently, it's not really as bad as I keep thinking. However, I'll probably continue to have pasture envy. The grass is always greener at the other farm.

TMI

I am all about the phrase "Knowledge is Power!". I used it a lot when I was a librarian. I had a t-shirt with the slogan on the back. However, in my horse-life I've decided, Too Much Information, aka TMI, can be confusing and unproductive especially when it comes to figuring out what you want, or need, to do with your horse. Kind of sounds contradictory, I realize, but the past six years, I've been through tons of information and lately, I've decided I need to glean what is useful to me and my horses. Yeah, took me that long to figure it out for myself.

There comes a point where TMI can hurt your progress more than it helps. There comes a point when TMI leads to confusion. Most of the time this is in the areas of training techniques, clinicians and horse health, to name the most common concerns.

Back in 2004 I left a librarian/branch manager position at our local branch library. Too stressful. Imagine that! A library.Turned out I'm not a public oriented type. If you ever get a chance to talk to a librarian, I'm sure you'll hear similar stories. My son is working for a community college library. I have to laugh at his tales. They are similar to my experiences. Anyway, after I left that job, I decided I was going to take the time I had to make my dream come true, the one I'd had since I was a child, horses. My husband was all for it, our sons were grown, and we were in a position where one income would work for us. 

We prepared the property. Learned the best fencing to put in, built a run-in type shed area, and all the other amenities needed to make a couple of horses comfortable. I took riding lessons which led to a part time job at a summer camp helping with their riding program. There I was, a 45 year old woman working with teenagers, but it was probably one of the best summers I ever spent! I learned so much about horse behavior that year. I was happy to have the opportunity. After the summer, the stable needed another assistant so I stayed on. It was a hands-on opportunity to learn more about horses and riding. 

That fall I bought my two horses, brought them home and worried I wasn't doing things right for about the next 5 years. I watched clinicians. Ordered books. Watched videos. Observed one clinician (on RFDtv or video) I really liked for a couple of months then switched to another which ended up being a pattern. Finally, about a year ago I had an epiphany. I needed to find what exactly worked for me and stick to it. Not necessarily one clinician although that's a help if you can be particularly loyal, but your own consistent techniques. Since I decided I wasn't doing a cookie cutter type of training I've been more relaxed and my horses are responding in kind.

What am I getting at here? Well, you need to have all the knowledge you can acquire to pursue any goal in life. But in the getting there, don't get caught up in the right or wrong of who or what. Some people will flourish following the exact techniques of a clinician. Others will find that too restricted and will discover their own talents in following their horse's particular character and talents. We are in an age where we are extremely fortunate to have tons of information available to us. Don't allow TMI to cloud your goals. Knowledge is POWER but TMI can overwhelm.

Enjoy the journey!

MUD!!!!!

Need I say more?
Bo & Spirit

Mud, mud, EVERYWHERE! The back field is my sacrifice field where the boys stay December through April.

Don't get me wrong, on one hand I'm happy to have the April showers. The rain means my measely grass pasture will surely green up by May 1, when I allow my guys to get into into it for a few hours a day.

However, I had just gotten back into working with my guys again after the long winter break. We were doing pretty good too. Spirit is so eager this year makes me look forward to working with him! Bo, well, as usual, he just needs saddled and ridden.

I don't have an inside or covered arena. We're completely o'natu-ral, meaning barefoot horses, run-in stall/shed area, 24/7 outside horses, and we try to do the best we can with what we've built. When Hubby and I designed our little farm area, we thought we had things pretty well covered. Some things you just never see coming................at the time neither of us saw the disadvantage of putting the corral area at the base of a hill. Live and learn!

Green pasture grass ready for grazing by May 1.

At my next farm I'll remember to have a 60x120 barn with indoor riding arena, stalls AND acres upon acres of lush green pasture grass. Probably have to be in my next life though.......so, I deal with this muddy crap every cotton pickn' spring and fall.

Good news, we're looking at sunny skies and warm temps Thursday through Saturday! Just enough to probably get dried out enough to get muddied up again when the rain comes through next week. I need to quit watching the Weather Channel!

Ohio Equine Affaire

I hadn't planned on attending Equine Affaire in Columbus, Ohio, this year. I've attended the event for the past four years, ever since I found out about it. This year there were other things going on around me and it just didn't seem that important to attend. Lo and behold, a friend called me Saturday to say she was going up to EA on Sunday and asked if I wanted to ride along. Opportunity knocked, so I answered.


We went to the Extreme Cowboy Race final at 9:30am. I didn't really think I'd be impressed with the event but it ended up being an enjoyable couple of hours. Watching both pro and amateur riders compete through the course in Cooper Arena was really more thrilling than I expected it to be. I had expected to be bored to tears. I'm glad I was wrong.


The winner of the event was a 57 year old female, non-pro, rider on a grade horse. Now, how much more thrilling can you get! Sally and her horse, Ghost, were up against some pro horses and riders as well as other amatures like herself, though most of the females were 30 years younger than Sally.


I tend to observe the horse more than the riders in these events. I watch their faces, their responses to their riders. Sally and Ghost were definitely partners. Ghost listened and waited for direction and responded. They were tuned in to each other more so than any of the other horse and rider teams I observed.


Probably the most crowd pleasing competitor was 65 year old Larry on his Spotted Saddle Horse. Though definitely not the fastest, his persistence at completing the course got the crowd on it's feet by the end of his run.


Second place went to a gorgeous dark chestnut QH stallion who was all muscle and definitely well trained. I believe they said he was a working cow horse from Michigan.The only problem in the tie breaker actually came from his rider who forgot the pattern to one of the obstacles, otherwise, he probably would have won the tie breaker event.

After ECR we went to Julie Goodnight's clinic on lead changes. Now, I have to admit, I am lost when it comes to lead changes. I've never had training in that area of riding and didn't really understand it. Julie did a great job at explaining the why and how of lead changes, so much so, that someone like me actually understood what she was talking about. Now I wish I was attending Julie's clinic in North Jackson, Ohio, in May. My friend applied early and will be one of the 15 riders in the clinic.


After Julie's clinic we did the shopping thing around the two vendor buildings. As I expected, there seemed to be fewer vendors this year. Enjoyed looking but didn't by a single thing not even a t-shirt!


We then went to the last clinic of the day with Craig Cameron. I was very tired by now, it was 3:30pm we'd gotten there at 9am and left for the event at 7:15am that morning. Craig was tired too, his voice just about gone. His clinic dealt with establishing communication with a horse that is spooky and maybe not well trained. Craig can be entertaining and he does like to talk! Sometimes though, I feel I get lost during his explanations.

At any rate, I do appreciate the fact that for $19.99 ($5 parking fee and $14.99 entrance fee) you can take in horse breeds of all kinds and clinics on various topics for a whole day. It's a bargain and an enjoyable experience. We're fortunate to have an Equine Affaire located in the middle of our state each year. An opportunity not often seen in these parts!

A little more about me and my horse life....

Over at http://greyhorsematters.blogspot.com I found this interesting little survey/questionnaire. I'm one of those people who often likes to answer these kinds of things. I believe they can tell a great deal about someone in short and sometimes long answers. Depends on the question. At any rate, I think GHM had a good idea about adding to the blogs and passing along. So, here are my responses!

1. How old were you when you first started riding? This is one of those longer answers ... I didn't really have the opportunity to ride daily until I started working at a summer camp for girls in '04 at the age of forty-three. I spent that summer helping girls learn beginning riding/horsemanship skills. I had been taking beginner riding lessons from the camp manager. She ended up being short staffed at the camp that summer. I wasn't employed. She took a chance and hired me for the summer. Before that time I had only sporadically ridden. I really didn't know what I was doing when I was "riding", mostly on a few head-tail trail rides at parks and the pony rides at the state fair when I was a kid. One time, when I was about 13, I did hop on the back of a neighbor's horse while she was standing beside the fence in an open field. "Bonnie" took about 10 steps and I jumped off!

2. First horse ridden: I suppose I'll give that credit to Koko and Sheik. Koko was a 30+ year old Standardbred school horse at the facility where I was taking lessons. Not knowing my riding level at that time, which was zilch, that's who my instructor put me on. Sheik was the 20+ year old Arabian step-up horse I started riding at the end of my six week lessons that spring of '04.

3 First horse trotted on: Koko

4. First horse cantered on: Koko

5. First Horse fallen off of: I started working at the year around riding facility after summer camp ended. There were 3 of us as staff,plus the manager and grounds keeper. Kleo, a big (17h), nasty tempered sorrel QH mare who I did not like at all was the first horse I was really dumped off of . Kleo could be a great trail horse but her stall and arena manners were often not pleasant. She bucked me off in an outside arena. I'm pretty sure some of it was my fault. I wasn't balanced and she caught me off guard. I liked riding her out on the trails, but not in the arena. I'll give her credit, as soon as I hit the ground, she simply trotted around, faced me and had the look of "What are you doing down there?" It was the first time I was afraid of falling off or getting bucked off. The manager had left the ranch that day, supposedly for a few hours. I was the only one there. My thoughts as I lay on the ground for a few minutes, checking to see if I still had a hip that worked; "OK, good thing I didn't break a hip. What if no one came back for a while and I couldn't have moved, what could I have done?" Fortunately, my hip was only bruised, but uncomfortable for a very long time. From that time on I petitioned the manager to ALWAYS make sure someone was around when the staff was riding. As far as I'm aware, she never made that a rule, which saddened me. I would no longer ride there alone and it's one of the reasons I decided to leave the job I'd really loved.

6. Most recent horse fallen off of: My saddle slipped on my rather plump Bo as we were trotting down a small hill. Embarrassing, but Hubby was the only one to witness it. I immediately jumped up, arms up over my head waving like those gymnasts I've seen on TV to let him know I was OK.

7. Most terrifying fall: The one on Kleo

8. First horse jumped with: Ginger. She was also one of the school horses, and my favorite. Ginger loved jumping over V-shaped creek beds on the hill sides during our trail rides, but I had to train her not to jump over them because she was a school horse. Once in a while, I'd let her jump, but most of the time I had to slow her down and make her walk over the the creek beds, and the logs, on the trails.

9. First horse who ran away with you: Fortunately, haven't had that happen yet, but if it does happen I'm thinking it'll be my Spirit. Guess I should erase those thoughts so he doesn't get them!

10. First horse that scared the crap out of you: Kleo. Boy, if anyone could scare the crap out of you it was Kleo! One day, before one of our weekend programs I opened her stall door. She'd been eating at her grain feeder. She looked at me then walked to the back of the stall, with her right side facing me, so I didn't really detect any problems. I had her halter in my hand. Kleo is a BIG horse. She snaked that long neck and head with ears flat, teeth bared and I slowly backed out of the stall. I hadn't had a horse do that to me before of all the horses at the ranch and all the camp horses I'd worked with the previous summer. She'd never done that to me before, but I'd heard she'd done it to some of the girls in the past. Well, just so happens, I wasn't in a pleasant mood that morning either. Maybe Kleo picked up on that. I walked over to the staff member who I knew liked Kleo and got along with her, handed her the halter and said, "Here, you deal with Kleo this morning."

11. First horse shown : Never shown and really have no desire to be in shows. I loved going to shows, as a spectator, when I was a kid. Shows were the closest I could get to seeing horses.

12. First horse to win a class with: I think it would be thrilling to win a class and if I were to show, it would be in something like a trail class.

13. Do you/have you taken lessons: I took beginner lessons. I'm sure I could use more. I have lots of gaps in my riding instruction but still manage to enjoy my guys whether I ride or not. I'm always open to advice from my horse riding friends.

14. First horse you ever rode bareback: Koko, the aged Standardbred I took my first lessons on. My instructor wanted me to feel the horse movement and it was a great experience even if Koko was very senior horse. Koko loved doing lessons.

15. First horse trail ridden with: A horse named Abby. I'll never forget her! A strawberry Appaloosa. Abby was one of the summer camp horses that we weren't able to use in the classes because she was having "issues" for the beginning riders. One afternoon the manager told us since we didn't have any classes we were going to take the "issue" horses out on the trail. I let all the "kids" (the other staff members were all 18-21 years old at the camp!) choose their horses and figured I'd just manage what was left. I soon learned why no one chose Abby. The my first long trail ride ended up worst ride of my life and still holds that memory! To this day I don't know how I managed to stay on her over those trails! Abby was barn sour. She jigged all over the place. She was scared of everything. I'm pretty sure it was my sheer will to not be outdone by any of the youngsters that kept me on Abby over all the hills, rocks, trees, and creeks we traveled that afternoon. My neck and shoulders ached for days! We never were able to use Abby for riding that summer. She had dental problems and trouble keeping weight on so she pretty much ended up enjoying a summer of pasture grazing before going back to her home farm. All the summer camp horses were leased from a place somewhere in Illinois. They arrived at the camp in late May and returned to their farm in Mid-August.

16. Current Barn name: When I worked at the summer camp we all had to have nicknames, a tradition this camp had used since it's inception. When asked what name I wanted to use, at first I balked. I don't like nicknames. I then blurted out "Grace" because I felt pressured. I'd been given that nickname in college one year but it was always in reference to my not being very graceful.

17. Do you ride English or western?: Western

18. First Horse to place at a show with: Maybe I'll have grand kids who want to show one day???

19. Ever been to horse camp?: Worked for one summer at a horse camp in 2004.

20. Ever been to a riding clinic? Clinton Anderson, Ryan Gingerich, Julie Goodnight, but all of these were the shorter, abbreviated clinics at the Equine Affaire in Columbus, OH.

21. Ridden sidesaddle? Nope, and have no desire.

22. First horse leased: Never quite understood this concept, but I suppose it's a good idea if you're into showing or don't really want to own??? I'm from a small, rural area and I'm not even sure if people lease around here. They probably do I just don't travel in those circles.

23. Last Horse Leased:

24. Highest ribbon in a show:

25. Ever been to an 'A' rated show?: I wouldn't know an A from any other show.

26. Ever competed in pony games/relay races?: We used to hold relay games during the programs we hosted at camp and at the year-around riding facility. The girls really enjoyed those games and the horses seemed to enjoy them as well.

27. Ever fallen off at a show: I can see it happening to me. That's one of my problems, balance.

28. Do you ride Hunter/Jumpers?: No, but enjoy seeing them perform.

29. Have you ever barrel raced? No,but it sure looks like a blast. I always wonder about the wear and tear on the horses though.

30. Ever done pole bending?: We used pole bending at a walk and trot during our programs. Really helped the girls with their control.

31. Favorite gait: I really just enjoy walking my horses on the trail to enjoy everything around me. Maybe pick up on an up hill or a flat, but for the most part, when I trail ride, I want it to be like a nice leisure stroll and take in all the sights and sounds while I'm out there. No rushing!

32. Ever cantered bareback?: Nope

33. Have you ever done dressage?: No. I don't know that I'd be that patient.

34. Have you ever evented?: No.

35. Have you ever mucked a stall?: Daily

36. Ever been bucked off?: Yep. Good old Kleo. Oh, and there was the little black pony Gloria. Well, she didn't buck me off, but she would often buck when asked for a trot. We discovered her saddle was bothering her. She didn't like heavier riders on her, even the girls. We finally checked out her saddle and found the tree was broken. We fitted her with a different saddle and she quit bucking when asked for a trot.

37. Ever been on a horse that reared: A couple, but not real big rears, wasn't so scary. More like small jump ups.

38. Horses or ponies. Horses, but I've been around a few ponies with great personalities, some not so great. We had Dani at the ranch. She had her lovely pleasant days and her grumpy mare days. Dani was probably a cross between an Icelandic and I don't know what. She was a gorgeous bay with an extra full black mane and tail. The manager called Dani a Halflinger for a long time until I pointed out she looked more Icelandic than Halflinger. She could have been a cross. Speckles looked like a POA (Pony of the Americas). He had the characteristics of a miniature brown, white spots on rump, Appaloosa. He had a fun personality. He could open up the gates like a pro! Which, naturally, made things a little more time consuming for us human caretakers around the place when it came to making sure gates were securely closed and chained. He was a great little trail pony!

39. Do you wear a helmet?: YES!!! I wish I could convince Hubby to do the same. What is it with men????

40. What's the highest you've jumped: Not very, probably only about 4-6ft over a V-Shaped creek bed or a 2ft-4ft high log on the trail.

41. Have you ever ridden at night?: Not yet.

42. Do you watch horsey television shows?: Of course!!

43. Have you ever been seriously hurt/injured from a fall?: Thankfully, no.

44. Most falls in one lesson: Didn't fall during my lessons but then I didn't do much that would have caused a fall, except maybe just getting on at first.

45. Do you ride in an arena/ring?: I don't have an arena, but I do have a round pen out in my field. I use it to start out on my horses, especially this time of year when they've had so much down time. I use it so I can keep them separated when I'm working with them.

46. Have you ever been trampled by a horse?: Thank goodness, no.

47. Have you ever been bitten?: Yep. Speckles.

48. Ever had your foot stepped on by a horse?: Speckles and Spirit. My Spirit used to be kind of gangly when I first got him. He was just a 2 yo. He has since been doing much better at where he's going. Speckles, I often wonder if that was just one of his "tricks" because I wasn't the only one who got their foot stepped on by him.

49: Favorite riding moment: Any time I took a trail ride when I used to work at the ranch. Beautiful landscapes. My friend and I would take a couple of hours and take our pick of horses and then just pick a trail for the day. We were "training". What better kind of job could you ask for?

50. Most fun horse you've ridden: Probably Ginger, from ranch where I worked those 2 years. She and I bonded. She was a good all around horse. I hope she still is! I haven't been back over there since I left. Couldn't bear to see all the "guys" I'd helped care for and work with during the time I was there.


Thanks GHM for getting me to think about some fond memories! And, some other things I need to get busy on!

January-wandering thoughts on a winter day

January always seems to be the longest month of the year to me. Even here in Southern Ohio, January is cold, dreary, gray and my mood is always, well, pretty much along those lines too.

We had a cold snap and a decent snow the first couple of weeks of December. We've been getting a reprieve the past couple of weeks, for which I am thankful. But, just like clockwork, the cold, snow and bad weather will return, by my estimation, around the middle of January. That's our usual time for the really snow and ice stuff.


I noticed my hay supply is about half now. I get kind of edgy when my hay supply gets low. When it comes down to it, I probably feed too much hay to my two geldings, but I figure since they can't graze, due to no grass, they need the hay. Well, now since my hay supply seems to be visibly less than I like at this time of year, I have returned to feeding them alfalfa-timothy hay cubes in their afternoon feed, softened with warm water.


Do we baby our horses too much? Over at Mugwump Chronicles she had a really interesting post about how our relationship with our horses has changed over the past few decades. She made some excellent points. I find myself looking at horses much the way she describes.

I'm sure my grandpa, one of those "old style" horse trainers, would probably think I'm soft on my guys. Grandpa was not of the Natural Horsemanship school of thought, considering he did his training back in the early 1920's in Northern Ohio. I never got the opportunity to talk to Grandpa about his horse training days and possibly, I wouldn't agree with his techniques. The stories I get are from my mom and most of those stories are second hand. By the time Mom came along, in 1934, Grandpa had given up the horse training to work at a factory and support his family. However, my dad told me he once ran into a fella who'd actually heard of my grandpa's horse training days and told my dad Ollie was a pretty good horse trainer, trained some good harness horses. Well, I guess I'll never know exactly. One thing I'm sure of, he was probably not gentle in his gentling or his training. They just weren't like that back in those days.


For the most part, I think we do things better nowadays and I, for one, am glad we are more knowledgeable of horse behavior, or at least have the resources to learn. I'm appreciative that I can look up information, read about different techniques and decide for myself what works for me and my horses. Though, I also realize, learning from an experienced horseman/woman would be ideal, sometimes it's just not in the cards.

When I got into my horses, going on 5 years now, I started out being enthralled with Clinton Anderson's work. Later, I observed various other trainers and clinicians. At one point, became very confused with all the different techniques. Finally figured out, horse training, at the consumer level, is like everything else, you find what's right for you. Last summer I decided to take the different techniques and come up with what works for me and my guys.

January will roll on slowly, I'm sure, so it's time to slow down, read some good fiction books, think a little about what I want from my horses this coming season, and just relax. That's how I should take January.................but we all know best laid plans....

The Tarp Lesson

No matter what trainers and clinicians say, in my opinion, you can never completely desensityze your horses to everything they could possibly encounter. It just ain't gonna happen. I think sometimes, the illusion is there that desensityzing takes care of all the spooky objects and sounds that can be encountered. In the real world, there are too many variables.

I have worked on the desensityzing issue with my two geldings ever since I got them four years ago. They've been through the plastic bag lesson. They've had whips smacked beside them. They've been introduced to leaf blowers, motorcycles, gunshots, lawnmowers, tractors, jumping up and down at them and they always come through those "lessons" with flying colors.

Yesterday, I walked around the side of the barn, while they were standing in their stall/corral area, dragging a large tarp I was putting away for the season. You would have thought I was a mountain lion aiming to pounce on them. Good grief!

The funny part, I thought, was that I had been very noisy as I walked, dragging the big green tarp, which was the noisy part, because I knew they were there. They had seen me come outside. They knew I was in the hay building because they can peek around the other side of their enclosure. I'm pretty sure they would have assumed I was getting them some hay.

At any rate, I thought it would be a good lesson for them. I also thought that the sight of me having possession of the tarp would have made a difference in their flight response. Heck no! They both jumped! Spirit ready to fly out of there but then turned, and snorted as I walked up to the gate with tarp in hand. Bo, the ever lazy and not so skittish one, stood in his spot and snorted. So, I took about 15 minutes to let them see the giant green monster was not going to eat me or them.

Finally, after about 10 minutes, they both put their noses on the monster, sniffed around it, nuzzled it and all was right in their world again. This was not the first time they'd seen a tarp, they'd just never seen or heard one like this, I'm guessing. In the past, I had laid a tarp on the ground and had them walking over it. Different situation this time.

Desensityzing to common noises and various spooky objects is great but you have to remember, once again, the whole sensitivity issue comes down to horse personality. You can never cover everything, and some things just come up without warning. Be aware of how your horse reacts, if he's sensitive or has more of a "so what" attitude. Between my two guys, Bo is a laid back, lazy boy. Not much startles him and he is often slow to respond if it does. Spirit, on the other end of the spectrum, has always been more sensitive to sounds and environment. I am aware of their differences.

Loggers have been taking down trees up in the hills across the road from our property. Yesterday was especially noisy. Between the trees booming with thunderous thuds as they hit the ground and the numerous chain saws blaring all day, the horses were a little edgy anyway. They heard all the commotion, but didn't know exactly where it was coming from because the loggers were up on a ridge. Sound echos and travels down here in the valley so most of the sounds were amplified all day long. I think some of that had an affect on why they were so jumpy when I appeared with the noisy tarp. I'm going to drag that tarp out again today, see how they act towards it.

Desensityzing is something that does need to be done, but you have to remember, it can only be accomplished within reason. You have to account for your horse's personality type.

If you're out on a trail, you have to remember how your horse reacts to external stimuli. What he sees or hears one way, one day, he may see or hear in a completely different way the next time, depends on his personal experiences and his personality.

Sometimes, these issues can be very frustrating but keep in mind, horses are animals, and they have a different way of looking at the world. In their minds, they're life depends on their reactions. If it's something they don't know, or haven't experienced, it may kill them. Of course, when you think about it, not much different than as humans, our choices can make or break us every day too, we just have the capacity for reasoning the outcome. We know about the environment. It's out job to translate for them sometimes.

Great book that I'm going to re-read this winter, Animals in Translation by Temple Grandin and Catherine Johnson. I read it a few years back before I'd had much real life experience with horses. I think I'll get more out of it this time around. Some of the ideas discussed in the book: language is not a requirement for consciousness, animals do have consciousness; the single worst thing you can do to an animal is make it feel afraid, and animals have their own set of skills and animal genius. I've noticed this book is often recommended reading for animal behavior interests.

Horses will surprise you, somewhere, some time, down the road. The better you try to understand them, as individuals, the better off you'll be when coping with the surprises thrown your way.

First time horse owner four years later

It's been four years since I brought my two boys home. Two black/white Spotted Saddle Horses. The date was October 24, 2004. Like any proud new mom, I have all the dates written down. I've documented everything from deworming to hoof trimming, vaccinations, change in feed, hay types, where we bought hay, you name it, I've got it written down in their little blue book. This is something I am prone to doing anyway so it wasn't anything new for me to do. Although, I have to admit, I keep better track of the horses than I have our dogs and cats, possibly even my sons when they were little.

The road to getting my guys home is not the road you read about, maybe that should be phrased as map. Not the way it's suppose to be done. I did practically everything WRONG, as far as purchasing my two geldings. I saw them once. I rode only one, the other one was a green 2 year old. I didn't get a vet check. I bought the first horses I went to see. I found them on the internet, maybe not wrong, but from what I've now learned, you need to buy horses like you buy cars. Check out more than one. Oh wait, that's how we've always bought our cars too! We've never looked at more than one car before buying because we always knew what we wanted before we started looking. We've had some darn good cars and trucks too!

I had decided a long time ago that if I ever had horses of my own, they would have to be on my own property, otherwise, I would not have felt it was worth it. I was moving these two guys from lush pastures of many acres to a small, valley farm with about 10 acres of pasture that has trouble keeping grass sustained. Definitely wouldn't be lush grass for them all year around.


We've owned 62 acres for 18 years. Plenty of room for horses, at least on the flat areas. We're blessed and cursed with mini-Smoky Mountain type hills and forests. Blessed, because the area is gorgeous in many obvious ways. Cursed, because of the rock and not so good soil, at least back here in the valley.

The years before my horses were filled with me working shift work, growing sons, soccer games, school functions, and things of that nature. There really wasn't time for horses. Every spring I could count on that longing though, I always referred to it as my Spring Horse Fever. I'd pull out horse books, read about horses for a few weeks, get all horse mushy, and long for the time I could have my own. But, I knew, the time wasn't right so I'd just close up my thoughts and continue on with the part of my life at that moment. I knew, one day, horses would happen for me.

So here we are, four years later. My geldings are now 6 and 10. They are thriving. They love attention. We've managed and we didn't even follow all the rules. I have very few real problems with them most come in the form of riding or not riding as the case is currently, which is my issue, not theirs. I've adjusted my thinking on alot of things, like most new moms I've learned to relax and not take things quite so seriously, except for that darn record keeping. These guys are something that have fulfilled me, as I knew they would. My Spring Horse Fever is gone.

Horses & Mud

Not having lived my life around horses until recently, there have been quite a few things I've learned in the past 4 years about them and their behaviors. The one little item I never realized about horses is that they LOVE to roll in the mud. Honestly, I never knew this! Makes me laugh now. It's really a very simple concept. New rain produces muddy field. Target for horses to go for it!

This morning when I went out to feed, my guys were a little wet when they came in to eat their morning grain. I sort of expected them to already be muddy and was a little surprised they hadn't been at it yet. We've been dry around here for the past month. It's been getting dusty dry. Grass is near nothing. We definitely needed the rain but I was enjoying not having to deal with mud yet.

Fed them their grain, gave them their hay for the morning and then I left to go get some groceries. I was gone for a couple of hours. When I got back, my two boys were waiting at the gate, and yes, covered from ears to hooves in mud! They actually seemed proud of themselves and seemed to be showing me what they'd been into while I was gone.

My illusion of most horses had come from seeing them in shows I'd attended as a spectator or some other event where the horses were always cleaned up and pristine. The thought never once crossed my mind that horses would enjoy mud. Shows how much I didn't know!

We had one little black pony mare, Gloria, at the ranch where I worked. She would always, and I mean ALWAYS, run into the field after we'd bathed her, and roll in the mud or dirt. None of the other horses did it right in front of us, just Gloria. Yeah, we finally figured out that when we bathed her, she needed to go back into the stall for a while and not out to the field right away. It's just so comical when I think about it now.

Then there was big Kleo. She was a 17 h sorrel QH, with a nasty personality but that's for another time, who would literally come in from a rainy night covered in mud. My guys this morning reminded me of Kleo, but even they hadn't gotten anywhere close to being as mud caked as what I remember Kleo. Kleo would have mud caked and baked into(so it seemed) her coat. She had to have rolled with all her weight more than a few times. I hated cleaning Kleo up after one of these episodes, which seemed to be constantly during the rainy fall and spring seasons and just before weekend programs, of course.

Then there was Dusty, who did not like to get muddy. Imagine that! She was always the cleanest horse in the barn. Evidently she didn't care to roll in the mud. We were never quite sure what breeds Dusty was crossed with, but she was a big bodied, almost draft-like mare with the fullest main and tail I'd ever seen. Dusty seemed to pride herself in her cleanliness. She was our little princess as well as our drama queen. But, of all the horses, I don't ever recall seeing her having her way with the mud in the fields or coming into the barn with much more than a small splatter of mud on her coat.

I guess I'm just lucky to have a couple of mud dogs for horses. They do like to roll and get covered in the stuff. Maybe they have a plan in their heads. Maybe they just get covered in mud because they know I'll eventually come out and clean them up when it quits raining. Which works right into their plan of running out and rolling in the mud, again, when I walk back into the house!

Hay For Sale!

After last year's drought in our area, "Hay for Sale" signs are abundant again. I'm sure thankful to see "Hay for Sale" signs again.

Last year was tough. I only have two horses to feed through the winter. I can only imagine how the hay situation went for people who had more horses, if they hadn't gotten their hay by the end of August.

We managed. We ended up driving to another county to buy more expensive hay because I couldn't find anyone around the area who had square bales to sell last year. If they did, they were keeping it back or they had round bales. I don't buy round bales for a couple of reasons. One, we're not set up to deal with round bales. Two, most round bales are not horse worthy if the farmer is baling for cows. Most of the round balers in Southern Ohio are baling for cows.

I bought a round bale once. Live and learn. Hubby talked me into it. I was slightly desperate for hay at the end of March a couple of years back. It was ok, but we knew the guy who sold it to us and he had his round bales stored in a barn. He had some horses and cows. The giant round bale was a pain for us to deal with but got me through to new grass and new season of hay.

I can't blame a farmer for keeping hay back. I just wish I could get this hay thing figured out for myself! Every year since I bought my horses, hay has been one of our biggest issues. With all the research I've done, and all the first-hand experience working at the stable, I never once thought hay would turn into a major issue for me, but it does, every cotton pickin' year!

We have limited storage area right now. I have figured I can get by with 100 square bales, but I'd like to have more. Unfortunately, the current storage area we have will hold a solid 100. Usually by February, I'm needing hay again.

I don't have year around grazing areas although we keep trying to achieve that. Just hasn't worked out yet. We still need to take down a hill full of trees in the back field before we can re-seed with grass. Life often has a mind of its own sometimes! Priorities get re-prioritized. Even though I have it on the top of my list for this year, the expected, unexpected wedding of #1 son sort of took the wind out of our financial sails for a few months. That's ok, we're flexible. Still leaves the issue, I will need more hay this year!

I would really love to have one supplier. However, I haven't been able to find that one perfect hay farmer. Hubby has had a guy set up for the past 3 years but something always seems to come up. I'm not saying the guy is lying, I'm sure he's not. He has his own family invested farm with cows and horses. One year his bales were torched. Last year during the drought when everyone was scrounging around for hay, he had over 100 bales stolen. This year it was first cut hay that got all muddy so they round baled all of it. I'm at the point I just say "yeah, whatever" when Hubby informs me that this particular supplier won't be able to sell us bulk. I don't think promises should be made if you can't deliver, just my way of looking at it. So, search is on for hay!

In July I bought a total of twenty-four bales from two different feed supply stores who also bale their own hay. Usually, in the past, the quality of their mixed grass hay has been fine. Granted, my spoiled rotten boys (when it comes to their taste in hay anyway!) prefer Timothy-mix but will eat mixed grasses.

As we loaded up the first batch Hubby and I thought the bales were heavy but we looked them over and thought everything was ok. Seemed good enough on the outside. No visible problems. At least not until I got them home, got them stacked and then opened some up. Every one of them had that crappy moldy stuff that smokes when you open them. I could have cried! I was a grouch about it all summer! I could have taken them back I suppose, but I didn't. I knew this supplier deals with horse and cow people because I had talked to them, so I chalked it up to "next time buyer beware !"

A couple of weeks later we traveled to the feed supply down the road from the first one. Once again, we'd had great luck with the hay from this place in the past. They breed and raise Quarter Horses, barrel horses, and the like, so I just knew they would have great hay. Yeah, well, same procedure. We get home, I open up to feed that evening, lo and behold, same type of stuff. My conclusion was that both farms had baled the hay damp.

Now, my horses are what I sometimes refer to as horse-pigs. They will eat just about anything you put in front of them. This summer though, they left so much hay out in the field I knew the stuff was not good quality. I think if it had been dead of winter, they probably would have eaten more of it. As it was, I had tons (it appeared to me) of leftovers even when I cut back.

No one lost weight. These guys are, well, they look well-fed. It actually wouldn't hurt for them to lose a few pounds as I've been told by a vet, a farrier and a few others. I have to say in their defense, they were fatter when I first bought them! I think I've been able to keep them on a more sensible diet! AND, they are getting more excercise this year.

Back to hay. This year, I seem to have found a good supplier of hay, for the moment. I just have to make sure we get back there to get more before everyone else finds out how good it is. This is A1 Timothy and my horses eat every single bit of it left in the field. I've always been told, you know they're getting what they need when they don't leave leftovers. It's obvious to me the first twenty four bales we purchased this summer were not quality, but this stuff is. I sure hope we can get our 100 bales. So far, we've been able to buy 55 bales and are planning to get the next 50 through September. We do it by pick-up truck load. We have a trailer, but Hubby has decomissioned lawn tractor parts stored on it at the moment.

Being a first time horse owner I have learned a great deal the past four years. Much of it by trial and error. Buying and storing hay has been one part of the journey. One day, we're planning to build an extension to our barn to store hay, and it should be big enough to store more than 100 bales. When that happens, I can breathe a sigh of relief. When we have more grass pasture, I can relax, a little. But, all of this takes time. Each year we get a little closer.

The Last Jeep Ride

Monday was a sad day for our family. Hubby and I decided it was time to let our beautiful, twelve year old German Shepherd, Xena, go. She had not improved over the weekend. Her back legs had finally given out. She could not stand or walk. If anyone has had to make this decision for a beloved animal member of the family, I'm sure you can understand emotions are still raw.

My husband and I reluctantly loaded Xena up into the Jeep on Monday morning. The vet's office had told me to have her there by 9:15am, it would be a 30 minute trip. Over the phone I felt a dash of hope after explaining to the woman taking the call, what had happened to Xena over the weekend, but this young lady didn't really know the situation. Still, that little glimmer of hope will sustain at times of uncertainty.

I won't go into details, not necessary. I've gone over and over the entire event too many times, and of course, still cry when I think about everything. All I want to remember is that even up until the end, as Hubby and I were holding her, Xena left this world quietly, without protest or stress. She seemed comforted by the fact that her "mom and dad" were there with her.

Hubby was affected quite profoundly by this loss though we had been expecting this decision in the end. I believe he kept hoping for a better outcome. The vet told us of possible options to keep pain down, but at her advanced age, Xena's quality of life would probably not be the same. Organ issues would probably surface within a short time. For Xena, that would have been torture so we decided to release her. We said our goodbyes. We held her and stroked her as the injection took hold. We took her home to bury her, by the creek, under a tree. Hubby said he wanted her home where she belonged among the trees, hills and woods she loved.

Xena always loved to ride in the old Jeep. We had a 1980 Jeep for many years and until she could no longer jump up into it, Xena enjoyed even short rides around the property. We had bought a new Jeep last year. Hubby told me yesterday, as we were burying our friend, she had taken her last Jeep ride. Remembering the moment we placed her in the back of the Jeep, I do recall a glint of something. A brightning of her eyes. She didn't struggle. She was relaxed. Even as we drove down the country roads, Hubby sitting beside her, me driving, she seemed content, raising her head often to look out the window.

We will always remember our "wolf dog" as we came to call her. She had always been a beautiful silver/black and we were often asked if she was part wolf. She had grown larger that most German Shepherds and because of her size, was often referred to as a he. She was a furry little black ball when she was given to us 12 years ago. Our sons grew up with her. I told Hubby, it's almost a symbolic event that she had to go at this point in time when both our sons are venturing away from home into the world of grown-up life. Xena had always been wonderful to kids, especially our sons, though she could be rough with wandering neighbor dogs. She was never agreesive toward people who were accepted on our property. There are so many little stories about our dear friend I'm sure we will talk about in the coming days. Right now, the emotions are still raw and it's hard to bring up her name without shedding tears.

After we had buried Xena, I remembered the horses needed to be turned out into the front field. The guys had pretty much been ignored over the weekend with all of us attending to Xena in one way or another. Oh, they got groomed, and they got led out to their evening graze areas, but basically got put on the back burner.

As I walked with my guys to the front field gate they each walked on either side of me. Bo was very quiet, a little unlike him when he knows he's going to the other field. He will jostle Spirit, or give him "the look" to make Spirit get behind before being released through the gate. I took notice of their quietness. I had been crying a little. As I stood in front of the gate, getting ready to unlatch it, I felt the gentlest of nuzzles, from Bo, on my hair and back of my neck. He seemed to be giving me his own reassuring kiss. I stood there for a few moments hugging him, then hugging Spirit. Neither one moving just allowing me to use them for comfort. I unlatched the gate, both walked out slowly and quietly.

The little dogs, Maggie and Lucy have been staying by the house. They have not been running up into the woods since Xena collapsed on Saturday. Maggie has practically been at Xena's side the entire time. Maggie is an Australian Cattle Dog-mix full of endless energy, but she chose to remain close to her "sis" during the day. Even Buddy, our cat, who has always curled up with Xena on cold nights, lay close by the garage during the two days, sometimes walking in to rub up agains Xena. Animals know things, they are intelligent, and regardless of what is said by some experts in denial of animal emotions, in my experience, they are just as affected by events as we are, just in a way that is different, a different language.

I'm feeling kind of random right now, words not quiet evolving as I'd like. But I wanted to remember Xena this morning for the wonderful friend she'd been to our family. We will always miss her. She definitely captured a piece of my heart in the 12 years she shared our home.

Though we will no longer see her pawprints around our home, the pawprints she left on our hearts will remain forever.

Life moves on, back to routines

The wedding on Saturday was beautiful! Could not have asked for a better day. This wedding was not one orchestrated by a wedding planner. It was not fancy. Keep it simple was the bride's motto. The families put this wedding together and it was always "we're just going with the flow." As it turned out, everything did flow.

We had people tell us it was the best wedding they had ever attended because it was so full of love, which could be felt by everyone. That's a wonderful feeling! The following reception was laid back, lots of music and everyone enjoyed themselves. #2 son gave a fantastic toast to his brother. I was so proud of him! His brother has always been his best friend, and visa versa. I do agree with the minister when he told me and my husband that we were blessed to have such a loving family. Blessed indeed!

So this morning, Monday morning, I'm still sort of reeling from emotions, but I'm planning to get myself in gear. #1 son and his bride stopped by the house yesterday to pack up more of his stuff. They won't be taking their honeymoon for a few weeks. When #1 son left yesterday evening, I did start crying, mostly for my own loss. I sure will miss talking to #1 son, we have a special bond. I have a special bond with both sons, but for differnt reasons. Fortunate or unfortunate (for #1) we are alike in our personalities. When #1 son drove out of the driveway, I did break down for a few minutes. Hubby was there to comfort me, and told me even though he hadn't show much emotion this weekend (just like a man!) he will miss #1 son too. Ok, I need to quit dwelling on this because I'm starting to cry again............move on............

All our animals knew something was up on Friday and Saturday. We were completely off our usual schedules for two days. The horses were being more rambunctious than usual. Bo had been running Spirit around. They hadn't been out to their evening graze areas. They don't seem to be eating that pathetic hay I bought. The dogs didn't know what to make of the coming and goings. Yesterday evening when #1 son and his bride were packing his stuff in the car, Maggie laid as close to the cars as possible. Usually, she's running all over, up in the woods not really paying attention to what's going on at the house. Yesterday, she seemed sad. #1 son had rescued her a few years ago. She'd been left at the park he worked at. She and he have a bond. She knew something was going on with him. His bride petted her before they left. The only one who didn't seem particularly affected was Buddy the cat. He didn't appear until after #1 son had left, so he probably has no clue, unless of course he was watching, in hiding, somewhere up in the woods.

We got back to routine yesterday and everyone seems calmer. I've read some articles that say keep your horses on a different schedule. Don't get a routine going that they can count on then they'll be better off when the routine is broken. Well, that doesn't work for me because I tend to be a routine type person. I can sure tell when we've gotten them all off routine. It just seems to create confusion in the animals and a sense of unsureness. I prefer to keep to the routine. However, I'm not against doing things a little different once in awhile, just to shake things up. Guess I accomplished that this weekend, for a while anyway.

The kids will misbehave when Mom is gone....

Yesterday evening I helped #1 son move some more of his stuff to his new house, which happens to be 62 miles away. He and his fiance have rented a house and have been in the processs of getting moved in before Saturday, the "Big Day". She has all her stuff moved. She's been on her own pretty much for the last 4 years since she went away to college. #1 son, has been living here at home. As he has repeatedly stated "I'm on sabbatical." Yesterday, she reminded him, his sabbatical is OVER!


Ok, so I have to leave for the evening which means on this little farm, Mom isn't around to take care of "the kids" and evening feed. We were on the road before Hubby got home from work. I told #2 son I had no special instructions for "the kids" tonight, just do what we usually do. This means, Hubby will likely decide to move Bo and Spirit into one of 4 small areas we have fixed up for evening grazing. I left without a care in the world. Happy to spend some time with #1 son and his soon-to-be wife.


My evening of moving stuff went fine. I took the kids out to eat. We're all on tight budgets with this wedding event coming up so we chose to eat at Arby's after we got stuff moved into the house. The stuff, by the way, would be 12 boxes of books and two bookshelves. My son and his fiance are avid readers, not to mention they've kept just about every college textbook they ever bought! We do love our books!


After we had lugged all the book boxes up the steep stairs to the living area, She told him: "We're going to need more bookshelves!" I find this amusing yet refreshing at the same time. I was thinking, how many 22 and 25 year olds are worrying about more bookshelves? Just not something most young people their age think about. So, after getting my load unpacked from my truck, we had driven 2 separate trucks, I told #1 son I was heading back home before dark. He told me he'd be home later and I headed back down the highway.


I got home around 9pm which is pretty much dark around here this time of year. Especially down in the valley where we live. I told Hubby about the move and a few things that occured over the day. Then I asked how the horses behaved. He informed me that they didn't behave very nicely.


First off, he told me, the horses were being butts (his term, I'm surprised he didn't just say asses) while he and #2 son were trying to groom them. Bo was moving around alot, which he doesn't usually do with me. Spirit kept walking away from Hubby. They didn't have the horses tied in the stall, which I often don't either if I'm brushing them. I'm thinking, right there, "the kids" already know they're gonna have some fun tonight.


Hubby said they walked out to the grass fine. They always do. They know they will soon be in green grass heaven for a little while.


Seems upon trying to bring them back to their stall area, about an hour later, Bo decided he doesn't have to listen to #2 son, walked a few steps, dropped his head and began eating the fresher grass outside of the enclosure.


Spirit decides (in my mind) that Mom isn't with me so I don't have to listen to HIM and is very belligerent about walking back to the stall area. Hubby was with Spirit and said he did everything he could think of to get Spirit to start walking and finally gave him a swat on the backside with his hand, which did work.


#2 son told the tale of Bo walking up toward the house, practically pinning him to the side of the house (a bit exaggerated I believe) then trying to trot away when he pushed him off. Bo usually isn't that ambitious.


Ok, guys, now this was a simple task and I don't have this problem with these horses! Then I remembered, #2 son really hasn't been around all that much for the past four years because he's been away at college. He's really never messed around the horses much. I finally asked him last night if I ever gave him any lessons on how to work with the horses. He told me no, and he really didn't know what he was doing around them or the right way to handle them.


Well, he is excused from his blunders, but Hubby I was a little disappointed in. I know he's not completely comfortable with Spirit (or the horses in general). I'm the only one who is, and I'm pretty sure Spirit has figured this one out.


Just the night before #1 son was moving Spirit from the evening graze area, while I was walking Bo. I had Bo back in the stall, and noticed #1 son and Spirit were not behind us. I heard voices. Tied Bo up in the stall and went to see what the hold-up was. The voice I heard was #2 son grumbling at Spirit, lifting on the lead rope trying to get Spirit's head up from the grass. I had to laugh a little.I had expected more from #1 son because he's been around here and knows what he's suppose to do with the horses. Spirit was locked on the grass and would not move. By the time I started walking toward them, Spirit was in a locked leg stance, head up, a bit of a defiant look on his face. I shook my finger at him "Now look who you've got coming, Mister." Without hesitation, when I took the lead rope from #1 son, Spirit walked fine for me and didn't even try for the grass anymore.


I later asked #1 son what he was thinking as he went to get Spirit. He told me he was thinking "this guy is going to give me trouble." I said, "There you go. Always think about how You want it to go. They WILL know what you're thinking."


So, anyway, the kids were a little wiley and misbehaving while Mom was gone last night, but everything worked out in the end. I now know I need to give #2 son some instruction on how to properly handle a horse on a lead and some other details about horses I obviously haven't shared with him. I really hadn't realized #2 son was that uncomfortable around the horses, although I had sensed it at times. He hasn't been all that willing to jump in and care for the horses. Now I know, it's simply because he has not felt he knows the right ways handle them. We can remedy that!


Good news about Xena, to a point. She seems to be stronger these past couple of days. I changed her food to can food. Hubby thinks she has been having trouble eating the dry food and maybe she has just been weak. She actually seems a little stronger and even walked up on the porch last night to lay on her rugs and bedding. She still wobbles around with those darn weakened back legs, but at times, she has run after the two little dogs when they are play running around the yard. So, we watch and we try to care for her, to keep her comfortable. As long as she can move around on her own, eats her food, and other necessities, I feel we will leave well enough alone for the time being.

Memories of a Horse Crazed Girl

Growing up, I was a horse crazed girl without a horse.

My first memory of my love for horses is of when I was three or four. My grandpa had been a horse trainer in the early 1900's in Northwest Ohio. I never learned this until much later, when I was an adult. One day he took me to see horses. I wore my little red rain boots. He sat me up on the fence to see all the horses. I remember being thrilled and happy. Later, when I was a teenager, and was recalling the story to my mom, she informed me that Grandpa had taken me to a stock yard. I was sad but now realize, it was not a big deal back then (in the early 60's) to go to a stock yard. Of course now, I would be horrified but being as it was a good memory with my grandpa, I see it as my first introduction to my love for horses.

I always wanted to ride the ponies at the fair. Now, I feel bad when I see those ponies going round and round. But still, it was my love and innocence that sent me to the ponies.

Our neighbors had a couple horses and a pony. I would go visit when my parents allowed me to. I remember the pony being named Bubbles and was black and white. I am a sucker for paints/pintos. Another of their horses was Bonnie Blue. A bay quarter horse. One time my friend and I hopped on Bonnie when she was out in the field. We invited her over the the fence with promises of grass from the other side. Then, when she was beside the fence, we hopped on and let her walk a while. Then we simply jumped off. I was afraid the people might not like that we were on Bonnie.

For years I tried to persuade my parents to let me have a horse at the neighbor's place, but my parents said no. Today, I realize, they were right. Horses are a big responsibility and lots of work. I don't think I truly realized that when I was thirteen. I may have lost my love of horses instead of it growing over the years.

Every year my parents and I would go to the Ohio State Fair. I always wanted to head to the horse barns first. One time my dad put a sticker on my shirt that read "If lost, call the horse barn."

I went through periods where other interests took over but seems always, at some point in any given year, my yearning for horses would be strong. It's as if something were missing from my life and I needed it there to complete me. Even into my adult years I would often go through weeks of pining for a horse.

When my husband and I were first married there was another young couple down the road. We had our son within a year of our marriage, the other couple had no kids. That couple decided to adopt a wild mustang. I can remember being so mad because they could do that and I was stuck home with a baby. We didn't have much money either at that time so a horse was out of the question. Now, I drive by that field, I still see that wild mustang, now domesticated and living a quiet senior life with his pasture mate. I realize, everything does come in it's own time, if we let it.

What color is that hoof?

I've heard two schools of thought on the topic of hoof color: 1-Black is strong, white is not, black and white striped is in the middle. 2- The whole hoof color issue is nothing more than a myth.

My two Spotted Saddle Horses both have white/black striped hooves. More white than black.They have been barefoot all their lives. My farrier says they both have great feet and never really has to do much to them except for the 8-10 week trimming. Hubby has been rasping in-between farrier visits.

My current farrier, a young guy, tells me hoof color and strength of the hoof is a myth. He told me the only reason people came to the conclusion that white isn't strong is because white shows all the cracks, chips and splits while the black tends to hide these imperfections. I like my farrier. He seems knowledgeable. But when I hear someone like Craig Cameron mention black hooves being better, it makes me wonder. Is this a myth or is it something with credibility?

Looking back I remember the horses I took care of when I worked at the ranch/riding facility. Most had black or dark hooves. All wore shoes on their front feet. These horses were used as school horses and for trail riding. The one horse I can remember who had light colored hooves was an Arabian named Sheik. He didn't have problems with his hooves splitting and cracking but more of a soundness issue when he wasn't shod. The farrier who serviced these horses lived by the color rule. She even stated it a number of times to us during her visits, so, at that time I took the color rule to heart.


Then, I got a new farrier. I had used the same farrier the ranch used but due to a disagreement over one of my horses, Spirit, I found another farrier. My new farrier seemed eager to please and he really worked well with my horses. My other farrier hit me on a sore spot, probably on one of my "bad" days, when she told me while trying to trim Spirit, "If he doesn't settle down I'm going to take him to that round pen and settle him down." Needless to say, that didn't go over well with me. Spirit hadn't been acting all that badly. Yes, he'd been leaning on her. Yes, he was hopping around a bit, but at that time he was a young two year old. It so happens I later learned, this particular farrier only likes to work on horses who stand still and will turn down horses that are more active.

She had problems with a few of our ranch horses too so it didn't really surprise me she was having trouble with Spirit. If anyone was going to work MY horse in a round pen, it would be me. She always managed to make over Bo, because he stands perfectly still. Of course he does, he is a lazy horse. I am convinced she already had preconcieved notions that Spirit was going to act up, so he did. I worked with Spirit over and over on standing, lifting, stretching, knocking on the bottom of his feet with the hoof pick. He did fine for me. When she returned for the next visit, Spirit acted the same way for her that he had on her previous visit. So, in my view, I still believe it was her attitude toward him that made him nervous and unsure. When my new farrier came in, he didn't have trouble with either horse. Both my horses behaved themselves with him.

So, I asked my new farrier about the hoof color issue, just wondering about his thoughts on it. Now, I'm still not sure if hoof color is a myth or a truth or just one of those things people start believing because it's passed down the line, time after time. My guys have great feet. I don't know if it's because they're barefoot or striped. Probably just genetics. My new farrier said he's found striped hooves to be just as strong as black, and he doesn't hold store in the hoof color myth.

I simply found it interesting, when watching Craig Cameron, an esteemed horse trainer/clinician, during one of his RFD programs, that he mentioned the hoof color of the horse he was evaluating. I thought, well, here we go again.................

Always trust those ears & eyes

My plan had been to keep up with my blogging at least on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Really got off that schedule this week, but with good reasons.
Tuesday, #2 son and I helped #1 son get his fiance moved from her apartment to the house they're renting. The big wedding day is only two weeks away from TODAY! Oh my! Considering #1 son and fiance sort of threw this wedding at both families with only 2 months notice, I think we're all doing great. The kids have been together forever,ok, officially "going together" since '01 (he was graduating high school, she was at the end of her freshman year) but he finished his college in '05, and then has waited on her to finish her college degree this year before they jumped into the marriage gig.
Oh, so Tuesday evening I was moving things.
Wednesday morning, we had a HUGE surprise. Around 7am, I was sitting on the couch, in my pjs, enjoying my morning coffee, zoned out with The Today Show, when I heard a commotion outside. My first thought was "What kind of stuff are those 2 horses into now!" Because, in the past, they have had their morning fun, waiting for me to feed, or possibly trying to get my attention, by turning over the water tank.
I look out the back door. All three dogs are carrying on, barking and looking toward the back field. I see the horses are standing alert in the corral, ears forward, still as statues. I really couldn't see anything. There's a stupid walnut tree with full leaf limbs hanging down . I DETEST walnut trees. I especially hate that one. I don't know who planted all these freaking walnut trees around here but.........I have to walk outside.
Then I see it. A huge tree down in the back field right over the fence. I knew there was damage to the fence. I ran out to make sure the horses were ok and it wasn't the stupid wild cherry tree growing along the creek. Don't like them either! Hubby told me if I didn't have horses I wouldn't hate walnt and cherry trees. The walnut trees I've never liked.....
So the horses are nervous but they must have been in the stall where they usually wait for me to feed in the mornings. Good thing because Chicken Little (I have been calling Spirit this lately for a variety of reasons) surely would have gone loco if he'd been out in the field when the tree fell. As it was, both horse felt fairly secure where they were.
The dogs quiet down because Alpha Mom is out there. After closing the back field gate and opening the gate to the front field I ran back inside to tell Hubby. He is getting ready for work and had no clue what had happened.
He walked out to the scene. Always a model of patience and low emotion. "Yeah, well, looks like maybe I'd better stay home and get this taken care of." But since it was sort of late already, he decided to go ahead and drive to work, then take half day vacation.
In the meantime I had to get #2 son awake for a day of work. Both of us were still tired from the night before helping #1 son move furniture. We hadn't gotten home from that job until 1am. That day we spent cutting up the tree,(it was a sugar maple) and mending the fence. Only three sections needed fixed and fortunately, the posts weren't broken. When Hubby builds something, he builds it to last forever.
Some people don't trust their animals to tell them things, I do, even my cats. I have learned though I may not see or hear what they do, for the most part they are not pulling anyone's leg. They hear or see something that feels like a threat to them. I always pay attention to my animals in that way.
Read a great article in the August issue of Horse and Rider magazine, page 44, about how your horse sees. Really opened MY eyes to some things like the things a horse sees. They see things as almost twice as big as they really are. I figure that felled tree definitley looked like a giant monster had fallen in their yard!
In the evening, after we were able to let the horses go back into that field I took an extra measure with Chicken Little. He was still acting like the monster was out there so I walked him out to the area, let him nose around for a few minutes and that's all he needed. Bo stayed in the stall. He could have cared less. He knew it was evening dinner time and he wasn't interested in whether the monster was still there or not.
I know one thing, I am lucky to have a handy Hubby and one who actually likes fixing things. If it weren't for him, I don't know that my life on the farm would be so enjoyable. He always encourages me and with his willingness in these kinds of situations, keeps me humble.

It's a good day when.......

my horses and I have good training time together. Yep, had one of those today and we all feel good.


I'm not one of those tough types when it comes to training. I don't coddle my horses either. I am patient and calm. They make mistakes, I make mistakes. We just take things as we can get them.


I've been working with Bo, my 10 yo Spotted Saddle Horse to ride with a bitless bridle. Personally, I don't like bits. I realize there may be horses and situations out there where a bit may be better, but I'm of a mind, your horses are only as good as you take the time to train them to be.


Bo is doing much better than when I was first working with him with his new bitless bridle. He was trained to a bit. As I was told upon purchase three years ago, a Tom Thumb. I changed that when I got him. Put him in a snaffle. He does well with it. But now I'm on a mission to train both of my guys to going "bitless".


It is possible. I've seen show jumpers go in sidepulls and stories of dressage horses working without bits. I believe it comes down to trust between you and your horses. Maybe I'm too innocent thinking on this but my gut tells me to go for it.


I think my horses and I will be much happier in the long run.


I'm not training my guys to be show horses, or jumpers or dressage. They are trail, nothing more, nothing less. A good trail horse needs good intuition in the first place and riding bitless puts the horse's trust in the rider, and the rider's trust in the horse.


Spirit, my 6 yo Spotted Saddle is the complete opposite of Bo. We're working on saddling right now. Yeah, I know, I've had Spirit for 3 years and we haven't even gone riding but this summer we will. He's a little more sensitive than Bo, but amazingly smart. He picks up on the lessons quicker than I expected. Soon, I'll get Hubby out there to be my assistant while I finally mount and do some walking on Spirit.


So, me and my guys had a good hour this morning. Life is good today!

The Perfect Horse?????

I've read practically all the horse training books by all the top trainers. I've even purchased more than my fair share of training DVD's. Sure, I probably haven't read all of the books or seen all of the training techniques but at any rate, I came to my own conclusion; there is no such thing as a perfect horse! I'm guessing this really means we are all striving toward the perfect horse, just like we strive for perfection within ourselves.

How often does perfection happen? For me, not very often, except once in a while when the moon is full, the sun, stars are in perfect alignment and my horoscope reads "Congratulations, you have reached perfection!"

I really don't care that my horses aren't perfect. I get kind of weary reading all the magazine articles about doing this or doing that but then I must also be looking for some guidance or I wouldn't subscribe to them. I wouldn't watch the RFD training shows. I wouldn't attend Equine Affaire clinics every year for the past 4 years. So, the guidance has it's purpose, but I also keep in mind, perfection is what we are striving for, not necessarily what I'm going to get in it's entirety. It'll be in smidgens and pieces and I'll be glad with what I do get.