White Sage

So a few days ago we did another session where I coached Mom through doing some groundwork with Thea.

I used to work with Thea more often, and she tends to invade your space a lot, and want to be right on top of you. Because we knew she was training to be the Head Mare in her mustang herd, I have always interpreted this behavior as fairly dominant, and been quite firm about keeping her out of my space when she invades that way.

And that was absolutely the right thing to do in many ways. But. I wasn't taking into account some subtle things; and I hadn't realized at all how very unconfident Thea can be. It's been a big shift in thinking *for me* to realize just how complicated this horse is. When she's confident, she's simple. It's all straightforward and all systems are 'Go'. But when she's unconfident she both tries to take over, and seeks comfort from the human as well, and you have to deal with her on both fronts simultaneously or it all falls apart.

( A zen-like session with Thea )

Thea came out of that session a different horse. It's not that she's been calmer consistently since then; she hasn't been. But in moments of quiet, when nothing has been going on, she's looked...dare I say it? relaxed. Like for a moment she trusts her environment and Sage and the barn and us humans in her surroundings. And I see her being just a little more willing to think about things, to mull it over, rather than just blindly react...

I left the barn that night feeling as peaceful, cheerful, and energetic as if I had ridden my own horse...really quite amazing considering how like utter crap my stomach felt when I showed up. I still miss time with my boy, but am enjoying the journey with Thea too. Certainly she has a lot to teach us.

Old video clips, probably posted on equestrian at some point. But I've never seen them before and really enjoyed watching them, so I thought I'd share:

After months of feeling slightly in-the-dark about what is going on with Sage, and floundering around doing my own research and reading, it was really nice yesterday to ( finally have the vet out. )

The short version:

• Sage has metabolic syndrome, not laminitis. Yay!


• Sage is okay'd to exercise and the acupuncture got rid of the pain in his shoulder entirely. (He didn't flinch or move away at all after the acupuncture and should now be okay around the mounting block.)


• He's now on magnesium to help his metabolism. And also rehmania, a chinese herb.


• His sacro iliac injury did not trigger any pain response, and Don feels it's fully healed.


• The vet giggled again and wiggled Sage's ribfat. He needs to lose close to 100 lbs. I taped him later at 1085 I think? Crap, now I have to tape him again to make sure. Mom thinks at his build he should be at ~900-950lbs. Let's hope the rehmania and magnesium help him lose weight because he's really not getting that much hay.

Sage also had his coggins pulled and half his spring shots done. Don's coming back in 2 weeks to do other half. And sheath cleaning! After having Sage kick at me half-heartedly and glare at me for months whenever I tried to just *touch* that area, it was interesting to see him be a perfect gentleman while Don applied the excalibur and got the job done. I think it was the acupuncture.

So, I cancelled Sage's appointment with the lameness expert on Monday. Mostly because, even though I would like to have Sage get some chiro if needed, and get another vet's perspective in english! thank you, without some vague terminology like yong deficiency...I also want to just wait and see how he does for the next couple weeks. If the herbs and magnesium really do work, and we keep him off of pasture and he really does stay sound, then there's no need to do anything else except keeping doing what we're doing. Besides, the lameness exams are really *expensive.* Totally worth doing if necessary, and doing in the not-too-distant-future if Sage continues to be lame *at all.* But, I don't mind holding off for now and waiting a couple weeks to see how he does.

What all this means is...I need that new endurance girth like yesterday. Gotta ride Sage and keep him in shape as best I can starting NOW. But I can think of much worse things than your horse needing to be ridden regularly for medical reasons...

EDIT:::

http://www.rivervalleyveterinary.com/documents/equine_cushing.pdf

(Equine metabolic syndrome is the 2nd half of this pdf.)

This makes me confused again. Clearly exercise IS crucial according to this and some other articles I found on the web. AND it can be related to laminitis. ARGGH!

Fifteen minutes of riding yesterday. Bareback, seatbones digging into Sage's back, legs wrapped around his barrel in that special well-balanced way that only happens when I am riding well and he's not extra pudgy.

Sage was very lovey on the ground and present under saddle. I swear he puts himself into a better frame all on his own when I ride him right. Tucks his head right under and lengthens his topline. I love those days when I feel both tall and rooted in the saddle; when my horse feels both happy and eager to work.

Nice to be back in the 'saddle' so soon. With his issues last week I feared it would be a lot longer before we got back there. Bonus points for his mellow cheerfulness given it was windy enough for Dorothy to not be in Kansas any more while I was riding...




*to be made this summer out of yarn made from all the Sage hair I'm collecting now

The last few snow storms we've had have been No Big Deal. The weathermen have managed to scare me into not driving to work twice recently with dire "winter storm warnings" and then...a few hours later we've had two whopping inches of snow.

So today I decided to Hell with the weathermen. I got into my car and headed towards the barn with a light heart and a touch of lead foot.

...And drove straight into the greasy icy mess that is a Major Storm. I am an idiot for not looking at the weather forecast before I left. I passed 4 accidents on my way to the barn (and nearly caused a fifth at one point because even with awesome snow tires, there's only so much one can do when unexpectedly confronted with glare ice).

It was beautiful driving though. I know plenty of people hate driving in winter storms, but there's something comforting to me about the immediacy of your surroundings. Instead of traffic flying along at 80 miles an hour while people pass each other helter skelter as they talk on cell phones or check their make-up...everyone SLOWS DOWN. Its one of those situations that appeals to me because it puts you squarely in the moment, and you are in a reality that is not only connected to, but somewhat dictated by Nature.

Driving through a winter storm...snow floats down from the sky, blanketing everything more than 20 feet away and obscuring details of the landscape. Houses, buildings, fields all disappear, hidden from view by a soft pervasive grey. Snow blooms upward, forming dancing spirals that spin their way across the road, evaporating as suddenly as they form. And it blows like sand straight across the road...scudding into hypnotic patterns of white that constantly rearrange themselves against the stark black of the road as the wind continues to blast its way over the landscape.

Everything white. Soft. Its a relief to the senses after bright colors and the overwhelming glare of sunny winter days. My body relaxes head to toe.

(Of course, not so much when you fly around a corner and see flares and an ambulance, and then hear the grating screeching sound of your ABS not working on the ice...)

But for the most part I love driving in winter, even through storms.


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Driving up the hill, watching the pasture come into view, I spotted the horses huddled together under a stand of trees, snow coating their backs, sticking to their forelocks and lashes. Despite forgetting my camera, I realized I simply had to





( do an impromptu photo-shoot of Sage... )

( Hi Mom! )


Mom and I played with both horses earlier this week and had little 'contests.' I would think of something to do, like "Turn your horse to the right using driving game on the front end" and then I'd count to 3, and away we would go. Then Mom would call out something like "Back your horse 5 steps through the deep snow using yoyo game" and we'd try that next.

Thea is far and away more responsive than Sage at this point. We both laughed a lot because Sage was clearly in a "what? You expect me to do something?!? kind of a mood, and Thea was totally focused on Mom and ready to go. So Thea 'won' most of the little games...it was fun because we both had to use our imagination in coming up with new questions to ask the horses. It was also interesting just to observe the pace at which each horse did things. Even in his more together moments towards the end of our little session, Sage still takes each step more slowly, where as Thea is quicker to react and go ZOOM! in the direction you requested of her. Interesting...

The last thing we did was walk the horses into the deep snow (maybe 18"?) and ask them to back out...Sage did it with a minimum of protesting. It was clear he didn't like feeling such deep snow around his legs while backing towards stuff he couldn't see, but he trusted me enough to do it when I asked firmly.

Thea was hysterical...she very tentatively took a step or two backwards, glared at my mom, pawed at the snow furiously, glared at my mom again...and when Mom continued asking her to back up Thea lay down and rolled quite defiantly in the deep snow. Too bad I missed it on camera...but batteries go quickly in the cold.

Given my recent binge of horsey forums and vids, I wanted to post this video:



I would love to have mad Parelli skills like that, not to mention such a huuuge arena! (I'll take the warm climate too!) And I have to say, I like Night Wish as background music...

Sunshine. Snow. Cheeky curly pony...

Bliss.

My Horse lost weight!!!

The thyroxin is doing him a world of good!

Thinner horses are so much easier to ride bareback! I haven't been on Sage bareback in about a...month? Five weeks? I usually feel like I'm sliding around on his very broad back, and like if I tilt just a little too much to one side I might slip right off...
That feeling is totally gone. I can drape my legs right around him now and not worry so much about keeping my balance. I felt more secure, even though I was riding truly bareback, no el companero or anything.

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Riding in 20° F with the wind howling around you can really take it out of you. I was a popsicle by the time I was done.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Sage whinnied in greeting, and then whinnied desperately when I left to get my helmet from the car. Its nice to know he misses me. Makes me sad too though as I know he only does that when he's feeling really lonely. I've talked to 2 other students at school that might be able to come spend some time with him...

We had our usual battle of the wills over getting on. I forgot my barn boots when I left for work this morning, so I wore my mom's sneakers instead. Sneakers, snow, and a plastic muck bucket as a mounting block; not a good mix with a green horse convinced its fun to move at the last minute. I made him spin more than he wanted to spin and back up more than he wanted to back up but nothing I did wiped the smirk off his face...alas he was wearing his Dr. Cook's bitless bridle and not his hackamore which would have given me a way to do groundwork.

Finally I parked him in a corner of the pasture where he couldn't back up or step away from me, was firm with him as I draped myself over his back and swung one leg over...when he sighed and relaxed I got on and he stood stock still until I asked him to move off.

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Riding bareback over snowy ground when it is just about dark out is interesting. The big pasture is bordered by a paved road on two sides so the headlights of the cars would sweep over us regularly as we marched around. Mom walked Thea in front of Sage and I, while Sage charged ahead and tried to crawl up Thea's butt. Mom got her exercise for the day with all that walking...

Sage is definitely leaving his teenagery mood. He seems calm and peaceful the past few visits, and like he knows his role and his place in the world. He seems happy when I ride him and proud of himself, and he and Thea have been much more accepting of being separated.

It definitely did me a world of good to be able to ride my pony for half an hour yesterday. AND my mom was a saint and helped me while I went through a gazillion stirrup changes trying to *really* nail down which stirrups work better for me.

The western fenders with ez ride stirrups it is! The arete endurance safety stirrups have far less cushioning, and my cowboy boots were so slippery in them I didn't feel safe riding above a walk. And...the english stirrups leathers rubbed under my knee even with proper english stirrups on them.

So back to the western fenders and ez-ride stirrups which are sooo much more comfortable. I think I may still need to one day invest in some boots with better tread, but for now this is great!

And there is something very funny going on with the western fenders. Apparently the really nice leather worker that punched holes in my fenders for a mere $6 gave me what I paid for...I had to put my right stirrup down THREE HOLES before it was just about even with my left stirrup...This happened a few rides ago and I thought maybe *I* needed to go see the chiropractor or something, but no, my mom could see it very clearly and I could too once I got off to look...

Now how do I fix that?? o_O

It was also wonderful to help my mom ride Thea. Thea is lame(r) than she was, and has a huge muscle knot, but seemed comfortable enough with my mom on her back for a few minutes. Mom used my el companero instead of fussing with a saddle. She really liked it...but had some difficulties with mounting! We *so* need a three step mounting block! I have to say I felt badly watching my mom struggle to get on with her bad ankle. And I also felt more accomplished that I *can* get on Sage with the el companero just from our big muck bucket. Being younger has its blessings!

I am definitely enjoying this gorgeous fall weather...so nice to ride without so many bugs...

At the same time I am hanging onto summer just a little bit...I have a HUGE stargazer lily on my kitchen table and it smells wonderful!

Rode Sage in the rain for a few minutes today, just had to try my saddle now that I have shims and the stirrups are fixed! It's not as comfortable with the shims in it...they poke into my seatbones a bit. But the stirrup length is great now!! And it was SO NICE to have stirrups!

Did some sitting trot and then my stomach said ENOUGH, which is fine...I did eat steak and corn on the cob for dinner last night so sitting trot and trying to digest that all at the same time was probably pushing it!

Farrier came and trimmed Sage. She's done the 3 hour ride we were thinking of doing next weekend, and she said its pretty tough...and having watched him finally heal and be sound again after his injury last summer she said she would hate for him to go backwards or get re-injured. Apparently a lot of the ride is on the road, past traffic, on black top...

She suggested that we go and unload and just ride the first half hour, before we get to the road, and then turn back. I may do that as it would be great to get Sage out somewhere for a ride! However, he was a bit sore today trotting to the right, and has been consistently sore cantering to the right. I haven't gotten any sponsors yet for the ride, and I would need to raise $100 to participate. I don't know if riding Sage after trailering him would be too much for his leg...but I do know it would be good for him to *do something.*

Steering was good today, and I kept him in his stall for a few hours straight grooming him and then having the farrier trim his hooves. She said his feet look MUCH better and his hoof wall is thicker too.

Thea was upset for the first hour but calmed down and went back to grazing...and I think a longer separation like that was exactly what she needed. She didn't even care when I put him back out in the pasture with her. Seems like she is finally understanding that he will go away...and come back!

Sage is starting to shed...its officially fall...

I talked to a friend just the other day

who’s got lots of opinions and plenty to say.

We discussed what we both like to see in a horse

His requirements and mine were different of course…

He likes a clean throatlatch and a long skinny neck,

and prefers that their hocks are set close to the deck.

Short backs and hard feet and clean slopin’ shoulder,

and a gaskin that looks like it swallered a boulder.

He likes a short face and a big ol’soft eye,

and says these are the horses he’s likely to buy.

And when he’d completed his lengthy discourse,

on all of the attributes of the quality horse.

He asked my opinion, and where do I start?

And I said that I….just want horses with heart.

I said I want heart above all the other.

I don’t care if he’s Smart Little Lena’s full brother.

Or just how much money that his grandmother won,

or whether he’s roan, palomino or dun.

But give me a horse with some grit and some try,

and some heart and some guts and that’s one that I’ll buy.

And I’ve found it’s the same with a woman or man….

the good ones won’t quit you when the shit hits the fan



by Monte Baker

I wrote the following in response to buymeaclue's post over on horsemanship about the methods we use to train / prepare our horses (natural horsemanship, clicker training, groundwork, classical methods) and if we feel its been a successful approach or not, and what our goals are for the future:

( my long response )

I am solidly of the mind that I need more supervision...weekly lessons, and more training for Sage. Where things really fall apart, is deciding who and where???

EDIT:::

Just to clarify, I'm not saying I dislike any of these METHODS...I am saying that the LACK OF SUPERVISION has gotten me into trouble...as has trying to do more than one method at the at the same time...

Thea cracks me up...




The end result:



And oh yes, that's me doing round pen work with Sage in the background. Figure 8's, circle game / join up work, and backing up off of a hand signal. The video ends before he *really* joined up with me, but same session...

Tried my barefoot again last night, rode for just a few minutes, but with the pommel piece in. WOW!! What a HUUUGE difference having the pommel piece made!! That, and positioning it further forward than I thought it could possibly be, which turned out to be just right.

( Barefoot experience yesterday )

( Barefoot ride tonight )

( Barefoot odds and ends...wonderments & questions )

Anyhow, put Sage's MTG in his mane, which he hates, because it smells like hot dogs rotting in the sun (I think its gross too Sage). We went through some antics around that, I did loads of approach and retreat, which I do *every* time we use this stuff (can't be applied more than once every two weeks, and after 2 weeks, sage is upset about it all over again), and he was easier than he's been on some occasions. But when I went to put it on his tail...I noticed his tail was clamped. :-(

Don't know if it was too much circling with me riding him, or maybe just expressing upset about me 'attacking' him with the MTG. It upsets me a little though. Anyways, played with his tail lots and eventually he unclamped it some, so I have hope he was feeling defensive, as opposed to it being a sign he's lame.

Very interested to see how he reacts to me tomorrow...not that I really have time to go to the barn, but...one can hope.

Now that I've been wearing an ultra dorky wrist brace for a week, my wrist is feeling better. Better enough to type up a little of a clinic report, so yay.

On a sidenote, people keep gasping and exclaiming "WHAT DID YOU DO TO YOUR WRIST??!??"

This level of drama lets me know they care, and simultaneously gives me the urge to not disappoint them. I feel compelled to say something equally dramatic such as "oh, I sprained it falling down the stairs after my boyfriend beat me."

No, I have not said that yet. I've settled for a nice vanilla truthful answer of smiling and saying "oh, carpal tunnel syndrome, you know...nothing very exciting..." It's made me very popular at my internship where several people have become quite animated while offering me dr's names, exercises, and tips on ergonomics. blargh...

Meanwhile, yes, I have installed a new computer desk WITH A KEYBOARD TRAY.

And now, back to horses. :)


The first day of the advanced level 1 parelli clinic was very hot and sunny, and muggy as well. Susan Nelson was brilliant, even with her sprained ankle (thanks to stepping in a random hole in the pasture) and ensuing pain she was great. I was an auditor for the first half of the day, which meant I took good notes. By the afternoon, it was clear that 2 people had indeed failed to show up for their spot in the clinic, so I was allowed to find a horse and join in. I got a discounted price too. :-)


Mom works on porcupine game with her borrowed horse, Cooper.

( Parelli clinic )

Got home from the clinic at 9:30 last night. Am still tired, sunburned, and GRINNING!! It went great, I got to play with 3 different horses and actually participate in the clinic, which was awesome! I think everything worked out for the best and even though the advanced Level 1 clinic WAS a lot of repeat for me, by the end of the second day I had really learned a lot, and I feel like I can assess out of level 1 with confidence now.

Loads of notes, & some photos coming soon!

A miracle has occured:

I RODE MY OWN HORSE TODAY!

Now how often does that happen? (Not often enough, let me tell you.)

Rode in the halter & rope. Definitely getting much smoother about switching the rein over to the other side. Sage was much better behaved and less defiant/challenging than he has been on other halter rides.

My seat is getting much better and I feel worlds more confident than I did last year.

Sage was great while being ridden, very obedient, still stops too much, but that's ok. Much better than the opposite problem.

Rode in my el companero pad as I still haven't gotten the barefoot totally put together. I need to stuff the pommel still. The barefoot still looks weird on him to me. Its perched too high I think...seems like there's an awful lot of room between his withers (or lack thereof) and the saddle.

Anyways. Rode in my new purple cargo shorts (which are awesome! I love finding the rare pieces of women's clothing that actually have enough pockets and yet don't look completely like boy's clothing) and cowboy boots. Yeah...I was stylin'.

The best part was doing a bit of sitting trot and feeling much more secure than I ever did in a saddle last year, let alone in a bareback pad. Granted, the el companero is super grippy. :-)

Unfortunately I didn't use a pad under the el companero, and it left lines in Sage's skin. Also, my 'mounting block' (i.e. the muck bucket upside down) was not *really* tall enough for mounting Sage without stirrups...hence I seem to have pulled a muscle or two along with giving Sage a good dig in the ribs as I scrambled on. Will use a pad, and different mounting block next time...

Only a few more days until the parelli clinic!

After three weeks of really not wanting to be caught, Sage has maintained his about-face totally smoochy in your pocket normal horsenality over the last few days. He seems completely back to normal, happy to offer his best try on whatever I ask him, and totally happy to see me.

However, last night he couldn't eat his hay properly, by which I mean he chewed it twice, then flung his head up and started backing up rapidly with his mouth gaping open, while he struggled with his food. I seriously thought he was choking for a minute, but he recovered enough to let me know there was no way he wanted me touching the right side of his face.

The vet came out this morning, and after giving him THREE doses of tranquilizer, he was finally able to get Sage to cooperate enough to see inside his mouth. It was clear Sage was in a lot of pain. I thought the vet would find a broken tooth or something. Nope. Close inspection revealed two matching scrapes...one a few inches in length on the top of his mouth, about 10 inches back. The other a smaller scrape on his lower jaw, just under the area he didn't want me touching last night. The vet thinks he got a stick lodged in there somehow and scraped himself up. Certainly Curlies are known to do such inane things. (Unfortunately often resulting in Curious Curly deaths...am glad that's not Sage today).

There's really not much you can do for a horse in such a situation except give them some bute and wait for them to heal. So Sage was buted up, and the vet left, and I spent the next few hours sitting in the sun with him, waiting for him to stop swaying side to side. Once the tranquilizer kicked in, it REALLY kicked in. A few times I was convinced Sage was going down as he would let one hind hoof drag waaaay out behind him and take all the weight off his other hind hoof. But he managed to stay on his feet, and I put his fly mask on, and sprayed him with all natural eqyss fly spray (which actually works really well!) and then rolled on fly gunk on his face and mouth, and waited with him.

Poor Sage was so dopey it took him HOURS to come round. He literally didn't move a step for close to two hours. So I stayed with him, soaked up the sun, and read. It was nice and peaceful once we passed the 'close to falling over' stage. Finally, after 3 hours of sitting with him, he started taking some interest in the grass I was bringing him, and being able to actually chew it up, rather than just let it hang out of his mouth. Once he started walking around and wandered off to visit Thea I knew he'd be ok...turned him loose in the big pasture & left.

Discovered I am closer to the shade of lobster than I intended once I got home...but it was a nice day, and good to spend time with the pony, even if we didn't get out for a ride (as planned) last night.

It's very sweet the way Sage & Thea always graze together around the pasture. They are obviously very fond of each other...



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