White Sage

Intriguing horse

Sat, 25 Jul 2009 03:52:26 GMT

My mom is very involved in trying to save the Mustangs...not only did she adopt one, but she's created a whole new chapter of the Mustang & Wild Burro association (that might not be the exact name...) and she's volunteered at more events than you can shake a stick at, often setting up a horse that she picks out to be adopted at these events. It's her mission.

She always keeps an eye out on the Internet Adoption that the Bureau of Land Management does every few months. And she usually picks out a horse or two that she'll 'maybe adopt if no one else wants them.' But those horses are usually bid on, sometimes she ends up bringing them to an event and finding adopters.

Now I've started going through them too. It's sad to look at all the horses, and see ones not being adopted that might end up slaughtered or stuck in pens for years. It's also interesting to watch human behavior; all the pretty colored horses get bids. The roans, the pintos, the buckskins, bid on quickly. Bays, chestnuts, grays sit there unclaimed unless they're especially tall or well built.

But sadly, this guy despite his unique markings, has no takers. Dare I say it's because he's at the bottom of the page? in his first photo which shows in the gallery, you can't really tell what a unique looking horse he is. Sad that someone choosing the wrong photo for his up-front-and-center shot may well cost him a home. I hope someone bids on him soon...

EDIT:::

He has a bid! Yay!

Thea, Part 2

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:57:19 GMT

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.

For a long time Thea has struggled with the Circle game. Circle game, basically, is lunging with more frequent changes in direction and speed. Thea out on a circle = Thea scanning her environment and tuning her human out more often than not and before you know it she'll be careening around in hot-blooded circles spooking at shadows and telling you quite plainly that she doesn't feel safe. When you try to slow her down her head goes UP and she speeds up. If you throw in the emergency brake and try to disengage her hindquarters she'll often bolt TOWARDS you. So I've ended up playing this game of saying 'walk on please' and then in 2.2 seconds 'no, JUST WALK" and then "STOP!!!" and then "BUT GET OUT OF MY SPACE TOO!'

So essentially you say 'go, stop, STOP, back up!!' all really fast. Things get hectic really quickly and being not nearly as skilled at this as I could be, she and I have done battle. She's insisting she's the leader and I am right there being stronger than Mom would be saying "No you're not." And it's always a challenge to find the 'sweet spot' with her where she finally stops and is facing you, but she hasn't 'left the building'. Then you have to quit everything and let her sit and think, but be on the lookout for her tuning you out again because she shifts that quickly.

So Thea knows Circle Game inside out but she knows it as Circle Game Battle Time. She doesn't really know how to *just* circle.

And Mom decided she really wanted to fix that.

So we had a session the other night where I sat in the grass and Mom worked with Thea and I coached.

But before we did that I had Mom do some simulations. Because Mom is louder in her signals than she needs to be and I realized part of what happens is Thea is saying "STOP YELLING at me!"

It's always fun to hold a rope halter in your hands and impersonate somebody else's horse (actually it's great fun to impersonate your own too) and I had great fun doing it. I know Thea walks 2 steps and then trots really fast and then whips around and tries to come in all at once when you disengage your hindquarters. So, I impersonated her reasonably well and Mom got to focus on isolating her signals a bit more, and transitioning from go to STOP to just sitting and doing nothing. Also, we talked about how as a human for Thea, you really have to be trained yourself in going through a lot of commotion with her, and then remembering to BREATHE and come right back down to baseline. Especially for Mom this is important because Thea bases so much of her behavior on what *her* human tells her is safe...

Then we got the horse.

And Thea, you could tell, was prepared to do battle. We had her in the North Pasture, which is a place where a scary incident happened over 2 years ago, and while grazing in that pasture produces even more "ALERT!"'s from Thea than other circumstances, working with her in there *really* makes her question your judgment.

So we worked on

breathing

non-confrontational tactics

quiet aids

Mom was pointing with her finger and automatically swinging the rope to ask thea to walk and for Thea that's way to loud; you have to whisper. Just point and *think* walk and hey, presto! she does...

for a minute.

Then she spooks and trots or canters. Usually we go to great lengths to interrupt her, but that night I coached Mom to just hold tight and let her go. That's really really hard to do with Thea because she dives in on the circle, and she's tripped and injured herself more than once. But Mom did it, and you could see Thea realizing that her attempt at baiting the human into doing battle was...not...working.

Her other big thing was...Mom would point in one direction and Thea would deliberately go in the other. And no matter which direction Mom pointed in, Thea was going the other way. With Sage I will catch him and make him go the right way, because he's testing me to see if I'm on my toes, and if he gets away with going any old direction he wants, before long he's trying other stuff too. But with Thea, I realized she's looking for the battle. The way to get into an "I insist on my thing" kind of stance while the human insists on their thing and it's a no win situation. She would *rather* do battle and not have to actually 8do* the circle game, and she'd be happier battling all day long. (I don't quite know why but I understand that much.) Sage on the other hand, is just checking. You make him go the right way and he sighs and behaves like a lamb from there on out.

So no matter which way she went, I had Mom not argue with her and just accept it.

Thea had some pretty dramatic tricks in her. She'd try to graze, run off when Mom called her on it, gallop around like a mad thing for a few circles, then try to dive into the center on top of Mom. I know from experience how hard it is to deal with that. But I kept reminding Mom to breathe, to not interfere, and to only ask for a few steps. (I had Mom doing half circles with her into yoyo backs, which kept Thea from having time to tune her out.)

Within fifteen, twenty minutes, we saw a lot of licking and chewing, and you could tell Thea was really processing a lot. I was calling instructions I wouldn't have thought of if I was actually handling the horse, and Mom was acting with more confidence and staying more grounded than she would have ever been on her own. The whole thing started to feel zen-like, as if we were all being able to step into our better selves for a short time.

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.

Stacy Westfall on Ellen

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 20:20:03 GMT

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:

Vet Visit

Sat, 11 Apr 2009 15:37:46 GMT

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.

I had set up an appointment for Sage to get his spring shots and some acupuncture yesterday, and then had him scheduled with the lameness specialist for Monday. And the farrier for next Tuesday. I know, busy schedule. I'd called my vet a couple of times to discuss Sage's dietary issues and I'm pretty sure he'd been out once last summer while this was going on, but he never really did anything about it or gave me much advice, which had me frustrated.

Well, apparently either we had some miscommunication, or we had his full attention yesterday finally or something. Because we got much better results. Sage is now diagnosed as having 'metabolic syndrome' which is decidedly different from laminitis, and I now (more or less) understand the difference between the two. I'm still a bit frustrated by the chinese medicine approach our vet takes, while also loving him for it, because he seems to really be able to help my horse, and yet I am left analyzing phrases like "your horse has too much ying energy" and wanting another vet out just to explain things to me.

So Sage had acupuncture first. he got 8 needles right on his croup, and he was cranky about each one going in. When had acupuncture last year he got really sleepy and relaxed both times, but yesterday he was kinda twitchy throughout the whole thing. The had 2 more needles in his right hind leg, and one in his shoulder.

Don tested him for pain first. He uses this little pencil-like thingy to push on specific meridians I think, and watches the horse's reaction, and that informs where he puts in the needles. He said that Sage wasn't showing any pain around his sacro-iliac injury and that he feels it's healed on its own over time. (I guess maybe moving him to my mom's for the 24/7 turnout paid off then.) But Sage *did* have a big reaction in his right shoulder, and Don felt his reactions at the mounting block probably have to do with that shoulder being painful. I have to wonder if that's related to his old SI injury...I know sometimes as they compensate for an injury in one place, they get sore in another. But I think its more common for it to be the diagonal leg, not the other leg on the same side.

Sage eventually got a little quieter as the needles worked. He gave Thea her spring shots while we waited, and I told him about Sage's symptoms around grass and we talked about metabolic syndrome. He recommended putting Sage on a fairly high dose of magnesium, and said that with metabolic syndrome, there's glucose everywhere but it's not making it into the cells. And that magnesium helps fix that. ??? More research needed apparently.

Sage has a "yong deficiency" which is a "chi deficiency" along with not enough fiery energy basically. Which Don said matches his inability to digest his food. Then Don felt his ears, and said they were cold. He had me feel Sage's ears and said the first two fingers should be warm, and the next two should be cooler. Then he had me feel Thea's ears for comparison. Yes, Thea's ears really were warmer. Sage's ears both have a noticeably cold patch at the bottom, and actually get a little warmer further up, which is weird. Now all of you, please go feel your horse's ears and report back to me before this guy asks me to start boiling frog's tongues and reading entrails???

Also, Sage's tongue and mouth are really pale pink, and Thea's mouth and tongue were more reddish. Don said that again Sage's mouth being so pale was a sign of metabolic syndrome.

So, all the needles in Sage's bum were to tonify his yong energy I believe...to rebalance him. Sage's hooves were not warm, and the pulse near his hooves was fine and in balance. Don said to absolutely keep him off of pasture until later in the season, and that every horse is different and we were just going to have play around with what works for Sage. He suggested fencing in very small strips of pasture, and really limiting his pasture intake though. He also said there's really not any need to worry about coffin bone rotation as his hooves show no sign of founder (which I knew). he said the fact that they were warm a couple times meant we did need to change things a little, but did not indicate to him any danger of coffin bone rotation.

So we muddle forward, with 2 new supplements; some magnesium in significant quantities, and some rehmania, which I believe is a chinese herb, and Don said it would take at least 3 weeks to see a difference.

Again, I am really thankful to have a vet with a more alternative health viewpoint. But, being somewhat educated as an herbalist myself, I find it annoying and against my overall herbal philosophy (which is use your own environment to find healing, i.e. use the plants around you) to be paying substantial sums for herbs shipped to us FROM CHINA. I suppose I could talk to my herbalism teacher who sort of specializes in treating horses herbally, but I guess for now, we'll try this.

Oh, and, I had actually seen my herbalism teacher that morning for a website meeting, and she gave me a new supplement for Sage called "easy balance" with magnesium and cinnamon and chromium etc. for Sage. Well, Don looked at it and sort of smiled and said "That looks fine." and I looked at him and said "Do you think it will do any good?" and he said he didn't think it had enough of any one thing to really make a difference. He was basically telling me it was ok, as in, it wouldn't harm my horse but he obviously didn't feel it would actually help. The magnesium he's having me use instead is like $3 a pound anyways so I don't really mind giving the Easy Balance back to my herbalism teacher. But I find it interesting that she feels she's had good results with it in other sugar sensitive horses, and Don feels it wouldn't really do much of anything at all.

Sage is okay'd for exercise, although really what I was asking him was not whether or not Sage *could* exercise, but more "how important is it that he [does] exercise?" But Don didn't quite catch that and just told me it was okay to exercise him. Mom feels exercising him is important as in, its nice when I can do that, but not crucially important as in "Move or sell your horse because if you continue owning him and not riding him enough, he's going to be really sick."

I hope she's right.

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!

Horse Hat*

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 00:00:14 GMT

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

Snow Day Tempo

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 03:45:48 GMT

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.

*******************************************

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

"Mom?"

Thea spies a human...

Sage giving me the "best possible greeting..."

"MOM! HI!"

Sage making faces at Thea, because "tthhhbbb!" his human showed up for once and not hers...

"MY. HUMAN. Back off!"

Sage was extremely cuddly today, and is so bored he readily followed me all over the pasture, tried to nibble on my coat, hair, shoelaces...this is a shot of him trying to grab my velcro cuff...I love how well you can see his curly eyelashes...

The new and improved (skinnier) Sage. Never mind the ears sprouting out of his back. I could make a whole separate post about common horsey photo bloopers and do a series of Sage photos with Thea heads sprouting out of him in every shot...

I reveled in just *being* with my horse today. With snow blowing horizontally, and the footing deep enough that every step was like walking through deep sand, it wasn't the time to work on groundwork or go for a ride. Sage made it very clear exactly what spot on his neck was meant to be scratched and petted, and hung his head over my shoulder for a second in between making scary faces at Thea. He was happy to see me, and for today, that was exactly the sort of healing presence I needed...

Sage photos from wintery sunny day...

Sat, 17 Jan 2009 21:30:45 GMT

"We see you in there! Hand over the food..."

The side of the greenhouse where Sage and I practice sideways game...

Trailer's not getting much use these days...

Wintery...

Looks like its snowing, but really its a dirty window... ;)

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.

Parelli Video

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 05:44:49 GMT

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...

Curly Bliss

Sun, 23 Nov 2008 23:15:34 GMT

Sunshine. Snow. Cheeky curly pony...

Bliss.

Sightings of a rare and unusal kind...

Sat, 22 Nov 2008 02:43:44 GMT

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.

############

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.

#########################

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...

gorgeous weather and well-behaved ponies

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:19:00 GMT

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!

Barefoot saddle -fixed!

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 21:24:08 GMT

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...

From Ray Hunt's website:

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 06:22:50 GMT

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

Self revelations

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:14:26 GMT

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:

I do think this is an interesting spin off of ownedbyhorses's post, and very much along the lines of stuff I'm thinking about lately. I did dressage when I was a teenager, and had a TB that was trained through 3rd level (though I was certainly not) and he was very old and very gentle and really a great horse.

So I have certainly had to shift gears getting back into horses some 10 years later, especially since my allergies to horses meant I needed to buy a Curly, and the only Curlies available in my price range were TOTALLY GREEN.

I started out just messing around at liberty, with Sage turned loose in the indoor arena. Sad to say, but I actually think in a lot of ways I made more progress doing that than I have doing Parelli. Within a fairly short time period I had Sage trained to w/t/c off of voice commands, and to shorten or lengthen his stride based on my body language. Halted off of body language too. I taught him to move off of pressure from my hands, to move his front end over or hind end. Pick up his hooves, walk and trot beside me on a lead, load on a trailer. Taking a bath presented some challenges, and so did fly spray...but overall we were a solid team. (And I had very little idea what to do on the few occasions when we weren't.)

Then I started doing parelli with him, in a very half-assed fashion because I didn't have a rope halter, special ropes, bright orange stick...nothing. And we still did pretty good. Even once I had *some of the equipment, we did good. I taught him to stand still while I wrapped the carrotstick or a rope around him, legs, hooves, neck, body. I could whack the stick on the ground right in front of him and have him stand still and be totally relaxed about it. Likewise I could run up to him and jump as if I was going to get on him and he learned to stand still and be relaxed.

I also hopped, skipped, practiced walking like a drunk person...everything I could do to desensitize him to all the motions different people make around horses. I also knew he had a good temperament for being a therapeutic riding horse, so I had desensitizing him to that environment in mind as well.

And, last but not least I desensitized him to everything from large rubber balls to tarps, hula hoops to crossing streams, umbrellas, bikes, strollers, ropes wrapped around his legs, giving to pressure everywhere...a LOT of desensitization.

Later on I practiced leaning over his back, then sitting on him for short periods of time. Finally I took him to a trainer who did his first 10 rides and a lot of long-lining with him. She long-lined him up and down trails around her house and took her four dogs along so he could get used to them darting in and out of the woods. On his first trail rides, he went over logs, across streams, through tall grass, up and down very steep hills, and through boggy muddy places that sucked at his hooves. He still LEAPS over streams...but otherwise he took everything very much in stride.

********

A lot of that I did just to keep him busy until he was old enough to be ridden. And a lot of it happens to be good stuff for preparing him to be under saddle and used as a trail horse. The really frustrating thing for me has been how much I *lost* in terms of trusting my own instincts and intuition, even while I gained a lot of *knowledge* from doing parelli. I am slowly coming to the conclusion that those methods are too specific for me, and so I am constantly trying to do a prescribed set of things rather than doing what I *know*. Does that make sense? Certainly my horse does not transition from a short trot to a big trot off of my body language alone anymore. In fact, he doesn't seem to trust me as much in general as he did when I first got him, and that really troubles me. (And it should.) In parelli land, I am basically told that the problem is that i have enough previous experience with horses that I really need to pass the levels quickly, and get into Level 3. Right! Except, I'm still having trouble getting the resources together to pass level 1...and I am disappointed in how much money and equipment it takes to do things the parelli way. And how much TIME it takes to progress without a regular instructor.

I think Sage's diminished trust is somewhat due to me mucking around with parelli crap for way too long and making him bored out of his mind. I also think some of that is from moving him to different stables so many times...and possibly from lack of routine as Sage definitely does better with a really strong daily routine, and sometimes homework and life prevent me from providing him with that.

This summer has brought new challenges now that he is out with a mare, and was not gelded until he was 3 (again, my fault- wish i could go back and change it). He's much more dominant and not as willing to follow my suggestions until we've been working for awhile. I.e. it takes half an hour just to get him to where he's really with me and focused and paying attention. He's still generally affectionate, but LESS well-behaved than he was a year ago! Its official, we are now going backwards. :P I think my ability to deal with this more challenging behavior has improved...but still, it'd be nice to make forward progress...

And also, one rein riding. Again, messing around with this concept this summer...I think we've gained some out of this and lost some. He was really well-behaved last year during his training, and when I brought him home there was some to-be-expected green horse baby stuff...stopping more often than he needed to, and some drunken sailor navigating. But we were doing good and moving forward until he got lame.

But doing the one rein riding this summer, I think *I've* messed him up some, and caused some confusion. I did the best I could but I'm really new to it, and Sage is so green that it wasn't a great combo. So we've gained a lot in lateral flexion, and lost a lot in terms of being on the same side during a ride. Well..some days are better than others...and for all I know it has more to do with him wanting to be with his mare than one rein riding. But I do know he tries to head back to the barn a lot more often now, and we've had increased 'discussions' about leadership since doing the one rein riding...and I think in part that is due to me trying to teach new cues to him when I wasn't experienced enough with those cues myself. When Sage gets confused he gets more distant.

Remember Karate Kid? How Mr. Miyagi says "karate do yes, is ok. Karate do no, is fine. Karate do maybe...squish! in middle of road, get run over."

He says something like that...

Anyways, to sum it up, I feel like doing Parelli the last few years, working off of dvd's and attending 2 clinics in nearly 4 years...has led to a karate do maybe situation. Especially since my riding instructor / trainer absolutely abhors parelli and is fanatical about monty roberts. My poor horse has gotten bits of different systems and at times its been confusing for him...and certainly for me.

I think at times we've had great success, and at times (like now) we sort of flounder around dealing with a lack of supervision. It is obvious to me that the solution involves MORE supervision...but from who???

I am struggling with deciding which way to go from here based on my available options; go back to my instructor for training and stop doing parelli...accept a life of round pen and join up and monty monty monty?

Continue parelli, which, conveniently enough, is what my college horse team does? The lady who instructs us has a bad reputation for being very crazy very intermittently...but she does parelli.(And the team may be firing her and moving to a new barn this fall, not sure yet.)

Find some other option, like the parelli lady who has a reputation for a bad temper and beating her horses and lives an hour and a half away from me? Go back to doing something more traditional?

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...

Round Pen Work

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 15:51:41 GMT

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...

Barefoot Saddle Update

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 03:22:09 GMT

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.

It felt very cushy & comfortable, but no longer felt like a vast sea of foam miles above my horse. I am still sitting at the very back of the saddle, right up against the cantle, so maybe some further adjustments are needed, but I really liked it. Sage was being a spoiled child who hasn't been worked with enough in weeks, and he was having an absolute hissy about being ridden while the other horses ate their hay. And, it was getting dark. So I didn't ride with the saddle on for very long.

After I took it off though, I did some ground work focusing on Sage lining himself up with the mounting block, rather than swiveling his butt away every time I line him up. As is true with everything else these days with Sage, as soon as I showed some leadership and level-headed persistence, he was much better, and got his questioning 2 eyes look, and the last time, lined himself up for me, without me having to direct him.

So then I got on, and its weird, the first time I used the muck bucket as a mounting block for bareback a few weeks ago, I just about died. I gouged Sage in the ribs, nearly fell over him, it was disaster. This time, it was all very smooth, one motion, and there I was, up on my horse, feeling tall and balanced. I hadn't dug him in the ribs at all, and he stayed very still throughout me getting on. (Then he tried to walk off, but I was ready.) What a great feeling!! Perhaps my coordination is getting better...

Riding bareback felt awesome, as I was no longer worrying about the saddle slipping, so I just rode. Sage needed some pretty strong direction, as we battled through Round 2 of "Yes I am going back to the barn" vs. "nope, actually we're just going to keep right on circling until you're headed back the way *I* pointed you the first time."

We did a lot of circling. :-)

Finally I got 2 good trips around the pasture in the general direction I was asking for, and left it at that. (By then it was really just about pitch black.) I was really pleased with how well I felt riding him bareback, how confident I felt, and ready to just wade right in and take on the fight (in a non-escalating yet persistent kind of way). I wondered afterward if riding in the barefoot for a few minutes beforehand, with the fenders/stirrups so far back had somehow set me up to ride so well bareback??

Riding tonight

Tonight I rode Sage again, after grooming him, fighting our way through picking out his hooves, and then saddling him with help from Mom. One of his latest games is to walk off while I'm picking out his hoof. If I hang on he hops and hops. If I let go he looks smug. The parelli thing is to simply let go and then start bugging him again right away to pick up that hoof. Last time the farrier came out, Sage played this game with her, and she just laughed at him, and said "what a goof!" and held onto his hoof. I asked her if she thought he was having trouble keeping his balance. She said it was pretty obvious he was just playing, and she felt comfortable just hanging onto his hoof until he stopped hopping around. She said it was obvious he could balance himself if he could hop around so energetically like that and not fall down. Sooo...I've done some of both...the parelli way and my farrier's way. I have to say he seems to knock it off a lot faster when I hang on...then he licks and chews and is very polite. Arghhh@dominant game-playing horses!!

Did some groundwork with him, just enough to get past the bored "I'm sooo not impressed with you" look he had while being groomed & saddled, and into the 2 ears, 2 eyes "what's next?' look that bodes well for riding.

Both yesterday and today I rode Sage with just the halter & lead rope and what a B**ch he is to ride that way! He has ZERO lateral flexion right now (or did right up until the last 5 minutes of our ride tonight). OMG we did circles and circles and circles, with me "being a post" but not pulling like Susan taught me in the clinic...and with Sage just hanging on, pulling against me as he spun around...and around...and around...NOT flexing AT ALL! It was taking me a good 3 or 4 circles to get even the slightest release from him, at which point I was totally releasing the pressure in the one rein, and rubbing him a lot on the neck and saying good boy!!! But still...half an hour went by with us just circling and circling and circling. Arghh! Finally, I halted him with my seat, not with flexion. Then I very carefully reached down and asked him quite gently to flex his nose around...nothing happened, nothing happened, I got to the point where I was a post, putting a LOT of pressure on the rein...and then something moved, Sage turned to look at it, and I released and made a big fuss over him. Then I asked him again, very gently, and I could see the light bulb going off in his head, and he realized I was asking him from the saddle for the same goddamned thing I ask him for from the ground ALL THE FRICKIN' TIME!! After that, he was touching my toe with his nose, and even nibbled on my boot. Once we had it down pat at a halt, we tried it at a walk. Road block, back to loads of rein pressure...and then suddenly he got that too. So we did a few more, with him actually bending to a halt, and then tada! We were done. I decided to end on a good note before my arms gave out...

We did some trotting too, which is still a little scary and out of control at the trot using just one rein. Not to mention my ability to switch the rein to the other side still kinda sucks unless we're at a halt. Sage's big idea at the trot is to turn around, pick up speed, and hammer towards home. That was his idea at every speed tonight, so there was loads more circling and being a post for me. Again, where I am in the parelli system right now sort of preaches to be really calm and patient with your horse...and I found with Sage tonight that he really wasn't listening until I got much bigger and really PUSHED. He was deadset on heading back to the barn every 2 seconds while I was riding, until I spun him in a circle 3 and half times and then pointed him away from the barn and across the pasture. THEN he was willing to walk away from the barn. (If at any point he'd actually stopped resisting the rein, I would have stopped spinning him.)

I don't think how I am handling him is necessarily against parelli doctrine, I just think its maybe parelli I haven't gotten to yet. Just like my instinct was often to go straight to a phase 4 with a horse that knew what I was asking...but I was told that was wrong right up until I did the advanced level 1 clinic, where I was told that now it was right...ergh arghh @ frustrating expensive clinics that are only available once or twice a year. I really wish I could take clinics as fast as I can learn...

Sort of off-topic but...

Sage is being a very dominant horse lately, and much more of a challenge than he used to be. My mom's horse is behaving similarly as well. I had kind of predicted that we might have a mutiny on our hands letting our 2 very left-brained dominant thinky ponies live together, and that has very much become a reality over the past few months. The good news is that I am feeling up to the challenge of being more of a leader for him, and its not upsetting me in any way. I'm not questioning whether or not I'm being 'mean' to him...his whole face changes as soon as I win back his respect, and I have a much happier pony.

After we were done riding, I took care of some odds and ends like picking his hooves out again as they are soft right now (probably need to dress them in betadine). Put the saddle away and noticed there was a lot more dirt in the back, and a deeper imprint sort of, right under where I sat. Not sure exactly what that means...maybe I was sitting too far back? Anyways, it wasn't on his loins, which is good.

Oh...riding the trot in the barefoot, I couldn't post very well. Not sure if my stirrups are too long, but I think the saddle was higher in the front and lower in the back, which I think is why I ended up sitting so far back too. Posting did not feel very secure, although with Sage doing his super fast trot, I couldn't really tell if me being off-balance was making him fast, or if he was just boogeying for home.

Also, new billets suck rocks!!! With my carpal tunnel situation, Mom did the girth for me, and BOTH she and Sage were grunting trying to get it tight enough. The billets are just so stiff. Then I got on and she tightened it again...much easier once someone's in the saddle.

I felt secure, could put weight in either stirrup without the saddle tipping at all after she tightened it, and Sage and I were first walking around. But...by the time I trotted, I was not so sure the girth was tight enough. I just don't trust it yet as it is such a new set-up for me. Which was one of the reasons I stopped trotting...

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.

Parelli Clinic Part 1

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 04:52:24 GMT

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.

In the morning session we covered the first three games, which are friendly game, porcupine game, and driving game. For anyone who goes "blargh-=auuughh!" at all the copious amounts of jargon involved in parelli, basically friendly game is anything you do to desensitize your horse. That could be convincing them to get closer to the big bad trailer by using approach and retreat, or it could be keeping your body energy really low while you smack a bull whip next to their ears and expect them to stand still. It's doing ANYTHING to desensitize them.

The other six games are about sensitizing them to pressure (well, except squeeze game I guess). Porcupine game is about using steady pressure, like you would to push a door open, to ask your horse to move any body part. Driving game is using rhythmic pressure (like clapping) to ask horses to move any body part.

First we talked about expectations. Susan said to "always have a picture in your head of what you want," when you go out to play with your horse.

EXPECT:

-LIGHTNESS (IF NOT LIGHT, DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT)

-RESPECT (IF NOT RESPECTFUL DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT)

-RESPONSIVE not reactive

Responding means the horse THINKS his way through it. Reacting just happens, without thought.

Keep in mind that this is a partnership, and also a leadership.

OTHER THOUGHTS:

Horses just want to be left alone, its the humans that want the interaction. Leaving them alone is a reward.

(I would argue that Sage is actually not happier being a pasture puff all the time. That boy POUTS when abandoned by all humans.)

The horses have responsibilities to be
responsive
focused/ attentive
and respectful.

The humans are responsible for
leadership
safety
and being calm.

Horses need to read body language, not just what the carrotstick (whip type thing) does. So at first, really exaggerate the body language of "now I want you to do something" vs. "Now I want you to do nothing."

Remember DON'T MOVE YOUR FEET. MOVE YOUR HORSE. Because that's how horses determine leadership, is by who can move who.

SO. FRIENDLY CAME:

We talked about the more extreme forms of friendly game, such as waving the carrotstick directly in front of your horse while expecting your horse to stand still because you keep your life energy down. Susan reminded us that if the horse reacted, we needed to persist until they calmed down, because it's the pressure that motivates...BUT ITS THE RELEASE THAT TEACHES.

She also told us to really pay attention to the horse's breathing, ears and lips, because some horses will stand still for something scary, but will not be really accepting it, or be truly relaxed. So wait until they actually relax to quit whatever it is you're doing.

PORCUPINE GAME

The biggest concept I learned here was that a light phase 1 is all about an effective phase 4. Phase 1 is always asking very very gently. Then in my level 1 clinic, we were taught to give each phase 3 seconds before progressing to the next phase. So, if I wanted Sage to move his front end over, I would start by using the end of the carrotstick to touch his shoulder as lightly as possible (this is the 'hair' phase) then, if he didn't move, I would press a little harder (skin phase), then the muscle phase, and finally, I would really push into him with the 'bone' phase. Each phase lasts the same amount of time. This gives the horse time to respond and get with the program.

Susan said that is how you should do it in the beginning, but then, once your horse understands what that means, you do phase 1 for a few seconds, a very quick phase 2 and 3, and right on up to a phase 4. You're essentially letting the horse know to PAY ATTENTION when you offer them a nice request (a good deal) instead of waiting until you give them a phase 4. This is how horses learn to be light off of phase 1, the lightest and most subtle of requests.

That was a huge concept for me, something I sort of know intuitively, but it was great seeing it in action.

Ok, ow. Time to stop typing & go to bed.

More pictures & clinic stuff tomorrow.

I'm back!

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 22:28:49 GMT

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!

Minor owies

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 04:17:56 GMT

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!

One Step Forward...

Thu, 29 May 2008 20:29:06 GMT

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.

Sage & Thea

Mon, 26 May 2008 22:15:15 GMT

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

Sage enjoying the green green grass.

Portrait shot of Miss Thea

Photos of Sage in his new Barefoot Cheyenne Treeless Saddle

Mon, 26 May 2008 22:08:33 GMT

PHOTOS!!! yayyyy....

Sage in his barefoot saddle...ok treeless friends, give me your opinion...is it too long, or does it fit??

Obviously the saddle is not attached with a girth, and so the HAF pad (made of open cell foam which requires a few minutes of body heat to mold to the horse's back) is probably not molded to him as well as it should be. The tack shop was closed today for Memorial Day, so girth shopping will have to wait until tomorrow. Also, I took the pommel insert out, as with it in, the saddle was far too narrow and just perched on Sage in a funny way (much like all the other saddles). I haven't stuffed it with foam yet.

And Sage in the 26" HAF pad, sans saddle.

Level 2 dvd's..."long" and "short" horses

Fri, 23 May 2008 23:05:38 GMT

Just watched a segment of Parelli's Level 2 on dvd 6. Very simple segment, that defined horses as having low, medium or high spirits. "Spirit" is what amplifies a situation, i.e. some horses see something scary and they're OFF for a half a mile. Other horses, it's like a draft horse spook where they go "whaa...? huh...? Spooking...ok, all done." and they move all of five feet.

Obviously 'low-spirited' horses are the ones with more whoa than go. High spirited horses have nothing but 'go.'

Linda talked about how to use circles and straight lines. She said for low-spirited horses, you need to use straight lines. Straight lines might be a trail ride for example. This gives the slow and pokey horse a lot of variety and change. A high-spirited horse needs circles. With circles you don't go anywhere, so you have a lot of consistency, and the horse finds that reassuring. She said rather than pulling on a "go-eey" horse, just put him on a circle and DON'T pull on him, which would make him more claustrophobic. Have patience with them and just give them time to slow down and breathe.

Obviously most horses are 'medium spirited' or somewhere on that continuum, but its still the same concept of using straight lines to "lengthen" a "short" horse (one that is low-spirited and doesn't go very far) and using circles to "shorten" a "long" horse that spooks and gallops across half the county.

Interesting food for thought. Sage has a lot more whoa than go, and I would say he is low-spirited. Linda talked about low-spirited horses getting bored with circles because to them, they just don't see the point; if they're going to end up back where they started, why move at all? Sage totally thinks like that. the boredom is visible...BUT I think when I start him on short trail rides this year, it would be good to do some circles (on the straight line) whenever he gets a bit tense or right-brained.

Not really new or revolutionary, but I guess it did make me think a bit. Wondering what other people have and what their experiences have been with similar strategies...or lack thereof (i.e. bored school horse that is totally SICK OF CIRCLES!!).

after midnight...

Wed, 21 May 2008 05:17:19 GMT

and I just got my homework done. Summer classes...so hard to take them seriously...

Instead of doing homework, I took my lil' sidekick out to see sage at my mom's. She's never been there before. We saw triple rainbows, and I taught her friendly, porcupine, and yoyo game. She is a very quick study! And very annoyingly, Sage let her catch him...

As always it was loads of fun, even if my head still hurts from listening to music at a decibel level deemed appropriate by a 9 year old. At least we're done with endless repeats of Yoko Ono...

Also, got to do lots of good stuff with Sage, including working with his feet, and practising ground tying. Amazing how much more faith I have in myself when there's a kid there to get me out of my own head... Hmm, how interesting.

Hollywood Dun It grandson for sale

Fri, 16 May 2008 13:27:53 GMT

I got an email recently about a Hollywood Dun It grandson for sale...a 4 yr old stallion that is under saddle. He's a dunalino. I don't know if that's interesting to anybody but I'd be happy to forward the email to anyone interested.

Given how famous Hollywood Dun It is, I was surprised to see this grandson for sale for $5000. I guess I would have expected a higher price. Anyone more familiar with QH's able to explain why he's priced so low??