Chow Time

The past couple of weeks have been a little crazy for me time-wise. The boys have had projects due and new extracurricular schedules to adjust to, so I have been needed at home and out to the barn a lot less.  I think the same thing has happened to other people, as when I did get out the barn, a couple of times all I had time to do was love on my girl a little then pitch in to help feed. It's always funny to me that feeding horses would technically classify as work, but that it never feels like that at all. I sure get a lot more gratitude from the horses than I ever get from Dave and the boys!

I helped to feed the mares first, and naturally my girl, as alpha, was the first to come in. Hmm. She was a little on the rude side, rushing me a little as I led to her to her bucket. I had to back her up a couple of times and then she waited for me. She did give me the stink eye the first time though. The feeders usually tell me she is a good girl, but I think she has been getting away with a little rushing, most likely because the feeders have a lot of horses to feed and can't be schooling all of them in manners. Still, it taught me that girl is getting sassy!

Sassiness refueling. What a nice
butt she has. Must be nice.

Then I got to help with one of the gelding herds, which included Bon Jovi and my dear friend Ike. Though he's the largest horse by far in that pasture (or any pasture for that matter), he is near the bottom of the herd, so he comes in second to last. As I was getting ready to get him, he was trotting around waiting and it was so good to see him strutting around. He is so huge and beautiful that it was just such a pleasure watching him. I had to wait for the only halter at the barn that fits him to be free, then I took him in to eat and he was very gentlemanly about being taken to his stall. Getting him out was something different, as that boy likes to hang in his stall. I tried to lead him out but he was having none of it. I tried moving his head side to side to make him take a step. Nothing. I flipped the lead line onto his butt, harder and harder. Nothing. When a mountain of a horse doesn't want to move, he doesn't want to move. Fine. I put the lead line over his shoulder, stepped to the side and tied my boot. Out he came, walking right toward his pasture, so I just followed him there, got the lead line then let him go. Then just for fun, I hung out in there with him. 'Cause he's awesome, that's why.

Ike. He's awesome. Face it.
Not everybody can pull off looking this intimidating with
their tongue out either.

Another night I went out and got my girl for some groomin' and grazin'. Black, the big Friesian (is that redundant? I guess all Friesians are big, but your sense of normal horse size gets warped after dealing with Ike) and Cowboy, a big Paint that looks like he has some Warmblood in him, were together in the round pen because Cowboy had an injury to a hoof.  Black is fantastically beautiful and a dream to ride, but I've never got the sense he likes me that much. He has an aloof personality anyway (he is a rescue who had been kept in a stall for 7 years, so he has his reasons), but most horses have my number and warm up to me pretty quickly. No so with Black. So though I like him, he and I have been somewhat strangers to each other.

Black admiring Skye from afar, and plotting his
big move to impress her.

So this night I brought Skye over to graze in that area where the grass and clover were nice. Of course, Black needed to get a good look at Skye, as all the boys like Skye. They touched noses, then Skye was done with him and went back to eating. I guess he got a little jealous of the grass, so he leaned over the rail of the round pen to reach some grass on the other side (where it truly was greener, as the round pen is pretty much of a dry lot). The top rail was no match for the weight of his neck, so POP went the side of the rail. He turned to look at me as I was heading over to it, like he was very pleased with himself. Then he leaned over the next one and did the same thing! Such a naughty boy. When I got there, he looked me right in the eye, then leaned over the now low barrier and started munching on the grass he could now reach, as if to show me things were a lot better now.

Then we had to move Black and Cowboy to another small paddock, and Black was just as sweet as he could be, standing there with me after I released him, giving me a good sniff all over, probably enjoying the scent of Skye on my clothes.

So now I'm in love with Black.  Shocking, I know.

Yes, this is the same pic from the other day.
10 points for Gryffindor if you noticed.

I'm starting fresh with Skye for the 100th time, as between her lameness and my schedule, she hasn't been ridden for weeks, and she has been resistant in the round pen both at liberty and on the line. She is still pretty good, but has not wanted to change directions or calm down and walk, so we'll go back there.

But she's still pretty.

Seriously. Who's prettier than that? Nobody, that's who.
I'm clearly completely objective.

Spectating at the Buck Brannaman Clinic

So yesterday I got up at 5:45am (a Hellish time for a night owl like me) to drive from my in-laws' house to the Clemson equestrian arena to watch a Buck Brannaman clinic. Don't worry; I had previously warned Skye that I would be coming back a new horsewoman, so her free ride on her good looks would be over!

Buck Brannaman is one of the best known natural horsemanship trainers in the US. He is well known not only because he is really good, but also because he was the subject of the award-winning documentary film Buck which tells the story of his upbringing and how he came to rise above it. He was taught by some famous horsemen out west, including Ray Hunt, considered one of the fathers of natural horsemanship, though I don't know if either Ray Hunt or Buck use that term in connection with their way of working with horses.

Pretty horses! Impressive arena as well. I would love
to ride my girl there. That's Buck in the middle.

When I use the term, I'm thinking of the horse training methodologies that attempt to work within the horse's mindset, by using observation of horse behavior to guide training and then manipulating the horse's behavior by putting pressure in some way to make the right thing easy and the wrong thing difficult. I know there is some backlash against the idea of  natural horsemanship in that it relies on negative reinforcement (removal of a bad thing as a reward) instead of the positive reinforcement (rewarding the good behavior with food or other desirable thing), which is used in clicker training and much wild animal training. However, no matter how you want to train your horse, the fact is that prior to the rise of natural horsemanship methods such as those of Ray Hunt, Tom Dorrance and now Buck Brannaman, Pat Parelli, Clinton Anderson and countless others, old school/traditional methods of "breaking" horse were the order of the day for thousands of horses. The new way of thinking has now saved thousands of horses from heart-breakingly cruel methods of literally breaking of the spirit of the horse.

Buck himself is also an extraordinary person, and I would urge anyone, interested in horses or not, to watch the film. My whole family watched it (even given their odd lack of interest in horses) and even considered coming with me yesterday because they admired him so much. You can watch the film and/or read his book The Faraway Horses to learn more, but in a nutshell in his young childhood he was raised by a loving mother but also by a violently abusive father. When his mother passed away at young age, he and his brother were left at the mercy of this man. When the abuse was discovered, they were moved to a wonderful loving foster family who raised them. He went on to become a world famous horse trainer, who is now known for his firm but kind and understanding treatment of horses, and inspires others to treat their horses with the same kind of respect. That's taking lemons and making champagne, if you ask me.

Needless to say, though, yesterday was all horses, no dramatic story, so Dave and the boys would have been bored out of their minds. However, the little crew of people from my barn and I were delighted! Watching Buck riding and handling the horses he was on made me want to be able to do it so badly I could just taste it. He and the horse were just perfectly in sync, and Buck could just move that horse around with almost undetectable movement, on the ground or on his back, wherever he wanted him, for one step or twenty. I also noted that while the horse was standing quietly, just being a good boy, Buck would rub his forehead or his neck. I've seen so many videos where no affection is shown to the horse, that it just made my day to see that. And the lesson for me was that it seemed to mean more to the horse coming from the person the horse respected so much. Of course I'm over-thinking it, but that's my specialty!

I learned a ton of things about horse thinking in general, and visualizations to keep in my head while working with Skye, and I ended up taking a ton of notes in my handy dandy notebook (which is also delightfully filled with drawings of bugs, eyeballs and Nintendo characters by the boys). But the best part was seeing the horses. We had front row seats and so seeing them come by was like a parade. Just eye candy for horse lovers. Both the morning class and the afternoon class (two separate classes, two groups of horses) had its own Friesian that looked like something out of a fairy tale. So gorgeous. My phone was just about out of power, so I could only take a few pictures, so here is picture of another Friesian who has won my heart for your viewing pleasure. More about him in my next post.

This is my Friesian friend Black. As impressive
as any I've seen.

There were several very cute Appaloosas, which I was formerly crazy enough to think I didn't like that much. Wrong again! These were so cute and seemed very willing. (And my sweet Reebok was an Appaloosa; I still miss him every day.) Also, I've never seen so many roans in my life. Even a couple of bay roans. So very cool. A big buckskin paint that I wanted to buy on the spot, a very cool leopard spotted Appaloosa (once again, a horse I thought I wouldn't care for. Why do I bother?), a deep golden stocky palomino Quarter Horse who looked like he trotted out of a little girl's dream. There also a number of various colors of gray, from charcoal to ones so light they looked like alabaster, including a couple that had to be Thoroughbreds, which was neat to see in among the Quarter Horses and Paints. The horse Buck rode in the first class was so adorable. I guess he was a bay roan, but in the light, he almost looked purple. Here he is, that cutey:

Yes, the photo is crappy (I was talking!) but you can
see his color and how cute he is anyway.

Buck referred to him as green, but I'm guessing I've never been on a horse as well trained as that one appeared to be.

Of course, I learned once again that I got the horse I needed.  I was just loving looking at the variety of horses, and imagining my future lottery winnings buying me one of each I saw, but the ones that drew my eye the most, the ones I thought looked best, were always beautiful bays with pretty heads and well-proportioned bodies. Even the flash of Friesians and palominos can't turn me away! Even better, the second class, Horsemanship II, was full of Quarter Horses of all different colors that looked like they were brothers and sisters of my girl! Pretty heads, kind, intelligent eyes, nice movement. These people knew what kind of horse is right.

When I took Skye to training soon after I got her, the older man trainer had taken one look at her and told me she had Doc Bar blood (a famous Quarter Horse stud apparently famous in the area) and looking at all these horses that looked like her, I would have to say there was something to it.  There were a couple of bays, a stunning black, a roan, and - be still my heart - a buckskin. (I flippin' love a buckskin, maybe as much as a bay.) Damn, those horses looked good. As someone from the barn pointed out to me, some of them looked almost as good as Skye. (I suspect they may have been teasing me, because believe it or not, some of them actually think their own horses look better than Skye. Crazy, I know.)

It was an interesting group taking the class as well. The majority of them appeared to be middle-aged, with a fair number of even older folks. There was one pretty old guy who was just a great horseman, and an older woman with long gray hair who was so good she must have been to one of these clinics before and practiced all year. Also, the guy (probably late 50's, early 60's) who had a gorgeous stocky palomino had a mustache so showy and long you could have hung Christmas ornaments from it.  I loved it. If you're gonna do something like that, go on and go all out, I say.

Sadly, I did not have the power left in my camera, nor the nerve, to
get a pic of the impressive mustache. I'm sorry. It was worth seeing.

A couple of the riders were younger women (30's maybe), and the group seemed almost evenly split between men and women, which seems unusual now that women dominate the horse world for the most part. It comforts me to know there are still a bunch of men out there loving horses. There was one guy that I dubbed JR Ewing because he reminded me of the TV character with his upright and almost cocky demeanor and perfectly pressed shirt and jeans and impressive chaps and cowboy hat. He was very good though, and his horse was impressive.

Another neat thing was that everyone had groomed their horses impeccably. The white on all the horses practically glowed, and the manes and tails were all clean and silky looking. The horses really were impressive, and I was thinking as I drove back to my in-laws that it made sense that people who cared enough about their riding and their horses to shell out the $700 or $800 to take the 3 day clinic would have awesome horses and cool tack, and that they would show off their horses when given the chance. So overall, it was just a very fun experience.  I will definitely be viewing as a spectator the next time he comes through.

To learn more about Buck Brannaman, his website is:

http://www.brannaman.com

To learn more about Buck, the documentary film about him, the website is:

http://www.buckthefilm.com

If you would like to buy me an early birthday present, you can get me this:

http://www.7clinics.com


Or you could just watch them yourself, I guess. I really think buying them for me would give you a warmer feeling though. 'Just sayin'.

I'm off to see that mare of mine. I'm sure she will be acting for me just like Buck's horses act for him soon. Or not. But we'll keep trying.

Time of TLC

I was so ready to get back to my schedule with Skye of getting her in shape with my new riding legs from camp, when - cue scary music from Jaws - ABSCESS! Because the wet summer this year, a lot of the horses at the barn have been getting abscesses in their hooves, but I thought Skye had escaped. Then, just as it finally started to dry out, it struck.

Suspicious

At first, she was favoring one hind leg, but not in a dramatic way.  We put her on a couple of days of bute in case it was muscle soreness, but when I checked her a couple of days later, she limped dramatically when I put her out. Erin said that sounded like an abscess, which the farrier confirmed a couple of days later. He tried to dig it out, but it was too deep. Then followed days of soaking her foot in Epsom salts, then wrapping it up in a poultice of  ichthammol, which looks like meconium (a baby's first very sticky poop but smells like real poop). The abscess would not emerge. Then the vet took a look at her and recommended a sugardine poultice, which was fun to mix. Though it didn't smell good, it smelled more like medicine which was a little better. A couple of days of that did work, and though we never saw a dramatic drainage, she returned to soundness.

All this time, she was kept in the stall at night, which she doesn't particularly like, or in the round pen with the twins, who are adorable together and almost as pretty as my Skye. The good thing that came out of her being with the twins is that it is apparent that there are few things Skye likes better than bossing younger horses around, which she did with relish. Yet they love her for it. There's a lesson in that, I think.

See, they're pretty! Tahoe is the larger one, Reno
is the smaller one that looks like a young Skye.
Not that I'm in love with her or anything. I'm
too much of a tough customer for that.
(But when I win the lottery, I'm totally buying her.)

I was a little frustrated that after I had developed my riding muscles at camp then couldn't ride my own horse, but once again, her injury was a good learning opportunity. I learned about a stubborn abscess and sugardine and soaking her foot. But I also learned again what a good horse I have. She was very patient with all the soaking and the wrapping and the staying in the stall that was required. I would let her out to graze and groom her, and I know she understood that I was taking care of her, even if she didn't like being confined for so long for me to do it. And of course, the whole time, she was very pretty.

Night Skye.

So she finally recovers from the abscess, then she looks like she has a hitch in her gait on the other hind leg on Tuesday evening. AAAGH! However, both the vet and the farrier have suggested shoeing all four feet (she was barefoot and ouchy when I got her, then I moved to front shoes) to make sure she is even once and for all. I have to just face the face that some horses need four shoes on rocky uneven ground. So she is now shod on all four feet, and finally, finally, she looked sound last night.

I was working her a little in the round pen just to see how she was moving, and she is a whole different horse at liberty than she is on the lunge line.  She is so much more high strung, prone to turning around a lot and cantering without being asked, but as soon as I bow a little, she comes right in to me. I love working her at liberty (she's so pretty running!), but I need her to chill out a little. I'll start on the line and move to free work so she can see the consistency. Of course I will have to remember to provide consistency.

So now she is sound, and I may actually get to ride my horse today.

A week or two ago in the last days before the boys started back to school, I went out to the Greenway to see my horse buddies out there. The boys and I made our usual trek to the farm stand to get peach slushies and fresh vegetables, then I shanghai'ed them into going to the Greenway. They really don't give a blue toot about horses, even those at the Greenway which they have ridden, so I had to put up with a lot of moaning and groaning about visiting horses. I know, weirdos, right?

Anyway, while we were there, we saw one of my  favorite boys, Whiskey! Enjoy him with me:

I had to shoot into the sun, but you can kind of see
the tornado marking on his face. Surely you
can feel the sweetness of this boy through the
screen.

We also found the yearlings (who may be closer to two or three) that I have seen as two and three old foals. They would not stay still enough to get a decent picture of, but they were very cute. I was especially happy to see that Wrangler, who'd been so tiny at first, looking healthy though he is a little horse.

Of course, I went and visited my main men Goliath and Billy Bob, but by that time the boys' whining about being there on one of their last days of freedom had reached a fever pitch, so I didn't even take a photo of them. Truth be told, I have approximately 10,000 pictures of them already anyway.

One of the 10,000 pictures of Goliath. Not a great picture again, but
I love that face anyway.

So now Skye and I are back in business. A couple of rides over the weekend, a lesson on Tuesday than straight on to getting ready for the Greenway show in November. Hopefully.