This morning Vicki rode on the float with Meadowlake 4-H and took 2 of the baby Lamanchas, Onyx and Sapphire with her. Alex rode Precious.
Category Archives: horse
The sign
Our new house. Sometimes things happen for a reason.
Family time
We have a lot going on with moving, but this evening we carved out an hour for a family trail ride. It was the first trail ride since my accident in January. This one was much less eventful, which is a good thing.
A busy, happy Easter
This morning the very excited kids searched the yard for all the eggs left by the Easter Bunny. The it was time for quick chores and off to church.
After lunch, the whole family headed outside to work on Spring horse paddock cleaning. Amanda was pretty worn out and wanted to come in and watch some Baby Einstein. She is at the age of refusing to nap but still needs it. Today, she was tired enough to fall asleep sitting up during the show.
Alex has been learning to lunge his pony before riding and Vicki is working on balance riding bareback.
Anna and I are even going to have time to ride and hopefully clean the tack room before evening chores and dinner.
We should all sleep well tonight
Happy Easter!
Training Calli #3
8 weeks after my accident, I finally got back in the saddle yesterday afternoon. While I am still having some issues (specifically migraines) from the concussion, Calli and I needed to get back to work.
I started with groom her in the aisle way of the barn. One problem we have, is Calli doesn’t respond well to pressure. When she is cross tied (or tied in a stall or to a trailer…), if she raises her head the halter puts pressure on her poll and she freaks out. Her immediate response is to pop her head back with enough force to break something. Sometimes the sacrificial pieces of twine holding the ties break. Sometimes the leather strap on her halter breaks (3 so far). Regardless, it is not the type of response I desire in a horse, especially around kids. As soon as she is free, she is fine, and rarely tries to run out of the barn. So, for this grooming and tacking up, I let her stand free in the barn. I held on to the lead rope (careful not to let it tangle my legs or wrap around my hand in case she bolted). She seemed much less stressed.
Then it was off to the arena. The farm has been muddy and Calli hasn’t been worked in 8 weeks. Anna did about 10 minutes with her on the lunge line. I was concerned that the circling might be more than I could handle and didn’t want to overdo things. It was good to lunge her first because I was able to watch her move and see what I need to work on. And she had some energy to work off as well.
Then, it was time to get in the saddle. I was a bit apprehensive. While I have been thrown, and I have been injured before, I have never suffered an injury from the horses that has been as lasting as the concussion. Once I got on, we just worked on some walking, turning, and stopping. I tried to back her, but she still doesn’t understand. I need to study teaching a horse to back. I did a few minutes of trot work and that was enough for the first day. I spent 15 minutes in the saddle, and I really needed that to reconnect with my horse.
Observations and plans:
1. Calli is very stiff, in particular to the left. I need to spend a lot of time on suppling exercises and I think we are going to have a chiropractor come do an evaluation.
2. I need to learn how to teach her backing. This is a real concern because when out on trails, sometimes she needs to back instead of turning.
3. I have to focus on encouraging impulsion from behind and collection. Right now, she doesn’t try to use her rear end to propel us forward. This is critical to proceed with jumping training this year. One thing that will be helpful is working on hills. We ride trails that have some decent hills and that forces her to use her hind end going up the hills.
I was very encouraged by the ride. We seem to have a connection (that Anna does not share with Calli) and work well together. I will need to be patient and consistent in the training process.
Detoxification
Recently, I was having a conversation with a trimming client about detoxification for her horse. I will freely admit this is something new to me that we haven’t been doing with our own herd. Bentonite clay is primarily used for detox in horses. I have been doing some reading about detox and was surprised to find information about potential benefits in reducing ulcers through the use of bentonite clay. This is of particular interest to me since my 5yo TB mare is a windsucker, which is commonly accompanied by ulcers (enter chicken or the egg discussion here). We have been using Aloe Vera Gel added to her feed for about 6 months, however, we have not noticed a significant change in her propensity to windsuck as soon as she is put into a stall. With all the detox benefits and potential ulcer benefits, I think it is time for me to order some bentonite clay. I might even add some to my coffee to get the benefits for myself!
Feel free to read more about this at these resources. If you find others, please leave a comment here.
detox info: http://www.tribeequus.com/detox.html
relating ulcers: http://www.equinewellnessmagazine.com/art/aV43_16.php
bentonite clay info: http://www.californiaearthminerals.com/science/clay-minerals-research.php?16
Life on the fringe
Anna and I frequently find ourselves “on the fringe” of society. What I mean by that is, we have moved away from much of what most Americans consider mainstream. Why? Primarily because the more we educate ourselves on decisions, the less we trust “corporate America”. While we are very confident in our choices, we are always willing to learn more. However, there must be actual factual background for choices and not just because it is what everyone else does. Here are some examples:
Goat milk. We chose to get dairy goats with the sole reason of using them for milk for our family. While the stats vary according to the source, in general, it is estimated that about 70% of the world’s population consumes goat milk. In the US, we drink goat milk, and we are on the fringe.
Raw milk. Not only is the milk we drink from a goat, it is UNPASTEURIZED! That’s right. We just filter and chill the milk. Do you think that the 70% of the world drinking goat milk have pasteurization machines in the kitchen? I completely understand why pasteurization exists – to cleanse milk of bacteria/contamination that is likely to be present on large-scale productions. However, it is very clear that unpasteurized milk can be safely produced and consumed on small-scale operations (like a family farm).
Raising our own meat. Our kids know the rabbits in the cages will be raised as meat. The chickens will give us eggs, and then they too will be dinner. You know what? They are not traumatized by this, because they don’t have illusions that meat comes from a mysterious factory in another place. Our children understand the life cycle better than some adults I have met. Choosing to raise meat, that isn’t injected with antibiotics, somehow puts us on the fringe. About 100 years ago we would have been considered normal.
Barefoot horses. Facts: horses in the wild do not have shoes, do not get trimmed by humans, do not exhibit many of the pathologies and hoof problems in domestic horses, and live longer. Yet, with all that reality, somehow Americans have become convinced that barefoot horses are the oddballs! I seriously have to defend the choice to leave shoes off or remove shoes from horses! Why don’t owners who have shod horses have to defend their choice since that is the unnatural path? Owning horses without metal plates nailed to hooves puts us on the fringe.
Rejecting chemical fertilizers. We choose to not use chemicals in our gardens, on our grass, in the pastures, or otherwise around the farm whenever possible. I’m not saying there is never a time and place for that, but we don’t feel the default choice should be a chemical. Organic practices put us on the fringe.
TV shows. There are some tv shows that I will not watch based on principle. I have never, and will never, watch American Idol, solely due to the name. I refuse to encourage or support the idolization of individuals in society. And yes, it extends way beyond tv. I heard there was a football game on tv yesterday. I didn’t watch it, because I am disappointed in the pedestal our society places professional athletes upon; the same athletes who are frequently poor role models.
Cooking. We (usually Anna but me too) cook food. I mean with actual ingredients. For example, Anna made cookies, and it didn’t involve a single box with 1 egg and water. Our kids look forward to special occasions because it means they might get to have a soda (there are none in the house). Dinner at a restaurant is exciting to the kids. McDonald’s is a rare treat. Sure, there are some quick and easy dinner options in the cabinet or freezer, but they are the exception around here. And by the way, we threw out all our non-stick and only cook in cast iron or stainless steel.
Church. We go to church regularly. This creates conflicts with horse shows, goa t shows, kid activities etc. People are surprised when you say Sunday morning is a conflict because you go to church. When did going to church become something for those on the fringe?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not judging those who differ in opinions. I just can’t quite grasp how society seems to have shifted so much, that what was mainstream 100 years ago, has left us on the fringe…
A new home for Milo
Next weekend, Milo will be leaving us to go to a new home. The young woman who will be taking him has more time for the training he needs. While we only had him about 2 months, we were able to make significant improvements on his hooves. I just hope they allow him to continue to heal without shoeing. He has also calmed a lot since we brought him home.
The reason we decided not to keep him is, we really don’t need multiple horses for adults and we have plenty of projects. If we are going to spend the money to keep extra horses, they need to be suitable for the kids to ride and grow with. Milo didn’t fit that requirement, so we found him a good home.
Ok, so it’s a concussion
Yesterday, during a trail ride, I got thrown off Calli. You can read about how it happened in Training Calli #2. Yesterday evening, I had a mild headache but no significant issues. This morning, my headache had shifted from the back of my head more towards the front. When I turned my head quickly to the side, it would make me a little dizzy/disoriented and I was having a little occasional nausea. So, I went to the Dr.
Diagnosis: concussion.
Recommendation: don’t get thrown off horses. Also sending me to get a rain CT scan to make sure there is no internal bleeding.
I am replacing my Tipperary helmet, even though I can’t see damage to the structure.
Every ride, every time. That is the name of a video in Pony Club about helmet safety and a mantra we live by on our farm. No one rides a horse at our place without a helmet. This is why.
Training Calli #2
This week, all the glorious snow melted, leaving nasty annoying MUD! We have been working on catching up on manure management (it’s amazing how much the snow hides) which always takes up more daylight than expected. This afternoon was set aside as a trail riding day. We had some friends come over with 3 of their horses, Alex rode Precious, Anna rode a guest horse, and I rode Calli. One of the friends rode Milo. Vicki was at a friend’s house, so Devil and King stayed behind. The ride turned out to be a lot shorter (distance wise) than expected, which I will explain below, but I was actually in the saddle for at least 45 minutes.
First the good. Calli was the lead horse for the whole ride. That is a significant step forward for her. There were 3 other horses in the group that she had never seen before. Usually, she is very nervous about unknown horses behind her. Today, she seemed agitated that we were not pushing the pace enough and definitely wasn’t afraid of the horses behind her. She did, however, make sure they knew not to travel too close by pinning her ears and swishing her tail.
Another big step for us was, I rode Calli without her Glove boots. We rode across gravel and she didn’t take a single soft step or try to avoid the pressure. While I am not quite satisfied with the concavity in her hooves and think she will continue to improve, I am very happy with the improvement so far.
Calli didn’t run away when I was unsaddled. Which, leads to the bad.
The bad. When we got out into a big open field, all the horses got nervous. In fact, Alex couldn’t get Precious to cross the boundary from the trail to the field. As I was watching Alex work through that with Precious, Calli started to focus on something across the field, probably 200+ yards away. I am guessing it was deer just in the edge of the woods. I didn’t see exactly what set them off, but I think Calli went first. She spooked and reared up. Since we were on a slope, I already had Calli standing uphill while I watched Alex. As Calli’s head came up, I came forward in the saddle to prevent pulling us over backwards on the hill (I have a history of King going over backward on top of me, so I think I over-react when I think the horse might go over backwards). The result was, Calli’s head slammed into my jaw, which stunned me severely enough that I didn’t have a chance of staying in the saddle. I recall trying to keep my seat, but I was just stunned enough that I couldn’t (like when a boxer gets hit on the jaw and slowly hits the mat). Of course, the ground provided another impact. I’m not exactly clear on how I hit, only that I think it was a left shoulder roll, into a lower back/tailbone impact, followed by a head slam. I wanted to jump right up and grab Calli, but I was still stunned and it took a minute. When I looked around, 3 other people were also dismounted, but it was because as all the other horses started to spook, they were able to emergency dismount and land on their feet. Calli didn’t run off, and stood quietly for me to remount. She looked a little confused about why I was off. I’m a little sore, but don’t think there is any significant damage.