Emergency

Recent events around my home front motivate me to post this rather obvious piece of advice: Know your numbers.

By "Know your numbers" I mean know the phone numbers for: Your barn owner/manager, Farrier, Vet, Back-up Vet, and Last resort vet. Program these things into your cell phone. Know the location of good cell phone reception at your barn.

Write these numbers on your horse's stall.

Have all these numbers written down somewhere in the barn so that everyone there can benefit from the plain-sighted-ness of the information.

Because of the availability of all the above listed numbers, and some quick thinking my knucklehead horse was able to receive the very best possible emergency care this weekend. It wouldn't have happened without the team of people I assembled via phone, while I drove from Lincoln to my barn after I was informed about the incident. SO once you've gotten all your numbers programed and posted, find yourself a team of go-to's. You may need them, you may not but its important to have a plan.

We never think our horses will get injured, but the truth is, they do, and in the most inopportune times. There is no way to stop a horse from being a horse, or getting into trouble, all you can do is make yourself ready for the inevitable. I'm very lucky to have had my tools standing ready, I hope you will all consider doing the same.

Know your numbers
Build a team
Have a sturdy first-aid kit

I Think We'll Live

One of the great joys of horse ownership is realizing how "scary" common every day items truly are to your equine. A hose being drug through the arena, ladders against a wall, flower boxes, and fire. On Saturday morning I introduced Dobby to the notion of the "open flame." I'm happy to tell all of you, we both survived.

Initially, Dobby had his reservations. I mean, it's this flaming crackling thing with smoke. WEIRD! SCARY! He was jittery, but after about 15 min of riding with the fire burning in the pit outside he gave up the spooking, and surrendered to his curiosity. After a good long gander out the arena doors we moved on and had a nice quiet ride.

I'm a big believer in scaring the hell out of your horse. If I could find someone with a cannon, or a flame thrower I'd absolutely have them shoot the thing off while I was working with my horse. It's great for our partners to encounter new and different things, just as it is wonderful for we humans to travel and experience new and exciting things. It is my opinion that a "worldly" horse is a horse who has lead a full life, one who is assured of himself and can move through many sitations with ease.

What I'm leaving out here, is that depending on ths situation: the lawn chair, hose, ladder, open flame might be terrifying not only to the horse, but the rider as well. What we have to remember as riders in such situations, is that we are smart logical bipeds, who are very familiar with such things. By golly, we invented them! We've all felt the horror in the moment when our horse stops listening to us, and starts to hear only his instincts to run. It's okay, small circle...don't worry! Your horse should trust you enough to know when you are confident and secure standing next to a burning fire, he can be too.

Worst comes to worst, get off and look at the "monster" but don't give in to the fear. Ride away from the thing, and creep closer as your partner regains his confidence. There is no other situation in our human lives in which we would allow a garden hose to ruin our activity. Keep that thought close to you as your horse learns to trot over the hose, and when you hang your winter coat over that ladder against the wall.

Holdidays vs. Horses

Is it just my schedule, or are the holidays positively THE WORST time of year to be a horse owner. Seems like there is never any time to get out to the barn, and when you are there you're thinking of 10,000 other things you're supposed to be doing instead of futzing around on your horse.

Last night I went out to the barn and rode. While I looked at Dobby's mane, grown out longer than I like it, I thought "No, his mane can wait until 2008" and put my pulling comb down.

Real life and horse life are hard to balance anyway without the extra burden of the holidays. When I get stressed, I want to be at the barn but when I'm there I'm not getting the other stuff taken care of. Maybe I should talk to Cheri about getting wi-fi at LEC so I can shop online while Dobby cools out!

Let's Buy a Horse!

Our little Q-horse just isn't going to work for us. He goes back to his home this afternoon after 4 days on trial. I'm certain he'll make a great horse for someone, but I don't have the time and my mother doesn't have the know-how to make it happen for our family.

Green horse, green rider, per my instincts was a BAD COMBO. One of them has to know what their doing, otherwise it is misery for both of them. My mom is a little heart broken over the "loss" of "her" horse, but when it got down to it, no matter how cute the little fella was he didn't fit into my purchase parameters.

My mom's goal in horse ownership is to get out of the house come to the barn, and get on for a ride. She doesn't want to show, she doesn't even really want to canter. She just wants to ride. Her only requirements are: the horse is small (that's 17hh right?)and quiet. As far as I'm concerned, I don't care what it looks like or how it moves. All I'm interested in is finding a safe horse for my mom to ride that is within our price range.

To me, it is very important for people to ride horses they enjoy riding. After all, equestrian sports are supposed to be fun. Few of us riders are professional horse trainers obligated to ride green horses for our clients. My advice to all horse buyers is this, make sure it is someone (the horse) you enjoy working with. Think about your goals and if the horse you are looking at will help you achieve those goals. DO NOT let the owner, your friends or those big beautiful brown eyes persuade you into comitting yourself to a horse you are not confident you can handle.

Here are a few things to consider when buying:
Training (what does it do now?)
Mentality (does he/she have bad habits?)
Rideablity
Physical issues (sound? quality hooves? scarring etc)
Age
Price
Goals for Horse
Potential
Looks

And just because you're on a tight budget, doesn't mean you can't find a great horse. Take your time, ride the horses. If you can, get a horse on a trial basis. If you're serious about your prospective buy, get a vet check. Above all, be pragmatic and honest with yourself.

All horses are beautiful, and there are plenty out there, so don't rush into buying if something isn't as close to perfect as possible. Don't invest your money and time into some one with a problem you not sure you can handle. Don't buy a horse simply off breeding (unless its gonna be a brood mare), or looks or because your trainer can ride it. Spend the time to find the horse that best fits your needs, and you will be a happy rider.

Mothers and Daughters and Horses OH MY!

23 years into my career as a dressage rider, I come to find out my mother has wanted to ride this whole time.

Mom found a little black quarter horse he's not quite ready for prime time, but she likes him. I picked him up last night, now he's on trial with me for the next couple weeks. He can be young, but he's got to be kind. I don't care about looks, movement anything. Any horse my mom calls her own must be quiet. In spite of all the years on the side-lines my mother is a little out of touch with certain realities of the horse business, last night she was a little hesistant.

My initial thoughts are that a green-is horse, and a green rider is an awful idea. There is a lingering part of me that thinks maybe it will be okay, and they can both learn together. Of course it will be a lot of work for me to teach the two of them. The horse needs to learn, the rider needs to learn, and I'm the bridge bringing them together. Maybe though, it will be good. My mom and I will both learn how to communicate with this fella, and maybe, just maybe communication between mother and daughter will improve. Horses do have a way of breaking down barriers.

We haven't decided yet if we're keeping him yet. My mom hasn't decided how dedicated she will be to her riding. All she knows at this point is that he's cute and she really wants to give this a shot. Both of my parents have supported me in my riding all these years, even when I quit. My mother has been especially wonderful, I owe this to her after all that she's done I can share this with her.

For those of you who know my mom, wish me luck!

Pop Equi-z - Your Eye Q

The farrier asks you to fetch the "walleyed" horse from the barn. Which one do you retrieve?

A. the one peering at you thru the knothole in the stall wall

B. the one with the whites of his eyes showing

C. the one with a blue eye

D. the one with small eyes



I shall reveal the answer later..........

The Equine Gourmet

I bought Dobby some new treats from Smartpak. I ordered him some Hoofsnax, a cookie that is enriched with biotin. I thought this was a brilliant idea, Dobby LOVES cookies so we may as well use reward time as a booster to our hooves.



I got my cookies in the mail the other day, they looked good! I opened the bag, and man, they smelled good! Like cinnamon cookies, I had a hard time not eating one or two of them myself. I was sure Dobby was going to be gobbling these suckers up left and right. Hoofsnax, the new peppermint.

So last night I greeted Dob in his stall with these new cookies, and like the pig he is, he ate them down, but afterwards he made a face, and started licking his stall door. We went on to have a nice little ride together, afterwards when I went to reward his efforts with more cookies I was met with closed lips.

He didn't want them, doesn't like them and there is no way possible to get this food snob horse of mine to eat his healthy Hoofsnax. I even tried to shove them into the side of the mouth, using the human logic that if he just gave them another little taste he'd come around.

Nope, in the side of the mouth, jaw opens to drop cookies on the floor. Apparently, Dobby has gotten spoiled from all the homemade cookies he's been eating. We get those from our Grand-momma-Amma (Jamee's mom), and they are apparently the best.

Luckily, Dob's neighbor Reggae likes the cookies, so I'll just give them to his mom!

Protecting Your Horses

I just read a disturbing article about an alarming number of horse thefts in Oklahoma. Not something that needs to be shared with this group, but the article listed a very interesting resource:

Stolen Horses International

This is a non-profit that aids in the recovery of stolen horses. Although their website is a little difficult to navigate, they have a lot of interesting things:

1. Idaho Alerts (the horse world's version of an Amber Alert)


2. Tips on keeping your horse safe


3. Assistance in locating your stolen horse

Reading the article reminded me of something I read after Hurricane Katrina. That article stated that a large number of the displaced, deceased, or missing horses in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina were indeed micro chipped, but the owner information never made it into the national registry. So those microchips could only trace as far as the veterinary clinic that bought that chip with that number. Lesson: if you have your horse micro chipped, be sure to complete ALL of the paperwork for registration. If you buy a horse with a microchip, be sure the NATIONAL REGISTRY info gets updated.

You can find additional information on Equine Disaster Preparation on the AAEP website.

Just check it out sometime. Oh yes, and keep your fingers crossed that even though you bookmarked the NetPosse site, on your Internet program, you NEVER have to use it!