Just not with the right horse - or TOEH anyways. My roundpen is full of snow, so Mr TOEH might go along with everyone else and learn how to haul sled. Will be an interesting venture for him anyways.
B and R got some work today. A is a practically perfect horse anyways, so she doesn't mind living in the lap of luxury while I torture B & R with such horrific things as longeing and rope desensitization. It is amazing how B, when she starts to get totally out of control scared, can come right back to focus just by hearing the click of my clicker. She stops what she is doing, comes back to reality and perks up like "grain?!". Sweet thing. :)
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Winter hasn't killed me yet...
I promise, promise, promise, I will have something interesting to say at some point in the next week.
In the meantime, bask in the beauty of my Miss B chowing down on some hay this morning.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Nothing amiss...
I know it's been nearly a month since I last wrote an entry, but I'm afraid that the cold and snow have dampened both my ambition and anyone's ability to do a whole lot of riding. One of my biggest fears has always been footing in the winter - especially on a green horse who is still trying to figure out balance and the like, to add a slippery step to that and you're just asking for trouble.
I walked out to my roundpen through snow up to my knees yesterday to see if there was any possibility of taking R up there to longe him, and the footing was fine but it was such a trek to get up there through the snow, I thought I would wait until I get a chance to take the tractor up and clean it all out.
Winter, for those of you who don't keep your horses at home, proves to be such a difficult time of year for farmers in general. Everything is twice as hard because you're wading in snow, your water is freezing, your labor is more intense because your animals are in out of the weather. Add to this that the brakes on our pickup truck have gone and we're now without a truck. We have been hauling 5 bags of oats (lasts us about a week) in the back of our 2004 Chevy Venture for the last couple of weeks, and our hay supplier is close so we haul that with the tractor.
My father works for the government plowing roads and we have gotten a ridiculous amount of snow over the last couple of days. I would hazard to guess that we have already gotten more snow this year than we got all winter last year! Anyhow, when we do get big storms, he sometimes has to work up to 20 hours straight, and that leaves a lot on the rest of us here. I can drive the tractor but I can't maneuver it for snow removal (he promises to show me how this weekend).
Last night, we were catching up. We were hit with two huge storms last week and he spent a lot of time cleaning up the residual and keeping the roads clear. We ran to get oats from our supplier, who luckily agreed to meet us at 7:30pm. At 9:30, when we got back, we had to go and get a couple of round bales. It could have waited until this morning if we hadn't been expecting a big storm, which we are getting now, and dad went to work about an hour ago. We ran into a big crowd of skiiers coming off of the local ski mountain, and lots of folks passed us. Dad does not have a cab on his tractor, and it is hard to see his hazard lights around the round bales he carries in the bucket, so I went ahead with the Venture with my four ways on. We only got up to a top speed of about 20km per hour. It took us about 45 minutes to move two bales. Man can dad ever use the bucket of the tractor! I watched him load a round bale into the shallow bucket of his tractor, tipping and rolling it until it settled in on its own. Quite impressive!!!
Today, I have to run the hose out to the barn and fill all the water barrels before the snow gets too terribly deep. I think I've done something to my back unloading grain last night so I am a little sore and looking for sympathy. None to be found! R needs a grooming but there is so much to do for chores that the ponies rarely get the extra attention that they want in the winter!
I walked out to my roundpen through snow up to my knees yesterday to see if there was any possibility of taking R up there to longe him, and the footing was fine but it was such a trek to get up there through the snow, I thought I would wait until I get a chance to take the tractor up and clean it all out.
Winter, for those of you who don't keep your horses at home, proves to be such a difficult time of year for farmers in general. Everything is twice as hard because you're wading in snow, your water is freezing, your labor is more intense because your animals are in out of the weather. Add to this that the brakes on our pickup truck have gone and we're now without a truck. We have been hauling 5 bags of oats (lasts us about a week) in the back of our 2004 Chevy Venture for the last couple of weeks, and our hay supplier is close so we haul that with the tractor.
My father works for the government plowing roads and we have gotten a ridiculous amount of snow over the last couple of days. I would hazard to guess that we have already gotten more snow this year than we got all winter last year! Anyhow, when we do get big storms, he sometimes has to work up to 20 hours straight, and that leaves a lot on the rest of us here. I can drive the tractor but I can't maneuver it for snow removal (he promises to show me how this weekend).
Last night, we were catching up. We were hit with two huge storms last week and he spent a lot of time cleaning up the residual and keeping the roads clear. We ran to get oats from our supplier, who luckily agreed to meet us at 7:30pm. At 9:30, when we got back, we had to go and get a couple of round bales. It could have waited until this morning if we hadn't been expecting a big storm, which we are getting now, and dad went to work about an hour ago. We ran into a big crowd of skiiers coming off of the local ski mountain, and lots of folks passed us. Dad does not have a cab on his tractor, and it is hard to see his hazard lights around the round bales he carries in the bucket, so I went ahead with the Venture with my four ways on. We only got up to a top speed of about 20km per hour. It took us about 45 minutes to move two bales. Man can dad ever use the bucket of the tractor! I watched him load a round bale into the shallow bucket of his tractor, tipping and rolling it until it settled in on its own. Quite impressive!!!
Today, I have to run the hose out to the barn and fill all the water barrels before the snow gets too terribly deep. I think I've done something to my back unloading grain last night so I am a little sore and looking for sympathy. None to be found! R needs a grooming but there is so much to do for chores that the ponies rarely get the extra attention that they want in the winter!
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Catching Up!
Oh my goodness, I hadn't realized it's been over a month since I last posted here. I am recovering from the sprained ankle very well - it still causes me some pain and I haven't ridden again yet, but there is little to no pain when I walk, just when flexing - which is where my riding apprehension comes from. I really don't want to be riding a horse that has no training with an ankle that might be compromised, but I am going so stir crazy, I think I just might have to on my upcoming two days off.
My mother rode TOEH for his fourth ride, and took him off of the longe line. He did very well, moving off her leg and how she directed. I am very impressed with him. We have been toying with the idea of selling him over the last little while, but I would just as soon see us geld him and keep him as a riding horse, since he is so quiet (of course, after a couple dozen rides, he might change his mind about how quiet he is, but for now, of course).
Christmas treated us all well here at the farm, but we're tired. I am on my seventh day in a stretch of working at my "real" job. I will get two days off and then work another seven day stretch - it is really pushing me to my limit strength-wise, and is hard on us doing barn chores. Sometimes it seems like there is so little free time, that it is all spent doing work (cleaning stalls, running water, moving hay, etc) and there is no time left over for the training portions of things.
I had hoped to keep this blog specifically about TOEH, but I find it hard to keep my other horses out of anything - much as they find it hard to keep themselves out of my back pockets when I am spending any time with them. I suppose now would be a good time to introduce them, and they'll go by letters, of course.
I have:
A - "A" is a coming five year old filly. She is a half sister to R, via their dam line, and is very special to me. She is about 14.2-14.3hh tall on a good day and built like a brick house. She has about a half dozen rides under her belt and already walks, jogs, and lopes in both directions. She has been set a little on the back burner since I got B.
B - "B" is a coming four year old draft cross filly I acquired this past summer. In light of the loss of A & R's dam, I was looking for something to help me heal and B showed up. She was not at all what I was looking for at the time - she was the exact opposite, in fact, but she came home with me anyways. I saw her at about 10:30am one morning and in less than 12 hours, she had been delivered to my barn. B, at three years of age, had never been handled - I don't think she had even ever been inside of a barn. She was starved nearly to death a couple of homes before I got her, and had a foal that died immediately after birth because they were so emaciated. She is coming well.
R - "R" is a coming two year old colt, half brother to A. He is a son of TOEH and stands about 14.3hh already. He is going to be one big, leggy, flashy boy, and I can't wait to see him grow up.
-------------------
Back to Christmas, now that we have taken that brief interlude. Because of the nature of B's long mane and tail, she was gifted (or rather I was gifted for HER), a set of beautiful bright pink matching tailbag and manebags. I plan to put them on her tomorrow when I am off of work and take some pictures. I'm sure she'll be terrified by the bright things flapping in her peripheral vision but, as luck would have it, we are working on desensitization anyways, sooooo... there you go. R was gifted a brand new, "big boy" sized royal blue lycra hood and matching blanket for when he makes his show debuts next year. I won't put it on him because he is so scruffy and scuzzy right now - he will definitely have to have a bath first.
Anyhow, hopefully I will have more interesting news to report on TOEH's progress after some time off and a little bit of sleep!
My mother rode TOEH for his fourth ride, and took him off of the longe line. He did very well, moving off her leg and how she directed. I am very impressed with him. We have been toying with the idea of selling him over the last little while, but I would just as soon see us geld him and keep him as a riding horse, since he is so quiet (of course, after a couple dozen rides, he might change his mind about how quiet he is, but for now, of course).
Christmas treated us all well here at the farm, but we're tired. I am on my seventh day in a stretch of working at my "real" job. I will get two days off and then work another seven day stretch - it is really pushing me to my limit strength-wise, and is hard on us doing barn chores. Sometimes it seems like there is so little free time, that it is all spent doing work (cleaning stalls, running water, moving hay, etc) and there is no time left over for the training portions of things.
I had hoped to keep this blog specifically about TOEH, but I find it hard to keep my other horses out of anything - much as they find it hard to keep themselves out of my back pockets when I am spending any time with them. I suppose now would be a good time to introduce them, and they'll go by letters, of course.
I have:
A - "A" is a coming five year old filly. She is a half sister to R, via their dam line, and is very special to me. She is about 14.2-14.3hh tall on a good day and built like a brick house. She has about a half dozen rides under her belt and already walks, jogs, and lopes in both directions. She has been set a little on the back burner since I got B.
B - "B" is a coming four year old draft cross filly I acquired this past summer. In light of the loss of A & R's dam, I was looking for something to help me heal and B showed up. She was not at all what I was looking for at the time - she was the exact opposite, in fact, but she came home with me anyways. I saw her at about 10:30am one morning and in less than 12 hours, she had been delivered to my barn. B, at three years of age, had never been handled - I don't think she had even ever been inside of a barn. She was starved nearly to death a couple of homes before I got her, and had a foal that died immediately after birth because they were so emaciated. She is coming well.
R - "R" is a coming two year old colt, half brother to A. He is a son of TOEH and stands about 14.3hh already. He is going to be one big, leggy, flashy boy, and I can't wait to see him grow up.
-------------------
Back to Christmas, now that we have taken that brief interlude. Because of the nature of B's long mane and tail, she was gifted (or rather I was gifted for HER), a set of beautiful bright pink matching tailbag and manebags. I plan to put them on her tomorrow when I am off of work and take some pictures. I'm sure she'll be terrified by the bright things flapping in her peripheral vision but, as luck would have it, we are working on desensitization anyways, sooooo... there you go. R was gifted a brand new, "big boy" sized royal blue lycra hood and matching blanket for when he makes his show debuts next year. I won't put it on him because he is so scruffy and scuzzy right now - he will definitely have to have a bath first.
Anyhow, hopefully I will have more interesting news to report on TOEH's progress after some time off and a little bit of sleep!
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
And this is the thanks I get!
I finally got a chance to get out to the barn tonight after a week of being stuck in the house, more or less on my butt, crutching to work, and then crutching home to bed. They let us leave work early (with no pay of course) since we weren't very busy so instead of working til 1am, I got a hankering to go to the barn and agreed to go.
Dad wanted to show me the light fixture he had repaired over my yearling stallion prospect's stall so now I have a good view of just what kind of naughty young stallion things he's doing in his stall (just kidding! He's a perfect angel!), so since I had a buddy to come with me, I went out.
The yearling colt gave me the most affectionate, thorough greeting (he is very demonstrative with affection and greets me by calling everytime he sees me), got a great deal of scratches and loving from me. My project mare even gave me a nod when I poked my head in her stall - she is not interested enough in people to want to actually come over to me and be friendly, but she did acknowledge my presence and act like she thought she might come to visit me. My four year old stood stock still while I crutched into her tie stall and rubbed her all over.
When I got to TOEH's stall, he had his hind end to the door and was eating hay in the back. He swung his head around with his blind eye toward me to "look" at me. I moved to the other side of his rear, and he turned to look at me with his good eye. No interest in visiting. I couldn't turn him around from the doorway - despite much vocal pleading and even attempting to direct him with a crutch (quiet, I told you!), he just was not interested at all!
Stupid men!
The good news is I am due off these crutches Sunday/Monday depending on how I feel. Am going to schedule a checkup with my family doctor and see what she says and HOPEFULLY I can get five or ten minutes of saddle time in early next week, play it by ear from there on out. I MISS RIDING!
Dad wanted to show me the light fixture he had repaired over my yearling stallion prospect's stall so now I have a good view of just what kind of naughty young stallion things he's doing in his stall (just kidding! He's a perfect angel!), so since I had a buddy to come with me, I went out.
The yearling colt gave me the most affectionate, thorough greeting (he is very demonstrative with affection and greets me by calling everytime he sees me), got a great deal of scratches and loving from me. My project mare even gave me a nod when I poked my head in her stall - she is not interested enough in people to want to actually come over to me and be friendly, but she did acknowledge my presence and act like she thought she might come to visit me. My four year old stood stock still while I crutched into her tie stall and rubbed her all over.
When I got to TOEH's stall, he had his hind end to the door and was eating hay in the back. He swung his head around with his blind eye toward me to "look" at me. I moved to the other side of his rear, and he turned to look at me with his good eye. No interest in visiting. I couldn't turn him around from the doorway - despite much vocal pleading and even attempting to direct him with a crutch (quiet, I told you!), he just was not interested at all!
Stupid men!
The good news is I am due off these crutches Sunday/Monday depending on how I feel. Am going to schedule a checkup with my family doctor and see what she says and HOPEFULLY I can get five or ten minutes of saddle time in early next week, play it by ear from there on out. I MISS RIDING!
More on the Indoor-Miniature Horse (Like "indoor miniature Christmas lights"?)
Just a couple of other links, I don't have time to comment on right now, including a cute picture of proposed guide pony.
From ABC News
From Times Argus
I will have more to say later!
Also, I found this link about a white humpback whale in the waters... the pictures are really neat - I know this is supposed to be a horsey blog, but I might have to comment on this a little later!
Moby Dick??
From ABC News
From Times Argus
I will have more to say later!
Also, I found this link about a white humpback whale in the waters... the pictures are really neat - I know this is supposed to be a horsey blog, but I might have to comment on this a little later!
Moby Dick??
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
And now the REST of the story...
Since I am out of comission to do anything with TOEH (and still waiting for someone to fill in with me -- granted we don't have an indoor arena and we just got a few inches of snow!), I decided to post some horsey news.
While it's nothing new for people to think "guide horses" are a good idea - this is an interesting concept. A disabled woman petitioning to keep her "helper horse" in her apartment.
There are hundreds of non horsey people (or people who I like to say are "romantically involved" with horses, and may own a horse but really have no real sense in their brains) who seem to think that having a "guide horse" is cute, acceptable, and even practical (WTH?!). Those of us who have seen the dynamics of a horse laying down, getting up, defecating and urinating, the amount of forage that they need, and their nature in general understand that this is a terrible idea. I think the people who run the Guide Horse Foundation frankly should be ashamed of themselves for subjecting livestock to all of this.
There are a couple of specific reasons why having a helper or guide horse is nothing like having a guide or helper dog:
1) A guide dog is easily able to fold itself up and put itself under a table, chair, sit quietly by your side. The dynamics (and size!) of a miniature horse both laying down and rising to a standing position don't really favor laying under a table or chair. They don't have the ability to "crawl" or push themselves under a piece of furniture. They don't sit.
2) While the ability to teach a horse when to defecate and urinate seems to be popular among racehorses, etc - it is not easily trained and most horses do not exhibit this behaviour. A horse does not have the ability to "ask" to go out.
3) Horses are significantly less "portable" than dogs. While some backyard hicks (like our family!) have had horses in the back of their cars, it's not safe to say that they will easily be able to go up and down stairs into city buses, up into apartments, or through revolving doors. FORGET about escalators!
4) Specific to this story - an apartment is no spot for a horse, no matter how large or small. I can't even begin to imagine the sanitary nightmare that apartment would be once the horse has lived there for a week. Even IF it could be trained to defecate in ONE spot only, where is she going to put it? Even IF she could keep it there, imagine the bugs infesting her apartment from the bales of hay she would have to store - might be small but still eats!
5) The people who generally think that this is acceptable often are not horse people to begin with (otherwise, I doubt they would think it was that acceptable at all!), and so may not provide the care and husbandry that an equine requires - nevermind access to a farrier (in your apartment?! (another wth?!)) or equine veterinarian in the innards of the city.
6) The dynamics of affection with a horse are often very different than those of a dog. While a dog may eagerly snuggle up to you, lick your hand, and generally make you feel wanted, depending on the personality of a horse, you very seldom get that kind of 'pocket puppy' attitude that this woman seems to want.
"Cooper insists the 100-pound tobiano pinto can be house-trained and said it "just makes me so happy whenever I'm around him. I'm not lonely anymore.""
If it is loneliness that this woman is concerned about, I can name horses to fill 100 hands that don't want you to know how much they appreciate you!
It is interesting to see the quotes at the bottom of the article from the Guide Horse Foundation... it is slightly more plausible to imagine a horse as a blind person's guide - in a rural area, what I think this woman needs is a dog for companionship and an electric wheelchair!
While it's nothing new for people to think "guide horses" are a good idea - this is an interesting concept. A disabled woman petitioning to keep her "helper horse" in her apartment.
There are hundreds of non horsey people (or people who I like to say are "romantically involved" with horses, and may own a horse but really have no real sense in their brains) who seem to think that having a "guide horse" is cute, acceptable, and even practical (WTH?!). Those of us who have seen the dynamics of a horse laying down, getting up, defecating and urinating, the amount of forage that they need, and their nature in general understand that this is a terrible idea. I think the people who run the Guide Horse Foundation frankly should be ashamed of themselves for subjecting livestock to all of this.
There are a couple of specific reasons why having a helper or guide horse is nothing like having a guide or helper dog:
1) A guide dog is easily able to fold itself up and put itself under a table, chair, sit quietly by your side. The dynamics (and size!) of a miniature horse both laying down and rising to a standing position don't really favor laying under a table or chair. They don't have the ability to "crawl" or push themselves under a piece of furniture. They don't sit.
2) While the ability to teach a horse when to defecate and urinate seems to be popular among racehorses, etc - it is not easily trained and most horses do not exhibit this behaviour. A horse does not have the ability to "ask" to go out.
3) Horses are significantly less "portable" than dogs. While some backyard hicks (like our family!) have had horses in the back of their cars, it's not safe to say that they will easily be able to go up and down stairs into city buses, up into apartments, or through revolving doors. FORGET about escalators!
4) Specific to this story - an apartment is no spot for a horse, no matter how large or small. I can't even begin to imagine the sanitary nightmare that apartment would be once the horse has lived there for a week. Even IF it could be trained to defecate in ONE spot only, where is she going to put it? Even IF she could keep it there, imagine the bugs infesting her apartment from the bales of hay she would have to store - might be small but still eats!
5) The people who generally think that this is acceptable often are not horse people to begin with (otherwise, I doubt they would think it was that acceptable at all!), and so may not provide the care and husbandry that an equine requires - nevermind access to a farrier (in your apartment?! (another wth?!)) or equine veterinarian in the innards of the city.
6) The dynamics of affection with a horse are often very different than those of a dog. While a dog may eagerly snuggle up to you, lick your hand, and generally make you feel wanted, depending on the personality of a horse, you very seldom get that kind of 'pocket puppy' attitude that this woman seems to want.
"Cooper insists the 100-pound tobiano pinto can be house-trained and said it "just makes me so happy whenever I'm around him. I'm not lonely anymore.""
If it is loneliness that this woman is concerned about, I can name horses to fill 100 hands that don't want you to know how much they appreciate you!
It is interesting to see the quotes at the bottom of the article from the Guide Horse Foundation... it is slightly more plausible to imagine a horse as a blind person's guide - in a rural area, what I think this woman needs is a dog for companionship and an electric wheelchair!
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