Monthly Archives: December 2017
The Middle Horse Finger from Fancy
Cisco and Fancy played at liberty with me in the round pen today. They ran around while I looked at Cisco’s back feet. He is still dragging both back toes. It occurred to me that maybe he needs to self-collect. I got the barrels in place with a space to run in between. Cisco scoffed at that and jumped. Fancy went to the outside through a space I thought too small for a horse. I gave the non verbal body signal to stop running which Cisco obeyed. However, Fancy’s nose was looking outside the round pen so she got to run a lot more until she obeyed my cue sign to stop and turn to me.
I went over to set up the barrels so there was no space between and I added the mounting block as a jump obstacle. As soon as my back was turned, Fancy comes to help me. We got it set and I told both of them to go. Cisco jumped and Fancy went through the small space between the fence and the barrel. I forgot to close up that space. They went around twice and I gave the cue to stop and turn towards me. Again, Fancy missed my signal and got to go extra rounds.
I fixed the obstacles and Fancy came to help me. However, she is not quite trained to let humans have enough personal space. We did have several trainings sessions during our time in the round pen to get Fancy to back out of my personal space. We also practiced turning her hindquarters with my body signal and then the stick cue. She has improved tremendously. She moved from a low phase stick cue now.
However, there is still resistance. When a horse backs or turns the hindquarters, they give up dominance. Backing is really the worst dominance battle.
I ask Fancy to back and she does. She is far enough away that I’m in no danger from her mouth or front feet. There are a lot of pinned ears and glare when she backs, but she is now backing as soon as I ask and with some speed.
I ask her to back and she pins her ears and lifts her front leg. That is the horse version of the middle finger!
She got to back a lot after that. The really nice thing is that she backed hurriedly away from my monster forward shoulders and swinging back and forth stick. She did not run away or back crooked. That is amazing!
We got back to the barrels and jumping. She refused, turned and ran the other way. However, Cisco stopped that. He pinned his ears at her which made Fancy turn and run back to the barrels. She jumped. I gave her the sign to stop and turn to me and….and….she did in about 10 more steps. I took that. Our session was over. Hooray! Huge advance.
I believe that barrel jumping helps Cisco gather his body up. He doesn’t falter or limp during the barrel jumping. He certainly needs to be exercised. It was only last year when I fed him alfalfa nuggets to get his body better filled out. Now he is on diet food!
Good session. A lot of improvement on Fancy backing and moving her hindquarters. The middle finger is a classic tale of a dominant people friendly filly.
Farrier Day for Cisco and Fancy
Farrier Day! We did not have a Fancy training session before the trim! She did argue just a bit when he was holding her front leg. When she argued, she was off balance and fell on her front knees. That was a huge learning lesson for her. She did not argue at all during the back leg trim. Fancy was in the round pen for a long time during Cisco’s trim, Tony rode Cisco and after, he reshod one back hoof.
I let Fancy out of the round pen and was hanging around. I got on the safe side of Cisco-away from Fancy. She got behind us about 30 feet and started running at Tony with her ears back. He had the stick and threw up his hand. She swerved and trotted by him. He swatted her with the stick. “Don’t come at me with your ears back.” Then she cantered on and he admired her canter. Fancy learned a lot today!
When Tony rode Cisco, he did drag his right hip/leg, but recovered. They trotted and cantered. The last time I rode him, he drug that right leg and then teetered off balance on all 4 legs until 2-3 steps to recover. He is better. We have gone through this stage before….but before the treatment for EPM. We just started inflammation treatment. Next week is another EPM test.
A Toy and Red Dress For Christmas
It was the 50’s. Life was good in a small Iowa town for the cute little red-haired girl. Enough Christmas years had passed and the little girl realized that she should get her mother a present. The concept of giving to others had come to the little girl.
“Mommy, what do you want for Christmas?”
Mommy thought about it for a couple of seconds and replied, “I’d like a toy and a red dress.”
Mommy grew up during the depression when getting a toy for Christmas was very special. Having a little girl and a husband after WWII changed the world was a miracle many young women of that time didn’t get.
Later, Daddy was informed they went shopping. Mommy got a toy and a red dress for Christmas from her little daughter.
Many years later, Mommy was a Grandma. Her favorite color changed to pink. Grandson had a great time shopping for a pink garment and a toy for his grandmother when he became old enough to learn about giving to others.
One year Grandma got a battery operated car race track for Christmas. She and Grandson had a great time with that toy over the Christmas holiday. Grandma and Grandson enjoyed many toys over theIr many Christmas family celebrations.
As the years passed, the Grandma toys became carousel horse snow globes and music boxes. They were beautiful toys.
The Grandson toys became cameras and then electronic devises.
Having fun on Christmas started a family tradition long ago by a strong woman who grew up during the depression and lived through the horror of WWII with a husband who enlisted after Pearl Harbor.
Give someone you love a toy for Christmas and maybe even something red to wear. Keep the joy in your loved ones life!
PS: Love is Christmas
PS: A horse, puppy and kitten have been legally defined as a toy for Christmas
Velvet – How to Win at Musical Sacks!
| 3/4/98 | |
| One of the Kansas City Regional Fox Trotter club’s favorite game for a FUN horse show EVENT is musical sacks. There are some horses in our club that stomp on the sack when they get close. They’ve probably been trained to do that. I thought I would offer the readers of this Corner Page, a natural horsemanship training strategy to prepare for musical sacks. Musical sacks is played just like musical chairs, except the horses must step on the feed sack. We generally double the feed sacks. There will be one less feed sack than horses. The music plays and we circle the sacks. The music stops and we rush for a sack…just like musical chairs. The main principle of natural horsemanship is to know that horses crave comfort. They will seek the answer to many a puzzle in their quest for comfort. The secret is to think how to train a horse to step on a feed sack to gain comfort. Ah…it gets easier now!
On the ground: Feed sacks can be scary. You need to show the horse that the feed sack is friendly. Fold the feed sack up into as small a package as you can and rub the horse all over with it…belly, rear, neck, between legs, and face. Do this and all the following steps until the horse is just standing there practically asleep while you are rubbing the feed sack all over their body. When this is successful, unfold the feed sack one more fold and proceed to rub the horse all over. Keep unfolding the feed sack and continue to rub. What if the feed sack spooks the horse? You have to realize that spooking is uncomfortable. You have to continue to do whatever is spooking the horse until the horse stops. Then you stop also. Let’s say, the crackling is spooking the horse. I would be playing with the feed sack in the round pen or with a 12 foot rope attached to the horse. If the horse wants to run around in a circle while the feed sack crackles, that’s just fine. But the horse needs to gain comfort and that takes being brave. As soon as the horse stops and faces the fearful object, you stop whatever is making the object be fearful. I might stand facing away from the horse and just crackle the heck out of the feed bag. The horse might take off and that is fine. I would just keep crackling the bag until the horse realizes that the bag isn’t going to eat him. When the horse stops, I stop crackling the bag. I probably would pet the horse. Then I would turn around again and crackle the bag. When the horse is no longer afraid of the bag in your hand, put it on the ground and try to get the horse to step on it. In the beginning, if the horse bends down to smell the bag, I would instantly stop any pressure I am making to get the horse to step on the bag. I would pet the horse. Then I would resume trying to make the horse step on the bag. When any part of the horse’s feet touches the bag, I would instantly stop my pressure. I would completely relax my body and pet the horse. If the horse takes the foot away, the horse gets longed and brought in to touch the sack. It doesn’t take long after the 1st touch for the horse to figure out that comfort is touching the bag. After we have petted and rubbed while standing on the bag, I would make the horse longe for a couple of circles and then make the horse come in and step on the bag. In the beginning, I would try for a long time to get the horse to step on the bag. Then would come comfort…petting and rubbing and resting. After 4 or 5 times of touching the bag, I would give the horse less time to put a foot on the bag or away we go in the longe. It doesn’t take long for that horse to figure out the big secret…step on that bag. I’ve found out that the horse’s own feed sack is best. It smells really good to the horse. Treats are OK too, when the horse steps on the bag. I would put the treat on the bag. Then the horse knows that this is really a good thing! Next step is riding. The same principle applies. Ride the horse around the arena or pen at a trot or canter and then come into the middle and step on the bag. When the foot touches the bag, immediately drain your body of all animation and rub the horse. Stand on the bag for a while and then do the same exercise. If the horse takes his foot off the bag, you immediately go to the wall and trot or canter for a while. Soon the horse learns again that the bag is the key to comfort and the horse will search out that bag and skid to a halt and STOMP it. You’ll be a contender in musical chairs! Just a warning….Velvet and I have played this game with the sack just a couple weeks ago. She loves standing on that feed bag! Watch out FUN DAY SHOW!!! |
The Big Fear
| November 29, 1997 |
| I’m always on missions. The mission for this column is FEAR! I’m talking to new: |
| Women Adult Riders Inspired by the Option of Retirement or WARRIOR! |
| This is for the WARRIORS who have discovered the unforgiving hardness of the ground and developed fear. The WARRIOR buys a horse and it bolts, bucks or shys and the WARRIOR hits the ground. The ground whispers to you…death, broken bones, pain. Your continuing mortality becomes a great concern. Your self confidence goes underground!You are not alone. You are in the great majority. Fear can be conquered and bested! Listen WARRIOR…read my story and keep chipping away at the enemy.Year I: THE TRAIL RIDE STARTS THE YEAR OF FEAR
In our last episode, I hit the ground and my life was saved by trainers Jenny Copple and Karen Moulis of Pine Dell Farm, Pleasant Hill, Mo. Jenny trained Sage and Karen trained me. I ride nice safe “farm horses” and developed my riding skills. Sage and I met after two months of separate training. I wasn’t scared of the gentle farm horses, but my body was as stiff as a board when I climbed aboard Sage. Sage hated my frozen body and refused to move, tried to bite my legs, and cow kicked. My immediate thought “My life is over. Surely Jenny will take me off this creature! But no, Jenny was telling me to squeeze her with my legs, spank her rear with my hand, spank her rear with the lead rope. Finally, she made a step and we started all over again.” Jenny talked me through this like the control tower guy in the movies helping the passenger land the airplane after the pilot dies. The only difference was that I wanted to be the dead pilot! About half way in the ride (we progressed about 5 yards), we started to move slowly about the arena with mad, disgruntled horse things happening. I decided that I should cry because I was a tremulous mess. I needed to cry. I teared up and thought, “I’m going to tell Jenny that I want off!” But Jenny kept talking to me…talking me through and finally the hour was over and I was alive! I was wringing wet with sweat. There were a lot of people in the arena that night…of course I couldn’t see them; I only sensed them! They all came over and told me I did really well. Jenny told me I did really well. I felt better then, especially since my feet were on the ground. It was a one wine bottle night! I continued to work with Sage on the ground and had the weekly riding lesson. The 2nd lesson I was much more confident; but Sage was worse. I had to get off and Jenny got on, and made Sage very uncomfortable about not moving. I got back on again with more confidence and made Sage move. It was a banner day. Several more rides and I had managed to ride her by myself. About two months later, Sage, husband and I went on the week long Eminence Trailride–in the Ozarks Mountains with only 4000+ other horses. My husband is a social person, not a rider and I intended to ride only in the parking lot and campground. But NO, my good friend told me “No-you’re going on nice short daily trail rides. You can’t come to Eminence and not ride! After you ride a week at Eminence everything else will be easy!”! Sage did great. She wasn’t scared of anything! She walked two inches beside clangorous diesel trucks. We rode around the campgrounds filled with horse eating sights. We participated in a horse show with a record number 60 horses in the arena at the same time. She was great! I was a nervous wreck the 1st morning and cried making certain no one could see that I was crying. I had tears streaming down my face, but my face was absolutely frozen in a noncommittal nothing. I went for 15 or 20 minutes at a time holding my breath…maybe less. Sage and I did lots of ground work to get me prepared for riding! We crossed water; we climbed hills. I survived! I didn’t have fun, but it wasn’t torture either. Every morning when I got up, I wondered if I’d be dead or disabled by the time the day’s trail ride was over. Thursday was the start of the year of fear. My friend erred in judgment and took me up and down a mountainous steep hill where the path consisted of rock ledges littered with loose rocks. Going up was frightening but the descent was beyond agony. I was frozen with fear going down. When I expressed some verbal dismay to my friend, she told me just to relax and lean back! HA! We did make it down alive, and even though I’m not a Catholic, I did the Cross Gesture! I couldn’t get off to kiss the ground because I couldn’t easily mount my horse. We came to a river and two year old Sage was hot after climbing that horrid mountain. We were drinking and pawing to clear the dirt from the water and my friend yelled. However, I was intently watching Sage’s front leg sinking into a hole. It just seemed to sink down farther and farther. I was patiently waiting for her to pull her leg out of the hole when my friend’s frantic voice yelled “JUMP OFF!” This was a very loud and demanding voice! My body responded just when Sage sank down on her belly. I got up and waited for her to get up. “Quicksand,” I was thinking when she didn’t get up. She’s caught in quicksand!” I was running in circles around her in the water around her trying to figure out how to get her out of the quicksand when my friend’s voice penetrated my brain again. “Slap her; Yell at her! She’s going to roll!” “Roll? I thought….not quicksand?” I yelled, jumped and flapped my wings and Sage heaved herself to her feet. I got the lecture about sweaty horses and pawing water! At that time I couldn’t mount my horse without a big natural mounting block and none was available within sight. My friend had to get off her horse and put my muddy wet foot on her leg so that I could heave myself on. My jeans from knees down were sopping wet and 20 pounds heavier. We made it across the river and I started thinking about our water adventure when we came to the part of the trail that was deep warm sand. . . . Without any warning, PLUNK!…down we went. It was a broken record. No slouch in the learning not-to-die-experience, I was smart enough to leap off as we were going down. I dove into the deep sand in my sopping wet jeans. Yummy! 100 more pounds packed on my body. I was saved by my friend’s husband who had come to join us. It took all his strength to get my weak,quivering, dead weight back on Sage. On the short distance home, including a wide river crossing, everyone rode very close to Sage ready to beat her if she even blinked a lay-down eye! I felt like a steer being herded by cowboy drovers! After we got back and I had semi recovered, my friend’s husband took me aside and had a little talk with me. “I am really worried about you and your “little, slight fox trotter! If only you had purchased a blocky horse—not necessarily a quarter horse…I’m certain that there are blocky fox trotters that could handle your weight. Sage isn’t strong enough to handle you on these hills. If she would have tripped up there on those mountains and started to fall, she couldn’t have recovered. You need a blocky horse.” Instant Bad Brain Image: I imagined that horrid ride down the loose rocky ledges, Sage and I falling; Sage with bones sticking up out of her. Sage dead of a broken neck. I love Sage. … THE BIG FEAR OF DOWNHILL HIT. I managed to contain the fear so no one else knew. Sage, the 2 year old, wasn’t afraid of anything in that camp of 4000 horses! Susan, the 49 year old, turned into a battered shell with zero self confidence. I made up some excuse about not wanting to stay, and we left the next day. I was able to ride Sage around my property because it is mostly flat. I was so proud of Sage that she wasn’t scared of anything in the world! This was the first of the major assumptions I have mistakenly made about Sage. This is when she started earning the nickname, “The Horse of No Assumptions”. We were zipping by some bushes and heard a “tiny lion rattle sound”. Without my permission, Sage took her saddle and leaped ahead about 5 feet. I was like those cartoon characters that run off a cliff. “HUH…there’s only daylight underneath me,” and…thud. I met the unforgiving ground again! I had to lay there for a while waiting for the intense pain to go away. After my tremulous mass of flesh calmed down, I was able to determine that I was not broken. I was too hurt to climb back on. Riding was only pretend after that. It was too cold, too late, too hot, I felt too bad. Winter came…no riding and I was grateful. |
Here’s what I was left with in my 1st Year with Horses:
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Riding Velvet is ah sigh so Good
I decided to ride Velvet for a while at Pine Dell Farm every evening that it was in the high 20’s to 30’s. Ah, life is good with an highly trained finished horse.
I just might be over my mad desire to have a young horse to finish every 5-8 years or so. It’s fun to get Velvet and I back into coordination.
Lord Help Me Jesus
Velvet brought me one step closer to redemption. I don’t believe I’ve ever felt the need to scream outloud my need for Jesus to save me. I’ve had the thought many times, but I kept it internal. I’ve had conversations wtih Jesus and God before, but no one got to listen in. Velvet, the trained cow horse, got me to scream for help for all to hear. Everyone in the cow clinic and all the auditors and probably the neighbors heard me scream, “Lord Help Me Jesus!”
Velvet took over the cow. Velvet is a trained cow horse. She understands being a cutting horse. I’ve watched those cutting horses. I understand the concept. You put your hand and reins down on the horse’s neck because the horse just takes over keeping the cow away from the herd. The cow runs trying to get past you and get back into the herd. Your horse takes off and runs to keep herself between the little cow and it’s cow friends. Your horse blocks the cow.
It was in the 2nd dash and my hands were trying to communicate to Velvet what to do. But Tony pointed out that Velvet knew exactly what to do and to let her do it. This involved me giving total control to my horse. At that moment we were galloping back and forth. The cow ran. Velvet ran to cut the cow off. The cow turned the other way and ran off. Velvet turned and ran to cut her off.
I’ve rode Velvet bridleless before thousands and thousands of times. I’ve ridden her bridleless in front of large crowds of people. But I’ve always been mostly in control of everything she did. Occasionally, she would make a turn thru the middle of the arena that I wanted, but I pretended that cantering around the arena was exactly what I wanted to do. That was nice easy going cantering.
Velvet was in charge of the cow. She was galloping short burst of impulsion, spinning the opposite direction and galloping off again. This was an entire new feeling which might have prompted me to yell out, “LORD HELP ME JESUS”!
She Came Knocking-Miss America
I thought my life was pretty exciting. It is not the case. I found out just how boring my real life was. It happened at 5:45 AM October 2012 Tues. I was trying to catch Lucky Star in the yard and put him back into the pasture. I’ve been from house to barn and no Lucky! Usually Lucky Star sees my in the yard and silently appears about 6″ from my face. I shook the grain bucket and I caught a glimpse of him in the light of the garage. He was heading the other direction…away from me.
Lucky Star is a “always in my space” kind of horse. He never runs away from me.
Turns out she is half Morgan, 1/4 qh and 1/4 Arab. That explains her “look” . She is beautiful.
Jenny comes out on that Friday and takes about 15 minutes to load her. She is a quick learner and not really too afraid of the trailer. Jenny loads her in both my trailers. It takes about 1/2 for all this to happen and she is a relaxed loading horse. I get to take over. It takes a few moments for my kind of communication to get through and some coaching from Jenny. She loads. I get her to load in both trailers.
Cisco and Susan in the Park
Cisco and I have been fortunate to get a trail ride partner. Hope is riding Lucky Star and I’m riding Cisco. Cisco and Hope are being rehabbed.
Cisco was rode for three years by his past owner. He was rode alone, along roads etc.. He was in trail training until his wildest spooks were the sudden stop and bracing his front legs. Then I won him in the raffle and he became my arena horse. It’s been about three years of both indoor and outdoor arena riding with a few trail rides.
Did he change? Nope, he still braces to a stop spook in place. He is nervous out in the wild, but he is a right-brain extrovert and gets anxious in unfamiliar places. He gets more anxious if he has to stop and stand still. Standimg still is not possible.
Here’s a little bullet story of how Cisco is doing
First Ride: nervous, wants to speed down the trail away from other horses. Rabbits, blind corners in trails where he can’t see, colverts, and anything else makes him ready to pop. He will follow behind another horse and control his forward speed. I use the reins often and they are much ignored. I try to let reins go loose between attempts to slow him down, but I’m nervous too. Halfway through our short ride, my knees hurt. Oh great, I’m bracing my knees in fear. We get back to trailer and my knees really hurt when I dismounted and landed on earth.
2nd Ride: Cisco just a little more relaxed. I am able to recognize when my knees are bracing. The knee pain is lessened. When I dismount, there is no knee pain.
Third Ride: I don’t remember the third ride
Forth Ride: That was when Hope and Lucky were arrested and ticketed. Someday, that story will be made available to all.
Fifth Ride: Cisco was calm and relaxed the entire ride. We rode with a nice calm horse named Storm. I believe he took all the burden off Cisco.
Sixth Ride: Cisco nervous again. No popping to a stop. Unable to stand still. Knees absolutely never hurt one minute. I’m getting relaxed now.
Cisco Buddy Sweet
Everyone calls this Buddy sour, but that is so negative for a dependence problem. Cisco has a personality that lends him to be dependent on others…usually a horse. Cisco and Lucky were boarded together this summer. I’ve been trailering Cisco and Lucky lately to a park where my friend got to ride Lucky.
At no time was Cisco able to let Lucky out of his direct sight. If Lucky walked behind a trailer, Cisco went hysterical. I had to saddle Cisco where he could see Lucky. If not, Cisco became immediately a basket case of nerves. Saddling him was nearly impossible as I didn’t exist as he swung his body around trying to see Lucky. I would have been stepped on or squished or the unsecured saddle would have been launched into space.I just went with it. I also made darn certain that Lucky was in clear view when I mounted Cisco. I need a horse to stand still like a statue when I get on.
One day I delivered Lucky Star to Hope. When the truck and trailer came home an anxious Cisco was waiting for Lucky. I told Cisco he now owned two mares. Delta spoke up and contradicted that. She said Lucky Star was her boyfriend and if Cisco thought he could boss her around he would feel her teeth!
Trail ride date was upon us. Cisco and I got there first. Cisco had never seen Hope’s trailer. When she came lumbering into the parking lot, Cisco screamed and screamed and screamed. Finally the trailer came toma stop and we could see Lucky Star. Cisco relaxed. Life was good.
Until the end of the trail ride
We tricked Cisco. Lucky stood by our trailer when Cisco went in. The door shut and Lucky walked away. Cisco became frantic. I had to jump into the truck and move. Horses have to brace themselves when the trailer moves. That stops the frantic movement.
Yesterday was our next meeting. Hope and Lucky got there first. Before we came into sight of the parking lot, Cisco started screaming. He knew where he was and thinks Lucky lives at the park. We screamed until I got parked, let Cisco out and we saw Lucky.