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In keeping with the upcoming holiday, a wet web.
Rain
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What Is Home?
(Rascal, at home)
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Stable Relation: A memoir of one woman’s spirited journey home, by way of the barn
By
Anna Blake
When friends ask me why I like to read memoirs I usually say it’s because I’m the curious sort. Perhaps that’s just another way of saying I’m nosy, but there you have it. I like to read about how other people have navigated the challenges they’ve met in life. Because we all have them, you know. Some memoirs do a great job of telling you about everything that went right or wrong, but fail to really explore the nuts and bolts of the journey. That’s not a criticism; everyone tells their story their own way and for different reasons. But I happen to be most fond of the memoirs that tackle the grittier stuff. The stuff that makes you have to put the book down and really chew…
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New Digs
Bully & Rascal (Click on photo for full size & best resolution)
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We moved the three horses into our “new” barn over the holiday weekend. Needless to say, it was a momentous event! We built the barn because we desperately needed a bigger place to store hay, but we didn’t expect to have our horses live out of it. The plan was to have the structure built by a builder and gradually do most of the finish work ourselves. (I’ve seriously questioned that wisdom about a million times since) We finally got things to a point where we could use the barn for more than just a hay mow if we wanted, and after spending so much money and time on the new barn, we did! There’s still lots to do to get everything 100% up to snuff, but it’s nice to have horses and hay in the same location. It beats having to load the truck up with a week’s worth of hay every Sunday and haul it over to the other barn. I’m all for anything that (eventually) makes life easier!
Equine Roller Derby
(Bullet)
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They say you’re owed an accident for every 500 hours that you spend in the company of horses. I’m not sure who said that or how accurate it is, but it sounds about right … depending on what side of the equation you’re standing. I’ve had a few wrecks that resulted in some damage. Years ago I broke my left wrist (in multiple places) when I bailed off a horse who was falling on ice. I broke the same wrist a few weeks later because I cut the cast off prematurely, then came off the same horse. Yeah, I felt kinda cursed at that point, but I gave my own stubborn stupidity credit for that mishap. When I first brought Dharla home she tossed me on my keester and I wrenched a knee badly. No medical intervention was necessary, but it was a close call and it prevented me from riding her for the better part of a week. (I should have waited longer for things to heal, but felt under the circumstances that I couldn’t). About two years later I had one other “event” where I came unglued from Dharla, but by then I think I was better prepared and no damage was done.
The most scary accidents are the ones you don’t see coming; the ones that happen when you’re doing something you’ve done a thousand times, and even though you’re always mindful and careful around horses, happen anyway. I mean, you can be 100% on your toes around animals, but because horses are big, powerful beasts with a finely tuned instinct to flee from anything remotely scary or abnormal, accidents can happen.
Our typical feeding routine is as follows: The “boys” get the most grain and (therefore) get their grain first. Both boys take approximately the same about of time to eat their oats and almost always finish within seconds of one another. They’re fed in separate corners of the run-in shed that’s located off the back side of the barn. Because she gets less grain (and eats faster) Dharla must wait patiently, and is given her grain last. She is fed apart from the boys, either in one of the stalls or in the run-in shed on the front side of the barn. This prevents her from gulping her grain, then pestering the boys while they finish theirs. At feeding time everyone knows the drill: when their grain is ready to dispense, the boys follow me around to their feed pans while Dharla waits on her side. Bullet is always given his grain first, then Rascal follows me over to his corner where he’s given his ration. Then I repeat the process for Dharla. Everyone is very calm about this routine. Well, as calm as hungry horses can be, but the point is that all three horses are very push-button and cooperative at feeding time. They know their job and I know mine.
Wednesday night was no different than any other. Everyone was anxiously waiting for their grain and milling about as I made the preparations to feed. Holding a grain scoop in each hand, I walked around the back side of the barn to give the boys their grain, Bullet first as per our routine. Bullet stood ready at his manger and I dumped his grain into his feed pan. As I turned to walk over to Rascal’s manger my foot suddenly slipped on some gravel that had accumulated on the surface of a rubber stall mat that lines the run-in shed. I should probably mention that these stall mats have been in place for many years and over time, the material under the mats can begin to erode. Every few years we have to pull the mats back and fill under them with some new material. The mat I was on was sloped at one end rather than level, due to erosion. I’m sure I was aware of this on a subconscious level, but it never really struck me as a true hazard until now. The gravel under my foot caused me to slip, but it was the slope of the mat contributed to the inevitable: I fell.
Because I was standing right next to Bullet, I not only went down hard, but I fell UNDER him. Which I knew would spook the poor horse badly. After all, Bullet’s head was lowered into his grain pan and he was happily munching his grain. It was the perfect storm for getting trampled. I wish I could say I tried to protect myself as I fell, but there wasn’t enough time. Plus, I had an empty grain scoop in one hand and a full grain scoop in the other. I don’t know why, but I didn’t want to dump that grain, so I continued to hold both scoops as I went down. I heard Bully react as I landed under his belly and I remember thinking, “this is going to be bad!” With only one way out of the shed, I knew at the very least I was going to get trampled. Bullet tried to get out of the shed as quickly as possible, jumping over my semi-prone body and kicking me in the head as he bolted. Rascal, who was on his way over to his own grain pan when it happened, turned and fled in hot pursuit.
The pain was intense and coming from so many places, I wasn’t sure what to address first. My immediate and strongest inclination was to stand up as quickly as possible. My head and neck were throbbing and both knees and one wrist were skinned and bleeding. Fortunately, nothing seemed to be broken. My head and neck … well, I wasn’t so sure. Meanwhile, the horses were blowing, snorting and milling about on the other side of the barn. I limped over to Rascal’s gain pan and dumped his grain into it, then tried to coax the boys back over to the other side of the barn to eat. The lure of grain overruled their fear and it only took a few brief minutes before they were back on their own side of the barn and eating again. I got Dharla situated, then tried to access the damage.
I honestly didn’t know if I was OK. I mean, by the time the initial, acute pain began to settle down to dull roar I had already decided I should probably try to finish feeding the horses. I set out three piles of hay, checked the water tank, then limped back to the house and made an ice pack. My husband wasn’t due home for at least another hour and a half. Should I dial 911? Could I wait until he got home? Did I really need to do anything at all? I didn’t know! I hurt, but having been trampled and kicked, I expected that much. But was I injured? Again, I wasn’t sure! Thinking two heads are better than one, I shot my sister a text.
My sister called immediately and somehow, between the two of us we (well, mostly I) decided I could wait until my husband got home. I’m sure my sister would have rather I called 911 or something, but the mere fact that I was sounding pretty rational and wasn’t experiencing worsening symptoms gave me the confidence to think I’d be OK. And I was. Needless to say, I didn’t feel great, but I wasn’t feeling any worse either. By the time my husband got home I was fairly insistent that I’d be alright. I was however, pretty nauseous and didn’t have much of an appetite that night. Ironically, I had a routine doctor appointment scheduled for Friday and so I decided I could wait until then to see someone about this.
I woke the next morning feeling like I’d been run over by a truck. I hurt everywhere and I had the bruises to prove it. My neck and jaw were very stiff and I had a large egg on the back of my head. I still felt some occasional nausea, which continued to plague me over the next twenty-four hours. When I finally saw my doctor she confirmed that I did indeed have a mild concussion. She didn’t exactly read me the riot act, but she made certain I knew when I should call 911. We went over a couple of critical points so if anything like this ever happens again I’ll be a better judge of the situation. And when you’re around horses every day you just know that day will probably come again, even if it might be some 500 hours (or so) from now. 😉
Double or Nothing
(Early spring pasture)
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Weather permitting, I’m trying to ride one, or sometimes both horses daily. I know it’s unrealistic to think I’ll be able to ride two horses a day once the heat and humidity arrive, but until then I’m going to do my best to try. The way I’ve been doing this is to school one horse in the arena, then ride the other horse out on the trail. Then I reverse the routine the next time I ride. That way nobody gets trail-slighted or ring-sour. Unfortunately, the gnats have been HORRIBLE, but yesterday the temperature suddenly shot up and they didn’t seem quite as bad. It was predicted to be unseasonably hot again today, which meant I’d only get to ride one horse, provided I rode early in the morning.
It was Rascal’s turn in the queue, but he still has a fair amount of winter coat that’s trying to shed out. So I made sure we got out on the trail early and we didn’t do anything too strenuous. Rascal is doing quite well with our trail riding. He readily accepts stream crossings now and he picks his way through even the most the rocky spots fairly well. He’s beginning to really “tune in” to me and vice verse. Overall, I think Rascal’s an uncomplicated horse who wants to please, but who also likes to think a little bit for himself. He’s also grown more interested in having some casual interaction with me in the paddock, as opposed to just wanting to be left alone. I’m finding that he’ll soak up any personal attention like a sponge. I usually spend some time brushing and grooming all the horses every day and Rascal is finally starting to respond to being pampered. At some point I’d really like to give him a bath because he’s pretty crusty, but I’m going to wait until we have a string of nice weather in the forecast. No point in bathing him just to have him go and lay in the mud!
Bumps in the Road
(Dharla)
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Well, to be more exact, bumps on the horse! A few days back Dharla came down with a really bad case of hives. When I went out to feed in the morning she had a couple of suspicious lumps on her neck and flanks. Having seen this before (with our other Arabs), I went over Dharla with a fine tooth comb. We’ve usually sees this happen in response to a tick bite or some other type of insect problem. However, we’ve always wondered if perhaps the hives could have been caused by something the horse ate? Given we’ve just started letting the horses have short, carefully timed grazing visits in our pasture, I had my suspicions that it might be related to that.
When I went out to feed the horses lunch Dharla was covered with lumps and bumps of all sizes. It was really quite alarming and I had to fight the urge to panic. Dharla didn’t seem the least bit bothered by her condition, so I took my cues from her. She was greatly interested in her hay and she wasn’t itchy or showing any signs of respiratory distress. I stood nearby and observed her for quite some time until I was certain she wasn’t in any sort of trouble, then I went and got my camera. While Beanie got hives on several different occasions, he never had them like this! Some of her bumps were twice the size of my palm, especially between her hind legs and in her lower chest area. Fortunately, her head seemed the least affected by the swelling. I think that would have pushed me over the edge.
By dinner time 3/4 of the bumps had vanished and/or were greatly reduced in size. I breathed a sigh of relief. The next day Dharla still had some areas of her body that had big patches of pea-size bumps, but nothing like the day before. I actually rode her that day, but we just did a leisurely walk down the Airline Trail. I was prepared to turn back at any point if the bumps grew at all in response to our exercise, but they didn’t. Today Dharla is almost 100% fine. I doubt we’ll ever know what caused her hives, but I did let her go down back and have a little more grass yesterday afternoon. So far, she’s good!
Ring Around the Rosie
(Rascal, above)
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I gave Dharla about a week off from ring work. After six months of constant ring riding I decided we would only do a little trail riding first. I wanted to give her a chance to wipe the slate clean of all the repetitive circles and requests to do this and that. While “schooling” is nice, too much of it gets on my nerves. And I gotta think that if the monotony of schooling drives me a little crazy, then it must bore the heck out of my horse too. I like to pretend that horses think it’s just nice to meander down a trail every now and then and not have to think about too much except where to put their feet and not to rub up to close to a tree. So we did a bunch of that and it was truly wonderful to be stress and “request” free for a change.
Eventually it was time to take Dharla down to our ring and do little test ride. I’ll admit, I had some trepidation. History has shown that Dharla has some “issues” with our arena and as hard as I’d tried, I was unable to ever feel like I had a handle on our problems down there. In fact, the problems we had with schooling had alot to do with my decision to put her with a trainer. But it was finally time to take the real test and see if any of our lessons would stick and we could duplicate that work ethic at home.
Dharla certainly knew where we were, yet she seemed calm and willing to listen. It may have helped that Rascal stayed up at the barn with Bullet, which resulted in less calling to us down in the ring. Oddly, Rascal hollered a few times, but he wasn’t nearly as persistent as Bullet used to be when he was left behind alone. I always had my suspicions that the incessant calling from Bullet didn’t help Dharla focus very much, but I never wanted to use that as an excuse. Either way, I was pleased to note that the few times the “boys” hollered didn’t seem to matter to Dharla at all.
We started with a lot of nice forward walking and jogging. Dharla was quick to relax, drop her head down into a nice position and engage her hind end. Since most of her issues crop up at the lope, I found I was content to just walk and jog for awhile. I seriously considered not even trying to pick up the lope. Part of me wanted to only do the things I thought we could do well, so our first ride down in the ring would be a success. I mean, that’s sound, logical thinking, right? But deep down I really wanted to know where we stood. Was Dharla going to revert back to her old, fussy ways or was she really willing to work with me and give me her best effort? I relaxed and let her pick up the pace, literally letting her jog into a nice quiet lope. I was stunned by how quietly she loped! No tail wringing! No head tossing! No bucks, hops or shying! We loped a few nice circles and then transitioned back down to a slow, but forward walk. Head down, chewing and blinking …. was this my horse?
To answer my question, we reversed. Granted, I’d started the lope on Dharla’s strong side. Hey, I’m not an idiot! But now it was time to see what I’d get when I asked for the lope on her more difficult direction/side. We spent a fair amount of time just walking and jogging again. I wanted to make sure she wasn’t keyed up from the previous lope. We changed directions several times and when I thought she was nice and relaxed I asked her to pick up the pace of her jog until she stepped right into a lope. Again, she did this with no fuss and no issues! I was literally shocked! We completed a few nice circles, then took the pace back down to a walk where Dharla once again completely relaxed.
We then worked a bit on backing and flexing side to side before I decided it was time to see how she would respond to a direct cue to lope off from a walk. Starting with her strong side first, I asked her to transition from a walk to a lope, which she did without any fuss or hesitation. I think what honestly surprised me even more was that she kept her pace very controlled and didn’t go off like a rocket, or try to buck or shy at some imaginary thing half way around the arena. This truly was the absolute best ride I’d ever had in my own arena since I brought Dharla home four springs ago! We followed the same pattern as before, slowing to a nice relaxed walk and changing directions several times before asking for the lope in the opposite (harder) direction. Again, Dharla moved right off the lightest touch of my leg and quietly moved around the ring as asked. I was ecstatic!!!
We ended with some nice simple walk/jog patterns and headed back to the barn. Our ride lasted about 45 minutes. There wasn’t a single buck, shy or cow hop and there was no sign of her old tail-wringing and head-tossing. I’m still not thoroughly convinced we’ve put all our issues behind us, but this was certainly a HUGE improvement over the past and a great confidence builder for us both!
Big Girl Panties
(Bean & Tia)
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Last Friday was the day I decided to try riding Dharla back over to the boarding barn … alone. Since our return ride the Sunday before was so uneventful, I thought doing it again while our success was fresh in our memory might help. Of course, this time we wouldn’t have Bullet along to calm any jangled nerves when we came upon the dreaded cows.
Dharla was pretty unconcerned as we followed the old dirt road that lead in the direction toward the barn, but the minute we approached the paved road Dharla got noticeably more aware of her surroundings. He head went up, her ears pricked forward and I felt some hesitancy in her step. I didn’t change a thing, but just continued to think “forward” and kept my worries in check. Given it was the middle of the morning and we were on a dead-end road, there was absolutely no traffic. That was good because it meant we could casually walk down the center of the road and not have to worry about keeping over to one side or the other. It had obviously been garbage day for the neighborhood and most driveways had not one, but two large bins at the curb. Dharla gave the first set of bins we passed a wide berth, but once we got past those she didn’t seem at all concerned about the others.
It wasn’t long before we approached our most dreaded section of the road: the white picket fence and the field where the cows are pastured. As we approached the fence on the right Dharla stopped dead in her tracks. I let her take the scene in for about thirty seconds, then calmly asked her to move forward. Much to my utter surprise, she did! Seconds later, she saw the herd of cows on our left. Again, Dharla hesitated slightly, but when I squeezed gently with my legs she kept moving forward. She was on high alert, but she kept her whits about her and did as I asked. The only other place I expected any worries was on a shortcut through another horse property. We could see a small herd of horses in a distant pasture and they could see us, but they weren’t that close to us. Oddly, things that are off in the distance can be more nerve-wracking to some horses than things close up, but I can never predict exactly how Dharla will react in this kind of situation. As soon as we entered the property the horses off in the field saw us. They whinnied and ran along their fence, putting Dharla on alert. Much to my pleasure (and surprise) Dharla stayed right “with me” and continued boldly forward. Good girl!
Once we got past those obstacles we were pretty much in the clear. We only had about 100 yards of paved road to ride. Our timing was good and it was relatively quiet, so I was nothing short of thrilled when a few minutes later we turned into the driveway of the stable! It’s almost hard to believe that a ride we struggled several times to complete last fall was accomplished with little to no fanfare. I’m ecstatic! This small success is one giant leap forward that will enable us to ride over to the stable and take more lessons this summer and fall! Yay, us!
Wisdom Isn’t Popular
(Fuzzy Rascal, late winter 2014)
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Leadership. Respect. Alpha. These are buzzwords in most “natural” horse training circles today. I get that some people struggle more than others to understand these concepts and how they apply to horses, but having grown up around farm animals I’ve grappled a bit less with this. That said, I’ve found it hard to verbalize my idea of a harmonious equine connection, and to be more specific, how one achieves that with a horse. Until now. Finally, a trainer and clinician I’ve been reading for a few years has eloquently (and simply) explained this nebulous relationship.
Clarity. it’s a beautiful thing!
Then There Were Three
(Bullet, near the end of winter, intent on his pile of hay)
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The ride home with Dharla was 100% uneventful. In fact, given she’d only been out on the trail once in six months, I was thrilled to see she didn’t lose her trail feet or trail sense one bit. She seemed happy to see Bully and they rode back to our farm like it’s something they’ve been doing every day.
The introduction with Rascal was a bit of a show. While none of the horses seemed to have truly bad intent, there was lots of front foot strikes and squealing … mostly on Dharla’s part. Pretty typical mare behavior I suspect. Bully more of less just tried to stay out of the line of fire and when all else failed, he munched on hay. It really helped that Bully is calm and sensible about most things and not given to hysterics or drama. After about an hour all three horses were eating their own hay and minding their own business for the most part. There was still the occasional squeal and faked attempt to lash out, but nobody was really serious about hurting anyone. Thank God! Rascal has turned out to be more pushy than I expected and though he’s small, he considers himself a contender! He’s still not sure if he want’s to keep Dharla from being too close to Bully or keep Bully from being too close to Dharla! He’s a funny one, that little stinker!
The day after Dharla arrived I was up and on her the next morning. We had a really great ride down the Airline Trail. While that’s not the most challenging ride, regular readers might recall that even after three years of consistent riding I was struggling with an over abundance of spookiness and skittishness on this trail. I don’t know if Dharla was just totally flummoxed to be out on the trail again (after 6 months of arena riding) or what, but she was like a totally different horse. Things I expected to spook her didn’t even get a rise out of her and the one or two times she kind of hesitated were so understated, they were barely noticeable. We did some nice long, slow, collected jogs and a couple of easy lopes all without any shenanigans what so ever. I was VERY pleased!
Later that afternoon I took Rascal out. We also had a nice loop through the woods together. Unfortunately, that night the weather turned back into crap. The temperatures dropped significantly and heavy rain moved in. After much discussion and debate, I finally decided to put Dharla in a stall for the night. It’s a wee bit too soon to expect the horses to have worked out all their hierarchy issues enough to share a small run-in on a cold, rainy night. Right now Dharla has the least amount of coat among the three, and she’s leaner than she’s ever been, so it was kind of an easy decision. Again, I was pleasantly surprised at how she didn’t fuss or stress at all at being shut inside. Normally this isn’t our usual MO, but since that’s what she’s been used to doing at the boarding barn I guess it didn’t bother her very much. I’m not sure if my horse has really matured in the six months she’s been gone or if I’m just seeing the effects of the time she spent in training, but either way I’m very pleased and I hope it lasts!
Cowgirl Up! 