Monthly Archives: May 2019

P. S. I Love You

Loved that song when the Beetles did it back in the ’60’s.

I watch how each of my boarders show love to their horses, and how the horses show their love back. No two horse/person are the same.

One boarder speaks to her horse and the horse speaks back to her. They run around the field (on foot) together playing tag. As first it unnerved me, but it’s what they do.

Another boarder comes and gives her horse a body massage. He loves it and snuggles into her. We’re not talking pony, we’re talking a big strong Thoroughbred who melts like butter with her touch.

Now the woman who owns the TB brought her new boyfriend over the other day and he was standing there watching the interaction between horse and woman. The TB’s Quarter Horse buddy was standing there watching this also. Now the QH doesn’t like men and is very skeptical of strangers, but the boyfriend walked over to the QH and started softly speaking to him, then started petting him, and the two of them spent the next half hour just hanging out and enjoying each others company. I was shocked, but it made the QH feel loved.

It’s interesting to see the difference it makes to the horse if an owner is present in their lives, or has not seen them in a year or two. In the beginning (when they are sent here for retirement) the owners come often, call or text everyday asking how the horse is doing. As the years go by they come less often, call or text less often, and eventually, they just send checks and ask if the horse is still healthy and happy. The owners know they are safe and well taken care of, and just go on with their lives. Oh they intend getting up here to visit, but something always comes up and they’ll do it next week. Those horses have a sadness about them. I try to make them feels special, but on the other hand the one horse said, “I’ve had many owners, what’s one more.” So apparently, he’s had many owners who have come and gone in his life, and this one is just one more.

My TB mare just loves me for the carrots and food I supply, although she really loves personal attention, but my QH mare loves to hang with me. Especially if there’s a belly rub in it for her. I know she’s missing the one on one time, and perhaps after Bobby’s surgery we can spend more time together. I keep promising, and she keeps believing (I think). Or she might just be rolling her eyes and thinking, sure we will.

Did you ever think about how you show your love to your horses? Are you doing it with carrots and peppermints? Or is it more of a hands on kind of affection? Did you ever think about how they show their love back to you. Is it a nicker or do they come running to you when you get in their sight or call their name? Do they just say thanks for the carrots and go back to what they were doing, or do they hang around just to be with you? Did you ever think about it at all?

There was a book out years ago titled “The Five Love Languages”. Of course this book was directed at the Five Love Languages between people, but believe it or not, they aren’t much different with animals.

The book is as follows – my thoughts come with it.

Love Language #1: Words of Affirmation – Horses love being praised and told they have done well too. You know the old saying – “You can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar.” You can catch more horses with carrots than you can with a whip.

Love Language #2: Quality Time – Some horses love to just spend time with you. Sure carrots are great, but sometime they just want to hang.

Love Language #3: Receiving Gifts – They don’t get excited if you bring a small box with a diamond ring, but bring a bag of carrots and you become the best person in the whole world.

Love Language #4: Acts of Service – Now let’s think about this… Do they care if you clean their stall or tack? Some appreciate a clean stall, most don’t mention it, but come down the isle with a bucket of grain, and let the party begin.

Love Language #5: Physical Touch – Most of the time, this is one of their favorites. Whether it be a kind touch, a good old belly rub, or scratching that special place, this one is always a winner.

I’m sure I’ve mention the Five Love Languages before, but sometimes it’s a good reminder. Some people just think of their horses as a means to an end. A vehicle or piece of equipment to get to that blue ribbon. Most horse people don’t. Are there changes you would make if you could? No better time than now. Or just think about the Love Language that speaks to you and compare it to what speaks to your horse.

A Time Of Reflection

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Sometimes people post good stuff on Facebook. Most times not.

I’ve joined several groups in the area to find owners of lost dogs. It surprises me as to how many owners find their lost pets on Facebook. See, anything can be used for good in the right hands with the right thought process.

The other day I saw this on Facebook and shared it, but for those of you who didn’t see it I will post it again.

“We usually have two options with horses: We can either give them time to think, or wish we had.” Mark Rashid

I hate when people rush horses through any kind of training. You have to let them absorb what they are being taught. Honestly, you have to let me absorb what you are teaching me too. People have many different ways of learning. For me, reading instructions usually doesn’t work. If you show me, I’m good.

Back to the old ways of training. What you teach the horse on one side, you have to re-teach it on the other side. Actually when you go to do the same thing on the other side they look at you like “What are you talking about? I’ve never seen or heard that before.” Thinking about it, I get that from the kids at church too.

You really have to let them (the horses) think about what you have just taught them and let them chew it over. It’s a saying from way back, to chew it over, but horses really do. Guess that’s where the saying comes from.

However, there are times you shouldn’t give them a chance to think some things over. Like loading into a trailer. You just walk forward with intent, and if they trust your judgement, they should just follow you on. If you are going to hesitate and wonder if the horse will load or not, chances are he’s going to hesitate and decide it’s not a good idea.

So the jury is still out on Mr. Rashid’ quote. Verdict is – It depends.

When In Doubt, Check It Out

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I’ve probably touched on this subject before, but it keeps coming back to me again and again. Why do we procrastinate?

My neighbor’s 19 year old daughter, who I used to teach, has more lumps in her breasts. She’s had them removed before, and they weren’t cancerous, but here she goes again. To make light of it, I told her she was just a lumpy person. She got a smile. She attends to them as soon as she notices them.

Had an Equine Dentist here yesterday for a boarders horse who had special issues. We got to talking afterwards about eyes and the problems she’s been having. I told her my mare was taking forever to heal the abscess. But then she takes forever to heal with everything. She asked about fungal, and I said yup that’s what I’m dealing with. She talked about her horse being allergic to the Voriconazole. Oh my. Thank God my mare isn’t. Then she touched on another horse of hers that took forever to heal an eye, and they found out it had Cushing’s. Red Flag!

Now I’ve had one horse checked for Insulin Resistance, and she was clear. At the time I thought about checking my other horse but didn’t. She’s the one that dumped all her hair this spring, all at once. I had spoken to my vet about it and it seems that a lot of horses had hair issues this spring also. No reason why, just did. We talked about the possibility of Cushing’s, but decided to wait and see how her hair came back in. Where she dumped it, it came back in like winter hair. She doesn’t get a true winter coat but just a little longer than her summer coat. She’s losing that now, again, but normal shedding.

At this point in the conversation my vet showed up, just by chance, to drop off some eye meds I was needing. So she joined in the discussion about the Cushing’s possibility and many other subjects.

So now we will fast over night and check it out.

What haunts me is why didn’t we check it out sooner? We really didn’t procrastinate, we just didn’t think the possibility was high.

The dentist said that once she put her horse on the Prascend the eye healed within the next month. And I’ve been treating this eye for six months why! Oh how I could have shortened the time. But that’s only if this is truly the case.

If you have the slightest inkling that there maybe something you should check out, just do it. That little voice in your head is there for a reason. It’s a horse persons 6th sense. Or maybe we should just call it Horse Sense.

Gate Please!

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That’s a line that was used often on the hunt field when the Field Master would like someone to come forward and open a gate for the Field (the riders).

Gates, in the horse world, are a necessary evil. Most gates you see on a horse farm have dents, and bends in them. Sometimes from the people, most times from the horses. Oh yes, also from trees falling on them, or people running into them.

I know, you’re thinking, what do you mean caused by people? Well my friend was learning to drive with her new horse trailer; and coming through our double gates up at the road, she didn’t turn wide enough. Not only did she catch the gate with her trailer, but she ripped it off the post and then ran over it. Her comment – Oopps.

Mostly horses love rubbing their butts on the gates, which put a glorious bend in them. Bobby’s way of fixing them is to take them off the hinges, lay them on the ground, and jump on them. Then there are those horses that like to double barrel the gates at the other horses on the other side.

Wherever you have a gate, you have dirt because of the traffic going through them, or horses standing there waiting to come out.

Gates can be a shield when you are letting horses out. When you open the gate you can stand behind it to protect yourself from getting run over.

Which brings us to the thought that gates, sometimes, can be opened in either direction. I love watching people trying to open a gate in the wrong direction. There are two possible problems with the direction you open a gate. My favorite is when the gate is on a slope, and can only be opened in one direction. Have you ever stood there and watched a person trying to open a gate up hill? It’s very entertaining. They stand there trying to figure out exactly how to do it. If the ground is higher on one side, doesn’t it make sense to open it downhill? Not to some people. The confusion on their faces is priceless. What’s worse is that you have to tell them to open it in the other direction. Seriously?!!!!!

The other thing is when you have a pasture with a bunch (meaning more than a couple of horses. In horse lingo “a herd.”) and you only want to get one horse out at a time. Now my horses are patient and well behaved and I never had a thought about it. I would take one horse and everyone would wait their turn quietly. So how was I to know that at my friends barn it was a free-for-all at dinner time. She had an amazing way of feeding. She would put grain in the stalls in both barns, then open the gate and all the horses would come galloping out and find an empty stall to eat in. It was a horsey version of musical chairs. Well you can’t believe my shock and horror when I went to the gate and the first couple of horses slammed through the gate knocking me (thankfully) out of the way, and the insanity began. They kept circling the barn until they found an empty stall. Her comment, “oh no, you open the gate inward toward the horses and only let two out at a time. It’s much safer that way. Are You Kidding Me?!!!! I never had the chance to even determine how I wanted the gate to move. The whole thing was taken out of my hands when I unlatched the chain. Then months later I watched her just open the gates and let the games begin, not two at a time, the whole herd. The horses knew exactly what the routine was, I however did not.

Years later my vet, which was her vet, was at my barn early and I hadn’t had time to bring all the horses in before he came. So I told him I would just let the two down in the pond pasture loose and they would come up by themselves. He was waiting for the “Black Friday”, open the doors stampede like at my friends place. My two boys just quietly walked up the hill to the barn, which was about a 200 foot walk. He was amazed. He was expecting chaos. Actually I think he was quite disappointed, but I was pleased.

Then there is the “I forgot to latch the gate thing.” You get distracted and oopps, I’m bad. Or you close it but leave it unlatched because you’re only going to run to the barn to get something real fast thing. The wind blows it open and it becomes the “you can’t catch me” game.

Or you can have a horse like Zoey. Now teaching a horse how to open a gate is a great thing on the hunt field. Even when your coming home from a ride and don’t want to get off to open a gate, but it has it’s draw backs. Like when you’re trying to get a halter on the other horse and you’re taking too long, she will swing the gate with her nose and slam you and the other horse. She will open the gate and wait for me to say it’s okay to go through, but don’t be in the way when that gate comes at you. “But mom, I was only trying to help, and maybe hurry you along a little. After all, dinner is waiting.” Friday was paying attention to me putting her halter on, and was not expecting to get whacked full force, full body length with a gate. Then she throws Zoey a dirty look, I yell ZOEY, and life goes on.

But then there is the unexpected. When I lived up north, someone in the middle of the night, backed a trailer up to a pasture gate and loaded all the horses into the trailer never to be seen again. Down here, some kids wanted to steal an ATV and couldn’t figure out how to get to it. So they opened the pasture gate for a direct line to the ATV. The horses got out. Luckily it was a dirt road, dead-end street, the horses were safe and came back home by themselves. ATV didn’t.

Like I said. Gates are good, and gates can be a problem. It’s all in how you look at it.

The “Check-Up”

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Don’t you just hate when it’s time for your dental check-up? I don’t think the horses much appreciate it either.

Today was our check-up day at the farm. It became more than just a check up. No one had any major problems, other than old mouths, and missing teeth. The horses are beyond the ages of braces or those new clear things they swear by to straighten your teeth. Where were they when I was a kid? Twice I could receive the local radio stations with all the wires I had in my mouth. A lot of good they did. I’m down to caps and bridges now. At least they are all attached. I told several of the horses that implants were not an option. Glad horses and dogs don’t do braces. I did have a few dogs that could have used them.

Just routine dentistry was performed today, but I do try to keep up on their dental appointments. (They are really bad at flossing. Darn kids.) She did them in their stalls, which is where they feel most secure. Will never do the dental trailer thing again. EVER. Still dealing with the after effects.

Seriously, how often do you have your horses teeth checked? Do you really pay attention to any balling up of hay left behind? Grain passed whole in the manure? Grain dropped? I have one horse who takes a mouth full, chews with his mouth open, and swings his read around in all direction to see whats going on at any given time. He just might have missed something when his head was in the bucket. No matter how many times I tell him to chew with his mouth closed, it just doesn’t work. I hope this will help, but I really don’t think so.

No matter what food you give them, if it’s reasonably priced or top of the line, if it doesn’t get chewed, or digested properly, it’s not going to put weight on, or keep weight on them. You might as well just take hand fulls of grain and toss it on the ground. Or for that matter, just take the money and do the same thing.

Have you ever bitten the inside of your cheek? Hurts like anything, and you just keep biting the same place over and over again. Imagine doing that every time you eat. Those sharp edges just rubbing against the inside of their mouths. Really doesn’t make eating appealing does it?

You can run you fingers up the sides of their teeth, unless you are fond of five fingers on each hand, or have your vet give them a check-up. If they tell you there are sharp edges, think about the old biting the inside of your cheek and have their teeth taken care of. It will probably save you money on the grain you are buying in the long run, and make the horses feel so much better for it. Also you can only feel so far back, and then those teeth that are way back aren’t checked.

And if you are having problems with the bit, or head tossing, it just might be the teeth, not an attitude issue.

If you can get yours to floss, let me know how you did it.

Rinse please.