Some Horses….
Some horses come into our lives forever, others for a short time. I try hard to be open to whichever that is…
Many years ago, I fell in love with a thoroughbred named Canonize. I first saw him romping (literally all feet off the ground one second, on the ground rolling the next) in a demo at the Equine Affaire nearly a decade ago. At the time I was working through the Parelli Levels with my horse Manny, who was a naturally introverted horse. He has very little real play drive and I was craving a horse who liked to move their feet. It was love at first sight that November day and as soon as the trainer reported that he was available for adoption through the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation, I knew he would be mine. Many of my friends would tell me I was crazy to get a second horse…that I couldn’t keep two horses in work with a full time job. Those of you who know me well, know the easiest way to get me to take on a challenge, is to say I ‘can’t’ or ‘shouldn’t'…so of course, I did.
Here’s how he is described in the Jockey Club Registry: Chestnut horse, foaled May 13, 1997 in Florida. 10 Starts. Winner. Arbitrator and Bold Ruler on his sire’s side. Native Dancer and War Admiral on the Dame’s. Holy Crap! What the hell had I gotten myself into? I thought hard about changing his name to something cute, like ‘teddy’…but was told it was bad luck to change the name of a winning racehorse. Bad luck….I did not need.
Canon turned out to be my first real rehab project. He came off the track with a tendon injury. Although he was sound on it, his body was in a twist and he moved crookedly. Some of that is from the racetrack, some of it him, and some of it the injury. And it was probably a good thing I had to take some time to get him sound and healthy, so our relationship could get solid. Canon taught me alot about colic. He, like so many hot blooded horses, was prone to scarey tummy aches. Almost monthly I would get a call about him not feeling well. I had been researching equine nutrition prior to this, but his propensity for this really drove me deep into natural, holistic horse care and feeding. Over a year or so, he cured himself of this tendency and has been colic free since.
I remember the first time I cantered on Canon…like it was yesterday. I was scared. I’d had some bad experiences on racehorses in the past….have a metal rod in my lower leg as a result of a fall off one. And Manny, my other ride, was a consummate bucker at that time. So I had all this ‘stuff’ in my head.
Well, he wouldn’t go. Seriously? He would start to go, then resume his trot. I knew I was the problem, but couldn’t figure out how to let go of my fear enough to make it ok for him to move out. He was taking care of me in his way, and I never loved a horse more than in that moment. I happened to be in the arena alone that day and in what has now defined my style, I forced myself outside my comfort zone and took Canon’s bridle off. I set off around the arena with a string around his neck and asked him to move out, promising myself only that I would keep breathing, hold the horn of my saddle and go where ever he went. It was a profound ride. The two of us trying to figure out how to help each other. Stop. Go. Stop. Go, go, go.
An hour later, a woman entered the viewing area. A stranger who would later become a dear friend, she would frequently remind me of that day when I was zooming around on a racehorse, giggling like a school girl, without a bridle. Later that summer I would learn the exhilaration of galloping though the fields or on the beach on that horse. Pure joy and freedom.
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Canon would go on to challenge me to improve my horsemanship in so many ways, but more than that he required me to be a better person.
So when I noticed him becoming apathetic and thin 2 years ago, I had to make a plan for his future. My busy farm and work life had left me little time to play with or ride Canon and he was becoming disengaged and depressed. In a stroke of luck or fate, a friend who lived just over the river in Vermont was looking for a horse she could ride and give lessons on. Brilliant, I thought! He would love that. She had kids and lots of students to dote on Canon….it was perfect. I liked the idea that he was happy, but close enough for me to visit occasionally. In fact he did so well there, they decided to formally adopt him from the TRF last year. I was thrilled he had found a place in which he could thrive.
A few nights ago I dreamt of a big red racehorse. Having recently watched ‘Secretariat’, I assumed it was the famous ‘Big Red’ in my dream. The next day, I read the news on facebook that Canon’s family was moving. My thoughts returned to my dream, of a beautiful red horse carrying me around a racetrack…me giggling on his back. I wasn’t sure how I felt about him living thousands of miles away from me. I was sad. Maybe alittle worried. But the truth is…I had not really said goodbye to my friend. I had shared him with a family who loved him as much as I did, assuming I would see him whenever I wanted to. So now I really DO have to give him up.
I stopped in to see Canon a few days ago. He was happy, healthy and quiet as I stroked his face and kissed the cresent moon on his forehead. Good bye my friend…may your life be filled with green fields, lots of friends and games to play.
April Update on Beaugart
I’ve had Bogie home from the trainer for almost 2 weeks now. I’m sticking to my plan and have left out the timeline, going very slowly. I spent most of the first week in observation mode, trying to see where Bogie’s mind is at. Having him away from the main herd has been very helpful, in that I can see his reactions to me more clearly. Its amazing…he is all over the map! From pacing the fenceline looking for the safety of the herd (RBE) to stomping on the chickens (LBE) to frozen and tense while I work around him(RBI) and then to frisking me for cookies (LBI)…all in a matter of a few minutes. Phew…he’s like a friggin rollercoaster!
The first big ‘aha’ was that he really does not tolerate me approaching him directly. He might manage to stand still, but he is tense and suspicious. I had missed that before. If I have something in my hand, like a brush or a leadline, forget it, he is out of dodge. This is the response I have seen before and attibuted it to the ‘thing’, when really I was just putting more pressure on a RB horse in an introverted moment. What a dummy, lol!
So I have been really sticking to a consistent pattern..bring water, hay and grain, then cleaning up his paddock, in that order. I have been waiting for him to approach me to instigate any direct interaction. He has to be in a LB mode to get his curiousity up and I really want to keep him in this thinking frame of mind. It was about the middle of last week when we had a break through. I was down for his evening meal. He had pooped where he eats, so I had changed up the pattern and was cleaning his paddock BEFORE getting his hay and grain. So I was cleaning up his paddock, observing his behavior out of my peripheral vision. He was pacing the fenceline. Then he stopped abruptly (and so did I….surprised by his sudden lack of motion), looked over at me and started yawning vigorously. I turned toward him and waited. As he took one step toward me, I thought ‘There it is! A question! You forgot my hay?!” Thrilled, I set my manure fork down and walked over to the shed to retrieve his dinner. To my amazement, as I arrived at the shed door, he was at my shoulder. We had made contact…mentally…through communication. It was a profound moment.
Since then he has been way more left brain than right. I still have to be very careful about how I present my energy and about not putting more pressure on when he is unconfident. Its very hard for me. The other day I wanted to put a cooler on him. It was cold and had been raining and he won’t go in the shelter. I just wanted to get him dried off. It was a perplexing situation. I knew he would be unconfident about the cooler, and worried I would set us back if I pressed the issue. On the other hand, the night was slated to be cold and I would be up all night worried about him if I didn’t get him warm. I considered bringing him up to the barn and locking him in a stall, but that would have required catching and haltering…the one thing I promised I would not rush him into. So I decided to try with the cooler, but had a plan to abort the attempt if things went south. Put the relationship first, right. I presented my idea to him by letting him sniff the cooler. He obviously liked my idea and let me slide it onto his back and over his head, at liberty, without any resistance. When he needed to move his feet as the leg straps touched him, I acknowledged his apprehension and idea about movement by simply going with him without adding pressure. Worked like a charm. When I was done, he licked his lips and set about frisking me for cookies. Hysterical.
We’ve really made little progress on my list, probably still at step 1 and 2, but the tiny microsteps have allowed me to investigate other directions we might want to explore first, For instance. Bogie likes treats, when in a LB state of mind. In fact, one of the ways I can tell he is LB, is that he is looking for treats from me. But he always keeps me out in front of him in zone 1. I realized this was a game he was pretty good at and it allows him to block my approach to the ‘catching areas’ in zone 2 and 3. So I plotted a strategy to convince him that I am way more interesting in zone 2 or 3. My initial approach into these zones would make him move away from me, sometimes in a RB over-reaction, but sometimes in a ‘you can’t catch me’ snotty manuveur. I found that I could more easily back into that space, keeping my energy off Bogie. Once I could do that, I started to only give treats from that spot near his shoulder. Its good for him to bend around like that as well, as the trainer was concerned about his unwillingness to bend in the neck. We’ve progressed right along with this game and I am now working on getting him to position me there by himself. In the meantime, I can now stand in zone 2 or 3 and rub his withers, neck and even adjust his collar without losing him to the dark side.
Bogie and some typical NH spring weather...
Starting Over with Beaugart…
Beaugart aka ‘Bogie’ is a young arab X NSH that came to Resting Heart Farm last winter. From the start he has been difficult for me to read….hard to catch, head shy, evasive….sometimes anxious, sometimes curious, sometimes over-reactive. He is a rescue and I don’t know alot about his history, but I can see he has some old wounds on his legs, and asymmetric eyes, so there has been some trauma. The question is….does the old trauma create his current state of mind or did his innate way of dealing with life make him more likely to have accidents. Doesn’t really matter, I guess…I have to deal with the horse that is here right now. And where we are right now is, well, complicated. Last summer, I was working pretty successfully with Bogie, or so I thought. I wrote about it here. Over the winter, our partnership started to deteriorate. He became impossible to catch without chasing him into a stall and cornering him. I can hear you all, rolling your eyes, in exasperation thinking…. ‘TELL ME YOU DIDN’T!’ Yes, I did. I let my task oriented nature make decisions. He had to have his feet trimmed, he had to see the vet, go to the trainers, etc….and my agenda forced the tactics. What I got for my trouble is MORE trouble. He now totally mistrusts me and we are back to square one. On the one hand I feel ashamed that I put that kind of pressure on him…a failure in my stewardship toward him. But one thing I know for sure about horses, is there is no place for feelings of regret or shame. I am either building trust, rapport and respect or I am tearing them down. Its a simple choice which side of the equation I want to be on.
Bogie spent the past month with Neal Perry and Bekah Bailey at Perry Farm in training. My fears were confirmed when they reported very slow progress with Bogie. Some of their comments: He seems scared and tense most of the time….over-reactive. He has some trouble with his vision on the left (something I was beginning to suspect prior). He adapts to new objects or situations quickly when a human is not attached…very slowly if a human is present. Every teaching session seems to have to start with alot of review, like he is retaining the previous lesson poorly. He seems extreme in how he reacts differently with people or objects in either eye or switching from one side to the other. Very hard to catch and halter without alot of resistant behavior. It wasn’t until the last week that Neal thought he might be ready to put a saddle on. He also does not seem to transfer learned behavior between people, so that if he learns something with Neal, Bekah could not necessarily start from the same spot and certainly I could not. But it was not ALL bad news. On the positive side, they thought he was smart, a beautiful mover, and had the capacity to be a great problem solver if he could be convinced to think instead of react. They also thought he was very kind. Not the type to purposefully hurt you, kick or strike no matter how scared he was.
All of this feedback was worth the training fee. I realized I had gotten into trouble with this horse a.) because of my agenda and lack of time, b.) because I was misreading him in many ways and c.) because I had talked myself into believing that ‘he was just not MY type of horse’ and gave up on the partnership.
So I brought him home a few days ago and we are starting over.
I’ve dug hard over the past two weeks, reading, watching old PNH videos and thinking about how my approach needs to change to fit Bogie’s horsenality. I did his chart. While he is primarily a Right Brain Extrovert, I see behavior all over the chart, which is why he is hard to read sometimes.
I have little experience with Right Brain Introverts, and I think that is where I am getting into trouble with him. But in truth, in order for this to work, I need a strategy that will set ME up to succeed as well. I’m very task and goal oriented, though I have learned over the years with my Left Brain Introvert, Manny, I can tone that tendency down by breaking any task down into tiny tiny steps and removing any timeline. But I have to have things to check off a list….its just how I am built.
So I have built a temporary paddock for Bogie, down by the chicken and goat house where he can be across the fence from the main herd, but not loose with them. Its a place where I spend a fair amount of time doing chores that have nothing to do with him and as such can serve as ‘undemanding time’ without forcing me to sit still (which would make me quite anxious). I have removed the water trough and plan to be his only source of water. So this first stage will serve to restore trust and rapport, the ‘goal’ will be to be able to approach Bogie and halter him without being resistant or bracey (either of us). However, if I just go directly to haltering, I will fall right back into the old pattern and get no where. So I have broken down the steps into microsteps, first bring water to Bogie, then taking him out to the water trough first with a collar and then with the halter, using a consistent pattern to help us both stay calm, focused and connected. So the steps might look like this:
1. Can he approach me and drink water from a bucket
2. Can I walk in a circle around him while he drinks…in both directions. No touching. Big circle at first (whole paddock), make it smaller as his threshold allows.
3. Can I touch his body all the way around while he drinks his water without him leaving.
4. Can I snap the lead line on his collar while he drinks.
5. Can I snap the leadline on his collar and lead him to the bucket.
6. Can I snap on and lead him outside the pen to water and then back again.
7. Can I put a halter on and lead him out of the pen, to the water and back again.
Each step might take a day or a month….and I might find there are other even smaller steps between these that I want to explore. Once we are getting close to the goal, we’ll add some distractors, like obstacles, balls, balloons or barrels. In truth, I believe if I can attain this small goal, the partnership will come very easily.
So the rules I am setting for myself: Never leave his paddock when he is braced, tense or anxious. No task can be checked off the list until it is consistently soft and responsive for 7 attempts in a row. Expect alot, accept alittle….every day.
What Horses have to Teach us about Healing…
I have been struggling to write this piece for over a week now. Its not typical for me to experience ‘writer’s block’ but there is is. And as it turns out, totally germane to the topic. Its been a tough week for me mentally and emotionally. Engaged in some politically charged organizational rhetoric….within a task I took on voluntarily to help a cause I believe in….I found I was not thriving. No details are required, but as a result of this turmoil, I have experienced indigestion, muscle aches, headaches, and poor sleep. Late last evening I was given the opportunity to remove myself from this situation and I gratefully accepted. I did feel better, but it wasn’t until the wee hours of this morning …..when I was roused from bed by the hospital to come in to care for one of my patients emergently ….that I fully released all that toxic energy. At my patient’s bedside, as I laid my hand on her shoulder to reassure her that she would be OK…wham…I felt it. My head cleared, my heart opened, and my body resumed its vibrant hum. That sensation, folks, and I know you have all felt it, is a chakra (or in this case chakras) opening or releasing.
Sit for a moment and think about how it is you are alive right now. How do you work…I mean what keeps you as an organism going everyday? What keeps your brain thinking? What keeps your heart beating? What makes your muscles contract on cue? What allows us to love, to care, to laugh? Why do we cry or feel pain? Where does our intuition come from? We are complex beyond imagining. Energy. Kinetics. Power. Connection.
Not to oversimplify, all living beings are made up of circuitry, energy banks that rely on each other for us to function properly. Visualize with me a house on a hill, at night, with all the lights on, inside and out…not a very ‘green’ image, but bear with me. Cut the power and everything goes dark, right? But its not just the lights. In addition, all the stuff in the house stops working…the TV, the stove, the computer, the refrigerator, the washer and dryer, even the water runs dry in some cases. So keep the image of the house in your mind and flip the breakers in the basement one by one. As you do, a section of the house comes alive. You see the effect because of the light, but you can also feel it…the hum of electricity! Now the house is functioning to its capacity and all sorts of complex activities can now take place within it. This is how I describe the chakra system to people. Chakras are our internal circutry, our energy banks. We need them to function physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. Can we survive in a dark house without electricity? Sure. But we flourish when the power is on and all the connections are working.
So there are 7 main chakras…actually there are 8 major and many minor chakras, but we’ll concentrate on the 7 for now. For more specific information on each go here. Reno, below, will be our Chakra model. Pictured here at the height of his rehabilitation, all chakras humming with vibrant energy. These power sources are associated with different physical organs and body parts as well as emotional and mental aspects of our being. Power from these sources can be dialed up or down depending on many inputs. Injury and acute pain, for instance, can shut down one or more chakras very quickly. Our thoughts and emotions can also dial down these energy points, sometimes so slowly, we don’t even realize it. In some cases, our mental and emotional effects on our chakras can be so powerful that we develop physical manifestations within that chakra. And vice versa. So you can see its very complex.
My work with horses has taught me just about everything I know about chakras. As in most aspects of my life, horses are amazing teachers.
We’ve all seen neglected horses…thin, depressed, lethargic, injured. Like the dark house without any power, they are surviving, but shut up within the simple structure of their bodies. You’ve also probably seen the opposite.
I remember being at a Parelli gathering a few years ago. I just happened to be near the entry to the arena when Pat was coming through with his stallion, Casper. I was maybe 6 feet away as he passed by. I was stunned by the presence of this animal (that’s Casper, not Pat). He was not just beautiful, he was connected, energetic and powerful beyond belief. I remember feeling his presence so vividly, so positively…he made me feel joy. I’ve since studied photos and video of Casper and have to admit, he is not the perfect horse…not perfectly built and surely not a suitable partner for most, but he is all there. His energy centers are charged up and the juice is flowing.
Most of our horses are somewhere in between. Just like humans, these energy centers are sometimes open, sometimes closed. The energy flow changes, weakening or strengthening, affected by injury, nutrition, environment and socialization, herd dynamics and past history. The powerful lesson I’ve learned from the horses is that if you provide what they need nutritionally, mentally, socially, physically, you can open these chakras. Actually the horse opens them, we simply provide the raw materials. When they are open, the horse has the amazing ability to heal itself….just like it was magic. For years I focused on the physical ailments and injuries of my horses. Manny, who has been with me for a dozen years has had all sorts of afflictions over the years, arthritic hocks, S-I joint instability, uveitis, and sarcoids. I used every medical trick in the book for him. I was sometimes successful and sometimes not…mostly not. My horses have always had the ‘best of care’, but something happened when we moved to NH, they moved home with me and I began to give them the environment and social life that was natural to them. At the time, I had not tuned into the chakra phenomenon, but I watched Manny change over that first year here. He became sound, engaged, comfortable in his own skin. His uveitis cleared, in fact a follow up Opthalmology consult had the doctor baffled…’this horse doesn’t have uveitis!?!’ His arthritis and back issues resolved and his sarcoids dissappeared (seriously), without any intervention from me outside good nutrition, lots of room to move and engage with a herd and horsemanship that protected his dignity and natural power.
Since then I have been rehabilitating rescues. These are the horses that have shown me the way in regard to what was happening with the chakras. I was introduced to dowsing many years ago by a dear friend, Sheila Ryan and have developed modest skills over the years. Dowsing the chakras was always part of my program, but I didn’t see the connection to the healing I was seeing until the last two horses, Reno and Ripple. You can read about Reno here and he is pictured above. The initial work in his rehab was painstaking and I feared we would lose him several times. But one day he just seemed better. My dowsing revealed all his chakras were open and flowing, despite being on stall rest from a second injury. I was perplexed. Shouldn’t the injury be affecting his energy in at least one chakra? But there it was. The power of the energy available to him for healing was evident over the ensuing weeks as he made a record breaking recovery in less that half the vet projected time period. Whoa…that is some weird science!
So I was anxious to test my theory with Ripple. Rip has some hind end issues, probably OCD in the stifles. He came to me pretty weak in the hind end in general, so its hard to know exactly what is wrong. Instead of focusing on a diagnosis, I simply used my dowsing to figure out what he needed in regard to nutrition, turned him out with the herd and waited. It was over a month before the first chakra opened….the heart…a product likely of attention from me and acceptance by the herd. A week later came the third eye. This one I saw immediately. In stead of watching me move around the paddock out of one eye or the other as was his habit, he was following me with both eyes. A couple days later the crown opened followed by the throat chakra. The front half of the horse connected. Not surprising given the lack of physical power in the hind end. So I waited another week and then bam, in rapid succession the last three opened…solar plexus, base and finally the reproductive chakra. I knew these had opened just by looking at him…relaxed, integrated, soft expression. So now the healing can begin. Its the power of animal healing. We all have this ability. I have believed that for a long time as a physician, though never understood its power until now.
Look what two weeks will do…
These photos were taken two weeks apart. I know the difference is subtle, but I think you can see Ripple’s topline has relaxed quite abit and the angle of the hip has changed. The illusion is that he has filled out in the rump area. What is really happening is that the tightness in the hamstrings is lessening, allowing the hip to relax into a more normal position. Some of this relaxation is a product of time and lessening anxiety about his new place and herd, but some of it is diet, acupressure, massage and movement. Nice start. Relaxation is the start of everything else. I like this horse!
Ripple 1-9
Ripple 1-23
Herd Politics
Initial Greeting
People frequently ask me how I introduce a new horse to the herd. Over the past 5 years I have had a dozen or so rescues and foster care horses of one breed or another to integrate (or not) into the herd. Every horse is different and there are lots of things to consider. So far, I can say I have not had a single injury integrating a new horse…not even a patch of lost hair.
The first thing to consider is the health of the new horse. Where did they come from? Are they likely to have been exposed to something infectious? Animals coming from an auction or other high traffic facility, no matter how healthy they look, should have a suitable period of quarantine from your herd. This ought to be in a separate barn and turnout, some distance from the home crew. I don’t have such a set-up here, so I am pretty careful about where I will take horses from. I did take on a mini stallion from an auction a couple of years ago and kept him in the spare stall across the aisle from my horses for a month, but this was not ideal and I was probably just lucky. The newest addition, Ripple, came from a rescue organization who quarantined him for 30 days and had him on their premises for 2 months, so much less risk there, though not zero. Unhealthy horses are not only a risk to the health of your herd, they integrate poorly and if integration happens too soon, they can become permanently culled. If major weakness, either from injury, malnutrition or metabolic issues are present, it is much better to get the horse healthy before trying to integrate fully into a stable herd. Better to offer the companionship of a goat, mini or other low on the totem pole horse until they are ready. I will put these horses in an adjoining paddock and allow introductions over a safe, electrified fence until they are ready (if ever) to go mainstream.
The next thing to consider is the temperament of the new horse as well as the already present herd dynamics. Is the new horse confident or unconfident? Are they reactive? Do they respect boundaries? Or push into pressure? Do you have a good idea about how your horses will respond to a newcomer? Is there a stable alpha? Are there any aggressive tendencies or extreme behavior in the current herd members? The major early complication when integrating a new horse, is injury. Horses start sparring, chasing, biting, kicking, etc. You definitely want to know ahead of time if the new horse is likely to go through a fence or jump a gate when the pressure gets high. Make sure they respect boundaries, personal space and yield to pressure before you put them in a tricky position. If the new horse doesn’t have these skills, teach them first. If you have an extreme horse already in your herd, this can complicate things as well. Generally, if there is enough room, plenty of hay, and no place for a horse to get cornered, horses will quickly and safely sort out their order in the herd.
I have a track modeled after Jaime Jackson’s Paddock Paradise and use it exclusively in the winter, which is when most of my rescues arrive. Its a great format to introduce new horses as it is a big circular track. The horses can move along it endlessly promoting exercise and the illusion of wide open space. Its hard for a horse to get cornered in this type of setting. When introducing a new horse, I do it gradually. I usually turn them out in a separate area with each of the herd members, one at a time to assess any surprising aggression. When I do finally turn the new horse out onto the track with the herd, I make sure I will be home all day and plan to be nearby to intervene if anything extreme happens. For the first week to month, depending on the horse, I will bring them into the barn at night to eat and rest without the pressures of herd dynamics. It allows me a place to assess their appetite, hydration and for injuries. Most of these new horses have special diets I concoct for them, so it is easier to separate them from the others for feeding. It also gives me an opportunity to interact with the new horse in the context of the herd. I am part of the herd too. If I remove myself from the integration process, I might find I have have been replaced as leader the next time I walk among my horses. I spend plenty of time out with the herd and new herd member, moving horses around, simply to remind them that I’m still in charge. Its no fun to have one of your trusted steeds push the new horse over the top of you….trust me, been there, done that. I pay attention to body language. Even my quietest horse can become unpredictable when herd politics are in negotiation.
There is a general pattern of integration. I look for certain landmarks to assess progress towards full integration. Sometimes it takes a day, sometimes a month or more.
The first landmark is what I call ‘the greeting’. Sometimes this happens well in advance of the horse actually joining the herd and occurs over the fence line. The horses put their noses to each other for a few seconds to moments. Necks are arched and there is sometimes some squealing or stomping of the feet, but in general no contact. Its kind of like the knocking of the gloves by boxers before they go back to their corners to strategize before a fight.
The next three landmarks can occur in different order, depending on the horses, but they all generally occur. I’ve listed them in the order I typically see. ’Avoidance’. Some horse just pretend the new horse doesn’t exist. They don’t engage positively or negatively. ’Pushing’. This is the one everyone hates to watch. The new horse generally gets pushed around mercilessly. If he is lucky, he’ll get it from one horse at a time, but I have seen two horses pushing a newbie at one time. This is really important to the existing herd and is completely natural. This is, however, the time when you want to be sure there is plenty of space to run and lots of piles of hay out. You don’t want horses fighting over food. ’Sparring’, which is my favorite. Here, finally you see some engagement that is two sided, not just one. Generally sparring starts with the lowest horse in the herd and works its way up, but not always. But when I see the sparring, I know integration is coming along and this is generally when I start letting the new horse stay out with the herd 24/7.
The last landmark has to do with position within the group. Up until now the new horse will stay on the outskirts of the group. When they move along the track they will either be pushed out in front or follow the group from behind. When I see the new horse confidently moving in the middle of the herd (at least some of the time) without getting pressured from the other herd members, I know integration is nearly complete.
The finer points of where the horse fits into the pecking order takes months and alot depends on the health and confidence of the new horse. Our newest herd member, Ripple is on his way to full integration, but its going slowly for him. Slow and right, beats fast and wrong though.
Ripple and Bogie sparring
Notice how Ripple, on the far left, is on the outskirts...
Manny and Ripple were sparring a few minutes before this photo, and now you can see that even though Ripple is still on the outskirts, he is getting much closer to the center of the group...
Anyway, that’s how I do it. I believe horses should live as a group, outside 24/7. They all have access to shelter and the choice to where they want to be in a snowstorm or during the summer heat.
Two Year Update on Reno
With all the press my new horse, Ripple Effect has gotten on the past week or so, I had almost forgotten that it is Reno’s second anniversary with me. He definately deserves some press too….
Reno came to me in January 2009 with a life-threatening injury. A mystery hock injury, several months old.
atrophy and hock swelling left hind
It was a struggle to win the battle with this injury and I thought we would have to put him down more than once that winter. I don’t think an injury in a horse has taught me more about patience, persistence and hope. It was indeed a miracle, and by the spring he was in harness and working lightly…
First day back in harness.
One day in late April, however, I arrived home to find Reno had had a fight with the fence and to my horror had severed the extensor tendon (and nearly the flexor) in the same previously injured leg. That was the low point for me. I’m not sure I would have had the fortitude to go on with his rehab, had it not been for Reno’s magical personality. He was always happy and engaged, even when in pain. We were back to daily dressing changes and stall rest for a month, then limited turnout for a month more.
Reno recovers from his second injury
By the middle of summer, however, I had Reno back in harness and pulling a cart. We once again were on the rehab path. Lots of miles pulling the cart on pavement, strengthened the healing tendon and improved his confidence. By the fall I was riding Reno and we attended the MOFGA low impact forestry course in Maine, skidding wood. By the spring of 2010, he was sound enough to pull a walking plow and cultivator.
Reno and I cultivating the garden
Reno on the walking plow
Doesn’t get better than this, folks!
Reno January 2009
Reno August 2009
Reno August 2010
The last 5% always takes the longest. We are happily working on the finer points of his rehab. He still has trouble with picking up the left hind for trimming and he backs up with alittle hitch in his gait. These issues may never fully resolve, but as far as I am concerned they are cosmetic and only serve to remind me of how far he has come. He is sound and he will have a home with me forever.
The Ripple Effect
This is a story about a horse and social networking. Say what, you ask?
I remember the day I was invited to sign up for Facebook by a friend. Don’t remember the friend, but I remember being annoyed…..thinking FB was just another tool to invade my privacy and bog down my internet traffic. I signed up anyway, added a photo of myself and took some queer quizzes about what sort of dog I was and whether I was a redneck or not. Then facebook suggested some friends for me. How did it know I knew these people? Ah, its invading my gmail address book…again, I was annoyed. Of course a few weeks later, other friend requests came through that I though, hmmm…I haven’t spoken or emailed that person in years. I hooked up with cousins and family that I normally don’t stay in good enough contact with (despite resolutions to the contrary). Facebook even hooked me up with my ex-husband, Angelo. This was becoming kind of fun now. I was in daily contact with people I loved but for whatever reason I had lost a connection. I mean that’s what we all want right? A connection to other people. A way to share our life with others and vice versa.
Recently as I neared 400 friends, I realized how blessed I was to have such a busy social life, without having to go too far or buy a plane ticket or even pick up the phone. Many of my ‘friends’ now on FB are mere acquaintances or friends of friends, some of whom I now feel like I know very well, even if we have never met. Its fascinating, really!
Over the past decade I have started to believe in and practice manifestation. I keep a perfect picture of the things or events I want to see happen or come into my life and then wait. It has never failed. So I was not surprised when a horse meant for me popped up randomly last week on facebook. The interesting thing is that I did not purposefully manifest this horse. I believe my subconscious mind did. Here’s the story as I know it….
Many of you know I rehabbed a Percheron, Reno, a couple of years ago, who completely stole my heart. Over the past year or so I had been considering adding another percheron to my herd, possibly a teammate for Reno. I have looked at several percherons as well as other drafts, some very pretty, and well trained. Many of these horses were outside my budget, but the truth is, I could have scrouged up the money to buy one. But I didn’t. I think, now, looking back, buying a well trained, perfectly sound horse wasn’t what I was looking for. What I truly needed was to rescue a horse in need. Which is pretty much how all the animals on my farm arrive here. I’m a fixer. I like to fix things. Lets say I have a knack for it.
When I saw Ripple on the Frog Pond Farm Draft Rescue, something in my heart exploded. That’s him, I thought, surprising myself with this odd revelation. It was amazing how certain I was in a matter of seconds. Stifle problems, oh goody! So I emailed the rescue, filled out a application and got in my truck and drove to Ohio to collect him. 72 hours and 1400 miles from application to driving into the driveway with him near midnight on New Year’s Eve.
So someone asked me, “Are you going to change his name?” Hell no. His name so clearly illustrates the whole experience. When I found him on FB, there was an immediate flurry of posts and comments. Of course, I stayed connected with those interested with status updates during my trip to Ohio. By the time I was half way to Ohio, I had dozens of people fascinated and routing me on. What once would have been a simple road trip, became an epic journey…shared with friends, family and perfect strangers. Yes, I now have perfect strangers as friends on FB!
Meet ‘Ripple Effect’….
On losing a horse…
I was restless this morning. I could have slept til 6am but my brain was triing to get up at 5. I finally acquiesced and got out of bed at 5:30. As is my routine, I looked out the window down onto the farm…to be sure everyone is roughly where they should be. I am lucky to have a house that sits on a hill and the farm cascades down below it, so I have a view of my creatures from most of the windows in the house.
I immediately noticed Doc. He was lying down flat on the wrong side of a fence. OMG…I thought…he looks dead! I stared at him, holding my breath….willing him to show some sign of life. At last, he lifted his head and looked around. I breathed a sigh of relief and chastised myself for such a morbid thought. I left the window and sat down to my computer and email, then downstairs for coffee.
As I left the house for chores, I glanced down the hill to check on Doc, knowing I would have to…at some point….go get him and put him back with the herd where he belonged. He was still lying down. Odd…I thought….he was in a different spot. I threw hay out to the boys at the barn and hiked out to where Doc lay. Dread filled me as I approached. He was sick…I could see it in his eyes. But he was so calm, relaxed, really. As I approached him and stroked his neck, a neighbor drove by and stopped. ”What’s wrong with Doc?” she asked. I replied, ‘I dunno. just got here”. She looked at me with worry in her eyes….’he looks bad’. The feeling I had when I first saw him at 5:30 resurfaced and I could not push it aside. I pulled out my cellphone and called my vet. Then I called Tim…Doc’s owner and best friend.
The events that followed are so common amoung those who own/raise/train horses that I can skip the details. The bottom line is that colic in an old horse, with no history of colic (I’ll bet I haven’t spent a dime of vet fees on this horse, except for routine vaccinations), means strangulation and obstruction. No hope of survival without surgery. And surgery means a two hour drive south, anesthesia and a long post-op course. I was devastated. I knew I could not subject him to that type of treatment.
I’m a surgeon and a good one. Its my gift..to fix living things. But living with horses has brought me closer to being present in the moment. Its where our beloved animals live. They don’t understand….’we can fix this but you have to wait’, like people can. Doc has enjoyed very good health and vitality at our farm. I have a natural instinct when it comes to heath and nutrition. He has absolutely flourished here and I have been so pleased with his state of health..until today.
Tim was able to be here and ultimately made the decision to put Doc down. We sat down next to him and cried, stroking his neck lovingly. As his spirit left and our emotions stabilized, we talked about Doc and his misadventures and about all sorts of other things. Before long we were laughing again and exchanging warm embraces. Doc was gone, but his spirit had already healed us in many ways. It is the gift horses bring to us….simplicity and joy.
What I have learned is that life can change direction in a heartbeat. Its scary…to be honest.
Doc was a treasure and a blessing. His passing has left a hole here…at the farm and in my heart. Its a small hole and will be repairable…but it will leave a scar…as it should for any loved horse.
Doc is on the far left.
Re-starting Beaugart
Yield your hindquarters and follow me...
So many of you know of my most recent rescue, Beaugart. He is a 5 yo Arab x NSH and has been with me for about 6 months. He was skinny and scared of everything when he came to the farm. As with all my rescues, health and socialization come first. Beaugart has spent the past few months with a small herd with plenty of room to roam, play and move his body. There have been very few demands made on him from me and I have spent the time building rapport, by being a consistent presence in his daily life. Trust took a long time. He really had no interest in anything I did, nor could he stand me approaching him directly. But one day, not long ago, I found him nibbling on my elbow from behind me while I did my chores! At last, some curiousity! The next day, he allowed me to approach and scratch his itchy spots (it is black fly season), curling his lips with pleasure. That was the turning point and the day I knew I could start working with him in a more meaningful way.
I know very little about Beaugart, but have been able to piece together some info. He was born in Colorado and was quite a fancy weanling, winning an ‘in hand’ championship as a yearling. I also have in my possession a photo of him being ridden by a man….no idea where or what level of training he was at. My experience handling him has led me to believe he has had some training, though there were some big holes in his foundation, or possible evidence of some rough handling.
The first issue I encountered was that he was difficult to catch. If he saw a halter or lead rope, he was ‘out of dodge’. In the beginning he would simply leave and I had no hope of catching him outside of trapping him in a small paddock or stall which I was loathe to do. Right around the time his curiousity about me appeared, his behavior shifted somewhat about being caught. While he was still not interested in being haltered and would move away, he ran in circles around me instead of leaving the area completely…a huge shift in his behavior. Instead of panicing, he was thinking. This was a very good sign, but I knew he was still very far from thinking of me as a partner.
The second issue I noted was that he was extremely head shy. He did not like stuff over his ears, like a bridle or leather halter. I could manage with a rope halter swung over his neck, but nothing that had to go up and over the forehead and ears…well, not without him rearing straight in the air 
The last big issue was his left shoulder. He was in the habit of using his left shoulder to move people and block any access to his zone 3 (where the saddle goes). He is pretty unbalanced side to side in general, but that is common, as people tend to lead and mount horses from the left and do very little from the right. He was alittle extreme in this way. I get the feeling someone did alot of work teaching him to yield his hindquarters without paying much attention to this evasion. I knew I could fix this problem pretty easily once I had his confidence.
Anyway, by happenstance, I was invited to visit my friend Brenda Ladd at her farm and encouraged to bring Beaugart up for some training. Brenda is in Bridgewater, NH and has a gorgeous facility with a large indoor arena and round pens. She hosts many clinics each year with fabulous clinicians (Dave Ellis, Karen Rolph, David Lichman to name a few) and does some horsemanship coaching in between. Brenda and I have been online friends through Parelli Natural Horsemanship for several years so I was delighted when she and her husband Jonathan moved their venue to NH! She is a wonderful coach with good instincts about what is working and how to build on what the horse offers.
So Beaugart and I spent two days with Brenda. We camped out and did a little bonding. Lots of opportunity to become better partners. Brenda took some photos, which will serve as an outline of what we accomplished in just over 24 hours.
Oh, its a carrot stick!
OK, I guess I'll stick with you now...
We worked in a round pen. I used the pen to create forward movement and then worked on changes of direction. Bogie had trouble at times turning towards me. Brenda suggested I approach him less directly and push his hindquarters away, allowing the front end to come towards me…brilliant! At first he could only yield a step at a time before stalling, but before too long he would follow through with forward movement toward me. We built on that the first day till he was following me consistently. Next we had to tackle the friendly game with the stick and string. I elected to put him on line for this and we played with some approach and retreat. He caught on very quickly. It was pretty clear that he is a quick minded horse and does not need alot of repetition to learn. Brenda thought, ‘why don’t we do this with a saddle on’…kill two birds so to speak. Now I know he has worn a saddle before, but what I don’t know is if he had any issues with the saddling process or with the saddle itself. So we treated him like any young horse. He checked out the saddle and pad and seemed very confident about it. I saddled him at liberty and he had no problems at all. Well, I should say, until the next day, when in anticipation of riding him, we found a girth that was small enough for him (he is still not that round). Since it was our second saddling and he was so good the first day, I didn’t expect any reaction to the girth being tight. And there wasn’t at first. I tightened the girth, then walked away and he set off crow hopping around the arena for 20 seconds or so. I was so surprised. He then stopped and walked over to me and put his head down as if to say, ‘sorry, I just had a moment there’. Just goes to show…never make assumptions about any horse and their previous training. If you didn’t see it with your own eyes, it never happened.
saddling was uneventful, though there was not a small enough girth to be had in the house!
Bogie learns to yield his hindquarters without blocking me with his shoulder...
Day two: I knew I could get on Bogie the second day, based on what we had accomplished the day before. So I went straight to work teaching him to pick me up at the mounting block. OK for those of you, saying ‘What’s with the mounting block?’… I have a rule. Either mount from the ground or teach your horse to pick you up from a block or a tailgate or a fence…willingly. Mounting a 16 hand horse from the ground takes physical strength and flexibility. Teaching that horse to pick me up takes savvy and focus. Its ALL good, people!
Teaching Bogie to pick me up at the mounting block
testing the waters...
Bogie had no issues with the idea of me getting on his back, but you know what they say....'better safe than sorry'
And we're off....or rather 'on'...
Asking for lateral flexion...
very nice, short, relaxed first ride
Next we tackled the bridling issue. It was a big deal to him. But with some persistance and patience, along with good timing with the release, we got the job done. I had a goal of getting the bridle on 3 times (once I had done it once) with each try more successful. Mission accomplished, but we still have some work to do in this area…
Bridling was another story...
Bogie wasn't sure which was worse, the bit or the headstall going over the ears...
while he was worrying about the bit, I worked on the ears. I let him think about this for awhile...
Success with dignity!
I think we are off to a great start...
So Bogie is off to a great start! There is loads of work to do, but I am confident he will be an awesome partner. His movement is wonderful and it will be fun to try to recreate that undersaddle. He would make an awesome hunter for some teenager! Many thanks to Brenda from Ladd Farm for her support and suggestions! Their website is: www.laddfarmllc.com Check out and come audit a clinic this summer!
My fine hostess and coach, Brenda with my pup, Newt
The spectacular view from Ladd Farm...oh and the horse ain't bad either!
