spread the love!

Victoria at Teachings of the Horse has just given camera-obscura a "spread the love" award - what an honor! Her blog as well as those she's awarded are daily reads for me and I encourage you to check all of them out. What a wonderful community of creative horsefolk!

Thank you, Victoria!

I'll be back after barn chores to add my list of spread the love recipients!

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And here they are:

Melismata

Drachenthrax

Only One

quirky horses

In response to an invitation to play over at Teachings of the Horse, here are some of our herd quirks:

Keil Bay has very specific gestures he does when he needs chiropractic adjustment. If his pelvis rotates out, he stamps his right hind foot when I touch his flank. If lumbar vertebrae need work, he bobs his head when I take him to the mounting block. When the chiropractor arrives, whether it's his turn or not, he comes into the stall and shoves his butt against the wall. (she once said, in his presence, that pushing butts against walls can sometimes be a sign that a horse needs adjustment) He bobs his head until she gets to the right place, then he sighs and gets very still while she does the adjustment. He often turns to her and touches her arm with his nose when she's done.

Cody likes to move things around. If you leave scrub brushes out, he puts them in the water troughs. He has taken his blanket, spread it in the barn aisle, and put his hay on top of it. When our trainer comes, if it isn't his turn, he stands at the gate to the arena and watches. When de-spooking the pony to big black and white umbrellas, Cody's response was to get under the umbrella WITH me.

Salina is very attuned to children. If any of our young neighbors down the lane call out to their mom, she goes to the fence line and stands, ears pricked, until they are taken care of. She loves being groomed in the summer. When they come in from night-time turn-out, she bangs her stall door until I let her in the barn aisle, where she stands w/o halter or lead rope and gets groomed from head to tail. She came from Germany, and sometimes I speak to her in German (very bad German) if she isn't listening to my English. Her response is to turn slowly and look at me like "You're better off sticking to English!"

Apache Moon likes to take gates off hinges and walk them around so all the horses can walk right through. He regularly defies our attempts to contain him, and every now and then, mostly in the spring when the new grass comes in, can be found in some choice spot in the yard or at the neighbor's, enjoying the spoils. He is small and rather round, but as flexible as they come. He double-bucks with a twist. He has the most amazing markings - a snail, a half moon, a lightning bolt, an inverted V.

Rafer Johnson, the miniature donkey, wants to sit in laps. He prefers Salina's food to his own, and has managed to convince her that she should share it. He loves to roll in the barn aisle. This is my personal opinion, and not yet verified, but I think he really wants a Winnie the Pooh bear for the stall he shares with Salina.

the very evil soaking boot

This morning I went out to feed and then groom and longe Cody, our 4-year old QH. We've had some mild thrush issues all around this winter, so I decided that while I was grooming, I'd tie up a flake of hay and soak his feet at the same time. Our trimmer recommended a monthly soak in a mild borax and calendula solution, so I mixed up the water, tsp of borax, and dropper of calendula, and stuck Cody's left front hoof in it.

It was obvious he had never had a foot soaked before, and when I thought about it, we got him when he was 2, and he's never needed soaking since. He probably never needed it as a younger horse either.

He handled it pretty well. He didn't really want to set his foot down inside the bucket, but when encouraged, he did. As long as I stood right there and stroked his shoulder he was fine. The moment I moved away, he took his foot out of the bucket. Not wild and crazy, just simply lifted it out.

Given that I wanted to groom and longe, I opted to get out the soaking boot and try that. I figured it would be more comfortable, and I could get on with his grooming.

Cody was a good sport. He's never had a soaking boot on either, but he gamely let me put his foot in it and sat it flat on the ground. Fine - I got the brushes and curry combs and got to work. Thus far Cody hadn't moved his feet and all was well. For about five minutes.

Suddenly, he took a step and when the water inside the soaking boot sloshed, he spooked. I calmed him and started brushing again. He stepped again, and pulled back. I decided it was probably a good idea to untie him. I calmed him again, but by this time he had moved away from the hay net and when he stepped to get back to it, that evil soaking boot sloshed and he leapt forward, almost on top of me.

My first reaction was to address his leaping toward me. He was scared, and he wanted to both get close and get away from the boot. But he's a big horse, and he needs to know that he can't do that. I drove him back, which addressed the space issue, but of course scared him all over again when the boot kept sloshing.

This time he leaped around me in a circle, inside the barn aisle. Better, but still dangerous. He managed to fling the soaking boot right off his foot. I settled him down again and then sacked him out with the boot, letting him smell it, rubbing it on his body, and finally laying it all over his foot. He got lots of pats and good boys for this. We went out and did some groundwork, just a little bit, and returned to the barn.

Once I finally got to grooming, I realized his RIGHT front fetlock was a bit puffy. probably due to a superficial scrape he got yesterday on the inside of that leg. So after all that, poor Cody had to get cold hosed for 20 minutes.

Next time we tackle the soaking boot, I think we need to do it without the liquid, to get used to that feeling first. Then we'll add some sloshing and work on getting comfortable with THAT. We'll do some more bucket soaking too.

He's such a great guy it's easy to forget that he's only 4 and so many things are new for him.

This afternoon, all is well. It's hit the mid-70's today and there's a nice breeze blowing. Cody is down the hill grazing while his little buddy makes good use of a double-sided scratching post.

Writing With Horses

I'm offering my semi-annual writing workshop, Writing With Horses: Finding Forward Motion in Your Writing, in March and wanted to announce it here for any local folks who might want to attend. (non-local folks are welcome too, and there is a lovely inn ten minutes away that I can refer you to for lodging)

The details for the spring 2008 offering:

Saturday, March 1st and Saturday, March 22nd workshops both have openings.

This day-long workshop uses horses (groundwork only, no experience necessary) to begin new projects and/or find/fix stuck places in existing work. It can be tailored to one person's needs and can be expanded into a 2-day workshop if needed.


The workshop is scheduled at my home and farm, November Hill - from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. We are located in NC. The cost is as follows:

one participant - $250.
two - $225. each
three - $200. each

Payment is expected by check with registration and will not be refunded if cancellation occurs with less than a week's notice (7 days).

I can tailor the workshop somewhat to individual needs, but the basic format/schedule is this:

10 a.m. - arrive and do intros, share goals for the day (which may be to initiate new writing or work with a stuck place in a current project, or other specific goals)

11 a.m. - review safety issues re: working with horses, meet the horses and decide who to work with during the day, groom and prepare for groundwork

break around 1 for "working" lunch, which is provided (simple fare - fruit, bread, cheese, soup, etc.) to discuss morning's work with horses and make plan for afternoon - writing exercise, more time with horses, some of both

2 p.m. - proceed with afternoon as planned

4 p.m. - wrap up


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If you're interested, email HERE.

saturday

The sun was here again, and the temps around 60F. The horses and little Rafer enjoyed their day, I'm told, but I wasn't here to see it. I spent my entire day in a writing workshop where I read from two different novels and wrote a scene that I also read aloud.

It's a small group and held in the workshop leader's home, so it was very cozy and nice being surrounded by books, her cat, and the sounds of her chickens outside the back window. She made us cream of celery soup for lunch, with grilled cheese sandwiches on homemade whole grain bread. Hot mint tea out of a teapot covered with a cozy, and pumpkin bread for dessert.

Aside from being delicious and healthy, I can't tell you how nice it was being pampered. To discuss issues of writing, to read pages out loud, to get feedback, given time to work on a scene that then gets immediate feedback - this was a writer's bliss.