PTSD in Horses

After living and working through a traumatic trailer-loading incident that happened last spring with our pony, I've been interested in PTSD and horses.

We had taken the little man to a cross-country clinic, and when it came time to load for the trip home, he didn't want to get on the trailer. No crazy behavior, no drama, he simply stood at the door and refused to step up.

Our method was to take a breath, remain calm, and continue asking. I knew he'd get on at some point. Before this could happen, though, we were suddenly surrounded by a group of well-intentioned helpers who proceeded to put a rope behind him, surrounded him on both sides, and when he reared, got out a longe whip. This all happened so quickly I didn't have time to intervene. In a moment's time, he had leaped into the trailer. My only response was to express relief that my daughter had seen him coming and gotten out of the way.

He was traumatized by the incident and I knew I didn't know enough to help him through it. We called Marlis Amato and she came out to our farm within the week to help. My daughter now loads him one hoof at a time, with no force and no drama.

We're still working with Marlis. A few weeks ago in a lesson, I asked her to watch my daughter ride the pony using a dressage whip. If even tapped (and I do mean tap, no hitting involved) with the whip, he would sometimes buck. Marlis wondered out loud if he might be having flashbacks to some traumatic experience with a whip.

I instantly teared up and went to hug the pony. In all my work with trauma and humans, it hadn't really occurred to me that this pony, who was bred and trained by a loving family, could be experiencing flashbacks. I know he hasn't been abused, but it's possible some early experience frightened him. He doesn't like whips, particular the sound of a longe whip being "cracked."

I've been reading about PTSD in horses and came across an amazing website that chronicles two horses that paint, but even more remarkable, the story of the first year of work with a young abused horse named Da Vinci. In written diary entries and video, the couple who train him reveal their work with this amazing horse.

I highly recommend reading from beginning to end.

beautiful busy day

The wind has died down to almost nothing today, the sun is warm, and as usual, life out at the barn is full. Each moment brings something new to notice.

First off, Salina and Keil Bay got a bit agitated while waiting for breakfast. Salina broke the invisible line Keil Bay puts up around the barn shelter, Keil pinned his ears, Salina kicked the wall, and Keil Bay bumped his head. It took me a minute to figure out if the sound I'd heard was Salina's hoof hitting the wall or Keil's head hitting the beam. Unfortunately, it was both. Keil Bay got a Traumeel tablet and I went on with making breakfast.

While they ate, I worked on water troughs. There was pollen in the big trough in the main paddock, and when I looked up, I realized the tulip poplar is leafing out!




The carpenter bees came out 2 days ago and any day now I expect the Toad Prince will burrow his way out from behind the pump in the barn. He is a very welcome guest and when he comes out it's a sure sign that spring is here to stay.

I proceeded to turn horses back out and decided to get a few chores done for tomorrow's Writing With Horses workshop. The horse blankets were in the way and I needed a place to put them until I can get them washed and stored until next winter. I decided to stick them in the back of the horse trailer, something I've never done, and when I opened up the trailer and started putting blankets inside, Keil Bay and Salina began trumpeting from the back field.

They were watching intently, and I realized they thought someone was going somewhere. Salina was concerned and trotted around to the paddock (with her sidekick) to see what was up.



She stayed until she felt reassured that no, we weren't going on any trips.

Meanwhile, the crows were behind the back field having one of their very loud congresses, and Dickens E. Wickens gave up cowboy duty to Be A Cat. Last I saw, he was slinking the shadows stalking birds!

bringers of light

It's the first day of spring, and it's also the fifth birthday of our wonderful Quarter Horse gelding, Cody. He joined our family when he was only 2 years old, and since he's been with us, has taught so many wonderful lessons about love, patience, and willingness to please.

His grandsire, Zippo Pine Bar, has a Breyer horse modeled after him. If he was anything like Cody, I can see why.




In one week, we will celebrate the 25th birthday of our lovely German Hannoverian mare, Salina. She is a beloved member of our herd and adoptive mama to little Rafer Johnson, who does pretty much everything she does, even walk up to the paddock to get a drink.



Happy birthday to Cody and Salina, and happy springtime to everyone. The lengthening days and the love and lessons of our horses bring so much light into our lives. I hope it's true for all of you as well.

formicaries and other things

I'm completely intrigued with today's word of the day. A formicary is apparently an ant hill! What an elegant term.

Interesting too because I was thinking this morning about all the insects we deal with here on the farm and starting to sort out my plan for the big insect season approaching.

Fire ants outside and regular old ants that come in through the kitchen window - we use DE, aka diatomaceous earth, which we order from Dirtworks. It is nontoxic and incredibly effective. The fire ant hills usually need 3 applications of DE to get the entire mound. The website has very specific instructions and recommendations for dealing with fire ants, but I developed my own method which works well.

We also used it for fleas until we discovered last summer that our female Corgi has a flea allergy. The DE can't kill the fleas fast enough to relieve her, so I pulled out the big gun: Advantage, which works best for fleas. We tend to use less than recommended on the package - usually half the dose and every 6 weeks instead of 4.

Ticks. Frontline does a decent job. DE dusted onto the animals is also good but does require daily dusting, religiously. Horses too! I've heard good things about Advantix, but it is incredibly toxic to cats, so we won't be using that here.

Stable and biting flies. Fly predators from Spalding Labs are incredible. I'm increasing our shipment this year to 10k predators every 3 weeks, from early April through October.

Horse flies. Those big ones that look like they flew right out of a horror movie. Apparently dragon flies are their natural predators. My plan this year is to get a special trap called a Horse Pal that comes highly recommended by two horse owners and our donkey breeder. It lures the horse flies and traps them, and they die naturally. No poisons involved.

Mosquitoes. We mostly use a natural fly spray to deal with those. I haven't decided on my plan yet for this season. I have a recipe for making my own, and I've heard great things about Flicks. Both use essential oils and smell wonderful.

Other ideas? Products you've used with great success? Share the wealth in the comment section!

back to the escritoire

Okay, it's one of those times when I'm letting the word of the day guide my intentions. Back to the writing today, and my plan is to dig back into the second novel after a week focusing on nonfiction.

I've discovered that if I get my writing/riding routine flowing well on Monday, it carries through the week.

So second novel. And it's a Cody ride day. The local tack shop didn't have the loose ring French link snaffle in Keil Bay's size, but they did in Cody's, so I'm going to try him in the milder bit and pick one up for Keil tomorrow when I'm at the office and in the vicinity of the other tack shop.

Looks like a great day - the sky is pale blue, the sun is illuminating the tops of the pine trees outside the garret window, and a crow sits atop the tallest of them, cawing at me, which is one more indication that it's time to get back to the book.