Dickens should start his own natural horsemanship (and dogmanship) empire

I've spent the last 15 minutes watching our cowboy feline Dickens E. Wickens training our 12-week old Corgi pup, Bear.

Dickens, of all 5 cats who live here, is the one best able to manage the exuberance of a bold puppy who really wants to play but has a herding instinct that is growing and developing, and has to be carefully shaped so he doesn't end up herding everything that moves.

The other cats will smack Bear but they either end up running to get away, thus engaging the chase, or getting overly aggressive, which backs him off but seems to incite him into coming back for more.

Dickens truly stands his ground, not moving an inch, and uses his paws as needed when Bear comes in too close. He also employs the stare-down technique, staring into Bear's eyes until Bear looks away.

And interestingly enough, Bear is developing a true fondness and respect for Dickens. I think Dickens is so clear in showing Bear the way he wants to relate, Bear understands the relationship and relaxes into it. The two (as seen in a previous post) are very comfortable lying beside one another when the work (Dickens' perspective) and game (Bear's) is done.

I've seen Dickens use equine-appropriate techniques with the horses and donkeys. In a particularly moving bit of work with Redford, who wanted to do the donkey guardian chase and stomp routine with cats, Dickens utilized the picnic table to get the 'upper hand' until Redford understood the rules. As most horse trainers advocate, Dickens didn't allow Redford to move him back - he moved Redford back, first from the top of the table, then from the bench, and finally from a cat's normal position - on the ground. The training worked. But Dickens didn't stop there. He frequently enjoys lying flat on his back in the barnyard, or the pastures, during his cowboying. So he tested Redford to make sure the boundary was clear. Cats are allowed to roll on their backs, exposing their bellies. Donkeys don't take advantage of that. The training stuck. Redford understands the rules.

Dickens is lean and lanky, not a large cat. Although he is a tuxedo cat, you can see the cowboy in him as he moves around the farm. I often imagine a cowboy hat perched on his head. He operates with complete comfort among horse hooves. If he needs a face-to-face, he has no problem getting up on the stall door for a feline-equine meeting of the minds. The horses all make a path around him when he's lying flat out. They often touch noses with him as they meander around together.

We sometimes joke that Dickens does have a secret empire, and is one of those cats with a big fat bank account he chooses not to show off. Every now and then he disappears for longer than we like (24 hours is the max so far) and during those times, it makes me feel better to imagine that he's doing his banking business.

It's nice to start the week (a hot one, but I am telling myself it's summer's last hurrah) with a piece of elegant and effective training. Thanks, Dickens!

Puppy cuteness of the week: last night I had forgotten to give Bear his last (small) portion of puppy food. I was lying on the bed reading when I heard him run in the bedroom door and to my bedside. I looked down, and there he was with his empty bowl neatly tucked in his mouth. He moved it around in the air to make sure I saw it was empty. I went in the kitchen and he came running, bowl still held aloft, and then he plopped it down with a big boing at my feet. What a pup!

Please support Astrid Appels

Sjef Janssen and Anky van Grunsven are suing Astrid Appels of Eurodressage. See this article for more information, and please GO HERE to sign a petition in support of not only Astrid Appels, but the right to report freely in the press.

The irony of Janssen and van Grunsven suing over a photograph that is in the public domain, shows Anky riding in rollkur or hyperflexion or LDR, whichever name they choose to give it, after both have expounded widely claiming the invention of this system of riding, is huge, but the reasoning is clear.

the cowboy breaks in the bear

Of course as soon as I managed to get the camera, set it to video, and hit the record button, things were winding down. At one point Dickens had The Bear lunging like a pro!

At the end of the day, they're getting to be pals:

relief and a magic moment

Just wanted to update that last night, while I was working with a client in the arena, Salina's abscess burst. I found her grazing with all four feet weighted evenly, enjoying the dusk with her donkeys.

Good energy + brilliant mare + Animalintex poultice x right homeopathic remedy = RELIEF

Onward to a streak of 61 degree lows - the horses have been running around more as the days aren't so hot and the nights are bringing a distinct feeling of autumn. We can see the light at the end of the long, hot summer!

After breakfast tubs this morning I noticed Redford was in the arena attending to something in the back field. I walked out to see what it was, and it was a lovely turtle. The turtle was on the other side of the back gate, and he and Redford were staring at one another.

I suspect this turtle is a relative of the one whose empty shell we found the day we first looked at this farm. Between the empty turtle shell, which we asked to keep and were told yes by the owners, and the twin fawns that leapt through the back field, we could barely wait to get out of the driveway to make an offer.

It's nice after a long hot few weeks to feel the circle of life here - reminding me that seasons circle 'round and we'll soon be looking at different colors, smelling different smells, and enjoying the joys of autumn.

Salina, equine goddess, takes charge of her own treatment

Salina has been off on her left hind for a couple of days. I haven't been sure if it's an abscess or if she did something (she galloped up the hill a few nights ago) so haven't yet done any abscess-related treatment. She is eating, whinnying as usual when her donkey boys go too far away, and is making her way around the barnyard at her own pace.

This morning the biggest thing she seemed to want was for me to rub a bug bite on her flank. She stretched her head neck about in a perfect straight line and turned her head back and forth with great pleasure as I rubbed.

I gave her a remedy this morning that fit her symptoms about as perfectly as you can get. Usually when you get a remedy right with homeopathy you will either see a quick improvement or sometimes you'll see a brief worsening of symptoms before things start to shift.

Husband just came in to tell me (he's been working on a project in the barnyard so was able to see what was going on in the barn) that Salina soaked her own foot in one of the water buckets just now. She stuck it in, stood there, and then after 15-20 minutes she took it out, and when he checked, it looks like an abscess is getting ready to blow.

I noticed earlier today that one of the water buckets in the barn was dirty in a way it never usually gets - I wondered what in the world had done that - now I know.

Salina is soaking her own hoof.

We have pretty much stopped soaking hooves as a treatment for abscesses, preferring to wrap with Animalintex. But Salina, being 27 years old, has likely had her hooves soaked over the years and I guess she's taken matters into her own... hooves!

Sometimes I wonder why anyone anywhere doubts the intelligence of these animals.