I just spent at hour plus on the telephone with Larry Garner, who works with Tom Spalding to run Spalding Labs - the company that has supplied fly predators to November Hill since 2005.
When I received an unsolicited Parelli catalog in the mail last week, I was concerned when I got to the last page and found a two-page ad for Spalding Labs, who I feared might be endorsing Pat and Linda Parelli's work.
Many readers might remember my pledge to investigate the companies I do business with and vote with my credit card when it comes to companies endorsing riders, trainers, and/or training methods I feel are damaging to horses. The hard part of this pledge comes when you learn a product you love is in some way affiliated with a rider/trainer you can't abide.
I emailed the company on Sunday and received a quick email response yesterday (Monday) from Mr. Garner, who said he had tried to call (they had our old phone number in my account info, my fault for not updating!) and would I please call him to discuss my concerns.
Today I got around to that - he was on another call but someone (Crystal, a very nice woman) corrected my telephone number in their system and said that Mr. Garner would call me right back, which he did.
He was very candid and said that they have entered into a one-year advertising experiment with the Parelli company, purchasing advertising in the Parelli materials. He said that the Parellis have used Fly Predators for years and were thus interested in selling advertising to Spalding. Mr. Garner said in that sense, by paying for advertising, they are "supporting" Parelli, and he does not want to try to mask that fact.
He went on to say however that they are not endorsing Parelli or the work the Parellis do with horses. He asked what I had seen that brought me to my conclusions about the Parelli training methods.
We had quite a long discussion about horses and training and ethical concerns. Mr. Garner has lived with horses for 50-odd years and he described some of his own ways of working with them to me. I didn't ask permission to share those, so I won't, but I will say that what he shared matches what many of us have shared in blog posts and comments. I shared some of my herd stories, we discussed various issues in the world of high-dollar horsemanship, including round pen work, dressage, 3-day eventing, and more, and by the end of the call, I felt assured that Spalding Labs is in the business of providing non-chemical means to control flies for horses, other animals, and people, and that they are not in fact endorsing any horsemanship methods at all with their advertisement in the Parelli catalog.
I appreciated the honesty, and the sincerity of Mr. Garner's statement that they want to keep my business, and that they also want more horses to enjoy non-chemical fly control.
In addition, they are staying abreast of the latest in fire ant control via a kind of fly currently being studied by the USDA. At some point if this fly is approved for introduction in the US, we may be able to order fire ant predators as well.
Mr. Garner kindly put a hold on my 2011 order, as I requested in my email Sunday, so that I could talk with him before this year's shipments started. I asked him to release the hold and send the fly predators out asap.
If you have any concerns about the Parelli advertisement, I encourage you to contact Spalding and ask to talk with either Tom Spalding or Larry Garner. At this point I am comfortable continuing my relationship with the company (for which I have only ever had excellent service AND results) and I have a feeling Mr. Garner will be looking for some Parelli videos to see for himself what I described in our conversation.
billie hinton’s camera-obscura:
life and lessons on November Hill Farm
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Salina turns 28 - we celebrate her spirit and her wisdom
This weekend Salina is having her 28th birthday, and helping me begin a series that looks at living with the senior horse.
The lovely Salina came to live with us when she was 23 years old. Late one night I was browsing online and came across a photo of her. The moment I saw her face, her slight tilt of the head as she looked directly into the camera lens, I thought "therapy horse."
Salina is a black Hannoverian mare who was imported from Germany as a brood mare. She has one white sock and a very fine crescent star. Salina also has one eye, and when she came to us she had fairly severe arthritis in both knees. But with regular but light work, no stalling, and some supplementation for her joints, she was able to teach us a few things about riding before we retired her completely at age 26.
Salina carried us through our first dealings with a hoof abscess. She taught me about mares and that being centered in my own body and self is the key to success when handling her. She taught me about mirroring and partnering and how both horses and people as they age can have bad days, bad weeks, and that there's nothing wrong with moving slowly when you need to do so.
Salina is why we were led to Rafer Johnson and Redford. She taught me to listen to my gut when dealing with the vet. Sometimes what I know about my horses is more relevant than the vet school knowledge. She taught me about the power of the maternal instinct, and on a daily basis now, she is my partner on November Hill, keeping her eye on everything in the neighborhood, pricking her ears to show me where to look when there's something I need to see.
Salina has come to my bedroom window in the middle of the night to wake me up when something was amiss. She stood by Rafer Johnson's stall when his leg was broken and kept him company, and in my opinion, her presence is why he healed so quickly.
Salina soaks her own hoof when she has an abscess brewing, takes hand signals from her blind side, whinnies a beautiful song in concert with Keil Bay for breakfast, and constantly mirrors the humans around her.
Salina led me to learn more about equine nutrition, and she taught me how to properly give paste wormer and other medications from tubes. She has done more to lead me in the right direction when it comes to working with and living with horses than all the books I've read, all the lessons I've taken, and all the geldings put together.
Salina has been a therapy horse. She has guided a number of clients through stuck places. But even more than that, she has been my therapy horse, my teacher, and my guide into middle life. There is no way a tray of home-made horse cookies and some apples can acknowledge all she gives to us here on November Hill.
Over the next few weeks I'll be working on a series of posts about some of the things I've learned as a result of seeing that late-night photo and making the decision to bring Salina to live with us. I'll also be writing about the difficulties of living with such a beautiful spirit as she moves closer to the end of her life. It's very possible Salina's next big lesson for me will be teaching me how to say goodbye to a wise and wonderful and magical goddess. It won't be easy, but I know it's a lesson I have to learn.
Happy birthday, Salina. We are so incredibly grateful for the years and the lessons.
The lovely Salina came to live with us when she was 23 years old. Late one night I was browsing online and came across a photo of her. The moment I saw her face, her slight tilt of the head as she looked directly into the camera lens, I thought "therapy horse."
Salina is a black Hannoverian mare who was imported from Germany as a brood mare. She has one white sock and a very fine crescent star. Salina also has one eye, and when she came to us she had fairly severe arthritis in both knees. But with regular but light work, no stalling, and some supplementation for her joints, she was able to teach us a few things about riding before we retired her completely at age 26.
Salina carried us through our first dealings with a hoof abscess. She taught me about mares and that being centered in my own body and self is the key to success when handling her. She taught me about mirroring and partnering and how both horses and people as they age can have bad days, bad weeks, and that there's nothing wrong with moving slowly when you need to do so.
Salina is why we were led to Rafer Johnson and Redford. She taught me to listen to my gut when dealing with the vet. Sometimes what I know about my horses is more relevant than the vet school knowledge. She taught me about the power of the maternal instinct, and on a daily basis now, she is my partner on November Hill, keeping her eye on everything in the neighborhood, pricking her ears to show me where to look when there's something I need to see.
Salina has come to my bedroom window in the middle of the night to wake me up when something was amiss. She stood by Rafer Johnson's stall when his leg was broken and kept him company, and in my opinion, her presence is why he healed so quickly.
Salina soaks her own hoof when she has an abscess brewing, takes hand signals from her blind side, whinnies a beautiful song in concert with Keil Bay for breakfast, and constantly mirrors the humans around her.
Salina led me to learn more about equine nutrition, and she taught me how to properly give paste wormer and other medications from tubes. She has done more to lead me in the right direction when it comes to working with and living with horses than all the books I've read, all the lessons I've taken, and all the geldings put together.
Salina has been a therapy horse. She has guided a number of clients through stuck places. But even more than that, she has been my therapy horse, my teacher, and my guide into middle life. There is no way a tray of home-made horse cookies and some apples can acknowledge all she gives to us here on November Hill.
Over the next few weeks I'll be working on a series of posts about some of the things I've learned as a result of seeing that late-night photo and making the decision to bring Salina to live with us. I'll also be writing about the difficulties of living with such a beautiful spirit as she moves closer to the end of her life. It's very possible Salina's next big lesson for me will be teaching me how to say goodbye to a wise and wonderful and magical goddess. It won't be easy, but I know it's a lesson I have to learn.
Happy birthday, Salina. We are so incredibly grateful for the years and the lessons.
Friday, March 25, 2011
how in the world did I get on the Parelli mailing list?
Imagine my surprise when I collected the mail today to find a catalog with the big, giant name PARELLI right across the front.
I of course opened it up and began to laugh (although one could also cry, I suppose) at the irony in this opening quote from Linda Parelli:
In Parelli, you learn about yourself, you learn about communication, about leadership, about truthfulness, about consequence and responsibility. You learn about love and imagination. The horse becomes the animal that tells you the truth about yourself in all these categories.
I agree, the horse is the one who tells the truth about the Parellis.
Linda, HERE. (edited to remove dead link and to add - it appears this video is gone too) And Pat in any number of videos that have appeared online in his so-called "training" challenges. I would link to them but they tend to show up and then just as quickly disappear. So you will have to trust me when I tell you that what Linda Parelli did to a one-eyed, terrified horse had nothing to do with communication, leadership, truthfulness, or love. Nor does Pat Parelli's insane behavior in the performances he puts on in various training challenge venues.
On the next page of the catalog:
Put The Relationship First... Is Your Horse Happy?
All I can say to that is that perhaps the Parellis should take a look at the horses in the above-mentioned videos. Do those horses look happy?
For a mere $700. I can purchase the complete kit containing all four level education packs, a horseman's halter, a 12-foot lead rope, a carrot stick, a savvy string, a 22-foot line, a 45-foot lariat, a natural hackamore, and cradle bridle. (don't even ask what the bit to this bridle looks like)
For $700. I could also find someone who has a well-trained, happy horse, ask to watch a lesson, let my heart and my gut tell me if what I see feels "right," and if so, sign up for 8-10 riding lessons with that someone.
The most upsetting thing I didn't already know that I see in this catalog is that there's a two-page ad for Spalding Fly Predators. Please tell me they are not sponsors of Pat Parelli. If they are I am going to have to find my fly predators someplace else.
I of course opened it up and began to laugh (although one could also cry, I suppose) at the irony in this opening quote from Linda Parelli:
In Parelli, you learn about yourself, you learn about communication, about leadership, about truthfulness, about consequence and responsibility. You learn about love and imagination. The horse becomes the animal that tells you the truth about yourself in all these categories.
I agree, the horse is the one who tells the truth about the Parellis.
Linda, HERE. (edited to remove dead link and to add - it appears this video is gone too) And Pat in any number of videos that have appeared online in his so-called "training" challenges. I would link to them but they tend to show up and then just as quickly disappear. So you will have to trust me when I tell you that what Linda Parelli did to a one-eyed, terrified horse had nothing to do with communication, leadership, truthfulness, or love. Nor does Pat Parelli's insane behavior in the performances he puts on in various training challenge venues.
On the next page of the catalog:
Put The Relationship First... Is Your Horse Happy?
All I can say to that is that perhaps the Parellis should take a look at the horses in the above-mentioned videos. Do those horses look happy?
For a mere $700. I can purchase the complete kit containing all four level education packs, a horseman's halter, a 12-foot lead rope, a carrot stick, a savvy string, a 22-foot line, a 45-foot lariat, a natural hackamore, and cradle bridle. (don't even ask what the bit to this bridle looks like)
For $700. I could also find someone who has a well-trained, happy horse, ask to watch a lesson, let my heart and my gut tell me if what I see feels "right," and if so, sign up for 8-10 riding lessons with that someone.
The most upsetting thing I didn't already know that I see in this catalog is that there's a two-page ad for Spalding Fly Predators. Please tell me they are not sponsors of Pat Parelli. If they are I am going to have to find my fly predators someplace else.
two new series starting tomorrow
I'm not sure if it's spring that's pushing me to organize, or if I'm being taken over by the "series Borg," but lately I'm thinking of all my blog posting in terms of themes and ongoing posts that relate.
On the November Hill Press blog I'm doing a series on The Writing Life. It's about writing, of course, but several people have emailed me to say they think it is applicable to all artists and to life in general, so even if you're not a writer you might go check it out and see if it appeals.
I have put the mystic-lit blog on hiatus because I felt I couldn't keep up with three blogs at this point.
And in an effort to corral my helter-skelter posts here on camera-obscura, I decided today I am starting two series, at least for a few weeks, to see how it goes. I will inevitably end up posting other stuff too but the series will keep me more focused than I have been lately.
The first one is a series on living with the senior horse, and all the issues that come with that. Salina's 28th birthday is tomorrow and I'm becoming keenly aware of time passing for her, and of the ways in which her journey is informing my own. I want to write about this because I need to make some sense of it for myself. There are ways in which it is both difficult and transformational, and I want to focus on exploring those ways.
The second series is completely different. As I've been writing about at least weekly, spring is here for many of us, and for others it is on the way. I am getting far too caught up in farm management tasks and want to get caught up in riding the Big Bay (and Cody) instead. For the first several years we lived here, I had riding lessons in our arena at least twice a week. I rode 3-4x/week and sometimes daily. The past two years I have seen a huge decrease in my riding time. Some of that has had to do with physical events - injuring myself doing a yoga move (opening the root chakra is nothing to mess around with, believe me!) and falling down the stairs two different times. It also has had to do with the death of my father, which put me in a very cocoon-like state in a lot of ways, and also focused my attention onto my own aging process.
This year I have felt more physical changes than I ever have. I know some of them are related to aging, but some are related to not riding as much. And it's time to take that last piece OUT of the equation.
So - I am going to post twice a week, on Wednesdays and Sundays, using a series title I have not yet come up with, but it will be a post reporting on my rides during that time period. I'll do a little report on what I did, how it went, what was best about the rides, and what I want to do during the next ones.
But! This isn't a series of posts about me riding - it's also about anyone who wants to participate in this with me. I invite everyone to post about your rides during that time frame. You can elaborate or if you already blog about your work with horses, use the comment as a way to check in and feel free to link to your posts on your own blogs.
And if you don't ride, you can also feel free to check in about something you are doing that is meaningful and important and that you're putting into a prominent place in your life by making sure you DO it regularly.
I think I need a little camaraderie. Sort of like what I got from riding lessons being on my calendar twice a week. But free. And online. I think I might call it Lessons in Riding.
Whatever it ends up being called, I hope you'll join in the conversation.
On the November Hill Press blog I'm doing a series on The Writing Life. It's about writing, of course, but several people have emailed me to say they think it is applicable to all artists and to life in general, so even if you're not a writer you might go check it out and see if it appeals.
I have put the mystic-lit blog on hiatus because I felt I couldn't keep up with three blogs at this point.
And in an effort to corral my helter-skelter posts here on camera-obscura, I decided today I am starting two series, at least for a few weeks, to see how it goes. I will inevitably end up posting other stuff too but the series will keep me more focused than I have been lately.
The first one is a series on living with the senior horse, and all the issues that come with that. Salina's 28th birthday is tomorrow and I'm becoming keenly aware of time passing for her, and of the ways in which her journey is informing my own. I want to write about this because I need to make some sense of it for myself. There are ways in which it is both difficult and transformational, and I want to focus on exploring those ways.
The second series is completely different. As I've been writing about at least weekly, spring is here for many of us, and for others it is on the way. I am getting far too caught up in farm management tasks and want to get caught up in riding the Big Bay (and Cody) instead. For the first several years we lived here, I had riding lessons in our arena at least twice a week. I rode 3-4x/week and sometimes daily. The past two years I have seen a huge decrease in my riding time. Some of that has had to do with physical events - injuring myself doing a yoga move (opening the root chakra is nothing to mess around with, believe me!) and falling down the stairs two different times. It also has had to do with the death of my father, which put me in a very cocoon-like state in a lot of ways, and also focused my attention onto my own aging process.
This year I have felt more physical changes than I ever have. I know some of them are related to aging, but some are related to not riding as much. And it's time to take that last piece OUT of the equation.
So - I am going to post twice a week, on Wednesdays and Sundays, using a series title I have not yet come up with, but it will be a post reporting on my rides during that time period. I'll do a little report on what I did, how it went, what was best about the rides, and what I want to do during the next ones.
But! This isn't a series of posts about me riding - it's also about anyone who wants to participate in this with me. I invite everyone to post about your rides during that time frame. You can elaborate or if you already blog about your work with horses, use the comment as a way to check in and feel free to link to your posts on your own blogs.
And if you don't ride, you can also feel free to check in about something you are doing that is meaningful and important and that you're putting into a prominent place in your life by making sure you DO it regularly.
I think I need a little camaraderie. Sort of like what I got from riding lessons being on my calendar twice a week. But free. And online. I think I might call it Lessons in Riding.
Whatever it ends up being called, I hope you'll join in the conversation.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
springtime and horses and chores
I spent some time yesterday raking out a number of compost piles in the front field. The horses have rotated to the back full time now and while the front field rests I'm getting all the compost mounds spread out, doing some fire ant patrol, and hopefully cleaning up some branches that need trimming and clearing. I also need to rake up the sweetgum balls and the pine cones! I do a few swipes a day and am making slow progress with that method.
We had a big rain last night after several very warm windy days during which our county was on a wildfire alert - and I just had a weather alert pop up as I am typing this saying that tonight we are having a frost alert! It is never dull here when it comes to weather changing suddenly.
This morning it is beautiful. Everything is clean and sparkling, and I've already done muck duty so can now go back out and finish my compost spreading. The grass grew overnight - it always amazes me when we get a rain this time of year and the grass literally shoots up behind it.
I went through the back field earlier this morning, cleaning it up a bit as the herd finished breakfast and came out to have hay. There wasn't much mucking to be done back there as they were in last night due to the rain, but before they came in, they must have had a big party with the jumps. Every jump was knocked down, the trot poles were all askew, the flowers on my jump standards were torn apart, and the pinwheels were tipped down.
Everything is back in place now.
The carpenter bees have notched down their wild kamikazi flying a bit and there are increasing numbers of butterflies wafting by.
On a different note, I am seeing flies, and the pines are beginning to shed pollen, which means water trough duty is going to get more rigorous again. It's time to start tick check too.
I wrote on Facebook this morning that as much as I love the rhythm and routine of seasonal farm chores, rotating the horses and donkeys, and working on the pastures, I must have been a farmer in a past life. A friend noted that she thinks I'm one in THIS life, which made me laugh.
When I get one of those cute little blue tractors with all the attachments and a three-bay shed to park it all in, I'll officially declare myself a farmer. Meanwhile I'm just channeling some farmer energy a few hours a day.
We had a big rain last night after several very warm windy days during which our county was on a wildfire alert - and I just had a weather alert pop up as I am typing this saying that tonight we are having a frost alert! It is never dull here when it comes to weather changing suddenly.
This morning it is beautiful. Everything is clean and sparkling, and I've already done muck duty so can now go back out and finish my compost spreading. The grass grew overnight - it always amazes me when we get a rain this time of year and the grass literally shoots up behind it.
I went through the back field earlier this morning, cleaning it up a bit as the herd finished breakfast and came out to have hay. There wasn't much mucking to be done back there as they were in last night due to the rain, but before they came in, they must have had a big party with the jumps. Every jump was knocked down, the trot poles were all askew, the flowers on my jump standards were torn apart, and the pinwheels were tipped down.
Everything is back in place now.
The carpenter bees have notched down their wild kamikazi flying a bit and there are increasing numbers of butterflies wafting by.
On a different note, I am seeing flies, and the pines are beginning to shed pollen, which means water trough duty is going to get more rigorous again. It's time to start tick check too.
I wrote on Facebook this morning that as much as I love the rhythm and routine of seasonal farm chores, rotating the horses and donkeys, and working on the pastures, I must have been a farmer in a past life. A friend noted that she thinks I'm one in THIS life, which made me laugh.
When I get one of those cute little blue tractors with all the attachments and a three-bay shed to park it all in, I'll officially declare myself a farmer. Meanwhile I'm just channeling some farmer energy a few hours a day.
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