more mare magic

I wrote recently about Salina's abscessed hoof and how scary it was for me until it burst. After three weeks or so of being completely sound and feeling better than she has in a year, Salina is now suddenly in round two of the left hind hoof abscess.

Interesting though that this time she is not resting in her stall where I commented that not seeing her head in that window was alarming for me.

This time she is resting right by my bedroom window so that I can see her constantly. I have finally put hay and water right there with her since it seems she really wants to be there. She moves around and goes up and down to the barn when she wants to, but she is returning to my window at all times of the day and night.

I was worried yesterday because she didn't eat normally, but this morning she ate her full breakfast and just got a nice shampoo bath of all her legs and hooves so they are clean and less likely to attract the last bastion of flies that have set in here.

I find it amazing that after I wrote the blog post about her window, she has placed herself literally a few feet away from me so that I can check on her with one simple glance.

Send some good energy for abscesses bursting and clearing completely. This one seemed like a doozy in its first incarnation - on both ends of the process. How lame she was and then how completely sound she got when it burst out. I am hoping this is a clearing out of something in response to putting her on jiaogulan and that once her hoof clears itself we'll see her bounce back with some renewed vigor.

last night on the mountain retreat

On Thursday morning my two teenagers and I packed up, said goodbye to all the November Hill animal crew and husband/dad/solo farmhand, and headed up to one of my new favorite places on the earth. A good friend shared her mountain home for the second time - the first was the writing workshop back in June, and this weekend it's been a wonderful getaway and 3/4 of a family retreat.

We enjoyed the fall color on the drive here, and were absolutely thrilled when we got a few miles from the cabin and spotted what looked like a dusting of snow on neighboring mountaintops. The cabin is as wonderful as it was the first time, and I have loved seeing the rushing creek in its autumn outfit. We've done a little bit of walking, a little bit of riding on the Polaris up the mountain (daughter would not ride with me through sticky places - she got out and walked!), lots of creek watching, and some movie watching on the HUGE screen TV.

It's cold enough we've had the fire burning all weekend.

I've written a chapter in Fiona and the Water Horse, another chapter in Ava Lee's book, and been thrilled to sit here with Cold Mountain in my hands for a re-read. I had forgotten that a 17-hand Hanoverian gelding is in the book. Made me miss the Big Bay and also made me wonder - were there Hanoverians in the U.S. during the Civil War?

Daughter has finished her first research paper, done long exposure shots of waterfalls, and did a model shoot for my son in his ancient Greek garb.

Son has identified trees, gathered some wood samples, taken many photographs, and cooked some meals for us.

Tomorrow we're heading back to November Hill, but on the way we'll take a different route, stop by a favorite place for lunch, and see what else presents itself!

I had a terrible time uprooting from November Hill. It's always hard to leave. We've checked in daily and everyone there is doing fine so far.

Come chat with me and Janet Roper Tuesday night!

Janet Roper, of Talk to the Animals, will be chatting with me about horses, books, life, and who knows what else Tuesday night on her BlogTalk radio show:

GO HERE for the details.

And if you can't join us live, you can always listen to the recorded chat at your leisure!

Knowing me and knowing Janet and knowing the animals on November Hill, I expect this will be a blast in every single way!

The FEI and the No Blood Rule

As I understand it, the current rule is that blood in warm-up or competition means elimination. The FEI is now talking about amending this rule so that if there is blood, a vet on site can examine the horse and clear it to continue competing.

If you feel dressage should not in any way be a "blood sport" GO HERE to sign a petition expressing that.

western pleasure QH champion 2011

You'll have to wait through the interview to see the world champion QH in western pleasure and his movement. This is what Cody looked like when he came to live with us at age 2. We thought he was almost 4 years old, but when his papers came he was 2 years old! And fully working at walk, trot, and canter under saddle.

His canter was just like this one. It took several years of gentle encouragement to teach him that we did NOT want this kind of mincing, choppy movement. He literally had to be re-taught to move like a horse.

I admit, it was easy to sit. But it looks like lameness to me, not like anything I've ever seen a horse do at liberty.

I'm not trying to pick on the rider of the world champion western pleasure horse. But I'm curious - what do you think of this way of going? I'm not even talking about the training methods or the riding - just the movement.

How does it compare to the canter pirouette and piaffe - my least favorite dressage movements?