AM ride + PM ride = good day

Yesterday I woke up stiff and feeling more like a senior than I really wanted to - fortunately stretching and doing chores worked to remedy that, and probably because I wanted to prove to my body and the universe that in fact I am still alive and kicking, I saddled up Keil Bay after breakfast and we had a ride.

By the time we got into the arena it was mid-day though - not his favorite time to ride if the temps are above 60, which they were. Full sun and this time of year some pesky insects make it less than ideal, but I pulled out the new Quiet Ride mask I bought recently so that I could offer some relief for Keil and Cody as we roll into the warmer seasons of the year.

The ride started out with the pokiest walk I've had on the Big Bay in a long time. Really really poky. As is our deal, I allowed him to set the poky pace for the first 5-10 minutes. We poked around and I took the opportunity to just relax and breathe, making sure I wasn't holding tension anywhere.

In hindsight, I should have done some stretching in the saddle but it didn't occur to me at the time!

Generally if we start out poky like that Keil will work himself into a more forward walk, but yesterday he didn't. I felt myself getting grumpy - I really missed his big panther walk and it's difficult to come from really good rides back to poky. I got louder with my legs and when I starting shoving with my seat realized I was just being ridiculous. With Keil Bay, saying it out loud in plain English is always the key to success.

"We need to pull out of this, Big Bay. Let's wake up and do a Big Walk."

And he responded with some energy. We continued walking, now with some energy, but it didn't build from there, so I asked for the trot. Upping the movement helped, and we were able to return to the walk but with much better rhythm. Yesterday, whenever we lost rhythm at the walk, we moved into trot and got it back that way.

Interestingly, turns on the forehand and haunches were near perfection, as was the backing. It might be of note that these were done in the shade!

Most of our ride centered on getting both of us relaxed and into a rhythm, which was fine. The overall message for me was that I need to get out to the barn early in the day now and ride after hay but before breakfast tubs, which suits the Big Bay much better. He will work hard for food and I can "feed the work" at the same time.

His reward yesterday for sticking with me was the grand opening of the gate to the back field, which has been closed off for a week and a half. The donkey boys have been slipping through the fence and helping themselves and the horses and pony have been highly annoyed - so when I unlatched the big gate and let it swing open there was a mass movement of horse flesh to the back. Not only was there good grass, but it's shady back there that time of day. I barely saw any of this herd the rest of the afternoon - they were busy busy busy.

Later in the day, after the sun was mostly down, I rode Cody. He's been out of work due to daughter's broken toe and it's time to get him going again. Cody is such a different ride, and when I ride he and Keil both in the same day it's extremely apparent. Cody, though not a small horse, is narrower than Keil Bay, and I immediately noticed my hips moving so much more as he walked off from the mounting block. He's more sensitive to all the aids so I have to notch everything way down. He's not as highly trained as Keil Bay so some of the communications I can do with Keil just aren't there for Cody. But his willingness and his sensitivity make for a very nice ride and I see lots of quick results in his movement when I incorporate some of the lower level dressage movements into our work.

He's very good at shoulder-in and shoulder-in is very good at suppling him exactly where he needs it, so once we warmed up we did some of that. We did a lot of walking and a lot of different figures yesterday. My big triumph was adjusting my stirrups from the saddle - my stirrups for Keil are always set for me, so I never have to adjust. Cody's were adjusted for...???... I'm not sure who - Gumby, maybe, as the left stirrup was about 5 inches longer than the right. I didn't realize until I got on and decided I needed to practice adjusting from the saddle instead of getting off and back on again.

I admit, my first thought was to call daughter to come help me! But I resisted and did it myself.

The only thing I didn't enjoy about the ride was Cody's saddle - his dressage saddle is a Wintec which we bought when he was younger so we could change the gullet as needed. It is REALLY noticeable to me how much I dislike this saddle after I have ridden in Keil's County Warmblood. The Wintec is flatter, which is fine, but I've realized over time and definitely noted yesterday that I dislike the feel of synthetic saddles. I hate the synthetic billet straps and the feel of the saddle underneath me is just too rigid. It doesn't have the feel that leather does.

It's on my list to find a good dressage saddle for Cody now that he's stopped growing and I'm riding him again.

Cody did a good job and when I got off I was as supple as could be. Now it's a new day and I should be out there doing it all over again!

And meant to add this quote which came into my email box yesterday:

When your horse has reached his potential, leave it. It's such a nice feeling when you and your horses are still friends. 

~ Reiner Klimke

Life With Senior Horses: Our Secret Society (and a little bit of time travel)

Yesterday we had a very cool, very windy spring day. I went out to the barn in the afternoon thinking I might ride both Cody and Keil Bay, but when I got to grooming, realized I probably wouldn't get to the riding part. Keil Bay had gotten into something (probably pine sap?) that had dried in hard streaks along his back, right in the saddle area. There was no brushing it out. It was cool enough and their fur was puffy enough, that I decided a bath wasn't going to work. I put the kettle on in the feed room to heat up some water so I could spot clean him.

Meanwhile I continued grooming and found that his slightly swollen sheath was coming from a very badly placed tick that had latched on and in fact dug in pretty deep. I got out the tea tree sheath cleaner and when I had a big bucket of nice warm water I went to work. Keil Bay had by this time moved from the big barnyard over to what we call the grass paddock. The wind was whipping, Bear Corgi was barking at the Big Bay, and the rest of the herd were crashing around in the woods' edge sounding like elephants on the move.

But Keil Bay, without lead line or even halter, just stood there so I could get that tick removed and get him cleaned up. It took a few minutes to get the tick, and the contortions I had to make to actually get my fingers on that tick in that very delicate part of his body would not be fit to post here even if I had the photo. I said out loud, "Keil, there aren't many horses who would stand here and let me do this, and maybe none I would trust enough to do it to." A few moments later I got the tick, finished cleaning, and then went to make another bucket of clean warm water. Keil Bay stood right there in the grass paddock and waited for me so I could rinse him off.

By the time I finished this I decided to go ahead and groom him completely, then move on to Salina and the rest of the herd. The wind was whipping and they were all happy to stay in the barnyard - they had chosen to stay there all morning while I did barn chores, never venturing through the gates I'd left open so they could go to the pasture if they wanted to. I went through the entire grooming routine with Keil and decided to go ahead and brush his tail out. I don't do this every time, but when I do it, I really enjoy it. We walked together around the grass paddock, grazing and brushing.

And suddenly as I got to the middle of his tail and brushed out that last coiled piece I found it: one long pure silver corkscrew curl hair. I couldn't believe it. I have one of those myself, on the right side of my head, near my right ear. I found mine awhile back and named it my wild senior hair, making it something special, a sort of private metaphor for age and experience with a young-in-spirit crazy streak to boot.

Keil Bay has one too! I wasn't surprised, as he and I share a lot of chiropractic outages, we have the same homeopathic constitutional, etc. Now we both had secret wild hairs. Perfect.

I went on to groom Salina. She came and stood by the barn doors on the big barnyard side so she could keep her eye on everything the herd did. She planted herself there and rested easily - they couldn't leave the area unless they walked right by her. Salina had no ticks but an old bite that itched a bit, so I rubbed if for her. I decided to brush out her tail too. Lo and behold, in the middle of her black tail, there was a long, silver corkscrew hair. Now we have a Secret Society of Seniors on November Hill!

I laughed and said this to Salina. She didn't seem to be amused, at least not as much as I was about this revelation.

Later on I had finished grooming and decided to take a break. I made a mug of blackberry tea and dragged a chair to the barnyard. I started reading Jane Savoie's book version of her Happy Horse course and was thinking about what I might do with Cody next ride. I was juggling the mug, a pencil, a notebook, and Jane's book, and was soon joined by Rafer Johnson, who gazed at my tea and then at me, bringing his sweet donkey eye closer and closer to mine as if he were trying hard to tell me something. Well, of course he was - he wanted that tea!

Really, all he wanted was to smell it, so when it cooled enough that no one would get burned if it spilled, I let him have a long, deep whiff. Redford came over and tried to intervene but was quickly told to leave by Rafer. Salina came over, and to my surprise, she walked around behind me and hung her head over my left shoulder, just touching me with her muzzle, and stayed there. I let her have a nice whiff of the tea and then resumed my reading. Rafer's kind eye on my right, Salina's empty eye on my left (which meant her good eye was to the outside, so she could keep it open to anything that might happen along), and the rest of the herd were in front of us, eating hay and glancing over periodically.


The temperature had started to drop (we actually got down to freezing last night) and suddenly I had a glimpse into the future. Sometimes I wonder what it will be like when I'm older with all these equines, and I wonder what the days will be like without my daughter helping with chores. I didn't get to everything I wanted to do yesterday, but once I let go of trying to do it all, I had a wonderful time doing the things I managed to get done. And sitting with a cup of tea and a happy herd was something I did more as a whim than a need - but one day I'll need to take those breaks and I was very happy to realize that the breaks could be as good as - or better than - the sense of accomplishment when everything gets checked off my list, and even better than a good ride.


I thought about long days at the barn and brushing out tails and wondered if a painted pony with a white tail gets a silver senior corkscrew hair or not. How about a chestnut QH? And the donkeys? Will they get them too?


At some point my secret senior society will get new members, and although Salina might not be with us when that happens, I'll always remember the day I sat and we traveled ahead in time together, Salina at my left shoulder, Rafer Johnson at the other, reading about happy horses learning dressage, enjoying the aroma of blackberry tea, all the herd in our sight line, all safe, all happy.


Together.

hoof notes, April 2012

I am so happy to report that this morning when the trimmer arrived two little donkeys were waiting eagerly in the barn aisle. We had halters and lead ropes on just in case Redford decided to skedaddle - post gelding, all done with antibiotics (he took the last week's worth whole in his feed tub and just crunched those things right down!), he is still a bit skittish about folks driving up to the barn with equipment in hand.

However he stood bravely this morning, took a nice long sniff of the trimmer's apron, and seemed to assure himself that this was in fact a benign operation he remembered with no trauma attached. He went first and was a little champ.

Rafer Johnson wanted to go first, which made my heart warm. After two difficult trims due to white line disease he is now over the hump with that and back to his trusting self. That he wanted to go first let me know he was better, and indeed he is. No hoof wall had to be removed today and we are very close to being all grown out with tight, healthy connection. Thanks to our trimmer who was able to get in there and remove the yucky stuff, thanks to husband (and daughter) who have religiously picked little hooves and applied Banixx, and thanks to the supplement called Kombat Boots, which I suspect helped us get through this last five weeks with lots of growth.

Salina went next and I continue to be grateful for R. for not assuming Salina cannot pick her hooves up and put them on the stand. She can, and does, and this allows her trims to be much more accurate. Her angles are better now, and I think the stretches she gets also do her body good.

Apache Pony was not all that thrilled with his turn, but he rarely is when it comes to getting hooves trimmed. He settled down once I got the clicker out. Fortunately he has healthy, picture-perfect hooves anyway so his trims go fast.

Cody went next and he is doing well. Daughter had braided his forelock and I admit I was so taken with his handsome face beneath that fat braid I do not remember what the trimmer said about his hooves! But if anything were amiss she would have made sure I listened. He's doing well in general since I increased vitamin E, magnesium, and his ALCAR. Springtime for PSSM'ers can be tricky, but I think we're on track again.

Keil Bay came in when it was his turn - about 5 minutes before we were ready for him - and began to bang on his stall door for his trim. When he was escorted out of the stall, he went to the gate and banged that. Keil Bay loves anything that puts the attention on him, and his hooves are doing so beautifully under the care of R. that he seems especially happy to show them off. I could not be happier with how his feet are progressing now that the heels are being taken down enough and the frogs are getting lots of stimulation.

Between the good trims, the well-placed gravel we've put in, and balanced diets, things are looking good right now.

We've not had issues with soft hooves around here, but the entire herd have been on Kombat Boots for 5 weeks now and their hooves today were hard as could be. It could also be time of year and our weather, but I think the supplement added something beneficial to the mix. I'm definitely keeping Rafer on it until his front hooves are completely grown out again.

Thrilled to report good hoof notes this go round!

in brief, a mini-rant on managing spooky horses

I just read a post on a forum in which someone suggested that in dealing with spooky horses, we must "make them touch" the thing they are afraid of.

All I can say is this: how many of us humans are afraid of snakes, spiders, lightning storms, tornadoes, roaches, fire ants, etc.?

Is our approach for our friends, family, children, and our SELVES to insist that we go touch that which we are afraid of?

In most cases, of course not. In at least some cases, the fear is actually healthy and keeps us safe.

As a therapist who has worked with a few phobic clients (I venture that this might be similar to a spooky horse, or close enough for a comparison), progressive desensitization is a slow, gradual, gentle way to assist with managing phobias which interfere with daily life.

Why in the world do we think it's okay to make a horse touch something it's terrified of, as a matter of course?

Have you ever seen someone ride a horse almost into the ground to wear them down so they can get the horse to cross/touch/pass by something that has spooked the horse?

99% of stupid things we inflict on horses would be tossed in a flat second if we first inflicted them on ourselves.

Think about it.

chiro notes, and how what we do for our horses helps us as well

This morning our equine chiropractor was set to arrive at 9:30 a.m. The horses and donkeys were all out in the field, happily grazing in the cool of the day. They had spent a good part of the evening hanging out at the barn due to some rain that passed through.

When I went out to get ready, I called to Keil Bay that his chiropractor was on the way and he was going first. For any new readers, Keil Bay is a 16.2 Hanoverian gelding who adores body work. His favorite thing on the earth other than eating is having his chiropractic adjustment.

He looked up instantly from grazing, took one last bite, and headed up to the gate. When the chiropractor drove up in her truck, Keil Bay and I were waiting at the barnyard gate for her. Keil waited with me as she parked and when she opened her door he greeted her with a polite muzzle.

I suspected Keil had a number of adjustments to be done today. He has a few telltale signs that he gives when things are out, and I'd seen several of them this week. She watched him move and then went straight to his pelvis. He relaxed and let her do her work. At one point he went into a sort of trance, lengthening his neck to full extension, licking and chewing. He was out from his pelvic area all the way up to his atlas. There have been a number of huge herd gallops and spooks in the past two weeks, with some fancy footwork happening. In any case, he really needed the work today and as usual he was extremely grateful for it.

Cody went next and although he didn't have quite as much out of whack as Keil did, he too had some big adjustments made. Cody is our PSSM Quarter Horse and he has been a bit off the past week or so. My guess is that the spring grass, plus less work due to daughter's broken toe, plus me cutting back on magnesium and vit. E to check effects have all combined with the chiro issues. He's clear now, I'll add back his full magnesium and vit. E doses, and I've already increased his ALCAR. Hopefully daughter will be back in the saddle soon.

Apache Moon, the pony aka Little Man, was third. He almost never has much going on, as he stretches himself thoroughly on a near-daily basis. Who would have figured a painted pony would know the benefits of yoga? He had two things that needed work and loved getting his leg stretches.

Salina went last, as she usually does, so that I can just let her stay in the barnyard when her work is done. She was out in the field but came in on her own just as the pony was being led out. She had several big things out of alignment and stood quietly because although she doesn't seem to enjoy the bodywork the way Keil Bay does, she understands clearly that what the chiropractor does has good results. She was extremely patient today and walked off looking much improved when she was done.

Rafer Johnson helped supervise and held the lead rope for each horse as they went. Redford wanted nothing to do with anyone that drove up in a truck. After his recent gelding, he is still very skittish about anyone coming to the barn. The donkey boys will get their turn next time around.


It occurred to me today, as it has many times before, how much benefit *I* get from the horses' bodywork. I get my own chiropractic work done regularly, and often my out places match up with Keil Bay's. But as I get each horse ready and stand with them while the chiropractor works, I find myself standing square, feet planted slightly apart, and as they get their adjustments, I feel something clear not only in them, but in myself.

I believe that if we live fully with our horses, as partners instead of leaders or worse, dictators, we share more than just time with them. We share energies and emotions, sore places, and successes. When a rotated pelvic joint gets adjusted on Keil Bay, I feel it when it clears.

When he lowers his head, licks and chews, and relaxes totally, I feel that too.

This sharing is part of why it's so important to take care of ourselves and leave the drama behind when we're at the barn. As exquisitely sensitive as they are to our moods and behaviors, especially when those two things lack congruence, it's almost guaranteed that they will absorb and carry anything we bring to them.

When we take what they give us, let it move through our bodies and down into the earth, or alternately up through us and out the tops of our heads, we not only help them clear, we get clear ourselves.


If we have rigid ideas or thoughts about "how things have to be done" with regards to training, riding, or even just being with our horses, we create blocks and this flow gets hung up. Things get stuck. Energy builds up. Explosions happen. Sometimes the horse explodes. Sometimes the human does. Sometimes both. If you've been around people and horses you've probably seen this many times. A demanding handler creates a difficult horse. Sometimes a demanding handler shuts a horse down. That's probably the sadder of the two circumstances.



Today four of the horses who live with me got clear. One donkey helped and for him, that was his clearing. The other donkey needed space and we respected it. No demanding, no expecting, no explosions. They all got clear, and so did I.