week winding down

We've had a busy week here and finally, today, things have slowed down enough that I can sit and dash off a post!

First, thanks to everyone who downloaded claire-obscure during the recent promo on Amazon. 10,000+ downloads took her to #14 overall in the free Kindle book store and to #1 in suspense! It was a wonderful weekend and I am grateful for all the support for my books and my publishing venture.

I also have an update from the director of the Triangle chapter of the United Equine Rescue League:

billie,
Someone let me know of your generous post and I wanted to let you know how much USERL appreciates your thoughts on this case, and your contribution via book sales.

This has, indeed, been a difficult case, but light is at the end of the tunnel for them! The pregnant mare is bagging up again with milk, so hopefully has had enough time to regain strength to produce milk for her foal (her body score is now close to 5!). The colt, now named "CJ" is doing great with his foster in training and weight gain is steady. The stallion, now gelding, is a sweetie who will make a very willing mount (he was quite manageable as a stallion). And the filly is slowly improving (she was the other one with marked blood results). The colt that was humanely euthanized is in a better place, no longer suffering and leaving a legacy (NC Veterinary Assoc. donated funds for a Large Animal Lift and electric hoist for cases such as Taipa's!).

We couldn't do a group such as this without the wonderful support of people in the community! It is a large responsibility to take in 6 horses, 4 of which were unhandled. It has been a challenge to fund it in these poor economic times.

Thank you, again, for your thoughts on this case, and your endorsement through your book sales. The caretaker was charged earlier this month by Durham County for animal cruelty and the court case is pending next week.

Gratefully,

Jennifer Malpass
USERL
Board Chair
NC - Triangle Regional Director
www.userltriangle.org/DurhamCountyCase.html

Now it's time for me to remind everyone that I will be donating 100% of royalties from sales of Jane's Transformation, book one in my Magical Pony School series, not only through the end of April, but ongoing. 

It's also time to announce that as of today, Thursday, April 26th, 10 copies have sold. That's a donation of approximately $20. for this month. I had hopes to give so much more! I posted the story on three of the blogs I maintain, on Google+, on Facebook, and on Twitter. I also posted on two local horse groups. 

My hope is that folks who wanted to contribute did so directly to the rescue group via the links I posted with the story itself. You can still do that RIGHT HERE.

I hope you'll ALSO consider spreading the word about Jane and this opportunity to get a nice read while donating to a great cause. The 10,000 free downloads that happened this past weekend for my adult novel did so because a lot of people saw the book featured on a popular e-book recommendation site called Pixel of Ink. I'll certainly be trying that route with Jane's Transformation but there's no guarantee they'll select the book during Jane's next promo weekend. Meanwhile, help me do the same thing Pixel of Ink does - TELL people about it. April's royalties come through in June, and I'd still like to make a nice donation from this month's royalties to help the painted horses that are in rehab.

Head over to Amazon to buy/gift/see more RIGHT HERE.

OUR painted pony says THIS is how handsome we are when we get good food and good care:

In other news on November Hill, Cody had what I think was a mild colic episode on Monday morning. We'd had an overnight shift in weather - rainy and then suddenly quite cold for this time of year. He came in for breakfast, ate 2/3 of his tub, and then started lying down and getting back up again. After figuring out that he wasn't simply trying to get some sleep time while safe in his stall, I let him into the barnyard to see what was going on. He started running around - bucking and tossing his head - which initially I thought was him feeling good, but then realized that something was wrong when he began to lay down again, then leap up and buck/run. Repeat a number of times. 

I opened the arena gate intending to direct him into that safer area and he ran past me into the arena, and suddenly did a huge buck/kick that was so close to me I threw up my arms to protect my face - a good thing, as his left hind hoof clipped my elbow. First ever horse kick on my part, and I was immediately both in pain, upset, and offended - daughter reminded me that it was not intentional on Cody's part. He was in pain himself, and had that slightly panicked look in his eye that indicated he was in flight mode. After a few more circuits of running and bucking, he finally went down into a quieter mode and laid down for about 20 minutes. 

He wasn't sweating, pawing, or biting at himself - but did occasionally turn his head to his rear as if trying to figure out what hurt. In the midst of the running, he did one very normal poop. My husband came home to help - I had a goose egg on my elbow and daughter is still not wearing close-toed shoes due to her toe, and I was still wary of trying to halter Cody and get a dose of Banamine in him. Husband had no problem doing both and Cody spent the rest of the afternoon in his own stall/paddock where we could monitor manure and urine output and where he could rest/graze/walk at liberty. He's been fine ever since.

We had a shorted out well switch that night, which meant a night of no running water. By the time yesterday rolled around and I had my perio appointment, going to the dentist seemed like an actual vacation compared to Monday and Tuesday! I'm happy to say that not only was the cleaning tolerable, my six-month post-surgery report is great. The sun came out, equines are happy, and a very hectic schedule has now quieted down so that my days in the next few weeks look blissfully empty. 

My only complaint at the moment is that my external hard drive is churning and not working quite right. I think I can live with that!

 

claire-obscure - free today and Sunday!

GO HERE for your copy!

buy an e-book ($2.99!) - help a herd of rescued painted horses

This morning I read a story that touched my heart. Our local equine rescue league plus a very dedicated animal control office have partnered and worked hard to not only rescue an emaciated herd of painted horses, but did the additional painstaking work to bring charges against the owner for cruelty to animals.

When an entire herd has to be taken in, the resources of a rescue group are pushed to the limits, particularly in this case: all but one horse was emaciated and suffering from long-term lack of nutrition. A mare is pregnant, so her in utero foal is suffering too. The stallion had to be gelded. Several young horses had never been handled. They have already had to humanely euthanize a handsome but extremely weak medicine hat paint because he went into liver failure.

As many of you who visit here know, we live with a wonderful, spirited, smart as can be painted pony named Apache Moon. He brings such joy to our lives, every single day. It broke my heart to see these painted horses in such need of what all of us would consider the very basics of horse life.

Starting today through the end of April, I will donate 100% of the royalties earned on my middle grade (but a wonderful read for adults as well) e-book.

Jane's Transformation (book one in the Magical Pony School series) is available on Amazon. You can click directly to the product page by looking over on the sidebar to your right and clicking on the cover.

If you have a Kindle you can buy it immediately. If you have a smart phone, a computer of any kind, an iPad or other tablet, you can quickly and easily download the FREE software on Amazon that will enable you to purchase and read this e-book (and any other e-book).

I have Jane priced at $2.99, which means my royalty per sale is about $2.  What happens, though, is when the book sells on Amazon, it rises in rank. As it rises in rank, especially if sales are concentrated, it goes onto various bestseller lists based on its genre and subjects. When this happens, more Amazon viewers see the book and more of them tend to buy it. By participating in this it is entirely conceivable that we could create what my writer friend Dawn calls "the perfect storm." I would LOVE to write a big fat check to the NC Triangle USERL to help with expenses for these horses.

Full disclosure: Of course you can donate directly to Triangle USERL and that is definitely a good thing to do, especially since their Paypal button will get the money to them immediately. My royalties for April will be paid to me in June, so that is when I will write the check to USERL.

My suggestion is this: donate some directly and buy the book so they get a second donation later. By buying the book AND spreading the word, you make it that much more likely that we can together create a perfect storm and give a larger donation in June.

I also stand to gain if the book kicks up high and then STAYS high after the end of this month. All I can say is, if that happens, I will work on a way to continue donating, whether it be a percentage per book sold, or more 100% chunks of time. My intention with this series is to get more of the books written and published so that I can donate all the proceeds from this first one on an ongoing basis. I love the idea that Jane and the Magical Pony School ponies could be an ongoing source of funding for some needy equines. 

READ THE STORY OF THE RESCUED HORSES HERE.

If you scroll down you'll see the Paypal button to donate.

GO TO JANE'S TRANSFORMATION ON AMAZON HERE.

The current ranking is #313,510. You can track how we're doing by looking at the ranking. As sales happen, the number will get smaller as the book rises. The lower the number, especially if we get into the top 100 of paid sales OVERALL, the better. If we get Jane into that top 100 of all paid sales list, you'll know we are getting the exposure needed to make a very generous donation indeed.

I will post a screen shot of my sales page along with the check I write to the NC Triangle USERL group in June. Please help make it a big one.

Remember - on Amazon you can buy the e-book as a gift and send it to anyone you know. But the biggest part of making this go viral is spreading the word.

I realize this is one small herd among many who need help. But this is the herd that grabbed my attention today. A backyard breeder thought he/she could make money by breeding painted horses. Now there are a number of young horses who have not been handled, a pregnant mare, and a recently gelded stallion to show for it. All were starving. One has been put down. Maybe this case can be a lesson to anyone even thinking of breeding. There aren't homes for all these horses! There is no reason to think you can make money doing this. And even if you could, is it really an honorable profession?

Addendum as of Thursday at 8:08 p.m. - Jane is cantering up the charts!

• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #68,713 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #48 in Kindle Store  Kindle eBooks Children's eBooks  Animals Horses                                                            
  • And at 9:08 p.m.!
  •  
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #43,647 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
    • #28 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Children's eBooks > Animals > Horses

baby steps with the LIttle Man

Just have to take a moment to jot down what I did with Apache Moon today. I went and got him in from the field a little after breakfast and spent a fair amount of time with him in the barn aisle - doing some targeting with the clicker, then working with him to stand while I groomed him and tacked him up.

The wind was gusting through the barn and there were various mowers and things running in the neighborhood, so I was extremely proud of him - he stood nicely without being tied for about 90% of the time and the other 10% entailed a few half-hearted attempts to walk away, no more than one step each time. He really did a good job.

The big thing we did that made me really happy today was our first baby steps in ground driving. My husband was out doing chores and able to help me just to make sure nothing wild happened. I got the long lines hooked to his bridle and through the loops on his bareback pad, and husband stood at his head so I could make sure the lines touching him behind and all down his hind legs didn't spook or upset him.

He really could have cared less.

We did three little sets of walking and halting with the lines in the barnyard, with me in full control and husband at his head just in case. I really wanted to do more but on the other hand really wanted to stop with a very solid success and not push him past his limit today.

But based on how it went I'm extremely excited about what we have to look forward to as we learn more and do more together. The wonderful thing about the pony is that he is small enough that I can easily see his entire body, including head and neck, from behind him, which will be such a great learning tool for me as I get further into this kind of work.


Bravo, Apache Moon!

Thomas Ritter book discussion, pgs. 58-95

I'm going to randomly post some of my book discussion contributions here so if anyone wants to read along and comment, you can do so.

The book in question is one I highly recommend, not only informative but simply gorgeous with stunning illustrations and photographs, Thomas Ritter's Dressage Principles Based on Biomechanics, which can be purchased HERE.

my book discussion post:

This is a longer section, with a lot of information packed into it as it surveys and highlights (and connects) the history of dressage for the reader.

For this section, which gets more to the meat of the book, I've read pages from beginning to end (and re-read a number of passages) - but I'm going to post here as I go back through it another time.

My first observation is from a passage on pg. 60 in which Ritter says, " All horses are different, which is why no two individuals can be trained with exactly the same training schedule..." and then further he says, "I always recommend to my students that they devote a part of each training session to research, where they don't try to teach the horse anything new, but instead analyze the current situation and to get to know the horse better. No two horses are identical, so this makes an individual approach necessary. In theory, everything can be right, and everything can be wrong depending on the different circumstances."

You can stop here and add your own thoughts to this thread or read on for my own long ramble as I think through my own herd with the above in mind.

It was nice for me to begin this section with information that I understand and can leap right into with my own experiences at hand as I read forward. For the past 8 eight years I've worked primarily with three horses and a pony who live with us. You can see how different they are:

Salina, 29 years old, German Hannoverian mare imported as a brood mare, 15.2. She has one eye and arthritic knees due to an injury but is also the most highly trained of the horses here (up to 4th level but don't know how much work she did at 4th). Although we retired her from riding several years ago, the few years I was able to ride her lightly taught me a tremendous amount. She does not bear with demands or rough handling or riding. The first time I got on her I knew immediately I needed to sit quietly, correctly, and ask nicely. She responded to that by putting herself into a near-perfect position and then she did something I'd never experienced before on a horse - she would respond to what your body asked her to do, which in my case didn't always match with what I *thought* I was asking. It often happened when sitting the trot that I inadvertently asked for the canter, and when cantering, that I asked for a change. She would respond to what my body actually did, then she would very intentionally return to the previous movement and respond to what she assumed (always correctly) I had MEANT to ask for. So for me, it was like she was saying "This is what you actually asked for, but wait, here is what I think you MEANT." I tried hard to pay attention to what my body did in each moment so I could get the lesson she was giving me. I was especially touched by her going forward so beautifully no matter which direction - on the lunge line (done only briefly and rarely as I didn't want to stress her knees) and under saddle. When working, she trusted me completely and you couldn't tell a bit of difference if her good eye was in or out on the circle or the arena rail.

Keil Bay, 23 years old, Hanoverian trained by a German dressage trainer, very sound with very clean joints. Keil is 16.2 and broad as the side of the barn. Solid through 2nd level but knows and does many of the 3rd/4th level movements with ease on occasion. He's a laid back, sweet-natured but also opinionated and very expressive gelding. He tends to bring himself to the level of his rider, ie. if a pure beginner gets on him he will literally just stop and stand quietly. If an upper level rider gets on he will move well but if pushed hard will grind his teeth. I've often seen him "wag" his head when being pushed hard as well. With me, over the years, he moved well but came down to my level (which initially was "go forward but not too quickly") with regular and brilliant 'pushes' when I needed them to help me get past my own hurdles. Keil Bay will do anything I ask if I get myself into a correct position and ask correctly. He'll try to do the things I ask when I'm not in balance or ask incorrectly. His default is to slow down - if I confuse him, he just notches down and waits until I reorganize. He is treated like a king here b/c he not only takes care of me, he puts up with me, and I am grateful for every single moment I have with him. For someone coming back to riding after many years out of the saddle, he has been a dream come true. My ongoing riding goals with Keil Bay are to work on myself so I can make the accidental dressage moments become intentional and last longer - we've made progress this winter. This week we had a ride where we didn't make it past the walk. I was stiff, he was stiff, it was mid-day which we both dislike for riding, but we ended with a lovely walk so - that was where we were that day and we did what we could do from beginning to end of the ride to work through what we started with.

Cody, 9 years old, QH, trained in Western Pleasure by age 2. Cody is a wonderful, teddy bear kind of spirit with a little bit of a passive-aggressive streak which mostly comes out in benign ways. He was bought for my son, and once we realized how young he was (when his papers arrived, after we'd bought him) we notched down what we asked of him under saddle for a full year and a half and then picked back up when he was 4. He is extremely sensitive to the aids - in some ways much like Salina but he doesn't have the correct training nor the understanding of his own body so while Salina will do the correct thing no matter what, Cody needs a lot of guidance in moving in ways that supple rather than tighten him up. He's gotten better and now that we know he has EPSM and are treating that we've also gotten more in tune with his sensitivities and what works/doesn't work, as well as when to push/not push physically. As it turns out, daughter is doing riding disciplines that aren't a good fit for Cody, so he's my partner in training - i.e. seeing what I can do to train him the basics of dressage. With Cody, the regular and correct work will be therapeutic for his body, (as I think it is for all horses, but for him it's really important for daily comfort) and that compels me to take this on as a learning experience for myself. Otherwise I would be perfectly happy to work with Keil Bay only.

Apache Moon, a 12.3 half-Shetland painted pony, 12 years old, who is built like a little warmblood and has really lovely gaits considering how small he is. Right now my daughter has outgrown him - she can still ride him but her legs are so long it's just logistically difficult for both of them to do much together. I'm working with him in hand right now and he's doing very beginner rides with two little students, to whom he acts like a prince. The Little Man, as we call him, has done Pony Club with daughter, combined training shows, eventing, dressage shows, etc. Daughter rode him against professionals on big horses in open classes and often got ribbons and decent scores. He has a talent for collection and often does a very nice levade on his own and/or when we play with him at liberty in the arena. He's smart as a whip and if I can teach him to long line I think he'll teach me a lot in the process - he's small enough that I can actually see what his body does very easily as I work with him at his side and behind. He is smart but wary and always testing the boundaries to see if he can get higher in the herd (horse and human). When he decides to stop trying to move up in rank, he is wonderful to work with but it takes times and some patience to get there with him. Right now he's very angry at my daughter for growing up, and in some ways I see him beginning to shift his attachment/trust to me. It's a bittersweet time - most of what daughter did out and about in the riding world she did with him, and it was not only her first time doing those things, but his as well, so they had to work hard and together to achieve what they did. We're trying now to find the new normal for him here. Fortunately he is loving the clicker training work I'm doing with him right now and I think once he forgives daughter and figures out a new non-riding relationship with her things will be good again.

I'm not exposed to many many horses in my life right now - but these four I think offer me enough differences and different challenges that I have more on my plate than I can manage on a day-to-day basis. As I read forward into this section I have these four in mind and am thinking about how to apply what I'm reading in ways that will serve the needs of these horses. And in the case of Salina, in some ways how I might make sense of the rides I had with her. Every now and then she comes into the arena and wants me to work with her so we do some easy dressage tests (walk and a little trot) on the ground. Her donkey boys come right along with us! She remembers the figures and sequences and when we're done she leaves the arena with that same sense of pride that I expect she had when she was young.

Which brings me to the Duke of Newcastle's quote which I loved, on pg. 64, paraphrased:

"lenity and patience with good lessons, never to offend your horse... it is your business to make both your person and the manage as agreeable to him as possible..."

I can see with Keil Bay and Salina that the work they learned early on remains a comfort and a pleasure to them and the arena a place where they can shine and feel good. That Keil Bay will come to the gate and wait for me if I call him in for a ride, and that the pony and Cody often come to the arena gate and ask to come in when I'm there are my signs that I'm on a good, if very slow and often crooked (pun intended) path!