how not to ride: Matthias Rath on Totilas

matthias rath on totilas - more rollkur

http://www.st-georg.de/bilder_popup.php?objekt_id=12208

Or CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS.

I'm posting this because apparently the owners of Totilas are having these photos removed from sites in an effort to stop the outcry about this abuse.

The photos are in the public domain. If you have nothing to hide about the way you ride, why the efforts at censorship?

Disgusting.

may we be master/artist/sage

"The character of the human, too, will find its expression in the training and performance of the horse.

The level-headed one becomes a master, 

the inspired one an artist, 

the correct one a controller, 

the violent one a subduer, 

the crafty one a conman. 

The faint-hearted one makes compromises, 

the timid one capitulates, 

the hot-tempered one becomes unfair, 

the malicious one a torturer, 

the melancholy one a trifler. 

The hasty one becomes frustrated, 

the impatient one becomes unhappy, 

the fool becomes complacent, 

the snob becomes a more or less happy boaster on his horse. 

The prudent one remains a student forever, even if he is a master; 

the sage, however, …?
 

The sage in the saddle is rarely encountered. He is recognizable by his extreme modesty, because he knows that no-one can solve all the riddles the horse presents to us – life is too short."
 

(Udo Bürger, 1959)

nice perspectives on working with horses

http://thecognitivehorse.com/2012/04/21/equine-welfarewellness-a-critical-review-of-the-natural-horsemanship/

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!