My best friend

I've had Dandy for 1.5 years now... Along the way, she was somewhat transformed. As a matter of fact, I don't recognize the horse that I bought in spring of 2008.

I went trough a lot with Dandy even in that short year. She became my best partner and a friend that was always there to listen. I've learned to know her and respect her and she did the same for me... although there was a lot of dominance and trust issues at first. She knew I would always guide her so she wouldn't get hurt and she understood that I wanted the best for her, so she didn't need to be scared. We've had our ups and downs with training, sometimes, she would fall back to that rank bitch I brought home, but mostly because on those days, I felt impatient and cranky. She is a true mirror of me.

I know I've thought everything to Dandy, everything she knows today is because I was there to help her along, otherwise, she would've ended up in a dog food factory. Dandy too has thought me so much! I've learned to control my emotions and feelings, to talk smoothly even if the barn was coming down, she kept me in check on my feelings too! She would make sure that I could control myself at any time, in any situation. She tested me on every level, she tests everyone that touches her or gets on her back. Now that I've proved myself, she doesn't do it anymore.

I've learned to trust her enough to know when she is feeling nervous (it's like sitting on another horse), if she is faking (does not want to go forward for no reason... or if there really is a bear down that trail!). She has learned to understand what I want from her, to forgive my sometimes clumsy mistakes... and I've learned to forgive hers too and to take it easy. Dandy is a sensitive horse (not extreme sensitive) and she needs calmness and gentle handling, if you rough her around, she will rough you around right back.

We've had good rides, bad rides but I've only fallen off of her once. I could tell she was sorry and she has learned to keep an eye on me and I keep an eye on her. I've thought her that things that look scary (like dogs or cows) will go running the other way if you just impose your presence enough. We are currently working on cattle... she is still shy about them. She was around cattle most of her life so the sight and sounds from them don't bother her. The other day, while I was sorting some cattle to send them to an adjacent pasture... Dandy seemed great, we were closing on our cow to send her past the gate when the cow decided she would cut in front of Dandy... I pushed Dandy to close the gap and "shut the door" to the cow, but she slammed on the brakes and jumped sideways to let the cow happily run us by... I nearly fell off, lost both stirrups and was nearly hanging off the side, Dandy still cantering in the field... I had to canter without stirrups until I could get my balance back, then I stopped her, she didn't freak out, she just continued reliably on... the fact that I was squeezing my calves to hang on didn't help in slowing her down!

We have a great bond, I can make her go over, under or through anything and even if she is scared, she'll still do it because she trusts that I will never hurt her.

I love her to death, just wanted to share my love and appreciation for her with all of you.

Ongoing battle

This is Dandy in 2009!

So since May of 2008, I've worked on training Dandy. I've thought her to lead correctly, stand tied and stand when I stop walking, I thought her to lift her feet for picking and trimming (she was pretty aggressive about her feet, but they had never been touched), I thought her to saddle and bridle quietly, to lead with a bit, I've work on long reins with her, done tons of groundwork (mostly Parelli, but not the seven games, just moving around and respecting my space, I might've modified it a bit).

After some extensive work on the ground, I've decided to get on Dandy's back, she'd been home for nearly a month and I felt I would try her out. She was leading well and getting more light to the cues. By that time, she had been desensitized to pretty much anything from blanket to swinging ropes, etc. So I tied her lead rope to the other side of her halter and hoped on bareback... now, I know... I was completely aware of the risks of my actions. I am an adult and I am aware of the risks involved in training horses. My first ride lasted about 10 minutes, I just wanted Dandy to understand that it's ok for someone to sit on her back and also, to give to pressure to turn and stop. She did well, but offered to buck (without actually going through with it) and she got a mean "hey" from me, that was enough to discourage her to do it.

A few weeks later, I got a saddle, tryed it on Dandy and it was perfect. I saddled her and went for a little ride in the backyard, our ride was brief, I didn't want to push my horse... plus, she had to take in so much information, legs, hands and all of the surroundings, I didn't want her to feel overwhelmed. I never pushed Dandy during her training. When I gave her a cue, like trot, I expected her to go into a trot, but I wouldn't push her to continue when she stopped. This has worked well for me, since now, I can trot her and if she gives an indication that she wants to slow down, I only squeeze my legs lightly and she answers right away. She rarely offers to stop trotting, since it is her favorite gait. She will do a dressage-y trot, a jog or a fast trot and can go all day.

My training philosophy is "Give your horse as little cue as it takes" you will then have a light horse. The heavier cues are used mostly when a horse is not responsive or does not understand... but even then, it's important to climb the ladder with lightest, light, heavier, then correct with a quick snap (at that stage, your horse is probably ignoring you and that will get his attention focused back on you). I do not like to hit horses, but I absolutely do not tolerate biting, kicking or striking, that kind of behaviour will get a mean correction (smack on the shoulder with a lead rope until horse backs off, smack on leg that tried to kick me or a quick smack on the nose for biting or trying to bite) My horses aren't headshy and understand that this is not acceptable behaviour. Now, they hardly ever offer to kick, bite or strike. I can't stand seeing someone being threatened by their horse, dragged around, getting their feet stepped on, bit, etc. I'm not saying that this never happened to me, but that I do not allow it to happen and they get corrected if somehow they managed to do it.

I feed treats to my horses... they do not nip at me. They are only mouthy when I have the treats in my hand but they know that they can't touch me until I offer the treat... and I offer the treat when I want to... not when they decide that they want one. I work their patience and they won't get a cookie until they back off! Be consistent, horses are big creatures and can seriously hurt you without even putting effort into it. Horses are our friends and work partners... don't allow your horse to do something that you wouldn't allow another human to do, in other words, you wouldn't let a human walk all over you... well, don't let a horse do that!!! We seem to be more tolerant of misbehaviours from our pets and animals than other peoples. They won't love you more if you don't discipline them, love is unconditionnal for animals, but they will certainly respect you more if you discipline unwanted behaviour... and there is nothing like respect to build a strong and reliable relationship. My Dandy will come over to see me wether she is with 10 other horses or alonce, if she can't make it quickly enough, she will nicker to let me know she is on her way. If horses are mirrors, she certainly reflects the love I have for her!

Finally... Pictures!

There, I've gatthered all of the pictures from my moms computer... she was keeping the first pics of Dandy.

Ok, here's the horse I bought... This is on her first day at home... She looks quite lethargic compared to today... also, this was in May, she was wooly, she looked awkward and the previous owners had cut her forelocks, mane and tail with scisors... **Yeah, I was pissed...** I freak out when I see this, she has no muscle tone whatsoever, she looks sad and I think she was a bit wormy. She's 2 years and 2 months in this picture. She was in desperate need of minerals and vitamins, after this was taken care of, her coat became true black and shiny. No wonder I was questionning my buy... for 2 weeks, I didn't know what I had done! She looked like this, plus, she was a real brat, probably used to getting away with everything at her old home. Took a good 6 months or more of groundwork to get her to respect people and their space.

We don't see her feet, unfortunately in the picture above, but the were bad... I think I purposely left them out to spare anyone the horror... it's bad enough that she looks like this! Just to compare... here's Dandy this summer. This is taken in May 2009, she still has a bit of winter hair (I'm in Canada, so this takes a while to shed!!) This picture is taken on my boyfriend's farm after a two hour ride to move her there (yeah I rode her there) so spare me the mean looks, we just got there and I didn't have her brushes and stuff there yet.

And this is Dandy in August 2009. She is growing quickly and putting on nice weight. I've measured Dandy a few weeks ago and she is a bit over 15 hands and over 1 000 pounds at 3.5 years old.

Now, here are Dandy's feet (pictures are of left fore) AFTER her first ever trim (*ever*)... Her feet were about 6 inches overgrown (maybe more in spots). You can see that her heels are still about 1.5 to 2 inches too long, but I couldn't lower them more than that at first.

To compare her feet... here is a picture of the same foot less than a year later. This is in May after our 2.5 hour ride. There is still a bit of work to do, but this is way better than the first pic! Round happy feet are the best!!!

Let me know what you think in the comments!

What did I do?

When I made an offer on Dandy, I didn't even have a place to put her!!! I thought I would board her, but then I wouldn't be close enough to my horse and it was costly... also, we have 240 acres of land that does nothing. I was picking her up on Sunday, had arranged for a trailer and I couldn't sleep, mostly because of the fact that I would finally get my own horse and also because I didn't yet have a place to put her. So I went out, bought t-post and fenced in a temporary area where the horse pasture would be later. It was fine for Dandy, she was used to a cattle coral, so she thought this was sweet! Got some hay for her and left her to get used to her surroundings a few days.

This was my first horse... and she kind of fell on my lap... so I was a bit unprepared. I had taken care of horses for long, so I knew how this worked and what was appropriate. I didn't have brushes, nothing, but she was a brat and she would need a bit more handling and training before I groomed her... especially her feet. So during the week, I went out to get brushes and a halter for Dandy. She came with her halter, but it was old and blue... I wanted a purple halter and a matching lead rope.

The first month was mostly ground training, picking up her feet and working on leading correctly, she was progressing well and I finally got her front feet trimmed, they were awful and I still kick myself for not taking BEFORE pictures, but she was so unhandled and difficult that I don't know how I would've managed to do that. I still couldn't pick her back feet safely so they would have to wait for a trim. Her feet were very unbalanced and still tend towards that if not corrected properly. Next post will show pictures and will be mostly that.

So it was beginning of July and Dandy had been with us for about 1 month now. She was now 2 years and 4 months old... One day... I thought I would get on her back. I didn't have a saddle yet, but she was extremely calm, so I thought what the heck! I got on her bareback and rode her around the pasture for about 10 minutes. She was nervous but would respond to the halter and lead rope to turn. She offered to buck once or twice but was corrected calmly and lightly, I didn't want to scare my horse. We only walked and I got off shortly after. I felt confident that her training would go well.

My first horse

I worked with the lady's horses for about a year before I finally found my mare Dandy. She was my first horse, my very own. I still work with the horses, but much less often.

Dandy was owned by a co worker of my mom's. They bought Dandy's dam when she was in foal and then Dandy came along. They could no longer keep Dandy, they needed space to keep heifers for the summer and Dandy was occupying that field. They are very successful cattle farmers and horses weren't really in their blood.

Dandy was 2 years old and was untrained. You could easily plop a halter on her, but otherwise, she couldn't lead without running on your heels, could not pick up her feet and had absolutely NO respect for humans. When I heard about her, she was headed to a cattle sale... obviously, she would've been the only horse there, not trained, she was headed for the dog food plant. My mom advised me that one of her co workers had a filly fo sale. My mom does not know anything about horses, she knew I loved them and that I was interested in buying one soon. I saw Dandy and I immediatly fell in love with her! She was pure black, dead quiet, they had put a saddle on her a few times, no more. I was a bit rushed into a visit since she was heading to auction on saturday and it was Tuesday! So I headed to see her on Wednesday.

When I got there, Dandy was nothing like the pictures... her hair was matted, she was thin-ish, shivering in the cold spring rain. I felt horrible! I asked to go in the pasture with her and the first thing she did was show me her back feet... up close... yep, she kicked at me!!! I thought I would not buy her, she was too crazy... but she was well put together (enough) and had straight legs. I would have a lot of work to do... she was already two... her feet had never been done, never been handled... I am a barefoot trimmer, so I had to think of all that!

I made an offer, rather on the low side for that time and it was accepted. I gave a deposit and I would pick up my horse in the weekend. What had I done?

The search is over!

A few years ago, I was looking through some classifieds and saw that people who wanted to ride but did not have horses were putting up ads to lend their services to exercise horses. I wasn't sure that this method would work, so I opted not to put an ad for myself. Besides, who would let a complete stranger ride their horses?!

A few months later, I noticed that some of those ads had found takers! I was surprised and excited... I thought about it and decided that I had nothing to lose. If the readers didn't like my ad, they could just ignore it. I went for it and placed the ad... I felt a huge void in my life ever since Penny had left, I somewhat needed to interact with horses.

I got a call the next day. A lady needed help to exercise and train her 7 (soon to be 8) horses. I visited her farm and agreed to take on the task, with the help of my sister, which is as good a rider as I am (she is also my twin, I can hardly do anything without her!!). The first horse I rode was a broke mare named Gwen, I got on and noticed how I had lost a bit of my touch. I proceeded to trot circles and figure 8s only to confirm that I was way out of balance... I'd have to do some work at the walk to regain my balance!

It didn't take very long to regain my balance and went on to ride twice per week. Only two of the lady's horses were broke (somewhat), so my sister and I rode those two until we felt comfortable handling and training the others. There were 7 horses at that time and here is a short description of them. Some names are pronounced in French, the lady was French. They are all pure breed registered Canandian horses.

Gwen: 10 y-o mare, broke but very forward and fast, blind in one eye. Now 12 y-o, thought her to stop and stand and to not trot all the time. She did have a very nice trot, but one hour of trotting is exhausting!

Lune: 6 y-o mare. Wild and unhandled, had hardly seen a human in her life. Now is 8 y-o, very green broke (by me), I am the only one that can ride without being thrown off.

Legende: 6y-o mare. Wild and unhandled, hardly ever seen humans in her life. was in foal. Now is 8 y-o, halter broke but very shy, will not give her feet. I vowed not to break her (I volunteer, so I don't have to, and I think she is dangerous!).

Providence: 3 y-o mare. Was handled before and had one or two rides on her before I got there. I gave her her first ride, my sister fell in love with her and did the rest of the work with her. She is now 5 y-o and is the dam of my sister's colt (more on him later).

Stella: Yearling filly, I broke her to halter and leading, is now 3.5 y-o and has had about 5 rides on her, she was a bit of a bronc. Broke her myself.

Sendrillon: Yearling filly, Sister broke her to halter and lead. She is now 3.5 y-o and had the same amount of rides as Stella. Broke by sis.

Paygaze: 3 y-o stallion. Wild and unhandled, came with Legende, never seen humans before. Is now 5 y-o, was broke to halter and lead and was sent for 30 days to break to saddle. I do not ride him, but can handle him on the ground. Gentle and friendly, but unpredictable.

Udelali: She's Legende's filly born on March 29, 2008. She's now a filly. I've worked a bit with her on haltering and leading, she's doing good.

When I say that the horses were wild and unhandled, this is what I mean: Those horses were on a breeding farm near Saguenay, Quebec, Canada, they were left in a HUGE pasture and were never handled, they knew that tractors brought food, but never really had contact with humans. They were driven in a chute for vaccination and microchips, just like wild horses or cattle. They only had a neck rope with a tag on it. They've come a long way!!

I fell in love with Lune the moment I saw her, she is a beautiful mare. Unfortunately, lack of exercise and rich feed has made her fat to the point of foundering. She is now recovering, and all horses are on a diet (they were all getting a bit on the dangerously fat side). I swear I will post pictures soon!

Penny's gone

When Penny sold, I kept looking for a place to ride. I had lived so long with horses, riding 2 to 5 times a week. I didn't have a job at the time so leasing was out of the question. Of course, if I had known then the people that I know today, I would've never had to look anywhere, horses would've just kept coming!

Unfortunately, I was young and I knew nobody else that had horses. I spent the next 8 years going on yearly two hour dude rides... I was getting bored; dude horses just weren't trained enough, let alone responsive enough for me. Cantering with a dude horse proved to be dangerous! Three broken ribs and a very sore neck later, I realized that those horses weren't safe away from their buddies, in a line up. That day, one of my friends who had no horse experience lost his hat, being the goody good person I am, I went back with my horse to get it, after picking it up, I turned back towards the line up, they were already heading to the barn, my horse broke into a canter, bucking as he went along, I was unable to hold on or stop him, I ate dirt, hard! This wasn't working for me, I wanted my own horse so that I could ride whenever I wanted, wherever I wanted, however I wanted.

I spent all of those years looking through classified ads every day, for someone offering a horse to ride or exercise for free, but I didn't have jumper, dressage or professionnal show experience. I considered myself an experienced rider but I was loosing that experience with every day that passed...

My Debuts

I started riding when I was in first or second grade, I met someone that had a horse. Her name was Penny Lane (Beattles much!?!??!), she was a Halflinger cross, about 22 years old. First, she was the perfect height for us, about 14hh. We still needed a milk crate to get on her back at first. My friend took lessons and she basically thought me how to ride. She left me on my own pretty much all the time, unless she would notice something that I could improve and she gave me tips on how to balance and be light.

Penny was a great kids horse, she was patient and kind and would walk us around all day in the same pasture. I never got bored with horses or riding. I rode Penny until I was about 13 years old, then, she was sold. It was a hard time for my friend and I and we cried a whole lot, I remember saying goodbye to Penny. I never heard from her again, but I know that she would be a kids horse and maybe do little jumps.

After Penny was gone, I missed riding a lot, but I didn't know where to turn to ride horses... in my mind no horse would ever replace Penny... (to be continued)

Welcome to my Blog!

Hi and welcome to my blog! This blog will be about my life with horses, stories of younger days up to today. I have three horses of my own Dandy is my first horse, she is a Percheron X Quarter horse and is over 3.5 years old. She is currently a trail horse and doing fantastic!

The two other horses are rescues from the track, they were both Standardbred pacers that were sent to meat after their career. The first one is Peg (registered name: Mattsabreeze) daughter of Hall of Fame inductee Matts Scooter, she is 16 years old and Bay, a bit arthritic, about 16.2 hands high, I broke her to saddle and she is doing well, easy going and bombproof. The second Standardbred is Pearl (registered name: Minto's Foly) she is 18 years young, sound as any 5 year old that never worked a day in their life, she is a bit high strung, I have a more touching story about Pearl that will be published a bit later. Pearl is onnly about 14.2 or 14.3 hands high and was hard to break to saddle, she is a bit of a rearer, but we are breaking her of it and she seems to be doing really good out on trails.

Both my Standardbreds were neglected when I got them, they scored about a 2 on the scale (maybe Pearl scored a 1.5, she was thinner). I will have pictures in the next posts but for now, I can only share pictures of Dandy, since Dandy was not abused, she was a bit thin when I got her and lacking essential vitamins and minerals... her hooves were way overgrown, so I will have some pictures of that too.

Here she is in our 40 acre pasture this August... the little guy you see behind her is a horse that was boarded at our barn, he is a little fugly hackney x arab x something x something... anyway, you get the idea! She is pure black so this photo does not do her justice, it was the end of the summer and her short hair was starting to turn brown and fall out.
In this picture, I was trying to get a front view but she wouldn't stop walking towards me... you know how it is! She thought my camera was a treat or something! You can see she had been eating minerals... there's some on her side!

So that's my blog... I will try to post everyday... I might get a story on later tonight too, since this was just an introduction.