Lots of change

Hi everyone, I'm back!

There has been a lot of changes in my life. My boydfriend and I are back together since about a month ago. We are working things out. I've been really really sick for the past 4 months, this has landed me in the hospital several times with life threatening breathing problems. Since the doctors have not yet found exactly what causes my illness, I wasn't being properly treated and ended up taking medication that made my condition worse and nearly caused death. I have to say that I nearly gave up the fight... I did it for my family and friends that were very worried about me.

I have also been working on Misty's training, if you remember Misty, she is my new paint mare that I bought in April 2010.

Misty has been going under saddle since the beginning of September 2010. She is doing W/T and we are working on a bit of canter, she has extremely smooth gaits, is way too smart for her own good and learns everything like a breeze, she has a natural reining stop on her and doesn't move once stopped until she is asked to go forward again. She has had her feet trimmed 3 times now and her hooves are improving greatly. I have not been taking pictures of that since I need all the hands I can get when I trim, since she is not yet 100% used to holding her foot up for so long. She does pick up all four feet without a problem, she is great to lead and has even been bareback riding! (I don't have those pictures on my camera, they're with my mom). Misty seems to take everything in stride, she is absolutely not spooky (deer, fowl, dogs, etc.), can go alone and has been on the road / in moderate traffic once without any problems.

This is the first time anyone has ever sat on Misty (that's me on her. I forgot to mention that I lost 45 lbs...). I had my sister holding her but she is doing great, paying attention to me and basically stood still the whole time. That was enough training for that day.

The week after, we took Misty out on her first ever trail ride. The ride lasted no more than 10 minutes. Misty did great! That's my sister on Misty at the trail head. Misty is being ridden in a bosal and responding fantastically to that.

Weeks go by and we are riding Misty every week (1-2 times) and slowly building her endurance. She is doing wonderful. Here are a few more pictures! The last one is me on Misty at the end of October, we did a little schooling session and I decided to ride her back home. My sister mostly rides her and has done most of her training under saddle.It turns out that Misty is by far the smartest horse that I have ever worked with, she seems to understand her job and does her best to please. She also has very light aids doesn't like too much pressure which is nice. She has a lot of stamina and could probably go all day, but we are not there yet, I want to make sure she is in good shape before going on longer rides. As of today, she has gone for as much as 1.5 - 2 hours, mostly walk and some trot. We are planning to start her conditionning when Spring starts. Right now, it's icy, cold and miserable so we are only taking them on short bareback strolls when it's not too icy (haven't been on a horse in about a month... I'm starting to NEED it!). She has been introduced to a bit and has worked in it for 2 rides.

I think this is enough material for today. It's been mainly focused on Misty, but don't worry, I haven't given up on Dandy. Her vision seems to have stabilized and she can see a tiny bit out of her right eye when the day is really bright. She gets along great with Misty and Wakan (the long yearling gelding) and has spent a good part of Sunday playing around with them. She doesn't canter on her own in the field, but she does trot and she did throw a few good kicks and bucks. It was very nice to see her go and enjoy herself, made my heart feel light and happy. I will have more on her in the next days! I hope I haven't lost all of my readers.

Welcome back to my blog and I'm sorry for having been gone for so long.

Drum roll Please!

After almost a week of being super duper busy, I finally sat down to upload my pictures yesterday at 10:00 pm... I would've rather been sleeping, but here they are! BTW, I absolutely LOVE the picture above, the colors, the textures and the movement... I don't even remember taking it... eesh!

On Friday, August 6, I've succesfully put a saddle on Misty... for the first time in her life. I was very pleased, she was nervous and probably asking questions like crazy, but she trusted and followed quite well. Here are a few pictures of that adventure:

Above: Misty is getting brushed thoroughly for the first time... She seemed to enjoy it. Her skin is sensitive, so I went easy with the plastic curry... overall, she was ok with it.

Above: Then came the saddle pad, she got to meet it, chew it and play with it first, then we put it on her back... she was ok with the putting it on part, but was a bit antsy when it wouldn't come off, so she moved her feet a bit, but never ran off or bucked... she was pretty quiet... so I brought the saddle over.

Above: Before swinging the saddle over, Misty met the saddle and chewed a bit on it (which I stopped her from doing immediatly, without being too mean, she didn't know what this thing was!). After we've seen that she was ok with it, I had my sister hold her (that's me holding her in the picture) and I put the saddle gently on her. I was a bit nervous and actually held the saddle (and my breath) for about 2 minutes almost over Misty's back before resting it on her... I remember that she was quite explosive when we first started working with her and I was afraid that something like that would happen and damage my precious saddle! lol

Anyways, the saddle on her back didn't bother her, so we proceeded to tighten the girth. A bit antsy, but I've seen well broke horses move more than that when cinching up. We progressively walked and thightened the cinch, then walk again and so on.

Here is what she was like after two short walking sessions with the saddle on:

You can see that she is a bit nervous, not much... the saddle is squeaky and she listens for that noise. She is a little distracted because her friends are in her field of vision and she wants them to come back, but she got better after a few more walks.

After having walked a few times more, I decided to try my hand at putting my foot up in the stirrup. So I grabbed my helmet and off I went. When I first put my foot up (no weight) Misty was wondering what was going on, then she moved a bit and I followed her until she settled. I put a little weight and repeated with more weight each time. The last thing I did was put all of my weight in the stirrup... Misty didn't move, wasn't even off balance (I'm impressed 'cause I'm not a small person, as you can see). I immediatly proceeded to unsaddle Misty and let her go. She stood great for unsaddling and I even let the off side stirrup and girth down so it rubbed on her when I took the saddle off... no reaction at all. She was off to see her friends which had migrated to the far end of the field... she walked then trotted away from us and when she was far enough, she shifted into high gear and ran at a full galop right to the other end. She is better about being apart of her friends now, but I guess she likes to be close to them if given the chance... who doesn't?

All in all, a good session with Misty. It lasted about 45 minutes... as you can see, we were loosing daylight and I didn't want to over do it. Sessions will be kept short and we will progress slowly in order to make a great riding horse.

I'm not dead!

No, I'm not dead... I've been sick to no end. I've caught a cold, in the middle of Summer.



I did nothing with the horses all of last week, all of my long weekend and all of this week. I feel bad about it because they could all use the exercise... not because they are fat, but because it keeps them in shape. I'm sure THEY appreciated the break, with only visits with treats and scritches. I did take Misty out on her halter and lead, she did good, I even tied her and touched all four legs, but I only worked her for about 30 minutes on stuff she already knew.



Tonight, if I have the time, I am hoping to put a saddle on her, just to get her used to it. She's three years old, has never worked a day in her life, so it's time to make the big step. I don't know if I will swing a leg over yet, we'll see how she takes everything, if she seems ok, I might risk it and sit on her for a few minutes. I don't really feel like being thrown off so she'll have to be a star for me to get on.



I am just recovering from the cold and I do not feel like being thrown around.



I plan on riding the other horses tommorow. Peg is pretty much semi-retired and is only a relief horse when we are three people riding for short, easy rides... don't be fooled, she has a lot of spunk and speed still, but she can get sore depending on what we do with her and I don't like seeing her not being 100%. She lacks a lot of muscle tone, but she couldn't handle a conditionning program.



I plan on training Misty and have her replace Peg.



I'll probably be taking pictures if I have enough free hands to do so and I'll be posting them next week! Stay tuned to see Misty with her first ever saddle! :)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Time goes by so fast!

I was thinking the other day that I've now owned Dandy for almost 2.5 years!!!! I sure don't feel like she's been with me that long. I keep thinking that she did awesome in her training when, actually, a lot of work went into it and she didn't just transform in a young mischevious filly to a beautiful, well manered, bomb-proof mare. I worked on many things with Dandy that I hardly remember... collection, gaits and speed, trust and confidence.

Yes, Dandy will go through right about anything if I say it's ok... even if all the other horses are scrambling and refusing to put a foot near whatever is spooky, I can usually walk right by the spooking horses and step right on the spooky thing and she never bats an eye.

She wasn't like that when I started her, but a lot of work and praise paid off. I've put up a good number of fights with Dandy, some lasted almost an hour, some others, minutes, but I vowed to ALWAYS win those fights, even if I had to spend the day, even if I was tired, sweaty, sore, hungry and even if I really wanted to go home.

Now I have another unhandled horse in training... Misty. She is 3 years old, which is a year older than when I bought Dandy as a two year old. She is unhandled (like Dandy), but socialized (like Dandy) and I believe she's had some kind of training that went bad, but I couldn't be sure (like Dandy)... So I'm stuck with this horse that has probably been mentally abused or broken... I need to fix this the first. When I got Dandy, I spent countless hours just petting and being with her. Dandy had no manners and tried to kick your head off everytime you entered her pasture. At least, Misty doesn't do that, but she has been thought to pull back on anyone trying to lead her, this must've worked for her. I've been able to break that habit and now, she leads like an old mare... litterally, she is like a 34 year old mare... she walks slow, nothing phases her... I thought she would have more go than that, oh well!

When I got Misty, I couldn't even stand near her shoulder, she'd move and put me right in front of her, she was way more comfortable if there was a fence between us and wouldn't allow me to pass behind her no matter how far I was. I would touch her and she would cringe. Now, I can touch her anywhere, stand on either side or right behind her without any problem. Fences are no longer a shield and I can grab all 4 legs (Kudos again to my sister for being brave enough to pick up the back feet)... in all honnesty, the back feet were less dramatic than the front... it's just my comfort level vis-a-vis à back leg. Misty even gave us a little hard time by not wanting to pick up her feet... but I have my share of tricks for that and she learned that it was more comfortable to pick up her feet than to leave me hanging. I even trimmed her feet, all of them!

All of this to say that after 20 years on and around horses, they still impress me to the highest level. Their intelligence, their connection to all living things, the way they can understand and learn or teach us a few things... I keep being amazed everytime I train a new horse. Misty is the 5th horse that I will exclusively train and I can still stare in awe at them!

I believe that horses have a greater connection to humans than the one humans share among themselves. The way they can understand without us even having to talk or act, the way simple energy will either make or break a horse, their expression... I've always felt a strong connection with horses and for some reason, I've always wanted to be on one even if my immediate family didn't have and never had horses. I fell in love from the moment I saw them. They certainly make you much more self-aware and conscient about energy, weight distribution, balance... you know the primal things in life that seemed to have disappeared with technology.

When I was three years old, I took my first pony ride. I remember what was going on in my head... I just couldn't get over the fact that we could train animals to carry us, let alone such beautiful and majestic animals. I couldn't get enough of the leather scent, I was hooked on horses and I was only three years old. From then on, I kept bugging my parents to buy me a horse (or pony), I watched every show jumping, rodeo, parade, etc. on TV just to watch the horses. I could've watched the same thing 50 times and I would still want to see it, just to see the horse move, the mane flowing in the wind.

At five, I had a friend that had a horse (I didn't know she had a horse when I met her). So I started riding, supervised by her mother, we had to wear a helmet (those old black felt covered things that didn't have a chin strap... really it was useless!) and proper attire and we learned to ride from there. I had my share of falls but it never discouraged me out of horses. After about 15 years in horses, I started working with them and training. I am not an accredited trainer, but I've been around them long enough to know how they work and so far, my method is just as good as John Lyons... When we finally got Internet, I read about him and found a lot of similarities between his techniques and mine... there are only a few basic things that you need to understand to effectively gain your horse's trust and willingness to work.

1­. Never loose a fight.

2. Release of pressure is the reward (pressure can be energy from your body or physical pressure, like on a lead rope).

3. Never be affraid of your horse, if you show him weakness he will take it upon himself to lead the group (you) and the weak (you).

4. Be gentle and remember to give time to your horse to answer what you are asking of him.

5. Always reward, never punish (I only punish if I know a horse has bit or kicked me on purpose (i.e.: not trying to get rid of a fly or whatever)). If a horse hurts me, I take it upon myself to hurt him, at least minimally, back. Remember that they can kill you with a strike of a hoof. Be severe about what you allow them to do around you. Before I completely trust a horse, I do not let him put his head on me, unless I ask and it is usually for a very short period. After I completely trust them, I will put their head on my shoulder or let them press their heads on my stomach for as long as they like.

I believe that those tips are the secret to success with your horse. The training techniques only come after you have established that trust and companionship.

So tell me about what amazes you or has amazed you about your first or current horses.

Progress!

I have a progress report!

Misty got her mane untangled and brushed this weekend. She still walks on a lead line very well... she does challenge a bit, but doesn't pull back as hard as she used to, she only tests wether or not you will hold your ground. As soon as she sees that you will, she happily gives in and walks quietly.

I have started to touch her pretty much all over... so my hands can go on her face, neck, ears, withers, shoulder, arm pit, front legs down to her hooves, back and croup. The only place she is very uncomfortable with is her belly and udder / inner thighs. She kicks out, she doesn't kick at anyone, but just out. I have also pushed the enveloppe and picked up both her front feet for about 10 seconds each. She didn't pull so much and I held the foot easily until she settled and stopped pulling on it, then I set it down and scratched her ears. I picked them up again and the next day for about the same amount of time. I have not yet gone close to her hind feet to be honnest, I am very affraid of the result... so I will use another method... probably hobbles to get her used to the feel and to let her know that she can't kick like that all the time.

The impression I get is that she was visited over the fence all the time, so her face got petted and handled a lot, but not the rest of her body. When I first got her, you couldn't stand facing her shoulder, it made her uncomfortable and she moved away, now, she is only uneasy with me standing directly behind her. Next step is trimming her front feet... this time, I will take before pictures and after pictures!!!! Her hooves look tiny to me, we'll see what the end result is... I think she is halter bred, given her massive muscle mass and tiny feet. I will try to get her feet to widden up a bit, but there is only so much wider that these hooves can get. I will be taking new pictures, including her feet on all angles (top, bottom, underside, etc.). She will have plenty of time to get used to her new feet before her first ride. She has stunning gaits and they will probably improve with trimming.

So that's the news on Misty!

We have a brand new calf on the ground. He's a male and a butterscotch colour. I didn't have time to take pictures, but I will as soon as I get a chance. I will also take new pictures of the whole crew (horses and cattle)... Dandy is pretty well all shed out.

I'm alive!

Don't worry, I'm still alive!

I started a new job and I didn't have access to a computer for a while!

All horses are doing well, they are mischevious, as always. They have been put into a new grass pasture fenced by only an electric tape... they have broken out of there twice so they are back in their regular pasture since I don't really feel like being stressed over that all day, while I'm at work, 2 hours away... They broke out because of Dandy. She can't see very well and she constantly gets chased by the old girls, then runs in the tape and jumps over it. For a blind-ish horse, she is quite the escape artist! Then we went on a ride Friday night my SO and I, I took Dandy and he took Peg, his usual horse. We went out and enjoyed our ride... but when we came back, Pearl wanted to follow and she ran into the tape, and broke it!!! Now everyone was running free... since the tape was broke, we couldn't really shut the gate!

We rounded them up and put them back inside, where they belong. Fixed the fence and everything was great. Until last night, we had just left the farm and Dandy started running and went through the fence, she didn't break it, but she got outside (I don't know exactly how since I wasn't there). My SO's family tried to put her back in, but left the gate open, or probably didn't chase the horses from the gate when they opened it and all the horses got out... By the way, I was extremely mad at their stupidity, but what gives!?! They called my dad and he managed to get them in their old pasture, the one that is fenced with page wire. I was very happy, that's is where I would've put them. There is no point having them break loose every day!

So tonight, we will fix them up better so that they have access to the shelter, which was blocked off for some reason when we put them out in the new pasture.

I pulled Peg's shoes and trimmed her feet, Her walls have gotten MUCH thicker, that is a great thing since they were paper thin when I shod her. I trimmed her in a pasture trim with a toe rocker and she seems very comfortable. We went on our ride without her shoes and her feet held up great, no soreness, no lameness whatsoever! I was thrilled! Her feet aren't all deformed from the shoes, they actually took a better shape! I will put the shoes back on before the end of June, since we are participating in a parade on June 25, she will have her shoes to go on the concrete.

I also plan on shoeing Pearl with the same type of shoes. She will be ridden a lot this summer and I want her to be comfy! Their hooves have made good improvements since they are with us and I am glad that they are finaly comfortable enough to go on a short trail ride without being sore after.

I am planning to take more pictures soon. Misty is doing well with her training, she is now able to lead like a pro and I will be working on her feet very soon, I am up to touching below her knee on her front legs and her butt on her back legs (I work way slower with the back!!! :S). I will probably be working on picking up her feet very soon... I can't wait to see what they look like on the bottom. I also need a new pair of nippers, because my old ones are giving quite the run for my money and they are getting very dull, even after one sharpening, I don't think it is worth it to sharpen them again. I had Diamond nippers and I will be switching to Mustad for the next pair, I hear they are hard to beat so I'll give them a try.

That's pretty much all the news for now.

More training

This weekend has been super busy for me. We just completed disking, harrowing, fertilizing and seeding one of our big fields. If all goes according to plan, we will have very high quality hay to harvest next year in that field.

It was a hot dry weekend and dust was flying everywhere. I spent countless hours outside (I think I averaged 13 hours per day out of the house) and got one big sunburn. You can put sunscreen all you want but with the sweat, dust and elongated periods spent in the harsh sun, it wears off... and being that I never returned home, I never reapplied. I'm surprised the dust coat that was on me didn't prevent sunburns!!! Anyways, we're done with that field! I'm so happy!

I've managed to squeeze a trail ride (probably under 1 hour) on Sunday late afternoon. I will post that story tommorow!

Sunday around noon, we undertook our second training session with Misty. This time, I've completely isolated her from the other horses, she couldn't see them at all, but could hear them and probably smell them, which caused a bit of a problem at some point. She did great. I have taken her halter off permanently since I have no problem getting close to her at all and it was causing chaffing on her face. I was a bit nervous about putting her halter on, but she proved me dead wrong by standing very quietly, even when I was having trouble getting the darn thing over her head. We hooked a lead rope on and started.

At first, she wasn't sure what was up, but you could tell that she remembered her first lesson. She reared once without nearly as much strenght as her first session and bolted about 5 times before she understood that we had control of her head and that she couldn't get away. Then she started to comply and give to pressure. She is VERY light, practically no pressure is needed at all. I had to get after her twice, once for an attempt to bite my arm (the arm that was leading her) and the second because she crowed me. The rest of the way, there was no need at all for correction. She lead circles, turned both sides, stopped when I stopped and never attempted to bolt again. Once she had a clue about leading, I proceeded to touch her, she is not fond of touching but I managed to touch her neck, withers, back, the upper front legs and a bit of the croup as well as lower on her sides. She moved away twice but I kept with her and she realized that I wasn't there to hurt her.

She is super friendly and loves to have her face petted, but not her body. I believe that the people who had her before only petted her face from over a fence, because she is much more relaxed from accross a fence and tenses up a bit when it isn't between us. Other than that, she comes to meet us, likes attention and is very willing to learn new things. She is getting to be more comfortable around us and she should be very easy to train. Next session is revisiting leading correctly and maybe getting to touch and pick up her front feet, but it will take patience and time. For now, she is not totally comfy with me touching her above the knee, so we'll take as much time as it takes to get there. With enough practice, she'll get used to it and it won't bother her as much once she knows that I will always give her foot back. Plus, I can't wait to trim those nasty hooves! I might be over-dramatic, but it really gets on my nerves to see a horse with long hooves, especially mine!!! I can't stand it! Fortunately, we are not riding her and working her hard, so length can do for now... if she was trained to pick up her feet those would've been done a long time ago!

What is wrong with Mother Nature!?!?

Since I bought Misty a few weeks ago, I had plans to have her leading and picking up her feet by now... Was I ever wrong! Mother Nature always has that habit of breaking every one of my plans!

Since I've had Misty, I spent a lot of time with her in the pasture, she is now a friendly little puppy that follows me everywhere... and I must admit that it's annoying somethimes!

I've worked once with her, changed her halter from a rope to a nylon until she can be caught and haltered easily. Put a rope once on her and all hell broke loose until she finaly understood some basic prehistoric stuff and I let her go, since she responded good.

Since then it's been raining constantly during my weekends, we've had snow and torturing winds last weekend that froze you in your tracks! No intention of going outside, although I had to go for the routine stuff, but I had no interest in playing with horses... my only interest was in a warm bath (Hot!) and a big fluffy blanket. It was SO cold! I wonder how we keep spending winter without freezing to death!?!

Since we've had temps over the 20s Celsius lately, I had put all of my big bulky clothes away, so guess what, I was absolutely frozen after spending 10 minutes out in that wind!

So we are starting all over in our training plan. This weekend is supposed to be nice, so I plan on spending at least half a day training and I absolutely want to go for a ride, I haven't ridden until the beginning of the month and I am undergoing a sort of riding withdrawal... therefore, if I don't ride this weekend, I will throw a fit and probably cry a little.

I have finally found it in me to ride Pearl again. I was her first ride ever and she had to cope with me and I had to cope with her. It was one of the worst rides on a horse I have ever had. She was nervous, mini-rearing everytime we stopped and was hard to steer. At least I found out what she was all about. I sat on Pearl once after that (about 6 months after our first ride) and she was good. Why did I dismount??? Because my mom, who had been taking lessons with Dandy was supposed to come for a little trail ride with me. So I gave her Dandy because she is very calm and takes care of my mom and I was going to take Pearl. So I helped my mom up on Dandy and climbed aboard Pearl, which stood stock still for once! My mom was getting nervous, despite Dandy being as cool as can be. She decided that she wanted off, so I dismounted Pearl and attended her and Dandy.

Now that I know how Pearl is (a big faker!) I can totally handle her mood swings. Pearl likes to intimidate her rider and she is very good at it. Now, she has learned not to rear, but she fakes it by sitting her butt down and extending her front legs as much as possible. For the rider, this feels exactly like a rear, but she has all four legs (sometimes 3) on the ground! I know... she's good! This is probably a thought behaviour. This is pretty much all she does, except she is hard to steer a bit and can't stand still when she doesn't feel like it. I got all of it mapped out, I know she'll want to act out, but she certainly isn't out of control. I plan on riding her briefly this weekend, if the stars align! I'll let you know how that goes.

Peg is doing terrific, she still has her shoes and they are working GREAT! Her gait has improved dramatically, which as permitted the shoes to stay on, no adjustments needed in over 3 weeks! Her hooves grow very slowly so the shoes don't need to be reset yet, but I always keep a close eye on them and check them every time I go out to see the horses. her foot is starting to reshape nicely and she is not lame at all! I am tickled! Try Easywalker horseshoes if you want a good performance shoe that is not made of steel, absorbs most of the shock and is safe on pavement, ciment, grass, etc. It is simply great!

Plans for the weekend

I don't really know what I'll do this weekend. I would really like to take Dandy for a ride and I would really like to start Misty (the new gal) on her lead training. You'll say... well, work Dandy on Saturday and train on Sunday. But they are calling for rain pretty much all weekend. Last time I checked, there was a slight chance that it'd be sunny on Saturday. I don't want to over train Misty, but I don't know how long it'll take before she understands the pressure thing.

I might have time to slip in a ride too... we'll have to wait and see. I also want to take pictures of the new girl and the calf and all the horses and cows, since I usually take pictures every month and that my last ones date from winter. I also have Dandy's back feet to trim, but they are maintaining good shape, so I'm in no hurry. While I trim them, I might as well touch up the fronts.

Misty would also have to get trimmed, but she is in no state of mind to do so... I might as well go stand in traffic and hope not to get hit... my chances of survival would be pretty near the same.

Her feet aren't cracked and seem tolerable for her, she has nice movement and a trot to die for! I will try to take video of her moving as well.

I hope it won't rain. We also have a ton of things to do on our fields and to maintain the farm in general. I'll try to split the tasks between my SO and I, so I can have time to work the horses and he can work on the fields. Oh yeah, and Peg's shoes need to be pulled... well, I think, they were in very good shape last week so I decided to leave them on. I hope she remains sound without them. She has one bad leg, the other one has changed dramatically since the shoes are on. I will check her feet regularly when the shoes are pulled.

I can't wait until most of the work to seed our fields is done... but then it's going to be hay cuttin' time and baling... we might get some weekends off in between... I want to break the filly to saddle and get as much work done on her before winter... and she'll probably get a few rides in winter too! I hope all that training goes well... I was never worried like that for any other horses that I've trained or worked with... she's aggressive!

We'll start with one thing, and that's the lead rope, then I want to touch her all over, probably with the aid of a stick or whip to extend my arm as to not get kicked. Why did I get myself an unbroke filly!?!?!?!??! The price was right and it's a really well bred and nice horse, but is it worth it?!? I'll have to tell you in a few months...

New Baby!

We have a brand new white calf at the farm! Nabisco finally gave birth last night. We don't know yet if it's a boy or a girl, we haven't been able to get close enough and I don't want to get hit by those horns! We'll probably handle the new baby more this weekend to tag and check him. I hope it's a heifer!

I am happy that it is white because here, in Ontario and Quebec, Canada, white cows or bulls are worth much much more than red, brown or black cattle. I can't explain why exactly, but it's just the way it is. When we bought our steer for butchering purposes... we paid much more for the beige / white one than for the red one and they only had about 100 lbs difference in weight, but we paid about 0.10 $ a pound less for the red! Plus the white one turned out to be the nastiest, most aggressive thing on four legs! I've seen calmer bulls!

If it's a heifer, we'll keep her and she can give us more white babies down the line. If it's a bull, we'll castrate him and probably keep him for meat. It's the whole life of a cow, but home raised beef is probably the best thing ever! You know what they eat, what they have eaten, if they were sick and how you finished them before sending them for meat.

It's a buy/sell business. I think all farmers love their cows (except for the few bad seeds, just like in the horse world), I haven't seen one farmer not care for a cow that was in difficulty or sick. We go out of our way to help them and treat them as best we can. I really love my cows and Nabisco is my favorite, she was my first one, is of really good lineage and is friendly, she'll eat out of your hand! I don't know how she is when she has a new baby at her side, but we'll see. I love them and often bring them a pale of oats and grain as a treat.

I will post pictures of the new baby soon too! I'll have to spend a whole day taking pictures!!! LOL! We have limestone to spread on our fields this weekend, but I'll try to escape from it to take pictures of all these new arrivals.

I hope the mare won't be too much to handle, but I plan on having help around when I'll put that lead on her halter. I'll have someone with the lunge whip to correct her when she shoots backwards. I am not yet sure how I'm going to go about it. I am not taking any crap from her as is but she is now keeping her distance and getting even more b**chy as we go along.

What I think happened with her is that, as a foal, her owners tryed to halter break her, halter went on ok, then the lead came in and all hell broke loose. I'm thinking she kept pulling back and they kept giving her back her head, then they just gave up on her and parked her in a field. The only thing she knows is to pull as hard as she can against pressure. But she is 3 now and much bigger, so this will be somewhat of a challenge. I will not take rearing, bolting, kicking or shooting backwards. She will get a smack on the butt for shooting backwards until she can understand that walking with me is a good thing and much less hard. I will not take crap and I really need to step it up... except that I don't want to scare her so bad and lose the little trust I have... but I will not be able to build trust until I can work with her... get it... it's a vicious circle! I certainly have my work cut out for me and I might need advice, but the only thing I am aiming for is to get her walking forward with me without pulling back or rearing up... I think I'll need to get tough with this one and I only got tough briefly when training Dandy at first, when she was kicking... it's not my thing, but I tried being gentle, calm, focussed, patient and nothing worked!

I think I'll need as much advice as I can get! This reminds me of Mugwump's Cupcake story... I might ask her for advice... the situation is pretty similar, except that I don't think that my new girl is mad, just scared and confused. I need to make it clear to her that she needs to follow me; I just don't know how to go about since she is so explosive!

The first ride!

Peg is gaining weight, her feet were done a few weeks ago, she looks sound and ready.... I will try her out for the first time since she came to our farm. I had tried her before I bought her, but she was thin and I felt extremely bad, so I only did a circle, a figure eight and a back at a very slow walk and got off!!! I didn't want to make her work. It took longer to saddle her!

So, I get my saddle and pad ready, her bridle and brushes. She is standing cross-tied in the barn, I've brushed her before, so that is no big deal, I know she has good manners on the ground. I brush her, clean and check her hooves. Put the pad on, no reaction, put the saddle on, no reaction... she is a bit girthy and probably always will be no matter how carefull I am. She pricks her ears at me, she doesn't like the grith, she kicks at it with her hind legs. I quickly correct her, I don't want any of my horses to use their back legs as a defense mechanism even if it's not against me, I was standing close enough. I don't over correct them, just a slap on the thigh of the leg she kicked with and a mean "NOOO!". She understood and quit. She took the bridle like a champ, for Peg, I use a plain "O" ring snaffle and she seems to be very comfortable with it. I lead her out of the barn to mount.... keep in mind that she is somewhere near the 16.2-16.3 hh mark and she won't stand for me to mount, after many tries (I always try to get on their back by myself, unless they are REALLY nervous and jigging around), I ask my sister to hold her while I try to mount... I'm 5'8'', but not super thin, plus, I've never had a horse this tall, I'm really stretching to get my foot in that stirrup! I finally get on her back and as soon as my butt is in that saddle, she's off! I can't stop her, she only goes and goes. I manage to get a bit of control over her and towards the middle of our ride she is doing better... but she can't stop for more than a half second. Since I've had many horse related accidents (nothing really bad), I don't feel safe getting her in a quicker pace.

I ride for a bit and my boyfriend wants to try her out. He gets on and is doing great! He needs a bit of tunning, but he is not pulling in her mouth and he's being quiet. Of course, Peg does not understand leg cues so well, but she manages to catch on quickly. She is light on the bit, except for stopping. As soon as you put a leg on her, she jumps... she is nervous, she is sweating profusely. I had also saddled Dandy, my reliable mount (she's was 3 at the time!) to keep Peg good company. We also had to get Pearl out of the paddock because she would've jumped the fence... she's still in foal at that point so we took her in the alfalfa field to change her mind! She was still thin, so green alfalfa couldn't hurt. She grazed in it for about 15 minutes.

My sister and I were now riding, she was on Peg and I was on Dandy, we rode around the alfalffa field and my sister tried her other speed... at that point, she only knew how to walk and pace, so she paced a bit around the field, by that time, she was soaking with sweat and was in a lather. She's so out of shape... our little outing lasted about 30 to 45 minutes and she was drenched, Dandy didn't even break a sweat and I made her trot around much more! We will work on Peg's fitness and training during the whole summer.

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!

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.