Hi y'all.
Well, it's been a wild ride this year. Sold our broodmare to some friends of ours that fell in love with her; bought a mare for the same friends (and one for us!); made up our first 6-horse-hitch this year (at times THAT wasn't pretty!); and just bought an old mare that reminds us of another horse we once had.
Yep, another horse we really don't need.
Oh, well.
Our Jill horse.....the horse that hates everybody....except Bill the gelding...has surprised us. Maybe she's getting mellow as she ages. Poor Bill came up lame at the Fairs this year. As both the Rock of our multiple hitches and the mate for Jill, this was indeed a hard blow to us. Star and Princess (who we bought this Spring) are the lead team, since they are just awesome to watch. So we thought to put K and Queen together. And we found out that K as grown up to be pretty close to 18hh, to Queen's 17.1. On a lark, we put Jill and K together, expecting an explosion of some kind. And they worked. In fact, K pulled her weight, instead of sandbagging and being lazy. Of course, that might be because Jill can have a real hissy-fit when her partner doesn't hold their end up (just ask Bill!). Now Jill and K are the wheel team. That left Queen in the middle by herself, but our friends who bought Sheena wanted her used. Sheena is the same size as Queen, so it worked. Our first 6-up did reasonably well. The second time we showed it.....well, there was just a lot going on.
Star and Princess had been in a wreck the day before. They had been in the "Tandem" class; a class where one horse is in a cart and the other is ahead of it in single file. Apparently (according to witnesses), while they were waiting for the rest of the class to enter, Star (the lead horse) get hit by some rocks thrown by some kids. Now the kids didn't mean to hit the horse; they were throwing them at a mailbox that is placed high up along the fence for another program at fair. But even though they hit her several times and she jumped, they didn't quit, either. When she was hit the last time, she just started backing up, then turned 180 degrees. Now, once that happens, you have one going north and one going south and it is not good no matter what. Star boogied and Princess couldn't back up fast enough and everything eventually went down, with Princess literally falling over the cart. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending how you look at it)it was so muddy that the ground was soft. Ultimately both horses went down, the cart went on it's side, and the horses ended up tangled in each other's harnesses. It was ugly.
Fortunately we had a lot of horse people hanging around (most of the drivers in the rest of the class were busy with their OWN rigs), even though most of THEM were not particularly draft horse people.
Two people jumped on the horse's heads. For those of you who do not know, this is one of the best ways to calm a trapped horse. Kinda like the squeeze chutes for cattle and sheep. The horses stopped thrashing around, and people came to help get them untangled. It took awhile, but when all was said and done, the harness was off, the cart uprighted, and horses lead from the ring. A few scrapes on horses, one harness piece was cut (but easily replaced) and the holdback lost a snap.
The dramatic wreck, described as one of the worst wrecks the judge had ever seen (oh,yeah, he was on one of the horse's heads)ended up with both horses fine, the cart in one piece and a really, really, REALLY dirty harness. Thank goodness for BioThane. Considering that I have seen a few tandem wrecks in which the horse in the cart was actually impaled by a broken shaft.....I consider us very blessed.
Neither horse seemed worse for wear. I took them into a ladies' team class and they were a bit nervous but performed like troopers.
Queen, however was all out of sorts. She did not get used much, and I think, in some ways, she was not happy about everyone else getting to go out. Queen is a work-horse in the true sense of the word. She actually LIKES to be hitched. But, we found out, not by herself. We had intended to use her in a cart class, but she was so wound up, she started bucking and kicking, so she was pulled. By the 6-up, she STILL wasn't happy, so the great swing (middle) team we had the first time was not so great the second.
Live and learn.
But then, that's what horse ownership is all about!
Showing posts with label horse handling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label horse handling. Show all posts
Friday, November 18, 2011
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Beginning 2011
Spring has joined us for a few days.....in the 50's, and the snow is melting.
Which makes mud.
Which makes everything filthy and slippery.
Including what the horses are walking on.
I'm not sure which is worse.....the cold and snow.....or mud.
Mud clings to everything, especially horse's feet and legs. Mud's more slippery than snow making slips and strains easier. Or it will hang onto one foot while the rest go sliding. It clings to the pasterns and legs, allowing for "scratches" and other nasty skin problems. Guess you could say I'm not a big fan of mud.
2010 was, in many ways, not such a good year. But, in other ways, good things DID happen. Horses we sold went to happy homes....and I always like that.
Lilly did not break (bummer).
Athena twisted a gut (devastating bummer).
And we've been treating Star for a fat leg.
Star was not bought to be a halter horse....she was bought because she can MOVE!
She has an old injury on her left hind leg, which looks like a wire cut but no one is really sure what cut her. It was not treated early enough, and so her hock always looks "fat". On Christmas Eve, our friend Caren was kind enough to feed the horses for us so we could make a trip into Michigan to see Roy's family. SHE is the one who noticed that her leg looked fat. She called us to let us know. Naturally, we checked her when we got home, but, it really didn't look much worse than normal.
Ho, ho, ho.
I worked Christmas and the day after, and hubby told me her leg was not looking good, she was not a happy camper and did not go to demolish her grain.
Rule No. 1 at our place.....if the horse won't eat.....CALL THE VET.
Temperature check was 102. Time for SMZ's and Bute.
Monday, he went to work and I came home. When I checked on Star, I was stunned.
IT WAS A TREE TRUNK! Vet came out that afternoon....well really close to noon. (I have GREAT vets and he snuck me in before going on the rest of the afternoon's calls.)
Temp down.....leg down (I had let her out earlier and she had been bouncing around in the snow).
But I learned something. After he checked her over, and finding nothing specific (we had checked her over for any new wounds, naturally), he said he felt it was due to the old injury. He said that sometimes the lymphatic system can get "clogged" at the old injury site, and things will back up. There does not seem to be a rhyme or reason for it, it just will. He gave her a shot of Banamine to help drop the swelling, and we've been continuing on with the Bute and SMZ's....antibiotic is a "just in case we missed something" thing.
She's pretty much back to her normal self, although the leg is still a bit puffy.
She doesn't like taking the dose of SMZ (Carrots help that) and she really is not a fan of powdered Bute in her grain. That kind of surprises me, because the powdered Bute has a taste of apples in it, while the tablets taste like....well, chewing aspirin.
But it's a New Year....with New Hopes.
Here's to it.
Which makes mud.
Which makes everything filthy and slippery.
Including what the horses are walking on.
I'm not sure which is worse.....the cold and snow.....or mud.
Mud clings to everything, especially horse's feet and legs. Mud's more slippery than snow making slips and strains easier. Or it will hang onto one foot while the rest go sliding. It clings to the pasterns and legs, allowing for "scratches" and other nasty skin problems. Guess you could say I'm not a big fan of mud.
2010 was, in many ways, not such a good year. But, in other ways, good things DID happen. Horses we sold went to happy homes....and I always like that.
Lilly did not break (bummer).
Athena twisted a gut (devastating bummer).
And we've been treating Star for a fat leg.
Star was not bought to be a halter horse....she was bought because she can MOVE!
She has an old injury on her left hind leg, which looks like a wire cut but no one is really sure what cut her. It was not treated early enough, and so her hock always looks "fat". On Christmas Eve, our friend Caren was kind enough to feed the horses for us so we could make a trip into Michigan to see Roy's family. SHE is the one who noticed that her leg looked fat. She called us to let us know. Naturally, we checked her when we got home, but, it really didn't look much worse than normal.
Ho, ho, ho.
I worked Christmas and the day after, and hubby told me her leg was not looking good, she was not a happy camper and did not go to demolish her grain.
Rule No. 1 at our place.....if the horse won't eat.....CALL THE VET.
Temperature check was 102. Time for SMZ's and Bute.
Monday, he went to work and I came home. When I checked on Star, I was stunned.
IT WAS A TREE TRUNK! Vet came out that afternoon....well really close to noon. (I have GREAT vets and he snuck me in before going on the rest of the afternoon's calls.)
Temp down.....leg down (I had let her out earlier and she had been bouncing around in the snow).
But I learned something. After he checked her over, and finding nothing specific (we had checked her over for any new wounds, naturally), he said he felt it was due to the old injury. He said that sometimes the lymphatic system can get "clogged" at the old injury site, and things will back up. There does not seem to be a rhyme or reason for it, it just will. He gave her a shot of Banamine to help drop the swelling, and we've been continuing on with the Bute and SMZ's....antibiotic is a "just in case we missed something" thing.
She's pretty much back to her normal self, although the leg is still a bit puffy.
She doesn't like taking the dose of SMZ (Carrots help that) and she really is not a fan of powdered Bute in her grain. That kind of surprises me, because the powdered Bute has a taste of apples in it, while the tablets taste like....well, chewing aspirin.
But it's a New Year....with New Hopes.
Here's to it.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Fairs are finally over!
Fairs are finally over!! And while I'm still cleaning things and packing them up for next year, I decided to take a break (big sigh) and try to start blogging again.
We did very well this year. While it was not the smoothest or easiest Fair we've been to, Geauga made us "right proud", with bragging rights. Star was the star of the show.....the judges definitely liked her. Star has several issues.....and one of the judges actually commented on how she is such an awesome mare with a few screws loose. And even though she is no longer considered a "halter" mare, since she has a thick area just below her hock from a wire(s) cut she got long before we got her....she managed to become the Reserve Grand Champion mare. Star is a well-bred, well put together mare who should place high, but many judges will not look at a horse that has an injury since it's sometimes hard to tell if it truly is an "injury" or an unsoundness. She won her age class, and was "beat" by a 3yo who is also truly awesome. She won her cart class, then a few classes later went out and won the Champion class, a class with all of the winning cart horses.....from Men's Mare, Ladies Mare, Men's Gelding and Ladies Gelding classes. Geauga is a big draft horse fair.....usually has about 200+ drafts horses and another 50 or 60 Halflinger draft ponies. We generally get judges who judge at the State Fair and National Show level, and almost all of them are pleasantly surprised at the quality of horses at Geauga County Fair. Many of the exhibitors showed or still show at the State Fair/National levels. So it is not an easy task to win a class, let alone a Championship!
I was very proud of Jill. I wrote about her melt-down and was truly concerned about using her, especially since she was in the bulk of our hitches. Several times I thought she was going to blow, but she always seemed to think better of it. Of course we were listening real good, and stepped in real quick when she started to do her dance. As long as Bill stood beside her, she seemed to be able to stay in control. Not so our cart class. We did very nicely as long as we were moving....it was the standing that she just did not care for. The class was so big, it was split, so we had to stand twice. She reared in the cart several times, and I had to walk her around and back into line to stand. She started to get the message a bit better by the end of the second round. Imagine my surprise when my number was called to return for the final round. She placed a respectable 4th out of 16....which makes me wonder what she would have placed had she stood still. Ladies horses are supposed to be easily handled.
Rearing in a cart is a frightening experience....there is no where to escape to. But watching her, I realized that she wasn't rearing in fear, fighting to get away.....she was not rearing high enough to get off balance. She was just having a temper tantrum. Similar to a melt-down but not as severe. No one got hurt or was in any danger. So we made it a lesson.....never expecting to place.
Our unicorn hitch turned out very nice.....Bill and Jill on the wheel and Star (of course) out front. Star still doesn't quite "get it".....that she's supposed to be out there by herself.....but she was right out there like she knew exactly how and what she was supposed to be doing. Well, at least while they're moving......she doesn't get the backing up part yet. But then, we've only done this a few practice times, so we were very pleased to get a 2nd (out of 8) in that class!! We have some awesome pics of the three of them in step and a real cute one of them all looking at something off to the side. Those will be in upcoming issues of the Percheron News this Winter and Spring.
Well, break time is over.....time to continue on.........
We did very well this year. While it was not the smoothest or easiest Fair we've been to, Geauga made us "right proud", with bragging rights. Star was the star of the show.....the judges definitely liked her. Star has several issues.....and one of the judges actually commented on how she is such an awesome mare with a few screws loose. And even though she is no longer considered a "halter" mare, since she has a thick area just below her hock from a wire(s) cut she got long before we got her....she managed to become the Reserve Grand Champion mare. Star is a well-bred, well put together mare who should place high, but many judges will not look at a horse that has an injury since it's sometimes hard to tell if it truly is an "injury" or an unsoundness. She won her age class, and was "beat" by a 3yo who is also truly awesome. She won her cart class, then a few classes later went out and won the Champion class, a class with all of the winning cart horses.....from Men's Mare, Ladies Mare, Men's Gelding and Ladies Gelding classes. Geauga is a big draft horse fair.....usually has about 200+ drafts horses and another 50 or 60 Halflinger draft ponies. We generally get judges who judge at the State Fair and National Show level, and almost all of them are pleasantly surprised at the quality of horses at Geauga County Fair. Many of the exhibitors showed or still show at the State Fair/National levels. So it is not an easy task to win a class, let alone a Championship!
I was very proud of Jill. I wrote about her melt-down and was truly concerned about using her, especially since she was in the bulk of our hitches. Several times I thought she was going to blow, but she always seemed to think better of it. Of course we were listening real good, and stepped in real quick when she started to do her dance. As long as Bill stood beside her, she seemed to be able to stay in control. Not so our cart class. We did very nicely as long as we were moving....it was the standing that she just did not care for. The class was so big, it was split, so we had to stand twice. She reared in the cart several times, and I had to walk her around and back into line to stand. She started to get the message a bit better by the end of the second round. Imagine my surprise when my number was called to return for the final round. She placed a respectable 4th out of 16....which makes me wonder what she would have placed had she stood still. Ladies horses are supposed to be easily handled.
Rearing in a cart is a frightening experience....there is no where to escape to. But watching her, I realized that she wasn't rearing in fear, fighting to get away.....she was not rearing high enough to get off balance. She was just having a temper tantrum. Similar to a melt-down but not as severe. No one got hurt or was in any danger. So we made it a lesson.....never expecting to place.
Our unicorn hitch turned out very nice.....Bill and Jill on the wheel and Star (of course) out front. Star still doesn't quite "get it".....that she's supposed to be out there by herself.....but she was right out there like she knew exactly how and what she was supposed to be doing. Well, at least while they're moving......she doesn't get the backing up part yet. But then, we've only done this a few practice times, so we were very pleased to get a 2nd (out of 8) in that class!! We have some awesome pics of the three of them in step and a real cute one of them all looking at something off to the side. Those will be in upcoming issues of the Percheron News this Winter and Spring.
Well, break time is over.....time to continue on.........
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Stallion Behavior, Part 2
"He's supposed to act that way. He's a stallion!"
AAAARRRGGGGHHHH!!!!
Every time I hear that, I want to clock the speaker upside the head.
Wherever did we get the idea that stallions are supposed to be uncontrollable, overly aggressive and otherwise bad mannered?
Well, after watching people who probably shouldn't have had a stallion in the first place, it becomes real obvious that many human males seem to think that having an aggressive stallion under their control makes them look just too cool .....that people will look up to them. And you might, at first.....until you realize that they are scared to death of the monster they have created.
Some people say its the testosterone. Well, yeah, testosterone does make them more aggressive, just as estrogen makes mares moody. But it's not just the hormones.....it's the way we humans treat them. A horse....any horse.....just wants to be a horse. If it has its "druthers", it would rather be out in a huge pasture of lush grass and just eat. And maybe procreate. After all, any creature with testosterone usually only has one thing on his mind.
But, he can learn. For all Mac's wild entertaining in the halter show ring, he was a first-class gentleman in harness. In fact, we could hitch him with a mare. And, Mac made many children friends at fairs, always bringing his head down for them to pet. Friends of ours had a stallion that they bred their mares to and then used all of them in their hitches. Ben was a lead horse, all the way, and when in harness, he was all business.
So what makes some stallions "different"? Horse handling. Well mannered stallions are expected, first of all, to be horses.....not some special kind of creature we are all supposed to ooooooh and aaaaaaaah about. They want the same consideration as the mares and geldings. I've known a lot of stallions that basically lived their lives in over-sized stalls.....only coming out to breed. It's amazing what daily turn-out can do for a stallions behavior and his outlook. And, if you think about it.....if you're just coming out to breed, well, every time a leadshank is attached, he's ready to go breed something. It's exciting for him....it's the highlight of his day. Finally! Something other than four walls!!! Of course he's going to be stupid!
Stallions are smart.....or at least they have a knack for getting into mischief. They need/want the discipline that goes with being handled. They want the guidance of another party to let them know what they are supposed to be doing.
Take a wild herd. We have all succumbed to the Disney Syndrome....where there is a fantasy idea about the stallion being the all-powerful, wonderful herd leader. Check out the herd. The stallion is only tolerated at best. He is only allowed into the herd if and when the mares "say" it's okay. It's not unusual for a mare to go out to him if the others don't want him around them. The Beta mare is the one who will "shoo" him out and make him stay out. It is the Alpha mare that is the leader.....a post that seems to be shared by the Maternal Mare, who is usually the last one in line. It is the Maternal Mare who "decides" if he's allowed in the herd, close by or kept away. (The Maternal is NOT the omega mare, although it often looks like she is. She has her own "job" to do and that is to keep the herd intact......that's not the stallion's job.) So how do I explain the "protectiveness" of the stallion. It's not so much protective as it is possessive. As in "these are MY mares and you can't have them."
We humans have a ton of beliefs about stallions. Somehow they are more noble than mares or geldings.....they have an "air" about them. And we let them get away with murder. Well, ok, maybe not murder, but you get the idea. A lot of people actually fear all that testosterone, and either allow the horse to run amok, or try to over-compensate by becoming brutal. I've watched people who I know fairly well and feel are very competent, suddenly become like brand new students afraid the horse will step on them when dealing with stallions.....I kid you not! And I've watched a trainer work with this stallion (that took 2 people to bring into the round pen) for 5 minutes and you could see that the horse was looking for that discipline to help him get himself under control. Because that's really what it is. If you leave a horse by himself a lot, he has no need to control himself. What he needs is someone to draw the line and let him know when he has crossed it. Surprise! This is no different than any other mare or gelding. We just seem to be more at ease with them, and more afraid of the response of that testosterone creature.
Stallions are no different from humans, in that respect. Put several 12-year-olds together with no supervision and see what happens. Ditto, 17-year-olds. Over discipline and you may have what appears to be a meek and scared boy, that will eventually turn on you. Under discipline and you get a bully.
The choice is yours......either your stallion becomes a gang member, or he becomes a respected, enjoyable partner.
AAAARRRGGGGHHHH!!!!
Every time I hear that, I want to clock the speaker upside the head.
Wherever did we get the idea that stallions are supposed to be uncontrollable, overly aggressive and otherwise bad mannered?
Well, after watching people who probably shouldn't have had a stallion in the first place, it becomes real obvious that many human males seem to think that having an aggressive stallion under their control makes them look just too cool .....that people will look up to them. And you might, at first.....until you realize that they are scared to death of the monster they have created.
Some people say its the testosterone. Well, yeah, testosterone does make them more aggressive, just as estrogen makes mares moody. But it's not just the hormones.....it's the way we humans treat them. A horse....any horse.....just wants to be a horse. If it has its "druthers", it would rather be out in a huge pasture of lush grass and just eat. And maybe procreate. After all, any creature with testosterone usually only has one thing on his mind.
But, he can learn. For all Mac's wild entertaining in the halter show ring, he was a first-class gentleman in harness. In fact, we could hitch him with a mare. And, Mac made many children friends at fairs, always bringing his head down for them to pet. Friends of ours had a stallion that they bred their mares to and then used all of them in their hitches. Ben was a lead horse, all the way, and when in harness, he was all business.
So what makes some stallions "different"? Horse handling. Well mannered stallions are expected, first of all, to be horses.....not some special kind of creature we are all supposed to ooooooh and aaaaaaaah about. They want the same consideration as the mares and geldings. I've known a lot of stallions that basically lived their lives in over-sized stalls.....only coming out to breed. It's amazing what daily turn-out can do for a stallions behavior and his outlook. And, if you think about it.....if you're just coming out to breed, well, every time a leadshank is attached, he's ready to go breed something. It's exciting for him....it's the highlight of his day. Finally! Something other than four walls!!! Of course he's going to be stupid!
Stallions are smart.....or at least they have a knack for getting into mischief. They need/want the discipline that goes with being handled. They want the guidance of another party to let them know what they are supposed to be doing.
Take a wild herd. We have all succumbed to the Disney Syndrome....where there is a fantasy idea about the stallion being the all-powerful, wonderful herd leader. Check out the herd. The stallion is only tolerated at best. He is only allowed into the herd if and when the mares "say" it's okay. It's not unusual for a mare to go out to him if the others don't want him around them. The Beta mare is the one who will "shoo" him out and make him stay out. It is the Alpha mare that is the leader.....a post that seems to be shared by the Maternal Mare, who is usually the last one in line. It is the Maternal Mare who "decides" if he's allowed in the herd, close by or kept away. (The Maternal is NOT the omega mare, although it often looks like she is. She has her own "job" to do and that is to keep the herd intact......that's not the stallion's job.) So how do I explain the "protectiveness" of the stallion. It's not so much protective as it is possessive. As in "these are MY mares and you can't have them."
We humans have a ton of beliefs about stallions. Somehow they are more noble than mares or geldings.....they have an "air" about them. And we let them get away with murder. Well, ok, maybe not murder, but you get the idea. A lot of people actually fear all that testosterone, and either allow the horse to run amok, or try to over-compensate by becoming brutal. I've watched people who I know fairly well and feel are very competent, suddenly become like brand new students afraid the horse will step on them when dealing with stallions.....I kid you not! And I've watched a trainer work with this stallion (that took 2 people to bring into the round pen) for 5 minutes and you could see that the horse was looking for that discipline to help him get himself under control. Because that's really what it is. If you leave a horse by himself a lot, he has no need to control himself. What he needs is someone to draw the line and let him know when he has crossed it. Surprise! This is no different than any other mare or gelding. We just seem to be more at ease with them, and more afraid of the response of that testosterone creature.
Stallions are no different from humans, in that respect. Put several 12-year-olds together with no supervision and see what happens. Ditto, 17-year-olds. Over discipline and you may have what appears to be a meek and scared boy, that will eventually turn on you. Under discipline and you get a bully.
The choice is yours......either your stallion becomes a gang member, or he becomes a respected, enjoyable partner.
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