Every Horse Is An Individual

Allowing sweeping generalizations to drip from your lips allows sweeping generalizations to stain your character. Be very leary of the self appointed horse expert who casually explains horse behavior by referencing the horse's pedigree.

While tendencies to behave in a given manner exist, I have no doubt that behavior which can be linked to genetics is dwarfed by the behavior that is caused by the handler.

Horses act according to the expectations of the handler. I can have a horse who stands perfectly to be mounted and warn new riders that the horse is not a bad horse, he just will walk off as you try to get on. With that expectation in mind the horse will often simply walk off when the foot touches the stirrup. In two weeks the horse will walk off with every one who seeks to get on him but me. Within a month he will walk off when I try to mount.

All of that behavior resulted from one bit of false information about the horse. The worst example that I have ever encountered was with a wonderful horse who had been given a negative name at birth. He was a great horse for beginners. We had several beginning riders start at the same time. They brought differing degrees of anxiety about riding to the horse lot with them. In a week or two I started hearing talk about how the horse was "living up to his name."

In a month he was a pariah to the new riders.

Many years ago I obtained a mustang mare from someone who was housing her and selling her for her owner. When I picked her up I was pleased with her temperament. The person that I met when I picked her up explained to me that he was not a "horse person" but that she sure seemed sweet and that she had been ridden and was doing great in her training.

I took her home and saddled her up. My little sister hopped on and rode her wonderfully in the round pen. A week later when I spoke to the same person he apologized profusely. He had gotten the horses mixed up. It turns out that this mare had never had a rider.

I told him not to worry, she has had one now.

This spring I began training a Corolla mare who I knew had not been trained in many years. As soon as I put a rope halter on her she responded with the lightest of touch to the lead rope. She took to driving in the surcingle as if she had been doing so every day of her life. She took a rider perfectly.

I assumed that I was incorrect in the information that I received concerning her training. I contacted the previous owner. I was surprised to find out that years ago she received ground work training but had never had a rider.

Of course this does not mean that one can simply hop on untrained horses and ride away. My point is that projecting your fears and prejudices on to the horse will assure a negative result.

The picture above is from yesterday. She is one of the faster learning, gentler horses that I have ever handled. Prior to arriving with us she had been handled about twice a week, for the previous three months, by a very experienced, first rate trainer.

She is a formerly wild BLM mustang. Had she been treated with the fear that most people have of wild horses she would not have that saddle on her.

Projecting one's fear on the horse would be bad enough. What makes it so much worse is that projection of fear seems to amplify it.

Every horse is an individual. Every riding student is an individual. Every person is an individual.

Except that  every expert spokesman for the established horse world are  all the same.

Their problem is not that they do not know enough. Their problem is that they know so many things that are simply not true.

Time To Be Grown: Solve This Problem

When I was a kid no homework made me madder than those problems about  "Johnny leaves on a train going 60 MPH going east and Sally Leaves on a train going..."

Only thing that they ever did for me was to cause me to seek a life with out train riding.

But here is a real problem. it could be an extraordinary learning experience, not just for kids but for the entire family.

Between August 15 and Sept 15 I want to plant our winter pastures. I want to plant a seed mixture that will:

1. provide some green forage throughout  much of the winter.
2. improve the soil by increasing nitrogen fixation
3. provide enough root depth to help fight compaction
4. be hardy enough to take pretty heavy hoof traffic.
5. be affordable.

We will need to seed nearly thirty acres. We will be using no heavy equipment, although we might rent a seed drill for some of the seed.

Now--how much seed should we buy? What kind of seed? Exactly where should we order it from? When will we need to order it by?

Now here will be the hardest part for a lot of people. Do not simply send me the most expensive plan that you can imagine on the assumption that it will be better. It likely will not, but even if it would it does not matter because if we cannot afford it we will not be able to use it.

I want all of the young people in the program to get me a plan by July 1. I hope that you can work on it as a family. Not only will it be great for the program and take a lot of work off of me, your research will help you understand why caring for the health of the soil is the most important that that we can do to care for the health of the horses. Not enough program participants realize this.

I look forward to receiving a plan from everyone in the program between the ages of 11 and 20. Older program participants are invited to submit a plan also.

Don't procrastinate. Don't wait until the last minute to get your plan together. Research. Be skeptical of advertiser's claims. Rely on science.

And do not assume that whatever cost the most is the best.

Now Follow Me On This One, Because There Is A Point Here

This is not a story about Abigail who is riding Dakota in the beautiful picture above. It is about one of the very few young people that I have ever had in the program who rode as well as Abigail. It is about one of my favorite kids that I ever had in the program.

She came from a conservative religious back ground and rarely watched TV and I doubt that she spent much time in a movie theater either. As she became a young adult she expanded her horizons a bit.

She had seen a movie--she wanted to tell me all about it--she was excited.

She said, "Steve, the guy in the movie was just like you!"

She went on to tell me that the protagonist was a producer and purveyor of illegal liquor who was hunted by the law and his competition in his criminal trade.

I was a bit confused. I reminded her that I did not drink and was a Sunday school teacher.

She told me that I was missing the point.

"They shot him, Steve. They blew up his house, They killed his friends. And no matter what they did to him he just got up, wiped off the blood and kept going,".

Now I have had many nice things said to me by young people over the years but this one stuck with me.

This pandemic has caused me to take on behaviors that I did not expect to occur. I find myself angry and barely able to contain myself when others display foolishness, selfishness, or jealousy. I am tired. I procrastinate on doing things that need to be done. (Yesterday I turned in a paper late. I do not think that I have ever done so before.)

Most of all I find it hard to make decisions. I certainly have never had this problem before.

But last night I decided that it was time to get up and wipe the blood off of me and get going. It won't be easy. I got minimal sleep as I watched the nation come apart in Minnesota the same way that prescient observers watched the nation come apart in Kansas in the 1850's.

But it is time to get in gear.

Quick Things That I have Learned This Spring

1.  For the horse that is not putting on weight as it should. Now keep in mind I am not talking about making a horse get fat. Doing so is the most commons form of equine abuse and leads to a host of health problems. I am talking about the horse that is thin to the point of perhaps effecting the strength of his immune system. For years I always followed the same pattern to put weight on those horses. (Keep in mind that the horses have hay around them 24/7, so I am talking about the horse that looses weight when others in the paddock are not)  Deworm the horse, check the horse's teeth, added 13% protein feed with a handful of mineral, add vegetable oil in increasing amounts until I am up to about a cup a day. This worked in the past for 95% of the horses. When it was not working I called in the vet. Unfortunately, in the cases for which it did not work the diagnosis was often cancer.

This spring I had several horses that were eating a great deal of greasy feed and yet not putting on weight. The problem was a protein deficiency. Adding high protein balancer to the feed mixture of mineral, oil, and 13% feed coupled with hay or pasture is promptly restoring the weight.

Lesson--boost fat and if that does not work boost protein.

2. Trotting and cantering five miles a day helps a rider who has been out of the saddle for a while get back into comfortable riding. Doing so in addition to lifting weights on a farmer's walk circuit and doing tabata on a heavy bag, while adding in one weekly ride of at least 20 miles conditions one for serous riding better than anything that I have ever done.

Lesson--push your body as much as you can and you will be able to enjoy long summer rides better than you ever have.

3.  Always be aware of your emotions. Few things stress a horse as much as being around a stressed person. Nothing has illustrated this better than this pandemic.

Lesson--take some time to relax before you tack up or one can simply hop up there and let gravity take its course.

If I Was a Twelve Year Old Girl I Would Be In Crisis Right Now

Little riders often become very bonded with their favorite horses. They worry about hurting that horse's feelings if they start to enjoy riding another horse. I have seen tremendous expressions of guilt over leaving an old favorite behind to saddle up a new horse.  They worry that their first horse will feel left out from being left behind.

Of course my first love is the Colonial Spanish horse--especially those of the Southeast, Choctaws, Corollas, Shacklefords, and Marsh Tackys.  When my weight was down about thirty pounds I had great fun riding Nick, a large standard donkey born of a blm jenny and a wild father. My daughters rode him a lot as teens.

I have always been intrigued by Mammoth donkeys but they are so rare that I never expected to have any in our program. Thanks to  Thomas family, specifically Jenner Thomas' love of donkeys, we have four of these large, beautiful, athletic equines at the horse lot.

I am certainly drawn to them. They are the most underestimated members of the equine family. I like that. Whether on the ball field or the courtroom I always hoped to be underestimated. There are few advantages in life that one can have that is more helpful than to be underestimated. Luckily for me, it seems that I have always been surrounded by suburbanites who were more than happy to underestimate me.

They have a minimal panic response. That is not exactly true. They are very skilled at hiding panic while looking completely in control of the situation. This is also a trait that I work very hard to emulate.

But most of all, they are real, lacking in flash and chrome, but housing a powerful engine and mud grip tires with deep tread. Oh, I do, admire that.

I don't feel guilty for loving the donkeys. I don't feel like I am letting the horses down.

I just have to figure out how to find the time to ride both donkeys and horses hours on end.

 Guess I will have to learn how to eat faster and sleep less--maybe even spend less time cleaning my vehicles.