April 2010 Blog Posts (107)

This Week in Horse History - April 12th Through April 18th

April 14, 1936 - Today the first race result decided by a photo finish camera in Maryland took place. The race took place in Havre de Grace, Maryland, and a horse named Alit was declared to be the winner. Today, digital cameras are used at the finish lines of…

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Added by Paige Cerulli on April 12, 2010 at 3:30am — No Comments

Adoptable Horse of the Week - Xena from Crosswinds Equine Rescue!

9year old English Shire black mare (no papers)

Approx 17hh, 2100 lbs

Started under saddle, English, roughly 60 days riding work to date. Xena is a big, powerful mare with tons of presence and even more…

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Added by Special Horses, Inc. on April 12, 2010 at 12:30am — No Comments

The Story of Rescued Horse Unfolds

As it turns out, Pickles is no ordinary horse. With a little research, we learned that her grandfather sired Kentucky Derby winner Foolish Pleasure.

So our starved, neglected horse has the blood of a champion in her veins. Maybe that's why she has this quiet sort of class about her.

Every day when we watch and work on her, she finds a way to tell us something new about herself and what she's been through.

Today we finished shaving the hair off most of her rain… Continue

Added by maryann tobin on April 11, 2010 at 9:30pm — No Comments

Back With Cider Again

Finally Spring is blooming all over, and Shannon's ring FINALLY dried out, so I have been able to ride Cider again. I like Cider, she has plenty of get up and go, so much that I never have to carry a crop, which makes me happy because the more things I have to mess with in my hands the harder it is on me.

Last week when I rode Cider she did not seem completely pleased with her bridle any more. Nothing nasty, slightly less…

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Added by Jackie Cochran on April 11, 2010 at 11:30am — No Comments

A new pair of Cowboy boots

Last Sunday morning, I waited in the car, while my business partner went into a local bakery in downtown Tempe, AZ to buy some piping-hot, super fresh, right out-of-the over, cross-top buns to take to Easter dinner Needless to say the lines were long and it took him awhile.

I had brought a book to read about expanding my spiritual awareness, called "The Force". I was deep into reading my book, deep into feeling more spiritual and ready to take on every new challenge that came my… Continue

Added by Roberta Edstrom on April 10, 2010 at 1:51pm — No Comments

Barnmice hat

Thanks for the hat Barnmice it fits perfectly :-)

Added by Cindy Jeffery on April 9, 2010 at 5:49pm — 1 Comment

Training Tip of the Week: Dealing with your horse’s natural magnets.

All horses have magnets –the gate to the arena, the barn, other horses, his buddies back at the barn, the trailer, etc. They all involve the horse wanting to be somewhere other than where he is, doing something other than what he is doing. The simplest solution is to make the wrong thing difficult and the right thing easy. Meaning you make being…

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Added by Clinton Anderson on April 9, 2010 at 3:25pm — 2 Comments

The Care and Feeding of Jessie and Dusty

Thought you might be interested in how we keep our horses. Here's a little run down:

We live in Southern California. We have two quarter horses on our 1/2 acre property. Each horse has it's own 40' x 40' pen. Unfortunately, we do not have cover for them yet. Our climate is temperate and our rainfall averages less than 6" a year. Both my wife an I work so we clean pickup the the manure twice a week Thursdays and Sundays. It's taken to the green waste facility. We use… Continue

Added by John Harrer on April 9, 2010 at 1:00pm — No Comments

Correctly Bend Your Horse in Lateral Work

Hi Guys,

In order for your lateral work such as shoulder-in, haunches-in, and half passes to be effective as collecting exercises, your horse must BEND.

Think of the following equation. Bend+Sideways=Engagement. (Engagement means the bending of joints. As your horse bends his hind legs, his croup lowers, and his forehand goes up--kinda like a seesaw or an airplane taking off.)

So here are some quick tips to help you determine if you're bending your horse…

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Added by Jane Savoie on April 9, 2010 at 10:30am — 1 Comment

How much protein does my horse really need? (Slide show)

You are what you eat – and so is your horse. If every horse owner started with quality feed and made it a priority, there would be fewer problems with behavior, training and

overall health. Unfortunately, too many people overlook the importance

of feed - especially in Florida.

The heat is not only a factor for people; horses who live in 90 degree temperatures…

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Added by maryann tobin on April 8, 2010 at 11:10pm — 1 Comment

Natural Horsemanship Solutions: Refusing and Rushing Fences - fix that jump!

Refusing and Rushing Horses

Having a horse refuse a fence can be a frustrating and a scary experience. It happens to the best of us and usually our first reaction is to blame the horse. Take a step back and look at it from the horse’s perspective. Leave your crop back in the barn so you’re not tempted to use it—a refusal is usually a message from your horse that there is some reason they cannot jump. Recognize the communication and try to figure… Continue

Added by Lindsey Forkun on April 8, 2010 at 9:30pm — No Comments

More News on Academy and Few Words on April Plans

Word of hindsight wisdom - if you're freelance, have a sicky fund ;) Not that I've got one but I would certainly like to have it.

As hard as it is not to be earning I decided to give my illness one more day as I continue having very little voice, jumpy temperature, cough and just generally feeling ill. I worked in similar states before but it always ended… Continue

Added by Wiola Grabowska on April 8, 2010 at 6:12pm — No Comments

Educate NOT Instruct, Say As It Is YET Inspire, Support & Direct YET allow the ownership of knowledge - what do riders want from their trainers....?

Seeing I'm ill and spending my day in bed working on the biggest coaching challenge I've ever taken on I might as well share some musings on various teaching related subjects. Lots of waffle below, you've been warned.

In addition to the question in the title, there is another one: what do riding coaches need to deliver?

Creating the Academy project pushed me… Continue

Added by Wiola Grabowska on April 8, 2010 at 6:00pm — 2 Comments

Interview with Canadian Horse Defense Coalition Executive Director

Following up on the recent release of undercover videos of horse slaughter practices at Viande Richelieu in Quebec and Bouvry Exports in Alberta by the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition (CHDC), Barnmice reporter Katy Moran interviewed Coalition Executive Director Sinikka Crosland. Moran also attempted to contact…

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Added by KatyM., Community News on April 8, 2010 at 4:58pm — 2 Comments

Our season so far...

So the eventing season’s now well and truly underway. Dells already had outings to Isleham and Poplar where he jumped double clears in the placings

and last weekend he jumped his first intermediate novice at Great Witchingham

and finished 10^th.

Things are looking up!

Continuing with the success front I also managed to pass my…

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Added by Oliver Lawrence on April 8, 2010 at 2:00pm — No Comments

The Race for Canadian Dressage WEG Team Berths Heats Up as Two Canadians Earn Qualifying Scores on Easter Weekend

The Florida show season may be over, but Canadians are still competing elsewhere and earning their qualifying scores for the WorldEquestrian Games team. Wendy Christoff of Delta, BC earned her third score above 65% at the CDI3* Burbank aboard Pfalstaff, her 16-year-old Hanoverian gelding by Palladium. The duo earned 65.830% in the Grand Prix on April 1.… Continue

Added by Dressage Canada on April 7, 2010 at 4:00pm — 4 Comments

Picking the right Boarding stable for you and your horse.

Today I want to talk about picking the right horse boarding stable. I have been boarding horses for almost 20 years now and have probably been at 10 different stables some great others not so good. Over the next couple of days I will talk about things to look for when picking a stable.

The well being and safety of your horse is of the utmost importance. This…

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Added by Steve Wawryk on April 7, 2010 at 11:05am — 2 Comments

Spectacular Equine Behavior Achieved Through Copying

The story that I am going to share with you today is about a horse that you may have seen on some of my videos by the name of Panadero. He is an Andalusian Stallion and he is absolutely just the most expressive horse you could ever wish to meet.

Every day that I went out to see him he would run up to me and we would play this game where we used to run along the fence of his paddock. He would run along with me and then I’d ask him to leave and he would take off and run… Continue

Added by Carolyn Resnick on April 7, 2010 at 10:00am — No Comments

We're Officially Qualified for the 2010 NAJYRC!!!

Chance and I had a very succesful weekend April 3-4th at the ADA Spring Celebration! I feel like we're learning so much together and I'm so excited for our future! Chance and I are both learning how to handle his new and improved fitness level, but we made it through the weekend with good scores inspite of a few bobbles. I felt like we had our best quality work ever in the Junior Team Test on Saturday and…

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Added by Catherine Chamberlain on April 7, 2010 at 8:48am — 4 Comments

Anger Doesn't Work

My wife and I have an understanding when we are riding. We have given each other the right to say anything about riding or horsemanship without fear of recriminations. Now in any other life endeavor this could be potentially a very dangerous situation, but with the horses it's working our for us..so far. Twenty nine years of marriage helps too.

A couple of weeks ago we went on a "wild flower" ride through some cattle graze lands. …