October 2009 Blog Posts (86)

Moving in 3 Days!

Yes all is well. We are going to be at the house on time. No delays (as my other post mentioned). We will be moving in this coming Friday. Hopefuly Saturday I can go and check out the local barn that I will be working at. I really want to try one of the horses she has for sale there as soon as possible. I'm planning on doing a lease to buy, since I really want to get to know the horse before we buy it. We really want to make this time a good buy. Last time we bought horses, we kinda jumped into… Continue

Added by Rachel G on October 16, 2009 at 2:00pm — No Comments

Ride Your Horse Proactively with "The Valium Exercise" To Reduce Shying

Horses shy from tension so there's lots you can do to ride proactively to help them relax. I call one of my favorite exercises "The Valium Exercise" because it's so effective at relaxing a tense horse.

Let's say your horse likes to shy at a particular corner of the ring. Start the Valium exercise well before you get to the corner.

Here are the aids for the "Valium exercise".

THE ACTIVE AIDS

1. The Inside Rein:

• The action of the inside…

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Added by Jane Savoie on October 16, 2009 at 12:00pm — No Comments

Explaining Rein Aids

Dear Julie,

Please explain to me the rein aids for English and Western. I would like to know which ones to use for each discipline and what is the difference. For example, direct and direct opposition, indirect and indirect opposition? And how do you use these in riding?

Elizabeth

Hi Elizabeth,

Thanks for the excellent questions. I find this is an area that is vaguely understood, at best, by the average horse person. First of all, as far as the…

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Added by Julie Goodnight on October 16, 2009 at 7:30am — No Comments

Tommy Pics

Firstly, thanks for all your messages of support for the team in Marrakech who are helping Tommy pull through.

Tommy is making huge progress, as you can see from the photos - he's still not sucking, hence the bandage round his nose holding the nasal-gastric tube in place - saves having to do the risky process of inserting/removing the tube every two hours. Alex (the girl in the photos) is a veterinary graduate from Cambridge - she's one of the volunteers getting very little sleep… Continue

Added by SPANA on October 16, 2009 at 6:00am — 1 Comment

Happy Girthday!

Calgary stampede... here we come! 'The Squirt' has experienced a girth for the first time... and it triggered a brief display of a hidden talent (that I hope stays hidden)!

We would like to start teaching him to ground drive/ long line, and so we decided that it was time to introduce him to a lungeing surcingle. He flinched a bit when it first went over his back... but after a few twitches and head tosses, he settled down. Then we did up the girth... we flinched... but he just gave a… Continue

Added by Ferrous on October 15, 2009 at 8:30pm — 2 Comments

Choosing the right Horse Transport company

We've all heard some horror stories associated with shipping horses. Shipping companies who won't hesitate to sell your stall at the last minute, companies that push back your departure date by a week after you're all set to go, companies that hire drivers with absolutely no horse experience, companies that just never call you back and the worst in my opinion...companies that just don't show up. When we started this company, we vowed to make sure that we would be a different kind of horse… Continue

Added by South Point Equine Transport on October 15, 2009 at 1:50pm — No Comments

The Truth About Withers Clearance

One of the biggest misconceptions in saddle fitting is that two-three fingers withers clearance means that the saddle fits. When I check saddle fit there are actually 36 points to consider, and withers clearance is only one of them.

The withers are a very sensitive area of the horse with different interacting muscles and bones. Obviously you do not want the pommel of the saddle pushing down on the wither bone of our horse which would cause sores.

This is the area…

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Added by Jochen Schleese on October 15, 2009 at 9:00am — 7 Comments

Forward Motion

Forward movement, in equestrian lingo, is something to strive for.

Forward movement, in mental thoughts, .... something to think about.

What do you think about this Henry David Thoreau quote, "Never look back unless you are planning to go that way."

Click here to download and print the newest quote/painting/to-do list from my October 15… Continue

Added by Karen Brenner on October 15, 2009 at 7:40am — No Comments

LATEST BULLETIN ON TOMMY ,direct from the'horses mouth' in Marrakech 10.30 am ,15th Oct

Hurrah, hurrah, he's doing well. The temperature/pneumonia worry is always there, but touch wood, he's fine at the moment. Still being fed by nasal-gastric tube, every two hours, day and night, but he's getting stronger every day.

They hope that soon he will develop a proper sucking reflex, but of course nobody knows just how premature he might be. Sucking is much better for the digestion than a stomach tube - all the wee scrap's 'systems' will work better.

But he is… Continue

Added by SPANA on October 15, 2009 at 5:45am — 1 Comment

They Grow Up So Fast!

'The Squirt' was in a remarkably good mood recently, so we decided to try introducing him to a few new things. He won't be backed for awhile yet, but we figured that it was time to introduce him to the concept of tack. We slipped a nice light synthetic endurance saddle onto his back... nary a flinch. We cooed what a good boy he was and he just looked at us quizzically, wondering why we were making such a fuss about him. I'm sure once we try it with a girth, it will be a quite different story.… Continue

Added by Ferrous on October 14, 2009 at 8:00pm — 1 Comment

Hello

Added by O.B on October 14, 2009 at 7:30am — 3 Comments

Freeway, the Hawk

On my last load yesterday, I had just turned north onto Highway #99, one of the local freeways in western half of the Fraser Valley. Going only a short distance I noticed what at first appeared to be some sort of stuffed animal left alongside the freeway. As I passed I realized it was not stuffed, but real! I braked as much as I could without upsetting the horse I had on board, and ran back to find a full grown red-tailed hawk sitting thoroughly dazed on the shoulder of the road. He made no… Continue

Added by Kevan on October 13, 2009 at 4:57pm — 3 Comments

STOP PRESS : MEDICAL BULLETIN ON TOMMY (SPANA clinic, Marrakech).

Well, the good news is he's still going, the bad news - it's a bit of struggle.

No surprises there I suppose - the poor wee scrap's got a lot of challenges to face.

Main problem, he's probably quite premature - though hard to be accurate as to just how much. But it translates into he's got no sucking reflex. So, to feed him we've had to do it by naso-gastric tube, every two hours. Now, you can imagine, feeding the tube across his trachea as often as that, it would be very,… Continue

Added by SPANA on October 13, 2009 at 11:27am — 1 Comment

NEW CANADIAN EQUINE SURVEY RELEASED

NEW!

A brand new Canadian survey was released today to gather vital information about current resources available to equestrians like you.

HorseJobs.ca has proudly joined with Equine Guelph and other equine industry leaders to promote the changing needs of our industry and now YOU have a chance to make your voice heard.

The survey is open to ANYONE involved in the equine… Continue

Added by Sarah at HorseJobs.ca on October 13, 2009 at 12:30am — No Comments

Horse Riding Adventures Throughout the World

In the next issue of Horse and Pony News, I will have an article based on an interview with a very special person, Darley Newman. She has her own TV show in PBS called Equitrekking. Her show is about riding adventures throughout the world.

Her website:

http://www.equitrekking.com

Local PBS TV Schedule:

http://www.equitrekking.com/tv/schedule.php

Meet Darley… Continue

Added by Valentina Escobar-Gonzalez on October 12, 2009 at 9:43pm — No Comments

My Horse Is Part Raccoon...

On Saturday when we went to get 'The Squirt' from the pasture, we noticed that he was under one of the apple trees. It was wet after a rainy Friday night, and he was standing fetlock deep in mud and poking his nose into the muck. Eeew! We watched to see what he was doing, and he was wiggling his 'prehensile' lips through the mud to dig fallen apples out of it. Once he had an apple on the surface, he wiped off some of the mud with a swipe of his snout, then he would pick up the apple and drop it… Continue

Added by Ferrous on October 12, 2009 at 5:00pm — 1 Comment

Paige Presents: This Week in Horse History - October 12th Through October 18th

October 12th through October 18th

October 12, 1920 – Thoroughbred racing legends Man o’War and Sir Barton met in a match race at Kenilworth Park in Windsor, Ontario. Man o’War, three years old at the time, was made the favorite by the bettors at 5 to 100, despite the fact that Sir Barton was a full year older and had recently become the first horse to win the Triple Crown. After racing only sixty yards, Man o’War pulled to the front and remained there for the rest of… Continue

Added by Paige Cerulli on October 12, 2009 at 4:01pm — 1 Comment

A Foal Called Tommy - A Tale from Marrakech

You always know when something awful is happening in our animal hospital in Marrakech.

There is a sudden kerfuffle, perhaps with a certain amount of yelling – then some histrionics – usually involving grown men and women weeping copiously.

So it was last night just as darkness began to descend. Oh, but I forgot to say, at the same time as the histrionics our team goes into overdrive, while at the same time depicting a stony-faced… Continue

Added by SPANA on October 12, 2009 at 8:17am — 3 Comments

End Of An Era

This is hard for me to write, No doubt about it. I’m walking around in an insomniatic sate with tears in my eyes and a huge lump in my stomach. I didn’t know it was possible to cry as much as I have been these last few days.

I have received many words of comfort and many hugs, and even tho I do appreciate it, they will not help until I’ve gone trough the entire process. The worst part of all this is to have to wait for the day.… Continue

Added by Hannah on October 11, 2009 at 4:38pm — 3 Comments

The Forward Seat Position for Slow Equitation

This description of the Forward Seat for Slow Equitation is from Vladimir S. Littauer's "The Forward Seat" (1935) p.34-36, with additional comments from "Common Sense Horsemanship" (1951, 1974) by the same author p. 61.

I have gotten questions about the Forward Seat position. This is probably the best description of the American System of Forward Riding. In the next two weeks I will write about the position for fast equitation and the jumping position.

This…

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Added by Jackie Cochran on October 11, 2009 at 12:00pm — No Comments