After reading Bear's "Food Matters" blog post, I thought of The Squirt and how well he has trained me to prepare things just the way that he likes (demands, actually).

I think that our horses are glad that we humans are so trainable. I have learned to prepare The Squirt's food EXACTLY as he likes it... I know that if I don't, he will not simply reject the offending meal, he will fire it at me.…

Continue

If there is ever a coffee/tea shortage it might be our fault. We have been running on fumes as the daunting task of caring for The Squirt's wounds continues. We are leaving the wound open, as the vet advised, so that it can drain. Hopefully the air will help speed the healing... and now discharge, blood and moisture aren't being held against the tissues. The Squirt figured out that we were giving him meds and started to refuse to eat them, so now we have to crush/dissolve his antibiotic pills… Continue

"... then you should be prepared to have deadstock."



It is a sentiment that I have heard (too) many times, and one that I hate to hear. However, there is unfortunately an element of truth to it. Most horse owners are keenly aware of the fact that horses have a knack for finding ways to injure themselves, and that they are susceptible to a wide variety of ailments that have the possibility of ending the career or even the life of a horse.



The life of myself and my boyfriend… Continue

Things had been progressing well with the wee lad. He has been a star during ground work, including lungeing and long-lining. We introduced him to a saddle and he acted like he had worn a saddle his whole life. The week of his third birthday we backed him, and he didn't put a foot wrong. First trot with a rider, also no problem. The breeder warned me that it was going almost 'too well', and we did eventually have a little hiccup. One day he felt that we were asking too much... we started to… Continue

... and I did ride my horse for the first time! *happy dance* :D

We had another "Don't Panic" moment last week. We arrived at the barn to find our barn owner watching The Squirt. Our poor boy was having trouble eating. He would try to eat but each mouthful of his dinner dribbled from his mouth. He also was drooling a lot. Since he wasn't swallowing anything we were worried that he had a case of choke. We called the vet and put him in a stall while we waited for the vet to arrive. The Squirt didn't seem to be very distressed, but I certainly was! I did feel a… Continue

... those were the first words in a message from our barn owner... so what do I do?



That's right, I panic.



My boyfriend and I drop everything and we race to the barn. We arrive at the barn to find The Squirt looking quite unconcerned.



The Squirt:

"Munch munch. Do I really have to come in? Can't you see that I'm eating?"

*head disappears into bale*

"Munch munch."

*Wanders to other side of bale as 'Mom' approaches*

"Munch munch. I don't… Continue

It was love from the moment that I met my horse... I was completely smitten with my handsome boy. Over the past few months we have gotten to know one another, and I have come to realise that my equine friend has many 'faces'.



The Master Manipulator: He knows how to make his immense cuteness work for him when he wants something (like yummies or a neck scratch). It is the face that won me over when we met... and I think that he actually is able to crank up the cute factor by making doe… Continue

We have been continuing to work with 'The Squirt' and we are thrilled with the wee lad's progress. We have lunged him several more times with him wearing the surcingle, and he has settled into the routine quite well. He is adjusting nicely to carrying a bit, and we have progressed from a rubber bit to a 'Happy Mouth' bit so that he can adapt to a bit with some rigidity (the rubber bit is soft and bendy). The Happy Mouth bit is smaller in diameter and so it actually fits him better, and he seems… Continue

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

'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

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

My boyfriend and I took my horse to a Canadian Horse show... our first show together. I was a little worried about how each of us would handle the event, but I am thrilled that the little lad was stellar and his humans had a great time. By day 3 he was getting a little stir crazy, since at home he is never in a stall, but with lots of walking and exploring, he settled down... and he was wonderful in the show ring. We even came home with some pretty "souvenirs". :)



We would like to… Continue

It was interesting to see this in the "International Horse News" section:



http://www.horsetalk.co.nz/news/2009/09/017.shtml



"Fifty horse DNA samples have been delivered to a Texas university by two horse riders to further the knowledge of the Canadian horse breed.

Canadian film-makers Rick Blackburn and his wife Louise Leroux made the three-month 2500-mile journey on two Canadian horses from Quebec to Texas A&M University."



Now that's a long hack!… Continue