Henk writes:

The stall next to me wasn’t empty for long. A day or two after the Spanish horses left for their new home in Nova Scotia (see November 9th post), Louis, our Canadian horse, appeared next door. He likes to live outside in the big pasture, so I hadn’t seen him for a while. He was looking exceptionally grumpy.

“Merde,” I heard him curse under his breath. He was avoiding me, trying to get to the far  side of his stall, but every time he put his…

Henk writes:

Lil's husband, Robert, brought his camera out to our paddock the other day, so I thought I'd share some of his pictures with you.…

Henk writes:

More new horses! So much for the quiet country life. I think Lil’s losing her mind. But, hey, she’s the one who has to feed everybody and make sure we get turned out and our stalls get cleaned, so I guess it’s her prerogative. And anyway, at least these last two are only visiting. Good thing, too, or I might have to take matters into my own hands.…

Henk the Friesian Horse writes:

A couple of new horses arrived at the farm last week: an older chestnut warmblood named Lego, and his pet, a mini named… well… not really named. I’ll tell you more about that later.

When these two arrived, they got regular stalls in the barn like the rest of us, but instead of going out in one of the paddocks we use, they went into the sand-ring on the other side of the barn. Once we all go outside in the morning, the only evidence we…

Henk and I both love this pony's story:

                                               Meet Molly



She's a grey speckled pony who

was abandoned by her owners when  Hurricane

Katrina hit southern Louisiana .  She spent weeks

on her  own before finally being rescued and taken

to a farm where abandoned  animals were stockpiled.

While there, she was attacked by a dog and almost died.

Her gnawed right front leg  became

infected, and her vet went to LSU…

Henk writes:

I share my paddock with 4 other horses: two are Friesians (Wilby and Charlee), one is a Welsh pony (Bella), and the fourth is a Standardbred (Sunny). When it’s time to go inside for the night (and, of course, dinner!) Wilby gets to go first if he wants to. He’s the boss. Sometimes he chooses not to exercise this right, and lets me, Charlee, and on occasion even the pony, go ahead of him. Sometimes he hangs back like we’re allowed to go ahead of him, and then…

Henk the Friesian horse writes:

OnTRA (the Ontario Therapeutic Riding Association) is asking its member centres to nominate outstanding riders, volunteers, and of course HORSES for special recognition. So naturally I expected Lil to nominate me. You don't get much more outstanding, after all. With my tall, dark and handsome looks, my charming personality, my aristocratic breeding... It should be a no-brainer.

But for some reason she thinks that working only a handful…

Henk writes:

It's show season! For us, that means getting our manes french-braided and doing everything from dressage tests to trail classes to leading patterns, all the while being filmed on video. The videos are then uploaded to Para-Equestrian Canada where our riders compete on video against riders from across the country, all of them with some kind of disability.

What a cool idea. We horses get to show off to people we've never even met, and the riders love it,…

Henk writes:

Fellow equines, I don't have to tell you how important it is to keep your human madly, passionately in love with you. Human devotion gets you the best treats, accommodation in the nicest stable, and a rider who is forgiving on those days when you really don't feel like working hard. To help you keep that human eating out of your hand (or, more to the point, feeding you out of hers), I've compiled a top-10 list of…

Henk writes:

It's impossible to overstate the importance of a well-trained human to the happiness of a horse's life. As with anything, you can cut corners and start with an untrained human -- or even try to reform a spoiled one -- but unless you're an expert, it's a risky thing to do.

Cry if you want, but you'll learn to sit that…

http://www.stonegatefarm.ca

Henk writes:

I've been working in therapeutic riding lessons for the past couple of weeks because Sunny, the tiny Standardbred with the delicate physique has hurt himself again. His owner (who lends him to my human, Lil, for lessons), calls it Recurring Sunny Summer Lameness (RSSL), because he likes to maim himself each summer and spend at…