Riding a Draft Horse on a Narrow Regular Horse Trail

This is how you ride a draft horse on a narrow regular horse trail LOL Lucky thing that draft horses are patient, cool and solid ;) This other video - below - is how not to video a how-to video...

One of the really cool things that happened today is that I was riding in a halter, so when I finished videoing was just sitting with a loose halter rope and meandering around the field and Spirit kept heading back to the narrow trail to do that fun stuff, that videoing and laughter, again and again. So much fun!

Winter Into Spring

A last look at winter as we slide slowly into spring: Spirit looking fluffy and wintery. And the next photo: Taz looking kinda goofy yet noble.

It's a challenge to exercise the horses regularly this time of year because the days are short and I don't have a lit ring. 15 minutes at dusk in the roundpen isn't ideal but it keeps the boys from losing muscle tone. Spirit, especially, needs regular exercise to maintain his muscles in order to keep his old injury from starting to bug him.

It's fascinating to me (and reassuring) that most healing modalities work on ANY beings: humans, horses, dogs, etc. Reminds me that we are all one and connected. I did Namakoshi Shiatsu and Acupressure on Spirit's back yesterday for a couple of hours. He was really enjoying it (me too).

Taz has one leg that he is getting a bit 'trippy' with. Worked with him to get energy flowing through to earth. Will do some Shiatsu on him in the next few days too.

Riding is a lot of fun right now, although my cheeks and feet sometimes get cold. Crisp, clear - the air so fresh and bracing.

Geez, what was I thinking...

I sure set myself a job by saying in my last blog that 'next time I will show you the 'best' way to take a photo of a horse.' In hindsight (no pun intended LOL), what I could have said is that there are three million ways to take a good horse photo and that I am going to share a couple that I think fit the description 'good horse photo'.

This is one of my all-time favourites of the photos that I have taken of my boy, Spirit. It feels moody but not sad. I like the light. What do you think? Next post, I'll show you another one.

Mud and Photos

It's THAT TIME of the year again. A faint hint of Spring and of longer days, still mired in the paddock mud of dark afternoons. Just enough of a hint to make me impatient. Impatient for morning feedings, during which I can actually see the horses, instead of glinching my way through the mud and dark.

See this photo of Spirit. It's an example of the 'worst' way to take a horse photo. Next time I'll post the 'best' way to take one. In my opinion, I like this photo for it's goofy feel; that's why I titled it 'Spirit The Cool' :) I think it all depends on what your intent is for the photo. I wouldn't use this photo angle to sell a horse, but I would use it as an image for a funny story.

Rain Warnings and Horse Eyes

Rain warnings in effect for my area. Most of my new 'road crush' footing is holding up in the paddock except for one slope that insists in turning into a muddy bog!

Here are some photos of the eyes of the boys, Taz and Spirit. What is it about horse eyes that are so soulful...

What do you think they are saying or feeling? I hear a lot of things said about horses eyes. What have you heard?

Did you know that a horse's vision is its primary detector of danger. And that even though they have poor colour vision, they can differentiate blue and red from grey hues. Horses also have poor depth perception when using only one eye. They can't tell a trailer from an endless tunnel, or a mud puddle from a bottomless lagoon. Their perception is improved by about five times when using both eyes (binocular vision). They can instantly change their focus from near to far objects. This is why horses cock their heads in different ways to see close versus distant objects. They also have an acute ability to detect movement. This is why a horse is much flightier on windy days; things that are normally stationary are now moving and perceived as a potential threat. I find it interesting that horses are able to see fairly well at night - BUT - their visual contrast sensitivity is less than that of a cat. [Source: www.extension.org/pages/Basics_of_Equine_Behaviour]

Update on Spirit the Cool

Soooo happy to say that Spirit is sound now. I thought I would go on five rides first before saying so. Still using linament before and arnica gel after on both hind stifles. Still giving Renewal (glucosmine, etc. supplement). Still excercising as close to every day as I can. As the days get darker I will be walking the horses and dogs at the same time LOL. Anyways, I'm dang happy, as I'm sure you can imagine.

Herd Watch 09 Memories

Spirit and Taz (the Chestnut) rocking the world of horses with their coolness :) [photo by Brenda of Relative Peace]

The first Herd Watch of 2009 - kinda cold but check out the grass. Sooooo fresh. Soooooo lovvely.

Yum. Yum. Good Grass. Pretty Chestnuts Tibby and Taz.

More of the gang hanging out and re-aquainting at the first Herd Watch of 2009.

The mowers in action LOL

Later on in summer. Lazy days. Grass not so green (understatement).

Some of the many reasons we have Herd Watch.

Check out the grass now! Summer time and the grass is ... BROWN!

'Yucky but I'll eat it', says Spirit.

Heading off to the Herd.

Update on Red and Spirit (and Taz)

What is it with horses!

Sometimes, it just don't pay, err, actually sometimes you have to pay a lot LOL!

Red, the horse I was going to start riding for my neighbour has pulled up lame with some sort of hoof thing, hoping it's not navicular bone issues.

Spirit, my sweet baboo, is currently at a healing plateau, soon to be improving, but still.... that stifle joint is stifling my riding.

Taz, my daughter's horse, has managed to gash his wrist, well, actually his pastern joint.

And for those of you who are wondering, I'm putting a l'il horse structure diagram so you can see where the stifle joint, navicular bone, and pastern joint are.

Bad me :) Too long since I posted!

I just organized an exercise for Mr. Spirit to build up the muscles around his stifle joints, especially his right rear.

History: Before I bought him he fell off a cliff in the Kispiox valley (wilderness, BC lol) while living his past life of pack horse. I knew about his injury before he came to be with me, it was described as a 'hock injury' and the vet checked him over and pronounced it a soft tissue injury, no joint injury.

Since then I have spent quite a lot of time massaging him after rides, with lots of focus on his hind legs, hips, etc. and done T-Touch and Reiki and recently Quantum Touch. Earlier on this year, somehow, he reinjured. After the research I have been doing, I would say in the deep mud in the paddock. Soooooo, he would seem fine, we would go for a ride, after untacking and being released he would pull up really lame and then walk it off on his way to the paddock. I slowly stopped riding him and the final ride, when he pulled up lame 400 yards in, well, it became clear to me that I needed to be doing something different.

I have contined to hot linament him before ponying him with my other horse (my daughter's) and also walk him up and down this hill on my road.

Recently, I have included cold linament after exercise and have been implementing a formal exercise plan. I also have had him on a joint supplement powder for about a month.

Here's the exercise plan for any who want to know (slightly modified from http://www.myhorse.com/health/natural-holistic/hands-on_help_for_arthritis_in_horses.aspx#top):

Mr. Spirit's Exercise Program
Check the do’s and don’ts for exercise, and use all the other available tools for support (therapy, heat/cold and massage). If your horse was recently diagnosed, or had a recent flareup of an old problem, check with your vet to be sure the horse is ready for light exercise.
Days 1 – 3: Hand walk for 5 minutes.
Days 4 – 6: Hand walk for 5 minutes twice a day.
Days 7 – 9: Hand walk for 10 minutes twice a day.
Days 10 – 13: Hand walk for 20 minutes a day.
[I am currently lungeing him at a walk for about 10 minutes each way and then hand walking him for another 20 minutes.]
Days 14 – 21: Lunge or round pen 20 minutes a day, both directions. Let the horse walk. Do not ask for a trot. If he wants to trot, limit it to no more than a minute or two.
Days 22 – 28: Same as above, but increase to 30 minutes, either all at once or in two 15-minute sessions.
At this point, if the horse is doing well, you can begin riding under saddle, no more than 15 minutes a day to start and only at the walk. Increase by five minutes every three days. When the horse is walking for 30 minutes comfortably, you can try short trots, a minute or two at a time.
Eventually, 30 minutes of riding per day, 15 to 20 minutes trotting and the rest at a walk will do wonders for keeping the horse more comfortable. Days you can’t ride, you should at least try to make sure he gets round pen or lunge time. Daily formal exercise is definitely best. The horse should be exercised at a minimum of every other day if you expect to see any benefit.
If the horse is doing very well with this light exercise plan and you want to try to make him more active, consult with your vet for specific advice on devising a plan to increase the work safely.

My neighbour, who had knee surgery, would like me to ride her horse, Red (Canadian breed). He hasn't been ridden for years but he's a really good boy, so I am looking forward to that. And eventually my neighbour will be able to ride Red and I'll be back to riding Spirit. Yippee!

Happy Trails!

Pic at right is from a Winter 07/08 ride.

Anyways, happy to report that Spirit and I went on our first solo trail ride last weekend and it was wonderful. I led him away from home and didn't get on until I was on the trail. Went for a twenty minute trail ride. Yahoo! No problems at all.

One l'il balk that some gentle doublin' took care of. Yippee!

Then two riding buddies met me at the trailhead and off we went. Because we were doing so well, I didn't push it. When I thought there may be an issue coming up I just got off way before and walked. So beautiful in the forest. Cold, though. My legs were numb when we were done. Long johns next time :)

Yippee! Bonding with my boy Spirit

Spirit and I went for a ride with a friend and her boy, Hank, yesterday. She showed me this great schooling hill to practice cantering on and it's also a great place to work through the freak-out factor that happens when horses leave Spirit behind on the trail. Went for a ride on the pretty forest trail at the top of the hill. It was the perfect riding day. Sunny and crisp. Shades of brown and orange. Misty in the trees. Misty greens and blues. At the top of the hill I could see the mountains in the distance. I felt like I could take off and fly!

Anways, it was definetely a schooling ride. I can tell that Spirit is more responsive and I am being more present, instead of being a lazy-bag-of-potatoes rider. Let me be clear 'bout this though -- I know there's nothing wrong with a relaxing ride, they're lovely and I adore them but I now realize that I was only have those types of rides and was missing out on a different type of ride. I am now enjoying building 'contact-rapport'. I'm sure there are definitions to explain what I am talking about; I just don't know them off-hand. Soooooo, basically I am trying to support Spirit with the reins and my legs during the whole trail ride. Now, after working with him this last while, I barely have to move my reins for his response. I had to laugh at myself though because on the ride I was showing my friend what Spirit was doing when I was unsnarling his mane from the reins and she said, 'you could use that movement of your reins as your *go*, you know'. I had not been thinking of that, but it makes all kinds of sense :) Also, on the trail, I am working hard on actively choosing where I am going, instead of meandering along. This process is reminding me of what it was like when I first got Spirit. I did tons of groundwork. Lots of connection with him on the ground. Now I am building on this connection while in the saddle. I am going to be learning ground-driving from a friend this weekend to help with this connection.

Perfect Weather - Imperfect Fit

Here's one of my favourite pics of Spirit. Every once in a while I get that 'ole photography bug. Anways, I took this one a couple of years ago, so I think it's about time I got back 'out there'. I have always thought that he looks vaguely elephant-ish in this shot.

A couple of days ago, I tried my daughter's western saddle on Spirit. He was such a good boy as I was leading him around, stopping, starting, turning. We are really building that dance, that side by side, you-stop-I-stop in tune with each-other-ness. I LOVE IT.

Anyways, I rode over to a friend's house across the street and she noted that the saddle was too tight in the withers, etc. Another friend was passing by on her motorized scooter, so I got off Spirit and walked with her. She was walking her dog and the long lead kept zinging back and forth across the road. Spirit balked one time and I said, 'nu-uh buddy, if I say it's okay, how 'bout you give it a try'. So, then I sniffed it and blew and he sniffed it and blew. And off we went with nary a moment of trouble. Eventually walked home in the darkness. Crisp, clear, and not one freaky moment from the amazing-Spirit-dude (or from me either LOL). Geez, just reread what I wrote and what we were doing doesn't really translate easily to the page. So, dear reader, you are going to have to stretch yourself past the goofiness of it all and get on up and ride on down the road with me :) The next day, I tried on a friend's western saddle (she has a Canadian) and it was too wide in the withers. As soon as the cinch was tightened and I sat in the saddle, you could see it poke behind his sholder. Once again, Spirit was the height of patience with all the poking, prodding and leading about.

Herd Watch AKA Broom Pulling

Yesterday was sunny and crisp -- a perfect riding day. I remember thinking so a couple of times while hacking away at the broom-infilitrated pasture where we were having our Herd Watch. Now, I know you are saying to yourself, 'why weren't you riding' ;) but one way that we access trails is with the permission of a neighbour. Yep, we ride through her yard and out her back gate. In thanks for being able to do that, we went to her place to have our Herd Watch and to clear her pasture of broom -- well, not to clear her entire pasture but we cleared about 60 square feet. We would have been there all day and more for the entire pasture! You can see a 'purdy' picture of the annoying stuff, at upper-right.

Broom! The story goes that a Scottish immigrant brought and planted a broom plant to remind them of home. Understandable - but wow - Vancouver Island is becoming infested with the stuff. Of course, (almost) more importantly, we brought a delectable assortment of stuff to eat, included braised pear with brie on crackers, baked apples with brown sugar, goat cheese with bread, a yummy spread with bread, homemade banana muffins and homemade chocolate chip cookies. LIFE IS GOOD!

Herd Watch Memories

Oh yah and here's a little reminder of how much fun Herd Watch is, or if you've never been herdwatching with the gang of us, welcome afield (digitally speaking). For those that don't know, this version of Herd Watch is regular meetings with a group of like-minded people and horses and hanging out, eating gourmet food, etc. in fields in the neighbourhood. FUN!!!

Connected Ground Work 11/16/08

This pic is Spirit from a couple of summers ago. Such a dude. Anyways, I was going to do a short schooling ride with Spirit today, just him and I, but I ran out of daylight - freakin' Fall! But that's okay cuz I found an article in an August 04 Equus magazine that had a call out box titled 'Connected Ground Work - The Cheek Press'. Anyways, I started to work with Spirit on this instead of the ride and it was wonderful. Here's what I did, basically... Stood on left side of head, placed left hand on bridge of nose. Making a loose fist, right hand, positioned it in centre of the cheek with my wrist straight. It says in the article to start by trying to rotate the head barely one or two degrees, with the front hand encouraging the head to come towards me and the back hand encouraging the cheek to move away from me. Said stuff like take a deep breath and wait, then slowly release the pressure on the cheek, take hands off horse and observe him quietly for 20 seconds or more. It says to repeat the exercise two to four times with the key being to give the horse the suggestion of movement and then allow the horse to willingly yield from the pressure on the cheek rather than to force the movement. I tried it out a couple of times on one side, to check it out. I ended up laughing at myself because I was expecting to have to work hard to get him to release. Was thinking to myself, 'don't have over-expectations Hal, just try and see what happens.' HA. He responded by bending to pressure as if his big old head was a little tree branch. Bending gently to pressure. Relaxed, just the way it was meant to be, with his lovely eye looking into mine and his ear tilting towards me as if to say "Well, you're a wierdo but if you want to push my head around, I'll sure let ya." My big, ole sweetie pie. Until I do groundwork, I forget how much I just LOVE the trust building. The connection. The fun. The communication. Anyways, I am going to use this exercise again this week, more completely and also from the same magazine 'Connected Groundwork - The shoulder press.' Yahoo.
Oh yah, a little aside. I was talking with a woman at a tack shop about the 'freak' that Spirit does and she said that maybe when he was a pack/trail horse that he got into trouble when he didn't keep up or that maybe with his background that he was spur broke. More stuff to think about :)

Fall Schooling Ride #2

Been wanting to create a blog for a while now and my need to school Spirit (the beauty-boy at the right) and as well, the challenges of not being able to have weekly Herd Watch 'meetings' with my riding buddies (due to Fall and Winter weather and short days) have melded into the creation this blog. Don't know if I can keep it up but I thought I'd give it a try.

Anways for those of you who don't know, I have decided to work with Spirit on a couple of things this Fall.

One. His herd-bound-ness during my attempts to ride with just him and I. Apparently, he misses his herd-of-one Taz. It's such a struggle to get him going. Anyways, this will include lots of groundwork, which I love, and learning how to ground drive, from my friend, Shauna. I think I'll love that too.

Two. His occasional hey-if-you-all-are-running-away-from-the-cougars-then-I-should-too (buck&freak) on trail rides. Did I mention, his impeccable timing in doing this on muddy, rocky hillsides. This is soooo not fun. But what is fun, is that my daughter, Siggy, offered to come on schooling rides with me and we had our second one today. Kept to a walk and a trot. She would ride away, out of sight, going longer and longer each time and Spirit and I stood, and walked, and doubled (ala Sally Twelveponies) and rode away from Taz. We did this about ten times in the 'back 40' where the problems have occurred. He was wonderful. Only one freaky moment and that was dealt with by doubling. Anyways, then we proceeded to have a wonderful Fall ride. Crisp, sunny, all the shades of orange and brown that you could ever want. Coming home with clothes smelling as fresh as they ever could. Yummy!