Pony Tales Blog

Back to the horse property search

2009-07-05T11:46:00.000-06:00

Since I've been feeling rather disgruntled about boarding recently, I started searching for horse property in earnest once again. Yesterday I found a listing for an interesting property online, and we drove by to scope it out.

It's a little over 2/3 of an acre, a long narrow property with the house in the front and a four-stall barn and a tractor barn (read: plenty of hay storage) at the back of the property, well away from the street. On Google's satellite map, it looks as though the corral is fenced off separately from the barn.

The house would be an upgrade for us too, as it has more bedrooms, more square footage, and a garage. It was built nearly 70 years ago, and the listing lists it as a "fix up," which probably means it hasn't really been updated. That's fine with us, though, as the 1920 bungalow we live in now has only the necessary updates — nothing fancy. That's the way we like it.

Here's a screen capture of Google's satellite map of the property. I drew the boxes around the properties in Photoshop. The property we're looking at is outlined in red, and the neighbors (all three of them) are outlined in yellow. There is also apparently some acreage that backs up to them.

The advantages that I can see so far:

1) It's in town.
2) The house is an upgrade for us.
3) It's a pretty big lot for in-town horse property.
4) A planned new light rail route will run pretty close to it. Translation: easy access to public transit.
5) It's laid out well and already has a barn, hay storage, and adequate fencing (so we don't have to update any of that).
6) We can afford it! In fact, it's a ridiculously good price for in-town horse property — not much more than we paid for the non-horse property we're living at now. We'd save a ton of money on board that wouldn't be spent on a higher mortgage.

The disadvantages seem to be:

1) Michael would have to drive farther to and from work.
2) One of our neighbors would overlook the pasture, so there might not be a whole lot of privacy back there. We'll have to tour the property before we know for sure whether the fencing and the landscaping offers any privacy back there.
3) We don't know what the neighborhood is like, so if it's not very good this could be a significant disadvantage.

I'm really quite excited and hopeful about this property, but Michael (who would rather live in a trendy urban neighborhood than on horse property) is skeptical. Still, he's willing to go check it out, so we have an appointment to see the property this coming week. Wish us luck!

A familiar feeling of frustration

2009-07-04T19:41:00.000-06:00

I'm feeling exceedingly frustrated with my current boarding situation. It's a familiar feeling — I remember feeling this way every time my relationship with a past barn was coming to an end (but before I'd made the decision to move). I'm afraid this means that it's time to move Panama, again.

I mentioned recently that I'd noticed the property owner was drinking more and feeding the horses later. Since I talked to him about it, I haven't seen him drinking and he seems to be feeding the horses their breakfast a little earlier — at least when I happen to be there. (I'm planning on staking out the place to see if he's feeding them at the same time when I'm not there.) But I'm also noticing some other things going downhill.

For example, he and his boys still haven't finished spreading out the mulch — at least not as of late last night, and I rather doubt they did it today either (though I'd love to be proven wrong when I go over there this evening). I can't think of any blatant safety hazards that large piles of mulch pose to horses, but I can't shake the feeling that it's not really a very good idea. I almost finished it myself the other day, until Michael pointed out that I'm paying the guy board every month (and it's not cheap, either) to do this kind of stuff.

Another complaint: For the last month or so, the property owner has been using a harrow hooked up to the back of his tractor to spread the manure, instead of mucking it. There are a couple of problems with this approach to manure management, I think:

1) There's not really enough room for it (only about 2/3 of an acre in pasture and three, soon to be five, horses), and

2) It's not really breaking up the manure, just spreading big chunks of it around.

Aside from the manure concerns, there are two other problems:

3) It's turning up rocks, nails, and glass that have been buried in the pasture for probably 30 years, and

4) Because he's doing it so often (several times a week), it's ripping up the top layer of soil and making everything really dusty.

I asked him to stop harrowing the pasture, and he was extremely reluctant to go back to mucking. I told him I'd start helping with mucking again (my contract requests that I help out a little, though he is required to do the majority of it), but we'll see. If the last few days are any indication, he may have stopped harrowing despite his reluctance, but I'm concerned he won't start up mucking again either, perhaps in the hopes that I'll do all of it.

There are a few other little things like this that seem to indicate a slippage in the level of care he is providing. To top it off, on Wednesday he got annoyed with me for making a suggestion, after I'd just spent my entire morning and part of my afternoon cleaning the barn and spreading mulch. And it wasn't exactly something I ought to be having to ask, either: He'd mentioned he thought the horses would be okay in the other pasture without water for a while, and since it was at least 85 degrees, I said I thought they needed water. (I was also remembering when he left a horse in that pasture overnight once without water, forgetting there wasn't any in that pasture.) He didn't do anything about it, so I started asking whether he had a bucket he could put over there for water. Then he got annoyed and told me that I didn't need to tell him stuff like that, because he'd never let the horses go without water. Ummm, hello?

Up until now I've liked the fact that he was willing to take suggestions, but I don't want a place where I'm always having to micromanage to make sure my horse is getting the proper care. I've been browsing Craiglist for other places to board in town, but there doesn't seem to be a lot available right now. Plus, I'm getting tired of moving.

This train of thought naturally resulted in me spending a long time on Craigslist and Realtor.com today, searching for horse property. We found one place so far that seems like a good possibility. More on that later!

Happy Fourth of July... I think?

2009-07-04T12:45:00.001-06:00

Fugly Horse of the Day honored Independence Day with a post that pretty much says exactly what I think about this holiday: Happy Let's-Scare-the-Pets-to-Death Day!

Don't get me wrong, I totally appreciate what Independence Day stands for. I'm proud to be an American*, and all that. But hey, I can't help it, I think getting sh!t-faced and trying to burn down the neighborhood is a really poor way to celebrate the freedom our Founding Fathers achieved for us.

Fugly's post has some tips on how to keep your horses safe on the 4th, including putting them in a barn if possible and at the very least making sure they're not surrounded with potentially dangerous fencing. Putting Panama and the other two horses in the barn isn't entirely an option, as I think they'll handle it better if they don't feel trapped. Besides, if someone lights the kindling in the pasture on fire I'd hate for the horses to be trapped in an old wooden barn, that also happens to be full of wood chips. Just the thought makes my heart skip a beat.

I'm actually planning on spending the evening in the pasture. I went there late yesterday evening to check on them, as there were quite a few fireworks going off in our neighborhood, and I suspected it was the same near the barn. Sure enough, very soon after walking into the pasture, I had three horses surrounding me with pleading eyes. At first glance they seemed okay, but boy were they clingy! And then I realized that they were all on edge, even if they weren't showing it — Panama shied away from my hand, which he never does, and when the barn owner brought out some extra hay to help soothe their nerves, the alpha was even more food aggressive than usual.

So that's what I'll be doing this evening: babysitting my horse. In the meantime, my husband will be at home babysitting our white shepherd, Grace, who spends most Independence Day celebrations (not to mention most thunderstorms) in the bathtub. (One of our cats is deaf and hasn't got a clue that things like fireworks and thunder even exist, and the other cat and the other dog don't care.) Sounds like a festive holiday, doesn't it? And people wonder why it's not our favorite...

What are your plans for the evening? Do you worry about your pets' reactions to the fireworks, and if so, what precautions do you take to make sure they make it through the night in one piece?

*Most days.

Butterscotch horse treats, a saddle cover, and a giveaway

2009-07-04T00:27:00.000-06:00

Again today (Friday), I'd planned on working with Panama but ended up not being able to. For one thing, I realized after arriving at the barn that I'd forgotten to get fly spray on my way, and since the flies were especially active I decided to leave to go get some and bring it back. But it turned out to be just as well, because shortly after I left the second time it got dark and started to pour.

While I was at the feed store buying fly spray, I also picked up a bag of treats, as I've been running low. I buy bite-size treats, because I can feed more of them and because they're only about six bucks for a good-sized bag at my feed store. (Twice that at the tack store — unbelieveable markup!) They were out of the apple treats I used to get, and I decided to try something different than the peppermint I got last time around, so this time I got butterscotch.

Have you ever given your horse something new and good to eat, and watched their reaction? When I fed Panama a butterscotch treat, he started chewing it like normal, and it was a moment before he really tasted it. His eyes got big and he immediately turned his head right back toward me. He obviously likes these treats very much, and I don't blame him — they smell so good I've actually considered trying one myself!

The only other news for today is that I finally found a saddle cover I liked. I'd bought a plain black one for really cheap on eBay recently, but it turned out to be too small for my saddle. The new one is nicer, a soft fleece and no exposed elastic cord, and best of all it fits! Doesn't it look nice?

I didn't bother returning the other saddle cover because it was too cheap to make the refund worthwhile. If any of my readers can use it, though, I'd be happy to send it your way. It's black and made of a lightweight cotton canvas (in other words, not very soft, but functional). I think the saddle would have to be pretty small for this to fit, as mine is supposedly a 16 or 16.5 inch English saddle and it does not fit. Perhaps a child's saddle, or one that doesn't have the big thick flaps mine does?

Anyway, I have a feeling not many people actually have saddles this small, unless of course you have kids who ride English, so I'm not going to do my usual contest. The first person who tells me they have a small saddle they think it might fit, gets it.

Update on recent trailer work

2009-07-03T14:19:00.000-06:00

In my last post on trailer loading practice, I talked about how I was wondering whether I should change tactics on trying to teach Panama to load. The comments I received made me decide to experiment with other methods a little. Then Kate wrote a fantastic post about keeping the feet moving, among other things, which gave me some other ideas.

This will be a long post — sorry about that.

I worked with Panama for a long time Tuesday afternoon. Inspired by Kate's comments, I started out by seeing how Panama gave to halter pressure. The answer: pretty good, though not perfect. There's a slight hesitation before he moves his feet, but he knows what halter pressure means and responds to it.

Unless there's a trailer in his way.

I wanted to work for a bit without the grain as incentive (read: blatant bribery), so I tried out some different ways to approach the trailer — me standing to his right, me standing to his left, me standing inside the trailer, trying to get him to follow me into the same stall, etc.

Normally, with this trailer I wouldn't try to get him to walk into the same stall as me. I know the dangers, particularly when this trailer is such a small one. It's a pity, because Panama is much more willing to follow me onto a trailer when there's enough room for both of us inside the stall. I've decided that's why he loaded so easily this time. However, at this point on Tuesday I was pretty sure I wasn't in danger of him actually getting all the way in and squishing me. I was hoping that he would put a foot in if I was already in there, but unfortunately it didn't work out that way. He did walk all the way up to it and bump his legs up against the edge of the trailer, but no further.

Until the grain came out, of course. He quite happily put two feet in the trailer for that. Well, not entirely happily — he's worried about it, so it takes quite a few tries to get to his grain. It's like playing the hokey pokey:

Put your left foot in,
Put your right foot in,
Put both feet out and shake your head about...

It takes a few times of that before he makes it as far as the grain.

After he had his grain, we worked on it some more, but he still wouldn't put a foot in without the incentive (read: bribe). I did discover that it worked best if I stood on his left side, in front of the door, and I swung the end of the lead rope lightly at his belly while clucking to him. He knew what I wanted, but didn't want to do it, so he danced back and forth and every once in a while stepped up until he bumped the edge of the trailer with his knees.

Now here's where my horse demonstrates his infuriating intelligence. I started out by rewarding the smallest advancement by letting him step back, praising him, and walking him around the trailer or around the pasture a little. I would generally watch for where he froze up, apply halter pressure and/or a go command, and then reward him as soon as he went a step beyond that point. So the little bugger caught on, and started freezing up farther back so that his step forward, when he gave it to me, was still within his comfort zone. Arrrrghhhh. I had to start drawing a line in the dirt after that to mark where his last step was.

Anyway, I ended up having to be satisfied with him bumping the trailer with his knees sans-grain, as well as a couple of other lessons that we seemed to reinforce during that period (Don't challenge Mommy being the boss because she makes you run laps, and Walk nicely on the lead line even when you're nervous).

Yesterday I had to be satisfied with even less, because I only got about 15 minutes to work with him at the trailer before breakfast was served and I got distracted by other work.

Today I never made it to the trailer because it started raining on us, but I did have a chance to test a suggestion that my new hero, Kate, made: that some horses hesitate about loading because they aren't comfortable (or are scared of) backing out. She mentioned practicing backing through obstacles, and one she mentioned was a practice bridge. Hey, I've got one of those at my disposal, and it's a pretty narrow one too — perfect! So today I led him up it, stopped him at the top, and backed him down again.

No big deal. He walked carefully down the ramp, as I would expect, but seemed completely comfortable, if a little confused about why Mommy was making him do this. I did this several times, each time with the same unconcerned response.

Okay, so backing is apparently not the issue. I still need to practice it a bit more to be sure, and I would have had it not started raining at this point. But it certainly seems that it is his previous bad experiences with the trailer that make him reluctant to load.

But I have a couple other new ideas now, thanks (again) to Kate. She had a couple of suggestions for using a second person to keep his feet moving, and you know what, they even seem like something my non-horsey husband can manage. I'm still going to practice backing some more first (why the heck not), but hopefully we'll get back to the trailer practice this weekend!

Horsey Headlines for July 3, 2009

2009-07-03T11:40:00.000-06:00

These were supposed to be posted on Wednesday, but I spent the day at the barn, wore myself out, fell asleep early, and just in general forgot to post them.

The first is complements of a friend of Michael's (thanks Sam!). USA Today chose a gorgeous photograph of horses for the winner of their Picture America contest. It's a beautiful photo, of course, but it doesn't surprise me in the least that the judges thought a photograph of horses running wild in front of beautiful scenery was the most representative of America.

Which makes me wonder why, if wild horses are considered such a symbol of America, we are considering euthanizing them as opposed to using other, more humane methods of controlling their population.

Here's another thing I can't help but wonder about. In Longmont, Colorado, a 12-year-old boy was killed bull riding after he fell off and was trampled. Now, the woman can talk about letting her kids do what they enjoy until she's blue in the face, but how much do you think a 12-year-old enjoyed dying like that? Sheesh.

This is just a fun humorous article about horses, but I love the opening line. It also has a list of "explanations" about what various terms mean in horse classified ads. Definitely worth a peek — most anyone who has ever spent time browsing horse ads will be able to appreciate the humor.

A hard day's work

2009-07-02T22:10:00.000-06:00

Sorry for neglecting my blog the last couple of days. I've been pretty busy lately, so I have a lot of catching up to do. Sorry in advance for all the posts coming your way this weekend!

Yesteday especially was a big day at the barn. I got out there around 8:30 in the morning, and stayed until about 3:00.

When I got out there, the horses hadn't had breakfast yet, so I groomed Panama and took him over to work with the trailer a little. The property owner gave them their breakfast about 9:30 (showing that he is indeed respecting my wishes to have them fed a little earlier in the mornings), so we didn't get much time to work on it — but I'll talk about trailer stuff in another post.

While the horses ate their hay, I mucked a little bit (more on that in another post too). The property owner had gotten some free mulch from a company that had taken down a couple of trees in the neighborhood (not ones that are toxic to horses — I checked!), and we were planning on putting some in the barn as well as spreading it out in the front pasture, so I got started cleaning out the barn in preparation for it.

I don't think I've taken very many pictures of it, but the barn was actually kind of nasty — the horses poop in there but not excessively, so the barn owner never mucks it, and as a result there was a year or two's worth of broken-down manure dust in there. There are four stalls (two large ones, two medium sized), and each one had at least six inches of manure dust. I almost completely filled the dumpster with that stuff.

Then I started moving the mulch into the barn. Of course, by this time it was getting quite hot, and I had a lot of mulch to move! But the property owner got his three college-age boys to help me, and we got it all done in about an hour.

It's amazing how tired, and yet how great, I felt after working so hard all day. It was really satisfying to see the results of all our hard work! My only frustration is that when I was there today, the barn owner hadn't finished spreading the rest of the mulch in the pasture — it's still sitting there in piles, just as I left it yesterday afternoon. I feel like it's a little unsafe, not to mention undesireable to have the horses picking through them to eat dead cottonwood leaves. I also feel like I put in six hours at the barn yesterday, and it's incredibly irritating that they can't put in an hour or two more to finish it. I'm not paying my board every month (which is kind of expensive, I might add) to have the place neglected.

Baby steps

2009-06-29T21:26:00.000-06:00

Today was better than yesterday, but still not quite what I had hoped for. We accomplished some stuff, but haven't quite regained the ground we lost yesterday, particularly with the trailer.

I went over to the barn in the morning, right after dropping Michael off at work. I thought the property owner was still feeding them around 10:00 am, so I figured I'd have time to get a quick ride in before it got hot — and possibly have more luck tempting him into the trailer with grain when he hadn't had his breakfast yet. I don't usually hold with riding a horse before they've had their breakfast, but I figured 15 minutes riding bareback at a walk in the pasture shouldn't be too mean!

However, while I was trying to separate the other two horses into the front pasture while keeping my horse in the back pasture, the owner came out with their hay. I knew riding Panama on an empty stomach with the horses eating on the other side of the fence was a really bad idea, so I set Panama loose (which confused him), and sat down in the shade to relax and wait.

I gave Panama a little over an hour to eat — half an hour spent watching him and the other horses (which was educational, as I don't usually doo that), and another 45 minutes or so spent chatting with the property owner. Then I caught Panama, groomed him, and bridled him.

We rode bareback for 15 minutes or so, just like I'd intended, except that it had gotten a lot hotter in an hour. He behaved himself really well. I worked on getting him to collect at the walk (he'll collect for short periods of time, so I'm trying to get him to hold it for longer), going over the bridge, and of course my balance. I also rode him around the trailer — something we've done before, but he was much more nervous about it today, which demonstrated to me that there's a reason for the lost ground we've experienced lately. Whatever scared him and made him jump into the trailer on Saturday has apparently left a lasting impression.

Another thing we worked on was turning on the forehand. I've always found that he does it better bareback than when there's a saddle between us, probably because he feels the shift in my seat and my leg pressure better. But he still seems to require a lot of pressure on his mouth in order to understand what I want, so today I worked for quite a while on getting him to do it with a looser rein. It took him a while to turn without walking forward, but once he got it, he really got it! I was so pleased!

Once we finished our ride, I brushed him off, scooped his grain, and took him out to the trailer. We started out with the grain on the shelf again, but after a while it became evident Panama wouldn't go for that. It took me forever just to convince him to stand in the doorway (i.e., so that his next step would have to be into the trailer), and it was clear to me that he wasn't going to get any further than that the way we were going.

So as much as it killed me to do it, I again moved his grain to the floor of the trailer. (This goes along with revising our goals when something is not working out. I felt bad about doing so yesterday, but Kate reassured me in her comments that she thought I'd done the right thing. Thanks Kate!) He was still hesitant at first — he put two feet in the trailer several times, and then backed out without getting to his grain. But after several false starts, he finally did get in far enough to eat his grain.

This time I didn't give up after he backed out once. I made him finish his grain in the trailer, which meant he stepped up with both front feet about a dozen times, all said and done. He seemed much more confident about it by the end.

I'm wondering if we're stuck at this point, and if I should try something new to get him the rest of the way in. On the DVD that came with the Pony Boy book I bought recently, there is a segment on trailer loading. The method he uses — basically working with baby steps and relieving the pressure every time the horse gets a step closer to the goal (loading) — seems like a good way to do it.

I'm just not sure if I should change tactics, or if I should hold out and see if Panama gets over whatever set him back. Until yesterday, he was doing really well with my method of using grain to make him more comfortable in the trailer. I'm not sure if I should assume that right now is just a temporary setback, and keep at it, or if I should switch gears and try another approach. What do you think?

A disappointing day

2009-06-28T19:19:00.000-06:00

Do you ever have those kinds of days where nothing goes quite the way you planned it — and instead of feeling like you accomplished anything, you are left with a feeling of deep dissatisfaction?

Today was one of those days. Lots of little events seemed to conspire against me getting done what I wanted to. Not only were we there with (we thought) a limited amount of time, but also there was a lot of activity going on just when I was trying to accomplish something.

For starters, we were planning on going down to visit Michael's family after our visit to the barn, so we were only planning on staying at the barn for about an hour. I had a lot to get done, so I made some dumb decisions rather than working on what obviously needed work.

After grooming Panama, I rode him bareback to save time on tacking up and down. Panama started out very nicely.

Unfortunately, the property owner chose that particular moment in time to give the other two horses their grain. (grrrrr)

Panama could see and hear them getting grained, which made him anxious about getting his, too. He started misbehaving, so we did a few circles to remind him who and what he was supposed to be paying attention to.

He did eventually chill out a bit, but he wasn't truly ever listening again the way he should be. I got him to a point that I considered reasonable, and then decided to move on to the trailer loading practice so that he could get his grain — a decision I now regret. I should have kept riding him until he was truly behaving himself.

(I have to just mention quickly that this is the first time I've seen pictures of myself riding in months, and I was amazed at how good Panama and I look together. He has filled out nicely in the last year, and I feel like we look much more proportionate to each other than we used to.)

Another reason why I regret rushing to the trailer practice was that the trailer practice sucked. So instead of accomplishing just one thing today, I felt like I did two things and accomplishing NOthing. Quite the disappointment.

Panama wanted the grain pretty badly, but for some reason he wouldn't get into the trailer.

I think it's because there was too much commotion. The next door neighbor was working on his fence fifteen feet away, and Michael was there taking pictures of us. I didn't realize how much that would distract Panama, but it shouldn't surprise me, since it's always been just the two of us whenever I've always worked on this before.

He did put one or two feet in a couple of times, but each time he backed right back out, like he was worried about something. I wonder if he thought Michael was there to push him the rest of the way in?

After a while, I moved the grain to the trailer floor, pushed all the way back so that he'd still have to put two feet in to get to it. I decided that as difficult as this was, I would have to revise my goals — and if he would just put his front feet into the trailer and eat some grain, I'd be happy with that and give him the rest outside of the trailer.

Eventually he did get both front feet in the trailer and ate several mouthfuls of grain. I praised him, and when he backed out, I brought the grain to where he could reach it with all four feet on the ground.

This is another thing I regret. In my experience, once Panama gets past his fear at the beginning of a practice session, he'll go in again much more easily every time thereafter. So I should have made him do it again. But I was afraid that as hard as I'd had to work for those two feet in, if he wouldn't do it again I'd lose the opportunity to end on a positive note.

In a way, training a horse is sometimes like gambling. It's hard to stop when you're ahead, and when you do you always wonder what would have happened if you'd kept at it. Would you have had another win — or two — or three — or would you have lost everything?

After today's glaring failure, there's no doubt about it — we'll be practicing again tomorrow, and every day this week until I have to give up the trailer. Hopefully this is only a temporary setback.

Record rainfall

2009-06-28T13:10:00.000-06:00

Like many of my blogging friends, I've mentioned a few times throughout June that I was having a hard time finding time to ride, what with the afternoon and evening thunderstorms we were getting.

It seemed like we were getting more rain than usual, and apparently it wasn't my imagination: We're only one-tenth of an inch away from breaking a rainfall record. We haven't gotten this much rain in June since 1882, for crying out loud.

We've got three days left to break the record, and supposedly our chances of it raining today aren't very high, though I'm not sure I believe that — it's getting turning overcast even as I write this.

Hopefully the rain will at least hold off for a little while longer, as hubby and I are supposed to be heading out to the barn in about an hour.

A bareback ride and a mini fridge

2009-06-28T01:44:00.000-06:00

In my excitement about our progress with the trailer, I neglected to tell you about the other things that happened today (Saturday) at the barn.

First of all, I got a pretty good bareback ride in. We only walked — I'm still not feeling comfortable enough bareback to trot on a horse with a balance beam for a back. (Not because he's underweight — he's actually pretty round — but because he is still what my saddle fitter calls "slap-sided," which means that his adult musculature hasn't filled out quite yet.) It's getting better than it used to be, but I still feel that either he needs to fill out more or I need to improve my riding skills before I'll be able to trot safely on him bareback.

I still love riding bareback, though, because I feel like we get so much out of it, even at a walk. We are both so much more sensitive to one another that way. He does virtually perfect turns on the forehand when I ride bareback, for one thing. He also did much better stops today, perhaps because I was practicing paying more attention to shifting my weight back when I asked him to whoa, and perhaps just because he could feel what I wanted a little better.

We even crossed the bridge twice. This was a feat for me especially because I feel so much less secure without a saddle, and I worry about him grazing the handrails on the bridge and freaking out because of it. (He seems to forget that my legs make us wider, and it startles him when my leg grazes something. I've learned to use leg yields to prevent it from happening, but I still worry, as the last time I took a pretty bad fall.) But he went over the bridge fine both times, and he even controlled his walk down the other side, almost as if he was taking care of me because he knew I wasn't ready to trot bareback.

The other piece of news is that the property owner ran an extension cord to the tack room so that I could plug in the mini fridge I found on Craigslist recently so that we could keep refrigerated medicines in the tack room. This is a necessary part of the first aid kit that I am putting together, as my vet wants me to have a "colic shot" on hand, which should be refrigerated in order to last a decent amount of time.

I found the fridge on Craigslist and bought it for about $35. It measures just under 2 feet in each direction, and even has a teeny tiny freezer compartment. Now whenever I open the tack room door, I am greeted by the quiet hum of my fridge.

It was a big day for barn stuff. I'm determined to get out there again tomorrow — hopefully I'll have just as good a day!

All four feet in the trailer!

2009-06-27T18:23:00.001-06:00

Panama got all four feet in the trailer today. It was a complete accident, but I think it was a breakthrough nonetheless.

He was a bit hesitant to get in at first today, but after several tries he did get two feet in and eat his grain in the trailer. He was obviously feeling more confident, because he was no longer backing all the way out between bites — after several bites, he'd back up until he front feet were inches from the edge but still in the trailer, and then he'd come forward again for more.

Anyway, he was almost done with his grain when something happened to startle him. I think the horse next door (who was standing at the fence ten feet away, watching us) might have rattled the fence or something. Or Panama could have brushed up against the butt chain, where it was dangling against the wall.

In any case, he pranced for a moment, and then for some reason decided he couldn't back out, so he launched his back feet into the trailer. I say launched because it happened very suddenly — I was totally taken off guard! He immediately went back to eating his grain, though he had his rump tucked so far underneath him that his back was humped. I wanted to pet him as praise, but he was wound so tightly I was afraid my touch would freak him out even more. So I settled for verbally praising him over and over — though I'm not sure that helped, either, as my voice was somewhat high-pitched with excitement.

After about 30 seconds of standing in the trailer, Panama backed out in a hurry. He was a bit nervous about getting back in again to finish off his grain, so I moved the dish to the ground where he could see it better, and settled for just getting two feet in again. I didn't want to end on a note of panic, so my goal was to remind him that he's been comfortable with two feet at a time.

I'm so excited about the progress we made today, and I'm hoping to revisit the trailer issue tomorrow!

Rain, guilt

2009-06-26T23:15:00.001-06:00

We've had a lot of thunderstorms again lately. Every day starts out gorgeous, with lots of sun (though perhaps a bit too hot), but around early or mid-afternoon, it gets dark and overcast. Yesterday it started raining around 4:00 pm and didn't stop most of the evening, and today it went from sunny, to thundering and pouring, back to sunny in the space of about two hours.

Our most recent addition to the household, an American white shepherd named Grace that we got two years ago, is a rescue and a fairly nervous dog, thanks to whatever happened to her in her past life. We do know that her previous owners chained her up underneath a trailer and abandoned her there, and we suspect she spent a lot of her life chained up outside, because she is scared of being left out in the backyard and storms absolutely terrify her.

This is an old picture, from shortly after we got her, so she was still about 25 pounds underweight — but this is what she does during storms:

Keep in mind this is a BIG dog — about 75 to 80 pounds at her full weight, and tall for a shepherd — crammed into the footwell of my desk.

Her favorite place to hide from the thunder is in our big claw foot tub, but she likes to be near whoever is home, so if she can she'll hide in the same room. If I'm working on the bed, she crams herself in between the bed, wall, and nightstand; if I'm working in the office, she'll hide underneath my desk.

Anyway, Michael had today off so I was originally planning to go to the barn this afternoon, but since I was behind on work I decided to stay home and get caught up. Before I knew it, the skies were black and it was pouring. I assumed it would be another day like yesterday, where it never really let up enough to ride, so Michael and I made plans to see a late afternoon showing of Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen.

Naturally, by the time we left for the movie, the sun was coming out. I was hoping the weather would be yucky again by the time we came out of the theater, but alas, it was still sunny. We went out for dinner and spent the rest of the evening at a bookstore — and I battled with my guilt the entire time. I feel like if I wasn't working I should have been visiting Panama, and if I wasn't visiting Panama I should have been working.

Two years ago, when I first brought Panama to Denver, I visited him literally every single day. Even a year ago, I was still there nearly every day. This winter, though, I was down to once or twice a week — and even now, while my frequency has increased, I'm only visiting perhaps 3 or 4 times a week. I wish I knew what changed, and how I can get back to visiting daily. Heaven knows, I may not get as much done that way, but I feel a heck of a lot better!

Dear Lisa

2009-06-26T13:25:00.000-06:00

I mentioned several days ago that I was taking some time to cool off before responding to something. I'm ready to write about it now, and break the mysterious silence — but not without first seeking advice from friends and family on what to do, so that I don't write anything I'll regret.

Basically, Lisa of Laughing Orca Ranch posted on her blog publicly calling me out after she disagreed with some of my comments, and wouldn't let me comment in defense of myself. I was vascillating on what I wanted to do, so I forced myself to count to ten while I made up my mind.

Friends and readers also offered advice. For instance, Kate of A Year With Horses — a relatively new reader of Pony Tales Blog whose opinions (about all things) I respect very much, said:

Good plan - people sometimes take offense even when we don't mean to cause it - different people have different opinions but we're all on the journey with our horses, and that's what counts.

Whenever something bothers me, I try to remember to ask myself - "Will this matter in 5 years?"

She's right, of course. It won't matter in five weeks, let alone five years. But then there is the other side of the coin, as my friend and fellow freelance writer, Kathy Kehrli, noted:

To call you out publicly and then not allow you to give your side of the story is a violation of your first-amendment right--plain and simple. You are fully justified to give that side of the story on your blog. I'd say let it slide if she weren't allowing any comments on that particular post, but she's letting all the ego-stroking ones slip right on by.

Both make really good points. Though Lisa's actions were pretty hurtful to me, they also are pretty inconsequential in the long run. However, there is also the principle of the matter to consider, which is that she is censoring my defense of myself while approving all the "ego-stroking ones," as Kathy so aptly put it.

So after careful consideration of the advice I've received and my own feelings on the matter, I've decided to take the middle road: I won't post a childish tirade, but I also won't allow myself to be treated like this without standing up to defend myself. I think my comment says everything that needs to be said, but feel free to also read Lisa's original post on Polocrosse and the comments that follow if you are interested in reading the full story.

Katharine Swan said... (comment not approved)

Lisa, I didn't really think I said anything so bad that you would call me out, but here we are, so there are a few things I need to say.

Whether or not you approve it. I'll still know that you read it.

First of all, I'm sorry that I hurt your feelings about the photography. You are a very talented photographer, and I believe I've complimented your photos quite a few times.

However, I don't think my comment about polocrosse looking to me like a train wreck was an insult to your photography. I thought it was a reasonable observation, from my point of view, about the nature of the game.

And how did you respond? By calling me a worry wart and saying that it must just be me. Please think for a moment about how that could have hurt and frustrated me.

And then -- perhaps worse -- when someone commented that they had had a dear friend die in a polo accident, you wrote your comment about how life itself can be dangerous. I just don't think that is an appropriate response to someone else's loss.

I left the comment I did -- the one you didn't approve, but reposted here -- because I was so horrified that you would treat someone else's loss that way. Perhaps I shouldn't have said what I did. But I don't think I'm the only one.

I've enjoyed reading your blog and getting to know you. I genuinely like you. I love your photography. I look forward to reading your blog every day. But honestly, I think you may have being dealing out hurt feelings yourself more than you realize.

As a final note: The blogosphere is impossible to control. Whether you like it or not, the nature of a blog is commenting, conversation, and yes, debate and controversy — even on a personal blog. I know this, which is why I'm willing to post my response to Lisa and let it go. The only way to achieve perfect control over your blog is to make it private — or not blog at all.

Horse therapy

2009-06-25T13:09:00.000-06:00

I often find that one of the best ways I have of making myself feel better is spending time with my horse. Unfortunately I was too busy with other stuff Monday and Tuesday, so yesterday evening I headed out to the barn for some horse therapy — even though I was already exhausted from spending the day at the amusement park with my 16-year-old nephew.

My horse seemed really glad to see me. It was really sweet — for a while I just hung out in the pasture, trying to muster the energy to ride, and he kept coming over to me and checking me out, despite the big pile of hay in front of him.

After a little while, I decided I felt up to riding. I groomed Panama (he was a bit dirty already from his bath on Sunday, but not too bad) and tacked him up.

We had a decent ride. At one point his head shot up into the air and his walk became really exaggerated; I looked over my shoulder and saw that a little girl and her grandmother had walked up to the fence where it borders a church lot. They said they wanted to watch, but Panama was quite nervous about them, so I rode him over to the fence to meet them. At first he wouldn't get very close to the fence, I think because they were just standing there staring at him. Then the lady started talking to him, and he seemed comforted by that, because he walked up to the fence and even let the little girl stroke his nose through the fence.

Then I backed him up and started riding him around. They watched for a few more minutes, and Panama seemed distracted by their presence: He was followed my directions pretty well, but kept wanting to turn his head to look at them. (Apparently no one ever explained to him that he's a horse, and he doesn't have to turn his head to look!) Though they had been good for training (both approaching something scary and working with a distraction), I was glad when they left.

Panama did well for a little bit longer, but then I noticed he was pulling on the bit. It was strange, because he normally doesn't do this, and it seemed like the more he got in trouble for it the more he pulled. I'm not sure if he was trying to tell me he wasn't in the mood to ride, or that the bit was bothering him — if I let him have his head, he stretched his head and neck out almost to the ground and yawned, repeatedly, every time.

Other than pulling on the bit, Panama was actually being pretty good, so I decided to let it go. Although he hasn't pulled to this extent before, it's possible the bit I've been using is a little too wide for his mouth. If he does it again next time I'll try going back to the rubber training bit and see if that helps.

Count to ten

2009-06-22T11:25:00.001-06:00

I am practicing the art of giving myself time to cool down before blogging something I might regret. In the meantime, I urge my readers to remember there are always two sides to every story.

Sunday bath

2009-06-22T01:43:00.000-06:00

Today, Sunday, was a beautiful day. After scrambling to finish an article for a client, I went out to the barn with full intentions of riding. As I was grooming Panama, however, he seemed a bit crabby, and I remembered what a riding companion at an old barn told me once:

Only visiting your horse when you want to ride is like your husband only paying attention to you when he wants to have sex.

So I decided not to ride, after all. It seemed the sensitive thing to do.

About the time I finished up grooming Panama, it suddenly started to rain. This was completely unexpected because the forecast hadn't called for rain at all — yet the clouds were low and dark, the wind had picked up, and the rain started falling quite quickly at first. I unhooked Panama from his lead rope, leaving it tied around the post, and started heading to the barn in the front pasture.

Panama, however, had other ideas. He headed for the barn in the back pasture instead, and I followed. Both the other horses were already inside, but we made ourselves comfy under the overhang to wait it out.

It ended up not raining very much. The rain quickly subsided to a light sprinkle (with the sun out), so I started heading back to the front pasture. Panama followed me at first, but then I realized he was lagging behind, and turned around to find him doing this:

I'd already been thinking about giving him a bath — his first of the season, actually — and since our ten-minute storm was already clearing, Panama's little rollfest made my decision for me. I got him to follow me back to where his lead rope was still tied, brushed the loose dirt off of him, and gathered the things for his bath.

The bath went pretty well, considering Panama had to stand in a puddle for most of it (something he hates — we both miss the wash rack at our old barn!). He put up with me washing him right up to his jawline. (I don't hose his face. I meant to wipe it with a damp sponge today, but completely forgot.) He was even being affectionate, and seemed to like it when I washed and rinsed his withers and shoulders, as he kept turning his head to nuzzle me when I was at about that point.

After I had him clean, I took him into the yard to dry him where it wasn't muddy. I also wanted to distract him with grazing so that he wouldn't think about rolling.

It worked. He was more than happy to find himself knee-deep in green grass, and immediately went to work on it. While he grazed, I toweled him dry as much as possible, put Cowboy Magic leave-in conditioner in his mane and tail, and brushed it all out. I was thrilled at how white he was.

The neighbor's puppy, of course, thought this was all very interesting.

I let Panama graze until he was completely dry, to minimize the risk of him rolling right away when he got back into the pasture. I know he'll probably be dirty again by tomorrow anyway, but at least I prolonged the vision of cleanliness a little!

I got a new horse book!

2009-06-21T12:22:00.001-06:00

Michael and I spent some time hanging out at a bookstore Friday evening, and while we were there I got another horse book: Horse, Follow Closely by Gawani Pony Boy.

I wasn't intending to buy the book. I sat at our table in the café and read it, but when it was time to go, I found I still couldn't put it down. So I decided that was a sign I ought to own it.

I'm now rereading it from beginning to end (instead of jumping around, as you do when you're browsing in a bookstore). It's a beautiful book, with gorgeous pictures, native legends, and an easy-to-read format.

Those of you who have been reading my blog for several months probably remember my take on natural horsemanship, but basically I tend to pick and choose which principles of NH I think are worth adapting into my personal philosophy of working with horses. This is no different — the author says some things that I find worthwhile, and others (such as minimizing verbal cues) that I disagree with. (I find verbal cues work extremely well for Panama and I, but perhaps that is because he's a fairly talkative horse himself.)

I'll write more about the book itself later on, but for right now let me just say that its main focus (forming a relationship with your horse) has made me realize a few things about why Panama and I are able to work together the way we do. I know full well that I am not an exceptional rider — as I mentioned yesterday, I didn't ride much as a kid, and apparently didn't learn as much as I thought either, because I've had to relearn everything as an adult. Heck, I can't even canter comfortably yet!

Despite my limitations, though, I feel like I am able to do things on Panama beyond what my riding skills should allow. I can get him to do what I want, sometimes with a virtually effortless flow of thought from my body into his. I knew I was getting better at communicating things to him, but I hadn't actually made the connection in my head about our relationship making up for where my riding skills fell short of the mark.

Now that the idea has been introduced, though, it makes perfect sense. I've always been focused on my relationship with Panama more than anything else. The vast majority of our interactions have been about bonding, not training or working. As a result, I've got a horse that will put his nose into the halter for me, who comes to a casual "Com'ere," and who responds with an undeniable affirmative (sometimes even nodding his head) if I ask, "Do you want a treat?"

When I think about it this way, it's all very reassuring. I may never be a stellar rider, but that doesn't matter to Panama. He understands me anyway!

Horseback riding memories

2009-06-20T21:18:00.002-06:00

A fellow blogger and a past winner of one of my horse book giveaways, Pam of There is a Horse in My Bubblebath, blogged today about childhood horseback riding memories. Although her post was in response to a giveaway another blogger was doing, it seemed to me like a fantastic idea in its own right.

I haven't mentioned much before about my history — or lack thereof — with horses. I don't have the background that many of my readers have — many of you grew up with horses, maybe even taking lessons and competing as a child.

I, on the other hand, never had any formal training. A family friend, a young woman who was 10 years older than me and rode competitively, taught me how to ride when I was about 12 or 13. I don't remember exactly how many "lessons" I had with her, but I don't think it was very many, as I had to relearn most of it when we started Panama a year and a half ago. Other than that, I've gone on less than half a dozen trail rides — and that was the extent of my horse experience.

I do remember that horseback riding seemed easier when I was a teen — I don't remember even having to think about trying to stay on. Maybe kids have better balance, I don't know.

Anyway, one memory that really demonstrates the difference between riding now and riding then was when the family friend took me to Chatfield Reservoir for my first trail ride. We trailered her horses there, and I rode Tar Baby, her stubborn old mare who preferred Western. Wendy was leading on Toffee, a grey Arab mare who rode English (and the main reason I'm so fond of Arabs — I loved that horse).

Suddenly Wendy announced that there was a log in our path, and we were going to jump it. Of course, I'd never jumped before, but she said just to lean forward and Tar Baby would do the rest of it. She was right, but of course I got the pommel in the gut — not hard, because it was a little jump, but a pommel in the gut nonetheless.

When I think back on it now, I can't even remember how I survived my first jump. Heck, I can't remember how I cantered back then without falling off. (I still have yet to master the canter as an adult, but that's a subject for a future post.) But apparently I not only survived it, but also enjoyed it, because I clearly remember the adrenaline rush and the ecstatic laughter that followed.

Amazing how easily things come to us as children, isn't it?

Threatening rain

2009-06-20T16:59:00.001-06:00

Today has been grey, overcast, and WINDY all day. According to the forecast, we have a 70 percent chance of rain, with thunderstorms and potentially very heavy rain possible. It certainly seems to be threatening all that, but so far we have yet to see it.

Despite the wind, I got a pretty good — albeit short — ride in today at the barn. Michael came with me to help me put the mini fridge in the tack room (more on that later), and the plan was that he would stay while I rode. Unfortunately, I'd forgotten my camera, so there was even less than usual for him to do. (Because heaven forbid he interact with the horses...) He looked so miserable the entire time that I cut my ride quite short so that I could get him out of there.

I worked primarily some more on getting Panama to maintain a steady pace, first at the walk and then at the trot. It really was too bad that we had to cut the ride short, because he seemed to unexpectedly "get it" right at the end there — our last lap or two around the pasture was virtually perfect.

One thing that I think is making a difference is that I am making a real effort not to just make the same circle around the pasture every time. I figured the best way to keep him from speeding up is to make sure he doesn't always know what is coming next. That way he has to pay attention to me, instead of anticipating what comes next and trying to rush through it.

I mean, I've got to figure — if I get easily bored with "arena" riding (in quotes because technically it's pasture riding!), he probably does too.

We also crossed the practice bridge several times — from the other direction this time, as I wanted to make sure he would do it just as well going the other way. He did, of course! I'm going to have to start stopping him at the top of the bridge and making him go down the other side slowly, though, because he's not controlling his speed downhill and inevitably ends up trotting the last few steps.

Anyway, as I rode over to where Michael was standing and dismounted, I realized how dark the sky had been getting the entire time I was riding. We never did see any lightning, but I suppose with how windy it was, it wasn't entirely a bad thing that my ride was cut short.

What NOT to do when grooming someone else's horse

2009-06-19T19:02:00.000-06:00

I think I've mentioned before that the alpha gelding at my barn is rather ignored. The 13-year-old girl who moved into the rental next door (the pastures span both properties) has been bugging the barn manager/landlord to let her groom him.

Hmmm. I think there's a big difference between grooming a mane and chopping it off. Particularly when it's NOT YOUR HORSE.

In this case, the owners don't come out often enough to notice, let alone care — but I've been growing rather attached to the alpha, so I was outraged. Poor horse. He had such a lovely mane, too, with the exception of one spot where he'd rubbed it short sticking his head between the fence rails. And now it's all gone.

If this had happened to Panama, I would be seeing red. (Which, incidentally, is why I always make sure it's understood that my horse is not to be ridden, groomed, or even treated by anyone except me.)

What about you? Does anyone besides me think this is a glaring violation of the prescribed etiquette when handling someone else's horse?

We need to talk.

2009-06-19T12:58:00.000-06:00

It's 10 am. Do you know where your horses are?

Waiting for their breakfast...

...And starting to get a little desperate.

Lately I've been noticing that the horses are being fed later in the morning than they used to be — like about two hours later. Ten o'clock is a bit late to be getting their first meal of the day, I think — particularly since they get their dinner around 5 or 6 pm.

Another concerning factor is that I've noticed the property owner often has a drink in his hand — and it's getting more and more common. There are times when I suspect he is blitzed, though I can't say for sure. I've been thinking it might have something to do with his late mornings.

I don't want the morning feeding to keep getting later and later, so I decided to have a little talk with the property owner today. I arrived this morning around 9:30, and waited to see what time he fed them. He came out at probably about 10:15 or so.

The problem is, he's been letting them out on the yard first thing, before they get any hay. The instructor who gives lessons on his mare commented that she didn't think that was a very good breakfast for them. I looked it up online, and found several sources that said horses should get hay first, because on an empty belly they are likely to graze too quickly. As you can imagine, for horses that aren't accustomed to grazing as their main source of food, bolting down high-protein green grass spells C-O-L-I-C.

The property owner agreed to start feeding them their hay first, and letting them out to graze as a treat later on. Then I brought up the delicate subject of his drinking. I told him I was worried about the horses, but also about him. I know he's been working through some hard times in his personal life, and I don't think he's handling it very well, but I also am worried that if he's drinking a lot the horses' care is going to slip.

I did mention the morning feeding time, with the hopes that simply drawing his attention to it will work. If he can make sure it doesn't get any later, I'm fine with a 10 am feeding time — as long as it's hay, not grazing, and as long as it doesn't get any later. (I've mentioned to him before that if he feeds them later in the morning, he should also feed them later in the evening. I'm not sure he's taken my advice there. I'll deal with that another time.) I also told him that I was concerned that if he's drinking, he may not be able to adequately deal with an emergency situation.

He vaguely reassured me that he's not drinking too much (definition, please?), and that the horses' care won't suffer. I feel marginally better, but I'm going to keep tabs on it, and if the situation continues to worsen, I'll move Panama. How much this guy drinks on his own property really isn't any of my business, but it is my business how he runs his business — i.e., whether he's doing what I'm paying him to do, which is to provide my horse with a safe home. The whole situation sucks because I love the location, but that one feature simply isn't worth putting my horse in danger!

Horseback riding

2009-06-19T09:37:00.002-06:00

I forgot to mention my ride yesterday in my previous post.

I rode Panama before working on the trailer yesterday, partly because I think he loaded better the first time, after he had worked up a good appetite from our ride. It made him really want that grain... and being reminded of his manners probably helped a bit, too.

Speaking of manners — yesterday he started out being a real pill. We worked quite a bit on not speeding up at certain points. He was doing it even at the walk, so I had my work cut out for me. I had to do something unexpected every time he sped up — turn him, slow him to a walk, make him halt from the trot (which, incidentally, he did faster than when he halts from a walk), etc. After a while, when he no longer knew what to expect from me anymore, he stopped speeding up quite so much. I decided that was good enough.

We also practiced with the bridge again, and today Panama didn't hesitate one bit — we rode straight up to it from all the way across the pasture, and each time he just walked up and over. Last time I rode, he still balked when we walked straight up to it from across the pasture, so this was definite progress.

Finally, we worked a bit on backing up. We've had a hard time with this lately, and today I realized why: It has to do with what command I use. He knows the command, "Back," said in a low voice, because that's how I say it when I'm on the ground with him. But if I say "Back up" in a slightly sing-songy voice (as I tend to on his back), he has no clue what I want him to do. So I changed my command, and now he's doing just fine with it!

I think (I always forget to time it) we rode for longer than usual today. I lost track of time because we had so much to work through, but it was a good feeling. I also feel like I'm getting much stronger and smoother in my posting. I'm so much happier now that I've been getting to ride regularly!

Trailer loading progress!

2009-06-18T22:39:00.000-06:00

Once again, I forgot to take pictures. It's just too hard to manage the camera while I'm also trying to convince Panama to get into the big horse-eating box on wheels.

Anyway, we made some progress today. I decided to start out by putting his grain on the shelf again, just like yesterday didn't happen. Panama thought about it pretty hard, but wouldn't put even one foot into the trailer. Eventually I gave in and put it on the trailer floor, but pushed all the way back so that he couldn't reach it without stepping into the trailer.

Amazingly, that worked, and after trying for several minutes to reach the grain without stepping up (you should have seen him stretching as far as he could, even with his lips!), he finally took a step into the trailer.

The first couple of times he looked around uncertainly and backed out. But it only took twice. After that, he took two steps in and started eating the grain. He still backed out between bites, but slowly, not like he was panicking or anything.

When he got down to where he was just licking the bowl for stray grain, I moved the bowl to the ground just outside the trailer, and while he ate I played with the far door. Panama didn't even flinch. I closed and latched the door. That was fine, too. Then I moved the bowl so that I could close and latch the other door, the one that had bumped him yesterday. No biggie.

Please excuse me while I breathe a sigh of relief that he's not going to hold a grudge against the silly door...

My new saddle stand!

2009-06-17T12:59:00.001-06:00

Yesterday I bought a used folding saddle stand for $15. I've wanted one for a while, so that I could finish organizing the tack room the way I want it.

(Why is it that we have 6 saddles and only 3 horses?)

I've tucked my saddle stand beneath the wall rack that I was using, and put one of the saddles that was being stored on the floor on that rack. Mine is the brown English saddle with the green pad beneath it.

This should leave plenty of space for another saddle stand or two against the same wall. The barn owner is supposed to build a couple more. Heaven knows his own personal little junkyard has enough scrap wood to build almost anything he could dream up.

I'm really excited about having my own saddle stand at last — not to mention getting it for less than half of what the tack stores around here sell them for. It's old and the rack at the bottom for a grooming tote is a little rusty, but it works just fine.

I found it by advertising on ColoradoHorseForum.com that I needed one in that price range. It's a great online community, and I highly recommend the site to all Colorado horse owners!