Drafts with Dots

Conformation Clinic: The Hind Leg

2012-03-06T13:48:00.000-06:00

The hind leg of the horse technically includes the hip. This is because the pelvis is the base of the leg, and same bone that is the thigh area on a human is inside the area we think of as the horse's rump.

Now, getting a photo of the hind legs that allows you a true angle and measurements is easier said then done. Most horses want to face toward their handler - and the camera man - which turns the hip away from the camera. This can slightly skew the angles necessary for true measurements.

The other problem I see most often, are horses who try to step under themselves, or leave a leg behind themselves when the picture is taken. When the hind leg is not directly under the horse, you have too many angles in motion to get a true idea of the horse's conformation.

The parts of the hind leg

Orange dot - point of pelvis (the pelvic wing)
Red dot - Point of hip (bony point at the buttocks)
Yellow dot - stifle (same as a knee on a human)
Blue dot - hock (same as ankle on human)
Green dot - pastern (same as ball of foot on human)
Pink dot - coffin joint (toes on a human)

As you can see, my dots are not exactly centered on the joints, but you get the idea. Sadly, my paint skills are lacking today.

Now, a lot of people get confused because an anatomy lover will use the "exact" terms to refer to the joints of a horse's hind leg, while a layman will use the term closest to what makes sense for them. Because of this, a horse's "knee" is most commonly it's hock on the hind leg, when in reality, the knee is up near the body, and called the stifle. The stifle even has a "knee cap" called the patella. The horse's thigh is located between the red and yellow dots, while its gaskin is between the yellow and blue dots. Both the gaskin and the thigh refer to muscle groups used to move the lower joints.

The ideal hind leg

The ideal hind leg should line up vertically under the horse's point of hip. In this image, you can see how Melody's hind leg pretty much meets pink line. That pink line is a perfect vertical line drawn straight down from the point of hip. Her hock touches it, and the back side of her cannon bone runs along it. Now, this filly is not bearing weight on that hind leg (notice the toe of her hoof pointing down a bit) which will cause minor variations, but overall this is a good example of how the hind leg should be under the horse.

Many flaws of the hind leg are horses who do not meet this angle. When judging conformation, you must be careful to take into consideration age (growth spurts will cause the hip to be high, and throw the entire pelvis and hind leg out from the vertical) and movement.

Here is a picture of Quagga taken while he was fidgeting. Notice that his left hind leg is in motion, and his right (near) hind leg is well behind the vertical? You can see his hock poking out behind the pink line, as well as most of his cannon bone and pastern joint.

This does not mean his hind legs are flawed, but rather that as he shifts his weight forward, the supporting hind leg will trail behind until the weight transfers to the left hind. While this picture is "close" to being able to be used for a conformational analysis, the hind legs should not be judged from a stance like this.

This picture, shows you an example of a horse turning into the camera. Notice how you can see the front part of his chest, and can just make out the inside of his far side leg in front of his near side foreleg? That means that the horse is either bent through the body, or turned toward the camera. In this case, it's both, but the color of the horse's body makes it almost impossible to detect.

Because of this, the angle of view for the hind leg will set the cannon bone well ahead of the vertical. His hock almost touches the line, but his cannon and pastern are well in front of it.

Also notice the direction this stallion's feet are pointing. Pretty much all of his toes are pointing in different directions, meaning that this pretty boy is not standing "true", and so most conformation lines taken from this type of wonky image won't be accurate.

I have to mention here, that I'm really glad right now that I did not delete these "wonky" pictures of the boys.

Now, there are many conformational faults of the hind legs, but today I will only deal with those seen from the side. Some you may have heard of, others are much less common terms.

Sickle Hocked and Out Behind - or excessively long hind limbs

I believe that this is the most common conformation "fault" seen in the hind legs. I use quotes around fault, because for some purposes, a sickle hocked horse can be just as useful in moderation, if not more useful then a proper hind leg. A horse with a sickle hock has too much angle in the hind legs. This allows the horse to have more action, but at the cost of more wear and tear on the legs. Sickle hocks are commonly seen in gaited horses and jumping horses, and recently have begun making an appearance in dressage horses. Of course, severe sickle hocks cause more severe strain, so disciplines using horses with sickle hocks are seen using very minor cases.

Here is Sweetie, shown again at 18 months of age. You can see that her hock almost meets the vertical pink line, but her pastern is much further ahead. Her far side hind leg is stretched out well behind her, but this near leg is bearing weight, and squarely under her.

Now, to be fair, Sweetie is in a very awkward stage of growth in this image. Her hip is high, which alters the angle of her pelvis and all the joints of the hind leg below that. This makes her sickle hocked appearance more noticeable (hence why I used this picture as an example).

But when a horse has sickle hocks, it's often hard to get that horse to bear its weight with its hock lined up with the point of hip. Most commonly you will see the horses standing with their legs out behind them.

So here is Sweetie in a more relaxed position. Her hock is slightly behind the vertical line, and her cannon bone actually slopes away from the vertical, while her pastern is on the vertical.

Basically, her hind leg is too long for her proper center of balance, so depending upon where she puts her balance (under her, or behind her) the "fault" will vary between sickle hocked and out behind.

Now, there is some debate about these 2 flaws. Dr. Deb Bennett has studied the measurements of many horses, and found that these flaws are the same, but through out history they were seen as 2 distinctly different problems.

This is because the leg is made up of more then just the hock. Horses with excessively long hind legs, whose hooves tend to have less heel will naturally stand under themselves, and bear weight on their heel. Horses who have a longer heel will naturally find it easier to camp their overly long hind legs out behind them, and bear weight closer to the toe of the hoof. Because of this, a sickle hocked mare can produce a camped out foal. I choose to refer to both problems as 'sickle hocked' to avoid confusion with the preferred show stance of several breeds (including Tennessee Walking Horses, Arabians, and Saddlebreds) who pose their horses in a stretched pose, and call it "camping them out".

Post Legged - or excessively short hind limbs

The next flaw of the hind legs is actually the opposite of sickle hocked. These horses have an overall shorter hind leg, and to balance their weight they tend to stand with little to no angles in the hind leg.

This mare is slightly post legged. While the color scheme of the picture (all kinds of shades of brown) makes it a bit hard to see, look closely. The mare's hock does not actually touch the vertical line, but rather is set well in front of it, and her hind cannon bone is almost straight.

This results in the hock joint being open almost straight up and down. The line of her gaskin is much more vertical then the filly above, and her hind pasterns also tend to be straighter. This conformational fault will place strain on the stifle, and ligaments around the patella as they strain to compensate for the lack of flexion lower down.

Now, as with all things, post legged horses are preferred in some disciplines. For a while, the trend was for halter horses to be rather post legged, and sadly, I can not tell you why, as I know so very little about western halter classes. Now, in cutting and reining, post legged horses are often seen, and in some cases perform well. This is because when these horses get low in the front, they are naturally correcting the flaw of being too short in the hind legs, and reducing the strain by creating more angulation.

Overview

The conformation of the hind legs of a horse directly effects the job that a horse is suited for. Ironically, we most often look at the forehand of a horse before the hind legs though. While most conformational texts break up the faults of the hind leg more, in reality it all boils down to 2 things: are the legs too long or too short, and does the horse try to balance too far under or too far out behind.

The proportions of the hind leg can be properly calculated for each horse based upon using the vertical line, rather then needing to measure out percentages of overall body length. If the back of the cannon bone lies even with a vertical line falling from the point of the buttocks, then the horse's hind leg is of proper length and the angulation of the joints should be within the margin of error for the ideal.

The Sugarbush Draft Horse

The hind legs of the Sugarbush Draft Horse should be no different then the ideal conformation of a horse. The Sugarbush Draft Horse does not have excessive action in the legs, so over angulation of the hocks is not beneficial, and is considered a fault in the breed.

Because of the mass of these horses (as draft horses) too short limbs in the hind can cause excessive strain, because the overall conformation of the Sugarbush Draft Horse is not beneficial to a horse that can bend low on the forehand.

A little bit of Crazy

2012-02-20T11:47:00.000-06:00

So, last week I was supposed to finish my blog series on Conformation. Yeah, I was also supposed to finish a fence, work a few horses, and host an SCA event last weekend.

So, it was all going according to plan until about Monday of last week. At that point, a little snow, and a little more rain put us behind schedule. So, we put on the big push to get all ready. Jae's out working long days, but things are going well. The blog is secondary to the "real" work (i.e. real live ponies in my pasture) and so focus on that.

And then, Thursday, the forecast starts looking bad. There's some debate and discussion through the day: will they be right, will it really rain, and if it rains how bad will it be? And then Thursday evening the forecast changes to 80% rain. The SCA event was cancelled. Boo!

And Friday morning, Jae wakes up sick. Poor guy, he ached all over, but thought it was fencing. All week long he had been saying he was out of shape. Lo and Behold, it wasn't that, but the flu trying to get him (or a cold, who knows). So Friday he spikes a fever, and is pretty much laid up in bed all day. Saturday he's better, but I'm achy.

Yep, and Sunday, I got it. So here I am today, kinda ok, but just exhausted. Jae is a complete wuss too, and still just wiped out. On the upside, this means that I'll be writing all day today I believe, so expect to see the rest of those conformation clinics this week!

The Man Behind the Horses - A Valentine's Day Tribute

2012-02-14T19:55:00.000-06:00

It's a romance story, like many others, boy meets girl, girl likes boy, they live happily ever after, right? But the devil is in the details, and sometimes the details make all the difference.

Back in 2004, I made a great friend out of some guy in Canada, who I knew from online. In early 2005, Jae and I realized we were a perfect match, the kind of match that is just meant to be. He's strong willed but hates taking charge, I'd be happy to have someone else make the decisions, but take charge easily. He likes to be told exactly where he stands, and I can't help but tell people exactly where they stand. Jae loves to work with his hands, but is smart enough to be the brainiac. I like to work with my mind, but am handy enough to assist. We are similar in so many ways, and complimentary in others. Then there's the animals.

I love animals. Shockingly to most people, the ONE animal I could never live with out, would be a dog. I will always have a dog in my life. Next of course, are the horses, followed closely by the cats. While I love cats, I really don't "get" them like I do the dogs and horses. Jae though, is the cat man. I mean, they LOVE him. He can't go anywhere with out having some strange cat come love on him. But he loves all animals as well.

Jae always wanted a slew of dogs - and a pack is what I owned when we met. I had 5 dogs of my own, plus fosters. He thought horses were amazing, and had always dreamed of owning one.... one day. Well, at that time, I had 6.

I was finishing up my degree, biology with an emphasis in genetics studies for veterinary medicine. I had always thought I would 'grow up' and be a research veterinarian. I love the science of it all, but hate working hands on with people. What I wanted though, was to work only with animals.

So one evening, over coffee at Denny's, Jae and I started talking about our dreams. It was the typical "If you could do ANYTHING you wanted, what would you do?" type of conversation. I mentioned that I thought the world needed a better amateur horse. Oh sure, Quarter Horses are good, but they aren't exactly built for everything under the sun, and my interests have always been English riding. Most "low cost" sport horses are off the track Thoroughbreds, a breed that is often more horse then the owner really needs (although one of MY favorite breeds). I wondered, why can't you get a horse with the abilities of the Thoroughbred, and the personality of the baroque horses, with a price tag a bit closer to the college student, young family, or retiree's income range?

Regular readers of my blog know how THAT turned out.

Jae listened thoughtfully to me, asked many pointed questions, and was happy to realize that I really did know what I was talking about, and had thought it through. Then he asks me, "So why DON'T you do it?". Uh, because horses are expensive? Because you have to do something to PAY to keep them? Money, it's always the money.

It all started with Spot, and then leasing "O". One thing lead to another, until we ended up where we are now. Jae has never complained once about all the work the horses make for him. Fencing, broken trucks, barn repairs, thawing out water hoses in freezing weather, he loves it. When I ask him why he puts up with MY passion, he tells me, "It's not just yours you know, I like the horses too!".

Now, I don't truly celebrate Valentine's Day. For me, everyday is what people wish that Valentine's Day was. Jae starts my day with a coffee on my desk, and keeps that thing filled all day long. He has been known to sneak out while I'm doing my "paper work" and take care of the feed, or stalls, or turning in/out of horses. In return, I do the only thing I really can for a man this wonderful. I tell him "thank you". I tell him that a lot.

Some women might dream of diamonds, gold, chocolate, or roses for this holiday. Me? I can't think of a thing I would even ask for. I have everything I truly desire - a man who loves me, and not only tolerates, but also enjoys the things I do. I am so much more appreciative of having a man who takes the time to teach me how to update a web page, then I am of a few store bought flowers that will fade away. I can hear him say "I love you dear" with every hot cup of coffee that miraculously appears on my desk while I am deeply engrossed in lines on horses. I swear I see the tights and cape hidden under his baggy jeans each time he calmly responds to my panic about a fence down, a board broken, or a tire being flat. His Clark Kent facade slips each time he keeps me calm while simultaneously corralling the horses, welding a new fence section, or stitching in a buckle on my broken halter that I "need!".

While my dream house might be taking longer then I had hoped, I can't help but be thrilled that we built it together. Jae takes a quiet pride in being able to make things for me. Things I truly love and appreciate! How could I wish for diamonds, when I have a set of wind chimes made from the old fence? I always would ask him "can't we do anything USEFUL with that thing? I hate that fence!" Now, it makes a lovely deep melody when a storm is blowing in, helping to keep me, and the horses, calm while frantically trying to finish up before the rain/snow/wind/tornado comes in.

And Jae turned into a little boy playing with tinker toys while making it. That was worth as much, if not more, then the wind chimes he made for me.

Jae has his own horses too. He chose one mare, the meanest craziest, evilest horse of the bunch, and made her his baby. She dotes on him, and loves him. Because of him, that mare has a place in the world, and he tells me that one day, he's going to break her to ride. To me, it doesn't matter. That's his pet, and if he just wants to hang out with her in the pasture, that's his prerogative.

But, that's not his only horse! Oh no. Quagga, the stallion who very notoriously disliked men, took a strange fondness to Jae. Q will dance, sing, and make a spectacle for Jae. For the rest of us, he's a good boy, but for Jae, he's a best friend.

And yet, I can't get Jae to ride very often. His passion is in the property, and the details. Jae loves making things better, and he does a great job of it, but riding is something that always gets put on the back burner. One day though, I will have him on the back of a horse because he wants to be there, not just because I asked nicely.

So, when other men are scrambling trying to get something to show their woman that they love her, Jae is one upping them again. He's outside building me a new fence. Chocolate is nice and all, but a cross fenced pasture is WAY better.

And what does he ask for in return? All he wants, is for me to not take him for granted. Everytime he brings me a coffee, makes dinner, cleans the house, builds something I need, fixes something I broke, or performs miracles at the exact moment I really need one, I always find myself thinking "HOW could you take this for granted?".

And so, everyday Jae and I celebrate Valentines day in our own little way by paying attention to the details. A kind word about a little deed goes a long way in making someone's day better. Having some one appreciate the little things you do always seems to be so much more important then the kudos for the big things. The devil's in the details, and I do my best to catch every little one of them.

Thank you Jae.

Conformation Clinic: The Hip

2012-02-14T16:14:00.000-06:00

The hind end of the horse only carries 40% of the horse's body weight usually. While training and collection can change those ratios, when relaxed and moving on its own, the horse tends to move on the forehand. Because of this, the hip angle is often given less importance then the shoulder angle, yet it too determines how a horse moves.

Judging the shape of the muscling on a horse is purely an aesthetic thing. Horses with lean muscles may be preferred in some breeds (Arabians, Saddlebreds) while horses with bulky muscles are commonly seen in other breeds (most draft horses, stock horses). Because size and shape of the muscles can be influenced and altered by training and conditioning, I won't go into that here. Instead, I want to focus on the skeleton of the horse, which can not be changed.

Oh example horse today is Ishka, a 5 year old Appaloosa mare, owned by my mother.

The Lines and Measurements:
The main areas of interest that we are going to look at are the bony protrusion of the pelvis at the flank (Hip bone) to the point of hip - what would be the seat bone in a person. The point of hip can be felt on the horse's buttocks, and usually can be seen as a slight pointed area below the dock of the tail. The last point of reference is the stifle, or "knee cap" of the horse. The horse's stifle is located just below the horse's sheath (in males) on the leg, near where it meets the body at the flank.

The lines made between these angles should form a pretty even looking triangle. Deviations from an equilateral triangle result in a loss of balance overall, but may be found in horses with specialized breeding. The equilateral triangle shape gives the horse equal power to carry the leg forward as it does to carry the leg back.

As an aside, I want to point out how little information is really available on this. When writing this, I started to get all the numbers mixed up in my head, so went to check a few sources (my favorites are here, here and here) I could find tons of people talking about "goose rumps" and "ideal rumps" and such, but no basis for measurements. With out the numbers to compare to, conformation is little more then an opinion. But I did find them (and realized my confusion is due to the range allowed).

So, the top line of that triangle there, which measures the length of the pelvis, should be 30% of the horse's total body length. Longer then that has few problems associated with it. Rather it's the short hip that has most of the negative impact on the horse.

The angle of the hip is judged against "level" or the horizontal. Again, it is standard to use a perfectly flat line (when the horse's feet are level, otherwise use the same angle as the ground the horse is standing on) but this results in flaws on growing horses.

To get an idea of the variance of a horse while it is in an awkward stage of growth, I compare the horse's angles both to "level" and to the horse's center of balance. I discussed how to find the center of balance previously, both when talking about the shoulder, and the body. Of course, this method is not perfect, so should then be compared to the measurement against the horizontal.

In the case of Ishka, the angle of her hip is 23 degrees when compared to the horizontal. Ideally, the shoulder angle and hip angle should be the same. Ishka's shoulder angle is 44.2 degrees (so pretty much perfect) but her hip angle does not match that at all. Technically this is a flaw, but it's a flaw that is bred for in many breeds to gain action in the hind end.

What the Hip Angle means for movement:
The more shallow (horizontal) the hip angle, the easier it is for the horse to lift it's hind legs toward its belly. In Ishka's case, her sloped shoulder gives her a very smooth ride, while her shallow hip gives her suspension and lift in most of her gaits. Ishka has lovely expression of movement, and easily engages her hind as much as her forehand. Notice below that even when moving in a lazy way, her hind end has as much lift, if not more, then her forehand.

But there's a downside to it. The more shallow the hip angle, the less power a horse has from the hind end. You probably have noticed that stock horses and draft horses both tend to have more sloped hips. This allows them to use their pelvis and femur as a lever against the ground, giving the horse "torque". The more slope, the more "engine" a horse has from the hind.

Here is Diva showing what I mean. Her well sloped hip allows her to give this kind of push with ease.

The Hip Angle:
Of course, as with the shoulder, the angle of the joint to itself is also important. When discussing the shoulder, we talked about the openness between the scapula (shoulder blade) and the humerus (forearm). In the hip, it is the angle between the pelvis and the femur (upper leg bone).

The ideal angle is 90 degrees. More openness (an angle larger then 90 degrees) means that the horse will have more reach. This is good for race horses, or jumpers, as it allows the leg to reach completely out behind the horse before the femur comes into contact with the lowest part of the pelvis.

A more closed angle, or one that is less then 90 degrees, allows the horse to bring its legs under itself more. This is ideal for the dressage horse, and horses with high action in the hind legs (such as Hackney Horses and Clydesdales).

Ishka, the chestnut Appaloosa mare we've been looking at, has a hip angle of 70.6 degrees. This is considered to be a closed angle, and should give her higher action, but her action is only mediocre. Naturally, that's because there's more to it! The hip is connected to the rest of the horse, and it's relation to the horse matters.

Hip Length:
So, a horse should have a hip length of at least 30% of its body length. Ishka's hip is 30.2% so just barely long enough.

To calculate the length of the hip in comparison to the horse's body, you need 2 lines. The red line is the hip, as measured from the point of the hip to the hip bone (some may say point of hip to point of buttocks, it gets a bit confusing as "point of hip" refers to many things, depending upon how it is used). The other red line there is Ishka's shoulder, as measured from point of shoulder to top of withers. I think y'all can figure out which is which.

The blue line connects the 2, and is the horse's body length. This line starts at the point of the shoulder, and goes to the point of the pelvis on the buttocks (point of hip, as I have been using it in this series). Ishka's body measured out to 11.96 cm, while her hip line was 3.6cm. Again, I use metric because it makes the math easy, and the actual numbers don't really matter, since my REAL horse is much longer then 12 centimeters! It's all about the ratio of one length to the other, and so long as the image is not distorted, and is to proper scale, the ratio is the same.

So, if you divide the length of the hip (3.6) by the length of the body (11.96) you get the percentage of the body length of the hip. 3.6/11.96 = 0.3017... or 30.2%.

Effect of Hip Length on Movement:
So, a short hip would be one that is less then 30% of the horse's body length. A long hip is one that is more then 35% of the horse's body length.

A horse with a short hip has a harder time collecting, because the muscles are shorter in the lower back and upper leg. This results in difficulty rounding the lower back (i.e. collection) and a loss of driving power (impulsion). While these horses may be "quick" to move, the speed (think miles per hour) is less then that of a horse with a longer hip. This can be beneficial in certain disciplines such as cutting where the horse must stay in a flexed position, and make many rapid changes in hind leg placement.

A horse with a long hip is usually idea, but in some cases the hip length can be too long. This results in a horse who tends to stand camped out, or a horse who may have sickle hocks (more on that with hind legs). The length of hip actually interferes with the horse's ability to get its own body out of the way of its legs, thus limiting flexibility. This is a more uncommon "flaw" in horses, since the excess of hip length must be significant (usually over 40% of body length, depending upon other angles).

The Overview:
So, if we put this all together, you can see that most hips are useful for something. The point of knowing a horse's conformation is to make sure that the horse is working at a job that it can be comfortable doing, and to give the horse the best chance to excel in its discipline.

The main influence the hip has, is on the movement of the lower legs and back of the horse. You can not ask a horse to round its back with out asking it to move its hip, simply because of the way the horse is made. The connections between the back and the legs (which is important in most disciplines) relies strongly on the hip and hip angle in the horse.

The Sugarbush Draft Horse

The Sugarbush Draft Horse tends to have a slightly flat hip, with a slightly closed hip angle. Ideally the Sugarbush Draft Horse should have a hip angle between 80 and 100 degrees, with the slope of the hip being between 35 and 40 degrees. This reduces the horse's pulling ability, but gives it impulsion and suspension.

Since the Sugarbush Draft Horse is not built to pull heavy weight (unlike most draft breeds) but rather is a riding horse, this hip conformation results in a moderately powerful yet very graceful riding horse. This is the area the Sugarbush Draft Horse excels.

Conformation Clinic: The Body

2012-02-10T14:17:00.000-06:00

Today I want to talk about some parts of the body, mainly the back, length of body, and talk more about uphill and downhill. Our equine model is Cayenne, a 2005 AQHA filly who became part of my family when she was orphaned at 2 days old.

While the "body" of a horse, technically is the whole horse, for today's discussion, it's the main body: everything that is not the head/neck, legs, or tail.

We do so many measurements on our horses for everyday use - girth length, blanket size, etc. - that it gets confusing when you are measuring a horse for conformational analysis. The lines for conformation are rarely the lines for equipment, and most times they don't connect where you think they should. Instead, all of these lines connect to the skeleton.

This is because if you measure the outside of the horse, those angles and measurements change with muscling and weight gain. Neither Muscle nor fat affect the function of the horse's body though. Everything ties in together with the skeleton, and we can easily feel many of the horse's bones (and see some) through its skin.

Uphill or Downhill?
One of the most commonly discussed and least understood terms used in horses is "uphill" and "downhill".

There are 3 lines in the picture above. The green line at the bottom shows a level ground (and I had to tilt this picture a bit to get the mare's feet level with that line, about 1 degree). The Yellow line is the horse's structural center of balance, drawn from the hip joint to the base of the neck. The light blue line is the topline, drawn from the withers to the top of the croup.

So when we talk about a horse being "downhill" which line do we use? Ok, he green one is obviously just for reference, but still, do you actually know?

The problem is that measuring a horse's topline as a basis for conformation has become so common, that most people think it's the rule now. A horse's center of balance - whether it is uphill or downhill - affects the horse's way of going, and easy of performing specific moves. Whether those are dressage moves, or cutting moves, the horse's center of balance is still in play. A horse's top line is really nothing more then eye candy.

Horses with high withers have a disproportionate top line, as do horses with a pointed croup. Mutton withers, flat croup? Same thing. While those bits have their own effect on the overall function of the horse, they don't change the horse's center of balance. Lets look at a few examples.

This mare, Arden, has both the same angle to her topline, as her center of balance. In this case, it doesn't really matter which line you measure.

Boo though, has a flat croup which makes his top line appear more "uphill" then his center of balance. This horse is structurally "level", being neither up nor downhill.

And Rico, shown in his yearling uglies. Yes, I had to turn this picture to get his feet level (he's standing on a hill here, as the fence behind him shows). But his hip has grown while his shoulder hasn't, leaving his topline to be very downhill. Even with that though, his center of balance is pretty much level.

So how does this work? How can the shoulder and hip be different then the overall balance? Well, that's because what is being measured is the spine, not the outside of the horse.

Now if you look inside the horse, you can see what we're really measuring. The blue line goes from the top of the withers, to the top of the pelvis. The length of the withers, the tilt of the pelvis, as well as the muscle and fat on top of those, will all affect this line.

The yellow line goes from where the spine comes into the shoulder to the hip joint. You can find the hip joint on a picture by drawing a line from the hip bone (the pointy bit on the flank) to the point of hip. The hip joint is approximately in the middle of the rump on that line.

I can't tell you which method of measurement is "correct", as the topline has become the most common, but the structural center of balance is the most telling about the horse. If you know both types of measurements though, it doesn't matter which is more "right".

Body Length
Most measurements for the horse's body are compared against the body length. To find the length of the body, measure the horse from the point of hip to the point of the shoulder. This line will always be on a downhill slope.

For comparison, you don't need to go out, see the horse, and measure the real length of this line. Simply sticking a ruler up to the picture (or a digital overlay ruler) works fine. So long as you use the same image, in the same resolution for your measurements, they work out. This is because you're actually measuring the proportions, and not the actual inches of the horse.

So, lets look at where that line is on the horse skeleton:

Here you can see where the bones lie inside the horse. The point of hip does not actually touch the outside of the horse (there's some muscle that overlays it) but it can be felt, and in most cases seen, on the horse. The point of shoulder is easily visible in a standing image.

This line really tells us little about the horse by itself, but it's the basis for all of the other comparisons we make in the body. If something is "short" or "long" it is in relation to this line.

Back Length:
The length of the back is one example of a measurement judged against the overall body length. The horse's back should be 1/3rd of it's body length, but horses between 1/3rd and 1/2 of the body length are useful for different reasons. In many instances, you will see this measured with rectangles. While that works, getting identical rectangles drawn, copied, and moved around the image is only easy if you're very comfortable with digital drawing programs. I won't even go there, as I'm struggling to use them myself.

Instead, I use the super simply "MS Paint" and just draw lines and use the ruler. This is the more accurate method, and while not as pretty, it tells me all I need to know.

So the back is measured from the point of the withers to the Lumbar Sacral joint. If you just went, "The WHA??" don't worry, you're not alone. The lumbar sacral joint is the point where the spine goes through the pelvis.

Now, the actual joint here is inside the horse, but we use the exterior area of this joint for the measurement. If you're comfortable with your horse's body, you probably know where it is. That soft spot in the lower back of your horse. On a well muscled horse it is not easy to see though.

So, I'm going to pull out a picture of a horse in sad shape. This is "Moon" one of our Second Chance horses here. She came to us very thin, but it allowed us to easily see her LS (Lumbar Sacral) joint.

See the dip in her back (inside the red circle with the green arrow pointing at it)? This is where her spine makes the turn down to go through the pelvis. It is this "soft spot" that we use for measuring the back, as it's what can be felt by our hands.

So lets judge a horse's back length. Here's Cayenne, with her back length in white, and her body length in blue:

Her total body length is 11.92 cm, while her back length is 5.14cm. You can measure in inches if you prefer, but it makes the math harder then using metric. To have an ideal back length, the horse's back will be 1/3rd the total body length, or 11.92 divided by 3 (=3.97). So, since 5.14 is bigger then 3.97, we can safely say that Cayenne has a "long" back. If you divide the length of back by the length of body (5.14/11.92) you get the percentage of the length of back to the total body length (In Cayenne's case that is 43%).

But here is where it all gets confusing. The "ideal" length of back also depends upon what you want to do with your horse. Horses with longer backs (1/3rd to 1/2 body length) tend to be smoother to ride, as the back works as a shock absorber. Most gaited horses are long backed, as an example. Long backed horses also have more flexibility in their backs. This can be useful in dressage to get the horse rounded and engaging its hind quarters.

On the flip side, a short backed horse (1/3rd of body length and under) is stronger, and often more agile. These horses have less worry about straining their back when doing work, and often can work longer hours while carrying weight. Many draft horse breeds, such as the Belgian Draft Horse, are short backed to allow more power when pulling.

Overview:
While there's a lot more involved in the body then just this, I want to leave off here. No one needs a headache, right? So lets look at what all of these lines means for the conformation of our little Quarter Horse.

Cayenne has a long back, and a level build. This means that she will have very smooth, non-jarring gaits that are easy to ride. This type of conformation is ideal for the trail horse, allowing the horse to bend and flex with terrain, and yet strong enough to support the rider. Her level center of balance is the happy middle between flashy action (uphill) and quick take off (downhill). In other words she will excel as a "jack of all trades' type of horse.

I will go into more flaws of the body when we discuss overall balance at a later date.

The Sugarbush Draft Horse:

The Sugarbush Draft Horse ideally should have a back length of just over 1/3rd of the total body length. This falls into the range accepted as "medium long" (between 33% and 45% of the total body length). This allows the Sugarbush Draft Horse the laxity in the back to give its rider a comfortable ride, while being short enough to keep the action of the legs presentable.

The Sugarbush Draft Horse does not typically excel at highly collected work because of this, but can perform well with proper training and conditioning.

The Sugarbush Draft Horse should have a slightly uphill center of balance. This helps allow the horse to round and offers freedom of the forelegs and ease in shifting the balance of weight onto the hind end. Because of this, the horse's gaits are large, smooth, and pleasurable.

Programming Note:
The next installment of the Conformation Clinic will resume on Monday. Weekends are a bit crazy around here, so I will need the time to prepare all of the example pictures. Hope everyone gets to spend some good time with their horses!

Conformation Clinic: The Forelegs

2012-02-09T12:15:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, we discussed the shoulder of a horse. Today, I want to talk about the horse's front legs, and how to angles of those legs affect a horse's future soundness. Like the shoulder, there are a lot of imaginary lines involved in measuring this, and those lines can often get overwhelming. I hope to break them down into something that makes a little bit of sense.

Today's example horse, is Boo, a 13 year old Arabian Gelding. I've often referred to Boo as my "conformational nightmare" (in a loving way of course) because while he has all the "foof" you can want, his bits and pieces aren't exactly correct. Before I embarrass the poor guy though, lets talk about the ideal foreleg and it's purpose in the horse.

The Front Leg:

The natural balance of a horse puts about 60% of the animal's body weight on the forelegs. This means that the front legs are doing most of the work in supporting the entire body of the horse. Good muscling and straightness of bone help to prevent soundness issues. The size of the tendons as compared to the size of the horse's joints and bones is also important. They must be large enough to support the weight above, and angled in a manner to be the most efficient.

The pasterns should slope at the same angle as the shoulder. This allows the joints to have a spring effect with out damaging the internal structures. When the angles are the same, it minimizes the forces acting upon the connective tissues. Since none of us wants a physics lesson, you'll have to trust me on this. The pasterns should fall within a range of 3/4 to 1/2 the length of the cannon bone. More then 3/4 the length of the cannon is considered long, while less then half is considered short.

Ideally a horse should have a forearm longer then the cannon bone. This allows the horse more length of stride with less effort, and absorbs some of the concussive forces (from the impact of the leg striking the ground). A short forearm will give the horse more "action" but can also inhib a horse's speed abilities.

Leg Placement on the Body:
Ok, so we know what we should be looking for, the big question is, how do we figure it all out. Many of those phrases are pretty vague and while they seem to make sense, our confusion appears as soon as those dreaded colored lines show up on a horse picture. Uh oh, I think I can see some now!

Those red lines may look familiar from the discussion on shoulder angles yesterday. The blue line is measuring Boo's withers to his elbow. Ideally this line should be straight up and down (vertical) but you can see it's not. The yellow line is where the vertical should be. One of the things that becomes aparent from that triangle and vertical line comparison, is that Boo has a shallow chest, hence his legs are not able to be placed in the ideal position.

I chose Boo, because he is a wonderful example of one wrong angle setting the rest out of place. If you look at the slope of his shoulder, you can see that it is very steep. This means that Boo should have a jarring gait that tends to be short and choppy. And yes, you can ask any one who has ridden him, and they will tell you this is a fair assessment of his way of going. But, that upright shoulder moves his withers forward, puts the point of his chest in (toward his body), which makes that blue line have to slope back to meet his elbow. In other words, his center of balance on the forehand is not vertical, and thus causes more wear and tear on his legs.

Here is a horse with a much better leg placement. Keeley is a 22 year old Quarter Horse mare. You can see here that her withers to elbow line is not quite vertical, but the mare is leaning forward (for the cookie used to get her ears up). The slight variation shown here is well within what is considered an ideal range, especially considering the mare is not standing perfectly - and really, how often DO they stand perfectly?

You can also see that Keeley has a much better shoulder slope, but a tighter shoulder angle (the longer red line is laid back more, but the joint isn't as wide on the grey horse as the bay). This indicates that Keeley will have some inhibition in stride length, because of how she's put together (and oddly, she tends to take small steps).

Notice how the yellow line on Keeley (grey mare) falls almost perfectly down the backside of her front legs? This is the ideal conformation placement of the legs in relation to the rest of the body. Boo's legs (the bay gelding) peek behind the yellow line, a conformational fault often called "camped under" "standing under itself".

Straightness of Leg:
You can already see from the placement of the leg on the body that Boo's front legs aren't ideal, but lets look into this a bit more.

The red lines again show the points of his wither, point of chest, and elbow (from top down). The yellow lines are "guide lines" and are perfectly vertical. The rightmost yellow line is straight down from his elbow, and the leftmost is striaght up from the tip of his hoof. This is the ideal placement for his leg - no part of his leg should fall outside these yellow lines, but his pastern does. The pink line in there, is placed at the center of his upper arm bone, and is also vertical.

Now, lets pick apart the poor gelding's legs! Starting from the top, and working our way down, you can see that the back side of his leg does not line up well with the right most yellow line. This is because Boo's leg attaches too far forward in relation to his center of balance, and so he must stand "under himself" in order to keep from tipping over. Intense impact, such as jumping, higher level dressage movements, or riding through difficult terrain would be hard on the soundness of this horse's legs.

Calf Knee:
Next you can see that the front edge of Boo's leg seems to fall further away from the left most yellow line as you move down.his leg almost makes a backwards C shape"

The green line shows the backwards C shape I was referring to above. This fault is known as calf kneed (although Boo's version is minimal). It is commonly seen in horses who stand under themselves, but is more of a conformational concern in a horse who has a good base to its leg. In Boo's case, this is caused by the pressures of gravity pulling against his angled leg support causing slight hyper flexion. In a horse with a straight base of leg, being calf kneed is a sign of a weak carpus (front "knee") joint. Horses who have a weak carpus often will show some signs of being unsound very "young" (mid teens) and require light riding and supplements for their comfort.

In all honesty, I can't think of a single horse who is back at the leg, and doesn't show some form of a calf knee. I'm sure they exist, but these 2 faults often go hand in hand.

Camped Out, or Standing in front of him/herself:

While Boo is a typical example of standing under himself, the reverse is also a flaw. Horses whose legs attach behind their center of balance must stand with their legs out in front of their body in order to hold the weight.

This flaw is rare enough that the only good example I could find was a diagram (shown at left).

In most cases, horses who have this type of stance are uncomfortable. Navicular, laminitis (founder) or other hoof related issues can be the cause of it. In some cases this fault can be corrected with proper hoof care, in others - such as Navicular Disease/Syndrome - the problem is with the connective tissues (tendons, ligaments). In most cases proper farrier care is extremely important to keep the horse comfortable. Minor examples of being camped out in the front may be sound for light riding, but I highly recommend veterinary advice before making that decision.

As you can see, camped out is a much more serious flaw then camped under. While a camped under horse must have it's conformation taken into consideration for the work it is asked to do, most camped under horses are sound and make great trail horses, or light competition mounts. So long as the horse's conformational faults are realized, and their job is chosen based on their physical limitations, the unsoundness issues mentioned above can be avoided.

Over At The Knee:
The opposite flaw from Boo's "Calf Knee" is what is called "over at the knee. This is most commonly seen in young horses, as they grow. Here are a few examples:

The chestnut Appaloosa gelding (top) shows a minor "buck knee" while the mule (bottom) shows a more obvious example of this fault. The Appaloosa image was kindly submitted by Mary B, and the Mule from Anna L. Thank you for the examples ladies!

Here's the colored lines to make the flaw more obvious in case you're still trying to see it:

Notice the bend in the front legs? That is the flaw that "over at the knee" or a "buck knee" (same thing) causes. This means that the horse's legs are structurally more inclined to fold, rather then support the horse. Now, these are both babies, and we tend to not worry too much about being over at the knee as a young animal. This is because every joint bone has a growth plate on it. The growth plates are sections of bone that have not yet calcified, and leave room for expansion. The "I hate science' version: this is where the growing happens. As these bones expand and lengthen, their relation to the ideal angles of the animal will alter as well. Often times a growth spurt causes all the bits to get out of line with each other, but time corrects it.

So, while this is something to be aware of, do not judge young animals too harshly for being over at the knee. Once the horse is mature though, this is a significant conformational flaw. Animals who are over at the knee when mature tend to experience more stress on all the joints of the leg. Just like with Boo above, their conformational faults need to be taken into consideration when choosing a job for them.

Above is the Appaloosa gelding shown at 2 years of age. While you can still see a slight bend in his carpus angle, it is greatly reduced from his younger picture. Of course, his dark knees help to amplify the appearance of any variation. By the time this boy is fully grown (around 6 in horses) I would expect any deviation to be so minor as to be within "normal" range.

The Pasterns:

Ok, so the last part of the leg is the pasterns. So often I have heard people talk about a horse with "long pasterns" or "short pasterns" or "upright" pasterns. Yet, when I went to double check my own knowledge, there's rarely ever given a base of comparison. This leaves people trying to guess more often then measure, and results in a lot of confusion.

But there is a basis of comparison. The horse!

The green line shown here is Boo's cannon bone length, while the pink line shows both the length and slope of his pastern, and another pink line shows the slope of his shoulder.

The horse's pastern should slope at the same angle as the horse's shoulder. This creates symmetry and efficiency in the horse's shock absorption. in Boo's case, the angles are pretty close, his shoulder angle is 52 degrees, and his pastern angle is 54 degrees. The ideal of course is 45 degrees, with up to 50 degrees being acceptable. Boo, as we've talked about before, is rather steep in his angles.

This means that when his legs hit the ground, the concussive forces of that impact are sent right up the leg bones, and into the rider. In other words, his gaits tend to be jarring. This is similar in physics to a tight spring as compared to a loose one. The more area available to flex, the more energy goes into flexing those areas, and not flexing the rider's hiney.

A more laid back angle allows this. Just think about those lines as pieces of wood, joined with a single nail through them. Push straight down, and it's likely that the nail will not hold the wood in place, and the angle will ultimately bend into an L shape. The more upright the pink lines, the more you have to push to get the L. That force - used to flex the joint - is the energy of impact that is absorbed by proper joint angles.

Upright pasterns (straighter then 50 degrees) make the horse prone to health issues such as Navicular, ringbone, arthritis, and splints. Overly long pasterns are directly correlated with bowed tendons and leg fractures. Of course, these are the extremes of problems, but horses with these conformational flaws are more likely to experience them then a horse in the ideal range.

Now, not only is the angle important, but we also have to look at the length of the pastern. Using a measuring stick against Boo's picture, his canon bone measures out to 2.3cm. His pastern is 1.2cm. The ideal length for his pastern is based upon the length of his cannon. At 2.3cm, his pastern should be between 1.15 and 1.725cm. At 1.2cm, it falls on the shorter side of ideal.

Long pasterns increase the leverage action on the tendons and ligaments of the pastern joint. This stretches them out, and can cause tears, bows, and other soft tissue injuries easier. Think of a pry bar. We all know that a longer pry bar means more force on what ever it is we're trying to pry up. Well, in the horse, his pastern is that prybar, and the thing being "pried" upon is his own joint.

Too short of a pastern reduces the buffer for impacts though. Instead of prying at the pastern, we're smashing on it each time the horse's foot hits the ground. With an average weight of 1000 pounds, that's a whole lot of force to be exerted on such a small area. The flexibility of a medium length pastern absorbs that, and dissipates it.

The Overview:
We want our horses to have good sound legs. This means straight support under the horse, and angles that are moderate. Too much is just as bad as too little in the legs, and with the amount of use a horse gets out of its legs, I personally consider this to be the most important piece of conformation in any horse.

I did not go into size of the bone here, as I will cover that when I get to overall balance.

The Sugarbush Draft Horse:

Now, lets see how all of this works when "super sized". Today's examples have all been "light" horses (common saddle horse size). With drafts, the front leg conformation really isn't any different, just larger.

The Sugarbush Draft should have a straight leg, set well under the body. The joints should be large and "dry" (without excess fat or tissue) and the lower leg should be strong and dry. The pasterns should be of medium length, and well sloped, with solid well formed hooves to support the horse's weight.

In other words, a good front leg is pretty much universal across all breeds and types of horses.

Conformation Clinic: The Shoulder

2012-02-08T09:00:00.006-06:00

Previously we have talked about the horse's Head, and the conformation of the Neck. Working our way back one more section, we get to the shoulder of the horse.

The shoulder of the horse is a very misunderstood, yet extremely important area of conformation. The shoulder affects much of the horse's movement, it's balance, it's neck attachment, and is what makes the difference between a bouncy trot, and a wonderful smooth trot. One of the main problems I see in conversations about a horse's shoulder is what exactly the shoulder is.

The mare above is a perfect example of the confusion. Notice the dark varnish mark against the base of her neck? That is not her shoulder angle. See the shape of her shoulder blade just under the skin? Nope, that's not her shoulder angle either. The divot where her neck meets her body? you guessed, not her shoulder angle.

So what IS the shoulder angle then?
The slope of the shoulder is the "angle" that most people refer to when talking about equine conformation. This is not the "shoulder angle" exactly, but it is an important piece of conformation to understand.

Here's a good diagram of what we're going to be talking about:

The horse shown above is SHC O Sweet Surprise, or Sweetie. This is my SDHR filly shown at 18 months of age.

The slope of the shoulder is what many people refer to as the "shoulder angle". I actually have been known to do this myself. It's easier to say, and kind of flows off the tongue. Technically though, it's not correct, but I'll get to that in a minute.

The Ideal Shoulder Slope
The shoulder slope, or slope of the shoulder (the terms are interchangeable) ideally should be a 45 degree angle, as measured between the top of the withers and the point of the shoulder. The problem is, no one ever talks about what we should measure this angle against. A line does not make an angle. Recently, I came up against this problem when doing a conformation analysis of a young colt. His shoulder looked like it should be "good" to my eye, but my measurements kept telling me that it was all wrong.

The 2 red dots in that image are the palpable points on the horse. This means the parts you can reach your hand up, and feel. The yellow dots are the points we talked about in the previous post, regarding the neck. They come into play as well. The top of the withers, the upper red dot, is often where the mane hair stops growing, but is always the center of the rounded bony wither structure. This is the same place we use to measure our horse's height. The lower red dot is the point of the chest. This is the hard bony point you can feel when you touch your horse.

The angle formed where the red line meets the black one is 49 degrees (on Sweetie above). A 45 degree angle is the ideal, but a shoulder between 45 degrees and 50 degrees is considered "good".

How to measure Shoulder Slope
When you look at that line though, you can see that it's an imaginary line, and there's no true edge or angle on the horse in that section in real life. This is where a lot of problems come in. Google shoulder angle, and you'll see it. Horses with lines drawn where their neck meets their body, angles that have nothing to do with the shoulder slope, and other random lines placed on ponies through the use of MS Paint and other digital drawing software.

These are examples of the myriad types of "shoulder angle" lines I have seen drawn on conformation critiques. Only the red line is the correct one. I don't even want to tell you what the others are connected to, because that might cause confusion.

Most often, this line (the one I have depicted in red) is measured against the line of the horizon, or a perfectly horizontal line. So, does that mean that as a horse ages, the horse gets a better or worse shoulder? Well, no. Even though the horse grows, and its relation to the ground changes (hip high, level, shoulder high, and such) the horse's angles stay consistent against its own body. If you do a whole lot of complicated math, measuring and add more colored lines then there are colors to use, well, you can determine the proper angle. Now, the easy way is to measure the horse at a few stages of growth, and average out the results. Another good way is to measure the horse against its structural center of balance.

This green line is Sweetie's structural center of balance. It is measured from where her femur meets the hip (the ball and socket joint of the hind leg) to where her spine at the base of her neck meets her body/shoulder. As you can see, Sweetie is slightly uphill, structurally. When the slope of her shoulder is measured against that green line, her shoulder slope is 50 degrees. Only a 1 degree difference.

Now, "eye balling it" I look at Sweetie and tend to think she's a hair straighter then I like in the shoulder. A measurement of 50 degrees sounds just about right to me. Considering that she was at a phase of growth that had her "shoulder high" the measurement makes a bit more sense to me. Since she's only slightly gangly, this angle is only a degree different then if she is measured against the horizontal. In other words, not a big deal in her case.

But if she was at a downhill stage of growth, this measurement would stay pretty much consistent.

This is because if her front legs are short, or her hind ones are long, or her bits and pieces can't figure out where they want to be, her spine still has to run through her shoulder area, across the back, and into the hip. The spine isn't going to be shifting its path in her body, and her hips and shoulder aren't going to be suddenly changing the way they attach to the other bones in her body. Oh sure, she's an ugly mess in the picture above, but structurally, she's still pretty decent.

Shoulder Angle

Now, you remember that shoulder angle we talked about? Well I want to touch on it a bit today, but will go more in depth on it tomorrow. You see, the Shoulder Angle is really more a part of the foreleg, and not the horse's shoulder.

The actual "shoulder angle" is the angle created from the slop of the shoulder, and the slope of the humerus (upper arm bone, which is located in the chest of a horse). The top red dot is on her withers, the next lowest is at the point of her shoulder, and the lowest red dot there is at the point of her elbow. You can feel the bony part of a horse's elbow, and the range of location varies by conformation.

This angle is determined by the set of the scapula (shoulder blade) in the horse, and the length of the humerus (fore arm bone). For Sweetie, this angle is 87 degrees, and I have to keep in mind that her leg is set slightly back, which will raise the point of elbow slightly.. This angle should ideally be at least 90 degrees, and up to 120 degrees is considered good. The larger this angle is, the easier it will be for her to swing her legs forward, and raise her knees to her chest.

The longer the bone in the forearm, the lower the point of elbow will be, and the larger the angle of the shoulder. The set of the scapula (or slope of shoulder) is not nearly as important on its own, as it is in relation to this angle. A very upright shoulder with a horizontal humerus could result in an angle of 90 degrees or more, and that straight shouldered horse would still be a nice ride, AND be able to haul weight.

The Straight Shoulder
Wait, did I just say something that made it sound like there's a good reason for a straight shoulder? Yep, I sure did!

Back in the day when the horse was the only form of horse power there was, draft horses were used to pull weight. Need a tree stump removed? Just hitch up your power house, and it'll be gone in no time! For these horses, the straight shoulder is ideal.

Photo: Carol Mitchell

The more sloped a horse's shoulder, the more work that horse has to do when pulling weight behind him forward. This is because the horse has to pull the weight not only forward, but also up. The straighter the shoulder, the less "up" and more "forward" the horse's effort gives.

Look at this lovely hard working Belgian draft here. This is a perfect example of a horse leaning into the harness, and using his conformation to his advantage. He pushes his shoulder blade against the collar, working as a lever against the actual harness, uses his neck to adjust the balance low and forward, and his hips and hind legs are the power to move what ever he is hitched to.

A good way to envision this, is to thing of moving the horse's collar, and the weight attached to it, with a pole. You can either poke the pole in the ground, and heave on it - in which case the point of the pole closest to your hand would move more vertically, leaving the pole in a straight up and down angle when you're done, or you could try to shove the pole under the harness and lift it up, keeping the same sloped angle, but wearing out your arm and back muscles.

Now lets look at him with some colored lines. The red of course is the horse's shoulder angle. Notice how upright his shoulder slope is, and how horizontal his humerus is. The resulting angle is nearly 90 degrees, but again this horse's legs are in motion, so we give him a buffer.

The green arrow is the direction of force working against the horse. It is down and back, and the motion of this picture makes it easy to see. The collar is almost perfectly perpendicular to the direction of force. This makes the horse's effort that much more efficient, even though the horse technically has a "bad" and upright shoulder slope.

The Over View
When talking about equine conformation, shoulder is always one of the most talked about things of a horse. Often the horse's shoulder slope is used as proof of the horse's quality, and yet, on its own it means very little.

The angle of the shoulder and upper arm bones is the true measure of a horse's gait. And open (90 degree or greater) angle allows the horse freedom of movement, and a gait that is a pleasure to ride. While this is most commonly found in horses with a shoulder slope between 45 and 50 degrees, it is not exclusive to the slope of the shoulder. The length of the upper arm bone is actually the more important feature.

And while we've been told that a "straight shoulder" is a horrible thing in a horse, few people truly know what that means, or why a straight shoulder even exists. The horse's conformation is not something that can be looked at in bits and pieces, but rather we need to look at a horse as a whole, and measure its form against its function.

The Sugarbush Draft Horse

I always include how this applies to the Sugarbush Draft Horses here at the end. This is because our horses are a bit misunderstood, and our method of reviving the breed (allowing cross breeding to unregistered horses with the right conformation) confuses many people.

The ideal Sugarbush Draft Horse is built for riding, and for pulling light carriages. These horses are not typical drafts, and are poorly suited to hauling heavy weights because of their conformation. The ideal shoulder slope is 45 to 50 degrees, with the average SDHR horse being on the high side of "ideal". Much of this is due to the ancestry of other draft breeds - breeds that were bred to pull weight.

The important thing though, is that the Sugarbush Draft has a moderately open shoulder angle. Most SDHR horses have a shoulder angle between 90 and 95 degrees, and breeding for openness between the scapular and humerus is encouraged.

The Sugarbush Draft Horse has a moderate leg action, and a lovely forward extension because of the shape of this angle. This means that the rider feels a smooth, but forward gait under them, with little jarring.

Conformation Clinic: The Neck

2012-02-07T09:00:00.010-06:00

Previously, I discussed the conformation of the horse's head. You might have noticed that many things considered "flaws" are nothing more then personal preference, others are little more then "old wives tales" which are now outdated due to advances in equine medicine and understanding of equine physiology, and only a handful of points on the head are relevant to health and well being of the horse.

Well, the horse's neck is a bit different. Most of the "beauty features" accepted for the neck are directly related to either health or function. The horse's neck is a large portion of their overall body, a main source of the horse's balance, and is filled with vital internal features such as the trachea, esophagus, and large veins and arteries. Flaws in a horse's neck structure could relegate an otherwise amazing horse into little more then a pasture pet.

Many diagrams used in this segment were taken directly from the International Model Equine Hobbyists Association (IMEHA).

The Ideal Neck:

The accepted standard is that the head and neck should be about 1/3rd of the horse's total body length, and shaped with a long upper curve in the bones just behind the head and a shallow lower curve in the bones that join into the withers. This shape allows for flexion at the poll, and lift at the withers. The muscles in the horse's neck are used in extending the forelegs, and counter balancing the body. The underside should be almost straight (blue line in picture to left), and the top side should be shaped in a smooth downward arc (Green line).

.The curve of the neck is affected by the shape of the horse's spine below it. Just as Scoliosis can inhibit a human's abilities (depending upon severity) a poorly built neck can do the same for a horse. Faults such as ewe neck, swan neck, short necks, and bull necks all directly impact the horse's agility and physical ability to maneuver its body.

Short Necks:

One of the most common flaws in American horses is a neck that is too short. Horses with short necks lack the counter balance to engage the rest of their body as easily as a properly proportioned horse. This means it is harder for them to elevate their shoulder, extend their forelegs, and basically to be "graceful". While short necked horses can be quite flexible laterally (side to side type work, such as cutting) tasks which require vertical movement, such as jumping, dressage, and trail riding over hills and varied terrain, are more difficult for them.

Riders of short necked horses should be aware of this flaw, as their balance affects the horse's center much more then on a horse with a longer neck. A rider shifting their weight back could be the difference between allowing the horse to climb a hill with ease, and the horse struggling to make it to the top.

Short necks are very common in the draft breeds though. This is because the shorter length of neck allows the horse to lean into weight. Rather then using its own muscles to balance, the horse relies on the weight it is pulling, resulting in "more horsepower". A thick muscular neck, or a bull neck, also gives the horse padding against the collar, and has been bred for in some breeds in the past.

While it is often denied, many American horse breeds have draft horse ancestry. The AQHA, APHA, and ApHC all can be traced to horses with obvious draft characteristics. As a result, short necks are more common in these breeds then in many European breeds of saddle horses.

Long Necks:

Yes, it is possible to have a neck that is too long. While this is a rather rare flaw to find, it can be even more cumbersome to the horse then a short neck. Because the neck is a counter balance, too much of it means that the horse has to work to hold it up. This results in similar problems as a too short neck, as well as a problem in building proper neck muscles.

As you can see on this young horse, whose neck is only slightly too long, the muscles along the top of his neck are under developed, and the underside of the neck has the stronger muscles. Coupled with his stage of growth (picture taken as a yearling) his high hip and long neck resulted in difficulty carrying himself with grace. Horses with long necks may be prone to tripping, tend to work heavy on the forehand, and lack the agility of a properly balanced horse.

Long necked horses may have a tendency to work behind the vertical (tuck their nose too far into their chest) which also creates improper muscling and will affect the horse's athleticism, and they will fatigue more easily then a well balanced animal.

Proper exercise and training will allow a long necked horse to work easier though. These horses also find vertical work much easier then lateral, and often make very good jumpers.

The Shape of the Neck:
The shape of the horse's neck is determined by the shape of the spine, and muscles that attach to the spine. Most horse owners/lovers have heard the terms ewe neck and swan neck, and know these to be undesirable, even if they aren't exactly sure of the meaning. Well, these terms relate to the curve of the spine, and deviations from the ideal.

The horse shown at left has an ideal bend to its neck. The spine at the base of her neck meets the body in the middle of her shoulder blade (scapula) and curves gently upwards to the head, with a small S type curve. The muscles which attach to the spine can build properly, with no bulges or weak points, and give the overall appearance of a smooth arc.

This shape allows the horse the mobility of its entire neck, both laterally as well as vertically. Now, compare this shape, to that of an improperly formed neck.

Ewe Neck:

Horses with this flaw often have the appearance of an "upside down" neck, or one that bends the wrong way. While improper muscling can cause a similar appearance, you can determine a ewe neck by the evenly matched shape of both top and lower side muscles.

Horses with this flaw will tend to "hollow out" and most commonly also have an upright shoulder angle as well (because the neck bone is attached to the shoulder bone, and pulling one thing affects the others). This means that a ewe necked horse will often carry its head high, it's back ducked away from the saddle, and its gaits will be tooth jarring.

While these horses can make wonderful family pets, and light riding companions, do not expect a high level of performance from them. They simply can not move in that manner. Trying to force a horse with a true ewe neck into a "proper shape" may create the proper appearance in the neck, but it will never change the horse's bone structure underneath, or the horse's ability to move it's body in a true rounded position with comfort.

False Ewe Neck:

Now, with that said, there's a "type" of ewe neck that can be corrected through training. This horse, Quaker, has a false ewe neck. At first glance his neck appears to be on "upside down" but analysis of his bone and muscle structure reveals that this is simply an optical illusion due to having his muscles built in all the wrong places.

First, notice that the muscle along the top of his neck is weak and poorly developed, while the muscles on the under side of the neck are strong, and well built. This is the first clue that this horse's incorrect neck is caused from training, not from bone structure.

Quaker was previously owned by a timid rider who would hang on his mouth. He's one of the most tolerant horses I've met, and would gladly lift his head, and hollow out his back, turning his entire body into a U shape. Over time, the muscles on the underside of his neck strengthened, the upper side muscles weakened, and his neck took on this appearance. With proper training, his muscles were later reconditioned to a more comfortable and normal shape.

Notice the gentle S curve of his neck in the red lines drawn (even though the neck photo is not a true side shot). There is no excessive dip in the angle of the spine near the shoulder, and his vertebrae are lined up in nearly the ideal angle of the gentle S curve. A ewe neck is an obvious S curve with a large bottom swell. This horse does not have that.

Instead, when comparing his muscles on his neck to the shape of his spine, the obvious bulge in the lower neck muscle is apparent. Just as men who work out get a bulge in their arm muscles, making them larger, this horse's muscles show signs of training, not conformation.

Often times on forums I see people confusing a true ewe neck with a false one, and assuming that all ewe neck appearances can be altered through proper training of the horse. This is not the case. While a false ewe neck is more common, a true ewe neck is a genetic trait, and can be passed on to offspring, and will never be 'fixed' through exercise of any kind.

Now, to show you the difference, here's the same horse after 3 months of proper riding:
Still slight signs of the underside of the neck being over muscled, but greatly reduced, and the true shape of his neck can be seen.

Swan Neck:

The term "swan neck" is used in 2 ways, which are very different from each other. Many "high headed" breeds, such as Arabians and Saddlebreds, refer to their horses having a "swan neck" appearance on horses with properly shaped necks. In this form, the horse owners are talking about the elegance of a swan, and not a conformational flaw.

The flaw of a swan neck is a similar deviation as that of a ewe neck, but the upper curve of the neck is exaggerated (instead of the lower curve) Many horse people are fooled into finding this attractive simply because the horse has a high head carriage, and tends to arch its head near the poll..

In reality, these horses tend to duck behind the vertical, and in many cases have problems with their trachea being pinched from over flexion. A horse with a swan neck will experience serious difficulties if it does not have a nice wide throat latch, as the angle of the head to neck attachment accentuates any crushing issues a narrow throat latch can cause.

Do not confuse a high neck set with a swan neck though. While the 2 often go together, the conformational flaw is actually the excessive bend of the neck near the head. Just as humans may stoop as they age due to osteoporosis, a swan neck "stoops" the angle that the head sits on the neck in a similar fashion, straining muscles, obstructing the air way, and preventing some forms of extension through the body.

Heavy Crests:

Many of us like a horse with a lovely thick neck. Look at any baroque breed, and you can see this style has many admirers. Unfortunately, a well rounded neck, and a large pocket of fat above the neck muscles are not the same thing. Just as sumo wrestler might be strong, you also have to be aware that most of his mass is from fat.

A heavy crest is the same thing. This donkey shows the accumulation of fat on the top of his neck (and other places), and shows a fallen or broken crest. This is due to gravity working on the weight of the fat in the equine's neck. This is due to gravity working on the weight of the fat in the equine's neck. The round shape of the neck should be from the building of the neck muscles, not from weight gain in the neck.

The downside to a heavy crest (whether it has fallen or not) is that these horses tend to be predisposed to founder. The cause is not yet fully understood, but the incidence of founder is greatly increased in a horse with a large accumulation of fat on its neck (as opposed to those who carry their fat mainly on their body).

We spoke above of the balance of a horse's neck, the effects of too long and too short of necks, and how the neck of a horse affects its performance abilities. An over weight neck also affect a horse's performance and overall balance. While this can be a corrected problem, it is also a genetic problem. Horses who gain weight in their necks will often produce foals who do the same. This means increased management of the horse's weight (to keep it down) and possible heart break from the damage from founder.

Overall:

You might notice that some of the traits described as flaws here are actually useful for specific purposes. Both overly long and overly short necks have their place in specific disciplines. Cresty necks are a common trait of many of the baroque breeds, and gives them a part of their defining look. And yet, while in some areas these traits are desirable, overall they are considered flaws. This is because the "ideal" is based upon a riding horse for general use. In today's world we have horses that are built exclusively for a specific discipline, and their "flaws' have been found to be beneficial.

The point is that it's important to understand a conformational flaw, and how it affects the horse, and to be knowledgeable about the horse's limitations from it. While breeders should strive for nothing short of excellence, the average pet owner does not need to refuse a horse simply because it has a very minor flaw that has no bearing upon their chosen style of riding. As an example, if you're looking for a low level jumper, you would want to stay away from a horse with an overly short neck, might consider a slightly short necked horse, and shouldn't see any problems with a horse whose neck is too long. Conversely, if you're looking for a cutting horse to mess around with, a horse with a short neck is not anything to be concerned about, but a long neck is not going to make your life easy.

Conformation in horses is all about how the horse's form relates to function. The more we horse owners can understand it, the easier it is to find the right horse for each of us. There's no such thing as a perfect horse, and we all will have to accept some variance from the ideal. We just need to know which ones we can work with, and not make the horses suffer for it.

The Sugarbush Draft Horse:

So lets apply all of this to the Sugarbush Draft Horse. This picture of Sweetie shows the ideal SBDH neck. It is of a good length, leaning toward the long side, her throat latch is large with ample room, although not overly refined, and her neck is well shaped.

Unlike most draft breeds, the Sugarbush Draft Horse should not have a short neck. This does inhibit them from pulling large amounts of weight, and prevents them from being the ideal "work horse" type of draft. Conversely, this also allows them more agility then the typical draft horse.

The Sugarbush Draft Horse has a neck conformation similar to that of an ideal riding horse. This is because even though they are heavier boned (and suited to all size of riders) they are built and bred as a light work horse, not a weight pulling breed. The SBDH should not carry excessive weight on the upper side of its neck, and ideally should have a well rounded, yet refined shape overall with out excess fat. This allows the horse to balance its rider in all situations, and to perform well at most lower levels of any discipline. Individual horses may excel in specific areas, but the breed is generally designed to be a "jack of all trades" type of conformation.

Conformation Clinic: The Head

2012-02-06T09:00:00.016-06:00

Since we've been talking about the SDHR, our horses, and the differences between the Sugarbush Draft Horse and a "typical" draft horse, I thought I'd break down some conformation areas for your reading pleasure.

Naturally the best place to start, is at the head.

It might not seem like it's that important to have a properly built head - I mean, pretty is in the eye of the beholder, right? Oddly though, there are a few things about a horse's head that aren't simply about aesthetics.

While we all like a pretty head, we also all like a healthy horse. Oddly, most of the traits that people find attractive are also the ones that benefit the horse. From big eyes, to a "well shaped" head, there's reasons behind why horse people have decided some traits are preferred over others.

Mouth:
First, lets start with the mouth. May people have heard of "Parrot mouth". This is where a horse's jaw does not line up properly, and the horse exhibits a severe overbite. The top row of teeth protrudes further out then the lower row of teeth. The problem is, that horses use their teeth in a scissors action to clip grass and hay when eating. If the teeth do not line up, the horse does not eat as efficiently, and can be very hard to keep at a healthy weight. Under bites, while less common, can also be a problem for the same reason.

Also something that needs to be considered is the size and shape of the tongue. A thick/fat tongue makes it more difficult for some horses to wear a bit. These horses have little 'extra" room in their mouth for anything besides their tongue. While this is not something that is easy to spot, it's a trait that a horse owner may recognize due to experience with that particular horse. Sadly, we don't normally think about this as an important trait to breed for, or away from, but probably should.

Muzzle:

The horse should also have large and flexible nostrils. Birth defects, such as wry nose, can cause deformation of the nostrils. This can cause restricting of the horse's breathing when working. Just as a child with asthma can not play as hard as another child, a horse with small, constricted, or deformed nostrils is also at a disadvantage.

While the size and shape of the lips tens to be a preference of the owner, they are also something to be aware of. Large loose lips can be pinched with the bit, and require a larger size bit to supply ample room, and prevent rubbing or sores. Some people feel that horses with thinner lips are more responsive to bit pressure.

Forehead:

A broad forehead allows for more room for the sinus cavities and facial muscles. This means that the horse can pass larger amounts of air from the nostrils into the lungs, and have stronger more agile muscles to control those nostrils and other facial muscles.

Even the Arabians, with their elegant heads, have a proportionately broad forehead. The width necessary is naturally judged based upon the rest of the horse's face, although no specific ratio has been agreed upon. Rarely will a horse ever be marked down due to a narrow forehead, but when looking for a performance horse, the availability of air passage into the lungs is something to consider.

Eyes:

We all love to look into the depths of our horses eyes, and lose ourselves there. We've also heard terms like "pig eyed" in reference to horses. But does it really matter how large a horse's eyes are?

"Pig Eyes" were thought to be linked to stubbornness, a trait that we now know is about as consistent as color being related to personality. Sure, a horse who is stubborn with small eyes can also have stubborn offspring, who also have small eyes, but not all small eyed horses are stubborn. The old wives tale started because it was assumed that a small eye meant poor vision.

The problem here, is that we humans have a hard time thinking about the world around us, with out thinking about how it looks. Horses though, use their other senses as much, if not more, then their vision. A horse's vision is severely limited, and gives only the most basic information to the horse, even with the best of equine sight.

For a horse to determine depth, it must look well in front of it. This is because the horse's eyes are set on the sides of the head, allowing the horse only to use both eyes at the apex of its blind spot (the point in front of the horse where the vision again meets). The size of the horse's eyes does not influence this distance, nor does it affect the synaptic responses in the brain. Because the horse's vision is so limited, they rarely rely solely on it. This means that a small eyed horse is at no disadvantage from a large eyed horse, and that the size and shape of the eye is mostly nothing more then personal preference.

The caveat here are disorders of the eye. Moon blindness, or Recurrent uveitis is a condition which shows as a cloudy or swollen eye globe. This condition can be caused by infection or injury, and may result in permanent blindness in the horse. It has been said to be more common in Appaloosas, but specific studies are hard to find which support this claim.

Any trauma or injury to the eye should be taken into consideration when looking at a horse though. While these are rarely a genetic trait, they do count as flaws against the horse's useability.

Throat latch:

When we ask our horses to perform, we often ask them to flex their neck, in some manner, in order to balance the rest of their body. Each discipline has different requirements, but as the horse tucks its chin down in the direction of its chest, it is constricting it's own airway.

A wide throat latch though, allows the horse to duck its head, without impeding this air significantly. The jawbones must be wide enough so that the trachea (wind pipe) rests between them, and only has to bend while the horse's neck is flexed.

Extra skin in this area can pinch and bind the trachea when the horse flexes. This is why a "clean" throat latch is considered desirable. With tight skin and a proper space between the jaw bones, the chances of a horse's flexion causing breathing issues is rare.

Repeated constriction of the throat latch can cause permanent damage, this is most commonly seen in Thoroughbred race horses. The laryngeal nerve can be paralyzed with enough repeated trauma, resulting in permanent air way restriction. Horses with this condition often times make a noise when breathing heavily, and the condition is called "Roaring". It's not only racing that can cause this problem, though. Any horse with a poorly built throat latch and airway can suffer from this if asked to work with their head and neck flexed.

Ears:

The ears on a horse should set just below the poll, at the top of the head. This allows the horse full range of flexibility, to rotate the ears forward or backward.

Large ears are commonly seen in mares, as the ears are an obvious signal used in the horse's body language. This gives other horses, especially stallions, easy indicators as the the mare's opinions. Larger sized ears can be seen from a distance, and the subtle gestures are more pronounced.

Because the horse relies on its hearing more then its vision, a larger ear is actually more useful then a large eye. With that said, a smaller ear is not significantly less utilitarian, and results in no statistical loss of aural information received (i.e. horses with little ears hear as well as those with big ones).

Small "fox" ears are commonly found to be more attractive, as are clean ears. The hair inside the ears though serves a valuable purpose - it keeps debris out of the ear canal, resulting in fewer ear infections. A short dense inner ear hair is preferable to a sparse, but longer hair inside the ears.

Profile:

The profile of the horse is the basic shape of the horse's head, as viewed from the side. Terms such as "dished" or "Roman Nosed" are often used to describe the overall shape of the head.

There are 3 basic profile types: Concave, convex, and flat (or straight). The concave, or dished head, is often considered to be the "more attractive" type of head, but there are reasons why a convex, or "roman nosed" horse has he advantage.

The convex headed horse has more room for air to pass through the skull, into the trachea. With sufficiently large nostrils, this style of head actually is more efficient for heavy work. Also, the increased size of the air passages results in the air warming more before entering the horse's lungs - a benefit to horses in colder climates.

The differences though, are miniscule in most of North America.

So, if you prefer a horse to have a lovely dished face, rest assured that there are no reasons why you can't have a perfectly healthy and hard working horse. If you happen to love the baroque style of head, and think a roman nose is elegant and noble, know that this shape is actually slightly more efficient for the horse. And if a straight profile is your thing, being into neither extreme, there's no reason your can't love it as much as the other styles.

The shape of the horse's head is purely aesthetic, and excluding rare defects, has no bearing on the health and useability of a horse.

The Sugarbush Draft Horse:

So how does all of this apply to the Sugarbush Draft Horse you ask? Well, most of the traits on the head are personal preference, but some are necessary for the horse's well being. Since the SBDH is a breed designed for use and beauty, the conformational ideals reflect this:

The Sugarbush Draft Horse tends to have a straight profile. While some of these horses may have slight concave or convex shapes to their heads, extreme variances from straight are not typical in the breed.

The SBDH should have large nostrils, in a rounded and well defined muzzle, often with thicker lips. The forehead is moderately broad, with a well shaped eye, and large well formed ears which are fully mobile.

The Sugarbush Draft Horse tends to have a wide set jaw, and large throat latch. This allows the horse to perform both collected as well as strength type work. Refinement in the throat latch is desirable, but not required, so long as the throat latch is clear of obstruction.

As you can see, extremes of any trait are not often seen in the SDHR. The breed criteria was created for function over beauty, and yet the overall appearance is one that many of us find lovely.

Why do we hate the horses so?

2012-02-04T14:11:00.000-06:00

Not every horse in the world can be a beauty queen. Some horses have conformational flaws that cause health issues, while others have flaws that just make them more suited for another job.

Yet, so often on facebook, websites, forums, and of course a few blogs (fugly, that'd be your fans I'm talking about) I hear people ripping apart horses, and talking about them as if they are useless.

And yet, even the "ugly ones" can be useful. No, they shouldn't be bred, but there's no need for people to be as cruel as they are.

Look at this little mare here. She's one of my Second Chance horses, who now has a wonderful home and a young lady of her own. This mare was skinny when I got her (which made her look worse) and needed a lot of love and care to get back in shape. Conformationally, she's not exactly a stellar example of the 'ideal horse' either.

But, she's a great horse. Sure, her neck is a bit wonky (swan necked, poor tie in, thick throat latch) her shoulder is very upright (jarring gaits, inhibition of extension) her back is weak in the LS joint, her hip is short (lack of power from the hind end) her legs are posty and sickle hocked, with a touch of cow hocked for good measure, and she's over at the knee in the front. She has incredibly weird pasters, and her tail hair kinda sucks.

BUT, with all that said, this little mare is a baby sitter for her rider. She works in a camp for disadvantaged kids, does some play days, and is sound. She's healthy, she's happy, and she has a job that fits every last one of her flaws.

So, is she a "good horse" or a "bad horse"?

All too often we see people ripping on a horse. "Look how ugly that thing is!" or "God, do they have any idea what a piece of crap their horse is?"

Why? Why do "we" the horse community do this to our friends and peers in the industry? Is it merely a way to make us feel better about our own horse's flaws? I mean, it's not like a perfectly built horse exists or anything, so our horses must have flaws.

Or how about the "breed bashers". I get to see this one a lot, since my breed of choice is not exactly the most popular.

These are the people who are SURE that it 'can't be a breed because...." and their reasons area always full of holes. My favorite being "I've never heard of the Sugarbush Draft before, so it can't be a breed". Uh, so Friesians weren't a breed until the movie Lady Hawke came out? Never mind their centuries of history. We can't let things like facts get in our way.

Or what about the "it hasn't been around LONG enough to be a "real" breed" type of thinkers. Well, what's the cut off on that? Because if MY breed isn't a "real" breed, I have bad news for owners of Rocky Mountain horses, Tennessee Walking Horses, Missouri Fox Trotters, and of course the Gypsy Vanner is totally screwed.

Now, I understand that people have preferences. I learned that the Arabian is not my ideal breed. I love my Arab, and I love many other arabs, but the breed is not exactly the best fit for me. Quarter Horses are the same way. Nice horses, work hard... just don't quite work with my goals. Would never hate one, just wouldn't go out looking to buy one for myself.

But, how often do you hear "Oh those Arabians, they're crazy!". Or the Appaloosa haters! "Them Appies, they are stubborn as hell, pig eyed, jug headed, and platter footed". Uh no, the jug headed horses are the Sugarbush Drafts there bud... and we got the market on the polka dots with platter feet as well, thank you very much!

My point is, why is it that we as horse people tend to be "it's either A OR B" type of thinkers? I can't even remember the last time I heard some one say "Your horse is a complete conformational wreck for the sport you're trying to put him in, but he'd be well suited for..." Oh no, instead, we have to leave off the good parts. Now, most likely this is because the speaker doesn't really know what they are talking about.

I think that we see a topic about conformation, pick out the bit we 'get' and rant on it for a couple of weeks. This happens on another blog quite often (ahem, the old fugly, ahem). Some one says "that horse has a straight shoulder" and leaves it at that. The tone of the sentence implies that a straight shoulder is BAD, and to be avoided at all costs, but the readers rarely know why it is a problem.

Stop and think for a second. Do any of YOU know why a straight shoulder is bad? If it's so horrible, why is it still around? I mean, we could breed that out pretty darned fast if 'we" the horse word, really wanted to. So, does that mean there's a purpose to a straight shoulder?

Now, I've been "lucky" enough to learn some pretty "useless" things in my life. As a child, I didn't have a horse, but I was so crazy about them. I spent time as a judge's assistant in 4H, being trained to one day be a horse judge myself, just so I could smell the horses around me. I spent hours reading non fiction books about color, conformation, and breeds until my family wanted to puke, simply because that was as close to a horse as I could get. I took riding lessons, researched everything, and learned as much as my mind could contain.

Not exactly useful skills to have in the 'real' world though. So, eventually I got into veterinary medicine. At least I could put my passion into something that might pay the bills.

And then I found myself here, as the Registrar of the Sugarbush Draft Horse Registry. All of that useless knowledge that made me feel like Cliff Claven from Cheers, well, it applied! Who knew! Ok, I'm still kinda awkward at social functions, but if someone happens to like horses... it's all good! And every one loves horses, right?

But seriously, and back to the topic at hand, why is it that we horse people are so black or white? Is it because we use it as a way to mask our own insecurities? Is it because horses are one of the few things in this day and age that can not be "mastered" in a week or a month? Is it because no matter how much book learnin' you have about horses, it's never the same as hands on? Is it because the skills of the true horsemen are lost to use, with the need of horses in everyday life?

And the thing I wonder most: would more knowledge help curb this nasty little habit we have in the horse community, or would leading by example work better?

I'm not sure how to solve it, but I try to both lead by example (If I point out a flaw I try to explain in what context that flaw is not a concern) and educate people with my myriad of pony lore.

How can it be a Breed if you allow Foundation Horses?

2012-02-01T13:34:00.000-06:00

The Sugarbush Draft Horse is a breed that has been around a while. About as long as the AQHA, APHA, ApHC, and even longer then breeds like the Missouri Fox Trotter, Rocky Mountain Horse, and Gypsy Vanner/Cob.

Unfortunately though, the SBDH has not exactly had the same promotional work done with it. The people who were involved with the SDHR back in the day, were more interested in the HORSE then the money. Everett Smith worked hard to build an amazing carriage breed, ended up with a draft horse perfectly suited to riding (a nice side effect, I'd say!) and didn't spend nearly as much time trying to solicit money, or recruit sponsors to advertise for these horses.

He also pushed responsible breeding back before it was in vogue. Breeders of SBDHs tended to only breed what they would use themselves, or could care for until they sold. When the anti-draft sentiment in the 80s hit, the number of horses bred declined rapidly. Many people got out of the breed (there weren't that many to start with) and many horses who were sold have been lost to the registry. We are of course always still looking for them.

So today, we have a handful of these horses left. The purebred SBDHs that we have mostly come from Everett's lines, and those he personally kept track of. Unfortunately, many of them are related to each other, and that makes it really hard to breed forward. We have 2 options. We could give up, or we can introduce some new blood to the lines.

We of course chose the later.

Now, I am a geneticist by education. This means that I tend to look at things a bit "backwards" from most hose people. My goals are not bragging rights, but purity of genetics. I could care less about fluff, but get hyped about consistency of production.

With this type of mentality, and a BOD who supports my point of view (even if they don't always get it, and keep asking me to explain it again) the SDHR decided to throw open the books, and recruit Foundation horses who have the proper traits to bring this breed back.

What confuses people though, is why we're accepting "grade" drafts into the registry. Well, that's what I hope to explain.

You see, we COULD have allowed outcrossing. Simply require that all SBDH be bred to Percherons only, as Percherons are the breed most favored by Everett Smith. There's a glaring flaw with that line of thinking though. While to most horse people, this sounds like a great idea - you get to maintain known pedigrees, and have clear and consistent registration rules - the reality is a bit different genetically.

After 50 years of putting together the right sire with the right dam, Mr. Smith got a horse which looks nothing like any other draft, even with out the spots. Standing a Sugarbush next to a Percheron makes it easy to say "oh, well those aren't the same" just as standing a bay Arab next to a bay quarter horse would. Sure, both might have prety heads, big eyes, and all, but they just overall look different.

So, if we started breeding back to Percherons (as an example) each foal would get 50% percheron DNA. Its offspring bred back would get another 50% Percheron DNA, and in a very short time, we'd have colored Percherons. While that might be nice, it also means we lose half of the amazing work that Mr. Smith did, and the qualities that we love in OUR breed of horses.

So, instead, we decided to allow Foundation horses who have the ideal conformation. Notice here that color has not been mentioned! Yeah, color is nothing more then hair, and hair sure doesn't make the horse. Also, color is the easiest thing to add back in. A good horse under the hair isn't.

Each Foundation horse has to apply for acceptance. This means sending me pictures, and I start drawing lines on them. I take the ideal SBDH, which currently is O, and compare their angles, shape, and musculature to him, and to the breed standard. Horses who are scored 70% toward the ideal, or higher, are offered Foundation Registration. The "flaws" could be such things as heavier boned, longer backed, shorter necked, but it has to be within a range. A horse that's perfect except for being so severely pigeon toed that it can't walk, would of course not pass the inspection.

What amuses me though, is how many people are "sure" that the Sugarbush Draft Horse is not a "breed" but just an Appaloosa Draft Cross. The irony to me, is that according to the scientific theory, the SDHR is as much as breed as the AQHA or APHA, and even more of a "breed" then FHANA (Friesians). Scientifically speaking of course.

Lets look at a couple of horses that have been accepted:

Nazar

Godiva

Sugarbush Harley's Classic O

Percheron Stallion

http://www.excelsiorfarms.com/horsepix/GLyn.jpg

The Percheron's image was "stolen" from the web as an example of a typical nice Percheron.

You can definitely see similarities between all those horses, but check out the differences. The Percheron looks like a more stretched out version of the Sugarbush. Well, or the other way around. But when you see a line up like that, the top 2 horses look more like "O" then the bottom one.

The first 2 horses, Nazar and Godiva, are Foundation mares. They were bred on PMU ranches (both of them actually, from different ranches) and both have the traits we want to maintain in the breed. These mares are perfect examples of what we're looking for. They aren't "quite" like the common draft breeds, yet are lovely horses.

Now, to maintain type, color, and riding ability, we do allow crossing to Stonewall Sport Horses. These are the lighter cousins to the Sugarbush Draft Horse, being 50% draft or less. While the Stonewall Sport Horse is a "type" of horse, and not a breed per se, it is similar to saying that you allow crossing to "cutting horses" to improve your ranch horse. You want horses designed for the task at hand. Stonewall Sport Horses give us this.

And yet, a Stonewall Sport Horse still has the ideal angles and shape, just in a more "petite" form. (Hard to call them petite when you're talking about a horse that is 16 hands, and probably 1400 pounds or more). We recognize that allowing light horse breednig back in will set us back a few generations, but for us, it is the lesser of the evils we had to face when left with too few horses to properly breed forward.

Look at the horses above. You can see that their conformation is so close to what we have in the SDHR. While they are smaller and lighter boned, it's hard to tell the difference in an image. This is an example of the consistency of type we're going for. These Stonewall Sport Horses have all of the traits, including the color, that we want in the breed. Our job is to simply make "bigger" versions, while keeping the best there is to offer. And you can't tell me that any of those horses (Owned by Mike Muir of Access Adventure) would be something to be ashamed of in your horse's pedigree!

Now, lets compare all of this to commonly accepted breeds. I'm going to pick on the Quarter Horse today, because we can all accept that it is a breed. AQHA allows crossing to Thoroughbreds for genetic diversity (not sure why they need to diversify in the largest horse breed in the world, but arguments can be made both ways).

A Typical Quarter Horse looks like this:

Or maybe this:

or this:

Or it could be this:

My point being that the consistency of type is rather varied, and few of them resemble the "ideal" horse as drawn in the AQHA's early days (the painting up there).

So, then you have that AQHA allows crossing to Thoroughbreds, which look like:

(An aside here, this horse is the sire of my lesson horse Diesel... cool!)

But, those Thoroughbreds don't really look all that much like those Quarter Horses. There are some minor similarities, just as there are between the Sugarbush Draft horse and the Percheron, but all in all, there's very little consistency of type being shown in the AQHA.

Now, that's not a bad thing, but it is something to be aware of when you are working with animals, and breeding forward. The AQHA put more focus on performance then appearance. This is why horses tend to specialize in a discipline, and as they get better, the "types' grow further apart. Few people would cross a halter horse to a cutting horse in today's world, because the diversity has made the AQHA almost a few breeds within the breed (Similar to the Welsh ponies/horses).

And that is what we at the SDHR hope to avoid. We want to keep the Sugarbush Draft on track with the vision that Mr. Smith had. To do that, we must make a few unconventional decisions, in order to achieve the conventional results.

And in a few months, I'll be able to tell you how we're doing. The first foal crop from Foundation mares is expected in April 2012.

Spring isn't a day on the calendar

2012-01-31T13:08:00.000-06:00

Winter in Texas looks like this. A little green, a lot of yellow, and normally a hay bale in every field.

This year, there's no hay, and what hay that exists is so gross, most of us don't want to feed it to the horses. (Thank goodness for complete feeds, alfalfa cubes, beet pulp and such!). But, winter here is short. Lasting from mid December through mid February, it's not really that much to worry about.

On either side of winter are the lush growing seasons. Summer is hot and dry, and so our grasses try to go dormant. A bit of rain usually prevents that, but lets be honest, it's Texas. I can promise you that July and August will be dry. September is hot, dry, with a few scattered storms. The weather here is very easy to predict by the seasons.

So, once it starts raining in September, it just gets wetter and wetter as the season goes on, and the grasses get greener and greener. Our "spring" grasses, such as Rye, clover, and other lush yet dangerous grasses make a reappearance, and the horses all get fat. Then we have the 2 months of winter, where we all get cranky about the cost of hay (no matter how cheap or expensive the hay is that year) and count down until "spring".

That's because spring looks like this:

And with grasses like that, there's no point in putting out hay for the horses, it'll rot in the feeders. This means less money spent, better looking horses, and we're all happier.

Oh yeah, and it gets warmer too. Warmer is good for riding, because some of us are alergic to the cold (yes, I mean me).

This year, Spring is coming early. It's the last day of January, and my pastures are green, although still short. The weather is decent (50s to 70s) if there was just a bit less wind, it'd be perfect. The horses haven't started shedding out yet, but it won't be long now. And me? I've loving this!

And in only a few more months, it'll be BABY time again!

Who cares what you think of my house... but please love my farm.

2012-01-28T10:38:00.000-06:00

The Society for Creative Anachronism, or The SCA, is going to be hosting an event up here at Iron Ridge. This group of people is a bit different then what we normally see in horses, but a ton of fun! Even better for me, is that they are a group of people who interact with their horses in a realistic way, with realistic expectations, and a social atmosphere that makes everyone involved feel like they are succeeding.

Ok, and lets be honest, who doesn't want to joust, at least a little?

So, when I had the opportunity to help out the SCA by allowing them to use the facilities for a weekend, naturally, I agreed. And now, it's getting down to the wire. We have a lot to do before the 17th- and the weather has NOT been helpful.

Today we are going to make some plans on where to put people, ponies, trailers, and how to arrange their events based upon the lay out of my place. Of course, I also get to meet more horse people, and I expect to have a good time.

And yeah, I'm a little nervous. As I've mentioned before, we're not a super fancy facility, nor do I have any intentions of ever making this place into a show type barn. No indoor arena (although I DO want one of those, but just don't have a few extra 100 grand laying around), my barn is a few decades old, and wasn't the best planned to start with, and we still have old fencing to deal with. Naturally, since it's my place, those faults glare at me, and I worry that others will think "oh, what a trashy place". Now, when I go around and look at other facilities, I see that most are similar to mine, but I WANT to have mine look like McQuay stables!

And so, every time I meet new people, a little part of me gets nervous.

Oddly, growing up I never could understand why my mother always got like this about her house. She'd spend a day cleaning before guests arrive, and that included painting walls, scrubbing base boards, and other tasks that seemed silly to a pre-teen girl. Now, I understand her feelings.

So, I spent yesterday leveling the ground, and fretting about the place being soaked from the recent record setting rains. It's not perfectly clean by any stretch, but it is what it is. This weekend isn't the nervous making one though. It's a few weeks away that I'll start going bonkers! When all the people arrive.

Yep, I care more about what people think of my barn and property then I do about what they think of my house. (Well, any of the 3 houses here that is). I guess that means that I'm a barn brat at heart! Poor Jae will never have a nice little hostess to show off the home he has made for us, but thankfully, he's as bad as I am. Besides the fact that he'd be happier if no one ever came out (he's not exactly a social butterfly) he also is most proud of his horses, his rolling hills, and his work in keeping a poorly designed but oozing with potential property running as smoothly as a horse ranch ever can.

Am I the only one that does this?

The Feel of Riding

2012-01-27T13:23:00.000-06:00

I have been riding horses regularly for about 13 years now. I bought my first horse in 1999, and my second horse a few weeks later. That lovely bay gelding there, is the first one. He was 4 months old, and I knew nothing.

My second horse was an older (almost 9) Thoroughbred mare, who was sold to me as "spawn of Satan" and "unbreakable". With 3 trainers having been paid to get her under saddle, she still refused to carry a rider, and so had been a broodie all her life. I bought her, and broke her out within a month.

How? I asked nicely.

So, lately there's this theme going around about training horses, and lightness, and the feel of it all. A Year with Horses recently did a post on this, and she linked to Mugwup's post on a similar topic. For those of us lucky enough to ride as children, with little formal training, you know what I mean. How is it, that when we are so young, lack the physical strength, the muscular coordination, and the knowledge of the techniques needed, we can still get such amazing responses from a horse?

Is it that the horse is mystical? I don't think so. I've tried to explain this over and over again to people here, and words always seem to fail me. But, I want to delve into this a bit today.

A huge part of it is the nostalgia, and the rose colored glasses we have on when remembering our pasts. Things always seemed simpler back then, when ever "then" is, and that colors our memories. The horses really weren't always perfect. Sometimes we just didn't know they weren't being perfect, and most times we just didn't care. Youth allows us this lack of fear, especially of serious harm. Some how, the young always believe they will survive it, and that lack of fear really does make a huge difference.

But that doesn't mean we can't have that same synergy now. Lately, I have been trying to teach people to ride by feel, not ride by the numbers. I mean, for those of us who have taken lessons for years, and had the technique drilled into our heads, you will know what I mean. To canter, you shift your weight slightly, move one heel back, touch softly, release tension on the reins, and so on. Those are the "numbers" I am referring to.

Last weekend, I brought my old girl out to ride again. She's semi retired, and both the weather, her weight (she fluctuates badly due to bad teeth), and the status of her cancer affect if and when she can be ridden. Well, she's in high spirits now, and I was given the privilege of riding her. I walked her around the arena to get a feel of how she was doing, and for some reason went to head back to the gate to talk to someone. I didn't give a command, there were no aids considered, I just thought "I need to be there, and don't want to wait" and Ash picked up a slow collected canter, and headed right there.

Ash is the horse that was sold to me as unrideable, untrainable, and the "spawn of Satan".

That feeling, that freedom, that ease of working together is why we take all the lessons and work so hard to be perfect. And yet, so often all that work fails us, because we are, after all, human.

The problem is, that no one ever told the horses that they should do X when Y happens. Through repetition they might figure it out, but they never got the memo on how it works. We have to remember here that the horse is the largest part of the partnership, an individual in itself, and a sentient being.

So, pause for a moment, and think about what YOU would do if someone pushed on you here, or tapped on you there, or forced your head to turn or duck this way or that way. You might try to guess what they want, but it's unlikely that you'll be right 100% of the time. Of course, the more you work with that silent pusher, the more likely you are to guess right.

On the flip side, think about your spouse, your children/parents, or a close friend. Even if that friend doesn't say anything, you can tell when he or she is mad. How? What is it that makes the difference between not talking, and sulking? Even if the person is trying to hide it, usually it will show through - maybe as detachment and not anger, but you can always tell that something is just not right.

And that, my friends, is the feel part of it all.

You can't just work all week, and expect to ride on the weekends with perfect synergy with the horse. You must learn the horse just as the horse must learn you. My friend Leah does this through her grooming. She spends hours just "prettying" her horse - on the surface. In reality, she's learning the nuances of the horse's language. How he shows what he likes, and what he doesn't. How much pressure it takes to make him shift over, and how little it takes to get any reaction. She explores his body, in a way he loves (the brush) and he responds to that kindness with love and affection of his own. (Yes, horses do love, just not the same way humans do, but that's another post!) It's really not about the pretty part, but more about the bonding part.

And that bond is real. It isn't necessarily a bond of love always, it's more that 2 "people" who spend a lot of time together learn each others habits.

This came clear to me when playing a video game with Jae last night. We were both tired, finishing up for the night, and thinking about bed. Neither of us was talking, and yet, with out fail, we would line up, prep, and attack the "baddies" in perfect unison with out a word spoken. Sitting 6 feet apart, where we can't see each other's monitors, there's no way for me to know he was about to execute this move, or that one, but I always did... because we always play together (it's our evening wind down. Some people watch TV, we play games together).

So how does this translate to the horses? Well, that's the part that's hard to put into words. I can tell you though, that when you ride, you give subtle body signals. Get nervous, and your muscles tense up. If I - a mere human - can SEE this from the ground, you know the horse - who can feel a fly on a single hair - can feel it from his back. When you look left, the muscles in your neck move, your shoulders adjust, your center of balance shifts to hold the miniscule change of weight off center, and the horse can feel all of that. When you are confused, you of course give mixed signals. A part of you might say "walk straight" while you're thinking about that good looking man over by the barn, and so your horse follows the more subtle aids that matter more to your brain.

No different then a parent listening to their child say "For Christmas I don't want anything" while his body language says "but that bigwheel ROCKS!". Momma will buy that big wheel even if it's not what the kid "said".

Because of this, I think that everyone needs to understand the technique of riding, as well as the feel of it. Just for one ride, STOP THINKING about it, and look around you. If your horse does what you want, don't be shy and proper. Lay on his neck, cheer him on, and show your love for him. Horses do thrive on emotions. Their entire language is made up of body language, and they can understand yours.

Riding is as much about the feel of it, as the "how" parts. Stop worrying about getting it done by X day, and start worrying about the path you're traveling. Stop and smell the roses - and feed one to the pony while you're at it.

RAIN! (And a lot of it)

2012-01-25T12:32:00.001-06:00

Yesterday, the forecast predicted rain in the afternoon, with heavy rains today. I started out the day with working a few horses. Ash got some loving, and stretching, and Midnight got a lesson on lightness. Poko got pulled out, was acting perfect, but just achy in his hip, and so I didn't ride him.

Jae spent the entire day making the printer work and he got certificates printed! And I managed to get some web page work done on the SDHR site (minor tweaks, with major ones being prepared to be published). A wonderful productive and rather busy day for both of us.

And then the rain started. First it was sprinkles. I had Ash and Moon grazing the yard and the boys in their pens. None really had shelter. With the first crashing boom of thunder, I headed out to get them stalls. It was close "enough" to dinner time that I just fed horses, and locked them away. Moon went easily, but Ash, OH NO. She's feeling good, and wanted none of that "good girl" thing. Around the yard we went. She wouldn't let me catch her, and even had NO interest in the bucket of grain.

Now, there's a weed we call "Ash's flower" (common name "horse clover") and it's not only growing, but also blooming. Ash could care less about anything else. That mare wanted to eat every single stalk of it she could find... and it's pretty much covering my entire barn yard.

Eventually I gave up. By this time it's raining lightly. I moved Voodoo in with out a problem, and he was thrilled to find the dry, and the grain. Quagga was prancing, and Spot was sulking. When I went to move Spot into a stall, Ash of course decided it was PLAY TIME. She came taunting us, cantering ahead of us, laping around us, and running away if I made a move to her. Now, Spot is one of my stallions. I was so pleased that with this mare teasing him, he walked in, through the rain, like a saint. Ash got little more then an arched neck from him. Ok, Spot hates the rain, and just wanted to be INSIDE. Grabbed Quagga, and put him away (with out Ash's help this time), and then headed back to catch my mare.

After an hour, I gave up. Left 3 stalls open, closed anything she could kill herself on, and headed inside.

Dinner, relaxation, start winding down for the night, and realize that my stupid mare is still not locked in a stall. Oops!

So, somewhere after midnight, the rain gets worse. On the radar, there's this line of red that's just moving right across our place. We can hear the rain dumping on the roof, we can't see through the sheet of water falling from the sky, and we know that's a TON of water. I know we needed water, but I don't think the ground can take this much at once. And then yep, we got it... flash flood warnings.

And we have horses in pasture.

I can't tell you what time we headed out, but it was after midnight, and before 3am. Layers of rain gear were applied, and we prepared ourselves to be cold and soaked before we were done. Wandered out to check the run in, and there were 2 horses in there. That's it. There's room for about 15, and we had 13 in pasture, so where was the herd.

Stepped over to the fence, and we saw it. Water... LOTS of water. The ditch that runs across my property was flowing like a raging river, and over 10 feet wide. The entire lower half of the property, from the round pen, to the pond, and around in a semicircle to the ditch was flooded out. The ridges the place is named for stood like islands above the water.

And we couldn't see a single horse.

I yelled for them. And this time, I didn't stand in the middle of the horsey highway either! (Last time I tried that, I ended up calling the herd, and getting run over). It worked too. Jinx brought up the girls, and waded through the river separating us. Good, she's on high ground now, and all is well.

Uh, no.

Arden, Amber, and Keeley wouldn't cross the water. I called Arden, and she started to, but didn't want to leave the others. She waded out into it (belly deep at the ditch... a ditch that is less then 8 inches deep when dry) and then she would turn back. The horses left were the misfits of the herd. The "weak links" that are more often ignored then pampered, and still, Jinx turned back, and waded to them.

The entire herd followed. With subtle nickers, the whole herd wandered across the tops of the ridges, and back to the dry area in the back. There was no way I could get there on foot. The current would have swept me off my feet.

So we got the tractor!

The whole thing had happened so fast, in the dark and the rain, that we didn't get a good count. We had to be sure all of the horses - ours and the clients - were safe, even if they didn't want to be dry. And so, we took a drive.

Jaz, Daltrey, Diesel, and Boo were all grazing on high ground. We rounded them up, and herded them to the run in. They said "nah, that thing is noisey" and turned back. Well, at least they knew it was there and empty.

Then we drove across the newly formed lake. The water was between 2 and 4 feet deep across the property (and we're not in a flood zone!) moving fast, and covering everything, until we crossed that last hill.

Back in the far corner, in the area where I have my pet cemetery, it was high, dry, and calm. The wind was barely noticeable. Jinx had the whole herd tucked away under some evergreen trees, huddling up for warmth. Even the misfits were allowed in. We made a head count, and every one was cold and wet, but fine. We tried to cajole them up to the shelter, but they were having none of it. So we headed back.

No sooner did we get inside, then another round of torrential downpour hit us. The whole time we were out, we thought it was raining hard, but it just kept coming down harder.

The pond is now full. Not yet over flowing, but full. The horses all made it through, even if they refused to do things MY way. It's still raining, but the water has receded, and I can see the ground again. I have a whole new layer of top soil which washed in from my neighbors (Hope they didn't plant fescue!) and the grass is noticeably longer.

We spent a few hours out there, making sure that each and every horse was as happy as they could be. I have open stalls in the barn, and not a single horse would come up. Halters were a cause to run away, and I didn't think that "winning" this one was the goal. Especially not if it meant horses trying to dash away through belly deep water with who knows what under it.

The forecast said light rain yesterday, with "heavy rains" today. I wish they had clarified that a bit, as I assumed they meant toDAY (hourly forecast predicted 11am today). I would have rounded up the hard, locked them onto high ground, and saved myself a heart attack or 2 (and a ton of wet cold clothing). But all is well that ends well.

And sadly, we really did need that rain.

(Edited to add pictures taken today, after the drama) The water has receded amazingly, and there's grass visible out there again!

Murphy and his Laws

2012-01-21T11:59:00.000-06:00

This is what it sounded like!

So, those who know me, know that I have a pretty good relationship with Murphy. I'm starting to think he's stalking me actually. Him and his laws, that is.

You see, Murphy's law says that if it can go wrong, it will when least expected. And that kinda describes the last 2 days around here.

Thursday night, around 3am, Jae and I wake up. There's this noise. It kinda sounded like the heater was going bad. Of course, I made Jae get up to check on it. He comes back and starts putting on winter outside clothing. Uh... but you can access the heater inside.

Then he tells me that it's not the heater, it's a water leak!

Ok, so the property I have was rather neglected before we got it. Our little dream house had to be completely gutted, stud walls put in, electrical completely reworded (knob and tube wiring isn't legal any more) and most of the plumbing started over. While we're at it, we decided to move a few rooms around, since the only difference was WHERE we put the walls. But it's ok, you see, because we also got a little mobile home on the property too.

Little did we know that this mobile was on the verge of disintegrating. We gutted the "black house" (it's black with white trim, and 100 years old, pretty cool if you ask me) and got to work. And then the rain hit. Well, the mobile leaks... Everywhere.

The pipes in this thing are about to corrode away, and water leaks are getting to be a regular thing around here. Regular enough, that Jae now keeps enough supplies to replace entire water lines. Normally he doesn't have to do it at 3am in the cold, though.

And of course, the money intended to finish up the black house, went into the grains for the horses (and other assorted things) last year. With the drought, the horse market collapsed while prices trippled. Petty cash is, again, long gone. So we do what we can with what we have, and start saving up for the rest of the renovations. I have to say though, I can't WAIT to be out of this PoS, and into my dream home!

So, I some how have managed to misplace an entire day, between weird sleep hours, and not enough time in a day. Naturally, it was LOVELY yesterday, and cold today (damn you Murphy!) but, at least it's not windy. So... dear arena... I have plans for you today.

A RANT on Rude people

2012-01-19T19:06:00.001-06:00

So, I got finished with my work, and went to putter on facebook a bit. When I did, I came across a link to this video:

If you watch it, you will see an amazing young horse woman in training. You will also likely notice her brilliant red hair shining with no helmet there to cover it.

And so, the subject of my rant starts. Rude people. (Edit because so many people overlooked this: This entire post is in support of helmet use, and the theme is HOW TO GET PEOPLE TO WEAR ONE).

You see, I grew up with no helmet. I believe in the freedom to do dangerous things (I ride horses after all) and I wear a helmet now. For those who have followed my blog here, you can follow my progression from topless, to shattered helmets, to a proud supporter of the "brain bucket". I've never been opposed to them, but I've been honest about my lack of attention, and how easy it is to grab a horse and not the helmet.

Will I ride with out a helmet? Sure... but it's a pretty rare thing now-a-days. I do not recommend it either. I try to always have my helmet, but I admit, it has happened, and will likely happen again. At least I'm honest about it.

At any rate, today is not about IF you should wear a helmet. I think we can all agree that it's pretty much a good idea. Rather, I want to talk about how you (meaning the vague people on the internets) react to people who do NOT wear them.

So often, especially on facebook, but also other social media places (forums, youtube, and such) the typical way to reply to an image of a person or a child with out a helmet is to make derogatory comments. Now, I apologize if I offend any one, but the people who do that are STUPID!

I mean, seriously, are you going to change your ways because someone came online and acted like a complete ass to you? Are you going to meekly reply "oh you're right, let me go out and buy a helmet now so I can be just like you. You know, all rude and stuff". Or, being human, like the rest of us, are you more likely to think "what a dumb ass" hit the ignore button, and continue on with your topless ways?

So why do people act like this?

Do the people who do this think they are going to shame someone into changing their ways? Or is it more likely that the brunt of your attacks will simply refute your comments, an interwebs debate will ensue, and a whole group of people have a bad day? I am pretty sure that some people enjoy the feeling of "power" (however false it is) that making someone feel bad on the interwebs gives them. Mostly though, I'm sure that people are simply oblivious of how rude they are coming across to others.

You see, there's this art, called persuasion. If you want to achieve an outcome, you must make the person involved want to do things the way you are suggesting. In real English that means, makes people want to wear a helmet, not want to yell at you.

A friend of mine, Carrie, once mentioned to me that she hoped I'd wear a helmet more often, because she worried about me. Another friend, Leah, said that she really thought it would be a good idea, but didn't want to be pushy. Eventually, I asked my barn buddies to remind me to grab it... and now it's a habit I have. All of these people were kind, considerate, and while they spoke about how they felt, never once did they make me feel bad about not wearing a helmet.

Case in point, by making it so common for riders to wear helmets here, and conversations about helmets and helmet quality, we have gotten 2 more of our riders to become helmet fans. Rachel and Chris both now own helmets, and use them every time they ride. Never once did any of us belittle them, ignore them, or get all snitty with them, and the result was a positive change. By our kind and understanding behavior, we have increased the brain protected crowd by another 2.

And so many of the people making these comments are mothers, about someone else's kids. Well "moms" out there, how would you feel if someone like me, who has no children, and limited interactions with kids, who admits openly that I just don't understand children, was to come up and start telling YOU how to raise your child? I bet you'd be livid, right? You'd think something along the lines of "you don't have kids, how could you even know". So how is that any different then YOU telling THEM how to raise their child? You don't know the child, the horse, the situation.. You only have access to a small snap shot in time, captured on "film". From that brief moment, you make huge leaps in assumptions, and then rant like a lunatic for all the world to see. And as most of us know, once it's online, it never really goes away.

The next time you (any of us) want to smart off about people, their children, and a lack of protection, just stop and think a second. Can't you make the exact same argument about the thought of even letting a child NEAR a horse? Are you truly any better? Horses can cripple a person wearing a helmet in many ways. Broken backs, arms, severed limbs... c'mon, we've all heard the stories. Why take the chance? Shouldn't you just tell your child no horses? The most famous horse injury ever was Christoper Reeve, and he was wearing a helmet.

None of us wants to keep children from horses! How would you feel if someone screamed at you for "risking" your child by allowing them to be near horses? Well, think about that feeling the next time you want to recommend helmet use to someone, and try to phrase your words accordingly.

And if you're looking for something kind to say, try this "What a lovely young horse person. She looks great with that horse, and look at how kind the horse is. With that amazing red hair, can you imagine how adorable she'd look in a bright pink helmet and matching boots?"

My mother always said, you get more with honey then vinegar. It's true. Be kind, and you might be shocked at the results.

The complicated ways to get a Sugarbush Draft Horse

2012-01-14T13:05:00.000-06:00

There are less then 20 SDHR horses in the world. Many of those are new foundation horses. Now, I have to point out here that most of us hope that the SDHR is NEVER a large registry. A few thousand living horses in the breed is plenty.

That might shock some people, but let me explain. If the breed stays "small" enough, then only horses who are in demand are produced. The quality of horse stays high (and often times the price of the horse stays high enough to justify taking care while breeding them) and the phenotype, or overall appearance, stays similar.

Basically, it's only good for the registry, not the horses, to get a breed with millions of horses being produced each year. Our registry is currently running on all volunteer staff, and many donations. It's not ideal, but we're working out the kinks.

So, there are a few ways to get involved in the Sugarbush Draft Horse right now. I'm going to focus on those wanting to start a breeding program, since we have had a surge of interest in this lately, but offspring of these programs might not make the cut for breeding, and would make a wonderful pet for someone looking to just have one of these amazing horses.

Having thrown the books wide open, it makes the first step a lot easier for so many people. Some of the methods to breed a Sugarbush Draft Horse are a bit confusing though when you try to understand all the methods as a whole. But each on its own merits isn't that hard. Hence, I'm going to talk about them in order.

First, of course, you can purchase a Sugarbush Draft Horse. This pretty little filly here, is located in Wisconsin, and for sale. This breeder also has another filly for sale, and breeds one of two SDHR foals a year normally.

Also, Sugarbush Katy Did is still available. She's coming 5, ready to breed, started under saddle, and I'm half in love with her.

And in a couple of months, a few of us will be having more babies. I'm not sure how many of these will be on the market, but each year there will be a handful of foals produced.

Buying a Sugarbush Draft Horse is the easiest way to do it. You know you have a certified horse. You know that horse's foals will be registered, and it takes all the complications out of the process.

But, we're trying to increase the gene pool, and so we have ways to get horses into the registry. Foundation Registration is the most common, and next easiest way. Any horse who shows the right conformation (scoring a minimum of 70% towards the ideal) can apply for registration as a foundation horse. Color is not currently a requirement, because color is a personal preference, and is so easy to breed in later. Conformation faults though, can quickly spread through a breed, and cripple it. This is why we chose this route.

To get a horse registered as Foundation, the first step is to get pictures of the horse that show its conformation. I can work with a lot of wonky stuff, but I need to see the main body in a true side shot, standing, with all of the legs visible. Another picture (or the same one) must also show the horse's head, neck, and shoulder in a side view. Then, images of the horse from the front and the rear (for leg straightness) are a wonderful bonus, but I can work without those.

If the horse passes this photo inspection, then you can file an application for registration as a Foundation horse. The cost is $150, which covers the many hours I put in to researching the horse. Sometimes we find an entire pedigree on that horse, and other times, we get nothing. The horse's conformation is measured and marked, and recorded with it's application in it's registry file.

You might notice that the fee comes after we look the horse over and give the owner an answer. Well, lets just say I'm a cheap skate, and I would never pay money to possibly have my horse refused, and so I don't ask it of others. This method does mean more work for me, but it also has a larger interest in potential registrations, because I'm not the only person who doesn't think throwing money away is a good idea.

After that, the only ways to get a horse into the SDHR is to breed it.

The easiest way to do this, is to breed a draft mare (not registered with SDHR) to Sugarbush Harley's Classic O. As an SDHR registered horse, his foals will be registered.

Now, if you already own an SDHR registered horse, you can breed it to another SDHR horse, a draft horse, or a draft cross, so long as the resulting foal is above the minimum 51% draft blood. This method is good for foundations as well as generational or permanent registered horses.

Now, notice I mentioned generational pedigrees? Well, that's because you can breed up into the SDHR. This is the hardest way to do it, and takes the longest. You can breed forward, from draft appaloosa crosses, into the SDHR, but it takes a minimum of 2 generations. To so many people this looks like a great idea, but let me break down the numbers for you a bit.

If you breed a draft horse to a homozygous appaloosa, the resulting foal is a Stonewall Sport Horse. These horses are becoming somewhat popular on their own, but are difficult to breed and get the ideal phenotype. When crossing 2 very dissimilar types of horses (draft horse to light horse) the result can be amazing, or it can be wonderful. As a geneticist, I can easily dork out here, but I'll try to refrain from making any one's eyes glaze over.

So, lets make it easy and say that's a 50% chance of an ideal foal (conformationally) that you would want to breed on. If you used a heterozygous appaloosa, then you only have a 25% chance (50% color, 50% conformation chances, when put together, gives you 25% for the ideal foal). So then you wait 3 years, or more (depending upon gender of the foal).

So after 4 or 5 years of waiting (since equine gestation is 11 months) you get your first generation SDHR foal, which must also pass the conformation review. If you don't get what you want, it could be 8 or 9 years down the road. If this horse meets all of the requirements, then you've got a first generation SDHR horse! These horses are horses from known lineage who have 2 non-SDHR registered parents that meet the criteria.

But, you can always do things a bit easier, and simply purchase a Stonewall Sport Horse. If I was starting over, this is probably what I would do. I've been breeding Stonewalls, trying to increase my own genetic options, and so I have a soft spot for these horses, and might be a bit biased.

Stonewall Sport Horses are often available for low prices (in relation to draft horse prices that is). You can get the color genetics necessary to found a very loud breeding program, with out the years of trial and error. These horses can be bred to a draft - basically any draft right now - for a foal that applies for registration. The cost to register these foals (Stonewall x Draft) is much less then Foundation registration, since their pedigree is already known. Merely $50.00.

If I had it all to do over again, what I would do, is purchase a Stonewall colt - young, and oozing with potential - and cross him to draft mares. It's easy to get draft mares who meet the conformation type, and just need a tweak here or there. Crossing a draft cross to a draft horse is a lot less genetics lessons, then crossing light horses to heavy horses. Many of the draft to draft crossed horses that came off the PMU lines have the exact conformation we are looking for (many, not all!) and this is a very cost effective, and easy to get into way to join the ranks of SDHR breeders/owners.

For the SDHR, this is a wonderful way to get completely new genetics, with out losing the look we have come to expect from the Sugarbush Draft Horse.

And of course, any one wanting to get involved in this, can contact us (with pictures if you have them) and we'll help you find horses that meet the conformational ideal of the breed. I know what it's like to look at buying a horse, wondering if you're on the right track, and so we encourage people to just send us an email and ask. I will do my best to answer the question, with as much clarity honesty and openness, as I can. And I try to be very gentle when saying no. Not all wonderful horses make wonderful breeding animals.

So, any of these methods, can get you an SDHR registered horse, at this time. With the sudden surge in interest, it's looking like we will begin the first stage of closing the books in 5 years, or less. Once that happens, all SDHR foals will need to have at least one SDHR parent. The time line is of course a bit vague, because it's not based on years, but on the number of available unrelated mare lines. We also won't just spring this on our owners and breeders, we will have at least one year's notice (so any foals in utero won't lose out).

But, this brings us back to the horse market. It's not exactly the best time to be breeding horses, and we know this. If the registry doesn't begin step 1 (toward closing the books) as quickly as we want, that's fine. We can't say how long it will take though, and sure don't want people to get involved in a large program, only to lose it with the closings.

Which brings me back to the safest bet. Buying an SDHR registered horse. Any horse registered with the SDHR can be bred to any horse, where the resulting foal will have a minimum of 51% draft breeding, and will not carry tobiano or frame white genetics. In time, restrictions will be placed on this (when we begin step 1 of closing the books) but if you own an SDHR registered horse, then any changes won't make much of an effect on you.

And for those who just want to own one of these amazing draft horses, well our goal is to make it so that the differences between Foundation Registered horses, Generational registered horses, and Permanent registered horses, will be something that only matters to a breeder. The horse owner should have to look at their papers to know the difference, if our plan of keeping the breed to the ideal works as we hope.

I wanna talk about the Sugarbush Draft Horses some more

2012-01-13T18:09:00.001-06:00

So things have been exciting with the SDHR (Sugarbush Draft Horse Registry). Stephanie Adame, one of our BOD members recently found a couple of "new" horses. They aren't new, but it seems that I don't have their records. These are some of the horses that we knew had existed, but somehow had been lost to the registry. Exciting stuff!

We've also seen a lot of interest in the breed lately. I can't tell you how great this is. The Sugarbush Draft Horse has been around a long time, but never truly got much recognition. Our numbers aren't far from that of the ACDHA, and yet, only a few people have ever heard of this breed. To have more people talking about these horses means that the breed's chances at a true revival is going up exponentially.

But, a lot of people don't understand the Sugarbush Draft. They think they do, and they assume it's a new designer breed. It's not - no more then the American Paint Horse, American Quarter Horse, Appaloosa, or Tennessee Walking Horse are "new" or "designer" breeds. Their inceptions are all within the same decade, and their means of formation are all so very similar.

What's the difference then, that makes people look down on the SDHR, or look over it, or never even know it existed? Well, marketing and breeding for quantity. You see, the SDHR never really pushed itsself as a registry. Mr. Smith never ran ads when he started, begging for new horses, he never pushed large scale breeding, and he never really cared if "lots" of people loved what he was doing. Instead, Everett Smith put his heart and soul into making the best draft horse for his purposes that he could. He bred responsibly, and encouraged others to do the same.

The irony to me, is that so many people wish that registries would stop pushing the over breeding just to keep up their revenues (because registries make most of their money on registrations and transfers, so more horses means more money). People complain that registries don't push proper breeding ethics over show rewards (futurities do promote over breeding by the most popular stallions). And yet, when Everett did it properly, many people who say those very things are the same ones who say "oh that's not a breed because I have never heard of it before". Well, I'm sure that the Altai, the Knabstrupper, and the Friesian all are glad that some movies used their horses so that they can be "real" breeds now, even though they had centuries of history behind them.

I also know that our policy of an open breeding book confuses some people. They think that it can't be a breed if we're allowing outcrossing. Sadly, more horse breeds allow outcrossing then those which do not. AQHA allows crossing to Thoroughbreds, APHA allows crossing the AQHA and TBs, and ApHC allows TB, AQHA, and Arabians. That's just to name the most common examples. The warmbloods, most of your inspected breeds, and a huge amount of "never heard of" breeds also do this. The reasoning is simple, horses are bred for a purpose, and traditionally that purpose has been more important then an individual's bloodlines.

And with only 1 unrelated breeding pair, we don't exactly have a lot of options, unless we want to turn the breed into a colored version of something else. Instead, what we have done, is approve horses with the proper body style, rather then those with the proper parentage. This idea came from the Cleveland Bays. When their breed was in danger, they wisely began registering horses from other breeds who most closely fit the ideal conformation. Today the Cleveland Bay is a horse notorious for its consistency, and unique appearance, while maintaining its lack of health issue (which are commonly seen when working with a gene pool that is a little too close).

One of the biggest bits of confusion is something I even commented on at the top of my blog. So many people think that these are simply draft/appaloosa crosses. They aren't. The Sugarbush Draft Horse is a breed by the scientific definition of it. But, never fear, I'll get into that more another day. Yes, we do allow horses with appaloosa or light horse ancestry, but it is still from a restricted breeding pool. It's just that our pool is restricted in ways other then what paperwork the horse has. If you think about it, you quickly realize that this does make more sense. A Halter type quarter horse is very different conformationally, then say a racing type quarter horse. How then can a breed say there is any standard in type when allowing a horse that is a "quarter horse" to be used, and no standard when matching a body style is more important then parentage?

No, I am not picking on quarters. It's just that they are so common, most people can easily grasp the comparison. As a light horse, they are just as ineligible for SDHR breeding as an Appaloosa, Thoroughbred, or Arabian. It's nothing personal.

So, with all the new interest in the breed, the limitations of facebook, and the ease of giving a complete answer in this blog, I'm going to be doing a few topics on things related to the SDHR.

Of course, as an addict to these horses, I'm excited to be able to ramble on about them. I can't even tell you how impressed I am with the breed. I have worked with so many different types of horses in my life, from Arabians, Thoroughbreds, Quarter Horses, Paints, Appaloosas, and a few Warmbloods (Holsteiner, Hanoverian, Dutch, American and Canadian), Mustangs, grades, Percherons, Clydesdales, Hackney horses - most being some one else's horses I could steal time with - and so my experiences are rather varied. The interesting thing is, that I always had this ideal in my head of what a "perfect" horse should be.

I wanted something big and strong (because there's just something kinda cool about the drafts) with a nice calm personality, but a horse that is very intelligent. I wanted something realistically sized (so I can mount from the ground, with out a step ladder) yet powerful. I want a nice size barrel, but I also want the flexibility and athleticism of a hot blood. In the Sugarbush Drafts, I have found it.

I am convinced that these horses are the best thing in the world. I am thrilled with the progress I can see happening in the SDHR, and I am excited for the future of this breed. The only thing we need now, are more horses, and more wonderful homes for them to live in.

This is why I can't have nice things (like days off)

2012-01-10T09:41:00.000-06:00

My pretty little baby is growing up. That's Sweetie as a youngster, with her mother Rose. Both are Sugarbush Draft Horses. Sweetie is the only known homozygous for LP horse currently registered with the SDHR (her sister COULD be, but is a roan).

Anyway, Sweetie has been learning to carry a rider. My friends have been helping me get enough saddle time on the horses, since I am basically behind on EVERYTHING. Well, Chris decided he wanted to ride Sweetie.

The plan was, Rachel would ride Moon (who is doing amazing) I would take Cayenne (who is a spoiled pain in the rump) and Chris said he's getting Sweetie. I went to the round pen to stay out of the way of the greener horses. Cayenne was in a serious mood.

So, the little pony, Cayenne starts off fussing with every command I give, and I choose to lunge her out. Snap on the lunge line, and she takes off like a rocket! Not allowed! I correct, she fusses, and is just being a very bad horse. I didn't really think much of it, until the stars aligned all wrong for Chris.

He's in the arena next to me, on Sweetie, who is greener then that grass above. Just as Sweetie turns to head back down the fence line, putting her back to the round pen, Cayenne lets loose. Cayenne bucks, bolts, hits the end of the line, and bucks again. Sweetie caught "danger" behind her, and surged. Chris, being a novice rider still, hit her face, she went up, and chaos ensued. Just as he decided to step off, she hopped, giving him that extra launch we all hate.

He landed hard.

Rachel, his wife, hops off Moon, and heads to him. Moon stood like a rock, nice and calm. Sweetie of course headed up and out of the arena, right to Jae. Jae said he looked up, saw a riderless horse, and thought, "hmm, that's not good".

Poor Sweetie was terrified. Poor Chris hurt every where. Silly Cayenne thought it was yet another excuse for being silly. Tied her, and headed over, and we got Chris up and settled. Needless to say, that put a damper on our plans to get a lot of riding in.

So Sunday, we have the pony party. The horses are already in a mood, with everyone feeling good...a bit too good. Stephanie wanted to work on trot, and had HATED her horse the week before. After much thought, we decided to try Diesel. Well, it's debatable what exactly happened, but from an eye witness (my back was turned), Steph asked Diesel to "go" and he took a nice big rolling step of the canter. He's got a BIG dressage type canter. Stephanie just rolled off his shoulder, and ate dirt. Now, Diesel is 16.2, so that's a long way down for a 12 year old girl.

Gotta give her credit though. She got back on a horse (I worked out Diesel, he was dead on, and turned him out before she was over the jitters). She ended up riding Keeley, mom's retired mare, and both were happy for it. Keeley can't do anything more then walk/trot work now, due to some arthritis in her hips, but the same reason means that the light exercise is really good for her. Stephanie also weighs like 10 cents soaking wet.

Ok, so, by the end of the weekend, we had 2 falls. Not something I like to see, but, no injuries (other then sore muscles, bruises, and aching pride) and both riders had on their helmets.

So, keeping with my Resolution, I took the day off Monday.

The rain came in Sunday night, and I stayed up late playing video games with Jae and Chris (yeah the same one who fell). I slept in, I was lazy, and I was relaxed. Until about midnight last nght.

I started getting anxious.

I have things I need to do! I have stuff I need to get DONE!

The list is crazy. The thing is, no one thing is all that much, but together, it's like 4 full time jobs.

I need to get the horses saddle time, but can't because it's raining. I've been suffering through hell trying to get the system set up to just print the registration certificates. Last rejection was due to pixelation of the logo. AHH. I need to do website updates (and for me that takes much longer then for a more skilled person).

I need to set up the SDHR so that it will be a bit more modern, and function a lot more efficiently. This includes a database for the pedigrees. Ideally one that I can use online and for the pedigrees on the certificates.

Lets not even talk about things like laundry, or meals.

No, it's not that bad, but when the "oh I'm so behind" feeling hits me, I sure feel like it is! So 6am today, my eyes open, and my body says "we have to get one thing finished TODAY". I was up like a rocket, and hitting the keyboard hard. It's the same feeling you have when you wake up randomly, only to realize the alarm didn't go off, and you have to be headed to work in 10 minutes or less. The horses weren't even happy to see me at that hour (as I'm very vocal about NOT being a morning person) and my dogs have yet to stir from their comfy beds.

So this is why my resolution might fail. The day after I do nothing important always feels like I am panicking. I have to say though, I've really been enjoying the time with Jae, even if I do feel guilty quitting my work day about the time the sun goes down. So lets see if I can hold on to my resolve to keep normal working hours, and not lose myself in all the projects I have going.

I can almost feel the progress!

2012-01-06T11:42:00.000-06:00

So the other day I asked about stall floors, and I got some brilliant ideas. Lisa mentioned rail road ties (I'm definately going to be looking into doing that, might be my perfect long term fix actually). Some one else (oops forgot the name) mentioned digging out the pee spot and filling with gravel for now.

I have Jae out working on the number 9 stall (next to chicken coop for those who know the place) and making that door open again. In the previous owner's infinite wisdom, they cranked down on the metal before welding, and the stall door latch sits about 3 inches above the hole it locks into. Only way to close the door is to have TWO people stand on it. The roof also sagged there - go figure. Well, roof is level again, and today, the stall door should latch.

Right now, we're in the stage of fixing all the "little" things. Like making the stall door latch, or leveling out the ground in the soon to be new stallion turn out (previously the hot walker area, with no working hot walker). I have been catching up on grooming all the horses (trimming tails and manes, oiling hooves and such).

But, A while ago (what, a week or so now?) I got hurt. Nothing serious at all, just one of those "oops" moments. Nazar tried to exit through the long pen gate, with Jinx behind her pushing her forward. She came out too fast and the gate (which is in a corner, ick) pinched her in the middle. Most horses would panic and bolt forward (thank goodness the gate is flexible, right) and so I braced for that. Not Nazar. She has brains, and rather intelligently took one strong (draft like) step backwards to get out of the pinch.

I was braced the wrong way, and she pulled the gate out of my hand, yanking my shoulder back (because I turned sideways to get out of her way, and prepared to step up onto the gate so it wouldn't take me out). Yep, now I have a pulled muscle on my shoulder. From behind my ear, down to the shoulder joint, and back to the shoulder blade. It's not "painful" but it is tight, and just won't relax. Not bad for a day... but a week later, it's SO annoying.

Scooping grain, yeah, I use that shoulder. Brushing horses, yep... that's the arm. Picking feet, well, you guessed it. But I just don't know WHY it's not healing quickly. Grr. At least cleaning stalls I use the other arm as my main!

And now, I'm off to enjoy this AMAZING weather we're having. Must remember the camera today. Y'all have got to see how these Sugarbush girls are coming along!

My stall floors are HORRIBLE! Suggestions?

2012-01-04T11:39:00.000-06:00

Picture from last February when it snowed

Ok, so I have this barn. It's not the best barn, but it has potential. I have 3 rows of stalls in it. The normal inside rows which face each other, and then this set of stalls on the outside. I have a total of 15 stall "spots" but only have 12 set up as stalls. The others are divided into things like a chicken coop, tack/med area, and a run in.

Well, to understand my problem, you have to understand a little history of this barn. I bought the place in 2007. The man who owned the property before us purchased it in 1980. I've had trouble finding out if he built the barn or moved it in, but either way, it was done in sections. The above line of stalls all seem to match, but as you can see, they aren't exactly level. It's even worse in person. The entre barn was built with each stall level to the ground it is on. And it's on a bit of a hill.

Ok, so each stall is unique. Kind of annoying to rennovate, but they are nice big stalls, ranging from 12 x 12 to 12 x 14. The 12 x 12 stalls back up against each other with a removeable wall between them (lift the boards out type) and make amazing foaling stalls.

But, when the previous owner had the place he never cleaned out the stalls, or so it seems. When we bought it, there were HUGE (as in bigger then I could move) chunks of decayed hay/manure. Big lumps like boulders.

We finally got the stall floors "level-ish" and were able to start using them. It took time, with us starting out with one useable stall, then 2, then 4, and so on. Right now, we have all the floors level-ish. So, I have been using the barn like normal for almost a year, and we have a new problem, and one that I can't seem to figure out how to fix on a budget.

The "compost" which makes up the stall floors (technically they are dirt floors) gets wet from the urine, and the rain that comes in the open sides, and is not drying out. Shavings are basically worthless because of the set up. I can put down 5 bales of shavings in a stall, and in less then 2 days, they have all degraded into dirt.

Now, before you think "duh, just dig them out" well, I've tried to hand dig out a few of the worst ones, and refill them with sand. We just happen to have a nice pit of sand on the property, so it seemed worth a try. In a couple of days, it was no different then the others. I think it lasted less then 2 weeks for 2 days of back breaking work.

Our plan is to eventually cut off the stall fronts, use the tractor to dig down to the clay base, then add on the PROPER base for a stall (crushed rock with mats over it). But, I'm not there yet, and I'm on a tight budget after last year's drought. With all the OTHER projects we have here (cross fencing is the main one right now) I'm looking for ideas to hold me over until we can get there.

So, I've tried shavings, and gave up on them. I tried straw on it's own, and it's not that much better. Right now, I am using those pelleted shavings (the dehydrated ones) under the straw, and that seems to be decent, but I still have this pocket in each stall, where the horses urinate, that just won't dry up, no matter what I put on it. I try to dig it out, and just end up with a hole of soft dirt, that quickly gets wet again, and then mixes with the bedding on top of it.

So, I figure there are enough horse people out here with "common man" barns, that maybe someone has run across this problem before, and has some ideas. If not, I'll just keep trying to make it better until we can dig them out.

That was my project yesterday. Leveling off the "wet spot" and dumping dehydrated pellets on it to soak up the "wet" and then adding fresh straw to each.

I really like using the straw in my barn over the shavings for so many reasons, but I'm not sure that every one agrees. Oh sure, it's harder to "pick" the stalls, but I just remove more, and add back in more. Straw right now is drastically cheaper then shavings so even removing that much extra doesn't hurt the budget, and when pulled out, it makes a better compost, which then fertilizes the pastures. So, for an extra 30 minutes of "work" I get much more benefit (the compost). My concern though, is that my potential boarders won't like that I use straw instead of the more common shavings (here at least shavings are the most common).

So all in all, I guess I have 2 things I need suggestions on: Any ideas to fix the stall floors, and what do you think of bedding horses on straw rather then shavings?

And I realized that almost all the pictures of the inside of my barn are from baby pictures. So enjoy some gratuitous babies!

Motivation! (A new Year's Resolution)

2012-01-02T12:20:00.000-06:00

Ah, coffee, it's the spice of life. It's also my main motivation. With out my coffee, I am a complete mess. I don't function until after the second cup. With out a single cup, no one wants to talk to me... not even Jae!

Yeah, I am not a morning person. I'm one of those freaks that can stay up all night, never have a problem with it, and sleep all day happily. Unfortunately, there's no daylight at night, and that makes riding and horse work, a little itty bitty bit harder.

And so, I am working on becoming a morning person. It's a fight I may never win, but will always keep on trying to.

I have to admit, with all the work headed my way, I was having trouble keeping up. Seems like every time I turned around, I was feeling guilty and horrible over not getting SOMEthing finished. Either it was paper work, or horse work. There was always some one asking if I had finished yet, and I had to say "no". Not because I was lazy, but just because there's only one of me.

And so, my New Year's resolution is to delegate, and change up a few things. I need to spend more time in the saddle, and less time doing paper work. Others can do the paper work, but I can't get others to do my riding, nor would I want to! My office hours will be changing a bit, so that I have "family time". No more working at 10pm!

But I have realized that while I want to do it all there is just no way I can. I answer over 100 emails a day about the horses, or the SDHR. I have 6 horses a day I should be riding... minimum. I have 15 stalls to much, 33 head to feed and care for, and only one person working for me full time, and he just cares for the property and equipment!

This also means I will be having a horsey sale!

As always with my sales, prices are the most negotiable to the best home. Prices on light horses (i.e. not draft horses) can be stupidly low. I will not ever sell a horse knowingly into a bad home, but for this crew, it's going to be all about the placement, not the finances. Yes, I make my living (and pay for the herd's care) through horse sales, and such (training, boarding, etc) but I want to do more work with other people's horses, and less with horses I own, and really have no need for. It's not that I have too many horses, but rather that I have the wrong horses.

I mean, why do I need a 14.0 hand quarter horse again? Oh sure, I love her to death, but I don't normally ride western, she's not really an English horse, and I rarely go out on trail rides (she's spook proof because she's an orphan, and sure footed, so a great trail horse - just not MY type). As it is, horses like that, I am having to work, and there's this feeling of "why". Why do **I** have this horse, why do I need to put extra hours into her, and WHAT am I thinking.

And so, my New Year's resolution is rather convoluted, but makes sense to me. Make things more efficient and more realistic. I want time for ME, and time to enjoy my horses in the way I envision them. If someone else happens to benefit from that, then it's a win all around.

So, with a cup of coffee in hand, and a big marker, I'm working my way through my horsey list. I'll be adding new names to the sales list. I'm also working up ways to stream line the paper work I need to do. Some I will delegate, some I will refine.

I have been heading in this direction for a while now, but never quite gotten there. But, my resolution is to GET IT DONE this year. My motivation is time doing what I want to do. I enjoy my rides for "fun" even if they are nice progression in a horse's training, or good marketing, or what ever else that fun ride could be put off as. I still enjoy it.

I also want to get the rest of the property improvements finished, but I think that has to wait for next year (for my jobs. Jae on the other hand has his work cut out for him!).

And now, I have a couple of horses calling my name.

It's finally over, I'm so happy 2012 is here!

2012-01-01T10:26:00.000-06:00

I am so glad to be done with 2012! Oh my, was that a bad year for me. So, I'm putting my best foot forward, and excitedly welcoming the New Year.

As many of you know, in April, I got kicked in the face by one of my horses. That gave me fear and confidence issues which were hard to get over (and no, I'm not completely over them, but better). Then there's the physical aspect to it: dental work, and the new scar on my lip (which is currently going through a stiff phase).

After that, we had the drought. I don't think most hay farmers here got even one crop of hay in. Hay prices sky rocketed to $130/round bale and around $14/square bale. It was hard to find, and much of it was at the feed store, hauled in from up north. I had hit and misses with hay all year. Some was amazing, but then the supply would run out, and I'd have to go back to hay that I normally wouldn't even think of feeding the horses. Dusty, dirty, weedy, or just empty of nutrients.

So, with the drought, horse sales fled. As we're tripling our feed bill, our income is dwindling to next to nothing. Pennies got pinched, and belts got tighter, but we made it through. The horses all lost weight, but held on to what they needed for the most part (one or 2 of mine had it harder then others). Over time, the lack of proper nutrients started to show up. Oddly, you just can not balance a horse's diet on complete feeds and nothing else, for months on end, and expect the same appearance as you would on fresh green grasses. It's the little things that I have noticed. Manes and tails getting brittle, hooves that aren't as resilient as I'd like, a new round of skin issues (we had a bought of rain rot in a drought, ugh).

Things were ok though - not great, just ok - until the end of the year. What I keep thinking of as "the kicker". First I lost Hex, my wonderful brood mare. She was one of my favourite horses ever (of course, I say that about almost all of them) but her death came out of no where. I was treating her for the monthly sand clear, when complications arose. She had a mild sand colic, was passing it, and seemed to be recovering, when between checks she managed to roll, twist, and die. A complete freak thing my vet says, but horrible!

After that, my seizure dog, Rowdy, passed away in her sleep. I loved that dog, and while I knew that she wouldn't live as long as most, due to the massive amounts of medications she had been taking for her myriad of medical issues, losing her hurt. It still does. There are times when I think I hear her, or swear I see her, just out of habit, and get upset all over again. Rowdy was amazing. Always there for love, and would just sit beside me gazing at me as if I was her entire world, for as long as I would sit still and let her. She was one of those dogs that people don't deserve. Just too good to be believed.

Around Thanksgiving, my grandfather's girl friend passed away. While I barely knew her, she was a wonderful lady, and much of my family did know her well. Granddaddy was devastated. My mother was upset, and i can't even express my sorrow for her family.

The very next week, I lost my beloved dog, Anvil. Another freak thing. He got into the garbage the very day that we cleaned out the fridge. Some left over onion/pepper/garlic mix, a few onion tops, and he had a minor case of heinz body hemolytic anemia. Normally not a big deal for a dog his size, but in the way of things here, one thing lead to another, and the heinz body anemia turned into auto immune anemia. There's little that can be done for auto immune hemolytic anemia, but we tried it. 2 blood transfusions later, and he's losing blood faster then we can put it into him, and becoming miserable with it. He gave up that morning, and so I made the call to have him put down.

Then, in December, my father had shoulder surgery. He got a nify new ball and socket joint, one that only 3 people in the world have, and is now recovering. Of course, my parents live with me, and any one who knows my father, knows that he is currently driving me up the wall. Dad on pain medication is not something that I am well adjusted to handle. I know he had an excuse, but I still wind up reacting to his "silliness" from the pain meds.

So the next thing I knew, it was a week until the end of the year, and I decided to escape the world. Last week I was ready to kill someone, and just hide away from it all. Jae, my better half, informed me that I need to lighten my load, and that one person can't pull the hours of work that I've been trying to do (12 hour days on average) with out eventually losing it, and I think last week was my "lost" week. But the break did me good, and the start of a new year is something I am really looking forward to.

I had more bad things happen last year, then I previously deal with in 3, and I hope to never repeat it! I am still adjusting to the smaller size of my furry family (from 6 dogs to only 4) and I have a serious case of puppy fever. No, I won't be getting a pup for a while, but that doesn't mean that my eyes aren't drawn to every adorable puppy out there (or, as I've had to admit, that I wouldn't adopt a super sized dog in need). But, I have a senior dog, Suzie, who is very spoiled, and deserves my attention in these golden years. She would hate sharing her time with a new pup, and so I just keep staring at puppy pictures and day dreaming.

But, of course, it's not all bad.

In these last couple of weeks, I have been putting some serious effort into my green horses. Katy and Sweetie are doing amazingly under saddle. Cayenne is happy and working well, with no hip pain (I made the mistake of trading her for a draft mare, and the trade went bad, resulting in me returning the draft mare to get "the Baby" back, who was injured) and Cayenne is learning to truly neck rein now. Ishka has come a long way with Sarah riding her on the weekends (my mom's spoiled horse). Poko is doing great, and has learned to tolerate the crazy things we riders do under saddle.

I now have about 11 horses that are broke enough for me to consider letting others ride. I have the new babies coming next spring - and those are something to be excited about on their own! We're making progress on the property, while it's hard to see, I know it's there, and the future is bright.

So here's hoping that every one out there is excited about the new year, had a wonderful holiday season, and a safe and happy New Year's celebration last night. Me, I'm off to the barn to share some saddle time with my friends. There is no better way to start the new year then this.

Name Ideas - Amber's foal

2011-12-14T09:00:00.002-06:00

And now, for something a bit different! Amber, registered AQHA as Crystal Lynx. This is my test breeding for Scorch, aka Rorschach's Slow Burn.

And the stallion she is bred to, is my Stonewall Sport Horse, Scorch (Rorschach's Slow Burn)

This makes the color of this foal a fun game! Black, grullo, black champagne (aka classic champagne) grullo champagne, bay, dun, dun champagne, amber champagne, and there's a slim chance of an e/e foal, so chestnut, red dun, red dun champagne, and gold champagne. The foal has a 50% chance of LP, but it would not have much if any pattern visible at birth. The suppression factors are high in both parents.

This foal needs a name that includes or plays on Rorschach (or the ink blot test) and possibly the lynx. Bonus points to names that some how combine the play on spots, ink blot tests, and cat colors.

This foal is due mid April.

Yep, that's 5 babies due within 2 weeks for me. Of course, mares being like they are, it could be up to 2 months apart, but I'm hoping they get them all done close together (so I can stay sane!). I do have another mare that I believe to be pregnant, and am treating as if she is, but due to a bit of a mess, I didn't have her tested. I exposed her to the stallion, she seemed receptive for a day, and then the stallion became aggressive with her. I removed her, thinking that she had not fully come into heat (it was a pasture breeding with a calm and experienced stallion who just took an odd dislike to her). Because the time of exposure was seriously limited, and my luck is NOT that good, I assumed that I needed to worry more about her boo boos then her being pregnant. Well, lets just say that for the last few months, she's been, ahem, rounder then normal. I have plans to test her soon (tm) but my luck hasn't been so good with the cash flow lately (can you say expensive vet bills for my sick dog?). When I know for sure, I will announce it, and put her up for name suggestions as well.

Name Ideas - Dove's foal

2011-12-13T09:00:00.000-06:00

KCF Olympic Dove, ApHC registered and half sister to Dream. Dove is a mare that Sig "forced" me to lease from her, and whom I "inherited" when she passed away. And yep, she's also bred to Sugarbush Harley's Classic O.

Ok, I actually don't have a picture that's more current then these that I would show publicly, but she's roaned a bit more, in the most amazing way. I'll see if I can get one though, and update this.

And the sire, O

This foal will be either bay, seal bay, possible black (very small chance of that) or chestnut. So a complete toss up! It will have a 75% chance of color, with 25% of that being homozygous, or a 25% chance of a solid. This foal will be a Stonewall Sport Horse. The pattern could be anything from leopard down to roan, if it gets one.

Names should reference metals and/or play on the Olympic theme. I would like something with a bit of a regal sound to it. Dove's last foal was named Olympic Torch, so that obvious name is out (that's Tori, for those who follow my horses).

This foal is due early April.

Name Ideas - Dream's foal

2011-12-12T09:00:00.001-06:00

Next, is Dream, KCF Olympic Dream, registered ApHC. She is also bred to Sugarbush Harley's Classic O. Dream is the first horse I ever purchased from Sigrid Ricco of Knight Creek Farms, and this will be her first foal.

This foal will be a Stonewall Sport Horse, and my fingers are crossed for a filly.

And before anyone has a tirade about my breeding a light horse to a draft stallion, let me assure you that I've done the research, as well as done this style of breeding before. Unlike most animals, the horse's placenta completely wraps around the foal in utero. This means that the horse can not have a foal that is truly too large for the dam. Many studies have been done on this, in some cases breeding Shetland mares to draft stallions. There is no higher incidence of distocia in this type of breeding then in any other. (Sadly, if I don't post that, someone will go off on it)

And again, she's bred to Sugarbush Harley's Classic O.

This foal will likely be seal bay or chestnut. Both sire and dam are Ee, but dam could be heterozygous for bay (At/a). As you can tell, color is not exactly the highest thing on my priority list, and I don't really believe in color testing horses that meet all of my other requirements for breeding stock. (I don't disapprove of it, I just don't see it as a priority).

This foal has a 75% chance of some type of appaloosa coloration, a 25% chance of that being homozygous, and a 25% chance of a true solid. I figure that means that I'm getting the most adorable seal bay colt, since I want a leopard or fewspot filly.

Names should include either Knight Creek, a reference to that, or a reference to thanks, heirlooms, or such. I would like this foal's name to be a tribute to my late mentor, and a small thank you to her for giving me the chance to own a mare this nice (not to mention all the help she gave me over the years). Names that touch on both Sig's farm, as well as my debt to her are even better! It can be a subtle or a blatant reference though.

Foal is due early-mid April (second week of April or so).

Name Ideas - Nazar's foal

2011-12-11T09:00:00.003-06:00

Next up is Nazar, my other Foundation SDHR mare. Nazar is the name of the charm used to prevent a "Jinx" (can you tell which mare I got first?). She is also bred to Sugarbush Harley's Classic O.

Nazar is my "little girl" standing only 15.2 hands, but wow does she have the moves.

And of course, a picture of the foal's sire, Sugarbush Harley's Classic O

This foal will likely be either bay or chestnut, but there is a small chance of black. We have a 50% chance of LP color (Appaloosa color) but it will not exceed the pattern O has. My gut tells me that this one is a boy, but if you've known me and my guesses on gender, you'll know that I do tend to be 100% wrong on gender. Oh, I can guess color almost exactly, but I have only ever gotten the gender of the baby right one time (Zire!).

Names are the same as with Jinx's foal: they should have some relation to metal (ANY relation to any metal) and can not have the word "Sugarbush" in it (my version of respect to Everett Smith and his exemplary breeding, I don't want to copy his name). I do not need any relation to the parents names, but don't mind if it works out that way either. I tend to like names that are a bit different, and have a logical one or 2 syllable shortened form (not necessarily a word in the name.

As an example, "Little Red Corvette" was called Crash.

This one is also due in early April.

Name Ideas - Jinx's foal

2011-12-10T09:00:00.000-06:00

So, I said I'd be asking for help with baby names. Well, I have a few mares expecting next year. I'm listing the mares in the order of their breedings. First up is Jinx, a foundation SDHR mare, bred to Sugarbush Harley's Classic O.

Jinx, shown with her first foal "Jinxed Diva"

Jinx, about ready to pop with Soliloquy, her second baby.

And the stallion of her foal, the famous Sugarbush Harley's Classic O

This foal should be black. There's a slim chance of red (O is Ee, and Jinx has never been tested). Jinx has had 2 foals for me, both fillies, and while statistically, she should give me a boy this time, she looks and acts just like she always has when pregnant. Granted, I want hers to be a girl SO BADLY. If it is, it's a keeper. We have a 50% chance of Appaloosa coloring, ranging from roan, up to a bit more then O's level of expression (due to Jinx's white enhancers, sabino and splash).

Names for this foal should have some relation to metal (ANY relation to any metal) and can not have the word "Sugarbush" in it (my version of respect to Everett Smith and his exemplary breeding, I don't want to copy his name). I do not need any relation to the parents names, but don't mind if it works out that way either.

Foal is due in early April.

Have you ever had that time, when you just have no time....

2011-12-09T23:23:00.000-06:00

...And you don't have a clue where it went? Yeah, that's so me lately. I just feel completely swamped, like I always have something on the go, and like I never have the time to actually pay attention to the people and things I should be paying time to!

So, for everyone that has tried to call me, and failed recently, that means YOU.

But in all honesty, I can't really figure out where my time is going. I'm absolutely exhausted, I'm always rushing to do SOMEthing, usually something silly, and I've got almost nothing done that is worth bragging about. Oh sure, I've cleaned stalls, fed horses, tilled the arena, cleaned my desk (which is a monumental task in itsself), fought with the computer...

And tomorrow I will do it all over again.

So, this weekend I am taking a nice vacation from stupid hectic things, and gonna play with my ponies (because it's predicted to rain most of next week) and then I'm going to take some time off from "work". During that time, I plan to completely screw off, and do things that I WANT TO DO, like watch movies, and such (while staying warm and dry).

It's also very likely that I'll catch up on some blog posts. I haven't forgotten about the tack stuff, but I am stuck needing to do some research (to make sure I'm not lieing to people) before I can continue.

But, to pass the time, for the next few days, I have a few things lined up. Starting tomorrow morning, I will be posting a breeding cross a day, and asking for name suggestions. These will either be Sugarbush or Stonewall babies, and I'll list the naming criteria for each one.

Names of course will be selected when the foal is born, and we know what it is!

Slaughter and horse value

2011-12-01T02:04:00.000-06:00

Uh oh, I'm going to do it again. Yesterday, I couldn't take it any more. All the conversations about horses and slaughter going around facebook made me almost bonkers. It's not that debate is a bad thing. In fact, I really like debate - both doing it, and as a principle. The problem though, is that people are simple regurgitating the information that someone else said. Many people don't even stop to THINK about the concepts. On the surface they look good, so they are accepted as fact.

This is not always the case. As a very wise man once said, "For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong." (H. L. Mencken ). In the case of the value of a horse, it seems that nothing is simple.

Now, having a meat value for horses will bring some prices up from $0, but not all of them. If your horse horse, say, has no meat on it, well, it's not exactly going to be worth much. If your horse is sick, ill, or too lame to be transported, then it won't be worth meat prices. Why? Because these horses are NOT in demand by those wanting to eat their flesh because they have no flesh. I'm sorry to be crass, but that's the sad truth.

So, right there, the theory is busted. "But, for a healthy horse, there's now a minimum value" some will say. Um, maybe, but is that value really any more then we already have? Here in my area there are tons of horses listed for free. There are thousands listed for under $500 bucks. That's way more supply then even the slaughter houses can demand. And for every horse that is sold, it seems that 2 more take its place, especially with the feed prices going up as high as they have.

But of course, that's not even the whole story. Just take a look at those cheap horses on Craig's List, or the classifieds. I will guarantee you that there's something wrong with them. From my recent searches, it seems that most of the free and almost free horses are pretty much untouched.

Most people who purchase a horse do not have the skills to train a rank and unmanageable animal that weighs around a half ton. When you consider the cost of training, you quickly realize that it's cheaper to buy an already trained horse. Why, at nearly $500/month for training, and a bare minimum of 50 days at the trainer, plus the purchase price, you're looking at a horse that's already over $1000 dollars. For what? An unregistered horse who is green as grass? Lets say the initial purchase price was only $500, you now have $1500 invested in a horse that's most likely still pretty touchy and inexperienced. When you check out the horse sales, for the same price you can get this:

An 11 year old, grade gelding, ridden often but able to be ignored for a year and picks up like he never left off, trained through first level dressage, learning western, and about as bomb proof as a horse can get. Ok, he's mine, and yeah, he's got ulcers, but still. If you want a "plug and play" horse, well, this is what you get for the same price as some one else's garbage plus training.

So, if you think about it for a second, you'll quickly see that it doesn't make any sense to go out and "save" that horse some idiot didn't put the time into. Not if what you're looking at is your pocket book!

Now, I have to mention here that I completely support people buying the "worthless horse". I think it's wonderful, and tend to do it myself, but I do it knowing that the "cheap" horse is rarely a good value. We should do this because we can help the horse, not because we can save a buck. I also want to point out here, that the "idiot" I refer to who has horses of little to no value, are not always the back yard breeders. Have you ever seen the prices that race horses go for? Or look at the big breeding farms and their culls? "Idiot" and unethical breeders are not based on their size, nor their profit margin. Because trust me, I could make a hell of a lot more money if I didn't care about my horses so much. It's not really hard to get people to spend money after they have fallen in love, but it's also not really the most ethical way to do business either.

So, back to my point. The free horses won't really be affected by reopening slaughter. The cheap horses are too prevalent to go away due to slaughter. So how exactly does slaughter help the value of horses?

It doesn't.

The value of a horse is based on what someone would pay for it. The economy is in the tank, so people don't exactly have a whole lot of extra cash running around. Even the best breeders are feeling it, and reducing the numbers they breed.

Now, from my experience selling horses (and I've sold a few) what buyers say they want, and what they really want aren't always the same thing. People will spend more money on a well trained horse, regardless of how it looks. Cross train that pony, and you'll get a decent price for it, it doesn't matter if the horse is GOOD at what you've trained it to do, so long as it's WILLING to do what it is asked. Most of us will never ride the level that our horses natural talents can achieve, so a decent ability in many things is a very appealing thing to a buyer. If my dressage horse can cut cattle one weekend, and trail ride the next, while bringing home ribbons, then I only need one horse, not 3.

Then of course, there's the looks. I don't care what you say, a pretty horse brings more money. Add some color and hair, and the value just went up again. People will save for years for a bit of hair (why, I don't know, because in all honesty, it's SO much work!). Add in big eyes, little ears, and a pretty head, and the price increased again. Ewe necks, knock knees, cow hocks? Yeah, about 90% of the horse population can't see those things for themselves. I mean, just look at Boo, my Arabian gelding.

He's sickle hocked, super short backed, short necked, straight shouldered, and behind in the front, as well as a touch club footed on the front left. But, he sure is "pretty" isn't he? In reality he's a conformational night mare. Nothing is bad enough to cause problems for the average rider, but he's most definitely NOT breeding quality. I can't tell you how many people think I've lost my mind when I mention that he's a conformational wreck. I love him, but he's not perfect - no horse is.

So, should his conformation set his value? Or should his pretty? Or should his training? Me, I think it's the training. Boo will pack around just about anyone, for as long as you ask, and be happy enough doing it. He's lazy, so running out on his rider is not likely. He's the perfect horse for any kid, basically! And the fact that he actually likes kids makes him that much better.

So, does the fact that horses are being sold into slaughter make a horse like Boo more valuable? I don't think so. A horse like Boo is the type of horse that people don't sell, not ever. I almost sold him, but I admit, I backed out at the last minute, because I knew I could never truly replace him. His value is set by what he'll tolerate, not how much fat he has on his ribs.

If you're going to value your horses by the bare minimum, then you are doing something wrong! I know I won't make a lot of friends by saying that, but it's the sad truth. I got away from Appaloosas, because I felt like there was no way to break even at them. With so many other people pumping out horses and doing nothing with them, then selling them based on some value that they had decided was more important then what the horse was able to DO (color, papers, or what ever) I just wasn't able to compete in that market. Hell, I was barely able to keep up with it! Don't take that wrong, I still love a good App, but I sure won't be breeding any myself.

And if you're going to be basing your minimum price on the meat value, you'd better get into drafts!

I'm kidding. As most people know, I love a nice draft horse, and think that there are so many good things about them. But they are bigger, and you would think that would make their minimum value higher, especially if you're basing the minimum value of a horse on its meat price, right? Oddly, it doesn't. The minimum price of a draft horse in 2005 was about the same as that of a 14.0 hand AQHA horse of unknown lineage, is neither had been trained to do anything.

And even in the prime of the horse industry, back in 2000, I was given a lovely little Anglo Arab mare, for FREE, because they couldn't even touch her to get her to auction. By the time she left my place, she was started under saddle, and a real pest for love. When I got her, she was healthy, so why was she free if the slaughter of horses places a minimum value on them?

Could it be that the value of a horse is more on what their person teaches them, and less on how much they weigh, and that slaughter will have little impact on the prices we see for horses?

The Horse Slaughter Debate

2011-11-30T12:35:00.001-06:00

Yes, I'm going to touch on it. As any one with Facebook knows, slaughter has been re-legalized in the US. My Facebook wall is already filled with the "we need to stop this" type of comments. Sadly, I'm not sure that's really true.

Let me explain.

In 2006, horse slaughter was made illegal. (Edit at the end of article, and thanks to Linda from Facebook for the correction) It is now 2011, and the reduction in breeding horses with little to no value has not stopped. The reduction in horses being sent to slaughter has not really decreased either, but the market value for horses has. Instead of shipping horses to local slaughter facilities, horses are instead shipped longer disstances, in just as poor of conditions as they were hauled before, to slughter plants in Canada or Mexico. Now, I'm not sure about the horrors of Canada's slaughter houses (I'm sure someone will know, and likely fill us all in on them) but I do know that Mexican slaughter plants have much worse regulations for the welfare of the animals. Things like stabbing a horse in the spine until it's paralyzed are considered 'good enough' there.

In American slaughter facilities, there were at least some (basic) rules about the standards of death. Was it perfect? Oh Hells NO! But 2 shots (which is still bad) of a captive bolt is much better then 30 something stabs with a knife I think. But, that's a very small portion of why I personally am OK with slaughter facilities reopening.

You see, what people forget, is that US citizens have some things we can do to prevent our own horses from suffering this fate, IF we are willing to do a bit of work. I know back in 2005, I could register a brand, and then list that brand as "no slaughter". If a horse branded in that manner hit a kill pen, it would have to be inspected. A brand inspector would see that, and then the facility would have to contact me to remove the horse. Yes, this means that I need a "safety net" fund for any horse of mine I sell, but I would still be able to get that horse out of the slaughter pipeline. I like the option of that!

The problem, as I see it, is that we don't like death. Granted, it's an ugly thing, but oddly we accept it in some forms, and not in others. Humane euthanasia is the best option for a horse with no future, or so many people believe, but lets be honest here: people suck. Do you really think that we can simply wish for a better world, and it will happen? No, people suck, and there will always be people who suck, and who care very little about their animals. With out some form of government (of some type) regulations/laws we will never be able to completely reduce the unwanted horse population.

You see, we're free to breed horses. Any one can do it, and it's not hard. Producing quality horses on the other hand, then training them, fitting them, and screening homes for them IS hard. It takes knowledge and work. There's this mentality out there, that you can get a foal, and sell it for lots of money, and so people are willing to try. Besides, babies are so CUTE! (They really are, trust me on this one).

So, if there's no way to force people to stop breeding, then there will always be the people who just have to breed, who are completely unprepared for the results. Horses live a long time. Horses take a long time to grow up. Horses take a lot of skill to make desirable (training, etc). Babies like the one here are not something that just happens. They are made, with skill, love, knowledge, and attention to detail.

So what do we do with all the extra horses that are created? Will society absorb them? Sure, in about 30 years, during which time millions of horses will suffer. There simply aren't enough GOOD homes out there for all of these horses. Lets not even talk about the big breeders poping out 400 foals each year, with no care as to their future! The numbers quickly become mind boggling.

So, what can we do? Well, we can accept slaughter, that's the easy and brainless solution. Because it's easy, it's the solution that so many people will naturally want. No effort on their part, and they can simply ignore the ugly side of the mess humans have created.

Or, we can work to form a safety net for animals of all types. No solution is going to be nothing but sunshine and butterflies, I'm sad to say. When there aren't enough homes for an animal, then there needs to be less animals, and that means killing some, in some manner. We do this with small animals, and even with spay and neuter laws, the public sensibilities changing to embrace altered animals, and the systems in place to destroy excess animals, we still have people breeding them. And no, I'm not talking about the good breeders here. I'm talking about "hey, lets have chihuahua/boxer pups!" type of people.

The question isn't "should we allow horses to be slaughtered" but rather, "what are we willing to give up in order to prevent any horse from being unwanted". Are you willing to pay more taxes? Are you willing to know that horses die a horrible death? Are you willing to simply ignore the problem, and become numb to your own love of the horse? Are you willing to spend money in order to help reduce the number of unwanted animals? No matter what answer you want, there's something you have to give up, because we simply don't live in utopia.

See, horse gelding clinics are not cheap. Horse euthanasia is not cheap. Holding facilities for "unwanted" horses are not cheap. Horse slaughter though, makes people money, and unethical horse people prefer to make money not spend it.

With all that said though, reinstating slaughter in the US does protect MY horses a bit more then they were before, and for me, I like that. I'm willing to do what is needed to keep my horses in good homes, even if that is mine. I'm willing to spend the money to take care of my responsibilities. Sadly, I can't control everyone out there, and there's a good chance that horses I have sold, will eventually be sold on to homes that I did not check for quality. That's the nature of a long lived animal like a horse. The safety features in place with local horse slaughter give me a means to keep my own horses out of there. Sure, it's a hell of a lot of work, but I chose to make those lives, hence I'm responsible for them, and I owe it to those horses. I'm glad to have the option to protect my babies back, in some small way.

Correction: The recent bill did not re-legalize slaughter. Horse slaughter never been illegal on the federal level, just in a few states. See Chapter 149 of the Texas Agriculture Code which makes it a criminal offense for any person to sell horse meat as food for human consumption, possess horse meat with the intent to sell it as food for human consumption, or transfer horse meat to a person who intends to sell it as food for human consumption

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T22:17:00.000-06:00

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Here's hoping for a merry feast, good friends and family to share it with, and a wonderful safe and happy holiday.

Veteran's Day 11.11.11

2011-11-11T11:29:00.000-06:00

Today is a day to show our thanks and appreciation for all those who serve. With out the men and women who are willing to risk their lives for what they believe in, none of us would have the ability to take so many of our freedoms for granted.

Today, I would like to say thank you.

Thank you to those serving now, and the families they leave at home praying.

Thank you to those whose lives will never be the same, so that mine could be.

Thank you to those who gave their all, and those who fought beside them.

And most of all, thank you to those whose service is no longer blazing in the front of our minds. With out you, we wouldn't be here.

Words can not express the debt we as citizens and civilians owe to you all, but today, we stop to say Thank You. It's such a little thing, and doesn't seem like enough, but it comes from the bottom of my heart.

Good things come to those who wait

2011-11-09T19:33:00.000-06:00

I think it all started about January. My good friend Kris H (not to be confused with Kris K) decided that she had a desire for a champagne version of Scorch. This lead to a few days of fun "shopping" the pony classifieds, and long nights of horse crazy girl talk.

Well, then she stumbled upon the American Cream Draft horse website, and the classifieds listed there. Some weren't the best images, others weren't exactly what she was looking for (great driving horses, but not dressagey riding types) and there, screaming ME ME ME, was a picture of a little pale colt.

Now, Kris wasn't really thinking about buying a COLT. I mean, she and I both own stallions, so what did we need yet another boy for? But something about this one just screamed at us.

Here's the picture that made us day dream of little champagne drafties:

There's nothing about that baby that isn't just nice. So, Kris decided that she HAD to have him. THEN she decided that she would stand him at Iron Ridge (here). Of course, she really had to talk me into it, and twist my arm all the way around. (It didn't take much, what can I say).

So, buying him was the easy part. After that, we had the EHV-1 outbreak, right in his area. In fact, his mother was quarantined. Yep, not shipping him HERE if he's been exposed! That lasted through the summer. By this time Kris and I are about to pull our hair out. Once everything is given the all clear it was the end of summer! Our "baby" had spent most of the year in the Pacific NW, growing up with out us. So we start looking at rides, and WOW, the cost of fuel, and hence transport, has skyrocketed. The price had almost doubled from the previous spring.

Well, doing what 2 horse people do, we snagged him a ride to Worlds in Ft. Worth. That trip takes almost any one right past my place. We thought everything was good, and were expecting a Halloween delivery.....

And then she cancelled. AHHHHHHH

So now, it's almost November, and our bay is almost a 2 year old! How did that happen?? Well, of course we wouldn't give up. Stephanie got onto a group on Facebook, and began looking for transport headed this way. She found us something that looked promising. Kris and the hauler, Kim, worked it out, and while it was higher then the spring haul, the price was VERY affordable. Basically, the cost of fuel. I couldn't haul him myself for that price. Being sane, we jumped on it.

And then NY got hit with a freak snow storm. Kris couldn't get out of the house to get the payment to the shipper in time. She asked me if I could, and I said yes. The next day, my dog gets seriously sick. I refused to leave him. But eventually it worked out for Red's ride, although sadly not for my poor Anvil.

So last Friday, we got the news that Red was being picked up, and had loaded onto the trailer. I don't know about Kris, but I had a moment of panic. We have been so cursed with this horse's trip, that I was paranoid. I had visions of horrible accident, and cream colts dieing on the side of the road.

Thankfully, it was nothing more then my imagination. Yesterday, Kim thought she would arrive in Texas, but an accident, which did NOT involve her, closed a highway, putting her behind. She thought about pushing through, but by 2am, she was wiped. We decided to wait for morning, and let her catch some shut eye.

At 6:30am, I got a text "Hitting the road, headed your way". At 7:34, a rig pulled past my drive. WEEEEEE! He's HERE!

Red unloaded like a pro, and walked so nicely into the barn. He did scream in my ear twice, but a verbal correction was all he needed. Not bad for a baby that had been on a trailer for 5 days (with breaks and all, but still). Got him settled, filled his water bucket (twice) and gave him breakfast, then went in to share the news. By the time I was done letting everyone involved know that he was here, Red was ready to get OUT of a stall. He had his land legs back.

So, I did some moving around, and turned him out with the geldings. He was VERY excited to meet the other boys.

The first one to say HI to him, was Leah's boy Jaz. Mr. Prancy pants there thought the idea of a new buddy was awesome. He of course drug Red right back to meet HIS baby.

Daltrey though, wasn't quite as sure of the new guy. But within seconds he realized that this was someone HIS age who he could play with, who also thinks running is pretty stupid. Ah, drafts!

And then, Red wanted to meet the others. Boo, Doodles, and Diesel weren't nearly as pleased about having a new guy to deal with, especially a baby THIS size. From left to right above is Diesel (grey), Doodles (chestnut), Boo (bay), Red (white), Daltrey (red and white) and Jaz (mud and white). Red was so excited to have buddies, but the older boys were being stuffy.

Boo let him know right off who was the big guy... er I mean, um... Ok, so Boo is the meanest horse here. This picture is really funny to me, because Boo is all of 14.3 hands, and about 900 pounds. Compare that to Red, the "little" yearling, who simply dwarfs him. But Red responded by chomping at Boo like a good baby.

So hey, he'd spent the day next to Diesel, maybe he'd be friends? Yeah, not so much. Diesel took his hints from Boo, and tried to be all tough. Sadly, Diesel is the world's wimpiest horse, and this was about as mean as he could get. I do love the trailer marks on Red's behind though.

It only took about 15 minutes for them to sort it all out, and these pictures are the "most violent" behavior that any one showed. Not bad! Not a single kick or charge in the whole meet and greet.

So, Red is a very happy kid right now, and Jaz just LOVES having 2 babies of his own. Never mind that BOTH are bigger then he is now. He's such a good momma!

It may have taken us many long months of waiting, but he's finally here. Our American Cream Draft colt has arrived, and he's everything we could have hoped for. He's in his "uglies" and still is rather pretty! His personality is better then we had hoped for, and while he might not know a lot yet, he's very willing to learn.

And I feel like I should probably explain his name. Trying to call a horse "Joker's White Russian" all the time, well, sucks. We hadn't met him (his purchase was made by calling in a LOT of favors to check him out for us) so we really didn't KNOW him to give him a personality based name. So that leaves colors, right? Kris and I are both complete genetics dorks. Red is genetically ee AA CRcr CHch, or Ivory champagne. But, the ee, means that with out the extra modifiers, he'd be red based. Now, his name has Russian in it, you know, Red, commies, and all that? I'm seeing a theme here.

Considering that I'm the person with a white stallion named "Spot", a cat named "Fido" and thought it was a great idea to name a Second Chance horse "Red Rover" well....the irony of calling him "Red" just seemed to fit. Doing most of our coordinating over texts, emails, and Facebook messaging, well, Red is a nice easy name to type. AND, I like to have a single syllable name, that doesn't sound like someone else's name here. Red fit all those criteria. At first, it was a stop gap name, but in the months of trying to get him here, it seems to have stuck.

All in all, I'm on cloud 9. Seems the old adage really is true. Good things DO come to those that wait.

Getting back to Normal

2011-11-07T13:35:00.000-06:00

So, losing Anvil has hit me pretty hard. There's a few reasons. First, and most obviously, I loved him. Secondly, I have had just too many deaths this year. Hex, followed shortly by Rowdy. 2 of my cats have gone "missing" (I know, they were outside cats, and that happens, but still) and now this. And thirdly, because it was so unexpected.

Unfortunately, it's much easier to accept the loss of a 17 year old dog (Hobbes) or a 14 year old Rottweiler with strange medical issues (Calvin) or even my almost 10 year old Rottie mix who had been on serious levels of medication that we knew would kill her early (Rowdy). Having a dog that is playing one day, and dieing the next is just so hard to accept.

Anvil was never a "do much" dog. I always called him my sofa dog. He made sure the sofa didn't move! But, since he's been gone, it's the strangest things that just get to me. Hearing the dogs howl in chorus when I come home, but not having his voice in the mix. Walking into the bathroom, and not having him look up from the bathtub (he did love laying in the tub!). Or even feeding the pack, and having to remind myself that we need one less bowl.

The hardest thing has been realizing that I only have 4 dogs now. I've always had a pack, and a pretty big one. Yeah, I wanted to slim down, but not like THIS. I was hoping that old age would be the cause of death. So, instead I cope.

My friends have been a boon though. Saturday they all arrived for pony time, and made sure it was FUN. Ojo, the young lady who owns Melody, celebrated her birthday on Saturday. She rode Boo, and I must say she rode very well (Since Mel is still on medical leave). Her father rode Midnight. I was so proud of Midnight for doing her duty. She packed him around behind Boo, and even carried him for a few very smooth trot steps. Such a good girl!

And then, when she was between riders, I climbed on, and rode around. I found myself smiling, and actually enjoying myself.

Kris worked with Voodoo, and they both did very well. Nothing overly complicated, just trying out a new bridle, and getting back into the swing of things.

And Rachel managed to finally keep her husband off Moon long enough for HER to get a ride in.

Moon trucked along carrying a rider for almost 20 minutes before she showed the least sign of fatigue. At which point of course, she was done, and praised to the hilt.

I have to say though, that I find pictures of her kinda amusing (Moon that is). Her black areas on her top line make it look like that horse's hip is only 3 inches deep, and like her hip doesn't match her fore hand. Oddly enough, in person, I was shocked at how nicely she's sized for Rachel (Who's like a million feet tall, and all legs).

Sunday, I decided to hop on Sweetie again. This time I didn't do any warm up. I just pulled her out of the pasture, tacked her up, and climbed on. No ground person, no baby sitting... just riding. It was Sweetie's first time to do this ever. She did really well too! Ok, so I learned that she will walk, stop, and turn left with out a problem, but back is confusing, and right hand turns are simply impossible. Poor Sweetie is very left hoofed it seems.

But not a big deal at all. In the past, she'd been using a ground person to give her the reassurance of what that command meant. With no visual aid, she was baffled. Her default answer: stop and stand. Can't complain about that at ALL!

So that brightened me up a bit. It was a good weekend all around. Moose is still acting like velcro, and won't leave my side. Suzie is better, but is now needing extra attention (she was depressed for a few days there) and Hobo and Sharra are, well, Hobo and Sharra.

But, the best thing to cheer me up is ....

Well, do any of you remember this picture?

That's the little American Cream Draft colt that will be used in the future to help revive 2 rare draft breeds (the ACD, and the SDH). Well, on Friday, I got this"

My how he has grown! He also got on a trailer Friday afternoon, to begin his journey to Texas! I am expecting him mid week, and yes, there will be a lot of pictures of him.

This little man "should" be in his gangly fugly awkward stage, but even so, he's still rather attractive. We're all so excited to have him here, and to start working with him.

I will begin getting back into my discussion of tack again in the next couple of days, and I promise that I'll over load you all with pictures once Red, the ACD colt, arrives.

It didn't work.

2011-11-04T11:58:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, the test results came back. There was no good news.

Anvil's PCV went from 20 to 14 in less then 12 hours. He was still losing his red blood cells, and it was speeding up.

I decided to have him humanely euthanized. My options were to try strange and creative things that wouldn't work, let nature take it's course and wait for him to die slowly, or give him the respect he deserved. There was no possible positive outcome. Even a million dollars and the best vets in the world wouldn't have been able to help him.

I admit, I'm devastated. We thought we were seeing improvement. We had hope, right up until the test results came back. Of course, in the time we waited for the results, Anvil was beginning to decline, and rapidly.

So now my baby boy is not suffering, but I am. That's part of pet ownership. We enjoy their lives so much because they are so brief. They give us so much love in the little time they have. I will always remember the good times I had with him, and treasure them.

I need a day or 2 (because onions + dogs = VERY bad)

2011-11-02T13:02:00.000-05:00

My darling Anvil is a very sick dog right now. Friday he got into the garbage. I got angry, but didn't think much of it. Friday night, he didn't eat well. I thought "serves you right!"

Saturday, he was lethargic, but he's called "meat lump" for a reason. Saturday night, he didn't eat well. I realized we had a problem.

Sunday morning he got up to go out, and stumbled on the stairs. I thought he's a kluts with hip dysplasia. Sunday night, he wouldn't even get up, and urinated on the floor.

Monday morning we started testing. Diagnosis hemolytic anemia. His red blood cells are blowing up like baloons. My baby boy is bleeding to death with no wounds. We began treatment. Prognosis: Poor.

Anvil began to improve. He was very pale (gums, inside his eyelids, etc) on Monday. Over the next few days, he seemed to gain color (in my very biased opinion) and become more active, but he was still a very sick dog. He would only get up with help, and slept more then anything else.

Last night, he puked all over the carpet. While cleaning it up, I recognized bits (yeah, gross I know). Onions. And rather a LOT of onions. Jae and I started talking, putting things together. He had thrown out some left overs, which had alot of onions. He had thrown out some onion tops, and he had thrown out food that was pretty much smothered in onion salt, and garlic salt. We really like to eat onions and garlic here. Sadly both are very toxic to dogs.

Now with a dog his size, a few bits of onion isn't exactly going to make me panic, right? Well, it should have. Seems that it only takes half a pound of onion, or one moderately sized onion, to cause this problem.

In helping to treat his nausea, we gave Anvil some Ace. Yes, like the horse sedative. It has some nausea reducing properties, and I happen to have some on hand. Seemed like a good idea at the time.

Anvil had a VERY small dose. He shouldn't even have been drowsy from it. Instead, it knocked him out cold. I checked the meds, I double checked the meds, and it was a bit less then what was perscribed! The anemia mixed with low blood pressure, lack of eating for so many days (well, eating anything that counts) and a limited ability to transport oxygen through his body resulted in Anvil passing out on me.

Naturally, I called the vet. Of COURSE it's one of the rare nights he's not on call. So, off to the Emergency clinic we go. Downside, it's an hour drive, and I have a dog that is completely comatose. Some how we made it though.

Blood work shows that he's not done trying to kill himself slowly yet. He's even more anemic then the first time we checked. Vet highly recommends a transfusion. I agree.

Anvil needs about 4 units of blood. He got one at the emergency clinic before they closed for the day. My wonderful vet called me at "why are people up at this hour'oclock" and we made plans for treating him through out the day.

My vet doesn't often get dogs whose owners will pay for a transfusion, so he doesn't really keep blood on hand (because it expires). So, enter the hero of the day:

Moose, my adorable Great Dane. He's about the same size as Anvil, and was more then willing to donate some blood to Anvil. Ok, maybe he just wanted a car ride, but still.

Right now, Moose and Anvil are becoming blood brothers, and I'm sitting at home waiting for a phone call. I'm pretty much a mess. Besides the fact that I love my babies, I also haven't slept in over 24 hours.

If this works, Anvil will recover. If it doesn't, you will be reading a memorial to him in the next few days. And in all honesty, I'm not sure I can take that.

You see, Anvil was part of a contract on Suzie (his mother). When I was given her, I agreed to have ONE litter by her. We thought all the pups were spoken for before they were born, but my 10 pups turned into 15.

Puppy number 4 was still born, and in a birth sac so thick I literally had to grab a knife to cut it. He wasn't breathing, so I began puppy CPR. It didn't take long. Of course, Suzie also proved me right (I didn't really want to have a litter, but had agreed. And there aren't many well built herding rotts in the world). She was a terrible mother, physically. She didn't produce enough milk. So there's me, bottle feeding a litter of monster puppies!

And, naturally, the wonky pup was wonky. He had bad hips, bad ribs, and just about bad everything. I couldn't sell him in good conscience, so I kept him. He learned to be a truck dog (put on your seat belt) he learned to be good in the barn (no don't lay in the alley) and he learned that he REALLY likes the sofa.

Anvil is now 9. That's old for a Rottie, but young for MY rotties. His mother is still herding ponies at 11. He's pretty much a medical nightmare, but I love him with all my heart.

So if you have time, pray, hope, cross your fingers, or do what ever. Positive thinking is about all I have left to try. I'm a bit of a mess right now, and just hoping against all hope that something will work for him. My baby boy is a very sick dog.

Parts of the bit: The Mouth Piece, wide and thick

2011-11-01T09:00:00.101-05:00

Ok, carrying on from the discussion on bits, lets talk about the part that the horse feels most. The size, shape, and angle of the mouth piece can matter a lot to a horse, and can give very different results.

First, and most importantly, is the size of it. There are 2 measurements to this, width and thickness.

The width will vary from horse to horse. Now, I grew up as an English rider, and we have bits in 1/4 inch increments usually. Since i have begun playing around in western, I've noticed that everything is the same size. Your horse had better wear a 5 inch bit, if it plans to ride western, or you will be spending a small fortune in custom bits! Ok, that's my initial impression, and layered with a touch of sarcasm. Regardless, not all horses have a 5 inch wide mouth though. My drafts wear 6 inch to 6.5 inch bits. My arab wears a 4 and 3/4 inch bit, and most of my sport horses sit in a 5.5 inch bit.

If your bit is too narrow, it will pinch the horse's lips, or rub. If this happens enough times, the horse will have open sores. Now, any one who has ever worn a new pair of shoes that left a blister, tell me how fast you pulled those shoes off once the blister popped. Now, imagine just how much it would hurt if you kept walking in them, open blister and all! Well, that's how a horse feels who is wearing a bit that is too small for him/her.

The best way to measure your horse's mouth is with a section of garden horse, or other similarly sized object. Mark the measurements out on it (I use tape) and wrap a rope around one end of it. The rope should be on the 0 inch side. Slide this into the horse's mouth, and loop the rope over the horse's poll, then back around the hose. The rope does nothing more then allow you to stabilize the "bit" in the horse's mouth while you get the measurement.

Once you have the "bit" sitting where it should, make sure the 0 side is directly flush with the horse's lips. Read the measurement, or mark the width (more tape, or a pen, or even simply holding with your finger) and remove the silly looking contraption you just put on your horse's head.

Here's a really bad picture of what the bit measuring contraption will look like:

Now, I highly recommend that you do this when you are alone, with no one watching, and be kind to your horse and make sure their pasture buddies can't see them in that hideous contraption!

Once you have a measurement from lip to lip, add 1/4 inch to it. That is the size of bit your horse needs to be wearing. Round up to the nearest 1/4 inch size (so a 5 and 7/8ths mouth would wear a 6 inch bit). See, you want to have a bit of space between the horse's lips and the side piece, but you don't want to have a lot of room.

A bit that is too small will pinch, but a bit that is too large can gag. There's a lot of extra metal there, and especially a jointed mouth bit can flex up inside the horse's mouth into the back of their throat. If your horse is chewing on his bit, then it's probably too wide for his or her head. A properly fit bit will allow your rein commands to translate more clearly to the horse. Bobbles on the reins will not be as annoying, and a steady pull will actually put pressure where it is designed to. Just like we want our shoes to fit (too big feels funny, and too small hurts) your horse wants a bit that fits too.

If you want to know about all the bad things that can happen with a poorly fit bit, I highly recommend this site. It's filled full of information, and has been a go-to source for me for a long time.

The next measurement that matters most, is the thickness. "Common Knowledge" says that the thicker the mouth piece, the more kind the bit is. While that idea is good on the surface, the theory doesn't always pan out for every horse.

Some horses have itty bitty tiny delicate mouths. For one of those horses to have a nice fat, thick, gentle snaffle shoved in its face makes it feel like it is choking to death.

Have you ever seen a dog get something caught in their teeth? The dog flips out, pawing and scratching at its face while it gapes its mouth open, and will even fall over in its attempts to remove the object? Well, that is how a dainty mouthed horse feels with a gentle but thick bit in their mouth.

It doesn't matter if it is a snaffle or a curb, a solid mouth, mullen mouth, twisted mouth, or what ever else you can think of. The thickness of the bit needed depends upon the depth of the horse's pallet.

My point here, is that if you're putting a nice fat bit in your dainty mouthed quarter horse thinking that you're being kind, well, think again. For some horses the thinner option is the more kind.

But your horse will (or should) give you a hint as to how it feels about the bit you have it in. If your horse is always fussing with the bridle, nosing, rooting, rubbing, etc, or if your horse just isn't listening to the rein commands, then you might have a bit problem. So often I hear people say that they need to get their horse's teeth checked because of how the horse is acting. Well, your bit can give similar responses if it's not a proper fit. Check that first (because usually you don't have to go any further then your tack room). Now, that doesn't mean you shouldn't have your horse's teeth checked as well, but some times the answer really is as simple as being too kind.

Now, I'm hoping that some one here knows a method for measuring a horse's mouth for its thickness. I have never been taught one. Instead, I just base the bit size on a guess, and change things around subtly as I work with the horse. Start with my "completely medium" bit, and move to a thicker or thinner one based on nothing more then my gut feeling.

Of course, there are more options on bits then just thick and wide, but rather then type out a whole book, I'll cover more tomorrow.

The Tom Thumb Bit (what it is, and is not)

2011-10-31T09:00:00.171-05:00

This bit is a Tom Thumb bit.. The Tom Thumb is considered a very severe bit, and should not be put into the hands of a novice, or hard handed rider.

Now, yesterday I posted a slightly different bit. A broken mouth, or jointed mouth curb. At that point, people said that it was a tom thumb, and conversations (which are a good thing) began about it's usefulness and severity. My teaching in bits has always been based in English riding, but in recent years I have begun to cross over. So, with that in mind, I went and started reading up on what is now a tom thumb bit. It seems that things have changed a bit (not much though) and the category has grown. I think this is both good and bad.

So, I have to publicly do a correction. The bit I first posted yesterday, is now included in the category of Tom Thumbs.

And I have to apologize right here at the start. I didn't exactly have a ton of free time, but I wanted to make sure I got that correction out there. So, while I'm at it, I thought I'd clarify a few things about the tom thumb bit while I was at it. (This will not be my most clear and instructional post ever. Just think of it as a stepping stone to good things yet to come.)

Let me begin by explaining what a tom thumb is.

A true, old style (and rather harsh) tom thumb bit has rings that attach to the bridle (red circle) with the curb chain attaching at the same spot. This ring, or set of rins, as in the picture shown here, results in a large bulky area. When the bit is engaged laterally (i.e. pull out to the side) the rings pivot and stick into the horse's face. No one wants to be jabbed in teh side of the cheek, including your horse, and this is considered uncomfortable.

Secondly, the bit attaches to the mouthpiece with a pivot (green circle). Especially important here is the shape and style of the connection. When the side of the bit is pivoted, but the mouth piece isn't, a lip or other facial skin can very easily get caught and pinched. Again, pain is not a good training device.

Third, the shank is straight, not curved like most curbs (blue lines). This means that each pound of pressure exerted gives that much more pressure on the face, without long shanks. You have to have a bit of physics knowledge here to figure out the true numbers, but I'll make some up to use as an example. If you push on the lever shown at the left, on the empty side, with one poind of pressure, you will move the side with the orange triangle with 5 pounds of pressure. If the lever was longer, it would exert more pressure. Twice as long might give 10 pounds of pressure for every 1 pound the person pushes.

Now, if you look it it the other way, and you push down on the side with the orange cone, you are not gaining an advantage (or not as much, I was NOT a physics dork). At any rate, using a curved shank, rather then a straight one, means that a portion of the lever action is reduced. So, you spend more time pivoting the lever on itself, rather then applying the pressure on the end.

Not the best description, I know, but the easiest thing to do is to try it at home. So, lets just go with this, straight shank, means bit pulls harder on horse's mouth for every inch of shank then a curved one.

Lastly, the simple joint mouthpiece (pink circle). When used with a curb, this causes a strong nutcracker effect on the horse's jaw. A 3 piece mouth piece can reduce the pinch effect, but it depends upon the shape of the middle link.

So this was the bit I posted yesterday which was called a tom thumb. You can see it does fit some of those criteria, but not all.It has the rings that would poke in the face, the hinges that might pinch, but it also has a three piece mouth piece, and curved shanks.

But I have a problem with calling anything that has lever action and a jointed mouth piece a "tom thumb". That would mean that my pelham bits are tom thumbs, my gag bits are tom thumbs, my "argentine snaffles" (which are NOT a snaffle) are tom thumbs. All of these bits are very different, and have different uses.

Now, I happen to own a tom thumb bit, and I actually use it. On ONE horse, and only I am allowed to ride him in it. Boo goes well in my tom thumb, and works nicely in it. Keep in mind that this horse is very highly trained, and I spent years with an instructor who liked to whack my hands if I did anything that could cause the horse problems. I have VERY soft hands now. I ride Boo in one to get him engaging his back. I can tickle a finger for a lateral cue (which will not pivot the mouth piece causing poking or pinching) and I use the curb action to put a wall in front of him so he stops pulling his "I'm an Arab and my nose can point sky high" thing. (No, not all arabs do that, but Boo sure tries to play the stereotype at times). He takes most of his aids from my seat and legs, but the bit is severe enough that he knows it is there, and carries it lightly. This is a great way to recondition him from a long time off.

So there's one example of a horrible and evil bit being used in a perfectly kind and gentle manner. It works for that horse, and it's actually one of the bits he prefers. Like all training tools though, it's not just about what the horse needs, but also what the rider can control. I have seen people try to grab my bridle with the tom thumb on it, and I have a mild panic attack. It's not an "every day" kind of training aid.

So. Did any of you know that this bit is also called a tom thumb? It is a completely different style of bit all together. This mild snaffle has both the gentle blur of the O ring, with the full cheek effect. I don't know a thing about it, have never seen one in person, but it looks like something that might be a wonderful tool for starting out babies. And yet, it has the same name as a bit that is often said to be simply horrible.

So lets also look at what a tom thumb is NOT.

There's the jointed mouth pelham. I personally LOVE this bit. It gives me a lot of flexibility when training (this is not a bit I start horses in, but rather one I like for finishing work). I can use the snaffle rein for lateral commands (side to side pulling stuff) and the crub rein for impulsion. In some cases, I like having that curb rein there just as an "emergency brake".

In fact, that is the bit I used to retrain Poko to stop pulling through the bridle, and start listening to my seat. A short necked, strong muscled, physically fit half draft can easily out pull me. Adding in a bit of an emergency brake allowed me to get him listening to the snaffle rein. Within a month, I had transitioned him back down to a "baby snaffle" (I like to use a fat mouthed, soft french link, O ring snaffle). I also like to use this bit, with two sets of reins, when teaching a horse to move into a curb. They can feel the pinch and head pressure that a curb applies, while having the sinple snaffle commands that they know and are comfortable with. So if you go through and see a horse wearing two sets of reins, it is likely that I have the horse in one of these.

But, there is also the Argentinian snaffle, which is a misnomer. This bit has leverage action, and so it is a curb. It has curved shanks that reduce the pressure, a 3 piece mouth piece (hmm, this sounds kinda familiar, maybe like the bit I had yesterday?) and a simple and soft ring to attach to the bridle.

Look closely, and you can see that the pivot point between the sides and the mouth is a longer shape. The way this attaches in the horse's mouth makes it harder for the horse to get a lip pinched.

Basically, the major flaws in a tom thumb have been slightly redesigned, and corrected. This is still not a bit that should be used lightly though. Depending upon whether this bit is used with, or without a curb chain makes a world of difference in how it is perceived by a horse.

If used with a curb chain, the rider must have soft and gentle hands. The flexible mouth piece along with lever action and a pinch between the mouth and chin (curb chains do that) would mean that a little bobble on the head gives the horse a very bit OUCH. I tend to think of this bit as the little sister to a tom thumb.

Next there is the gag bit. Now, I'm a bit weak in all the mechanics of this bit, but let me show you 2 different styles:

The top one looks a lot like that tom thumb, doesn't it? The big deal with these bits is that they are NOT used with a curb chain. That completely changes everything about how they affect the horse. (And before you ask, I will do an entire post on gag and elevator bits. I just need to do a little research first to make sure my limited knowledge is correct)

Now, when you look at all those bits, you can see that they are very different. They work in slightly different ways, and have different pros and cons. No piece of tack is with out a downside, and anything can harm a horse if used wrong, but none of them are evil on their own.

So, as I go through the various types of bits, and all the parts that go with them, you may end up seeing some very serious hardware. Before you close your mind to the usefulness of any training aid, just remember, in the right hands, with the right knowledge, and used on the right horse, it might be the difference between mastering a technique, or being sold on.

Because I do so much work with horses that have bad training (much worse then no training IMO) I often have to un-teach things. Some of the tack I will be talking about is used for just that purpose. My goal through the next few days, is to make horse owners understand what those strange devices are for, and even more importantly, be able to recognize when they are being used wrong.

I've always felt that no training device has ever hurt a horse on its own. It's not the tool that can be bad, it's the human behind it.

Mwahahha, it's Haloween!

2011-10-31T00:00:00.002-05:00

Boo!

Here is hoping that all of my friends have a wonderful, safe, and happy Halloween.

May you all get lots of candy!

Is it a Snaffle, or is that a Curb bit?

2011-10-29T10:32:00.000-05:00

Since I'm rained out for a bit, I'm going to talk about tack a bit. I asked on my facebook page, and quite a few people were interested to learn about bits. So, here's the first big lesson: what makes a bit a snaffle or a curb.

Most people look at a bit like this, see the mouth piece with multiple parts, and assume that means it's a snaffle. I have heard them called things like "Shanked snaffle" or in one case a "Western Snaffle" but that's completely wrong.

That bit, is a curb bit.

The difference between a curb bit and a snaffle bit, is whether or not it has leverage. It has nothing to do with what goes into the horse's mouth. A shank is leverage. It causes the bit to pivot around a central point, and this puts pressure onto different parts of the horse's face then a direct pressure, or snaffle bit, does.

Here is my pretty orphan baby (not so baby any more) Cayenne. The bit in her mouth here is a curb because it has a shank, and shanks mean leverage. What you can't see, is that it has a mouth piece very similar to the one above.

Now, in all honesty, I can't recall if she had a curb chain on for these pictures, as they were just for pretties (and she hates bits for riding) but lets assume that she does, and we just can't see it. I'm pretty sure it'll be all in our imagination though.

So, the way a curb works is to pivot around a central point, the mouth piece, and create pressure to guide the horse. When the rein, which is attached to the lower ring is pulled back towards the rider, the upper ring will push out toward the horse's nose.

The blue arrows (because I don't want to type out turquoise over and over again, we will call them blue) show you the direction the rings move. Now, if those rings move that way, they will pull on the leather they are attached to.

That causes the leather to move in the directions of the yellow lines. The reins move back toward the rider, and the crown is pulled lower toward the horse's mouth as the bit pivots.

That will put pressure on these areas. The pink arrow shows the pressure of the bit in the horse's mouth. The green arrow shows the pressure of the curb chain against the horse's chin. The blue arrow shows the pressure of the leather crown piece against the horse's poll.

This is how lever action works on a bit. And the harder you pull, the more you pivot the bit, and the more pressure is applied at all of these points.

Now, compare that to a direct pressure bit. This is what we normally call snaffle bits (although, it's horse tack, so we can always get more detailed. We like our complex names for everything!).

This is Poko in a snaffle bit. You can see how the rein attaches directly in line with the pull on the bit. The bit does not pivot in the horse's mouth, rather it simply goes where it is pulled. The resulting pressure on a horse is much more simple and straight forward.

Can you see now how a snaffle might be considered a more simple and direct aid to a horse? There's no pressure across the head, just a simple and plain pressure on the mouth.

The blue arrow shows where the pressure is exerted on the horse. From the rein, through the rein.

Now, of course there is some shifting of the bridle, and you can see that in this picture, but the shifting puts minimal pressure on the horse's face. It's minimal enough that we can discount it as an aid in most horses.

And as you can see here, there are many ways of attaching a bit to the bridle. Gag, D rings, O rings, multiple rings. I am going to get into all of that later.

Today I just wanted to talk about the 2 classes of bits. Now, not all bits fit clearly into one of these categories. Some bits, such as a Pelham, can fit in both depending upon how they are used.

The Pelham has rings at both the bit, and on a shank. This means that depending upon where you attach your reins will determine what type of bit pressure you are using on your horse.

Katy here has the rein attached to the curb ring. If she was ridden like this, then the bridle would only have leverage action, and would be no different then a normal curb. The mouth piece on the particular pelham is exactly the same as the above, with a broken mouth and french link, or dogbone.

If I moved the rein up to the larger ring that is adjacent to the mouth piece, then the bit would work exactly like the snaffle bit. The leverage action would never be called into use, because the pressure would always be from a point inline with the mouth.

The beauty of the Pelham though, is that you can use multiple sets of reins on it. I love using these bits to bring a snaffle horse up to using a curb. While some horses take the change easily and in stride, others do not. Cayenne is one example of a horse that had NO interest in the multiple pressures of a curb bit on her face.

I also like this bit for hot headed horses. My darling jumper mare, Ash, used to ride in a Pelham when she was still jumping (she's retired now). I rode mainly on the snaffle rein, but after a combination, she would get so excited that she locked her neck, hollowed out, and blundered around. A touch on the curb would send pressure across her crown and chin resulting in her ducking her head back and coming onto the bit again. Now, Ash was not a fancy mover, and her main style of going was to lock her neck straight out like a 2 x 4, so for her, a duck back into the bit was necessary to keep proper contact on her bars, not her lips.

So think of the categories of bits as a broad concept. One of the analogies I like is the categories of dogs in the AKC. You can have a "herding" dog, or a "sporting" dog, but that doesn't necessarily tell you the exact breed of dog. If the herding dog a border collie, or a corgie? Snaffle and curb bits are the same. Inside each of those categories are other sub categories, such as the type of ring attachment (O, D, Eggbut) or style of shank (elevator, grazing, etc).

We'll talk about all of that stuff over the next few days, and possibly months. And of course, please let me know if you want me to talk about something in particular.

Bits, Spurs, Whips - Tools of the Trade

2011-10-28T09:00:00.176-05:00

What a lovely horse, right? She looks like she's working, but is enjoying her work. The rider is quiet, out of her way, and the pair makes a lovely image.

But look closer.

That poor beast is covered in cruel and abusive objects! She has 2 bits in her mouth, a snaffle and a curb. The rider is wearing spurs, and I can't really tell, but I think he's using a whip on the far side.

All too often, we hear people speak of things such as spurs, whips, draw reins, and other training devices as if they are made for torture. In reality, that is far FAR from the truth. These aids can be used to harm a horse, but so can an ill fitting saddle, yet we don't decry saddles as being abusive, do we?

The reality of course, is some where in the middle, and goes back to how we think about our skills in the saddle.

All too often, people want the HORSE to be trained, but they forget about their own needs for training. I'm not saying you need to run out and pay some stranger a lot of money. Rather we as humans need to understand the logic, and practice the use, and be aware of how we affect the horses, before we should touch many of these aids!

And don't think it's just an English thing either. That roping horse there has on a tie down, bosal, curb bit, the rider has spurs, and I'm not even sure of the name for the device that encourages the horse to keep tension on the rope. That's a lot of stuff for a horse to deal with.

So why do we do it? Why all the stuff? Why can't we just ride our horses with the least amount of tack necessary to keep us all comfortable?

Well, we could, but we wouldn't get the same level of response between the human and the horse. As sports become more competitive, we work hard to be the best. In many cases that means refining our technique, and using more subtle, or more specific commands to ask for more nuanced reactions. In other words, mushing around on the horse's back is a pretty broad signal, but lightly touching in an area the size of a quarter is a very specific question.

And really, that's all aids should do. They ask a question, and the horse gives an answer. The problem comes in when the horse answers wrong, and those aids are used for punishment, and most often, when those aids are used by idiots who don't know what they are for.

Remember how I mentioned draw reins? Well, that is NOT how they should be used. That is torture!

Over flexing a horse, and forcing it into that position is called Rollkur. Way back many years ago, Rollkur was a form of stretching, and that is how it was taught to me. When you have been working your horse hard, and his back starts feeling stiff, you walk him on a loose rein for a bit, and then ask him to over flex for a few seconds. Maybe 10 to 15 seconds at most. This is similar to sitting cross legged, and tucking your chin to your chest, and then pulling on the top of your head. It stretches all of the muscles down the back, and that stretch feels very good.

Now, some riders (*cough* Anky *cough*) are forcing their horses to work in this frame. Some western riders are doing the same thing. The saddest part of this, is that I can drive down the main highway here, and see hundreds of horses being worked in this over flexed position.

So why do they do it? Because it's winning, and winning makes money, and money feeds their families. It becomes very easy to justify these techniques when they win, and to convince yourself that because the horse likes you, that all is well with using these methods to train. It's not. Horses like humans because they are created to be herd animals. They follow a strong leader. That's it. Their love does not mean that harmful training methods are a good thing.

And yet, rollkur started as a good thing, but became a bad one. Like so many things in the horse world, there really is no black or white. It's just all shades of grey. I will gladly whip my horses in the right situations. If whipping the horse will prevent it from killing itsself. If whipping the horse prevents it from killing someone else. or if whipping the horse might save its life (getting a down horse to stand). I will not whip my horse because he missed a transition, or is having a bad day.

So lets talk about whips first. A whip is a method of touching the horse in a specific area which you can not otherwise touch when riding. Look at this lady riding side saddle here. She can't exactly give the horse a cue on the right side, because both of her legs are on the left, so a whip is used instead.

The whip can be touched or tapped, just as your heel can be. And trust me, horses hit each other a lot harder then any one with a flimsy fiberglass whip can hit them. I know, I've been hit by both.

Now, most horse people have figured out that a horse will move away from pressure. So if you want a horse to go forward, you tap it on the hind end. If you want a horse to go back, you tap it on the front end. To go over, you tap on the inside so the horse steps away from the touch. None of this means that you hit the horse hard enough to leave a welt.

When working with young or hot blooded horses, in many cases you can't simply turn or lean and tap them. Off setting your balance that much is a great way to eat some dirt. Using a whip allows you to touch more of the horse while staying balanced and out of the horse's way, so the horse can move easily.

Lunge whips are another example. The whip is a visual aid to the horse. When you put pressure behind the horse, simply by moving the whip toward it, the horse moves forward. The speed you move the whip gives the horse an idea of the speed you want it to move at. Using this visual aid, you can easily teach a horse verbal commands, and no longer need the lunge whip to attain the desired gait.

And then there are spurs. I often use spurs, and I actually just purchased a set of western type spurs to use in training. Now, my goal is to train the horses to accept spurs, so I wanted something very mild that would roll. Needless to say, I also got a bit foofy, and have some etching in the pair I purchased, but they were on sale!

Er, I digress.

So, the purpose of a spur is NOT to make your horse look like that one. Instead, they should be used to give a more precise aid for a specific movement. With my horses, they are trained that a touch on the side means to go forward, but a touch further back means to back up. So what happens if you bobble your legs as you squeeze?

Now, my higher level horses have more commands then that. Touching more forward means to move the shoulders, a lift means to lift either the shoulder or the back (depending upon where I touch) and a brush means to engage the hind end. All of these aids might be given in an area the size of my hand, but near my pinky is a very different area then down near my thumb. If I'm using an aid the size of my boot, how does the horse judge where the point of the aid is?

The biggest problem I see with spurs are riders with no control of their legs. I often have people complain that their horse "won't go" and ask if they are going to need spurs. Oh hell no! If you can't use your butt to make your horse move, then you sure don't need something spikey on your flopping wobbley legs that is going to be jabbing the horse at every step!

If your toes are pointing east and west, then that means your heels, and the spurs that would stick off of those heels, is likely pointing right into your horse's ribs. If you can't keep your heels pointed away from the horse, and stable, then you have no ability to control your spurs.

I find it very interesting to see the shock on someone's face the first time they wear spurs. As a rider, you can feel the touch against the horse. If you've watched westerns, or Olympics only, they make it looks so easy, and you will be shocked at how often you accidentally jab your horse. I swear the first time I rode in spurs, under my instructor's eye, I spend the whole lesson saying "I'm sorry Boo, Opps... sorry Boo!".

So again, the problem with spurs, is not the use of them. Rather it's the improper use, and lack of ability by the human.

The same is OH so true of bits! There are some bits out there which look like torture devices. Yes, sadly, many of them are made to be torture devices to give more "stop" to a horse. But initially, these severe bits were created to require less of a command from the human hand.

When the bit lays in the horses mouth, it should be resting easily, and not touching any of the sensitive areas. A bit with no pressure on it, should be comfortable to wear. We look at these high port bits, and it boggles our minds, but we forget that as humans, we have a very small mouth. Our horses mouths are most of their head. Something 4 inches long wouldn't even gag them, so in their minds, this port isn't that big of a deal..... unless it is used wrong.

The purpose of a more severe bit is that it gives much more signal with much less force. As an English rider, I tend to keep a tight rein, and contact with my horse's mouth. Now that I am learning to ride Western, I have had to figure out how to keep contact with a horse's mouth through gravity on the reins. The weight of the reins them self is what touches the horse, not my physical pressure. This means that a western bit requires a lot more "oomph" on the horse's side, if used properly. See, I shouldn't ever take up allof the slack in the reins when riding Western. If I did, I would slam the port of the bit right into the roof of the horse's mouth, and that would be BAD. Most of my horses would put me right into the dirt for it too.

Yanking on a bit can seriously hurt a horse's mouth, but when used properly, a bit can actually reduce the pressure on a horse's mouth. The size of the mouth piece, the angle of the port, the height of port, the break in the snaffle, the angle of the link, the shape of the side rings... it all makes a difference. Each of these bits works together to either buffer, or strengthen the signal from the rider's hands to the horse's mouth.

A rider with poor hands can not use more severe bits, because as they bobble on the reins, they are constantly "talking" to the horse through the bridle. A little bounce in the reins here, and the angle of everything changes, causing the bit to move in the horse's mouth. When the horse reacts to that, the horse is often seen as being "bad" and doing something wrong, simply because the rider isn't aware that he or she was cueing the horse.

In my time as a rider and trainer, I have used many severe devices. I personally love draw reins to help a horse learn to move properly. I have used curbs, snaffles, elevator bits, hackamores, bitless bridles, whips, spurs, and more.Very rarely has my riding caused my horse to suffer though. I can't say never, because like all riders, I have screwed up, and I tend to do it in big ways. The difference though, is that I have learned how each of these devices works, what they are meant to be used for, and if I use them, I learn to do it properly.

As I go through my training with Sweetie, I will be tossing in a few blogs about the different training aids, and I promise to be much more specific on each one. If you know of something that you find cruel, please point it out, and I will do my best to show you the PROPER use of that aid. Remember, in this day and age of short cuts, not all training devices have a kind and proper use any more, but so many do.

Riding the Green Horse

2011-10-27T09:00:00.113-05:00

This is Sweetie as a yearling. See, I was bad yesterday and didn't get pictures of my ride, because it's not easy to photo yourself on a horse. So, you get to deal with recycled pictures today.

Anyway, I decided to get out and ride the big lug. For me, this process is tackling a few things. First, I'm getting Sweetie trained up. Secondly, this is the first "unbroke" horse I will be riding myself since my accident. I have some fear issues to over come!

So Yesterday's ride was mostly about getting ME up on the horse with out a baby sitter. Sweetie has done this before, and she's perfectly fine with it, but I wasn't. I have to admit that I was freaked out at some parts. Oddly, it wasn't the parts I expected!

I caught her in the pasture, and headed up to the barn. I tied her up to the trailer (which is my tack room for now) and did the routine groom, pick feet, fly spray thing. Sweetie took a nap.

I have to mention here that while Sweetie was the last horse bred by Everett Smith, she was born at Iron Ridge. Her mother arrived VERY pregnant, and a couple of months later, this bundle of joy arrived. I missed half (literally) of her birth, but Jae was there to assist. She was born during my "nap time", and Jae came screaming in, shook me, said "Rose is foaling" and ran back out. I put on the first clothes I could find, and arrived to see legs, head and neck, with Rose being the most calm and mild mannered mare in labor I have seen.

I told Everett, and he chose to name her SHC O Sweet Surprise, or Sweetie for short. The name fits her. First, she's a chestnut from 2 black horses. That was a shocker (as they have black in their lineages for eons). Secondly, she's a snowcap, or homozygous for LP. This means that she will always have foals with some type of appaloosa type coloration. She's the highest percentage homozygous LP horse that we know of.

So, the plan was, that I would sell this filly for Everett. Yeah, lets just say that didn't happen. Instead, I bought her for myself. Something about her just made me fall in love, and she earned a place as one of "my" horses. And I justified it because of my breeding program. Hey, it all worked out, right?

So I have raised this filly from birth, and she's one of "mine" in my mind. When she was weaned, something dreadful happened, and she turned into one of the ugliest most awkward babies I have ever seen!

Yes, Sweetie was a Moose. We fed her and fed her, and she just kept getting this big belly, and growing taller! As a 3 year old, she has finally slowed down, at 15.3 hands, but she's very obviously not done, and she hasn't even started to grow wider yet. She is still a gangly teenager.

So, last April, when I got kicked, it was Sweetie that I was brushing. Diva got jealous, and ran up behind us kicking. I got caught in the cross fire, knocked under them, and dear Sweetie stood over me taking kicks, not knowing what to do. She knew she wasn't supposed to step on me, but she really didn't like getting kicked on. If she hadn't been so well mannered, it's likely that my head would have been crushed. I was brushing her, and hence had no helmet on. I was laying completely under her, dazed, and unable to move. I have very clear and vivid memories of the sunlight on her leg hair.

And now, I have a fear of being under the feet of a horse, or anything that could put me there. It's completely irrational, but it's there. Yet something inside me trusts this horse (huh, wonder why!) so I chose her to be my "greenie" to test out my new found confidence in the saddle.

I tacked her up, and she had perfect manners. The worst she did was backing up as I bitted her, but that was my fault. I had the offside of the bridle hooked on her halter, and putting backwards pressure on her. Once I unhooked it, Sweetie opened her mouth, and took the bit like a pro.

I put her in a western saddle, cinched her up, and headed out to the arena. It's been a bit since we've ridden, so I started on the lunge. Wow was that anti-climatic. She walked, and would even trot when I asked, but she had no interest in fast, spooky, or zippy.

PERFECT!

So then I went to climb on. I used the same methods I talked about yesterday, making sure she stood nicely, and was relaxed. I put a foot in the stirrup, and balanced my weight across the saddle, while playing with her bridle (asking her to bend her neck) and patting her offside. At one point, she got confused, and when I patted her ribs, she took a few steps, thinking I was asking her to walk on. A light touch and "woah" and she stopped perfectly.

Well, that means no more putting it off for me. And yet, the thought of swinging onto a green horse, with one real ride on her, had me very nervous. Sweetie had given every sign that she was going to be perfect for me, but my mind kept thinking about her bucking, or bolting, and me ending up tossed under her feet.

I knew that this would be a HUGE step for me, and I really didn't want to back down, so I compromised. I asked Jae to lead her.

I swung up and over, and petted her, and Sweetie made happy faces. Then I asked Jae to just let me sit there a bit. We talked, I petted the horse, and in seconds, I began to feel secure, and in control. Sweetie has a nice "sit" to her, being wide enough to fit me, but thin enough to resemble a light horse (Thoroughbred) type of build. Like I said, she hasn't finished growing yet, and I had worried that I would really feel like I was on an ungangly baby. Nope, not at all.

I asked Jae to make a big circle, and just let me feel her move. He never said a bad thing, just walked off leading the big lug. Sweetie followed perfectly, and her only bobble was stepping in a bit of mud and compensating for the slip. She didn't have a single problem balancing me, and she could care less that I was in a predator area. Sweetie was just loving all the attention, and doing her best to be perfect.

So, it was time. Jae handed me the lead rope, and I looped it over the horn, and asked Sweetie to walk.

She walked. She turned. She stopped. She did everything I asked her to, and did it as well as she knew how. She was light, responsive, and thinking. Her gaits flow like silk, and her movement comes from the hind end. She's forward, in a very calm and controlled way.

All in all, I had nothing to worry about, and I felt GOOD about it. I asked Jae to hold the lead while I stepped off, and he was smiling at me.

When I swung my foot out of the stirrup, she braced up for the weight shift, but didn't move out of place. She stood quietly for me to slide down her side, and then demanded her hug when I was done. I loosened the girth, and started giving her cookies.

So, no, I didn't do a thing to train the horse, but I did do a ton to get over my fear issues. I felt good. I felt calm. And I felt like my old self on a horse. Oh sure, I'll probably always have to deal with a bit of anxiety, but I know how to handle it now. I simply diffuse the reason for the fear in very small steps.

Tomorrow, if weather allows, I'm going to do it all on my own. Sweetie rides like she's been doing this for weeks now, and I have ever intention to take advantage of that. I'm going to call Rachel and Chris in to help too. I need someone to ride in the arena with me, and someone to call 911 if I try to kill myself again. I think Sweetie will do fine with a mature and calm horse around, but I really want to be sure that she can work around other horses. I made this mistake once with Amber, and it resulted in a very bad spook, and me in the hospital.

It won't be happening real soon, but maybe in a week or so. Midnight and Sweetie get along, and Midnight will pony, so my plan is to first ride Midnight and pony Sweetie off her, then have Rachel ride Midnight and Pony Sweetie, and then for me to ride Sweetie next to Midnight as if we're being ponied.

Needless to say, I'm VERY happy about this. It might seem like so little to most people, but for me, getting on a young unbroke horse, especially one involved in my accident, took a lot of time to work up to. I did it, and I lived, and it was FUN!