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Showing posts from May, 2012

Leverett

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Leverett will probably always be my favorite competitive trail ride. In 2010, this was the first ride I ever competed in. Not only did John win rookie horse, I won rookie rider. It was a great day, fabulous trails and got me completely hooked on 25-mile competitive trail rides. I mailed my entry for the 2012 ride back in February, to make sure I didn't end up on the waiting list. I was really looking forward to it. On Friday, May 4th, a lot of us trekked to Bert's farm at the base of Mount Toby in Leverett, Massachusetts for our favorite ride of the year. We arrived and set up camp and headed off to vet in. All four horses (I traveled with Team Thompson) vetted in great and we went back to finish setting up camp. Meg and I were coming back from hauling water when Burnie came and told us there had been an incident between John and Dolly, and Dolly had kicked John's hock. Ever since Secret's hock injury a few years ago (a kick right on the bone on the inside o

Happy Birthday John!

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Some girls never outgrow "my little pony." John celebrated his 9th birthday on Saturday. I must admit, I am more excited for the horses birthdays than my own :)

A Bit Of A Change

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A few months ago (okay, I actually I have no recollection of when, but its been all winter and into spring), I started thinking about my bits. I have a ton of D-ring snaffles. Most of them are smooth. Plus one double jointed slow twist and a waterford. I love bits, but generally use the same ones on everyone. John started giving me a hard time about his bit, the Mylar combination bit. I don't really blame him, this bit gives me a lot more control and him a lot less, in a situation where we are arguing about control (namely, when he wants to turn and flee for home at the site of something scary). However, since my mouthy horse was refusing the bit, I decided to try something different. I ride Remi in a regular Mylar snaffle bit. I had read quite a bit about how they were good, gentle bits to start horses with. I decided to use this bit on everyone and see what they thought. Secret really liked the change. She's still a bit of a draftee about working - she would ra

Salt

This winter, my horses all ate the last of their Himalayan salt blocks. I didn't get them new ones right away and felt really guilty about it for quite some time. I finally ordered them new ones, and rushed right out to put them in their stalls. They didn't touch them. For days. While this assuaged my guilt-ridden conscience, it did lead me to ponder their nutritional needs a bit. About a month ago, I saw some Redmond Rock in a local store and picked one up. Its from Utah and is supposed to be one of the best salt blocks you can offer horses, with extra minerals etceteras. I put the Redmond Rock in the salt holder in the field, and no one has ever seen any of my three horses touch it. Ivy the goat does like it though. The Himalayan salt blocks in their stalls are still pretty untouched. Although Remi did take hers out of the holder and bury it in her bedding one day. Now I was really pondering their salt needs. Every night when I am mixing grain for my horse

Bravery

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Bravery is a strange thing. Its even stranger in horses. Secret is not a very brave horse. She is skittish and nervous when outside of her comfort zone. It takes a lot of coaxing and praise to get her to accomplish something new or overcome a fear. But apparently, not all of the time. The other day, I decided to go for a quick ride at lunch time, and took her up over the top of the hill. One of the farm's workers had the articulated tractor and disk harrow (for non-farmers, this is a really large tractor and a harrow for tilling the soil) in the same field we were riding in. She stopped and looked at it, and then we followed along while Bob harrowed. We didn't get that close, and I don't ride in tilled land because the footing is too deep, but still, I was pretty impressed that she was following along. Every now and then the discs would hit a rock and make an awful scraping noise (rock on metal - its never a good sound). She didn't even mind that. I lef