Briana and Jaide

 8.18.21

Are doing fine in their environment. Except for the bites, bumps, and bruises.  When I was running a horse boarding farm, I would cringe if a horse ended up with a kick mark, bite mark, or worse. I really didn't like any horse being injured no matter how small. I had show quality animals and treated everyone's horses like I did mine. 

Poor Briana is the shortest horse in the one pasture - and I feel so badly for her. They are both in with some BIG horses. These are the bullies also. So Jaide has learned to run away to keep from being bitten or kicked... as has Briana. A horse's kick can do a LOT of damage to another. There is a ton of force coming from a hind leg when it is aimed at something. Whether it be a bug, another horse, a stall wall- or heaven forbid, a person. I have been kicked, luckily never as seriously as friends have been, and realized very fast that a kick can kill or break me easily.

Personally? I am more than ready to move on. Someplace where the pasture isn't overcrowded and there is enough room for all horses to exist instead of being bullied and injured.

Each day I see my girls, there is some additional injury. Some small and will heal just fine ( but imagine the pain involved from a single smack to one's head) and then some that leave a scar and some that leave a blemish of some sort.  I don't like it one bit and will be happy to say goodbye to that place. I Love the farm itself and had I known it was for sale way back when, things might have been different but I didn't, soooooo.

From now on? Hoping that my mares stay safe and un-injured.  Safe and content...

"Oh I know That"

 8.18.21

Recently I've been hanging w/ folks who don't know much- OR have been told the absolute wrong things. (coming from a supposed "pro" who also has no idea-* see post before this one...)

These folks really need to be educated but don't seem to really care much so long as their horses don't fall over, dead. THEN they freak out.  But- you know?  That's up to them and if they choose to not bother, it's fine with me.

Sadly, that has been my attitude since shutting my horse farm down. I just don't care anymore. Now- I DO care about the horses and if I notice something going badly, I'll mention it to one of them.  I know- it's a piss-poor attitude but after living in Pennsylvania for 20 yrs, and then moving into god knows where " I don't know" Maryland, it has become the norm.

 Now we get to the real reason for this post...  The " I know that" people.  I'm sure more of the seasoned horse folks understand the kind of human I'm speaking of. Those who've never really owed their own equine - having taken some lessons to learn how to not fall off one, or those that have owned one but are still beginners in the world of horses.  These humans seldom learn more than that ' don't fall off" routine unless their " trainer" ( instructor!!!) takes the time to teach them how to actually handle a horse, care for one, and more.

They are online too!  (omgosh- cannot escape the know it alls) In fact, there are thousands of them. The internet is positively loaded. There are pages on social media for ALL kinds of horse things- "My Skinny Horse'  " horse health discussions' and the training ones- I sit here and just smile at all of the wonderful ideas those beginners ( and those who have had horses " all their lives" and STILL are clueless) come up with. The dressage riders, western riders, English pleasure riders- they ALL have their pages. Yes, even those who drive have pages. Trail riders, those who show, those who just love that horse but never actually ride it, and a kazillion more. 

Once or twice I tried to join in on some discussions and was so rudely put down by, yes, beginner know it alls, that I just left the group. They can blissfully carry on as chosen. There was one site where someone had been told to " lay their horse down" Now- how many horse folks have seen the Horse Whisperer movie?   Uh-huh...  I could see utter disaster coming and spoke up. There were many ways to have a horse learn to respect a human and throwing them on the ground was not one. Oh lordy! All hell broke loose then. WHO was I to even offer a thought let alone a qualified answer?? 

Once again, I learned to not ever try to explain things to a know-it-all person in the horse world... Another page is gone. 

Where do people figure it is alright to cut another down and then shred them up to small pieces with what they write???  This has been going on for a very very long time and one would think people would learn to try to get along instead of attacking as they do. I don't know- perhaps there are to many people in this world and anger has become a norm for so many. I got told I was an ass, called other names I won't mention, and basically told to leave that list because I had no idea what I was talking about.

Folks...   I have been a professional trainer of horses and instructor to humans since I was 19. I'm now 69 yrs old. I really think I have learned a few things.  Apparently not according to those folks. I've brought some mighty wicked assed horses back to wanting to trust during my life, and have started so many youngsters I don't remember 3/4 of them. I've become a world champion in the world of Percheron horses and have shown for a long time in the sport of driving. < sigh> Yet, here I was once again, being told I didn't know squat. 

Many many years ago, I learned about staying humble and listening to the Pros when they offered bits of training or just general information. The time I did speak up, thinking I knew what I was saying, it wasn't long until I got sat down and told  " That 'Old Man' as you called him owns two of the highest-ranking reining mares in the country- didn't you KNOW THAT????"  (or something very similar)

                                                                      Holy Moly.

Uneducated humans

 8.6.21

Things around here have been changing as usual. Life is never the same unless one allows it to be. Mine changes when all I wanted was some peace and quiet. I think I found it and Pow! I learn I didn't.

This past week it seems I got "evicted" from the barn where the girls were living. Granted, it wasn't much to look at but it was basically safe and okay. The gals who boarded there were nice enough also. 

 So- there I am standing there trying to take in what had just happened and it wasn't working. I went about my evening at the barn which was nothing compared to what I'd done just a year before. It turns out that the Amish owner realized that there were too many horses in one pasture and that the 'grass would not grow" Well- DUH????  It was overgrazed before I moved in, but that's another story...  There I was- wondering what in the bloody heck was I going to Do?  Decent boarding farms cost an arm and a leg, and no way I could afford to pay an arm n' a leg. ( it would have made it hard to walk in the first place...;) ) 

Luckily, the farm owner had included a phone # of an Amish friend of his who lived down the road from where this farm is. I called the next day, drove over to see it, and said " yes" to moving in there. There was to be no refund for me leaving sooner than the month I had graciously been given, so I'm staying until the first of September. By then, the field should be completely grazed down to nothing.  That isn't my problem any longer.

On to my subject...  During my time at that farm, I realized that some of the boarders had really gotten a bad education concerning horses and their care. I offered to help out one gal- but she was into something else at the moment or wasn't that interested- I only offer once. That was fine w/ me, actually. I had decided to not bother teaching humans or horses any longer. 

I've watched some of the teenagers who according to others " really were good riders".   Ummmm, no. If they had been taught correctly, they would know how to cool their horses off properly. How to warm up and cool down before and after a ride... and more. Not to mention having tack that actually fit their horses' bodies.  Ah well... I just remained quiet and kept to myself as usual.

 A very short conversation today allowed me to think that it could be a good idea for this blog.  With ALL of the information available online, via some very good professional instructors in the areas, WHY are kids still feeling as though it is alright to pound on their horses because the said horse was scared?  Why don't their parents teach them that a beating does nothing but create a frightened and now untrusting animal?  Perhaps the "horsey" parent hasn't a clue either?? And so it goes.

I was waiting for the hose to go top off my stall water buckets and they were adding water to the feed. Now- this was sweet feed, and some had pellets.  Pelleted feed will absorb water but not in the 2 minutes it took to carry them out to the pasture and dump either in little feed tubs or on the ground.  Noooo- it's a waste.  I asked one of the teenagers why the horses got wet feed. " Because my horse chokes if it isn't wet."   Ummm...  Have you ever tried adding medium-sized rocks in the feed tubs so they have to push the rocks about and that slows them down?? Pause  " I have heard of that, but My horse knocks over the feed bucket ( the horses are all out 24/7)   At this point?  I could have mentioned the fact that to prevent a lot of that problem, a person could fasten the feed bucket on the fence post, and voila!!  No more troubles.  However, I decided to drop it as the kid had a bad attitude and I had dared to ask her in front of her boyfriend ( I guess) and another little friend of hers.  Ehhhhhhhh- okay, sweetie- you keep on thinking that...

This sort of thing used to make me crazy as in the past, I'd be looked at as being crazy...  Hahahaaa- alright then!  Once again, this problem of uneducated humans has shown up in my life and I had to walk away.   Why burst her little " I know it all" bubble?   After all, she was 17 and no doubt knew all about horses. 

I picked up the hose and filled my mare's water buckets... thinking 

"yes, it will be nice to be gone from here".  I'll miss my newly found pals though... they're just a short way away once we move.

I cannot Wait to get some more chicks and have the mares in the backyard again. There Are positives about boarding but the positives to having one's own horses ''right there'' far outweigh the boarding scene.  It'll be like heaven again after all of this 😁😏 

  My sweet Jaide got kicked pretty soundly a couple of weeks ago and before that ? A hard one to the front of her stifle. That one I had a vet out about- turns out it was a hematoma and would eventually go down- thank goodness!!

 Finally, the swelling has gone down almost completely but I was very happy to realize it had missed her eye.  I know we dodged a serious wound and plenty of eye problems and have said thank you to the heavens above for looking out for us. By the time I had gotten there it was swollen that I didn't think stitches would hold, It got cleaned out very gently and Jaide was so good for me. This is the mare who'd kick if I did anything she didn't think was alright. She'd threaten to bite and one time, I heard teeth whizzing by my side, but no connection. She is finally learning to trust that I'm not like the "others" as she calls them.

By now, it is all closed up, no sign of infection and while it's still a little bit swollen ( tissues underneath are still healing) - it will be fine.  Jaide will carry a reminder of how life gets when there are to many horses in one pasture... and so will I.

I've really grown to love Jaide by now. She's sweet and kind- and so smart also. Briana will always be my first love with these two.  There were times I wondered if Jaide would ever trust again but she has, and now I adore both of my mares.  I cannot wait to be able to harness/ drive Jaide one day! 

Briana is so darned cute- she shoves her muzzle into her halter so she can go out faster after she has her dinner. She was losing a little bit TOOOO much weight, so I began feeding her dinner as well as her breakfast. It was all she needed and is looking round again instead of gaunt. If the weather gets cool, I do want to drive more... it has been terribly hot/ humid here in Maryland. Neither of us enjoys it- I can see Briana n' myself sitting by a pool, dabbling our feet and hooves in the water all summer long.

 Hope your summer has been a good one!.

My 'space cadet' in her new protective fly mask...