Equestrian Life - Videos: A Riders Story - Flarida and Schmersal

the best part's at the end....keep watching

Equestrian Life - Videos: A Riders Story - Flarida and Schmersal

fun with Lady

Lady and I had a chance to play in the arena. Hopefully we'll be able to try this under saddle soon.

Horsemanship/me&toby-100 subscribers

Here's a choice video I stumbled across on You Tube. What a blast!

Parelli Live!!

Getting excited about the Parelli's rolling in to our area this weekend for the Parelli Live! event. I'm planning for for a very exciting weekend, which for me, will be four days of being immersed in "Keepin' it Natural." My hope is that I come back refreshed and ready for a more positive and progressive mindset when I return to the barn. It will be hard to be away from my horses for the long weekend but I'm sure the experience will be well worth it. I'm long due for some support from like minds and can expect to be truly inspired.

The last month I've beefed up my sessions with Lady and was hoping to submit a video for a "Lesson with Linda" or at least submit my long overdue audition for level 2 freestyle, but didn't get the use of a video camera in time. Last Sunday I was finally able to commandeer the help of a non-horsey friend to shoot me and Lady preparing for the audition. I hope to have some footage to throw up to Youtube soon, but I'm waiting on a microphone so I can provide some narrative. We came very close the getting all the compulsories in, and a video to submit in hopes of earning the coveted blue string, but when I got home to load the footage, mounting with savvy was cut off, as well as Sideways. The Sideways game is a challenge for Lady since she's 1. "drinker of the wind", 2. a forward mover, 3. a mare, and 4. very right brained when she's stressed. We have been practicing our sideways on line and she's finally getting the hang of it. The big payoff was that Lady really surprised me when I rode her to the wall. All of the sudden we just clicked and performed sideways under saddle down the wall with very little cueing, and even better was we have never attempted this under saddle. It is little victories like this that reinforce to me that truly, proper preparation on the ground yields big results under saddle.

And Forrest....

And here's Forrest Gump, modeling his tack after a ride.

Miss June.....

Here's a photo of one of my dogs, Miss June--I'm testing out my new gadgets.
this one's from my phone.

Spotting Skin Problems Early

This one's good too. I swear by products with miconazole like dandruff shampoo and jock itch powder--especially as prevention for ringworm type fungus.
Spotting Skin Problems Early

It's that time of year again....

Heat and humidity has come early for us this year, as well as a big boon in insect populations and robust weed growth.
Your mileage may vary with the info on the chart but provides a decent overview--a note on the rainrot treatment: the suggestion seems to be for severe cases ; the April 2010 issue of Equus has updated info on the treatment approach to Dematophilus congolensis.

Horse Skin Problems Chart

The day started Ok....

Sunny, nice mild day. More arena time with Lady and Wyatt. Played with the door again and desensitising in the general area. Lady was up for some games after I encouraged them to lope and trot around at liberty. Practiced figure eights online, circle game 22 ft line--more for me to practice rope handling with that much rope. Lady and I don't care for it that much. She'd rather be on the 12 ft line or liberty. 22 feet of rope just makes us clumsy doing more refined lateral work. She was in low-key mode and only wanted to walk and take things relaxed and slow.Trotted a few figure 8's then went on to something else. A little sideways,( which is very hard for her, being a forwardaholic, then she offered touch it with cones. Threw down a pole--which she decided was also a put my nose on it game. Eventually, persuaded her to walk over it, thinking we might try rudementary sideways along it, or back up over it. My expectatons were not high and neither of us was really in the mood. Still need more isolation of yielding neck and hindquarters. I quit while she was still quiet and relaxed. We'll work on those area's more. With the new stuff I think we'll go back to the 12ft line, then graduate to 22 ft.

Checked on my new horse in another barn. Took off his blanket, got him outside for some turn-out. He's LBI in his stall, or when able to get rid of excess energy. RBI when trying something new or unconfident about his environment. He got nice and muddy, both sides, and seemed pretty happy about it. Guess what I'll be doing before my lesson tomorrow?

Getting ready to call it a day, B and I toted a bale of hay to Wyatt and Lady's barn. In the middle of the barn, a little PMU filly was down, people crouched all around her. After let loose of the cross-ties, apparently something spooked her, she flipped over backwards and hit the cement floor. Took the vet an hour to get there. We all helped to get her on a tarp and into a trailer for transport to the university. Last I checked, she may have perm neurological damage if she makes it. They were still waiting on the radio-graphs when I called to check on her status. Hoping for the best...

RBE Arena Play

Beautiful day today. Finally able to do some constructive things with Wyatt and Lady, now that we have moved. First off, get Lady used to the quonset hut arena. It has a big overhead garage door, then regular doors along one side. And then some really weird sliding door that most people and horses enter through when it's cold.

So I put the horses in the arena and they both trot around a bit. Lady, wild-eyed, more like bounces around, with her typical snort and blow routine, then takes off across the arena to the south gate, throwing in a frisky buck and fart for good measure. I just walk in circles ignoring them, take my lunge whip and start tapping different surfaces in the arena, like the sliding metal door, then slide it open and closed open and closed, open and closed, and don't stop until Lady gets calmer. Then I get my carrot stick and tie a plastic bag on it and do the same thing all over the arena as well as smacking it on the ground, on objects, on myself. By this time Wyatt 's gone to find a safe corner to stand in, trying to be invisible; he's really good at invisible horse, you know. He hates Parelli games. To him, it's like going back to kindergarten. It's insulting. He's a solid citizen and has no tolerance for them thar rope-wigglers. How he can see the color orange is beyond me, though. They say if you lose one of your senses, the other's get better. Well, he is blind in one eye. Go figure. Anyway, the next step for me is to go to the other end of the arena and abruptly open the little entrance door, go out and in, out and in, opening and shutting, about a hundred times, shouting, Hey! Hel-lo, Hey! Hah! By about the hundreth (I'm exaggerating ) time, Lady has lost her concern and wants in on the game. I mean, if there is something so great about that door that has me fascinated, why, she'd better go over and check it out. So she comes over flipping her forelock to the side and asks in her Scarlett O'Hara way, "what-eva in the world are ya doin by that little ole do-ah? Why, is there any Cay-un-dee involved? 'cause you know how much I just Love, CAY-UN-DEE!" Success! I was glad too because I was getting tired of the whole thing. I was prepared for someone to come running, saying, "need some help? You ok in there?" Which I have to add happens a lot whenever I'm wigglin' ropes and flapping my arms, but never if I'm wrestling around fifty pound bags of grain, or the wheelbarrow's stuck in the mud. No, never then.

Now what Lady and Wyatt could have used today was a good run, round and round the arena. They hadn't been out for the last few days, due to flooded, mushy brown gooky pastures, and Lady's got some real pent up energy to blow off in her RBE way. I didn't want Lady to associate the arena with running around in a panic every time we go in there, though, so after the "sacking out" session, I just walked around and mirrored her, matching her energy every time the tractor started up in the distance, or the bird flew by--but her reactions were very low key thanks to the above session, so I didn't have to do a lot of trotting and loping around--Whew! glad for that, cause I'm really out of shape. It took a very short time before she hooked on and started following me around, looking for scratches and rubs. We played a little touch it game for a while and ended by hanging out by the gate, where Wyatt decided it was finally ok to come clomping on over. We all just stood there then, the little tri-herd of us, licking, chewing, breathing slow and easy and looking out into the afternoon sunshine, content.

Back to Basics

Moved the horses again! Twice in 1 month. We've also had 55 to 60 inches of snow this season, which is a record. With moving, then the snow, the horses have not had much in the way of exploring their new surroundings. My LBI just seems to glare at me these days. He's finding it tiresome having to make new friends all the time, and I'm still adjusting to the new environment myself.

I passed online level one with Lady last April. That beautiful red string and certificate are especially meaningful as shortly after, Mom's cancer had ceased responding to treatment. By May, she was gone. Since then, We have bits of progress, in little spurts, but so many hurdles in the way. We are ready to proceed to Level two Freestyle audition--have been for a while. We have been playing in higher levels in all the Savvys for years, but being able to set things up to demonstrate our abilities, or proceed in a logical progression is dependent on the environment we are in. All the barns I have boarded at are not conducive to any type of natural horsemanship, and the Parelli system is extremely challenging to try and put in practice. Why? My horses care and well being is always the first thing on my to do list. After I check those things off the list, there is little time to take the time it takes. This really, has been the conundrum, but I still press on.

Dr Cook's response to FEI ruling on Rollkur vs LDR

I'm not surprised that the solution to the hyperfexion debate is found in the FEI's own rulebook. Yes, why don't they just enforce what is already written? No doubt that the exaggeration of the horse depicted in art forms, --idealizing the horse in unrealistic ways, contributes to the problem of these training and competition trends in all disciplines and breed associations, not just the FEI.

A very interesting debate none the less.

Rope Halters

Featured today in the AQHA 's "" American Horse Daily email that I receive as part of my membership, was a snippet on the use of the rope halter and lead as a training device. I'm happy that the AQHA promoting and explaining the benefits of the rope halter in their publication "101 Horsmanship tips" (available for sale) as my rope halters and various leadlines are probably the most valuable tools/equipment that I own. I only wish AQHA would have included a warning in the email that the rope halter is what they say, a training device, and not intended to be left on your horse in their stall or pasture. Even though web halters and breakaway halters are not safe, rope halters are especially dangerous since they are designed to never break. If a horse gets his halter caught on something, it is virtually impossible for a horse to escape.

While their are many tools of the trade that are just as dangerous or cruel to horses, I feel particularly compelled to comment on the rope halter. It is my way of feeling of and for the horse. These halters are becoming quite the fad as I can't even count the number of times I've seen fellow boarders and horse owners happily come back from the Quarter Horse Congress, Tractor supply, even back from a trainers, with their new lovely rope halter, put them on Ole Trigger, Ginger, or Bucky and send them out to pasture to show off their stylish head gear. What irks me is that so many of these people are not informed on the proper use of a rope halter and that many manufacturers do not provide a warning that rope halters are a training, handling device, and not intended for turn-out. It seems this would be a no brainer, but many people are inexperienced, first time owners who put these things on their horses heads thinking it's a more humane and natural alternative to a halter, when if fact, it could be the most dangerous piece of tack in the barn.