(insert random title)
| May 7, 2014 | Posted by Melinda under Uncategorized |
I find myself with a bit of time today so thought I would cram in as much random “stuff” into a post as possible. A witty title escapes me.
Top searches
We could make fun of the ridiculous searches that brought people to the blog in the last couple months….except they aren’t so funny.
- where is a horses groin muscle
- groin injury in horse pictures
- vet elytes fluids
- unshoe
- how to tack up a horse five paragraph essay
Who knew groin muscles (albiet the equine kind….) would be so fascinating to people. And that poor kid still trying to write the 5 paragraph essay.
And how is that Ride and Tie Scholarship Essay going?
Well, if you consider the following diagram:
I am approximately 3/4 of the way through the red line.
Ready for some REAL fun?
Cyd posted this video. It’s so funny that I am afraid that most of you will be too lazy to actually click a link to watch it so I have embedded it here.
I suddenly feel less conscious of the number of running shoes I own, and more conscious of the way I dress for my runs (50k poser). My goal in life? NOT be the one in the shortest shorts, and emulate the guy sitting down and eating potato chips and calling for the entire tub of icecream. That is the number one reason to do a 100 miler.
Not a runner? You can apply this video to whatever extreme sport (yes, endurance counts…) your little heart desires.
Whiskey Tango FOXTROT?
Farley has always had this weird gait near her top speed at a trot where she is NOT going to canter. It’s weird. Her hind end comes under her more, but her neck and back stretch out low and forward in a very non-dressagey way. It becomes more smooth and harder to post, less bouncy – more side to side. She only does it if she’s very forward and motivated to go – like towards home. Once she goes into that, if I want her to canter I have to slow her way down and collect her and then cue the canter from an honest to God semi balanced trot. She actually prefers to slip into this weirdness rather than canter depending on the ride. I was never sure what the weird gait was, and if it meant she was lame – but it felt *wrong* some how so I didn’t encourage it. She didn’t feel unsound or lame doing it – it was a even gait, but my gut feeling was that if I let her do it too much she was going to strain something. Lately she’s felt a lot stronger and more even doing it. And…she finally did it in front of the Derby photographer last month. SHE’S FOXTROTTING. My arab foxtrots. LOL. My childhood dream horse was a Missouri foxtrotter so of course I think this is terribly ironic.
I’m still not going to allow her to do it all the time and I’ll go with my gut feeling if I think it’s a good idea at any specific time, but it’s sorta cool to know she isn’t just being weird and she’s actually doing a recognized gait – even if it isn’t one any good dressage pony should know 🙂
I’m a officially an AERC stalker
As I go to school or leave for home I pass through the large animal trailer parking lot….where all the clients have their trailer and rigs.
And I look for “appropriate” bumper stickers.
Endurance themed ones.
And when I find one I can’t help myself.
I squeal and do stalker-ish moves over to the rig to scope out whether I know the person…..and they inevitably see me and raise a proverbial eyebrow at me…and then I have to go introduce myself :).
I would like to think that the client gets as much joy out of knowing there is an almost-vet in that animal hospital where their horse is in that speaks the language of endurance, as I do knowing there’s a client there that speaks *my* language. And how we both know what it means that their horse is just 30 miles away from the horse’s 3,000 mile achievement award.
And I’m meeting all sorts of people who I hope to see in ride camp some day going down the trail on their equine partners and passing through the vet checks with flying colors (and I hope that some day I can be the vet that smiles and congratulates them on their achievement.)
Merrylegs
Funder met me at my barn to drive to the trail head for RnT practice and I took the opportunity to show off my baby!
She’s gotten friendlier every day. When I went out yesterday for some pony time I turned her out into the arena while I set up mashes to soak. When I came back out to play with her she TROTTED up to me and wouldn’t leave my side. It’s been a couple of sessions since I remember to bring carrots out with me so it’s not necessarily strictly food motivated. She’s asking for scratches and just wanting to *be* with me.
It’s very ego boosting.
Needless to say this sort of behavior is NOT something Farley engages in. I’m an opportunity for interesting experiences and yummy buckets. But she doesn’t seek out my companionship like Merrylegs does.
I’m not sure if this is a young horse thing, or a personality thing. I’ve never had a horse seek out affection like Merrylegs is doing, while at the same time NOT BEING PUSHY. She waits to be invited into my space. Even if I have a bucket of mash into my hand, she waits politely while I dump it into the hanging bucket. She goes wild for my scratches.
I’m doing most of my handling in the big arena, with her in a halter either on or off a rope. She’s never actually left me when we are working. Maybe takes a step back or leans back and snorts….but stays engaged and wants to play. (yeah!)
What she’s REALLY good with
- I can rub and put my hands all over her body – under her belly, around her hind end, down her legs, manipulating her ears, laying my arms across her back, hugging her chest from both sides with my arms.
- Putting my hands and arms OVER her head and between her ears and scratching the opposite side of her barrel and back etc. – crossing midline!
- Me jumping up and down beside her while touching her back
- Yielding to pressure on her head whether it’s my hands or her halter.
What she’s a little hesitant about
- She is still a little head shy when you first go up to her. She’s getting better, but I’m conscious of her tendency to avoid hands and paying attention to it.
- Holding up her legs. She’s really good at picking up all 4 of her feet – not so good about calmly holding them up so I can trim or pick. She actually tried to nip my backside as I held one of her front feet the other day…….I think it’s just a matter of some confidence and trust. I could probably tie her up and trim, but I really like the freedom of movement we have in the big pen with her untied. I have to take my time which is a good thing and I can be confident that she is choosing instead of feeling trapped.
What she’s downright resistant about
- Handling her mouth. She seems certain I’m going to worm her. Considering that being able to handle her mouth is essential for her endurance career and at some point a bit is going to go into that pretty little mouth…..we are definately working on this!
After a week of picking on each other during turn out, Farly and Merrylegs decided they were BFF’s on Sunday.
Instead of the predictable…
Merrylegs: Hi!
Farley: (lunges at intruder with teeth bared)
There was a laughable display of affection. Literally hugging eachother with their heads and necks, and then running around the arena as if they were in doubles harness. It was THE most weird thing I’ve ever seen.
Finally disgusted with the overwhelming affection (they weren’t even acting like horses!) I decided it was time to go back to their respective paddocks.
Matt grabbed Farley and I grabbed Merrylegs.
BOTH horses threw hissy fits that involved bucking and kicking out.
Merry and I had a serious discussion about what exactly it meant to be on a halter and lead line no matter what your BFF is doing or where she is being led and I turned her back to her pen.
Where she waited until the gate was latched and I walked away before whinning and bolting around the paddock and kicking the fence for good measure.
We won’t even discuss the rediculous antics Farley put Matt through.
With both horses in their paddocks they proceeded to stare at each other across the 100 foot chasm that separates them. *rolls eyes*.
They are slated to go into a double together on Sunday and we will see how it goes. Both were very sensible on Tuesday……..
(Insert witty comment here)
Good stuff but I wonder…do you want them living in a pen together? You may be in for some really annoying herd bound shit pulling one out to work…
There’s a couple of reasons why I’m going to try them together.
Farley is not typically herd bound and I suspect that her shenanigans were related to her taking advantage of Matt. I’m not worried about her being stupid.
As far as Merrylegs goes, on initial assessment she’s not horribly herd bound – when she was taken out of the pasture without her peeps she settled into the stall without calling for her “friends”. That being said, I sorta expect her to get attached to whoever is in her surrounding pens – just because she’s not actually IN the pen with the horse won’t prevent her from becoming herd bound if she puts her mind to it and a horse likes to have friends. So, it is my assumption until proven otherwise that I will have problems with a horse being herd bound, and I would rather deal with the issue head on up front than push it off when they are stronger, bigger, and more athletic. I was able to resolve Merrylegs’ drama fairly quickly and simply on Sunday, so if that continues to be case, then i think there’s more benefits than harm to housing them together.
I do think that horses especially need to feel like they are part of a herd – and while it can be useful to sequester a horse so that *I* am their herd early on, I think that long term it is important that they have physical contact with other horses. Being able to interact over a fence is better than nothing (this is what Farley has right now) but having the fence between them causes issues too.
If the Farley/Merrylegs pairing doesn’t work, then the next step will be to put Farley in with another horse who is on the same diet (grass) and give Merrylegs’ Farley’s old pen – which has horses on 2 sides of a pipe fence.
The new friendship between the girls is SO cute! And it will make ponying lots more enjoyable, if you choose to do that. I absolutely love the Merrylegs updates. For yourself, make sure to take lots of pictures as she continues to grow and change shape. It’s really fun to look through them later. How old is she again? 2?
I absolutely plan on ponying!!! It’s somethign i enjoy doing – probably because when I played polo we did a lot of it. It seems a natural thing to do with a horse that isn’t being ridden yet. The trails around the barn are super good for ponying too.
Yup. That timeline accurately explains the second semester of my last year in undergrad. So accurately in fact that I had to laugh – a lot.
And OMG – MARES! Get it together ladies, its not the *end of the world*. To which I’m certain they argue, “But it IS. You *don’t* understand!
Very entertaining! You’re right, I wouldn’t have clicked on the video link, but it was hilarious!
See!!!! You should trust me!!!!!
Love random crap! Chart of “fuck it”= how I accomplish ALL my projects. The video: priceless. How much stuff have I bought (as a rider in this case) buy one thing, buy a larger thing, no buy a smaller but better thing.
And Merry is just so damn adorable. I have a fondness for pretty bays, but I love her build, looks like she has good feet, and a sweetie to boot, winner.
Completely accurate chart. Hilarious video. And happy news about the gals getting along. A very happy random post. =]
That video was hilarious, and I don’t run or do endurance. “Is that mountain lion poop?”
Yup, ‘fraid you’ve gotta upgrade from 50 mile poser if you’re moving on up in the world, which raises the question: what are YOUR colors?
Ok, I seriously loved the video. Enough so that I’m linking to it in the post I’m currently working on! Saw some ultra runners today on the trail and thought of you.
And Merrylegs is adorable! I still get her confused with Farley in pics though – it’s amazing how physically alike they are!
Finally went back and watched the bid, and now we NEED to make an endurance riding version!
*vid. Bite me, spellcheck.
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