Which Bit To Use??

Someone asked me about bits and which one would be the best one. I don't have a lot of time right now (the saddle IS calling) but I'll get it together better in my head whilst riding (my best thinking times) and post about what I think are the way to go with bits.

Now, get out there and RIDE... ;-)

Imprinting A Foal...I'm Not A Fan

Of course, I'll tell you why!! :-) I even bought a book that 'splains it very well, tried it on a few foals and watched some folks that swore by it. All in all, I didn't like how the foal turned out.

To me, God put the mare and foal together to let them figure out how to do things. I'm to be on the sidelines with help, if needed, but overall, staying the hell outta the way for the time being. Mommy horse needs to bond with her foal and the foal needs to sort his legs out to get up and moving about. Now, to my mind, why do I have to get right in there and start rubbing??

I once watched a lady put a mule foal to sleep while she was rubbing the upper gums in his mouth. Okay, looks impressive but why do you need to do this??

To me, foals end up too much a 'pocket pony', which I don't like. I like horses, mules, hinnys and zebras to keep their distance from me as I am the Queen of their world and they need to look up to me for their daily sustenance. I had one foal who would rub back on me and then one day when I wasn't looking, the foal reared up at me like I was another teeny-bopper that wanted to play horsie.

My favorite version of foal training is to leave mare and foal alone for the first three days or so to get to know one another. Let the mama horse do her thing. By the way, I'm not even in favor of foaling in a stall, put them in a safely fenced pasture and stand back! I'm there to dunk the stump in iodine and make sure that the gooey birth sack (that is just THE grossest thing!!) and placenta are out of the mare and then I'm outta there for the time being.

I realize some, only SOME, horses are so valuable that they must be monitored but for the general horse population, there isn't a need. It's a human thing to try to control what happens, that's basically it. For a laugh, just think of trying to control Mother Nature...oh, yeah...

To me, the foals that are left to Nature's way come out of it with a 'respect' that an imprinted bratty foal doesn't have. Imprinted foals are left with this idea that they are on a level playing field with me and we're equal. Oh, hell no! They seem to be pushier and swishier tailed than the foal who is left alone.

The non-imprinted foal gets to bond with his dam and she shows him a thing or two on her own. On or about the third day, I may hang a foal halter on the foal just to show him that I AM around but don't leave it. I've seen people hang a halter on a newborn and a lead to drag! Don't do this! Older horses will learn and if they get into trouble, they may pull something but a newborn is more likely to kill themselves.

I don't try teaching all sorts of things at once, like leading and picking up hoofs. Even if I wait till the foal is closer to a month old, I have never had big problems teaching them to do these things. They may be a little stand-offish but they aren't hanging on you like an imprinted foal. I want my horses to be naturally a bit standoffish and to ALWAYS keep an eyeball on me. If he's a little goosier than an imprinted foal, great, so be it. This standoffishness (is that a word?) will translate to later in life when you have a 2 or 3 year old ready to be started and is watching you, gauging you and will be infinitely easier to deal with because he sees you/me as Queen of the Universe again.

An imprinted foal is more likely to think THEY are the Queens/Kings of the joint. So, I guess if you've made it this far in my post, I'm against imprinting a foal.

Now, go hug your horse!! :-)

Flummoxed. People Who've Been Around Horses All Their Lives, But....

Don't know a bloomin' thing about horses. Isn't that the strangest thing you've just about ever heard??

Lately, I've ran across several folks who tell me they rode as a kid and have had horses most of their lives but, as I can attest as I've seen it in the flesh, don't know how to properly saddle a horse or put a bridle together.

When I went to resaddle the mare, I was amazed at the lousy quality of the blanket. Holy cow, I'd have used that blankie for my cowdog when she was having puppies! It was horrible and dirty. The bridle was a hodge-podge with a totally inappropriate bit for a green horse.

But then, when I try to say something, I get defensiveness. Hey, they asked me and I told them. Being non-direct is not in my vocabulary. Plain and straight foreward is my style, as you well know if you've been reading this blog any time at all.

Or the case of a young Arab who needs to meet the vet for an attitude adjustment but the people think he's the bomb and want to breed him....Have they not noticed that there is a glut of ooky horses out there that can't find a home, not to mention some nicer ones too that can't?? Guess not.

These questions are one for the ages and I guess will go on till the end of time. But I'll keep trying to show people the correct way. 'Bout all I can do. *sigh*

Listening Wasn't On My Mare's To-Do List Today

If you ride enough, you'll soon figger out that not every ride is the same as the last ride or even something to gauge future rides by.

I sort of crunched my neck and for a few days, I couldn't ride. So's, today I figgered, since it was gawjus out, now's the time to fork the beastie. Oh, boy, whatta ride I had!

She found more dragons and tasmanian devils to spook at! Her cute little fox-like ears were all over the place, except on me. We had a ride a few days ago where she was 'off' (to put it nicely) and I think she thought she could exploit that and get me to turn around, head to the barn and get put up just THAT much faster.

Well...she was soooo wrong! I rode through it because I felt confident enough to go on. I'm still facing down Bloody Body Syndrome just about every time I ride so I felt like a million bucks when I got back to the barn. Showed her littled spotted ass! That I did!! *hand pump*

The point is, even though she wasn't in the mood to pay much attention to me, we rode through it instead of baling and going back to the barn (like I did the other day). I MADE her listen to me as we went over hill and dale. I only stopped going in any direction when a wheel line was in the way (muddy, which I never ride in) or the grass/alfalfa was so thick I couldn't see where she was putting her delicate little footies. Then I'd turn back.

I'll guarantee you by tomorrow, she will have thought about all this today and will be a better ride manana (a spanish word meaning 'tomorrow' but I don't have the little squiggly thing above the first 'n').

So, instead of doing some sort of voo-doo training scenario that costs bundles of money from a BNTT (big name TV trainer), we got out there and covered some ground and fixed the problem.

Now, THAT'S the way to ride! Yeehaw!! :-)

My Sweet Horse Who Used To Be An Absolute Nut, A True Rescue Tale

She wasn't sold to me as a rescue and little did I know how much rescuing this poor baby would need!

One of the worst attitudes I've ever seen in a horse. But I had seen her bloodlines on her registration papers and she did have a kind eye. I've never had a bad Appaloosa and it never crossed my mind how wacky she could be. I had that horse-trader gut feeling that she was a good horse, never mind I only rode her once before buying her. Just looking at her, I got the gut feeling of 'yup, she's a good'un!'

Then, I got her home...Egads is the nicest I could say.

I've bought and sold absolutely hundreds of horses and thought I knew what I was getting into. But after a couple of months of my mare, I seriously thought I'd lost my eye for buying a good horse, no matter what that good horse was hiding under.

In good faith, I couldn't sell her to anyone knowing that she was a whack job in the head. So, I kept her and we battled it out.

I'm so glad I still own her. She'll be mine till the end of days. Underneath all the "Natural Horsemanship" crap that she was put through, there was/is an absolutely fabulous mare who would almost lie down and die for me. She is the best ride I've had in many a year. I can take her down the trail to any sort of terrain and she trusts me enough to go anywhere I point her noggin. I trust her to tell me that something isn't right and we can't go thataway. Like over an old bridge.

She's not spooky and thoroughly enjoys seeing the sights as much as I do. Even running wheel lines that water the fields don't phase my baby-darling.

Now, don't get me wrong, she has her days but by and large, she's a lambchop. I was sitting on the fence thinking that some day she's going to be so lame from all the injuries she suffered before I bought her, that I have to make sure she is comfortable for the rest of her life. I feed MSM to try to help her get along but the day will come when I have to think what's best for her and let her go. I don't know how I will do it, don't even want to think of it but must plan for it.

The point of this post is, there are horses that by sheer training ignorance (like my mare) they are unintentionally abused and then get viscious and hostile and people just unload them, even though they made the problem. Thankfully I got hold of her, then couldn't sell her in good conscience and we worked through her problems and brought her around to see that I'm the good gal and to trust me.

It takes time and lots of work and heap big plenty of patience and oodles of experience to bring them back from the brink. I'm so proud of her and unless I'm offered a million dollars, she'll never be for sale! Just think how many horses have been ruined and never got the chance to show who they really are. Just think of it!! Way too many.

But in her case, she had the chance, has good blood and someone, sometime in her past did do a really decent job in training her. I just had to dig down and bring it out, so well she had hidden it.

So, if you are having trouble with your horse that you KNOW is good down deep inside, please keep trying and showing the horse how much you need them to be good to you AND to themselves, they will come out of it.

It's soooo worth it!! Now, go ride! :-)

Wet Saddle Blankets Make Better Horses, Riders

*First off, it's bloomin' hot here so I'm in the house trying to cool off!*

Boy, if nothing else, the title will get some people going. I've met so many people in the last few years who really think/believe that it's only training sessions that will 'fix' a horse.

Not so, and I'll tell you why.

When you get out on the trail or even the arena, your horse is working off energy (hopefully you aren't intimidated enough to keep him from working off energy). He goes forward, using his engine (his buns) to propel him and you. After a while, you should see a little bit of sweat in the triangle of his neck (the part of his neck in front of his shoulder where it dips inward a little bit, sort of looks triangular) and then he's close to starting to listen to you.

Even if you aren't a good rider and do things 'wrong', the longer you stay in the saddle, even going down the road, eventually you ARE going to HAVE to straighten up your back and get your legs into the correct position. If you go up and down hills, you'll figger out ON YOUR OWN that going downhill is better if you sit back but not so hard as to feel like you're pushing his middle down. If you go uphill, you'll soon realize (your horse may even tell you forcefully) that sitting forward and grabbing a bit of mane is the way to go, not just sit there like a lump on a log in the saddle.

It's better if you do have an instructor to show you the way but if you don't, if you have any sense of horsesense, then you should be able to follow and figger it out that some things don't work. Books that show the correct way are better than nothing and you can figger out the correct way.

So, by extension, if you start doing better in the saddle, your horse is happier too. If he's not and would rather be back at the barn, he'll get over it, you're the pilot. But if he's barn sour and insists forcefully on turning back to the barn, you'll have to become a rider (not a passenger) and show him the error of his ways. If he's a jigger, you'll have to figger out how to sit in the saddle and use your center of gravity and a little bit of rein (soft hands) to show him that walk is what you want. It won't come easy but you'll learn it can be done without an expensive trainer.

Even a horse that wants to pitch and have a hissy fit can be ridden and shown that he can have all the fits in the world, might as well get down to work and to knock off the shenanigans.

My old fashioned ways aren't popular right now but miles and wet saddle blankets are the way to go for fixing most major problems. Now, you might ask, are there any horse problems that CAN'T be fixed by doing so? Yep, there are in my book. Rearing is one that I do not deal with. A horse that rears to evade is gone from my barn on the next hot horse trailer out of my property. I'm talking about the real rear that Roy Rogers used to do only the horse means it to scare you...which it does me. I'm not real fond of runaway horses either. I now have plenty of fields that if a horse wants to runaway, he's going to run till he can't stand BUT I'm not strong enough, nor brave enough anymore to deal with this. He'd be gone too. (As an aside, I once had a mare who would take off without notice and she ran for a good mile before slowing, when she started to slow, I made her go and go and go till she couldn't go anymore. She never ran away again however, I was 35 years younger and had lots of cotton fields to do so.)

So for the basic horse and rider combos, just getting out and riding the trails over anything you can find, is the way to really learn to ride and be a part of the horse...and the horse is part of you. You have to come together in situations like this. No two ways around it.

Now, get out and ride!!

Promise, I Will Post Something Soon

I've been riding my socks off (my mare's sorta stockings on her back legs are now almost down to socks!) and have plenty to say but life gets in the way.

Please look for posts later today, as again, I have a lot to post about!! :-)