Saddle Fitting 201

Now that Guinevive is here it has decided to rain.  On Saturday, it didn’t just rain, it POURED.  So she took that time to clean up our all-purpose, hunter/jumper, and Wintec saddles.  Today, as we had a break in rain this morning, we loaded up the truck (after I washed all the manure out of the bed from having made a delivery in the rain yesterday) and visited all the horses to check which saddles fit them better.

2 fingers between point and shoulder blade

In fitting a saddle to a horse it is imperative to make sure you have placed it in the correct position first so that the saddle never impinges on the movement of the horse’s shoulder blades.  You want the forward points of the saddle to be an inch or two behind the shoulder blade; we use two finger widths as an easy and portable measuring device.  Additionally, you want the saddle short enough so that it doesn’t go beyond the last rib as there is no way to support the rider’s weight if it does.

Flatten fist for measuring the pommel arch

Next check is the distance between the pommel (or horn) arch and the horse’s withers.  If you are not on the horse, an easy measurement is a flatten fist.  If you have a rider who can get on the horse, then you want a distance of about two fingers.  The flatten fist also allows you to ensure that the width of the arch isn’t too narrow so that it doesn’t pinch the horse.

Once these are assured then you will want to saddle up and ride the horse.  If you ride hard enough to produce sweat and then take the saddle off you should be able to see the mark/shape from the saddle on the horse’s back.  It should be a complete print without any missing spots.  For a more complete description of all you should check please visit this  great site!

As I mentioned above, we went around to all the horses, except *Walker who uses a treeless saddle and *Glory who is completely retired, to find out which saddles would be the best choice for them.  Once one horse had had a saddle on its back, all the others were eager to try one on for size and came up to whomever had the saddle in their hands to “present” themselves.  Even young *Andi, who is too young for riding in our opinion, just had to try them on!  That little lady is one horse who just loves to try new things and do whatever the human next to her suggests.

Beautiful Z Silken, our saddle model.

We certainly enjoyed our time with them and hope you also had a great day with your horse!

Excitement

I have been working with the horses this past week, asking for increasing time moving forward, using tires as a jumping spot, spiraling them in and out on the lunge, and introducing ground poles and crossrails.  With *Walker, I increased the number of times we walked up and down the hill and also asked her to back up the hill for a dozen paces or so.

However, this blog is going to be just a short one as I want to share our excitement that our youngest daughter, Guine will be coming to visit us in less than a week and staying for the whole month of June!!  Guine is our “horsie girl” and she is coming to help me with the horses.  Not only will my readers be able to look forward to great blogs about what we’re doing, but I will be getting new photos AND video of the horses for sale.

Have a wonderful Memorial Week-end everyone!

Here comes the *Sun (and Dude, *Beau....)

I was going to title this “Rain, rain go away” but it seems we’ve gotten a stretch of nice weather – yeah!  Last week I had begun to do some spring tune up of the boys, but rain moved in as well as getting called to substitute teach so I only got to work with *Jack and *Leo.  Finally toward the end of this week the weather cleared and I’ve worked with *Sun, Dude, Silken, *Beau, *Red, and even took *Walker out.

I love that first time of working with each horse as it allows you to see where their head is at, as well as, what they have “percolated” on over their winter time off.  So how did each horse do?  Read on for a brief glimpse.

*Jack was not super focused on me.  He is usually quite attentive so I’m not sure if this was a “one of” or an attitude change, but he certainly makes me laugh!  In fact, when a horse expresses an opinion that differs from mine, that is my usual reaction; I laugh!  This day I found that whenever I raised my energy to ask for more, he’d shake his head at me.  Silly guy with a high opinion of himself!  Still, he did everything I asked; he just needed to let me know what he thought about it.

*Leo, oh that golden boy!  He is so fabulous and I seriously have no clue why someone hasn’t snatched him up to take him home.  *Leo is all about pleasing and bonding.  He is exceptionally smart, too.  We worked on transitioning up and down and it took very little energy from me.  He really watched my body language closely.  He licked and chewed almost the whole time. 

Dude – is, well Dude!  He is a “tester”, he asks “Do you really mean that?”  Once you have assured him that “Yes, I really do mean that” he is more than happy to comply!  He has grown so much since we brought him to foster with us as a 17 month old that was about a 2.5 on the Henneke Scale.  He is a gorgeous mahogany bay with the softest of noses that is happy to rest on you.  I fitted him with one of our Myler bits, a 5” roller bar D snaffle, and it fit quite well.  Guinevive will be happy as she wants to get him out and about when she is up next month.

*Suncatcher, was well, wow,  did he mature more over the winter!  From the moment he stepped into the round pen with me he was a focus on, energy receptive, “how far, how fast, yes ma’am” kind of a horse.  His ear was on me the whole time.  We did walk/trot/canter in both directions and he never missed a beat.  I was so impressed.

Silken had a few thresholds as we walked down from up top where she resides.  I watched her carefully and when I saw the tiniest bit of tension and “What’s that?” creep into her face, I’d stopped and let her look.  I allowed her to tell me when it was time to move on.  It didn’t take any time at all to walk down to the round pen.  She is as sensitive to energy as ever and transitioning down in speed has always been her bug-a-boo when she first starts back up at work.  Her transitioning from canter to trot is fine, it’s getting to the walk that can be slightly problematic.  However, we did get there and I fully expect that the next time will be far easier for her.

*Beau was ever the gentleman as I fully expect him to be.  We worked without a wand or whip, only my hands and energy.  We did walk/trot/canter in both directions a few times and I even set up a row of tires and asked him for a small trot/jump over.  He really does like to tell me that “Curly boys don’t jump” as it just isn’t his forté, but I like him to do it as a strengthening exercise.  I also had him stand next to the mounting block and bellied up on him while he just stood there.

*Red was so happy to go with me and, like *Beau, such a gentleman in behavior.  *Red has always required a bit more energy from me, so after using my hands for a bit and having him decide that he didn’t really want to go left for me, I grabbed the lunge whip and he decided it would behoove him to move on out.  He’s a funny boy and I love him dearly.  I have, and will continue to do so I’m sure, learned so much from him.  He is so smart and curious.

*Walker took a walk with me, as well.  Due to problems she’s had over the past couple of years, she lost some muscle tone, so I’m starting her with just walking/trotting in hand.  We took a trip down the hill to the round pen, checked it out, and walked back up the hill, trotting on two different flat areas as well.  As time goes on we will be walking up and down that hill more than just once.  I expect it will get me in shape too!

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about the spring tune-up work we’ve begun.  You can look forward to more write-ups about what each horse is doing, especially once Guinevive arrives.  We are so excited that she will be here with us in June!

Don’t forget that most of our horses are for sale and we are very motivated to sell.  Check them out, come visit if you’d like, and make us an offer!

Winning Team!

We are pleased to share that *GMC Jimmy Dee (*Sage) and his rider Tesla recently have begun the 2012 show season by winning their class in second level, test three with a score of 70.1%!!  What a team!!

We have three of his half-siblings for sale.  Check out our webpage: www.greenmountaincurlies.com

Migration Day

This past Saturday was what we call “migration day” at the farm.  Once the horses are in summer pastures, migration day happens every couple of weeks for the boys.  But this was THE migration day, the one where the horses are moved from the winter paddocks out to pasture for the season.

Let me explain how we have our farm set-up.  Because Vermont winters usually have a lot of snow, over four to five months, the horses need to be close to the hay and the house so they can be watered.  We built several wooden fenced paddocks in between the house and the arena where the hay is stored.  Each paddock holds two to three horses.  We typically put the horses in these paddocks at the end of October or the first weekend of November, as the other reason is that with the time change it gets quite dark early on.

Then typically around the end of April they go back to the summer pastures.  The boys have pastures in the lower field, and they get rotated to allow the grass to recover.  The girls have one very large pasture, perhaps about 10 acres, to roam throughout.

Is the past years since we’ve been here, the horses have been quite excited to get out to the summer pastures, and are usually a bit wired.  Not this year, all was quiet and very uneventful, which is really the way we prefer it.

*Beau

*Red

 

First out were *Beau and *Red.  More due to where they pasture first than anything else.  I took *Red and he just doodled along next to me, every once in a while asking for grass, which I was happy to allow.  We got to their pasture, unhaltered them, and they both took off!  *Beau decided that now he missed his girls and took some time to pace up and down the fence and call.  Stallions, right?

*Sun

Dude

Next down were *Sun and Dude.  Dude, just like *Red, doodled along next to me checking things out.  *Sun was the only one to act up the whole time, and he decided to let Chuck know “I’m excited!” by rearing up a couple of times.  Silly boy.

Last down were *Jack and *Leo. You’ll notice I have no pictures of them and that is because they refused to run around.  We even tried chasing them, but to no avail.  Grass was all that mattered.

*Love

Finally it was time to move the girls and *Love was moved first.  There are only two of us and youngsters require that you are “present” and attentive.  *Love wandered down the hill with Chuck and all was fine until the nearby Vixen decided she needed to scoot off.  “What was THAT?” you could hear *Love exclaim!  Once she saw her, then she returned to her ho-hum wandering.

*Babe

Lastly we took *Babe and *Andi out.  *Babe is always fabulous to go anywhere with and *Andi is still a baby in her outlook on life.  Everything is new, everything is different, and it all requires consideration.

*Andi

Now the routine of care changes and we look forward to spending more time with each horse as the weather warms.

Happy Spring!

To Everything There is a Season

And a time for every purpose, under heaven (The Byrds, from Turn, Turn, Turn)

Whenever there are major changes happening for someone and they write about it, they usually begin by saying something like “This is the hardest story/blog/etc. I’ve ever had to write.”  I won’t be trite and begin that way.  Instead, I will talk about what has been, and where we hope to go, and the changes that need to happen.

In January of 2000 we discovered Curlies, thanks to our daughter, Erica’s, eagle eye while watching the Rose Bowl Parade.  You see, there are three of us in the family that are allergic to mammals, and hearing about a hypoallergenic horse meant that it just might be possible to make our youngest, and most horse-crazy, daughter’s dream of owning a horse come true.  Little did we know the path we would start down after viewing that Parade.

Young *Beau; just a few days old.

We visited one group of Curlies, and Erica reacted strongly.  Then a few months later, we visited another group, and she had no reaction at all.  In September of that year we visited with the Tilson’s of Tall Trees Curlies and by November had purchased our first horse, *Tall Trees Misty’s Beau.  We set a goal of finding a mare who would balance what we felt his attributes would become, and in March of the following year purchased *Katrina’s Fire Walker from Melissa Kowal in Connecticut.  The spring of 2001 found us building a barn and fences, and *Walker arrived, on her birthday.   *Beau was brought down by Chuck and his brother in August.

*Walker

Our original goal was to have 10 foals by *Beau, and we have achieved six of them, from three different mares.  We have had a seventh foal, as well, from *Walker and a Missouri Foxtrotter stallion (we were hoping for a filly and got *Leo).  Now, it is time to end breeding.

You see, the family grew-up and moved away, and in all honesty, I probably started too late in my life down this path.  But that is okay.  I have learned so much and made so many fabulous friends by having Curlies.  We have introduced others to the breed as well and made several people quite happy when they learned they, too, might have a horse although they had allergies.

As to where we hope to go, well there are several avenues opening up for us, right now.  One of them is my brand new editing business, Red Quill.  But mostly, we need to be able to visit our family.  We have four daughters and, now, four grandchildren that we’d like to spend more time with.  They all live out of state and it is hard to find someone to care for as many horses as we presently have. 

So, we have decided to offer our horses for sale and will listen to reasonable offers for them.  There are only three horses that will NOT be sold under any circumstances: *Glory of Philea West, *Katrina’s Fire Walker, and *Red Running Star.  The others are available if you are interested.  If *Beau has no one interested in him, then come autumn we will geld him and keep him.  However, he still has so much to give to the Curly World, if the right person came along, we would part with him.

I will keep making blog entries as often as possible, so keep coming back for updates.

A different kind of colt

I ask my readers to please pardon the silence from this blog these last days.  I have been away and without my computer because I have been attending to a different kind of colt. 

This colt will never be measured in hands, nor his will his 'way of going' or 'reach' be discussed.  There will be no worry as to his color genetics either.  This colt will, eventually, walk on two feet rather than four, but if I'm lucky, he will learn to enjoy the four-footed beings that I call my friends.  And if his Gpa has anything to say, he'll learn to ride better than either of us can.

Please join me in welcoming Samson Paul Fucello to the world.  Born April 1st (no foolin'!).

*Leo's bucket

I love to hear folks who are new to the American Curly breed rave about how quickly they learn.  What especially thrills me are the ones who are quite experienced with other breeds, and can easily make comparisons to Curlies.  Because of allergies, I am limited in my experience with other breeds’ learning abilities, so I depend on hearing from people such as Lynn Marks in her recent thread on the Facebook page Curly World.  Lynn recently acquired a Curly, Harley, on March 8^th, and she has shared with us his fantastic progress.

I’m the first to admit that I lack horse-training experience; however, I have tried to make up my lack of years by reading, seminars, clinics, talking with experienced people, and one-on-one training.  For me, my favorite style is Clicker Training, because it makes me break-down the steps of what I want to accomplish into manageable bites and makes me acutely aware of the exact moment in time that a step is done correctly.  This helps the horse to know what I’m wanting, if she/he has done it correctly, AND it puts them in control of the thought-process and decision to get there.  It is also something that can be done when you have only a few moments or limited space.

*Leo eating

*Leo picks the bucket up.

 *GMC Envoy’s Pride (*Leo) our almost 5 year old gold champagne gelding has been inside in a stall keeping our old girl, *Glory, company.  *Leo has always been a mouthy one, and when you are near him (in a stall or in the field) his favorite place to be is so close he might as well be in your pocket, oh and with his nose planted on you.  He loves to lick you (disconcerting at times), or simply take hold of a jacket or sleeve edge with his lips and hold on as if you are going to escape too quickly.  One of his other favorite things has been to pick-up his feed bucket when he is done and hold onto it.  For some reason, it was only recently that I realized this would be an easy action to shape with clicker training.

*Leo brings the bucket to me.

*Leo hands me his bucket.

So, for the past few feedings after he’s done eating and I’m still in the stall cleaning, I have directed him back to his bucket when he is done with a “Get your bucket.” and pointing toward it.  He’s easily headed back to it, and eventually, will bite the rim and lift it up.  At that point what I have been doing was to come over quickly, hold onto the bucket, and ask him to “Let go.”  Once he did, I would click and treat, telling him “Good job.  Good boy.”  It was then time to mold the behavior further, and so I would stay further away from him, and ask him to “Bring me the bucket.”  At first it was only a few steps for him, but the most significant one has been a space of about 24 feet!  At this point, when he does this I “jackpot” the click and treat.  “Jackpotting” is a time when you give LOTS and LOTS of treats.  I typically use alfalfa pellets, but I sometimes mix in bits of sweet treats as well.

I’m not sure exactly where I’m heading in this with him.  I can envision that it will be useful.  For instance, out on a trail ride you drop something and he should be able to pick it up and give it to you.  But it may just be a “fun trick” too.  I do know that *Leo is incredibly smart and he is very good looking.  He is just waiting for “his person” to come along.  In the meanwhile, we will continue to have fun with one another, and I will use his desire to “show off” (By the way, his half brother Sage apparently has this same quality, according to his owner) in order to introduce more “tricks” that will be molded into real abilities in his training routine.

Please excuse the quality of the photos used in the blog to show his ability.  It is quite hard to photo and do the C/T at the same time!

Re-visiting Stringhalt

Revisiting Stringhalt

As anyone who is around horses a lot knows, they are walking potential disasters; American Curly Horses are no exception.  In over a decade of owning Curlies we have experienced disasters, both small and large. One of the most extensive problems, although having occurred over four (4) years ago, still attracts attention.  I thought in today’s blog on my Curly horses I would talk about it again, and bring you up to date.

My long time readers will know that way back in October of 2007, my daughter’s Curly gelding, *Red Running Star, developed a case of stringhalt, seemingly over a matter of hours.  He and *Beau had been in their pasture.  At noon when lunch hay had been delivered, all was fine.  It rained a bit in the afternoon, and when Chuck went down to give them some hay a bit after 5 o’clock *Red could barely walk.  We were devastated and brought both boys up to the arena, and stalls, immediately.

Over the course of the next week or so we consulted with, or were visited by, our regular veterinarian, Alison Cornwall; an herbalist Kelley Robie; another vet who specializes in lameness, Randy Franz; and a biochemist, Linsey McLean.  On Linsey’s recommendation we began to video tape *Red to better see the progression of his recovery.  His first video is here on YouTube.  There are a total of six (6) videos, but the first has had over 32,600 views!  In fact, that first video has been referenced by websites with questions and/or answers about stringhalt.  One was a site written by a long-time vet to help veterinarian students study for their tests (unfortunately I didn’t bookmark it and have now lost the site) and just recently I found this reference.

We never did find out exactly why *Red developed stringhalt, but we think that it was a combination of injury and possible malnutrition due to malabsorption.  We learned that stringhalt can be triggered by a lack of, or inability to absorb, magnesium.  So, besides just giving him time, our primary treatment was a change in diet.  We still follow this diet.  I touched on feeding in this recent blog.

Over the course of time, *Red has had some small relapses.  I learned that by increasing the magnesium he would stop “high stepping” rather quickly, and so for him, he gets the vitamin/mineral supplement I use with everyone in the morning’s feed and then in the evening’s feed I give him a bit of extra magnesium.  I’m happy to report that in the past two (2) years he has not had even one incident of that high stepping gait.

I have had many, many people contact me and ask what we did for *Red; how we cured him.  I always caution them that what we did may not work, but that it is worth a try.  I am happy to be a resource of information and a source of hope that their horse may be cured as well.  This is why I chose to re-visit the topic, as well as to say “thank you” to the vet student who recently stopped by that first video and sent me a message telling me how good the video was and that she was happy to hear he was better.

If you are interested in reading the original blog entry it is here.

Liberty Work

I have been told that American Curly Horses are very intelligent as breeds go.  This is not to discount the intelligence of other breeds, and truly I have little experience with them due to my allergies; however, I can say that most of the ones in my herd seem to catch-on quite quickly to the offered training.  There could be many reasons why those of us with Curly Horses find them so, and I’m not really here to discuss that particular topic.  What I do wish to reflect on is the at-liberty training I enjoy with my Curlies.

I have had many iterations of my style of training since I’ve owned Curlies, but my favorite way to work with them is some combination of Clicker, Tellington-Jones, Rashid, and a bit of Parelli thrown in for good measure.  I’m also a firm believer in introducing a concept, working on it a few times and then letting it “sleep” for a while.  With almost a 100 percent return, the horse not only remembers what was offered, but may have made improvements on it by themselves.

We start with liberty training within hours of the foal hitting the ground.  The first lesson that we teach is to back-up.  I have had people tell me that a horse should learn to go forward for you first, but I have found that all horses know how to go forward, and often quite quickly!  If I happened to be standing in front of them, or even to the side (with one of their feet on mine), I want them to back up quickly and without question.

I like to use Parelli’s first three games as a foundation for the foals, because that is what their mother does and I can easily build upon it.  Eventually, this will lead to me working on lifting their feet.  My ultimate goal being that they will stand and give their foot gently and allow me to hold it for a bit of time.

With little *Andi (*GMC Andrea’s Ankti), I have been doing this and she’s getting very good at it.  The surprise for me though, was the day that I positioned myself next to her front leg, and she offered it to me without a single touch, or even a move toward the touch, from me.  It’s only happened twice, and I don’t expect it, but this is a prime example of the horse taking the training another step.

May your Curlies offer you continued pleasant surprises!

Home Coming

I had another blog all written; however, having been away from our American Curly Horses for 18 days brought another subject to mind.  Often when a human is away from their horse or horses there will be a “testing” of sorts when they return.  Curly Horses are, after all, horses so one may expect them to behave appropriately.  I expected, at the very least, our youngest Curlies to test my leadership abilities by trying to make me back-up or seeing if they can bite me and get away with it. 

I flew in Tuesday evening and after arriving home joined in doing chores with my husband.  As I brought the food buckets into each paddock, I was amazed to find that not one Curly horse behaved as if I had been gone more than an hour or two.  Not one chose to test me as they often test the leadership of a fellow horse, a new human, or even one who they know but haven’t seen for a few days.  When the testing didn’t happen I thought it might be related to the fact that I had food in my hands, so then watched for it the following morning when I did not.  Yet over the ensuing days not one horse has tested me.

Not even in the least do I believe it is because they are Curly Horses, neither do I feel that it was a fluke.  I do think that it is a testament to the relationship I have built with each horse from my oldest *Glory, at 24 years of age, to my youngest *Andrea of only 17 months.  I try to always show them that I am steady, trustworthy, and consistent.  That allows them to feel safe and to know their place in the hierarchy.

Here’s hoping that each of you have the chance to develop such a deep and lasting relationship with your Curly.

(Please excuse the delay in posting.  I arrived home from Indiana, where I had been for the birth of a grandson, only to find that my computer’s hard drive had developed problems.  Thankfully, Chuck was able to replace it and save all my data.)

Feeding

All horse owners have different ways of feeding, and American Curly Horse owners are no different. There have been many myths about Curly Horses and one of them was that they never need hard feed. That simply is not true. American Curly Horses, depending on where they live, and from where their hay comes, usually need some vitamin and/or mineral supplement. In Vermont, we are deficit in magnesium, as are many places in North America, so it is important to choose a feed that will supplement them well. Because I prefer to have greater control over what my horses eat, especially regarding non-nutritive items in feeds, I mix my own.

I have chosen to feed my horses a higher protein and fat mix, and adjust the carbohydrate need for each horse. But, I primarily used the hard feed as a carrier for the supplements I have chosen to use. For the past four (4) years I have used a vitamin/mineral mix from EquiVision that has kept my horses doing very well. I chose it because it came closest to the amount of magnesium, selenium, and vitamin E that my vet had suggested would be best. It also does not have fillers. However, I have found that three (3) of the horses have needed a bit higher magnesium, for various reasons, and so supplement them with a pure magnesium powder.



Ultimately whether you have a Curly horse, or some other breed, it is best to consult with your vet, and research, research, research before choosing how to feed your horse.

The American Curly Horse

The American Curly is still quite a mystery horse. We know some things about their past, for instance, that the Sioux and Crow nations prized them as we see drawings about them on their calendar counts. We know that the Curly Horse was seen from time to time in round-ups of the Mustang, and a drawing of a Curly Horse was featured in Ripley’s Believe-It-or-Not. From whence they came is as much a mystery today as then.


For some time it was believed that they were related to the Bashkir horses from Russia, and from that the name “American Bashkir Curly Horse” was derived, but it has since been discovered that none of the Bashkir horses have curly hair. Unfortunately, the appendage of “Bashkir” still sticks though it is incorrect.



In hopes of unraveling some of the mystery, there is an on-going DNA research project sponsored through the International Curly Horse Organization to discover the breeds that have gone into forming the Curly Horse of today. You can read more about it on this ICHO page: http://ichopage.weebly.com/research.html



If you are interested in other aspects of the history of the American Curly I recommend this page as well: http://ichocurlyhorses.weebly.com/history.html



Thank you for your interest!

Genesis

Today Chuck began recording rides for RAC.  Here is what he had to say:

 It is the first time in over a year since I have ridden the young lady that I rode today. Unfortunately, last spring *Katrina’s Fire Walker (*Walker) suffered some physical difficulties and is just now on the mend. Now that she is feeling better we have decided to get a little exercise. She won’t be the only horse that I’ll be riding, but I will be concentrating on getting her more fit, both physically and mentally.

We had a short ride, about 20 minutes. She was a bit uncomfortable leaving the rest of the herd, and is still a little off, in that her responses were not as confident as they were previous to her illness. Here are a couple of photos from today. 

Target training

This afternoon, after Chuck’s ride on *Walker, I spent a few minutes introducing *Love to target work. I had a pool noodle, and *Love was none too sure that it wasn’t going to eat her. However, as we have done a small amount of Clicker Training before, I was confident I could get her over the problem.

First step, of course, is to get her to touch the target (noodle) with her nose, and typically you arrange that to happen accidentally. Once accomplished, I introduced the word “touch” and asked her to “touch the noodle” and caused it to touch her nose again. She is a quick study, that one, and within a few tries had the idea that she needed to touch the noodle with her nose in order to get a treat. Once that was done, I began touching different parts of her body and C/Ting. As she is a confident young filly, it wasn’t long before I was able to lay the noodle over her back.

I like to introduce all sorts of things to the young ones as a ‘sacking out’ procedure and today was fun for us both.



Steady As She Goes

Although I haven’t been writing blog entries, I have been working with the horses; primarily the boys. I have also added working with our newest horse, *GMC Andrea’s Ankti (Andi) by lifting her feet and doing some filing. I’ve handled her feet since birth, but not really asked her to hold them up too long, so this is a new task. She’s getting pretty good at it, considering that I am new to filing.




I did take *Walker out for a walk a day or two ago. We investigate the arena, walked through snow, found some turkeys. I also played a bit of Circling Game with her, but we are still being easy with her as she was ill this past spring and summer. And no official diagnosis either, but she seems to have come round with the fall. We’re very glad for that, as she is quite the light of our eyes.



And lately, with *Jack I have added trotting in hand. He’s getting very good at reading my body language, so I’m thrilled with his sensitivity.



The other night, though, I did add something fun, inadvertently. During the week I do evening chores by myself…chopping ice, watering, haying, and then feeding their grain to them. It takes an hour and a half to two hours, depending on how slow I want to be. The last group that I usually feed are *Glory, Silken, and *Love. After setting their buckets down, I decided to sit down. Apparently, I had never done that around *Love! Suddenly, I was even with her head as she ate, and this caused her to snort and pause in her eating. Both Silken and *Glory took this in stride, so she decided it was okay to go on eating. Silken is always done first, and when she finished she looked at me. I asked her forward, she took a step, and I gave her a treat. She then moved to help *Love with her bucket, as she always tries, and I made a “eeehhhhh” sound, as always as well, and she backed off. I still had not moved! Then I asked her forward again, and she took a step and I gave her a second treat. *Glory then asked for one, but she was concerned with stepping into Silk’s space. I pointed at Silken and said, “Back” and she took a step backward. (By this point I was pretty impressed with myself, I must say.) *Glory then stepped closer to get her treats. Finally *Love was done and looked at me. I said, “Come on *Love, it’s okay.” And she gingerly took a step toward me. She snuffled my foot, my leg, and finally thought it might be okay to take the treat. Once she had her two treats, I asked her back then got up. I call this “Training From Laziness”. It might not really count for RAC points, but it was fun nevertheless!

Pushing Thresholds & the Monster Rock




I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Ours was full of family and fun, but without any real horse-time. Family left yesterday so it was “back to work” today!



Both *Red and *Beau were fabulous today, allowing me to push their thresholds. Last week was *Red’s first time working with me and the wand. Today he showed just how much he remembered. I use, not only physical cues, but verbal cues as well. I ask for movement with the horse’s name, as in *Red, Walk on” and I ask for a downward shift in motion, or stop, by drawing out the word “and” then adding on the gait I’m looking for, such as “and trot”. *Red showed that he recalled that very well! The first time I said “aaaannnnnnd whoa” he stopped on a dime! By the end of our time together he was stopping with the wand swinging in toward his chest and the beginning of the word “and”! I was thrilled.



*Beau was also on top of his game today, even remembering that just because you need to walk past those sexy mares you don’t need to talk, you DO need to pay attention because you might be asked to do something!! This may seem like no big deal but it is something he forgets when he is first near the ladies in the fall.



Last up was *Jack, and today I added in backing up while I was standing to his side. He is used to backing up when I face him; he knows the word “back”, he understands pressure to the nose or shoulder. Today, we started backing up and trying to stay straight. What I’ve found is that when they first are asked to do this, because they are used to facing you, they tend to back out away from you, so that they stop and are facing you. With the help of C/T we got it right many times. The most fun, however, was when he spied the ROCK. “Oh my, what is that big white thing in the field? I’ve never seen it before!” he said (it was a snow covered rock). So off we went to examine it. He’s so brave, that one! Marched right up with me and when I asked him to ‘touch’ he reached his nose right down to find out what it was. I love it when we just have to go touch that “boogie monster”!



All in all, we each had a good time!

Adrenaline Rush




Today was all about establishing good leadership with* Suncatcher and Dude. First, let me explain that it is one of those days where you think to yourself: “Self, should I really work with a horse in wind like this?” But then you say, “Sure, it’s a perfect time to establish good leadership.” The only thing you’ve forgotten is how hard it can be when there are THOUSANDS OF HORSE EATING MONSTERS and the horses have forgotten that you really are as good as you’ve been telling them you are.



That brings me to taking *Sun for his walk and today I saw a different side to *Sun than I’ve seen before. *Sun lives with 3 others: Dude, *Jack, and *Leo. All geldings, all somewhat goofballs in their own way; oh, and all of them hold up their hoof and yell “Take me, take me” when you walk in with a lead rope. So, actually walking out with the correct one is a feat in itself!! Having made sure that I had *Sun on the other end, we proceeded down the drive toward the lower pastures, walking and whoaing the whole way. That is, of course, until we had to pass the area where we have tractor equipment stored covered by a huge piece of tarp (tarp blows very nicely in a strong wind if you didn’t know...). *Sun was NOT so sure I was as smart as I keep telling him I am. However, we managed to go past it without it eating him, so perhaps I am okay. We then walked all the way down to the lower field without incident. Yes, he was very aware of his surroundings, but he kept his focus on me. We went to the round pen and walked one way around it. As we nearly completed the circle something ‘blew up his skirt’ as they say, and he charged ahead, got to the end of the rope, turned, snorted and looked at me. “What was that?” I asked; “Did you see me get upset? Did I tell you there was danger? Nooooo, you’re fine.” And I proceeded to walk on straightening him out as I went. We did another circle and walked out of the pen and turned left to go once around the outside of it, and he exploded! However, he did so while always being mindful of how close he was to me. He pulled out, moved his rear away from me, leapt into the air and cow-kicked. I asked him, “What was that?” (It is a favorite question of mine). He immediately came back in and inserted his head in my arms. I told him, again, he was fine, and we started to walk again. About six steps later, he again exploded by pulling himself out from me, leaping, kicking, then rearing, and kicking, then rearing again (he’s pretty impressive actually...have you ever noticed that while something like this is happening part of you is noticing the oddest things?) This time, I looked at him, swelled myself up to about 18 hands (which is good considering I’m only a bit over 15H) and said “NO!” I pulled him back in (actually pulling isn’t right, reeling is more like it) and asked him to walk and whoa over and over. He has recently been learning clicker, so now it was time to highly employ it. As we began to walk back up to the winter pastures, when he walked calmly and attentively next to me, I C/Ted. We did this all the way back up, and I am happy to report that he stayed “with” me the whole time. I deposited him back in with his cohorts, and took a breather.



Next up was Dude. Now Dude is typically a very calm fellow, but he is also an introverted horse. You need to pay attention to him as his eyes and his nostrils say it all. Dude, too, was very aware of his surroundings. That wind is a tricky fellow and it makes all sorts of things move around. Dude is, though, definitely one who likes to check out the “boogie men”. He’ll be startled, do that really cute splay-legged move, stare at it, then say “Let’s go look at it!” He also is VERY clicker-savvy. So, going past the moving tarp over the equipment was a definite eye-bugging process, and unfortunately, I couldn’t let him check it out, as much as he wanted to, because we haven’t been able to use a metal detector on the arena base yet. I’d hate for a horse to get anything in their hoof. Other than the covered equipment, Dude seemed very keen to go for a walk, and I thought we’d make a trip around the field, but we’d no sooner gotten all the way down, than he too, exploded. For Dude it was no aerial theatrics but moving forward. So I fed out the line and let him trot around me. I could tell he was not happy (those nostrils you see), so I made the executive decision to not push it today. He did ‘stay’ with me, he was aware of where he was, where I was, but he was past his comfort zone. Once he had settled, I moved to walk back up out of the field and he felt he was most comfortable with his head towards me, and his butt away, side-passing up the hill. We did about 10 feet that way and he decided it was too hard. So, he turned head first next to me, but then thought I wasn’t going fast enough. I tend to go slower when that happens and it didn't take long for him to realize that he needed to not pull and walk beside me. Of course, I used C/T to tell him when he was “correct” and “correct” he stayed, until we got to the equipment. Then it was a discussion, “I want to see!” “Sorry, Dude, too dangerous” (and repeat for the number of steps it took us to pass by). Once past, he thought about exploding again, but decided against it, and he was very ready to go back into his paddock.



So, I’m left with thoughts: Was it because of the wind? (Could be) Was it their lack of trust in me? (Could be) Perhaps they are herd-bound? (Could be) I’m thinking it was all of the above and all that means is that I have to keep working at it little by little.



I can say though, that wind is whipping pretty powerfully.

The long drought




It’s been two years since I could think about seriously working with the horses. Two years is a long time in which to lose confidence, and a long time for them to forget that you really DO know what you know.



It all comes down to establishing leadership once again. If I make the commitment to talk with you, my readers, about what I’m doing, as well as, actually begin to accrue RAC** points, I believe it will not take long in their eyes to once again be the leader I was, rather than simply the food-bearer.



Today, I began my NEW job. The job I’m happiest at doing, even if I make no money at it. Thankfully, I have a loving and wonderful husband who is extremely supportive. And today, *Beau, *Red, and *Jack were reminded that I really did know what I know, and they honestly needed to listen to me as much as I will listen to them.



Amazingly, neither *Beau nor *Red, who are much older than *Jack, could pass their thresholds. My job, of course is to bring them to that threshold and encourage them through it. For *Beau, it was the top of the hill over looking the lower pastures. “Nope, too far!” he said. I encouraged him again, “Can’t do it!” So I suggested side-stepping and eating some grass. “I can do that”, he said. After relaxing, I asked again, “Go down?” “NOPE!”. “Okay, what if we go over here.?” And off we went. So then we worked our way back up toward his paddock, maintaining attention to me.



*Red was funny. All excited to get out of the paddock and then lost. “Where we going?” “Let’s walk down the drive. Can you ‘whoa’?” Yep! Walking and whoaing established. “Turn left” “Sure!” “Turn right” “Sure!” “Whoa” “YEP!” “Walk beyond the arena” SCREECH “I halt good don’t I?” So we worked on approach and retreat and relax, then into the arena and back to the paddock.



Last out was *Jack. He and I have been buds since he was born, and he naturally accepts my leadership, but I pushed his boundaries today, and we came out winners on the other end. “Where we going?” he asked. “To the lower pastures.” “Okay….OMgoodness look at all those turkeys….I dunno…..” “Oh Jack, come on, you know turkeys, they always run away.” “Okay, if you say so…..” “Um, Adria, did you notice there is grass?” “Yes, and let’s see if you can listen, I’ll tell you when to eat as long as you don’t dive for the grass.” So around the large 12 acre field we walked…going, whoaing, and eating grass. As we began to make our way back toward the way up, Jack got a bit faster, so I went slower. “Why are we going so slow?” “Because I only have 2 legs, you have to stay with me.” “Oh, okay” Relaxing himself, he kept pace with me and we slowly worked out way back up to the winter paddocks. We walked past his, then back to his gate, just to make sure he was still with me.



All in all, about an hour and a half’s work. I expect that as time goes by, each horse will get more time, but I believe in taking the time it takes with them, so sometimes more, and sometimes less will be taken. I have 6 boys to work with and hope to work with each of them twice a week. I have one mare to work with, and will work with her at least twice, if not three times each week. Feel free to bug me if I don’t tell you what we’ve done .



**RAC=Ride a Curly Contest; read about that on Curly Horse Country.com

And a new day dawns.




As those of you who are members of the ICHO, and who have read the latest gazette, know, in 2004 when our dearly missed past-president visited our farm in Vermont her parting words were: “When I die I want to come back and be one of your horses.” This statement, which would so easily roll off of the tongue of others, would not have easily parted from the lips of Andrea Schaap. Andrea, veterinarian, science-lover, and highly knowledgeable horsewoman would have only said this if she had meant it. We have continued to try and keep our horses as healthy and happy as Andrea would have expected us to.



And, as those of you who inhabit the Curly Haven list on Yahoogroups know, last winter I said that we had no intention of breeding this year; neither had we bred last year, due to the economy. (Yes, you know what’s coming don’t you?). However, the best laid plans of mice and men oft go astray, and last October, while I was still recovering from my broken leg and after Guinevive had lifted her wings to soar through the sky on her own, *Beau decided to test the fences. As he found them somewhat lacking, he paid a nocturnal visit to the ladies. Once we separated them the next morning, we carefully checked all the ladies, and it did not seem that any had enjoyed a tryst.



By late May it became obvious we had been fooled. *Babe had entertained *Beau that evening and had harbored a secret all throughout the winter. As I thought about this future foal, unplanned, but never unwanted, I knew it would be a filly and the moment I realized that, tears sprang to my eyes and the further realization hit that this was Andrea’s desire come true.



Without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, I introduce to you the latest Green Mountain Curlies’ foal to hit the ground. Born early this morning, 9/8/10, a lovely Buckskin Filly….and for Andrea we break our naming tradition…..here is:

GMC Andrea’s Ankti



Ankti is Hopi for “repeat dance”.  More pictures will be available later this evening.

Those of you who have popped in to read this blog from time to time, know that in the past two years we have faced a number of challenges, both as a couple and I, as an individual. The largest challenge was the collapse of the arena that we had built in 2007 after it had only been up for six months. We were forced to bring suit both against the company that designed and supplied the building, as well as, the builder who that company told us to hire. This past February, we agreed to try to reach settlement. We did come to an agreement, and even though like in any loss, no amount of money can ever really make everything right, at least a chapter is closed and we can begin to move forward.




Additional challenges have been my health, but again, I am facing those challenges and moving forward, and the final challenge for us as a couple has been learning to run the farm by ourselves. Our lovely daughter, Guine, has moved out, as is the way with youngsters, to find herself, and establish her own life.

The only way to really face this last challenge has been to dive right in and start working. This spring we have already accomplished a few things around the farm: built a new double gate for the ladies’ pasture, popped in a few cedar corner posts for fences to make them stronger, and today I finished a sorely needed round-pen that Chuck helped me start yesterday. We chose to go simply, using materials we already had on hand. We measured out a 60 foot circle and Chuck pounded in the t-posts and I placed the safety-caps on. Today, I strung four rounds of electric roping, using some older roping we had. It will not be electrified at all so it was easy to tie the rounds at the ‘gate’. Then I strung a 3 handle gate.

Of course, I needed to inaugurate it! I chose our stallion, *Beau, as it had been almost two years since I had last worked with him, other than during basic leading and foot-trimming. I have been following a clicker page on Facebook, called “Clicker Training Horses” with Peggy Hogan as the leader. While reading through I learned about teaching a horse to stand on objects or “station”. As *Beau is already trained for driving and used to word commands, I thought today I would introduce him to this new word “station”. I brought down everything I would need: a large square of plywood, a traffic cone, treats….what’s CT without treats right? Then I went to get *Beau. He and *Red were way at the other end of their pasture when I started toward their gate. As I approached the solar charger to turn it off, I gave a whistle. *Beau looked up and I yelled, “Come Beau!” He immediately stopped eating and headed toward me. “Good boy!” I shouted.

Once he was underway, *Red decided he needed to come too, which is typical. They both arrived at the gate, and I put the rope halter on *Beau. As I always do, I clicked and treated him, and then offered some treats to *Red, thanking him for staying behind. This is the routine I have always used, and even though it has been two years, they remember it. Consistency is always my goal. *Beau and I went through the gate and after stopping to turn the power back on, away we went to the round pen.



Because it was new to him, I walked *Beau around both ways, allowing him to see the fencing with each eye. I incorporated some Tellington-Jones wand work, as he knows that, and we walked and whoa-ed several times. Once that was done, I went into the middle and asked him to circle me at a walk. Again, we worked on walk and whoa. *Beau is very sensitive to my energy, and we both need time to learn to properly communicate again, so we had a couple of bobbles in our work together; however, once it felt right I asked for and got walk-trot-walk transitions in both directions. All of this was done on my 12 foot line and all was done with a loop in it. That’s my boy!



After that, I gave him a bit of relax time, he nibbled on the grass in there (like he hadn’t been doing that all morning ), and asked for and got face scratches. This gave me time to bring out the plywood and lay it down. I picked up his lead and guided him toward the board. As he approached, I said ‘station’, and he stepped on it with both front hooves. I immediately clicked and treated. I backed him up, relaxed, then brought my energy up once again and asked him forward. Right before he stepped onto the board, I said ‘station’ again. He stepped, I C/T’d. We did this several times, and then I backed him off, and tied the lead up so he could move without tripping on it. I let him go to relax a bit, and went and got a traffic cone.



He knows the cone, he also knows ‘target’. The moment I got his attention and said ‘target’ he looked at the cone, and headed right for it to touch it with his nose. C/T!! We then spent time bouncing between rests, ‘target’ and ‘station’. After half a dozen times, and ending with a ‘station’, I told him what a fabulous guy he was, scratched his face for him, and untied the lead. We sauntered out of the round-pen and around to the truck where I grabbed a couple of large treats. Back we went to the pasture, turned off the power, and there was *Red waiting for us. In we went, I dropped the lead to hook up the gate and *Beau stood there politely waiting for me. I then took off the halter, tossed it out of the fence, stripped my gloves, tossed them out, and turned to the two boys, who had been standing there waiting and watching. I pulled the ‘cookies’ from my bag and asked them both for a back-up, gave them each their treat, a rub and a “What great boys you are!”



I had a fantastic time!