For anyone reading my blog for the first time; Seranade is the thoroughbred I purchased last year to add to our collection of horses.  She was very underweight and a little scared.  She was slightly fearful of trailers and looked around a lot.    But she never bucked, bit or did anything dangerous, she is much too sweet for that.   After a time and with the help of a wonderful trainer here in Stateville, NC, Jennie Dipple  I have been able to work with her gently and regularly to bring out her best.

Seranade, formerly known as Our Sister Gina on the tracks, has gained all her weight back and become quite a robust sort of mare.  She is gentle as a lamb, and a beautiful mover.  I wish you could see her, so I will post soon a video of her.  I am quite impressed with her.  I have been learning dressage on her.  And needless to say, she knows more than I do at this time, but I am learning and having a wonderful ride.  We have taken her out on the trail in the woods around our farm and she loves it.  I think she would make a good hill topper or gallery horse, maybe even a fox hunter as she is quiet and listens.  However, that sport is not for me.  She is wonderful in the ring and loads of fun.  My daughter can jump her, but that isn’t my sport either as I am older and afraid of jumping now.  I don’t bounce back as quickly as I used to, so….

 Here she is grazing peacefully with her friends.  Sad to say, that this fall Sera will be up for sale as a dressage horse.  She will be good for a teenager or adult beginner and will do quite well in the shows.  I would love to keep her, but I have to stick to my plan of conditioning her and finding her a suitable home.  Whoever buys her will fall in love with her immediately.   I have 17 horses, some of which are minis, lesson horses and others for sale, such as TWH horses.  So as much as I love her I will have to let her go.  If I can:(

Confetti acted as if she did not know how to be ridden.  If I had not known better I would have thought she was green, but given time to calm down I could tell she had training.  I spend a lot of time working with Confetti on a full cheek snaffle to get her responsive again.  I spent most of the time just walking beside her suppling one side of the bit then the other to see just how responsive she could be.  What I found was, she knew how to ‘give to the bit’ but didn’t know for ‘how long’ or in other words, how to stay on the bit.  So we kept walking and giving until she had it down.  That was basically all it took to teach her to rein properly.  After that, it was saddle up and practice in the ring.

I know she had been ridden before because she picked up on turning on the forehand, haunches, backing, side passing and half passing very quickly.  She was just rusty and protested to being back in work.    My daughter and I took her out on the trails and she loved that!  Oh my gosh, she was wonderful.

Ok, it was time to sell her.  We had way to many horses, my daughter was going to college and wouldn’t be home to ride her, so we found a home for her.  A wonderful family bought her, took her home for their 14 year old daughter.  But,  they have walking horses and Confetti had a hard time keeping up.  They decided to stick with walking horses and have offered Confetti up for sale again.

Now Confetti is back with us and continuing her training.  I have been working her on the obstacles for competitive trail riding and she has been doing quite well.  She is now ready for another home.  Confetti is being offered for $2,000.  I have a 14 year old student who has been riding her to keep her in shape.  This particular student just recently learned to ride and has been having a wonderful experience on Confetti.  Here is her recent video Red Confetti on You Tube

Confetti would make a wonderful trail riding competition horse or just a pleasure trial horse.  She is sound, easy to work with, stands for the farrier, hauls easily, has no dental issues, stays outside year round, has a very thick coat in winter and sheds out smoothly in the summer.  I don’t normally grain her except a small amount for extra nutrition in the winter.  She can go barefoot or wear shoes for the rocky trails.

Confetti loves people and gets along well with other horses.  I would love to keep her myself, but have too many now.  So, if you are interested or need more information you can reach me through my contact page.

Happy Riding.

Was I in for a huge lesson.  I was so green and so dumb that I told the farmer who owned the land that his mare pony had an infection and needed to call a vet because she had all this discharge under her tail!!  Imagine the laugh he had after I left!  Well I kept my horse for a few years, but sold him after I had my daughter.  I had owned him a few months when I found out I was pregnant for the third time and decided he was too much to care for with an infant and two  boys that needed me more.   I wish I had someone who took the time to tell me how much there was to caring for a horse when I bought him and had outlined it for me.  I wouldn’t have changed my mind, but I would have had something in which to refer.  And I probably would have picked out a better horse.  There were so many books out there I could have thumbed through hundreds before I found the right one to go by. 

Here’s what I wish I had known.

1.  How to judge the temperament of a horse.  I loved all horses and if I could catch them I thought they would be fine. I didn’t know to look for signs of sourness, distress, submissiveness or what-have-you.  I didn’t know that ears flat back meant, beware, or that flared nostrils could mean the horse is ready to bolt, a swishing tail could mean, anger, not just swatting flys.  There is a lot of body language I know now, that I had no idea even existed then. 

2.  I would have given anything to have known a horse has a one track mind and if you keep it busy doing something it knows well your chances are greater at having a safe ride.  Especially if you horse hates to leave its buddy or the barn. 

3.  Knowing what type of grain, hay and wormer to give and when would have helped.  My poor horse had to survive on what grass he could find.  There was plenty of it, but he would probably have been healthier if he had been limited to his intake of rich pasture grass and wormed more often. 

4.  Realizing (not just knowing) horses are herd animals and feel safer in groups would have helped me understand my horses reluctance to be separated from his pasture buddy.  Looking back I am thankful he had a pasture buddy.

5.  Knowing the signs of colic and how to take a pulse, respiration and what is a normal temp would have been helpful.  All these things should be kept on record for future reference.

6.  Signs of lameness and what the common causes are, like laminitis and abscesses. 

7.  My most recent challenge was to have a horse choke.  Never had that happen before and didn’t know what had happened at first.  It’s nice to know that they can choke and still breath, but do need to see a vet immediately when this happens. 

I could go on and on, but I would end up writing a book and there are already enough books on the market about horses.  My best advice is, that if you love horses, but aren’t that familiar with them, then don’t be afraid to ask for help.  There is no need to go out and hire a trainer, but you can learn a lot through riding lessons, videos and there is always RFD TV.  There is lots and lots of practical advice on that program. 

But if you have a question and need a fairly quick answer just email me.  I’ll do what Ican to answer your questions and give my best advice.  You can find me on Facebook under Baymount Farm or Twitter.

This is how thin she was when we first got her on the farm.  As you can see she is doing very well with her weight gain and health.  I keep a blanket on her in cold weather and feed her equine senior to give her the nutrients she needs.  She also has access to all the hay she can eat during the day.

Sera is a wonderfully trained horse and can be a low level dressage horse or a jumper.  She actually takes the jumps quite well.  I will be, hopefully, showing her in the spring.  Of course, my daughter will be the one riding her since she is younger, in better shape and less fearful going over jumps than I am.  I have really enjoyed this horse and look forward to continuing her training.

Finally learned to drive.

Midnight has finally graduated.  I am so proud of her.  In my recent posts about her I was training her to drive,  but she was having  a difficult time because of a dental issue she had.  Once that was cleared up, learning to drive was a piece of cake.   I have been able to drive her around our neighborhood several times now and she has become quite a pro.  I was able to safely give my barn help a ride home, which to me is the mark of a good horse.  Let me explain, anytime I feel I can trust the horse to not spook, to stop upon request and stand until asked to go again, then I can safely let others ride with me.  Midnight was excellent at this.

I love teaching a horse to pull a cart.  It is so simple!  All it takes is patience and time.  Most  horses are very willing to please, they just need to time to adjust to what you are asking them to do.    In case you are interested in how I do it, here it is in a nutshell.

1.  Start out by round penning your horse to assure they learn to look to you for direction.

2.  Equip your horse with a surcingle and long rein it both ways asking it to stop on command and stand.

3.  Once the horse is 100% listening to you on the long reins and surcingle, attach poles to either side of the horse and ask it to perform the same tasks dragging poles.  (a bit of advise here, don’t teach your horse to back on the poles or long reins until after it has learned to pull the cart, if it backs on the cart while still in training it may not stop and could tear up your cart).

4.  With poles attached teach your horse to make lots and lots of turns making them sharper.  This teaches the horse to step over and use her body to move the cart.

5.  Add weight to the poles, I suggest using a hay bale(s).  By the way, do all this in an enclosed arena or small pasture.

6.  Once your horse is 100% with poles and weight it is time to hook it up to the cart.  I use a heavy metal cart, weight helps keep the horses mind on not running away and wooden carts are easily broken.  Take your time here, as the horse has to be comfortably standing still for this.  Also, it is ok to lead the horse thru all these steps until it is ready to be driven.

7.  If you are unsure or don’t have the time, hire a trainer.  That is the easiest way to teach your horse to pull a cart and ensures neither you or your horse gets hurt.  By the way, I know a good trainer…wink, wink…

Here is what I have learned this year.  The OTT (off track thoroughbreds) have lived a very exclusive life in a stall only to be let out to train for races.  They are pampered, blanketed and never let out to pasture to just play.  In other words, they do not know what it is like to be a horse.  Then, unfortunately,  if they do not race well, come out of the gate, or have some other “quirk” detrimental to their career, not to mention fractures, they are sold at auction, given away, or destroyed.    There are several rescue and adoption facilities to help these animals.  Anyway, back to my story about Serenade.

We have been looking for such a horse as this all summer, but just looking casually.  I had no intention of every getting one until spring of 2010 at least.  Then as I was searching horses online looking for something I could retrain and sell as a trail horse I thought, why not run through the thoroughbred section.  And then I saw this ad for this horse being sold for $500.  I thought something surely must be wrong with it and out of curiosity read the ad.   The mare sounded ok, so I emailed the owner.  Turns out there is nothing wrong with this horse.  She was just unwanted.  So I bought her for half the asking price.  That is the first time in my life I have ever bought a horse for $250.o0 that turned out the be about the best horse I own.  She is absolutely awesome and I am thrilled to have her.  She is beautiful, although slightly underweight and in need of developing back her muscle tone.  She is intelligent, easy to ride, very well trained, willing and a good trail horse, plus she does very well in the ring.  She is twelve years old, has a strong mothering instinct with the younger horses and gets along well with everyone.   Longed legged! good golly, this horse can easily keep up with the Tennessee Walkers my husband owns.

Serenade came from Leighton Farms in Maryland.   She had raced 76 time and won around $60,000 which isn’t much, but must have been enough to have kept her going.  Finally she was sold, re-habbed and from what I could find out, was at one time a hunter-jumper and lower leverl dressage horse.  I am pretty sure she was bred at least once.  She was found in a draft horse auction barn waiting to be auctioned off for slaughter when the people at Leighton found her.  Thank goodness they saved her.

I have recently started hunt seat lessons to improve my riding ability.  I am a very good rider for western and equitation, but hunt seat is something I have never done before.  Wow, what a difference.  My daughter has ridden hunt seat for several years and loves it.  She wants to do eventing eventually.  I doubt seriously we will use Serenade for that, but she will be a practice horse for both of us for some time.  Right now, however, we are just enjoying having her with us as well as feeding, grooming and looking at her.  I would say both horse and riders are lucky in this case.  And just in case you have been misinformed about thoroughbreds  like I was, take the time to research, talk and investigate.  They truly are remarkable animals and highly intelligent.

Sweet face!

What a sweet face and what a beautiful head.  We got this 3 year old TWH in about three weeks ago.  He is one of our finest.  A beautiful red roan that has a personality to match his looks.  What a fine ride he is too.   Took him out on the trail today and he was just as calm as could be, even with our friendly deer who always jump up and run we they see us coming.  Right now at his age he is more calm than most of the horses we have come to us.  Wonderful gait, nice relaxed walk and easily gaits up to a comfortable pace.  I haven’t cantered him yet.  I want him to learn his slow gait  and get the muscle development first.  I will probably teach him to pull a cart also.   Bet he picks this up quickly.

Jasper resting

He is always very happy to just wait for us to come up to him, no fuss at all.  When I go out to the pasture he comes right up to me.  He gets along well with all other horses and really doesn’t eat all that much.  What an easy keeper.  He has had some very good training and just needs a little experience and a few lessons on leg yields then he will be ready to go.

Beautiful Red Roan

One very sweet five year old quarter horse mare was brought to me to be trained under saddle.  She was extremely underweight and hated the bit.  She had been seen by two veterinarians that had floated her teeth and pronounced her sound and said it was just her youth and to watch her.  Well, time went on and she would gobble up her grain but could not eat her hay.  She just chewed it up and spit it out.  We took her to another vet who did a more thorough exam and found a splinter stuck down her gum line next to one of her back molars.  She had been chewing on wood and got the splinter because her teeth are not lined up properly.   According to the equine dentist, a horses teeth are so closely fit together that dental floss would not even be able to be inserted as in our teeth.  This is so that their molars act as one huge tooth.  This mares molars were not lined up like that and allowed spaces which also caused her to have gum disease.  She is fine now, although she will have to be watched and have her mouth rinsed daily to make sure all the grain, grass, hay, etc. does not lodge into that space and cause her more problems.   Hopefully, as she gets older, her teeth with line up properly.

Another horse we have is actually one of ours that we had started to sell, but decided that he is such a wonderful horse, that we would keep him.  However, he is parrot mouthed.  That means he has a huge overbite.  This has not caused him any issues with eating, but it has caused him bit issues.  We have to keep his molars floated on a yearly basis to keep the bit from causing him problems.  It is always a good idea to have your horses teeth floated on a yearly basis anyway, so this poses no problem for us.  We will just take the initiative and have him see the dentist every six months until he reaches his full growth at about 6 years old.  His front teeth may at one point need to be reshaped since they won’t be hitting together to keep them worn down.

The third horse I have worked with this summer is a wonderful TWH.  She is having a few problems with her bit.  She doesn’t like it and she is slightly under weight.  Her owner told me that she was thin when he got her.  That’s ok, some horses just don’t gain a lot of weight.  But I did notice this mare does not finish her hay.  So I started feeding her gran twice a day and bumped it up to three times a day since she is older.  I was thinking her age was her problem.  But when I went to drive her, she constantly fought the bit.  Ok, I understand a driving bit is not what she is used to having in her mouth.   But she has had enough time to get used to that bit and drives quite well.  Today I decided to look in her mouth just to be on the cautious side.  Well sure enough, huge hooks on her molars that need to come off.  She is in pain when she eats and is obviously in pain when she is bitted.  So once again we will be seeing the equine dentist.
I had not even heard of equine dentistry as a specialty until we had the five year old quarter horse with the splinter issue.  Lots of veterinarians have equine dentistry as one of their services, but it usually just involves floating and minor surgery.  I would recommend you find an actual equine dentist to consult with on issues that go beyond normal floating.   Ask your vet, he can always point you in the right direction.

learning to drive

Midnight came to me to learn to pull a carriage.  What a treat to teach this horse, she is compliant and very smart.   She has never been under harness with an actual cart before as far as I can tell.   She was a little wary of the poles the first time I attached them.  But after a few rounds of me walking beside her and quietly encouraging her with soft talking and stroking her neck she quickly accepted her new task and moved forward like the lady she is.

Midnight will be going home in three weeks to happily pull a cart for her owners.  It is simply amazing how easy and fun it is to be able to teach an older horse a new task to make her life and her owners lives more enjoyable.  Everyone needs a job to perform to keep them feeling useful.  Good going Midnight!

A little about her personality.  She was a brood mare at one time and still has a strong mothering instinct.  She has attached to a four year old that came here for training at the same time from the same farm.  However, these mares had never met each other but attached immediately.  When turned out together, Midnight will herd the other mare and ‘protect’ her from the other horses.  What a good mom she must have been with her foals.  Midnight is very aware of everything around her, but does not balk at a task.  She is voice commanded which makes it even easier to teach her how to pull.  By next week I will be able to hook her up to the actual training cart and take her for a spin around the larger arena.  I always keep them in arenas when teaching them new task to be sure they are safe and minimize the chance of getting hurt.   All it takes is a few minutes a day.  Happy trails Midnight.

groundtieing

This is my second blog about Woodrow.   Woodrow has been undergoing the schooling to be a carriage horse.  He has been driven in long reins but never in harness and carriage.  Woodrow is a bit afraid of things coming up behind him suddenly or of being touched on the behind.  He jumps whenever this happens.   So I have started him out wearing blinders a few minutes a day to get him used to having obscured vision.  Next I used a carrot stick (a parelli device for training) to get him over being afraid of being touched on the behind, legs, belly and under his tail.  After about 30 minutes of gentle persuasion he was standing there letting me touch him with the cord on the carrot stick all over, no problem.

Today I put him in a surcingle and long reins with blinders and drove him around the round pen at a walk with the long reins touching the backs of his legs under his tail where the harness would naturally fit.  Piece of cake.  He is coming along quite well.  I figured he was ready for some poles at this point, but I didn’t want to rush him.  So I took some pool noodles I had and fastened them onto his side where the poles of the carriage would fit.  I drove him again, no problem.

Tomorrow Woodrow and I will add to the noodles to lengthen them and have them drag the ground.  This will be to get him used to the sound and feel of the poles as they scrape the ground and they are soft and flexible enough that he won’t hurt himself should he spook.  Adding a little weight may be a challenge but I am sure I can figure it out.  He will be driving a carriage by the end of the week.  After that it is all down hill.  Watch for updates on Woodrow’s progress.