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.

Recently I purchased a Haggis Saddle made in Canada by Jack Haggis.  Awesome saddles, but I wasn’t sure how it was supposed to fit my horses.  Each horse should have it’s own custom fitted saddle, but like me most of us have more than one horse and less than a few dollars,  so several horses have to share a saddle.  That’s one of the things I like about the Haggis Saddle.  With a little padding it can fit more than one horse comfortably.

Notice that the saddle is sitting  just behind the large muscle over the scapula.  This saddle could be moved back slightly to give a more comfortable and secure fit.  The bars at the withers are tapered out upwards to the withers to allow more freedom of movement of this large muscle.  Gaited horses have a longer stride and therefore, that particular muscle has a longer length of movement and needs more room to avoid pinching.  That is why the bars are tapered on gaited saddles, unlike english or western saddles.  The withers on gaited horses, particularly TWH are usually higher and narrower.   Some gaited horses like Kentucky Mountain horses have withers more like the quarter horse, but still need a gaited saddle.    The gullet at the withers is higher allowing for the height of the withers.

The back of the saddle should still fit at the 18th rib and not past it.  The bars  angles upward on these saddle to take pressure off the kidneys.  The bars do not sit on the horses back at this point.

The saddles come in standard tree with pretty much fits the TWH or mountain horse tree for the wider or flatter withers like quarter horses.

At any rate, the fitting is the same as for other saddles, you just need to understand that the bars on the Haggis Saddles will not make contact at the 18th rib.   The rigging come in english or western and is adjustable.  Wonderful!  This allows a proper fit and less chance for rub behind the elbow.  On these saddles you don’t have to worry about the width of the gullet on the spine or if it is sitting to close to the spine.   Gaited horse saddles come in the western style or endurance style also.   But that doesn’t mean that any english, endurance or western saddle will fit the gaited horse.  You must remember that the gaited horse needs a saddle with a gaited tree or flex tree.  Also, there are Tarpin Hill Saddles which are field trial saddles that are made similar to these.   Other than that, Tucker makes a good gaited horse saddle.   Hope this helps clear up any questions you have about fitting the gaited horse.  Happy riding!

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…

resting after a ride

Talk about beautiful.  And what a nice ride!  Jazzy, now called Jazz, (because Jazz music is relaxing to me) came to me to become a super duper trail horse and she is it, baby!  I have ridden almost every day since she came to me.  The owners have not been able to afford the time, due to demands of work, to ride her daily and get her in shape for trail riding.  So they brought her to me.   She had a few quirks they wanted worked out, like not spooking and throwing a temper tantrum.  Piece o’ cake!  After all she is only four.  They werent quite sure they wanted to keep her as they haven’t the time to ride through the week and they have children that will eventually be riding her.   Her previous trainers had done a very good job with her in de-spooking her, teaching her the basics of riding, etc.  She just needed experience.   The first time I took her out she was a bit of a handful, but she did well.

You see, we have this wooded trail that has a creek and we have a small lake, large pond depending on how you look at it that borders our property.   There is also plenty of fields to ride around and a neighborhood where we can ride.  Lots and lots of pleasant distractions for any horse.  We have deer, dogs, kids playing, cars whizzing by, lawn mowers and most anything you can think of is there.  Did Jazz mind any of this?  Of course she did.  Are you kidding?  She nearly jumped right out of her skin!  But what a ride!  OMG!  This horse has the best little rack I have been on.  After jumping at everything in sight she racked as fast as she could all the way home.    Oh wait!  Before we went on the trail, I had to coax her down the drive way.  Anyhow,  after several rides on the trail and down the driveway she did fine.

Since then, she has been on short trips.  But due to weather, rain, wind, ect. we rode in the riding arena several days instead of on the trail.  Today we went back to the trail.  First thing we saw were six deer running through the pasture jumping over the fence and scooting away.  Did Jazzy spook at this?  Actually not.  She stopped and looked, smelled and just stood there.  Good for her!  So we walked on into the wooded trail and did fine until we rounded the corner and she smelled where the deer went through.  Oh boy, I thought, here we go!  But she just “jazzed” up a bit and walked on.  We continued on into the deeper part of the woods in the direction of the deer and the neighbors farm and then she decided to act like her world was coming to an end.  But MAN what a ride!  I loved it.  She racked and tried to canter, hopped over logs, bucked out a litte and zoomed up the hill, but stayed on the trail and conceded to having a rider on her back.  The only time I felt I had to get off was when we were going through a narrow opening in the trail and Jazzy got a whiff of the seventh deer that shot out behind us.  I thought she was going to loose her dinner!!!  I decided I needed a break and hopped off.  Then we just stood there.

After that the trail was fine, until……  Those dreaded rocks and flowerbeds my neighbor has.  They must have looked like monsters to Jazz.  She did not want to go forward.  Afterall,  her buddies were behind us, why did she have to be the brave one?   So, I guess I lied.  I got off again.  (Better safe than sorry)  And I hand walked her, back and forth, (how boring) until she felt safer.  At this point, my neighbor had brought out her trash can and my husband drove by with his truck and stock trailer on his way to run dogs in training for a field trial.   Jazz went to meet each ’spooky’ obstacle with anxiety, but I am very proud of her.  She did quite well and learned that nothing was going to eat her.  I remounted and we went up and down the road looking at everything with renewed assurance that it wasn’t going to gobble us up.    We also went back to the wooded trail two more times where the deer were and decided there was nothing there to worry about either.  By the time we got back to the barn we were all relaxed and chilled out.

Personally,  I can’t wait til tomorrow to ride again.  Why?  Because this mare has one heck of a nice gait and is a pleasure to ride, especially when she canters.  And OH BOY, can she flat out run.  But that is another story.

Learning to pull

my previous blogs about him, you will know that he started out a little nervous about people in general.  Since he has come to us, he has calmed down and gladly says hello, eats his grain out of our hand (I know, I know, this isn’t desirable to some people), loves to be petted and gets along well with most of the other horses.  We do have one mare (Midnight)  that puts him in his place quickly.  When she is in the pasture with him, he will just freeze until she lets him move.  She used to be a mom and is a boss mare and Woodrow has certainly learned his place in the pecking order with her.

I trail rode Woodrow recently.  We were riding through the woods blazing a new trail.  He stepped on something and bruised his hind sole.  So, he gets to stay in a small enclosure and get his foot soaked twice a day until he feels better.  At first he did not like this at all!  But he has adapted and I think looks forward to it now because he gets his withers scratched, his coat brushed and a few treats for being a good boy.  This has set him back a little in learning to pull a cart.  However he is so smart that he will pick right up where he left off and be fine.  At first when he turned with the training cart hooked up to him he couldn’t figure it out.  He thought he had to run or at least gait up some.  But with my husband walking next to him and reassuring him while I drove him, he quickly decided it wasn’t something that was going to jump on his back and eat him.  In just a few short weeks he went from being confused and skittish about having blinders on him to driving down the road quietly with a training cart.  Can’t wait to get him in the driving cart!

It is much easier to learn this by first getting used to the walk.  Sounds elementary, I know, but just try relaxing, walking and feeling each hoof as it hits the ground and the rhythm your body makes as your horse moves along slowly.  Once you get used to this and are able to feel it with your eyes closed (by the way, it is best to have a handler and to  have your horse on a longe line for this one) move your horse up into a gait.
Count the faster rhythm and work to keep him/her there.  Gentle pressure on the sides will ask your horse to move up into a faster gait and very gentle pressure on the reins will tell him/her to stay there.  Practice using these aids together in a ring until you are confident enough to do this on a trail with distractions.  Remember, it’s like dancing.  Just stay in rhythm with your partner.  Simple.

Go out, relax and have a good ride!

One of the best times I have had all summer is while I am riding a young horse and watching it become a more experienced and confident mount for its owner. Small techniques such as moving off ones leg can make the horse so much more confident and fun to ride. Stopping when it feels the rider sit deep in the saddle rather than having the rider haul on its mouth for a whoa is calming for horse and rider.  Anything I can teach the horse builds confidence in it and then to be able to teach the owner what those cues are just cements the bond between the two.

I am always open to suggestions and continue taking lessons myself and educating myself with classes and research on how to be a better trainer.  There are lots and lots of trainers, information and advice and it is important to find the techniques that work best for oneself.  Incorporate what you learn from others into your own style and you will be the best equine owner you know.

Should you have questions or need help, please search out my website at www.baymountfarm.com and email me.

Please have a great experience with your equine friend and have a safe ride.   Sherry