The Olympic Equestrian Events

The Olympics begin this weekend!  I'm excited, and I hope Emily will bring a television or a computer out to my paddock so I can watch!  There will be Show Jumping, Dressage and Eventing.  Eventing is my favorite (even though I don't do it!!!) because the horses and riders compete in three different phases, all different:  dressage (obedience and grace), cross country jumping (speed, endurance and athleticism over solid, natural obstacles) and show jumping (obedience and suppleness over painted jumps that knock down).

Here are some links to see for yourself what takes place in Hong Kong at the '08 Summer Games!  (Equestrian sports are held in Hong Kong rather than in Beijing because of very difficult quarantine regulations in mainland China.)  

http://equestrian.teamusa.org/  The official equestrian team site at US Equestrian Federation.

http://equisearch.com/equiwire%5Fnews/olympics2008/  The best press site for equestrian.

http://special.equisearch.com/blog/maxcorcoran/  A great blog by Max Corcoran, groom to Karen O'Connor, who is riding at her fourth Olympics!

http://special.equisearch.com/blog/brianoconnor/  Brian O'Connor's Olympic blog; Brian is an equestrian announcer at the Olympics in Hong Kong.  He is a professional announcer in the U.S., brother to David O'Connor, who is the president of the USEF, and brother-in-law to Karen O'Connor, riding Mandiba in Eventing in Hong Kong.

http://special.equisearch.com/blog/debbiemcdonald/  Debbie McDonald is riding Brentina on the US Dressage Olympic team.  Debbie is not only a marvelous rider, she writes well.  One of our favorite books is "Riding Through" by Ms. McDonald.  (This book is available for check out in the Fish Bowl Farm library.)

The horses must be having such an adventure after flying to Hong Kong, getting acclimated to really humid hot weather, and living at a gorgeous venue.  There is a race track, dozens of arenas, a stadium (they'll compete under the lights there - imagine the noise!!), and of course the cross country course and all the barns.  And vets.  And grooms.  And riders.  And coaches.  Transporting horses by air is one thing.  Think of all that has to go with them to keep them in top form for world class competition:  hay, grain, tack, grooming equipment, therapeutic equipment, etc.  WOW!!

Go Team USA!! 

Sunshine

Sunshine brings great things - lush grass for horses to eat, sweet red tomatoes (not for me, for the people!), and blackberries.  We all love blackberries!  You probably like the actual berries, but the other horses and I like the leaves as much as the berries.  The blackberry bushes are blooming right now.  Imagine that every one of those blossoms will be a berry in just a month or two - YUM!  

The warm weather continues here on Vashon Island.  It's warm, but not unbearably hot - around 82º today.  In the warm weather the horses do sweat, but that's good, as it keeps us cool.  Here's an interesting thing about cooling out horses....

A horse sweats to keep his body cool, but sometimes sweating isn't enough to cool a hard working equine.  If a horse is sweaty and hot after a ride, or even from running around in the pasture, hose him off, and then immediately use a sweat scraper to remove the water.  Why?  The water seems like it would continue to cool the horse, but a hot horse's body temperature will heat up the water you just put on him, and he'll actually get hotter.  So scrape off the water right away, and keep him walking to cool his muscles and make a small breeze to evaporate the rest of the water on his coat.  Sometimes we sweat a little bit around our ears under the bridle, and under the girth and the saddle pad.  If that's all the sweat that's there and our breathing is normal, we probably just need a little brushing or sponging off to remove the sweat.  If a horse sweats more or seems to be breathing hard, take his temperature and cool him with water (continue scraping and hosing) until his body temperature is normal.

What's a horse's normal body temperature?  Good question.... we'll talk about that next time I'm sitting down at the computer!  We'll talk about T, P & R:  temperature, pulse and respiration, all of these vital signs tell a lot about a horse's health.  Talk to you soon!

--Biscuit

Fireworks and a Peacock!!

It's been a busy week!  Some fireworks were really, really loud and too close for comfort on the Fourth of July!  We have a new neighbor and he thinks loud, bright and way up in the sky are all important parts of fireworks and celebrating the Fourth.  We horses didn't like it much, but maybe that's one of the freedoms our founding fathers didn't think about, but many are glad to exercise!  Happy belated Fourth of July!

Today we have a very large male peacock wandering around the farm!  He is very handsome, and we all think he is from outerspace!  He doesn't really look like anything I'm familiar with - he's so long with his beautiful tail!  He has a neat little crown of feathers on his head, his neck is gorgeous blue, and his tail feathers are beautifully colored and long!  What's been wandering through your yard lately?  Let me know in the comments below!  

Nils, Patrick, Blossom, Molly and I have recently welcomed a new friend to Fish Bowl Farm:  Britta!  She's a 14 year old Norwegian Fjord mare!  She is very nice.  We all like her, and she seems happy to be at Fish Bowl Farm this summer.  She is visiting and being enjoyed for riding lessons.  She loves to be ridden in the arena and out on the trails, and she jumps really nicely!  

See you soon - hopefully not so long between posts in the future!

First Birthday

Jynx had her first birthday on May 27th!  It seems the last year has gone by very quickly, and she has certainly grown a lot!  She had a quiet birthday and napped in the sun several times.  Emily set a big muck bucket on her back and her hind quarters after putting out her hay at breakfast, and Jynx just stood still, not minding the big thing on her, just curious about it.  She is a curious, calm young horse, and it is such fun to see her grow up!  She needs her mane trimmed and some brushing, but her winter coat is gone, and she is a very pretty light chestnut with a sun bleached mane.  Happy Birthday, Jynx!

Beautiful Sun and Syttende Mai

Over the weekend we had the prettiest sunny skies!  It was a bit hot on Friday and Saturday (in the high 80º's), but then some clouds scuttled around the blue sky and it was cooler Sunday.  We had a breeze which made it all quite nice!  The people all smell like sunscreen these days, and we'll be smelling like herbal fly spray pretty soon!  Here is a photo of Echo, Jynx and me, hanging out in the sunshine.  Jynx is taller than I am!  She will have her first birthday on May 27th!  

Jynx is half Swedish, so she didn't celebrate Syttende Mai (Norwegian Constitution Day), but Nils and Finn and I did, as we're all Norwegian Fjords!  We didn't walk in any parades, but some Fjords did in Ballard (Seattle).  Aren't they handsome and well behaved? 

Fish Bowl Farm in Print!

Extra, extra, read all about it!  Fish Bowl Farm's Emily is profiled in Hunter & Sporthorse magazine's May-June '08 issue!  The article is entitled "Essential Cross Country Jumps."  Emily was interviewed about cross country course design, with an emphasis on designing for schooling courses and lower level jumps for horses and riders learning about cross country jumping.  It's wonderful to see the article in a national magazine, and the info is really interesting and helpful, with great photos of jumps.  There is a condensed version of the article on the magazine's website.  (Scroll down a bit.)  If you are nearby and want to see it in person, give us a shout via email or phone and you can drop by to borrow a copy of the magazine.  It's so exciting!  A photo of one of our jumps at the farm is in the article -- with Allie and Hannah jumping it!  We're all excited!

Rain, hail, snow, wind; shedding; new horse friend!

Is it Spring yet?  Today we had rain and wind and a rainbow.  Saturday we had snow.  Monday we had snow in the morning and enough hail in the afternoon to cover the ground for a few minutes.  Hmmm.  I like the rainbows the best.  There were three today, which isn't surprising given the speed that the dark grey clouds came and went.  The sun was playing hide and seek in the clouds.  Click on the photo at the left and it will open enlarged and you'll be able to see the rainbow! (It's just to the left of the biggest trees.)  This photo shows part of our riding field.  If the sky was clear it would show Mount Rainier, too!

The horses are all still shedding.  It seems that the pony breeds have the wooliest coats.  Then the cross bred horses, then the sport horses that are purebreds.  I have the thickest, longest coat, with my half brother Nils in second place for that shaggy honor.  The thinnest coat of our horses belongs to Braeburn.  He is a New Zealand thoroughbred, and he appreciated his medium weight waterproof blanket this winter!

We have a new friend at the farm!  Her name is Raven, and she is very pretty!  She is black with a couple of short sox, and a big blaze.  She is one of the four horses owned by others and boarded at Fish Bowl.  I live across the driveway from her.  Maybe one day she'll share a fence line with me and we can talk to each other.  Welcome, Raven!