Horse Management Lessons - Saturdays for Everyone

Fish Bowl is offering weekly horse management lessons for students, families and friends. One recent Saturday the people talked about assessing overall health and body condition scoring. Looking at a horse when you first meet them, or first see them on any given day is important. How you feel each day is important to how well you do in school and at work, right? Same for the horses. If you find a swollen spot, a cut, or a lazy attitude, you'll have to deal with them, as the horses can't take care of things on their own. Body condition scoring is about proper, healthy weight: too fat, too thin, no muscle, good muscle, etc., are what are involved. Email me or leave me a comment if you want more info on body condition scoring. Other weeks the discussion has been about tack (care, cleaning, fitting, types of bits, bridles, saddles, etc.), vital signs (temperature, pulse, respiration) and first aid, colors and markings (there was a discussion that went on and on - it was such fun!). Dressage, the mechanics of the gaits (walk, trot, canter, gallop) and jumping, so many topics!! Join us Saturday for a post-Halloween time! Treats but not tricks! And a door prize!

This coming Saturday we'll do more horse management from 3:30-5:00. For more info about HM, please visit the News! page on our website. Thank you!

Emily can take it!!! Make a comment here to tell her what's wrong with her riding position in this photo. The best answer gets a prize. (Her feelings won't be hurt - she knows the camera caught her in a very awkward moment at this show a few years ago!)

Horse Management Takes on a New Meaning

This is really interesting, and if you're like me, Biscuit, you'll want to listen to the NPR story, not just read it! (Emily can bring me her iPod more easily than she can bring me the entire computer to read the article!)

Horse Sense: New Breed of Executive Training

Dressage Camel, Duck Herding Dogs, Icelandics, and More!

Steering with Reins: Right, Left, Inside, Outside

My blog used to be at another address on the web, but that is no longer accessible to you (and sometimes not to me!), so I'm digging into the old blog posts to put some of the oldies and goodies here where you can read it.  Our first old-new one is about steering a horse with reins.

Steering a horse with reins sounds so easy... but it is not just a matter of tugging on my right rein to turn right, or the left to go left!  In this photo of Spaten and Alex galloping, you can see his good contact with Spaten's bit and mouth through the reins - he is keeping equal tension on the left and right reins since he is galloping in a straight line.  They have such fun together, and after some practice with me, Nils, Blossom, Patrick or Britta, you'll be steering and riding well too!

The first thing we have to understand is that the rein in the direction we are turning is the inside rein, and the rein on the outside of the turn (not the direction we are turning) is the outside rein.  Understanding the inside and outside rein and how they help horses and ponies know which way you want to go will make your riding easier and more fun!

Riders use two basic rein aids in turning:  the direct rein and the indirect rein.  The direct rein works directly from the front to the back, pulling gently towards the rider's body.  The indirect rein is used to move the pony's weight, or block the outside shoulder from going the wrong way.

When you want to turn me, or any horse or pony, to the left, your left rein is the direct rein.  Pull the left rein towards your body, straight back, never up or down, by just squeezing the rein with your fingers.  This left direct rein invites me to turn to the left (the inside).  Your right (outside) rein is used as an indirect rein when turning left:  put pressure on the outside rein and hold it to let me know you do not want me to go to the right at all.  I like to think of the outside rein as blocking my direction on that side, or as Emily says "make a wall on the outside so Biscuit won't go to the right while you are trying to turn left."

One thing I feel when riders are learning to turn is floppy reins!  If our reins get too long I can't tell what you want me to do or where we should go.  Keep a contact, or a feel, of my bit and my mouth and I can better feel (or "hear") what you are asking me to do.  Also, when the reins are too long your hands will go all over the place in order to make me feel your rein aids - behind your hip with your elbow up in the air to take up the extra rein, or even on the other side of my neck when your outside rein is too long in a turn.  If it helps to stop and shorten your reins when they get too long, that is ok!

Remember that the bit, while a very gentle snaffle, is still a piece of stainless steel in my mouth.  The old term "hard mouthed" refers to a horse who has become callous to the bit, and that happens with too much pulling on the reins.  Please keep in mind my soft, willing mouth, and we'll turn left and right with no trouble, and it will be fun!  

Important thing to keep in mind:  ask me to move forward at a walk or trot before you turn us, keep your reins a good snug length, and we'll go places - left and right - at the walk, trot, canter and gallop!  Here are the steps for turns:

• Legs on to go forward

• Ask with direct rein (left to go left, right to go right)

• Stay steady with the indirect rein (right when going left, left when going right)

• Keep your legs on my sides to tell me to keep moving forward. 

Emily sometimes says it's like steering a bicycle:  if you don't keep the bike moving the bike can't turn.... same with me - if you just pull on my reins I won't turn unless I'm moving!  :-)

Popeye and Britta

It just occurred to me that there has been a change at Fish Bowl in the last two weeks that I forgot to mention! Oh dear! It was a big change too. Our nice friend Popeye, the handsome appaloosa gelding, has gone to a new home. We'll miss Popeye a lot (Inigo and Braeburn miss him the most - they were great friends), but he has a wonderful new home with Jenifer in Wilkeson. Popeye started at Fish Bowl as the first school horse! He was good at his job until the rider was ready to do more on her own, and then he didn't want to listen to his rider, he wanted to listen to the instructor! This doesn't make for very independent riders, so Popeye was given to Annie last summer. She rode him English and Western (doesn't he look great?), in the arena, the field and the woods. Take care, Pop!

Britta is a very sweet Norwegian Fjord horse who lives at Fish Bowl Farm. She's been here since June and also gives lessons. She is owned by a good friend of Fish Bowl's people. She is a cheerful, forward moving horse who loves to do dressage and jump! She likes to go out on the trails too, and lives next door to Braeburn and Annie (the horse, not the person). During the day each of the horses goes out into the pastures for wandering, running around, playing and grazing (my favorite part!!) in the fields. Britta goes out with me (Biscuit) and Annie, and mostly we are all very happy together. Yesterday Britta got in my way and wanted to play; I didn't want to play (why play when there is grass to eat?), so I kicked her. She's fine, but she did have a little hoof print on her hindquarters! Emily put some arnica linament on it, and I bet that felt great.

Community - Summer - Fall - Back to School

I just heard about a really interesting and fun community project, and I think you'll like it, as it's creative, slightly surprising and combines horses (toy ones) with people in Portland, Oregon. Check out The Horse Project I think you'll like it! I didn't know about tie rings on sidewalks of cities, did you? How interesting! Do you have interesting public projects like this in your town or city? Vashon has the Bicycle in the Tree. (It isn't something you can be involved with like the tiny horses in Portland, but it's really fun to see it!) I don't know much about communities, but I know about herds.

If a community can make the horse project, I think it must be as nice as my herd. (But don't ask Britta about power struggles in a herd; she got a hoof print on her hind end yesterday when she did something in MY herd that I didn't think was appropriate!!)

Summer vacation is over, but the summer weather is lovely! It is sweatshirt weather for the people in the evenings and mornings, but we horses are putting on our big coats as the days get shorter. The shorter daylight hours are what make us grow our heavy winter coats. If there was a contest for coat weight at Fish Bowl Farm, I would win. I also could run away and join the circus as the bearded lady! I am lovely and fuzzy at the moment.... but the warm afternoons find me in the shade, as my coat is pretty heavy for the sunshine!

Fall won't officially be here for another month, but as children go back to school we call it Fall, don't we? As the days shorten the skies are often colorful at sunset. It was purple and pink on Monday night - beautiful!

Nils, Blossom, Patrick and I are taking our vacation right now before riding lessons start up for the Fall season next week. We have had a really good summer with a lot of students riding us. One day I was standing around not doing anything and Annie, the teen who lives at Fish Bowl, came and got me, groomed me and took me for a bareback ride! It was a blast! She owns Inigo, and I don't get to play with her very often, so it was a special day for me. The August Adult Mini-Camp was a highlight of the summer too: five women with varying experiences with horses came to the farm for two days of intensive riding and horse care time. They looked like they had so much fun! I heard that they went out to dinner after the first full day of riding, and it sounds like they had fun away from the dust and horses too!

Happy end of summer, beginning of fall, back to school, or whatever you're up to!

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!!