Ways to entertain yourself and your horse when you can't ride..

Aj and Sterling Soda Testing, Summer '11

Throughout the crunch that was finals this spring and repeated set backs of my film sets, I thought about my 'foster child.'As many of you know I'm a bit of a sap for the skinny cribber, Sterling. He proved to be my inspiration through the (many) sleepless nights and frenzied scribbles to meet deadlines. I day dreamed about him in times of crisis like fat girls have food dreams. I plotted his schooling for the summer and my goals for him (cantering a perfect circle consistently!) and with the help of the other girls I was confident he would be ready to show successfully next season. I was crestfallen to say the least when I came back from vacation to find Sterling was under the 'broken pony' list.  The prognosis was either a stiff stifle, or a small hoof abscess. Or both. Either way the best thing for him was rest. For the summer.

I was a little devastated.

Although he shamelessly responded to his new nickname "Broken Butt" quite well, he much preferred his new butt and stifle massages that came with my appearance. Now not only has he learned that he can scratch his head all over me when its itchy (I let him do it when he was having a little colic and he was convinced he was dying...now I insist he can only do it when no one is looking) he also became quite fond of turning his butt to me once I walk in his stall. I get a gold star for teaching ground manners... not : )

The first week was the hardest I think, for both of us. It made me feel supremely guilty inside when i would zip up and down the drive fetching horses for lesson kids. If he saw me walking by his pasture he would neigh at me like 'um, aren't you gonna come get me? I have a lot of stuff I need to work on!' I'd put my head down and pretend to be invisible. I decided to chronicle my journey through my mostly riderless summer with my chum, to share with everyone that life out of the saddle is not all that boring.

1) The first week was groom-a-poolza. Sterling was bathed, rinsed, shampooed, conditioned, trimmed, brushed and hand grazed six days out of the week. By sunday it occurred to me I could brush him bald, and as much as the attention getting might please him, I decided to look for alternative things we could that was constructive to our time.

2) The following week I established a goal. That was to make my friend the dressage whip and Sterling, the nervous thoroughbred, friends. This goal was relatively met. I entered his stalled randomly and placated him with carrots if I could tap him with the crop. He's a smart young chap and he liked this game of tapping his legs with the crop, lifting his leg, and getting a treat. Eventually I'm thinking I can justify buying that bejeweled black and white dressage whip at tag-a-long tack. (it's so garish, I love it!)  Cannot wait to ride with a dressage whip in the future and play 'blast-off' every five strides : ) Wheeee

3) At one point I just missed seeing him move. With Aj's permission I took him into the arena to let him stretch his legs. He essentially walked from K to F selecting the various hay from the subsequent stacks. At one point he felt inspired to 'lunge' around me at a few circles at the trot, I felt quite honored. It was beautiful and he was floating and his coat was shining : D .... and then he cantered off lame. Ugh.

4) Still a bit stiff a few weeks later I opened a new career before Sterling: soda connoisseur. Since he is always in my business now that he has that cribbing collar, and I'm frankly going against everything I've ever believed.. but I decided to share a few coca-colas with Sterling during his initial pitiful days of downtime. You know.. like finish off the bottom of the cup for me buddy, thanks. What we have discovered thus far is: Coca-cola and Dr. Pepper are fantastic, Pepsi, Mountain Dew, and black coffee, not so much. If you're holding a solo cup across the aisle and Sterling is halfway out of his stall stretching out his neck with a crazy look on his face twitching his lips... just ignore him. He'll be fine.

5) Fear of the clippers/ hair cutting of any sort: Stay tuned! No respectable stoner is clean shaven, he argues.

6) Got one or two rides in with some trotting and a few circles. Was still stiff but no severe lameness. Felt good to be reunited : ) Felt great to watch him behave somewhat in a lesson.

7) Cleaned my tack! Whenever you're bored is a great time to clean tack, boots, and wash your pads and polos!

8) Taking nature walks. We've walked up and down the driveway a few times, we're about to begin walking up and down the golfcart path up to Beverly's house as part of his stifle strengthening. He could also do with a walk down to the creek, I'd love to see his brain wrap around the concept of running water. But basically walks over hills.

9) We have also walked Into A and Intro B dressage tests in the arena. Not particularly fascinating but I'm counting on him to memorize it better than me.

10) Practice that grooming stuff! Now that I'm working as a show groom i need to re-learn that stuff from 4-H, like braiding and polo wrapping legs. It's a good idea for everyone to practice this stuff, especially if you have a sleepy patient buddy like me : ) I know he will be thrilled to let me do his hair.

Feel free to suggest what you and your horse do on rainy days or down time. There really is lots to do! All the same I'll be happy when Sterling is fit, muscly, and showin' the kids what he's made of.

What makes a good Stallion: They really exist!

Artrageous, Standing at stud at Fox Haven Farm

Alright, as some of you might have known I've been a little scarce at the ranch and scanty with my blogging. In all fairness I have started another full time quarter in college, and being the workaholic I am I opted to take on an additional job. While I was nervous about talking to my superiors at the Blue Skies staff  about this, (barns have a code of conduct, one is don't cheat on your barn.) anyone who knows me understands I have a powerful drive to learn. Synergy Performance was just one of those places that I would be crazy to pass up because owners Kristina and Richard Ginn hold a wealth of knowledge that many 'professionals' in this industry could stand a lesson or two from.

While they are not specifically a breeding facility, they have three studs on property. To an outsider that might sound ostentatious, wild, and daring. Mention the world stallion and your mind may form the stereotypical image of wild screaming muscular beast. I certainly recall working at a warmblood facility with a 'renowned' trainer who rode internationally, and handeling her stallions was a matter of life and death. I was pulled out of my boots on multiple occasions, dragged down aisles and ate my fair share of gravel. Eventually, I got pretty good at digging my heels into solid concrete and pretending to be an ancor. But honestly, I'm 105lbs wet, and when a 1400lb stallion wants to turn me into his personal kite, he probably can. In one particularly rank display her 17+hh stud nearly dislocated my shoulder, the trainer asked me if I had 'even handled stallions before,' in a very mocking tone.

Truth is I had, a few stallions. Stallions around mares even. Baroque stallions, thoroughbred stallions, quarter horse stallions. While they were often noisy and easily excitable, they were nothing like the aforementioned demonic dinosaur hybrids priced at $35,000 and up. A good stallion will not only have outstanding conformation that best fits his breeds' standards, but he should be a shining example in personality as well. Sure said self proclaimed world famous' trainers' stud passed on wide chested foals with great shoulders... they looked great if you rode through the bucks and temper tantrums. Being unseated by the young horses at said nameless facility was more common than it was uncommon. A good stallion will in effect, with good handeling, behave exactly like a gelding. I am pleasantly surprised with each interaction of Kristina's studs. (still mentally recovering from the last batch of stallions like some horrible hang over) Kristina's stallions are polite and have a great sense of space, with puppy dog affection. They are walked to and from their stalls with cotton leads and not stud chains. Her stallions are well aware they will be 'disciplined' if they act negatively, but it is always fair... and honestly I have yet to see them cause a ruckus. Less can be said of the mares... : ). Mares...

For visual proof watch this video of Kristina's four year old saddlebred stud on his fourth ride, ever. If I didn't tell you, you wouldn't know : ) 

Sure he's poking his shoulder out and moving like a baby, but he's not careening out of control by any stretch of the imagination, despite mares being within earshot. It's just so refreshing for me to see. 

A lot of times when a colt is on the ground, horse owners have a decision to make. A lot of times, I believe, their emotions get the best of them because they want to make the boooouuttiful horses in the whole wide sunny world. All I can ask of horse people is to be rational. If your colt lays in your lap but is cow hocked with weak stifles and a back end that can be described as concave, don't allow it to continue in the gene pool! There are too many horses in the world being laid to rest because they were not bred carefully.

Lets say you end up with a stud who has wonderful conformation and its so sweet your grand kids can ride it bareback in a halter. Unless it is truly a miraculous gift sent down from higher powers and angel trumpets toot every time you open its stall door; I maintain it should only remain a stud if you compete with it. That way the horse will have a reputation, and documents its abilities so you know what to expect from its offspring. If you have a hunter derby warmblood mare, she should be breed to a stud of equal or approximate level of skill AND conformation, and not a grade quarter horse cross because it's a krazy kewl kolor. That's how you end up  with all these wacky backyard friesian rocky mountain walkaloosa crosses you see at every auction. Sure they're friendly, but what are you going to do with a half ostrich, half goat creature?

My last tidbit is be a responsible stallion owner. Know your conformation, your horses' specifically, and the advantages and disadvantages it brings. Let's say, for instance, you are contacted by a client who has a long backed broodmare he wants to breed for a show jumping foal. If you have a long backed stud, you might want to point out the implications, because you will more than likely end up with a foal that more or less resembles a bus. Which is not totally undesirable for some dressage people, but still, not ideal. More about conformation in a later blog! : )

ps: For all concerned I am not leaving blue skies anytime soon, I love my extended adopted family far too much. : ) However I am thrilled at this opportunity presented to me, and I look forward on translating the knowledge I've gained from riding their more advanced horses to our young tbs and rescues. Huzzah for my awesome jobs.