Attack of the killdeer

I had Dude out handgrazing today and was just starting to relax after manhandling him through the indoor arena (strutting trot combined with lots of "look at me going outside" snorting). All of a sudden a killdeer does this piercing call, seemingly right at his hooves. I jumped a mile. Dude didn't blink an eye. I guess he had seen it pretending to be hurt in the grass and was just planning on eating around it. The killdeer kept doing its thing, frantically dragging its faux hurt wing around and loudly shrieking. I know they're supposed to sound like "killdeer, killdeer," but this one just sounded like "KEE KEE KEE." Dude kept eating. He was probably within two feet of it when the killdeer seemingly figured out its routine wasn't working and got up to scoot over to its mate about 20 feet away. Dude rolled his eyes in its direction as it departed but never picked his head up from the grass.

Grass, glorious grass

Since I lunged Dude and Bestie yesterday, I decided to give them both the day off and just hand graze them. I developed a routine a few weeks ago after taking Dude out and having him leap and buck and rear around me ... one of the hazards of no turnout is very dramatic forms of misbehavior. My routine is this: arrive at the barn and open Bestie's door (she's trustworthy with the stall guard). Say hello to Dude but leave his door closed (he has busted right through several stall guard spring clips). Grab a couple horse treats and put 2-3 drops of Equilite's Mellow Out on each treat, let it soak in, then feed each of them one. Muck one stall while waiting for Mellow Out to do its thing. Take Bestie out for hand grazing, bring her back in and then take Dude out. That whole process usually takes about 45 minutes.

I wrote about the Mellow Out in an earlier post. It really does seem to calm them down. I've been putting it in their water too for about three weeks and am on a second bottle. It does take a while to work and I really should've started it while they were still getting turned out. We've tried Bestie on all sorts of natural calming supplements and this is the only one that seems to work somewhat. She can definitely be the poster girl for crazy mare syndrome.

Even with the Mellow Out, they're still absolutely frantic when they get out there, ripping at the grass and practically inhaling it. After about 5 minutes I can see them start to calm down, blowing a little air through the nose, slowing down and becoming a little more methodical in their eating. The Zen of Grazing.

A dreaded rainy day

Currently our horses are not on turn out because once spring comes our barn owner likes to give the fields a chance to dry out and let the grass grow before all the horses start chomping it down. Makes perfect sense, but spring is still a very stressful time for horses and owners. Usually the horses are in for about a month, depending on when the snow melts and the fields thaw and then dry out. If it's a good snow year they're usually out through the end of March and
then stall bound for most of April and into early May.

I just checked my turn out record and they've been in about a month now. Now that we've been through this for four years, I see the cycle. For the first week they're in, Dude and Bestie are both really grouchy about the confinement. By the second week they're resigned to their fate. Then, when the grass starts to grow and it gets warmer and the smell of spring is in the air, they get stir-crazy, communicating in their horsey way (pawing, pushing at the stall door) that it's time to get on with life and GET OUTSIDE.

Last week it seemed like turn out was coming, because we had two weeks with temperatures in the 60s and 70s and the fields were looking great. We all go out and handgraze our horses in the common area around the two riding rings and talk wistfully about the grass and how it's growing. But yesterday and today we got a ton of rain, so the fields are back to being really spongey and it's not looking like turnout will occur anytime soon. Ugh.

Bestie and Dude got spoiled with the nice weather, because I'd arrive and immediately take them out one at a time to graze them for about a half hour each. Yesterday, when it was drizzly, I mucked their stalls and killed a little time hoping that the rain would stop. They were both really antsy. But the rain did slow down to a slight mist so I was able to get them both out for about 20 minutes each. It's not much time to be out of the barn and I feel bad for them, but there's only so much I can do between work and getting home for dinner. When I do have more time on Fridays (my day off) and weekends, I try to keep them outside for a longer period. It's just a horrible time of year with cranky horses and humans!

Then they go out for the summer and usually in November we get another month of stay-in time because the fields get wet and muddy prior to winter. Oh well. I've learned to put up with this given the fact that they are in a lovely barn and are fed on time and correctly. You learn to choose your battles!

Meet Bestie

Now for Princess Bestie. She really is a princess: pretty, fine boned, very demanding, very "it's all about me." She's a Paint mare but everyone assumes she's a Thoroughbred because of her looks and demeanor. That's her "Horse Illustrated" cover shot above (not really!).

Whereas acquiring Dude was a drawn-out process, Bestie pretty much popped into our lives. Maddie was leasing an older horse and interested in jumping more, so her trainer at the time started looking around. She had seen Bestie previously when she was looking for a horse for another family, and made arrangements for Bestie to come to us on a trial period. A pretty extended trial period, it might have even been a year. She was on a farm in eastern Vermont, and between the weather there and the condition of the dirt road leading to our barn, her arrival date changed from week to week. Finally, in late April she arrived, tethered all by herself in a big stock trailer, looking pretty ratty and a bit skinny after a winter out in the field. What struck me was how accepting she was of the whole situation, coming off the trailer to a bunch of people standing around, and being led into a new barn. Right from the start she was great in the stall and great to handle. Although it took two broken halter crowns until we realized she needed to get used to being on cross ties!

Maddie didn't get on her for a few weeks, until Bestie put weight on. The first time Maddie got on, Bestie reared and I thought, "Oh my God, what have we gotten ourselves into??" She's definitely a rearer when she gets ticked off. A rearer and a prancer. The rearing occurs fairly rarely, but the prancing occurs pretty often. She's tempermental and will fight you constantly if she doesn't want to do something. Amazingly, the only time Maddie came off of her was when Maddie was fooling around, spinning in the saddle, and Bestie I guess had had enough, popped a little buck and off Maddie came.

Lots of ups and downs with this mare. With Dude it was injury-related ups and downs, with Bestie it's been temperament. Maddie and Bestie had their share of successes, but it was never easy and never predictable. You really have to pick your battles with Bestie (with Maddie too, come to think of it!).

You're probably wondering why on earth we bought her. Well, we were on a girls' vacation with some friends, two months after her arrival, and my husband took it into his head to finalize the purchase while we were out of town! To this day I'm not sure what possessed him to do that. If he hadn't done that, to be honest, I'm not sure what we would have done; if we would have stuck with the lease then sent her back, or in fact purchased her after Maddie had a few more months with her. Who knows! In any case, she's part of the family now.

We had the horse psychic talk to Bestie, too. Actually I shouldn't say "we," because it was all my idea (the girls thought I was crazy). She characterized her as a Chatty Cathy, a very social, nosy busybody mare with strong opinions about everything. Yep.

One funny thing about her is that she's the mirror image of the horse I had growing up. Black mare, little star on the forehead, little rear sock.

Things I love about Bestie: Her high pitched whinny as soon as she hears me, sometimes even when she hears my car pulling in; how she delicately goes to the back of stall to poop; how she nuzzles different fabrics--she loves Velcro and nylon; how in the spring she will handgraze and seemingly not come up for air, just methodically eat and eat and eat.

Meet the horses--Dude first

I think if I had started this back in the fall when I first took on horse duties, arranging these postings might have been a bit easier. I'm kind of having to think through the order of these first few posts. How about an introduction to the horses? Dude first.

This shot of him makes me laugh every time I see it. Our 4H club did a routine to the song "Men in Black" from the movie of the same name for Club Class at the state show. All the other members were aliens, and Dude and Katie were Men in Black, since he was coming off an injury and couldn't trot and follow the aliens' "routine." He was such a good boy, standing there square through the whole song, with his little black tie and Ray Bans tucked right below his ears.

Dude is a sorrel Quarter Horse gelding, officially named Heza Flashy Dude Mr. 15/3 in height, white socks, a stocking and a blaze on his face for markings. We got him when he was eight, and now he is 15. His bloodlines contain Impressive breeding; actually, Impressive was his granddaddy. Impressive was one of the Quarter Horse world's most well known breeding stallions, turning out lots of champions particularly for halter competition. Unfortunately, he also contributed a genetic disease, Hyperkalemic Periodic Paralysis (HYPP), to his line of progeny. HYPP is a condition characterized by intermittent episodes of muscle tremors (shaking or trembling, weaknesses and/or collapse)--that's straight from the American Quarter Horse Association web page. We've had Dude tested and he is positive/negative. Or maybe it's negative/positive. :)

Physically, Dude clearly has the Impressive "look." He's got a big muscled neck, barrel and hindquarters atop slender dainty legs with tiny hooves. Old-style Quarter Horse all the way.

When he first arrived at our old barn, he was so pumped up on grain, alfalfa and no turnout that no one could go in his stall without caution. He had been on the circuit showing in halter and was HUGE. The story goes that the guy who owned him wanted to concentrate on his other horse and decided to sell him. His diet was changed, he started going out, and became a completely different horse.

We had been looking for a horse for my older daughter for a while when the barn owners suggested we take a look at Dude. I thought they were crazy, given his personality when he first crossed our radar. But amazingly, he was completely different under saddle, and was pretty quiet in the stall and on the cross ties.

We had a vet check done to see how he looked since we were concerned about the little legs and feet with the big body. He did have a quarter crack growing out at the time of the vet check. If I had known then what I know now, I would've proceeded with much more caution! The next couple of years were an endless cycle of abscesses and quarter cracks. Finally we got a new farrier who in cooperation with a holistic vet, suggested a new way of shoeing him. Although I hate to put this in print for fear of jinxing (!), the quarter cracks have ended-- not one in the last four years.

Katie did great with him in 4H and local shows in pleasure, equitation, fitting and showmanship and 4H project classes. Not so good in trail, because some things would freak him out (and they never practiced!). Then three years ago he was turned out in a small stallion paddock by a well meaning barnmate and he completely freaked out. All the sitting and spinning did something to a major hip muscle and he was dead lame. He could barely lift his right hind up for the farrier. Vet's recommendation: No turnout, only handwalking for about a YEAR. Talk about a long haul. She stuck with it though and he finally got sound.

At our current barn the horses do not go out in the spring until the fields dry out, so sometimes they are in for as much as 8 weeks. Dude can go stir crazy during this period and revert to his old cranky, bullying ways, dragging us around at the end of the lead rope when we try to hand graze or walk him. He's always good under saddle though, no tricks. In an attempt to save my lead arm this year from all the yanking and pulling, this year I tried something new: Equilite's Mellow Out flower essence in his water every day, and a couple of drops soaked into a treat that I feed him about a half hour before I take him out to graze. Saw no change for about two weeks, but he's been good the last THREE days, walking out to hand graze like a perfect gentleman.

He loves dogs, cats and chickens (at a friend's barn, "his" chicken would roost on Dude's stall partition every night). He's also great with little kids, very gentle. He's totally a horse of contrasts. An animal communicator once characterized him as Charlie Sheen. I'm not sure about that, but I can't think of anyone better. He does have his tough guy moments, but then he'll surprise you with a nicker and a nuzzle.

Favorite things about Dude: His big ol' Quarter Horse butt. His willingness to put on whatever my daughter came up with for costume class. His raspy nicker when he hears me in the barn. How he hurls everything off his door when he wants attention.

Starting at the beginning

Last fall I became the caregiver for my daughters' two horses, Dude and Bestie. This happened because my younger daughter Maddie lost interest in riding and my older daughter Katie went away to college. People who aren't horse people immediately say, "Well, why didn't you sell them?" Meaning the horses, not the daughters, of course. (Horse people would probably suggest selling the daughters.)

The quick answer is that the horses have become part of the family. We've had Dude for seven years. He came into our lives when my older daughter was in the sixth grade, and to me he represents the life transitions that she has faced in the incredible period of growing up that occurs between age 11 and age 19. Bestie arrived for my younger daughter in April 2005. A loving, funny mare with strong opinions, she basically is the equine incarnation of Maddie. Lots of clashes, lots of tears, but also plenty of successes and teamwork with the two of them. My worry with her is that in different hands, her stubborn streak could be harshly punished.

The horses are boarded at a barn a half hour from our house and have been for several years. Inconvenient, yes, but it's a good place that is well run and full of nice people. Another thing horse people understand is that if the ponies ain't happy, the owners ain't happy. I think the reverse is also true.

I decided to start this blog to document my adventures with the ponies. I really should've started it last fall when Katie left for school, but sometimes creative ideas take a while to germinate! I hope anyone who stumbles upon it will share their thoughts.