How much does calm cost?

Dude's been having some difficulties over the last two days. 

At feeding time early yesterday morning, he was all sweaty, and his stall looked like he had been pacing for a while. The barn folks gave him a tiny bit of grain and went ahead and turned him out with his buddies. It was a cool and comfortable morning, and he settled once outside. Julie from the barn called to let me know about Dude's troubles.

When the horses came in from turnout in the afternoon he was kind of antsy. The barn folks wondered if his neighbor Sirius's departure for a show the day before had set him off, so they swapped him and Bestie, so that Dude would have Bubba (the definition of "laid back") on one side and Willow on the other. He settled.

I went to the barn later in the day, and he seemed a bit on edge, but nothing really out of the ordinary. I saddled him up and rode him out to the outdoor ring, and he was fine. Fine, meaning his usual pokey self heading out, and speedier self heading back in. Fine.

This morning, I got another call from Julie. Dude was doing all right in his new digs, but Bestie and her new neighbor Eve were NOT getting along. There was lots of kicking of walls, and Julie was worried about both horses. So, musical stalls again ... Bestie got moved to Sirius's stall, Dude got moved back into his old stall, and Sirius (when he returns tonight) will find himself in Bestie's old stall.

The horses didn't go out today because of rain, and I guess Dude was pretty worked up in the morning. Barn manager Paula ended up putting him on cross ties, where he settled down. Then he returned to his stall, where he hung out with his stall guard up. Mr. Demanding - he must be driving everyone nuts, but they are being very gracious and accommodating.

What is causing all of this commotion is a mystery to all of us. Dude had a bad time when his former neighbor Berry left a month or so ago, so maybe Sirius's departure for his show was just a bit more than Dude could take for departures. He is a horse that likes his world orderly, most definitely. And new horses (two of them) moved into his area of the barn yesterday, so there has been some upheaval adding to his neighbor's temporary absence.

The bottom line is that he just can't keep getting worked up, it's not good for him. After today's phone call, off I went to Guy's Farm & Yard to get some magic mellowing potion. I ended up with Vita Flex Vision and our old stand-by, Mellow Out. Vision got mixed into his supplements for the next few days (ha - literally an ounce of prevention), and I gave him the Mellow Out on a cookie this afternoon. For calming aromatherapy, Amelia gave me some lavender oil, which I rubbed onto his nose. He smells like he's been to the spa.

Fingers crossed that the Vision and Mellow Out work. If they do, then calm cost $60. Bur really, with horses, calm is priceless.   

Now play nice, girls

Bestie's buddy Sadie left several weeks ago, and Bestie has been going out by herself ever since. There just weren't good mare dynamics at the barn to set her up with a new buddy. But it's not optimal for the property to keep her alone long term, especially since I don't want to pay for solo turnout.

For the last couple of weeks she's been turned out adjacent to an older mare, Sienna, whose pasture buddy also left. Bestie and Sienna have been walked out and walked in together and got along fine and also seemed to coexist in their adjacent pastures with no problem. Earlier today Sienna's owner and I received an email from barn owner Julie asking what we thought about trying the two mares together. We agreed to give it a shot if we could both be there.

So tonight we tried it. Tried it - intentional choice of words. I had kind of a feeling when I got to the barn and Bestie was lunging at both of her neighbors through the wire at the top of the stall walls, which she typically only does when she's in heat.

We walked them out (Bestie trotted the whole way, also not a positive sign) and turned them loose, Sienna first, and then a minute later, Bestie. Kind of anticlimactic - Sienna went to one corner and Bestie went to the other. They didn't even look at each other. Sienna was much more interested in Turbo, who was in a paddock a bit down the hill. And Bestie was much more interested in eating grass.

Bestie grazed along the perimeter until she finally munched her way to Sienna's corner. Turbo had been brought in, so Sienna, no longer distracted, seemed to suddenly realize that there was another horse in the paddock with her. They both sniffed each other's faces, then sniffed down each other's bodies from neck to tail, and then moved away from each other. No pinned ears, no squeals, no nothing. "Whew," was my thought.

I whewed too soon. All of a sudden all hell broke loose; it seemed like Bestie moved back toward Sienna, but they both started kicking and I don't even know who launched the first kick. We started making noise and they moved away from each other again, but definitely continued giving each other the hairy eyeball.

We got them clipped into lead ropes and headed inside. I didn't even check Bestie very thoroughly; after giving her a quick onceover and not seeing anything I turned my attention to Dude.

But while I was grazing Dude, Sienna's owner came out to say she had seen blood on Bestie's rear right hind. Very eagle-eyed of her. I took a look at it and Bestie did have a little nick, but nothing at all serious. We lucked out, considering that Sienna has hind shoes on.

Sienna got a gouge on her left rear leg.

After reading a bunch of stuff online tonight, I'm tempted to try them again, but ... 1) with no other horses out there, and 2) when neither mare is in heat. They have both gotten along fine with previous pasture mates. We're just asking for peaceful coexistence, girls. Not much.

Dude and Cullen, together again

Well, kind of.

Dude and Cullen boarded together at our first barn, and again at our second barn. Cullen moved to barn #2 before Dude. When Dude was moved to the second barn after not seeing Cullen for a couple months, he was turned out in Cullen's field. Upon spotting each other, they both trotted toward each other nickering while we all went "awwwwwwwwwwwww."

Now they've been reunited after a break of, gosh, I'm not even sure how long - maybe seven years. There were high hopes that the bromance would continue. Dude was having some difficulties coexisting happily with his pasture mates, so it seemed like the perfect solution to pair him with Cullen.

The photo below is of their reintroduction. I actually was trying to video them, not take a photo. :) Cullen got cut off from the photo; that's his hip and stomach on the right. It was funny that Dude actually stopped chewing his hay and went to the door to see Cullen with the hay hanging out of his mouth. They nuzzled a little bit and then Cullen lost interest. I think the poor guy was a bit overstimulated; he had just moved in about a half hour prior. Lots of new stuff to focus on, let alone a bunch of people standing around him in the aisle to watch him meet another horse.

The next day, Dude and Cullen were turned out together. Apparently all went well for a bit. They both rolled and started grazing, but at some point, it was like Dude decided that he did not want Cullen in his field. He started herding Cullen around, so someone went out and separated them. I got this report upon arriving at the barn that evening - a report on my difficult kid. The next day Dude was reintroduced to his old pasture mates, and they've been doing fine.

Today Dude was on the cross ties right by Cullen's stall when Cullen was brought in. I watched Dude and he got really alert and interested as Cullen came closer. I still think there's a connection. :)

Bestie has a birthday and Dude has a bad day

April 30 was Bestie's birthday, 19 years young. She celebrated with a carrot. I usually don't go to the barn on Thursdays because of yoga, but because I was going to be away over the weekend and because it was her birthday, I drove over there after class. There was just enough light to get them both outdoors for a few minutes of grazing. The fields are still mucky, and not all of the fields are usable, so the horses are on short rotations of a couple hours outside in order to give all of them some much needed outdoors time.

Bestie's longtime pasture mate Sadie left last week. They've been going out together almost since we arrived at Maple Valley, so, hmmn, I would guess 6 years or so. They just kind of did their own thing happily in the field - primarily grazing, with occasional acknowledgements of each other's presence. It seemed like a pretty peaceful relationship. To my knowledge, there was only one mysterious altercation in all those years. That occurred in the last month, a little tiff with no repercussions, thank goodness. Sadie is being leased by a young girl, who took her home for the summer. Bestie seems no worse for wear over Sadie's departure.

Now, Dude, on the other hand...

Dude's bad day was yesterday. I got to the barn after work and from the wild and woolly look of him, I could tell that he had gotten worked up about something. Barn manager Paula filled me in. Dude's girlfriend on the left, Berry, had left Sunday to go to a new barn, and a gelding moved in to her former stall. Dude was Not Happy about that. And Eve, on his other side, is in major heat, constantly whinnying and swishing her tail at him. So even though he generally is not attached to her, for the moment, he thinks he is. Also, when they did the turnout shift swap, it made Dude Very Angry to have to come in. But when they put him back out, he took out his anger on his pasture mate Nate, bossing poor Nate around and boxing him into a corner of the field.

So Dude was brought in to hang out in his stall with some hay, which most horses would be perfectly fine with. But by the time I arrived, it was clear he'd been stewing all afternoon. It was like he had decided he was mad at the world but couldn't really remember what made him so mad. Paula quietly observed that it was just not a good day for Dude. I took him out for a half hour of grazing ... the magic cure to calm. And today he was fine. He didn't even look at Eve when she started carrying on. Kind of embarrassing for her.

Time for a saddle cleaning

I was a total loser as a rider this winter - just couldn't do it with the frigid temperatures. Particularly in the older indoor with the metal walls, it was like riding in a freezer. Not fun. My last ride for the winter on Bestie was in early January, and I just got back on her (once) about a week ago.

In the interim, the saddles accumulated a lot of dust in the tack room. 

A couple weeks ago the May issue of Western Horseman arrived, and I read the article "The Secret of Suds" with interest. The saddle cleaning tips in the article are the shared wisdom of Canadian saddlemaker Ken Cameron. 

I liked it right away because he started with the assumption that  your saddle had not been used all winter because you'd been in hibernation. Yep.

I learned that my main problem is rushing the job. I soap it up, rub it down, apply conditioner, and off I go. To do it right, you should soap it up - and Mr. Cameron is ALL about plenty of soap suds; in fact, he describes the goal in the soaping process as "a froth." The next step is to let it dry for two or three days before doing anything more. Giving it plenty of time to dry minimizes the chance of rot, particularly if you're applying some sort of sealant/conditioner-type material after cleaning.

I learned that Murphy's Oil Soap can be used as a saddle cleaner.

I learned that using too much oil in our damper climate could lead to mold and mildew.

All in all, a very useful read.

While I couldn't find the actual WH article online, Mr. Cameron does share his tips here

4H Regional Day

I've been on the county 4H Foundation board for quite a while, and somehow have never been been an evaluator at Regional Day, which was held this past Saturday. Folks were needed to evaluate, so off I went to the middle school in Burlington where the event was held. It was so much fun!

Six of us were there to evaluate tabletops. I think I was the only one who hadn't been to evaluate at Regional Day previously; there were actually a few "pros" who come every year because they enjoy it so much. We broke into pairs and each pair of evaluators looked at roughly 7-8 projects. 

We had a sheet with criteria to measure on a point spread, and looked at things like use of space, design, whether they included the sources or not, neatness, etc. We looked at the age of the 4H member in order to assess their work and also read their written reflection on their project that include their goals and what they learned.

My co-evaluator Elaine and I spent about 20 minutes with each project. We'd give it the once-over, then work our way through the criteria with quite a bit of discussion. 

Projects ranged from model barn plans to robotics to items needed for hunting to facts about polo. Honestly, all the projects were really well done and informative. In fact, we gave every project we looked at a blue ribbon (although since they were scored with a point system, while they all fell into the blue ribbon category, some received more points than others). 

I enjoyed the little touches, like  a particularly beautiful color scheme or the model barn project that even had a little water in the tiny horse trough! I especially loved the fact that a couple of the horse businesses developed as tabletops (a summer camp and a rescue horse barn) even had references to checking out the business on social media. :)

Not that I needed a reminder about what a wonderful organization 4H is, but being part of the day underscored to me again how many opportunities 4H membership offers kids. It was really great to see the kids in action. Nothing like all that energy and enthusiasm to refresh my perspective on our monthly business meetings! 

Horse books

I'm currently reading The Horse Boy by Rupert Isaacson. It's the story of his and his wife's efforts to find healing for their young son Rowan, who has autism. Rupert stumbles upon the calming effect that horses have on Rowan, and this discovery along with a connection to spiritual healers takes the family to Outer Mongolia on a quest to heal Rowan. A trip born out of love and desperation. I'm about a third of the way through the book, and they have arrived in Mongolia and connected with a group of shamans. I was tempted to skip work today and just stay home and read.

Reading The Horse Boy has made me think back to all the books I've read and loved over the years that have horses as part of the story. As a kid I belonged to some sort of "horse book of the month" club, and that's where I got many of the books above, which I still haven't parted with. I remember being so excited when a new one would arrive. They're pretty dog eared; many of them I read them multiple times. Flipping through the Thelwell ponies set still makes me laugh. The illustrations are so awesome and the situations so recognizable to anyone who has spent time with horses.

Son of the Black Stallion is really in bad shape; it's the book in the upper right hand corner of the photo above with the missing spine binding. I don't remember the particulars of how I got it - if the school library was getting rid of old books or if I checked it out and, once in my clutches, never returned it. Looking at the dates on the checkout card, 1972 would have been 5th grade. My name is on the card, as are the names of lots of my friends. The names bring back fun memories, as do the books. We were all horse crazy.