Stryker Speaks

The horses had their turnout sheets on because we expected rain. It's been chilly and drizzling, so I decided to keep them all in today. As I was walking past the kitchen, I spied flashes of blue and red with bucking legs....oh no.

I've been sick and forgot to close a gate. I guess it took a few minutes after feeding this morning for them to notice it was not latched. It's a BIG treat for the ponies to go out anyway, they don't get a lot of grass. There they were, Stryker and the ponies. Astro and Stryker dropped to roll, a really good roll in the Virginia Clay. UGH. Piero was too busy stuffing his face with as much grass as he possibly could.

I yelled out to them telling them they were in big trouble. Stryker stood up and looked at me. He looked sort of like a paint horse, execpt the brown was clay colored! I yelled to him to come on in, opened the main gate, and stood and watched. Low and behold he promptly came in. The clay was sticking to his face and clinging to his mane. He will never be white again! At least he comes when he is called.

Astro accepted the halter immediately. We walked in together and off I went to get Piero. The other two were watching intently. Piero thought he'd give me a run, but quickly decided he'd rather hang with his buds than run around the field. What good is a field if you can't eat the grass in it?

Astro speaks

I was riding Astro one afternoon with my daughter and Piero. Shortly into our ride Astro started to throw his head around. Then he began swishing his tail and twitching. The next thing I knew he was doing a whole body shake, as if he was trying to shake me off. I literally grabbed his mane and hung on until he was finished. I promptly jumped down and walked him home. It did not happen on the walk home.

A few days later the same scenario occured, this time I was ready for it. Astro was trying to tell me something. In fact, he was trying everything he knew!

I contacted my trainer, and asked if she'd take a look at him. I rode him for her until the shaking started. At this point we thought it was the saddle. He was very sore behind his shoulder and it seemed to be slipping into that spot. We were proud, however, since his language did not include throwing me off -which many ponies would have considered to be the best option.

I tried a different saddle and rode for about 20 minutes. No problem. Yeah! The next time we went out, we were at the 30 minute mark and bam, there went the shaking. I jumped off and we walked home together.

Time to call the vet. Dr. Newcomb of Broad Run Vet. Svc. came out to take a look at him. (We love Dr. Newcomb! She is also a chiropractor and does adjustments on Scottie.) The Dr. checked him & said he has an injury to his right side. Maybe a broken rib. He needs rest and some stretching.

Thank goodness I am in tune with my horses. This is one of MANY reasons we need to listen to them. We listen with our ears, yes, but also with our intuition, our feel of them & with our heart. It is sad to think that some owners might have just slapped him for what would have seemed to be misbehavior.

And thank you Astro, for being patient and persistent with me.

Critters at the barn

Fall is in the air. It's beautiful: blue sky, sunshine, breezes perfect for spending time at the barn. Oh, and I can't forget to mention the wooly bears. You know, those cute, fuzzy orange and black caterpillars? They are everywhere! We make sure to rescue each one we see at the barn. There's a good chance a caterpillar's life would end badly if it continued to hang out around horses!


L.

Piero's Voice

When Piero first arrived he was pretty silent. I listened and didn't hear a thing.

Now that he is happy and comfortable I finally heard his voice! It sounded like he's a guy's guy. The manly man. You can rub my nose, but please, none of this lovely dovey baby talk.

He is proud to be the teacher. THE teacher. And what a great job he does! He takes the small children around with no questions. He wants to be the one to teach them not only to ride, but how to respond to horses, how to behave. How to listen. With my assistance, I am confident he will accomplish that.

He only needs me to be the human voice!

The new face of Piero-The Teacher

I finally heard Piero

It's been so interesting watching this guy change.

• He went from being kind of mad all the time, to a very pleasant pony.
• He quickly relaxed when he found a human herd leader.
• He's no longer laughed at-due to the former hairdo, but constantly told how gorgeous he is with his long, flowing black mane.
• He's actually approaching us rather than being standoff-ish.
• And he's doing an amazing job learning how to join up with us when we ask him to.

Memories & Moments

Before the xrays were being taken, as I stood to Tango's right side, holding the lead, I saw something hit the ground. But nothing was there. It came from his head. Could it have been a tear? As I looked closer, yes, there was a tear in his eye. He was crying.

I'm sure it was because of our pain. I know he was happy for it to all be over. But I'm also sure he did not want to see us like that. We were a mess. And I still am.

Not long after I bought Tango he and Shadow became fast friends. Tango would run over to Shadow, get right up to him and rear. Full blown, vertical rearing. Shadow would trot away, or somedays he would play. Tango was already 21, but he looked a mere 14. Beautiful bay coat with long shiny black mane. My husband looked out the window one day and said to me, "Wow. That horse is really beautiful. He is really beautiful, isn't he?" I think being the non horseperson that he is he needed reassurance as to what he was seeing. Yes, Tango was a beauty.

Losing Tango

I'm not sure where to begin. I could start by saying I had to put a horse down. Or I could start by saying my old Thoroughbred had an abscess that ended up deadly. Wherever I begin, it ends the same. Tango is gone. And I miss him.

Several months ago I felt Tango saying he was not going to make it through the summer. I tried to ignore it, but it remained in the back of my mind. I am practicing my animal communication daily, and becoming pretty good at it. Of course, when I heard this I chose to think I was way of base and had a vivid imagination.

In the beginning of the year, my friend Sean was riding Tango with me and Scottie. They became fast friends and we all had a great time. I think Tango really enjoyed being out with his pasture buddy, finally. Then in March the rain started. One clear day I took Tango out on a spur of the moment ride. I'd been missing him since Sean was riding him, and decided it would be nice to take him out alone. We rode down to the river and he had a great time splashing around. Which, by the way, was only the second time he entered the water. He typically would spin and say, "water, no way. can't get THESE feet wet." I could tell he actually enjoyed himself. We headed back home, a short ride since I didn't want to overdo it.

Headed towards home he liked to gallop. But we were way down by the water and that's a long way. But he really wanted to. So.....I let him. He was always fun that way. If he had it in him, all you had to do was get up in a galloping seat and we would take off. The race horse in him was always there. So up that L O N G gradual hill we went galloping. All the way to the top. Wow, the smile on my face went for miles! He was huffing and puffing at the top, but he was thrilled with himself that he did it. We walked out of the woods, and when we got to the bluestone path that leads to home, again, he asked to gallop. So we did. The wind in his mane, the deep black flapping in front of me. He would get long and low, like the race horse he was, and almost disappear from under me. But I knew he had brakes if I needed them so I was never concerned. He never once tried to be a run away.

I was so happy. And he was too. For some reason when we arrived home, I thought to myself, that could very well be our last gallop.

The rest of March and most of April rained. No one went out. Then I fell off Scottie on April 24, broke my ankle, and didn't ride till a few weeks ago. I rode Astro in the field while Lauren rode Tango. We pretended we were ranchers surveying our land.

On Sunday, June 7 I set out on a trail ride with Astro, Lauren & Tango. The ride was mainly to get me out on the trail again. My first trail ride since my big incident. On the way home I thought I noticed Tango jigging, which was a common thing for him. Since I wasn't sure how Lauren would handle that, I rode up closer to get a better look. I noticed a very prounced head bob. He was lame.

The lameness progessed and on Thursday, June 11 the vet diagnosed an abscess. No big deal. He's had them before. I'd soak his foot in hot water and epsom salt and it would pop in a day or 2. But it didn't. Instead, his entire coronet band swelled. Huge.
It kept swelling. Looked like it was going to come out in 2 places, but never did. On Tues. June 23 the vet came out and drilled the two places open. It did some draining but still, the swelling never left. It was obvious he was in a lot of pain. Only touching his toe down, trying to hop on 3 legs. Pain killers, antibiotics, soaking, poulticing, we did it all. He was telling me this was it.

He would lay down in the field, put his head down and say, "I'm tired. My body is old. I've worked hard. It's time to let go." I would cry and say "No, I am not ready to let go! I am going to do everything I can to save you." One day during this repeated conversation, I turned to walk away and very clearly I heard, "You are being selfish." WOW. I took a breath, returned with, "I know and I don't care." Then I went to the barn and cried because I knew there was nothing I could do. I knew he had to go.

I went to the vet's and picked up MORE antibiotics. A week went by. It was intense care, but we loved it. We wanted him to be more comfortable. By this point he was lying down a lot. You could see the age in his face.
The vet was scheduled to come back out on Wed., July 1. On the night of the 30th Tango gave my kids hope by trying to trot in for dinner. We went out to check on him later that night and found him lying down in his stall, head down too. I had to give him his oral antibiotic, which he hated. Well, he allowed me to give it to him while lying there. He didn't even lift his head. All 3 of us started crying. It was so sad. When Tango heard Lauren crying as she walked into his stall, I heard him say, "I can't make my girl cry. " And then he struggled to his feet. We all knew what the vet was going to say in the morning. I spent a lot of that night out there with him. Even checking on him and rewrapping the foot at midnight.

The vet arrived around 10:30am. Xrays were needed and what they showed was bad. The infection ate away at his coffin bone. There was nothing that could be done. We also found a bad case of navicular. Dr. Broadus said that given the recent riding he did, that he was incredible. He should've been lame from that alone for quite some time. In between rain storms in March I would turn Tango out and he would gallop from one side of the pasture to the other, and sometimes back and forth again. Given the case of navicular, THAT was amazing.

Always the proud, honorable race horse related to famed blood lines of Bold Ruler, War Admiral and Man O War.

May 1983-July 1, 2009

Piero's first trail ride!

I've only ridden twice since my fall in April. Both were very short rides on Astro. So, I'm feeling better and decided Piero needed work and this was as good a time as any. Then, to add to that I figured, what the heck, I might as well go for it. I'm feelig pretty good and I eventually need to see what he is like wiht a real rider not in a ring setting.

I mounted him outside of my ring and preceeded to the front yard. I was nervous and he knew it. I was taking very deep breaths and sitting very deeply. I could sense that he was excited, and feeling my nervousness. Several times I sensed him thinking about bucking. Now I actually mean thinking about it. He did not kick out. He did not stop moving forward. I just felt him, well, think about it. I wonder if it's my intuition at play, or if it's some sense I've gained as a rider within my seat. Perhaps it is both. I guess it doesn't matter what IT is, as long as I pay attention to IT, and IT is correct! LOL

I pretended as if I had a ring there and rode around for several minutes like this. A horse and neighbor, Susan & Mo, rode by and invited us to come along for a short walk down the road.

Piero was EXCEPTIONAL. He just looked ahead and walked forward. Please note, this pony has never been on this road before. Never walked down this path, never into these trails. None, nada, nilch. Didn't even turn his head looking out of each eye, side to side. Susan could see his eyes moving, but his head was dead pointing straight ahead.

We took a short loop, in and out. We led and Piero kept a very forward, steady pace. Even walking faster than his new friend, and Irish Sport Horse. Oh, Piero is only 12.2 hands, all a registered Dartmoor can be.

Look into your horse's eyes

In Michael Johnson's book, Healing Shine - A Spiritual Assignment, Michael tells of a time he had difficulty with a horse and sought advice from a wise, old horseman. The old man told him to look into his horse's right eye, and he would find the solution.

After some time, Michael returned to the old man and said, "All I see is my reflection." The old man told him that was his answer, and left him with that.

If I remember correctly, a few days later Michael finally realized what the man was trying to tell him, or rather, what the horse was trying to tell him. That he needed to work on himself.

He needed to work on himself. What a recurring theme. Whatever we call it, your horse is a mirror, or he reflects what we need to work on ourselves. It is all the same. Do horses come into our lives to show us what we need to work on? Or, are they simply so intuitive that once they are there, they know what they need to teach us. Maybe it's a combination of both.

I have a client, let's call him Andrew. Andrew was feeling something was missing in his relationship with his gelding, Scout. As I worked with them, I couldn't help but feel something else was going on, mostly with Andrew. It was an intuitive type of feeling, just something wasn't adding up.

It just so happened that I picked up Healing Shine, was reading through it again, and came across the passage I previously mentioned. I started thinking quite a lot about that, and came to several conclusions.

• Andrew should try looking to Scout for the answer to their lack of connection.

• The lack of connection actually represents Andrew, and something else that is going on in his life. Most likely it is a lack of connection with a person he is close to.

• Once that issue is resolved, he will feel more connected to Scout.

Sounds simple doesn't it? It is so hard when we realize what we have to work on is us. It is always easier to change something or someone else. After all, we never want to think WE are the problem.

To top it off, the horse we love & have leisure time with is the one telling us what we do not want to hear. Don't try running away from it. It will NOT work! Don't try selling the horse either-doesn't work. The issue will still be there, unresolved.

My philosophy is this:

1. Thank the horse. Embrace the fact that he is teaching you to learn & grow. Show your love and appreciation to him.
2. Get to work on it. Take your time. Just like with the horse, take the time it takes.
3. Keep your horse abreast on the progress you are making. Yes, talk to him about it.

Whenever you have a problem with your horse, look at yourself first.

Talking to Scottie

I often hear my horses talk to me. At first, I thought it was my imagination. Then one day when my vet was out, she was talking as if she were my horse. I was surprised that she said exactly what I thought he was saying. We talked about it, and since I am pretty intuitive anyway, she said, sure, it's him. You are actually hearing him speak. (hence the blog title)

Since my fall I've been trying to talk to Scottie about it. I'd like to find out what the hell happened to cause him to buck like that. I know I've speculated many things, but, I'd like to hear from his point of view. But, it seems I've been sort of blocked when it comes to hearing him talk about this topic. I get nothing at all.

My vet is a chiropractor, (the same one that hears the horses) and she was out working on his neck the other day. The good news is, she did find soreness, if you can call that good news. I guess it is somewhat of a relief to think I finally found the big reason. Since his session with her, he just FEELS different. I don't mean to the touch. I mean his energy. He feels more calm, more relaxed. Which is a really good thing for Scottie. LOL I was standing next to him the other morning while he was munching on hay from his hay rack. I heard his neck popping just from the small motions he was making with his head. I'm thinking this is good. So I began to give him Reiki. You must know that he normally is a little stand offish when it comes to receiving Reiki. He usually turns away and I feel nothing at all, almost like it's not even flowing. Not this day. He seemed to melt into it. Like he really enjoyed it, and I felt quite a bit of flow coming form my hands.

I figured this would be a good opportunity to talk to him about this incident. So I calmly started talking to him about our ride that day, asking about the bucking. Almost immediately I heard him respond with, "You weren't listening. I tried telling you and you didn't hear me." Wow, I was a bit surprised. I'm thinking, where did THAT come from????? I tried to gather my thoughts and emotions, and simply responded with, "Ok, I'm really sorry. Next time there's a problem, can you please find another way to tell me? Even if you try and I'm not hearing it, you just CAN'T buck like that again. I promise I will be more aware."

Whew.

My website

Training tips and info blog

Living in the country

Ok, I guess we live in the country, but we are only about 30 minuted from the Nation's Capitol.

We have lots of little, and big, wild critters that run around our back yard, as if it's their back yard. We had the skunk thing, and now, it's the SNAKE thing. Skunks are one thing, at least they're kind of cute. But snakes, no. Not cute. Not cuddly. Just plain creepy. I know they are good, and eat the mice and all, but, alas, the poor snake was truly cursed with the slithery, slow motion and that little flicking tongue.

On Saturday afternoon while I am at the barn, I hear someone coming from the house and it sounds like-no, it can't be-it sounds like they are saying a SNAKE is in the living room. That Dad knows, and he is leaving it there. It can't be.

Eventually I finished at the barn and had no choice but to go inside. So of course I had to take a look at the dreaded reptile. It was several feet long, and black. We all figured it was a black snake, tough guess, huh? I spent a while googling northern VA black snakes and discovered he was probably a nothern black racer.

We could not agree what to do about him. I wanted him O U T. My husband thought we should either take him out and kill him, or leave him alone. I didn't think he deserved to die, so we ended up leaving him there for the night.

I am usually a very sound and deep sleeper. This night though, my husband's snoring kept waking me up. I wanted to go to the couch downstairs, but, gratefully I remembered the snake was spending the night down there. I didn't want to intrude, so, I opted for my daughter's bed instead.

Unfortunately for me, he was still there in the morning. By late afternoon I couldn't take it anymore. He was moving all around like he owned the place or something. I had to have him out. My daughter helped, and we opened the french doors. We rearranged a lot of furniture, and then, armed with my crutch, I went for the snake. He was a bit upset about this. (That's an understatement.) I was slighty intimidated, and then decided to have a little talk with him. I told him he needed to get out, there would be lots of mice outside waiting to be his lunch. I even threatened him with my black belt in Tae Kwon Do, but neither seemed to have any effect on him at all.

Eventually I got him in a more open space, and with my mighty crutch I slid him across the wood floor and OUT the french doors!

My daughter video taped all of this and if we can figure how, we will upload it for your viewing pleasure.

Why is it hard for me to learn?

Seems I'm the only one that thinks there's a deeper lesson to learn here. Everyone still asks, and they all still think he was stung. One friend is scared for me now. And she doesn't know how I should 'fix' it. **Deep sigh**

It frustrates me to no end that I can't explain to them what is going on. And, even if I did, I guess they wouldn't understand. I don't think there is something to FIX at all. And it couldn't be anyway. Scottie can learn, and learn tools to help him cope. He's learned a LOT in the last 3 years, and made HUGE progress. But, I believe he is the way he is, because I am the way I am. And until I change, neither will he. It goes back to the horse being a mirror topic. So, since I am unorganized, unstructured, have not much discipline or consistency, then, it all shows up in him. I'll have to think more about that.

So, here's what I do know:

1. I had been doing groundwork only 5 or so minutes before riding-my preflight check.
2. The above has been going on for some time now. A long time.
3. I had introduced a new halter/bridle to Scottie the day I was thrown.
4. I know that when he is introduced to something new, he needs time to process. I KNOW THIS.
5. His allergies were really bad already and I had not noticed.


So, was he trying to tell me something? Yes. I believe he had been for a while, maybe a month or two. I was just too dense to notice. So, he figured, ok, she's not getting it, so here's a loud and clear message for her. Pay Attention!!

I have to put some structure back into my day so that I have quality time working on him EVERY day. Yes, even when I don't ride.

More lessons from my draft

Ok, since I took my spill last week, I've been racking my brain as to what I'm supposed to learn from this. Then I thought, maybe it's not the FALL I'm supposed to be learning from, but how, or WHY it happened. Everyone keeps asking me, why did he buck? And I don't know. Maybe he was stung. Maybe the girth rubbed against the raw spot on his belly. The fact is I have no way of ever really knowing.

So I started thinking about that. Using my intuition and a lot of meditation, I started thinking maybe HE was trying to tell me something, and not just, hey, get off my back! LOL

For a few days he'd been acting like the old Scottie. A bit skittish, more 'on alert' than normal. I just figured it was spring, the grass is growing, etc....And that could be part of it. However, I've not been working with him as much as I used to. My trainer once told me, this is a horse that you'll always have to do ground work with. Not because he has bad manners, but because it keeps him in check under saddle. It reminds him to listen to me.

I'd been slacking. Big time. I'd been going out riding with my buddies, and I'd do a 3-5 minute pre-flight type check on him, and then get on. I'm thinking that that is not enough.LOL I learned this lesson 3 years ago when I couldn't even catch him! So why did I let it happen again? Why, when I know how he is, when I've BEEN TOLD....why would I let it happen again?

I guess sometimes it feels easier to not do something, than it does to take the time to do it. So, this leads me back to the lessons of commitment, dedication, and consistency. These are things he taught me 2-3 years ago. I also see them in my martial arts, but it seems easier there. I go to class and do what they tell me to. Hmmmm.


http//2020horsemanship.com

He Spoke Last Night

Talk about a horse speaking. At 3:44a.m. I awoke to BANG BANG BANG BANG. No, not a gunman in the house. A bored horse banging a feed bucket. Try as I might to ignore it, the sound was just too loud to fall back to sleep. Never mind that the neighbors were probably awake now too, wondering who was breaking down their back door.

So, out to the barn I trudge. I figure, what the heck, I'll throw them some hay and it'll keep them happy till morning. I open the doors to the hay shed, and proceed to grab a couple of flakes. It took a moment to notice I was face to face with THE SKUNK.

I don't think I have ever run so fast. Boy I made a bee line outa there. What power that skunk has! Well, I guess I scared him too, (but not enough to spray-thank God!) so I sauntered back into the shed for the flakes of hay. I was begging Scottie to scare the skunk away. He didn't seem to care, he was just happy to have something to chew on besides an empty feed bucket.

Your horse is a mirror

I just had a rather interesting conversation with a friend. We were discussing how our horses really reflect our personalities. Sometimes this is good, sometimes it shows us things about us we need to change, and sometimes we are too distracted to notice. Here's a few examples:

• Your horse is skittish and can't stand still

• Your horse is pushy and disrespectful

• Your horse barges into your space uninvited

• Your horse makes his own decisions without regard to your desires

Breaking this down a bit, we could match these traits with human behaviors:

• You are stressed out about work and are feeling a bit (or a lot) of anxiety.

• You have a very dominant personality and maybe are a bit pushy, Perhaps you feel the need to have your own way.

• You like to be in control of others in your life and have an aggressive personality.
  

• Again, you are very dominant, maybe even aggressive in nature. Perhaps you are quick to make decisions that effect others in your life without consulting them first.

As you can see, some of these traits are not quite desirable. When we 'see' things in our horse that reflect on us, we know we don't like or appreciate that behavior in him, but often fail to see that we are acting or being the same. It is always a humbling moment to see that the least favorite thing your horse does, is something you also do.

This happened to me for the first time a few years ago. I was training my draft horse when my trainer said he needed more consistency and dependability from me. That he even needed a commitment and a schedule. I will never forget that moment. I wanted to run for the hills! You see, I was not consistent with anything in my life. I'd been a stay at home mom for about 8 years and had gotten into some bad habits. I didn't even have a lot of consistency when it came to my kids, and forget a schedule. What schedule? I thought, "I'm supposed to do these things for my horse and I don't do them for my kids?" I had to realize that I had to BE those things, not just for certain moments, but I had to actually become them. It was tough. It was scary.

I learned a lot from that horse, and continue looking for ways, in him, to improve myself.

Let me know if you've had an interesting moment learning about yourself, from a horse.

L