The Q Report: An Interview with Quintin de Verneuil BWP (A horse named Q)
by Michaela (I think?), passed along to us by Sophiea, Q’s human
Q. Where were you born??
A. I was born in Belgium. My mother was Hanoverian and my sire was the only thoroughbred son of Laudanum. I immigrated from Belgium when I was three.
There were some difficult times and I was attacked by a dog. It was a battle to the death and I survived but not without permanent leg injuries. I was on skid row in a barn being sold when I saw the human walking through the barn so I grabbed her by the arm and pulled her into my stall. Cannot let the good ones get away I say.
Q. What about your family??
A. Family? I have a herd with my alpha mare in charge of course. I always say Let a mare be in charge and what needs to be done - will be done. Get the right mare in charge and there will always be hay in the manger, grain in the bucket, fresh water in the pail and no fighting stallions. A mare is so much better at keeping things under control than a gelding.
Q. What ‘s the worst thing that has happened to you?
A. The fight with the dog that ruined my legs and my career, and bad trainers- one even broke my nose - have been low points but the Revere Saugus barn fire in 2004 and losing my stable mates was the worst.
Poor Esco, Amber and Orlik. I thought they were behind me when Jose ran through the fire opening the stall doors and taking us out. I ran but they just died in their stalls. Orlik ran back I don’t know how - he was out and being held for the cameras and that human let go. Orlik ran back in and died in front of our stalls. I saw him rear and heard him scream when the roof collapsed – it was horrible.
I found out how good the horse people are. People drove off the highway to help when the barn was on fire, some who didn’t even know us ran in and took some of us out, some held us with twine because there were no halters for those of us who ran out. When we were moved to Janna’s to be cared for they came from everywhere trying to help. They tried to bring what they could for us, a bale or a trailer of hay, a blanket, a brush or a halter whatever they could. Even after the barn owner took everything for himself the horse people brought more for us and our humans. The horse people of the north shore and southern New Hampshire are the best horse people there are. I and the human can’t thank them enough.
Q. Do you have any special talents??
A. There are so many. First, I build rider confidence in my rider.
I was in charge of the Help Desk at my old barn. We had a server always going down during feeding and we have to pick him up all the time.
However, my true love is writing, my best works are penned as Q. L. Caballo - The Quintin Chronicles - pleasant little Children’s stories about my life and adventures with Santa, Leprechauns and ghosts, all the normal folk. The human put the Christmas Stories on YOUTUBE finally, on the Quintin Chronicles. Some can now be seen on youtube!
Q. What’s the funniest thing you ever did??
A. I once bit an annoying barn cat and he chased me around the riding rink. Everyone thought it was hysterical a 1400 pound horse being afraid of a cat but of course I pretended to be afraid. Must keep up their self-esteem you know otherwise mice in the grain room.
Q. What’s the worst thing you did??
A. All I will say is I have opened a few things - car doors, trunks, jacket pockets, purses, back packs, stall doors and a few beer cans. I look at it this way it is my property if it is near the hoof. Besides the only thing I ever get in trouble for taking is the DunkinDonuts Coffee – it is for medicinal purposes.
Q. Is there anything else you would like to say??
A. Please help horse rescue groups like Second Chance Ranch Equine Rescue in East Longmeadow MA and Second Chance 4 Horses in Bernville PA [also Live and Let Live Farm in Chichester NH]. There are so few places for us to go when things go bad for our humans. Anything you donate can help. You never know they may have to help a Horse you know.
One of the reasons I decided to interview myself was to promote Equine Rescue. Who knows where a broken horse like me would have been if I had not found the human when I did. Please try to help.
Recently we found ourselves in Windsor VT at Rick Fallon’s Running Brook Farm where we saw two large barns full of carts, carriages, buggies and sleighs. Rick was kind enough to give us a crash course on pairs harnessing; we learned about such things as telescoping poles, crabs, belly backers and side backers.
Horse carriages called Phaetons at Running Brook Farm in Windsor, VT
One of the rooms full of carriages
Rick offered us a drive with him and his handsome pair of Clydedale/Hackney crosses some time. In season Rick does a lot of driving, somehow finding time to promote and manage his business selling carriages, harnesses and accessories for pleasure and competition driving. He has an incredible selection of new and used vehicles, as seen here.
I’ve seen a lot of interest in my blog posts about using pea stone gravel to help naturally condition barefoot horses’ feet. Furthering this discussion, here is how my pea stone, installed over a year ago, is faring so far in its second winter.
Under our 12×24 shed roof overhang, where I wanted our three horses to primarily hang out and condition their hooves, I put in pea gravel fill 4-6 inches deep on top of a packed clay base in Nov. 2006. I fed their hay on this gravel for the first 10 months. They also had a pre-established habit of dropping their manure in one corner of this shed roof area, so the gravel got a lot of manure deposits. We picked the manure very often and tried to keep it cleared, but the horses walked on it and broke up the clods, so sediment was gradually collecting into the gravel. As well, their urine collected and I had to lime the gravel occasionally, which also added to the sediment.
Last summer I attempted to clean the gravel by hosing out the hay fines/manure/lime sediment, but it did not work because there is no place for the sediment to go and the gravel is very heavy. Possibly a pressure hose would have been effective, especially if combined with effective drainage. We added some fresh gravel on top of our existing base a couple of times during the first year.
During the first winter the gravel was brand new and reasonably deep and did not ever freeze solid; even with snow on it, it stayed loose on top. Now this winter the gravel is quite filled in with sediment and has frozen solid so is probably no longer serving its purpose of toughening the horse’s soles because it is not deep enough. It still seems to be keeping their hoof walls worn down because it still provides a rough textured surface. I have not had them trimmed since late last summer; we do our own rasping and shaping about every 4-6 weeks as needed, mainly to control flaring and long toes. In the winter our horses’ hooves do not grow very much.
We have decided from our experience that our pea gravel will need more serious maintenance and periodic total replacement. We plan to scrape out the gravel/sediment next spring when it thaws and place all new pea stone. I will not feed them hay on it anymore, and I will not use it in the corner where they put the most manure, doing something different there that is easier to clean. I hope they will walk on it often enough to condition their hooves when they seek shade and fly relief in the summer.
We will reuse the old gravel/sediment in gateways and around water tanks, gravelling more high-traffic areas as we can. The pea stone in our gateways has been quite effective in countering and stabilizing mud. If does however get pulled away and thus has to be replenished at times.
JENNIFER COMMENTS recently on her own pea gravel experiences:
I have two barefoot horses and put pea gravel in and in front of their run in barn this summer. At first it was FANTASTIC! Their hooves looked great, no stones were getting caught in them, they stayed cleaner. Then the sediment started to build up. I picked out manure and excess hay every day but it just built up little by little. This winter it has gotten much worse. We have had temps down to 0 F and at that temp the gravel is frozen solid and the urine freezes too. In fact the manure and hay get frozen to it as well. It has done a great job to eliminate the mud and deep hoof prints that ultimately used to freeze just outside the barn. I am anxious to see how it is in the spring/summer since I have only had it a half year. I can’t see myself sifting and rinsing 5 cubic yards of pea stone. That would be a lot of work.
Sophiea says about her horse:
Q is my accidental horse. After 26 years of not riding or owning my car broke down (overheated). I walked through a barn to ask for water and he pulled me into his stall. All I saw was an ill-kept horse who needed extreme grooming which said rogue to me (I was wrong- just mistreated-) he just put his head down on my arm and grumbled. After crawling out of the stall I continued to the barn office and signed up for riding lessons not knowing that on Halloween I would end up owning Q. Ironically, Halloween is the feast day of St. Quintin the patron saint of the obstinate and stubborn and also the healer of the blind. He was ill mannered and a mess but there was something in his manner that showed me he was a good horse.
I was trying to find a home or new barn for me to keep him when in March of 2004 there was the Revere Saugus fire. The horses that died were in the stalls adjoining his. When Jose came running through the barn he opened Q’s stall and Q ran outside to the end of the riding rink. He waited and was found there by the animal control officer.
Janna Flynn of Lanes End came in the middle of the chaos of fire, explosions, firemen, police, riders, TV reporters and owners. She got everything under control, she was there to help the horses not anything else. She arranged for the horses to be taken to her barn. We stayed on after the others left. There he healed mentally, emotionally and physically he was able to gain almost 300 lbs. He worked as one of her school horses. I got my hooves back under me and re-acclimated (almost) to the insanity of horse ownership. This past fall we moved north to a barn Owned by Sara Contois where he could be turned out all the time.
Q has his own site QuintindeVerneuilBWP on youtube which has some video of him but also the narrated Christmas stories of the Quintin Chronicles. Two of the stories have been published locally Whispers Christmas Gift and the Horses Special Christmas in the Danvers Herald.
This is a youtube video of him. I’m sure there is more they haven’t told me about.
I thought I would be saving him but he has actually saved me- reminding me, teaching me my strengths and weaknesses.
I am trying to learn to ride again and someday will. I have riders that exercise him and keep him amused - he has this innate ability to find your worse weakness and push your buttons until you overcome it. You should never get a horse with a sense of humour unless you intend to get one for yourself. I have included an interview he did of himself. He’d like to set up a blog someday interviewing other horses and a Q&A as to how horses can handle owner problems and problem owners.
Q is a bit of a character and Q suits him being a letter with so many variations. The markings on his face could be a seen as a tornado spinning in his head and the results of investigating a newly painted fence. By the BWP his name is Quintin de Verneuil but most days it doesn’t suit him.
He’s very expressive. These are some pictures I have at work. Some of the photos are ok I’m not a photographer and rely on luck. They were taken over the last 2 years and include a few of his moods.
I moved him to West Newbury, MA a couple of months ago and into entirely new environment. It has been fun watching his responses and observations.
THANKS SO MUCH Sophiea for the moving story and lovely pix of Q!!!
Actually TWO deer, in this AWESOME photo sent in by HorseGal. This is QUITE the photo, my kudos to the photographer!
Says HG: Hope you can all see this. It’s a friend’s house in Chester, MA (not too far from my town). Pretty cool! And if you look really close, you can see the top of another deer’s head just to the left, thru the rungs of the deck.
This question came from a blog reader, along with my reply. Please comment or Email me if you know something about pea stone use inside stalls!!
NEW COMMENT on post Pea stone gravel for barefoot horses:
I am very interested in the pea gravel idea. So interested I wish to replace the wood shavings with pea gravel. But my boyfriend is very skeptical. He doesn’t believe there won’t be a smell even if there is good drainage. We live in an area where winters are very, very cold (-20 deg Celsius) sometimes, and since we intend on building open stalls so that the horses will have the opportunity to go in the barn as they wish. he is afraid that the urine will freeze on the pea gravel and when the weather is warmer, then there will be a terrible smell. I believe that the horses will warm the place thus the urine will not freeze on the rocks but rather flow downward into the drain which will not be frozen since it is inside the barn.
Do you know of anyone who has pea gravel in their stalls? Also, do you know of anyone who is using pea gravel and lives in an area where winters are like mine. I would love to chat with them for more info.
MY REPLY:
Jocelyne
I’m guessing you live in Canada. We live in central New Hampshire and it can get as cold as zero F. rarely colder, but typically is in the twenties F. in winter.
I do not know anyone using pea gravel in their stalls, but I will hazard an opinion based on our experience with it outside under the run-in shed roof. Our gravel collects sediment buildup, consisting of manure pieces, hay fines, and dirt brought in by the horses hooves, and eventually it fills in, so that ours will need to be dug out/scraped off and refreshed every year or two. If raising the ground level wasn’t a problem, we could just keep adding fresh gravel on top of the old as needed.
If your stalls, by having drains, are able to be rinsed down by hosing so that sediment doesn’t build up, I don’t think the gravel itself would retain any odor. However, that would mean that some sediment would get washed down your drains by the hosing. It might even need pressure-hosing. Even some of the pea gravel might get washed down your drains unless there’s a suitable screen barrier.
Do your stalls have concrete floors, or solid floors (not dirt or clay) so that they could be hosed??? If hosing worked for you, I think the gravel could work in your stalls, but keeping it free of sediment would be the key issue. Just picking out the manure is not enough, because the manure gets broken up and ground down in and it’s impossible to pick it all out.
Our gravel does not smell in the winter because it is definitely frozen outside. In the summer I lime it a little (which also adds to the sediment) and I have hosed it once or twice, but hosing does not wash out my sediment because there’s no place for it to go. Our gravel is on a clay base. Although urine has collected a LOT into the sediment, I do not notice any odor even in the summer, probably because of the lime.
Good luck, I will throw your question out on my blog and see if anyone else has tried the peastone in stalls. Let us know what happens!
See all blog info about pea stone gravel for horsekeeping… and be sure to look for other folks’ COMMENTS at the end of these posts.
During a recent heavy snowstorm, the three stooges snack on our discarded Christmas tree (thrown over the fence for their entertainment). Clearly Glendale gets off on hogging the tree away from his older brother Gilford (the black horse). Glen’s behavior is half play and half dominance display; Gil play fights back with him and finally rears up on him! (I was watching from an upstairs window.)
WOO HOO, at last!! Ezra just achieved his Private Pilot’s license after successfully completing his year-long training and flight test, and I finally got to go flying with him!!!
outside the Piper looking in at Laconia airport…
Ezra doing his pre-flighting…
Gilford’s own hometown Gunstock ski/snowboarding area
With very good flying conditions, Ez agreed to fly me over the White Mountains on Jan. 19. His takeoff out of Laconia Airport was perfect, we circled N and E over Lake Winnipesaukee then headed north towards the Whites and Mount Washington. A small cloud band was present over the mountains which he skirted around, and Mt. Washington was cloud-capped on the summit.
Taking off westerly from Laconia NH airport, circling north then east, passing over Lake Winnipesaukee and turning north again. Bearing is then set NNE for Berlin NH.
Mt. Washington summit is cloud-capped
This early leg was very smooth, cruising about 2500 feet, bearing NNE towards White Mountains. 360 view of plane. (The propeller looks funky in the videos due to frame rates, believe me it is NOT going slow OR backwards!)
Early on the air was calm and the plane ride very smooth. It is a good deal different from a passenger jet though! I got to wear headphones so we could talk to each other and I could hear Ezzie’s reporting during the flight, but the headset served mostly to deaden the noise because the engine noise is really loud. The 4-seater Piper Warrior single-engine plane was cozy, borderline cramped inside. A bit awkward to get in and out of too, as you have to climb onto the wing then drop down into the cockpit seat below wing level.
A little mild turbulence in this video, as compared to video above just starting out (all the shaking is the plane, NOT ME!). Apparently it was unusually calm for being above the White Mountains, otherwise we would never have flown so close to them!
To me it felt exciting and surreal to be up like that, staying pretty close to the ground. It was not scary, but you sure have a sense of your own vulnerability. We ran into some light turbulence flying over the mountains, and your heartrate definitely jumps up a bit when the plane bounces around. Ezra handled it fine as far as I could tell, and he never seemed rattled. In fact, he told me that turbulence over the mountains was usually much worse, due to rising air currents disrupted by the mountain masses, which is what also causes the clouds to form.
Ez checks his airmap
Ez was busy navigating, checking instruments, listening to traffic, keeping visuals going in all directions spotting for any other planes. I helped with watching for other planes while taking pix and videos. He did a practice landing on the air strip in Berlin NH, north of Mt. Washington, which appeared totally deserted and I guess is usually unmanned, but does have a homing beacon to navigate by. At least the runway was scraped. Ez’s landing and takeoff from Berlin were perfect.
Approaching Berlin NH air strip
Landing at tiny Berlin NH air strip just for the new pilot’s practice. Approaching from the South (Berlin is north of Mount Washington) we pass the runway and bank left back to it to land going South.
Some ground features…
Takeoff out of Berlin NH air strip (heading N), banking to West. North slope of Mount Washington (Tuckerman’s Ravine) is then to our left (S). Bretton Woods ski area is seen off the plane’s nose left.
Looking to northwest face of Mt. Washington, Cog Railway visible on slope.
Cannon Mountain ski area
Top of the tram lift on Cannon seen at top right
Our flight took us east and north of Mount Washington and well west of Franconia Notch. If there had not been a low-hanging cloud, we might have flown through (above) the Notch, but not this day– Ez seems a very cautious pilot which is a good thing. Still we had a nice look at Cannon Mountain Ski Area from the north and could see it was pretty crowded with skiers.
The I93 corridor heading south from the Whites
Returning to the runway back in Laconia was one of his best landings, very smooth. In the small plane I didn’t feel when it touched down or left the ground, I guess that’s a good thing too. There is so much noise and vibration though that once walking on the ground again my legs felt wobbly and I was a little woozy, sort of like after being on a large boat on the ocean for a long time. I was happy I didn’t feel the slightest airsickness (thank you Dramamine!)
Home sweet home! Ezra’s plate on his car reads KLCI26 for the Laconia runway!
Hopefully I’ll have the opportunity for some more flights with Ezra. Dad (jokingly?) says he’s waiting til he gets a little more experience under his belt!
OK, I admit I’m spreading pix which I received as an Email Forward, but these are cute and amazing regardless! Read here what Snopes.com has to say about the rumor circulating with these pictures.
According to Snopes and the Animal Welfare Institute, these pix were taken at a zoo in Thailand in 2004, presented as part of their carnival-like exhibits. The zoo itself has been investigated for some shady practices…
Fun way to get a headache… PLEASE COMMENT BELOW whether you view this image as revolving clockwise, counterclockwise, or both!!! (This IS a test!!!)
UNDOCUMENTED INFO BEING EMAILED WITH THIS IMAGE:
If you see this lady turning in clockwise direction you are using your right brain.
If you see her as revolving counterclockwise, you are using your left brain.
Some people do see both ways, but most people see it only one way.
If you try to see it the other way and if you do see, your IQ is above 160 which is almost a genius. Then see if you can make her go one way and then the other by shifting the brain’s current. BOTH DIRECTIONS CAN BE SEEN.
This was proven at Yale University, over a 5 year study on the human brain and its functions. Only 14% of the US population can see her move both ways.
_______________________________
Well I’m sure I’m no genius, but I can see it both ways AND I can force the change, either by blinking slowly or by shifting where my eyes are focused onto a different part of her body, or by looking away and back again. My Hubby can see it both ways too…
I have notified Snopes.com in case they want to research this. For those who aren’t familiar, Snopes investigates and documents urban legends (often those passed around in Emails) and tries to determine whether they are true or false. It’s a good idea in my opinion to CHECK SNOPES ON ANY EMAIL you get forwarded, just to see if it’s legitimate, before you pass it around. There are far too many halfbaked rumors spread around as it is. I couldn’t find anything about this one on Snopes, and it’s quaint, so please take it for what it’s worth…
THANKS to my friend JDTP4E for forwarding this to me!
