My most time-consuming project recently has been designing and producing a 24-page photo album-type booklet for Granite State Carriage Association. This year is the club’s 3oth anniversary and I am helping in that celebration. It is interesting to me as a member to learn about the origins of the driving club and many of the early things they did.
Stay tuned, when it is finished I’ll have more time to spend blogging again! Also I’ll share a bit of the booklet here.
NBC Universal will be airing 3,600 hours of coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, including the equestrian events, which will be taking place in Hong Kong. This total amount of coverage will be more than the hours of coverage for all the Olympic Games since 1960 Rome combined. All Broadcasts will also be in HD.
The Equestrian events are listed on the Beijing Olympic Games website.
The schedule is as follows:
Date: Program—Time (EST) on Channel
Aug. 9: 3-Day: Dressage— 2:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. on USA
Aug. 10: 3-Day: Dressage— 2:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. on USA
Aug. 11: 3-Day: Cross- Country— 6:00pm-8:00pm on OXYGEN
Aug. 12: 3-Day: Stadium Team (jumping) Gold Medal Final—6:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m. on OXYGEN
Aug. 13: Team Dressage—6:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m. on OXYGEN
Aug. 14: Team Dressage Team Gold Medal Final—6:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m. on OXYGEN
Aug. 15: Show Jumping—6:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m. on OXYGEN
Aug. 16: Dressage Individual – 5:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. MSNBC,
Aug. 16-17: Equestrian - 12am-12am 8/17, HD simulcast on Universal HD (multiple sports)
Aug. 17: (UNVERIFIED) Show Jumping Team Gold Medal Final 1st Round—10:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m on NBC
Aug. 18: Show Jumping Team Gold Medal Final Round— 6:00pm-8:00 p.m. on OXYGEN
Aug. 19: Dressage Individual Gold Medal Final - 6:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m. on OXYGEN
Aug. 21: Show Jumping Individual Gold Medal Final- 10:00am- 1:00 pm on WHDH (7)
NOTE: The above info was verified at nbcolympics.com, but please correct me if in error– THANKS!
Our friend and Ghost Rider (Guest Writer) Q L Caballo (aka. Sophiea) has won 2 of 4 prizes in an online Photo Contest to benefit Second Chance Ranch Equine Rescue. Check out scrrescue.org
Congratulations to Q L and Q!!! Q is obviously a very photogenic horse!
I know of a gorgous, young horse who is going to be put down if
somebody can’t take her. She is double registered AQHA and 88%
foundation, has 3 weeks of ground training already. This little girl
needs surgery on an impacted tooth and her owner just can’t afford
it. If you, or anyone you know, wants this girl, the owner is willing
to give her away to somebody that will have the surgery done. I had
the girl at my house for a year and what a doll. I would take her if
I wasn’t already at my max. This is a friendly, steady and wonderful
horse. Very loving and playful, no bad habits, had a child riding her
before her 2nd birthday, has never had shoes on, loads, ties, bathes
you name it. Please, please pass this on to anybody you know that is
willing to take on this wonderful girl.
Posted by “megfoste” megfoste@yahoo.com on the Yahoo group NaturalHorseTrim
Tue Jul 22, 2008 10:48 am (PDT)
We have successfully hitched our 2 boys together, under supervision of an instructor! Not only that, but we have already taken them on a carriage drive weekend campout and we drove them 3 times there!
Are we ever happy! I will blog about all this soon and show you pix and videos!!! If you want a preview, a few videos are uploaded now… go here to horsepaintings on youTube to see latest videos as I add them.
SESSIONS 5 and 6 have been added to the end of Driving horse pairs training, step-by-step. I discover why Glendale couldn’t walk straight beside his brother in Session 1 (I’d LOL except I’d be laughing at myself!), AND we have set a date to actually hitch them together to the Eagle!!!
WOOOOOO HOOOO!!! (as HorseGal would say.) Keep your fingers crossed for us!
Watching horses in our backyard daily as I have for 16 years, I have learned a lot about how they behave. I’ve never had the opportunity to observe wild horses, but our own Herd certainly displays many of the same typical behaviors. Though I’ve probably forgotten more than I can recall, I will share under this topic random tidbits as they occur to me. You-all please add your own observations under Comments at the end of this post! And THANKS!
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- An alpha mare bosses the herd. All the other horses fit themselves into their own pecking order, and knowing his place makes each one feel secure.
- Horses talk to each other in subtle ways, or they can shout as well– their communication is almost all body language. A mere flick of an ear or swish of a tail can convey a message. It is very wise for people around horses to pay attention to their language.
- A horse can twitch its skin on almost any part of its body.
- Horses do not sleep for any long stretches of time, day or night; rather, they take short naps on their feet, or sometimes lying down, but rarely for longer than 10 or 15 minutes at a time.
- In groups of horses, when some are napping there is almost always one horse standing and staying awake on guard.
- A mare will stand over and guard her sleeping foal when it is really young.
- Foals sleep a LOT!!! We used to call our guys “pancakes” when they slept flat out in the pasture!
- A horse’s teeth keep growing into old age, their surfaces wearing down while regrowth occurs. A knowledgeable person can tell a horse’s age pretty closely by examining its teeth.
- The horse is interested in 2 things: eating, and being comfortable. For a stallion, make that 3 things.
- A horse’s lower lip droops and often quivers when he is really relaxed; this makes his upper lip hang over, he can quiver that too.
- Their lips are practically prehensile; I’ve seen them pick up a single blade of hay out of a pile of shavings, and they selectively pick grass (and leave behind the weeds!)
- He chews and licks his lips when he is thinking and learning something..
- Horses are very sociable and find security in groups with other horses, once they get to know them.
- Horses can grow so attached to each other that separating one from the others becomes difficult for the handler.
- If no other horse is around to bond to, a horse can become attached to another animal, such as a goat or even a dog.
- And yet, horses can also be aggressive towards dogs, even familiar dogs.
- They are creatures of habit, yet they can adapt to irregular routines.
- Horses love being scratched in itchy places (bug bites) and places they cannot reach themselves (the groove under their chin, withers, between their hind legs, base of mane and tail & under forelock)
- In cold climates, a horse grows its own extra thick coat of fur for the winter. Keeping a blanket on him starting in the fall prevents this fur coat from growing. The winter fur sheds out in the spring, over the course of a month or so– talk about a LOT of shedding!!!
- It’s really cute to watch a foal scratch its chin with a hind foot– even grown horses do that.
- A horse really trusts the human that it allows to approach while it is lying down.
- A horse can snort so loudly it sounds like a gunshot! I believe this shows a high degree of alarm, and could likely serve to warn off an intruder.
Daughter Emmie visited us in Gilford in mid-June and we all enjoyed a carriage drive in Bear Brook State Park (Allenstown, NH) put on by the Granite State Carriage Association. Hubby and I and let her ride young Glendale (almost 3), which she was thrilled to do, while we drove Gilford put to the Eagle 4-wheel carriage.
Emmie had gotten to know Glen while the Herd visited her area a couple of months ago; she loves him as we do and has helped us tremendously with his under-saddle schooling. (I only wish she lived closer by so she could do MORE riding training of our young guys!)
Emmie getting Glendale’s tack while Hubby unloads the carriage, in Bear Brook State Park.
As we start out, Claudia takes our picture for us. See Peaches in front of me! Attendance at this drive was light (gas prices maybe???) and we had the trails mostly to ourselves.
On this excursion, I was riding comfortably in the rear seat of the carriage. My only job (besides picture-taking!) was to keep Peaches securely in the carriage floor in front of me, which proved challenging in the open-sided Eagle. I had her up in the seat beside me starting out, held close with her leash in hand, when suddenly as we slowed she jumped out for no apparent reason and rolled onto her back as she landed, right beside the carriage wheel!
Peaches was unhurt, but it totally surprised me because she is used to riding in carts and carriages since she was a puppy. After that I kept her in the floor in front of me, and had her really well secured by the leash, also between my legs so she couldn’t lean out on either side (we never tie her in by the leash, but hold it for quick release in an emergency.) She does enjoy going with us and hates being left out of anything.
Peaches saying hi to Glendale…
Emmie practiced having Glendale in front and behind, at walk, trot and canter. The following series of 4 videos shows where we encountered a visually frightening bridge, which really worried Glendale. Emmie kept Glen in the lead approaching the bridge (with difficulty) while Dad drove Gilford forward a few steps at a time to give Glen confidence.
Glendale first sees the bridge and wants to turn (and run?) away from it, but Emmie keeps him facing it and slowly advancing. Handling a horse in this type of situation takes a lot of skill and tons of patience. The trick is to keep him facing the scary thing, coax him forward gently but firmly, then reward him for every slightest move in the desired direction, patting him and letting him stand and think things over.
Working our way closer, Glendale seems to become a little more confident as he progresses. Patience is the key… if a rider started whipping on the horse trying to force him forward, it would make the horse even more frightened and create a negative experience. Then in future scary places the horse would associate being afraid with getting spanked– that is how horses are made neurotic. The squeaking noises at the end of this video are the carriage brakes; Dad has the brakes on, but Gilford is pulling against them, he is more than ready to go forward and cross the bridge.
Em I’m sure would have gotten the inexperienced youngster across leading the way, except that another carriage came up behind us and we couldn’t hold those folks up, so Dad drove Gilford over first and Glen then followed readily. This indicates that young Glen just lacked the confidence to be first in line. Dad trots out after crossing the bridge to reach a pullout just ahead, in order to let the following carriage pass us.
Doubling back on the return trip, we come to the same bridge again from the opposite direction. You can see Glendale accepts it now and Emmie rides him across in the lead this time with almost no hesitation on his part.
Glen then has a breakthrough moment (in the video) when Emmie decides for his practice and confidence to ride him BACK over the bridge in the original direction, ALL BY HIMSELF! The 3 yr.old trusts her guidance enough now to haltingly walk over the bridge once more (going in the original scary direction), and even to stop on it for a few seconds each way to deal with standing still on it! (Meanwhile, you hear Gilford protesting that he can’t see his brother anymore and he would like to turn around and follow him, but Dad keeps Gil standing and facing down the trail.)
These 4 bridge episodes demonstrate a compassionate approach to horse training, letting the horse have a say in matters by understanding his instinctive fears when they occur and being patient enough to help him overcome his fears! Emmie has always had a great empathy with horses and taken a kind attitude towards them in their training, developing a trusting (and thus trustworthy) partner instead of a mere beast of burden.
This Bear Brook Drive/Ride was quite pleasant and otherwise uneventful…
Passing another driver with passenger; this striking driving horse is an Appy-Arab cross (half appaloosa, half arabian).
Relaxing walk with Glen and Emmie taking the lead…
On the road again… driver’s eye view! We navigated a woods road that was REALLY bumpy; it was so bumpy I had to hold on with both hands and couldn’t even video!
We had a few nice canters too, here a short uphill run about 3/4 of the way through the drive (Gil is starting to feel a bit tired, but Glen is out in front urging his brother on…)
All happily relaxing once the horses are cared for, and friend Claudia kindly shares her fresh coconut.
