At least one adult eagle is still in residence on the lake in late October. Don’t know whether this is the male or female, and we haven’t seen their two immature eaglets for about a month. I have read that they usually migrate before the adults.
This eagle was not bothered by either me or Peaches practically right underneath him (or her?)
Eagle on the end of the island… (in top center of pix)
Late fall colors on the big water, eagle perched where it can spot fish. They certainly seem to favor the same trees to land in.
I have read that eagles migrate to open water; perhaps they don’t leave until the lake starts to freeze. I know some eagles winter over on the Merrimack River in Bow, NH and elsewhere I’m sure. Also of course they may go to the coast. Sometimes the immature birds return to their birth area in spring, but not always.
Bits and bitless “cross-under” bridle compared on same horses ridden by same riders in a dressage pattern. Although described as a “controlled” study, IMO no dressage test is controlled since all evaluation is the subjective opinion of a judge. However, I believe there is a lot of validity to the concept of using a bitless bridle. I have observed SO many horse behavior problems resulting from harsh use or simply heavy-handed use of a bit… Makes me want to get out my hackamore and try on Glendale!
Controlled study at the Certified Horsemanship Association’s International Conference in October 2008 at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington Kentucky, USA. The results, co-authored by Professor Daniel Mills at Lincoln University, have been reported in the Equine Veterinary Journal.
Pet Expo, Creative Dog Grooming show, Oct 19, 2009
Gold Coast Queensland Australia Convention Centre
pix from The Pet Directory
Photos taken at the Pet Expo by The Pet Directory including some of the stands and beautifully groomed dogs in the ‘Creative’ grooming Class. Congratulations to the talented groomers who groomed, coloured and clipped their dogs into seahorses, a racehorse and other styles. Photos of Dr Harry the Patron of the Pet Industry Association of Australia and a treasured friend of The Pet Directory.
We took our boys to Cape Elizabeth Maine October 10 to join a drive held by the Maine Driving Club. About a dozen carriages participated, starting out from Spurwink Farm. We enjoyed lovely dirt roads and fields along the shoreline of Richmond Island Harbor, following a one-way route marked by the drive hosts over mostly private property.
Hubby warming up the boys before we start out on our driving adventure.
Pleasure carriage driving on the seashore of Cape Elizabeth, Maine, south of Portland. The ocean view is Richmond Island Harbor.
Two other carriages ahead of us, circling the edge of a field. The autumn colors were beautiful!
Our route takes us through an area where some boats, lobster traps, a floating dock etc. are stored.
Trotting a long stretch of dirt road which is perfect for carriage driving. Near the end of this vid you can see another cart following us.
At one place the woods road featured a double bridge… I assume one was for pedestrians.
Alongside the ocean, Richmond Island Harbor. These fields are peoples’ front yards!
Just some little homes on the Maine coast…
A short section of our route takes us on a busy two-lane highway. We were proud of how the boys were unfazed by all the traffic.
Glen gets antsy with his big brother. We never quite figured out what was bothering him, but he leans on and kicks at Gilford a couple of times, pinning his ears. We scold him for it and tell him to move on out.
More from Fran about Scooby, her young colt. He’s an Alabama baby and in “training” to learn how to control his coltish behavior and to be led and ponied. Also, though he doesn’t know it, he is being prepared for weaning.
CONNIE to Fran (Sept. 28):
I just remembered a really good thing to get colts used to ropes and halters… put a leather halter on him (leather so it could break on great stress, NOT a nylon halter) plus a thick lead rope with a heavy duty bull snap end to fasten it on with… length-wise, it should drag on the ground with about a foot length on the ground when he lowers his head. And let him just drag it around in a pen or in the stall at first, a more confined space so he doesn’t have room to freak out too much.
If done in his stall, don’t have buckets hanging where he could get a foot into one if he rears up, or get the rope caught in a bucket, or bang his head on one. He will step on the rope– be sure it is not so long that he could get his foot tangled in it– and he will self-teach himself to stop when he steps on it, to lower his head when he steps and pulls on it, to move his feet off it and not to be worried about it once he gets used to it.
Theres a youtube FOAL HANDLING VIDEO here, which I did with both our foals when they were very young…
Another thing to do is to tie a rope around his barrel, snugly where the girth would be, with a loose end hanging down for his hind feet to step on. There can be a couple of rope ends hanging down to the ground with about a foot more dragging on the ground. I would do the halter-rope and the belly ropes separately at first; eventually you could do them all at once. Be sure the ropes are THICK (about and inch thick or more) so they won’t be snarly and can’t twist around his ankles easily. This is great self-training for a horse of any age!
FRAN writes (October 5):
We had a good weekend this past weekend. I’ve been working with Scooby putting on and taking off the halter. We worked with him some on the lead rope too! He gives to pressure pretty well considering it’s his first time. We spent some time Saturday at a horse show. My Daughter, Elizabeth rode a horse of her instructor’s in the show. She competed in several classes of English riding (just beginning). She won 2nd place in an obstacle course which included all ages and styles of riding.
Elizabeth at her Horse Show
I wanted to send a couple pics of Elizabeth at her show weekend before last… We all had a great time!
Lovin’ that horse!
Fran couldn’t resist sending the pic of the little girl (Allie) with her mini pony
Also, I think we have found a way to wean Scooby. We have some friends that are in the beginning stages of developing what is called “Leap of Faith Horse Ministry”. They will be offering therapeutic riding for children & adults with special needs. They have several pastures separated with electric fencing and have offered for us to bring either Jackie or Scooby there for a month or so. If we kept Scooby at our place, they said that we could swap out a horse with them so that he would have a companion. If you had this option, which one would you take away from home?
CONNIE answers:
If it was me, I would send the mare away for a while, as being better able psychologically to deal with a strange place in addition to the stress of weaning. Also, I personally would be afraid to trust someone else to keep my foal. A companion horse is a great idea. If I recall correctly it took at least 2-3 weeks for our mare to dry up completely, and I think we kept them apart for maybe a month total.
Hope I mentioned, the other aspect of giving to pressure is to teach Scooby to move his body away when you press against him with your hand. Just like leading, you teach that in tiny increments, by releasing the pressure the instant he starts to move away from it at first, even if he doesn’t take a step but just leans away a little. Then keep repeating, removing the pressure as his reward for the tiniest yield. As he starts to learn, you can increase the distance you want him to move and ask him to move his foot, with lots of vocal praise and patting too.
Don’t fall into the trap of pushing harder to force him to move, or he will be more likely to push back (that is their first instinct). You want him to be soft and light and always to use the least amount of pressure that you can in his training. Always ask softly at first… just a steady firm pressure, enough for him to notice and find maybe slightly annoying, so he will soon prefer to avoid it by moving his body away from it. He should learn that on any part of his body, moving his hind feet away from pressure on the side of his butt, moving his front feet off pressure against his shoulder, moving his head out of your space when you pressure his cheek or his neck, backing away from pressure against his chest, etc.
Great fun for Elizabeth, keep up the good work! I loved being a horse show mom, and I learned almost as much as our daughter did, vicariously!
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