Same Horse, Different Colors

I love this style of carousel horse. "Jumpers" were always my favorites.

I'm not going to indicate company, location, or anything. This's just for fun.

Dot Horse

If you are both an Internet and a horse junkie, this news may appeal to you:

".Horse Domain Registry Service Offered"

I already have my farm name and another domain name registered, but dot horse appeals. I may well succumb.

Houdini Horse

Those who follow my Facebook page know already that on the night of November 14 a loose horse invited himself onto the low deck outside our bedroom.  The event terrified me, but this isn't a Halloween ghost story. Loose horses can endanger not only themselves but others, so this is a warning about the importance of being careful, about knowing horse behavior, and especially about Knowing Thy Horse.

At 2:20 a.m. on the 14th, some noise awakened me. I assumed one of our cats, who have me well trained, wanted in. As I lay in bed, thinking how little I wanted to get up, a loud thump brought me to full awareness. I rolled out of bed, parted the curtains, and looked down. No cat.

Then I looked up and the moonlight highlighted a huge, silver-outlined shadow a  few feet in front of the glass slider. I wasn't wearing my glasses, so the shadow looked like an enormous ghost. Narrow but tall, almost floating above two skinny legs. Then the head of the ghost flipped in a circle. I knew it was a horse, and not just any horse. That gesture, a move a friend dubbed "an Arab nose pirouette," meant Razz, my 14 year old Arab gelding had opened his gate. Again.

I gathered a handful of horse cookies and scurried into the night wearing a parka over my flannel pajamas. As I came around the corner of the house, he'd vacated the deck and retreated. Now standing outside the yard near the rest of the horses, Razz again lifted his head and stared at me expectantly as I trudged down the walkway toward him.

I knew my mistake. When I put the horses up for the night, I'd forgotten to snap the extra clip on the gate of Razz aka Houdini Horse, an expert at opening supposedly horse-proof latches.

Almost untouchable when I got him as a fearful five year old, Razz now approaches people eagerly, often with a sense of play. I saw the Catch-Me-If-You-Can-Swagger as he walked toward me. After his last escape, my indulgent but non-horsey husband chased Razz around for half an hour while I was at work. I'm sure Razz had a great time.

Well, Mommy don't play tag, especially at 2:30 in the morning. Mommy don't wait around either. I knew he'd come up and put his head down for a halter, but I'd lose a minute of sleep time while he realized  I wasn't going to play. So I resisted picking up one of the ropes and halters hanging by the yard gate. Instead I held out a cookie. Razz walked right up and took it as delicately as he always does, but instead of trying to catch him, I ignored him and began distributing cookies to the horses polite enough to obey curfew and remain in their runs.

Razz of course followed right behind me. When I got to the empty run, I walked back to his feed tub and tossed in a couple of cookies. As I expected, the gray ghost sauntered by me and stuck his head down. As he munched, I walked out, appreciatively running my fingers down his side. I latched his gate, and went back to bed. 

    

We live down a private lane and we have layers of fencing, but I still worry about horses getting out. Too many escaped horses injure themselves in unfamiliar surroundings, find too much feed, or wander onto roads. Endless disaster possibilities exist.  Luckily, Razz just climbed onto a well built deck. Only a few scrapes on the deck show he was ever there. 

Below, the evidence of a horse slithering across our smooth deck. 

Below, the Perp looking innocent, 

denying the need for the shiny new chain

Book Review: Lt. Col. M. F. McTaggart's _The Art of Riding_

Although reprinted many times since its debut in 1931, including  a facsimile edition  in 2010, few riders today have read Lieutenant  Colonel Maxwell Fielding McTaggart's slender The Art of Riding. Those who haven't miss much. I first learned of McTaggart (1874-1936) through some pithy remarks in the now also obscure and useful works of John Richard Young. 

An English gentleman through and through, McTaggart focused on jumping, but his advice shows a man well ahead of his time. For example, here are a few of his rules for jumping:

1.  Never jump a larger fence until your horse can jump the smaller one perfectly.

2.  Never use the whip or spur, as punishment.

3.  Avoid excitement. If your horse gets too worked up, go back to easier jumps.

4.  Make him jump straight and exactly where you mean to go.

10. Do not jump your horse until he has been schooled and is obedient to the leg and rein.  

13. If a horse knocks down the rail do not punish him.  He  did not do it because he was careless but because he was either off his balance, had not used his hocks sufficiently, or was not sufficiently muscled up. Remember that a perfectly balanced and muscularly fit horse will clear big obstacles with ease. It is your job to put him at a fence correctly.

16. If you horse is very sluggish, there is probably something miss.

17. If he refuses unexpectedly, search for the cause. The ground is probably too slippery, or he  may have a pinching saddle or other discomfort. (116-17)

One of my favorite plates is on page 119, which I have scanned below. It shows a man, most likely McTaggart himself, cantering and jumping in the paper reins he invented and that disciple John Richard Young demanded his children learn to use. These "reins of brown paper . . . have been cut in half and joined together by a single thread" (118).

 

Before you critique this man's seat or question the presence of the standing martingale, get a paper bag and some scissors and a bit of grocery string. Give this a go.

If I have a criticism of McTaggart it's a jealous one. Like most of the finest horsemen, McTaggart's innate physical gifts of balance and timing, plus great tenacity and courage, proved both on horseback and on the battlefields of World War I, undoubtedly allowed him to ride hot horses with this finesse.

I now have five of his books in my library, and at one point, the United States Cavalry had ten of his books on their recommended reading list. Despite some repetition, the five I have are all well worth reading. I'm sure I'll enjoy the rest of his work as much as I've enjoyed The Art of Riding, Stable and Saddle, Hints on Horsemanship, Mount and Man, and  From Colonel to Subaltern; Some Keys for Horseowners.

The Swiss State Stud Stallions Form a Boy Band

I love this Swiss State Stud video of their stallions being introduced to pasture life as a bachelor band. Of course, far from being bachelors, during late Winter and Spring, these stallions enjoy gigolo status as consorts for many mares, but this is their off season, and the Swiss State Stud decided to see if they could both save money and also provide the boys with something more closely resembling a natural horse lifestyle.

With no mares around and with enough room to roam, these horses quickly worked things out, setting up their social hierarchy, and getting on with grazing and playing horse games.

I love the horse kabuki theater of the first few minutes, a lot of ritualized screaming and posturing from The Swiss Stallions

More on Rollkur

 One doesn't have to understand German to get the point of this video: Horses don't like it because it hurts.

 "Painful Rollkur"

Viewing this through Google's Chrome browser may prove helpful for those who can't read German because that browser automatically brings up a toolbar for Google translate. There's not much text, but it provides some interesting points, including a comment that 70 percent of dressage riders use rollkur.

That tidbit likely explains why I've noticed an increasing number of incidents of equine rebellion in the form of balking and bolting and bucking since rollkur became fashionable. I'd never seen a top level dressage horse do any of these things in competition until the Athens Olympics. Now it's everywhere because competitive dressage horses differ from classically trained dressage horses, horses slowly coaxed and conditioned to be obedient.

 

South African Racing

Finally, a racing story that's also a feel good story: "S'manga Khumalo: The Black Jockey Shaking up South African Horse Racing"