Posts Tagged ‘grooming horses’
Not Money
For several days in a row this week, we were able to give the horses more attention than they have gotten from us in a long time. I think Cyndie’s increasing mobility has paid off for our horses in boosting morale. They have never given us any indication that they like to be brushed. Actually, just the opposite, but after Swings finally reacted with such whole-body acceptance to Cyndie working her mane the other day, we have fresh hope that we can teach them all this same appreciation.
Yesterday, we did some bale-twine braiding while the herd munched a noontime snack. We figure it will help them accept our plan to wrap posts and hang braided strands if they’ve watched us making them. I am so happy to have discovered this simple reuse option for the polypropylene twine since I didn’t come up with a local recycler that collects used bale twine. Keeps it out of the waste stream for a while longer at the very least.
While I was noticing the horses looking so happy to be watching us, I was reminded again that this retired phase of their lives is the first time their existence wasn’t related to making money. The reason they were born was that people wanted to make money off of them. The reason they were trained to race was money driven. After their racing days ended, all four mares were repeatedly bred in hopes their foals would become money-makers.
We don’t know for certain but based on the horse’s behavior, we imagine the grooming they received previously could have been rather business-like as opposed to focusing on the emotional needs and desires of the animal.
I don’t mean to imply that the treatment they are receiving from us isn’t rainbows and lollipops all the time. I wrote yesterday about working on disciplining their bad behavior. We have also recently taken the annual step of closing off access to the pastures. Mia so sweetly showed up at a gate Cyndie had just closed and forlornly gazed out at the field as if to ask for a pass.
Sorry, no can do.
At this point, it’s for the good of the grass. We need the turf to firm up a bit and the grass to grow at least six inches so the field will become robust enough to support the pressure of four heavy and hungry beasts.
So, we are giving the horses a dose of our own “This is for your own good whether you like it or not.” The difference is that our decisions aren’t based on making money off them. I would like to believe they can sense the distinction.
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Next Level
For the second day in a row, Cyndie has been able to spend some quality time with the horses. Wednesday involved some impromptu efforts to detangle knotted manes which then paved the way for more thorough grooming of all four mares yesterday. Cyndie said that Swings was getting lulled to sleep by the soothing effect of being completely combed out.
We discussed a shared realization that the horses would do well to be given a dose of training to reestablish proper respect for our presence in their proximity. I have not done more than a bare minimum of discipline in the months since Cyndie broke her ankle and I took on the role of primary person tending to the herd. They each have a tendency to behave disrespectfully on occasion and Light, in particular, has reared up in front of us several times which is not safe.
They have had more than enough time to adapt to this place as their home and us as their handlers. Since they are beginning to show some signs of undesirable behavior, we want to move to the next level of interacting with them. By “we,” I mean, Cyndie. She is much more experienced than I am in doing groundwork exercises with horses. My expertise has more to do with filling wheelbarrows.
Cyndie’s mobility is improving every day but is not quite where she needs to be yet for being quick on her feet and dancing with 1200 pounds of horse. While I was working on cleaning up the winter accumulation in the large paddock yesterday, I saw Cyndie trying to correct Light’s behavior while hardly taking a step. Light wasn’t displaying much sign of feeling intimidated.
Yesterday, we also decided it was time to protect the pastures from the horses while the new grass was trying to sprout. They have really been interested in spending time in the back pasture lately and when I finally closed the gate that was their access to it, they did not seem happy with me.
Luckily, they are willing to nibble any grass that tries to grow inside the paddocks. They were all grazing in there in the afternoon before I closed the pasture gate.
When I came down to serve dinner, they were all busy on the far side of the pasture. They showed up promptly when I set out pans of feed, which then kept them occupied while I walked over and closed the gate.
It was the second day in a row of record-breaking heat and it was again accompanied by a dramatic gusting spring wind that triggered a fire risk warning. Apparently, that all ends today. The weekend is expected to involve much cooler temps and chances of slushy precipitation. I’ve apologized to the horses in advance that their thick winter fur has been brushed loose and carried off on the wind.
As tough as this hot weather has been to deal with so soon, a return to snowy precipitation is not the next level we were hoping to experience.
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Cyndie Leaves
It’s not the first time this has happened and it won’t be the last. One minute she was here, the next minute she was gone. Cyndie has flown to Florida to spend a little time with her mom and our daughter where the water isn’t frozen.
Before she left, Cyndie took advantage of one of our pleasant afternoons to visit the horses and seized on an opportunity to untangle some of the “fairy knots” in Mix’s mane.
Mix almost stayed put long enough for her to get them fully separated. Combing out the rest of the mane with some conditioner will have to wait for another day. I look forward to a time when Cyndie has regained her full mobility and can return to bringing her precious energy to the horses in the paddocks every day again.
Hopefully, a little sunshine and exercise in the swimming pool will do wonders for the rehabilitation of her ankle.
Her scenery has definitely changed. One might even describe that as an improvement. (Individual opinions will vary.)
I am holding down the ranch on my own in her absence, which isn’t all that different from the previous four months of her restricted ambulatory abilities. The main thing that changes is my diet becomes a lot less fancy. She did make a point of baking a fresh batch of cookies before she left, so the management of my self-control and willpower won’t be getting a break.
Full disclosure: The primary incentive for managing my consumption of cookies is not for health reasons. I need to pace myself so they will last until Cyndie’s return.
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Self Braided
Two of our four horses have a habit of repeatedly getting their manes tangled into braided snarls. Since none of the four have shown interest in standing still to receive grooming, I have done nothing to interrupt the development of the tangles Mix and Mia have been developing for the last four months.
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They seem to bother me more than they do the horses. I asked the folks of “This Old Horse” if they thought the horses minded having those tangles. In their impression, the answer was basically, “No.” That triggered my decision to just leave their manes alone.
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I’m thinking the fix, if and when it might happen, may involve scissors more than a brush or comb. I also believe it will be a two-person project so that one person (John) can occupy the horse’s attention while the other (Cyndie) does the detangling. Most likely, treats will be offered as part of the process.
The only downside I see of combing out their manes for Mix and Mia is that it won’t last. They have proven their natural talent for self-braiding often enough for us to know the tangles will likely continue to reappear. The prevention for that will come when those two decide they like having their manes combed out. As soon as that happens, we will be happy to groom them regularly and often.
It’s up to them. They are the ones who will show us whether the tangles bother them or not.
I wonder if the only reason Swings and Light don’t develop tangles in their manes is because they don’t like their manes getting messed up.
As the old saying goes, if it hurts when you do “something” then stop doing it.
Based on that, I have no problem accepting that Mix and Mia don’t care about the tangles at all.
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Not Deep
If there is any consolation to be found in the mud we are currently enduring in the paddocks, it’s the fact that it isn’t very deep. Now, I’m not sure how much of that is a result of the underlying frost that has yet to thaw or the base of limestone screenings we’ve established over the years.
It is an entirely slippery, sloppy mess to move around on, but at least it doesn’t swallow my boots like deep mud does. I keep wanting to simply pack it down smooth but it doesn’t really pack. It just squishes out from under our boots or the horses’ hooves and leaves a new impression.
You can see my frequent back and forth path while returning to the wheelbarrow to dump scoops of what is now mud-poop. I’m collecting a mix that seems about 60% mud and 40% manure lately. It was actually easier to scrape the winter’s worth of mushy droppings off the mostly frozen ground than it is trying to scoop daily fresh poop this week.
Yesterday afternoon, Cyndie offered the horses a little grooming while they ate feed from the pans. Light accepted a little attention but didn’t last long before she decided she’d had enough.
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They seem to prefer their muddy coats for the time being.
Think about it. If Cyndie did succeed in brushing any of them head to toe, you know what they would do? Walk out, lay down, and roll around as soon as she finished.
It’s what they do.
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Tidying Up
With temperatures climbing into the 40s yesterday, Cyndie and I saw an opportunity to do a little tidying up around the property. After the most recent bouts of quasi-winter rain-sleet-snow precipitation, an annoying icy, glazed mass of packed snow had become the surface of our driveway.
I took out an ice scraper and pushed away at the soft, wet edges of the ice pack in front of the house. The portion that will come up without resistance is visibly obvious. I focused on that, picking the low-hanging fruit. After working the edges and then pushing the crumble of snow and ice to the side with my shovel, I looked back to see there was already a whole new measure of visibly obvious portions that begged attention.
How could I not keep going? After three times around, I had the whole upper platform of our driveway clean to the pavement. The melt was happening at an amazing rate.
Cyndie was down with the horses, planning to give each of them some individual attention and grooming. That was my next stop, thinking I could hang out with them and clean up manure while she brushed them out. Even though there was a cloud cover painting the day with a hue of gray, the air was absolutely calm, allowing the warm temperature to feel perfectly comfortable without getting hot.
Legacy’s tail has always grown long, but Cyndie noticed it had reached a point where he was stepping on it, so she decided to give it a trim.
After scooping fresh manure from under the overhang, I fanned out a little further around the paddock and picked up some of the newly exposed piles emerging from the melting snow. Like the last couple of winters, we have been dumping much of the season’s worth of manure right inside the paddock.
Since much of the manure is frozen by the time we get around to scooping it up, there isn’t much in the way of composting that goes on in the pile, so it just keeps getting bigger and bigger with every passing day.
Continuing with the theme of tidying up, I decided to try giving the giant mass a little more shape by cleaning up around the edges. I was surprised to discover over the last few winter seasons that despite the dark color of the pile, if it starts out frozen, if left alone, the center can stay frozen well into May or June.
We placed this pile at a spot that we would like to fill in effort to reduce the amount of slope, but it becomes a long slow process to move from an ugly pile of manure to an unnoticeable natural ground cover nicely filling a low spot.
All part of the ongoing process of running a neat and tidy ranch operation, regardless what the weather presents.
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Relative Something 