If There’s Trouble

There’s a old saying, that if there’s trouble a horse is going to find it.  Truer words have never been spoken.

Take a look at the picture here.  This is Oakie, our school horse, firmly attached with not one but two blanket attachments to the so-called “safety” fence in his paddock.  Now, you’d think we were starving the poor boy because this all happened as a consequence of him reaching over this fence to get to that little bit of dry, withered grass on the other side of the fence.  Trust me, we don’t starve our horses. I think he’s just into survivalist mode.  You know, the people who have perfectly good food on the table but opt to go out to the woods for a week to prove they don’t need modern society to survive.

Upon finding Oakie snagged to the fence you might think it was just a matter of unhooking the snaps.  Nope.  Can’t be that easy.  Every time I tried to unlatch the snap Oakie would pull back in his effort to free himself from his imprisonment.  Tension is not what you’re looking for here.   Solution for freeing him was to take the blanket off him- not the fence.  He ran with glee to return to his herd and eat the hay that is generously provided.

The next quest was to free the blanket from the fence.  Easier said then done.  I don’t know how he managed it, but those snaps were around two sections of wire fencing where the wire squares come together as a knot.  I couldn’t do that with the dexterity of all my fingers so I haven’t a clue how he managed with no fingers at all.  Getting it off the fence was about a 10 minute enterprise, where I even contemplated getting out the wire cutters.

As the saying goes- if there’s trouble.

Hollie McNeil-Owner/Trainer:Riding Right Farm, Author:40 Fundamentals of English Riding

Bonus Hay Delivery

When you get a load of hay in from your local farmer you would usually expect it to be a simple transaction: hay.  How about a load of hay and two kittens?  Either it’s a clever way to get rid of too many barn cats or it’s like opening a checking account and getting a free toaster.

In reality it’s neither.  Apparently when the hay was loaded late last week, two six month old kittens found warmth and comfort deeply buried in the hay.  When the hay wagon was hooked up to a truck and brought the several miles to our farm the cats were stuck.  Stowaways if you will.  Innocent, non-intentional stowaways at that.

The wagon then proceeded to sit at our place for two more days until we started to unload it yesterday.  Imagine the surprise of our barn workers, when pulling hay off the wagon and seeing two very scared little cats scatter like mice. I’ve no idea what the cats did in the interim.  We had our coldest weather of the season while they were apparently seeking warmth in the hay.  Did they come out for food or water?  There’s no way to tell.

I would love to tell the rest of the story but that will have to wait.  The cats jumped ship and scooted to some other unknown hideaway.  It could be that we have two more barns cats.  On the other hand they could have started hitchhiking back to home.  Cats do seem to live up to the old saying about having nine lives.  I suspect these guys have more adventures to live.

-Hollie McNeil, Owner/Trainer:Riding Right Farm, Author:40 Fundamentals of English Riding

Hay Dunkers

For all of you blog readers out there that haven’t been around horses a whole lot here’s another confirming sign that horses are as individual as we are in our likes and dislikes.

Today’s example: the hay dunker.  Not far from the concept of Dunkin’ Donuts (originating from the idea that we like to dunk donuts in coffee ) comes the hay dunker.   This is the horse that has to take his hay and each little mouth full of hay goes into his water bucket for a moment or two before being chewed and swallowed.

Hay dunkers can be messy.  First, they need to have a couple of sources of water.  Once they dunk enough hay that particular source of water becomes filled with debris and turns a lovely shade of brown or green from the sugars and whatnot leaching out of the hay.  Second, there tends to be hay and water slopped all over the place.  The floor of the stall between the water and the hay will need cleaning attention on a daily basis.

The question that comes to mind now is why?  You’ll find varying opinions on this question.  One fairly obvious answer is that dunking makes the hay more palatable.  The water makes it a bit softer to chew and therefore easier to go down.  It does appear that if a horse has any dental issues they can quite often resort to the dunking process as a way of dealing with what’s not working right with their teeth and jaw.  Age can be a factor as well.  It seems the older the horse the more likely they will become a hay dunker.  Again, probably because their teeth aren’t working as well as they used to because of age, wear and tear.

In my own opinion, aside from dental and age issues, I think once a horse starts to dunk it becomes a habit and they don’t like their hay dry again.  They enjoy the dripping mixture of hay and water and that’s that.

Hollie McNeil, Owner/Trainer:Riding Right Farm, Author:40 Fundamentals of English Riding

To Turn Out or Not

Oh, the decisions we have to make.  Just like every school district in the area today is making a judgment call about whether the road conditions are going to force a delay or a canceling of school, farm managers like myself are mulling the criteria of whether the horses should be turned out or not.

We like getting our horses out.  Our policy is full day turnout for every horse when possible.  The fresh air, the movement, the socialization are all priorities for the management of the horses on the farm.

Not everyone has these same priorities.  Without any judgment attached, is a fact that some farms never turnout their horses.  Other farms have a one or two hour turnout time, often in a tiny paddock.  Some say turnout only in good weather.  Our criteria tends to be a little more on the “let them be horses” side of the scale.  Unless its really nasty (pelting rain, ice storm, blizzard, below zero, 50 mile an hour winds) they get turned out.

I like to use our horses who live in run-in sheds as our “canary.”  If these guys are choosing to stand inside their sheds and don’t want to step foot out, even if there’s food, the no-turnout order is issued.

Wondering about today?  Bundle up- we’re going outside to play.

-Hollie McNeil, Owner/Trainer:Riding Right Farm, Author:40 Fundamentals of English Riding

Time For A Buzz Cut

Nature did a wonderful job figuring out how to keep our horses warm in the winter.  Not long after Labor Day the horses’ coat starts to change.  A thicker coat of hair starts growing.  By December, when the temperatures really dip and the snow starts to fly, nature will have provided a warm winter coat for the horse to live in.

That’s when we  get our our clippers and start to undo all that nature has done. Clipping your horse in the colder winter months sounds like an oddity until you understand the rationale behind it.

For a horse that is in work all winter long clipping makes perfect sense.  A horse that is being worked will usually break out in a sweat.  When they have a long coat the hair stays soaked and steamy for a very long time.  When you go from a work out session in the arena back to the barn the horse needs to be covered with something to pull the moisture from the coat to help him cool down.  If left to dry on their own in freezing temperatures the horse can get truly chilled. It can be down-right dangerous.  Think of you going out to run this time of year and then told you have to stand outside and do nothing.  Soon the sweat on your body and in your clothes will turn to ice and you could be in real trouble.  Clipping takes that thick hair away and the horse doesn’t get so sweaty so cooling off is a much shorter and easier process.

You do have to think about your blanketing system if you’re going to clip your horse.  If the horse’s neck has been clipped they will probably need a blanket that covers the neck and the level of insulation in the blanket will have to be higher.

-Hollie McNeil, Owner/Trainer:Riding Right Farm, Author:40 Fundamentals of English Riding