In case you missed it, tomorrow is the last day for a giveaway sponsored by Two Horse Tack for a western breastcollar.
Last night, I headed to the barn with the intent to longe. I wanted to see how Tris was feeling; I am still (still) not breathing without mucus, at least not exercising. So riding was out.
I put the longe line on and then saw that someone had closed the indoor up tight and even organized it a bit: all the doors were closed and latched and some of the usual chairs, etc., that were often out were tucked away.
So I did not bother with the longe line. We spent about 20 minutes working at liberty.
Now, I don’t buy into the natural horsemanship join up sparkly hearts kind of working at liberty. I’ve never done any of the Parelli levels. I’ve never bought any specialized equipment or followed any schools of thought or anything like that.
I have worked Tristan at liberty on and off in the years I’ve owned him. More in the beginning, in a round pen that allowed him some space but didn’t mean he went too far.
My philosophy is as such: work at liberty should be used as a tool to fine-tune our communications. Tristan should not simply use it as an excuse to sprint off bucking and then investigate all the corners.
He is allowed more leeway, sure. If he wants to take off bucking that’s ok, but he should then re-focus on me.
So our rules last night were simple: we both had to keep moving at all times, and Tristan had to stay focused on me and listen to what I told him to do.
I feel like any kind of in-hand session progresses best when Tristan gets sharper and sharper off my commands. Last night, we definitely accomplished that. I walked or jogged alongside him around the edge of the ring, because I am in terrible shape and also needed to move.
So he did a lot of bucking and farting around, occasionally in sass to what I was asking him to do. He opted to start off cantering quite a bit, which was fine by me. I think liberty work can be a useful tool for helping see how your horse prefers to move. He’s been telling me under saddle that he would rather canter for a while first, so I let him do what he wanted, figuring I would observe and see more of what I was feeling from the saddle. After several turns at the canter, he settled back to the trot when I asked, and it was not all that pretty: propped, short-strided. So I brought him back to the walk, then asked him to go forward, and let him canter again for a bit. After that, his trot was much more fluid, and after 10 minutes or so he started to stretch down his neck and come up through his back.
He also very much preferred to track right, though I asked him to turn from time to time. So that told me more, as well, which was also not a surprise – he prefers to move to the right. I also worked on getting him to halt, back up, and walk and trot bigger or smaller based on body language. I carried a longe whip but mostly left it trailing on the ground behind me.
He clearly had a lot of fun, which was nice. He gave me some lovely big ear-pricked trots around the outside of the ring, and was W-T-C and back from voice commands from a fair distance. I was really, really pleased with him, and he was clearly becoming more comfortable and happier in his body. Liberty work also gives me the chance to really just watch him, to focus on one leg or one muscle grouping, the way he used different parts of his body.
We finished with a long walk, and while he was a teensy bit warm he was definitely not hot. (It was in the mid-40s, so not overly cold or hot.)
In all, it was a good night, which I sorely needed after a very stressful couple of weeks. (Though, I’m starting to wonder what weeks won’t be stressful right now…)
Back on the horse…a few blog posts from this past week.
Stay Classy – How to Share Photos from Professional Photographers from Pony’tude
This x100000.
My Horse Hubby aka My Other Half from The Jumping Percheron
My husband is basically the opposite of horsey, so this is a really sweet tribute – and I may be a bit jealous of a husband who will hold horses at a show…
A Coincidental Coming Together of Talents from Eventing Nation
I bawled.
Fancy Pants from The $900 Facebook Pony
I feel like it was just last year that I struggled to find non-beige breeches. The times they are a-changing.
DIY: How to Make Pill Hider Horse Treats from DIY Horse Ownership
Ooooooooooh.
Ecolicious Equestrian Giveaway from The Legal Equestrian
I’m always up for a good giveaway, and this looks particularly fun!
Why I volunteer from Hand Gallop
A lovely summary and call for volunteerism.
When does control become abuse? from The $900 Facebook Pony
A really, really important conversation to have.
I’ve been at quite a few barns with Tristan. Some of them have been spectacular. Some of them have been actively dangerous. Most of them have been decidedly mixed.
The barn I am currently at is the best-managed that I have ever seen.
There are a thousand small grace notes in the basics: the layout, the avenues of communication, the ample supplies, the wealth of knowledge, the friendliness and efficiency of everyone.
One area that has to stand out, though, is our barn manager.
I write this on the heels of a 25 minute phone call in which we did a rundown on Tristan and his latest batch of stuff. I called initially see whether they could help me out with soaking Tristan’s ever-problematic RF, but we covered a lot more ground in the conversation.
She had thought up a gradual plan for weaning Tristan off his summer fly mask + antihistamines, with a timeline that would coincide with an upcoming barn-wide vet visit; that way, if his eye blows up again (which would mean it’s a tear duct or eye problem rather than the allergies we strongly suspect) the vet will be there to check on it when it’s actively causing problems.
She has two other horses getting their ACTH levels tested on that same day, and she had talked things through with the vet to make sure that we were well enough past seasonal rise for the tests to make sense. She wondered if Tris should go on that list too; yes! Getting an ACTH re-check for his Cushings was on my list this fall.
She wanted to make sure that my concerns about our new farrier were allayed, and reported that she’d had conversations with the two other owners using him, and they had reported that they were happier as well, so she was satisfied that he was doing a good job. She had been actively managing his first three visits, checking in with owners, and making sure he was a good enough farrier for the barn to recommend to people. She would never have said “you can’t use him,” but she wanted to make sure we were happy and she was ready to intervene if we needed help or advice.
These are just today’s details. I have conversations like this with her on a nearly weekly basis. When Tristan had his surgery and rehab she was amazingly helpful, though she’d known me and Tristan for less than six months. In the time since she’s provided help, advice, and friendship on everything under the sun. She always gives me good ideas, or helps finesse my ideas, and makes it easier on me to ask for barn help by giving me clear outlines of what would be most useful for them. She was instrumental in helping to figure out Tristan’s blanketing regime last year, and I know she was tweaking it constantly, right up to the end, checking all her horses multiple times a day to make sure they were warm enough, not too hot, that their blankets fit right, and on and on.
She is unfailingly cheerful, kind, generous, and thoughtful. She loves all the horses in her care, and I have never seen anyone work harder to do right by them and to keep constantly updated through new research, new ideas, new best practices, and new ways to help them. She is always experimenting with new systems to make things more efficient, smarter, tidier, and easier for everyone, and she is a keen discerner of the line between “too many new systems” and “things that genuinely will make life better.” She knows when to drop a line of experimentation and when to keep searching for the thing that will work.
She has extraordinary powers of observation and works well with a wide variety of owners – from me, who tends toward the hands-on and neurotic, to other owners, who have semi-retired or leased-to-the-barn horses and are 99.9% absentee. I have never felt for a moment that I was bothering her, that I was not communicating well, that I could not ask a question, or that I was worried to ask for – or give – clarification. Even at 10:00 pm at night.
She also texts. Which is awesome.
So: here’s to awesome barn managers at large, and to mine in particular. I often feel like I don’t appreciate her enough, though obviously I tell her frequently and at length how terrific she is. I’m going to try to make a resolution to do more tangibly, like bringing baked goods to the barn and maybe getting some gift certificates for her to use.
Have you had a barn manager or other barn staff member who has just been amazing? What kinds of things did he or she do that were above and beyond?
I have both a naaaassty head cold AND house problems. It has been so cold that any kind of exertion outside leads me to a new coughing fit, so no horse time.
Room #2 is under way! Wallpaper came down lickety split in about half an hour. Today, I am supposed to be sanding and then priming…but am flat on my back with a fever and head cold. We shall see if I rally this afternoon.
Nothing from me today, as I am on a work trip doing research. But I could not let this photograph go unshared.
WARNING: some of these photos will be a little graphic, in the horse injury/treatment sense. Not bad – but if you are easily squicked, this is not the blog post for you.
Biopsy, chemo beads inserted, suturing.
Last night, almost 2 weeks out.
I am two states away from my horse right now (because New England) so here, have the view out my bedroom window.
All my reasons for lack of house posting are alcoholic, apparently.
beljoeor.com 