It’s been awhile since I’ve worked cattle on horseback (well, almost a year to be exact!), but I used to do it every day when I was a teenager.  I learned so much about cattle when I was working alongside my dad.  His approach to working cattle was very practical and methodical; my dad is a very patient individual.  But he never really explained things—he expected us to know what he was thinking, to understand what the cattle were going to do before they did it, and to be exactly in the right place to control them at all times.  Anything less was just unacceptable, and he would just be baffled when we fell short of his expectations.  I wish he had given us kids a few basic rules from the beginning, so this article is an attempt to do just that: guidelines for handling cattle for the beginner.

Reliving the day of the round up still puts butterflies in my stomach.  I remember being five years old and climbing into the pickup to go out and start a day’s work, and being so excited that I got to go along I would actually get a tummy ache.  When we got to the pasture the cattle were in, we would unload the horses from the trailer and mount up.  Riders would split into different directions, with the common knowledge of where the gathering point would be—either the windmill where the cattle watered, or a gate where we would move the cattle through to begin the cattle drive.  Then we would ride through the hills, gathering the scattered grazing cattle into small bunches and moving them along as we swept through the pasture, bringing them all to the gathering point.

The first rule of cattle work was to be quiet.  There is nothing worse than riding towards a herd of cattle and seeing them stand up from their sleeping or look up from grazing, throw their heads in the air and run for the four corners of the earth.  Cattle are better when handled calmly, and to achieve that, you work quietly around them and don’t scare them unnecessarily.  We had neighbors whose cattle were very skittish, and it was nearly impossible to work them.  For instance, if one of our cows got in with the neighbors, it was much harder to ride into their pasture and retrieve our cow, because their whole herd would jump and run at the sight of a horse and rider.  Dad’s cattle are all used to being handled horseback, and they’re used to people being pretty quiet and calm around them.

The second rule is like unto the first:  don’t run the cattle.  Most of our cattle work involved driving the herd for ten miles at a time or more, so you needed the cattle to maintain their energy and have enough endurance to make the trip safely.  On hot days, if cows get overheated, they will fall down and not be able to move, or even die.  Cows are scientifically unable to sweat; they do not cool off very well if they’re in constant motion, so on cattle drives, you have to let them go slowly. 

Now, occasionally, there would be reasons for speed.  If a cow started to turn back the wrong way, it was very important to stop her immediately.  Cows are very stubborn creatures and will get something in their head and it’s very difficult to change their minds.  I remember last time we drove cattle up Pass Creek to the mountain ranges near my folks’ place, we got ten miles up the valley and one cow decided her calf was not in the herd and she was going to go back and find him.  She didn’t know that her calf had tired out and been put in the trailer, and that he was following the herd riding leisurely along.  She thought he was back where she had fed him last.  So down the mountain she went, at a run, and three of us tried to stop her (in my defense, I was riding a three year old filly who had never been on a cattle drive before), and she blew past us like a bowling ball past the pins!  My dad was after her on his gelding Red, but it was pretty clear there was no stopping her after the first few attempts.  So he took her several miles down the road to a corral where he got her confined and loaded up in the trailer with her calf. 

Another very important rule in driving cattle is to not turn back animals on the outskirts of the herd.  When riding a horse with little or no cow experience, it’s hard to maintain the slow and steady pace equivalent to a walking cow.  Most horses walk faster, and the rider must stay alert and either slow his horse or ride along the sides of the herd so as to not pass up cattle and discourage them from following along with the herd.  When I was riding a colt, I didn’t want to constantly be in his mouth (pulling back on the reins) to slow him down.  So I would let him walk fast, but every little while I would ask for a complete turn, left or right, or even a whoa.  This would not only keep us at the back of the cow herd, it would also hone the colt’s skills in turning and standing still, which are both very necessary skills for a young horse.  You just can’t be passing up the calves or slower cows at the back of the herd, because what a calf is going to do when you ride by it is stop, stare at you, and turn back to run home and look for his mama.  So a rider that’s constantly moving too fast and passing cattle is not going to be much help on a cattle drive.  Stay behind the cattle.

Another good rule is to be alert to potential problems.  A top hand will see trouble before it starts, and my dad was always really good at this.  For instance, if you’re driving cattle down a dirt road and there is a farmhouse up ahead, you’re going to want to put a few riders up ahead in the open driveways to block off cattle from turning in and grazing the people’s yard.  Cows will take any available opening to slow down and eat, so think ahead and have riders hurry ahead of the herd to block them from diverting from the desired route.

Another tip with working cattle is to understand the benefit of noise and know when to use it.  At the beginning of a cattle drive, you may need to be very quiet to keep the herd from running.  We have even had to keep riders at the front of the herd to slow down the lead cows, as many times a lead cow will think, “Spring grass!  Everybody hurry!” and take off down the road.  So it would not be smart for those at the back of the herd to be yelling and whooping at that time.  However, a few hours into the drive, you’re going to have lagging calves and older cows getting really slow.  You can either stop and wait for them or you can start working on them to hurry them up.  This is where noise comes in.  My favorite urging sound for baby calves is a “ch-ch-ch” sound, as it is foreign to them, and therefore scary, but doesn’t carry very far to frighten the lead animals.  If you make a spooky sound at a lagging calf, it’s going to wake him up and get him trotting up beside his mother where he feels safer…and he will travel faster walking beside his mother than lagging along at the back of the herd.  I also like to whistle when driving cows, I think that’s actually how I first learned to whistle. 

Perhaps the best advice of all is to make things easy for the cows.  If cows are used to being fed their hay daily by a tractor, they associate the tractor with good things and will follow it happily wherever it goes.  So make things easier and have someone drive the tractor with a hay bale on the back leading the herd.  It will show the cows the way to go and keep them from running ahead.  It might not be the “cowboy” way to do things, but it sure saves a lot of trouble.  I always think that luring a cow is easier than driving one.

Those are just a few tips for beginning cowhands.  Spending time around cattle will help give you a better understanding of how they think.

Roundup Rules is an original post by CowgirlDiary.com , written on April 15, 2013. If you are reading this on any other website other than CowgirlDiary.com, please understand this is stolen material and the site owners should be ashamed of themselves. Thank you!

I’ve taken a break from the ridin’
My saddle is gatherin’ dust.
It’s not that I’m done
With the work or the fun,
But I’m takin’ some time to adjust.

My horses, they’re all just free-loaders.
Ain’t none of ‘em worked in a year.
I got three I should sell,
They just stand in the corral
An’ wait for their feed to appear.

I know I should be out there trainin’,
Their whole lives are just slippin’ by
And I know it’s just wrong
That their hooves are so long,
And they haven’t been wormed since July.

I’m just sittin’ here dreaming of horses
An’ wishin’ for that happy day
When this baby is grown
With a horse of his own,
An’ we both can go ridin’ away.

Dreaming Of Horses is an original post by CowgirlDiary.com , written on March 20, 2013. If you are reading this on any other website other than CowgirlDiary.com, please understand this is stolen material and the site owners should be ashamed of themselves. Thank you!

It is my pleasure to offer another great horse story to my readers by way of a book giveaway!  This book is uniquely written in the voice of the horse himself, named Pie, an old brown cowhorse.  It’s very interesting to look at the world through the eyes of a horse, and this book lays out this individual horse’s life with vivid descriptions and unforgettable scenarios.  I loved meeting each of the horses presented in this story; they were described so well I felt like part of their herd.

This book is written by Kandy Kay Scaramuzzo, referred to by Pie as “the keeper”, who was looking for a suitable horse for her shy daughter to learn to ride on.  The advice of her husband displayed some of the best common sense I have heard:  ”Stop playing around with all the pretty ones and go find an old brown horse that knows what he is doing!”  That old brown horse was Pie, who deserved the second chance at life that he was given when he came to live with the Scaramuzzos.

You will enjoy this book all the way through—from the dramatic ending of Pie’s cattle-working days, to the new life he found as a girl’s best friend, and all of their experiences together.  This is a horse who deserves to have his story told. 

CowgirlDiary.com is featuring this horse story as a Book Giveaway, and will be accepting comments as entries to the giveaway from now until March 1.  On that day, a winner will be randomly picked, and will receive an email from CowgirlDiary requesting their mailing address so their free book can be sent to them.  To enter, you must be a U.S. resident, and just leave a comment on this post and you will have your name put in the random drawing for an autographed copy of Pie, An Old Brown Horse (That Knows What He Is Doing).

A special thank-you to Kandy Kay Scaramuzzo herself, for giving us the chance to review and give away this wonderful horse story.  You can find more information on this book at this link and order your own copy if you like.  This book would make an excellent gift for anyone who loves horses.

Book Giveaway: Pie, An Old Brown Horse is an original post by CowgirlDiary.com , written on February 23, 2013. If you are reading this on any other website other than CowgirlDiary.com, please understand this is stolen material and the site owners should be ashamed of themselves. Thank you!

Walking through water can be one of the hardest things for a horse to accept, and his fear is often based on his past experiences.  If he’s never seen it before, or if he’s been forced into it or struggled with by a rider over crossing water, then it’s going to be a big obstacle for him to overcome.  No matter how much horse experience you have, when you’re working to overcome something like this you have to have a lot of patience and be willing to spend the time it takes to help the horse get past his fear of crossing water.

Whether you’re introducing your horse to water for the first time, or your trained horse has developed a problem with crossing water, you should start out by making a plan of action before you begin training your horse to cross water.  Plan your training session in an area with a running stream, or if you don’t have access to streams or ponds, create your own “stream” by running water into a ditch or open space in a paddock.  Just getting a horse used to walking through mud and water is a good idea for future rides. 

Outfit your horse in just a halter and long lead rope.  Bring him as close to the water as he will willingly come.  Then just let him stand while you brush him or pat him.  Don’t attempt to force him closer or get him to cross it.  Your goal is to let him associate the water with good things, and if you make it a struggle or a punishment, he will always resist crossing water.  Let him hang out by the water until he is relaxed, and then wade into it yourself, or step to the other side.  Ask him to follow, but don’t make it a tug of war or a steady pull.  Stay clear of his feet in case he does decide to jump over it, don’t let him land on you.  Leave the lead rope slack so he can sniff, drink, or graze near the water’s edge.  If you offer him a treat or handful of grass, he may decide to take a step into the water to reach the treat.  Reward any forward progress with slack in the lead rope, petting, and praising.  If you don’t get him to cross it in the first lesson, don’t despair.  As long as your training was positive and encouraging, you haven’t lost ground, and he may walk right into the water the next time he is asked, because he wasn’t forced or taught to fear it.

You can also ask the horse to longe around you in a circle, and use your body position to move the horse closer and closer to the water, eventually asking him to move through the water to complete his circle.  If he is adept and obedient at longeing, it shouldn’t take too much to get him to walk or trot right through the water.  The repetitive action of moving in a circle will make it easier to merge him into the water without him realizing it or having a chance to resist.  Once he does go through the water, repeat a few times, and then end the lesson on a positive note, or give him some other task.  Come back the next day and repeat a few times.  Just work crossing water into his daily schedule for a few weeks or until he never hesitates at it.  It should feel completely natural and relaxed when you have practiced it enough.

Another good idea for getting a fearful horse to cross water is to let him follow a horse that is used to it.  If the lead horse will walk into it willingly, chances are good that the inexperienced horse will walk through as well, if only to keep up with the lead horse.  So get a friend to help you, and make the first lesson an easy one.  If  everything is calm and easy the first time a horse experiences it, then he probably will never develop a hang-up about water, and he’ll cross easy the rest of his life.  Making your horse frustrated or really afraid when working with him to cross water will only worsen the problem.  So if you can’t get him to cross easily, change tactics and try something else.  Don’t force the issue and cause a blow-up.

When riding a horse through water, use the same principles outlined above.  Encourage forward motion as you approach the water, but don’t get overly forceful.  If the horse comes to a stop at the water’s edge, don’t take the spurs to him.  Let him sniff, lower his head, look at the water, and otherwise check it out for safety.  Giving him time should reassure him that 1.) the water is safe to cross, and 2.) his rider is sensitive to a horse’s need to inspect something that is frightening to him, and he will gain trust in you.  After you’ve given him a moment, then ask him to continue, or at least give you forward motion.  Even if he moves forward just a half of a step, praise him for obeying and let him pause again.  You are reinforcing that his forward movement was the correct action by letting him pause.  Being in a hurry will only work against you, so be sensitive to your horse and let him pause if he needs to.  By asking for forward movement, blocking any movement to avoid or back away from the water, and praising him whenever he takes a step forward, your horse will gain the confidence he needs to handle water crossing with ease.

If your horse tends to leap into or over water, some additional training may be required.  A good trail horse should cross water calmly, slowly, and steadily.  So leaping is not desirable.  One way to combat this is to direct your horse at an angle into the stream, rather than straight across it.  Use rein contact to ask for a gradual ascent into the water, and don’t let the horse gather himself for a jump.  Once you get him to step into the water, pat him, praise him, and let him know that was the correct action.  You may need to practice on larger bodies of water (pond or lake) before he will be adept at it, as it narrow streams encourage a horse to just jump over and avoid the water completely.  So work on getting the horse to accept the water and not to mind walking into a pond or the water’s edge.  Lots of practice should reduce the jumping tendency.

Some additional tips about riding in water: Be aware that your horse may choose to lie down in it, especially if it’s hot or if he’s itchy.  If your horse stops to paw in the water, or his knees begin to buckle, quickly urge him to keep moving, or you may find yourself in the water, too.  Watch for drop-offs underwater, if you are riding through a river or deep stream.  It is best to loosen the reins and trust the horse to choose the best route through water, but be ready to take control if necessary.  Never ride a horse into deep water wearing a tie-down, as a horse will drown if he can’t raise his head above the water level to swim.  Also, be on the alert for very sticky mud or other dangers when crossing water. 

Following these guidelines will help teach your horse to calmly walk through water. 

Crossing Water is an original post by CowgirlDiary.com , written on February 9, 2013. If you are reading this on any other website other than CowgirlDiary.com, please understand this is stolen material and the site owners should be ashamed of themselves. Thank you!

A common scenario in horse ownership goes something like this:  “We were shopping for a horse for our teenage daughter and found the perfect gelding.  A seasoned show horse with a willing attitude…his owner assured us he would fulfill all of our expectations.  Two months after bringing him home, he became headstrong, barn sour, started balking, and eventually rearing.  Our daughter no longer enjoyed riding, and stopped going to the barn altogether.  Now we’re stuck paying board for a horse nobody wants to ride.  What went wrong?”

While every case is different, this story is all too familiar.  Horses that seem perfect with one rider become sour and balky with a different rider.  Many times, it is a combination of things that contribute and work together to produce a hard-to-manage horse.  What can be done, other than to cut your losses, re-sell the horse (often at a loss, since you can’t demonstrate that the horse is safe to ride), and try to find a more suitable one?

One of the initial things to look at is the type of feed and excercise the horse is used to at the time of purchase, and what changes have been made since that time.  A horse that is over-fed with high-energy grain and not ridden sufficiently to use that energy can develop some bad behaviors rather quickly.  If your horse maintains weight well and is healthy, it is likely he doesn’t need a lot of grain, as long as he is fed good-quality hay and minerals.  Many new owners feel an urge to pamper their horse and make sure he has the best of everything.  But just like feeding children too much candy, feeding too much grain can cause trouble with your horse.

Educate yourself about the caloric content of the feed you are using.  Grains contain 30 to 50% more energy than hay, and corn and wheat contain more calories per pound weight than other grains, such as oats.  So if your horse was previously fed 5 lbs. of oats a day, and when you purchased him you started feeding him 5 lbs. of corn or sweet feed a day, you are actually feeding him maybe twice the amount of calories he is used to, hence his need for more activity, and furthermore, unwanted behavior.  You should take into consideration the amount and types of grain you are feeding, and perhaps feed more hay instead, cutting back on grain to just a pound or so.  Then monitor his weight and appearance, continue working and riding him, and see if his behavior improves.

You should also consider the excercise your horse needs.  If he is kept in a stall most of the time, he may need daily turnout in a pasture where he can move about freely and use up some of his pent-up energy.  Longeing your horse for fifteen or twenty minutes before riding is also a great habit.  It not only prepares your horse’s body by warming him up and taking off the edge of his energy, but it also prepares his mind to pay attention to you and obey your commands before you ever step foot in the stirrup.  And make sure you’re riding him often, as you can’t expect a horse to maintain good riding habits if he seldom gets a chance to use them.

While riding, keep him attentive by riding actively, not passively.  For example, have a set plan for your riding and expect him to obey it.  Even if you’re in an arena, pick out certain areas that you want him to turn at, or stop at and back up, or complete figure eights, circles, serpentines, trot over poles, around barrels, and so forth.  Even on a trail ride, don’t let him meander around and make all of the decisions.  You decide where he walks, which side of the tree he passes by, and how fast or slow he travels.  If you are a take-charge rider, your horse will form a habit of letting you lead.  Many new riders expect their horse to make all of the decisions and then are surprised when things go wrong for them. 

Another thing to watch is your own riding habits and how you are handling the horse.  Many beginning riders have received their horse education solely from the movies.  For instance, they believe they will be able to gallop their horse into a sunset, leap over a running stream, and ride down the side of a mountain like The Man From Snowy River.  Attempting these things on the average horse will most likely end up in disaster.  Most horses are more difficult to control at a faster speed, and a beginning rider should be supervised and instructed by a professional until they are ready and able to handle the horse safely on their own.  Horses can quickly develop bad habits when ridden improperly, and then that is all they will want to do.  Like the photo above of the girl racing away on her blue roan, if running is all you ever do on a horse, pretty soon that horse will no longer stop when you ask it to.  Don’t make these typical beginner mistakes, because it will ruin a good horse.

It has been said, “There are no problem horses, only problem riders.”  If your new horse has developed some imperfections, it might help to have a talk with the previous owner and ask them to give you a few suggestions for you and your new horse.  Chances are they’ll be able to give you some riding tips as well as let you know what the horse is used to.  It’s also a great idea to sign up with a riding instructor for a few months and take lessons on your new horse.  Having a knowledgeable professional there to observe could completely alleviate any problems you and your horse are having, because they will be able to give you advice based on your horse’s needs.  If the horse is exhibiting dangerous behavior, you might send him away for training on those problem areas before you attempt to ride him again.  While the expense for lessons or training might be more than you were planning for, there is no substitute for staying safe and protecting yourself, and it will be money well-spent if it helps you through the transition of getting to know your horse and gaining a better understanding of how to handle him.

If your dream horse has become a nightmare to deal with, don’t give up.  Get a trainer to help you, cut back on the grain a little, and keep riding.  With some adjustments, you’ll hopefully regain the perfect horse you started out with.

When Good Horses Turn Sour is an original post by CowgirlDiary.com , written on January 23, 2013. If you are reading this on any other website other than CowgirlDiary.com, please understand this is stolen material and the site owners should be ashamed of themselves. Thank you!

I attended a training clinic several years ago, put on by a good friend of mine, Kevin Wescott, a horse trainer from west-central Nebraska.  It was a general horsemanship clinic, where local people brought their own horses and asked Kevin to help them through issues they were having, or give advice on their riding, and so on.  I was there with my mare Daisy, whose behavior at this clinic you might remember from my previous blog post.  But aside from that, I observed something at this clinic that has stuck in my mind ever since.

There was a woman at the clinic with a very eye-catching horse.  I mean, the minute he left the trailer, you couldn’t take your eyes off of him.  He was at least sixteen hands, a bright bay with four white socks, a Warmblood with a lot of attitude.  The rest of us were riding our Quarter Horses or ponies around, and here comes this woman leading her Warmblood into the arena….we all just stared. 

She lunged him for about half an hour, I remember.  He was tacked up in English gear, which also was interesting to us Western riders, and the level of this horse’s energy was just over the top.  He pranced his circle around her, head high, eyes rolling, a picture of perfect health and exuberance.  The vibe I immediately got from watching the woman was that she was definitely over-horsed.

She was tall and strong, and used an authoritative voice and body language as she worked with the bay gelding, but I sensed an air of desperation about her, and it gave me a strong curiosity to see her ride him and watch what would happen.  Like I said, the horse was just barely touching the ground, he was so energetic on the lunge line.

This clinic was not very structured, as far as one-on-one sessions.  People were tacking up, leading in and out of the arena, riding circles, working in the center on their own horse, and then there were spectators in the stands, or people hanging around the fence watching.  Kevin worked with individuals at one end of the arena by the stands, and answered questions for horse owners and specatators, keeping a running dialogue explaining what he was doing (and why he was doing it) with each horse.

I don’t remember the lady’s question when she approached Kevin with her Warmblood, after warming him up.  I remember watching them stand there at the close end of the arena, the Warmblood still high-headed but standing properly as Kevin talked with his owner.  The woman, however, seemed upset.  She was explaining the issues she was having with her horse, and Kevin was asking her background questions and finding out what needed addressed and how he might help her.  Kevin did take the horse from her for a moment, or was at least standing at the horse’s head, stroking it as he talked.  The horse had the chance to smell, feel, and get acquainted with Kevin as they stood there.

Then he said something decisive to the woman, directing her to lead the horse away to the center of the arena, and he’d be over there soon, or whatever.  The woman turned to walk away as directed, ignoring that her horse was still mentally “hooked” to Kevin, and basically jerked him by the mouth without looking over her shoulder as she just marched away without a backward look.

Kevin stopped her immediately, and said, “Wait just a moment, you were incredibly rude to your horse right there.”  He spent another five minutes explaining to the woman that by not being sensitive to the horse, who didn’t understand which person had the reins, who was unceremoniously jerked by the mouth for no fault of his own that he could ever understand, she was most likely at the root of all her horse’s problems.  I felt really embarrassed for her, being reprimanded so soundly in front of everyone at the clinic, but his point was so good it has stuck with me for a long time, as I’m sure it also has with the others who observed it.

He made her practice a bit, with leading off from a stop, where the horse is not certain which person is holding the reins.  He asked her to give a clue to the horse first, and a gentle pull if he didn’t follow after her, rather than being so abrupt.  But it wasn’t the exact action that Kevin was addressing.  It was the woman’s attitude of not thinking what the horse was thinking. 

There is a sensitivity that you need to have around horses if you’re going to handle them.  Ignoring the horse’s feelings will result in a confused, disgruntled, vindictive, and dangerous horse.  I have seen so many examples of this over the years, and while it is usually a beginner error, it can also be prevalent in people who have been around horses their whole lives.

My dad is not very considerate of his horse at times.  He is fond of horses, but he is a rancher, first and foremost, and when he’s in the middle of cattle work, the horse’s comfort is not always a top priority with him.  I can think of so many times watching my dad count a herd of cattle through a gate.  We’ve gathered the herd, they’re pushed to the gate opening, and Dad rides his horse up to the gate to narrow it and let only a few trickle through at a time, so he can get a good count.  It’s the best way to count a herd of cattle and be sure they’re all there, and it’s very important, and it never occurs to him what’s going on with his horse in a high-tension moment like gate-counting. 

But the poor horse…Dad rides kind of high-handed anyway, usually in a hackamore or curb bit, and when counting, he’ll just tighten his reins to keep the horse from stepping too far forward in the gate and cutting off the cattle, but then he’ll spur the horse an inch forward to slow the flow of cattle through the gate if they start to bunch up and go all at once.  So he’s simultaneously jerking and spurring his horse.  Dad’s horses usually understand this type of treatment, and stand there poised on their tippy-toes, ready to jump forward two inches with the touch of the spur, or back up an inch if the already-taut-reins are pulled even tighter.  That’s just how Dad’s always done it, but that doesn’t make it right. 

By watching, you can learn so much….what to emulate, what to avoid.  But the overall lesson is the need for patience and understanding.  A horse gives up so much of its free will, it’s only a fair trade to keep his comfort in mind when handling him.  I think the sensitivity you show to your horse will be repaid again and again to you in how he performs.  So don’t be rude.

Don’t Be Rude! is an original post by CowgirlDiary.com , written on January 18, 2013. If you are reading this on any other website other than CowgirlDiary.com, please understand this is stolen material and the site owners should be ashamed of themselves. Thank you!

I have said before—and been quoted as saying—that a horse is born with it’s disposition.  Good or bad, that horse can only be one way the rest of its life, and any amount of training is merely a slight modification of the true nature of the horse.  But I think I have to change that statement slightly by saying that a horse’s disposition is formed at a very early age (not exactly at birth) and once it has formed that initial, instinctive code of conduct, it is set—good or bad—and it’s very difficult to change it completely.

I’ve been thinking on the nature of horses, how they react to their surroundings and herdmates, and form their own individual characteristics based on environment and treatment…it’s very similar to how our own character is formed.  Some of the traits are hereditary, passed on through our lineage.  But the vast majority is learned at an early age, formed and shaped by circumstances in our lives, moments that make big impressions on us, leaving us set and programmed to be who we are the rest of our lives.

If you’re a horse trainer, you understand this about horses.  Horses don’t forget things that have happened to them.  They are flight creatures, very sensitive and quick to respond, and it is only a repetition of familiar things that lowers that quickness and dulls that sensitivity.  A horse’s breed does play into it (Warmblood, Hotblood, Draft, Quarter Horse, Arabian, etc.), and a general pattern of similarity passed on by the parents, but the true disposition of the horse is programmed and set at a very young age.  After that, all we can do with them is attempt to modify that disposition and get the best out of that horse that we possibly can.

A good trainer will credit the horse with the quality of “trying to please”, “working with you”, and being very resilient and forgiving.  Horses can overcome harsh treatment in their past and learn to trust again after being harmed, but in my opinion it is only a very good trainer who can get the most from a horse like that, and that horse may carry the scars throughout its life, and those scars may crop up again and again if the horse is put in a situation that reminds him of the harsh treatment in his past.  For instance, the horse might be just fine for a certain rider, or in situations he is comfortable with, and then some unknown factor enters in and the horse might freak out.  This is why I have to modify my “born disposition” statement…you can’t always guarantee that a seemingly broke horse is going to remain calm, because if something triggers a memory or instinct from the horse’s past, bad things can still happen.

I think the actions of the horse’s mother in the first year or so after birth will dictate how the foal will act.  If the mare is laid back, gentle, easy to work with, not flighty…she will pass those characteristics on through learned behavior to her foal.  The foal responds to her body language and copies it, so if the mare accepts human handling, it is very likely that foal will always accept it very readily.  A foal born in the wild, or without human interaction can still be gentled and trained, but it is going to continually rate its comfort level with humans, based on anything that’s ever happened to it, good or bad. 

I have two mares, Daisy and Penny.  I don’t know too much about Penny, having only owned her for a year and a half and being pregnant for half that time so I haven’t been riding, but Daisy I can pretty much account for most of her life.  I bought Daisy when she was four, from her original breeder and owner, who is a quiet man with way too many horses to train them all, but he just loves horses so he keeps breeding a few each year and keeping most of them around.  I know he valued Daisy’s mother and that she was a good dependable horse, and I know that he taught the foals at an early age to jump in the horse trailer alongside their mothers to go to summer pasture and so on.  Other than that, her first four years I don’t know a lot about.

But when I bought Daisy, as an unbroke 4 year old, I put a saddle on her in the round pen and she looked around at me like, “Okay, get on, let’s go.”  So I did.  She was already “broke”, she was that calm and quiet.  I rode her bareback all around the farm, and there was no spook there at all, no danger I could see.  As far as gentleness, I had hit the jackpot, she was that quiet.

I rode her a couple of years, off and on, and the only trouble I had with her was occasional balking.  She did buck me off once, and several times would stop during a ride, and rear up a little as if warning me that what I was asking of her was just a little too much, she was ready to go back to the barn with her buddies.  These tactics I tried to meet with bravado, tightening my seat and reins, holding onto the saddle horn, talking sternly to her and legging her up to get her through that balking point, after which we’d continue our ride.  It just left me with a little nagging doubt about her true nature, but I didn’t see all of it until she was under another rider.

When she was six, I took her to a training clinic where a friend of mine was working with people’s horses.  He told me to bring Daisy, saying he gets tired of working horses on foot all day, and it would be nice to have a horse to ride.  I warned him that she hadn’t been ridden in a year, since I had been pregnant with our oldest child, and I wasn’t sure how she’d behave.  He sort of shrugged it off and stepped into the stirrup with a lunge whip in one hand.  Daisy broke in half, in a series of high, wild, rodeo-worthy bucks all over that outdoor arena, through a dozen or so other riders and horses!  I could not believe my eyes.  The trainer stuck with her, never pulling on the reins or responding at all other than to ride it out, and then he stepped down, handed me her reins and said he guessed he’d work on foot. 

Well, I was shocked.  I didn’t think she had it in her, I had never seen any of that side of her before.  But it’s there.  So I modified my opinion of her just a tad, and that day I rode her just fine, we worked on backing up, leg yielding, and lowering her head to pressure.  I have continued to keep her and ride her for these following seven years, and she has never offered to buck with me, ever since.  But I know she can, and I ride her accordingly. 

Daisy does have a few other character flaws.  She’s bullheaded.  I tied her up to trim her hooves when I first bought her and she promptly broke my heavy nylon halter.  She’s buddy sour.  Her biggest concern is staying within ten yards of her barnmates, and while she will ride out alone, she will offer up constant reminders that she is unhappy being away from them, and I always trust her less if I’m making her ride away from the other horses, because it’s such a big deal with her, she’s not safe if she’s not happy.  She’s pushy.  I have had her nearly trample me to get out the gate, if the other horses are already out grazing and I’m simply wanting to lead her through to join them.  She doesn’t care where you’re at, her one goal is to meet up with friends and eat grass.  So….I don’t know how that character was formed, my guess is she was left to her own ways for four years, and that was about three and a half years too long for her to be a good, responsive, trustworthy riding horse.  But we get along on what we’ve got.

Contrast that with Penny.  Penny is my buckskin mare.  I don’t know a thing about her, except that she’s eight years old, came with a cute little buckskin baby when we bought her, and I thought she might make a riding horse.  From the moment we bought her, she showed all the signs of a good education.  Loaded in the trailer, led gently, stands quietly in the halter, shows responsiveness to where you are standing or what you are doing, accepted her feet being trimmed, took the saddle without complaint or edginess, and acted a lady no matter what we asked of her.  So I got on her and started riding her.  Just like that. 

I don’t know where Penny came from, or who worked with her, trained her, or rode her before me.  But I like her.  She has that kind of disposition that you cannot create in a horse.  It’s just there.  I have had her crow hop at a lope, just a bit, and she is a little on the hot side.  But that’s just one more thing to love about her, in my opinion.  And one of the very best things about her is the example she has been to her yearling colt.  He is going to be a good horse because of her.

Horses are just like kids.  Left to themselves, they will not turn out well.  Train them from day one, and you’ve got something really valuable.  Remember that when you’re choosing a horse.  Disposition is the single most important thing in a horse.  Color and beauty is just the outside wrapper, it’s the horse’s heart that you want to fall in love with.

Good Disposition is an original post by CowgirlDiary.com , written on January 6, 2013. If you are reading this on any other website other than CowgirlDiary.com, please understand this is stolen material and the site owners should be ashamed of themselves. Thank you!

This season has come along so suddenly, I am struck with the startling realization that fall is almost over and those harvest-colored sunshine days that I used to love to go riding on are almost past.  Winter is coming.  The pessimistic side of me is dreading the frozen water tanks, fierce winds, sub-zero temperatures, and the aching fingers I get from handling a cold pitchfork.  I don’t like the effects of daylight savings time, with it’s short days and cold nights.  But winter brings more than that.  There will be sledding excursions for the kids, bright sparkling mornings where the snow has given everything a fresh coat of white glitter, the desire for a cup of hot chocolate and a longer cuddle with your sweetie than you’d want in the summertime…..there are some really great things about winter.

Our baby will arrive in just a few weeks.  The anticipation has been growing with each day that passes.  We know it’s a boy, so we’re thinking of names, wondering what he’ll look like, washing and folding tiny clothes and marveling at how small babies are…it’s a fun time in our family, looking forward to welcoming a new one of us.  It’s exciting, knowing that nothing will ever be the same again.  We are more.

These days have been busy.  As a stay-at-home mom, I’ve held a part time weekend job for years now, but there have been several people retire and others quit within the company, and I have been working almost full time hours since May, and working six days a week since September.  It really cuts into the time I have to keep house and be a mom, but my mother in law helps out with babysitting and picking up kids from school, and we often go to their house for supper as well, so it makes things easier for me. 

I haven’t ridden a horse since April.  A girl came out from Omaha in October, interested in buying my sorrel mare Daisy, and I really wanted to ride Daisy around a little first, but my husband said no.  Daisy was perfectly behaved for the girl, so it didn’t matter anyway, but watching her made me want to ride so badly!  It just doesn’t feel like being me, to be apart from horses for so long.

The buckskins are gaining weight, as I had hoped, but I really wanted to thin our herd just a little by selling Daisy.  Feeding five horses can be a heavy drain on our checking account through the winter.  The girl just fell in love with Daisy, but called us with a low-ball offer of half what we were asking, so we declined.  She has called back since, wanting to come ride her again, but we’re just not interested in “giving away” a horse we have spent a lot of time with and gotten to really like.  Daisy has been a pretty good girl most of the time, and our daughter has started riding her, and we just couldn’t let her go for half what we were asking.

My husband is starting a new venture in sales, a straight commission job, which we had hoped to ease into while he continued his old job….but when he approached his current boss about going part time and starting the new job on the side, the boss had different plans.  He wanted us to move to a different state and take on more work and less pay, and we just couldn’t do that.  A new guy was hired to replace my husband, and he was told after he trained the new guy he was done.  So Cowboy Dad’s last day of work was today. 

Winter is bringing some scary things.  We are trying to look ahead, making plans to cut out any unnecessary expenditures until this new job gets underway, and hoping to hang on tight through the thin times.  The big picture is full of blessings, though.  We’re thankful for our family.  Thankful to God for the safety and health He gives us daily.  Thankful for each day that dawns, as it gives us more opportunities to enjoy the life we have.

I hope you’re finding yourself thankful as well this season, and I wish you a hundred little things to brighten your days in spite of the cold and darker evenings.  Winter is wonderful!

Welcome Winter is an original post by CowgirlDiary.com , written on November 24, 2012. If you are reading this on any other website other than CowgirlDiary.com, please understand this is stolen material and the site owners should be ashamed of themselves. Thank you!

I grew up in the country, but I wasn’t born in a barn.  More like a cornfield.  We had a barn, but it was not your typical horse stable, and the horses never slept in it.  It had a room we kept the saddles in and a heat lamp for baby calves that were chilled and needed a dry space to warm up in the winter, it had a stanchion area for milking a cow (that was one of my jobs when I was in high school), and it had a bigger open area we saddled the horses in, and then two stalls and a headgate for restraining cows if they wouldn’t let their calves nurse or if they needed help calving.  I spent a lot of time in our barn as a child, but I didn’t learn how to muck a stall until I was in my twenties.

Our horses were outside horses, ranch horses that were used to the elements.  They spent even the coldest blizzard outside in the corral, their tails to the wind, usually lined up along the shelter belt of cedar trees to the north, keeping out of the worst of it.  They’d get a layer of snow on their backs, and my dad always said that the snowiest ones were the warmest ones, because that meant their body heat was not escaping.  Their thick fuzzy hair was insulating them so well that the snow didn’t even melt on their backs.  The only thing we did to ensure their warmth was feed them hay and corn.  Dad said that an eating horse is a warm horse, so we never worried much about them in the winter, their heads were buried in the hay bale, and their tails were to the wind.  None of them had ever seen a stall.

When I was out of college and in my first teaching job, I was homesick and hankering for horses.  Some people at my church told me to call their neighbor, Becky, and ask if she needed any help.  She agreed to let me keep a horse at her place in exchange for stable work.  I bought a pony for $275 and started working for Becky Merrill, of Marshalltown, Iowa, who has won six World Championships, several Reserve World Championships, and the All-American Quarter Horse Congress three times. 

I learned a lot from Becky during the short time I worked there.  I had never mucked a stall, never fed a horse anything more refined than corn straight out of the grain bin, and had grown up riding any way that felt right on a horse.  I had a lot to learn!   

Becky’s horses were more like people, actually, than animals.  They knew what time breakfast was, they did everything out of habit, they wore expensive blankets at all times, and never had a hair out of place.  I mucked stalls for the three horses she kept inside at that time.  There was Just Step Aside, a 20 year old world champion trail mare, Nouvo Riche, a black paint mare that had several championships on her record as well, and a three year old stallion named I’ve Paid My Dues, who is out of Becky’s mare Just Step Aside, by the World Champion Pleasure stallion, A Sudden Impulse.  The mares were like queens, moving with slow elegance.  The stallion was the opposite.  But I learned a lot from the horses, as well.

Becky had a chronic lung condition that made it impossible for her to be out in cold weather, dust, or anything that affected her breathing.  So mucking stalls was going to be my job.  She showed me how to load the wheelbarrow with the loose stuff, filter through the shavings to leave a good thick bed in the stall, scrape a urine-soaked stall down to the floor boards, layer on a little lime, and then refill the stall with shavings.  I actually liked the work, it was methodical, relaxing, took little thought, and left plenty of time for daydreaming.    I remember turning out the lights at night, listening to the horses chewing, the barn smelling like fresh alfalfa and cedar shavings.    The barn was a good place to be.

I only worked there for a few months, and didn’t have any stall work for the next ten years or so.  But in my current venture to put more weight on my buckskin mare and yearling, I have separated them into a different pen that has stall access, and am feeding them in the open stall so they can come in out of the cold as they wish.  They aren’t very conscientious about where they leave manure, so that stall is needing daily cleaning.  I’m finding happy memories in mucking stalls once again, and thought that a step-by-step description would be a good thing to share on my blog.  After all, there are plenty of horse crazy girls out there who have never mucked a stall, and might want to know for future reference.  So…how do you muck a stall?

1.  Fork out the manure.
You’ll need a wheelbarrow or tub, and a manure rake.  Scoop up the manure and load it into the wheelbarrow.  If the shavings are fresh, use the narrow tines of the manure fork to shake out the shavings while keeping the manure in the fork.  If the shavings are soaked or very dirty, just scoop everything into the wheelbarrow and clean the stall completely.  If you do a good job of separating the manure from the shavings, the old shavings will stay fresh for about a week, and you might just have to add a little bit of fresh bedding each day, rather than empty out the whole stall, which gets expensive.

2.  Scrape down the wet spots.
Locate the urine spots and scoop up any wet shavings and add to the wheelbarrow.  Use the manure fork to scrape away the bedding until the wet area is exposed clear to the floorboards.  Sprinkle a little barn lime on top of the wet area.  Lime will absorb and neutralize the ammonia smell under the bedding, and will help keep the stall air fresh.  If the horses are turned out during the day, leave the wet areas uncovered to speed up drying.  If the horses are in the stalls most of the time, cover the wet spot and lime with a little dirt.

3.  Add new bedding.
Depending on how much bedding was removed, add more shavings to make the stall comfortable.  Three to four inches is a good rule of thumb, but it will depend on the individual horse using the stall, and how much time the horse spends in the stall.  For a horse that’s only stalled at night, three inches is good.  For a horse that lies down a lot, he might need twice that much bedding.  Spread the shavings evenly over the stall floor with your muck rake or pitch fork.

4.  Clean feeders and water buckets.
Finally, make sure that the water bucket is clean and free of hay or shavings.  Feed pans should be cleaned periodically.  The stall aisle should be swept, and all your tools put away.  And don’t forget to empty the wheelbarrow!

I do enjoy knowing that the stall is clean, the horses are fed, and while they may not thank me for it, I just get that deeply satisfied feeling when I’m done with the chores.  It’s part of what makes having horses so rewarding, when you invest your time and energy into the wellbeing of someone else, you get the biggest benefit of all.

How To Muck A Stall is an original post by CowgirlDiary.com , written on October 29, 2012. If you are reading this on any other website other than CowgirlDiary.com, please understand this is stolen material and the site owners should be ashamed of themselves. Thank you!

Usually my horse maintenance plan goes something like this:  pitching hay morning and night and making sure they’re all walking on four legs.  But sometimes horses require more than that.  We had the vet come out the other day, to castrate our buckskin yearling stallion and check on his mother’s health.  Both of the buckskins have lost body condition in the year that we have owned them, and we wanted to get a professional evaluation from a veterinarian on how to counteract that.  We weren’t sure if it was a tooth problem or lack of adequate nutrition for the mare, and the colt needed gelded and is looking a little bony as well. 

I called Dr. Corie England, from Corning, Iowa, who has a traveling veterinarian business called Gravel Road Equine Ambulatory Service.  Since we don’t have any equine vets in the nearby area, it was really handy to have her come out to the farm and see the horses at our location.  She arrived with her assistant, in a fully-stocked vet’s pickup—it even had water tanks to fill her buckets for sterilizing the surgical instruments.  She asked a lot of questions about our horses, had me fill out and sign a treatment plan sort of form, and explained what kind of care would be best during and after the colt’s surgery.

We had set up the round pen panels in a grassy spot so the vet would have a clean area to work in and the colt would be able to wake up on his own.  He has been weaned for a year now, but has been pastured with his mother and is still emotionally attached to her, so we had her tied close by at the trailer while he was being treated.

The vet began with a basic evaluation, weighing him at 600 lbs and making sure both testicles had descended so that the surgery could take place.  She said he is at adequate height for his age, but is in need of more protein and minerals in his diet, and suggested testing him for worms as well, since his belly seemed fuller than usual, and that could be a sign of roundworms.  We have kept a pretty good deworming schedule, using an ivermectin paste, but sometimes worms can become resistant to that and still infest a horse.  So she took a sample of his manure to test for that.

She gave the colt a tetanus shot, and then the drug that would put him to sleep during the surgery.  He was pretty agreeable to it all, and began to slump and they helped him down as he fell, blindfolding him with a cloth over his eyes tucked into his halter.  The assistant cleaned the area with the water and more cloths, and then held him on his back while the vet did the surgery.  They used clamps to seal off the cut places for five minutes each to restrict the bleeding and encourage clotting.  He was given banamine, as well.

While he was asleep, the vet checked his teeth, explaining that sometimes young horses have wolf teeth that need to be removed.  But his teeth were fine, and no wolf teeth were present, so everything looked good there.  I really appreciated that the vet took the initiative to look for things I hadn’t even thought about.  I did mention that if the colt was one that didn’t like to have his hooves trimmed, it would be the perfect opportunity to do so, while he was sleeping!  But this little guy is our easiest horse to trim.  He is very willing and quiet, and it’s easier to pick up a hoof on a horse that doesn’t weigh very much, so now is the time to train him on that.  I had trimmed his hooves a few weeks prior to this visit, so it wasn’t necessary.  He remained sedated for another twenty minutes or so, while the vet looked at the mare.

The mare was rather worried about her baby, lying flat on the ground with his face covered.  She kept whinnying for him.  The vet measured her, took her temperature, listened to her chewing, looked at her teeth, and said that there was no evident reason for her weight loss and that she was probably needing the same boost of nutrients that her foal needed.  We had noticed a few months prior that she would take a bite of grain and then dribble most of it back out as she chewed, so we were thinking her teeth needed floated or pulled.  But the vet said that other than looking older than the age recorded on her papers (the vet estimated her to be about eleven years old, but her papers say she is seven), her teeth looked fine and she appeared to be chewing correctly. 

Dr. England said that there are four criteria that can cause weight loss in horses: 
1.  Worm infestation.
2.  Tooth or jaw problems.
3.  Inadequate nutrition.
4.  Poor metabolism.

Since we had dewormed the mare two weeks earlier, at the same time as all of our other horses, we didn’t think worms were the problem.  Her teeth had checked out fine, and since she was in fine health and a much bulkier shape when we bought her a year ago, we figured that metabolism wasn’t an issue—she should be a relatively easy keeper.  So the consensus was that they are needing more feed than just the grass hay morning and night, and the vet suggested that we use a bagged feed called Strategy, as that would work for both the mare and her colt.

I believe that the underlying problem is that both horses are at the bottom of the pecking order in our herd, and they are getting pushed back during feeding times and not getting their fair share of the hay.  While we do feed them a little corn most evenings, the vet explained that corn was simply a starch, and didn’t do a whole lot for their nutrition, just like humans eating starches and sugars.  Our other three horses are nice and round, and are obviously getting as much as they need for the lifestyle they live, so it’s not that we aren’t feeding enough, it’s just that most of the feed is being eaten by the bossy horses in the herd.

So we picked up some bagged feed the next day, and have started them on it, and I also have made plans to build some fence across another area of the farm so that the two buckskins can have their own paddock and not have to fight for every mouthful they get.   They are loving their new feed, and it’s already helping the mare to not be so shy when I go out to catch her—she’s learning she gets to come in and eat without the other horses bossing her!  So I’m happy we’re taking these steps to improve our horses, and I’m excited to see the difference a little extra care can make.

The vet said a good way to track progress is to take photos of the horses frequently, and compare them.  So here is the mare on the day of the vet’s visit:

This photo is the very same day, but definitely shows her ribs more:

The colt is just growing so rapidly it might be hard to see a change, but I’d like to see better muscle on him, and a stronger topline, rather than him carrying his weight in his belly.  Dr. England’s office called us soon after her visit, and confirmed that there were no worms in the sample they took, so that’s reassuring.  We were really happy with her level of knowledge and expertise with the horses, and she really seemed to take extreme care to prevent infection and promote their wellbeing.  In such a rural area, it’s a blessing to know we can call on Dr. England for help with our horses!  You can see her website at GravelRoadEquine.com or visit her Facebook page here.  I would recommend her services to anyone needing horse care.

Horse Maintenance is an original post by CowgirlDiary.com , written on October 1, 2012. If you are reading this on any other website other than CowgirlDiary.com, please understand this is stolen material and the site owners should be ashamed of themselves. Thank you!

This is Dorothy, our favorite pet cow.  Disregarding the fact that I grew up on a ranch where we really didn’t name cattle, as all of the calves were destined for the sale pen and most of the cows were a uniform black color with no distinguishing characteristics…we now have a small enough herd with enough color variations and personalities to be able to tell them apart and call them by name.  So we have Dorothy, a glossy red and white Hereford cow.  She has a very sweet temperament, is the most laid-back and gentle cow I’ve ever seen, and our affection for her over-rules all common sense, because a smart cattleman would have sold her long ago.

We bought Dorothy’s mother in 2008, one of four purebred Hereford first-calf heifers.  We bought the heifers with their little babies at side, and bred back for a set of new ones for the following spring.  My husband went to buy them from a reputable Hereford breeder, and I didn’t see them until they were unloaded from the trailer down at the pasture we were going to keep them in for the summer.  I snapped this photo as the cows stepped out of the trailer and into their new pasture:I wasn’t especially impressed with the heifers, since my head was stuck on what I considered an exorbitant amount that we’d paid for them.  But I guess if you figure what we paid per heifer was actually purchasing three head of cattle, it wasn’t too bad of a way to start out.

From those orginal first calves, there were two heifers and two bull calves, so we kept the two heifers and sold the two bulls as steers when they were weaned.  The two heifers, the closest two to the camera, we named Dorothy and Peaches.  Dorothy is the red one with the white tail, and Peaches is the black one eating grass:

I had no way of knowing that those scrawny little calves would become so dear to us, or that they would grow up into big shiny cows someday.  Our plan was to keep the heifers and breed them, so we would have six cows having babies.  I think the name Dorothy was contrived from the one of the kids’ movies, with Clifford the Big Red Dog, and one of the characters was a tight-rope-walking circus cow named Dorothy.  Anyhow, we named the red heifer Dorothy, and decided that whenever she had a calf, when it was sold we would split the money to put into our two kids’ savings accounts for them.  This is a family picture of Dorothy as a yearling, with her mother and baby brother lying next to her:

This is Dorothy as a two year old, making friends with a newborn calf.  She has always loved the babies and she and Peaches would gather around them, licking them and welcoming them to the herd.  We were excited for the day when Dorothy would have a baby of her own.

However, the plans we had for her didn’t work out.  We sent her to be AI’d when she was a two year old, along with her best friend Peaches.  The vet said that Peaches was pregnant, but Dorothy just wouldn’t take.  We tried again a month later, but again it didn’t work out.  So as a last resort, we brought Dorothy home and turned her in with the neighbor’s bull.  We didn’t know the EPDs on the neighbor’s bull, but the calves in his pasture looked pretty small, so we just hoped for the best.  Dorothy became pregnant, and we looked forward to meeting her baby the following spring.

The day she went into labor, we were watching her and worried that she would have trouble.  We could see she had the calf’s front feet out, but didn’t seem to be making progress beyond that.  We called the vet, but he was at another farm call and we were second on his list, so we got Dorothy ready and waited.  She followed us into the corral, her head in a bucket of corn, and seemed unconcerned about the trouble she was having.  When the vet got there, he started pulling the calf, but shook his head, saying, “This cow isn’t big enough to have this calf.” 

Sure enough, her firstborn was a huge black bull calf, and no matter what we tried, we could not get him to take his first breath.  There was too much fluid in his lungs, and he didn’t respond to any of the vet’s attempts at reviving him.  Dorothy was the perfect mother, mooing over him and licking him off.  I felt so sad for her as I dragged the calf’s body out to the cornfield to let her stand with him for awhile before we disposed of it.  She was the prettiest, gentlest cow we had, but it just didn’t seem like she was going to be able to be a mother.

Peaches delivered a tiny black bull calf the next summer (the bulls they use for AI are intentionally low-birthweight so that first-calf heifers can deliver more easily.)  We saw him in the pasture lying curled up in a little ball, and when Cowboy Dad went to check on him, it scared him out of his sound sleep, and he went running straight into the fence, and through it into the bean field, he was so scared!  The kids thought it was so funny, and instantly named him Little Dummy.  He grew up into a nice steer that we sold later on and brought a very good price at the sale. 

But Dorothy remained barren as a three year old, and we tried another round of artificial insemination.  When we had the cows preg-checked that fall, we asked the vet about Dorothy.  He said she was open, and we reminded him of how she had lost her baby the previous year and hadn’t been able to get pregnant since then.  He said she would make really good hamburger.  I said, “But this is Dorothy!  She’s our pet.”  We talked about selling her, since she was such a nice big pretty cow, she would probably bring a good price.  But my husband had toured a processing plant, and said, “We could never send Dorothy to that end.”  So we just kept her, even though she was costing us money and making no sense financially at all.

The next spring, when the vet came to check the cows, I made it a point to ask him about Dorothy.  “Do you ever think she’ll be able to have a calf?  Is she prolapsed or messed up internally so she’d have a hard time calving?”  He looked at me like I was crazy, so I explained that this was the heifer whose calf he’d had to pull, and that we’d had trouble getting her pregnant ever since.  He shook his head and said, “This isn’t the same cow.”  I laughed, “Yes it is!  This is Dorothy, our pet cow.”  She had grown a lot since he’d seen her, and he was surprised.  He said she was fine to go ahead and try breeding again, and that there wasn’t anything wrong with her physically.

So she just got back from the AI vet this week, and this is what she looks like now: 

She is confirmed pregnant, has had an ultrasound, and is finally on her way to becoming a mama.  She will be six years old when she has her first live calf!  She has grown so much that she should be just fine calving, and it’s exciting to see her all round and filled out.  The AI vet feeds them silage and mixed grain, and she evidently ate full-time while she was there, because she came home roly-poly!  

Here’s my husband giving Dorothy a treat.  Dorothy is our best cow, even though she hasn’t ever earned us a cent.  She will follow you wherever you lead with a bucket, and is gentle enough to give her vaccinations without putting her in a chute.  Just hold a bucket for her, and she will do whatever you want.  That’s made her invaluable to us, because whenever we need to move the herd or load them in a trailer, we just lead Dorothy in first, and they all follow her.

I think we’ll keep her forever.

Dorothy the Hereford Cow is an original post by CowgirlDiary.com , written on September 18, 2012. If you are reading this on any other website other than CowgirlDiary.com, please understand this is stolen material and the site owners should be ashamed of themselves. Thank you!

For the beginning horse enthusiast, the task of buying all the stuff that is needed for horse ownership can be exhausting.  It can also drain your bank account very quickly, and without prior experience you might find yourself buying things you will never use, or horse items that aren’t the best quality.  This article will provide you with the best websites to find tack and used tack, some tips on choosing what to buy, and some guidelines to hopefully prevent you from spending too much.

First of all, if you don’t have the money to buy the entire list of four hundred plus items that are associated with caring for a horse, don’t be discouraged.  You can prune that list down to just the essentials and be able to save a lot of money and still function just fine.  Depending on the discipline and level that you plan to participate in with your horse, you might add a few more things as needed, but these are the basics for horse tack:  halter, lead rope, bit, bridle, saddle, saddle pad, brush, hoof pick, feed scoop, and feed bucket.  That’s just ten items!

Of course, if you plan to show, the list will be longer.  If you plan to keep the horse at your own farm rather than at a boarding stable, the list might include fencing materials, stall bedding, hay, feed, and a water tank.  And if you’ve got the unlimited funds to be able to spoil your horse and yourself, by all means buy everything!  This is just a practical list for the beginning rider who doesn’t have a lot of extra cash to spend and wants to just be able to have a horse to ride and enjoy.

Some of the best sources for horse tack and supplies are www.Horse.com, www.DoverSaddlery, www.ValleyVet.com, www.StateLineTack.com, and www.UnitedVetEquine.com.  You will probably find better deals at these websites on halters, lead ropes, bits, and brushes than you would find at your local feed store or tack shop. 

When it comes to the bigger items, like a saddle and bridle, I would suggest buying used items rather than new.  My reason is that the older saddles are usually much more well-made and better quality than many of the mass-produced plastic-looking new ones that are marketed today.  I would suggest looking at www.craigslist.org in the Farm & Garden section, and searching for a saddle in your area.  That way, you can go look at the saddle and inspect it before you buy.  I have bought kid saddles off of www.ebay.com, and I think that if you watch who you buy from (choose a seller with excellent ratings who is willing to send you extra photos and exact measurements, etc.) you will have good success with that site.  You can also find good used tack in facebook groups that are specifically for selling and swapping used tack items, but if you don’t know the person and they have no way to rate them on honest selling, that might be more risky than ebay.

Let me show you a few examples to show what I would look for in a saddle.  This is a complete western saddle package—you get the saddle, bridle, girth, and saddle blanket.  It is priced very affordably at $369 for a 14 or 15 inch saddle set at www.ChicksSaddlery.com.  It would be a great starter set, and says right on the ad:  “The perfect package for the beginner or occasional rider.” 

There are just a few things I would note, though, before buying it.  The saddle blanket is just that:  a blanket….it’s not of sufficient thickness to pad a horse without putting something underneath with more support and padding.  You will still need to buy a good saddle pad to put underneath it.  The girth is also an economy model, just a cotton strand cinch of moderate width, which is acceptable for light riding but would not hold up well in extreme trail riding, barrel racing, or calf roping, for instance.  It’s also not as comfortable on the horse as a neoprene type of girth.  And the bit is a basic curb bit, which isn’t useful for every horse or rider, and you will most likely want to replace it. 

Or here’s a saddle on the Omaha craigslist for only $250, it’s a 14 inch Big Horn brand, good fleece, good leather, a little out-dated, but still very functional and really all you need to spend a day on the trails.  You would want to measure and see if it was approximately a good fit for your horse, and keep in mind that if it didn’t work out once you purchased it, you could most likely re-sell it again for the exact same price.  That’s one of the advantages of buying used…the saddle doesn’t lose any value at all by having one more owner.

You could also look into the neoprene style of saddle, if you like that look.  Personally, I don’t think there is a good replacement for leather, as I just prefer the durability, look, and feel of riding a leather saddle.  They do run cheaper, though, and many people seem to enjoy riding them, so you could choose that option.

As far as bridle headstalls are concerned, you can choose between the ones with browbands, throatlatches, or the one-ear style.  If they fasten with Chicago screws instead of the leather ties, you will want to take extra caution, as I’ve had them unfasten while riding.  A dab of clear nail polish on the screw before you tighten it will help secure it.  Or just replace the screw altogether with a length of nylon shoelace or leather cord, it will hold much better.  You can sometimes find used bridles at bargain prices, but the new ones in the feed store are usually priced pretty fairly.

A good bit is perhaps the most important choice you will make.  There are literally hundreds to choose from, they are as individual as the horses who wear them, and putting the wrong bit on a horse can mess things up faster than anything else.  When you buy a horse, it’s best to ask what type of bit the horse is used to and stick with that one.  If you don’t really know what kind of bit to use, it’s best to try the mildest one possible, and see if that works.  A snaffle bit is a good place to start, no twists, no shanks, and see if the horse is comfortable and responsive in it.  If you need more control and stopping power, a snaffle with shanks is a very good bit to transition to a curb or shanked style bit.  Make sure the joints at the corner of the horse’s mouth don’t pinch his lips, and make sure the bit is wide enough (5 inches is an average width for a horse bit).  Curb bits are just fine for a horse that has been trained to neck rein and is comfortable in a shanked bit.  But forcing a horse to change bits is very confusing and hard on a horse.

As far as all of the extras in the horse catalogs, don’t get carried away with buying things you don’t need.  If you’re a casual trail rider, you don’t need a fancy grooming kit filled with forty different brushes.  A simple medium-stiff bristle body brush is good, and I just use a regular hard plastic-bristled hair brush for the mane and tail, as they are strong enough to work out tangles but not so harsh it will break the hairs.  Unless your horse has a specific need, you can cut out a lot of the cost just by staying with very basic supplies.

It is my hope that this article will be an encouragement to the beginning rider who doesn’t have a whole lot to spend but wants to embark on the adventures of having a horse in their life.  It can be very costly, depending on your location and plans for your horse.  But it can also be really cheap, if you have a place to keep a horse that doesn’t cost very much, and if you just plan on riding for pleasure.  It’s my wish that every girl who grows up wanting a horse of her own will someday see those dreams come true.

How To Buy Horse Tack is an original post by CowgirlDiary.com , written on September 15, 2012. If you are reading this on any other website other than CowgirlDiary.com, please understand this is stolen material and the site owners should be ashamed of themselves. Thank you!

Okay, so it’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything here at CowgirlDiary, and I apologize…it’s been summer and a lot has happened, and—sad to say—none of it was horse-related.  But it’s been fun, and busy, and crazy, and I’m just now getting to sit down and sort through photos and reminisce a little bit about the great summer we had.  And I’m also feeling sad that it’s already gone!

It’s been dry.  Driest summer ever, in the twelve years I’ve lived in Iowa anyway.  And hot.  Our lawns are all dirt, the bluegrass having given up the ghost a few months ago, and the only green showing is a few weeds, crabgrass, or very shady spots.  The creek where my horses usually drink is reduced to a muddy path through their lot, and so I’ve had to set up fence panels to get them over to the cattle tank and share water with the cows.

But we had a week long break when August arrived, heading up to the lake in Minnesota where my husband’s family has vacationed every summer for over sixty years.  It was cool up there, with crisp foggy mornings and a gentle rainstorm.  We enjoyed the lake, the kids swam, we all went out fishing in our boat and stayed out well into the night, we girls shopped, the guys golfed, and we all ate way more than we should have. 

We got home on a Saturday, and I flew out Monday morning to my parents’ ranch in Idaho to help them get ready for a big celebration the following weekend.  It was their 50th Wedding Anniversary, and we kids wanted to make it special for them.  There are seven siblings, and we’ve been planning a big party for them for two years now, and it all came together beautifully.  Everyone showed up to help that week; we mowed the yard, trimmed around the fences, weeded the flower beds, tidied up the house, and helped them catch up on the chores that haven’t gotten done due to both my parents and little sister being in the hay field full time for the whole summer. 

That next Saturday evening we had an outdoor dinner reception in their yard and invited all of their friends and neighbors to come celebrate with them.  My dad’s brother from Nebraska came out to slow-roast the beef loin, all the girls made salads and homemade rolls, peeled potatoes, and served the best dinner we could dream up.  One of the sisters-in-law made a candy buffet table, and I baked them a big tall layer cake and decorated it with bluebirds to match the theme of the party.  It was really fun, and terribly busy, and we’re all so happy it turned out as well as it did.  I think about 70 people were in attendance, and it was just so great to see the whole family again.

I didn’t have much time to go out and enjoy their horses, until the party was underway and the cake was served, and the guests were listening to some singing and music my parents and siblings provided—yes, we couldn’t have a party without some singing!  But I did slip out to see their new crop of foals and pet my old horse Rudy.  Rudy was really excited to see me until he had sniffed my hands and figured out I had no treats for him, and then he was completely bored.  I propped my camera up on an irrigation wheel and set the timer to capture this picture.

Then we had to hurry up and drive back to Iowa (Cowboy Dad and the kids had driven out in the middle of the week) so that our oldest daughter could start school the next day!  Like I said, it has been busy.  My birthday was last Sunday, and I had to figure out how old I was (I can never remember!)….I just turned thirty-four, and it feels good.  I don’t think I could be any happier, there’s just too much to be thankful for to worry about getting older.  We’ve made a lot of great memories this summer.

Here are a few more photos from our Idaho party:

The candy buffet and cake table, with our beautiful daughter.  I made the cake, which was a scary endeavor….overall it turned out fine, I was just happy it didn’t fall over or anything!

Our children posing in front of Grandma’s flower garden. 

The photo table with my parent’s wedding photo, original wedding suits, the Bible my mom carried with her bouquet, and a big scrapbook I made for them as a surprise.

Their red roan broodmare, Ruby Red, with her 2012 filly who’s looking like a bay roan right now.

I’ve Been Everywhere is an original post by CowgirlDiary.com , written on August 31, 2012. If you are reading this on any other website other than CowgirlDiary.com, please understand this is stolen material and the site owners should be ashamed of themselves. Thank you!

When I was sixteen years old, my dad bought me a beautiful black colt to train.  That colt took all of my focus, my affection, my time, and attention, and I was devastated a few months later when he got badly hurt and had to be put down.  I remember making a promise to him, in those last painful moments, saying I would never forget him, and that I would keep his memory alive forever.  It was the most difficult part of my teenage years, giving up on that colt.

I’m twice as old now, turning 34 next month, and while I haven’t forgotten my black colt, I still harbor several regrets about the few short months that I owned him.  My biggest regret is that I never took a photograph of him.  The pictures are vivid in my mind:  him running franticly around the corral when I first caught sight of him at the previous owner’s farm; him peeking around the back of the older gelding we put in with him once we brought him home; him kicking at me and running to the far side of the pen as I tried to halter train him; and him standing injured in his stall, head down and dull with pain.  I’ll never forget those images, but I have always wished I had taken just one snapshot I could still look at.

In my basement, I have a wooden box with memories of my black colt in it.  Its only contents are his AQHA registration papers, four cockleburrs I took out of his mane once he was gentled enough to let me touch him, and a calendar from that year with the days marked of when I bought him, with a few little notes of what we accomplished during training and gentling, and the day he died.  That’s all.  And I’m wishing I had written down more, kept pictures of him…and of course I wish I’d had years to compile more memories of our adventures together.

It’s something every horse lover should do:  make a Horse Keepsake Box just in case something happens and you lose your best friend like I did.  It’s hard to think of these things ahead of time, because no one wants to anticipate it, but if your horse had to be put down, would you have anything to remember him by?  Here are a few suggestions to put together a memento box:

1.  The most important thing is to take pictures of your horse.  Make a collection of photos of both of you together, and get a friend to help take some candid shots that show both of your personalities.  Take your camera along on trail rides, shows, and regular chores…you never know when the perfect opportunity will come along and you’ll get a really cute photo that will preserve that memory forever.

2.  Collect items that you might otherwise discard but will hold special memories.  For me, it was the cockleburrs I pulled out of his mane, and I kept them because they signified the progress we were making in gentling such a wild colt…when he actually allowed me to groom him finally, the cockleburrs weren’t something I was going to just throw away.  They meant something.   Look for little reminders of good moments with your horse.  This might be a wildflower you picked on a trail ride and pressed in the pages of a book to flatten and preserve.  Use wide clear packing tape to make a clear plastic coating on both sides of the flower so it doesn’t get damaged or lose its petals.  You might save your horse’s old shoes when he gets a new set put on, to add to your collection.  A tuft of mane can be braided and banded together.  Anything that reminds you of your horse is worth saving.

3.  Keep a calendar or a journal about your horse events, thoughts, successes, and goals.  I usually keep a notebook starting out with the day I bought the horse, who I purchased it from and for how much, what my observations were about its temperament, and the daily happenings that contributed to its training.  I love reading back through old notes and remembering the challenges and triumphs that the horse and I went through together. 

When I was visiting my parents one time, my mom gave me a few old letters I had written to them soon after buying a horse.  In typical fashion, my letter was full of enthusiasm for the new mare I’d bought, and I explained in detail about a trail ride we had gone on with a few friends, and how the mare had hesitated at the first water crossing, I had spent a little time working her through it, and how she had learned to cross water and bridges easily the rest of the day.  I had forgotten all about that ride, but reading that old letter brought those vivid happy memories all back, and I was happy to save that letter.

4.  Make a special place for your keepsake collection.  Many craft stores have plain wooden boxes you can buy and decorate with paint, varnish, stickers, or photos of your horse.  The box I used was found in the clearance section of Walmart, but it was a dark mahogany wooden box with a hinged lid, lined with green felt–probably a box you would keep a silverware set in.  I had bought it intending to keep “treasures” in it, and it turned out to be perfect for my Horse Keepsake Box.  Anything will do…just so you have a place to keep your memories safe.

You might customize this with your own personal style and additional ideas.  If you have any tips to share along these lines, please comment and let us know.  When you have a special horse, it’s important to keep reminders of him, and this is one of the things you’ll treasure after the memories are all made

How To Make a Horse Keepsake Box is an original post by CowgirlDiary.com , written on July 26, 2012. If you are reading this on any other website other than CowgirlDiary.com, please understand this is stolen material and the site owners should be ashamed of themselves. Thank you!

I’ve been mulling a bit lately, over the horse ownership thing again.  I’ve mentioned before that I feel guilty about owning horses and not spending much time with them, aside from feeding time.  I confess that it’s been about three months since I’ve ridden….in fact, I can’t even remember the ride at all, or when it was.  I have a pretty good excuse for not riding any broncs, though….I’m pregnant with our third child.

So I’m really happy about the prospects of being a mom to another baby.  I love my kids, and loved pregnancy and enjoy having an infant to dote on constantly.  Our older children are six and four years old, so it’s a perfect time to welcome a third one, as the older two are so excited and will have lasting memories of this one’s childhood and growing up all together.  I’m really happy for our family, and with life in general.

But I do get discouraged about whether I am doing my horses justice.  They seem perfectly happy to spend their summer days in the shade or eating their hay, but four of them need more training, and they just seem to stagnate because I don’t do anything with them. 

The yearling stud colt is the one who really needs attention, but all that I’ve done with him lately is trim his hooves, which he accepted willingly enough.  But when we bought him, we had the best of intentions of making him a very laid-back, willing, fearless type of horse.  And I had plans to spend a lot of time with him at a young age, walking trails, crossing mud and water, learning to lunge, stand tied, and all the basics a colt should have.  Some of these he is naturally adept at, but without having the practice at an early age, they could become big road blocks in the future.

I have also been considering selling Daisy, and have talked to two different women about coming to look at her and riding her to see if they’re interested, but just haven’t had too much success with it.  My daughter rides her on the lead line, and she is the calmest horse we have when it comes to trail obstacles or things that might startle another horse.  But she isn’t the type of horse that I want to let my daughter learn on, simply because she hasn’t had the countless saddle hours that a horse needs in order to be considered dead broke.  I would really like to see Daisy go to a confident teenager or a woman wanting a trail mare, because she would be really good for that type of lifestyle and would get more attention and opportunities than she gets at our farm.

Our appaloosa gelding Milo has also sort of hit a plateau with his training level.  We have owned him for six years now, but my husband and I were thinking back and counting the times we’ve ridden him, and decided it’s probably less than 60 rides!  For all that, he is a great little horse, very laid-back and accepting of new people and all different riders.  But he’s a goof-ball.  Still needs a direct rein.  Still likes to cause trouble by being hard to catch at times.  Goes kind of bonkers over the mares, if you take them away to ride—he will run the fence and whinny the whole time you’re gone.  He goes out alone pretty willingly, on rides, but you have to kind of correct him the whole time to keep him on course, or he turns back towards his sweethearts.

And the buckskin mare, Penny, just hasn’t gotten the riding I intended to do with her when I bought her.  She is fun, gentle, easy-going, but yet enough challenge to be interesting.  She’s the perfect horse for me.  But it’s been months since I’ve done anything with her besides trim her hooves, and I feel really guilty about that. 

It’s made me wonder if my horse addiction has run its course.  It has been a really busy year–we bought a new puppy this spring, planted a huge garden, took several trips out of the state, enrolled our daughter in tee ball, spent a lot of time at the pool, planned a big anniversary event for my parents, and I’ve worked six days a week for the past two months.  Add being pregnant and extra tired to all of that, and there’s evidence enough to prove that I don’t have time to be a cowgirl. 

But at any rate, I am a horse owner.  So I’m committed to pitching hay twice a day, filling water tanks, trimming hooves, and checking for injuries.  And I’m secretly stashing away my exuberance for that lope up a long hill for some further-off day.  It will come soon enough, when the babies are in school and the puppy is grown up, and there’s no one asking very much of me anymore…then I hope to revive this horse life and build the relationships with my horses that I feel they deserve.

Passion or Pastime? is an original post by CowgirlDiary.com , written on July 14, 2012. If you are reading this on any other website other than CowgirlDiary.com, please understand this is stolen material and the site owners should be ashamed of themselves. Thank you!

So here’s our third giveaway for the month of June—isn’t this fun?!!!  This week I am featuring the paperback version of Horses Never Lie About Love, by Jana Harris, which I have reviewed before on my blog.  It’s a true life story, nothing fictional about it, but it gives you a clear picture of one horsewoman’s devotion to her dream, and this really different sort of horse that she falls in love with.  I think any horse lover would enjoy this book, and you can win your very own copy right here on CowgirlDiary.com.

I read this book back in November when I was given a copy by Simon and Schuster, asking me to review and feature it on my blog when the hard cover was first released.  I really enjoyed reading it, it brought back many memories of my own horse experiences, especially as the horse in the story never did come around to being a pet or a riding horse…she was truly an individual.  It was neat to read the transformation that took place when the mare foaled, and how her whole personality was instantly molded into being a mother, and not just a terrified horse who had survived injuries and trauma in the past.  Reading of the author’s dedication to this horse is inspiring, because many a horse owner would have just cut their losses and sent the horse on to the next sale, thinking better luck next time.  But this is a different story, and one with many good lessons in it for horse ownership.

The book, Horses Never Lie About Love, is written by Jana Harris, an educator and poet who shares her real life experience of moving to a rural farm in the mountains of Washington to make her dreams of raising horses a reality.  The story isn’t your typical fairytale episode where the funds are limitless and the horses are perfect.  I loved reading of how she and her husband took this piece of rundown property and worked so hard to make it what they wanted.  And when Jana falls in love with a horse named True Colors, she opens herself up to the vulnerability of loving someone who might never love her in return.  When she took that risk and stuck with it, it made me truly identify with her, because I have done that myself, in so many horse situations of my own. 

It is a book about relationships….the blacksmith with wife troubles, the veterinarian with too much perfume, the husband with a heart of gold, the neighbor girls with the ponies they bring into Jana’s kitchen….and each of the horses with their individual characteristics as clear and bright as the ones in your own stalls….this book is real, and you will enjoy the empathy you feel when you read it.

The book is written from the perspective of a very responsible, very careful, very intuitive person.  Jana took her horse ownership seriously and did everything she could possibly do to prevent any injuries…and she still met with vet bills for sick horses, spills from the saddle, many sleepless nights, and even a trip to the hospital for her husband.  I loved this book because it didn’t paint a picture that was all rosy; it painted a portrait so beautifully realistic of the horse lover’s life, you get the true meaning of what makes everything worth it in the end. 

Now with the release of the book in paperback, I was again offered a free copy by Simon and Schuster, and happily said “yes!”  I know there are others who will enjoy reading this book, and I’m glad to offer it in a free giveaway.  Here’s how to enter:

1.  Click the “comments” link at either the top or bottom of this post.

2.  Login to your WordPress account, or click the “register” link below the login box to create an account—it’s free and easy. 

3.  Leave a short comment, either telling why you’d love to win the book, or something you enjoyed from this review, and you’re entered to win it!  

4.  The contest is open until next Monday, July 2.  Sorry, I can only send the book to U.S. addresses, so if you’d like to enter from another country or province, you’ll need a generous cousin or grandma in the states who will provide their U.S. address for me to send it to them, and then they will mail it on to you.  I will notify the winner and request their mailing address in order to send them their prize.

Horse Book Giveaway is an original post by CowgirlDiary.com , written on June 26, 2012. If you are reading this on any other website other than CowgirlDiary.com, please understand this is stolen material and the site owners should be ashamed of themselves. Thank you!

Most of us horse lovers have been inspired by horses and riders in the movies at one point or another.  Whether it was growing up watching Bonanza or seeing Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken for the first time, those horses and the people who rode them made a big impact on us and deepened our interest in becoming a rider or owning our own horse someday.  There are just a few things that have crossed my mind when watching some of the Hollywood-style riding, and I wanted to comment for the benefit of the total beginning horse enthusiast.

I grew up on a ranch, and we often had guests come to visit and we always offered to take them riding, as that was one of the most enjoyable activities to do in our neck of the woods.  We would explain the basic mechanics of riding to our guests:  hold the reins, neck rein left or right, squeeze legs for forward, pull reins for whoa, and such.  Often getting them into the saddle was the biggest challenge, and no one thought to tell them how to dismount, as it seemed to be an easy thing to do.  But inevitably after the ride, the guest would ride the horse to its automatic stopping place near the barn, drop the reins on the ground, and proceed to “swing down” Hollywood-style, leaving their left foot in the stirrup as they dropped to the ground, proceeding to stagger off balance by their foot still being caught up in the stirrup, and had it not been for the patience of the horse who stood there waiting for them to right themselves, they could have been jerked off their feet and badly hurt.   

After observing a few of these scary attempts at dismounting, I began to reconsider the safety of the swing-down.  I started telling guests beforehand the correct (and safest) way to dismount:

1.  Keep your reins in your left hand throughout the process.  Leaving your horse’s head free could result in him wandering, spooking, breaking reins, or hurting someone. 

2.  Remove both feet from the stirrups.  You are safer not being connected to the saddle in any way.

3.  Lean forward and put most of your weight on your arms on the front of the saddle as you bring your right leg over the back of the saddle (careful not to kick the horse, but usually a sliding motion over his hindquarters is just fine).  Drop both feet to the ground simultaneously, as you slide free of the horse.

I have been drug by a horse when my foot turned in the stirrup and stuck, and this was when I was trying to dismount.  So though my advice might not be fashionable, it is the safest way to get off of a horse.

Another Hollywood horsemanship no-no is running your horse everywhere.  Have you ever noticed that in the old black and white westerns, the horses never walked?  It would be full gallop up to the saloon door, a few choice words with the gunman standing there, a quickly fired shot, and then gallop off full tilt again.  Those poor horses would have lasted about a half mile in real life, and then been ringing wet and worn out.  But every movie horse was sparkling clean and rearing to go, and galloping through every frame as if his very life depended on it.

Kids and beginners gallop everywhere.  For a lot of first riders, it’s like giving them a motorcycle and telling them they can’t shift out of first gear….it gets boring after awhile!  But when you really understand a horse’s psychological makeup, running a horse is a very bad practice.  Many a good horse was ruined by kids letting him run everywhere.  I saw this first hand in my old gelding Rudy….my sister asked to ride him one time just to “see how fast he would go”.  She made him run beyond his comfort level, and he has been a runaway ever since, spooking out of a regular working canter or even from a walk, into a full-blown panic-driven race that doesn’t end until he reaches a fence or has nowhere else to run.  So don’t run your horses.  A walk is much more mature, and will keep your horse in a healthy frame of mind.

Another criticism of mine when watching riders in western movies is that they’re constantly jerking the reins (if you’ve noticed the horse’s mouth open as they spin around to gallop off in the opposite direction, the horse’s mouth is open to avoid the bit pressure as the rider jerks on the reins).  Or they ride everywhere with their reins held too tightly.  This is often evidenced by the horse’s head being held very high, and I often cringe for the horse’s sake at the way they are ridden on set.

However, I have no criticisms at all of the actual horses of Hollywood.  They are the most highly trained, best performing actors of all, putting up with multiple riders, stunts, and giving all they’ve got, mostly at a dead run!  I love to watch horses on film, and I still get goosebumps watching the Black Stallion run along the shoreline or play tag with Alex on the beach.  It is only the riding that sometimes leaves me disappointed.  Not everyone needs to take riding lessons to know how to ride a horse, but some understanding and sympathy for the horse goes a long way towards becoming a good rider. 

It’s a good life lesson—don’t take every scene at a full gallop, and you’ll be fine.

Just Like In The Movies is an original post by CowgirlDiary.com , written on June 21, 2012. If you are reading this on any other website other than CowgirlDiary.com, please understand this is stolen material and the site owners should be ashamed of themselves. Thank you!

I’m so excited to share this with you!  This week’s giveaway is a beautiful beaded bracelet with silver horse themed accents and intricate detailing, offered by WyoStyle, and designed by Equestrian Designer Kerstin Stock.  Additionally, WyoStyle is offering a discount to all CowgirlDiary.com readers.  Their items are uniquely designed for horse enthusiasts, and you’ll really like the great quality of this jewelry.

I received what they call a stackable bead bracelet, and from the description, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it is a really stunning piece.  It’s heavier than I would have guessed, with a flexible silver coil that the beads and charms are strung on, an easy-to-handle clasp, and an inch of extra links to allow for perfect fit. 

The beads are varied, from a small silver cylinder to a round bauble of clear glass with pink colored flecks in it, then a charm, then a turquoise-flecked glass bead, then a charm, then a puffy silver heart bead, and a charm….and so on.  The charms include a running horse, a horse shoe, a horse head, a rearing horse, and a little bar that spells out HORSE in tiny letters, all in silver.  A few of the charms are attached with silver dangling links, and some are attached with orange circular links. 

All in all, the bracelet was unlike any I have seen before, and is one of the most unique pieces of jewelry I own.  I’m having a hard time deciding if I should keep it for myself or save it for a birthday gift for my very horse-crazy sister….and my begging six year old already thinks it should belong to her! 

I like the weight of the bracelet on my wrist…not too heavy, but enough to remember it’s there and not at all flimsy-feeling.  And I love how the colors are bright and stand on their own, so it doesn’t require coordination with a certain outfit or color scheme—it’s really versatile that way.  Most of all, I love its message—that I’m a horse girl with class.

To see some of the different styles WyoStyle offers, please visit their facebook page at http://www.facebook/WyoStyle where you can easily shop right from Facebook!  They have earrings, bracelets, and necklaces in many different styles and colors.  Feel free to like their page for regular updates on horse information, promotions, new products, and special sales.  It’s more than just shopping—it’s horse news, horse comics, horse quotes, and a social gathering spot for anyone who loves horses. 

WyoStyle has also provided a promo code so that all readers can take advantage of a special discount on their website www.WyoStyle.com !   Just use the code COWGIRLDIARY at checkout.  This savings code is valid until July 15th, so get your shopping done now!  I’m already thinking of those I can cross off my Christmas list already, with this kind of a deal.

To win a free bracelet just exactly like the one they sent me, just enter this giveaway drawing by commenting on this blog post anytime between now and next Monday, June 25th.  Entries are limited to residents of the United States.  A name will be drawn from those who comment, and I will email the winner to request their mailing address.  WyoStyle will ship the bracelet directly to the winner within one week of the end of the giveaway.

Please don’t hesitate to enter, and if you’re having trouble leaving a comment, send me an email and let me know.  I will go out of my way to make sure you are able to enter, even if I need to leave a comment for you.  I think you’ll love this bracelet as much as I do, and I can’t wait to give one away to a lucky reader that could be YOU!

Horse Bracelet Giveaway is an original post by CowgirlDiary.com , written on June 18, 2012. If you are reading this on any other website other than CowgirlDiary.com, please understand this is stolen material and the site owners should be ashamed of themselves. Thank you!

One of the really cool perks of blogging is the offer of horse-related merchandise to feature on my blog.  I recently received several items to review, and am ready to launch a series of giveaways here on CowgirlDiary!  Keep a close watch over the next couple of weeks, and I’ll be telling you all about them and how you can win one of these great cowgirl accessories for your own. 

The first item I’d like to feature is a beautiful hair pin called the Flexi Clip by Lilla Rose.  This giveaway is sponsored by Holly Noble, a Lilla Rose Independent Consultant, who sent me a cowgirl style beaded hair clip in silver and black, with a silver horse head in the middle of it.  It’s the perfect accent for any outfit, and can be used for a variety of styles.  The best thing about the Flexi Clip is that the design includes a slide-in pin that secures it, and the pin is built in to the clip so that it can’t be lost.  In my busy household where things are scattered to the four winds, that feature is my favorite!

The Flexi Clip is also really comfortable, unlike elastic pony-tail holders or tight barrettes.  It is a figure-eight shape, with a sliding pin that secures it in your hair without pinching or pulling.  The clip comes in many different sizes, designed for the finest hair or as a mini-clip, up to an extra large clip that will hold a chignon or tucked under french braid.  I was really impressed with the versatility of the Flexi Clip, and with the helpful sizing and styling videos provided on their website.   I have already created several fun hairstyles with it, and want to try many more.

Holly has offered to sponsor a giveaway here on my blog, offering a lucky reader a free gift certificate for a Lilla Rose product.  In addition to the Flexi Clips, they also offer beautiful headbands, bobby pins, necklaces, earrings, and other beautiful jewelry.  You can view their broad array of products at LillaRose.biz.  The company offers in-home parties and consultant opportunities, and is a fun way to share your love of jewelry and all the latest accessories.  You can also visit Holly’s facebook page to get the news firsthand about promotions, new products, and more giveaways like this one! 

To enter this contest for the Lilla Rose gift certificate, here’s how:

Simply leave a comment on this blog post and you’re entered in the drawing!  If you have a WordPress account, you can login using it; otherwise, you can easily register and comment.  If you have any questions on how to leave a comment, please contact me.  The contest is limited to residents of the United States and will remain open until next Monday, June 18.  A number will be randomly selected from all entries, and the person whose comment falls on that number will be our winner.  I will contact the winner by email to request their mailing address, and the gift certificate will be sent to them by Lilla Rose.

Sounds fun, right?  So let the comments begin, be sure and tell your friends to sign up to win, and keep on the lookout for more great giveaways coming up in the days ahead!

Cowgirl Accessories Giveaway is an original post by CowgirlDiary.com , written on June 12, 2012. If you are reading this on any other website other than CowgirlDiary.com, please understand this is stolen material and the site owners should be ashamed of themselves. Thank you!

Today’s post was written by Paula, who visited my blog and sent me an email asking for advice.  This is her success story of finding a horse of her own. 

Ever since I was a little girl I recall wanting to be a cowgirl. I had this pair of cowboy boots that you would have thought were permanently attached to my feet. They were an old beat up pair of boots that were way too big, but no matter what the weather was like, I always had them on.

In the summer, my family and I would all pile into the car and head south to Alabama to visit my grandparents, which was always my favorite trip.  On the weekends my grandfather would go to the local flea market, and I would always beg to tag along because I knew they sold horses and ponies at the market.  My hope was that one day he might just buy me one, but ultimately I was always just as happy to get an opportunity to see them, pet them and maybe even give them a carrot stick that grandma would stuff in my pockets to pass out to the ponies.  Needless to say, my grandfather never bought me that pony, otherwise I may be writing a completely different story today, but those cowboy boots and trips to the flea market definitely fueled my desire.

Life’s priorities have a tendency of pulling us off the path of pursuing our childhood dreams and I was no exception to that rule.  I started my family at a very young age and my husband, family and career became my new passion.  However as the children got older they had their passions, their hobbies, their activities and they typically did not involve me!  My husband also had his passions, that he always found a way to make time for, I always made the excuse that I did not have time for hobbies or anything of that nature.

Luckily for me, I married an amazing man that knew of my love for horses. Knowing that I would never do it for myself he went out and purchased a gift certificate for me at a local riding stable to begin taking horseback riding lessons. Little did he know he didn’t just open a door but a floodgate that was busting at the seams!

I had been around horses occasionally throughout my life but never took any formal lessons.  Last December, at age 36, the oldest person in a class with not a single girl over the age of 12, I took my first riding lesson. One hour a week which just did not seem like enough! I stopped looking forward to Fridays and the weekend and could not wait for Wednesday nights at 7pm to roll around so I could head back to the barn!  Why hadn’t I done this sooner?

After the first month and my gift gertificate running out I started seeking out other places to take lessons.  I discovered that I had an acquaintance that owned a boarding stable and gave lessons. I started taking lessons with Dawn McCarty, a NBRA champion, in January.  I learned more in a week with Dawn than I learned all month at the other facility, but still found myself wanting to spend more time growing this little seed of passion from my childhood.

After a couple of months taking lessons with Dawn, I started talking to her about the possibility of buying my own horse and asking questions like, “Do you think I know enough, and do you think it is too early for me to be considering this?”  So I started researching, since I am not one to jump in quickly to this kind of a decision.  I was already feeling like I was moving too fast, after all, I had only started this new venture in December.

I spent many nights on the internet reading articles and searching for information for first time horse owners/buyers when I found the CowgirlDiary blog. My first email was titled “mid-life horse lover seeking advice”.  I could not have asked for a warmer welcome from Kerrie!  So many of the other blogs and articles I came across were not maintained and the information was dated.  Kerrie provided me with some of the best advice that was the foundation for the search I was about to venture into.

As I began my search, the first thing I did was let go of the picture I had in my mind of what I thought was the perfect horse. You know that horse that you dreamed of when you were a little girl, and if you grew up during the same time as I did, “Black Beauty” was your horse of choice. 

I let Dawn, my trainer, know I was looking so that she could put the word out among her horse friends, and I turned once again to the internet. I was surprised at the number of websites there were with horses listed for sale. Equinenow.com and Equine.com were two that I turned to most frequently to search, because they were so easy to use.  I spent most of my evening after getting the family settled looking for that perfect horse.  I always looked at the pictures because I wanted a horse that appealed to me, but looks were not the main priority.  The next thing I would look at was the age.  I knew I wanted a horse that was a little older with a little more experience than me.  I would then read the description, looking for phrases like “all around good horse”, and words that described the horse’s disposition.  Kerrie told me in one of her emails that a horse is born with disposition, good or bad and it is not something you can train them to have, so this was a high priority.

After looking through listings night after night, weeding out the ones that I knew were just not a good fit, I set up a couple of appointments.  I found that I learned more getting out and looking than I did sitting on the computer reading through descriptions.  The more horses I looked at the more confident I became in my search, as I was armed with more information going in, and knew I was asking the right questions to get the information I needed to make a good decision.

Then came the day when I came across the one that challenged my will power to put all of that good information to use!  My Black Beauty, the most gorgeous 5-year-old Fresian gelding!  Yes he was young, yeah he did not have as much experience as I was looking for, I was riding western and he was riding primarily English, but oh…wow, my dream horse!  It turned out he was boarded at a stable right down the street from another prospect I was going to see and I just could not resist.

We went out to see him and he was even more beautiful in person!  He seemed to have a quiet demeanor and was not 100% finished, but very well under way.  When I rode him he had the smoothest lope of any horse I had ever ridden, but did not seem to respond to some of the cues I had become accustomed to using in my lessons.  Trying to be a good student to my teachers, I decided to go and see the other 3 horses I had lined up to see that afternoon, and not make a rash decision in that moment.  I was thankful that I waited.

We went to a barn 10 minutes down the road where we looked at two other horses and Gem! Gem was a 13 year old Paint.  She had been used as a 4H horse by a young girl who had her for her entire life and was going off to college.   Standing 16 HH Gem was a big solid girl.   I always wanted a bigger horse, and she fit the bill!  I rode the other two horses first and then Gem… she listened to my cues, and she knew how to neck rein–everything I knew she seemed to understand, too.  She was calm and quiet and just had that personality that made it easy to fall in love with her.  She seemed to be a fit for all of those things Kerrie told me I needed to look for!  Age, experience, suitability, training level, disposition, and she was pretty to boot!

I decided to make an offer pending a vet check, which the seller accepted, and a couple of days later we came back with the vet.  The peace of mind that the vet provided far exceeded the cost, and I was happy we made the decision to have the exam before commencing the sale.  Gem was found to be in overall good health and we started making arrangements to bring her home.

By March I was officially a horse owner–a little girl’s dream come true in 3 months after waiting nearly 30 years!  Gem is now staying at Dawn’s barn where I continue to take lessons, and am not limited to my 1 hour a week but have a new challenge of balancing home life and horse life!

At my age, I truly did not think that this was a dream that would ever have an opportunity to surface again, and had it not been for my husband cracking that door for me it never would have.  I am so thankful for his support as this has brought a different kind of joy to my life that I never knew it could.

As wives and mothers, we have a tendency to put all our energy, passion and heart into our family.   I think it is just our nature as women.  However, there comes a time when we have to re-discover our own passion and find a way to be good to ourselves.

Thanks for sharing your story, Paula!  We wish you and Gem the best, and look forward to hearing more as your story continues to unfold.  So glad you found a trustworthy friend in Gem!

Paula and Gem is an original post by CowgirlDiary.com , written on June 5, 2012. If you are reading this on any other website other than CowgirlDiary.com, please understand this is stolen material and the site owners should be ashamed of themselves. Thank you!