by Cowgirl on October 5, 2016
Well, just when everything is finally going good…the pony recovering from her tendon injury down at summer pasture with the two buckskins, and the older mares at home being used for weekly riding lessons…disaster strikes. Sunday we were at the farm after lunch, planning to work on rebuilding a fence, and so while we were there I went to let the mares out to graze. They ran out through the gate and into the grassy yard, and I noticed that Cricket went right to eating, but Daisy laid down and rolled. This seemed strange, and we usually watch them for abnormal rolling, which indicates stomach pain associated with colic. But I knew it couldn’t be colic, since they were just now being turned out on grass.
It’s always something. This time, it’s our twenty-three-year-old horse Red, who has developed severe allergies and has what is called “heaves” in horses, or COPD in humans. The symptoms are a deep cough, difficulty breathing so you see his sides “heave” in and out with each breath (hence, the name “heaves”), lack of appetite or interest in eating, which contributes to weight loss, and lethargy. It’s been less than six months since Red came to live with us, and he was such a lively, spooky, fat, healthy horse that it is really sad to see him in his current condition.
by Cowgirl on March 31, 2016
Read up on Penny’s pastern injury! I kept Penny in a stall for a month, doctoring her wound daily and trying to keep it as clean as possible. Every day I would clean the wound with Vetericyn spray, then cut a section of cotton padding, slather it with Nitrofurazone ointment, place it over the cut area, and wrap it with vet wrap. I cannot believe how well the wound has healed, and how she is almost back to full movement in a little over a month.
by Cowgirl on February 16, 2016
I haven’t had the best luck with my horses this winter. I went out Monday morning (a week ago) to feed, and saw Penny standing out by the hay feeder alone. All the other horses were inside their run-in shed, as it was a cold morning with high winds and blowing snow. I didn’t think too much about it, until I got out of the pickup and heard her whinny. I thought to myself, “I have never heard Penny whinny before.”
I lost my horse Rudy on the 3rd of January. He was almost twenty-eight years old, and ever since he came to live with us in October, I have worried about him. I knew he wasn’t going to live forever, but I had hoped for a few more years, especially now that we were reunited. I had mentally prepared myself for being with him during his last days, but it’s still such a sad reality that even the very best ones die.
by Cowgirl on February 16, 2015
If you grew up around horses and were taught by a parent or riding instructor, the common sense advice in this article might seem a little unnecessary or redundant to you. But even as a kid growing up with horses, there were a few things I learned the hard way! It’s so much better to learn from other’s mistakes, read about it, and make a mental note to never let that actually happen to you or your horse. So I’m sharing some practical tips to avoid accidents and keep you and your horse safe.
by Cowgirl on September 30, 2014
The riding part of the Kip Fladland Training Clinic that I went to a few weeks ago seemed to go so much faster than the groundwork part. Maybe it was because I’m not used to that much walking, I don’t know, but I was sure tired out! The morning’s work was good for us, as I think it gave us a really good focus for the riding part to follow.
by Cowgirl on September 19, 2014
Last Saturday I had the privilege of attending a Groundwork/Horsemanship training clinic with Kip Fladland, of LaRiata Ranch near Griswold, Iowa. It was the first horse training clinic I have ever been to. I’ve been around natural horsemanship training my whole life, having grown up next door to Kevin Wescott (a Tom Dorrance and Ray Hunt style of trainer), who helped me get started training horses when I was a kid. But that was twenty years ago, and I’m needing to expand my groundwork techniques, and am always eager to learn more things I should be doing with my horses.
by Cowgirl on August 26, 2014
We spent last Saturday, as we do most weekends, out at the farm. The horses are turned out to graze the green grass in the farmyard while my husband and I work in the garden and our kids play with the kittens and ride bikes and such. My brother in law and his wife had planned to go to the city for the day, so they left their three year old daughter and six month old baby with us. We were getting along well and having an enjoyable afternoon until I looked over at the group of horses and noticed Daisy just standing there, not eating. I immediately thought, “She’s colicking.” And I turned out to be right.
by Cowgirl on April 8, 2014
That old Kenny Rogers song came to mind today, as I was thinking over the happenings of my weekend. In terms of horses, you should never be too sure of a horse. Riding horses is always a gamble. There are no sure bets, and you can win or lose with a stroke of luck, good or bad. I always say, “That’s the way the cookie crumbled.” And there’s no predicting it, how events are going to go or what exactly is going to take place. I think the cards were stacked against me in the hand I was dealt on Saturday!
by Cowgirl on April 2, 2014
I got a phone call last weekend out of the blue. The guy had been searching online for horse trainers in the area and found an ad I had placed probably eight years ago (before I had kids) when I was looking to take in outside horses to train. He wondered if I could help him with two horses he was wanting trained, and me being the horse enthusiast I am, I said “Sure.” I had to follow that up with a lengthy explanation of how I am a mom of three, work full time, and almost never have the time to ride anymore–but I assured him that I could help him put some rides on these horses of his.
If you’ve trained a lot of horses, you probably already know that when you’re starting a colt, it’s not always a bad thing to let them buck. But I’ve talked to a few trainers who wholeheartedly disagree with me on the subject, and I’ve heard stories about people who have the mindset that letting a colt buck will ruin them and make them predisposed to bucking. My goal for this post is to weigh the pros and cons, explore the nature of the horse, and hopefully educate the reader.
We recently stayed at a swanky hotel in St. Louis where my husband attended a business conference for his work. The kids and I went along just for fun, the thought of spending three days at an indoor-pool-equipped establishment being our main motivation—yes, the long winter is getting to us! While there, my husband got his cowboy boots shined at the shoe-shine station in the lobby. After seeing the transformation from scuffed to gleaming, our son wanted his little boots shined as well. While he sat and got them polished, one of the hotel managers struck up a conversation by asking our son if he had a horse to go with those boots….
Riding horses is dangerous. So is operating an automobile. So I’m not saying we shouldn’t engage in either activity, but I’d like to point out that when you are around a horse, virtually anything can happen. I’ve seen good horses in bad wrecks, great riders get broken up, and not-very-cautious riders get away with doing some stupid things around horses and get away with it. What we all should keep in mind is that there is great risk involved in riding horses and training horses, and a smart rider will do what he can to protect himself and his horse.
by Cowgirl on July 24, 2013
Not every horse story is a happy one. I talked to someone yesterday who told me about a filly that was causing trouble, fighting with other horses, and when tied up would pull back hard and break halters every time. So they tied her with a log chain around her neck, trying to break her of pulling back….and so she broke her neck. That story left me stunned, with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that I can’t get away from. I saw this filly not long ago, a beautiful bay roan with a big white star on her face. And just like that, she’s gone.
by Cowgirl on February 9, 2013
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.
by Cowgirl on January 23, 2013
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.
by Cowgirl on January 18, 2013
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.
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.
by Cowgirl on October 29, 2012
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.
