With summer in full swing, and fly season entering its third month here in Iowa, I thought I'd share some of the tricks that have been working for my horses thus far. The Morgans suffer from fly bites so horrifically they rub themselves raw. All but one of them refuse to leave on fly masks and fly sheets are shredded within hours. So, I have to treat the symptoms. I have tried garlic, vinegar in the water, feed through fly control, fly predators, composting manure, timed fly spray misters in the stalls, Cortizone injections and a bevy of fly spray recipes ranging from costly essential oil mixtures to my own mad scientist versions [see How Does Turquoise Smell? http://hossbiz.blogspot.com/2010/04/how-does-turquoise-smell.html ] as my horses break out in enormous hives if I use fly spray with petroleum distillates: which is the only fly spray that actually works for any length of time.
This year, I had a gallon of Bronco fly spray on hand, so I decided to add some vinegar, and Dawn dish washing liquid. The vinegar cuts the petroleum distillates to manageable levels and the Dawn helps it stick. Or so I believe. This worked fairly well, until it got hot and the bites were all over all the horses, not just in the usual spots. The horses were crazy with itching, so I got out a bottle of Betadine Surgical Scrub added it to some water and gave them all sponge baths. Which, of course, they all complained about vociferously.
But...aha..itching subsided, as did the incidence of new bite sites. I have continued the sponge baths a couple of times a week and now my mare comes up and whinnies at me when I am bathing one of the boys, lest I forget her. She stands stoically for her sudsing, as she has never stood for one second in her lifetime of baths.
"If this is so good as a sponge bath," I reckoned, "Maybe I should put some In The Fly Spray." I will say with confidence, this is the first time in 14 years of treating this problem that I have felt I was at least keeping up with it, rather than continually losing the battle until October. I put about a 2-3 table spoons of the Betadine Surgical Scrub in the fly mix of Bronco/ Vinegar/Dawn to make a half gallon of potion.
The Morgans can come and go as they please, inside or out, so they manage their own grazing. I spray them twice a day [more if it's beastly hot & humid] with my homemade hooch fly spray. This system is working quite well, but when I leave for five days for a show, I return to find them insect bitten mad horses. After a couple of days of sponge baths, we are back to a manageable bug tolerance level. Sponge bathing 4 horses isn't as time consuming as it sounds, you really only have to scrub the suds into their coats, not dowse them with it.
This is not a cure, don't get me wrong, but it is a vast improvement for my herd. It is cheap enough, with results in a short period of time. Let me know if it works for you.
Kind Regards,
Michelle Blackler
Serendipity
www.hossbiz.com
Serendipity is an Accidental Sagacity Corporation Company.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011
Introduction to Vehicle Performance
The Whip's Retort has published a very interesting article on center of mass in marathon carriages. While this may sound like more than you need to know, I found it quite enlightening:
http://drivingnews.us/whipsretort/
Driving a gig, which has a very high center of mass, I have learned from experience that I can't take turns too fast. People always remark that driving a gig takes a lot of bravery, but mostly it is a case of respecting the vehicle and understanding its limitations. I know I'm not going to be the fastest through cones, so I adjust my strategy and try to find the best route for the gig. This usually involves taking turns slower and tighter.
However, in the marathon carriage, there just might be a false sense of security for some folks. Having the experience with the gig, I naturally drive slower and look for angles. This article made me stop to consider a few things. Of course, there are very many variables involved in any equation and when people and animals are added the results are bound to be incalculable. However, I think this article has value and I hope you find it useful.
Kind Regards,
Michelle Blackler
Serendipity
www.hossbiz.com
http://drivingnews.us/whipsretort/
Driving a gig, which has a very high center of mass, I have learned from experience that I can't take turns too fast. People always remark that driving a gig takes a lot of bravery, but mostly it is a case of respecting the vehicle and understanding its limitations. I know I'm not going to be the fastest through cones, so I adjust my strategy and try to find the best route for the gig. This usually involves taking turns slower and tighter.
However, in the marathon carriage, there just might be a false sense of security for some folks. Having the experience with the gig, I naturally drive slower and look for angles. This article made me stop to consider a few things. Of course, there are very many variables involved in any equation and when people and animals are added the results are bound to be incalculable. However, I think this article has value and I hope you find it useful.
Kind Regards,
Michelle Blackler
Serendipity
www.hossbiz.com
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Pole Heads for Pairs & Teams
Gotta love the folks at Pony & Carriage for their video shorts: so full of information, so easy to absorb!
Kind Regards,
Michelle Blackler
Serendipity
www.hossbiz.com
Serendipity is an Accidental Sagacity Corporation company.
Kind Regards,
Michelle Blackler
Serendipity
www.hossbiz.com
Serendipity is an Accidental Sagacity Corporation company.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Bandaging Tips
This is a nice, brief look at bandaging from the most excellent Horse & Country.
Kind Regards,
Michelle Blackler
Serendipity
www,hossbiz.com
Serendipity is an Accidental Sagacity Corporation company.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Child, Dog And Pony Problems
I made the decision not to have children when I was eight years old. Looking back, that was a rather sagacious choice. How could I be a good mother when I was such a problem child? I just didn't understand the whole Kid Role.
"We are going on a long trip in the car and you have to go potty now." But I don't have to go potty now. "But you will later, so you have to go now." But I don't have to go potty now.
"Where is your brother?" He is in [insert a place we were forbidden to go]. "I thought I told you not to play in [insert a place we were forbidden to go]?" But I'm not playing in [insert a place we were forbidden to go]. "Go get your brother out of [insert a place we were forbidden to go] right now. But I thought I wasn't supposed to go to [insert a place we were forbidden to go]?
How do I know I am really me? "What are you talking about?" How do I know I am really me and not someone else? "Because you are you." How do you know I am really me and not someone else? "Go to sleep."
My poor parents. It wasn't until I got a dog that I realized what they were up against with me. My problem poodle, Lucy Fur [who is a Beagle, but that is another blog], does not want to potty in 'our' yard. She prefers to do her business in the neighbor's yard, which is all very well and good when the neighbors have dogs who have the same bathroom habits as Lucy. However, when the neighbors don't have dog[s], don't like dogs and are submitted to Lucy barking at them after she has completed her toilette in their hostas, this makes for a rather strained set of relations.
The parallel: Lucy goes potty when she has to go potty, not when I tell her to go potty. Going potty where she is forbidden to go potty will be the last place I will demand that she goes potty. Lucy does not fit neatly under the list of ideal dog characteristics: loyal, faithful, obedient. While she has certain measures of these qualities, the problem arises that she defines them differently, just as I did as a child and [ahem] still do.
To treat Lucy like a dog is the source of the problem. She is an individual who also happens to be a dog. My horse, Kitten [that was another blog, but there may be a pattern emerging] also refuses to be treated like a horse, she has higher expectations. I see this in ponies all the time. They are the original hedge fund investors: taking long and short positions on the market price of domestication. In almost every case, it is those individuals with the extra large personalities that will not be contained within the title "dog", "pony", "child" who provide us with not only the most trying, but also the most hilarious, most poignant, most precious anecdotes.
Today's accidental sagacity is look at your problem dog/pony/child as an individual before you treat them as their title. They might still potty in the neighbor's yard or tear up the horse trailer if you leave them [tied to it], or be incapable of holding down a real job with benefits, but it will perchance be easier to understand and therefore love them in spite of it.
Kind Regards,
Michelle Blackler
Serendipity
www.hossbiz.com
Serendipity is an Accidental Sagacity Corporation company.
 |
| You can dress me in frills, buy me a tea set, but I'd rather be out on the Ford tractor with Grandpa. |
"We are going on a long trip in the car and you have to go potty now." But I don't have to go potty now. "But you will later, so you have to go now." But I don't have to go potty now.
"Where is your brother?" He is in [insert a place we were forbidden to go]. "I thought I told you not to play in [insert a place we were forbidden to go]?" But I'm not playing in [insert a place we were forbidden to go]. "Go get your brother out of [insert a place we were forbidden to go] right now. But I thought I wasn't supposed to go to [insert a place we were forbidden to go]?
How do I know I am really me? "What are you talking about?" How do I know I am really me and not someone else? "Because you are you." How do you know I am really me and not someone else? "Go to sleep."
My poor parents. It wasn't until I got a dog that I realized what they were up against with me. My problem poodle, Lucy Fur [who is a Beagle, but that is another blog], does not want to potty in 'our' yard. She prefers to do her business in the neighbor's yard, which is all very well and good when the neighbors have dogs who have the same bathroom habits as Lucy. However, when the neighbors don't have dog[s], don't like dogs and are submitted to Lucy barking at them after she has completed her toilette in their hostas, this makes for a rather strained set of relations.
 |
| Yes, Ma'am. It is quite dead. |
The parallel: Lucy goes potty when she has to go potty, not when I tell her to go potty. Going potty where she is forbidden to go potty will be the last place I will demand that she goes potty. Lucy does not fit neatly under the list of ideal dog characteristics: loyal, faithful, obedient. While she has certain measures of these qualities, the problem arises that she defines them differently, just as I did as a child and [ahem] still do.
To treat Lucy like a dog is the source of the problem. She is an individual who also happens to be a dog. My horse, Kitten [that was another blog, but there may be a pattern emerging] also refuses to be treated like a horse, she has higher expectations. I see this in ponies all the time. They are the original hedge fund investors: taking long and short positions on the market price of domestication. In almost every case, it is those individuals with the extra large personalities that will not be contained within the title "dog", "pony", "child" who provide us with not only the most trying, but also the most hilarious, most poignant, most precious anecdotes.
 |
| But they are so cute when they're asleep. |
Today's accidental sagacity is look at your problem dog/pony/child as an individual before you treat them as their title. They might still potty in the neighbor's yard or tear up the horse trailer if you leave them [tied to it], or be incapable of holding down a real job with benefits, but it will perchance be easier to understand and therefore love them in spite of it.
Kind Regards,
Michelle Blackler
Serendipity
www.hossbiz.com
Serendipity is an Accidental Sagacity Corporation company.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Carriage Driving - Basic Driving 1
A superlative, classic film by the British Driving Society in three parts with all manner of neat information, and of course, Britishness.
Enjoy!
Kind Regards,
Michelle Blackler
Serendipity
www.hossbiz.com
Serendipity is an Accidental Sagacity Corporation company.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Working Pleasure: A Photo Tutorial
Laurie Renda has graciously agreed to use photos of her horse to demonstrate my philosophy of developing a horse for working pleasure. Missy is a four year old Friesian cross mare. These photos were taken last summer during one of my Carriage Driving Clinics.
Missy is demonstrating a common tendency among Friesians and Morgans: all front action, no back end engagement or motor. Horses that move this way are not correctly using their bodies. I hold that flashy knee action without engaged hindquarters is not desirable, nor pretty. My dear friend and mentor, Bob Riley called this 'cake walking' although, unfortunately I don't know why. When I see a horse moving this way, it looks like he is dragging himself around with his front end. Wrong. Not Pretty. In this photo, Missy is heavy on her forehand, a result of improper engagement of her hindquarters.
In order to correct this, I asked the whip to use good posture by sitting up straight, lighten her hands by supporting her arms with her shoulders and strengthen her contact. Strengthened contact is not a steady pull but rather like a firmer handshake. By lifting the hands slightly, the whip encourages the horse to rock back on the hindquarters and transfer the balance from the forehand to properly engage the hindquarters.
Missy's hindquarters are better engaged here, she is stepping under herself and her top line is more level, but her length of stride is still not balanced and her cadence is off. [Her inside hind will hit the ground before her outside fore.]
The whip has lost a little contact and Missy appears to be lengthening her front end to catch up with it.
Same corner of the arena as the last photo, contact is more supportive, producing a marked improvement in cadence and stride.
This is a great photo to show how hard Missy is trying to get it. You can even see her thinking about the whole process. She is trying to be engaged, but wants to go back to her habit of hanging on her forehand. The whip is using a half halt to ask Missy to drop her hindquarters, and a voice command to encourage her to take a longer stride behind to lift her off her forehand. Cadence is slightly off, but engagement is improved.
This is a wonderful photo showing how far Missy has come from the first photo. She is rocked back on her hindquarters, light on her forehand and her top line is more level: she doesn't look like she is going perpetually down hill. This is not a working trot, and I think it might be mid transition to the walk, since we will not even think about the collected trot until we get a consistent working trot. Missy's flashy knee action is still there, but enhanced by a balanced hock action. As she gets stronger and better conditioned she will seem to float above the ground, not dig herself into it.
Missy has lost cadence here, but her balanced frame is blossoming. The whip needs to encourage her to be more forward with a cheerful voice command and consistent aids from the reins, whip and voice. If you congratulate the young horse on improvement before you correct on another aspect, they come along very quickly and will work to get the congratulation diligently.
At the end of her lesson, Missy demonstrates better balance, correct frame and lovely cadence...
..and there is a pretty picture.
Once the horse is correct in balance, engagement and cadence consistently, conditioning will produce action that is heightened, elastic, flowing and above all natural. I think it was Charles de Kunffy who said, and I paraphrase, you know your training curriculum is working if your horse becomes more beautiful each time you work him.
As I discussed in the Reinsmanship Tutorial, the whip needs to be attentive to the horse's way of going to be supportive with the reins, whip and voice aides. The whip also needs basic skills in determining what is correct way of going and what is not. Look again at the first photo of Missy and then the last photo. Time elapsed was less than an hour.
Many thanks to Laurie Renda for her photos of Missy and for allowing me to publicly comment on them. I look forward to witnessing Missy achieve her potential as a driving horse, which is considerable, as the above photos attest.
If you would like to have your photos evaluated for working pleasure, reinsmanship or to arrange a seminar or clinic to help you understand how to help your horse achieve his potential, please contact me.
Kind Regards,
Michelle Blackler
Serendipity
www.hossbiz.com
Serendipity is an Accidental Sagacity Corporation Company.
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