http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/01/13/Strapped_owners_leaving_horses_to_starve/UPI-31341200267806/
http://www.newser.com/story/28892.html
I don't teach about horses, the horses do the teaching...if only we would listen to them.
Donna DeNoble
Friday, July 11, 2008
Horses and the Economy Continued
The shock value of the last few posts were, I admit, perhaps, over-the-top. The point I was trying to make was that the problem of too many horses and what to do with horses that are no longer useful is many-faceted. There are no easy solutions. I was wondering if it would be worth starting a group in the Central PA area to assist pleasure horse owners down on their luck. I saw a segment in the news today about a young girl who started a movement, freekibble, to feed dogs who are victims of natural disasters.
Why couldn't we start something like that for horse owners who have lost jobs or homes...You know, be part of the solution? That might protect good family horses from ending up in the auctions.
As far as the broken racehorses, lame horses, old horses and horses abandoned I am still horrified with enormity of the problem.
Feel free to comment below each blog post. I would like a discussion to develop.
Also, think about an equine "food bank" idea. Anyone have extra hay to donate, stockpile for winter months?
I guess one of the lessons herein is: do not have a horse if you can not afford to keep it up. Average horse maintenance costs run upwards of $3000 per year if done right with foot care every 7 weeks, proper nutrition, dental care once a year, blankets, worming, shots...Perhaps it is up to those of us who sell horses to new people coming into the industry to educate new families BEFORE selling the horse to them about how much each horse requires.
So, fellow horse lovers, ponder these postings and let me know how you feel.
Why couldn't we start something like that for horse owners who have lost jobs or homes...You know, be part of the solution? That might protect good family horses from ending up in the auctions.
As far as the broken racehorses, lame horses, old horses and horses abandoned I am still horrified with enormity of the problem.
Feel free to comment below each blog post. I would like a discussion to develop.
Also, think about an equine "food bank" idea. Anyone have extra hay to donate, stockpile for winter months?
I guess one of the lessons herein is: do not have a horse if you can not afford to keep it up. Average horse maintenance costs run upwards of $3000 per year if done right with foot care every 7 weeks, proper nutrition, dental care once a year, blankets, worming, shots...Perhaps it is up to those of us who sell horses to new people coming into the industry to educate new families BEFORE selling the horse to them about how much each horse requires.
So, fellow horse lovers, ponder these postings and let me know how you feel.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Ok So here is the other side-Caution, Graphic
Found this on Craigslist. Humane slaughter? So what is the answer? Stop breeding, stop owning, Wow I am overwhelmed. Again, be cautious if you have a weak constitution. I am not sure that is what really happens but I have a tendency to believe it is so.
horse facts get them straight before you post !! (california)
Reply to: sale-732743564@craigslist.org
Date: 2008-06-25, 5:22PM PDT
Please get your facts straight before you post
First of all The women is pleaing for money or the horse goes- The husband is planning to buy another race horse, or will trade for a truck . How is that going to feed the baby?? \
There is no increase of neglect or abuse related to the slaughter ban, in fact the horse theft and neglect cases went down (look it up) . The increase in horses being dumped is due to a poor economy , those trends have also been proven . There is also an increase in other pets being dumped , surely you have heard that on the news as well.
Learn about horse slaughter before you guess about horses being used to feed zoo animals, or dogs or poor people. Horses are not able to be put down at the slaughterhouses the same way cattle were ,its not the right equiptment. Those foreign slaughterhouse owners refused to obey the US laws to make it humane and left . Horses are very different than a cow , pig or chicken. They are built different react different and fight and have been raised (most) to trust humans , if horse owners can't be responsible and find a new home or spend the money to put it down humanely then they should have never owned any horse. Its all about squeezing that last 50 bucks out of a horse they probably ruined themselves or didn't have the intelligence to plan ahead for . They live a long time , eat a lot if you can't get a second job to support it- no matter what_ don't get one in the first place , but don't just dump it .
The below is prior to the foreign owned slaughterhouses leaving because they could not comply with our laws on transport or humane slaughter. They paid a whopping $5 in taxes to the US and ruined sewer systems as well as operating poorly managed places where many workers were injured . Its crappier in Mexico and Canada and some argue a longer trip even though the only ones in the US were Illinois and Texas so longer trip depends on where the horses started. The pro slaughter people will say its all about the horses they will starve. People in favor of slavery said the same thing. That seemed to have turned out ok . You know what, there have always been neglect and starving animals its worse in crappy economies such as the one we are in. Always will be no matter what. There is also rapists, child abusers, murders etc. Should we go back to allowing the foreign owned companies to kill our horses ignore our laws or should we use our heads to think of a better way, oh wait we already are so why on earth do people want to bring slaughter back, so they can have an easier place to dump their mistakes . There are humane euth programs, shelters, rescues. Or here is a novel thought make owners responsible , stop breeding crap horses, stop ruining them at young ages. Stop saying I can't afford to put them down but go out and get another one once you got your $50 bucks from the auction
The Trip To A Slaughterhouse
Video www.kaufmanzoning.net/horsemeat/reclaimingtheamericanhorse.wmv (This video takes 1 1/2 minutes to load, it's worth the wait.) Its early in the morning when you arrive, the corrugated metal building of the plant is already operating in full swing. Sounds and smells roll from the structure and crash against your senses like a wave. The sound of horses can be heard across the parking lot -- not the pleasant nickering or occasional whinny that greets you when you enter your barn at home, but a rapid, frantic neighing. You can almost feel the panic, fear and discomfort in the sound of the horses. Soon enough you will see the cause of the terror that is almost palatable in the air around the plant.
Each horse awaiting slaughter in the chute leading to the "kill stall" is suffering symptoms of terror that few ever witness, but are the routine at these facilities. Another sound mingles with the cry's of the horses and pierces into your soul, the strange muffled whine that can only come from a saw cutting bone still encased in flesh.
You had tried to prepare yourself for this, but now realize that you are not prepared for what you are about to experience. Nausea, your companion for the duration of your stay at this facility, engulfs you as you catch the first whiff of the oddly sickening odor of newly slaughtered flesh. Carcass after carcass, row upon row, steaming as it hangs in the freezer storage area. You had thought you were prepared a little bit for the visual experience, but you are caught blindsided by the almost unbearable smell that permeates the entire plant. Choking back the bile, as it rises in your throat, you enter the structure.
You enter the same room the horses do, the "kill shed". The kill shed consists of one room in which various operations are performed by one of six butchers at four stations within the room. An inspector from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is also present to examine parts of every horse who goes through the kill shed.
The first station is the killing station. One man works the kill chute, his job is to herd the animal into the killing stall, slaughter him or her, and begin the butchering process. This stage of the process takes about ten minutes for each animal, and begins with the opening of a heavy steel door that separates the killing stall from the waiting chute. The man working this station goes into a corridor adjacent to the waiting chute where the panicked horses are trembling violently and urinating on themselves, prodding his next victim into the killing stall with a high voltage electric cattle prod.
The building rings with the cry's of the horses, the sounds echoing off the surrounding walls. This is the most time-consuming part of the operation because the horses are fully aware of what lies ahead, and are determined not to enter the killing stall. They thrash around, trying to reverse their direction, trampling over any smaller pony, foal or weaker animal in their desperate effort to escape. The physical symptoms of terror are painfully evident on the faces of each and every animal you see either in the actual killing stall or in the waiting chute. During the 40 seconds to a minute that each horse or pony has to wait in the killing stall before losing consciousness, the terror becomes visibly more intense.
The animal can smell the blood, and see his or her former companions in various stages of dismemberment. During the last few seconds of life, the horses thrash about the stall as much as its confines allow. The first horse whose deaths you witness is a sorrel mare. A mare, maybe seven or eight, mane freshly pulled, new shoes, and a coat that gleams from a curry comb, she is prodded into the killing stall, slipping and sliding on the blood, urine and feces from the previous victims. She strains frantically, futilely, and pathetically rearing towards the ceiling -- the only direction that is not blocked by a steel door. Death comes in the form of a pneumatic nail gun that is placed against her head and fired. The horse's bone fragments are driven into the animal's brain along with the nail.
The gun is designed so that the nail never completely leaves the gun, but simply is blown into the animal's head and then pulled out by the butcher as the animal collapses. Sometimes , it does the job on the first try but this mare struggles a good deal and collapse only after the third blow. After she has collapsed, the side of the killing stall is raised, and a chain secured to the right hind leg. The mare is then hoisted by that one leg, still alive, to a hanging position. At this point, the butcher drains the body of blood by slitting the mare's throat.
When the blood vessels are severed, an amazing torrent of blood so profuse that the butcher is unable to step aside fast enough to avoid being covered with it. This steaming torrent of blood lasts only about 15 seconds, the crimson flood mingling in the copper hairs of the mare's coat and spilling to the floor. The only task left to the man at the first station is to skin her and remove the mare's head. This he accomplishes rapidly. The air is thick with the acrid, salty odor of fresh blood, you can almost taste it in your mouth as you inhale the fetid air.
At the second station in the kill shed, the headless animal is dropped to the floor. The body is propped up on the back and relieved of hooves and milk sack and udder. At this time, any urine and feces that didn't drain from the body during the first few seconds of death now pour freely onto the floor. The body is then slit down the middle, and the hide is peeled partially away. A yoke is then hooked to the stumps of the hind legs, the body is lifted upwards, and the rest of the hide is pulled past a roller secured to the floor and peeled off, the once gleaming hide crumpled in a barrel with others to be "processed". The animal's body is now at the third station of the kill shed where it is gutted and then sawed in half, becoming two "sides of beef" or rather "sides of horse".
The sides of horse are sprayed down, to rinse the congealed blood from them and weighed at the fourth and final station. The sides are placed in the cooling locker where the residual warmth of life steams away slowly in preparation for the deep freeze storage locker. From the cooling locker, the meat goes into a main storage area where it is kept for as long as a week. This locker exits to a butchering area where the sides of horse are reduced to parts for the supermarket which end up on dining room tables.
The Slaughterhouse
In the last 10 years more than three million American Horses have been butchered in the U.S. for human consumption abroad.
Sadly, horsemeat is considered a delicacy in some countries. France and Belgium buy most of America's horsemeat, but Canada, Mexico, and Japan are also consumers, and all of America's Equine slaughterhouses are foreign owned.
Here's what they do
After being lead into the killing stall, a pneumatic bolt gun is placed against the head and fired. The horse's bone fragments are driven into the animal's brain along with the bolt, which then retracts back into the gun. Unfortunately, even after several applications, this torturous procedure often leaves them totally conscious.
Horses that are supposed to be unconscious at slaughter can be seen writhing - fully conscious - in terror as a conveyor belt carries them towards their gruesome death.
These still aware horses are then hung by their heels, their throats are cut, and they are bled to death. This live torture is executed in order to meet our United States Department of Agriculture's guidelines
All this is even more shocking when you consider that most American's consider the horse as a pet and companion animal. They have a status in our society comparable to dogs and cats. We believe they are not an agricultural commodity!
The pipeline that supplies the slaughterhouses is very clandestine. Typically, when owners give up a horse, they assume it will end up in good hands. But when that animal enters "the market" it goes into a different world, a world of price for pound and auctions, horse traders, and slaughter houses.
The women is pleaing for money or the horse goes- The husband is planning to buy another race horse, or will trade for a truck . How is that going to feed the baby??
horse facts get them straight before you post !! (california)
Reply to: sale-732743564@craigslist.org
Date: 2008-06-25, 5:22PM PDT
Please get your facts straight before you post
First of all The women is pleaing for money or the horse goes- The husband is planning to buy another race horse, or will trade for a truck . How is that going to feed the baby?? \
There is no increase of neglect or abuse related to the slaughter ban, in fact the horse theft and neglect cases went down (look it up) . The increase in horses being dumped is due to a poor economy , those trends have also been proven . There is also an increase in other pets being dumped , surely you have heard that on the news as well.
Learn about horse slaughter before you guess about horses being used to feed zoo animals, or dogs or poor people. Horses are not able to be put down at the slaughterhouses the same way cattle were ,its not the right equiptment. Those foreign slaughterhouse owners refused to obey the US laws to make it humane and left . Horses are very different than a cow , pig or chicken. They are built different react different and fight and have been raised (most) to trust humans , if horse owners can't be responsible and find a new home or spend the money to put it down humanely then they should have never owned any horse. Its all about squeezing that last 50 bucks out of a horse they probably ruined themselves or didn't have the intelligence to plan ahead for . They live a long time , eat a lot if you can't get a second job to support it- no matter what_ don't get one in the first place , but don't just dump it .
The below is prior to the foreign owned slaughterhouses leaving because they could not comply with our laws on transport or humane slaughter. They paid a whopping $5 in taxes to the US and ruined sewer systems as well as operating poorly managed places where many workers were injured . Its crappier in Mexico and Canada and some argue a longer trip even though the only ones in the US were Illinois and Texas so longer trip depends on where the horses started. The pro slaughter people will say its all about the horses they will starve. People in favor of slavery said the same thing. That seemed to have turned out ok . You know what, there have always been neglect and starving animals its worse in crappy economies such as the one we are in. Always will be no matter what. There is also rapists, child abusers, murders etc. Should we go back to allowing the foreign owned companies to kill our horses ignore our laws or should we use our heads to think of a better way, oh wait we already are so why on earth do people want to bring slaughter back, so they can have an easier place to dump their mistakes . There are humane euth programs, shelters, rescues. Or here is a novel thought make owners responsible , stop breeding crap horses, stop ruining them at young ages. Stop saying I can't afford to put them down but go out and get another one once you got your $50 bucks from the auction
The Trip To A Slaughterhouse
Video www.kaufmanzoning.net/horsemeat/reclaimingtheamericanhorse.wmv (This video takes 1 1/2 minutes to load, it's worth the wait.) Its early in the morning when you arrive, the corrugated metal building of the plant is already operating in full swing. Sounds and smells roll from the structure and crash against your senses like a wave. The sound of horses can be heard across the parking lot -- not the pleasant nickering or occasional whinny that greets you when you enter your barn at home, but a rapid, frantic neighing. You can almost feel the panic, fear and discomfort in the sound of the horses. Soon enough you will see the cause of the terror that is almost palatable in the air around the plant.
Each horse awaiting slaughter in the chute leading to the "kill stall" is suffering symptoms of terror that few ever witness, but are the routine at these facilities. Another sound mingles with the cry's of the horses and pierces into your soul, the strange muffled whine that can only come from a saw cutting bone still encased in flesh.
You had tried to prepare yourself for this, but now realize that you are not prepared for what you are about to experience. Nausea, your companion for the duration of your stay at this facility, engulfs you as you catch the first whiff of the oddly sickening odor of newly slaughtered flesh. Carcass after carcass, row upon row, steaming as it hangs in the freezer storage area. You had thought you were prepared a little bit for the visual experience, but you are caught blindsided by the almost unbearable smell that permeates the entire plant. Choking back the bile, as it rises in your throat, you enter the structure.
You enter the same room the horses do, the "kill shed". The kill shed consists of one room in which various operations are performed by one of six butchers at four stations within the room. An inspector from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is also present to examine parts of every horse who goes through the kill shed.
The first station is the killing station. One man works the kill chute, his job is to herd the animal into the killing stall, slaughter him or her, and begin the butchering process. This stage of the process takes about ten minutes for each animal, and begins with the opening of a heavy steel door that separates the killing stall from the waiting chute. The man working this station goes into a corridor adjacent to the waiting chute where the panicked horses are trembling violently and urinating on themselves, prodding his next victim into the killing stall with a high voltage electric cattle prod.
The building rings with the cry's of the horses, the sounds echoing off the surrounding walls. This is the most time-consuming part of the operation because the horses are fully aware of what lies ahead, and are determined not to enter the killing stall. They thrash around, trying to reverse their direction, trampling over any smaller pony, foal or weaker animal in their desperate effort to escape. The physical symptoms of terror are painfully evident on the faces of each and every animal you see either in the actual killing stall or in the waiting chute. During the 40 seconds to a minute that each horse or pony has to wait in the killing stall before losing consciousness, the terror becomes visibly more intense.
The animal can smell the blood, and see his or her former companions in various stages of dismemberment. During the last few seconds of life, the horses thrash about the stall as much as its confines allow. The first horse whose deaths you witness is a sorrel mare. A mare, maybe seven or eight, mane freshly pulled, new shoes, and a coat that gleams from a curry comb, she is prodded into the killing stall, slipping and sliding on the blood, urine and feces from the previous victims. She strains frantically, futilely, and pathetically rearing towards the ceiling -- the only direction that is not blocked by a steel door. Death comes in the form of a pneumatic nail gun that is placed against her head and fired. The horse's bone fragments are driven into the animal's brain along with the nail.
The gun is designed so that the nail never completely leaves the gun, but simply is blown into the animal's head and then pulled out by the butcher as the animal collapses. Sometimes , it does the job on the first try but this mare struggles a good deal and collapse only after the third blow. After she has collapsed, the side of the killing stall is raised, and a chain secured to the right hind leg. The mare is then hoisted by that one leg, still alive, to a hanging position. At this point, the butcher drains the body of blood by slitting the mare's throat.
When the blood vessels are severed, an amazing torrent of blood so profuse that the butcher is unable to step aside fast enough to avoid being covered with it. This steaming torrent of blood lasts only about 15 seconds, the crimson flood mingling in the copper hairs of the mare's coat and spilling to the floor. The only task left to the man at the first station is to skin her and remove the mare's head. This he accomplishes rapidly. The air is thick with the acrid, salty odor of fresh blood, you can almost taste it in your mouth as you inhale the fetid air.
At the second station in the kill shed, the headless animal is dropped to the floor. The body is propped up on the back and relieved of hooves and milk sack and udder. At this time, any urine and feces that didn't drain from the body during the first few seconds of death now pour freely onto the floor. The body is then slit down the middle, and the hide is peeled partially away. A yoke is then hooked to the stumps of the hind legs, the body is lifted upwards, and the rest of the hide is pulled past a roller secured to the floor and peeled off, the once gleaming hide crumpled in a barrel with others to be "processed". The animal's body is now at the third station of the kill shed where it is gutted and then sawed in half, becoming two "sides of beef" or rather "sides of horse".
The sides of horse are sprayed down, to rinse the congealed blood from them and weighed at the fourth and final station. The sides are placed in the cooling locker where the residual warmth of life steams away slowly in preparation for the deep freeze storage locker. From the cooling locker, the meat goes into a main storage area where it is kept for as long as a week. This locker exits to a butchering area where the sides of horse are reduced to parts for the supermarket which end up on dining room tables.
The Slaughterhouse
In the last 10 years more than three million American Horses have been butchered in the U.S. for human consumption abroad.
Sadly, horsemeat is considered a delicacy in some countries. France and Belgium buy most of America's horsemeat, but Canada, Mexico, and Japan are also consumers, and all of America's Equine slaughterhouses are foreign owned.
Here's what they do
After being lead into the killing stall, a pneumatic bolt gun is placed against the head and fired. The horse's bone fragments are driven into the animal's brain along with the bolt, which then retracts back into the gun. Unfortunately, even after several applications, this torturous procedure often leaves them totally conscious.
Horses that are supposed to be unconscious at slaughter can be seen writhing - fully conscious - in terror as a conveyor belt carries them towards their gruesome death.
These still aware horses are then hung by their heels, their throats are cut, and they are bled to death. This live torture is executed in order to meet our United States Department of Agriculture's guidelines
All this is even more shocking when you consider that most American's consider the horse as a pet and companion animal. They have a status in our society comparable to dogs and cats. We believe they are not an agricultural commodity!
The pipeline that supplies the slaughterhouses is very clandestine. Typically, when owners give up a horse, they assume it will end up in good hands. But when that animal enters "the market" it goes into a different world, a world of price for pound and auctions, horse traders, and slaughter houses.
The women is pleaing for money or the horse goes- The husband is planning to buy another race horse, or will trade for a truck . How is that going to feed the baby??
Back in the Saddle, so to speak
Well, it has been a long while. Most of you subscribers have given up, I am sure. But is am back for good. There is so much to talk about. I have learned so much in the last few months.
One thing that really worries me is the economy and the shape of things to come in
the horse industry. You know what I am talking about. Some of us are marginal horse owners, at best. What I mean is, we used to be in the socio-economic middle class, but the downturn is making our dollars stretch less far. But we have horses that we may have had for years, and they are family. We struggle to keep them as we always have, but the cost of feed is rising at an alarming rate.
My friends in Washington State met last week to try to determine how to solve the problem of unwanted horses, or those that can no longer be kept by families falling on unfortunate times. I spent some time lurking on WA blogs about how horses are being purchased as "dealer" horses and being sent to Mexico to be killed. The issue of slaughter in the USA is a difficult one. If the horse is in pain or cannot be used, perhaps it should be destroyed. If you just Google bad equine rescue
you will discover a whole plethora of so called rescuers who are nothing but hoarders or dealers...of poor horses that are in pain or otherwise unsuitable for the beginners who are "saving" them from death.
Tough subject.
Let me hear your thoughts.
One thing that really worries me is the economy and the shape of things to come in
the horse industry. You know what I am talking about. Some of us are marginal horse owners, at best. What I mean is, we used to be in the socio-economic middle class, but the downturn is making our dollars stretch less far. But we have horses that we may have had for years, and they are family. We struggle to keep them as we always have, but the cost of feed is rising at an alarming rate.
My friends in Washington State met last week to try to determine how to solve the problem of unwanted horses, or those that can no longer be kept by families falling on unfortunate times. I spent some time lurking on WA blogs about how horses are being purchased as "dealer" horses and being sent to Mexico to be killed. The issue of slaughter in the USA is a difficult one. If the horse is in pain or cannot be used, perhaps it should be destroyed. If you just Google bad equine rescue
you will discover a whole plethora of so called rescuers who are nothing but hoarders or dealers...of poor horses that are in pain or otherwise unsuitable for the beginners who are "saving" them from death.
Tough subject.
Let me hear your thoughts.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Welcome
Interacting with the horse becomes a lifelong journey. Many years are spent developing a relationship with your horse. More years are necessary to develop the skills it takes to progress through a riding program. Some have spent decades, and some have spent a lifetime. As one level is mastered, there is ALWAYS more to learn--about the horse, about yourself, and about life lessons in general. That is why horses become more than just a means of travel, or a sport. They become a confidant, and partner, a friend. At Cadence Horsemanship we emphasize the journey. We encourage relationships with horses, whether it be for a reason or a season....Come live the dream every little girl has...to know and be known by horses. Feel free to share the dream and tell us how horses have changed your life.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Reclaiming Lost Lives
My story about Chloe's first ride of the spring (Horse Whispers blog) was written in a humorous vein, but the fact is, reclaiming horses that have been given up on as riding horses is no laughing matter. You see, I have never just gone out a bought a horse that I found suitable for myself. I gravitate to the horses that everyone says cannot be ridden. I find that most horses have had trauma in their lives. If we are quiet and listen to what the horse tells us, we can discover where the trauma happened and begin to take steps to erase the memory. The key is to supplant the bad memories with good ones. This is not a task, as many adopters of rescue horses have discovered, for the unskilled horseman. Most horses of the type that I am describing here are, in fact, rather dangerous. It takes much time and concentration to stay in the moment with these animals to avoid getting hurt. Staying in the moment is also important because you become aware of the smallest try, "the give" that the horse offers in the relationship. I will talk more about the concept of "the give" in later posts. For now, lets just say, we need to listen to be safe.
In this time of cowboy clinicians and TV trainers, the secrets of the horse whisperer are available to anyone with high speed internet or enough cash to purchase DVDs. As a professional, I find myself called out often to help people who have fallen in love with a horse with dangerous issues. I do not lump myself with the so called horse whisperers, and there are some horses that I cannot help. I prefer to tell people that it is the listening part that is important. A horse listener would be more appropriate. If we observe closely and move slowly, we can rebuild the story around a horse. In doing so, we can take that horse to the places that scare it and many times we can bring the horse back into use.
In Chloe's case, I was called out to see this beautiful mare that was difficult to mount, who refused to stop, reared, and threatened to go over backwards. The "neighbor fellow" weighiing over 250 pounds (mare is 15.1 and 950) put a Tom Thumb in her mouth, tied her head to her chest , and "worked her down" for two hours before he could ride her down the road. When I showed up to ride her, she was terrified of being ridden. It took me an hour to get on her, and an hour to get her to stop running headlong in terror toward barns, fences, cars, etc.. She was in a blind panic. I suspect it was the nutcracker bit that had made her mouth sore, the sense of feeling her nose attached to her chest making it hard to breathe at that angle, and the ill fitting saddle that made her back sore with that heavy man aboard that set off the panic. Any one of those situations alone could trigger a fight for her life. And fight she did. I am sure she thought that we were going to kill her that day. I cried for her. And I took her home.
With this mare, less is certainly more. I ride her in a fat, three piece wonderbit with a bean in the middle. This sort of bit is lifted by the horse and carried where it is most comfortable. It is not a busy bit, nor does it pinch or clank in any manner. My first rides on her were bareback, so that she could feel me, and so the saddle did not evoke panic. No saddle also meant that I could swing off and on without fear of being hung up. It seems to be working. Now I also use a neck strap for steering and my seat and legs for stopping. Less is more.
Over the last few months, I discovered that Chloe is still making milk. Still spinning her story, I believe that broodmares earn their keep, so someone might have bred her a few times before she ended up at auction and then with a dealer who dumped her on the first family he could find. On the ground she is the sweetest thing. Broodmares who are 10 are not really the best riding horses. Broodmares live in herds of horses. That fact would explain her lack of response to humans and her extra sensitivity to her environment as the bell mare.
Another thing that I learned early before I decided to keep her was that she did not understand how to communicate with a human. In fact, she was unaware that a human represented any sort of security. Chloe is a loner in the field, choosing to be at the highest point in the pasture. I believe she is an alpha mare and ran in a herd of horses most of her life. She is not happy alone in the barn and has not yet transferred her herd instinct to me. She did not whicker at me even though I lived with her in the barn and saw her over ten times in a day. I bribed her with treats, fed her, groomed her. But it wasn't until I began teaching her to target things that the breakthrough occurred. After 6 months and a looong winter of "playing" with this mare something changed.
I didn't realize this until today.
I stopped by the barn this evening and Chloe was at her usual spot, high up on the knoll in the pasture. I have moved out of the barn and have been gone for a week now, only seeing the mare once a day. Tonight, I repeatedly called to her as I was dressed to go out for dinner and would not step in the muddy field to get her. Finally I just said, as I do every time we work, "Do you want to play?" She watched me for a long time with her ears up, and as I turned to give up on her, she whinnied at me from across the pasture. I looked back , and could not believe my eyes. My little mare was raising her front leg in a salute from atop the hill! She wanted to play and was telling me so.
I ran into the barn to get cookies and a lead rope as she started down the hill, not really believing what I had just seen. When I got to the gate she had chased all the other horses off and came right to me. What I feel tonight is something amazing. I have taught my little unwanted mare that people are ok and that she can trust me. We can now communicate, even if it is just by lifting our legs!
I guess what I want to say by this rambling post is that sometimes if we listen and stay in the moment with our animals, our friends, and our family, perhaps we can see deeper into where they have been and why they behave as they do. Horses have taught me that if we are not judgemental, and we wait long enough, good things happen.
Relationships are important, and if you are not building one with your horse at liberty and you still have to control them with ropes and whips, you are missing out on the true communication that these animals are capable of. I was a non-believer, horses were just horses...animals. But I am discovering that by listening to the horses, they talk loudly and clearly about what they need and how they want their lives to be.
My buddy Chloe accepted me today. She is no longer lost. I have found a good friend.
In this time of cowboy clinicians and TV trainers, the secrets of the horse whisperer are available to anyone with high speed internet or enough cash to purchase DVDs. As a professional, I find myself called out often to help people who have fallen in love with a horse with dangerous issues. I do not lump myself with the so called horse whisperers, and there are some horses that I cannot help. I prefer to tell people that it is the listening part that is important. A horse listener would be more appropriate. If we observe closely and move slowly, we can rebuild the story around a horse. In doing so, we can take that horse to the places that scare it and many times we can bring the horse back into use.
In Chloe's case, I was called out to see this beautiful mare that was difficult to mount, who refused to stop, reared, and threatened to go over backwards. The "neighbor fellow" weighiing over 250 pounds (mare is 15.1 and 950) put a Tom Thumb in her mouth, tied her head to her chest , and "worked her down" for two hours before he could ride her down the road. When I showed up to ride her, she was terrified of being ridden. It took me an hour to get on her, and an hour to get her to stop running headlong in terror toward barns, fences, cars, etc.. She was in a blind panic. I suspect it was the nutcracker bit that had made her mouth sore, the sense of feeling her nose attached to her chest making it hard to breathe at that angle, and the ill fitting saddle that made her back sore with that heavy man aboard that set off the panic. Any one of those situations alone could trigger a fight for her life. And fight she did. I am sure she thought that we were going to kill her that day. I cried for her. And I took her home.
With this mare, less is certainly more. I ride her in a fat, three piece wonderbit with a bean in the middle. This sort of bit is lifted by the horse and carried where it is most comfortable. It is not a busy bit, nor does it pinch or clank in any manner. My first rides on her were bareback, so that she could feel me, and so the saddle did not evoke panic. No saddle also meant that I could swing off and on without fear of being hung up. It seems to be working. Now I also use a neck strap for steering and my seat and legs for stopping. Less is more.
Over the last few months, I discovered that Chloe is still making milk. Still spinning her story, I believe that broodmares earn their keep, so someone might have bred her a few times before she ended up at auction and then with a dealer who dumped her on the first family he could find. On the ground she is the sweetest thing. Broodmares who are 10 are not really the best riding horses. Broodmares live in herds of horses. That fact would explain her lack of response to humans and her extra sensitivity to her environment as the bell mare.
Another thing that I learned early before I decided to keep her was that she did not understand how to communicate with a human. In fact, she was unaware that a human represented any sort of security. Chloe is a loner in the field, choosing to be at the highest point in the pasture. I believe she is an alpha mare and ran in a herd of horses most of her life. She is not happy alone in the barn and has not yet transferred her herd instinct to me. She did not whicker at me even though I lived with her in the barn and saw her over ten times in a day. I bribed her with treats, fed her, groomed her. But it wasn't until I began teaching her to target things that the breakthrough occurred. After 6 months and a looong winter of "playing" with this mare something changed.
I didn't realize this until today.
I stopped by the barn this evening and Chloe was at her usual spot, high up on the knoll in the pasture. I have moved out of the barn and have been gone for a week now, only seeing the mare once a day. Tonight, I repeatedly called to her as I was dressed to go out for dinner and would not step in the muddy field to get her. Finally I just said, as I do every time we work, "Do you want to play?" She watched me for a long time with her ears up, and as I turned to give up on her, she whinnied at me from across the pasture. I looked back , and could not believe my eyes. My little mare was raising her front leg in a salute from atop the hill! She wanted to play and was telling me so.
I ran into the barn to get cookies and a lead rope as she started down the hill, not really believing what I had just seen. When I got to the gate she had chased all the other horses off and came right to me. What I feel tonight is something amazing. I have taught my little unwanted mare that people are ok and that she can trust me. We can now communicate, even if it is just by lifting our legs!
I guess what I want to say by this rambling post is that sometimes if we listen and stay in the moment with our animals, our friends, and our family, perhaps we can see deeper into where they have been and why they behave as they do. Horses have taught me that if we are not judgemental, and we wait long enough, good things happen.
Relationships are important, and if you are not building one with your horse at liberty and you still have to control them with ropes and whips, you are missing out on the true communication that these animals are capable of. I was a non-believer, horses were just horses...animals. But I am discovering that by listening to the horses, they talk loudly and clearly about what they need and how they want their lives to be.
My buddy Chloe accepted me today. She is no longer lost. I have found a good friend.
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