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The glorious versitle paso fino

I was sent this link in my most recent copy of the Northwest Paso Fino Horse Association newsletter. It is a fun video to watch whether or not you love Paso Finos.

Here is what you will see:

1. Beautiful gait. This quick footed stallion has a lovely smooth gait.
2. Versitility: Showing the canter & jump, it illustrates how a Paso Fino can do more than ride around in a circle.
3. Agility. Sideways movments (halfpass, sidepass) are movements for a diagionally gaited horse, for a Paso Fino the difficulty level is much higher, this horse is supple and athletic.
3. Horsemanship. There are moments where this looks out of control, but the reality is, this quick footed guy is being guided by a great horseman who has challenged him to be his best.
4. Partnership. She drops her reins at the canter, spins around poles all the while her trusted steed is keeping her safe.
5. Trust. Both human to horse and horse to human.

And no, it is not played at a fast speed. Enjoy!

Working both sides

I’m lucky. I’m ambidexterious. I almost do stuff as easily with my left hand as I can with my dominant right hand. I have been that way most of my life and probably chose being right handed because I live in a right handed world.

Being comfortable with both sides of my body has given me a great advantage in the horse world. I am always leading my horses on both sides, my riding is pretty balanced, and it is easy to make sure I am doing things from both sides.

Well today, when I was working with Phaedre, I was on her right side and asked her to lower her head. Guess what, she just stuck it in the air. HIGH in the air. When I did did my next level of reinforcement (touching the pole and moving the nose of her halter from side to side), she also didn’t put her head down.

It is such a reminder to make sure we are doing things from both sides of our horses, not just leading and basic groundwork, but also brideling, saddling and even giving wormer. The more things our horses can do two sided, the more flexible mentally they become.

How to Teach Your Horse to Spook

I don’t want to talk about teaching your horse to spook in place, at that, I am not an expert. Rather, I want to discuss the behaviors you should engage in as a rider to ensure your horse jumps, snorts and acts squirrley at every opportunity.

I recently did many of these things to turn my ho-hum Morgan who had never spooked into a spooking machine after her first bobble. I am sure if you engage in these activities, I can guarentee you that your horse will spook.

1. Worry. Worry that everything might spook your horse.

2. Have zero confidence in your horse. The less confidence you have (and have in your horse) the more likely she is to spook.

3. Hold your breath. When we are relaxed we breathe normally, sometimes we even sing a song or laugh. Holding your breath is an awesome sign of tension and your horse will react to it.

4. Over react. Did it scare you? Make sure you let your horse know! You are, after all, a predator, so if you are scared-your horse will be do.

5. Go fetal. We curl up when we are afraid. Sitting up straight, with a deep seat is a sign of confidence, so make sure to fall forward on your horse, it might even help you come off if he is super scared.

If you decide that you don’t want your horse to spook, then just relax, be confident, breath and sit back. There are many other things to help, but this is a good place to start.

How to Fit a Saddle: For Women!

I actually don’t know that much about saddle fitting and what a shame. There is so much around biomechanics of both horses and humans that a well fit saddle can save hundreds of hours in resistance, injury and training, not to mention lots of saved money from vet bills, chiropracters, multiple saddle purchases and most of all-saved aggrivation.

I have been looking for a dressage saddle for several months and sitting in every one I could try for over a year. Today, I sat in one that was comfortable. It was the first time I ever sat in a saddle and went ‘YES!’. It was like the first time I put on a pair of Dansko clogs, I just felt it was made for me.

Well, this saddle, a Schlesse, wasn’t made for me, but it was made for women. After researching them tonight, I found they have published an excellent series on YouTube for the 9 points of saddle fitting. It is well worth 30 minutes of your time. If you have another 10 minutes watch the saddle fitting for women videos. In fact, if you are a woman, watch those first. They are ENLIGHTENING, I think I just came out of the saddle dark ages.

And don’t freak out when you see the prices. Yes, they are expensive, but you can find used ones (that is what I am trying). And really, if it is the last saddle you ever buy-it might be worth the investment.

To find them on youtube, click here.

How to: Approach and Retreat-Little Objects

I got a question recently on how someone can get wet things near their horses head. This is one of my favorite topics, approach and retreat. There are a lot of different theories about approach and retreat, but I want to tell you the story of where the term ‘broke’ comes from in reference to horses.

I read Monty Roberts book ‘The Man Who Listen’s To Horses’ a few years ago. What stuck with me most was the story about horse a ‘broke’. Simply, it would be tied to a post and tormented with objects until its spirit was broken. *SHUDDER* From that moment on, I erased that word from my vocabulary.

So how do we ask our equine friends to accept objects they consider to be potential fatal (after all they are prey animals and I am sure you have met one that thinks it could be killed by a plastic bag)?

So, here is a semi-systematic way of helping your horse gain confidence about a scary object.

1. Find the comfortable distance. How far away can your horse be from the scary object and have NO reaction? That is your comfortable distance, make note and don’t fudge. By the way it helps to aproach from multiple directions because horses don’t generalize well.

2. Check your foundation. This is reality check #1. If you are trying to put something wet near your horses head, can you actually put a non wet object near your horses head? Will he willingly lower is head to have an object other than a halter, bridle or brush near his head?

If not, then find a way to bring your horse pleasure with other objects near his head. But follow the same instructions!

3. Lower the Criteria. Assuming your horse doesn’t mind random things near his head, keeps his head low, stays relaxed, isn’t worried, then if you are trying for a wet sponge, lower the criteria. Start with a damp towel, not dripping, but almost dry. Make sure he accepts it in other stops on his body and make it warm and pleasant. Use it to massage him! If that works well then go to step #1. Find the comfortable distance.

4. Move slowly. Horses are smart creatures and they are programmed to protect themselves. The hotter blooded/more high headed the horse (regardless of breed), in my opinion takes longer to accept new things, but if done RIGHT will accept them more willingly than a horse who cares less. Moving slowly and taking the time will make your life so much easier in the logn run!

5. Relax. If you can’t relax, it is likely your horse won’t either. Getting mad, yelling, screaming, crying does little to inspire your horse to be confident. Trust me, I know. I have spent a lot of time doing all those things. Just take a deep breath and pretend you are teaching a kid how to read for the first time. Lots of patience!

6. Approach and retreat. Once you have lowered your criteria, prepared yourself to move slowly AND know the comfortable distance, then approach and retreat. What does that mean? Simple. Move the object slowly toward your horse and I mean SLOWLY, be soft in your body language and watch your horse. Watch for tension, ears, eyes anything that indicates what you are doing is NOT ok. If you see that retreat (slowly of course) and just do something random with the object. Do I need to repeat something not scary? If you can touch your horse with the object, then when you retreat continue to do something pleasurable with it to him.

7. Have patience. Make this a part of your daily routine and slowly close the gap. When you introduce a new element it all starts over, but the more you do these things the less your horse will freak out.

I have some different techniques for bigger objects, but all of this information applies, just some different ways to apply them.

I cannot emphasize enough-if your horse freaks out when you pull out a sponge halfway across the arena, then start ALL the way across the arena. You do NOT want to your horse to pull back if tied. So as absurd as it may feel, this is for your horse, not your ego.

Balance

There is a lot of discussion about balance when it comes to horses, usually in reference to us as riders. We are always looking for a way to better position our bodies, create better harmony and sometimes, for ways to just not fall off of our horses.
But there is another kind of balance, how do you marry two disparate disciplines to find what will work for both and leave your conscious clear. Confused? Hold tight, let me explain.

If you are a new reader or a (very) faithful longtime reader, you will know that I am interested in a few horse related things: 1. Parelli/Natural Horsemanship 2. Dressage 3. Trail ObsticalesAND to be able to do them all with gaited and non-gaited horses. Talk about a perplexing set of interests. Here are some of the examples conflicts:
1. Unless you teach your gaited horses to trot, you can’t officially pass some of the level Parelli 3 and 4 skills.2. It is believed you cannot compete in USDF or USAE Dressage competitions with a gaited horse.3. Can’t pull a log in a trail obsticle course with a dressage saddle.
Not to mention that “purists” in many of the disciplines say that they can’t be mixed. Crap, does that mean I have to pick one? Does that mean I can only be so ‘savvy’ with a gaited horse? Or never do dressage with a Paso Fino? Or not ride in a trail obsticle course with my dressage saddle?
No, my friends, it is all a matter of balance. I have spent much of the last few years finding that balance and developing the confidence to make the decisions that are best for my goals. It is imperative to be willing to take in new information, but you don’t always have to choose to use it.
I will be taking lessons from someone who may suggest I use a flash on my horse, or perhaps even a tie down. These are things I have done, but I no longer wish to do. I am happy to take the suggestion, but ultimately, I am in charge. As I told Santana’s owner when she took him home: You will get a lot of advice, but ultimately it is up to you to make the decision that is best for your horse, do what you think is right.
I might not ever be Parelli Level 4 or a riding Dressage Level 4, but then again, maybe I will. But whatever I achieve, it means I have done it with balance.

Tune Up

It has been a long time since I have posted on Learninghorses.com. Suffice to say, a lot has happened for me in the last year, but the most recent result is that I am now living back in Portland. I moved back a couple of weeks ago and I am enjoying the city life.

Precious will be staying at Synergy Stables, our farm in Junction City, OR. Phaedre will be with me at Heavenly Ranch in Banks.

For the short term, I have brought Precious up with me for a tune-up. I haven’t ridden her much in the last couple of years and it shows. Nothing wild or crazy, but the soft collected horse is really going more for stiff and strung out. I’m trying to put it back together.

Here are some of the reminders I had to give to Precious today:

1. Whoa means stop. Not stop in 3 or 4 steps, but stop. To me, the whoa is the stopping of the forward movment of the horse. Basically, not pull back on your horse, instead, prevent him from going forward. If you are riding with contact this can be as simple as closing your hands on the reins and sitting deep in your seat and dropping weight in your stirrups. If you are preventing your horse from going forward and not asking him to go backward, what is he supposed to do?

2. Everything gets sloppy with speed. Slow down. If something isn’t working at trot/gait or canter, perfect it first with the walk and work your way up. Precious and I spent most of our ride today at the walk. It was easier for me to remind her and easier for her to accomplish.

3. Leg does not mean speed. Precious wasn’t bolting out from underneath me, but as I increased the leg cue, she wanted to travel faster. What is the message here? Remember to be consistent in how you ask. Make sure to have two different cues and never allow one to mean another.

4. Look where you are going. If you don’t know where you want to go, neither would your horse. Do you look down at your shoes when you are walking? I think not. Have vision.

5. Be specific and ask specifically. Precious wouldn’t stand next to the mounting block where I wanted her to. I had to move her over 4 times, but by the end, she knew exactly what I wanted. I didn’t take ‘close enough’, I asked specifically and got specifically.

It was a fun ride and just amazing to remember how far my girl has come.

Dianne Sept Lesson

Today I had a lesson from Diane Sept. She is a connected riding instructor with a very long history in gaited horses. We are concerned about Pidgeon Fever in our area so I we are leaving horses at home, but someone let me borrow their Tennessee Walker.

Although not everything Diane taught me was new, the way it was put together was entirely new. First, the lesson focused on me, not my horse, which was a NICE change of pace. I have gotten to a point with my riding where I get less and less feedback about my overall riding picture, while we focus on improving the horse. Not to sound snotty, but I am generally the best student in a clinic because I listen and adapt well. So, I can get great results even in an hour lesson.

So I will call the overall picture of what Diane taught me ‘rider silence’. Have you heard the term ‘radio silence’? That is when there is no sound on the radio. Rider silence is no noise in the rider’s body. I have had many instructors that have had me push the horse to move out with my body, Diane asked me to feel the horse move and let THAT move my body. But not my entire body, my hips were connecting with the back feet of the horse, my upper body was reaching up, quieting the movement in my body.

The result? I was able to open up the horse, he was reaching for the contact, stretching through his topline and putting himself together. It was *very* cool.

What was interesting is that I had been pretty quiet with an impulsive horse and busy with a lazy horse, but I learned I could be WITH the horse in rider silence. I went home and rode Tesoro and he was very relaxed although speedy, so I will ask Diane about that! But I have to admit, when I actually got all of Diane’s suggestions working in harmony I didn’t have rushing problems. *MAYBE* I just answered my own question!

And by the way THUMBS UP for Diane.

Horse Slaugther-My Perspective

On a message group I belong to, there has been a dialogue about horse slaugther. Many people have weighed in, most in support of slaughter. I rarely state my opinions publicly, but here goes. Remember, it is just my opinion. Here is what I wrote:

It is an interesting conversation. There are many pros and cons. I have only had horses for seven years, so I haven’t seen the cycles that many of you have, but here is my greatest concern:

When there was a meat buyer at auction, there was a bottom value for a horse. The better trained, the better looking, the BETTER the horse was, the higher price. Most of us are riding, owning, producing quality horses that don’t end up at auction, but as I drive by the auction house every day when I go to work, I can tell you it is active and alive.

Now that horses have to go somewhere, they are being sold for $50 and $75. I know someone who actually bought a trained horse for $25 (not my version of trained I’m sure, but they were willing to ride it). A horse for $25? So, the horses that don’t sell go back to their homes where they are not a match, or where owners cant afford them. Horses that are sold are now disposable because they were only $25 or $75. I can spend $25 in the blink of an eye-I can’t even fill my truck for $75, but I spent THOUSANDS to buy my horses (and I got some good deals). They are NOT disposable. They require quality care and only the best situations. I have tried to sell Tesoro, I did for years, but couldn’t find him the right home because (like Dianna said) I knew what he needed and I couldn’t find it. I would never take him to auction, but think of all the people who are NOT responsible like us. .

They are out there. Have you been to a large boarding facility lately? Have you encountered a serious backyard breeder? Have you looked at Craigslist? Have you visited your neighbors in the woods? Well, I have done all of those things, the way people treat horses is SCARY. If I was a horse up for auction, I would be very afraid.

When the price of a horse is less than a tank of gas (and yes, I know someone who bought a Paso Fino at auction for $75), it doesn’t just hurt the horse market, it hurts the animals we took responsibility for when we decided to breed. I wouldn’t want to be the untrained horse that hops from home to home to home because it is disposable. Maybe that is why it learned to kick or bite, because it had to defend itself. For irresponsible people it is easy to give up and try again. and again. and again. and again. Only the horse suffers. I cannot abide by that. I would rather see a horse humanely euthanized (or dog, or cat) than to suffer the indignity (and possibly suffering) of irresponsibility.

For this, and many other reasons, I support horse slaugther as a necessity in the marketplace. It should be humane, regulated and taxed. I actually support humane horse slaugther more than the hunting I grew up with where if you didn’t have a clean kill, you would track an animal to finish it off. I grew up eating that meat, where an animal very well may have suffered. Now that I think about it, I might not eat game again.

It is a very fine line.

Back on purpose

I started this blog almost 2 years ago because I didn’t even know what a blog was and my new job was to work with website publishers. Over time, the blog evolved and for a good run, I posted a lot of information that was to help people with their horses. Now that two years is passed I know more about online advertising that most people that run a website and I have seemed to have lost the focus of that good run.

How did that happen? Well, I forgot about my purpose. Although I am not a seasoned horse professional, nor have I even had horses for more than a decade, I know my purpose is to help people learn about horses. I remember what it was like to not know ANYTHING and I still know HARDLY anything, but as I continue to learn I will share with you what I learn.

I will be camping the next few days, but when I return, I promise to have some surprises and maybe a few things you didn’t even know.

Here is a picture of Tesoro and I this weekend at the Advanced Level 2 Parelli clinic.

Horse Vacation-Jerri Style

On Saturday I start my official ‘horse vacation’ where my goal is to ride a horse every day for 9 days, most days more than one.

Here is how it will start:

Parelli Advanced Level 2 clinic in Bend. Not sure if I’m ready for an advanced level 2 clinic, but I’m going to give it a shot. I’m taking Tesoro. It will be my first clinic with Marc Rhea a 3 Star Instructor. I’m looking forward to something different.

Although I have great friends in Bend, I decided to stay in a hotel so I can go to my room, take a shower and SLEEP!

I will get home Sunday evening and Monday I’m headed to a state park for 3 nights of camping. I’m taking all 3 horses and 2 dogs!!! It will be a great time bonding with my family. A friend of mine is coming to ride on Wednesday, but other than that, I am planning on being alone, alone, alone. I’m taking a twin mattress and sleeping in the back of the truck.

I head home Thursday and on Friday I’ll attend a Clay Wright Clinic in Veneta (near Eugene). Clay Wright is a natural horsemanship guy with a dressage background, often his stuff is called ‘Cowboy Dressage’. He is being hosted by my favorite local teacher Julie Fisher. I’ll be using Phaedre in the clinic. I’m really excited!

Clinic is Friday, Saturday, Sunday, then Sunday I have a ride with Brent Hicks a dressage clinician from California. I’ll be riding Tesoro. He doesn’t have a website (that I can find). I have seen him once before and I decided I’d like to try and ride with him.

It should be an eventful, fun, learning-filled 9 days and I CAN’T WAIT. I could have taken a pretty nice vacation with the money I’m spending on gas and the clinics, but the learning I will do and all the time I will spend without cell phone, email and facebook access will be well worth it.

Would love to see any of you as auditors, or contact me if you want to ride with me Tuesday or Wednesday near Portland.

Phaedre is home

I took 4 lessons on Phaedre with Julie this week and then I brought her home. There were some sticky patches, but overall she is doing SO good. She moves beautifully and in time she will be a spectacular horse. The most amazing thing is nothing really seems to phase her. I couldn’t be more thrilled with my new pony. I plan to ride her for the next four days and then back for another lesson Thursday.

The Phaedre Ride

Today, I rode Miss Phaedre for the first time. She is obviously becoming Julie’s horse as she wasn’t greating me at the stall, so I am glad she is coming home this week. But Julie has been doing a great job with her and getting on was uneventful-EXACTLY how it is supposed to be.

I struggled to get her to trot and we didn’t try the canter, but Julie noticed when she got on to school her afterwards that her legs were really far foward. Then I started looking at the saddle and indeed, I had it WAY too far forward. So on Tuesday, I will put it farther back and see if things go a little better.

I’m pretty out of balance and VERY out of shape, but I think in just a couple of rides she and I will find our place. I am getting three more lessons this week, then I’ll come for weekly lessons for a couple of weeks. I am going to lots of clinics in September and I am taking some time off, so I will be getting a lot of hours on my girl. I am hoping for our first schooling show in October. YIPEE

Horsin’ Around

Today was an amazing day for me and my girls. So I am not sure if I have officially told everyone that I love mares. I feel like even though they have good days and bad days (just like me) and that their love is hard to earn (like me), and it takes them a while to build trust (like me), once you have patience, love and trust they will be very true to you. By the way, I feel the same way about male dalmatians.

When I was looking for horse to buy, I knew I wanted a mare, but I would take the *right* horse even if it was a gelding. Luckily Phaedre fit all of my requirements (including no white feet) along with her amazing can-do attitude.

Today we went to the Horsin’ Around compeition at Fisher 4F Ranch. So anyone who reads this blog with any regularity knows I adore Julie and Craig Fisher and Julie’s partner in crime and horses: Darlene.

Today I headed to the Fishers for the Annual Trail Competition. This is the 3rd year I have participated, my 2nd year as a judge. There are 36 (or 37) obstacles on the course ranging from simple to terribly difficult. There is backing through poles, downhill, jumps, trenches with water, bridges (3), squeezes, tarps, more water, roping, trailer loading (send into the trailer only), ditches, step ups (and downs) and a whole lot more. Today I took both of my girls through, here are the results.

Miss Phaedre: I took Phaedre in hand. She was able to do 33 of the 36 tasks missing the large trench with water, another large water obstacle and ground tying. (oh by the way you have 1 minute and 30 seconds to compelete each). I have done almost none of this kind of work with her. Her willingness to try is WHY I bought her and you could not get the smile off of my face. Julie is training her and says that I will really like her under saddle, I just could not be happier!

Precious: I rode Precious and we did 29 of the 36. I passed on two obstacles (step down-it is about 1 1/2 – 2 feet, Uriah fell off Precious last year doing this because she is a leaper) and the tree jump (I’m not comfortable). We ran out of time on the front feet on the tractor tire filled with sand and 360 around it with back feet on ground, but she did it.

The Canteen dip (pick up a canteen off hook, dip it in water, dump it in barrel, hand up canteen) was one I was only going to do part of. And we did, so I was pleased.

She refused the large trench filled with water (I mean LARGE). Below is a video from last year. And it is even steeper than it looks.

She refused another ditch and I wasn’t able to rope, so 3 were me, 2 were her and we will share the other 2 (ok, I’ll take responsibility for all the ones she didn’t do).

It was a grand time and tomorrow I will be back to judge all day!

Liberty Begins

So in my lesson with Ann Kiser this week I wanted to work on 2 things. Beginning my liberty work and the canter. I need both to pass my level 2 and I just didn’t know where to start with liberty.

Ann suggested that I start playing all 7 games with my rope on the ground rather than just taking off her halter and leadrope, just to ‘test’ how my work is. I found some holes (hind end disengagement) and today I took the halter off for the first time.

I played Friendly, driving and porcupine, the first 3 games AT LIBERTY!!!!! My horse didn’t leave me once. I was able to send her back with the yo-yo game (#4), but couldn’t get her back to me. I was also able to lead her as well as drive her from the saddle position (don’t know what that is called, but basically I stand next to her side with my carrot stick on her back and we move together). I was really proud of us.

So, we didn’t have as much luck if she has to move forward (I was not in the round pen). So I’ll work on those games a little bit more solid and start them in the round pen.

I’m sure the fact that it was 95 degrees probably helped, but I’m so happy with our result!

My new main squeeze

So, I’m in love. Yes, its true, I have fallen head over heels for a machine. This is a nicely painted hay squeeze. What does it do you ask? Well on the other side of this dafty machine it has forks that stick out to the side that can *hug* a stack of hay and pick it up. You know what else it can do? Put hay into the loft, push it back and all you have to do is pay someone.

This weekend we put our winter hay, all 15.8 tons in the loft and I didn’t touch ONE lousy bale. We buy from a guy right down the road and his ‘hay guy’ Jesse (who I would marry tomorrow for the equipment he owns), brought the hay over in a bale wagon and put it up with the squeeze. It look hardly in any time. I paid basically an extra $20/ton and it was worth every freaking penny.

Bale Wagon picture courtesy of Lisa.

How to have Trail Obstacle Success

Trail Obstacle has always been one of my favorite classes in shows. Here are a few simple tips to bump up your scores and keep you in the ribbons.

1. Let your horse observe the object. Good trail horses look at things but continue without hesitation, your judge is looking for this.

2. Go slow. We often rush which can cause a horse be less precise. When backing through barrels or stepping over poles, slower is better. A good trail horse will go step by step rather than rushing through something difficult.

3. Mix it up. So your horse will walk over a blue tarp, but how about a black one? An orange one, or a camouflage one? What about with poles on top? Your horse can handle a flag, but can you pick one up? Think outside the box and the more things your horse can get comfortable trying, the easier strange things will be on the trail or in competition.

4. A partial attempt is better than a failed attempt. So let’s say you have to side pass over a pole, but your horse is having none of it. So instead, step in front of the pole and ask your horse to side pass in front of it. You can earn points for this and it gets your horse focused on something they can be successful with.

5. Don’t be afraid to pass. If your horse is getting worked up on an obstacle, don’t be afraid to pass it BEFORE the judge asks you to move on. There are a couple of reasons: first, it shows the judge you know your horses’ limits, second, it can prevent them from getting worked up which may make other obstacles more difficult.

6. Don’t be afraid to explore the obstacle. If you have to back your horse through poles and he refuses, why don’t you walk him 7/8 of the way through the poles, stop him and ask him to back. If I was working on this at home, I would ask my horse to do that, I may even get points for it rather than a zero for getting nothing.

7. Line your horse up properly. For poles, backing, mailboxes, gates, learning to line up your horse is *key* to being successful. It is important to be able to move your horse right, left, back, forward, up down with your leg aides because on a trail obstacle course, you are often using your hands for other things!

8. BREATHE. Don’t forget to relax as if you were on the trail and hanging out with friends. If you are not enjoying yourself, your horse won’t either!

9. Don’t do the speed events until you really know what you are doing-like this guy!

I’ll be the judge of that

And I was! Well, almost. This weekend, I was an apprentice judge for the first time with Mimi Busk-Downey as the presiding judge at the Northwest Pleasure Tennesse Walking Horse Association Show in Albany, OR. It was a FOSH sanctioned show, which means that it was under FOSH rules and we have Tennesse Walkers, Foxtrotters, Peruvians, Paso Finos and Mountain Horses. There were some amazing horses, some not so amazing horses and I learned SO MUCH. I’ll have to give everyone some tips for the future about how to edge out the competition, some of it is SO simple!

Goodbye Zapa

On Friday, I said goodbye to my little Zapa. From before he was conceived to this very moment, I have adored him (or the thought of him). He will be 5 in July so it has been a six year journey of love and learning. He was the first horse I ever saw gelded, my first (and only) after hours vet call, my first baby to work with, my first horse to start, my first of many many experiences. He is sweet, willing, trusting and a very nice horse. I am proud of him and proud of myself for the work I did with him.

He has a great home with his new owner M. Who has been coming to ride him for almost 6 months. I know they will take great care of each other as they both grow up. I have dreams of coming to watch her compete on her HS Equestrian Team, showing them that a Paso Fino can do it just as well.

I would like to thank everyone that helped me raise this boy, Gina Odermott of Heavenly Ranch in Banks, OR (where we boarded for two years), Bruce and Betty Reed in Colton, OR who bred and kept him for me until he was 9 months old PLUS help with trail training, Amber L. who did some great riding of him and rode him in his first show and Christabeth Voss who started him under saddle, Pam Radway of R-Way Farm (another boarding facility) and Gina Gardner and Julie Fisher who gave me great lessons along the way. It really does take a village.

Good Luck Zapa and M. I know you guys are a great match and I (and the world) can’t wait to hear about your journey.

Land O’ Lakes Purina Food Recall

If you belong to a message board you may have seen many emails recently about Purina food recalls. According to ‘The Horse’ a reputable magazine on horse health, the recall is voluntary and precautionary. It affects feed manufactured at three eastern plants that contain above acceptable amounts of mycotoxins.

From Thehorse.com:

The recalled feed was produced at:
Purina’s Statesville, N.C., plant between Nov. 3, 2007, and Feb. 8, 2008;
Harrisburg, Pa., Jan. 1, 2008, and Feb. 8, 2008; and
Guilderland, N.Y., Jan. 1, 2008, and March 10, 2008.
Dealers in the following states might have sold affected product:
Connecticut,
Delaware,
Georgia,
Maine,
Maryland,
Massachusetts,
New Hampshire,
New Jersey,
New York,
North Carolina,
Pennsylvania,
Rhode Island,
South Carolina,
Tennessee,
Vermont,
Virginia, and
West Virginia.

For those of us on the west coast, there is no need to be worried. If you live in these areas and use Purina products, please check with your local feed store where you purchased for more information. Your dealer is BY FAR your best resource.