Ellie's Journey Home - Saved from the Slaughter House, Literally

Every so often the stars align and mysterious things happen, as if it were fate falling into place. This past weekend was one of those moments when I felt the stars align for Ellie and I.

It was only a few weeks ago when someone commented on my youtube video of Elegance, aka 'Ellie' and I had responded saying if she was ever not wanted I would gladly take her back. Little did I know what would happen in the weeks to follow.

Ellie was born March 28, 2003 as a Thoroughbred intended for the race track. She had some training before they realized that Ellie really isn't a fast horse and didn't have a heart for racing. She retired from racing, with no starts, and sound. I purchased her from a horse trader that had a connection at the track and helped to sell ex-race horses.

I brought her to the placed where I boarded, Reidall Farms. There I retrained her using natural horsemanship and we could do canter pirouettes and ride bridleless and play at liberty. From there we moved around a bit as I tried to find a farm that had everything I wanted... with a reasonable price. We boarded at Equine Oasis and Bellewood Equestrian Centre. It was along this journey that I also purchased Thetis. Thetis and Ellie became best friends.

Thetis and Ellie showed together and trained together. They were very similar, but Ellie was easier to ride because I'd had her longer so she was better trained, and also Ellie is naturally more of a pokey/slow horse which makes her easier.

I made the decision to sell Ellie because I needed to sell one of my horses to help keep paying the bills.... if you didn't know this already, horses are expensive! One of the ways I would both help cover my horsey expenses and help horses was to own a couple horses at a time, one of which would be a project to train, and when they could be safely sold I would sell... and then repeat the process.

I sold Elegance to Larissa, who wanted a calm show horse to gain her confidence on. Larissa enjoyed her for a year, and then contacted me when she wanted to sell Elegance and move on to a different horse. I was boarding at West Ridge Farm at the time, and already owned a few horses so I couldn’t take her back - instead I helped Larissa sell Elegance and find her a new home.

She was sold to a lady named Melanie, who with her coach Diane seemed to really know their stuff. I was convinced Elegance would have a happy life.

It wasn't until Friday January 18th first thing in the morning, when a former student and part boarder of Elegance saw her photo posted on Need You Now Equine (NYNE). NYNE is headed up by Tracey.

Basically Tracey takes pictures of some of the horses that come to the Ottawa Sales Barn for slaughter in the hopes of finding them new homes – if they aren’t rescued then they do go for slaughter.

Tracey posts the pictures to facebook with as much information as she can find out – some of these horses literally have days before they go for slaughter, so if you see a horse on NYNE you have to act fast if you want to save them. Tracey helps coordinate the sale of the horse - she helps you buy the horse from the 'kill buyer'. He charges the 'meat price'. All of the horses I have seen on NYNE are priced fairly cheap, with Elegance being the most expensive at $800.

When I saw Elegance posted on NYNE I acted fast. I restrained myself from texting Tracey every minute, but that was difficult... I wanted answers and I wanted to save Ellie immediately. I knew time was of the essence.

The picture and description mentioned Ellie was injured with a puncture wound to her hip and that she wasn’t sound right now.

Between texting, and emailing I was able to find out the information I needed. Tracey also told me about another person, Marina, looking to save a horse she knew, Moro Moo. I got in touch with Marina and we worked it out that we would drive down to the feed lot together to save our horses. I emailed the $800 money transfer to Tracey to pay for Elegance, and our plans were set.

Sunday, January 20th was windy and frigid cold. I was lucky to have my assistant coach Marcie to cover my lessons for the day so I could leave first thing in the morning (although bad weather meant they were canceled anyway). Marina arrived bright and early with Thoroughbred racing trainer, Marko.

We hitched up and rolled out of the driveway at 8:30am. The roads were actually pretty good until we got near Ottawa, then there were some ice patches and I literally was driving about 20km/hr. Surprisingly we only saw one truck in the ditch! 

On the long journey I heard the story of Moro Moo - Marko really is a caring trainer, and Marina a loving former groom of 'Moo'. Marko had trained Moo and Moo had won many races, despite being a little crooked in the legs. Marko said he had given her away to be a broodmare, and was very shocked to find out she was headed for slaughter. Marko loves all of the horses he trains, and he is committed to finding good homes for them when they are done their racing career.

Marina was the former groom of Moo, and similar to me it was someone else that had shared the facebook photo of Moo with her. As soon as Marina recognized Moo she started contacting friends, family, and Marko to get Moo rescued and coordinated the whole effort.

We had a long journey with many stories shared, but as we approached closer to our destination the butterflies started turning in my stomach, and many questions filled my head: - What would this place look like? How injured would Ellie be? Would Ellie be able to load on the trailer because of her injury? What would we see?

As we pulled up the road, it was easy to see the right address despite no number visible at the end of the drive. Massive steel buildings with giant lettering spelling out 'live stock'. As we pulled in it was horrific to see just how many loading and unloading docks there were -just how many animals are at death's doorstep at this place?

Literally chute after loading chute, and barn after barn. Marko said 'this is a scary place I tell you,' and he was right.

It makes you think – the average person goes into the grocery store and buys meat, but doesn’t actually think about what that animal had to go through to get onto the dinner plate.

Tracey greeted us at the side of the building, which warmed the atmosphere a bit. We got the trailer ready and grabbed our lead ropes and blankets and headed into the barn. To my surprise our 2 horses were at a holding cell right at the entrance we came through - so we didn't venture through the depths of the labyrinth of barns and holding cells.

From what I could see, there were no other animals in sight, and when I asked Tracey about the other horses she said they were in the back barn. The space we were in was dark, but with clean shavings – but who knows what it’s like in the 'back.'

Ellie looked so defeated, injured, and so weak. Moo was the opposite - she seemed to know where she was and wasn't having any part of it - as soon as she saw the daylight of the entrance open she tried to dart through. Marina and Marko tried keeping her steady as they haltered her and blanketed her.

Ellie seemed dead inside and stood there. She still had her auction number “2589” glued to her side, a rack of ribs, her pelvis, hip bones and spine outline completely visible, and yet all 4 of her shoes still on. Her back legs so stocked up, and her injured leg so swollen with the puncture wound oozing a yucky yellowish pus.

I had to rip Ellie's auction number off of her body - it was glued so hard to her body that I couldn't take the number off her body without ripping off some of her fur. Ellie was so dead she didn't even move. I tossed her blanket on her - the same cooler I used for her when I owned her a few years ago.

I had a chance to ask Tracey some of the questions I had been dying to know. She explained that every Tuesday there are auctions at OLEX, an auction place in Waterloo. This past Tuesday there were 54 horses that went through auction. Of those, 17 were bought by the kill buyer she knows (another 25 were bought by another kill buyer and direct shipped to the meat plant. Of the 17 horses that went to ‘Tracey’s Kill buyer’ there were 7 that seemed sound/sane and had a reasonable chance of having a second chance so she took their pictures and posted them to facebook.

Of those 7, Ellie and Moo were rescued, and another Standardbred was to be picked up Monday. Tracey said she's been doing this for a year. She has a respectful relationship with the kill buyer - she doesn't cause problems for him, she just posts the pictures and if someone wants the horse they pay the meat price.

Out of respect for the relationship that Tracey has with the kill buyer, I won't disclose the address of the kill buyer's feed lot.... because if he feels that people are coming uninvited or causing more trouble than they are worth, then Tracey won't be able to take pictures of these animals and save the few she can.

Tracey explains that this particular kill buyer does care about the horses – so unlike most kill buyers, he allows Tracey to try and sell them first, but if they don’t sell they go for meat.

Tracey then said that Ellie got injured on the way from auction to the feed lot - which isn't surprising based on the loading and unloading methods I've seen from auction houses.

As we went to lead the horses out of the loading chute to our trailer, a stock trailer with cattle was starting to back up to unload. We had to ask the driver to wait a couple minutes so we could take the horses out.

We led the horses out to the trailer - Ellie barely could walk and nearly fell, and Moo was so desperate to get out of there that Marko had to hold her tight.

As we loaded our horses onto the trailer they positioned the stock trailer to the chute for unloading.

Moo walked right onto the trailer, and settled - as if saying "phew, this looks like a real horse trailer, I must be going somewhere safe now." Ellie struggled with the trailer - she was trying but her back legs were very weak, sore, and stocked up. 

Just beside us they started unloading the cattle by beating them with a cane and zapping them with an electric shock stick. There was no patience or respect for the animals - and this was all with unfamiliar and public eyes watching.

I could see Ellie give a huge effort and she forced herself up into the trailer - luckily she loaded.

Both horses were attacking their hay bags - who knows if they were being fed or what sort of conditions they were in for the last few weeks.

As we went to pull out of the driveway another stock trailer was pulling in - that place really is busy and deals with a lot of animals.

The experience was a big eye opener for me – I never really thought about what my hamburger had to go through… but perhaps I should.

The drive home was slow, but filled with more excitement of our success and rescue mission. We didn't arrive back to Partridge Horse Hill until 10:30pm. We unloaded carefully and Ellie struggled her way into the barn. We put the girls into stalls where they started eating hay right away.

We took a few photos, exchanged some hugs and best wishes. Moo will be picked up later by a new loving home that promises to keep her forever and treat her like a princess.

Tracey also gave me Ellie's passport. From the passport I can see that Ellie was passed around a couple times and was owned by Joseph, a coach/trainer, and then ended up with one of Joseph’s students. I was able to get in touch with Kylie, Ellie’s last listed owner on her passport.

Kylie told me that she bought Ellie to show the hunters, but fairly soon after she purchased her, Ellie kept going lame after jumping. Kylie said it was really inconsistent, they could ride her and jump her and she’d be fine, but then after a couple times she would stop, not want to go, and then be lame. They tried giving her a couple months off, x-rays, and injecting Ellie’s hocks thinking it could be arthritic but the vet couldn’t diagnose Ellie.

Kylie ended up giving Ellie to her trainer, who gave Ellie to a rehabilitation centre at the end of November, 2012. It is unclear what exactly happened after that, because the rehab centre didn’t keep in touch about Ellie, and Kylie was just as shocked as I was to see Ellie posted on NYNE just 2 months after Kylie gave Ellie away. What’s worse is that Kylie says Ellie was in good health when she was given way – she even went with her winter blanket and rain sheet, but now Ellie is severely under weight.

Kylie said her trainer followed up with the rehab centre after seeing Ellie posted on NYNE – she didn’t speak to the rehab centre directly, but seems to think that they did do some tests and found something with Ellie that couldn’t be cured so they sent her to auction…. Apparently the rehab centre said they had a high reserve bid of $1000 to ensure she wouldn’t go to a kill buyer…. But I guess that didn’t happen since I bought her for $800 from the kill buyer, and the kill buyer definitely wouldn’t sell at a loss.

I am still in the process of finding out more from Kylie to see if I can get in touch with the rehab centre to find out what tests they did and what they found out – I will keep you posted!

These girls have no idea how close they came to death's doorstep... or maybe they do.

Stay tuned for an update on Ellie's recovery – check Ellie’s page at http://www.partridgehorsehill.com/Elegance.html

Thank you Tracey, Marina (former student who spotted Ellie), Marina (Moo's former groom), and Marko!

See pictures at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lfequestrian/sets/72157628811786377/

Happy New Year!

Wow a year has gone by! We are so excited at Partridge Horse Hill for all of the new and exciting things that have happened in our first year since we relocated to Pontypool and changed our name.

We want to know what you want us to do for 2013! Take our quick 10 question survey to give us your opinion!!! We really appreciate your feedback and will use it to help us plan our upcoming events for 2013, take the survey at:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PXLMJBP

Here’s some things we did in 2012:
Hosted natural horsemanship clinics
Hosted natural horsemanship play days
Partnered with the Natural Horsemanship Association
Achieved Facility Status with the Ontario Equestrian Federation
Lindsey achieved Gold Coach/Trainer status with the Natural Horsemanship Association
We got a new used Massey tractor for the farm (which James is most excited about)
We built 2 run in sheds, a lot of fencing, a massive dog house, and an out house
We installed more lights so the outdoor ring is nice and bright and the round pen has lighting too
We installed water hydrants out to the paddocks for easier maintenance
We painted the inside aisle of the barn, the locker room, the tack room, the lockers, many poles and jumps, fencing, and our mounting block
We did demonstrations at the 2012 Everything Equine Tradeshow
We competed in jumper shows and competitive trail rides achieving ribbons and titles in all events
We ran 2 weeks of summer camp that were sold out!
We trained 7 horses walk/trot/canter at the farm and helped many more with other training quests and started some horses off property too
We coached over 50 students
We did more than 500km of trail riding
We advertised in 3 newspapers
Lindsey was published in 2 different horse magazines
We got a pedestal and bridge added to our natural horsemanship play area
We hosted the first annual trail trek – a fun trail riding scavenger hunt and gave out Partridge Horse Hill’s first ribbons!
Lindsey and James got married!

You tell us what you want to see, learn, and participate in! Email us your ideas at partridgehorsehill@gmail.com or take our quick 10 question survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PXLMJBP

Check out our newly updated website at www.PartridgeHorseHill.com and meet our newest horse, Nillina at http://www.partridgehorsehill.com/Nillina.html (also pictured above)

If you haven't signed your camper up for Summer Camp yet, take advantage of our New Years special before January 31 for only $310/week - thats $65 off each week per camper!! Learn more and get the registration form here http://www.partridgehorsehill.com/summercamp.html
Thank you for a great 2012 and our first year in Pontypool! We look forward to a great 2013.

Lindsey, James, Quiqley, Whinnie, and many horses!

Offering choice to build trust, by Jesse (www.PartridgeHorseHill.com)

Offering choice to build trust

The most important aspect of training I have learned in the past week is to always offer a horse a choice. Not to force the right behaviour, but to encourage the right behaviour and make it worth their while. By allowing a horse a chance to think through their options, and then subsequently be rewarded for making the right choice; you give the horse confidence. And positive encouragement to do that action again willingly, by their own accord.
An interesting example was with Rema, a client's Icelandic pony whom Lindsey is starting. She is a pokey little pony, and can be hard to motivate around the ring on the rail. So Lindsey offered her a rewarding rest in each corner of the arena when they passed by them. Rema learned that corners were comfortable, so she became excited to get to them. When Lindsey then moved her away from a corner, Rema had the choice of how fast she would move towards the next corner. And since Rema wanted the comfort in the corners, she decided going fast would be the best option! Here Lindsey has given Rema the choice to her own speed; and Rema has chosen to work harder for the reward in the corner. Without having to whip or kick this pokey pony around the ring, and Rema has learned she can make choices with Lindsey as a partner.
Another example of choice would be when we were teaching Shania how to canter under saddle. When asked to canter she would race around at a very speedy trot, rather than switch her gait to everyone's comfort. So we offered her the choice to follow another horse at the canter, to encourage her gait change; or she could choose to continue to trot. When she would pick up a canter for a few strides, we would immediately stop and give her reward. If she didn't, we would continue to trot and ask for transitions. In this way she learned the reward came after she tried to canter, and more work came when she continued to trot. From here we also took her on a trail ride, to allow her some room to run and the choice to run (canter) with the other horses on the trails. She took to this method extremely well; and by the end of the ride she was offering canter transitions off of a simple voice cue.
Choice is a very important part of a partnership, and it invokes the need to trust each other. Offering choice therefore builds confidence in both horse and handler, for their own workings and for working together. When you continue to offer a choice to a horse, and they continue to enjoy the outcome of the right choice; they become more likely to trust you and begin to follow your leadership without question. If you force a horse; you break that trust and they are weary to follow you. Force invokes fear, and fear can lead to all kinds of nasty attitudes. A good example of this happened just today with a horse named Angel. We hadn't expected any issues with her, and had pulled her out to ride as a leading horse to pony another horse we were starting. But when I got on Angel, we discovered some sour attitude. She would stop unexpectedly, and stand with pinned ears. Even with no leg pressure, and no rein contact; she would stand angrily. When urged forward, she would threaten to rear and pin her ears further. After some long thought on the matter, we concluded that after a lesson with another student, Angel had become sour to leg aids, as the other student had been too firm with her squeezes and kicks. By pushing Angel constantly, this rider had taken away her choice. And had doing so had made her sour to wanting to do anything at all. Together Lindsey and I reaffirmed Angel that all we wanted was for her to walk on, and that we would not kick or push her too hard. By positively reinforcing her tries to work for us, and by only asking her to move with our voice; Angel learned once more that she had a choice. And so again, she trusted us as her leaders and was able to walk/trot around the ring easily again.

By Jesse - a student with Partridge Horse Hill from Guelph

(Pictured is Jesse with her horse Johnny at a 2012 Partridge Horse Hill clinic)

Horsey Talk - by Jesse, a Guelph student doing a placement with us

Horsey Talk
Learn more at PartridgeHorseHill.com
This past week I have spent my days working alongside Lindsey learning everything I can pick from her brain on how she trains horses through Natural Horsemanship. But it's not just a training technique; it's a language. She doesn't just walk up to a horse and force it to work for her, she asks this 1000lb beast to make a choice. By offering this choice, she creates a partnership. One that I have high respect for. Because I can see how it functions, and I can see how effective it really is for training. But you cannot ask a horse to make a choice, if they do not understand the question in the first place.
I have been taught many ways to do the same thing with a horse; the most common is lungeing. I have been taught 100 different “right ways” to lunge: facing the horse, locking shoulders with the horse, following the horse, whipping the horse, yelling, stomping, and everything else few and far between. The first day I was out with Lindsey she asked me to do ground games with one of her horses, Fiona. I immediately set out to show off my newly learned lungeing techniques and was quick to notice Fiona's uncomfortable demeanor to my techniques. I was confused as I was perfectly set up in the way I had been taught; lunge line in one hand, whip in the other, and facing my horse, following the circle around me. She ran in circles around me, sure; but she was also turning in on me, flicking her ears back and almost half stepping at me telling me to stop with the pressure! Lindsey showed me how to do circles with Fiona from there, how by facing Fiona I was constantly putting pressure on her with my belly button and her reaction was out of confusion and discomfort. So I tried again, this time facing the direction in which I wanted Fiona to travel, and lead her with my belly button. I think of it now as using my belly button as a big light beam to show my horse where I want them to go. This was a new language that I had never been taught before, this wasn't some quick fix for a snarky horse, this was understanding why Fiona was upset and adjusting my own behaviour to properly convey my goals to her.
From here I have been working hard to be a very strong observer while working with the horses day by day. I understand now the importance to learn their language so we can better learn together; rather than trying to force them to understand my language. It's funny to think, but how often have you seen trainers pushing a horse to do a task by way of human language, and human force. And yet they think the horse is the stupid one. When we should be smart enough to understand how to communicate on their level, if we want them to do things for us.

By Jesse - a Guelph student doing a placement with Partridge Horse Hill

Milestones at Royal Winter Fair 2012 By Marcie

Milestones at Royal Winter Fair 2012

This years Royal Agricultural Winter Fair marked a mile stone for me. It has
been just over a year since I began riding. In that time I have gone from
having almost no experience riding and possessing next to no knowledge
about horses to working 3 days a week on a horse farm helping to train
horses, competing in endurance races, and coaching lessons and a summer
camp.

The breadth of how much I have advanced in the horse world became
apparent while I was watching this years International Jumpers competition
at the fair. Last year, which was also my first year attending the fair, I
could hardly tell the difference between a trot and a canter. This year,
however, I found myself counting down the canter strides for each horse as
they approached the jumps. I was also able to point out canter leads and
visualize the turns involved in the course before it was ridden.

As I watched this competition my friend, who is an experienced rider
and horse trainer, made the comment that what I have learned and
accomplished in such a short time period is truly amazing. Her words to me
were very uplifting as I am still quite nervous in certain situation and Know
that there is still a lot for me to learn.

My most recent adventure into the horse world has involved me owning
my very first horse. She is a lovely little mustang that is very smart and
willing. By working with her I am able to see in myself just how much I have
learned. I hope to make my connection with my new friend stronger by
working on learning the finer movements in horseback riding, which I was
able to watch in the dressage competition at the Royal this year. Hopefully I
will be able to continue digging deeper into the horse world and I am excited
to see how much I will accomplish and learn in this upcoming year.

Marcie
www.PartridgeHorseHill.com

A Royal Success - Our two cents from the Royal this past week

A Royal Success
By Lindsey Partridge (formerly Forkun), www.PartridgeHorseHill.com

This past week was another successful year at the Royal Winter Fair. We went to the fair both Tuesday and Wednesday (November 6th and 7th, 2012). We enjoyed some of our traditional favourties, and watched the Royal Horse Show with a natural horsemanship perspective.

If you are wondering what day to go to the Royal next year, I would opt for Tuesday - the crowds were much smaller, the lines fewer, and still plenty of action with Super Dogs and International Horse Jumping. Of course every day at the fair there is sure to be fun and excitement, but if you are looking for a less crowded day, Tuesday seems to be a great pick.

Every year I get excited for the food. My favourites are the Rosti (hash brown type potato with sour cream and cheese), the Roast Bison on a bun, perogies, and the very popular apple dumpling with ice cream and caramel, yumm! I always forget about the Foods of the World section though because it is tucked away at the opposite end of the main hall so I haven't tried anything from there.

The Super Dogs were fun and fantastic as usual. I really love the dancing with the dogs because it shows off their tricks and looks really fun. I was happy to see they had moved on from the destructive bull dog routine... that same routine has been happening for a few years so it was nice to see something new. One thing to keep in mind for the Super Dogs show is the last show is at 6pm and you can't enter late, so it can be hard to get to if you are coming after work. Usually they do a similar but different show for their performances, but this year we only went to one so I couldn't compare.

We enjoy trying all the different samples at the Royal and this year was no different and the Royal didn't disappoint - there were many choices including jams, chutneys, smoked fish, smoked meats, goat cheese, cookies, apple slices, different types of milk, juice, cream cheese bars, and even a cooked potato with butter!

The displays are really fun and there is so much to see just from walking around and so much to learn. The butter sculpting is always impressive, we enjoy browsing all the booths, and taking a sneak peak at the Horse Palace.

We spent a lot of time browsing the shops - we came home with jams, chutneys, smoked fish, horse blankets, bridles, shipping boots, bits, lead ropes, leather belts, belt buckles, moo bars, and my personal favourite pumpkin pie fudge! Despite so many purchases, we were a bit disappointed with the shopping deals.

The sales at the Royal used to be legendary - I remember the days of leather gloves for $7 at Greenhawk (retail approx $30), and rain sheets and winter blankets for $50 at Pleasant Ridge. This year there were still some deals (a $20 gift card from Picovs with the purchase of a Bucas was one of the deals we took advantage of), but nothing so spectacular to brag about - let us know if you found a great deal!

The major excitement is always about the Royal Horse Show - and we always watch with an eye for natural horsemanship and if the riders seem like they are a partner or an intimidater. We were pleasantly surprised with the international jumpers - many of them showed really calm leadership with their horses including Shane Sweetnam of Ireland that was one of the riders to calmly show his horse some of the scary fences before crossing the start line.

It was Christine McCrea that really impressed me though. Her Dutch Warmblood mare, Zerly, a young 8 year old, entered the ring really nervous and upset. Zerly was bucking and trying to go back out of the in gate. To my delight, Christine helped her horse so calmly and was patiently persistent in coaxing her horse forward politely.

Christine didn't use a crop and didn't get aggressive with her horse - and it paid off with a clear round! Some riders would have smacked the horse for misbehaving and probably would have provoked the horse to become even more upset which means even more dangerous, but Christine kept a level and patient head and helped her horse.

There were also displays of riding that I wasn't happy to see, including Angela Covert-Lawrence aboard a 15 year old Belgian Warmblood mare. Her horse had its tongue out the side of its mouth bracing against the bit, was jerking the reins from the rider, and carrying her head really upright and tense - the horse was very clearly telling the rider to soften up but instead of listening the horse was equipped with contraptions to leverage the horse's head down and tie the mouth shut.

The horse fought with the rider so much on the way to a jump that is caused a knock down. This is an older mare, and an experienced horse - the horse should be softer and more accepting of the bit, but instead the horse has really learned to fight the rider.

I completely understand having a horse that hates the bit and is strong - my own horse Thetis is an ex race horse and used to hate the bit and would stick her tongue out if I was pulling too much. I switched to riding her with no nose band so if she needed to open her mouth she could, but I also do a lot of freestyle work where I ride with no bit all. I've softened Thetis up so she doesn't pull and is very easy to ride with no bit all, and even with a bit she doesn't stick her tongue out anymore.

I know my horse is different from Angela's, but it's just an example that horses can change and become softer - the answer isn't to 'shut them up' with contraptions but instead to fix the root cause... with such an older and experienced horse I would have hoped to see a horse and rider really meshing together and traveling as one - not fighting at every turn.

Overall I think the Royal Horse Show was a fun and spectacular event with a lot of really great riders.

When we watch the Royal we always play a fun game - if its a non jumping class, everyone in your group picks an entry and see if someone can guess the winner before the placings are announced. If it is a jumper class then everyone in your group picks two jumps. Every time your jump gets refused or knocked down you get 1 point, and the most points win (it makes you think about what jumps are the most difficult in the course).

Another game we will play is counting down the strides - people in the group take turns counting down the strides to the fences, and for every time you get it right you get a point. Most points wins.

The Royal is always a fun event to attend every year - and it seems to me that more and more riders are becoming better leaders for their horse.

I think it's important for all riders (including myself) to remember we need to keep learning and trying to understand our horse. After all, a horse that understands you and is willing will be much more successful than a horse that is fighting every stride.

Picking up Your Horse's Feet - Some Easy TIps and Steps

Pick Up Your Feet - Please!
By Lindsey Partridge (formerly Forkun), www.PartridgeHorseHill.com

This week I had someone asking me about how to get their horse to pick up their hooves more easily. The answer is one of good timing and patience.

When working with horses it is important to remember that it's usually best if you work in baby steps. Don't expect your horse to pick up their feet and hold them up politely for 5 minutes right away, instead work on picking up feet for a few seconds at a time.

Horses need to know that they are doing the 'right' thing - so you need to reward often. Depending on what you are doing the reward will be different, but the reward is always in the release of pressure. When picking up hooves, the release would be letting the foot be put back on the ground.

Here are simple and easy steps to making picking up hooves easy:
1) Make sure you can rub your horse's leg all the way from the shoulder to the hoof without any anxiety. If the horse starts to dance around or get tense, continue practicing desensitizing the horse until they stand still. When the horse stands still you should reward them by stopping rubbing their leg.
2) Desensitize your horse to a rope being put around one of their legs at a time. Rub the rope up and down their leg.
3) Teach your horse to lift their hoof. It can be easier to do this by putting a rope around your horse's pastern (below their fetlock/ankle) and pull on the rope to lift their hoof rather than bending over all the way and using your hand. Just be careful the rope doesn't get wrapped around the horse's leg. Ask the horse to lift the hoof and then immediately put slack in the rope or gently let go of the hoof. Don't ask the horse to keep their hoof up, just ask them to lift.
4) Then teach your horse to lift their hoof longer. After the horse understands 'lift' on all 4 hooves, then you can start asking the horse to keep their hoof up for longer. Start with a short amount of time like 5 seconds. If the horse struggles or tries to toss their hoof around, try your very best to hold onto the hoof (or keep pressure with the rope on the leg if you are using the rope). If you pull the hoof up really high it is harder for the horse to scramble free. It is important that the horse's hoof stay up and only released when the horse is standing quietly and relaxed with their hoof. If the horse scrambles and gets their hoof free then they will learn that it is a good thing to scramble and kick their hoof free because it gave them a release in pressure (i.e you dropped the hoof). Try to release the horse's hoof in the exact right moment of the horse being quiet and still - if you have a very anxious or impatient horse don't expect them to be still for very long, accept just 1 second of being still and quiet and then reward them by releasing their hoof. This is why using a rope can make it easier (it can be difficult to try and hold onto a kicking hoof with your hand, but a rope is much easier to hang onto and release in the right moement).
5) Gradually build up the horse's tolerance. Depending on the horse will depend on how long it takes before you can hold a hoof up for several minutes. Over several tries ask your horse to hold their hoof up for longer periods of time and only put the hoof down when the horse is still and quiet. Even if the horse can pick their hoof up for a long time, sometimes it is good to pick up the hoof and only hold it for a short time (a couple seconds) so that the horse keeps paying attention but also so the horse doesn't think that every time he picks up his hoof it will have to be up for a long time.

Extra Tips:
- If your horse really doesn't like to stand still, why fight with him? Try making it your horse's idea to stand still either by doing some ground work and free lunging first to let your horse get his play and friskiness out, or by giving him his dinner while you do his feet - this way you can make it so your horse wants to stand still.
- Remember horse's gain confidence when they can go back to their 'safe place' - this means that a horse that likes to have all 4 feet on the ground will be more relaxed if you only ask for him to hold his feet up a short time and then let him put his foot down. It would be easier for the horse to pick up his foot, let you clean a little out, put the foot down, then pick it up again, let you finish cleaning, and put it down again, etc, rather than just keeping the foot up for the entire cleaning.
- Horses usually stand on 4 feet, so make it easier on your horse to stand on 3 legs by keeping him on level ground, and making sure his other legs are positioned in a way that is comfortable to stand on 3 feet. This is another reason why picking up the hoof for short amounts of time works well (it allows the horse to re-balance their feet if needed).
- The higher you pick up a horse's foot the harder it is for them to kick it free, but also the higher you lift a horse's foot usually the harder it is for them to balance. When you first start lifting a horse's feet, try not to lift them too high.

I hope this helps you with your horse's hooves!

Dream of a Forever Home - Horses with Sore Feet (new blog post at lfequestrian.blogspot.com)

Dream of a Forever Home - Horses with Sore Feet
By Lindsey Partridge (formerly Forkun) www.LFEquestrian.com

This past summer has been long and busy and we have had a lot fun and successful events. However, we had some struggles and challenges too. One of our challenges was with our horse Dream - she was struggling with sore feet.

Dream is an 8yr old ex race Thoroughbred. She came to us in April and we started training her for long distance riding. She was absolutely amazing because she was so level headed and very quiet on the trails. She was very reliable and didn't get excited - she was a dream!

We were really enjoying Dream until she started to get very sore feet. In mid June she had both front feet that were really sore. She walked very cautiously, and she only trotted if she absolutely needed too - like to get away from another horse. After another week or so she developed her first abscess. We treated the abscess with a bran mash and epsom salt poultice.

An abscess is an infection in the hoof. The inflammation and white blood cells rushing to the area in the foot create a lot of pressure inside the hoof because the hoof doesn't swell very well (unlike when you get a sore throat for example your tonsils can swell quite easily). Because the hoof can't swell, there is a lot of pressure and the horse gets very sore - it can look like the horse has a broken leg because they don't put weight on their hoof at all.

We used a very traditional and old remedy of an epsom salt poultice. This is 2 parts bran to 1 part epsom salt, with water to make it mushy. At first we wrapped this with a diaper, plastic bag, and duct tape to keep it in place - but after a few times of fighting with the duct tape we bought a hoof soaking boot which is so much easier (you just put your remedy inside and place the boot on the horse).

Dream's abscess healed, but then her other hoof had an abscess. This kept occurring where one foot would heal and then the other would become sore. We even tried leaving a 'barrier boot' on her to make sure the hoof was keeping clean and protected the sole.

This was really unusual because Dream is barefoot and trimmed by an excellent natural barefoot trimmer - so there are no nail marks from shoes for an abscess to get in, and she didn't have an hoof abnormalities. Other than sore feet, she was actually getting even healthier and gaining weight and getting a nice shine to her coat.

In September the abscesses seemed to have stopped, but we decided to xray her hooves to see what was going on inside. From the xrays we could see she has pedal osteitis and her coffin bone appears damaged - probably from her many years racing causing a lot of concussion on her feet. If we had known she had damaged hooves (inside) then we could have kept her to light riding, but we didn't known because outside the hooves look normal, and she didn't move like she was sore.

The vet's prognosis was not good - Dream could likely never be a long distance riding horse, with no riding on roads, and she should be kept to light work in the future only after having many more months rest. The vet did say it was possible for Dream to go back to being as comfortable as she was when we first got her in April but no guarantees as to how much riding or work she can do.

This was bad news for us because our trails require riding on some road or gravel which wouldn't be good for Dream even if/when her feet get better, and she wouldn't be able to have a job in our natural horsemanship program. Horses enjoy having a purpose and a job - it keeps them healthy both mentally and physically, so I decided to look for someone special to give Dream a new home and purpose.

To my delight I found the perfect purpose and person. Someone with their own farm and a couple other horses that were older and with sore feet, so they have experience caring for horses with sore feet. Dream's new job is as a family companion with potential future riding at the walk only on their soft sandy trails just for pleasure.

Dream moved to her new home at the end of October and she now has her own paddock where she doesn't get bothered by other horses so her sore feet are getting more of a break - but when she is ready she will get to have pasture buddies.

I couldn't be happier for Dream, and I am so thankful that with a little patience I was able to find the perfect forever home for Dream. (posted is a picture of Dream at her new home)

Learning this week: A simple treatment for an abscess is a bran and epsom salt mash. If the horse is struggling with sore feet then xrays can help you see what is happening inside the hoof, and if your horse can no longer do their regular job - have faith and patience because their next loving home could be waiting for them!

New Sign Up Online for Trail Rides! & Check out or Final Fall Event!!

New - Now you can sign up for trail rides online! Its really simple and easy to see all the information, see who is riding, request a horse, and you will automatically get an email reminder for your booked trail!

Check it out at : www.SignUpGenius.com/go/409044AA8AF2BA02-trail

We are also launching our Final Fall Event - a Scavenger Trek Trail!!!

This is going to be a really fun event with fun prizes and a BBQ lunch!

Find out more information or sign up at:
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/409044AA8AF2BA02-scavenger

As always, you can bring your own horse or reserve one of ours.

For more information about Trail riding, lessons, or other events, check out www.LFEquestrian.com

Having fun at the shows! Check out pictures at http://www.flickr.com/photos/lfequestrian/sets/72157628433095089/

Today was a fun day at the Blue Star Farm Bronze hunter/jumper show!

We had Alexandra, Kristin, and Paige all competing, and all with a different focus.

Alexandra and Cody have been a team for many years now. They have worked hard together to overcome challenges and build successes. Cody appears to be an easy going hunter pony in the ring, but in reality Alexandra has worked really hard to turn Cody into a confident jumper. This is extra impressive because Alexandra rides Cody bitless in her rope hackamore (bitless bridle).

Alexandra headed into the baby jumper ring to work on achieving a year end title. This is from showing at multiple shows at the same level with the same horse over the year, to be ranked 1st or 2nd overall for the year.

Cody and Alexandra put on 3 fantastic rounds placing 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, and reserve champion for the day! To their delight as well, Cody and Alexandra were ranked 2nd overall for year in the division (reserve champion)!!

Kristin and Thetis headed into the show ring with the goal of doing well, but most of all reestablishing a partnership in the show ring. Kristin part boarded Thetis a couple years ago and competed, but Thetis hasn't competed in jumpers since then. Today was about re-establishing a partnership and doing well together.

Kristin and Thetis put on an awesome show and proved to be serious contenders in the ring placing 1st and 3rd!

Paige and Rumple had a different focus too. This was Rumple's first show ever - so it was Paige's job to keep it a very positive experience and not too overwhelm Rumple so Rumple would enjoy the show.

Paige entered in one of the hack classes (a flat class of walk, trot, canter) so that Rumple could see the ring and jumps without being asked to jump them first. This is because the hack class is held in the ring where the jumper classes are later on.

After the hack class Rumple and Paige entered in the Baby jumper division. They had the goal of taking it slow and easy and making it over all the jumps.

When Rumple was in the ring he showed us he wasn't scared of the jumps - in fact he jumped everything that Paige pointed him at very easily. The hard part was that Rumple was nervous being in the ring by himself. Rumple tried calling to his buddies and would try to go back out of the ring.

Paige did an awesome job of keeping Rumple focused on the course by not allowing Rumple to 'change her mind' (so for example when Paige pulled her right rein to go right, she was careful to keep asking for the right turn until Rumple understood). Paige also did a great job because she was slow and patient.

It is better for nervous and green horses to take the jumps slowly - even at a trot - so that the horse has a chance to see the jump and collect his thoughts about jumping. When you go fast the horse has to be really focused, and if they are distracted because they are nervous then going fast will not work out too well.

Paige was also careful to walk a calm circle and give lots of praise before leaving the ring after her rounds. This was important because Rumple didn't get to quickly leave the ring - instead he only left the ring when he was calm, and after he had gotten some praise for being in the ring.

Paige's patient efforts paid off and Rumple had a clear round for his final round with only 1 time fault. They ended up placing 6th!

Congratulations to all the riders - you all accomplished your goal!

Pictures of Kristin and Thetis at http://www.flickr.com/photos/lfequestrian/sets/72157628433095089/

Key tip this week:
When taking a horse to their first show, make it about being a positive experience for your horse. Allow your horse time to be slow and build their confidence. Slow and steady will keep it a positive experience for both of you, and you can build to faster speeds as you go!