[Ag-eq] garden, chicks, horses

Thu Apr 25 14:14:48 UTC 2013

Tracy:

If the horse in front of him used body language to let him know it might kick,
he would probably keep his distance.  Sometimes horses give very little warning
to their riders or other horses.  Cruiser is very friendly and likes to sniff
other horses and even their riders.  He and my old mule stand very close and
even groom one another.  I wish he weren't so friendly; I used to ride a little
molly mule that was quite aloof with people and other animals, she always kept a
respectful distance.  However, she would kick if other animals got to close.
She did this with very little warning, fortunately no one was ever hurt.

A friend of mine rode her horse close to another horse and rider so the rider
could hand her something.  The other womans horse suddenly kicked out hitting
my friends horse in the shoulder.  It broke the horse's shoulder and she had to
be put down.  I know another woman who asked if it was o.k. for her to ride by
another horse and rider on the trail.  She was told to go ahead and as she
passed the other horse quickly turned and kicked.  My friend was kicked in the
leg and recieved a bad break.  Her horse was o.k.

The other riders kept suddenly stopping in front of us, so it was hard to build
up any speed.  I've had classes with some of them before and know their horses,
but there were a couple of horses that I didn't know and their owners didn't
seem to know much about them either.  I'm something of a nervous rider and I
worry about both Cruiser and myself getting injured.  I have some health issues
and if I get hurt it will take me longer to recover.  Before I got Cruiser he
was injured quite seriously 3 different times.  When he was a yearling, he was
chased through a wire fence by another horse, before he was gelded, he was in a
bad fight with another stallion and he was seriously injured in a horse trailer.
 I just don't want him getting hurt again.

Every time we are in a group lesson or on a group ride I work on keeping him at
least one horse length from the other horses.  In the arena, with several
horses, it's really hard to tell where everyone is located.

Nella

Quoting Tracy Carcione <carcione at access.net>:

> Hi Nella.
> Wouldn't Cruiser stop before he got close enough to be kicked?  Or don't
> horses do intelligent disobedience?
> Tracy
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <nfoster at extremezone.com>
> To: <ag-eq at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Thursday, April 25, 2013 12:26 AM
> Subject: [Ag-eq] garden, chicks, horses
>
>
> Yesterday while watering my cherry  tomato plants I found several tiny green
> tomatoes. The rest of the plants are growing and look healthy.  I'm always
> so
> excited about the progress in the garden.
>
> The little chicks are now 7 weeks old and no longer little.  They are
> growing as
> fast as weeds!  They have their own 6 by 12 dog run to chicken around in.
> They
> also have a big wooden crate, which they like to get on top of.
>
> One of the big hens has decided that she wants to hatch out some eggs.  She
> sits
> in the nest box most of the time and complains when I gather the eggs.  We
> no
> longer have a rooster, so she's wasting her time!  I wonder how long she
> will
> keep this up?
>
> On Sunday I rode Cruiser in a 3 hour, horse and rider communication clinic.
> I
> was really nervous because there were more people than I like in the arena.
> Horses and riders kept stopping in front of us and I was worried that we
> would
> get kicked.  Cruiser wasn't relaxed because I wasn't relaxed.  The
> instructor
> spent a lot of time yelling at us; she's known me for a long time and has no
> problems pushing me when I'm being wimpy.  Half way through I relaxed and
> everything got better.  We spent a lot of time practicing smooth turns at
> different speeds and transitioning between gaits.
>
> One of the horses in the clinic was an 18.1 hand warm blood.  He is probably
> the
> biggest horse I've ever seen.  His owner had to use the mounting block with
> 3
> steps instead of the 2 step one.  I was so worried about him kicking us, but
> he
> seemed like a big sweetie.  There were also 2 Tennessee Walkers, a Quarter
> Horse
> and a Thoroughbred.
>
> As usual I loved Cruiser even more by the end of the clinic.  He has come so
> far
> in the 2 years that Mike and I have owned him.  He would be an even better
> horse
> if I were a more confident rider, but we are learning and becoming more
> confident together.
>
> Well I got all the electric fence up, with the help of my wonderful
> neighbor.
> Monty hasn't been out of the yard since the installation.  Yesterday I
> walked
> down the street and he stayed in the yard; usually this is more than he can
> handle.  I will try it again tomorrow.  On Friday we will start obedience
> classes.  Hopefully Monty can be turned into a law abiding citizen!
>
> What is everyone else up to?
>
> Nella
>
>
>
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