Mares

Make no mistake. I adore my L. But sometimes I have to wonder what ever possessed me to bring home a mare.

She's in heat.

Don't touch me. I mean it.
I could plainly see was in heat. Which can go any one of who knows how many ways. She might be bitchy, she might be off on another planet somewhere.

Here she was spooking at the *floor*.

I lost 9 pounds one summer weekend 6 years ago. I remember it like it was yesterday. I was showing L. Big show. It was hot. Like...100 degrees hot. And L was in heat. We were in the ring Friday night and she was all kinds of antsy. She let out a scream and I heard a stallion in the barn answer her. I'm thinking "oh crap". She starts spinning and bucking and kicking the wall and I was sure we were going to get kicked out of the ring.

Much to my complete amazement we took 3rd place in that class. I got her back into the barn and tucked her in. I peeled my shirt off and it made a loud "thwack" when it hit the floor. I sat on a milk crate mumbling something about never ever doing this again.
The next morning, gassing up the truck at 5:00 am someone even called over to me and said "whoa, you sure got a workout last night didn't you!". Yes I did. I lost 9 pounds that weekend.
Geldings *never* do that. I've had two geldings and in all the years we were together I don't think either one of them ever so much as gave me a dirty look.

Oh. Her hormones settled and later that weekend we got ourselves some blue ribbons to bring home.

Mares have a *lot* of personality. I think I can pretty much count on L giving me her "you've got a lot of nerve!" look almost daily.

And mares tend to be ..oh...busy. Sleep in the barn sometime. They make a *lot* of noise. Doing things like ...this:

Here. This better depicts the product of their shenanigans:

L's little sister in the adjacent stall was thumping the wall and somehow got that board to pop. So all the other boards over it slipped down the wall. Just on that one end. I'd really love to know what they're thinking sometimes.
It was a real stinker fixing that, btw. This is what it's supposed to look like.

And I just love this little piece of handiwork:

No that's not a big cartoon mouse hole
You know what that's for? It's obvious! It's there so L and her little sister can peek at each other. And scream and kick the walls. I don't know which one of them made the hole.

Mares make things so much more ...interesting. Seriously though - they're not for everybody and you have to think about that if you're going to have a mare in your life.

---

Look what popped up the manure pile!

The bees were all over it. Bees love sunflowers. It was a cheerful thing to have around while it lasted.

Clean horses

I just love clean horses!

Bathing them I'm not too thrilled with
Imagine washing your car and having your car free to wander away from you every few minutes...

It's a big project. Usually on a hot day.

<Censored>

Um. What is he doing?!
Hygiene lesson! Mares get a waxy crusty buildup on their udders. They need a good scrubbing. There was a time L was rubbing her tail. I'd hose her hind and I'd scrub her tail with tea tree oil shampoo. I kept her tail clean and brushed. None of it worked. This can be serious business. They can rub the hair off their tail. The hair can take a very long time to grow back. They can rub their tails raw. They can become infected.

One day, after a thorough bath that included cleaning her udders - she stopped rubbing her tail! Your mileage may vary. It's just something to consider.

The easiest thing to do is either use a soapy sponge or a soapy tail to get under there and scrub. Being very careful. This can be a good way to get kicked clear into next week. If you've never done it before get some help from an expert.

No problem. She likes it!
And it's not as ..awkward..as.. sheath cleaning (can be).

---

Behold. Nice clean horse!

LOST!

It's a good thing one of us knew where we were. It just wasn't me!

We don't have bad rides often. Well.. yesterday, L was a real stinker! She was just fine walking. And she'd do a really nice sitting jog. But when I'd start to rise and ask her to extend she got all kinds of pissy. She'd pin her ears and get crooked and toss her head and get all kinds of bumpy in her hind end. How much sense does that make?!

I don't know. She did something to her back? Sometimes her hip goes out. Back to a walk, fine. Jog? Fine. Extend? Nope, no way. Saddle slipped? No. Of course I'm not going to push her if she's having a problem. It's hard sometimes. She doesn't always tell me exactly what's wrong. She had more of a sweat going than she should have for what we were doing. Sometimes you have to be a mind reader I swear.

So I cool her off and I get her stuff off and rub her down and it becomes abundantly clear - she doesn't have a problem. Oh, not like what I was wondering anyway. She was just being a perfect ass! It's a mare thing. I went over her back. Her hips. and ... she's fine. Shoulders? Fine. Feet? Fine. Legs? Fine. Oh she was plenty "up" going to eat grass!

So today we go off and she's in heat. She's doing what I ask, she's doing it well, but she's cranking her tail about it. Oy me. A little bit crabby. I *finally* got her to move out and extend. When we're having issues I back off when I get what I want. My trainer, btw, doesn't always agree with that.

So we're cooling off and - I used to do this a lot with my crazy J, I pick out some paths through the grass and do "obstacle course" around the shrubs and taller grasses. I brought her close enough to some treacherous footing that she had to pay attention and she had a good time with it. I think she's been a little bored.

So I took her off into the woods. I just had us pick our way through the brush where the footing looked good and the trees wouldn't knock me off of her. After 15 minutes or so I got out the camera and I fiddle with the settings and I took some pictures. It didn't work out and I fiddled with the settings some more. I really wanted some pictures in the woods! By the time I got a couple of shots I thought were ok and put the camera back in my pocket I had no idea where we were. Not a clue.

Oh we weren't in deep trouble. I really don't think it's much more than a thousand acres of woods out there, and I could be wrong about that, but I was pretty confident we'd find our way back by dark. But still...a little disconcerting.

But L looked to me like she knew where she was. And where she was going. I left her on a really loose rein and just steered her such that I could clear the brush and it wasn't too long before I knew exactly where we were. How does she know this stuff? It's good one of us pays attention. She really is my rock star!

Follow the leader

There's a lot to be learned watching the herd.

And there isn't any single "right way" to make things work with your horse. And while it's simple, it isn't, really. Which makes no sense at all. Unless you know mares.

It's simple in that, ultimately, it's about being the herd leader, being the alpha horse. But at the same time it's not so simple in that one's relationship with a horse can have considerable depth and how to go about being the alpha horse isn't so obvious.

Take L, for example. She's a very bold, dominant horse. I remember somebody asked me once, "you ride that horse?". God bless her.

L never *ever* moves out of anyone's way. Everyone moves out of L's way. Always. Nobody *ever* "accidentally" bumps into L. And L never bumps into anyone. They've moved out of her way before she gets close enough to bump into them.

L knows where everyone is all the time. And everyone knows where L is all the time.

L is the one who "knows what's going on", she's the one watching the tree line and listening for things in the distance.

These rules are never broken and all is quiet and happy in the herd.

These are important. Has your horse ever accidentally bumped into you? Do you ever move out of your horse's way? Think about it.

L is very very funny. Sometimes I catch her in the corner of my eye watching. And when I look directly at her she'll fix her gaze and she'll abruptly, boldly and deliberately, step right into my space and she'll stare. When she does that I better smack her. Because if anyone in the herd ever did that to her, that's what she'd do to them. And if I'm the alpha horse, that's what she expects me to do. And if I don't, I'll regret it.

When we go out and hand graze I have this little game I play. I often hand graze on a lunge line. I'll sometimes drift into L's space and I expect her to just move off. If she doesn't she's gonna get a little poke. And I'll drift into my own space, often out at the end of the line, or close to it, and I like to see her just kind of drift in my direction a little bit.

I gave up on pulling on her years ago. I herd her around when we're out hand grazing. It's a lot easier than pulling on her and besides - that's how she does it. She herds horses around. She doesn't go pulling on them! Clearly she understands this herding thing more than the pulling thing. When we're done I lean down and take up some slack in the line and I say "ok we're done" and she lifts up and just about leads the way back to the barn.

The thing that has me thinking all this is the question - "what do you do when your horse spooks?" and well, I think the answer is, "nothing". Because the question really is "what does the herd leader do when a subordinate horse spooks?" and well, L doesn't do anything. She might look. She's confident if there's anything worth spooking at - she would have seen it first. So it's *extremely* unlikely anyone else would have seen anything dangerous before she did.

So I really don't do much of anything when a horse spooks. Horses spook. On the ground I expect them to stay out of my space. Or they're gonna get smacked. Not for spooking. For getting in my space.

Under saddle I'm going to be reassuring. How does one do that? Oh, I'd start with leg and contact. With L it's leg. It's like you "hold her" with your legs. You have to know your horse. And I expect that to settle it. If it doesn't its not so much about technique. I need a plan to establish my (alpha) position.

It's not fair for us to expect them to see the world our way. We choose to make them part of our world and as such we have to see many things from their point of view.

Seeing the world from their point of view, or at least trying to, is one of the reasons I do this horse thing.

Not now, I'm having a "issue"

Here. An unrelated pretty L picture:


We were out lapping the eggplant today when I heard a Harley turn into a nearby street. And of course he (she?) stepped on it. I felt a tremble ripple through L and she got all kinds of anxious. She got all woofy and spun around and she started spooking at *everything*. She leaped and spun and she almost landed in the eggplant when, horrified at the prospect, she leap frogged back outta there. I put a little extra leg on her - telling her to stop being stupid - and she snapped her head around and bit my leg.

I laughed so hard I almost fell off of her.

It's nice to communicate so well. I told her to "cut the crap". And she told me "Not now! I'm having an *issue*. Duh.". It's like when she kicks my feet. We have conversation. Sometimes she thinks I'm an idiot. Horses really are very funny animals.

We had a lovely ride. Although L does take advantage. There's something wrong if she doesn't.

Mares aren't for everyone. Some find that kind of behavior disturbs them. But I swear I wouldn't take a million dollars for my L.

Walkies

This is simply one of my most favorite things in the whole world:

L came home halter broke and that's it. How long do you think it took us to reliably just have a pleasant walk together?

Oh, she'd lead just fine and she could be handled safely in a day or two. Of course we did showmanship early on and typically after our ground work we'd go out and hand graze. No, her manners on our way out to hand graze weren't always perfect. Sometimes they were pretty awful. So I decided when we'd hand graze we'd quietly and pleasantly walk a quarter mile or so to just work on her manners. L is a most dominant animal. Well. I had no idea. No clue at all. A quarter mile walk with L was like going a round with a prize fighter. She'd fight with me every step of the way and fighting with L is not fun. She's bigger than I am, she's stronger than I am, and she can last longer than I can. And frankly, sometimes I think she likes it. Fighting. Walking with L was awful. It was exhausting.

I was determined to fix it.

She'd crowd me and I'd push her off. She'd try to get out in front of me and I'd snap her lead. She'd lean and pull and I'd have us halt. She'd crowd me and lean and pull and get out in front of me and I'd halt her and back her up. That would really piss her off. And she'd shake her head and stomp her feet. It's actually very funny and persists to this day - when there's an issue she acts like you're the one that doesn't get it. She'll spin and rear and stomp her feet (when she stomps both feet at the same time she's really pitching a fit) and she looks at you like she's thinking "*what* is your problem?!" and it's hard not to laugh out loud. You can't do that of course. Horses know laughter is a good thing. But this was every 2 or 3 strides for a quarter mile and it was tiresome.

This went on a couple of days a week for 2 or 3 months and we got *nowhere*. It was very frustrating. I used a flat halter. I used a chain. I used a rope halter. I used a dressage whip. I used a crop. I used a lunge line. She's a tough nut to crack. She really is.

Obviously I had to do something different. So. Contrary to my trainer's advice (*you* choose the speed, *always*), I decided I'd go ahead and move at her pace. I like my horse's ear right around my shoulder with their nostril just behind my wrist on a loose lead. L has a very forward attitude and for years her stride was best described as "stomp stomp stomp..." and it was hard to keep up with her. But I did that for a few weeks. I was hoping she'd get the message "this is where you're supposed to be all the time. At the end of 3 weeks or so I started to change the pace a little, just a few strides here and there. And I'd bark at her and give her lead a little snap when she didn't notice I'd changed the pace. If I could just get 2 strides from her at my pace without a fight I'd pat her and make happy voices and then we'd move on.

Slowly over time I'd change the pace for longer and longer stretches. Three strides. Four strides. I'd make her pay attention every step and when she got it without a fight I'd pat her and do happy voice. After a couple of months we started walking a half mile on our way out to graze and all together after 5 months or so we could go out and reliably have a perfectly pleasant walk together. L would maintain her perfect manners for whatever distance I chose for us.

I'm not a professional horse trainer. Hell I'm not an amateur horse trainer either. I'm just a guy with a nice horse. We trained really hard, 2 or 3 days a week, for 5 months, to just go out and take a nice walk. We got to know each other much better and of course that made a big impact on our training moving forward. It's all training really.

I further refined this as our "comfort zone". It's great exercise for me and "takin' a walk" is our quiet place. When things look like they might get out of hand we can (almost..) always "assume the position" and walk. She knows *exactly* what I expect and it's *not* too much to ask for.

It's become one of my most favorite things and I try to walk with L for at least a mile, sometimes 2 or 3, a couple of days a week. I still change up the pace just to keep her on her toes and if she doesn't notice? An exaggerated little gasp will get her attention. If she really isn't paying any attention at all I'll abruptly change direction, about face, and she'll come right around without taking up any slack in the lead. That's nice. We can go right down to a crawl without any drama but we can't really do a slow motion walk together. Smart as she is she doesn't quite get the "move feet slowly" part of a slow mo walk.

I miss our walking something awful in the wintertime and there are a couple of weeks during the summer when the bugs are *so* bad it just isn't pleasant for either of us.

Here, I'll want to remember this the middle of next winter. This was around 7:00 am today. Looks like it will be a real nice day.