Month: March 2018

When I did the “New Year, New Giveaway” contest back in January, I asked everyone to leave a comment telling me a subject that they wanted me to write about this year. One of the most popular responses was people asking me to write about evaluating young horses, mostly by way of conformation or potential. I have a lot of opinions on that, and I’ve spent a long time honing my eye and reading books and studying pedigrees and going to clinics and looking at horses. I’ve made a hobby of it, and I absolutely LOVE to talk to people about it. Seriously, it’s my favorite subject.

But at the same time, I don’t really feel comfortable writing about it. I think mostly because a lot of that stuff comes down to personal opinion. And mostly because I never ever want this blog to take on an “instructional” feel. I just really hate that. I’m a low level amateur rider that just so happens to have a major information in conformation, breeding, and young horses. Anyone could learn what I have, if they wanted to. I’m not a professional. I don’t feel comfortable acting like I am. I am not qualified to write about things like that.

A couple months ago the local Pony Club asked me to come do a lecture on sporthorse conformation, and I have to admit that my initial reaction was 100% total discomfort at the idea. Like I said, I just don’t feel qualified to do anything even remotely “instructional”. But I thought about it and a) I can’t say no to Pony Club, that seems like 1000 bad karma points, b) I kinda thought it might be fun to have a discussion like this with these smart, educated kids. I very hesitantly said yes, and spent some time really thinking about what I wanted to talk about and why.

When it came down to it, I thought to myself – how do you make a bunch of teenagers interested in something as boring as conformation? So I took the “functional conformation” approach, very much along the lines of what Judy Wardope teaches, where we’d really focus on certain aspects of the conformation and how they directly translate to performance. I picked a couple areas of confo that are really important for eventing that a lot of general texts rarely touch on – specifically the LS gap, the pillar of support, and the length/angle of the humerus. I got a lot of glazed eyes, as expected, but I also got a few kids that were as excited about learning a new approach as I originally had been. Honestly… it was kind of fun to share my MegaNerd enthusiasm on the subject. We had some great discussions. I hope a couple kids walked away with a new tool in their toolbox, or at least a re-kindled interest.

I was kind of energized by that experience, and thought about sharing the notes and printouts here. But that situation was a lot different from me sitting here and writing some kind of “here is how it should look” instructional. Writing a blog post just doesn’t have the same effect as an in-person group discussion. I won’t do that with conformation and breeding, I won’t do that with training, I won’t do that with riding… hell, I even feel uncomfortable doing basic DIY’s, or sharing my conditioning/care routine. There are a lot of different ways to do things, and a lot of them are correct. Plus, like I said.. I AM NOT A PROFESSIONAL. I’m happy to tell you what I personally do or think, but I’ll be the first to admit that my way isn’t the only way, and maybe not even the right way.

So really, it’s important to me that the tone of this blog remains conversational. If anyone ever wants to have private discussions about stuff, I’m totally on board with that. My blog’s facebook messenger is always open, as is the contact form here, for peer-to-peer conversations. I just don’t want to sit here on my silly internet platform and pretend like the fact that I have an audience means that I’m qualified to preach. Opinions on other, minor things, or current events? You’ll get those all day long. But a teaching situation on a grandiose subject… nah.

Since I’m not qualified to write about things like this, I’m more than happy to point you toward someone who is. To the people who asked me to discuss conformation or evaluating a young horse, I highly recommend investing in Judy Wardrope’s ebook, Equine Conformation for the Olympic Disciplines. It’s a little pricey, yes, but it’s 400+ pages of photos, diagrams, and new ways of looking at conformation that you probably haven’t seen before. To me, this is the sporthorse bible. In my experience, much of what she writes about holds true in practical application. If you’re at all interested in the subject, this is a must-own item.

If you’re not ready to invest in that, you can get an idea of her approach/concepts by reading through some of the free articles posted on this page.

 

I have a weird confession to make: I really really really like grooming a hairy horse during shedding season. I don’t know why, but there’s something extra satisfying about losing yourself in the simplicity of it, and seeing that big billowing pile of hair on the floor when you’re done. It’s satisfying work, with easily-seen results. I love body clipping for the same reasons. Okay, maybe I’m just really into hair removal. Either way, Henry doesn’t get a full body clip – lower maintenance when it comes to blanketing – so right now his super fuzzy back half (or as I like to call it, The Mullet) is in serious shed mode. I already own a SleekEZ, and someone else at the barn has a StripHair, so I decided it was time for a Shedder Showdown.

Before we start, I should say that StripHair has recently come out with a newer model of their tool, one that is more ergonomic and a bit… fancier looking (if it’s possible for a chunk of rubber to look fancier). From what I’ve seen of it, the material is the same, so I’m betting the performance is similar, but just a heads-up on that – to be totally fair, I tested their older model.

Neither of these tools is particularly ground-breaking as far as materials or design. The SleekEz is like a dulled mini saw blade set into a carved wooden block. The StripHair looks like a chunk of 1″ stall mat, it’s literally just a rectangle of rubber. But hey, simple tools often get the job done well. I have the large SleekEZ, which retails at $18.50. The StripHair retails at $39.00. So, how do they work?

I’ve been using both of them together, for the sake of comparison, for two weeks now. For “control” purposes I’ve also used a currycomb, a grooming stone, a Shed Flower, and the most basic of tools – my hands. When it comes to just the sheer amount of hair that each tool is able to remove, the SleekEZ is the winner. I can definitely get more hair off with it than with anything else. I also like that it sort of has a combing action to the coat, which helps it lift some of the dirt and dander to the surface. There’s definitely some cleaning action to it. The little teeth of the shedding blade itself seem to be good at getting down into the coat and picking up the hair from down there, too, not just the top layer.

The StripHair mostly just seems to gather that top-most layer of loose hair, which makes sense given the design. The rubber grips the loose hairs and pulls them away. If your horse has already fully blown it’s coat, then it’s great, but if it’s still in the process, the StripHair isn’t really going to get down in there and expedite things. I DO think that when it comes to legs or delicate areas, the Strip Hair is more useful. It bends and flexes around the contours pretty well, and obviously it’s a softer material.

That said, I think that I can get just as much hair off the legs simply by using my hands as I do from using the StripHair. Maybe even more. Those big long double jointed fingers of mine are finally useful for something.

If you really want a complete shedding arsenal, both tools are useful in their own way. But when it comes to sheer performance, the SleekEZ is the winner, hands down. If you have an extremely delicate flower of a horse then maaaaybe the StripHair could edge it’s way to the forefront, but honestly Henry is one of the most delicate flowers I know and he has no objections to the SleekEZ. You can’t really beat the bang for your buck, either… at less than half the price it outperforms the basic shedding capabilities of the StripHair, for sure. My favorite combination is currycomb + SleekEz.

As for the other grooming tools, get outta here with those Shed Flowers and grooming stones. Garbage. Yeah I said it. GARBAGE. Well, ok, Sadie really loves the Shed Flower to scratch her perpetually itchy elephant stomach. Other than that, though…

Like any self-respecting nerd, I’m am really really into metrics. I also have a huge interest in equestrian-related technology. So when Seaver had a Kickstarter for their smart girths and girth sleeves in summer 2016, I was all aboard that train. Equisense was pretty much already complete and on the market by that point, but it didn’t have heart rate monitor capabilities, whereas Seaver did. Being an eventer, heart rate data is pretty huge to me, so I opted to invest in the Seaver, knowing that it could be a year or so before it came. Yeah well… it’s been almost 2. They did recently confirm my shipping address though, so maybe I’ll get it before summer. Who knows. Honestly as long as all the functionality works correctly and it’s well-made, I’m cool with the wait. That’s my official stance anyway.

Lots of other bloggers have the Equisense, and I always stare a little too intently at their data. It’s really interesting to me. Eventers… we love times and speed and symmetry and all that stuff. And then last week Leah posted about a free app called Equilab, which boasts some of the same features. I downloaded it pretty much immediately. Because toys.

Basically the app uses the sensors on your phone to calculate and track your ride, so you have to either wear it on your arm or put it in a pocket. My phone is usually shoved in my pocket when I ride anyway (since I ride out, and I ride alone), so it’s just a matter of turning the app on and hitting “start riding” when I mount. The app has metrics for total ride time, time in each gait, turn direction, beats per minute, total distance, speed, elevation, energy consumption, and stride. It also paints a fun little GPS map for you that looks pretty damn artistic. Over time it gathers and accumulates the ride data to show “trends” or comparative metrics.

Naturally my first thought was that there’s no way it’s capturing all of that data accurately just from using the phone’s sensors and GPS. And from my observations so far (I’ve used it for 4 rides, of varying type), that’s true. I’ve kinda just tossed out the beats per minute and stride data. It’s definitely not accurate. I’ve also noticed that it has a really hard time picking up on quick transitions. For instance, my dressage ride yesterday included a whole bunch of quick-succession trot/walk/trot transitions and it picked up none of them. I think when it’s less than 15 to 20 seconds, it’s not capable of catching it. Or maybe it just thinks my transitions are shit. That’s possible too.

So the gait graphic in general also isn’t super useful to me for rides like that. For conditioning rides, however, where I’m not swapping back and forth between gaits a lot, it seems to do a respectable job of measuring the big chunks.

What it struggles with in those rides, though, is the “turn direction” data. I think because I ride in such a huge space, it’s just not registering the turns. When I ride in a smaller space it picks them up fine (although it also measures the turn data by way of cumulative time, which I don’t like and find kinda useless). I pretty much have to throw that data out, too. It’s interesting, but I definitely wouldn’t hang my hat on it. I always do the exact same thing both directions for conditioning rides anyway, so I don’t really need it.

What I DO really like Equilab for is total time, and time spent in each gait, especially for those conditioning rides. I mean… I do those rides with a specific plan in mind for how long my sets are, but it’s nice to have the metrics to back it up, and to be able to store them over time and look back on exactly what you’ve done. For logging purposes, especially tracking the length of rides for the purposes of fitness, the app is great (should also say, I’m in an area that has excellent GPS coverage – your experience may vary if you are not in such an area). I like that you can also input things at the end of the ride like how the ground was, how you and the horse performed, and what type of ride it was.

I did notice that the Android version looks different than my iPhone version. How different, I’m not really sure, but Leah had a few different things on her version than I do on mine. I kinda like hers better.

So is this thing a good replacement for something like an Equisense or Seaver? Definitely not. It’s capabilities are pretty limited. Then again, it’s totally free. It’s definitely at least worth the download to play with it or to use as a data logging system for your rides.

Now that I’ve settled on a date for bringing Presto home, things are kicking into high gear. Mostly because that date is less than 2 weeks away and I have a lot of other things going on in that time period. Time is even shorter than it seems.

I needed to go ahead and do my “it’s spring, omg the bugs” order from Riding Warehouse (since it’s in the 80’s here now… no turning back) so I perused the website and tossed in a few more things for Presto along with my gallon of Pyranha. When I was in Midland last weekend I learned that he is a bucket stomper/flinger/terrorist at feeding time and lives to scatter his food all over the ground. The stall that he’s going in doesn’t have a feed bucket up in it yet so I tossed this one in my cart:

Hoping that maybe two thick sturdy clips will be a bit more secure than an over the fence feeder or a single snap option? I dunno, maybe I’m dreaming here. I do know this thing will have to hang high enough to where he can’t get his feet in it, because I’ve seen him at work with those crazy giraffe limbs and it’s kind of impressive. In a really really naughty way.

Either way, it was only $10, so if he murders it then it’s not the end of the world.

And because of that habit of flinging his food on the ground, I picked up a tub of Sand Clear. We have a lot more ground cover here than where Presto lives now (and our horses eat their grain meals in stalls), so horses ingesting sand isn’t as much of a problem, but I definitely want to run a round of this stuff through Presto when he gets here. He’s already had some there in the past, but let’s start off a new place with a clean slate.

He also got a fly mask, arab/cob size, which will hopefully fit. It was cheap, so when he inevitably destroys it or removes it and stomps it to death, I won’t be that sad. Do we see a theme here with the things I’m buying for the baby horse? I got a fairly unattractive tan one though, working off of the well-known rule that the uglier a “barn supplies” item is, the longer it will last. We’ll see if that holds true against the whirling dervish of destruction that is Presto.

I also realized that I will need a lot of things in sets of two now. Like… I need two hay nets for the trailer. I need double the amount of salt blocks and fly spray and fungus stuff. Somehow this hadn’t occurred to me yet until I tossed that $3.88 clearance hay net into my cart. Then I had to sit here for a while and think about what all else I would suddenly need two of. I’m 100% certain I haven’t thought of it all yet. I definitely need more fungus spray.

We also sat down and looked at the feed options and what made the most sense. Due to supply issues and the barn’s bulk pricing, it’s easiest and cheapest to get Triple Crown Growth. So we’ll do that and see how it goes. I’m planning on supplementing with Equipride, alfalfa pellets, and a little oil, at least for a while until he’s filled out a bit. I don’t want him fat, he’s a baby, but he’s super growthy right now and looks like he could use the calories. We’ll start there and see how it works out. I’ll let the barn guys feed him the TC/Equipride and I’ll do the alfalfa pellets/oil when I’m there so that I can soak them, easily tailor the amount, and bribe him into loving me.

The barn owner and I also plotted out a good area for a high tie. There aren’t really any trees that are in a good spot for a Patience Tree, but we sure can sling up a high tie with an inner tube in the arena. She has a horse in for training that would benefit from it, and Presto certainly needs to spend time on it, so it’s in process. The main barn worker also said I could borrow his roping saddle to put on Henry for those first few ponying experiences for Presto. Muahahahaha on so many levels.

The alfalfa pellets are already purchased and sitting in my garage, the Equipride is in my guest room, and the TC is on order. The box of barn stuff is already in it’s spot in the tack room (oh hey, other boarders, sorry that I take up literally 1/5 of the tack room on my own). I hesitate to say that we’re definitely prepared, because I’m sure that there are approximately a hundred other things I’m forgetting. But… at least maybe we’re off to a good start?

Guess who is officially a yearling today???

 

In some ways it’s like WOW time flies, how he is a year old already? And in other ways I’m looking at all the gray hairs I’m sporting these days and wondering if it’s just my imagination that 90% of them have popped up in the past year. Only a year? THREE more til we’re even thinking about eventing? Sigh. Baby horses really are the long, hard road.

I can’t say that I’m not thrilled with him so far though. Sure, he looks a little bit like a mangey brown flamingo right now, but if your eyes can see past the yearling uglies, I think he’s going to be a nice horse. His gaits are good, he’s leggy, he’s athletic, and he’s smart. I can already see that we will definitely butt heads on a regular basis – that little turd is stubborn and calculating – but those qualities could really come in handy later in his career, so ya know… fair trade.

I see a lot of his sire in him, and also a lot of his dam too. It’s fun to sit there and watch him and be able to pick out which qualities he got from which parent.

I don’t think I’ll ever forget his birth. His sneaky mom laying down out in the pasture in the middle of the afternoon and squirting him out in 10 minutes. The way I felt when I saw that little white foot for the first time. The fact that he was neighing before he was even all the way out. Him thinking that we were his mom before he realized she was right behind him. Those first few steps right through the big pile of hay, because why do anything the easy way?

I loved him immediately.

It’s also hard not to think back on those dark few weeks at the beginning of his life, too. I’m not sure that I’m ready for all the facebook memories that are going to start popping up in my feed. It just breaks my heart all over again. He still has a little hairless scar from where his IV catheter sat taped to his neck, covered in elastikon, for 3 weeks. In some ways that scar is a point of pride. He’s a survivor, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.

His story could so easily have had a different ending, and this would be a very different post that I’d have been writing today. But instead I’m wearing one of my Presto Warrior shirts, feeling extremely grateful that I had the opportunity to buy him a goofy hat and make him a silly cake. Maybe I’m that horse owner now. Maybe I’m okay with that.

Happy Birthday little man. You don’t even know how loved you are.