Looking for something to do tomorrow morning? Check out the GVEquine Winter Horse Health Seminar. Large vendor area promoting, local organizations, feed, farriers, large animal rescue and more.
Where: Wheatland-Chili High School at 940 North Road in Scottsville
When: Saturday February 6, 2010, 8:00 am to 12:30 pm
Speaker: Dr Amy Grace and Dr Susan Fubini
For more information visit GVEquine.com
The thermometer is below freezing, the wind is whipping up and riding in a storm is the last thing you want to do. However, warm horse bodies nestled in stalls are keeping the barn comfortably warm to work in. The question is what can you do with your horse indoors to keep both of you entertained. My answer? Clicker training!
The simplest of tricks to teach is “target” and it is the backbone to all clicker training. The idea is simple, have your horse touch a target with their nose on command. I personally like using a tennis ball skewered on the end of a whip, crop or carrot stick. My treat of choice is hay stretcher. You can pick up a 50lb bag for about $10 at your feed store. Horses love the stuff and I feel good about giving them treats knowing they aren’t fatty molasses cookies.
Step 1 – Associate a Click with a Treat
This part is easy work for the horse. Click and give a treat. Only do this 3-4 times. Horses are smart and pickup quickly that a click noise equals treat.
Step 2 – Introduce the target
Bring in your target and hold it about 2-3 feet in front of your horse’s muzzle. Curiosity will get the better of your horse and they’ll want to sniff the tennis ball. As soon as their muzzle touches the ball, click and treat. Repeat until the horse figures out that they have to touch the target to get a treat. Some catch on quick, others will keep trying to dig into your pockets for cookies. Be patient.
Step 3 – Introduce the word target
We tell young horses to woah, walk on, trot, gee and haw so now it’s time to associate a word to touching the ball. Best word to use is, target. Repeat the steps above but this time don’t click and treat until you tell the horse “target” and then they touch the ball.
Step 4 – Target stretches
A target right in front of the nose is easy, now try moving your target. Raise it up and ask your horse to reach to touch it or lower it down to the ground. Use the target to ask your horse to bend and stretch in new directions. This is not a dance, have your horse keep their feet still and not be tempted to walk around to chase the target yet. Besides you’re in a stall or aisle way, there’s not much room to move!
These steps are the basics of clicker training. Some horses pick it up quickly while others might take a few weeks of work. Be sure to keep your sessions short 10-15 minutes. Always end on a good note and know when to stop before the thinking part of your horse’s brain shuts down. The rewards of working with your horse doing simple tricks are worth the effort.
Stay warm and have fun!
Tags: clicker training horse, horse bend, horse bendings, horse stretches, horse stretching, horse training, teaching horse tricks, trick training horse
Does your barn look like mine? You have an old feed bag or muck bucket that just collects baling twine each time you feed hay? If you really are like me, you pay close attention to how you take off the twine. I ultimately try to remove the twine without cutting it but if I must cut it I do so as close to the knot as possible just in case I find a use for my bucket-o-twine later.
I thought I’d share with you some things that I do to recycle my twine.
- Hold up a broken gate
- Tie down a tarp over a cattle panel to make a shelter
- Braided into a wisp to groom a horse
- Tie up horse tails into mud knots or to hold a braid
- Fix horse blankets
- Tie panels together for a temporary catch pen
- Chain some together to make a herding tape to round alpacas up
- Braid into leashes and lead ropes – bit itchy on the hands but good in a pinch
- Use as a break-away for cross ties or trailer ties
- Woven, knotted or crocheted into door mats
- Above mats wrapped around a post or on a wall for horses to scratch on
- Use in the garden for peas and tomatoes
- I have organic twine and it makes great kindling for fires
What do you do with your twine? I’d love to see your comments.
Tags: bailing twine, baler twine, baling twine, recycle baling twine, recycle twine, things to make out of baling twine, uses for baling twine, what to do with baling twine
I got a flyer about CountryMax’s Saddle & Tack Consignment Sale
Where: Farmington Store
When: Feb 19th – 20th
Consignment deadline is February 16th. Forms are available in stores or online
Since the weather has not been the greatest for riding I find myself spending these winter months doing little projects and my latest one I thought I’d share with you.
I know this is “English” leather country but I’m a cowgirl at heart and love the feel of a mecate or rope reins in my hands. The weight and lay of a good rope cannot be beat in my book and I decided to make one for myself.
Since I raise alpacas it seemed only fitting to make my new reins out of alpaca. Each cord I used to braid with is made up of 8 strands spun fiber (or yarn) this part requires a rope machine. Each cord is made up of 8 strands; 2 strands per hook; a total of 4 hooks. These strands are kept under even tension and twisted counter clockwise up to 15% shrinkage and then counter spun clockwise around one another creating a rope cord. I made 6 of these cords and a 7th to use as a core.
Since I’m still new to rope making I haven’t yet mastered the art of twisting cords around a core into rope. So I opted to do a 6 plait round braid around the core, back braided scissor snaps on each end and left the fringe on to a little character.
I hope you enjoy my finished product! Now I just need Mother Nature to behave so I can get out and use them!
Great video of how horsehair mecates are made.
My rope machine isn’t nearly as fancy.
Please visit Back At The Ranch
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Tags: alpaca reins, Braided rope reins, making rope reins, twisting rope reins
Most of our horses here in WNY are built for the cold. They are very fuzzy this time of year with thick winter coats to keep them warm in sub zero temperatures. These winter coats are great for battling the cold but not so great for exercising under saddle. Often just a light ride with friends out on the trail can work up a sweat for your horse. Be sure to care for your equine friend the right way after your ride.
- End you ride with a nice long walk on a road or packed snow if possible. Just walking through deep snow is quite a workout. Your horse can get pretty warm even with a simple walking ride.
- A sweaty horse after a ride is a cold horse. Do your best to dry your horse off and use a fleece cooler to help draw the moisture away from their body while keeping them warm. Do not turn your horse out until they are dry! Because of the cold it will take longer than normal for a horse to dry off. Be prepared to have your horse cooling off in a stall for 1-2 hours after your ride before they are dry enough for turn out.
- Clipping your horse. Depending on how much winter riding you do you might find it beneficial to clip your horse. This will help them regulate their temperatures better during winter work so they aren’t prone to sweating. Just be sure to follow proper blanket management for the type of clip chose for your horse.
- Offer warm water. Hot horse drinking cold water could cause colic. Wait until your horse cools down and offer them heated water. Either boil some in a teapot and add to a bucket or better yet use heated buckets!
- Dehydrated horse? Believe it or not most horses like Gatorade (mine like orange flavor). The sweetness of a few scoops of Gatorade in their water bucket entices them to drink up and the added electrolytes help their system rebalance.
Winter riding is a blast and there is nothing more beautiful than enjoying a fresh snow on a crisp winter morning. Ride Safe.
Tags: clipping a horse, clipping your horse, cooling a horse off, dehydrated horse, horse, horse cooler, horse drinking, horses, horses in snow, how to cool off a horse, riding in snow, trail riding, warm water horse, Winter riding tips
So you want to enjoy your horse during the winter months but every time you hit the trials your horse’s hooves fill up with hard snow making the bottom of their feet look like a snow cone. Not the safest of situations.
There are several ways to keep the snow from packing up in your horse’s feet.
Cooking or Silicone Spray – This offers a temporary solution and is really easy to apply. Just pick up the foot, brush it clean and spay. Usually this method will prevent the snow from packing up in the hoof for 5-10 minutes.
Full Hoof Snow Pad – Made of hard plastic
Pros – You will never have to worry about snow building up in the hoof, period!
Cons – You can’t see the hoof! What’s going on under there
Silicone Snow Pad – A ring of silicone that fits between the hoof and the shoe.
Cons – This pad still can allow snow to build up if it packs up under the pad and is horrendous to clean during mud season
Horse Hoof Boots – My personal favorite Choose your style and manufacturer there’s tons of them out there. Your horse can still be turned out barefoot and strap the boots on when you need them. I personally like the Old Mac’s because of the hiking boot type tread that is on the bottom which gives better grip.
Tags: get snow out of horse feet, get snow out of horse hoof, hoof care, horse care, horse feet snow, horse hoof snow, horse shoes, horse tips, horseback trail riding, horsebackriding in winter, riding in the winter, shoeing horses, snow horse hoof, snow horses hoof, snowball hooves, snowballs hoof, trail riding, winter riding
If you’re looking for something fun to do during these cold winter days make sure you stop by the Mendon Ponds Winterfest!
There are many activities to do including the mounted patrol, horse drawn wagon rides, horse sleigh demonstrations, dog sledding, skiing, snow showing and more.
I will actually be there with my alpacas if you want to stop over and say hi.
For more information:
Where: Mendon Ponds Park
When: January 17th 11am -4pm
URL: http://www.mendonpondswinterfest.org/
Please mind our reconstruction as we migrate our old site over to this new form. Our Trail Buddy, Events Calendar, and Local Links page is at the top. All the information has been moved over and is current.
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