Sound horse, old dog

The treatments with epsom salts and betadyne apparently worked. I rode Bud Tuesday night and he didn't seem to have any lameness from his close encounter with the deck screw a few days earlier.
What a relief.

My goal when I started this blog was to write about horse-related items in the news as well as horses in history, rather than strictly personal stuff about me and my horses. I still hope to do that, but I am currently spending a great deal of time on another writing project (it's historical, but developed from my interest in horses) and haven't had the time for the research I want to do for this blog. I hope to have more time for that in coming weeks.
My first goal is to return to the question of hardware and horses.

Thanks to those of you who have left comments. I certainly appreciate knowing a few people are reading.

Back to personal pet stuff: I'm pretty depressed today because I just made arrangements today to have my old lab-boxer dog, Pepper, put to sleep tomorrow.

He's either 17 or 18 -- I got him from the pound when he was a year old, and I can't remember whether that was in 1989 or 1990. We can't find any pictures or vet records that would tell us for sure. But either way, its been a pretty long life for a dog of his size. And he's been a great one, going with me on countless trail rides, camping trips, truck rides and guarding the old homestead as well. I've had more than a dozen dogs during my lifetime and he's one of the two smartest.
His only major problems were, when he was younger, a penchant for killing any cats that weren't part of his household (including the neighbor's on more than one occasion) and for killing skunks. Once, he even came trotting back home, proud as he could be, carrying a dead skunk in his mouth. A skunk episode usually meant a couple of baths and a week or so in my old stock trailer until the smell wore off. I never could break him of it, though, if he got wind of a skunk out in the pasture.

Now, however, he doesn't get wind of much of anything. He can't hear. His back end is barely functional and he can hardly walk. His incontinence seems to get worse each day, which is only a minor problem now since he spends most of his time in the garage. But, come winter, when it gets cold again, I couldn't make him stay in the garage. Also, we're going away next month, and I didn't want to leave him and his problems to the lady who comes to care for the rest of our animals.
It will be a sad day tomorrow. But it's time.

Screwed

My plans to take both my horses out Sunday for a practice pack trip got screwed Saturday evening -- literally.
Bud, my big gray gelding, was limping when he came in to eat about 5 p.m. I picked up his right front foot and found a 3-inch deck screw stuck securely into the sole of his foot.
It went in at an angle, just underneath the frog, with the head of the screw sticking out past the edge of the shoe. It must have hurt like hell when he put his weight on that foot. I had to actually unscrew the thing -- very carefully and slowly using a pliers, because if I used a screwdriver I would have been pushing against where it went in and causing more pain.
But I got it out, and equally important, I got hold of my vet at 6 p.m. on a Saturday night when he was preparing to leave town. (Thanks Dr. Bob).
He advised soaking the foot in a solution of Epsom salt, betadyne and water, then packing the injured area with betadyne and sugar paste, and wrapping it with duct tape to hold it in. No Bute.
This I did Saturday night, Sunday morning and Sunday night and again today. Tonight I just soaked it and left him. Fortunately, Bud is pretty good about being treated, and he stood patiently with his foot in the pan of solution for 20 minutes at a time, as long as I sat next to him and talked to him.
Today he doesn't seem to be limping at all. I plan to get on him tomorrow for a little ride, just to see how he feels.
So Turk, my pack horse, became my saddle horse Sunday. We had a good ride in an area called South Shale Ridge. It was hot but pleasant.
It's hard to say where Bud picked up the screw. I used some screws like that when I built my barn, nine years ago. But they've been in and round it every day since then and haven't had any problems. Plus I can't find any place where a screw appears to be missing. I try to be careful about always picking up dropped screws and nails, but this one may have been in the dirt for nine years.
Another scary day for a horse owner and horse lover.

DSL problems

We've been having DSL problems all week and working with the phone company to try to get it fixed. It finally seems to be working properly again, but it's been frustrating. That's why I haven't blogged all week.
I think it was frustrating for the phone company, Qwest, as well, because they thought they had it fixed on several occasions, and the one time it appeared to be fixed earlier in the week, our telephones in the house wouldn't operate.

Anyway, seems to be working now.

Not a lot of horse news here. It's getting pretty hot, so I don't have much enthusiasm for riding in the evenings. I'm going to try to go for a trail ride early tomorrow morning, and throw the pack saddle on my gelding, Turk, to get him used to it again. He hasn't been packed hard in two years, and we have a big pack trip coming up in about a month.

When I say a pack saddle, I don't mean a real cross-tree saddle. I just use my regular western riding saddle and some saddle paniers that fit over the horn, pommel and cantle. It's not quite as efficient as a real pack saddle, but it works very well for the three or four-day trips I usually take. Also, I have large saddlebags on my riding horse, Bud, including a pack immediately behind the saddle that's large enough to get my sleeping bag in. All this behind my WinTec jumping saddle. We make quite a sight coming down the trail. But Bud is much more comfortable in that saddle and I prefer riding in it to any Western saddle I have. And since we don't do much roping, it works well.(I have yet to find a Western saddle that doesn't make Bud throw a fit when I try to tighten the girth, but I haven't made an extensive search for a western saddle that fits his Thoroughbred whithers correctly.
That's all for now. Gotta get to work.

Trail Time

Bud and I had a great ride with some friends in the high desert of Western Colorado yesterday. Unlike today (94 degrees) the temperature was in the mid-80s and there was a breeze.
A friend of mine, Pete,who is 6-foot-7 and weighs 275, rode my daughter's gelding Turk, who packed him around just fine.
Turk, who we raised from birth, is part quarter horse and part Missouri Fox Trotter, seven years old and he likes to wander. We call him Turk the Tourist, because he's always sight-seeing when we're trail riding -- looking around at everything and wandering off the trail if you let him. (Some friends with Missouri Fox Trotters told me that is typical of the breed.)
But Turk is a good guy on the trail, not prone to spooking or running away and very sure-footed. Pete is a very green rider, but he gets along well with Turk.
Bud was good. He just would have preferred a long gallop to a moderate walk, but he settled down when I told him to, and we had an enjoyable time.
Also accompanying us were my friend Alan, on his mustang-Morgan mare, Rita, and Pete's wife, Kimmer, on a friend's Paint gelding.
And one more: My son's Great Dane, Bo. We have temporary custody of Bo while my son is overseas, and he loves to go out riding with us. He can cover every bit as much ground as the horses if it's not too hot. (I had plenty of water in the saddlebags for him yesterday.)
All in all, it was a very nice way to spend Father's Day weekend.

Wild Horses

Barely a stone's throw from our house in Western Colorado is the Little Bookcliffs Wild Horse Area. I can saddle up and ride to the base of the area in about 10 minutes. A 15-minute trailer haul allows us to get right into the heart of the area, where we almost always see small bands of mares led by a single stallion. In the spring, there are foals to see and occasionally we encounter two or three bachelor studs, pushed out from their mothers' herds but not powerful enough to become herd stallions themselves.
It's one of my favorite places to ride, especially in the winter. Easy access, generally warm temperatures and always interesting things to see.
I mention all this because I received a mailing from a Denver-area group this week telling me of the sad fate of a wild horse herd in the Pryor Mountains of Montana.
"If a new Bureau of Land Management plan to manage this herd is implemented this July," it warned, "24 wild horses in the Pryor Mountains will be captured and removed from their home and lose their freedom forever."
The mailing went on to say that this traumatizing roundup could be prevented if the BLM (which manages millions of acres of federal lands in the West, for you non-Westerners) "would prioritize range improvements (none have occurre in over a decade)."
The mailing asked me to sign a petition to the BLM to stop the roundup. And, naturally, it also sought for a donation to help the group in its efforts to protect wild horses.
I'll do neither.
As one might gather from reading about my affinity for the Little Bookcliffs wild horses, I have nothing against wild horses. They have intrigued since long before I moved to the West 34 years ago.
I have observed the horses and BLM efforts to manage them.
And I think the current federal laws that govern that management are INSANE!
Craziest of all is the fact that, as of last October, the BLM had some 24,500 wild horses and burros in holding pens around the West, feeding them hay, providing them with veterinary services and wondering what in the hell to do with them.
They can't adopt them because there are simply far more horses and burros available than there are people willing to adopt.
They cannot sell them because the federal laws written beginning in the early 1970s prohibit any sale in which the wild horses might end up in a slaughterhouse.
They cannot humanely euthanize them, because that is also forbidden by law.
And they can't put them back on the range because they were removed in the first place to reduce overgrazing and overcrowding.
So they live in large corrals while we taxpayers pay to keep them fed and doctored.
And, when the group that sent me the mailing clucks about the BLM doing little about range improvements,it neglects to mention that over half of the BLM's wild horse budget of $39 million this year -- $20.1 million -- is going to feed and keep those 24,500 horses and burros in the corrals. Imagine the range improvements that could be made if that much additional money were available, not to mention the manpower devoted to caring for the corraled horses.
Several times in recent years, Western congressmen of both parties have attempted to pass legislation that would allow some changes in the way captured wild horses are handled. But they have been shot down before they even make it out of committee by the emotional supporters of wild horses who attack any prospective change in the law as an attempt to eliminate wild horses from the range.
I love the wild horses near my house, and I don't want to see them, the herd in Montana or any of the others around the West removed from the range. But I believe the BLM should be allowed to sell or euthaize those captured horses that have no prospect of being adopted, with the stipulation that any money saved in caring for the corraled horses be devoted to range improvements in wild-horse areas.
Then, instead of round-ups every few years followed by attempts to adopt out the captured horses that always meet with limited success, the BLM should begin a process of neutering most of the wild horses on the various ranges, allowing only a select few to breed annually.
Until that happens, the horses will continue to turn out more foals than their ranges can support and the BLM will have to round them up or allow them to starve.
And until groups like the one that sent me the mailing acknowledge the problems with the current law -- created in part through the well-meaning support of groups like this -- they won't get my money or signature on petitions.

Linkage

Success! I think.
I've been struggling to figure out how to link from this blog to other sites. I think I've finally got it, with the assistance of a colleague at work.

That's her blog -- rivetergirl -- linked in the first spot. Although it has nothing to do with horses, it is an amusing read about the trials and tribulations of a working woman, wife, mother and budding rock star (she's the lead guitartist for the group, Riveter). Plus, she helps me when I can't figure computer stuff out, either at work of for the blog. So I owe her.
Thanks, rivetergirl.

The second link is for equestrian adventurer, a site I mentioned in a blog a few days ago. It not only offers all manner of horse-related travel packages, but some great articles about horses and horse travel. Check it out.

More links to come. Assuming I really do have this figured out.

Horse hardware

While at the Moonrock Horse Trials in Worland, Wyo., last weekend, I watched a woman leading a large Frisan gelding, but doing so in a strange manner.
She was bent over like a crippled woman, and kept holding her hand out in front of the big black gelding, and he kept his head down near her.
Being the curious sort, I went up and asked her what the heck she was doing. And being the outgoing sort, she quickly told me.
She said it was a technique she had learned from a Russian dressage trainer who could get a horse to piaffe (trot in place, for you non-dressage types, like me) without a bit in his mouth.
She said it was similar to some of the methods used by the Pirellis in their training. It teaches a horse to round its back without using harsh bits, draw reins or other hardware.
This hit me just at the right time, because just a few days earlier, while getting ready for Moonrock, my horse was sticking his nose in the air and being anything but round. A friend whom I've been training with immediately grabbed her draw reins and pressured me into to putting them on, saying "I know we can fix him with these."

Instead, it just made Bud angrier and I had more of a fight on my hands. And I say she pressured me because a former trainer of mine, who has since moved away (but may be reading this) always argued against trying to fix those kinds of problems with hardware. He said if you couldn't fix it with legs, seat and light hands, you probably shouldn't be on that horse.

At any rate, the Frisan woman agreed to show me more later that evening, but our cross-country competition that day went long and we didn't get the time. And I didn't get her name or address. But I would like to learn more about the Russian trainer and his techniques.

Anyone have a clue who I'm talking about from this rambling description and an idea where I might find more information?

Next, I hope to blog a little about historical hardware.

Blogus interuptus

I had planned to do more blogging tonight, but just as I got home, my son contacted me via Internet instant message.
He's in Afghanistan in the 8 th month of a 1 year deployment, and was feeling pretty down.
We chatted for an hour and a half, and he said it helped him feel better.
Much more important than my horse blogging.

Horse soldier re-enacters

There's a very interesting story on horsecity.com today about battle field re-enacters and the horses used at Gettysburg. http://horsecity.com/stories/060606/adv_calvary_MG.shtml
It's written by Mark Gochman, the editor of
equestrianadventurer.com
a site I have visited several times.
It talks about the people involved in cavalry re-enacting -- former fox hunters, ropers, and eventers.
There's even a school to train for such rides -- which I hadn't heard of prior to reading this article. It's in Twisp, Wash.
www.uscavalryschool.org
Take a look at Mark's article if you're interested in horses and history. It's an interesting read.

One of my reasons for starting this blog is to eventually write some longer articles of my own on horse history. Stay tuned. Or better yet, Return with us soon to those days of Yesteryear.

Men vs. Women

A question:
Our group of riders and family members at Moonrock included males and females, who all shared in horse-care duties. Several times a girl or woman had to open a fresh bale of hay for the ponies. Each time, they grabbed another piece of baling twine and pulled it back and forth under the taut twine on the bale, using it as a sort of friction saw to cut the twine on the bale.
This is the same technique that my daughter used to use, even when I had an old hoof knife available right next to the hay stack for cutting the twine.
No guy who I know would use this technique except as an ultimate last resort, and even then it would be more likely to see a guy pull the twine off or attempt to break it with some other handy tool, say a rock or piece of wood.
But that's rarely necessary because a guy nearly always has a pocket knife or leatherman or similar tool with him. I usually have a big flip-out knife in the pocket of my jeans or carharts. But I don't feel fully dressed without a knife, so even when I'm in my office clothes for my desk job, I nearly always have a small pocket knife with me. And I always have a good knife when I'm riding (although not competing in boots and breeches) just in case a horse gets tangled up in somethin and I have to cut him or her free.
Why don't women carry knives when they're out working with their horses? Not just for cutting open hay bales but to deal with other emergencies?
My daughter, now 22, took a summer job as a crew leader working on backcountry trails in Washington state. One of the requirements for the job was that she have a good knife or all-purpose tool. She was very proud when she purchased her new Leatherman, and wondered if I was jealous (I was). I suspect she'll get used to having a tool like that with her, and keep it or something like it in her purse, even when she goes back to office work in the fall.
But maybe not. Maybe carrying knives and other weapons is primarily a guy thing -- a genetic disposition dating from our hunter-gatherer-protector days.
I won't get into a big discussion of guns, but I will note that I know several women who usually carry pistols with them in their vehicles when they take long trips or trips to areas they consider dangerous. But they don't seem to have the same fascination with their weapons that many men have.
An anthropologist could have a field day with this. In fact, I'm accepting grant money right now to prepare my own paper: "The X and Y chromosoms and their differing influence on techniques used to cut hay bale twine."

Personal news

Returned late last night from the Moonrock Horse Trials in Worland, Wyo.

Had a great time, but the 9-hour drive pulling horse trailers gets a little long for an old guy like me, and a semi-old guy like my horse, Bud

We had a horrible dressage test, which isn't surprising since both Bud and I hate dressage and we hadn't done enough work on it before the event. Even so, we did get in some good dressage work in the last couple weeks before the event, and I actually thought our test went better than I had feared. I thought we might end up in the middle of the pack of 30 beginner novice riders, but we were near the end. When I watched the video of the test filmed by a friend, it was clear the judge was fair and accurate with all of his remarks.

But that was Friday. Saturday was cross country, and there's no doubt how Bud and I feel about that. Let's Go!!

Even though it's been two years since we've done a full cross country course together, I knew he'd go well. He's been jumping great in the arena and staying sound. So when we took off out of the starting gate, it was just a matter of pointing him to the first jump and letting him go. But, even though he wanted to go at racetrack speed, he also listend to me, came back and collected before jumps when I asked him. And we cantered through the water with no hesitation. A grand time was had by all, or at least the two of us. We moved up from near the bottom of the pack to ninth place.

But on Sunday, before the stadium jumping, Bud's fetlocks on his forelegs were swollen and oozing yellow pus. It was very much like an allegic reaction he had to some shampoo last year, although that oozing was on his neck, by his mane.

The only thing I could think of was some brand-new galloping boots we used for the cross-country Saturday, neoprene, which I didn't wash before putting on him.

After several consultations with the on-site vet, and a couple of trot-outs in which he was clearly off with his right front, I decided to scratch from the stadium jumping, especially with nine hours of trailer time ahead of us.

We got home in good shape and he seems pretty well today, just a little puffiness around the fetlocks.

Once again, the people in Worland -- Teri and John Thurman and all of their volunteers -- put on a friendly and well-organized event. It's worth the long trip up there.