MyHoofPrints

Worst horse photo in the world

In my pre-horse days, I spent much of my time looking at pictures of horses. To me, just looking at the pictures provided a connection to that mystical creature, the horse. The horse-in-pictures habit made me a pretty good judge of conformation, too! My favorite horse pictures of all time are in Robert Vavra’s Such Is the Real Nature of Horses, but I love all horses, and in almost every photo of a horse I see some special gift. This one photograph, however, has no redeeming value other than fun. I couldn’t resist showing it off. It has to be the worst horse picture in the world. You can see from this where they came up with the word Hippopotamus. The picture is actually a shnoz-shot of our very own Bonnie Blue, star of the scintillating new novel Winning Bet. It’s one of the cover-photo shots that well, never actually made the cover.

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Homecoming

Weekend before last was homecoming weekend in our town. In freezing, snowy weather, the university held its game, and the high schools did the same. That Friday I had a homecoming of my own -- with my horse. Sometimes the day job, writing and running a stable get in the way of what started this whole thing: the horses, mine specifically.

He was a little puzzled at first, but here’s the great thing about horses, they forgive you whenever, unconditionally. All you have to do is ask. OK, not ALL horses are this way, but the good ones are. We hit the river trail for a short, two-mile ride, mostly walking, trotting, and watching geese glide, fish jump, and dogs walking their people.

For mental health, there is nothing like the feel of a warm horse under you and the sound of a running river. Horses are health providers. Witness all the hippo-therapy programs out there. And to think, “All I pay my psychiatrist is the cost of feed and hay, and he'll listen to me all day. (-- Unknown)”

Collapse at the state fair

Our gelding, Billy, went down on his knees about 10 years ago just before my son’s hunt seat class at the Colorado state fair 4-H horse show in Pueblo. This handsome red gelding had seemed fine all morning, but the temperature spiked 30 degrees in two hours, taking us from the 60’s to the 90’s. We did not think anything of the uncooperative weather until, on the way to the in-gate with his boy, Billy went to his knees, and then to his side. If we had not pulled Billy up by the reins, he would have crushed the saddle. Billy had colic, the Number 1 killer of horses. The many kinds of colic all involve stomach pain. Two of the many causes include a sudden change in the weather and heat distress. Like dehydrated people who experience headaches and muscle cramps, heat stresses horses and they need constant hydration and in some cases, electrolytes , to help cope. Billy suffered a handful of other colics over several years until we figured out that he drinks little water. Today, Billy gets daily electrolytes, and an extra dose for any summer horse show. The electrolytes did the trick. Since then, Billy has been as healthy as … a horse!

‘I think I can, I think I can’

Kalvin the Krazed, a pseudonym that pretty much sums up his history, may turn out to be something, after all. This 15-year-old Thoroughbred gelding, which we purchased for his flipped-over-the-hitching-rail vet bill about two years ago, made it over a course of poles yesterday without killing anybody. Not only that, he did it with style, which is one thing Kalvin always does. Even when he face-plants somebody, Kalvin does it with style. Perhaps as a failed race horse, Kalvin learned that life was fraught with fright, and that he would amount to nothing. Consequently, every time something did go wrong, he flipped into horse hysterics, bolting out from under the rider who slightly over-balanced, or leaping away from the truck backfiring on the nearby road. Yesterday, Kalvin braved the course of poles. He even mistimed a couple of poles and tapped the wood. Kalvin thought about bolting. Kalvin’s ears flipped back and forth in momentary panic. At the gentle brush of the rider’s leg however, Kalvin persevered. Kalvin transitioned down from the canter to a civilized trotting circle. He halted, let out a big sigh, and licked his lips. That was horse talk for, “I did it. I survived. I think I can, I think I can.”

Their kingdom for a colored horse

People recently spent a lot of money testing ancient horse DNA to learn that horse color swayed the rich and famous. More than 5,000 years ago, humans began domesticating horses, according to a study published in the April issue of the journal Science. Powerful people preferred white, silver, chestnut and other loud colors over the drab mousiness of the original horse. Thus breeding programs were born. For a pittance, you too can confirm the flamboyancy of human nature. Just attend any horse auction. Unusually-colored horses bring more money, period. The breeding farm where I worked as a teen and college student held an annual auction. Loudly-colored foals of average or poor conformation brought in twice the money of more correctly-conformed, but boring, liver chestnuts. Color blindness leads to regrettable purchases, however. Be careful when buying.
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Pastures of heaven

We often feed our horses the old-fashioned way, on grass growing fresh out of the ground. After a brief ride, we turned out two of our geldings. This time of year, most horses at our stable are on supervised turnout for short periods. Our pasture rotations prevent permanent grass damage. Ramping up exposure in gradual doses helps horses get used to the green stuff, and prevents laminitis, aka: founder. This terrible internal hoof inflammation can kill a horse. Founder is similar to slowly peeling away your fingernail, only you have to support a thousand pounds or more on the fingernail as it tears away. Ouch. On a less painful note, imagine being forced most of the winter to eat Shredded Wheat™ and then suddenly being offered a salad featuring baby greens and whatever medicinal herbs you can find. Our two guys cantered off, stopped about 50 feet into the pasture and lifted their heads, watching us watch them. They galloped another 50 feet stopped, and plunged their heads into the greenery. For them, this was second heaven. If at all possible, set aside a green patch for your horse, however small, and give them a chance to be well, a horse!
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Yes, I can!

They tell me I slept in a bassinet in a window next to a pasture full of horses, and that the horses would hang their heads over the fence and look at me. You have probably heard of baby horses being imprinted by people. In my case it was the reverse. I was imprinted by horses. For my parents, that meant I started asking for a horse at age five. My grandparents completed the conspiracy by purchasing ponies for my sister and myself a couple of years later. I was horrified to learn that my pony’s name was Nigger. Here we were in the 1960’s, in the height of the Civil Rights Era, and I had a pony with a racist name. Because I loved Margeurite Henry’s Black Gold, and my pony was small and black, he morphed into Nugget. Like Black Gold, we loved to race, in our case, through the Big Sky pastures of Montana, and do things we were not supposed to do. There is nothing like a Shetland Pony for building character and confidence. They can do anything and go anywhere, and Nugget taught me to ask no less of myself.
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Go on and scream

My sister and I share the same birthday – two years apart. They stored my cake in the cupboard, forgotten for days after my mother went to the hospital in labor with her. I point to this fact whenever I stand accused of any emotionally aberrational behavior. The cake incident was the start of a competition that lasted until adulthood.
The two of us often found ourselves in the same age group at horse shows, in this case at the Almaden Horsemen’s Association near San Jose, California. We went through a particularly hot, grueling Hunt Seat Equitation Class, in which we posted the trot without stirrups for what seemed like hours. Imagine balancing, gripping a giant exercise ball with your thighs and knees as you rhythmically rise and fall. Try this for three minutes straight in a sauna and you have the stress picture.
Anyway, the loyal spectators, including my mother, sat through this equitation class, properly excited because they had a clue about what was going on beneath the poker faces that floated above bodies swathed in navy blue and black hunt coats, white ratcatchers (shirts), breeches, and black velvet hunt caps: It was a sweating, groin-thigh-muscle standoff between riders.
I know I worked hard, and my mare did her part, providing rhythm and thrust with the world’s smoothest trot. I did not know what was going on with my sister. Frankly, I did not care. It was all about me.
The endurance test ended and we lined up for awards, still mounted, in the center of the arena. They began to announce placings, and my mother screamed. I thought something had happened to my sister. (There was a reason we called her horse “Orbit”.)
Turns out, I placed first and my sister placed second. My mother’s offspring dominated our little world for 15 seconds.
I never understood the cathartic effect of a pride scream until my son made the winning soccer goal for the league championship in his last game ever for his school. You should give it a shot. Find your favorite horse person, get out there, and scream the next time they win a ribbon. (We take no responsibility for the reactions of those near you!)
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Horse careers: Not just a $$$ dead end

Like horses, but don't think you have the aptitude -- or the affinity for dirt -- for a horse career?  Think all horse careers are financial dead-ends?  Think again!  There's a great publication at http://www.ayhc.com/pdfs/careers.pdf, which all Horse Project 4H'ers or anyone interested in a new career should see.  Our little 4-H club "raised" one rider who worked for several years at the Arabian Horse Association, and another who assisted at a top-notch local dressage barn.  It can be done.
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Hoofprints goes national on Kindle2

We are pleased to announce that Amazon has accepted Hoofprints for national distribution on the Kindle 2. The Kindle 2 is best described as an MP3 player for books, except that unlike an MP3 player, you never have to plug your Kindle into a computer to download a purchase. Believe it or not, the Kindle 2 can read out loud to you, too!

The Kindle 2 holds up to 1,500 books. Unlike a lot of other e-readers, you can download what you want instantly to the device with the push of a button. You DO NOT need a computer or a cell phone to keep this e-reader updated with the best, newest books, magazines, blogs and newspapers.

Amazon sold 400,000 of the orginal Kindles, and as of this writinMay 2009, had sold 300,000 Kindle 2's.

FLASH! October 7, 2009 -- Amazon's stock surges on Kindle's new, international download abilities and the prediction that 900,000 e-readers will be sold in the 2009 holiday shopping season!. The Wall Street Journal gives Kindle 2 a rave review.

If you own a Kindle 2 or the larger format Kindle DX, which was recently partnered with textbook companies, you can get an immediate, FREE, 14-day Hoofprints trial subscription. After that “Hoofprints” on the Kindle is only $0.99/month. (That's right! Only 99 cents!)
 
If you already own a Kindle, click on the link to the right to add Hoofprints to your subscriptions. Kindle Hoofprints is free of advertising. (To find us on your Kindle, just search for "Hoofprints".)
 
We are very excited about this development, and hope that Hoofprints’ national Kindle exposure serves readers, riders, horses, and the horse industry well. As always, we welcome your tips and ideas. Thanks for your support!
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