The Novice Horseman Blog

I watched a few hunter hack classes at a recent national show.  Hunter hack is an English class that consists of 2 fences to be jumped individually by each entrant, then rail work by the entire class.  It is always the same . . . some horses shy away from the first jump or just flat refuse to jump it.  The shows always have flowers, brightly colored rails, trees at the side of the standards or any combination of these.  Some of the horses have either not seen these before or if they have only at the shows.

The fix is easy.  Go to a dollar store & buy some artificial flowers.  You can drill holes in the ground rail and put flowers in each hole.  Or you can push the flower stems into the dirt just behind the ground rail but in front of the bottom rail.  Your horse may still shy away from the flowers for a short time at home, but he will get used to them.  Then when at the show, flowers are not such a big deal to him anymore.

Also, paint a few of your rails any color other than white.  This doesn’t have to be an expensive task.  You can use some left over house, wall or barn paint.  Maybe your neighbor has some paint that they would like to get rid of.  You can paint the rail all one color or put stripes on it.  Use your imagination.

The end effect is to get your horse use to something that you would see at the show.  This fix is good for the hunter or jumper classes also.  Don’t wait until the next show & wonder why he keeps shying away from the jump.

The weather in Oklahoma has been wet. . . no it has been reeeeaalllly wet . . .  no it’s monsoon season!!!!  It rained 21 days straight recently this last month.  There were days the rain was close to 4″ in a 24 hour span.  That caused some flooding in the low areas, but generally just made everything sloshy & extremely muddy.  The mud in places was over ankle deep.  This type of weather is not conducive to riding.  So, my horses have had a 3 week vacation.

Fortunately, Mother Nature graced us with dry & rather hot HUMID weather this past week.  The pasture & arena dried out.  The weather this morning was absolutely beautiful.  I couldn’t wait to get out the barn to ride.

Dollar was not covered in mud, so grooming him was easy.  After saddling-up, we were off to take the first lesson in over a month.  For being off for so long, we actually had a good ride.  He was a little rusty in bending his body into the turns, so I had to school him a little.  Dollar is the lazy , almost bomb-proof type horse.  He wanted to do his lazy toe dragging walk and didn’t want to trot at all.  That was way too much work for a horse that thought he was still on vacation.

We managed to get through the entire lesson with only one small incident.  He actually spooked at his shadow or it could have been the goose nearby . .  I don’t know.  He only crouches down to the ground a little when he spooks, which is hardly ever.  We worked on backing, small & large circles and the gate.  He did all of this pretty well.

Me on the other hand . . .  my legs were getting tired.  My ankles felt like I was trying to break them.  My thighs & seat felt like I had been sitting on a rock for an eternity.  This was only halfway through the lesson.    I knew then that I had been off my horse too long.  By Monday, I’m going to be very sore.  

The worst of the pains for me is my knees.  I have moderate arthritis in both knees.  When I’ve had a layoff from riding, my knees tend to get extremely painful & a bit swollen.  I guess I need to find some type of exercise that will keep me in shape.  It’s really amazing to me just how short of time your muscles and joints forget things.

Maybe, I should just teach my horses how to scuba or water ski when there is rainy weather like this.  At least that way I won’t get so sore from not being able to ride.

This is just a reminder that as I write this in early April, show season is around the corner.  You can’t show your horse in even the smallest of shows without a coggins test, which must have a negative reading.  Coggins papers are good for one year and are accepted within this time line for most instances.  Some of the larger shows may require a coggins test that is no older than six months.  Check the show rules for what is required.   If you haven’t done so, schedule a visit to the vet to get your horse’s vaccinations & coggins.  Now is the time to do it.

There are basic shots you should give your horse.  Different areas may suggest different combinations of vaccinations.  For instance, I give my horses flu/rhino, West Nile/EE/WE/VE/tetanus, and rabies shots.  If you are unsure of what vaccinations your horse needs for your area, ask your vet.

I would also suggest that if you have a new horse, have the vet give the shots.   One reason is that you may not know how the horse acts around the vet.  The vet & the vet tech handle all temperaments of horses every day and are better equipped to handle a rowdy patient.  Also, in case the new horse has an allergic reaction to one of the shots, the vet is right there to handle the emergency.

Keep your horse’s vaccinations & wormings up to date.  I know this is not the “fun stuff” but vaccinations are not the place to skimp on your horse budget.