My pocket smells like carrots
Posted by Bill on Jan 06 2007 at 11:18 pm | Tagged as: Horse Lifestyle
Yes those are carrots and I am happy to see you. When Mikki and I let our horses out of their stalls each morning, we use a few carrots to coax them out of the barn and into the pasture. I don’t know if we’re helping them develop a bad habit but I often don’t have the time or patience to wait 10 minutes while they inhale leftover hay bits from the barn floor before moseying on out to pasture for the day. Our horses just don’t seem to care if we’re in a hurry or not. But they do care about carrots. So our daily routine has me shoving a pair of carrots in my back pocket and heading for the fence and Mikki heading for the barn where she opens up the gate and horse stalls while I shout tempting statements about how yummy these carrots are and how I’m gonna start eating them myself if the horses don’t come to the fence soon (I’m usually bluffing). This works every time, of course. Carrots disposed of, I sneak a kiss onto Moonshine’s long face while she’s still chewing and head off to do whatever I do each day. And I am not surprised when animals I sometimes encounter follow me and show a keen interest in my rear. This would embarrass some but I know they’re just looking for carrots.
By the way, horses seems to have good memory. One a few occasions when I’ve had to let them out on my own, they both know exactly where those carrots are sitting. I’ll turn around to open a gate or something and a half second later feel a carrot or two leaving my back pocket. They really like carrots.
A little side note - we were recently watching Iron Chef on Food Network and the “secret ingredient” was citrus. One of the citrus fruits was something called “Buddha fingers”, a strange little food that actually looked like a small hand with fingers. And you can eat the whole thing. This is one fruit we will never introduce to our horses. Finger-shaped carrots are bad enough but goodies shaped like an entire hand would be going too far.
LOL! Finger-shaped carrots
My horses love carrots too and I often use them for coaxing. Like you said they don’t undersand the time limit thing. Something I have taught my horses to do is to come with a kiss and a hand movements that’s says “lookie, I got treats”. I started by having treats in my hands while making the motion and eventually I stopped having treats and they still would come. So now I usually don’t have treats but they will come when I kiss and make the hand movement. I do have to make sure every once in a while I have the treats other wise they will catch on. It might be a good way to get them to come without treats. Not that coaxing with treats is bad but if there is a day you forgot the carrots and don’t want to go back to the house to get them it may come in handy.
I stumbled across your site this weekend while searching for basic lists for first-time horse owners. I have enjoyed reading about your experiences with Valentine and Moonshine! As a soon-to-be first-time horse owner I am excited but lost as can be! I will be leasing a stall at a neighbor’s barn, and have been told all I need is my own muck bucket, garbage can, and sifting tool. My stall leasing includes only the stall and the fan and light mounted above it. Now I have enough sense to know that if I bring my precious horse to a stall with only those things, he is not going to be happy or healthy. So, muck bucket and garabge can aside, what other items might help me find my horse thrilled to be my horse? I would hate to find a “dear John letter” waiting for me in an empty stall. . .
P.S. Your maintenance lists are a great help! I printed them and placed them in my “Ways to make my horse happy” notebook.
Mona, that’s a great idea to train your horses to come to a hand movement. Just be careful with those fingers, because they’ll sometimes just assume there’s a treat there and take a taste whether there’s food or not.
Amy, congratulations on your new adventure! We wish you the best of luck, and appreciate your confidence in our lists. Our first advice to you would be to find a local veterinarian in case, heaven forbid, there’s an emergency and you need one right away. It’s better to have a relationship established rather than thumbing through the yellow pages at 1:00 a.m.
One simple thing we’ve found to keep our horses happy, help establish a bond and familiarize yourself with your horse’s normal anatomy and condition is regular grooming. Get yourself a rubber curry brush (nubby-looking thing - you rub in circles to loosen the dirt); a “dandy” brush (just a big, handle-less brush, for whisking away remaining dirt); a comb and a regular hair brush for mane and tail; and a hoof pick. (You can get a lot more than that, of course, but those items are a good start. )Spend a few minutes every day taking care of the outside of the horse and you’ll be more likely to know if something’s going wrong inside. Besides, most horses just love a good brushing, and he’ll get to know your touch and voice.
Good luck, and keep us posted!
Mikki,
Just to clear up the possible picture I may have created of getting my fingers eaten up for mistaken treat identity, the gesturing is usually from a distance and when they get close I flaten my fingers and either rub their noses or give them a treat. I am never at risk for finger amputation
Amy,
I agree with Mikki. Spending time with your horse would probably be the best thing for you and your horse. I believe ground work (working with your horse from the ground) is the best way to bond with your horse. I just wrote and article called “Walk Your Horse Like a Dog”, that deals with the importance of spending time with your horse. There are toys you can by your horse but many horses don’t even bother with them so it might just be a waste of money. If your horse can get out of the stall regularly with other horses that would be the best entertainment.
It wasn’t clear in your post if you have a horse already. My advice to new horse owners is to get either a nice old safe horse or a very welled trained even tempered younger horse. Just thought I would mention that incase you are still looking. If you get a horse that doesn’t fit either of those descriptions then you really need to get or continue to get a lot of training yourself. Training with your horse and training with other safe school horses. That’s my two cents. Good luck!
Thank you for your insight, MikKi and Mona! I have not brought my horse to his new home yet. I have known his owners for more than 15 years now and have had the pleasure of riding him many times over the past few years. My horse was actually the victim of my first horseback ride a few years ago; it was love at first ride! He is an eight year old gelding quarterhorse. He seems rather docile most of the time, but I have only been with him for a few hours each visit (maybe 10 visits). I am trying to be sure I am as prepared as possible before bringing him into my care. I am a bit worried I am taking on more than I can handle, but it seems to be a “now or never” type of situation. I am taking your advice and calling a veterinarian today to set up our first appointment. Also, I took riding lessons for about a year, but have not had a lesson in a year-and-a-half. I think I will call for more training as I may have forgotten a lot. Thank you for your advice and encouraging words! - Amy
P.S. I am going to purchase the shavings for his stall today and I am ridiculously excited!