Our First Horse

A friend invited us to a local horse show this weekend where her kids were competing. We are now fairly certain we want to show our horses. We’re not interested in the super fancy dress-up shows, not that there is anything wrong with that. But this local show was right up our alley. Come as you are, show what you’ve got. 43 classes, a few of which either had no participants or only one participant. Mikki is interested in the Walking Horse and gaited classes for Valentine and I’m interested in trying Moonshine out as a barrel racer. Again, local shows, small purse, light competition. But it sure looked like fun!

I know we have some work to do but Valentine is an ex-show horse to begin with and has quite a striking appearance. Moonshine’s talent seems to be her ability to run like the wind. Our horse friend offered to cart our horses to some shows with them since we don’t have our own trailer. I need a helmet!

Yesterday Mikki and I worked with our very willing horses. We rode both of them some, practiced saddling, mounting and helping them stay focused despite distractions like kids on bicycles and dogs barking. I think that show was just the motivation we needed to get our horses (and us!) into shape.

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As I’ve mentioned before, Moonshine has a wood-chewing habit. She’ll nibble on our fence, especially after a meal or a snack and then she’d latch on and suck in air. Weird. One theory on why she was doing this was that maybe she was bored. Our horses spend several hours a day in a stall in the barn, after all. So we got her some horse toys, which she entirely ignored. We cut down on how much time she was in the barn and nothing changed. Eventually I had to protect her stall door with some stainless steel just to keep her from chewing on it. That worked really well (I’ll post an update about that soon) but she was still chewing on our wood fence. Another reason horses chew wood is because they’re lacking in minerals. Some horses will even eat dirt, though I haven’t ever seen her doing that. But I think we may have found the cause for Moonshine’s bad habit. For about a month now we’ve been feeding our horses Purina Strategy. For about $12 per 50 pound bag, it’s more expensive than the local feed store’s sweet oat blend but we had a coupon from the last Purina Horse Owner’s Workshop and decided to give it a try. Purina doesn’t pay us anything (we’re not connected with them in any way) so this is our honest observation. Since we started Moonshine on Strategy, I haven’t noticed her chewing wood. She’ll still lick it some but I don’t see her chewing or sucking air anymore. Purina claims Strategy provides all the necessary nutrients pleasure horses need and maybe our local feed store’s blend was missing some things. There have been some other benefits but I’ll cover those in another post.

I’ll keep an eye on her but at the moment, it seems we’ve mostly licked (haha!) this bad horse habit. If your horse has a similar habit, I suggest trying some changes to its feed mix to make sure it’s consuming a good blend of minerals.

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I recently read that horse fetlock hair shouldn’t be trimmed. It seems the fetlock hair we think looks untidy actually serves the purpose of channeling rain water away from the horse’s hooves. Think of it as a tassel. I’m told those frilly tassels cowboys wore on coats back in the cowboy days served the same purpose.

I’m noticing a trend towards letting horses go au naturel; skipping all the aesthetic trimming to allow the natural features of our horses to serve the purpose intended by nature. Another example of this is whiskers. Our horses aren’t show horses so I didn’t know this was happening but “horse whisperer” and special events speaker for Purina, Sam Powell, said that some horse owners trim their horses’ whiskers for shows. The trouble is, Sam explains, whiskers serve the purpose of keeping horse faces out of trouble. When a horse gets its face too close to something, the whiskers alert the horse. Think of them as “curb feelers.” Of course, many animals have them, including cats and dogs. Some horse owners trim their ear hair but Mikki pointed out today that all that ear hair probably helps keep the flies out of their ears. In addition to serving as a fly swatter, I’m told horse tails also provide a wind break when it’s cold. Sam said that in cold wind, horses will often turn their backs to the wind and the tail keeps the cool air from blowing into their nether regions and belly.

That’s not to say that you shouldn’t give your horse a trim. Unless someone gives us a good reason not to do it, we plan on trimming some of the beard Valentine is growing. He looks like Abe Lincoln! Well, a horse Abe Lincoln. We’re also planning on trimming the bridle path to make it easier to put on a bridle and more comfortable for the horses. The bridle laying across a clump of hair looks uncomfortable.

So if you see our horses with ear hair, untrimmed fetlocks, long eye lashes, whiskers and hairy legs and armpits, you’ll know why. They’re just going au naturel.

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Here’s a little bit of trivia for you. The Snickers candy bar, first introduced in 1930, was named after the company owner’s family horse.

What a cool name for a horse, don’t you think? Maybe our next horse.

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Well, here we are, one year (and then some) after Valentine came into our lives. I can tell you, he has changed our lives in ways I couldn’t even imagine.

When we first thought about moving to Tennessee and we were looking at properties, we were only looking for a quieter, simpler life. When we saw this place, it just clicked for all of us: me, Bill, Mom and Dad (if you are new to this blog, or just haven’t read all the way back to the beginning - this place is my parents’ retirement home as well as our home. They’re just not here yet). I’m not really sure what everyone else liked about the property, but for me it was the barn. I love that barn. As soon as I saw it, I dreamed of long afternoons spent up there…doing heaven-knows-what because I’d never actually owned a horse. We planned to get horses after we got here, but for me it still seemed kind of like a dream still.

Apparently, for Bill it was a dream that needed fulfilling. Again, if you haven’t read all the way back, Bill surprised me with Valentine on Valentine’s Day 2006 (hence his name). A couple of months later, Bill couldn’t stand his horseless state any more, and Moonshine joined us. Now, a full year of horse ownership later, I can share some of the things we’ve learned.

Some things were not all that surprising. Horses are big; they require care every day; they poop a lot. They eat hay and oats; they neigh; they like carrots and apples. They require a lot of equipment. You can’t just plop them in your barn and forget about them. Their manes and tails are fun to brush (at least for me, but I’m a girl). Oh, and they look really cool in that barn I loved so much.

Now, some surprising things:

• They require a lot more equipment than a newbie could bargain for. Halter, lead rope, and grooming supplies to start. Feed bucket, hay feeder, water bucket and feed storage for the barn (luckily, these were left by the previous owner). Water trough for pasture and preferably a hay feeder for out there too (not left by previous owner). Saddle, cinch, saddle pad, bridle, bit and reins for riding. A supply of first aid items for emergencies. Fly control of various types.
• They require a lot more time than we bargained for, too. We knew we’d have to keep them fed and watered, and keep their stalls clean. Those things alone took more time than we’d guessed, but there were a lot of other things we hadn’t even considered. That list is surprisingly long. The biggest thing is the maintenance of all the horse accoutrements, such as fence maintenance, pasture maintenance, barn cleaning, bucket scrubbing and leather care. The other is the time it takes to keep your horse trained and obedient. You really can’t just keep the horse in the pasture and see him twice a day for food and water. You need to work with him, from little things like making sure he respects your space when you’re around him, to spending time with him on a longe line several times a week. We haven’t been doing that, and consequently our horses are not currently safe for us to ride. Now that the weather’s nice again, we will work on that, but it will be more work since we’ve let it go.
• It’s a really good idea to have a friend nearby who knows all about horses. In fact, I would say that if you’re thinking about getting a horse, make sure you get some “horsey” friends too, if you don’t have them already. You can’t keep bugging your vet and your farrier for stupid little questions. And it’s always better to have a friend amused by your antics rather than a professional or a perfect stranger. Then again…
• Horses can get into more trouble than you could ever guess. I always thought of horses as kind of harmless, grazing creatures that wander around a field, eating grass and ignoring anything that’s not a threat. That’s true, for the most part, but they have an alter ego - and it’s kind of the equine equivalent of Curious George. Ours, at least, cannot resist checking out anything new or remotely interesting: from sticking their noses into piles of debris (hello! We have poisonous snakes here!) to trying to taste my new boots, to risking green noses by “helping” us paint our gate. In fact, whenever we plan a project in the pasture, we also plan to leave Nosy and Nosyette in the barn.

But the biggest surprise, for me at least, is how much I enjoy having a horse. We haven’t ridden them in months; we spend hundreds of dollars a year paying for their upkeep; we can’t travel anywhere without making elaborate plans for their care in our absence; and we shovel their poo every day - rain or shine, hot or cold, sick or well. It doesn’t sound like a very good bargain, when you look at it that way. But I just love watching them gallop across the pasture. I love petting their velvety coats. I love their horsey smell. I love the sounds they make, from Moonshine’s neigh of frustration when she’s in the barn and Valentine’s out, to the soft little nickers they use to greet me. I love the way Valentine takes a big old drink of water and holds it in his mouth until I walk too close, then drops it all over me.

Yep, they’re a lot of work. They’re the most expensive “pets” I’ve ever owned. But they are also one of the most wonderful gifts God gave us, and we are so grateful to have them. Love ya, Valentine!

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The other day I came across an article from the Ladies Home Journal, dated sometime in the year 1900. It was an article of predictions about what might happen in the next 100 years. An interesting read, some of the predictions were right on, like telephones being ubiquitous and color photographs being sent all around the world quickly. Others were WAY off, such as the ability to have stores send you things via pneumatic tube right into your home. But to me one of the more interesting predictions was that horses would become extinct. John Elfreth Watkins, Jr., the author of “What may happen in the next hundred years” expected that the invention of the automobile would eventually lead to everyone owning and using them for transportation. He was right about that. But he also guessed that the automobile would “have driven out the horse”. Furthermore, he said there would be “no mosquitoes nor flies” (if only). “The extermination of the horse and its stable will reduce the house-fly,” Watkins said.

As much as I’d love to see the mosquito and house-fly disappear from the Earth, I’m glad horses weren’t “exterminated” or “driven out”, as he puts it. I suppose horses in 1900 were seen mostly as beasts of burden; probably the most common animal used for transportation and work at the time. If you had a horse, it was for work of some kind, compared with today when horses are mostly used for recreation in this country. People in 1900 also didn’t have the common comfort appliances we take for granted today, such as air conditioning. I can imagine people looking forward to horses being replaced with machines, if only to reduce the pestilence of flies that no doubt annoyed every homeowner when the weather was warm and the windows were open.

Anyway, I thought it was an interesting read for contemporary horse owners. My how things have changed!

There is some more text about horses in there, too. If you’d like to read the article yourself, click the title below. It’s about 450KB:

What May Happen in the Next Hundred Years Ladies Home Journal article (PDF)

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