Sensitivity Training [Yours]

Farewell Frostbite, Hello Flashflood

Well, the subzero temps seem to be over with but I couldn't resist one last bit of photographic evidence. Rickey had to break up the ice in the Moo Crew's water trough; would you believe it was almost 2" thick? Woo! I'm pretty sure most of the 48 contiguous have experienced a whacked out winter. How about it? What was your weirdest winter day this year? I'd have to say that ours was the morning I walked out to find the ropes on the Girls' doors sticking out in frozen curls. It had rained a bit, then the temperature plunged. Is that bizarre or what?

Our week began with rain-rain-rain and:

While all of the horses got pretty darn dirty, I felt that Champ deserved some kind of recognition for going beyond the call of dirt duty.  What I can't quite figure out, though, is how he managed to keep his tail completely clean...go figure (??)

  

Mid week, Rina showed up for supper with a rather impressive ding on her hip...I have absolutely no idea what happened, although I can speculate that she may have slid in the mud while running and clipped a tree. As leader and the unequivocal Queen of Mean, I am sure that none of her pasture mates would dare to nip at her hip :o)

I kept it small in case any of you are squeamish, but it was a good two inches in diameter. I have to say that I was very proud of Rina for her cooperative behavior in letting me treat it; not only did she turn herself around and line her injury up right in front of me for the medicine, she stood stock still the whole time in an open area and without a halter - what a good girl! I'll do a shameless plug here for Skin Renovator for an awesome product. At $15.00 a tube it's expensive, but it is the best there is for healing wounds quickly. I even found a handy dandy way to recycle the empty container and solve the problem of the missing cap on our gate at the same time (ta-da! :o)

The week came to a melodramatic conclusion with one of Shadow's Blankie Moments...

If you would like to know more about Shadow's dramatic episodes, go to my Squidoo lens on Colic and scroll down to "Cranial Colic". A bit of love and some time with Blankie made for a miraculous recovery (he's such a silly boy!) Oh, and I forgot to squat while taking his picture so Shadow looks strangely disproportionate (oops :oP

How about your animals? Do they have a blankie or special toy that makes it all better? I'd love to hear about it, and so would Shadow. He's rather proud of his alliterated title of "Epic Farms' Eccentric Equine", (but he is secretly afraid of being referred to as "Whatta Weirdo" by certain hard-hearted bipeds). Do tell us please!

It is a constant source of amazement to me how much horses can be like people. Rina is what you would call "tender headed" (if she were a person); she is quick to complain if I pull too hard on a tangle in her mane by swinging her head around and nudging me lightly (in much the same way a child would say, "Hey, not so rough!"). Taya on the other hand, could care less if I hit a tangle; she's perfectly content to stand there and let me tug my way carefully through it. So what's my point? The point is, that just because one horse will tolerate something it isn't a license to assume that all horses will (this was somewhere around Lesson #197 for me; it was an early one :o) Of course I also remember being taught that horses had no nerve endings in their manes and therefore could not feel anything at all when it was brushed or thinned which is not necessarily so (obviously).

Still wondering why you should care? The idea is to know your horse; this issue can save you and your horse time and trouble when it's important. It can also go a long way in preventing unnecessary frustration and possibly unfair punishment. Allow me to illustrate (using last week's Note to Self); anyone who keeps horses naturally knows they get periodic nicks, scratches and dents. Sometimes they are easily seen and sometimes they are not. Picking out Rina's feet one morning (our horses are all barefoot), I was almost finished; last foot. I had barely begun to bend down when Rina suddenly shifted, putting her right front foot out of reach. Allowing for the possibility that she was not standing balanced enough to lift it (which happens sometimes), I moved forward to her shoulder and touched it again (our cue to pick it up). Rina turned slightly away, and brought her head around effectively blocking me. Hmmmm. I dropped the hoof pick in the bucket and returned to Rina palms up to show her I didn't have it. I squatted down to check her leg - and she stood quietly while I did so - but could find nothing wrong. Scratching my head, and thinking maybe she had a bruise on her foot, I cued her to pick it up (still without the hoofpick). Again she moved her foot out of reach and swung her head down, looking slightly miffed that I wasn't acting too bright here. Finally, with soothing words and palms out she agreed to stand still long enough for me squat down and inspect her foot; nose to hoof. I finally found a teeny tiny itty bitty ding on the surface of her foot; so small I could barely see it even with my nose almost touching her foot. You've got to be kidding me; is that it?? That dinky little dent? Surely not! Carefully, watching Rina's expression, I lightly pressed the ding. She responded by snatching her foot sharply backwards and giving me a very hurt look (and wasn't I immediately swamped with guilt?) Oh, Rina I'm SO sorry! It has been a week now, and she finally will let me brush off the surface of that hoof but that's all. Had I not known, however, that Rina was on the sensitive side I might have mistaken her ouch for difficult behavior and wouldn't that have been awful? It can set your training back (and then some).

Now, let's compare this to Taya's ding (I have no idea what the two of them got into, but they had almost identical dings on opposite front feet one morning after the other). Taya's dent was much more easily seen; in part because it was on a white hoof but also because it was much bigger than Rina's. Taya made it clear that her foot was rather sore, but she was willing to compromise; as long as I held her foot carefully by the fetlock, she had no objection to me picking it out. Of course this too seems to be eerily similar to people; some are up and about their business shortly after an injury or surgical procedure and others take more time to recuperate. Isn't that interesting?

For information on why barefoot is better, read this article:

http://www.equisearch.com/horses_care/health/hoof_care/barefoot_112507/