Perfect Landing

This past weekend Evan and I made the 8 hour trip east to move myself, some of our things, and our horses to my new (and Evan's old) home in Pennsylvania. It was a long drive for us, and even longer for the horses, but we all eventually made it safe and sound and had an absolutely "perfect landing" when the horses stepped off the trailer in their new Oxford, PA home for the first time. Rydel was a little stiff (as to be expected) but back nicely off the trailer and just stood and waited for me to give her the next cue. I slowly walked her into her outdoor dry lot which had been set up for the night with hay, water, and fresh straw bedding in their run-in. I gave her a good once over and hit some of her acupressure points to help ease her pain. After Lilah got off the trailer and we squared up with JD Hughes, our amazing transport driver, our barn owner said something that I wouldn't have expected. She said... "Never have I ever seen two horses step off the trailer and act so calm and comfortable here." With a smile, I looked at Evan and knew he was thinking the same exact thing, It's all thanks to Parelli! Our horses are adaptable, they act like partners, and they look to us as their leaders to tell them whether they should be nervous in their new environment. Evan and I were well prepared for the moment they would step off the trailer and in being centered ourselves, we allowed our horses to be centered as well.

We allowed our horses to settle in overnight, and I was amazed to find two perfect partners waiting for us the next morning right at the gate ready to greet us! We took the opportunity to spend some undemanding time before letting them out in their pasture for the first time. They both walked about 5 feet before stopping to graze, and meeting their over the fence neighbor was a non event. Deciding they were content, we left for about an hour to pick up supplies at a local feed and tack store. One we returned, as we walked through their dry lot and over to the gate that leads to their pasture, we saw four ears perk up over the hill. Rydel had been grazing next to Lilah who decided life is much easier when you can graze from the ground!

We then allowed our horses to catch us and escorted them into the barn for the first time. Again our barn owner was amazed to see them walk so calmly around the unfamiliar territory of the farm. As we walked, I kept checking to see how connected Rydel was to me by stopping and seeing how much it took to get her to stop with me. Once inside, Rydel confidently put her nose on the stall doors, horse blankets, and even the clock! She backed confidently into the wash rack before getting to explore the magnificent indoor arena.

Having the large indoor to ourselves, Evan and I decided to let the horses off their leads to play at liberty, and we had such a great time! Both Rydel and Lilah stuck to us at the walk and trot all around the arena as we explored the mirrors, jumps, and mounting block. Even as the barn owner opened the large doors to the indoor exposing us to the open barn leading to the outside, Rydel's attention to me never faltered and she stayed with me the entire time completely at liberty!

I'm so happy to have such wonderful horses! And I'm convinced that our prior and proper preparation with Parelli has allowed this transition to a new state to be a purely positive experience!

Equine Predatory Instinct?

A few weeks ago, Evan and I were watching Liberty and Horse Behavior and Pat mentioned something about how some horses have a predatory instinct of sorts. A lot of times we see Stallions with this instinct where they will chase down a threat to their band and confront it if necessary. Perhaps predatory is not the right term to use here, as we know horses are prey animals and would never actually seek to kill as a predator would. However, I have seen horses get pretty aggressive with "predators" (dogs and cats). In the first instance, we had brought my dog to the barn with us to have some fun running around in the fields. Being curious, my dog playfully approached a young gelding, the two sniffed each other and then the colt immediately began chasing my dog. At first it looked playful, but I soon realized this horse was driving my dog using the "snaking" head position that Stallions use to run down a mare. The horse was barreling down on my dog full speed with his head down and teeth bared. Luckily my dog was able to duck under the fence after a very close call, and I still wonder to this day what would have happened. Would the young horse have trampled my dog? Would he have bit him? Killed him? We have also recently heard a story about a horse would would pick up cats by their tail and violently shake them. I'm unsure what it is that drives horses to be confrontational and engage the "fight" side of their instincts rather than the "flight" side.

A few weeks ago, Evan and I were playing with our horses and discovered that our 2 year old Curly Horse, Lilah loves to track down and ultimately stomp on things. We first noticed the behavior when our new barn cat entered the arena. Lilah, then at Liberty, was immediately drawn to the cat following it intently at the walk and trot. The cat, obviously intimidated, didn't put up with it for long before bolting out, but we were intrigued. Next, Evan grabbed a a whip with a long string used by the normals at our barn to longe their horses. What we saw next, amazed us! Evan would drag the string along the ground, much like you would to bait a cat into playing with a ball of yarn, and Lilah would stalk it and run after it until she was able to attack it with her hooves. I say attack, because what we saw was not play, it was more than that. She was literally violent with the end of the string, stomping it out as if she was trying to stomp the life out of it. We tried to capture the nature of this on video, but after a few tries, we never did see the level of violence as we saw the first time. What you see in the video is a fair second, and demonstrates this unusual tracking behavior.

I do question whether or not this behavior stems from a high play drive (more left brain behavior) or if it stems from the need to eliminate a threat in order to seek out safety (more right brain behavior). Certainly something to think about...

Edit: I re-watched the segment in Liberty and Horse behavior where Pat briefly discusses this behavior, he calls it an extreme "herding" instinct. He states that these horses will actually kill sheep and other small animals, but are also very good at being cow horses as Janine mentions in the comments below. He does not go into much detail beyond that, but I do believe it is a behavior that we can encourage the positive attributes and discourage the negative ones. -Melissa

Let's Talk Saddles

Saddle fit is such a complex issue, complete with both myths as well as facts and everything in between. I highly encourage every rider to research for themselves and attempt to find the truth, but be warned, once you start, it is a long and treacherous journey!

About a year ago, I got my Duett saddle and decided that my saddle search was essentially over and that I had found exactly what I wanted. Of course, at the time the Duett was what I wanted: a saddle wide enough that I could shim under it and it would allow my horse's muscles to build up underneath. After all, this is the general concept to follow for saddle fit that Parelli teaches and it is why their saddles are so darn wide. And it does make sense, you don't want to fit a saddle to a horse that is not muscled properly to carry a rider. Well after about a year of using my Duett with both the Theraflex pad and the Equipedic pad, I am still seeing soreness in my horse's back, just forward of the lumbo-sacral junction. Along with this, my horse remains to be girthy and hate being saddled despite trying everything imaginable to fix it! (As a side note, I am putting my horse on an acid reducer, per the vet's recommendation to rule out the possibility of ulcers.) 

So where does this leave me? Basically, I felt the need to start over with what I know about saddles and saddle fit and go on a exploratory journey of my own which requires lots and lots of learning. I began researching saddle fit, biomechanics of the horse, differences between treed, treeless, and flex-tree saddles, and finally what models would be best all things considered. I must say, I have received a lot of information but don't have a very good way of sorting it all out. Hence, I'm turning to you, the blogging community of the world, for help. 

First, here is a theory article article about the biomechanics of the horse and how they relate to saddle fit. I would say, I agree with most of the information presented in this article. In fact, and embarrassingly, many of the illustrations of horses subjected to poor saddle fit, look a lot like my horse. :( I don't think I'm doing everything wrong. I do have a wider saddle and place it so that it is behind the scapula, but the panels do not sit flat on her back which I believe could be contributing to her pain. 

As such, here are some of the models I am looking at:

1) The Parelli Cruiser - built on a flex tree and designed with the lowest part of the saddle in the back to help put you on your balance point. I am interested in this saddle because of my interest in trail riding, but it is overwhelmingly expensive, way heavier than my english all purpose saddle, and I am unsure how my horse would react to something built more like a western saddle. 

2) The Freeform Saddle- Technically a treeless saddle but is built with special injection molded foam as well as a flexible gullet that helps provide support. Not nearly as expensive as Parelli and has gotten rave reviews, but still has the taboo of being treeless. 

3) Balance Saddles- What the Parelli's used to use and promote. I believe they are built with a flexible tree but I cant be sure as their website is difficult to navigate. I believe the theory provided on their website is good but I'm still pretty in the dark about these saddles. 

Basically, I want your feedback, advise, personal anecdotes, recommendations, ANYTHING that will help lead me in the right direction. In other words, let's talk saddles!