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(I know I haven't been posting much lately, so here's a quick post while I start working on some new stuff...)
I’ve been experimenting with a good old-fashioned natural household cleaner/disinfectant that works better, is cheaper and is safe even if you leave some behind in the buckets.
It’s vinegar. Plain old distilled white vinegar that I buy in the giant size at the supermarket. I figured that, since it works so well for bathrooms and kitchens, is recommended for cleaning fruits and veggies, and can actually be ingested on purpose, this might be the way to go.
I normally mix up individual feeds for the horses in 8 qt pails in the feed room and then dump those into the feed buckets in their stalls. After a few days, these can get pretty nasty with feed residue, supplements and, in particular oil (I feed a liquid vitamin E supplement as well as pure wheat germ oil for some of the horses.) Even when it was warm out and I was rinsing them daily, I could never seem to get the gunge out of them. So, once a week I’d get out the antibacterial dish soap and scrub them.
They still never got very clean, it took forever to rinse and I worried about leaving soap residue that might get mixed with feed. Plus, the stuff is expensive!
So a few days ago I tried the vinegar. Just a splash in the bottom of each bucket (I didn’t measure, but probably 1/4 to 1/2 cup) and then I filled each to the top with water and let them stand a few minutes. Within seconds I could already see the gross stuff lifting away from the sides of the buckets and with a quick swish of the bucket brush, they were clean. I dumped them, rinsed them quick and they’re good as new. And the vinegar not only cuts through all kinds of residue to get surfaces clean, it also disinfects and inhibits bacteria and mold growth safely.
We’ve also got hard water at the farm and nothing seems to get rid of the stains in the automatic waterer bowls. But since vinegar is recommended for cleaning coffee makers and sinks, etc. with mineral build-up, I thought I’d give this a try too. I’m happy to say it works great! In this case, I used the vinegar undiluted in a spray bottle and let it sit for a few minutes before wiping out and rinsing. Much easier than getting out the steel wool and working up a sweat! If you need extra help, adding salt and/or baking soda is usually all you need.
The same also works on the slimy algae that builds up in troughs over time. Usually people recommend using chlorine bleach not only to scrub the troughs, but actually recommend deliberately dumping some into the drinking water to keep it clean. I can’t help it, but this just sounds like a bad idea to me. We’ve got automatic waterers in the paddocks as well, so I haven’t tried it, but I’m guessing a little vinegar in the water will help slow the growth of slimy stuff and not be as offensive (or toxic) to the horses. I have found that horses love the smell and even the taste of cider vinegar, so if you are worried about the horses not drinking with white vinegar, cider vinegar works the same and might be a good choice. If anyone has tried this, let me know how it works and how much you need....
Billie at Camera-Obscura has written a great primer on the practice of rollkur, the controversy, and what you as an individual can do about it. I can't recommend it enough!
This disgusting practice has gone on too long. Sadly, many feel unqualified to question it and most of us have felt powerless to stop it, but we are not alone; there is now a growing outrage at the practice and a community of concerned horsemen denouncing this horror and offering humane, classical alternatives. Together we can make out voices count.
O'Grady is the latest addition to our little herd here at Glenshee!
I received and e-mail from a friend who recently hooked us up with our arabian rescues saying that there was a very nice ex-showjumper looking for a nice home as a dressage horse.
Well, I've never been one to pass up the chance to give a nice horse a good home, so I agreed to go look at him...
And it was love at first sight!
Grady, a 18hh, 14-15(ish) yr old grey sport horse gelding, was bred in Ireland and worked there for a while as an eventer. He was then imported to Florida where he was intended to be a showjumper, but apparently he developed an intense dislike for jumping while there. He's a very willing, enthusiastic horse, but something about jumping just didn't sit well with him. His last owner bought him for a jumper and had him shipped up to NYS without knowing this history and, though she did her best with him and took very good care of him, it seems his mind has been made up and he doesn't ever want to jump again. The details are foggy, but I am told he panics at the sight of a jump and also cannot be ridden with a whip... so, putting 2 + 2 together, I'm guessing there were some traumatic experiences along the way and jumping just isn't his thing anymore.... I've heard this story before; so many horses are ruined by bad training and/or management and eventually lose their confidence for jumping.
But this is fine with me because he's also trained to 2nd level in dressage and is very happy and willing to hack out and do pretty much anything that doesn't involve jumping. And I'm happy to take it slow with him. His last owner loved him but realized it would be unfair to expect to make him a jumper after whatever he had been through; but she was not interested in doing dressage and so did the best thing she could for him - she found him a home where someone would love him just as he is! Too few people in the horse world would have made that kind of decision in the best interests of the horse, and Grady was very lucky to have such a considerate, caring owner.
He does come with some minor issues. For one, he has terrible feet. His hooves are weak, they crack and bruise easily and he has white line disease. But this, I am confident, we can help with nutrition and proactive hoof care. And we have a great farrier, so I'm actually excited to see what we can do to help improve his feet. I also wonder whether his jumping issues may have stemmed from being constantly footsore when landing over fences....
Like so many big horses, he also has shivers, though it seems it only affects him when he's nervous. He also has what appears to be some muscle wasting and weakness, which makes me suspect something like mild PSSM/EPSM, a condition that often goes along with shivers in big horses, or possibly mild EMND, so I think, again, with the right feed/supplement program and a nice, relaxed environment, we will be able to help that as well.
And, of course, he has been more or less retired for the last year and a half at least, so he's not very fit. But I'm actually thankful for that, as I now have a chance to bring him up slowly and develop him correctly. To ride he has the feeling of a horse who is used to being forced into an artificial frame and held together by the rider, which is very typical of both eventers and jumpers. He's not a strong horse in the bridle, but he has a habit of bracing, and is used to being ridden in a broken pelham or kimberwicke, more to attempt to contain his large frame than to finesse his mouth and poll for proper flexion. So we have out work cut out for us. At the moment I'm just riding him in a hollow mouth eggbutt on a long rein and asking for a gentle lateral flexion. I know the rest will fall into place over time with a little patience. And for his part, Grady is being a perfect gentleman to ride, even though he probably has no idea what I'm trying to do!
As for his personality, well, he's incredibly sweet and a big goof :-) He's got big squishy lips and long ears and he loves attention! He also is the sort of character who likes to sneak a bite of hay out of the feed cart while you're not looking.... And when you're riding him, if you stand talking to someone for too long he'll turn around to look at you as if to say, "Um, this is boring... can we get back to work?"
He's also sort of passive in the paddock and all doesn't seem to know what to do with our gregarious herd! Donnie and Sami in particular love to play with him and Dusty, our palomino mare, is IN LOVE with him! So he's got quite the fan club here to make him feel welcome and we know he'll fit in just fine around here.
Anyway, I just thought I'd introduce our new guy because I'll probably be posting more in the future as our training (hopefully) progresses ;-)
enlightened horsemanship through touch has posted another great discussion on dominance-oriented training. while reading the post i recalled several horses i have met over the years who were trained this way and rebelled. it didn’t work for them, and this post has effectively put into words just why this approach didn’t work. it also got me thinking about what did work, and a possible explanation of why it worked when the standard approach didn’t. in a nutshell, i think it comes down to this:
"these dominant-submissive relationships are constantly renegotiated in the wild. they are not static. jostling for rank never ends.. in contrast, a calm, secure state of loving cooperation can be maintained indefinitely, so long as the human does nothing to destroy it."
i have seen the effects of this first hand. this approach leaves the horse only two routes forward; the first is as above, to continue jostling for rank, and the other is to create such an atmosphere of perpetual terror that the horse gives up trying (i.e., the literal meaning of breaking.)
few of us have subscribed to the latter, though many trainers, often unwittingly, have opted for the former. but there is another way that removes the question of rank almost entirely from the equation. it's nice to know there is scientific thinking to back the same conclusion it seems we all arrived at on our own in one way or another.
this post, and particularly the bit about dominance hierarchies being about resources (i.e., food, etc.) made me think of an odd comment someone once made to me about my barn. she remarked how none of my horses threatened me for food and were perfectly relaxed while being fed. i had never thought about it, but when i did, i realized they never 'demand' their feed or treats (though they are terrible beggars ;-) nor do they retreat when i go to feed them; they neither pin their ears nor run to the back of the stall when i approach them while eating, and i can work around them, groom them, walk behind them, etc. as they eat, in their stalls or out in the field, without any fear for my safety.
that this seemed odd to other horse people seemed odd to me. but i recall barns where this was not the case, and i recall one horse in particular that was considered a real menace, especially where his stall and food were concerned.
this horse was an 18hh black gelding who had a reputation for being 'dangerous' because he had killed a groom. i later learned that it had been an accident - when the horse was young he was being loaded on a trailer, he turned his big head to look at something in the distance, knocked the groom off balance, who then fell off the ramp and hit his head on the pavement. it was an unfortunate accident, but since that day the horse was treated as a monster, and so a monster he became.
attempts to deal with him were a mix of aggressive dominance and fear. as a consequence, the horse learned to keep his abusers at a distance with threatening looks, bites, kicks and other negative behavior. and in turn his handlers escalated their attempts at dominance through fear to control him.
when i began working at this barn, i was given all kinds of warnings about this horse and told not to go into his stall with him inside, not to take him from the stall without a stud chain and a whip in hand, and to wave my arms or chase him to the back of his stall with a whip in order to put his feed in his bucket or i’d be mauled.
needless to say, i wasn't about to do any of that. i was determined to see if i could work with him fairly. so i started by simply standing in front of his stall, just out of his reach, and not doing anything. he would threaten and lunge at me, but i didn't react. i just stood there quietly, non-threateningly. when he got tired of threatening me without getting a reaction and went back inside, i'd walk away. soon he gave up the threats and became curious. his ears would come forward. then he'd stretch his nose toward me. again, i just let him.
next came feedings, and i'd do the same. whenever his ears came forward, i'd walk up and put in his grain. he never once threatened or tried to lunge at me. after a just two days of little things like this, he started to let me stroke his face and neck, ate treats gently out of my hand, and would come to the front of his stall with his ears up when he saw me. i could lead him with just a halter and lead snapped to the bottom ring, and, much to the horror of everyone around, i could go into his stall with him loose inside to groom him, muck out, etc, without trouble.
people thought it was magic. it wasn't. i'm no ‘horse whisperer’ or some kind of natural horsemanship guru, and i don't have some scientific-sounding method that requires a manual, videos, props and clinics. i just approached the horse with compassion and treated him with respect. it hardly makes me an expert. but it seemed to work for us.
i met another horse just like him in scotland. this horse was kept in an isolation stall with warning signs plastered all over the front of it, and all the same rules applied when working around him – he was constantly tied, smacked, chained or threatened and no one trusted him enough to venture near his stall unless they had to. and again the same approach worked with him where others had failed. i remember being in his stall mucking out while he was loose and happily eating his hay when one of the staff ran and got the manager and asked right in front of me, ‘is she ok to be in there?’ the manager just shrugged and walked away. i wasn’t their favorite employee, probably because i successfully challenged so many of their theories and practices...
i was happy to work with these horses because they deserved to be cared for properly even if no one else thought they were worth the trouble. i had hoped the horses would come around and other people would see they were not the monsters they previously thought. the problem was, they only behaved well with me. these horses were still a danger to everyone else, because they hadn't modified their own behavior around the horses. but the horses certainly seemed to know the difference and treated the humans around them each accordingly.
after reading this post, i’m wondering if the issue was that these horses found themselves in a constant state of competition for rank with these aggressive handlers. maybe they thought by bullying humans and making them submissive, they would win and the abuse would stop. or maybe they'd simply had enough rough treatment and were trying to protect themselves by staking out a personal domain (stall/paddock) and defending their resources (food.) either way, it was clear that they responded to the alternative approach, which was simply to not make it about who's boss, not give them a reason to fear or compete with me, and reward them with kindness any time they gave up threatening. and it turned out they could both be very sweet and kind horses when given half a chance.
my own horses feel no such competition because they've lived long enough in an environment without dominance and aggression that they trust me (most of the time - they're still pretty suspicious when i have a syringe in my hand ;-) not a single one of my horses - including rescues, abuse cases and 'un-trainable' beasts has ever tried to bite, kick or otherwise dominate me (unless you count trying to grab the occasional mouthful of grass while being led or searching my pockets for treats - which, contrary to the average nh guru, i consider pretty innocent.) sure they compete with each other and have their own hierarchy in the herd; our “alpha” horse, mellon, has been dominant in every herd he’s been a member of since he was 4 years old, including with stallions. he is the most aggressive and unrelenting horse i have ever seen, and the rest of the herd lives in a state of respectful wariness of him (though, interestingly, after he disciplines a herd member he also makes a point of grooming all the herd members in turn, i think as a way to bond with them and make up after he has had to be tough.)
the remarkable thing is that he is completely gentle, sweet and trusting with his humans. when we had water troughs, i always knew when one was getting low because mellon would stand guard over it all day and not let anyone else drink until it was replenished, so his instinct for defending resources is perfectly intact, and yet his ears are up when i come in with his grain, and i can go into his stall while he happily munches and treat a wound or pick a foot without him even raising an eyebrow. he definitely demands a certain respect, but he has never once challenged me (our early riding was a different story because he had a history of abuse and learned to be defensive about anyone sitting on his back, but that’s another story...) and is one of the easier horses to work around. his manners are impeccable and my 4 year old niece pets him and feeds him carrots, which he takes ever-so-gently from her hand.
according to dominance theory, he should be the most difficult horse to handle and train, and i have no doubt that he could easily become the most violent and dangerous horse if mishandled. yet i trust him implicitly, and i know he trusts me. how can that be?
