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[Leslie <cayadopi AT yahoo.com>]

For the first 20 years of my life, I never knew there were "special rules" 
for stallions.  I was shocked when I moved to S. Florida and learned about 
that.  
 
And worse, they hardly let the horses outside for more than 1-2 hours a day 
at a lot of places.  There is a reason to keep them indoors in S. Florida - 
the ground is so wet that they can get hoof rot problems, but all you have to 
do is what for the sun to burn off the moisture before turning them out for 
the day.
 
I met a gal from Central Florida one time, who had the strangest names for 
horses. She was a TB breeder and showed some of them.  One time I asked her 
why she named her horse "Trouser Snake"........ and some of the other oddball 
names she picked.  She told me the ones she didn't want to sell she gave 
oddball names to... and gave "good" names to the ones she wanted to sell.  Of 
course the only odd name I remember is the one mentioned.
 
As a kid I rode them in from the pasture bareback and no halter or anything 
as a kid.  My "job" was to first find them (rolling hills, lots of land) and 
then bring them up in the morning.  I just used to hop on the leader and the 
rest came along.  Also made "bridles" from bailing twine in a pinch.
 
My ex- used to call me the pied piper of animals..... since wherever I went 
all the animals had a habit of following me.  
 
A cart is about the only thing I could use a horse for at this point.  Turns 
out the desert soil here is really soft, and I can shovel and rake in a pinch 
- although time consuming.  The cost of feeding wouldn't warrant the limited 
use otherwise, not under current conditions.
 
 
 


--- On Fri, 1/9/09, Lynda <lurine AT com-pair.net> wrote:

From: Lynda <lurine AT com-pair.net>
Subject: Re: [Homestead] Draft Horse
To: cayadopi AT yahoo.com, homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
Date: Friday, January 9, 2009, 12:04 AM

Oh, I love carts!  Trained almost all of them to carts.  Used to race 
Shetland ponies.  That's a hoot and those little guys can move!  However, 
everyone had to earn their keep.  No prima donnas for us.  Peacock's Cock 
Robin in the show ring, hay hauler at home <g>

Yep, all the horses had to come to a whistle.  We pasture bred all our mares 
but the stallions knew the rules too.  Whistle them up, grab them by the 
forelock to lead them in and do as Mom said!  Either that or I caught a ride 
from them.  Rope around the neck and bareback.  The rule was the rules 
applied to everyone.  None of this special rules for stallions nonsense!

The only one we ever had a problem with was a Thoroughbred gelding off the 
track.  I called him Screwy Louie (named him after the ex-bil, doncha know 
<g>).  He'd hear the bell go off in his head and away he'd go. 
Sold him 
with complete disclosure to a goofy show jumper trainer who just knew she 
could "fix" ol' Screwy Louie.  Not!  Told her that he was fine in
the ring 
but not to take him out to ride.  Guess they found her and the horse about 
10 miles down the rode and he only stopped because he came to a fence he 
couldn't jump!

Lynda
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Leslie" <cayadopi AT yahoo.com>


Can't beat the professionals... what a bunch of nonsense ! 'Tis a scam
on 
those who have no common sense. My biggest "issue" with a lot of
trainers is 
they don't teach their students to "think" for themselves... to
keep the 
income coming in.

My daughters first show, on a "mutt" pony --- beat all the
professionals, at 
age 9. Who trained her? Mom,,, of course. Something she continued to do 
until she got a driver's license and put a whole lot more
"horses" under her 
foot.... Over the years I've had all kinds of horses - the one thing I
never 
did get around to was getting a cart.

I also taught all the horses to load easy, and to come in from the fields 
when I whistled, and put themselves into their own stalls.... There was lots 
of them, and they all had 4 legs,,, and only one of me with my two legs. 
That "trick" was really helpful when massive storms with ground
lightening 
came out of nowhere, or tornados in the area. Just whistled, and they all 
knew what to do and where to go.


There's a guy out here who I see from time to time who uses a mule to pull
a 
small covered wagon to town. Haven't figured out where he lives. He did
show 
up in the DMV one day when I was there and got into a "discussion"
with 
DMV - they wanted him to have license plates on the wagon..... he was 
demanding they find the statute and prove it to him when I left. From the 
gist of what I overheard, it sounded like some cop wrote him a ticket... 
LOL.


--- On Thu, 1/8/09, Lynda <lurine AT com-pair.net> wrote:


All of the horses we showed were rescues.  Got into showing because someone,
silly person, said "you can't beat the professionals" blah, blah,
blah.  And then proceded to tell me how much money I would have to spend and
what trainer I would have to have or judge a, b or c wouldn't place the
horse and how I would have to feed this hay and that grain.  Yeah, right! 
NOT!

I'm always up for a challenge and knowing that the severly abused Appy mare
(she had pitchfork scars and a piece of wire wrapped around a hind leg and
cutting into the tendon when she was brought to our place) I'd gotten on a
board bill had won the first Snaffle Bit Futurity and won extensively in the
hackamore, the kidlets and I decided that Sissy would make a liar out of the 
nay
sayers <g>  We pulled her, her twins and her yearling gelding out of the
field and hit the road.  Well, I did spend 6 weeks getting her to carry a 
bit
and teaching her the finer things in life (not everything was spins and 
sliding
stops <g>). Five kids, five horses (four of them riding her) and at the
end of the year they had qualified for 17 classes at Nationals.

Amazing what some common sense and basic good care can do!

And you could really tell the difference between my methods and everyone 
elses.
 When mine were done at the end of the day, we'd strip the tack off and
throw a halter on them, toss the lead over their shoulders and cut them 
loose.
They'd race for the trailer.  Everyone else was out there fighting with
horses to get them in the trailer.

Gotta love it when you take a real sad sack and turn it into a swan!

Lynda
----- Original Message ----- From: "Leslie"
<cayadopi AT yahoo.com>


100% agree with everything you said.

You'll get a kick out of this story.

I had a lady bring a horse in from one of those big well known show barns. 
He
was a 17'2" TB Gelding, large boned for a TB, and severely underweight
- close to reportable levels. She only brought him because she was leaving 
for 3
months, and wanted my daughter to ride him while she was away. (How? You
couldn't get a saddle on him without hurting him....)

I had known this horse for 6 years and was shocked at his condition. Asked 
what
he was being fed. 12 qts of grain a day and 2 small pads of T&A... Insane.
This was a hyper horse to begin with. Naturally the minute the owner was 
away, I
changed his diet, which included lots of turn-out. Of course he was
"smart" and loved grain, so would refuse to eat the hay. All he got
from me was tough love, and hand feeding of hay until he realized the game
wouldn't work. By the time she returned he was eating mostly hay and less
than 2 qts of grain (much later next to none).

Turned out the owner didn't return for 6 months. One afternoon, she and her
husband banged loudly on the door.. They were angry - demanding to know 
where
their horse was. They couldn't find him in the barn. Ha! He was in the same
assigned stall the whole time when he was inside, and was actually in his 
stall
eating hay. They didn't recognize him (and to me he was still underweight.)
His coat was shiny, and he had gained a lot of weight, and he was calm, 
instead
of his usual pacing all over.

They did not go back to the big show barn, and left him in my care for many
years, as did others who wanted sane, happy horses. I'm convinced people is
the problem with most horses.


Show people are not evil --- but a lot of them are really stupid and cruel -
some very visibly cruel, and others very subtly. 'Tis a long story, but I
worked with "O" Judges for years. One in particular, an older German
Judge, actually teared up while judging and refused to give a score - for a
competitor nearing the international level - for the kind of cruelty that 
most
people can't see. Boy did that cause a lot of behind door arguments between
a couple of "O" judges since 3 scores were required.






--- On Wed, 1/7/09, Lynda <lurine AT com-pair.net> wrote:


Susan, the advise so far has been sort of good.  As with everything else,
something a certain someone needs a continual reminder about, there is no
one size fits all.  The same applies to horses, as it does to those that
raise and show them.

I'm one of those evil folks who showed horses.  Hauled them 35,000 miles a
year.  However, they weren't locked in stalls, fed micro-managed diets or
fussed over.  With a bit of common sense one can haul, show and beat the
pants off the big boys with all the big bucks and did it with horses
straight off a pasture.  Straight off the pasture we won in halter,
including futurities, cutting, reining, hunter hack, saddleseat, pleasure
driving, fine harness, hunters, jumpers, hackamore, pleasure, barrels,
poles, trail.

The number one thing to remember about horses is that they need quality, let
me repeat, QUALITY feed.  You can toss second rate hay to cattle and not
have problems.  Do that with horses and you will end up with problems 9
times out of 10.  Yeah, there is always the guy who gets away with it but
that is the exception, not the rule and you don't want to spend hundreds,
if
not thousands, to find out you aren't the 1 in 10.

Good quality hay doesn't = big bucks.  It equals hay that is clean, no
mold,
no vetch, no foxtails, no star thistle.  Horses rarely need grain.  If you
have an old horse, extreme cold, hard work, growing out a foal, grain will
sometimes be needed.

When and if you decide to get a horse, spend some time with someone who
really knows what they are doing.  And, to some degree, James is correct.
Stay away from the fancy barn where all the folks board their horses.  Those
folks are in business to make money, not in the business to make sure the
right person gets the right horse.  Go spend some time around horses.  I
realise that there is something in the DNA (sorry, James, there really are
differences) of most females that makes them crave owning a horse but horses
aren't for everyone.  We never sold a horse to a newbie until they spent
some time on the ranch.  We frequently found that the temperment of the
person didn't match the termperment of the horse and some folks found they
really didn't want a horse after all.

And contrary to popular belief, horses are very smart but not in the way
most folks think.  Horses will figure out how to get into mischief and how
to manipulate and out smart humans very quickly.  Unfortunately, horses are
smarter than most folks that own them, just not in the most healthy way.
yeah know, kinda like humans <g>

We did lots of rescues and found the problem was generally the owner and a
lack of horse smarts and not the horse.

Oh, and I don't know where you are but just incase, I'll save you a big
vet
bill.  Most people won't warn you about sand.  Sand is one the horses worst

enemies.  If you have sandy soil, do NOT feed your horse on the ground!

Lynda
----- Original Message ----- From: "Susan Trickett"
<gmasue AT inbox.com>


> That's what I thought:-) I have my eye on a place 12 miles out of
town, 7
> acres, fenced pasture and a beautiful old barn. No money so it's only
a
> dream for now. If I am ever in a position to get a horse I will really
> think about the responsibility and ask more questions!

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>From erthnsky AT bellsouth.net  Fri Jan  9 01:06:16 2009
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Hey Sandy, did you feel the little earthquake?
--
"The world is my country, all mankind are my
  brethren, and to do good is my religion."
  Thomas Paine (1737 - 1809)