Lesson with Cici

Well, it has been a very busy summer for me. I haven't had nearly as much horsey time as I had planned. And here we are, the end of September. And although the last few weeks we've had pretty much the best weather of the whole summer, it seems that the autumn is creeping up on us faster that we are ready for. Bright orange pumpkins decorate the fields of Half Moon Bay once again, and the excitement of Halloween is in the air.

Virpi and I had the most exciting weekend since the BASP playday we attended in July. Cici Bower, a licensed one star Parelli professional, came over to give us each a two hour private lesson. It was amazing!!

We often feel so disconnected from the natural horse world being stuck in an environment surrounded with the "normality" of the traditional horse handling methods.

Working with Cici was incredibly eye opening and empowering. She has such a great energy. Her knowledge and experience is so prodigious I felt as if I was getting a lesson from a three star instructor instead. It was amazing how fast and accurately she evaluated both of our horses, Madeira and Mei Li, and knew exactly without thinking, as if it was an embedded insight in her, what to do in each spontaneously arising situation. I was thoroughly impressed. She brought with her a vibrant, vivid atmosphere we were left basking in for the rest of the day.

Pat Parelli often says: "you don't know what you don't know, until you know it." It's a wise saying. Virpi and I now know a little more about what we didn't know, we didn't know before. I have been working so hard to get Madeira to be left brain and calm, (see horsenality chart) that she has become a very calculative left brain introverted horse who challenges my leadership to the fullest. It has been easier for me to internalize that she would be innately a right brain extroverted horse, which she appeared to be for the longest time. Cici helped me realize, that she only becomes unconfident in new situations where she doesn't trust her leader. She literally remained right brain until she became to trust me. Now with her unleashed left brain she is bored out of her mind and thinks I'm a "jolly ball."

Having always picked the unconfident, more energetic horses to work with (surprise, surprise) I have concentrated the majority of my studies on the right brain extroverted horsenality and now have plenty of strategies on how to calm a RB horse. However I have to admit that I have no insights to handling a left brain horse. Reflecting back on Cici's lesson I need to find ways to become more provocative for Madeira and formulate a learning state of mind by kindling a bit of that right brain back into her. My journey into the mind of a LB introvert starts here.

One of the most powerful lessons from Cici came through simulations. Although we have seen Linda Parelli do countless of simulations on videos, and as interesting it is to see how people react to them, it almost seems silly to compare a human with a horse, because afterall we know what is happening and can logically think through the task. It took me completely by surprise how powerfully it affected me to be the one on the place of a horse. To feel what the horse feels.

I have been struggling with the figure eight pattern. Above all having enough draw to bring Madeira back around the barrel. She would get stuck behind the barrel. I had no idea that me focusing on her was creating so much pressure, that she did not want to come toward me. When Cici "clipped" a rope on me and send me around the barrels just as I had done with Madeira it was an instant light bulb flicking on in my head. I learned to redirect my focus to where Madeira felt no pressure and it instantly changed the result. Now our figure eight works beautifully.

virpi took her lesson with Mei Li, her new center of attention, who came to us back in March. Mei Li is a delightful little Arab mare. Playful and curious. But has a bit of a right brain introvert side, which is why she had a reputation of a "Crazy" horse. Virpi has enjoyed her very much though. The two of them are a great fit and make a fantastic team.

Someone asked me after our lesson about natural horsemanship and whether it really worked on my horse. I told him I don't know, but it worked on me. We must realize while interacting with horses, that it is not the horse that needs to change for our convenience. It is us humans, who must adjust our attitudes and open up our minds to understand horses, to learn to read them and to communicate with them without force. Horses never bargained for humans to bully them around. They are forgiving animals who love to be our partners, play with us, work with us and win with us if only we can learn to be affective leaders, prove to them that we can be trusted, and treat them with respect and dignity. Love, language and leadership (in equal doses.)

Finally a playday!

Ever since Virpi and I joined the Bay area savvy players group, we have been wanting to attend to one of the Parelli playdays they host each month. It has been difficult to plan the trip with our horses, not owning a trailer, But last month when I read about the upcoming playday it sounded like so much fun, that I decided to call the one person we know who owns a trailer, Ronda.

We were in luck. Ronda was available with a short notice and so on Sunday morning at 8 am after a "piece of cake" trailer loading we were on a way to our first ever Parelli playday.

We were excited about the day and laughed the whole one hour and fifteen minute drive down to Gilroy.

Steal and Madeira, who haven't trailered for at least 3 years were unexpectedly calm as we unloaded them at the the most beautiful place, a real horsey heaven, the Ruiz ranch. 

The arena was set up with various, potentially scary obstacles in the most imaginative way. Virpi and I were put into separate groups and at first Madeira was quite right brain and nervous. She kept calling for Steal at the other end of the arena and Steal called back. It was like some Romeo and Juliet drama. I had to get her nervous feet moving, do lots of changing direction and focus, focus, focus to bring down her adrenaline. And the result completely exceeded my expectations. Although every once in a while she kept calling for her Romeo, she was still connected with me and completed each task with dignity. I was incredibly pleased and so very proud of her.

We played ground games until noon with a finale of firecrackers, which were set off in the middle of the arena. I was prepared for Madeira to be leaping  thought the air in panic at the end of my 22 foot line as soon as the firecrackers would go off. Amazingly, I was wrong.  She spooked at the first set of firecrackers, but her feet never moved. The second set of firecrackers, she never even flinched. Unbeliveable! Astonishing! Dumbfounding!  

Aawww, my extreme right brain extrovert has come such a long way. I know I've said this before, but again, it is truly amazing what can be accomplished with horses, using only one ingredient, trust! 

Madeira and Steal had a well deserved break in one of the paddocks in the barn while we ate our potluck lunch. They lounged about happily munching their hey. 

After lunch it was time for mounted games. Virpi and I had planned to only observe the riding part of the playday, since we had expected our mounts to be pretty much unrideable. However it turned out, that Madeira and Steal were both so unexpectedly calm, that we felt comfortable getting on them and trying out the obstacles.

It went fantastically. all we did was walked around the arena for a few minutes surrounded by other horses and riders playing with the scary obstacles. And when we got to a point that we felt the horses were in a desired state of mind we decided it was time to call it a day. 

We had so much fun! It was the best day! Thank you so much Deb for welcoming us to your beautiful place, and for everyone involved organizing such a fantastic playday. 

Steal and the ferocious green ball.

Madeira on the teeter-totter.

Steal backing up under the huge tarp.

I love this one with her hind feet tipi toeing, just barely on the pedestal.

A shot of savvy

It is the middle of May and sparkling snow still decorates the rocky tops of Sierras surrounding the "biggest little city in the world," Reno, Nevada.

Tall, colorfully illuminated casinos and hotels, the Reno lights were a welcoming sight as we drove into town late Wednesday night excited as ever, not about the usual Reno scene, gambling and shows, but the 2009 Parelli Celebration held in the Reno livestock center. 

I was one of the few lucky ones chosen to volunteer at the event and needles to say, I was ecstatic. 

Thursday morning we were at the event arena at 7:50 AM. After a short orientation, we spent most of the day setting up the retail area for the weekend.  Teamwork seemed effortless with like minded people, who all had such a positive and progressive attitude. It was great to work along with the Parelli celebration team. People who are nothing less but celebrities for us. And on the brakes we had the opportunity to watch some of them play with their horses in the arena.

The chosen "savvy spotlighters"  had also arrived and getting ready for Friday's show. Heaps of savvy filled the arena as everyone was playing various versions of the seven games with big smiles on their faces (except for the occasional "shwiegermutter" looks) having so much fun and doing the most amazing things with their horses. Amongst them Cici Bowers and her horse Magic from the Bay area savvy players group.

My job for the weekend was to answer questions on the floor and to help people sign up for Share Parelli. And oh boy was it busy! I bet most of the nearly 2000 people that attended wanted to sign up. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting so many new people who all share the same great passion, as well as reuniting with friends we have made at various other Parelli events in the past. This is truly a community where everyone speaks the same language and what is best, everyone is smiling, happy and united no matter what level of savvy they are at. I am so honored to be part of it.

It was also interesting to be on the "other side of the curtain" and see what happens behind the scene.

At the end of each day Alain Martignier, the celebration manager asked what were the highlights of the show. There were so many to pick from, but for me, just one of the many a hug from Walter Zettl. 

Linda and Remmer did beautifully under Walter's coaching. It was remarkable to see how Linda always put the relationship before the task, and how Remmer seemingly enjoyed the lesson as much as Linda did. 

Kalley Krickeberg with the Atwood ranch yearlings was phenomenal!!! 

Lauren Barwick, a gold medalist at the China 2008 special Olympics performed her winning program and after ending her story with a thank you to the Parellis... Wow! Not a dry eye in the audience.

And of course it is always so refreshing and inspirational to observe and listen to Pat. It was most fascinating to see how much progress he made in such a short amount of time with the rescue horse donated by the United states humane Society.

The savvy spotlights on Friday were fantastic! It was so great to see ordinary people, like us doing such amazing things with their horses. There was an extraordinary aura of support and understanding in the audience even when horses fell right brain and things didn't go according to plan. This is definitely not something very often seen in the normal competition world.

Amazing, amazing weekend!

We were still in high spirits on Monday as we left the snow caped mountains behind and headed home.  Car packed with new Parelli tools, singing along with Virpi on the guitar. All excited to see our own horses again.

Lauren Barwick and Maile
Kalley Krickeberg with yearlings from Atwood ranch.

Pat playing with the rescue horse

Pat and Walter Zettl.
Linda Parelli and Remmer getting ready for a private lesson with Walter.

As nearly 2000 people watch, pat sets the rescue horse up for success, then takes cautious steps to ensure she is left brain and calm before getting on and riding around. This is just minutes after she blew up into a bucking fury. But Pat's timing was perfect. His ability to read the horse is so profound. I wish I could just "right click" on his brain, copy all the knowledge and paste it into mine.

Virpi's L1- Online

Here it is, finally. Virpi's level 1- online audition.
Steal, the poor old fella has not got much speed, but he is attentive and clearly asking questions.
They did a great job!

Level 2 stuff with Madeira

Thinking under pressure

So much has happened since Kim passed...

Little Candy moved into Kim's old stall right next to Madeira and although Madeira would never admit it, she really, actually likes her there. We regularly turn the four of them, Madeira, Steal, Candy and baby Leila out together and they all get along just fine.

Madeira and I have had a couple of break throughs in our journey this past few months. Despite the fact that she kicked me, she is really trying to communicate and do the right thing. Sometimes she tries so hard, that she anticipates what I want from her and does it before I even have the chance to ask. (She is reading my mind.) Sometimes her anticipations are incorrect and she does something I wasn't going to ask her to do, but I don't make her feel wrong about it, but just take what ever she offers. At least she is trying. 

She is really starting to become more confident and left brain through our training, though she is innately a right brain extrovert. It is fun and interesting to observe all these different horsenalities emerging out of her. She still shows off her "wild" side every now and then, but I'm starting to detect more exuberance in that behavior instead of fear. She is also really trying to think her way through stressful situations instead of "flying off the handle" when she gets into a sticky spot. Here's the proof, that what ever I am doing is really working for her advantage, and as a result she is getting smarter and calmer, and able to think under pressure.

One day Virpi had gone to the ranch and taken Steal out into the arena. Then before she had gotten to Madeira she had stopped to chat with Debbi. In a mean while Madeira had grown impatient and started pawing in her paddock, wanting to get out. Virpi had just hollered at her to stop pawing and in her amazement she had soon stopped as Virpi and Debbi chatted on for about another 15 minutes. What Virpi didn't realize  was, that the water hose, which was tied around the paddock fence had become loose and somehow Madeira had pawed her foot through the loop and gotten stuck!!! Just imagine a few years ago she would certainly have panicked and struggled to get free, most likely braking her leg in the process. But now she just stood there not moving a muscle until Virpi finally realized what had happened and went to free her. What a smart horse she has become!

This is why we play with our horses in all sorts of "funny" ways, letting ropes and hoses and Christmas tree ribbons tangle into their feet, to set them up for success when things really go wrong.

Christmas time came and went and of course we shared that special time with our loved ones, the horses. Here are some of our precious Christmas moments.

Close call

On a Friday just before Christmas Madeira and I were having a fabulous play session on liberty. We were doing a rather fast paced "stick to me," trotting through the weave pattern, canter-trot-walk transitions, squeezing over cavaletties etc. Everything was working out beautifully and we were having so much fun, until I decided to try it staying on Madeira's right side. I should have known better! 

I know she is still very sensitive and shy about her right side, especially on zone four (the kick zone.) She gets nervous when she feels pressure in zone four on her right side and has a tendency to react with a lashing out kick. I should have prepared for success by desensitizing her right side while having a lead rope on her at first, but I got caught up in the moment of a thrill and went overboard.

So as soon as I started to "canter"  and Madeira followed my lead she got confused about me being on her right and got impulsive. She past me just slightly, which left me in zone four. I realized it immediately and knew what would happen so I turned around to run away from her, to take off the pressure and to get out of the kick zone. I was too slow. Her right hind hoof hit me just above the hip on my lower back. The force of the impact jerked my body backwards in an unnatural way and I was flown to the ground like a rag doll. Madeira flipped around immediately as she realized I was laying on the ground, and trotted back over to see what was wrong. I don't know if she really meant to kick me, I'd like to think it was only a right brain reaction, but she looked genuinely concerned. 

For the first few moments as I lay there in pain and someone asked if I could feel my toes, a horrible thought of a worst case scenario flashed through my mind. I had no idea where exactly she had hit me, for the pain seared through my entire back worsening at every breath. I wondered whether I would ever walk again.  It's amazing how your brain works in a stressful situations. For a minute I didn't even want to try to get up in fear, that I wouldn't be able to.

The x-rays showed no broken bones and it seemed my internal organs were in tact, so I was given a shot of morphine for the pain and send home with four bottles of different medications for pain, nausea and something to protect my overly sensitive stomach lining from the hard core pain pills. I was knocked out until the next morning, when I awoke with a perfect, purple hoof print just above my hip. That's when I knew exactly where she had hit me.

I was very, very lucky, that Madeira managed to kick me pretty much on the fattest part of my body. Thank goodness for all that "padding" I have been growing and nourishing lately with my Christmas style eating habits. Had she kicked me just two inches to the right she would have gotten my spine. I'm sure the outcome of that would have been different.

I have also never been happier about my decision to pull off Madeira's shoes and keep her barefoot, for that impact with steel shoes would no doubt have gone straight through my "padding" and done much more damage. 

Getting kicked by a horse is a scary thing. It certainly scared my friends and family who's immediate response to the news were, that I needed to quit horses. Well, of course that's not going to happen, but as they say, that things happen for reason, I have been trying to search for that reason. Perhaps it was to inflict fear in me. Enough to slow down and check in with myself every once in a while, that I am within the lines of safety and setting things up for success. I realize, that the horses I interact with are not the "ordinary school horses" which are selected by their calm disposition, but most often high spirited, emotionally scattered, complicated creatures. They need understanding of their individual, unique characteristics, innate nature and problematic pasts, as well as skill to handle and deal with all of it. Sometimes much more than I have.

Fear is a good thing. It is your body's way of alerting you of a possible danger. We should all listen to it. However, I have been extremely confident and comfortable with most horses I handle for quite some years. I have been especially confident in trusting Madeira, who in turn is becoming more confident and trusting towards me, which is a great thing, except for the fact, that as she is becoming more and more left brain she is also starting to challenge my leadership more.

Well, all I can conclude is, that I had luck on my side and, that I must learn all I can from this. Next time she kicks, I'll be quicker to get out of the way.

Farewell Kim!

The Sun has set on Kim down on earth. Yesterday she flew into the great green pastures of heaven.

Poor Kim faded fast the past week. She stopped eating almost completely, only taking in about an eighth of what she had been eating. She quickly lost all the weight she had gained this past year, and more. Her nose bled constantly and she wobbled around her paddock pumping into the walls, too weak to stand, but too adamant to lay down. She became extremely dehydrated. Feverish and sweaty she kept dunking her face into her water trough unable to actually drink. The diarrhea stopped. There was nothing more to come out.
Finally yesterday she lay down. It was time. The vet came to put her to sleep.
Virpi was with her when she flew away.
Farewell Kim!
We'll always remember her and will miss her soft nickers as she always greeted us upon hearing our voices. We know she is in a better place and we know, that she died feeling loved.

This is the very last photo I took of her a week ago. Peacefully snoozing on the grass, in a warm sun. One of her favorite things to do.

Catching Game

I had the most interesting weekend!
A few months ago some guy had purchased himself a horse from an auction. A little sorrel Arabian mare, who came to live at the ranch. She was skin and bones, a scrawny little thing, and had a halter on, that was embedded into her head. (Must have been a cheap buy.) The first time the owner had tried to ride this skittish mare out on the trail she had spooked and bolted. The owner, an inexperienced horse handler and rider, that he was, fell off slamming into a fence post and broke his leg. The mare had later been released into the “skinny” pasture to gain some weight, while the owner was recuperating.
Couple of weeks ago the owner came back, but, as it turned out, he couldn’t catch the mare from the pasture. Apparently realizing his inexperience he had asked one of the ranch hands to help him catch the mare, then train and ride her. So last weekend they had been out there trying to rope the poor little mare, but without any success they had soon thrown their ropes to the ground in frustration and given up.
Hmmm… I was very intrigued.
So one morning I walked out into the “skinny” pasture with carrots in my back pocket, without any ropes, intentions or expectations. There are fife horses total in the “skinny” pasture. Old Blaze, the heard leader came up to me right away trailed by Montana and the Arab mare. After giving Blaze a carrot and lots of good love I began to look very interesting to Montana and the Arab. They both crept closer, took a carrot and I walked away. The next time I went in the trio came to greet me nickering. I gave them all carrots, walked around the pasture as they followed, then left. I had set it up for success.
On two occasions I had gotten closer to the Arab, than the owner and the ranch hand, so they decided to go in with carrots and give it a try.
It didn’t work.
Finally they asked my help to catch her, and of course I was all too excited to do it.

I have to mention at this point, that a few years ago, before I started to study natural horsemanship I considered myself a very experienced horse person. However, after discovering this new dimension and having to rethink and adjust a lot of things I know, that although I have gotten to be rather good at it I’m far from being the excellent horseperson, that I hope to become. After learning the catching game (or call it “join up” if you please) I have NEVER had trouble catching a horse. And it has never taken much longer, than approximately 15 minutes, even out in the great big pasture.
However…
One of Pat Parelli’s favorite quotes is: “I’ve never seen it take longer than two days.”
About two hours into my catching game with the Arab I knew, that this was going to take me two days.

It was still dark when I got to the ranch on Saturday morning. Madeira was surprised to see me. I let her out to nibble on some grass while I finished my tea. Then I put her back in to wait for her breakfast, stuffed my pockets with carrots and walked out to the “skinny” pasture with a halter and a lead rope.
The same trio of horses came to greet me softly nickering, blaze in lead. I gave them all a carrot as I had done the previous times, but as soon as the Arabian saw the lead rope swaying off my shoulder she spun around and fled.
I smiled and went on greeting all the rest of the horses and giving them some long needed TLC. The Arab stood staring at me from the other end of the pasture. As I paid no attention to her she crept closer and closer until she was right back in the herd. I decided to see where she was drawing her lines and walked towards her retreating each time she became unconfident. I quickly discovered, that her personal space, her “bubble” was incredibly large, but she was also very tolerant. I could have walked very close to her without her moving, but I would have offended her. So I proceeded with the catching game and within about 30 minutes she was following me around in the pasture, but never closer than about 2 meters away. Each time I offered my hand for her to sniff, she reached for it with flattened back ears and a crunched up muzzle. I did not want to accept her with that look, so I drove her forehand away figuring, that perhaps I needed to establish some respect.
As I went on I realized, that this horse who had first looked like a right brain extrovert (which would have been a much easier task for me) was very much a left brain introvert, who would come at me with pinned ears and bared teeth, and swing her hind quarters towards me threatening to kick. But she would turn into a right brain extrovert in a split second if she got worried. And she got worried a lot. She seemed to also be extremely sensitive. It took very little to communicate with her and she learned things so fast I was astonished. But she had absolutely no faith in people and she just could not bring herself to trust me.

Pat’s quote ringing in my ears I stood in the middle of the pasture questioning whether I had developed enough savvy at this point to go through with this task. This horse was very smart and obviously had serious trauma from her past. Was I qualified to handle this? But I knew I had to keep trying, because if I didn’t succeed the guys would come back with a whole “vaquero” army to corner, and rope the poor mare, and it would not be pretty.

At 8:30 am the guys came to feed. Fife flakes of alfalfa were thrown in next to the fence. Blaze got the first one. The other three found theirs, and I stood next to the last flake. The Arab tried coming around to her flake. She pinned her ears snaking her head at me. I drove her away. She galloped around the pasture snorting and tossing her head. Every time she came around the food I drove her away. After running around for a few minutes she swung around, stood about ten meters away and stared at me. I quickly turned my back on her and waited. Slowly, slowly she walked over right behind me and sniffed me all over. She sniffed my back, my hair and the lead rope, that hung off my shoulder. Slowly I turned around and offered my hand for her. She looked away. I pulled my hand away. She looked back at me. I offered my hand again. She looked away. I pulled my hand away. She looked back at me. We went back and forth like this for a while until she finally sniffed my hand. I turned around, picked up a handful of alfalfa and offered it to her. She was hungry. I felt bad about keeping her from eating, but I could always feed her later and I saw this as a great opportunity to gain her respect. After receiving a mouthful she wanted more. She pinned her ears and snaked her head at me. I drove her away. This time I kept her running a bit longer. She looked beautiful prancing around the pasture in the early morning sun with her tail flying high behind her.

Three hours had passed. I went on with the catching game. The other four had finished all of the alfalfa, even the fifth flake meant for the Arabian. She hung her head low and submissive as I stood right next to her. Close enough to touch, close enough to put my rope around her neck. But I had no intention of doing either.
I retreated instead. I fetched another flake of alfalfa set it down and she walked right over to eat as I stood next to her shooing away the other four greedy mouths, that all wanted her food and knew they ranked much higher in the herd than the little mare. But now I was building rapport by protecting her while she ate peacefully. It was literally blowing her mind. I stood there for a whole hour so she could eat without being bothered. Then I left.
I was hungry too, and Madeira had been staring at me from her stall for the past two hours.

After spending some time with Madeira, Steal, Kim and baby Leila, checking on Candy who is still lame, and taking care of all their needs, I returned to the “skinny” pasture a few hours later. I caused the Arabian almost immediately to follow me and she stood next to me licking and chewing. Very gently I reached out and stroked her neck close to her withers and although cautiously, she accepted it. What an incredible feeling! She had accepted me. I didn’t even have to put a rope around her neck to prove it. She was as good as caught.
I stroked her on both sides until she licked and chewed, and decided it was enough. I said good night and left.

The guy who had asked my help was disappointed thinking I had failed to catch her. Some of the others sneered maliciously. I tried explaining to them that I had already caught her, but without having to actually brought the horse out no one believed me.
They were getting ready to rope her the next day.
But I got up early again the next morning, walked out into the “skinny” pasture and caught the mare. I walked her into the small arena and left her there with a flake of alfalfa.
All yours, I said. I’m washing my hands from this. But later on I had to help halter her. She is very sensitive around her muzzle. Hey, give her a break, just a few months ago she had a halter growing around her nose.
The guy, who is suppose to train her took my advice to heart though, and did very well haltering her and working with her slowly. The guy has so much potential. And, thank God, he let her back out into the pasture and even took the halter off afterwards.

Autumn thoughts

The autumn is here once more. The early mornings are so cold and dark now, that getting out of bed at 5:30am just seems so overwhelming. Can't wait to turn the clocks back, to sleep an extra hour in the morning. The traffic over the hill to Half Moon Bay seems overwhelming too. Yesterday it took me and hour and a half to do the normal 20minute drive. Everyone is travelling to the pumpkin town for some pre Halloween fun.

While the days have still been beautifully sunny and warm, the horses sure are getting fluffier by the day. Believe it or not, this is the underside of Madeira's belly. Yep, she is pretty furry down there.

Madeira is still lame. the second set of x-rays showed an abscess, that had traveled from the toe, around the coffin bone to the medial side of the hoof. She also has "pedal osteitis," which is defined as demineralization of the solar margin of the distal phalanx as a result of inflammation.

This could have been caused by any kind of trauma to the foot in the past and may not have any relevance to her lameness, however, it's difficult to tell. In the mean time her foot stays wrapped with Epsom salt poultice, and is soaked with Epsom salts four times a week, in hopes of clearing the abscess. For the most part she has been walking well so we have taken walks on the trail. The movement would also help the abscess to move out faster. But every ones in a while she comes up three legged lame and stays in her stall drugged with bute. Poor lady Madeira. She has been such a good sport through all of this, and has definitely learned to put on her most adorable face to receive extra treats.

The vet said it could take weeks for the abscess to clear. I am of course getting impatient and discouraged already. But I have faith, that something good will come of all the hardship we must endure. I have spend hours and hours of "undemanding" time with Madeira. And it is the art of doing nothing, which horses so readily appreciate, that keeps strengthening our relationship. Now, that the flies are so bad I take off her halter while soaking her foot, and use it to shoo flies off her face and legs. She appreciates the help and dozes off until the soak is over. Isn't it great how even the most annoying little flying creatures can be useful helping us bond.
Although I'm trying to spend as much time as I can with Madeira, my horseplaying days are far from standstill because of her condition. There are plenty of horses to play with and ones to ride. Tuff provides a good comfy ride, and Igor's horse "Sad Eyes" has been an interesting new playmate. And then of course there is baby Leila, Kim and Candy who all need their special love and attention.

Candy has been extremely lame the past two weeks. We believe that she has relapsed with laminitis, but the ranch manager believes otherwise. Without a proper vet exam it's hard to tell. She has been laying down in her stall unable to get up.

Kim found a comfortable patch of grass to lay on while wandering out in the sun last weekend. She dozed off for a while and dreamed of places where she could see again. Sadly, after doing so well at gaining weight for nearly a year, she has started to loose it again. Her nose is often bloody and she is not eating well. There is reason to believe, that she may have some kind of a cancer. She is very old, and after such a hard life she has been happy pretending to be our private horse for the past year, which is much longer, than we anticipated, considering the condition we found her in last December.

Steal's mane flowing in the wind

A home of a gopher living on front of our stalls.

The funny bird, who comes to sing to us all the time and makes the funniest sound.

The Pacific ocean sparkling behind the pasture.

"Red sky at night, sailors delight."

Home sweet home

We are back to our familiar, busy routine working hard to support ourselves as horse owners. It is not a cheap habit, especially when things go wrong.

The first day of our return from Finland we rushed to the ranch to see the horses and poor Madeira, obviously happy to see me kept nickering while she dragged herself to greet me hopelessly limping.

My heart dropped. What a "great" home coming.

Since then it has been a big up and down lameness roller coaster for us. The vet has seen her a couple of times and is coming back this week.

I'll elaborate on her lameness later on when we have determined the cause of the problem.

All the other horses were happy to see us back too. Especially Kim and the Baby. Kim let out a loud whinny as she heard our voices and the baby paced around her paddock excitedly. Steal was the only one who was upset. He kept giving Virpi his hind end in his introverted way saying "That's for abandoning me!" He forgave quickly though. The next day he was back to his own angelic self.

So after all that rain in Finland we came back to a sweltering heat wave in California. A perfect surfing weather, however the horses, who certainly aren't accustomed to such heat on the coast, and who already have started growing their winter coats, since the daylight is getting shorter, were sweating just standing still. Labor day weekend was one of the busiest weekends of all summer and for three days the poor ranch horses (as if they didn't work hard enough in an ordinary weekend) slumbered back and forth the trail in a record heat.

We bathe Madeira, Steal, Kim, baby Leila and little Candy. Mama pony also came to be sprayed by the fence and several ranch horses splashed around in their man made waterhole.The ponies, Candy and Leila have been turned out together and they absolutely LOVE each other. Candy is the boss of course. She is the biggest little horse on the ranch. They all are fine in the arena together playing their horsey games. Steal and madeira especially enjoy practicing the seven games on the little ones.

But the ponies think they are totally outsmarting the big horses playing the "you can't catch me" game.On Sunday last week the fog finally rolled in and pleasantly cooled us off, so we decided to saddle up Tuff and Cruiser for a little ride.

Me on Tuff and Beverly on Cruiser.

In "Kim's story" last January I mentioned Nevada, the horse who became Kim's eyes and her protection out in the pasture and then was bought and moved away. Well, he is back! We brought him over to Kim's stall to see how they would react to each other. Kim was upset. It was almost as if she was mad, that he had left her there. Nevada was excited to be back though, and is loving it out in the pasture again. And Kim has a new found life. She is doing fantastic and loves hanging out with us.We also had time to visit Sunrise in his Pacifica home. He was very pleasantly surprised to see us.

Check out Madeira in her brand new Renegade hoof boots! Whenever we are walking out on the trail people passing by point and shout "Hey look the horse is wearing crocks too!"

The Finnish horse

The Finnish horse or "Finnhorse" is the only native horse breed in Finland. It is a lighter coldblooded breed distinguished for it's outstanding constitution, and it is among the fastest and most versatile coldbloods in the world.

The Finnish horse stands between 15-17 hands high. The most common colors are chestnuts and sorrels. They are enduring, hardy, strong muscled horses with good limbs and tough hoofs.

This great horse has as much of inner as outer beauty. They are extremely reliable, honest, willing and very smart. They are most often easily handled, but despite of it's calm disposition the Finnhorse is usually very alert and well spirited. it is the perfect all around horse.

The exact descent of the Finnhorse is unclear. It most likely evolved from some northern European warm and coldblooded breeds. However it's true origin is buried into the midst of the prehistoric unknown.

Some say the breed is over 1000 years old and there is definite evidence, that the Finnish horse existed already back in the middle ages. In 1555 the breed is mentioned in a book about the northern nations, which was written in Latin by a Swedish pope, Olaus Magnus Gothus. The book was published in Rome. The mention of the Finnish horse was: "Equi Finnonici. Bonae qualitatis sunt," which means, that the Finnish horses were of good quality.

The Finnish horse studbook celebrated it's 100 year anniversary last year (2007.) It was started on the 17TH of September 1907 in a small northern Finnish town called Ii. The goal of the pure blooded Finnish horse became a good all around farm horse.

In it's history the Finnhorse's most important job serving man became to defend it's country's freedom and independence at war, and the rebuilding of it's home regions after the declaration of peace. There weren't enough horses for the Finnish army, so the court martial ordered all capable working horses to be collected from farms around Finland for the army's use.

There are heart warming stories of how the survived horses were returned to their owners after the wars were over. They were simply let loose at the appropriate railway stations to find their own way home. And they did!

They returned to farm work until the early 1970's when the machinery slowly took over and the Finnish horses future was threatened. The breed was saved by recreational breeders, who like their fathers found, that their working partner also made an excellent sport horse. And the unbelievably versatile and adaptable breed could take on yet even bigger challenges as harness racing horses as well as all around riding horses.

Today there are about 20,000 Finnish horses in Finland (compare to the 400,000 in 1950) and it's population is slowly increasing with approximately 1000 foals born each year.

About 75% of the Finnish horses are harness racing horses, the rest are used in mounted disciplines such as dressage, show jumping, eventing and endurance racing.

Perhaps because it's rich history and perhaps because of it's great all around qualities, the Finnish horse is very much appreciated and celebrated in Finland.

There are several tributes made for the Finnish horse, books, songs, poems and artwork. The breed has it's own special classes at shows and at harness races.

The Finnish people love this special horse, that gave so much in so many ways for their people and their country.

Horsing around in Finland

During my resent Finland trip I was fortunate to spend a couple of days with a childhood friend of mine, Anu, who competes in show jumping on national level at a "Finnish horse" class. A Finnish horse is a native breed of Finland, and it is so celebrated, that the breed has it's own classes at shows. (Read more about the "Finnhorse" in the previous post.)

The first day, that I visited Anu, she participated in a national competition with her Finnish horse Tahti Tintti "Tiitu" Here they are in action.I was very intrigued to see the competition and I believe a few years back I would have been thrilled about it all together, however now I quickly became shocked of the roughness of some of the riders and quite insensible use of the crop. I could not comprehend that a horse would ever want to go near a jump again after being whipped next to it following a refusal. These are the scenes of the horse world that I grew up around also and sadly it all used to feel normal. Although never have been a very competitive person myself, I still enjoy taking part in shows, but when winning becomes more important, than the relationship between the horse and the rider I cannot appreciate it.

My friend, Anu however did very well breezing through to the second round and taking seventh place (and, by the way, I did not see her whip her horse.) She is an excellent rider and I used to always look up to her. And although we may see things in a bit different light these days, we still had a wonderful time sharing the same passion for horses we both have had since little girls, when we skipped with stick horses through the pines in our backyard. She has taken that passion to the top of show jumping in Finland. As for me, I have turned a new leaf in my horsemanship, that is vast and full of possibilities.

The second day we had a wonderful ride through the forest and galloped up to the top of "Laajavuori" which in winter operates as a ski mountain. The scenery from the top was breathtaking and the ride on the Finnish horse I got to ride, "Hali" was fantastic! The only bummer was, that I wasn't able to carry a camera and take photos, since it poured rain so hard the whole time, that we were soaked through to our underwear when we got back.

Tiitu (on the left) and Hali in their private pasture. Notice the lake on the background. The place was absolutely gorgeous.

On our last week in Finland my friend Kirsi had also organized a trail ride for us in the town of Kuortane (where I was born) at Polestar stable.

Two hours on horseback through the forests and the beautiful Finnish country side with such a great group of people was an unforgettable experience. there were fife of us all together;Virpi and I, my friend Kirsi and another childhood friend of ours, Mia and also our leader, yet another Kirsi, who, as it turned out was an old class mate of Virpi's from grade school. What an interestingly small world.Our leader Kirsi on the very right on her own Finnish horse. Virpi is the second from right on "Fyrry," also a Finnish horse as she had wished. My friend Kirsi in the middle on a very warmblooded "Illi." I'm the second one from the left, on a little German riding pony "myy" who despite all the stable owners warnings behaved like a champ and was in fact quite a pleasurable ride. And My friend Mia on the very right on a Finnish horse "Letti."

We all really had great time and will definitely go back and do it again on our next visit to Finland.Virpi, Mia Kirsi and I.