After the Clinic

One reason we sometimes do clinics is to find out where we are with our horses and how we can bring them along better. 

The cattle clinic gave us some good information. 

Epona: Epona was the youngest horse there that day, and she seemed to be handling it exceptionally well…until she wasn’t. She bolted, and then, when she was brought around tight and a spur accidentally caught her underneath, she bucked. 

What set her off was a multitude of things coming together at the exact same moment: wind, cows, other horses around her, free horses running and bucking in the pasture, and Tumbleweed getting restless. 

I said that to Katie when we finally got together. (She was there, too, and saw the whole thing.) 

She agreed, but reminded me that though Tweed was very worked up, he didn’t bolt or buck. 

My daughter had serious questions afterwards. What could I have done to prevent it? Is my horse overly reactive? Is my horse one that hides her tension, then explodes? How do we solve the issue of her being nervous around horses in an arena, shown by the tail clamping and ear pinning? And most concerning, is it going to happen again?

So many of those questions I didn’t feel qualified to answer for her. But I have watched Epona over the months and years, and she is always one of the most solid for as little as she is worked. She has a very confident personality. 

At most, she was getting one day per week, and that’s not enough for a young horse. 

So, I immediately set about adding her into my training with Tumbleweed. (I am a co-owner, after all.) I did Masterson Method and TTouch bodywork each day, along with other ground work, and I found some answers in her body. 

She has a shorter, muscular neck and it was tight on both sides, but mostly on the right. I found it with bodywork, but then we saw it in action when Katie worked her. She had a hard time bending in as she moved in a circle to the left and showed some major resistance—much like what she did at the clinic—wanting to get out of the bend and bolt in a straight line.

Also, it struck us that when a horse is tight, it makes it hard for them to see behind them, which is required when horses are coming up or your buddy is losing his mind behind you.  

We asked Katie all of the questions my daughter had:

Question: Is there something we could have done to prevent it? 

Answer: yes. However, it is hard to make split second decisions in the moment. But there is a lot we can do to prepare Epona and ourselves to handle the inevitable “perfect storm.”

Question: Is she overly reactive?

Answer: No, she is pretty chill and doesn’t go to the reactive mind much. If anything, she’s a little stubborn.

Question: Is Epona a horse who hides her tension, then blows up?

Answer: No, there were signs ahead of time. Epona tensed up and had her ears pinned back.  (Katie watched the entire episode unfold).

Question: How do we solve the issue and will it happen again?

Answer: Start her back at ground zero and make sure to do the groundwork before every ride. Look for holes. Be more consistent. Give her more time and exposure because she’s so young. Take lessons, daughter and Epona, to create better communication and understanding between the two. Body work and chiro. And, Katie doesn’t want her rode with spurs anymore. She just figures it’s best not to add that variable since we don’t need to.

My daughter doesn’t have enough time for what is required, so it will take me doing a lot of it and Katie continuing her once a week sessions. Katie just took a job as an assistant to the main equine chiropractor/vet in our city, so she has less time now. She can only fit us in on Saturdays now, and we’re so lucky to get even that. 

Tumbleweed, well, he’s just a super sweetie. Nothing has changed with him, except that now that Epona is always in tow, he has had a lot more time to work on settling down when she leaves him. The first day, he dented my trailer kicking it when she left, but each day it got better and now he is only mildly bothered. Win win. 

My oldest son has been working with me and the horses once a week for the last month, and Tumbleweed has become his lesson horse. 

I’m very proud of how patient Tumbleweed is with a complete novice. And I’m proud of how fast my son is learning and how sensitive he has been working with them. 

I’ve also had some beautiful fall trail rides with my boy.

We went on our longest ride together yet, clocking in at 4 hours, and he had a lot thrown at him and did very well. By the third hour he had completely given up hope that the ride was ever going to end. Haha. 

The trailer ride there and back was long and it involved taking the freeway. Surprisingly, he came out of the trailer very calm, even though it was an entirely new place, he didn’t have a buddy, and we had gone over far too many washboard roads.

I hope we get a few more new trail rides in before winter, but I couldn’t be happier with the progress we’ve made together this year. It all came together. 

Cow Clinic: 3

We always try our best to prepare our horses for whatever comes their way, but it isn’t always possible, is it? 

Nowhere is hindsight more 20/20 than in working with horses. 

On the day of the clinic, we woke to a cloudy, cool day. That was a change from the days that had come previously, and the days that have come after, which have all been warm, calm, and sunny.

That alone did not alert us to any real issues, because we have been working with Tweed and Epona in wind and rain all year. Not a biggie.  

In that 20/20 hindsight, however, I can see where it set a lot of pieces into motion, pieces we didn’t even know would exist. 

One of the pieces was how the weather set off the horses at liberty in the adjoining pasture. Behind the fence in the above pasture, and back behind me, to the east, their horses were loose and feeling frisky.

At first, we were just working one by one on a wonderful circle exercise where you keep your hands low, set the inside rein so you can see 1/4 of an eyelash, then use your legs to keep your horse on a circle. After a while, you turn directions, still keeping your hands low, and direct their body the other way with your leg. 

Sounds easy, but it isn’t.

It does, however, really help when you introduce cows. Your horse has less to think about and can concentrate on moving them.

Right before lunch, our clinician gave us the choice to break and eat or bring the cows in and push them a little as a group.

We chose to bring the cows in.

Tumbleweed was the first to take the lead and push them.

He did great, and all was well. 

In these two photos, Tweed and Epona are close together.)

As the other horses took the lead to get their turn, and Epona got with the other geldings ahead of Tweed, he became agitated. He wanted to be in front pushing the cows, not behind, and he didn’t want me rating his speed or keeping him away from Epona. (As an aside, that is an issue we had with hill work last year, too.)

So, as I was there trying to get his mind back, the wind gusts picked up and all the commotion set the free pasture horses to running and bucking near us.

Tweed and the horses on the cows got more restless, but I’m not really sure what was happening with them all because what happened next happened fast:

My daughter turned around to check on me and T, and Epona got set off to running. My daughter turned her in and, in the commotion, got a little off balance causing her spur to come under Epona’s belly and get her bucking. My daughter took the opportunity to come off and hit the ground hard on her seat. It was a buck off, but it was also a deliberate “get off now while it’s still safe.”

She was rattled and sore, and a bit confused about how it happened since Epona didn’t seem at all nervous to her beforehand.

I dismounted and caught Epona as other riders went to help my daughter up, and we all met back together with Epona and daughter, who needed to rest up.

The clinician wanted to work with Epona while we broke for lunch and let my daughter evaluate her injuries. He ponied her around the cattle, then he let her free with them.

His opinion was that it wasn’t the cows, it was the other horses. Every time horses came up behind her, she tucked her tail hard and looked bothered.

Let me back up here for just a second. If you have been following Epona’s journey, she hates arena work, but loves to work out of the arena. We knew that about her going in, but we didn’t realize how reactive she was to other horses getting in her space.

That said, the incident was the perfect storm of things, not just one thing.

After the lunch, everyone went back out and got more one on one with great success. Even my daughter got back on Epona and rode for awhile (until the herd of bison appeared, where daughter decided to call it good and end on a positive note.)

Tweed was not liking the bison, but we were the last ones to work cows 1 on 1, and it was after the bison appeared. He was able to bring his head back into the game, and I was able to, finally, rate his speed on the cows.

The clinician said he was a bit cow aggressive, but the more he works them the less he will care about them. He said that if Tweed went out for a long cattle drive they would soon be old news and he’d want to conserve his energy.

One of the things he had me do to rate his speed was work the cows, then stop and pet him. Then work them, and stop and pet him again. It was a successful technique.

I’m going to write one more post in this series about what has happened since the clinic. 

Cow Clinic: Part 2

(cows next door to the east)

Our pastures are surrounded by cows on three sides, and our horses are exposed to a lot of cow goings on. Today they will be introducing a new bull to the East pasture herd to cover the heifers, something they did last month in the North pasture.

Sometimes, like when a herd came running at us across the fence, and one cow happened to have a white garbage bag in its mouth, it set Tumbleweed’s hair on fire. 

But usually they get along peacefully and even bond a little over the fence. (At least Leah did with one sweet heifer a few years ago).

To prepare for the clinic, I asked one of my neighbors if we could ride the horses in his cow pasture, to give them the feel of being near cows on the loose. 

He said yes, and I could ride it any time I want. 

I started by riding T in our adjoining pastures each day and up to the fence where the cows were grazing. 

He did great with that and was only mildly interested in them. 

There was a time, not long ago, that riding Tumbleweed at home was pretty challenging. He’d get bothered to leave the herd behind. He’s not like that at all anymore, and has become a pleasure to ride at home.

I had a scheduled lesson with Katie to ride into the neighbor’s pastures, me on Tweed and her on Epona, then her on Tweed and daughter on Epona, but she got sick and had to reschedule to a day that I was babysitting and daughter was working. 

It was also the day before the clinic. 

I was disappointed not to be able to ride with her, but I thought it was still good to have her do it and let them experience cows at liberty before the clinic. 

Both horses did awesome for their first time pushing cows. They were unsure what to think when the big heifers would face off with them and give them the stink eye, or kick dirt up at them, but they pretty quickly figured out they were the bosses. 

We felt pretty good about the preparation and were excited for the clinic. 

Then we looked at the weather report for the clinic and saw they were predicting rain and wind. It was sun, sun, sun, rain / wind, then sun, sun, for as far as the forecast went out. 

Bad luck, but you can’t predict the weather when you schedule clinics. 

To be continued. 

Cow Clinic: Part One

 

It has been awhile since my last post, and that was on purpose. I have been preparing for our private cow clinic, and I didn’t want to write about it until it was all past.

Now it is past.

I am still reflecting  

But as I do, here are some photos from yesterday. (More to come)

There was high wind, rain, a herd of bison, and a herd of horses running free and bucking around us. Safe to say, our horses were less bothered by the cows than the other elements.

But we survived. We learned. We grew.

There was, unfortunately, one mishap. It also seems to be okay today, but there will be some work getting confidence back. (It wasn’t Tumbleweed and me.)

I will probably have to break this down into several posts, starting with our preparation and ending with the day of the clinic and then post-clinic.

For now, happy trails!

Out of Shape Horses & Hyperscale Data Centers

 

We met with Katie yesterday to do conditioning work with Tumbleweed and Epona, and it was clear that a month off had done them no favors.  

It was Tumbleweed’s third ride since getting back to work, but Epona’s first. 

Tumbleweed’s attitude has been exceptional. He is 100% trying to do his job with a good attitude. It reminds me of the saying, “the mind is willing, but the body’s weak.”

Katie didn’t want to overdo it, so she stopped after about 30 minutes and handed him over to me to do light obstacle work. 

He did everything for me, and more. We ended up dragging the log all around the park. He loves that “obstacle” now.  

Which reminds me, I’m putting together a private cow clinic for me and my friends at a local ranch. We’re trying to decide on the date, but it’s looking like the end of September. I can’t wait! Tumbleweed is going to love it! All day with my horse, good friends, and some cows. Perfect. 

I talked to Katie about his lack of conditioning and a plan to get him back in shape. She thinks one day of the collection work and the rest trails will be enough to bring him back. So, she’s going to do the collection work and I’m going to do the trails.

I’m adding an extra day of collection work this week on Friday. The forecast calls for rain for the next five days, but I look forward to working in rain. I probably won’t get a trail ride in due to my babysitting schedule, but grandson starts two day per week preschool again next week. 

In fact, that reminds me that I will have my grandson in tow Friday, too. (Good thing for Katie!)

He enjoys sitting and watching us ride horses, but his tolerance is about an hour and a half. After that, he needs to walk around and be part of it.

While Katie rode Epona through the obstacles yesterday, daughter and grandson walked around and petted the horses. One was a fjord who is used as a local ambassador. Her name is Dolly. 

Dolly’s owner called the grandson over to see Dolly and even gave him a trading card with Dolly and all her stats as part of the COPS and SCOPE program.

On the way home he clung to his card and kept spelling out her name and talking about her. 

D-O-L-L-Y, Dolly.

Before he went to bed, we asked if he could spell Dolly, and sure enough, he remembered and spelled it out for us just from that 10 minute drive home. 

Sweet Dolly really is a unicorn. A magical ambassador for horses.

I want to circle back to my anti-data center and AI post from a few months ago. Back then, I was blissfully unaware that a hyperscale data center had targeted our area and was in talks with our local politicians and energy providers, hiding behind NDA’s.

A stay at home mom put in a records request and uncovered the plot just in time for the community to impose a moratorium and figure out how to proceed in our best interests. If they had filed for permits it would have been too late. (Their sneakiness worked against them.)

This isn’t a Republican versus Democrat issue. Both parties are in on it and my state is number 10 in numbers of data centers, even though we have a MASSIVE energy shortage and drought. 

The one trying to go in about five miles from us wants to tap into our aquifer, which could drain our private wells.

They purchased 500 acres under a shell company formed in Deleware. It would be a hyperscale data center and will eventually take 1.2 GW of electricity to run. That is more than our entire city and county at peak, and we don’t even have it to give. 

That doesn’t stop them. They’re going to piece it together and even get some from the neighboring state of Idaho.

It’s INSANE!

I found out that much of this is being financed by SWF’s, or sovereign wealth funds, who are dumping US Treasuries for gold, land, energy, and water. Hard assets.

Lovely. 

Many of these hyperscale data center projects will be like Malls for tech where they can rent out space to run their AI programs. 

Big. Ugly. Tech Malls.

Man, I hate where this is going.

Back to It After the Fires

“Summer always overstays its welcome by about a month. After the Fourth of July, which has its charms, nothing but a stretch of relentless heat lies ahead, reaching toward Labor Day, and I begin to yearn for fall.”  Elizabeth Bruenig, “If Only This Could Last Forever,”

Wildfire. Smoke. Extreme heat. The triple whammy. No saddle time. 

Until, finally, today. 

Tumbleweed did great on the obstacles and on the trails, too, especially for having a month off and getting way out of shape. 

But we have some ground to make up. 

We had three blips in our trail ride:

1. He didn’t want to lead out, and away, and I allowed him to follow. Big mistake. I should have got right on that and told him to lead. It set me up for more “refusals.”

2. Going down the steep hill he wanted to speed up and get sloppy. It wasn’t as bad as last year, but something I tried to nip in the bud by doing more hills today. 

3. He tried to canter up a hill that led back to the trailer. Most of that was exacerbated by him being out of shape and wanting to avoid powering from behind. But I can’t help but think that first refusal contributed, too. 

He took the lead going home, so leading wasn’t a problem, leading out was.  It was like he sent a message to the other horse, fall back, I’m taking over, and she did and he did. He just plowed forward confidently setting a faster walking pace than the other horse. 

The three things he did weren’t that big or bad, and my friend didn’t even notice them. They were subtle and, I think easily fixable. 

My trainer Katie was down there riding a horse for another client and I told her I’ll need her help getting him back in trail shape starting Tuesday. 

At any rate, it felt so good to be with him again. When he tried to get into that canter up the hill, I decided to go up, but then take another trail away from the trailer and continue our ride. 

It was my gentle way of teaching him a lesson, and he got the memo.  Don’t rush back home or you get more work. 

That last leg of our ride was our best. He softened up and I tuned into him more and patted him, talked to him. It was like we got on the same page again. (One of the issues with riding with a partner is that we can get distracted from our horses when they need more support, and I think that happened today.)

When we got back to the trailhead we did some more obstacles and he was trying so hard for me by then. I jumped off after the last one and made a big deal over him. Really loved him up and then walked him back to the trailer. 

It was a good start towards getting back to normal. 

The forecast is decent this week, 70’s and 80’s and even a few days of rain. It has been so long since we had rain. 

We need it. 

Bring on fall!

Spokane Fires

(Photo taken between equestrian area and Morin trailhead, day after the fire)

If you watch the news, you may have seen our city on fire. Everything hit at once: hot day, dry conditions, and strong winds. We don’t know what started it yet, but some people are saying arson. That has not been confirmed. (Update: a man has been arrested for arson. Witnesses saw him light grass on fire with matches and butane. His felony was for homicide in Arizona. He also had investigations for previous arson.) Although, I wouldn’t be surprised since so many are started that way. 

It began about a mile from our house, and we saw the initial smoke, late morning, but assumed they’d get it out quickly. That didn’t happen, and we began to see more and more smoke. 

We packed all of our important papers and items, hooked up the horse trailer, and began the watch. The wind was blowing it away from us with gusts up to almost 50 mph. We didn’t know if the winds would shift, but they weren’t predicted to, so we weren’t evacuated. Friends of ours were. 

In fact, one friend who evacuated was going to meet me for a ride that day, almost right where the fire began. (Same road) We canceled because of the winds and high fire alert. 

The fire tore through the park where I always ride and that you’re familiar with if you follow the blog at all. You might also remember all the tree thinning they were doing that worried the horses. And the chipping. And the fire trucks they’d have in there. 

I’m sure that helped. But it still tore through there and then jumped the Spokane River (you’ve also seen many, many photos of from trail rides) and then ripped up to residential areas and the VA hospital. So far, over 600 structures have been lost. Many people lost their homes. Our city is devastated. 

We were up all night, the night it broke out, taking turns listening for updates, in case the wind shifted and we needed to run. I’m exhausted. We all are. There are still hot spots and fire spots and smoke as 3 fires have almost merged into one. 

The Old Trails Fire, named after the road Old Trails where I was going to ride that day, grew to 3,619 acres. The Autumn Lane Fire along Long Lake (that is where we boat) is roughly the same and still growing. 

Our equestrian area was spared, but barely. 

Our city is covered in smoke. The fires are not contained. The wind has stopped. It looks like the apocalypse. We’re still packed to leave, should the situation change. 

But so far we have been very lucky. 

A Wonderful Summer Update

It’s time for an update. The weather last week was super hot (100+) and smoky, but we showed up for our weekly ride with Katie at a new location with more trees for shade. 

Katie said that at this point she’s not exactly sure she is necessary anymore, (except for accountability and inspiration to get out and ride even when the weather is awful, and that’s no small thing!) She said we have accomplished our goal of teaching the young ones to be trail horses and to ride well together, and she asked if we should end our lessons. 🥹 

We settled on a twice a month lesson, rather than every week, because we are not ready to let her go. We enjoy our Katie Time. And yes, it is making us more accountable and consistent. This week, however, we will be riding by ourselves. 

An update on my starling, Gulliver. 

He (or she) is six weeks old and such a fun addition to our lives. I had my work cut out feeding him by hand the last five weeks, but on cue, he is independent at six weeks—just as they are in the wild.

I made him a special “starling chop,” which he eats everyday, along with live bugs. The chop is frozen into muffin tins which can be removed from the freezer each day.

He is also practicing a variety of very humanish sounds, …and molting. Because of the molting, he spends a lot of his day in his attached bath. 

He has two cages, one upstairs in our living room, and one downstairs in our sunroom where he free flies. The one upstairs is on wheels so that we can roll him out on the deck with us each evening. His bedtime is 8:30 pm and he doesn’t like to eat until about 7:30 or 8:00 am.

Other than that, spending every moment we can with our family—birthdays, U-pick peaches, baseball games, concerts, dinners, and boating. 

Summer is flying by and, despite the heat and smoke (which disappeared today!!) it has been wonderful!

Summertime

It’s hot. The kind of hot that makes you want to fall out of your saddle into some shady spot and fall asleep or wait it out. The kind of hot where you drink half a bottle of water and are like, oh my gawd, I’m still thirsty and should have brought more. But there’s never enough.

It’s just…So. Damn. Hot. 

If you’re riding, you try to get an early start and stick to the trees. 

Or, head to the water. 

But let’s face it, this is officially boating season. 

It’s jump in the Columbia River, at the base of Whitestone Rock, and swim season. 

It’s sit on your deck as the sun goes down and visit with your friends and family season. 

Summer is in full swing here, and though it’s not, and will never be, my favorite season, it sure has started out to be a good one. 

Monday Missive

Hello everyone. Happy Monday. I’m writing this blog post and watching the US vs Belgium in the World Cup with my husband and our grandson. Soccer is kind of like watching paint dry, so I can multitask. (As I wrote that last sentence the US scored their first goal!! Woot! Woot!) (and Belgium scored!)

So much for watching paint dry. 

However, my last ride with Katie really was like watching paint dry as we left the trail head. I figured we’d liven them up by trotting the first bit, and that seemed to work. I wanted to get them to the section where Tweed saw the deer running alongside us. 

When we arrived at that point he tensed up and began looking for them. Katie was following on Epona and she said Epona also got reactive, but we made it through and the rest of the ride was easy and uneventful. 

The care of Gulliver (and grandson who is out of school for the summer) is making it hard to do trail rides, but Gulliver, at least, is becoming more and more independent very fast. 

And I’ve decided to keep him. A friend rehabbed a baby bird only to release it and watch a hawk swoop down within the very first minutes and snatch it. That was enough to convince me that I am now a starling mama—longterm. 

Also, he bonded with me and thinks I really am his mama. I was the first thing he flew to when he learned how to fly yesterday. Here are some videos, the first of his practice on July 4th, and then his success on July 5th. 

We are only at three weeks, so there’s no guarantee he will make it yet, but he seems to be thriving. 

I transferred him to a cage yesterday. That has also gone well. It’s on wheels so that I can move him to wherever I am. If I have to go on the road, I take him with us in a carrier so that I can continue his hand feeding every 20-30 minutes. He has been lots of places and travels like a champ. He was even on a boat again, and was happily preening, eating, and sleeping. Didn’t miss a beat. Now that he’s flying I won’t take chances traveling, but he should soon be foraging for food on his own. His diet is …interesting.  Live mealworms, berries, and softbill food.

So that’s my crazy life for this Monday. 

Never a dull moment when you embrace the bounty that is life. 

Gullivair’s Travels

“One world is marked by a bland forgetfulness, where we do not permit ourselves an openness to the simple, graced beauty that is always with us. The other is marked by attentiveness, aliveness, love. This is the state of wonder, which is commonly treated as a passive phenomenon—a kind of visitation or feeling that overcomes us in the face of something wondrous. But the ground of the word, the old English wundrian, is very active, meaning “to be affected by one’s own astonishment.” (Mozart’s Starling, p 75)

I continue to be astonished by my little starling, Gulliver. I’m pronouncing it Gulli-vair, just in case he’s a she. 

I’m beginning to think Gullivair is going to be my pet, but I also found out we aren’t allowed to have them as pets in my state. I’m reading the book, Mozart’s Starling, written by an author in my state who raised one in order to help write her book, and that is how I found out they aren’t exactly legal, but they also don’t enforce it. They only want to discourage the import and / or release of starlings. 

It is an excellent book if you want to find out more about how they got here and how they have affected the continent since they arrived. There’s also a lot on the history of the starling in Europe, with Mozart and others. Since they’re native there, they don’t face the same level of despisedness. 

He is growing so fast, I will need to start figuring out next steps. Cage. Grown up food. Etc. 

He is still being hand-fed every 20 minutes during the day, which has left me no other choice except to take him on the road with us everywhere. He’s been to my mom’s house, a baseball game, my son’s house, and several places in between.

He enjoys hearing me practice the flute next to him. I’m hoping that as a song bird he will decide to learn one or two for himself. 

Here he is today. I am so glad he’s not bigger. He looks like a mini-velociraptor.