Henk writes:
It's show season! For us, that means getting our manes french-braided and doing everything from dressage tests to trail classes to leading patterns, all the while being filmed on video. The videos are then uploaded to Para-Equestrian Canada where our riders compete on video against riders from across the country, all of them with some kind of disability.
What a cool idea. We horses get to show off to people we've never even met, and the riders love it, too. They not only get to see themselves on video (on our Facebook page: Stonegate Farm Therapeutic Riding), but they have a chance to win some pretty nice prizes, too (our favourite prize is the Studmuffins).
On Monday my protege, Louis the Canadian, did a really elegant dressage test with Sarah. Now, Sarah is a wee slip of a thing, and Louis is... well... a tank... but they did SUCH a lovely job. Their circles were round, their transitions happened in the right places, and Louis even shifted his usually lazy trot up a notch. Sarah rode it beautifully. She was pretty thrilled!
Next day, Louis was up again, this time doing a leading class and an equitation class, along with Dooley the Appaloosa. Now Dooley, being 26 years old and a patient sort to begin with, is content to get led around and do the same patterns over and over again while the camera rolls. He followed his riders around like a puppy in the leading class, and then did the equitation class twice with each rider, happy as a clam. But Louis is like me -- too smart by half and very easily bored. He memorizes the pattern after going through it once and then starts looking for ways to make things more interesting for himself. In last year's competitions he knocked over one of the jump standards we use for the kids to put rings on, while I destroyed the course of cones (just once, though... we did get a great video in the end!). This year, however, Louis is controlling himself admirably. He only forgot himself once -- grabbed Carolyn's shirt sleeve in his teeth as she was leading him in the trot during Emilee's equitation class. But he let go almost right away!
I really hope our riders do well. Some of these kids don't get to compete in any other kind of sport, and being able to go up against riders from all over Canada? Wow. What a feeling that must be.
We'll be filming trail classes and more dressage tests next month.
I think I'm as excited as the riders. I can't wait to find out how everybody did.
Beats a regular old horse show anytime.
Wednesday 24 August 2011
Thursday 4 August 2011
Top 10 Ways to Keep Your Human Devoted
Henk writes:
Fellow equines, I don't have to tell you how important it is to keep your human madly, passionately in love with you. Human devotion gets you the best treats, accommodation at the nicest stable, and a rider who is forgiving on those days when you really don't feel like working hard. To helps you keep that human eating out of your hand (or, more to the point, feeding you out of her hand), I've compiled a top-10 list of proven methods to keep your relationship strong:
1) Set the tone right from the start by whinnying and rushing to the gate or stall door the moment you spot your human coming. Humans are big on oral communication, so the whinny is important. Otherwise, she might think you're just looking for a juicy apple or maybe your dinner.
2) Be cute. There's nothing shameful in this, even for a large, dignified, magnificent equine, as long as you don't over-do it. When I work in therapeutic riding lessons, I like to pick stuff up in my teeth and wave it around (like the stuffed toys riders are supposed to be tossing into buckets). The humans go wild. I've also been known to step on the plastic cones instead of going around them. My protege, Louis the Canadian horse, is very good at knocking things over with his butt when his riders steer him close (to a jump standard, for example, where they're supposed to place a ring). Then he looks all innocent and surprised. It gets a laugh every time.
3) Be charming and attentive. Try sticking your nose into your human's hair and blowing out through your nostrils. Even play with her hair a little, using your upper lip. She'll melt into a tiny human puddle.
4) Once in a while, give her exactly what she wants while riding. A "holy-cow-that-was-awesome" extended trot, a perfect lead change, a sliding stop -- whatever discipline the two of you practice together, pick a difficult movement and just give it to her. Your human needs the occasional reward for all her hard work, and it will remind her what a talented equine athlete you are!
5) After any encounter with your human, give her the "you're my favourite human in the whole wide world" look. When she puts you in your stall and paddock, stop, glance back over your shoulder with your ears pricked up and your eyes all soft and soulful like you just need to get one more look at her before going back to your horse business. Try not to let the juice from your apple or carrot dribble down your chin while doing this. It destroys the effect.
6) Use your physical assets to their best advantage. Being a Friesian, of course, I'm just one big physical asset on the hoof, but even lesser equines can pull this off. My friend Moose, a Belgian-cross, knows how to stand in the paddock so the breeze catches his long blonde mane and blows it fetchingly around his face. That mane even got him the cover of Lil's book, a fact that still irks me. Bella the resident pony uses her small size and cute little face under a bushy forelock to get the extra carrots, and never mind that inside that tiny little body lives an evil pygmy soul.
7) Follow your human around, even when you're not on a lead rope. They think this is pure devotion. You can amp up the effect by sticking you nose in the small of your human's back. But be careful not to knock her over if she stops suddenly. Humans are quite fragile and you need to respect the size difference.
8) Play games. Fetch a ball or kick it, chase your human around in a game of tag. She'll go silly. An added bonus is that this will drive the dogs nuts. You're stealing their gig! How long will the human bother with them if you can do all the cool dog stuff as well as being a horse?
9) Really enjoy the treats your human gives you. If you get blissed-out, eyes half-closed, chewing like a llama working on its cud, she'll feel so good about being nice to you that she'll probably give you another carrot. And you'll come across all grateful.
10) Buck and gallop around your pasture when you're turned out for the day. This strengthens the human's illusion that she's giving you your freedom (right, that's why there's a four-foot fence around you) and that you love the home she's made for you. Besides, it's a great reminder of what you could do to her under saddle. But you don't. Because she's a great rider. And you love her. Of course you do.
Fellow equines, I don't have to tell you how important it is to keep your human madly, passionately in love with you. Human devotion gets you the best treats, accommodation at the nicest stable, and a rider who is forgiving on those days when you really don't feel like working hard. To helps you keep that human eating out of your hand (or, more to the point, feeding you out of her hand), I've compiled a top-10 list of proven methods to keep your relationship strong:
1) Set the tone right from the start by whinnying and rushing to the gate or stall door the moment you spot your human coming. Humans are big on oral communication, so the whinny is important. Otherwise, she might think you're just looking for a juicy apple or maybe your dinner.
2) Be cute. There's nothing shameful in this, even for a large, dignified, magnificent equine, as long as you don't over-do it. When I work in therapeutic riding lessons, I like to pick stuff up in my teeth and wave it around (like the stuffed toys riders are supposed to be tossing into buckets). The humans go wild. I've also been known to step on the plastic cones instead of going around them. My protege, Louis the Canadian horse, is very good at knocking things over with his butt when his riders steer him close (to a jump standard, for example, where they're supposed to place a ring). Then he looks all innocent and surprised. It gets a laugh every time.
3) Be charming and attentive. Try sticking your nose into your human's hair and blowing out through your nostrils. Even play with her hair a little, using your upper lip. She'll melt into a tiny human puddle.
4) Once in a while, give her exactly what she wants while riding. A "holy-cow-that-was-awesome" extended trot, a perfect lead change, a sliding stop -- whatever discipline the two of you practice together, pick a difficult movement and just give it to her. Your human needs the occasional reward for all her hard work, and it will remind her what a talented equine athlete you are!
5) After any encounter with your human, give her the "you're my favourite human in the whole wide world" look. When she puts you in your stall and paddock, stop, glance back over your shoulder with your ears pricked up and your eyes all soft and soulful like you just need to get one more look at her before going back to your horse business. Try not to let the juice from your apple or carrot dribble down your chin while doing this. It destroys the effect.
6) Use your physical assets to their best advantage. Being a Friesian, of course, I'm just one big physical asset on the hoof, but even lesser equines can pull this off. My friend Moose, a Belgian-cross, knows how to stand in the paddock so the breeze catches his long blonde mane and blows it fetchingly around his face. That mane even got him the cover of Lil's book, a fact that still irks me. Bella the resident pony uses her small size and cute little face under a bushy forelock to get the extra carrots, and never mind that inside that tiny little body lives an evil pygmy soul.
7) Follow your human around, even when you're not on a lead rope. They think this is pure devotion. You can amp up the effect by sticking you nose in the small of your human's back. But be careful not to knock her over if she stops suddenly. Humans are quite fragile and you need to respect the size difference.
8) Play games. Fetch a ball or kick it, chase your human around in a game of tag. She'll go silly. An added bonus is that this will drive the dogs nuts. You're stealing their gig! How long will the human bother with them if you can do all the cool dog stuff as well as being a horse?
9) Really enjoy the treats your human gives you. If you get blissed-out, eyes half-closed, chewing like a llama working on its cud, she'll feel so good about being nice to you that she'll probably give you another carrot. And you'll come across all grateful.
10) Buck and gallop around your pasture when you're turned out for the day. This strengthens the human's illusion that she's giving you your freedom (right, that's why there's a four-foot fence around you) and that you love the home she's made for you. Besides, it's a great reminder of what you could do to her under saddle. But you don't. Because she's a great rider. And you love her. Of course you do.
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