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Cowhorse at the 2008 Fall World Championships
2/12/10 This week thanks to Facebook friends, I've been made aware of the problem of rollkur or overflexing in all areas of the high performance horse. As I saw people repeatedly voicing their disgust for rollkur, I became curious and looked it up and was shocked at what I saw. The severe exaggerations are obviously bad, but the less extreme look eerily like we (performance horse trainers/riders) do. Could we be practicing this thing that has created an international controversy? And could we be hurting our horses in the process? I had to find out!
My abridged opinion is, 'yes' we have purposely used these 'low and deep' techniques to train our horses. Side affects can be steadier head carriage, no more spooking, no more tail swishing, horse 'zoning out' and becoming more steady. These side affects/results all sound positive to me so I had to keep looking to see why people were so upset - not spooking sounds good to me. The problems occur when practiced over a long period of time the horses develop bone spurs on the back of their skull at their poll where the Atlas (1st vertebrae of the neck) connects, crushing of the trachea and guttural pouch causing a loss of oxygen and an excess of slobbering, severe pain in the withers from the Nuchial Ligament slipping down and severe pain and Kissing Spine in the lower back from a slack back muscle (because all the tension in the front of the horse causes the back of the horse to do nothing). These are the direct problems, the indirect problems include arthritic hocks, bad stifles, navicular disease, bad knees, bad shoulders, the list goes on and on.
We must study this carefully and draw examples, both good and bad from our experience to go forward in a positive way. 'Long and Low' are a great way to stretch but they must be done correctly. We will be studying this issue and putting our education into action. I encourage you to also investigate and draw your own conclusions. I can see where many of the new techniques like 1,2,3 , 1-8 and Tommy's 'lifting the base of the neck' and 'pushing the shoulders back into line' actually work in a balanced positive way without rollkur. I can see where many of our horses have been acting out in pain, not in belligerence.
Thank you Wendy Craig for posting this on your Status! Because of you, our horses will have a better life and we will have a better understanding of their bodies and how they work!
A Beginners Guide to Rollcur Rollkur: Behind the Vertical Explained Rollkur - How?
2/7/10 What a weekend Fox Point farm had this weekend!
First, Tommy, Madison, Avery, Robin and Bryan all took off on Thursday for the Dixie Nationals in Jackson, Mississippi. Although we had warned them of freezing temps and rain/sleet/snow, the girls were determined to see how they stacked up in the deep competition. Let's just say they held their own quite handily!
Both girls came out strong in the Hunter Under Saddle, Avery tied for Circuit Champion in Novice Youth Hunter Under Saddle, both girls placed well in 14-18 Hunter Under Saddle, we were thrilled! Equitation went really well with Madison placing high on all the cards! Madison brought her 'A' game for Trail and represented us well in all three Trail Classes. Avery won Nov Youth Western Pleasure with Madison 3rd, in 14-18 both girls were at the top of the pack! In Horsemanship they kept up their winning ways with Avery winning Circuit Champion in Nov Youth and Mads right behind her!
I could not have been more proud of them! They have both worked very hard all winter and they have looked great at home, but one never knows how things will go away from home under the pressure of a big show. It was also Madison's first show in 14-18. That is always a huge step up both in the competition but also in one's mind. Never underestimate the pressure your mind can put on you. Many successful riders 'go crazy' when they make this jump, they quit, switch trainers, sell their horses, its crazy what moving up can do to you! But Madison really showed her raising and hit that division with her strong spirit and succeeded! Avery surpassed everyone's expectations except Avery's and mine. Avery and I both saw the potential in Lacey back when she bought her. She even took a chance on a glitch in the vetting, believing we could overcome the issue. Avery has quietly worked her butt off all winter adding events and polish to an already winning team. Boy was Tommy surprised when he saw the changes that had occurred in both girls! We just keep pushing forward improving using all the tools we have acquired this fall from Rick Steed. Thank you Rick for helping us move up to a new level yet again!
I stayed home to take our Demo Team to the SC Horseman's Council Event at the new and improved Camden Equestrian Center! We had many of our 'original' members missing so we headed out with a few key players (Bekah, MacKenzie, Holly, Zoe and Emily) and a wonderful group of new excited members (Natalie, Amy, Alexis, Savannah, Cameron and Emma) too. We spoke before we left about keeping the relationship with their horses first in their minds. I reminded them that we are the only group who is organized (and not funded or endorsed by Parelli Natural Horsemanship) and does Natural Horsemanship demos featuring horses, ponies, kids and adults having fun doing really cool stuff using the Parelli-method. I explained how special what we do really is and how they had the ability to inspire people to create new relationships with their horses based on Love, Language and Leadership.
As we drove off, late as usual from some unforeseen truck issues, I had an expectation of a very small crowd with all the terrible weather we had had. I expected this would be a good 'practice' demo for all our new members. When we came upon the facility I was not prepared for what I saw - the entire place was packed with trailers and people everywhere! I was shocked and the nerves hit me hard!
We pulled in and the whirlwind began. We quickly unloaded and took our horses down to warm up. Skip was WILD and it seemed like it took forever for him to get focused. But by the time he was ready, we were all rushing to get down to the ring. Our music came on and everything flew by! A fuse blew and stopped things for a few minutes and the music operator was not familiar with the CD player, but the kids and horses were wonderful! Not everything went perfectly, but when issues arose, the kids handled it beautifully with style, class and emotional fitness. I was so proud! I think we are embarking on a super fun Demo Season this year!
Saturday night I was looking forward to attending the PPHC Year End Awards Banquet with winner Courtney Barnett. I rushed home, unloaded horses, took a shower and headed back to Camden for a fun night! The food was great, the awards were fancy and the company was amazing! Jennifer Weiss, Vicki and Amanda Lawton (boyfriend in tow) Courtney's parents and brother Lee were all present to enjoy her moment! She won in the Nov Youth Western Pleasure and got a beautiful embroidered plaid saddle bag. Later in the evening I got to be Madison and picked up her new SADDLE, buckle, spurs, headstall and more. It was a great night and I loved seeing and talking to many horseshow friends!
1/24/10 It has been a crazy past 3 weeks! We have had highs and lows, but we are always looking forward to a positive ending to every challenge we face! We have overcome a few challenges I will share with you today....
First, our biggest thing, Maggie had her puppies on 1/14! She woke us up under the bed breathing very heavy. I shot up and put her on a towel on the bed and she spent the next 30 min on her side breathing heavily. I called our vet and told them I was concerned for her. We had visited the vet a week earlier, getting an xray to see how many puppies we were having and to make a plan for Maggie if she had trouble (she had a c-section last pregnancy). Our vet said we could bring her right in in I thought she might be in labor and we rushed right over.
After 9 hours at the vet on Oxytocin and no puppies, Dr. Glenn decided to do a c-section. I rushed over to be in the room for the birth. I was a bit shocked by the situation. He explained that Maggie could not be put all the way 'out' because it could hurt her puppies, so I needed to not freak out if she made sounds or had a seizure when he opened her huge belly. They tied all four legs back and put the tube down her throat (after trying a few tubes that were too big) before opening her belly and pulling out her huge uterus. It came out in 2 horns, they looked like the small intestine if a horse, I was shocked it was so large, it covered her entire belly. I had asked for Maggie not to be spade before we began, but after seeing what she was going through and hearing Dr. Glenn comment on all the severe adhesions she already had and the new bruising, I quickly made the decision it was best for Maggie to have her spade.
Four beautiful puppies were born, 2 boys and 2 girls. Three merles and one tri or dark sable, it was a colorful bunch. We had to rub them HARD, then sling them up and down to get the fluid out of their lungs. They were motionless as we began, but as I rubbed I could see the fluid coming out until the puppy I was working on gasped for air. It was a surreal experience! As quickly as it began, the girls filled water balloons, put them in a box with the puppies, handed me Maggie and the bill and sent us home with a bottle and a can of milk replacer. I was overwhelmed.
We drove home with the tiny bundles of joy weighing between 5-7oz. Cassie had never needed anything extra from us, so we were not prepared for what came next. Arriving home and putting them all together in their box, Maggie was still groggy and didn't seem to recognize her puppies. An hour went by before she snapped out of it and began feeding and cleaning the puppies. I noticed the smallest puppy, a boy, seemed to have twisted back legs, I wondered if, like a baby horse, this was because he lay in the womb oddly and those legs would straighten just fine given time.
We had the box in our room next to the bed, as usual. Friday seemed normal, Saturday seemed normal. I got up early and went on a trailride with the kids and the Cowboy Church folks. (there is a story there, I will tell it later) When I returned earlier than expected, I rushed in to check on the puppies. As I looked into the box, my heart dropped. The tiniest puppy, the boy with the crocked legs, was lying motionless pushed away from the rest of the family. I freaked out because I had never faced this option. I LOVE my animals, my friends, my family, my life - I'm not prepared when bad things happen to any of them.
I scooped him up in my hand. His cold lifeless body shot me into crisis management mode. I prayed for him and thanked God for ending my day early so I could come home and react. Then I called the emergency vet in Charlotte who asked me how long had it been since the puppy ate? Tommy had gotten to the house and he said he had checked on them at noon, I got home at 4pm. So there had been 4 hours between checks, they said puppies must eat every 2 hours at that age to survive. They instructed me to warm the puppy and bring him there asap.
I grabbed the bottle and the milk replacer and the puppy and sped off on the 1 hr+ drive to the vet clinic. As the puppy warmed he began to squirm and later make little noises. I stopped twice to try to give him milk from the bottle. By the time we got to the vet he was warm, pink and wanting food. They rushed him back but before I made it through filling out all the forms, a vet came out holding my puppy. She looked at me as though I was stupid and informed me that she was the one I had spoken to on the phone, and why had I brought this healthy puppy in - he is pink and strong - take him home and put him with his mother. I said he was now, but it had been 5 hours since we knew he had last eaten and it would be over a hour getting back home again (it was 5:15pm), could they show me how to bottlefeed him? She said 'no', put him with the mother. I asked if he wasn't dehydrated, what about an IV? She said he was a little dehydrated, but he was a puppy, take him home and put him with the mother.
I walked out feeling nervous. I was glad he was fine, but I had driven all this way to get help. I was not concerned about money. My puppies sell for good prices, my precious Maggie was now spade and I wanted to grow out every baby of hers (I want every puppy, no matter what to live). I drove home, got fuel (I was on empty), and walked back in the house with a warm but very weak puppy. I put him to Maggie and he latched on for a moment, then stiffened. I freaked out! We called the vet back who just said something was wrong with him if he was going stiff. She talked to us for a few moments then rudely excused herself off the phone, 'bring him back if you really think something is wrong'. His body went limp again and we called Robin Castaldi who has successfully raised many tiny puppies. She said he was hypoglycemic and needed Karo syrup and subcutaneous fluids. We gave the Karo, he woke right up, we put him to Maggie again and he seized again. We called our horsevet who was out of town, but said she would give us fluids the next day. After struggling about 10 min, we jumped back in the truck to go back to Charlotte and the emergency vet. He died before we made it out of Lancaster.
I was devastated and was crying hysterically. Tommy was very angry that I had made the effort to save this puppy's life and nothing was done so he called the vet back and started asking questions. She said the puppy that arrived looked healthy, she had no idea it was close to death. She also said that if she had run fluids or done more most people would have complained about the bill. She was looking after us by not spending a bunch of extra money on 'just a little puppy'.
At what point does a puppy become important enough for the vet to try to save it? Is it not important until it gets sold? I think this s ridiculous! Every other time I walked in there they always want to go overboard, I've never had to push them. Letting a puppy die from hypoglycemia was ridiculous, this was a simple fix if I had known what to do and how to do it. I asked my breeder friends, who gave me loads of great information and leadership.
When another puppy became weak and started to fall behind the other two. I stepped up and started feeding her every 2 hours around the clock for 10 days until she was strong and could go back to nursing full-time. It was very difficult but totally worth it. Little Coco Babe is doing awesome now! Take a look at her pics! You will see a blessed little baby who had many people help to save her life! Thank you everyone who helped me feed and grow her to to a beautiful puppy ready to receive the torch from her mom, Maggie!
1/5/10 Happy New Year! We have had very wet weather the past 2 months but fortunately it stayed pretty dry for the 2 weeks surrounding Christmas for Christmas camp. It was cold but we had fun! Thank you to everyone who helped make it a success!
Our Myrtle Beach Trip has had to be changed to just the second week we planned to go because we found out the marathon is in town the first week and their are no rooms! It will be super fun with everyone together! I hope you can make it!
12/11/09 We have had a bit of excitement here lately with all the Event planning and I thought I might like to share a serious thing that has been happening in our area.
Several horses got sick and had to be put to sleep at Springs in Ft Mill. The entire Springs Horse Complex including the Greenway Riding Trails are quarantined. Bill Steele, who runs the barn there, has been totally honest and up front with all the horse community about the situation. e
Necropsies (autopsies) came back - horses do NOT have the EVH1 virus! No more community panic! They prob ate too many acorns or maple leaves.
12/7/09 I added the report on the Fall World Show. I hope you enjoy it! See below :)
12/4/09 I added the story of how we got Gracie and a report about Rick's clinic below. Hopefully I will get the World Show and Justin's party done soon too. Check out the story about Gracie, its pretty funny.
12/3/09 I have been furiously working on this website the past couple days in the rain. Its not really stuff you can see, but it should help us get found more easily and by more people on the internet. I've been learning about meta tags, their size, number of characters, etc. My head hurts a bit, but hopefully we will see the change very soon.
I had a big surprise yesterday from PNH. As many of you know, we had come up with a huge, fabulous concept for the Savvy Spotlights in Lakeview, FL in October. After we were in the Spotlights in Franklin, TN last winter, Pat had made some great suggestions to make our performance more easily understood and appreciated by 'his' audience. I took his suggestions to heart and had every intention of going back and really blowing the doors off the building with our performance. To read the rest of the story, click on The Final Straw here or above.
Moving Forward....
I have decided to get together with positive, progressive, motivated horsemen and women to create a PERFORMANCE NATURAL HORSEMANSHIP PROGRAM FOR KIDS of ALL AGES! I created a Vision and a Business Plan 2 years ago when Pat asked me to make one - well we need to do it ourselves! There are so many incredibly talented people out there wanting to change things - and its happening! Industry standards are changing! The practice pens and schooling areas are getting better! We all need to pay our bills, but nobody I know who trains horses and helps people every expects to become a multimillionaire or a rock star (outside of our little bubble). We are in this because we first love horses and truly want to see more horses be successful and appreciated! I love kids! I love the purity of their hearts and their love for the horses untainted, like ours once was. Now that its flooded/raining let's put our heads to coming up with some great ideas to get our message out there! I know Pat Parelli is a brilliant horseman and I will continue to support his program and its concepts, ideas and techniques. We use his work every day of our lives and I appreciate immeasurably the time and effort he has dedicated to bringing it to us. I do believe he has EARNED the financial success and status he has achieved. He has done things and opened doors nobody ever dreamed were possible before him. He has changed the horse business in a very positive way! I think we must continue to move forward and embrace all the exceptional talent we have before us today! There are great horseman around us, lets get together and support one another. Each of us has an amazing gift/talent, lets start sharing those so our next generation can be more open minded and well rounded than our generation.
If you would like to participate, contact me! I'm not asking for you to donate your time, we are all working to survive, but we can share ideas and teach kids (and adults) better ways to accomplish their goals! Aaron Ralston, from the RFD TV Show 'The Ride' contacted me, wanting to do a clinic here to share his idea of 'giving your horse a purpose for the maneuvers you ask him to do. Many horses today are drilled to death on maneuvers only and see no point (other than staying out of the line of fire) in doing what we ask.' Aaron has developed 'purposes' for our maneuvers, lets get together and learn from him! Rick Steed will be returning with his concepts of Simplifying Horsemanship by breaking everything we do into simple easy to follow Equations! He uses the same equations with the same answers over and over to build confidence in the horse, then strings those equations together to create advanced maneuvers. By building the advanced maneuvers with simple equations, even the most advanced maneuver on the toughest horse becomes simple! Cool idea! We would love to get Craig Johnson back again - he has brilliant drills to put softness and relaxation into lightning fast maneuvers. I'd love to have Mark Hauseman come and do despooking; Matt Gable come and present ways to get around problem horses' trigger points, etc. We have brilliant people all around us, we must recognize, celebrate and learn from them!
12/01/09 Its been 2 months since I last posted so I thought, I'd start fresh and maybe organize this past month a bit differently. I hope it is easier to read and a bit more entertaining.
Rick Steed Clinic
On October 24 and 25 we had a wonderful treat, my friend and Master Horseman Rick Steed came here to give us a clinic. He was magnificent as always and I think we all came away from the two days with a great deal of new information!
Saturday started with pouring rain and I think all our spirits were a bit dampened. We had a good turnout despite the weather, and I think they were wondering how it was going to turn out as we talked in the barn apartment watching it rain. The rain slowed down around 11am and Rick was ready to saddle up and get started with his first group; Madison, Bekah, Brodie, Summer and Avery.
Rick
likes to slip riders into 'like' groups and work with each group 2-3 hrs then
switch. I think each group got at least 3 turns each day and truly the riders
were dropping out before Rick was tired. His endless enthusiasm and energy is
perfect for teaching these small groups over and over. And I think each rider
got 3 private lessons on their needs each day. It was different than any other
clinic format I've been to, but it really worked!
The second group was adults: Tommy, Gary, Carol, Wendy and me. He speaks and teaches both children and adults equally well. He has an uncanny ability to read each rider and horse and teach them right where they are. I was actually surprised at how much differently he interacted with everyone than he does with me when I'm in Florida. On the second day I asked some questions about that, and found he had adjusted his teaching to my strengths and weaknesses which were different for each person. Apparently I am fairly extreme in many ways so I never got the 'firming up' portion of the program, I always get the 'lighter, lighter' version. He really showed me how he adjusts his concepts to different riders so they can grasp them most easily. I could see where I had been presenting very complex ideas to people who were not ready for them. I needed to find simpler equations to be able to reach more students.
On Sunday Summer couldn't attend but Wendy's daughter Katie did an awesome job with Connie (her horse) in Summer's spot.
It was a wonderful educational experience that I hope we can do again very soon! I expect we will have many more riders wanting to participate, sign up early when we set the dates.
Justin Fultz Party
2009 APHA Fall World Show
This year's Fall World Show was really rewarding because we got to really put our principles to the test. This year we got to take 3 horses who were perfect products of our program and present them on a national stage.
The most excitement surrounded Brownie, Tommy's new horse we got from Sue Haag. Sue had contacted me about him before the summer world show and we got him at the farm to try right after we got home. I loved him after watching him the first day, and felt he had the potential to be Tommy's ticket to really learning to jump well. Sue had him affordably priced and I was able to buy him as a late birthday present for Tommy in late July.
I had talked to Tommy about adding a new class to his repertoire, I constantly work on many different events and feel by stretching yourself to learn, one gets better not only at the new task but also adds new perspective to their old ones. Tommy agreed to add Hunter Hack, which he had played with a little bit on Jennifer Paschal's horse Clark before he went home. I realized he needed an experienced hunter to bridge the gap between weekend shows and adding strides, to the World Show and jumping the color and doing the numbers. Brownie seemed the perfect fit!
Now Brownie would jump the color and do the strides but he had no experience with our style of flatwork (hunter under saddle), he hacked like every other hunter with his head up moving right along. He would not walk well and had a tail like a flag. Tommy put good work into him without sacrificing his mind or body, and Brownie has really developed. Tommy put much effort into learning to jump confidently and by the time we hit Texas, he was looking good!
We had a practice the day before the class and it was as scary and challenging as those practices usually are. I rode Skip first, who was a complete professional. He went right down, jumped the color without blinking and made the strides perfectly twice. I just stopped, there was nowhere to go but down, he knew his job and marched right through it. Tommy brought Brownie down and the group of green stopping, spooking, leaping, scary horses had me worried about them. Brownie was a doll and started out trotting jumps until Tommy got loose and they started jumping from a canter. Brownie never stopped or missed his strides, although sometimes he had to jump a bit big coming out of the line. Tommy found the purpose of having one's weight deeply in his heels. At the end we all felt great about the class the next day.
When the morning for the class arrived I was a bit nervous. We had only gotten to jump the jumps in a different arena, what if Brownie had trouble in the John Justin? Would Tommy stay relaxed? I should have been riding Skip down a bit. He was acting perfect but I knew there was a chance he would 'come alive' when he hit the air conditioning. We schooled them outside and all went well once Brownie saw the jump. When we were ready we headed down the ramp.
Tommy
went early in the order and I held my breath as he entered the ring. Alone in
the big cold coliseum Brownie started looking around, when he got to the far end
he was really looking at the gate where a big speckled Great Dane had been the
night before. They came around the corner with Brownie still sightseeing, I was
worried. Then Tommy got very focused, the goal we had set for them was to make
it over the jumps, it was his first time jumping at the World and our
expectations ranged far and wide. If he could do the strides, it would be a big
bonus, we had no other big goals or expectations for this year. Tommy looked at
the jumps as Brownie got lost in the crowd and lights, he knew he needed to do
something to get his eyes and mind on jumping before they missed the turn and
the jumps. I had told him to cluck to him, not put his leg on unless he slowed,
just cluck to reinforce his desire to jump. Tommy clucked once and nothing
happened, he clucked again and Brownie snapped out of his daze and sighted in on
the line of jumps. It all of a sudden clicked with him, his purpose in this
frightening space and he took over jumping the first jump easily, lengthening
his strides to make the four, and airing himself (jumping high) over the second
fence. I was worried when I saw them keep going up over the second jump that
Tommy might get jumped loose, but he stayed right there, landing right with him.
They made a good turn, stop and back, it was over and they had done it! I was so
happy (and relieved)!
I was near the end of the order, and as many times before, Skip went in and marched right down the line, turned and stopped like a pro. He did however feel a little fresh, I hoped it would not be a problem in our flat part.
They called both of us back for the finals and I was overjoyed for Tommy! We both trotted in and worked our class. Skip was a bit too fresh but he has such a tiny window between too fresh and too tired, I need to show him more again to get better at finding it. He was good and I hoped Tommy was ok, I never saw him after we entered the ring until we lined up together to wait for the individual awards.
As we sat and chatted listening to each judge's placing, I was proud Tommy had accepted the challenge to try something new and we were here together at this moment. The last judge interrupted my sentiment when he announced Tommy's number in second place. It was so sweet, he looked at me, then they called his name, I said 'you have to go over and line up now'. He started to move and looked back and said, 'I've never come off the wall before, I've never come off the wall!' I almost cried. It was so perfect! He has always shown in such difficult classes that anything less than absolute perfection (plus a splash of luck) will garner you a prize. Here he was, in his newest event, lined up in second place, it was awesome!
He came back grinning and clutching his award, I think we were both too nervous to speculate any further. As they started to announce the Finalists, we kept listening for our names. Four people left, then five, then six; Tommy glanced over, they were to the Top Tens and we were still standing there. When they announced 10th place, his name and number flashed across the screen, it was a magical moment and I was so grateful the stars lined up for him. He rode forward and graciously accepted his ribbon - it was cool. I was next and rode forward for my 9th place.
What a cool deal for us to get to ride over the the photo booth and get our picture made together! I was so grateful, it was a very special day! Thank you to Sue Haag for selling us an affordable lovely horse that could really help us realize a dream!
After
that wonderful day, I got to show Brownie in the Preliminary Working Hunter
(used to be the Green Working Hunter). I was excited but a bit underprepared.
Our big goal was for Tommy to do well, if I had practiced a bunch for working
hunter, Brownie might have gotten too 'game' and forward for the hunter hack so
I had had minimal practice. Brownie was really good. He was still looking pretty
hard at the end with the scary gate, but he jumped all the color and made all
the strides. Our lack of practice showed when we had 2 late lead changes at the
scary end of the ring. Oh well, flying changes are something I can work on and
come back next year and have perfected. The hard part - the jumps and the
distances - were easy for him, I felt great when I was 11th overall. I can't
wait to practice more and go for a much bigger prize next year!
Skip was a sweetie but size was not on our side this year. At our first world show 9 years ago, Skip was a big horse and we even made the Finals in the Senior Hunter Under Saddle that year. Over the past 9 years the horses have gotten bigger and bigger to the point in the Open classes, Skip is really too small to be competitive for the English events. It is very sad for me, but I had made the decision not to enter the Senior Working Hunter again (a class he won in 2004) because the jumps have gotten so big and the lines have gotten so long for him. I would not risk him getting hurt to possibly win a ribbon or buckle. After watching some of the horses he has shown with for years struggle and trip and fall, I knew I made the best decision for my horse. I did show him in the Utility Driving and the Pleasure Driving again this year. We have gotten where we really enjoy the driving, although I was discouraged at the last show we had gone to where size and 'type' seemed to matter more than anything else. At least I was ready for that possibility. It came to pass and I had to muster much sportsmanship from inside to accept my placings this year. Tommy and I had discussed before we arrived that I would probably face this issue. We decided I would show for the joy of showing my favorite horse and to gain confidence in the driving classes. This way if a big fancy possible driving horse showed up, I would have the experience to really take it to the top. That is so much easier to grasp not in the moment. I had good trips, not perfect, but I gained experience and character as we flew around the ring keeping pace with horses a hand taller than my precious Skip. I think I'm ready for a 17h driving horse now.
Liberty was our 'wild card' for the Two Year Old Western Pleasure this year. His mom, Kathleen, was so perfect, she came up nearly every day (driving 3 hrs each way) to spend time with me and to support our natural program. When we arrived and I went in the arena and saw how big and how broke the other 2 year olds were, my heart sank. The trainers were spurring and jerking on them like they were 10 years old. Those poor babies looked fried before the show ever started. We stuck to our plan and brought Liberty along slowly and he was wonderful every time we got him out at the show. I think the longest we ever rode him was 45 minutes because each time he came out, he behaved and gave me his best effort. After watching the Novice Two Year Old class I felt much better, after the show I realized I should have been in that class with those horses, we would have matched up much better. Unfortunately it cost $2,500 to enter and I just did not have it ( and I would not have asked Kathleen). It was amazing how big, thick, strong, mature and broke the 2 yr olds in the regular class were! Lib looked like a gangly yearling next to them. I do not know how they grew those colts out so big that fast, but they were very impressive!
Liberty
was a doll to prepare and show. We never had to give any of our horses a gram of
bute or a cc of Banamine. Rick's idea of short effective works instead of long
grueling works, totally saved their minds and bodies! I never had any swelling
in any legs, much less swelling that needed wrapping or medical attention. All
three horses came home still fresh in mind and body. I was especially proud of
this with Lib because it is so easy to overdue the babies. I felt he gave us all
he physically had with a good attitude and super consistency. He was just too
immature to physically do the things the others could do. We left there with a
good trip in the class and a wonderful entire learning experience for both of
us. I think he will be better in the future for going and showing this year,
unlike many of the others who will probably not make it back.
At
the end of the show Kathleen and I came to an agreement for us to purchase
Liberty from her over the next year! I'm so excited about him! He is such a
wonderful horse with so much talent. He needs time to grow and learn. I'm stoked
about the future with him in all the events! Kathleen has allowed us to really
step up and have a wonderful great minded prospect for the future! We brought
him home and he has been on a much earned vacation since the show. He has run
and played, building great muscle throughout his body; he has rejuvenated his
mind and spirit! I think he will have a bit more time and we will bring him back
slowly. This is a horse for the long run, not for next week only. Skip is 15 yrs
and still solid and sound. I look forward to the next 15 yrs showing Lib!
It was a wonderful World Show. In the end we got 4 Top Tens and 1 Finalist ribbon. The biggest thing we came away with was physically and mentally happy sound horses. We did not sacrifice them to get that done. We put our horses before our goals and I think by doing so we will have those horses better and better for years to come!
Gracie
Gracie is the newest member of the FPF family. Gracie was born May 15, 2009 and is the daughter of a TINY AKC Sheltie female and an AKC Pomeranian male - Gracie is the new designer breed, Poshie. Initially we thought she was a sheltie but when we found out she was a Poshie we were excited and understood some of the excellent traits Gracie has. Coined 'Meatloaf' by Tommy, she is an adorable7 " and 5 lbs of fluff! She is super tiny, way smaller than any of our other dogs including Sydney! She has a huge coat already, kinda neat for a sheltie-type dog (normally at her age shelties look almost naked, between puppy and adult coats). She also has a itty bitty face, bigger than a pom but tinier than a sheltie. I have not mentioned the personality of this baby - unbelievable! She is brave and confident like none of our other dogs (even Sydney is more nervous than Gracie)! Best friends with Cassie, they wrestle and play all day long. She is an exceptional jumper and can already jump on the couch, everywhere she wants to go (except the bed, little too high yet). She is super smart and loves our training sessions, learning little tricks really fast! I think these four main characteristics (tiny size, huge coat, petite face, awesome personality) make her an excellent addition to our breeding program. For pet buyers looking for a pocket-size fluffy sheltie-looking dog, her puppies will be in serious demand!
Now for the 'rest of the story'.... At night I like to relax playing on my computer. Some days I mess around on Facebook, others updating our website, but most nights lately I have been cruising the internet checking out other tiny, toy, miniature shelties for sale. We get so many requests from wonderful people who write me touching emails desiring the perfect tiny sheltie (usually a sable female with a full white collar). I got curious and decided to check out what else was out there and I now see why I get such a great response, besides Helen in Columbia, its very difficult to find any solid (non puppy-mill) sheltie breeding program that really specializes in healthy tiny shelties. Because we have no kennel (our dogs LIVE with us in our house, in our car, in our bed, in every aspect of our lives) we can only have a limited number of dogs. Every dog is our pet and hopefully more than Cassie will decide to have puppies eventually. I have chosen the dogs we have very carefully, and once they join our family, it is a 'forever home'. (I had to place one male who was seriously misrepresented and I thought was going to have a complete mental breakdown living here with all the people, horses and activity) I am fortunate this is our fun, hobby, we earn our living with horses not dogs, and truly 'breeding shelties' is a great excuse to have a few more than would seem normal otherwise. Just ask our ancient JR terrier, Jack, 18 yrs this year and still pushing rocks and chasing horses.
Anyway,
I was surfing the net late one night and came across an ad for a sheltie puppy
in Louisiana on some random 'Craig's List'-type website. There were 5 blurry
pics of an adorable tri female and an affordable price so I emailed and copied
the phone numbers to call the next day. We were leaving the following week to go
to Ft Worth and it looked as though the puppy was right outside Shreveport,
which is on our way, so I could look and if I liked her, incur no $300 shipping
fee. The next day I called and talked to a lovely young woman named Grace who
explained the tiny puppy in the pics was now 6 months old and still for sale.
She had had a sable brother with perfect markings that sold right away, but in
her area buyers wanted sable boys, not tri girls. Even better I thought, I'd
have more idea of size, conformation, etc at 6 months than 6-9 weeks. I asked if
she could meet us in Shreveport the following Monday as we drove through. She
was hesitant, but agreed. I thought that was odd, but might explain why the
puppy was unsold.
We noticed Shreveport was about 850 miles from us so we tried to leave early that Monday morning, but as anyone leaving for a big trip with three horses and 7 dogs (1 in a leg cast) for 2 weeks knows, even the best laid plans don't seem to work out sometimes. We got off around 10am but the blown tire midday secured the fact we would not make Shreveport at a decent hour. I called Grace and explained our situation. She said she could not meet us after dark. I explained we had no choice and we could just come by their house and pick the dog up and drop off the money in the middle of the night. That really didn't go over well and I began to feel like she thought we were 'bad' people looking to rape or murder her. I then realized she lived with her parents, ok, I asked to speak to the mother to assure her we were safe. When the mom got on the phone I knew this wasn't going to happen, she sounded, older and like a woman who spoke first and probably didn't listen.
We came to an understanding, or maybe I came to an understanding, we were not going to their house and they would meet us in the daylight in town only. I was concerned the dog might get sold but realized I had no choice, the way it was looking we would have to wait 5+ hours for daylight with 3 horses, 7 dogs (1 with a cast) and 4+ hours left to drive to get to the show. Prince Tommy said he would do whatever I wanted, I thought it might not be the best time to push that so I started explaining to Grace how it would be much better for her puppy if I picked her up on my way back in 2 weeks. 'The dogs must live in our small living quarters and only get to go out once or twice per day. She will be new and such a small area might not help her learn to fit into the group.' Grace seemed unphased by my arguments and offered to keep the dog for $50 more for the 2 weeks. I agreed quickly but when that momma got back on the phone, she said she thought it wasn't enough. She thought the dog was way underpriced for such a beautiful puppy, but it was Grace's dog and her decision. She should just wait a few more weeks and she could get double the money for Christmas. I thought I better cut it off there, so I agreed on the additional funds and figured if I was meant to have the dog, it would work out.
Grace had told me she could text, so over the next 2 weeks I texted her often to ask about the puppy. I told her we were naming her Gracie after her and basically did my best to get her emotionally invested in me and in the situation. It seemed to be working great until the last day of the show, I got a call from her. I answered and immediately she sounded distant, I asked 'what's wrong'. She wanted to know if I really wanted the dog because someone had seen her and offered double the price I was paying. I had just known it (actually Tommy had known it), we should have waited to pick her up. But I trust things happen for a reason, so I decided instead of pressure (not a good strategy on something running backwards), I would use good old classic guilt. I told her she needed to look deep within herself and decide what she wanted to do. I definitely wanted the puppy but if she felt it best to sell her to the higher bidder, I would understand. It was up to her to do the right thing and choose what was best.
She only seemed mildly convinced and threw out this next objection. Since it was Saturday, tomorrow was Sunday and she could not sell the dog on a Sunday. They just didn't sell dogs on Sundays. Could I just come back Monday and get her? That aggravated me and I told her no, it was 850 miles from my house, we could not come back on Monday. We would be coming through on Sunday and we would either be picking up the dog or not - her choice. This seemed an insurmountable objection so I backed off and got off the phone to think.
I had an idea and texted her; 'She was not really selling the dog on Sunday, she had committed to sell her on a Monday 2 weeks before, I was just picking her up and dropping off the money on Sunday, the deal was actually done on a Monday.' She called me a few minutes later and sounded like her head was cocked sideways. She thought that might work, not certain, but that might work. If we wanted the dog we needed to be in Meddin at 1pm the following day and she might be there.
The
next day we loaded quickly and were off pretty close to on time until we got
lost and made 3 circles somewhere in Dallas. We ended up in the famous 'Gilley's
Bar' (from Urban Cowboy) turning around. Strange how things change - Chris Brown
(of Rhianna fame) was playing there, go figure? Anyway Tommy was getting
'stressed' and I said nothing. We got a text from Grace that they had church
from 8am-1pm then 3pm-6pm. We must be in Meddin in the Walmart parking lot at
1pm or we would not get the dog. I don't know about you, but I had no idea where
the Walmart was in some tiny town in LA. And it again made us feel like axe
murderers that they would only agree to meet us there.
We raced up the interstate and unbelievably got to the Meddin exit by 12:35. We needed fuel and proceeded the 20 min back in time down the highway to the Walmart. As we were driving Grace called, 'where are you?' she asked. 'Almost there,' I replied. We pulled into the parking lot at 1:07pm and there was a rickety old pickup with cages in the back, lawn chairs all around and a hand painted sign (looked like a 2nd grader made it) 'puppies for sale'. We about came apart until we saw white fluffy little angels being sold by and to the most inbred looking people I'd ever seen. I remembered 'our' dog was black and white and our people did not sell on Sunday. We parked lengthwise in the crowded bustling parking lot and sat. Looking around I realized we had no way of knowing who we were looking for, but surely they could find us in this sea of old faded cars. When after 10 min nobody materialized, Tommy started telling me how this was never going to happen, 'that girl took the money yesterday but couldn't tell you.' I was certain I couldn't have been tricked and took out my phone to call her. After getting her voice mail twice, my spirits were fading when Tommy suggested we call with his phone - different number she didn't know - she answered on the second ring. I asked what kind of car she had, and again she started stuttering and asked me what we were in. I said, 'large white truck, large white horse trailer with a cart on the top' - like there were 10 trucks with horse trailers sitting there and she needed more info. 'We are in a white Buick Century,' she said. As I hung up I thought my mother had had one of those back in the 80's, I thought they stopped making them long ago, as I looked up I knew I was correct and this car had lived a long life for sure.
As it approached driving straight toward us across the empty parking spaces I saw the reason they had not wanted me to come to their house. With the sun behind the car I could see more heads than any Buick should try to accommodate stuffed inside. When they started piling out, we were looking at a flash from the past, girls in long dresses to their necks and ankles, little square leather shoes and braids. The boys wore dress clothes of various sizes and all 8 children before us looked at us as strangely as we looked at them. Perhaps my mouth was open or my eyes were big, but when the smooth talking, hair greased back father came around the hood, I nearly jumped.
He smiled a creepy smile and reached out to meet my hand as I introduced myself. Tommy was nearly hiding behind me in total shock, 'I guess they did think we were axe murderers', he whispered. A lovely older girl with her hair up in a bun had gone to the trunk and was coming back with a bird cage containing two frightened dogs huddled together shaking. I had asked her to bring the mother (her dog) so I could see her size and conformation, and before me was this tiny beautiful female sheltie that looked exactly like my Bella. A lump came up in my throat when I saw her, I wanted to offer Grace more money and sweep her away, but I refrained realizing this dog may be the way this lovely young woman gets to interact with others outside her group. Maybe this dog would be they key to the money and opportunity for a new life if she so desired. We spoke softly to one another as Grace lifted her female from the cage. Smaller than most of mine, but bigger than Maggie, this petrified female was a picture of a sheltie in miniature. I was impressed. The tiny puppy lay beneath her, like a chick under a hen and froze when her mother was taken out.
I immediately handed Grace our money in hundred dollar bills. She looked at it and said 'I have no change, I owe you $25 back,' I looked at her and said, 'its fine, you held her for me when you didn't have to. Keep the extra $25.' She appeared overwhelmed and I was hoping our truck full of screaming 'mi-dgets' (pron. mee-jays, like Target is tar-jay. It makes them feel French, they like that.) was far enough away to not change her mind. I wanted her very attached to that money before she saw our brood who had been pent up for 2 weeks and seemed ready to devour her family.
She was super nice, seemed to not even notice their insane behavior, and asked if she and the other children could see our dogs and horses. I had the puppy in my hands before we approached the truck ( some breeders might have totally backed out when they saw our truck full of barking dogs and thought we had some sort of puppy mill; but what puppy mill travels with all their dogs and each dog has a collar with their name and phone number on it?). They were as excited to see my dogs as my dogs were excited to see them, and I spent several minutes showing them all the animals. As we walked back toward their car, I asked one quiet little boy with teeth lined across his bottom lip, his name. Obviously I had done something wrong because his face froze and he said nothing, his savvy sister hit him with her elbow, 'tell her your name is Samuel, tell her.'
I dropped my eyes and decided I better leave him alone. When we got back to their car I noticed Tommy looking rather tight and rather pale listening to the father speak. Apparently he had been preaching to Tommy about how the Devil gets into children, how we needed to get him out of ours and other various and sundry Bible verses. I had no idea and started small talk with the dad and asked where the mom was, 'she had a headache they all said in unison,' strange I thought. He explained they had 11 children, I'm not sure where the other 3 were. He also asked where we were going. When I said, 'South Carolina' his eyes twinkled, 'I got my wife there,' he said. 'Where,' I asked. 'Don't rightly remember. It was about a hour from Greenville, I think. Been a long time ago.' My mouth dropped again and Tommy quickly interrupted and said we needed to get going.
We
said goodbye and jumped into the truck. Tommy sped away like something was
burning behind him. You see Tommy doesn't like all that Devil talk and he was
ready to get out of that throwback town. As the miles passed Tommy, the puppy
and I started to come out of our daze and the puppy began to show us some cute
personality. By the time we hit the Mississippi line, little Gracie seemed to
wake up into this playful darling little soul. She rode on my shoulder all the
way home exclaiming she was happy to be free at last!
Amy and Lucy
Amy's horse Lucy has really been through quite a time in her short life already. Amy Abermovich and her mom, Sue, knew they had met 'the one' when Shannon Terry brought the lovely 3 yr old to a FPF Open Show back in the summer. Their hearts were set and the bay mare was theirs in a matter of weeks. When we returned from the Summer World Show, Lucy in all her glory arrived! Full of life and opinions, she filled Amy's time and Amy filled her busy mind. It was a matter of days before Lucy decided Amy's ideas were better than her own. It was beautiful to see a young girl do things with the mare that adults had failed to do before her. It really drove home the concept of 'relationship first' to me.
Unfortunately another young mare had gotten a cold and passed it to Lucy and Lucy spent much of August under the weather. Always positive, Amy and Sue came out nearly every day to visit her and check on her progress. Once she was better Amy went back to riding her. We were a bit surprised when Lucy started back almost right where we had stopped.
Another setback hit when Lucy came in from the pasture with a small cut on the inside of her hock around the beginning of October. Our vet was called immediately and, unfortunately, did not realize the severity of the wound. Meds were given (mostly by our vet) for the next 2 weeks with no visible improvement, we were getting concerned. Finally Sue asked to be referred to a vet hospital for a second opinion. Little did we know this was about to be the start of an unbelievable rollercoaster ride.
Lucy arrived in Raleigh (NC State) in the middle of the night with a very painful and swollen hock. The vets were immediately very concerned and felt the window of opportunity to help Lucy had been nearly missed. After taking another xray (our vet had xrayed but found nothing), they found bone fragments in her horribly infected hock joint. Apparently it was not a cut, but a sharp blunt force trama from something very sharp that hard gone in and shattered her bone. She had to have an immediate surgery to remove the bone chips and to try to remove the infection which was way too close to the joint.
After the first surgery Lucy seemed to perk up for a short time, but our worst fears were realized when the joint was discovered septic. She needed another risky expensive surgery to open up the joint and remove the infection to have any hope of survival. Sue had complete faith in the team and in the horse, and they elected to proceed with the second surgery. Portions of infected bone were removed from the hock, hopefully removing the infection but leaving enough bone to enable Lucy to have a functional joint after it was all over.
The joy we all felt following this second surgery was shortlived as Lucy became very sore on her hock in a few short days. A joint tap revealed the joint still had infection in it and I thought we were out of options. The vets gave her a few days on a new powerful medicine to see if there might be hope, if the numbers were worse, Lucy would be euthanized; if the numbers were better, Lucy would be sent home with the drug.
Fortunately her numbers were better so we drove to Raleigh when we got home from Ft Worth to get her. She looked good and seemed to have calmed down quite a bit throughout the whole ordeal. She was sent home with 2 weeks of a box of meds to be given every 6 hours, if a dose was late or missed she would die. The medicine was also dangerous for us to handle. Contact with the drug could cause aplastic anemia and in 1 out of only 10,000 people it causes death. Even with the risks we proceeded to do our best to save her life.
We are in the middle of a grueling every 6 hours medication schedule. She received 4 60cc syringes full of meds each time. It is truly a major commitment of time, effort and perseverance on the parts of Tommy, Amy's family and the vets to keep this lovely mare alive and recovering from what could have been a life ending accident.
Sydney
Sydney is a new member of our family. She is a 4 yr old Papillon from April Muenger of Serenity Papillons in Seneca, SC. I got this big idea I wanted a pap so I searched far and wide for a suitable match and found Sydney. She was bred and raised by April who raised 4 litters of puppies out of her before she decided to place her in a new home.
Sydney is unlike any other dog I've ever had. Although she is tiny, about 7" and 4-5 lbs, she is tough as nails. She decided I was her person on the trip home and will fight to keep her position right next to me. She prefers to be held like a baby right to your chest, but sitting on your shoulder like a parrot will suffice. In the truck she rides right behind your neck, its quite nice and warm and leaves my lap free to pet another family member.
Papillons are usually fluffy longhaired dogs, but poor Sydney is a bit hair-challenged at the moment so I have just had to go out and purchase her some clothes. Currently she has a winter coat, sweater and 2 dresses. I've never had a dress-up dog and this is really fun!
Sydney wouldn't eat well the first few weeks we had her and I was worried and puzzled. I asked April and she suggested adding cooked chicken to her food to entice her to eat more. She would eat the chicken but not the dogfood. Frustrated we hit the jackpot when we went to my step-brother's house for Thanksgiving, his dogs had bowls of food sitting out on the floor and once Sydney found them, she inhaled them. Embarrassed I asked his wife Andrea what type of food it was - Purina One Lamb and Rice, she said. How long has it been since you fed her? I explained our dilemma and vowed to get the same food once we returned home. I did yesterday - it was $35/bag! Sydney will eat it a little better than our normal $15/bag food, we hope she will get less picky over time.
We absolutely love her and if we had room, I'd have several more. Sadly this tiny bundle of opinion is all we shall have for a bit. I'd definately recommend the breed!
Current News 11/01/08 - 10/01/09
Current News 3/17/08 - 11/01/08
