Maureen's Blog

I haven’t said this since Barbaro – I did think he had what it took – I think we could have a Triple Crown winner this year.

I think I’ll Have Another has what it takes to win all three races.  I am looking forward to the Preakness!

Yesterday dawned warm and sunny.  I had to go get hay in the morning and got home at 11.  In the morning, usually around 9:30 or so, I put out 5 horses.  Huey, Lucy, Chance, Beauty, and Zola.  Below is a photo of the farm taken from the hill as I approached it the other day.  All the green that you can see on the left (west and north) side of the road is fenced for the horses.  In fact, you can see them as 2 clusters, one to the right of the pine tree that’s to the right of the house, and the other further to the right, waiting to go out.

The area on the other side of the road (the right in the photo) is open – unfenced along the road.  This is where I let the horses graze.  The ones that I trust not to go adventuring.    The gate to the enclosed area is where the second group of horses is standing.

Barely visible in the photo – behind the pine tree – is a light pole  You can make out the security light at the top if you look closely. You need this information in order to have a good picture of what happened yesterday.

 

Anyway, I turned the 5 horses out some time after 11.  It was in the mid seventies and sunny.  After that, I went in to have lunch. I left the hay on the truck, planning to unload it after I ate.  My other plans for the day were to trim a couple horses and work with Zola – hopefully riding her.  At around 1, just as I was going outside to unload the hay, I heard thunder and felt a few drops of rain.  Knowing I didn’t have time to unload the hay off the truck then stack it in the horse trailer, I threw a tarp over it to keep it dry.  In 20 minutes or so the rain was gone and I went out and dealt with the hay.  A good lesson on not procrastinating.

The sun is out again, so I feed the horses in the enclosure their lunch hay and some alfalfa pellets and go back inside to do a little work on the computer before switching horses.   Usually, around 2:30 or 3:00, I put Huey and Lucy in, and let Bettina out.  I don’t trust Bettina out loose with Huey, as Bettina is an adventurer (still at 24!). If Huey is not with her, she will not leave.  I have given up the idea of riding Zola as she is wet, it rained, and I can see clouds approaching.

So around 2:30 I switch horses.  At a little after 3:00 – the time that Chance, Beauty, Zola, and Bettina get their grain – Zola comes over to the horse trailer and I feed her.   As she was eating – the signal that food has been served – the other three came wandering up to get theirs.  Each horse has his/her own bucket and there is no bickering.  As each one finishes they head back out to graze some more.

I go back inside, trying to get something accomplished on the computer – on my super slow connection.  It’s not long before a huge black cloud appears and it starts pouring.   I consider going to put the horses in, but they seem totally unconcerned, so I leave them out.

When I say it poured, I mean it poured.  It had to be 2 inches of rain in minutes. It was a deluge.  I decide to go put the horses in, but just then the lightning started.    It was still pouring and it was nearly black out.  I will admit – freely – that I am really afraid of lightning.  I decide to wait til the worst of the storm passes to get the horses.  I can barely see them through the rain and gloom, but no one seems upset. By which I mean no one is acting frantic, they have their butts to the wind and are grazing.

The thunder and lightning are just not letting up and I debate on getting the horses and putting them in. I want them in.  They probably want to be in.  But if I die it won’t really do them any good.  Finally, I decide to just go do it.  I put on my jacket and boots and go out.  I have to open the door (metal!) of the trailer tack room to get a lead rope, but I survive.   I have to walk at least 500 feet to get to the horses, and it’s nerve wracking.  The storm is still going on, thunder and lightning are nearby –way too close for my taste – and it’s raining.  And windy.  And dark.   I try to block the lightning out of my mind.

I go up to Beauty and clip the lead rope to her halter (it has metal rings!) and I survive.  I head up the road to the gate and the other horses trot through the field and meet us there. Clearly they too want to be in!  Zola gets there first and of course Beauty is not allowed too close, so I have to really stretch to get the gate open.   I have to say everyone was well behaved – there was no pushing or shoving.  I got the handle undone and tossed it over onto the ground.  Zola went in, followed by Tina, and Chance, and then me with Beauty.  I took off her halter and then had to go get Bettina’s.  Chance and Zola I trust without halters.

I wasn’t happy to be carrying halters and a lead rope – too much metal!  And it was kind of scary picking up the handle to the gate and hooking it back up.  But I made it.  Putting the halters and the lead rope into the trailer was scary – metal door!  But I made it.  However, I didn’t say “I lived,” until I was back inside. Whew!

Then I noticed that the power was out.  OMG.  That is the very first time we’ve lost power since I’ve lived there, and we have had some storms.

I didn’t really think anything of it.  The storm had really had a lot of lightning – big lightning – and I figured it would be back on shortly. After an hour I called the Meade County RECC (the electric company) and asked if anyone had reported the outage on John Drane Lane.  The man who answered was very nice and said they had reports of several outages, but yes that one too.  He then asked for my address, confirmed my name, and assured me they would get to it.

I was impressed.  I have called other electric companies and just gotten a curt, “yes, we know about it.”

So I figured it would be on shortly.  The major portion of the storm had passed and there was enough light to read for a while.  At 8:30, the power was still off, so I decided to go to bed, as I had to get up early to head to Somerset, to trim horses.

I don’t know what time it was when I woke up – since the power was out.  I heard what sounded like a large vehicle on the road.  Unusual, as I am the only resident at the moment.  I looked out the window and there was a big truck parked in front of the pine tree, and a person was walking in the field, with a flashlight.  I yelled out, “who are you?”, and got the response that it was MCRECC.  The man told me they were checking the poles as there was a short somewhere in the line.   Good, I thought.  I was pretty sure it was down at the property at the end of the road.  I had seen lightning down there and the thunder had been almost simultaneous.

Back in his truck, the man checked the next two poles, but I could see by his tail lights that he hadn’t gone all the way down to Tom’s.  I threw boots on and stopped him on his way out.  He said he knew there was one more pole, but his partner was walking down the hill and he wanted to get him because the lightning had started again.

So several minutes later they were back.    Then they left.   I fell back asleep.  Then they were back, different kind of truck.  They go to the pole further down from my light pole – which surprised me, as there is nothing on that pole – it just holds the line up.  But what do I know?  I can see, when their spotlights are just right, that they are raising one of those bucket things to the top of the pole.

After a while they appeared to be done and were headed out.  Just then a pickup truck pulls up and they get out and talk to each other.  I can see someone pointing to my light pole.   Uh oh.  I have visions of having to take down part of the electric fence so they can get in.  I look at all the mud and can’t imagine they won’t get stuck.  Finally one of the men goes into the field and I put my boots back on and go out.  He explains to me that they have stopped the power at the second pole, by putting in an insulator, and they are now going to test to see if my pole is the problem.  I am still pretty certain it has to be Tom’s pole down at the very end.  I was outside when the power went out, surely I would have noticed something.

It takes several minutes to turn the power back on to my pole and then bam!  Sparks shoot out of it and fall to the ground – just like in the movies.  Yikes.   I tell the guy I can’t believe lightning struck that pole and I didn’t even see it.  He tells me lightning is funny.   No s***!

I imagine the worst at that point.  The electric fence will have to come down, etc.   But no.  The man says he thinks it’s good now.  Really???  How can that be?  Shows what I know.  They take the insulator out of the line at the other pole and turn the power back on again.  And voila!  Let there be light.

So what did I learn?  That lightning is tricky.  That what appears to be electrical carnage can magically be fixed.  And that I really love my horses.

. . . And when I decide to block lightning out of my mind, I am clearly very good at it!

This is totally off-topic of racing, but I stumbled over these while looking for support for my course on women & horses.  The point for which I wanted stories, other than my own, was horse intelligence and how they do things we would never expect.

Click here for a perfect case in point which made the news only today.

And click here for another.

Yesterday, as I usually do, I turned  Zola, Bettina, Beauty, and Chance out in the big field for a couple hours – prior to supper hay.  As a special treat for Roxanna, I put her out too. Around 4:30 my neighbor/tenant came by to borrow the post driver.  While we were talking he looked over his shoulder and then reported that the horses had just galloped over the hill.  I wasn’t too concerned, as there is nowhere for them to get out over there, but I did get my boots and jacket on and went out with the intention of going to get them.  As I got to the end of the driveway the horses came thundering back over the hill.  Oh crap!

It was awesome though.  I love to hear and see horses running.  As they came closer my only goal was to slow them down before they decided it might be cool to gallop up the road.  I stood at the spot where the field meets the road, spread my arms, and started saying whoa in a loud, but calm voice.  Everyone slowed down to a canter, ducked around me, and went into the backyard – where they then stopped.   Whew!

Roxanna, Beauty, Chance, and Bettina quickly turned to grazing, but Zola had her head up looking for more action.  This made me feel good, as she is a very quiet looking horse. Her energy is usually well contained and most observers would think her too quiet for a racehorse.  I know that’s not true, as I have seen her hot side, but it’s always nice to know it’s still there.  That little gallop had just gotten her warmed up and she was wound tight and wanting to run.   And of course this was the day that I had turned her out without a halter! (I only have 3 everyday halters as somehow the other 4 had disappeared.)  However, as high as she was, she let me walk up and put a halter on her and followed quietly – though high-headed – as I went to put her safely away.

I have no proof, but feel Roxanna was responsible for the stampede – so she will not being going out with those guys again.

One of my trimming clients has suggested I do a Women & Horses clinic.  I’ve decided to go ahead and schedule some.

This is really a subject close to my heart – developing relationships with horses – and I have the perfect place and horses to do it.

As a trimmer I’ve come to see that so many horse owners are middle-aged women who love horses, but are afraid of them.  This fear comes from a natural caution regarding large animals, which is healthy, but even more so from a lack of true understanding of horses. In thinking about this over the past week, and also conversing with a friend who just bought a horse she can’t catch, some things have dawned on me.

First, “Natural Horsemanship” has started to annoy me.  You hear the buzzwords everywhere  – Natural Horsemanship this, Natural Horsemanship that.  The latest was on RFD-TV where a guy was selling a halter similar to Monty Roberts’ “dually halter”, as a Natural Horsemanship halter.  But it’s really about using leverage (force) on the horse.  I then realized that Natural Horsemanship is Natural Manship.  It’s still about force – just not overt force.  And as a woman – a twice-divorced woman – I should have been seen that sooner.  But then I don’t do “Natural Horsemanship”, I just communicate with my horses.

The principles of Natural Horsemanship are pressure and release.  As a woman I know full well that mental  and emotional “pressure” is still force.  Horses are pressured until they comply.  That is the truth of it.  “Make the right thing easy [using pressure] and the wrong thing hard [using more unpleasant pressure]“, is the party line.  Brackets are mine.   The very words conjure up a very different picture than the words I think of when I work with my horses.  I ask a horse to do something.  I don’t think of it as applying pressure to get a result, I think of it as teaching – showing the horse what I want.  And this may be semantics, but there is a difference in attitude depending on which way you look at it.  Horses are not stupid – they are incredibly sensitive as well – they know the difference between me applying pressure and me asking.

Round penning – “heart attacks are free,” says Clinton Anderson.  What is the horse learning while he/she canters around and around and around?  That the trainer is the boss.  Do what I say or you’ll bear the consequences.  Would you feel that someone doing that to you was your friend?  Your partner? I sure wouldn’t.

Anyway – off my soapbox – I have decided to help women develop the relationship they really want with their horses.  The one we all dreamed about as kids.

Just after 3 a.m. I wake up.  I think I hear a faint horse whinny, and the dogs at the top of the hill are barking.  Then there is silence. It lasts. I am convinced that all the horses have gotten out, but I am not chasing them now, I’ll deal with it after the sun comes up.

I wake up at 6:30 and look out my bedroom window to the west.  Nothing.  To the east. Nothing.  Crap.  It’s close to hay time, someone should be around.  I get up.  I get dressed.  Then I see a horse.  It’s Maura.  Well at least one horse is here.  I expect Beauty to be here too.  I get my jacket on to feed them hay, then I see another head, and another.  Aware that I am up, the horses are moving into view along the fence.  Awesome. I see Roxanna and Lena.  Yay!

I go out and feed hay.  I check on Maura, she seems okay – no worse at least.  Then I notice that Shadow is looking up the hill, and so is Zola.  I look to see what has their attention.  I figure maybe some deer, maybe a turkey, maybe someone along the fence line at the top.  But I see and hear nothing.  Horses continue to look for a while then go back to eating.  Then I realize.  Lucy is not there.  This is shocking as Lucy is usually somewhere near Huey.

I grab a hay rope and duck under the fence.  I head for the hill yelling, “LUCEEY!”  She doesn’t answer, which isn’t like her, and I feel fear for the first time.  My imagination takes off.  She’s lying dead somewhere.  What else would keep her from Huey and food?  Why else isn’t she answering me? Just then I hear her whinny.  Thank God.  As I climb up the incline I see she is at the top.  Is she outside the fence?  No.  As she sees me, she makes her way toward me but is stopped by a fence.  I should explain at this point that a fence runs from a deep gully on the hill, all the way to the corner of the property.  There have actually been two mysteries – how do the horses get on the other side of that fence – and how do they get over the neighbor’s cattle fence.

It’s clear Lucy can’t remember how she got on that side of the fence, and equally clear that she doesn’t know the secret to getting across the cattle fence. She runs to the corner while I follow to check the fence.  I can find no way for her to have crossed it in that direction – so backtrack and go the other way from where I started.  I see a 2 foot gap, spanning a large log, on a steep section of the hill.  Is that how they got in?  Not the easiest thing.  I go further – all the way to the gully – and confirm that small opening is the only possible way across the fence.  The fact that Lucy couldn’t find it (probably since at least 3!) shows how inconspicuous it is.

I walk back to the corner – I should say hike.  Lucy is all over me waiting for help.  I now have a clear route in my mind.  I urge her ahead of me back the way we came, still planning on how to get her across that gap.  My path clear in my mind.  Lucy picks up a canter and vanishes.  I get to the gap and it appears Lucy has taken it.  This is confirmed when I get back to the horses – as there she is, eating with Huey.

Mystery number one solved – and fixable!  I will close that gap today and sleep good tonight.

But is it possible that Lucy read my mind so clearly that she literally galloped the exact path I had in my mind?  Finding her way without hesitation, at speed?  I believe so.  There is really no other explanation.  The torn up ground showed clearly she had been along that whole area many times – always expecting to get out at the corner.  Then, as soon as I urge her to go – zoom, she’s out.

I am so relieved that I can fence that gap easily and end this whole thing.