Nina's haircut

It has been so cold since I clipped Nina that she is in a blanket most of the time.   So here are her (delayed) pictures of her haircut.   It has been too icy to ride so I could have waited on the clip job, but at least it was nice to get it done on a nice day.

and to create a little balance

Here is a new organization with the goal of educating people about the Thoroughbred horse.  The more educated the public is, the less chance of people trying to beat Thoroughbreds into acting like Quarter Horses.  And the more likely rehomed OTTBs will find the right new home.


Retired Racehorse Training Project website

and here they are on Facebook

here is a gag-me article

Horse training and horse riding is nowadays all about the gadget that can fix your lack of ability to ride your horse.  Don't take lessons, don't learn how to ride a horse into your hand or otherwise learn any horsemanship.  Just pull its head down, put on some bigger spurs and voila! you too are ready to show!

In defense of people who use a PROPERLY ADJUSTED running martingale - when it is properly adjusted it cannot be used to pull the horse's head down, it does not engage until the horse is above the bit and its purpose is to help manage a horse that will go above the bit and bolt or will knock you out of the saddle when it gets excited.  It is, in my opinion, a safety device and not a training device.

However, The American Quarter Horse Association is advocating martingales short enough to pull a head down (also known as a training fork) and drawreins in the hands of people who cannot possible know how to use them because getting the head DOWN is the total goal of training horses these days.
Excuse me while I go throw up and here is the link from the AQHA.
http://americashorsedaily.com/martingales-and-drawreins/ 

Seriously Horsing Around

If you are not following the blog, Seriously Horsing Around, you should be.
Today she featured a coupon for $5 off SafeGuard.  
Awesome!  Thank you Bethkay!

Jim Graham Cross Country Clinic Part II

Here is a nice video of Jim Graham showing a BN horse and rider how to be calm on cross country. Just another day at work, ho-hum. Very nicely done. The wind noise is distracting but it is worth listening to.

cranky in the cold - a grade horse rant

Since I haven't been on a horse in a week I have been getting my horse fix on some of the forums, chat rooms and blogs. 
I keep running into something that I think is a symptom of our extremely shallow, learn what's on the surface, everybody needs to be 'special' society.

When people are chatting about their horses, and yes, I do understand that everyone loves their own horse, the descriptions go something like.... my warmblood who is a Percheron, TB, QH cross; my warmblood who is Friesen, QH, Oldenberg and I'm not sure what else; my warmblood who is part TB and we think part draft.

These are not Warmbloods.  I suppose you could call them warmbloods in the dictionary definition of the roots of the modern Warmblood. 
These are GRADE horses.  GRADE horse is not a dirty word.  It is, or was, the accepted descriptive term for a horse that was not a purebred, eligible for registration with a breed registry.
Now all of these grade horses have a registry, if you can't find one then you make one up, breed a bunch of foals and voila!  create a breed!

Here is my problem with this - it encourages people to breed grade horses (who now have a breed name and a breed registry) and if you don't think that these horses are the stars of the FUGLY blog, you just aren't paying attention. 

In the dog world, legitimate breeders are very quick to point out to gullible buyers that there is no consistency in Peek-a-Poos, Labradoodles or any other made up cross breed because they are not being carefully bred by people with a vision of the future and a GOOD education in genetics, they are being bred by idiots trying to make a buck off of people who want to be 'special' and will pay a small fortune for a mix breed that they could get for nearly free from a rescue or dog pound.  

We are condoning the same 'get rich quick with your newly created horse breed' AND filling up the kill pens with pathetic, ugly horses who did not ask for their sad fate.

cold cold cold

It is almost noon.  I wonder if we will break into the double digits by noon?  Apparently DIA is at a roasting 12 degrees but it is 8 here. 
daily disclaimer: I hate winter

weather report - 11 degrees

ELEVEN flippin degrees at the barn at 2pm with the sun shining.
Since it is Colorado sun at about 6,000 ft, it was evaporating the snow, not melting it. 

Nina seems to be handling it well, all snuggled up in her big ole Rambo.  She wants out of her run but everything is covered with ice and way too slippery.  She would be happier if we just went about our normal routine, the cold doesn't bother her.  ME, however, a little different.  I am not hanging out with her for very long at 11 degrees.  She was a little miffed but agreed to eat her beet pulp.
I think the high for the last 3 day has been around 20.  Tomorrow it is supposed to get near freezing - heat wave!!!
daily disclaimer: I hate winter

my house will get cleaned

Stuck inside most of the time.  We were suppose to warm up after the cold Thursday/Friday.  The forecast was for up, up and up.  Nope, we are stuck,  20s during the day and single digits at night for a few more days.  ugh! 

A little lucky in the cold

I got a little lucky today.  This morning I was watching the snow fall in my yard, piling up on the street, the wind blowing hard.  I was dreading my drive to the barn.  But I hate to make Nina go without her beet pulp and I really needed to put a winter blanket on her for tonight.  Yesterday evening it was too warm for anything but a sheet but tonight it is supposed to go down to 4 degrees and with the wind blowing it is going to be COLD.  So I really needed to make a barn run.
Surprise, when I left the house the roads were wet but not snow or ice.
I made it to the barn where Nina acted like a fruit loop while I changed blankets.  She finally skidded into a fence and that sobered her up for a minute.  Dumped her beet pulp in the feed bucket, gave her an unappreciated pat on the neck and left.
Right now I am in Starbucks making use of their WiFi to do some work.  I need to get home before rush hour, relax for the evening and watch The Mentalist.  Have I mentioned I hate winter?
Have a good evening.