What you see in dressage tests

I've never seen this! The image is almost certainly a violation of copyright, but since I'm only linking to the existing image perhaps I won't be named in the lawsuit ;-). Enjoy!

Arrrrrr! A horserace and an amusing announcer

A Horse Called ARRRRRRRR - Watch more Free Videos

VTO Saddlery: Let loose the after X-mas sales!

Riley's lightweight turnout sheet, which still fit him pretty well in September, is starting to look comical. His little butt is sticking out about 7 inches behind the end of the 72" blanket. This is a milestone, not only because he is growing out of his first set of blankets, but also because it is the first blanket that he has actually outgrown rather than destroyed.

Imagine my glee in seeing that VTO Saddlery is having a post Christmas sale, and it's a good one! I revved up my credit card and got a Horseware turnout sheet (khaki) and a pair of Valena boots (all my hinting and no Valena boots under the tree). That's a $70 blanket and $60 boots for under $100 including shipping. So check it out!

clipped from www.vtosaddlery.com

Year-End Clearance
Sale

12:01
AM Friday, December 26

To Midnight
on Wednesday, December 31

25% Off* Your Order of $100 or More!

BTB Anniversary Prize Winners!!!

Congratulations to Amy Goodall-Ayres of Dancing with Henry blog -- she's won a $25 gift certificate to Dover Saddlery. Amy and her quarter horse Henry are pictured left. My favorite blog article from her blog is No My Horse Isn't This Chubby -- Yet!

Equus Magnificus bag winners...

Mindy Walsh AKA Jacksongrrl
Christel Nelson at All My Horses
Ashley DeBoer (Appychik) of thechroniclesofg2.blogspot.com

Winners, you can reach me at Behindthebit@gmail.com. I need an email or postal address from Amy and a post address from Mindy,Christel, and Ashley. Congrats and thanks!!!

Another horse calamity, narrowly averted...

Riley's alternate title: "Mom never lets me have any fun..."
At the end of my life I may not be an expert horsewoman, but I'll be eminently qualified to write the book, "1000 Ways Your Horse Can Get Injured" -- thanks in large part to Riley. My heart is still racing, just a little, as I write.

Friday 1pm
Friday afternoon I call Riley's barn manager to find out the weekend work schedule. She tells me in an apologetic tone that the horses have not been out in three days. The pastures are a sheet of ice after a series of rain/sleet and freeze/thaw cycles. Riley has never been stallbound for more than one day, and I speculate he must be bouncing off the walls. I want to go out to the barn right away, but my stepsons are in town and Bob wants us to take them out to dinner. I campaign for a very early dinner so I can go out to the barn afterwards.

Friday 7pm
Dinner is over by 7pm, partly because I lie and tell everyone "the desserts here are awful." Then Bob and I drive out to the barn. The plan is to turn Riley out in the indoor arena and let him work off some steam. Before leading Riley into the ring, I brief Bob on his turnout duty--to hold the lunge whip and keep Riley away from the end of the arena where jumps are stored (he could run into the standards and get hurt). We otherwise Riley-proof the ring and I go get my horse.

I lead Riley into the ring, close the door and turn him loose. To my surprise he is energetic but not crazed, and he does a few laps around the ring. On the third lap, he passes the jumps but the huge sawdust pile adjacent to the jumps catches his eye. This is the mother of all sawdust piles, an 18 wheeler loads-worth that is well over Riley's head and runs almost from corner to corner of the ring's short side. I never dreamed Riley would look twice at it. But he trots toward it, ears perked and head lowered, and starts to paw at the edge. I yell at Bob to move him away, but Bob doesn't see any danger and is only sauntering toward Riley.

Without warning, Riley leaps into the sawdust pile as like a kid plungeing into a pile of leaves. He scrambles up the mountain of sawdust, makes it nearly to the top of the highest mound. Then he slides halfway down, toward a narrow space between the pile and the corner of the indoor. He isn't exactly stuck, but he is stifle/elbow deep in sawdust and flailing. It's easy to see he could roll and get cast behind the gigantic pile. I run around the back of the pile and make my way toward where Riley is. Wading into the sawdust up to my thighs, I crack the whip, hoping to flush him out. I can't see what effect this has, but Bob, on the other side, does. Riley leaps up throws himself in the other direction. As he clambers down the side of the pile he tips forward, loses his balance, and goes down on his chest and neck. Thankfully it's a short, soft fall, and as he frees his legs he slides to the bottom of the pile, landing on the solid footing of the indoor.

I follow him to the other end of the ring, grabbing a lunge line that is looped around a jump standard. Clipping the line to his halter, we finish his exercise in a more controlled fashion. He is okay, but my mind is filled with visions of Riley on his back, lodged between the pile and the wall, feet flailing. I want to throw up.

Riley, on the other hand, is trotting merrily at the end of the lunge. "What a goofball," Bob observes.

Post-holiday poop-out

Brady and Lance, at my sister's house, 2008 Christmas


Brady

Happy Holidays!!! From BTB

Galloping gourmets: What horses like to eat

Horses in the wild seek variety in their diet, consuming as much as fifty different types of forages in a day of grazing. When forage is plentiful, they have preferences in the type of grass/forage they eat, and their nimble lips allow them to strip the leafy part of the plant and leave the stem. What do they like? The most palatable forage is clover or a clover mixture, followed by perennial ryegrass, timothy and cocksfoot ranked behind clover. Tall fescue, crested dogs tail and wild white clover are also well-liked. Red clover, brown top, red fescue and meadow foxtail were tge least palatable. Dandelion, ribgrass and yarrow were palatable herbs.

Only when food is scarce, or in a monoculture (single crop) foraage pasture, horses become less selective out of necessity. Even stalled horses prefer multiple forages, and some experts speculate that finicky horses may be yearning for a taste of something different. Concerned owners such as ourselves may wish to indulge their desire for a new taste sensation. The question is, what flavor do they want?

Baskin Robbins for horses
Researchers have studied flavor preferences of horses, and the results are surprising. In one British study, horses were given these flavor choices: apple, banana, carrot, cherry, coriander, cumin, Echinacea, fenugreek, garlic, ginger, nutmeg, oregano, peppermint, rosemary and turmeric.

The taste test winners are, in this order:
1. Fenugreek (pictured left)
2. Banana
3. Cherry
4. Rosemary
5. Cumin
6. Carrot
7. Peppermint
8. Oregano

On the "so-so" list are garlic, ginger, turmeric and apple (!). Horses responded with a collective "Blech!" to coriander, echinacea, and nutmeg.

Other factors affecting horse food preference include appearance, texture, and even the sound the feed makes while being eaten.

Tapas for horses
Oh, and one more thing: Horses don't like to have their food sitting in in a solitary pile. They like to walk around and nibble -- think of it as horsie tapas or the hors-d'oerves hour. If you can arrange for your horse to walk about while he/she eats (and god love you for even trying), your horse will be even happier with their little feast...


RESOURCES
Goodwin, D.; Davidson, H.P.B.; Harris, P. (2005) Selection and acceptance of flavours in concentrate diets for stabled horses. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 95, 223-232, 2005.

Mmmm-Fenugreek! Elaine Pascoe. Practical Horseman, Nov 2006. Vol. 34, Iss. 11; pg. 23.

What's your horse's favorite flavor? from equisearch

Horses prefer to fossick for food from horsetalk.co.nz

Taste preferences in horses from Mitavite.com

Species preferences of grazing horses. Grass and Forage Science,Volume 28 Issue 3, Pages 123 - 128.

Feeding horses bread? A story from Germany

Home for the holidays: Share your classic photos!

Well, I arrived in Indiana this morning via Cleveland -- home for the holidays. Mom and I went straight from the plane to shopping, and we ate lunch at Red Lobster. Now I'm home and leafing through old family photos. Thought I'd share a family photo that made me smile. Think I'd caption it "midwestern farmers" or "midwestern men," or maybe "the Kimmel men." They happen to be father and son--my dad and grandfather. I'm guessing that someone insisted they stand together for this photo.

My dad and grandfather, circa 1972



I invite any and all bloggers who read this to reciprocate with a family photo you like. Post a link to your blog in my comments!

HRTV Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation

Well, I worked at the barn today all daily chores for 25 horses in snow, sleet, snow cycles, under 30 degrees. Don't mind tellin' ya, I'm pooped. For those days I'm just not up to blogging (thankfully few) I keep a few back-burner items of interest. Here's one on thoroughbred retirement.

Youtube seems to be behaving strangely and I can't get this to play for me at the moment. Maybe you'll have better luck...

Horse blogger's corner: Some resources of interest?

Most horse bloggers don't seem to obsess about readership or numbers -- they just enjoy writing and communicating with whoever happens to find them. Maybe because some of my posts require a fair amount of legwork/research, or maybe because I have a subconscious fear of failure, or maybe because my ego is the size of a Hummer, I kind of like the idea of having a lot of readers. So I look for advice on building readership.

As it happens, a fellow blogger (and the person who encouraged me to start a blog) was recently interviewed about her wonderful and wildly successful humor blog. Kathy from The Junk Drawer has some great tips and you can read them at the Diva Cosmos blog. Coincidentally, one of the BTB readers just sent me an article from Slate magazine that talks about how to be a successful blogger. Good advice, and worth sharing.

clipped from www.slate.com

How To BlogAdvice from Arianna Huffington, Om Malik, and more of the Web's best pundits.

Posted Thursday, Dec. 18, 2008, at 5:36 PM ET

By Farhad Manjoo

Tens of thousands of people start new blogs every day. I'd guess that most don't go into blogging to gain a huge audience, but those who do aim to be the next Kos quickly find disappointment. That's likely because blogging is difficult (I know this from personal experience; my last job was as a blogger), and there are few places that offer tips on how to do it well.

Saturday specs! I picked them up today...

For Christmas my parents are contributing toward a pair of new specs -- to my relief, I didn't need not bifocals! The photos don't do the colors justice, indigo and a bright copper finish that I'm going to call orange (I love orange). This is quite a departure for me, as I normally choose the glasses that I feel will be the least noticeable :-).

Thanks for indulging my vanity. Back to more substantive posts after this!

Winning ride, FEI World Cup Dressage 2008

This year it was Adelinde Cornelissen of the Netherlands on her horse Parzival. This rider's position, and more specifically her use of her upper body, is pretty remarkable...

A 1988 Musical Freestyle: Still fresh, still inspiring

This Robert Dover video is circulating on some horse-related bulletin boards. Filmed in 1988, this performance is not at all dated IMHO. While it may not be a musical freestyle exactly (more of a demonstration or performance), it is still inspiring to watch and makes me wish riders had opportunities to perform more without the conventions/constraints of the musical freestyle seen in competition. Freestyle specialists seem to eschew music with words, and convention dictates changes of music for different gaits. This video shows how a dressage performance can be choreographed beautifully to one song.

The female commentator (initially thought it was Jane Savoie, but it isn't) does a good job but I would have cheerfully throttled her as she talked righted through this fabulous pair's performance. I'm sure she's aiming her commentary to audiences unfamiliar with dressage, but is it really necessary to count "one-two-one-two-one-two" through the one tempis. Talk about frivolous!

Dressage and sport ponies are here!

As a tall person I always envied the smaller riders who could sit on a horses of all different sizes -- including ponies -- without looking silly. With all of the soundness issues and the higher prices associated with big horses, why would anyone buy a horse that is larger than they need? It's true that warmbloods, who tend to be large, have big gaits. If you think ponies can't have big gaits, take a look at this video:

The popularity of ponies
Sport ponies are growing in popularity -- this trend is established in Europe and relatively new in the U.S. What brought this about? Some insights (synthesized from info in the resource list below), are here...

• Some very popular ponies, like dressage legend Seldom Seen from years back, set the stage for this trend. Teddy O'Connor brought ponies to the forefront of eventing -- a tough sport by any standard -- and raised awareness of pony power.
  
• Lendon Gray, a long-time pony admirer and founder of dressage4kids, has promoted ponies in sport. Through her efforts (and I lot of other folks I'm sure), an All-Pony Dressage Show was be held in Saugerties, New York this year.
  
• American riders are getting smarter. Instead of buying a "big warmblood" for competition, we look at what animals are best suited to our physique and abilities. Dressage is a sport made up of (mostly) female amateur riders, many of whom are less than 5 6" tall. Few amateurs who cannot devote hours in the saddle and at the gym to develop the powerful seat needed to control a larger warmblood. Ponies are more controllable/maneuverable, their gaits are more rideable, and they're closer to the ground!
  
• Riding big warmbloods with giant gaits isn't just a matter of talent. A small rider on an enormous horse will have trouble sitting the gaits and influencing the animal because smaller riders don't have as much absorption in the angles of the knees and hips and elbows as a longer person (Practical Horseman, Jan 2003).
  
• Dressage judges are more open-minded than people give them credit for -- whether a pony or a non-traditional breed, they do reward a well-matched horse and rider pair. The USDF programs train judges to focus on quality of movement with reference to the individual animal's size and build.
  
• Major organizations like the USEF and USDF have embraced the "small is beautiful" trend in equine partners. There are awards programs, pony-specific classes, tests, and competitions, and even a handbook for competitors on ponies.

Some pony types and terms
The term sport pony is rather general, but one definition is a pony is 14.2 hands or less in height with the conformation, movement, rideability and type to excel in the Olympic equestrian disciplines of dressage, jumping, eventing and combined driving.

The term riding pony is used to refer to as show ponies, generally, but many regions/countries use the term to refer to breeds they have developed. The British Riding Pony was the first riding pony breed, and now there are other breeds as well (e.g, German riding pony, Poney Francais de Selle, Australian riding pony).

German Riding Pony: This is a breed that emerged in the sixties by crossing welsh ponies with thoroughbred, arabian, and anglo-arab horses.They are 13.2 to 14.2 and exhibit refinement of a horse. GRPs can be registered in several German registries and two American registries. GRP stallions are licensed and approved with several American and German sport pony registries.

These breeds can also be accepted into pony registries, such as...

Weser-Ems: a German registry for ponies in the Oldenburg region of Germany. Weser-Ems works together with the German Oldenburg Verband (GOV) and will inspect and brand ponies at GOV inspections throughout the US. http://www.pferdestammbuch.com/

Hannover Ponies: a German registry for ponies in the Hannover region of German. They have no affiliated with the American Hanoverian Association and have only one inspection site in the U.S. http://www.blogger.com/Hannover

RPSI, the U.S. branch of the RPS, inspects horses and ponies at the same inspection.

American Sport ony registries: American groups that have developed “sport pony registries” in the tradition of GRP’s include the International Sporthorse Registries and the American Sport Pony Registry. All registries have somewhat different qualifications and procedures, and many stallions are approved/licensed with more then one registry.

Some more videos

Pony Stallion Der Kleine Prints

Dressage ponies in competition



RESOURCES

Dressage ponies are competitive! Sandra Cooke. Practical Horseman. Jan 2003, vol. 31 (1), 105. This is an excellent summary of the advantages and challenges of competing a dressage pony.

Dressage pony power! Sandra Cooke. Practical Horseman. Dec 2002, vol. 30 (12), 74.

Ponyworld.net

Sport Pony Magazine

Pony Stallions from Dressagetopstallions.com

In praise of dressage ponies from Equisearch

Small packages: Great expectations (2005 Cornelia Endres FEI Pony Clinic, includes overview of the dressage pony trend)

USEF Dressage Pony Handbook

German Riding Pony Breeders Association (page describing German and American Registries)

Longview Farm articles
The Riding Pony
Sport ponies from a trainer's perspective
Sport ponies defined from the Equine Journal

American Sport Pony Registry Newsletters

Sportponies Unlimited Web site

What is a sport pony? By Barb Young and Tangwyllt Welsh Ponies

Purification of the pony sport from Eurodressage.com

About the German riding pony from Through Connection

Introducing the American Sport Pony from the American Warmblood Registry


USDF Ponies and pony classes

"We should've held onto that camping gear"

This was Bob's comment to me last night when he told me about layoffs at the company where he works. Thirty or so people were laid off, and a little over a hundred remain. Bob is still there, but the tone of the company staff meeting was very guarded. A friend of mine in Ohio used to joke that you should "always be prepared to live in your car." I laughed then. Now, not so much. I did make Bob get rid of his primitive, circa 1950's camping gear to make room for horse blankets in our garage. This was a good decision -- we'll go to Cabela's if we have to!

We both feel relief that he is still employed for now, but he knows a number of the folks who weren't so lucky -- people with families, with chronic illnesses who need insurance, who did good work for the company. What a tragedy. Bob's company (chemical/electronics industry) has plenty of orders but their clients can't secure loans. Banks want to keep their money under the mattress. Bob would give you an earful about the banking debacle and who is bearing the brunt of this crisis. I'm not as inclined to pontificate -- er, expound, but here is an image that I think describes our economic situation. Can you guess the metaphor???

Sabino coloring: Love that belly splash!

A reader/commenter suggested I write something explaining color of the warmblood stallion with the unusual markings (posted last Friday). Hah! I know nothing, or at least very little, about color genetics.

Having said that, the COTH forum experts are speculating that this horse is a Sabino. And, because his sire has sabino-ish markings (blaze and at least one white leg), I'm going to go with that. But it's really just a guess.

Where is Gregor Mendel when you need him?
I could never be a geneticist ecause it's all so darned confusing and in the case of the sabino, research has not yet yielded all the answers. Here is how I interpret what I've read about sabinos...

• The pattern of sabino horses has always been thought to be polygenic - that is, controlled by more than one gene. And usually it is.
  
• There is an exception to this: a recently identified gene mutation (called sabino1) is dominant in that a single copy of the gene results in the sabino pattern. Two copies of the gene can result in a white horse, called a sabino white. A molecular DNA test is available for sabino1.
• A horse can have sabino coloring without having the sabino1 gene. Clydesdale horses are famous for their sabino markings but appear to have a different gene for sabino.
• Sabinos are considered to be a subset of the overo color pattern
• Many breeds have sabino coloring.

What is true of SB1 horses (those with the single gene for sabino)?
SB1 horses generally have two or more white feet; a blaze or strip on the face; jagged marks around the white areas; white or roaning on the belly.

RESOURCES
The science of sabino from Paint Horse Journal

Sabino markings from horse-genetics.com

Sabino coloring from Color Genetics Incorporated

Sabino horse from wikipedia.org

Equine color genetics excerpt on sabino coloring (from Google books)

Announcing: The BTB anniversary drawing!

At the end of this month on Dec. 28, BTB will celebrate it's one year anniversary. To commemorate our paper anniversary and to thank those who have read and supported this blog, the BTB Board of Directors (pictured left) has unanimously voted to do something nice for y'all.



BTB is having a drawing for a $25 Dover Saddlery Gift Certificate (delivered via email) and three bags of Equus Magnificus treats. That's four winners, not one really lucky person.

To enter the drawing: There is a fill-in form below. If you complete it and follow the instructions, you'll be entered in the drawing. The drawing will take place on the BTB anniversary, Dec. 28, 2008, and the winners announced Dec. 29.

---

COMPLETE THE FORM BELOW:
1. Enter your name (for gift cert purposes) and your blog (if any)
2. Enter a valid email address.
3. Identify your favorite BTB article.

LEAVE A COMMENT ON YOUR FAVORITE ARTICLE
1. Post a comment to your favorite article (e.g., "This is my favorite BTB article").
2. If you signed in anonymously, give your name or initials or something (e.g., Judy M) for verification purposes.

Once you've done this, you're entered. Good luck! Entries close December 28 and the winner will be announced December 29. Thanks!

If ever there was a haiku moment...

What am I doing

trudging across the snow

with five white balloons?



Every Sunday morning I work at the barn where I board my horse Riley. Last Sunday I awoke to a snowy, blustery day. Bundling up in my bad weather duds, I headed out to Northampton to do the standard morning chores at a 24 horse barn. After haying, feeding and watering, I started leading the first two horses to their pasture. About half-way down to their field, suddenly both horses went rigid and stopped in their tracks. Their gaze was fixed on something I couldn't see. What was out there??? Then I saw movement and a faint outline. A cluster of white helium balloons, barely visible against the snowy backdrop, was tangled in a branch about 50 yards away. They bobbed in the wind, and horses are greatly alarmed by this sort of thing. No time to marvel at their acuity -- the boys were about to bolt. Shaking their lead ropes, I took big strides forward and told them "you're fine" as we passed the scary foreign objects. We made our way to the pasture, the horses dancing and snorting. No one had stepped on my toes, but my arms ached from holding them in check.

On the way back I walked into the pasture and grabbed the balloons. It was snowing lightly. Trudging across the barren white field in my Carhartt coveralls, carrying a cluster of balloons in my mittened hand, I wondered what an observer would make of this scene. What an enigmatic photo this would make! How would you caption it?

Anyway, that's what the poem is about.

Talk about warmbloods of color!

I stumbled onto this Youtube video -- a young stallion by a Furst Heinrich son out of a Rubenstein mare (two bays, one with a blaze). Genetics aside, I love the markings.

If you're interested in the sire Furst Grandios, here is a picture. If you haven't seen Rubenstein, check out my tribute to Rubenstein (Rileys granddad) ...

clipped from www.eurodressage.com

Furst Grandios (Furst Heinrich x Argentinus)
Wow, what a lovely stallion. Super elastic gaits, good engagement from behind and much scope and potential in his basic gaits. His full brother became the Reserve Champion this year at the Oldenburg licensing the day before the Althengst Parade.

My Facebook experience: "We happy few.."

How has my Facebook experience been? Generally good, but it has brought certain personal truths to light. Facebook has underlined, bolded, and italicized for me the thing that I already knew, but never experienced in quite such a definitive way. The truth: I am sadly lacking in social capital! On Facebook, I have a mere handful of contacts in contrast to oh, say, my nieces, who have hundreds of friends.

I have a feeling they'll really regret that when they get old enough to have a Christmas card list.

Facebook's CEO estimates that the average member has about 130-150 friends, with some highly driven individuals accumulating over a thousand. A THOUSAND???? When I think of my "real" friends, the ones I'd call at 3am when my car has broken down in Philly, I'm really talking about three -- well, maybe five people if I include the ones that would deep down be mad at me for calling. And of course these folks are not even on Facebook.

Quel business model!
Actually the guys at Facebook are purty clever -- what better way to ensure the growth of your business venture than to link growth to popularity and gear it toward teens and twenty-somethings? Don't get me wrong, I like Facebook and am (sort of) active on it, to the extent that I can in my friendless state. The apps are a hoot, very creative, and for people whose status messages say more than "going out to the barn" every night Facebook is a good way of keeping people posted on your activities.

Why bother?
I was hoping to use it to connect with the folks who read Behind the Bit and maybe find a little more about who is actually reading it, and what they like to read about. For that purpose, Facebook has not been the kind of tool I'd hoped it would be. No doubt there are horse people on Facebook, but they ain't readin' my blog. And BTB has a "try not to be obnoxious" marketing philosophy, so how would they find BTB?

My point...
I'm sort of taking the long way around to point out a new icon on my sidebar -- my blog is now part of the Facebook network. Bloggers, readers, you can join me on Facebook. Please!

Updated to add: I'm under Stacey Kimmel and my blog is under the app Blogger networks. Or, just click here...

Tara Celentano: A great way to give this season

Below is a letter from Tara Celentano that appeared in the November 2008 ESDCTA Newsletter. If you don't know Tara's story I hope you will take a moment read her words:

"Hi My name is Tara Celentano, I am 33 years old and I was a professional horse trainer. On Dec. 27, 2006, I had a catastrophic accident in Florida. While bringing a young horse in from the paddock, he jumped on my back, broke my neck, and now I am a tetraplegic, which means I have no use of my lower extremities. I have minimal control and feeling from my chest to my abdomen and no use of my hands.

Horses were not only my occupation, but also my passion. I had been riding and competing in the horse industry successfully since I was eight years old. In 2001, I met my business partner Roger Roberts and we had a successful business with driving, dressage, and jumper horses. Our specialty was breaking and training horses and placing them in the discipline in which they showed the most potential.

I rode with some of the top dressage trainers including Lars Petersen, Anky Van Grunsven, and Michael Barisone. My dreams and goals were to be a competitive international rider.

As a result of my injury I am doing a fundraiser through the MICHAEL BRUCE FUND as a wish list for myself. I want to go to Germany or China for stem cell therapy so that I can hopefully get some of my mobility back and reduce nerve pain and spacicity. Most of my days are spent in a wheelchair or bed depending on my pain. A wheelchair that I am able to stand up in will reduce pressure sores and relieve chronic back pain, and for weight bearing in my bones.

I would also like to try to raise money through the fundraiser to be able to go back to Florida this year. Unless I am in 75 degree weather or warmer I get nerve pain and muscles in my upper body contract, which is very painful. Last winter was very disappointing, I not only regressed in my therapy but I was housebound as well. This summer I made great progress and now my triceps are responding. I was told when I got injured that my triceps would not work -- I love proving people wrong. Going to Florida will help me tremendously.

The MICHAEL BRUCE FUND continues to help REAL people with REAL needs and provides them hope for an easier tomorrow. These individuals could be your friend, your neighbor, or even one of your own family members. Spinal cord injuries can happen to anyone. One of the ways in which you could help me is to make a donation through the MICHAEL BRUCE FUND which is tax deductible.

Make your check payable to the Michael Bruce Fund and in the note section please write Tara Celentano.Checks can be mailed to Tara Celentano, 193 Stone Hill Road, Colts Neck, NJ 07722 or to the Michael Bruce Fund, PO Box 585, Martinsville NJ 08836. The Michael Bruce Fund donates their time so 100% of the monies for Tara Celentano go to me.

God Bless and thank you for your support.

Tara Celentano


The full text of Tara's letter is available in the Nov. 2008 ESDCTA Newsletter. page 13. Tara is right when she says that this could happen to any of us. I wrote my check for Tara yesterday, and Bob wrote a check this morning (mailed'em together). Please help support Tara in her recovery if you can manage it this holiday season.


More about Tara and the Michael Bruce Fund

Dressage Daily article on Tara Celentano, Dec. 28, 2006

Bruce Fund delivers van from MyCentralNewJersey.com

Charitable Fund lives on in memory of Bridgewater-Raritan East student from MyCentralNewJersey.com (May 29, 2008)

A talk with an animal communicator

I had occasion to inteview Janet Roper, a Shorewood, MN animal communicator (AC), via email. I posed a slew of questions to her -- some of them a little skeptical. She wasn't at all put off and didn't try to make a believer out of me. I've never used Jane's services and can't speak to her abilities, but we had a pleasant exchange and she gave me a good understanding of her approach in working with animals and their owners. A few nuggets of our email conversation are below. Hope you enjoy...


What does it feel like to communicate with animals? What is the experience like?
There is no right or wrong way to receive psychic information, and there is not necessarily only one way to receive information. My background as a musician and spiritual director both involve highly developed and active listening skills. I believe it is because of this training and background that the animals usually choose to communicate with me via clairaudience, the hearing of words, or thoughts.


When you say you have conversations, do the horses actually "speak in plain English?" To be honest this is something that has made me skeptical. How do horses articulate thoughts?
Animals send out and people pick up information in whatever sense the person is the most comfortable working with. For instance, I do hear words, and I believe it's because I'm an extravert & my background as a musician has provided me with listening skills that are way above ordinary. When an animal really wants to get my attention, I get physical feelings, as I mentioned above.

Now, Now, having said that, I have been thinking a lot lately about vibrations. I am beginning to wonder if a more accurate way to describe how AC works is the animal sends out vibrations about some experience, I pick up those vibrations and translate them through the sense that I feel most comfortable working in. I don't know that for a fact, just some thoughts I've been fiddlin' around with. I do know for a fact that when I am talking to an animal, 98% of the time I hear words.


What are common things that horses tell you -- or is it all over the map?
Pretty much all over the map ;-) Horse people need to be aware, and I mean REALLY AWARE of saddle/equipment fit & how their riding is affecting the horse. A lot of times I see the person is assuming the horse is just being a snot or a brat, when that horse is in actual, physical pain, and telling the person, the best they can (usually through body language) that they are hurting and in real pain.

I had one foal keep referring to her beautiful legs & what she actually meant was that she wanted to be in the show ring (so people could admire her beautiful legs).


Do you succeed in getting a read from every animal?
Not every animal, but I'd say 98%. The funniest time I didn't get an answer was from a Corgi who knew I was going to 'rat him out' to his human on what he'd been doing during the day when she was gone. He not only refused to talk, he went to the door, sat with his back to me, and kept looking between the door handle and his human.

In some cases, there are ACs more experienced and better equipped than I am to handle certain situations, for instance rescue and lost animals. However, I am very good at balancing relationships, hospice & death & dying. When I come across a situation where I feel either the animal or the human can be better helped by someone else, I give them 3 referrals. Interestingly enough, I know when a case is not mine to do because I get nauseous! To protect myself, I do have a disclaimer.


How do you set your fees? Is there a travel charge? Is the charge by time or a flat rate?
My fee is $125/hr plus, if travel is involved, the standard IRS mileage fee of $0.585 per mile. Minimum fee is $75 for up to a half hour. I do communications in person or via email or phone.


What are the traits of a reputable animal communicator?
Qualities of reputable communicators/intuitives include:

• A willingness to do their own ‘inner work’. Think of this as CEUs
• Has an essence that makes you feel comfortable and at ease
• Does not profess to have all the answers, but is willing to refer you to another source of reference, possibly even another communicator
• Will strive for the highest standards in their language and actions
• Will use their psychic energy for the best outcome for all involved
• Will hold your information in confidence
• Will allow you to use your free choice
• Displays high integrity
• Works well with both animals and humans

When you connect with a communicator that resonates with you, you will feel it in your gut. Listen to your gut when you meet an AC. For more information see Janet's blog entry on characteristics of reputable ACs.


What are the signs that you may not be working with the right person?

• Anyone who promises to solve all your problems
• Does not provide referrals or references
• Only strokes your ego
• Demands and expects automatic acceptance and compliance with all they say
• Does not do their own ‘inner’ work - signs of this are chaotic or unhealthy lifestyles
• Anyone who claims to have all the answers
• Expects you to become a groupie
• Tells you what you must do or dire outcomes will occur
• Expects continuing streams of income from you
• Speaks only vaguely or in grandiose terminology Does not provide referrals or references

For more information see Janet's warning signs of pseudo-intuitives.


What is your opinion on the animal communicator community? On the whole a good bunch? On the whole effective? Something else?
The professional animal communicators I have worked with, trained with & dealt with are a good group of people and have the best interest of the animal at heart. And yes, I say effective, too.


Is there an organization or affiliation of ACs who you consider to be the premier "organizational body" representing ACs?
Penelope Smith is considered the 'grandmother' of animal communication. Her site is Animaltalk.net. Many, many communicators have studied with her and she has an organization and magazine.


Are there apprenticeships or professional development/education opportunities? An organizational body or association?
I know there are communicators who are starting universities of animal communication (Carol Gurney, Janet Ranquet), as far as I am aware there are no across the board standards.


Is there a code of ethics for ACs?
Penelope Smith at Animaltalk.net has a code of ethics that has been widely adopted by other ACs.


Do you have any personal guidelines or are there "best practices" for ACs?
I have been trained as a spiritual director, so I personally use those--such as confidentiality--unless I feel the animal is a grave danger to him/herself, to someone else, or from someone else. I personally don't feel it is my job or my place to help every animal that comes along (and believe me, that can be 'fighting words' in the AC arena!).

Thanks to Janet for taking the time to respond to these questions. If you have questions of your own, I'll give a shameless plug for Janet's Talk2theAnimals First Friday Forum Teleconference. The next one is scheduled January 2, 2009, 7:00-8:00 PM. It's a chance to listen in to others' questions or pose some of your own. Skeptics welcome :-)

Janet Roper's Web site is at Talk2theAnimals.net.

Bundeschampionate 2008 video footage

Each year Germany has a national championship competition featuring Germany's best breeding and riding horses. A series of qualifiers culminates in the Bundeschampionate Finals held this year in Warendorf, Germany, on September 3-7, 2008. This is serious eye candy for warmblood enthusiasts, and much of it is captured on video and available online. I tried to embed the video with no luck. So it ain't pretty, but the Clip My Horse link below gets the job done.

Oh, and the horse on the left is Dancier, a De Niro son (Riley's grand-dad is Deniro) who won the top honors for stallions.

clipped from http://www.clipmyhorse.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=500563:dressurpferde-prfg-22-kl-m-6j-finale&catid=21:dressur&Itemid=38

Did I mention the video is in German? Some info on the winners is here, but a PDF file with the order of go and scores will help you track the horses. Have fun!

Horse stories: "I totally lost it when..."

This is probably my first picture ever of Harvey, back in 1997 when I was leasing him. If Harv looks bored stiff, I'm the counterpoint to his ennui, grinning from ear to ear in my 20 year old non-ASTM helmet.

But I digress...

"I totally lost it when..."
My I totally lost it moment was around that time. Several months after I bought Harv, he was diagnosed with a sinus cyst. It doesn't sound like a big deal but this was the mother of all sinus cysts, and it had burgeoned inside Harv's head in the span of a few days. It totally occluded his right nostril, leaving him with one working nostril. My dream horse, my horse of a lifetime, was breathing like Darth Vadar and needed immediate help.

Later that day...
At the NCSU Vet School, the vet surgeon and I were looking at x-rays of Harv's head. Things were moving fast, and I was more than a little shaky. The veterinary surgeon was an affable sort but he had no bedside manner. He chattily described the "maxillofacial flap" procedure--basically cutting a large rectangle-shaped hole through the bone to access the sinus. It sounded horrific. My poor Harvey! I managed to squeak out a question. "How will he look after the surgery?" I meant, will he be permanently disfigured? The surgeon responded in a cheery, booming voice: "Oh, he'll look like his face has been hit with an axe!"

I have never lost control of my emotions the way I did in the moment I heard that response. I broke into heaving sobs and I'm sure my face was red as a beet. The surgeon took my elbow and tried to reassure me. "No, no. He'll look bad immediately following the surgery -- in a few weeks he'll look fine." It took me a few minutes to regain any semblance of composure.

After composure, humiliation.

If there was a bright side, it was that the NCSU staff now treated me with kid gloves. Whether they feared I was emotionally unstable, felt sorry for me, or both, I was allowed to visit Harv whenever I wanted to, even after visiting hours. They let me hand graze him and groom him. At the time I worked at NCSU and could stop by before work, at lunch, and after work. Harv made it through surgery fine and recovered uneventfully.

Soooo.... Can you describe a horse-related moment when YOU totally lost it? Crying? Shouting? Freakout? Come on, fess up! Leave a comment, or if you're a blogger, share the story on your blog. I'll link to hit here...

Harvey never met an equid he didn't like

I got a call from the barn manager Wednesday -- Harv's regular turnout buddy is on stall rest for at least a couple of weeks. Harv is now the "odd horse out" at the farm, and he does not go out by himself. What to do? The solution came in the form of a furry-faced donkey, Skippy.

Harv and Skippy hang out



We weren't sure pairing them off would work. The first time Harv was pastured in a field next to Skippy he tore around and screamed, bringing the barn workers out to rescue him. He would not even calm down in his stall; I happened to arrive at the barn at this point and witnessed first hand Harv whirling in his stall like a dervish. Hardly love at first sight! We hoped that over time he had acclimated to the sound and smell of Skippy.

When they were reintroduced, Harv was not afraid of Skippy, but he was intensely curious. He chased Skip around the field at first, trying to get close enough to sniff and investigate. Fortunately things quickly settled down. While Harv could be more of a gentleman (he likes to assert his dominance when they share their haypile), it's a companionable picture. Whew!

Picture meme: Thanks Jonathan!

Jonathan Hunt at fancyrat.net (a great blog -- learn about rats as pets!) tagged me to do the Sixth Photo meme (instructions here). Following the meme, which directs me to folders on my hard disk, I ended up with this picture.

Bob and I are in a little park called Prophetstown in Indiana. The park is a old restored barn and farmhouse, and also an operating farm. The historic park helps children learn about farm life in the 1920s. I of course hung out with the horses when we went to visit with my mom, who is a park volunteer and supporter. What I love about this photo is that despite the mud, the background and the sky are lovely. I feel like we've been plopped into a postcard.

A story about rats
And in honor of the Fancyrat blog, I'll share a story about a friend's pet rat. Sharon had a lovely white rat named Snow. One night she and her husband were on the couch eating potato chips and watching TV. Snow jumped up next to her shoulder. He looked at the couple and their bowl of chips. Tben he jumped down, went to the kitchen, and returned with a chunk of his rat kibble. Snow jumped back up to his perch, and they all gazed at the TV eating their respective snacks. It was a neat story, I think!

Here were the photo meme instructions...

The Sixth Photo Game
--Go to your Picture Folder on your computer or wherever you store your pictures.
--Go to the 6th Folder and then pick the 6th Picture.
--Post it on your bloggy and tell the story that goes with the picture.
--Tag 5 other glorious peoples to do the same thing and leave a comment on their blog telling them about it.

Strapping your horse (a grooming technique)

Practical Horseman magazine published a book in the seventies -- The Practical Horseman Book of Horsekeeping -- that I still have and hold dearly. The book has a section on grooming, where I read for the first time about "strapping" or what the book referred to as banging. The idea behind strapping is to lightly slap the horse's muscled areas with a wisp, cloth, or leather pad. The horse tenses and relaxes with each slap. It does not *sound* like fun, but apparently the groom gets into a rhythm and the horses relish the feeling as they would a massage. Strapping aids muscle tone, relaxation, and cleaning/polishing. Most experts advise starting with just a few slaps per muscle group and building from there.

Wanna give it a try? The info below tells you more or less what you need to know...

Laura Bechtolsheimer on grooming
from horsehero.com (uses wisp)

) .


Strapping a horse from Videojug (with a leather pad)


Horse Riding: How To Strap Your Horse



Tools for strapping a horse (click images to enlarge) The Practical Horseman book showed strapping with a wisp, which is made at home, from hay. Instructions for making one are hard to come by but super instructions from the book have been reproduced below.
Nowadays, it seems leather pads or tea towels are popular for strapping.

Another description of strapping

clipped from www.equine-world.co.uk

In the old days we called it strapping and it has a marvelous effect not only on the horse but on you to. Start off by giving your animal a good body brushing, remembering to scrape the brush across the curry comb regularly. Next take a strapping pad (a round leather pad with a suede face) and starting at the neck work over the whole body attacking each group of muscles by thumping them, then smoothing the pad across them in a regular thump and slide motion.

It is as well to alternate between your right and left hand otherwise after a month your muscles will be more developed on one side than another. That of course is if you have been doing it properly!

If you are unable to get a strapping pad you could try making an old fashioned wisp from hay. First twist some hay into a long string then gather the top end of the string into two loops. Wind the remaining string through the loops to form a hay pad.

Perhaps not as stylish as a leather pad but the coarse hay will help stimulate the skin

Survey says: "Animal communicators, Bah!!!!"

Well, maybe this is an overstatement, but there's a healthy dose of skepticism out there. On the other hand, few respondents dismissed it outright, and readers expressed a great deal of curiosity about AC. Of 37 responses, 16% had used an animal communicator (AC). When asked "would you use an AC?" about forty percent answered no or probably not. Of the 60% who answered maybe or yes, typical comments were that it would be "fun," "an interesting experiment," or a "last resort." A number of respondents said they wished and hoped that it is possible to communicate with animals.

The success stories made a favorable impression of how ACs can work with a client:

• One AC visited a farm in a remote area. She got out of the car and pointed to a nearby field, saying "there is a grey pony buried there." She was right, a pony had been euthanized and buried there years before. She was asked to communicate with a cat that run away and been missing for weeks. The AC assured them the cat would come home, and the cat returned the next morning.
• Another AC diagnosed a horse had a hearing problem in under a minute, by touching his (the horse's) ears. The horse was mildly hearing impaired but not in an observable way. She had only seen the animal in cross ties in a quiet barn, and the hearing issue was not the reason for the visit.


• One respondent got a "drive-by" reading from a chiropractor who was treating another boarder's horse. He stopped to pet her horse and told her he (the horse) was expecting to move to a new home. The owner was taken aback -- she was leaving for a new barn in a few days.

Are there ways that an AC could come by this information or deduced it other than via the animal? Sure, at least in a lot of cases. In other cases, the knowledge/insight is hard to explain.

There were some scathing denouncements of ACs making inane comments or just being kooky:

• One psychic reported "your horse likes the blue blanket over the red one."
• Another told the owner "your horse hates your long hair."
• One AC put the horse's supplement containers in front of him an she claimed the horse indicated "he didn't need them."
• One respondent was distraught by an AC's advice. She had a lame, sick horse that she was thinking of putting down. The AC told her emphatically not to put the horse down, but to sell the horse "to a young girl" instead. The poster felt guilty and angry at this suggestion, which seemed out of line and unrelated to her role as communicator.

Wow, these stories are baaaaad.

My thoughts?
I have never used an animal communicator. Alas, I think that people who can communicate with other species -- if they exist at all -- are more the exception than the rule. If I were to use an AC (and I might under certain circumstances), I would use word of mouth to find one that has a track record of success. Success to me is either a) getting meaningful, accurate information or b) having the AC admit that she had an unproductive session (and maybe charge a reduced fee). My personal preference would dictate that I find an AC that doesn't spew a lot of new age rhetoric. A pragmatic, down to earth approach, with realistic expecations, is more appealing.

Coming up next: A practicing AC offered to do an interview via email. I just received her first set of answers to my questions and hope to share them soon. In the meantime, here are some pretty good resources.

RESOURCES
Before you consult an animal communicator includes ten things you need to know, preparing for a session, and what to expect from a session with an AC (from animaltalk.net)

Animal communicators: Help for your horse? from About.com

Animal communicators: Fact or fiction? from Helium.com

Look who's talking from Horse Illustrated (reprinted with permission)

Jessica Jahiel's take on animal communicators

Equinely inclined: Episode 24 podcast
This podcast includes a discussion of Health, Harmony and Horses Conference held at Esprix Stables east of Stony Plain, Alberta and interviews with horse trainers Josh Nichol and Ken Schmuland, Debbie of Feed Store to Your Door, Donna ONeil of Marsh Haven Farm, and nutritionist Amanda Kroeker.

Animaltalk.net (recommended reading from article in Horse Illustrated)

COTH Posts (anecdotes and opinions)
Animal communicator polls from COTH

Recommended animal communicators from COTH

Animal communicators: Sages of wisdom or nutjobs? from COTH

Animal communicator anecdote
from COTH


BOOKS
Animal Talk, lnterspecies Telepathic Communication, by Penelope Smith. Council Oak Books; 214 pages, $14.98.

Communicating With Animals, The Spiritual Connection Between People and Animals, by Arthur Myers. Contemporary Books; 256 pages, $14.95.

Kinship With All Life; Simple, challenging, real-life experiences showing how animals communicate with each other and with people who understand them; by J. Allen Boone. Harper San Francisco; 157 pages, $13.95.

When Animals Speak, Advanced Interspecies Communication, by Penelope Smith. Council Oak Books; 290 pages, $14.95.