Hay to Rescues
AERC President Mike Maul wrote a short piece in the latest Endurance News on lessons learned in conditioning horses for endurance. You can see it at the link provided. His words of wisdom: "It's easy to over condition . . . (and) . . . save the downhill trots for compitition . . . there are a finite number of them in every horse."
Lucy enjoyed a good roll in the sand after our workout today. I led Lucy through the woods today. She was very good. Rather excitable but under control and not pushy on the lead. She wore her new Bitless Bridle for the second time and did not do any head shaking this time. I led her today because it has been several months since we went out in the woods and the last time she refused to go with me on her and I came off when she did a spin and leap move. She is much more relaxed when I lead her. So that's what I did today.
I did free lunge work in the arena when we got back. It was not as smooth as it has been. She was very focused on Dove and not on me. She had quite a workout before she was ready to change her focus. When she finally did it was a very big change and I had to end the session there without doing mounting work or mounted work. That is disappointing but I did manage to work her 3 days this past week rather than the once as in the previous weeks since the snow in the arena melted enough.
Tuesday I will get back on her and see if she will go out with me up rather leading.
Monday(tomorrow yippee) I have my second Yoga class. I think it is going to save my life. At the beginning of my first class, I thought I was going to have to leave. after 4 minutes of sitting on the floor I was in so much pain! My legs were seizing up and I had all I could do to just move them to try and find a position I could tolerate while the instructor went through her introduction speech. Just as I was about to try and scape myself off the floor and excuse myself, we got started. After an hour and a half of stretching and "posing" I was completely comfortable sitting on the floor. and for the rest of the evening my legs felt so lite! They felt so strange. My body moved with little effort and responded so much faster to my whims than normal. I can't tell you how exciting that was. I can't wait to get back there! I believe this new found flexibility and the added strength I will gain will make all the difference as to how confident and secure I feel riding!
I'm tired tonight. I worked Saturday at the real job until 8:30. It was a frustrating day. Many of them are this month. There are going to be more and more late nights too.
More on the Maine Equestrian Trails Alliance:
PLEASE READ This article and See the Piece Below on Maine equestrian Trails Alliance. I have created the first of what will be a quarterly newsletter that includes these 2 articles and more. It is ready for printing--which I am donating at some expense because I cannot do it myself. I would be delighted if there is a trail user out there who does professional printing and could offer to print for me at a discount with mention in the newsletter. Contact me today--I just thought of this idea but I really must get the printing started tomorrow. Moreover we need MEMBERSHIPS.
Another Riding Club?
There is a new Trail Club being formed in Waterboro with members from the towns of Buxton, Limington, Hollis, and Lyman as well as Waterboro. The primary reason for this group is to support the Maine Equine Trails Alliance. We have come to the realization that there is good reason for us to become as organized and many of the motorized vehicle trail users.
There are many Equestrians using local trail systems regularly who are negatively impacted more and more frequently by local town government as development progresses. Their singular voices of protest remain unheard.
Increasingly common are cluster projects which often times are built using an established trail as their main street, leaving users cut off from miles of riding opportunity and enjoyment. Unorganized Horseback riders too often remain uninformed of pending projects and stand little chance as individuals, of influencing governmental policy and decision making when they do hear about proposals to cut off trails.
We are confident that if Equestrian trail users across the state band together in small local groups to become the supporting structure of the Maine Trails Alliance, we would form a substantial body and therefore have an influence in keeping those local trails accessible.
In a recent account in Waterboro during the development phase of one housing project that planned to use an established trail head as its main entrance, the locally organized and State recognized snowmobile clubs came together with the landowners, and government decision makers to create an easement around the project that would allow continued access to trails.
It is time for Equestrian trail users to come together and create an equally organized and powerful voice in our towns and in our state. The work of the snowmobile clubs in the case described here benefited all users and one might well assume that if a group is already focused and organized and effective in this effort why bother.
Well, this easement that was agreed upon could have easily included a bridge. Not an uncommon situation in our state of brooks, rivers and wet lands. Without Equestrian input a bridge built to accommodate snowmobiles could literally block access to trails by horseback.
Scott Hatch V.P. of META has been hard at work and has engineered a horse friendly bridge plan that would satisfy the needs of all trail users. We are finding that the snowmobile clubs are open to our discussions and offers to collaborate in the effort of maintaining trails, negotiating access to trails in some cases, and bridge building.
Please become part of this exciting move to organize and be heard among the ever growing population of outdoor enthusiasts’ vying for access and control of the decreasing trail miles available for use. Go on line today at www.maineequestriantrails.org
And join.
Our dollars are building bridges of wood. Tell your trail riding friends to do the same. Go to your local riding clubs and get them to join as well. Consider joining your local snowmobile or ATV spring trail clean up days. Building strong relationships with other user groups is a valuable tool towards our goal.
Our camaraderie will build bridges of cooperation. Together we can ensure horse friendly trails will remain available throughout
Maine
long into the future.
Edna Leigh Libby –
META
Member
Bridge Materials Grant Program
The Bridge Materials Grant program is designed to foster mutual benefits for the grantors (equestrians), and grantees (clubs or organizations including but not limited to Snowmobile, ATV, and Land Trusts).
The benefits to the equestrian community are twofold
1. Written permission to use all trails associated with the bridge location.
2. A guarantee that the bridge is safe for use by equestrians. You may already be using trails managed by other groups that have bridges of questionable quality.
The benefits to trail managers are also twofold
1. Any new resource available to a trail manager allows existing funds to be shifted to other needs.
2. With the inclusion of equestrians in their trail planning and annual land use consent documentation a trail manager would have a new source of volunteers to assist with trail construction and maintenance.
We will be purchasing bridge materials in bulk. The funding will come from grants, fund raisers, philanthropic, and corporate support. And, most importantly, $20.00 from every
META
membership will be dedicated to the bridge material grant program. Management of this program will be handled by a sub committee of Maine Equestrian Trails Alliance.
The materials available will consist of 8x8 bridge stringers, and 3x6 decking. All materials would be treated to 4 atmospheres of pressure. The life span of a bridge will be 20 years. Bridge stringers could be produced up to 30ft. By ordering 12ft. 3x6 bridge widths could be either 6ft. or 12ft. Railings would be constructed from 3x6 where needed. (see drawings)
A $5000 tractor trailer load of material, will produce approximately 350f.t of 6ft. wide bridge. To have 3 or 4 distribution sites statewide with a full truckload at each site would give us the ability to handle close to 1000ft of bridge per year.
If a 10ft bridge opens up ten miles of trail the investment will be well worth our while. Many trail management clubs have large volumes that would be available to us in there entirety. We would be replacing existing bridges as the need arose thereby spreading out our investment in a shared use trail system over time.
(As of this printing, the first load of lumber has been sawn and is ready for shipping to the pressure treating processor. We now need new memberships to help pay for the cost of this treatment)
Scott Hatch V.P.
META
I'm bummed. I got mis-information and jumped the gun in my excitement.
June 7-8 2008. It's too early for Lucy and I to be ready to ride, though I may take her just for the travel experience, provided there is a stall available. I have volunteered for this ride. It's a great one. We have the use of the carriage trails on the weekend before the carriages start start hauling visitors to the peaks and the place becomes a buzz of activity. It is so lovely and quiet for the weekend of Colleen's event! Contact Colleen through ECTRA for details and registration form. These are just a few of the magnificent views to be seen:
Our rather spent 1997 Tacoma failed the frame inspection at Portland Toyota on Friday. Toyota will give up approximately $12,000.00 for it. $13,000.00 if we buy a new Toyota from Portland Toyota. We can't take on a payment right now. Especially after just selling my wonderful Prius to get out of a payment. we are looking for something used. we have a humongous GMC Sierra 4-door to drive around till we get the payment for the Tacoma. I am in Love! If they could figure out how to run one of these without harming the earth and at a reasonable price-I'd drive nothing but. It is amazing. You can hardly feel the pot holes, and the power? It could haul two horses without waking up! And it holds so much stuff!!
This is Henry he is a Heritage Black from the Noble Sam bloodline. He is the Boar who sired the the little piggies we brought home on Saturday. He weighs approximately 600 pounds and resides at Alder brook Farm in Athens Maine. He has his own back scratcher rake and gets lots of love and attention. His stall is a run in type and is kept amazingly manure free. The entire farm is remarkably clean.
This Charlotte she is from the Warbler blood line and momma to our little ones. This is one of the pastures that the pasture fed hogs live on year round. More to come later on the Heritage breed, Alder Brook farm and pictures of the little guys. . . (I hate when work time cuts into blog time)
And these are our cute little piggy pies: Loinie and Keven (yes--as in Bacon).
Thanks Funder , You are quite right. Those surely must be Oak Galls. Oak Apple Gall seems to be the one: Picture of Oak Apple Gall. They are little private nurseries to the Cynipid Gall Wasp. I was hoping to learn more about the wasp. But I am far to sleepy now and I will so regret sitting up till 11:43!
I will post soon on:
todays successful training session with the psycho mare from last summer, how Lucy will no longer wear a bit, my new Yoga class, bringing home the new baby piggies, the upcoming BioScan / light therapy demo next Saturday, AND the Mint Julep recipe I found for DERBY DAY, May 3rd 2008, the 134th run for the roses!
I need some help please. I cannot find this tree in my little field guide to North American trees book:
Its leave look like the Oak and I thought it was Oak when it foliated last summer. But this spring I find all these little ornaments hanging from it. Some sort of seed pouch I am assuming since they seem to have seeds in them.
I live in Maine remember. I thought maybe it looked a bit like a type of Sycamore tree but they wouldn't be just hanging out in a woodlot in Maine would they? Some Beech trees have a kind of seed pouch like this I think. But the tree is not beech like in any other way is it. I 'm going to have to take one to the local tree nursery and see if they can tell me.
I've wanted one of these for years. And there it is flowering for the first time on the hill. It makes me very happy.
Dan got started on the guard rails this past weekend. They of course will not stay this tall. It will take 58 of these 6 x 6 pressure treated posts to line the dangerous drop-offs along alternating sides of the driveway as it snakes down the hill. The driveway held up remarkable well this winter. But we have not had a heavy rain yet either. We actually need some rain bad right now. NOAA has issued a Fire Weather Watch. I can't remember having ever seen such a thing.
Toyota is buying back Tacomas 2004 and older that have experienced frame breaks due to eccessive rusting for 1.5 times the highest retail value regardless of condition or mileage. If you have a Tacoma older than 2004 with a broken frame Like Dan does (1997) call your local Toyota dealership right away to make an appointment for inspection. Dan's appointment is a week from Friday. We heard a story of someone getting an extra 1000.00 on top of the buy back amount towards a new Toyota truck, or 500.00 towards a pre-owned. Dan has owned his since 1997 and we have loved that little truck. He still would not buy anything but Toyota.
Along with a bunch of other Lithos related stuff. I know a lot of you come just for Dans happenings and progress reports on the non horsey dimension. So I'm creating a separate site for those. There is stuff going on with Dan and updates will be forthcoming before April is gone! I will give you a link as soon as I'm ready with the new site.
Thinking of installing vinyll fencing? Read This Account of living with it first. Karen is not impressed.
Tamara over at The Barb Wire: Applied Physics Post wrote a great piece yesterday on Inertia and Momentum applied to training schedules and human behavior.
I have been a lot like an object at rest. I have lost my momentum towards the training goals I had set by being snow bound for so many weeks. I made a change last night by working with Lucy on a week night. 1st time in 2008. It went well.
Sunday AD argued against my theory that if I started teaching again I would not spend any time on Lucy. She believes that if I am focused on training/ teaching I will end up spending more time with Lucy. She is right! It is the the whole Inertia Momentum theory at work on a mental / emotional level! She helped me make a schedule for this week.
Lucy and I worked on the mounting block issue very quietly last night after more free lunge work where she was much more relaxed and only kicked out at a stirrup that got loose and bounced against her side during a canter. Oh boy is she unbalanced at the canter in the arena--probably everywhere. She stood beside the mounting block (which she doesn't like) and then was lead away from it. She was lead round and round it while I stood on top of it. She stood beside it while I got on it and got back off it. She would shake her head releasing tension when I climbed off it without mounting. I lead her away from it again. Then she stood while I put weight in the stirrup from it and climbed back down to lead her around the arena again--more head shaking and a deep breath. Next time she stood perfectly still while I mounted! I rode a tiny bit. She still did not want to get near the block with me already mounted. So we did that a bunch too. It was a simple yet productive and successful session. It greatly helped the fear I have been fighting all winter. And there is still the pain--there is that. But it doesn't have to stop me, it's just there. I need momentum towards yoga!
I'm helping AD work her ponies tonight, then with CG and Smidge on Wednesday. I will have a session with Lucy Wednesday also. And Thursday Lucy and I will hit the trails! I'm excited again. Thanks to AD and Tamara.
We took little sister out for a few little 90 second trips into the woods with Dove and left Niki in the pasture out of sight briefly. As we headed out Nordri wasn't paying particular attention to leaving Niki behind. She seemed a little curious of the woods ahead. Then Niki screamed and it was as if the cord that binds these two was suddenly snapped taut. Nodri stopped and answered. She did continue but became more concerned with each one of her sisters increasingly desperate calls. She answered with the most pitiful whinnying that turned into a combination of grunts, squeaks, and hiccups. AD wished she had recorded it. It was very unusual. We went a very short distance into the woods and returned. We repeated this three times and there was definite improvement the third time. There wasn't a Fourth because we discovered that Lucy had escaped her pasture and had to catch her up. But it was a great place to stop really. These sisters have been together always and are now in their late teens. They may never get comfortable leaving each other. As soon as they were back together they began grooming each other.
Here is a picture of AD working Niki from the 20th in the arena.
Lucy had her 1st free lunge Sunday the 12th. She went wild running and kicking and flitting around as if on springs. Once turned loose she would have nothing to do with me. I didn't have to put any pressure on her at all for her to fly off in the opposite direction. From one corner to the next following the fence line or dashing across the diagonal, Trying to get far enough ahead of me to stop and call for Dove. Round and round she went, flinging up a heel at me as she past more than once--sassy girl. She got very sweaty and after 30 minutes or so she was winding done her circles and was trotting rather peaceful around me in a roughly 20 meter circle. She started to watch me. Never a lick or a chew, but an occasional reaching her nose out toward the ground. After a dozen laps in this smaller circle in each direction I attempted to draw her in by stopping and turning away from her and moving one step ahead. She was drawn and when I turned back to advance her way she did not turn away. I approached and rubbed her vigorously. I let her catch her breath. I praised her enthusiastically. She snorted and shook her head releasing the tension. I rubbed her more. We stood quietly. I sent her around again. She stayed on the smaller circle. I changed her direction. I drew her in. She was drawn and she did not turn away when I approached. I rubbed her. I praised her. I snapped the lead rope on and then removed it. I rubbed her. I moved away and let her roll and roll in the soft cool sand. I left her to her liberty while I got the camera to snap a picture of her all sweaty and sand covered. I approached her when I returned. She did not turn away. What a perfect session!
Saturday the 19th I went out to fetch Lucy out of her pasture. She did not turn away. Having wear her halter every time I feed her grain has really paid off. I saddled her after grooming and she remained quiet. I turned her loose in the arena with the saddle on. She rolled. The saddle slipped sideways a bit. She was horrified. She came to her feet bucking and leaping. She is not good at bucking THANK GOD! Compared to Smidge's performance it was a pitiful attempt really. I asked her if she needed rescuing. She did. I straightened the saddle and tightened the girth. The stirrups on my wintec all purpose saddle I had run up the leathers and attached by running a length of twine between them over the seat. They bumped against the saddle when she hopped over a cavelletti. She reacted by bucking and kicking out and then went straight up in the air. She is very good at rearing. I had not seen that trick and wished I hadn't. She reacted badly a couple more times to the bumping stirrups on the saddle seat. I sent her on a bit forcefully when she did. She soon stopped reacting. She rolled again with the saddle on and did not freak out. Perhaps she has never been free lunged. Perhaps she has never had a saddle roll. I did not get on. I was afraid and I was in a lot of pain this weekend. It really gets to me some days.
On sunday Lucy got out of her pasture under the fence where I had picked up a section and attached it to the top strand to bring it clear of snow and not put it back when the snow melted. I was able to walk right up to her to halter her. Cool! Very Cool.
I don't have words! Watch THIS.
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