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."
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
The Sheep Farmer is out of hay. It was time to search for a new source. I of course had not time to do that. Longhorn had round bales from a source not to far from local. I tried one. It was good quality (maybe more dust than I'm used to--no mold though) but what a mess to try to unwind and feed in portions. with only three horses per paddock at most I don't want to put them in an uncovered feeder. I have also noticed the amount of waste that happens around some round bale feeders. So I made a giant hay bag from a piece of netting from Dan's shop (where he makes fishing gear for commercial fishermen for those who don't already know that) I used smaller mesh and cut strategically placed holes for noses. I brought home two more round bales and after lacing the twine around them I placed one in each of the two sheds. This is day two and so far so good! I'm a happy horse caretaker this week! I will keep you posted on how it works as the bale diminishes.
The temps have come up drastically (were hanging between 0 - 10 for a a while with wind that hurt my face crossing the peak of Lithos) But in between we have had two lovely Sundays in a row for trail riding. Boy oh Boy that felt good!
I am still very busy at work and at home. Still no home PC so posts are few far between and concise. The stairwell is nearly done and the bedroom that J&D will need for their March retreat on the hill will be under way this weekend. Details will be forthcoming in less than a week I promise!
Watering process last week: run 100 feet of rigid plastic pipe down the well. Lug little pump and a gallon of water out to well. Prime the rigid pipe with water. Prime the pump with water. Attach rigid pipe to pump. String out 4 garden hoses (approximate length = 400 feet) attach hose to pump. Realize that pesky husband has left the little gas generator empty of gas. Grab gas can. Drive to corner store (now 2 1/2 miles away) fill gas can, drive home, fill generator with gas. Pull start generator. Go to plug in water pump and discover that pesky husband has taken all the power cords and strung them across the driveway, through the cabin window, around the rocking chair, under the table saw, up over the loft railing, under a toll box and three 2x4s, out the hole in the roof, onto the staging, and down the ladder. Untangle 150 feet of power cord and drag it out to the generator. Plug it in and drag the other end over to the pump--stopping every 6 feet to walk back and unhook cord from a little stump or broken piece of root sticking up from the partially excavated earth. Plug the pump in and find that the water I primed with has disappeared. Go get another gallon of water and re-prime the rigid plastic pipe and the pump. Turn the pump on. Follow the hose out to the paddocks. Sit to catch my breath near the water tub and watch to see if the water is clear of rust. Run the water out on the ground till it is clear. Put the end of the hose in the tub, still sitting down, just in time to hear pesky husband commenting on the fact that I could be doing other things while the water is filling: "It will fill just fine on its own without you watching it." "Thanks Hun!" (It does take over an hour to fill 3 hundred gallon tanks with that little pump.) Drain all hoses garden and rigid. Coil garden hoses. Empty pump and put away.
Watering process this week: Turn key on big diesel generator. Attach 200 feet of hose to hydrant near where barn will be in the spring. Pull up handle on hydrant. Follow hose to paddocks. Let water run clean. Fill tubs. In about 20 minutes, push hydrant handle down, drain and coil the two garden hoses, done!
Watering process next week: Same as this week except: eliminate the generator cause we are now hooked up to the grid and the switch is being flipped today!
Remember the old rule of thumb (finger) that says: at least three fingers height between the wither and pommel before mounting? Well, we learned that in at least two cases 4 fingers width was bad, three was good, and two was not so good although better than 4. And it all gets more confusing as one gets further into it. One thing that remains consistent throughout any saddle any horse is that there must be no pinching (tight spot) as one runs fingers under the front edge and then along the length of the panel behind the shoulder. The saddle is cinched on and pad-less:
The panel needs to sit just behind the shoulder blade a fingers width or two. You can check for restriction of shoulder action while mounted by holding your fingers just under the front edge of the panel while walking. This wintec size 17 1/2 in the following photo is likely to restrict movement of K's shoulder:
It is also probably to long for her pony back, judged from it's position relative to the last rib which I have outlined by drawing a dust line in K's coat. By placing a pencil in the seat of the saddle laid near to off so that it can roll to the lowest point one can judge the balance. I should have done it for you in this case. Oh Well, You can perhaps see that the pencil would lay just rear of center. This means that since this wintec has changeable gullets I can put a bit larger gullet on this saddle and lower the pommel to three fingers (at the moment it is 4 and a tad more). That would improve the fit on the muscles at the side of the wither but perhaps not help with the shoulder clearance and do nothing about the questionable length over the loin. The next two photos show length even better. First the Steuben 16 inch which fits well, keeping the riders weight over the ribbed area which is capable of carrying it and preventing a stressed and tender loin. The Steuben also has straighter flaps to accommodate K's shoulders:
And then the Bates Caprilli Below (my favorite of course) which has a 17 1/2 inch seat: It may be a tad too long depending on how much weight is in it.
And here is where it gets real tricky. A heavier rider needs extra room in the saddle seat for rider comfort and the extra inches of spread help distribute a heavier load over a larger area of the horses back which makes the horse comfortable, Provided those extra inches are within that shoulder to last rib section of back. All this is complicated enough without going into bridging and teetering. Bridging is where the saddle fits tighter at the front and back leaving an area of least pressure or in some cases almost no contact at all in the center of the saddle when not cinched. It is folly to imagine that adding extra padding will fix the problem. It may in some cases reduce the problem or prolong injury but it's not a good choice in the long run. My Bates Caprilli which fit my old starting to sag in the back mare excellent teetered on my straight backed thoroughbred. When I cinched it up the back edge of the panels would lift right off his back. That meant that he was carrying my weight over his shoulder and wither.
We discovered that horses/ponies with little or no wither are very hard to fit and that going wide wide wider is not always the key. especially when you have a pony who is a bit downhill in stance. So Dove has had a tracing done of her back which will be taken to Pelham Saddlery in New Hampshire to buy a correctly fitting saddle. When my house sells I will do the same for K. (Suchin by the way-- AKA Kelat Gaels. You may get confused with my having multiple names for some of my animals)
We learned how to feel for lumpiness or hard spots in our horses backs that come from uneven pressure. We learned that an unbalanced rider can cause uneven pressure in a perfectly balanced well fit saddle. This is why it is always a good idea to take a lesson every now and then. More often than not an instructor will see imbalance immediately that we may not have even noticed. And will help us learn to feel correct balance through guidance.
So along with all of this we learned that there are some exceptions to the hard and fast limits in saddle fitting but 98% of folks who seek out help with saddle fitting do so because they have that gut instinct that there is some discomfort going on and it is usually because we have pushed those limits a bit too far or tried padding them away for too long.
Wednesday May 31st We are hosting a Saddle Fitting Clinic. It is a great opportunity to have a session at a ridiculously low fee because I can't do math while ill and attempting to not miss a day of work and at the same time clean for an open house.
The fitting sessions will be with Kate LeRoyer. The fee is 45.00 for ~45 minutes. Tracings are 30.00 extra, adjustments, flocking and repairs are available.
3 slots left e-mail me.
Dan spent the 150.00 his mom gave him in gift certifs to Home Depot for Christmas on the Framing for the ceiling that is going in the daylight basement this weekend. I got 50.00 cash and bought a rope! He said "that's bull crap!" I say, if she wanted me to spend mine on the house she would have given me HD certifs: ^ ) I ordered the new rope yesterday. But Kings Saddlery called me back this morning because they got the expiration date on my debit card wrong. It didn't ship till today. I hope it gets here by Friday. It may look a little like item i in the photo. Or it may not.. Anyway I ask the woman who answered the phone to send what Terry McClare told me to order: My brand new 'Buck Brannaman Triple X soft horse rope'. Terry is going to teach a few of us how to swing the things next Saturday in her new indoor arena. I have wanted a real rope every since watching Cortney work with K pony in the round pen when I brought her to her first clinic at Terry's. Maybe learning to use the tools correctly will help my training technique. What I really need is to dedicate the time. It is so hard this winter with all that is going on with the house sale project and buying The Hill . Hopefully this will motivate me a bit to at least find a few minutes. That reminds me: I never did post on the Buck Brannaman clinic at Piper Ridge this fall! Oops. Stay tuned, I will get to it.
Hay to Rescues
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