Red Pony Farm: A journey in motion

Inertia and Momentum

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.

Articles Needed

I really want to create a magazine. I know there are so many all ready--how many more do we need?

I want to call it:        Grade Horse News

Grade horses are most excellent and are out there doing lots of cool things and getting very little attention!

I will collect news and photos of the accomplishments of Grade Horses at Endurance rides, Dressage shows, Events and back yards all over the US. I would compile them into a nifty little package with few advertisements and lots of product reviews.

What do you think?

Got any stories and photos to share? With gas prices so high I am not likely to get out of New England this year, So I NEED YOUR HELP.

I vow to create a first run for November 2008 distribution even if it is tiny and I don't make cent one.

Bio Scan & Light Therapy for Horses

Dan Sumerel is coming to Treasure Equestrian Center in Manchester Maine for the Little expo they put on in April. He will be demonstrating the Bio scan and light therapy method of speeding healing of obvious injury and detecting the more subtle disturbances in soft tissue that can cause a horse to be slightly off, or to balk during certain movements etc. etc.

My dear friend Pam Yankowsky invited Dan to her farm during one of his Maine tours. He worked on her horse and she was very excited about the results. She subsequently purchased a unit herself and has very recently started a new business, "Back On Track"  to include Bio Scan and light therapy in Central Maine. She has set up a A Blog to document her journey as a small business owner. Her new in-process facility in Pittston Maine will include horse training following the principles of  Mark Rashid , horse boarding to include the experience of the Paddock Paradise design. Barefoot trimming, and trail riding on some of the most beautiful trail systems Maine has to offer.

Maine is Excellent

Just before we got ridiculously dry, this lovely gentle soaking rain began to fall. It started just as Taylor and I led Annabelle and Dove out of the barn yesterday, all tack up and headed out on the trail. We turned around before mounting and grabbed our rain coats from the hook above the brush boxes. We originally thought maybe it would be only showers and we'd be plenty warm enough to get drizzled on a couple of times. But Taylor has a big show coming up mid month and risking getting a chill now is not worth it. So we donned the gear and headed out protected. And were glad to, as the rain continued steadily though out the ride. It's supposed to last a couple of days. But , it will likely last till Thursday the weather service now says, due to the Massive category 4 storm slamming Louisiana at this very moment. The horses were out standing under the warm rain this morning at 5:45 when I went out to feed. They were loving it--no flys!  The biting flys have been so thick for two weeks now.  I spray them with repellent and insecticide but not much deters the volume of insects we have this year. They want to hang out in the sheds where the flys are not quite so thick. But the rain sure works well. You could see relief in the way they stood stark still and dozing this morning for the first time in weeks, no head shaking, no tail swishing, no hoof stomping. Just dozing and cooling off. Life is good in beautiful downtown Standish Maine this week.

A woman on one of the horse forums I read,  lives just outside the evacuation line for hurricane Katrina. Her family has opened their ranch to as many folks and horses as they can fit. What an Angel! My team mate in the next cube has a stream of news coming in from New Orleans over his PC and we are in awe.  Thoughts and prayers are being sent--that super-dome roof will stand! it's hard for us to understand being so far away and relying on reporters for our info--why when the ball team and company were sent away did they open it to ten thousand citizens?

Antibacterials

I read a discussion on alternative fly repellents the other day. Home made versions using household cleaners with antibacterial agents. I am all for cheaper home made alternatives to the expensive commercial fly spays and I like the idea of using less harsh chemicals on my horses, in my yard, and near my grandchildren and myself. I am just as concerned as most folks about the increase in stronger illness causing germs and bacteria that we read about in the headlines. So, in this age of increasing germ phobia it seems that every little bit would help. Why not drive the flys away from the horses and kill some extra germs in the bargain, right? Well, maybe not. While working in a Science based company full of 'lab rats' as well as 'computer geeks'; scientists of programming, biology and immunology, along with research specialists of many variety's, I am challenged everyday to look closer at things. To learn to more clearly see the big picture by scrutinizing things at the lowest levels first. To pull the smaller pieces of the problem apart and study their relationships when troubleshooting and thereby find solutions.  Well, thankfully there are many PH-D's and studious qualified persons out there doing this work for me in the case of the problem of increasing numbers of antibiotic resistant bacteria that are threatening us.  All I need to do is spend a half hour here and there reading their findings to begin to see that in this case things that seem reasonable and logical at first glance may be compounding the problem in the long run.  I don't get up on my soap box very often but I have to when it comes to education. Pick something--anything and learn all you can about it.  And please please learn more about the chemicals and compounds you use every day and what if any impact they have on the earth and all the creatures on it. I have included a few links to some of my favorite resources so far on the subject of antibacterials and their roll in producing resistant strains of germs that cause illness.

And as in all on-line research:  read  .com  to see what's for sale and go to  .edu , .org , and usually, .gov to find the real information.

http://health.utah.gov/els/epidemiology/newsletter/archives/00aug/Aug2000.htm

http://www.actionbioscience.org/evolution/meade_callahan.html#Primer

http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/9808/05/antibacterial.warning/

mededucation.bjmu.edu.cn/devdetail.asp?id=4