Photo credit: Chris Hassell

We have calves in the pen right behind the house - they are being readied for the sales. Meanwhile their rather upset mommas have been mooing for several days now - makes for some not-so-quiet nights!

The other major time consumer for me lately has been the kitchen. Uh-huh..... those of you who know me will now be picking themselves up off the floor - I am not known for my culinary talents! I am actually discovering that cooking and baking can be fun - if you have nothing better to do anyway. I guess it all comes down to priorities!

Speaking of priorities, again I make my plea to any of you who have used lights in the past to start broodmares cycling earlier! I need to put Tori on lights soon (by November I think, maybe sooner?) in order to have her cycling in time to breed her early next spring. I would like to get as much input as I can before starting this project as I’ve never done it before! Please email me with advice and your good and bad experiences of setting up lights at kristi@hiway16.com

Till next week,
~ Kristi :)

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If your foal has never been handled, you have a lot of work ahead of you! You need to gain that baby’s trust and understanding long before you start actually training her.

Luckily we have some things working in our favour - curiosity and hunger are both good motivators. You can often influence an animal’s behavior by offering food as a reward - and that type of training has gone back for thousands of years with various species. Curiosity can also lead an animal to check out things that may have otherwise caused them to flee - as long as the pressures aren’t too great.

Speaking of pressure, any time we are working with our animals (flight animals such as horses especially) we have to keep our impatience in check. That can be difficult to do in this world of instant gratification!

So, let’s set a scene where you can begin working with this foal that came from a range or otherwise unhandled situation. We’ll assume that you have managed to get her into a smaller pen with safe fencing, where you can work with her.

Suggestions for that are a large stall, a panel corral, a round pen, or a small turnout pen. You can also use the inside of a stock trailer. The important thing to watch is that the fence or wall is high enough to discourage jumping out.

Horses learn by repetition. Repetition can only be produced by taking the time to do things often enough that the horse finally becomes comfortable with it. If you climb into that pen and the horse runs and runs with her eyes rolling and head up, looking over the fence to see if she can jump it, you can’t start adding working with a halter. The pressure is already too great for her to learn anything.

I’ll borrow the three rules of horse training from John Lyons:
1. You must not get hurt.
2. The horse must not get hurt.
3. The horse must be quieter at the end of the lesson than at the beginning.

Always keep these in mind when you work with a horse - especially an unhandled horse.

Continued next week...

If you have comments or suggestions along the way, please share with me at kristi@hiway16.com

Tonya from Vancouver recently wrote in to ask about making her show horse’s palomino coat better. Some of what we discussed was using lights to help her horse from hairing up so much - ask anyone with a light coated horse and they’ll tell you that their horse seems to end up much fuzzier than those with dark coats! I’ll be covering lights in an upcoming column after I do some more research.

However, there are some other tips that might help to keep your palomino’s show coat in good shape. With winter coming on, you might want to print these out and save them for spring!

Start from the inside - make sure your horse is dewormed regularly and is well fed. A healthy horse will always have a healthier coat, smoother and with more shine than an uncared for horse.

You can try any of the following feed additives - I’ve heard of using corn oil, molasses, kelp, Brewer’s yeast, and cracked corn. Do any of them work? I have no idea, but they might be worth a try!

Cleanliness is one of THE most important things to keep in mind with a light coloured coat. Urine, manure, dirt, sand and salt from sweat can all contribute to ruining a horse’s coat. If at all possible, keep your light coloured horse blanketed, even with a light sheet, any time he is turned out.

Regular DEEP grooming is important, as is exercise - anything to stimulate the body and the haircoat. Plan your work times around the heat of the day. The less your horse sweats, the better! Make sure you wash all sweaty areas immediately - even just a good rinse with water can help wash away that harmful salt.

When you groom, consider using a vacuum to remove the dust and dirt (rather than just relocating it onto another part of your horse’s body). You can find grooming vacuums in most tack supply stores or catalogues. I’ve also heard that a Shop-Vac can be made to function well in the barn.

More next week!

Northern BC Horse is sponsored by local businesses who support equine sports in our area including:

• Baerental Ranch
• Burns Lake Building Supplies
• Griffin Crick Ranch
• Hoskins Ford
• Northern Horse Supply
• Ridennoure Paint Horses
• The Tack Store

Do you have a horse or equipment to sell? Want to buy a horse or equipment? Check the Free Classified Ads.