Best laid plans of mice and men... and women too for that matter! Funny how structured we try and make our lives, only to be thwarted from time to time by something as simple as nature.

Yup, you guessed it - I had outside stuff planned for last weekend, only to have the mercury drop below -25 C. The addition of several inches of snow as it snowed ALL day on Sunday didn’t help matters any either!

Still, we managed to get one job done - we unloaded and set up the portable panels in the back yard at my new place. We didn’t move the trailer full of hay, I didn’t get to pick up my new horse trailer (new to me!), and I didn’t get to bring the horses home, but at least we got that one job done!

Hmmm.... as I write this, I realize that some of you may be confused by that - I guess I haven’t been very forthcoming with some of the larger details of my life lately. I left my partner in September and after a short stint of living right in Burns Lake, in January I moved into a new house with a new relationship and place for the horses.

As you can imagine, I’ve been doing a lot of changes in my life, and deciding to lease Tori was brought about by those changes. I didn’t feel that I had the space or funds to properly care for her. Now, however, I am seriously considering not leasing her out.

Photo credit: Chris Hassell

Although I haven’t had time to ride Tori much in the past few months, part of that is because I am living so far away from her. Having her at home will help me to spend more time with her, and there is an indoor arena I can haul in to just a few kilometres down the road (and some of you know how much I prefer to ride indoors!). I’ll still send her for breeding this spring, but perhaps will keep her at home instead. I know that I have made some leaps and bounds in my capabilities to ride her and would like to continue adding to that.

And of course, having Karisma at home will be super! At this age (just over two years) she needs lots of short work times. Finding time to make a special trip out to see her, and then only to work her for a few minutes, can be really difficult. This way, if I want to go outside for some fresh air, I can mess around with her and so slowly start her training as a riding horse.

‘Til next week, I hope you find some quality time with your special horse!
~ Kristi :)

(Kristi has updated the 2003 Events List, again)

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Last week I mentioned some simple ways of preventing bad behaviour from getting started at feeding time. But what do you do when your horse already has some dangerously bad mannerisms?

If your horse bites at you, pushes you with his head, neck or shoulder, or snakes his head at you when you are trying to feed him, you may need to take some sterner measures.

This horse needs a definite verbal reprimand - a strongly voiced “QUIT” or “CUT IT OUT” - backed up with physical measures if need be. Remember that this horse is much bigger than you and can seriously injure you, especially if the behaviour is allowed to escalate.

Physical measures will depend on the ‘crime’. If the horse snakes his head at you (as the boarded stallion used to), you can stomp your foot aggressively at him, use your verbal reprimand, and withhold the feed until he holds still and pops an ear forward. You can also throw something into the pen (a small stick or clod of dirt) to catch his attention so that he stops bothering you.

If the horse is trying to bite at you, you need to reinforce your physical space. A whip or coiled rope may be necessary to prevent the horse from entering your safe space around you. You may not need to strike the horse with the whip - many will back off if you threaten with it. However, you may need to enforce the threat with some bolder horses, and then I suggest you use several rules to make sure you are not being abusive.

For starters, as with any training aid, a whip is used to AID your training. You are not giving the horse a beating, or trying to inflict as much pain as possible, but simply backing up the idea that the horse is not allowed into your physical space. Never, ever strike the horse around the head - you can cause serious damage if you accidentally hit the horse in the eye. Instead, it is best to aim at the chest or shoulders to encourage the horse to back off. Aiming higher can make your horse headshy. Beware that in a very bold horse, you can actually provoke retaliation. Never hit the horse more than once at a time - if you are using the whip it should be as a negative reinforcement, which means that if the horse crosses ‘the line’, you administer one cue to back off.

Any time you have to resort to physical force with a horse, you need to be cautious. If you are unsure about how much discipline is appropriate, please contact a professional and ask for assistance.

One last thing to consider is what happens when you are not the person doing the feeding. If someone else is feeding for you when you are not able to, you need to ensure that they follow the same rules as you do, and that they react the same way to the horse’s mistakes, in order to stop the bad behaviour.


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

I want to start by noting that the following information does not come from veterinarians, but is compiled from emails that I received when I was on the quest for information about strangles. Please note that this information was gathered in 2000, and so there may be more information currently available. I will check the weblinks before publishing them, but there may be more current info on the vaccines, etc.

If you suspect strangles in your horses, please always start by contacting your veterinarian.
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These notes came in regards to the strangles vaccines and immunity.
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The new nasal strangles vaccine is great with no side effects that the old shots used to have. Sometimes the shots were worse than the disease they were supposed to prevent. I truly suggest that you vaccinate for strangles with the new nasal vaccine because if your horses travel or are exposed to new horses on a regular basis it will help to prevent an outbreak of it. Usually once it hits, it will go through the entire herd. I understand that once a horse has it, they have a lifetime immunity to it. Therefore some in the herd may not get it because they already have that immunity.
Elsie
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Our vet told us the immunity thing is a myth; we thought they couldn't get it again, too, but he said after about 2 years they would be able to get it again. Argh!
Susan
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I went to a equine health and nutrition seminar last month and a representative from Fort Dodge Labs was there talking about the vaccines available for horses now. The old strangles shot was a live virus which to build immunity gave the horse a mild case so effects were sometimes worse than if they just got the disease. Our vet recommended we never give the shot. The Fort Dodge people claim the nasal way is virtually without side effects.
Elsie
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Where we are, we vaccinate against everything except strangles. There are stills strains of flu that there are no vaccines for but usually if there is a sick one like that, with enlarged lymph nodes in the jaw or neck, it turns out to be strangles.

The only horses I have ever seen with strangles were purchased at auction and brought in. They get exposed to everything. The vets here don't vaccinate against strangles because it works better to just let it run its course if a horse does get it. We also do not give antibiotics for strangles, for the very same reason. A friend has a beautiful mare with some pretty bizarre scarring caused from a case of bastard strangles. They almost lost her. It came out in her neck, chest, forearm and belly.
Michele
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I thought the only one that works very well is the newest one out, it is squirted up the horses nose and must be repeated, I think. I thought I saw it in one of the vet/tack catalogs, too, but haven't been able to find it since then.
The shots can make a mess, too, that is why a lot of folks don't give the shots, they can cause horrible lumps themselves. AND they don't give complete protection, so many folks don't use them since they are not real effective and can cause big lumps at the injection site.
Chris
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More strangles info next week...

If you have information to share, please email me at kristi@hiway16.com

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