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All about horses in northern B.C. Issue # 24: April 17, 2000 Published each Monday by Kristi McCrindle, editor Sorry about the interruption in the schedule! Back on track again (and yes, I feel better, thanks!). We have a couple of fellows that have been boarding their horses at the arena where I ride, getting a head start on the spring season by using the indoor arena. It's been really nice for me, as both ride western - one is focussing on team penning, the other on learning more about all western working aspects (penning, working cow horse, reining). It's not just hunter-jumper and dressage up there right now! What has also been neat for me is that I have had both men ride my cremello gelding, Raime. It is really neat to see him going under somebody else, but it has also made me very aware that no matter how well trained you have your horse, someone else can get on and simply not get it out of them! The one fellow I asked one time to spin my horse for me, so I could see what it looks like. I know it feels awesome, but have no idea what it looks like. So he obliged and climbed aboard. What a mess! At first Raime did what could almost be called canter pirouettes, only in a far less precise manner! Whatever the rider was doing, it wasn't like what I did, and he couldn't get it together. I kept hollering instructions, and he'd finally get it together for one actual flat turnaround, by which time he'd be so dizzy he'd have to quit - I kept teasing him he'd just get going to where I could see it and he'd quit on me! The other guy started by loping some circles on Raime, and being used to keeping his legs on his slightly lazy mare he started off gripping on Raime, who if course sped up and nearly galloped around the ring. It took quite a bit before we got him dropping his weight, breathing deeply and getting the horse to lope along soft and slow. It was a real eye opener to see that my precision-trained gelding has such a specific feel that the rider needs to be taught to ride him. I didn't know that he was that sensitive, nor that I ride all that different than anybody else. Very interesting! With both of my show geldings for sale, it has been a very good lesson for me - I need to make sure that prospective buyers are willing to take a few lessons on my horses until they can ride the same way enough to know that they can get the same stuff out of them that I do. As I said, very interesting! Till next week, happy riding! ~ Kristi :) email to editor: kristi@hiway16.com (If you see error messages when viewing this page, your browser may be out-of-date. If you upgrade to a 4.x version, the error messages should disappear) Join us for a discussion about everything to do with horses on Horse Talk Your opportunity to meet horse enthusiasts across northern B.C.

J.P. Forget Reining Clinic - Vanderhoof I'm busy this week gearing up for our first reining clinic of the year, held April 21-23 in Vanderhoof. The clinician coming in from Olds, AB is J.P. Forget (pronounced four-jay with a soft 'j'). J.P. is a remarkably talented instructor who used to run the Equine Program at Olds College. A professional rider and trainer, he is also one of the most skilled communicators I've ever met. Nobody ever feels foolish asking questions at J.P.'s clinics as he treats everyone on the same level right from the beginners to the most advanced. An accomplished horseman in his own right, J.P. has wins in some pretty big shows in Canada and the States. Still, his feet are firmly on the ground as he helps riders set up a program that works for them, with their own horse and their goals firmly in mind. J.P. also spends a month every year training with other instructors so that he is always learning new ways of teaching us. For more info on J.P. or his Equine Performance Services, check out his website at http://www.telusplanet.net/public/jpforget/ At this 3 day clinic, there will be four groups of four riders each, who ride for two hours at a time. The group format makes it easy to learn from another person's lessons, then try it yourself, then give your horse a break while you watch the next person. The organizers try to match rider and horse ability as much as possible in a group so that they can all learn from watching each other. J.P. also encourages riders to stay and watch the other lessons after they have ridden. Watching the more advanced riders is always a treat and gives you more ideas to work on, and it is very informative watching riders work through problems with their horses so that you have more tricks in your *training bag of tricks* when done. For the uninitiated, reining is a western equestrian sport that derived from the maneuvres originally required of a cowhorse. Just as cowboys contested to see whose horse could run the fastest or who could rope a calf the quickest, they also started competing to see who could stop the hardest, turn around the fastest, and so on. Modern reining consists of patterns made up of a series of such maneuvres. These are circles (large & fast and slow & small, to show the control of the animal at speed), lead changes (to change the leading leg at the lope/canter to the new leading leg when changing directions in a figure eight), spins (turning around at high speed with the hind end staying one place), rollbacks (sliding to an almost complete stop, then reversing directions 180 degrees and loping on), sliding stops (some horses slide 30 feet or more!) and backups (to show the horse can remain light and responsive). A contestant is scored on their ability to perform these maneuvres. For more information on reining, just email me! Joining the Houston-based Bulkley Valley Reiners is a great way to get into reining on an entry level, and I can give you more info on the club. If you have tips or questions on equipment care, purchases, fit, or anything else to do with equestrian equipment, please mail them to kristi@hiway16.com We update the Events Page every week - so be sure to check often Western, English, Penning or Trail riding, all equine sports have a voice on Northern B.C. Horse If you are new to Northern B.C. Horse, check out all the previous issues on the Archive page. Kristi is building a great knowledge base about horses, with the emphasis on our area of the world	Past articles are all available in the Managing your dust allergic horse Last column (April 3) I mentioned ways of making your hay more usable for your dust allergic horse, and also mentioned replacing their hay ration with pelleted feed. This week I'll cover a few alternate methods. A dust allergy can present itself in several forms, the most common of which are frequent coughing with no other signs of cold or flu (fever, nasal discharge, etc) and asthma like symptoms - plainly put, lack of air. Fortunately there are some things that you can do for your horse that can help him breathe better. First and foremost for a riding horse is careful conditioning. This horse will not be capable of being pulled out of the pasture and doing a 10 mile ride with friends at a fast pace without rest stops. The decreased oxygen supply to his muscles and tendons could cause serious injury. Instead, you need to condition his cardiovascular slowly and carefully - lots of slow work to begin with, with time in between works for him to 'air up' or recover to normal resting rates. You can also use medications such as the liquid syrup Ventipulmin. Ventipulmin is good for coughs due to aggravated airways. It is a bronchodilator, meaning it actually opens the bronchial passages wider, allowing more air through. It is expensive though, at approximately $80 per bottle. Recommended use for an average size horse is 4 pump-stroke-fulls per day, so it adds up in cost quickly. I have a bottle I keep on hand for bad days, such as dusty arenas, poorer hay when travelling, or some other irritant that is causing a cough at a bad time, such as during a show or clinic. You can add it to grain or just squirt it directly into the mouth the same as dewormer. One alternate supplement that was recently recommended to me was a herbal mix called Breathe. I have had considerable result with this addition to Raime's diet, as his recovery time seems greatly improved. The biggest problem I have found with Breathe (which sells at $30 a bucket, feeding 1/4 to 1/2 cup per day) is that while it smells great to us, the horses aren?t as keen on eating it. I have taken to mixing Raime's grain with a bit of soaked beet pulp which must mask some of the smell or taste as he now eats it all. Another recommendation, which I hadn't heard of before, nor have I tried yet, is adding fenugreek to their feed. Apparently you can buy fenugreek seeds at the health food store, then grind them up and add them to the feed. This is supposed to be another bronchodilator. And last but certainly not least in my list of breathing aids for your dust allergic horse is the use of acupuncture. Our local vet, Dr. Britt Mills, DVM, is now certified in the use of acupuncture, and has had good results using it on heavey horses. One horse dropped his resting rate by 2/3 after one treatment! I just had a treatment done on my horse last week, and I think there is a difference for the better. So all is not lost if your equine partner has a breathing problem. Through careful management on your part, you'll be together for years to come! If you have tips or questions you'd like to share with other local equestrians, please mail them to kristi@hiway16.com	Horse selling - via the internet With the recent surge in homes with internet access, selling a horse has become an even bigger challenge of marketing. While you can reach so many more people, you must know how to get to them, and how to keep their attention. Many modes are available to you. You can list your horses on one of the many sales sites already maintained by a webmaster or design company (example- Free Classified Ads). These sites will have varying numbers of viewers, and you will want to list your horses on the ones that do generate a large amount of viewers. (bad writing, too many distractions!) Email mailing lists - lots through onelist and other list types (I only use onelist, so I can't suggest any others, sorry!). List once a week, biweekly, or once a month (not every day or you'll drive people nuts). Consider listing as a farm - for example, Happy Gate Farm presents the April Sales List. Set up your own website. While a web site can be created quite easily by your self with the use of specially designed programs (or knowledge in website design), if you want to attract commercial traffic you might choose to go with a professional web designer (example - Northwest Design). These people will know how to make your site show up on the popular search engines. Email friends and ask them to pass it on - this is the least reliable as people tend to be busy and don't want to pass things on to others who won't appreciate it. But if you are trying to find a local home for that special pony who needs a retirement home, this might be a good way to do it - old-fashioned word of mouth, email style. Next week, I'll talk a bit more about writing the ad itself. If you have tips or questions you'd like to share with other local equestrians, please mail them to kristi@hiway16.com Northern B.C. Horse is brought to you courtesy of our advertisers including: The Tack Store Ridennoure Paint Horses Burns Lake Building Supplies Hoskins Ford Uniglobe Travel North Thanks to our advertisers for making this all possible... ...for information about advertising, email jim@hiway16.com

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