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All about horses in northern B.C. Issue # 38: July 24, 2000 Published each Monday by Kristi McCrindle, editor Busy, busy, busy... I don't know how we manage to do it every year! This was my year to take things easy, take on fewer projects, stay less involved. Instead I find myself in the middle of organizing two shows (one week apart!), starting not one but TWO 2 year olds, riding two show horses and borrowing a third, attempting to sell horses all over the place (more work than you'd think, writing ad copy, searching for internet sites, making videos, etc), and then of course haying season bumps right into the middle of it all! Whew!!! Speaking of keeping busy, I also had a blast last week when we went out to a friend's to move cows. When they were done ear tagging, we kept a few back to practice on. I had brought Raime up to give him another chance at working cows, he hasn't been really good at it but partly because he needs to do more quiet one on one work. It was very good for him to stop and turn with the cow without the excitement and time clock of team penning, and I think he was starting to think about it by the time we finished up. When we were mostly done, my friend Darrell let me ride his new horse, CD. CD has had cutting training, though he's been doing other things for the past two years. Well, I'll tell you, they don't forget! I put CD on a cow and we started to work her back and forth on the fence - it was awesome! Mostly I just sat down, shut up and hung on - CD got down in the dirt and turned around on that cow, stop and turned back the other way, all by himself. It was a rush! At one point he popped me right out of the saddle, the power and strength in a cutting horse is unbelievable. I think maybe one day I need to get a horse like that, one that has loads of cow sense as well as a fantastic disposition. Wow! So 'til next week, keep riding, sliding, jumping, chasing that cow or whatever gives YOU your equine high! 'Til next week, ~ Kristi :) Best wishes to my good friend Bibs Dallaire as she and her black Arabian stallion, Roman Ceazar Czort (better known as Sly), head off to represent Zone 7 at the BC Summer Games this coming weekend. 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) Foal Announcements - add a listing or check out the latest

Flies getting to you? Try fly spray! This year has been a good year as far as bugs go, perhaps because it was so cold for so long, and now it is staying cool or rainy a lot of days. But bugs can and do cause a large part of our summer equine management. Have you noticed your horses unhappily swishing their tails, buddying up to whisk bugs off of each others faces, stamping their feet and searching out shady patches to avoid those nasty biting insects? Could be the bugs are driving them crazy - it's time to try some of the remedies available out there. The most often reached for remedy is simple fly spray. Fly sprays will make all sorts of claims about days of effectiveness and bugs repelled, that may have been true in controlled environments, but up here in the north where we joke that the mosquitoes have landing lights (and maybe landing rights!) you may need to try an expensive trial and error to find what works for your horses. Talk to other local horse owners and find out what they have found to work in their herd. If you talk to several people that use the same fly spray and find it effective, try it yourself. Do take into consideration though what is locally available - if the feed store in your area only carries one kind, chances are that's what everybody is using whether it works well or not! Generally, I have found that fly sprays will never last more than 24 hours, in spite of claims of up to 8 days. Sweat and rain and rolling can all remove the formula from your horse, and they just seem to fade away on their own. Fly sprays are made up of a variety of ingredients that either kill insects on contact or repel them by smell (different active ingredients). Generally the sprays with natural ingredients repel bugs, while chemical types can reduce bugs by poisoning the insects when they land on a sprayed horse. There are lots of *green* sprays, or environmentally friendly products on the market, but as in all market fads, sometimes claims may not be as true as they seem. When in doubt, compare labels and check the active ingredients. Fly control products should never be used near water - neither your horse's water trough nor the local fish stream fare well with added chemicals. Next week I'll go over some methods of applying your fly repellent. 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	Past articles are all available in the BVR Schooling Reining Show The Bulkley Valley Reiners club has decided to hold a schooling reining show on Saturday, July 29. Starting at 9 am, post entries will be taken up until shortly before each class begins. There are a huge array of classes for all levels of reiners. Never reined before but think you might like to give it a whirl? Find out what it's all about at this show. Classes start with three Super Green patterns - a walk-trot, jog-trot, and a jog-lope. There's even a leadline class for the little ones! From there, the BVR's beginner patterns flow through, each one a bit more of a challenge from the last. Confident loping circles? Enter one of the A patterns. Started working on your turnarounds (spins)? Choose one of the three patterns at B-level. Ready to add a stop and back up to your pattern? Choose a C-level pattern. Beginner pattern D adds rollbacks, and E adds lead changes - almost a full pattern. The more accomplished reiners can practice their full National Reining Horse Association patterns later on in the day. There will also be two freestyle classes ridden to music, a Beginner one which requires two spins each way, two lead changes (simple changes okay), and three stops; and an Advanced one which runs under NRHA rules - three stops, two lead changes (flying only), and four consecutive spins each direction. Freestyle classes have a 4 minute time limit and many of the entrants come in costume! There are a few ribbons up in the Youth classes, and small money awards in the Non Pro and Open classes. Both Freestyles will be jackpots. There are also several other awards, such as High Score, Low Score and draws for both competitors and volunteers. The Reiners are a pretty relaxed bunch, and are good at giving advice to newcomers (if asked!). We welcome interested competitors and spectators alike. For more info, call Kristi at 250-694-3436, 694-3320 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 Griffin Enterprises Thanks to our advertisers for making this all possible... ...for information about advertising, email jim@hiway16.com	More work with a 2 year old Last week I talked about round penning Cody, my skittish two year old gelding, and how well it went. I left off after sacking him out thoroughly and telling about how well he was accepting it all. Later that afternoon, I put him back in the round pen, and this time went ahead and saddled him up. This is the colt I was sure would shy away from the saddle, positive he would buck, certain he would be totally intolerant of the whole process. He stood like a rock while I quietly threw the saddle pad and saddle on. When first cinching a colt you need to be careful not to do it all up too suddenly. They've never had anything tighten around their bellies before and it can be a shock! I threaded the latigo through the cinch ring and pulled it snug, then released it the first few times to accustom him to the cinch and teaching him it would go away. Then I snugged it up enough to keep the saddle from turning while the horse is moving (don't worry at this stage about trying to mount in it!). Move the stirrups around so he gets used to the feel of the movement. Slap the leather a few times, and rock the whole saddle. Remember, he is not accepting anything until his head lowers (and preferably he also starts to lick his lips or chew). Lead the colt around the pen for a couple of minutes, then send him back out on the lunge (or loose in the round pen). We expected Cody to buck and snort but he just packed that saddle like he'd been doing it all his life - sometimes they surprise you! But the bottom line is, when you prepare a colt well for their under saddle training, it makes a big difference in how they do when you actually start. I'd like to keep you up to date with Cody and Skip's training as I go along, but I may be starting a series on horse showing for newcomers to the show pen, so the train-along series may get bumped for a while. If you have questions in the meantime, feel free to email! If you have tips or questions you'd like to share with other local equestrians, please mail them to kristi@hiway16.com 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. Western, English, Penning or Trail riding, all equine sports have a voice on Northern B.C. Horse.

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