Cops: Stolen horses sported vet paint

Daily Southtwon ^ | 3-4-2003 | Carrie Wolfe

[HairOfTheDog]

I am glad you took the spayed brood mare!

Trailer problems are hard to solve, I think because, for the horse, being a afraid makes perfect sense. It isn't a comfortable ride, and it is a scary small place. One of the reasons my friend sold Bay all those years ago was that he wouldn't load in the trailer (easily). But he had an older straight load trailer that I think was just not big enough, and so dark. His next owner (the endurance racer) cured him of loading problems, traveling all over the place like she did, but he now rides in only slant-loads and stock trailers. I wonder if even today I would be able to get him in a straight load. He has preferences!

I do like Arabs too. I love how they stop and 'blow' at little things, but will go forward anyway. I love how they carry themselves. My complaint with the Arab show trends is that "English Pleasure" now means "Park Horse". I had a little Egyptian stallion as a kid who was a 'nice' mover. And always in the ribbons when we were young, but by 1985, I was beginning to have to compete against only park horses, and the old traditional movement couldn't win anymore. I love to watch natural park horses, but they sure have gotten exaggerated.

Here he is, one of the only photos I have of my little Egyptian stallion (very old pic, I am about 16!)

[HairOfTheDog]

I looked at both the new Steubens and Corbettes, and really decided on the Wintec for price! - It was only $400! - and it had all those adjustments. If I were showing still, I would probably have to 'class up' my gear, but I will be doing trail for as long as I have Bay, and then, *who knows*? I ride Bay in a plain egg-butt snaffle, He was ridden on a loose rein his whole life, and just hated my attempts at collection (which is why I abandoned my thoughts of perhaps learning dressage yet!)

[Endeavor]

What a pretty boy. I was out in Scottsdale a couple of years ago and got to go to the Arab show - that was so much fun. I love Arabs because they have such dynamic personalities.

That's the reason I like the thoroughbreds, too. I always loved the challenge of working with them - gaining their confidence so that I could treat them.

[HairOfTheDog]

I would love to have your job. Wanted to as a kid, but didn't work hard enough to get there.

Would be hard for me to see people who don't treat their horses as well as I do, but it would be rewarding to help them.

Do you do large and small animals now?

[B Knotts]

This sounds strangely familiar:

Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes - The Adventure of Silver Blaze

[AnAmericanMother]

Ah, yes, a little "spirits of wine" and off comes the doctoring.

That was then - modern dyes will NOT come off even with the application of alcohol.

I am a big Conan Doyle fan, although I don't like his Holmes stories as much as I do his historical novels. If you like Doyle and want a real treat, read "The White Company". Great read. The Napoleonic Brigadier Gerard stories are excellent too.

[AnAmericanMother]

Gosh, what a great little stallion. He's extending so beautifully, and I can see the swing in his movement even in a still picture (it looks like an old National Geographic Ektachrome with the saturated blues.)

When you have a favorite horse, you have to do what he likes - I humor my girl too on various likes and dislikes because she is so kind to me. If a horse has been ridden on a loose rein, he sure does resent being collected! I guess I'm lucky that my girl had never been ridden, she had no habits at all. And if there are any kinks in her training, I can't blame it on anybody but myself!

Mighty nice saddle for 400 clams - I guess the show tack sellers know they have us over a barrel. I use a German martingale cross-country, but I have to take it off and use plain reins in the ring. One of the ladies at our barn does tack repair, and I had her make a German martingale that attaches to the ring in my hunter breastplate, so when we go in the ring to jump I just snap it off and change out the reins, don't have to change anything else.

[AnAmericanMother]

A spayed mare is a new one on me, and as a teenager I worked as a part-time assistant for a large animal vet. I was thinking about vet school but wound up going to law school instead (please don't hit me!)

Glad you were able to take her in. My mare is an easy loader into anything ("Oh, boy, is he handsome?"), although we usually go to the shows with my trainer who has a nice slant-load Sooner. I would not use an old straight load any more though, because they ARE dark and narrow and it's harder for a horse to brace himself on turns and stops. Although my mare is not an antsy shipper, I also don't like the low ceilings in the old fashioned trailers.

Endeavor, you would like my T'bred (our vet loves her) she's so untypical of the breed. She will stand to be clipped, injected, shod, medicated, whatever. I clip the inside of her ears and her chin whiskers in the cross-ties and she never moves. She once almost fell asleep while being shod - I was standing at her head rubbing her ears and poll, and her head just started sinking lower and lower. I woke her up because I was afraid she might tip over with one foot up!

(Did I mention that I wear spurs? :-D )

[HairOfTheDog]

I guess a scan of an old print gives the photo that old look. I scanned many of my old photos a while back, to save them in a different way. It is fun to share them.

I am just longing for spring, and then for the mud on the trails to dry up so I can get out again. Dreary winter is getting to me. I need to start getting him in shape. He has been off all winter.

I would like to start a horse sometime, but I probably won't. Too chicken to get tossed anymore. I know as a kid I got tossed all the time, but man, I tell you... I got tossed off a friend's horse a couple years back and grown-ups don't recover as fast as kids!

I have used German martingales before on horses. They are magical. Bay will now tolerate contact and some collection, but he hates it. OK, I guess he can do what he wants! He will carry me anywhere, and that is what he likes to do.

[Endeavor]

Oh my god, an attorney! And you seemed like such a kind person, too! Oh, as long as you're a good one, then I can overlook this indiscretion. (I almost went to law school after I left vet practice -- came very close - narrowed it down to 3 schools in Virginia. Went out and looked at UVA, William and Mary, and Washington and Lee. Decided on Washington and Lee for many reasons, not least of which that it is in horse country, but finally decided not to go - long story.

I would love your mare. I'll bet your farrier wishes all his/her horses were that nice to deal with.

[Endeavor]

HOTD, you'd be perfect for starting a horse. You are patient and caring. I had a filly that was so cool that at one week of age she came and layed her head in my lap and went to sleep. When she got old enough to put a saddle on, she took it like she'd worn it all her life and when I got up on her, she thought it odd that she had to look back to "talk to me" but took it right in stride.

Of course I raised her from birth and had worked with her in the first two hours of her life - rubbing ears and gums and picking up feet. All the stuff that if you can get it done in the first 24 hours, you are so much further down the road when training comes. But with the new training techniques available, you might not have to take a tumble.

I'm with you - taking a fall these days (I'm 47) compared to even 10 years ago, is a different animal. Ah, when we were young!

[HairOfTheDog]

I appreciate you saying so! - Boy I tell you! - I think that young people are just made for starting horses!

'Course if I raised a horse from a youngster, I would probably get it in my head that no one else could possibly know her as well as me, and would decide to start her myself! But barring that, I don't mind someone else doing that part!

[HairOfTheDog]

I also don't like the low ceilings in the old fashioned trailers.

Tall horses have to have helmets in short trailers!

And this is a sweet pic of my Bay and pony makin' love out in the paddock one day...