Did you know?

Did you know that if you give oats to a cold-blood the reaction you get is as if you pour petrol over an open fire. Most cold-blooded horses simply can not "tolerate" oats. It goes straight up in their heads. It gives them too much energy. There is very much starch in oats,- it gives energy. It is relatively cheap and that's why man buys it. But most horses has a hard time digesting it. By nature, the cold-blooded horses has a calm temper and when you add high-energy (oats) to their diet, it goes straight into the brain and produces a lot of energy that they don't know what to make of. It can change their behavior drastically, many gets aggression problems.

I generally have very bad experiences with oats. I don't think we should feed the horses with it at all. It gives most horses ulcers.

Extremely fascinated

I think it's extremely fascinated to see how animals can take care of one when you are sick. Now I've been pretty sick the last couple of days and yet I have fought my way out to Giga. All the times I've fed her, she has been very cautious with me. She's just so sweet and loving. She lies her head over my shoulder. Which she usually does very rarely. Plus I just can cuddle her all I want in her face, which she normally hates. She's just a lovely horse with a great maternal instinct, or so do I think.

Race against the tide

Race against the tide: Bravery of young mother who stayed by her horse's side for THREE HOURS after getting trapped in mud 'like quicksand'

This was the terrifying moment a brave young mother battled to keep her beloved horse calm as sea water closed in on the animal after he became trapped in mud 'like quicksand'.

Exhausted and mud-splattered, Nicole Graham clung to her trapped horse Astro for three hours keeping his head high in a race against the tide.
The 78-stone show horse had sunk into quagmire-like mud and was facing the prospect of drowning as the water rose around them.

Miss Graham had been out on an afternoon ride with her daughter along the coast near Geelong, south of Melbourne, when 18-year-old Astro suddenly sunk into the mud.

Before she could shout a warning, the smaller horse her daughter Paris was riding was also partially swallowed up by the mud.

After dragging herself through the mire, Miss Graham helped her daughter and the other horse on to firmer ground.

However, Astro was stuck fast and her efforts to pull him free only resulted in herself sinking deeper into the quagmire.

As Paris ran to their car and phoned for help, Miss Graham stayed at her horse’s side. She courageously clung on to his neck, terrified that he would not be freed before the tide came in.

After three 'terrifying' hours, rescuers managed to pull Astro and Miss Graham from the mud.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2107521/Bravery-young-mother-stayed-horses-hours-getting-trapped-mud-like-quicksand.html#ixzz1ngON647D

Bitless Dressage at 2012 Helsinki

So cool. Finland holds the first real bitless competition. Fantastic! I wish I could afford a trip to Finland. That would be a cool experience! The funny thing is that I was already starting to plan a trip to Finland so I could see my family but it sucks that the competition is on the 3-4. March. I wish so bad that I had the money right now!

http://www.eurodressage.com/equestrian/2012/02/27/exhibition-bitless-dressage-2012-helsinki-horse-fair

Mystic warrior friesian

Look at this stallion isn't he just handsome? He is truly unique. It says on a homepage that he's an Friesian, which I do not quite understand. I would think he would go under as a draft horse or baroque horse. But what do I know,  he's still really handsome.

I'm so sick :-(

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh! I'm so sick today. It has been a long time since I've been so sick. I have a very high fever and a sore throat. My sweet boyfriend went and feed Giga. I had no strength to drive up to her. Why do I always get easily sick? I guess I have an extremely poor immune systems. It SUCKS!

Right or wrong piaffe?

Here's a bit how you can train your eye to see if in this case a piaffe is correct or not.

The piaffe must be so comprehensive that the horse makes a levade from piaffen, then you know that the hind legs carry more weight and soars into the center of gravity.
Simply, you should get an "uphill battle - feeling" in piaffen, it's not the forequarters that should be higher but the rear should be lowered by the horse angles of the joints of the pelvis and hind legs, when the horse is doing it, the hind legs also swing's into the center of gravity (where the rider sits). The horse should have his neck as its highest point and the nose in front of the vertical, with an arched back and a top line.

A correct piaffe in my eyes!

Then here's the wrong piaffe. Unfortunately it's the one you see most. Especially in competitions.


Here are some points on how you see when the piaffe is wrong.

- The front legs walked into the center of gravity.
- The hind legs do not carry any extra weight at all.
- The horse is very tight and compressed.
- And the horse often has it's head resting toward the chest. (Rollkur)

WRONG!

Horses feathers

I just love feathers! It's another reason why I love the breed Irish Cob. I love all the variations. They come in all colors, all kinds of hair volumes and various kinds of hair. Some have smooth silk-like feathers, others have a enormous feathers with curls. I can't have get too much hair. I think it's beautiful when they are excessively hairy on there feet. Unfortunately, mine hasn't as much hair as I wish!

Oh no -.-

Dammit. I was a little too optimistic today. I wrote earlier that I rode around in only my jersey today. I shouldn't have done that. I can feel my health is just going downhill. I'm so sick right now. It hurts in my throat and my nose is snotty! Arrgh!

Pregnant horses

I just saw this picture on Facebook. Isnt it a wonderful and a cute picture? I think there is a great atmosphere about it. There's nothing more beautiful than pregnant horses!

Btw. don't ask me why there's an arrow over the picture? It must be a picture screen image?

Wonderful weather

It has been such a wonderful weather today. The sun was shining and it was warm, or warm enough to I could just ride in a jersey. I was like a little kid when I woke up today, I couldn't wait to get up to Giga.

I drove up to Giga at 12 o'clock. The outdoor arean was dry, so I could FINALLY ride there. I brushed Giga for a long time, we just enjoyed each others company!
I was excited to ride on the outdoor arean. But my happiness didn't last long. I came straight down to the arean and suddenly came the stable owner with all his funny cars. He parked them all in the middle of the outdoor arena. Well that's a bit strange, I thought. He was apparently photographing them. So unfortunately I had to ride in a small part of the arena. It was a bit annoying because I was so excited and for ONCE I had the whole arean for myself :-/

So I didn't get to ride for so long but enough to Giga got tired :-)

My horse likes orange soda

My horse likes orange soda. What a crazy horse. I understand quite good that she loves apple juice, but orange soda? That's a bit strange, but there's probably no limit for what a horse likes. They are as diverse as humans, someone loves apples others loves sugar cubes. Giga hates sugar cubes but loves sour apples :-)

Crazy horses!

I'm so sorry! I didn't really write on the blog yesterday. But I was quite busy.

But but but. Yesterday I was out on the farm. The idea was that I just should give Giga her food. But then I met Sandra, who insisted that I should train Giga a bit in the indoor arena. Yeah okay, I thought. I trained a some tricks with Giga and Sandra watched us. Suddenly I felt that I had another who looked at us. It was Laura. I'm always so awkward when people look at me when I train my horses. I think it's a self confidence problem. After she had watched us in a while she asked if I wanted to go out for a ride with her. Why not, I thought. Then Sandra also wanted to come with us. So we ended up riding out together all three. But our trip got suddenly a little wild. The idea was that we were going to ride a calm and slow trip. But the horses didn't agree on that. It all went a bit wrong when Hector (Sandra's horse) got up front of Giga. Zafir and Giga just went crazy. The wind made ​​them really wild. We all had a little difficulty controlling our horses.


At last the horses fell down and I thought, whew, it was about time. Giga responded barely on my signals. When we got down to the road everything went almost wrong. Suddenly Laura's horse flew up into the air. It seriously made ​​the wildest jump but Laura responded hardly at it. She obviously knew this was coming. Fortunately Giga didn't respond on it. We got out on the road and suddenly a random runner comes from out of nowhere, all three horses just jumped up into the air. I do not think I've ever seen such a scared face on a human before. Wow, we scared the life of that man. But I guess a Shire, Irish Cob and an Arabian who all jumps up in the air at the same time, looks probably a little dangerous. It was a priceless expression! Poor guy :-D

What a trip. There you just can see how horses can influence each other. If one is nervous and wild often the others follows.

Wild one!

     Hey 
                          I heard 
                                                you were 
                                                                         a wild one

Hectic day

Well, our trip was a bit hectic. Or so do I think. Both Giga and Chanel were rather wild. Spring has gone straight into the head of Giga. Fortunately Helena didn’t notice much. She has never fallen off a horse, so she doesn’t know the consequences and pain that can accompany if you fall off a horse. On one hand it is good but on the other side it makes her overconfident.


Giga was very attentive today. I gave Helena permission to trot on her. But suddenly Giga began to gallop. Helena just laughed and thought it was funny but I could see she couldn’t quite mastered it, so I jumped into Giga and got a hold of her bridle. Whew! But it doesn’t end here ...  Chanel saw another dog and she started barking, Giga jumps to the side because of a huge shock she got. Luckily Helena didn’t fall off. Again, she just laughed. On the way home Helena says to me that she could hear another horse. I laughed and said “it's just Giga you can hear”, but I was wrong. We just managed to turn our back to the road and suddenly Giga started galloping into the woods. Fortunately, Helena got a hold on her. When we turned around we saw a horse that came trotting with a carriage behind it. Which Giga thought was very dangerous. That Helena didn’t fall off Giga and wasn’t afraid was like a miracle. She just thought it was rather funny. But we agreed she should jump of Giga before it went wrong.

Then when we walked over the road Helena loses the reins (don't ask how, cause' I don't know) and Giga stepped on it so it just  braked in half. Sigh, what a trip ... I think that I need to train Gig a bit more. Before I can let other people ride her in the woods.

LOL!

Oh my good God, look at this video. It's so cute looking. I can't stop smiling!
I think my little Shetland pony Baltazar would love to do something like that :-D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24vVL8klRSA&feature=related

Spring is on its way!

Can you feel it? Maybe not, but in Denmark it is really good weather today. It's a really clear that spring is on its way!

Today is Helena (my good friend) going to ride Giga. I expect that we will take a trip into the woods, I'll go next to her with my dog ​​Chanel and Helena gets to ride the entire trip. How sweet of me, huh ;-)?
I am always so kind when the weather is good, the sun has a good effect on me. It's obvious that I'm a summer "kid".

Wave the Flag

Look at this video. I think it's awesome and inspiring. She is only 12 years old. The horse has probably learned a lot before she came on the back of it. However, I do not know much about their background. But it looks beautiful!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kx_gu0rcxy0&list=PL8C3DEF126E0E782A&index=56&feature=plpp_video

Before and after

Here are a few before and after pictures of Giga.

The first pictures are from when I just got her. She looked terrible. She had no muscle. Additionally, she had just had a foal so she looks kind of miserable.


Before:

After: 

Buck

A few days ago I saw the movie Buck. I don't support his methods. But he does it with his heart in the right place. Or it's the picture I get. He seems to be a pleasant man. I would recommend the movie and I've even taken some of his words to me. But I am not in favor of his methods as I said.

WHAT A TIRED HORSE

Giga was a little "abused" today. Or... We rode a really long trip in the woods. One of my friends were out on the farm and saddled up at the same time as me. So we rode out together. It was really fun. We rode for almost 2 hours and I think in total we trotted an hour. Both me and Giga sweated like pigs. It is a long time since I've seen Giga so tired. She was sweating from head to "toe".

The only annoying thing about the trip was that I was a little naive. I had dressed Giga with my Sidepull and unfortunately she goes very much against it sometimes. I don't know why but out on walks in the woods and elsewhere, she is not always easy to control. It went okay but it was pretty difficult.

Here's a picture of my friend's Arabian mare. I had Gigas halter with me, so it looks a little silly with a small narrow Arabian head and then with a size x full halter.

Stunning Horse!

I'm "friends" with the owner on Facebook. The owner has many wonderful Irish Cobs. He has a great stallion bought from someone I know in DK.
But this one is a unique mare named Sunny. I'm so crazy about her color, beautiful horse!

Obsesion for asphalt

Today I rode a trip alone on Giga. I rode into the residential neighborhood because the forest is still filled with ice. I have a small obsesion for asphalt, I just love the sound of the hooves when they hit the asphalt. I walked up to the road and then we took a short gallop, it was a fantastic feeling. I felt like all looked at us as I were a knight on my noble horse :-D

Despite we rode alone, she was quite relaxed. There is great progress!

Continuation

Continuation of my other post... Here are a few pictures of my past with Giga. I rode her with a curb bit and with a saddle that didn't fit her. At that time I was sure about she was a disrespectful and naughty horse. Luckily I found another way. And fortunately, I have become wiser. I am ashamed to see these pictures but no one is perfect. And everyone can change if they have an open mind!

A few wise words

I would like to share a few wise words. Something I have thought about and something many probably could use to reflect on.

Many people have too many emotions involved when they train their horses. It's one of the biggest problems in horse training. It’ s not uncommon that you can quickly become angry and frustrated if the horse doesn’t do what we want them to do. We associate it with the horse is either naughty or disrespectful. And it is unfortunately not the case. A horse does not react on emotions but on instinct. They do not have the brain capacity to think "I'll fucking show my stupid owner" or something similar. We tend to humanize our animals because it’s easier to deal with, if we can blame it on our animals instead of ourselves. So think twice when you train your animal. Try to lie the emotions on the shelf. I'm not saying we should be insensible machines but we must leave our anger, frustration, sadness, irritation, etc behind us.

Think to you self, it’s animals, they just react based on their instincts. Horses are flight animals and if you send the wrong signal, they can be scared. All they want is just to escape, not to be evil or stupid.

A little worried

The last few days I have been a little worried. I've been afraid that I have learned Giga a too strong stopsignal. BUT today I was proven that there's still a "spark" in her. Whether it's a good thing I don't know but it was just nice to see that she still has a bit temper. I was going to ride with a few of my friends but I came way too early, so I rode alone into the forest. I was a little surprised by Giga's fiery temper. She was very tense and a little strong. So I chose to ride back, as I didn't think that a tense horse mixed with ice slippery roads was a good idea. When I got back where my friends at the farm. So I chose to ride an extra trip with them. And it was good for her. She was quite tired and relaxed. I rode her all the way home without any rein contact. So this was yet another successful day!

A mirror to my soul

My horse is a mirror to my soul. And sometimes I might not like what I see in the mirror and sometimes I will. The goal is to be proud of what I see in my reflection.