For What it’s Worth = Some Free Advice

Dirty Little Secrets:
Okay so here are some of my dirty little horse ownership/training secrets.
Yep, I’m gonna come clean, at least about some things ;) I was thinking about the things that I do/or have done that are ‘against’ the grain of traditional horse training ‘rules’. There are many trainers and horse persons who are against both of these practices and with good reasons.
So my confessional is that I hand feed my horses (not that controversial) and I have trick trained one of my horses to rear (way more controversial).

The hand feeding issue is interesting. I know a lot of people who will swear up and down that horses should never be hand fed. NEVER. Period, end of discussion. Well I hand feed and especially make a habit of bringing cookies out for the few horses we have owned that don’t want to be caught. I always tell the hard to catchers that you won’t live long at my house if you don’t want to be caught. The hand feeding even has a name: Cookie Therapy. I don’t take cookies out every time unless the horses are hard to catch. A normal workout session starts with being caught in the pasture (riding the horse in if they are safe enough to do so). Maybe a cookie in the barn while brushing (more likely they get their grain if they are on any). The horse gets ridden and then when ready to be turned out will get a handful of cookies on the way back out to the pasture. I am a firm believer that horses don’t ‘do’ anything untoward that they don’t mean to. AKA if Princess bit you, she meant it. Same thing with when a horse kicks, strikes and any other hospital worthy injuries. I have spent my life with horses and have seen horses aim to hit and aim to miss each other. I even (pause…wait for it) hand feed my stallion (audible gasp). Do I think this is okay for all horses? Nope. Do I think everyone should do this? Nope. I don’t hand feed all the time and I am pretty confident that I am the alpha in terms of my horse relationships. I don’t put up with pocket excavations or the full nose pat down that many horses learn through hand feeding. It seems that my horses are confident in the boundaries that I have set up with them. So the jury for me is in. Hand feeding works in some situations and is okay if you are a dominant horse person with clear boundaries for your horses.

Okay the juicier one….rearing. I have a 7/8 Arabian mare who is super smart and super athletic. I have had her since she was a yearling and plan to keep her for her entire life. ‘Hailey’ had all the normal groundwork and riding as a three year old. She was even shown a little as a three year old in western pleasure and did very well. I made a mistake. I sent her for training with a professional that I had a great deal of respect for and still do in many ways. Hailey and this trainer were a bad, bad combination. After a month my super soft little western horse was like riding a steel girder. The trainer told me to ‘meat’ her as she was dangerous and would never ‘get’ anywhere. I took her home with a pretty heavy heart. When I turned her out into a paddock I didn’t recognize her. No she wasn’t starved or even physically beaten. My mare, my lovely little filly who liked to wash my hands with her tongue was gone. Instead I had a whites of the eye, nostrils flared, get the hell away from me wreck. At that moment I knew. Her fate was on me. That was my first realization. What I did or didn’t do for this mare would stay with me for the rest of my life.
I turned her out for a month to see if some decompression therapy would help. By the end of the month she would come up to the fence to sniff my hands but that was it. The old Hailey would push her head into the halter and beat you to the gate. Realization two: who she was is the past. Who can she be in the future is where I need to focus on. With that in mind I brought her into the barn and saddled her up. Waves of anxiety came off of her. Dancing back and forth barely standing still and shaking her head the entire time. Hailey relaxed a little as we walked by the arena and stepped into the sunshine. I knew one thing; this mare would never step into a show ring again unless she could mentally handle it. I checked my cinch, took a deep breath and swung up into the saddle. I don’t think Hailey or I moved or even took a breath for what seemed close to 5 minutes. Finally taking a whale of a deep breath I settled down deep into my seat and pushed her forward with my seat. Up until that moment Hailey felt like a powder keg, solid on the outside but you just knew that on the inside things weren’t so safe. The explosion came when I picked up the reins. Sideways and backwards at mach 9, Hailey did everything to get away from the wide soft snaffle I had in her mouth and the link it made between the two of us. I set down my reins, sat down a little deeper and must have had a death grip on the horn. After my hand came down she stopped and gave me a big signature snort. Okay. Now what? I knew her teeth were fine as I had them done before she went to the trainers. Shakily I dismounted and laid a hand on her neck. Two things were becoming very clear: I had more thinking to do and Hailey had more damage than I thought. Heading back to the barn I switched out my snaffle for a rope halter. I had felt a frightened horse not a mean one although both are equally dangerous. What the hell lets try this again but with even less control (rope halter). I didn’t have much experience with bosals or rope halters. Deep breath and up I go again. This time when I asked Hailey for forward I got it. One step. Then two. I hopped off and gave her a shaky stroke on the neck. Oh boy, we both survived that one! Slowly over the next two weeks Hailey and I worked out the forward but anytime I picked up the reins I got a hard halt on the forehand and if I pushed it I had my own version of Pegasus. Not straight up or even close to over backwards, just her front feet off the ground up and down until the pressure was released. That summer I happened to take a job on a guest ranch in southern Alberta. I was allowed to take a horse with me. Hailey was the best choice (what else was I going to do with her?). Two months of chasing cattle, crossing rivers, dragging logs and lots of wet saddle blankets settled her mind and brought me a reward of seeing glimmers of hope for her recovery. Time on the ranch had proven her to be a tough all day, all terrain riding horse with more cattle sense than most horses could shake a quarter at. I have never had a horse that was so brave! Hailey would get in between two 2000lb bulls fighting; ears back and neck snaked out shaking her head. Another thing our long days together had given me an appreciation for her uncanny ability to sense cattle and wildlife long before I or the other horses noticed them. One time out gathering yearling cattle in the Porcupine Hills by ourselves Hailey stopped dead still and assumed what I call her ‘pointer’ pose. Just like a bird dog Hailey was ‘pointing’ to the trail two hundred yards up the trail where I just got the last two feet of a cougars tail slip into the heavy brush.
That fall after a couple of months off I brought Hailey back in for more work. As I rode her around that fall I found her to be more settled but still very shy of full rein contact. The Pegasus moves were still there. It was like her thinking brain shut down and her panic flight response took over. Hmmm more thinking time on my part led me to try and make rearing more work than it was worth for her. Since pulling back on the reins could mean a variety of things (besides rear) I decided to add a ‘rear button’. I would grab on to her mane up near her ears and tug on it. After two rides focusing on making Hailey rear she was quickly figuring out that this a lot of work and than rearing on cue was rewarded and rearing without cue would get her into trouble. Two weeks later I was moving into a new stage of my relationship renovation with Hailey. I could confidently ask her to back or rear without a cue mix up 95% of the time. Within a month we were at 100%.
So there you go. My dirty little rearer secret is out. Again would I teach this to every horse? Nope. Is this dangerous? Sure could be. Would I recommend this? Nope. Did it work out in the end? It worked for this mare and for me. To this day every time I ride her I do so with the knowledge that I am betting my life on how clear my training was. Since that summer/fall Hailey has become a regional 4-H champion in both western and hunter, ridden some of the toughest trails through the Rocky Mountains and remained my favorite horse for moving cattle. Do I let just anyone ride her? Nope. Every one who rides her is advised of her ‘button’ and now at the ripe age of 13 you REALLY have to ask her to rear. I think she figures its more work than its worth. Take a lemon and make lemonade.
For What Its Worth that’s how I see it.

Plan ahead and save yourself some headaches while on the road with your horses.

Traveling with your equines can be an easy and less stressful experience if you take the time to plan ahead. Whether your trip is across the continent or just down the road there are some key basic practices that will help both you and your equine have a safe trip.

1) Loading & Unloading
• Practice loading and unloading before you ever leave your yard. I have been on several cross continent hauls with horses and I have needed to load and unload in some pretty strange places. Trusting that my horses will get in and out no matter what makes any situation less stressful. If you have a horse that’s hard to load; practice, practice, practice and if you need help find a friend, trainer or clinician that you trust to get your horse loading well. Each horse is an individual, keep that in mind!

2) Paperwork, Paperwork and more paperwork.
• Knowing the requirements for where you’re traveling with your horses is critical. Having correct updated papers and paper work makes traveling a breeze. Checking ahead for the paperwork required won’t leave you stranded. Paperwork might seem unnecessary for local hauls but having proof of ownership (copies of registration papers, bill of sale, etc.) will leave no doubt as to the ownership of your horses.
• Another critical piece of paperwork that we carry in our glove box irregardless of where we are going is an emergency response document that provides emergency responders (police, fire department, etc.) with our emergency contact information for both ourselves and our horses. Included on this form is our home veterinarian, equine insurance company and a legal declaration that in the event of incapacitation we would hold a veterinarian harmless for the treatment and possible euthanization of our horses if deemed necessary. I know it’s unpleasant to consider but accidents can and do happen and above all I would want my horses welfare assured.
Out of Province Paperwork
• When traveling outside of the province (Alberta) there are a few tips to remember. Anytime you leave the province with a horse you are required by law to have a brand inspection. Livestock Inspection Services or LIS can perform a brand inspection for you at any auction mart that handles livestock. Depending on the purpose of the trip horses must be accompanied by at least one of the following: an annual horse permit, a lifetime horse permit, a rodeo and exhibition permit or a livestock permit. Horses transported both inside and outside of the province for sale or slaughter must be accompanied by a livestock permit.
• Crossing into the United States provides you with a whole new set of paperwork requirements that can change quickly depending on disease outbreaks. At minimum to cross into the US each of your horses must have a health certificate from a veterinarian and stamped by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency as well as a negative Equine Infectious Anemia (EIA) test, formerly known as a Coggins test. Border officials appreciate copies made of all paperwork for both exit and entry. If you have purchased a horse in the US be sure to immediately declare your purchase to border officials. Health papers are good for 30 days from issue and negative EIA tests are good for 6 months depending on individual state requirements. Every state in the US has different requirements when traveling with horses and some states have different requirements depending on whether you plan to spend time in the state or just travel through. It is your responsibility to inform yourself about each state’s entry requirements and ensure you are in compliance with them.
• To plan out my US journeys and check paperwork requirements I check with the United States Department of Agriculture‘s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services website: www.aphis.usda.gov. Sometimes a state will have exit requirements as well. In 2007 when exporting a horse from Florida I was lucky enough to have the seller tell me to stop for an agricultural inspection at the border. If I hadn’t stopped I would have been subject to a fine and potential prosecution.
• It also pays to check with CFIA in case there are any health related restrictions in place preventing you from bringing horses home from certain states.

3)Safety First
• Another critical component of a safe trip whether across town or across the country is maintenance and reliability of the truck and trailer your taking. I like to think of my rig and its fitness like the condition of a horse. Some trips are a light trail ride and others are the Kentucky derby. You wouldn’t take a lame horse in the derby and you shouldn’t try to take a mechanically unsound truck or trailer across the country. I’m not a mechanic and the best person to advise you on your ‘rigs’ fitness is an experienced professional. One question that I often ask automotive professionals is if they would be comfortable having their mother/daughter/wife drive this vehicle on this trip? A little common sense can save you some big headaches. It’s also a good idea to have some basic mechanical tools with you when you travel and know how to use them. Tire wrench, jack, flares, booster cables, spare tires (both truck and trailer). When I have had mechanical misfortunes on the road I have been lucky enough to receive help from strangers.
• I also have an up to date membership to an automotive club that covers my horse trailer as well. Many basic auto club memberships won’t cover your horse trailer so be sure to double check.
• I also carry a cell phone and a truck charger to ensure that I can always reach help and update someone at home where I’m at. I plan out my larger trips with an itinerary of the highways I will travel and the likely places I will stop. I take a copy of this with me and leave a copy with someone at home in case of an emergency. Mapquest and google maps are great tools for traveling to new locations. Just be careful when they route you through major cities. If you are uncomfortable driving through major cities or on major freeways plan a route that either avoids them or plan to travel when traffic will be at its lightest. Washington, D.C. during peak traffic during a Friday afternoon commute was an experience I’d rather not repeat or see anyone nervous try!
• It also helps to take a navigator with you! – Electronic or Human. Just be careful with electronic navigators as they can be too slow to give you enough of a chance to get moved over before your turns. I understand that the quality of transmitters in them run about equal with price: more expensive=faster directions.
• Equine First Aide kit: all of the basics plus drugs. I pack a basic drug kit with me to deal with any minor problems on the road. Note: take prescriptions from your vet with you if you are crossing any borders with these drugs.

4) Comforts on the road for both you and your horse
• Packing food, water from home for both you and your horse can keep both of you comfortable. Some horses are willing to drink different water sources while others are picky. I have made habit of packing 20 gallons of home water with me on every trip just in case I need it. Another handy trick for a picky drinker or when you’re hauling a stallion with mares in heat is to put some Vicks Vapor Rub along the edge of the horse’s nostrils. The Vicks cancels out the smell of the water or mares urine.
• On any long trip, plan for places to stop and rest or overnight for both you and your horse. In a pinch you can leave your horses in the trailer overnight but the best practice is for time off the trailer in a safe pen or box stall. Make sure that you leave your contact information with your horses every time you stop for the night. There are some great resources on the web for locating boarding and overnight stabling for your horse. Another handy place for over-nighting with horses is fair grounds. I have found by mid afternoon on a long trip I will have a pretty good idea of where I will make it to by evening and I always call ahead to confirm.

Well there you have it. For what its worth on trucking down the road with your horses. This is by no means comprehensive and we assume no liability in any stupid actions you may take regarding our ‘free’ advice!

Cheers and Haul Safe,
Adrienne.