It has been a month since I started feeding a horse di magnesium malate supplement my horses. What a difference! Remi, my Yang Ming horse temperament gelding, had been on magnesium oxide for over a year so he did not show a big change but both Tess and Cerise are different creatures. When my hoof … Continue Reading »
Had a great ride on Cerise today and I credit this to increasing the level of magnesium in her diet. Who would have thought that feeding a horse extra magnesium would make such a difference but for the past several months Cerise has been tense and tight when I worked her. I actually contacted my … Continue Reading »
My wonderful Fire horse temperament mare, Cerise, loves to be praised but she prefers charitable giving to being forced to comply. When I ask her nicely to do something and she is in the mood she will give it her all. On the other hand, if she is not feeling good or is having a … Continue Reading »
My Yang Ming(Metal/Earth) horse temperament has lots of skeletons in his closet. He has been doing so well recovering from his traumas as an x roping and barrel horse. He has gotten very comfortable here at the farm and can handle trail rides well. The challenge is taking him to arenas. In his roping and … Continue Reading »
Remi, my Yang Ming horse temperament gelding, has finally decided his life here with me is OK. I have had Remi three and a half years and it has taken him this long to trust I am not going to mistreat him. Remi has a checkered past as a roping and barrel racing horse. Although, … Continue Reading »
I was having a nice ride on Cerise this morning until I asked her to bend and move forward at the same time. As a Fire horse personality, Cerise has her own ideas about how to do things and bending and moving off my leg is something she does not agree with. It is not … Continue Reading »
I had a fantastic horsemanship lesson with my Fire horse temperament mare, Cerise, yesterday. My trainer, Linda Hoover, was in town and even though the weather was freezing I wanted to ride. I have been stuck for a while with helping Cerise carry herself in good posture through all gaits and up and down transitions. … Continue Reading »
I had an interesting experience last week. I have been working hard with counting cadence and getting in timing with my horse’s feet. I have been doing pretty well with the trot and lope but the walk was giving the trouble. I could get the rhythm but I kept getting out of timing with the … Continue Reading »
I took Remi to a horsemanship clinic with Tom Curtain this weekend. I have not ridden Remi in over a month because of weather, travel and my health so I was really asking a lot of him. I have been letting him and Tess come along on the few rides I have made on Cerise … Continue Reading »
I continue to gain with Remi on his feet. I absolutely love the Easyboot glove boots. Remi wore them pretty much 24/7 for about 2 and a half months and then we started getting rain. With the mud the gloves shifted on his feet and they started to tear at the toe and I was … Continue Reading »
I have not been riding much lately which always makes me grouchy but the bit I have been able to do has been a blast. My cousin leases my pastures for his goats and cows so the gat has been open to his 30 acres. I have been riding on this land on Cerise and … Continue Reading »
In developing the Five-Element typing system my intention is to help people better understand their horses and handle them in ways most suited to each horse. The obvious next step is to actually change the way we approach our horses once we have determined their type. Let’s look at this from the horse’s point of … Continue Reading »
The Yang Ming(Metal/Earth) horse temperament is prone to getting into trouble and getting hurt in the process. Whether it is a foot hung in the fence or puncture wounds from sharp objects these horses are accident prone. The Wood horse temperament will tear things up but it is done on purpose and they rarely get … Continue Reading »
I trimmed Remi’s front feet this morning and I am fairly happy so far with his progress. The cracks at his toes are almost grown off on both feet but I am still having trouble with him growing tough wall. He wears off the wall faster than he grows it and then he starts wearing … Continue Reading »
I took Remi to the lake today but we did not have time to swim. I was looking to test my new approach to his spookiness. I had been coddling him when he got tense and trying to show him he could trust me to take care of him. That approach would have been perfect … Continue Reading »
In the Five Element horse temperament typing I focus a lot on picking the right match for a particular person or event. The horse typing test is designed to help people know what horse will be best for them or what kind of horse they already have. What I have not done so much is … Continue Reading »
One on the advantages of having Remi a barefoot horse again is that I can take him swimming in the lake without having to worry about him pulling shoes off in the mud. The temp has been over 100 for the past week so this morning my friend, Sharon, and I went to the lake … Continue Reading »
I am so excited that I may finally be able to get Remi back to being a barefoot horse. The shoes with the fill in pad material seem to have done their job of letting him build up some sole. His last radiographs show his sole thickness has almost doubled in the six months he … Continue Reading »
I took Remi to a ranch horse versatility training last Friday. He is still acting real spooky so I wanted to see how he would do away from home. He was relaxed when I loaded him but when we got to the new place and he saw lots of riders with ropes he got very … Continue Reading »
Many people, including myself, have been bucked off by horses with what I call sticky feet. A horse with sticky feet does not move forward smoothly but instead lags back even though he has plenty of energy. Horses with sticky feet are not lazy horses and in fact can move very energetically but tend … Continue Reading »