Pedigree geeks unite

Kate over at A Year With Horses inspired me to write another blog post about Hampton's pedigree. I already posted a little diddy about his pedigree on his mum's side (she's a jockey club TB and a race winner back in the day). In fact, he goes back to Nasrullah (a sire you will also ready about in Kate's post). If my memory serves me correctly, Nasrullah is also the sire of Bold Ruler - Secretariat's sire.

But anyhoo, as far as Hampton's sire lines go, his sire is a blended mix of Clydesdale, TB and Hannovarian. I have no clue about the Clyde lines or the TB side. But the Hannovarian lines are ok:

Gotthard

 Gotthard sired Goldschlager ...

Goldschlager

 Goldschlager sired Argus ...

Argus

 And Argus was bred to a half Clyde/TB mare ... which resulted in ...

Fine Fun

Fine Fun or "Fletcher" who was bred to TB mare Proud Warning and out popped:

One sexy beast!! :-)

Faces around the farm

I drug Hampton in from the field an let him chow down in a warm stall while I went back out, tromped through the snow and spent time time getting photos of fellow pasture-mates. Most of them had their faces lodged in a roundbale, so I didn't get much opportunity for pretty shots. But some did cooperate. Plus, it gave me some exercise walking through deep snow drifts. What else can ya do on a day like this?

BANDITO

This guy is for sale (by the polo team from the local university). He is 17 I think, and safe safe safe. Like husband horse safe. Super kind and as sweet as they come. I just adore him and wish I could buy him and semi-retire him. Polo is just too hard on him. The polo team is asking way too much, IMHO. Here is his Craiglist ad.

CHIEF

HALLE

KITTY

LILLY and JJ

MARBY

This old mare is pretty much totally blind. I'm not sure anyone knows what breed she is, but when she was able to be ridden she would pace. Perhaps some standardbred in there? Or other gaited breed? Under that blanket she is an interesting roan/appaloosa color.

POPEYE

REBEL

Rebel lives with Marby - the blind mare. What makes this extra hilarious is that Rebel only has one eye. So between the two horses, there is one good eye. The blind leading the blind. But he does help Marby find her way around the paddock and to the water tank. Plus Rebel pulls a sled for his young owner (skjoring) and is just cute as a button.

TRIPP

Man, I LOVE this blanket. I mean, that is the bomb-diggity. And it looks great on a grey horse! I'd buy it for Hampton, but I don't think he's sassy enough to pull it off. If you know someone who wants to lease a nice horse in central Indiana, Tripp's owner went to study abroad and if offering him up for lease. No one is sure of his breeding - perhaps a Percheron cross? But he's broke, and appropriate for an intermediate rider. Here's his ad on Craiglist.

Tomorrow I may get some snow photos of Hampton. He is otherwise fat and healthy, so I guess I shouldn't really complain.

Long lines and long LINES.

This video:






... inspired me to start working with Hampton more in hand and in long lines. Today was a perfect day for that as it was 27 degrees - warm enough that I was comfy working outdoors, but still cold enough that the area was frozen so no riding. I knew that I would just be working Hampton at the walk so I thew on the surcingle and had some fun.


I am by no means any sort of genius with long lines or in-hand work. I know the basics, as the only time I really long line horses are when I am starting them and teaching them to steer. I think all horses should know how to long-line anyway. I can stop, steer, turn, etc. but what I really would love to learn is lateral work like shoulder-in and leg yield. I tried these with Hampton and leg yields were ok and I did get some steps of shoulder in, but I couldn't maintain it. I guess it could be that we were just walking and there is no impulsion so it makes those movements more difficult anyway. I dunno. 


Anyone know of any good educational videos for in-hand lateral work and such?


I ended out session with some in-hand baby piaffe work. Basically, Hampton knows to come forward when I raise the whip to his rump. I can also get a few "bounce bounces" from his croup when I tap. Sometimes he does want to barge past me, however. Gotta work on that. Baby steps.


In any case, it was a fun activity. But I'd really like for the arena not to be concrete anymore. Kthanx.


Oh yeah, so I googled long-lines hoping to find some nice examples of horses in lines, like this:

Um, and then the results also brought up images like this (long LINES)

BAHWAHAHAHAHAH!!

Horsemastership clinic

If you haven't already, check out the videos from the George Morris Horsemastership clinic. In particular, watch 1.5.11 Session 3 about lameness.

There was a point where this vet said that out of 20 horses in the show ring, he would guess that 19 or 20 of them have a lameness or soreness issue. The two horses used were perfect examples. Were they dead lame? No. I would say they are serviceably sound, and I think most people would. But I could see the issues the vet pointed out, although I had a difficult time seeing them with the first horse to go.

I was really interested in the second horse, as he has a tendency to almost drag his hind toes. The vet said this is a sign of discomfort up high - as in stifles or lower back. Hampton does this, and it makes sense as he does hold tension in his back (especially in the canter) and drags his hind feet to the point where they are wearing down too quickly. The chiro really helped, but I think that's an issue I really need to pay attention to. Perhaps a massage is due for him.

The vet asks a good question: Is your horse's soreness/lameness something is is able to cope with to do his job?

Anyway, this video is worth watching for sure.

Off to foreign lands

Today I was scheduled for a lesson at noon at the local dressage barn about 15 minutes away from where Hampton lives.

Turns out the instructor had to take a horse to the vet, so we mostly ended up just riding around. She did give us a little bit of homework in a short, 15-minute lesson or so. I wasn't upset - it was frankly just great to get Hampton off the farm and ride in an indoor with great footing! I miss that!

Hampton was a piece of cake to load, haul and unload. It's fantastic that the entire process I can do by myself. He was awesome at the new barn, too. Perhaps a little looky at certain things, and a little bit talkative, but very obedient, quiet but forward and lively. He was a BLASTY BLAST to ride. He clearly loved the footing as we got the best trot lengthenings we have ever done. This barn has mirrors, too, so I was loving watching us glide across the ring. We worked a tiny bit on leg yield, few steps of shoulder in ... but mostly just transitions. Walk-canter transitions were spot on. I think we both had a good time with the change in scenery.

The instructor gave us a good exercise to help with his tendency to bulge his shoulder out when working to the left. Instead of riding through .. "Oh hey, he's bulging .. crap ... ok it's over ..." , we are to walk before the turn where he bulges, move his shoulders left, then trot on. This helped a lot and after a few rounds with that, I could skip the walk transition all together and just counterflex a bit and move his shoulders over at the trot. Otherwise, she said he was lovely and going quite well. All of our issues are 100% normal for a horse of his age. She said not to worry about his canter issues as it is totally a growth and development thing.

Overall a fun and productive day. Um, except when I went to put the trailer ramp up my breeches caught on something and now there is a giant hole ripped in them. They were my best full-seat breeches, too. FAIL.

From the back of Hampton ...

So since we didn't do anything but walk on Saturday, I got bored and started to video. This is the result:

Back to working for a living

So New Year's Eve was a balmy 50+ degrees here. Pretty much all of the snow melted (yes!) leaving in its place water, mud and more mud (ugh!). But, the arena footing was finally good - even though it was wet and sloppy. So I worked Hampton on the lunge for a bit. Just to see where we were.

He started out a little weak especially in his right hock (the one that has always been a little funny), but he quickly worked out of it and ended up looking GREAT! He wanted to play and crow-hop a little at the canter but it just made me giggle. It was half-assed. I was happy to find that his cardiovascular fitness was still quite good as he was never breathing hard and only barely broke a sweat.

He has lost some muscle tone, but that's to be expected. His weight still looks good - thank you Equine Senior and alfalfa cubes.

So I scheduled us a lesson on Wednesday at the dressage barn about 10 miles away (with an indoor). I'm nervous and excited. We shall see how Hampton acts at a brand new place. I love the instructor and can't wait to see what she says. Plus, the teaching style there will compliment how my current instructor teaches.

Of course, the temps dropped again and now our home base arena is like riding on concrete so that's been a no-go after Friday. However, a group of us were bound and determined on New Year's Day to ride. So we did. I bundled up both me and Hampton in coolers and we just walked around. Others chose to trot, but I didn't want to make Hampton sore. He didn't seem to mind walking around anyway. Here we all are on for our New Years Day ride 2011:

One of the things I love about this barn is that there are all sorts of horses and riders there. In this photo alone there is an appy, a Walker, two paints, two quarter horses and Hampton. lol. He's not difficult to pick out, he towers over everyone. It was FRIGID that day.

I did take some video which I will edit and post soon. :-)