Larry started his career under saddle as a two-year-old race horse. Now fifteen, he has spent many years carrying a rider on his back. It’s no surprise that he has suffered his share of injuries and discomfort as a result. In the four years that I’ve owned him, I’ve learned that many of his performance and behaviour issues – nipping at me in cross-ties, girthiness (fussing and pinning his ears when the girth is being tightened), leaning into the bit,…
When I recently posted the picture below on Facebook, it got me thinking about the joy I’ve experienced over many years, hacking my horses around my small corner of the world. When I looked up the verb ‘to hack’, I discovered that it’s “associated with English riding and used more often in eastern Canada and the eastern United States than in western North America, where the term ‘trail riding’ is more prevalent.” So for my friends in other parts of the…
It’s been a while since I last put out a Horse Lover post. Partly it’s because I’ve been working on other writing projects. Partly it’s because, measured against the usual ups and downs of a horse’s life, Larry has been through a tough few months. When Larry was diagnosed with kissing spine and neck arthritis a year and a half ago, I expected I would have to ride him on a long rein for the rest of his life. But…
Horses wear halters. We don’t even think about it, because a halter is such basic equipment. There is a size for every horse: foal, colt, filly, cob, full, horse, warmblood, XL, XLG, draft. The size names are brand-dependent, so it’s sometimes hard to know which will be the best fit your horse. When I bought him, Larry was wearing a “full”-size halter. Larry is a Thoroughbred with a short, refined face, and the halter looked baggy on him. I was…
Every time I buy a new saddle, I think, This is the last one, I’ll never need another. I should know better. Sooner or later, I always seem to need another saddle. It’s not because I’m a shopaholic who always has to have the latest and greatest. It’s because a well-fitted saddle should be comfortable for both the horse and the rider. When my riding abilities change, a saddle that was comfortable before may not be comfortable anymore. Or when…
This week I want to tell you about an awesome book I’ve read. It’s published in the U.S. as ‘Dorothy Brooke and the Fight to Save Cairo’s Lost War Horses’. In the U.K., the title is ‘The Lost War Horses of Cairo: The Passion of Dorothy Brooke’. Beautifully written by Canadian author Grant Hayter-Menzies, it’s the biography of a courageous woman, and the story of British army horses abandoned in Egypt after the Great War. Check out the book trailer…
Here are a few basic horse terms that every rider should know: Apple: horse treat which can double as emergency rations for the rider. If you keep the apple, though, prepare yourself for looks of starving accusation from your horse. Bridle: device designed to test the rider’s manual dexterity and problem-solving skills. You must be able to take it apart, clean it, and put it back together without any pieces left over. Double bridle: ditto, except times two. Chaps: a…
This week I’m scaling back on the chit-chat so I can show you some horse pictures. I believe it’s important to incorporate multiple horse pictures into my blog. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words. Over the years, I’ve taken a zillion horse pictures. This one of Gandalf begging for a carrot always makes me smile. I like the artistic composition of this one, Gandalf all decked out in surcingle and sidereins, ready to be lunged. I’ve taken…
The year 2010 was not a good year for Gandalf. It was the year he lost a tooth and an eye. I ran across his pedigree the other day. I’m not in the breeding or bloodline business so his ancestry doesn’t mean anything to me, except to tell me he had Hanoverian, Trakehner and Westfalen ancestors. He was 17 hh and thin as a rake when I bought him in June 2002. I never knew his history. The dealer I…
It feels like I’ve been whining about winter for weeks now. It’s not just the cold, or the unexpected thaws, or the about-faces that plunge us back into ice and snow. It’s the toll that winter takes on my body. It raises the dreaded question: am I getting too old to ride? I shouldn’t complain. I haven’t had a cold this winter. Or the flu. I haven’t had to drive out to the barn in the dark and come home…