Alejandra Abella - Learning Through Animals

09/22/2024

What to say about this weekend? There are simply no words to describe this magical island of Menorca, with its Purebred Menorcan horse (PRMe) at the center of its culture and history. From the first time I came just a few years ago, all I have wanted to do is come back, and now that I'm living so close, this weekend I got to live one of my dreams: to see the typical "jaleo" of Menorcan festivities.

Practically all the towns in Menorca have their own festivities, and I wanted to see the one from this weekend because it's past the hustle and bustle of the summer ones, so it is less hot and much less crowded. Currently, at least two such festivities take place out of season, just past the summer, so they are ideal for those not wanting to deal with summer crowds and prices. And it helps to know the ins and outs of the towns, the layout, and the schedule, so this weekend was important research!

As if that weren't enough, I also got to go look at some Menorcan babies, and then spent the hours before my flight having lunch and lounging at a restaurant beach club for good measure. Is this even real life?!? Come visit and find out!

09/18/2024

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09/10/2024

Finally back on a horse again!!!

While I work on getting my property ready to bring my mare from the U.S. (yes, it's decided, she's coming home to me!), I got to see and try this wonderful 9-year old PRE mare for sale today.

Trainer friends in the U.S., I'll be sending you info. by private message, in case anybody wants to sn**ch her up. And anybody who wants info. on her, send me a message! She is SO level-headed and has the biggest stride!

08/21/2024

Guilty. And still feeling guilty about allowing past bad habits to sneak in, but I think it's important guilt, and experience that must be shared. We humans are fallible indeed, and repetitively and historically so. I was guilty of this as late as 2019 or so, when gratefully Janice Binkley of , my trainer at the time, calmly walked up to me, put her hand on my hand holding the whip, and whispered "stop," then redirected my frustration...and my history.

I also grew up in that horse world that said you should use your crop on the horse whenever a jump is refused, and I too have reformed from that. Or so I hope... When I was still jumping back in 2019, that crop still came out that one time and more, I'm sure, and not to alert the horse to jump either, but to punish for not jumping, to give a warning not to do it again. It's hard not to fall back into bad habits, into what was ingrained in us, but the important thing is you or someone else can step in and redirect our history. I cannot promise that the instinct to fall back into my history won't creep up again some day, but I do believe that day when Janice stepped in and quietly redirected me, was the last time to date that I put a crop on my horse (please, memory, be correct!). but it takes a lifetime.

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Letting the horse look at the jump, sniff it, stand near it, these are all things that decades ago, when I first started jumping I was told to never allow.

The idea back then was that a horse had to “just deal.” And if the horse quit at the jump, the horse was “being bad,” and needed to get a good smack with a crop.

But most of the time---not all, but in many cases---the reason that a horse quits is because of some sort of insecurity or fear or spookiness, and instead of punishing the horse, a better strategy is to try to get the horse to not be afraid, If a horse refuses out of fear, does whacking the horse, which adds fear to already existing fear, make a lot of sense?

Now, sure, sometimes a horse needs to be told to go, but generally a better first way is to try to let the horse have a “no big deal” attitude about what it’s being asked to do. Going back to that “old” way, I was also told this: “You have to make that horse more afraid of you than the thing he’s scared of.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard some version of that over the decades.

And while a horse does have to be taught to stay in front of the aids, the first step is to create confidence about that, and there are lots of ways to do this that work better than fear of being punished if he doesn’t, one of which is tons of trail riding with a brave and steady horse as a leader, so the younger or greener horse learns that it all that stuff it sees out in the wide world is not something to be afraid of.

So, generally, if a fence looks different, let him have a look first. If he stops, maybe let him look some more, or follow a braver horse. Some horses seem to be brave right from the beginning, and if so, lucky you.

But others are more spooky, and these usually need many more baby steps. Letting them have baby steps is often smart training, not a weakness or a surrender, and that’s something I had to learn as I unlearned what I’d originally been taught.

08/21/2024

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As fall draws closer, many horse owners are busy securing their fall and winter hay supply. If you are considering purchasing round bales for your equine companions—due to their cost-effectiveness and greater convenience for feeding pastured animals— remember that there are a few things to consider when choosing between square or round bales.

• Are you equipped/prepared to store your hay correctly?
Improperly stored round bales can lose much of their nutritional value and are also more susceptible to mold, dust, and bacteria growth, which can cause respiratory issues and even colic.

• Are your horses protected from botulism?
Round bales provide an optimum environment for the development of the botulism toxin. This toxin is produced when "Clostridium botulinum" is exposed to the right environmental conditions — such as when forage materials are baled and stored while still damp, or when they include the carcasses of dead animals, like birds and mice.

Prevention of this disease through vaccination is critical, especially in areas where the condition is prevalent (such as Kentucky, Ohio, Maryland, Pennsylvania, California, and Tennessee).

• Are round bales a good choice for your horse?
Horses prone to respiratory conditions usually have increased problems with round bales due to their higher dust content.

• Do you have a feeder to place your round bales in?
Round bales not placed in a feeder can create more waste, which means your horses may not be meeting their nutritional requirements.

• Can you secure high-quality round bales?
Not all hay is created equal. Be sure to choose high-quality hay to meet your horse's nutritional needs and minimize the risk of impaction colic, which increases with lower-quality, less digestible forage.

As always, your equine veterinarian remains your best source of information and advice—consult your horse doctor on best practices when feeding hay this fall and winter!

For more information on botulism, visit our website at: https://aaep.org/guidelines-resources/resource-library/?fbclid=IwY2xjawEwcuRleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHV5P3MHpvOoAOGsW2VwZTo-v_0pkILq8xN-reSg_yb3W01gGW_lfk0Nrnw_aem_Pp0WTnTG0S7pEH-BcTMV1g&_search=botulism

08/17/2024

This indeed!

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/iMDGKph577MEeCrw/?mibextid=oFDknk

A small stab in the heart is what you feel when you put up the day's riding list and you see riders sinking heavily in their shoulders when reading which horse they are assigned for the lesson. A small stab in the heart for that horse that for an hour will carry around a rider who has already decided that he does not like his horse. A small stab in the heart for the horse that did not choose the rider himself but still does his best, lesson after lesson.

Riding is a privilege and something you have chosen to do. If you chose to ride at a riding school, your instructor assumes that you actually want to learn how to ride. The instructor's highest wish is that you get good at it.

Often there is a plan and a thought as to why you are assigned to that exact horse. Before you mount up next time, ask yourself "what can this horse teach me today?" All horses have something to give, a feeling or a new tool in the box.

The art is actually in being able to get a lazy horse to move forward, to get an uncertain horse to gain confidence, a naughty horse to focus or a tense horse to be released. It takes work. If you think a horse is boring, it's more likely that you don't ride the horse as well as you think! It's not easy to be confronted with your own shortcomings, but it is in that very situation that you get the chance to truly grow as a rider.

The excuse that "it's not my kind of horse" is actually a really bad excuse. A good rider can ride any kind of horse. A good rider has trained many hours on different types of horses to become a good rider. A good rider can find and manage the gold nuggets in every horse.

If we absolutely want to ride, it is our duty to strive to do it as best as possible, even if it's only for fun. We owe it to every horse that carries us upon it's back.

Copied and shared with love for all of our horses, ponies and riders 🐎❤🐎

07/16/2024

Hello from Spain... and from the painful silence of my heart. It has been a while since I posted, because watching the words spell the truth as I write, is heart-wrenching. Yes, I finally moved to Spain two days ago. No, my mare did not. These photos are from our last day together, three days ago.

An experience moving her temporarily to another farm three weeks before leaving for Spain, made me realize just how much harder moving gets for horses with age. The strong, game, "just-point-the-way" mare I have known for twenty-four years, since she was a yearling, didn't handle a move to another county well, and it made me think again about my plans to move her to another country altogether. The last time she moved, she was twenty-two years old, and adapting took longer than prior moves already.

So, I have left without her. For now she waits in the pastures she knows, with her herd mates, for me to see places here and decide whether a move here is in her best interest.

I can't even stand the words as I read them, they disgust me. I disgust me. I've left my best friend, at times my sister, my solace, my constant companion of over two decades, behind. And yet, I know down deep inside that moving her here would be for me, because I can't live without her, and that what I need to do is think of her only. She deserves that, and if I brought her here, it would only be so I could retire her with my careful and daily care. Is that what she would want, though? I'm torn, and I'm heartbroken, and I'll continue to search this region and my heart for the answer. No decision will be just right in this situation, it won't be possible for both of us to be happy with the result. If I move her, we'll have each other but she won't have her beloved green Maryland pastures, and she will have undergone a long and exhausting journey. It's bad enough I won't have the Maryland green, and taking her from that to bring her to this dry land, seems cruel. And all that change. At her age. This has been a hard move, and it might yet be hard for a long time or forever, if I decide I must retire her in the U.S. instead.

For now I think, and search my conscience, and brace for impact as I continue down this road that was necessary for my family.

06/29/2024

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06/27/2024

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06/23/2024

Congratulations to the .dressage on 60 years, and to the century riders it has helped achieve this wonderful milestone! I will certainly miss the wonderful, welcome people of the PVDA when I move to Spain. 😓

06/22/2024

Keep the water running!

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06/19/2024

Another Maryland farewell ride for my girl and I. Boy are we going to miss these green landscapes and these wonderful ladies. ❤️💚💔

06/19/2024

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Dressage Solutions: To keep your horse straight ...

Imagine you are riding him on a balance beam. You need to keep him between your leg, seat and hand to keep him centered on the beam.
—Anna Buffini

Anna Buffini is one of eight athlete-and-horse combinations selected to the 2024 Paris Olympics U.S. Dressage Team Short List.

Thanks to Blue Seal for our coverage of the 2024 Paris Olympics, including rider interviews, competition reports, horse spotlights, photos, videos and more.

06/19/2024

Agreed 100%, and I cannot understand for the life of me why show calendars continue to have horses showing in the heat of summer. Frankly, sorry to be militant but I think it should be illegal at this point. Summers are just not what they used to be, and it's only going to get worse every year. Have you seen what heat stroke does to a horse? I have, and it's horrible, and it's horribly fast.

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06/15/2024

True!

You don’t create a responsive horse by being light- you create a responsive horse by getting a response and immediately releasing!!!!

Don’t be afraid of strong aids - but DO BE VERY LEARY of aids that last beyond a few seconds. If you are holding constantly, or if you are peddling your horse, every step THAT is going to create dullness, no matter how light those aids may seem. 

Please don’t take this as permission to yank and whack- start with “the dream aid”, escalate enough to be clear/firm (this is going to be very different for each horse), so you can get a rewardable response. Pretty soon the dream aid will work! 😍

Too often people create dull horses because they don’t want to get strong so they end up nagging.

06/15/2024

"Bloom where you're planted." I love this saying, and I have always tried to follow it, although it is definitely harder in some places over others. The soil in Maryland is so fertile for horse people, and the scenery so beautiful, that it is a hard one to leave for me. Where I'm going, the climate is more Mediterranean and more arid, which is less to my liking, but I will still try hard to find a way to bloom and become the horse person I have to be in that environment. The movers finally gave us a date this week, and they are coming next week, so no turning back now. They are all farewell rides from here on, so I will try to take as many pictures as possible of this beautiful land over the last days. Pictures and memories to feed my soul when I'm gone.

06/14/2024

Why do we work on circles? They help you develop the horse evenly from back to front and they help build the bridge that carries the weight of the saddle and the rider. When riding accurately, they enable the horse to lift the sling which is the apparatus that suspends the trunk to the shoulders and is responsible for lifting the withers to bring the horse off of the forehand. This is crucial for topline development, balance and communication with the horse. (This can not be achieved using a leverage bit).

It can be boring to some but necessary for the long-term health of your horse.

If you would like help working on this, please contact me for a clinic near you or to set up a virtual lesson.

“What’s in it for the horse?”
Carl Bledsoe Horsemanship
770-403-4635
[email protected]

06/14/2024

Everybody was intent on making me cry yesterday! I will miss the amazing Maryland Horse Industry Board (MHIB) SO much. The equine industry in the state of Maryland is like no other in the country: organized, supportive, diverse, welcoming, and so enriching. I will take the lessons of this Maryland industry with me, and will endeavor to follow its example in my new home state of Valencia, Spain. Thank you for all these wonderful years and experiences, and for the lovely send-off at monthly meeting yesterday!

06/14/2024

Everybody was intent on making me cry yesterday! I will miss the amazing Maryland Horse Industry Board (MHIB) SO much. The equine industry in the state of Maryland is like no other in the country: organized, supportive, diverse, welcoming, and so enriching. I will take the lessons of this Maryland industry with me, and will endeavor to follow its example in my new home state of Valencia, Spain. Thank you for all these wonderful years and experiences!

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06/14/2024

Gosh, I have been trying to stand strong and not cry at every corner, and I had been doing so well, too! Until yesterday. A 12-year old is who finally got me with a beautiful letter, and these lovely parting gifts: memories of our time together, and a thoughtful, hand-made bracelet with a glow-in-the-dark bead showing the Chinese symbol of the , the sign under which I was born. Her mom had read that about me once, and she made sure I have a reminder of where I belong, for when things get dark. I'm crying even now, thinking of what a powerful aid this bracelet will be when life invariably tests me again.

I wasn't even going to take on another student, when this young lady and her mom were introduced to me by another student's mom. "I want her and her daughter to get what my daughter and I are getting from you," that mom said. I already had limited time on my schedule, so it struck me that this mom wanted to share my time, instead of keeping whatever I had available for her own daughter. I thought that kind of friendship and generosity was laudable, so I agreed to meet this new student and her horse.

Within minutes of starting the first lesson it was clear there was work to be done with this horse, and not necessarily easy work. Not the kind most kids have the patience and wherewithal to deal with. The kid proved quickly to be a , something I request and repeat all the time. She seemed to have a maturity well beyond her years, not just understanding and accepting the responsibility we humans have toward our team member, the horse, but wanting to. Almost thirsty to take on anything she could do to be the best she could be for her horse. Unusual for such a young person, and definitely admirable, so I decided to keep going with the lessons to see just how much light exactly was in this young human.

The result has been that I leave the U.S. enriched, with a life so much more valuable than the one I had before I met these two moms and their daughters. If I had been only half the human these girls are at their age, if I had been only half the mom these women are, how far would I have gone?!? Horse people have a reputation for liking horses more than humans, but that's not how I feel. I love humans who realize the value of animals in their lives, humans that strive to live up to the example of honesty, care, and the simple understanding of what really matters in life, that animals give us. Humans who constantly seek to find the .

Thank you to humans like these, and the wonderful animals they bring into my life. What a privilege, what a life, what a !

06/12/2024

We've been lucky in Maryland for the past few days, with lovely cool weather, but as the heat creeps in again, here's a good reminder from the Maryland Horse Council on how to keep our horses cool.

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Warm weather is here to stay so it's time to remind ourselves how to keep our horses safe in hot weather.

Check out these tips for keeping you horse cool and healthy over the summer.