Heron Feather

08/08/2024

Congratulations Sue Klonowski on your Century ride!! 70+ percents! A lifetime achievement!!

03/17/2024

Happy St Patrick’s day!!

01/13/2024

Great article on buying horses...

Finding that needle in the hay stack----

There are thousands of horses for sale, probably several hundred thousand at any given time. Big, small, lean, chunky, old, young, every color, every breed, all price ranges from free to in the millions.

The reality is that many of these horses will come with some sort of precondition that will cause the new owner to think---“Well, I didn’t see that coming.”

It might be some sort of chronic lameness, or any of hundreds of health related issues. It might have to do with the level of training. Or temperament. Or skill level and ability for some specific use. We hear about the home runs more than we do the strike-outs. Touch Of Class winning Olympic gold makes a far better story than the one that ended up lame in some field, or worse.

But for most buyers it seems like some gigantic gambling game, and if there ARE some strategies to make finding the “right match” more likely, what ARE some?

Well, there are lots of possible answers, and I will list a few, and I invite others to add ideas.

First, I think too many people go into horse purchasing mode without CLEARLY DEFINING what it is that they want and need. Start there, write it down, discuss it, have a clear idea before you grab that checkbook.

Then, big one---Is this horse sound enough for me, and for what I want to do with it? Here’s where you must involve expert veterinary advice, even though it is not cheap. There are some buyers who will back off a purchase if the horse has ANYTHING that the vet check discovers, even if the issue is minor and unlikely to ever cause a problem. Many good horses “fail” the vet check, not really, but in the anxious minds of prospective buyers. Vets are cautious about giving opinions about long term soundness---Too many have been burned in lawsuits.
So deal with that in whatever ways you can handle.

Try not to buy what those in the trade call “too much horse.” This happens all the time. Mr and Mrs Smith take 13 year old Susie horse shopping. The child turns down the plain brown wrapper 14 year old quiet gelding in favor of the beautiful 4 year old mare. The Black Stallion syndrome strikes again. Usually against better advice from those who know better.

“Too much horse” can be simply too green, or because the horse is too high energy, or has a difficult temperament. So many fall into the too much horse trap.

Walt Gervais was a tough old guy who was somewhat cynical about the human condition based on decades of experience, He told me, “Denny, the only people who take your advice are the ones who agreed with your advice before you gave it.” They are not interested in your opinion if it runs counter to what they want to do, and they will keep asking until they find an opinion that they want to hear.

“Caveat Emptor” buyer beware, is about as accurate a saying as you can find in trying to find the right horse. If you are an expert, it is hard enough. Most top riders and trainers have had plenty of strikeouts. And if it’s tough for them, it’s a lot trickier for everyone else---.

Other thoughts, suggestions?

01/13/2024

"Rest and release are not pauses in the training; they are a significant part of the training" John Lyons

04/03/2023

This is very informative!

𝑴𝒖𝒔𝒄𝒍𝒆 𝑴𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒚 - 𝑺𝒆𝒓𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒔 𝑽𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒔
The serratus ventalis muscle, aka the ventral serrated muscle is one of the most important parts of the thoracic sling. It gets its name due to the fact that the ventral (bottom) edge of the muscle has a serrated appearance. It is a medium layer muscle that comes in a pair, with one on each side of the neck.

𝑭𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏
The thoracic sling is the group of muscles connecting the shoulder to the ribcage, as horses do not have a collarbone attachment the way people do. The serratus ventralis is the largest muscle in this group, giving it the important role of supporting the chest.

The serratus ventalis can be split into a cervical section (neck) and thoracic section (back). Both portions originate on the inside/top portion of the scapula. The cervical section inserts along C4-C7 and the thoracic section along ribs 1-8 (sometimes rib 9).

Besides it’s role in supporting the thoracic sling, when both sections of the serratus ventralis engage the forehand is lifted, actually making the horse taller. During movement the cervical section has the ability to pull the top of the scapula forward, while the thoracic section will pull the top of the scapula backwards.

Used alone, one side of the cervical section has some ability to bend the neck laterally.

𝑭𝒖𝒏 𝑭𝒂𝒄𝒕
While the serratus ventralis is a medium layer muscle hidden below the shoulder and latissimus dorsi, it is possible to see and palpate in some instances. Stay tuned for Wednesday as we will look at the serratus ventralis on some real horses.

03/13/2023

This is a pretty hot topic. There was a quote by someone that says 'beauty requires sacrifice'. The beauty of the Spanish riding school horses and training I think is so worth a little sacrifice of the profit organization status.

Most of you will have heard of the latest upheaval at the Spanish Riding School in Vienna. Chief Rider Andreas Hausberger who served for 40 years at the School was suspended from his job for criticising the leadership of the current director Alfred Hudler.

This is the latest event in a long series of conflicts between the chief riders of the school and the business leadership stretching back more than 15 years and at least three different directors. The core issue seems to be that the last three directors came from a corporate business background, not a dressage background, and tried to run the Spanish Riding School like a hotel (Elisabeth Gürtler) or a brewery (Alfred Hudler) with the bottom line as the top priority.

The inevitable consequence of a profit oriented leadership style is that corners are cut in the training, horses have to be pushed up the levels faster than they can handle, and they have to perform more often than is healthy in order to maximise profits. The well-being of the horses is compromised, lamenesses become a regular occurrence, and the quality of the training deteriorates.

Whenever chief riders stood up to the leadership and pointed out the harmful consequences of their management, they were fired, rather than trying to find solutions to the problems they brought to the attention of the director.

In a corporate environment, having a young dynamic team may be an advantage, but in a classical riding school decades’ worth of practical training experience with hundreds of horses can’t be replaced by anything, not even youthful enthusiasm. And while it may be relatively easy to replace a chef at a restaurant or a brew master in a brewery, replacing a chief rider of the Spanish Riding School takes 30 or 40 years because they have to be made from scratch - under the supervision of the previous generation of chief riders. Once this chain of transmission is interrupted, it cannot be repaired.

If you count Arthur Kottas as the first chief rider to leave the school after the privatisation, the school has lost a total of six (!) chief riders (Klaus Krzisch, Johann Riegler, Wolfgang Eder, Herwig Radnetter, and now Andreas Hausberger) in 25 years. Each one of them has 40+ years of practical experience in riding and training horses. That adds up to more than 240 years of combined experience. This is a loss that is impossible to replace.

The Spanish Riding School has existed for well over 400 years and used to uphold the highest standards of classical European equestrian art. The secret to its success was the unbroken succession of teachers who trained horses to the highest levels and then used these horses as four-legged teachers to pass their knowledge on to the next generation of two-legged students. This resulted in the accumulation of a vast body of practical knowledge. The instruction always took place in person, one teacher, one horse, one student at a time. Very little was written down, which makes the tradition vulnerable to disruption if only one generation doesn’t take care to preserve and transmit this knowledge to the next generation. All this incredible training knowledge can disappear very quickly if the chain of transmission from teacher to horse to student is interrupted. Thanks to the corporate leadership of the last 15-20 years, we may have reached this point today.

If the highest priority of a cultural institution like the Spanish Riding School is the well-being of the horses and the quality of the training, then ticket sales and merchandise will not be able to generate enough income to cover the expenses. Trying to increase sales by holding more performances and training horses faster destroys the health of the horses and the integrity of the training, as three consecutive corporate directors have amply demonstrated. So the gap in the budget needs to be filled in other ways. Either the Austrian state has to step in and subsidise its cultural heritage, or private sponsors can help to finance the school, similarly to the way opera houses in the United States are supported by countless small and large sponsors.

In the meantime, there is a petition you can sign that demands a change in the way the Spanish Riding School is managed.

https://www.change.org/p/stopp-der-zerst%C3%B6rung-des-weltkulturerbes-spanische-hofreitschule?recruiter=false&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=psf_combo_share_initial&utm_term=share_for_starters_page&recruited_by_id=c5a868c0-c17b-11ed-a16c-d75057b1d2eb&share_bandit_exp=initial-35668032-en-US&utm_content=fht-35668032-de-de%3A0

Or you can write a letter to the director of the school, Dr. Alfred Hudler:
Email: [email protected]

03/04/2023

Horse girls helping horse girls. So awesome.

Daughters Ministry - A faith based equestrian and fine art therapeutic program for teen girls

03/04/2023

Good for reference.

02/11/2023

01/27/2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KC4-mqlMXY&t=118s
This sweet mare needs someone to take her on as a project. Pm me for details. She loves trails and flat work.

Donia Antonia, Jockey club registered 2013 Mare. No vices, barefoot, lovely disposition. Recommended for intermediate/advanced riders in a professional train...

01/26/2023

https://youtu.be/e9HrXB7zGXU
I have a lady at my stable that is saddened to have to sell her horse. This horse is not for beginners, but has served as a faithful trail and parade horse for his owner. He has no vices, has started over cross poles. 10 years old. Gelding. pm me for more info.