We got a new horse!  It’s a 4 year old Quarter Horse gelding named Peppy Zan Man.  I suppose that makes him a colt.  We got him from the trainer who started him, so he’s only been handled by professionals.  After test riding half a dozen other horses for sale, I realize now this is a big plus.  So many of the other horses were really stiff since they’ve been pulled on by beginners for years.

Because we wanted a horse that was rock solid, and because riding a horse out in a field alone is a good test of temperament, all our test rides included cantering in a field.  And boy is that eye opening.  We tried one little pony who seemed fine, but out in a big field this pony started galloping around and was completely unsteerable.  Another horse bolted in the field and also could not be steered or stopped.

Peppy was great.  He’s got more whoa than go, rock solid, both with other horses and alone.  I took him out on a short trail ride, cantered him around, and he was fine.  I also took him out alone away from the horses and again he was fine, down the road, through trees, trotting around, etc.

He has the right mind set that we’re looking for.  Calm, cool, relaxed, and would rather stop than go.  But with a good kick he’ll go as well, so he’s not a nag.  He’s the kind of horse we can put beginners on, hack out on a trail, ride bareback, go horse camping with, trailer/tie/hobble, and just in general have fun with.  He’s also young enough we can compete him if we desire.

He passed the vet pre-purchase exam with flying colors.  We’ve never had a horse do that, they usually have something slightly wrong with the flexion test.

The Western trainer said he was the greenest (and cheapest) horse they had, and I was surprised to find he was more broke than most of the English horses we looked at.  I suppose different people have different standards of broke.

Yesterday my wife trailered a friend’s horse to the vet, and a simple trip ended in tragedy. Because there are multiple topics, I’ll start from the beginning and split this into multiple posts.

Our friend’s horse had to be taken to the vet for a simple examination. She asked us to trailer the mare, and we of course obliged. As we’ve done with other horses, we asked if we could load the mare a few days before to make sure she loaded, was comfortable with the trailer, etc. This mare was 3-legged lame and the owner didn’t want the additional stress of practice loading. (In hindsight, this was a warning sign, as trailering a lame horse is not a great idea.)

On the day of trailering, the friend’s horse would not load. My wife tried the Dually halter but the horse was not trained to it and simply pulled back even more. Somehow they got the horse loaded (I wasn’t there). Although we always trailer with shipping boots and sometimes even with a head bumper, this owner didn’t want to use them. I learned to use such protection the hard way, as Montana once reared up in the trailer while it was parked and cut both his head and his fetlock. I’ve also learned that a horse needs to get comfortable with shipping boots before trailering.

So onward to the vet they trailer with a lame horse who wasn’t used to the trailer and wasn’t wearing any protection.

They arrived at the vet’s parking lot just fine. Then the horse started acting up, the trailer rocked badly, and the horse made quite a bit of noise banging on the trailer. After a few minutes, she somehow got herself up and over the chest bar in our Brenderup Baron TC. I never realized this was a common scenario until I googled it after it happened to us. I was surprised at the numerous stories I found on the Internet where this happened. It almost makes me want to get a stock trailer with no chest bar. I wonder if because the horse was 3-legged lame, the movement of trailering caused her enough pain that she reared up over the chest bar. But that is total speculation.

Somehow the mare extricated herself from on top of the chest bar and fell to the floor underneath it. Everytime she tried to get up she ran into the chest bar and was knocked back down to the floor. She struggled quite a bit and was kicking everything in sight. I’m amazed she didn’t put a hoof through the side of the Brenderup. She even kicked open one of the escape doors and broke off the latch.

A couple times the mare tried to exit out the escape door. I had heard stories of horses doing this, but I didn’t ever think it would actually happen. I always figured a horse knew better than to try to squeeze through such a small opening. Yet again I’m amazed at how horses can hurt themselves and how, when panicked, lose all common sense.

The owner jumped into the trailer trying to calm her horse. She ended up getting kicked in the keg, cut her hand, and banged up on the side of her face. Boy, when a downed horse kicks, it kicks hard and fast.

We didn’t know how to remove the chest bar since the older Brenderups do not have quick release pins. The mare’s owner called fire and rescue hoping they could cut the chest bar from the trailer. My wife was able to call Brenderup and they told us how to remove the chest bar by unscrewing the eye bolts which hold it in. Now I know why Clinton Anderson says that every piece of a trailer has to be removable.

Unfortunately, by the time we removed the chest bar, the horse lay on the trailer floor and had given up trying to get up. She had a pretty severe 4″ long cut on her hind fetlock down to the tendon, had a cut on the top of her head, and most likely had lots of other minor bruises and lacerations.

(The rest of this story continues in the next post.)

It seems I’m always hearing stories of fellow horse owners who find their trailer tires low on air and have to loop by the gas station on their way to a horse show, becoming even later than they already were, and feeling more stress than they were already feeling. For me, my trailer tires always seem low as well, but I’m really happy I invested in a $40 air compressor. That way I can top off the tires at home, usually the night before I have to trailer somewhere. (Did I ever tell you I prep the trailer the day before?)

Let me tell you, that $40 air compressor has been a major convenience tool. I use it almost every time I have to trailer. And now I’m better about keeping my commuter car tires filled up, since when I have it out for the trailer, I top off the car tires. I’ve been known to end up with tires worn all around the edges because I didn’t fill them up for, oh, two years or so.

I also finally got a decent tire gauge for about $10-$15. It has a dial with needle and a button which resets it. I used to use those cheap gauges where the pressure is read off a square white rod that sticks out the end of the gauge. I never could get consistent readings. One day I noticed that the square white rod would shoot out of the gauge beyond the actual pressure reading. If you push the white rod back in while the gauge is attached to the tire stem, you’ll feel where there is pressure and where this isn’t. I realized then that those gauges were too inconsistent to be worthwhile. I compared two side-by-side on the same tire and they were off by 5 psi.

At one time I researched these tire stem caps that would turn green or red depending on the pressure.  They sounded like a fantastic idea.  No more unscrewing the cap and checking the pressure, only to find it was fine.  I almost bought a set but found some scary reviews on epinions.  Apparently if these caps fail, they will release all the air, and you’ll have 4 flat tires.  I think I’ll pass.

A few years ago I got about 6-8 flats in a short period of time. Maybe there was construction in the area, maybe I had bad luck, maybe someone was sabotaging me, who knows. All I know was I got lots of flat, including one on the horse trailer. In fact, it got so frequent that I started worrying about getting a second flat while I was using the spare. So I got a tire repair kit (string plug) for about $10 and learned how to use it. Although not recommended by the pros as a permanent fix, I went ahead and used the string plug and it held just fine. So much for them being “temporary”. Once I pushed the string plug all the way into the tire by accident and so it’s probably rolling around in there to this day. By the way, make sure you get the T-handle for pushing in the plug. It takes quite a bit of force and if you get the cheapo handle you won’t be able to push the plug into the tire.

I also got a $40 inverter to convert from 12V DC to 120V AC to power the air compressor off the truck battery. A plug kit is no good if you can’t fill the tire after it’s been repaired. I’m pretty sure I tested this setup, but it’s been so long I can’t remember. I can just imagine that when I need this setup in the middle of nowhere at midnight, I’ll discover that the battery cables don’t have enough capacity to power the air compressor. Fortunately I’ve never had a need to repair a tire on the road, but I really should test this soon.

Oh yeah, although not related to trailering specifically, I also have quick-attach tire chains, tow strap, folding shovel, and high intensity light sticks (instead of flares) in the truck. And I’ve had a need for all of them at one time or another.

It’s funny, some people will see all the stuff I have for my tires in my truck and ask why it’s necessary and whether I’m being paranoid. I didn’t start out with all this gear. Rather, it was a response to all the various things that went wrong over the years. I guess that’s just learning from experience. So take it from me, there are a lot of things that can break on a truck or trailer and you can still limp home OK or make do with duct tape or baling twine. But if you don’t have tires, you’re not going anywhere.

For some reason Montana refused to load in the trailer today.  I should say that he loaded fine the first time, then decided not to load any more.  Elizabeth says it’s because I don’t give him treats, but I say he has to load when I ask him to, treats or no treats.  Perhaps it’s because yesterday we trailered him off the property and away from his buddy, Cedar.

As always when something like this happens, I viewed it as a great opportunity for some training.  I have tried Clinton Anderson’s approach to trailer loading quite a bit over the past couple years and with two different horses.  I’ve finally concluded that his approach doesn’t work well for me, as it is a lot of work for both me and the horses, and it tends to get flighty horses worked up even more.

Previously when I had trailer loading issues with Montana, the Dually halter worked very well.  The Dually halter essentially has a soft rope piece over the nose which tightens when there is pressure on the lead rope.  Today, strangely, it didn’t work so well.  Even with the Dually halter, Montana continually reared up while outside of or even halfway in the trailer, regardless of the amount of pressure.  Several times he bumped his head on the roof of the Brenderup.  I used the “You give, I give” approach of Dennis Reis, and kept constant pressure on the Dually while waiting for even the slightest try by Montana.  Montana was quick to figure out he could stretch out his neck and get a give from me, but he refused to move his feet, even after I ignored his head/neck gives.

A couple times he finally gave in to the Dually, but it took over 5-10 minutes of me holding constant pressure each time.  And he would quickly revert to refusing to enter the trailer, typically by marching backwards and a rear for effect.  Montana also would walk around to the side of the trailer and just have his head peeking in around the side.  I used to fall for this trick and walk him around to line him up on the ramp, but discovered he can load just fine when he’s off the side of the ramp and around to the side of the trailer, if he wants to, that is.

After working on this for over an hour, I finally threw in the towel and got the stud chain.  It wasn’t so much the time it was taking, but the fact that he was getting away with the rearing (which is not a good thing at all).  I used to think the chain over the nose was barbaric, but discovered that Linda Tellington-Jones uses it.  Linda is about the softest handling trainer I know, and if she’s OK with the chain, then I could give it a try.

So I put the chain on his nose.  When Montana reared, I simply gave a couple good jerks on the lead rope which was attached to the chain.  Big change!  Within seconds, he walked up on the trailer like a good boy.  I couldn’t believe it!  I then took him in and out of the trailer half a dozen times, usually letting him stand in the trailer for several minutes at a time.  He may have challenged the chain twice at most, but he quickly reformed his ways.  This was nothing like the previous hour and a half.  No more rearing, marching backwards, or hiding behind the side of the trailer.  He was an absolute gentleman.

After we finished, I gave him lots of treats and let him go back to his pasture buddy.

I’m continually amazed that I keep finding my horses take advantage of me, because I always feel like I’m being tough on them.  And I keep getting tougher and tougher with them, only to find I should be even tougher.  Boy, I must really have been a pushover when I first got into horses.

I wrote in my previous post that Montana was misbehaving today.  At one point we lunged him in our riding ring and he raced around the ring for a while.  He was wearing 4 Easyboot Epics with gaiters.  Surprisingly, he somehow ripped off both hind Easyboots and tore the gaiters.  In fact, the top half of the gaiters with the velcro straps were left around his pasterns.

I have no idea how he could have done this.  Perhaps the Easyboots on both hind legs somehow touched and caused one to be ripped off?  I can imagine how a front Easyboot could be ripped off, but not the hind.  I’m a bit amazed that this happened since endurance riders use Easyboots on really long, tough rides.

I know Montana previously ripped a gaiter off an Easyboot, but I don’t know if it was on the front or hinds, because I wasn’t there.  I also don’t know what he was doing at the time.

Today I had a lesson with a new instructor and she told me that my horse was unsafe and she would not give me a lesson.  Moreover, she recommended I get rid of the horse and told me some grim stories of other students who spent weeks in the hospital due to riding injuries.

Montana was, to be frank, quite bad today.  I brought him to a neighbor’s ring for the lesson, and he was not only in a new area with new horses but he was also away from his buddy Cedar (our other horse).  He was shaking his head, doing half rears, mini bucks, lots of sideways evasions, etc.  He refused to stand still.  He was pretty much on the edge of control and was ready to explode.

I think his main problem is that he’s buddy sour.  He’s always pretty bad when he’s not with Cedar.  There’s probably a submission problem as well, as I’m sure there are herd-bound horses who are upset but able to submit to the rider.  When Montana doesn’t get his way, he’s quite bad, and since he’s an athletic horse who expresses himself through his body, he becomes dangerous.  In comparison, Cedar is always quite safe even when he’s upset because he’s a stoic internalizer.

I must admit that I don’t do much groundwork with Montana, which could help some of the submission issues.  I found groundwork to be a lot of fun when I first learned it with the Clinton Anderson videos, but it bores me now so I find I don’t do it much at all.

Another problem is that he doesn’t have a job.  I find that he’s better after being lunged, or having worked the previous day.  Montana’s a young horse who sits around all day.  If he got regular exercise, I’m sure he would be better.

It seems that Montana has pretty significant issues that are fixable, but the question is whether I have the time, energy, inclination, or skills to fix them.  Or if I’d rather have a Cedar type horse who I can ignore for 4 weeks then hop on for a trail ride with no preparation, which is the type of horse I need, to be honest.

Unfortunately, since this has been going on for a while now, what would likely happen is I would continue to ride Montana on the edge of control on borrowed time, and eventually I will end up getting hurt.  He’s already bolted pretty badly with Elizabeth, and it took her probably 50-100 yards or more to get him back under control.  One time he bolted with me and I put him in a one-reign stop with his nose next to my boot and he ran sideways for at least 20 feet, which I didn’t even realize was physically possible.  So much for the “emergency brake”.  The new instructor today is concerned that he will start more dangerous behavior like rearing.  (I didn’t tell her he’s already reared with me.)

So I think we’ll be going horse shopping in earnest, and if we find a great, good-looking, Cedar type horse then we’ll sell Montana.  If I have the time, I would like to start working wtih Montana with some targeted training for his buddy sour issue, but given it’s winter with poor footing and short days, I’m not sure how realistic this is.

We have a skunk living on our property, and now he enters the horse paddock at night and eats out of Montana’s dinner bowl. We’ve been trying to fatten up Montana since he loses weight over the winter, so we give him a large bowl of grain each night. It usually takes him a couple hours to finish eating, and often he leaves food in his bowl. Elizabeth had told me about the skunk, but I finally spotted him. He was eating out of the food bowl right next to Montana’s feet. I don’t know if both were eating at the same time, but neither seemed afraid of the other. I can’t believe Montana hasn’t stepped on the skunk, because he always seems to step on my toes when I’m around his feet. If he ever does step on the skunk, I’m sure the skunk will spray him, and that’ll be fun to clean up.

I ran inside to get the camera but the skunk was gone when I came back.

I asked a few friends if skunks carry rabies or anything that might be harmful to the horses. No one really knew, so I’ll let him be. Once we accidentally caught him in a live trap (intended for rats), and I let him go using a 10-foot PVC pipe to open the latch. I can’t imagine trying to capture, relocate, and release a skunk without getting sprayed. Over the years, we’ve relocated a number of animals, including a possum, a ground hog, a wild cat, and rats.

I’m usually pretty good about always having some sort of rope on my horses to prevent him from running off. Sometimes the horses lull me into a sense of security because they’re well behaved, but even then, I usually won’t give in to laziness.

The other day we got back from a trail ride and Elizabeth put Cedar away in the front field. I continued to work Montana in the ring and brought him back up to the garage when finished so I could untack. He was still in his bridle with the reins looped over his neck, and I briefly for 1/2 of a second needed both hands to open up my jacket pocket. Instead of keeping the reins looped over my elbow so I could have both hands free, I let go of them because Montana was standing there so nicely. (Normally if Cedar is there, Montana won’t go anywhere anyway, but that’s no excuse.)

Montana immediately realized he was loose and ran off in an instant, reins still around his neck, saddle still on his back, bucking and running all the way to Cedar. (Montana’s quite buddy sour.) I had visions of him stepping on his reins and ripping his bridle or injuring his mouth from the bit. Aargh! I knew better, I really did, and I thought about this as I let go of the reins, and darned if what I thought might happen actually did.

He tricked me, because normally when I’m holding the lead rope or reigns is he so good. I mean, I think his eyes were even half closed, but the half open part was watching for an opening!

When working with Cedar, it’s really easy to get lulled into a sense of security. Once Elizabeth asked me to move him from one paddock to the other when I got home from work. It was late, I was tired, so I walked over in my dress shoes and laptop bag over my shoulder. I didn’t even have a lead rope. (Normally I’m the King of safety and have a lead rope, steel-toed boots, knife, and gloves before I even go near the horses.) So I opened the first gate and let Cedar out. He politely and slowly walked over to the second gate and waited for me to open it. After I caught up with him and opened it, he politely and slowly walked over to the sacrifice lot entrance and again waited for me. After I opened that one, he walked in. What a good boy! But bad me for not following good handling practices.

Oh well, what happened with Montana was a good lesson, and once again I’m reminded that a horse is always looking to take advantage of you. Fortunately no one was hurt and he didn’t run out into the road. (The same lesson can be applied to gates, doors, and feed bins left open, even for a brief second.)

It’s deer hunting season, and today on a trail ride we ran across fresh entrails from dressed deer.  Of course, Montana spooked and would have nothing to do with them.  Cedar walked right up to them like it was no big deal.  I tell you, Cedar is worth his weight in gold.

A few months ago, Elizabeth ran across a dead animal while riding Montana, and spent quite a while (over 1 hour?) using Clinton Anderson groundwork techniques, similar to Parelli’s squeeze game.  It didn’t work.  My experience with my two high-strung horses is that the strong Clinton Anderson techniques don’t seem to work well, as they upset the horse even more.

Today, I instead kept Montana very calm and used very gentle approach/retreat methods.  We spent about a half hour, and Montana was able to at least approach the pile of guts, whereas originally he spooked about 10 feet away at the smell.

On the way back home, we ran into another fresh pile of entrails and Montana was able to go right up to them and sniff them.

It’s amazing at the number of things on a trail ride horses can be scared of.  A bomb-proof trail horse (like Cedar) is really tough to find.

I’ve been cantering Montana in the wide open fields and letting him run, spook, shy, buck, and bolt. Previously, I’ve always shut him down with a one-rein stop and brought him back to a walk, where he’s fine. But for the past couple weeks, I’ve ridden through it to see what happens and see if I can somehow get him over it. He is particularly bad if Cedar goes away, as he is quite buddy sour. In those cases, when riding away from Cedar, Montana won’t go forward much but continually tries to go sideways. He also will throw a temper tantrum, which can get quite nasty with lots of head shaking, and he will bolt sideways 5 feet in a split second like an agile cat. Those sideways bolts have almost gotten me off. Then, when riding towards Cedar, he’ll take off like a rocket.

Today, after a 2 hour trail ride, I took Montana over some small jumps in the ring, after first walking over them. Party time! A couple times he ended up bucking several laps around the ring after the jump. Of course, even though I took him into the jump at a controlled trot, he would canter a stride before and jump really high. I’m trying not to discipline him too much, as he’ll throw another temper tantrum, and I hope more exposure will settle him down. (If this approach doesn’t work, I’ll have to get a bit more corrective with him.)

His bucking isn’t enough to unseat me, and I must admit it’s somewhat exciting and fun for me, so I don’t shut him down or discipline him harshly when he does it. I’m hoping he’s just young and eventually he’ll settle down. However, he’s not a horse that our friends can ride, nor does my wife enjoy riding him, so he’s somewhat useless beyond me.