June 16, 2025.
The best of directors came last week, to give me a day fencing. Helena is well versed in the divine school of replacing insulators, clearing wire, and doing the tightening thing. She completed one half of the summer pasture fences. The second half is gated until another day comes to complete the fencing. We are fortunate with the weather. Sometimes you have to fence rain or shine, my hills can be difficult even with 4WD when the grass is wet. So far so good, the weather is holding. Even though we have no power to the fence, the herd had to be moved. There is enough green there, I don’t think they will be running the fences for another week or so. Beware if you have fat horses, my pastures are not rich, one week and Prince and Cameo had visible crests to their neck. That means trouble to the feet, and I do not need laminitis to lame two useful ponies. In horses, too much rich food seems to go right to the feet and creates inflammation in the laminae, the medical term is Laminitis, us regular folk call it founder. You know when our feet are sore it is difficult to move. There may be a comparison there. The two lovelies are now at the barn in the back paddock, feeding on dry hay. Prevention is the best trick of the trade. Competition season is with us. It is important to do everything you can to lighten the load for the horse if you are going for the ribbons. Tack interests me, its design is not for endurance. I have noticed with both English and western girths, in my opinion, the buckles are in the wrong place. They seemed to be placed right behind the elbow. Every time the leg comes back the elbow hits the buckle. If it hurts or annoys the horse it will certain stop the performance, there will be a shortness in the gait and perhaps bruise the tissue. They will be stiff in the shoulder, then someone will say it is the saddles fault, so you change saddles at great cost to the company, but still use the same girth. My solution either English or Western would be to have a shorter girth, buckles below the elbow, or a longer girth with the buckle above the elbow. I had a problem with our driving ponies’ years ago, owners would leave their Shetlands at the Sanctuary when they were 20 years, when they found out they could have a lifespan of 50 years. There was a total of 7, they were not trained to do much. In my experience a pony with nothing much to do except be an ornament, is a pony perfectly designed to make trouble. My bright idea was to train them to pull. Trailblazers learned to ground drive to start the training. I tried to get Keith Cole, harness maker extraordinaire, to make me some light harness, he said no, that there were lots around. I went to farm auctions to see what I could find. According to the horse historians they had great pony races in Rustico at “Jumpin Jacks”. I found some, the harness was well used and needed repair. I cleaned and oiled. I took them to Keith and he told me “I made those!” I was grateful that he did not refuse to repair them. Each pony was a different shape, they all had hay bellies, so the girth would drift to the front, and you guess it. The buckles were behind the elbow. The Trailblazers were driving the ponies 8 to 10 miles at a time, and when we provided pony drives for our community service they would work for 3 – 4 hours at a time. Harness is not designed for endurance. A race is only 2 minutes. I fitted the harness as best I could and completed the installation with back pads used under the girths to protect the elbows. We needed sound ponies and a harness gall would soon put them out of service. When we were finished, Witch Hazel was liberally applied with a good massage, in case there was any bruising of the tissue. Speed with any discipline is a great rush. I loved that rush, whether we were roping or goat tying. Grandpa theory was to be light and quiet whether we were riding or driving in a race. Use as little gear as possible and be as still as possible riding or driving. In the past horses raced with handicaps to make the competition tight, lead weights were added to the pads. I felt bad that the poor jockeys were starving themselves, spending hours in the sweat box to keep their weight down and the handicappers were adding more weight. It seemed to work for the tote, a tight race is always a lot if fun to cheer on. A race can be won now by a1 0th of a second. You do everything you can to lighten the load. Just by balancing tires to run true and the correct air pressure can save a second or so. May we all have a good horse. On closing, give Brian Waugh a hug or two. He organized the tie down of our bunk house. Fiona had flipped it, friends of the Sanctuary put it back on its blocks. The winds are wild on the hill and have lost a few hours sleep worrying about it toppling again. I have been assured it is now hurricane safe. I will try not to find anything else for worrying. I am grateful for all the kindness given to me, I try to pass it on.
Love and hugs from Yogi and the herd at Handibear Hills.