Fern and Miro

Sometimes i get a bit jaded by the horse industry. I used to think everyone wanted to be a great horsemen, i could train my horses beautiful to be happy, obedient and competitive mounts and people would appreciate there brilliance. 

Ive since learned thats not exactly the case. Lots of people want to win a ribbon and forget the fact that the what they are riding is an animal. I always wanted to understand these creatures better, train them better and be a better horsewoman. This isn't everyones goal. 

It can be disheartening to watch horses you've sold regress with a new rider through no fault of your own or the horses.

So when you see horse horses go on to be loved and progress once they leave your hands its a refreshing change. 

One of the kids i teach brought Miro off me about six months ago, it has been a pleasure to watch them succeed   together. With Miro going to his first shows and turning into a much loved pony. 

When i decided i would not have time or finances  to compete my much loved Fern this season, i knew a young rider who would benefit from getting to ride a slightly more experienced horse. So Fern joined Miro. 

Brilliant results both horses get attention and love rained down on them, far more than they would get with me, being one of many horses i ride and work with each day. The girl get to compete at a high level and gain valuable experience, more than she would have with just young Miro. I have less horses to feed and expenses and i truly enjoy seeing my horses doing well and watching young riders that have the same passion as i do for learning and understanding horses.

So heres some picture from Miro and Fern out competing with Darby

Horses, hierarchy and rhinos

There are times when I think I know quite a lot about horses, and then other mornings I wake up and realise there is still so much more to learn. 

Animals behaviour is so complex, it's never a simple situation of leaders and followers, dominant & submissive, predator and prey. The more you watch, especially animals that have strong ties to a natural life the more you learn their societies are far more complex than we ever give them credit for.

The basic explanation of horse society is that in there is a herd stallion, a lead mare and then the rest submissive under these two. The stallion chases off other male competitors, protects his herd, while the mare leads the herd to grazing and water and always eats and drinks first. 

But there is much more to horses than this, a lot of behaviours have been lost or changed in our domestic horses because of their artificial environment. To me it always fascinating to get a glimpse into wild behaviour when watching my own domesticated but once wild horses.

One thing that has always stood out to me,  is the procedure for accepting new horses into the group or herd.

If your a horse person and have watched a new horse be introduced to a paddock of other horses. You'll know the scene of galloping around tails in the air, the rushing to meet the new stranger, and the high spirited sometime idiotic behaviour they exhibit. Kicking, squealing, galloping and bucking as they all sniff noses and meet each other, while you kinda watch cringing hoping no one gets hurt. This doesn't happen at my place anymore.

I have always noticed that with the wild horses especially the older ones the introduction process whether stallion or mare is very different. 

Fern,  my wild mare, in almost all situation is the calmest most docile of equines, and not what you think of when you picture an alpha mare. Having been with me for three years it has been fascinating to watch her behaviour and interactions with domestic horses. From being the new horse introduced to a  herd. To now being the leader of our little mare herd of six. 

I have never seen her gallop up to greet a new horse. In fact she keeps her herd well away and any new rude individual that just assumes it can join she chases relentlessly until they maintain a healthy distance. She will chase them away off for days if they attempt to sneak into the group of horses, which they do frequently, and will make them  move them off until they learn that when she's moves they must obey immediately. Over the next days the new horse is slowly allowed to come closer and then join in the mob. 

When there are young horses in the mob of mares, as we have now with weanling fillies in the herd,  Fern is more extreme in her behaviour towards new horses and will chase newcomer far more aggressively than when there are no youngsters to watch over. Obviously having young  about fire up those protective instincts, no matter if its her own offspring or that of others. With only older horses the new horse is usually accepted much quicker

Even when introduced herself she stayed well away and only joined the domestic horses in grazing together after many weeks.

With a foal at foot and introducing her back into her paddock full of friends the same process was repeated. She kept Sonny her foal, away from the others always positioning herself between him and the herd for weeks before slowly allowing him and herself to ease back into herd life.

This method makes sense, it ensures Fern and her offspring stay safe and elimates any violence during meeting new horses. It also ensures that any horse that joins the group already knows it position and does not show aggressive or dominant behaviour. All in all it keeps the herd as a hole running smoothly and calmly as even the horses within the herd are not allowed to go galloping off to meet any newcomers. 

The reason behind writing all this down is recently reading about wildlife conservation in Africa, and how important it is to introduce animals slowly. The book highlighted the inceribly complex social structure of Rhinos, a species that is commonly thought of to be fairly stupid and loners,  and the huge failures of early rhino rehabilitation. When poeple not understanding this just dumped new rhinos into areas with other rhino established, continuously leading to the deaths of those introduced. 

Animals are complex. What may seem stupid beahviour to us may be innfact an integral part of their survial. I used to think Fern was just like the lone rhino when she first arrived,and could never understand why as a 'herd' animals she never wanted to be with other horses, but she is the ultimate social creature, she just knows how to run things the way they are meant to be. 

I could go on and on about examples of the complex equine behaviour I watched under Ferns herd management. How even extremely herd bound panicky ex-race horses have to go through her rules of isolation, but come out the otherside mentally stable independent 'normal' equines. 

I'm lucky that I can still run my horses in small groups and large paddocks and they have a great existence as close to natural as domestication can be. It gives me valuable oppurtunity to continue to watch and learn and realise how smart these animals are, and how much more their is to learn. I'm incredibly lucky to have been to Mongolia and got to ride through vast herds of horses on open steppes that live as close to wild as you can get. The lesson I learned there have opened my eyes to so much more, and truly showed me how different our domestic animals have become.  But you do have to look for that knowledge and sometimes it's in what you do not see.....but that will have to be for another day and another blog post.

Tarantula and videos

I'm sitting in Beijing,China having survived my first go at eating a tarantula, silk grub  and a scorpion, I did however turn down the dog meat and cat kebab on principal. Only the tarantula tasted terrible, mainly because of its hairy tough legs that you had to tear off the body with your teeth while trying to avoid the other ones sticking you up the nose as you chew, the scorpion however was really tasty. not lying, crispy with great seasoning it was kind of like a spicy potato chip.

I love home and the farm and my horses, but  traveling and trying new cultures and the lifestyle is a whole different kind of excitement. But not matter that I'm thousands of miles from home and eating bugs, it is still mind boggling to realise who connected the world is these days, and how you never truly lose touch no matter how many thousands of miles away you might be.

So as  I'm  making my way to Mongolia it's lovely to be able to get message from home and see what's going on

While I'm away my Fern continues to make a splash in the media. Literally. 

I did a  photo shoot at the beach just before i left, with my best friend, her horse and Fern. It was great fun although to be honest I cringe watching the video. Note to self do hair and make up before doing any video interviews next time.

Here's the link for those interested.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/national/news/video.cfm?c_id=1503075&gal_cid=1503075&gallery_id=134457

Horse wakebaording

As much as I love the work I do, I love training horses, I love the farm and I love being outdoors. There is no denying its a job, I have to make money, balance the cheque book, make sure I earn enough to feed my horses over winter, get there feet done, and cover any vet bills that pop up. It's stressful, and I work incredibly hard, and mostly completely alone on the farm day after day, year after year. 

Even training horses becomes a job, especially clients, or ones that are destined for sale. You have a limited amount of time to get a set amount of results and this becomes priority. Sometimes there is so much work, so little time, and a lot of stress in making sure money keeps comings in and bills keep getting payed, your own horses sometimes get extended vacations, as you just run out of time to twirl with them. This often happens, the horses that earn the cash get worked first everything else second, is the reality of the job.

You also forget and run out of time to enjoy the thing that's most important, the horses themselves.

Luckily for me I get to have the occasional day like today and it makes all the stress seem inconsequential.

It's winter and I spent a Sunday afternoon at the beach with freinds and my favourite wild horse, the amazing Fern, wakebaording up & down the waves. Bliss. Actually I didn't do the wakeboarding I rode Fern and she towed the wakeboard with my friends taking turns surfing along behind us.  

Heaven to me is something like this, galloping down the beach on a horse in one of the most beautiful places on earth with good freinds.

This makes everything worth it.

This was Ferns first time as the tow horse and she excelled, no stress pulling the person on the board with the first try. She is the perfect horse for this job never faltering steady rythm she just casually galloping down the beach easily towing a person.

To be clear there is actually very little pulling required once the person is standing up surfing the horses basically just gallops along with almost no tension in the tow rope.

A fun afternoon like this is also a good reminder, that all the hours spent on training and producing a happy, well behaved horse is worth it. I never take shortcuts training, and it always pays off down the road, or today the beach. I had a horse that happily and confidently allowed me to combine some of my greatest loves horses, freinds and the beach.

Check out the video and see for exactly what I'm talking about

http://youtu.be/ivvhe2N_uu8

Fern doing her good thing on the weekend

ONE YEAR ANNIVERSAry

Wow without being to cliche " look how time flies", its been a year since the wild ponies first arrived in my stockyards, and what a year it has been. The skinny, hairy, scrawny creatures are hardly recognisable anymore. They have come along way, but i cant help feeling a little disappointed. I feel i could have done a lot more with them. Matai could be almost ready for a ridden career in the competition ring, and should be jumping etc by now. Well Fern it was a bit hard as shes been a mum up until the last few weeks. But i really feel the little wild stallion given his intelligence and trainable nature, and the fact he grown into a strong young horse could have been doing a lot more. But alas, the time to do this has eluded me, in fact i have been so busy i almost missed the fact that it had been a year since they got here. I had my competitions with by other horses, then all the other jobs on the farm, the horses i ride for other people, lesson to teach, basically all the stuff that earns me a living came first, the wild horses fell to the bottom of a very long list of things to do.

So here we are, 3 fantastic and fat wild horses, that are anything but wild. They are friendly, well adjusted social and happy horses. The only thing that now marks them as being from the wild, is the stallion long flowing 'wild' mane, his thick black hair that can not be tamed. So although im not quite where i saw myself being at this point my wild horses and I have still come along way.

So i thought being their 1 year anniversary i would do a profile on each horse, where they have come from, where they are now, and the changes that have occurred.

Starting tonight with Fern.

She wasn't the skin & bones case that the little brown stallion was. She came off the truck in pretty good condition. Although her big wormy/baby belly was deceptive, as she still had slightly jutting hip bones, and a neck that seemed to stick straight skywards out of her chest. But she definitely was a good strong sturdy and sensible girl, who happily tucked into her hay net on arrival, and shes been eating ever since.

The first time in our paddocks... she was a shaggy creature, suspicious and withdrawn in nature

But it has not been a completely smooth journey, there have been setbacks along the way. Fern came with a set of some of the worst hooves i have seen, a year later there is only 1 hole in a back foot that has not quite grown out completly , that remains of the cracked & brittle claws she had on arrival.

Then there was the night we came home to find my little grey pony hanging up side down in a fence....this cut on her front leg,the result of that. But this too has healed, only the faintest thin scar remains to show for that story.

Finally things with Fern started to changes, as did the seasons. With Spring she lost her winter woollies, and grew wider and wider and wider, as we watched and watched, waiting for the time when the foal would make an appearance. Finally when we thought she may just in fact pop,we had Sonny. This would have to be one of the most amazing experiences of my life, to have a once wild animal, walk up to me in the moonlight, and deliver her baby literally at my feet.

Fern was such an amazing motherand milk producer, that Sonny grew and grew into the fattest and healthiest foal we have ever raised, who just oozes vitality. She has been the most protective and loving mother, who showed true grief and heartbreak at the weaning and separation from her boy.

Yet time is still ticking away and Fern continues to change. She has been saddled and will soon be ridden, without the burden of a baby to care for, her anxiety and worries are gone, she is suddenly more carefree, sand chooses to interact more wiht both human and horses, and has become a bit of a smoochy social creature. The first horse waiting to be caught each morning, tucking into her feed and leaning into her daily grooming sessions, Fern is finally relishing in the life that domestication has given her.