Why I am a helmet person.

Well, I'm becoming one anyway.
I'll start by admitting that I never used to be. I was a rotten about wearing one in my youth. My mother insisted I wear one and I'd slip the itchy thing off the second I was out of sight. It was stupid.

For your amusement. Here is a picture of little me wearing a helmet. My mother was watching. (We were looking at a horse for sale- this was a spunky TWH we decided not to get as it was too much horse for me.)


ANYWAY, I got into my teenager years and my poor mother just gave up. She tried bless her heart, and when I started working with my projects she kept trying. I did begin to wear one when I worked green horses and on the first ride of a new auction horse. I wasn't that suicidal.

Overall I wasn't too worried about its use and to be perfectly honest, I hated the feel of wearing a helmet. I still do. I find it sweaty and itchy. (I'm not a hat person).Heck, I didn't even like wearing riding boots.  But now I wear them. Every ride (or nearly), ever time. No matter how safe I think the horse is.

 You may be wondering what changed my mind, and I'll tell you.

 It was this past summer and I was riding with my mother. She was on one of my projects. A very lazy QH gelding. He hated to trot. I was on my slightly nervous/spooky project. I was bareback so I figured if anything bad happened it would be to me. I've fallen off so many times before that I've gotten pretty good at it.

Well something did happen and it didn't happen to me. It happened to my mother. My mother has never been a terribly strong rider, in reality she's more of a passenger. However, she's only ever fallen off a horse twice in her life- this was the second time.

Before the accident.  Check out those tennis shoes.

The ride was going fine, her horse was lagging well behind mine. She was actually bored. Then we went by a turn. At the turn there was a half broken branch. I didn't notice in time (I think I was turned around to tell her something) and it smacked me in the head. My mare got a little tense but I immediately reassured her and tightened my grip on the reins. 

I was going to tell my mother to go around it but I couldn't in time. She and her horse went right under it. The branch snapped. It caught her and knocked her off balance. Then her horse freaked out. This lazy going horse who couldn't care less flipped his shit. He started bucking. I turned around when it started, I knew my mother was going to come off so I started turning my mare around. 

She did, but one of her legs came out of the stirrup first and the other flew up in the air. I was afraid she was going to be drug. Then she hit the ground. She hit hard. In one of the only rocky areas of the trail. She hit her head on a rock. Her horse took off back to camp. 

It all happened in a flash.

I had jumped off my horse at this point and rushed over to her. 

"Mom are you okay?" I said, expecting that my mother would answer me saying she was sore but unhurt. That's just how things work. Bad accidents don't happen to *me*  they happen to other, faceless people. 

I didn't get a reply. This made me go cold. I was terrified. More so when I bent down and saw blood under her head. I honestly thought she was dead at first.

I listened and she was breathing. But it was labored, she was trying to take in little gasps. Clearly all the air had been knocked out of her lungs. I tied my horse to a tree. Our dogs were circling my mother, trying to figure out what was wrong. I shooed them away. 

Luckily, I had taken a class at my college called 'responding to emergencies'. I was (I need to get it renewed) first responder certified. 

My mother still wasn't responding to me. She was just lying there, groaning in painful gasps. I asked her to squeeze my hand if she wanted me to call 911. She squeezed. So I called them. 

We were on a trail ride in a place of 4,000 acres. We were not on a road and they needed directions. My mother was the one who knew what road it was. 

I was a little frantic on the call: "My mother is hurt, she was bucked off a horse and she hit her head. She's bleeding and unresponsive but she seems conscious. You need to send someone."

Then we went into the  "where are you at?" 

During this we had to try and decide if the riding place was in my town's district or if another one would be closer. Also roads. I had no idea what road we took to get there or what road we were on. The lady did not seem to get the concept of "We're on a TRAIL, not a road."

Then my mother opened her eyes. I told her not to sit up because she was hurt. She asked: "Did I fall off?"

"Yes mom, you fell off."

I was relieved, my mother couldn't be too badly hurt if she was asking questions! 

Then she paused and asked, "Did I fall off?"

My heart dropped. She was not okay. My mother was very, very not okay. 

"Yes mom, you fell off."

"Where's my horse?"

"He's gone somewhere, don't worry about him."

"You need to get him!"

"MOM, do not worry about the stupid horse! He's fine!"

*pause*

"Did I fall off?"

"Yes mom, you fell off."

"Oh. Where's my horse?"

"He's fine... he's tied up over there *vague gesture*"  (In these situations it can be a good thing to lie to them to keep them from getting anxious and trying to move.) 

During all this I was still bouncing between the lady on 911 and my mother. 

"Who are you talking to?"

"I called 911, they're sending an ambulance."

"No, I'm fine. Tell them not to come."

"Mom, you are NOT fine."

"No, let me talk to them..."

So I put my mother on the phone, where she tried to convince the lady that she didn't need an ambulance.

The lady was not convinced. 

I took the phone back, we were still trying to figure out how to get them to our location. They eventually put a trace on the gps in my phone. 

Throughout all this my mother was still asking if she'd fallen off. Thankfully her head stopped bleeding badly.

My mother said she was going to try to sit up. I disagreed. My mother, being the insanely stubborn thing that she is, ignored me. She sat up wincing. 

The lady on the phone told me to ask her if she was hot. (It's Arkansas in the summer- it's roasting.)

She said she was. The lady told me to pour water over her so I did. She was pretty scratched up. I took her fanny pack off so she could breathe easier. 

That's about when my mother noticed my horse was anxiously pacing around the tree. 

"She's going to freak out, you need to go get her!"

"She's fine, I'm not worried about her, I'm worried about you."

"She's going to break the rope, you need to go get her. I'm fine, go get her!"

I was annoyed but I did it. 

Then: "She's going to step on me!"

So I tied her back up.

"You need to go get her! She's going to freak out!"

I finally snapped.

"I do not care right now, I am not worried about her and you do not need to worry about her. She will be fine. Or she will run off, I really don't care at the moment. She will deal with it. You need to sit still and keep cool."

My mother was a little shocked. What you need to keep in mind during all this was that she would occasionally still turn  to me and ask, very confused, if she fell off or had gotten bucked off. 

Then she said she was going to try to stand up. I vetoed this one. She said her arm hurt but she was just going to try to stand up.

Short of physically restraining her nothing I could do would convince her otherwise. She tried to stand up. 

She got on her feet but her knees were bent. An immediate look of pain flashed across her face. 

"I think I need to sit." So I helped her back down. I made a little pillow out of my shirt so she could lay down. 

She said she was a little sleepy, I told her she absolutely could not sleep. 

A minute or so later: "I hear sirens..."

"Good" 

 I told the lady who was still on the phone, bless her, that we heard sirens. I explained what the main building looked like and the nearest road that came by our area. 

We were lucky, if we'd been just ten minutes further down the path they would have had a really hard time getting to us as there was a very large, steep hill. 

The lady told me to yell for help and that they'd be listening. I was yelling but nothing. I heard them come closer and then start to fade a little. 

"Tell them they went too far and they need to come back. I'm going to take my horse, she's a flashy paint, and go closer to the road. Tell them to look for a red and white horse and a person waving."

"Mom will you be okay?

"I'm fine..."

I left her talking to the lady and ran towards the road. They saw me and started to follow, I returned to my mother. 

My mother immediately started worrying that the ambulances would hit our dogs. (We have an aussie cross and border collie cross). I told the lady on the phone to tell the drivers to watch for out dogs. 

Mom was not reassured and insisted on holding on to both dogs collars, keeping them close to her. 

I thanked the lady and told her that they were here now. I hung up. It took them about twenty minutes to a half hour to get to us I believe.

The ambulance people asked my mother a few questions. I told them a list of her known allergies, that I believed she had a concussion and where she'd hit her head. They told us they were going to lift my mother onto the stretcher but that it would probably hurt. (It did.)

When she was on the stretcher, about to go on the ambulance, she started freaking out. She was worried about how I and the dogs were going to get back to camp. I told her I would ride back and lead the ambulance.  One of the truck drivers offered to put the dogs in the back of their truck for the drive back. My mother calmed down.

That was when I noticed my horse had broken my reins, so I tied them back on. One of the people gave me a boost onto my horse and we started back at a brisk trot and then a lope. I was quite proud of my mare. This was a new place and we were leading the police cars and an ambulance back to camp as well as several trucks.

I called my father to tell him mom was hurt and to get to the damn hospital NOW.
I think he was in a meeting. He didn't pick up. I left a rather irate voice mail saying that mom was hurt, she was going to the hospital and he needed to meet her there. He called me back a minute or so later. So I was cantering back, bareback with a broken rein, two dogs following (they jumped out of the truck), talking on the phone with one hand, and a line of cars followed us. My mare never offered to try anything. She knew it was time to buckle down and she did it.

My good girl and our dogs, before the accident.

I got a call from my mother saying one of the volunteers at camp had caught her horse and could help me load them.  He had run back to the trailer. She was worried about me driving the horse trailer back alone and unloading the two horses. Having driven the trailer a number of times by myself I was not concerned.

I got a call from my dad:
"Mom called me and said she's fine and that  I need to meet you at the house and help you unload."
"Mom is lying. She is not fine and you absolutely will not help me unload you will go straight to the emergency room and stick with mom. Ignore whatever she says."
"Okay."

I arrived back at base camp and the ambulance stuck around, at my mothers insistence (have I mentioned that she's stubborn?), until I had loaded both horses. Then I signaled go and they went to the hospital.

I thanked the volunteer and got back to my house as quickly as possible, unloaded both horses, grabbed moms purse and booked it for the hospital.

I rushed into the ER and the guy at the desk asked me who I was there to see, I told him my mother had fallen off a horse and I was the one who had seen it. He helped me find her room and tried to reassure me by saying I needed to relax and be strong. Shockingly this did not calm me down at all. I wanted to hear that my mother was fine goddammit.

I saw my mother. She was grimacing; the endorphin's from the fall had worn off and the pain was setting in.
"Did you get them unloaded okay?"
"Yes mom."
"Oh.... did I get bucked off? I don't remember falling off..."
"Yes mom, you fell off." 
"Can I have some pain medicine?"
"No mom, I'm sorry but you hit your head and I think you have a concussion."
"I hurt all over...."
"I know mommy,  I'm really sorry...."

Then they took her to get a brain scan, loading her up on the other bed was painful for her. They came back and said she didn't have a concussion. I was very unconvinced.
Then began the process of my mother trying to get comfortable- she couldn't find a way, and of nurses failing to bring things they said they would. Such as a cup of water and some ice. I asked several times and nothing. Finally I stepped into the hall and grabbed a nurse:
"Oh!I thought someone already brought that to you, let me go grab it." 

Then they tried to give her some medication. I asked what it was because my family has a history of medication allergies. They said some type and my mother said she thought that was what had sent her father into the ER last year. They said those types of allergies weren't hereditary. I told them to find another type anyway.

I don't think the people in the hospital liked me very much but I didn't really care. Apparently I really am my mothers daughter. My father was just sort of sitting there in shock.

Then they took her for a full body scan.
It turns out that she had broken her left hip at the socket and her right clavicle. (We didn't realize until later that the hip had been a stress break ((it broke in the air)) and the clavicle had broken from the impact.) That's why there was no comfortable place for her to lay. Now remember that she had A. tried to stand up. B. Held both of our large dogs to her.

They said they thought they would have to do a full hip replacement. When the doctor came in he said they would operate within an hour or so and that he thought they could just pin it. They wouldn't know for 6 months to a year if it would work and the blood vessels would heal. They might still need to do a replacement.

They took her up to surgery and I again had to argue with them to not give my mother something that could potentially put her into epileptic shock. Then they discussed the best way to sedate- full knock out or a medicine so she'd just forget the pain? We went with the second.

It wasn't until she was in the operation room I really started to freak out and start crying. I hadn't before because my mother needed me.
Anyway, they operation only took about 40 minutes. I was surprised. I stayed until she regained conciseness in her room.

Her first question: "Do you think I'm going to have to stay here overnight?"
"Yes mom."
"I don't remember anything that happened."
"That's probably a good thing..."
"At least they didn't have to use sirens for me!"
".... .... ...." 

Several weeks later

She had to be in a wheelchair for around 6 months and then use a walker. This is the woman that never sits still for 5 minutes. We had to yell at her to stop trying to do things.

It's been a little under a year now and her arm has healed well despite originally causing her more pain than the hip. Her hip however actually appears to be worse. It hasn't healed and still hurts quite often. Also one leg is considerably shorter than the other due to the pins being wonky. . She's going to need a full replacement.  So she's been telling her doctors that something was wrong for months and they haven't listened. It wasn't until they did a full scan (not an xray) that showed that something was actually quite wrong that they suddenly started being all attentive and listening and helpful... .


So, that went a lot more in depth than I meant for, but talking about it is cathartic. I felt incredibly guilty for a very long time because she was riding my project horse (I still do a little) despite no one blaming me but myself.

The point I've been trying to make is that accidents are just that- accidental. No one plans on having one and they can happen to anybody. On any horse- no matter how safe you think they may be. They are still a horse.

Would a helmet have protected my mother from breaking her hip or clavicle? No.
Would a helmet have helped her head and probably allow her to be conscious enough to answer questions? Yes.
It would have saved me the panic of seeing my mother lying on the ground, motionless, and seeing blood coming out of her head.
It would have saved me the terror I felt when she kept repeating "did I fall off?" and I thought she might have permanent brain damage.

I still feel sick to my stomach thinking about it. It was the single most terrifying moment of my life. Seeing a parent or a child in that state is awful. I wouldn't wish it upon my worst enemy.

So now I wear a helmet every ride; no matter if I'm riding a new horse or my own horse. If i'm riding on the trail or in the pasture- bareback or with a saddle, western or English  I'm wearing my helmet. Not wearing one is stupid and selfish.  It doesn't matter if you're an adult or a child, helmets are important and should be a part of every riding outfit.

It may not be pleasant, but it's a hell of a lot more so than the alternative.
This is why I will yell at people when I see them without a helmet. Does this make me a helmet Nazi? Probably. Do I care? NO.

When people come to try my horses and I hand them a helmet they look at me like I'm an alien. So I just say: "After you see a loved one lying on the ground unresponsive, you'll understand why helmets are for everyone."

My mother will probably never be able to ride again. I'm not sure that I'd let her or that she'd have the nerve to get back on. I certainly wouldn't on her spunky little paso mare. Like I said before, she was never a very strong rider but she still enjoyed it. It's not a happy story and while my mother is thankfully okay mentally, it was still a bad accident.

So I'm using it to explain to others why I feel so strongly about helmet use now. Hopefully I can change one persons mind and it will make a difference.




*Update*

The hip ended up not healing right and they had to do a full replacement. Her leg had healed 3 inches higher on that side. At the replacement (at a much better hospital) they got it back to nearly normal.  She has since ridden a horse once at the ranch I worked at, although she was very nervous. But she still has yet to ride her own horse, which is probably good as she's a spunky thing.

Communication Gap

So, as absolutely none of you already know, I'm on a 'diet'. Actually it's not really a diet at all, I'm not eating less, I'm just eating better so it's really more of a lifestyle change. I'm eating healthier- cutting out sweets, sugar, processed foods, fast food, soda, all that nonsense

(This has been responsible for me learning how to cook better- also sometimes the healthy versions of things are way better. Baked fries? Made with egg white instead of oil produces crispier and fluffier fries. Amazing.)

I've also been working out; my yoga class has been responsible in part for this. Our instructor also teaches a class on tighten and tone and total body recall. So we do a lot of planks and ab working moves. It's actually kind of awesome.

When I was working horses one day I noticed that... my legs were kind of sore. And when I was moving feed, it took actual effort to carry them to the barn. What has college done to me?! I'm all soft and out of shape. My muscle mass, where has it gone? I think it's hiding, the sneaky bugger.

This is what prompted my movement into healthier lifestyle choices. I've been looking at the pictures inn  the 'daily motivation' section of The Berry. One theme that always bugs me is the "Don't you want that thigh gap?"

The college girl in me goes: 
But the Equestrian in me goes:


Why?
Because whenever I see the girls with the tiny thighs I look at them and wonder how well they'd do during a sitting trot or riding bareback.

Then I see pictures like this one: 

And then my mind goes: "Ohhh, you mean being bowlegged! Well heck, I get that way when I ride too much for too long."
The other part goes: "Leg gap? You mean that space that's occupied by my horse?"

When I see the pictures that go: 

My mind goes: "Oh you mean the thing with the hay bales and salt blocks and 50 lb feed bags? Yeah I do that!
So now my mind is creating 'the equestrian workout plan'.

It involves reps of:
Full water bucket raises
Hay bale throwing and stacking
Feed bag stacking- as a bonus do over the head lifts.
Jogging: with your horse when it's too muddy to ride. As a difficulty increase, work with a hard to catch horse and a noisy halter!
Arm stretches: use a hard to bridle horse or one who shies away from the saddle when you're tacking up.
Resistance training: Use a stubborn horse- Find a patch of juicy grass and let them graze, then attempt to pry them away from it. (This can also be done with a horse trailer and a hard to load horse)

So what funny ideas do you guys have to add to my list?



*After bathing Kota and scrubbing a winters worth of dirt out of his furry pinto booty, which consisted of a lot of weaving around, I've decided I'm going to skip the gym today.

The Power of Breathing

I was lying in my yoga class as we were doing our relaxation poses before beginning, she asked us to breathe deeply. So I did. My stomach expanded, yet, as I peeked around the room I noticed that very few other peoples did.
Mostly I noticed chests rising and falling, but not in the abdomen.
I also found out in tai chi that most people breathe from their chest (I was one of the few people in the class who did not.)
This was strange to me as a rider. I'll let this excerpt from an article explain why:

 "Chest Breathing. This is probably the most common breathing pattern in today's stress-filled society. Also known as paradoxical breathing, it is a natural reflex when we are suddenly startled or frightened. We gasp, pull the abdomen in and breathe high into the chest. The lift of the abdomen and pelvic floor prevents the diaphragm from descending completely as we inhale. Chest breathers restrict breath movement in the abdomen, forcing it higher up into the chest, while shoulders move up and down."
(http://www.lifepositive.com/body/body-holistic/breath/healthy-breathing.asp)

If chest breathing is a panic response, then riders should be especially careful to practice breathing deeply from the abdomen. If we constantly breathe in shallow, tense gasps we tell our bodies that they can't fully relax. If we tell our bodies they can't relax, they wont. If we won't relax, our horse won't relax. It's a vicious cycle.

 Also it isn't so good for our overall posture either.

It's common in riding to hold ones breath when things get tense, unfortunately this isn't good for our bodies and doesn't help our horse any. Suddenly stiffening is going to throw off your horses rhythm. How many of us will dismount and feel light headed or a little dizzy?

This is a sign that we have been holding or breath and not taking in enough oxygen. Ooops.  This is a common problem with anxiety or nerves- we tend to hold our breath. This essentially tells our trusty mounts: "Holy shit, something is up and I'm worried!" Which our horse takes as: "Screw this, I'm out of here."

With better breathing your center of gravity is improved: it goes from the upper chest area to the lower abdomen and pelvic area.

So all in all, breathing properly is pretty good for you, unfortunately if you want to be good at it in the saddle.... you're going to have to make it a habit outside of the arena.

This story just makes me mad.

I'm sure most of you have heard this story by now. The mare that gave birth to two surprising miracle foals!

http://www.walb.com/story/21859812/twin-horses-born-on-easter-morning


Wow, how amazing and what a shock!
..... Except it wouldn't be if you weren't a irresponsible owner.
There are so many things wrong with this story.
Let's list some shall we?

1. That mare is incredibly underweight and those foals are going to kill her.
 "But she's twenty!"
 Don't care. Old does not mean skinny, my neighbors 32 year old horse who passed away this year was fat. Good broodmares look great at 20. You just didn't feed your goddamn horse the food she needed.

2. "Well, She was bred by accident."
Then you should have gone to the vet and gotten a shot to terminate for your mare's well being. There is a shot for that; so you made the choice. If you didn't know about the shot... no, you have access somewhere to a computer with google. If my mare "accidentally" got pregnant I would be calling the vet and googling options so much my hands would cramp.

3.  "Twins are a rare miracle."
That's because responsible breeders take their horses to the goddamn vet for ultrasounds! And then they then they usually choose to terminate one because it typically doesn't go well. All I hear in "it was a shock!" is "I probably never took my mare to the vet during her pregnancy!"

4. "My neighbor called me and said there were twins in the pasture!"
.....So, you clearly either didn't know she was about to foal (how could you with no vet checks?!) and you didn't have her under observation or in mare watch. I'm guessing that no one was there to help in case of complications- which anyone who's having twins would know are extremely likely to occur. You ass. 

4. News station, why the hell can't you see that this mare is NOT HEALTHY?!

5. Ever notice how many of these horses are only bred by "accident" when people start faulting them?

Lets recap shall we?
Mare probably received no vet care.
Mare wasn't on a proper diet, clearly for a long time.
No idea she was having twins, again points to no vet care.
No one watching her to make sure the foaling went well.

Yep, you suck.


If anyone, like these owners, are wondering what a GOOD owner of a mare and twins looks like, please check out this link or video:
http://www.huntingtoncountytab.com/feature/12564/rare-twin-foals-kicking-heels-polk-township-farm

http://uverseonline.att.net/tv/show/strange-the-feed?play=c___oVCKqBV0hTDI

This is a 16 year old mare who is in good weight and who received constant care and foaled at the vets to make sure everything went smoothly. Apparently their vet said keeping the twins could hurt their mare so they tried to abort one.... twice, with no luck. So they made sure they took her to a vet where the entire staff had successfully delivered twins.
Bam. You get the good owner of the day award.

If you can't afford the vet bills to make sure foals are delivered properly and your mare is safe, don't breed!

What's my real goal?

"What am I trying to do?"

"You're trying to get her to the other side of the creek."

"No, I'm trying to get her to be okay with the idea of going through the water and build her trust in me for new environments in the future. If I just wanted to get her across, I could backtrack to an area without water. If I just wanted her to go through the water, I could just get off and lead her across myself. Those are both much faster options, but neither will ensure that she will go through water again in the future or that we won't have a similar problem in five minutes. Do you see what I'm saying? Getting across isn't my goal."

This was the conversation between me and my client (let's call her Maggie). We were working with her and her horse because she'd been having some issues with her. She got her from me so I came out to help her figure them out. She was a first time horse owner and a beginner. She hadn't been pleased with the barn owners methods previously (story to come) .

I was working with Honey and right away I noticed she wasn't paying any attention to me up on her back. She was spooky and stubborn. So step one was to get her attention back on me. After that we worked on going past the stubborn spots, and doing it over and over and over again until she just wanted to walk right past and never look back.

Now we had come to a small creek bed, possibly a drainage ditch that Honey was not having any part of. So I hunkered down in my saddle to wait it out and get there one step at a time. I had no agenda so we could stay there until she got bored for all I cared.

Maggie kept trying to call Honey across and encourage her to take a step,
"Come on! You can do it! Just another step, come on!" Which was effectively trying to rush her across. She offered to lead her across for me. I declined. After all, my goal was to fix the problem, not just put a bandaid on it.

So we worked with a lot of nudging and kissing and turning the head side to side. Honey was clearly nervous about the whole thing so I wasn't going to rush her. Slow step by slow step (and several steps backwards)  we edged our way down to the waters edge.

Finally she lifted a foot and started pawing at the water, sending muddy splashes everywhere. Maggie was delighted and again tried to encourage her to come across before she changed her mind. I sat and let Honey splash away. Then she gradually put one foot in- then another. Then she rushed through as quickly as possible, nearly leaping out onto dry land.

Where she got a rest break and some petting. Maggie asked if we were going to move on now. I laughed.
"No, we're here until she's okay with it and trusts me. Just because she went across the water once doesn't mean she's okay with it. We're going to do this again."

So we repeated the process, which was still slow going although not as slow as before. Finally after a lot more splashing, we walked across. Petting and release followed. Then we walked through again and this time there was very little arguing. We continued this about 6-8 times until she didn't argue at all and wasn't interested in the water one bit.

The entire process probably took between 35 to 45 minutes.

Then it was Maggie's turn to ride. When she got to the 'stubborn spot' she visibly tensed up in anticipation and Honey reacted accordingly. She tried to turn around and go back. Obviously something was wrong with that spot if her rider was getting scared of it too! So I told her to just stop her, it didn't even matter if she kept turning her around, and take a couple of deep breaths.

"Just stop for a minute. Relax. What's the rush? Do you have somewhere to be?"
"No, I just want to get her past this place."
"And you will. Eventually. For now, just relax and stop. Stop yourself and take a time out. Just trust me."

So she did, and amazingly, Honey calmed down. (Well, shocking to her anyway.) Then I asked her to walk past the spot, imagining that Honey wouldn't even hesitate. She did and Honey walked past it with just a slight look of contemplation.

"We did it!"
"Excellent! Now do it 5 more times."
(The look I got at that comment was priceless.)

By the fifth time Honey was bored with the spot and Maggie wasn't nervous.

Then they continued down the mini trail with me staying behind to watch. When they came to the little creek bed, Honey walked right through it without a second thought. I might add that she looked quite proud on the other side.

"She just went through it like it was nothing!" *lots of petting*
"That's because we didn't rush her. I didn't care how long it took so she had all the time in the world to think about it. My goal wasn't to get her to cross the water that one time, but to trust her rider's judgement about water in the future. After all, in her mind that water could be 200 feet deep and just filled with horse eating monsters. On a sunny day like this, where it's reflecting everything she has no way of telling how deep that is. Heck, she might even think she'g going to fall into the sky. So from her point of view, not going through it seems pretty reasonable."

"She never has a problem crossing it if there's another horse ahead of her."

"That's because they've already proven to her that there isn't danger. As her rider, you have to prove you're trustworthy enough to make those decisions for her on a regular basis."



And with that we walked back to the barn where we worked on several more issues that had came up after the barn owner had messed with her.

"Act like you have five minutes and it will take all day. Act like you have all day and it will take five minutes."
So the saying goes, and it's as true today as it ever was.

A good horse is never a bad color...

........... But we all have colors we just plain don't like.
I'm guilty of this myself. It's not that I will refuse to go after a horse of a specific color if I feel it's a good horse, it's just that I won't seek them out or spend as much time looking them over because my mind instinctively looks for faults. It's not conscious either, I just have to make myself slow down and really think about why I'm passing them by. Is it just the color or are there real faults?

I know, I know, shame on me.

So what colors don't tickle my fancy?

Cremello and Perlino horses.

I just don't like them... truthfully they kind of weird me out a little with all the pink and blue eyes just aren't my cup of tea. Also the vast majority I've seen have been fugly brutes who were clearly around to produce a high percentage of palomino and buckskin offspring.
Ones I don't like:

I think part of my dislike is because I don't want to constantly be fighting with my horse to keep a fly/shade mask on or worry about sunburn.

I like this next guy more, my jaw dropped when I found out he was only a year and a half old. Geeze, that things massive. Couldn't see if he had impressive but I don't believe so. I still don't care for the color though.

The eyes and pink nose just weird me out, I don't know why. 

I do like this next one however.

Okay, the following horse is here because the bad photoshop cracked me up. 

Are you a statue or a horse?

I'm going with breyer statue...

This is that same horse. 

Okay, color two. I'm not a huge fan of appaloosa coloring. I do like the leopard print pattern and some blanketing.

Here are some I don't like.

Here are some I like

I also just don't care for bald face markings. I think it's the blue eyes again. 

This one isn't so bad

Okay these are just plain unique, I had to share them! 

And here are two I like more.

So what's the point? As much as we try to say "color doesn't matter!" I think deep down we're all a little biased. However, we need to look past these biases to see the good horse underneath. I've bid on an appaloosa and I've called about a cremello because deep down a good horse is a good horse.

... Also there's spray paint (Kidding!)

I'm sure these are all very nice horse and that they have someone who likes them just the way they are. 

So what colors do I like?

I'm a sucker for a pretty bay. There's always going to be some color that just jumps out in our mind, like it or not. So what color tickles your fancy?

And with this space killer post, I (and Sassy, pictured above) bid you good afternoon. 

Mainly I was waiting for the rain to stop....