About my Horses

I'll keep this note at the top until I remedy the photo problem. All the photos stored on Google have had their links severed. So they now don't show. Instead there is the grey square. I'll progressively upload those photos to another online storage. It only happened last week & is VERY ANNOYING & affected a 3 of my blogs! grrrrr


THESE PAGES ARE FOR ALL MY HORSE STUFF, PHOTOS, TRAINING, PARELLI NATURAL HORSEMANSHIP, HORSENALITY & POSITIVE ATTRIBUTES CHARTS.
 

If you would like to talk to me about my horsemanship you can email me  clissat@gmail.com  or use the email contact form in the right hand margin of this page.

If you live in SE Queensland particularly north of Brisbane, we occasionally have a get together for play sessions or camp overs. More people are welcome to join us in our Parelli Natural Horsemanship & the various other Natural Horsemanship groups.

I do give standard natural horsemanship lessons although these days it's more to do with Liberty Horsemanship.

I also teach a more wholistic approach to horse ownership & riding covering the total package over a 12mth period. It's the horse I'm predominately concerned about as they don't understand their owner's whimsical ways or lack of hands on knowledge & occasional lack of thought or foresight.


I have a new blog started April 2012 exclusively for documenting the process of rehabbing Sonny who is foundered since late 2011.

http://fixing-sonnys-feet.blogspot.com.au/

In particular I have discovered this important information about how the sole grows. Please read it as it helped me realize how flaring occurs & why the toe runs forward. Here is the link to that post in my other blog:-

http://fixing-sonnys-feet.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/lessons-learned-this-week-about-sole.html



I was a member of the horse forum "IT'S ABOUT THE HORSE" . In general it is a good forum, in particular it's openness, honesty, lack of argey bargey & great people who populate it make it worth reading:- http://itsaboutthehorse.myfastforum.org/forum16.php

However, I am no longer a member because they didn't believe in me when I said I had the ability to rehab Sonny's feet. Afterall, he got that way due to my lack of knowledge & inability to find other people who could answer my questions. So like most of the other horse forums they aren't totally free thinking.


Here is the link to my web album for this page about my horses where there are more photos.  http://picasaweb.google.com/102630297130321540784/Horses#

Here's a link to my thread on the forum 'It's About The Horse' where I wrote about what I was doing regarding training Sonny:-
http://itsaboutthehorse.myfastforum.org/ftopic2789-0-0-asc-.php
and what I was doing with Cassie:-
http://itsaboutthehorse.myfastforum.org/ftopic3935-0-0-asc-.php



2013

sep 2013 as I change blogs over there will be photos & comments coming here soon




April 2012

I have a new blog specially for recording the process of rehabbing Sonny's feet. He is foundered.
http://fixing-sonnys-feet.blogspot.com.au/
I have had to lighten him off a lot so he has lost a heap of weight.


2011

20July2011

Since I took that photo of Sonny wearing his boots in Oct 2010 there has been constant wet weather which has been very hard on the horse's feet. All have had a terrible sort of hoof rot that only eats away at the heels & heel platforms. It destroyed almost all the heels & platforms of all my horses despite my best efforts to keep them on dry land. It rained & rained, the ground was squelchy underfoot & their feet just never dried out. they all got abscesses & all had really hot feet at times & all were gimpy. None of us were happy campers! Me because I couldn't fix their problems & them because they couldn't run around like mad things like usual.

Then near the end of May the rain finally stopped for a few weeks allowing the ground to dry & harden & so did all horse's feet allowing a good bit of healing. I was so relieved. I had tried all sorts of hoof treatments & applications to stop the bacterial rot but in the end it was mostly dry weather that did the trick. There was no actual thrush.

I will say though that the addition just a week ago of a purple substance called THRUSHBUSTER has been invaluable in speeding up repair. It is the only thing that can be applied to the bottom of a hoof & have it stay there even in wet conditions. It soaks in right away, takes a few seconds to dry, then the hoof can be put back onto the wet ground again without it washing off.

I did make a hard paste from beeswax, TeaTree Oil, copper sulphate, borax that I pressed into the crevices after a thorough cleaning out. It stayed in place but just how good it was at killing the bacteria is really unknown. I'm not sure if it slowed the rot. It's so hard to say for sure if a certain thing has worked when there is continual reinfection. The thrushbuster helped because at the end when the rain had stopped, there was a little actual crumbly & tacky thrush apparent in some crevices on all hooves.

All these foot problems have meant the training has been on hold & of course I haven't ridden Sonny since the wet day I rode along the highway when it was flooded way back in February. I think by the time his feet are well grown again it will be next year. So a year without riding for both of us will be hard to change I think!

Jude has had an itchy outbreak too which caused her to almost scratch herself raw & loose a lot of weight. She has never been an itchy horse but her mother was extremely itchy most of her life. I've been trying to get the weight back on Jude whilst not feeding her too much that might upset her system like sugars, starch, etc. Not a lot of joy there yet.

Cassie is going along ok other than her hoof problems. She is learning the odd trick by watching the others particularly Sonny.


24Apr 2011


Gosh almost a year since I updated the horsey stuff!

Best to start a new page for 2011. I'm constantly taking photos & could put 100's up here but that would be just too many! lol

Here are a few from this month:-

These first are Sonny looking his magnificent best on one of the first sunny days we had this year.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  

 

Here he is taking a purposeful stroll through the garden :)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Dinner time in Feb this year

I made this up for something to do one very wet afternoon after he had got very sick in Nov2010 & went down ready to die.
 
 
 
 
 
  

Then I took this shot a few moments later. He was perking up by the second :-)








I'm learning a traditional form of training for dressage used by the german trainers a few 100 yrs ago including at the Vienna Riding School that had the famous Lipizzaner's. The lady keeping this traditional method alive is from Holland by name of Marijke de Jong  "Academic Art of Riding" & she gives webinars as well as subscription learning via DVD.

It involves lots of inhand driving from the ground where all dressage movements are taught without the weight of a rider first. Sonny has been doing quite well & we already have some airs in the form of quite a nice levade.




 2010  

Photos of my 3 horses:-
Sonny doing what he loves best

Sonny doing what else he loves best....waiting for dinner!

Jude at a gymkahana

Jude's such a good girl to stand there for her photo when she would rather be in my pocket! Isn't she a stunner? :-))

Cassie waiting for dinner

Sonny asking "are you finished yet"...."got something for me..like carrot?"

& Jude checking out the cat just about to walk into the shot!

SONNY is a 2xQH but registered 1st x QH by Roc Again who is by RocO'Lena. His full name is Chisel Rocs On. His mother's name was Sonya & he was born when my favorite rock band Cold Chisel reformed. So he got named after them. He was born in Oct 1998. I wanted a horse to do barrel racing & campdrafting, etc with. He is ok but we have gone off down the tangent of getting our Parelli Levels sorted during the last 2yrs. Prior to me concentrating on that, we were doing some rodeo/stockwork/gymkhana stuff which we both liked.

I started to get my L4 done with Sonny & have submitted 3 savvies but so far only passed L4 Liberty. I put my auditions up on youtube & if you use the video bar above you will be able to view them as well as all my other videos.

JUDE is an unregistered 2nd x QH by my old (dec) QH stallion Gregio Joe (Joey or JoeJoe). She is out of a very good QH mare Quarter ChaCha who has ROM's. ChaCha was by Red Miller Jnr & Joey was a 2nd generation Dicky Bar Joe so Jude has very good old bloodline breeding. Unfortunately the best QH rego she will ever have is as a foundation mare. When I bred her in 1995 I didn't see the importance of registering the foals!

She's a fantastic horse to ride bareback as she is very wide & has a floating gait. It feels like I'm sitting in an arm chair. She has some type of gait obviously from a distant relative that must've been a gaited horse. I was told there were gaited horses way back in the early days when the Quarter Horse breed was being created. Since Jude's mother is only a 3rd generation QH (her great, great, grandfather was Whimpy! & cha cha was in her 30's when she had Jude) I expect the gaitedness has come from that side.

Jude has done L3 PNH & I was officially assessed for my L1 & L2 PNH with her.

CASSIE is by Joey too, & out of  a spotted arab rescue mare I had for a few years until her demise. Cassie is 5 yo now & I will soon start riding her. She is extremely nimble on her feet & I have no need to hurry her along.

I have had many other horses over the years including stallions, rescue horses, broodmares & several geldings. I love breeding & raising foals but do we really need to bring more horses into this world when there are so many that desperately need a home already? I would really love a foal from Jude since she is truly my best horse but she is getting on now in age & I don't need the vet's bills! lol

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11Apr2010

Yesterday I played a bit with the horses late in the afternoon after I had done all their feet. Cassie decided she had to do something special to get my attention because I had been ignoring her while I did Jude's feet. So she went over to the log & stepped up on it on her own for the first time. I quickly dragged my camera from my pocket & snapped away as they all got in on the act. Of course they were just competing with each other for my attention & rewards in the form of little carrot slices.

Here are the photos from that session. Larger versions are in the web album for this page.

This first set is the series of Cassie stepping up on her own for the first time. Notice how she never takes her eyes off me!

  

  

She's just so thrilled that she can do something for me that I like & reward her for. She can't be taught to do something though. I give her some basic info about the task, then I have to let her watch the other horses & she picks it up for herself. She does get angry when her trial efforts don't cause me to reward her! She stomps her feet & throws her head up in the air like the part arab she is.

YOU'VE GOT CARROTS!!!

While Cassie was up on the log I rewarded her with carrot slices which got the attention of the others who then mobbed me.

Then Cassie decided to get back up on the log & Sonny followed because he knows when there's a good thing going!

 

Cassie decided to immitate Jude who can count & usually does that for carrot rather than get up on the log. So Jude was standing beside me showing me how well she could count & I gave her carrot, then Cassie did it too up on the log & Sonny got in on the act as well.

   

So I was taking a photo then rewarding them with carrot pieces then they would all count again or hold their foot out for more carrot.

 

But this photo on right is my favorite for the day. Check out Sonny's tongue action!! ha ha

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24May2010

I've just rediscovered this photo I took of Jude & Sonny in about 2003 on a property I was developing at that time for resale. I was camping on it from time to time in a little caravan & I always took 2 horses with me each time I went up there. At that time of year there was always a heavy fog in the morning so this particular morning I got up on the top of the 4x4 & took some photos. It would've been 8 or 9am by then.

This is one of them.

This is the previous photo in that set.

One big regret I have is that I sold that property!  Ah well, you either laugh or cry!! lol

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8June2010

Doing Parelli's Horsenality Profile is a very interesting process.

Sonny is LBIe that is he is Left Brain Introvert with some extrovert tendencies. I have been working on bringing out those extrovert tendencies to spice up his training, hence teaching him to rear, not only to strengthen his loin & gaskin/stifle regions but to give him courage. The first chart is from 2007 when I did all my horse's horsenalities the first time.

I have just recently done his horsenality profile again plus his Positive Attributes Chart & there is definitely an improvement. His Attributes Chart is lower down this page.

Many things have disappeared or reduced in severity & other things are more in balance. Mostly that is because I have finally worked out what makes him tick so things like exasperation, mistrust, defensiveness, bolting & bucking have largely disappeared...thankfully!!

Now Jude & although her dots are mostly on the LB side, that is because the few things she is less than perfect at are on that side. There is little on her chart which means she does nothing wrong. All the things she is perfect at are on the R side & I am confident she is RBI. I have also done her Positive Attributes Chart which is lower down this page. It shows all the good things about a horse & she is all on the right side in that. She is such a sweetie! :-)

What a plain chart she has! I have been trying to spice her training sessions up too & she will give me a nice balanced rear when I ask, so my hope is that I can soon get her & Sonny together for some duel rearing !! ha ha

Lastly is Cassie. I did do her chart a few years ago but I can't find it. In any case there won't be much change. She wears her heart on her sleeve & doesn't tolerate any rubbish from anyone.

She is all over the place but I feel she is mostly RBE. Cassie & Jude share the same sire which must have some influence.

Here is Sonny's Positive Attributes Chart:-

Below is Jude's Positive Attributes Chart:-

There are a lot more dots on it than her horsenality chart! She's a good girl!!