Horse Tails

We are dealing with mud here this winter, as usual. The worst is when they cross the creek (which the geldings do at least twice daily). The mud in the creek is known as Adobe mud, and it is the thickest, greasiest mud you can imagine. It coats the horses' legs and forms huge mudballs in the tails. So I've taken to braiding Ranger's tail. His tail touches the ground, and although it is not quite as long as Minky's tail it is much thicker. Ranger gets terrible mudballs if I leave it loose. But braiding it keeps the hairs together so that they don't soak up the mud as much. I got the idea to do this from two women at the ranch who braid their Mustang's tails. There seems to be another school of thought that braiding isn't good for the tails and can cause the hairs to break off. I haven't seen any evidence of this to date, and Ranger has plenty to spare anyway!

New Neko Case song: "People Got a Lotta Nerve"

I found out about this Neko Case song from Best Friends Animal Society (http://www.bestfriends.org/).

Every time someone posts it on their blog, Best Friends gets $5.00. So here it is FREE for you:
http://www.anti.com/media/download/708

Great song!

Rooster

We have a rooster at our boarding ranch, thanks to someone who anonymously dropped him off during the night. He is a very friendly liitle guy, and he is extremely lucky that he avoided the several types of predators out there before we rescued him. There are hawks, owls, and coyotes who would have loved to have him for dinner. Now Mr. Rooster lives in an enclosed pen and has as much grain as he needs. When he is let out, he interacts very personably with people and horses! Ranger is particularly interested in Mr. Rooster. He puts his big head down to him and follows him around. They are the same color. Ranger obviously realizes that Mr. Rooster is quite different from the many pigeons who hang around all the time.

Leading

Wet, muddy weather is a good time to practice ground skills. Minky and I worked on leading yesterday evening. We went past his spooky area behind the stalls and across from the mare pasture. The rain was making unfamiliar sounds on the trailer parked back there. Minky got snorty but was very good about going up to it and sniffing, as he has been taught to do whenever there is something spooky. 1500 lbs of spooky horse has to be addressed quickly! I talked to him and told him he was a GOOD boy when he sniffed that trailer. I also find that guiding him to walk in a tight circle a few times cools off his anxiety.