Monthly Archives: October 2009

Is that a Deborah Butterfield grazing on your lawn?

Posted by Liz Goldsmith in Commentary, equine art, equine sculpture and tagged with , ,

Recently I was in California visiting family. As part of the trip we attended a fund raiser for a charity that my mother has supported for many years. The dinner was held at a spectacular house that overlooked the Napa Valley. The views were magnificent.

The highlight of the event for me was the Deborah Butterfield sculpture grazing on the lawn.

The highlight of the event for me was the Deborah Butterfield sculpture grazing on the lawn.

But what really caught my eye was the Deborah Butterfield horse sculpture grazing on the front lawn. Butterfield is known for sculptures that are both abstract yet instantly recognizable. This particular horse was made of welded steel but her evolving series of horse sculptures have taken form in wood, copper and bronze as well, often crafted from found materials.

Read more.

More on weaving: Prevention and Implications

Posted by Liz Goldsmith in Horse care, horse health, horse training, horses and tagged with , ,

Weaving is mostly just an annoying habit, but many people wonder if the repetitive action will cause damage. As far as I’ve been able to tell, the jury is out on this. Some people report that the action puts excess stress on their leg joints that can lead to ring bone and knee problems or even founder. Other “experts” say that there’s no evidence. My take? Unless you have a horse that weaves continuously for hours at a time I wouldn’t sweat it.

So, how can you reduce the behavior once it’s been established? Cribbing is a behavior that develops later than other stereotypic behaviors so to a certain extent prevention is the key.

Weaving seems to be caused when horses are deprived of social contact — horses that can see, and even more importantly, touch other horses are far less likely to start to weave.

People try lots of things to make their horses stop weaving. However, many of the tactics either don’t work or can cause harm by increasing the horse’s level of frustration.

  • Don’t put “weaving bars” up in the stall to discourage the horse from weaving
  • Don’t hang an object in the stall for the horse to crash into.
  • Don’t shock the horse with an electronic collar.

Instead, you can try some techniques to help reduce your horse’s stress and anxiety.

  • If your horse needs to be stalled, try to put him near another horse so that they can see each other and, if possible touch noses. Stalls with bars in between the stalls are ideal. Research on weaving has shown that when nose to nose contact is allowed, weaving almost completely disappears.
  • Make sure your horse has other horses near him or, even a companion animal. Some people find that goats work quite well.
  • Maximize turn out, especially if it’s in a herd environment. If your horse can live out 24/7 with shelter, that often helps tremendously.
  • Give your stalled horse things to keep him busy — hay, toys, likits, etc.
  • Put up a stall mirror. Research done by scientists at the Lincolnshire School of Agriculture in England did a study on weaving behavior of stalled horses. They placed a shatterproof mirror in some stalls. Within 24 hours weaving had either completely stopped or had been significantly reduced. The horses in the study spent about 25% of their time facing the mirrors and a normal percentage of time eating and looking out their stall door.

With Freedom, I believe that his weaving may have been rooted in the fact that racehorses are rarely alone. They are stalled together, trained together and race together. When he was transitioned from being a race horse he had few equine social skills and was hugely anxious about being on his own.

Several years of living with 24/7 turnout and in a herd environment has reduced his weaving significantly. He now chooses to stand in his stall during parts of the day and as long as he’s not shut in, he doesn’t weave. For a long time he would weave if left alone in the pasture or when his buddy was being worked in the field. Or he’d weave in his stall while waiting for his meal.

It’s taken a few years but even this behavior has mostly stopped. I will say that even now if I know he’s going to be left alone — say his two pasture mates are being ridden off property — I will give him some ACE to help him through their departure. ACE has anti anxiety properties and it really seems to do the trick for him. By the time it wears off he’s calmed himself enough so that he no longer weaves.

So there is hope. With proper management, it seems like weaving is not inevitable. And I didn’t punish him at all.

Can my car pull my trailer?

Posted by Liz Goldsmith in Commentary, Equine Safety, horse trailer and tagged with , ,

Back in the old days I remember that people pulled their horse trailers with their station wagons. That was before everyone decided that you needed a one-ton pick up (don’t think you can get away with a half ton or, god forbid, an SUV).

Of course, there are dangers to pulling an overloaded trailer with a vehicle that’s too small. Thank goodness the video below doesn’t feature a horse trailer!

And, by the way, I do haul with a half ton truck. And I will even admit that in the past I hauled an aluminum trailer with an SUV (and survived).

Are you cowboy enough?

Posted by Liz Goldsmith in Commentary, equestrian, horses, humor and tagged with , , , , ,
The Cowboy, 1888, photo by John C.H. Graybill

The Cowboy, 1888, photo by John C.H. Graybill

This Craig’s list ad has been posted on several forums . . . it’s certainly caught a lot of eyes and made many people laugh. I hope it helped this gelding find the perfect home.

Big Gelding/Are you Cowboy Enough?

Big grade gelding. Been used as a pickup horse until he got hooked by a bull. Think he has a split personality, some days he’s great, some days he’s a real pr***.

No secrets here, you need to tranq him to shoe him or he will try and kick your head off. He has been used for branding, moving cows, ranch roping ect. And like I said, some days he is great, we have had beginner riders on him and they have done fine. I have ridden him in the hills or gathered on him and he was fine.

He is not great to catch, although we have him turned out on 140 acres so he can leave if he wants, but in a smaller pen he is much better.

He just needs someone that isnt going to take his sh** on a regular basis. He needs to be taken and used. We bought him with the intention of selling him and because we have more than enough horses he has gone
to the bottom of the priority barrel.

He is not a horse for the faint hearted, if you are handy and need a project or if you think you are handy and need to try and prove it. I think he is about 11 years old. 15.3 hands. Answers to the name of Dick. Ok, he doesn’t answer, that’s just what I call him. $2,500 obo.

Why do horses weave?

Posted by Liz Goldsmith in Commentary, Horse care, horse health, horses and tagged with , , ,

Weaving is a stereotypical behavior like cribbing. Although it is usually considered a “vice” it’s a behavior that horses don’t choose — its another obsessive compulsive behavior — but for which they are often punished. Just like some humans who have OCD behaviors, some horses are prone to stereotypies. Although researchers have not found a link to specific breeds, according to Katherine Houpt, VMD, PhD, Diplomate ACVB, Cornell University, there is a genetic predisposition to show stereotypic behavior and if you look at a horse’s relatives you can get a good indication of whether you horse will develop that habit.
One thing that is clear cribbing, weaving and stall walking are not seen among horses that are never stalled, so in a very real way, it is a problem created by the way we keep our horses.

I didn’t know much about weaving until Freedom came into my life. The first night I had him, I put him in a stall with a dutch door. He could see two other horses but not touch one. The next morning he had rubbed a bloody spot on his neck from weaving over the door. That was four years ago and it was the last night that he stayed in a stall.

Weaving is a profoundly irritating spectacle to watch. When a horse weaves it sways from side to side, shifting its weight from one front leg to the other, sometimes lifting its hooves off the ground. Horses also often swing their head and neck as they sway. They go into an almost trance like state and it’s tempting to smack them to make them stop.

But don’t do that. It’s not their fault and forcing them to stop by tying them, putting up bars, hanging objects from the ceiling to disrupt the weaving or shocking them with a vice collar does not address the underlying issues that cause weaving. In addition, by stopping one behavior you can sometimes cause another stereotypic behavior to start or, the horse will resume its behavior with a vengeance once the restriction is removed.

So why do horses weave? There are plenty of misconceptions about it.

  •  Horses do not weave because they are bored.
  •  Horses do not learn or copy this behavior from other horse.
  •  Horses do not do this to get your attention.

However, factors that predispose horses to weaving include:

  • A genetic predisposition to weaving.
  • Horses that are stalled for significant hours (horses with more turn out are less likely to weave).
  • Horses that are have limited visual, physical and social contact with other horses.
  • Horses with a light build, and
  • Older horses.

Tune in tomorrow to find out how to reduce weaving behavior in a horse.

15 older Pryor Mountain Horses given new home in mountains.

Posted by Liz Goldsmith in Commentary, Equestrian video, equine rescue, Horse breeds and tagged with , , , , ,
Conquistador challenges another stallion in the BLM holding pens.

Conquistador challenges another stallion in the BLM holding pens.

There’s some good news for the Pryor Mountain horses. Fifteen of the older horses have been resettled on a 3000-acre ranch at the foot of the range.

Members of the Cloud Foundation, an organization that worked to save the herd, worked hard to ensure that all of the 57 horses removed from the herd were sold to good homes when the mustangs were auctioned off by the BLM on September 26th. The organization reported that residents of Billings, Montana, were instrumental in helping to save the older horses.

Probably because of the publicity, many of the mustangs sold for far more than the minimum bid of $125. Conquistador, a 19-year old stallion garnered the highest price at the auction, $2,500, while several of the other Pryor Mountain horses sold for more than $1,000.

As a result of these efforts the horses are now back in their family bands. Many people who had studied the herd were particularly worried about Conquistador, who would have had a difficult time transitioning to a domesticated life. He is one of the horses that has been released with his family group on a 3,000 acre ranch at the base of the Pryor Mountains.

Many of the younger horses were sold to private homes and at least two went to facilities that work with troubled youths. Mustangs are part of the program that teaches the teens to care for and bond with the horses.

For those who asked, Cloud and his band of mares were successfully released back into their territory after the round up. You can read about it in this article: Pryor Mountain Roundup Draws to a Close.

Another happy ending for Eddie.

Posted by Liz Goldsmith in Commentary, equine rescue, First Aid, Horse breeds, Horse care, horse health, horse rescue, trail riding and tagged with , , , ,
Eddie survived a harrowing swim through the Corbett Dam irrigation Tunnel.

Eddie survived a harrowing swim through the Corbett Dam irrigation tunnel.

Eddie, a horse in Wyoming, survived a 3.3-mile swim through an irrigation tunnel after being sucked into the intake valve. Eddie was found — relatively unscathed — two days after disappearing under water.

The 9-year old Arabian gelding was being ridden along the Shoshone river when he and his 16-year old rider, Joshua Black, and a friend found a swampy part. The boys were leading their horses to drier land when the ground under Eddie caved in and the horse and boy went into the river.

Although Joshua and his friend almost got the horse out twice, Eddie got caught in the current and disappeared  under water.

When Eddie disappeared the water flowing through the tunnel was 8 feet deep!

When Eddie disappeared the water flowing through the tunnel was 8 feet deep!

Poor Eddie was sucked into the Corbett irrigation tunnel which diverts water from the Buffalo Bill dam, wearing his saddle and bridle. The 100 year old tunnel is more than three miles long and was carrying 740 cubic feet of water per second when the horse was lost. Eddie would have been swimming in about 8 feet of water and the journey would have taken about 50 minutes.

Since the tunnel is only about 10 1/2 feet tall, he would have been able to breathe only if he could stay at the surface but it is likely the current kept him submerged for at least part of it. In fact, to get both in and out of the the tunnel, Eddie would have had to pass through one of the head gates, which control the flow, which are 5 feet under water!

Eddie was found by an irrigation scheme worker standing in water up to his belly. He was severely dehydrated, was covered in cuts and scrapes, and was running a fever. But heck, my horse achieves this in the safety of his own pasture! However, after being hydrated and treated antibiotics, Eddie has made a quick recovery.

Amazingly, this is Eddie’s second near death experience. In 2007 Eddie was lost for nearly 10 days during wild fires near Seeley Lake, Montana. Eventually Eddie was found by fire fighters.

He’d better be careful. He’s only got 7 more lives to go.

Read more about Eddie’s adventure:

Miracle horse survives 5.2 km irrigation tunnel ordeal