Chance's Bleu

A blog dedicated to my horse, Bleu. Other horse related posts will also be reblogged.

[chancesbleu]

I’ve been so bad about keeping up with this blog (really all of my blogs.) Here’s a short video of my boy I made last night.

Background: In the field next to the arena there are long horned cattle and a buffalo, Cindy. Bleu is very wary of Cindy (reinforced by the time she charged at him from across the fence), but he has been getting better.

I saw that Cindy was lying down right by the fence and decided to bring Bleu over. We went most of the way down the fence line and then I started doing half circles, getting closer and closer to the corner. He was pretty good about coming to the target when requested, although his attention was heavily on Cindy once we started the half circles. Then we came to this point and his attention was completely on Cindy.

I was so amused and he had been such a good boy getting so close so I decided to film him - which is kind of awkward when you are trying to hold the phone to film, hold the target for him to come to and hold the clicker to click. Aside from my filming skills, it went well.

[transperceneige]

Do you have any tips for getting over a fear of riding? I just to ride for 6 years and then I stopped because I got too scared to ride with the horses we had in the riding school. I have ride after it couple of times, but I'm always quite scared which is not a good thing with horses :D I'm so stressed and worried that my horse might throw me on the ground that I loose the fun out of the hobby. I used to always get the horses everyone else feared. It's annoying because I want to ride again ^^

Hard to answer this as I never got so proper frightened it impaired my riding.

I do know this can happen to riders of any level - I know of long time trainers who, after rough times with some horses, started having apprehension for riding.

Maybe some people on here can help anon ?

[nocturnalequestrian]

This happened to one of my friends! She had a bad fall and afterwards she was too afraid to ride for almost a year! One thing that helped her start to gain confidence again was wearing a safety vest/jumping vest when she rode. Starting at maybe just a walk and riding a trustworthy, “bombproof” school horse was also something that helped her out a lot. Audibly taking deep breaths, talking to yourself and the horse, and relaxing your body/ reins may also help you when you’re trying to become confident on the back of a horse again. Horses can sense if you’re stressed or scared, so don’t worry about being thrown, just relax as much as possible and have fun! Keep calm and go at your own pace anon :) 

[equikage]

What I’ve always heard as a cure for fear (I think Denny Emerson had a post about it?) is to find the things that you can do without fear, and do them until you’re so fucking bored you have to move up. If trotting scares you, just walk. Forever. Walk until you are so done with walking that you have to do something else. If you’re scared of big jumps, do teeny ones forever, until you’re bored to tears and have to do something else.

[chancesbleu]

I had this issue when I was younger. I had leased this horse for the summer and he was an ass. I was thrown at least 6 times and he tried to throw me off at least that many more times. (He started doing this thing where he would shy at something, totally naturally, and then, instead of stopping or acting nervous or whatever normal after shying, he would put effort into trying to get me off his back.)

I think there are two important things for you to find at one place: an instructor who understands your situation and, as @nocturnalequestrian mentioned, a trustworthy “bombproof” school horse to ride during your lessons.

I would have quit riding after that summer, but my parents pushed me to continue and my riding instructor was very understanding about my new fear of horses. I started taking my lessons on our easiest, most laid back school horse and we went slow. My riding instructor was patient and attentive to where I was and how far I could progress during each lesson. She was also really good at engaging me in conversation and stuff to distract me while riding when needed (that was a trick she used on me even before I became afraid of riding - I always overthink everything.)

Your instructor and your horse are your support beams while you work back to a higher confidence in yourself.

When I look back on it, it didn’t take me *that* long to gain my confidence back, but it worked because it wasn’t rushed and I didn’t have any specific timeline expectations on myself.

[fypolo]

Flickr / Abdel Elecho

[equikage]

@riding-blind at the resident only-person-i-know-who-plays-polo, I’m trying to figure out if there are extra straps on the right horse’s nose or if they’re just shadows, and what’s hanging from the rider’s left hand. Maybe just some really bundled up reins? Any interesting tack thing I’m missing or just a weird picture?

[chancesbleu]

It looks like the end of the reins of the left horse is over the nose of the horse on the right. And it looks like the guy on the left is holding reins and a whip in his left hand.

[johnny-is-a-winner]

Adam is really upset over Chance..I don’t know what to do. We put up flyers this morning. Then we went to two different shelters looking at over 50 different cats with no luck of finding him..I don’t know what to do.

[chancesbleu]

Is Chance an indoor cat? Something that I’ve read that anecdotally seems to work well, at least with lost indoor cats, is to grab something that smells like them - his bed, litterbox, something - and leave it outside your house. The familiar smell is supposed to lead them back home.

[theruby-redmare]

Aspen, the mare that I rode yesterday for my lesson.

[johnny-is-a-winner]

What’s up with people making purring sounds around horses when they’re anxious? What is that supposed to do?

[chancesbleu]

When I was horse shopping one of the women who was showing me a couple of horses did a similar sound. She said that she actually would make the sound when they were already calm so the horse would associate the sound with a calm state and then she would use it when the horse was anxious to bring it back to that calmer state it associated the sound with. Don’t know if that’s why the people you’re referring to are doing it.

[johnny-is-a-winner]

Yes that’s what I’m referring to. I don’t believe people really do it in the US. I was watching a German movie and they kept doing it. I’ve heard people do it before but I believe I’ve only heard it on YouTube videos from people outside of the US.

[chancesbleu]

This person was in Pennsylvania at an OTTB rehab and rehoming non-profit. Only person I’ve seen do it, though I like the idea.

[johnny-is-a-winner]

What’s up with people making purring sounds around horses when they’re anxious? What is that supposed to do?

[chancesbleu]

When I was horse shopping one of the women who was showing me a couple of horses did a similar sound. She said that she actually would make the sound when they were already calm so the horse would associate the sound with a calm state and then she would use it when the horse was anxious to bring it back to that calmer state it associated the sound with. Don’t know if that’s why the people you’re referring to are doing it.

[remadi]

My mom in all her pink glory (she also has a pink shirt which perfectly matches her tack.) We were practicing ponying on the trail for the first time.

[deadinsidedressage]

Okay but two questions: 1) What in the hell? & 2) Why???

[sanddancingwithanxiety]

@themotherfuckingclickerkid for u

[equikage]

The bridle doesn’t even match, what the fuck. You have to go full sparkle princess or why bother??

[chancesbleu]

I could honestly see my mom using that bit (all of her tack is already pink.)

Actually, I linked her the pic of just the bit earlier and she thumbs upped it (which could be sincere or sarcastic) and then I linked her to this post and she replied as I was typing this: “doesn't have the impact I'd expect“. In other words, she wants more sparkle. She just added “maybe it looks better in person”.

[equine-awareness-blog]

I was just browsing through some of the ottb’s on CANTER’s website that are up for adoption, and as I keep scrolling I keep getting more and more pissed at the racing industry for producing so many of these unwanted, really terribly built horses. So many of them have such god awful conformation, how is there not more regulation to only breed good quality horses in smaller quantities?

[theproblempony]

I’ve noticed this every time I even look, not to mention who knows what kind of injuries they have- genetic or otherwise. Personally, I admire anyone that takes the time to go looking at OTTBs and being ready to handle anything they get thrown at. There is a makeover challenge for 100k or something. You get several months to retrain a TB and they really go into detail with it. I like it much better than the mustang make over since they already are trained under saddle and they get more time still.

[chancesbleu]

You’re talking about the 2016 Thoroughbred Makeover by the Retired Racehorse Project. RRP is a fairly new organization (2010) that was formed to advocate for and promote ex-racehorses as second career horses. They have resources on their website for buying and selling ex-racehorses including advice and a directory as well as hosting the national makeover and a handful of state makeovers (they started in PA and MD before going national). They don’t sell or rescue any horses themselves, but they do provide a free classified section on their website for other people to advertise.

I found my boy through their classified ads, so I feel a bit partial to them.

A video they did about last year’s makeover:

[rybosz-a7x-blog]

[chancesbleu]

Gudrat Shah (Akhal-Teke) from Shah-Teke breeding farm in Russia.

Original image (Part of their 2013 calendar).

[equikage]

In regards to puppy and poop, I'm not sure if they have it in the states but in the UK, Science Plan produce a kibble and wet food called I/D. Used for general vomiting and diarrhoea, we use it at work for adult dogs and puppies. Might be worth thinking about, or if you do end up going to the vet they might recommend it. It's a bit of an odd kibble, and it turn their poop like bright orange, but it can firm them up a bit.

Anybody else know about this food? My googling is just bringing up Science Diet, which seems generally regarded as crap, but I don’t know if it’s related.

[chancesbleu]

Quick google came up with Hill’s Pet as the maker. They also make Science Diet and the logos for both brands are practically identical.

[chancesbleu]

It’s hard to tell how we’re doing while I’m riding Bleu, so I asked someone at the barn to film us doing a lap around the arena at a trot. Unfortunately, all I see when I watch the video is how fat I am.

[chancesbleu]

12/3/15

[equus-photo]

Do anybody have tips to simple tricks I can teach my puppy? He can (when he wants) Sit, lie down, back off and stay 

[chancesbleu]

Shake, play dead, and roll over and the ones that immediately come to mind.

[equikage]

Looking up tasks for psychiatric service dogs. Medication reminder sounds useful, also fetching beverages, turning on lights, and the entire section on ‘coping with emotional overload’ and fear management. I feel like a lot of these behaviors would be pretty easy to teach, too. Gonna have to mention this when I’m starting with a new therapist and when I’m taking dog to misc obedience classes. There might be someone in town with experience training service dogs that can give me some advice.

[chancesbleu]

I would also check to see if there are any non-profit organizations near you that work with service dogs. I’m not sure where you’re at, but an example near DC is Fidos for Freedom which has a few different assistance/therapy dog programs going on. You may have something similar. While they might not be able to give you personalized help, they may at least be able to refer you to someone who could or provide you with relevant reference information/list.

[johnny-is-a-winner]

Can anyone tell me if this place seems acceptable to take lessons at

www.curragh.com

I’ve been screwed so many times when taking lessons that I want to make sure I take lessons with people that know what they’re doing.

One time a trainer had me tack up the horse (I didn’t know the horse, or trainer, or how to tack up english) while she went to the store leaving me alone at the barn with my dad who didn’t know close to anything for like 15 minutes. I payed $50 for her to throw me on one of her child boarder’s pony and teach it how to stop rushing to the jump and slam on the brakes after the jump by see sawing it’s mouth. This all happened while I had only had maybe a few rides in an English saddle.

[idreaminbayandgrey]

that looks like a great place

[chancesbleu]

I would suggest calling the place and seeing if you can observe a lesson. This way you can see how the instructor teaches and you’ll also have a chance to check out the facility and talk with the instructor before committing any money. They may be good instructors, but their teaching style might not fit you, so this would be a good way to experience it.