Republica Dominicana

The better half in the ocean

A couple weeks ago, we went on vacation to the Dominican Republic.  My mother likes going and she wanted her kids (and their respective spouses) to come, so off we went.

We carefully scheduled and squeezed the vacation around my insane school schedule and we left the frozen tundra to a beautiful country with pretty awesome weather.

I have lots of mini-adventures from the RD, but I wanted to share my thoughts and horseback riding adventure.

Rare Rhinoceros Iguanas

My husband and I decided to do an excursion one day and went to a local adventure park of sorts.  They had spelunking, dune buggy rides, horseback riding, and so forth.  They also had a collection of mostly rare and interesting animals.  The above rare iguanas lived in a pretty big area dedicated to them.  They were pretty neat to watch.

I am often hesitant about riding in other countries.  The horses I saw in Mexico were extremely thin and in deplorable conditions.  When I went to Costa Rica, a horseback ride was included in one excursion and I refused.  The horse they wanted me to ride was extremely ill and laboring for breath while standing in his stables.

But, the pictures at this facility showed horses in reasonable weight, so we decided to take a chance.  All in all, I was quite pleased.

The facility also has some breeding stock, so we went for a short wander through the stables (which resemble more of covered mare motels, for those that are from the Southwest and know of which I talk).  The Paint stallion was in excellent condition and actually a bit overweight.  There were two mares with young foals that had plenty to eat.  All the horses in their stalls had hay, hard feed, and water.  Pretty nice considering that most feed has to be imported to the island.

We were given helmets, assigned our horses, and started out our ride in a nice fenced in sandy arena.  My husband has a buckskin named Sanjay and I had a little pinto Apache.

Both of our horses were gaited and happy to be out on the trail.  They were cleanly shod on all four and appeared to have fairly fitting tack.  My gelding even had a new Diamond wool saddle pad, which was nice to see.  

The trails were rocky and tough.  A lot of the island is coral, but the horses were surefooted.  Our guide originally told us we were just going to be walking, but we did end up gaiting/trotting most of the ride.  The horses didn't really understand the nose to tail thing, so my husband sometimes rode side by side.  My gelding really wanted to be in front, but I was fine with that.  I led trail rides for years, so a little brio on the trail doesn't bother me.

Unfortunately, a couple other folks weren't always in control of their horses.  A lady in our group had a very nice, smooth little mare that also wanted to be up towards the front.  Unfortunately, between the death grip on the horse's face and her flapping legs on the horse's side, I felt quite bad for the little mare.

Going down one hill, she drove her mare forward and ended running up my gelding's rump and got kicked.  I felt badly as I usually can nip things in the bud before they occur, but I really didn't expect it that quickly.  Fortunately, the lady was OK overall, but I always hate people who blame things on the horses when that little mare really did try to figure out what her (clueless) rider wanted.

But I had a wonderful time and I would suggest someone that wanted a good ride in the Dominican to check them out.

Trotting Forward

The girls last weekend

Today was a lovely day.  This work week was brutal.  Most days I start at 10:30AM and there were several days when the work was finished about midnight.  

I managed to write a paper on Lyme Disease, whip together a powerpoint, do some worksheets, a couple of online quizzes, and put clothes on approximately five minutes before I needed to fly out the door before my classes on Thursday.  

And tomorrow, it begins again.

But that's OK.  My soul is filled again with happiness as I saw my girls.  

I rode Donni first.  Donni can be fussy in the bridle.  She spends the first 10 or 15 minutes of a ride trying to figure out if she can evade the bridle by poking her face out or dropping down.  My coach has described it as she has to tell everyone about woe is her and what a rough life she's had.

But with patience tonight she came around and we had some really nice trot sets.  She finally gave up on giving the evil eye and the sideways scurry at a marathon cart that sits in one corner of the arena. A good canter.

Not bad for time off horse. 

On our cooldown, she was calm and relaxed.  I rode her gently on the buckle and just asked her with my seat to turn, stop and go.  I'll have to figure out how to add back in there sometime.  I'm sure it's possible, but something to work towards!

Chili was also well behaved tonight.  She is quite a bit different than Donni in that she isn't so fussy in the bridle as long as her hair isn't touching her ears.  Sometimes when she is unhappy about something, she does have a tendency to shake her head, but she doesn't spend time and time again being difficult about it once I put my leg back on her and tell her to knock it off.

Chili did have a minor skitter when we were trotting by one sliding arena door and a big chunk of sand hit the door.  She wasn't especially impressed, so after I was done riding tonight I spent about five minutes looking like a dork kicking sand at the arena walls until she yawned, licked her lips, and said it was enough.

It's a good reminder that despite the joy in riding a nice young horse, there's always work that should be done on the ground too to build up her confidence with weird sounds.  ;)  I occasionally forget since I really don't hear all these sounds that bother her.  Not particularly fair, I suppose, but thank you Chili for giving us more homework to work on.  :)

Both girls got the winter mohawks trimmed down and a bit of the long shaggy fetlock hair removed from their legs.  Can't wait until they are full blown shedding and look more like horses again instead of yaks.

Wish me luck for this upcoming work week!  It's a crazy life, but I am glad to have the horses that share it.

The Sun Was Out

The sun was out, the weather was warm, so I took some pictures.

Enjoy.

[Pictures] Looking Back

Sometimes it's pretty incredible to look back at the years spent with your horse and see how far you come.  Pretty awesome!  I love this filly and I am hopeful at what this year will bring. 

Simple Things

Sometimes it's the simple things that create a good ride.

Really, it wasn't anything spectacular.  I let the girls into the indoor to blow off some steam since it is quite icy outsides.

Chili spent the first five minutes rearing and bucking.  I don't usually see mares rear, so that was a bit surprising.

I saddled Donni up first.  I left Chili loose in the arena.  It's a bit unorthodox to ride with a loose horse, but I don't mind it.  In fact, at times, I think it's quite beneficial to horse and rider.

First of all, heaven forbid a horse ever gets loose in the arena, but hopefully the horse that is still being ridden (ie mine) won't loose its marbles and dump me instantly. 

Two, it gives another distraction to work around and to try and reinforce and bring back the focus on the rider.

Here is a video when I was cooling down Donni at the end of the ride.  Chili looks like a lost puppy I think.

I just mostly worked on having Donni respect my half halt (mostly via seat) before transitions.  Perhaps, as an unrelated (or related) event, we had a lovely canter circle to the right.  Nice smooth walk-canter transition. 

It's the simple things that are pleasing I think.

Chili was also well behaved.  I do think it's a bit of a fluke at times that I have can have a coming four year old (will be four in May) that can sit for a week or two at a time and not be an absolute squirrel when I ride her again. 

Knock on wood.  Hopefully now I didn't jinx anything.

I kept it simple with her.   Just nice walk/trot circles over poles. Canter circle each direction.

Called it good.  She was well behaved (generally) for having her dam standing around like a lump on a log.

A good evening.  Just the simple things.

Arabian Archives: Khemosabi

Khemosabi is another Arabian that the average person seems to know and recognize in a pedigree.  Rising from humble beginners, from a backyard in Whitter, California, he achieved national championships in halter and western pleasure and ended up being syndicated.  He sired over 1200 foals.

People often ask what "type" of Arabian is Khemosabi, referencing if he is Polish, Russian, or what have you.  I'd classify Khemosabi as an "American" Arabian as he blended a variety of bloodlines, stamping his get with his own unique look and style.  He had lines to Polish, Crabbet, and several crosses to the wonderful Babson stallion *Fadl.

Khemosabi endured years of wonderful publicity thanks to his breeders, but I think he is an enduring force in the breed because he sired his own unique look.  Part of this, I believe is his high whites and blaze.  White for many years (and to a certain extent now) was taboo in Arabians and sometimes thought as a sign of impurity.  Personally, I think it's a bunch of hogwash as the Crabbet imports certainly had a lot of white.

But Khemosabi somehow seemed to gloss over the fact that white was not "in".  His offspring had white and were generally, good minded, good moving individuals.  He sired offspring in plenty of divisions, but certainly in the western arena including western pleasure and cutting.  

Khartoon Khlassic, a sabino son of Khemosabi

Kakhem Sahib, national champion cutting

Khemander Khody, stallion earning more than $47,000 in cutting

Khemosabi lived a long life and died at the age of 34.  He left a permanent mark on the Arabian breed and in many ways, I think he was a champion of how a backyard horse could rise to stardom. 

He had his pros and cons in the breeding shed of course.  But his offspring have proven quite versatile and for a good temperament and work ethic, many people will attest that the Khemosabi bred Arabian is certainly an "in your tent" personality.

Breyer even immortalized this champion.

Any thoughts on Khemosabi?  Questions?  Have you ridden or owned a Khemosabi bred Arabian?

Confidence EQ Review

Donni is a very sweet mare.  She can also be a bit of a worrier and sensitive.  Previously, while moving, she would pace and worry a bit in a new environment.

I went ahead and sent in for a trial sample of Confidence EQ.  Confidence EQ is based on pheromones that a mare secretes to sooth their foal. 

It certainly seemed to be worth a shot.  So, in the bitter cold, I went out and applied the gel to her nose.  The goal is to apply it on the nose/nostrils, but not up inside the mucous membranes thirty minutes before the stressful activity.

The trial: the move to the new barn. 

Donni was a bit fussy loading onto the trailer and I was worried about her coming off wet in the windy, frigid weather.  To my surprise, she unloaded well and came off quietly from the trailer. 

I put her in a stall to hang out while I got some things organized.  She quietly just put her head down and started eating hay.  When I went ahead and turned her out, she wandered around and that was it.

No pacing.  No calling.  No fussy behaviors.  The most lackluster move I have seen her do in a while.

Wonderful. 

For those people that have horses that can be a little bit of a worrier, this product may certainly be worth a trial to see if it will help.  It certainly isn't a "drug" in the sense of making a horse drowsy or unable to respond, but just helps remove some of the excess worry.

So if you would like to give it a shot, head on over and visit this link