Thank you

Thank you for the condolences on Bodhi. It means a lot especially because I have been gone from my blog for so long. I have really missed reading all of your blogs, and the introspection I got from keeping one of my own. With three new horses I have a lot of material. I don't think I want to write about other horses here. This blog feels like Bodhi's only. I am going to keep it up for now because I would like to come back and tell some of his stories I never got to.

 In the meantime I am writing in a new blog: http://bodhitreefarms.blogspot.com/

I plan on writing about our trial and tribulations at our brand new farmette (~ 5 acres). We are trying to fix it up, grow food, and keep three horses. All of it is brand new to us.  So far, I have been writing about my training sessions with our two new untrained horses - Grayson a yearling Lusitano cross and Oak an eight year old Haflinger gelding. Hopefully I will see some of you there and on your own blogs.

Thank you,
Molly - AKA Golden the Pony Girl

We said goodbye

I lost my best friend on January 14, 2016 at around 3 pm EST. Bodhi was first diagnosed with equine multi-nodular pulmonary fibrosis in November 2015. We managed his symptoms and pain well in December, but the new year brought a secondary infection, and rapid deterioration. The last week was the worst, trying everything to make him comfortable and to bring back his appetite. We thought if we could just beat the infection we could give him a few more months. More diagnostic tests however revealed that the lesions had spread far quicker then we had anticipated. He just did not have any more healthy lung tissue left.

Everyone I know has lost a horse they loved suddenly to colic or an accident, but I really hope that I never encounter EMPF again. It is an exceptionally awful disease.

I wish I had told more of his story before it was over. We have done so much I never shared: hunter paces, obstacle clinics, crazy trail rides, and dressage shows. He learned to do his Spanish walk under saddle, and his own version of downward facing dog. I always thought I had more time to pick up on this blog, that I had more of our journey to document.

I have been really struggling with his loss. I know he was special to me because I have had him since he was two, he was the first horse I started and trained on my own, and he has been with me though several life changes (marriage, graduate school, 4 moves, 4 jobs). He was more than that though. He was my buoy. He has kept me afloat though several recent traumas in my life. He is one of the reasons I am even still alive. It is hard getting up knowing he is not there to greet me, and it is painful every time my mind wanders to him (as it does every 5 seconds) and to have the repeated realization that he no longer exists. I know I have my memories, but right now they are of little comfort.

I have a garden, a husband, 2 dogs, and now 3 horses (long story) to tend to, so I have to get up-- I am just not too thrilled about it. I am hoping blogging again will re-kindle my love for horses and training. I am going to try to write regularly again if not here then somewhere.

Bodhi's Sick

Bodhi is sick and it is not fair. He is only 10 and he probably won't be around for his next birthday in June. The vets have given him 3-6 months. He has equine multi-nodular pulmonary fibrosis.

I had so many plans, and I felt like I was finally getting there. We finally bought a farm, and Bodhi and I are living together for the first time. I was finally going to get back into riding. Into competing. Into at least growing as a horse person. I had always thought that Bodhi would be the pony my kids rode... if I have any. This is not fair at all.

Remember this post? I got that baby. His name is Grayson. I bought him thinking I had my solid rock to support me. Now I am going to be raising this crazy baby without Bodhi's support and influence. Definitely not part of the plan!!

Most of all though I can't imagine loving a horse as much as I love Bodhi or ever working so well with another horse. I have not even ridden another horse in about 5 years. He has always been my one and only.

I would like to start blogging again. I miss everyone's stories, and I definitely could use the support. I will give it a try. For Grayson.

Its a learning curve

Ok ok not horse related but training related so bear with me. 

My new job involves working with a dog. Pretty cool huh? I thought it was perfect but it has been quite an adjustment however. It is one thing to work with animals as a hobby and quite another to to rely on one for your livelihood

Ok so I actually have two working dogs. One well trained dog that has been doing the job for several years and one green dog literally straight from the farm. I call him my not so working working  dog (or NWWD for non-working working dog).The NWWD has had to go back to kindergarten so to speak. He came to me with the appearance of knowing absolutely nothing.

It has been a frustrating experience for me and I felt like I was getting nowhere with him. So I started a training spread sheet (I know I am a serious nerd). It includes the date, how long we work, what we work on and where we work. I also rate the session from 1-10 on our performance. This process has really given me great prospective on the learning process! I highly recommend starting your own spread sheet if you feel overwhelmed, plateaued, or stuck. If anyone is interested in talking spread sheets or wants help tracking their work with their horse let me know. I happen to really enjoy designing this sort of thing. My email is Phillips.map@gmail.com

So I have made a graph here of our session dates and the ratings I have given each session a 1-10 rating with 1 being 100% distracted and 0 response to cues and 10 being 100% correct response. Does the pattern look familiar (see the graph above of a textbook learning process graph)? I have only just started this documentation process I look forward to having several months of data so we can really see the learning process in action!! SO Cool!

 

What Happened?

Ok so I have been a bit of bad blogger..... But I have been busy graduating from graduate school and moving BACK to Florida. Long story.

I have two questions to anyone out there:

Where did all the blogs I follow go from my Blogger home page?

Anyone know of good boarding barns in the Tampa area?


I hope everyone is well! I wish I could have all my blogs back :(

New research-- Horses need friends too!

I wanted to highlight a recent paper that has just been published in the Journal of Ethology examining the interactions among a managed population of Sorraia mares in Portugal.

First of all Sorraia is evidently a rare (endangered)  breed of horse that is indigenous to Portugal. They were re-discovered in the 20th centurary and there are re-establishment projects in the works. Check out how lovely they are! evidently they are most often grullo (wikipedia)!

The research project examined affiliations among the mares comparing them to the reproductive status, relatedness, age, and dominance of the individuals. An affiliation is defined as a "long lasting relationship between two mares which are reflected in spatial proximity and participation in affiliative interactions, such as mutual grooming" We all have seen this--- domesticated horses (mares and geldings)sometimes preferentially hang around one horse in particular. We catch them grooming each other etc... We make comments like "Beau and Magic are such buddies".

This study found that kinship (relatedness) did not significantly affect these affiliative relationships and that individuals tended to spend more time with others in the same reproductive state. They found these friendships were relatively stable as well but their strength decreases after foaling. I don't know about you but I am seeing many parallels between horses and humans in this respect. :)

I think this research highlights the importance for equine friendships. So what could we learn from this research? Maybe we can all try and be more cognisant of these lasting friendships in our horses when we are moving them around between pastures and between barns etc. I know I have moved Bodhi several times now forcing him to loose several close friends. This of course can't always be helped but if we pay attention to the natural bonds in our horses then we can reduce their stress by not unnecessarily splitting them from their good friends.

Also for managers of breeding facilities it seems this paper highlights the importance of keeping brood mares together especially when they are pregnant. It seems they form the strongest bonds.

Here is another article summarizing the paper

Citation
Filipa Heitor and Luis Vicente 2010. Affiliative relationships among Sorraia mares; influence of age, dominance, kinshop and reproductive state. Ethology, 28, 133-140.

problem solving

Sorry for the lack of action here at GPG. I am in the middle of writing my thesis and I have had little time for anything else. I will hopefully be back soon though at full force!

Bodhi and I are doing very well. I am now taking dressage and western riding lessons! In between lessons I sharpen what we have learned from the instructors by having a shaping session with the clicker. It is amazing how much we are getting accomplished considering we have just a few hours a week together. I feel like we are really training smart now. I will be going to a multi-day clinic with trainer Shawn Seabrook in the beginning of May. I will have to write about that as well!

Now I wanted to share a funny anecdote about Sarge the cat:

Sarge and I were in a battle of wills. See I wanted to feed everyone (Stella the dog, Pele and Sarge, the cats and Brie and Truffle, the rats) at 8:00 pm every night. Sarge thought he could convince me to feed him earlier if he just tried hard enough. So that meant when I get home from work and start working at the computer he starts his cat antics--- meowing, scratching at things and sometimes even pawing me on the shoulder! The more I said no the more he dug in. You have to admire his persistence! I am sure everyone with cats understands just how persistent they can be!

I had no idea how to stop this behavior until I started thinking about an anecdote given in Don't Shoot the Dog by Karen Pryor. This story was about a dog that would not stop scratching at the door if I remember correctly. The crafty caretakers decided to use a conditioned stimulus to solve their problem. They hung a towel on the door and let the dog into the room every time he scratched. Then, they alternated having the towel on the door and off the door and only let the dog in when the towel was on the door. Soon the dog learned that his request for admittance would only be heard when that towel was on the door. They made sure to have the towel on the door sometimes giving the dog the chance to ask and they finally got a good nights sleep!

I love this story because it gives a creative solution to reduce a behavior without punishment and it also gives the animal a voice. That dog was obviously frustrated his requests to come in the room were not being heard. By teaching the animal when it is appropriate to ask for something it really reduces their stress and your stress. It is a win win.

So back to Sarge the cat--- I wanted to do something similar to the dog and the towel but what? I know he naturally loved to paw and scratch at everything. So I decided to make Sarge a sign that he could paw when he would like to be fed. The first night I put it up I kept an eye on him as he did his evening antics and sure enough he just happened to paw the sign! I said good! and immediately got up and fed everyone dinner. Amazingly, it only took him a few nights for him to understand the game! Now I put the sign up at around 6pm. He can choose when he would like to be fed from then on. He will nap on the couch, stretch and walk up and tap his sign when he wants to be fed-easy as that. Sometimes he wants to be fed even before I put his sign up. He walks up and looks for his sign and when he does not see it he just goes and lies back down. Amazing! I know we are both happier. Sarge is an intelligent cat and he must of felt so frustrated when I ignored his attempts to communicate. Now that he has an outlet he seems more content.

Here is a video of Sarge patting his sign to get his dinner!

Have you solved any human-animal conflicts in a creative way? I would love to hear about it!

how I learned to relax and love the rein-back

Like I mentioned earlier I have been in a dressage training rut. The one coach I would really like to work with has no room for new students. I feel like in this stage I need a more experienced person on the ground to really progress. I don't want to ask Bodhi to do things I am not 100% solid in myself.

My boarding facility is mostly western. The owner of the stables is also the coach and trainer specializing in western riding and horsemanship. Because of all my blogger friends who ride western I have learned I am really missing out... so I took my first lesson in western tack in my life.

It was a bit frustrating. For the first time in over 15 years I did not know how to tighten my girth--I mean cinch! I did not know if my saddle placement was correct. Split reins? I fumbled with my reins like I did as a green rider! I think it illustrated to myself that I had a bit of an ego with my riding ability. I like people to think I am a good rider. It embarrasses me to feel inept. I think it was a well needed slice of humble pie.

Once I got over my rein problems (just tie them together dummy). We worked on freeing up the rib cage by having my calves swing with the motion of the rib cage, while my hips moved with the horses hips at the walk. It felt great! Bodhi's walk immediately improved as well. We then worked on three things I normally avoid (since Bodhi and I are still working on the basics and I have been told to leave these movements till later) Backing up, turn on the forehand, and turn on the haunches. How she wanted me to cue these movements was different than how I was taught in a dressage setting as well. So it took a bit of adjustment on my part but I really enjoyed the simplicity of it all.

I can see how these exercises are valuable in young horses to help them with their balance and transferring weight from the forehand to the hind end. I am going incorporate these into my schooling sessions.

She also pointed out that Bodhi did not like to stand still. I offered that it may be because I don't like to stand still. I like to keep moving and I guess I have never really worked on standing still for long periods of time in the middle of a schooling. She suggested I ask for more extended halts as rewards for Bodhi. I think that is great idea. I normally ask for a free walk down a diagonal as reward but now I will alternatively ask for a longer halt.

I am looking forward to learning more and taking more lessons.

What is your favorite "second" discipline?

With our powers combined....

I love reading the posts over at mugwump chronicles. Not only is she a thoughtful, knowledgeable and poetic blogger but she always has the best comments! So with her kind of blog in mind I share this.

Sometimes I wonder why I blog. Is it selfish? Maybe. Definitively self indulgent..

But I am not just blogging about what I am doing, I am reading about what other people are doing. So many blogs about horses! I read about eventers, reiners, trail riders, jumpers, endurance riders... people just starting out with horses, people who have been riding for years, amateurs and professionals. People who ride with bits, without bits, train with fancy sticks, whisper, or who do none of the above. Why do I bother? Why don't I just read books, magazines, and rent dvds to supplement my lessons and clinics like I used to do?

Maybe the answer is in the two links above. When I read blogs I am learning through shared experience. As horse people who blog we are all connected. We all have pieces of a big puzzle that is the horse and through our blogs maybe we can get together and finally see the big picture.

What do you think about the idea of sharing and building off ideas in the horse blog world? Are you learning something or just wasting time? Why do you read blogs?

Itching to work

I Have not been doing a lot of posting because I have not been doing a lot of training. I ride about twice a week but I feel aimless. I don't know what I should work on or what I can work on with just 2 days a week to work with! It is frustrating!
Bodhi is doing great. Between his part boarder and me he gets ridden around 4 times a week. He is learning how to be a mature equine by working with a young rider doing a varied amount of things. He had drill practice with her today for example. When I ride him he feels very mature and balanced. Like a trained horse :) I guess he is 6 now. Wow time really flies!

Now that he is so solid in the basics I am just itching to do more advanced work. The truth of the matter is though I am the one who needs the further training to continue on. I have set up a lesson or two with a dressage coach but they have all been canceled for one reason or another. I feel stagnant and uninspired. I want to do more clicker work too but with such a limited amount of time I am not sure what I should even try???

So with that mind frame I saw this video and thought I would share.





With the amount of time I can devote to riding it is true in the dressage department I am going no where fast....
So I have decided to spend our precious time together working on perfecting our bitless riding, and doing the exercise in the above video: getting my horse more soft relaxed, and round.For our ground work I am going to work on stretching and playing soccer! Two things Bodhi and I really enjoy doing together. I am such a goal orientated person it is hard for me to just relax.

First day of mission relax and enjoy the pony was a success! We rode in the bitless and he was SO soft. We worked on stretching down at the trot and canter transitions. He seemed to really enjoy it. He also remembers how to play soccer like he just learned yesterday. Maybe one day Bodhi and I will have the time and expertise to achieve this: Cantering in hand!

But for now I am happy with my soccer playing pony!

Clicker Myths: Myth 1

I am starting a series of blog posts on clicker myths. Clicker myths is a catchy title but these posts are not only about training using a clicker, but about looking at many popular beliefs in the horse-world from a behaviourist’s perspective. If you have any behaviour questions you want me to cover please leave a comment. I can’t wait to hear your thoughts about these topics!

This first myth seems to be rooted fairly deeply in the horse world and can make for some heated debates... I hope you enjoy my take...

Myth 1:Giving horses food by hand teaches a horse to bite.

Is that so? It’s what I was told growing up but now I don’t think so. Here’s why:

I think the root of our problem is the traditional treat. Many riders enjoy feeding their horses as a way to show affection. Some riders give a reward at the end of the ride for a job well done. Even when we have a very thought out reason for giving Buttercup a sugar after a great ride Buttercup will not see that same connection.

When you give something as highly valued as food to an animal with no reinforcement schedule in mind (randomly) they will begin to associate the treats with the only thing that is constantly paired with the food reward-your hands or pocket.

Now what happens if you even give Buttercup a cookie when she nuzzles your pocket or lips your hand? You have just reinforced those unwanted behaviours directly! When you look at how most horse people traditionally fed treats to horses you can see where the myth came from. Food does not teach horses to bite. We teach horses to bite.

Another reason I have heard not to hand feed horses is it spoils them. Once again it’s not the food but how the food is being delivered. When you look at how some riders dole out the sugar, carrots, and cookies it does kind of remind you of well meaning parents “spoiling” their children with endless presents. When you give something away with no meaning attached animals and children do kind of develop a sense of entitlement. I don’t have any behavioural backings for this one. It just seems logical. We are all more honest hard working people because we have had to work hard for our rewards right? Life is not about free handouts. Or something like that...

Don’t take my word for it though! Here are some other articles about hand feeding and biting.

If you give a horse a cookie

Alexandra Kurland answers the question in this interview with Karen Pryor:

Many traditional trainers are reluctant to use food in their training. How do you prevent the horse from becoming too mouthy?

(look down the page until you see the question... or read the entire interview it's good!)

4H fun show

Our barn is mostly western with a large lesson program and now a 4H program. Bodhi's part boarder rides western with Bodhi and is in the 4H club. The barn hosted a 4H show yesterday and since they did not get enough interest from other clubs that opened it up to us boarders and other barns to join in the fun.

So the part boarder, me, and Bodhi teamed up (team Bodhi). I competed in the senior group and she was in the junior. One other farm showed up with three teenage girls and three all business gamer ponies. It was quite funny to see the juxtaposition between our lesson kids (mostly beginners) the boarders, who had never done an egg and spoon race in their life, and these kids--they were professional butterfly race extraordinaires!

This was my fist fun show ever and I had a blast. I rode western (comical) and I tried all the games. Bodhi was surprisingly keen, kept a great attitude through the whole ordeal, and tried his best with all the crazy things we asked him to do!

The part boarder and I both did command class, barrel racing(we got third!), Egg and spoon, Toilet paper challenge (we got second), butterfly race, flag race (we got third which is pretty good for any competition with the word race in it), trail class, and keyhole(second!). When we got to take off the saddle Bodhi and I really did well. We got first in both the bareback command class and the bareback five dollar bill class. I may not have a fast horse but I have a very smooth horse. Go team Bodhi!

So proud of my boy for being such a trooper. It was a proud day for me to see my little man all grown up standing tied and working all day in a crowd and keeping a keen positive attitude. He has really grown into a great guy.

learning lateral

I have been working with Bodhi for a few five minute segments on side passing at liberty. We Keep it very short (5 mins) and work on it a few times a week. The biggest break through was getting him to hold still long enough to really understand what I was asking. That is one of our issues right now. He gets very excited and jumps into a behavior with out waiting for the cue. I know this just means he needs more work on cue control but I am also thinking about teaching him a chill cue. Never thought I would need a chill cue for this horse! It would be used specifically when he gets worked up during a shaping session. It is so adorable how hard he tries. He is one of the hardest working horses I have ever had the pleasure of working with. His slow little dopey baby self is shifting into a serious hard working adult horse. It is very fun to see him mature.

I am inspired by him to work with other horses. I wonder if it is just Bodhi or if it is the new way I am approaching training that gets me such consistent, positive results? I would love the opportunity to work with other horses so I can hone my skills as a positive trainer. Too bad as a graduate student I do not have the funds or time for a second horse.

I posted two videos below showing our process so far. The first one shows how I rewarded him after one correct step. The second video is later when I reward him after he fixes a straightness issue he was having.

Great comments I wanted to share..

My last post had a few questions about the issue of horse slaughter. Calm, Forward, Straight posted especially insightful answers and she said I could share them. I think she has a great idea about contacting your local congressperson.

1st comment
The main markets for horse meat are Europe and Japan, although it is also served in Canada. The meat is often misrepresented as being from wild free ranging mustangs, and touted for it's healthfulness. The reality is that bute, banamine, wormers and most other horse meds are explicitly labeled "not for use in horses meant for human consumption".

The horses aren't raised for meat per se, it has just become a convenience for folks who can't be bothered to humanely euthanize, or to be responsible for horses that are no longer "useful"...

Horse slaughter is not actually illegal, but horses began being transported to Canada and Mexico for slaughter after the last American slaughter house closed several years ago. You do not want to know how they kill the poor horses who end up in Mexico.

The three slaughter houses that operated in the USA until recently were owned by foreign companies, Belgian I believe, and there is documentation ( I have seen the tax records) that they paid next to no taxes here.

Hopefully not too much information... I used to be the NC leader for Americans Against Horse Slaughter. We were trying for years to pass legislation that would outlaw the transport of horses across the borders for slaughter.
2nd comment
While the slaughter plants closed, in part due to the inspection issue, there is no legislation that I know of actually prohibiting horse slaughter. Just hoops the plants had to jump through regarding inspections which affected profitability.

Once there was no facility left in the US to continue slaughtering, horses began being double deckered across the Mexican and Canadian borders to their slaughterhouses.

The next strategy to end the slaughter of american horses was to get the transport across the borders outlawed, under an anti animal cruelty act. This legislation could never pass both houses - bogged down by obstructionist agriculture lobby $$$$.

My understanding is that a couple of pro-slaughter congressmen quietly added the plant inspection funding language to the current ag appropriations bill which is one of the very exasperating ways legislation is handled in congress.

As long as the anti-slaughter legislation gets passed - the funding language in the ag bill won't matter.

Call / fax / email your congressperson telling them you want their support for Senate bill S. 1176 and House bill H.R. 2966. Go to http://www.house.gov/ and click on the Bills and Reports tab to read the text of the bills.

so many questions!

I am sure everyone has heard by now about the bill making it legal to slaughter horses in the United States again.... I honestly do not know what to make of it. I am not going to jump up on my soap box either because I have no idea... so please keep reading! :)

Making slaughter illegal didn't stop horse slaughter right? I am not sure making things illegal really even works very well. Look at marijuana as an example. When there is a market and money to be made people will always do it right? Making it legal or not legal probably wont change much. Has not with drugs and has not with horse meat. I mean the horse meat industry seems a bit shady doesn't?

I mean I have never met a farmer who raises quality horses for slaughter and takes pride in his crop of certified black Angus grass fed quarter horse. Do they exist? The way horses go from the pasture to the plate seems really back alley to me. Does anyone know more about the horse meat industry? I feel so ignorant about the basic facts! Who buys the meat we produce? Does it get tested by the FDA for drugs, hormones, etc?
If we are going to eat horses shouldn't we treat them more like food and less like athletes? How could we do both and truly have both human consumers and horses at heart? How do we de-incentivize the practice of irresponsible breeding and the dumping of horses at auctions? It did not stop when slaughter was banned and it wont stop now. How do we stop something people get paid to do?

Ok enough questions. But seriously I would love to hear your thoughts! I know this is heated debate in the horse world but I really don't know what I think. I want to know how you guys feel. I have trusted your advise on other issues for so long!

Ok I am back...

Bodhi this summer while i was away...


It is snowing... but I have my husband and my horse so it can't be too bad.

Bodhi has become quite the western pony while I have been away. He has been to a clinic from a John Lyons certified rider and he is a member of 4H. Best of all he has successfully learned to be happy partner with other riders with other styles.

Riding him again felt wonderful. He remembered everything. I felt like I forgot a few things. He was very happy to jump in right where we left off with clicker training. I think if you have a clicker trained horse and you are wondering if he will adapt to "normal" training.... well I can only speak for Bodhi and I but as long as you find riders and trainers that are soft then you should have no trouble shifting between the two modes of training.

I hope everyone has done well these last 6 months! I missed my horse and reading about your horses.

I would like to start by apologizing for the lack of posts in the recent path. Rest assured, I haven't abandoned Bodhi. In fact, I have been taking lessons regularly and visiting him twice a week. His part-boarder has started riding three times a week, which is good because he is starting to get a bit pudgy. I have been working on more of the basics. My posting trot has improved a lot. I have him turning on his haunches and the walk, trot, whoa transitions are smooth. I need to practice the sitting trot. When I do it is looks (and feels) more like the jostling, bouncing trot.

Upon your suggestion, I was applying apple cider vinegar regularly to his hooves, which look great now. He recently had vet and farrier visits so he is in ship shape. The ground has dried up for the most part and now the bugs are the issue. They don't seem to pose as much of a problem as the bugs in Florida but he is still annoyed by them. I guess that's just one of those things you can't control. I will try to post more regularly in the near future. Hopefully we will see a few posts from the other two authors as well.

Hello all!
I will be posting whenever I can to update everyone on Bodhi's adventures with his new riders. He has been a wonderful sport letting all of these new riders take him for a "spin".
I am Marci and I will be visiting Bodhi at least once a week and hopefully multiple times a week soon! I am just getting back into horses and riding after a long time away. I feel that I came back to my roots and what a better way than to spend time with sweet Bodhi. He is a pleasure to ride and even more amazing to just visit with. Well this is all for now...I am going to see if I can figure out how to post a few pictures and a video of the coolest pony in the world!





As Chris (horse husband) already mentioned cleaning Bodhi's hooves can be quite the task with all of this Manitoba "gumbo" but here Bodhi is waiting patiently!

Molly left for Africa 5 days ago. I have been left with the daunting task of caring for Bodhi, the most important man in her life. ;) I will be visiting at least once a week to groom him and make sure he is a happy camper. Additionally, to make sure he stays fit, I will be taking lessons with the barn manager. I promised Molly I would chronicle this process on her 'Golden' blog. Please keep in mind, if you're still reading at this point, that I am a horse husband. I enjoy being around horses and I appreciate them as animals but I am not, by any means, a rider or an expert. Having said that, I will do my best to keep the blog interesting and informative.

I had my first lesson today. Bodhi is still DISGUSTING because he spends all day wallowing in the Manitoba "gumbo" (mud.) After I finally managed to get him cleaned up, I began the lesson. It was a back-to-basics lesson. We reviewed how to properly tack up (western) and then walked around the ring working on my seat, posture, and steering. We practiced our 'whoa's and 'go's, did lots of serpentines to practice turning, and worked on controlling the speed of his gaits with my seat. I have ridden enough to know what I am supposed to do but not enough to do it correctly or effortlessly. The instructor said I had quiet hands and did a good job. The lesson was a helpful review and a test of Bodhi's patience, which passed with flying colors!

I have a question about hoof care and I would greatly appreciate any advice. I will consult with Molly directly but I think it would nice to hear what her friends and followers think:

I will be applying Thrush Buster as preventative measure once a week while the mud is still bad (once every other week as it dries, etc.) but the barn manager said I should only use it after a problem develops because it can damage the hoof wall. Has anyone else had experience with Thrush Buster or tremendous amounts of mud? Should I continue using it regularly or give it a rest until I notice a problem?

Thanks, in advance, for your input.

TIA

Here is the link to my travel blog. I hope I can keep you guys updated. Thanks for the friendship.

TIA