Didi Barnes

Rolly & Didis first show!

2009-05-08T17:40:04Z

Well, Sunday April 26 2009 dawned and I was so nervous! My friends Ann and Badr had been encouraging me to go to an in-hand show with Ann and her beautiful Arab horse, Azzi.

For those of you that can’t be bothered to read more and just want to see the photos, check out:

Pete’s: HERE

Frank’s: HERE

Re being persuaded to go to the show in the first place, Badr had given me a lesson in the “art” of in-hand showing. Well I’ve done working hunter pony and other ridden showing, showjumping and eventing - even Prince Phillip Cup! But all of that was prior to about 1987 when I had my nasty riding accident that put me in hospital. I had since done some judging of working hunter pony and showjumping classes, but not judged since 1994. But the one thing I’ve never done is in-hand showing! One thing I did find out is that I am definitely better coordinated (well, I like to think so!) on a horse than running beside one!

Anyway, Badr was really patient with me - it never occurred to me that you’d have to run that fast on the ground to make sure your horse is really trotting out to his full potential! And I am not the lightest weight lady any more

I’d also spent some money at Robinsons on some in-hand showing gear: a nice in-hand bridle with brass clincher brow band and buckles and chain lead attachment thingy, white jods and shirt, tie - all the bits of horse show clothing that, if I did still have them, I’d never be able to fit into any more!

So the day dawned. Rolly hadn’t been loaded since he arrived in a massive horse lorry from Germany, so we played with them in Ann’s horsebox a couple of days before the show. Rolly, of course, was great to load - no problems (long may that last!) - except the stress made him very sweaty so he was rather disheveled on our arrival at the showground at Plumpton College in East Sussex. And we found I was due to go on in just a few minutes. So Ann and our other friend, Sara, kindly organised Rolly leaving me to organise getting myself organised!

..and into the ring for the first class we went: the spotted/coloured horses in-hand class. Once I was in there, my nerves went as I was so focused on not letting Rolly down. So we really strutted our stuff and came second! Rolly took it all like an old-timer - of course he did breed society shows and gradings when he was with his breeder, but that was a few years ago!

The next class was the “foreign breeds” class - by this time I was quite happy with the whole thing, and my dear husband, Pete, and best mate, Frank, were there taking photos from the sidelines making me - and Rolly I think - feel rather like stars! …and we couldn’t believe it - we won!

When the judge came up to give Rolly his apple, rozette and little trophy, she gave me some great advice in a very tactful way. I have about 5 ear piercings each side and a nose ring, and was wearing some rather jazzy tinted glasses (albeit prescription). She said that all this is rather a no-no and I made her laugh with “what, you mean the bling”? So at least that will prove useful in our next outing - I must just tone down a bit!

The worst thing that happened was that my nice new boots gave me a horrid blister on the back of my heel due to all the running!

But I was so proud of Rolly and can’t wait until our next outing!

Bumble & Mrs Brown

2009-03-21T14:26:14Z

Below are 2 of Badr's chickens on the yard of whom I am especially fond. Sadly, Mrs Brown died a month or so ago, but Bumble is still batting despite having been bullied by the other chickens during last summer until Mrs Brown came along - they kind of adopted each other - united in their battle for achieving a non-getting-pecked order amongst the other chickens! Bumble is also known as the Hitler Chicken because she has a very particular walk due to one leg having preivously been injured - she looks like she "goose-steps" like a Gestapo (perhaps that should be chicken-steps - groan). Anyway, here's a sweet video of Bumble & Mrs Brown

rolly plays with his sweat scraper

2009-03-21T14:20:29Z

Another funny example of Rolly playing with stuff!

Rolly playing with his feed bucket

2009-03-21T14:10:18Z

Well, this little horse never ceases to amaze me - he is so "into" everything. His latest thing is to hold the feed bucket over the stable door asking me for more food! Unbelievable. Here's the vid...

Rolly in field with his apple box!

2009-03-21T11:15:41Z

A few vids of Rolly that speak for themselves!

Barolo loves his bit!

2008-12-14T16:12:02Z

I had some fun getting a bit Rolly liked. As you saw from an earlier blog about "getting the right saddle & bridle" I initially went for a Shires Training Snaffle - a snip at around £30! However, I knew this wasn't going to be a permanent solution as there were problems with it. Firstly, Rolly has very sensitive skin and as often is the case with loose ring bits and sensitive skinned horses, the bit where the loose ring sits in the mouthpiece rubbed the sides of his lips somewhat. So I obviously bought some rubber cheek protectors, but these seemed to cause chafing.

So, for a while I considered eggbutt/D-ring, but preferred the look of a loose ring and the movement it causes in the horses mouth that encourages him to mouth the bit. The solution was to spend around £90 on a Sprenger - I found the new-style Sprenger KK Ultra Type II that you can see here. The reason I - and Rolly - seem to like it is that the design of the cheeks stop the rubbing problems, and they also give slight steering improvements because it is kind of a cross between a loose ring and an eggbutt. Finally, it has the "tranz lozenge" which - according to the research - sits in a kinder fashion on the horse's tongue. The final thing I liked about this bit is that the mouthpiece is slightly thicker than the rather thin mouthpiece of the Shires training bit I had been using previously - so is kinder on the bars of the mouth.

Well, the result is is a bit that Rolly really seems to like - so much so that when I try to take his bridle off, he doesn't seem to want to let go of the bit - the patented "Aurigan" that the Sprenger bits use seem to be preferred to the "German silver" used in the Shires and other "cheaper" bits. Also, the Sprenger Aurigan doesn't corrode/tarnish the way that these other bits seemed to - a quick rinse and it is still shiny! We like that!

So here's a vid of Rolly not wanting to let go of his Sprenger!

Rolly having his teeth rasped

2008-12-01T19:49:58Z

Howz about this - I managed to get a vid of my horsey having his teeth rasped by my vet, Matt Waterhouse, of Arundel Equine Hospital. Horses should have their teeth checked every 6 months, especially with a horse that is young like Rolly (or an equine veteran as well).

Why do a horse's teeth need rasping? Well, a horse's teeth grow continuously during its lifetime. The act of chewing grass and other forage type materials in the way that a horse does: using a kind of lateral sliding, chewing motion in order to break the cellulose-type materials down to ease later digestion; means that the horse's teeth can tend to wear irregularly and end up having sharp edges and pointed bits.

Obviously since our horses are not in the wild and we want them to be comfortable and live as long as possible, which means being able to eat easily and accept the bit nicely, it makes sense to file these sharp edges down from time-to-time. Otherwise symptoms such as quidding (dropping bits of food out of the side of the mouth) and being unhappy with the bit can result, which will lead to the horse either not doing so well on its feed and/or being difficult to handle. The worse case scenario is mouth ulcers and perhaps also serious weight loss.

With a youngster, wolf teeth (seen in both mares & geldings, unlike tushes which are usually only seen in geldings) can be a problem. Wolf teeth are vestigial premolars (as opposed to canines) and can erupt at any age up to around 3 years of age (they are not baby teeth though). They are usually on the upper jaw, but they sit where the bit sits in what is called as the interdental space, so of course can themselves cause bitting problems. So Rolly had his removed about 6 months ago. Such an operation can be done under sedation and is not difficult because wolf teeth do not have roots like the other teeth - they kind of just sit in the gums.

So this particular 6 monthly check was to make sure the wolf teeth removal seemed to have gone okay and to check whether Rolly needed his teeth rasping again, which he did, hence the video!

For those that don't know, it may look like Rolly is in pain in the video. In fact he isn't - horses seem to like the weirdness of the feeling of having their teeth rasped (abd it is a non-painful procedure). If horses didn't like it they would have to be sedated to have this done, and in fact it is rarely the case that sedation is required. The device with all the metal that is conveniently holding Rolly's mouth open for the vet is called a "Haussmann gag" after the geezer who devised it. So here's the video:

Isn't he sweet (not sweet itchy, hopefully)!

2008-07-23T17:59:29Z

Hi how sweet is this? Note how Rollo's upper lip jutts forward when he is being given a scratch - second photo shows that a treat. We call it his giraffe face! Thanks Pete for taking these!

Rollo is a very itchy horse and, very nearly, suffers from sweet itch (an allergic dermatitic reaction caused by a protein in the saliva of the biting Culicoides midge). Sweet itch can be a devastating condition resulting in sometimes such extreme pruritus that skin damage can result - the horse scratches its skin to try and rid itself of the persistent itching (often centered around the mane and tail areas) to the point of seriously exfoliating the skin at worst, and at best really messing with their mane and tail often losing a lot of hair in the process! So horse owners are very keen to try and wage war against said Culicoides midges, not only to save the horse agro, but also because the horse looks a mess if Culicoides wins! Also, they are bloody annoying to me too as they seem to like me! Bastards.

So I have had to be really careful as a result of Rollo displaying early signs of sweet itch - he goes out in a fly rug (or perhaps that should be called an "anti-fly rug") during the day because of that - you can see the rug in the photos. I also liberally spray him with fly and midge repellent, also wiping this around his face. The midges are most active during sunset and sunrise, but then there's all the othe nasty biting bastards around so at least he is protected from everything as much as possible!

Anyway, as a result - and anyway most horses do - he loves a good scratch and this is an important part of equine bonding rituals - that's why you will often see horses giving each other a mutual grooming session. Very often they start this by nibbling at one another's withers (the thoracic verterbrae for those friends of mind that don't know about horses; it is from where a horse's height is measured as it is the highest point of the back just below the neck). The withers are an easy trigger for endorphines (one of the body's "feel good" chemicals) which are released during this process and the horse also gets a dopamine hit! I remember many moons ago when I was a Pony Clubber doing Prince Phillip Cup and our "chef d'equipe" (!) told me to scratch the withers of my very excitable pony to chill him out - and it really did seem to take some of the stress out of him!

One of the things they get you to do in Natural Horsemanship (e.g. Pareli) is to rub your horse all over as a way of desensitization and bonding. I take this one step further because rubbing is great (why does all of this sound kind of pervy? It really isn't meant to!), but what many horses really want is a darned good scratch - done in a way to mimic a horse nibbling. I believe some of the techniques of the Tellington Touch technique also mimic this but then that is my opinion!

The moral of the story is if you spend a little while each day just scratching your horse then you become another horse to him - great bonding exercise. Even better, if you visit your horse in the field and give him a scratch for a while without any expectation of riding, you'll develop a bond to the point that your horse just walks up to you - no catching problems - the horse won't be associating you with work every time you enter his field! That's an old story but it works! Rollo always comes up to the gate for me, though sometimes I have to go a bit closer if he is asleep! And we even join in the other horses for grooming sessions which is very funny! So many people just grab their horse from the field, ride them and give them a perfunctory pat if they've done right and then bung them out in the field again. We *spend time* stroking and scratching our dogs and cats, so why not our horses?

Here's my tips for helping avoid midge and fly irritation:

Keep the horse clean! Flies and midges (or not so much the latter) are attracted by dirt, sweat, secretions and coat grease. When your horse comes back from exercise, sponge off any sweaty areas. Make sure that you wash your horse all over regularly with e.g. Dermonline shampoo. When your horse has had a feed sponge off his nostril and muzzle area. Before you put your horse in the field, sponge off any secretions from his eyes/nostrils. This is a big thing to fight fly and midge annoyance.
Use midge/fly repellent spray. If your horse doesn't like the feeling of the spray (or the noise of it), simply spray it on a sponge and sponge him over with it! Make sure to sponge his face with the repellent and the dock and sheath areas. Citronella was what I used to use but I think it is not licensed for use any more - but it used to be brilliant! Be aware that just as worms get immune/desensitised to certain anti-worming chemicals (anthelmintics) that so can flies and midges get used to spray - so use different ones from time to time.
Use an anti-fly (usually just called a "fly") rug. Get one that also covers the dock and neck area. Be wary of using one that covers the face unless you really need to - would you like something covering your face and impeding your vision (especially if you are a prey animal like a horse)? I don't use a face mask on Rollo for this reason, but am vigilant about using facial fly spray and keeping his face clean. However, if you notice undue discharge from eyes, it may be due to fly irritation and you may need to re-consider this position and apply a mask because conjunctivitis may result and you will save vet bills on if you have to get something like chloromycetin.
Don't stable or field your horse too near to water, muckheap, etc - if you have a lake/pond this is where midges breed, and muckheaps are a favoured choice for fly breeding! Horse flies in particular love water. Water buckets are better than fixed troughs. If you've got a fixed trough have a look in it in about Jun/Jul - see all those little wriggly things in there? Many of those will be midge larvae!
When you are out riding, the midges and flies will also be attracted to you. The sprays you used on your horse may have masked them, but if the midges/flies get attracted to you, they may nevertheless get attracted to your horse as you ride him. So use a masking agent - e.g. Jungle Spray! It also avoids those bloody painful horse fly bastards that I hate as I come up in massive hives! Many people also recommend Avon's Skin-So-Soft Soft and Fresh Dry Oil Body Spray - it doesn't contain nasty chemicals but apparently creates a layer on the skin that midge mouthparts find hard to penetrate! Thanks for reminding me of that one, Frank (recommended to us when we were on the highly midgy Isle of Skye in Scotland in May this year). You can get the at Avon and doing a search on Google for "skin-so-soft" add "horses" to it and you'll find that some people even use it on their horses!

As a last comment, the number of Culicoides midges appear to be becoming increasingly prevalent in the UK, as does the length of their survival. Global warming is most likely to be the culprit. Hence the increase in the occurrence of sweet itch over the last several years. However, sweet itch aside, there is another, more sinister, reason for us all to become more vigilent about protecting our horses from midge bites and that is that the UK and northern europe are now for the first time being faced with diseases that were once termed "tropical". African Horse Sickness (and Blue Tongue virus which affects ruminants, e.g. cattle) are also carried by Culicoides midges and these diseases are spreading northwards. African Horse Sickness is really nasty and almost always fatal, so we all need to be even more vigilent to protect our horses from biting midges.

Hope that this is useful! Enjoy!

The first photo of me riding Barolo

2008-07-18T13:34:23Z

Hey, check this out - the first photo of me on Barolo! Thanks very much to a friend of Vicky's called Diedre (I think - correct me as I am sure I am wrong) for taking this :-)))))))

Catching Rollo

2008-07-13T18:56:05Z

How sweet is this? When I went to get my little horse in this morning for a ride, he was fast asleep lying on his side on the grass. The photo below shows him just having woken up and the video below that shows him getting up and coming over to me - how sweet!

Handsome George

2008-07-11T17:35:22Z

This is my friend Vicky's horse - I call him "Handsome George" because I think he is just stunning. Here's some photos.

Knabstrupper

2008-07-11T16:38:51Z

Yes, my horse is a rare Danish breed called a "Knabstrupper" - a rude friend of mine by the name of Mike just said "Sounds like a dodgy german S&M game..." which made me nearly spill my coffee (he keeps doing that to me) so I had to include this here for memory sake, apart from anything else!!

Choosing the right Saddle, bit and bridle!

2008-07-08T17:39:56Z

Hi

It is now 7 July and I have now had Barolo for about 6 weeks. He has settled in really well and has many new horsey friends at our excellent livery yard, and well as human friends too - particularly my friend Vicky and her beautiful Appaloosa horse, George. The yard is really lovely and the people all very nice. I chose the yard because Vicky was there and I used to visit her and George before I even got my horsey - we decided it would be cool to keep ours together.

Barolo and George were fascinated by one another from the outset - I wonder if a horse's brain is able to "recognise" a fellow spotted horse and then decide that somehow "horses of spots should run together"? Another interested party seems to be yard manager, Badr's, lovely dog Dexter! He is a dalmatian and Barolo is rather intrigued by him too. And when Barolo first turned up, Dex jumped up at the stable door, rested his paws atop it and had a good look at the spotted arrival of another species!

I have only been riding Barolo for the last about two weeks. The first few weeks I spent a lot of time doing Natural Horsemanship with him - working from the ground in the indoor school to establish a relationship based on trust and gentle respect. I built this up to the point I was able to liberty school him - it is a wonderful feeling having your horse get to the point that he just follows you around the school, no need to "pull him around". Though saying that, this doesn't always work out - there is a large mirror at the end of the school and Barolo seems fascinated with it! He'll suddenly decide he's done interacting with me and makes a bee-line for it and just stands and stares at himself. Interestingly, he also seems to look at me (in the mirror) when I come up beside him to remind him he is supposed to be interacting with me and not the mirror!! e doesn't seem to do anything (as I think I'd expect if he thought it was another horse), he simply stares at himself in fascination, sometimes blinking!

Have I got a narcissistic horse? Is there even such a thing scientifically documented somewhere in the annals of equine ethology? I doubt it! Nevertheless, his almost obsessive fascination with the mirror does make me wonder about that rule of self-awareness and consciousness where scientists say that only primates are able to "recognise" their own reflection... Does Barolo know that it is an image of him in the mirror, or does he just think "oh, who's that handsome, spotted geezer with the big, brown eyes"? I must try to get a photo of him doing it - it is really bizarre to watch!

During the on-the-ground schooling, we had great fun trying to get the right saddlery for him in order for my eventually being able to ride! I chose to get a saddler out - Geoff Dean from Ashington who I used many years ago with my old horses (I still have a double bridle that he once made for me that has for many years hung in my office as a reminder that I might one day be lucky enough to get another horse!). Eventually we chose a Bates Caprilli. This saddle does not have conventional flocking - it is air-filled! This is much gentler on a young horse's (or any horse's) back - it re-shapes itself according to the change in the horse's musculature and skeleton as he ages and is worked. It cost me around £800 so it should be good! Luckily it is also really comfortable for the rider which is a bonus! The time Geoff Dean came round was in fact the first time I rode Barolo. My friend Vicky tried him first - she is considerably lighter-weight than me - but eventually I couldn't resist having a go myself! We had no idea how he would react, so Vicky lead him with me aboard - actually he was brilliant and calmly walked around the indoor school sporting his new saddle!

Trying to get a bit that Barolo would feel happy in was more of a challenge, interestingly. The photos that I was sent of him made it unclear which bit he had previously been used to, and I was not given this information when he arrived. So it was guesswork a) which size to use, and b) the type he was used to.

Being such a youngster at just 4 years old in April, I wanted Barolo to have the simplest bit I could get away with. I had a stash of bits from my previous horses, so I put him in a simple German eggbutt single-jointed snaffle (stainless steel) - only to find it was way too large (around 6 inches I reckon). Anne at the yard kindly lent me a Dutch Gag simply for sizing purposes - this was 5 inches and I decided it was too small for a cheeked bit but the mouthpiece looked like it would be perfect. I had also noted that he fiddled around a lot with the Eggbutt and didn't think this was just because of the size being too big. So I went out and bought a Happy Mouth loose-ring snaffle with a double-jointed mouthpiece to stop the nutcracker action thinking that might have been what he didn't like. He hated it and pulled loads of faces and chomped on it a lot! I had a close look at what he was doing, and a close look inside his mouth. I decided the mouthpiece was taking up too much space as he seems to have a reasonable narrow palette and a large (given the palette size) tongue.

The long and short of it all was that I ended up with a Shires training snaffle - one of those loose-ring ones with an angled lozenge to stop the nutcracker action of a single jointed, and that is made out of German silver (it is gold coloured) knowing that this alloy tends to not be so cold in the horses mouth and has a sweet-ish taste compared to old-fashioned stainless steel. I opted for a thin mouthpiece which I know is more severe than a thicker one, but instinct told me that Barolo may be more comfortable with "less" metal in his mouth. All of this combined to result in a perfect bitting solution - he is really happy with the bit, gently mouths it and seems to be fine! The irony behind all of this is that the Shires bit we settled on is the cheapest one I tried! Just goes to show that you don't need to spend a fortune on a bit - it was only around £30.

During all of this was the process of selecting a bridle. I decided on a John Whittaker JW4 bridle and breastplate and got them in a really nice burgundy colour to go with Barolo's spots, only to find that full size was way too big! So back to where I got them from - Brendon Horse & Rider Centre, Pycombe, Sussex - and they said that John Whittaker gear had stopped doing that colour and they hadn't got cob size in stock. So I had to go for the oak brown which wasn't in stock, so yet more waiting! However, eventually it all arrived and in fact goes in with the saddle colour better than the burgundy colour would have done, so that's all cool! So since then, about two weeks ago, I have been riding him!

When I ride, I use my Parelli natural horsemanship headcollar underneath the JW4 bridle (with the grackle removed) and have the 12 foot line of the headcollar in my hands in a kind of "bridged" fashion alongside the reins. This serves two purposes:

a) If Barolo gets too spooky to manage, then I can simply get off without having a fight on my hands and a potential accident and simply manage the situation from the ground, hopefully not too far towards the end of the 12 foot line!

b) If I get too spooky(!) or simply lose balance, the way I hold the headcollar means that I can't accidentally jab Barolo in the mouth - the headcollar acts before the bit because I shorten the headcollar line more than the reins in situations where I think it may be prudent to do so. Where we ride this is actually rather important - we are right on the side of the South Downs in England with lots of up and down hill work. Barolo has a tendency to go behind the bit and doesn't really accept it too well (though he is getting much better in walk) and the last thing I want to do is make this worse by jabbing him in the mouth and teaching him to fear the bit.

Because of my weight, I am being extremely careful with Barolo so that he gradually builds up enough muscle to carry me, as well as to carry himself! We have been doing very gentle hacking (which nevertheless involves hills!) and even had a very short - as in, 10 strides - gallop last week! We have done much of this on our own - nothing like the feeling of going off exploring the bridleways, just you and your horse. At one point I had to get off him because he is evidently not used to a rider on his back opening and closing gates! That then meant that I had to teach him how to calmly stand by the closed gate in order for me to get back on again afterwards! He is a really quick learner - so bright - so eventually I was able to get back on once he understood what I was trying to do! My friend Vicky has been out with me a couple of times too - she was very patient the last time whilst I spent quite a while trying to get Barolo to walk close enough to a gate to be able to open it! Now Barolo seems to be gradually improving at gates and certainly seems to have sussed the idea of standing still the other side of a gate if I need to clamber up it to get back on him again!

Once I have built up his basic fitness by this kind of hacking out, I will begin a bit more schooling. We have had some plays in the outdoor schooling area, even over a few poles, but nothing with any serious aim. It is so nice for me not to have any deadlines. When I was younger and wanted to be a showjumper, everything was about targets and achievements - it was hard on the horses and hard on me. This time I actively want not to have targets and just see where we end up in a very kind of "organic" fashion where what we do is merely dictated by both of our moods, rather than by a forced discipline.

Here's a photo of him eating and in the stable...
More soon

Barolo and Vicky

2008-07-08T17:36:43Z

This is so sweet - my friend Vicky happened to go in and see Barolo in the stable in June and another friend, Anne, took a photo - Barolo was too lazy to get up despite Vicky's persuasion - such a shame the photo didn't come out so well. It is so nice to see a horse so trusting of humans that he doesn't even bother when one of them comes into the stable!

Problems and Solutions

2008-06-18T18:19:17Z

Well, things have been interesting. When Barolo arrived, I thought he was rather shorter than the horse I had thought I was buying! In fact, it turned out he was a whole 10 cm shorter. My friend Lesley from the UK Knabstrupper Association even came and verified this. This was rather a large disappointment as I thought I would never be able to ride him as he would only ever make around 15.3 hh, not the about 16.2 hh I would have expected! However, Lesley said she thought I'd be fine to ride him and said this breed is late maturing - around age 7.

Trouble is, by this time I had already fallen in love with him and really didn't want to send him back or sell him on. He has such a wonderful personality - one of the reasons I decided to wait and get a Knabstrupper was because they are famous for their easy-to-do nature and intelligence - this is why they are often used as circus horses! Of course, not all of them are going to be that way despite it being a well-publicized breed characteristic, but I had my fingers crossed! And sure enough, Barolo definitely fits that description - he is just lovely. Terribly fidgety - probably even more than I have experienced before with a youngster (who are always somewhat fidgety) and into everything - nothing much seems to spook him and I spent several days doing "hazard training" getting to the point I could rattle and rub a plastic bag over him with no problems.

So I just decided I'd keep him and see what happens. Things were all a bit disastrous because the insurance company wouldn't accept the German vetting and Barolo's value meant he needed a 5 stage vetting. So in fact he was not insured for around 3 weeks after I had him! Once I decided to keep him, a 5 stage vetting was done (no problems found) and I had him micro-chipped and now the insurance is fine - phew! Then there were problems in that there were supposed to be a couple of rugs and a bridle with him. These didn't turn up when he was shipped so I had to go and panic-buy a fly rug and a stable rug and a lightweight field rug. When the stuff did turn up, there was no rug at all and the bridle was so manky as to be unusable. The only thing I have kept is a sweet little hood with gold-braid!

So all's well that ends well - he will stay with me!