CHIT CHAT in VOLTVILLE

[Konstantine]

Yes there always an explanation for the miracle

 

[JoAnnW]

I had to smile when you said you had to learn how a horse thinks. That's ongoing, and it's always guesswork, since they can't talk and tell us. I think it's about like figuring out why your infant is crying. Is it a dirty diaper? Gas? You know, you go through the checklist, and sometimes you figure out that a certain kind of cry means a certain thing.

As with your friends, people are hard enough to figure out -- and they can talk! But at least a horse's motives are simpler. Survival is their basic motivation -- to get away from scary things and to eat and to have company for protection.

Here's a neat video, if you've never seen it. I bet even nonhorsey people might like it. Cloud - Wild Stallion of the Rockies - YouTube

Oh I enjoyed watching this video. It was breathtaking to see. Even the scene where "Looking Glass" killed the foal. Shocking and hard to watch at the time but the poor little thing wouldn't have survived anyway. There was another short video showing Cloud on his 16th birthday. Glad you found this and posted it here.

 

[kico166]

Oh Lizzie the pics are adorable! Envy the Mantis! How long are you a work widow? Tonight yet?
Back in the early years (80's) working q other weekend I used to sew the night away - couldn't sleep if hubby was gone working on streetrods w/ his brothers ...

Sandy - thanks for posting the links! I appreciate your suggestions too!
Horse channel.com has a lot of reading material too!

Mom's eye surgery went great - this time she was awake for it. 3 hours reading done!
Watched part of Clouds story. I love watching colts play! That took me back to my 16th summer when I had 3 babies to mess with! Don't know if I'll watch all of it - I can't handle "survival of the fittest".

Monty Roberts was just on w/ a gorgeous deep reddish brown horse sportin a white mane & tail. (Over in England) Helping her overcome a fear of bicycles. Gee - so many good teachers on HRTV! Charles Wilhelm, Clinton (Down Under guy), Tom Pierson all come to mind atm!

Wabbit - I'm sorry! I just had to chuckle! I don't leave the house w/o 3 sets of X2's that I know are fully & freshly charged!
If it's going to be a long day - even more!

Raynes - too quiet in your corner!
FarmGirl - sure hope your not sittin w/o power!
Yum! I really like SI's Midnight Express - but I love it w/ a touch of MBV's menthol!


Sent from my GT-P3113 using Tapatalk 2

 

[SandySu]

Wild horses aren't just out west. The barrier islands of the southern US have them, too. Most famous are the Chincoteague ponies, but there are horses on other islands, too.

Chincoteaque Roundup - YouTube

WILD HORSES of the Eastern Barrier Islands - YouTube

Assateague Wild Fighting Horses - YouTube

Voice of the Horses - YouTube

Official Wild Horses Of Corolla - YouTube

Cumberland Island National Seashore Georgia - YouTube

 

[kico166]

Holy cow! Sandy! How did we live w/o YouTube!

Lizzie - I'm learning right along w/ you. The more I read the less I know! Raynes has directed me to some great books too!

Here's a link I found helpful w/ Exhuberant Molly! She has no sense of personal space! (Boundaries actually)
http://www.horsechannel.com/horse-keeping/how-to-speak-horse.aspx
Somewhere I also read that forward facing eyes (like people cats etc) are the predators. Horses /cows/Bambi w/ eyes at the sides are the prey. I knew you weren't to look directly at standoffish horses - just didn't know the Why.

Sent from my GT-P3113 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Renolizzie]

Oh Lizzie the pics are adorable! Envy the Mantis! How long are you a work widow? Tonight yet?
Back in the early years (80's) working q other weekend I used to sew the night away - couldn't sleep if hubby was gone working on streetrods w/ his brothers ...

Sandy - thanks for posting the links! I appreciate your suggestions too!
Horse channel.com has a lot of reading material too!

Mom's eye surgery went great - this time she was awake for it. 3 hours reading done!
Watched part of Clouds story. I love watching colts play! That took me back to my 16th summer when I had 3 babies to mess with! Don't know if I'll watch all of it - I can't handle "survival of the fittest".

Monty Roberts was just on w/ a gorgeous deep reddish brown horse sportin a white mane & tail. (Over in England) Helping her overcome a fear of bicycles. Gee - so many good teachers on HRTV! Charles Wilhelm, Clinton (Down Under guy), Tom Pierson all come to mind atm!

Wabbit - I'm sorry! I just had to chuckle! I don't leave the house w/o 3 sets of X2's that I know are fully & freshly charged!
If it's going to be a long day - even more!

Raynes - too quiet in your corner!
FarmGirl - sure hope your not sittin w/o power!
Yum! I really like SI's Midnight Express - but I love it w/ a touch of MBV's menthol!


Sent from my GT-P3113 using Tapatalk 2

Love the mantis. Light weight and powerful.

Tell your mom to get well fast from the Volt crew

Hubby won't be home until Thursday night He used to work graveyard and would sleep all day so I am able to keep busy without him. We only got married about 12 years ago. Before that I was divorced from an abusive guy and single for 15 years. I'm pretty independent Hubby has been the best for me. I don't have to "go it alone". I have someone who is supportive and helps me.

HRTV is great! I really enjoy Clint.

The internet is awesome for info and there is a miniature horse website where the people are nice and will help you lots. Sort of like ECF but the people are addicted to miniature horses Some people are like me and studied up and got a little horse for their first horse. There's more than one middle aged woman living her horse dreams. Some people are stepping away from big horses and turning to small ones as the get older.

We have wild horses all over out here. More bands than you can shake a stick at. I saw the Cloud movie a few years back on PBS, I think.

So I cooked a big ole early lunch of corn tortillas with eggs, sausage and fried left over taters with a big glass of milk. Got every dish and pan in the cabinets dirty I think. Tonite, I'm driving in to Dayton, shopping at the Smiths and then taking Chinese food to go home. No more dishes for the rest of the day!

 

[SandySu]

Holy cow! Sandy! How did we live w/o YouTube!

Lizzie - I'm learning right along w/ you. The more I read the less I know! Raynes has directed me to some great books too!

Here's a link I found helpful w/ Exhuberant Molly! She has no sense of personal space! (Boundaries actually)
How to Speak Horse
Somewhere I also read that forward facing eyes (like people cats etc) are the predators. Horses /cows/Bambi w/ eyes at the sides are the prey. I knew you weren't to look directly at standoffish horses - just didn't know the Why.

Sent from my GT-P3113 using Tapatalk 2

Yes, we are predators and horses are prey animals. You can tell by the placement of eyes which is which. You can look directly at a horse, but unless the horse knows you and trusts you, then it may drive him away from you. However, it's useful if you want to drive him away from you.

I disagree that horses don't understand language. They don't understand long, complicated sentences, but they can learn simple voice commands, and they pick up a few words on their own if the words are important to them. I found it interesting that Penny knows the word treat/eat. She doesn't know the difference between these 2 words because they rhyme, but she knows them. One day, I was going to clean out her feet, and I told her this, not really expecting her to understand, but I usually talk to her and tell her what I'm going to do. As soon as I said the word "feet," she started looking around for a treat. She obviously knew the sound and expected I was saying, "I'm going to give you a treat," not "I'm going to clean out your feet."

When you give voice commands, like whoa or walk or trot or canter, especially handy when longeing, if you want the horse to slow down, start with a higher pitch and lower your voice at the end (lower pitch, not quieter). To get a horse to go faster, raise the pitch at the end. So, asking a horse to canter on the longe, you'd say, "Can-TER?" The question mark denotes the rise in pitch more than that it's a question, but usually questions rise in pitch at the end, just like asking for increased speed or energy from a horse does.

Another signal, besides watching the obvious ones in the article is, when a horse is unhappy or uncomfortable, they have some wrinkles in the outer, upper edge of the nostrils. This is subtle, but it's a pretty good indicator that something's wrong, even if the horse is standing quietly and not giving more overt signals. It could be the horse hurts, or maybe it's just displeased with something. You have to figure out why the horse is wrinkling his nose, but he's telling you something's not quite right.

 

[Renolizzie]

Holy cow! Sandy! How did we live w/o YouTube!

Lizzie - I'm learning right along w/ you. The more I read the less I know! Raynes has directed me to some great books too!

Here's a link I found helpful w/ Exhuberant Molly! She has no sense of personal space! (Boundaries actually)
How to Speak Horse
Somewhere I also read that forward facing eyes (like people cats etc) are the predators. Horses /cows/Bambi w/ eyes at the sides are the prey. I knew you weren't to look directly at standoffish horses - just didn't know the Why.

Sent from my GT-P3113 using Tapatalk 2

Kico - You and I both have a lot to learn but that is the way of the animal owner. Horses are special. That saying "There's something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a human" is true for me. You have to slow down and be present and in the moment when you are with your horse. That would be hard for someone like me who always has the wheels turning in their brain.

I like learning about a whole new species through Wiseguy. Even though he is little, he is a horse. I've had cats, dogs, different kinds of birds, a bull snake and a couple of lizard, three goats but Wiseguy is his own species.

 

[SandySu]

One last horse video. The Path of the Horse - Full Length documentary - YouTube

This is controversial, since a lot of what these people say isn't the usual, accepted ideas that horse people have, i.e., saddles are painful for a horse, and so is being ridden. And most horses accept being ridden in a bit, though Penny "told" me that she didn't like it, which is why I don't use one. I spent a lot of time and money buying new bits of different designs, hoping to find one she liked. I have 2 she finds tolerable, but she is much happier with a sidepull or jumping hackamore, so that's what I generally use. And yes, when I tighten the girth, Penny doesn't like it, but once done, she seems to get used to the pressure. Other than riding and using a bridle and saddle, I think the things they say are worth considering. I read Linda Kohanov's Tao of Equus -- The Tao of Equus: A Woman's Journey of Healing and Transformation through the Way of the Horse: Linda Kohanov: 9781577314202: Amazon.com: Books -- and found it a wonderful read, even if I remained skeptical about some of the things she experienced. It's definitely thought-provoking, though.

And yes, Penny "tells" me things, like she doesn't want a bit in her mouth, and in an attempt to soften the rawhide rope noseband on the sidepull, I put a roll of fake fleece over it, and Penny "told" me she didn't like the fleece, she preferred the bare noseband, which I could hardly believe. I don't hear her talking in my head, but I get a distinct idea about these things. Maybe it's subtle body language that seeps into me without me being conscious of it. I don't know.

 

[BWhare]

When you give voice commands, like whoa or walk or trot or canter, especially handy when longeing, if you want the horse to slow down, start with a higher pitch and lower your voice at the end (lower pitch, not quieter). To get a horse to go faster, raise the pitch at the end. So, asking a horse to canter on the longe, you'd say, "Can-TER?" The question mark denotes the rise in pitch more than that it's a question, but usually questions rise in pitch at the end, just like asking for increased speed or energy from a horse does.

Have you noticed that British newscasters do that - (upper register) "there's been a riot in upper neverland" and (lower register) "only Wendy was affected".

 

[SandySu]

Have you noticed that British newscasters do that - (upper register) "there's been a riot in upper neverland" and (lower register) "only Wendy was affected".

Maybe it started in England. A lot of horse practices did. Another one I find interesting is that instead of saying whoa, many Europeans (and some Americans) use a "blurrrp" sound. Sort of a trill with the lips.

 

[SandySu]

One last horse video. This is sort of like barrel racing with 4 horses and a carriage! Very exciting and demanding. It looks really hard to do. And the last driver, Boyd Exell, uses the blurrrp sound, sort of near the end of his round, just in case you want to hear what I was trying to describe. Anyway, even if you aren't interested in that sound, I'm sure you'll find this competition exciting. Boyd Exell uncontested winner in Stockholm - YouTube

 

[Uncle]

Mom's eye surgery went great - this time she was awake for it.

NICE ! ! ! Glad to read she did well . . .

Raynes - too quiet in your corner!

Just as an FYI: Not that I am speaking for her - however I know "Raynes" is busy with "stuff" and away from a computer for a few days . . . But of course she will be back real soon . . .

 

[SandySu]

Good night, everyone. Time for exercises and then bed.

 

[Renolizzie]

Coffee is on, Volties!

14 degrees overnight. Brrr. And after such a nice day yesterday - it was over 50 degrees out. A forty degree temperature swing. So typical in Nevada. Should be pretty nice again today.

 

[JoAnnW]

Good Morning All and thanks for the coffee Lizzie!

We had a very cold rainy windy night but woke up to beautiful sunshine today and much warmer temperature. I'm feeling much better and Spanky will be happy because we will be walking. Poor thing has been experiencing cabin fever and I've felt so guilty. I think I will be forgiven then...

 

[SandySu]

Coffee is on, Volties!

14 degrees overnight. Brrr. And after such a nice day yesterday - it was over 50 degrees out. A forty degree temperature swing. So typical in Nevada. Should be pretty nice again today.

Good morning, Lizzie. We're having warm weather here, but unfortunately, it's not sunny: snow/rain/sleet combo coming down right now.

 

[Tail11]

Good Morning All and thanks for the coffee Lizzie!

We had a very cold rainy windy night but woke up to beautiful sunshine today and much warmer temperature. I'm feeling much better and Spanky will be happy because we will be walking. Poor thing has been experiencing cabin fever and I've felt so guilty. I think I will be forgiven then...

How's your knees feeling JoAnn?

 

[JoAnnW]

How's your knees feeling JoAnn?

Improving every day! Not 100% but getting there.

 

[SandySu]

Improving every day! Not 100% but getting there.

I'm glad to hear your knees are feeling better without medical intervention. I guess it was just a bad bruise. And knees are so tender! I know every once in a while, I bump my knee against my desk pulling my rolling chair into it, and the pain is excruciating for a short while. I think there must be a lot of nerves in your knees or something.