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Thursday, September 02, 2010
Are You Ready??
 Rarely do Mainers have to button down the hatches.
This ain’t Florida or the Outer Banks, after all.
But once in a while, a big storm rolls in and we should do ourselves a favor and pause to think for a moment.
Think of Hurricane Earl as a nice prep for those big winter storms we all know and love! (see photo)
Do we have things in order if:
The power goes out?
If the area floods?
If the fencing blows down?
If the barn burns down?
The Horse magazine has a nice article about hurricane preparedness. It may seem a bit over-the-top. Most preparedness articles come off as a bit motherly. But you just never know.
And, moms are often right, aren’t they?
Click here to read it.
Here are some additional preparedness tips, from a Florida-based brochure I picked up:
- Make arrangements in advance to have your
horse trailered in case of an emergency. If you
do not have your own trailer or do not have
enough trailer space for all of your horses, be
sure you have several people on standby to
help evacuate your horses.
- Know where you can take your horses in an
emergency evacuation. Make arrangements
with a friend or another horse owner to stable
your horses if needed. Contact your local
animal care and control agency, agricultural
extension agent, or local emergency
management authorities for information
about shelters in your area.
- Inform friends and neighbors of your evacuation
plans. Post detailed instructions in several
places—including the barn office or tack
room, the horse trailer, and barn entrances—
to ensure they are accessible to emergency
workers in case you are not able to evacuate
your horses yourself.
- Place your horses’ Coggins tests, veterinary
papers, identification photographs, and vital
information—such as medical history, allergies,
and emergency telephone numbers (veterinarian,
family members, etc.)—in a watertight envelope.
Keep halters ready for your horses. Each halter
should include the following information: the
horse’s name, your name, your telephone number,
and another emergency telephone number where
someone can be reached.
- Prepare a basic first aid kit that is portable
and easily accessible.
- Be sure to have on hand a supply of water, hay,
feed, and medications for several days for each
horse you are evacuating.
- It is very important that your horses are
comfortable being loaded onto a trailer. If your
horses are unaccustomed to being loaded
onto a trailer, practice the procedure so they
become used to it.
- There may be times when taking your horses
with you is impossible during an emergency.
So you must consider different types of disasters
and whether your horses would be better off
in a barn or loose in a field.
- Your local humane organization, agricultural
extension agent, or local emergency management
agency may be able to provide you with
information about your community’s disaster
response plans.
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Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Boss Mare
The other night I was settin' for a spell.
I sat on an old wooden box, drinking a beer, and relishing the waning warmth of these summer days.
I watched the occasional car drive by and listened to that sound horses make when their lips pick up stray bits of hay.
I turned my eyes to the girls. They were all facing me, looking back at me, waiting and watching.
I haven't done much with them this summer, but I've tried to make each interaction count. I've tried to be consistent in my gentle authority whether on the ground or in the saddle.
This, it seemed, was my return on the investment. I was their chosen leader.
Cherish the moment!
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Sable Island Update
My friend, Sonia, and I were so excited for the trip to Sable Island.
As many NickerNews readers know Sable Island sits 100 miles off Nova Scotia. It’s one of the only places in the WORLD where horses are left unmanaged and free of interference by people.
Through many, many phone calls and emails, Sonia acquired permission from the Canadian government for us to visit in September.
Yahoo!
What was left to do would be relatively simple: make reservations to get there.
We were led to believe air transport (the vastly preferred method to this island, around which some 400 vessels have sunk) would be expensive but not prohibitive. $400 to $500.
They told us to add a zero.
Add a zero!
We’re bummed. Devastated. So close and yet so far.
I could rant about how only the wealthy get to do cool stuff. But I’ll bite my tongue here.
We could fund-raise madly. But there isn’t enough time.
The window has closed.
Maybe next year.
If you read about NickerNews collecting cans and selling cookies, you’ll know why!
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Sunday, August 22, 2010
Me, the horses, and the caddy
It happened again. I had another frightening, frustrating encounter with a car and driver. I’m beginning to think I’d get more respect if I was riding a quad or maybe a moose.
Or if I was pushing a stroller. Definitely if I was pushing a stroller.
I was ponying the horses from the field, riding one and ponying one on each side. I’m on our road, moving down the backside of a hill. This guy approaches in his wideass Cadillac doing 50 mph, I’m guessing. (Speed limit on our road is 40, by the way.)
He does not slow. He does swerve, I’ll give him that much. He swerves into the other lane (this is real safe as he cannot see if there is an oncoming car just over the hill) and blasts past.
I don’t think he even touched his brakes.
ARGH.
Do I have to educate these people one at a time?
Can they reform?
I talked with the teenager later, figured out where he lived and confronted him. He was oblivious and tried to defend himself.
I said, “I can understand if you don’t want to consider me. But if my horse had spooked, we could have come through your windshield. We would have totaled your Cadillac.”
Oh, and I also mentioned something about the LAW (“proceed with caution and at a reasonable speed…”
I might have said something about calling the police if it happens again, too.
I can’t help it, I was pissed.
I’m tired of folks having no sense.
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Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Rescued Champion
Ashley Shaffer and her pony, Dixie, make a strong case for the Tin Spoon.
That’s opposed to the Silver Spoon: a top dollar, polished pony, primed and ready for show.
Dixie was bought at Tilton’s Auction in Corinth, Maine for a hundred bucks, just a bit more than the meat buyer was willing to pay.
Writes Ashley's mother, Kim:
“Here is what can happen with time, training, and lots of love for a sick pony destined for the meat truck…”
Added Ashley: “Dixie was a three year old with a big attitude and no training.
"A month of committed training and rehab turned into two and a half years of effort [from the Shaffers and trainer Gail McCormick of Infinity Farm]…I was able to top into Dixie’s potential and now we’re an incredible team.”
 Ashley, a 15-year old from Milo, Maine, and Dixie were 2008 and 2009 champions in their Maine Combined Training Association eventing (www.maine-eventing.org) and are now competing at USEA (www.useventing.com) novice level.
“There are so many sad stories and rescues out there…here is a success story,” says Kim.
Success, indeed!
Ashley and Dixie have qualified for the American Eventing Championships to be held in Georgia this September.
The pair is seeking help in funding the trip. If interested, you may contact Kim Shaffer at (207) 943-2173 or email secondglancefarm@msn.com
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Saturday, August 07, 2010
Maine Drill Team on the Telly!
 Molly Stark and her compatriots in Boothbay are having a win-win-win time of it.
They've formed the "Rocky Coast Riders" Drill Team and seem to be having a blast. I mean friends and riding horses. What's not to like, right?
The Boothbay group is performing to benefit the Ever After Mustang Rescue, based in Biddeford. (Click here for more details on the August 27 show)
And the kicker?
They'll be on television!
Bill Greene interviewed the group for his segment on Channel 6 News. It is slated to be broadcast during the 6 o'clock evening news hour, Monday, August 9.
Congratulations, ladies!
Way to go!
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Thursday, August 05, 2010
When Two is a Herd
I found the herd tipping point today and it did not tip in my favor.
As readers may know, I have three horses, all mares. The cleverest is a pony named Peppermint. This morning, the pony seized the half-second delay of my two-cuppa-coffee weariness, nuzzled open the gate, and trotted out to the lawn.
Brooke quickly followed.
Shit.
I got to the gate and Shea, thankfully, remained in the paddock.
For a second, I thought this would be an escape like any oth er. They would graze on the lawn and hang around because of the herd thing. Shea was calling to them and therefore they’d stay close.
Wrong.
Two out. One in.
The two said, “See Ya!”
They know exactly where the green grass is. We’ve been ponying to the field and back every day since April.
Off they galloped. Through my woods. Across the neighbor’s property. Up the hill. Across the road. Into the field.
There, they stopped and planted themselves in a patch of shin-high clover.
Shea was bummed.
I was bummed.
I thought I could play the herd card.
Instead, I got played.
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Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Boys in Boots
"Cowboys of the American East."
In his best-selling book, “The Secret Life of Lobsters,” that’s what Trevor Corson called lobstermen.
I’ve been mulling over that phrase for years, contemplating the parallels of cowboys on the range and lobstermen on the water:
- Physical
Strength.
- Acquired wisdom and patience.
- Danger in the form of calculated and unforeseen risks.
- Working with the elements.
And that's just a start!
I was born and raised in Maine. I've been clamming and done plenty of fishing. But I've never been lobstering. That is, not until this summer when my friend, Rick Hollingshead, bowed to my nagging and let me join him.
Rick lobsters the waters of Quahog Bay off Harpswell. He’s been hauling since he was four when he first headed out with his father.
So why should you, Dear Reader, read about lobstering on a horse website??
- Pleasant distraction for the usual inundation of horse material.
- And, oh, those parallels! Cowboys and lobstermen got a lot in common.
- Stay tuned for more in a NickerNews article!
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Monday, July 19, 2010
Makes No Sense...but I'm not a Horse!
Some call it a Stud Pile.
Dick Bryzowski, University of Maine Cooperative Extension Agent, calls it the Zone of Repugnance.
Brilliant term, isn't it?
 Either way, it is the area where animals decide they are going to poop. And nothing, from my observations, will change their minds.
This spring I planted wonderful grass seed. I took great care in fencing off the area until it was Good Eatin'.
The three mares have decided their Zone will be right in the midst of the finest new grass.
Across the street at the field, they poop in the most wonderful bed of clover.
What's with them?
Heck if I know!
I'm sure there is some Sixth Horse Poop Sense involved.
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Thursday, July 15, 2010
Gotcha! Equine Payback
 It was the darnedest thing.
Last summer, I was ponying my four horses to the neighbor’s field every day. Trixie, a little 30-year old Shetland was one of them.
On occasion, I would catch Trixie biting at the belly of the horse I was riding.
What?
This bottom-of-the-totem-pole pony seemed to be taking delicious, vengeful nips at the Top Dog! My horse couldn’t check her, being under my control and all. Trixie knew this, of course.
I got a good chuckle out of this natural and personal opportunism. But I thought it was a unique moment.
 Not so!
This year, Trixie moved to a fine farm and Peppermint Patty moved to my place and replaced her in the pecking order.
Now, I ride Shea and pony Peppermint and another horse to the field.
I caught this clever pony pulling the same move!
Can’t say as I blame them.
If you could diss your local bully without fear of payback, wouldn’t you?
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Saturday, July 10, 2010
Eastern Equine Couture!
 Oo-la-la!
The epitome of high-brow equine couture, we display here the irresistible summer fashion:
Clogs with shorts!
Yes, ladies, it’s trendy yet classic with its roots in utility and eternal style.
We know sandals and flipflops have no place in the barn.
Sneakers are, well, so childish.
Clogs say, “I’m hot. I’m horsey. And proud of it!”
Worn barefoot is best. Adding socks, if you must, will take a significant chunk out of your fashion statement.
But anyway you spin in, nothing says Barn Bombshell like clogs with shorts!
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Thursday, July 08, 2010
Bad horse people everywhere
I guess I always knew that, but I didn't get to digesting that fact until recently.
Word reached NickerNews of a kill broker, Raymond Tucker, in Kansas who has a rotten operation. Horses are in such terrible condition, they can't be transported to Mexico for slaughter.
That's bad.
Read more at this devoted blog, click here.
The good thing is -- folks are working against animal cruelty everywhere, too. The linked blog has posted contact information for state agencies...sound familiar.
And the power of the Internet can help create an international awareness.
Public outrage, baby.
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Tuesday, July 06, 2010
This Horse Can Swim
We know horses can swim, but it's still a thrill to see it.
And even better to join them!
I finally got a day off and was able to cool off with Shea. Yippee! She seemed to know she'd feel better if she got all the way in. We've done it before and each time she is more willing. I even had to remind her that we weren't headed out to sea and steered her back towards the shore!
She cuts a mean wake, I tell ya.
Doesn't it look like she's saying: "Let's do that again" in the bottom photo? And we did.
Many thanks to my mom, Sally Butcher, for the fine photos!
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Monday, July 05, 2010
It's not just the horses
Thanks to an astute reader, NickerNews has learned that Brett Ingraham was arrested for terrorizing last month.
According to the Waldo County Sheriff blotter, as published in the Village Soup, Brett was arrested June 22.
No information was given, except his age (34) and hometown (now, Burnham).
We are led to believe that "terrorizing" is a form of bullying, harassment, and/or threatening of violence, but we'll try to get a more precise definition when the state finally returns from holidays.
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Monday, June 28, 2010
Of Writing and Riding
 There is something about good writing and good riding that evokes a physical and emotional response in me. I get all full of jello when I connect with fine work in either field.
A few years ago, I was practically moved to tears whilst watching Stacy Westfall perform bareback and bridleless at the Equine Affaire. (‘Course it didn’t help that it was a musical, heartfelt tribute to her late father). The connection she had developed with her horse was palpable and I felt privileged to watch them.
 I got equally moved when reading certain passages from Ian McEwan’s "Atonement." How did he invent this intense world from simple letters and words?
At both moments, my first reaction was: “It’s Magic!”
What I did not see was Stacy getting bucked off or Ian getting rejected. I'm sure it's happened. Ok, maybe a long time ago. But even the pros have their failures. We see the polished product.
Sure, there might be a sprinkling of natural giftedness. But I believe the steady rain is hard work, passion and persistence.
Gotta love it!
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Misery loves Company
This is a Internet post about the power of the Internet.
I got an email from a woman way out in Washington. She is part of a group of Good Samaritans trying to get the state powers-that-be to shut down an abusive horse owner.
She was monitoring the progress reported on NickerNews.
I wrote to her of the double-pronged issues we have here in Maine: a dysfunctional state agency coupled with the abusive, neglectful horse owners.
I don’t know if my comments and suggestions were helpful, but the correspondence verified for me what I should have already known: There are people all over the country fighting the good fight.
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Friday, June 18, 2010
ACTHA event brings smiles
A good time was had by all last week at the American Competitive Trail Horse Association event held at Triple J Farm in Bowdoin. The event was part of ACHTA’s Guinness Book of World Record attempt at most  participants in a trail competition.
A few dozen at Triple J joined hundreds more in Colorado, Alabama, Virginia, Connecticut, and elsewhere. And, according to ACTHA, they did indeed break a world record.
Jessie Buchanan (photo at left) soaks up the awards ceremony with a friendly Dutch warmblood gelding.
Triple J, owned by Jim and Jan Marconi, put on a great time, with lots of good food and wonderful hospitality. Check out the events page for additional competitions like this one.
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As Big as a Mini Horse
A visit to my brother’s family brought me face to face with this big fella. He might be a dog, but he stood about as tall as a miniature horse – and certainly MUCH taller than Einstein, the mini colt born this spring in New Hampshire.
Marco, a Newfoundland, weighs 180 pounds and can touch my elbow with his wet nose. He acted like a draft horse, moving slowly and behaving gently. What a love. When I photographed him, he seemed embarrassed. Poor Marco. I’m laughing with you, honey, not at you!
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Tuesday, June 08, 2010
Horses in Tornados - Oh, My!
What's a horse owner to do with this recent rash of tornado w atches and warnings?
I talked with a delightfully dry-humored spokesman for the National Weather Service in Gray, Maine. He said: "When it comes to livestock, you have to play the odds."
On one hand, you might not want to put them in a barn that's going to go down. On the other, you might not want them exposed to flying debris - like the roof of the barn that just blew down.
And on the third hand, bringing them into the basement with you is probably not feasible. (I kid you not, he told me this without so much as a chuckle.)
BUT, he said, most tornadoes around here are weak, topping out with windspeeds of 80 to 100 miles per hour.
AND, most barns around here are sound, post-and-beam construction. They can withstand a lot.
Consider your barn, your surroundings, and the comfort levels of you and your equines.
Or, just flip a coin.
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Tuesday, June 01, 2010
I Knew You By Your Cow Handling
 You and I might see a connection between family members or close friends by the way they walk or the way they talk.
But by the way they sort cattle??
That’s the way my friend, Elijah Moore, connected the dots with Martin Black last month.
 Moore was watching Black at the Gelinas Farm clinic in early May. Something about the way he worked the cows reminded Moore of his old friend, Newt Wright.
Wright was born in Montana in 1935 and lived in Idaho, Oregon, and Arizona (where he and Moore became close). He was admired by many as an intellectual horseman. He was a man who spent a lot of time thinking about how horses think, how cows think, how dogs think.
Wright taught farriers, taught riders, taught bullriders. And he was a constant student, always wanting to learn more, according to memorials left on his website.
 He died suddenly last year in Bozeman, Montana.
Moore asked Black about his cattle work. And did he know a fellow by the name of Newt Wright?
“Martin laughed and said Newt could handle a herd of cattle better than anyone I’ve ever seen,” recalled Moore.
Black credited Newt Wright for teaching him some excellent and essential cow handling skills back when he was younger.
Incredible, isn't it, how subtle yet signature technique, handed down from one cowboy to another can connect dots and paint a picture? Such a picture many of us would never see.
Photos from top to bottom: Martin Black, Newt Wright, Elijah Moore
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