Straight From the Horse's Mouth - Tolkien's Shadowfax

“That is Shadowfax. He is chief of the Maeras, lords of all horses,

and not even Theoden, King of Rohan, has ever looked on a better.

Does he not shine like silver, and run as smoothly as a swift stream?”  

- J.R.R. Tolkien

Visions of Horses - A Cowboy Needs a Horse

I always thought this video was adorable. This cowboy is more like a superhero.
  I love the look him and the horse give each other when he runs out of bullets.

                           

“Visions of horses ... make the moment brighter, inspire respect, and make the heart beat faster.”

Horse Hall of Fame - Seattle Slew

  As a yearling, Seattle Slew was purchased for $17,500 from the Fasig-Tipton auction in Lexington by Karen and Mickey Taylor. The Taylors had attended the auction with the intention to buy a few modestly priced  thouroughbreds, race them, and then sell them at a profit. According to Karen, Slew had "Pizazz" and the moment they saw him, the Taylors knew that they wanted him. Little did they know, however, of the legend Seattle Slew would one day become.                                                          

   At first, the horse world did not take much notice of the brown colt from an unproven stallion and mare. But before long, Slew started to make some noise and people started to pay attention. As a two-year-old, Slew was entered in three races. He won  them all.

  A year later, Seattle Slew went on to become the first and only undefeated Triple Crown Champion. (Meaning he had never been beaten in a race when he won the Triple Crown).

Slew's track record stands at: 14 firsts and 2 seconds in 17 races and a total earnings of $1,208,726.

Seattle Slew was not only fast on the racetrack, but he also possessed an uncanny ability to triumph when it came to physical obstacles in his racing career. Among other things, he overcame a collapsed left jugular vein, a suspensory ligament injury, and a filled ankle.

After his own racing career was over, Seattle Slew went on to sire over 100 stakes winners. He was the sire of seven North American champions and one European champion. He was also one of only eleven Kentucky Derby winners to sire a Kentucky Derby winner. Seattle Slew earned the title of 'most complete thouroughbred the industry has ever seen.'

Slew's Awards:

1976
Eclipse award winner as the top two-year-old colt.

1977
Voted Horse of the Year and champion three-year-old male.

Set a new track record of 1:20 3/5 for seven furlongs at Hialeah Park.

Became only undefeated Triple Crown winner.

In the Preakness, Slew's time of 1:54 2/5 for the 1 3/16-mile race, was the second fastest in the 102 years of the race.

1978
Voted the Eclipse for the Older Male horse of the year

Won Marlboro Cup at Belmont Park, in a race that would mark the first ever meeting between two Triple Crown winners. Slew defeated Affirmed by 3 lengths.

Won Woodward Stakes (G1) (3&up at 1 1/4 miles) at Belmont Park, defeating Exceller by 4 lengths in a new track record time of 2:00.

1981
Elected to the Racing Hall of Fame.

Seattle Slew died May 7, 2002. He was 28 years old. *

                                       

To see a really neat video of Seattle Slew's story click here.

* most of the information in this article is credited to and can be found at http://www.seattleslew.com

Straight From the Horse's Mouth - The Duke of Edinburgh and Norman Thelwell

“A horse which stops dead just before a jump and thus propels its rider into a graceful arc provides a splendid excuse for general merriment.” - Duke of Edinburgh

  I love Norman Thelwell's horse cartoons. I put a link to his website on the sidebar with the other horse websites.

" Visions of Horses" - Amazing Friesians

This is the best "Visions of Horses" I have done yet. A friend sent this video to me, because she knew how much I love Friesians. This video is breathtaking. I kept thinking of this quote as I watched it:

“I have seen things so beautiful, that they have brought tears to my eyes. Yet, none of them can match the gracefulness and beauty of a horse running free.”

            

      “Visions of horses ... make the moment brighter, inspire respect, and make the heart beat faster.”

"Predictably Unpredictable" - School Horse Species

“Horses are predictably unpredictable” - Loretta Gage

Here's a cute horse cartoon a friend of mine sent to me. It's a pity that more schooling horses aren't trained in natural horsemanship-than maybe we wouldn't have funny cartoons like this one. :-D

" Straight From the Horse's Mouth " - Riding Off in All Directions

I don't know if any of you will, but I find today's quote extremely amusing:

“Lord Ronald said nothing; he flung himself from the room,

 flung himself upon his horse and rode madly off in all directions.”

 - Stephen Leacock

"Visions of Horses" - Pat Parelli on How to Lead a Horse

I like Pat Parelli, not only is he amazing with horses, but he's also amusing. I like this short little video on leading a horse. Sounds too simple to make a video of, but Pat Parelli explains things so that you can see why it's an important thing to do correctly.

  I love rope halters, not only are they very light-weight, but the knots on the noseband are placed so that they hit pressure points along the horse's nose. When pressure is applied to the halter, the horse learns to yeild to it. This is  certainly an advantage over nylon or leather halters which the horse is able to push against without much discomfort, thereby learning how to resist pressure you might apply, rather than learning to yeild to it.



“Visions of horses ... make the moment brighter, inspire respect, and make the heart beat faster.”

"Herbage for Horses" - Rose Hips

 What is Rose Hips: Rose hips are the pomaceous fruit of the rose plant.1.

Rose Hips contain biotin wich is a vitamin often given to horses with weak hooves as it helps to improve skin and hoof quality. It may take several months of supplementing the diet with biotin before the benefits are apparant. 

  Rose Hips are a good remedy for diarrhea, because they contain high levels of Vitamin C and will help to fight off infection. 2.

1. Home Remedy Central
pomaceous: fleshy with central core: describes a fruit such as an apple or pear that has a large fleshy receptacle with a central seed-bearing core pome
2. Keeping a Horse the Natural Way (page 167-168; 191-192)

Straight From the Horse's Mouth

Since I've been rather negligent in my posts(with no good reason whatsoever to justify my negligence) I am doing two today. I will attempt to get back on my schedule this week. So Monday's "Straight from the Horse's Mouth".

“A thousand horse and none to ride! -
With flowing tail, and flying mane,
Wide nostrils never stretched by pain,
Mouths bloodless to the bit or rein,
And feet that iron never shod,
And flanks unscarred by spur or rod,
A thousand horse, the wild, the free,
Like waves that follow o'er the sea,
Came thickly thundering on,…”
           -Lord Byron, XVII, Mazeppa, 1818

I love Lord Byron. *Sigh*

Belmont Stakes

I'll Have Another was pulled from the Belmont the night before the race on account of a tendon injury and was actually retired. The horse won five out of his seven races. And so, Once again, we must wait another year to get the chance to see a Triple Crown Winner. (If I had a bucket list, this would be on it somewhere). The loss was rather a dissapointment to me and I still haven't gotten over it enough to watch the Belmont without I'll Have Another (Until I was writing this post and had to find it for you). A horse named "Union Rags" won by a neck in the Belmont.
You can read a little bit about him here.

He's the horse on the inside in this picture:

And here is the footage for the Belmont Stakes. Enjoy!

The Preakness Stakes: The First Triple Crown Winner Since 1978?

So I was a little behind on the Preakness news, which ran on Saturday, May 19th. And just went last night to the Preakness website http://www.preakness.com/race-info almost to jump out of my chair in my excitement to find that I'll Have Another had also won the Preakness.

So obviously, the next question is, can he win the Belmont and thus the Triple Crown? The Belmont is called "The Test of Champions" and so shall it be for I'll Have Another. The last horse to win the elusive Triple Crown (and only the eleventh in the entire history of the sport) was Affirmed in 1978.

I'm rather nervous, because I remember watching Big Brown in 2008 and being almost certain that, at last, we had a Triple Crown winner, only to be hugely disappointed when Big Brown was hardly a contestant in the Belmont.

I'm still hoping, because I want to see a Triple Crown winner, but I don't want to get my hopes up too high.

Well, on to a few details of the Preakness.

Once again, I'll Have Another and Bodemeister were in competition for first place,  I'll Have Another winning by only a neck. Bodemeister is not going on to the Belmont. Supposedly, so that he can "rest", though he came off of the Preakness well. I'm thinking this is a little strange since Bodemeister was I'll Have Another's only competition. It seems to me that if he does win the Belmont, the victory will be a little tainted by the fact that his rival was taken out of the race. But that's just my opinion.

Here's the footage of the race.

Breaking sports news video. MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL highlights and more.

The Hobby Horse - Coloring Pages

I found this website which has printable horse coloring pictures for those of you who have young tots. Or for the kid in you . . :-D

http://www.canaryzoo.com/pictures%20horses.htm

Straight From the Horse's Mouth

Monday shall be the day in which I bring you a new horse quote. These posts will be entitled: "Straight From the Horse's Mouth".

This quote will explain what possessed me to give a website URL so strange a name.

“How do you catch a loose horse?  . . .

                                                            


                                               Make a noise like a carrot.”

                                                               


                                                                                British Cavalry Joke

Saturday's "Visions of Horses"

 Here's a video on how to make a rope halter. Even though it's not technically a vision of horses, it still has somehting to do with horses. :-D

 It's cheaper than to make your own rope halter than to buy one, unless you get it from a horse catalog. I prefer rope halters, and most natural horsemanship advocates use rope halters. The knots on the nose band rests on pressure points along the horse's muzzle and they learn how to yield to this pressure, whereas with a nylon or leather halter, it's fairly comfortable for them to just lean against it. Hope this is helpful.



“Visions of horses ... make the moment brighter, inspire respect, and make the heart beat faster.” - The Founders of the Sunshine Horse Lovers Club (1991) from "If Wishes Were Horses")

Herbage for Horses - The "Dandy" lion

 Thursday's "Herbage for Horses", will be a time in which we will explore various herbage and plants which are either helpful or harmful to horses. For our first installment, I bring you the dandelion.

This little baby is a whammy of a plant, let me tell you. Good not only for horses, but for people too.

  Dandelions are: "one of the most nutrient rich plants in the world! They contain more available vitamin A than even carrots as well as lesser amounts of vitamins B, C, and D. They also provide a source of potassuim, sodium, phosphorus, zinc, magnesium, and iron. As well as being a source of valuable nutrients, other beneficial effects of feeding dandelion plants are as a liver and kidney tonic, blood purifier, and diuretic. Dandelioins are the only natural diuretic not to deplete potassium levels in the body due to their high potassium content."1

  Jo Bird suggests that you: "Feed one or two plants daily. The whole plant can be fed-flowers, stem, leaves, and root."2

Apparantly, the Dandelion plant can also be used externally:

 "The fresh juice of Dandelion is applied externally to fight bacteria and help heal wounds. The plant has an antibacterial action, inhibiting the growth of Staphococcus aureus, pneumococci, meningococci, Bacillus dysenteriae, B. typhi, C. diphtheriae, proteus. The latex contained in the plant sap can be used to remove corns and warts" 3

So now I know that you're going to stop thinking of Dandelions as weeds, and start picking them to feed to your horses, right?

1 Keeping a Horse the Natural Way by Jo Bird; page 168
2 Keeping a Horse the Natural Way by Jo Bird; page 168
3 http://www.altnature.com/gallery/Dandelion.htm

The 2012 Kentucky Derby

After searching I finally found the 2012 Kentucky Derby video. If you missed it (like I did) here is the link.

http://www.kentuckyderby.com/racing-wagering/toteboard/2012-05-05/11

Pictures of the 138th Kentucky Derby Winner, "I'll Have Another" :

The Race

The Winner's Circle

A Day-After-the-Race Walk

The odds for "I'll Have Another" in the Kentucky Derby were:   15-1

The 137th Preakness will be Run on Saturday, May 19th. More info here:

http://www.preakness.com/race-info

And the Belmont will be run on Saturday, June 9th. More info here:

http://www.belmont-stakes.info/belmont-schedule.php

I will post links to the videos, and pictures of the winners, of these two races as well.


And to wrap it all up, here's a little video about the probabilities of "I'll Have Another" winning the Triple Crown.

http://youtu.be/QozqSQY5oYk

And the guy who wrote this article seems to be a little more optimistic about the odds:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1175149-kentucky-derby-2012-winner-ill-have-another-is-a-threat-for-the-triple-crown

"The Hobby Horse"

For all of you crafters out there, or collectors of crafts, I bring you "The Hobby Horse" where I share with you anything that can be made or has been made for or about horses.

For the first installment, Here's a cute little crocheted horse, which my sister made me this year for my birthday.

You can purchase the pattern for only a few dollars here:

http://www.innerchildcrochet.com/patterns/sale/sweet_little_horse.php

Book Review - Making Natural Hoofcare Work for You by Pete Ramey

This is one book that I read through once and then turned around and read it again right away. If you're a farrier, I suppose it would be easier to understand, but I had to work through a few terms on my second time through the book. But that's just because I'm slow. 

    There are many things which I enjoyed about Pete's book. To list several of them:

1. He explains things thouroughly and simply

2. He gives a lot of photo samples.

3. He is humble about his own abilities; he informs the reader how he is always learning better ways to trim the domestic hoof.

 4. He tells the stories of his successes with hoof rehab as well as his failures.

I will now take a stab at explaining some of the concepts and ideas contained within this book. In a nutshell it is about trimming domestic horse hooves after the wild horse pattern.

  In this book, Pete Ramey constantly talks about "working towards the wild-horse model".

Did you ever think about the fact that wild horses don't have anyone (humanly speaking) to look after their hooves? And yet they are not plauged (for the most part) with the same hoof problems as domestic horses. This quote by W.E. Webb (dating back to 1872), draws attention to this unfortunate occurance:

“I should like to draw attention to the whole learned fraternity of  blacksmiths, who mutilate horses, the world over. The hoofs were as solid and as sound as ivory, without a crack or wrong growth of any sort. It is noticeable that the equine race, in its wild state, has none of the ills of the species domesticated. The sorrows of horse-flesh are the fruits of civilization. By the study and imitation of nature’s methods, we could greatly increase the usefulness of these valuable servants, and remove temptation from the paths of many men who lead blameless lives, except in the single matter of horse-trades.” (emphasis mine)

Most of us probably do not know what a proper hoof should look like. Until I started studying the subject I didn't realize that I had never seen a single good hoof. Here's an example of a wild horse hoof:

The most obvious characteristics (to me anyway) of the wild horse hoof is:

1. how deeply concave the sole of the hoof is; and

2. The rolled or rounded hoof wall.The hooves of Mustangs naturally wear this way, and thus it is known as the "mustang roll".

Trying to glean from the recesses of my rusty mind, the info that I read in Pete Ramey's book (God help me not to mess this up too badly!) I will attempt to tell you why the "mustang roll" has it's benefits. I remember Pete Ramey explaining the rolled hoof wall like the handle of a broom. If you take the rounded end of the broom handle and pound it repeatedly into gravel, it would take a lot of pounding to break it. But if you chop off the rounded end and then pound the splintered broom handle into the gravel, it will more easily break apart. This illustration was to show the difference between rolling the edge of a hoof wall after trimming (the way it would naturally wear) and rasping the hoof wall flat (the way it is done for shoeing).

(There I explained that as well as I could remember, but I have a feeling that I am messing it up rather badly.)

As it is, I would have a hard time explaining everything to you about this subject, not only because I'm not an expert on it and I have a hard time retaining what I read, but it's also much too involved; I can only scrape the surface and point you to some articles and books that I have read which have helped me to form my opinion about barefoot horses. Read these for yourself, they are much better explained than mine! But I hope that I at least made you think and start searching out the best hoof care for your horse. As a start, I highly  reccomend that you read Pete Ramey's book : "Making Natural Hoof Care Work for You."

Pete Ramey's Website:

http://www.hoofrehab.com/

(you can find more hoof pics here!)

Here's an article about Rethinking Horseshoes :

http://www.barefoothorse.com/barefoot_Horseshoes.html

Click here to read the difference between the typical barefoot "pasture trim" and the "natural trim"

http://www.barefoothorse.com/

(barefoothorse has a lot of resources)

This is an all-around great article on what a good hoof should look like:

http://www.all-natural-horse-care.com/Hoof-Education.html

Find a Natural Hoofcare practioner near you!

http://www.aanhcp.net/

For other hoof care websites, see the "Horse Websites" list on the left sidebar.

A Schedule of Events

So here is my basic outline idea for this blog as of now. I welcome and want ANY great ideas you all have for making this an interesting, family-friendly, horsey blog!

Basically, I want to do a few things weekly such as Monday will be a new horse quote, Thursday an "herb of the week" for plants and herbs that are either helpful or harmful to horses, and on Saturday I am planning on having a video which is related in some way to horses; the subject could be anything.

Between these regurlarly scheduled things I am going to have a variety of Famous Horse Bios, Natural Healthcare Subjects, Horse Book Reviews, Horse Movie Reviews, Natural Horsemanship Tips (ones that I have read or discovered for myself), Horse devotionals (i.e., things that God teaches me about Himself through my love for His amazing creatures), and any type of remniscing-type writing which I may attempt-about horses of course; nothing else for this blog! Perhaps in future I could secure some interviews from horsey-type people?  Let me know through your comments what your thoughts are!

Welcome

Welcome horse lovers (or otherwise) to my "Everything Horse" blog. I hope that you will enjoy your visits here. This is my first post just to say hello. Please read "About This Blog" on the right sidebar, for a little more info about this blog. Things are a bit slow around here as of now, as I get started, but check back soon for horse book/movie reviews, horse care info, natural horse training, horse devotionals, famous horse bios, and more!