Blushing

I don't blush--much. I do scuff my toes a little when I get a complement, and Victoria Cummings at Teachings of the Horse has given me two "aw shucks" moments recently, the first with the Excellent rating for my blog and the second, more recent one this morning for "Excellence in Equine Care," no doubt for spoiling my Arabian Prince on a regular basis (and probably, though she didn't know it until now, for giving him better regular medical care than I bother for myself.) I thank Victoria very much for both of these designations. I'm happy to know I'm not just writing to myself every day.

I've been working on my list of places to pass the Excellent Award on to, which is why I didn't put it up here earlier. I'd happily give the award to each of the blogs written by other people I've got listed on the right side of the page. These are the ones I do check every day. Many of the blogs I read regularly have nothing to do with horses, but then, mine is pretty eclectic. So let me pass on an Excellent Award to:

The Patry Copyright Blog by Bill Patry, one of the geniuses of intellectual property law. I met Bill when he worked for the Copyright Office and I was a photographer in the D.C. area and I have nothing but respect for him, even if he may have gone over to an evil empire (he's now Google's chief counsel.)

Jane in Progress by Jane Espenson, a television writer acquaintance of ours who writes plenty of good advice on scriptwriting for newbies and wannabees. Jane's currently on Battlestar Galactica, but is quite well-known in our circles for her work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Wolfmanor Wisdom and Whimsy is written by Noel Wolfman who divides her time between producing animated films and making cloth dolls and selling patterns for them. There are lots of lovely pictures of things I'll never have time to make on her blog, but I might sometime get around to putting together the horsey-plush to cover a tissue box pattern she gave me! Noel is sort of the Martha Stewart in our crowd (but she'd probably agree that I'm better in the kitchen though I can't touch her in decorating.)

Behind the Bit by Stacey Kimmel-Smith recently had a post with videos of all different breeds of horses riding dressage at Grand Prix level. Loved watching the Arabian sport horse, although I though the canter pirouette was a little clumsy. The blog's got a lot of information and links on it.

Julia Sweeney has a very entertaining blog which I stumbled upon recently, not that I can remember exactly how. I've really enjoyed reading it.

I've found some wonderful horse-related blogs because of the links that Victoria and Arlene at Gray Horse Matters have up and from there on it's been a real adventure to find out what is available. As it happens, Victoria and Arlene have beaten me to handing out awards in that arena. But I can easily give my dear friend Melinda Snodgrass the Excellence in Equine Care Award because she raised beautiful, healthy Arabians (including my beloved boy) and is now beyond happy with her Lusitano stallion Vento, whose antics are taking up quite a bit of space at Melinda's Musings blog. Melinda is a novelist and television writer who lives in New Mexico. She's also an upper-level dressage rider. Her new novel, Edge of Reason, is due out in a matter of weeks and can be pre-ordered on Amazon and you can get a sample of it here. I read the manuscript several years ago and I'm looking forward to the next book in what is planned as an urban fantasy trilogy. Melinda gets the Excellent Award for blogging as well, because her posts on writing and politics are well worth reading.

I would also like to pass on the Excellence in Equine Care Award to Gayle Paperno, my trainer at Family Equestrian Connection. Gayle doesn't have a blog, but if you know anyone who is looking for a safe, classical trainer who is great with kids and adults with baggage in the Los Angeles area, I can't recommend her enough. She's the one who makes time to check on Ace and give him his lunch every day at a different barn than her own while I'm at work 7 miles away. She is all about what is best for the horse.

Safe Rather Than Sorry

The boarding facility to which I moved the Arabian Prince in late December is on a property owned by an air conditioning installation and repair business. Gina, who works in the office, used to own horses and keeps an eye out on things in the barn during the day in addition to doing the evening feeding. It is so nice to have someone around who actually notices when things aren't quite normal. I'd rather have a quick call that turns out to be nothing than find a disaster on my hands later on.

Gina also knows to call my trainer first, since Gayle is likely to be only a few blocks away at either the boarding facility where she keeps her horse or the one where she's got Family Equestrian Connection set up at the moment (that place has a decent arena but can only house 6 or 7 horses in enclosed stalls--not big enough for all of us and not right for horses who are used to going in and out, so we are scattered throughout the north-west San Fernando Valley.) Gayle can be there in a few minutes where it takes me at least 15 to get there at the best of times. (I do miss having Ace only a quarter of a mile down the road at the college, which is a mile from my house.)

Last week Gina called because Ace was wet when she went to feed. It turned out that Gayle's assistant had sponged him down after his training session (where he acted like a butt-head) and Gina had been out when he came back from FEC. Gina was rightly worried about colic signs. Last night, Gayle called to say Gina had noticed Ace looked sunken in front of his hip so Gayle ran over and did wonder if perhaps he wasn't drinking enough and was slightly dehydrated, another colic sign. Fortunately, it was also another false alarm. I checked out his water bucket and, though he's drinking less than on a warm day, he was not drinking less than he does on many days. Arabs just don't drink as much as other horses and this one drinks even less. The water was pretty cold which may not have suited him on a cold day. Fussy boy, but it is a good example about why a water bucket is a better choice than an automatic waterer.

For the past year, Ace has been in stalls with working automatic waterers but I've always kept a filled bucket available for him as well. He certainly knows how to use the automatics, but he generally chooses to use the filled bucket. It's at a more natural place for him to drink, since most automatic waterers appear to be mounted at warmblood or thoroughbred height, and he can drink uninterrupted for as long as he wants. Purdue did a study which concluded that it is always best to keep a tub of water available for horses because the smaller the automatic waterer, the longer horses spent at them for what amounted to less total water.

As I cleaned Ace's stall last night and he ate, it was a lovely quiet time with no noise other than the rain beating on the roof of the barn. I like that sound when I know the horse is warm and cozy with a nice thick bed of clean shavings to curl up in. I gave him some extra carrots and apples for the additional moisture and gave him a couple of good scratches in his favorite places. The rain had held off for most of the day, so he had been given a training session and deserved the evening rest.

If it clears up today, the arena might be suitable for a lesson tonight. If not, I'll keep my fingers crossed for tomorrow. Rain and wind have conspired against us this winter in a big way.