Arabian Horse World STUD FARM DIARIES
The Horses I climbed through woods in the hour-before-dawn dark. Evil air, a frost-making stillness, Not a leaf, not a bird — A world cast in frost. I came out above the wood
by
Cindy
Reich
Teaching Weanlings
Where my breath left tortuous statues in the iron light. But the valleys were draining the darkness Till the moonrise — blackening dregs of the brightening grey — Halved the sky ahead. And I saw the horses: Huge in the dense grey — ten together — Megalith-still. They breathed, making no move,
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with draped manes and tilted hind-hooves, Making no sound. I passed: not one snorted or jerked its head. Grey silent fragments Of a grey silent world. I listened in emptiness on the moor-ridge. The curlew’s tear turned its edge on the silence. Slowly detail leafed from the darkness. Then the sun Orange, red, red erupted Silently, and splitting to its core tore and flung cloud, Shook the gulf open, showed blue, And the big planets hanging — I turned Stumbling in the fever of a dream, down towards The dark woods, from the kindling tops, And came to the horses. There, still they stood, But now steaming and glistening under the flow of light, Their draped stone manes, their tilted hind-hooves Stirring under a thaw while all around them The frost showed its fires. But still they made no sound. Not one snorted or stamped, Their hung heads patient as the horizons, High over valleys, in the red levelling rays — In din of the crowded streets, going among the years, the faces, May I still meet my memory in so lonely a place
— Ted Hughes, Lifelines 3, Dublin, Ireland: Town House, 1997.
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D I A R I E S
Between the streams and the red clouds, hearing curlews, Hearing the horizons endure. The foals were halter broken as babies, but now are “back in school” for a little while.
FA R M
162 b ARABIAN HORSE WORLD b NOVEMBER 2017
pick up a young foal’s foot is that they pull it really high up to the body. This frightens the foal and makes him feel out of balance so he fights and struggles. I have also had farriers pull a foal’s front leg laterally away from his body so they can lock it between their knees to trim the foot. When I see a farrier do
S T U D
ow that the foals are in from being weaned, there is a lot of work to be done in the barn. They will get a refresher course on being good citizens as we work with them. They were halter broken as babies, and the good news is that they have all retained that training. They didn’t wear halters while living out in pasture, but all were very good about having a halter put on them and walking up to the barn. The first thing noticed is that living out in pasture with other mares has put manners on several of the studdy colts. This is also one of the advantages of letting foals live outside with the mares in groups, as opposed to being in stalls or small paddocks on an individual basis. There was one very obnoxious colt who was teasing mares when he was two weeks old. He would jump on his mother who tolerated him, and there was no one to teach him good manners. Now that he has lived in a group, he has learned the hard way that jumping up on other mares gets one a swift kick in the chops. He is very respectful now, and has not shown the obnoxious and studdy behavior he was showing when turned out only with his mother. This is another reason that once the foals have been weaned, there is always a “granny” horse left in the pasture with them for security and to teach good manners. Although the babies all had their feet trimmed when they were around two months of age, they are now five and six months old and haven’t been trimmed since they were turned out. Their feet need attention, and we are working on teaching them to pick up their feet and stand for the farrier. Since they had some of this training as babies, most of them are coming around quickly, but the ones who were a challenge before being turned out are proving to still be a challenge now that they have come in. Repetition is the key to bringing them around. The biggest problem I have found with people (including farriers) who
that, they are out as a farrier for foals and young horses. Think about how wide a chest is on a foal and how wide it is on an adult horse. It is common practice to pull a mature horse’s front leg out and lock it between the knees to trim. However, it is way too difficult for young foals to stand balanced like that, and it frightens them as well. When the foal resists, it gets punished for simply trying to maintain its feet and its balance. So make sure the front leg is brought directly up under the foal’s body, and kept close to the ground. You would be surprised how easily the foal will stand when it is given some consideration. The same holds true for the hind legs. Never grab the hind leg and pull it straight out behind the foal’s body. (Yes, I have had farriers do this!) Cup the hand around the back of the hind leg and lift it up and forward. This way the foal learns to stand on three legs and does not become scared. Once the foal has learned this step, gently bring the leg out behind to trim the hoof. Everything has to be in small steps for these foals’ young minds to grasp. The next thing the foal learns is to stand tied. The foals have already learned to come away from pressure on the head. This makes standing tied much easier and safer for the foal. There are several ways to do this. Usually I take a few wraps of the lead rope around a post that is set in an open area without any obstacles nearby for them to run into. I leave enough slack for the foal to move around and be stopped by the rope, but not so long that the foal can put its head down and get a foot over the rope. Once the foal’s patience wears out, it generally will fight the rope. However, when it hits the end of the rope the foal always comes forward, rewarding itself for coming forward by the slackening of the rope. At this stage it is just a patience game, lengthening the amount of time the foal must stand quiet when tied. Occasionally a foal will throw