Tragedy in NZ

New Zealand is an island nation on the volcanic "Ring of Fire". We are prone to earthquakes, shakes and the occassional eruption. But it is always fairly harmless, a lot of drama and not much happens in the end.

But on Tuesday we were struck by a Big One.

The city of Christchurch, where I studied and lived for three years, was hit by a 6.3 earthquake. This was a shallowly-seated earthquake with the epicentre only 10 km from the central city. The devastation is hard to believe. Whole buildings collapsed. Facades of buildings fell into the street, killing the shoppers and tourists immediately. Hundreds of people are still missing, homes are destroyed, there is no water, power or sewerage to much of the city. My heart goes out to everyone who this has affected.

Sunday

A quiet Sunday afternoon at the paddock.

Blocked

I am trying to write up our dressage fail. But have got writer's block and too much other stuff to do.

So, apropos of text:

http://www.horsemanpro.com/articles/gained_gaits.htm

Not that Max will ever look like this in a million kajillion years. But he did do sort of a levade the other day when I was trying to ride him down to the vineyard for a hack. Sigh...

Words of wisdom

Lucinda Green on young/inexperienced horses:

• Think of them as kids learning to read. They need books with only a few words per page, short words and big letters. They will read slowly at first, but given time, they will get it.

• Guide with your hands. But steer with your legs. Imagine an invisible wire connecting your calves to their eyeballs, where you turn your legs, they will look.

• Try not to think. Feel - don't think.

Photo by Owain.davies

 

 

 Lucinda has long been one of my eventing heroes. Now I have found some info on clinics she is teaching and it is all so applicable to the Maxster. If only she would write in down in a book!

Maxie the Spotty Pony

January 2011

I took this the other day just as a conformation shot. Unfortunately he is standing like a complete dork. It makes it look like his saddle is too far forward and his hind legs are too straight. I mean, he doesn't have the World's Best conformation, but this is not a great photo.

And all the junk in the stall behind him isn't helping.

But anyway - look at those dapples! Surely, the picture of health, the well rounded all rounder. He has been in a paddock with another fattypuff and so has slimmed down a kilo or ten. I am hoping to get some good work into him over the next 6 weeks before vintage starts. We are even entered for a baby class at the next ODE - just dressage and show jumping - but still!

I will fill you in on our Dressage Adventures later. Let's just say - Fail...

Tired

Max heeR! My Mum makez me werk too hard! I wuz yawnin' and everyfing and still she don't get it.

So shez tryin to make me a "allrounda". An don't say I iz already round!

Wez bin doing Dress Sarge and Lun Jing for ages an ages but last weekendz we went to do Jumpin too. That wuz cool, an I meetz lots of new frendz. I dunno about getting ova dem poles though, it's a bit hard with 4 legs! She haz No Sympathy for me. An she justabout falled off wif the laughin' at me. Dunno wotz so funny???

I reckonz just as well she brings nice noms, or else I bin trading her in.

Figuring out the feed

I discovered this handy tool late last year.

FeedXL

It's fantastic! I had been wondering how much feed Max needed, considering the small amount of work he does, and the HUGE amount of grass this season. A toxin binder is definitely needed, especially with him coming over all itchy in October. We had an incredibly wet winter and early spring, and so the paddocks were very lush (well, for this part of the world). Horses all over the Bay were displaying all sorts of behaviours that could only be attributed to too much good grass, and endotoxins. My farrier said he'd never seen so many crazy horses.

Max started scratching on anything he could get near, even rubbing his hair off in places. If I had someone to take photos, I could've got some great ones of his goofy/appreciative face as I scrached his neck. Note to self- start taking the camera everywhere.

So anyway, it seems that the little fatty-puff is doing just fine on a handful of chaff, a cup of sugar beet, minerals and toxin binder. He is lacking in selenium and vitamin E, according to the analysis and I know the soils around here are low in selenium. BUT it is a very dangerous thing to overdose a horse with (their hair and hooves can fall off!) so I am thinking of consulting the vet first. I might have to get him in anyway about the itchiness which has returned with a vengence.