Too much thinking leads to over thinking
I spend a lot of time thinking of things to write that you as my readers might want to read.
I find this does one thing really well - it keeps me from writing anything!
Writing is such an easy format for others to judge us, when we read we are always in our own head space and we can think or criticize however we choose. This knowledge makes it difficult for writers to put things out there, it's easy to get wrapped up in the - 'well, what if it sounds stupid' mentality. I have decided today, that I don't care anymore if it sounds stupid. I hope what I post is useful in some way and not a waste, if it's not then, ooops - my bad.
So with all that in mind I wanted to share my story of my recent visit to the 'barn'. The barn where I keep my horse is 110% my happy place, this is not to belittle in any way how much I love being home or at my day job - those are also happy places for me. The barn is just different. I never have to wonder about what I should do next or if I'm going to stay focused or do a good enough job, at the barn my brain is engaged fully.
When I first started going there, I didn't always know what to do, I didn't always feel comfortable in any of my abilities, but it still made me happy. I am an equestrian, no questions asked. I love all of the parts of the work, the smells and sounds don't bother me, the tasks don't seem strange to me. At the barn things fit together in a way that makes sense to me, the work that is done is for a purpose and one thing always leads to another, it is a beautiful long standing dance day in and day out. It also doesn't hurt that the horses and people at my particular barn are simply amazing. Not everyone is winning ribbons in the ring, but they are good, grounded, happy, solid people. The horses are happy, sane and wonderful teachers. I feel very fortunate to have found my horse community and ever grateful for how this barn has welcomed me.
So on to my latest adventure at the barn.
I learned the following:
While many 15hh horses can carry a 6ft tall person, mine simply looks silly in that situation - so I had to ask myself, why is that. I did lots of research, polling of people who know more than me and looked at tons of photos of other tall dudes on average horses. It finally struck me that Pistol's topline is not as sturdy as I would like. This means that he can handle what was being asked, but I determined based on how he responded that he wasn't feelin' it.
So here is where I will explain what that all means :)
The topline of a horse in the muscle along his back, flowing out over his rump.
The illustration shows a horse with great conformation and muscle.
Now here is a pic of Pistol
His body position is exaggerating some of the features I want to point out, but if you look closely you can see that he doesn't carry much muscle in his withers, he has a hollow spot between spine and shoulder. You can also see that his spine looks bumpy and ends noticeably over his hips. He is lacking muscle to make him more conformationaly appealing. Meaning that his body frame is built well, but his musculature still needs work.
But Pistol isn't a neglected horse or a baby, so how does this happen. Same way it happens to you and me, diet and exercise. Pistol used to be worked daily and when he was, he had a much rounder rump (ideal for a Quarter Horse)
This pic is of him from when I very first bought him. You can see that he is fleshier; more meat on the shoulders, heavier looking legs, rounder butt, and his spine was a little less noticeable then. And before you ask, yes it's the same horse, same facility, same feeding programs - all that good stuff. FYI - His coloring is referred to as Smokey Black, he changes color similar to an artic fox, summer he is one shade, winter he is another.
So why the big difference in his shape. A few things.
1. It took me a bit to find the right saddle for him, and saddle fit does change how the horse holds muscle, it's like wearing high heels vs boots, your legs develop different for each - same with horses and saddles.
2. His rider is lazy. He was being worked several hours a week before and now he gets 3 hours of easy riding on a good week. He needs pushed more.
3. Weather, grass, mud - etc at that time he had been living life in stall, being grain and hay fed and there was limited amounts of inclement weather for him to deal with.
So for him, I would say that work and weather are his biggest obstacles. You can see from pictures just a week after the above that he looked skinnier, why? It rained. He doesn't do well in mud, the effort of moving to get to hay when it's muddy is more effort than it's worth sometimes. He was burning calories doing very little to just stay upright.
I could show you an archive of body pics of him showing how each food, pasture, work change has made a difference in his muscle. So as a responsible owner it now falls to me to look at all of that data and figure out what is best for him through an average year.
I can't control the weather, I can't control stall availability, I can't control who he is pastured with, but I can control how often he 'works', partially what he eats, and I can make requests for what is better for him. I can also work harder to pay attention to his muscle soreness and to help him stretch when appropriate.
Two stretches that my wonderful trainer showed me, (which help a lot) are below, the first one you tickle and push up a little under the belly to make the horse lift his back, the second you pull the tail gently to get the horse to round their back.
I find this does one thing really well - it keeps me from writing anything!
Writing is such an easy format for others to judge us, when we read we are always in our own head space and we can think or criticize however we choose. This knowledge makes it difficult for writers to put things out there, it's easy to get wrapped up in the - 'well, what if it sounds stupid' mentality. I have decided today, that I don't care anymore if it sounds stupid. I hope what I post is useful in some way and not a waste, if it's not then, ooops - my bad.
So with all that in mind I wanted to share my story of my recent visit to the 'barn'. The barn where I keep my horse is 110% my happy place, this is not to belittle in any way how much I love being home or at my day job - those are also happy places for me. The barn is just different. I never have to wonder about what I should do next or if I'm going to stay focused or do a good enough job, at the barn my brain is engaged fully.
When I first started going there, I didn't always know what to do, I didn't always feel comfortable in any of my abilities, but it still made me happy. I am an equestrian, no questions asked. I love all of the parts of the work, the smells and sounds don't bother me, the tasks don't seem strange to me. At the barn things fit together in a way that makes sense to me, the work that is done is for a purpose and one thing always leads to another, it is a beautiful long standing dance day in and day out. It also doesn't hurt that the horses and people at my particular barn are simply amazing. Not everyone is winning ribbons in the ring, but they are good, grounded, happy, solid people. The horses are happy, sane and wonderful teachers. I feel very fortunate to have found my horse community and ever grateful for how this barn has welcomed me.
So on to my latest adventure at the barn.
I learned the following:
While many 15hh horses can carry a 6ft tall person, mine simply looks silly in that situation - so I had to ask myself, why is that. I did lots of research, polling of people who know more than me and looked at tons of photos of other tall dudes on average horses. It finally struck me that Pistol's topline is not as sturdy as I would like. This means that he can handle what was being asked, but I determined based on how he responded that he wasn't feelin' it.
So here is where I will explain what that all means :)
The topline of a horse in the muscle along his back, flowing out over his rump.
The illustration shows a horse with great conformation and muscle.
Now here is a pic of Pistol
But Pistol isn't a neglected horse or a baby, so how does this happen. Same way it happens to you and me, diet and exercise. Pistol used to be worked daily and when he was, he had a much rounder rump (ideal for a Quarter Horse)
So why the big difference in his shape. A few things.
1. It took me a bit to find the right saddle for him, and saddle fit does change how the horse holds muscle, it's like wearing high heels vs boots, your legs develop different for each - same with horses and saddles.
2. His rider is lazy. He was being worked several hours a week before and now he gets 3 hours of easy riding on a good week. He needs pushed more.
3. Weather, grass, mud - etc at that time he had been living life in stall, being grain and hay fed and there was limited amounts of inclement weather for him to deal with.
So for him, I would say that work and weather are his biggest obstacles. You can see from pictures just a week after the above that he looked skinnier, why? It rained. He doesn't do well in mud, the effort of moving to get to hay when it's muddy is more effort than it's worth sometimes. He was burning calories doing very little to just stay upright.
I could show you an archive of body pics of him showing how each food, pasture, work change has made a difference in his muscle. So as a responsible owner it now falls to me to look at all of that data and figure out what is best for him through an average year.
I can't control the weather, I can't control stall availability, I can't control who he is pastured with, but I can control how often he 'works', partially what he eats, and I can make requests for what is better for him. I can also work harder to pay attention to his muscle soreness and to help him stretch when appropriate.
Two stretches that my wonderful trainer showed me, (which help a lot) are below, the first one you tickle and push up a little under the belly to make the horse lift his back, the second you pull the tail gently to get the horse to round their back.
Another thing that we work on is collection, where Pistol puts his head down and rounds out his back while we ride. I will post more about that, once I learn how to sort of do it consistently :)
The rounded back means that he is distributing rider weight more evenly, horses naturally carry all weight in their front end - despite their massive rumps - and if they are sore in the middle to tail of their back, it means that we need help them build muscles in other areas to take some of the burden off. Think of it like when you buy a hiking backpack, are you wanting weight on your shoulders or on your hips (hips, in case you didn't know). Same principal here, if everything lines up, if the muscles are healthy and limber, then - poof the job becomes easier for your horse.
So you might ask how I knew that Pistol wasn't feeling right. Well...here is where it gets nerdy.
First off, I spend a lot of time looking at him, just being near him and watching his reactions. Horses have a large array of facial expressions and they communicate with their body and faces all of the time, it is just more subtle than we expect. I also watch him move, a lot, I watch videos I have of him, I look at in motion images of him, I watch other riders on him, I watch how he moves when we do lunge line work and I listen to how his feet hit the ground when I ride and lead him. I try to collect as much data about him as I can each and every time I see him. I fully intend to have him for as many years as possible and the only way to do that is to make sure that I am taking the best care of him that I can. I know that my experience is limited so I try to make up for that with as much knowledge as I can cram in each and every day.
So when I put a rider on him that was taller than he is used to, and who hasn't found their seat yet and who didn't fit in the stirrup length that I neglected to adjust, I could hear in the cadence of Pistol's steps that it wasn't his normal pace. I could see that it took him longer to move than normal, that he didn't flick his tail like normal, and that he took on some postures I hadn't noticed before, like how he placed his legs further apart at a stand still.
I know it sounds like a lot of information and makes me sound like a huge nerd, but this is literally how it worked, these were all the things I saw in a matter of moments. I knew right away that Pistol was compensating for his rider in a way that was not normal for him, and I knew that he would take care of that rider at any cost to himself, so it was my job to pay 100% attention to the interaction for everyone's safety and riding enjoyment.
Now do I over think things, yes, of course I do. I am a data/systems/process analyst, it's what I do. Am I right, probably. Will I do things to make Pistol stronger in response to this interaction, absolutely. Is it my job to take care of him, 100% yes. Will I let a taller person than I ride him again, sure, but I will have more knowledge on my side than I did before and a game plan in place to make sure it's cool for everyone involved.
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