Fresh as a Baby's...

The last time I had a "real" ride on any of my horses was one and a half months ago when I rode Bombay over at my neighbor's large ranch. That day she commented that I didn't spend much time in the saddle. I just didn't have the energy to continue riding, because, little did I know at the time, I had caught a virus and was coming down with the world's longest cold. I did ride at home in the round pen a couple of times, but that's hardly a "real" ride.

So, today I took Bombay over to my neighbor's place for a "real" ride. I was worried that despite the nice weather with temps in the mid-50's, I wouldn't be able to ride because I developed a bad kink in my neck earlier this week. Fortunately, I felt well enough to ride. Bombay was fresh from just a few weeks of haphazard riding. He acted like it was the first time he'd seen a herd of llamas. I decided to lunge him over a little log in the paddock to keep his mind on clearing the obstacle.

My neighbor had a friend visiting who looked at Bombay with awe. I'm always amazed by the reaction that Bombay gets from men. I suspect that men who love Arabian horses love Bombay, because he's sturdy like a Quarter Horse and tall for an Arab. He's really only 15 hands, but looks much bigger because he carries himself with confidence. My neighbor keeps a really pretty chestnut filly with flaxen mane and tail in the pen by the gate, and Bombay always struts past her and tries to steal a few Eskimo kisses.

Our ride included one big spook, which got corrected to assure there wouldn't be more. My other neighbor's boarders were out for a ride, and anytime that they ride up or down the street, all the horses in the neighborhood get excited. My horses charge up to the fence and come to sliding stops while whinnying. I always have to apologize for their behavior. The boarders' horses are so well behaved that they keep their mind on their trail ride and ignore my silly nutcases. The riders have a good attitude and say, "It's okay. They just have to say hello."

I worked on jumping Bombay over the little log. At first I had to work on my steering, because he wanted to go around it. Then one time when I wanted him to go around it because my shirt was caught on the horn, he swerved to jump over it. You know you are posting over your horse's neck when your shirt gets caught on the horse on your way down. I'm so out of practice.

At the end of our ride my neck was fine, but my back hurt quite a bit. I fixed myself a glass of wine, something I don't do often because it irritates my kids. My county has a wonderful anti-drug, anti-alcohol program through the Sheriff's office in its schools, and my children learned well from it. I usually only drink on special occasions, but I felt that my back needed a little numbing. Plus this wine had been sitting in the fridge for months and I wanted to finish it off. Mmmm. Grapey.

Chewing and Pawing

I really wish I had time to re-stain the front and inside of the barn before winter came.

This is Gabbrielle's favorite chew spot...

It wouldn't be there if I had fresh stain on the barn. Horses like the smell of wood, but not the smell of stain and paint. This is the inside of Lostine's stall door where she likes to kick and paw in an attempt to wake me up so I will feed her...

Sometimes she kicks the door so hard that she loosens the bolts that the door hangs from, and then my husband and son have to go out there to readjust it before the entire door falls off. The door weighs a lot, maybe between 100 and 200 pounds, and I am very accident prone, so that's why the boys handle it. Of course, I refuse to feed Lostine immediately following one of her hoof-banging demands. I usually chew her out and go back in the house. Then when she's been quiet a while, I feed her. This is Lostine's favorite place to paw when she is impatient...

It's right beside the window of her stall. This took many years of pawing to get this deep. Someday she'll break through and I'll have to remove all the wood panels to get the broken panels out. I'm not looking forward to that day. Until then, I'll just keep staining the wood to remove the blemishes, and Lostine will keep kicking and pawing.

The other morning I was woken by the loudest stall kicking I'd ever heard. I went out in the dark in my P.J.s all pumped up and ready to chew out Lostine, but it turned out to be my neighbor's horse. Of course, all of my horses were "pointing" with their noses in the direction of the guilty party, which cracked me up. I saw that my neighbor's light was on, so I didn't have to go over there to make sure that her horse wasn't cast against the side of the stall, unable to get up. She would have called me if that was the case and she needed help, so I guess everything turned out alright.

What's Going On in the Arabian Horse World?

I have to admit that I've been curious about how the economic downturn will affect Arabian horse breeders. Purebred Arabian horses typically can be some of the most expensive horses on the market, their prices ranging anywhere from $1,500 for a backyard bred yearling to millions for a successful Arabian racehorse. It seems that those in the upper class are the last to find themselves having to pinch pennies in a recession or depression, so I wondered if the big Arabian breeding farms would feel any effect at all since most of their clients are financially secure.

Arabian horses are versatile. You can find a breeder who produces Arabian horses that can perform just about any discipline: English, hunter, western, halter, jumping, endurance, racing, trail, working ranch, barrels, cutting, driving carriages, parade and costume, circus tricks... you name it! These horses are smart and can be trained to do just about anything (except maybe to use a toilet), but it is the breeders who work on producing the best physical conformation and temperament appropriate for each of those disciplines.

When I received my latest copy of Modern Arabian Horse from the Arabian Horse Association, I noticed something interesting. The big Arabian breeding farms take out these two or more page spreads to advertise their sales stock. Typically, they list the horse's name, sire and dam, nominations, level of training, birth date, color, and gender. If there is any talk of price, it usually just says "private treaty", meaning that the horse is too expensive for the average Joe to even consider. However, in this latest issue, I actually saw some prices for the horses.

For instance, Orrion Farms was selling OFW Marquis, a chestnut Marwan Al Shaqab gelding for $2,500. Believe me, that is a deal when you look at the pedigree and the history of pricing for Arabian horses. I say "was selling", because the horse did sell in between the time the advertisement was taken out and when I wrote this post. The rest of the horses in the advertisement are selling anywhere from that up to $15,000. In the past, $15,000 was often the starting price for most purebred Arabian horses bred by a professional with a fantastic pedigree. Another example is that Trigger Arabians has two Afire Bey V geldings for sale for $4,500.

I am also seeing some stallion ads that suddenly don't divulge the stud fee. Could this mean that the price has gone down, and the owners don't want anyone who has paid a higher price in the past to ask for a refund of the difference? Also, many stud owners are offering bulk discounts.

In flipping through photographs of riders on horses that are either up for stud or for sale, I have a thought: The sale will probably be more successful if the rider is smiling, appearing to be relaxed with eyes on the path up ahead. In so many of these photos, the riders look tense and angry, glaring into the back of the horse's head. I know they are just concentrating on keeping the horse's head set, but in the photo it gives the impression that the horse is hard to handle and the rider is not having a good time. First impressions are extremely important, because that is what gets the sale to the next level.

Hmmmm, come to think of it, that may make a great career for someone. Hire yourself out as an equestrian model. If you know how to position yourself correctly in the seat for a variety of disciplines, you've got some great costumes, a great smile, and know how to appear confident and relaxed, you can advertise yourself in a package with an equestrian photographer, and maybe get some business. In times like these, you have to invent new jobs.

I have been to many Pat and Linda Parelli shows, and I know that they and many other clinicians say that price does not determine the quality of a horse. Some of the best horses they've owned have been stock crosses with unknown pedigrees. I do want to acknowledge that. I also want to acknowledge that there are plenty of neglected and abandoned horses out there that need homes.

One of the Catch 22s of an economic downturn is that while you are trying to hunker down and save money, the prices of things you might have otherwise purchased in better times are dropping all around you. Look at the deals you can find on cars and trucks at the moment. If you have always yearned for a purebred Arabian horse of your very own, I'm thinking now is a good time to make the investment if you are in the position to take a financial risk, because you know that once the economy improves, those prices will go back up.

I admit that the only way I could afford Gabbrielle was to get her at a half-price discount and go into the sale with a partner who was willing to front 1/3rd of the cost. One respected professional breeder I know told me that she wanted a purebred Arabian horse her whole life. She had to start out taking on whatever horses people were willing to give her, she eventually had enough money to invest in half-Arabians, and is now owning, breeding and selling purebreds.

When it comes to expensive purchases, I have a tendency to wait for the seller to have an incentive to come way down on the price. Gabbrielle's seller needed to relocate and didn't want to transport dozens of horses across country. We are definitely in a buyer's market at the moment, and I suspect that even those sellers who think they can maintain their exorbitant prices will soon learn otherwise. It's always better to make a smaller sale than no sale at all, especially when keeping the item (a horse) is costing you money every day.

Hey! There's Hay!

My "fresh" block of hay was delivered today. Delivery used to be free, but now I am paying $50 for it. I suspect that's mostly for the labor and not the gas, since my hay farmer just lives a few blocks away from me. Still, if you can't spare the time to pick up, load and unload 76 bales yourself, it's worth it to have it delivered. The only "hard labor" you have to do is write out the check.

When he handed me the bill, he said, "Same as last time."

I said, "Now that gas prices are coming down, will your price for hay and delivery be coming down in the future?"

"Nope," he said. "Now electricity has gone up."

You just can't win. I looked at the receipt, and it was only a total of $1,030. That certainly is less than what I had been paying, so I wasn't going to complain. My husband actually paid for the last load, so I didn't realize that this farmer did come down on his prices from this time last year, when I last paid for it. Here you can see that the block is as tall as my house...

I was a bit annoyed because he brought me a block that was bleached by the sun on two sides. I verified with him that he hadn't left it out in the rain and snow, because moisture will make hay mold in no time. I guess he had to keep my block stored at the front opening of his hay barn, so it had a roof over it, but was still getting hit by the sun. He explained that he had some other customer who buys much more hay than I do get first dibs on the best storage site. Oh well, I guess you have to keep your best customers happy.

I am very thankful that I still have a job, but I'll tell you, it is hard to get people to respect the fact that you work out of your home. When the hay farmer arrived, he asked if I'm still working. I said I am, and then he started talking, and talking, and talking. Normally, I don't mind listening, because he is a very interesting person and knows a lot about the history of our valley and its agriculture, but I had to get back to my desk, because my boss and coworkers are always calling me and instant messaging me, and I had to be there to respond. So I interrupted him and said that I had to get back to work. At the same time I began walking away and waving goodbye.

He said, "You've got to get back to your house cleaning?"

I stopped dead in my tracks. Say what? I thought we had an understanding that I work out of my home, but not in that way. I said, "No, I work for a company out of my home using my computer."

He said, "Oh, you buy stuff on eBay?"

Say what? This guy thinks I'm a homemaker who shops all day. Before I could answer, he went off on a tangent about eBay, all the while I'm stepping backwards in an attempt to remind him that I've got to get back to work. I wanted to tell him that I conduct meetings through phone conferences with people in both the United States and England, that I test software, which requires a college degree and a lot of knowledge regarding computer logic and languages. I do not spend my husband's money on eBay, clean house and ride horses for recreation all day. In fact, I consider myself lucky if I find time to clean house and ride horses. Geez. It's always interesting to find out what people's preconceptions are about you. At any rate, I've still got my job and I've got another six months worth of hay, so all is well.

Stirrup Manipulation

How did I manage to get those stirrups on my new saddle to hang in such a way that I can slip my feet right in?

Several people told me to condition the fenders really well to soften them up and then stick a dowel rod through them.

I found that the thick handle of a shovel works best, and if I slide the stirrups in close together, they twist further.

Thank you to those readers who gave me this tip.

I also found a metal device called Stirrup Straight and another called Cashel E-Z Knees that you can buy at Valley Vet that you attach between the fender and stirrup to turn the stirrups in the right position.

I'm also interested in Breakaway Stirrups, though I really love the stirrups that came with my saddle, and I might find a Western Mount Aid to be useful if I ever have to dismount on the trail. Right now I either have to get someone give me a leg up or I have to find a big boulder, because I'm leaving my step stool back at the trailer.

'Tis the Season for Dirty Tails

No matter how white our horses may be...

...their tails and hocks are always yellow.

No matter how clean and dry we keep our stalls...


...the shavings always end up in our horses' tails.

Horses Need Earmuffs Too

In Sync Again

Murphy's Law rules when it comes to me running out of hay. Why? Because I also run out of stall shavings, the horses hooves need trimming, and the horses are due for their immunizations all during that same week when I'm due for another harrow bed of hay. Add it up: $1,200 for a block of alfalfa/grass mix, $500 for a trailer full of stall shavings, $120 to trim the hooves of three horses, and $300 for an annual veterinary visit for three horses. Priceless.

Anyway, we spent the weekend moving what little hay we have left to the back of the wooden pallet platform, and cleaning all the hay droppings out from between the wooden slats in each pallet. If we don't clean them, the old hay gets wet and moldy, and then the mold spreads up into the fresh bales that we set on top of them.

We keep our pallet platform at the back of our RV lane, so that the hay farmer can just back straight down it on gravel, and then lower the block onto the clean pallets. When he leaves, we lock our RV lane gate with a padlock to keep our local hay moocher out. Yes, I have had hay stolen from me in the past. Personally, if a person can't afford to buy her own hay, I don't think she should be owning horses, none the less breeding more of them.

Sometimes we pile all the dregs that we empty from the pallets into wheelbarrows and move them onto the lawn where we chop them up with a lawn mower, but this time we spread it around where the horses can't get to it, but I can use it as a carpet to keep mud off my boots.

The Earth Can't Hold Anymore Water

First the fog moved in. Doesn't my pasture look ghostly?

Mist was floating through the pine trees and the cars were iced over.

Then the rain came and stayed. I have to walk through this to get to the barn...

This was what spilled off the tire from Lostine's breakfast, but even she wasn't willing to eat that...

I had some seriously wet horses by the time I pulled my head out of my computer and realized that it was raining. Leading the horses from their pens to their stalls was no easy feat. They smelled like wet dogs, so I had to hold my breath while leading them. They couldn't tell how deep the water puddles were and didn't want to step through them. It took a bit of coaxing to convince them that they wouldn't fall in. Then they balked at their stall doors because the rain was so loud on the aluminum roof. Once inside, Bombay let us all know how he really feels about having to spend yet another day in his stall...

See him sticking his tongue out?

Let the Horse Be the Judge

Here's another horse thought I've been pondering: Are horses' reactions to individual persons based upon their own instinct or their handler's reactions to the person? For instance, I can be riding around when my favorite neighbor approaches me for a conversation, and my horse calmly stops and stands while we talk. However, when my least favorite neighbors come out of their house, my horses instantly go on alert and then either fight or flee.

One day I was out cleaning the paddock when my least favorite neighbor came out to "walk her dog" -- (Translation: Spy on me and eavesdrop). I think she thought I was going to clean the stalls, and so she began to head for the back of my barn where she could get to her favorite surveillance position. All three horses were on edge watching her. As soon as they saw her turn toward the barn, a gang fight broke out. All three horses began biting, kicking, and rearing at each other. I hollered, "QUIT!" and they scattered in different directions.

My neighbor must have thought I was yelling at her, or at least she realized that her presence was causing discord among the herd, so she quickly turned on her heel and headed up the street away from my barn in the opposite direction, which happens to be a dead end, so she couldn't "walk her dog" very far. She ended up standing her dog off in the distance while watching me.

My first thought was that the horses were reacting to my irritation that once again my neighbor was getting into my business and interfering with my horsey time. However, then I wondered if she had been feeding my horses without my permission since they only tend to fight over food. Yet I'd never seen her feed them, and she has plenty of horses being boarded on her own property to feed. Then I began contemplating that the horses simply don't like her because they understand her motives -- (something I have yet to decipher myself).

Then one morning I was getting the horses out of their stalls while this woman's husband and another man were moving among all their dozen or so vehicles piled up against my horses' fence, trying to start the engines. Of course, all the engines or batteries were dead because nobody has driven these vehicles in years. (As a side note, I find it interesting that they decided to move all those trucks the day after my husband said very loudly, "You mean you don't want to get all those ugly, crappy vehicles in the background of your pictures?" I told him they weren't home to hear him, since having them overhear him was his intention, but now I have to wonder if perhaps one of them was lurking around listening in.)

With these men so close to my horses' fence, Gabbrielle was on alert and spooking more than I've ever seen from her before. Bombay was cowering as far away from them as possible. Lostine had to move past them in order to get to her hay, and she refused. The poor horse would prefer not to eat over having to be near those men doing strange things to those trucks.

She'd get so far and then stand there all puffed up and snorting at these men who were stepping in and out of the driver's seats of vehicles, slamming doors, and making clicking noises under the hoods (all at 8:00 in the morning, of course). (The activity level outside of their house always spikes right around sunrise and sunset when they know I'll be out working with my horses. I guess they just can't resist watching me while they do disruptive things to distract my horses from the task at hand -- or task at hoof.) I walked up to Lostine and said, "Come on." Only then with me beside her would she walk past them to get to her hay.

When we went out trail riding, Lostine didn't have any problems passing people on the trail, so I'm beginning to think that horses view people as friends or foe based upon the character traits they detect in each person. Either that or these neighbors have been doing something to my horses to freak them out. I have never witnessed such a thing, but my office is on the opposite side of the house from the horses. It's not like I can watch them through the window all day. I do often find rocks in my horse paddock that weren't there before and wonder if someone has been throwing rocks at my horses. However, the horses could have just as easily dug those rocks up out of the ground with their hooves, so who knows?

These neighbors have lived in their house for 2 to 3 years now, so you'd think the horses would be used to them and their habits. They are always slamming doors. It sounds like a gunshot when they do it, so for the first year or so after they moved in, my horses were spooking and bolting all over the place. Now they just go on alert and watch the people. If they come near the horses, that's when the horses go nuts.

One of these neighbors' favorite tricks to spy on me is to come outside and pretend like they are looking for something in their vehicles. They go from door to door to trunk to door of all 12 or so of their vehicles, opening and slamming, opening and slamming. If I'm outside for an hour, they search those vehicles for an hour. Sometimes they even drive down the street, pull into my driveway, and get out to open and slam every frickin' door in their attempt to "find" whatever it is they lost. Of course, it's all just a ruse to get a closer look at what I'm doing while trying to pretend like they are busy minding their own business. Yeah, right. I can unload a week's worth of groceries in two minutes flat, folks. I'm not sure why it takes them hours to empty their trunk every time I'm outside trying to spend quality time with my horses.

Another case in point: I walked outside to clean the paddock and noticed that the horses seemed happy. They were "up" and prancing between me and the fence looking at something in my neighbor's yard. I walked over to investigate and found my farrier trimming my neighbor's boarder's horse's hooves (that's a mouthful). My farrier truly cares about horses and my horses know that, so they are always happy to see him. No one else was around but him working with the horses, so my horses had no qualms with getting right up to the fence near the very same trucks that the men were working on. So, it's not all the junky vehicles that strike fear or joy into the hearts of my horses, but the person who is nearby.

What do you think? Can horses judge the characters of humans based on split-second impressions or perhaps by picking up on their intentions? Should single women bring the men they are dating to a horse for a second opinion? If the horse approves, maybe they can bring the future mother-in-law to meet the horse as well. Better yet, if the house next door is up for sale, watch your horse's reaction to the potential buyers who visit the house. If the horse reacts poorly, tell those potential buyers that the house is teeming with mold thanks to all those leaks in the roof, and that the lady who lived there before had 50 cats and used the master bedroom as one huge litter box. Then you'll get a chance to see the human flight instinct kick in. I wish I had thought of that years ago.

Old Mac Exchange

Some of you may remember those EasyBoots I got for Christmas that turned out to be too small because Lostine's hooves had grown or flared out a bit since I measured them in the summer. Many people suggested that I exchange them for Boa boots, Old Macs, or Cavallo boots. The feed stores in my area only carry EasyBoots and Cavallo boots. I had to make the exchange over the Internet through Valley Vet, which carries all of these brands, so I decided to try Old Macs since I can't get them locally.

When I attempted to open up one of these boots I was astounded by the number of layers and Velcro straps. EasyBoot seemed so much easier.

However, this one size I selected based upon Lostine's front hoof dimensions did fit all of my horses, while EasyBoot had a much smaller range that each size could fit. With Old Macs, a size 4 fits all my horses. With EasyBoot, Gabbrielle needs a size 0, Lostine needs a size 1, and Bombay needs a size 2. If I'm not going to have my family or friends trail riding all three horses at once, that can get pretty expensive ordering all those different sets of boots. All the straps on the Old Macs made them more forgiving, and I doubt I will have to worry about the Old Macs falling off.

The Old Macs are a bit clunky. Lostine didn't know where her feet were at first and kept stepping on herself. When I lunged and rode her with the boots on, she over-reached her hind legs forward and kept stepping on the back of her front boots with her hind hooves. Eventually, she figured out how to stop that from happening, but then she started rubbing her front feet together when she walked and trotted, almost as if she was enjoying the swishing noise that the boots made.

She did manage to lope with the boots on just fine. In fact, I think the boots slowed her lope down a bit. When I removed them I did find a handful of dirt in them even with the gaiters, but I suspect that after a few uses they will lose their stiffness and I will be able to adjust them tighter to avoid letting foreign particles get in.

Because Old Macs fasten with Velcro and one buckle, I don't think I will be at risk of breaking a nail. I break nails on a regular basis with the EasyBoots because of that clamp and cable. However, in comparison, I like the EasyBoot gaiter better than the Old Mac gaiter. The EasyBoot gaiter attaches to the outside of the back of the boot with screws and then wraps with Velcro around the pastern. It's easy to keep it folded back and out of the way when putting on and removing the boot.

The Old Mac gaiters attach with a loose insole that you slip inside the boot and once the horse steps inside, putting weight on the insole to keep it in place, you wrap the rest of it around the pastern with Velcro. The Old Mac's have a Velcro tongue that you need to keep centered at the front of the shoe. The gaiters that came with my size 4 Old Macs where size small and they could be bigger for a better fit. I may not use the tongue, because I can only fasten it to the side. Otherwise half the Velcro is hanging off the end of the strap and rubbing the horse.

Also, the insole is considerably smaller than the bottom inside of the shoe. I think it is supposed to fit up inside the horse's hoof between the hoof walls, but I can't tell how successful the positioning of it is once the boot is on. I may just use the Old Mac boots without the gaiters. It was nice that they came with them as opposed to me having to buy them separately, though. For some reason, my local feed stores will only stock EasyBoots, but not the gaiters or the EasyBoot Epics that come with the gaiters, so I had to order my EasyBoot gaiters over the Internet and install them myself. Well, actually my husband installed them, because it took strong hands and a lot of coordination to screw those suckers on. I'm also under the impression that the EasyBoot gaiters help keep the boots on while the Old Mac gaiters are only to help keep dirt out. I don't think there is any risk of the Old Macs falling off.

I do have to say thank you to Valley Vet for being so cooperative and understanding. They have a 30-day exchange policy. My husband bought the 4 EasyBoots on December 1st, gave them to me on December 25th, and I wasn't able to try them on until January 1st thanks to bad weather. By the time I called Valley Vet about the exchange, we were beyond the 30-days. However, the lady on the phone said to just send them back and fill in the form saying what I wanted to exchange them for. I asked if I could exchange 4 boots for 2 and get a partial refund. No problem. I asked if I could exchange them for a different brand. No problem. The turnaround was very quick and hassle-free.

Ponying with Bombay & Gabbrielle

Sunday was such a beautiful day. The neighborhood was quiet with everyone off at church, so I sat outside in a fold-up chair reading a novel and listening to the horses munch on their hay. It's been a long time since I've been able to do that. I was tempted to skip training the horses and just sit out there in the warm sun getting lost in my mystery, but I know that nice weekends are not guaranteed in January and I had to take advantage of it by putting in some time with the horses. I fixed a cup of instant coffee to wake myself up and got to work.

I wanted to work on leading Gabbrielle from the saddle of another horse, so I started by looping her lead rope once around the horn of Bombay's saddle and then leading them together around the paddock. I originally planned to use Lostine as the lead horse, but I noticed that Lostine and Gabbrielle have been pinning their ears back at each other lately. Usually, they are best buddies. I decided to give Bombay a try instead, since he would never kick another horse. Here I am checking how much length I need on the lead rope to keep Gabbrielle in the best position beside Bombay...

The rope kept getting caught under the saddle pad and billet, but Bombay didn't seem to care. Lostine felt left out and kept following along. Sometimes she threw her body across our path to try to stop us, and I had to tap her on the hip with the end of one of my ropes to get her to move.

Since Lostine was being a stinker, I decided to do the actual ponying in the round pen where she couldn't interfere. Gabbrielle followed along like a pro. My biggest concern was stopping her from eating the leather ties and my stirrup.

At first I just held the rope in one hand and the reins in both hands, though you really should be neck-reining in one hand. A few times Gabbrielle fell behind and pulled my arm back, which pulled on Bombay's right rein. I felt sorry for Bombay, so I loosely looped the lead rope around the horn once to take some of the pressure off his mouth. That's not the safest thing to do, but I was ready to uncoil it quickly if I needed to give Gabbrielle some rope.

When you hold the rope, you should hold it in loops as opposed to coils (though I can see in some of the pictures that I didn't always follow that rule). If the ponied horse pulls back suddenly, your hand can get trapped in a coil and you can get pulled off your mount. The head of the ponied horse should be kept about even with the position of your shoulder and about level with your knee. Making the turns was the tricky part.

In the end everyone got their pats and their peppermints.

Visualization Intention Confidence Expectation

I came up with a saying to help me remember what my readers have been teaching me: Fight VICEs with VICEs. In other words, fight bad horse habits through Visualization, Intention, Confidence, and Expectation.

Our talk in Let's Talk about spooking brought about a lot of great comments. Overall, everyone agreed that any breed of horse can spook, but some still felt that Arabians are more sensitive or reactive than other breeds and require special handling.

I'd like to transition this conversation into the topic of confidence. Many people have said to me that horses will behave if they trust you as their leader, if you have confidence in yourself and your horse, if you expect your horse to behave, if you have the intention to make things go the way you want them to go, and if you visualize a successful outcome with your horse.

I do believe that horses communicate telepathically to some extent. They occasionally use their voices, talk with their ears quite a bit, but I think they are capable of sending and receiving thoughts without any voice or body language as well. I like to talk to my horses out loud (when my neighbor isn't lurking around eavesdropping). I've had some pretty funny conversations with my horses, especially Bombay, who has a great sense of humor. He always gets a twinkle in his eye that warns me when he's about to play a practical joke on me.

This morning I was woken by one of the horses kicking the stall wall. I had to roll out of bed, open the side door and yell, "Cut that out!" The kicking stopped the second I opened the door, so I wasn't able to see who was doing it. A while later I was removing Bombay's blanket in his stall when I heard his stomach let out a loud growl. I said, "Wow! You're really hungry." He nodded his head up and down and then stopped.

"Is that why you were kicking the stall this morning?" I asked.

I'd swear he got this offended look on his face, and then he threw his head to the side repeatedly pointing in the direction of Lostine. I said, "Oh, it was Lostine who was kicking the stall, eh?"

Bombay nodded his head up and down. Up until that point I was just yammering on without really believing that he understood me. However, he did differentiate between nodding up and down like yes and throwing his head to the side like pointing in a direction. I decided to test him.

I said, "Who kicked the stall? Was it you?" He held his head still.

"Was it Lostine?" He throw his head to the side pointing at Lostine and followed it up by nodding up and down to say yes.

I then went into Lostine's stall and what did I find but fresh hoof marks on her wall.

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Bombay's communication with me reminded me to communicate clearly what I expect from my horses. One of me least favorite parts of the day is getting Gabbrielle out of her stall for breakfast. She always runs back and forth between the door and her window and spins circles in her stall out of excitement. It's one thing dealing with a 30 or 40 pound dog that is spinning circles in excitement. It's another thing to deal with a 900 pound horse that is spinning circles in excitement. I did finally train her to stand still and face me as soon as I step into her stall. She's good about standing the entire time I remove her blanket, but if I don't halter her, she will still bust out the door as soon as I open it and take off for her food trough at a gallop.

So, I keep the halter on her and force her to walk beside me to her food trough. Still she pulls and throws her head around in an attempt to break free. The pulling hurts my arm, which is now graced with both an elbow brace and a wrist brace thanks to a chronic case of tennis elbow that has travelled between my two arms over the past two to three years. I say whoa and give the lead rope a yank each time she starts to pull, but it doesn't have much effect, and when I try to give her a chance to walk out of her stall without the halter, she still just busts out at a gallop.

This morning I decided to try something very different. Instead of leading her straight out from her stall to the food trough, removing her halter at the food trough, and then returning to the stall to close the door, I decided to lead her out and make her stand while I closed her stall door before leading her to the trough. It's a small change, but something that I knew would be a huge challenge for such a hungry, excited young horse. I decided to do this with the confidence and intention that she would stand still and wait patiently.

Before I walked her out I envisioned both of us stopping and her waiting while I closed the stall door. That way, if horses do pick up on thoughts telepathically, she would see what I wanted and would have her fair warning about what I was going to do. Normally, I would step out of the stall first and step to the side, then she would come out and start dragging me toward her food trough. However, after this visualization technique, she walked out slowly and turned to face me. Closing her door is no easy feat. I have to kick all the dirt out of the way along the runner and dig anything that gets stuck in the metal hook on the bottom of the door out with my finger. I usually have to push and pull several times before it will shut all the way and allow me to latch it.

Gabbrielle waited patiently, and then waited for me to cue her to walk, and she walked beside me. I then worked on expecting her to keep her head up while I removed the halter. I don't want her dipping her head down and eating while I'm trying to remove the halter. She fought me at first, but then I mentally thought in a firm tone, "You WILL keep your head up until I've removed your halter."

She popped her head up and looked at me wide-eyed, almost as if I had said that out loud in a demanding tone. She waited quietly until I removed the halter and even waited for me to tell her it was okay to eat. Wow! What a difference communicating my expectations can make. So often I forget to be mindful of my intentions, and I just go through the motions. That's when the horses take advantage. I have to BE HERE NOW. I have to be constantly putting the right thoughts into my horses' heads to see good results.

********************************************

I'd like to hear more about what you think it takes to get to that point where you have total confidence in your horse and your horse has total confidence in you. I'd love to get to the point where I can load any of my horses up into the trailer on a whim, venture out to some location we've never been before, and have a great ride. I know a lot of others feel the same way and want to know what the secret is to having hassle-free horse activities. Here's the type of information I'm looking for:

• How do you gain confidence?
• Do you have any examples of when your confidence affected your horse in a positive way?
• Do you have any examples of when your lack of confidence affected your horse in a negative way?
• How do you regain control when things get out of control?
• How firm do you have to be to get what you want out of your horse?
• If your horse does view you as his/her all-knowing leader, what did you do to get to that point? Was it all about confidence? Or consistency? Firmness? Kindness? Communication? Calmness?
• How do you calm yourself down when something happens to get your adrenaline pumping?
• How do you calm your horse down when something gets its adrenaline pumping?

Thanks for all this input. Your comments help many who read this blog.

Let's Talk...

...spooking. I talk about spooking quite a bit on my blog and even have a label for it. Readers often leave comments suggesting or outright saying that my horses spook because they are of the Arabian breed. I have only owned Arabians, though I've ridden plenty of other horses of other breeds through the years that were public or private stable horses. I must admit that I always feel a tinge of frustration when people connect spooking with Arabian horses. It feels like a form of prejudice. We are not supposed to link certain behaviors with certain skin colors or ethnic backgrounds, because even if it is a compliment, people find it offensive to be put into a category based on genetics. Yet we do that with horse breeds, and the poor horses can't exactly protest, defend themselves, or reason with us on it.

A part of me wants to say that all horses spook. A part of me wants to blame it on handling, or a lack of handling. However, when someone who has owned a variety of horse breeds throughout her life tells me that only her Arabs spook, I have to pause. If someone is just regurgitating some line they've heard before, having had no experience with Arabian horses, I don't pay any attention, but if someone is speaking from experience, I have to listen. I'd like to get more feedback on this. These are the types of things I'd like to find out:

• Have you ever experienced a non-Arabian horse spooking?


• What usually triggers spooking?


• What are the ways in which you've experienced horse spooks? (i.e. jumping to the side, bolting, jumping straight up, puffing up, snorting, kicking out...)


• Do you believe that spooking is really tied into breed?


• Do you believe that spooking can be worked out of the genes through selective breeding?


• Do you believe that spooking is connected to the handler's reactions?


• Do you believe that spooking is tied in with fear associated with abuse from humans or other animals?


• Do you believe that spooking is a survival instinct?


• Do you believe that horses learn to spook from their dam and other horses?


• Percentage-wise, how much of spooking is nature and how much is nurture?


• If you believe spooking is isolated to Arabians, what is your logic? (i.e. Generations of Arabian horses suffering through sand storms, miles of desert with no exposure to anything but sand somehow got into their bloodline so that they jump at every new object and sound...)


• Do you believe that a horse can be trained not to spook?


• Do you believe that a horse can be taught to spook in place?


• How are some ways that you have taught horses not to spook or to spook in place?

Obviously, you can't answer all of these questions in a comment, so feel free to just answer selective questions or write a post on your own site if you really want to elaborate. I think of myself as a spooky person -- not spooky as in me scaring others, but spooky as in me being jumpy. Sudden, loud noises send me through the roof. A near miss on the highway can cause me to tremble for hours afterward. The phone ringing sets me on edge. I'm probably the most inappropriate person to be working around spooky horses, but I just can't stay away.

Keeping It Real

Lisa at Laughing Orca Ranch gifted me with this "Keeping It Real" award. It must be all my talk about farts that led her to think of me. Okay, I shouldn't have said that. I think I just lost half my readers. That's why I usually talk about farts in my comments on other people's sites. It's like I don't want to foul my own nest. I have to say that Lisa has very good taste in music. I usually keep my computer muted, but I happen to have the volume on now because I was watching a video, and the music from Lisa's blog came on. I'm listening to it right now. Great stuff. Anyway, thanks for the award, and heal fast.

I'm exhausted. I just read 72 blog posts. You bloggers are posting like crazy out there. It must be all the snow. You can't do anything else except sit at your computers.

Things have been nuts for me at work and I had guests from out of town. When they left they said, "Maybe someday when you don't have horses you can come visit us."

Huh?

When am I ever going to not have horses?

They must have had the same thought and asked how long horses live. "Oh, 20 or 30 years."

One guest looked at me sadly and said, "I can't wait that long."

I don't think of my horses as a burden. I'm not interested in traveling. My idea of a great vacation is having an entire week to ride my horses. Better yet, how about an entire life of riding horses? Now you're talkin' about my ultimate dream.

I had a funny thing happen with Gabbrielle tonight. You see I'm tired of the way Bombay spooks at everything. He was my first horse, so when he jumped, I jumped, which ultimately made him a nervous horse. I'm determined not to let Gabbrielle be a spooky girl. So, when I blanket the horses, I'm rather rude about it. I throw the blanket over their backs fast and hard. I let the buckles smack and clang against the side of the stall. Over time the horses got used to this rude ritual and relaxed their nerves.

However, tonight I swung the blanket so high that the buckle hit the aluminum roof above Gabbrielle's head. That was a whole new sound and she spooked, jumping into me as I was swinging my arms up, which resulted in me being scooped up onto her back a bit. My feet came off the ground and I "rode" her as she ran to the mostly closed stall door. I just held still, half-way lying across her back on top of the blanket. She stood at the door, looked around, realized that there was nothing to fear and went back to eating her hay. I hopped off her and attached her blanket. I thought it was probably a good thing she picked me up off my feet, because otherwise she would have stepped on them. It looks like I need to work on getting these horses to stay out of my space, even when they're scared. Silly things happen sometimes.

The Attack of the Wild Horn Bag

Any time that you introduce some new piece of equipment to a horse, it is always a good idea to test it out in a round pen on a long line before hopping on board. Today I introduced a new bridle and bit to Lostine. It was the trail bridle that came with my new saddle. I removed the noseband since I needed to keep her halter underneath, and had to punch four new holes in the bridle in order to get it to fit her tiny Arabian head. You can see that the conchos touch the buckles.

The light oil reins don't match anything I own. They were shipped to me by mistake when I had ordered dark oil reins, but I don't have the patience to stand in line at my local post office, so I kept them. The stupid thing about it was that I ordered a dark oil bridle in that same shipment and it didn't seem to ring a bell with anyone that they were sending me a dark oil bridle with light oil reins. Who does that?

Anyway, Lostine threw her head around a short while, but eventually settled into the bit and kept a quiet mouth. Then I slid this monster over the horn of her saddle and left it untied so that it would flop around.

At first when Lostine was walking, she didn't pay any attention to it until she turned her head and could see it behind her.

She threw her head up and lurched into a trot to try to get away from that new thing on her back, but the more she trotted, the more noise it made. She then bucked and lurched into a canter to try to get away from it, and both sides of the horn bag flew up and down with each stride. She was in a panic at that point and I could tell that she was going to wipe out on the slick ground. Fortunately, I had practiced the whoa cue repeatedly in the preceding 20 minutes, so I was able to stop her before she hurt herself.

I then tied her to the fence post and slapped the horn bag around a bit, and then let her stand there while I sang the song, "Getting to know you..."

After that I just rode her at a walk practicing whoa and introducing the new feel of the new bit by pulling back gently and turning her in each direction. At first I had to say whoa, pull back and kick my boots forward to get her to stop. After about the 10th time, I no longer needed to pull back on the reins and after about the 20th time I no longer needed to say whoa. I could just kick my feet forward and sit deep, and she stopped.

To Share or Not to Share (Your Horse)

I know, I know. This photo could use a little PhotoShopping with that metal post hat behind Gabbrielle's head and the junk pile in the background. This is a photo from this past summer taken with my old camera. I had to upload something visual. It was just too cold to be outside snapping off pictures this morning. For those of you who wanted to see pictures with my new camera, the last four posts that contained pictures of my horses had photos that were taken with the new camera.

I thought I would write a post about experiences I had regarding other people asking if they can ride my horses. I know where they are coming from, because before I had horses, I was always asking my husband if one of his coworkers who owned horses would let me go to her house and ride them. Understandably, we never got a straight answer out of her.

So, here I was many years later in the same position that I put that woman in when asking to ride her horses: I had my own horses, and suddenly people were asking if they could ride mine. My husband said it was too risky to let someone else ride our horses. Our health insurance doesn't cover other people and if someone got hurt, we could get sued. We would have to ask them to sign a liability release and go over all the dangers of horseback riding. We don't let other people drive our cars, because our car insurance doesn't cover anyone but our family members, so why would we let someone ride our horses?

That all made sense to me, but I really wanted someone to ride with. My local horse friends consisted of a older woman who breeds, but hasn't ridden in years, a show horse trainer who works 7 days a week and is always on the road, my vet, and my farrier. In one case, a woman who had been asking me for a ride managed to talk another one of her neighbor's into it, and it turned into quite the disaster. This woman forgot to mention that she didn't know how to ride. The horse spooked and bolted, and the woman reacted by squeezing her legs around the horse's barrel, thus making it go faster. Fortunately, she did not fall off, but the experience frightened her enough that she never wanted to ride another horse again.

In another case, I had stupidly promised a new friend, who was from another country and had no experience with horses, that I would take her on a pony ride, meaning she could sit on my horse while I led it around the round pen. I thought that would be safe enough. However, my husband wasn't even willing to let that happen, so I arranged for my friend and I to meet at a horse stable and take a half-day ride together. She brought her husband along, and I explained to him why I had to change our plans. He said that his uncle owns a working horse ranch and even his own uncle won't let him ride the horses without signing a liability release. So, fortunately, this new friend and her husband totally understood.

One day a coworker approached me and asked if his wife could ride my horses. I explained that my horses are not fully broke like stable horses. Because I work full-time I can't put as much training into them as I should, and they can get a bit wild. They really need intermediate to advanced riders. He returned a few days later and said that his wife wants to come work for me in exchange for riding my horses. She would clean stalls or do whatever odd jobs needed to get done.

I didn't think that either of them understood my hesitation, so I told the man, who used to be a paramedic, about all the injuries I have suffered over the years from working with horses. I explained that you don't even have to be on a horse's back to get hurt. It's not a matter of IF his wife gets hurt, but a matter of WHEN. He said he and his wife understood and that was okay with them. I said that they both would have to sign a liability release. Again, he said that was fine.

A few days later the man returned to me and asked what kind of riding trails I have around my place. I cringed. Trails? I don't have no stinkin' trails. I explained that I only ride my horses in arenas, because they haven't been trained yet to withstand the surprises a horse would find out on the trails. I realized that this woman had an image in her head of riding off into the sunset by herself. I had to nip that in the bud.

I told the man that she would have to take lessons from me in the round pen for a while before I could let her ride alone in an arena, and I couldn't let her ride on the trails by herself at all. If something spooked my horse, she could get thrown and seriously injured or killed, and I could lose my horse. I also wanted to make sure that she understood HOW to ride each of my horses. I've spent years determining the most successful cues to use with each horse, and I didn't want another rider confusing them.

The man went home and talked to his wife, and I never heard another thing about it. She obviously wasn't willing to be mentored. She simply wanted to clean some stalls, jump on the back of a horse, and gallop through the daisies with her hair streaming behind her like in the movies. Sorry folks, horses aren't that simple. You might want to invest in a convertible for that kind of ride.

To this day the only people who have ridden my horses include myself, my kids (who let me teach them), and my trainers. I think I'm going to keep it that way, unless I happen to make friends with someone who has owned and ridden horses his or her whole life, someone who understands the intricacies of horse training and riding, and someone who has experienced the risks firsthand. It's easy to say that you are fine with the risks if you haven't been laid up in a hospital from a horse injury. However, I'm more inclined to believe in someone who keeps riding despite the pain and long recoveries.

I've Heard of Brown-Nosing, but Green-Nosing?

The other day I walked outside and found this...

It looked like someone smeared clown paint on Gabbrielle's nose. The only thing that I've seen make a color like that on my horses is a paintball pellet, but I doubted anyone could have shot my horse in the muzzle with a paintball pellet from the street or any of the surrounding properties, because I had her in a pen that was in the center of my property. I looked around for something green and all I saw were the metal gates. I examined her gate to see if she had been chewing on it, but didn't find any chew marks. Then I saw her stick her head into the food trough.

There was still a little wet alfalfa in there along with some river rock I keep there to weigh down the troughs so that the wind doesn't blow them away. I watched her eat, but the wet alfalfa didn't seem to be what was leaving that green powder on her nose.

In fact, after a while of her nosing around in that trough, the water washed off the green powder. I decided there must have been a green rock that was leaving its mark on her nose. Do you have any better theories?

Bummer

I've been looking forward to trying out this used Arabian saddle that my equitation instructor was going to bring to me, but he just called and the deal is off. When he went to go pick up the saddle, the seller informed him that she decided not to sell it. She sold all her horses, so I really don't know why she needs to keep the saddle. At any rate, the more I thought about it, I realized that I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to try out a used Arabian saddle. They can be hard to find. Just when I started thinking it was too good to be true, this bad news came, so I guess it was too good to be true.

I know of some people who are wishy-washy in selling their horses too. Some little girl gets her heart set on buying a pony, only to have the seller change her mind overnight and announce that the pony isn't for sale anymore. Talk about taking candy away from a child after you've already given it to her. I had one seller do that to me, so I learned not to be too enthusiastic about the horse. It's good to point out the horse's flaws to the seller, so that the seller will want to get rid of the horse. If you give the horse too much praise, the seller will think she's making a mistake and change her mind. Oh well, I guess I will have to just find something else to look forward to now.

My next post was going to be about the saddle and my equitation instruction, but I cancelled the lesson since he couldn't bring the saddle. I really wasn't planning on restarting my riding lessons until late spring anyway. I have a strong aversion to riding in the cold, and I'm still not over this cold virus I've had for the past month. I don't want to do anything to aggravate it. I can't even talk to my coworkers over the phone without having coughing fits -- just think what doing the posting trot for an hour would do to my lungs. Plus I need my lunch breaks to clean stalls in the winter months since it is dark outside when I start work in the morning and dark when I finish at night. The other way I was planning on spending my Christmas money was to buy some more spandex jeans in one size smaller. Somehow that's not as exciting as buying a saddle, but it will have to do.

Driving 101

It's that time of year again when I have to write a post about how to drive mountain roads and rural highways. There were more out-of-state license plates on the road today than otherwise, and one of those drivers nearly killed me. I was driving home from work on a two-lane mountain highway (one lane in each direction) with no passing lanes. The speed limit there is 45 MPH with an occasional 35 MPH on a tight curve. I and dozens of other poor fools got stuck behind a tourist who was too busy enjoying the scenery to drive the speed limit. This guy was going 35 MPH on the straight-a-ways and 20 MPH around each curve. The law states that if you have a number of vehicles lined up behind you on a two-lane highway with no passing lanes, you must pull over at the next vista.

This guy, being oblivious, just kept cruising right past vista after vista despite people flashing their lights at him. Finally, the people between him and me couldn't take it anymore and crossed over the double yellow line (illegal) into the oncoming lane (dangerous) just to get away from this annoying driver. People were making desperate moves to pass him. When it was my turn to deal with the inconsiderate driver, we were approaching an intersection where we would turn onto a 4-lane highway and I could pass legally. I decided to wait for that opportunity to pass safely.

We came to a fork in the road and he started to go right while I started to go left. He suddenly decided he was going in the wrong direction, and flew right over the center divider at the side of my truck. I had to swerve into the oncoming lane to avoid getting hit. You can bet I leaned on my horn and had a few choice words. I finally woke the guy up and made him realize that he was not the only driver on the road, so he pulled over, which is what he should have done half an hour earlier when he drove past the first in a series of vistas.

Once I got off the mountain and into some valley driving, it didn't get much better. I was now on a 4-lane highway. If you are from a big city, you are used to driving in bumper-to-bumper traffic. Freeways are more like log jams. It doesn't matter which lane you get into, because they are all at a standstill. However, when you come to visit your cousins in the country, you discover that the roads aren't as crowded and you actually have some space to maneuver around. Therefore, we country folk have a rule that you drive in the right-hand lane and pass in the left-hand lane. There's always going to be someone who is driving slower than you and someone else who is driving faster than you, so pass the slower driver, but then get back over into the right-hand lane so that others can pass you.

I got stuck behind a guy who was driving 15 MPH under the 65 MPH speed limit in the right-hand lane. Just when I was about to pass him, the guy behind me pulled into the left-hand lane, drove right up next to me and stayed there for miles and miles and miles. I couldn't get over to pass the guy in front of me. I couldn't get over if I needed to make a left-hand turn. I had nowhere to go if a deer or dog ran out in front of me. I was boxed in, despite not another driver being behind me or in front of the guy in front of me for miles. Here were these three drivers all clumped together moving at 50 MPH in a 65 MPH zone. I felt so frustrated that I almost pulled over to the side of the road just to get out of that unwanted group hug.

My husband taught me the trick of drifting into the other driver just enough to scare him so that he gives you some space. I tried that with this guy but he must have been on drugs or half asleep, because he didn't notice my truck drifting closer and closer, nor did he notice my turn signal. So, I was just stuck in that spot for a good 15 miles. My honking policy is that I only use my horn when another driver is about to hit me. I don't use it to urge people to pass me or go faster, because I don't want to scare someone into an accident. If the accident is already happening, that's one thing, but if another driver is just being mindless, I keep quiet and pray to get away from him.

Again...

1. Drive in the right-hand lane.
2. Pass in the left-hand lane.
3. Use your turn signal and look over your shoulder BEFORE turning your steering wheel.
4. Pull over if you see that you are causing a bottleneck.
5. Be aware that though you may be on vacation, the rest of us still have places to go and things to do.
6. Realize that a vehicle is a weapon and can kill.

Sometimes I think if more drivers felt the fear that us horseback riders feel when riding a young, inexperienced horse, they'd be safer, more thoughtful drivers.

Canon PowerShot SX10 IS

As promised, here is my review of the Canon PowerShot SX10 IS. The main features toted in the advertising of this digital camera include:

• 10.0 mega pixels
• 20x wide zoom
• Optical image stabilizer
• 0 cm. macro
• Variable angle 2.5" LCD
• Red-eye correction
  
• Face detection technology
• Motion detection technology
• Intelligent contrast correction
• 30 fps / VGA stereo sound movies

I read other reviews of this camera and most everyone is very pleased with this purchase. The most common complaint was that the camera is difficult to hold. I admit that the first few times my husband and I picked it up, we accidentally pushed some buttons and the camera started doing its own thing. However, upon closer inspection we discovered that Canon placed a thumb point with little Braille dots on the back of the camera to show you where you are supposed to grip it. The rest of your fingers wrap around the front where there are no buttons. Once you get your hand in the intended position, it becomes a habit rather quickly. Here you can see how the thump bumps are placed just beyond some buttons...

This camera has so many features that it took me several days to read through the user guide. My reading comprehension is terrible. I'm more of a hands-on learner, so whenever I came across a feature I thought I might use, I tried it out on the camera. Other features I found by accident and was pleasantly surprised to discover how intelligently this camera had been designed.

For instance, my old camera was this Kodak EasyShare DX7630, which was nothing to sneeze at in its day. Here's a picture of it taken with the Canon on auto...

One of my struggles with this Kodak was that I would take a bunch of pictures, download them to my computer and forget to erase them from the camera's memory card. Some time later I would take more pictures, and download them to my computer, hitting the "transfer all" option, and next thing I knew I had duplicate photos taking up space on my computer that I had to delete. Kodak's software had a pick-which-photos-you-want-to-transfer option, but it took a lot less time to simply transfer all. Of course, not erasing the old photos was user error, but considering how often I made this error, I consider myself untrainable when it comes to changing the habit.

My son recently used my new Canon to produce a film about Julius Caesar for his history class. He had downloaded those movies to the Macintosh, but hadn't erased them from the camera's memory card. I then took some pictures of the horses and went to go download them to my Windows laptop. I realized that my son's Caesar movies were still on the camera and panicked, because I thought that meant having to delete them off my laptop. One of the Canon's software options is to only transfer untransferred images. I thought, "Hmmmm. Those Caesar movies were transferred to the Mac, but not to this laptop. It will probably transfer them."

I pushed the transfer-untransferred-images option, and only my horse photos were downloaded! It detected which images had not been transferred off the camera and was not concerned about which computer they had been transferred to. Brilliant!

My old Kodak only gave me the choice to either delete all or delete just one photo at a time off the memory card. That proved to be a bit of a pain. The Canon gives the following choices when it comes to erasing:

• Erase single image or movie
• Select range (first and last image) to erase
• Select date of images to erase
• Select by category
• Select by folder

What a relief! An idiot-proof erasing process. You can also protect images from being erased and store them in a Favorites folder.

The variable angle LCD is something worth mentioning. It flips to face the person taking the pictures as well as to face the person who is having her picture taken. Therefore, if you want to take a self-portrait, all you have to do is flip the LCD around to face you while you hold the camera in front of your face. That way you know you've got perfect aim and you can see those stray hairs that are out of place as well as the chocolate smear in the corner of your lip. Also, if you tip your camera on end to take a portrait photo instead of a landscape photo, the LCD adapts to display your image right-side up. You can choose to review your images in either the viewfinder or on the LCD screen. You can also add grid lines and picture information in each location to check your spacing and settings.

You can crop your images right on your camera using the zoom, and you can splice multiple images into a panoramic photograph right there on the camera! There is a built-in flash which you can control with various options, as well as a location to add an external flash. You can even take still shots WHILE you are filming a movie. You can print your photos straight to a printer from the camera, which is nice for those who don't care to store their images on a computer. You can set up shortcuts for options that you use most often. You can turn the microphone on or off for movies, or just record sound with no picture.

The camera as well as the computer software includes an auto-rotate function, so that you don't have to think about how many degrees the photo needs to be rotated clockwise or counter-clockwise in order to get it upright. You can change the colors within your image as well as photograph in black and white. You can program customized settings into the camera if you are really professional and not reliant on that auto feature like I am.

One of the sillier features is the ability to change the sound effects that happen when you start up the camera, when you press operation buttons, when you use the self-timer, and when you press the shutter button. You can actually make your camera bark like a dog when you take a picture.

So, what are the negatives? The camera takes 4 AA-size Alkaline batteries. That's actually a plus because it saves you the hassle of having to go to a camera shop to buy new camera batteries, however the AA batteries that came with the camera ran out within a week of me using the camera. So, we installed rechargeable AA batteries, and those ran out a week later too, but at least I can just pop them out and recharge them. The trick is to get into the habit of recharging them after a few photo shoots and not waiting until you've got some great picture you want to take, only to discover that the batteries are dead.

This Canon model is quick to zoom and slow to auto-focus, which can sometimes make it difficult to catch those split-second opportunities such as when your horse yawns and makes himself look like an ass. For that reason, if you see a shot that you know you have to catch in an instant, don't waste your time on the zoom. Just shoot it and trim it later.

The camera is a bit heavy, though lighter than DSLRs, so I do use the neck strap. I don't think I'll take it with me on trail rides in my new horn bag, mainly because I don't want to risk the horse rolling on it or smashing it into a tree, but I will use it in every other picture or movie-taking opportunity.