Cauterizing

A long time ago, I bought the sweetest horse in the world. A big Quarter Horse who was 15/16th's Thoroughbred. I called him Gray, he was gray. When I got him, he had come off of a ranch around Hillsboro in the mountains of New Mexico and he was SO sore on his bare hooves that had been worn away and deeply bruised on pure rock country. As abscesses began to appear, my friend and farrier, Pete, and I would pack the depressions of an each abscess with iodine crystals, wrap the outside of the hoof with towels, put on our gloves and squirt (very cautiously) pure turpentine with a syringe onto the iodine. It would sizzle, boil and puff a big purpley red cloud of toxic smoke.
Slowly, we got the emerging pockets of abscess cleared and cauterized over many months. Then, for almost 2 years, I kept his healing hooves packed with Webril Wipes (cotton pads we use when running printing presses) over tamed iodine, wrapped with Vetrap then placed into Easyboots. I only had to do this on the front hooves after the first few months.
It was important to exercise Gray to keep circulation in the hooves, so I started Dressaging him and we went to clinics, did light trail riding and schooling shows in the hoof boots. At first I had to do the treatments and reboot him every day, but after 6 months, I was doing it every 3rd or 4th day. I adored that horse. I could lie down beside him as he lay, sleeping in his stall and doze off myself.
The photo here is of Gray and me at a Charles deKunffy clinic in Albuquerque WAY back! Gray is wearing his easyboots! We were also in the Albuquerque Journal that time - nice photo of us in the indoor arena (I said, a "white" horse indoors makes the best picture!).
My point is - you can enjoy life with your horse even if things are not "perfect" - they actually rarely are. Just be in the moment and grateful for the good company!

Exploding Barn Doors

So, back in Tucumcari (New Mexico) in the '70's, I had the three wild 3 year old horses that had never seen a human being until being herded into a stock trailer and delivered into the aisle of my barn! Leon, Billy and I worked with them slowly and with clear, consistent methods that we developed as we went along.
Dawn was a very timid mare, lovely and curious but quick to react and to flee. We were blessed with a huge aisle in the barn (I could ride in it - the ride-able ones among the other 15 horses we had at that time) and there was a translucent garage type door at each end. Leon was preparing to work with Dawn one morning, teaching her to lead. He would start with her in the 14 x 14 stall and patiently take her into the aisle, then back to the security of her stall, a little farther out into the aisle, then back... he'd been working with her like this for around 10 days.
This particular day I reminded him to wear a helmet (we called them hard hats back then!). I was in a stall, mucking while it's occupant was turned out and I saw Leon taking Dawn pretty far down the aisle with all going quite well. Our barn was situated so that vehicles coming down Hiway 19 from the south would look right at the end of the building. In a flash, something triggered the filly and she bolted - Leon had her head pulled toward his body trying to stop her and she was zooming toward the closed door at the end of the aisle. Her "binocular" vision was nonfunctioning, her peripheral vision couldn't see what was ahead of them and the two of them exploded out through the door, pieces flying in all directions! Leon still had hold of her! She was momentarily stunned and he was able to turn her and lead her back to the barn quickly. AND, neither of them were harmed! The door was totaled - but I figured, if it had been sturdier, they might have even been killed.
Later, I wondered; if anyone was driving casually down the hiway, around the turn to face the barn, watching the scenery, just as the door exploded into a thousand pieces and a horse dragging a man burst forth from the opening - what must they have thought!

It has been quite a winter for us here at the new property! Our first winter on the mountain brought minus 13 degree temperatures! We had winds at 50 & 60 mph with 80 mph gusts one day! We had rolling black outs to maintain electrical service... carrying warm water to the horses in buckets for over a week... Workshops were not possible here, but I taught lots of private lessons and did two speaking engagements in the city. Now, we need to find a way to build a working and healing barn where we can also host the workshops. Dreaming - I hope for more land (it's possible) and (big dream) a modest indoor school. But things are possible now because we have our own place and, even though I am not usually drawn to join organizations, I am feeling connected to friends in the local Horseman's Association and we've had great fun volunteering for their Horse Trials competitions. I've been judging shows for them some, which helps add a bit of funds to our cause and keeps me meeting great people! A good friend used to say, "Onward into the fog!" Here we go - I feel like Dharmahorse is stepping forward, out of the fog!

Learning (think ahead)

When I was 13 or 14 years old, I took 2 girl friends from school out to the stable where I boarded my new horse. It was "Blue Circle Stables" outside of Beckley, West Virginia. We spent the morning grooming horses, then walked a mile and a half out the country road to a vegetable stand where we bought juices... drank them and decided to buy a huge, lovely watermelon.
Planning to eat it at the stable and share it with the horses, we started hiking back, taking turns carrying the melon. About half way to the stable, we were worn out and hurting. We didn't have a knife to cut up the melon and lighten the load... we were certainly not going to abandon it on the road, so we sat with it every few minutes resting. Then we walked onward trying to carry it between two of us at a time. More than 2 hours from when we left the horses, we struggled the last hundred yards, sweating, groaning and getting kind of grumpy with each other, now rolling the melon up the driveway with our feet.
It tasted good, if a bit warm... the horses loved getting chunks of it! I remember how sticky we got and how my 2 friends sort of drifted away from me after that. We had chosen the biggest watermelon they had. I thought later about how we could have taken 2 or 3 little ones... we could have had it cut into pieces before we left... the adults at the stand could have advised us, but, truly, I would not have learned such a good lesson if I hadn't suffered through it myself.