Your Horse Wish List

Ha! Bet you thought I wanted your Christmas list for your horse, huh? Actually, I saw this on another blog, and thought I'd try it here. I'm listing the things that are important to me in a horse, and then you can tell us what you like. Sound like fun?

Okay, here's mine:

1) A good set of withers. No matter what I'm riding, I really like a horse with a good set of withers to hold a saddle on. I hate having to cinch a saddle really tight, and I love a horse with the right kind of conformation to kind of naturally hold a saddle in place, like the one below:




2) A big kind eye. Although there are exceptions to every rule, most horse people will tell you that a horse with a big, sweet eye will naturally have a good disposition, and be kind and willing.

3) A nice fast walk. I love a horse that walks out on the trail, similar to the way the one below is walking naturally in the pasture. I love to ride a horse with a big, swinging ground-covering walk.

4) A Good Mind. Of course there is no picture of this trait, but for me, it's the one that trumps all. A horse that always tries to do the right thing, an honest horse that doesn't seem to mind doing his work and that brings you home safely each day - that kind of a horse is the best of all - no matter what their conformation, breed, or looks.

Okay, your turn. What do you look for in a horse? Let us know!

Read before You Ride?

About a weekend ago, I received an email from a reader who’d read an old blog post of mine in which I recommended certain dressage books. I hadn’t listed the authors of the book, and she couldn’t locate them by the titles. The reader mentioned she wanted to read about how to do the movements before she tried to do them. I completely understand what she’s saying.
I’m a reader. I always have been. My collection of dressage books rivals anything you can find on my riding friends’ bookshelves. I know a lot of dressage riders haven’t read even one book on dressage. In fact, I’d say that’s the norm in my barn as opposed to the exception.

From the beginning the cerebral aspects of dressage fascinated me, as did the “mystical” aspects. Over the years, I’ve voraciously read books on both aspects. I credit my dressage reading with giving me a very good basic understanding of the aids and how to properly ride the movements before I put one foot in the stirrup. Now did my body have a clue how to do a shoulder-in or a half-pass from reading it in a book? No, not at all. But I could visualize riding a half-pass and using my body to curve the horse’s body around my leg while moving him sideways.
My instructors over the years haven’t had to spend countless hours explaining to me the aids and riding of the movements because I had that clear picture from hours of pouring over dressage books. In fact, I find American instructors are often remiss in explaining the how and why of riding dressage movements in any way but the most rudimentary ways. I know there are exceptions, and my very first dressage instructor was certainly one of those.
Another huge contributor to my dressage education can be accredited to a long-defunct magazine titled Dressage and CT. If you haven’t had the privilege of reading this magazine, you might attempt to dredge one up. I still have my copies for the years I subscribed and might be willing to part with a few. Email me if you’re interested.

Dressage and CT wasn’t for everyone, only one or two of my friends enjoyed reading it at much as I did. It was the magazine, I’d haunt the mailbox for every month. The articles in D&CT were detailed, insightful, and often thought-provoking. Charles DeKunffy and Dominic Barbier were frequent contributors along with others who chose to tread off the beaten path. Some of the articles would take a movement and diagnose every minute detail. Heavy on theory and willing to debate different methods to the nth degree, D&CT did an incredibly good job educating aspiring dressage riders.

The publisher of D&CT didn’t shy away from controversial subjects. In fact, he encouraged them to the point where I waited each month to see what controversy would be addressed next. In fact, one of my favorite features to read happened to be Letters to the Editor. The magazine’s willingness to tackle controversial issues was most likely its undoing in the end. It’s been a long while, but I believe it was sold to another publisher, renamed and watered down. I think one of the current American dressage magazines is actually its descendant. I’d have to go back through my oldest magazines to unearth that bit of history.
D&CT embraced alternate forms of dressage and became an advocate for the lighter methods (non-Germanic). Regardless of whether or not I agreed with the articles or methods, I did enjoy the exposure to other ways of thinking. D&CT taught me more regarding theory than I ever learned in all the books I read.
The current dressage magazines rarely cause controversy, choosing to walk a politically correct fine line. Perhaps, that’s the only way to survive in the tough magazine market.
In the meantime, here are those dressage books I’ve read over and over again, including their authors:

Guide to Dressage—Louise Mills Wilde
The Beginning Dressage Book--Kathryn Denby-Wrightson and Joan Fry
That Winning Feeling—Jane Savioe
Riding Logic—Wilhelm Museler
The Dressage Formula--Erik Herbermann
Practical Dressage Manual--Bengt Ljunguist
Dressage Questions Answered. --Charles De Kunffy

If you’re a rider and a reader, I highly recommend the books listed above.

Hope you and yours had a memorable Thanksgiving.

Giving Thanks

by Laura Crum

The two photos above tell a lot about what I'm grateful for this Thanksgiving. There's my son and I on our most recent trail ride, just a few days ago, mounted on our two good little trail horses, Sunny and Henry, photographed by my faithful husband, who hiked with us (and our dog) through the hills near our home. I am so grateful for all of this. My family, our horses and other animals, our home here in these coastal central California hills and the trails we ride and hike. The ridgeline you see behind us in the first photo is the same ridgeline I can see from my front porch. It takes just over half an hour for my son and I to ride out our front gate to the top of the ridge, where we can see the whole Monterey Bay. And Sunny and Henry can do this without cracking a sweat. The photos were taken late in the afternoon of a beautiful November day, temps in the 70's. I smile every time I look at them. Thank you so much.

And thanks also to all of you who write to me in the comments. I appreciate your insights and I've both learned a lot and been inspired by you. Happy Thanksgiving, fellow horse lovers!

Books and Horses and Other Things I (We?) Love

This fall I have doing lots of riding and reading and tons of promotion (but not much writing). I just came back from the Kentucky Book Fair, where I was surrounded by horse-loving authors--and readers! 210 authors to be exact, and around 4,000 attendees, and too many horse books to count (or buy!) I twice drove down the Old Frankfort Pike, home to some of the grandest horse farms I have ever seen. I also visited two elementary schools were "The World of Horses" was their theme for the year! So for four days, I was in horse-heaven.

Since I have been guest blogging a lot to help publicize my latest books, I have also gotten to know and love many horsey/booky blogs that I never would have discovered if it weren't for my promotion push. I'd love to share them with you because as readers, writers and horse lovers, we need to support others who are as passionate as we are. I will also shamelessly mention that some of these links go to my guest blogs or my book giveaways on these sites. Hey, I did say I was trying to promote!

For a good belly laugh and some tart musings on life, head to Crazy Texas. Crazy Texas Mama is not just funny and smart-mouthed, she's also attending graduate school to become a motivating and motivated reading teacher (which I discovered through our many e-mails) While you are there, enjoy my guest post and enter a giveaway for Whirlwind and Gabriel's Horses.

For more literary fare, go to http://www.greatbooksforhorselovers.com This site has reviews, writing tips and information on The Literary Horse Exhibit.

If you go to Great Books for Horse Lovers Alison, you'll find reviews of Whirlwind and Shadow Horse plus an interview.

For the young reader, writer and rider in your life, the Girls Horse Club  site is terrific with a capital T. Right now the site has a giveaway of many different horse books, CD's etc.

For some of the pithiest reviews of horse books, don't miss Whitebrook Farm. Here I learned that the 2010 National Book Award Winner is a horse book--Lord of Misrule-- from a small press! It's hard to get on Amazon, so I'm ordering early.

Last but not least, don't forget our own Linda Benson's blog where she's hosting a book giveaway. Add your own favorite book/horse blog to comments and share these blogs/sites with other book and horse crazy folk and let's keep the love going.

Twister Speaks--For the First Time

by Laura Crum


Last month I wrote a post about my son’s horse, Henry, asking me for a drink of water. I thought this was pretty cool, and I explain why in the post (“Henry Speaks”—October). But a few days ago I was treated to an even more amazing demonstration of communication from a horse. Or at least it amazed me. Let me know what you think.

I have four horses on my place, one of which is Twister—a fourteen year old gray gelding who belongs to my friend Wally. Twister is Wally’s team roping horse; Wally takes him to practice ropings and competitions several days a week on average. I don’t ride or handle Twister much, but he has lived here with me for seven years, and I feed him every day and help with his care as needed. I encouraged Wally to buy him as a very green six year old horse, and helped him with the training as much as I could (I had a nursing baby at the time). So I know Twister well.

Twister didn’t have a good start. He was raised on a ranch in the Dakotas and was traded to a horse trader as an unbroken four year old as a part of a deal for a horse trailer. This trader sent him to a ranch cowboy to be started and by all accounts the cowboy did not care for this sensitive, hot colt, who is mostly running bred QH. After sixty days with the cowboy, the horse trader sent Twister to a young team roper who trained horses on the side with the instructions to make the horse into a “ninety day wonder”. In other words, turn this extremely green five year old into a team roping horse in three months.

The young roper complied. It wasn’t pretty. Apparently Twister became so frazzled he repeatedly tried to jump out of the round pen. The roper’s solution? He had his help wait on the other side of the fence with a shovel and beat Twister on the head when he tried to jump out. Twister still has scars on his face and neck from this treatment.

When Wally and I first saw Twister, my uncle had bought the horse from the horse trader. Twister was six years old, and you could rope and turn a steer on him. He was honest and tried hard. He was also very flightly and ignorant as hell.

Twister did not know how to give his head (at all) or hold the lope, or take a lead, or pretty much anything. He’d been “cowboyed” into the very intense job of team roping horse and he had no “foundation” whatsoever. He was also pretty darn standoffish and leery of people (understandably).

Wally bought Twister and taught him to be a reasonably well broke horse and a darn good competitive team roping horse, as well as a fine trail horse. I’ve blogged about Twister’s story before, so I won’t go into detail here. But Twister has been treated kindly and fairly all the years he’s been with us and though he still retains some of the mannerisms of a “ranch broke” horse, its apparent that he trusts us and is fond of us. But he never nickered.

I’m not sure why. All the other horses here nicker at me when I come to feed. Twister never did. Just stood by his feeder and pawed the ground. The other horses nicker to me and Wally all the time. Just talking to us. Not Twister. He never spoke.

And then, the other day I got Sunny and Henry out for my son and I to ride. When we were done, I turned them loose to graze, as I usually do. After I caught them and put them away, I turned my retired horse, Plumber, loose to graze for awhile—again, as I usually do. I don’t normally turn Twister out. My property is fenced on three sides, on the fourth side the barrier is just steep brushy hills. No horse has ever attempted to leave that way, but I’m still careful. I turn the horses loose one at a time and I never do it unless I’m here. I check every so often to make sure the loose horse is visible. My three horses are very sedate and have never given me any problems with this system. Twister is a much more flighty individual, and, of course, he is not my horse, so I am wary of taking any chances with him. Wally hand grazes him from time to time but does not turn him loose.

Anyway, I eventually caught Plumber and put him away—and then I spent a few minutes filling the water trough that Plumber and Twister share. Twister approached me from his side of the corral fence…and he nickered. Very softly, but several times.

I am ashamed to admit that I didn’t even notice…at first. The other horses nicker at me all the time, I was thinking of something else, I paid very little attention.

“What do you want?” I said idly to Twister, and offered to rub his neck. Twister is a horse who likes to be petted, and I guess, if I thought anything, I thought he wanted me to rub on him. But Twister moved off and stood by his corral gate. Then he came back to me and nickered softly.

And I got it. Twister was talking to me. He was, for the first time ever, nickering at a person, and he was trying to convey a very clear message. “You let the other horses out to graze. Now its my turn.”

“You want me to let you out to eat, don’t you?” I said. And I stared at the horse in amazement. Because I wasn’t raised to assume that horses think like this. (See my post, “Henry Speaks.”)

Twister had observed me letting the others out to graze many times, he’d observed the other horses nickering at me and asking for their “turn” (which they do). Somehow he had put all this together and, though he had never nickered at either me or Wally before, he was attempting to tell me he wanted a turn, too.

Well, of course I had to get him out. If nothing else, to show him I understood what he was trying to say. He met me at the gate and I hand grazed him for a good long while. Without Wally’s permission, I wasn’t game to turn him loose. But Twister got his “turn”.

And now I wonder. Do horses think in ways like this all the time and did I never notice? Or do my horses try to talk to me because they’ve learned to trust me? Or do I simply read horses better than I used to? Why did Twister finally “speak”? Any thoughts?

Life is a Rollercoaster

I quite like Ronan Keating. He’s the lead singer of that recently reformed Irish boy band, “Boyzone”, as well as a solo artist. I’ve seen him live twice; once about a decade ago in Zurich, performing with Boyzone (a somewhat disappointing concert; Ronan was clearly in a foul mood that night), and then again about four years ago when he gave a private solo concert at a chi-chi event my husband and I were invited to (smiles, twinkly eyes, and Irish charm all around!). Do you know Ronan Keating? He’s the guy who sang “When you Say Nothing at all”, the theme song for the romantic comedy “Notting Hill”, starring Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts. He has a nice voice, and he’s kind of cute.

At this point, I guess you’re wondering why the heck I’m rattling on about Ronan Keating on Equestrian Ink. Well, simply because I’ve had one of his hit songs, “Life is a Rollercoaster”, stuck in my head for the past week. It’s been pursuing me ever since I hit this wall of sad truth: Kwintus’ dressage career is over. Actually, it’s worse than that. Kwintus won’t be being ridden again.

Yes, life really is a rollercoaster,as maybe you’ll remember that the last time I blogged here, two weeks ago, my equestrian horizon was all blue skies, sunshine, and a happy, healthy, fully recovered horsey. That first ride in over two months was a dream (which is why I so related to Jami’s post on Sunday, although I read it with tears in my eyes, having already made my decision): Kwintus felt so…enthusiastic and youthful and bouncy. But the days that followed brought me back to earth with a bump. No, I didn’t fall off, but the way he started to stumble again brought back memories of close calls with hard surfaces. Falling off a horse is never fun, but having a horse fall away from underneath you is a truly horrible sensation. Also, a few days into his return to work, he started throwing his head in the air and yanking the reins out of my hands, something he’d only ever done when suffering from a pain in his upper neck. He also felt stiff and tired, and…well, just blah. But what really freaked me out was that tackling the slightest incline was clearly unpleasant for him. The way he shuffled down the not-so-steep hill leading from the stable block to the private road, making teeny-tiny steps, catching the tips of his front feet on every other surface irregularity was hard to watch. So, last Friday, with lead in my heart, I took him for a short hack to the next village, feeling terribly unsafe on his back as we inched down the gently sloped trail beneath the trees. He must have stumbled four or five times. Twenty minutes later, I dismounted. For good.


I could call in the top osteopath in the country. I could cart Kwintus right back across Switzerland, have him x-rayed from head to toe, and then infiltrate every creaky nook and cranny. I could. But it would be wrong. He’s going to be nineteen next year. He’s worked hard all his life, giving all his owners (I reckon he’s had about 5) his very best. He gave me back my confidence when I lost it to a rearing, twirling youngster. He taught my daughter and me flying changes, pirouettes, half-pass, piaffe and passage. He won first place for my daughter during their first competition outing together. He’s been an amazing horse. He’s had an amazing career.
But it’s time to lay off and let him take it easy.


And so Kwintus is officially an OAP (old-aged pensioner) as of last weekend. He will spend the rest of his life strolling around the huge pastures surrounding Stephanie’s stables, initially alone as he’s still wearing shoes (I shod him ten days ago, so his feet need to grow a little before we can take his shoes off), and later in the company of Stephanie’s old, retired eventer.

I’ve shed numerous tears this week, and hauled back buckets loads of other. I’ve never enjoyed riding any horse as much as I’ve enjoyed riding Kwintus. Heck, I’ve never loved a horse as much as I love Kwintus! So I’m therefore extremely grateful to Steph for letting him stay on at her place, as the last thing I want to do is send him off to a retirement home for horses hundreds of kilometers away, which would mean no longer being able to see him regularly.

So there it is. In the space of one week I went from ultra high to mega low. Now? I’m coping. Okay, so I’m a little blah. But I’m also at peace with my decision. There’s comfort in knowing that I did everything I could for my horse’s wellbeing, that I can get off this particular rollercoaster, that I’ll no longer keep second guessing myself over whether or not Kwintus had really reached the point where he was dangerous to ride.

My equestrian future? Meh, it’s sort of vague. I’ll give myself some time, get through the winter. Come spring, I’ll hopefully be able to start searching for another horse, hopping on a whole new rollercoaster.

Right now, I’m just hanging with Ronan Keating. Go on, sing it to me, Ro! Life is a rollercoaster, just gotta ride it…

The Little Things

by Laura Crum

We have been having a run of those beautiful November days that everyone who writes for and comments on this blog have mentioned lately. Sunny and seventy degrees—perfect riding weather. Since we have had a lot of rain here previously, both our local trails and the big roping arena where we ride with our friends have been too wet to ride on. The tides weren’t favorable so the beach was out (those who ride on the beach—a favorite winter destination of ours—will know that it is far more pleasant to ride at low tide than high tide). But my small riding ring here at home--which faces south and has sandy ground that drains well-- was just fine. So my son and I decided to exercise our two horses here.

This isn’t my favorite kind of riding, as those who read this blog know. I like to ride outside of a pen, and if I must ride in a ring, I like to have a few cows to chase and at least ride in a big well-groomed arena where we can lope around almost like we’re outside. My own riding area is a one hundred foot round pen, lined with railroad ties, and with a small, round vegetable plot in the middle. Two people can have a hard time staying out of each other’s way on what’s essentially a very small riding track.

My son and I determined to try an exercise where we attempted to stay on opposite sides of the circle. If one walked the other walked, if one trotted the other did so…etc. This gave us something to focus on and kept us out of each other’s way. So we rode like this for almost an hour, interspersed with some walking side by side.

We talked a little—to each other and to our horses. Mostly we were quiet. The sun shone, little breezes blew, the footing was excellent. We walked and trotted, we loped a little. Sometimes I stared off at the opposite ridgeline, where we trail ride so often, glowing in the autumn light. The horses behaved perfectly. We didn’t train on them in any particular way, unless you count making them stay in whatever gait we chose and go where we pointed and stop when we told them. They do this without argument, mostly, and on this day, after several days off, both of them were happy to move out in the sunshine and showed no sign of reluctance, though both can be reluctant about this sort of exercise when they get too much of it. But today they were happy to be out and moving and did not consider it boring.

After we rode, we turned each horse loose to graze for awhile (also my older horse and our boarder—all four got their “turn”). I smiled while I watched them munching in the sunshine, seeing how happy they were, but it is another moment that sticks in my mind.

Trotting around the ring on my sturdy little horse, keeping half an eye on my son to see that we were observing our “positions” and that all was well, the sun and wind in my face, I had the sudden moment of clarity. I bet you all know exactly what I mean. You don’t get it every ride, and it isn’t always about riding. Often its just some little moment with your horse that seems unimportant. Certainly I would not have said that trotting around my ring was anything special to me.

But in that moment it all came rushing in. How happy I felt, how lovely it was, that this is what I have horses for. My horse and I and my son and his horse were all perfectly happy on this pretty day in the sunshine. The rhythm of Sunny’s gait (and no, he’s not particularly smooth gaited, though when he feels good like this he has a lot more natural impulsion, which makes him smoother), and just moving along together through the soft air was such a delight. I almost laughed out loud. We were all having fun.

We kicked up to a very forward lope (for Sunny) and Henry volunteered a lope, too. The horses obviously liked our game—each tried to “catch up” to the other which made these basically lazy little horses a lot more lively than usual. My son and I were both grinning from ear to ear as we loped along, checking as needed and then kicking up, holding our positions.

Such a little thing—our game in the round ring. But that’s what its all about for me. I’ve had these moments many times on trail rides, loping around the roping arena with our friends, watching the horses graze, stroking Sunny’s muzzle…etc. But every time it happens I’m grateful. Its just this complete awareness of how much I love having horses, how much they mean to me, how happy they make me. If I have any goals in my life with horses, its to be aware of those moments and follow the path that leads to them. And they can be just as simple as trotting around the riding ring with my son in the autumn sunshine. Ain’t it amazing?

How about you? Any special moments lately? Its always fun to hear them.