Author Archives: stablewomen

Two or three times a week, we feed mashes to all the horses (and mules and ponies!). Soaked with copious water, a mash can make the difference between good gut health and mild impaction – especially during weather changes when the horses might not drink enough water. Mashes are a brilliant way to add supplements, salts and, for us, the linseed meal that adds Omega 3’s and pulls sand out of their bellies. We live in the high desert; sand is a fact of life.

We use wheat bran for our base. It absorbs lots of water (cold in summer, warm in winter), provides needed phosphorus (we’re in a high calcium area and also feed supplemental alfalfa which is high in calcium), and horses love the taste of it.

The calcium to phosphorus ratio in an equine diet should be 1.5:1 to 2.5:1. Some people use phosphorus supplements for balance and some of these can even contain bone meal. Horses are herbivores and we feel that the wheat bran is a better source! The bran, combined with linseed meal (about a 4 to 1 ratio) makes a “mud” that keeps gut motility and pulls out ingested sand.

We have fed these mashes for decades, to all manner of equines, always with great benefit to their health. Mixing them is a kind of Alchemy (very satisfying!). Adding mineralized salts, probiotics, black oil sunflower seeds and our custom mixed herbal supplement means we offer a pan of good health and deliciousness without feeding composite feeds or grain, all of which are not natural to a horse’s innate needs.

We mix our herbal supplement (always with magnesium, Vitamin E, Vitamin B2 Riboflavin, fenugreek seed powder, anise seed powder, turmeric powder, red beet root powder, rose hip powder, kelp powder, burdock root powder and slippery elm bark powder); adding seasonal herbs to the mix for summer and winter.

Individual horses get herbs (uva ursi for renal system, cleavers for the gray horses and Appaloosas, etc.) and nutraceuticals for their specific needs. It really is the best way for us to maintain their health!

We have a new intake. He broke quarantine this weekend. “Teddy” is a sweet little buckskin gelding in his mid-twenties who lived on land that sold and he had nowhere to go. We took him in as an “owner surrender”. He is in good health for a 20+ year old horse – but he is very “over in the knees” and one hoof has grown way forward, probably to support that knee.

Our Veterinarian is coming to X Ray his legs and hoof. This will give us needed information for his care and hoof trimming. He is already on Vitamin E to help his muscles and the Dharmahorse herbal supplement to support organs, immune system and joints.

Teddy is a sweetheart. He is by no means “sound”, and we have Comet (bad arthritis) and Murray (navicular in both front hooves and a rotated coffin bone in a hind) who live as bonded pair. It seemed like a good idea to put the three of them on the small track system together. I felt that none of them were sound enough to harass or harm the others. And Teddy was excited that there were other horses around, feeling the need to be with someone else, I reckoned.

Teddy had lived years alone in an isolated field. Being with a small herd seemed a logical choice for him.

Usually, we put a new horse in the giant round yard to get to know the other horses (& mules) and vice versa. If we put Teddy in the round yard, I was concerned that he might get into trouble at the fence with young Pepper (who often gets too excited about a new equine). He would have no shelter… We had moved Comet and Murray to the small track and had a good team here on Saturday in case we needed help. So, I decided “why not just bring Teddy to the track and let him be with the other two” – it was different from our usual way of doing things… I found out “why not”!

Comet and Murray (especially Murray!) became much more active and pushier than I had ever expected. We quickly got Teddy out of there and rearranged everything! I could not believe what I was seeing. Murray (navicular and founder!) was galloping and bucking and leaping in the air! Comet was galloping (our feeding and healing programs work!).

Teddy went into Pepper’s pen/shelter beside the herd; Pepper went onto the small track system and Comet & Murray went back to their old paddock. It was good we had our remarkable team to help unwind the problem I had caused!

Granted, I know that horses need introductions… I knew better but was swayed by the notion that “three old geldings with soundness issues” would just be mellow with each other. Lesson learned. We all falter now and then. In my defense, I had no inkling that Comet and Murray could move so fast and be so pushy!

So, I apologize profusely to Teddy every time I’m near him. It really seemed like a good idea at the time. And now I know that Comet and Murray are much more capable than I suspected.

A lifetime with horses makes you aware of them each as an individual. Running a Sanctuary for horses drives that awareness into your very soul. We talk and teach about the “well of experiences” that shapes each horse (and human). Their experiences shape their expectations and responses (sometimes reactions).

A Sanctuary or Rescue rarely has the benefit of knowing an equine’s background. Things can be extrapolated from behaviors and condition, but really knowing can be a guessing game. You learn how to listen to the horses!

Even when you know some details (starved twice before the age of 3; abandoned in the desert; ridden until the back or legs gave out), it’s only a starting point in the journey to understanding. All horses come with baggage, just like we do. We must bend our methods and accommodations to suit each individual, rather than expecting them to acclimate to our expectations.

And you don’t have to be running a sanctuary to need this flexibility, all horses require our compassion and awareness of their point of view. It takes time to figure out the nuances of an equine’s perspective and needs. Horses are masters at hiding their vulnerabilities because, in a natural or wild state, being vulnerable can mean death. And while they all have the basic requirements of forage, friends and freedom (movement), some horses cannot function in a herd… some cannot function without a herd! Bonded pairs need each other for emotional health. Young horses need play for their physical health. Elder horses need movement to stay sound. Mares know when to wean their foals and newly gelded males need time to adjust to their new bodies. It’s dynamic. Providing for the individual needs of an equine is both art and skill, gleaned from experience and observation.

We have a bonded pair of elder Thoroughbred siblings here. They have lived together their entire, long lives. They also need to be in motion to keep them sound as each has had injuries that, if left to just stand around, will overcome them. We have a young mare whose double starvations as a filly have caused her metabolism to store every calorie consumed as fat now. Her body needs exercise and high fiber, low sugar/fat feed to keep her safe. We have a feral mule (older than we had expected) from a hoarding situation whose fear of being touched by a human is overpowering for her. None of these equines can be cared for in the same fashion as the others.

I think horses are also masters of resiliency. They can face abuse, neglect, confusion and illness yet rise to forgive humans and heal and go on, trying to figure us out as best they can. So, our stewardship, our husbandry must be customized to not only the population in our care, but to each member as an individual. That is the measure of our compassion.

Rescue is rough. Even though we are predominantly a Sanctuary, the majority of horses/mules we take in are “rescues”. And even after years of rehabilitation, healing and care, I still remember how each horse came to us – what they looked like, if they were in pain, if they were frightened. I always see how far they have come; but also know just what they have come from. Some days are harder than others. I had 2 messages today about horses needing homes (some weeks I get a couple of messages, some weeks over a dozen). One had been “rescued” by the owner and “isn’t working out”. Another was an elderly blind horse needing to be retired.

Each description of a horse in need can remind me of a beloved in Sanctuary… another Bodhi, another Murray, another Comet. Being at capacity here (for our funds, bandwidth and stated limit for our license) means we cannot add more. And that is rough. None here are adoptable right now. Room is sometimes made by the passing of a beloved elder and that hurts.

I have one horse on a waiting list. I would love to help this horse (who fits our criteria), but I do not want to be able to because of what that means.

I’m also tired of wasting my time. Five hours of waiting for a farrier who did not show up… working all morning making videos that did not pan out… things that add up when I have a hundred other things screaming for my attention (with deadlines). So, I do my chores and hope for a better day tomorrow.

Then, feeling defeated, I call to Teaberry at the end of the arena. He gallops to me at full speed, slows inside his shelter, ignores the hay put in his feeder and places his head gently against my chest. I am filled with his kindness, his awareness. He just stands there until I break the bond to move the hose filling his water tub. He makes me cry – but in a good way. He stopped my dwelling on what I can’t do or what I haven’t done yet. He makes me realize what I have done.

He rescued me tonight.

I awoke this morning feeling overwhelmed. There is so much to do before the end of the month. I started thinking about who I really am… what I do. I am Gita’s eyes. I am my brother’s legs and his strength. My hands are for these horses; to feed and care for them (battered as they are, my hands are useful). My brain belongs to this Sanctuary, to figure what is needed for the horses and how to pay for it. I am Mark’s partner in this life… to be kind and supportive.

My soul belongs to me.

My mind works overtime, becoming twisted by things that go on in this world that I have no control over. My Buddhist life should help me maintain clarity through the muddied waters of life on earth, but somehow, I have forgotten that part of my being in the daily monotony of caring for so many. Certainly, I know that self-care must be part of my agenda. We all know that we can’t pour from empty cups. Rescuers and caregivers have huge cups to refill… all the time.

So I sit under the pine trees and watch horses eating breakfast. Touching the earth, I hear her saying how she, too, is a giver of care, a lover of all life, a rescuer of souls. Are we not all connected by the simple act of being kind? To each other, to all life, to this earth…

I used to care more about what I wore, how I looked, how others perceived me. Judgement swirls around us from sources beyond our control. Others see us through their own eyes. Suddenly I’m struck with “The Earth is my witness” and though the perception of this Sanctuary is important, I realize that those who truly see what we do are the ones who know us. I will never again be posh. My life is too busy and too important to worry about posh. Being overwhelmed has to with letting extraneous thoughts and outside influences intrude upon the actual need and focus of this life. I need to stop doing that.

Who am I? I’m just me.

We think about ourselves as stewards of these horses. Different from owners, we are committed to their care and wellbeing and what we can do for them; not what they can do for us. They are not objects. They are thinking, feeling beings with needs and opinions just like our own.

Whenever we take authority over someone or over a situation, we take responsibility as well. I grew up with bucket loads of responsibility and had to assert myself to have equal authority. The two go hand in hand from either direction and demanding “control” of someone’s life means we must be responsible for all aspects of their wellbeing. That is stewardship.

It applies to all animals. It applies to our family members. It applies to the Earth; to the land and all life on it. To be a good steward, we set our egos aside and focus upon the needs and wellbeing of those under our care. Sometimes we are the ones cared for. Sometimes we are the caregivers. If you have ever been in a position to need the help and consideration of another, your empathy is increased, and you understand that often tenuous feeling of dependence! If you have ever felt like merely an object, you know how offensive that can feel.

In order to be a good steward of our horses, we need to cultivate relationship with them. Unlike the motorcycle we can leave in the garage for weeks, then bring it out for a ride – our horses need connection to us (and others of their species) to keep mind and body healthy. The motorcycle doesn’t get stiff or sore; it does not worry about where you will take it; the motorcycle does not feel “off” that day (it has no feelings). The horse does. We need to be able to listen.

In my youth and young adulthood, I competed with horses. It was what one did. Horse shows were held every weekend in communities all over West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee. Those of us who showed would be up all night before the show, scrubbing and polishing tack – the metal on bridles (and our stirrups) had to reflect light like a mirror. Leather had to gleam.

Days before a show, we would clip and trim hair from our horses. The day before we would bathe and cover the horse to keep him clean. Depending upon the style we rode, manes would be pulled (yanking out small amounts of long hair to get an even, thin mane suitable for creating the row of “cigarette” braids); the hair inside equine ears would be shaved away to “look tidy”. Whiskers would be shaved to the skin. By the way, hair in the ears keeps bugs out and whiskers are feelers that help the horse keep from bumping his face on objects. I even knew a girl whose mare could not be clipped (buzzing of electric clippers sent her over the edge), so she put Nair depilatory cream in the mare’s ears and shaved her muzzle with a razor). If we rode a style with a long flowing mane, we would keep it done up in long braids to prevent breakage and wash and condition it constantly – tails, too, everyone obsessed over long, thick tails.

Beyond what the majority of us did was the flashy 5 Gaited Saddlebred horse or the Open Walking horse crowd who kept their horses stabled in hoof pads, weighted shoes (or worse), in “tail sets” that held the tail’s dock up in an exaggerated way… I won’t go into other techniques to make the horse look animated and excited while in the ring.

So, competition horses lived a very unnatural life. And yet, many of us loved our horses dearly and thought we were doing right by them. The rider who would show up at a competition after pulling her pony from a field where he lived, brushing him clean and leaving him fuzzy had no chance of placing in classes.

But I remember those riders… their mounts seemed engaged, aware. They had alert expressions and seemed to genuinely enjoy being around other horses and doing something different. We all fussed over our riding attire as if we were brides ready for a wedding. Someone (usually our parents) stood by with rags to rub dust off of our boots and to brush clean our horse’s polished hooves. Our horses danced around anxiously; or became flooded and numb, accepting their fate… and we riders were either stressing out or had become, ourselves, flooded and numb.

When I had riding schools, I prepped my students and the school horses for an impressive “turn out” at shows. We were amazing. We were admired. I’m not sure now, in retrospect, how our horses felt about it all. I do know that I learned valuable lessons (and taught them) from that process. But now, running a Sanctuary and caring for horses from every imaginable situation (broken down from competing or racing; dumped in the desert; victims of hoarding situations; even beloved equines who could not be cared for anymore), I find that my ability to read how a horse feels has been honed to a sharp edge and I wonder about all the horses from my past and what they would say to me now. When we know better, we do better.

I see pain, struggle, stress and flooding in the faces of beautifully turned-out horses in ads and videos. I cannot “unsee” the distress on their faces. I see through different eyes after decades of learning from the horses. How they feel matters more to me now. And, to get their lives in line with Nature and to honor their species-specific needs has become a priority. I will never be the same person I was because I now see through their eyes.

Our interactions and ministrations in the care of a horse show him (or her) just what we believe he wants and needs. How can we be accurate in the assessment of equine requirements? Are we focused upon merely keeping him alive or is his life an extension of our own desires? Somewhere between assumptions/projections and minimalization will lie the truth of a horse’s needs.

He will not consider brass plated hinges and latches to be necessary. Confinement in a beautifully paneled stall, no matter how large, clean and “comfortable” we may consider it to be, will not be high on his priority list. The effort put into making stables that appeal to humans might not actually be in the horse’s best interest.

He requires forage, friends and freedom. A horse is a herd animal designed to eat small amounts of forage constantly while in motion. The effort we put into making his life fit our schedules, our needs, our lifestyle is not necessarily of value for his innate nature. Things like beautiful tack (saddles and bridles) mean very little to a horse… he just cares if it fits and is comfortable.

All the effort we might put into making his surroundings appealing to our own eyes might mean diddly to a horse if he does not have comfort, health and joy in his life. The extra effort of mucking a shavings-filled box stall won’t mean as much to him as the value of living a natural life in motion with others of his own species. We might work hard in our desire to provide for him. We might spend huge amounts of money on supplements and medicines to correct the imbalances caused by lack of exercise, improper diet (one that is not species specific) and/or lack of fresh air. The shoes applied to “correct” pathologies exacerbate those imbalances and keep the hooves disconnected from the Earth. A three- or four-hundred-dollar shoe job (or more!) is an expression of effort… the value is questionable when a barefooted horse becomes sound and comfortable with varied terrain, movement and proper diet.

Our horse care and management must be safe, simple and consistent. Fences need visibility and to be as safe as possible. If they are gorgeous, too, that’s great! As long as they surround an area large enough for real movement and enrichment. Shelters need to be accessible and sturdy. Feed and water containers need to be clean and safe. Beyond basics, the horse has no need for impressive features.

To me, a proper stable yard meets the horse’s needs. The horse is safe, comfortable, well fed (and properly fed), has companions, has joy, is not stressed, not pushed physically or mentally and is glad to see his humans.

I slept all day today. The entire past week was spent keeping our Sanctuary horses safe from the fireworks that culminated in last night’s Fourth of July “Celebration”. It felt like a week of trauma for the horses, for us and for our rescued dog who stayed inside the house, but still felt the ill effects of the nearby “bombing”. Each year the fireworks have gotten louder and last night I wondered about the decibels inflicted upon those close to the explosions. We felt the shock waves even inside buildings. It was a nightmare.

Twice a year (the 4^th of July and New Year’s Eve) this abomination is allowed that terrifies animals, disrupts wildlife and assaults Veterans with PTSD. I cannot wrap my head around the advice that was posted on social media to “take your animals somewhere that does not allow fireworks”. That we could somehow gather up dogs, horses, cats and leave our homes for however long the barrage of flying fire missiles and earth shaking explosions lasted is surely a joke.

And during this period of weather warnings: Fire Weather; Excessive Heat; Dangerous Dry Conditions, the fact that fireworks were even allowed this year boggles the mind.

And this is nothing new. In the 1980’s I wrote an article for the newspaper about the misery of fireworks for animal owners. I interviewed a firework’s vendor who told me that selling them twice a year was his family’s year’s income. He made his money for the year by selling fireworks for a couple of weeks twice yearly. I’m sorry; I have no sympathy for such a situation. Considering the trauma inflicted by his “profession”, my first thought was “get a real job”.

I spent night after night this year making and feeding strong calming medicines to horses at two stable yards. I played calming music, had every light on at both places and walked from horse to horse giving extra hay and trying to soothe them, hour after hour. With pharmaceuticals for back-up (they all have side effects) in case of real panic, the monetary cost was substantial and there was always the danger of injury if trying to handle a panicked horse.

I know our neighbors are decent people. I realize they are simply ignorant of the chaos they inflict. But that doesn’t help me when I watch our 30 year old, blind mare (who was dumped in the desert to die and we rescued her) walk circle after circle nickering in fear.

A couple of Benadryl kept our sweet young dog from total panic inside the house and a steady stream of coffee, tea and protein bars kept me awake, alive to manage the situation each night. Why should I have to do this? Why should friends have to put Thunder Shirts on dogs, get tranquilizers from the Veterinarian and leave the TV on loud for their dogs and cats so other people can burn their money in backyard displays of shrieking, flashing and exploding nonsense.

I watched bats, lit by the floodlights, crashing into trees as the loudest explosions hit. I saw the confusion in the horses’ eyes as they cowered or ran in circles. What hell some of them went through. I say “some”, because we have several horses who are not frightened by the “celebrating”. They helped calm the terrified ones.

All of this baffles me because communities present large, professionally handled fireworks displays that anyone can attend. Backyard fireworks, to me, are akin to having “backyard Rock Festivals” or “backyard Motocross” and even those would be limited in duration! And they would be quieter!