Horse Sense

A horse senses things differently than we do, because their brain is designed differently.  They also think differently because they are prey animals.  As prey animals, horses have heightened sensory abilities.  They have an impressive capacity to learn, remember, and problem solve.
Horse sense, sometimes referred to as common sense or practical thinking, is the opposite of book smarts.  Horse sense is a great term for the practical knowledge and good judgment about ordinary life that so many people exhibit.  It shows intuition, using your gut, a sixth sense, discreetness, gumption, levelheadedness, sensibleness, and wisdom.  Things which horses have, but sometimes seem to lack when they are reactive.

I found tons of information when I looked up the term 'horse sense.'  The horse magazine says (about what horses can sense, as in our slightest touch, expression, or other non-verbal communication)  - "Given a limited selection of choices, many horses will easily anticipate the most likely course of action. What feels like mind-reading to us, in some cases, simply reflects a horse making the most obvious choice before the person signals it to do so. This might be even more likely if the routine is familiar and predictable."  Amiga reads my mind, like a large print book.  She reads me loud and clear, whilst I am not even aware I am communicating anything to her.

We all know that, as a prey species, horses have certain hardwired behaviors designed to help keep them safe from predators.  As Temple Grandin in her bestselling book, Animals In Translation, wrote "horses use emotions to "predict" the future and thereby make wise decisions."  She believes that for animals, fear is worse than pain.  Humans have a lot more power to control fear than animals do.  And that's because, she explains, "We can use our analytical faculties courtesy of our prefrontal cortex, to understand and rationalize our fears, whereas animals cannot.  All your horse knows is, "This is scary, which means I'm in danger of being killed, which means I need to get outta here."

According to EquiSense - Your horse does in fact see ghosts.  "Just because you don't see them, doesn't mean they aren't real.  Despite the fact that horses have the same senses as us, their abilities are very different from ours!  They will not use their sight first but rather give more importance to its other senses."  Amiga can hear thundering hooves of horses racing in a far off pasture.  Horses have much better smell than us, and can sense a baby fawn lying still in the underbrush, or the presence of a bear, boar, or bobcat that has walked though the area, but is long gone, thus Amiga's refusing to go down the trail.  They even smell the fear pheromones we give off.

"Another thing that "awfulizes" fear for horses is the visual nature of their thinking.  A visual memory of a scary thing, is more frightening than a verbal memory," says Temple Grandin.
While training, Grandin explains, "To avoid stressing your horse, be aware of signs that he's becoming agitated whenever you're working with him. Is his tail swishing?  Is he sweating overly or quivering? End the lesson before he blows up. Don't make a training session longer than he can comfortably stand it, and always quit on a good note," And she says, "to up the odds that your horse "gets" what you're trying to teach him, make sure all rewards come within one second of the action being rewarded. Otherwise, your horse won't make the association. That's because a horse has less 'association cortex' in his brain than humans do, our computer is 10 times bigger than his is."

Saturday 10/31 - Happy Halloween! 

There is no horse sense about Halloween... it is all nonsense.  👻
And I enjoy it!

I started this blog, doing quite a bit of research on horse sense (how they think) and how horses sense.  So it wasn't until after lunch that I stepped away from my computer.

My kitties hanging out in the sun room with me.  Can you see all four of them?

I worked in the front yard for a few hours, raking leaves out of parts of the flower beds, and raking up sticks and acorns from the lawn that Joe's riding mower/leaf sucker upper doesn't get.  I even mowed the patch of new grass that was again quite long.

Then I transplanted more ground cover into this bed.  I had trimmed numerous sprouts from by the front door, a month ago, and had them in a bucket of sand and water with a root enhancer transplant fertilizer.  Hopefully their new little roots will continue to grow and take hold.  I won't be able to rake this bed anymore this season, for fear I may up-root the transplants.


Cleaned up, and dressed up for Halloween, I picked up Micki and we drove to Sherri's.  Micki took this photo of the beautiful sunset while I drove.

Once at Sherri's, there were some costume adjustments made by both gals, and then we took some photos.

I guess I am some kind of bat girl.

Sherri drove the three of us to the party, which was just a couple of miles down the road on Peavine.  Then we had someone take a photo of the three of us. 


I could not see well at all with my mask on, but stayed 'under cover' about ¾ of the time.  It got hot under the mask and it was difficult to eat and drink.  But I made it work.


Here are more photos of the evening.  We three ladies, along with lots of others, really enjoyed dancing.  I hardly sat down at all, and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

#1 - Micki

#2 - Sherri and Micki












#3 - Man abducted by alien
       and Elaine's husband


#4 - Elaine (our hostess)
        Part of me can be
        seen behind her arm

#1 & #2 - Moose with Sherri
                 and then Micki










#3 & #4 - Micki 'fighting" for first
         place in the costume contest.
         She had to 'work it' by
         dancing.  She ended up
         winning 1st place.


Below are more photos of the costume contest, that about half the people took part in.  There were some really good costumes.  Mine was so lame compared to most, I sat out and took photos.

The bunny, can't remember her name, took this selfie. 

What a very fun evening!  We girls helped Elaine and Richard clean up at the end of the evening.  I was home by 11:30, read for a little while, until I got sleepy, moved the clocks back and was in bed by 11:15.

Sunday 11/1 - Wow, can't believe we are already into the month of November.  It was nice for the morning to have sunlight sooner, but with it getting dark an hour earlier because of the time change, the days really feel a lot shorter now.  It had also gotten colder overnight, and a lot windier.

I went to the barn at 12:30, wanting to be out there during the warmest part of the day.  With the 53° temperature and the wind, I still thought it was rather cold.  Being in the sun, out of the wind felt nice though.


Jo was working in the round pen with a mare while Babs and four of the geldings were watching.  The bay is Zorro. 

I brought Amiga in from the pasture, groomed her and put on her leg wraps, and then went out to the trailer to practice loading and un-loading.  She walked on right away, and while I was petting her and praising her, she pooped.  This actually then slowed her down when I backed her off because she did not want to step in her mess. 

I tied her to the trailer, cleaned up the manure, and loaded her again.  She did well, going on and coming off slowly.  I decided to give it a rest, quit while I was ahead.

 

Next I tacked up and joined Patty, Babs, and Pat on a little trail ride (video).  We went to the big mud hole (which was bad after all of the rain) at the power line, turned around, and headed back. 

Amiga followed on the way out, and lead on the way back.  Then we split up.  Patty took Zorro back to the barn.  Pat worked with Babs (who was test driving Jack) out on the trail.  And I took Amiga into the little field, past the ghost town, and rode out in the large field.  It was too soft to go faster than a gait, so we kept the pace slow.

I decided to do a little more trailer practicing to work on Amiga moving one foot at a time (either forward or backward) as I asked her to.  Patty came to watch and also take some videos. 

Loading Amiga

I was extremely happy with the days progress!
(video #1)  (video #2)  (video #3)  (video #4)
And I quit after probably 15 more minutes of practice. 









Slowly unloading Amiga, asking her to step back one foot at a time.

Monday 11/2 - It was 27° when I walked Maggie at 5:30, and the sky was already getting light.  My geranium had gotten frostbite.  I wish I had thought to cover it.  I had brought in a few potted plants I want to keep over winter.  The rest are annuals I am ready to part with.

I drug myself to the gym, having no desire to work out.  But as usual, once I got going, my energy picked up.  I accomplished more than I had expected I would in the two hours.

The chipmunks like to sit up on big rocks to eat the acorns, so leave behind a mess.

I returned the library book I had finished and checked out another one.  Then after a late lunch, I went to town for my big bimonthly shopping trip. 

It was approaching sunset by the time I arrived home.  This Nandina by the side door to the garage has beautiful berries.

I took down a few Halloween decorations, but kept up the pumpkins for fall. 

It felt so late I was in bed by 7:30, and started my new book.

Tuesday 11/3 - A big day for America. 
I wasn't ready to crawl out from under my cozy covers, so slept a little longer, finally getting up at 6am.  It was only 28° - our 2nd frosty morning in a row. 
The buck that was visiting was larger than most that come through, and had quite a nice rack of antlers.  In the last photo, you can see him at the deer crossing sign, heading next door to Allen and Carol's.  Stevie was watching him too.

We have committed to replacing all eight windows on this back living room wall.  So the company sent out their man to get a final measurement of the exact size of each window.  We had to move the table out of the way from the center so he could get up on a ladder to measure the top window.  I decided to move the table off to the side in preparation for the Christmas tree to go right in front.  It also gives the critters more sunlight spots to bask in. 

I had grabbed two more tires out of the Chaden Tire dump trailer when in town Monday, and put them into the sun room to see which one I wanted.  The current one I have is too short and too large of a circumference. 

So of course, my four cats were checking these new tires out.  Mama Styx is far left, Babe is under the cat tower where the litter box is, Monita is sitting in the current tire I have been using, and Stevie is in the bottom right of each photo.

I worked on several chores from vacuuming in the living room, doing two loads of laundry, and cleaning both cat food stations, including washing mats, food and water bowls, and filling feed containers.


I decided to give the 'fatter' tire a try so first cut off the more damaged side that will go on the floor and give a flatter place for the cats to sit. 

I had hosed off both tires before bringing them into the house, but needed to scrub this one I would be using.  It had lots of grease on its remaining inside rim and dirt caked in its treads.  You can see from this photo why I need and want a laundry room tub. 


I set the tire out in the sun to dry and headed to the barn.  Joe was out sucking up leaves on his riding mower as I was backing out of the drive.  He seems to enjoy this job. 

I decided to wait and do one trailer loading practice session after riding.  Jan was out on Cash so Amiga and I went in search of them.  Here is where we caught up with Jan.  You can see some remains of the old ghost town in the background.

Jan was heading back to the barn, and I was just getting started, so we rode off in opposite directions.  I was pleased that Amiga didn't resit, even though I could tell she thought we should return with Jan and Cash.

Once done with a nice 45 minute ride, I untacked Amiga, and then took her out to the trailer to practice.  Jan came to watch and assist.  I was going to have Jan rattle the butt bar, but once Amiga (who was calmly standing on the trailer) saw Jan at the back of the trailer, her demeanor changed.  She rushed back off the trailer and then did not want to get back on.  We think, just seeing Jan made Amiga think she was going to be shut in and we were going somewhere. 

I had to work awhile to reestablish calm and trust.  We did quit on a positive note, but had made no progress with the butt bar. 

The mares had come in and were done with dinner by the time I brought Amiga into the barn.  She was ready to call it a day.

Patty took this (video) last week while I was messing with Amiga.  She said my horse was flapping her lip but when Patty got her phone out to record her, Amiga stopped, so Patty flapped it for her.  LOL  Buttons (Melissa's horse) will flap or smack her lips when bored.

I had to drive home with my lights on at 5:10.
Joe and I watched a documentary (The Social Dilemma ) on Netflix.  Much of it I was aware of, but the idea of technology controlling us is much more involved, harmful, and scary than I realized.  We are unknowingly 'addicted users' and unwilling to give it up!

Wednesday 11/4 - Things were warming up as we were experiencing the start of a wonderful Indian Summer.  I switched back to a lighter jacket to walk the dog.


There had been no action at the new tire, so I flipped it over with the larger opening up.  Monita was quick to come check it out.

Then Babe came to take a look and investigate.  And fairly soon, Mama Styx also joined her daughter.  In the last photo, they are looking at Stevie who is entering the room to see what all the commotion is about.

I did another load of laundry, washing our large bed spread and a little cat blanket I had missed the day before.

Eventually, I decided to flip the tire back over, the way I wanted it.  Babe was the only cat interested enough to get into the space through the smaller hole.  Monita was more interested in me at this point.

I drug myself to the gym, not wanting to go, but came home two hours later feeling I had accomplished something. 

I was still feeling lazy though, and the sun was so inviting, I laid out front with Maggie and read my new book.  The sun is at a different angle and no longer hits our deck in back.

I got to the barn later than intended, and wasn't completely committed to trailer practice.  First I wanted to ride Amiga to where there was a very low hanging branch that needed the larger pruners to cut.  Well, Jan offered to take me out on Cash.  So I took her up on it.  We worked together to do more than just the one bad branch.  Jan would pull down and hold the branch and I would cut it.  Cash was a very good boy. 

Once we got the real high up branches, I got off to walk back to the barn and get more of the side stuff crowding the trail in places.  Jan rode off on Cash.

I did a lot of trimming and also removed rock as I walked along the trail, covering probably a ½ mile.  Jan rode by much later to check on me. 

It started getting dark and I realized I wasn't going to have enough light to finish the trail all the way back to the barn.

Looking west down the trail along Chestnut Hill.  The woods were getting dark as the sun was going down in the distance.

It was nearly dark outside when I got back to the barn.  Amiga was off the hook, both for riding or trailer practice.  I merely peeked in at her and then headed home to feed my pet crew. 
Joe was off playing poker so it was a quiet evening playing games at my computer and reading.

Thursday 11/5 - As part of our efforts to mitigate water damaging our windows, leaking in behind the outside wall around them, and pouring down the whole outside of the house, we had a new (wider) gutter put up.  We had done this on both ends over the screened porch and sun room.  But in an effort to save money, we didn't do the higher middle section.  Live and learn, use horse sense.

The two workers arrived before I had completed my morning computer time and tea.  They started ripping off the old gutter, which, after the new roof had been put up, was barely catching any rain.

This 2nd story section of  roof above the two bedrooms upstairs has never had gutter on it.  So we also had a gutter added to it.  In addition to water getting into window frames in the living room, we have had water coming down the outside kitchen wall, under the screened porch roof.  The roofer did one repair last week and a handyman is going to re-calk the two upstairs windows Friday.  But we felt (and were advised by a few consultants) that a gutter would also help.

I had moved both our cars into the road, knowing I would be leaving, and I wanted to give the gutter guys room to work.  They were finishing up as I walked out to my car at 11:00, to go to the barn.


After chatting with staff, I fetched Amiga from the pasture and did the usual grooming (still lots of burs), then leg wraps, and saddling up.  
Below, Amiga with her saddle pad on.

It was a beautiful fall day, perfect for riding.  Unfortunately, I did not have much time, so only got to ride 45 minutes.  We (Joe, Patty, and I) were going to look at Terry's property (to possibly buy half) as an investment.  I considered riding Amiga on the Holly trail and just meeting at Terry's, but decided I didn't want to push my horse.

Joe and Patty picked me up at Wildwood and we spent an hour walking Terry and Billy's farm, chatting, and enjoying the day.  They have done a lot with their farm, including building a house on the second half of it.  It is intriguing to consider it as investment property, with income from boarders and a renter for the older farm house.  It would be wonderful to be able to 'go to the country' and enjoy the peace, views, horses, and do some farm work.  Although, I get most of that right here in my sun room.

Zorro up near the gate to get some attention.

Once I was dropped back off at the barn to work with Amiga on trailer loading, I had lost all ambition.  I had not gotten my full night of sleep.  It had been interrupted (too busy thinking about things) and was only a total of five hours, so I was tired and unmotivated.

I came home to have a very late (3:30) lunch, which was part of the cause of my low energy.  Into my loungers, I read for a bit, and then after the usual dinner time chores, I read some more.  It was an early bedtime.

Friday 11/7 - It turned out to be another beautiful fall day.  I went to the gym 90 minutes earlier than normal, and it was more crowded than usual, but still not bad.

I got home for an early lunch on the back deck with Maggie.  Now that several trees have lost most of their leaves (lower left photo), more sun is hitting the deck again.  I wanted to take a nap out there, but expected the window caulker man at any time.

I cleaned this feed tub Terry had thrown out, and the second tire I had gotten, and set them in the sun to dry.

Then I headed down back to work on leaf removal from the sandy peninsula that has formed from flood waters, which also deposits the leaves here.  The leaves make it more swampy, muddy, difficult for the deer to wade in, so I try to keep the silt cleaned out.  A sandy bottom is ideal.  I know this does not seem very sensible, but I work at cleaning the leaves out anyways.

Time, energy, and motivation were lacking, so I quit after an hour and headed to the barn.

The four cats and dog had been enjoying the sun, but I had to stick Maggie in the Mancave before I left.

I tried a little trailer loading before riding Amiga, and then again after a nice hour long ride.  She is bolting back off the trailer when I don't expect it and before I can stop her.  Well, I finally got a feel for when this was going to happen.  She starts to collect all her energy in her back end.  So when I could see this and anticipate the bolt off, I would ask her to step forward and she would relax again. 

Thankfully we were able to end on a good note because the sun was setting. 


I left the barn just after 5pm and drove home in the near dark, watching for deer.

We saw this post from Daniel.  Val had had an ultrasound earlier in the day and they could determine that the baby is a girl.


As an expectant grandmother, it makes absolutely no difference to me what the sex of the baby is.  A healthy baby, good and safe pregnancy for Valencia, and the future for this unborn child, are what my prayers are for.  And I know that is what everyone else's main concern and focus is.

I had taken the feed tub to use in my trailer and put this smaller tire in the sun room.  The other one was just too big I decided.  I know, I am crazy and lack horse sense, or any other sense.  LOL

It was a quiet evening that I spent here at my computer.  But then, just before bed, I discovered Stevie was no where to be found.  Long story short, she had gotten out when Joe walked Maggie right before bed.  I did eventually find and catch her under Brian's deck.  UGH!!!!