Mare Stare, LLC - a live CAM! and a poem "A Common Bond"

A Common Bond

Nuzzling wobbly legs

supportive, she nickers

encouragement, 

blocks perceived danger,

nips tender warning

upon youthful shoulder,

responsive.

I send mine off,

weary with backpack

deadlines looming large.

Lighten her load

I offer help,

her youthful shoulder

dismissive.

A common bond shared

this mare and I.  Alas,

her sweet job's just begun

mine's run its course.

by Margaret Bednar

HERE is a site with a "streaming cam" that allows one to watch live a mare that is about to foal, foaling, or taking care of her newborn foal.  I am watching my friend's horse WRosieQ and two mares  at Premier Friesians Cam #1 and Premier Friesians Cam #2.   It will be so fun watching WRosie give birth and she is due very soon - we thought perhaps last night.

(If you are interested in watching the steam, click on the link and cursor down and select... they are not all activated... it depends upon the foaling schedule of each farm)

The photo above is one I took of WRosie "big and prego!" and will post more once she delivers.  Do any of you remember how you felt hours, days just before delivery!?

The poem is for "Imaginary Garden with Real Toads - Ella's Edge - Writing Poetry from the Inside Out". I sort of followed the rules... it is raining outside so I used the "CAM" as my outside this morning and also used what was going on "inside" my world... taking my daughter back to college this morning.  (We live within 35 minutes of the school, and since she was sick, I wanted her home resting ... so I AM still needed... sometimes :)

I posted this on my photography/poetry blog, but thought this post fits in quite well here as well!  :)

What color is my horse? Black or Bay? (And the answer is... BROWN)

Sebastian had a black winter coat.  It isn't yet summer and he already looks pretty "rusty".  Is he a bay or black horse?  I love him either way and wouldn't spend much money to have him black, BUT I read that a Tablespoon of paprika morning and night will do the trick.  Has anyone ever done this?

I read somewhere that if a horse is feeding from "red" earth (and yes, NC has red dirt) then it is likely full of iron which competes with copper metabolically.   Copper is very important in maintaining coat color.  He is pasture boarded with a nice shed to use to get out if the wind, rain... and sun.  His pasture does not have much shade, if any.

His father is a black Friesian, his mother I would say, a Bay Paint.

...and below is a photo of him last October when his winter coat was starting to come in:

Do you and your horse play? Sebastian: "The Pedestal" & a video of Guy McLean

Sebastian has found he really likes the pedestal.  He looks around with a twinkle in his eye - I always have to make him get off.  I wonder how LONG he would stay?  I don't know if it is the "stretch" he enjoys or the view.  He even will doze a bit...

What importance, if any, do you put in ground work?  I'm NOT just talking about circle lunging, but mobile lunging, along the fence work (we are learning to walk sideways), cut backs, and various obstacles like the pedestal, poles, cones...  I find Sebastian gets really bored doing any one thing for too long... its as if he needs a goal, a reason, or he doesn't see the point... endlessly going in circles I think bores him.  I notice his energy stays very nice and is very light on the rope if I don't have him go more than three times one way while lunging.  However, much of it could be due his age ... he turns four in June.

It has taken a bit to learn the techniques myself, but I have been pleasantly surprised by HOW MUCH personality I see in both horses when I interact with them this way.  It's kind of like "hanging out' and communicating with them on a totally different level - a working together in a way that can never be matched with riding.  Perhaps the most valuable thing that has come out of these ground exercises is I find my horse has learned to WATCH me.  And I've learned a lot about individual body language from both of my horses.

Both of these photos are from my new iphone... the don't replace my NICE camera, but sometimes a candid, no frills photo is all that is available.

The following video is "Part 1" of a series of posts from Janine's blog "Hoofprints of Enzo and Kaspin".  She went to "Equine Affair" and saw Guy McLean.  She will be posting more on her blog... so check it out!  :)  Guy will be at the Midwest Horse Fair (Madison, Wisconsin) this weekend, April 20-22)  How I wish I was close enough to drive there.  It isn't far from Northern Illinois where I grew up and my family still lives - I might just have to plan a visit next year at this time :)

Black & White Portrait

This isn't a sharp photo, I really needed a tripod for this as it was dark.  The light is from a lamp post.  It would make a great reference for a drawing or painting though.  

Stock Photography... I'm considering it - does anyone have advice?

Spring is here and it is nice to see green and yellow!  The birds wake me early in the morning and I'm wearing sunglasses.  BUT... I'm still working on Oberon and Sebastian's winter coats.  I have a curry comb and a shedding blade/sweat scraper that work as they should.. but does anyone have a "MAGIC" brush?  (other than electric clippers ;)

Sunday we had a great time with a photo shoot.  I have been playing around with the idea submitting a few photos to stock photography company.  There are so many out there.  Does anyone have any experience in this field?  And of course, my own critical monster in my head makes me hesitate.  I just have so much to still learn about photography.  I look back at some of my earlier attempts and cringe.  Will I look back at these and say... "yuck"?  ;)

I have become much more detail oriented in composition and lighting... I almost never use a flash now, just available light, and I have narrowed my field of interest down to a few specific things, which is supposedly a good thing if one wants to be a stock photographer...

So, any information would be appreciated as I really know nothing about it.

My First Ride!

Sebastian has been ridden by James Cooler for a few months now but today I saddled him up and walked him around the field!  My horse turns four June 18th and I think he is now at least 16 hands. The vet is visiting in April and I will have Sebastian measured.

Quite a different feel than riding Oberon, my 14'2" QH!  Sebastian was a bit of a "drunken sailor" but very responsive to my light pressure.  I can see what he needs now is just ... time and hours upon his back.  He is very, very happy to walk along FOREVER and for now, that is FINE by me :)

Sebastian is a bit "down hill" still and has a slight dip behind his withers and I'm hoping he will grow and fill out a tiny bit more as I'd love to have the saddle fit him a bit better.  I'm going to post about that piece of "equipment" soon.

Ebony Park Friesians - Videos to make Friesian lovers hearts soar

HERE is their website.  I signed up for their free monthly on-line magazine.  Below is an interview
and three points below which I found quite interesting.  My Sebastian is half Friesian, he is a Friesian Sport horse.  Thank goodness, my trainer, James Cooler, understood to be patient with Sebastian as he was one horse very resistant to pressure at fist.  Now, he is amazingly light and responsive.  He also is a horse that gets bored very quickly with endless repetition and ring work.  For him, quality, not quantity, if key.  I posted a video of the horse just below, Orlando, being worked by Sarah.  The last video is of three adorable foals of their 2011 season.  Enjoy!

So what you can learn from this story!?

1. All young horses are different! Some take longer to learn that others.

You need to respect that, and be incredibly patient, loving and generous. To begin with, Orlando wasn’t too sure about contact – if we had forced his head down and ‘made’ him work, we would be in a whole lot of trouble. By just using gentle persistence and encouragement, it became ‘his’ idea to come round and through and now he loves it – it’s also a lot easier for us as the rider.

2. With the young ones, and with all horses we firmly believe it’s the quality of work you do that is important, not the length of time. Orlando was never worked longer than 30mins – usually 20 mins. With each session, as long as he tried, that was considered a ‘great’ session. We never compared the last session to this one, and we were always impressed if he walked, trotted, cantered half straight, and half forward – we were onto a good thing!

3. We am always in awe that a horse allows us to ride on his back. That he carries us, and tries to understand what we want, and where we want him to go. That respect and love has to be there all the time, and we always give the horse a carrot, apple, mouthful of food after we ride back into the washbay to say thanks mate – you did good.

and here is a sweet video of three Friesian foals of their 2011 season.  So adorable and the selected music is very nice as well.