Interview with Spice

 I intend to record this blog as a podcast.  So enjoy what you are reading, and prepare to listen to the recorded version, when I figure out the technology.

Laverne

Welcome, listeners, to the first podcast of Talking Horses.  Today I have a special treat for you.  Spice, the oldest resident equine at Friendly Horse Acres, has agreed to be interviewed.  For those of you who don't know him, Spice is a Welsh/Shetland cross gelding who has served as a mount for over 30 years.  He is a handsome red roan pinto.

Welcome, Spice, and thank you for consenting to talk to me.

Spice

 There are cookies in it for me, right?

Laverne (sotto voce)

We'll talk about it later

Laverne (normal voice)

So thank you, Spice for your service, especially as a therapeutic riding mount.  Have you enjoyed the work?

Spice

Sure, it's good, as long as the work stays interesting.  I'm easily bored.  Going around in endless circles is not my favorite activity.  I like a bit of action at a faster pace.   I'm the kind of guy who enjoys a brisk trot, or better yet, a jolly canter.  I'm an agreeable sort of guy, though, so mostly I just try to get along. 

Laverne

What would you prefer to be doing? 

Spice

Jumping.  I love jumping.  Anything is good.  Rails, barrels, hay bales.  Put a barrier in front of me, and I'll go over it.  I do it for fun, even if I don't have someone urging me.  My complaint about jumping with a rider is the constant repetition.  Come on, people, if you've done it three times, lets move on to something else.  If you stayed on a few times, let's call it good.  I don't give a rip about your form.

Laverne

Anything else you particularly enjoy? 

Spice

Yeah, I do enjoy doing tricks.  I come when I'm called from anywhere if I hear the person, I grin on command, I bow as long as a human bows with me, I climb on a platform and spin slowly and I don't mind a rider running and jumping on my back.  Of course, the rider has to be light.  Oh, and I do give exuberant kisses.

And I do expect to be rewarded.

Speaking of which, about those reward cookie treats...

Laverne (sotto voce)

Later.

Laverne (normal voice)

Any special memories?

Spice

That Halloween soon after I came to the farm was a blast.  You had advertised a haunted barn, and after scaring people inside the barn, they were routed out of the arena to the back lawn.  They didn't know the biggest scare was outside.  I was under a sheet, and along with a couple of students in costume, and you, too, we burst out from behind a wall of hay and chased them, screaming, out of the arena.  I love to create chaos.  Too bad we never did it again. 

Laverne

Is life good for you?

Spice

I'm pretty content.  The food is good, the attention is adequate, and the mares are a bonus.  Also, I like the treats.  About the treats...

Laverne (quickly)

Any not so good times?

Spice

Well, a year ago,  last spring didn't start off very well.  I couldn't eat enough to keep my weight, and my winter coat didn't want to shed off.  You thought it was my teeth, but that was only part of my problem.  You had to call in a new vet because Dr Bob retired.  I liked her.  She was pretty gentle with her needles, and she took her time doing the dental.  The needles hardly hurt.

Turns out I have cushing's disease, but there are some pills for it.  Nasty pills.  You tried to force them down me with the pill pockets for horses, but you can't fool me.  I spat them back on you.  Serves you right. Those treats could fool the other horses, but not me.  Then you dissolved the pills in mash, but I eventually got wise to that.  For awhile the new vet said I was doing okay, and the weight came on.  This spring she said I was not swallowing enough.  Now you are hiding the pills in Fig Newtons.  So far, so good.

Laverne 

Any dislikes?

Spice

Dogs.  I hate dogs.  Your little mutt is the worst.  I run him out of my territory.

Laverne

Anything you would like to add?

Spice

If you can't lose twenty pounds, stay off my back.

And about those treats.

Laverne 

Ummm

Laverne (sotto voce)

Shh about the treats.  Later.

Laverne

Thank you, Spice, and thank you, folks, for joining us for this podcast of Talking Horses.  Please join us next time.

Fading voice imploring, "Spice, get out of my pocket.  You'll get the treats."

Moods

         "They are not machines,"  I warn my students.  Every horse or pony is different, and they all have moods.  I know I have days when I feel frisky, and days when I am a little blue - especially as I get older.  Okay, I am old.  Anyway, horses are the same as people.  They have moods.  They are sometimes happy,  they are usually content, but they do have days when they are angry or depressed.

    I am not sure why the concept that horses have feelings is hard to grasp, but it sure is true.  If they have personalities, it stands to reason that they will have moods.

    I have met many horse people who protest that they wouldn't own a mare.  "Too moody," they proclaim.  Well, I'm fond of mares, and most of my horses are female.  I've had geldings, of course, and we have even had a few stallions, but mares seem to come my way.  Have I found that mares are moody?  I'm not sure.  I do think they have a lot of personality, but perhaps I am biased.  I'm a female myself.  I have noticed by geldings are characters.  The stallions we have had have been delightful.  All the horses have more good days than bad.

    But, bad days happen.

    Take Rain, a pinto mare, who is usually the most complacent and loving of animals.  She is the one I place with beginners.  She is a lets-get-along type.  However, notice the word 'usually.'  I do remember the lesson where she was suddenly explosive (fortunately before she had a rider).  She bucked and pulled at the end of a rope.  Controlling her was the same as a youngster with a temper tantrum.  Why was she suddenly misbehaving?  To this day I don't really have a clear idea.  I think I made an excuse that she was probably in heat, but since that has never happened before, or since, I can only chalk her behavior to a random mood. 

    Spice is a gelding.  I used to claim that he dumps 50 percent of his riders 50 percent of the time.  He has mellowed a little with age, and that statistic no longer stands.  His behavior is not malicious, just mischievous. Spice is a jokester.  Like most comedians, he has a high IQ.  He likes to outsmart his riders.  This is not necessarily a mood thing.  He is always thinking.  Having said that, I have seen him lose his temper.  Spice is a firm believer that a rider is a partner, and as in any good partnership, both parties have a say in the relationship.  I had on rider who decided she was the boss.  Period.  For a lesson and a half Spice put up with her.  Finally, he lost his patience.  He bucked until she was on the ground.  (Bucking, other than a little crow hop, is not in Spice's normal repertoire.  He likes to fishtail, testing a rider's balance.)  Normally, when he loses a rider, he returns to the fallen human to check on them, to encourage them to get back on him.  In fact, after he has made the point that he can lose them, he becomes a more mellow fellow.  This rider was different, though.  He dumped her, and retreated to a corner of the arena as far from her as possible.  He stayed there until I had dusted off my student, made sure only her pride was hurt, and informed her she wasn't a good match for Spice.  Pushed too far, it is apparent Spice has a temper.

    Spice is not the only equine sensitive to his rider.  I am not the first person to notice that horses will often reflect our own moods. Many years ago, when Friendly Horse Acres was not yet a nonprofit, we hired a wonderful young trainer.  She became a dear friend.  As well as working for us, she showed her own horse in her final years of high school.  She was active in 4-H.

    She appeared very depressed on one particular occasion, and I inquired, "What's going on?"

    "My horse just isn't cooperating.  He behaves perfectly at home, but as soon as we get in the show ring, he loses focus and forgets everything."

    I thought, then asked, "Do you like showing?"

    "I did a few years ago, but now it's just a lot of pressure."

    I think I grinned.  "So you don't enjoy it anymore, and neither does your horse.  Is that a surprise?" 

    She understood at once.  Her horse was reflecting her own mood.  That is something horses do, too.

    They also have squabbles with each other. I've seen horses that groom and play with each other decide they have had enough of the other animal.  Using horse body language, they say, "Give me some space."  Woe to the pasture mate who is not paying attention.  Later, they will be buddies again.

    As a horse caretaker, it is important that I am aware of my horses' moods.  A horse that becomes exceptionally quiet, contrary to their normal nature, may be sick.  I actually appreciate a horse who lets me know they are not feeling well.  Since quines are prey animals they may try to hide an illness.   The sick animal in the wild herd is the one to get eaten.  Buddy had cancer and a heart condition.  He did his best to hide it until he was too ill to be saved.  Bay, on the other hand, has mastered the sad puppy eye.  She comes for help and looks pathetic.  Fortunately most of my horses are like Bay, just not as dramatic.

                                                                     Bay

    On the other hand, a frisky horse is a happy horse.  I especially remember waking on a cold winter morning to hear, and then see, the horses playing in the new snow.  they were obviously enjoying themselves.  Later, as the winter progressed, they became less enamored of the cold, but that first snowfall was greeted with delight. 

    Horses have their emotional ups and downs.  They are thinking, feeling creatures, very similar emotionally to humans.  When we form a relationship with a horse we need to be sensitive to the animal's moods.  Some horses are more consistent that others, but even the most reliable of equines is going to have a bad day, or a silly day, or a blue day.

    So, to the people who expect a horse to be exactly the same everyday, I can only say: Get a bicycle, or take up motocross.