Miscellaneous Monday 8-23-10

It's hot.  Summer or our second round of actual summer heat hit today.  I really shouldn't complain as this has been one of the mildest summer's I can remember in Northern California's hot valley.  But the next few days are suppose to be triple digits which I HATE!  Especially with the drop into the mid 50's every night.

As for the horses.  All are doing fantastic.  We had caught Ivan the other day and locked him up as he looked a bit swollen in his privates - nothing wrong just over-weight gelding syndrome.  So, threw him back out with the mares along with Ray.  We still have Woody locked up, as he's just not putting on weight and his feet still look suspiciously like he'd like to founder.  So grass hay, a handful (literally!) of alfalfa and we've let him in our backyard to what passes as my lawn to mow.

Woody and Ray our pet geldings

Silhouette, my gaga mare gets away with murder. She ate at least 25 peaches off this tree, evidence was there from all the pits she left behind.  She went after the roses next and was booted from the yard!

Charm and Lalique seem to be improving weekly, they're actually walking fairly well without any pain, or at least not hobbling like they were in May.  Lalique has fallen passionately and vocally in love with Demon.  It would be a great cross if she was sound, but alas not meant to be.

We did 'try' to take photos of the munchkin crowd - April and Vanna measured in out in the field at 26.25-26.50", but the only two photos I have of April that would have been nice have a thick cotton lead rope blocking her nose.  Anyway the two dinks are doing well.  I've been talking to a few people about stallion prospects for them in 2013.

Speaking of stallion prospects - did everyone watch the Double Diamond auction?  OMG!!!!! I almost cried at Vermilyeas Snippets Red Tape selling for $1,100.  He has been one of my favorite stallions for years.  The whole Snippet line has a look I like. If life wasn't constantly throwing curve balls at me this year - I know where he'd have been coming.  I did bid, but my angels were having a fierce battle over bid more/no don't!  Regretfully I had to stop - and yes all my friends will hear about this for at least 5 years as I whine and complain about not getting him.  The other stallion I bid on was Double Diamonds Mister Meaner - what a gorgeous guy! Double Diamond Catalog  

Besides those two, there were some mares that definitely caught my eye.  If I had the funds or was new to breeding Minis - what a great start to get some quality mares in this market.  People just 'getting into minis' don't realize how badly we've been hit with the recession, and what a great buyer's market it truly is.  Which segues into my next topic, one that I'm going to be expanding on over the coming months, but the topic at hand  -  Why do we breed?

 Questions, I'm going to sit down and ask myself, honestly answer, then post here.  I'm not sure I'm going to like the flat self-honesty though - lol!  I hope some of you will use this opportunity to consider why you breed too.

To get it rolling these are my "homework" questions the next month or so.  I tend to find Fall/Winter is when I get into my ambitious breeding plans that get scaled down alot by Spring! 

1.  Why am I breeding?
2.  Am I breeding for myself or am I breeding to sell?
(pleasing yourself vs the current Mini horse market and who is your clientele - pet homes not quality/other breeders/show homes ?)
3.  Can I buy versus breed the type of horse I want to produce/market?
(get a true cost of raising a foal to breeding age - including showing if you want a show record versus buying what you want/need)
4.  Evaluate your mares
(gets in foal easily, foaling issues, ease of foaling, good dam - milk, attitude, flaws or faults, disposition, movement, color - if that's important appy/pinto breeders)
5.  Stallion choice
(proven show record, flaws/faults, disposition, movement, how are his progency, breeding ability - aggressive? must be hand or pasture bred, percentage of mares covered, foals saleable?)
6.  Linebreeding vs outside breeding
(lines that can be double or what's a good out cross? how well do you know your pedigrees and what is/isn't a good cross)

Miscellaneous Monday 7-26-10

Busy weekend as usual!

I decided my dear Silhouette, gaga mare, had to vacate the backyard after she ate all the peaches off my tree!  This would have been the first year in nine years we were going to get to try them, but that greedy brat wiped them out! I thoroughly enjoy this mare and she's truly a spoiled brat, but she's my favorite and knows it.

The horses in the hoof issue/fat pasture are doing well, even though they do not like the enforced diet.  Woody's feet are no longer inflamed. Lalique and Charm are both doing well.  I did put Dipper in there as she's just to chunky.  Tomorrow butcher-fat Ray will be joining them.  He looks like he's 14 months pregnant with twins, so time to trim down.

Met up with some of my equine friends for lunch - always enjoyable - to talk horses, have good food with friends what better way to spend the day?  Always, always fun, plus a visit to Sonoma County I get to catch up with friends there after lunch and just enjoy one of my favorite places!  Not to mention getting out of the valley heat!

We had a mother/daughter team come out Sunday to look at the Minis, and they ended up taking three home!  Hot Topic, Kiega and Sassi left Sunday late afternoon to their new home with Brandi and Paula (and family!).  Looking forward to hearing how well they do with all of the family's plans which include 4-H and performance showing.  Very excited for them!

ET (Kiega's dam) and Libbe (I steal babies and think Kiega is mine) were both upset about an hour after he left.  Haltering him and taking out of the pasture was okay, but it finally dawned on them he was actually gone.  Fortunately it hasn't continued today.  I don't like to generally wean foals that way, but he was a very precocious five month old that was trying to mount mares!  And he has Sassi for company through his transition there.

I think next year we're breeding Una to Ringo definitely.  Everyone that comes out wants to buy their daughter, so either I hide her on the other end of the property or see if they can produce copies.  She is gorgeous though and the best personality too.  So she should have a full sibling in 2012 that will definitely be for sale!

The boys pastures is looking positively sparse with Miramax off for the next month or so.  Demon and Little should be both off in the next month and then it will feel empty with just Ringo, Topper, Zydeco and McLuvin left.

I did get a big package of paperwork from AMHA today - yeah!  Not all of it, but a big chunk of registration and DNA testing kits.

This week is tackle the other outstanding paperwork, get all the DNA kits off to UCD, and a list of any outstanding photos that need to be taken actually taken!

Heads up for aspiring drivers or those that want a fun place to spend driving in the Aptos/Santa Cruz area -

Good friend Julie Mabie is hosting at her place.

Whisper Equestrian Center Driving Clinic followed by a day of driving at Fort Ord. Aug 21 is the clinic. Sign up now. :)  Her website - Whisper Equestrian Center  If you want to learn or tune up driving try to make time for this!

HUSBANDS VS. HORSES

GOOD THINGS ABOUT HUSBANDS

1. Husbands are less expensive to shoe than horses, BUT THEY LIKE TO PICK THEIR OWN OUT OF FASHION STYLES

2. Feeding a husband doesn't require anything that even mildly compares with the hassle of putting up hay, BUT YOU STILL HAVE TO BUY THE FOOD AND COOK IT AND SERVE IT NICELY ON A PLATE.

3. A lame husband can still work, BUT YOU HAVE TO LISTEN TO HIM WHINE

4. A husband with a bellyache doesn't have to be walked, BUT YOU STILL HAVE TO LISTEN TO HIM WHINE LOUDER and; YOUR COOKING IS TO BLAME

5. Husbands don't try to scratch their heads on your back, BUT THEY WANT YOU TO SCRATCH THEIR BACK

6. They are better able to understand puns HOW?

7. If they are playing hard to catch, you **may** be able to run them down on foot , BUT WHY BOTHER ?

8. They know their name, PROVIDING IT BEGINS WITH OR ENDS WITH "WHAT CAN I GET YOU?"

9. They usually pay their own bills, HAHA

10. They apologize when they step on your toes, WHY DID YOU HAVE YOUR TOE THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE, ISN'T AN APOLOGY

11. No saddle fitting problems, WON'T GO THERE!

12. They seldom refuse to get into the vehicle, UNLESS YOU RE DRIVING

13. They don't panic - running and yelling all through the house when you leave them alone (unless you've left the kids with them too!) AND IF YOU LEAVE EDIBLE FOOD

14. For a nominal fee, you can hire someone else to clip them 'YOU CAN HIRE' BEING THE OPERATABLE WORD

15. They don't like the lady next door just as well as you, just because she fed him for 3 days straight UNGRATEFUL, SAY'S IT ALL!

THE HORSE'S ADVANTAGE

1. If they don't work out you can sell them

2. They don't come complete with in-laws

3. You don't have to worry about your children looking like them

4. You never have to iron their saddle pads

5. If you get too fat for one, you can shop for a bigger one

6. They smell good when they sweat

7. You can repair their "clothes" with duct tape

8. It's possible to keep them from "jumping the fence"

9. You can force them to stay in good physical condition with a whip if necessary

10. They don't want their turn at the computer

11. They may turn white with age, but never go bald

12. They have never heard of PMS

13. They learn to accept restraint

14. They don't care what you look like as long as you have a carrot or an apple

Misc Monday

It's hot.  Summer has arrived finally, don't get me wrong I've thoroughly enjoyed our coolish June, and would gladly have a summer in the mid-70's, but it's not to be in Northern CA.  We're hovering in the 90-100 range this week which is normal, but - dry and hot - bleah. Fortunately all the horses are doing well - fat and shiny.  


The alfalfa we had delivered last week, is absolutely gorgeous - heavy, leafy, green and, you know the smell of really really good hay?  Yeah that's it!  So we're having zero waste and the horses are being pigs.  I wish I had the money and storage to safely keep a years worth - no more stemmy stuff midwinter.  It would be lovely.  Or maybe only a herd of horses that consumed 100 bales a hay a year (the max I can safely store)!  What a thought!


Sales have been a bit slow, but I haven't been doing much to change that.  Life's been busy, and when you make your priority list, some things have to drop down on that list!  It would help if I'd put ads out, but again that ol' time thing...

Lalique and Charm update
I should mention - Lalique and Charm are both doing well.  Continuing to drop weight (I wish someone could do that with me), and after the last trim, Charm is actually taking steps, not a full stride, but she's no longer on full hobble.  Lalique is still angry I'm not letting her out with the balance of the mares, but until Tomas green-lights her that she's truly past any danger (founder, etc.) she's being restricted.  So screaming at her old buddies when they go out on the hills and visit through the fence, is her options.


For those that missed the Lalique and Charm adventure.  They are two mares that I were released back to me by their owner.  Life gets in the way at times, and both had gorged into obesity on too much feed, and a lack of a good farrier had foundered with severely overgrown hooves.


I called them the hobblers the first month they were here as they couldn't really take a stride.  Tomas (my wonderful farrier), thought likely a year to rehab them, and then they'd have to be monitored on feed in take and hoof trims.  


Lalique, 14,  is doing really well, down to one really troublesome hoof, but she can bear weight on it and walk - looking forward to hopefully seeing her run one day.  Charm, coming 5-6, has issues with all four hooves, so her progress is slow, but she can walk now versus the shuffle she had when she first arrived.  They both do think they're in hell though on a straight grass diet (okay I cheat and they get a few handfuls, only handfuls!) of alfalfa sprinkled around their pen.  

Upcoming Posts
I have started a couple of posts on more of our older herd.  I'm actually enjoying going through old photos (which I have a ton of), and pulling out information on the gang.  Coming up - Lady, Tina, Maria and Houdini, then we'll start working on the younger (mid-teens) horses. 


Another post I'm working on, questions I ask first time buyers.  Yes, I tend to quiz people when they come out!  It gets me a feel for them, and the potential home they'll provide.  Plus I'd one day love to have a really good FAQ of the most often asked things.

Posionous Plants


Something we all need to be aware of - what will kill your horse!  


We tend to have an abundance in the summer of yellow star thistle (grown locally for cattle feed and the wonderful honey), which my horse's ignore except for the yellow flower.  


I hate it more for the vicious thistle's that go through everything and the tenacious ability for it to survive almost everything to eradicate it!  It sets seed after its out of the ground - argh on it!


In all the research I've done over 11 years, I've yet to get any conclusive information on how much and for how long a horse needs to eat star thistle - the whole plant? stems? flowers?  It's always good to know, although my horses do not believe in the 'list'.  We just try to keep the majority of the super-toxic ones out and away from them.

Poisonous plants link at Cornell University - http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/plants/

A Horses View of the World

• Arena - A place where humans can take the fun out of forward motion.
• Bit - A means by which a rider's every motion is transmitted to the sensitive tissues of the mouth.
• Bucking - A counter irritant
• Cross Ties - A gymnastic apparatus
• Dressage - A process by which some riders can eventually be taught to respect the bit.
• Farrier - A disposable surrogate owner, useful for acting out aggression without compromising  food supply!
• Fence - A barrier that protects good grazing
• Grain - The sole virtue of domestication!
• Hitching Rail - A means by which to test one's strength
• Horse Trailer - A mobile cave or bear den.
• Hot Walker - The lesser of two evils
• Jump - An opportunity for self expression
• Latch - A type of puzzle
• Lunging - A procedure for keeping a prospective rider at bay
• Owner - A human assigned responsibilities for one's feeding, care and expenses
• Ride - Owner overstepping its bounds
• Trainer - Owner with mob connections
• Veterinarian - Flightless albino vulture

Miscellaneous Monday 6-14-10

It's hot hitting into the mid-90's, and we're still waiting oh so patiently on Libbe and Maria to foal.  My preference would be tonight, but I don't think they're going to oblige me.  At least we should be cooling down back into the 80's this week.

The foals are all doing well, Kiega has completely shed out. Bruiser is not a blue roan, but a black; Rose is the prima donna with all the boys, and Fifa (we're naming him after the World Cup - big football fans here! So it looks like Wesco Farms World Cup 2010 maybe his name - lol!) is enjoying his play time with Rose and Bruiser.  Kiega does play but thinks he's the 'stallion' in the mare/foal pasture, so he'd rather follow the mares around then play with the babies!

The rest of the herd is waiting for me to start bathing/clipping/general clean up on them.  

Tomas was out last week, and we're officially all caught up on trimming - yeah!  We have visits planned out through the Fall, so we shouldn't get off schedule again until December-ish.

Sent off a huge stack of paperwork to both registries.  Late stallion reports, transfers, permanent registration and DNA/PQ tests.  A chunk of change as I've procrastinated for so long.  ** AMHA coupons are still good for horses that have RV paperwork!  Check out their site - AMHA.org registration.  These are good through the end of the year.

Other news –

Little Kings Dream Demon and Lucky Four Colorcard Miramax will be out on lease soon.  Demon will be going to Imperial Acres for a couple of years, and Miramax is off to Redbud Ranch for the season. 

Little (Grosshills Little Mans Anticipation) is off to Wee Gems Minis along with one of our mares Libbe (LGF Miss Liberty Belle on lease) and two mares that came back for re-homing, Charm and Lalique.

It’s going to be nice with less mature stallions, but I’m going to miss these guys and their individual personalities.

How "NOT" to photo a horse.

Trying to take photo's of a weanling can be oh so fun.  These are a series of Wesco Farms Count Your Blessings, Ringo's 2009 filly, out of Una (Wesco Farms Bella Luna).  They have a serious love affair, and I'm likely going to repeat this breeding in 2011.  Blessing (we call her Pretty Girl), thought the whole lead rope and set up was pure torture - we were laughing at her posture!

Maxim steps in to assist.

Finally - a decent shot!

We haven't had a photo-op session with her this year, but she's one of our favorites - 

#########

Glossary of Horse Terms

• Veterinarian: That career you wish you had pursued whenever you open your monthly vet bill.
• Horse Shoes: Simply-styled flats which come without a designer label, only last 5-6 weeks, but cost the same as Ferragamo's.
• Horse Show: The ultimate goal and destination of all training, feeding, shoeing, medicating, equipment purchases, and  free-time hours whereby for approximately 6 minutes your horse shows you just how badly behaved he can be (see also: Show Horse)
• Hock: Financial condition of all horse owners.
• Stall: What your rig does at rush hour in an unfamiliar city on the way to a big horse show.
• A Bit: What you have left in your pocket after you've been to your favorite tack shop.
• Fence: Decorative structure built to provide your horse with something to chew on.
• Horse Auction: What you think of having after your horse bucks you off.
• Pinto: Green coat pattern found on freshly washed light colored horses left unattended for 2 minutes.
• Well Mannered: Hasn't stepped on, bitten, or kicked anyone for a week.
• Rasp: Abrasive metal tool used to remove excess skin from ones knuckles.
• Lunging: Popular training method in which a horse exercises their owner by spinning them in circles until dizzy.
• Gallop: Customary gait a horse chooses when returning back to the barn.
• Nicely Started: Lunges, but not enough health insurance to even think about riding him.
• Colic: Gastro-intestinal result of eating at horse fair food stands.
• Colt: What your mare gives you when you want a filly.
• Easy to Load: Only takes 3 hours, 4 men, a 50lb bag of oats, and a tractor with loader.
• Easy to Catch: In a 10x10 stall.
• Easy Rider: Rides good in a trailer; not to be confused with "ride-able".
• Endurance Ride: End result when your horse spooks and runs away with you.
• Hives: What you get when receive the vet bill for your 6 horses, 3 dogs, 4 cats, and 1 donkey.
• Hobbles: Walking gait of a horse owner after their foot has been stepped on by their horse.
• Feed: Expensive substance used to manufacture manure.
• Dog House: What you are in when you spend too much money on grooming supplies and pretty halters.
• Light Cribber: We can't afford to build anymore fencing or box stalls for this buzz saw on four legs.
• Three-Gaited Horse: A horse that. 1) trips, 2) stumbles, 3) falls.

Miscellaneous Monday

Horse-aholics Anonymous

I AM a horse-aholic. I would like to welcome all of you to this month's online meeting of Horse-Aholics Anonymous.You may be sitting there thinking that you are OK, and don't really need any help. It is not easy to realize that you are ahorse-aholic, and even harder to bring yourself to an HA meeting for help. HA is here to assist you. I have some questions to ask to try to determine if you can be helped.


1. Can you say 'sheath' in public without blushing?
2. Do you know exactly what 'snaffle' means? (No,it is not a drink!)
. Do you drive a truck with some type of towing package and/or dual rear wheel when everyone else you know drives a real car?
4. Do you have more than one type of trailer because you own horses?
5. Do you spend your holidays going to shows, sales, clinics, and seminars when everyone else goes on cruises?
6. Do you discuss things at the dinner table that would make a doctor leave in disgust?
7. Do you consider formal wear clean jeans and freshly scraped boots?
8. Does the inside of your home look like your interior decorator is 'State Line Tack'?
9. Do you often have barn boots on porch facing the barn??
10. Is your mail made up primarily of breed magazines and horse catalogs?
11. Do your shirt pockets often contain bits of feed, hay, and empty syringe covers?
12. Do you worry about paying your monthly feedbill before you think of paying your electric bill?
13. When you meet a person, do you ask how many horses they have, and pity them if the answer is none?
14. Do you remember the name of a great-great-greatgrandsire when you can't remember your own Great grandfather's name?
15. Is your primary dream in life to breed the perfect foal?
16. Do you find non-horse people boring?
17. Is 99% of your e-mail about horses?
18. Do you have a collection of bits even larger than your collection of horses?
19. Does you halter collection include more than four foal halters, all the same size?
20. Do you know more than five people this list fits exactly?
If you answered YES to three of these questions, you are in pretty good shape. You will lead a long, dull life, and never call your mother and tell her "I'm in the hospital, but everything is fine! The horse is ok."


If you answered YES to 10, you are in serious trouble. Give in gracefully, and become a member of Horse-Aholics Anonymous, now!!! You will qualify eventually anyway.


If you answered YES to 15 or more, you are incurable. My advice to those who, like me, are incurable is as follows..... Sit back, smile, read your email, and know that your life will always be filled with good friends and better horses, and it will never be boring.            (author unknown)

Miscellaneous Monday

GLOSSARY OF HORSE TERMS

• Auction - A popular social gathering where you can change a horse from a financial liability into a liquid asset.
• Azorturia (Monday Morning Disease) - a condition brought on by showing horses all weekend. Symptoms include the feeling of dread at having to get out of bed on Mondays and go to work or school.
• Barn Sour - An affliction common to horse people in northern climates during the winter months. Trudging through deep snow, pushing wheelbarrows through snow and beating out frozen water buckets tend to bring on this condition rapidly.
• Big Name Trainer - Cult Leader: Horse owners follow them blindly, will gladly sell their homes, spend their children's college funds and their IRA's to support them- as they have a direct link to "The Most High Ones" (Judges).
• Bog Spavin - The feeling of panic when riding through marshy area. Also used to refer to horses who throw a fit at having to go through water puddles.
• Colic - The gastrointestinal result of eating at the food stands at horse shows.
• Colt - What your mare always gives you when you want a filly.
• Contracted foot - The involuntary/instant reflex of curling one's toes up - right before a horse steps on your foot.
• Corn - small callus growths formed from the continual wearing of cowboy boots.
• Endurance ride - The end result when your horse spooks and runs away with you in the woods.
• Equitation - The ability to keep a smile on your face and proper posture while your horse tries to crowhop, shy and buck his way around a show ring.
• Feed - Expensive substance utilized in the manufacture of large quantities of manure.
• Fences - Decorative perimeter structures built to give a horse something to chew on, scratch against and jump over (see inbreeding).
• Flies - The excuse of choice a horse uses so he can kick you, buck you off or knock you over - he cannot be punished.
• Founder - The discovery of your loose mare some miles from your farm, usually in a flower bed or cornfield. Used like: "Hey, honey, I found'er."
• Gallop - The customary gait a horse chooses when returning to the barn.
• Gates - Wooden or metal structures built to amuse horses.
• Green Broke - The color of the face of the person who has just gotten the training bill from the Big Name Trainer...
• Grooming - The fine art of brushing the dirt from one's horse and applying it to your own body.
• Hay - A green itchy material that collects between layers of clothing, especially in unmentionable places.
• Heaves - The act of unloading a truckful of hay.
• Hobbles - Describes the walking gait of a horse owner after his/her foot has been stepped on by his/her horse.
• Hock - The financial condition that a horse owner goes into.
• Inbreeding - The breeding results of broken/inadequate pasture fencing.
• Jumping - The characteristic movement that an equine makes when given a vaccine or has his hooves trimmed.
• Lameness - The condition of most riders after the first few rides each year; can be a chronic condition in weekend riders.
• Longeing - A training method a horse uses on its owner with the purpose of making the owner spin in circles-rendering the owner dizzy and light-headed so that they get sick and pass out, so the horse can go back to grazing.
• Manure spreader - Horse traders
• Mustang - The type of horse your husband would gladly trade your favorite one for...preferably in a red convertible and V-8.
• Overreaching - A descriptive term used to explain the condition your credit cards are in by the end of show season.
• Pinto - A colorful (usually green) coat pattern found on a freshly washed and sparkling clean horse that was left unattended in his stall for ten minutes.
• Proud Flesh - The external reproductive organs flaunted by a stallion (and some geldings) when a horse of any gender is present. Often displayed in halter classes.
• Quarter Cracks - The comments that most Arabian owners make about the people who own Quarter Horses.
• Quittor - A term trainers have commonly used to refer to their clients who come to their senses and pull horses out of their barns.
• Race - What your heart does when you see the vet bill.
• Reins - Break-away leather device used to tie horses with.
• Sacking out - A condition caused by Sleeping Sickness (see below). The state of deep sleep a mare owner will be in at the time a mare actually goes into labor and foals.
• Saddle - An expensive leather contraption manufactured to give the rider a false sense of security. Comes in many styles, all feature built-in ejector seats.
• Saddle Sore - The way the rider's bottom feels the morning after the weekend at the horse show.
• Sleeping Sickness - A disease peculiar to mare owners while waiting for their mares to foal. Caused by nights of lost sleep, symptoms include irritability, red baggy eyes and a zombie-like waking state. Can last several weeks.
• Splint - An apparatus that can be applied to various body parts of a rider due to the parting of the ways of a horse and his passenger.
• Stall - What your truck does on the way to a horse show, fifty miles from the closest town.
• Twisted Gut - The feeling deep inside that most riders get before their classes at a show.
• Versatility - an owner's ability to shovel manure, fix fences and chase down a loose horse in one afternoon.
• Weaving - The movement a horse trailer makes while going down the road with a rambunctious horse in it.
• Whip Marks - The tell-tale raised welts on the face of a rider-caused by the trail rider directly in front of you letting a low hanging branch go. (Also caused by a wet or dry horse-tail across the face while cleaning hooves)
• Windpuffs - Stallion owners. Also applied to used car salesmen.
• Withers - The reason you'll seldom see a man riding bareback.
• Yearling - the age at which all horses completely forget the things you taught them previously.
• Youngstock - A general term used for all equines old enough to bite, kick or run you over, but not yet old enough to dump you on the ground.
• Zoo - The typical atmosphere around most horse farms.

Horse Humor (or Miscellaneous Monday)

You have two small bags packed and your horse has a trunk of clothes and half a pickup load of equipment.

You run a comb through your hair once in a weekend and call it good and then spend 2 hours a day - banding your horse's mane, combing out his tail, sanding his feet and applying hoof polish to show in a dirt arena.
- Your horse smells better than you.
- Your horse dresses better than you.
- Your horse eats better than you.
- Your horse gets more sleep than you.

People know your horse's name, his parents' names, his show record, etc. but all they know about you is "Aren't you the person who owns (insert your horse's name)?"

You spend hundreds of dollars on shavings, stall rent, entry fees, etc. and then can't decide whether you should buy a large or small lemonade for yourself.

You can sprain your ankle, break 3 fingernails, get a mild concussion, sprain your back, have someone back into your truck, get food poisoning, heatstroke, sunburn, lose your dog, lose your kid, and still call it a successful weekend because your horse won his class!