horse care

I brought Tonka home in December of 2013. He was two months shy of his 8th birthday. Today he turns 13! I’m fortunate to have been able to learn something of Tonka’s early days. He grew up on a ranch in Texas, with aunties who told him what’s what, and […]

Happy 13th Birthday, Tonka!

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It’s 0°F this morning. Which is not as cold as it is in the Midwest (I feel for you guys!) On the plus side, there’s not much wind and the sun is shining in a blue sky. The horses are fine. When the weather is at it’s worst, they’re in. […]

Walking In the Cold

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I’ve been asked why Tonka wears his in the winter. Good question! It’s something that horses usually wear to keep flies and gnats out of their sensitive ears. It’s a simple solution to a pesky (pesty!) problem. Although there aren’t bugs in New England when it’s cold, Tonka wears his […]

Ear Bonnet

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Early Sunday morning it started to snow. Which turned to freezing rain, pelting sleet, cold rain, and more snow. The horses, of course, stayed snug in their stalls. Monday morning was clear, but this was the temperature, and it wasn’t expected to rise more than a few degrees all day. […]

Cold Snap Worries

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Recap: Tonka has had recurrent sacroiliac joint issues which cause back pain, which I know because he tells me in a myriad of ways. When the SI joint flares up, Tonka moves away from the mounting block. He doesn’t willing do upward transitions. It gets so bad that he refuses […]

Tonka’s Sacroiliac Joint Progress

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When I arrived at the barn this afternoon, the ground was frozen hard. Tonka was way out back in the furthest paddock, and he was on the far side of that. He came when I called. (Here’s how to train a horse to come.)   Honestly, he doesn’t always have […]

Clean/Dirty

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Does your horse look like this when you put the saddle on?   When you try to tighten the girth, does your horse air snap, or reach around and try to bite you?   This behavior is often called being girthy (or cinchy if you use western tack). I don’t like that term, […]

The Girthy Horse

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Five years ago, I brought Tonka into my life. Since then, he’s lived at four stables. The one he’s currently at is perfect, and yet we’re looking for a new home. I’m not a difficult boarder and my horse is easy to take care of. So why all of the […]

The Perfect Boarding Barn

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Each day brings incremental improvement to Tonka’s ease of movement. As I mentioned in the last post, Tonka, my usually willing horse, said that he was hesitant to trot, and full-out refused to canter. To the uninitiated, horses look like sturdy beasts. But to those of us who know them […]

Incremental Improvement

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