Horse Haven at Bear Creek

Jennifer

Donnell Boyd is the head of Horse Haven at Bear Creek, it is true. But Nate Jensen is the spine. Last week HHABC suffered a spinal injury. Nate, who will basically work through anything short of an aneurism, had to call in sick Monday seeing as he was having a bit of emergency surgery. It was his appendix, which luckily he could spare, and he is recovering nicely so you can all join us in a collective sigh of relief.  But despite what we believe of him, he is actually only human and that means it is taking him a few days to recover from having abdominal surgery.  Go figure.

Ordinarily around the ranch, all our back up plans have back up plans of their own. But Nate is our non-redundant system. He is NATE. There is no substitute, no second best.  On the rare occasions when he needs to be away from HHABC for more than his usual days off, we have plenty of notice and plan, plot and strategize right up until the moment he goes merrily off to do whatever.  Then we muddle along until he gets back. We are all capable people, that isn’t the issue. The issue is that Nate is NATE. It is as simple as that. And while we are able bodied, have a reasonable amount of horse experience collectively, know the property and the animals, and have several advisors out there should we need them, the whole operation just runs better when we have Nate.

So you can imagine the anxiety that surfaced when we got the news that he would be mending for a time and that we’d need to get along without him. We were, shall I say, ”concerned.” It turns out we needn’t have worried. As Theophrastus said: “True friends visit us in prosperity only when invited, but in adversity they come without invitation.” Well if that is the case, we have been filthy with true friends this week. Donnell sent our Urban Herd members and HHABC boarders a brief note to let them know that Nate would be out and that prayers and well-wishes were welcomed.

We assume everybody took care of those things in their own way. What we didn’t expect was the other response from our people. On Monday morning, we had enough volunteers show up that we had the whole day’s chores done by 11.30! And that was great, for sure, but then Tuesday came and again, our people came out of the woodwork.  Wednesday, same story. Thursday, starting to see a pattern. Friday, are you kidding?!  You people are STILL showing up to help?!

Not only did the daily chores get handled, but other projects were tackled as well. Stall mats were re-leveled. A thousand pounds of hay was moved from the hay loft to the various feed rooms. Grain buckets were scrubbed. Cob webs were dusted. Bathrooms cleaned, and weeds pulled.

I’m not overstating when I say that more than one tear of gratitude escaped our tight control. There is truly nothing to compare with being on the receiving end of such generosity. There are not words enough. And so we’ll just go with the old standard, and to Sammy, Alison, Ashley, Phil, Kim, Teri, Eilene, Sharon, Susan, Kristin, Laura and Inessa we say THANK YOU, from the bottom of our hearts. Thank you.

Alison

I haven’t written an update since the beginning of December, when the days were getting shorter and things seemed to be getting murkier on all fronts. My last entry was definitely a “highlights” report. After that, we were riding in the arena and someone opened the gate. Sparty went high and to the right. I tried riding outside a couple of times, and both times I was happy to stay on for 8 seconds. Then there were the tantrums he threw with me on the ground. We had some battles over grazing that left me sweating and shaking.

I was getting very discouraged. Wiser horse people than I assured me that this is the journey. Some forward steps and some the opposite. Our last big battle happened a few weeks after our big rodeo scene in Donnell’s driveway. I took Spartacus out to the big field for a little grazing. He started getting pretty pushy, so I started exerting some authority. His reply involved showing me his full height, his T-Rex impression, repeatedly.  That was a do or die (hopefully not really die) moment for us. I had a spot of clarity in the midst of my fear. I said to myself and to him. “I can take this. I am not letting go of this rope. Ever. I don’t care how fast my heart is beating, the agenda is still the same (that’s a Nancyism). You are not eating, you are not charging me, you are not taking my space and we are walking out of this field together like partners…I being the Managing Partner. You may have 1500 lbs. on me, but I have thumbs and understand leverage and I’m not giving up this time.” And that was the eventual outcome, after what felt like a lifetime of deep breaths. I came away from that in tears, but no less determined.

It was a turning point for me, and time has shown that it was a turning point for him too. Since then, there have been no tantrums and no acts of outright defiance. In addition to the Herd and my instructors, one of the new boarders at the barn has been really helpful. Bridget’s wisdom and example have been instrumental in the evolution of my beliefs and attitudes about the horse human relationship. That’s a whole other blog post.

I really want to take Sparty off the property and go trail riding, maybe by Fall. We’ll see. To that end, we have taken some successful steps in the last couple of weeks. We’ve walked in hand off the property and down the road twice. The route includes encounters with dogs, goats and other horses. Yes! But here’s the big one. We rode outside the arena from the backside to the parking lot and back with perfect ease! I’m not a good enough writer to convey how profound that was.

I tell my students all the time that dancing is not magic. Some people take to it faster, with more grace than others, but everyone who loves it learns it. I’m just trying to apply that to horses (even though horses are a little bit magical). I think it’s working.

Donnell

We had Joan Ranquet out awhile back to help us communicate with our horses.  We have been so diligent in our attempt to ‘do what’s right for the horses’ based on our fledgling knowledge, that we continue to wonder… Are we doing the right thing?

As has been mentioned in previous posts, the horse industry is awash with opinions on everything from bits to blankets and shoes to supplements.  If you put 10 people in a room and ask – ‘what type of bit would you recommend?’, you are likely to get at least 12 opinions.

In our attempt to do the ‘right’ thing, we have immersed ourselves in the never-ending information available online and talked to anyone and everyone that we feel has valuable knowledge to impart.  And we continue to come back to the same answer…  NO ONE has the ultimate ’right’ answer.  So we just continue to do what we have been doing to the best of our ability and watch and listen to the horses, and try to keep it as simple as possible.

Dolly is recovering from surgery and on stall rest.  We have been diligent in keeping her confined and as calm as possible, but she decided to exercise her ‘free will’ and launched herself out of her stall, over the muck cart being pushed in by Mark to clean up and unfortunately… through Mark.  After making sure Mark was okay, we followed Dolly down her escape path fretting and worried about what her adventure might be doing to her leg.  She had made it to the freshly sown grass in the new pasture, where she ran and jumped and spun to evade Erin and I.  When she decided she was done, she just stopped and allowed me to calmly walk up to her, put her halter on, and lead her back to her stall.  Fortunately – the following doctor visit showed no damage done.

Kiera has suffered from escalating heat cycles turning her from friendly and loving to distant and downright unfriendly.  We started with Mare Magic, graduated to Mellow Mare, made a few changes to her diet and did an ultrasound to check for cysts.  When she kicked the rasp out of Seth’s hand just missing his head, we decided it was time to do more.  Another ultrasound disclosed a CL and she was given lutalyse.  When she returned to heat with her agressive mood within 5 days - the decision was made to start ReguMate.  After a few days – she was almost back to her sweet self, with I think a little ‘learned’ behavior left to go.  We will follow this course for a couple months and see where her behavior goes, re-evaluate, and then make another decision.

The horses can’t tell us how they’re feeling, what’s going  on, or what they need or want to make them comfortable and healthy, and unfortunately, most of the time, all we can do is make  the best educated guess we can.  If we transfer our own ‘human’ ideas of what they need on to them to meet our needs, it can create more discomfort and loss of health.  So we try to let them be horses as well as we can on a small piece of equestrian property, keep our human emotions in check as much as possible and when necessary, start small and then take the next indicated step.

Dolly is still on stall rest, but she is now being walked almost daily and is tolerating her confinement better.  Kiera is getting back to being the sweet mare she was… and currently all is well in the land of The Urban Herd.

The horses did have some interesting things to say to Joan, but most were on an a personal and emotional vein and related to us as their keepers.  I think the one that stood out for me the most was for us to quit worrying so much about them and just let ourselves ’be’ with them.

So the order of the day is a little less talking and a lot more being…

Jennifer

Christmas and New Years were fantastic at Horse Haven at Bear Creek. Donnell decked the halls, all the horses had stockings full of treats, and the fireworks at midnight New Year’s Eve were not too disturbing. Marissa brought in a plate of yummy Christmas cookies, as did Anna, and Judy brought in an assortment of chocolate covered fruits that were happily devoured by everyone in the place. It was a festive time and even though people had other commitments outside the barn, still almost everybody found time to come out and help keep the horses happy, groomed and entertained. We are particularly grateful to Sammy and Jarred for working Christmas Day, and to our most excellent hired hand, Hillary, who worked Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day, giving the rest of us a couple extra days off.

I keep thinking that at some point things are going to slow down at the ranch. First I thought the wet fall and cold winter weather were going to keep people away – but that didn’t happen. Then I thought the holidays would find people too busy to come out – but that didn’t happen. Then I thought the cold and flu season would have people staying indoors – but that didn’t happen either. When am I finally going to just accept that we have highly motivated and dedicated herd members? It isn’t a fluke. These people are for real! Maybe I’ll figure that out in January .

Since you last heard from us, we have had a new person join in the Horsemanship Program. Her name is Eilene and she is helping us pilot this program by being the first to go through it. Jarred has also volunteered to be a test pilot for the program, willingly going back to the basics to improve his fundamentals and our program. Welcome Eilene, and thank you Jarred.

By way of our extended friends and family, we have had several younger visitors to the ranch over the past six months. Some of the kidlets are very interested in the horses, some just like the sound of their own feet running down the barn aisle, some think that the hayloft is a version of paradise. All of our small guests add a little something to the environment while they are here, and we are happy to be the place they first learn about horses. On Saturday my friend Greg brought his 15 month old daughter Lila out to see horses for the first time. She’s a bold little girl, basically fearless, and she merrily traipsed around the property, climbing dirt hills and stomping through mud and puddles. She demonstrated how to take maximum advantage of what HHABC has to offer. I was very impressed. She was less impressed with our horses than we were with her though. She gave them a few pets, but not much more attention than that. Until I took her for a ride on Briana. That got her attention. Her dad handed her up to me and she leaned back against me with her arms resting on my arms, like I was her own personal Barcalounger. She snuggled back into her seat and off we w

ent and that is when the smiles really came out. Briana was an excellent mount, only a little bit confused by the presence of an extra very tiny bottom resting on her withers. Lila acted like she’d done this a million times, totally relaxed and surveying her lands and people from her lofty position on her noble steed. It was so freakin’ cute!

Tis the season to be charmed by Christmas stocking surprises, holiday treasures, festive lights, tiny guests and tolerant horses. I can’t imagine how the season could have come and gone more smoothly or with better cheer and good will. As I so often am, I find myself again filled with gratitude for this unfolding adventure that is The Urban Herd.

Jennifer

There are many answers to the question: “Why did we start The Urban Herd?” Some are pretty obvious, I’m sure you could come up with them yourselves. And some are a little more obscure. Some probably make sense to most people and some would probably make a few of you scratch your heads and go “Huh?”. I know most of the reasons we started this big adventure because I was there for all the conversations between myself, Alison, Donnell and Nate. But I’m sure there are things in their minds and hearts that they didn’t choose to share but that were a part of their motivation. I just mean that we don’t know for sure every single answer to “Why?” But I’m sure we don’t need to.

The reason I bring it up is because today I discovered a new one to add to the list – if anybody is keeping a list. Today I showed up at the barn ready to face a day of horses and horse people. I stayed home Friday because I wasn’t feeling well, but this was Saturday, a new day, and in my mind I was ready for anything! As it turns out, that was simply not the case. Oh believe me, my intentions were correct. But when it came down to the implementation part, let’s just say I fell a little short. Much to my embarrassment, I was actually pretty ill. In fact, so much so that I simply could not do my job. I tried to help with barn chores, but I had to sit down part way through cleaning my second stall. And there are 12 stalls to clean! If you can’t clean 1.5 stalls, you can’t clean 12. Simple physics . I had to face the fact that I was not going to be able to do my part.

Here’s what happened: Donnell, of course, was right there, working her magic. She got the outside chores done with her usual efficiency. Marissa and I turned the horses out and started on the inside chores. You know how that worked out for me. But Marissa kept working, cleaning and filling water buckets. David came down and he and Donnell finished the stalls. I did what I could with shavings, but David ended up finishing those off. Teri pitched in over in the south aisle, Camden did a ton of sweeping, and Kim wrapped up the rest of the sweeping at the end of the day. Alison, Denise and Ashley made sure that at least a few horses got worked, and Marissa did some grooming. At 4pm as I was getting ready to bring the horses in for dinner, Jill showed up, saw me bringing Wyatt in, hopped out of her truck and promptly fetched in Shazam, BNT and Spartacus. And voila! Horses all fed and safely tucked in for the evening, right on time.

And that, my friends, is one of the very best things about The Urban Herd. Somebody’s always got your back. In fact, a bunch of somebodies…

 

Jennifer

Jennifer

Every day at the ranch has the same basic outline: feed the horses, clean paddocks, turn the horses out, clean the barn, bring the horses back in, feed them, go to sleep, get up and start again. By now it is a familiar and comfortable routine. It’s tempting to hunker down into the routine, turn inward, turn the lights on and wait out the dark and rain of the northwest winter. The short days invite us to postpone our expectation to the springtime. And that’s ok. If that’s the way you are feeling, roll with it. Because even in the midst of routine, you are bound to find some surprises.

Take last week. We had a couple swing by the barn to check us out. They liked what they saw and decided to add to our holiday cheer by joining the herd. Surprise! Our new member is Marissa. She has a hunter/jumper background but is excited to expand her horse experience to include all the other things you can do in addition to bounding over fences. She’s been researching topics in “natural horsemanship”, practicing groundwork, and getting to know her new equestrian pals. She took Shazam for a spin around the arena on Sunday just to remind some out of use muscles that they once again have a job to do. Her arrival has lightened up our weekends and we are so pleased to have her with us.

Then there’s Alison and Sparty. All Alison’s patient communication with ol’ “Fabio” is starting to come together in the riding partner she dreamed he would be when she first met him. Watching her canter around on him, or whatever the heck that gait is, has been a fantastic dark days of December surprise.

Yesterday Seth, our farrier, was out trimming and shoeing. He’s been taking care of us since July, so he’s familiar with our horses and has a routine of his own. Part of the routine has been to avoid being kicked and bitten! He got the best kind of surprise yesterday when he met with a bunch of willing and cooperative horses, no fears, no worries. Just relaxed yawns, light feet and droopy heads. If this is what our horses think of routine, bring it on.

A couple nights ago Donnell heard a commotion down in the barn well after dinner time. Donnell often steps out on her back patio in the late evening to listen for anything unexpected from the barn, but usually she is greeted with the comfortable sound of silence from that quarter. On Monday though, she heard one of the horses calling out and making a fuss. She went to check on what had them riled up. She hauled open the barn door, flipped on the light and: SURPRISE! A giant rat went scurrying down the barn aisle. Apparently he had been snuffling about in Dolly’s stall and she was none to happy about it. Critters are part of barn life everywhere. They aren’t doing any harm, but we still take measures to make it a less hospitable place for them. Specifically so we don’t get exactly THAT surprise. The next big surprise is for the rat .

So let winter do its winterest. Hot chocolate is as good a treat as iced tea, and the company of friends and horses is an undeniable pleasure no matter what is going on outside. We welcome the surprises ahead, big and small, that startle us out of our routines and into the delight of everyday things.

Alison

This is one of my favorite things to remind myself of every now and again. I was pondering it earlier in the week, along with another favorite, “If what you’re doing isn’t working, do something else.” I have come to think a lot of things about Spartacus that have led me to act in certain ways. But if I surrender the belief in those thoughts, I’m free to act differently. If you read my last post, you might have come away thinking that I have no idea what I’m doing. If you did, you were following right along with my belief. And what do you know? Another opportunity to surrender a belief.

I didn’t have a lesson last week, but was able to bring Sparty into the arena for a little while with Erin. She observed some changes he’s made over these few months and said he seemed more connected, and like his head was in the game. More specifically, she said, “What you’re doing is working.” That gave me a massive boost.

Tuesday my plan was to do something different and be open to learning new things about the gladiator. I walked into the paddock filled with the joy of reunion, having not seen him for a few days over the holiday. He moseyed over and gave me his standard greeting of a big wet lick. We had some brief playtime and then I saddled him up and took a lesson with Erin. I got on and he didn’t bolt away from the mounting block. He spooked at a cart wheeling by the arena, but I stayed on and the incident passed almost without notice (except I heard a little cheer of encouragement from Donnell and Jennifer on the sidelines – thanks guys). We had one other moment of outright defiance and that was it. He settled in to navigating cones and rode out the rest of the hour just like a regular old horse and a girl taking a lesson. For a few moments, I didn’t even think of him as Spartacus! We were just a pair doing a task, not a hypervigilant rider waiting for the next high headed high speed sidestepping trip across the arena.

Erin gave me a new way to think about him. I have such reverence for horses that I sometimes treat them like fabrage eggs, or beings I should serve. Her suggestion was to treat him like a little brother. He’s actually quite playful and likes to be a little annoying. It was a much easier way for me to interact with him in terms of leading and setting boundaries. Thanks Erin. I’m sure we have more mystical new agey moments ahead of us, and I do love that $^&*, but I think adding this point of view will be enormously helpful day to day.

We’ll see… I’m going to be careful not to believe everything I think…