The One about Kehbir

I saw it from my car: The first sign of life springing back: a hope growing. A fiery copper color was radiating it’s way over and along his now thick body, mane and tail. His watery brown eyes peered at me from under his long, bushy, strikingly black forelock. His head raised high above his Arabian arched neck, he emanated his signature deep, long “moo” as his greeting to my arrival in the barn. "My precious cow," I thought, "How far you’ve come. You’re surely a different horse now." Standing proudly, head high before me was a calm, confidant, bay Arabian in the picture of health where once a terrified literal bag of bones and peach fuzz had. I opened his door, and he lunged forward greedily guzzling the apple he knew I had brought specifically for him. He knew he was special to me. I moved his forelock to the side so I could see his white star, and kissed it. He shook his head in approval as I patted his neck before retreating to get his brushes. Kehbir is proof to me that God brings even animals and humans together for a purpose. Kehbir needed healing love; and looking back, so did I.

Truthfully Sudi was the horse that caught my eye on the internet website. And for some reason, my mother insisted on getting a foal from the same farm. In retrospect, it was good we bought them together because they were able to travel the long haul of 48 hours from Missouri to South Carolina together.

However, when I saw the two boys in the trailer when they arrived my heart sank. They looked NOTHING like their photographs. Both foals had lost half their manes and tails (maybe in the stress of transport, but then again, maybe not) and their coats looked dull and malnourished – most definitely from worms. Terror was blazing in their eyes, and while they did not want to stay on the trailer, they were not sure they wanted to get off either.

My first thought was “Oh dear Lord, what have we done?!” I could see the exact question blatantly expressed in my mother’s eyes. My two friends, who were helping as the welcoming committee, obviously looked bewildered as well.

Kehbir was the first to come off the trailer. His curiosity had definitely gotten the better of him, and he came wobbling off the trailer. He could not have even been 14 hands yet (and of course he was said to have been over 15). He looked like a yearling – not anywhere near his promised 18 months. I could see his ribs rippling beneath the remnants of his wooly brown baby hair. Had this horse been neglected his entire young life? Had he ever been groomed? The condition of his coat led me to believe that he probably had never been stalled, and dinner was probably a “free for all” where only the lucky dominant horses had a shot of eating any feed or good hay.

Any human movement was cause for a tremendous reaction of spinning backwards with loud snorts and huge, questioning eyes. My heart was in my stomach. How could a breeder have let this happen? This horse was acting as if he had never been handled. I wasn’t sure whether I was sad, disappointed, angry, or maybe a combination of all of them.

However, underneath the craze of this horse I saw a look that said “I want to trust you. I want to know that you love me.” Now this look didn’t come about all the time. But it was as if I could physically see the argument going through his brain. His ears were all the time busily moving looking for the slightest inclination that we were out to harm him. The whites of his eyes would flicker in and out as if glancing at the evil and good fairy on each shoulder.

As time progressed Kehbir began to make a turn around. While the condition of his coat was still lacking (it didn’t help that it was still winter!), his attitude began to show considerable improvement. Within the first two weeks we had him, he learned to be tied, groomed, have hooves cleaned, and be blanketed. The only really bad situation had to do with the farrier – and I am SURE he had never had his hooves trimmed before coming to us. He was absolutely terrified of the farrier. As we continue to analyze the farrier situation, we have come to realize that it is not the farrier in general but a type of body and mental frame of particular men that scare him. However, through much positive reinforcement (and feed!) we are working to help him realize that everything is Ok.

Unfortunately, at the time, everything internally for him was not Ok. We began to notice an increase in aggressive behavior, and also very stud like qualities that should definitely NOT be appearing in a gelding.

In one humorous instance, we left him alone in a field a significant distance from our barn. I began to worry as we were walking off. He began pinning his ears back flat against his head, throwing his head down, striking out with his front hooves and galloping fiercely up and down the side of the fence. Very cautiously I began to slow down my walk back to the barn, stilling keeping a CLOSE eye on him.

He was making a dash up to the front of the fence again, and I saw the look in his eye. It was a look that said “I can’t stop in time…but maybe I can.” He attempted to slow down slightly, but that only served to help him collect before he took a gigantic leap up and over the fence. As he landed, the recognition of freedom began to dawn over his face, and he took off bucking and leaping in the direction of the barn.

I thought at first he would just meander over to some other horses in a nearby field who had caught wind of his magnificent escape. But, as he was making his way over, he caught sight of something even more fantastic than playing with his buddies. It was the palomino mare Malibu.

Her blonde main and tail were flowing in the breeze, and she had a nice glisten to her golden coat as my friend Amber was just dismounting from a ride. Kehbir’s eyes sparkled as he abruptly produced a flying change and began a full out gallop in the direction of the blonde beauty.

Through my struggle to hold on to Sudi (who by the way was VERY dismayed that he was not allowed to be running out and about with Kehbir), I tried to yell back to the barn that Kehbir was headed their way. Unfortunately, the pounding of his hooves covered my desperate warnings, but acted as the sound of his triumphant entrance.

He fell back into a beautiful passage as he began to prance around the bewildered and unassuming Malibu. And then he hopped. That’s right, like a bunny. He reared and attempted to mount Malibu without a thought of what she might think. Suddenly awoken and very aware of her impending rape, Malibu leaped forward in circles as Amber desperately tried to hold on to her mare and ward of the incensed gelding.

Malibu, defending herself, threw out a couple kicks and the impact echoed through the distance to my ears where I was desperately trying to run through my laughter to help. Unfortunately, even upon my arrival I was clueless as to how to help as the two horses were still madly dashing in circles around Amber and Sudi was beginning to dance around me. In a true act of bravery, her fiancé Daniel leaped into the two horses managing to grab a hold to Kehbir’s halter and pull him out of the chase.

It was then an there that we knew for sure the problem we had for so long been wanting to deny: Kehbir was a crypt orchid. When he was gelded as a younger colt, the vet had only managed to get one testicle – leaving the other to fully grow and produce mass hormones. He was going to need to be gelded again.

Well Kehbir survived the second gelding, and he has been much merrier since then. Unfortunately after the gelding was completed, he also threw two huge splints on his front legs and developed an extreme coat allergy. My mother and I were at our wits end as to how to help this horse, but slowly and surely he has made it through all these trials. And through all of this, he began to understand that we were there to help him. And maybe that’s what it took to begin the forging of our relationship together. Perhaps that was God’s plan all along.

Currently Kehbir is beginning his work under saddle. He is still very “child-like” in his antics, so I am in no rush to hurry his schooling. A little bit of discipline is all he needs right now. I cannot express how proud of him I was at his show of bravery during the last dressage show. And I truly believe even the judge saw through his fear to his willing attitude – a far cry from a year and a half ago! How far love can go to break even the poorest of beginnings.

The One Where We ALL Got Soggy

I know I know. I'm SO ridiculously late on this blog. It's awful. I have no good excuses except to say that I've been INSANELY busy. Don't you feel sorry for me? ;-)

But - Yay! We made it through the dressage show, and everyone completed their tests without anything disastrous happening. Oh wait - the RAIN was disastrous. Really disastrous. We're talking about rain that Noah could build an ark for. But despite all that, I really really had a great time.

Friday was probably the best day of the weekend (especially 'cause I got off work super early haha). The weather seriously could NOT have been more perfect - We were incredibly blessed to have mild, sunny 70's with a slight breeze.

Tammy, Hailey and I ended up getting to Full Gallop farm around 3ish - so that gave us plenty of time to get the horses situated and play around the stadium jumps, spiffy dressage ring, and fantastic cross country course. Sudi actually got to play in the water complex (Thanks to T-Rex and Hailey for their patience!) - which he loved. We were all pleasantly surprised at his adaptation to water. He's a veritable otter. I was also really impressed with his bravery in trekking across the cross-country course all by himself too. He was just really moving forward and taking in everything. My baby is growing up.

Several others that were joining us later were quite a bit late, so that caused some stress. We also realized that we left several important things at home such as hooks, clips and you know - FEED. :-) Maintaining the style of the day, the Limehouse's had some major catastrophes trying to get out of Charleston and up to Aiken (including the slicing Liza's cornea, flooding of bathrooms and complete air-conditioning overhaul), but everyone ended up getting there on time, and we were all able to relax over dinner at Applebea's and a glass of wine (well - fruit smoothies and chocolate cake for Liza and Hailey).

Saturday morning started out hopeful, but alas, as soon as we got all the horses out of the trailer, the rain came POURING down. It wasn't a very cold rain, but needless to say, we were all drenched, and I now own a very ugly pair of white breeches with RED and BLACK leather coloring ALL over the BUTT.

With the rain making the fields rather soggy, I decided to take Sud out of the combined training class and just do Intro Test A and B, and for Kehbir, just do Intro Test A. Kehbir was the first of my boys to brave the puddles. I have to commend both of them - they both had amazing center lines and halts. In fact, Sudi got a 7 on his very first center line!! Kehbir's 7 came from movement.

Sud's moment of glory (haha) came from his tremendous bolt from M to X. He glimpsed his reflection in the corner mirror and mistook himself for the Lock Ness Monster. This escapade garnered the judge's response "Way to Stick!!!" for which I was very proud. :-)

Forward movement was no one's forte though as neither were excited about traipsing through mud. Both got comments such as "wrong bend." Of course they were bending wrong! - The silly Arabs were arching their necks to get a better look at their reflections in the water!! Oh - and another comment was "Teach horse to bend for better balance." Ha. My horses have GREAT balance - they tiptoed through the whole test!

So, in spite of the absolutely HORRID conditions, we really did have a good time. All the babies ended up with comparably bad scores - but none of us minded in the end. As we all swam home, we definitely couldn't quit laughing and reminiscing and plotting future show experiences. It's going to take a lot of perseverance, but with perseverance, even snails made it on to the Ark!

The One With the Splints

I recall reading somewhere that Arabians are tough. After all, haven’t Arabians or Arab crosses been winning the Tevis Cup for like…forever?? That’s not some easy feat after all. It takes bravado, and endurability, and good bone structure.

On second thought. Have you ever been to an Arabian breeders farm? Most of the horses over the age of 2, are relegated to single 1/8 acre lots. “Why?” you ask. I’ll tell you why. Because Arabians are crazy horses. There. I said it. *whew* (I feel like a weight has been lifted now.)

Don’t get me wrong. I LOVE my Arabians. But they are not the brightest. They have a love of running – which I thoroughly can appreciate. However, my three year old Sudi was feeling particularly spunky over the weekend when the temperatures dropped unprecedentedly low for a Charleston Spring. He ended up spending the day running, spinning, jumping, galloping, leaping – you name it.

Sunday night when I was beginning my normal grooming process I found them. There they were; two tiny, but unmistakable, bumps on the insides of his two front legs. He was sound as could be, but they obviously hurt him because when I squeezed on them, he actually lifted his leg up!

I ended up slathering his front legs with DMSO and wrapping them. He is now spending his days with two front wrapped legs in the ring with fellow invalid, baby Thor. I’ll probably leave him that way until we leave on Friday for the show.

So lesson learned here: Arabs are only as tough as their pastures.

The One Where I'm Freaking Out

So I’m trying to not be worried. I have this feeling of impending failure. It’s as if I know that this show is going to be disastrous. Like calamity is right around the corner. My dreams are being haunted by the horse that won’t go past X. Followed by a horse that stops at C, does a 180 and gallops right out of the arena. Again followed by the horse that gets to X, freaks out, actually says “What are you THINKING?” and proceeds to gallop/jump out of the arena.

So, I began to really contemplate - What is it that I fear failing? The competitor in me fears coming in DEAD last (but believe me, I’ve done that plenty of times), or being eliminated because my horse decided that we should be doing canter pirouettes and then leaping out of the arena instead of a calmly trotted twenty meter circle. Somehow, under my delusions of grandeur, I came up with the weird contortion of a thought that we might actually do well and perhaps ribbon. *cough cough – trying not to blush from embarrassment*

In light of this rather deluded epiphany, I decided I needed a realistic goal. After all – I’m taking two THREE year olds in a dressage class. Yes, that’s right. THREE year olds. And they’re ARAB’S – of all breeds! Not only Arabs, but EGYPTIAN Arabs. Basically they’re the flakiest of the flakes. Maybe I should be calling the show managers and begging for my money and registration back!

So realistically, what did I at least hope to achieve by this show? What attainable goals could I set?

Well, my greatest hope is that my boys have a POSITIVE experience. Yes, they may freak out. Yes, they make shoot out the arena and eliminate us. But, I think that, no matter what, we can at least walk away from this show having learned something, and doing our best to handle our mistakes/disapointments well. And most importantly, if something does go horribly wrong, we are not going to be guaranteed failure at every future turn. Gaining confidence and positive experience can only propel us forward.

I think this can work. I will do my best (which includes, staying a calming and positive influence on the boys), and lovingly accept their best or worst. My walls might not yet be pinned with ribbons, but we have to start somewhere. And that somewhere is this show.

The One With The Change of Plans

Ok. News Flash. Marston Plantion is out. Quintynne Farms Dressage and CT Schooling Show is in. Apparently, we will be boarding overnight Friday at Jumping Branch in Aiken. All this simply = less stress, more girly time to drink wine and talk horses. I'm totally game.

Check out Quintynne Farms here: http://www.quintynnehillfarm.com/

So the big scary question: How will the spooky Arabs handle mirrors in the corner?!?!

The One With A Start of Redemption

Please take a moment to read this statement from the USEA President. I find it compelling, and I am thrilled they are standing up and calling for some action!


A Message from USEA President Kevin Baumgardner
Updated: March 19, 2008
Eventers everywhere are deeply saddened by the accidents that occurred this past weekend at the Red Hills Horse Trials in Tallahassee, Florida. First and foremost, our thoughts, prayers, and heartfelt wishes for a speedy recovery go out to our dear friend and USEA board member Darren Chiacchia. Darren is an extraordinary horseman who has worked tirelessly on behalf of the sport of Eventing. We also send our condolences to Jonathan Holling and Missy Miller and those connected with Direct Merger and Leprechauns Rowdy Boy. These beloved horses were the best of the best—they will be missed. Furthermore, the USEA recognizes the excellent work of the Red Hills' Organizing Committee under very trying circumstances.
The sad news from Red Hills comes at a time when the USEA is taking a hard look at the sport of Eventing. During the December 2007 Convention in Colorado Springs, the USEA reaffirmed its commitment to horse and rider safety as the paramount consideration in the governance of our sport. The centerpiece of the Convention, the all-day-Saturday G10 Summit, was devoted exclusively to a full and open discussion of the safety issue among all of the stakeholders in the sport—riders, trainers, coaches, breeders, owners, officials, organizers, parents. A number of positive changes came out of our discussions in Colorado Springs, including the implementation of beefed-up qualification standards at preliminary level and higher that will go into effect this December 1.
Having said that, I remain deeply concerned with the direction the sport has taken over the past several years. It would be unfair and counterproductive at this juncture to focus on any one incident, cross-country course, or horse trials. We should never jump to conclusions regarding single incidents, let alone lose sight of the fact that there is, and will always be, an element of risk in any sport involving horses. And I will never point fingers or be a party to personal attacks on any individual involved in the sport, no matter how much I might disagree with his or her views. But the overall trends, particularly over the last three years, are unmistakable—and in my view totally unacceptable. I know that my concern that the sport has gotten off track is shared by many of our members, amateurs and professionals alike.
We seem to be in an ever-spiraling loop in which the aspect of cross-country that attracted most of us to the sport in the first place, the joy and thrill of galloping rhythmically over jumps across country, has been replaced with questions of extreme technicality and a proliferation of combinations taken at show-jump speed. It appears that the driver behind this emphasis on increased technical difficulty is the need to challenge and sort out the elite combinations competing at the highest levels of the sport. The net effect of this shift in emphasis, however, has not been confined to the upper levels. Rather, because of the need for each level to serve as preparation for the next, the sport has been altered all the way to the novice and training levels. This has left a large proportion of our core USEA membership—the 90-plus percent of Eventers who will never compete above preliminary—asking whether there is a place left for them in the sport.
Our members want courses that provide fun and challenge, and that leave both horse and rider feeling elated and wanting more. Unfortunately, this is all too frequently not the experience that is reported by many of our members. Cross-country should be a positive, exhilarating and educational experience for an appropriately prepared horse and rider. That is particularly true at the levels populated by adult amateurs and youngsters.
And what about our horses? Does the gallop-collect-gallop-collect nature of many of our courses, combined with the rigid adherence to established optimal speeds despite the twistiness of many modern courses, best serve the talents and abilities of our mounts? We owe the highest duty of care and compassion to these wonderful animals—in my view, the bravest and most noble horses in the world.
What can we do? The answer is plenty. To begin with, we need the active participation of our membership. When you are concerned with the direction of the sport you love, it is not good enough to sit on the fence and passively watch events unfold. Get involved! And I don't mean just the "grass roots" USEA membership (which judging by the large number of emphatic emails I have received in the last few days is already energized). We also need the active involvement of a broad spectrum of our Eventing professionals, the riders, trainers and officials out there who do not belong to the small coterie who have dominated the direction of the sport over the past twenty years. I believe there is a "silent generation" of Eventing professionals, most in their thirties or early forties, who are concerned with the current condition of the sport. In large part, these professionals have not actively participated in the governance of the sport or spoken up publicly, perhaps because they feel that their voices won't be heard or, worse, because they feel intimidated by the "old guard" at the top. Well, I have a message for that "silent generation": now is the time to speak up. I challenge all Eventing professionals to take a stand on this critical issue and get involved. It's now or never. I promise that your voices will be heard. And I also have a message for those who would block constructive change in the sport: Expect a fight. Neither I nor the USEA is going to stand idly by while our sport continues down this path.
Over the past several months, Darren Chiacchia has taken a leadership role in terms of looking at how we can modify our national level courses, particularly at preliminary and training, to better suit the majority of horses and riders competing at these levels. Through his position as chairman of the Professional Horsemen's Council, Darren worked with multiple USEA committees and spearheaded the development of a "white paper" on potential changes to cross-country courses that was presented to the Board of Governors in Colorado Springs. Included among the concepts discussed in the white paper were fewer technical questions, more forgiving jump faces, fewer combinations, more realistic optimal speeds and the like. I appointed Darren as the leader of a USEA task force charged with converting the ideas in the white paper into concrete rule-change proposals, to be submitted to the USEA Board of Governors and then forwarded on for action by the USEF Eventing Technical Committee (chaired by my fellow USEA Governor Malcolm Hook). During Darren's convalescence, I have asked Gina Miles, his close collaborator in developing the white paper, to move forward with the task force's work on an expedited basis. A number of other prominent figures in the sport, among them Kim Severson, have also volunteered to become actively involved in this effort. I, too, will work closely with this task force. I believe it is equally important that all segments of our membership forcefully express their views on the necessity of the types of changes being addressed by this task force. Please pass your thoughts on to me—I will forward them to Gina, Kim and the other members of the task force.
On a separate track, the USEA will immediately investigate avenues to work with veterinarians and equine research professionals to find ways to reduce the stressors on our horses and explore the mechanisms of equine cardiovascular failure. If it makes sense to do so, I will ask the USEA Board of Governors to commit funding to this effort. We reaffirm the USEA's commitment to ensuring the well-being of our equine partners as well as the safety of our riders.As many of you are aware, the USEA Board will be conducting a strategic planning session in Leesburg, Virginia this coming Friday and Saturday. This will be a topic for the meeting and I will solicit additional input on ways to move forward quickly and positively with these initiatives.
Again, this is no time for fence-sitting. If you believe it is time to stand up for your sport, please make your voice heard and volunteer to be part of the solution. Please contact me at kbaumgardner@corrcronin.com or at (206) 621-1480.

The One With the Recap from the Weekend

So the boys had their first combined training session last weekend. I like to think of it as “Operation First CT Event of Our Lives.”

As Saturday was supposed to be stormy and disastrous all day, I jumped at the first beam of sunlight to hop on my boys. Kehbir was the first of my enlistees for the day. The most recent that I had ridden him, however, was the previous weekend where I hopped up on him for only a few moments to work on some canter work (his first, by the way).

Kehbir was surprisingly willing to please (of course, I’m sure sugar cubes played an important role in that equation). Overall though – despite his “baby-ness,” he really surprised me in the progressive strides he has made since our last ride. He is beginning to move nicely away from my leg, has much better impulsion to move forward off my leg – and the steering is MUCH better. We warmed up with some nice stretches at the walk – he was reaching very nicely for the bit. We then progressed to a nice trot – mostly balanced too (a VAST improvement). The little bit of canter work we did do, he was on the correct lead – but I just feel like it’s more of an upward movement rather than a forward movement. However, I’m sure this is just a balance issue.

We worked on both Intro Test A and Intro Test B (see http://lancaster.unl.edu/4h/fair/documents/dresintr.pdf ). While B was a bit rocky (we can’t trot in a straight line down the center line :-\), I have to say I was VERY impressed for our first try. Kehbir was so incredibly focused and tried incredibly hard. I couldn’t help but grin the entire time.

Taking him over his first cross bars was equally exciting. We only had one stop – and even then he only sniffed for a few moments, but then proceded to go over it. After each jump, he would be so pleased with himself and pick up a mini canter again. I felt like I was on a natural jumper. We had really only one rocky moment where I decided to try taking a jump from a canter and he was beginning to drift out. However, I brought him back to the jump, and we jumped it crookedly (however, clear!). Well he is just SO collected, he had an immense bunny hop, propelling me onto his neck. He, however, decided this wasn’t something he liked, so he threw in a few bucks to let me know. I chalked this up to something he just needs to get used to, and I was mainly happy that I was able to stay on. :-)

After an exhilarating ride with Kehbir, I was a little sore, but bounding happily along to find Sudi. Sudi however seemed a little tired still from the show, only four days prior, so I wanted this exercise to be fairly low key and simple. And that it was. In the dressage ring, I could barely keep his attention, but at the same time, I could barely get him to move forward either. After two frustrating tries at Test A, my mom suggested we move our practice into the jumping ring to try to get something fruitful from our work. Here, he was much more demure and focused and we produced a decent Test A. I would have liked a little more impulsion, but I was pretty happy with what we got.

After we rounded up the dressage work, I took him VERY successfully over some cross bars. He really didn’t have Kehbir’s enthusiasm, but he was consistent and took every jump I asked. After all the jumps had been cleanly cleared (we didn’t knock any down), I decided to hop off and call it a day.

Sunday was designated to nice, pleasurely trail riding, which it ended up NOT being. There were some lose dogs and then, of course, Halara, who was all TOO helpful in our trail riding process by trotting around and bucking rather obnoxiously. Needless to say, Sud got over his lacsidasical-ness and was very forward. :-) My mom, however, had a bad scare when Halara bolted for Kehbir at a gallop. Thankfully, all of us stayed on and are ok.

So, after the pretty successful weekend, I signed both boys up for the Marston Show. We’re keeping our expectations fairly low and hoping for this to mainly be a training type event for the boys. However, I know these guys are special, and that we always run the risk of them surprising us with a win.