Go Cowgirl RN Blog

Guest post:  Madalyn Ward

Wood horses are high-energy individuals who love physical challenges, and must be kept active or they will develop bad habits like kicking and biting. Wood horses also tend to become unhealthy if they are not exercised enough. While the Wood horse is not a picky eater, he does have a very sensitive liver and is prone to ulcers, especially if he doesn’t get enough entertainment and exercise. Feeding the Wood horse is all about selecting horse feeds and horse supplements with few ingredients so the diet stays simple. Too many ingredients in horse feeds and supplements can be aggravating to the liver.

Wood Horse Nutritional Support
The healthy Wood horse has a high level of Qi(energy), is more Yang(high metabolism), is affected by Wind and benefits from the sour flavor. The bitter flavor is also good for the Wood horse because it helps to disperse the Qi.

Neutral to cooling foods which build Yin and contain the sour or bitter flavor should predominate in the diet of the Wood horse.

Examples of ideal foods for the Wood horse include:
•    barley
•    grass hay
•    alfalfa hay
•    wheat germ(1/4 to 1/2 cup a day)
•    wheat bran
•    rice bran( up to 1 cup a day)
•    beet pulp
•    black sesame seeds(1 to 2 TBS a day)
•    parsley
•    seaweeds
•    micro-algae, especially chlorella(1 to 2 tsp), spirulina( 1 to 2 TBS), and Omega Sun blue-green algae(4 to 8 tablets) from Simplexity.
•    citrus fruits (contain the sour flavor)
•    apple cider vinegar (contains the sour flavor)

Herbs that contain the sour or bitter flavor and help with Qi dispersal include:
•    Buck Mountain hawthorn (10 to 15cc twice a day)
•    Digestive Product milk thistle (1 to 2 TBS twice a day for a 10 to 21 day course)
•    devil’s claw(combined with Yucca in the form of Ani-Motion )
•    red clover(contained in Four Hoofs )
•    aloe vera( 1 to 2 ounces a day)
•    black cohosh(contained in RelaxHer Blend )
•    chickweed(contained in Bleeders Blend )
•    dandelion(contained in Four Hoofs )
•    hops(contained in Relax Blend )
•    licorice(contained in Digestive Product UF )

Many of these bitter herbs also have a cleansing effect on the blood which lowers the work of the liver in detoxifying the system. Burdock is considered a mucilaginous herb but it also has some bitter detoxifying action. This herb, like dandelion, often grows around barnyards and should be left for the animals to eat as they need.

Even though many horse feeds and horse supplements can be included in the diet of the Wood horse temperament, it is best to select only a few at a time and avoid horse feeds or horse supplements with many ingredients. It is best to keep the Wood horse diet simple. Madalyn

For more information about Five Element Horse Temperaments check out Horse Harmony.

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All go and no whoa…that describes my Water horse Quattro.

He is 20 years old now, and our barrel racing career would have been so much different had I known and understood TCM ( traditional Chinese medicine) and natural horsemanship when I first started him.

Typical traits of a Water horse:

*    Highly sensitive
*    Strong-willed
*    Athletic
*    Beautiful, sculpted features

Patterns when out of balance:

*    Fearful
*    Needy
*    Physically and mentally weak under pressure
*    Unpredictable when in pain
*    Prone to joint stiffness
*    Weak and sensitive teeth

These all describe Quattro perfectly.  He could run barrels with the best of them…when he was balanced and calm.  He won money for me every spring, but by summer he was fried.   He always wanted to please, and worried about it, mainly because he wasn’t sure what I wanted from him.  He didn’t trust me to keep him safe, and he desperately needed to feel safe and protected.

He was a natural at barrel racing, but he developed some nasty habits that finally ended his career.   Fear was a major player for him, as well as severe ulcers.   I couldn’t get him in the arena the last few years, and by the time he would go in we were both so frazzled that the run was awful.   He would get diarrhea just getting in the trailer…but he always got in!

I have retired him; he is now just a pasture ornament.  At first he was not happy with being retired, but he has adjusted.  I still see fear in his eyes when I have the occasion to halter him…he’s still not sure he can trust me, and he’s been turned out for 3 years.  If I had known about TCM 18 years ago, and how to handle a Water horse, our barrel racing career would have been much different.  Knowing your horse’s temperament is great, but I had to change my training techniques also.  TCM and natural horsemanship is benefiting my other horses, and Quattro is living the retired life of leisure.  Type your horse for free here.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader.   Also, holler at me if you want to know how I fund my horse addiction … and you can, too!

Guest Post by Madalyn Ward, DVM

Reading The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman was a real eye opener for me.

The five love languages of people are:

Words of Affirmation
Quality Time
Receiving Gifts
Acts of Service
Physical Touch

This book explained how good intentions do not replace giving a person what they want in relationships. This certainly helped explain to me why I am still single.

It also got me thinking about what the love language of a certain horse temperament, based on Five Element typing , would be.

Here is what I came up with:

Fire – Quality Time. The Fire horse temperament is all about relationship so spend lots of time grooming and hanging out with him.

Earth – Food. The Earth horse temperament is all about food so extra grazing time after a ride and the occasional treat will go a long way.

Metal – Respect. The Metal horse temperament wants to be respected and will not work for someone he does not respect.

Water – Safety. The Water horse temperament has to feel safe. An example of helping the Water horse to feel safe would be working at home with lots of obstacles and set up “scary” events to teach him to respond rather than react. Building his trust in you in his home area will prepare him for new environments.

Wood – A challenging job. The Wood horse temperament loves competing so give him lots of variety and difficulty in his work so he does not get bored.

So, good intentions are not the same as getting to know your horse’s love language and building a solid relationship. Madalyn

For more information about Five Element Horse Temperaments check out Horse Harmony

Guest Post by Jeannie Choate

Looking for a good, solid performer? I found one several years ago and didn’t realize what I had at the time.

Two Bits is my barrel racing horse, and his horse temperament is a Tai Yin.  He is a consistent hard worker, easy keeper, likes order and will do anything for a cookie.

When I first got him he seemed dull and not overly ambitious.  He would always perform but more out of duty than desire.  This was before I took the time to get to know him.

I contemplated selling him a couple of years ago, because as a barrel racing horse his career was going nowhere.  Another horse I own started me down the natural horsemanship path, and in the process I discovered who Two Bits really is.

While not true for all horses of this type, Two Bits is pretty much a one person horse.  I occasionally put other people on him for a trail ride, but he is never really happy about it.

Respect is huge for him; if he feels he’s not getting it he will shut down and become stiff, depressed and out of balance.  He lived in that state for many years.

Food is high on his priority list.  He is the one in the pasture with his head down eating while the others are looking around, trying to find the source of some disturbance.

Getting to know him, appreciate and respect him for who he is has made a huge difference in our relationship.  He likes me now, and I like him too, even when getting him out of 1st gear is tough.

He is not a horse you can pull out of the pasture, take to a barrel race and expect to win.  He will get in the trailer, but that’s about it for effort.  But when I have put in the training time he can find another gear that I never see at home.

He is who he is, and to ask him to act and perform like my other horses just didn’t work.  He strained a tendon a couple of months ago, but he is doing fine now, thanks to a good nutrition program and a daily rehab program.

He is 14 now, and as a Tai Yin is prone to arthritis in his knees and hocks.  He is calm and relaxed at home but barrel racing and travel stress him.  I support these health challenges with Cosequin for joint support, Xango juice for the antioxidants, xanthones and anti-inflammatory properties, Eleviv for the stress and Simplexity Essentials for vitamin, mineral and amino acid needs.

Natural horsemanship has given me a true partner, and when he comes up to me in the pasture and bumps me with his nose, he’s just saying thanks.

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Spooky horses, athletic horses, demanding and impatient horses, bored horses….sound familiar?

Scooby is my Jue Yin horse that embodies all the above things.  You have to really like the wood/fire combination, because putting up with their idiosyncrasies can be trying sometimes.

He will look for things to spook at when he is bored or just tired of my doing “conditioning” work.  He needs repetitive work to get the basics down, but repetition can be boring at times.

I have learned to put up with the spooking and laugh when he does it, which is helping to reduce the spooking moments.   I swear he does it when my focus goes off him just to see if I’m listening.

I was long-trotting around my pasture today, and passed a 4 foot snake lying on the ground.  Scooby saw him, glanced at him and kept on going, never missed a beat.  My heart rate went from 80 bpm to 250 bpm in a nano second and he just GLANCED at the snake!!

He probably sees this snake in the pasture daily, and was not concerned, but let him see a butterfly or imaginary booger, and he’s doing an immediate 360.  Go figure!  He kept up the pace, my heart rate returned to normal, and we had a great ride.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader. Also, holler at me if you want to know how I fund my horse addiction … and you can, too!

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/16782093@N03/ / CC BY 2.0

I heard Pat Parelli make this remark a couple of years ago.   I remember thinking it was an interesting statement and then filed it away in the cobwebs of my brain. Scooby, whose horse temperament is a Jue Yin, forced me to clean out the cobwebs and figure out what this really means.

He is 7 years old, and I have dreams of us winning barrel races together, while back in the real world he is just learning to flex around a barrel at a walk and trot.  Most 7 yr old barrel horses have been running around the barrels for several years by this age, some at the pro level.

Scooby had health and training issues early in his career, and remember his horse temperament is a Jue Yin .   He is smart, athletic, very opinionated about his training and has trust issues.  To top it all off, I don’t start colts, so I had some fear issues to overcome.

I love this horse, so I set out to learn how to work with his horse temperament and issues, and do it naturally.   Doing things the way I had always done them was not working with either of my horses, so I apprenticed myself to the natural approach.

I quit riding my horses and learned what ground work looks like.  (Remember, I don’t start colts, so why do ground work).   I started learning the basics with my older horse, and then worked up to Scooby.  Both horses have benefited from the process.

I also had to overcome a lot of fear and prejudice.  I mean, really, who starts over at 50?  If Scooby hadn’t been so promising yet so difficult, I would still be doing it old school, frustrating my horses and myself in the process.

I have been on this natural horsemanship journey for 2 years, and getting through the initial learning phase took me awhile.  Now that we are beyond that, he is making quick progress.  He learned to flex and bend around my legs and pick up leads with ease in a couple of weeks.  Because of his EPM he didn’t know he had a right lead for a long time.

We are still trotting around barrels, but loping is coming soon.  I want him to walk, trot and lope around one comfortably and on a loose rein.  No tie-downs allowed!   Taking the time here will pay off in spades as we progress to running full tilt at a barrel race.  Plus it’s easier to take the time to do it correctly now rather than have to fix it later.

The relationship between us is solid, and that is the greatest reward for me.   I don’t just own Scooby now; I have a friend and partner.

There are a lot of great natural horse trainers out there; a few of them even have home study programs.  Whichever way you choose to do it, do it for yourself and your horse.  He will thank you.

“Ask the animals and they will teach you”   Job 12:7

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader.   Also, holler at me for more info on natural horse trainers.

Have you ever wished you could start all over with a horse you no longer own?

What did we do before equine body work, horse chiropractic and massage equine?   We turned them out for several months to see if they could heal themselves and if they didn’t they were sold.

Today we have vets and lay people practicing equine chiropractic, acupuncture, massage equine and osteopathy on horses.  In fact, I spend more money on massage equine than I do on myself!   I can remember one extremely talented horse that took a nasty fall with me at a barrel race.   I broke my leg and he was never the same.  I sold him a couple of years after the fall, because he never regained his competitive nature.  With the great work that is done today on the equine body he and I could have gone on to greater things.

My current barrel horse Two Bits started trying to bite me when I cinched him up a couple of weeks ago, but I continued riding him until he started trying to bite me as I stepped into the saddle.  At that point I unsaddled him and called my vet to schedule an appointment for equine body work.  Instead of riding I played with him on the ground to keep him in shape until we could get to the vets.

In hindsight I remember him coming up to feed with mud all over his hind legs and entire right side, like he had lain down in the mud.  My vet and I both feel that with all the rain and mud we are having in south central Texas this winter he must have slipped and fallen.  Who knows if he was fighting with another horse or just playing, either way his equine body was very sore and out of balance.  No wonder he tried to bite me!   Being the Metal/Earth horse he is he kept working until he just couldn’t anymore.

I slowly cinched him up today and watched him brace his equine body to see if it would hurt, and then take a deep breath when it didn’t.   We rode off and had a great ride.  Learning to listen to my horse and having access to massage equine and horse chiropractic has been invaluable, and has kept a great horse going.

I also give a lot of credit to the feed program Madalyn has him on.  All the horses are fed a low starch grain.  Two Bits and Scooby are fed the all natural supplements of Simplexity Essentials, Xango juice and Eleviv daily.  The essentials are full of probiotics and blue-green algae, which keeps their gut functioning, even in times of stress.  The Xango juice has great anti-inflammatory properties, as well as antioxidants, and the Eleviv keeps the nervous system in balance to reduce stress levels.  The Eleviv won’t keep a horse from getting stressed, but it will help him deal with the stress better and return to a calm state of mind quicker.

I would love to hear your comments or questions.  You can contact me for more information on the supplements and please go look at Madalyn’s website, www.holistichorsekeeping.com for information on body work and nutrition.

Have you ever known you had a great horse, but just never knew how to take him to the next level?

I’ve had a couple in my career and in my frustration a couple of years ago I quit barrel racing!  I set out to become a better horsewoman and in the process learn to train horses for barrel racing the natural way.  A 4 year old horse named Scooby drove me to this decision, and it was the best decision I have ever made.

I always knew there had to be a better way to communicate with horses, but bigger bits and tie-downs are the norm when talking about horses for barrel racing.   This didn’t work at all with Scooby, who was heading down the outlaw track fast if I didn’t find something or someone who could get through to him.  I went through 5 trainers before I remembered one in Bandera,  Texas that might be able to help him.   Scooby is a left-brain extrovert, or a Wood horse, depending on what classification you use.  He is smart, athletic, 16 hands, and goes from being left- brained and calm to right- brained and flighty in a nano second.  I also own a left-brain introvert, or metal/earth horse, that I thought seriously about selling because I hated riding him.  He was obstinate, lazy and didn’t like me very much.

My journey back to barrel racing has been long, hard, frustrating and very rewarding.  I have learned much more from my horses than they have learned from me.   My friends thought I was crazy, and so did I at times, but it has been worth it.  I am learning what it takes to naturally train horses for barrel racing as well as any other discipline.  This journey will take the rest of my life, but I am loving the trip.  The  thing about horses is, “they don’t care how much you know til they know how much you care.”  Pat Parelli said that and I have found that to be true with all my horses.  The relationship has to matter before the performance will improve.

I follow the Parelli program, but I have learned from others like Buck Brannaman, Tara Harris, Trevor Carter and Tom Curtin.  I have found they are all teaching the same things, the presentation is just a little different. They all want to make the world a better place for horses.  There are a lot of natural horse trainers out there, though there are not many that are training horses for barrel racing.   I like the Parelli program because he breaks the horse-man-ship thing down simply and puts it in terms I can understand.   “Horsemanship is already a puzzle; there is no reason for us to break apart and scramble the pieces.”

Natural horsemanship is a journey that I’m still exploring, I would love to hear your comments and experiences or consider subscribing to the feed.  For more info on personality typing for horses and humans go to www.patparelli.com or www.holistichorsekeeping.com.

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