Facts You May Not Know.....

FACTS YOU MAY NOT KNOW..................... It takes glass one million years to decompose, which means it never wears out and can be recycled an infinite amount of times! Gold is the only metal that doesn't rust, even if it's buried in the ground for thousands of years. Your tongue is the only muscle in your body that is attached at only one end. If you stop getting thirsty, you need to drink more water. When a human body is dehydrated, its thirst mechanism shuts off. Each year 2,000,000 smokers either quit smoking or die of tobacco-related diseases. Zero is the only number that cannot be represented by Roman numerals. Kites were used in the American Civil War to deliver letters and newspapers. The song, Auld Lang Syne, is sung at the stroke of midnight in almost every English-speaking country in the world to bring in the new year. Drinking water after eating reduces the acid in your mouth by 61 percent Peanut oil is used for cooking in submarines because it doesn't smoke unless it's heated above 450F The roar that we hear when we place a seashell next to our ear is not the ocean, but rather the sound of blood surging through the veins in the ear. Nine out of every 10 living things live in the ocean The banana cannot reproduce itself. It can be propagated only by the hand of man Airports at higher altitudes require a longer airstrip due to lower air density The University of Alaska spans four time zones The tooth is the only part of the human body that cannot heal itself. In ancient Greece, tossing an apple to a girl was a traditional proposal of marriage. Catching it meant she accepted. Warner Communications paid $28 million for the copyright to the song Happy Birthday. Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair. A comet's tail always points away from the sun The Swine Flu vaccine in 1976 caused more death and illness than the disease it was intended to prevent Caffeine increases the power of aspirin and other painkillers, that is why it is found in some medicines. The military salute is a motion that evolved from medieval times, when knights in armor raised their visors to reveal their identity. If you get into the bottom of a well or a tall chimney and look up, you can see stars, even in the middle of the day. When a person dies, hearing is the last sense to go. The first sense lost is sight In ancient times strangers shook hands to show that they were unarmed Strawberries are the only fruits whose seeds grow on the outside Avocados have the highest calories of any fruit at 167 calories per hundred grams The moon moves about two inches away from the Earth each year The Earth gets 100 tons heavier every day due to falling space dust Due to earth's gravity it is impossible for mountains to be higher than 15,000 meters Mickey Mouse is known as "Topolino" in Italy Soldiers do not march in step when going across bridges because they could set up a vibration which could be sufficient to knock the bridge down Everything weighs one percent less at the equator For every extra kilogram carried on a space flight, 530 kg of excess fuel are needed at lift-off The letter J does not appear anywhere on the periodic table of the elements

Brain Horsemanship

This is an excellant article by a lovely woman, Felicia Britt, a mother, wife, lover of God's creatures, and a really good trainer of horses!!!

 

UNDERSTANDING BEGINS ON THE GROUND

I is for INTEREST..... Foals are so curious. They come to you readily and investigate everything. Unfortunately, often by the time she is a yearling, she has been convinced that halters mean work, work means circles, circles mean boredom, so she dislikes halters. Or, more accurately, people with halters. Her curiosity has been squelched and her interest diluted to a passing glance. Whether a weanling colt and a horse you've had for years, maintaining her interest is where every teachable moment resides. When I start a horse, I want to expose her to everything I can think of INCLUDING the kitchen sink! Think of her mind as one of those tiny rubber bands you put in a mane. You want to stretch her tolerance, little by little, until her brain is so flexible it like a hundred foot long bungie cord! As I describe some suggestions keep in mind that the benefits are two fold. We are not only using a variety situations to pique interest, but at the same time introducing some serious desensitizing exercises for a much braver horse later. If done correctly, your horse will look forward to your time together with anticipation and wonder. Your training sessions can't always be fun and games, but they can certainly begin and end with them!
Start by placing an object in an arena or pasture. I like to hang something on the fence where I usually work. Start with just one item, then before long you will have a half dozen. Lead your horse to that area and go through your normal routine, completely ignoring the object. Observing him closely will tell you the proper distance to stay away from the item, to keep anxiety to a minimum. Your ultimate goal here is to teach him self-control. His instincts tell him to run, but your body language tells him it is okay. It is critical that you appear completely unaffected by the object. He is going to scrutinize your tone of voice, posture and expression for even the slightest indication that it is time to RUN. If he is anxious and you stop your routine and pet him, you are rewarding his fear, as well as confirming it. If the object is more distracting than interesting, move farther away, but continue your routine. When everything else stays the same, especially you, he begins to go through his mental list and ask himself questions. Your self-control teaches him self-control. Your calm demeanor conveys to him that the object is a non-issue. Stopping and staring at it simply doesn't work for me. I think he just wonders WHEN it is going to eat us both.
For horses that are more sensitive to change, I usually do not do this next step until she has experienced several different objects hanging on the fence during multiple sessions. By then, she is really beginning to wonder about all those 'things' hanging around. Then, at the end of a lesson, I lead her over to the object, let her touch it with her nose once, then lead her away. Often, you will hear a big sigh...question answered. And boy! Did you get a lot of respect from her as you displayed so much courage in the midst of such danger. (A scary stuffed teddy bear sitting on top of the fence post). When you begin to add various objects to this game, it becomes some major league desensitizing. But, the great part is the day she walks into the arena LOOKING for objects to investigate. I love to witness this transition and delight in ignoring the elephant in the room until she is dying to go exploring. At this point, I begin to say the word “touch”, just before her nose makes contact with the object. Remember to walk away immediately after a single touch. Before long, you are actually SENDING her to touch things. This 'touch' cue transfers beautifully to the trail. Whenever one of my trainees sees something 'spooky', whether we are leading or riding, I give her some slack and say 'touch'...then, fear becomes curiosity because she knows the game is not scary, so this must not be either.
There is a beautiful, black mare I have in training named Love. She came to me as a 6 year old retired show horse who had never been ridden out of the show ring. Whether a youngster or a finished show horse, I always put my first 30 rides on one in the woods. I feel nothing solidifies the trust bond better, than a horse in unfamiliar surroundings having to fully rely on her handler. I feel that exploring the forest instills, or in this case, rekindles a horse's curiosity and sparks her courage.This mare had never been on a trail in her life and was simply afraid of everything....including butterflies and grasshoppers!



As time passed, Love progressed nicely and fell completely in love with the 'touch' game. She would come into the arena(which she formerly hated)like a bull looking for a target. She was so fun to watch as she grew braver and braver. In the woods, she had to 'touch' everything. It would take us an hour to go 200 yards, but I let her. In my mind, she was erasing years of stress...it was all about the process. I knew the product would come.
The best day of all was when Love's owner, MJ, and I went for a trail ride on an adjacent cattle ranch. MJ was on her mare and entered the pasture gate a few yards in front of me. I had instructed her on the intricacies of the 'touch' technique and she was confident and determined to impress. Love immediately became curious about the brown blobs that littered the ground. As I observed from behind, MJ dutifully approached each one and said 'touch' and moved on. After about the twentieth pile, I thought I was going to fall off my horse laughing as I wondered if she would 'touch' all 12,572 cow pies. She didn't, but my ribs were sore for a week!
Since every unfamiliar scenario cannot possibly be reproduced, the goal is to give your horse the tools to deal with situations as they arise. He will learn self control and so must you. If you are anxious and tense, expecting a train wreck...you usually get one. A calm demeanor shows you have taken on a confident leadership role. If your horse has passed this stage of his training, it is still critically important that your time with him stay interesting. Resist the temptation of allowing his conditioning to become mindless lungeing and trail rides becoming dull and unchallenging.
As we have discussed, skills are taught layer upon layer. Decide what you are going to work on that day and what new elements you are going to introduce. I like to follow the same pattern most of the time. 1) Warm Up His Brain(review) 2)Warm Up His Body(conditioning) 3)Today's Lesson(new element) 4)Build Confidence(review) 5) Relax(cool down & flex) This pattern works for me with horses at all levels of training. Even if your horse is under saddle, begin on the ground. Go through everything your horse has learned recently. Mix it up. Do several skills in a row, increasing the difficultly and speed as his brain comes alive. I like to do what I call circuit training. Just like in the gym, varying the skills, conditions more than just muscle...the brain has to concentrate to keep up. For example: I lead the horse at walk, stop, back 4 steps, stop, wait, pivot 90 degrees, back 4, trot off, stop, wait....stand...pivot 180 degrees, switch sides and repeat entire circuit, leading from the right side of the horse. Then, send the horse out on the circle, walk relaxed , pick up trot, trot 2 circles, walk 2 circles, stop. Pivot 180 degrees on circle and repeat. Then trot on off side to obstacle course set up in the yard and practice trail elements. Trot back to arena and go through entire 'set' again. This time adding a canter, or side pass, or pivot on the forehand. Reverse & repeat on the other side. Whatever your horse has learned, include it in the circuit. Then, if your under saddle, mount up, and do the entire circuit again. Be clear with your communication, keeping your posture, voice and expression balanced. Begin to minimize your cues, while picking up tempo. In my experience, it is great way to keep him interested and really using his mind. Make it hard, purposefully. HAVE FUN!



Obviously, this is one of my favorite areas of training. It is challenging for the horse and handler, both physically and mentally. Best of all, the workout you develop for him is limited only to your imagination and to be sure, the rewards are great. He will begin to look at your time together with interest and wonder. It is a place where he doesn't just yield to your authority, but CHOOSES to be in your company. That is the heart of a horse....his will.
Every moment you spend with your horse, you are training him. Make the most of it. Believe in yourself, so he will too. Control the territory, so he will follow. Communicate clearly, so he will understand. Kindle his interest, so he will let you in......and....finally...

Next Time      N – NEVER NEGOTIATE

What is the Difference between Eagala and Epona Therapies?

The was the question asked recently  to which this answer followed.

What is the difference between Eagala and Epona Therapy applications with regards to horses? Is one better than the other and why? Hi Keith - Good question. I have been in this field since 1998 and met Eagala co-founder, Greg Kersten, before Eagala formed in July 1999. Kersten now has OK Corral Series and speaks more of an Equine Assisted Philosophy for EAP. I have attended a variety of trainings (you can see them on my profile), including Eagala and Kohanov's EponaQuest. Eagala is a solution focused team approach similar to a ropes course, only the 'ropes' (the horses)have an opinion. The EponaQuest approach has interactive round pen work and can be more shamanic in approach to emotional fitness. Both have different tools for this work, and I have used both depending on the goal with the client. You can read here about certifications (which needs to be updated with some additions to the field): http://equineassistedassets.com/faqs-certifications-in-the-equine-assisted-field/ and here about the history of the approaches and organizations: http://equineassistedassets.com/history-of-ea-orgs/ Depending on the population you are working with, different approaches are good to have in your tool kit. I helped to form the Equine Assisted Education Association (E3A) http://www.e3assoc.org (to hear an interview on the method http://e3assoc.net )which trains and prepares a team of people to facilitate in a coaching model where both members of the team are dually trained in horse knowledge and facilitation practice. I think all of the models have merit. You might really like Chris Irwin's EAPD training, too. I like the team approach because having eyes on the clients AND horses can be challenging. I also like the profound connection that can occur in the EponaQuest (largely based on Barbara Rector's AIA model http://www.adventuresinawareness.net/ and modified by Kohanov's own experiences. If you are working with wounded warriors, having some PATH training is also helpful in having knowledge of how to best facilitate physical disabilities. It is a great field, and who you are serving can help determine what tools you may want to have. I will be happy to answer any questions you may have. By Pam Salem

Land Grab stemming from Obama Presidential Memorandum!

 A massive land grab is underway in Missouri and Arkansas. NGO’s (Non-Governmental Organizations) are lining up other states to be included in the Department of Interior’s “National Blueway System” designation. The Blueways System stems from Obama’s “America’s Great Outdoors” Presidential Memorandum, under which Secretary of Interior Salazar issued Secretarial Order #3321. (scroll down)
The first Blueway designation occurred in May 2012, across the States of Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut. That watershed encompasses 7.2 million acres. The “White River National Blueway” is 17.8 million acres, and includes 60 counties across Missouri and Arkansas. Not one elected official from these 60 counties knew a thing about the designation, or the plans put forward by the “nominating committee”.
Private property rights advocates knew nothing about the plan either, and when they’d found out about it, the designation had already been assigned. The “stakeholders”, NONE of whom represent or are actually private land holders in the area, have put together a significant list of “Strategic Objectives” to control the use of land within the 21,000 square mile area.
In the Memorandum of Understanding including the triumvirate of Federal Agencies designating and collaborating on the “National Blueway System” it states:
“Nothing in this MOU is intended to authorize or affect the use of private property or is
intended to be the basis for the exercise of any new regulatory authority.”
Yet when you examine the Nomination pdf that the “stakeholders” put forth to acquire the designation, there is no way the objectives can be met without regulation.
First, let’s have a look just who the non-governmental stakeholders are and then what they propose to accomplish with this Blueway.
We have only two entities involved from Missouri. The Missouri Audubon Society and the Missouri Nature Conservancy along with their sister groups in Arkansas. Then we have some National level groups, being Ducks Unlimited, The National Wildlife Refuge Association, The Conservation Fund, The Arkansas Canoe Club, The Arkansas Association of Conservation Districts and two local businesses. No property rights advocates, no land-owner groups, or farm groups and, importantly, no notification duly elected officials in Missouri at all, and only a few cities in 1/3 of the State of Arkansas even heard about this Blueway designation.
Now let’s get to the on the ground effects of the White River Blueway.
The nominating committee, consisting of the groups above and one State agency from Missouri and several from Arkansas, spelled out just what their plans are for the 17.8 million acres in the watershed in the Nominating pdf. Here are a few highlights from that plan, which you can find copied from the document at prcnews.org.
• Acquiring at total of 548,500 acres throughout the watershed
• Placing 10% of farms into conservation programs and develop Conservation Programs for 75% of farms
• Reducing on farm water consumption by 20%
• Increase flooding of agricultural land for wildlife habitat by 10% in the first three years and then an additional 20% in 3-7 years
• Set back levees to restore historic floodplain habitat
• Control encroachment on existing floodplain
• Establish a minimum 180 foot wide vegetative buffer zone along all surface water
There is no way this can be achieved without regulations being promulgated to enact it. A 180 foot buffer around all surface water means all streams, seeps, marshes, rivers, ponds and lakes. Thankfully, unless the definition gets changed, this buffer zone doesn’t include wet weather creeks.
The on the ground effects of this plan would absolutely annihilate agriculture within the 60 county area. And agricultural is by far the biggest economic engine within the region. Tourism is far, far behind. And with such a great economy, the idea that tourism is suddenly going to explode as an economic engine is beyond ridiculous. Nonetheless, that is the apparent economic benefit we are all supposed to gain from this designation.
The implementation method of this designation and the “integrated land and water management” that are to be achieved through this designation are far reaching and far from friendly to those who live and work on the land within this watershed. According to a statement from the Secretary of the Interior, the plans are to establish 5 National Blueways per year for the next five years ultimately achieving 25 National Blueways throughout the nation. The very people affected have been completely cut out of the process and left out of the loop on this issue. No public meetings, elected official notification, or Federal Register comments on the viability of a Blueway designation have been offered. Nor are they required. As of January 9^th, 60 counties in two States have been enrolled in an internationally driven “conservation estate”.
So if you don’t live within the designated area of the White River National Blueway, don’t worry, it will be coming to your area soon. Minnesota and Indiana have National Blueway nominations under way, and they are not far from being completed. Alabama is taking a novel approach in stringing together a myriad of Blueways and apparently waiting until that is achieved to bring in the final national designation.
The citizens within the White River Blueway designation are mounting a truly grass roots effort to overturn the designation and rescind the specific Memorandum of Understanding that will be used to place the Audubon Society and Nature Conservancy in the position of deciding what, if anything, happens on their land.
The method of implementation and the management processes are so opaque that when a gentleman, striving to get specific information on the White River Blueway, spoke with a representative from the Department of Interior he was told, “We don’t know what’s going on ourselves.” After a day of phone calls where no one could even figure out who might be in charge of anything associated with this Blueway designation, he had to give up with a nebulous hope of his question possibly being answered…..eventually.
We need all boots on the ground to beat this one. If we are successful in turning over this designation, it will be because extraordinary effort was made by a great number of people. To find out how you can help, please go to SecureArkansas.com, PrcNews.org for more information and also contact all the members of the House Natural Resources Committee and ask them to overturn this designation and require the Department of Interior to hold public meetings and notify elected officials about any potential Blueway designation.
Without our knowledge, without our consent, and without representation in the process, the Blueway designation is unlawful and patently un-Constitutional.

Urban Agriculture

Burpee CEO Reblooms Urban Agriculture

At the keynote speech of the Urban Agriculture Conference in New York City, organized by The Horticultural Society of New York, George Ball, Burpee Chairman and CEO told leading-edge urban gardeners and rooftop farmers to “stop and smell the cut flowers”.
Most urban agriculture projects consist mainly of vegetables and herbs with occasionally a few flowers on the side. Ball, a 35 year veteran of both the cut flower as well as the vegetable business, urged the participants at the May 16th conference held at the Kimmel Center of New York University, to meet the great potential, as well as pent-up demand, of fresh cut flowers that have almost vanished from urban homes, parties and other public and private events.
“Think of cut flowers as an endangered species” quipped Ball. “If you grow flowers in a 1-2 acre farm or garden, you not only serve customers who have not been pleased for over 30 years, but also you avoid regional competitors and government regulators in the fresh vegetable business.”
Ball went on to discuss the attractiveness of a cut flower urban farm to employees as well as customers. “You will have volunteers line up early every morning to work on a seasonal, outdoor cut-flower farm—vegetables don’t have that kind of deep and universal attractiveness.”
Ball added that the contemporary flower industry is dominated by huge exporters from countries 4,000-6,000 miles away, whose flowers are picked “green” when the buds are not fully pigmented (much as a tomato is picked green) and shipped by air-polluting jumbo-jets to wholesalers who keep them up to a week in storage. Finally, they are distributed to an ever-decreasing number of retail florists. “Today most florists are gift shops with a small cooler in the back filled with pale-colored flowers from Asia, South America or the Middle East” Ball said. “The consumers have fewer choices in flowers than they have in vegetables in a supermarket.”
Ball also pointed out the latest research at Rutgers University by Jeannette Haviland-Jones that proves that fresh flowers in the home elevates mild depression or other mood disorders. “So long as the flowers are proportionate to the room—not too many, not too few—they transform the space into a place of happiness”, added Ball.
“Vegetables are fuel for our body, but flowers connect with the deepest parts of our spirit.”
The Urban Agriculture Conference at the Kimmel Center was attended by over 300 urban gardeners and city farmers from across the nation.

The above is a copy of a press release that went out last week. Your comments are welcome! And please pass along to other bloggers if you have a chance. Thank you.

Ten Golden Rules of Horsemanship

Ten Golden Rules of Horsemanship by Dr. Bruce Nock

1.  Aids and cues are signals for change.  A cue is a sign designed to elicit a particular response.  An aid, similar to a cue, is used to modify the movement or balance of a horse under saddle.  Often the two words are used interchangeably.  They are both directives that tell a horse to change something that he is doing.
 

2.  Signals should stop as soon as the horse begins to make an acceptable response.  The cues and aids should remain silent until the next request as long as the horse is staying responsive to what was asked.  If cues and aids are ongoing, horses become desensitized to them and eventually stop responding.
 

3.  Signals should never be ignored.  Don't take no for an answer unless, for some reason, the horse is unable to respond.  Primary signals can be supported by secondary signals (whoa followed by passive resistance with the reins, for instance).  Pressure with the signal is increased gradually until the desired reponse is obtained.
 

4.  Signals should be distinct.  If the horse is unlikely to respond satisfactorily, don't signal.  It is much better to focus on improving a horse's mental state when he is frightened or excited than to give him commands that might only exacerbate the situation by escalating his emotional state even further.  Don't give conflicting signals.  Don't give double signals if they can be avoided (stop while I am driving you forward into the bit).
 

5.  A response should be easy for the horse to make.  Unless you are conditioning a horse for higher performance, if you ask a horse to do something that is difficult for him to do, you will have to be forceful to get him to do it.  Break training down into small steps and work through them one at a time and the difficulty will be overcome in time.
 

6.  Rewards enhance sensitivity to signals only when they immediately follow an acceptable response.  A reward should always be a consequence of the rider's initiative rather than that of the horse.  Always rewarding a horse is counter-productive because we know they learn to expect it.  Reward more in the beginning of a training session to encourage the desireable behavior and then less and less as the horse "gets it."
 

7.  Undesirable behavior worsens only if it is rewarded.  An undesirable behavior must be corrected every single time that it occurs, with absolutely no exceptions for optimal effectiveness.  The hardest behaviors to extinguish are those that have been rewarded intermittently.
 

8.  Undesirable behavior extinguishes if it is not rewarded.  A correction discourages undesirable behavior because it prevents the horse from attaining the reward, not because it punishes the horse.  Corrections supress undesirable behavior permanently.  Punishment does not.  Punishment often has severe negative side effects.  Corrections do not.  Corrections encourage proper behavior while punishment does not, and punishment usually begins where human knowledge ends.
 

9.  The reaction to a stimulus will dwindle if the stimulus continues while the reaction occurs.  Here we are not talking about "flooding" or "sacking out," methods still used to desensitize horses through force, creating horses that lack affect and perform in a mechanical sort of way without enthusiasm.  Burying horses in grain or sand up to their neck is one method of "flooding."  For a claustrophobic animal, being buried alive is like that room in the novel 1984 where you are imprisoned with your greatest fear.  The trick is to implement the next golden rule, no. 10, without the fearful reaction occurring.  (ESCT, for instance, works exceptionally well in doing this).  There is a point in ESCT when maintaining the stimulus while the horse is being pulsed with the ESCT pulser can produce quick and effective results.  This technique is introduced only after a series of short approaches and retreats while using the pulser and after the horses initial reactivity has dropped.  The pulsing interrupts the fear cycle and allows the horse to accept the stressor while it is in place.
 

10.  The reaction to a stimulus will dwindle if the stimulus terminates with the reaction occurring.  Just as a release of an aid is rewarding when riding, so is the withdrawal of a stimulus that arouses even slight apprehension.  Generally, the smaller the size, the less the sound, the less the movement and the less the structural complexity of the stimulus, the less the reaction to it.  Desensitization is a process that goes more quickly when you proceed slowly.  The approach and retreat method of introduction and removal of the stressor is one of the hallmarks of good training and part of the ESCT process.  Respecting the horses fear and working with it instead of against it moves desensitization along much more quickly.  Working with a flag, for instance, starts by introducing the flag low and folded and out of the horse's personal space, then gradually coming closer, unfolding it, touching him, raising it next to him, raising it over his head, etc.  It is a process.