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Archive for May, 2009AHorseBlog.com – A Detailed Dressage Blog, the Half-Halt, Traditional/Classical DressageDressage – dres·sage (drə säzh’) n. The guiding of a horse through a series of complex maneuvers by slight movements of the rider’s hands, legs, and weight. [French, preparation, training, dressage, from dresser, to set up, arrange, train, from Old French drecier, to set up, arrange. See dress.] I just spent the last 2-3 hours reading as much as I could from this great blog, SustainableDressage.net by Theresa Sandin. For anyone who wants a lot of detail about the hows and whys of riding Dressage, plus a coverages of the bits, bridles, saddles and fit, gadgets, including an amazing explanation of the use of spurs; all of it has amazing explanations including animations, drawings of anatomy and how it is all affected. I truly enjoyed reading and had a hard time stopping as everything she was saying, my dressage trainer, Kathy Daly of KDEquine Training has said before to me. (It’s helpful that kathy is a USEF Dressage judge, too – she knows what to look for in a show and what to emphasize, like anything that is a co-efficient!) You can read my comments about finally ‘getting the feel’ of melding with my horse so we can become at one in the ‘My Horses’ post. Below is an excerpt from her blog on the half-halt: (Original post by Dmitri Gromov) The Combined Half-Halt The rider feels the outside hindleg (or whichever one’s whos step shall be halfhalted) lift and protract, through her seat. As the hind-leg is protracted a driving leg aid on that same side will cause the horse to step further in under his body. When the hoof lands the aid will need to release and let seat and rein aids take over. The seat “holds” the movement for a fraction of a second by gently transferring weight backwards. This can be done as discretely as by the rider pressing the nape of her neck against the back of her collar. If more is needed the horse can be held by the legs and thighs for a fraction of a second and the oscillating movement through the riders back can be slowed. The rein on the same side as the supporting hindleg supports the seat action by asking for a slightly higher carriage of the head and thus a lifting of the base of the neck, and for slowing the forehand down. The rein aid can also help to bend the grounded hindleg, but when a horse has become that permeable, this multi-aided half-halt is hardly needed anymore. Breaking down the actions of the half-halt this way clearly shows that it is something of extremely short duration. The phases of the step where the horse protracts the hindleg and plants it on the ground, supports his weight over it until it has reached the plumb line from the hip, is no longer than 1/2 second. So in a younger, less educated, slower reacting re-schoolee this will have no other effect than upsetting him. For this great majority of horses, the 2 part half-halt will be needed to further their education. The 2 Part Half-Halt The 2 part half-halt is by definition not a half-halt but a schooling half-halt, or a precursor to a half-halt. … More at http://www.sustainabledressage.com/collection/halfhalt.php AHorseBlog.com – Horses in Need of New Homes and Equine AssistanceWith the economy the way it is everyone is doing their best to make ends meet these days. Unfortunately there are a lot of our friends, neighbors and show buddies that due to circumstances beyond their control can no longer manage to keep all or some of their horses and must find wonderful and safe homes for their equine family members. In response to this need this is a page devoted to assisting horses in need in hopes of finding someone who will be able to give them the love and home they have always known. Keep checking this page as it will be updated as new horses in need are listed. If you know anyone looking for a horse, please pass this link on to them so we can help these horses find good safe and loving homes. Ravenwood Farm’s Horses in Need Network None of the horses here are neglected or abused and the prospective new owners will deal directly with the current owners. Please look at the horses that are posted here and fill out the ‘Contact Us’ form at http://www.horsesinneed.vpweb.com and your inquiry will be forwarded to the owner right away and they will contact you. Please make sure that you list the horse’s name and the corresponding file number in the comment section of the Contact page. This website is strictly a network site to help the horses in need and Ravenwood Farm or Chris/Dale Dunn is not responsible nor directly involved with the placing of these horses. With the Dunn’s previous involvement in the equine support world, they saw the need to help people out that we knew had personal reasons to have to re-home their most precious equines. Ravenwood Farm receives no monetary gains or donations for providing this network – it is only to help the horses and the many people who due to circumstances beyond their control having to give up their best friends.
AHorseBlog.com – The May Nor’easter’s Effect on Us in North/Central Florida and Global WarmingThis isn’t equine related – exactly – but it is in the long run as we are all affected by global warming. A good example is the strange 2 weeks of heavy rain in Florida, starting with a nor’easter and now just heavy thunderstorms. The storms and flooding are so much so that it has threatened the potato and melon crops with the farmers losing millions of dollars not just in the loss of their crops, but for the workers who get paid to harvest the crops. May is not typically a rainy season for North Florida. the potato and melon crops were just a couple weeks before their harvest time when the nor’easter hit. It has affected many others, too in the way of heavy flooding of dirt and ashplalt roads stranding many people from getting to their jobs, groceries, children to the last days of school, UPS/Fed X deliveries – you name it. Luckily for us, we have 2 all-wheel drive SUVs, but we don’t have a 4-wheel drive truck, so my husband is getting hay and shavings a little bit at a time instead of by the truckload. What is scariest is the fact that we could get our horses out in a horse trailer even if we did have 4-wheel drive trucks. One road is too muddy at the entrance and has a huge drop hole off at one spot and the other road has 3 deep washouts which are even getting difficult to transverse in the all-wheel drive vehicles. A mini-van was stuck in one of the ‘holes’ a couple of days ago, so that blocked the whole road. My husband turned around and went the other road; coming home, that road was blocked by 2 big trucks, so he tried the other road and luckily they had moved the mini-van out by then. Not getting our horses out in an emergency like if we needed to take them to the University of Florida (UF) vet department or if some other catastrophe happened is a scary feeling. When you think of a disaster, you don’t always think of a nor’easter and heavy rains doing that much harm. It certainly has caused us a lot of hassle and there has been loss of income for my neighbors who depend on using their trucks and horse trailers for business or even for horse and rescue assistance. At least my little garden is producing a lot of green and baby lima beans, but many of my yellow squash have rotted on the vine (I have gotten 2 large batches
Anyway, I wanted to include this interesting article and link I read at Discovery.com’s site about Global Warming from a UF ecologist: Global warming’s “slow-motion time bomb” of trapped greenhouse gases in the Arctic’s thawing tundra may not go off quite as fast as once feared, a new study found. Even so, it remains a problem that in the long run is still likely to worsen global warming in an uncontrollable way, researchers reported. The study, published in Thursday’s issue of the journal Nature, looked at thawing parts of Alaska and found that greenhouse gas releases initially are sucked up by new plants as the Arctic gets warmer and greener. But that helpful effect doesn’t last. Eventually, between 15 and 50 years, those plants “can’t keep up” and get overwhelmed, said study lead author Ted Schuur, a University of Florida ecologist. Read more at http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/05/27/permafrost-arctic-warming.html AHorseBlog.com – Lake Butler to Palatka Horseback Riding Rail Trail Needs AssistanceThe Palatka to Lake Butler or Lake Butler to Palatka trail in NorthEast FLorida has approximately six miles of paved trail which transverses the southern tip of Clay County. The Clay County department of recreation has just completed a pavilion and hitching post for horses at the trail head/county park – Twin Lakes County Park. This is a wonderful facility and provides a beginning point for anyone wanting to ride the entire approximately 26 miles from Keystone Heights, FL to just outside of Palatka, FL. The main thing needed for this facility to become a true jewel is the involvement of the equestrian community to clean a pathway beside the trail where it is paved and to continue the clearing and development for the rest of the unpaved trail to Palatka and/or Lake Butler. If this trail is cleared and developed it would provide approximately 60 miles of “off-road” equestrian trails. While there may be funds available in the state stimulus bill, most of the work involved would only be clearing the brush beside the old railroad bed. As an additional bit of information, this trail facility connects to the Gold Head Branch State Park north of Keystone Heights where an equestrian facility also exists, and where camping is provided. Another bit of information – there are opportunities for the purchase/development of private equestrian camping facilities adjacent to the trail. If some organization or individual has the financial resources and inclination, the opportunity is there for the development of a complete equestrian camping facility in NE Florida that could be used all year due to our moderate winters. I, Rick Bebout, am the Founding President of the organization that lead the effort to purchase this abandoned rail way and I want to see it developed and used to its full potential. Please consider disseminating this information to anyone you know that may be interested in assisting. You may email me at r.s.bebout@gmail.com for more information and to provide assistance in getting this trail completed! Thanks in advance for any efforts you can provide. Also read article at http://www.horsesinthesouth.com/article/article_detail.aspx?id=6841 AHorseBlog.com – First Annual Clay Prepares, Preparedness ExpoOn June 13th we will have the first annual Clay Prepares, preparedness expo. The time on this will be from 9am to 1pm. The location will be at the Teachers Training center at Fleming Island High School. This event will bring many response agencies here so the public can walk through and gather pertinent information in preparing their home and community. Agencies like the Salvation Army, Emergency Management, Health Department, American Red Cross, Sheriff’s office, CERT, and many others will have tables set up handing out information. There will also be static displays for the kids of fire trucks, sheriff’s department vehicles and other response agencies. I would like to put the word out and ask the team leaders to see if anyone is interested in passing out information that day. This is the first one so our expectations are low on a turn out but we are looking for this to become an annual event. I will send a flyer out as I receive it. There will be drawings for preparedness items like weather radios and many other items, so please pass the word and come assist if you can. Please contact your team leader to let them know about your interests please. John Ward Click to download Clay Prepares Expo Flyer AHorseBlog.com – Make Emergency Plans for Pets in Advance of HurricaneHurricane season gets under way in just two weeks, and Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles H. Bronson is reminding people to get an emergency plan in place now for their animals. Bronson says people should not wait until the last minute to think about how they are going to keep pets and other animals safe during a hurricane. While citizens know they need an emergency plan for their families, they also need one for their pets, horses and livestock. Bronson’s Division of Animal Industry provides information about pet-friendly hotels, horse sheltering facilities, and extensive emergency preparedness information for animal owners who might be impacted by a hurricane. Visit http://www.doacs.state.fl.us/ai and click on “Emergency Management” to access the information. Many county public shelters accept selected animals accompanied by their owners. Bronson says people should contact their local emergency management office to learn about that county’s specific plans. “It is important to plan ahead and not wait until an evacuation is under way because people may find themselves with no place to go if they take their animals, or they may be forced to leave them behind to fend for themselves,” Bronson said. Some tips for people with animals include: Pet Evacuation – Do not leave their pets behind when they evacuate because the animals can be injured, lost or killed. Returning to a home after a hurricane may be restricted, and it might be days or weeks before someone could check on pets left behind. – Keep ID tags and vaccinations up to date. – Prepare a pet evacuation kit, including food and water for at least a week, a manual can opener, medications, medical/vaccination records, a pet carrier, and bedding. – If possible, make arrangements in advance for evacuation with pets. Know where you can shelter with your pets along your evacuation route. – Evacuate two to three days prior to hurricane landfall to avoid traffic delays and full shelters and hotels. Contact hotels and motels along your evacuation route to check policies on accepting pets and keep the list handy. Horse Evacuation – Keep vaccinations and Coggins tests current. – If possible, make arrangements in advance for evacuation of horses. Know where you can take your horses for shelter along your evacuation route. – Make sure your horse trailer is “ready to go” or other transport arrangements are prepared well in advance. – Carry your vaccination record, Coggins test and health papers with you. – Carry two to three days of horse feed and water with you. – Evacuate two to three days prior to hurricane landfall to avoid traffic delays and full shelters. Horses and Livestock Sheltered in Place Sometimes it is not possible to evacuate horses and livestock. The following actions could greatly improve the survivability of horses and livestock sheltered in place. – Reinforce your barn, and outbuildings with hurricane straps and other measures. – Open gates or remove fencing so that animals may move to high ground during flooding and to low-lying areas during high winds. – Obtain a hand pump and enough large containers to store water for your animals for at least a week. – Protect a supply of animal feed from becoming damaged by flooding or high winds. – A generator with a safely stored supply of fuel may be essential, especially if you have electrical equipment necessary to the well being of your animals. – Secure or remove anything that could become blowing debris and injure your animals. See more disaster support/planning articles on HorsesintheSouth.com/DisasterPlanning Get a printed version in PDF format here
AHorseBlog.com – HorsesintheSouth.com Launches New BlogWelcome to My NEW Hosted Blog HorsesintheSouth.com is an Equestrian Online Magazine for Horse Competitions, News, Articles, Banner Advertising and Marketing, Equine Directory, Calendar of Horse Shows, Events and Education. I, Teri Rehkopf, am the CEO & owner of this site & now have & have had multiple independent contractors helping me with the development, design, graphics, sales, accounting, & all of the other stuff that goes in to making a huge website like this. I have many stories to tell on the processes that have been taken to get to this point over the years, so stay tuned! I am creating a blog so that I have a broader base of ways to add news & my own outlook on what is happening in the horse world, my experiences, things & observations about my horses & my life developing, managing & producing this monster of a website that I created in 2000. Actually it was earlier than that as www.nfla-horse.com, later to become www.northfloridahorse.com , then to grow into www.horsesinthesouth.com which includes partner/subsidiary sites, horses & my life developing. managing & producing this monster of a website that I created in 2000 (actually it was earlier than that as www.nfla- horse.com, later to become www.northfloridahorse.com, www.southernhunterjumper.com, www.southerndressage.com, www.dressageonthefirstcoast.com, www.horsesinflorida.com, www.eco-equestrian.com, & in development, www.southernsporthorses.com. The first website that I developed was for my dressage trainer, judge – Kathy Daly of www.kdequine.com & what has blossomed into a great friendship. Her site was developed on my Bellsouth account in 1997. Later I got her a domain name & started with a hosting provider as the broadband for the views to her site was too large for the Bellsouth account. That is when I developed www.nfla-horse.com & I added Kathy’s web pages to that website. Next I developed a website for my local Dressage club, Northeast Florida Dressage Association, NFDA, which were also pages associated with www.nfla-horse.com. As my site grew, I moved both Kathy’s site to www.KDEquine.com & the NFDA’s site, to www.nfladressage.com so they would have their own hosting space as my business was growing in web design both for horse-related sites & non horse-related sites. Most of my clients have been with me since they began back in the early 2000′s.I’ll add more posts soon. I have to do some work for my www.horsesinthesouth.com website & for my banner advertising clients. I will list my portfolio here, but you can also see it at both my corporation website www.synergyetc.com & on www.horsesinthesouth.com/clientsites/ or www.horsewebs.com or www.horsewebsites.com. MyEquusBlog.com – An Overview from 1970 to 2009 – Mecca, Sunny and RockiI married my son Jason’s father, Mark Ellerbee, in early 1970 while I was still a student at FSU. We moved to Nashville in the summer of 1970 and Mark got a job with the Oak Ridge Boys as their drummer and as backup vocalist. (Listen to the Oaks on Youtube – Mark sings while he is playing drums at the end of the song – he’s the one with the long wavy hair Jason was born at the end of 1970. After I had another son in 1973 (who died in 1988), I bought my own ¾ Arab/ ¼ Quarter Horse cross, 2 ½ year old stallion (originally named Major, but I changed it to Mecca) which I trained and showed locally. I showed my horse and other horses in Western Pleasure, Equitation and Hunt Seat, even placing 11th in the hunt seat class at the 1978 Appaloosa Nationals on a gorgeous black, blanket-spotted stallion I rode for a client. I also rode another gorgeous Palomino stallion in Western Pleasure and a young 16.2hh Appaloosa gelding in Western Pleasure and Hunt Seat. In 1980, Mark and I divorced amicably and I moved back to my home in Jacksonville, FL (without Mecca – I sold him the year before I moved from Nashville since I had gone back to college to finish my degree). In 1983, I finally completed my college degree in Computer Information Systems (CIS). I didn’t ride during this time as I was always in class, studying, in the computer lab doing assignments, working part-time at the college as the Psychology department’s system analyst, and taking care of my small children when I was home. (I was lucky to have my mother take care of them when I wasn’t around.) After I graduated and started working in my career, I occasionally rode friends’ horses off and on. I married my husband Jerry Rehkopf in 1991 and he made the ‘mistake’ one night of telling me that I should get a horse when I was ardently explaining to him how a horse canters on their leads. So, the search began and I finally got another horse – an ex-racehorse Quarter Horse named ‘Sunny’. I began riding him in Dressage and later in hunters and jumpers.  Teri & Rocki, First Level Dressage I sold him in 1995 just a couple of months after I got my mare which I named Glenord’s Rocket Dancer – Clan Butter Glenrod’s Glened x Rocket To Antares – ‘Rocki’, as a 2 ½ year old. Rocki’s sire (now deceased) was a champion Budweiser Clydesdale and her dam was a racing TB/Appaloosa, with her bloodline going back to Native Dancer, hence her name, Glenord’s Rocket Dancer, barn name of Rocki (spelled with an ‘i’ at the end so it’s female sounding, lol). Claire Lee, of what is now Haddenloch Farm (used to be Dexter Farm), first backed Rocki while I was healing from having 6 cracked ribs from a fall off of Sunny when I missed a tight turn to a jump (a perpendicular jump that was higher than I was used to and looked too late to next jump, so I turned Sunny into the jump standard and fell onto the hard sand – ouch!). I had experienced a couple of other falls on the fast Sunny with associated injuries, so I had to promise my employer that I wouldn’t jump anymore, at least not competitively or in a clinic. I got my American Warmblood mare to ride Dressage and English Pleasure (I did jump her in low Hunter classes after she was backed and after I had trained her to ground drive with me running behind her, but again, after the previous falls and injuries from Sunny, it was better that I ride Dressage instead); she has been the best horse I have ever had. She will do anything and she was bomb-proof even when she was a baby. Rocki is still with me at 16 years old and is still wonderful and in her prime (Clydesdales mature late – Rocki was actually lazy until she turned 10!). Just a few years ago,I learned how to ride correctly, i.e. how to really ride Dressage and give with the arms/elbows, meld with the horse, inside leg to outside rein, half-halt, etc. Boy was I excited when I finally felt this for longer than just a few minutes! I called my trainer, Kathy Daly of KDEquine Training, and excitedly told her that I now knew what she had been trying to get across to me for the past 5 years! So, instead of taking 45 minutes to warm myself up while confusing my horse by hanging on the reins and not let him/her go forward INTO the reins, I can get on and have a great ride in 20 minutes, both my horse and I warmed up almost immediately. Rocki really thanks me now… all I have to do is to ‘think’ a movement and Rocki will comply… ahhhh… as was said, a true horse fanatic! MyEquusBlog.com – My Early Years and HorsesWhen in elementary school, I would walk over 3 miles every Tuesday after school to ride at a rental barn and I rode some of my friend’s horses, too. Finally, when I was 12, I got a horse of my own, a 14.3 1/2 hand part quarter horse, buckskin, to learn to care for and retrain from being ‘wild’ and always wanting to run and jig, to a horse that would walk and canter just from a lift on the reins. My first saddle was a hard McClellan Army saddle that I hated, so I rode bareback most of the time until I finally got Western saddle, then an English saddle in my later teens. I would do everything on my horse ‘Scottie’ (short for Great Scott – I renamed him from Apache) – riding for miles all around my family’s 30 acres in the woods of Jacksonville/Mandarin/Greenland/Bayard Florida area, going swimming bareback in the clear water of the barrow pits that were dug to build I-95 next to our land; I would jump over 2 long pieces of skinny baseboard moulding spread out over the long side of 2 sawhorses that I set up as a jump; I would gallop over a 24+ natural jump course I made of piled up tree limbs and logs, spanning a couple of miles, weaving in and out of trees, ducking under low-hanging branches, sliding down a steep embankment, and generally being a adventurous, horse-loving teenager. I would run barrels and do pole bending and competed at a saddle club where I would ride to on Friday nights with a group of others. The saddle club was about 8-10 miles from my house. I would meet up with the other riders about 3 miles from my house & we would all ride together. Then, I would ride back home in the dark by myself – something you would never let a young girl do in today’s world… MyEquusBlog.com – Current Horse Ownership and History Rocki - Dressage Equitation I have ridden all of my life and I am an absolute horse fanatic! I have ridden most disciplines. I am a member of USDF, USAE, USEF, USET, NFDA and own a Lifetime USDF/USEF member horse, an American Warmblood out of a champion Budweiser Clydesdale sire – Clan Butter Glenord’s Glened, crossed with a racing TB-Appaloosa mare, Rocket to Antares (going back to Native Dancer), who I named Glenord’s Rocket Dancer or “Rocki” for her barn name. Rocki is the most amazing horse – she will do anything and she has always been bomb-proof, even when she was a baby. I ride her mostly Dressage (hopefully again in First Level by this Fall of 2009 if my shoulder has healed enough) and in English Pleasure and Equitation, and recently I have been working on Western Riding patterns, too, which I find is very similar to Dressage. She is my absolute love as I have had her now for almost 14 years, since she was a youngster.  Panimetro in a Race I also own a companion horse for my mare, an ex-racehorse, Panimetro, who was a Thoroughbred rescue from the Virgin Islands, cared for by VICCTRE – Virgin Islands Community Cooperative Thoroughbred Retirement Effort. During a race, he suffered four major fractures in his left front ankle, an injury similar to Barbaro’s — the Kentucky Derby winner that was euthanized due to complications in the healing of his leg. “Metro” could have met the same sad fate, but was able to heal himself by lying down for long periods over a year and a half and allowing caretakers to attend to him. It does have some calcification in the fetlock, but it has healed enough for him to be a ‘horse’. Metro is on the cover, inside and as the December horse on the 2009 VICCTRE calendar. You’ll see him running around still like a racehorse, even with his injured left front leg! I adopted Metro from Habitat for Horses in March of 2007 when he was brought here from the Virgin Islands. He is such a character and loves people! He can still run around, buck and play and jumps over a water puddle in front of his paddock that can fill up when it rains a lot. Both horses have wonderful stalls with fans and open access to paddocks. Each has their own pasture that the paddock gate opens into, they get fed 3 times a day plus a lot of loving and TLC, so they are in “horse heaven”.  Teri & 18hh JR Khan I also used to own an 18hh J.R. Khan, who was trained to Third level Dressage by my trainer Kathy Daly who raised him from a foal from her stallion, Hurrikhan. Khan taught me how to ride correctly by him knowing what to do from Kathy’s training. Sadly, I had to sell him a few years ago as my left shoulder was getting so bad (another post will come about that…) that I couldn’t lift his legs to clean his feet, lift the saddle on his back & in general couldn’t take care of such a huge horse (too bad, too… my long legs fit perfectly on his sides). |
). My new tomato plants are really loving the rain, though! But, if we just didn’t have all of this standing water around that of course, attracts mosquitoes, and you know we couldn’t get a fly-control truck down these roads right now…
