First snow

Banana is under there too, to the left of Willie.

In the grand winter tradition, Ollie got to get out to frolic as I was preparing dinner. He had a fun time, but I forgot about him at one point and of course he walked right in the feed room. Must remember to shut the door.

The first step

The first step in Ollie's driving education has been achieved:

Actually, putting it on him was probably step #2, as step #1 getting a surcingle that would fit him. It's currently on its biggest holes, but that's due to the fluff, and I didn't want to put it on too tight the first time. He just sorta looked at it and then followed me around (which makes it really tough to take pictures. So, so many with his nose in the lens.)

Whether he will actually be able to pull a cart or not is sort of in question. He's on the line height wise and with his funky foot... eh, just don't know. But, I'm going to at least teach him how to ground drive because he needs to lose some weight and it's more fun than leading him. I have ground driving reins, so I won't need to get any more equipment until I need an actual harness and a bit, and I know someone that has a mini sized harness they'll let me borrow, so I won't have to buy a ton of equipment until I'm sure. We'll see how this goes.

10,000 Views

As the subject says, my blog now has 10,000 views. Not a ton of followers, but that's okay, I know you're all just here for the scenery :D

Come on lady!

My PM feeding time is more based on sunlight than clock time. As such, I currently feed at around 4:30. Tonight, at 4, Banana planted herself at the end of the walk from the house and stood there, waiting for me.

She's not the first equine to do this. Penny used to stand at the bottom of the steps in the winter, waiting. It's not like there isn't food out there for them, but I know as soon as the grass gets less appetizing because Naners is excited about coming in for dinner, when in the summer it's almost impossible to convince her. With today's cruddy weather I guess I just wasn't fast enough :D

What in heavens is wrong with me?

There's something wrong with me. I was resisting all the sales, and quite nicely. then I remembered the two things I need: a surcingle for Ollie so I can start ground driving him and, if I can find them on sale, a different herm sprenger bit for Naners. Found both, not in the same places of course. I'm wandering around, seeing if there's anything else I can convince myself I need. Guess what? There is nothing I need.

Shocked? Yeah, I am too. Actually, there are a couple of things I need (thinline seat saver, more reflective stuff for rides down the road,) but I've already asked for them for xmas. I just hope I do get them or I will lament not having gotten them during the big sale weekend.

Knot braids

I've become anti-mane pulling at some point. Perhaps it's because Penny became so vehemently opposed, and Naners is also not a big fan. In addition, the more mane hair they have the less fly spray I need to use on their necks.

As a result, I'm exploring longer mane braiding options. I did the scallops my childhood horse rocked at the dressage show, Naners' mane isn't quite long enough for them to look awesome yet. They're also a lot of work, as you really need to almost do skinny hunter braids to make it look right. For a dressage show where they stay in for two days? Probably worth the effort. However, for an event where they would only be in for a few hours? Not happening.

At Last Cruces I tried the knot braids. They turned out fabulous. Alas, I didn't take a picture, so here's a tiny crop from one of Cristy's photos:

I think they took me about half an hour and were easier than the button braids with the waxed thread (I used yarn.) You do need to pay attention that you're knotting the same way every time or they won't look uniform. I will need to pull her mane a smidgeon in the middle, as those braids were much thicker than the others, but not so badly it was awful. If I do pull, I do it minimally, frequently. So, a pull one day, another a couple of days later...

I only braided Penny for an event once then roached her. Roaches are adorable and a nice alternative to pulling and braiding. If Banana had out of control hair I'd roach her too. It would take away fly protection, but it would sure make my life easier.

I live in a horrible place.

I had to ride down the road tonight with this as the backdrop:

I should probably move.

I have so many, yet I just want more...

It could be argued I have enough pairs of breeches. But really, I don't.

Quick guide:
Furthest left: cotton Devon Aire Versailles, worn in high heat of summer
Furthest right: fleece lined and other warm breeches
Second to right: my beloved Grand Prix Hampton IIs, that are now being moved from show attire to everyday use. They were the only ones that fit me well until euroseats came about.
Second to left: the breeches I wear when it's time to take off the summer ones.
Middle: My current favorites/show breeches. Top is a pair of Ariats from awhile ago, no idea which one they are. I love their fawn color and they're my summer XC breeches. Next down the Tredstep Rosas: Love them. And then, the SmartPak Pipers: my favorite breeches. The grey pair is in my everyday wear pile, as they're comfy and not a show ring color, the anthracite with coral my colder month XC breeches. One of the PC kids saw me in them and said, "I didn't know they made breeches in Pam colors!" So, if you're wondering what Pam colors are, there they are (though actually, Pam colors are navy and pink, but it's easy to be confused as current body protector is black.)

Fence Walking

I've posted this several times on COTH and now I'm just going to put it here to direct people to. This is from an assignment for my Equine Behaviour and Welfare class last spring. We had to do a poster about an equine stereotypy. I picked fence walking as Banana does it. While this assignment was on fence walking, most of the information applies to the other stereotypies (like crib-biting) as well.

Abstract
Stereotypies are triggered by the modern stable environment. Caused by denying the horse its behavioral needs, factors such as genetics, weaning style, and riding style create a horse primed to be more bothered by the restrictive situation. Fence and stall walkers tend to be less tolerant of restrictive housing. Through neurologic changes, stereotypies can be a lifetime affliction.

Introduction
Fence walking, also known as stall or box walking when in a more enclosed space, is a locomotor stereotypy. It has not been studied as in depth as that of other stereotypies, such as crib biting. However, the basic causes of all stereotypies are from the same source: restrictions of the horse from engaging in its behavioral needs.

Epidemiology
The walking stereotypies (fence, stall, box) involve frequent movement of the horse along the perimeter of the confinement, whether in a circle in a stall, or back and forth along a fence. The horse can prefer this activity over eating or resting, resulting in loss of body condition, excessive hoof wear and orthopedic problems. It also causes untidiness of the stall, as urine and feces are mixed into the bedding, or a worn area next to a fence.

In nature horses move and forage constantly with conspecifics. When humans moved horses into the stable environment these activities were then forbidden the horse by confinement and management styles and stereotypies appeared. A box for every single horse, and meals two times a day, appeals to the owner, but not to the horse. Equine stereotypies don't seem to have a function from the human's perspective, but research suggests it is a form of coping with the stress of the unnatural captive environment they have been placed in and are not suited to (McBride and Hemmings, 2005).

Causality

Primary factors

• Restrictive housing - Normando et al. (2001) found horses in restrictive stabling were more likely to show locomotor stereotypies, like fence walking, than those in freer conditions. Horses stalled more and pastured less are at a higher risk for stall walking (Luescher et al., 1998, Bachman et al., 2003).
• Restrictive companionship - horses allowed minimal physical and visible contact with other horses have a greater amount of abnormal behavior. (Bachmann et al, 2003, McGreevy et al, 1995).
• Restrictive diet - In a stable environment the horse is fed meals. The restriction of foraging behavior (Winskill, 1995) and the addition of concentrates into the equine diet that reduced eating time (Luescher et al., 1998) conflicts with the horses' natural eating practices. McGreevy et al. (1995) found that feeding forage three times per day increased stereotypies, while feeding four or more times reduced it.

Secondary factors

• Weaning style - Foals that are separated and put into barns are more likely to develop stereotypies than those placed in pasture groups. Waters et al. (2002) found box walking was initiated in 2.3% of their study group at the median age of 64 weeks.
• Reactivity - Bachmann et al. (2003) found horses assessed to be reactive by their owners to be twice as likely towards stereotypy.
• Genetics - Vecchiotti and Galanti (1985) found that incidences of stereotypy were much higher in families with a history of the behavior. The incidence of stall walking in the greater group was 2.5%, but it was 13% in families with a history of it. However, it could be that the genetic component made a more nervous horse, more likely to engage in stereotypy than that the stereotypy itself is genetically based. They found a case of a stallion who was known to be nervous and a stall walker. In his progeny of 76 horses, 47 (62%) were also nervous and 11 (15%) also stall walked.
• Breed - Luescher et al. (1998) found Arabians were more likely to stall walk at 7.32%, as opposed to Thoroughbreds at 3.03%, and Standardbreds at .59%. Bachmann et al. (2003) found increased odds in Warmbloods (1.8) and Thoroughbreds (3.1) compared with other breeds.
• Style of riding - Horses ridden English are more inclined towards stereotypy (Normando et al., 2011), however they were also more likely to have restrictive stabling. McGreevy et al. (1995) found the rate of box walking higher in endurance horses, but many of those horses were Arabians.
• Age - Prevalence of stall walking increases with age (Luescher et al., 1998). Bachmann et al (2005) found horses under four years of age had almost four times lower odds of performing stereotypies in comparison to mature horses.

Neurologic aspects
In the beginning, a fence walker walks, trying to achieve the goal of getting to forage or companionship on the other side of the fence. This is the appetitive phase of goal seeking. Alas, the fence itself prevents the horse from ever reaching its goal, known as the consummatory phase. While in the appetive phase dopamine transmission between the VTA and neuro accumbens increases along the mesoaccumbens pathway. For some horses lack of goal attainment does not weaken the horse's desire, but increases it, turning the behavior into a repetitive loop and in the case of stall walking an actual, literal loop. More activity in the mesoaccumbens pathway makes for a more motivated horse and prolonged stereotypy from stress can alter the dopamine pathway physiology (McBride and Hemmings 2005).

Attenuation approaches
Laymen will suggest tying the horse to prevent fence or stall walking, but this does not eliminate the behavior and could result in the horse instead turning their locomotor needs to weaving. McBride and Cuddeford (2001) found that stereotypy may have a coping function and denying the horse the behavior could have welfare implications.

The owner must decrease the stress in the horse's life to decrease the stereotypy.

• Reduce the restrictions on behavioral needs - allow the horse constant forage, large spaces to move in, and companionship.
• Adapt the indoor environment - McGreevy et al. (2005) found the giving sufficient amounts of forage and hay alternatives, visual contact with conspecifics (such as with bars between stalls), and an active stable yard reduced stereotypies. McAfee et al. (2002) found that the reflection of the horse in a mirror could minimize separation stress. Adding a forage device like the modified "Edinburgh Foodball" used by Winskill et al. (1995) increased foraging time and decreased standing time.

Even with optimal living arrangements, the horse may not discontinue the activity. A fence walker turned out in a large grass pasture with companionship may still pace the fence. Once stereotypies are developed they can be difficult, if not impossible, to remove, possibly due to altered dopamine physiology in the brain (McBride and Hemmings, 2005). The best tactic is to ensure the horse is not in an environment with stereotypy producing factors present from the very beginning.

Conclusion
What many label as an activity of boredom, equine stereotypies are in actuality the horse's response to a stressful environment. Care should be taken to keep horses out of living situations in which behavioral necessities are denied, preventing the neurologic changes that come from a chronic source of stress. For fence and stall walkers removal from the restrictive housing environment may be the most important, but all of the primary factors should be considered.

References
Bachmann, I, Audigé, L, & Stauffacher, M. (2003) 'Risk factors associated with behavioural disorders of crib-biting, weaving and box-walking in Swiss horses',  Equine Veterinary Journal, 35(2), pp. 158-163.

Luescher, U, McKeown, D, & Dean, H. (1998) 'A cross-sectional study on compulsive behaviour (stable vices) in horses', Equine Veterinary Journal. Supplement, 27, pp. 14-18.

McAfee, L, Mills, D, & Cooper, J. (2002) 'The use of mirrors for the control of stereotypic weaving behaviour in the stabled horse', Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 78(2-4), p. 159.

McBride, S, & Cuddeford, D. (2001) 'The putative welfare-reducing effects of preventing equine stereotypic behaviour', Animal Welfare, 10(2), pp. 173-189.

McBride, S, & Hemmings, A. (2005) 'Altered mesoaccumbens and nigro-striatal dopamine physiology is associated with stereotypy development in a non-rodent species', Behavioural Brain Research, 159(1), pp. 113-118.

McGreevy, P, Cripps, P, French, N, Green, L, & Nicol, C. (1995) 'Management factors associated with stereotypic and redirected behaviour in the thoroughbred horse', Equine Veterinary Journal, 27(2), pp. 86-91.

Normando, S, Meers, L, Samuels, W, Faustini, M, Ödberg, F. (2011) 'Variables affecting the prevalence of behavioural problems in horses. Can riding style and other management factors be significant?', Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 133, pp. 186-198.

Vecchiotti, G, & Galanti, R. (1986) 'Evidence of heredity of cribbing, weaving and stall-walking in thoroughbred horses', Livestock Production Science, 14, pp. 91-95.

Waters, A, Nicol, C, & French, N. (2002) 'Factors influencing the development of stereotypic and redirected behaviours in young horses: findings of a four year prospective epidemiological study', Equine Veterinary Journal, 34(6), pp. 572-579.

Winskill, L, Waran, N, & Young, R. (1996) 'The effect of a foraging device (a modified 'Edinburgh foodball') on the behaviour of the stabled horse', Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 48(1-2), pp. 25-35.

Las Cruces 2014

Six months after our fabulous elimination in Stadium at Watermelon, seven months after our elimination due to similar circumstances at St Johns, Naners and I made the eight hour drive to Las Cruces to see if we could actually get around a stadium course. It was cold! And guess what? Memory foam in the cold is like a brick. So, while I was able to put enough blankets on to be warm in the gooseneck that night, sleeping on a brick kept me awake more than I would have liked to have been.

Friday's stadium schooling went well, Naners didn't even think of refusing. We were scary fast, and it wasn't pretty, but we got around. The temperature warmed up and it wasn't windy, so almost pleasant. Then I finally got to go somewhere I've wanted to for years: White Sands.

Yes, the sand is white. The sun was behind a cloud, and it's hard to photograph anyway. We swear one of these years we'll ride there, as you can.

Saturday morning: dressage. Intro B again. I love that test, but I'm so sick of it and it isn't changing. We got all 6's and 7's and a 36.3, which is about what we usually get on that test.

Stadium: We jumped all the things! Our first double clear stadium round. I was thrilled.

Between dressage and SJ the wind had picked up and it was blowing dust. So I broke out my SSG goggles. They looked a little odd, but not having dust in my eyes? Totally worth it.

I was second shooter for the photographer for XC, so sat out for Prelim and Training. Storm clouds came in and before Novice started the rain came down. I headed for the barns, being wet and cold before I needed to ride would not have helped my day. When I dressed for XC I had to put my jacket on, hiding my fabulous loud pink shirt. It was drizzling when I mounted, by the time I went out on course the clouds were gone and the sun was out.

XC was a much more difficult ride. The third jump, a tiny log, sits between two bigger jumps. She tried very hard to not jump that one. She has a thing about her tiny jump being near big jumps. I had to really ride, and fortunately she wasn't going so fast that putting my leg on felt like the last thing I should be doing.

We still had several less than attractive jumps

But we got around, double clear for XC too. So, for the first time ever Naners and I finished an event on our dressage score, placing third, which was dead in the middle. Go us!