Jessie Shiers - The Joy of Keeping Horses: Th Ultimate Guide to Keeping Horses on Your Property

............... the joy of keeping ...............

horses

The Ultimate Guide to Keeping Horses on Your Property

Jessie Shiers

Skyhorse Publishing

Copyright 2012 by Jessie Shiers All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

ISBN: 978-1-61608-424-0

Printed in China

CONTENTS

Introduction

An owner once said that his horse reminded him of a lightning rod, for, as he rode, all the sorrows of his heart flowed down through the splendid muscles of his horse and were grounded in the earth.

Marguerite Henry,Album of Horses

ONE MIGHT THINK that after more than two decades of horse-craziness, including researching and writing several horse books, I might know all there is to know about horsesor at least think I know all there is to know! In reality, this couldnt be further from the truth. I learn new things about horses literally every day that I spend with them. Each horse and each situation offers a new opportunity to learn. The important thing is not knowing it all, but rather admitting that you dont, and being willing and in fact excited to research and learn constantly. Read magazines, peruse websites, and talk to your vet, farrier, and horse friends about the latest developments in horse health, nutrition, training, and management.

Horses Can Save You Money !

Things you will have to sacrifice when you have horses:

Gym membership: Trust me, you wont have time for it. And you really wont need to be working out at the gymyoull be getting all the exercise you need by mucking stalls, pushing wheel-barrows, stacking hay bales, lugging water... oh, and of course, riding!

Expensive car: Ditch the high monthly payment for a luxury sedan and trade it in for a beater with a hatchback. You will just be mucking it up with shavings and grain bags, muddy boots, filthy horse blankets, and dirty saddle pads. Plus, youll need to save up for a new truck. And trailer.

Nice clothes: Umm... no. You might as well start shopping at Goodwill now. You will not be able to make it from your front door to the car without having to stop by the paddock, where you will become covered in hay chaff, manure, and horse slobber (how can you resist those nose kisses?). Theres no point in trying to dress nicely. You will fail.

Dinners out: Fine dining is simply a luxury, and one for which you will have neither time nor money when you have horses at home. Far better to make good use of your Crock-Pot to prepare quick, healthy, inexpensive meals at home.

Vacation s: Youll be spending your summers riding and showing. Plus, unless you have a really excellent horse sitter available, you wont want to leave your farm for more than a couple of days at a time.

Why Keep Horses?

This is a very valid question. After all, horses are quite expensive to own and extremely time-consuming to care for. Why would anyone dump so much money and time down the drain? Non-horse people often simply dont get it. When considering the answer to this question, I realized there are actually two components to it: Why have horses at all? and Why keep them at home, when it can be so much easier to board them at a stable? I will address each part separately.

Why Own and Ride Horses at All?

For many of us horse-crazy individuals, horses simply seem to be hard-wired into our brains and hearts. Many have loved horses since we were old enough to say the word horsie. They are the stuff of childhood fantasy made real. We cant ride dragons or befriend unicorns, but horseshorses are real! Strong, beautiful, sensitive, fast, muscular, with arching necks and flagging tails... they seem almost mythical. Yet we can touch them, interact with them, even ride them.

ABOVE Kids who have horses learn about compassion and responsibility at an early age.

ABOVE: The sight of a beautiful horse galloping at liberty can lift the spirits.

As young pony lovers grow older, they have many life lessons to learn from horses. Owning a horse requires a great deal of responsibility. A horse can teach a teenager the value of hard work, as well as the value of compassion and caring for another living being. She learns how to be sensitive to the needs and feelings of another and how to focus on the task at hand. If she competes at horse shows, a rider learns how to win gracefully, how to accept defeat, how to learn from her mistakes and move on, and how to take responsibility for her own actions and never to blame her horse.

On the practical side, a young rider who is entering high school is facing a world of temptations, not all of them positive. If riding brings her happiness and satisfaction, she will choose going to the barn after school to spend time with her animals and her barn friends, rather than potentially getting into mischief. If she knows she has to be up at 6 AM on Saturday to get ready for a horse show, shes not likely to stay out late on Friday night partying. These types of associations and habits will stay with her throughout her life, leading her into positive social involvements rather than negative ones.

For many adults, horses serve as a form of emotional therapy. A common saying is, Hay is less expensive than a psychiatrist. What does this mean, exactly? Well, it can mean different things to different people.

At the simplest level, a horse is a source of sheer physical beauty. Many people find spiritual solace from admiring artwork, gazing at the sunset over the ocean, or watching a dance performance. Horses can bring us the same sense of peace and wonder. As we watch them grazing calmly in the pasture, their sense of peace and contentment radiates into us. As we witness a herd galloping across a field in unison, their power and grace overwhelm us. Watching a horse and rider act as one mind and one body to dance through a series of movements in a dressage test or reining pattern has literally brought tears to my eyes. (If you want to experience this for yourself, search YouTube for videos of Andreas Helgstrand and Blue Hors Matins Grand Prix Freestyle dressage test at the 2006 World Equestrian Games, or Stacy Westfalls winning freestyle reining ride at the 2006 Quarter Horse Congress.)