Barb

“Working On The Volume Dial” by Candi K

“The August Joel Conner Clinic brought another opportunity for Barb and I to work on our connection and skills in the world of horsemanship. We enjoyed being in the outdoor arena where there were a lot of horses and plenty of other distractions to add to the mix. She was calm and stood patiently with me as we listened to Joel instruct.

Barb and I are working on the volume dial. Her energy often indicates she is at high decibel levels. I on the other hand can have the volume of a cricket. Over the span of the three days I learned to pump up my volume to show Barb I am a confident dance partner. Getting her to move off my energy, move away me when I ask and have her respectfully respond to my asks were all part of our classwork.

We concentrated on moving the hindquarters most of the clinic as it is the most important foundation of all. Fine tuning her backup through a variety of ways and bending softly from the ground are all some of her other weekend accomplishments.

Barb definitely believes she independent and in charge. Underneath the layers though she is a willing partner if you take the lead in the dance. She isn’t push button by any means. She will continue to grow, learn and thrive with the right partner. Until then I am excited to see what we can accomplish together.”

As you pass by her paddock, Barb nickers at the gate, a little bay siren enticing you closer. It is hard to divine what, exactly, she wants, once she has you. Likely to be let out and left to her own devices. Barb would make an excellent automatic lawn mower, if only someone would allow her to live out her dream.

Barb  was between riders for a bit, and had a bit of a vacation, but after a period of muscling up on the ground, was easy to get back going under saddle. She knows her lines, just needs a bit more work on their delivery at times. I (Lily) have been ground working her in preparation for her work with a rider, and it has been an enlightening experience for me. One thing I have learned is that Barb loves competence. But she is also forgiving to those of us who chase it with a big ‘IN’ prefacing the word. She reminds me of a surly teenager on occasion, acquiescing to your request, but not happy about it. You are nagging her to take out the trash for the fifth time, and she’s really doing her best, so lay off, would ya? Barb just showcases what  (some) other horses are better at internalizing, which makes her a pretty cool little pony. She really forces you to want to work on yourself and your ask, and when you’re doing something ‘right,’ she rewards you for it in spades. For me, working with Barb has been an exercise in refinement. She is not afraid to tell you when you need to adjust your volume, and she has a way better ear for it than you do. Or I do, rather, which has been interesting for me. I’m not quite there yet, but I’m getting better at it, and Barb is a big part of that. She does on occasion, especially after a weekend or few days off, get squirrely and sassy, needing a reminder of where her feet are and how she can use them to feel more secure, but she has come a long way even just since i began working with her in hooking on to a person and feeling of an ask.

Personality wise, she is a little goof. Sometimes, Barb wants to sniff your face. Warm breath on your cheek. Teeth that, while not necessarily sharp, are still powerful, hidden behind an easily retracted curtain of lip. It conjures up images of a dragon. Albeit, one who isn’t too hungry. Investigative, perhaps slightly dangerous? She seems more the former.

It has been a lot of fun learning from Barb, who is a very fun little horse herself. It will be a wonderful day when this cutie finds her person!

Barb is a little bay lightning bolt, electricity on four fuzzy legs. I see Barb every day, but it was not until spending a few concentrated hours with her over the course of a few days that I was reminded how much personality lives in that petite body. Some might call a horse like Barb silly (on a good day) or frustrating (on a bad one), but the truth of it is that singular adjectives do not do her justice. Indeed, Barb can be silly, as she skates her nose along the ground on the walk to her stall, like a bloodhound following a scent (she’s scenting alright, sniffing for any errant hay she can inhale). She can also be frustrating, flinging open the window of her stall in order to make nasty faces at her neighbor (we have had to bungee her window shut to ensure no hijinks ensue when the HOA isn’t around to police her). But where Barb really excels is in something all horses do, which is being a mirror for us humans.

Barb wears her heart on her furry bay sleeve, and is not afraid to tell it like it is. Were Barb a human, she would be your painfully honest friend who delivers hard truths. Blunt? Maybe. But necessary? Yes.

This is really a post about the three consecutive days I worked with Barb, an update about how she’s doing and what we did, but it is also a reflection on the joy of horses and what they can tell us about ourselves.

The first evening that I let Barb out into the round pen, the intention being to send her around a bit to get some brain and body exercise, she took advantage of the few seconds I needed to hang up her halter and grab a flag to stop, drop, and roll. There was none of the spot-searching some horses do when looking for the best place to have a roll. No, Barb knew her time was limited, and got immediately to business. Popping up off the ground, she exploded into a canter, sending a buck in my direction to let me know exactly how she was feeling about the idea of having to ‘do work.’ From there, it became an exercise in trying to get her to hook on. Please note, this is not Barb’s first rodeo. While an injury waylaid her for a while, Barb was going well under saddle, walk trot lope in and out of the arena, on and off the property. She is no novice to being pushed around a round pen, and either because of or in spite of that fact, she does not make things simple for the human who is working with her. She races around, changing direction at will, kicking out, her body bent outward as though she is determined to not make any sort of eye contact. It is then an exercise in proving to Barb that you are actually worth paying attention to. Here is something that is both respectable and, yes, frustrating about this mare: she really is one to make you prove your credentials. She would like to know why it’s worth hooking on to you before she does it — running around willy-nilly with one’s own agenda is tremendous fun, after all. Even after you manage to get her ‘with’ you, the bond is tenuous. She demands you remain the most interesting, or she will find something else that is (and that, in a crushing blow to the ego, can sometimes even be dirt). Horses really ask you to be present, but Barb might as well demand it.

So when Barb does get ‘with you,’ it is quite rewarding. You also realize that, beneath that explosive surface is a horse who is somewhat dull. It seems impossible that she with so much life can be slow to respond, but it makes a bit more sense when you remember that life is on her own terms. When it is you asking Barb to go, she is much less enthused about the idea. Helping Barb through the dullness is about releasing her for the life you are requesting.

Once she was with me in a loose setting, we worked on the line. You might think that because we left on such a good spot loose that it would carry over, but such is not the case. On a halter, Barb immediately wants to trot off. She swings her head around, and you occasionally get the sense you are on the other line from a balloon that is quickly deflating. But like in the round pen, she needs you to prove to her that you are both worth paying attention to and reasonable. She is a horse who is quick to tell you if and when you are asking too much. The immediacy in which her ears fly backwards might as well say in plain English “you’re nagging.” But if you manage to time your releases appropriately, Barb transforms into a very chill little pony. It is a very cool opportunity to be able to work with a horse like Barb, for whom relaxation is something to be earned, not merely a default setting. At the end of day 1, Barb walked back to her stall with her head hung low.

On day 2, I was expecting the same sort of explosiveness I had seen the day before when I set her loose in the round pen, but she merely walked off calmly. It wasn’t until I pushed her up into a lope that she showed off her athletics. It still took a moment to turn her mind towards me, but it happened much sooner than the previous day. Day 3 followed a very similar course to day 2, but it took even less time to hook her on. Working on the line was a similar story, with her willingness to be present with me decreasing in the time it took from day to day. One of our core tenants when working with horses is to ‘observe, remember, compare, and adjust.’ It was very neat to be able to see the changes in Barb over the few days and work on having them appear sooner in subsequent sessions.

All horses are unique, but Barb has to be up there with one of the coolest gals I know! She is going to be a fun horse for someone who likes a big personality (and a cute face to boot!)

We went from lush, green meadows to buzzed dry fields in a matter of a few weeks, and soon as the rain and mud approaches, we will seed our fields and lay them to rest until next year. But even after the grass is mostly gone, the fields and lanes stay open a bit longer to allow our horses a separate location to explore and stretch their legs a bit.

Normally when we open Barb’s gate to the lane, she moseys on out on her own time, scrounging around the fenceline for bits of dropped hay or tufts of grass. But one morning, Barb took full advantage of this little bit of extra space when it was made available to her. She literally kicked up her heels at the opportunity to run a little relay with herself, and spent a good few minutes sprinting back and forth, kicking and bucking and running amok.

While we try to discourage any bouts of intense running, especially in small spaces, we monitored Barb as she cavorted around, and made a note to get her into a round pen ASAP for a bit of endless (and safe!) fun.

Because of copyright reasons and all that, I can’t technically make the video I want, but please imagine that the above video is accompanied by the song Speed Drive by Charli XCX from the Barbie soundtrack. Perfectly fitting considering her name is, after all, Barbie.

Oh little barb! What have you been up to? Well, for starters, she was turned out with a herd again — do you hear that sigh of relief? Finally, she said. Back in her old stomping grounds, living with other mares 24/7. Getting into trouble, of course. We have to watch Barb a little closer than some. We hear some squealing coming from the direction of the park and prick our ears, waiting for the thunk of a kick landing. But she did well out there, avoided major accidents, made some friends.

Then, a semi-tragedy struck: it looked as though her old injury was flaring up again. If you recall, she crawled under a fence last year and twisted up her hind end something pretty gnarly. One afternoon, we noticed that Barb was looking a lot like she had that first day after her injury — lethargic, kind of humped-up in the back, almost colicky. We called and had the vet out to check her out, and he felt that she had somehow tweaked her back again, and that the best course of action would be to restrict movement. So Barb was plucked from her group once again for a period of stall rest, followed by a restricted turnout space. Bwa bwaaaaa.

But for such a young horse, Barb does surprisingly well on stall rest. She has, unfortunately, had some experience with it, but it means she doesn’t protest very much at all when she has to stay inside. And even in her rehab paddock, separated from her friends once again, she doesn’t have many complaints. Some, yes, especially in the early days. But she has been doing very well being quiet, physically at least.

The good news is, whatever she did this time was nowhere near as bad or injurious as last time. She popped right back out of it, and has begun her rehab process back into regular work.

Let’s rewind a little bit. Before her injury, Barb was going well under saddle, walk trot lope. Casey A has been working with her, and getting some nice changes under saddle. Despite this, Barb is certainly not a beginner horse. She has some ‘zip’ that might intimidate a more cautious rider, so her ideal riding partner will be someone with the confidence needed to redirect her life. But despite her energy, she is not spooky — she just has a sensitive gas pedal. Right before she hurt herself, Barb had gone out on a ride around the property (and with a new rider, too!) and did very well. Likely with a few more miles under her cinch, she’ll make a great little trail horse.

On the ground Casey has been getting good changes with her as well. She can certainly be opinionated and rather pushy, but she has been doing a lot better being respectful at the end of a line when being led.

She will need a little bit of time to get her restart into full swing, but Barb will hopefully be off to her forever home soon — where we will keep our fingers crossed she will keep herself out of trouble!

Here are some things about Barb, otherwise known as:
Barbie, when she is behaving like the doll –

Barbra, with a stern intonation, i.e., when she’s exercising her right to be impatient –
Bobblehead, when she’s silly (which is quite often, being newly four and all) –
Barbarella, when, well, whenever. We do really like nicknames here at SAFE.

No matter what you call her, this little mare is looking to meet potential adopters. I’m putting together her personal ad, since she can’t write very well, but rest assured, we have watched Barb grow up here at SAFE, and can tell you what she’s looking for in an ideal home.

I touched on her size already. At 13.3 hands, physically Barb is pony-sized (but the very definition of big things coming in small packages). Despite her stature, her personality bursts forth, the nesting dolls within her containing enough character to fill at least three tall warmbloods, and that’s being modest. So while she is small, she is mighty. At this point in her education, Barb still needs direction in the form of an advanced rider. Child-sized as she might be, it will need to be the skilled hand of an experienced adult to keep Barb on course during this stage of her life.

She is also young. Freshly four, the miles Barb already has on her will be overshadowed by those yet to come in the course of her life. Her start here at SAFE has put her on the path for success, but she will need ongoing guidance to help her stay the course. But what that also means is Barb will be, for the right person, a great project. She has a solid outline, with lots of room for added detail.

Barb is very good at finding ways to entertain herself, but would prefer a little help. Romping and playing, preferably with a friend or two, are just a couple of Barb’s certified skills. As far as four-legged friends go, Barb will benefit from those who set firm boundaries and do not let her mischievousness get out of hoof. Barb is ready to climb to the top of the monkey bars and announce herself as queen of the playground, and therefore needs a resolute leader to shake their head and kindly tell her to get down from there before she hurts herself.

Though looks aren’t everything, Barb is certainly not lacking in that department. There really is just something about a bay horse. Her black stockings are unmarred by white, aside from the wispy white feathers that grow from the back of her cannon bones. Her star resembles the outline of some fantasy country, perhaps one where little bay ponies rule the roost. And her hair — thick and luscious, this girl has hair for days, perfect if you’re the type who enjoys trying out new braid styles.

Under that enviable forelock is a very smart brain. Barb wants to see it all, smell it all, experience it all, and is looking for a human who can, safely and with discernment, show her the world. She is one special little mare, and one who will certainly make someone a complex and engaging lifelong partner.

Have you seen Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Rear Window?’ Poor Jimmy Stewart, laid up in his apartment with a broken leg, unraveling a murder via a pair of binoculars. In the horse-remake, Barb might play Mr. Stewart (the jury is still out on Grace Kelley’s stand-in) given that she has spent the entire summer holed up on stall rest, hanging her head out the window, observant.

Luckily, there have been no bodies buried in the garden, and even luckier that Barb is slated to make a full recovery. Back when it first happened, we had our concerns about her future. To wedge yourself beneath a fence is no joke, and it was difficult to gauge the extent of Barb’s injury based on its location.

We rested Barb, who coped with her time in isolation very well. I’m knocking on wood while I’m typing this, but we have had great luck with all the horses who have been assigned stall rest – even the youngest and most energetic of our flock have done remarkably well sitting inside for weeks at a time. Barb did not threaten to knock the walls down at any point during her tenure in a stall, nor did she lose her usual verve. Perhaps it felt good to rest.

Dr. Rathbone attended her twice – once for a chiropractic adjustment, and the next for acupuncture. We spoke with our vets at Rainland regarding a rehab plan, and after several weeks of rest, we started Barb on a slow path towards restoration.

It usually begins with hand-walking for short periods, increasing in time over weeks. Adding the weight of a saddle and rider is important for conditioning, and we slowly built Barb up to this point. Short bursts of trot were added, and eventually, the lope. All the while we were checking in with our vets, monitoring to ensure Barb continued on a forward track.

Since her rehabbing began at the beginning of August, Barb has only been improving. At the 6‑week mark, she was allowed back outside in a small rehab lot, and while we all expected her return to the great outdoors to be marked by much fanfare (running and bucking), she simply walked over to her hay box, calm, cool and collected. She had a re-check at the beginning of September, where she got the all-clear to continue upping her regime. So for the last month, she’s been back in the saddle, almost like nothing happened at all (the shorter sessions would betray this as truth), but our little Barb is nearing the end of her path towards returning to normalcy again, one that will hopefully culminate in her finding a forever home.

If you know horses, you know their proclivity for finding themselves in less than ideal situations. Barb, a mare too smart for her own good, recently got herself into one such scrape when she decided to liberate herself from her paddock by tunneling beneath her fence. It sounds quite impossible a feat, but the acrobatic feats horses are capable of really know no bounds. Unfortunately for Barb, her athletic prowess was not well rewarded — when we found her outside her paddock, munching away on grass, her back was hunched and she was behaving lethargically, a word that one would not typically use for Barb.

Worried, we called the vet. Dr. Lewis was quickly on the scene, where she had Barb move out a little — her range of motion was very limited, she was dragging her right hind at the trot, and generally reluctant to move. But there were no visible injuries, and no palpable heat or swelling present. Watching her move, Dr. Lewis considered the possibility that Barb was tying up, or experiencing a gas colic. She drew blood, and sedated Barb in order to intubate, where she gave Barb fluids and tried to get some of the grass up. Not a ton of grass came up, which was a good sign — if she were very gassy, more would have been expelled. Dr. Lewis also gave Barb some mineral oil to help settle any gas and cut some of the sugars from the grass. Then, it was rest and fluids for Barb as we waited on the bloodwork results to come in.

When they did, it was revealed she was not tying up, so there remained a mystery as to what was really going on. She remained quite lame, still unwilling to weight her hind, almost ‘skipping’ at the trot. At this update, Dr. Lewis had us start her on some bute.

At her next evaluation a day or so later, Dr. Lewis again watched her move out, palpated her leg, and tried to determine where the issue lay. Ultimately, she landed on it being a potential SI injury, and recommended continued stall rest and a course of muscle relaxers to keep her comfortable.

We can’t wait to get Barb back to feeling herself, yoga stretches and all

Barb has a very strong sense of justice, so if you fail to release her immediately when she does the right thing, or add pressure that’s not meaningful, she’ll resent your poor timing. When you time up correctly and have good consistency of your feel and movements, Barb feels supported and can be the softest mare with a ton of effort to do the correct thing. Barb is comfortable being roped off of and would probably love to try her hand at sorting cows. For now, she’ll focus on herding the geese around SAFE’s property.  

Candi, a volunteer rider, recently worked with Barb in the Groundwork Clinic in November. Here is what she had to say about her.

“Barb is not a Barbie Doll! Barb might be small, but she is smart and strong. She may be a ranch horse in the making with her quick moves. Barb and I worked together for the first time in the groundwork session of the November Joel Conner clinic. It would be an understatement to say we learned something from each other. We learned A LOT!

Beyond a doubt, Barb has an opinion. Out of all the horses I have done groundwork with she is by far the most difficult. Challenge accepted. Going back to the very basics of unified circles with a soft feel yielding the hindquarters made all the difference in the world. Over the course of three days, we worked on backing up with a soft feel. By the end of the clinic, I did not even need to put my hand on the base of the halter to back her up. When I asked her she could feel me and backed up on her own. We also worked on what I like to call the “front quarters dance” up and down the arena. This is a great exercise for changing eyes. We were not the best dance partners to begin with. I needed to move her feet out of my space to create rhythm. By the end of the clinic, we were not stepping on each other’s toes.

Barb is a spitfire and willing to work. She will be a good partner for someone who can ensure her success through continued horsemanship training. She needs a solid partner who will set boundaries yet reward her for her accomplishments. Giddy up and gather the cows little girl!”

An update on Barb’s training progress from Kaya:

Barb has been gaining new experiences on the ground and in the saddle. We took a hand walk out on the trails and have been ground working on different parts of the property. While Barb initially has many opinions and doesn’t believe me that she can rely on me to look out for her, we eventually get to a place where she understands that she doesn’t have to be on guard all the time. Barb doesn’t surrender her leadership easily, but when she finally gets with me and settles in, she does huge releases of blowing air, sighing and relaxing and it’s very rewarding. Every time we work together, it takes less and less time for Barb to realize that she’s better off going with me rather than trying to fend for herself.

As Barb has matured, she’s started to look somewhat different from the other Fall City horses. She has longer legs and a more refined look, but remains a bit roly-poly. Kaya has been working with Barb to help her stay focused in larger spaces so that she can be ridden outside the round pen. Barb did great on a recent trail ride through the park adjacent to SAFE. Barb has had 5 months of light riding and is ready to be adopted. She is an athletic mare and seems to enjoy the work when under saddle. Her ideal adopter will be an advanced rider with experience training green horses. We believe Barb will be a fun ride for the right adopter.

Kaya has been working with Barb since she arrived at SAFE. Here is what Kaya had to say about her:

“Barb is turning out to be an all star riding horse! This sweet, charismatic, opinionated, intellegent pony keeps surprising me every ride. Barb was one of the most difficult groundwork horses I had ever worked with, but she has really turned that all around. She is now riding well on a loose rein, moving through all transitions off of a feel and is starting to get better about steering using legs instead of relying on reins. Barb carries a soft feel beautifully at the walk and trot and has even started working on some leg yields! The next steps for Barb will be working more on a soft feel in the canter and through transitions. She will also start working with other volunteer riders soon so that she can get used to other people’s feel and seat. I’m so proud of this fun little lady and can’t wait to see what the future holds for her!”

Barb had a few weeks off from work after having been ridden for about a month. She is just three years old, so it’s age-appropriate for her to have a break from being ridden. Barb is a champ at accepting a fly mask. Personality-wise, Barb is opinionated and can become petulant when told “No”. She appears to be moving up in status in the filly herd and taking over the lead filly status from Pippi. Barb’s paddock buddies include Pippi, Nova, Jill, Rae, and Pearl.

Barb has become Kaya’s favorite horse to work with. She was ridden for the first time at the Joel Connor Clinic a few weeks ago. Then Kaya got on and has been working on riding her ever since. Barb is a very opinionated pony, but seems to enjoy the work. She is really athletic, but needs to work on balance, so that she can show her athleticism. Kaya has recently started working on bridling with Barb. She appears to enjoy having something she is allowed to bite! 

Barb gets to enjoy her off time with a herd of six other ladies. You can often see them all taking naps in the sun, all huddled together.  

by Kaya M.

Sweet Barb is coming along so well with her training! She started the last clinic weekend a little dull and Joel explained that she needed to get her feet a little freer so that she could voice her opinion. We worked a lot on freeing up her feet and changing eyes. We also did a lot of rope work, including roping all four feet and leading off of them. Towards the end of the clinic Barb showed off a little attitude, but in a good way! She was free enough that she wasn’t just merely putting up with the rope around her, she questioned it and expressed her discomfort. This allowed me to show her how she can still move and the rope is not restricting her freedom. We continue working on this point and she is getting more and more accepting of things like the rope around her cinch area and a stirrup on the opposite eye from me. Hopefully she’ll be ready to saddle at the next clinic! Either way, she’s a smart little one and is really fun to work with!