Temple Grandin, this lady gets it!

When the topic of animals come up at work, my boss has often talked with me about Temple Grandin and her extraordinary work with cattle.  It didn't surprise me to realize she applies her talent of understanding to horses as well.  As I have mentioned before, Diamond has serious traumatic history of which I know little about..I only see the aftermath.  In this article I found on Horse&Rider, they delve into how horses think.  Grandin is spot on.  Once I brought Diamond up here, I have always been adamant on me being the only one to care for him.  That's why I am so set on self care.  He trusts me and yet sometimes I can barely keep, as Grandin calls them, the "bad files" closed.  The staff is very understanding but has offered to turn Diamond out on occasion when stalls need maintenance.  So they still don't fully understand, but in my passive aggressive way, I tell them, "I'll just be here at such and such a time when they need maintenance and take Diamond out for a walk."  I need to be the only one to handle Diamond.  I have often followed up conversations like this with, "I just don't want anyone to get hurt."  People assume because he is calm and trusting with me, that he is generally a calm horse.  But he is not.  And that article explains why..

"For a horse, a traumatic fear memory is like a bad computer file. A rider the horse trusts can train him to close the file and hold it closed, but it's still there, and can re-open under the right circumstances." She tells the story of a rope horse that had become phobic about anything touching his hind end (the result of a bad accident). With his regular rider to reassure him, the horse would keep the bad-memory file closed. Then that rider went on vacation, and another person rode the horse in a pen with cattle. "One of the cows brushed the horse's butt and the horse panicked, crashed through the fence, broke his leg, and had to be destroyed. The less-familiar rider didn't know how to help the horse keep the file closed." 

I seriously want to print it out and keep copies with me to hand out when people want to talk to me about Diamond.

Slow Feeder #s

Slow Feeder

2 flakes : 4 hours

I'd like to determine how long it takes to eat the Bermuda by weight once I get a hay net and scale but for now I have to use the measuring methods I have. 

Diamond got 2 flakes this morning at 8am.  I stopped by on my lunch at 12pm and he had almost finished.  I gave him another flake and a half.  So he should be done with that at 3pm.  Then tonight I will stop by after work and he will get 2 more flakes since tomorrow morning I won't be able to stop by until 12pm.  I have to work super early again.  Knowing Diamond, he will munch until it's all gone at 10pm.  So maybe I should put in 4 flakes...that will hold him over until noon I hope. 

etrailer is uber cool

Firstly, Diamond was doing well this morning  ^.^  We did some walking in the round pen and afterwards he rolled.  Tomorrow morning I hope to get there a bit earlier so we can work with the bareback pad.

Now...on to my quest to find, purchase, and install the correct hitch for my Focus.  I got some great customer service from etrailer.  They responded very quickly to the question I submitted and you can read it here as they posted it online.  Basically, the set up I want to order from them will work great for my situation.  Now before I bite the bullet and order from etrailer, I need to be sure I can find someone to install it.  So I called UHaul.  They think that hitch #24872 is for a Mazda and that hitch #24857 is for a Ford Focus.  Before I knew it I had scheduled an appt to install #24857 next week for $233 bucks out the door.  It all happened so fast, as Pam from The Office would say.  Fortunately, it was just an appt I could cancel at any time, no money had exchanged hands.  After getting off the phone, I re-examined everything on etrailer and searched the rest of the internet for people who had installed hitches on their focus's.  I found a forum that expressed what I was going through.  UHaul would not order part #24872, the hidden hitch recommended on etrailer.  A concern about how a hitch would void the Ford warranty was brought up.  And apparently, it would be void if any drilling takes place.  Now I was worried about how part #24857 would be installed.  #24872 is a no drill install.  So I am back to ordering from etrailer and calling UHaul to change my appt for just an installation which should be around $30.00-60.00 for labor.  Phew.

Exercise 11/05/14

Morning: 15 minutes of walking

U-Haul or etrailer

It was quite brisk at 55 degrees this morning when I arrived at the stables.  Diamond's natural fluffy coat is doing it's job as he seemed in good spirits.  I filled his slow feeder and let him snack while I cleaned out his stall.  After a good brushing and cleaning out his feet we went into the arena.  I took off his halter and asked him to walk for 15 minutes.  Then we both ran around the arena together (Diamond was trotting while I jogged) for 10 minutes.  We walked for 5 minutes to cool down and I did some light stretching with all of his legs before heading back to his breakfast.

I am researching all options to deliver bales to the stable: 

• I can purchase 10 bales and get delivery from the feed store     
• Rent a truck from U-Haul for $30.95 plus $0.59 per mile.  I did all the math = $36.85 + Tax
• Purchase a Draw-Tite Trailer Hitch from etrailer.com $134.95 free shipping and find out if U-Haul can install it.  Then purchase the Cargo Carrier for $148.95.
• Purchase a hitch from U-Haul and have it installed 11 days after purchase $188.37 (but this might be the wrong type of hitch..for towing instead of for carriers)

I emailed etrailer today explaining what I want to do with the cargo carrier to see if they had any advice.  I'll report what they say when they email me back.

Exercise Log
11/04/14
Morning:  15 minutes walking.  10 minutes trotting.  5 minute cool down.