"Reconnecting Your Horse To Her Feet"

Howdy Folks,

This weekend I had the joy of chatting with a Facebook friend in England about her horse. Of course we had lots to talk about. You know how we horse people are! We discussed a few things going on with her and her new horse and one in particular. Does your horse know where her feet are?

Reconnecting your horse to her feet. They know all about forward momentum. They see and know where they are going, but because of many things we do, from training, to housing, diet, hoofcare, and other things, they can actually lose the ability to know where their feet are. This will help.

I'd like to share an important exercise Diane Sept taught me years ago, that I believe goes a long, long way to helping any horse become sure footed and light on the forehand. It promotes a proper healthy posture … She calls it the, "One-Step." And I teach it in my, "Therapy For Therapy Horses," clinics. It's easy and fun to do.

Stand in front of your horse and ask for, "One Step Forward," – This means the left front and right hind, and a soft whoa. When your horse stops, ask her to, "Rock Back Off Her Forehand." And allow her to feel and process this. Then ask for, "One Step Back," the same feet and then rock back, wait and process. Do this 3 or 4 times each side, always asking for the "Rock Back" and allowing time to process. Some horses prefer to start with "One Step Back," first … I never swing into Kessy's saddle without doing this (and other pre-ride exercises).

You might find your horse has great difficulty taking only "one Step." This is because she has lost connection with her feet. This little exercise will fix that. And will also help improve body carriage and engage the hind end. Just take your time, go slow and allow your horse to, "feel the change." Let her find her feet again.

Another great exercise to add to this "One Step" is the "One Step over a row of Cavileties." Lead your horse slowly over the cavileties, but pause and rock back, at each one, each step. Allow a second or three at each pause for your horse to process. It won't take long until you will notice a difference in how your horse places her feet. When you've mastered this, back through the cavileties, one step at a time.

Kessy & Dutch demonstrating "Rock Back"

What is the "Rock Back?" … Look at your horse from the side, really look. Study where she carries her weight. Does it look like she has most of her weight on her forehand? Leaning slightly forward? Very gently touch her chest and ask her to shift her weight back, off her forehand. That is correct healthy posture. Not a step back, but just a "Rock Back." Do this after every step in the "One Step Exercicses."

Kessy and I hope you'll make this fun exercise part of your routine. It also goes a long way to helping a horse look for soft cues. And helping us become softer in giving cues.

Gitty Up

Dutch Henry

"For a Friend"

Howdy Folks,

Today's Coffee Clutch is dedicated to Pamela Nuckols who went to heaven on Friday. She was one of the original Coffee Clutchers, enjoying our visits before we started the blog, when I posted our chats on Facebook. I think she was the first to sign on to follow our blog. She was one of the first to call it the Coffee Clutch. Pam loved our chats about nature, she loved bird watching, butterflies and flowers. She loved leaving comments, told us it made her feel as though she were walking and chatting with us under the trees, watching and listening to birds. She loved nature and so missed being able to stroll through it. So she walked with us.

As with so many of our Facebook friends, I didn't know Pam before we met over the electronic fence. We were introduced by her cousin Carol Bernstien, and I thank Carol for that. Don't you just love how Facebook can spread friendship worldwide with ease? I'm not a tech savvy fellow, but I do thank my agent, Dawn Dawdle for pushing me into this part of the techy world. I would be lost now without all our friends who have become family, on Facebook and here on the Coffee Clutch blog.

Pam was a cheerleader, never complaining, always writing and reading about things she loved.

For you Pam …

Sleet tapped out a slow melody on the barn's tin roof, the trees hung heavy, bowing under the weight of their morning ice blanket. Juncos gathered under protective ice laden bows refueling for the day on cracked corn, singing their one note "twang."  One by one and two by two Morning Doves joined the Juncos at the scratch. Two male Cardinals sat high on a limb, their brilliant red coats shimmering as they called, "tick –tick." I wondered if they were complaining about the freezing rain. A pair of squirrels crept cautiously to join the breakfast buffet. A single Chickadee waited patiently on the old stump for a chance to join them. Mr. Blue Jay was not so patient.

A train's long whistle sounded in the distance, I poured my first cup and saluted the heavens. The chickens settled in the barn, and we all gathered with Kessy. Well, Saturday, the chickens and I did. This being a, "not perfect weather day," Tigger and Miss Kitty stayed in the house. Kessy munched her hay as we sat beside her and chickens rummaged the bedding beneath and around her. Snug and dry in the barn, sleet tapping the tin, it was another perfect Coffee Clutch morning. God Bless you, Pam, all of us know you'll be forever a Coffee Clutcher.

Gitty Up

Dutch Henry

"Feature Friday-Healing Through Horses-Judy Schneider"

Howdy Folks,

Healing Through Horses

Healing Through Horses is a sanctuary of learning, growing, healing and loving. Located on a small ranch in Abiquiu New Mexico Judy Schneider LISW, offers programs dedicated to healing the human spirit through horses. Whether it be a family who is distraught due to their immense love and concern they have for their child, an adult who is at a crossroads and seeks a new path so they may live with abundance and integrity, or a teenager who is not sure what the fuss is all about and does not understand how each thought leads to a choice, which leads to the life they will create for themselves, all can find a new way at Healing Through Horses.

Understanding Eyes

Judy's trust in the healing power of the horse was formed at an early age. As a young girl she and a wonderful mare, Go-Go Girl would frolic the hills, fields and meadows together. Go-Go Girl taught Judy much about understanding one's self, communicating and loving life. Judy credit's Go-Go Girl with forging the very foundations of her life's held beliefs that horses can and will heal broken souls.

Founding Healing Through Horses, was a dream of Judy's ever since her days as a graduate student at Boston University studying to become a social worker. As a social worker she spent years counseling abused and neglected children, adoptees and their families, chronically mentally ill adults, poly-substance abusers, combat veterans and military families facing deployment, trauma and suicide. In addition, as a probation and parole officer she has worked with violent and sexual offenders. Today her dream, and Go-Go Girls teachings are a reality, and with the help of the healing spirit of horses, she is able to add a new dimension to healing and counseling.

Judy has developed a variety of programs, all centered around the healing powers of the horse's spirit. Equine Assisted Counseling, empowers children, teens adults, couples and families to overcome barriers to personal growth and development.

Judy & Madonna

Equine Assisted Coaching, strengthens those seeking to create more balance and experience new levels of personal achievement.

 Equine Retreats for Women, Offers women time for themselves to celebrate and rejuvenate their souls, connect with other like minded women and experience how horses can empower them to become the curator of their own life.

Judy also, through a collaborative effort with Horses For Heroes NM Cowboy Up! in Santa Fe, conducts an annual Woman’s Veterans Retreat, when free of charge, women Veterans can come experience the healing love of horses.

 LINKS of Interest.

 Healing Through Horses -

 Horses For Heroes NM Cowboy Up! in Santa Fe -  

Thank you Go-Go Girl for introducing Judy to your healing powers. And thank you, Judy for offering that healing to so many.

Gitty Up, 

Dutch Henry

"What's Next for my next novel - Tom Named By Horse"

Howdy Folks,

Before I wrote "We'll Have The Summer" I wrote an historical fiction trilogy set in Lakota Sioux territory, spanning the years 1850 to 1910. The trilogy follows the lives of Tom Named By Horse, an orphan left for dead on the prairie, and Soft Cloud, a fictitious granddaughter of Red Cloud. The three novels are "Tom Named By Horse," "From The Banks Of Little Bear Creek," and "A Less Violent Trail."

They have been quietly waiting in computer-land to see if ever I would bring them to life.

"Tom Named By Horse" has been calling to me from time to time, and every now and then I visit with those old friends (and foes) and ponder the work it would take to re-write, edit and polish. Usually I just sigh, "Oh gosh this'll take work…"

I've decided to dust off "Tom Named By Horse" and set his and Soft Cloud's story free. I've already started on the re-write, (barely) and yes, my earlier instincts were right on ... Oh gosh this will take work! I wrote the original manuscript in 2006, and how I show a story has changed. And the story I want to tell, while still their story, changed a little in my heart too.

Set in a time more rugged and violent, my original telling of Soft Cloud's and Tom's story had plenty of ruggedness and its ample share of violence. Their story weaves plenty of fiction among the facts of the time, and their paths cross with a few notables. In my re-write I'll be reining in the rough stuff as much as possible and still maintain the flavor of the time.

Wonderful horses, buffalo stampedes, hard fought battles, heroes, broken treaties and shattered hearts are all part of this story.

It’s a story of courage, friendships, and extraordinary challenges. Such as Red Cloud's first request to Tom - hunt down and kill the rouge buffalo hunter who has long been terrorizing Red Cloud's people. Red Cloud allows Tom to choose one brave to accompany him. He chooses Soft Cloud.

Things get even more complicated for Tom when Red Cloud asks him to stop his own son from raiding settlers, as Red Cloud is certain this will only bring more harm to the Lakota people. Red Cloud tries for peace, but his son, Tall Dog, has very different visions. And peace is not among them.

"Tom Named By Horse" is a love story at its core. A story of young man's heart frozen by years of brutal abuse thawed by the tender touch of a young woman's spirit.

I am working now to rewrite and edit and my plan is to have "Tom Named By Horse" available for purchase by summer. I will blog from time to time about the rewrites and edits and post a few excerpts here and there, just for fun. Like this-

    

 EXERPT— (Page 11)   ***************

    

Noise from the village woke Tom from a deep sleep. He threw back the blankets and hurried outside where he was greeted by a very different sight than the night before. Everywhere people were busy doing something, building fires, cooking meat, gathering wood. Children ran through the camp yelling, laughing, chasing each other and their dogs. For as far as he could see there were lodges.

Sitting on a log, Tom was enjoying the warmth from a small fire. Then he saw her. “Hello, I am Soft Cloud. My mother told me to look after you. Are you ready for something to eat?”

 

Tom studied her for a few seconds, “I don’t know.”  He remembered seeing her in the lodge the night before, but in the morning sunlight she was even more beautiful. Her hair long and black, her skin dark. Not as dark as the others, but a lovely light brown color. Her large, friendly eyes a sparkling brown.

“Well I’ll just sit here then, while you get ready.”  Soft Cloud said.
 

“Why do you talk English?”

“Would you rather I spoke Sioux?”

     

“No…. no that’s not it.  I mean why would a Sioux woman know English at all ... I mean first your mother, now you. Were they your brothers last night? Do they speak English too?”

Soft Cloud giggled a little. “Yes, but not as well as I.”

   

Still unsettled Tom went on, “How I mean ... Why. I just can’t figure it.”

“My mother wanted it. I can even read English.”

     

“You can read?”

     

“Yes, of course, can’t you?”

     

Tom dropped his eyes “No, I never got taught. I only ever saw one book.” He looked back at those warm brown eyes, “Why would your mother want you to know English?”

     

“She understands it is important.  Have you found an appetite yet?”

     

Already Tom was beginning to feel at ease with Soft Cloud and it helped him to think. The peaceful surroundings of the Sioux village and the gentle company of Soft Cloud were having a strange affect on him. Somehow he felt as if he was growing wiser by the moment, and he seemed to understand things more clearly, in a way he had never experienced before. Never before did he need to organize thoughts, or plan things for a day. While this new clear headedness was frightening, it was also exciting.

    *****************************

     

Well I hope you're as excited as I am about Tom Named By Horse, and I welcome you aboard the adventure.

   

Gitty Up,

Dutch Henry

"Cold Coffee Clutch"

Howdy Folks,

Kessy's breath streamed upward around her frosted whiskers as she greeted me at the porch. A chicken pecked fruitlessly at a frozen puddle, others strutted about complaining about my slow pace. From its perch on an oak branch watched a chilly Chickadee who looked like nothing more than a gray-black ball of puffed feathers. The past two mornings have been the coldest in two years, according to the news. Of course what's really cold here in central VA is not nearly as cold as other places. Kessy and I understand it's all relative, but here yesterday's 20 was plenty cold. This morning's 12 made that seem warm! I told Kessy a friend in northern PA who told me it was 2 below there yesterday morning. She nodded.

Scattering chicken scratch, checking the heated chicken waterers, and Kessy's too, took longer than Kessy and Saturday liked. Saturday bounced and howled in his silly beagle fashion. It’s a dance he's perfected, sort of, certain those ungraceful moves and notes will get him breakfast quicker. It doesn't. Kessy followed my every step, occasionally offering a stomp of a hoof or a well timed snort. You see I've got a few things to tend to each morning before we pull up the Coffee Clutch chair and crack open the thermos, and though the routine almost never varies, Saturday and Kessy try every day to hurry me.

Finally the chickens were feed and watered, Kessy's hay bag, filled and her bedroom straightened up. Saturday has inhaled his breakfast, and Kessy's had her 4 ounces of grain. Ready for coffee.

This morning I strategically position my chair in the corner, to be behind Kessy and out of the wind which seemed to be building. Should have worn my earmuffs. My gloved hands hurried to open the thermos and pour that all important first cup of black gargle. Steam rose from the thermos like smoke from a fire. Saturday huddled behind me. Where are Tigger and Miss. Kitty you might be wondering?  They both had stopped at the door and never made it outside when the saw the steam raising from Kessy's breath. Kind of fair weather Coffee Clutchers, they are.

Mr. Chickadee, I noticed as I sipped, had been joined by several Doves and a small herd of Juncos, and they had taken possession of the West end of the chicken feeding station. A few squirrels joined them, too. Half the chickens strolled into the barn, a few joined Saturday and me behind Kessy. We were a cozy group. Kessy munched, I sipped, Saturday dug deep in the hay, and the chickens pecked, scratched and clucked all around Kessy's feet. Until Kessy, with her ear pinned head toss, invited them to leave. A Nuthatch called in the woods. A faint train whistle drifted in.

Most of the weekend's snow was already gone. Kessy and I had enjoyed riding in it Saturday and Sunday, but it had been near 50 then. Our forecast calls for a few days of this 20 to 30 degree business so I reckon we'll get used to it. Ah the seasons of Coffee Clutch. Won't be long until we are hanging the hummingbird feeders. And Phoebes start new nests in the barn.

Gitty Up

Dutch Henry