This is Doranna Durgin’s WordPlay Blog. Theoretically, it’s all about my books. In practice, it’s more about life, dog training, horses, and reading. On Fridays, The Write Horse usually stops by to offer a peek into the horse training life, written by Patty Wilber. Welcome, and I hope you come back!
By Patty Wilber
I just ran out of gas this week, so there is no blog except these few lines. I plan to take a short hiatus and will let you know when I am ready to be back at it!
Happy Friday!
Patty
By Patty Wilber
I finally drew an elk tag for Unit 52, up near the Colorado border, and I am proud to say, I managed to fill it, in the last minutes of the last day I was planning to hunt. Many thanks to Amber and Richard Kingsbury for organizing the whole expedition from food to tents with wood stoves. Amber was camp host which entailed keeping us all fed and keeping an eye on the animals, among many other things. Richard got everyone going in the mornings (at 530 a.m.), gave great tips on elk hunting, and was invaluable when processing my elk.
By Patty Wilber
Last weekend, the New Mexico Buckskin Horse Association and the New Mexico Appaloosa Horse Club sponsored the Fall Finale, which was the last official show of 2023 for both clubs. I was planning on one more show with the Paint Horse Club but my elk hunt (I finally drew!) conflicts!
By Patty Wilber
We are probably all familiar with horses shedding in the spring. Equines also undergo a shed in the fall to allow the growth of their winter coats.
By Patty Wilber
A while back, I sent a horse home with lethargy, a snotty nose, and swollen lymph nodes. Some of those nodes eventually burst and drained (gross), and that is typical of the disease, strangles. Strangles killed the red pony in a novel of the same name by John Steinbeck. Fortunately, most horses have much milder cases and recover completely.
By Patty Wilber
We got back from Sweden, but I guess we were not done vacationing, so we were home for four days, in which I rode…including 9 miles starting on Road Noise, a trail head about 3 miles from my house with Mary Ann, and I started back to teaching at the college.
By Patty Wilber
We had a really nice trip to Stockholm, Sweden! It’s a bit of a long flight! We flew from Albuquerque to Denver to Munich to Stockholm!
By Patty Wilber
One of the fun things about horse training, in addition to working with horses in training, is teaching the riders ways to best help their mounts.
This past weekend, I got to coach Faith at the NM Paint Show in Stanley, NM. We do regular lessons, but shows are special because there are judges and an audience!
By Patty Wilber
Well, after recalling that Penny was out in the mountains as a two year old, I figured Gette might as well start her group riding mountain career as a two year old, as well.
Three big things I consider when deciding whether to take a green horse out in a group are 1. The temperament of the horse. 2. Whether or not the group is supportive of the needs of a green horse. 3. The difficulty of the trail.
By Patty Wilber
Penny is 16 this year. She did her first Back County Horseman trip when she was two. She was ponied part of the time and ridden part of the time! That means she has been been a champ on the trails for 14 years! (She has also has over 200 show points, but that is another story.)
