A horse may exhibit any of the following symptoms. It is important to recognize the difference between a symptom of colic, and natural horse behavior. For example, horses enjoy rolling around - it is a natural behavior for them. It is imperative that you can tell the difference between when a horse is rolling because they are in pain, or when they are rolling to simply scratch their back.list of symptoms generally associated with colic

1. The horse is reluctant (anorexia) or refuses to eat;
2. The horse may look at their sides, or turn and nip at their sides;
3. The horse may kick at their abdomen with their back legs, paw with their forelegs, or stomp their feet;
4. The horse appears to be stretching out abnormally when defecating or is straining to pass a bowel movement;
5. The horse lies down and begins rolling and thrashing violently and does not shake after;
6. The horse is excessively sweaty after light exercise;
7. The horse shows excessive lip curling (Flehmen response);
8. The horse has cool extremities (e.g lips might feel cool to the touch on inside of the mouth);
9. Lack of bowel movements, as evidenced by the small number of manure piles (however, bowel movement is evident in some more severe cases);
10. Along with these other symptoms the horse’s pulse (greater than 52 beats per minute) and respiratory rate may increase

There are some schooling pictures posted in the gallery for the riders at the barn the past weekend.

Here is a really good list of ring etiquette that I stumbled upon. Thought I would post… and no, before you IM me, it’s not about anyone in particular. (in parenthesis, are my comments…)

Etiquette

• Left shoulder to Left Shoulder: Riders should try to ride in the same direction. If this isn’t possible then the left shoulder to left shoulder rule should apply. Some European countries ride right shoulder to right shoulder.
• Slow on the Inside, Fast on the Outside: Slower riders should ride on the inside track including those doing schooling such as lateral work etc… Riders working at a faster pace such as a lope or canter should stay on the outside track.
• Announce Your Intentions: Tell the other riders what you plan to do: “passing on your left”, “jumping fence 3″, “leaving arena”, “entering arena”.
• No Lunging: No lunging while riding.
• Mount Out of the Way: Mount and dismount in the center–not on the track. (Also… be careful not to mount in front of a jump where the mounting block will be in someone’s way when jumping.)
• Cue Quietly: Voice commands, kissing, smooching to cue your horse should be done quietly and away from other horses. Accidentally cueing another person’s horse as you ride along side them could cause problems.
• Try Not to Interrupt Lessons: Try to schedule your riding for times when the arena is not being used for lessons. If you must ride during a lesson try to be unobtrusive.
• Clean Up: Clean up the arena after use. Clear out manure, put away jumps, trotting poles or pylons. Leave it the way you found it or better.

Safety

• Keep A Horse Length Between: Don’t crowd other riders and keep at least a horse length between you and the horse in front of you. This keeps you at a safe distance from being kicked. Also when there are riders working on both the inside and outside track, leave enough passing room that one horse isn’t able to bite or kick at the horse on the other track.
• No Smoking: Smoking in an arena or stable is a dangerous fire hazard.
• All Horses Under Control: There should be no loose horses in the arena while others are riding.
• In Case of Emergency: Know where the nearest phone and emergency number and first aid kit are.
• Don’t Allow Escapes: Keep all doors or gates closed. A horse could bolt through an open door into a low ceilinged stable or down a laneway and cause injury. (If you are the one entering or leaving, it’s your responsibility to make sure the gate is closed behind you…. even if this means you have to dismount.)
• Be Aware: Be respectful if another is having problems with a horse, is riding a young horse, or is a beginner or timid rider.
• Give Right of Way: Be generous giving right of way even it if it is not technically the correct right of way.
• Don’t Ride Alone: Ride, especially when jumping, with a buddy.
• Don’t Get Caught in the Dark: Be aware in stormy weather at night that electrical outages can happen. Some types of arena lightening can take a long time to come on once the power has gone out leaving you in the dark.
• Always Ride Safe: Wear a helmet and proper boots and ride in control.
• Don’t Get in the Way: Spectators should stand outside the arena, not along side the track.
• Invite the Dogs After the Ride: No dogs in the arena with horses and riders. Most stable owners don’t welcome other people’s dogs anyway.
• Warn of Noisy Doors: Announce if you are going to open a sliding door as some horses might spook at the noise. Give riders a chance to prepare.
• Ice and Snow Hazards: Be aware that if there is snow or ice on the roof it often slides down making a scary noise. Some horses may spook at this.
• In an Emergency Get Off: If a rider falls off and a horse gets loose, all riders should dismount.

In case you haven’t noticed yet … the very blank homepage…. I have made some changes to C&C. On the homepage now, there will only be “announcement” type posts, telling barnmates video postings, new gallery pictures, or where/what I am doing or going.

In the menu, there is a link called Blog, which is my personal blog. I want to be able to focus more of my blog on my feelings and happenings around me and keeping the barn stuff separate. My blog will still be relatively edited, because I don’t want to password protect it.

I think I will like this better!

I have DL-ed all the Fair videos… I’m editing them and creating files… (Eric’s helping with the links to make this go faster! Thanks, babe!) Some of them will be up tonight, but it will prolly be towards the end of the week before I get them all sliced and diced.

The link is the same… crystalandcookie.com/videos

The password has been changed. Please email or IM me for the new password. Please remember this is a private link… if you want YOUR videos shared, I will put them on a public link OR you can save them and send them out yourself. Please respect your barnmates’ privacy.

I was there for 3 days and I didn’t get 1 second of video of Miss. Sigh.