A Little Thursday Fun

Here's a link to a little horsey fun, just because!

With the world getting ready for the Kentucky Derby, MSN and Encarta have created a quiz to test your horse racing IQ. Click here to find out just how much you know about horse racing terminology. You might even learn a bit of history!

New at NWHS, Plus Northwest News

You may have noticed a bit of a new look here on The Cyber Saddle. This is something we're slowly implementing across the site to make it easier to find the articles, news, and other items you're here to find. Is it working? Let us know what you think, either in the comments below (click here for comment help) or by sending an email to info@nwhorsesource.com. Play around with the links at left and see if you can find what you're looking for. If not, let us know! After all, nwhorsesource.com is for you, the reader.

Also, don't forget to send us your reader stories for Fridays on The Cyber Saddle!

Now for a few Northwest news highlights from the past week:

Equine Assisted Team Building in Snohomish, WA

The Evolution of Horsemanship: International Horseman Chris Irwin Returns to Oregon

Showdown at Horse Slaughter Pass: Slaughter Issues Heat Up in Montana

Keep Informed for Healthier Horses

A little bit of Northwest News:

Horse owners in Washington should take advantage of the vaccines available to prevent West Nile virus, particularly as the state led the nation last year in the number of horses testing positive for the disease. Read the full article at The Horse...

If you're somewhere other than Washington State, check with your local vet to find out what the risk is in your area and whether or not you should vaccinate. Remember that keeping your horses healthy means keeping up with what's going on in your area, and the best resource you have is your vet. Get together with other local horse owners and come up with a list of questions to ask your vet, then share the information. Helping each other keep up to date helps everyone's horses, not just your own. 

Reader Photo of the Week

This week's reader photo comes from Christine Anderson. Check out her APHA stallion, "Gunsmoke N Diamonds."

Have a photo you'd like to share? What about a story of your experience with a special horse? Send them to editor@nwhorsesource.com with the subject line "Reader Photo" or "Reader Story" and we'll consider it for the blog!

Guest Blogger: Tracey Westbury

As a child I would spend early spring in anxious anticipation of the Saturday before Easter.  This was the day of the big hunt.  My great grandmother hosted an egg hunt at her farm, where children swarmed the grounds in search of those little hidden treasures.  When my kids were small, I resurrected the great egg hunt on my own little farm, where I had just as much fun hiding as I'd had hunting as a child.

This past weekend I went out on another hunt, but instead of eggs, I was hunting cows.  Perhaps hunting isn’t really the right word, as the cattle were right there in plain sight, but we were learning how to track them…and that’s a form of hunting, yes?  

Allison Trimble of Coastal Equine had advertised this introduction to cattle clinic earlier in the month and I’d been chomping at the bit to get my mustang, Sandy, over there.  He’s never worked cattle before…not live ones.  We worked the Hydra Bull a couple of times last summer, but since then he’s been packing my daughter around on trails and over little hunter jumps.  Nothing cowy at all.

Sandy wasn’t the only newbie to the cattle game; many of the horses there had never been up close and personal with a living, breathing bovine.  So when they were asked to walk out of their little horsey herd and into the middle of the cow herd, it wasn’t much of a surprise when there was some hesitation.  After all…cows stink!  At least that’s what the horses said.

But despite their trepidation, each of the horses managed to listen to their riders and build confidence in what was being asked of them as the day progressed.  They discovered getting bossy with a cow turned out to be a lot of fun.  Even more than hunting Easter Eggs.

Northwest News and Notes

What's Happening in Oregon?

Equine events for everyone! If you haven't been following our news or events sections of this site, you may have missed the fact that Oregon is absolutely FULL of horsey things to do this spring.

Check out the Oregon News link for clinics to build confidence or master the finer points of horsemanship. The LaPine Rodeo Association has announced dates for its July rodeo, and local feed company Equis Feeds provides organic nutrition for your horse.

If you're elsewhere in the Pacific Northwest, don't forget to check out the news links for Washington, Idaho, Montana, Northern California, and British Columbia.

Don't forget to visit the events calendar regularly. New events are added daily, and there's likely to be one near you!

Let Your Story Out!

Remember, Fridays here at The Cyber Saddle are now open for YOUR stories! Send your horse stories - inspirational moments, funny anecdotes, or the ups and downs of horse ownership - to editor@nwhorsesource.com. Copyright remains with the writer; we ask only non-exclusive online rights and the ability to promote your story in the print magazine with an excerpt and your name.

Website Updates

If you're a frequent visitor to www.nwhorsesource.com, please note that we will be performing some website updates tomorrow (Thursday, April 16) to improve navigation and make the layout a little more user-friendly. Certain sections may be temporarily unavailable. If the page you are trying to reach is down, just try again in a few minutes. Thanks for your patience!

Reader Photo of the Week

Here's a photo from Laurie Lloyd of her new filly, born April 6th, 2009

Send your horse photos to us at editor@nwhorsesource.com. A new reader photo is posted every Monday!

Hoofball Video!

Last week, we announced the opening of Fridays on The Cyber Saddle for reader stories. As we work on getting that all put together, this Friday, we'd like to offer you a video. This is Karen and April's first attempt at Hoofball at a clinic led by Natalie Vonk of Horseplay Your Way:

Remember, you can send us your own stories to post here on the blog! Send stories to editor@nwhorsesource.com with the subject line "Reader Story" and we'll consider it for the next available spot! 

Things to do with your horse this spring

If you haven't visited the Northwest Horse Source's equine events calendar, you may be missing out on just the clinic, show, event, tack sale or educational series you've been looking for. Clinic season is definitely underway, and we have events for every day of the week right now, so if you want to join fellow horse people in your area, just check the calendar to find what's happening near you. Remember, our new calendar is searchable, so if there is a particular clinician, discipline, or geographic area you're interested in, it's easy to narrow down the options. Visit the help link to learn more about searching the calendar, then find an activity and get out and ride!

Reader Photo of the Week: April 6, 2009

Here's a new photo from Jena Strachila. Jena says: 

This is a photo that represents spring to me. My husband Jim taking one of our newborn colts (2006 Aphc Hank's Memory) for his first outing with his Mother Mandy's Classy Gal. It's time for the babies to arrive, and the daffodils to bloom.

Have an equine photo you'd like to share? We post a new photo every Monday at The Cyber Saddle! Send web resolution photos to editor@nwhorsesource.com. (JPG format preferred.)

Reader Story: New on The Cyber Saddle Fridays!

Now that Karyn "K.C." Cowdrey has moved on to other things, we're looking to fill our Friday blog postings with something a little more horsey than a desk jockey like myself can come up with. For the moment, we're open to reader-submitted content. Have a horsey story? Send it to editor@nwhorsesource.com. We can't guarantee it will be posted, but as the stories come in, we'll try to share as many as possible. Feel free to comment on other people's stories and start up a discussion--make it a true community!

Stories will be posted as submitted, so please keep them all-ages-appropriate and relevant to the Northwest horse community, or we'll be unable to share them.

Here is our first, from Doris J. Keith-Hoitt:

My Testament on 4-H

Waaaaay back in the 60’s when my children were small we used to go to a friend’s Chinese restaurant over on the U of O campus. There were many Vietnamese students who frequented her place and one in particular liked to play with my little daughter. He missed his family and my friend told me to allow it so I did. He was a very nice young fellow and he asked if he could ‘tell my future’. I told him I didn’t believe in such things but he insisted on reading my palm. “You raise maaany children!” he told me with a big grin. I laughed and told him I had two children and wouldn’t be having any more. “I not say you ‘have’ many children – I say you ‘raise’ many children!! 

 

Over the years I didn’t give this much thought but lately I have re-thought the young foreigner's odd prediction. Whey my daughter was young I inherited a 4-H club. At one time there were 19 in that group. Later while I lived in Iowa I had another club. There were 6 in that one. Now I have a third group and there are 6 young women in the “Horizon Riders.”

“I raise many children--.”I don’t flatter myself that I am raising these young people but I do get to have a hand in it. For that I am grateful. I even have a girl in my club whose mother was in my first group. These young people are wonderful. They make me laugh - - They make me cry. We learn, we live and we play together. In the past two years these people have become a real team. One girl lost her wonderful gelding. The club went through this loss with her and they mourned together. One girl fell off her horse and had to go to the hospital in an ambulance. Her favorite team-mate rode with her – holding her hand and keeping her calm. These people have real problems like everyone else but they face them together. They know there is always a gang of real friends standing at their back.

I’d advise you to have a 4-H club for the kids - - but actually it’s for you. Having this club gives me a reason to get up on Saturday mornings. Dragging them and their parents to an auction gives us all something to look forward to. Attending clinics, meetings, shows and Expo is fun, exciting and educational. These young people ‘will’ find a place to fit in. My hope is that place be hopeful, safe and positive.

Sharing in the lives of these young people is wonderful. They are beautiful inside and out. I encourage you to consider becoming a 4-H leader. Everyone has ‘A’ talent they can share and teach. Our group has many interests. First is horsewomanship, then there is cooking, and there are sewing and photography. Now we have become the first ever in our county to take up guns. Even my husband became a leader so that he could lead the trap-shooting with the girls and their families.

Think it over!! I bet you have at least one talent you could teach or help teach. The young people today need the positive confidence building experiences they receive in 4-H. We all have talents. We just need to take the action to share ourselves. That’s all the youngsters really want. They want you to share yourself.   -   -   -   Just do it!

Wednesday Northwest News Links

Before getting to the news links, I wanted to thank our readers who have been sending in photos for the Reader Photo of the Week. It's great to see people having a wonderful time with their horses! We received several new photos after last Monday's picture went up, so look for them in the coming weeks; remember, we post a new reader photo every Monday. We're always open to reader photo submissions for the blog, so if you have any equine images you'd like to have us post, send them to editor@nwhorsesource.com.

Now for the news highlights:

It's not Northwest, but after the supportive response so many Washington and Oregon horse owners received during the weather troubles over the last two years, if you're thinking of returning the favor to others, there are plenty of people affected by flooding in North Dakota and Minnesota who need assistance. Read more here...

For something closer to home, if you're looking to give time instead of money, Bright Horizon Therapeutic Riding Center is having volunteer training dates this month. Read the details on BHTRC here...

And if you're planning ahead for a little Washington State recreation, Capital Forest opens to horses next month!