Barns Really Are for People, Not Horses

Marble floor in the entry foyer, a bronze statue of a horse as the central focal point, tongue and groove wooden walls (some covered with mirrors), hanging baskets of ferns above polished brass railings, and an indoor swimming pool off to a room on the side. Sounds like some kind of mansion, doesn't it? Well, in a way it is, but built to house horses owned by Kenny Rogers's horses back in the 1980's.

In contrast, picture a barn at the other end of the spectrum-a simple building with no frills, maybe not even four walls. Which would you prefer? Which do you think your horse would want? It may come as a shock to many people, but horses don't really care about fancy and expensive housing, or any housing at all usually. As long as they are safe and comfortable that is all that matters to them. Things that impress people don't mean anything to a horse.

If horses are kept as nature intended, in groups, outdoors, without air conditioning, heating, blankets, or body clipping they are perfectly comfortable even in weather we might not enjoy. Their bodies are designed to be comfortable in cool temperatures, and their coats fluff up to insulate them from the cold. Given a choice of in or out, most horses will choose out, even in cold weather. The main exception for most horses would be a combination of cold and wet.

My grandfather's horses, raised outside, had access to a barn year round, but the only times they went in on their own were on really cold, windy, sleety days. The rest of the time they chose to stay outside.

Think about it-a horse kept inside cannot move around and exercise to warm its muscles. It can't investigate things that arouse its curiosity or move away from things it is afraid of. In a barn, the horse is a captive. Kept inside for hours and hours at a time, many horses develop vices such as cribbing, wood chewing, weaving, stall pacing, or at the very least become very bored. Some develop physical problems due to the inactivity. We certainly wouldn't do too well in a small room for the majority of our days, so why should we expect our horses to be ok with it? And how can we expect them to come out of forced inactivity, be ridden and have the stamina and behavior we want them to have?

Barns are for people and their convenience. It's easier to have immediate access to our horses if they are right at hand and easy to catch. The horses are cleaner by not having found a favorite dirt or mud spot in which to roll. Their coats, manes, and tails don't get sun bleached and that makes them look prettier to us.

They give us a place to store feed, hay, and tack. Some barns provide us a place to lounge and socialize with friends. Barns can be a status symbol for humans because humans care about that kind of thing. Horses don't. So if all you provide for your horse is a place to get out of bad weather, and you don't trap them inside, you can rest assured that your horses are better off physically and mentally than ones kept in fancy or not so fancy jails. And you get the added benefit of not having barn chores!

Bonnie and her husband own Gemara Farm Foxtrotters located in Barnesville, Georgia. They currently have nine fox trotters of their own and practice natural horsemanship with them, and Bonnie coaches others in natural horsemanship. There are usually some fox trotters available for sale.

http://www.gemara.homestead.com

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Women, Horses, and Freedom

Girl on a Horse

I recently read a paper written by Isabella deMoss. She described her girlhood experience when placed on a retired racehorse:

"When this horse caught wind of the wide-open space ahead and took off like lightening, I instinctively crouched low and became one with the horse, pulling on the reins with as much force as my ten-year old, 50-pound self could muster. I can still feel the wind pushing at my face, sending my own waist-length ponytail sailing behind me. Terrified. Exhilarated. Afraid for my life. Free. All at the same time and wanting this feeling to last forever."

This exhilarating experience of freedom is, as deMoss writes, frightening as well as liberating. Horses are synonymous with freedom for many of us.

National Velvet: Freedom Inspires

Another young girl enamored with freedom was Velvet Brown, the fictional heroine of Enid Bagnolds novel, and the 1944 film National Velvet. Velvet, played by the young violet-eyed Elizabeth Taylor, watches the highly-spirited Pie jump over fences, and break through constraints that would hold another horse. Although naturally shy, Velvets love for her steed sparks a dream of riding him in the Grand National Steeplechase Race. Just as the powerful Pie breaks through limitations, Velvet, too fights against restrictions placed upon her because of her sex, and even her own temperament.

Runaway Bride: Freedom as Autonomy

In The Runaway Bride, the 1999 film starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, the symbol of the horse is used throughout the movie to symbolize a womans freedom and autonomy. In a dream sequence from the very first scene of the movie, Roberts is seen in a wedding dress fleeing on horseback. Maggie, played by Julia Roberts, has left several bridegrooms at the altar. In the film action, Maggie is about to wed, and a big city reporter comes to her small town to witness the phenomenon of the runaway bride. The reporter, played by Richard Gere, is hunting for a story, and hoping that she will flee again so he can get his magazine cover article. He has previously written a newspaper column reviling her for running away from marriage. His column has brought her into national attention as the Runaway Bride.

Maggie is the butt of the townspeoples jokes because of her wedding flight and apparent fright of marital commitment. The reaction of the townspeople illustrates the powerful patriarchal taboo against the single childless autonomous woman who has resisted the pressure to mate and marry. As Gere interviews the previous men Maggie has left at the altar, he learns that she has adapted herself to each potential husband. Though she may not be able to articulate her fear, she is terrified of losing her authentic self to marriage and pleasing her mate.

The Runaway Bride in Love

The reporter and the Runaway Bride fall in love. Yet Maggie bolts from their wedding, too, even though she loves him and he has seen into her soul. She may not know why she runs from him, but until she has retrieved herself, she is unable to mate. It is an important quest. Marriage would restrain her unbridled self. Maggie takes risks and forges a new artistic career for herself, which causes her to venture away from her small cloistered town, to New York where her lover lives.

Running Away vs. Running To

The final movie scene returns to the bride on horseback, but this time she and her reporter bridegroom ride their own horses, denoting equal access to freedom and power. The act of running away, often perceived in western culture as an act of cowardice, is in this case a remarkable act of bravery. The runaway motif in this film is truly a running away from traditional expectations and a running to the authentic self.

Women, Freedom, and Horses

As the ten-year old Isabella deMoss experienced, freedom can be both liberating and frightening. Freedom often upsets societal norms and expectations. And, just like Isabella, Velvet, and Maggie, we can not taste the exhilaration of freedom unless we take the risk to embrace our authentic selves. Horses can be fantastic companions for a womans quest to reclaim her authentic self because they are so fully themselves without artifice.

Horses, Predators, and the Authentic Self

Horses, as prey animals are keenly able to detect the presence of a predator. In the world of the horses, a predator is one who puts on a false face to get what they want. A horse can see into the heart of a person. If I am sad or angry, and pretend that everything is fine, a horse can spot the lie, and wont want to be in the same space with me.

Horse Sense

For horses, animals that lie and hide their true selves are predators. Interestingly, I may not be conscious of the lie without the help of the horses mirroring. If a mare detects my lack of integrity, she may deem me a predator, even though I have no desire to harm her. What she may be perceiving is my threat to my own life force, and the presence of my own inner predator. This inner predator may take the form of shoulds and cants and other self-talk and messages that would keep me from being my fully unrestrained self.

As women, may we all experience what little Isabella felt as we free ourselves from inner and outer predators that would pen us in:

Terrified. Exhilarated. Afraid for my life. Free. All at the same time and wanting this feeling to last forever.

For more information on the fascinating relationship between women and horses, I invite you to visit http://www.dreamhorsewomen.com

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The Kentucky Derby: IXS

The popular Kentucky Derby is source of great entertaining enjoyment for its exciting spectators. Actually, It is a Grade I stakes race with three-year-old thoroughbred horses which is being held annually in Louisville, Kentucky always on the first Saturday in May, covering the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The distance of of the race is one and one-quarter miles (2.012 km) at Churchill Downs. The colts as well as geldings of the race weigh about 126 pounds (57 kg), fillies 121 pounds (55 kg). The Race is popularly known as "The Most Exciting Two Minutes in as well as "The Run for the Roses" . The reason of the first given name is its estimated time length and for the second name is the blanket of roses awarded to the winner. Its popularity can be judged by the jubilation and excitement of its 155,000 fans.

The Horse breeding and racing has been one of Kentuckys specialty tradition since the late 1700s. Kentucky thrives on the Ordovician fields of the Bluegrass region that produces higher amounts of calcium which results in the production of superior race horses. Col. Meriwether Lewis Clark, Jr., grandson of William Clark were the greatest lover of the horse racing.They used to travel ( http://www.ticketnest.com/travel.php ) to Paris, France and enjoyed watching thrilling horse racings organised by the the French Jockey Club. Clark was that leading man who established the Louisville Jockey Club for generating money to build a high quality racing facilities just outside of the city. He was lucky enough that the track was later known as Churchill Downs, named for Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr.'s relatives, John and Henry Churchill, who had supplied the land for the racetrack. Formally in 1937, the racetrack was incorporated as Churchill Downs.

The First race of The Kentucky Derby was run at 1.5 miles (2.4 km), similar distance as the Epsom Derby and the Grand Prix de Paris. Later, this distance was altered to its present 1.25 miles (2.01 km) in 1896. On May 17, 1875, the race loving crowd of 10,000 people witnessed a field of in total 15 three-year-old horses contested the first Derby.

From 1875 to 1902, African-American jockeys won 15 out of 28 runnings of the Kentucky Derby. On May 11, 1892, African-American jockey Alonzo "Lonnie" Clayton, age 15 became the youngest rider to win the Derby on 11th May, 1892. Elwood won the race, the first Derby starter plus winner to be owned by a woman, Laska Durnell in 1904. Regret was the first filly to win the Kentucky Derbyin 1915 whereas and in 1917, the English bred colt "Omar Khayyam" was the first foreign-bred horse to win the race.

In order to earn huge chunk of amount, the horse owners started sending their victorious Derby horses to compete a few weeks after in the Preakness Stakes at the Pimlico Race Course, in Baltimore, Maryland, followed by the Belmont Stakes in Elmont, New York. All three races provided the largest purse and in 1919 Sir Barton was the first horse to win all three races. Moreover, the term Triple Crown didn't come for about another eleven years. Later Gallant Fox became the second horse to win all three races and the public loved referring these horses as Super horses. For more information about The Kentucky Derby visit: http://events.ixs.net/sports-tickets/Miscellaneous/Kentucky-Derby/index.aspx

Heidi Grumm hosts http://events.ixs.net and expresses her passion for events through writing and discussion. She works for Less Corporation at http://www.hrlady.com Copyright Heidi Grumm

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