Desensitizing to something scary

A few days ago, the maker of an off-road wheelchair came out to the farm to let me try out what is likely the most powerful all terrain wheelchair on the market. I generally have to sit in one spot and teach my horses from that one spot, or I hobble painfully around them for a few steps or try to manage a bit of training without tangling lead ropes in my crutches. This can only get us so far in our partnership. Their brains need more stimulation and so does mine.


The chair is HUGE. It's got these large tank-like tracks on either side which allows it to travel easily across the softest deepest sand, finest river silt, and loosest gravel. It goes through mud, water and up 45 degree slopes without blinking a battery light. Did I mention it's HUGE? The treads on the tracks are meant to dig in and crawl over rough terrain, on paved surfaces however, there's nothing to dig into so the treads thwap and rattle against hard surfaces. And, it's HUGE. 


When we find something that our horses are uneasy about, we work with them to help them overcome their fears. We don't avoid things that might be frightening to them unless we just simply don't have the time it takes to deal with the situation fully. We'll make a note to work on it and come back to that as soon as possible. As a result, I have a barn full of horses that really don't spook and bolt at much.


When I drove the Tank Chair (yup, that's what it's called), into the barn aisle that morning, most of the horses glanced up then went back to eating. A couple came over to their gates to check it out, but two of them totally freaked and wanted to climb out the back side of their stalls. Those two felt cornered by this evil sounding, obvious horse eating monster. They had no escape. They were trapped in their stalls and terrified.


A horse must be able to feel like it has the choice to leave and get away from something that makes it uneasy before you can begin to get it's brain in gear. Thus, the first thing I did, was take the Tank Chair out into the largest paddock and unlocked the first panic stricken horse's stall. He was so frightened of being stuck in the stall with that "monster" loose in the paddock that he raced out of the stall right in front of me and ran to the farthest fence line. As soon as he knew he had the option of escape he was able to gather the scattered chickens in his head and became more open to learning.


I drove the chair around in a few circles as far away from him as possible, then drove it toward him. When he moved away I'd move along with him while his butt was turned toward me, if he turned to face me, even if he was just trying to change directions in order to shake me off, I'd move away from him a bit.  Within less than 2 minutes he would follow me for a few seconds before he chickened out. If he stopped moving, I'd stop moving. 


In less than 3 minutes he understood that the monster stopped when he did, so it might not be so bad. Plus "Granny is riding the thing!" With a slightly worried expression, he approached me and I rubbed his forehead and then moved away from him. He followed for a few steps and we began "the dance" again, until he followed me for 5 or 6 steps, I stopped and he came right up to me for his head rub. I drove away again, he walked calmly over to the stalls and stood. This time, I approached him and he stood still and relaxed even as the monster approached. I was able to pull right up to him, stop and rub his head. His worried expression was gone and he was totally relaxed. 


Training session time was under 4 minutes and we progressed from absolute panic and trying to climb stall walls, to completely relaxed and accepting of the scary object. See YouTube video of the session below: 

We're going to have a baby!

Lucy, my palomino mare and Handsome, my smoky black stallion are going to be proud parents sometime around the middle of March.  Last April, in a burst of hopefulness at the seeming success of my husband's tandem bone marrow transplant treatments for his Hodgkin Lymphoma, I put the two horses together for two days when Lucy was in standing heat. After two days I started second guessing that decision and separated them. In that two days, however, Lucy the miracle mare who seems to get pregnant if she's downwind of a stallion, conceived. I love that mare. 


Lucy was the first mini to come to our property. We bought her here in Arizona. She, Suede and Honey were actually all bought at the same time, but the purchase of Suede and Honey was actually agreed to by my friend in Texas  while I was on the phone with her. At that same time, I was here on a mini-farm in Arizona buying Lucy.  Lucy came onto our property like she owned it and she has been the boss mare ever since. She's the first horse we cart trained and bless her she forgave us our mistakes and did her darnedest to figure out what we wanted and give it to us. She's gentle around people, very affectionate, a wonderful momma and she's one of my most special friends in the barn.

Lucy was pregnant when we bought her. Her son, Desi, is a permanent buddy here too. When it was time to wean Desi we knew it would be easier for him if he had a weanling companion. I contacted Lucy's original owner and she said she had a fabulous colt she was about to wean. She said he was the best looking colt she'd bred and she had even named him Strykingly Handsome. She needed to sell him but the bottom had fallen out of the mini-sales industry about that time and none of the show homes were buying like they used to. She gave me a superior deal on a superior colt just so he would have a good home. He sure was a good looking colt, but even then we had no idea how beautiful he would be when grown. We've had to take him to vet clinics for various minor issues and when we do the vets never fail to gasp and tell me "now THAT is what miniatures should look like" and "He is really outstanding" and "WOW he's Handsome, what's his name?"


Handsome is not only conformationally perfect, he is also very smart with a true desire to learn. Even though he's an unapologetic nipper he's one of the easiest horses to work with in our barn. When we are working with him all we have to do is give him a minute or two to think about what we might be asking him and he figures it out. We've been working with some professional large horse trainers and they're pure stoked about this little stallion. He will go all day long for you. They tell me he's got more heart in that little body than many horses they see. It makes me very happy when other people, who know more than I do, gain that understanding of our evil little black stud. 


So, this baby we're expecting is extremely special. His parents conformation is perfect, they are highly intelligent, and they have not just a willingness, but a deep desire to do what we ask of them. Finally on the list of reasons I am excited about this pairing is color. Palominos, buckskins, and smoky blacks don't just happen at random. They happen because of the genetics of horse color. 


Very simplistic equine color genetics lesson:


Horses, to be very basic here, come in two colors, red and black. All other colors you see, are caused by genes which modify those two base colors and may dilute, change the pattern of, or even wash out those two colors. A good friend of mine explains it this way. Picture one of those old flip charts of clear plastic pages with images on them. Picture a red horse on the bottom plastic page. The next page is the Creme gene. When you overlay the creme gene on your red horse you suddenly find yourself looking at a palomino. The creme gene only dilutes (lightens) red pigment. Lucy, therefore, is a red horse who inherited one creme gene. The combination of the red and creme genes made her palomino. 


The creme dilution gene doesn't just happen. It must be inherited. One of the parents must carry at least one creme dilute gene and the foal must inherit at least one of those from one of the parents. Both parents who carry a creme dilute gene can pass on that gene to a foal. If a foal inherits a creme gene from each parent, that foal is known as a double dilute. It is in this case that with a double whammy the creme finally can wash out even black coat color. Double dilute horses appear white or near white, perhaps with a slightly buttery color in their manes and tails, but with beautiful blue eyes. Now, don't go running around saying every white horse with blue eyes must be a double dilute. Pintos can have blue eyes too and the coat color can be solid white or grey which has washed out the coat colors to white. You can, however, say with authority that a double creme dilute horse will always have blue eyes. (You can also tell anyone who thinks that color is "albino" that no one has discovered the albino gene in equines.) A double creme dilute has no choice but to pass on one of those creme genes. 


Because the creme dilution gene only effects red, if a black foal inherits a creme gene it will not show on the outside, but he will be able to pass that gene on to his offspring. A black horse that carries a creme gene is called a smoky black. Even though the creme gene is invisible when you look at Handsome, it's there because his mother was a double dilute and she had no choice but to send one of her creme genes to Handsome. 


Since both Lucy and Handsome carry the creme dilution we are really hoping for a creme dilute baby. Here is a link to an equine genetics test lab color calculator that I use: Equine Coat Color Calculator When I plug in the color information I know about Lucy and Handsome I get these percentages (Cremello, Perlino, and Smoky Cream are the double dilutes):



Offspring Color Probability 


25.00% - Palomino
12.50% - Smoky Black
12.50% - Cremello
12.50% - Chestnut
12.50% - Buckskin
6.25% - Smoky Cream
6.25% - Perlino
6.25% - Black
6.25% - Bay


75% chance of dilute


25% chance of double dilute


18.75% chance of black or black appearance


If the above calculations are correct, there should be only a 12.50% chance of getting a chestnut baby, and only a 6.25% chance of a bay baby. With all those other color options can we please all keep our fingers crossed for anything other than chestnut or bay??