Once again, it’s time for Thankful Thursday! I hope this post inspires you to consider the things in your life that you are grateful for. If you have a blog, consider posting about it there and link back here. If you don’t have a blog, please feel welcome to comment here on what you are grateful for in your own life. If you don’t feel comfortable sharing, then just take a few moments to reflect on all that you have. If you’d like to tag other bloggers that participate, feel free to do that.

This Thursday, I want to say a special thanks to two awesome bloggers that have both nominated From The Horse’s Back for The Beautiful Blogger award.  This award is the very first that I’ve received since beginning this site last summer.  Upon seeing the other wonderful sites that were nominated as well as mine, I am doubly honored to be held in such fine company.  Thank you so much to Juliette over at Honeysuckle Faire and Jane at The Literary Horse for considering this site worthy of an award.  These sites are two of my all time favorites and ones that I regularly visit, waiting eagerly for a post.  If you haven’t checked out either of the sites before, please do so.  Juliette is a phenomenal artist (and all around wonderful chick) and her site always leaves you feeling warm and fuzzy.  Plus, now she has a new etsy shop where she’s offering some of her fantastic artwork for sale.  Jane has got to be one of the funniest human beings in the world and her blog brings me so much joy.  You just never know what you’re going to find when you head over there for a visit!  I especially recommend the Mr. Chips series of posts – but be warned, coffee spewing is a likely occurrence while reading!

Thanks again ladies, for such an honor and for being loyal readers even in the midst of my erratic posting! 

Happy Thursday to all and please visit these other sites that frequently participate in Thankful Thursday:

Akal Ranch, Enlightened Horsemanship Through Touch, The Pony Expression, and Tired Dog Ranch.

I have some fantastic news I have been waiting to share with all of you and I can finally fill you in on the secret!  Lest any of you think that I have been slacking off during my erratic blogging start to the new year, I have a surprise for you!  Things have been humming behind the scenes at From The Horse’s Back, while I’ve been working with the creators of The Foodie Blogroll to unveil something new and exciting to the pet blogging community.  That something is……..(drumroll please)……. Pets Blogroll, a brand new online community dedicated to bloggers that love their animals. 

You might be wondering, Why a pet network?  I have to tell you that I am really excited about this site and all it has to offer.  It’s a great way for all of us pet bloggers to stay connected and motivated to keep writing.  There are also many other benefits:

• Contests and Giveaways - There will be numerous cool prizes awarded to bloggers that join the network
• Browse for Blogs and Members in our easy to use search fields
• Meet and connect with other bloggers that love pets too
• Favorites allows you to save and follow your favorite blogs in one easy to use location
• Rate blogs and vote for your favorites

Joining the network is easy and fast and only requires the installation of a widget on your sidebar (and meeting a few basic criteria for pet blogs).  I truly hope that you will check the site out and consider joining the network! 

The site will be officially launching on Monday, March 15 so be sure to check back then for updates and links to all the fun!

Once again, it’s time for Thankful Thursday! I hope this post inspires you to consider the things in your life that you are grateful for. If you have a blog, consider posting about it there and link back here. If you don’t have a blog, please feel welcome to comment here on what you are grateful for in your own life. If you don’t feel comfortable sharing, then just take a few moments to reflect on all that you have. If you’d like to tag other bloggers that participate, feel free to do that.

Just one drop can change everything…

Photo courtesy of maddogmarquis, Photobucket

Back in October ‘09 I did a series of Thankful Thursday posts titled “Nostalgia” (you can read them here, here, and here).  I guess I’m feeling a bit sentimental again, because this week I have been thinking a lot about someone who made a big impact on my life many years ago.  He was the man that I credit with developing that competitive fire in me and showing me the fun and social side of horse shows. 

I don’t even remember how my family came to be involved with “Vern,” but I remember our first business meeting with him back in 1990 at a little restaurant in Ohio.  He agreed to bring his burgeoning training operation to the brand new horse farm that my parents were building in southwestern PA.  In a sense we started off together, although Vern had been an assistant trainer for several years and was involved with some very high profile people in the Appaloosa world.  Vern was really the one that steered my family, and me especially, into the national and world arenas of competition.  He was the one that found Tyler for me, the white wonder horse that made me fall in love with riding.  He was the one that brought Icy and Seeker to our show string – two equally dynamic, well known, and talented horses that my sister and I were very fortunate to have the opportunity to show.  I could even thank him for Tiny – because he was the one that chose Super (her dam) to be my very first game horse.  Vern introduced my family to so many people and because of him we got extremely involved in the horse show world.  We became active members of the Appaloosa Pleasure Horse Association, regional Appaloosa clubs, and 4H.  One of my favorite memories was when he and my parents brainstormed and created this incredibly huge Appaloosa show for the now-defunct Pennsylvania Appaloosa Association.  They had jackpot barrels and pleasure classes with money added, sponsors, you name it.  Back in the early 90’s it was quite a feat for a regional club to have such a successful show.  I truly believe that Vern was the catalyst that took us from casual horse lovers to serious and actively involved competitors, and he got the whole family involved in some fashion.  He even spearheaded an effort to have challenged riders classes added to show lists at all the shows so that disabled riders like my youngest sister could be involved too.

We spent five very exciting and productive years with Vern before he moved on to other things.  I wish I could say that I’ve kept in touch with him over the years, but as so often happens we have drifted away to separate lives.  I recently met up with an old friend of his at the Quarter Horse show in Tampa and he told me that Vern is healthy and happy and has a beautiful farm in the Pittsburgh area where he continues to coach youth riders and maintains a successful breeding operation.   I hope to reestablish contact with Vern, if for no other reason than to thank him for being such a great trainer, coach, and friend to me and all of my family during our formative years in the Appaloosa business.

Happy Thursday to all and please visit these other sites that frequently participate in Thankful Thursday:

Akal Ranch, Enlightened Horsemanship Through Touch, The Pony Expression, and Tired Dog Ranch.

Liz posted this video today on her site, Equine Ink.  The horse actually FELL OUT of a moving trailer and somehow managed to survive.  A fellow driver caught the action and videotaped it.   It is heartbreaking to watch them try to load the horse back onto a trailer to get medical care.   It is like my worst nightmare come to life. 

Have any of you had a bad hauling experience?  Touch wood, I have been relatively fortunate given the amount of hauling that I’ve done.  We’ve had a couple of close calls, but nothing like this ever before.  I hope they do a follow up on this to determine exactly what caused this unfortunate incident. 

Thanks to Liz for posting on this story!

A couple of weeks ago, Emma and I enjoyed a long trail ride on a lazy Sunday.  I know I’ve done a few virtual trail rides now, but this ride was one for the books.  We looped through the woods and rode down to the lake to let the girls (well, Abby, anyway) enjoy the water a bit.  Much to our surprise, as we approached the lake we noticed many vultures lurking around the water’s edge.  What, we wondered, could be going on?

Well, we never did discover “what was going on”  but there were hundreds of dead fish littering the beach.  I guess Tiny had the right idea wanting to stay as far as possible away from this water body!  For a brief moment, I forgot we were at the sandy shore of a lake in central Florida.  It looked like some rocky Atlantic beach from somewhere up north.  Well, at least until the smell brought me back to the present day and place…..

After we’d had our fill of eau de deadfish, we began meandering back home via the country road.  We were chatting amiably and our lazy girls were focused on putting one foot in front of the other and aiming straight toward home when we had another surprise.  This handsome fellow beckoned us over to say hi!

He and a couple of his buddies live just down the street from the barn and I’m sure we’ve passed him many, many times on our rides.  Never before has he initiated contact with us.  We wandered over to let the girls say hi and things got even more weird!

This little guy had no fear of us or the horses!  His buddies weren’t so sure and kept their distance, but this brave soul came straight over to visit.  Apparently he thought Tiny was pretty cute, and it didn’t take long for him to make his move!

Tiny received her very first bovine sMOOch!  Actually this was one of many, as the boy took quite a shine to my girl.  Not to be outdone, Abby moved in for her turn.  And the little man did not disappoint….

I bet his name is Romeo or Casanova – he has obviously done this before!

What? You want one too?

After we visited with Romeo for a bit we headed home – the girls refreshed from our break and Emma and I having a giggle over the interspecies love story!  

Once again, it’s time for Thankful Thursday! I hope this post inspires you to consider the things in your life that you are grateful for. If you have a blog, consider posting about it there and link back here. If you don’t have a blog, please feel welcome to comment here on what you are grateful for in your own life. If you don’t feel comfortable sharing, then just take a few moments to reflect on all that you have. If you’d like to tag other bloggers that participate, feel free to do that. 

This week something made me recall a poem that I’d first read many years ago that touched me deeply.  To this day, its words still resonate in me when I read it and I’d like to share it with you. 

Photo courtesy of Sparkygirl911, photobucket

Fern Hill

Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs
About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green,
     The night above the dingle starry,
          Time let me hail and climb
     Golden in the heydays of his eyes,
And honoured among wagons I was prince of the apple towns
And once below a time I lordly had the trees and leaves
          Trail with daisies and barley
     Down the rivers of the windfall light. 

And as I was green and carefree, famous among the barns
About the happy yard and singing as the farm was home,
     In the sun that is young once only,
          Time let me play and be
     Golden in the mercy of his means,
And green and golden I was huntsman and herdsman, the calves
Sang to my horn, the foxes on the hills barked clear and cold,
          And the sabbath rang slowly
     In the pebbles of the holy streams. 

All the sun long it was running, it was lovely, the hay
Fields high as the house, the tunes from the chimneys, it was air
     And playing, lovely and watery
          And fire green as grass.
     And nightly under the simple stars
As I rode to sleep the owls were bearing the farm away,
All the moon long I heard, blessed among stables, the nightjars
     Flying with the ricks, and the horses
          Flashing into the dark. 

And then to awake, and the farm, like a wanderer white
With the dew, come back, the cock on his shoulder: it was all
     Shining, it was Adam and maiden,
          The sky gathered again
     And the sun grew round that very day.
So it must have been after the birth of the simple light
In the first, spinning place, the spellbound horses walking warm
     Out of the whinnying green stable
          On to the fields of praise. 

And honoured among foxes and pheasants by the gay house
Under the new made clouds and happy as the heart was long,
     In the sun born over and over,
          I ran my heedless ways,
     My wishes raced through the house high hay
And nothing I cared, at my sky blue trades, that time allows
In all his tuneful turning so few and such morning songs
     Before the children green and golden
          Follow him out of grace, 

Nothing I cared, in the lamb white days, that time would take me
Up to the swallow thronged loft by the shadow of my hand,
     In the moon that is always rising,
          Nor that riding to sleep
     I should hear him fly with the high fields
And wake to the farm forever fled from the childless land.
Oh as I was young and easy in the mercy of his means,
          Time held me green and dying
     Though I sang in my chains like the sea 

- Dylan Thomas 

Happy Thursday to all and please visit these other sites that frequently participate in Thankful Thursday: 

Akal Ranch, Enlightened Horsemanship Through Touch, The Pony Expression, and Tired Dog Ranch.

A while back, I was doing some reading on equine color genetics when I came across information about the silver dapple gene.  I’m always interested in learning new things and when I started to read about this dilution gene, I immediately perked up.  The silver dilution gene acts on black points of the body and lightens them to varying degrees.  This can be expressed as either “black silvers” (white mane/tail, seal brown body, often dappled) or “bay silvers” (chocolate body, silver mane/tail that is darker at the roots, mottled silver legs).  I believe that Tiny may have the bay silver gene, which would explain her unusually light-colored legs and the silver in her mane. 

As I continued learning about the intricacies of equine coat color genetics, I discovered that the silver dapple gene is sometimes associated with ASD – Anterior Segment Dysgenesis.  ASD is an abnormal development of the eye and can result in impaired vision.  ASD is not restricted to horses with the silver dapple gene, but it is thought that there is a connection between the two conditions.  Horses are born with ASD – it is a congenital condition with varying degrees of severity.  There are several signs that a horse has ASD:  a ”pop-eyed” appearance, cysts, cataracts, or abnormal dilation of the pupil.  The retina is also occasionally affected.    So what should you do if you suspect your horse might be affected?  First, have him examined by an equine opthalmologist that has the necessary diagnostic equipment.  It is important to remember that ASD is not progressive and does not result in blindness, and that most affected horses continue to have normal vision throughout their lives. 

Further Reading:

A missense mutation in PMEL17 is associated with the Silver coat color in the horse.  2006.   Brunberg, et al.

http://www.horse-genetics.com/silver-dapple.html

http://www.silverequine.com/

http://old.cvm.msu.edu/research/mregl/asd.htm

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge is called “Textures.”  Hope you enjoy my selections!

One of the most familiar and comforting textures of the horse world: a bale of hay.

Intricate knots in a rope cross tie.

The well-worn leather of a favorite headstall

Woven western saddlepads come in a variety of colors and patterns.

The leather of a broken-in saddle molds to the rider perfectly.

Check out Sunday Stills for other entries, as well as Laughing Orca Ranch, The Skoog Farm Journal, All Horse Stuff, and Baba Yaga’s Mirror,  all of whom frequently participate in the challenge.

As you may have noticed, I’ve taken a couple of weeks off from blogging.  It was an unintentional hiatus, but during my break I took some time to consider the evolution of this site.  When FromTheHorsesBack started, I envisioned a resource chock full of show tips, health information, product reviews, and other useful tidbits.  Over the past 7 months it has evolved to include Thankful Thursdays, virtual trail rides, and the newly added Sunday Stills challenges.  I am looking forward to continuing these regular features, while also ramping up the articles and tips sections as well. 

I am excited about the next few months, which will bring profiles on top trainers, health topics, contests, and extensive coverage of the upcoming Equine Affaire event in Columbus, Ohio that I will be attending.  In addition, I will be unveiling a secret that all pet bloggers will be able to enjoy!  I can’t wait to share, but for now I’ll just say that you’ll definitely want to jump on board if you have a website!  

As always,  thanks for visiting and happy riding!

Once again, it’s time for Thankful Thursday! I hope this post inspires you to consider the things in your life that you are grateful for. If you have a blog, consider posting about it there and link back here. If you don’t have a blog, please feel welcome to comment here on what you are grateful for in your own life. If you don’t feel comfortable sharing, then just take a few moments to reflect on all that you have. If you’d like to tag other bloggers that participate, feel free to do that.

 On Monday, I talked about my fun trip to the Florida Gold Coast Quarter Horse show.  What I didn’t mention is that the fun continued on long after I left the Florida State Fairgrounds.   One of my very first blogger friends, Juliette from Honeysuckle Faire, often spends her winter break in central Florida and we decided to meet up this year.  After I left the show, I drove down to St. Petersburg to meet Juliette and her family.  Now, those of you that know me on a personal level know that I’m fairly reserved and often quiet.  However, any nervousness I may have had about meeting Juliette was quickly relieved.  We had a great time chatting about horses and blogs, among other things.  Julie is a genuine and charming person and her family is great too!  I even got to meet her adorable cat Noodlebug, who won me over with the most precious face ever.  If you haven’t checked out Honeysuckle Faire yet, you should go over and take a look around.  Juliette is an incredible artist and her site features some of her work, as well as the story of her two boys Pie and Sovey. 

Michelle, Noodle, and Juliette

I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to meet Juliette, Brian, Maizie, Lake, and Noodlebug.  I had a great time and hope that we can get together next time in PA for Juliette’s dream of a blogger buddies riding weekend.  Ok, now who’s coming to Florida next? 

 Happy Thursday to all and please visit these other sites that frequently participate in Thankful Thursday:

Akal Ranch, Enlightened Horsemanship Through Touch, and Tired Dog Ranch.