Reunited!

The "Multiverse" is a physics theory that involves infinite universes where infinite copies of people live out alternative lives.  If you come to an intersection and turn right, somewhere your alternate copy #1,002 turned left.  If you chose a tuna sandwich for lunch, #803,458 chose turkey, etc., etc. 

In some alternate universe, alternate Star enjoys flights that are always on time and never turbulent.  I'm really happy for her.

I left town for 5 days to be with my family on the west coast.  It's very difficult to leave home these days.  Best Husband Ever is confident that I will return and Moose has learned that I eventually come back from wherever I've been.  Nox, however, is a different story.  The last time I left him for a few days, I came back to an angry, obstinate horse.  It took a week for us to get back to our previous routine and I made the mistake of being too lenient, forgiving his bad behavior too long - see the post on "tough lessons".

I finally arrived home this evening (a day late, thank you Chicago) and after kissing Moose and feeding him dinner - Best Husband Ever is working, otherwise he'd get kiss and food as well - I drove to the barn.  I whistled for Nox as I walked into the barn.  Most of the time, he nickers excitedly back, but tonight I only heard the stomps and snorts of the other horses.  When I turned the corner, Nox was looking at me through the stall door, but it wasn't his normal look.  He looked at me like I was a stranger, and my heart sank a little. 

I went through our normal routine - carrot in his bucket, halter on, turn him out in the ring, and clean his stall.  Nox went through the motions like I was a new groom in the barn.  After I cleaned the stall, I joined Nox in the ring and hooked the lead rope to his halter to walk him around.  He immediately dropped his head to bite the lead rope - an old bad habit.  I smacked him on the chest with the lead rope and the expression on his face was priceless.  It said, "Oh! Ha Ha! Silly me, of course I remember you!"  He snapped back to his old, sweet, respectful self and stuck his tongue out for me to rub.

It's good to be home!

 

A picture is worth a thousand words...

A lovely horse is always an experience....
 It is an emotional experience of the kind that is spoiled by words. 
~Beryl Markham

Glory Days

I just wanted to share this picture of my wonderful Christmas present from Best Husband Ever.  I searched around on the internet and found a couple of photos of Nox from a race he won in NJ in 2010.  Best Husband Ever contacted the photographers and purchased a few of the prints and had them mounted for me.  Nox's racing colors (called "silks") were green and yellow.  There is a brass plaque on the bottom that says "Nox - Evenings End" on it.  We have it hanging up in the living room and I love looking at it.  In the bottom photo, you can see Nox's tongue hanging out the side of his mouth!

Nox winning a race in NJ, 2010.

 If you'd like to see the rest of the photos, click on this link: Nox (Evenings End) Racing photos 

Photos 1-6 are of Nox (the last three photos are different horse).  The first picture of the trainer and owner and their families celebrating in the winner's circle with Nox makes me a little sad.  I realize that horse racing is a business and if the horse can't run, he can't make money - but come on!  How could someone let such an amazing horse go?  I'm grateful they did, or he wouldn't be mine now, but do any of those people wonder where their winning horse is now? 

I'm also amused by the picture of Nox stumbling out of the gate.  He's all the way down at the far end of the line of horses, with his nose almost on the ground.  I guess he's always been a klutz!  And he still won the race, despite the stumble!

Its fun to see these pictures of his life before he came to me, but I'm so glad that he's mine now.  I'm very lucky.

Starting the New Year "Right"

I'm so pleased with Nox's progress.  The difference between the way he moved six months ago and how he moves today is amazing. 

At first, I only let Nox trot in straight lines, because circles would put too much pressure on his injured hoof.  As his strength has improved and his injury has healed, I've gradually introduced circles.  The past few weeks I've been "free lunging" him in the indoor ring on days that I don't ride.  Free lunging is when the horse walks/trots/canters in circles around a person standing in the center of a ring, but the horse is not on a line or rope.  It's a great way for Nox to build strength and stamina, and also helps him learn to balance himself in smaller circles than he's used to.

Nox quickly understood what I was asking him to do when I free lunged him the first time to the left (his racing direction).  After one session, he would walk, trot, and "whoa" on my voice commands.  When I asked him to turn around and free lunge to the right, he completely fell apart.  He raced around like a maniac and kept trying to change direction.  A few times he refused to move forward at all. 

Some trainers think that horses do not have any right-to-left brain connection - meaning, if they learn how to do something going in one direction, they cannot carry over that knowledge to the other direction.  They have to start over and learn it from the beginning.  I'm not sure that I believe that.  I agree with other trainers who think that horses have a favored "side', like a human is right or left handed.  Horses are usually more comfortable moving in a certain direction when they are moving in a circle.  As a rider, you can feel that their gait is smoother going in one direction than the other.

Since Nox was a race horse, it makes sense that he would feel more comfortable moving to the left.  The left side of his body is noticeably more muscular than his right side.  I'm sure that he feels very unbalanced when I ask him to go to the right.  It would be like forcing a right handed child to do everything with his left hand - the discomfort would eventually boil over into frustration!

I think that's what happens when I ask Nox to move to the right when I'm lunging him.  Without a rider to help him balance, he feels uncomfortable and acts out.  I've been working with him for a few weeks now, and yesterday he finally walked, trotted, and cantered in both directions calmly.  He's still a little hesitant to the right, especially at the faster canter gait, but he understands what I want and he's trying hard to please me - and that's good enough for now!