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The 2006 Wisdom and Haflinger Humor of Jenny Rausch of Brush Prairie, Washington
February 2006: What to call them?
Shoot-fahr. Here I been callin' ma hosses hay-flingers and
haffies, come to find out, no 'uns takin me serious, like. Shucks.
I can understand the desire to see our lovely breed respected, but my sense of
humor does tend to be a serious (un-serious?) glitch, not to mention my lazy
fingers. I hate typing more than I have to, so "haffy" or "haffies" is to me
simply a way of shortening the word and not having to stop and remember where
you put the "l" in Haflinger. But then, I figure that I am talking to a
group of people who are obviously very aware of our breed's sterling qualities,
so I was not real worried about the respect issue.
Hopefully, and this is NOT a chide, my friends, our horses' performance and
attitude in the public eye will bring them public respect based on their obvious
advantages. My farrier, for instance, a confirmed big-tall "Warmie" fan and
owner, is very impressed at the way they react to scary things, and the way they
stop and think when asked to do something, and the fact that they try really
hard to please. I don't think he could care any less what I call them, though,
which is fortunate, as I tend to call them unfortunate things like "fat-head", "dum-kopf",
"YouRottenLittleHorsePrepareToDieYouKnowBetterThanThisWalkOnYourOwnBlastedFeet"
and other affectionate, respect-inducing titles.Suddenly, "haffie" seems pretty
innocent, what?
I do think that regardless what we choose to call them in affection among our
own ranks, we have a responsibility to know their history, place of origin, etc.
so we can promote them properly and accurately. And, will whoever it is that
promotes the myth of the "You never have to train a Haflinger, because they are
such NICE horses, naturally and immediately perfect for all beginner family
purposes!" please stop it? Man, I keep having to squelch that rumor down here in
my corner. GAH! They are really fun to work with, for sure, but all horses need
training. Though I like Haffielingnerirs...Halflingners...Shoot-fahr. See? Can't
spell it. My horses.
I like my horses, ahem, because they learn easy compared to many horses I have
worked with, and they retain what they know. But, you gotta teach it, first.
So, pet peeves all aired? We all good? Great. I love you all. Now, quitch'er.
February 2006: What does "Amish Trained" mean?
"Amish Trained" means that the horse has been trained by an Amish person. A horse trained as such will not likely be familiar with electric fences, light switches, or telephones, but will probably understand German fairly well.
February 2006: Getting a Haflinger to go through water
You know, I forgot this, but Jan is right on about something
that I believe is the most important factor in getting a concerned horse safely
over/into water- KEEP YOUR EYES UP, DON'T LOOK DOWN. No matter what, don't focus
on that water. I learned that a few years ago- it is also very helpful when
passing a scary monster on a trail, jump course, etc. It is basic jump
mentality, keep your eyes up, and it is very valuable. It makes a huge
difference with most horses. Those of you who have not experienced any major
difficult fights with water, or maybe have a little boogey man that you ride by-
try ignoring it visually, just look ahead to where you would like to be, and see
what happens. It affects the rider's balance and body language, its really fun
to see/feel a horse respond to this. I think riders must convey tremendous
tension through looking down- sit on someone like a kid getting a horsey ride,
and have them tell you what happens to your seat bones and weight when you look
down, even for a minute. Especially with a smaller horse (shorter coupled) with
a regular sized or large rider, it is pretty major what happens. Same thing when
you ask for a canter transition on a correct lead- DON'T LOOK DOWN. This has
been our experience with all of our horses, all of whom (eventually) are great
in water. In fact, one of our horses nearly drowned me when he charged into the
Selway river to play and swim when I led him in for a drink, in the Idaho
wilderness. This is the horse that avoided water at any cost when we first
brought him home as a five year old stinker, and I am still not sure if that
story is good or bad! Training horses to like water just takes time, trouble,
confidence, patience, trust- and lots of exposure. Our gelding, Booger (Wy'East,
out of our Mac) really took to water last year after time on a good event course
with water jumps through prelim level, too. He ended up last year with 7th place
in a
recognized horse trial at Caber Farms, at BN level, his third event ever. He
started out concerned, and ended up really enjoying it, though it sounds like
Lila would
still lead him. When you combine water with something really fun, like running
madly (slipping, scrambling!) up or down embankments, these horses start having
fun. Having a horse that really understands "forwardness" and obeys forward cues
is the other really big thing I do before working hard on water. Water, to me,
is not an area to start, when working on a greenie. Anything that is going to
act as a "stall" on your horses forward when you are training them just to plain
old move forward and obey, such as water or a big obstacle, I like to save till
we are at a point where I feel like the horse has quit thinking that it is any
horse for themself. I want them to understand that I expect forward when I
request it. Often, I don't make the puddle or water my goal. Asking for and
getting your horse to take one step in a direction that may not make sense to
them and then getting them right back into the forward mode that they accept is
a good start. If you really have a problem
with water, and are lazy enough to put in the ground effort, putting up a little
water obstacle such as a tarp draped over four logs/timbers big enough to make
a puddle that blocks access to food, perhaps a stall entry, is a real help. You
want grain in your stall? Sure. In there, buddy, just step through the lovely
pond in front of your stall that I just filled up with the garden hose. Let me
get my camera first, and try not to take out the door frame on the way by,
please. :) It works for most. It is so worth getting through water training,
because it builds so much confidence in both horse and rider, and its fun to
ride through a creek or river, or use your horse as a diving board like my kids
do up at Rock Creek every summer. Ours are the only horses that my family takes
that will stand in 4 feet of really cold water. The carrots all of the cousins
have learned to pack probably help that... It is also a quick way to empty a
swimming hole. Have you ever seen what a mess
grassy-carrot colored horse drool makes in glacier water? All of this talk sets
me to itching to go play in a puddle with our young stock who need work on this!
March 2006: About "gentle" horses
I think a lot of people have "gentle" confused with "trained".
It is so easy to misrepresent by accident, referring to a breed as "gentle," as
a whole. I
far prefer the word "calm". I like to use the word "gentle" in the context of
"under saddle for about two or three years!" Some Haflingers could sure be
more gentle than others, but there is no breed existing that you can just go get
one and automatically assume it will be gentle. There are a lot of breed
afficionados out there that call their breed gentle, meaning basically kind.
It's a judgment thing when you buy. I would instead say this about Haflingers-
When they get to know and understand their job, and when they have a reasonable
amount of work ethic, they are hard to beat for a riding horse for
anyone, old or young. The other day, I took my most difficultest (so sue me, my
grammar stinks- but I bet you wish YOU could invent words like I do) Haflinger,
who was about 1.5 years when I got her and did not know she came with a few
humdinger bad habits, and put two little girls who had never been on a horse up
on her for riding lessons. She was absolutely safe and reliable, the girls had
fun, and I was grateful to own her. At times in our long association (she is
almost 10, now) I have wanted nothing so much as to shoot her, or perhaps, sell
her to a 4-H western oriented family locally. Then my conscience struck, telling
me that to risk a basically innocent 4-H kid being eaten alive by this little
mare would probably get me sent straight to hell some day, so I kept her and got
even instead by continuing to train her, rather than giving up. She still has
very strong opinions, which I cherish, mainly because I get to tell her to
bugger off, I get to steer this time. But, I love her and she is my most
reliable horse, the one we call our "emergency horse" when our family goes
places and may need a fast, obedient ride out of nowhere for help. This is the
horse my husband is absolutely nauseating about, when telling interested parties
about our Haflingers. (He does not seem to remember the times I stormed in,
muddy, wet, and angry enough to take a hand-driven meat grinder out to start
making dog food right there in the pasture, who cares if she is not dead yet,
bless him.) The horses that make you work really hard to learn so you
can keep up with them offer two things- First, you learn so much more than
average, and second, you have amazing opportunities to know this horse very
well,
to really build a two-way trust, by working through problems in a way that many
"gentle" or calm horses just don't tend to offer. Can you know if a horse is
really safe and obedient if that horse has never given you any reason to ask it
to do something that it doesn't want to? In fact, give me the horse that is/has
been a known pain in the petootie every time, if I have to ride someone else's
horse, as then at least I have an idea of what is likely to happen rather than
getting whiplash out of the blue. I would not trade my personal nemesis-horse
for anything, and I have had some pretty tremendous offers. Including someone
who was wealthy and wanted
something "gentle" for his grandaugther, who was ready to shuck out 20K on the
spot after watching this horse and I go through a hazard clinic a few years ago.
It took me about a year of consistent riding and exposure to trails/arenas/etc.
before I felt I could really start (start, mind you!) to trust her, but we got
there. It was worth it. Haflingers are hard to beat for many reasons, but they
are opinionated. If you can stick it out and learn what you need to in order to
get this horse
working for you, you will likely be pretty darned thrilled with a great horse
down the road. But that won't happen because your Haflinger is simply gentle. It
happens with training. Do what you can to get help that likes your horse and is
willing to work with both of you. If you can't, you might think about paying the
bigger bucks for a trained Haflinger- the one thing that I think this breed does
consistently offer, if you are looking for a way to feel more safe on horseback,
is that they are less prone to be flight oriented. Anyone can stay on a horse
that has all four feet firmly on the ground. Haflingers are less prone to
flighty freight-train mentalities, I think. They don't seem to look for the
"release" of spooking regularly, like many breeds do prior to being well
trained. They can spook, sure, but it is just not the usual first thing that
occurs to a Haflinger when something upsets them. I think that they are wired
differently emotionally than many horses seem to be. Perhaps others have a
different experience with them?