Easy Cue Riding Crops

A few years ago some friends and I were talking about how we needed to design a dressage whip with a built in arch or curve right where the waist or thigh is.  That way, especially for those of us with a lot of amplitude in this area, we could cue our horses without dramatically altering our hand position. We talked, we laughed, and then we forgot about it.

Guess what!  I saw one of these at the barn tonight.  They are called easy cue dressage whips.  The handle is oval in shape so it is easier to maintain the whip in a curve out position.  I am going to borrow the crop to see if it works as advertised.

Has anybody used one of these?

You can check out this crop at:

http://www.dressageextensions.com/ProductDetail.asp?KEY=16281
http://www.dressageextensions.com/ProductDetail.asp?KEY=16281

easy cue dressage whip

Blessi is smarter than I

What I felt like
Source: Wikipedia

Blessi had a farrier appointment last week. Interspersed with the shoeing, brushing, and arena work, I put him in two different pastures so he could get some grazing time.  The first time I retrieved him from grazing in the pasture, he walked right up to me through the deep mud and standing water to put his head in the halter as I held it out, which he almost always does.

The second time I retrieved him from a different pasture.  I didn't bother to open the gate but I leaned into the electric wire gate which I had just unplugged the electrical source and held out Blessi's halter.  He came up to within 3 feet of me, looked at me, and wouldn't come any closer.  I called, clucked, coaxed and he just stared at me like I was trying to trick him.  Several times he rocked weight onto his front feet like he was thinking of moving forward but no go.  I was getting a bit frustrated and confused.  Why was Blessi acting like this?

I touched the wire in preparation for  grabbing the handle.  ZAPPPPP!!!!  Somebody trying to be helpful had noticed the electricity to the fence was unplugged and plugged it back in.  The outlet is in the barn so he/she had no way to see me at the gate.

I am going to have to learn to trust Blessi--he was really trying to tell me something.  I had that tingly just zapped feeling for hours.

How to be a horse whisperer

Finnish commedian Rudi Rok visits his Mom's farm and practices talking to her horses Troia and Illusio in their own language.  I wonder if he is telling knock knock jokes and that is why the colt is so entertained.