General

Death and Euthanasia

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I have never been a fan of euthanasia. While death is a reality of this world we live in, I do not want to be a part of ending a life.   However, with horses being such large animals, and the kinds of accidents and things that can happen, euthanasia is an unfortunate reality in some circumstances.

Yet, I didn’t want to touch euthanasia with a ten-foot pole, so I never owned my own horse.  I enjoyed other people’s horses, and I would let them deal with euthanasia if it ever came up.  But not me.  My reasoning was, if I never owned a horse, then I’d never have to do it.

That all changed several years ago with a 26 year-old gelding named Chaco who was in deteriorating health.  There was talk of “putting him down”.  That’s the nice phrase for “kill him”.  When I heard that talk, my stomach churned.  I took one look at him and saw a horse in chronic pain who could no longer cope with his environment.  Off the top of my head I could list five things I would do differently if I owned him.  I decided that for this horse only, I would deal with euthanasia if I had to.  I took him into my care.

A few years later, another senior horse in deteriorating health showed up named Thunder.  With him too I knew five things I would do differently so he could thrive in his golden years.  For him as well I would deal with euthanasia if I had to.

I told both of these horses regarding their death at the end of their life, “It’s ok if one day I just find you in the field.  We don’t need to do chronic illness, nor deteriorating health, nor euthanasia.  When your time is up, it’s up.  It will be a sad day, but you can go peacefully on your own.”

Years went by, and they thrived.  Then one day a few months ago, it happened.  We found Thunder dead in the field:  peacefully and on his own, at home, in his herd, in his favorite napping spot.  My wish for him had come true.

Thriving in their golden years, and dying a natural death at home.  That is what I want for the senior horses at God’s Window.  Euthanasia?  If it ever comes up, I will deal with it.  For now, I just enjoy what is, and it doesn’t get any better than that.

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Thunder enjoying the sun a few weeks before he died. (1985 – 2015)

Horse Kisses

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My seven year-old niece visited recently and really wanted to take my horse, Chaco, for a walk. After finishing the barn chores, we took a grooming bucket and halter out into the field and went looking for Chaco. We found him taking a nap enjoying the dry afternoon of no rain.

He was caked in dried mud from the day before, and we began the process of brushing all of it off of him. Yes, we could just halter him and take him for the walk, but the day was dry. His hair was dry, and the mud was dry enough to brush it out. Since it could rain at any moment, we decided to go with brushing him out first.

There was so much dried mud that plooms of dust encircled him as we brushed. You had to keep your mouth shut, lest a mouthful of grit and dirt got in. Soon we cleaned him up, and he was still enjoying his quiet time napping.

I showed my niece how to gently place the palm of her hand on his coat and just breathe and relax. As she did this, I instructed her to watch his eyes. If they blinked or started to close, then he liked how and where she was touching him. If they stayed wide open, then he didn’t like it. In that case, I told her to lighten her touch, or move her hand over a millimeter or just breathe and relax more herself.

This became an ongoing dance with Chaco. At times, he closed his eyes completely. Other times he held his eyes open. At one point we decided to give him some space, so we stepped away from him.

She then asked, “Can we take him for the walk?”

I responded, “Yes, we could, however, when you look at Chaco right now, what is he really enjoying?”

“His nap,” she acquiesced.

I explained further, “With horses, you may come with a plan to do a particular thing, but if they present a different opportunity to you, then I’d take what they offer. You never know when that offer will come again.”

Despite really wanting to go on the walk, my niece understood, but was disappointed.

Seeing how I might be able to cheer her up, I asked, “Have you ever kissed a horse at the base of their ear? It is the most heavenly spot.”

She never had, so I picked her up and stood a few feet away from Chaco in front of him off to one side. As I held her, and before we approached, I explained the details of being around the head of a horse, where it could move suddenly, and how to keep herself safe, if he were to move.

No sooner had I finished the safety talk, that Chaco lifted his head up out of his nap and stretched his neck out toward us, putting his whiskers and muzzle ever so gently against her cheek and breathing on her. His eyes were soft, and he was curious about who this little girl was, checking her out and taking her all in. We stayed there, not moving an inch, and just savoring this gift Chaco was imparting to her.

When Chaco was done my niece said, “He gave me horse kisses.”

“Have you ever experienced that before?” I asked.

“No,” she replied.

“If you had to pick between horse kisses and a walk, which one would you pick?”

Without hesitation, she said, “Horse kisses.”

“Aren’t you glad we didn’t go for the walk earlier?”

“Yes.”

“It is because we honored his nap and went along with what he was already doing, that the opportunity came for him to give you the gift of horse kisses.”

Those horse kisses became the highlight of her visit. To be fully acknowledged and accepted by a 1000 lb. animal just out of their own curiosity is a magical experience. It is what keeps me coming back to them. It’s why I shovel manure in the rain, why I get up early to feed them, and why I spend hours researching how to improve their health.

You never know when the magic will happen, but if you spend time just being with them with no agenda or expectations, they will surprise you over and over. That is the world they live in, and when I get a glimpse of it, it makes the commitment to them all worthwhile.

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Nap time in the field.

Body Language of Happy Horses

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Here at God’s Window, we keep our horses in a herd on acreage year-round. They come and go as they please. The more natural their living environment, the healthier they are. Having space to move day and night, and the companionship of other horses is vital to them thriving.

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Living in a herd 24/7.

When I go out into the field to visit, it’s not uncommon for them to come over to me. It usually starts with Thunder. He sees me from afar and looks right at me. I head in his direction, and then walk right past him just to confirm if he really wants to be with me. I find a tree to sit under, and he inevitably comes over and puts his hips in my hands. He wants to be scratched.

After several minutes the rest of the herd begins to meander our way. Chaco, the herd leader, picks up a walk with his head low, ears forward, and soft eyes, (a submissive posture), coming straight for me. I know he wants me to put my hands on him, but my hands are already full with Thunder. If he keeps coming, Thunder will move away out of respect, so I square up my shoulders to Chaco to stop him in his tracks about 20 feet away. He defers to my request, but I know he wants me to leave Thunder and come over to him. After a few minutes of scratching Thunder, I give Thunder some final pats before heading to Chaco who has been waiting patiently.

In this scenario there’s no ear pinning, tail swishing, eye glaring, nor a high head, all of which are stress signals. Instead, eyes are soft, ears are forward, tails are quiet and heads are low. This is the body language of a horse at ease in its environment, and in this case, the environment includes a person.

How often do you see horses giving stress signals in their interaction with people? How often do you see the opposite, horses so comfortable in their environment that they want to interact with people? Horses and people are living, dynamic creatures and stress here and there is a part of being alive. However, how can we cultivate a relaxed state in ourselves and in our horses?

The Eyes Tell the Story

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We were out enjoying the day. Standing in the sun brought enough warmth to not notice the winter chill. Chaco settled into a nap, and I found just the spot to lay my hands on his warm winter coat and relax too. Without a care in the world, time seemed to stand still. I couldn’t get enough of the moment, so why cut it short? We savored it for quite a while.

After some time had passed, the faint sound of an approaching car interrupted our oasis. Seeing that we were slightly in the road, I asked Chaco to back up into the adjacent driveway. No sooner had I done that, that I realized it was the mail lady coming, and we were right next to the mailbox. As she pulled up to deliver the mail, the bumper of her car came within a few feet of us. Chaco just stood there non-chalantly, happy not to be exerting any unnecessary energy.

It was a new mail lady that day, and she asked me the name of my horse. I told her, and she said it had been a really long time since she had been around horses.

“His eyes, oh those eyes are so big and inviting,” she said. She couldn’t get over him and the softness in his eyes. I concurred with her. “Yes, they are. That’s why I could stand here all day.”

In that brief moment, Chaco’s presence brought her back to some long lost memories as I saw the verge of tears and emotion begin to well up inside her.

The task at hand, delivering mail, kept her from staying any longer. As she drove away, I marveled at how a stranger saw in Chaco what I saw. The eyes tell the story. Soft, gentle and relaxed.  That is a content horse.

What story is your horse’s eyes telling?

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Underweight Horses

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As horses age, so do their needs. What once worked well, may not work anymore. You may be feeding the same as you always have, but suddenly your senior horse isn’t maintaining his weight. Winter is coming and you don’t know if he’ll make it through. Assuming nothing is medically wrong, what can you do?

Horses can consume 1 ½ % – 2% of their body weight per day in forage. For a 1000 lb. horse that’s 15-20 pounds of hay/pasture per day. If your horse is underweight, weigh his hay and make sure he is consuming enough. Sometimes an underweight horse is just not eating enough hay.

If your horse lives in a herd, you may need to separate him at feeding time so you can monitor how much hay he is eating.

In addition, consider high quality hay for your senior horse. As they age, they don’t have the same wiggle room they had when they were younger.

One senior horse I have came to me with his ribs beginning to show. I took him off all grain, and put him on 20 pounds of high quality hay per day. (He is 1100 lbs.) It’s been several years now, and he has been able to maintain his weight on hay and pasture alone.

Another senior horse I have can no longer chew hay, so he gets soaked hay pellets. Again, I feed him 15 pounds of pellets per day. (He is 1000 lbs.). He also maintains his weight well.

While there are other ways to help a horse put on weight, I prefer to start with high quality forage at 1 ½ – 2 % of their body weight. Once this need is met, it’s amazing to see how senior horses respond. Sometimes that’s all they needed.

Looking Right At You

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A riding instructor once told me, “If a horse looks right at you, they are asking you a question.”

Chaco in eastern Washington
These are the eyes of a horse asking you a question.

 

I hadn’t ever thought of it like that before, but from that moment forward every time a horse looked right at me, I stopped and paused in myself to see what they wanted. I just started assuming they wanted something from me, and I set out to figure out what it was.

One afternoon, after visiting my horse, I prepared to leave while he was eating his hay like he always did. I said goodbye to him and walked to my car, taking off my boots and putting my barn coat in the trunk. As I got into my car, I looked over at him and was surprised to find him staring right at me. He had left his food, which he never did, and pointed himself in my direction looking straight at me.

Since this was out of the ordinary, I knew he wanted something. I went back over to him and asked out loud what he wanted while I practiced relaxing and breathing. I checked for gut sounds. They were o.k. (No gut sounds means colic). I then put my hands on him and slowly searched for the spot where he would relax and close his eyes. Sure enough I found it on his right hip. Just barely touching with my hands, his closed eyes told the story. That was the spot. (This was also the spot he had fallen on several weeks earlier).

A chunk of time passed, and when he was done with me resting my hands on him, he licked and chewed, threw in a few yawns and went back to eating his hay. He had successfully communicated and got what he needed.

When your horse looks right at you, take a moment to see what they might be asking you. Allowing time to slow down, breath and observe your horses does wonders for communication. They just might surprise you. I’d love to hear what you learn.

The Power of Nutrition

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Nutrition is the cornerstone of a healthy horse of any age.  This is particularly true of senior horses.  Without good nutrition, senior horses simply don’t live as long nor as vibrantly.  Here at God’s Window we want senior horses to thrive in their golden years.  It all begins with the best forage and nutrition.

Veterinarian, Dr. Doug Herthal also sees the relationship between nutrition and healing in horses and developed Platinum Performance to address the nutritional needs of horses.

Click here to read an interview with Platinum Performance founder, Dr. Doug Herthal.

Grazing Walks

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A horse’s digestive system was designed to eat a steady trickle of a variety of plants throughout the day. In modern horsekeeping it can be difficult to provide the same level of variety that a wild horse may see.

Consider taking your horse for grazing walks through the woods. You’ll be amazed at the variety of plants your horse will eat. Soon you’ll begin to be able to identify which plants your horse eats and which ones he doesn’t. This can give you insight into how he feels that day and what he needs.

When my second horse, Thunder first came, he ate every dandelion in sight on our walks through the woods. I researched dandelion, and it turned out it was a liver detoxifier. Given Thunder’s history,  it didn’t surprise me that he sought out dandelions. In the early days of his rehab I made a point to make sure he had his 10-15 minutes of dandelions several times each week.

Meanwhile, over the years I’ve noticed that my first horse, Chaco, will eat horsetail in small quantities. Horsetail is mildly toxic, and the vet said just don’t let him eat pounds of eat per day, but a few plants shouldn’t hurt. She also said it is rich in minerals and mildly anti-inflammatory. Another plant manual I read said it helps with connective tissue.

Our horses can’t speak to us in words, but they do speak to us all the time through their actions. It’s like decoding a mystery. The more time you spend with your horses and witness the decisions they make, the more the mystery of who they are unfolds before you.

Try a grazing walk through the woods with your horse. I’d love to hear what you learn.

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Thunder and Chaco enjoying their grazing walk through the woods.

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A Horse Won’t Hold Its Foot in the Air for You. Right?

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“Well, it’s not like the horse is going to hold their foot in the air for you to clean it out.”

This is a common assumption in human thinking. However, if you try on some “horse thinking”, all of a sudden the idea of a horse holding its foot in the air for you becomes completely reasonable and normal.

When it comes to cleaning the feet of a horse it’s a job that needs to be done, and as humans beings we are a predator (eyes in the front of the head, canine teeth for eating meat), and we are straight line thinkers. The quickest route from point A to point B is a straight line.

Contrast that with prey animals. Their eyes are more on the side of their head. They don’t have teeth for eating meat and their default is a meandering line, not a straight line. If a horse feels a straight line, that’s a big tip off to them that they’re being stalked by a predator and are about to be dinner.

Several years ago I used to volunteer with a horse therapy program for at-risk youth. One client I worked with was having trouble picking up the feet of her horse. She was so focused on getting a hold of the hoof that she would try, fail and then give up. She repeated this process so many times that soon the horse didn’t even bother to listen to her. The horse eventually kept all its weight solidly on the very foot she wanted to pick up. She was very much in straight line thinking. The horse was very much resisting.

I remember telling her to forget about picking up the foot. Instead look for a green light from the horse, no matter how tiny, like a shift of weight, and then pet the horse’s leg immediately. She did this several times. She got better at asking slowly so she could better sense the very beginning of when the horse started to cooperate. The moment the horse began to cooperate, she went to petting the horse’s leg. She did not care about what the foot was doing.

After several times of doing this, the horse decided to hold his foot in the air for just a moment. Amazed, she was about to grab it, thinking she could finally clean the foot.

I abruptly stopped her and said, “Resist the temptation to grab it. Instead, ignore it, and just pet the horse’s leg.”

She was able to over-ride her straight-line thinking, and just pet the horse’s leg. After a couple of times of this routine, the horse eventually held its foot relaxed in the air for several seconds, the longest he ever had. I knew he was ready for her to clean it out. And so she did, with complete continued cooperation from the horse.

Yes, you can get a horse to do things using straight line thinking. If the barn is burning down and you need the horse out of there now, straight line thinking will get the job done. But what if the barn isn’t burning down? What if there is no emergency? Then what would our interaction with them look like with a round about line, the kind of meandering line that horses spend the majority of their day doing?

This is where horses show us humans another world. If we have the patience and courage to enter their world and see it as they see it, a whole new experience unfolds before us. It’s where the magical moments with horses reside, where they want to be with you, and they want to interact with you of their own free will. Once you get a taste of a horse seeking you out, nothing can compare. It is heaven on earth.

Problems? Change the Environment

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Cell biologist, Bruce Lipton, writes about what one of his professors in graduate school taught him regarding studying cells: If the cell isn’t doing well, change the environment.  He saw this statement play out on a regular basis in his study of cells. 1

The same can be said of horses. If your horse is not thriving, look at their environment. What are they eating? Where do they live? How much movement do they have? What is their social environment? What stressors are they exposed to? All of these factors and more will affect their well-being and long-term health.

Here at God’s Window we answer each of those questions with only one goal in mind: What do our horses need to thrive?

It’s amazing how healthy senior horses can be when their needs are met in the right environment.  Try it with your own horses. They just may surprise you.

1 The Biology of Belief, by Bruce Lipton