A Touch of Class!

A Dressage Round with More Than A Touch of Class

I fell in love with this Haflinger and his 'oh-so-cool' young rider.  These outtakes were posted by Behind the Bit who commented about the "talented but sometimes naughty pony skillfully piloted around the ring." She graciously allowed me to share the pictures on my blog. 

What cuties, both the Haffie and his rider! 

Just look at her composure! 

It looks like the Haflinger is having a bit of fun!

And, despite his naughtiness, 

he is somewhat responsive to his rider -

he is staying inside the dressage ring!

How I Happened on Haflingers; or How I Did Everything Wrong But it Looks Like it Might Have Been Right!

I bought my beautiful boys two years ago. It was a freak accident. I didn't go out looking for Haflingers. In fact, I had really only seen a team of Haflingers up close and personal one other time. That was when my family and I went to an 'Old Time Farmers Horse Gathering'. What fun! There were teams of stately draft horses plowing, harrowing, doing 'old time' chores and pulling wagons.  We hopped on a wagon ride with some beautiful looking, but rather small horses. A man on the wagon asked the driver what kind of horses he was using. He chuckled and said, "These are Haflingers. They do all the work of a draft horse, but they are half the size." That stuck with me. It was filed away....someplace on a dusty shelf in my brain.

A few years later I was volunteering at a therapeutic riding center and they were looking for horses.  (I think every therapeutic riding program is always looking for horses!) The instructor had found a young Haflinger, but the Board would not let her purchase it as the horse was 'too young' for the program. The founders of the program felt that horses needed to have quite a bit of experience to be reliable horses for the program, and thus wouldn't consider any horse under 10 years of age. The instructor talked to me a bit about this breed of horse, explaining about their versatility, their work ethic, their level-headedness and so on. Haflingers are the perfect size for a therapeutic riding program because they can carry weight, but are not so tall that it is a challenge to assist riders who are astride. She commented that Haflingers, in general,  have a great disposition and that they would be perfect for the program. I did some research about the breed to learn more, so I had more to file under 'H' in my brain. If not for the instructor throwing in the towel and giving up her job with the program, I might have been a half owner of the Haflinger. We talked about buying it together, schooling it and then selling it to the program once it was proven to be a good match.

I love draft horses. I love their solid build. I love their huge feet. I love the way they move. I also love driving. For years I have envisioned myself behind a team of Percherons, or Clydesdales, or Shires. I never pictured driving or riding Haflingers! I had the chance to attend a clinic and to work with Percherons and Belgians. I'm not sure if I ever really got the backs of the Belgians clean! I couldn't see! Even standing on a milk crate I could only reach so high... Hmmm.... I wonder....
Harnessing the beasts was interesting. When I grabbed the harness, slinging the breeching over my shoulder, followed by the saddle with the tugs entwined, then grabbed the hames and pulled it off the hook, I felt like I was sinking under the weight of the harness.  I felt like a telescoping leg of a tripod that wasn't tight enough.  That harness was H-E-A-V-Y!! It took two of us to get it up on the horse's back! Hmmmm..... maybe...
Horses generally eat 1.5 to 2 percent of their body weight in hay each day. OK, so the Belgian I was working with weighed 2400 pounds. Doing the math, he'd eat, at minimum, 36 - 48 pounds of hay a day - almost a bale! Oh, and don't forget that the food is processed and comes out the other end... in bigger piles! Hmmm... perhaps....

There is a wonderful draft horse and mule auction in Colorado. It is so much fun to attend any one (or all) of the auctions held each year. They have all kinds of things up for auction: Big horses and little minis. Driving horses and saddle horses. Saddles and harnesses. Carriages and wagon parts. Bric-a-brac and tools and junk. There are usually at least three different "rings" going on simultaneously. Attending the auctions is something we do. Sometimes we come home with something; a cast iron bird bath, a shovel, a blacksmith vise, or bird houses. Sometimes we come away without having raised our auction card one time. Then... there was the year I came home with a team of Haflingers!

WHAT?!!! I screamed at myself? One never, NEVER, NEVER buys a horse at an auction... let alone two of them! That was my long held tenet. The purchase of a horse should include a deliberate, carefully executed plan. One should get background information about the animal(s). One should have the horse(s) vetted. One should get x-rays of the inner workings! One should engage in a proper trial of the horse(s). But, my heart trumped my brain. Oh, and the auctioneers kept telling me to bid... they'd say, "Come on, you know you want them." and my hubby kept urging me to keep going! Finally, the gavel fell, "Sold"! I was the instant owner of 2 wonderful Haflingers!

The boys being driven at the auction

It hasn't always been a cakewalk. Things haven't always gone the way I anticipated. But, the horses are sound and healthy. They have provided me with wonderful experiences and great memories. If I had a CTRL-Z* function for life, I wouldn't undo my purchase. Absolutely not!

* hitting the CTRL key and Z will undo key strokes on the computer

Hay, I Have a Question

Yesterday we loaded the last bales of hay from our old barn and brought them up to our new barn. Our hay has been stored on pallets, which had plywood on top. But, there is still an amazing collection of hay chaff and seed heads that became packed into the pallets. I had to pull the clumped chaff out of pallets in moving them. The pile of chaff smells like good hay. It doesn't appear to be dusty. I didn't see any evidence of mice. So I'm wondering if this chaff could be used to supplement the feed for my guys, or whether I should simply spread it on the pasture hoping some of the seed will produce lovely new grass. With the cost of hay rising..... a person wonders!

Why I Love My Haflingers - Reason #24

Today has not been a good day.  throb--throb--throb--  The tooth is killing me and Aleve just takes the edge off, and only for a few hours. You are only supposed to throb--throb--throb--  take 3 of them a day.  I found some Tylenol with Codeine and self prescribed it last night - so I did sleep, but it takes me until noon throb--throb--throb-- to shake that stuff off.  Then, things got worse all afternoon. THROB--THROB--THROB

The Realtor came to take pictures of our former house. We had to get down there in the morning (hubby drove and I slept!) to do some more clean up, sorting and organizing. We worked there for 5 - 6 hours. Got home, throb--throb--throb-- feeling really, really, really cruddy. Made it out to the paddock to let the boys out to pasture and managed to clean that up. I got their dinner ready. 

So, why do I LOVE my Haffies? As the sun begins to set in the west (how poetic is that?!) they  seem to know that it is time to come in from the lush, wonderful grass. I have been giving them a treat when I catch them and bring them in from the field. For almost a week now, the boys have begun to move closer to the paddock as their grazing time is up. 

Here they come... up the hill.

Hey, wait a minute, Doc... you are going the wrong way!

Yesterday, and today, I didn't have to go after 

them with halter and lead rope...

When I went outside, Pippin (the food hog) walked into the paddock.

He comes to get his treat, with Doc bringing up the rear.

Pippin makes his way into the shed and begins 

munching his measly dinner.

Doc comes for his treat,

Then he, too, heads for the shed.

So the boys have settled into their routine and have become used to their 'sub-standard' housing. They are sharing the shed. They get a tiny bit of hay in the evening in a feed bin just beyond Doc. They have their small sample of 'feed' in a tub on the ground. Yeah, occasionally they have issues - Pippin usually is the one that gets picked on - but for the most part, life is good, and I LOVE my Haffies! (Especially when they make my life so easy!)

The Top Twelve Things That Only Haflinger Horses Can Do

One day when I had nothing to do.....LOL
Maybe that should read, 'One day when I had tons to do, but didn't want to do anything on my long and growing list of things that gotta get done', I found myself procrastinating and poking around on the computer, link chasing - going from one blog to another. I landed on the Nayborly Farms Horse Training blog and stumbled on the following entry, which was a winning article in a 2003 haflingerhorses.com essay contest. The list was created by Chesna Klimek of Nayborly Farms.

I couldn't help but laugh at Chesna's list of Haffie feats and skills, many of which I have witnessed and blogged about in the past!

Thank you, Chesna, for letting me share your list on my blog!

The Top Twelve Things That Only Haflinger Horses 
Can Do

12.   Only a Haflinger can gain weight by breathing.

11.   Only a Haflinger can keep their golden coats clean, while at the same time transforming their white manes and tails to black. 

10.   Only a Haflinger will climb over, under, through or between any type of fencing simply to get to the other side.

9.     Only a Haflinger can be measured in as a pony but wear horse-sized halters, blankets, shoes, and saddles.

8.     Only a Haflinger will learn to perform a trick in a matter of seconds for a cookie, and then a month later ask for a treat by bowing.

7.     Only a Haflinger can be dirty, fuzzy, and wet while also being completely adorable.

6.     Only a Haflinger is smart enough to learn all the wrong things we accidentally teach them as well as all the right.

5.     Only a Haflinger would believe that they are ten times bigger, faster, and better than a Belgian.

4.     Only a Haflinger will come cantering over to see you after you have been gone for a week.

3.     Only a Haflinger can get their riders to laugh so hard that they fall off from at the halt. 

2.     Only a Haflinger can bring about their owner's need of another and another and just one more?

And the number one thing that only Haflinger horses can do?

1.     Only a Haflinger can be so cute, so smart, eat so well, perform so well, have so much personality, and be such a Haflinger that it makes their owners happy every time they see them.

Do you know of other things that Haflingers are especially good at doing? How about your particular breed of horse?