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Wentworth Hunter Pace - June 6, 2021

After Margaret and I had such a fun time at the fall hunter pace, we opted to go again this spring! This time, while I rode Rejoice again, Margaret rode her horse Jester and had a friend ride Ladyhawke. All Kennebec Morgans!! Jester and Rejoice have the same dam and Jester and Lady share the same sire. Unfortunately instead of a lovely late spring day, we had one of the first intensely hot and humid days of the year. It was definitely a bummer, but the ride was mostly in the shade of the woods and we had a great time!  most of the fences were 3' coops but we found a small log and this hay to jump haha Until we didn't. 😑 We brought along a third friend who rode Margaret's older mare, Ladyhawke. She's a good rider but hasn't known Ladyhawke for very long and didn't realize how much of a cranky boss mare she could be at times. She kicked Jester right in the front leg just about halfway through the ride, and while the cut itself ended up not being a big deal in the

Dreamy's STB Head Toss

Dreamy has a signature head toss. I have only ever seen other Standardbreds do this...specifically Volo who I wrote about here.

Anyway, on Monday night this week, I took the camera out with me when I did night chores. Of course, after a few pics the camera ran out of battery (typical), so I was unable to get her head toss filmed. Ah well....here are the pics I was able to take. She totally does this as her way of flipping me off. She does it when I dare to be late when feeding her. She does it in the winter when she is bored and not ridden enough. She does it in the evening when she is waiting for her treat. Both mares have me trained so that I give them a treat after they finish their grain. (They each get carrot chunks IN their grain....but then they get a cookie afterward...LOL!)

Interestingly, she only does the middle finger head toss for me. :p

So Dreamy finishes her grain first and proceeds to flip me off. I wait until both mares are done before I distribute a cookie to each of them. And because Sparky is a slower eater AND gets more grain, she has to wait.....hence the head flipping.

Funny story....when I was at EA in 2007 for five days....S took care of the mares. On the first night he told me something was wrong with Sparky. My heart dropped. He said that she finished her grain and then stood there staring at him. She was not rude, did not kick the door, but would not eat her hay while he stood there. He figured it was not colic, since she ate her grain, so he went out to do a few things in the yard and went back. She had eventually gone to her hay, but when she spotted him in the barn again, she went back to the staring thing.

Well, I was laughing by the time he finished telling me this.

"Did you give them each a cookie after their grain?" I asked him.

"Um........no. Was I supposed to? That was not in the directions," he replied hesitantly.

"Well, Sparky was waiting for her cookie. That's all."

Oh, too funny. Apparently Dreamy did not flip Shawn off when he forgot the cookies. She just saves that for me. :D

THE WIND-UP:


THE TOSS (you can sort of make out the way she does it.....it is a very specialized figure eight toss....again I have only observed this in STBs.)


ANOTHER WIND-UP:


AND THE EVIL EYED TOSS:

So attractive, Dreamy!

Here is a pic of Sparky.....would have taken more but my camera died.

And here is one of my crazy kittens. Too funny.

Comments

  1. Haha! Yep, Standardbreds have their own patented brand of head flipping. My friend Kirstin (who has the Fluffly Files blog) calls them "helicopters" -- she adopted two STBs this summer and they are the only ones in her menagerie that do it. Willie does it when he sees me coming to get him out in the field, like a "Hurry UP, Ma!!" He also does it if I'm working around the barn and not paying attention to him. The foundation horses would do it when they heard the food-Gator start running.

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  2. Could be a race horse thing because from the looks of it it looks like Gen's move also. Although Gen used to do it while being ridden because he was able to flip both reins to one side of his neck and bolt so whoever was riding him had no control!! He never got the best of me though! I know that you are supposed to have one rein on each side :P Take some video though because maybe they are different head flips.
    oh...and not post related but guess what my verification word is? Pacer!!! I thought that was neat.

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  3. Duncan has a whole routine when he comes out of the barn in the morning he sort of runs around his paddock lifting off his fronts a bit squealing and flipping his head. Too funny for sure.

    Also I want to wish duncan a happy 15th birthday today.

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