Perspective "It means a determination to breed complete dogs, not caricatures with numbers and letters, dogs with brains and beauty."
Handy
Links
Stop Bitching!
We are the backbone of the sport, but hardly the
movers and shakers of the dog show game.
Just
A Pet ..
We get so wrapped up in competition and breeding for the show ring
that too often, we forget what dogs mean to people. A true story of
a showdog that didn't turn out
So
You Want to Show
The dog you take home is the same prospective winner you brought to the
show, he is as good as he was before the judge placed him.
The
Personal Dog
"A lot of professionals get so caught up in the business of
"doing dogs" that they forget what started them in that career,
the dog that was always your closest friend."
Related Links:
Bells and Whistles
On
The Lighter Side
Reasons why it's great to be a dog. If it itches, you can reach it.
And no matter where it itches, no one will be offended if you scratch it
in public.
Free at Last
by Tam Cordingley
For
most of us the freedom to go where we wish is a given. We can get up and
walk across the room, go into buildings, take hikes in the woods. My good
friend Mickey knows no such freedom.
Mickey is a young woman who had
always been
active. She wanted to have a
horse of her
own and be able to trail ride
with friends
and family. Then one day the
world changed.
She was thrown through a plate
glass window
and lost one leg above the knee
and most
of the muscles in the other leg.
Now she
uses a wheelchair to get around.
The dream
of having a horse and riding
into the sunset
seemed lost.
Then the miracle happened. Mickey
met Joan.
Joan is a horse trainer, not
just your ordinary
show horse trainer but a trainer
who teaches
animal performers. The realm
of possibility
is endless. Joan had trained
a horse for
a young paraplegic Doctor a few
years ago,
maybe she could train one for
Mickey?
Joan
had just bought a paint stallion, 6 years old. She didn't really need him
but felt the pull to get him anyway. He was a quiet horse, big and strong,
but totally untutored. In a discussion the thought came up that maybe Mickey
should see this horse. It was love at first sight. Mickey loved the big
sorrel paint and Pawnee seemed to recognize that this was what he had been
born to do. He walked to this pretty lady in the wheelchair and put his
head down into her lap to be petted. There wasn't a dry eye in the place
as we all realized why Joan had bought Pawnee.
Mickey and Joan agreed on the
details and
Pawnee started on the road to
being an assistance
horse.
You see, Joan doesn't just teach
horses to
be nice so the handicapped can
ride them,
she teaches them to lie down
next to the
wheelchair so the handicapped
rider can mount
independently. The indignity
of being put
on a horse, needing a ramp, having
to be
placed in a hoist is not for
Joan's students.
They can mount, dismount for
a picnic or
a rest, get back on the horse
anywhere, and
be truly free and self-reliant.
Assistance horses need to be
taught to overcome
the horse's natural fear of being
approached
by a moving object (the wheelchair),
having
someone get on them while lying
down, and
moving while being handled. The
horse needs
to lie down readily on command,
stay down
quietly while the rider mounts,
get up very
gently so the rider isn't unseated,
(not
especially easy for the prone
horse who has
never had to arise from anything
but a good
roll), then he must be a gentle
and well-trained
pleasure mount. The horse also
has to learn
to stand motionless while the
wheelchair-bound
person dismounts, untacks the
horse, and
grooms him. Pawnee can even be
easily and
safely led from a wheelchair.
This training takes about 3 months.
Naturally,
Joan teaches the rider to manage
the horse
safely. From breeding stallion
to assistance
horse is quite a transition.
And, yes, he
is no longer a breeding stallion.
For ultimate
safety he was gelded after the
initial training.
The joy that shines from Mickey's face as her horse rises up and carries
her where she wants to go is
amazing. The bond between these two is touching as Pawnee gently nuzzles
his person and Mickey kisses her horse.
Four legs are better than two and as Mickey
says " Now we have five legs."
THC © 6/2000
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