Comments on: Muddy Arena, Ornery Horse, and a Squeaky Bit

By: MJ

MJ — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 23:21:18 +0000

Yay! But now Washington is flooding and there are power outages here. No fair!

We used to use Crisco around horses eyes to keep the flys away. No one does that anymore…

By: Amanda

Amanda — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 20:41:08 +0000

Well good news, my husband called & the powers back on, yay! No more frozen buckets & troughs!!!

Yeah, WD may be a little risky. Although I did read or hear somewhere farmers were using it on cows to keep flies away.

By: MJ

MJ — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 20:15:15 +0000

39 hours! OMG! We had one of those in Seattle last year. It was horrible. No hot showers! BRRRRR.

I don’t think I’ll use WD-40 on the mouthpiece. I’d be worried about missing a spot and souring him to bits forever. Interesting that stainless squeaks. I have more bit questions…I feel another blog post coming on…

Hey, stay warm. And don’t be like your relatives in Ireland and let your castle crumble. Keep that driveway shoveled. heh! I hope the power comes on for you soon.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 17:47:15 +0000

I think stainless steel ones do, I have a stainless smooth eggbutt & it squeaks & also have a sweet iron twisted wire snaffle & it squeaks too, Pam or WD-40 would probably work too, just make sure you wipe off the mouthpiece if you use WD-40. Good ideas, I’m just too lazy or don’t take the time to fix them.

Right now I’m trying to deal with a 39 hour & counting power outage from an ice storm Saturday, Ugh!

By: MJ

MJ — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 14:44:54 +0000

Thanks Al. I hope he does come around. And thanks for the advice of fixing the bit. I’m going to try the Pam cooking spray. Any vegetable oil will work, right? It’s a Billy Allen bit. maybe I should get one that isn’t made entirely of sweet iron, just partially. Does stainless steel start squeaking too?

By: Al Popovich

Al Popovich — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 12:34:32 +0000

That wasn’t the bit squeakin MJ, it was your joints from living the good life on vacation. Course if you wanta believe it’s the bit, you can take it in the house and warm it up a little. Then give a good cleaning and spray the joints with silicone. I think maybe Pam cooking spray works good too. Usually if you try to oil em they will collect dust and get gummy.

Don’t be too awful worried bout Leo, he’ll come around. I kinda like to take and tie em around in a snaffle bit from the ground (like shown by Les Vogt) when they been off for a while. I think it gives them a more definite limit with the bit then you can with your hands. And it seems to let them concentrate on the bit without having to worry about you. Like I’ve said I’m not much of a groundwork guy so I maybe spend 30 minutes to an hour on it. Seems to help quite a bit.

I get to ride some horses that get long lay off periods, sometimes a year or so. They’re usually a handful for a little bit but start remembering things really quick. That’s why I’m big on putting a foundation on em, you got something to go back to. Give em a day or two of real simple stuff and get to know each other again. See how things go. You might find he benefits from a little rest and relaxation or he might need a more consistent schedule. Take this opportunity to learn a little more about him.

By: MJ

MJ — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 05:24:08 +0000

Hi John! Ya, thats from yesterday! It was muddy, but we were troopers for being out there.

By: john

john — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 04:46:38 +0000

i also agree with you about the areana its so muddy

By: john

john — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 04:44:27 +0000

hi its john i just read your blog and i was wondering if that was last night? and i just cant stop looking at the horses in the pictures from your vacation there so pretty