Warrior: An Excellent Horse Book

Title: Warrior, The Amazing Story of a Real War Horse
Author: General Jack Seely
Rating: 4.8/5
Sadness: Enough to make your eyes tear up, nothing more.
Comprehensibility: Good, especially considering I'm unknowledgeable about WWI and war tactics.
Correct portrayal of horses/horse training: Yes. Very.

If you haven't read Warrior, read it. (And don't confuse it with the recent "War Horse" movie. Completely different plot.)

In short, it's a book authored by General Jack Seely (Warrior's owner) of a horse that fought throughout the entire Great War. Let me persuade you as to why you should read it:

• It's a tale about an amazing horse.
• The writing is gorgeous.
• It's written by a British fellow who uses terms like "tenner" and "cheque".
• The past-tense facts feel like present-tense happenings.
• The explanation of complex war movements are comprehendible to those unfamiliar with war tactics.
• You get to personally know both the horse and the author.
• The book was written before the horse died, so you don't have to worry about getting all attached to Warrior before his death.
• The author knew his horses and how to train them; this is incorporated frequently throughout his writing.
• It clearly shows that horses have the potential to be more intimate and close with humans than dogs can be.
• It also shows that horses can be more friendly than dogs:
• To quote chapter 7, "... you will note with what immense interest your horse will eye the new A.D.C. He knows very well that much of his comfort and well-being depends on this mysterious man ... who seems able to order about people who are much older than himself! Horses are even quicker than dogs at noticing these things, although, unlike dogs, they are not snobs." The author then goes on to point out that dogs will attach themselves to the highest person in rank. Horses, on the other hand, offer the same amount of affection to a general as to a servant.

Some complain about the book hiding the real horror of war. Let me clarify: The book is about Warrior, a horse. Not World War I. If you want to read about WWI and the depression that comes along with death, go find a different book for now.

If you haven't yet, read Warrior. I think you'll find this a good read even if horses disinterest you.

All Breed Pedigree

All Breed Pedigree is a free, easy-to-use website that has lots and lots of horse pedigrees. People can add horse pedigrees themselves, and I've found nearly every horse pedigree I've searched.

The pedigree features are self-explanatory and simple. Beside each horse's name are its color, breed, and year of birth. On an individual's page you can also view its height, information, and picture if available.

The standard view is five generations, but you can opt to only view four. Also, all duplicate horses in a pedigree have their names highlighted.

Today I researched Feather's bloodlines with All Breed Pedigree to learn more about her genotype. Feather's pedigree isn't on the site, but her sire's and dam's pedigrees are! I was able to trace their ancestry all the way to Arabians in the 17th century or so.

Here is Feather's great-grandsire, Jabbo, modeling for me to show you how easy All Breed Pedigree is to use.

Viewing Jabbo's picture. 

Viewing Jabbo's information.

Viewing Jabbo's 5-generation pedigree.

"Wild Horse, Wild Ride"

Wild Horse, Wild Ride is a really good documentary! I'm writing about it here because it was an inspiration for advanced training to me, and may be for you also.

The movie is based on the training that goes into preparing Mustangs for the Extreme Mustang Makeover event held in Fort Worth, Texas. One hundred Mustangs are trained for one hundred days before the event, and then are sold by auction. Unfortunate for the trainers, as they must bid against the public for their horse.

Anyway, Wild Horse, Wild Ride shows how 9 people trained their horses from day 1 to 100. Some of the trainers had really awesome training methods that I agree with, while others' (notably the older couple from TX) training methods really were not ideal.

As far as Wylene's training methods, at first they seemed a bit rushed to me. However, with the courage she had, and also the calm temperament of her horse, it seemed to work out quite awesomely.

I also like how Jesus, Nik, and Chris trained their horses. It was a lot less fast-paced than Wylene's method, and it seems they really knew how to communicate with their horse and gain trust.

Here are a couple training tips from the movie that I agree with. There were a lot of other good training ideas as well, but the ones below really stood out to me. :)

• Trust is key.
• Take scary objects back and forth to horse (gradually moving closer) until horse is used to scary object.
• Imitate motions of carrying saddle, lifting saddle, and so on before using actual items.
• To help desensitize horse to unexpected motions, stand still then suddenly make a scary movement until the horse doesn't mind.

Also, unlike almost all movies out there, there aren't any inappropriate parts in this, so if your family likes horses and is also conservative, this should work well for a movie night. :)

A Plug for 'Color Genetics'

Color Genetics is a website for learning basic coat color genetics that may be applied to any species (horse, cat, and so on). It may be found here: http://colorgenetics.info/

I have yet to venture into the non-equine species topics, and hope to do so in the future. Until then I shall satisfy myself with the amazing horse color knowledge. Not only are there articles on varying topics relating to genetics, but also forums to answer questions, and image galleries.

For a mere hint of this CG's awesomeness, here are some pages you can check out.

"White Patterns in Horses" article, very good and informative.
How the people in the forums figured out Angel's dam's color.
Last yet not least, the Equine Gallery page. This is epic.

There's a lot more than that, but you'll have to go check it out for yourself. When I have a genetics question that lacks an answer, this is where I go.

An Online, Interactive, Horse Color Genetics Game

Whilst browsing around on Tuesday evening, I found a very well put-together game. More than that, though, it was a horse color genetics game. And interactive. :D

Here is the link: http://www.jenniferhoffman.net/horse/horse-color-genetics.html Kudos to Jennifer Hoffman for making this wonderful tool!

If you start from the actual webpage (I just linked you to the game itself), a guided tour will explain colors and alleles as you go along.

The thing I didn't like about the guided game was that it didn't record previous changes to the horse's color. For example, I had the horse as a seal bay, I proceeded to the next color gene, and the horse changed to a bay, chestnut, black, or otherwise. What?

For that reason I skipped to the end, where I could change any and all alleles, and all at the same time.

It seems people really, really, like this game. One of the comments complained that the game allows you to make impossible colors (such as being homozygous white, which produces a foal that dies in embryo). However, that has been fixed. Now, if you'll try it, you'll be able to have one copy of the white gene, but with both of the copies, the horse vanishes and the text says "Embryonic Lethal". The game also is accurate so far as the four linked or almost-linked KIT alleles.

Another accurate feature - it shows the gray (G) gene as dominant. You can have a multitude of colors underneath, but if a horse has the gray gene in it's phenotype, this will cover everything except white (or pinto) markings.

Interested in horse color genetics? Read more articles here!

Here's a replica of the stable's AQHA stud, Billy. :)