Friday, May 3
May. 4th, 2024 12:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gottawonderToday I am grateful for:
Nice weather today.
I did some laundry, took the recycling out to the shed, and normal chores. I was able to let everyone out into their pastures again for a while.
I'm grateful that Dandy has been good to catch out in Wonder's larger pasture. I was a little worried about that. I'm doing my best to make the catching part pleasant with treats and petting.
I went to see River, and he had a good scrape on one leg, though it isn't a cut or anything, and not bleeding.
It doesn't seem to be bothering him.
He did well with our work overall, I'm thinking about a Liberty freestyle again, as we will be doing those soon. Always another freestyle, which actually takes a lot of thought and practice.
We worked on the barrel pattern too, and he did well at the shoulder and mounted.
R was away today, taking a class herself on Working Equitation, so that should be fun. Her husband K and her daughter L took over the girl with some health challenges's lesson. I did work with Quidley.
It was fun, as it was a little less focused than usual, and K and L are more inclined to talk and be fun during the lesson.
The girl did really well today, doing more independent riding and even trotting through the obstacle course on her own, which is a big deal.
Then I came home and my Sweetie arrived about the same time, and we watched some "Boardwalk Empire".
Senegal is a region in Africa with coastline to the Atlantic Ocean. It is named for a river within it, the Senegal River.
Also within it, is another very small, completely independent country called Gambia, which is the smallest nation in Africa, and it is a thin ribbon that is more or less on the banks of the Gambia River.
Senegal is also part of the Sahalian ecosystem, dry grassy land that is at the edge of the Sahara Desert.
It was back and forth between different empires within Africa, and was introduced to Islam by having contact with the Islamic Berber tribes around 1100.
Between 1300 and 1900, close to one third of the population of Senegal was taken into slavery, often being captured during battle (but, were the battles just an excuse to take slaves?).
In the 14th Century, the Jalof Empire became more powerful. It was a voluntary coalition of many smaller states, that collapsed in 1549.
Kind of coinciding with the arrival of Portuguese, French, Netherlands, and Britain, who all established trade there.
European missionaries worked to abolish the slave trade, and France fought the Senegalese for a long time, ever expanding it's colonies within Africa.
"In 1915, over 300 Senegalese came under Australian command, ahead of the taking of Damascus by Australians, before the expected arrival of the famed Lawrence of Arabia. French and British diplomacy in the area were thrown into disarray.[citation needed]
The Battle of Dakar (September 23-25, 1940) was an unsuccessful attempt by the Allies to capture the strategic port and overthrow the pro-German Vichy French administration in the colony. [47]
On 25 November 1958, Senegal became an autonomous republic within the French Community.[48]"
At first, Senegal was part of a larger area known as the Mali Federation, but became a separate country in 1960 (as did Mali).
Through the 60's and 70's, Senegal was constantly having to fight back Portuguese Guinea, until petitions to the United Nations Security Council finally brought it to an end.
There have still been other conflicts, like participation in the Gulf War.
"Since 3 March 2021, Senegal has been rocked by a series of mass protests in response to the arrest of Ousmane Sonko for alleged rape and mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic. In June 2023, the response to the protests turned increasingly violent, with Amnesty International counting 23 fatalities, most of which were caused by bullets fired by police or armed police collaborators.[54]"
Today Senegal is a Unitary Presidential Republic, and is considered to be fairly democratic. It is a very poor country with little for natural resources, but is trying to develop by focusing on education.
"The economy of Senegal is driven by mining, construction, tourism, fishing and agriculture, which are the main sources of employment in rural areas, despite abundant natural resources in iron, zircon, gas, gold, phosphates, and numerous oil discoveries recently. Senegal's economy gains most of its foreign exchange from fish, phosphates, groundnuts, tourism, and services. As one of the dominant parts of the economy, the agricultural sector of Senegal is highly vulnerable to environmental conditions, such as variations in rainfall and climate change, and changes in world commodity prices."
Human rights are getting there. Homosexuality is illegal and not socially accepted in general, but rights for women are improving, and Senegal signed the African Charter of Human and People's Rights, which was adopted during the 2003 African Union Summit.
French is the official language, but many native languages (Wolof mainly) as well as Portuguese Creole are more commonly used.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senegal
https://youtu.be/mFfJ_-XadbQ?si=arAM9jiiVcQnin_P
Nice weather today.
I did some laundry, took the recycling out to the shed, and normal chores. I was able to let everyone out into their pastures again for a while.
I'm grateful that Dandy has been good to catch out in Wonder's larger pasture. I was a little worried about that. I'm doing my best to make the catching part pleasant with treats and petting.
I went to see River, and he had a good scrape on one leg, though it isn't a cut or anything, and not bleeding.
It doesn't seem to be bothering him.
He did well with our work overall, I'm thinking about a Liberty freestyle again, as we will be doing those soon. Always another freestyle, which actually takes a lot of thought and practice.
We worked on the barrel pattern too, and he did well at the shoulder and mounted.
R was away today, taking a class herself on Working Equitation, so that should be fun. Her husband K and her daughter L took over the girl with some health challenges's lesson. I did work with Quidley.
It was fun, as it was a little less focused than usual, and K and L are more inclined to talk and be fun during the lesson.
The girl did really well today, doing more independent riding and even trotting through the obstacle course on her own, which is a big deal.
Then I came home and my Sweetie arrived about the same time, and we watched some "Boardwalk Empire".
Senegal is a region in Africa with coastline to the Atlantic Ocean. It is named for a river within it, the Senegal River.
Also within it, is another very small, completely independent country called Gambia, which is the smallest nation in Africa, and it is a thin ribbon that is more or less on the banks of the Gambia River.
Senegal is also part of the Sahalian ecosystem, dry grassy land that is at the edge of the Sahara Desert.
It was back and forth between different empires within Africa, and was introduced to Islam by having contact with the Islamic Berber tribes around 1100.
Between 1300 and 1900, close to one third of the population of Senegal was taken into slavery, often being captured during battle (but, were the battles just an excuse to take slaves?).
In the 14th Century, the Jalof Empire became more powerful. It was a voluntary coalition of many smaller states, that collapsed in 1549.
Kind of coinciding with the arrival of Portuguese, French, Netherlands, and Britain, who all established trade there.
European missionaries worked to abolish the slave trade, and France fought the Senegalese for a long time, ever expanding it's colonies within Africa.
"In 1915, over 300 Senegalese came under Australian command, ahead of the taking of Damascus by Australians, before the expected arrival of the famed Lawrence of Arabia. French and British diplomacy in the area were thrown into disarray.[citation needed]
The Battle of Dakar (September 23-25, 1940) was an unsuccessful attempt by the Allies to capture the strategic port and overthrow the pro-German Vichy French administration in the colony. [47]
On 25 November 1958, Senegal became an autonomous republic within the French Community.[48]"
At first, Senegal was part of a larger area known as the Mali Federation, but became a separate country in 1960 (as did Mali).
Through the 60's and 70's, Senegal was constantly having to fight back Portuguese Guinea, until petitions to the United Nations Security Council finally brought it to an end.
There have still been other conflicts, like participation in the Gulf War.
"Since 3 March 2021, Senegal has been rocked by a series of mass protests in response to the arrest of Ousmane Sonko for alleged rape and mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic. In June 2023, the response to the protests turned increasingly violent, with Amnesty International counting 23 fatalities, most of which were caused by bullets fired by police or armed police collaborators.[54]"
Today Senegal is a Unitary Presidential Republic, and is considered to be fairly democratic. It is a very poor country with little for natural resources, but is trying to develop by focusing on education.
"The economy of Senegal is driven by mining, construction, tourism, fishing and agriculture, which are the main sources of employment in rural areas, despite abundant natural resources in iron, zircon, gas, gold, phosphates, and numerous oil discoveries recently. Senegal's economy gains most of its foreign exchange from fish, phosphates, groundnuts, tourism, and services. As one of the dominant parts of the economy, the agricultural sector of Senegal is highly vulnerable to environmental conditions, such as variations in rainfall and climate change, and changes in world commodity prices."
Human rights are getting there. Homosexuality is illegal and not socially accepted in general, but rights for women are improving, and Senegal signed the African Charter of Human and People's Rights, which was adopted during the 2003 African Union Summit.
French is the official language, but many native languages (Wolof mainly) as well as Portuguese Creole are more commonly used.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senegal
https://youtu.be/mFfJ_-XadbQ?si=arAM9jiiVcQnin_P
no subject
Date: 2024-05-05 05:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-05-05 08:54 am (UTC)Yes, it's a bit of a thing to make sure you can catch a horse/pony in a pasture. Dandy was pretty wild when we got him, though okay once you caught him. He was just always very hard to catch, even in a small corral.
We suspect that at one time he and his Mom were halter broke, but then the owners we got them from must not have been too knowledgeable with horses and fell into the very bad habit of chasing them to catch them.
We had to keep him (and his Mom, our other pony) in a small corral for a while, and had to catch him every day (sometimes taking a very long time) to establish that I WOULD CATCH HIM, and that it was also safe for him to allow himself to be caught.
I also had to work with both of them so that you could handle their feet for cleaning and trimming, and they were NOT HAVING THAT, so they likely had never been trained for that. It was very tiring and more than a little dangerous to get them so that you could pick up their feet, but they're okay with it now.
I've worked with him lots over the last couple of years to get him to trust me, and making catching very pleasant and associated with being allowed into their bigger pasture for grazing (I catch him and put on his grazing mask, then he gets to go out).
Wonder's pasture is even bigger, so letting him out there is an act of trust. It does help that Wonder is used to coming back in to her "dry corral" (free of grass) after a grazing session, and Dandy often goes in there with her, and is okay to catch.
Any horse, if they do not trust you and do not WANT to be caught, is almost impossible to catch. It's the most important first step with any horse.
Responsible horse owners start training foals to be caught and halter trained soon after they are born, while they are still nursing on their presumably trusting and halter broke mothers. It is also the mental basis for establishing trust and guidance, and once you have good catching and halter training, it makes everything else easier because that trust and leadership is already established.
They also typically get a foal used to being touched on every part of their body, and to have their feet picked up. It usually is no biggie with a foal if you start right away.
It's so much harder when they are older, and a thousand times more traumatic for everyone.
no subject
Date: 2024-05-12 08:57 am (UTC)Thanks for an interesting read even if it took a while to respond. So out of it these days! And my goodness he must be in great shape running after them all the time! Good for you