I have this lovely coming 3 year old filly that I adore. Her barn name is Lil' Red. She is gorgeous red roan color and put together just right and will mature out to be a wonderful horse, if I don't kill her first! Unfortunately, she is a total "red-head". She is the horse equivalent of a Southern Lady. Lovely to look at, but all brass tacks underneath! She doesn't take any flack and she has shown herself to be quite a sugar coated pill to work with. She has a hard time taking direction from anyone. She rules the roost out in the pasture and will kick first and ask questions later. I don't mind a determined female in a horse at all! My other mare, Mini, is also quite determined, but has a much more amiable temperament to go with her huge courageous heart. Lil' red, well, not so much. She thinks she can just do what she wants. She is very gentle, sweet and compliant, when it suits her. Otherwise, watch out. She knows her assets and uses them without spare! So, I decided to use an old cowboy training method that if done right can make quite an impression on the mind of a horse. I laid her down. Getting a horse to lie down is quite a difficult task. Being a prey animal of flight, they know they are severly compromised in surviving once they lie down. Horses view humans as predators, which unfortunately, many are to horses. So, I use this "tool" very carefully and only after much thought; making sure I have exhausted all other effective training tools first. 
I drove out to the ranch with the plan to work with her and if she hadn't made some changes in her responses to my questions, I would lay her down. Well, she was a little better to catch this morning, but still seemed tense. She doesn't like me touching certain areas of her body, so I tried those out...tail swishing still and if I pushed it, she would attempt a kick. Okay, enough is enough, so I led her into the soft, deep roundpen, put my lariat rope on her left front pastern (ankle) and brought it up under her belly, over her back and through the rope going upward from her foot to create a loop that I could pull on her with. I asked her to raise her foot and shortened the rope so that it kept her foot in the air and was tight around her cinch area. It took no more then two steady pulls to get her to lie down. With her foot hiked up she naturally just started to "bow" down. Once she is in that position I softly asked her to go all the way down on her own. There are horses that really resist this. They have a very strong survival instinct and this goes against that instinct completely. She resisted a little, but not really what I had expected.
Once she was down I loosened the rope on her belly and foot and sat down on her butt. I waited to see how she would react to this. Many horses will sigh, chew they mouths, groan, and make all kinds of noises. This is a sign of the tension releasing and leaving their bodies. When a horse is down, they are yielding themselves completely. They don't know we aren't here to hurt them. To lie down is to give up essentially, for a horse. It is powerful and that is why I use it with great respect. She didn't make much noise, so I started touching her all over. Touching the parts she doesn't like, especially in her flank and belly button area. I patted and petted her all over. I moved her tail around. I bent and unbent and jiggled her legs. I petted her face, opened her mouth, rubbed her lips, massaged her ears. I touched her ALL over all while sitting on her prone body. There was some mouth-chewing and some small sighs. Nothing earth-shattering or reflective of a big release, but she was accepting of most of my actions. Once I had touched her all over and she was accepting on her right side, I asked her to get up and started all over on the other side. Horses have two different "brains". One for each side of their body. What is okay on one side doesn't always translate to the other side, so I am thorough and make sure she is accepting of all touch on both sides. She once again lay down pretty easily. I repeated the process and when she seemed accepting of all I allowed her to get up again. She was very, very docile and quiet. I didn't do much more with her after that. I thought it might be a good place to leave her to soak on what had happened and process it through on her own.
I look forward to seeing how she acts tomorrow. If no big improvement, then I will probably lay her down again until I can see a change in her.
On my way home I was comtemplating what I should prepare for the Thanksgiving dinner party we are invited to at our friend's house. I am in charge of PIE. I already have the ingredients for a cherry pie, but wanted to make another. So, with my sweet Lil' Red on my mind, I decided to do a truly Southern recipe for Sweet Potato Pie. I was inspired by my filly for her Southern Lady attitude and I also hope she turns out as sweet and wonderful as this pie tastes! I will keep you posted on her progress, but in the meantime, I will post the recipe I chose to use for Thursday! Wish me luck!
Sweet "Lil Red" Potato Pie
1 egg white, lightly beaten
1.5 lbs sweet potatoes
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup heavy cream
4 large eggs
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to a 12-inch circle. Transfer dough to 9-inch pie plate and ease the pastry into the bottom and around sides. Place the shell into the oven and bake until lightly browned, 12-15 minutes. Remove from oven and brush with the egg whites.
Rub the sweet potatoes with the vegetable oil and roast in the oven for 45-60 minutes, until very tender. Remove and set aside to cool. Peel the potatoes and pass them through a fine mesh sieve using a rubber spatula. You should have about 1 1/2 cups of smooth sweet potato puree.
In a medium bowl, combine the sweet potato puree with the sugar, maple syrup, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt. Whisk to combine. In a separate bowl, combine the heavy cream with the eggs and whisk to combine. Add the cream/egg mixture to the sweet potato mixture and stir to blend. Pour this batter into the prepared pie shell and place the pie on a sheet pan. Bake until the center is set and the tart is golden brown. 35-45 minutes. Remove the pie from the oven and allow to cool at least 20 minutes before serving.
1 Recipe for Sweet Pie Crust
1 1/2 cups, plus 2 tbsps bleached all purpose flour
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
8 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 1/4 inch pieces and chilled
2 tbsp vegetable shortening
3 tbsp ice water, or as needed
Sift the flour, sugar and salt into a large bowl. Add the butter and shortening. Rub the fats between your fingertips and thumbs until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. 1 tbsp at a time, work in the enough ice water just until the dough comes together, being careful not to overmix.
Shape into a smooth ball of dough, flatten into a disk, and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, and up to 2 days.
ENJOY!!
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