Housework or Riding.........or maybe Falling.......

Well, the big show is over and I'm depressed. There's no more show left to watch which means I probably should be turning my attentions to catching up on housework. The thought of doing housework over playing with horses is definitely depressing to me.

However, at least for today, the weather cooperated and I was able to work horses. Don't ask me why. The weather for Halloween had been forecasted to be wet and dreary. Instead we had blue skis and it was beautiful all day.

I didn't haul horses to the park since it's been raining so much lately, twice the normal downfall for this time of the year. The thought of getting that wet and icky again was also a depressing thought so instead I just rode my horses up and down my driveway.

Legs is used to me and my odd changes in routine. Riding in the yard may be different but it's still riding. The Arabian horse went right to work and his jog actually felt pretty good.

I'd spent part of my computer time refreshing myself on some of my Bobby Hart Jr stuff so we worked on that up and down the lane. Hart's point to point riding fits perfectly into the area I had to work with Legs. After a good warming up with lots of flexing and bending we went to work on that routine and I ended up with a nice soft horse at both the jog and the trot. Legs still has trouble with the changes in direction, not wanting to cross over with his front legs but we're making improvements there too. Actually, I'd say the improvements with the jog and lope are directly related to the improvements with the crossovers.

Storm was a different matter. He's not really experienced any of the strange changes I can decide for my training regime. Right from the start the horse wasn't sure what to think about this riding in the yard thing. First off, if meant doing right by the mare barn with the girls all hanging their heads out watching.

I don't know if Storm thought he might embarrass himself or if he thought he should go visit mares but every time we got to the end of the lane by the girls Storm turned into a very naughty boy. All I was doing was warming him up moving him off my leg at the walk and the horse tried his impersonation of a bronc right at the gate. At least he wasn't insistent on being a bronc, two big leaps and a corresponding response from me and the horse was back to moving off down the lane.

My heart was pumping ninety miles an hour and I was wishing I was wearing a helmet and that people were outside in case I got hurt. It doesn't take much to get my heart pumping knowing how hard the ground is in the lane was surely enough for that but I couldn't believe the behavior of this horse. I'd never had anything like this when I first started him.

I wish I could say it was only the one time but it wasn't. I spent twice as long riding Storm as I did with Legs and we never did lope. Just getting the horse to the point he was soft and responsive at the walk and the jog anywhere near the mare barn was a monumental task.

The horse didn't always try bucking. He resorted to other tactics as well. Taking the reins from me, shaking his head, even some talking and some striking, I saw some real temper tantrums from this horse. The only thing I can say is, this is not the first time he's pulled this kind of stuff since he got home and it's probably not going to be the last.

Storm finally did get things figured out. Once he realized he was only allowed to pay attention to me, we were fine. He walked and jogged beautifully AND more importantly softly right by all the approving females before him. He even resisted a nicker from one of them but I just did not trust him enough to move things up to the lope. It will take some more trips up and down the lane before we'll step up the speed.

A Little More on Behavior

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More Cutting........and My Thoughts on Halter.....

I watched the finals of the cutting and with the information I'd received in the comments and on my Facebook Page, I had a better idea of what I was looking for in the performance of the horse and rider teams. That made it more fun to watch and this time I had a clue which rides would be considered good before actually hearing the scores.

I've heard from people that with a good cutter, the rider just sits there and holds on but I can see where cow sense on the part of the rider is important. I remember when I watched a team penning event years ago if the rider didn't understand how a cow was going to respond to different types of pressure he/she was pretty much lost. Too much, too little and it could blow up in your face. All the cows would be in the pen and the rider would be sitting there wondering what happened. It was easy to see in the cutting the riders who understood the cows best could get the most from them.

I didn't get to watch all of the cutting finals. I've had problems on many occasions with the schedule and my time zone. Sometimes I remember I'm two hours behind and sometimes not. Then with the Mustang arena schedule not being set in stone, I somehow got tuned in too late and only got to see the last few riders so from there I was on to the Pavilion Arena and halter.

The new point scoring system for halter has caused ripples throughout the industry. In Scottsdale they refused to employ the new system at all and so those halter classes were not sanctioned by AHA. Championships at local shows don't require judges anymore and to be honest I can't even tell you how Daffodil handled them. At US Nationals there were complaints that the excitement was gone from the halter arena.

The US National Arabian Horse Show Commission made some changes to how they presented the halter this year trying to answer that complaint about excitement, I guess. I'm not sure what they did really helped all that much. I know I didn't particularly care for it.

I'd seen in the schedule that there were semi finals for some of the halter classes. I assumed that meant the horses would be judged in the semi final classes and then they'd be judged in the final classes, after all, if it's a class, judging is involved, wouldn't you think?

Well, that's not how it happened. I'd missed the semi finals of the futurity colts and fillies but I did tune in to see the finals for both classes. The arena lights were dimmed and a spotlight shined on each horse as it entered the arena. The announcer said something about the "thirty seconds" the crowd would have to see each horse as the handlers presented the individuals. The announcer also seemed to have script for some of the horses presented that he read as the spotlight shone on them. I don't remember the total number of fillies shown but it wasn't the entire class nor was it down to the top ten.

Once all the fillies were in the arena, they lined them up on both sides and gave the audience a chance to look at all of them together. Then the horses were excused from the ring and the top ten horses were called back in to be presented their awards. After that was accomplished the reserve champion was named followed by the champion.

There was no judging of the horses in what was called a "final" in the schedule. How it could be a final when the judging was actually done in the semi final, I don't know. It was really a presentation of the horses so the awards could be given. I don't know if the exhibitors were aware it would be like this but I sure wasn't. I thought I was going to get to see horses stand up and be shown.

I understand the "powers that be" feel with this scoring system that once the scores have been done, the judges are done. I guess they, and many judges, are concerned if the same judge adjudicates the horse twice at the same show that the scores won't match and since it's about conformation they probably should so the judges might look bad. However, I think it's entirely possible and even very likely that the horse won't stand up the same way twice and that can and probably would affect the scoring. The placement of one leg can affect the look of conformation. That's why we all struggle to get square shots of our horses, isn't it.

Obviously I am in the minority on this and once the score is done, that's it for the show. The result is, if the scores are posted during the class, everyone knows who won before the ribbons are awarded. That certainly does diminish the excitement surrounding halter classes and since halter can get pretty long and boring in big classes, I guess the show commission was right to worry about that. Boring has never been a draw for crowds or exhibitors and there is fear the new scoring system is really killing halter. All I know is I didn't really enjoy those classes. I didn't get to get a good look at each filly and that's what I'd tuned in to see. It was very disappointing.

The announcer told the crowd the hits on the website for the evening session were over 1 million. I wonder how many of those people out there thought the halter classes were exciting to watch being run this way. I suspect there will be more changes. I certainly hope so, anyway. This sure didn't do it for me.

Rhet is eligible for both the Canadian and US National Futurities next year. I was thinking about giving that a try but now I'm wondering if I should just save myself the money and stay home. What do you think?

What Am I Watching Now! Cutting Horses Over My Head

I've always wanted to watch cutting but have never gotten the opportunity. Many of the shows I attend don't have cutting available. The Region 5 All Arabian Horse Championships dropped those classes years ago when I was first getting started. There just don't seem to be enough Arabian horses participating in that division around here, at least that want to show breed shows.

Now that the rain is back and it's too wet for working horses outside, I headed back to my computer to see what's on the US National All Arabian Horse Show schedule and what do I see but cutting. The only problem is I know nothing about this sport. For once I am lost as to what the judges are looking for.

I looked up the Arabian Cutting Horse Association and got the criteria for the class. However, it was easy to see, just like all other disciplines, the finer points are not spelled out so boy do I have questions and I'm sure hoping some of my blogging friends have answers so I'll know what I'm looking at.

Is this sport scored like reining where you start at 70 and then plus or minus maneuvers?

If "performance is evaluated on the way the horse approaches and enters the herd" what is the ideal for that? Is there proper posture for the horse? Or does smooth and efficient apply?

Is it better to take out the closest cow? Or do you go into the thick of the herd to show skill? Do you score more for working more cows?

Are there specific moves you must do with the cow like they do in Working Cow Horse classes or do you just prove you have control?

When time is called and a cow has just been cut, why do the riders go ahead and work the cow a bit?

What is the job of those other riders?

Is there anything else I should know in watching this class?

Anyone who has answers, I'm all ears. I watched the section cuts today but there will be finals tomorrow so I'm going to get more chance to study this fun looking sport.

Tonight's agenda is the first cuts of the reined cow horse classes. I've seen those once before and I know a little bit about working cow so I won't be totally lost. I sure am enjoying this nationals feed and watching the working western...........

Surprise Sunshine, Lots of Puddles and Little Nationals Time

It was a glorious day here. We actually had blue sky and sunshine with temps making it into the 60s, not much for some places this time of year but for us above normal.

I was out early this morning making sure the mares all got turned out to enjoy the sun. Vee got some kind of hair up her b*tt and decided to kick the cr*p out of poor Hope who was running in amongst the trees trying to get some protection for Vee. I had to catch Hope and put her out in a different field to save her.

I swear those two mares have been tight ever since their days together at Boulder Knolls. Vee hadn't liked Hope before going to that place. In fact she had been pretty agressive toward Hope in the beginning because Dare preferred Hope's company to Vee's so Vee was jealous but with only the two of them at the boarding facility they'd become good friends. Today's incident is the first time Vee's old hostilities have surfaced. God only knows what brought it up but it's safe to say that Hope and Vee will no longer go out together here.

Once the mares were all turned out and I was sure there were going to be no more drama from the mares, I loaded up my horse trailer and headed for the park. I knew it was going to be wet there after all our rain but with this being the only dry day of the week, I figured I'd better work horses while I could.

I wore my Muck boots knowing it would be wet in the arena. I planned on long lining all three horses instead of riding them so the boots would help at least keep my feet dry. There was no hope of keeping my clothes or any of my equipment dry but then that's the way it goes sometimes, if I wanted to get horses worked I was going to have to take what I could get, wet or not.

The horses, on the other hand, were not so determined to get it done in the wet arena. The first two had more of a "hurry up and get this thing over with" kind of attitude instead of being thoughtful and cooperative and the third, that would be Legs, just plain thought working in the wet footing was beneath him. The horse refused to do anything but walk until I pulled the whip out of my pocket. Even then I had to prove I could reach him to get any results. It was not what I'd call a productive day. Unless of course, you think the horses making me sweat counts.

I'm back sitting at the computer tonight watching the finals for the half Arabian reiners with their amateur riders followed by the purebred reining horse championships. Boy, is there a big difference in the rides when you get down to the finals. They're definitely fun to watch but do make me think maybe I'm a little bit nuts wanting to ride reining.

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Nationals Go On..........as does the rain........Excuses for Trail Watching......

The rain is still pouring down despite predications it was going to break this afternoon so I'm still sitting at my computer watching the US National All Arabian Horse Show. At this point I'm getting a bit crabby not being able to ride but watching horse show sure beats doing housework.

The last two days I've watched mostly reining and trail classes. At least in those classes I can see most everything the judges see so I can get a better idea of what's really going on instead of wondering what might have happened beyond the camera's view.

The trail courses were designed by Lorne Robertson and I absolutely loved them. They made me want to get out there and show trail. I've already got a guilt complex about not ever taking the time to get serious about trail when I have the a horse that loves it just standing in my barn doing nothing so it's not much of a leap to want to bring Dandy out of the retirement he hates and let him do the thing he loves most.........if there was only more time in a day I might actually be able to accomplish.

For those quarter horse people that think the Arabian courses are designed to accommodate our "spooky" horses, you should have seen these puppies. I'm pretty sure they would have hung right in there with anything that's ever been done at the AQHA World. They were just darn cool.

The courses reminded me of a trail course with Mark many years ago. Mark was an awesome trail horse but it scared him to death and the Regional Championship Trail in Region 4 one year pushed him to his limits. We were supposed to lope into the ring but Mark saw all those white poles everywhere (and believe me they were everywhere) and the horse wheeled around and tried to gallop out the gate. While that might be another story for another day, these national courses really reminded me of that day and how much fun that course was to ride...........even if my horse wasn't ready for such things.

Anyone who knows me knows I'm up for a challenge. I like things tough so I have to work and use my brain as well as my skill and these courses fit right into that. They were complicated and tight and I'm going to be tracking Lorne down to see if I can get copies of them. I don't want to forget a single element so maybe I can practice them in the future. Who knows, I might actually get the time to show trail one of these years.

Trying to draw them for what was visible on the screen left much to be desired. My first day's attempts are pretty good except for the jogovers before the bridge that I could only guess at because clear view was blocked by elements of other obstacles and the added landscape. I could tell the flow of the obstacle had serpentine like qualities to it but I have no idea exactly how those poles were set. Also, I'm pretty sure there were elements in other obstacles not visible because of similiar obstructions.

I didn't even attempt to draw today's courses.By then I figured I should be able to track down the courses in one way or another and I could tell right off there were even more elements I couldn't see. Still I'm intrigued by what I could perceive was there.

As complicated as these courses were they had a great flow to them. Sometimes course designers get so caught up in making things tough they forget the components need to fit together in such a manner the horse can transition from one obstacle into another. That doesn't mean they need to be made easier, just that things need to be laid out in such a manner that the strides "fit" where they're supposed and there's "flow" into the next. That way a well trained horse can show off its talent while a not so trained horse will still be exposed.

To be continued..............

The Usual Discussion and a Little Varian Philosophy

Watching all these classes at the US Arabian National Horse Show brings to mind the usual things I think about whenever I watch horses work at horse shows. The comments on this post seem to be right in there along those lines.

It seems to be the usual nationals discussions that can be found on threads on most forums. There are the country horses that are really english pleasure horses to some, the hunter horses that are now made up of country english horses that wouldn't make it in that division, and we mustn't forget the western horses that are looking more and more like quarter horses in the way they move. Of course, there is the discussion about qualifications as well.

As long as I have been in this business there has been commentary about what is and isn't right about the show and the horses. It seems to me it comes down to that "human nature" thing. We're all different and we all have different ideas about what is right. The show committee has their idea of how it should be and right now they're the ones in charge so their ideas pretty much rule.

Whenever you put a group of people and horses this large together the entire continuum on the spectrum of horse training, breeding and such tend to be represented there. Some will be good. Some will be bad and a whole lot more will be in the middle. I don't think that part is ever going to change.

From what I can tell, all I can really do is watch to see what the judges like to see what their preferences are. For me, I'm trying to see whether the judges like the same things I'm looking for in my horses or not. If not, then I just won't show to those judges in the future. If it looks like they do, then maybe it's worth spending my money to see if I was right about their opinion.

The hard part about trying to figure this out watching on the live feed is the judges can see most of the ring while the feed only shows a narrow view of the ring. There's a lot of stuff going on in that ring out of sight of those of us on the other end of these computers so it really is hard to see why the judges are doing what they're doing. What it looks like they're doing and what they might really be doing can and are sometimes two totally different things.

Personally, I know several of the judges this year. To be honest, I probably really messed up not taking a hunter horse to show this year. I think that panel is suited to my style of riding and horse even though you probably couldn't tell that by what's making the cuts so far. I think I could have held my own out there given the chance but we'll never know because I'm sitting home here watching on my computer instead of riding at nationals.

Thinking about the discussion about what is and isn't right about the show and how horses are being shown reminds me of something I heard from Sheila Varian several years ago. Her comment was in regards to breeding standards but it certainly fits here. "Breed what you like," she said. "Don't be swayed by the opinions or pressure from others. If you do stay true to what you like, you'll get where you want to be in the long run."

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Computer Skills.........and Reining Dreams..........

Lots of rain again here today so I'm still parked in front of my computer watching the US All Arabian National Horse Show. Not that I needed an excuse but at least now my watching is guilt free.

Now that I've finally figured out how to put the feed up on full screen, I can actually tell some of the players now. I don't know how come I've never figured this out before but it sure does change how things look. Now if I could just figure out how to get two monitors hooked up so I could watch both the Ford Truck Arena and the Mustang Arena at the same time, I'd be in hog heaven...........or should that be horsie heaven????

I'd borrow Lindsay's laptop and try that but it looks like it has a virus. I don't want to be the one her computer totally dies on if it's going to crash. Not only that but I'm pretty sure she wouldn't give the thing up without a fight. Lindsay is addicted to Farmville on Facebook and feeding her own addictions are much more important than feeding her mother's. I think I need to talk to that kid and help her adjust her priorties just a wee bit......or maybe I should be bartering with all the the Farmville things my friends send me that I never use..........

For now I must be content switching back and forth between the two arenas on my computer. Luckily the schedule in the Mustang Arena is a bit odd with the reining and tractor drags. I've managed to miss only part of the Purebred Amateur Owner to Ride 40 & over Reining, which would be my class if I had a reiner and I only missed one section of the western pleasure I really wanted to watch. Not bad for being two time zones off and a bit computer illiterate.

I was watching the reining to see a friend of mine go but she wasn't in the rides I saw. I don't know if she's not there or if her ride was in one of the half dozen I missed but I did notice that the 40 & over riders are a bit more cautious than the younger riders. Looking at their rides made reining seem not quite so far out of my reach. That's probably a good thing. With a little inspiration I could actually get there, ya know........before I'm too old to do it anymore.....

Believe me, the wheels are turning. This reining thing is really trying to get underneath my skin. Watching those riders with their stage fright, slow spins and cautious fast circles reminded me you don't have to be perfect to go to nationals. You just have to qualify.

For some, that is the dream, just getting there. I see them every time I go. I've met some here at home over the years too. Their dreams never were to win once they got there, just to get to have the experience of showing there. To have earned the chance to be a part of something bigger than yourself for one brief moment...........how cool is that?

To be continued................

Pleasure Classes, Reining and a Little Bob Hart, Jr

Since the weather today didn't cooperate for riding horses, I spent the day in front of my computer. When I wasn't switching between the Ford Truck Arena watching pleasure classes and the Mustang Arena watching reining classes, I was studying my Bob Hart, Jr videos and how to make a great western horse.

I did a clinic with Bob Hart many years ago. Back in those days Bob Hart dominated the winner's circle in western pleasure. I can remember all the whining I heard about it being politics but it sure didn't look like politics to me. It looked more like those doing the whining were making excuses for not getting the job done. There was a big difference between the way Bob Hart's horses went in those days than most others out there.

Today, that's not necessarily the case. I was amazed at the number of western trainers I saw at nationals last year that seemed to be getting it right. Sure there were lots of four beaters and tropers out in the ring but there were also soft beautiful western horses.

To me the way Bobby Hart's horses go has always looked like a goal I should ascribe to if I ever wanted to be successful at the national level. I bought his videos when I could and I study them from time to time. I swear I see something new each time and I always feel more confident after studying them.

I got so involved watching the Bob Hart videos that I missed the beginnings of the final for the purebred Arabian western select rider which just happens to be MY CLASS! I did get to see part of the class but not enough to tell how well Legs is going next to those horses but I guess armed with my latest inspiration from Bobby Hart, I've got plenty to work on between now and next year's class.

If I can't be at nationals competing, it seemed like a great way to spend my day. Now if the weather will just cooperate so I can try a couple of things, I'll be happy. If not I guess I'll just stay glued to my computer watching what's happening in Tulsa.

US All Arabian National Horse Show Starts Today

Today's the big day and I so wish I was ringside at least watching the classes but since I can't be there I'm going to have to settle for the Live Feed which just is NOT the same thing. Not only is the view restrictive but sometimes I think the gaits look odd on the feed. Funny how that happens when they look fine in the video. Must have something to do with the internet.

There was a rider down in section A of the half Arabian AAOTR (adult amateur owner to ride) park horses. I didn't see the actual wreck but the rider was flat out on her back and the saddle was sideways on the horse. The rider did get back up and finish her ride. Then somebody threw a shoe half way through the second direction. It was not a good day for the park horses who got a lot rattled by the disruptions in their normal routine in the ring. I felt sorry for the riders as many of their horses broke gait repeatedly but I guess that's what makes it a horse show. You never know what's going to happen.

Here's the link for the current schedule. and on the live feed they let you chose which arena you want to see. If you scroll down the page you'll find a link for each.

Sizing Things Up.......A Change of Tack.........

Part 1

Since my priority is to get this Arabian horse into the show ring next year, I decided it might be smart to change my goals for him just a bit. Instead of focusing on western pleasure alone, I would work the horse towards hunter pleasure as well. The hunter gaits are much easier to attain than the more collected western gaits so if we didn't get far enough with the western to be competitive, I would still be able to show the horse in hunter.

I must admit that originally I never expected Bey Aana's babies to be any good at hunter. They have flatter toplines than the other Leg's babies and are not quite as athletic. I envision them as western pleasure horses just like their mother and grandmother before her.

However, one of Aana's babies first went into the ring as a hunter horse. I made it a point to watch his class to see how he looked next to the other hunters. To my surprise the horse very much looked like a hunter moving down the rail at the trot and from what I could tell the judges loved him.

It was easy to see the horse had lots of potential in the division even though the horse had some issues. Judges wanted to use him and gave him every chance to redeem himself but he and his rider had issues that did not get resolved but then that's another story for another day. The point is, after seeing him in the ring, I knew that Storm and his other brothers could easily do hunter as well.

Originally the plan had been for Storm to be shown as a hunter in 2009. I had seen him schooled that way a couple of times and it looked like he was beginning to come together. I even thought he was going to be shown at the Daffodil All Arabian Spring Horse Show that year but somewhere along the line the plans changed but then that's also another story for another day.

With hunter being a more forward discipline I thought it would be helpful to work the horse in this manner to get the forward he needed back into his step. I could start off with the hunter schooling each day and wrap up working on the western. That way if we did manage to get the horse to the far enough along to do western we had that option and we still had the time we needed to get him into the curb bit before getting him into the ring.

I hoped the more forward movement of the hunter gaits would make Storm more comfortable about going forward and that it would carry over when I asked the horse to get more collected for western. I also figured it would be easier for the horse to figure out his balance at the more relaxed hunter gaits. I wouldn't ask him to do the more collected gaits until he had his balance figured out for hunter. So now I had a plan, I just had to put it into motion.

To be continued...............

Housework...or Riding... or maybe Falling

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Sizing Things Up.......A New Ball Game.........

Part 1

The first opportunity after the Arabian horse's feet were trimmed, I had Storm over to the park. To my best recollection the horse has never been there before so I didn't know what he'd think. That big open arena with the hill overlooking it can intimidate even a well trained horse at times.

Most of the time if anything scary happens it comes from up on that hill. With horses being prey animals that overhead intrusion is one extremely sensitive for most horses. A "bad" experience on a first time experience at the park can result in a hyper vigilant horse for months to come.

With Storm being a sensitive horse in the first place, I expected some snorting and blowing and probably lots of sweating. Just being allowed to lunge in a strange place can elicit that kind of response from a young horse. I'd seen that happen earlier in the year with Percy, Tag and Louie. With Percy being very much like Storm in temperament since they are full brothers, I figured I'd have at least the same.

Leave it to horses. Anytime you think you have them figured out the opposite always happens. Storm didn't seem to mind these strange new surroundings. Not only that but his response to my request to lunge was totally regraded to meet my expectation of lunging just as a temperature gauge of the horse. Storm paid close attention to me and put on the brakes at first request. There was no sign of the zoned out horse expecting to be "lunged down." Storm was working bit harder than he had to.

I hadn't really planned on riding the horse the first day over at the park. I'd expected him to be so wound up about the new surroundings that the horse would have done enough exercise for one day. With his quiet response I quickly changed my plan and climbed on board.

I know the farrier had commented he didn't know how come Storm even looked sound on the lunge line with his feet so bad but I guess I hadn't really thought much about how the change might affect him now so it caught me off guard to have the horse stumbling with me astride.

At first I thought it was me. I must be sitting funny and throwing the horse off balance. I've been known to do that every now and then, although I usually notice right away because I feel off balance when I do. That, however, was not the problem today. It was clear right from the start that Storm was quite sure what was going on with his feet.

My usual flexing and bending exercises to warm my horse up were causing Storm to step all over the place on himself. I decided to just let the horse relax and walk straight to figure out his balance with me. It didn't take long at the walk for Storm to get more comfortable with things but he still struggled a bit with any lateral movement.

At the jog the horse was cautious and rightly so although he did seem to be more square than on that first ride. The horse was not underneath himself, however, so I decided to move him out into a working trot. The horse was reluctant at first and still unsure about his feet but it didn't take too long to get a reasonable trot so from there we moved on to the lope.

That gait really showed how off balance this horse was. It didn't matter which direction we travelled, the horse felt very rough and odd. I don't remember his lope feeling like this even the very first time. There was another indicator the horse was unsure of what he was doing. Storm was tripping and stumbling. Once going to the right, the horse nearly fell to his knees before recovering. I was doing to have to do some thinking about strategy for dealing with this.

To be continued....................

A Change of Tack

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Sizing Things Up.......Getting Feet Done.........

Part 1

It was a week before I could get the farrier out to do anything about Storm's feet. I probably could have looked around for someone other than my regular farrier to get them done sooner but I really didn't want to do that. The odds were I wouldn't be able to get someone I trusted in any better time and I wasn't going to take any chances on trying an unknown.

Unfortunately it's just way too easy to find an incompetent farrier than a good one. Referrals are only as good as the experience level of the person making them and sometimes that's not always easy to tell. I'm probably fortunate that I've only had two wrecks caused by incompetent farriers. Luckily my horses didn't pay any long term price from those experiences but I can't say the same for me, Aidol's Story....... The Injury With siutations like that, I have good reason to be reluctant about working with anyone I don't already know well.

Storm had lived with his feet in this condition for who knows how long. He'd be OK with them this way for another week. In the meantime we focused on more turnout time as long as the weather co-operated and the horse got more time to just be a horse.

It was two weeks from the day I got the Arabian horse back when my farrier came. He was amazed the horse had even lunged sound with the condition of his front feet. It was no surprise Storm was having some issues in his right shoulder looking at what he had going on with those hooves.

We talked some along the way about the corrections and the condition of the horse's soles. Luckily by the time all was said and done Storm's hooves looked normal again. I was really relieved it was able to be accomplished with just the one trim. Once again we were good to go to get this horse back on track.

To be continued.....................

A New Ball Game

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A Little Movie Review, A Little Thinking.... Secretariat

I'm not the only one in this family that loves horse movies so when trailers began to appear of Secretariat my family could hardly wait for the release. I had even bought tickets for a preview the week before the actual release date of the movie but instead of making our date at the movie theater we had a date with the vet on account of Solidare's Colt's illness so we had to wait to see the flick on the official opening date.

Being a sap about dreaming in the first place, movies that follow that storyline are automatically ok in my book especially when they are about horses. I found tears in my eyes on more than one occasion as this story unfolded. For me the fact it was a woman fighting for this horse made it all the more personal for me.

I must admit I was a bit disappointed there wasn't more about the horse in this movie. It was more the story of the woman behind him than the actual horse himself. All the major events in the horse's life were covered but I really would like to have seem more about the horse, his little quirks, his personality.

I know that horse movies are routinely picked apart for not being accurate. Incorrect plumbing on the horses used to portray Ruffian is probably the biggest movie maker faux pax I've heard tell of but I know that we horse people want our horse films to be authentic but I am not one of those who studies every little detail to see if they get it right. Some things do, however, just jump out at me.

In this movie the foaling was disconcerting between the changes from bay to differing shades of chestnut and the view of a face marking that was not even close in my book. Any breeder knows that face markings are oversized in foals. Horses grow into them, not to mention, the adult Secretariat had more than just a star. He was graced with a strip and a snip.

Other than that I thought this movie did pretty well portraying life in a racing barn as well as life on the track. I've not spent a lot of time in the barns to be an expert but the movie sure fit what I've seen.

I thought the characters were well cast but I thought the script was a little flat. I felt the actors made the most of what they were given and without their commitment the movie could have fallen flat. That would have been a shame considering what a giant of a hero Secretariat was. His racing career was amazing.

During the movie as I watched this woman fight her way through for this horse, I couldn't help but wonder how many "great" horses never made it because they didn't have a dedicated person behind them believing in them, making things happen so the horse could prove its greatness. Secretariat sure had that opportunity as did Seabiscuit. Without those people behind these great horses no one would have ever known what they were capable of accomplishing.


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Anniversary Sadness.........

It was on this date last year that I left for the US National All Arabian Horse Show in Tulsa Oklahoma. While I cannot say I miss the Count Down it took getting ready to depart for last year's show, I can say I feel some sadness on this anniversary of my departure. Now that I finally am ready to be competing at the level it sucks to be stuck home just sitting on the sidelines.

Although I will not miss the trip travelling across the country, I will certainly miss the adventure of it all. The Adventure Begins I never knew what was coming next and yet I got through it. The whole experience made me stronger and gave me a deeper belief in myself. For that reason alone the trip was worth it.

My only regrets about the trip was that I didn't get to see as many classes as I would like to have seen. I would love to have been able to sit on the rail and study all the new faces since the last time I'd been. There are many new stars emerging in the Arabian Horse industry and I'd really like to be up on who the "players" are.

I still cannot get over how many unrecognizable faces there were in the open western pleasure classes nor all the age on the faces I did recognize. It's been over a dozen years since I'd last been to that horse show and I wasn't prepared for the huge difference it had made.

Even though I knew early in the year that it would be better for me to stay home this year, I still feel like I'm missing out. My horse really would have been ready this year had I not been distracted by the lawsuit. It really is because of the lawsuit that I knew I would be staying home since there would probably be no point in showing to a judge who is good friends with the person I sued.

Even with all of this I can't help but feel I'm supposed to be there. It would be fun to be there if only to watch. I could sit on the rail and watch tracking bloodlines of horses I really like and checking out trainers to see what their methods are like. For me there's just nothing more educational than what can be seen both in and out of the rings at the National Championships.

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Sizing Things Up.......My Opinion.........

Part 1

I can't say that I was surprised at what I found taking this first ride on my horse after he was returned to me. I'd been told the horse was being put into the western bridle for showing during the 2010 season but the few times I'd seen the horse worked in the past two years Storm had been ridden by a couple of different kids. Each had differing degrees in ability and both had a lot to learn. The only way I could see Storm could have been ready to go into the bridle was for the measure of how the horse travelled was based on frame and not proper function.

After all our early conversations about Frame versus Function and some of the long lining work I'd seen done, you would think that the opposite would be true, although long lining alone can not fully train a horse and believe me that's a whole other series of posts. Unfortunately I've learned over the years that some people are pretty good at talking the talk without actually walking the walk. Looking at this situation with Storm it really looked like those conversations had been just that, talk. It sure didn't look like Storm has had the benefit of a rider who understood how to put the concept to use.

There is possibly good news in all of this. While the horse hadn't been using himself correctly, Storm didn't appear to be afraid to go into the bit when he was asked on this first ride. The horse just didn't seem to really understand how to do it. When I had last ridden the horse we had just begun working on going into the bit and it appeared that's where his education on that process had stopped. Once I was no longer riding him, I think the focus had become all about frame.

Frankly most times I see a horse that has been ridden in this manner, the horse is intimidated by the bit and does not want to move into it. Those people working on frame without the benefit of having the horse utilizing its body properly tend to get pretty heavy handed to accomplish their goals. The end result is a horse that is afraid to move up underneath himself. He's equated that forward movement with punishment in the face.It can be a long complicated process teaching such a horse to do the right thing. Look at Legs who is still intimidated by the curb bit when he was only ridden in such a bit by this type of trainer for a total of two weeks. The jury is still out on why Storm appears to be reacting differently.

Of course, one ride isn't enough to fully evaluate the situation with this horse, or any horse for that matter. There are all kinds of nuances that only more riding time will tell. For Storm the process of further evaluation would have to wait, the horse's feet were in such bad shape I didn't want to be doing much.

It's impossible to know how long it had been since the horse's feet had last been trimmed. I suspect once this whole drama (which was back in January) began the horse's shoes were pulled and nothing more was done. I was told the horse was left standing in his stall for months with no work so I guess it's only consistent to believe that his feet were neglected as well but all I know for sure is his feet were a mess when he arrived here.

I had someone else look at Storm's feet just to be sure I wasn't over reacting. In fact I had more than one professional take a gander at them. I even sent photos to Mrs Mom and maybe one day you'll see her post about them. The overall consensus was that continual work with his feet in that kind of shape would likely make the horse sore so instead of doing anymore work, the horse got more turnout and we waited for my farrier to come fix him up.

To be continued...................

Getting Feet Done

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Sizing Things Up.......The Ride.........

Part 1

In addition to not travelling square, each time I put my legs on the Arabian horse to push him into the bridle, Storm speeded up and popped his head into the air. I could wiggle my fingers to get his head down but as far as the horse was concerned putting his head down did not include driving forward and through the bit. The horse had clearly been ridden off a rider's hands with little if any leg.

Of course these issues all got exaggerated at the jog. Trying to block a dropped shoulder was pointless. The horse was all over the place and I could not get him to move off that shoulder no matter what I tried. It looked to me like Storm just didn't get what I was asking. I was going to have to work that shoulder before I could expect him to do come through for me.

I brought the horse down to a halt so we could work on side passing and then turning on the haunches to remind the horse what I wanted from his shoulders. At first Storm acted like he had no clue what I meant. It was as if he'd never done this before even though I knew he had because I'd taught him these things myself and he had been doing them quite well the last time I'd ridden him two years ago. I think it was just that he'd not been asked to do them in so long that he was unsure.

I headed the horse into the wall giving him a barrier to exclude one of his options. With no room to go forward, the horse soon figured out the leg pressure and open rein was a sideways request. Once that was determined it was relatively simple to get him turning on the haunches. As soon as we had those pieces in place the horse was right back moving his shoulder like he had been the last time I'd ridden him.

Armed with the renewed cue I went back to working at the jog. It was slow all right but it just wasn't true. The horse wasn't using his back end the way I wanted at that slow pace. Any attempt to push him up underneath himself still resulted in the horse speeding up and popping his head. At least now with the cue to catch his shoulder it was easier to get the horse straight underneath me so that the impulsion could go where it was supposed to be. The horse groaned at the hard work each time I got him square underneath me lifting his back and driving straight through to his face.

The lope was a whole other challenge. I got the underneath himself and then asking him to lope but it resulted in confusion for the horse. At first I didn't even get a lope. Instead I got a half lope half trot bouncy kind of thing. It seemed clear he didn't know how to carry himself correctly and transition into the lope.

Don't ask me why I decided to try the other direction instead of fixing this one but I did. For some reason going to the right turned out to be easier for the horse to figure out but then I didn't ask him to round up before asking for the lope either. At least he went right into the gait instead of using that "tropy" thing, not that the horse was square or really using himself but at least he was in the right gait. That was a huge improvement.

I spent just enough time working this direction to see what I had. Well, maybe it would be more accurate to say I spent enough time to see what I didn't have. I could get the horse pushed up underneath himself where he belonged but he just couldn't sustain it. The minute I released the horse quit driving from behind. Any use of my legs to push him back forward resulted in his head going up and out of the bridle. just as I had expected.

I went back to the first direction and again asked the horse to lope just like I had going to the right. The horse went into the lope much better without asking him to be collected first. After he was in the gait, then I could work on asking him to collect. I'm not going to say the horse was getting the hang of getting underneath himself but I could get it from time to time. It was clear it wasn't something he was used to doing.

Since evaluating what the horse knew was really my sole purpose for this ride, I stopped as soon as I had the information I wanted. I'd been watching the horse closely for signs of sweat. I didn't want to overdo this first workout. Even though this ride had taken only about ten minutes, the horse was beginning to show signs of sweat on his neck. I figured that was enough for the first day so I called it quits.

Imagine my surprise when I pulled the saddle to find an inch thick white foam the consistency of shaving cream under the saddle pad. If there was any question the horse wasn't used to this kind of work out, the sweat certainly answered that. Considering the length of this workout I couldn't get over the amount of sweat on the horse's back. I had expected sweat but nothing like this. It looked to me like it must might be a long road with Storm.

To be continued......................

My Opinion
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Sizing Things Up.......A Little Hitch.........

Part 1

As the Arabian horse lurched forward, the bottom of my vest got caught over the saddle horn and for one frantic moment I was scurrying to get myself free. Visions of dangling from the saddle horn off the side of the moving horse or even hitting the dirt squirted through my brain as I struggled getting my vest freed. As my life flashed before my eyes I wondered should I be wearing my helmet. The last thing I needed was another head injury.

As I scrambled for the reins to get my horse under my control, I immediately pulled on the inside rein and added my inside leg to get the horse to move off my leg. I knew Storm probably hadn't dealt with my kind of a warm up for the past two years but I hoped his brain would quickly engage and he'd forget about being worried and begin listening to me so I could get myself safely situated in the saddle and ready to deal with him.

I met immediate resistance to the flex of the rein as I made contact with the horse's mouth. Thankfully it was short lived and the horse dropped his head and moved laterally as asked. Before long my heart quit beating out of my chest as the horse softened and began paying attention to me. Still I could see his eye was worried and I really felt for him.

Being one of Bey Aana's foals, A Baby Boomer Dreams of Arabian Horses - The Legacy Continues - Part 8 Storm started off in this world being taught to be distrustful of people. It had taken a long time to get him over his fears. More on Scandalous Storm Ever since the horse had returned home it was like starting over again. It was obvious that the horse didn't know he was back home yet but I knew the old Storm was in there somewhere. It was just going to take some work to get him back to that place.

I walked the horse both ways around the arena giving him a chance to see this place before I asked much of him. The whole time I flexed the horse and moved him laterally off my legs making sure he had to concentrate on me instead of these strange surroundings. He actually did pretty well with that and before long I heard that deep sigh of his and he relaxed at the poll.

With the horse now tuned in to me I decided to experiment a little bit to see what I had. I stopped flexing to put the horse on the rail and found I had a horse travelling any which way but straight. Going to the left the horse was badly dropping his shoulder to the outside even at the walk. All attempts to block it resulted in some other part squirting out a direction it didn't belong.

Getting the horse square between my legs was a huge chore. I don't recall ever struggling with this horse to get him square between my legs. That had always been the problem with Reflection, right from the start. It had always been a relief to get on Storm after working with Reflection because he tracked so square. Clearly a lot of things had changed with this horse since the last time I'd ridden him.

To be continued.............

This a baby pic of Storm taken by Jeff Little.

The Ride

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Sizing Things Up

When I posted Wrapping Up a Difficult Summer
I had just gotten the Arabian horse, Scandalous Storm, back. I decided I'd just let the horse enjoy some turnout time and give him some time to adjust before I put him to work so it was a full week before I even got on his back.

Although court papers had stated the horse was in training, his condition implied otherwise. The Arabian horse had absolutely no tone in his hip. There was nothing about the rest of his overall body condition that suggested it was anymore used than his hip. Flabby and out of shape was definitely a more accurate description than a horse on a regular training schedule, I'm afraid. Whatever I did with Storm I would have to start off light and work my way up as his strength improved.

Not knowing how long it had been since the horse had received any kind of work out and also knowing it was common practice in that barn for horses to spend more time on the lunge line that I prefer, I decided I would only lightly lunge the horse before trying to mount. I would do my usual testing of his "temperature" and go from there.

Storm went out on the end of that line pretty much like I thought he would. At first he acted a bit concerned about my intentions but quickly settled into a trance expecting to be going for a while. After just a few laps I asked the horse to stop so he could change directions. I had to break through the horse's zoned out state to get him to listen to me. Shaking the line at him startled Storm and he pulled up abruptly snorting and looking confused. As I sent him off the other direction, I could see the horse really wasn't sure what to think.

This time instead of settling into that other world, he watched me closely to see what was coming next. With just a couple of laps I asked him to "Whoa!" and this time the horse was right there with me. Storm sat on his b*tt like a reiner and looked at me waiting to see what I wanted next. As I walked towards the stallion, coiling up my lunge line, the horse gave off a deep sigh and dropped his head knowing he was at least "done" for the moment.

After setting the lunging equipment aside, I put on the horse's bridle and got ready to ride. I figured since the man had tried to put both Percy and Louie in more bit way too early for me, Storm had probably been ridden in some kind of twisted snaffle. I wasn't convinced that the horse needed that kind of equipment so I chose my regular Greg Darnell smooth futurity snaffle that I use to school my young horses. This horse had always been so sensitive about everything, I really couldn't imagine he'd need much more. Storm mouthed that bit running his tongue back and forth over it's smooth surface like a horse will when it feels something strange in it's mouth making me think my suspicions about what kind of bit he'd been wearing were probably right.

With my reins run through the rings of the martingale, I tried to line the horse up with the mounting block. This should have been no problem since I'd been using a block to mount since about the fifth or sixth ride with this horse back when I started them but on this day Storm said, "NO WAY!, I'm not going near THAT thing!"

When I asked the horse to move up to that block again, the stallion shook his head at me and stomped his foot in a bold act of defiance. I hadn't seen such indications of stallion behavior from this horse since he was about two although I had seen a few signs since he'd come back home that suggested there might just be some issues there.

I had to remind the horse that such behavior would not be tolerated. He was already acting nervous enough about the changes in his life, I didn't want to make this correction more than necessary so I decided to just use my voice to see if he was still as sensitive as he'd been back then and I was right. It only took a harsh, "Quit!" for the horse to look at me and drop his head. Then he compliantly moved up next to the mounting block although I could tell he was still unsure about doing so.

Storm stood quietly next to the mounting block as I climbed up to the top step. The horse did not, however, stand quietly for me to mount. The moment I swung my leg going over the saddle the horse quickly walked off with his head high and his eye looking a bit frantic. It was clear the horse had been getting away with some things and that he was unsure about this new place.

I do not like to get on other's people's horses. Ever since my friend, Wendy, had talked me into riding her supposedly broke gelding and the horse had taken off with me, I just don't trust the evaluation of others about where a horse might be in its training. I didn't get hurt in that situation but I sure did get the beezesus scared out of me so now I just stay off of horses I don't know.

Now, I was feeling much the same way about Storm. He might be my horse but not having ridden him in nearly two years, I really wasn't sure what to expect. I could feel my adrenaline pumping as the realization washed over me this horse was not the horse I had known. Not knowing what to expect, my heart was in my throat.

To be continued...............

A Little Hitch

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WEG Disappointments

I realized today as I was thinking about the AllTech World Equestrian Games being over that I hadn't really posted anything more about the games since The Second Day........US Wins Gold Medal....and My Heart Skips a Beat
I missed some things I would really loved to see because of breaks in the weather here. I also missed some things because the schedule I'd downloaded turned out to be incomplete. The end result was I didn't get to watch anything but highlights of the things I wanted most to see.

I have to admit my biggest disappointment was not getting to see the complete individual medal competition for the reining. After seeing Shawn Flarida and his horse, RC Fancy Step, that first go round I was really looking forward to seeing the horse and rider again. I missed the live competition and then had to rely on whatever NBC served up.

I heard via an email that there had been some kind of tack failure for the pair so I already knew the outcome was not good. I just didn't know exactly what had happened. I figured with this pair being the high scoring pair from the team competition their run would be featured by NBC so I was hoping to get my details then.

As fate would have it, we were taking Solidare's colt to the vet when the reining aired on our local network. While I'm not big on technology, I was relieved we had the ability to tape the event or I'd still be wondering what happened.

I don't' want to take anything way from those who won. They did a great job. The WEG are like any other horse show, stuff happens. It's part of the gig. The best pair on that day is exactly that, the best pair on that day still I was driven to see what caused this awesome pair to be stricken from the ranks of medal winners.



I watched in horror as I saw Shawn Flarida lurch forward and grab the horn. I listened to the announcer talk about losing a stirrup and it all didn't make sense to me. What had caused this to happen? Something threw Flarida forward so abruptly he had to save himself but I sure didn't see what it was and a simple loss of a stirrup didn't make sense to me.

At the end of the run, Flarida walked over and retrieved something from the dirt. It was only then and with the subsequent replays that I could see what had caused this wreck. A broken blevin buckle and a sheared off billet occurring as the horse was propelling forward at the gallop would have unseated many riders. I'm pretty sure I'd have been in the dirt.

I watched carefully for Flarida's scores wondering what that five point penalty per judge cost him. With a 207.5 and adding in those 15 penalty points the ride was a 222.5 even with the horse unable to go full out the rest of the ride. If I remember correctly that score was within the scores of the medal winners and yet this horse had been ridden very conservatively because of the rider's precarious position without the use of his left stirrup. You know that had to affect that score.

I can only imagine what the number might have been had Flarida been able to ride the horse to his potential. Watching this situation gave me all the more respect for Flarida and his horse. This pair will always be the gold medal winners in my book.

I heard Flarida say this horse would not be back to the games in 2014. I sure hope that's not the case. I would love to see this horse show the world what he's really got in those individual medal runs. Who knows maybe his owners will have time to contemplate the possibilities in the next four years while their horse adds season to his skills.


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A Departure..........and a Little Something Odd.........

This week saw the departure of our final farm guest. There's no word on whether he's reached his destination safely but I imagine we'll know that before long.

In the meantime I must admit it seems a little odd to have the place back to ourselves. In the four months time our visitors were here we got used to their presence. Now the place feels a bit empty.

Considering the weather that's been moving in, their migration south has probably come at just the right time. The experts are predicting a difficult winter for us and I can't imagine being homeless in these foothills I live in under those circumstance. I'm relieved they are off to warmer climates and hopefully better times.

I worried some about what travelling through the Siskiyou Mountains might be like considering my own experience with them last year. From what I could tell the weather held and that portion of the trip at least wasn't made more difficult by snow in the passes.

I'm pretty sure that Delilah and Sugar are missing our guests as well. They had become quite friendly with the cat and both dogs that also visited here. Delilah found a kindred spirit in the female husky. It was intriguing to see the instant bond that formed between the dogs of the same breed.

Because we live so close to a major highway in the state and our fences are such that naughty dogs can duck under them, our dogs are not loose when they're outside. The same was true for the dogs belonging to our guests but Delilah and her newfound friend would have loved to have had the opportunity to run free. We can clearly picture what kind of sight that might have been.

While we're talking about Delilah, we've just discovered she has a odd habit. Have you ever heard of dogs biting their "finger nails." I know they call them claws but to see Delilah trimming hers, she really looks like an intense teenager biting her nails. Whoda thunk!

A Light at the End of the Tunnel..........maybe.......

Part 1

The last couple of days I haven't been all that comfortable with how things have been progressing with Solidare's colt. Mostly, I guess, my discomfort comes from not really knowing what to expect. Having never dealt with this kind of issue before I have no frame of reference and just "not knowing" is a very uncomfortable place for me.

I have been doing the hot compresses as ordered by the vet. However, other than the first day, not much is coming from those open wounds. Still the heat seems to feel good to the colt and this treatment is part of the doctor's orders so I persist despite the fact I can't really tell if it's doing any real good or not.

By yesterday evening I was pretty sure that the swelling in the hock and that around the highest wounds was changing. I was not sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing. The only thing I was sure of was there was a noticeable difference although nothing about it looks normal if you ask me.

I'd decided if these changes continued into today that I was going to call the vet to give him an update. Not knowing is the pits and I do not want to make any kind of mistake.

Before I'd even gotten to the barn for our first soak session, I'd received a message from the vet wondering how the colt was doing so I prepared my hot water and headed off to the barn to see what today had to bring.

When I arrived at the stall, Solidare's colt was down. Laying in the center of the stall, right where his mother always used to lay, he looked up at me with those huge eyes but didn't budge. I laid that warm towel over the wounds on the inside of his leg and he still stayed down. I wasn't sure what to think.

I called to the house to ask Lindsay if she'd seen him on his feet at all today. She told me he didn't get up when she cleaned his stall so she just cleaned around him. That didn't do much to quell my fears. He'd refused to rise last weekend when this whole thing had started. I didn't know what to think.

I decided to tempt him to his feet. I got him a small scoop of grain and he still wouldn't rise. That really worried me.

Talk about perfect timing. My cell rang and it was the vet wanting an update. When I told him I really wasn't sure, he said he was just down the road so he'd come right by. I went to open the front gates for him. When I left the stall, Solidare's colt was still just laying there.

By the time we were back at the stall, the little bugger was up and eating the grain. He had both front feet in the feed tub and was chowing down. As I walked in the stall, he glanced over his shoulder at me as if to say, "Oh, it's you again." Then he went right back to eating his oats.

The vet thought the hock looked much improved even if there was more swelling some places than there had been before. He also told me the additional swelling above was caused by the muscle being irritated by the swollen tendon. That was a normal response, just one I've never seen before.

The fact there isn't any puss coming from the wounds when I use the hot compress is also normal. The sheath to the tendon has sealed up and that's part of the healing process too.

The vet dis so probing inside the wounds to get a better idea of what was going on. Solidare's colt was a good boy and the vet commented that most colts would not tolerate such inspection without drugs. This little guy is definitely a good patient.

The final lab tests came back and a total of five different bacteria were found growing in the cultures. None of them was a dreaded
pseudomonas and all are very responsive to the antibiotic we have been using so we should be on the right track. While there is not as much progress as the vet would like to have seen, we are progressing in the right direction. The next dose of antibiotics will be administered on Wednesday and hopefully things will keep moving forward.

As for the colt laying down when I came into the stall, it looks like he's finally decided I'm OK after all. He's done that for months for both Lindsay and Dave but ME, I was the bogey man or some ugly troll. At least this illness has put us on better terms.



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More Bumps..............The Second Treatment

Part 1

Monday morning it appeared to me the colt showed no more improvement. There might have been a small decrease in swelling in the right hock but other than that he seemed to be about the same. That worried me a little, I had hoped for a continuation of the improvement we'd received once the antibiotics had been started.

It was mid afternoon before the first results from the original culture arrived. So far the bacteria that had grown was a beta hemolytic strep, not the easiest to treat but not the most difficult either. The disturbing part of the report was the statement, "More to come" which meant something else was growing but it hadn't been identified yet.

I'd been hoping for a definite answer from the lab. I was not prepared for the possibility there could be something else we were dealing with. There's nothing I hate more than dangling but that' what I was doing again.



Tuesday morning there were definite signs of improvement in the colt. His appetite was near normal and he was moving around much more. Sometimes he was even putting real weight on his right hind foot. I tried to tell myself these were good signs but a nagging little voice knew that these sneaking infections that attack limbs can do misleading things. As much as I hoped everything was getting better, I wasn't ready yet to believe that it was. The waiting and watching continued

Wednesday afternoon the colt was due to have another injection of antibiotic in his hock. After checking his condition, I called the vet to set that appointment up and give him a status report.

The colt was getting feisty and pretty unhappy about being cooped up in his stall. He'd tried to sneak past Lindsay to make his escape when she was cleaning his stall . The swelling in the hock had diminished and the colt was walking on that foot near normal. It had been nearly thirty-six hours since any puss had emerged from the wounds in the colt's hock, all good signs, or so you would think. I wanted to believe that, I really did but something told me I shouldn't get ahead of things.

When the vet arrived he confirmed my misgivings. The colt did look good and giving him that injection in the sheath of his tendon took three of us. The bad news was the infection had migrated even higher up the leg. As we were wrestling the colt to secure him so the vet could give him that shot, two wounds broke open far up the inside of his right leg and the puss was once again squirting everywhere.

What was the reason behind the confusing indications? The infection around the joint was getting better taking pressure off the joint making the colt more comfortable BUT the infection was still alive, and unfortunately, doing pretty well escaping the antibiotic by moving above the original injection site. I asked my vet how far the infection could travel and his answer, "Pretty darn far!"

Where does that leave us? Well, this current injection of antibiotics is good for 7 days. I am doing hot compresses at least twice a day on and above the wounds trying to draw out all the puss I can. We're hoping it will be enough to kill this thing.

If it isn't, we'll have to begin a new course of antibiotics. This time we'll use an antibiotic the lab has tested against the cultures we've grown to determine one that will be the most effective. In the meantime, we wait and hope the infection doesn't do anymore travelling.

Sorry about the quality of the first picture. Every time I break out the camera, he heads towards Dare on the other side of the wall and the sunlight kills the shot. I keep trying to get a more recent pic of his pretty little face and this is the best I've been able to do.

A Light at the End of the Tunnel

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The Trip to the Vet..........Wrapping Up.....

Part 1

Not long after we'd come into the clinic, the vet had asked me if I wanted to tranquilize Dare who was making quite a ruckus being left behind in the horse trailer. While I knew she was distressed, I also knew she wouldn't be stupid about it either. I knew it wouldn't take long for her to accept we'd taken the colt and to settle down her protestations.

My vet couldn't get over Dare's attachment to this foal that wasn't even hers. On Sunday when I'd first pointed her out as the colt's adopted mother he'd laughingly replied I had plenty of those. I knew from his response he didn't understand the depth of the mare's commitment to her mother's foal. Now as the mare continued to worry about the little guy out of her sight, the vet began to see how seriously Dare took her new found responsibility.

By the time the examination was finally over, samples of fluid had been removed from both hocks and the right Achilles tendon sheath of Solidare's colt. The fluid from both hock joints had been better than expected but would take further examination under the microscope to determine if cultures should be done.

The fluid from the sheath of the tendon was a totally different matter. There were unknown "chunks" suspended in it that were anything but normal. It was clear the infection had definitely invaded the tendon sheath but considering the amount of pus that had been squirting from the hock that fluid didn't look as bad as it could have been.

While those chunks were unusual, the color of the fluid was not as far off the usual color to warrant flushing the sheath at this time. Because the procedure is so invasive, we decided it would be better to wait for the results of the culture before making the move to do the invasive procedure. In the meantime we would wait and watch for signs of progress in the colt.

Again I asked the vet if he'd found any clues to how this invader had managed to attack my colt. Shaking his head he relayed we would probably never now, saying it's been a strange year with all kinds of anomalies happening to horses. All we could do was treat this thing and hope we'd caught it early enough to be successful.

The colt had had stood pretty well for each procedure despite Dare's random calls for him. While those calls no longer seemed to be frantic they did seem to be telling her boy that she was still out there waiting for him and the colt always seemed to acknowledge them with either a raise of his head or a flick of his ear. Even if Dare wasn't standing there right beside this colt, he was getting some comfort from knowing she was still out there waiting for him.

Before we left the clinic I asked the vet again about the prognosis for this colt. While I have never had to deal with this type of illness in foals, I have witnessed the devastation it can cause. I know the ups and downs and how rapidly they can happen but still I was hoping that somehow for this colt there would be something to set us apart and make things different.

My vet knows what Solidare meant to me having been there through many of the decisions made about her over the past few years and more importantly he was there each step along the way this entire past year. He knows what Solidare's colt means to me as well. He looked deep into my eyes shaking his head. The unspoken words clearly conveyed he couldn't make promises. This wouldn't be over until it was over.....................one way.............or the other....................

To be continued...................

The Second Treatment

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The Trip to the Vet..........Examining the Hock.....

Part 1

Most days I couldn't get this colt to walk out of his stall without the young horse taking a dislike to my involvement. He was born an independent little varmint and really thinks life should be lived on his terms. The handful of times he has been haltered he's let me know he's not fond of that thing on his face and even less fond of being asked to go anywhere he's not prepared to go.

Since the loss of his mother the colt has become more dependent but only on Dare. He clings to her like he's afraid she just might disappear some day out of the blue like his mother did. I wasn't really sure if we'd make the walk all the way around to the horse entrance for the clinic without incident since Dare was back there in the horse trailer screaming her displeasure at the loss of "her boy."

The farther we got from the trailer the more surprised I was to see the colt just went along with me. Despite the mare's continual calling to him, the colt obediently went along with me watching me closely for direction in this strange, new environment.

Maybe it has to do with being sick that an independent cocky colt suddenly becomes submissive and pliable. I have seen it happen before just not with a colt so young. I was grateful the colt was not acting stressed and seemed to be just rolling along with the punches.

Just outside the door, the vet gave the colt a sedative. He had me rub on the colt's nose to distract him from placing the needle in his vein. The colt didn't seem to notice the prick of the needle and the injection was over in a heartbeat.

From there I walked him into the chute and we got him positioned for the vet to take a better look at his hind legs. Because of the colt's size a soft rope was run from the back of the chute up around the colt's chest and onto the back again so we could keep him from leaning against the front door panel. At his height too much pressure against his neck could cause him to collapse and that wouldn't be good. This extra rope helped us have the needed support of the chute without putting him in jeopardy.

By the time the colt was all rigged up in the chute, the sedative had taken effect. The colt had his first meeting with clippers. Normally he'd have seen those things by now getting him ready for my open house but since that event hadn't happened, the colt hadn't been bathed or clipped yet.

Even with a sedative on board, the colt wasn't sure what to think about the clippers. I'm sure it didn't help much that the part being clipped was the bony structure of his hock. It seems like most horses doesn't like the feel of the clippers vibrating on any bony parts let alone their hocks.

A patch was clipped from the front of both hocks. Then the two places on the right hock that had opened up were also clipped. Both of those wounds offered up copious amounts of pus upon the application of pressure. The little place on the side seemed to be the most sensitive but the colt really did pretty darn well considering.......

Next the standing wraps were removed. Then both hocks were cleaned up with some kind of disinfectant. The colt tolerated these procedures pretty well fidgeting a little but not kicking out or stomping his feet. His eyes were wide and his head raised as he tried to watch what was going on back there.

The ultrasound machine was moved into place and the colt didn't even seem to notice. He squirmed at little at the cold gel applied to his hock but then settled back into trying to get me to hold up his head. All those drugs were making him pretty sleepy and he was pretty sure I was supposed to support his head instead of him.

I was torn between looking at the ultrasound and being at the front end consoling the colt. Dave was there too but Dave doesn't anticipate what's coming next when a horse signals they've had enough. I knew there would be times we'd have to be on our toes and being one step ahead of this colt would be important so I stayed where I was.

I heard my vet breathe a sigh and I wasn't sure what to think. Was it a sigh of "That's too bad" or a sigh of relief? Before the question passed my lips the vet turned to me and said the fluid in the joint looked better than he expected. He was going to take a sample of fluid from the joint to send to the lab but probably wouldn't be flushing the joint as he'd originally thought unless the fluid exposed something not detected in the ultrasound.

As you can imagine having a needle stuck into a joint is a painful process even with a sedative. Dave and I changed positions before the vet began this procedure so that we could each apply pressure to distract the colt. The vet counted and on "3" Dave began rapidly rubbing the colt's nose and I fiddled with his ear applying just a little pressure right behind it.

The colt did start at the puncture of the needle. He quieted a little only to start again here and there as the vet tried to find the needle's way into the joint, then quieted again as the fluid was withdrawn. As delicate a procedure as it it, I was surprised and relieved it was over as quickly as it was. Then it was time to check fluid in the sheath of that right Achilles tendon, the same tendon responsible for the crippling and eventual death of this colt's mother.

To be continued..................

Wrapping Up

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The Trip to the Vet

Part 1


By late Saturday evening we were already seeing some response from the antibiotics and banamine that had been administered to Solidare's colt. He was moving around more and seemed to be showing some interest in food. By morning the colt was actually putting a little weight on that leg and was definitely serious about his chow.

The vet called first thing in the morning checking on his patient. He had a surgery scheduled for that morning and another emergency looming. Once he was done with that, the plan was to examine this colt again and run more tests so we hung out just waiting for his call.

When it came, I tried to load the colt into the trailer but he was having none of it. I could get his front feet in but no way were the back ones following. This colt has had very little work done with him on leading so that can make loading tough. I decided it would be much easier to take Dare along with us down to the vet.

Dare always loads like a champ but she wasn't sure what to think about being tied in the trailer with the colt still outside. She yelled in Dave's ear protesting being tied but I didn't want to ask the colt to load until the partition for Dare was locked into place. Poor Dave had his hands full as Dare tried to push his hand away from snapping the trailer tie onto her halter. She was clearly trying to get him to see she needed her baby.

Once the panel was closed on Dare I asked Solidare's colt to go into the trailer again. He wasn't really sure what to think until Dare called him. Then he put his front feet up and looked at me before looking back at her and jumping the rest of the way into the trailer.

Since I've not worked much on leading with the colt, he's not all that comfortable with giving to pressure yet. Sometimes he fights it and other times he gives. With a combination like that I didn't want to even think about tying him. Instead I rode in the back of the horse trailer with him holding him and helping him along the bumpy ride.

I have ridden in the back of horse trailers before but never in mine. I rode with the twins all the way to Pilchuck Equine Hospital in Snohomish which was close to a two hour trip. This trip was only about five minutes down the road but a bumpy 5 minutes and a very noisy one. I couldn't believe the difference in noise in my steel slant load over the aluminum trailer we'd made the trip to Snohomish in.

Mental note to self: if the horse market ever does get turned around and I get some horses sold, it's time to invest in an aluminum trailer. I can't believe my poor horses have to put of with that much noise to ride in my horse trailer. YUCK!

The trip to the vet's from here might be short but it's steep. Webster hill is much like the twisting windy climbs of some mountain passes I've hauled on. I'd given Dave instructions on how to navigate that hill because I didn't want this colt falling because of a rocky ride.

I braced myself against the wall for the worst part of the trip. The colt with his four legs fared much better than me. Even with all the clatter he stayed calm and even softened his eye and licked his lips after just getting onto the road. As long as Dare wasn't complaining, neither was he.

I know that Dave was nervous about hauling the horses. He hauls the trailer sometimes to get hay but really avoids doing anything with horses inside. Now he was dealing with me riding in the back too and I know he was really stressing but he got us there safely despite a near miss of the vet's mailbox.

When the horse trailer door opened at the vet's office, the first thing I did was remind Dave about taking wide turns with my rig. Dave was focused on unloading the colt but I wanted to be sure the ride home was going to be safe and I knew I'd forget if I didn't get things said now. The sight of that mailbox so close to my trailer fender was still fresh in my mind and I wanted to be sure Dave knew it had happened.

Once I was sure he understood what I was saying, I walked up to the door with Solidare's colt. The little guy didn't even hesitate to get out even though he's never seen asphalt before. As we walked away from the trailer Dare screamed for "her" baby and the colt put on the brakes, but only for an instant, he moved on forward when I asked him leaving Dare frantically calling to him.

To be continued...................

Examining the Hock

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