Do You Ride Horses? V.4

[OmgItsPattie!]

xx

[ξƞçɧαƞtєđ]

Luzien: If she doesn't go back into heat by the end of July, I guess I'll need to start saving up for a ultrasound. I've been bringing the stall up more and more to my dad and he just keeps saying 'we'll see what happens'. I guess I'll need someone else's opinion (probably the vet's or the president of the united states) to tell him to get his rear in gear and help me get ready for donkey #3. My vet has been working with equines of all sorts for going on 40 years now, so I'm definitely going to trust his opinion over my own on what should and how it should be done.

And the tack on that website might need to wait a little bit as right now, all my money is going towards the vet fees, plus grain and shavings for the stalls. About ready to head to work today and hopefully it's going to be the needed boost I need to start getting back into the triple digits with my savings again as I've had to dip into that jar a few times already... Oops.

[Tsar]

@Tanka:

Yesterday morning I went shopping at Tractor Supply (the wallmart for animals, lol). Other than feed for the chickens and goats, I bought a mitt to wash Tanka with, a sweat scraper (I had never used one of those things before..) and a saddle blanket for the summer. I was using a SureGel saddle pad. Personally I like the SureGel; it's comfortable for the horse, it doesn't slip, and it looks good. The only thing I don't like about them is that they're hot in the summer. Anyways, after I got home I gave Tanka his first total bath this year. I washed his coat and mane, plus I trimmed his tail. I even cleaned his little nose. ^-^ Tanka rolled as soon as I let him go. Fortunately the sweat scraper had got most of the excess water off of him, and he didn't get muddy.
Saved by the sweat scraper.

Today I rode him with the saddle and his new blanket. He surprisingly didn't buck.

[Hime]

In bit of hurry...
@Enchanted: Chestnut filly this time, hopefully with blaze and maybe little socks. c;

Hmmm... Might be different stuff your vet was talking about, I know US allows/has ton more medicines for horses than we do... Anyway, keeping all my toes and fingers crossed that Willow isn't pregnant and will not get pregnant before Willy gets gelded.

Can't really say for sure if the water helps the legs or not, but at least as a form of excersise it's good and easy on the joints. ^^

@Luzien: Only clip I could find of the black one. It's not particularry good quality, and filmed on ice... >_< I would have wanted to see conformation shots of each, but noooo, can't find any. : P Honestly on paper I like them both a lot and total score and conformation vise the black is tad better. In the video clip he also looks maybe tad nicer than the red(though I think the red has gotten better since that video I linked was taken)... I saw them both ridden in the stallion show in winter, both were definetly nice and left impression, but I liked the red's temperament little better.

The areas are really small on the heels and really close to the hoof, so unless you pick up the hoof you can't see them(and if the skin in not wet you can barely see them now). So nothing like the average mud fever you see in pics or anything I've seen before really... I showed them to L yesterday after riding, but there wasn't much to see after I had cleaned them up the day before. She just noted the skin/hooves looked really dry on the area. So I'll keep monitoring them from now on. Heta's hooves tend look really dry after we've worked on the area when it's dry, then they 'suck up' moisture again when she's in pasture and really aren't that dry at all.
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Saturday Heta was again bit more off-ish, but not super bad like couple days before, just the usual. Her time limit working vise seems to be around 30-45minutes of full work(trot, tolt and canter), then she starts to give me trouble in corners etc. And the leads are giving me a headache again. I seriously can't figure them out, like I think I feel the differance(also I think I got some cross canter on Saturday, it was so weird feeling I doubt it was right or left...) but I'm not sure when it's left or right... Any tips? I've tried figuring out the shoulders, but Heta has lot of mane so it's hard to see and even if I braid it out of the way, I still don't get it. ^^'

[ξƞçɧαƞtєđ]

Hime: Pictures of the daddy please. XD I'm happy for you and Heta- that's wonderful news!

I've always heard of horses in rehab using a swim machine thingy to build up muscles without excess strain on the joints- I believe it's a particularly common machine for horses who are healing from broken bones, injured tendons or ligaments, etc. I might be wrong though as I've only read about it a few times and only seen it in action on TV- never in person.

I'm praying she isn't pregnant too- we'll see come the end of July and if she doesn't go back into heat, I'll get my vet out here to take a look at her. I know it's mean, but I just hope Willow kicked the snot out of Willy the last time he tried to mount her so that might be why he's stopped showing interest- he may be a jack, but he is very responsive to punishment and knowing he did something wrong (even though my form of punishment is usually just a raised or sharp tone of voice). I'm hoping for the best though and everyone will be kept updated- and if she is pregnant...I'll need help with names.

As for leads, I'm about as bad as you. I can tell if Buck is on the correct lead or not just by how uncomfortably awkward his gait gets when we pick up the canter- and if I check him back and restart him again and he's less bumpy, then I know he's on the correct one. My way is probably the wrong way, mind you, but it's the least complicated thing I could come up with to teach myself how to feel for wrong steps.

American Pharaoh Winning the Triple Crown: I was worried I'd never live to see one, so I am extremely happy that when I'm old and everyone's teleporting places and racing robots instead of real animals, I can say I watched a horse win the Triple Crown while waving my cane around from atop my fuzzy pony (I have this all planned out) XD. My dad, however, is stuck on the idea that the whole racing industry set this up because the attendance to the races have gone down so they purposefully had a Triple Crown winner to bring the numbers and popularity back up so he's not impressed because in his head, every Triple Crown winner should be like Secretariat (*rolls eyes*). He's never happy, but I'm not going to let him spoil my mood and I am very eager to see what his babies turn out to be like- I think a cross between him Zenyatta would be marvelous.

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Buck tried out his new bit Saturday- he did...meh. It took a lot to turn him and hold him back as every time I'd ask for a fast rack, he'd break into a canter a few strides and when I could ask for a canter, he would try and suggest we gallop instead lol. But on the bright side, he didn't throw his head- which means the bit isn't hitting any teeth! Yippee! I think a few more rides with it on, he'll get used to it. It's about time for a 6 year old to ride with an adult bit rather than the three piece ringed training bit he's been being ridden in his whole life and never weaned off of. His next go in the new bit might have to wait until Thursday though as that is my only day off this week and we're supposed to get storms all up until Saturday *sigh*. I just need to invest in a huge umbrella hat to attach to my helmet. That would make my life so much easier. XD

As for the donkeys, I'm keeping them busy with teaching tricks- have got them both smiling on command and I'm teaching Willy to handshake while Willow has taught herself how to untie my shoes. XD I do have a question though. Do any of you guys know of a supplement or ointment known to help hair growth? Willow is missing some chunks of hair around her chest and rear (probably because of a certain other donkey...) and I'm wanting to get her back to looking normal.

[Hime]

@Enchanted: Daddy to be is the red one I've posted pic and video recently. Just fingers crossed Heta gets pregnant and all goes well. Vet thought she was looking very good for her age on the 'inside', so that shouldn't be a problem.

Well, the name would have to start with W for sure. XD

Heta can actually, and suprisingly, counter canter to right pretty good, left I'm not actually sure, but I think she can do that as well. Though counter canter to left it's not as nice feeling as it would be if she had the correct lead. So what you do sort of works for me as well, but then the 5th gait comes to play and messes things out. XP Since if Heta picks up the canter poorly and it gets pacey, then it can feel like wrong lead, but it really isn't.

Hair supplements: biotin, zink/copper, vitamin B... First also works well to hooves and I've heard it effect positively to mane/tail growth as well. Zink and copper I hear work together the best, but zink is more commonly fed as skin improver. Vitamin B often gets fed when horses are changing their coats in spring/fall. I'd also say vitamin D, but it's more of 24/7 rugged summer itch horse thing and for horses living up north were there's very little sun ligh during winter months hence these type of horses can have defiency of vitamin D. Linseed/flax oil is pretty good as general coat/skin supplement and has excelent omega oil ratio, though not sure if it helps the hair grown. Honestly I think by the time the supplement would start really kicking in, I think most of the missing hair would have grown back already.
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I got to the stable way before the vet was supposed to come, since I wanted to ride/long-rein Heta before that. I went to pick up the pony from the pasture and R was there giving the campers a tour(first camp of the season also a 'guest star' horse, yay ^^ ) and introducing the horses.They were only standing by the gate though. R asked me to pick up one of the mares and her daughter came along to get another mare. She caught 'her' horse easy, but the one I was supposed to catch along with Heta, decided to she didn't want to come and certainly not when I had Heta on my other hand. But after letting her calm down a little and playing small and nice with other horses, she let me catch her just fine. Heta was just hanging around by the fence waiting and showing mild signs of heat to the geldings on the other side. o_o Heta has never really shown heat signs to geldings, minus the first heat after foaling. Either way, I wanted the vet to check up on her anyway to check that everything was okay inside and what phase the heat was in. Just my luck, the farrier also got there while we were fetching the horses, so I asked if he could take Heta's hind shoes off. ^^
Then we got some bad luck... It started raining when we got up to the yard, I took Heta inside for grooming after taking off her rug and then heard thunder rumbling really lound. -__- So it was bye bye anything riding related... It pretty much rained and thundered(couple lightning flashes too) on-off until like hour-half hour before the vet was supposed to come, so in the end I didn't get to ride. Cleaned two stalls while waiting though. The sun got out for little while just before the vet came and it started pouring little after she was finished checking Heta, only to stop little later when I headed out.
Anyway, the vet check. Everything looked fine in the ultrasound(the vet actually complimented how well everything looked considering Heta's age) and my guess of Heta just starting to go into heat was correct. ^^ The vet estimated the prime time would not be until Thursday/Friday maybe. But due my schedules(no car tomorrow for sure, maybe no car on Wednesday either) I decided to drive Heta to the stallion today anyway. I also showed the heels to the vet(though I almost forgot) and she said it may have been some sort of mud fever, but with the treatment I did and their current conditon considered nothing to be overly concerned about and the treatment I did probably was enough. She also said that if I wanted, it would be still possible to do the x-rays around the time Heta would be checked for pregnancy the first time. I'll have to think about it and I'd definetly want others to take x-rays as well to split the costs of that visit.
After the vet check up, Heta got her hind shoes removed and I went to pick up the trailer. I asked for the lightest one and I got the heavier one. -__- No biggie, it just turned out not so great for Icelandic as the beams were bit high... I also did little bad route selection. I've been to the stallion's place once and I remember there was a fairly large hill right after turning from the main road to smaller sand road. Well I checked from google's street view and it didn't look so bad, so decided to try it anyway.The start of the hill wasn't so bad, but then it continued longer than I thought and get bit steeper too... >_< We did make it to the top, but at one point the front tires lost little grip(sand under gave out a little maybe) and freaked me out. Yeah, maybe not so good idea after all with our sucky non-4-wheel drive car. But we made it there in one piece.
We put Heta into the paddock next to the stallion and some mare's with foals. Heta showed some interest to the stallion(which she normally really isn't) though nothing that screamed heat, and the stallion wasn't too interested of her yet either. The owner said the stallion is very good at telling when mare's are ready, so he knew Heta wasn't ready so didn't fuss over her too much. So we left the two to get to know each other next to each other, while we went to do the paper work. Tý also got complimented by the stallion owner, as she had seen him at the show. Maybe I have to start really believing he's actually really good. ^^ And speaking of Ty, surprisingly his sire was also at that stable.

The stallion owner also told me something odd. Heta's sire is not the one marked on her papers. And she knew this because apparently our registery's head or some other person had contacted her about it and asked how it was to be handled, but annoyingly no one had thought it might be nice to notify the horse owner. I mean, I had suspected that something odd was going on as in World Fengur(the international Icelandic horse registery/database) on Heta's page there's no longer any mention of the sire. But thought it might just be something like they were confirming that Heta's DNA matches the sire. Heta's DNA only got taken after Tý was registered, which was more than year a go. Also there was some issues as Tý was not put into WF at the same time as other foals, but that may be just ordinarry mistake as the data is fed into the system by people, not automatically. Now the big question is who actually is Heta's sire and is it even possible to figure it out? She looks very much like her thought to be father, but then again her mother is also chestnut with blaze... Luckily the stallion owner personally knows Heta's breeder in Iceland, so she promised to personally handle the matter and ask the breeder what sires were used the year before Heta was born. ^^ So just maybe we find a match.

[Henry is Bae]

Well my work got back 2 miniatue horses that are pegnant.

Heres some pics
-Shania

-Tizzy

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The other mares
-Princess

-Rosie

-Coletta

-Taffy, mother of Larry

-Luna


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Geldings
-Freedom


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Foals
-Larry, he is 2 months old now!!


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Stallions
-Don

[Luzien]

@ Hime:
i take it back the red seems bether on the Video to the black, on the pics he looked bether, the red is in the faster gates bether, but ist really dificult to see on Video sometimes, but i think you did the right thing with using the red one he could be a nice match for Heta, and the foal will also get the long hair of both ist parents^^

did you try the test on word fengur to see what Colors can also come out of the mating of those two( i did it yesterday with the "foal" of my sisters mare and the old mare of her, only for fun^^,our old mare(the one from my sister is to old)and the young mare is owned now by a friend of the Family and he thinks about bringing her to a stallion this or next year...to funny what can come out of them...and when you let the side chose the stallions, it was also interesting to see, some of the stallions i never did hear about but some where real nice^^),

maybe you are lucky and get a palomino filly like you wanted now that you think you get a chestnut that would be a funny thing when this happens.

wish you good luck, and that Heta likes the stallion, will she go together with him on the pasture or will they let them meet at the Hand?
he sounds like he is a more gentle horse and good to handle, most younger stallion would be like crazy after a new mare near them...., how old is he?

And funny that Tys dad is also at this stable, so he is now with his new owner?

AWWW....cant wait to see your new foal^^ such a Long wait. You must be so happy and delighted to be a "momy" again

The Thing with figuring out the leads....i only could offer you the idea with a mirror-foil that you coud glue on something and hang on the fence of the Long side of your Arena, and put on your horse two different colored leg wraps.....there you could see it.
dont worry most have the Problem...i too sometimes
....maybe those help....http://www.rhythmbeads.com/ -i read that some used them to hear there horse bether and see where they are off, and the same for the lead.

or

- http://cha-ahse.org/store/pages/146/HOW ... -LEAD.html
- http://horsetalk.co.nz/2014/10/01/corre ... z3cYQ0FI7W
- http://polotom.com/lead-that/
- http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/archi ... 63925.html
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canter

- http://www.myhorseuniversity.com/resour ... 8/Question --not sure if this helps


Wow thats not fun with Hetas dad, but thats so typical for the "wild" icelandic time bevor DNA was a must do for icelandics....some breeder did not tell the full truth whith who is the sire-or did not know when two or tree stallion where in the herd...or an other stallion did breek in......hope that the owner of the stallion where Heta is can help you find out who is her true sir, and that you can get the needed things for the DNA test when he still lives.


@ Enchanted: yup to save Money is soooooo hard, and when you think you have a nice safety net,....something happens and you Need it some again, the same i have in the Moment with my sick Girl....
good luck saving again or a nice surprise winning of money or so^^

ahh you where there at the race as he did win?
but i still think most racers today are not what they once where or what they could be.....i mean Secretariat is a good example, he was great. But my most loved ones are Dark Ronald, Oleander, St.Simon, Schwarzgold, Kincsem the Lady of the race, Korok(what a hard going horse), Nereide, Ribot, Surumu, Exterminator(Old Bones, he was to race against man o war but sadly the race never got going...), Hyperion, Humorist, Herold, Waldrun, Birkhan, Orsini, Man o War, and so on...those where horses that where on there own class...and the traing and often care they got was different from today....sad that you today so rarely see a racehorse or sir or mother of great horses, like those....most are to soft, and look what a short time they are only in racing...

But i find it great that you could see the tripple crown.... that you will see some more in the future.
Dont hear what your dad says, sure some small races may be controlled in some way, but you cant stop a horse that wants to run and win, some did try it but even when the jockey is payed to hold back he cant really do much when the horse really is a fighter and winner...and there where 13 horses...atleast from what i did read...how should they set up a race thats so big...the Money that must flow where much more that the race is worth...all the People to pay...nah, that was a fair race.
So stay to your dreams like you do, dont let you mood be spoiled, you will wave you cane, and hit some of the Robot horses in the future ^^.
When you see Baby pics of his first foal, you culd set the up here when you like, maybe they are the next winners that you can see racing^^

For the pulled out hair.
it depends, was it bloody? are the scares at the area now?
when not it will grow back soon, but you could cut the hair at this parts short so that its eaven when it grows back, massage the area to promote blood flow
massage in Baby oil(has Vitamin e inside) or put on Vaseline....2weeks Long each day 1 or 2 times, no washing of the area

Great that the new bite from Buck is bether and his Little new wolf teeth do not hurt anymore.

[June Bug]

Granix cut up his leg on Saturday. >__>
It was right on that line between "should have stitches" and "just keep an eye on it". I was struggling with whether I needed to call my vet out to see it. Farm call on a Saturday night would have been very painful to my pocket, especially since I'm barely even able to make board this month.
Luckily for me, one of the other boarders there (and a good friend of mine) is a surgeon and he just happened to be around. He very generously offered to put a couple staples in it for me, just enough to keep it closed and encourage quicker healing. Considering that it was bleeding quite a lot, and I didn't like the idea of leaving it open, I took him up on the offer. Granix was a very good patient for him. He didn't much like the staples, but an apple and half of my Sparkling Ice helped him forget all about it. As soon as my new work schedule starts and I have more cash, I'm treating that guy to a nice steak!
I'm also out of TMS right now and the barn would charge me twice as much to 'borrow' some of theirs so I've been cleaning it out as often as possible to help keep away any infection. Lucky for him, I had all of Sunday to fuss over him, so all day, every 3 hours, I rinsed/cold-hosed it.
It's looking really really good, no swelling in the leg, he's not lame or sore, no leakage, good color. I'm a little worried about how it'll look today. After the storm we had last night, I'm sure there's a ton of mud. I'm hoping it's formed enough of a scab to keep too much gunk out.

Also, Sunday was interesting.
We had a ton of horses out at a show and the remaining school horses were fully booked. So when I realized I wasn't going to be able to ride Granix for my lesson and Dressage team, I kind of had an 'oh crud' moment. Fortunately, J was there subbing for the trainer who went to coach for the show and she suggested I hop on baby Hope.
Baby was wonderful! Her steering is still pretty squidgy and she's very sensitive, but she's not got too much 'go' so despite a few directional miscommunications, the ride was very pleasant. She tried so hard to do what I was asking and did so well <3 I'll be riding her for the next two weeks while Granix has his staples in and hopefully at least once a week after that as well.
I can't wait for the next time G (the girl who was originally in charge of her training, but gave up because baby was 'crazy') visits so I can go take a little ride. >u> She never liked me and I know seeing me ride a horse she failed to even sit on would just kill her inside.

Sadly, though, since she's still so young, I didn't want to overextend her and ride her twice so I needed someone else for Dressage team. My coach put me on the only school horse left (because very few people can ride him and those that can don't want to), Midas. -__- It's not very often I ride a horse that just makes me angry, but he did it. He fought me the whole time, constantly yanking on my hands and trying to surge forward. I'm amazed we made it through the transition exercise we did (and were somehow the most accurate in our timing. No idea how I managed that). I was so tired after the first half hour though, that the last half of practice, I was pretty much just trying to keep control. My coach had my bridge my reins and grab mane to help set my hands and even with that, he still continued to try to rip my hands off. I've ridden horses that hang, but he's got a special combo of hang-and-yank that really just killed me.
People who are used to heavy horses tend to do a little better with him, but I ride horses that ride from your seat and are very light in the hands so I don't have as much arm/upper body strength. Everything on me hurts. My hands from all the yanking, my arms and shoulders from attempting to set my hands in defense of the yanking, and my core-butt-legs from the speed control.
And the worst part is, he's a nicely built horse with really nice movement. He could be a nice horse if he would just stop freaking fighting his rider. He's also incredibly stupid and stupid makes me angry. I don't do stupid.
Never again.
I'm surprised my barn hasn't kicked him out yet.

[Luzien]

@ June Bug: poor Baby Granix....no fun when your horse is hurt, great that the friend was at the stable and could help you! im not sure if you have this but betaisodona
betadine( providone iodine) or later zinc ointment but to keep it save from mud you could put on a thick layer of Vaseline?

Great that Hope does so well and you could ride her, hope that you can rub this the other Girl one day in the face when you ride her in front of her. Do you think that you can ride her sometimes in a Show in the future? It sounds as if you work well together^^

Awww i so like Midas, do you want to send him over...i love good horses who are
bitches to handle^^ with time when you ride such horses you learn tricks to get them softer and easy to handle.... but i understand for all the time i also would not like to have such a horse, but maybe two times a year or so^^ to learn new tricks for the own horse....
may i ask what you mean with heavy, head heavy or does he only pull a lot or does he bite on the bit and does keep you from giving him direction?
Horses who know how to bite the bit are sometimes clever as hell and did learn how to get out of to hard work with tricks like this and only do so much as absolutely needed.
Maybe they did not kick him out because of his nice movements? or something else, hey maybe he was an old champion^^
But the ride did not Sound like fun for you, hope you feel bether now, and then i hope for you that you dont have to rid him again

please tell how Granix is, hope he is well soon!