# Horses & dogs & Florida farm stuff



## ChieTheRider

It might be a good place to rant and talk about the horses and all the critters, better than making an individual topic for each thought/question. I don't know how often I'll keep this up, but I'll try. Someone spam me if I don't XD but anyhow, here's to start. 

Today. Well actually let's back up to yesterday and review. A bit pic heavy...

Going outside on just a normal morning, then I hear little brother #3 yelling something about the cows. I go outside. 

See it? 









See it now? 









You totally see it now. 









We had no idea she was pregnant. After examining the other cows, one is really big (thought it was fat, possibly not) her business is droopy and stuff so maybe she's gonna calve too. Yay? He's a cute little bull calf though. 










First surprise chicks, then surprise calf? Thank the Lord for life but geez. 

In other news, nothing much is up with the horses except JayR finally busted his flymask. It was the cashel crusader with the nose (because he gets sunburned to the point of bloody blisters so it's a flymask and sunscreen for his face). Pretty good mask, just too big. Hated the stretchy strap with the velcro. Yick. The summer is almost over so I can tackle the rest of the season with sunscreen. Darn light skinned horses. Tess doesn't get sunburned ever, she's arab x appy with black skin. A little mottled pink around the muzzle (because of the appy in her) but that's it. It's JayR with the burns and allergies and everything. Poor old guy. 

Still working with Red, the lame one. He might heal, he might not. He's better, but still limps. He's green broke but I saddled him the other day and walked him around. He pitched a little bitty fit about tightening the girth (ears back and stomping, he may or may not have been aiming for my toes) but was otherwise alright. Once he's better we can do more riding work on him, but as of now it's ground work and manners and the like.


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## AtokaGhosthorse

Crazy how a momma cow can hide those new babies, isn't it?

I... wouldn't recommend you get between mom and wee one there... or have dogs with you when you go feed in a few months when the weather turns in your area (I assume it does turn some where you live)

We had a surprise foal once. She's awesome. A turd to deal with and learning personal space and to not nip because she's in that obnoxious, pushy 18 month old stage now, but we love her.

Her momma's name was Nope.

Baby's name?

Oops.


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## AtokaGhosthorse

I would add: One of our mommas had a calf this past spring... we called that little fart the Unicorn.

She kept it hidden for WEEKS, maybe close to EIGHT?

We'd see it every so often then POOF. GONE. We started to wonder if it was a mythical creature. 

NEVER COULD find where she stashed it. :shrug:


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## ChieTheRider

Ha! Smart cow. And yes I'm staying away from momma. The calf got out under the fence yesterday and couldn't get back and momma was MAD. Had to be really careful getting the little guy back in. The dogs leave the cows alone and don't chase them, but truthfully I'm glad they're loose out there. The coyotes were going insane last night and the dogs would chase them off. Still we had to put Red up in the stall (they share the pasture with the cows) because he was curious and sniffing and licking Baby. Didn't hurt anything, but was freaking poor momma cow out a bit.


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## AtokaGhosthorse

Good goggies then. Our ancient golden retriever used to really try to put a hurting on interloping coyotes. He never ever got close to one, but he'd run them right the heck off our place if he ever caught wind of one.

Have fun with that baby. Watching them kick up and play is the best.


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## ChieTheRider

Thanks Atoka, I will.

*SO.

*Have you ever woken up to find out the farrier is here and you forgot about it? Our farrier comes earlier in the morning (depending on his schedule, around 07:30 - 08:30) and we USUALLY have it written on the calendar. Well this time I forgot and was dragged out of my nice warm bed at the abominable hour of 8 AM to go catch horses. If I hadn't been up till almost 2 last night it wouldn't have been a problem. 

Update on Tess's feet. Thin soles, and slightly weaker hoof wall. I knew this before, and am still trying to get a plan together about how to deal with it. I really want to ride her more and harder, but I don't much because of her feet. BUT. Today I found out that the cost of front shoes for her (plus the trim) is $85. We're already accustomed to paying $40 per horse for the trim, so it's only $45 more. I might be able to convince mother to split it with me, we shall see. But it's only $45 and now that I've got a bit more income it shouldn't be much of a problem. The farrier said that the front shoes plus a little turpentine and she should be good. I might supplement but Tess has access to minerals plus grass 24/7 so she is pretty balanced out in her diet. she doesn't have cracks in her feet unless it's right before a trim and they're a little rough, but overall she has pretty ok feet, heath wise. 

Also, I bought a pair of boots. Yay! But, they're way too big (thought I was a 9, apparently not ugh). Anyway, I can't return them OR get a refund because I don't have the tag. :-x So I'm most likely going to have to put them on ebay and sell them. I need at least $100 for them because I need to buy another pair. New ones are at the cheapest $140 and most of the time a decent chunk more. Mine have only been worn one time and are clean and without scuffs. They still have the box and everything, but apparently that's not enough for the company to take them back. They're the women's Ariat Heritage Stockman and they are AMAZING boots. They're just too big. I'm really mad, I think I should call the company and complain or something. Stupid tag. Er, anyone on here want some boots? XD


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## ChieTheRider

Today was ok. School as usual. I did have a bit of a panic attack over an assignment I was getting pressed on and didn't understand how to do, plus being stressed about work in general. Whatever, it wasn't that bad. 

WELL. Another cow might be "with calf". She's bagging up and has discharge from her business and all, so we'll see. She might have it tonight, she might have it a few days from now. I'll walk out there one morning and there's a calf wobbling around. Anyhow.

Still trying to sell the boots. Ugh. 

JayR is getting rub marks around his tail from itching. Working on that, it's probably mild sweet itch. I myself am dealing with an itchy problem, athletes foot. Ew. Tee tree oil and coconut oil seem to be working so far. We've used in on thrush for the horses before and it worked. JayR (the old man and usually the one with an issue or two) had a bad case and we had to clean out his feet, dry them, treat them, and try to keep poop out of them. He's now over it. What's funny is his has four white feet. And he's the one with the good feet! Thrush every so often and mainly in the summer but otherwise he has structurally sound feet. Tess has three dark feet and has the thin soles and weakish hoof wall. Though since I replenished the minerals, her hooves are obviously healthier. It's not grown out much since I've had the minerals out there, but you can still see a small difference. 

Not much is happening. Horses, life, dogs, more life. It's slow for now. :cowboy:


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## ChieTheRider

Today was not really anything important. 

Had a lesson with my "student" (mom's friend's 8 yo daughter who we're friends with). It was her birthday a week or so ago and since our (mine and hers) birthdays are only two days apart, I got her a present. It was a nice Troxel helmet of her own, so now she doesn't have to use my older beat up seen-better-days helmets. She gave me a bag of horse treats and a horse brush :loveshower: if more people got me horse tack and the like for my birthday I'd be in heaven. 

The actual lesson went well, though she hadn't ridden for a month or more and was scared. She's not overly confident, but usually gets over it. She kept being afraid that the cows would chase her or something. That was silly, because they're all slow and fat and probably pregnant and don't give squat about the horses. And the one with the calf was nowhere near her. Then I was showing her how to ride with a crop in her hand and she got freaked out because JayR was tossing his head around and backing up. What it was is that when she was trotting the crop kept accidentally tapping JayR's rear (she was having a hard time not letting it do that) and he misunderstood the communication and thought it meant go faster. Student didn't think that was exciting at all and stopped him, but at the some time was waving the crop around. JayR just kept backing up and tossing his head. He wasn't spooked, just a little mixed up. Nothing bad happened except for Student getting spooked. After that we went back to the popper that ties to the saddle for the rest of the lesson. She's getting the hang of walk/trot/cantering in big circles and keeping the horse in line. Jay is great on his turns and since he's retired dressage, he shows off his moves. He'll do a pretty lead change then a slow, rocking canter with his head tucked down. He doesn't act like 22. I love that silly old man, even if he is grumpy sometimes.


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## gingerscout

I'm going to join this.. enjoy reading people's blogs and I am moving to florida in 6-8 months myself


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## ChieTheRider

Welcome and bring a rain jacket and tons of insect replant. Maybe some bear spray and something to fight alligators too...


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## ChieTheRider

Cow dropped a calf about a half hour ago. It wasn't either of the ones I thought were showing signs. Will update later.


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## ChieTheRider

So update. 

Mama1 and calf1 are doing fine and the calf is hopping around and starting to play and goof off. Mama2 and calf2 are also healthy so far and that calf just pretty much sleeps all the time. In a while though he and his half brother will be running around and playing and maybe have a few more new friends. One cow is almost certainly bred just from observation, and maybe even the heifer is bred as well. All four were in with a young bull that apparently had figured stuff out before he was moved to a different pasture. So, fun. None of them were supposed to be bred but most likely they all are. 


Here's something not cow related. It's about Tess, the local smart Alec. She might be my favorite horse ever. Next to JayR, of course. 

She seems to take delight in pretending to not be interested in me or anything, when it's painfully obvious she is. I turn my back and she comes closer. I make eyes contact and she pretends I don't exist. Complete opposite from the doofus, Red, who is just a big, slightly dumb lover boy. Tess will _sometimes _let you come and pet her and sometimes even hug and scratch her withers. Other times she'll let you touch her shoulder then walks off. Ears not back but simply in that uninterested pose. Tess is a pretty little horse at around 15hh (probably a bit shorter) and with her little Arab head, but man she's a little turd sometimes. She's the type of horse that rarely honestly spooks at things and behaves when you ride her, but if you put someone who even seems inexperienced on her she decides the trash can might just have the boogey man inside it. Never does anything directly disobedient but totally plays dumb. "What? You're squeezing your legs, does that mean go? By the way does pulling on the reins mean stop? OMG THE DOG!" 

Mares. 

She's the best trail horse though. I wanted to do endurance with her, since Arab/app isn't a bad mix. I'd start training again if I had her in shoes, which I'll get hopefully. She's fast and can keep going fast for a long time. Once we did a decent race with the fastest Tennessee walker in our horsey community (who just so happens to be the fastest at sprints too. He's an endurance and a barrel horse) and even though she started behind (because she decided to crow hop and get excited) Tess caught up and was eating his tail by the end. She could have won if she hadn't of hopped around at the beginning. 

I think I love this horse too much. I mean I would if that were actually possible. She can be a total MARE some days though if you know what I mean. Geldings make so much more sense sometimes. Except when the paint gelding who's 22 spooks at a plastic bag and Tess doesn't even flick her ear. Jay was a show (dressage) horse though and was pampered, so "roughing it" on a farm property is different than being boarded at a stables where everyone's English and the horses are clipped. Another reason Jay doesn't like people messing with his ears, probably got nipped the wrong way by some clippers one time. During winter Tess gets so fuzzy and her fetlock hair gets really long so that it touches the ground. Have to trim it before she starts looking like a clydesdale haha.

In other news, nothing. Not much more to talk about. Except that our dog who chases the horses sometimes tried it on the cow and got rammed with her horns. He was unhurt but she shoved him out of the way. Served him right. There should be a thread to share experiences about how your horses/other animals dealt with a dog that tried to chase them around.


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## ChieTheRider

Finally. 

It's been a rough past couple days. Main reason is because our dachshund "Lizzie" we've had for 12 years was run over by a car. That was horrible and tragic and I'm mostly recovered, besides the obvious missing her. 

That's the thing you learn when living on a farm or just with animals in general. Our beloved critters aren't immortal, nor do they live as long as us. They tend to be not as smart either and sometimes accidents happen. Point being, they die. It would have been a whole lot worse if she was our only dog, or only pet, or only other thing in our house besides the people. We do live on a mini farm though and have 3 horses, 7 cows, 3 cats, around 12 chickens, 5 dogs (it was 6 before and 2 are livestock dogs and are out in the field 24/7) and sometimes the occasional stray that hangs around until we find it a home. Having other dogs also means more to "fill the hole". Lizzie will be missed and forever remembered, but we don't have that "alone" feeling you have after losing something you care about. There's other dogs and things you still have to do, and the best thing to try and do is move on. I've gotten to where I don't feel horrible if a chicken dies or gets killed. It's sad and all but it's just a chicken and chickens die. I'm over that. If my horse or Mae Mae (Blaze) died I really think I might lock myself in my room and not come out for a week. I'm working on that. Mae is around 4 and healthy and both Red and Tess are about 8. JayR is 22. He's older. He might have another 10 years to go, you never know. Still, the thought of losing my horse or my dog upsets me. It'd upset anyone. Losing the family dog was traumatizing and pretty heartbreaking, but she wasn't _my _dog. I was really sad when an OTTB of my grandmother's died and climed to the top of a tree and stayed there for an hour. I was 12. The poor horse had foundered so bad they had to put him down. I missed him, but learned to not let it hurt you so bad. All in all it's just an animal. When my grandma's other horse, the first horse I ever really rode died, I don't think I cried, and if I did it wasn't much. It also wasn't tragic, she was 40 and just laid down and died. It's not as bad as the bone coming through the bottom of her hoof and having to be put down. Losing the animals you love hurts, but it's something we as animal people have to learn to almost get over.


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## ChieTheRider

*On Nate*

I really think we've done everything we can to prepare. It's only going to be a cat 2. That can mean sustained winds up to 110 mph. We're not in the direct path, so luckily we won't get hit with the worst. All the horses are up, we've got water, we're pretty well set. 

JayR is really the only one who seems nervous about the storm. In his stall he didn't settle down like the other horses. He had to sniff all around the stall, drink half his bucket of water, and just look on edge. Everyone else is fine. Except one of the cats who hates storms. He goes and hides when there's a thunderstorm or rain. He's a barn cat so he'll disappear for a whole day if it's storming.


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## ChieTheRider

GUYS. WE HAVE A 4TH CALF! Out of my grandmother's cows who're living here at the time being BUT STILL. 

And not just any calf, a little jet black heifer! (99.999% sure it's a girl anyway. Hard to tell when they're only a few hours old and the momma won't get out of the way) All the others are boys, and I've been praying the last cow had a girl! She did! It's such a pretty little thing! And better yet, my grandma pretty much said I could have her if I wanted! AH. I'm so excited! 

!!!

Anyway, I'm naming her. Even if I don't keep her for some reason, I'm gonna give her a name. Her mom's and aunt's and grandmother's names are all related to flowers, so I feel I should do something like that. I kinda wanna call her Elanor because the golden flower of Lothlórien (and it's Samwise Gamgee's daughter's name). Because it's a flower and all, even if the cow is actually black hehe...but still, it's a Lord of the Rings reference. Then there's Rose/Rosie, Carrie (because Princess Leia and I like the name) or something else. 

Suggestions on names? I should do a poll...I know it's just a cow but I still like naming things.


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## ChieTheRider

After realizing I really, really need to manage my time better, I've gotten a good schedule together. Mainly because I'm going to start feeding old Jay twice per day, and that I need to work Tess. I'm getting up at about 7, going straight outside before breakfast, feeding the horse and working with Tess for an hour, then going back inside and going on with my day. I haven't been riding her as much as I should because of school and life in general. She's gotten a little barn sour and stubborn. She's not that bad, but still she just needs to be ridden. I lunged her with the saddle today, then rode her. I don't have a round pen, so I have to try to stick to an imaginary circle as best I can. She did pretty well, except when she got miffed about me making her trot and went too fast, breaking into a canter. She's not proficient on the lunge line, but she's at least familiar with the click that means go, whoa, walk, trot, canter, and change. 

Then I rode her. She was a little bouncy at first and didn't want to do what I said, but eventually settled into doing what she was told. She did well. But, riding her realize that she isn't the only one out of shape. I'm sore. I'm usually not sore after riding her. We both worked hard, and we're both getting back into shape. 

Random thing. She's got chippy hooves now. I've never seen them this bad. One side of her hoof is chipped so when she's standing on solid ground, you can see under her hoof. Not good. I have to go easy on riding her. She's not lame, not sore, but that's still not good. Why do some horses have to have hooves like that...


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## ChieTheRider

Tess might be sore or just stubborn. She usually doesn't want to _stop, _now she doesn't want to _go_. Weird. 

And I kind of feel like someone's been beating about the head and shoulders with a 2 x 4. Granted, it's literally not that bad, but I'm really sore. It doesn't help that I had to go remove a possum from the premises, and doing so required using the axe to knock out the rotten wood in the log it was hiding in. Possums are nasty. 

Last note, it's unnerving when cows hide their calves. Little Ellie (is what I'm calling the calf if her owner gives the ok) was nowhere to be found this morning and that's how I found the possum, by tramping around in the trees looking for her. A little later I went out again and she was under the lean-to with her mom. Scared me bad, because she's so tiny (probably doesn't weigh 40lbs, she's a Dexter) and even coyotes could have gotten her. I ruled that out pretty quick after seeing that the dogs, cows, and horses were all calm and quiet and there were no signs of a fight. Still, if she had gotten out into the neighboring field that's surrounded by thick brushy woods, something could have got her and I not know. Her mom was calm and not hollering for her calf so in the end I had to assume the calf was just hidden somewhere. She was and she's fine, it just made me nervous.


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## ChieTheRider

Here's little Ellie! She's so teeny! She's the black one, and the brown one in the first pic is one of the bull calves. 



















Wanted to make sure she was a girl (hard to tell bc I can't get the best look) so I managed to catch her today. She's a she! She's also a spunky little thing.


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## ChieTheRider

UPDATE: 

not much. The cows are getting out through a hole they busted in the fence and we're in the process of getting another board for it. And it's been raining. It poured last night. 

And I might make a thread for asking questions about Tess's color. It's weird. She's a reddish darkish brown with white hairs in there and some small white spots on her shoulders and butt (bc she's half appy). Then her mane and tail. It's black closer to the roots, then it gets blond at the tips. Almost like a silver bay, but she's not a bay. No black points at all. She almost looks like this








but again no black legs/ear tips and she has way less blond than this pic.

We say she's a sorrel, but her mane is just funny.


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## ChieTheRider

Rant. I was going to make it a reply to a topic then it got off topic but I liked where it was going to kept writing. 

It's a little disappointing, but horses aren't like dogs. 90% of them don't follow you around and come when they're called and all, not without knowing they can get something from it. Our horses are pretty average. One is a lover but won't really follow you around, and the other two are pretty much "meh". They'll let you walk up to them and you can easily catch the lovey gelding, but the other two can be a pain to catch sometimes. JayR is usually ok, just pretend to have feed or actually have some and don't rush him. If you rush him he'll run for the barn where you can catch him, but it means running all the way back to the barn for my two legs. 

Tess, my only mare, is the hardest to catch. I've had her for a couple years now, and her attitude in general has improved since I got her (everything from tossing her head/not standing still when tied to being stubborn as a mule/cow kicking when cleaning her feet). She's not a huge lover. Sometimes she'll walk up to you and let you pet her, but most of the time she ignores (or pretends) to ignore you. Sometimes you'll go to get her without treats, not succeed, and stomp back to the barn to get cookies. She starts to follow you. You turn around to maybe catch her and lo, once she sees you're looking at her she ambles off like she doesn't even see you there. It's like she's passive aggressive to a small extent, she wants her way. She's gotten much better, but it takes time. If I keep her till her dying day she might get to the point where she comes over to me to "gimme kisses" (the one of a couple tricks she knows) voluntarily, but probably not. She's a mare. The thing is, horses aren't terribly affectionate to people. It can be helped and they can be friendly, but they'll probably not prance up to you and lick your face like in the cartoons. First off in a horse-human relationship comes the first element of trust. Trust as in letting you actually ride them, ect ect. 

Next comes respect. You don't have to be "the BOSS" as in "you do what I say when I say or else", but a respected authority. Sometimes it depends on the horse. I'd say the majority of horses are stubborn critters. They don't need to be "whooped" but the need to be kept in line. Like, you wouldn't let your friend walk over a cliff and not correct them or at least warn them about it. I don't think we need to dominate horses, but if you're going to make an animal do something that it wasn't God-made to naturally do, someone will have to be the "teller". You can still be a team and be the superior. It's like a kid. If you let your kid run wild and do whatever they want, they won't really have respect for you. Kids have respect for someone who tells them who's who and prevents them from hurting themselves or someone else, even if they don't realize it till later. I've already come to my mom and said "Mom, than God you protected me and spanked me to keep me from doing the dumb crap that some kids do."

Now, your horse probably won't say that to you, but they'll give you respect if you keep them in line. 

After respect, comes real trust. If a horse respects you and also mildly trusts that you're the brains up there, they'll be more apt to do things for you. Things like crossing muddy water is still probably going to be an issue (is it already was, it'll be better) because it's not an instinctual thing for a horse to want to do. Things like walking over a wooden obstacle bridge, under a curtain of flappy trash bags, or other little event obstacles, are going to improve immensely. You know 100% that it's safe, and the horse can tell. You have full confidence. It's different than going over muddy water, unless you get off and walk too you aren't totally sure there isn't a hole or a rock or something else that might be ouchy or scary. In both situations, though, a respectful horse will respect your authority and belief that whatever you're asking them to do is safe. 

Next comes affection. Some horses show way less of this than others. Some will trot over and nuzzle you like an old friend, some will ignore you in the pasture. Even so, there's still a bond between horse and rider. Maybe not something so that a horse would fight a bear to the death to save you, but something that they'll let you pet them and ride them and not fuss about it too much. It depends on the horse. 

Note: I think all these 3 (technically 4) things can almost be worked on and developed at once, and sometimes not in this order. Some horses are different. It really depends on the horse AND the rider.


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## ChieTheRider

I am so tired. I've been outside all day from about ten something this morning to 5:30 I hadn't eaten anything all day. I had a cup of coffee, that was it. I just had a snickers now. I wanted some quick sugar because I was shaking. I've been drinking a lot of water though, so at least I'm hydrated. 

Reason: I built a fence around the rest of the lean-to in the dog field and then build a new door (from scratch) for the chicken coop. Pretty much all by myself except for the siblings helping a bit stringing some wire. Other than that I did it while everyone else was working on landscaping around the pool. I'm utterly and completely pooped. It started out as a mission to stop the cows from getting in the coop, then it turned into me remembering how much we needed a little extended run for the chicken coop. We're going to put their own little compost pile in there and hopefully we'll get them laying again. We couldn't keep them in before because the door was broken. I build a solid one using recycled fence boards and recycled lattice we've had laying around. It's about five feet tall and exactly three feet wide. Other than that it was the fence, which was fairly simple because we had large gauge wire fencing already there for some reason. All I had to do was secure the smaller fencing to that. To cross the front I had to put in a T-post but other than that it was easy. I'm going to make a way for the chickens to get through into the field using more fencing but with larger spaces so they can get through but the other animals can't. Besides that, we need to make a permanent opening from the coop to the run then fill in a hole the dogs dug by the shelter then we're good.


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## ChieTheRider

It's lesson day. There's someone coming to watch to see if they want to take lessons with me. I'm a little nervous. Last time I got cheers for letting the "student" put me on the horse and "teach" me. She gave me the walk/trot/canter commands to go around her in a circle, the stop, turn, ride here, etc. The drill stuff. There's a saying along the lines of "if they can teach it back to you the really know it". She wasn't at perfection (the kid is 8) but she did pretty well. She proves she knows and it's a fun way to test her. She gives me the helmet and reins and I give her the cap and whip. (Just the driving whip, not hardly any lash, it's used mostly as a reference to how far away from the person the horse needs to stay. We don't have a round pen so we improvise). 

We'll see how this goes. If it goes well, I can maybe put shoes on Tess! I'll have the money.


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## ChieTheRider

As of now, I think the other kid's going to do lessons! EEEEEE. 

The only thing that I didn't really like about the introduction to her and her mom was that Tess was being a total butthole. Crowhopping around and not letting me catch her and snorting and streaking around the field when I put her back in after riding. Acting like a real jerk. 

Well yesterday she was chasing Red (one of our geldings) around and trying to mount him. She's in heat. That explains everything.


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## ChieTheRider

My grandma is looking into two TWH geldings. From what she knows, one is 15, one is 17. They're pretty even tempered. Her farrier also does these horses' feet, so she's going to call him and see about how they handle and all. If it's worth looking into, she and I might go check them out. We have more acreage than her and often rotate horses and cows on each other's pastures. I'd get to ride them, and if their temperament isn't too spooky then my sister can ride them as well. They'd be great for trails, and if my sister rode one she could keep up with Tess. It's funny, having to get a TWH to keep up with another horse on trails, instead of vice versa. I don't know all the details, but 15 and 17 yo geldings that are in good shape seems like a good situation. My grandpa wants to ride some, and so does my grandma. I love grandma so much, she's 70 but still runs around after the horses. She's a little spitfire, about 5'1" but full of it. She can handle a faster horse for sure. She grew up with horses in South Dakota with her grandpa and uncle and aunt. Actually, if anyone's heard of Jerry Olson, he was her uncle. He actually just died. So I learned from the niece of a famous rodeo cowboy and the granddaughter of a buffalo rider. She's great.


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## ChieTheRider

Today was a harvest festival day for a local school. Both the two girls I school and my trainer's son go there. Trainer's son couldn't be found when time to show the mini horse, so I grabbed one of the girls I teach and she took over. She did great, though the little mare was in season and was being an absolute five-letter-word. Broke her halter twice, tried to kick my mare, and bucked. She's always stubborn. Minis tend to be. Next time my gelding is coming for kids to ride. It was pretty much a field day, all horses and kids and people welcome. 

I got to run my mare on barrels. She wasn't an expert by a long shot, it's been a while since she's done barrels. Tess did great. She was the Arab representative of the whole thing since she's half Arab and no one else had a horse available. I found she likes Fritos...I mean, they're corn chips. She only had a couple, I'm not one to feed my horse junk. One or two chips don't hurt her though and she likes them. Wouldn't eat lettuce that I saved from a sandwich, but she'll try and eat cotton candy, boiled peanuts, and Fritos. :think: She wouldn't drink while we were there. It was only a couple hours so she'll live, but I still want her to drink. She's always been a pill about it. Any tips on how to get her to want to drink more? 

Anyway, I need to get barrels and ride her on them. This was just for fun and my first time in an arena with people watching, but surprisingly it was like there wasn't anyone there. All I was paying attention to were the barrels and my horse. I really don't remember thinking about the people pr the other horses or anything besides getting the horse around the barrels. If she's good at that and I like it, then why not? I got more compliments on her from my trainer. Tess is a good girl. 

Besides that, we have wasps in our house. They were in the chimney and when we used the fireplace they came down. Santa's going to have to call the exterminator before he comes to our house :razz:


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## ChieTheRider

Progress report on gentling Ellie, the little Dexter calf. 

The other day I spent an hour crawling around in the grass with the calves, just meandering around. If Ellie or the others got close, I'd back away a little, and they'd follow. Just a bit. If I went forward, they'd spook and run off. They got pretty close. My little brother seems to be set on gentling Ellie with me and spends hours out there just sitting or playing with them. He's actually touched the calves. 

I think I need patience. Tess gets fed up with me too if I'm overly demanding. She needs someone to make her do what she needs to do, but she also needs someone to just be on the same level as her and be buddies. Mares are confusing. I imagine Tess acting something like this when thinking about me, or anything else. I might put in Tess's point of view here, though at this point it's not an original thing on the forum anymore. A lot of people are getting behind the eyes of their horses here. 

Tess: "I don't know why Sis keeps trying to catch me, I don't want to be ridden! I don't care if the saddle fits perfect of if she warms the bit for me, no. And that hay? Nope. Not worth it, I love running in the cold weather way too much. And yes, Sis can just go ahead and feed the hay to Red right in front of me and I won't act jealous one bit. I'll not even look at her. This morning she came to get me. She had on her favorite cap and her riding boots with the horrid poky things on them and her chaps! I knew she was going to try to catch me, so NOPE! But then she had to go and grab Red's halter and start taking him away. Naturally I had to follow. Even though Red is -sort of- my boyfriend he's a bit of a dummy. I mean, aren't all boys? He's ok though, he's sweet. Anyway, back to mean old Sister. She took Red and put him in the stall. Red went right in when he saw the hay. See, he's a dummy. Old grumpy man was in the other stall being tacked up by Miss Attitude, aka Sis's little sister. Sis put the saddle on me while I ate my hay and I told her I didn't like it. She smacked me a little and told me to cut it out. That may or may not have had anything to do with me tossing my head and stomping at her. Then we went to chase cows. Sis told me she didn't know what she was doing. I believed her, she confused me trying to keep that little big cow from getting in with the rest. She made me run around. I don't like working, I wanted to go back and sit with Red. Attitude was on old JayR, but he's a grumpy old man and didn't do well at all. He keeps saying he was a dressage and jumper horse and how his fancy stables were better than this old barn. Red told him it didn't matter so long as FOOD and I just said Jay is a wimp. Back to the cows. Sis said I did pretty well. She said I weren't no "cutting" horse, and I needed to work on sliding stops or at least stopping with my hindquarters. Well, I think my stop-on-the-front-feet-and-send-Sis-nearly-over-my-head stop is perfectly fine, than you very much. 

After the cows Sis did something goofy. She put a weird thingy on my back and stood up on my back. She rode me around a little. Well, I didn't mind her standing there. I didn't have to move! She couldn't tell me to go without her legs so I just sat there no matter how much Sis told me to go and whistled and clicked at me. Finally we were done and she got off. Then she tried to spray me with some WATER. I HATE water. Well, when it's sprayed on my back. She went really slow and did it gently, which only made me impatient! I don't like water at all. Sis needs to get that into her head. I showed her though, right after she let me go I went and rolled in a monstrous pile of dirt and got it all over me. Now when she rides me tomorrow she'll have to brush me extra good."


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## ChieTheRider

I LIVE. Sadly I can't say the same for my computer. The hard drive is messed up and the whole thing won't work. I'm using my old one what has to stay plugged in all the time because it won't recognize the battery. this site won't work on my phone for some reason, but I know it's my browser. Eh, I hate typing on mobile anyhow. 

Christmas is almost hereeeeeeeeee! It's hard to believe. 6 days. Wow. We actually got snow a week or so ago! It was only a couple of inches and melted the next day, but it was SNOW. In FLORIDA. That's not something you see every day, in fact, that's not something you'd expect to see in Florida EVER. We were pretty excited. Poor old JayR in his skimpy winter coat was the only one I needed to blanket, the others were fine just in the stalls. He never gets a thick winter coat, no matter what I do. He's even on a supplement year round that helps his coat and with his weight issues, but it doesn't do much coat wise. Went out there in the rain in about 40 degrees and he was shaking. Shivering really hard. The others didn't have a problem. Now it's back in the 70s and still wet. That's December in Florida. Just always wet. I'm so glad we actually got snow and not nasty sleet like that other year it snowed a bit.


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## ChieTheRider

Coban is really wonderful. Whatever you call it. VetWrap is the animal version. I find coban is a bit cheaper and it's always part of my first aid kit - for people and the barn. It's also handy for wrapping a rope hackamore nose if it's rubbing or stuff like that. When band-aids won't stay in fingers while watching dishes, it's a lifesaver. Dogs get in a fight and chomp somebody's leg, it's an easy bandage. (careful, not too tight though)

Before this starts sounding like an advertisement lemme cut the rant and sum up things real quick. I'm terrible at journaling. 

- Broke up a dog fight yesterday. One's a ***** (literally) and I think is in heat so she's a bit more grumpy than usual. Normally this isn't a problem. When she saw my dog walk in her general direction she snarled and got her hackles up. She was guarding a section of deer hide she'd found in the woods somewhere. Well, in short, the dogs charged and fought. Breaking up fights between two 40+ lb dogs isn't easy. I got bit in the leg (didn't break the skin but there's a nasty bruise) and then got bit in the hand. That hurt, it took the skin of a little part of my finger. Nothing a band aid can't help but it hurt like a son of a gun. Moral for the story, always wear jeans. Actually, just carry a big stick. And wear boots. All of the above. 

- It's cold and it's going to get colder. Supposed to freeze hard enough to make Hell look like Canada. 

- Retraining Tess is giving me biceps. Longeing her...still trying to reteach her what "whoa" means. Good grief. 

- Not much else. Life's boring as of now, and I'm alright if it stays that way.


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## ChieTheRider

it's still cold. Having a time dealing with JayR and his legs getting puffy and stiff when he's in the stalls. Other than that there's nothing going on.


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## ChieTheRider

I've been riding Tess in a twisted O-ring lately for trails instead of the Tom Thumb. The twisted one is a rougher bit, I know that. I've been using that because it has similar strength to a TT and I'm trying to switch her from a curb back to snaffle. She just needs work and I don't have a lot of time ugh. Don't worry though, we're going to get her in an easier snaffle and we're going to retrain her. I know it's what she needs.

I need to post some trail pics! Yesterday we went down to the river and fished. We took the horses and brought halters and tied them to the trees while we made a fire and fished some. Caught absolutely nothing, but it was fun. What wasn't fun was that I had a spill on the way back. It was my fault. We were riding on the side of the road in a concrete lined ditch for water runoff. I was going too fast and attempted to climb out of it. Well, Tess slipped and fell on me, pinning my leg to the ground. The worst I got out of it was a skinned elbow and a bruised hip, thank God. She fell on the grass on the side of the ditch. If it was the concrete I'd have been in trouble. The first thing I did was jump up and run to make sure Tess was alright. I knew nothing was broken as I could stand and move everything alright. I tended the scrape on her knee (really only a tiny scratch, BUT YOU NEVER KNOW...) and rubbed up and down her legs and checked her hooves and worried over her while my brother was constantly asking me if any bones of mine were broken. I'm lucky I'm ok, never trying that stunt again. Watch out for slippery concrete! Tess habdled it pretty well and just got up and walked over to JayR. the first thing I did when I fell was yell for someone to get my horse. My brother was on his bike and came to my "rescue" and my sister jumped off her horse and grabbed mine. We walked all the way back home. 

I also grabbed at Tess's halter the other day and she pulled away and I slipped in the hay (we were out with the cows by the round bale) and pulled some muscles in my arm. I rather feel like Frodo right after the encounter with The Nine on Weathertop, for any of you Lord of the Rings nerds out there.  

So besides me hurting myself like the klutz I am, nothing crazy has happened. Except that I'm actually making progress on my novel, WHEEE.


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## ChieTheRider

Lately it's been rather stressful. I've been having some anxiety issues and all my horses seem to be injured or prone to injury in some way. JayR has been recovering from his bowed tendon (LF), but he's lame in his RF now. It might be partly because of his frog shedding so dramatically in that foot and being tender (the farrier trimmed pretty much the entire thing off, it was just hanging there anyhow) but it's been a week and still mildly lame, so that might not be it. Besides, the vet noticed lameness in that leg a month ago when we took him for the tendon. It seemed to go away, but now it's back. If it really doens't go away even with the vet's treatment plan, then we're taking him in again. 

Tess has a small swelling on her RF (about 2 -3 inches below the knee, about the size of a horsefly bite welt), but the farrier said it's just a little pull where the ligament was strained. (Inferior check ligament I think, but I could be wrong). He said she didn't need to go see the vet, which we took as good news, but I just hope he knows what he's talking about? I mean he does, but he's not a vet. I just...I'm probably paranoid. But even so. She's not lame, but there's still the swelling there. She's also recently become very trippy. she trips when I ride her and always stumbles with her front legs. It's worrying me. It'll usually be if we're riding in a circle or making a turn. This is my (hopeful) barrel horse, and any injury around the tendons or something that's making her trip when she turns is really kind of freaking me out. 

Red also has pretty much been vet confirmed lame for life, and we're going to try to give him away to be someone's pet. He can't be ridden but is really sweet and friendly and has good ground manners. He's easy to catch and pet. He's almost too much of an easy keeper and gets fat on all the grass here during the summer. Anyone want a free buddy horse? Probably not, so...

Also we've got a chicken who has a broken leg. She's recovering well though

We had a real fright last Tuesday. There was a rattlesnake in the yard and the dog went after it. One of my siblings told her to, which was so stupid. Luckily she didn't get bit and we killed the snake, but that seriously could have been horrible. The snake was a four foot long eastern diamondback. I nearly had a heart attack. Not that I'm afraid of the snake, it would have just moseyed away. They're not aggressive by nature but when the dog went after it it sat up and rattled and was striking at her. Good grief. 

School's almost out for me though. Tuesday is our last day. Then summer. I also need plans to make bubble-wrap armor for my horses and dogs.


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## ChieTheRider

After a billion years, here's another update. 

Chickens- Fixed the coop where the cows broke in and are trying to retrain the flock to roost only in that coop and lay eggs in the boxes instead of all over the property. 

Dogs- One of the Pyrs was hit by a car and killed a couple weeks ago. That's one of the reasons we tried to keep them in their field. She was hardheaded and wouldn't listen to commands and decided to chase a truck. Terrible, I'd rather not talk about it. Other than that everyone's fine.

Horses- Jay is doing really, really well. He's maintaining his weight with a diet of mostly grass. The series of fiber cleanses we did and the almost no-grain diet he was on while he had a bowed tended probably cleaned his gut out. Tess is fine except for being a little out of shape and her shelly hooves. 

Cow- Ellie is fully halter broke, now comes the sacking out. She's scared of blankets, fly spray, sudden movement, etc. She doesn't like standing still for brushing. I can pretty much pick up her front feet, though I'd like to pick her back feet up too. I don't know if that's a necessary thing for a cow to learn but it can't hurt.

In other news, we're getting one of the paddocks tilled under and leveled to make an arena area. It'll be about 135 x 250 feet. Footing will be right around 4 inches, not too much deeper because of the risk of tendon strain. It will need maintaining to keep it that way but we have a neighbor with a tractor who'd let us pay him to do so. I've got three metal barrels and some pvc piping for running barrels and doing small jumps and things. There's a turf strip running around the outside of the rectangle, about 12 feet wide on three of the sides. It's pretty nice for a canter around the field. Less to mow too. It'll stay fairly barren now since it's almost time for the grass to stop growing. Once it gets into the 40s at night then the grass is pretty much done. 

It's also hay season. Right about time to get a hundred square bales into the barn. It was actually chilly last night at about 53 degrees (f). That by Florida standards is sweater weather. I'm ready for the cold weather, even though I know by the end of January I'll be just about fed up with it. Winter here is better for riding (when it's not raining) but more expensive in terms of feed. The horses all come out a little thin in the spring. 

School is the biggest pain in the rear right now. It's taking up a lot of time and making me have to spend less time riding. I really kind of hate that. But whatever. I'll just get up earlier.


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## knightrider

For some reason, I was thinking you were in the panhandle, and I worried about you during Hurricane Michael. I was hoping you would get on Horse Forum and say how you were. But maybe you are not in the panhandle? Where are you in Florida?


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## ChieTheRider

Very much northwest panhandle. We hardly even got rain from the hurricane.


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## ChieTheRider

Taught a lesson today. The girl was a little bit of a snot. I don't get mad easily, but she had me frustrated. Her seat isn't the best so we went stirrupless today to practice balance and not relying on the stirrups. She complained because she "couldn't canter without stirrups". I said that's why we were practicing. 

We rode, she kept putting her feet back in the stirrups. I asked her to take them out, she adamantly stated she didn't want to. (Mental note: take the stirrups completely off next time). She was upset because she couldn't canter, and she also griped about having to warm JayR up. It's chilly here and Jay is 22 and has minor arthritis, and is stiff if he doesn't get warmed up. Vet says he's totally fine for lessons though. 

After the lesson, she wants to keep trotting/canter. I tell her no, that we're going to cool Jay off. She tried to canter anyway. At that point I was frustrated; I took her reins and walked her back to the gate where we were coming from and told her to dismount and walk her horse to the barn, then untack him and put all the tack away neatly by herself. She did but was by now actually upset and snappy with me and the Jay. I didn't get mad, but if she had taken her frustration out on the horse and jerked him around, then I would have told her she's done with lessons till she gets her attitude straight.

She isn't always like this, but the past couple of lessons have been a little rough. Her mom says she's been a pill too. I usually give a ton of grace and don't take their little sarcastic comments seriously, but there's a point at which I'm going "that's enough". If she doesn't want to respect the rules or me or the horse, she can go ride someplace else.

We're doing no stirrups when she comes next week. I told her to bring tennis shoes along with her boots. I might have her work with Jay on the ground if she won't cooperate while riding.


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## ChieTheRider

Also, I blanketed Jay for the first time this season tonight. It only went into the low 40s but he hardly has a winter coat and is underweight. Not severely underweight, but to the point where it's noticeable and he needs some groceries.


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## ChieTheRider

still waiting for the guy come to come till up the back field for the makings of an arena. He said he'd do it a couple weeks ago but then there was the peanut harvest and all. Either way, we just may get someone else out to do it. If he'd have done it back in October, I might have managed to condition my horse for some barrel racing by the end of this month. Nooope. It'll probably be December or January before we get to racing (even then we're not 1Ding it and tearing things up, we'll stick to local games). Tried practicing on the grass, but we went slipping around so none of that at high speeds. 



On a good note: our ground is just about the right consistency for arena flooring. It's sort of a clay/sand mix.


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## ChieTheRider

Finally got a load of hay in. Not a lot, somewhere around 40 bales. Hay is almost $8 for a 50 lb square bale. The grass is still in but it won't be after Tuesday, it'll be a pretty good freeze in the upper twenties. Not too long after that, we'll probably have to get the round bales out there for the cows. During the winter if they're really thin the cows will get alfalfa pellets/cubes. 

I've discovered a possible candidate for Jay's weight gain supplement. It's Nutrena Boost (I think). I've been using Cool Calories 100 and it's worked, but Jay's going to be doing a little more work than usual come January. He'll be teaching a few kids to ride. Only beginner lessons so he probably won't even canter for the majority of it. But anyhow, would rice bran (that's what's in the supplement) be better than the cool calories for Jay? If it'll do better for his topline then I might look into getting it. I'll hopefully be making enough from lessons alone to take care of the horse's feed and farrier. The Nutrena Boost is significantly more expensive than the Cool Calories and I'm wondering if it's worth the extra cost. And I'm also wondering how well the rice bran will do with his gut. The cool calories seems to digest pretty easily (sometimes gives them the runs when you first feed it but that clears up in a day or two). Also, alfalfa pellets are like $15 a bag for a 40 lb bag, and say I fed an extra 1 1/2 lbs a day plus Jay's grain, that'd help with weight gain. He does pretty good on the alfalfa. 
I also keep looking at ads for horses. I'm not in the market, as we still need to sell/give away the one horse we don't use. He'd have to go as a pasture buddy for someone because he can't be ridden. Hopefully someone sees that he's got a cute personality and will just want a pet/companion. He's a really easy keeper but not metabolic. Good feet, just can't be ridden. His ground manners are nice and he trailers. Good for the farrier, gets along with most horses. He just needs to go live as a buddy for someone. After he's gone, I might seriously consider looking for a lesson horse for the kids. Jay, as I said, is older. Almost 23. He also can't do small jumps or barrels because he bowed a tendon a while back and I will not risk injuring it again (bowed tendons are hell). Luckily that's fine for now because beginners aren't doing a lot of that anyway and there's plenty of things to do other than jumping. He was a beautiful jumper in his day though. But I'd like to find a younger, sound horse (preferably gelding) who's not much more than 15hh. It wouldn't even have to be "bombproof" and could be trained for trails only for all I care, because I can put whatever training on it it needs for lessons. Though I would not invest in a green horse or a spoiled brat. And ponies are slightly devious. A little QH gelding would be great, but it doesn't matter much. I don't need pedegree or breed, just healthy and sweet and ridable. Though a lot of horses that are like that aren't for sale, or they are for a high price.


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## ChieTheRider

Scratch that, it's not freezing till Thursday and it's only going to 32 (f).


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## ChieTheRider

This morning the farrier noticed that Jay's front leg was swollen. there's a small wound on his leg so I'm thinking he could have gotten kicked. His entire leg from knee to fetlock is swollen. Not terribly, but it's noticeable. I can't find a lump or anything that would indicate a tear in the tendon, and I palpated his leg and he didn't react. So I'm hoping to God it's not too bad. I cold hosed him, poulticed it with a cold poultice, and gave him some bute. He is a little lame in that leg as well which worries me. If it doesn't significantly improve within the next day or so, we'll probably take him in. Till then, I'm following the procedure for a bowed tendon. It can't hurt and it'll help the swelling anyhow. Cold hose twice a day, bute for a week, poultice and keep him in a pen so he doesn't run around. He's lame at a trot. Fingers crossed that it's not a bow. Ugh. Bowed tendons are absolute hell. This is the same leg he bowed a tendon in before but I haven't even ridden him recently. I think this horse is bound and determined to hurt himself.


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## ChieTheRider

There was a harvest festival today that I participated in. I only was there for the "breed show" thing they did. It was fun. I practiced barrels while there and got compliments on my horse. I got very sunburned. It was cold and my brain didn't think "sunscreen" when I went outside. I did wear a hat, but I still got burnt. I guess I've lost some of my tan that protected me. Also somebody's Tennesee walker had a colic episode and went down by the trailer. they left and I don't know what happened. Tess did great. I walked with her through the booths and she didn't spook at all. I figured out how to make her drink water when we're traveling too; just chop up some apples in it. 

But Jay's leg is still all swollen up. He doesn't seem lame but where the little scab is there's swelling. It feels a bit like it did when his tendon bowed. I don't know what I'm going to do if he's re-bowed it. I was going to start giving some kids lessons in January, but if it's a bow then that probably won't happen. And if he's re-bowed it then there's a good chance he'll just keep doing it again. I have thought of considering giving him back to his previous owner who said she'd take him just for a pet. But he was the first horse I really owned. I got him when I was 12. I learned to jump on him. He taught me a ton and I'd be very upset if I had to get rid of him. But logically speaking, if I got rid of him and got a young and healthy horse for lessons, I could make money. I could make enough money to take care of my horses and support my barrel racing. And then plus some. I know someone who has Haflingers and I think they breed them. A little Haflinger would make a great kid's horse if they were well broke. Perfect size. Even then, you can get a good trail/kids horse for not much if you're willing to put miles on them. It's not that I'm afraid of. I don't want Jay to go someplace else. I don't know what I'll do. I don't like thinking about it.


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## ChieTheRider

Jay's leg is still swollen. I've confined him to a pen so he can't run around and he's pretty chill so he doesn't move around much. Last night I wrapped his legs with the pillow wraps for some cushion and support but I'm almost thinking they were counterproductive. They retain a lot of heat and his leg was still swollen. He doesn't seem lame but he's on bute. I can't tell if the tendon is damaged but there is some kind of soft tissue damage there, though I'm hoping it's fairly mild. I've been cold hosing and poulticing and wrapping to try and keep the swelling down. My mom actually has this ice machine thing that she used on her leg when she had knee surgery and it might work for an icing session for Jay. It's really cold but you can adjust. And since the cold comes from a bucket full of ice and goes through a tube into the pad that goes on the leg, it can stay cold for hours. It'd only be 30 mins of icing at most and a couple times a day. I'm desperately trying to get a game plan together. School finals are coming up, I was supposed to do lessons in January but it looks like that's a no. Unless this somehow isn't a tendon problem and is just swollen from getting kicked. **** horse legs, why do they have to just be tendon and bone? I'd be nice if they were like human legs and there was some muscle and fat to protect everything.


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## ChieTheRider

The usual. Jay's leg is still having problems but he doesn't really seem lame. Working on treating it, ugh. We've listed Red for sale. 

Also, I was putting liniment on Jay's back legs and somehow I managed to get it in my eye. I'm fine but it hurt. Eh.


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## ChieTheRider

Alright, update. We've rehomed Red to a really good place. The people help rescue horses and the two horses they have now are really spooky and afraid of people. Both are fillies and 1-2 years old. One is a red dun with clubbed feet in the back and the other is a sorrel with a fetlock injury. Red loves attention and has never tried to run when I go to catch him. He pretty much comes when called. He should help the other two chill out. 

Also, Tess might be getting shod this Friday. Only on the fronts. Farrier is a great shoer and really Tess needs it. Her feet are chippy. I'm wondering how often the shoes will need to be reset. The farrier usually comes every 6 weeks. Tess's hooves don't grow very fast though. 

Jay doesn't seem very lame. Maybe a tad off and certainly not sound, but he's not gimpy. I don't really see a head bob but he just looks a bit tender. Maybe he'll be ok to ride again? Either way, I want to give him a year off if I can. We're possibly looking at getting another horse for lessons. I'm interested in a Tennesee walker who's been used for kids before. And a TWH can keep up with Tess on trails whereas most quarter horses can't. And walkers tend to be pretty smooth jumpers so that might be fun, except that their stride is a bit different and I don't know how that would affect the course.


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## ChieTheRider

My trainer agrees that I'm paranoid about leg injuries.



Also the guy who lives next door is nice and lets me ride on the property his family owns. His dad however is too big for his britches and my mom has said that she'd like to whup him upside the head to take him down a few pegs. Nobody's actually gonna do it but he deserves it.


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## ChieTheRider

Found out the hard way that my saddle doesn't fit.
Meaning I was bucked off. First time that my mare has thrown me. It was my fault though, the saddle does not fit. I switched to my English saddle (which for sure fits) and she did fine. 

I'll barrel race in that thing if I can't find a good western saddle. Ugh.


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## PoptartShop

Saddle fit is definitely important. A few months ago, my saddle became too snug for my mare & as soon as I got a saddle that fit, she was much better.

Hopefully you can find a new Western saddle that fits.


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## ChieTheRider

I'll try. I have some I should probably sell and I can use the money to get a fitting one. I'd love to go to a saddle fitter and get her a custom one or something but the pRICE. I don't even have that much money to my name.


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## ChieTheRider

Also I wasn't wearing my helmet when I fell- lesson learned! I didn't hit my head but my horse is shod, so if her hoof had hit me it would have been nasty.
-

I think that I may end up going bitless. Not because I have anything against bits, but because I've restarted my mare and she responds really well in a simple sidepull. We're still working on her gaits (she always wants to go faster towards the house because she's barn sour), but that was an issue with no matter what I rode her in. She is so much more responsive to my legs and body positions now. We've worked in the "round pen" (mine is more of a rectangle pen lol) mostly tackless just to get her concentrated on my legs and body only. I want to try a snaffle on her soon to see if she's improved. I'm going to take her on a little trail ride to see if she responds well outside of the arena. If so, we'll move to a snaffle, then possible a curb. I want to teach her to move with a bit more collection. I get that her Arabian side wants her head in the air the whole time, but she's uncomfortable to ride when she's not collected. 

Pretty much the only reason I want to move her back to a bit is so I can do English with her and not spend a lot of money finding an English bitless thingy that works. And for barrel racing, I don't want her to learn to run through the sidepull I'm using. Since there is a lot of only slightly controlled Hell-bent-for-leather running in barrel racing, I want to have something that she won't forget is there. Even if it's a tiny snaffle. And using a hackamore and a tie down at the same time is complicated. (Though the need for tie downs in barrel racing is debatable, I'm not sure what I think about that.) I also think she collects much better in a bit. Truthfully this horse is quite sensitive, she just learned to be a jerk and haul on the bit even though it hurt her mouth. 

I'm thinking of trying one of those hunter dee bits because they're advertised to supposedly put less direct pressure on the bars. I'll ask my trainer to see if I can borrow one if she has it. Another option would be a rubber bit but I'm not sure about those. I've heard they don't increase salivation like a metal bit does and that they're easily chewed up. 

She's a barrel horse and I think that had something to do with her coming to me from being ridden in a hackamore combo gag bit monstrosity. Now those can be great bits, but they were riding Tess in it to muscle her into slowing down. 

That's what I don't like about these complicated barrel racing bits. A lot of them are insane. IMO there's not much a horse can be taught from a bit that can't be taught with the right training. 

I was also talking to my farrier today about jobs at local stables/ranches. He said the nearby ranch I'm thinking of calling were nice people. He knows their farrier. But, he said the English stable I was thinking of trying to ride with were a bunch of snotty rich people who treat us hardworking folk like bull crap. Pretty much his exact words. He was making a ton of money shoeing the horses at the stable, but he quit because they were nasty to him. His friend rode there and he was mad that she put up with them. If there's one thing about my farrier, he doesn't put up with anyone's mess. His words were "I won't disrespect you, I won't disrespect my friend, I won't disrespect your employees, so you **** well better respect me." I don't think he actually said this to them but he maybe should have.


I did find another English stables 15 mins away from our new house, so maybe I'll call them and check it out. All I know is that I don't have time for snobs who think they're better than everyone. I like my freebie horse that I had to retrain. I love my little cross bred no-account just as much (I'd bet more) as you love your 400k warmblood. Just because I ride in jeans and get dirty and haul my weight around the farm doesn't mean I'm an idiot. If people could get over their pride 90% of Earth's problems probably wouldn't exist. 

I'm nervous about calling the ranch just because I don't like talking on the phone, but if I get a job there it would be AWESOME. I could learn from the trainers there. I don't care if I'm cleaning stalls most of the time, I'm around horses and getting paid for it. That's pretty great.


----------



## ChieTheRider

We're going out of town till Tuesday and am a little anxious. I always am when leaving someone else to take care of the critters. They're not experienced enough to pick out hooves or anything like that. Should be fine for a few days though. The lady staying can feed though and keep the water tanks full, that's what's most important. They do have 2 of the neighbor's numbers. The dude next door who knows cows and horses and then someone down the road a ways. Then she's got the vet's number, my number, and mom's number. 



On another note, I've noticed my mare's stumbling is a little better. And I think I've figured out what it is. It probably had something to do with the saddle fit, but she's really stiff on her right side (or left side if it's not a muscular thing). She'll put her nose to my stirrup if I pull her head right, but won't if I pull her head left. It may be because of muscle tightness on the right side that inhibits her from turning left. She needs to see the chiro. Willing to bet it's not her hooves being the problem because she trips pretty much only on her "bad side".


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## ChieTheRider

Maybe I already posted this, but apparently Tess hasn't had her teeth done...ever? As far as I know. And she's ten. I was under the impression that she had them done a couple years ago when I got her but trainer says not. 
I may have found what's causing the bit issues lol. Dentist visit asap. If she's biting the bit in a weird place or something that could be the issue.


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## ChieTheRider

So all the animals survived being taken care of by someone who's not farm savvy. My dog really missed me. She was exploding when I came home and just running circles around me. She's so codependent it's annoying sometimes. I love her though. I missed the horses badly and I think even the cows missed me. The cows busted the hose pipe yet again.
Cows are idiots. 

and...pardon me while I give a bit of a health rant. 

I want to ride today but I'm not sure I feel well enough. The fam got sick again. We only got over the flu the beginning of last month and had the sniffles from that for a while. Then we all got this nasty feverish thing. On vacation too. We were all miserable. I'm a serious wimp when I'm sick too, much to mom's dismay. I'm almost worse than my dad about it. I'm still feeling gross and haven't eaten much at all because my appetite goes bye-bye when I'm sick. When I got over the flu I weighed 110lbs. I'm almost 5'6 and medium built. Normal for me is 120 at least, more if it's the end of summer and I've been doing a lot of manual labor and built muscle. Then I have to actually try to gain weight but I still don't want to eat. Like I just don't want to, even if I'm a little hungry. Lately it's been worse. 

We eat healthy too. We rarely eat processed foods. Most of our fruits and veggies are organic and we take our vitamins and minerals. We all exercise. I don't understand why we keep getting sick. 

Bleh.


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## knightrider

Awww, so sorry. Hope you feel better soon.


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## ChieTheRider

Mom went in to urgent care to make sure she didn't have pneumonia or something like that because her chest was really tight. She was clear, but tested positive for a different strain of the flu than what we had. So yeah, this is the flu, just a different (and not as severe) strain. 

I'm feeling a bit better.


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## ChieTheRider

Ok my everyday breeches are not good for riding bareback. To avoid TMI, let's just say my butt hurts. But I do need to ride bareback or without stirrups because I am entirely not in shape. I really just need to go trot for about a mile. 

But also, I found out something great. When we move I won't really be able to ride on my property because there isn't enough space. I mean it's only a couple acres. I just feel cramped. HOWEVER, there is a community center down the road with a "horse park" with free access to whoever wants to come, so long as nobody's using it for an event. There are stalls, water, and a well maintained arena with barrels already there. I could bring my own poles and barrels too to make jumps or obstacles so long as I clean up after myself. And, right next door there is an enormous field. If I can get permission to ride across part of it (which is owned by a school) I can probably ride around the perimeter of the field. It's huge. If I rode the perimeter it's about three miles. Definitely long enough to just lope while getting fit. 

The only thing I have to watch for is armadillo burrows, which are very deep and would break a leg if you stepped in it. They also tunnel under the ground and make the ground weak so you can just sink if you step wrong. And then the snakes coming out of the grass. But it's open, so bigger critters shouldn't be an issue. Deer maybe since nothing but tractors go back there, but we'll see. It's also not hunting land as far as I know, so I can ride during the cooler months without worrying as much. I still wear an orange vest and helmet cover though and I'll probably be getting some more high visibility gear since we'll be closer to roads and stuff. My dad worries about me riding (especially fast) and I told him that I don't want to get hurt any more than he wants me to. I'm truthfully more afraid of my horse getting hurt. It'd be cheaper and safer for me to break a leg than for the horse to. I don't want to die any time soon so I wear helmets and behave myself. The rest is up to God  .

I'm gonna love it, and Tess will love it on cold days when she just wants to go. So maybe moving to a place with less property won't be so bad. We're 5 minutes away from town so I may get the chance to ride through the Whataburger drive thru on horseback. Who hasn't wanted to do that? I would have to cross an intersection that unites 5 fairly busy roads, but it shouldn't be bad if I don't do it during rush hour.


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## horselovinguy

ChieTheRider said:


> Ok my everyday breeches are not good for riding bareback. To avoid TMI, let's just say my butt hurts. But I do need to ride bareback or without stirrups because I am entirely not in shape. I really just need to go trot for about a mile.
> 
> We're 5 minutes away from town so I may get the chance to ride through the Whataburger drive thru on horseback. Who hasn't wanted to do that? I would have to cross an intersection that unites 5 fairly busy roads, but it shouldn't be bad if I don't do it during rush hour.



Might I suggest you ride with a saddle, drop your feet from the stirrups and balance on those seat bones...
Your horse will be happier as will your anatomy.:|
Thumping a bony bottom on his spine is not comfortable for either of you.

As for being close to town....traffic is different closer to town.
Make sure your horse is_ very_ tolerant of idiots who throw things out car windows, rev their engines and just do stupid stuff to see the pretty horses run...
When wanting to go for that burger...cross not at the intersection but away where it is only 2 lanes of paved road for safety...
To much commotion, to much noise is very distracting and upsetting to some horses...
You don't want to need to cross at speed either but walk across a paved road so no slip & slide or falls of horse and or rider occur.
My friends and I use to do McDonald's drive-up window...they are _*not*_ horse friendly, or weren't.
Horses did *not* trip the ordering mechanism...probably just as well cause if we were near it and it activated was not uncommon for one horse to get freaked out...be careful!!

Oh..riding on school property, even if it is just a field is a no-no. 
Signs are usually posted about trespassing and they truly frown on "presents" on their fields.. :icon_rolleyes:

With roadside riding use extreme caution for glass beer bottles...a hoof hitting, breaking/shattering a bottle can lead to serious, serious injuries to the horses feet and legs. 
They blend in very easily in grass as do cans..
Don't ask, just know it was 6 weeks of stall rest and $1000 in vet bills more than 30 years ago!! 
_My poor horse...:frown_color:
_
The rest sounds really nice...
Nice park with riding amenities to use and new riding friends to make...win-win!
:runninghorse2:... 
_jmo..._


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## ChieTheRider

Very much. Yesterday I got the "angry ears" for bouncing around. :? I did manage to sit a slow trot without bouncing too badly, but the breeches still rubbed. 

Yeah, I've considered the idiot driver thing. My horse is usually really tolerant of cars and people being rowdy. They're used to my siblings and dogs running around hollering and throwing things (at each other- not the horses. Horse poop is apparently good for ammo when the kids decide to war). Cross the road way back where there isn't as much traffic, got it. And I won't ride through mud on the side of the road or tall grass where I can't see. Glass bottles (which are all over because ********) have become one of my fears.

I will very much be going slow on any paved roads. I've slipped on concrete before- not fun! :eek_color: The horse was fine except for a scrape on the knee but I can say it was my fault for going too fast. And she's shod. Shoes skid on asphalt like nobody's business. 

I wouldn't be riding on the school fields and maybe not even on their property, but just barely around the edge. I could just stay on the road side of the treeline until I pass the school. Though that school does do some ag stuff and I personally know some of the folks there. It's quite a small operation. I wouldn't be in their field really, just skirting the edge. I mostly just need to find out how much of the field they actually own so I can not ride on that part. The field(s) is enormous and they may have only bought part of it.


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## ChieTheRider

Tess has come a long way though. The only things I think we need to fix are collecting at the faster gaits, smoother cantering, and lateral flexion. For some reason she doesn't like to turn her head to my boot when we ride bitless. She'll do it in a bit so I don't really think it's entirely stiffness related, we probably just need to work on it. She'll do it for treats so I'll get some carrots or something. I would use small alfalfa pellets but she choked on one the other day so no thanks.

But she's got her whoa back. I can pretty much ride her in a halter without worrying about her taking off.


Edit: Also, the area under (not the throat-latch area) her jaw where her lymph nodes are is just a little bit swollen. It could be she's allergic to some weed since lately all the vegetation is coming back and the weeds are growing. It's only a little swelling, kind of the size of a fly bite. I did read about a reaction to the salivary glands caused by grass. Maybe that's it? There is nothing else the matter that I can see. And the other horse is totally normal. When we take her in to get her teeth done I can have the vet look at it. Till then I'm keeping a close eye on her. The thought of strangles scares me but I seriously doubt that's what it is. We haven't been around or shared tack or anything with other horses for at least a couple months. And it's hardly swollen at all.


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## ChieTheRider

I trimmed and thinned Tess's mane today. I originally wanted to pull it, but it was very thick and quite long. I had some thinning shears and I think it looks pretty bad actually. There's a portion of her mane that I...paid a bit too much attention to. I did pull it some, but it still looks rough. It doesn't look "cut" though, so I guess that's good. Ish.


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## ChieTheRider

My grandma ended up buying that Teddy horse I posted about before. He's doing well here. My grandmother has been doing horses for almost 70 years so it's safe to say she knows what she's doing. Teddy is there for the grandkids (the ones who can ride anyhow) to use. Teddy is still young and just needs to be ridden, but the kids take him in the field and goof off and he does great. He's a bit nervous because he's only been here a week but did pretty well when I rode him today. I took him down to the pond, kicked my boots off and took him for a swim. He did great and it reminded me of the stories my grandma would tell me about her and her friends taking the horses to the lake and swimming when they were kids on a ranch in South Dakota. 

Almost wish I'd lived back then. I'd trade internet and TV for that kind of life any day.


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## ChieTheRider

Stayed at Grandma's where I first learned that I loved horses and the farm and all that. Memories...


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## ChieTheRider

I kind of want to rant about my trainer for a second...don't get me wrong, she's good and she's trained plenty of great horses in a bunch of different disciplines. There are just a few thinks that kind of irk me, but that's probably the case with any other human on the planet...nobody gets along perfectly 100% of the time. She's done nothing mean, nothing wrong, there's just some things. She's super nice, I just think we don't agree on all aspects of training stuff. 

The least irritating thing is something she said about my mare's saddling issue. I say least irritating because she may be right, but only because it's my mare and her back is funky. She thinks that my (I think too big) saddle can be "fixed" with some special (and expensive) padding. Now maybe it can, my mare doesn't have a super typical back so we may have to use some ingenuity to make her comfortable. Tess seemed to get stiff in that saddle when I rode her in it (it could have just been that she wasn't conditioned though...hadn't been ridden for a while) and to boot she bucked me off when I used a regular pad vs a super thick one. It's Florida, riding with a super thick pad isn't fun for anyone in the summer. Riding in the summer can be unbearable anyhow but that's another conversation. I don't want to have to depend on a special pad to have my saddle fit. But I mean if Tess is 100% comfortable with a good pad and that saddle then I guess it's a mute point. If a pad that's shaped a specific way can actually fix the problem, then no big deal. I just kind of doubt that it can. It's like trying to fit a bad pair of shoes with a bunch of socks. While it can help it won't be 100%.

Another thing is is that the other day I mentioned I tried Tess in a curb bit. The bit is one solid piece of metal with a sweet iron mouth and low port. It's an old school curb that's probably 30+ years old, back from the day where you all you rode a western horse in was a curb and there weren't these new combo bits and all that. Trainer didn't disprove of me using it at all, just said that that kind of bit "doesn't make a horse flex" and that the ones with the moving sides are way better. Well the bit should only be a small part of that flexing cue, and Tess flexed better in that bit than in a sidepull. Snaffle of course is probably better but really a horse can be trained to do pretty much anything they're capable of regardless of the bit. I get the feeling she feels the way about bits that a lot of barrel racers do- go big or go home. I mean if your horse likes that then sure, but it's not for everyone. Tess hates big bits like the hackamore combo thing. Even a big ol' hackamore without a bit causes us issues. A sidepull is good though and so is a snaffle, except I'm having trouble finding a snaffle bit that doesn't hurt her mouth. Our truck is still in the shop so no teeth floating yet...ugh. She neckreins great. Really the only thing I need a bit/hack for is "whoa", which only requires a little movement.
After writing this I've decided I'm not even a little mad at Trainer. She's great we just disagree a little.


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## ChieTheRider

Earl Grey tea is the best. I've gotten off coffee because it makes me crazy lol. It affects how I work with the horses too. You can't be high strung and ride an Arab.


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## ChieTheRider

I scheduled an appointment to get Tess's teeth floated Thursday. So we'll see how that goes. It's a $155 for the float/sedation. I have to get a coggins test done too so it'll be at least a $200 trip.


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## ChieTheRider

My friend is at the local homeschool graduation as a volunteer. There are little boards (like the things you'd see at a science fair) with pictures of the graduate's accomplishments and stuff. She sent me a picture of a board loaded in horse photos and ribbons. Trophies sat on the table too. So was a small banner with the local hunter jumper association. But yeah. Ribbons -and lots of blue ones- galore. 

My fist thought was _"She's a rich kid."_ I have no way of knowing if this is true so I shouldn't have thought and judged so. It's just me being jealous I guess. I mean I've been riding for most of my life but I've never even been in a real show or won anything. And that's nobody's fault really. But shows are expensive. Hauling is expensive. And then training is expensive. I don't know. I don't have a real reason to complain but sometimes I wish I got to compete. 

After writing I've just decided I've been vomiting irrelevant words and I'm just being envious. For no good reason. I mean, I have two horses. One is retired, but I often ride the other. She's not a well-bred horse or a fancy horse but she's a horse. She may have some issues and a lot of folks will look down their noses at her but she's mine. My tack is all 2nd or 3rd hand but whatever. it works. Some of it anyhow lol.


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## ChieTheRider

Tess was an absolute brat and I need to work with her badly. I haven't been with her for more than feeding time and an hour or so here and there for the past few weeks and it's showing. She's buddy sour something awful but that just stems from her other issues. 

Nothing we haven't dealt with before.


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## ChieTheRider

I'm actually hoping we find something (mildly) the matter with Tess's teeth tomorrow. It'd be a simple fix as far as the bruising in her mouth goes.


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## ChieTheRider

Tess had some ulcers in her mouth but no issues up where the bit goes. She also got a coggins and her shots.


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## ChieTheRider

Didn't get here in time to edit my post...but the vet also said my horse looks like she's 7, not the 10 I thought she was. 

So she may have been 4 when I got her. I thought she was older but after checking with trainer and stuff it looks like she might be three years younger than I thought she was.


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## ChieTheRider

I roached Tess's mane because I was tired of trying to wrangle it. It looks ok. Not super amazing or anything but it'll do. It'll grow maybe enough to pull (it's CRAZY thick. Her appaloosa genes obviously didn't get to her mane) in by the time competition season picks up again. I used some clippers so it's all the way roached. I'll monitor it as it grows so I can keep it neat.


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## ChieTheRider

We've officially moved to the new house. The house is very nice but the property is pretty small. The horses will be staying at the other house till we sell it. I'm gonna ask the farrier about pulling Tess's shoes for the next few months because it's expensive, higher maintenance, I won't be riding her, and she's pastured on soft terrain. I need a job, badly. 

The new place will take some getting used to. We're closer to people which can be good or bad...I haven't met all the neighbors. I'm worried about all our dogs getting along. The flies are way, way worse here, even without the horses. We've got some traps that are working though.


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## ChieTheRider

I wish there was something I could do about the neighbor's horses. They live in a large field next door. There's some paper on the fence with the horse's names and directions for giving them treats and petting them. Just from that, the lady who owns them doesn't seem like a horse person. You can tell by looking at the horses. I mean I guess they could be worse off, but still. Their feet are TERRIBLE. The toes get really long then break off unevenly and are probably never cleaned. They look like they haven't seen the farrier in years. I saw them eating today and peeked over the fence into their bucket- she feeds them sweet feed! One is only 10 (and getting fat) and...you know, it's not healthy. She's not a horse person. The horses look alright besides the feet and the younger one being a little chubby but still. The paper on the fence says the 10 year old is "wild as can be" and "playfully nibbly" as if it was a cute little thing...I go to pet him and the ears go back and he gives me the stink eye. He's not being "cute", at least not to strangers.

I talked to this lady only once when we asked about boarding our horses on her 20 acre property- she said she wasn't interested. I'm tempted to text her and offer to refer her to my farrier, not in a rude way. Not mentioning the condition of the horses, just kind of promoting my farrier's name I guess. I really don't think she knows much. 

also bugs me that we can't board there because there's plenty of room and I'd do all the chores for her. I said that. I guess she's worried about insurance and stuff. It'd be pestering her to ask again I guess...but I really wish we could.


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## ChieTheRider

My farrier agreed that I could "apprentice" with him- it'll mostly be shadowing since he can't really let me do his client's horses. But I may get to the point where I can do my own. Even if I don't actually go into farrier work if I can trim my own horses it'll save me a lot of money.


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## ChieTheRider

-more of a life ranty thingy and not so much a horse update- 

I absolutely detest drama. A while ago a friend of mine and another friend of mine got together and became a thing. He and her became really close then "broke up". And it was very sad and upsetting for everyone, whatever. I don't want to sound harsh but...why'd they have to make it a "thing" in the first place? They were both 16, so it's not like they're going to get hitched or anything anytime soon, so why make it into this boyfriend/girlfriend thing that's bound to break up, no matter how much they love each other? I'm not making a blanket statement that people shouldn't get in a relationship at that age and make plans for the future, because there is a very, very small percentage of people that this actually works out for. But for most folks it's not going to be a permanent thing. So why act like it? I mean, if you're not looking for someone to marry and don't expect the relationship to be permanent, then why get upset over a "breakup"? Why can't you all just be friends? It's kind of a recipe for divorce to keep having your heart broken over and over again. I mean, I'm 17, and I've never really liked anyone more than a friend. And I'm not lonely or sad or anything like that? 

I see some teens on here having issues with relationships like that and I think y'all just need to take a chill pill. It's not a big deal if you're not in some sort of relationship at the moment. 

and besides, our horses love us no matter what so who cares


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## ChieTheRider

Ok, the neighbor's horses aren't all that bad. One is impatient and nippy if he doesn't get treats though but he's not downright aggressive. My arm was resting on the fence and he bumped me with his teeth. I got after him about it when he quit. It seems like a untrained-green horse thing to do and not anything malicious. Those horses are sweet though. I haven't seen mine for a week and it's bothering me. It is too hot to ride but I still want to go see them.


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## ChieTheRider

And i think I've learned to give my own mare some grace. If she was actually a 4 yo whe. then no wonder I had some trouble with her. I've expected a lot from her and though I have no doubt she's fully capable of doing those things, she also needs some chill time. Like me. 

And not to start a pity party, but I'm willing to bet the reason she's been so spooky lately is because my anxiety has gotten worse over the past year or so. I mean it's not debilitating and I rarely have panic attacks (when I do it's not severe even), but I think my horse feeds off that. And she's half Arabian, so that doesn't help lol. 

Somebody got an old drafty I can borrow? Kidding...but I could use something with a slow cognition for a while.


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## ChieTheRider

Our barn is going up. The fence should be up by next month maybe? 

I miss riding...Tess will be an abomination to ride again since she hasn't been messed with for over a month.


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## ChieTheRider

The barn is finished. The fence should be up by the end of this month (hopefully). The horses are still on the other property. Jay is looking good on just grass even though he's old, and Tess is fat....it's worrying me. We can't get up there every day and there isn't a place without grass I could put here. I might be able to arrange to put her at my grandmas for a little bit so she doesn't have as much grass. but she's pretty darn fat.


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## ChieTheRider

A random thought of mine...

I really need to stop reading historical fiction and fantasy that involve knights and horses and all that. It's gone to my head. It's probably too late now. For as long as I can remember I liked medieval stuff. At this point I'd gladly go be one of the Rohirrim if I had the choice. I mean I've always loved that stuff. I've thrown pointy sticks at cardboard boxes like they were javelins and _endlessly_ live in my head when it comes to riding like that. My imagination is a bit too busy. It's dumb, but yeah. Knights weren't women though, so if folks are going for historical accuracy, oops. I'm a writer and I write and read about that stuff too. Ivanhoe will always be a favorite. I mean, what's not cool about swords and knights and castles and battles? And then add horses to that? What could be more awesome? Once, after listening to me rambling on, my Aunt told me (jokingly) that I should join a renaissance fair. 

I mean, I wouldn't complain if I got the chance.


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## knightrider

You can join a Renaissance Fair. Plenty of people do. If you are interested, I put a novel on Horse Forum in the Horse Pictures, Videos, Artwork, and Contests under Horse Stories and Poems. The book is called Knights in Shining Armor and is pretty much many of the things that happened to me one year doing Maryland Renaissance Festival. I made it into a romance to make it more interesting--that part never happened. I was a happily married adult of about 34 when we got those horses and put on that show.

Currently the man doing the Hoggtowne Medieval Fair in Gainesville is a man I worked for for many years. His home base is Sarasota, Florida, but he does fairs from CA to New York.

By the way, if you google women knights, there actually were female knights, even in medieval times. I jousted in armor for about 6 years but gave it up when my first child was born. It is not a safe sport.

I know that the Society for Creative Anachronism is active in Florida, and they often have horse chapters. My medieval group in Maryland, where I got started, was a lot more free, loose, and fun than the SCA. I rode in a lot of battle recreations before I started jousting. Those were very fun as well.


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## ChieTheRider

Darn it, lucky you. But I'll need to look those people up just for curiosity's sake...

_*Inner geek intensifies*_


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## knightrider

He is Kelly Baily of War Horse Productions. His former group name is/was New Riders of the Golden Age.
https://www.presspubs.com/forest_la...cle_f34d9e8a-9a5d-11e7-a962-63ac955b1586.html

There are piles of articles about him because he's been doing it a long time and he is really good with patrons. I worked with a bunch of other jousting troupes (including my own, which is the picture I put up), but some of them were fairly terrible and some were OK.

I have a funny story to tell about my first encounter with Kelly. He turned into a good friend. I have stayed at his house in the past, ridden lots of his horses, and boarded his horses at my place in Maryland in the past.

But when I first met him, I had been hired to ride around the fair in costume, talking to patrons while in character. I lived in Maryland so was rehearsing long before Kelly arrived from Florida. When Kelly arrived, he blocked off all the gates and entrances from the barn area to the festival site. My horse was a lovely jumper, so I simply jumped the 3 1/2 foot fence into the festival grounds to do my job.

Kelly saw me jumping onto the festival grounds soon after the fair started, and motioned for me to come over to his area. When I got close to him, he said, "You put that horse in your trailer, take him home, and never come back here."

I said, "You didn't hire me. You don't pay me. And you don't tell me what to do." And rode off, VERY mad. And he was very mad too.

But by the end of the fair, we became very good friends, and I started working for him in his jousting show, and we worked together for many years. He is the best ever for talking to patrons. No matter how silly and stupid they are, and no matter how ridiculous their comments are (and you wouldn't BELIEVE how stupid their comments are), he handles it all with aplomb.

A lot of jousters are arrogant and rude, and he was too, from time to time, but mostly, he was great. The book I wrote featured his group as the main jousting troupe, but I changed it some because the relationships were too complicated for a young adult novel. My jousting partner and I had worked for him for a number of years and then we were invited to form our own troupe and we both worked the Maryland fair, and it was kind of awkward from time to time, but we got through it with our friendship intact.


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## ChieTheRider

I'll go ahead and read that book of yours, thank you. Need a proofreader? Not that I'll be great but hey, input from a fellow writer (albeit an inexperienced one...)


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## knightrider

Oh, yes, I'll welcome any and all input about the book!


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## ChieTheRider

Are you posting it here on the forum?


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## knightrider

I did--a few years back. Here it is

https://www.horseforum.com/horse-stories-poems/knights-shining-armor-789473/


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## ChieTheRider

I'll check it out!


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## ChieTheRider

In other news, the fence guy is starting on Monday. So after that's done I'm bringing my horses out. Maybe not the old one because he does better on a ton of grass because he's old, but definitely my mare because she's FAT. Or I might take in a younger horse of my grandmothers and put some miles on him. He's the spookiest horse I've ever ridden. I may just swap him for Jay for a couple months. That way the little cousins can ride the dead broke horse and not the skittery one. 

We also saw our farrier driving around today and it was kind of funny. I don't often see him around at 2 in the afternoon. It's just so hot.


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## ChieTheRider

Also I think I'll just get over it and put Tess in a bitless setup because no bit works. Or rather, all bits I've tried bruise her mouth. She is still a hard headed dummy (but I think the pain from the bit was part of the issue) but now I live 10 mins from an arena with round pens open to the public. Training space. Yay!


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## ChieTheRider

I got a job a couple hours a day as a farmhand. I'll be bringing in about $100 a week from that so that's a nice little bit to help with gas money and car insurance. It was good to ride a level headed quarter horse again.

In other news, I'm tempted to sue the fence people if they don't hurry the heck up.


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## ChieTheRider

I rode their horse again today. His name is Bem and I have never ridden a horse with a nicer canter. I've ridden walkers but man, that horse has the most comfortable rocking horse lope EVER. I rode him bareback today because it was too hot for tack and I was tired. He is thin-skinned and will crow-hop if the flies get bad. I really like riding him. He's not as...interesting as Tess, but it's relief to ride a horse that doesn't think so much . Tess reacts off my anxiety and spooks at shadows if I'm having a bad day. I love her because when we're close, we're really close. But if I'm having a rough day it kind of goes downhill. I think that'll get better as I spend more and more time with her and we work through our issues though. She isn't nearly as picky many half-arabians are. She's pretty solid and a great trail horse (except that she doesn't like water). I rode Bem on a trail Monday and he spooked at a critter. Tess isn't bothered by deer or rabbits or squirrels or hogs even. Unless I'm also anxious, then she'll get scared. She's got a sounder head than I give her credit for.


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## ChieTheRider

We had to move the horses to Grandma's since we're closing on the house and our pasture at the new place will be a couple months before it can have horses on it. Tess was a jerk im the trailer because her and Jay were crammed in the back with no divider bc it's a stock trailer. We had a cow in the font half and the two horses in the back. We probably should have had more weight in the front but....oh well. The poor old mare at Noni's (grandma) is scared of my two but there wasn't any fighting. The mare next door and mine squealed and snorted some but that was about it. 

I've also ordered a knock-off of the gel impact saddle pad and a hackamore for Tess. It cost me about $100 in all...ugh.


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## ChieTheRider

Forgot to mention something-

When we took the horses to Noni's we brought them down to the pond. That's the water source for that field but I wanted to see if the horses would actually drink out of it. They've always had water troughs so I wasn't sure if they'd take to the pond right away. It's hot, so I didn't want them without water. We actually got to swim them a little. Tess was anxious about getting in. I was leading her in and was knee-deep in the water. Tess finally made up her mind to get in and leaped from the bank into the water. I saw it a split second before it happened and sidestepped in time not to get squashed. Suddenly 900lbs of horse flew through the air and landed with a mighty splash not five feet to my left. 

I saw my life flash before my eyes for a moment there.


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## ChieTheRider

I tried my new hackamore on Tess and I think it'll work out great! There was a bit of head tossing (more like bobbing as she got used to it) but she settled fine. It's one of those leather things with shanks and a fleece padded nose and leather curb strap. She's really weird about chains for some reason. I don't know if they pinch her or what but she doesn't like it. But she did well otherwise. Under saddle anyway. She's been bratty to the other horses and pushy with Noni. Ughhh...she's one of those horses that will try to boss people she doesn't know around. She quits when you be firm with her but she'll try little disrespectful things here and there. Not really with me anymore except for being a bit pushy on the ground sometimes.


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## knightrider

I really like that kind of hackamore. I'm glad you got it and that it works on Tess. I use that kind of hack on 3 of my horses.

I get it about the bratty behavior with other people. I have one like that too. People tell me, "You should work on his ground manners," but he doesn't do those things with me, just with other people.


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## ChieTheRider

She's smarter than I give her credit for, but not always in a good way.


By the way, the flies are horrible. It's been raining pretty much every day for probably the entire month and it's been really, really hot. Those yellow deer fly things are everywhere. They swarm my truck when I pull up to the barn. Also there are now ants in my truck. I don't know how I'm supposed to deal with that. I hate Florida.


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## ChieTheRider

I had a dream last night that we went to a show but I forgot my coat, boots, spurs, and helmet. ??? I don't even have a show I'm going to in the near future, let alone an English show.


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## knightrider

> I hate Florida.


Most of the time, I'm pretty happy with Florida, but man, I hate these hurricanes. Stay safe!


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## ChieTheRider

We're nowhere near the path of the storm. We'll get some rsin but oh well.


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## ChieTheRider

It's a good thing Dorian isn't supposed to make landfall in Florida. Than thing is a monster now.


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## ChieTheRider

_Whenever I have candy I'm tempted to share it with the horses and while it won't kill them it's probably not so good for them, so..._


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## ChieTheRider

ok why is it now that I find out Justify won the Triple Crown in 2018?? Man, I'm really out of it. Five minutes ago I would've said the last TC winner was American Pharaoh.


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## ChieTheRider

I went out and FINALLY rode today. I took my little bro with me and he rode Jay. Jay isn't lame anymore (knock on wood) and is carefully getting back into exercise. He is thin though and could stand to put weight on. He has hardly any topline at all and needs some riding as well as feed. 

Tess was pretty nuts but part of that was because I was impatient and irritated with her. She wasn't paying attention to me for most of the ride. Then again, we rode where she's never been before and she was a little spooky, but she was also just being strong willed because that's her. There wasn't a lot of the ride where I felt like she was really listening to me and waiting to see what I was going to do. She wanted to just do her own thing. If I was able to work with her more than once or twice a week that would help. She needs work. She's quite fat. I couldn't get her flank cinch on she's so fat. Granted, I had a thicker pad on than usual, but still. she fat. 

The great news is that the new pad and the saddle I have fit very well (knock on wood again...I usually end up finding something weird later that causes issues). It's the smoothest ride I've had with her in a western saddle, at least as far as her movement goes. She would really move out under saddle which she's never done before except in the English saddle or bareback. She was actually comfortable. I finally have her in good tack. No bit, no clunky saddle, and no slippery pad. 

Now if she'd listen to me and not act like a mare then life would be perfect.


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## ChieTheRider

I got talking about team roping with Mr. Boss today. Not that me or my horse would necessarily want to do that, but it was still interesting to talk about. He gave me an older rope and told me to practice roping with it. I mean, it can't hurt. Also it humbled me because throwing the blasted rope is a lot harder than it looks. He's an old hand and has been to national championships in roping while his wife has been to barrel racing nationals. Their horses are all very well bred and trained. Except...once they took a hard mouthed horse and put very harsh, spikey, bike-chain snaffle kind of bit in his mouth...I didn't find out till later but it's not my horse so it'd be tricky to say anything. I wouldn't ride a mule in that bit as the saying goes. Or anything else for that matter. 

Maybe they just really really needed to get the horse's attention. I mean, the horse is a Hancock. 

We're going trail riding next Saturday with some friends and the dog(s). That should be fun!


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## ChieTheRider

Jay is thin. Idk why he's not gaining weight. He's getting a bit more than four pounds of feed a day, half alfalfa and half nutrena seinior. He's been wormed and is grazing 24/7 with a couple flakes of hay at night. I'm steadily increasing his feed but I'm not the one feeding him. It's odd that he's losing weight. I'm not surprised he's not gaining rapidly just because he's older, but he shouldn't be dropping weight like he is. We also did some sand clear so that's not it. I ordered some ulcerguard, maybe that's the issue.


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## ChieTheRider

Tess is in heat and she's being a hussy. Not quite a witch, but definitely a hussy. Trying to bite poor Teddy's butt was the least of her offences.

In other words, the trail ride yesterday was a bit of a disaster. We got quite lost and rode for way longer than we should have. I was worried about my dog who was utterly exhausted by the end of it. Pretty sure my friend is mad at me for making her ride for 4 hours. If it wasn't for me stressing the whole time (and Tess being horribly strong and wanting to rUN the whole way), it would have been fun. She legitimately ran off with me and wouldn't have stopped if the horse in front didn't slow down. I could have turned her into a circle but the trail was narrow. It wasn't a ton of fun because the older horse with us couldn't keep up too well. We did not intend to be out that long. I need to come back with just Tess and Teddy the TWH. Then we can run for a long time and be fine. 

Better luck next time I guess.


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## knightrider

Every once in a while, when I ride with @4horses, we get terribly lost and ride 4 or 5 hours. She loves it so at least I don't feel bad for doing it to her . . . we do it to ourselves because we are both lost.

One time I PROMISED my friend with her child that we wouldn't possibly get lost because we would just follow the trail back. She wanted to do a short ride. Somehow, trying to follow the trail back, we missed a turn and got quite lost. My friend was really mad at me. That ride back home, when we finally got on the right trail, was silent and I could feel how mad she was behind me. I would have loved it if my friend wasn't so mad.


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## ChieTheRider

I'm wondering if I can find someone to ride my horse a few times a week while I'm so busy. I'm on the fence about it. My horse is a hard-headded, stubborn, sensitive animal, and I'd have to find someone with experience handling horses like that. Not to mention all the waivers and such to protect me if the person got hurt. I doubt I'd ever find someone responsible to ride my horse lol. If it was the old guy, no big deal, but he's retired bc his leg. 

I just need her ridden and can only do it a couple times a week at most. ugh. I could look into leasing her, but that scares me.


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## ChieTheRider

Short post, but think a lot of people relate to this- 

Smart horses can be very difficult horses. If they're hell bent on not listening to you...well then, good luck.


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## ChieTheRider

I may be leasing Tess to somebody for a while. They'll board her closer to me and I can still ride her. They're not paying me a lot because all I want is for someone to have fun with her while I'm busy. I might meet them tomorrow to ride Tess, depending on what our schedules are. 

I'll totally say no though if they don't meet my standards. I sound like a jerk, and really I'm pretty forgiving, but if you're going to take care of my horse, you'd better know what you're doing. I'm not going to tolerate irresponsibility or disrespect of me or my horse. I won't have any incompetent loon messing with my horse, thanks.


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## ChieTheRider

I'm volunteering at a vet clinic on mondays to get my hours for the vet tech program. I've got a 10 to 5 day on thursday, that should be fun.


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## ChieTheRider

I like the other vet in Atmore better, just saying. 

Also I felt proud of myself. A horse the vet was seeing had this odd "lameness" thing going on, and I thought it was either some neurological thing or some other nervous issue. I didn't say anything. The vet thinks that's what it is. Though it was odd that it was worse after flexion and worse in the right hind. Strange case. If it wasn't "shivers", it was probably something the matter with his hip, or a ligament issue. Or both. Who knows. 

The reason I thought it was something neurological is because when they backed him up he didn't seem to know where his feet were. It looked like he was backing out of a trailer for the first time, all jittery and tiptoeing. It was just strange.


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## ChieTheRider

I'm taking a very particular horse to a trail ride tomorrow. Teddy is young and spooky. He was not a fan of my raincoat this afternoon. There are halloween style obstacles along the trail and I'm not sure what he'll think of that. I probably won't do many of them, he's just going for the experience. He's technically green even thought he's been ridden for a few years. He's very, very much a baby despite being a 6 year old. 

In other news, there's a tropical storm that everyone is freaking out about. I'm a bit shocked. Us Floridians don't start sweating unless it's a category 3. People are overreacting.


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## knightrider

Ha ha. I was camping during that tropical storm. We didn't worry about it much, but my canopy did collapse and a lot of stuff got wet. All part of camping!


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## ChieTheRider

A little rain never hurt anybody! 

Now if I could shake this cold I've had for 2 weeks, that'd be great.


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## ChieTheRider

I'm very proud of this bad picture. I rode yesterday and Tess did well except for being a little stiff on her left. Turned way too wide on the last barrel, but oh well. We're working on it.


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## ChieTheRider

I got stepped on by the cranky mare at work today and I think she did it on purpose because that's her personality. 

She had shoes on.


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## knightrider

I read your post . . . but can't "like" it. I am sorry, especially about the shoes on. Yow. Hope it heals completely.

One of my horses, who is a dream to ride, steps on people on purpose. But he doesn't do it much. I once knew a horrible pony who constantly tried to step on people--like every chance he got. It was clearly deliberate. He'd try every couple of seconds. Lift that foot up and pow. I was just a kid at the time. If I was handling him now--boy, things would be quite different.


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## ChieTheRider

I'm not one for being rough on horses, but for something so intentional like that I'll whack them with whatever I might have in my hands. There's no confusion there and it usually only takes one time for the horse to figure out that it's not a good idea to play games like that. 

Sometimes people look at me funny if I say something like that, but what do you think horses do to each other if one starts biting and kicking? It's much worse than a pop with a rein or a crop.


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## ChieTheRider

I got a little too excited yesterday. I took Boss's advice for some barrel exercises and Tess did amazing! Except for getting a bit strong. She really wanted to run that day. Sometimes she's really chill, other times she decides she wants to be Seabiscuit. 

I may take her to a race this weekend. Not for the money, but for the experience. Only by God's will would we even have a chance at winning anything lol.


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## ChieTheRider

I think driving home in a torrential thunderstorm while towing a horse and trailer through the middle of nowhere in the dark all by myself is officially the most nerve racking thing I've ever done. 

In other news, I have a barrel race Sunday and it's the first time I've ever raced for the money. I won't have a chance because it's so competitive ($2500 added so you can see why) but at least it'll be fun and I get to go with Boss!


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## ChieTheRider

It's been a while. 

This week I've been house/farm sitting for Boss. It's been _insane_. First day on the job. One horse is lame so the farrier comes out to check on her. Another horse cut her face and it needed stitches so I trailered her to the vet up the road. Everything is fine for the next couple days then this morning happened. I went out to feed before I drove into town to take the ACT, and the 33 year old mare couldn't put weight on her hind leg. I gave her bute and cleaned her feet but there really wasn't much else I could do. About 2pm this afternoon I came back out and cleaned her foot again and found a very tender spot from either thrush or an abscess or something under her frog. I soaked her food in epsom salt and vinegar and it helped a lot, so I put a bit of iodine on the owie part and diaper bandaged it. We'll see how she is tomorrow. I can't get a hold of their farrier for some reason. 

so anyway. i need a some sleep because trying to juggle school, babysitting, my grandmother ending up in the hospital with a stomach infection, aND taking care of 10 horses all by myself is exhausting.


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## ChieTheRider

My grandma's mini horse that we borrowed as a companion for Tess decided to colic and scare everyone today so that was fun. She was fine after some electrolytes and banamine so thank God.


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## knightrider

So glad the mini was OK, but isn't that a miserable scare? I have two horses that like to colic for no reason at all. Here's what I have done which seems to help keep it under control.

One of our mares seems to get wormier than the others and usually after a colic session, if I do a fecal count, yep, more worms, so she gets wormed and that seems to hold her off for a good while.

Another cause of frequent colics is ulcers. Here is an easy test to see if your mini has an ulcer.





If she comes up even slightly showing signs of an ulcer, you can treat her with human Nexium for about two weeks every day. That should minimize her colics.

The third thing I do, you probably don't need to do. I give my horses crushed Ranitidine before every trailer ride. I crush it up with a banana. You probably don't trailer the mini, but that helps my horses not colic on a camping trip or trail ride. Good luck! It is not easy.


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## ChieTheRider

Thanks. I doubt she has ulcers unless she suddenly developed them due to stress from being at my place. My horse Tess tried just about tried to kill her. I'd probably colic too if I had 850lbs of angry mare coming at me. 

The mini went home last night and is doing well.


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## ChieTheRider

My brother fed my horse because I was feeling terrible this morning. She gets one scoop of supplement in her feed but my brother used a different scoop than the one in the box (why???) and fed her probably 10 times the amount she needed...luckily Tess didn't eat all of it because it all went down to the bottom of her bucket and she'd have to eat way more than what she did to hurt her. 

I'm more mad about the fact a few days of supplement was wasted. Money down the drain...


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## ChieTheRider

Mr. Boss was showing me how to dally a rope today and I got this picture on one of the rope horses, Peppy.

https://i.postimg.cc/L6DRGSvD/20200110-105716.jpg


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## ChieTheRider

I went into our local feed store wearing a TSC hat. They ended up giving me one of their hats after insisting it was better than my TSC one lol. So I guess I've chosen my side.


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## ChieTheRider

I've had a lot of luck buying and selling tack lately- I think it may be a good side thing to pick up. I've bought a couple of saddles and resold (or traded) them. I sold a saddle I bought for $50 for about $200. I did have to replace the fenders but I used some off another saddle I had. On Monday I bought another saddle (and a bunch of other junk) for $60 and today traded the saddle (and a couple bridles I had) for two metal saddle racks; one that holds 4 saddles and one that holds 3. Brand new those are like $100 apiece so I'd say I got my money's worth. 

One thing I've learned- good leather holds its value well, even if it's dirty or dusty it can sometimes still be fixable.


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## ChieTheRider

Amid all this virus insanity I'm worried about what'll happen if there's a run on the feed stores too. I mean, if worst comes to worst we probably know people with enough pasture to keep my horses healthy during the summer. Thank God the grass is coming in down here and it'll be here till it freezes in the winter.

I'm seriously considering taking a couple hundred out of my own savings and loading up grandma's barn with hay...I wish I could find cheaper hay that was horse-quality. I know, quality over quantity, but if there was an emergency and the horses needed food badly you'd better believe I'd give them whatever I could get my hands on that was edible. I'm afraid that if I buy a ton of grain it'll go bad. Hay will keep better hopefully.


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## ChieTheRider

I rode with boss and her granddaughter yesterday and we had a blast! We went trail riding and kept it at a pretty fast pace to get away from the bugs. The granddaughter and I had to trot a lot to keep up with Boss's horse. That nearly killed me because Bem (the horse I was riding) trotted so darn fast. I couldn't post too well. I'd ridden bareback a couple days before and was a little stiff. I eventually got him to collect into a lovely slow lope and that solved that problem. 

We reached a long stretch of land that ran parallel to a gravel road that was about 10 yards away. There were no holes and nothing in our way. The granddaughter and I wanted to run (she's 20 and I'm a bit younger, so we're still in that "wanna run all the time!" stage :gallop so Boss (who probably had enough of our speedy nonsense lol) rode up the hill a ways and we loped back to the bend in the trail then took off. I lost my hat so we ran back then were off again! I wasn't even in a saddle but I did have a bareback pad on, thank goodness. It was hot and the horses were sweaty so I probably would have slipped off if I was honest to God bareback.

We were flying! It wasn't as fast as I knew Bem could go, but it was galloping for sure. I was hanging on for dear life and trying to hold Bem back, because I knew if he got it into his head that this was a race home, I couldn't have stopped him! I won't lie, going that fast with no saddle and NO HELMET was kinda stupid and I was a bit nervous, but all in all it was the most fun I'd had in a long time. We jumped a couple of shallow ditches and Bem cleared them like a pro! Didn't even break his stride. I'm a bit more cautious than I used to be, but I'm still a speed demon I guess.  It was fun. We all had a good time.


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## ChieTheRider

After a very stressful weekend I could finally sit down and read a book yesterday. On Friday we picked up 50 bales of hay and stacked it all up in my grandma's barn. Now, all of my horses plus hers are on the property and will have hay for a while. There's good grass too, and it's starting to come up. I've got 2 months worth of feed for my horses so if crap hits the fan I'm good for a while. 

I can't really go to grandma's because grandpa is immune compromised from chemo at the moment and though I'm not currently sick I'm not gonna risk anything. I'm not a very social person anyhow, but now I can't even be with the people I want to hang out with. It's kinda sad. I've heard this virus doesn't do well in heat and humidity, so now I'm so thankful we live in this hot nasty swamp


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## ChieTheRider

My saddle doesn't fit and that makes me mad. There's no other reason to explain why Tess is so sensitive in her shoulder area, unless she needs a chiro adjustment. But typically they need and adjustment because they hurt themselves somehow. She was so calm the other day when I worked with her bareback but as soon as I put a saddle on her she started throwing her head and completely not listening to me. Which I've found she typically only does when she's hurting. 

I feel like I've undone a lot of good work with her by trying to ride her in that saddle again. I was trying a new pad to see if it helped because really, the saddle looks like it fits fairly well. It's a but wide and slides forward. She puts her ears back when I tack up but not if I push the saddle a little farther back. It slides forward.


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## ChieTheRider

That post is hard for me to read because I typed it at 12 am and my grammar is awful. 

I have a hard time believing Tess is acting up because she's being "mareish" or "stubborn" or some such nonsense. I've known her to be problematic, but 99% of the time it's because something was bothering her. Horses DO have a mind of their own, and they CAN ignore your cues if they decide to, even a well trained horse can. But this wasn't the case with her. She was ignoring my cues, but it was because she was hurting.

I was told by a friend to put a tie down on her because she threw her head. I changed her from her very harsh bit to something softer and she stopped. She was hard mouthed? No, she was hurting. I changed to a hack and she stopped (except for the occasional barn sour moments where she wants to go back to her friends, but that's more of a training issue than her being physically hard mouthed). She was constantly sidestepping and on the wrong lead? Her previous saddle didn't fit. She bucked me off? Saddle pad underneath said unfitting saddle wasn't enough to keep her from hurting. 

I don't want to sound like one of those horse whisperer hippies that can "read their horses minds", but I know my horse. Something in my gut tells me she's not just being difficult because of a training issue or just because. 

Thank God, I know a saddle fitter who also does chiropractic work. Not sure if he builds saddles but he can fix just about anything wrong with them. I just have to wait for quarantine to end. Till then, guess I'm riding English.


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## ChieTheRider

On a brighter note, I sold a saddle for $260. My bottom bar was $250 because I think it was worth that, but I listed it for $300 to have some barter room. 

What makes this even better is that I brought the saddle for $20.


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## ChieTheRider

I want to find a hackamore (English) with a rolled noseband but no such thing exists. 

I'm gonna build me a Frankenstein hack out of spare parts. Stay tuned.


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## ChieTheRider

Prayers for Jay. We're in the middle of what is a hopefully mild colic episode. We just now got some guts sounds. He drank a little with some electrolytes and we gave him a shot of banamine but that doesn't make me any less worried.


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## ChieTheRider

Jay R is better now. I was up in the night checking on him and he didn't seem to have any trouble. He hasn't pooped though and only managed a little last night. I may go get some hay pellets or beet pulp to give him for the next couple days instead of his regular hay and grain.


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## knightrider

Hope he's 100% better! I will be thinking good thoughts and prayers for you.


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## ChieTheRider

He scared me again this morning and I called the vet. We were going to take him in but by the time my mom had brought me a change of clothes (I had slept on the couch at my grandmothers the night before in my riding breeches) and we had the trailer hooked up, he was eating grass. 

It was probably worse this morning than it was last night. He was down and up and down but he didn't roll. He was acting lethargic and pawing at the ground when we wouldn't let him get down. He had a hard time but by the time we were about to leave he quit trying to roll, pooped some more, then nibbled at the grass. His gums are still pale so he's still on red-cell and electrolytes but he's acting normal now. I turned him out to eat a little grass (there's not a lot in the pasture but he just needs a little to keep his system going) and he took off running so he was feeling a lot better. 

I wonder why he colicked in the first place though. There was a change in the weather, but that's never given him trouble before. He had skipped breakfast but had grass and hay so I don't think that was it. He could have been dehydrated or something because he decided not to drink but that doesn't make much sense. He has been on bute for the last week because he hurt his tendon again, but that has never bothered him before. 

He's fine now (knock on wood) and he'll be getting more fiber in his diet and maybe beet pulp once a week to keep his guts moving along. And I'll probably add a daily electrolyte supplement so he's motivated to drink.


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## knightrider

My daughter's mare Windy colics from time to time. I do a fecal exam on her and sometimes discover that she has a high worm count. You could check him for worms. My vet says not to feed coastal hay--that some horses colic on it. I feed peanut hay for that reason. I hope your horse never colics again.


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## ChieTheRider

You and me both. 

He's had coastal all his life and never a problem but I should maybe cut down on it and add soaked alfalfa pellets or something. Alfalfa by the bale is outrageously expensive here. I've been thinking about peanut hay for a while but apparently there's a big difference between the peanut hay that's ok for horses and then the stuff they feed to cows, which is sold all over the place here. 

It's higher protein than coastal though, am I correct?


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## knightrider

Yes, I have read that it is higher in protein, similar to alfalfa. But I am no expert. I know that peanut hay gives my horses glossy coats. And you are right, there are two kinds of peanut hay. The cow kind is not good. My horses won't eat it. They love the "forage" peanut hay. The stuff that is harvested after people get the peanuts is full of dirt and mold.


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## ChieTheRider

I wonder if it could be his teeth too, he hadn't had them done in a few years. If he's not chewing right he could have gotten a funny wad of hay stuck in his guts somewhere.


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## ChieTheRider

This was my poor baby the other day. His tummy hurt, but he would just lay down quietly and not try to roll. (The brown paper on his leg is part of a poultice I had on for a swelling in his leg btw). We live in FL and it was in the 60s (f) outside but the wind was blowing and Jay was shaking so I put a blanket on him. I don't know if it was the wind or the pain he was in but a blanket wasn't going to hurt him and I wanted him to be as comfortable as possible. 










I got down in the stall and sat with him for a while, maybe ruining my breeches lol. I had slept in them the night before because I didn't have a change of clothes and I had to keep getting up to go outside anyhow. I go them out of the wash this morning and they still had stains, so I treated them and put them in again. If they don't come out, oh well. I'll just use those as my everyday ones instead of the bleach stained, plaid patched old things that are too small for me anyway.


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## knightrider

Is he getting better?


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## ChieTheRider

Yes he's fine now. He's not totally back to all his grain yet and is getting soaked alfalfa and beet pulp but he's totally fine except for losing a little weight.


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## ChieTheRider

Not horse related but me related-

I cut my hand badly on some broken ceramic the other day. I have to keep my finger splinted in case I damaged a tendon or the tendon sheath. My mother, who has become something of a medic after caring for our various injuries over the years, used wound closure strips to close the wound after it was flushed with sterile saline. She used medicinal honey over the top of the cut (which was only about an inch and a half long) and bandaged it. It's been two days and no sign of infection. The only thing a doctor would have done different is use stitches and give me a round of antibiotics, which make me sick. I haven't even taken ibuprofen and honestly I didn't need it. The only thing that hurts now is my finger because it's so stiff from being splinted. I've been using homeopathic treatments for that. And from personal experience, that kind of medicine works. People think it's some dumb hippy thing to use natural remedies but in cases like this where life-saving high tech medical care isn't needed, it works just as well as anything else I've ever used. My mom got over a staph infection from a puncture wound in her foot using that stuff. It's super cool. 

I may have some nerve damage though. If I stretch my arm a certain way I get an electrifying pain through my hand and pointer finger. Also, the side of my finger is totally numb. I can feel deep pressure but I can't feel it when someone touches me gently. It's not a huge issue since it's only a small part of my hand, and nerves can regenerate. Still it's painful if I move a certain way. My cut itself doesn't hurt, it's my finger. 

But yeah, no swimming till it's better. I can ride if I'm careful. I've tacked up with one arm before when I hurt my shoulder. 

I have pictures. It was actually a very clean cut, but real bloody. I'm not scared of blood or needles. I want to be a vet tech after all. But, for whatever reason, I nearly fainted when this happened to me. I don't know why. I wasn't panicking, it hurt but it wasn't excruciating, and we cared for it immediately. I've never felt like that before. I could hardly stand up and my head was spinning...idk. It made me mad later. I can't be a vet tech and then get dizzy when there's an injury like that lol. I hope it was just a fluke and it startled me so badly that I about passed out. I dunno.


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## knightrider

Sounds rotten. So sorry.


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## ChieTheRider

With no symptoms of a tendon issue I'm allowed to have the splint off and honestly it doesn't hurt at all now. Fingers were meant to bend, not sit in the same position forever!

On another note I NEED to find some way to improvise some ground poles. My mare is clumsy on her feet but it's only when she's not paying attention. She does probably need shoes back on for rough terrain because her soles are thinner, but that's not the entire cause of the problem. She likes to barge though obstacles instead of jumping or stepping over them. 

We have been goofing off with some liberty (or tackless anyway) stuffs and it's been fun. She doesn't like to "lunge" tackless (we have no round pen so I hold a treat to get her to pay attention) but so what. We're doing this for fun and so she can play with me instead of working. Her mindset has improved greatly. She used to never look at me when we did groundwork but now she's actually _paying attention._ Before it was "ears back, let's get this over with". 

Finding tack that fits well has also helped her attitude. She's terribly barn/buddy sour and it makes it no fun to ride sometimes but the only thing I've found that helps is constantly working with them. The more time I spend with her the better she acts.


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## ChieTheRider

Tess has some soreness on either side of her withers and she lays her ears back and turns to give me a death glare when I put pressure there. If the chiro can't find anything I'll probably take her to the vet. I'm a pessimist and keep thinking of all the possible issues that could be going on. Ugh. Guess we'll just see.


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## ChieTheRider

A swamp to the east of us is on fire at the moment. I different sources say different things, but the worst says that livestock and homes have been destroyed. My best friend's grandparents evacuated. It started out as a contractor who was burning brush and then it only took a few hours for it to go from 250 acres to 2000. We're not in danger but the shelters are open and people have been leaving on foot because the traffic is terrible. 

I'm just glad I'm not in the middle of it and that we have many people around us who are opening up farms to people who are evacuating. We have two equestrian centers in the near area with round pens and arenas that could hold horses if need be. Luckily there's not too many people out there.


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## ChieTheRider

My boss' best friend lives right in the path of the fire. she's alright, but the fire came right up to her barn, just barely missing it. She either couldn't or didn't want to get out so they took the horses down to the river at the back of their property where the fire wasn't coming and waited it out. Scary stuff. We made some national news sites. It appears to be about 40% contained and the only place it can go is into the bay at this point.

And speaking of disasters, about a month ago there was a tornado warning at 12AM that had all of us in the laundry room. I did see some damage down the road but I wasn't sure of the extent. Well, one of Boss' sheds is totally demolished and multiple trees were broken or uprooted on their property. They said it's what the place looked like after hurricane Ivan came though. So yeah I guess there was a tornado. 

On a brighter note, Boss' mare had her foal and he's the cutest little baby the world ever did see. the mare is a wonderful momma too. I saw them today and they're just perfect. He was born only a couple days after they had to put their matriarch mare down. If anything can make that better, it's a baby.


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## ChieTheRider

I'm gonna try to dye an english saddle pad I have. It used to be tan. Now it's a bleached out white/rust stained nasty. I've had it forever and was contemplating turning it into a dog bed but I could stand a good everyday pad. So, as one last effort, I'm going to try and dye it to see if I can make it look reasonable. I'll probably fail, but it'll be a cool looking dog bed if that's the case.


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## ChieTheRider

Experiment failed, the saddle pad is now a dog bed and is fantastic at its new job. 

I may have found a treeless saddle I like. I'm kind of sick trying saddle after saddle and not finding anything that fits Tess. Worst case scenario I can resell it. I need a good spine clearance pad though. Also, my saddler advised a pulling breast collar because that keeps the saddle from creasing in the middle when you pull back on the horn during a barrel race. 

I love riding in the treeless saddles, I just want to make sure it won't hurt my horse.


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## ChieTheRider

I bought the treeless. We'll see how this goes. Next on the list is a high quality spine clearance pad. I do have a gel on that's meant for spine relief and that may work, but we'll see. I'll ride then check the sweat marks.


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## ChieTheRider

I'm not going to say anything political but I don't know what I'd do if I was coming home from a barrel race and some crazy person threw a gas bomb into my trailer and injured my horse. 

stay safe, people are morons.


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## ChieTheRider

It'd be nice if there was more than one saddle on the planet that fit my horse.


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## ChieTheRider

I got a fancy front riser non slip gel saddle pad so yeah, maybe that'll help. She does the ears back thing when I tack her up so something's bothering her. The English saddle fits perfectly according to the saddle fitter but just because how her shoulder is designed it still can bother her. It's worse in a western saddle though. 

I found out something hilarious. Tess hates to be forced. Hates it. I put her barrel racer hack on the other day and she was terrible. Went back to the leather hack and she was perfect. It's a stronger bit and she was like _"no, absolutely not."_ There was no other change except the hack. She thinks she's a princess. Mares.


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## ChieTheRider

Warwick Schiller is actually a really awesome trainer.


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## ChieTheRider

My gelding actually isn't as much of a hard keeper as I thought he was. Once I switched to a much higher fat feed (he gets performance feed and a fortified rice bran supplement that is the most amazing supplement I've ever tried) he now only eats about 7lbs of his pellets a day, plus maybe 10lbs of hay and constant grass (during the summer anyway. In the winter he probably gets double that hay or more if there's a round bale out). Seeing how some other people feed their hard keepers, that's not that bad. The supplement is kind of expensive. He gets 2lbs of it a day and it's $30 for a 40lb bag. I also give him glucosamine and probiotics which have worked wonders for his digestion. 

He's probably the healthiest he's ever been. Even his sunburn isn't as bad this year, probably because his hair is thicker and healthier. He used to be built almost like a TB, but not I can really see he's meant to be heavier than that. He's muscled up pretty well and probably weighs 1000lbs now. I never really thought he was that big, but seeing him move, he's a powerful animal. Not like my dainty half arab who's only 850ish. He's a big boy. He looks great for being almost 25. 

I rode him the other day and was reminded of his stubborn habit of backing up if he doesn't want to do something. Also, he does not respond to light pressure of the bit when cantering. I think that's because he was a dressage horse and was used to constant contact, so he's weird on a loose rein. I should probably work with him but to be entirely honest, I'm not worried about it. He doesn't ever take off with you. He's done this for years and it's never gotten worse. I think it's just him, and since he's retired and doesn't run around much anymore, it's not usually an issue. He's a little set in his ways too. Working with him vs my mare brings to mind the saying about teaching an old dog new tricks. My mare is young and very smart, he's old and tired. It's not really a big enough issue for me to bother with. The little kids ride him with no trouble. He's happy in his bit. I think it stresses him when we try to do new things. He just wants to do what he's always done and I'll probably just let him do it. At this point it's almost not a training issue, it's just who he is. I've found old horses to be like that sometimes. As long as it doesn't become a problem I don't think I'll interrupt his peaceful life in the pasture for a training session in the round pen.


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## ChieTheRider

On the subject of feed, the donkey and my old man got in the barn (somehow lifted the back doors off the hinges...not sure how they figured that one out) and ate a half a bag of feed. Luckily the feed was a low protein, low fat feed and they didn't have any issues. Now I'm just mad cuz I'm out a bag of feed. They almost tore apart a 40lb bag of a _very_ high fat supplement and that would have been a problem. Luckily they were probably pretty full and gave up trying to open the bag. Not all horses gorge themselves I guess.


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## ChieTheRider

My mare was very cinchy the other day and got quite mad when being asked to canter or when I moved the saddle around. She responded to some ulcer palpation points. Not sure why on God's green earth that she'd have ulcers, but that's the only thing I've got going. She did it in both of her saddles, both of which I KNOW fit her. 

I'm going to try a homeopathic remedy for horse ulcers. It's used in humans for the same thing. I've used it for other gastric upsets before and it really does work. It could take a month of dosing twice a day, but it should work. It's massively cheaper than omeprazole and works with the body to heal itself. And it has absolutely no side effects, so worst case scenario it doesn't work. 

I've got to get her home first though. And we've got to build a round bale feeder before that. And we've got to get dirt to fill in some holes in the pasture.


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## knightrider

What is the homeopathic remedy? I am always interested in that sort of thing and have had great success with some.


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## ChieTheRider

It's Nux Vomica. But make sure to get the homeopathic remedy not some herbal version because in it's natural state it's incredibly toxic! I always find that funny, that a lot of homeopathic medicines are derived from very poisonous plants. I've used Nux for colic before and it really helped my boy. 

Since ulcers are a chronic problem and not an acute problem, it can take up to 6 weeks for it to show major improvement. It's not an instant fix or miracle drug because it works with the horse's natural ability to heal itself, and that takes time. Also, Nux isn't for all ulcer patients. What medicine to give is also dependent on how the horse is behaving. Nux would be for more aggressive horses who act out when their ulcers hurt them (my mare). There are other remedies for horses who develop an anxiety because of their ulcers, or some who exhibit no mental change. Diagnosis is a little different than with nsaids or antibiotics. 

If you like using more natural remedies then I would HIGHLY recommend taking a class on homeopathic medicine. It's kind of a lost art in this modern age of medicine, but it's really amazing to see how we can heal ourselves naturally. It's actually a lot more complicated than some people think. After all, it was what people used for medicine for thousands of years until we started to develop more advanced things. 

I think I'll also feed her a little beet pulp every day and cut her from grain/pellets entirely. She really started having issues during winter when she had a lot of grain, was pastured alone, and I added plain rice bran to her feed. I don't think I'll be doing that again.


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## ChieTheRider

I struggle with being perfectionist and wanting do be just as good as everyone else. I was reminded of this when talking to a trainer I know who I sold a saddle to the other day. We got to talking about English riding and the bits allowed for certain disciplines. Tess, as far as I know, can't be ridden in a bit. But after talking to her, I began to wonder. Could I retrain her in a bit? Maybe the bruising in her mouth is just because she's not used to it. The trainer said if it were her horse she'd put her in some piece of equipment that attaches to the bit and holds her head in the right place so that if she tosses her head the bit puts pressure on her mouth. She said the horse would be sore for a couple days but eventually learn to keep their head where they don't feel pressure. 

I mean, maybe? I doubt my horse was properly trained in a bit, so maybe she needs a restart. Maybe groundwork and hand walking in a bit. If she doesn't understand a bit, that could be why she throws her head and in turn gets bruised? I'm mildly interested in doing some schooling shows at some point and jumper is the only discipline where I'm allowed to be bitless. 

I catch myself thinking about this and wonder why I'm even considering retraining her in a bit. I didn't have great luck before, but then again I was moving along a little fast. I think in baby steps, it's possible. She's much better behaved than she was before. I could start completely from scratch. She eats in a bit, I put molasses on the bit, we ride in a halter but with a bit in her mouth, we go slow and be gentle. I don't like the idea of whatever the devil the trainer was suggesting, I just didn't feel comfortable with it. I've used tiedowns and martingales and such before but none of them ever helped Tess. 

Then again, something in my gut bothers me that my horse's mouth might get bruised. I don't like that at all. Some horses may need a come to Jesus meeting with a slightly stronger bit, but that's a pretty rare case. And I typically barrel race and ride western, so why do I care about the rules of English riding? I know it's easier to sell a horse if they can ride "normally" in a bit (though I feel that's changing because everyone loves bitless now) but I don't plan on ever getting rid of her unless I became physically incapable of taking care of her. 

I dunno. Maybe I'll get a mullen mouth snaffle and just play with it. If she was soft and supple in her mouth I don't think she'd bruise. But is she bruising because she's throwing her head and doesn't understand the bit or is she throwing her head because she's hurting? It's all complicated.


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## ChieTheRider

I stumbled upon something interesting while doing some research. Some horses can bruise their mouth with just a snaffle from trying to chew the bit and pull the joint back with their tongue. 

I may get a super thin mullen mouth and see if that bothers my horse. If only I were made of money...


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## ChieTheRider

I had an argument with Boss's foal this morning which resulted in me getting kicked in the elbow. 

He's on stall/run rest with his momma because of an issue with his foot so he's a little antsy. Pretty sure he wanted to play but he already outweighs me and he's strong. We had to have a bit of a conversation with the manure fork and all was well. He stayed on his side of the run and I stayed on mine. Little turd. It's a good thing he's cute.


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## ChieTheRider

I lunged Tess today and she was hilarious. She bucked and jumped around but didn't try to take off with the line so I let her be. She was probably blowing off steam since I haven't been riding her. Then she stared me dead in the eyes and blew as loudly as she possibly could. 

It reminds me of before I got her and she was boarded with my trainer. She would run around the paddock with her tail in the air and blow and just act like...well, an Arab. She was feeling her oats. I guess she was being a little naughty, but she wasn't being _bad_. I know her when she gets bad and that wasn't it. 

I did try a bit in her mouth today and she seemed perfectly fine with it. There was no irritable champing or bruising in her mouth. I think she just hates a normal broken snaffle.


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## ChieTheRider

I finally ordered a (used) oilskin duster. I've wanted one forever because Florida is always wet and I need something to keep me dry. Especially in the winter. It'll keep the wind off too, which is a blessing in the winter time. 

People say that Florida isn't cold. And they're usually right. But when Florida does decide to get cold, she gets COLD. And it's usually raining or wet at the time, which makes it a thousand times worse.


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## ChieTheRider

All of my tack is covered in mold. I hate Florida. 

Not worried about the tack, just needs some saddle soap. My headstall is literally fuzzy...


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## ChieTheRider

Can't sleep because I've got some terrible stomach cramps. I'm up listening to this hurricane pelt the house with driving rain. Our local facebook groups are reporting trees down and power out. The storm is back up to 105mph sustained winds (cat 2) and is INCHING towards land. It hasn't made landfall and is moving so slow that even though it's not huge as far as hurricanes go, it'll bring devastating damage to some places, especially near the water. 

What's interesting is that on this very day, 16 years ago, we had a monster of a storm hit this area. Absolutely flattened much of the coastline. 09/16/04 - Ivan. 09/16/20 - Sally. 

This will be quite the storm.


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## walkinthewalk

I’ve been thinking about you as I’m watching Sally moving toward the coast. —- at 2MPH

Yes, they mentioned Ivan hit on this day. They also mentioned storm surger from Sally May be the same as it was for Ivan — 9.4 feet.

Be safe and please post as you can, so we know you are.

The Hills of Tennessee might be looking better all the time


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## knightrider

I remember Ivan. What a year that was! I am thinking of you and hope all is well. I hate hurricanes so much.


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## kewpalace

Keeping you in my thoughts & prayers @ChieTheRider. Hoping all is OK with you and yours.


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## ChieTheRider

09/16 ~3pm
This storm was arguably worse than we all expected. 
Our neighborhood is alright, but one across the highway was under water this morning. There’s “tree trash” and limbs everywhere. We had a small tree fall on our fence, but other than that and having no power we’re not in trouble. My grandma’s place where the horses are got hit really badly. Her goat shed was destroyed and they were out gathering the poor, soaking wet baby goats that’d gotten out and bringing them inside. They lost a barn with some of my hay in it, but the horses are alright. The barn that they were in made it through Ivan, and it made it through this one. I can’t get to them though. Bridges are completely under water and some even have sunken cars perched on top of them. 

Power lines are down and nobody has gas. We have a generator, but we have to turn it on only long enough to cool off the freezer and fridge before we shut it off again. Then we don’t get into the cold foods at all. Gas stations do have diesel though, so if it comes down to it we’ll take the diesel truck up into Alabama to fill up the gas cans. AC isn’t much of a worry since it’s not particularly hot, but if the power isn’t up soon (and I don’t see it happening in the next 24 hours) it’ll start to get awful soggy inside. 

Another thing- the house that my grandmother rents out flooded again. There was a huge issue years ago when a levy built by the paper company broke, so they sued. They lost the lawsuit. However, now that the levy has broken again, the community would have a better chance of winning. There’s some agreement that the levy will keep that neighborhood water-free. Maybe it’s believable that it was breached once because of a freak storm, but it’s unacceptable to have it constantly break whenever there’s a big storm. It’s Florida. You can’t have a levy that floods an entire community whenever there’s a hurricane. The fact that this is the second time (the first time didn’t even involve a hurricane, and the levy is poorly constructed) makes it worse for the paper company. The neighborhood isn’t on the flood plane so it takes some pretty abnormal circumstances to flood it. 

They had the coast guard lifting people off their roofs with helicopters in that neighborhood. What good is a levy if it doesn’t work? I hope they sue and win. 
Also, the bridge that crosses the bay was struck by a barge and is missing a chunk of it. This bridge was just finished this year too. Nobody really knows what happened. Was it the barge or the storm that knocked a chunk of the bridge down? They’re going to redirect traffic to the toll bridge which isn’t even supposed to be a toll bridge. That’ll be fun. Imagine the traffic. I’ve yet to find out if my college has flooded. They were saying it has before.
So yes. We’re Floridians. We joke about storms all the time. We ain’t scared of them. But I will say, this storm wasn’t pretty. It tore stuff up. We’ve yet to see what we can do to help people out. It’s hard to safely get in and out anywhere right now. 

09/16 ~6pm
Our entire area is without power. I’m typing this from my laptop that barely has a charge, using my data hotspot as we drive down the road (I’m not driving) because there’s no signal at my house. We’re seeing trees and power lines down for miles. There’s one house at the corner with a tree through the roof. The bucket trucks are on the roads and mom told us to buy the workers lunch if we ever see them out and about. They’re probably going to the more damaged areas first. 

I may not even be able to post this since the network is so slow. Everyone is probably going through the same cell towers on the same network all at the same time. 

09/17 ~3pm
We’re alive and I have power and internet back! Others are still working on power. There are lines down everywhere. Power was back about midnight this morning, and internet was back around noon. We went to give some gas to family. Their barn was destroyed. The horse barn is fine, this is the hay barn. I have some pictures of the damage. A boat ramp across the river claimed a couple cars which were still there this afternoon. It was one heck of a storm.


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## walkinthewalk

Oh my - I am at a loss for words. You write so descriptively, I feel like I can see everything.

I hope the baby goats don’t end up with pneumonia. I am glad your horses appear to be ok.

FWIW, Tennessee sent a lot of help to Florida but I didn’t hear which area(s). Some of our electric trucks are down there and I’m pretty sure TN sent some of those skimmer type rescue boats.

It goes without saying a lot of TN Red Cross volunteers are also giving aid.

Sending prayers and warm thoughts to all of you that are affected. I hope your grandma is hanging tough


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## ChieTheRider

Here's the pics. There was a pelican floating in my boss's flooded pasture.


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## knightrider

Oh, those pictures! My heart aches for you. I've walked in those shoes more than I want to. I hate hurricane aftermath almost as much as hurricanes. I'm glad you have power. It's so miserable clearing and chainsawing and hauling and repairing when you have no water and no electricity and sleeping at night is miserably hot. . . and the generator (if you have one) going BRRRRRRR right under your window where you are trying to sleep.


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## kewpalace

@ChieTheRider, Glad to hear everyone is OK there and you now have power - that's a major development. Sorry to hear about the damage; I don't envy anyone the cleanup that will need to be done. From what I've heard, people are banding together to help each other out in the clean up. Hoping it is the same for your area. Still keeping you in my thoughts/prayers ... so much still going on in your neck of the woods.


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## walkinthewalk

Some scary pictures for sure, and even more scary when they belong to someone we “know”.

With that tractor having a front loader, it would be huge help if it will start and there’s no water in the fuel system or the filters

Even if the bush hog is damaged, it’s the cheapest thing to replace. Hopefully someone in the family can assess the tractor to see if it is still work-worthy


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## waresbear

Glad you are okay! And thank you for making me appreciate snow storms so much more than being in a warmer climate and having to deal with this.


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## ChieTheRider

*So, blankets.*

I know. We just had a hurricane and I'm talking about winter blankets. 

But it was in the 60s all day long, and that means winter is coming. At least that's what it means in Florida. 

Now I'm one of those people who really tries not to blanket whenever possible because I believe horses are tough and can generally handle the cold best on their own. That being said, Florida's "cold" is so sporadic that it's hard for the horses to deal with. It'll be 80 degrees one day and 40 the next, and pouring rain on top of that. The guy I mainly blanket is 25 too and struggles with being underweight so I don't like him burning an insane amount of calories shivering in the cold. If the cold was constant and they could get a proper coat and get used to the temps, then I probably wouldn't need to blanket at all. It's the constant variation of temps that messes with them. 

The blanket I have for my old man now is lightweight. It's got filling, but it's fairly light. He's been fine with it before, but I'm wondering if I should switch his and my mare's blankets. My mare's blanket has twice as much filling, which might be nice for the old dude. However, while my mare's blanket fits him, his does NOT fit her. It's way too big. I have a couple options. I could either sell his blanket and get him a thicker one, sell his blanket and give him my mares, and then buy my mare a thinner one that fits her, or just straight up buy a third blanket so I have something extra to give him. Now is the time to sell blankets used, by the way. Everyone's looking for them.

Thing is, I'm not sure how much of a difference insulation makes for a horse. What I've found makes the most difference is a blanket that keeps the wind and rain off of them. I do have a fleece liner that I can put under old man's blanket if it gets really chilly. 

Part of this is my ocd. My mare has a thick blanket despite being the one that could probably go without, and my boy has a blanket that's borderline too thin. 

I could just sell all of them and start over, which is looking appealing (but expensive). Both blankets are well used but in great shape. Could probably get 40ish for both if I really try. And if I can get the sweaty horse smell out of them :/.


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## ChieTheRider

I gave in and bought them new blankets. I'm selling the other two. I also bought a couple of leadlines because who doesn't need more of those? 

Now I need to get me a hat. A leather hat. One that keeps the rain off. I have an oilskin slicker that works magic (it's totally going to be worth it for our wet winters) but I need something to keep my head dry. I'm torn. 

We may be starting off on a new series of adventures. I'm going back to riding JR for a bit till my mare's hoof heals. He's pretty much just a slow, old trail horse, but I think we all could use a confidence builder like him once in a while. He's so fun to ride too. I love that old horse. 

I can't decide how to spell his name. I've called him Jay, JayR, JR, ect. It's pronounced JAY-ARE but you can't spell it like that because it looks horrid. Maybe I should just go back to JR. That's what he's got branded on his shoulder anyhow.


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## ChieTheRider

I really wish the Halloween ride hadn't been canceled. There's usually one put on by the local equine rescue to raise money and they typically have a costume contest thing. I have so many ideas. I know someone who owns a huge black percheron gelding and while I doubt I could loan him for the day, it'd be amazing if I could. The costume ideas. One of the wraiths from LotR would be my first choice, but if I had to pick something simple I'd just do Merida from Brave (though the historical inaccuracies in that movie bother me). I've always been obsessed with medieval things and just the thought of cosplaying with the help of a giant horse gives me the shivers. I could be anything. 

Though interestingly, I was doing some research and one person said that most knight's horses weren't actually that big. Probably the size and build of a quarter horse and probably around 15.2. Especially during the early medieval period, massive horses weren't needed. It wasn't until the late middle ages that knights started wearing plate armor and therefore needing bigger animals. 

Going back to LotR, that would make the Rohirrim cavalry even more "realistic" if you will, since most of those horses weren't huge. Though they weren't based on a high medieval culture either. Rohan was mostly based on early-medieval Anglo-Saxon culture. They didn't have as much plate armor as the Gondorian soldiers did, who seemed to belong to a more advanced society (which would make since, since their lineage included the Noldorian elves at some point). 

In medieval stories (not so much the films for whatever reason, but sometimes) the author tends to make any horse belonging to a knight MASSIVE. Like, bigger than a Friesian massive. Friesians as a whole are pretty perfect as a knight's horse, or at least they were. I think the modern Friesians are probably less scrappy than their medieval ancestors. Many of them are bred just for looks nowadays, when back then they were bred for war (and looks too, but mostly war). In my stories I tend to picture my knight's horses as big, but not 18 hands or anything. Probably closer to 16hh. Breedwise they're something like a Percheron crossed with a lighter breed like a TB or Arabian. Something with endurance but enough raw power to barge through just about anything. 

Come to think of it, medieval cavalry was seriously overpowered. There wasn't hardly anything that'd stop a charging wall of massive animals thundering towards you at 20mph. And that's just the heavy European style cavalry. What really fascinates me are the mounted archers and javelin cavalry of the middle east and then the ancient Mongolian cavalry specifically. I was doing a bit of research for a story that takes place just before 1200AD and during the Third Crusade. I knew this before, but I came upon an article that stated that mares, not stallions, were much better in combat. Both the Arabs and the Mongols preferred mares for their mounts. Everyone wants to instantly classify a powerful battle horse as masculine, when in fact, historically, they were mostly female horses! 

I don't know if I should tell my mare this or not. It might go to her head.


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## knightrider

Sure enjoyed your post, as I like everything medieval. I rode for 17 years in a jousting show at Maryland Renaissance Festival. Also did joust shows in Sterling, NY and York, PA. And anywhere else they would pay us.

I wish you were closer. We are doing a costume contest at Black Horse Resort in Ocala on Oct. 24. My daughter is riding her "white" mare as a zombie bride. She bought a wedding dress at the thrift store for the costume. Last year she was a devil riding an angel horse. Windy wore wings. Her friend, who rides my big almost black horse, was a thestral, and she dressed as Harry Potter. It took us 3 months to get my big dark horse to accept the wings on his back. My daughter's good mare Windy accepted them the very first day we tried them on her.


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## ChieTheRider

@knightrider Wish I was closer as well! Those pictures are absolutely adorable. Maybe in a few years. We'll see where life takes me, but there are quite a few big horse hospitals down in Ocala area that ONLY work with horses. Since I'm so far planning to specialize in Equine Nursing after I become a CVT, that might be a good place to go. Not sure the cost of living down there though, I imagine it's more expensive than where I am now. 

I've always been completely obsessed with medieval history, especially European (people complain about history being Euro-centric or whatever but I find it fascinating). From a teeny kid I wrote stories about knights and castles and read as much as I could about ancient and medieval Europe, England especially. To this day my imagination runs away with me if I'm riding in a quiet wood through tall old oak trees that have a hundred years of stories to tell. I wish I could travel to Europe one day, but alas, money :icon_rolleyes:. I want to do a lot of things that will never come to pass. I'd like to learn archery, specifically the longbow. But learning to use an actual longbow that's comparable to the ones used in medieval war times would take years. I'd also love to learn how to use a broadsword and maybe fence a little, but again, I don't think I have the time. 

I do write my fair share of fantasy, but it's nearly always medieval based. What saddens me is that there isn't a lot of entertainment (books, movies, etc..) that are anywhere NEAR historically accurate/realistic. I've only found a couple shows and books I like, _The Lord of the Rings_ being at the top of the list. Recently I have read the novels by Alexandre Dumas, and though they're not medieval, I still love them. There's still plenty of swordplay because it's only the 1600s. A special pet peeve of mine is the fact that every few years they make a new retelling of the Robin Hood story, and it's usually an abysmal failure. I may or may not be writing a version of that legend on my own and I refuse to stray from the original legends or over-romanticize the whole thing. 

Working with a renaissance faire sounds like what I'd call a dream job. If I get a chance one day to do that I may take it. Just thinking about it sends chills up my spine. It just...sounds amazing. Maybe that's just me imagining things and making up dramatic scenarios in my head, but still. I'd like to try it out one day.


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## ChieTheRider

I was looking over my Facebook (that place is trash -14/10 would not recommend) and there was one person on a tack sale page who was asking questions about a twisted mouth-combination bit. They wanted to know what kind it was and what brand. Naturally, half of the people in the comments are actually trashing the person and straight up accusing them of abuse when the OP never actually said if they'd ever used that bit or not. It turned into a massive crapping contest. Everyone was calling it a trash bit (but with ruder names) and being nasty. 

Personally I wouldn't use that bit on a horse and I think that most of the time when a horse is ridden in that bit it's because either the horse or the rider has a training issue. *However.* Unless I have actual proof that person has bloodied the mouth of a horse with the bit or is completely unable to control the animal without causing some pain to them I won't say anything. Generally. The only exception would be one of those bike-chain spikey bits. That is abusive because the horse is caused discomfort by simply having that in the its mouth. But even then, I'm not going to be terrible about it. Being rude isn't the way to get your point across. In the case of the hack combo, while it CAN be a harsh bit, it's not NECESSARILY a harsh bit. If the horse isn't exhibiting any signs of discomfort and doesn't have any behavioral issues, then ride with what you want! Usually if that's the case with the horse then they won't actually "need" a harsh bit but that's not the point. That's not the hill we need to die on. If the horse is fine and there's absolutely zero evidence of abuse, then people can't logically accuse someone of hurting their horse. 

Also, I find it funny that many of these "bleeding hearts" who think bits are abuse also have no idea how to take care of their horses, don't use a farrier, and feed their animals sweet feed. 

People are rude and disrespectful and are very keen to gang up on those who vulnerably ask questions. It's like a kitten walking into a pack of coyotes. If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything. Even though it's often unnecessary, you can express your concern without being a jerk. 

It's a fact that social media is mostly inhabited by argumentative toddlers.


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## ChieTheRider

A friend of my mom's has asked me to come check out one of her horses and see if I can figure out why he's misbehaving. They've had him vet/chiro/saddle fitter checked, but he's still crow-hopping. His rider is very timid. They recently rehomed their other horse and are looking for another one. I'll have to see when I get out there but it sounds like a fin challenge. I probably don't have time for this but...


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## ChieTheRider

Needless to say, meeting Pokey was interesting. 

Pokey is a short and stocky pinto with a mind of his own. I've never met a lazier horse. When I first come out to see him I get his backstory. He was a leadline trail horse. He's 12. He was perfect to ride until recently, when he started misbehaving. It didn't help that the lady supposed to be working with him and his hooman was rude and nasty. Luckily that lady (and her hubby, who's the farrier) won't be working with Pokey anymore. He's been checked by the vet and the chiro. He has pretty good feet and is eating good feed. He does seem to have a bit of a hay allergy though, but his humans are soaking it for him and that's helped a lot. He's got a short back and high withers. His topline also isn't great, but that's fixable. He hasn't done a ton because he's been crow hopping and tossing his green rider. 

The first thing I notice is that he's really a chill critter. He doesn't care. He doesn't mind you loving all over him. But when I bring the saddle out, he backs up to the length of the leadline and stares at me like I'm gonna kill him. I put the saddle down, untie him, and give him some loves. I lead him over to the saddle and let him investigate. I take the pad and after walking in circles for a while, finally set it on him. Then I take it off and set the saddle on to see if it fits. Surprise, it's phenomenally too wide. The "trainer" working with him apparently hadn't noticed this. I figure that's why he's acting up under saddle, but I want to see what he's like on the ground.

He doesn't have a good idea of what personal space is. Since he's a calm horse, he's not too bad about shoving you around. If he was higher strung I might have been trampled. He's a little treat sour. I was standing with him and talking to his mom when I feel teeth on my elbow. I then decided that maybe using treats as a reward isn't an option for this boy. He doesn't know how to lunge, or if he does, he knows how to get out of it. He likes to swing his rear end at you and seems pretty desensitized to the whip. He didn't respond to it much when I tapped his butt and asked him to step forward. We got in a couple of arguments over that. As much as I prefer being gentle with a horse, I have two rules they have to follow for us to be friends. No biting, and no kicking. Either of those will end with you getting the stink slapped out of you. That's my line in the sand. There's really nothing else I'd harshly smack a horse for, but there's a point when it's only the whip between you and an aggressive 1000lb animal. There will be no biting or kicking on my watch or we're going to have to have a come to Jesus meeting. 

Sadly, I don't have the time to work with him, so I referred them to a trainer friend of mine. Still, the mom wants me to come out and work with Pokey and her daughter once the horse has been worked with. I think the issues he's having are because he's figured he can push people around. That and the saddle not fitting. He's a smart little horse and not mean at all, but he's a bit spoiled. He only swings his butt when he's asked to do something, and I have yet to figure if he's frustrated or just trying to get back into the pasture. Even though he's rude he's not dangerous, but he may be if this isn't nipped in the bud. 

I wish I had time to work with him. I feel like he'd teach me a lot. I will hopefully give the daughter lessons on him in a few weeks after he's been to the trainers. The ground manners are the first things that need fixing and I think everything else will follow.


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## ChieTheRider

I feel like the dissociation method that I see many dog trainers using on aggressive/anxious dogs could be applied to my horse (and others) with great success. This is where I feel like treats can come in handy. She starts looking weird at something and getting stressed? Stop, give a treat, calm down a second. If I could get her total attention on me that would solve most of our issues. 

But alas, she's an Arabian.


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## ChieTheRider

I went and worked with Pokey again! I was worried at first because a couple days ago when the trainer (let's call her C since I don't wanna use real names and "trainer" sounds impersonal) first got on him he threw a fit. She put the girl on him that usually rides the rough horses and they had a come to Jesus meeting for 45 minutes in the round pen before he would stop trying to kill her. C was scared that the horse wouldn't be rideable for a 12 year old after that episode. They rode him for an hour or so on the trails later and he did fine.

We also learned a little about his history and what would happen if we sent him back to the horse dealer in GA. 

He's 20, not 12. He's not a kids horse. He was "rode hard and put up wet" for most of his life, and being treated harshly is all he understands. He's got old splint injuries in his back legs (C said that makes her think he was a rope horse at some point). He's got spur scars on his ribs. He's seriously spooky of the saddle. C says they probably rode him in barbed wire. I'm sure that was an exaggeration but some people are capable of anything...

It's hard dealing with a horse like this because he only understands being treated roughly. He expects that and gets antsy when you treat him any differently. He can be retrained to respond to gentle hands, but not without speaking his language first. He knows he's 1000lbs and we're not. But his owner, C, and I all agree that he's in the best home ever and it's not time to give up on him yet. He's been given up on too many times. And if he goes back he'll end up being shipped to Mexico and turned into dog food. 

His age is an advantage and a disadvantage. Advantage because he's old and doesn't have the spunk he probably had when he was 4 and seems to have some common sense. Disadvantage because he's been treated this way for a long time most likely and it might be a hard habit to break. But he's not a dumb horse. He watches your every move. He's learning fast. 

I rode him without any issues at all in the round pen. We did work him on the ground first, so not sure if that contributed to him being calm, but he was good nonetheless. When I went to tack him up he set back when tied to the trailer and bucked once, sending the saddle (a nice one mind you) just about into orbit. We tried again and while he still shied away, we managed. His previous saddle didn't fit at all. 

I don't know how much of it his him honestly being scared and how much of it is just he knows how to get away with murder. I think it's a combination of both. He needs to see the chiro too, a good one. He costs a quarter of what the chiro/vet charges and does a much better job IMO. I've seen his work and he does horses for most of the long time horse people in the area. 

We'll see how this goes. His owner is a good friend of ours and was very upset when she heard of the bronco episode he had a couple days ago. It was really encouraging for her to hear that he's doing better.


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## knightrider

This story is so interesting. I can't wait to read the next installment. I hope he just keeps doing better and better.


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## ChieTheRider

His little hooman rode him yesterday in the round pen and in the field and they did great! Also, his big hooman (owner) is going to get a round pen set up before they bring him back to their place. She wants to have a controlled area to work him. And C said he's much better with the tacking up thing. Maybe he's not as goofy as we thought he was and just needed one good conversation to get things sorted out.


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## ChieTheRider

My boss is trying to sell a couple horses. She's asking 12k for the 2D gelding with great papers and an amazing confirmation/temperament. I've ridden him and I like him. But I don't think she'll sell him for that, not where we are. Down here in the more rural part of the south, horses, even good ones, are practically a dime a dozen. You can get a patterned, green broke, healthy, sound, grade horse for less than 1k. Barrel racing is the thing down here and it's not too hard to find a horse with some barrel background. Sure, you'll usually have to work out the kinks, but for someone who's been riding for a while and isn't made of money, that's sometimes an ok trade. You get what you pay for, but down here you'll definitely get your money's worth. 

Her stud colt she's trying to sell is 6k. He's beautifully bred and very sweet but again. Only a select amount of people (the higher end competitors who're made of cash) would go for something like that. A 6month old colt is a huge investment. 

My critters were free. Both of them. Looking back, there were so many red flags that I didn't know about with them, but they ended up being perfect for me. You get what you pay for, but sometimes you get lucky.


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## ChieTheRider

Haven't had time to go worth with Pokey because school has been rough these past couple weeks, but a teeny kid that lives on the property rode him the other day. He was so good. 

And there's another storm headed into the gulf. It's got the same Louisiana path as the other ones that were bad this year. The forecast keeps saying it's getting stronger. I'm probably going to fill up gas today. That and I need to get my tire on my truck fixed. I got stuck in a bad part of town with a flat but luckily a friend of ours was behind me and followed me to a gas station. My dad and brother showed up and I'm glad they did because by the time we finished it was 10:30 at night. The tire was flat coming off of my friend's campus so I went and asked the police officer where the nearest gas station with an air pump might be and she grimaced, saying she didn't like sending me anywhere local because it's kind of a sketchy area. It ended up being alright, but the spare that's on now is 20 years old and dryrotted. 

I might be taking the F550 to work/school on Monday. I'll have to park way far away so I don't get stuck (it's a massive truck and the college parking lots are narrow). It'll be a good joke but I'd rather take my little truck.


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## knightrider

How did you survive the storm?


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## ChieTheRider

@knightrider No damage! It hit South AL pretty bad from what I hear though. It was a 2 when it hit. We had a few hours of scary sounding wind but everything held. Anything that would have broken did when Sally came through. There wasn't a lot left behind for this one to carry off.


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## ChieTheRider

I'm a bit worried about the state of the world. People are threatening to lose their minds if the election turns out the wrong way. Hope they don't start blocking roads and mess so I can't get feed. I have winter shopping to do and some tack I need to sell before it gets really cold. I bought a blanket for my dude but it's just the littlest bit too small. I also need to make sure I have spray bottles with liniment for his legs. That's the only thing that keeps him from stocking up really badly. Poor old man. He gets awfully stiff during wintertime too. I hate locking him in but the pasture can't take 24/7 grazing. I might get some quick wraps too, but I think I'll only do that if the liniment quits working. I hate spraying wet stuff on his legs in 30 degree weather though. 

I then need to figure out what I'm going to feed everyone when they get here. They will be on a round bale all day and fed grain (or something) twice a day, then put in the stall with hay at night. Jay has his feeding routine that I'm not going to mess with because it works, but Tess. I'm pretty sure we had some stomach upsets with her so I don't want to feed her grain if I can help it. I'm thinking of starting her on alfalfa/timothy pellets and oats and having free choice minerals for them both. According to what I've learned about feed, that SHOULD cover all their nutritional needs, especially since I'm not doing insane competitions or anything. The only thing I'm worried about her missing is selenium and vit. E, but that's an easy supplement to find. The oats add a little fat and up the carb content but are still high fiber as far as grains go. Alfalfa/timothy is just high-protein hay. I'd like to switch out some of my guy's diet for alfalfa too since he eats so much grain. Not sure about the amount but I usually figure that out by watching their weight. Probably a 2-1 ratio of hay pellets/oats. I've looked at ration balancers but they wouldn't have the bulk I need for wintertime. Might feed it during the summer, but it's awfully high protein which creates a lot of heat when the animal processes it. I'm not sure. I think I'll stick to "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". Unless my horse has some weird abnormality going on, I shouldn't need to feed some new-fangled thing. 

I will be feeding both of them MSM as well. And then they get fiber in their grain for one week out of each month as a gut cleanse (funny, when I didn't do that for a while my dude had a colic episode...). Ah. The money. If only oats and alfalfa was enough for my old dude. 

Ugh. Guess I know what I'm putting on my Christmas list, my feed bill! Might give Santa a heart attack...


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## ChieTheRider

I think I figured out why my old dude was walking on his heel and limping so badly the other day. -_- (excuse the thrushy looking hoof- we're working on that)


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## knightrider

Wow, there it is.


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## ChieTheRider

I struck gold yesterday. All this for $7. We cut the 25 foot pipes in half, so now I have ten ground poles or five cross rail jumps. The two big pipes I like because they're like jumping a log. They're not small enough to trot over but not big enough to be scary. And it's all pvc and fairly easy to handle. This all cost less than a single pipe from the hardware store. That being said, we did have to go drag half of it out of the woods while being swarmed by hoards of mosquitoes and getting tangled in briars.


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## ChieTheRider

Got a round bale. Lady let me try it (since it's costal and technically cow hay) for $25. It's a thousand pounds if it's an ounce. So even if it's mediocre quality hay, so long as it's not moldy or dusty (it's not as far as I can tell) it's worth my money. I'm trying to find someone I can buy from on a regular basis for $50 or less. The local feed store has good hay but the bales are smaller and $65 a bale. Our TSC apparently doesn't have good hay so I'm avoiding them. I'm planning on pulling hay off the round bale to put in their stalls at night and raking the area daily to keep nasty hay from building up. It'll be good fertilizer eventually. The bale is up on a pallet against a tree and covered with a tarp. I'm experimenting. Maybe the horses will tear it to shreds, maybe they won't. I've never had them on a bale by themselves, we always had cows who were really bad about soiling hay. 

Hopefully will get them this weekend. Before I do I still have to clean out the other stall/put away all the building supplies from the chicken coop and fix the electric wire. 

I am a bit worried about the hay being costal, I don't think my square bales are. I've never had an issue with it before but after that one colic episode Jay had I'm paranoid. I guess I'll just add a little fiber to their diet.


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## ChieTheRider

Finally got them home!


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## ChieTheRider

They refuse to eat the round bale. I knew I was running a risk when I bought an older costal bale, but now I've got to find a way to get rid of it. Luckily it was my first bale from that person so they gave it to me for $25. I can probably roll it onto the flatbed (with the help of several people) and take it to my grandma. Her cows would love it. 

I've also been investing in some tack lately. I'm planning on having a sale either in December or the first weekend in January. I bought a pretty little saddle for $80 and there's another one I'm getting for $20. I traded a headstall for another moldy saddle I'm cleaning up. They're old and a little beat up and most have wood trees, but they're perfectly useable for trails and such. I'm going to package them with a bridle, pad, bit, and girth each, and sell them.

I went and bought a few good headstalls/bits for $5 apiece today. I'm keeping a pair of reins or two (because they're leather) and maybe a headstall. I also bought a lovely pelham bit and a handful of girths, one of which fits my horse. Though I'll probably resell it because it's neoprene, but heck. It was in perfect shape and only a dollar.

And then I scored. For $5 I picked up a Dr. Cook bitless bridle. I probably won't use it (unless my horse loves it, which I doubt) and will sell it since it's in perfect shape. Brand new they're like $90. My grandma's horse Teddy might do well with it though and if so it'd make a great Christmas present.

I've got several brand new things and a ton of refurbished stuff. I'll hopefully make enough money to pay for my college books for next semester. I don't think I need too many since most of the books we have are used throughout the whole program, but I know I'll need to get some. And I'd like to buy another pair of ceramic infused quick wraps for Jay. They really help his stocking up and arthritis by stimulating circulation.


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## ChieTheRider

I took a spill today. We did some liberty first and that was fun. Then I got on tackless and we walked around a bit. But it all fell to pieces when I asked for a trot. She took off and then skidded to a stop in front of JRs stall, sending me tumbling. She caught my head (slightly) with a hoof on the way down. All is well and as soon as I came off she stopped and stared at me like I was an idiot. "Mom, don't ask me to go unless you're going to tell me where to go. It's scary because I don't know what to do and so I panic and run."

I was mad at first but I probably asked for it. 

Moral of the story- wear a helmet, because I wasn't. It's frightening to get nicked in the head when you don't have a helmet on.


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## ChieTheRider

So Boss has a doggo that needs a home...


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## ChieTheRider

I came down with something Monday and it's still with me. I'm a beast when I'm sick and haven't done anything but stress for finals and lay in bed for the past two days. 

But today I finally limed the horse's stalls and put shavings down. I also took my brother on a short ride for his birthday, which was really stressful. Tess was difficult (she hasn't been ridden much so that's to be expected of her) and even the old man was a little on edge. It was twilight by the time we got back and people drive too fast on our roads. I wouldn't have been worried if it was just Tess and I but my little brother and other horse makes me nervous. It did feel good to ride again. Poor JR kept getting left behind because he's perfectly content to go slow, while Tess insists on being the leader. She'd leave him in the dust if I let her. We had a conversation with the neighbors horses (both geldings) and while Tess got along with them fine, JR got really irritated with them sniffing his friend and kept striking at the fence. 

Tess is acting like she's in heat. Cranky, pees all the time, and flirts with the neighbor's horses. Maybe it's just her being a...flirt, or maybe it's because we're in FL and the days aren't short enough or cold enough to tell her that it's almost winter? All I know was that JR was being possessive of her and the other geldings were all up in her space. They were sniffing all up her neck and nickering to each other . I've for sure got a flirty mare.

It did feel good to ride again. That treeless saddle I have is an answer to prayer. It's comfortable for both me and Tess. It also fits JR, so I just use it for whoever I'm riding. 

I'm also proud of my little brother. He's been going out by himself (we can see him from the house) and riding JR in the backyard. Poor JR has to put up with an 11 year old struggling to put his bridle and bareback pad on. JR is a lovely old horse and I'm glad I have him. Really anyone can ride him.


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## ChieTheRider

JR's abscess came back. He was three-legged lame yesterday and would just stand in the same place for hours. My farrier is out of town but boss's son in law who's over on the weekends was able to come do my horses today. He dug and dug and dug into his toe but didn't find a pocket. Instead, he found a couple teeny tunnels that run up through the white line parallels with the hoof wall. He said that most likely the abscess was moving upwards and infecting more tissue. He put copper sulfate on it and trimmed that hoof a little short in the toe to take some pressure off. I have to keep it bandaged for a couple weeks, but since JR's very good about keeping the hoof bandage (a diaper and vetwrap/duct tape) on, I'm not worried about it staying on. 

He also had a few other small abscess in a couple other hooves. He did Tess as well, and both of them had some seedy toe going on. I think this all started a couple months ago when they missed the farrier a time or two in a row. Where they were, the ground was horribly wet and soggy. Constant nasty getting up into those hooves. That, combined with missing the farrier a couple times, was enough to do a lot of damage. 

He's still very lame and stiff in that leg, but he's also old and arthritic and any upset to his balance adversely affects his other joints. He's on the max dose of bute I can give him and is stalled till he feels better. He was so miserable yesterday. You could tell just looking at him. His whole appearance was dull. His respiration rate would go up whenever he'd move and he'd grunt and groan because he hurt so bad. It hurt just watching him. He's such and old sweetheart and doesn't deserve to hurt and it makes me really upset when he's in pain. 

Lovely of all this to happen right around finals too. But at least he's better today. He's actually bearing weight on the leg now instead of sticking it out way in front of him. I lost sleep over him last night. Poor old dude.


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## ChieTheRider

I've started letting him out. I have to be careful about his bandage but I don't have much of a choice. He doesn't like being in his stall. He's started doing this again....








He's also been off his feed. I think it's because he's irritated with the stall and the weather change. It got really cold all of a sudden. And I do think his teeth are making him uncomfortable. I've got someone coming out to do them in a 11 days. I hope he's better by then. The farrier is going to come see him again Saturday and trim his opposite front. He wasn't able to pick it up last time. I'm not sure why this is taking so long to heal. I soaked the foot again today while he was eating (wouldn't stand still otherwise) and the doggo decided it was time to join. She doesn't like coming in Tess's stall but is perfectly content to come cuddle with JR when it gets cold outside.


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## ChieTheRider

Finals are over Thursday. I'm hopefully going to have time Friday to spend with the critters. JRs foot is much better but he's still sore. I'm going to try to get back a rubber soaking boot I returned to my grandmother so I can leave him in the stall for 30mins to soak without having to stand there and hold his foot in a bucket. 

Tess's body condition has massively improved. Even within the few weeks she's been here, feeding that alfalfa really helped her topline. The oats are starting to make her dull coat shine. The vitamins are probably helping with that too. She doesn't seem super hot, but it's been a while since I've ridden her. We're going to do some ground poles before anything so we...work out the kinks. She's the kind of horse that needs to be ridden or lunged 4 times a week. 

I also struck gold...tomorrow I'll hopefully be picking up an EquiPedic saddle pad for my treeless. It's used. It was listed for $20 on FB and is in incredible shape. Brand new those things are 200+ so even if it is tore up on the underside I can fix it for next to nothing compared to what its worth. It's insane luck that I found this. It's an ugly color but I can throw a cotton square pad over it and nobody will know. It's really low profile anyhow.


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## knightrider

Did you get your duster waterproofed?


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## ChieTheRider

knightrider said:


> Did you get your duster waterproofed?


Sort of. I've got most of it reproofed but the shoulders where the rain hits the hardest still seems a little wet to me...but it could be my imagination. I can't tell if it's wet or if I'm just feeling the cold through the cloth! I did use the wax to proof a leather hat though so I'm covered head to toe.


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## ChieTheRider

Was having a hard time keeping the bandage on while keeping the hoof dry. The bandage would get torn up and then soaked. Well, I think I found a solution and am a bit proud of myself. Girls gotta do what a girl's gotta do.


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## ChieTheRider

I've found I can stick a hoof pick a bit further into the abscess than I could before. He jerks when I do it. It's hurting him. Also, I can feel a small bulge underneath the hoof wall from the outside of his hoof. It's one small spot about the size of a nickel and it's warm. I've got a feeling we're not saying goodbye to this abscess anytime soon and that it might not wait for the hoof to grow out before it rears its ugly head. I wouldn't be surprised if it busted through the hoof wall. It looks like it's on its way to do so. At least there's an open place where it's draining. I was able to put some meds up in there so hopefully it'll kill some of the nasty. I'm trying to keep it clean so it doesn't clog and build up puss and pressure again. But there's definitely a pocket. He's still a little lame on that leg but is fine walking around the pasture. Now if I can just keep that boot on him. He got it off somehow today. 

I've got a feeling that after a couple trims we'll find a massive pocket where the infection is/was. It's both fascinating and nasty at the same time.


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## ChieTheRider

I took Tess on a little ride around the neighborhood and it was stressful in the beginning. Everything was a monster. It was like riding a live grenade. The squirrels were all out to get her, the neighbors' cars were all Decepticons in disguise, and the paper bag of yard trash was a demon from the devil himself. I haven't ridden her in too long and she's been getting too many oats. She looks lovely though. I've never seen her this filled out. She's just a little goofy. It didn't help that the two geldings down the street were running and hollering and losing their minds when we came down the road. Several times we had to stop and stand still for a minute or two and think about our surroundings before moving on. 

It definitely helps to spot the spook before the horse does. I think they can sense that it's not super scary if you've seen it and decided it's not a threat. 

I'm also about ready to be done with JRs abscess. His foot still needs to be bandaged. The rubber boot only works in a clean environment or else it gets dirt in it and rubs his foot raw. I'm going to put a sock on him next time to see if that helps. It was much more convenient than duct-taping a diaper to his hoof while being very careful not to wrap the coronary band and inhibit circulation. 

I do get to take my horse over to my Boss's for a few days while she's out of town. I can ride her in the arena and it'll be fun. Hopefully I can ride with the other boarder there who I pretty much get along with. We definitely disagree on politics but we're also pretty mature adults who don't have to let that get in the way of horses and fun. And that's what matters in the end.


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## carshon

You can take a syringe and fill it with peroxide and water and shoot it into the hole where the abcess is. If the abcess is draining.it is best to try to get all of the infection out. I love our Davis hoof boots. We used them a lot when we got our previously foundered mare and she abcessed a lot the first summer we got her. Thankfully we haven't had an abcess since then.


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## ChieTheRider

carshon said:


> You can take a syringe and fill it with peroxide and water and shoot it into the hole where the abcess is. If the abcess is draining.it is best to try to get all of the infection out. I love our Davis hoof boots. We used them a lot when we got our previously foundered mare and she abcessed a lot the first summer we got her. Thankfully we haven't had an abcess since then.


I think I'll do that. I've had to take the bandage off as it was making his heel bulbs very soft and he keeps cutting them up. The farrier just said clean it out often, flush it, and put the antibiotics in it. He also suggested to got get an Xray done to make sure he doesn't have anything else going on. 

On a better note, I had an impromptu lesson with the border at boss's barn. Her advice was very helpful. For the longest time we've had a hard time changing leads correctly. The lesson showed me that most of it was actually my fault. I was telling her to be on the wrong lead the whole time. Also I needed to relax my hips- I was tense and bouncing in the saddle but once I relaxed it was much more comfortable and Tess moved better. I also needed to sit back rather than lean forward. Tess moved so much better when I corrected my errors. She's such a lovely mover when she gets going correctly.


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## ChieTheRider

Farrier came today and dug out more of the abscess that had spread sideways right underneath the sole of his hoof. He thinks we're done with it now, we just have to keep it clean. But he found another one on his other foot. I guess where he was kept before really did a number on his hooves. We now have him on a hoof supplement and booted till the abscesses grow out. Ever seen a horse with in crew socks? Well now you have.


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## ChieTheRider

JRs left front hoof is warmer than his right front. I've given him some bute and will ice it to prevent any swelling. He's not lame at all, even off bute. Not sure if it's the abscess or what but his whole foot, especially around the coronary band, is warm. I'm just gonna try to keep it cold I guess...not much else to do.


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## ChieTheRider

All is well with the critters. The vet cleared JR, we'll see how his foot is on Saturday when the farrier comes. 

Things are happening. I kinda feel like I've started a new chapter in life. More on that later.


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## knightrider

Not too much later, OK? Don't leave us wondering too long.


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## ChieTheRider

It won't be too long. Till then I'm still here. 

I did catch something awful over the weekend and hope it goes away by Tuesday when I have to go to school. I don't have the covid (had it the beginning of last year lol) but people lose their Jesus now if you've got the sniffles. Especially the teachers. But anyhow. 

I'm probably feeling bad because despite my sniffles I took the horses down to the arena to ride...bad idea, I'm now sore and sick. I let Tess sprint in the arena and boy that mare can go. After sprinting her I ran barrels with her and she just about left me in the dust a couple times. I tell you I held on to that horn for dear life.. Something clicked in her head that meant "sPEED". I have a problem with holding her back though. That's probably the fastest run I made on her. I just let her handle it instead of trying to micromanage every hoofstep she takes. My anxious tendencies make me want to be in control of every aspect of the situation and there was something freeing in just letting her run. I do love the hack I use for racing her though. I will try a bit on her but when you're going so fast it's hard not to snatch sometimes and her mouth bruises very easily. She rides well (better I think, especially if we're fooling around with English) in a bit, but I feel better for now running barrels in this hack. It's not a super mean one either. I'm generally pretty light handed but I am scared to death of bruising her. She's got scars in her mouth from bad bitting and I've sworn never to contribute any more to those marks. I don't know if those happened while I had her or before. Probably some of both. I was 13ish when I got her and didn't know what I do now about bits and saddles. 

I have found out she's a lefty though. She runs much smoother to the left barrel first. 

Oh, I've also found a saddle that fits her! Finally! I'm selling my treeless. It was a good run, but neither I nor my horse feel comfortable in it, especially going fast. I love it for trails, but for speed? It feels like the saddle's going to slip. And my legs get put into a weird position. She would lay her ears back when asked to lope in the treeless (probably due to my bad balance and how much it moved on her back...she HATES any sliding) but does fine in this. It's a Circle Y Park and Trail but it's built more like a barrel saddle. And I love it. I have noticed a dry spot behind her withers, but I think it's because she's lost a little weight because of winter and has a hollow there. I upped her alfalfa so that'll help fill her out. I'm getting a new pad that fits better (the one I have is way too short). Before I get that I'll ride in another felt pad of mine and see if that makes a difference. I might borrow a couple to see what works too. 

Here's a pretty pic of us last weekend at a show. You can see how short the pad is here. My friend and I went and we both got sick of the same thing the same day this week, so we think it's the same bug. Weird for it to hide that long but oh well. This horrible, nasty, wet, cold weather doesn't help. At least today was sunny. I'll tell you what, I will never be as thankful for my Aussie slicker as I was last Friday night. Kept me, my saddle, and half my pony dry.


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## ChieTheRider

I do think I've formed a preference for mares. I've really only had one gelding, and I just don't feel like he's got the brains all the mares I've ridden have. Maybe it's his lack of hormones. Most gelding's I've met have been less moody, but I think moodiness is somewhat natural. It's almost part of what makes me like mares better, the fact that they're just an honest to God horse. But we'll see. I've not really ridden a truly hateful mare, but I do know one and handle her frequently. Everyone hates her but there's something about her I trust. I feel like she'd take care of herself and me with her if I ever rode her. Geldings may be just as smart as mares, but I feel like there's something missing with them. 

It's a personal preference. I love my gelding to death but there's something about my mare that's different. And I like it. Maybe it's because I grew up riding mares. I'm partial I suppose. It probably also depends on their job too. Geldings seem more dependable. They'll do what needs to be done and put every ounce of effort into it. Mares? They'll let you know when they've had enough and then it's over. I'd love to hear stories of ranch working mares though. Every cowboy I've talked to prefers geldings, but then again I don't know many ranchers.


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## ChieTheRider

Clinical story. I've been thinking about this for weeks.

We had an 80lb dog come into the clinic a couple weeks ago and I'm still thinking about the look he gave me. I don't even know how to explain it. I can look at my dog and her looking back doesn't bother me at all, but this? This was different. There was something in that dog's eyes that was entirely...fearless. Not brazen or aggressive, but completely and utterly devoid of fear, and full of confidence. 

I couldn't look at him for more than a second without turning away. I've never had such a humanlike awkward eye contact with an animal before. At that moment I was very well aware that I wasn't in charge. This dog saw himself as my equal at the very least. He wasn't mean, which was a good thing. But he was totally confident in his ability to hold his own if the need came. 

Idk. This isn't really relevant info but I've been thinking about it for almost a month now and I'm not sure why.


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## ChieTheRider

I don't believe in horse whispering. I don't believe in any sort of magical connection between horse and human. 

But the more time I spend with my horse in silence and on equal ground, the more I understand her. It's something I can't share, since it's not in a language translatable into words. She's her own little being. She acts certain ways and thinks certain ways that's just unique to her and I love it. We understand each other when I just...slow...down. And I can tell, whenever we're having a bad day, it's because there is a break in the communication. 

_And this is why liberty/tackless work is so important to me. _

Some horses skip the nonverbal, silent signs of the rider and only listen to cues of the bit, spurs, whip, etc. My mare was that way and still can be. But whenever I take it slow and make firm, sensible, simple decisions in an organized fashion, she understands without needing tack. It's all about her brain. I can tell when she's not thinking focused on me. That's when she'll stop listening to my cues. I can tell when she's distracted because then she trips and doesn't pay attention to me on the ground. I think we've yet to be perfectly in sync, but we're getting there. 

Something I've found that she hates is to be controlled. And by controlled, I mean never able to make her own decisions and constantly made to do what someone else wants. Especially roughly...you can't be rough with this mare or she will get really irritated and take off with you. She's the reason they say "Discuss it with a mare". She wants to be boss. She wants to be the head of the herd. And frankly, sometimes it's ok for her to be so, so long as we have a mutual understanding of the pecking order and that if she needs help with a decision, I'm here. I'll point in the right direction and she'll go from there. But sometimes I just let her do what she wants to do. Go in the arena, take the bridle off, and just sit there. Let her amble around. For whatever reason, she seems to be happier with me afterwards. Sometimes she needs to be able to pick her paces. This isn't the case with all critters, but it is with her. There is no rebellion or mischief in her behavior, it's simply her just being a strong, independent mare who don't need no human. She's not a rude horse, she's just a mare. She thinks for herself and if I figure out how to work together with that, we'll be set. 

To clarify, I'm not a nAtUrAl hOrSeMaNsHiP fanatic. I don't believe in any singular training method. But some of these people are on to something. The real training happens in the brain and when you and your horse learn about each other, and each others' species. There's no whip or spur that'll do that for you.

Just...sometimes you look at your horse and a lightbulb goes off. It's not magic, but it sure feels like it.


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## ChieTheRider

Just found out that a small forested area my boss and I trail ride in was completely cut down and burned to make room for a huge subdivision. Trees that were hundreds of years old. I've only ridden there a handful of times but that small patch of woods was exactly what I imagined Sherwood forest to look like. The trees were old enough to have seen the Declaration of Independence signed. Trees that were there when Florida was purchased from Spain in the 1800s. Trees that were there during the civil war. Giant oaks that would have lived for hundreds of more years if some greedy contractor hadn't bought up the land and burned everything to the ground. What once was tall and green is now dust. It now looks like Isengard back there.

Already there are deer dead in the roads, coyotes creeping closer to the houses, and bears in the subdivisions eating people's garbage. There are hawks, who are much too small to kill our adult chickens, trying their best to get one because they're hungry. 

I'm not sure how to justify this frustration. The company who owns the land can do what they want I suppose. And I guess people need somewhere to live. And it'll probably boost the economy in the area and provide jobs for people and more business for the smaller folks struggling. But it's still a crying shame. 

I don't claim to be an environmentalist or a hipster tree-hugger, but this just makes me sad. Hundreds of years of beauty and history torn down to make way for humans. _Humans. _Humans who complain about the agriculture and yet have terribly behaved dogs who dig out and get in the road. Humans who drive too fast to get to their city jobs. Humans who have no patience for horse trailers and no understanding of hunters and farmers. 

If you ask me, the trees were better company.


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## Palfrey

That is a shame! I happen to be quite fond of nature myself--nothing better than taking a stroll through the woods to a my nearby creek. Good for the soul.


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## knightrider

So sorry about the loss of your beloved trails. One reason why we moved to Suwannee County was the hope that it would not be developed. We are not near to any large city, so hopefully people won't want to move here.

I've been camping with horses for 4 days. One of the people camping with me goes to Black Creek Park camping. Is that one near you? I was telling him about how I would like to set up a camping trip out your way. It takes him 5 1/2 hours to get to Black Creek . . . and he is 40 minutes further north than I am. Still, I can dream.


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## ChieTheRider

@knightrider nope, I'm way further west. You're a long ways from me I'm pretty sure.


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## knightrider

Awww, phooey. I can't "like" that.


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## ChieTheRider

New Journal has been started ~ Chie's Journal - Part Two


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## ChieTheRider

-oops-


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