A long blog about my hectic week! (w/ pics!)

What a week its been so far. It all started with an email from an old high school friend Elaine. She sent me a message asking me if I knew of anyone interested in an AQHA buckskin yearling and sent me some pics. Boy was he a cutie! I honestly thought about it but ended up sending her a reply saying there is no way I want to deal with 2 unbroken horses and a foal on the way and that if I bought anymore horses it would have to be a husband horse that anyone could ride. Well, wouldn't you know she had one! An 11 yr old QH/ Standardbred cross mare that was bomb proof and used as a backup trail horse for family and friends that didn't have much experience. Here is the kicker... Elaine also added that if I wanted her she was FREE! She had to many horses and needed to lighten her work load. Well I was sold without even looking at her but Elaine told me to back my saddle bags and come take her for a test ride at Zaleski State Forest for the Relay for Life trail ride.

So I did. I pulled into the Zaleski Horse Camp at 11, saddled up and headed out with Elaine and her family on a 2 hour trail ride. I was a little hesitant to ride once I saw the mare. She was a tad underweight! I checked her over though and her back looked fine so I threw some extra pads on her and made sure she was comfortable with my weight on her on a warm up trail. She did great so we headed out to meet the group of riders waiting for us. Everything was going great until we got about 2 miles down the trail and Elaines Aunt's horse spooked! Bad! I'm still not sure what happened, all I could see was a horses belly rearing up and going backwards. Needless to say her Aunt couldn't get out of the saddle fast enough and had all 1100 lbs of her horse land on her and rolling down a steep bank. We all scrambled to get to her, kept her talking and still. She complained of leg and back pain so an ambulance was called. They came out on the trail with 4wheelers pulling a stretcher on a trailer and a helicopter waiting for her at the end of the trail. We were all very shook up but were relieved to hear that she had no broken bones or permanent damage after many x-rays.

I came home that night and talked about everything with hubby. I wanted that mare! lol The only problem I had was getting her home. The project trailer still needs 1 floor board replaced and there is no way I was hauling in it until it was fixed. That's when I got a small smirk from hubby. He knows I hate that trailer and told me if I could find one I like for under $6,000 we could go pick it up by the end of the week. I got right on it and found a Sundowner 4 horse slant load with an aluminum ramp that I LOVE! (He loves it because he can fit his 4-wheelers in the back and as much camping gear as his little desires!) So Tuesday we drove 4 hours one way to pick it up, fought traffic for 4 hours home through rush hour and 3 big cities with crazy freeway exits. My nerves are still shot and I wasn't the one driving. That sucker is huge and its going to be awhile before I feel safe hauling by myself.

So I called Elaine when we got home and set up a time to pick up my new mare Wednesday night. Everything went well. She loaded herself and patiently nibbled her hay net while I closed her divider and tied her in. When we got home I she unloaded fine and started getting antsy while calling for her former pasture buddy's. She is a little herd bound but not bad at all once you get her attention on you. I put her in the round pen for a few minutes to let her sniff around and let her nerves settle. She is going to need a lot of round pen time. She has no idea about moving hindquarters over, backing up or looking for a cue to stop when you have her going around the pen. She loves standing right over your shoulder ALL the time and actually tried to push me out of the way when I was taking her to her new stall. No big deal really but I'm all about ground manners and my own personal space! Now time for pics...

Here she is!

(Not usually one to braid a horse's mane but it wont stay on the right side! lol)

Previous name was Katie... Any new name ideas?

She really needs come weight and muscle tone.

And of course Daya, very pregnant and very unhappy about it!
She does seem to get enjoyment out of taking it out on the new mare. Shessh! That is one moody appy.

Poor girl. She acts miserable! Her back legs have been swelling if I dont make her walk in the roundpen everyday but she loves having cold water sprayed on them afterwards.
Maybe my next blog will have foal pics!

This and that

Everything has been pretty quite at the barn this week. I've had to put Daya in the round pen a few times to keep her attitude in check! She hasn't really bagged up much more but her hindquarters continue to change. She has also been defecating a lot more than usual so stall cleaning has been fun! lol

I also wanted to share a little tidbit my farrier passed along to me. I have been battling thrush this spring in Daya's feet and nothing has been helping. He told me to stop waisting money on the name brand thrush products and pick up a bottle of Lysol Brand Concentrate. You don't have to dilute it and it kills all the germs/bacteria causing the problem. Ive used it for a few days now and I can already tell a difference! Plus its only about $6 a bottle.

Here is a funny little list I received in an email and thought I would share it. Some of them are pretty funny if you''ve ever had a spooky horse...

Top 11 Spookey Things
A horse's point of view

11. Squirrels:
Killer rodents that can attack from below, the side or ABOVE


10. Blowing Paper:
"At any moment it could whip up into our faces, covering our noses. We could suffocate. And don't try to tell us you'd do CPR."

9. Barking Dogs:
"What? You've never read Steven King's CUJO?"

8. Puddles of Water:
"Quicksand."

7. Trash Cans:
"They've been known to swallow horses and transport them into another dimension."

6. Babies and Li'l Kids:
"Long lost tribe of horse-eating pygmies."

5. Plaid Horse Blankets:
"Hey, when was the last time you wore plaid? It adds 100 lbs."

4. Ropes and Hoses on the Ground:
"Dreaded North American Trail Snakes."

3. Ponies:
"Cute, cleaver, hardy. They want to take over the world."

2. Windy Days:
"Two Words: impending tornado."

1. Carts and Wagons:
"Look. You put a human on our backs, we can always buck them off. But hitching a horse to a wheeled object? It's just not right."

2 Grumpy Girls...

No foal yet but Daya and I are both becoming impatient. She is moody and uncomfortable. I'm just chomping at the bit to get this baby on the ground. She is mushy from her tail head down, her whole butt and private parts look saggy , bagging up but very slowly, big veins popping out on her belly, and even her pelvic ligaments have relaxed. We are getting closer. I was hoping she would have waxed up by now but knowing her she is going to hold out till the cows come home!

Its been very boring at the barn... Watching Daya get ready to foal has been like watching water boil, So today I took some pics and even got a video clip of the baby moving! There is also a picture at the bottom that shows the condition of her teeth... kinda gross so beware!

If you watch her udder area you will see a little bump closer to the end...

Daya's teeth! I finally took a picture of them... Her left front is chipped the worst and third from the left is split. I dont even want to imagine what she got hit with or how hard the blow was to leave her teeth like this. My vet said I would have to look into a dental specialist as she got older. Im truly hoping she will still be able to somewhat graze when she gets up in her senior years,

Its almost foaling time....

It has been an amazing month so far. The weather has been warm and breezy, the barn yard is slowly drying up and Daya has been loving it. She enjoyed being pampered yesterday as I sprayed a white vinegar mix on her stained spots, sponged her down with some whitening shampoo and sprayed her off. Its beyond me how to get the yellow look out of her tail... but I was very happy with the end result (Of course I didn't have my camera with me!).

She has done really well with being saddled everyday. I've had her cinched up about 10 times now, no bucking, not even a single crow hop. She still gets fidgety and unsure sometimes when I first start cinching her up but it is all still new to her so this is expected. She is really handling everything very well, especially with her being so sensitive to things. The only problem areas I'm having is getting her used to my foot touching her belly as I put my foot in the stirrup. We are taking baby steps though and she is doing a really good so far.

I do have some great updates as far as foaling! Daya's belly dropped last week and started bagging up Sunday night. The area around her tail head is mushy, her vulva is dropping a little and this morning I noticed a subtle change in the muscles around her hindquarters. I'm thinking her cervix is starting to open up! Hoping to have a foal on the ground within a week!

She hasn't bagged up very much but everything else is pointing towards dropping this foal!

3/8/10 Update

The weather has been nice, Daya's belly is getting huge, and we have been working really hard on more ground and saddle work the last few days. I've been getting her accustomed to a saddle being put on her back (no cinches yet... I've seen her in action before! lol) and she is doing great. I've only done this for 2 days and she literally fell asleep with boredom today. I’m taking that as a good sign! I also introduced her to a tarp today. She was goofy for about 2 minutes and then started trotting over it like she had been doing it for years.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Time is flying!

Where has the time gone? Daya is getting pretty big and her belly has started to gravitate downward a little. April 9th will roughly be day 300 for her and I've been told anything after that is fair game in the world of foaling. In all, honestly, I'm starting to get a tad bit nervous over the whole thing. Ive worked with mares and foals but have never been present for foaling. So many people have given me tips on their personal experience. My game plan so far is to let Daya handle the birthing on her own and only help if I start seeing signs of her struggling or becoming too fatigued.



My farrier came out yesterday and Daya was awesome. This was the first time she has ever let Mike put all 4 feet on his hoof stand to be rasped (she usually gets freaked out and refuses to rest her hooves on it). He was happy with her overall hoof growth. She had a lot of heel that had to be taken off which is what we have been looking for. He also did some ground work with her. She was sticky when asked to yield her hindquarters but warmed up quickly when she realized what we were asking. She is still jumpy around people make sudden movements around her face so I really need to step it up and work on desensitizing her everyday.



I was talking to Mike about saddle breaking her when the time came for it and he said he didn't think she was going to be that bad if we did our homework. To prove me wrong about my doubts he asked me to run and get a saddle and pad out of the barn. So I did, I had already desensitized her to the saddle blanket so I knew that wasn't going to be a big deal, but a 40lb saddle may be a different story. It wasn't! He did a little in hand work with her, let her smell and investigate the saddle, did some pressure and release exercises with it and set it on her back. She handled it like a pro! She walked around with it, stood quietly with it on and never bulked. Even though we didn't cinch her up, he gave me the reassurance I needed that with all the work Ive done with her she wasn't going to be explosive if I just kept up the baby steps. So now I have my work cut out for me. He said he was going to come out April 13th and help me work with her again. By then he wants me to slowly start cinching her up. Ive done so much work with straps under her belly that once I get her used to having a saddle on her back I don't think she will do bad at all. I feel so much more confident after he comes out to the barn. He lets me know that I'm doing things right and critiques me on things that need to be improved. That man has become my idol. He is a true teacher of natural horsemanship.



So I've talked with my vet about the training schedule with Daya and getting her used to the saddle. She told me as long and she wasn't worked into a lather, stressed to the point of being explosive during training, that I should go ahead and start light saddle training. My plans so far are to get her to the point where she will take a saddle being thrown on her back without flinching or getting spooked and jumpy. From there I will do more desensitizing with things being put under and tightened around her belly, start cinching her up and getting her used to the girth. Ive been challenged a lot so far and I have made a few personal goals with training Daya. My number 1 goal: Start a once abused horse with trust issues under saddle that has had so much training before hand that she never bucks or explodes under the pressure! Will I accomplish this goal? I think with the help I have received from Mike I will.

Quick update and help needed!

** First few paragraphs are an update on Daya. Please be sure to read the bottom paragraph about a gentleman by the name of Dr. Heuschmann who is trying to have RollKur (aka Hyperflexion) banned from the dressage arena's! If you don't know what this is, google it, and you will be appalled at what you see.** Thanks everyone

Update: There is so much snow on the ground here that I haven't been able to do much work with Daya. Just small in hand stuff around the barn. I have been getting her accustomed to the bosal though. I figured she is so sensitive to pressure that I may as well start her in a bosal and move to a bit later. She does so well in it. She follows her nose easily and is really learning to bend with the ground work Ive been doing. She does lateral bends (foundation for the one rein stop) with just my mecate rein sitting on one finger. Now if we can only have this foal and fast forward 8 months so I can wean him we will be back in business! I want to get this girl under saddle so bad that its about to drive me bonkers.

My husband hurt his knee pretty bad about a month ago and made his first trip to the barn with me Sunday since early January and couldn't believe the change in Daya. Her belly is really filling out! Ive had to loosen her turnout blanket 3 times in the past 4 weeks! lol She still has more than 4 months to go and I can only imagine what she is going to look like by her due date.



**Rollkur / Hyperflexion Ban **
I am a subscriber of fellow blogger Wolfie @ What Was I Thinking.......?. (She has a great blog about her life with horses and everyone should check her out and subscribe). Today she has a great post that needs every ones help. There is a link in her article to a help a man put an end to Hyperflexion in the dressage ring. If he succeeds this will be the beginning of a wonderful movement that will hopefully get through to the dressage world and stop the abuse the horses are receiving to "look" pretty. Just click on the Wolfie's link above for the article that explains why this is so important and sign the petition. All it takes is a name and email! Thanks everyone!