Paradigm Farms Horse Retirement

Thanksgiving Day Pictures

2009-11-26T15:03:00.000-06:00

You get used to not having holidays (or really any day) off when you run a farm. My Thanksgiving present to Jason was I handled all of the morning chores by myself so he could have a bit of a break. The horses were all exceptionally pleasant and cooperative, and it made for a very nice morning. The weather was pleasant as well, sunny with a light breeze.

The horses and dogs gave me several nice Thanksgiving day pictures and I have shared some of our scenes from around the farm below. It is hard not to reflect on how many things you have to be thankful for when you look around you and see so many happy animals and so much beauty.

I have a long and lengthy list of people and things I am thankful for. I am thankful that I love my job and my day to day life. I am thankful to live on a beautiful farm surrounded by so many creatures: horses, dogs, cats, a donkey, goats. I am thankful to have so many people from so many places trust us to care for their beloved pets. I am even more thankful that they give us the opportunity to provide a high level of care and that we don't have to cut corners. I am thankful to have wonderful vets, an amazing farrier and great help on the farm.

I am eternally blessed and thankful to have the most wonderful, supportive and loving parents anyone could ever hope for. They support me through everything and I would be lost without them. Anyone who has met them knows how truly blessed I am to have such amazing parents.

Last, but certainly far from least, I am so thankful to be married to Jason. There are no words to describe how much of a blessing he is to me. He is the half that makes me whole.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and has much to be thankful for.

The Big Boys took some time out from their antics to pause and reflect on all of their blessings in life today (yeah, right - they live in the manner they feel they deserve!). Baby and Ivan are standing by the fence. In the middle, L-R, Trigger, Homer, Thomas and Levendi enjoy some 'down time.' Chance is in the very back enjoying some down time as well.

Same group of horses except Elfin joined them. Elfin is standing in the back grazing.

A few of them spotted me coming with food and they started to get up. Except Trigger decided it was time to nap harder and went all the down on his side. Tony is grazing to the far left. In the front pasture Chili and Lightening are grazing together.

Homer and Chance telling Trigger he had better get up or he will miss the big meal.

Clay, O'Reilly, Chili and Slinky grazing together

Even Bella the Border Collie was taking it easy today

Trillion, Faune, Winston and Sebastian grazed quietly

Bear and Trooper were busy investigating things around the pond

Trooper looks very happy here

Bear in front of the pond

Riding Updates and More Playful Horses

2009-11-24T20:31:00.008-06:00

Thank you everyone for all of your kind words about Bridget. It means a lot to me and I know that so many of you can truly empathize. However, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I am thankful to have had Bridget even though I wish our time together had been longer. Riding her was truly a privilege, and just being around her was a gift. I wish our riding years had been longer, and I wish her retirement had been longer as well. However she had six great years of doing whatever she wanted to do, whenever she wanted to do it, and I am glad I was able to give her that time.

The horses have certainly put a smile on my face many times this week though. Today I had my best ride ever on Sky. She's been getting stronger and has started to develop a topline, and our under saddle work is reflecting that. Today she was truly on the bit, back lifted, pushing from behind, and soft through the bridle both at the trot and the canter. We still can't keep it together all of the time yet, and I do think a lot of that is just strength and conditioning, but she is definitely getting the concepts. I was able to sit her trot well for the first time today. It can often feel like sitting on a jackhammer, but with her back lifted and round I had a much better place to sit and it was great. The biggest bonus was that we were able to accomplish this for a good bit of our canter work as well. Our transitions still leave a lot to be desired but they keep getting better. Overall I am thrilled.

Bonnie has also been on a roll lately. I realized today that our good days are superb now, and our 'bad' days are nothing like they used to be. Consistent riding is still a key component of success with Bonnie and I still struggle with that at times, running a farm is both time consuming and physically tiring. As I cantered around on her today she gave me one of those canters where you would head to a 5' oxer with all of the confidence in the world. This horse has so much talent and it is a nice feeling when I manage to tap into even a little bit of it. When I look back at where we were in April and compare to where we are today I realize how far she has come. I still struggle with the concept that she is the right horse that arrived at the wrong time in my life, but we keep managing to make progress in spite of my shortcomings. (For more about Bonnie you can read this post.)

Of course nothing is more fun than watching happy horses. Aside from the Big Boys and their constant antics it is hard to capture the horses doing anything more interesting than grazing. I see all of the horses playing and romping from time to time, but rarely do I have my camera and my hands free at these times. Today I saw some of the horses running for no other reason than it was fun and they felt good. The best part was I had my camera!

In order of appearance Asterik (Holsteiner), Trillion (Dutch Warmblood) and Winston (Thoroughbred) running along. Next is Lightening (Arabian) who comes running along on the other side of the fence to check out the excitement. Then Sebastian (Connemara/Irish Draught) and Faune (Selle Francais) come galloping along, with O'Reilly (Irish) accompanying them on the other side of the fence.

Leo, Apollo, Homer, Ivan and Levendi grazing with Elfin peeking out from the shed

Apparently Chance finds Thomas to be very boring Traveller in the front watching me take his picture. Behind him Norman, Sky, Bonnie and Sparky the donkey are oblivious to my presence.
Lily was only about half way awake when I took her picture
Homer strolling through the pasture
Baby coming on the run followed by Levendi and Homer
Tony and Levendi coming over in hopes of a treat
MyLight followed by Buffy and Lily
Trigger, Homer and Leo grazing
Thomas and Chance
It is rare to see Ogie be this affectionate with another horse; here he is snuggled up to B-Rad while he dozed
Asterik and Trillion

In Loving Memory of Bridget

2009-11-22T19:47:00.008-06:00

I had to say goodbye to my wonderful mare Bridget. It actually happened about a week ago, but I have not been able to talk, or type, about it. Most people who are close to me still don't know about Bridget's passing.

I've felt a lot of emotions in the period leading up to that day, and in the days since. Sadness, loss, regret, relief, turmoil, peace, emptiness, closure, and sometimes nothing at all. I guess I didn't really know what to feel, or what to think.

Bridget in September 2008

I knew the day was coming, that I was going to need to make "the decision" at some point. Bridget was only 17 years old, and she had been retired for six years. Bridget had more than her share of soundness issues, and she had them pretty much from the day I bought her at four years old. Most of her problems were compensatory problems that stemmed from her feet. She also had some sort of metabolic condition that absolutely stumped every vet and farrier that every saw her.

Bridget hanging out in my arena in January a few years ago

The better and more lush the grass was, the better Bridget felt on her feet. As the grass would start to deteriorate every year, she would get more and more uncomfortable throughout winter. Then, when the spring grass came in, when most horses would be at their highest risk from grass, she would do a complete turnaround and feel better and better. She had every type of test for Insulin Resistance, Cushing's, etc. over the years, in fact had many of them done more than once by different vets. She never came back positive for any type of condition and it frustrated and puzzled every vet that touched this horse. And LOTS of vets touched this horse, I even took her to Rood & Riddle in Lexington, KY TWICE.

Bridget on the left with her daughter Lexi in the middle; no family resemblance at all!

When I bought Bridget as a four year old I bought her out of a field. She had been backed at one point but had spent most of her life living out in a field getting little to no care. The only thing that reflected this was her feet. There were horrendous, giant toe cracks in both front feet, as well as significant dishes in both front feet, they were contracted, completely out of balance, had thin soles and walls, one front foot was clubbed . . . there was really nothing to recommend them at all. The vet who did her pre purchase exam said that I would obviously need to get her feet addressed, but he felt like a good farrier should be able to manage them.

Lexi, Bonnie and Bridget in June of this year

I wasn't too worried about it since I was going to be working with THE farrier. The one that all of the expensive show barns used, the one that all the vets recommended, the one that I paid $300 per shoeing. I bought Bridget because she had a wonderful temperament even though she was very green. I didn't have much money to spend as I had other financial priorities at the time, and I wasn't looking for my next super fancy show horse. I knew I wasn't shopping with that kind of budget and just wanted something fun. I had just sold my a/o jumper as I simply didn't have time to keep her fit for that level of showing, nor was I riding enough to feel confident riding to the bigger jumps anyway.

Bridget packing a little girl around in the short stirrup division; she jumped even better over a real jump but unfortunately I don't have any other jumping pictures on my computer

I had Bridget shod by THE farrier, and continued to have her shod by THE farrier for several years. Her feet never seemed to get any better. The cracks, the dishes, the club foot, the contraction . . . nothing ever improved. Everyone kept telling me I was so lucky to be working with him and to have him keeping my horse comfortable on those awful feet.

Bridget rearing while chewing on hay at the same time; food was always a priority

As far as her abilities, Bridget ended up being far more than I had ever thought she would be. Over the first winter I had her I took dressage lessons regularly, and with my h/j trainer we did nothing but gymnastic jumping exercises. Bridget went from having an average jump to a 10 jump in a few short months. She won everywhere, in all of the divisions we showed her in, at the A shows. She won in the professional divisions and the amateur divisions. She had absolutely no spook in her whatsoever, never looked twice at a jump, needed absolutely zero prep to go to the ring, and had a gorgeous jump to die for over every jump, every time.

Bridget and I hanging out at a horse show

I went happily on my way, enjoying my wonderful horse, and being glad that I had the farrier to patch her together. However after a couple of years the patches seemed to stop working. She would be slightly off, and of course we would see the vet. Over the next few years she had some brief lay-ups, had her stifles injected, had her hocks injected. Whenever she would seem sore, a specific injection seemed to take care of the problem, at least for awhile.

More hanging out a horse show

I would always ask about her feet, asking if they were contributing to the problems. No one ever seemed that worried about them, even at Rood & Riddle. I have come to the conclusion after my trials with Bridget and with running a retirement farm that messed up feet to a greater or lesser degree are just a part of life in the horse world. I think the vets are so used to seeing feet with problems they don't address them as aggressively as they should. When I made the correlation between her soundness and the grass we started looking at various metabolic causes, but she did not fit any mold. She caused many vets to throw up their hands and shake their heads in frustration and disbelief. Over the years Bridget had every shoeing package known to man, various bar shoes, pads, wedge pads, glue on shoes . . . you name the shoe/pad combo and it was on my horse at some point. I started going through farriers like toilet paper. It was frustrating, it was expensive, and it was emotionally exhausting.

It got to the point after a few years where she was off more than on, and every day when I would get on I would be holding my breath wondering if it would be a good or a bad day. One day I started thinking about how much money I had spent, and what I was putting my horse and myself through. I realized that I didn't care if I could show anymore or not. I just wanted to enjoy my horse to whatever extent I could. I made the decision to basically retire her, although we still did a bit of trail riding sometimes. I pulled her shoes and started learning everything I could about feet.

Because of Bridget and what I learned through our trials I won't make the same mistakes with another horse. I think I now own every farrier book and manual ever published. I will not ever attempt to patch a horse's feet together again. I'm not saying there may not be bar shoes and pads in my future with one of my horses, but I will know exactly what the plan is for long term gain and IMPROVEMENT of the feet, not just putting a band-aid on a problem. If I had known when I bought Bridget what I know now, I could have managed her whole situation better. She would still have ended up retired far too young thanks to the mystery metabolic problem, but I could have managed the effects of it a lot better.

Because of the saga I went through with Bridget I ended up learning so much about managing a horse for long term gain instead of short term gain, and I will be forever grateful to her for that. If only I could have learned it all sooner. I liked it better back in the day when I thought vets and farriers were to be 100% trusted because they were the experts and I was not. However, I am now much more educated and able to be an advocate for my horses and not just a check writer. I am also, in my opinion (for what little it is worth!), more educated than the average horse owner about farrier work and now trust that I can do a much better job of both picking a farrier and knowing if they are doing a good job. I am so thankful to work with my amazing farrier, and we've worked together happily for over four years now.

Bridget started to get ouchy a lot earlier than usual this fall. I thought it would stabilize but it kept getting worse. I had made a promise to her and myself several years earlier that I wasn't going to go down the 'what if we try' road anymore. I'd tried it all anyway. When she could no longer be reasonably comfortable as a pasture puff then I would make that hard decision. I felt like I had a weight hanging over my head for a few weeks. Jason had to listen to me endlessly wonder about if I needed to be thinking about this, if it was time. Finally one day he asked me what I would be telling one of our owners if it was their horse. That brought me up short. I thought about it from that perspective for a minute and tearfully answered that some major decisions would need to be made. I talked about it with my vet and farrier, and they both agreed that from a comfort perspective, Bridget was not comfortable and getting significantly worse every week.

I briefly went back on my promise to Bridget and started wondering about "what if we did X,Y and Z." However I did manage to realize that all of those things would be only for my benefit, only because I did not want to make that decision. So I picked a gorgeous day, and gave her a whopping dose of Bute (a gram or two of bute did nothing for her). Jason didn't really like that but I said I wanted her last day to be if not pain free, at least a lot more comfortable. I thought about pulling her out of the pasture and spending lots of extra time with her. But I didn't. I was a sobbing, crying mess and Bridget was very happy out with her friends, having such an easy time getting around because of all the bute.

Shortly before the vet arrived I brought her in from the pasture and gave her a huge meal in her feedbag. She was always an easy keeper, and although she lived for grain she got very little. So on her last day her feet felt a lot better and she got to eat a lot. Then she passed very peacefully, and I was calm and composed until after she passed. I lost it at that point (again), but Bridget was not burdened by my feelings. She had a great day until her last moment, and now she is pain free, as she deserves to be. It was so much harder to make this decision with my own horse. I've been through this with a few residents, and it was always hard, but I could make objective decisions. Until Jason told me to step back and look at it from the perspective of someone else's horse I was floundering around in indecision. Jason gently guided me to where I could see clearly.

Bridget lives on in her beautiful daughter Lexi, who looks so much like her mother. Bridget gave me so many amazing gifts during our 13 years together. I always hoped she would live to be a grand old dame with me, that I wouldn't have to let go so soon. I still don't know what to feel, right now I just feel sadness after reminiscing about some of our time together. I like it best when I either feel nothing or have moments of peace and closure. Bridget was an amazing horse, and I am a better person for having had her in my life. For the most part she did all of the giving and I the taking. I am glad I was able to give her a nice retirement. She loved being a show horse but she loved just being a horse even more. She was so content being a part of her group and grazing, napping, playing and grooming with her girls. She was definitely always a princess though. She hated to be dirty and never rolled in mud, only in clean shavings or grass. She was clean right up until the end. I miss her.

Typical Scenes Around The Farm

2009-11-19T21:20:00.010-06:00

So much for avoiding dirty horses with the gravel! I always thought Lucky rolled after eating because he was conveniently located in dirt or mud. Apparently that was not the only motivation.

Lily and Missy grazing; nothing too exciting here but a typical scene of horses quietly grazing

O'Reilly and Lucky enjoying a grooming session.

Trooper and Bella playing. Trooper is our 3-legged black lab mix and Bella is a border collie. Don't feel sorry for Trooper, he is always the instigator and loves to play rough and run hard. He usually wears Bella out!

Chili, Teddy, and Silky grazing. Chili is a Quarter Horse and he worked cattle and was also a trail partner. Teddy is a Quarter Horse retired from dressage. Silky is a large pony who showed in pony equitation.

Snappy, Lucky and Mr. O'Reilly. Snappy is a Polish bred gelding who competed through the four star level in eventing, and then he became a winning show hunter. Lucky is a Quarter Horse and retired trail horse. Mr. O'Reilly is an Irish bred gelding retired from the jumpers.

One of my favorite pictures of MyLight. She is such a sweet mare and I love her expression in this picture. MyLight is a Thoroughbred and retired from dressage.

Harmony and Missy grazing together. Harmony is a Thoroughbred and retired polo pony. Missy is a large pony and spent most of her life working on a dude ranch.

Thomas walking through the pasture. What a handsome guy he is! Thomas is a Holsteiner and retired dressage horse.

Ogie and B-Rad hanging out. Ogie is a Thoroughbred and retired eventer. B-Rad is a Belgian Warmblood and retired jumper.

Trillion and Faune grazing. Trillion is a Dutch Warmblood and Faune is a Selle Francais. Both were perpetual winners in the Regular Working Hunters and they even competed against each other.

Asterik and Winston grazing. Asterik is a Holsteiner and he showed on the A circuit in both the hunters and the jumpers. Winston is a Thoroughbred and retired show hunter.

Homer, Trigger and Baby. Homer is an Irish bred gelding, Trigger is an Appendix Quarter Horse, and Baby is Dutch Warmblood/Thoroughbred cross. All three are retired show hunters.

Homer, Leo, Elfin and Thomas. Leo is a Dutch Warmblood who competed through 4th level in dressage before becoming a show hunter. Elfin is a Thoroughbred and retired show hunter.

Where Does the Time Go?

2009-11-17T19:45:00.010-06:00

I've mentioned before that we are often contacted by individuals who want to start a retirement farm. In fact we are contacted so often about this I actually put a page on our website called 'Run the Numbers' as I did not have time to type out the same information over and over. I have come to the conclusion that just about every horse lover who has a few acres and room for a few horses thinks a retirement farm is the perfect way to blend their love of horses into a profession. I can say first hand that it is a wonderful way to spend your days! However I do find that most people who contact us under-estimate not only what their costs will be in regards to caring for the horses, but severely under-estimate the time cost as well.

One thing people often overlook in their questions is that there is more to running a farm than just farm work (and farm work takes up PLENTY of time). There are lots of administrative things that need to be done. Scheduling and organizing appointments for the farrier, dentist, vet, etc. come to mind. Tomorrow is another farrier day, and we have a farrier day almost every week. When I'm finished writing this post I will be using my records to make out my list of horses that will be seeing the farrier tomorrow. In addition to the usual farrier, dental and vet records I also maintain a blanket chart that lists the blankets and sheets that come with each horse so that I have a master list for reference if needed. I also note on the chart if I re-waterproofed the blankets, had any of them repaired, or if I need to contact an owner to have a blanket replaced.

Feed and hay deliveries also need to be arranged. To a point feed deliveries are somewhat automatic. However our feed usage varies up and down through the seasons, and of course we also have shavings and other supplies like salt, replacement buckets and various random items brought with our feed deliveries. So you need to stay on top of all of your supplies, not just feed, to make sure you have everything you need on hand. When I actually sit down and look at the items QuickBooks categories I am always amazed at how much stuff we go through in a year. Wormer, fly masks, brushes, fly spray, mane and tail detangler, buckets, feed bags, shampoo, ointment, bandaging supplies . . . the list is endless . . . it is kind of staggering when I look at what we go through in a year. We spend so much money with Valley Vet Supply ordering replenishment items they are forever sending me free gifts and rebate coupons. I never used to receive these when I was only buying supplies for my own horses! No matter where I order supplies from I always order in so much volume I can't even remember the last time I actually had to pay shipping on anything.

A funny side story about ordering items. The last time I ordered paste wormer apparently there was a special where for each tube of Equimax you ordered they sent you a free pair of Epona socks. Well, I ordered 55 tubes of Equimax (most of the horses need more than one tube by weight and a couple need almost two full tubes) so you can imagine my surprise when I opened the box, which seemed to be a lot larger than 55 tubes of wormer would require, and there were 55 pairs of socks waiting for me! Needless to say my sock drawer is beyond over-flowing and some of them will be given to Goodwill! I left the box of socks sitting by the door for a couple of weeks because I didn't know what to do with all of them. Jason did a double take when he saw the box and wanted to know if I had accidentally hit a button twice when I ordered myself some socks. So I had to explain, "well, you see I ordered paste wormer and I didn't realize . . . "

There is also the bookkeeping side of things. Monthly board invoices need to be sent (being paid for your work is always a nice bonus!), vendors need to paid, tax reports need to be filed, just all of the usual bookkeeping things. I don't think I need to explain in detail the importance of accurate financial records.

Next on the list is equipment maintenance. All of the equipment needs to be serviced regularly. The trailers need to have their annual service so the bearings can be re-packed, floors and wiring checked, brakes checked, etc. The tractors, the utility vehicles and all of the other farm equipment needs to be serviced regularly as well with routine fluid changes, replacing fuel and air filters and whatever else needs to be done.

Certainly not to be forgotten is the time that needs to be set aside for communicating with the horse owners. The most important thing we do for our clients is give them regular visuals so they can see for themselves how their horses are doing. It takes time (a lot of time!) to take all of the pictures and videos so that we can share them with our clients. Of course then there are the steps of downloading from the camera, uploading to various sites like this blog, uploading video to YouTube, and e-mailing pictures and videos directly to people. I enjoy taking the pictures and the videos, but the downloading, sorting, uploading and sharing I will admit gets tedious and is quite time consuming. Don't misunderstand, I enjoy updating people on their horses, just at the end of another long day of farm work sitting down at the computer to download, sort, upload, and e-mail is not always terribly appealing. A long, hot bath with a good book is much more alluring!

It is getting late and I am sure I am forgetting some other activities. But in short your time goes to a lot of things, not the least of which is the hands on daily care of the horses and maintaining the farm. There is always something that needs to be done, whether I am outside or inside. It is a good thing I am easily bored and don't like to watch much TV!

Some of the Big Boys grazing; Levendi, Elfin, Apollo and Ivan. Levendi is an Oldenburg and Elfin is a Thoroughbred, and both are retired show hunters. Apollo is a Hanoverian (all 18.1 hands of him!) and is retired from dressage. Ivan is a Thoroughbred and retired jumper.

Faune, Asterik and Winston grazing together. Faune is a Selle Francais and retired show hunter, Asterik is a Holsteiner and retired from both the hunter and jumper rings, and Winston is a Thoroughbred and retired show hunter.

Trillion; Trillion is a Dutch Warmblood and retired show hunter

Leo (Dutch Warmblood) in the front, then Levendi (Oldenburg), Dustin (Westphalian), Tony (Dutch Warmblood), Apollo (Hanoverian) and Homer (Irish). This group represents retired hunters, jumpers and dressage horses.

Sparky and Traveller are grazing in the very back. Traveller is a large pony and retired pony hunter. Norman is hanging out on the far left and he is a medium pony and retired pony hunter. Sky, Bridget and Bonnie (my girls) round out this group of happy grazers.

Apollo and Leo are grooming each other in the back while Ivan and Trigger graze.

The Big Boys were playing again, Trigger looks happy as he runs along with his tail flagged. Bella the dog is running along with them.

Dustin pauses for a moment with his flagged tail, looking for another reason to start running.

Leo and Apollo decided to join in the running

Harmony and Cuff Links grazing quietly. Harmony is a Thoroughbred and retired polo pony. Cuffie is a Welsh pony and retired from the pony hunters.

Happy Birthday Bear and the Big Boys Play

2009-11-15T17:37:00.008-06:00

We had more gorgeous weather this weekend, with our streak of 70's and sunshine continuing. We are getting really spoiled with the weather the last few weeks. It was a great weekend for being outside and everyone on the farm, people and animals, were smiling.

Today (Sunday) was Bear's 10th birthday. He certainly doesn't act any differently than he did when he was two! Bear celebrated his birthday in style. He had some pieces of ham and steak for his birthday dinner and of course followed that up with a piece of cake. I must add it was a tiny piece of cake as Jason was very opposed to him having any at all. What a party pooper.

Bear didn't need to make a wish because he gets everything he wants anyway! Well, he was trying to eat the cake while Jason held him back so maybe he doesn't get everything he wants.

Bear eating his token piece of cake while Gracie the cat looks on. Bear takes after me and he looooves cake! Gracie thought she wanted cake as well so we gave her some, but she didn't eat it.

The Big Boys are often a source of entertainment and today was no exception. Leo and Thomas were having a grand time playing with each other and running around. I see all of the horses running and playing from time to time, but none of the others have extended run and play sessions like the Big Boys have sometimes. I happened to have my camera with me and captured some of it on video. Unfortunately the sun was close to setting so the picture quality is a bit grainy due to the lack of light. I think you can get the gist of how much fun they were having though! Overall it was a very pleasant weekend, and hopefully this week will bring more of the same.

Leo and Thomas are our playful duo. At about 32 seconds they trot across the pasture together. I would NOT want to be the judge of that hack class! At 2:50 they gallop around the field again, and at 3:15 Levendi joins them while they run. At the very end we also see Homer, Chance and Elfin.

Mr. O'Reilly and Chili grazing together. O'Reilly is an Irish bred gelding who showed in the jumpers. Chili is a Quarter Horse gelding who worked cattle and was also an excellent trail horse in the Colorado mountains.

Snappy; Snappy is a Polish bred gelding who competed through the four star level in eventing with the famous rider Mark Todd of New Zealand. Snappy was then sold to a rider in the U.S. and crashed at a cross country jump (rider error). After having tendon surgery on both front legs after the crash Snappy began a new career in the hunters. He won a lot, including being champion of the World Champion Hunter Rider Children's Hunter final at the Capitol Challenge Horse Show.

Lightening; Lightening is an Arabian and is a retired trail riding partner.

Cuff Links grazing and acting as the lookout while Harmony naps. Cuffie is a Welsh pony and is a retired pony hunter. Harmony is a Thoroughbred and retired polo pony.

Harmony was sleeping hard and looked like she was smiling, I could see all of her teeth.

I disturbed her nap and she was giving me a really groggy look here; she was not happy with my intrusion!

MyLight; MyLight is a Thoroughbred mare and is retired from dressage.

Missy; Missy is a Quarter Horse pony and worked at a dude ranch for most of her life. She was repaid for her service by being sent to a kill buyer. Thankfully the family that owns her now rescued her and she taught one of their daughters how to ride.

Buffy; Buffy is a Thoroughbred mare and retired show hunter.

Trillion; Trillion is a Dutch Warmblood and showed in the Regular Working Hunters. He won everyshere and at one point was the top horse in the country in the Regulars. He was circuit champion at places like the Winter Equestrian Festival. We joke that Trillion reminds us of Winnie the Pooh and he should walk around hugging a Honey Pot.

The dogs heading down the driveway to the barn. Back to front we have Bugle, Bear, Bella and Trooper.

Leo; Leo is a Dutch Warmblood who showed through 4th level in dressage before becoming a show hunter.

Trigger and Baby; Trigger is an Appendix Quarter Horse and Baby is a Thoroughbred/Dutch Warmblood cross. Both are retired show hunters.

Traveller; Traveller is a Welsh pony cross and retired from the pony hunters.

Friday Pictures

2009-11-12T19:36:00.008-06:00

Sparky the donkey and Traveller. Traveller is a large pony who did his share of winning in the pony hunters.

Faune; Faune is a Selle Francais (affectionately known as the 'Big French Guy' since he is 17.3) and was a very successful show hunter.

Something caught Lily's attention. Lily is a Quarter Horse/Warmblood cross and showed in the jumpers. Lily is extremely photogenic when she wants to be and I tend to collect great pictures of her.

Trigger grazing with some of the Big Boys. Trigger is an Appendix Quarter Horse retired from t he hunter ring due to navicular. With his four stockings, blaze, and his dappled, chocolate palomino color he certainly tends to catch people's notice!

Levendi looking at something with interest. Levendi is an Oldenburg and retired from the hunter ring.

Elfin and Trigger taking a moment to touch noses. Elfin is a Thoroughbred who showed in the Amateur Owner hunters. Elfin likes to be in the middle of anything and everything!

Tony; Tony is a Dutch Warmblood and was one of the top Amateur Owner hunters in the country during his career.

B-Rad and Asterik; B-Rad is a Belgian Warmblood who showed in the jumpers. Asterik is a Holsteiner who showed on the A circuit in both the hunters and the jumpers.

Slinky in the back and Lucky in the front. Slinky is a large pony and he specialized in pony equitation. Lucky is a Quarter Horse and retired from the trails.

Mr. O'Reilly, Snappy and Chili. O'Reilly is an Irish bred gelding and retired from the jumper ring. Snappy is a Polish bred gelding who competed through the four star level in eventing and finished up his career as a show hunter. Chili is a Quarter Horse and he worked cattle and also hit the trails.

Faune and Sebastian; Sebastian is a Connemara/Irish Draught cross that excelled at everything. He was an excellent foxhunter, and also showed in the hunters, jumpers and in eventing. What a fun horse he must have been to ride!

B-Rad and Ogie; Ogie is a Thoroughbred and retired from eventing.

Lily, Cuffie and Missy are all spread out. Cuffie is a welsh pony and retired from the pony hunters. Missy is a Quarter Horse and is a large pony, she worked for many years on a dude ranch before being adopted by her current family. The dude ranch had sent her to a kill buyer and she was rescued in the nick of time.

Buffy and MyLight; both are Thoroughbred mares. Buffy is a retired show hunter and MyLight is a retired dressage horse.

Ivan and Elfin; Ivan is a Thoroughbred and retired from the jumper ring.

Billy, Jo (world's cutest fainting goat along with Mina) and Bubba grazing in the shade.

Cue the Green Acres Music Again . . .

2009-11-10T21:14:00.014-06:00

My last post was about farm projects not going as planned. It seems if there is one thing you can count on with farming is that things rarely go as planned. Farm equipment has a penchant for breaking at the most inopportune times.

I had just gone into my house to eat lunch on Monday when my phone rang. It was my Dad and he said he needed me to come get him because "he was broken down." I immediately wondered what in the world could possibly be wrong with his car as there certainly shouldn't be a problem with it. I asked where he was and he said he was by the pond. I still wasn't with it 100% in this conversation and I said "your car is broken down by the pond????" I instantly realized just how stupid that statement was as the only way to get to the pond is through the pastures. He said that his Gator had died on him by the pond and he needed me to come tow him in with my Kubota utility vehicle.

So I went back outside without eating my lunch. I got in the Kubota and then went and got the towing rope and the towing chain. Sadly I knew exactly where to locate both of these items since they get used more often than would be desirable. I drove through the pastures and worked my way over to the pond. My dad and three of the dogs were waiting to be rescued.

Trooper was wondering why they weren't going anywhere anymore; Bugle napped on the front seat

Bush hung out by the pond while awaiting the "tow truck"

My dad used the tow rope to get the two vehicles hooked up. All of the dogs waited around for us to get things moving again. Apparently walking was not an option to any of the stranded passengers. They simply waited for the Gator to start moving again and then loaded themselves back up.

Trooper and Bugle waiting for us to get this show on the road again

After the tow line was secured we started working our way back to the barn through the various pastures. We had almost a mile to cover to get the Gator and passengers back to where they started. I spent a lot of time looking behind me to make sure the Gator was still attached and following along properly. Everyone was in their usual positions, dad in the driver's seat, Bugle in the passenger seat, Trooper on the floorboard and Bush in the bed. The only thing different from the typical scene was that the Gator wasn't actually running! We certainly made quite an interesting visual as I towed my dad and three dogs through the pastures. I had the theme song for Green Acres going through my head the whole time, it just seemed so appropriate for the situation.

My rear view (Trooper on the floorboard is kind of hidden against Bugle in the passenger seat since they both have black fur)

We made it back to the barn uneventfully and the dogs were able to avoid (horrors) walking all the way back. It was actually highly entertaining and I was giggling the whole time as I towed everyone along.

The sun is setting earlier and earlier these days and I took a few pictures of the gorgeous fall sky as I was feeding this afternoon. Sometimes I forget to really appreciate the beauty that surrounds me every day.

In one direction I saw pretty shades of pink

In another direction everything had an orange tint

Aside from the emergency towing session things have been relatively quiet this week. Tomorrow is a farrier day so I need to wrap this post up and prepare my list. Farrier day is typically on Fridays but this week it is Wednesday. Tomorrow will be a very busy day bringing horses in and out of the barn all day. Our lovely weather is supposed to continue through the rest of the week, with more high 60's and low 70's with sunshine. Weather wise tomorrow should be a perfect day for the farrier and another perfect day to be outside with the horses.

Thomas introducing himself to MyLight's mom during her visit this past weekend

MyLight with her mom

L-R Bridget, Sky and Norman with Sparky the donkey behind them

B-Rad, Winston and Faune

Mr. O'Reilly and Lucky

The Big Boys grazing

Trigger and Homer

Ivan with Elfin behind him

Missy and MyLight

Farm Projects . . . Gone Wrong

2009-11-08T19:28:00.011-06:00

The last few days have been . . . interesting to say the least. We've been very busy with several different projects plus we had all of the usual stuff to be done around the farm. The barn is now freshly re-painted. It is so clean and glaringly white you need sunglasses to stand there and look at it. It looks great. The barn was pressure washed on Thursday and then painted on Friday. Thankfully neither job involved me!

The best part of the last few days was that MyLight's mom came to visit her for a few hours on Friday. She and her boyfriend were having a short mini-vacation in middle Tennessee this weekend. They were lovely people which is a good thing since they got to witness some of the madness that is running a farm! This was their first time visiting the farm and they certainly got their taste of how Green Acres we are around here.

In addition to the barn being painted on Friday I also had two more loads of gravel delivered. I liked the first three loads of gravel so much I had two more loads delivered! Of course they were not supposed to come until late in the afternoon on Friday, but they showed up mid-morning instead. I was riding Sky when they called to let me know they were a few miles away. Awesome (<--- said with sarcasm). Thank goodness I A) had my cell phone and B) answered it as I would normally not do either of those things while riding. I jumped off Sky in a hurry and went to meet the gravel trucks. As I was directing the first truck to the various locations it needed to go to deposit gravel, I told the driver of the other truck that he would be going to a different area of the farm and to wait for me to show him where to go. I was busy opening and closing gates and directing the first truck.

He didn't wait. I saw him going through the gate and heading up the hill through one of the pastures while I was in another field with the other truck. Then he stopped moving because the dummy was stuck. If he had waited for me LIKE I TOLD HIM TO I would have directed him around the wet spot since I knew where it was. So the other truck has to stop in the middle of unloading and go pull out the stuck gravel truck.

Chaining the trucks together

Great, I have an 80,000 pound gravel truck stuck in my pasture. To say I was not happy would be an understatement. Thankfully the other truck was able to free the stuck gravel truck without too much drama. The giant crater the one truck left in the pasture would certainly suggest otherwise though.

One successfully un-stuck gravel truck

So the truck is able to carry on through the gate without getting stuck again since I was there to tell the driver where to go. GRRRRRRRRR. We get to another gate and I ask the driver if he thinks he can get through the gate as he has to make a hard right turn due to some trees. If he can't just dump the gravel where we were and we'll move it with the bucket on the tractor. He says he can make it. He didn't.

MyLight's visitors showed up at about this time to witness part two of the gravel truck disaster. Now we need to take one side of the gate off the hinges so the truck can finish maneuvering. I go to the barn to get the tools. Of course the barn doors are shut tight because the barn is being painted. The barn doors had also just been painted. I have to go in anyway. They've removed the handles from the doors while painting. So I have to shimmy myself in between the doors that are coated in WET PAINT and get paint all over myself to get tools to remove the gate and free the gravel truck AGAIN.

We get the gate removed, the truck carries on to where I want the gravel dumped, and then we put the gate back on. We drive the trucks back to where we started so the first truck can finish dumping its load and then they finally leave. I spent almost two hours dealing with those two gravel trucks. Jason finished spreading the gravel piles on Saturday. Thankfully that went off with no disasters are mishaps.

Sunday's project was to load up the manure spreader and spread the compost pile. This should be an easy project. Jason uses two tractors, one to load the spreader and the other to pull the spreader. I open and shut gates for him. The first load was spread with no problems, as expected. Jason loads up and I open gates for him to spread load number two. Problems. The chains that move the contents through the spreader aren't moving, thus nothing is coming out and being spread.

Jason loading up the manure spreader with compost

Jason, myself and my Dad spend about an hour trying to determine the problem with no luck. Everything appears to be working just fine, except it isn't. Finally we decide that this load is going to have to be pitched out of the spreader with a fork so we can have an easier time identifying the issue. So Jason got to climb in and throw out about a thousand pounds of compost with a pitchfork. That put him in a really good mood.

Jason acting as the manure spreader; he could totally have a second career at this if he is looking for a career change. He did a fine job.

Then Jason and my Dad took turns crawling around under the spreader to ascertain the problem. Once the spreader was empty it apparently started working somewhat normally again. Perfect, it works as long as you don't have anything in there! Apparently this means something is loose. I don't think they ever determined what was loose. I guess the Kubota utility vehicle will be spreading some compost this week.

Jason attempting to find the problem with the spreader

Everyone had had enough of farm projects gone wrong for awhile, so I guess the repair of the manure spreader will wait until another day. Thank goodness the weather has continued to be perfect, low 70's and sunny. If it had been cold and windy, raining, or even just cold, I think we would have all killed each other. As it was we managed to remain in (mostly) good humor. Miracles do happen.

Leo, Thomas and Chance

There are multiple expressions in this picture (that was taken a couple of weeks ago BG - before gravel). Levendi looking very alert, Apollo is yawning, and Ivan looks asleep. Teddy is grazing in the background.

Baby trotting through the pasture with Levendi and Homer behind him.

A foggy morning; Sebastian, Trillion and Faune walking with B-Rad, Winston and Ogie standing in the back.

Trillion, Faune and Asterik emerging from the fog

Faune walking with a purpose; he is heading in for breakfast

Asterik was right behind him

Silky, aka Slinky, down for a roll

That feels good!

Lucky decided to get in on the action as well

Lucky contemplating his options: get up or roll some more. Life is tough around here.

Silky, Lightening, Teddy, Clay and Mr. O'Reilly

Pleasant Days

2009-11-05T19:47:00.007-06:00

I have to say this has been a really pleasant week on the retirement farm. The weather has been so lovely everyone - horses, donkey, cows, humans, dogs, cats, goats, roosters - has been in an exceptionally pleasant mood. I realized as I was grooming one of the residents the other day that he had not made any ugly faces at me. This particular resident (I won't name names!) is usually a super grump during grooming, but doesn't really do anything other than pin his ears, make ugly faces and toss his head. I could not believe I was able to curry and brush him without so much as a snarky face in my direction! Between the sunshine and the exceedingly pleasant temperatures everyone has had a smile on their face.

It looks like we are in for more exceptionally pleasant weather through the weekend and next week. I am certainly not complaining about that! Perfect weather for barn improvement projects. Today the barn was pressure washed in preparation for being repainted tomorrow. After spending what felt like a zillion hours priming and painting run-in sheds last summer you can rest assured that I am not manning either the pressure washer or a paint brush! It is kind of nice to watch someone else do a big job like that and know that you won't have to do it!

When I was uploading the pictures for this post they kind of depressed me. These pictures were taken a couple of weeks ago and I can't believe the difference in the pastures, not in a good way, in just two weeks. It is amazing how much better our pastures looked just two weeks ago! Every year when February rolls around I look at our pastures and I think they will never come back. Happily they have every year so far!

I hope everyone has a great weekend with beautiful weather and happy horses. Quote of the day: "God forbid that I should go to any Heaven in which there are no horses."

Sparky and Bonnie hanging out

Traveller having a bath

Hanging out after breakfast; MyLight, Harmony, Cuffie, Lily, Buffy and Missy

Mr. O'Reilly and Chili

Winston, Sebastian, Asterik and Trillion

Clay

Lightening

Slinky enjoying a vigorous roll

Teddy, Snappy and Mr. O'Reilly

Lucky and Slinky

I love this picture of Lily and Cuff Links; with their matching poses it looks like Lily has her own Mini-me

Thoughts on Fencing

2009-11-03T19:27:00.009-06:00

I know I have mentioned more than once that I am not a huge fan of our miles of four board wood fencing. People are always so surprised when I say that so I thought I would explain my perspective. I love the look of wood fencing as much as the next person, I will definitely admit that. Nothing is more attractive to me than a horse farm with pretty green pastures surrounded by board fencing . . . kind of like where I live right now! Even in our large pastures though the wood fence always seems to be an accident looking for a place to happen with the horses. On top of that I also find the wood fencing to be extremely high maintenance.

We could cut down on some of the maintenance such as fence chewing and broken boards by running a strand of electric along the wood fence. However one of the caveats here that we have to work with is no electric fencing anywhere. Unfortunately we have to live with that restriction and no amount of griping is going to change it so I don't dwell on it too much. However, even a strand of electric still won't eliminate the problem. The confirmed cribbers and wood chewers learn quickly enough to just drop their head down to the next board where there isn't an electric strand.

On the rare occasion that we have an injury here, almost 100% of the time it is related to the wood fence. A horse either rolls too close to the fence and gets a leg(s) through it or they stand by the fence and kick out at something or stomp at a fly and get a leg through it. It doesn't matter if the fence is brand new, if a horse puts a leg or a hoof against a board with enough force or momentum it is going to break and splinter, period.

I do think it is very important to have a solid perimeter fence though. This doesn't necessarily mean a wood fence but two strands of sagging electric probably aren't the safest choice for a perimeter fence. On the same hand I would like to have more flexibility with cross fencing. Once you have permanent fencing in place, be it board fence or no-climb wire mesh fence, centaur fencing, or whatever it may be you have lost your ability to be flexible.

For example, if we have a spot come available in the mare field, the only horse that can take that spot is a mare, or possibly the right gelding. If we have a spot come available where the big boys live, the only horse that can take that spot is a gelding that can run with a younger crowd and play. Likewise, if a spot becomes available in the geezer gelding field well, you guessed it, a geezer gelding will need to take that spot. The pasture sizes are set and permanent and it takes away any flexibility. If the cross fencing were, for example, three or four strands of electric fencing (well done electric, not the previously mentioned sagging strands of electric) you could modify your pasture sizes and have a lot more flexibility in being able to accommodate different horses on the farm.

Interestingly when you look up the statistics on fencing in regards to horse safety and injuries, electric is the safest choice for horses. No climb wire mesh is next on the safety list (this should not be confused with 'field fencing' that is wire fence for cows). Board fencing ranks behind them for safety. The PVC fencing (the plasticy stuff that is supposed to sort of look like board fence) ranks even lower, I guess because it sometimes shatters on impact, especially in cold weather. We do have a couple of long cross fences that are the no climb wire mesh, and I have to say that the horses have yet to find a way to hurt themselves on it. I say yet because at some point one of them will manage it, no doubt!

I guess my dream farm would have a solid perimeter fence of either board fence with a strand or two of electric, no climb wire fence, Centaur fencing, or something along those lines. The cross fencing would be some version of nicely done electric to allow for flexibility and variations in pasture sizes. Now that I've said that I will probably wind up with miles of board fencing until the day I die. I guess there are worse fates in life than that!

Thomas strolling through the pasture looking very happy

Lucky and Slinky grazing with a lovely wood fence behind them

The sub rooster looking regal on the bench in front of the barn

Faune and Asterik grazing in front of my arena

Lily in the back with her head up, she was the only one who noticed me, while Cuffie and Harmony graze

Bella

Trillion and Winston grazing while B-Rad and Asterik hang out

Missy and MyLight

Elfin is hiding behind Homer and Ivan is on the right

Missy

Fall Colors

2009-11-01T20:19:00.009-06:00

I managed to find a few pictures of the fall colors to post for this blog. Middle Tennessee is not known for our spectacular fall colors, although some years are better than others. Part of the reason is that fall is a long season here, as is spring. The trees don't all turn and peak at the same time. Last year we actually had some decent fall colors but this year has been, at best, lackluster. The colors finally started to pick up some momentum in the last week but then we had some heavy rain Friday evening which washed a lot of the leaves off the trees.

We are supposed to be sunny all week this week (no rain - yay!) with daytime temperatures in the mid to upper 60's. Hopefully as the leaves finish their lazy progression through their color change we'll have another opportunity to try and enjoy some fall colors.

One of my most memorable rides was in the fall several years ago when Jason and I were living in Vermont. My (long since retired) mare Bridget and I were hacking down our road underneath a gorgeous canopy of fall colors, it felt like we were riding beneath an artist's palette of colors. It was the first week of October. The leaves were all at their peak and our road was narrow and heavily lined with trees on both sides. I was riding Bridget bareback and just soaking in the beauty that surrounded us. Bridget is one of those once in a lifetime horses that could win at the biggest shows in the hunters but was just as happy to take a quiet bareback trail ride. I literally had the reins on the buckle and it was one of those times when you truly feel like everything is perfect in the universe. Bridget seemed to be enjoying the scenery as much as I was.

Before I knew what was happening we were spinning around and Bridget was starting to bolt back down the road. I wound up mostly on her neck and managed to hang on somehow. I stopped her, rearranged myself on her back and out of the sideways, hanging off her neck position that I had wound up in. Then I turned around to see what had interrupted our peaceful, communing with nature ride. A huge moose was crossing the road!! I guess he had been in the woods and decided that Bridget and I looked non-threatening and it would be a good time to cross.

When we moved back to Tennessee Jason bought a moose crossing sign and hung it on Bridget's stall door so she could always remember her time in Vermont. The sign is still on her door and every time I see it I think of that ride.

Traveller grazing with two pear trees behind him. The pear tree on the left always changes colors and loses its leaves well ahead of the pear tree on the right.

Not much fall color in this picture! I took this picture on October 19th.

The next few pictures were all taken on November 1st. I managed to find a patch of color in the big boys' pasture.

There is some color mixed in with the green

Clay, Lucky and Chili grazing in front of some fall foliage (yes, I realize it isn't much!)

Lily looks nice in front of this tree

MyLight in front of the same tree

I took this picture of the tree in front of the old farm house on October 19th

Same tree on October 25th

And the same tree again on November 1st

Signs of Fall

2009-10-29T18:04:00.009-05:00

Everything has been nice and routine around here for the last couple of days. This happens to be just the way I like it! It looks like the rain will be making a return tomorrow afternoon through Saturday. According to our forecast some of the showers could be heavy. After our record breaking drought a couple of years ago I swore I would never complain about rain again. I am still not complaining about it . . . yet (well maybe a teeeny bit).

We are finally starting to see some nice fall colors in the trees. I am running about 2-3 weeks behind with my picture posting so this isn't really reflected in the pictures. The pastures are starting to really decline as well. We have a mix of warm and cool season grasses on the farm. The cool season grasses are still thriving, however the warm season bermuda grass has really been starting to take over the last couple of years, with some pastures being mostly warm season grass. The warm season grass is starting to go dormant. In some pastures it is already completely dormant and brown while in others it is a quickly fading green. I expect that within the next week or two all of the bermuda grass will be completely dormant until spring.

We have a love/hate relationship with warm season grass here, namely the bermuda. The great thing about it is you can't kill it, and it can handle drought conditions. Thus it really started to spread on the farm during the drought a couple of years ago. The bad thing about it is you can't kill it. During normal precipitation years our cool season grasses get good growth for all but about three to three and a half months per year, and growth slows to a crawl during that time. The bermuda grass goes completely dormant a full month before the cool season grasses slow their growth to a crawl, and does not exit dormancy until about a month after the cool season grasses have really hit their stride again. Thus we lose two months of good grazing everywhere there is bermuda grass. So while we were glad to have it around during the drought we would be happy for it to move on now, but that definitely is not going to happen.

Between the fading bermuda grass and the color in some of the leaves it is really looking like fall on the farm.

I'll end this post with one of my favorite horse quotes. I will admit I have a long and lengthy list of favorite horse quotes but I happened to see this one today. Anyone who has ever had a great ride on a horse can summon up a memory that would be perfectly described by this Arabian proverb: "The wind of heaven is that which blows between a horse's ears."

I summoned all of my creative resources (I have very few) and named this the "gray horse picture." Cuffie in the front, Harmony behind him, with Buffy and Lily in the back.

Snappy grazing with his new friends. Snappy has had quite an interesting life and travelled the world. He was born and bred in Poland, somehow discovered by the famous New Zealand eventer Mark Todd and evented through the 4 star level. He was sold to an eventer in the U.S. who crashed him at a cross country jump (rider error). After having tendon surgery on both front legs as a result of the crash he took up a new career as a show hunter where he was champion everywhere from the winter Florida circuit to Indoors. Although I rarely get to see it he has an amazing, huge and fluid gallop stride.

Asterik loves to roll! Asterik is a Holsteiner and was successful on the "A" circuit in both the hunters and the jumpers. He unfortunately was retired young due to a freak accident. He stepped on a nail at a horse show and it damaged the collateral ligament in his hoof.

A typical scene to start my morning: Mina and Jo, world's cutest fainting goats, waiting for me to let them out of their stall. The sub rooster (The Don is 'the' rooster) is often hanging out with them in the stall.

Sebastian and Faune grazing with a gorgeous blue sky behind them. Sebi is a Connemara/Irish Draught cross imported from Ireland. He foxhunted, showed on the A circuit in the hunters and jumpers, you could trail ride on him . . . he was one of those horses that you could have fun on and do everything with. Faune, the 'big French guy,' is a Selle Francais imported from France. He won everywhere in the hunters.

Leo is a Dutch Warmblood whose greatest dream in life is to be a hard keeper and to be fed lots and lots of food! He is Mr. Personality and a fun guy to be around every day. Leo showed successfully on the A circuit in the hunters, and prior to his hunter career he showed through 4th level in dressage.

Ivan is a Thoroughbred and retired Grand Prix jumper. Ivan is a mischievous guy and way too smart for his own good. He is an expert at opening stall doors and gates and taking himself on self guided tours of the farm. We have to "Ivan proof" everything.

Clay is a Quarter Horse whose original career was as a race horse. He then became a trail horse. I can absolutely see Clay as a bomb proof trail horse that you could take on the hard trails where you wouldn't want to be riding just any horse. I have to admit I just cannot picture him as a race horse. I've tried. Nothing about Clay says 'speed' to me, especially his personality. When I try to envision Clay as a race horse I hear the buzzer going off and see the gates flying open . . . and I see Clay just standing there taking it all in. I am told he actually had a fairly successful career on the track! Clay is 30 years young and I tell him every day how handsome and spry he looks.

A happy group of mares and ponies. Cuffie and Missy are the ponies and MyLight and Buffy are the Thoroughbred mares.

New Resources and The Search Continues

2009-10-27T19:38:00.007-05:00

Jason and I had an interesting weekend. Tennessee Equine Hospital is the veterinary clinic that we work with at Paradigm Farms, and we have a long running relationship with them. The clinic has an excellent staff including seven equine veterinarians and an equine surgeon, and there is always someone available 24/7/365. They have been building a huge new addition to their clinic over the past year and it was just completed a few weeks ago. This addition includes a new, fully equipped, state-of-the-art surgical suite for horses.

The new facility a few weeks prior to completion

The practice also installed a new bone scan machine as well. Some of the other services they offer include video endoscopy and gastroscopy, shockwave therapy, digital x-rays, digital ultrasonagraphy, a full laboratory, IRAP, Laser therapy and chiropractic care. The practice also has a complete reproductive facility located one mile from the clinic. Their reproductive services include foaling services, embryo transfer, artificial insemination, and semen collection and freezing.

Another view of the facility a few weeks prior to completion

Jason and I really enjoyed touring the new facility and learning about how much thought and planning went into it. Since we've certainly contributed our share towards financing the new addition we felt a sense of ownership as well! Tennessee Equine is a very highly regarded practice and they had over 1,000 people attend their Grand Opening party on Saturday evening. Earlier in the day they hosted a separate reception for other veterinarians in the area and over 40 vets attended. We are grateful to have such a strong affiliation with this great practice and are thrilled with the new additions to their facility.

Architectural sketch of the completed facility

Our other interesting excursion this weekend was out trip to look at another potential piece of land. We have been looking seriously for three years now. Our goal was to stay proximate to our current location, to find relatively flat, open and fertile land (the flat part is not that easy in middle Tennessee, we've driven lots of miles in our search to wind up looking at wooded hillsides), and obviously we have a per acre price range that we have to work with. We were really excited when we went to look at this land. The location was one that made us BOTH happy, the land was very flat and open and the price was within our range. It was starting to look like we might have finally found THE ONE after years of looking and a few failed purchase attempts.

We were in a state of bliss thinking that the never ending search had finally ended. And then we got the maps from our realtor and over 60% of the land is flood plain. We were expecting that some of it would be flood plain and would have worked around it. We can't work around the majority of it being in the flood plain.

I feel like banging my head into my desk about 10,000 times right now. It would be more pleasant than the thought of continuing our land search. We love the family farm but we really want to buy a bare piece of land and lay it out MUCH better than this farm. If you are a horse living here you would see nothing wrong with the place. Human visitors are in awe of the beauty of this farm. However, if you are the person doing the work around here you dream every day of a farm with a work friendly layout, and a system where you could manage the pastures with a lot less effort and headache. We keep the pastures looking lovely but it is not easy with the way things are set up here.

To say that Jason and I are both disheartened and discouraged would be an understatement. I keep telling myself that one day we will finally find the right location. Jason is so sick of looking he is ready to give up and move a couple of hours away to west Tennessee. Land is very affordable there and very fertile. We would also be living in the boonies in a non-horsey area and quite frankly that is not appealing to me at all. I like being in a 'horsey' area as I have access to so many trainers and other resources here. Maybe I should just quit holding out for something proximate to our current location and accept that a move is in order. UGH.

We have toyed around with the idea of moving to the Lexington, KY area. Land around Lexington is much cheaper than in our area and the area is very horsey. I love Lexington and have friends there. The only thing that stops me is they do get more winter than we get here. Anyone that knows me knows I hate cold weather. I would rather fry than freeze. The other option we have thought about is moving further south to the Birmingham, AL area. Jason likes the idea of moving there, even less winter weather than here and if you buy land in the low mountains there the summers are not bad.

So what would you do, hold out and keep around here or move to a new area (taking all of the horses with us of course)?

Some farm scenes of the place we are trying so hard to leave. We love it but we would love to have a friendlier layout for the humans. Entrance to the paddock right in front of the barn
Looking across one of the pastures; it is hard to get a feel for the size of the pastures from most of the pictures I post; this would be one of the smaller pastures
A small portion of the big boys' pasture. Leo is in the very front with Ivan behind him. In the very back I think it is Homer, Levendi and Elfin.
Homer, Levendi and Tony hiding behind them.
In the Gator we have my Dad, Bugle on the passenger seat, Bush in the back and Trooper on the floor board. Levendi is hoping for a treat.

Levendi and Trigger grazing

MyLight and Buffy in the front with Missy and Harmony behind them

Teddy and Mr. O'Reilly

Snappy, Chili and Lucky

B-Rad and Ogie

Sebastian, Faune, Asterik, Trillion and Winston

A Visitor in the Pasture

2009-10-25T21:16:00.010-05:00

We had an interesting visitor a few days ago. The mares and Cuffie were acting very snorty and spooky during breakfast one morning. Usually this is a time of focused eating. I did not not see anything amiss and thought maybe it was because it was somewhat windy.

Cuffie staring at the strange visitor

I finished up feeding the other horses and noticed things were getting more intense in their pasture while the horses in the other fields were quiet. Usually if it is a weather related frisky all of the horses are participating. Then I finally saw something that looked different. A turtle lumbering through the pasture. It had exited the tall grass and was in the short grass around the gates. I guess the horses had spotted him long before I could see him. He (she?) was very slowly lumbering across the pasture. He was headed in the opposite direction of the pond so I guess he was heading from the pond somewhere else, although I have no idea where.

Harmony looking from a safe distance

She moved in a bit closer

He would stop and lift his head and stare at the horses while they stared at him. After a few minutes of staring he would start slowly making his way through the pasture again. The horses finally lost interest in him and he completed his journey across the pasture. I wonder where he went.

Everyone finally lost interest; Missy and Lily finally lost interest and went back to grazing

Trigger; he is an Appendix Quarter Horse retired from the hunter ring

I could not resist this shot. Dustin on the left and Tony on the right. Dustin is a Westphalian and retired from the jumper ring. Tony is a Dutch Warmblood and was nationally ranked in the Amateur Owner hunters.

Cuff Links and MyLight grazing together. Cuffie is a Welsh pony retired from the hunters and MyLIght is a Thoroughbred retired from dressage.

The pet cows lounging around

Norman; he is also retied from the pony hunters

Sparky the donkey and Traveller; Traveller is yet another retired pony hunter

Clay and Snappy; Clay is a Quarter Horse who started his life as a race horse and ended his career as a trail horse. Snappy is a Polish bred horse who competed through the 4 star level in eventing before switching careers to the hunter ring.

Peaceful grazers; Slinky (another pony hunter) Clay and Snappy

Cuffie and Harmony

B-Rad, Ogie and Winston; B-Rad is a Belgian Warmblood and retired from the jumper ring. Ogie is a Thoroughbred and retired eventer. Winston is also a Thoroughbred and retired hunter.

You Know You Love Your Farm When . . .

2009-10-22T21:05:00.012-05:00

Yesterday was a GREAT day! Not only was the weather spectacular again but three huge trucks full of gravel came rolling up to the farm. You know you love your farm when, more than 24 hours later, you are still elated over this turn of events! My horse friends totally get my sheer bliss and joy about three loads of gravel. My non-horse friends don't get it at all.

I could stand and stare at this lovely, gravelled gate area for hours

After all the rain we've had I was beginning to think the trucks would never be able to make it out here. Thankfully a few days of 70's and sun dried things up and the trucks were able to dump gravel in several places around the farm.

It is almost impossible to keep the areas around the water troughs dry because of the constant dumping and scrubbing, so the troughs are all getting a gravel pad.

Another gate area with gravel spread

The horses found the presence of gravel piles in their pastures terribly exciting. The big boys especially used their gravel pile as an excuse for much running, snorting and spooking. Jason has moved and spread about half of the gravel. The delivery trucks could not spread the gravel because it was still wet in some areas and the last thing I wanted to deal with was a 40 ton gravel truck stuck out in one of the pastures. Thus Jason is getting some tractor hours in, using the bucket to move and spread the gravel.

This used to be our wading pool in the middle of the alley; you will recall we put a tile drain in a few weeks ago to drain it, and the gravel got rid of the last of the mud

The shed where we keep feed, blankets and halters for some of the pastures. My blanket wagon and the little trough I use for soaking feed are in front.

Hopefully we will be able to finish moving and spreading the gravel in the next few days. I am ecstatic over the areas we've already addressed. I had Christmas in July when I got a new horse, and now I'm having Christmas in October with my gravel. It really takes a horse person, or a farm person, to understand why gravel is such a life changing event!

The best part is that we don't get the knee high, boot sucking mud that I experienced when I lived in New England (that fifth season called mud season), so it only takes a couple of inches of gravel with no site prep to solve mud problems here. We should not need to add any more gravel for a few years. Winter should be much more pleasant this year now that all of the gates will have large, gravelled areas. The main reason this is such a big deal to me is because I spend a lot of time in the mud around the gates every day. That is where the horses gather to have their feedbags put on so it will be nice to not be doing that in the mud.

I hope everyone has a great weekend, I'll be enjoying my gravel!

The big boys come running over when they notice the pile of gravel. It becomes a great excuse for lots of snorting and spooking. Levendi is the 'brave' one who paws at the gravel.

For anyone who is interested, this is a video clip from feeding the fish in the pond the other day.

Lightening grazing in the front while Teddy naps and Mr. O'Reilly grazes in the background. Lightening is an Arabian and retired trail horse. Teddy is a Quarter Horse and retired from dressage. O'Reilly is an Irish bred horse retired from the jumper ring.

Snappy and Chili grazing. Snappy is a Polish bred horse who competed through the 4 star level in eventing and then switched to a career as a show hunter. Chili is a Quarter Horse who worked cattle and hit the trails.

Mr. O'Reilly

Silky, a large pony grazing in the front. Behind him are Clay and Snappy. Clay is also a Quarter Horse who started his career on the race track and ended his career as a trail horse. Chili is grazing in the very back.

Cuff Links and Lily. Cuffie is a Welsh Pony and showed in the pony hunter divisions (medium). Lily is a Quarter Horse/Warmblood cross and she showed in the jumpers.

Buffy, Harmony and MyLight grazing, all three are Thoroughbred mares. Buffy showed in the hunters, Harmony is a retired polo pony and MyLight is a retired dressage horse.

Ivan and Apollo hanging out. Ivan is a Thoroughbred and retired Grand Prix jumper. Apollo is a Hanoverian and retired dressage horse.

Asterik, Trillion and Winston. Asterik is a Holsteiner and he showed on the A circuit in both the hunters and jumpers. Trillion is a Dutch Warmblood and was one of the top horses in the country in the Regular Working Hunters. Winston is a Thoroughbred who also showed in the hunters.

Ogie and B-Rad hanging out. Ogie is a Thoroughbred and retired event horse. B-Rad is a Belgian Warmblood and retired show jumper.

Sebastian and Faune grazing. Sebi is a Connemara/Irish Draught cross imported from Ireland, and he was one of those horses that you could do everything with. He foxhunted, showed in the hunters and the jumpers, he evented, did trail riding . . . what a great horse. Faune is a Selle Francais imported from France and he won everywhere in the hunters.

Back in the Saddle and Feeding the Fish

2009-10-20T20:34:00.009-05:00

I have not ridden in three weeks due to a lack of time and some physical restrictions. I had to have a very minor surgery a couple of weeks ago and riding was on the 'no' list for a couple of weeks although after a couple of days I could do all of my usual farm work. The week before that I was busy finishing up the last couple of days of dental appointments and just generally busy. I was very happy to get back in the saddle today. It was another gorgeous day today and perfect for enjoying the horses. I hopped on Sky for a few minutes and of course had very low expectations after three weeks off. I was only on her for 15 minutes total.

Too my great surprise I had one of my best rides yet on her. She remembered everything we had been working on as far as contact, pushing from behind, lifting her back, being on the bit, it was like we had not missed a day. I mostly walked with a few minutes of trotting and two 20 meter canter circles. I was expecting we would regress in our progress so I was very pleasantly surprised. She had lots of patting and heard "good girl!" over and over. Hopefully tomorrow I will have time to ride both Sky and Bonnie. We all know Bonnie does best with consistent work, but maybe Sky has set the tone and Bonnie will give me a pleasant surprise as well.

Sky lifted her head from grazing for a moment when I took her picture

Things have been pleasantly routine around the farm the last few days. In an interesting herd dynamic note MyLight has become the definite boss mare in her group. The mares and Cuffie are always an interesting and entertaining group, you will recall the pony wars they had a couple of months ago! Anyway, in a gradual transition over a few weeks MyLight emerged as the alpha mare and has remained solidly in that position for a few weeks now. It was not a dramatic change but rather a gradual shift. The only real difference is that she gets fed first, and on the rare occasion that she pins her ears at one of the others they get out her way pronto. I definitely wasn't expecting this as MyLight has typically been towards the bottom of the order in the past according to her mom.

The weather has been pretty spectacular the last few days. It has been great to have normal October weather again, 70's and sunny. I spent a pleasant 20 minutes or so at the pond yesterday afternoon feeding the fish. My dad keeps the pond stocked and feeds the fish regularly so they are trained to come up to the surface to get the food. When you start throwing the food in all of a sudden it looks like a tidal wave heading for you as the fish charge their way to the food. The fish actually know the sound of his Gator and head over to the spillway when they hear him coming!

Not much else to report here so it is time to sign off.

These pictures of the fish with their mouths open makes me hear the music from Jaws playing in the background.

Cuffie, Missy and Lily grazing quietly

I love this picture of Apollo; he is a great horse with a kind personality and I think it comes through in this picture

Levendi's totally adorable face

MyLight and Buffy

Teddy, Lucky and Mr. O'Reilly

Trillion and Winston are buddies

This isn't the picture I was going for; B-Rad was resting his head on Ogie's back but he moved just as I took the picture

Faune and Sebastian can often be seen right next to each other

Enjoying retirement

Quiet Weekend and Monday Pictures

2009-10-18T21:38:00.013-05:00

The last few days have been fairly quiet, and also very pleasant, around the farm. Ivan has been acting 100% normal since our episode from Thursday. I did have a panic attack Saturday morning as I saw a grey horse down in the field as I was walking out to feed breakfast. As I got closer I realized it was Homer simply having a nap and not Ivan. Then on Sunday morning Ivan was napping as I went out to feed breakfast. Ivan is a huge napper and this is not unusual for him but seeing Ivan anything under than standing up makes my heart skip a few beats. Thankfully as soon as he spotted me with breakfast he popped up and was one of the first at the gate to greet me.

The sun also made a welcome return this weekend. The sun had all but abandoned us the last couple of weeks but thankfully remembered that we were still here and in need of some sunshine this weekend. It is supposed to remain sunny with pleasant temperatures in the high 60's and low 70's this week. The mud around the gates has dried up considerably already and should be gone after tomorrow. I am thrilled about this but the horses not so much!

You of course remember the adorable pictures of Cuffie and his junior rider. I received an update from his owners and theyhave finally found a new pony worthy of following in Cuffie's hoofprints. He is also a medium pony and his barn name is 'Audi.' He is a champion driving pony, is trained through 4th level dressage, and he does the pony hunters. I've already volunteered to hike up my stirrups and ride should he ever need a pilot! They've only had Audi for 2 months and this new team looks like a force to be reckoned with. They're already winning! They make a great pair:

I'm going to wrap up this post now as Blogger has had more than its share of 'internal errors' tonight. I am ready to throw my computer out the window!

Elfin and Leo highly recommend living the good life! Both are very successful retired show hunters.

Levendi showing us his lovely face, he is an Oldenburg and retired show hunter. Behind him are Apollo and Ivan. Apollo is a Hanoverian and retired dressage horse. Ivan is a Thoroughbred and retired Grand Prix jumper.

Missy on the left and Lily on the right. Missy is a Quarter Horse pony who spent most of her life working as a dude ranch. She then barely avoided being sent for slaughter and was rescued by a wonderful family and she taught their younger daughter to ride. Lily is a Quarter Horse/Warmblood cross retired from the jumper ring.

Snappy has been around the world more than once. He was bred in Poland and somehow made his way into the barn of Mark Todd, the famous New Zealand eventer. Mark competed Snappy through the four star level in eventing before selling him to someone in the U.S. This person then crashed Snappy at a cross country fence. After tendon surgery on borh front legs he resumed a new career as a show hunter. He won the World Champion Hunter Rider Children's Hunter Final at the Capitol Challenge horse show and was circuit champion at the Winter Equestrian Festival.

Clay and Silky; Clay is a Quarter Horse whose first career was as a racehorse and his second career was as a trail horse. Silky (we call him Slinky) is a large pony and showed in the pony equitation classes.

Teddy and Lucky; both are Quarter Horses and Teddy was ridden in dresage while Lucky hit the trails.

B-Rad hiding behind the tree, Ogie, Winston, Asterik and Faune. B-Rad is a Belgian Warmblood and retired show jumper. Ogie is a Thoroughbred and retired eventer. Winston is a Thoroughbred and retired show hunter. Asterik is a Holsteiner who showed very successfully in both the hunters and jumpers. Faune is a Selle Francais who did a lot of winning in the hunter ring.

Cuffie having a bath. I fear he has turned yellow until spring. It is impossible to get his long hair that is coming in clean and he looooves to roll in the mud.

Cuffie shortly after his bath still looking fairly white. Look hard and remember this white pony as you will mostly be seeing a yellow pony for awhile.

Lightening, Chili and Clay. Lightening is an Arabian and retired from the trails. Chili is a Quarter Horse and was a working cow horse and trail horse.

Chili

Faune, Asterik and B-Rad

Stressful Day and Horses in the Fog

2009-10-15T20:43:00.005-05:00

Today was kind of one of those days where it might have been better if I had just stayed in bed and pressed fast forward to tomorrow. The weather today was like we have had the last several days, overcast and looking like it could rain at any moment. It rains at some point every day (or night), sometimes just a brief shower and sometimes a downpour that lasts for awhile. The mud around the gates is simply charming (not) although the horses certainly seem to like it!

Today was a feed delivery day. I don't like feed delivery days. Lugging around literally a ton of feed in 50 pound bags and distributing it around the farm is hard on me. I am not the strongest person in the world and the repeated lifted and carrying of those bags certainly takes some effort on my part. I was definitely feeling cranky about dealing with it, not to mention they were also delivering shavings and other stuff.

As I was unloading my first load of feed from the Kubota into the back shed I looked around at the horses in the pastures around the shed to see what they were up to. I am always scanning the pastures and watching the horses and I can tell from a distance if something is not quite right. I noticed Ivan was down in dead horse position but thought nothing of it as he is a huge napper and likes to nap in dead horse position all the time.

However when I was back down there with my second load of feed in the Kubota he was still down and I immediately had the feeling something was not quite right. I went out to check with halter in hand. Ivan was resting quietly and at first I thought maybe I had over-reacted. However he did not really want to get up when I asked him to get up. He did, but then almost immediately laid down again. He didn't roll, thrash, nip at his sides, make any distress noises, or do anything other than just want to lay quietly on his side. I made him get up again and we started our long, slow walk to the barn. Ivan lives in the field farthest from the barn so we had a hike. Ivan tried to lie down several times on our trek to the barn and his whole body would tremble tremble at times like he was in a lot of pain.

I called the vet clinic on the way to the barn and thankfully one of the vets that I work with the most happened to be right in our area. He arrived about 10 minutes after Ivan and I made it to the barn, talk about great service! Ivan's temperature was normal, he appeared hydrated, had good gut sounds on one side and moderate gut sounds on his other side, vital signs were excellent . . . and he tried to lay down twice while the vet was examining him in the barn aisle. A rectal exam found some very normal looking manure and nothing felt out of place. Torbugesic was administered for pain and we did go ahead and pass a tube to put some oil in in case of an impaction, and the vet drew blood to run his bloodwork (which all came back normal).

I was worried about Ivan as he has quite a few melanomas (many gray horses have these), including one on his sheath and one under his tail. It does make you wonder what they are doing, and possibly putting pressure on, internally. Thankfully once the Torbugesic kicked in Ivan immediately was acting like his normal self. I am happy to report that almost 10 hours later, and long after the meds have cleared his system, he is still acting very normal and very demanding about wanting hay. He has also passed a few very normal looking manure piles, go Ivan. He had a small flake of well soaked hay about an hour ago which he eagerly devoured and will have more in another hour. His BFF, Apollo, has been pressed into service and is spending the night in the barn with Ivan in the neighboring stall. Ivan would not calm down until we brought Apollo into the barn even though other horses were in there. Ivan detests the barn but will tolerate it with Apollo next to him.

We suspect that Ivan went down to roll and ended up with a mild displacement. The long walk to the barn combined with the poking and prodding by the vet probably provided just enough jostling for it to right itself. Although at this point it looks like we might have dodged the bullet I am still worried about Ivan and we've spent most of the day staring at him in his stall. When he poops we rush in there and swarm his manure to look at it. I am sure he thinks we are nuts.

Hopefully Ivan will continue to act like nothing ever happened and tomorrow will be a better day. A much better day.

I love horses in the fog. For some reason it makes them look even prettier and more majestic to me. I took several foggy horse pictures one morning. This one has B-Rad in the front with Asterik, Winston and Ogie behind him.

There was so much fog you can't really see the horses at all in this one. You can barely see the outlines of Clay, Snappy, Teddy, Lucky and Lightening.

Cuff Links grazing in the early morning fog

Mr. O'Reilly

Teddy with Lightening in the background

Slinky, Snappy and Lucky

MyLight in the front with Harmony hiding behind her. In the back L-R is Missy, Buffy and Lily.

And a few non-fog pictures. Look at that gorgeous sunshine, I wish it would come back - it seems to have abandoned us lately! L-R Trillion, Winston, Faune, Asterik and B-Rad.

The sub rooster on the left and The Don on the right

B-Rad, Asterik and Faune

SmartPaks to the Rescue?

2009-10-13T20:17:00.000-05:00

Remember the new chicks and their unfit mother I mentioned in my last post? Well, it came as no surprise to me that her brand new chicks are already in trouble one day later. The hen decided it would be a good idea to walk through the double fence line behind the barn that is a perimeter fence and wander in the woods over there with her day old chicks. I thought it was a bad move on her part but couldn't stop her.

Around lunch time on Monday Jason and I heard some very loud and very persistent peeping. We decide to go investigate knowing it was a chick calling for mom. We can't see him as he's in the brush, but we hear more than one chick calling. Jason somehow manages to scale the two fences and starts crashing around over there. Of course the peeping stopped. So I told him to stop moving and stay really still for a minute. He did and a minute later the peeping starts again.

Jason spots the source and starts chasing the poor chick around in the brush and the woods. He manages to capture the chick and passes him over the fence to me. He commences his search for the other chick and in the process finds two chicks that have already died. We tried for awhile to find and capture the other chick we were hearing but were never able to find him. Jason was crawling around through the wet brush and woods trying to do a search and rescue for the other chick.

Jason had to leave for awhile and I am left holding the chick. I put him in an empty muck bucket and set the bucket behind the barn hoping his loud peeping would lure the other chick over. After about an hour I did see the chick and he was just inside the fence line. I tried to sneak up and grab him but he ran away and I never saw him again.

Now I needed to set up a home for the one chick. You have to be really careful about providing water to little chicks as they drown very easily. I could not find any suitable containers and then noticed an empty SmartPak strip sitting on the trash can. Perfect, SmartPaks to the rescue! I completely removed the top liner, rinsed it out and put some water in the two wells. My next task was a trip to the feed store to get a heat lamp (chicks need a lot of warmth) and some chick starter feed. I liked my idea for the water so much I used another empty SmartPak strip for starter feed. Who knew the empty SmartPak strips could be so useful??

The chick seemed to be doing well and had a nice set up with his SmartPak dispensers, heat lap and blanket in his muck bucket home. I really had the warm fuzzies looking at him in his cozy home. Don't you have the warm fuzzies just reading about it?

He died 24 hours later. I tried so hard for this chick and I feel so guilty. He refused to eat or drink anything. Maybe he did not like using hand-me-downs for his food and water holders. I heated up some water and made a mush of his feed and fed it to him with a dropper but he wouldn't swallow it. I used the dropper to put water in his mouth as well. He seemed to have no will to live. I guess being abandoned by your mother will do that to you. I keep asking Jason where did we go wrong? How did we fail this chick?

In the end we tried our best for the little guy but hopefully he has gone to a better place. It was a sad day on the farm.

It isn't a great picture for really seeing anything but I like it anyway. O'Reilly is to the left grazing while Chili, Lucky and Lightening are hanging out.

Harmony and MyLight grazing together, both are Thoroughbred mares. Harmony is a retired polo pony and MyLight is retired from dressage.

I only took this picture because someone was actually in the shed (Missy and Buffy).

O'Reilly, Teddy and Lucky enjoying a pleasant day together. O'Reilly is an Irish bred horse and retired from the jumprs, Teddy is a Quarter Horse and retired from dressage and Lucky is also a Quarter Horse retired from the trails.

Trigger is an appendix Quarter Horse retired from the hunter ring. I love his chocolate palomino color (that you can't see well in this picture) and all of his bling.

L-R Asterik (Holsteiner), Sebastian (Connemara/Irish Draught cross), Faune (Selle Francais) with B-Rad (Belgian Warmblood) walking towards them in the back.

Winston (Thoroughbred and Trillion (Dutch Warmblood), both are retired show hunters.

The tree house for my nephews and niece extends into one of the pastures. Here is B-Rad hanging out under the tree house!

Trillion

Sky looking at me over the fence (hoping for a treat)

Homer (Irish bred), Levendi (Oldenburg) and Leo (Dutch Warmblood). All were very successful show hunters.

The next two pictures are both of Apollo and Ivan. Apollos is a Hanoverian and retired from dressage while Ivan is a Thoroughbred and retired Grand Prix jumper. The first picture shows how big Apollos is. Ivan stands over 17 hands and Apollo is still so much taller than Ivan. He clocks in at a mighty 18.1 hands.

Blankets and More Blankets

2009-10-11T19:59:00.000-05:00

We certainly had a busy weekend around the retirement farm. One of the more fun parts was welcoming our most recent new arrivals. Our one remaining hen hatched nine checks sometime in the wee hours of early Sunday morning. This hen, to be blunt, is simply an unfit mother. She does a terrible job of keeping up with her chicks and at one point was wandering around with one of her chicks while the other eight had gotten separated from her. She didn't seem to have noticed or to care. Jason and I reunited her with the rest of her flock with no thanks from her. This is how she has parented every other flock she has had. Too bad there is no such agency as Chicken Protective Services because she would definitely be reported!

Day old chicks, they are too cute

We spent the weekend getting ready to start the blanket grind again. It will probably be several weeks before we need them but it is always best to be prepared ahead of time. We picked up our giant load of cleaned and repaired blankets from the wonderful person who does this for us on Saturday. The bed of the truck and the back seat were both crammed full of blankets. It is so nice to handle clean blankets instead of dirty ones.

Jason had the job of hanging a few more blanket racks in the barn. It seems like such an easy job but he certainly seemed to have some trouble keeping track of those little screws! While Jason was doing that I was sorting blankets as we store them in two different locations on the farm. Some are in the barn and some are in a completely enclosed shed where I also keep blankets, halters, feed and feed bags for a few of the pastures.

Jason standing on a ladder hanging another blanket bar for me

It is such a production messing with all of these blankets. I ask myself often if I create a lot of unnecessary work for everyone with blanketing. We don't exactly have harsh winters here. A few inches of snow a year that usually melts the day it hits the ground. We are always really excited when snow hangs around for a few days!

Blankets sorted and ready to be taken to different areas

I try hard not to fall into the classic trap of assigning human wants and emotions to animals. I am not sure that I avoid it when it comes to the whole blanketing thing. I think in this area I am an example of classic anthropomorphism. *I* feel better when they have on their waterproof blankets or sheets when it is going to be cold and wet. Some of the horses will shiver when it is cold and raining although most are perfectly fine. They never seem to use their shelters at what I would consider to be logical times so I comfort myself knowing they are wearing their shelters. I ordered a sheet and blanket for my horse Bonnie a couple of weeks ago. I bred and raised Bonnie and she has never worn a blanket in her life and has always lived outside 24/7. I have no idea *why* I felt I should have blankets for her this year. Jason was a bit puzzled by this as well. On the other hand my retired mare Bridget has always had a nice selection of blankets in her wardrobe. Since I had no idea about Sky and blanketing as this is my first winter with her I ordered her a sheet and blanket as well.

Jason strapping down a load of blankets on the trusty Kubota

I pretty much have a blanket or sheet on everyone if it is going to be cold and wet. I am much less aggressive about using blankets for just cold. A few residents are blanketed much more aggressively for cold and in certain temperatures there will only be a few horses wearing blankets while most are nekkid. Of course there are plenty of times when everyone will be sporting some clothing. It is just my approach but I think if it is questionable whether to put a blanket on or not it is far better for the horse to be without a blanket than to be hot and sweaty with a blanket.

The goats had a leisurely weekend; while we were busy bees putting up more blanket bars, sorting blankets, and hauling blankets around the farm the goats just relaxed in the sun. Of course the black and white goats are Mina and Jo, world's cutest fainting goats, and behind them are Billy and Bubba, world's luckiest stray goats

I also break out the sheets and blankets if it is supposed to be windy. Although I probably greatly exaggerate the effects of it in my mind, it would seem that the wind would really interfere with the loft in their coats and make it harder to stay warm. A lot of farms will not blanket horses that are not in a stall. I understand why because it is a huge pain. First you have to get the blankets to the pastures, and more importantly to wherever the horses happen to be in the pasture. Secondly, the horses are not standing in their stalls with nowhere to go while you put their blankets on, they can leave or choose not to be caught if they don't wish to participate. We usually try to do all of our blanketing and un-blanketing in conjunction with feeding times. That way the horses are near the gate, occupied with eating and are not moving around.

Jason was convinced he saw a mouse in the shed. He stands here ready for battle with a huge stick in one hand and a rock in the other. Sadly this picture was not posed!

My next step in preparation for blanketing season will be to re-waterproof a few of the blankets. In my experience when the blankets start to lose their waterproofing you can usually do a good re-proofing with Nikwax and that will get you one more season out of them. What I have found is after that the re-proofing just does not hold anymore. Thus a few of the horses had to have some of their clothes replaced this year. I do attempt to re-waterproof their old clothes with the Nikwax so I can use them as a back-up for them if needed. I have also heard of a lot of people using Thompson's Water Seal to re-proof blankets as well. I've never tried this myself so if anyone has share your experiences. In fact share anything you have found that works for re-waterproofing!

The blankets were hung in the shed with care in hopes that winter would not soon be there

My last step in preparation for blanketing season will be to order several pairs of replacement leg straps. Inevitably the hardware fails or the straps get broken on the rear leg straps of a few blankets. I always try to have a few replacements on hand. I am absolutely not handy with a thread and needle so any big repairs like broken surcingles have to be handled by the wonderful person who does blanket cleaning and repair for us. Hopefully now that I am ready to go we won't need the blankets for a long time!

Leo; Leo is a Dutch Warmblood who showed through 4th level dressage before beginning a very successful career in the hunters

Norman and Sparky in the front and Traveller in the back; too bad the sun was at the wrong angle for this picture.

Levendi; Levendi is an Oldenburg and retired from the hunter ring due to complications from arthritis in his neck

Chance and Homer; Chance is a Thoroughbred and Homer is an Irish bred gelding. Both are retired from the hunters.

L-R Apollo, Ivan and Levendi. Apollo is a Hanoverian who is retired from a dressage career due to EPM. Ivan is a Thoroughbred and retired from Grand Prix jumping due to arthritis.

Two of my girls grooming each other, Bridget and Sky.

Ogie and B-Rad walking through the pasture. Ogie is a Thoroughbred and retired from three day eventing. B-Rad is a Belgian Warmblood and retired from the jumpers.

Asterik trotting towards me. Asterik is a Holsteiner and won at the biggest shows in both the hunters and the jumpers, not many horses can do double duty like that successfully. Unfortunately he stepped on a nail at a horse show and it went through the collateral ligament of one of his front hooves.

Trillion and Winston; Trillion is a Dutch Warmblood and retired show hunter. He was nationally ranked in the Regular Working Hunters (4' hunters) and circuit champion at the Winter Equestrian Festival. Winston is a Thoroughbred and retired from the hunter ring as well.

Dealing With Death And Euthanasia

2009-10-08T20:14:00.000-05:00

Another post written mainly by Jason with some input from Melissa:

Someone asked another good question in the comments a couple of posts back, about how we handle death on the retirement farm. It is a good question that is hard to answer in a few sentences, and it is something that anyone contemplating starting a retirement farm needs to think over thoroughly. As many of you know, I grew up on a working farm in Ontario, Canada and I learned very early that death is an integral part of a life’s journey…as important to the overall cycle…actually, maybe MORE important to the overall cycle…than is birth itself. Treating our charges with respect when they are here with us is at least as important (and a lot more productive, functional and positive) than worrying endlessly about how or when it is going to be their time. Anyone contemplating running a farm involving livestock or horses HAS to be fully aware that death is a real possibility and fully okay with what will happen when the situation presents itself. We thought long and hard about how death was likely to show it’s face on our farm, and perhaps more importantly, we thought about what we were going to do about it BEFORE the first horse got off the truck.

Death for the charges at our farm can/could/does come in basically four forms:

Old age
Serious/unrecoverable injury
Disease
Owner’s financial considerations

Old age is the one we deal with most often, and in many ways it’s the easiest one to handle. While there is some possibility that one will walk out in the pasture and simply find what was yesterday a healthy horse dead at morning chore time, life is seldom that simple. This has happened to us only once. More often than not at some point during the process of physical shutdown, and always with the owner's blessings, we mercifully intervene and hasten on the inevitable. In our opinion death by old age is too often a slow, tedious process, and we monitor a variety of quality of life situations to determine when and if our intervention is needed. Letting an animal suffer on for days or weeks when quality of life is seriously compromised in order that it have a “natural” death IS animal abuse in our book.

Serious unrecoverable injuries are rare…in fact to date we've never had this happen, but it sure COULD happen at any time. Triage in the field would be step one. Step two may involve calling the vet for treatment or euthanasia. If the animal is injured so severely that in our opinion treatment is futile, instant euthanasia by gunshot is the last option. We recognize the reality that although the owners clearly care a lot about their horses (hence their first class retirement with us) we sure don’t fault them for not wishing to spend thousands of dollars for a potentially poor outcome on an aged or permanently lame horse. When it's possible to do so, we honour their requests for either treatment or euthanasia and when they aren't available, we use our judgement combined with the instructions they provided us in our board contract.

We struggle with when to end an animals’ life due to untreatable, progressive disease more than we do all the others combined. It is never easy to know when it is the correct time to euthanize an animal suffering from progressive disease. Here again though, we use quality of life measures as our guide. Some of the questions we ask ourselves involve things that are relatively easy to quantify. Some examples would be is the animal able to eat unimpeded, is it holding weight, is it moving relatively freely? There are also other questions that are harder to quantify but very necessary. Some examples of these would be how “bright” does the horse look, is it taking interest in its normal activities? Usually when some combination of the easy and difficult questions come back negative over a few days, it is time for a final consult with the owners. During this time we also provide pictures and videos to allow the owners to have good visuals and to see what we are seeing.

In a perfect world, one would never have to euthanize an otherwise healthy animal for financial reasons. However, the world we live in is not perfect. We have only dealt with this situation once. Our client was very forthright about the dramatic change in her financial situation due to some unforeseen personal circumstances. Her horse was young, had an injury that he would never recover from, and we all felt like it would be playing russian roulette with his future to try and give him away as a companion. The option of humane euthanasia was wisely chosen by his owner and we supported her choice. It was not an easy or a feel good decision, but Melissa and I strongly felt it was the best decision for the horse.

We have had more than one retiree come to us after the companion route was tried first. Usually the first companion home works out well for however long it lasts. But then someone decides why support the useless horse when I could have a companion horse I could also ride? So these horses (2 different horses in 2 different states) were given away again, and life went downhill quickly. They were respectively in body condition scores of 2 and 3 when they arrived here. Had good samaritans not intervened in each case and tracked down the former owners the horses would have died a miserable, slow death of starvation. They were already well on their way. After these experiences it made it much easier to support the euthanasia option. There are fates much worse than a humane death for a horse, especially a permanently unrideable, young horse who was now going to be dependent on complete strangers to continue to support him for many more years.

Although it has yet to happen there is the possibility that a client will just flat out stop communicating with us and stop paying their bills. Should this ever happen I promise that I will waste very little patience on these people. In my opinion this action by the owner places us in the unfair and unacceptable position of having to decide the fate of THEIR animal due to THEIR poor decision making. Because this farm is run as a business (it is our primary livelihood) and because it does not operate on unlimited funds, we can’t make exceptions for bad owners, even when their horses are great. When their board money runs out and when repeated attempts to contact them fail, our board contract allows us to euthanize the animal(s) in question. I hope we are never put in this situation but if we are we will be forced to euthanize the horse(s). We cannot jeapordize our ability to care for the horses of our paying customers by supporting a horse that has been abandoned.

The retirees here have no inherent value on the market, they are retired for a reason, so selling them to another home is not a viable option. I am sure we will be told we are horrible people for taking this approach, but in my mind it would be the only responsible decision in this situation. I hope we never have to face this and in all honesty I cannot imagine any of our owners putting us in that situation. Many of you are probably thinking that instead of euthanasia in such a situation that we should try to dump the horse on a rescue. If you have ever been involved in animal rescue of any kind you will know that all rescues are strapped for space, time, volunteers, and most of all money.

Methods of Euthanasia

We STRONGLY PREFER to call a vet out to administer humane euthanasia via an overdose of barbiturate with a needle. It is quick, clean, inexpensive (and painless insofar as we can tell) for the animal in question.

There is the possibility of situations where suffering is severe and calling a vet is not going to get the job done quickly enough. We feel that death administered by a well placed bullet in the head is a viable alternative. Thankfully this is another scenario we have never had to deal with on this farm and I hope we never have to deal with it. However, I have certainly had to shoot sick or injured cows and calves at times in the past on my farm in Ontario, and I am competent to do so.
For those who argue that guns have no place in our civilized society, I would argue back that on a working farm a gun is at times as necessary a tool as a shovel or a pitchfork, and every responsible person on the farm needs to be trained in their proper care and use. We keep several guns on hand and at the ready should the need arise. We also have our pet goats, chickens, 2 barn cats and a small dog (Bear) on the farm which can be threatened by animals that would never bother a horse such as coyotes and larger stray dogs. Not to mention the opossum and the raccoon that decided to take up residence in the barn a few months ago. When wild animals become comfortable in the barn trapping and relocating does not work, they just come back.

Ending life is not something that we ever take lightly, regardless of the circumstances or the animal in question. However there are times when this has to be faced, and we try to handle it with compassion and dignity for all involved. I am glad that we have never had to face most of the possibilities discussed in this post. However Melissa and I did sit down and discuss all of these potential situations at length before we accepted our first retiree on the farm. Death is an inevitable part of life, and having made decisions ahead of time on how to handle different scenarios can make very hard tasks at least a touch easier.

Now that we've written the most depressing post ever we'll move on to some much happier pictures!

Elfin, he is retired from the amateur owner hunter division; he is very much a mischief maker and whenever something is going on Elfin is sure to be in the middle of it.

Chance and Homer; Chance is a thoroughbred and Homer is an Irish bred and they are both retired show hunters. Homer is the alpha horse in his group while Chance is always the low man on the totem pole no matter who he lives with. As you can see they don't really care about herd order most of the time. The only time it really matters is at feeding times.

Some of the 'big boys' grazing. The first four across the front are Ivan, Levendi, Apollo and Elfin. Leo is in the middle and then in the back, somewhat hiding from view, are Homer and Chance.

I took these next few pictures for Jason after another round of mowing. He likes to admire his work. :)

Lovely mowing there Jason

A gorgeous blue sky and Ogie provide some nice background material for another picture of Jason's mowing

B-Rad and Asterik grazing next to each other and Ogie is grazing to the right
Buffy, retired show hunter and Cuff Links, retired pony hunter

Faune, affectionately known as the "big French guy" (he is a Selle Francais), and Sebastian, a Connemara/Irish Draught cross

MyLight (thoroughbred and retired dressage horse), Cuff Links, Harmony (thoroughbred and retired polo pony), Missy (Quarter Horse pony who worked at a dude ranch for many years before he current family bought her) and Lily (Quarter Horse/Warmblood cross who showed in the jumpers)

All lined up, Sebastian, Trillion, Winston and Ogie

Winston and Trillion; both are retired show hunters. Trillion was nationally ranked in the 4' hunters and circuit champion at the Winter Equestrian Festival

Winston and Ogie; Ogie is a retired 3-day event horse

Meet Thomas

2009-10-06T20:57:00.000-05:00

I would like to introduce you to Thomas, our newest resident on our farm. We have one more on the way and I then I cannot squeeze in another resident at this time! Thomas is beautiful, stunning, gorgeous - you can pick your superlative and it would apply. Thomas arrived in the middle of one of our dental days a couple of weeks ago. Jason, myself, Amy, the dentist, my dad - we all just crowded ourselves around his stall door and admired him for a few minutes. I have yet to take a picture of Thomas that comes even remotely close to capturing his beautiful self, not one of the pictures in this post comes even close to showing what he looks like when you see him in person.

Thomas

Thomas has one of the most gorgeous necks I've ever seen on a horse, and it is attached to a really pretty head. Thomas is a Holsteiner that was imported from Germany as a three year old. Unfortunately he has made his way to our farm needing to be fully retired at the age of seven. His owner deserves a medal and a lot of recognition for her commitment to Thomas.

Look at that lovely neck

His lovely, uphill canter

Thomas started off as a show hunter, competing on elite circuits like the Winter Equestrian Festival in Florida. When he was six his owners decided to sell him as a dressage horse because he was a beautiful mover and not in love with jumping even though his form over the jumps was great. His owner bought him to be her dressage horse.

Thomas certainly does not mind being retired

She had only had Thomas for a few weeks when he began exhibiting some pretty strong behavior problems under saddle. She immediately began looking for physical causes and began her long and frustrating journey that lasted for the last year. They were already working to correct his front feet and a bone scan revealed issues in three different areas of his body.

The cutest part of his face is his white bottom lip which you can't really see in pictures

As she said, that began her several month journey of trying to treat Thomas' soundness issues. I won't go into detail on everything she did but she went all out with various joint injections, shockwave treatments on four different areas of his body, treatment with Tildren . . . the list is long and distinguished.

Striking a pose for me

At one point, several months into all of the treatments, it seemed like they were making progress. Thomas appeared to be sound and was going well under saddle. However her hopes were dashed again when the behavior problems came back and were as bad as they had ever been. Back x-rays revealed that he had kissing spine, which was probably secondary due to some of his other problems. She said she decided to stop torturing both of them at that point and accept that Thomas was going to have to be retired.

Having a "meet and greet" session with Leo and Trigger

Having been through the ups and downs with diagnosis, treatment, more diagnoses and treatment, and ultimately retirement, I can fully relate to what she has been through. However I cannot imagine finding myself in that situation after having only owned the horse for a few weeks! I don't think her situation could be any more heartbreaking or frustrating. She only enjoyed her lovely new horse for a few weeks before starting her roller coaster journey that led to retirement a year later.

Grazing with his new friends

Talk about having to truly sacrifice and accept a rotten situation. She has a beautiful, athletic, talented horse that she basically never had the opportunity to really ride. I am continually amazed by her graciousness and generosity of spirit when I communicate with her about Thomas. From the first day she contacted me she has never once complained or said anything negative about how things turned out for her and Thomas. I'll be honest, if I ended up with a young retiree without ever really having had the chance to ride and enjoy my horse, I would be an expert at feeling sorry for myself and complaining often and loudly to anyone who would listen. There are not adequate words to express how much she has impressed me as I learned more and more about her journey with Thomas.

Grazing nose to nose with Trigger

Please join me in welcoming Thomas and recognizing his amazing owner for making such hard choices for her horse. She certainly deserved a lot of recognition for her handling of the situation. She has absolutely earned my respect. The saying of one man's trash is another man's treasure definitely applies to this situation as we are thrilled to welcome Thomas to our family!

Jo and I Survive an Attack

2009-10-04T20:11:00.010-05:00

The weekend was mostly uneventful. I was certainly busy enough with fairly mundane tasks like refilling salt holders and updating feed charts. And you thought there wasn't a glamorous side to being on a retirement farm!

Saturday evening did provide me with some unwanted excitement. As always I went over to the barn right before I went to bed. We do a night check on any stalled horses and give them more hay and check water buckets. Of course we go over every night to tuck in Mina and Jo. world's cutest fainting goats. Jason was away this weekend so I was on my own on Saturday evening.

I always give Mina and Jo a little bit of grain when I put them in their stall for the night. I keep their bag of feed in the office in the barn because I've never bothered to get another feed can for their food. I obviously don't want an open bag of feed out in the barn or in my feed room so I've just been keeping their bag of feed in the office.

I went to scoop out a little feed and before the scoop made it to the bag I noticed the bag shifted ever so slightly. This did not make me happy. Some kind of rodent, either a mouse or a rat, had finally realized where I was keeping the accessible food. I stretched and leaned forward as far as I could trying to see in the bag without getting too close to it. What can I say, I am a major wimp!! I couldn't see anything so I reached out and tapped the bag with the feed scoop. More movement from the bag.

I stood there contemplating my options - or I should say trying to come up with an option that didn't involve me in any way - when Jo decided this was taking way too long. She marched up to the bag of feed and just stuck her head in it to grab a bite. All of a sudden the inhabitant of the bag leaped several feet into the air like it had been shot out of a cannon, over Jo and past me. Jo fainted, proving yet again that Jason and I definitely got the premium fainter that we had paid extra money for! As I simultaneously screamed along with Jo's faint I was thinking that I had a really ticked off super rodent coming after me.

I only screamed once, I had my big girl pants on that night! As I finished my scream I turned around to see where this mighty, leaping, air borne rodent had gone so I could make sure that I ran in the opposite direction. My plan that I formulated in a split second was to grab fainted Jo and get the heck out of Dodge before we were attacked again.

I saw where our attacker was and realized it was . . .

.

.

. . . wait for it . . .

.

.

. . . a tiny FROG!!!

Jo and I recovered our dignity and moved on with our evening. Mina was watching us from the aisle in the barn and wondering what in the heck all of the excitement was about.

The rest of the weekend was uneventful.

I look at this picture and ask myself what horse would not want to live here and enjoy all of that space and all of that green grass? The very lucky grazers are Elfin, Chance, Leo, Homer and Levendi. They all happen to be retired show hunters, I guess they were trading war stories with each other, or maybe they were comparing ribbons.

Levendi napping; you can see a peek of Elfin who was napping behind him
People often ask me who their horse's best friend(s) are. That can really vary. Sometimes the horses are grazing together as a group, sometimes they are paired off, and sometimes, like in this picture, they are all spread out across the pasture. Lily is in front, Cuffie is behind her, then Missy, Harmony and Buffy in a row. MyLight is a little speck behind Buffy that you can't really see.

Ivan, retired Grand Prix jumper. When Ivan first arrived three years ago I thought he was going to eat us out of house and home trying to keep weight on him. He is a much, much easier keeper today. Ivan is a thoroughbred and is 17 years old.

Clay, O'Reilly and Teddy grazing together.

Trillion grazing, Winston looking alert and Ogie looking half asleep. Trillion was a nationally ranked show hunter, Winston was also a hunter, and Ogie is a retired eventer.

Sebastian and Trillion grazing; Sebastian is a Connemara/Irish Draught cross and was a horse that you could pretty much do any discipline on and win. Trillion is a Dutch Warmblood and I love it when I have the opportunity to see him show off his big, lopey canter stride. He showed in the 4' hunters and when you see him canter through the field you can envision him hunting down to a 4' oxer.

I have so many different versions of this picture because I could take this picture almost every day! B-Rad and Asterik grooming each other. B-Rad is a Belgian Warmblood and Asterik is a Holsteiner, both are retired jumpers.

Winston and Ogie grazing together

This isn't a great picture I just liked how the tree framed it for me. Snappy (retired 4 star eventer and show hunter), Teddy (retired Quarter Horse), Lightening (Arabian and retired trail horse), Mr. O'Reilly (Irish bred and retired jumper) and Chili (Quarter Horse who worked cows and had trail duty)

Trigger and Chance wanted to be the first ones to dirty up my clean trough

Lost Again and Typical Care Issues

2009-10-01T20:59:00.000-05:00

Remember our stray dog Flossie, the elderly lab mix who lived with us for a few days? Well I met up with Flossie again one day last week. She was walking down the middle of the road, right on the center line, with a line of cars behind her and heading in the direction of our farm. She wasn't too far from home at that point so I loaded her in my car and took her home. Thank goodness the other traffic on the road was creeping along at 1 mph behind her.

This morning Jason drove to the bottom of the driveway as he was heading out, and lo and behold but who is at the bottom of the driveway, right at the edge of the road? You guessed right, it was Flossie. So Jason loaded her up and drove her the mile and a half home again. I think Flossie is getting a little bit senile. She is well cared for and likes her family. However there is no fenced in area for her and clearly she is starting to forget where she lives. Or maybe she just liked living with us better, but I really don't think so. I really don't want to find Flossie flattened in the road one day.

Someone asked in the comments about the health issues of the horses here. Did some of them have IR or Cushing's, did they get supplements, etc. We do have a couple of residents with Cushings. We have actually been able to successfully manage them without administering pergolide, even if they were previously on pergolide. If the day comes that they need pergolide (or anything else) then they will get it. We have a couple of residents who have previously foundered as well. Believe it or not we've had no issues with founder here, even in the previously foundered, with all of the grass. I know the next question will be "why" but I don't know that I have an answer.

I think there are several factors. The pastures are large so the horses naturally get a lot of movement in each day. We really stay on top of their feet and keep their hooves in the best shape we can. Hoof form can certainly be a big contributor to founder. The stress level on the horses is very low here. There are not horses coming and going from their groups regularly, and there is no lesson or training program here. The most content place for a horse is with their herd. Just as in people, lower stress levels lead to a healthier horse that is better able to maintain itself.

There are some residents that do get daily medications, for example a couple of the residents are on daily Thyro-L. Although most of the horses were on joint supplements prior to retirement most of them are weaned off of them here. We do have some residents that receive a daily joint supplement and a couple of residents have regular Adequan injections. There is nothing better for joint health than being out of a stall. Constant movement keeps the joint fluid flowing better than any supplement ever will. Thus most of the horses no longer need their joint supplements once they are out of the typical show barn routine.

Of course with horses there are always various lumps and bumps. I have to admit that sometimes I truly think it is a miracle that horses did not become extinct a long time ago, they really are born looking for ways to kill themselves! Occasionally someone has, for example, an oozy eye. Of course we have the vet out, the eye is dilated and stained, and we are given various topicals to put in the eye. It is amazing how strong a horse's eyelid can be when you are trying to pry it up to apply eye ointment!

The majority of the (thankfully rare) injuries that occur here are usually related to the wood fence. One of my vets made the comment once that he sees as many injuries related to wood fencing as he does with barb wire. If a horse happens to stomp at a fly and catch the fence, or roll right next to the fence, or whatever, wood splinters and cracks. It doesn't matter how new the wood is, it just happens. We've had more than one horse roll right next to a fence, including one of my horses! This baffles me. They have acres and acres of pasture in which to roll, but they have to roll six inches from the fence. I feel like saying to those horses "here's your sign."

The most typical change I see in aging horses is that at some point many of them go from really easy keepers to harder keepers. This is a normal part of aging, and the point it which it occurs is different with every horse. As they age their teeth aren't as good and their bodies are not working as efficiently any more. For example, Harmony is 29 years old this year. About a year ago we had to really increase the amount of feed we were giving her to maintain her same body condition and we added a pre-biotic to her feed as well. On the other hand Clay is 30 years old this year and he has yet to show a need for any feed changes. We soak every horse's feed to some extent, and the truly elderly horses get their feed soaked almost to a mush. Yes it is a pain to soak that much feed every day but we feed a really low NSC feed and so it is a fairly dry feed. I'd rather deal with soaking feed every single day than deal with one choke if I can avoid it. That being said soaking feed is not a guaranteed way to avoid a choke but it is a very big help.

All in all we are very low key here. Our goal is to give the horses what they need while not wasting their owner's money giving them things they don't need. I see relaxed, healthy and happy horses all around me every day. We may not get everything 100% perfect but I think we do a pretty good job. Hope that came close to answering the question Lytha!

Trigger and Baby hanging out; Trigger is 9 years old and Baby is 10 years old. Both showed on the A circuit in the hunters. Trigger is a horse we weaned off of daily bute. He is moving better with each month that goes by even without the daily bute. Baby was on a daily ulcer supplement as he was very prone to gas colic. Baby has been off his ulcer supplement for almost a year and hopefully he will continue to be just fine without it.

Traveller grazing in front of the pear trees. Every year that one pear tree changes color and loses its leaves almost a full two months before the other trees.

B-Rad and Asterik were on the move! All of this constant movement while grazing and playing is great for their joints.

Sebastian decided to follow them

Sebastian again

Then I saw Slinky trotting through his pasture

Sebastian, Faune and Asterik grazing

Chili and Mr. O'Reilly grazing together

Lightening, Teddy and Lucky; I like their three distinct coat colors against the green grass in this picture

B-Rad and Winston

Trillion in the front and Asterik behind him

Ogie; he is a wonderful elderly statesman and even though he tries to convince you he is a grumpy old man he is really so loveable.