Day 2 Weekend (I rode Farley in a Hackamore!)

My sister does not get to go riding with me as often as she used to, now that she has a "real" job. With my parent's blessing, we skipped church to go riding together on Easter Sunday morning. She is the one in (my) blue tights in the pictures, I'm in the purple tights. She is riding her fat little mustang - Sally. On the last trail rides, Loreleigh complained that her synthetic western saddle horn was tapping her stomach during some of our more "interesting" gallops up hills. I offered to let her borrow my old specialized endurance saddle (w/ fleece cover of course), complete with the extra gold breast collar I had picked up at the tack swap. She leaped at the idea (mainly because of the sheepskin cover).

I let Loreleigh chose the riding location, and she chose Oroville, so Farley got to do the same trail as yesterday. Because she was so good yesterday, I decided to try out the arab sized Sliester hackamore I received as another tack trade (cantle stowaway pack for english saddle). This was her first time in a hackamore.

Yes, those half chaps in the pic are the ones I picked up for $5 at the swap and tried to resell for $10....

At the top of Sycamore hill (the name changes depending on what map you are looking at) there's some hitching posts with picnic tables. We stopped for awhile and then turned around.

(Loreleigh looking at her fat, sweaty Sally)

The view from the top.

See the red things on the stirrups? That's a neoprene tail wrap. It was one of the really long ones. I cut it in half and wrapped them around the leathers right above the stirrup. I was hoping that it would eliminate my need for half chaps (making it easier to run). They do an OK job, but not wonderful. I wonder if I had not cut it in half, and left it long, if it would do a better job?

Farley enjoying the grass.

Another grazing break on the way home.

A picture of the hackamore I was using. Yes I took this from the back of the horse....She did GREAT in it. We did some easy trotting, switch backs, up and down hills. She actually necks reins fairly well and works off of my seat and legs. She suprised me. I'm not sure I would trust this at the beginning of a ride, but I would transition after the first half of a ride - especially in a 100 miler. I did pack her regular bitted bridle, just in case, but I was VERY impressed with how well she handled for her first time in a hackamore.

Near the end of the ride, I realized we hadn't taken many pictures while riding (front views...not back views), so we passed the camera back and forth, trying to get decent shots.

I told Loreleigh to be careful. Matching tights, helmet, and saddle bags - someone might mistake her for an endurance rider!

We were almost to the trailer and running out of time for pictures! Ahhh! BTW - it doesn't work to cue the horse to the right, while twisting your body to the left in order to face the camera. It turns out looking like this.

And this. Eeek! Look at my heel!

Loreleigh on the other hand looks wonderful in her pics (we'll chalk that up to my superior picture taking abilities :).

Watch out Loreleigh! You are starting to color coordinate!

Loreleigh is borrowing this saddle now, so maybe I have her half converted?

6 miles ~1:45

Day 1 continued

I was so excited about my wonderful trail ride Saturday, I forgot about part 1 of the weekend! I went with my Dad to a tack swap. I LOVE tack swaps. I didn't have any cash with me, so Mom lent me $25 and off I went. For $25 here's my loot:

Cooler (almost brand new) - $10
Really nice half cheek snaffle (you can just feel quality when you pick up a bit) to continue my obsessive bit collecting - $5
Half chaps - $5
2 pairs of riding tights, blue and purple - $2
gold, synthetic english breast collar - $3

I already have half chaps, and the half chaps I bought here I didn't like as well, but they fit so I bought them for back ups (they were almost brand new! I couldn't just leave them sitting there). They also fit my sister.......who REALLY wanted them....so I offered them to her at the deal of $10. :) Hey, cheaper than new! My parents threw a fit and told me absolutely not, so I sheepishly gave them to her for $5. I was not joking around. I totally was going to sell them to her for $10. On the other hand, my sister is my seamstress and repairs/mends ALL of my horsey related stuff and clothing, so she does deserve a break now and then.

After the ride I went with a walk with my mom and her dog and we bought Easter candy. After delicious dinner we sat around and watched "Ghost Rider". Why is this all important? This day and night was the 1 week anniversary of Minx's death. I had such a wonderful day spending it with my family and Farley, that fact did not even occur to me until the next day!

Day 1 of weekend

I had a lovely trail ride on Saturday. For the gelding update, scroll to the bottom.

The Kaweah Horsemasters lesson on Saturday was cancelled, so Friday night I was faced with a delimeana: Have horse, will travel, but where to travel to? I decided that spending Easter Sunday with my parents was a fine idea and I would either ride at Oroville or Auburn.


Saturday morning I headed up to the Oroville State Recreation Area. Above is a picture of the parking area. No one there, hitching racks and a porta potty, nothing could be more perfect. There's also a group of picnic tables in the shade behind me. I had been here once before - Easter Sunday 2 years ago, a couple of weeks before my first endurance ride, with my sister. Minx and I did ~5 miles that day, ending with a partially removed shoe....that nesscitated walking back to the trailer area WAY to short into the ride.



The trails were much more beautiful that I remembered. The grass was green, the flowers in full bloom.


I had a wonderful time on Farley. She felt so solid, so good, such a pleasure to ride. This was my first ride back in the saddle since before Minx died. My last ride was on Minx on the very pleasurable Fort Ord ride.


I kept Farley at a walk/trot. She's fit enough to go the distance, now I'm doing brain work and strengthening her tendon. On my weekend rides I've promised to get off and run for at least 30 minutes, and today was no exception. I think it secretly amuses Farley to trot along behind me and watch my fat bottom "trot" over the rocks. We went over Dan Beebes trail, over Sycamore Hill, around the detour, until we came to the base of the spillway (pictured above).



We took a 5 minute break to eat, pee, and snap some pictures. Then it was back down the trail.


I've been doing some tack trading on the Horse Grooming Forums and got the bridle pictured above in exchange for a cob sized dressage bridle without cheek pieces I had. I was nice to get a bridle that was thinner for Farley. On the shortest settings this bridle (barely) fits! The civil war bridle now has a hackamore on it (see my Day 2 post later for more details on that!)

On the way back I chose to go along the gravel road next to the reservoir, so I could take Farley through this tunnel.



This tunnel is fairly long and a section of the lights had burnt out, so it was dark. She was nervous but did great. I had to dismount to turn the lights on, so I went ahead and walked through it with her dismounted.

Overall we went ~10 hours in 2.5 hours. On conditioning rides, especially if the footing is steep and technical, I worry more about hours in the saddle than actual distance. I wanted a solid 2-3 hours on technical trail this day and I got it. She looked great afterwards. She's in the middle of SERIOUSLY shedding her winter coat off so I checked carefully for any rub spots. She's being especially sensitive about her girth area, so I made sure there was no hair build up in her armpits.

After riding Saturday, I decided I wanted to take some more time as a single horse owner. I am not going to go look at the gelding. I'm not sure I want another greenie. Horse riding is my hobby, not my job. Just because I could handle the greenie, does that mean I should? I had a WONDERFUL ride this day, and at Fort Ord a few weeks ago. It was because my horses were finally at a level in their training that I could relax and enjoy the scenery. By only having a single horse, I can slow down my life for a bit, and catch up on all those things I used to do before getting Farley in November 2007. I used to play the fiddle, embroider and quilt, read, go to church and read my bible, run marathons. I've done none of that consistently since getting 2 horses, probably because at least one of them was a greenie that required a LOT of my time. Maybe it's time to live life a little differently for a couple of months. I WILL be getting a second horse, just not right away, and probably not a greenie.

If any one is interested in the gelding, he is in the bay area in California and listed on bayequest.com. He sounds like a great project for a confident intermediate rider and someone could get really lucky with him. The women selling him seems honest and upfront.

All breed pedigree update

I updated Minx's pedigree to allbreedpedigree.com. Her name is "Linda". There are multiple Linda's and so she was assigned ID: LINDA249

Bad Melinda!

Bad Melinda Bad Melinda Bad Melinda!......

But he's free.....

Isn't he cute?





I have 2 pics of him under saddle, but they are in a word doc and I can't post them here. He looks less bulky under saddle. He's being ridden in "a frame", but isn't being asked to go long and low.

So what's the deal? He's a purebred Arab gelding that looking for a new home. Originally broke at 3, was ridden ~1 year and was too much for the 8 year old beginner he was bought for......fast forward 6 years. He's now 9, has sat for most of that time, but has been ridden a little. A D2 or D3 pony club girl has been riding him ~1 week for lessons. Mostly dressage but has been started over cross rails. My thoughts? Arabs mature late and at 9 years old he's probably just now ready for a job. From talking with the lady, he's green but not mean. Would probably be a wonderful horse with consistant work. Been ridden 1x on the trail....with a "group" of horses....spooked at a passing car.....

So what are my thoughts?

1. This is way too soon after Minx. On the other hand, I need to stay busy. This horse would definitely be completely different....

2. Send him off to my favorite training for 30-60 days if I get him. He's free and I could afford to send him off for a while. Bonus: more time to work with Farley and get to know him.

3. I've never had a gelding. How do you do a sheath cleaning?

4. Am I destined to always have a problem horse

5. They say he's 15hands. I really hope he's not as big as he looks in the pictures....

6. I'm at least equivalent to a pony club D rider right?

7. I've never had a horse that would do anything in the arena. That would be fun.

8. I wish he was traffic broke. Or had been on the track. Or something. Maybe he showed as a youngster? I'm so spoiled by only having track horses. They are so blase about a lot of things.

9. I like his feet. His shoulder is a little upright. Nice pasterns. Since he hasn't been ridden much, no problem with over-use injuries. (the owner says that DEFINATELY won't be an issue LOL) He's on pasture so probably not totally insane. Nice butt (you can see it better in the pics of him under saddle.

10. I like the fact this horse is COMPLETELY different from both Minx and Farley. I like that he's free. I like the fact I could take lessons on this horse (Minx was impossible and Farley is "interesting"). He's schooled up to 2' 6" in cross country. This means he knows how to PICK UP HIS FEET TO GO OVER THE JUMP. Farley? are you listening? The "I'll close my eyes and continue trotting..." method is not the perferred one! Both fronts have to come off the ground! 2'6" is as high as I need to jump to compete at the advanced level in the cavarly competitions.

11. Anyone else have an opinion?

Necropsy results

I swear! Last post on this subject.

The vet called me back with the necropsy results. She said it was "interesting". "Interesting" is a much better word to hear when your horse is dead rather than alive..... The small intestine was DEFINITELY displaced, and infected, which means at one point it was probably cut off from a blood supply. The cecum was also displaced and had a weird color. Her gut was completely obstructed. There was also hemorrhaging in various places. There was a hole in her cecum, but the vet said this could have happened during the euthanasia, since she thinks that her heart rate would have been higher if the hole was there during her life. I'm not sure. Displacement of almost every GI organ? Hemorrhaging? decaying small intestine? and only a 28 resting heart rate. I wouldn't be surprised if that hole was present. The point of all this? I definitely made the right decision. There was no way that fluids overnight, or even surgery, would have fixed this.

As a side note, I asked about the fat on her body. I struggled to put weight on this horse every single day of her life. Dr. R*said she was probably a ~3.5 when she died. Which means she LOST weight instead of gaining it (she was ~4.0-4.5 in January) this entire time. I don't know what was going on. There was definitely something going on. It's very frustrating. She was in light to no work too! Her last endurance ride was June 2008 and I only casually rode her after that. I wished she could have died fat.... She would look fine one week and then skinny the next no matter what I did. I did have a blood panel done on her in November that didn't show anything out of the ordinary. If I'm ever faced with this kind of horse again, I'll definitely get more aggressive with the blood work. I've never known a healthy horse that wouldn't put on weight with beet pulp and oil.

Tough as Nails

Minx's last chapter.

So posted part 1 of Minx's story here. I'm not sure I'll post the "middle" chapters but we'll see.

I still don't have the autopsy pics and results, but if you want to see them when I get them, e-mail me at gbminx@yahoo.com. This is not my normal e-mail, so if you do e-mail, please post in the comments so I check the account.

This is going to be lengthy. I don't intend on rehashing it over and over and over so this is a one shot deal.

Phone calls
On Saturday I had a band performance on Alcatraz island. (I'll eventually post an after-action report, I have cool pics from the citadel tour.). After getting off the island around 5:00pm I checked phone messages and saw that the stable called ~4:30 (never good) saying that Minx was depressed, not eating, down, and had rapid, shallow breathing. Minx had colicked the week of Christmas (impaction) but didn't show this degree of pain. I was concerned because she doesn't show pain. At all. We paged the vet. There are three vets at the hospital. Dr. R* was on call. I was so grateful because she knew what Minx was like when she was well (she wasn't going to be tricked into thinking Minx was just "laid back" today....). After the exam Dr. R* called me. There was no impaction and when passing the the gastric tube to give fluids, there was gastric reflux. Very few gut sounds. Elevated, shallow breathing. 28 resting heartrate!!! (see I told you she was a good lier. The vet couldn't believe it based on her other signs). At this point I knew she was going to probably die. I read enough colic articles in EN to know this is NOT good. We discussed our options and decided that bringing her into the clinic to give fluids overnight was the best option. I told the vet, "no surgery". It turned out that surgery probably wouldn't have worked anyways, but with the cost (15-20K) it wasn't a financial option.

Intermission
Decide what you are going to do in a horse crisis situation right now. Today. I really didn't have to make any decisions that night because I had made them 3 years ago when I got Minx. ~$1000 and no surgery for colic. (Dollar amount is approximate. In reality I was willing to do treatments and pay for one night of hospitalization which would have came to a bit more). Necropsy if she dies. I wanted to be present for the death and necropsy if at all possible. Cut off her tail. Take a day off work sick. It's easier if you don't have to think. If you are the type of person that will max out credit cards (I'm not), have an emergency one just for this situation that limit as least as large as your $$ treatment limit). After almost losing a pet (kitty cat) in July 2006, I have started taking LOTS of pictures at every opportunity of my pets, especially the horses. Thus, when I came to this point in Minx's life, I had no regrets that I missed a picture. (and I don't think I have too many either!)

Trailer ride
I went directly from SF to the boarding stable. Thank goodness I always have my trailer ready to go. An added benefit from trailering almost every weekend. When I go there Minx was perkier. She nickered at me. I loaded her up and off we went. When we unloaded at the vet's, Dr. R* was hopeful because she looked so much better than when she left the stable. She was responding to the pain meds and I could hear quiet gut sounds.

Further Evaluation
Unfortunately when she did another rectal exam, the news was not good. A large portion of her small intestine had displaced and was moving up towards her spleen. Dr. R* told me that any other horse would be rolling and thrashing on the ground because it was so painful. Minx was alert (lier lier lier). It was at this point I told Dr. R* what I wanted done if she died - necropsy etc. I found out that my vet will do a necropsy for free if it's colic because they want to know as well! We decided to do an a treatment that involves injecting adrenaline to shrink the spleen and trotting her for 20 minutes. I did the trotting myself. She looked lame on her left hind leg because she had so much pain on her left side. She passed a little gas (good sign). After trotting we did another rectal. Dr. R* found 2 small fecal balls covered with mucus (they had been inside for awhile) and the small intestine had moved down a bit. Dr. R* thought she had a good shot, so we turned her into the stall for the night with the intention of starting fluids.

The time is now
Immediately upon being turned into the stall Minx started laying down again. Not rolling, just laying down and calmly staying there. Dr. R* said that it was not good. She should have shown improvement by now. We debated back and forth for ~10 minutes. On one hand she was very calm, not thrashing, not showing a huge amount of pain. On the other hand, both of us knew she was EXTREMELY stoic about pain and if she was showing this amount, there wasn't much hope. I told the vet (tearfully of course. You can insert "tearfully" into most of my sentences from here on out) that we needed to put her down. The vet agreed but we went into the stall to evaluate. I know my horse. Her nostrils were compressed almost all the way down. Her head was below her withers. She was in pain. Fluids were unlikely to help. The adrenaline treatment had been her best shot. I told the vet to go ahead.

Goodbye
The vet went to prepare the drugs and I was left alone with Minx. She faced me and I scratched underneath her forelock. This is the ONLY place she enjoyed being petted. Her eyes were soft and she held her head low with her nose outstretched to me quietly. After ~ 5 minutes, she quietly turned away from me and started to lay down again. She had said goodbye and I knew it was time.

Final preparations
I had brought grooming bushes in with me to the stall, but decided not to groom her. She had never enjoyed it and it would be for me and not for her. She was a week away from having her beautiful, shiny summer coat. I braided her tail and cut it off. I always wondered what she would look like with a tail cut at the hocks. Very leggy! It didn't diminish her beauty at all. She stood quietly, depressed, while I hacked through her extremely thick hair. I gave it to my cousin (she had carpooled with me to Alcatraz and was stuck with me during this whole ordeal) and told her to lay it carefully somewhere clean. Then we led Minx out into the night.

Afterword
Minx went down very quietly ~10:30pm. I was worried that she would fight the drugs and it wouldn't be pretty, but in the end she let me do something nice for her. We walked inside, I gave my credit card number and my e-mail address. The vet refused to let me watch the necropsy the next morning, but promised to e-mail me pictures and invite me out when she had another one to do.

The vet said she understood my desire to see, but REALLY didn't think it was best. I'm going to vet school in 2 1/2 years and the battle within of REALLY wanting to see a horse necropsy and dealing with the pain of Minx's death was a hard one. The compromise we reached was a good one.

Loose ends
I drove the empty trailer home and made the phone calls I needed to make: Parents, Matt, and a friend at work. The BO met me at the barn and I let her know what happened. I haven't been to the barn since. I'm planning on going to see Farley today if I don't chicken out.

$$$$
For those of you who are looking at the money side, the ranch call and treatment, rectal exam at the hospital, adrenaline treatment and further exam, euthanasia and disposal will be somewhere between $850-900. If I had chosen to keep her overnight and do 2 rounds of fluids the cost would have been $1200-1500. Surgery for the type of colic we suspect she had runs 15-20K and isn't usually very successful in these cases.

Looking Back
Minx had a lot of physical issues. I learned early on that Minx was a lier. Much of the time I had her she there always seemed to be something going on where she was not quite right (NQR). It was the theme of her life. Double bowed tendons in the front (fairly severe) and the vet and me didn't have a clue until we ultrasounded her - because she was "NQR". The vet said that its possible Minx had been "set up" internally for this to happen for a while. She never got great gut scores at rides, but ate like a HOG all the time, so I assumed it was normal for her. On Saturday, at our last trail ride, she was good, almost too good (was she in pain? discomfort?). She looked in great condition before the ride, but looked a bit gaunt afterwards (and I have before and after pictures to prove it....). She kept that gaunt look all week. She looked skinny enough that weekend after the ride that I was embarrassed about her condition, but I thought it was because I had backed off on her beet pulp because the week before she had looked like she had a good amount of weight on. The vet said that with her stoic nature, she had probably been colicking for a while, but no one had noticed. When the BO got her up to take her up front for the vet, she was still trying to go for the grass. I've decided it's not compliment to say your horse is tough. I want only wimpy horses from now on that will tell me what's wrong. However, Minx did teach me to look CLOSELY at the small signs and pay attention. She whispered her hurts where others screamed.

What's next?
Minx was my equine soul-mate. She will always be special to me. She made me a better person. I am not looking to replace her, but I probably will get another horse in 3-6 months. Maybe something different. A pony or a Missouri fox trotter. I sure the right horse will come along and I will have an empty spot ready for it. In the meantime, I'll get to know Farley better. Farley was always second to Minx. In a way, Farley will be mourning with me. Farley and Minx hit it off immediately and became friends, even when they were corralled on opposite ends of the stable. When together, they did everything together, but they would eagerly go down the trail, away from the other as well. It was perfect. My horses got along, but I didn't have to worry about the "buddy-syndrome". One of my greatest regrets is that Farley didn't have a chance to say good bye. I'm not making any decisions right now when it comes to Minx's tack. I own 5 saddles that only fit Minx, not Farley. I have a brand new set of yellow size 1 renegades waiting at UPS for me to pick up, and a pair of size 2's sitting in my trailer - 1 week old and used once. What to do? There will be plenty of time later to think on practicalities. In the meantime, Farley and I will ride.

If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask. My intention with sharing my experience and providing pictures if anyone wants them, is to educate and perhaps help someone who has to make this decision in the future. I want to mention that the adrenaline treatment we tried is relatively inexpensive and I would recommend it if appropriate.

Farley's history part 2

The information below was taken from the breeders e-mail to me: see part 1 for the beginning.

Farley has a lot of experience. There's no fooling me now! The breeder leased her out for racing, where she traveled the fair circuit for many months. She was trailered, hot walkered, cross tied, and ridden by numerous riders.

The breeder said that she is found of her pedigree/family. They are honest, hard working & sensible. They don't stress out, yet give 100% when the time comes. I have found that this is very true with Farley at least. Her "aunt" mira-finesse looks a lot like her went on to run tb times, race against colts & win (very unusual). Mira-finesse went u.s. top 5 (darley nominee) 4 yr old mare.

Farley's sire is getting old. The breeder is looking for a pic to send me. He is a sweetheart & loved by many. The sire is a black bay with a huge trot (family characteristic). Farley definately inherited that HUGE family trot. Farley's mom (whom i purchased)was sort of a orphan. during birth there was complications that trashed the dam (fortana polish import). The mare (Farley's mom) was saved yet due to adominal trauma could not nurse. She did get collustrum, yet was bottle fed & kept in the house. The breeder can't quite remember, but recalls she was premature. (I think at this point we are still talking about Farley's dam). Farley's mom was a light bay, small & a bit course (I'm assuming she meant "coarse in looks"). The dam looked like a welsh pony.

The dam was bred twice there. Farley's full brother was sold to the Sacramento area for endurance. He was a pretty bay with four white anklettes, star & strip. The breeder never heard how he did & never found anything online. I did some checking around and couldn't find anyone either. It's very possible he's competing under a nickname. The brother's registered name was TKR Fortissimo . He would have been a year older than Farley.

There is also a 1/2 sibling (by the mare) mare by an egyptian/crabbet stud that was small, pretty & well built that cleaned house in gymkanna with a girl in the oakdale area. The breeder isn't sure what became of her. Her name may be TKR kiss me quick.

Farley was orignally sold to Bing Voight who said he/they were long time endurance riders/competitors. It sounds like the breeder sold with the colt. On the AHA website the colt is registered under the same breeders name, however the colt sold with Farley. He would be about 4 years old now. They wanted Farley for endurance. The breeder called Farley "Muffin" (no idea why) & and she thinks that the Voight's call her"sugar". To add a name to this list, the person I bought her from called her the spanish name for star "estella?" (not sure how to spell it and I have a hard time purnouncing it.

So it looks like Farley was destined to be an endurance horse. It's nice to know that other people saw what I did. The information above also explains why she caught on to the idea of "racing" so quick.....LOL she was a RACEHORSE. So I guess I now have 2 ex-racehorses.....(I originally wrote this before Minx's death, so now that I'm editing and updating this should probably read "I guess I STILL have a ex-racehorse...." I am planning on contacting Bing. I looked him up in the AERC membership directory and he is still active in AERC.

A Poem

My cousin e-mailed me this today. Karla happened to be spending the weekend with me, and literally and figuratively held my hand last night. I tend to push people away in these kinds of situations and I would have NEVER asked for help. Good thing she didn't ask! I don't have any further information right now. I only want to have to post about the incident once, so I'm waiting for results of the necropsy.

I'm doing "OK" today. Last night I was crying because she was gone. Today I'm crying because I miss her.

Farewell- In Loving Memory of Minx

Made specially for Melinda by Karla Thompson

To my rider and partner

Of many years to tell

My time has come a bit too soon

So here is my last farewell

It’s barely been a week

Since our last ride together

It was a day to really cherish

Being so close to one another

But lately I haven’t been

Feeling too well

I’m tired; I stumble,

I’m sure you can tell

I felt so exhausted

So weary and weak

Yet I always perk right up

The moment I hear you speak

Every bad tendon and

Any moment I was in pain

You never failed to be at my side

Time and time again

You worked so hard

And I tried to stay tough

I was amazed to realize

That someone loved me that much

It was painful to see you

Out the bars of that vet stall

With tears in your eyes

Beginning to fall

I ask you not to worry

Since no longer do I hurt

And its fun to go galloping

On clouds instead of dirt

It was for the best

I know that and you do too

And I can’t wait to see

How a pair of wings look on you

I hope it won’t be long

Till we get the chance to ride again

I’ll be waiting for you up in heaven

My only rider and friend

R.I.P. Minx

Gal's Black Minx: 1998-April 4, 2009

Tonight Minx died of colic. I have lost my best friend. She was that "once-in-a-lifetime horse. I was going to ride her when I was 40 and she was the ripe old age of 30. I suppose I should be grateful that I'm not horseless. Indeed, I feel slightly guilty at the thought that my life will be less complicated without her, she was a complicated horse. However, I mostly I feel immense sorrow. That deep, body numbing sorrow that only accompanies genuine grief. Where you are fine one minute, but absolutely disabled the next.

I'm taking Monday off work as sick. I cancelled my ride with Farley tomorrow. I'm going to spend time with family and Matt tomorrow.

The vet is doing a necropsy tomorrow morning. She will e-mail me pictures of the GI tract and hopefully a more definite explanation of what happened. At this point we suspect a displacement of the small intestine. In a future post I will go through the details of how we treated. It is after midnight and I do not have the reserves to go into that right now. I think it is important to share because someone else might learn and benefit.

As part of her treatment she needed to be trotted for 20 minutes. I did it myself. I will treasure that memory. How willing she was, even with the pain. How trusting.

I have her tail (why am I crying at this? I've made it all the way through this post so far without a tear).

I am so grateful for the time we spent together last weekend. The incredible trail ride Saturday morning, going for the cart ride on Sunday. How special it is that my Mom videotaped that session! I have plenty of photos of our time together. The cart video is the only video I have.

I'm going to contact the ride photographer from some of Minx's rides and have a picture blown up from a ride. I'll frame it.

Three years is so short. I can't imagine my life without Minx. I guess tomorrow I get to find out.

Teamster Tack

For all you tack aficionados out there, this is the first in a series of tack posts. In future posts, I will present artillery tack in 2 parts: 1. the tack 2. the tack in action (hitching up the horses).

In CHAS I have 2 teams of teamster horses. The first (team 1) is Gunsmoke and Buttercup. They are EXPERTS at their job and have been a team together for probably longer than I've been on this earth. The tack below belongs to team 1. No matter what they are pulling - the breaking cart, wagon, ambulance etc., they will use this same set of tack.

The second team (team 2) has gone through several revisions. Glenda, Brownie, and Bullet, have all tried out for the team. but just haven't cut it. This year we are letting Griddlecakes and Gringo try out. They have a different set of tack.


Now, having said that, due to time constraints we used team 1's tack on both teams this weekend. So, most of the pictures below are of team 2 in team 1's tack....


Here is a view of the tack from the outside. Notice that it does not have the traditional breeching that hangs around the back of the horse. This harness has "Yankee britchn". I like the Yankee style breeching better. It doesn't seem to "grab" the horse as much when slowing down from....let's just say...a hand gallop :)




The tugs are held up by fasteners on the top of the rump until the horses are hitched up. The tug chains are what fasten to the wagon and is how the horse pulls the wagon. Notice how the tugs are connected to the collar in front.





The picture above a the tugs taken down and in position. As you can see, when the horse moves forward, the tugs (which are attached to the cart) pull on the collar and the cart moves forward. with the horse stops, the pole on the cart (connected to the blue bar) continues to move forward. It hits the clip on the collar which pulls on the strap under the belly forward. As it moves forward it also pulls the strap on the flank forward, which pulls on leather that goes over the tail and the crupper. The cart stops.

The blue bar connects to the clip on the front of the collar of both horses. This is a "breaking" cart, meaning that in event of a runaway...theroretically...the bar will slip off of the pole. In a normal wagon the bar does not come off like this - it is attached to the pole.

A picture of the blue bar:




The pole of the breaking cart. The ring on the bar rests on the blue metal piece of this pole. The weight of the cart (it is very heavy) keeps it from coming off.

A picture of the tugs attached to the double tree at the rear of the cart.

I hope you enjoyed a little tour of a set of harness!

Drivers Training recap

Driver's training is finished and done for 2009! As Jim Horton put it (as he was tacking a horse) "I know it's going to be a great season because I'm standing in a pile of horse (poo)" (editorial liberties taken....). Any whoooo....

A large number of people (ie - the Faubel's plus one) stayed in the bunk house where it was discovered there was a wandering Wifi signal (witness no less than FOUR computers popping out of bags). It was decided that driver's training would start tomorrow "whenever we get up". As I was leaving to go a trail ride in the morning, I tried to pin them down to a more specific time as I did not want to miss the festivities. Ten people of various horsey abilities, trying to catch 8 specific brown horses, in a 36 brown horse herd, on a 40 acre ranch is NOT to be missed.

After vague assurances I went to bed. I would like to take this time to point out that assurances such as, "I usually get up at 4:15am for work"...is generally NOT helpful when discussing what time you will be getting up the next day which is a SATURDAY.

After returning from my trail ride Saturday morning, I arrived to find (in typical CHAS fashion) that horses had been caught and it was now time for lunch. Mmmm.....In that time I had trailered my horse to the trailhead, tacked, ridden for 2.5 hours, untacked, fed, trailered back, unloaded........horses had been caught. I would like to point out on day 2, Jim Horton and I tacked five horses in fifteen minutes. By ourselves. Yes Mike, I know I messed up that one wheel horse tug thingy...what do you expect - it's wheel tack. The amazing thing isn't that I got it wrong, it's that I actually managed to LIFT it on the horse in the first place! A little motivation goes a long way - No fun with my teamster horses until the artillery team was tacked, was Dennis's word to me that morning.

During lunch the Fort Point Garrison Brass Band decided to do a little practicing. This greatly reduced every one's desire in the immediate vicinity to prolong their lunch hour, and shortly the horses were tacked up and ready to go.

As anyone can attest, the first time out for the year can be a little rough, which is why some slackers hid themselves away in various sheds and got "work" done.

This one is horizontal and it's only 3pm!

Don't worry.....the person below got his "just desserts" the next day....

BAAAHAHHHHAHAHAHAHA!!! (ahem...cough...cough...).

I am happy to report that the teamsters are ready to go for the season. Due to a lack of brake chains (even though I am of the opinion that brakes are a luxury - even a nuiscence - rather than a necessity.....) the ambulance was not up and running, however the breaking cart (ie "deathmobile") was in full service. Gunsmoke and Buttercup broke-in the teamsters right the first day. The new wagon team - Griddlecakes and Gringo - were hitched up the second day. Ummm....can I have those brakes now? Really really really good brakes? As many of you remember, Griddle tried to pull the ENTIRE artillery team when she was a lead horse. Can you imagine that power in a little cart?

Have you ever noticed that the only time you see the teamsters is as they gallop past the team, thumbing their noses and shouting insults? They appear "magically" tacked. There never seems to be any "issues" to work out, like on the artillery team. I'll let you in on a little secret. The teamsters (being the superior "brainy" sort of people) choose to do their tacking up behind sheds. Unseen. There's a reason for this. Unlike the artillery team, in which the trails and tribulations of tacking errors are in FULL VIEW of EVERYONE.....the teamsters are more reserved. So you did NOT witness the breaking cart...errr...falling apart when we got the brake chains the wrong length.....nor the almost wrecks when we had the pole too low (not ideal for making nice, clean turns.). If anyone saw what ACTUALLY went on, would have any passengers for my deathmobile....errr wagon?

After apple pie, we stood around the fire and had a great time swapping stories before collapsing into bed. It's going to be a great season folks!

Terrace Circle trailhead

Last weekend I discovered another trail head into BLM Fort Ord land. It's "Terrance (or Terrace?) circle" and if anyone wants directions, just ask.

It's easy to get to, the best trail head I've been too, and it's free! I arrived ~7:30am. It was quiet and aside from a few hikers and bikers, we were alone. I took a couple pictures in the parking lot, but was anxious to get on the trail and didn't feel like taking the camera, so this is all I have! My plan was to get in 2.5-3 hours of riding before heading back to the ranch and participating in CHAS drivers training.

(do you see this little bluebird/scrub jay - I can't remember which)

The trails were well marked and beautiful. There was little bit of everything - road, singletrack, gradual hills, steep hills, drop offs etc. It was the most ideal endurance conditioning/training location I have been too.

Minx did very well. She had bikers come towards us at full speed, around a blind corner, on single track. They hit their brakes and then pulled over. She didn't even flinch. Some little yappy dogs (jack russells?) met us on another trail and were under her feet, running around, barking their little heads off - not a flinch. She still spooks at random stuff (that "stop, jerk, all of a sudden the horse is 20 feet below you".....kind of spook), but I have a feeling this is as good as it gets!

I'm so ashamed - I came to a part of a trail that was AWFUL. I should have turned around and found another way (there were many of them). It was an almost vertical face of sandstone that water had rutted out so there here foot holds. I asked her to go down it. And she did. I never should have asked. I deserve for her to be injured, and she isn't. I hope I never do something that stupid again. She's OBVIOUSLY not a tevis horse. This proves that if I pointed her off a cliff in the dark she would do it. Farley would have looked at me like I was nuts and we would have found a different way.

Here's Minx at the ranch, after the ride. I'm so frustrated!!!!! She looked FINE at the trailer. No ribs. And then POP! Ribs appear. If she's SLIGHTLY dehydrated she suddenly looks like a humane case. GRRRRRR.....more beet pulp and oil coming her way.

Once back at the ranch I turned her out with her old herd mates. They still remembered her and it was fun to watch her prance around the field. She looks so dainty and delicate compared to the huge, fat CHAS horses :) .

She got a little sore footed on the trails. Near the end we did a lot hardpacked roads and she was obviously choosing better footing on the sides where it was softer and didn't want to move out. This was before my renegades had come in. If I did this trail again, I would boot if I planned on doing a lot of the wider roads. The sandy singletrack is fine for endurance paced barefoot rides. I need to work on trotting her on the trails in-hand. She doesn't get it. She would rather trot faster than I can run or walk. "Jog" is not in her vocabulary.

On a side note: I'm thinking about putting together a list of places I go to condition for endurance (with directions and reviews). Red rock, Dino point, Marina equestrian, Terrace circle, Del Valle, Skillman/Nevada city etc. are just a few of the places you can get to for EXCELLENT endurance training if you live in central CA. I didn't know about any of these places when I started endurance and it would have been very useful to have a list. I'll put it on my project list....

Minx the driving horse

After my work was done last weekend (posts coming soon, I promise), I got my reward......driving Minx! Please ignore the ribs in her pictures :( After her ride on Saturday and the excitement of being put back in the 40 acre pasture with her friends, she was ribby again. She'll look fine and then I'll take her on a ride/travel and overnight she looks like she lost 75 pounds! :( I'm currently in the process of putting lots and lots of weight on her with beet pulp, oil, and unlimited hay!

When she bowed her tendon(s) is 2007, instead of hand-walking I did ground driving (why handwalk for their health if you can get the same thing accomplished while exercising their mind?). It was immediately apparent she knew what she was doing. After some research I found she spent 2 years on the sulky racing track, which I had suspected, but now was confirmed. I don't have access to a cart and harness at home, so I never did hook her up and see what she could do.

After the CHAS training was done and everyone was packing up, I asked D* if I could hook her up. She's so much smaller than the other Standardbreds! Most of the Standardbreds we use for harness can use draft tack. Minx definitely cannot. Unfortunately, I didn't have all the time in the world and I used the cart tack that was put together (didn't have to go looking for parts), which was too big. It would work OK for a short outing though.

The moment of truth (if a horse has ever done this before) is putting the cart on the harness. She was a little watchy, but good. The wind was BLOWING and she was very good considering.

Normally with a horse I've never driven, I would was spent more time ground driving, but we were pressed for time and I know this horse much better so we moved much faster.

I walked behind the cart until we reached the pasture and then hopped in.

She was amazing! She probably has not been hooked up to a cart in 5-6 years. The wind was BLOWING, the other horses were galloping around in the pasture next to us, yet she was perfect and focused. I couldn't keep the smile off of my face. I've never driven a horse that was so responsive to my slightest whisper. She seemed so comfortable in the cart.

My mom was present and took a short video of our excursion around the pasture. She looks uneven because the ground is fairly soft (pasture was just harrowed) and she's pushing stronger into the collar with one shoulder. The cart wheels are very narrow and sink in soft ground. After the video we went out onto the road (dirt) and did some trotting. She moved much better once off the soft ground. Click here for the video.

After we were done, D* offered to let me take a set of harness and the cart home. I took a rain check because I wanted to make sure I could find a suitable network of trails that I could use. I'm so excited! I probably won't have time to pick up the cart until next month. I'm going to try and piece together a set of harness that uses a breast plate instead of a collar, and is sized smaller (in the video you can see how big the tack is. Not well adjusted AT ALL).

Her confirmation looks very natural in a cart. That same way of moving/confirmation is not as pleasant under saddle......

Renegade boots and laminitis thoughts

The "winds of March" have been here (and gone????). According to the weather.com, today is the last day of wind - thank goodness! I don't do well in wind. I have longer hair right now and I can't stand how it blows around. The wind makes me feel claustrophobic, irritable, and bad-tempered. And did I mention results in ZERO patience? So what am I trying to say? I have had the renegade boots almost a week and have done ZERO trail miles. :( However, I have done some outrageous roundpen sessions with them (the wind will do that) and they stayed on perfectly.


Here are some pictures of the renegades on Minx's feet. I haven't adjusted the cable length yet because I'm still deciding how much tension I want on the toe straps. I was having trouble with the captivators falling lower than I thought they should. I sent these pictures to Karen Chaton (see her blog on the left) and she said other than the cables needing to be shortened, the boots seemed to fit well.

I was concerned because the captivators fall so that the bottom edge is level with the bottom of the boot after Minx moves around, no matter how loose or tight the captivator strap is.
It looks much worse in "real life" than in the pictures! However, after viewing the pictures and talking to Karen, I think the bottom line is that they stay on, Minx moves well in them, and so this is probably how they are suppose to fit. I love that these boots are so easy to use. I've never booted my horses before, yet the learning curve has been extremely easy. If someone is comfortable with their horses feet and has a minimum level of mechanical ability (to adjust cables), I would highly recommend these boots.

Below is a picture of Minx's bare hoof (right front). Do you notice anything about it?
Since I have started trimming, I've started looking at her feet much closer than before. At first I thought that the bump halfway up the hoof (shows up as the black stripe in this picture) was due to flaring, because it is most pronounced on the sides, above the quarters. I let her feet get really long last winter. However, I was puzzled by the uniformity of it. There's a dip (brown line above toe in the picture) that goes all the around the hoof. It's the dip that makes it look like there's a bulge.....My next thought was nutrition. Last June I changed her feed from 100% alfalfa to 1/2 grass and 1/2 alfalfa, and added platinum performance (which I have discontinued). Could that have done it? Lamitinis did cross my mind, but Minx is an unlikely candidate (no grain, hard keeper, etc). However, today I heard the term "stress induced laminitis" for the the first time. Is it possible that she had a bout of stress induced laminitis due to the travelling, competing, and conditioning last spring? Does anyone have any information about this? I search thehorse.com, but wasn't able to get a lot of information. Definitely something I'll be running by my vet when I do west nile in May.



Talking about stress levels - the more I think about it, the more I think Minx really wants to be a cart/driving horse. The difference in her stress level between the cart and under saddle is remarkable. I'll still ride her, but I think once I get the harness and cart home, I'll do much of her mileage sitting BEHIND her. Maybe I'll use her for LD's and an occasionally 50, but I have a feeling her future is as my pleasure driving horse.

Another view of the camping trip

Apparently my sister has a different view of the camping trip (see post here), then I did.....click here to read the "rest of the story".