Horse Women Unite!!!

Beautiful horses! What a fun thread, just what the doctor ordered (well, ok, maybe not, but I like it ;o)

I have 3 mules that I use for endurance riding, my hubby has 2 horses (1 that I have yet to start under saddle) & a token donkey (he is broke to ride as well). I also train horses & mules for others. 

Long story short, I started out riding hunter/jumpers for years. Loved it, kinda miss it sometimes. Stopped doing that after learning to play polo. Did that for a few years. Life changes had me trail riding with some occasional team penning while raising a bunch of horses. Then a good friend introduced me to mules by having me train his youngins. I fell in love.  I ride mules foreverything from moving cattle to endurance riding. Love, love love 'em.

I'll post some pics when I figure out how.

Above is my Nellie girl at an endurance ride vet check.

Below is Monty at his 1st endurance ride.

Noodle - I am in awe that you are doing endurance riding!!!  I am still somewhat physically wiped out from my treatments that I would even begin to think about doing endurance riding.

BTW - love the pictures!

Blue - There is a great surgery clinic in SLC and both owners are top notch at lameness issues, etc.  Although it is illegal to race in Utah - we have many race horse trainers here and they haul the horses to Elko or to Wendover for racing and of course if the horses are great they are going to CA, etc.  There are horses that come to this clinic from Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana so that tells you what a wonderful clinic it is.  One of the co-owners has worked with me and my mare since the day she was born and I just need to get hold of him and ask him to take a look at her and do some diagnostic training.

I am so greatful that you started this thread so we can bat around ideas with one another!

Jancie... I am an equine vet.  I work mainly with sport horses and performance horses, as well as competing myself (in eventing).  I certainly inject joints on a large number of horses, including my own, when I feel it is necessary, BUT I have to say, I have RARELY seen it needed in a 6 1/2 year old horse.  Is she wearing shoes behind?  If not, I would try that first.  I have had that make a HUGE difference in horses that looked "hocky" to me.  And imo I don't think one should make that recommendation for injections w/o flexions and a full lameness workup, and in a horse that young, I would also xray the hocks first.  SO I would drive her to your other vet and have him evaluate her.

Also, I take into consideration the level of work, what kind of work, what kind of fitness program, has anything changed (as far as asking more of her now, or to carry herself differently, or work longer/harder, different rider, has turnout schedule changed, etc.)  A lot of times they just need some time to adjust to the new programs, and/or they need a fitness program tailored to them/their breed/body type, etc.  Fitness level can absolutely influence how a horse is going and looks.  Another easy thing to try (I often have clients do this if they are trying to determine if something is a pain issue or training type issue) is to give her Bute for a few days in a row (3 grams/day for an 1100 lb. horse; 1.5 am & pm) and ride her when she's got some bute in her and see if it makes any difference at all.

OK sorry to take too much space with this... I normally don't talk shop online if I can help it but I felt like it was necessary.    Hope that helps. 

HeidiToo -- a Count Fleet mare!  Awesome!  Is she still alive? The last one I knew passed away about 8 years ago at about 32 years old I think. She was an ex-upper level event horse. I trained and competed her son who was by Rantares (Holsteiner) through Training Level eventing; he was not motivated to go any higher, and I could only motivate him so much.  We did win the USDF Regional (I was in Florida at the time)  Training Level dressage championship which was cool.  (And I was only doing the USDF shows to get dressage practice for the events, haha)

noodle6- did you ever hear of the mule John Henry? He was quite a versatile mule but, sadly, had to be put down recently. He has his own website though, and his owner is collaborating on a children's book about him, I believe.

Hey ladies, I'm a "retired" eventer and still ride most every day. I've a TBX mare, age 7, and an ISH gelding, age 13, both great fun and good natured animals. I still jump a bit most days.

Horsedoc - I am so glad you responded - I was hoping that you would. 

I called my original vet office today and I had forgotten this particular vet is off on Thursdays.  I left a message for him to call me expecting to hear from him on Friday but within the hour he called me on my cell in the middle of some event he was at - there was a ton of noise in the background.

He agreed to drive to Peterson to see my horse next week!  Lot easier than me trying to hire someone to haul her as I don't have a truck or trailer.  Dr. R has always been so good to me.  He was involved in the 2nd colic surgery of my mare's dam (Gwen) and was so upset that he couldn't save her for me so he has always taken a personal interest in her foal.

He is going to bring out his portable x-ray machine and take pictures of her hocks.  He agrees with me on not injecting to mask the symptoms but to find out WHY she is sore in her hocks.

As far as training - yes....we had intensified the training the past 3 weeks trying to get her to move more from behind.  We have been doing a lot of canter work on her.  Her right lead canter sucks to be honest - she tends to lean to the inside.  If she is on the left lead going down a straight line - she is not straight as her left hip juts out so it looks from behind as though she is going down the straight line at an angle.

We have tried to be very cautious with her as she was born with straight upright pasterns.  I have had Dr. R perform check ligament surgery on her twice.  After the first one at 9 months of age she had a HUGE growth spurt and we ended up having to do it again 4 months later.  Her pasterns are still upright but she is not knuckling over at the fetlocks as she was originally.  We didn't even know if this horse could be ridden as most people who have horses with this confirmation issue tend to turn them into glue or brood mares. 

She has a wonderful floaty trot and a very uphill canter.  I truly believe that she has found ways to compensate for her confirmation issue as when she moves you would never know until such times she does a square halt and then you can see the upright pasterns.

I am excited that Dr. R agreed to drive out to my barn to check on her and personally he has a very soft spot for her and I think he wants to check her out and see how she looks - LOL.

I wasn't going to play on the internet tonight as my hips are killing me and the pain meds just are not working.  I will be gone most of the day tomorrow with my horse.  It takes me an hour just to drive to see her.

Again thanks and I will keep you updated.

horsedoc- love the chrome! But if you think that's hard to keep clean try pintos!

War Horse- already have my tickets for Christmas Day! Plan on having a lovely day with my family dining out and seeing the film. It has rave reviews and is also a play on Broadway. Some friends of mine saw it on stage in England.

Horsedoc - love the chrome on your horse.  Dang - just beautiful!

I LOVE HORSES!!!!!!!!!!  Thank you for listening.   LOL.