Horse Women Unite!!!
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I am LOVING my new trainer and so is Jazzy!
The main problem with mares is that they go into heat. Of course mine would be in heat even though we had freezing temps the past 2 weeks or more, 2 feet of snow, etc.
So she gets into it with another mare. I went out there today and she had blood on her at her back fetlock. Took her in and hosed her leg - appears to just be a superficial wound at this time. Scrubbed her with some Betadine but didn't put anything on the area as I want the air to get to it.
Hopefully she won't have any swelling tomorrow as I have a lesson scheduled for 1 pm. If she does the barn manager will call me and I will get the vet out there to make sure it isn't a puncture wound but I really need to get a magnifying glass to get a closer look at it.
Just another day at the barn! You can't bubble wrap them and they have to go out and have fun.
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Hi Horse Ladies:
I'm looking for non-profit horse rescue organizations that have excellent reputations for the work they do. Any suggestions? I know there are a lot different ones around the country, and I've been able to gather a few names. The organization I would like to help is that organization that takes in abandoned, neglected, or abused horses and provides a happy home for the rest of their days. Thanks so much.
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Mollydog - a great source for this would be www.thoroughbredchampions.com check in with them - the people there seem very knowledgable. They know most of the rescue places along with those that try to help retired race horses.
Another type of organization that is always looking for volunteers are those organizations that are handicap riding facilities.
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Mollydog - CANTER USA is an excellent program that rehomes Thoroughbred ex-racehorses (many TBs are sent to slaughter after their racing careers are over). They have a great reputation, and there are numerous chapters around the country, so you have the option of donating directly to a branch in your area if that is important to you. www.canterusa.org
Old Friends, www.oldfriendsequine.org may be more what you're looking for - they take in pensioned racehorses and care for them the rest of their lives.
There are so many worthy groups out there, but others to beware of! The Chronicle of the Horse Forums are a great place to check on a particular rescue to make sure it's on the up-and-up...
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Jancie, have you ever considered hormonal therapy for Jazzy? There are a number of safe ways to decrease your mare's heat symptoms that you can ask your veterinarian about. I only use them as a last resort, but for a few mares have felt it necessary to protect their own well-being as well as the safety of the horses (and humans!) around them. Hope Jazzy's wound is doing better today.
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Mollydog, here are a couple that are in Northern California
The Glide Foundation took a horse for me three years ago. He was a Doc Bar grandson and was about to be shipped to the 'broker' in LA. They were wonderful and I have left what little money I will have to them when I cross the rainbow brige. I have visited him twice and he is in wonderful shape. He is about 30 years old now, lives in pasture during the day with a small herd (he is the herd boss!! who would have known). He is taken in each night and has a stall that is bigger than my living room. He has regular trims, shots, teeth floated. Its heaven on earth. here's the link
http://www.glidefoundation.org/
I've also listed TB Friends. Joe has done an incredible amount of good. Periodically I stop by and give a small donation and he is thrilled. here's the link
These may not be rescue's you will necessarily want to support, but it is wonderful to read about such good work being done.
Where in California are you? I'm in San Francisco.
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sorry for the big font, i can't change it.
The Glide Foundation took a horse for me three years ago. He was a Doc Bar grandson and was about to be shipped to the 'broker' in LA. They were wonderful and I have left what little money I will have to them when I cross the rainbow brige. I have visited him twice and he is in wonderful shape. He is about 30 years old now, lives in pasture during the day with a small herd (he is the herd boss!! who would have known). He is taken in each night and has a stall that is bigger than my living room. He has regular trims, shots, teeth floated. Its heaven on earth. www.glidefoundation.org.
I've also listed TB Friends. Joe has done an incredible amount of good. Periodically I stop by and give a small donation and he is thrilled. here's the tbfriends.com
These may not be rescue's you will necessarily want to support, but it is wonderful to read about such good work being done.
Where in California are you? I'm in San Francisco.
Liz
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Hi girls,
Mollydog, I just read your post and have a wonderful place for you to think about. It's called Days End Farm Horse Rescue in Woodbine, MD. My family has volunteered there and it is an incredible place. They are one (if not the only) of the few Horse Rescues that the State will call out in severe abuse cases to take the horses and document them for pending charges. They've taken up to 30 or more horses at a time and rely highly on donations and the work of volunteers. It's amazing to see the transformation of some of these poor babies from near death in to dressage or just wonderful everyday horses. Here's the link for more information. And BTW, we have a black lab who is named Molly too! (Sorry, my browser won't let me copy and paste to this site, so you may have to copy and paste the link in to your browser if a hyperlink doesn't pop up)
www.defhr.org
Take care,
Sharon
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I too have heard nothing but great things both about TB Friends and Days End. And my favorite pony ever was named Molly - she died last year at the ripe old age of 41.
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I want to thank everyone for their input. I have heard of Canter USA, BlueCowgirl, so thank you for the additional endorsement. I will look into the other organizations. I agree, you have to be very careful about any non-profit, especially if you want to make a monetary donation.
So you have a Molly-dog, too, Pupfoster1? Ah, my girl, she was a mix (a good 40 lbs) and my dog soul mate. We put her to sleep in October 2008, right before my DIEP reconstruction. She was just about three months shy of 17 years. We adopted her from the SPCA when she was about six months old.
I am sad for the loss of your Molly-horse, BlueCowgirl. 41, my god. A friend/former co-worker just put down her 28-year old Dutch Warmblood. She was a beauty. And huge.
I live in San Francisco, too, Cowgirl13.
Thanks again.
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My lessons with the new trainer are awesome!! I can't believe how quiet she is and so very calm at all times. So not like my old trainer that would yell and cuss at me during lessons which would make me feel insecure about my riding and would really upset Jazzy.
Last night I was hurting so bad - just another SE of the Tamoxifen where my hip joints were just killing me. I ended up taking 2 percocets and a lorazepam so that I could fall asleep which it took 4 hours from the time I took the pills until I could sleep.
So today I felt disconnected between my body and my brain. I felt a little bit fuzzy and out of sorts so I asked my trainer if she would ride my horse today as I didn't think it was fair on Jazzy to ride her when I couldn't really "be there" for her.
I have had enough lessons with this trainer and watched her ride other horses to where I felt comfortable about asking her to ride my horse. Now mind you I am very protective about my horse and I won't let anyone other than a trainer ride her.
Jazzy was pretty tense at first. I think she was having flash backs of the old trainer. But after about 20 minutes she settled in and gave my trainer a really nice floaty trot - her head was in the perfect position (we don't pin her head into a position - Jazzy has to do this on her own), we do give Jazzy boundaries but we don't pull her head down at all.
I told the trainer that Jazzy is not very trusting and that it will take some time for her to start to trust - she has this little circle of trust that not many people can get into that circle.
In any case, it was nice for the Trainer to be able to feel what I feel when I am on her and how difficult it can be for Jazzy to relax and bring her back up and give me that nice big floaty trot. Jazzy can make any rider look bad if she is in one of her moods - LOL.
I wanted to be there the first time the trainer rode her. What is nice is that this trainer isn't pushing me or demanding that she ride my horse. She even thanked me for allowing her to ride my horse - WOW! What a huge difference!
So in those cases where I am in lots of pain or the weather is so horrific that I can't get up the mountain - at least I feel comfortable now to tell the trainer to ride my horse. I don't think it is fair for a trainer to set aside time for a lesson and then you don't show up - she shouldn't lose that hour that she planned on. It is extremely rare for me to ever cancel or to even show up late. Most of the time I am there 1 hour early which the trainer likes because if I am ready early we can start the lesson early. I am normally her first lesson of the day so it is really important that I never show up late because then you have the domino effect where the trainer is late for every lesson afterwards.
Blue - Jazzy's leg is just fine. She never showed any signs of heat or swelling. She just scraped the skin off and bled a little bit. Thanks for asking.
The farrier is coming out this week to trim Jazzy's feet. I am going to wait another 6 weeks before I put shoes on her for the summer. She does really well barefoot during the winter so I try to go as long as I can before I put shoes on for the spring/summer/ and fall seasons. We will be working her more as the show season starts so she will need shoes on for sure in 6 weeks time.
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That is so awesome you found a great trainer you AND your horse connect with so well. I had gone to a stable for lessons many years back and they put me on a horse way beyond my capabilites (one of the owners dressage horses). Should have known it wasn't a good match when she (Chanel was her name, go figure) kept trying to nip me when I was grooming her. Anywhoo, she ended up spooking one night during an indoor lesson, took off like Man 'O War, then came to a screeching halt. Well, you can imagine what happened to good 'ol novice me----went straight over the top, flipped over, landed on my back, got the wind knocked out of me (scared the crap out of me---couldn't breath for what seemed like forever), and ended up w/ a T3 fracture. What sucks the most about it was that I was never afraid of falling before, and since then I still have a bit of a fear. Not of the horse, but of falling, which as you all know if you ride enough is inevitable.
Anyway, I am happy to hear about your great connection. For you AND Jazzy! SOOOO important to find that right match!
Take care,
Sharon
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Sharon - what you experienced is what I call an "involuntary dismount"
I used to have no fear but after breaking 11 bones over the years - I have developed what I consider a healthy fear. I never ride without a helmet and an eventing vest. I don't fear horses, I fear falling because I fall to the ground like a sack of potatoes. There is no drop and roll in my book. It all happens so fast who can even think of rolling - no with me it is a definate thud!
I never ride alone. Someone has to be on the property near me or I flat out won't ride. I don't care if it is the safest horse in the barn - horses spook. Jazzy's mom was more of the bolting type. She would take off at a dead run and scare the living crap out of me. I broke my share of bones on her and then of course 7 bones so far with Jazzy. Hopefully that is all in the past now but you just never know.
I do believe that you need to jump right back on because if not you can develop such a fear and horses pick up on that really fast. However, when you do break bones - you just can't get back on and so it has played mind games with me in the past for a long long time.
I look at this way - if you haven't come off a horse then you haven't ridden enough. Even the professional riders come off.
I used to ride hunters - loved the jump but I am way past that now at my age. I much prefer dressage as though that is really more safe?
I had visions of your fall as I was reading your post and I could almost feel your pain.
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Heard some sad news from the set of HBO's Luck. They are shutting down all production because of a third death of one of the horses used in filming the series (in just the first season). Sadly the last one sounds purely accidental, while a groom was returning one of the horse to his stall he reared up, hit his head and ended up having to be euthanized. The other two I'm not clear on what exactly happened, but there were concerns that some of the horses being used (retired racehorses as I understand) were being raced twice a day (although the show says the race sequences filmed are only done in 1/4 mile segments) and that it was too much for the older horses. The show did go on to say that each horse was checked over thoroughly each day before shooting by a qualified track vet, but who knows? I loved the series but definitely had mixed feelings about it as I do racing in general. I know there's a dark side to and the horses are the ones who suffer.
Take care all,
Sharon
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Sharon - I don't have HBO so I haven't watched the show. I hate it that horses have been hurt/euthanized.
There was another show that used to be on about horse racing but more of the story line was on the girl and her friends. thanks to chemo brain I can't remember the name of the show but I used to watch it all of the time.
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My horse should have been a rodeo bronco horse!!!
Yesterday my new trainer had the bright idea to take Jazzy to the pasture and ride her out there. Now keep in mind the pasture has been off limits for the winter and the horses can't go into the 4 pastures for another couple of months so they don't ruin them. Instead they have huge turn out areas in the dirt for the winter months.
I told the trainer "let me get my vest on" as it was a warm 70 degrees and Jazzy has been so good I was going to ride without my eventing vest.
We walk up to the pasture and I said "Now just giving you a heads up - pasture to Jazzy means run like the wind, buck and play and run, run, run so I don't believe this is a good idea but ok if this is what you want to do"
I wasn't in that pasture more than 2 minutes when Jazzy goes up on all 4 legs - head between her knees and she did this crow hop thing at least 8 times. Up and down, up and down, she didn't even take a step forward. As soon as all four feet hit the ground she was straight up in the air again.
However, I do give Jazzy credit because as soon as I lost my stirrup after about the 8th time and ended up leaning to the side just waiting for the next one to knock me off - she stopped. I got off with my heart pounding like crazy. The trainer got on her and walked her all the way in the pasture back and forth and then I had to get to a fence to get back on this tall horse.
My trainer apologized profusely for not listening to me. I don't think she will make that mistake again. I know my horse - I know what she spooks at - I pretty much can determine how she is going to react to any situation.
Case in point my trainer didn't think it was a good idea to climb the white vinyl fence to get back on her and I said "Oh, now that won't be a problem at all" and sure enough I climbed the fence and Jazzy stood there so I could get on her.
And yes...I rode her in the pasture for another 20 minutes - I needed that for myself and also for Jazzy to understand that even if she acts up I will stay on her or get back on her whatever the case may be.
I just wish I had a video of this!
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Holy Cow Jancie,
That sounds like one wild ride! Good for you for maintaining your seat. I know if that had been me I would have been airborne after the first buck! Just goes to show you, trust your instints!
Take care,
Sharon
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I have to share the great news! I am going to work at a dude ranch getting paid to ride horses!
I saw the ad about 3 weeks ago and decided to respond. I figured it was more feeding, stall mucking, etc. What I found out is that 80% of the job is being a guide going up the mountains on horses. A trail ride guide? I am actually going to get paid to ride horses? What a dream come true.
Now the issue is whether or not there are scheduled rides on the days I am supposed to work, Tues, Wed, and Thurs. I get paid $10 per hour plus tips. I didn't know that these guides got tips - I always figured you just paid a flat rate. The rides are either 1, 2, or 3 hours long and I would be taking groups of 6 people or less. I am just hoping that people want to do this during the week because he didn't ask me to work on the weekends. I guess the boss man likes to work the weekends because the money is good then?
I hadn't been in a western saddle but maybe 5 times my entire life so yesterday and today I took lessons on how to tack up western style and ride. There are many similarities between dressage and western depending on how much training the horse has - just different terms. I know what leg yielding is but if I referred to it as side pass then people would look at me strange. I learned the jog (trot) lope (canter) sidepass (leg yield).
What I can't figure out is how we are supposed to be able to lift those darn heavy saddles and put them on the horses back. It took me 6 tries to get it on twice.
It is no wonder that I would never consider putting a western saddle on my 16.2 hand mare - I would NEVER be able to lift that saddle up to her back!
I am so hoping this boss has saddles that aren't as heavy as the ones I was using yesterday and today.
I am supposed to start tomorrow - he is going to call me by 10 am and tell me what time to show up and then he will be gone all next week.
I am so hoping this job pans out and will be extremely disappointed if it doesn't. I know the busy time is coming up (summer time).
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How awesome Jancie! I am super jealous! What did your western trainer say about saddling the horses? Is there an alternative way other than breaking your back trying to swing it over? If not you'll be getting some pretty big biceps in the near future!
Keep us posted!
Sharon -
I'm so excited for the first mule camping adventure this weekend. What better way to enjoy Easter weekend? Good friends, good trails, great mule. Cold but sunny predictions. Can't wait!
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Hey ladies!
A month ago I started a therapeutic riding course and am amazed that I have NO PAIN in my hips and knees while riding. As soon as I hit the ground it's another story, but I'm enjoying my saddle time.
SO....after discussion with my trainer and some soul-searching, I've decided to revive my lifelong dream of riding in the Olympics. Yes, I am insane, thank you very much. I don't have a horse now, but found a great American Warmblood prospect halfway across the country, in Oklahoma. It would take every penny of my remaining money to buy him, but life's too short, you know? And I really want to try for the Olympics!
Am I losing it, or should I go for it?
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Scootaloo - you are not losing it, you are finding it. Go for it! Life is too precious and too short to deny yourself of trying to make your dreams come true. What discipline do you ride? My goal is to make it to back to the Grand Prix jumper ring and I haven't even sat on a horse since my diagnosis...Need to get back in the saddle again! And if my body can't handle jumping big jumps, I plan to get as far as I can in Dressage...Always wanted to be good enough to ride a real musical freestyle...
I hope someday I will see you in one of those segments where they highlight an Olympic athlete, hear your story, and know what you have gone through to get there. Best wishes and best of luck and maybe we'll ride past each other in the ring someday
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And Noodle, hope your mule adventure is going wonderfully. I mostly lurk here these days, but just had to post tonight after reading about mule camping and Olympic dreams...What beautiful thoughts to send me off to bed
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Hey Cowgirl!
I used to show hunter/jumper way WAY back in the day and haven't done anything in the last 30 years, so you understand that this is a HUGE leap of faith on top of a risk balanced on the edge of insanity. My trainer thinks I can do it, and I think she can train my horse successfully (though I haven't talked to her about it yet! HA!) and as long as I keep my focus where it needs to be I should be able to do it. I am a very determined and focused person. My dad used to call me "hammerhead" because of it. He didn't think it was a good thing, apparently. :-)
Physical ability is a concern. I'm stage IV, NED right now, but Arimidex is kicking my butt from here to eternity. Most joints are fine on horseback but stamina in the coming years will be an issue since I've chosen to compete in.....TA DA.....3 day eventing. Cross-country over 43 jumps? *giggling maniacally*
Well, I'll go for it and if I can't handle the cross-country I'll either have someone else compete him or compete dressage. You know, the boring one. ;-)
I'll keep you all posted on The Great Adventure!
Scoot
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Scootalo - dressage is boring? Them are fighting words!
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Hahaha! I was waiting for a dressage person to yell at me! Dressage is lovely discipline. I just like the flying part better.
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I love watching all of the disiplines, but my favorite to watch is the cross country. Endurance, trust, bravery, skill----then again dressage and jumping involve all that too. I just wish I had owned a horse when I was younger to learn all that. And to Scootaloo---GO FOR IT! I need to find a passion like that and channel my energies there. If you don't try it, you'll never know what might have been!
Sharon
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A good non profit here in WA is Second Chance Ranch, Elma, WA
I contacted them because we are leasing a house that is a horse property and I thought someone might be able to use the barn. Katy the Director of Second Chance Ranch helped me not get myself in a mess. I love horses, however I don't know how to take care of a horse and haven't been strong enough to learn. So I just follow what SCR is are doing and chip in from time to time. They take in thoroughbreds and others. They house them, rehabilitate those who need it, and make a nice home for those who aren't suitable for adoption.
We were trying to find someone who would come in and care for two senior horses that could live here. We just couldn't find someone close enough to be willing. I was able to offer, shelter, and a 2 acre pen, and water and heat and a sort of new barn. I just couldn't do it myself. I know because of the attention Katy paid to what I could do and what would need to be added to make a good safe home for two horses that Katy is responsible, caring and ethical. I liked that, even though I still don't have any horses here.
Katy even buys horses from the kill pen to help them too. I know she works very hard, and things like water pumps breaking and a truck going out of service put a major stress on the operation. I think she has about 40 horses at this time.
I wish you well in your quest to help out a rescue or retirement ranch.
http://www.secondchanceranch.org
I hope this is some help.
Ginger
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For Scootaloo:
"Desire is the most important factor in the success of any athlete" - Bill Shoemaker
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Cowgirl -
THANK YOU for that. Bill Shoemaker should know!
S
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