Horse Women Unite!!!

Is it just me or do any of you have issues with paying audit fees at clinics?  I just got an email for a Lilo Fore Clinic and they want $50 per day to audit.   It wasn't 3 weeks ago I tried to see a friend ride in another clinic and just to sit there for 20 minutes they wanted $25.

Sorry, but I am not working and I don't have the extra money to throw around.  It is not as though listening to a professional is going to suddenly take me up the levels to the Olympics within a week or a month or whatever. 

The "professionals" are already getting money from the people that ride in the clinics and good money at that - typically $100 per ride here in Utah or even more yet they want anybody watching to also pay.

Apparently I must be in a foul mood tonight because this email really got to me.

http://www.horsejunkiesunited.com/2012/03/15/too-funny-bent-jensens-lmfao-freestyle-at-dressage-under-the-stars/

Hahahaha! 

Princess Jazzy sounds like a real character!  I'm glad she's trained her humans well.  :-)   It must be a warmblood trait - my horse has already convinced me to sleep at the barn with him for the first week and I haven't even met him yet!  HA!

Good morning, all!

Blue - I just spoke with the vet about the prepurchase exam.  The breeder's going to contact him from here to schedule it at their convenience.  The vet's also going to ship out a CD of the x-rays to my vet so that he can check them, too.

After the exam, my sister and I visit to look at them up close & personal, then we schedule transport.  I'm hoping they'll be here and I'll be sleeping in the barn by the end of May.  :-D

Hi girls,

Had a nice visit out to Days End Horse Farm the other day with my nephew and his fiance visiting from Florida.  What in incredible facility, although I don't know if I could handle seeing the abuse they see on a daily basis.  They had 2 farriers working the day I was there, one on an abused Arabian (from the big Arabian rescue on the Eastern shore of MD last year) whom only staff is allowed to handle, and on another whom they were checking for sore spots on his hooves b/c of the lack of previous care.  I also saw a gelding who had just been turned out for the first time since his hooves had been worked on.  One had grown out so much it had started to turn his foot in (slipper foot).  UGH!  What is wrong with people?  The GOOD news is that most of these horses will recover and get good homes.  The lady who was showing us around that day said they had about 70 horses right now.  I don't know how they do it, but they do.  I know we'll be plannning on volunteering once my kids are out of school.

Here's their link to check out what they do:

www.defhr.org

Give your babies some nuzzles for me!

Love,

Sharon 

Scoot - I have found that magna paste is wonderful for absessed hoofs.  Glob a ton of it on the bottom of their feet - put a piece of gauze on there - put some of that light brown linen/cotton wrap, then vet wrap, and then tons of duct tape around the hoof but only on the hard part - you don't want to cut off circulation by placing it above the coronet band.

I am loving my new trainer - Shiloh and also Jazzy just loves her too.  Shiloh is so quiet and calm which is what I need since Jazzy is so hot but Shiloh knows how to work this in our favor. 

Jazzy is no longer inverting her back - she is rounding out immediately at the trot.  At the walk she tends to get behind my leg which makes it hard to bend her but once I get her going forward then it is ok.  Shiloh wants me to start carrying a dressage whip in my hand.  My problem is that it is too difficult to keep my fingers closed and my hands still when I am carrying a whip so I prefer not to and I sure don't want to be wearing spurs as I don't think my legs are steady enough and if I get off balance then I might jab Jazzy which will make her buck like a maniac.

However, I must say there has been a vast improvement in Jazzy since I moved her to Heber and started using a new trainer.  Jazzy is happy and what she doesn't know is that next week she gets to go out in the pasture!  The barn owners are going to slowly introduce them to the pasture next week.  We don't put the horses out in the pasture in the winter as we don't want them to tear it up but now the grass has come in and has been growing like crazy.

Unfortunately another horse had to be euthanized today.  He had a genetic disorder where his suspensory tendons (?) started tearing down and the back of his fetlock was almost to the ground.  He was in so much pain standing on those back legs that he couldn't even be a pasture horse for the rest of his life.  I feel so bad for the owner.  She is heading to Germany next week to look at a horse there.  I so wish that horses weren't so darn fragile!  They are so big yet so fragile - most non-horsey people don't understand this.  It was a sad day at the barn.

Blue - thanks for the additional information on the Suspensory problem this beautiful gelding had.  I will google to get more information.

I did talk to Shiloh today about carrying a dressage whip and that it was difficult for me.  She had me carry it at the walk today which did make Jazzy go more forward.  However, when I started trotting I did throw it on the ground   I told her that it wasn't an issue with Jazzy as she has always been ok with a dressage or lunge whip as she knows it is not used to punish her but to teach her to listen to commands either by voice when lunging and leg pressure when riding as a reinforcement.

I did have problems carrying it as I felt that it was swinging too much but this is just something I am going to have to practice and get used to so Shiloh being the understanding trainer that she is just told me to practice at the walk for now until I get more comfortable with it.

I don't know why I thought that taking lessons two days in a row was a good idea.  I was exhausted today from my day yesterday and I had to get up early to take DH to the airport.  This was after waking up at least 5 times last night totally wet with sweat dripping off of me.  My menopause symptoms have gotten worse lately.  I trudged through it doing the best that I could but I had to stop early as I was getting exhausted just focusing on Jazzy and myself and then the physical effort to ride.

Tomorrow is the Derby so I will be heading to Dr. Debbie's house to watch the Derby and then to a friend's house to make cheese fondue for her and her husband along with a friend of theirs.

Ginger - that would have worked except this trip is a personal trip for him.  He didn't leave until noon today but I had a dental appointment at 10 am so I had to take him there first which meant the alarm went off at 8 am this morning.  That wouldn't be so bad if I had gone to bed before 2 am.

However, he usually flies out at the crack of dawn - the first plane leaving which means I have gotten up at 4 am before to take him to the airport.  Once I get up I can't go back to sleep!

I really need to start taking my ambien earlier in the evening and not wait until midnight to do so.

Hey! I don't know if this is proper place, but I did a search for horse threads and this popped up. Tried to skim the various topics and pages, but please direct me if this is addressed in a different place. I'm a former Event rider (through Training) and am now riding exclusively Dressage because those are my circumstances :-) My horse and I are showing Second Level recognized and schooling Third. Two weeks ago I was diagnosed DCIS Stage 0, solid form with necrosis, intermediate grade on two seperate biopsies in left breast. On MRI, the DCIS is extensive and up into the tail to my clavicle, so lumpectomy is off the table and after second opinion, I'm planning on masectomy and sentinel node removal. Haven't decided to go bi-lateral, yet- there's no apparent malignancy in right, but lots of signal on contrast. 

My question is about moving on after sx, radiation, possible Tamoxifen (I'm 46 and pre-menopausal). I'm thinking about reconstruction- I recently had a hernia repair and tummy tuck, dang it (ten weeks out- I'm riding, but only at walk and short bursts of posting trot), and am not a candidate for GAP or TUG. My BS and PS are wondering if I want to do a latissimus dorsi flap to support implants (I know only what I've read the last few days about implants- I never even considered messing with my breasts when I got my tummy repair- I DO like having my muscles in front of my belly instead of the side, lolol- I had significant seperation). They take back muscle for the lat flap. 

In addition to riding, I shoot recurve bow at 30 lb draw weight and my 9mm handgun. I was a competitive swimmer and still enjoy swimming (can you tell I was an avid Pony Club tetrathalete??? lol). I have absolutely no idea how doing a lat flap would affect my riding, which is the most important of my activities. Do you regain or re-build strength (or even muscle???) over time after everything is said and done?? Has anyone been riding for awhile after having had that procedure? I read some of the entries in this thread that said there is weakness just from the masectomy and node removal- is that common? Did it get better? Would doing the lat flap make that aspect worse?

I gave up my farm awhile back and am down to just three horses (my two daughters ride as well), so I can activitely avoid much heavy work for a fairly extended perod of time barring emergencies :-) I'm just really worried about supporting any reconstruction (I have thin, stretchy skin) and what I'd be giving up strength-wise forever more going the lat flap route.

My hubby and older daughter have a definite preference that I have reconstruction - I don't actually know what I want, and they are okay if I opt to not get reconstruction at all, but if I do, I think I'd prefer the silicone gel in the end, rather than the saline, just because I am worried the saline will be cold to the touch with my thin skin. I *think* to ride big sitting trot, I'm going to need the firmness, too. PLEASE correct me if I'm worrying needlessly AND please share your over and done and moving on stories if they relate to my situation. I'm going to need to make a decision in the next couple of weeks and get to treatment so that I can get to moving on as soon as possible myself :-)  

Also someone mentioned riding in a safety vest all the time to protect their implants if they fell off- is bursting implants a common problem in a fall?? I do hope to go back to eventing again in future.

Thank you for sharing :-) I'm having trouble thinking about numb, cold boobs, but riding sitting trot without a bra sounds novel :-) Hope you've recovered from your falls!

Hi landrews,

I had bilateral mastectomies but no reconstruction so I cannot comment. However i love not wearing a bra. The first few times I rode after surgery, i was aware my balance was off and had to adjust to a new center of gravity. I also ride dressage. There is also a topic "Any Avid Horseback Riders Out There?" in Fitness and Getting into Shape that might be of help.

I love being flat! Love not wearing a bra. Love not dealing with breasts - fake or real - while riding!

Let's see photos of our beautiful horses!  Here's my boy: