Update on Dandy's health

Well, it has been a week of treatment for Dandy with Cough Free. I evaluated her on Saturday, just going for a bareback ride in a near trail, she did good, we trotted a tiny bit and NO COUGH!!! I was thrilled! She still got her supplement that day anyways. I was planning on stopping them starting today (Monday).

Oh, and yes, I can trot bareback without ending up on the ground!!!! I did get off at the end of the trail when we were coming back because I only tied the lead rope to her halter and the knot didn't hold... LOL, she can do a one rein stop, once she realizes that I don't want her to turn circles like that! So she did stop... I tried to tie the lead back to the halter from her back (my girl is very patient), but I couldn't quite do it, she was fidgity and wanted to go back to the colt, which was screaming just a few hundred feet from us. I still managed to get her to stop and stand to try again, but no deal... Then, I heard my dad coming with the snowmobile, fast enough (he didn't know that I had taken Dandy for a quick ride), so knowing that I only had one "rein" and that it was one of Dandy's first times this year around the noisy snowmobile, I slid down from her and held her lead... turns out, she did great, even if my dad was charging our way... he did slow down and stop to talk to Dandy once he saw us standing there. She was still fidgity and wanted to go back to the colt... so I made her be patient a little more.

After my dad took off with the snowmobile, I made Dandy trot back to the barn on lead. I'm not usually for trotting back to the barn in any way, but I like her to be able to trot on a lead line when I ask. It's a good skill to have if you need to move quick out of an area while on foot. I cannot get on my horse bareback from the ground, even if I could when I was younger, I'm now bigger and much less strong, so I can't quite swing my leg high enough. Dandy is 15.1 hh and I used to get on a 15.3 hh Quarter Horse gelding bareback about 10 years ago... oh well... I guess times change... I wish I had taped that for proof... I still don't know how I did it back then! All I know is I thought it was easy, but no one else could do it. I used to grab mane, stand with my back to the horse's neck, swing my leg over and then just sit up straight. I'm probably scared to hurt the horse and I don't quite swing hard enough, used to work smoothly and very well though.

Anyways, Sunday, I was anxious to go on a longer ride. So I saddled up Dandy and put her bridle on after warming the bit in my hand as much as possible (my hands were frozen so I don't know how that worked out). I climbed on and practiced her skills a bit. Remember, we didn't ride for a long time!! She seemed a little rusted, but pretty good for having had a month and a half off! So we headed off. I found myself rusty as well... the last horse I had ridden was Peg a few weeks ago, lets just say that Dandy and Peg are two very different horses. Dandy and I made it to the hill (there is a hill on our land that takes you down into a mini valley with mountains each sides and a few ponds and creeks down in the middle. I didn't risk taking the hill down, because we would have to climb it up again and I didn't know if Dandy was in shape to do it. So we took another trail that hugs the side of another mountain, we have a choice to go up that mountain or not, so I didn't. By then, Dandy and I had trotted a bit in the packed snow. She was blowing her nose a lot, but nothing major at this point. She seemed pretty normal.

Towards the end of the trail, there is a downhill drop that is about 25 feet high and quite steep. Dandy and I always go down at a walk, but the momentum always sends her in a trot at the bottom (I know, she is just using the energy to go faster...). As soon as we were down the hill, Dandy coughed... three big coughs. I was disapointed and felt that I had pushed her too far. We only did a few little trots of about 10-20 seconds each... Our ride totaled maybe 1.5 km, maybe less. We didn't canter at all and there was no signs of cough before that time. I was very disapointed. I brought her back to the barn and decided that she would keep taking her supplements (Cough Free) for another week. I will give her this week off and give her a little ride maybe Saturday the 26th. It is supposed to be a little warmer, maybe that'll help Dandy.

I can't say that the supplements didn't help. Before giving them, I would only be done saddling up that Dandy would cough, if she didn't cough then, she'd cough as soon as we would step out for our ride... naturally, I wouldn't push Dandy at all. When the cough first came around, I could ride for a good while and she seemed to only cough when she was warmed up. Then her eyes got really blurry and her nose was running and oozing thick white stuff, she would cough in the pasture, at rest, she had fever and was very lethargic. Now, she doesn't cough at all in the pasture, she runs and plays without coughing, her eyes are as clear as ever and her nose is not running anymore. She is much more alert and playful. That's why I wanted to try a ride, she seemed fine. I'm not giving up, she will get the recommended amount of supplement daily for another 5 days.

I have some time off during the Holidays (Starting Thursday the 24th) so I will not be posting much during that time... I will take advantage of the daylight (we don't get much this time of year) to spend time with the horses and do things outside... as well as get a good dose of fresh air to recharge the battery.

If you are all wondering about the colt... here is a more recent picture of him (last week). He is now 6 months old and growing like weeds! He is the sweetest thing ever! Jet black (yes, even more than Dandy!) with only a star and his inner pasterns are white on both hinds.

Here is a side view of him. He is kind of in his ackward stage, he is downhill and clumsy, but he leads great and gives his feet. We are able to trim his feet without a struggle. He will probably grow up to look like his dad...

Here is a picture of his dad. Remember that these are Canadian horses, which are used as much for hauling than saddle... they are considered a draft breed.

Last but not least!

So, here is the last hoof of the bunch, I wish I had taken more pictures of how her hooves look.

This is her back right hoof and it is an infamous white hoof! *Gasp!*

I don't really know what the big deal is about white hooves... ok, some people say they are much softer and white hooves really can't exist without shoes. I think this is a bunch of crap!

I've seen many white hooves in my day and they all have the potential to be as good as a black hoof. I've also seen some white hooves fall apart, just as much as black hooves can. In the end, every hoof has the potential to either fall apart or become as hard as stone. When I bought Dandy, her white hoof was overgrown... and I mean, there was at least 3 inches of extra wall. Her back feet had never been touched and pretty much self-trimmed for two years. The black hind foot had broken in the quarters, the white foot was intact all around, not a chip in sight. The hooves were dry and full of little cracks. As a result, I still rasp into small pockets of sand today and I am convinced that it is that sand that caused the abcess in Dandy's left front foot.

So here is Dandy's only white foot... take note that it is as nice or nicer than any other hoof on that mare.

This is the before shot... a little long overall, but that foot could've gone another 2 weeks without a trim and would've been fine. Excuse the ice in my Dandy's fetlocks, I couldn't remove it. This is a great looking hoof and that frog is one healthy squishy coushion... I love white feet!

Here is the after picture. It's a bit hard to see with all the white pigmentation. I have applyed a good roll, the bars are shorter and the heels have gone back to where they should be. You can see, in the waterline, the little sand "traps" that I have spoke about. These could also be small abcesses that have grown out from the coronet. They are old abcesses and they don't jeopardize the integrity of the hoof. They are not a big concern for me, but I like to know they are there, just for my personnal information. Also, you will note a bit of red around the wall of the hoof. Don't worry, this is not blood, there is no sensitive tissue in that part of the hoof. Those spots are always there when I trim this foot and consist of pigment in the wall of the hoof. Dandy's wall is almost pink in some spots. This hoof is very healthy. To put it in perspective, the outer ridge of the wall on this hoof does not touch the ground when the hoof is weight bearing.

So that is my trimming ordeal... Just to compare... here is Dandy's front left after I did her first trim ever back in May 2008.

And here is the left front foot last Sunday after her last trim (not ever).

Hooves, more hooves!!!

This is more trimming pictures of Dandy. I'll do two feet today... since the other front looks a lot like yesterday's post... but here we go!So... this is Dandy's left front foot before trimming. It is a little long, but it looks good overall. The frog is nice, wide and healthy, no thrush in sight. She had a bout with thrush this summer when the weather was so wet and humid that the horses never got dry land to step on. Quickly cured it with a home recipe and she is back to normal! This is also the foot that abcessed.

The first thing I notice when looking at this picture is a little ridge between the sole and the wall on the right side. There is good concavity in this hoof too, I am thrilled about that! The heels are long and the bars are slightly laid over.

After: I did trim the end of the right bar after the pic was taken. The little ridge is about gone, but this will grow out, since this is a point were the abcess broke through (coronet and white line... yeah it was a big abcess!). Looks pretty good now, everything seems back to normal on the bottom side of the hoof. I apply a good mustang roll (see "Mustang Roll" in links on previous posts) to all hooves, this helps lessen the pressure at the breakover and makes walking and running painless and fun for your horse. Otherwise, Dandy's walls would be about half an inch thick! I will try to take more pictures to see the roll, the concavity, the height of the heels and the white line strategy trim when I fix the right front.

This is Dandy's left back foot before trimming. You can see that this hoof is not really long and in very good shape the only thing to do with this hoof is trim the heels, the bars (a bit over the level of the sole), thin the walls and bring everything to the level of the sole. Dandy has wonderful back hooves that practically maintain themselves. You can see that there is a longer point on the lower left part of her hoof. This is causing her to stand splay footed. After removing this and trimming, Dandy stood pretty square. These hooves are practically self cleaning once they are trimmed right, the pump action of the hoof when weight bearing (expand) and not (shrink back) gets rid of all the dirt.
The back hooves are also always oval in shape as the front feet have a rounder shape, this helps with traction.

So, stupid me forgot to take an after pic of that back foot... all I have is this mid-trim pic...

So, as you can see, I used the nippers to shorten the left heel, I can't use the nippers on the tip of the hoof since it is too hard. I had rasped all of the right side but I didn't apply any roll yet I hadn't rasped the left side yet. Naturally, the left heel is higher since I didn't get the chance to rasp it yet. After the roll, the walls should be left thinner and only the water line (the white line you see) will touch the ground.

I NEVER trim sole from Dandy's feet or any other horse's. The only time I will remove some sole is if there is dead chalky sole in the seat of corn. I believe that the thicker the sole, the better. I do not want to thin it more in any way, shape or form. You cannot carve you horses hooves, you need to work with them to build them. The sole is only about 1/4 to 1/2 an inch thick, if you take away from it, you risk damaging the soft tissue. On top of that, your horse's sole will never build up and be strong and concave, because it will spend 4-6 weeks trying to recover and heal from the trim... after 4-6 weeks, the farrier is back and still trimming sole and the circle starts all over again. I was told never to trim the bars, but Dandy's are laid over, which can cause other problems in the internal structure of the hoof, so I trim them a bit longer than the sole (since bars are made for traction) to try and get them straight... they would only end up breaking and creating more imbalance.

Just for fun... Sunday, when I was trimming, a snow storm started... This is Dandy after all her feet are trimmed, she's standing tied (not to her usual post, because there was too much snow there for trimming hooves) in the snow. She loves snow. I had wiped a bit of it off of her back before taking the pic, but it was nearly filled back when I took the picture! She is standing pretty square (if she wasn't trying to look at what I was doing!) plus, there is something under her left front, either a rock or a ball of ice... Her coat seems to be doing the job, unlike mine... lol

Hoof Trimming

So I have a few pictures about Dandy's feet. I will take more while on Holiday, since I want to correct more stuff on her feet.




I will only post a few pictures at a time to evaluate one by one.




Like I said before, Dandy's feet are super hard and I have a hard time getting the nippers to cut through them... Also, my back causes me a bit of pain if I spend all day trimming hooves. So this time, I took two days to trim Dandy, because I have such a hard time with her rock hard hooves.





So here is our first picture.


It's a bit hard to see with all the snow, but this is Dandy's right front hoof before trimming. I cleaned it out as much as I could before taking the pic. That ice was really stuck there! You can see that the wall is about a half to 3/4 of an inch longer than the sole (maybe you can see... but I'm telling you!) The heels are longer than I like to see, but the frog and sole look super healthy. I have noticed that Dandy's feet have gained a great amount of concavity, which means that the coffin (or pedal) bone sits much higher up in the hoof capsule than it used to. This is great news and means that Dandy is now more resistant to rocky footing, slippery footing, etc. She is also less 'ouchy' on gravel. The bars here are a bit laid over. Laid over bars are useless, so I will trim them short, short enough so there is no more dirt between the bars and the sole.

Here is the same foot after the trim. The bars are much shorter, the heels are back to where they should be and the wall is trimmed to the level of the sole. There is still something that bugs me... and that is the quarter of the hoof on the let (of picture) You see there is like a line of dirt between the sole and the white line... this would need to be assessed. What I would do with something like this is trim the hoof (in that area) right to the edge of the sole. This does not mean removing a large quantity of hoof, but rather removing enough hoof so that the pressure is completely relieved from that area when the hoof is weight bearing... this allows the hoof to reconnect to the laminae inside. After the hoof is tight and connected, a regular maintenance trim will do the trick. This could solve Dandy's problem (unbalanced hooves in the fronts). So, this means that I will be trimming to the edge of the sole next time I have a minute to do it in daylight. I will take more pictures when I do so to show what it looks like.

This picture is how I like to keep Dandy's feet. For me, this is a great looking hoof. I have a great sense of accomplishment when looking at Dandy's hooves today. I haved solved most of the issues with her hooves and what is left is minimal compared to the first trims. Dandy certainly doesn't need supplements to help her hooves grow... I think that getting the blood to flow correctly in the hoof is the key to rock crushing feet!

After trimming Dandy's fronts, I jumped on her bareback to ride on gravel, she didn't put a foot wrong and can trot or canter on gravel. The enclosure she is in is mostly gravel (that's the composition of the land where Dandy is pastured), she will run, buck and play all over it. Transitions from dirt to gravel is flawless and easy for Dandy. I am very proud of the way this turned out. Her left front is the one that abscessed this summer and the line that broke in the coronet is now almost to the ground... which means that in 4 months, her feet nearly renewed themselves completely.

Update!

Ok, so I've gotten some supplement for Dandy, it's called Cough Free. I've read good reviews about it and it's all natural! It is a powder that is to be added to the feed.

I've bought a custom feed that I had mixed at our feed store, it is cracked oats and soy bean meal, I've had no molases added, I don't want too sweet of a mix and Dandy is already crazy over the stuff! On the other hand, the little colt is not so fond of it. I guess it is a taste to develop, I remember the first time I gave Dandy a treat, she spit it right out! Until I kept putting it back in her mouth. Once she got to taste it, she never spit one out again!

I've trimmed Dandy's hooves this weekend. I have to be careful because my back is really sensitive to everything! So I did the fronts on Saturday and the back on Sunday. Her back feet weren't bad, but the front was a bit longer than I like to leave them get. Plus her fronts get unbalanced if I leave them get too long... conformation probably, or a lack of hoof care during critical young years where she was growing. Unfortunately, Dandy never received proper hoof care during the first two years of her life (she didn't get any hoof care for that matter). This caused her hooves to self-trim and become very unbalanced, they still tend to pull to one side, althought I did get them in much better shape than they were.

Her walls are so hard that my regular pair of nippers that I usually use with ease on every horse at my barn can hardly do the trick on Dandy. I swear, I would've had my sister take a video, but she was busy helping me close the nippers to trim the hooves... needless to say that I had to rasp a good part because the nippers just wouldn't cut through her tough hooves. Thank goodness the other horses don't have such hard hooves (although it does have disadvantages).

As a result of her hard hooves, Dandy can walk over any surface and can go long distances on pavement without having her hooves wear down to the point of damaging the sole. Whereas with Peg and Pearl, I really have to be carefull if I take them out on pavement. Those race horses prefer to walk on hard surfaces (or they were just trained that way), so their hooves wear down quickly since the quality isn't so good. However, I am pleased to say that their hooves have improved about 75% since I have taken them under my wing. Considering that Peg is base-narrow in her fronts and that her hooves wear in most unlikely places, the new growth coming from the coronet seems thicker and much healthier since I have allowed the blood to flow in her hooves. Pearl has one club foot but it doesn't seem to bother her at all, I just have to keep an eye and lower the heels when need be. I am also carefull not to trim too short on the Standards since their hooves wear fast... I have to consider wether or not we will ride them, how much and how can this much riding affect their hooves. It worked out pretty well after I had figured it out, but they did become a little sore at first, but we didn't use them when we noticed they were a bit off.

I won't have pictures posted today, because I haven't had a chance to upload them to my computer yet, I've taken before and after pictures of every hoof, I will probably post them tommorow. I had my sister take the pics. Dandy is always super patient with any handling and can stand tied for hours without getting really impatient.

After I trimmed her fronts on Saturday, I decided to hop on Dandy bareback to see if her cough had went down or worsened. I just went around the house and back and about mid-way, she coughed twice, but I am thrilled because they were tiny little coughs almost like she was faking it (but she wasn't, she's not a faker and loves to go for rides). It wasn't a cough where her sides flare up and she didn't seem in any discomfort from coughing. She went on to blow her nose twice after that and was fine, she even proceeded to trot back to the colt (she thinks it's her foal, silly mare). I am surprised that I could handle the trot so well bareback, but she trotted super slow, like a little jog and it was very comfortable... she knows I would've never survived the usual trot so she was really careful.

That made me realize that I really need to work on my bareback skills! I was so unbalanced and I hate it! On the other hand, Dandy was great, she stood there patiently for me to mount and I had only tied the lead rope to her halter. She went great! I was proud of her because we don't often ride bareback, but I do it much more often in winter and will probably try her out again next weekend to see if she still coughs. There is nothing like riding bareback.

The reason that I didn't ride bareback so much is because one of my friends (I helped her train her horses) told me that horses needed routine and structure and that riding bareback didn't prepare the horse for a ride... I thought that was a little far fetched and I remember thinking that I wanted my horse to be able to handle anything without me having to announce it. I just want to be able to jump on my horse and ride whenever I want. I'm not up to the bridleless yet, but I would like to work up to it. I would also like to work on my balance and doing bareback work could help... maybe that is why my friend is so unbalanced in the saddle.

I was giving lessons to my mom when Dandy started to cough really bad... so our lessons are on hold until my girl is back to normal... I have made an agreement that we would have a review course on Dandy before we continue. My mom is a first time rider and was quite nervous around horses. She did ride Dandy before but I want to prepare her and build her confidence up to where she can canter on a horse or take a spook without panicking. She was coming along so good! We were up to trotting, so we will have to take a few lessons to walk and work on the posture again... oh well... I am in no rush to teach and my mom is in no rush either, but she was pretty excited about her lessons! I'm thinking that we will be able to start again in a few weeks. I want to give Dandy a chance to fully recover before we do anything else. Her nose is no longer running as much as it was and her eyes and alertness are back to normal!

I will post tommorow with the pictures... I have before and after of each hoof, so do you want a detailed evaluation of each one or just a general evaluation... a detailed evaluation would give you a better ability to spot little defects in your horse's hooves (or mine! Feel free!).

*********** Picture above: Dandy (right) and Jenny (left). Jenny was a horse we boarded for the summer. She was untrained and a real nightmare to be around.... unfortunately, Dandy and Jenny became the best of friends. We did teach some manners to Jenny while she was staying at our barn... she was the kind to attack anything or anyone.*************

One last ride

Last weekend, we went on what could have been our last ride for the winter. I don't think I will ride the Stndbrds in winter and since Dandy in sick, I will try and keep anything that could irritate her lungs more out of the way.

I've found an herbal treatment for horses with allergies, heaves, stable cough, etc. and I want to try it on Dandy to see if it will alleviate her symptoms. I will also start giving her some feed. I've had a mixture prepared at our local feed store that consists of rolled oats and Linseed meal. I will add the medicine in there to feed to her. I don't think that she can survive on hay alone so I will try to help boost her immune system and health level. In the summer, she will be on pasture grass just like this year. It worked out well for her and she was fat (well not too fat!) and shinny. After that, I will assess her health again and adjust if need be.

I will start her treatment tommorow or Sunday. The product is well rated on the market and seems to work quickly to relieve cough and help keep it that way. I will see for myself in a few days. I also have to trim her hooves and that will probably be on Sunday, weather permitting. I LOVE to trim in winter, you can give them a break and not have to clean the hoof all over again. I will take before and after pics of my trim this time... her hooves are really long, I rarely leave them get this long. Since I am not riding her and adding my weight to the problem, I think she will be fine until I get it done. Dandy's hooves grow really fast. The wall is super healthy and thick which makes for really nice hooves. I will take many pics for you guys... I have to remember the flower setting!!!!

So I'll keep you updated on Dandy's status as she progresses... She seems to be doing better since the cold came in, I will look up more closely and in daylight this weekend.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Snow Storm!!!

Wow, it is REALLY snowing out there! The horses looked fine this morning... I'm thinking they'll bundle up in the shelter, but I'm probably wrong... Dandy LOVES snow, she'll probably spend a good part of the day playing in it, rolling in it and bucking around.

For the old ladies, I KNOW they'll be bundled up in the shelter, they have a good winter coat on and should do just fine in the weather, but they spend days inside when it's nice out, so I'm thinking they should be inside right now.

I don't think we'll be able to stay at work all day, the drive in was painful and the storm had just started!!! I can't imagine driving back... I'm a bit scared. If it's bad, I'll just have to suck it up, keep calm (I've learned to control my emotions to a tee thanks to horses!) and drive carefully and making sure I am aware of every other driver.

For Dandy... what do you think I should do. I haven't been able to reach a vet yet and I want to know if you guys know of anti-inflammatories that I could buy in a tack store or feed store... is banamine good for this? I just want to get the inflammation out of her lungs so they can clear up, it might help her gain control over the situation. I will look up info today... if I can get some work off of my shoulders...

Thanks for all the comments, help and support!

What is wrong with her!

So, since you all know that Dandy is sick and has been for months (improving and getting worse again)... I think I finally put my finger on her problem!

This weekend, we had to put some hay in the feeders before big snow falls, so we feed round bales in sheltered feeders.

Dandy seemed to be fine... until we put the bales in the feeders. There was a bit of dust and she started coughing right after the bales were in. I'm thinking she has allergies to dust in hay. The hay is not moldy and a very good quality... so it is either allergies, or she has developped heaves (which would surprise me). I plan on testing my theory by isolating her from the round bales and feeding her soaked hay for a few days. If this turns out to be too much trouble (temperature wise, being below freezing), I will buy some hay cubes for her and feed her those. I just want her lungs to catch a break and be able to recover.

I am currently looking for anti-inflamatory paste like Banamine... I don't know if this would help but I will get informed... I plan to call a vet to get more info on this. The antibiotic treatment that I have given her a few weeks ago seem to have worked and totally decreased her runny nose and coughing... I will evaluate her after the soaked hay to see if there is any improvement.

I will look for a vet in my area... there isn't too many for large farm animals... so I will try to get information to help Dandy.

On the other hand, the rescues are doing great, they are ever so fat and thriving. The other day, we went to catch them for a ride and they kept running away from us... rather frustrating for me, but I felt relieved that they would actually run like that. Peg's legs seem to be doing much better lately, it shows when she runs. These old coots can be FAST! Finally brought them to me with some grain... those ex-racers!... They are still very well in their racing mindset, they wont tolerate being passed by another horse, unless reminded that they are pleasure horses now. Peg has officially been broken off of the pace, but she will occasionally do it... forgetfull mare! Pearl is still pacing, she even does a running walk, she has a nice elevated trot (when she does trot!) and a FAST run (when she decides to run!). Pearl has been in many more races compared to Peg and seems to have been more rough handled. Pearl is VERY nervous, she does not like to be saddled and is usually all over the place, weaving, pacing the floor, moving from side to side and breathing hard. Once the saddle is on, she is as insane... she usually takes the bit pretty well but she is still as amped to go. It's like her legs are burning or full of fire ants. Once the rider gets on, she calms right down (ok, not RIGHT down, but she calms down a bit). She can still jump up and do a 360 in mid-air without notice. She is nervous on the trail, but if there is another horse there, she totally relys on him.

So Peg is doing better with her legs and Pearl is still as crazy as ever... at least she doesn't rear anymore... she pretends she rears but one foot remains on the ground at all times, she just cocks up the other one to make believe she is rearing... to add to the feeling, she sits down a bit. She's such a drama queen. Pearl can't stand to stop and that's when she does her little fake rears. My sister usually rides her and has her completely under control while this happens. My sister is no longer affraid of Pearl. I strongly believe that Pearl was unknowingly thought this behaviour... weave and move on the cross-ties, while saddling and bridling probably resulted in getting out of work for her, pretend rearing probably immediatly got her out of work... over time, she learned that doing this gets her out of work. I do think they were recycled in saddle horses for a little while before going for meat... but with Pearl pregnant and crazy and Peg a little lame and stiff, no one wanted to bother to try and give them a chance after making much money off of them.

I wanted a companion for Dandy and a horse for my SO to ride with me from time to time. Peg was perfect for that... well after she would put on some weight. Older, calm, could ride occasionally... my SO threw in Pearl in there and bought both. Pearl was in-foal, so we expected three horses soon. That didn't turn out the way we would've liked, but I'm glad we got Pearl, she would've gone insane without Peg, the two were really inseperable.

I'll give you more news about Dandy's condition in the near future.

Bad horses!?

In my young years (not to say that I'm old...) I would've done anything to be around horses. I would muck stalls just so the horses would be comfortable, etc. I knew a lot about horses because I just couldn't stop reading about them!

My sister and I probably got taken advantage of quite often. We were known for our "velcro seat" and we weren't afraid of any horse, tall or small. The day camp was right near the barn where Penny was stabled and they had about 15 horses. The camp was a non-profit organization, so they could hardly afford to feed, shoe or care for the horses at all. The tack was falling apart, the stable hands didn't know ANYTHING about horses and the horses didn't even have proper names, unless you think that Red for a sorrel and Black for a black is appropriate. Yet, they would plop kids (sometimes quite young) on those horses and let them ride without much supervision and in usafe places (I remember a fenced in circle... like a track with fence on both sides) that was falling apart, fence posts were pointing every direction and could've easily injured a horse or child.

The people that owned the place were used to taking advantage of everyone. As kids, we didn't know better. Since they were related to the Church, they expected that everything came free. So loving horses and knowing how to ride like we did (not perfect but probably the best THEY had ever seen), we were kind of expected to ride and TRAIN the horses! We were between 11 and 13 when this happened, you can't expect kids to train horses!

So not knowing any better and wanting so bad to ride as much as humanly possible, we ended up riding those horses quite a bit. Unfortunately, we didn't have the knowledge to train horses, so no progress was made there, but we did develop a good relation with some of the horses.

I remember a nice gelding. He was probably an OTT. He was bright sorrel and his name was Champion. I remember him being thinner than the others and SO tall! I fell in love with him immediatly. I was one of the first to ride him and he was a nervous wreck! I managed to get him on the bit (well I didn't know that at the time) and going nicely. Unfortunately, I was the only one who could ride him without him acting out, although he did run away with me a few times, he usually listened quite well.

Some kids got injured on him when he ran off with them, one rein broke off, kid fell to the ground. Another time, he was on the "track" (that's what I call the set up there) and started bucking and running, startled a whole bunch of horses (they all had issues) and kids got hurt, the one on Champ got really hurt. So they deemed him dangerous and I don't know where he went, they just sold him in an auction I guess.

Horses there were mistreated, overfed grain, some must've been lame. They were tied in tie-stalls for most of the time. Employees and kids must've hit them on the face because none of them were having any cuddles. They would bite, kick, lunge at anyone, rear, you name it!

I remember a team of Fjords, a gelding and a mare. The gelding was the best horse there and they were quite big, probably mixed with draft. The mare was ok, but she had a habit of rearing when she didn't get her way. That ended up by me having to endure her rearing for a half day ride.
Note that I was about 13 y-o at the time and wasn't pleased, this was the last time we rode any of the horses there! That same day, my sisters horse ran away with her... my friend and I had the huge Fjords and we blocked the path ahead of the crazy running horse. She stopped but afterwards, we were terrified at the thought that she could've jumped in the ditch (10 feet below). Needless to say that my sister walked the rest of the way, she was terrified! Having to pass on roads brought on a bunch of kids on their bikes... one of them charged right on my mare (called Lady) causing her to jump sideways, luckily I held on and didn't have to deal with the pavement below! Then, and I'm seriously not joking here! A guy on our path had about 5 or 6 doberman guard dogs.... that day... you guessed it, they had to be loose. With the kids on the bikes and the dogs that went straight for my sister's horse (my sister was still walking), spooking the crap out of her and nearly trampling one of the kids on a tricycle. The kids never moved dispite our plea to get away from the horse's butt. After that, the kids left and went home.

We finaly made it to the barn and never, ever went back there again... EVER! We had so much happen that we decided to quit while we were ahead!

Our old friends

I was thinking the other day about all the horses I rode in my past and how I wished I could see them again, if only to touch their sweet fuzzy noses or rest my head on their neck. The young, the old, the nice, the naughty, the lame, the sound, etc.

Penny was a great horse, she was 20ish when I first met her and past her mid-twenties when she left. We took her from an overweight pony (she was probably 14hh, maybe a little more, not much) to a gorgeous pony rippling with muscle. We were young when we started riding, so our main hobby was to just have fun. We would walk around the pasture for hours on Penny's back and she would always comply. We had her on a conditionning program without even knowing! We would each ride 15 to 20 minutes at a time (taking turns). We were 3 kids and one pony, so we didn't want to wait 2 hours for our turn to ride! We would each ride for 15-20 minutes and we were allowed (decided among us) from 3 to 5 gallops per ride depending on the temperature. The gallops were pretty short since the pasture wasn't super big, but we came to incorporate turns so we could gallop a little longer. We spent afternoons just sitting in the barn, waiting on our turn. We weren't hard on Penny, we knew her age and left her consistant breaks and we would sacrifice some of our gallops to let her breathe.

We were conscient about the risks around horses, how to properly tack and untack, how to cool a horse, brush it, tend to its feet and evaluate overall health. We were only 10 years old and would understand when Penny would need a break and gave her one every 45 minutes to an hour on hot days. We always provided clean, fresh water. We ALWAYS rode with a hat, although that hat did have a chin strap which rendered it rather useless in case of a fall.

We did do stupid things, like ride in shorts (it was summer!!!), but I can't remember anything that could really put us in danger.

Once, we took Penny out for a day long ride. She was in GREAT shape so she could handle it! We only walked the whole way except for a few slow trots. We crossed a doubtfull and dangerous bridge, we never should've done that. On our way back, Penny went trough a rotten board of the bridge and her leg completely fell trough the bridge. We were about 20 km from home and her leg was injured (thankfully not injured as bad as we thought). She could still walk. I had brought antiseptic hand cloths and we disinfected the wound right there. We loosened the cinch on Penny and we all walked back home. I will always remember the terrible blisters on my feet. We had gotten off of Penny to cross the bridges (thank God, someone could've been crushed), but my friend's mom (the owner of Penny) didn't believe us and we got yelled at a lot. We already felt really bad and this just made things worse. We weren't old at that time and it gave me a good lesson. We weren't allowed to ride Penny for a month after the incident. Penny was sold shortly after we started riding again.

I wish I had pictures of Penny today, she was and still is the best horse I have ever been on.

I went on to ride several other horses from rank b****** to good mounts, but none ever came close to Penny. Even today, my own horses don't mesure up (Dandy is getting there, but she is not quite there yet). I've trained everything from weanlings to yearlings to fillies, colts, mares and studs both pets and wild ones that I will never remember as I remember Penny. I rode geldings, but never broke them (sadly!).

I am constantly looking for new challenges in the horse world, but I admit that sometimes the challenge is a little too much and there is no shame in refusing to train or ride a horse if you think your life could be in jeopardy. I had given up on Pearl after our first ride because I felt VERY at risk on her back. Fortunately, my sister took her on and she became great!

Dandy is constantly improving, she is now learning to ground tie. Here are the pics of her ground tied. The shots aren't great but her legs never moved! I took those shots about 10-15 seconds appart after I had went to get the camera in the barn, she stood there the whole time and after the shots, she stood until I put the camera back in the barn and went to get her... she is grasping the concept, now I just have to apply it more often, she is good went there is little distraction, but I haven't tested her too much when there is more distraction. Enjoy!

Here, she is just relaxing and playing with her bit a little (she does all the time!), this is why I want to try another bit for her, maybe she'd be more focused...
And lastly, she heard something, probably on the road (right outside the pasture, behind her) and turned to look... her feet did'nt move!
Needless to say that she LOVES having her picture taken and she seems to pose for the camera... observe... She stayed this way for two good pictures and some bad ones...
And this pose, I took 3 good pictures and some bad ones!
I love that face! I knew I had seen this one before!!! This photo was this summer...
Then again, if she is not in your face... she's on her way there!
So... tell me what is your best memory of chilhood horses or your debuts in the horse world, what you did then that you wouldn't do now and the horses you wish you could've kept.