Horses

Some good horsey news

Remember the lady I had called earlier about boarding near Hillsborough? She called me last night. Her daughter is going of to college so she’ll have space for one boarder? Well she called me. Originally I had told her that what she wanted would be too much and that I wanted to check around. (And I have not… Her rates were about par for the course, but no one else had the type...

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Update on housing situation

As much as I love my parents, there is only so long I can stay there without being in the way. One extra person might not be so bad — but there are three of us staying in the house right now. We’ve taken over almost every spare room. Some times things just coincide like this. It definitely makes it harder on the household — especially when one of us comes with three...

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Visiting the Horse

Sometimes sanity comes in the form of a 950 pound bay Arabian. I saw Isis on Sunday after visiting with a friend (or someone who used to be a very dear friend and now seems to have issues talking to me). She and Penny were grazing in the paddock near the barn. Isis saw my car, knickered, and trotted over to me. (huge grin) It made my day. Silly girl is really out...

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Miracle Mare: Above and Beyond

A friend of mine is working on a book and had asked me if there were any situations I’d like to share where my horse had gone above and beyond what might normally be expected. My initial reaction was ‘Where do I start?’ I have lost almost half of Isis’s available riding time to medical issues. Isis had two boughts with laminitis and recovered fully with little to no rotation and the farrier...

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Video of Isis

I worked Isis on December 23 and had a blast with her. It was wonderful. She played in the huge water puddle at the end of the ring. And showed off — especially when I took out my camera and recorded her running around: The full size video is also available (64 MB AVI file). (Please let me know if you have trouble with this video. It’s the first time I’ve uploaded one.)...

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Trip to Tennessee

This weekend was my first trip back to Tennessee since I moved to North Carolina at the beginning of the year. (Yup, I’m behind on my blogging for a really good reason.) My youngest sister went with me this weekend. The goal was to get a lot of stuff done, and we did for the most part. Stephanie, who is a nationally certified massage and bodyworks therapist, also wanted to talk to my...

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Missing the Barn

It has been rainy and cold this week, so I haven’t been out to the barn except last weekend. I miss it. I can feel the withdrawl sinking in. I want to go riding so much. Pretty sad when you miss your horse and feel like you’ve lost your sanity? I also feel guilty about not being out there. I’ve been worried about Stella too this week and have been trying to stay...

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My Mom Is COOL

Mom was in Paris for the Arabian World Championships at the Salon du Cheval during the second week in December. No horse at the show, she just went to watch. It’s something she has wanted to do for years. And you know what? She did it. (Go Mom!) When you’ve gone to enough horse shows, you’ll run into people you know at almost any show. And of course, this show was no exception...

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Shalom, Sabbath

On November 18, Mom called me in France and left a voicemail. Sabbath, the gorgeous bay mare that had bred to Sirdar (Isis’ sire), died. I’ve included Mom’s email below. Sabbath was by Ibn Amoura, a gorgeous stallion that I had wanted desperately to breed Isis too. I made the decision not to breed Isis because of her insulin resistance. Mom and I had worked out a deal: I took Rajiyyah, worked with...

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Sadness

I’m on a mailing list for owners of horses who are insulin resistant and/or have Cushings. These can be very serious conditions for horses if left untreated. These metabolic conditions can not be cured, only managed. Isis has insulin resistance and so far we’ve kept her well managed. We have been lucky. She had two cases of laminitis back to back (side effects of the insulin resistance) but neither episode left much damage....

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Recent Books on Equine Archaeology/History

I’ve been looking for current publications on equine archaeology and history. You would be surprised what is out there! I found four books that covered proceedings from the International Council for Archaeozoology meeting in Durham, UK, 2002. It sounds like it would have been an awesome conference. Equids in time and space, edited by Marjan Mashkour (2006). From the description: “There are methodological as well as historical chapters dealing with problems ranging from...

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Arabians and Numidians

Arabian horse owners often talk about the Arabian horse as being one of the oldest breeds. And they are, thanks in large park to the work of the Bedouin tribes preserving this lovely breed and recording the pedigrees. What if we turned the clock back two thousand years? Would someone like Caesar or Hannibal recognize the modern Arabian? I think they both would, because the ancestor of the Arabian horse, the Numidian or...

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Thoughts on Riding

Isis and I had a mixed ride today. I think it was more my fault than hers. I’ve been thinking about this a lot. She might have been reluctant because I wasn’t clear in what I was asking (probably because I’m still learning and figuring it out). She didn’t want to whoa when asked — instead she would walk for 6-8 additional steps before coming to a stop. She knows whoa. It’s the...

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Riding Lesson!

I know I should be taking it easy with my knee and evrything, but some times you can’t keep a girl down. I had a riding lesson today on Isis. I was out at the barn by about 10:00 AM and met the other two ladies who were also riding. (Two sisters who own two Belgian/Thoroughbred horses who are brothers by the same sire.) They went first, so I had about two hours...

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