Stall rest and horses

Stall rest and horses

The Amazing Miss B (aka Breezy) earned her nickname while recovering from the surgery to remove the bone chips from her front left fetlock. She has to be confined to a stall for 6-8 weeks. We’re allowed to hand graze her as long as she remains calm. When Isis was on stall rest after colic…

Riding through grief

Riding through grief

Grief does weird things to your head. It makes you feel fragile, as if any little thing might make you react in a way that might not be appropriate to the situation. That first week after Kasane died, I visited with Breezy a lot. Mostly just stood out in her field with her or groomed…

Long time no type
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Long time no type

It’s been a very long, muddy winter. And fall, and most of the previous summer too. I had a curious confluence of events that kept me feeling slightly overwhelmed. You know, that feeling where you are juggling everything but can not add one more ball to the mix without dropping everything. So I didn’t blog….

Nominate Fudge’s EPM Blog

When Isis was diagnosed with Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis, one site provided answers and informative discussion about this disease, current treatment options, and tests: EPM Horse.org. One of the keys to successfully treating EPM successfully is early detection. The more people know about EPM, the better chance they will have of recognizing the disease and treating…

Lessons from riding

I’ve had a riding lesson for the past two Saturdays. It has been a roller coaster where my riding skills fluctuated from newbie to advanced. Had my skills degraded? Muscle tone wasn’t as good as it had been in 2008 when we were able to ride more. In 2009, riding time was minimized due to…

Been a while.

Wow. So it’s been a while since I last posted. I’ve managed to land (mostly) on my feet. I went from being unemployed to being over-employed, but in a good way. My old freelance contacts paid off in the best possible way: I was given enough work to get me through until I located a…

No riding for a while

The vet exam showed that Isis’ left side is weaker than her right. To correct this, I am supposed to work Isis at least every other day, weather permitting. When she first trots, her back legs track wider then normal and eventually straighten out. It’s like watching someone with back pain try to jog. The…

Sad news

My stepfather woke me up this morning and said that my Mom’s favourite mare, Farah, had died during the night. Farah was a sweetheart of a mare: multichampion Arabian in halter and performance, dam of five or so babies, and an unchallenged lead mare. She was one of those grand matron mares who knows she…

Day at the barn

There was an informal natural horsemanship session at my barn today. One of the ladies started a three year old filly under saddle. The filly is a buckskin, Quarter Horse/Arabian cross. She is a rescue case and has not been handled much. She knew how to lead and not much else. It was amazing watching…