Those two words my man says every time I leave the house to go to the barn. Be careful. I always assure him that I am and the other night I got a phone call that helped me reassure him in this respect.
About 2 weeks ago one of the ladies at the barn got a new horse. An older palomino mare that's put together pretty decent and the mare seems to have a good brain. At least when she's given half a chance. Last weekend her new owner decided to get on her horse. She saddled her up in the barn aisle and decided to get on her there. That's where all common sense left the building.
There were two women involved in this clusterfuck. One the mare owner A and the other another boarder B. To give everyone an idea of a little back story, B is the one who doesn't do anything with her own horse and was the subject of my recent post on SIS- As If.... B is rather new to horses and doesn't know a whole lot. A has had horses and knows enough about them Not to have done what she did.
From what I was told by one of the other boarders, A was on her horse and B asked if she could get on too. At least A decided to get off the horse and let B sit on her alone. But things went horribly wrong from there. Rather than take the horse outside, A pulls a plastic lawn chair over beside the horse so B can get on.
To kind of set the stage, there are large wooden feed boxes in the aisle way. Down by her stall, there are also an assortment of folding chairs, a few muck buckets and rakes, along with a few large totes full of odds and ends. The aisle is quite cluttered and looks trashy a/f. There are also steel beams that go across the aisle as supports for the walls and roof. Not a safe place to be riding at all.
So B climbs up on the chair and proceeds to mount the horse. As her rear end graces the seat of the saddle, the chair falls over, the back of the chair touching the horse on her belly as it falls underneath her, all causing the mare to lose her shit. A admitted to me she fell and was staring up at her horses belly from the ground. B was grabbing for the beams overhead and eventually came off. She narrowly missed hitting her head on the fence in front of my pony's stall, but she didn't bounce either as she landed flat on her side, hitting the ground equally with her shoulder, side and hip.
A was texting me from the barn asking for the address. She didn't tell me it was for the ambulance coming for B. However she did let me know that she had left my feed and tack room unlocked when she left to go to the hospital. She shares my space, but since she couldn't be bothered to lock it up on her way from the barn to the car, before leaving to go to the hospital to stay with B, Yeah I'm not too thrilled. That was the 2nd time in 2 days she left my tack room unlocked and left. the. property. I have spoken to the barn owner and then to her. They both know that if it happens again I'm kicking her ass OUT!
After A finally sent me a text message saying that B is going to be okay, nothing broken just a lot of bruising and going to be sore the next few days if not weeks, I replied that I was glad to hear and asked - Did we learn anything from this? Her answer was Probably Not followed by a bunch more nonsense.
I explained to my man that this is a prime example of exactly Why 1) I am Very super selective of whose horses I ride, 2) I'm even More selective of who I let ride MY horses and 3) I'm probably overly cautious of who I ride With. I put a lot of work and training into my horses and don't need someone else's half trained, batshit crazy horse screwing that up or injuring them or worse- me. Different people at the last barn may have thought I was a bit snobby or stuck up because I didn't go to these events with them where it was a drunken shitfest for the weekend, but I'm fine with that. I don't feel like I'm missing anything and my horses are safe sleeping in their stalls at night.
Thursday, February 21, 2019
Thursday, February 14, 2019
Rub it in
Have you ever done something that you find enjoyment in, knowing full well or finding out later on, that somebody you know- has always wanted to try it or they admire it? Something they might be incredibly jealous of you for...
Way, way back in the day- the Lippizaner stallions were coming to town and there was a big article & photos of the horses in the local newspaper. Because yes, I'm getting old and we actually did read those things. Anyways my sister was pissed at me (one of the many times. HA!) because I cut out one of the photos and she wanted them to go with the whole article. See, she loved dressage. Always wanted to ride it and just admired it from afar. My parents weren't rich and certainly wasn't going to be shelling out the cash for dressage lessons when they weren't going to buy a horse. At least her friend from high school had a horse and she got to ride.
Fast forward to me being in high school. I got a job at a local Arabin barn that I never even knew existed. I learned the art of grooming and went to a LOT of horse shows and improved on my riding. Her interest in horses kind of fizzled out over the years, while mine seemed to get stronger and stronger. She never has had a horse of her own. I have had several after buying my fist one within the month of turning 18. I have trained, shown, hauled and owned a number of horses over the years. My sister borrows a horse to go trail riding wih her friend now and then.
She had told me several times how she liked Dressage and has always admired the look of it all from the tophats, to the shadbelly coats, gloves, white breeches down to the dress boots. I have several of these things in my closet. The gloves, white, tan and navy colored breeches, 2 pair of dress boots, several long sleeved show shirts, 2 black coats and a Shadbelly I made several years ago because I bought the pattern and some gorgeous fabic.
And while she still borrows horses and toodles down trails, I have trained my pony to drive and competed him in the dressage ring many times over the years. Two summers ago I started a pony under saddle and within 6 months went from not broke at all to having her competitive in the show ring where we were always in the ribbons-> in Dressage. We competed in Western Dressage and again- brought home ribbons with respectable scores and impressive judges remarks. I have also been very fortunate (and quite blessed!) in learning from a friend of mine who has some seriously impressive credentials, having ridden with, cliniced with and sometimes shown against- some seriously impressive names in the industry.
I've grown to appreciate and enjoy showing in the sandbox. Doing reasonably well at it, even at the lower levels- fueled the fire. Hopefully one of these days I will be able to take my TB mare and she won't be such a diva and lose her shit. Time will tell with her... As for my sister? Yeah, not my problem. She can keep borrowing horses to wander thru the dessert.
Way, way back in the day- the Lippizaner stallions were coming to town and there was a big article & photos of the horses in the local newspaper. Because yes, I'm getting old and we actually did read those things. Anyways my sister was pissed at me (one of the many times. HA!) because I cut out one of the photos and she wanted them to go with the whole article. See, she loved dressage. Always wanted to ride it and just admired it from afar. My parents weren't rich and certainly wasn't going to be shelling out the cash for dressage lessons when they weren't going to buy a horse. At least her friend from high school had a horse and she got to ride.
Fast forward to me being in high school. I got a job at a local Arabin barn that I never even knew existed. I learned the art of grooming and went to a LOT of horse shows and improved on my riding. Her interest in horses kind of fizzled out over the years, while mine seemed to get stronger and stronger. She never has had a horse of her own. I have had several after buying my fist one within the month of turning 18. I have trained, shown, hauled and owned a number of horses over the years. My sister borrows a horse to go trail riding wih her friend now and then.
She had told me several times how she liked Dressage and has always admired the look of it all from the tophats, to the shadbelly coats, gloves, white breeches down to the dress boots. I have several of these things in my closet. The gloves, white, tan and navy colored breeches, 2 pair of dress boots, several long sleeved show shirts, 2 black coats and a Shadbelly I made several years ago because I bought the pattern and some gorgeous fabic.
And while she still borrows horses and toodles down trails, I have trained my pony to drive and competed him in the dressage ring many times over the years. Two summers ago I started a pony under saddle and within 6 months went from not broke at all to having her competitive in the show ring where we were always in the ribbons-> in Dressage. We competed in Western Dressage and again- brought home ribbons with respectable scores and impressive judges remarks. I have also been very fortunate (and quite blessed!) in learning from a friend of mine who has some seriously impressive credentials, having ridden with, cliniced with and sometimes shown against- some seriously impressive names in the industry.
I've grown to appreciate and enjoy showing in the sandbox. Doing reasonably well at it, even at the lower levels- fueled the fire. Hopefully one of these days I will be able to take my TB mare and she won't be such a diva and lose her shit. Time will tell with her... As for my sister? Yeah, not my problem. She can keep borrowing horses to wander thru the dessert.
Friday, February 8, 2019
Know your products
The other day one of the girls at the barn was using a hoof treatment on the hooves of her little sisters horse. She was reading off some of the ingredients and mentioned it had Linsed Oil, Pine Tar and Venice Turpentine in it. Of course there were several other ingredients, but these three stood out for me.
I have a bottle of Pine Tar and the brush for it, but since my horses have always had good, soft to trim, yet sturdy otherwise hooves, I don't use it much and have had it for Yeeeeeaaarrrssss. I honestly don't even remember where I bought it.
Linseed Oil - I have a big can of this out in the shed for oiling the wood of my meadowbrook cart. I can also remember the Operations manager at one of the big name farms coating the deck of the flatbed trailer with a good coating of Linsed Oil to keep the wood moisturized and strong.
My wasbands mare Chica had also gotten really thin hoof walls and soles at one point so he was using Venice Turpentine to harden the soles of her feet to keep her from hurting when she walked. The soles were that thin. Shoes weren't so much an option since her hoof walls were seriously paper thin. She did get them the next time around, because I paid for them. I was more concerned with keeping the horse sound & comfortable and obviously he wasn't.
It has always been my experience that hoof ointment is applied liberally at the coronet band or hairline of the hoof since this is where it grows out of. The girl mentions it says on the can (in all caps mind you), DO NOT USE ON THE HAIRLINE OR CORONET BAND. I'm guessing this was because of the turpentine.
Now I'm not sure about you, but to me this mixture didn't make sense. There was the pine tar and linseed oil to soften the hooves and make them more flexible, but then the turpentine to harden them. It sounds a lot like a "fix all" in a can. It softens And hardens the hoof? How does that work?!?! How does an ointment or treatment know when to harden or soften things? What makes things even better is that this girl is one of those that knows all there is to know about the subject. At least she thinks she does.
I have a bottle of Pine Tar and the brush for it, but since my horses have always had good, soft to trim, yet sturdy otherwise hooves, I don't use it much and have had it for Yeeeeeaaarrrssss. I honestly don't even remember where I bought it.
Linseed Oil - I have a big can of this out in the shed for oiling the wood of my meadowbrook cart. I can also remember the Operations manager at one of the big name farms coating the deck of the flatbed trailer with a good coating of Linsed Oil to keep the wood moisturized and strong.
My wasbands mare Chica had also gotten really thin hoof walls and soles at one point so he was using Venice Turpentine to harden the soles of her feet to keep her from hurting when she walked. The soles were that thin. Shoes weren't so much an option since her hoof walls were seriously paper thin. She did get them the next time around, because I paid for them. I was more concerned with keeping the horse sound & comfortable and obviously he wasn't.
It has always been my experience that hoof ointment is applied liberally at the coronet band or hairline of the hoof since this is where it grows out of. The girl mentions it says on the can (in all caps mind you), DO NOT USE ON THE HAIRLINE OR CORONET BAND. I'm guessing this was because of the turpentine.
Now I'm not sure about you, but to me this mixture didn't make sense. There was the pine tar and linseed oil to soften the hooves and make them more flexible, but then the turpentine to harden them. It sounds a lot like a "fix all" in a can. It softens And hardens the hoof? How does that work?!?! How does an ointment or treatment know when to harden or soften things? What makes things even better is that this girl is one of those that knows all there is to know about the subject. At least she thinks she does.
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