The other morning on the news there was a story about a dog that was rescued. Not much about it would seem out of the ordinary, except the weather that has been wreaking havoc on so many states. Hurricane Ida has caused a lot of flooding, damage, death and destruction in her path. Power outages, evacuations and now shortages on clean water, fuel, food and shelter...
What was so special about the story of the dog? The owners left the dog chained up outside and then evacuated the area. Story here That's right. They left the dog behind, chained up outside and were gone before the storm hit. There was a shed that collapsed on the dog and she was trapped with no food or water for roughly 4 days.
In all honesty, one of the newswomen speaking on the story annoys me. She's just too perky for me and 'way too excited to be here' so early in the morning. I'm not awake enough yet for that much energy so I don't care for her. But after this? Much respect!
As her and the other news host were discussing the story and showing the pics and video of the rescue of Bubbles the dog, she turned to him and said, "This upsets me. I am bothered by this story. I mean Who leaves their dog behind, chained up outside and evacuates? WHO DOES THAT????" The other host turned to her and flatly says, "You'd be surprised. It happens a lot. I don't agree with it either, but it happens. Not everyone treats their dog like part of the family."
When the story continued and there was mention that Bubbles would be getting a vet check up and care while they searched for the owners, she spoke up again. "They should not get the dog back. Bubbles deserves a new home with people who will take better care of her." I agree 1 ,000%. Bubbles deserves a family.
Everyone in the equine community has been talking and squawking about the German rider in the Pentathalon event lately. There has been posts on vlogs, video clips and comments galore pretty much everywhere online and likely in barns around the world. A lot of them post parts of the video footage although the IOC is citing copyrights to all video. Below is one I found posted on YouTube and shows a lot of the issues that happened during the jumping round. It was posted by someone in Europe so I'm not sure what the description says- I haven't googled it for translation yet.
Let's discuss this.
-A lot of people are calling for this portion of the event to be removed. Others state this event has military origins and if a soldier was down behind enemy lines- these are all things they may have to do to survive and/or escape- sword fighting, shooting, running, swimming and jump on a horse to flee the area, jumping whatever is in the way.
-There is also the argument that these horses aren't suited for this level of jumps. Why are some horse and rider combos able to complete the course then? Others state these are school horses that are used to packing students around on courses while the riders figure things out.
-Some of these riders admit to only riding twice a month between competitions. IMO this is on them and why their riding is what it is. While I may not have a horse to ride or compete at this level, if I plan on attending an event of any kind- I ride or drive and fine tune what needs to be fixed at least a few months leading up to said event. I work with the horse at least a few times a week, every week and fix any of their issues that may pop up and fix my own too. The Olympics is a pretty large scale event and everyone has a pretty good idea when it starts and what day they will be competing. These people/athletes have plenty of time to plan for this and work on their riding skills. No excuse.
-I have seen where people state she had the option of asking for another horse. This is where knowing the rules of your sport is crucial. There is video on YouTube below with this same rider competing in 2012. Surely between then and now, her and her coach have seen or known of another rider asking for a different horse. Know your rules people! Know. Your. Rules!
-Apparently Saint Boy didn't have a good round with the previous rider and had 3 refusals. Sometimes another rider can take a horse and get more cooperation out of them. They can soothe the horse and calm them down, managing to get around the course. If the rules allow you to ask for another horse after the 20 minute warm up and you two just aren't getting along, by all means get another horse. If she had done this, it could have been a completely different outcome and there wouldn't be anything to discuss.
-People are complaining that 20 minutes to warm up and get to know the horse is not enough. Others counter that with the fact- catch riders do this at shows all the time. Trainers get on new/strange horses all the time to evaluate them for clients or to see what needs to be changed and where they're at, before purchasing.... any number of reasons. If you were a soldier behind enemy lines trying to escape- there's no knowledge of the horse you're getting on having a.n.y. jumping skills at all. If a gate or fence comes up- you're praying like hell and hoping that horse trusts you enough to try to go over it.
-There's a photo posted online saying Saint Boy is back home relaxing and recovering from this event. Others saying its a pic of a different horse- if you look closely the trees behind him have no leaves and the horse has a full winter coat. Not what he would look like coming home from a summer event.
-There was also comments stating Kaley Cuoco has offered to buy the horse at any cost. You might know her as Penny from The Big Bang Theory. If this is true? Props to her and Much Respect!
A couple weeks ago that was seriously all that kept me from being in an accident. It had rained heavily overnight and on my way in to work there are places on the road where water collects. There was a white GMC truck next to me and as we came up on one of the roadside puddles I had already backed off the gas and was letting him pull away from me. I was in the left lane- big white truck in the right.
When they hit the water it was a nice big spray/ wave that came off the right side of their truck. Quite pretty actually. The driver handled it fine at first and all seemed good.... Until it wasn't. Suddenly they swerved halfway into the lane ahead of me. As quickly as that happened the white truck was sideways in front of me. I thought for sure I was about to T-bone them. Then I thought- I hope they don't flip it! Their truck was raised up some and anything is possible.
As all of this happened in the flash of about 2 seconds, (but felt like slow motion) I had already started braking. All of a sudden the white truck spun again and now the tailgate and bumper were literally inches from the front of my truck. Of course their brake lights were all lit up and I can still see it in my mind. At this point I was literally standing on my brake pedal and bracing for impact sure to come. Thankfully it never did.
Just like that they were back in their own lane and we were both still moving forward. A short ways up ahead the road curved left and opens up to 3 lanes. There's also an exit. The white truck took the exit. I figured they needed to go change their pants after that.
While this could have been avoided or minimized had they slowed down some before hitting the water, their driving and handling skills once it all started going south were quite impressive. I'm betting they learned their lesson about hydroplaning that day. When it happens, it happens fast.
The rest of the mats have been secured and delivered. A few of them it took very little effort to drop them into place (last 2 aisle mats).
These front two still need to be leveled better, but for now everything is cut to fit and down where they belong.
The two middle mats on the outside portion- this had already been dug out and they could be dropped in place. Bam. Done.
At the time of this pic, the last two for outside needed to be pulled up, the ground leveled underneath and dropped back into place. I, just had to take the time and do it. Thankfully I got it all done before the rain started. Now there is enough room outside for grooming, farriers to work and also a place to rinse or bathe. Everything is sloped to drain and matted so there is no mud to step in. Win!
The next part of this project is to get some lightweight plastic to put on the lower portion of the stall gates. This will keep the shavings in the stalls and make for a lot less sweeping for me.
The front of the stalls already have wood between the bottom two rails. This is to keep the shavings in and also keep legs from going thru should a horse lay down too close to the fence.
After the plastic is on the gates, then the last part is to put some kind of border up around the ends/edges of the mats to keep them all where they belong. Adding a thin layer of sand under them to keep them leveled would also be optimal.
No I haven't had Covid but for the first time it hit pretty close for me. I found out last weekend that the other boarder at the barn has it. Rather than ask for help, he has been coming out to feed when he has the energy to do it. Until I found out about it. Thankfully I have other stuff I'm dealing with at the moment that keeps me from getting to the barn until around 8pm. By then the other boarder Tom has been and gone. (Hopefully not leaving germs all over everything.... 🙄 Ugh!)
When the barn owner let me know what was going on (BO tested negative) I let him know I would be happy to feed, clean stalls and turn out his geldings, just stay home and get healthy. He has expressed his gratitude and appreciation several times over since then. When we're sick we aren't the best drivers. We feel like shit, our reaction times suck and our mind probably isn't focused on driving like it should be - making us a hazard to ourselves and everyone else on the road.
Add to that- we are already a man down at work due to medical leave. I handle a lot of things at the office, one of which is all the LTL shipments so I can't really afford to get sick. Taking in the care of the other horses was kind of two-fold. It helps him out so he can recover and keeps him out of the barn so I don't get sick.
I sent Tom a text the other night letting him know that his horses have all been well behaved and perfect gentlemen this whole time. They enjoy their time in turnout and go straight to their own stalls when let in. I have also been giving them all hot mashes for dinner and they really enjoy those too. The mashes also have a two-fold effect. The weather has turned cold here in Houston. Last night around 11pm and 1:30am we had freezing rain. The temps today are forecasted with a high of 23° F. Tonight it is supposed to get down to 16°-18° F (Yes you might read the F as meaning F that!)
Remember the coffee pot I have in my tack room? Well the hot mash helps warm the horses up, but actually the more soupy and sloppier the mash- the more water goes into the horse and the risk of colic and dehydration goes down. When it's that cold outside would You want to drink cold water? Horses don't either, so consumption goes down and the risks go up. A soupy hot mash gets water into their system and helps warm them up. They think they're getting a real treat and usually snarf it down. Win-Win!
You know your pony is relaxed when they can comfortably lay down in their stall.
These shavings are beyond awesome! So fluffy and a super fine grind- it's almost like sand and makes cleaning fast and easy. And what pony could be any more deserving?
It's always fun to shock others that may not know us very well and set them back a little now and then. The other boarder at my barn has had this happen a few times. He's a team roper and for the most part in the 3 short months I've been there, I have ridden in either my close contact or dressage saddles or driven the pony. My western saddles had not yet graced the door of the barn or made an appearance.
The other night when we were talking, I was scooping feed and getting things together. It came time to load hay nets and when I turned for my knife to cut the strings, it wasn't where I keep it. Naturally I grabbed a piece of baling twine and ran it under the two on the bale and proceeded to pull it back and forth- cutting thru them both at once. About half way thru the process, he had asked me if I needed a knife. When the strings popped and the bale was open- he chuckled "I guess not..."
He's seen the small laundry hamper I keep in my feed room and has always wondered about it. When I put my slow feed nets in/on it and chucked 1/4 of the bale in it, drew the string up and closed he was shocked. "I'll be damned! I need to get me one of those." He admitted he has always struggled to keep the nets open and try to get the hay In them without half of it ending up on the ground. I loaded 4 nets in a matter of a few short minutes. Yeah I don't have time to screw around with stuff like that. Lol
The mats in the aisleway- he was surprised I had moved them. Agreed they are Heavy ass mo-fo's and once things were leveled, cut and in place he's liking the benifits. I have gotten 2 more to put in place in front of the barn, under the porch. Need to level it off and also get a few stakes to put in the ground to keep it all from shifting, a few more mats and soon we will have a place to cross tie the horses inside or outside depending on which way they're facing. This will also give us a place to rinse horses as well since everything outside is angled right for runoff and drainage.
When I made and brought out the blanket hanger, he wasn't quite sure what it was or its intended use. Once it was up and blankets on it- again, "I'll be damned!"
The latest addition to my tack room is a coffee pot. These are relatively cheap at Wally-World or online. Now if I want to I can make a pot of coffee or hot water for tea. But it's really not what I have intended for that. Nope! Now I can heat up a pot of water to soak feet or pour on feed. One of the ladies at the last barn had an electric teapot she brought out for making a hot mash for her horses on colder nights. I can also dump a pot or two in their water tubs so they have warmer water to drink. This helps fight dehydration and colic in the winter.
One of the vloggers I follow on YouTube had suggested using an inline water filter like people use for their RV's. It is good for about 3 months and filters all the junk out so your horse always has clean drinking water. She said they run about $8 but if they do I haven't found it yet. Everything I have seen so far is around $16-$20 or more if you buy a single filter, two pack or more. Still not bad for clean drinking water for me and the ponies.
Some days I don't think the other boarder quite knows what to think of me. I'm always doing things that he scratches his head and says "I'll be damned!"
I spent my early days with horses at some of the larger barns in the Arabian horse industry. I learned from some of the best in the biz, about how to present a horse in various disciplines from halter to performance. Here I will share that information with you and discuss various products on the market and the effects they have on your horse.
