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. 

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.

Update please

Here we are almost thru the first month of the new year already and I'm still stuck on the Christmas post. Sheesh!

I will try and be a little better at posting in the coming months. Everyone knows that since I'm boarding the horses, there's plenty of drama and blog fodder at the barn. That's a given! LMAO  There are days that all the 'Barn Happenings' remind me of the days of Fugly. For those of you who feel the need to jump all over me for mentioning it, just save it.  I'm not going to post about all the drama negativity at the barn because I chose not to focus on that.

Instead there are things that while they could be discussed, focusing on the bad, they can also be discussed using them as a learning or teaching moment. Which one is the better outcome?