what tha what?

As a tack hoarder I like to collect all things horse related. What I really like are when I can get my little tack hoarder hands on big boxes of horse stuff for very little money. A lot of the time the boxes contain horse things of varing age and use. It's like those fun grab bags you got at birthday parties when you were a kid! I always try to remain calm when wheeling and dealing for the box of stuff and then promptly dump the box out the moment I get home and start digging through and seeing what treasures lie within. I've ended up with some pretty nice stuff that way. I aquired a couple pairs of expensive reins, nice, and I mean really nice western headstalls, professionals choice SMBs, lead ropes, halters etc. Sometimes though, things end up in the boxes that even this tack ho, has no idea what they are or if they are even for horses. Usually if I am confused I hop on the internet machine and try to figure it out, like some sort of fun detective game. And usually I have some idea what I am looking up in the first place. Like when I came across a war bonnet in my tack collection. First, OUCH, I don't see the need to ever use that on my horses, but I keep it as a reminder that there are some really interesting peices of horse training equipment. And then there was this treasure that goes into my box of strange and unusual bits.

chain bit

look at this monster! umm Ow!

But back to my mystery items... Anyone know what the heck these are? They have been driving me crazy! I don't know what they are or what they are for? are they for horses? clothing? boats? horse harnesses? What are they?! I don't know if i've ever seen any thing like these ever before anywhere.

My turn for a vet visit

Yesterday I slipped and knocked myself out when I hit the floor. So I am currently waiting in an examination room to get looked at because I still got feel right. I'm starting to think that it might be worse than I thought because when asked for my social security number I gave them my phone number...and them my address when I realized the first one wasn't right.

They want me to get my head scanned so that's what I am currently waiting for...might not be a bad idea for me to start wearing a helmet 24/7. Anyone know of any super stylish helmets I should be looking at?

pistol.

I was snowed in again yesterday. I couldn’t see my road because of the drifts and blowing snow. The plow didn’t come through until about 5:30 last night. We got out yard cleared out without calling for back up this time. Last storm I had to call a friend with a skid loader to come and push snow. So. Much. Snow. I am terrified to see how wet our basement is going to get.

Anyways last night after my arms were exhausted from shoveling snow and moving things about the yard I went to get some pony snuggling time in. Duke was the first to come up to me because he thinks I always have food on me. He quickly loses interest when he realizes he is out of luck. Pistol, well he is just a big lover. I think back to when we got him. Back to that first night I saw him in the auction ring. We bought him because he seemed so calm and relaxed in the midst of the chaos that is a livestock auction. I don’t even remember his rider riding him around. I just remember looking down on him and thinking if he is anything what they just described him as I think he will be great as a backup horse for us. We won him and the older woman I was sitting next to congratulated me and said it looked like we just got a great deal on a really good horse.

After the auction we went and found him in the pens. And buyers remorse kind of kicked in. He was chewing on the wood fence panels. Great, a cribber.  Before we left we ran into the people who sold him, and they asked if we wanted his halter. And then we were able to ask a few questions like what type of bit he was ridden in, if he trailers etc. They told us he was a great horse that just about anyone can ride but they didn’t really know all that much about him because they had just bought him at auction a week prior. Awesome, horse traders. Hubby was sort of pissed because he knew better than to buy a horse from a trader, but we just kind of got caught up in the moment and he was an impulse. I went back and said goodbye to our new horse and we took off. We hadn’t brought a trailer because we weren’t planning on buying anything. As we got in our pickup a woman yelled out to us, and asked if we were the ones that bought the big red horse that was almost last. We said we did, and she said she was kicking herself for not bidding on him. He seemed like a great horse. She asked if we wanted to sell him to her. We thought about it for a second, but decided “hey if so many people think this horse is so great, he must be worth keeping!” So we drove off thinking of names for this new horse of ours.

The next morning we loaded up our trailer and headed back to the auction. It was quiet now, our new horse “Pistol” had been moved to another pen and we were able to find him pretty easily, although it was like a maze to try and get out of there. We backed our trailer up to the closest gate and then went to get him. We threw the halter on easily, and he led like a dream. We got him to our trailer and then loaded him up. Hooray! He loaded just like the people said he would! I hooked him up to the trailer tie and must have been still in shock that he loaded I forgot to go quickly go secure the butt bar. He pulled back, and snapped the elastic trailer tie and trotted away scared to death. Some not so kind words were exchanged between hubby and I as we tried to calm a frantic monster enough to catch him again. We did, and we got him loaded right away after that whole ordeal. I stood at the ramp and closed it once he got in. We didn’t tie him this time. Hubby jumped in the empty side of the trailer and put the butt bar up so it wouldn’t rattle or bump into him. We loaded ourselves up and then headed home. Still wondering what we had gotten ourselves into.

New horse.

When we got him home, Piney and Duke were so excited to see a new friend. I lead him around the pasture, showing him the fence line. Then I turned him loose. They raced around the pasture for a while before all settling in to graze. Seemed like perfect harmony out in our pasture.

My little red herd.

 

Later that day the hubby went to try and catch Pistol and try to groom him. Nope. Pistol decided he wouldn’t be caught. I think he spent 2 hours trying to catch him before he was successful. Pistol was terrified of having his face or neck touched. But once you had him on the end of a lead rope, he would follow like a dream. We were able to get his auction sticker off his butt and do a bit of grooming.

The next day or a few days later I can’t remember. We tried to saddle him up. It still took forever to get catch him so we just left his halter on and had to trick him into catching him. You had to hide the end of the rope and then QUICKLY snap it on before he realized what was going on. Anyways we brought him to the barn and then groomed him and slipped the saddle on. It went well until hubby adjusted the rear cinch. Pistol EXPLODED bucking bronco style across the yard. At this point we were about at wits end with him. We couldn’t bridle him because he’d become a giraffe, and he was a bronc when saddling. We decided that maybe we should have his feet done, and then have the vet out. If his attitude didn’t improve he was gone. My bleeding heart didn’t want that to happen.



I got the halter on! This time it only took me 45 mintues!

The night before the farrier came out I spent 45 minutes in the pasture trying to halter him (he’d slipped out of his halter some how). But I got him. It was increasingly difficult because Piney was always in my face and would chase Pistol away from me. But I caught him and put in in the pen up front for the night. When the farrier came and trimmed his feet, he said that he was a really good boy and didn’t once make a wrong move. He said that if the horse rides anything like how he was for getting his feet done. I had a really nice horse on my hands. People kept saying that, but I still wasn’t seeing it.

A few days later we had the vet out for teeth floats, sheath cleaning and shots. I told the vet what was going on with this horse and that we were kind of at our wits end because he was kind of a nightmare but we were willing to try getting him checked out. Pistol was super cautious and flighty when the vet showed up. So they gave him a nice big dose of sleepy medicine. The vet got to work on his mouth and sure enough he had TERRIBLE teeth that were in desperate need of a float. Cuts all over his mouth from steak knife like back teeth. The vet cleaned those up, and then kind of looked his body over and said that he’d had a pretty rough life. Cuts and scrapes all over. He also said that he probably had started acting out because of his mouth pain and his previous owners must have been cruel to try and stop him from acting up. The vet cleaned his sheath and some pretty big beans came out of there so that could have been another reason for his naughty behavior.

We still didn’t feel like being the first to ride him, so we found a trainer and sent him off once his mouth had heeled up. The trainer also told us that Pistol had some trust issues and that someone had been very cruel to him at some point. But he said that he only needed to put about 5 rides on because the horse was ready to go home. He told us he’d have no problem putting anyone in his family, even the ones that don’t ride on this horse. He didn’t feel right keeping him any longer because there wasn’t really much else he could do with him. He said that durring one of his rides he rode for a bit and then needed to go into the house. So he just tossed the reins into the box of his pick up truck and ran into the house. He had a soda and a cookie and looked out and Pistol just stood there patiently waiting. Apparently someone put a lot of time into him, but unfortunately he ended up falling through the cracks and then ended up at the auction a few times within a few weeks.

Pistol loved Piney. Piney HATED his tag along...

We brought him home and I was so excited to ride. I tacked him up and rode around the yard and up and down the road. I did figure 8’s around the ever green trees. I was fun being on a horse that actually moved out at the walk. When I got back to the barn was when everything fell apart for me. “Piney isn’t eating” was what my husband told me. I don’t even remember right before he told me that. But the next few hours would be miserable, but not nearly as painful as the next 24.

I admittedly shut down and ignored the two surviving horses for a really long time. I would go feed them. And that was it. Pistol was trying to be sweet and snuggly. He finally had started to trust me and was seeking love and attention, but I didn’t want to give him any. Piney was my horse and he was gone and I didn’t want anything to do with horses anymore. One night my husband pressured me into riding and I am glad he did. I saddled up a few more times before the snow flew, by myself and just rode down the road.  He was a bit of a crap head once we got to our driveway, but then again, so was Piney some times.

Last night I couldn’t help but smile as Pistol repeatedly put his head in my hands. When I took my hands away to scratch Duke, he would gently reach out and try to get me to pay more attention to him. His eyes are sparkly and have life in them. His mouth almost appears to be smiling unlike the dead eyes with a clenched jaw that came with him when we brought him home. While he still isn’t 100% fond of me playing with his ears, he doesn’t mind me scratching his neck, and petting his face. He is an absolute rockstar when it comes to blanketing. He is very patient when it comes to feeding. He knows he has to wait until “Prince” Duke gets his food first. And when I am walking towards the pasture with their feed that quiet, little nicker he gives me just absolutely kills me!

Pistol is such a great boy. Our farrier told us he is great. People that saw him at the auction thought he was great. When we had him into the vet for xrays on his foot, they were amazed that he stood as relaxed and calm as he did. They said that most horses need to be sedated when they are x rayed. Not Pistol. I’m glad that his long winding roads lead him here to me. I haven’t given him half the chance that he deserves but I am going to try harder to make sure he knows how much I love him. So many times I’ve looked out at the pasture and swore up and down that he was Piney. I am so lucky to have him because I think he is pretty great too.

And P.S., he hasn't once cribbed since we brought him home :)

 

 

Equine Seminar

This weekend my vet clinic hosted a free equine seminar. In the morning they covered Equine chiropractic and acupuncture then in the afternoon they covered lameness issues in horses. Over lunch they had table topics, where you could pick a table with different vets and Vet techs and they would answer any questions about the topics that were assigned to the table. Those topics were emergency, ulcers and teeth floats, chiropractic care, and western saddle fit. First off I must say that I am so grateful that I have access to extremely high quality equine veterinary care located as close to me as it is. The clinic is located only 16 miles from our farm. Not only is the clinic filled with top of the line equipment, the staff is unbelievable. The vet that worked on Piney when I brought him in specializes in equine gastrointestinal and orthopedic surgery as well as emergency and critical care.  People haul their horses to be seen by her from all over the country. So I really can rest easy knowing that he was seen by the best. Obviously she would have done an amazing job had we gone with the surgery route, but her advice was that he probably wouldn’t have pulled through the surgery so I took her word on it.

Chiropractic demonstration.

The first session was very interesting. Obviously a lot of horses can benefit from having their bodies adjusted. My horses have seen a chiropractor more than I have. Typical right? Someone had asked if horses turned out 24/7 are more likely than horses stalled at night to need to be adjusted. And of course a stalled horse is going to need more adjustments than a horse that is able to move freely at all hours of the day. A body that is standing in one position for long periods of time is going to become more sore than a body that is able to move. The vet made a good point and used us sitting as an example. He said that we had been sitting for long time and he said that most of us were probably starting to feel a bit sore in some places. I know I was starting to get sore in my sits bones. A horse is the same way. He also said that horses that they see most often needing adjustments in their pelvises are barrel horses. I have a feeling that Pistol will be having himself a nice visit soon to get adjusted as well as having himself scoped for ulcers.



vet stuff

 

After the morning’s session we were able to tour the facility before lunch. I must say I was more impressed than I thought I would be.  I had only been into a couple parts of the equine clinic. The main part is the big open examination area. They have stocks where they can perform different tasks, the room is big enough where they can check horses for lameness at the walk. They have stalls located in the room connected to the big exam room. I think there were 14 stalls. The barn is heated and air conditioned depending on the time of year. Behind the barn area is an indoor round pen with shredded tire footing. They use that area to do their lameness examinations and will have the horse lunged or ridden both ways so they can try and figure out what is going on. There were two additional stalls located back there as well.

A row of stalls. The door on the left goes
into the recovery room.

"Piney's" stall, I drowned the clinic with my tears when I looked at it. JK. I actually held up pretty well. I only died about 1 time and didn't actually shed any tears.

The surgery and recovery rooms were connected to the barn area and the big exam room. If a horse was brought in for surgery, they would be sedated in the middle room and then hoisted by a lift and brought into the surgery room. After the surgery the horse would be brought back to the padded recovery room where they could come to and not have to worry about getting hurt when they tried to get back up. The floor was super squishy and I enjoyed walking on it. I did ask one of our favorite vets about what happens to the horses that they put to sleep. I jokingly asked if they chopped them up with a chainsaw to get them out. The laughed and said they didn’t do anything like that, but he did let me know their process. He said they don’t usually tell people because it’s usually easier if they don’t know. It was exactly how I imagined it was done.

I've never actually seen an equine surgery room up close before. It was really cool!

Their new 'toy'. This allows them to go in and and take video of what's going on inside joints, etc. They send the video home with you! The only thing this clinc doesn't have is an MRI machine. But they said within a matter of a few years they will have one.

Recovery room. Leading into the surgery room. I loved walking on this floor. I wish I could wake up from a surgery on this floor....wait...what?

 

At lunch I had a hard time deciding what table to sit at, there were all great topics being discussed! I ended up bouncing around to a few different tables. The company my husband is now working for was sponsoring the seminar and his coworker was sitting at the ulcer and teeth floating table, along with one of our favorite vets, so I spent the most time there. A lot of people know about ulcers in horses but I don’t think they realize how quickly they can form and how seriously they can affect a horse. But I think everyone at the table left with a better understanding about them. They also left with some free SWAG. I left with a bunch too, and I am thinking that I might have some sort of contest and send it out to one of my awesome readers because I am super nice like that!

After lunch the veterinarian that worked on Piney, and then a few months later stitched my cocker spaniel’s ear back up after an unfortunate grooming incident, did her presentation on lameness exams. She went through all the steps they use and then went on to do a live demonstration on a horse that had been painted up to show all the bones in a horse’s body. I’ve never seen a horse painted like that before but it was really cool to see all the bones in movement.   After her presentation I asked her a few questions, mostly I asked her about Pin firing on ex racehorses. She said that a lot of time they are used as preventative measures to harden up a bone and prevent it from fracturing later. She said if it was on a joint it was used for injury repair. So in Piney’s case he had it done to his front legs as a preventative to make sure he didn’t fracture his legs, but his hock was freeze fired because he had some type of injury. She said pinfiring wouldn’t necessarily keep her from getting a horse, but she did say that it was important to have it vet checked depending on what I planned on using the horse for.

 

 

Warning GRAPHIC PICTURE BELOW!! either scroll really fast to the very bottom or stay and look at it! You've been warned!!
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The vet spend hours disecting this leg so that everyone could take a look to what a horse's leg looks like on the inside. There were actually two legs that had been disected. And it was really interesting to see all the insides! The legs had been donated...I asked...

 

It was a very informative day but it was also a very fun day. Before I left, one of our favorite vets and I were joking with my husband that I had just bought one of his horses that had been used in the demonstrations earlier. He walked up to the hubby, shook his hand and said “congratulations on the new horse I just sold your wife! I can have her delivered in an hour!”  Hubby looked pretty confused so we let him in on the joke. Our vet kept trying to get us to take the horse off his hands. He said he had 15 of them, and needed to downsize. He then went on to try and sweeten the deal for us by offering a round bale of hay, 3 tubes of ulcer guard, and a baby goat. He even invited us over to come look at the baby goats at his place. I like people I can joke around with.
I am really happy that I went to the seminar. I learned a lot about horses and a lot about the vet clinic. Again I am so lucky to have them just down the road from us. I felt really bad for the people that lived up in Grand Forks, North Dakota. One lady said that there aren't any vets there and if she needed anything done she had to load up her horses and either drive them 100 miles south or 100 miles north. I just have to drive 16 miles or have the vet come out and even though mileage seems pretty steep, it really isn't that bad, espeically when they will schedual you on a date that somoene else in your area is having the vet out and then will split the mileage with you. Again I am glad I went to the seminar, and I am glad I have them as my vets. Even if I complain about how much I spend...I really do know they are worth every penny.

PUPPIES!! These little babies were for sale. Blue/Red Heeler puppies. How I left without a puppy under both of my arms is beyond me.

Critique this horse

I am still alive and well. The North Dakota winters haven't killed me yet, infact this winter wasn't even that bad! I was trapped at home for two days last week because my driveway drifted in. But temperature wise it really hasn't been that cold there has only been a handful of days that the windchill dipped down into the -50's.
Anyways on to more important things. I have been horse shopping via the internet. Which makes me thankful for living in an age where we can shop for horses 24 hours a day and bascially anywhere we go thanks to smartphones! Horse shopping, even 20 years ago would have involved calling people and driving out to see a horse! Inconvient for a girl like me who hates talking on the phone!
So I have emailed a place that rehomes retired racehorses. (Weird, me looking at retired racehorses right? But once you have had one they get into your blood!) This is the horse I have emailed about. I am asking you kind readers for help with this one.  Everyone seems to see all types of things that I tend to miss and for this I am thankful.

 

He was retired sound from the track in 2004. He went home with his jockey and was restarted as a hunter/jumper and has given plenty of lessons doing that. But they think he would be happiest and soundist if he had a job doing trail riding or lower level dressage or just being a pleasure horse. I asked about doing intro and training level dressage and they said he would do just fine, but he's just never been very competive at higher levels. They say that he would require chiropractic adjustments for his back and I am waiting to hear back more on that. She also said that he does occasionally spook, but loud noises don't bother him because he lived for 6 years behind a horse and hunt club and they were shooting all the time. I am also waiting to hear back about what kind of spook he has. Piney's spook involved letting out a big sigh, I don't think all horses handle scary things like he did. I am also waiting to find out why he has been there for a year...that might have some warning signs.

 

 

And now for some videos.

 

So please pick him apart and let me know what you are thinking...