Clubbin' it

 Hives are much much better!

In fact, dare I say, they aren't Hives right now...they are just bug bites.

The vinegar/water trick is amazing.

I went this morning to spray the Big Brown Boy but a down pouring storm (lighting!!!) came in a flash.

I had bought a new spray (Endure) that I've read good things about to test out.

I so wish I could continue with the natural horse spray but they really aren't enough for his protection.

If this doesn't work any better, I'll go back to the natural.

See below, glossy skin and less bumps. Still has some along belly and shoulders and rump but neck is clear

 No more swollen neck-thank god.  That really freaked me out.

So, let's change gears and talk about Club Feet.

Laz has a club foot on his Right Front.

See below; that is his grazing stance....always.

ALWAYS the RF back.

Always.
I can about a billion pictures of him grazing and they all look like below.

 So what creates a Club Foot?

Seems there may be more to it than we know.

Bowker mentioned he's researching more about it.

Michelle and I talked about it.

Either the one leg is shorter (ie the clubbier) and so the hoof grows at a steeper angle, to get to the bottom quicker.  An example was the fastest way from A to B is a straight line.

What is interesting is how it effects the shoulder.

See below; his non club leg/shoulder

 Below; his club shoulder, pushed back as he was grazing

 Back shots

My personal theory...Laz has a short neck in comparison to his long legs.  So, he has to extend one leg back, and being he seems to be Right handed, that is the leg he chooses.  I'm sure I could be way way wrong...it's just MY personal theory.  

What are your thoughts?
Does your horse have a club?
I'm willing to bet, it's on the right leg.

***

Saturday, was HOT.

Mason got hosed off about 17 times

 

I scrubbed the boys water tank clean and replaced with yummy fresh water

"Hi Mom...I'm hots again....more pwease"

 Rainbows bring Chocolate :)

 I rode the sweet Lazaroo for about 45 minutes.

We walked (except for one tiny canter up a hill on grass-it was our 1 second of xc'ness) lol

I rode bareback in shorts/flip flops/tank top yanked up to tan my WHITE stomach and a helmet.

yikes.

Thankfully no one saw me except for some country bumpkin hauling his 4 wheeler than made Laz spook out in the front yard.  

 We had a great few property trail rides very successfully

Look at this happy ears!

And a little video for you:

And..do you all drink this?

Coconut water (not milk)

It re-hydrates you wonderfully (oh, and it also cures a nasty hangover)

Vidal Lazzoon

Now that summer is officially here, I see on many of your blogs, the topic of mane cutting, roaching, pulling, tweezing, plucking, brushing, waxing, shaping, etc. 

( I tease about the tweezing and waxing...at least for now)

Well...some of you have opted for the always fierce and in yo' face baddazz ROACH.

Gogo is rocking it

Salem is doin' it

Who else am I missing?

Take the plunge...it's fun and uber chic on a horse. 

We loved ours last summer

Here is Laz last July, freshly shorn

 Here it is grown out a bit...in October (I didn't touch it again once since the original)

 Here is the fallen roach this past December 

So..........what to do this year?

Well, for now...we channel inspiration from the warm Islands...

Irie Mon!!!

Yes, the little Rastafarian is eating grass (not smoking it)....more on that in the next post.

Childhood delights

Don't you remember, as horse obsessed kids, when ANYTHING horse made you giddy?! 

(has that changed? lol) 

Anyway, I personally remember that in between my 3 day a week riding lessons, I would bury myself into books of horses and would sketch horses for endless hours.

Once in fact, in High School, I was yelled at in the front of the class by my 'teaching' Nun (blah) who held up my journal of notes with doodles of horses all around it.  Little did she know that her class of religion would do nothing for me as an adult, but my doodling horses brought me all the joy in the world.  Ha!

So, have any of you ever read this book below?

I remember it being one of my faves as a child and just recently found a copy for my home...can't wait to re-read as I've forgotten the story quite a bit other than Sky Rocket was a small Bay that loved to jump...I think?!

AND..it's illustrated by Sam Savitt who I basically drool over his illustrations.

Hmmm, quite interesting that this little Bay Horse...

Looks JUST like another Bay Horse I know...

Perhaps that came into play in my subconscious when we met in the field, that random Fall day in September of 2008, lol!

Isn't it great that our Childhood loves have grown into our Adult loves and we get to have a special port back into time of fun, innocence and love of horses!

***

And here is something that I wanted to share, that was emailed to me by a sweet Parent of my Husband's Bball team:

4. Horse Sense : Tips for Working with Horses

By Chick Moorman and Thomas Haller

Children are different from horses. Parents are different from horse handlers. Sleeping in a barn is different from sleeping in a bed. Horses are bought and sold. Children are not. Horses pee and poop in a field. Children are potty trained to use a toilet. Raising horses is a lot different from raising kids. All that being the case, you might not expect to find any useful parenting strategies employed by horse trainers and their owners. But, then again, you might.

Consider the following:

1. Communication takes many forms. Most important is that horses understand what we are trying to say and that we understand what they are trying to say.
2. Horses push. They test boundaries. If the boundaries move, they figure the boundaries will probably move again.
3. If what a horse pushes on moves, you can bet he will push some more.
4. Horses don't particularly care where our boundaries are, but they are more comfortable when we have some and are consistent with them.
5. If a horse can move us without a consequence, he has learned an important lesson.
6. Many adults blame the horse for learning that lesson and forget to look at the person who taught him that behavior.
7. How we react to a testing of boundaries will influence how the horse looks at us from that point on.
8. Many adults label a horse as pushy, disrespectful or bad, even when he has learned the behavior from his handler. They often want the horse to be fixed.
9. Catching a behavior early is easier to deal with than if it is allowed to continue for a longer period of time. It takes less energy on the part of the horse and the owner.
10. Sometimes the cure for a horse problem is to allow the horse to go for a good run without being chased.
11. Some horse handlers look at an unwanted behavior and label it bad. Most often that behavior is just the horse letting you know how he is feeling in the present moment. He is providing us with information.
12. What we do with that information flows out of how we decide to see that information.
13. Patience is important.
14. A horse's body and behavior is telling us what is happening internally.
15. Most miscommunication between a horse and a rider results from the rider not giving enough direction. This often occurs when the rider is indifferent.
16. You have to stay connected with yourself if you are going to connect effectively with your horse.
17. The more upset a horse gets, the quieter you need to become.
18. If your horse increases his emotion, it is helpful to decrease yours.
19. Very few new horse-training techniques exist. There are only those that are new to us.
20. Horses thrive on consistency.

Obviously, not all horse owners treat their horses with the respect these ideas reflect. Some people beat their horses, blaming them for inappropriate behaviors. Others let them starve physically or emotionally. Some ignore them and their health needs. Others frighten them with whips and shouting.

Our hope is that more people learn to respect horses and build trust without wounding their spirit. Perhaps these ideas will help more parents—we mean horse owners—raise more responsible, caring, conscious children . . . we mean horses.

Putting on our coats

Oh...Fall  back...anyone else missing the sun already and SUMMER!!!??

I am, so I wanted to look at how crazy amazing it is to see the coat differences in just a few months!

Below is from July..a thin metallic coat that lightly glazes over muscles like honey poured over rocks.

This is when I think he looks the most majestic and true Thoroughbred.

I also miss giving him relief from the heat, in the form of a bath.

When I first got Laz he was sooo anxious during his baths. This summer, he loved them.

The sun brings out his blood bay coloring!

Cinnamon hues with orange flecking sparking through.

A common Bay?! Puh-lease

I love this image (captured by my talented sister) of Laz's tail thrown over my shoulder while I clean his hooves.  He has his Mamma's hair coloring :)

What's funny, is my younger sister, while visiting asked me "why are all your furried babies boys and brown or black?" lol!  

I don't know, not planned but surely LOVED.

Now back to normal non amazing photos via me and my crackberry.

Sweet water drinking Laz (goooood boy) in his still growing darker cocoa powdered rabbit furred coat that he's donning.  It's soooo warm and fuzzy but makes for static shock zone! I had to wet down a towel and lightly wet him before our grooming, but it helped!

Can you stand that cute pink tongue?!

Still dribbling water, this was almost a great shot but of course one ear had to listen behind him

And for fun...two random photos.

This one of Mason is from 4 years ago, and was one of the many photos of him that we used at our wedding as our table numbered cards.  It was a big hit.  It was also before we had Pudgie or Laz, so Mason was the only star :)

And this is from my house (sorry for dark light) of some rearranging and designing I did.

I took off the dust jackets to my favorite childhood horse books and put them out on display.

I think it looks awesome!!

Thanks for reading and WELCOME to my new readers...so glad you joined!!!

6 weeks barefoot and counting...

This past week of time spent working with Laz.

Mason the wonderchocolatepup is so patient during our hour long drive to get to his favorite place, "the Farm" which he now knows our little schedule like his feeding time. Crazy. :)

The sweet life in Laz's eye

I tried to capture how his bay coloring isn't just brown. It glistens with copper, gold, red, dune, gray and black hairs.  He is getting quite used to me kissing that sweet muzzle and is learning to tolerate and even expect it

This is his bad foot and please excuse the mess..it was before I cleaned it, which I should have photographed it after, but I didn't, sorry.  This shows the bars (I think) and how uneven they are due to the laminitis, and possible the wedge shoes?  Laz is doing really well barefoot and I have to keep remembering, it's only been 6 weeks!  It feels like a lot longer.  I haven't had xrays since Feb 18th, and he is completely off his meds and I feel walking better than he ever has.  

We decided to wait on more Xrays...there is some discussion that xrays could cause a delay  in the healing of laminitis. I guess, if you compare that with going to the dentist/doctor and they drape you in a heavy protective apron during an xray..it must do something to our insides right?

One thing for sure with laminitis...is there isn't anything for sure.

This was his mood for the day. Sweet puppy face sleepy boy.  You know, the PERFECT day to ride and just kind of kerplunk around.  For me, being into just pleasure riding (I'm so impressed with so many of you and your riding skills with you and your horses...wow) and to just enjoy the bonding while riding, these were the days I would LONG for with my OTTB.  

Sigh..soon enough but even to just have him to enjoy is definitely enough.

So, instead of riding which we still can't do yet, we do our Cliff approved walks in the sandy arena for about a half hour.  Laz is doing better and better in the 'spooky' corners and I am too with being a brave leader. I have to admit though, on the sleepy puppy days, I'm a great leader. On the windy, fire dragon days, I rely on the help of the BO "C" to help me through it.

Here is BO "C" working with us with the Clinton Anderson lead and desensitizing Laz with the 'whip' by hitting it on the ground until he relaxes and isn't tense.  When I first got Laz he was petrified by whips and cracking sounds.

Handsome boy.

Yes, still ribby, muscle tone has gone to blah since his bout with colic in October, but overall, not too shabby.

And look how he is standing on both hind legs!

Here we are working with having him stand still by mounting block and remember what it's like to have a rider and legs/arms dangling around.  Obviously he could care less and was pony perfect.

You can see how sleepy he is and we do our desensitizing work within a 15 minute capacity to not exhaust him mentally

Reward is Cliff approved grazing for 10-15 minutes.  I still get SO nervous about allowing him to graze but so far he's been doing well with it.

And to the far left, that is the BO's puppy Carley, who is getting SO big! 

To the left, to the right!

Molting! The shedding is beginning and I love getting that winter coat out!

Laz almost looks a little hay belly chunky to me..I'm double checking with Cliff and Vet to make sure he is at a good weight for his laminitis. I don't want him heavy on his feet but I have to admit, I HATE the ribs that stuck out!

It was raining this weekend which is why he looks so awful half wet/dry and sandy below

Then I was thinking how unfortunate that his mane goes to the right because it leaves his left side so exposed to the elements. His has the barn on his right and the wind/weather usually comes in to the left but I like him facing the other horses so I don't want to move his feeder but it leaves his left neck totally exposed.

I also noticed that the BO's horses, the majority of their horses have manes that flop to the right, except for one.

What side does your horse's mane grow to?

January is back...damn!

Well truly January really never left, but the usual cold weather did for a bit. And now she's back and frigid. Winds are up, snow whipping around in the air and brrrr, I think it was high of 20 degrees today but whatever the 'weather' really is, when it's windy, it's almost intolerable!

Even Laz's ear is a furried sight!

His sweet muzzle. I think he looks a bit un-loved right now due to his long shaggy coat, his long mane, long whiskers and totally outgrown bridle path. I'm leaving all to grow during the winter for his benefit, other than that bridle path..that is killing me and I have to get at it soon.

I think his whiskers give him a helping hand when feeling for his hay in this cold.

See how long his mane is?! Oh well, I guess the added warmth is for his benefit..I want to chop it come spring for a great makeover! :)

I kept going to the heated tack room for warm breaks during my visit with Laz, and look what I found. The two sweet barn cats, Lilo and Stitch...do you see the hugging?!

Laz even decided to stay in a bit today, on his own choice. In fact, I was soooo pleasantly surprised when he came in his stall after I topped his water off with warm water. I quickly took the chance to wrap his legs inside were the wind wasn't so strong.