Beau is a keeper

Oct 032011
 

Time for an update. I hope to keep up with my blog more this winter. I’m planning on posting horse stories here and not spend so much time on FaceBook.

I got in two short rides in before my trip, a ten minute bareback ride and another in the round pen.

Then I was off to India a few days later. I was gone for two and a half weeks. Then I was sick for another week and a half after I came back. I feel like I lost the entire month of September.

In any case, our first ride on my return was at Elijah Bristow State Park. Beau was pretty high headed for most of the ride and got a bit excited by other horses running around. It was still a great first ride together. It was really nice to know that I could take him out and just ride. I found that he loves water. He walked right in and took a nice long drink. I had to keep him moving when he started to paw, as I felt his knees start to buckle! I didn’t want to take a swim myself.

This is one of my favorite shots from the day, even though it’s not entirely in focus. My good friend, Candee, took it, along with all the other photos of me riding so far.

Right after I mounted up.

I had signed up for a Connected Riding clinic with Diane Sept months ago. It was last weekend and I decided to take Beau. Aside from some trailer loading issues, he did really well. He seemed to like being in a stall. I wasn’t sure how he would take to that. The clinic was a good opportunity to try both my saddles on him and experiment with different bits.

He definitely needs his teeth done, so I’m just riding him in what he seems most comfortable for now, which is two reins, one off the cavesson and another on a Myler, ported curb. He sees the vet for his teeth a week from Saturday. After that, it will be easier to make some decisions on bitting. In the video below, I was trying a Myler comfort snaffle and you can see that he is chewing on it pretty consistently.

I took him into the arena Sunday morning before the clinic started to get a bit of time riding alone. I am going to use this video as a baseline. It will be interesting to compare this to how he is in six months or a year. This was our first canter together as well. We rode for a few hours later in the day. We were both tired at the end of, but it was definitely worth it. I learned new things and reinforced stuff I used to know.

Needless to say, I am very happy with Beau. I look forward to working with him and seeing how he muscles up and develops. I also hope that he and Lily get along, as they will have years together. They are sharing a fenceline for now. I moved Beau to my boarding barn just last night. He is temporarily in a paddock behind Lily and Sasha. He was trying to snake the mares through the fence. Sasha was flirting with him and Lily was telling her to stay away in boss mare fashion. Lily is very good at making snarky, mare faces, which she continued for most of the time I watched them.

This evening, I put hay on both sides of the fence, so that they could spend a bit of time together. Beau reached his head over very carefully, as the top wire is hot electric. He had a bunch of hay sticking out of his mouth. I don’t think that he realized it was there. Lily was reaching towards him, but not to say “Hi”. Instead she grabbed the hay and pulled it from his mouth. Beau was startled and spun away. After than he was very deferential to Lily through the fence. I think that they’ll be okay together.

Rehoming Spanish Mustang Horses

Aug 142011
 

This deserves a blog post and not just a FaceBook update.

Meet the newest Eugene resident…

In early June, I found out about three SMR horses who’s owner wanted to surrender them to a rescue or rehome them in some way. He preferred for them to go to homes that knew what they were. So I started networking to make that happen. One was a 20 year old mare with a bit of a sway back. The other two were teenage geldings. They were a family unit, dam, gelded sire and son.

After much organization, they arrived in Eugene late last night. This morning the mother and son left on their way to northern California. The younger gelding will be making one young lady very happy. He will be Maida’s first horse after her two small ponies.

The older gelding is staying in Eugene. His registered name is Bowdrie. He was bred by Kim Kingsley and lived in eastern Oregon and eastern Washington most of his life. I understand that he has had quite a bit of trail experience, but hasn’t been ridden in the last couple of years. I can tell from the morning that he has a lot of power and go.

Here is Maida going out this morning to catch her new horse. He’s the dun roan in the front. He came right up to her.




The hardest part was when Bowdrie was left behind. I had him on a lead while the others were being loaded. After they left, we walked around the property, met the other horses and did a little work in the round pen. He was good with all that. Taking him back to the paddock that they had all stayed in last night made him realize that they were really gone.

I stayed with him a while longer. When he had settled some, I removed the halter. He continued to follow me around. He’s a smart, sensible horse and it will be fun to see what he knows. I won’t have an update for a month or so, as I’m headed off on a trip. I had hoped that they could have come earlier, but they didn’t. I trust that this all happens they way that it’s supposed to.

Funds are still needed to cover the costs of this rescue for the California bound horses.

Maida’s story

Donate to Wind Horse Foundation
WHF blog

Checks should be made to Anne-Marie Pinter, (Director) with WHF in the memo.
Mail to: 6061 Summit Drive, Garden Valley, CA 95633

Or donate through PayPal: ampwwr@yahoo.com. All donations are tax deductible retroactively by the end of the year.

THANK YOU to those who have helped with funds already, including The Lido Fund (a great place to donate ongoing) and also to those who will donate in the future. And special thanks to those directly involved, Maida, Anne-Marie and Candee. Without very deep pockets, it takes a coordinated effort to make this sort of thing happen.

Sasha update

Aug 012011
 

Looking a little spaced out

I drove up today to see Sasha at Bend Equine. She is improving, but she’ll be in for another night. Hargobind and I hung out with her and took her for a walk. She was alert, but tense. She had a good appetite for grass, though not for her mash when we went back to her stall. She wasn’t too keen on being touched much, though did like me rubbing her eartips and lips for a little while.

She has passed some manure, but it’s not normal yet. I sat with the Shannon (vet) and Gina talking about strategies. She needs to have buddies, as she gets stressed alone. Shannon also thinks that she may have ulcers and she’s going to be on UlcerGuard for a week or so and is to have hay available as much as possible and fed soaked BP and pellets a few times a day. Her weight looked really good, an improvement since last week.

Getting tubed

She was tubed again just before I left at 3:30 with the addition of mineral oil. They can tell when that comes out, so it’s a marker to see that she’s cleared of any blockages. She was an excellent patient. They tubed her with no sedation. Shannon will check on her at 2 am and again at 8 am. She may tube her again in the morning. She did say that it can be hard to get a rehydrated horse to start drinking again, so wants her on probiotics and electrolytes and loose salt put in her feed.

Several people at the clinic noticed that she was different than your average horse. I got to talk about Spanish Mustangs (surprise, surprise) and told them that she was descended from the real San Domingo of the Margaurite Henry book. And one of the other vets came up to tell me that he had never seen a horse like her and that she was obviously unique.

What did you expect?

I am glad that I was kicked into doing the IV fluids, even though it added several hundred dollars to the vet bill. I’ve gotten Care Credit, where the vet will be paid and I have 6 months to pay it off with no interest. Kali, Gina and their friends & family also have some fundraising ideas and offered to help. This is very kind and generous of them! It was a hard decision yesterday to go over that $1,000 mark, but now that it’s done, it’s right. The total will likely end up close to twice that. assuming that she goes back to the ranch tomorrow morning. It’s amazing how fast emergency care can add up.

Donations to her medical fund are welcome and can be sent to simrat@akalranch.com via paypal. Or if you are in Bend, they can be sent c/o Pony Pros.

A huge thank you to the folks that have already donated and especially to Kali, Les and Gina.

Help for Sasha

Jul 312011
 

I had started a happy blog post about Sasha going to Bend for training at Pony Pros. A ride serendipitously was found and she went up on Thursday, July 21st.

I visited her the next Saturday and talked to Gina Papa, the assistant trainer at Pony Pros. Sasha looked great and meeting Gina was a pleasure. Gina already had her learning to smile.

Sasha was doing well, but has had a setback. Yesterday, she started to colic and is now at Bend Equine Medical Center on IV fluids. Kali, Les and Gina have been just great, providing care and communication. I know that she has had excellent care.

He vet costs are already well beyond anything I had in reserve for her. So I am asking if you are reading here and have anything to spare, that it would be most helpful. Some lovely people have already stepped up and offered. THANK YOU!


Bleh … technology … The paypal button doesn’t seem to be functioning correctly. Donations (not tax deductible) may be sent to simrat@akalranch.com. Please add a note that it’s for Sasha. Thanks!



I sincerely hope that I have good news to report tomorrow morning and that Sasha will have improved. I have cancelled my morning meetings and may drive up to see her.

At the same time, three other Spanish Mustangs are on their way to a way station in their journey south to new homes. They were picked up at the same time that Sasha was on her way to the clinic. The Lido Fund has helped with some costs of their transport. If, by any chance, there are extra funds, they could go to help with gas and transport costs for those horses as well.

I never intended to get so involved in SM rescue, but it seems that is the way of it these days. I keep having horses come to my attention that need new homes or help in some way. It is very hard for me to not help. The key is to keep it within my resources. I guess I’m not doing so well on that front lately! It is not my way to ask for help, but now I am.

Pretty Shield is ready for a new home

Jun 262011
 



Pretty Shield (Sasha)
SMR 3977 ~~ 14 hands
(Chato’s Shadow x Shinie Eyes)
Born 8/3/1999 at Caballos de Destinos in Pringle, SD, bred by Sharron Scheikofsky.

Sasha is available to a good home. She is quite sensitive, knows natural horsmanship type ground work, lunging, ground ties, loads well, handles vet work and trimming. She has had 120 days training with two trainers, the most recent being Kitty Lauman several years ago. She will need retraining with her undersaddle work. Along with her being sensitive and watchful, she tends to be anxious when alone. She needs the chance to bond with someone and gain trust. Sasha is sweet and wants to please. I would love to see her with an intermediate or advanced owner that would give her a chance to see what she can do. She has a great, moving out trot and a very smooth looking canter (video at the bottom of this post). She would certainly have the soundness and stamina for endurance. She’s not taken a bad step while I have had her. She’s done great ponied out on roads, over bridges, with traffic, bicycles and on trails. She is up to date on shots, deworming, trimming and dental work. She has two blemishes, a scar on her back (shown in photos below) and a dent in he neck. My vet thinks that it might have been an abscess from vaccination. He legs are straight and clean.

She is very nicely bred to foundation SMR stock and could be an excellent addition to a broodmare band. Sasha is heterozygous for LWO and SB-1. She likely also has splash in the mix, but there is no test for that yet. She is a striking grulla medicine hat with two ice blue eyes, and a long, silky double mane.

If you are interested in talking with me about Sasha, please email. Price is negotiable to the right home and would only be to recover some of her rescue costs.

Yesterday, I gave Sasha her first soapy bath and took photos. She stood really well to be hosed. It was clear that someone had trained her on this. The barn owner was using a tractor in the area, tilling and moving compost for a new garden bed. Once Sasha saw it and had a jump, she settled down and was fine with the noise and movement. We just had to stay out of his way.

Somehow I ended up with a lot more good photos of her near side and very few of her off side. She’s not as good at posing as Lily is, so I just took tons of photos and culled to a few good ones. I can ask Lily to stop when she’s 20 feet away and she’s stand there and pose. I haven’t had Sasha long enough for her to know that she is a constant photo subject.

Here are all the beauty shots, with a few of my Lily thrown in at the end.




After her photo session and a nice trot in hand down the road to dry off, we tried her out in a new pasture with two geldings. There were a few discussions between them and the two next door, but it does seem that she may work out well there. She’ll have a bit more access to grazing than in Lily’s dry lot. When I put a horse in a new pasture, I walk them around the fence line first, so we did that after the initial nose touching. Then I did a little work with her over the obstacles in the pasture. She knows how to ground tie too. This photos was just before I turned her loose.

There are some interesting herd interactions and body language to watch. Sasha is eventually yielding, but she’s also doing some dominance posturing as well, almost snaking with her head down at times.




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