Hello there

So I think that the owners of Safe Haven may just kick me out simply because I find way too many things that are wrong.

Last week I found an injured horse nothing too bad just a scrape on the ankle that needed to be taken out of the mud so that it wouldn't get infected.  I could just hear everybody mentally sighing in their heads (including my own) about having to put her in isolation, when all of our isolation pens are really only meant for the summer.

Then yesterday I of course had to find ANOTHER problem.  I was holding one of the horses because we were trimming his feet no big deal, and well I felt a few little bumps from scabs or something.  So I took a closer look because I like to know every inch of my animals bodies about as well as I know my own.  Well as I looked I realized they were scabs and was wondering what could have caused the scabs.  It is the middle of winter and there are absolutely no flies around.

So what could be causing these scabs?

Taking a very very close look, I found these little tiny yellowish bugs.  I almost thought they were something, it didn't completely freak me out until I realized they were moving!!!!!  I then had my friend also look at them to make sure I was not going insane and even she agreed that it was some sort of external parasite.  Now external parasites are not something I have dealt with a lot over the years, except the garden variety of flies.  So of course I called an expert and she told me that they were either bots or lice.

Upon some research when I got home I learned a few things about both bots and lice. Can you guess which is which?

 

 

Well the top one is lice and the bottom is a bot fly.  I guess my worst fears came true... Safe Haven has lice.  The other deciding factor is that bots are around in the spring and summer months, where as lice thrive in the winter months. 

 

Interesting right? I thought for sure that both would only live in the summer months.  And also I found the lice on the neck/wither areas of the horse, and that is also the most common place you find lice.  There are also two types of horse lice the biting type and also the sucking type of lice.  I am pretty darn sure we have the sucking type since I watched one attach to one of the scabs and start sucking blood.  The other type of lice is the type that eats the dandruff off of the horses.  There are a variety of treatments and medicines out there that can be used.  Though I found one website with a lot of home remedies and the one that intrigued me the most with how thorough and easy it is plain white vinegar.  Who would have thought???  So next time I find lice on a horse I am going to go into the pantry and grab a bottle of vinegar to spread onto the affected areas.

My two cents

So I know this has nothing to do with the horse rescues, but in some ways it particularly does. 

Over the past few months aka a year or so I have been wondering what each horse can teach to riders.  So when I try and match up riders with horses I try to match up for three things: skill level, personality, and horses that are being underworked.  Each horse has a lesson to teach us and I believe it is important to learn those lessons with as much of an open mind as possible.  Sometimes the decrepit horse has more too teach us than any other young horse ever has. 

There is an old horse I know that is as stubborn as a mule but underneath all that roughness is really a sweet old lady that has some great training on her.  (Lol now that I think about it I know another horse like that who is a grouchy old man.) These horses have some very important lessons to teach us and too many simply miss the point that under all that dust is actually an amazing horse.  Such lessons include not judging a horse purely on looks or on first impressions, to know for sure where you are headed and why, to be able to effectively put your point across, and balance.  Now I know those things seem like a far stretch from what old Lucy can teach you, from riding her.  Though at the end of the day when all is said and done you will be surprised at just how much a horse can teach you.

I know that in the past and still to this day I have had issues believing that there is any lesson attached to riding a certain horse except just to give that horse some exercise.  Usually at the end of these rides I am convinced of either two things my instructor gave me a valuable lesson or she is quite simply trying to torture me.  As I look back on the past I realize the importance of some of those torture rides and why I was forced to do what I did. 

So I guess what I am trying to say is don't turn your nose up at a horse just because they are old or not as pretty as the others.  Each and everyhorse has a lesson that they can teach you.

I'm Sorry but WWHHHAAAAAAAAATTTTTTT?????

So the latest happy news from Hell Hole is one of their wonderful mares named JJ had a baby!!!! Yay!?!  Now normally this would be a very happy time for everyone involved, but in all reality all I can think of is the awful conditions that the baby is going to grow up in and how that horse will have such awful manners.  CinDee the filly who was born last year is now a year old and volunteers are now scared to work with her.  Heck I am scared she runs and kicks out at people just trying to clean her stall! Now do not get me wrong it is not because she wants to hurt you or even that she is scared but simply because she does not understand that, it is not okay.  All I can see in her future and this baby's future is either a horrible life at Hell Hole or a very brutal wake up call.

So here raises the question is the owner of Hell Hole going to train this baby to be his new endurance horse like he is with CinDee?  Or is he just going to let them get worse to were they are like Little Hock and literally have no matters and I am scared to work with?  I think he is going to fall back into his old habit and when somebody says something about their horrible ground manners he will just blame it on the weather again, sigh.  And of course there comes into play that I highly doubt a seventy some odd man can do endurance riding and that a doctor would prescribe it for physical therapy?  I don't know something with this just seems very fishy to me. 

Though back to the story of the new baby, what makes this story even more incredible is that nobody knew she was pregnant!  Yes some 85ish horses IS a lot of horses to take care of and heck even impossible under these circumstances, but really?  I swear the owner of Hell Hole has to walk around with his hand in front of his face not to see the awful conditions that his horses are living in.  We are guessing and no facts coming from here just guesses that based on past behavior is probably 99% accurate.  Now we know the mare was not getting ANY special vitamins because we give out the grain to all of the horses who are supposed to get some, and JJ is not on the list.  Though we are also guessing that this baby was unfortunately not born in a nice clean stall that is big enough for adequate room.  Nope this baby probably got it all, right out in about a foot of the muck yupp that's the life right there.  I mean come on who wouldn't want to live out here?

Yeah I was thinking the same thing just enough mud to go around forty or so times a lovely fence to get stuck on and that old barn that looks unsafe for anything to be living in it.

Much Debate

So after much debate and many long hours of thought matters of the heart out won matters of the brain, for the first time in a long time actually.  I was able to adopt Lil' Star yesterday and am the proud new owner of a little appy mare who hopefully will give me many many more hours of pure enjoyment.  She will continue to stay at the horse rescue, Safe Haven, because the only other place I have for her is my dorm room (even though she would fit).  When they offered her to me they said that I could keep her at Safe Haven free of charge and they would care for her like they always have.  It's really amazing how much a little piece of paper can make you feel about finally owning your first horse.

I know she is not an ideal first horse for any first time horse owner; IE not being ride able and all and of course only a few months ago not being touchable.  Though even still I am super excited and cannot wait until she grows enough to finally be able to handle the weight of a rider.  Which I am hoping next spring she will have grown up enough to be able to finally start saddle training but until then, we are working on her getting excellent ground manners.

OK so on to a little rant... I know sometimes I make stupid mistakes, don't we all?  But so far my mistakes have never affected 30 some odd horses.  Safe Haven's trainer brought in a new horse with rain rot and well unfortunately now it has pretty much spread like wildfire all over the property.  So now horses have rain rot and mind you some horses are untouchable right now on the property...I am not sure how we are going to treat them.  And if we do not get this epidemic(I know its not too serious) under control then I am not quite sure what is going to happen.  Though I am pretty sure a new policy is going to be put into affect after this that goes something along the lines of... "ALL horses coming onto property must go through at least a one week quarantine period." 

All of this happening out at Safe Haven makes me really wonder, why do we not get rain rot and the such back home? Or is it just the fact that I never realized what rain rot was until yesterday really when I was taught how to recognize it?  I guess I need to spend a lot more time thinking this one through and all, but it really amazes me still how it seemed like back home horses almost never got sick.  I have never had to before bandage an open wound, give shots, treat rain rot, and wounds in the hoof wall, am I just lucky or am I lucky to be able to learn how to do all of this stuff now?  I think I am lucky to be able to truly care for horses more and more and also know what to do when something does go wrong.

Weekend fun

So I know it has been awhile, but here I go.

I spent this past weekend at Safe Haven and had a blast while out there. I was able to work with multiple horses and gain a lot of experience. While working with Lil' Star I found to my chagrin that she has become dull at her backing and comes into my personal space bubble WAY to much. Do I feel a plan forming to deal with this? Yes I believe I do only issue is I am not sure yet what that plan is at this time...oh well I do have all summer after all until I will see her again on a normal basis. What I mean is that I am going home for the summer. I am going to miss that girl loads, and according to her owner (not sure if I believe this) she gets depressed when I leave for the weekend. Now I am no fan of calling myself Mommy (actually I hate it) but this little girl has decided I am her mom whether I like it or not. I also figured out why she has no issue with me leaning over her but has an issue with me actually laying on her...She doesn't like the weight! Well as you probably can guess this means she will be carrying weights when I come back...or perhaps an unexpecting rider? ...Nah that's a bit mean even for me. I was able to get a bareback pad on her also with absolutely no fussing, and even when I let her canter and run around there was no bucking. I am very proud of how well she was able to handle it.

And over this weekend I started to work with my newest project a short stalky quarter horse mare that is also two who is called Buttons. Now where as with Lil' Star I could just walk up and halter her this mare would barely even let me touch her. Though I was able to "apple" her into the round pen. Once in I was slowly able to work my way up to petting her and eventually get a halter on! Now for some this may not seem like such a big deal but what really excites me is how much better I am getting and how many less mistakes I am making. It's sad but I feel like the more horses I train the less issues they will have. Also back to Buttons, I was able to take her out of the pasture for the first time since she came to Safe Haven. I found that she is easily spooked and also very protective of herself I think she will never be a fan of change. Also I found she is very sensitive and quick to respond where as Star was a lot more dull.

First Post

So I am starting this blog about two different horse rescues in the area.  The first place loves all their horses and they want to see the horses well taken care of and adopted out to loving homes, I love to work with them, we shall call it Safe Haven.  The other is a rundown place that the only owner of 80 some odd horses cares so much that he will not put down a horse in pain or even for that matter take care of infected and open wounds, we shall call it Hell Hole.  The differences between these two places are drastic and because of this I would only really ever want to send a horse to Safe Haven.

So a little bit of background every Saturday I go out to Safe Haven and every Sunday I go out to Hell Hole.  This past Saturday at Safe Haven I worked with some of the more inexperienced riders making sure all their tack was fitting properly and that they could communicate effectively with their horses.  I also worked with a young horse who will be two in August and is a cute Appy filly?mare? whatever who's name is Star but I like to call her Miss Star.  I also just got permission to be Miss Star's trainer and this will be the first time that I have ever started a horse or ever worked with a young horse.  So I am very excited to say the very least, and I hope that she will become an amazing riding horse that either I or somebody else will be able to adopt. 

Now yesterday I went out to Hell Hole and the snow did not help anybody's moods.  When we found Ben in his office he gave us a list to do that was about the size of pluto and expected it all to be done in three hours, because that is the time we have to leave.  The list included feeding, fixing a downed fence, cleaning about twelve stalls, unbandaging a horses leg, grooming the horses, and taking some of the horses out for walks.  My friend M and I went out to catch this horse and clean the wound that had not been cared for in seven days, because Ben was unable to catch his own horse.  When we found this horse Little Hock and cut the bandage off it still looked like a fresh wound and we were worried it might be infected.  So while going through his medical supplies (which are highly lacking) I called an experienced horse person back home to help walk us through how to help this horse.  Though as soon as we started Ben walked up and decided to get involved.  He took Little Hock down to his house on the walk not caring that he was pulling and giving me a hard time until he gave me rope burn.  And then the reason for this was that "he wanted to be up front with Dad" even though he in all honesty just wanted to return to the herd. 

Instead of taking Little Hock into the yard where it was dry and flat he took him into his house!!!  As he was pushing both of us around and as Ben was getting water Little Hock cornered me a few times and the only reason I got out was because M pulled me by my shirt.  After the second bucket of hot water being kicked over and a few handsome rears Ben decided it was time to punish his horse.  The first hearty smack to the face all I could think was oh thank god your finally realizing how much of a pain your horse is.  Though it quickly got out of hand and the smacks kept getting more and more frequent with only Little Hock becoming more and more freaked out.  At one point I think I told Ben that if he kept on trying to hold onto the horses head like that he was going to break his hand.  He was trying to get ahold of his upper lip so that some of the endorphins would be released and he would be calmer, but he could not get a hold of him long enough and Little Hock was pounding his head into the wall.  Then Ben decided he was going to cut the air flow so that the horse could not breathe and at this point I turned around to M and told her to go find a twitch or stud chain something to get Ben more control.  It had become a tug a war between an older man and a young horse, and I had placed all of my bets on the horse.

Of course Ben turned down the stud chain saying that he did not need it, and Little Hock was just being a brat.  My snarky remark that I had quipped in my brain was "Yeah? Well this horse needs medical attention and you sure are not getting it done"  Luckily for us it was time to go at this point and he decided that he was going to tie the horse inside the house and leave him to think about his actions.  Yes it was correct for Ben to stop when it became apparent that he was letting his temper get involved, but for some reason I felt like tieing Little Hock inside your home is not the best of choices.

As we were leaving he decided he was going to give me a public lecture in front of all my friends about why one should not use twitches or stud chains.  And here is what I have to say back if used properly they will do no harm and will benefit the horse in the long run, it is when used unproperly that things become an issue.  And also you were using your hand as twitch anyways! what is the difference between using your hand when it doesn't work and a twitch that actually does?  I believe I would go with the twitch, and to you it may seem I am wanting to put a twitch on too many of your horses, but the only time I even mention it is when it becomes a game of tug a war.  And in all honesty I HATE USING TWITCHES I WILL ONLY USE ONE IF ABSOLUTELY NECARSSARY!