All was Fair at the Fair

Friday and Saturday I went to the horse expo.

If you've never been, picture a ton of booths, vendors, horses, clinics, and competitions.  It's filled with tons of things to do and see.  

I have gone for several years and always enjoy myself, but then again, I am not hard to please.  Friday I went with my husband which was nice to spend time with him, but the downside is it is hard to go shopping when he is doing the what-the-heck-are-you-spending-money-on look.  

So, we went and wandered the booths, attended a seminar on trailering safety, watched some presentations, caught up with friends, and then attended the rodeo.

Speaking of rodeos..

This roping horse wasn't impressed.

It appeared he had some other rope caught on his leg that he was not thrilled about.

I watched a few stallion presentations and liberty runs.  

Not a fan of this stallion.  But people seemed to like his hair.  I know people like that too.

Then on Saturday, I had a chance to go shopping.  I bought a Kensington rain sheet for the semi feral filly and a new Kensington fly mask.  We'll see how they work out for the poor delicate soul.

I also bought another pair of little ear clippers to see if having a smaller pair of battery operated clippers will make my wrangling simpler.  

Pepi for that show ring shine...

And that's pretty much it.  So many things to look at and buy, but so little monies.  It's not a fair with lots of high end equipment for some crowds, but there are deals if you look around and I just mostly enjoy meeting and chatting with all my horse friends.

Cool Percherons pulling an antique hearse

A little beyond my skill

How about you guys?  Anyone enjoy going to expos or horse fairs?  Favorite things to do, buy, and see?

Feliz Cumpleanos

Yesterday, the semi feral mare turned 19.

I thought about getting birthday hats and subjecting her to some form of a humiliating photo.  But I didn't.  Maybe the big 2-0 will warrant a hat and cake.

A hat??

Instead, I went out late after work.  She got to work a bit on her birthday, but enjoyed a few candy canes and a small handful of grain as a reward.

After some harrowing adventures last year (colon displacement, tendon injury), I am grateful that she is still here.

So happy birthday to the pretty girl.  I hope we have many more to share together.

Blog Hop: Commerical Moment

From L at Viva Carlos

Realistic things I am purchasing this year.  Perhaps a timely thread, since Midwest Horse Fair Expo begins in just a few days and I will be on the prowl.

*I am looking for a pony sized dressage bridle to show my midget sized filly in-hand, since she can no longer show in a halter for sport horse classes.

*Fly spray concentrate is usually pretty reasonable at the expo.

*White dressage breeches.  Probably won't find some in my size at the expo, but I can wander and hope.

Not sure what else I am on the hunt for this year.  I recently bought an old Passier saddle for the filly, since the rest of my tack is supermegahugewide and the filly is well...not so much.

I will have to share what I find at the expo instead!

Crooked Business

A few months ago, I came across an interesting article about using the shoulder-fore to help straighten the natural asymmetries in the horse.

I know a lot about being crooked.  I am a crooked person (in posture, not ethics!).  Multiple sports injuries have left me extremely strong on my right side and prone to slouching and losing control over my left.

My horse is also crooked.  The poor SFM has had several traumatic injuries just to her left side, so basically, our left circles often look more like ovals or eggs or basically any shape, but round.

Tonight, the SFM was being good and on the spot as usual (and walked up to me in the pasture, leaving her dinner.  What??) so I decided to go back and try introducing a bit of the shoulder fore.

Basically the premise of this exercise is to have the circle bent on the circle and then go straight, but using the circle to form the shoulder fore and continuing that on the rail. 

I never thought about it, but the article talks about the horse's natural predisposition to sag and be crooked on the rail, having their head closer to the rail (and subsequently, the rest of the body will be crooked as well).  By exercising and asking a horse to do the opposite, the goal will to have a horse that can be straight on the rail.

I will tell you that tonight, it is far more difficult than it first appears for the SFM.  I had to keep myself correct and block her from trying to travel to the center of the arena.  But I feel that she took a lot away from the exercise as well.  We even confidently traveled to the "scary" end of the arena near where the hay loft is and the random attack cats lurk.  I think that it kept her mind so busy that she wasn't able to find other things to focus on.  ;)

So what do you think?  Check out the article and share your thoughts!

 

A Literary Bonanza

Parts of my family are horsey too.  Not sure if I mentioned this or not.

My grandparents bred and had Arabian horses (among other animals) for decades. 

Perhaps it was simply genetic when I decided at a young age, I too, preferred the Arabian horse.  

The other week, I came home and my husband asked me what I ordered from Ebay.  I, of course, said I had no clue since I didn't remember buying anything online recently unless I had taken up sleep shopping.

I opened the box to find many wonderful old Arabian horse books.  There are several Arabian yearbooks, old farm catalogs, a book on Kellogg Arabians, and more.

A literary bonanza!  I love looking at the old photos and seeing how things evolve and change.  Despite the modern way of approaching things, I have found some amazing nuggets of wisdom in a wonderful old horsemanship book I found in a dusty corner of a used book store.

I decided to flip open one of the Arabian Horse Yearbooks to a random page and surprisingly enough, it opened to a horse that I know.

Gay-Gaero

An Arabian stallion, last owned by my family.

 I haven't seen that photo before.  I will have to see what other photos I have online of him.

Here is an older ad I had found years ago.

Anyone else love the older books or magazines and what you can find? 

Feeling A Little Crazy

Long week at work, but that of course, is nothing different.

Had a wonderful fuzzy bareback ride on the mare late Wednesday night.  I opted to ride bareback since I thought it would take less time to just crawl on her and waddle around then try and drag all my tack out of the tack locker.

I have a lot of tack.

And it seems to take quite a while to find and put everything away.

Fast forward to today.

Had another great ride on the SFM.  Didn't have anyone to go outside with, but we had some nice trot sets in the indoor, working on quietly controlling our pace on the rail.  The SFM is still in the mode of circles=friends and the rail=raceway, so it is always pleasant when she doesn't go into the 17047042 steps per hour mode.

Worked the little filly on the ground and she was good.  I put a different bridle on her and not sure how I feel about the bit.  The bit on the second bridle is happy mouth boucher, but I think it may be a little too fat for her tiny little face.  

I had hopes that the filly would be in a cob sized bridle this year, so I can show her in hand in her mother's bridle AKA not have to buy more new bridles.

But the filly is definitely pony sized.  Like not-even-on-the-last-hole pony sized. 

I suppose this means it's time to go pony dressage bridle shopping.  OK midget horse.  You are owned by someone that is almost six foot.  Grow a head won't you. 

The midget in all her glory tonight.

When I got home, I had a pleasant surprise from a friend who just decided to sketch a picture of one of my horses.

This only took her a few minutes.  Wish I had talent.  It is of the semi feral filly.  :) 

This leads me to my crazy conclusion:

The SFM seems so domestic lately.  Would it be absolulely crazy to think about taking her to a rated show?  She is going to be nineteen, but going so nicely this year.  Apparently either myself or her have figured out a way to effectively communicate in the past few months.  

Disinfectants, MTG, Antisepetics

Just a day with different thoughts rolling around, so here we go.  Just to answer and offer some insights into some horse related medical treatments.

MTG...why can horses react?

It's an oil and sulfur based suspension, among other things.  Sulfur is a mild antimicrobial of sorts.  Actually sulfur is in a lot of acne topical medications.  However, like humans, some horses can have strong reactions to this sulfur compound.

Also, there is oil.  I have seen more than one person putting MTG on their horse (especially on the mane, having it drip onto the crest) and then put the horse back out in the heat of summer. Even dark furred horses can be burned quite badly.

What is a disinfectant? 

In my area, there is a new outbreak of neurologic EHV-1.  This has prompted a lot of discussion on how to clean various surfaces.

Disinfectants are meant to kill microorganisms (viruses, bacteria) on non-living things.  Compare this to an Antiseptic, which is meant to kill microorganisms on living tissue.

Common disinfectants are Lysol (a member of the "quat" family), bleach, ozone, and many more.  Even alcohol can be considered a disinfectant.

But wait...isn't alcohol used as a wipe before injections?

Well yes.  Alcohol is a antiseptic too.

What is an antiseptic?

Antiseptics are meant to reduce microbial activity on living tissue.  Cleaning a wound, treating rain rot, or thrush would be examples of how antiseptics come into play.

Alcohol, betadine (povidone-iodine), hydrogen peroxide, and chlorhexidine are common in the equine community.

Wonder why mouthwash can work as a treatment?  It has a few other agents in it, but one ingredient is often alcohol.  

Why does any of this matter?

Just thought it is interesting.  Some antiseptics work better on just bacteria or certain types of bacteria than others.  I am personally a little concerned when people use disinfectants in place of antiseptics.  While disinfectants will kill microorganisms, they kill healthy cells too. For instance, bleach is pretty harsh on all tissue.   If using it to treat thrush, it isn't going to differentiate from the native hoof tissue and the infection.

Along the same vein, hydrogen peroxide is often being re-examined as an antiseptic, as while it is effective, it can cause excessive scarring and a delay in healing time.  Who knew?  I certainly have used it in my equine past.

So, there is a lot of different ways to approach treating a typical mild wound or injury.  Funny how the tack box keeps expanding to cover each possibility, when often, we already have several antiseptics hiding in plain sight.

How about you guys?  What's your protocol of choice for those little wounds or scrapes?   Cleaning stalls or equipment before a show?  Any concerns with EHV?