New Girl in the Barn

I've done it again--took-in another horse. I was at the local tack shop, Crop and Carrot, and saw an ad for a free horse. It was a horse I knew, belonging to my son's girlfriend, Jen. Fancy is a 26 year old Appy.; a Hunter/Jumper and Eventing horse. She has won walls full of ribbons in the past 2 years, but it was time to retire. Plus, Jen needs to move onto a more challenging horse. Being the "nut" that I am, I came up with the excuse of needing a trail horse for Tom, or a spare for me. After some serious discussion and lots of finagling about where to house Fancy in our barn, it was decided to add her as a new member of our equine family. As you know, we have tons of experience with senior horses, and I knew in my heart that at her age, she would eventually end-up in the "slaughter pipeline". I'd save them all, if I had the money and space!! Last Sunday, I was up early anticipating her arrival. The barn had to be spotless, even though Jen has seen my barn a hundred times. Fancy arrived, with new purple halter and lead, and an entourage of Jen, Jen's mom, step dad, and best friend Camile. Off the trailer she came, and settled right in to life at our crazy farm. Tickle My Fancy is the sweetest horse on the planet. She reminds me of my horse King Summit who died several years ago at age 37. They are once in a lifetime horses, so few and far between. Thank you Jen and Robin for trusting us with Fancy. She will be loved and cared for until the end of her days.
To read more about Tickle My Fancy, go to http://lbfequestrian.blogspot.com

Quest for the Perfect Pony

My friends decided to get their children a pony for Christmas. They already own 2 horses, have a huge field, and a 3 stall barn. I'm sure, as a horseperson, you know that all stalls in a barn must be filled. It's a crime to waste a perfectly good stall! The children are 3,4 and 9, so the pony had to be bombproof. This is an interesting term "bombproof". What does it really mean? Can you always trust the term/description? The first pony looked at was one that was about 100 years old. It was definately bombproof. The ad said free to a good home. It was a wonderful pony for small children. It really was!!! Plans were made to get the pony, until the owner happened to mention that it took 2 hours for the pony to eat. This might not be a problem for some people, but in a herd-type situation it meant the pony would get no food, and probably starve to death. She probably would be best as an only pony. The next pony to be considered was a cute little white pony at a dealers farm in Western MA. Now, I don't like this place, but its not going to be my pony. My friends asked me to check out the pony before they made the purchase. As we were walking through the main barn, I noticed 2 horses standing in a stanction with a man. The horses were just standing there doing nothing. For no reason the man picked up a leadrope and whipped one horse in the face with the end of the leadrope, and proceeded to whip the other horse in the face with the snap end of the leadrope. Well, being who I am, I marched right up to the man and said "What the f*** are you doing to these horses?" Since there were fresh hoof trimmings on the ground, I assumed it was the farrier, and said "Are you the farrier"? He said "No, I own these horses. What are you doing here?" I replied " I came to buy a horse, but I certainly won't be buying one now!", and walked away. My friends had heard the entire conversation, but were oblivious to the actual incident. They informed me I had just confronted the owner of the farm. Too bad! I don't know about any of my readers, but in my opinion, if he's striking horses on the face, for no reason, and doing it in public, I hate to think what he is doing behind closed doors!!!
I was fuming, but continued-on to check-out the pony. My friend went into the stall with the pony, touched it on its side, and it proceeded to bite, and try to kick her. She said "Maybe this is why they had it on crossties when we looked at it before!" Additionally, it had greenish mucous on its eyes, which apparently wasn't there the first time they saw the pony. Needless to say, it was decided to not get the little white pony. Now--we had driven almost 2 hours to look at the pony, and my friend was on a mission to buy a pony. I put my "thinking cap" on, and remembered a farm called Strain Family Farm in Granby, CT. It was just an hour away, so we made a call and inquired if they had any "bombproof" ponies. They had one, so off we went. Strain Family Farm is also a dealer, but I had seen some of his horses at the UCONN auction, and knew they were nice. Pricely, but nice. We arrive, see the pony, do all kinds of crazy things to the pony--it definately seemed "bombproof", and my friend purchased the pony on the spot. Ginger, will be delivered to my friends house on Dec. 23rd. I am providing the big red bow, a saddle, and I'm sure the kids will take one look at the pony and say "wheres my Barbi bike, Star Wars gun, and computer game?" Oh, well, such is life with kids! My friend is now on a mission to get a dog. I advised her to wait at least until Spring. This is way too stressful for me-----I just hope the pony is really bombproof!!!!!

Am I Bored Yet?

Things have started to quiet down here. I am actually down to 3 horses and little Sage.Mark has brought Eva, Tequilla and Trick to Shallowbrook Equestrian Center in CT, where he is working. I'm sure they are not thrilled, as they will have to work this winter, playing arena polo. Zanita has gone to DaCory Farm in Saratoga Springs, NY, until April. My sister,Emma, who owns the farm was here for Thanksgiving, and was so impressed with Zanita, she offered to work with her over the winter. Divine is on the road to recovery. Her stitches came out today. It will still be about 5 more months before we know if she will be sound enough to play polo. We are hoping for the best. Its nice to have some "down" time. There are arena polo games at Shallowbrook, and UConn over the winter. What a treat it will be, to be able to actually sit and watch a game, and not have to act as a groom!

How Much is Too Much?

One of the many horse related expenses is veterinary care. It's a fact of life for any responsible horse owner. If for no other reason, there are always yearly immunizations and dental work. At some point in your horse owning life, your horse will probably require a vet visit for some other reason. Maybe colic, a laceration,or lameness. We have had our share of medical delemas this past year, especially the past 5 months. Zanita coliced, Alcott hurt his eye and Divine choked. When Divine choked, she had to be kept in a stall overnight for observation. In the morning, she was so excited to get out, that she broke away from me and ran around for about 5 minutes. I put her in the field, and about 2 hours later, noticed she wasn't putting any weight on her right front leg. She had a small wound about the size of a dime, on the outside of her knee. The vet was called, xrays were taken, and her knee was drained, medication was prescribed. The xrays showed little pieces of "something" near where the hole was. Three days in a row the knee was drained, and by Friday there was not much improvement. It was decided, after a suggestion of surgery, to wait one more week and see if there was any improvement. Just as things were starting to look better, Divine paniced about something and fell onto her knees. Vet was called again (after hours visit), and all the damage seemed superficial, but her lameness stopped improving. More xrays were taken, and these were sent to Tufts Veterinary Hospital to be read by a radiologist. A bone chip was seen, in addition to the little pieces of "something". Surgery was strongly advised. Divine is the sweetest horse, an outstanding polo horse, and 18 years old. There are no guarantees the surgery will allow her to play polo again, or even be comfortable as a pasture pet. We have already spent over $*000-oh, did I mention she choked a second time? What do we do? Surgery would be another $*000. After a week of going back and forth with the decision it was decided to take her to Tufts. My question to you is--How do you know at what point to stop treatment? Do you stop treatment? Once you get started it seems to snowball. Alcott is another example. When his injured eye was first examined, it seemed like a straight forward problem that would correct itself after a week of ointment. It has now been a month, and about $*000. If I had known it was going to cost so much would I have just euthanized him? Afterall, he is 27, retired from polo, not a good trail horse, and costs alot to feed because he has few teeth and can't eat hay! What are your thoughts? What would you do? While you ponder this question, I'm off to the bank to pick-up the paperwork to refinance our house!!

Donations, Please!

Would you donate your horse to a College or University? There are a lot of Equine Programs that will accept horses as donations. The donation is a tax write-off. The University will let you determine the value of your horse, up to $5000. Above that, the horse must be professionally appraised. Sounds like a great deal! What a great way to "retire" a polo horse that is either too old, or doesn't suit your needs! But, read the fine print. When you donate your horse it becomes the property of the University or the College. If the horse is not suitable for their program, or they have no room for the horse, what happens? You have signed a contract that does not allow the horse to be returned to the donater. According to a local university, the horse is to be sold at auction. This particular university sends their unused,unwanted donated polo horses to an auction/sale Barn in Western, MA. According to the owner, "Thoroughbreds go straight to the "killpen". What breed are most polo horses? They are mainly TBs! Right now, the University is overwhelmed with donations of polo horses. The polo season has ended, for the most part, and the economy is in the dumps. Do the donaters know that their horse will most likely end up being slaughtered for meat? Do they care? Do they just "turn a blind eye"?

Oct. 16th--First Snow

Seasons End

All good things must come to pass. Except for Arena Polo, the polo season is over in New England. Mark is now managing the polo program at Shallowbrook Equestrian Center in CT. Tequilla has moved-out, and soon Trick and Eva will also leave. This will leave Divine and Alcott for polo. Alcott, at age 27, will only be used for lessons from now-on. Tab is doing a lot of trail riding with Zanita, who is turning out to be a fabulous trail horse. Jen, when she is home on weekends from college, rides Zanita. They definitely have a bond between them! Alcott, C'est Bon and Sage, are just hanging-out getting fat and lazy. In addtion to daily chores, there are many things to get done before winter. Rainsheets and winter blankets have been taken out of storage, tack and equipment inventoried, water heaters found, fencing checked, and storm windows put up in the barn. Its still busy around the farm, but quieter. Maybe we will eventually have some "down time" and can curl-up and read a good book--probably a book about horses!!!