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Wentworth Hunter Pace - June 6, 2021

After Margaret and I had such a fun time at the fall hunter pace, we opted to go again this spring! This time, while I rode Rejoice again, Margaret rode her horse Jester and had a friend ride Ladyhawke. All Kennebec Morgans!! Jester and Rejoice have the same dam and Jester and Lady share the same sire. Unfortunately instead of a lovely late spring day, we had one of the first intensely hot and humid days of the year. It was definitely a bummer, but the ride was mostly in the shade of the woods and we had a great time!  most of the fences were 3' coops but we found a small log and this hay to jump haha Until we didn't. 😑 We brought along a third friend who rode Margaret's older mare, Ladyhawke. She's a good rider but hasn't known Ladyhawke for very long and didn't realize how much of a cranky boss mare she could be at times. She kicked Jester right in the front leg just about halfway through the ride, and while the cut itself ended up not being a big deal in the

Snappy update

Snappy has settled in well since she arrived in my care on December 11, 2012.  There were so many things I did for her!  She is like a brand new mare!  Ha ha ha!
  • Hoof trim - Snappy had her hooves trimmed by my farrier just three days after she arrived.  She had her race plates pulled just before I got her, so she was barefoot.  I was horrified to find that first night that whoever pulled her plates left all the nails!  WTF!!!  I don't even want to know or hear why they were left in, but I can tell you, it was one of the most unprofessional things I have seen.  My farrier wasn't too worried, but did ask me to remind him next time so that he doesn't forget.  She was so off balance and much of her "unsoundness" was simply because she had such unbalanced hooves.  It was amazing how quickly she moved soundly once he trimmed her just slightly.  
  • Vet visit - My vet came out on Christmas Eve to float her teeth.  I knew they were bad, but I was not prepared for what we saw when he opened her mouth.  OMFG!
BEFORE: This is why you need to float your horse's teeth EVERY YEAR!!!! 



AFTER:  Not perfect, but SOOO much better! She has an incisoral slant that she was either born with or developed early on. It will take time to realign everything but now at least all of her chewing surfaces match up properly. 
I also had my vet check her eyes, which are always gunky.  He flushed her tear ducts and gave me eye ointment, which has really helped.  

Also, she had weird bald spots with a little scurf on the inside of her hocks.  He had me break Vitamin E capsules open for a few days and use the oil to soften it up.  Once all the scabs were off, I applied Animax ointment.  He felt it was just a bacterial dermatitis and was not worried about it.  The Vitamin E oil made it looks much better, and the Animax has helped it just about completely clear up.  It is starting to grow back the hair (and thankfully it is growing back the correct color: black!)

And finally, the vet looked at the aural plaques in her ears.  They look like big white warts, and way back when I first met Snappy in July 2012, I was told she had always had them and it was why she HATED to have her ears touched.  (She was SOOOOO head shy and I hated it!!) I was really hoping my vet would have a tried-and-true remedy, but alas, there is not much that can be done.  At least they are in a dormant stage for the winter, but will probably come back just as bad in the spring and summer.  She will wear a flymask and he recommended Vitamin E oil again.  He said he has heard that a homeopathic remedy called Thuja could be fed to her, but it not sure he is willing to say it works!
  • Having FUN!!  - I have been riding Snappy as much as I can.  We are in the throes of winter and riding time is just short and easy hacks, but she is a lot of fun to ride and seems to enjoy it.  We are playing "dressage pony" for now, learning about bending and using our body correctly, and will bring out the race saddle in the spring!
Represent.
I did not realize how hard it is to take a pic by yourself.  Snappy says, "Oh look, a goat!" 

Such a happy horse! 
Our first rides on the track at her new barn...
And then it sn*wed a bit...
And then it sn*wed MORE!  But Snappy passed the "snow plow" test!  Wheee!
And MORE SN*W!!!
And the beach!  I will do a separate post on that.

  •  Supplements - I tried the SmartPak Combo Pellets at first, thinking what a perfect supplement this would be for Snappy!  Ummm, well, she refused to eat it for five meals.  Yeah, that's not going to work...I have compromised with TriSport and Tractgard, with a chaser of UlcerGuard.  So far, she is eating it without issue.  I feel pretty confident that she has ulcers, but I am not going through the expense of having her scoped.  A few tubes of Ulcerguard will help for now and I will reevaluate.





  • Trust issues - Snappy was a very unhappy horse when she first arrived at her new home this past December.  I have known her since last summer, and while she is distant and polite to work around, she is just generally grumpy and dislikes being touched.  I would not say she has ever been abused, but I do think she is sore.  She HATES her ears being touched (see aural plaques above) and perhaps she has been "eared" in the past, which would hurt worse due to the aural plaques.  She gets very kicky when you touch her belly, hind end, back legs, or tail.  I had to just be careful when I worked on her.  I would have never touched her teats in the past, as she would have kicked my head off.  It has taken me lots of time and daily grooming sessions to get her to trust me and know that when I touch her, it won't hurt.  Granted, she "knew" me, but being with her every afternoon really helped establish a relationship.  I worked patiently with her and found the approach/retreat technique worked the best on her ears.  I am really proud that I can now touch her face and ears with no problems.  She still wants to flinch at the very first touch, but then lowers her head and her eye changes.  It is great!  She is still not crazy about her belly and legs touched, but she doesn't strike at me anymore!  LOL!  Sometimes she will just lift her hoof an inch off the floor, but quickly put it back, which is a huge step in just a month.  And now I have cleaned her teats and bum a few times, too!  (The first time I wiped her teats with a baby wipe she cow kicked like a boss.  OMG.  LOL!)  But again, being patient and working through things in small steps has really helped.  I tried clippers with her back in the fall to do her bridle path and I thought she was going to flip over.  Oh boy.  At this point, I can touch her body all over with the clippers running, including her poll area (but not yet her head or ears....that will take much more time).  I have just been using scissors to do her bridle path all along, but soon I will be able to use the clippers, I am sure. 

So much progress!  This is huge!!!  If I tried this before, she would have had her head high, her eyes wide, and I would have no chance of touching any part of her face.

Awwwww!!
  • Her "exercises" (as my son calls them) - I have been doing some basic in-hand work with Snappy, teaching her carrot stretches (loves it), how to lower her head to my hand on her poll (much better now that I can touch her ears!!), backing up (which is foreign to racehorses), and standing square (still a work in progress)
  • Chiro appointment - My chiro vet is coming out tomorrow, so I will have a very good idea of where Snappy is out of whack.  I suspect her poll, neck, back, and SI joint are messed up.  I think a lot of her crabbiness and kicking comes from her pain.
Stay tuned!  :-)

Comments

  1. You get GREAT BIG, BRIGHT GOLD stars for all the work you're doing with Snappy. Yay for you!!!!

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  2. She's a lucky horse - sounds like very good progress in a short time!

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  3. You two look very happy together! :-)

    She is one lucky mare to have fallen into your care. I can't believe her teeth! Wow - that alone will probably help her feel way better. Well, and the trim and the ulcer meds...and...and...etc. lol

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  4. Are those ear things not sarcoids?? My moms mare had those and we just used a cream to burn them off!

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  5. Wow, those teeth were crazy! She's so lucky to have you.

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