13Mar 2012 by myexracer

New Friends

Barn tales, Life with Jezebel, OTTB
[caption id="attachment_80" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Best Friends Forever "][/caption] Things are so different here then in California. For example, turn out. It's not something that's done in the heart of Los Angeles. There its pretty much stall boarding only. I did for some time have my previous mare in an "in and out". A stall with a little extra out door area attached but that's as close to turn out as it got. Here in Maryland turnout is the norm. Horses spend half to more then half of their time out in a filed with other horses. In the winter then come in at night, in the summer when its hot they come in during the day and when the weather permits ( spring and fall) they are out 24/7 at…
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10Mar 2012 by myexracer

Three days in

Life with Jezebel, OTTB
[caption id="attachment_67" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Just looking at this picture is costing me money"][/caption] Three days in and Miss Jezebel came up lame. Her hind left was causing her much discomfort and pain. She was walking broken legged. I took her digital pulse. I could feel it. Damn. I put her on stall rest, my barn manager gave her some butte and we hoped for a bruise. It wasn't to be, the next day she was still lame so the vet was called in. It was in fact an abscess. Less then a week with my ex racer and I was already calling in the vet. Welcome back to horse ownership to me! My vet was able to find the track, he poked the abscess and I started the process of…
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08Mar 2012 by myexracer

Stable hunting

Barn tales
[caption id="attachment_57" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="On the hunt for the perfect barn"][/caption] After I decided that an OTTB was what I wanted I needed to find a place to keep her. I of course started with the Google. Unlike Los Angeles where you only have a handful of places to board your horse Maryland and Virginia have a lot. I know I needed a place as close to my home as possible so I could spend more time with my horse and less time on the road getting to my horse. The first place I went to look at was about 10 minutes from my home. As part of my process in picking a place I like to show up unannounced. I want to see what the place is like when…
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06Mar 2012 by myexracer

It happened so fast

Life with Jezebel, OTTB
[caption id="attachment_35" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="A real looker"][/caption] After the decision was made it happened so fast. I put in my applications for an OTTB with 3 rescue groups on a Sunday night by Monday morning I was on the phone with one and moving ahead with the process. One week later I was at a horse farm in PA looking at 5 OTTB mares. I was specifically going to look at a 6 year old recently off the track 16.2hh dark bay beauty but that's not what I came home with. Although a real beauty her and I didn't have a connection. She needed time to be let down, to remember to be a horse and to settle in. I knew right away she wasn't the horse for me so…
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