ex racer – Page 12 – My Ex Racers

11Jun 2012 by myexracer

Its hot!

[caption id="attachment_213" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="No, I will not pose for photos..is that a carrot!? "][/caption] This east coast weather thing is crazy. I come from southern California I'm used to hot, I can handle hot. I am however having trouble with this humidity thing. Egads this isn't hot, this is torture! It's hot enough that the horses are in during the day and out at night now. My filly has her fan so I'm hoping that helps to keep her cool. Our 20 minute lunge routine has been cut in half because its too damn hot to work her hard. I'm not sure how I'm going to get her in shape with only 10 minutes a day of serious work. Sometimes its hard for me to believe she actually was…

12May 2012 by myexracer

The thing that wouldnt quit

Life with Jezebel, OTTB

[caption id="attachment_197" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="This is what 600+ bucks looks like"][/caption] I am learning more about hoof abscess then I ever thought I would. My filly is still laid up with hers. I called in the vet last week to check her out since her abscess wants popping and she was pretty ouchy. My vet was able to find the track and pop it. Yay! however there are now concerns about her back left hind hoof. The infection was on the same track as the last abscess though my vet feels its a different infection and not a re0infection due to the amount of time that had passed. So in order to address her susceptibility to the abscess we've done a couple of two day wet wraps to draw out…

04May 2012 by myexracer

Its back!

Life with Jezebel, OTTB

[caption id="attachment_191" align="alignleft" width="257" caption="Getting checked out"][/caption] When I went to get my pretty filly out of the back field the other day she was slow and sluggish. usually shes bouncy and happy the other day... not so much. At first I figured it was the heat. The sun was shinning hot and the humidity was high. I took her to the field trough and let her drink before I took her in for our daily lunge work out. Standing at the trough she was holding her left hind awkward. She didn't seem to be limping at all but on the sharp turns to get her out of the filed gate she was definitely having trouble with the back left. I had one of the trainers at my barn look…

21Apr 2012 by myexracer

Walk Trot Trot Walk Repeat

Life with Jezebel, OTTB, Training

[caption id="attachment_186" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Pretty filly"][/caption] Ground work, ground work , ground work, that's my new theme. Since I have no saddle at the moment I'm focusing on lunging my filly. I've taken to lunging her for 20 minutes a day trying to get her into a routine. I bring her in from the field, groom her, put on her splint boots and caveson and we do 10 minutes in each direction walk to trot, trot to walk, and back again. Our circles are looking less and less like D's and more and more like circles, which I'm pretty pleased about. She is picking up the voice commands but doesn't have them entirely yet. Her trot is often calm and collected which makes me happy, when shes in a groove…

17Apr 2012 by myexracer

Beyond The Track- Book Review

Book Review, OTTB, Training

[caption id="attachment_180" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Step one... read"][/caption] After my really disappointing day a few weeks ago with my filly I decided to read some books. Its something I do a lot. When I get stuck anywhere in life I find a book on the subject, often I find many books on the subject and read and absorb and read and absorb. It's a habit I picked up as a very little girl which also is why I think I can learn and do anything but that's a tale for another day. I bought Beyond The Track by Anna Ford. I couldn't wait for it to get here cursing myself for not paying expedited shipping. When it did arrive I read it immediately, ignoring everything else. I was taking a horse…

14Apr 2012 by myexracer

Back To The Begining

Life with Jezebel, OTTB, Training

[caption id="attachment_159" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Work you say? "][/caption] Since I do not have a saddle that fits my girl yet, we are going back to square one. The lunge line. I'm going to be very aggressive with the ground work with my filly. She needs it and I think I do to. So after about a week off from horse land, a landslide of work and out of town holiday guests made that pretty easy, it was time to put my new ground work plan into action. I hiked to the back field and got my girl ready for some ground work in the indoor ring. It was the first time I put her splint boots on her and being a race horse she didn't bat an eye to them…

29Mar 2012 by myexracer

Happy Trails

Barn tales, Life with Jezebel, OTTB

[caption id="attachment_131" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="A good day for a ride"][/caption] It was a beautiful day even though a thunder storm was predicted, it wasn't expect for quite some time and the sun was bright and shinny. I thought it would be a good day to introduce Miss Jezebel to the trail. She loves to look out towards the trail and the tree line whenever we walk by the entrance, its almost as if shes trying to get me to take her there. Mentally willing me to take her out and explore the trail. I thought better of it until I knew she had brakes. The day was beautiful and I thought what the hell, it's as good a day as any I'll just go out for 5 or 10 minutes…

21Mar 2012 by myexracer

Saddle Sore

Life with Jezebel, OTTB, Saddles and tack

[caption id="attachment_122" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="My saddle looks something like this only more wear,lots more"][/caption] I own a rather nice saddle. It's a Lovatt and Ricketts close contact. I used it on my previous horse for years. I bought it off a women who had barely used it, she was focusing on dressage and didn't need it. She was also going though a divorce and looking to make some fast cash before her husband made her account for her assets. I bought it from the trunk of her car for under 100 bucks. I was lucky, it fit my horse like a glove. I never had any issues with saddle fit. Once I no longer had a horse I put my saddle in storage with my parents. When I was in…

18Mar 2012 by myexracer

Halt who goes there

Life with Jezebel, OTTB, Training

[caption id="attachment_106" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Treats?.. Yes please"][/caption] I've been starting slow with riding my ex racer. I spent the first couple weeks just getting to know her and letting her get to know me. Of course I had the hoof abscess to help me along with that. My adorable filly's manners were some what lacking. I chalked that up to a few things. 1. Shes only just barley 4 years old 2. She's a racehorse and sometimes acts like one 3. I'm a walking treat factory I am compliant in her sometimes bad manners or rather sometimes no manners. She's improving and I'm working on trying to have her earn her treats instead of just giving them out like the treat factory I am. I admit it I spoil her,…

16Mar 2012 by myexracer

No not the wash stall!

Life with Jezebel, OTTB

[caption id="attachment_97" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="I can haz hose pleze?"][/caption] Oh the wash stall. No anything but the wash stall! Its really not that bad but hey it ain't that good. At my barn the wash stall is the hub of activity. It's used for vet visits, farrier visits, tacking up and it kinda feels like the kitchen at a dinner party, the place where everyone ends up and congregates. It also has a strange echo to it. Horses cant tell where the nosies are coming from and there is no real eye line to any other horses while they are standing in the wash stall. Some do well in it, others... do not. My filly is none to fond of the wash stall. She will go in, but shes fidgety…