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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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16Apr 2012 by myexracer

Another Day Another Disappointment

Life with Jezebel, OTTB, Saddles and tack
[caption id="attachment_163" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="HDR All Purpose Saddle "][/caption] This saddle hunt is making me insane and that's putting it mildly. My girl is hard to fit which is making this process harder. I'm not made of money which is making it doubley as frustrating. Of course everything over a few grand fits her and fits her well, everything under.. nope. The boyfriend took a day off of work so we could drive to VA ( cuz VA is for saddles not lovers) to pick up a saddle from good ole Dover. After sitting on the barrel in a few different makes and models the best i came up with was a Henry De Rivel all purpose. This HDR was also on super sale, which is to say it was…
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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…
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06Apr 2012 by myexracer

Saddles, Saddles, Everywhere

Life with Jezebel, OTTB, Saddles and tack
[caption id="attachment_154" align="alignleft" width="239" caption="Im sure this one wont fit either"][/caption] I like all job titles with the word "master" in them. Master Of Whiskey being my favorite, though this time my brush with a "master" title, was a master saddler.  When my saddler asked me "what is the plan" I told him we were starting from scratch. So we started off with him examining my filly and yes shes got a couple of sore spots. Shes more developed on the left (hello racehorse), a longer back, high withers and it seems as if she will need a medium tree. I should have long flaps and a 18 inch seat because lets face it I'm a tall, leggy girl. He then took a look at my Lovatts and Rickkets saddle…
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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…
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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…
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20Mar 2012 by myexracer

Mud Hole

Life with Jezebel, OTTB
[caption id="attachment_113" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Pretty!"][/caption] I've been told by After The Races the rescue and rehabilitation group I got Jezebel Though that she was a very clean horse, that she pretty much never rolled and all the months she was with them, they never saw her dirty. She continued this for quite some time ... until the other day. As I was driving up the road toward the horse farm past the back field I could see happy horses grazing in the sun. Shinny and pretty except for one. Mine. Who was caked in mud. As I was getting my grooming supplies out of my tack room, ladies at the barn were asking me "is that your horse all covered with mud out in the back field?" Yes, yes it…
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