Mid Atlantic Thoroughbred Auction

Barn tales, OTTB
I went to the Mid Atlantic Thoroughbred auction the other day. I had never been and it was amazing! It was all you would expect from an auction where horses were going for the tens of thousand dollars. It had the podium where the auctioneers were doing there thing, the stage where the handlers would bring out the horses one by one and the spotters in the audience who would call back bids to the auctioneers. Two TV screens with the horses hip number and the ever rising dollar amount. Considering the amount of money changing hands it was a very relaxed atmosphere. I will chalk that up to racetrack people. They are their own breed and were a pretty friendly crowd. Everyone was nice from security to horse handlers.…
Read More

The days of winter

Barn tales, Life with Circe, OTTB
[caption id="attachment_1695" align="alignleft" width="200"] Rep and the better half before the bad eyeball[/caption] Stuff has been happening even things besides me bitching about the cold a tradition with me as soon as it gets below 40 on a regular basis. Interesting stuff, boring stuff and of course the daily grind stuff. Rep was hauled back up to New Bolton for his eyeball recheck and the results were giant big two thumbs up! He is healing great and that makes me very happy. My better half is happy too because hes been unmounted since Rep's eye took a turn for the worse right when they were of course really doing well cantering around and doing walk trot transitions and poles. In a couple weeks Rep can get back into work and…
Read More

The blahs

Life with Circe, Life with Jezebel, OTTB
Circe got kicked and has a sore muscle and is off. Jez is still off from the mystery leg scrapes and her possible extensor tendon strain. She just finished her course of SMZs. Reps is getting his around the clock meds at home (every four hours, yo!) The only horse without issues in the barn right now is Luna, the pony. Its been cold as hell and I cant find my base layers that I packed away over the summer and I need more smart wool socks. I've been looking for excuses not to go to the barn cuz well winter... I hate it. The good news is we have an official working student and shes great and I love her already.
Read More

Rep is home!

Barn tales, Off Farm, Vet
[caption id="attachment_1677" align="alignleft" width="225"] Ready to go home![/caption] Rep is home. He came home last night. His eye is sutured shut and medications will be administered though a subpalpebral lavage. He will need meds every few hours for about a week. Sammy and I meet up today to coordinate schedules to make sure Rep is covered and gets his meds on schedule. He will go back to New Bolton in a couple weeks to get everything removed. Right now i'm just happy hes home and that the surgery to save his eye went really well. It is also mad crazy expensive. Sammy set up a GoFundMe so please pass it around to all your rich friends!
Read More

Friday night emergency

Barn tales, Vet
[caption id="attachment_1671" align="alignleft" width="300"] Sammy and Rep[/caption] The vet was scheduled for a Friday at 1:30pm She was scheduled for Rep my trainers horse who has been battling any eye issue. The right eye has had issues for the last couple of years. Usually its controllable, this time not so much. The vet has been out several times trying to figure out why hes not getting better. Turns out along with his chronic problem Rep also has a strange bacterial infection that eye and the regular antibiotics were not fixing the problem. Add to that a new ulcer and day after day the eye got worse. On Friday the vet said he needed more specialized care and he needed it now! Then the race to get Rep to New Bolton…
Read More

Fall horse maintenance

Barn tales, Life with Circe, Life with Jezebel, OTTB, Vet
[caption id="attachment_1652" align="alignleft" width="300"] Jez loves jumping the coop[/caption] It  was that time of year again, fall shots. I also had my vet float the girls teeth. My vet does a hand float and though i was thinking id use a dentist this time around seems "horse dentist" in this area is synonymous with "never return voice mails" Since my vet does a bang up job and she was out for shots anyways i decided to go with her. Jez did almost all of her float with no sedation, we only had to use a little bit to get the way far back. Seems my girl has a narrow but highly arched palette. Which might facilitate a bit change for her in the future, well see how she goes over…
Read More

Eric Smiley Clinic

Life with Jezebel, OTTB, Training
[caption id="attachment_1634" align="alignleft" width="300"] Eric Smiley, Jezebel & Sammy[/caption] Eric Smiley was coming to town. He's a very sought after clinician and also an Olympian. I just missed him last  spring when he was teaching in this area  and really none of my horses would have been prepared for a clinic at that level last spring anyways. I personally think its important to be prepared. To make sure your not wasting anyones time (your instructor) or your hard earned money as these clinics are not exactly cheap. Sammy decided to ride Jezebel both days in two jump lessons. One was private the other was a semi private. Being as the clinics were being held at my farm i had the opportunity to audit sans big piles of cash both flat…
Read More

Heres to fall

Barn tales
[caption id="attachment_1630" align="alignleft" width="300"] Michelle and Jezebel[/caption] The leaves are changing big time around here. The colors are rich, warm and glowing. I better enjoy it while i can because soon enough the leaves will all drop off the tress and the cold will set in and winter will be upon me. Winter my least favorite of all seasons. I grew up and lived most my life in southern California where winter meant a light sweater and 65 degrees. So you had to put the heat on with the top down on your car. I had never ridden in an indoor until i moved to MD where an indoor in winter is a really nice thing to have. Thankfully this winter i have one, last i did not. So heres…
Read More

Fall with Jez

Barn tales, Life with Jezebel, OTTB, Training
[caption id="attachment_1624" align="alignleft" width="200"] Its fall the leaves are turning[/caption] Jez is doing great, she loves her new job... Jumping bean. Shes had some really great rides with both Michelle and Sammy. I get great feedback on her progress all the time. Shes one pretty amazing horse. On this day the video was shot we were sharing the ring with another rider who was jumping 3.3+ so we had to splint up jump runs as Jez was jumping 2.6 (ish) There were 3 of us n the ground acting as ring crew. It was good for Jezebel to have to stand quietly and wait for the other horse to do its run. She did really well, was very patient and was an all around happy pony. She has a lot…
Read More

Good news

Life with Circe, Vet
[caption id="attachment_1607" align="alignleft" width="200"] First ride back[/caption] Circe is Lyme negative! Not just a little negative but super negative. The test from Cornell finally came back. Thats good news for Circe. However it still doesn't explain the lameness other then sole bruising which is just to in the wind of a diagnosis for me. Were in the second cycle of her shoeing and shes out of the corrective wedge on the right. We didn't shoe all around but i'm keeping an eagle eye on her in case we have to go that way. So far shes sound. Circe is beginning work again. Very, very slowly. Were started with 15-20 minutes of walking only. No circles. She's calm, happy and looks good. Trot sets are being added, still no circles for…
Read More