I grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina and while it is certainly more horsey than many parts of the US, a culturally epicenter for hunter/jumpers… it is not. We do have some nice barns and many levels of local shows, and a handful of AA shows each year. Of those rare local AA shows, by far my favorite is the Duke Children’s Benefit Horse Show. Every year in November, the big deal in Raleigh is to go to the Duke…
I’m not good with really big changes in life. I’m kind of the person that once I get settled, it’s hard for me to leave even if I know something else better could get along. That being said, making the decision to move from Boston, MA to Austin, TX was a hard one. My move from NC to MA to work at SmartPak hadn’t gone nearly as well as I hoped, and I thought that another big move would be…
Let me start off by saying that I wish we were one of those fancy barns that had a vacuum. Oh, I long for a vacuum. I have briefly considered shop vaccing my horse… but that seemed like a poor idea. Since I am horse vacuumless, my grooming routine is a formular that goes as follows. Full grooming – minutes I arrived late at the barn – amount of winter coat – temperature outside = full grooming routine Full Grooming…
Only 3 and a half weeks of stall rest left… boy is that going to fly by. I haven’t had the heart to tell Simon that even when we hit month 2 of rehab, he only gets to go on 5 minute walks a day and still no turnout. My baby boy is not taking all this extremely well. Simon is a horse that loves to work and be with people, so when I’m out at the farm he seems…
A ton of these 30 day challenges are about falling, geez! On the Simon lameness note – I am feeling less mopey. I am not the only person in the world who has had to deal with a lame horse. Not every horse that tears something making an ass of themselves in the pasture is going to be lame forever. I’m a good horse mom, it’ll be fine. Consider this post some mental insight into the thoughts of Lauren before…
A better title for this post would be “A Letter to Doodles” and will likely be mushy and probably ridiculously saccharine. If you’re not in the mood for that, might I suggest my take on hunters vs jumpers or something else completely ridiculous. To Doodles, the little Palomino mutt pony that taught me every thing Thank you for teaching me that the best horses for us aren’t always the easiest horses for us to ride. I’ll never forget seeing you…
Simon pants went to the vet this morning, and I have more answers than before but not a ton. They did flextions first, and the lameness in his right hock did not get worse with flextions. My vet immediately thought it was a soft tissue injury, probably from him slipping or acting like a fool in the pasture. It’s very high on his hock, higher than upper suspensory. I asked if the vet thought an ultrasound was needed, and she…
Simon was really lame last night again. Same right hind, and after cold hosing his hock I noticed a small band of swelling to the inside top of his hock. I think it’s too high to be upper suspensory… but it has me worried. He’s going to the vet Wednesday for an xray, as much of a lameness exam that they can do in the mud, and possibly an ultrasound. Fingers crossed…. sigh. In my life as it stands, I’m a happy boarder…