Category: Trail Tails

The most watched equine event is coming up this weekend, The Kentucky Derby.  Horse racing runs in my blood, literally.  Now retired, my Uncle Christopher Paasch was a trainer on the west coast.  Thought he’s not your typical household name if you like to watch the races I’m sure you have seen him before or at least some of his horses.

So where might you have heard of him? Show of hands who has seen the movie Dreamer!  I’m not sure how my Uncle managed it but he was the horse trainer consultant for the movie.  A portion of the film was actually shot at his ranch, Victory Haven Training Center in KY.   It wasn’t long after that film that he sold the facility and moved back to California

The second place you may of herd of him or even seen him is on the TV series Animal Planet’s Jockeys.  The first season ends with a horse named Stardom Bound, partially owned and trained by my Uncle of Course and ridden by Mike Smith.  Here is a clip.  This is a really fun series and it is still up on Animal Planet’s website to watch in full if you haven’t seen it before. It gives you a look into behind the track scenes of racing.

Watching that race was bitter sweet.  First off because I don’t get to see my Uncle much and I got a glimpse of him on TV and secondly because I knew that win meant he would be retiring. 

Well I hope you don’t think that the racing blood in me has any mojo for knowing who the winner of the Kentucky Derby will be.  But, I will share with you my pick, Dialed In.  Why? Because I’m a geek and I remember when the phrase “Dialed In” was cool and I like a stalker and closer.  This horse likes to hang at the back of the pack, out of traffic and then close in the last ¼ mile.  Lastly, it’s not a Baffert horse. I have a personal vendetta with Baffert that stems from an encounter back in 2001 so each year I will his horses to lose the derby.  So far it’s been working 🙂  Yes, I am that lame and my hubby mocks me every time I start booing and hissing at the TV when they show Baffert. 

It’s more in jest though, having an “enemy” makes the race more interesting when you have a rival horse to root against. 

Ok, there you have it.  Stay away from Baffert horses and pick one with a fun name.  Just remember to have a good time, enjoy a Mint Julep, and wear a crazy hat.

Kentucky Derby
5pm – 7pm
on NBC

PS This is my 1 and only winner’s circle photo.  If you every get the chance to be in one don’t pass it up!  And yeah, that’s Laffit Pincay Jr aboard, the greatest jockey in history.  I even got to shake his hand, it was awesome!

Ellie turned 3 weeks old today and along with it came Scours.  If you have ever had a foal before you’ll know what I’m referring to.  I could smell the start of them coming on for 3 days, YUCK.  I hate this part of foaling but it is perfectly normal.

What are Scours:
Foal scours is often referred to as foal heat diarrhea as it typically sets in right around the time the mare goes back into heat.  It is quite stinky, messy and but normally it passes without any problem.

Causes:
To be perfectly honest I don’t think even all the vets today can pinpoint exactly what causes scours in foals but there are a few common theories

            Foal Heat: Hormonal changes in the dam’s milk when she goes into her first heat cycle causes digestion issues with the foal.  The hole in this theory, orphaned foals fed milk supplement still get scours.

            Forage: From day 1 the foal will attempt to eat pretty much anything that it can get its fuzzy little lips on.  By week 2-3 the foal is now eating grass right alongside mom and is starting to eat grain. This change in diet from mostly liquid to solids messes with the dynamics of the digestive system.  Foals do not yet have the helpful bacteria and enzymes needed to properly digest solid foods.  This is gross but you will probably find the foal eating the mare’s poop during scours as they attempt to introduce the needed digestive helpers into their system.

Treatment:
First off don’t worry.  All foals go through this phase in life.  Most of the time it is just a really gross, smelly, and messy process for us and it will pass in 4-7 days.

            Internal: I like to give my horse yogurt rich with probiotics to help introduce the good gut bacteria.  I find the babies like the vanilla flavored kind.  I use a 30 or 60cc syringe, suck up the yogurt and squirt it in their mouths.  They usually fight until they realize that it is pretty tasty.

            External: Wash, wash, wash.  This diarrhea is smelly, greasy, and very acidic and it will eat the hair off your foal’s rump.  To help prevent this wash the babies bottom 2x a day with warm water and disposable towels.  (I say disposable because no matter how much Clorox and soap you use on a towel the smell will still be there).  Dry their bum and use mineral oil or Vaseline around their bottom and down their legs.  This will be a protective barrier for the next round of diarrhea.   WARNING: Do not turn baby out if there’s bright sunshine and you just oiled them up. They could get a sun burn.

When to Call a Vet:

Normal body temp is 99-102°F.  During scours your foal’s temperature should remain normal.  Should they run a temperature or the diarrhea last longer than 7 days call your vet.

Living on a farm and breeding animals is great right up until you have to name them!  What name are you going to give your new furry friend for the rest of its life?  

Pay-it-back Names: Most registered names end up with what I like to call paying it back.  Usually there’s some tie in the name to the stud, dam, or breeding farm.  When picking a name for registration this is usually what I do.  Heck, it’s like free marketing every time your horse is entered in a show!  

Themes Names: Race horses are often named alphabetically.  This year all colts will start with the letter “D.”  Or I have a friend who names all her animals after deserts.  Heck, I even name all cats after food items, Barley, Bacon, Chowder, Cheet-O, Frito, and Peaches.  Theme names seem to make naming an animal pretty easy.  At least it gives you a base to start on. 

Call Names: If you’ve spent any time around a barn or race track you’ll know that a fancy 25 character registered name is NOT what you end up calling your horse. Sometimes the barn call name is a portion of the registered name and sometimes it’s something entirely different.  For example; my mare came with the registered name of Aurora LaBella Luna but around the barn she’s known as Cotton. Don’t ask, I haven’t figured it out myself. 

Names with a Story: Last fall I was surprised by an alpaca birth.  The dam was 2 weeks early and I had only come home to pick up a UPS package and was there just by chance for the birth of a little fawn girl.  I found the event so entertaining that I decided to name her Parcella D’oro which means Parcel of Gold.  

Naming for me all boils down to the horse itself.  I’m not the type of person to have a booklet of names I like all ready to go and then stamp the animal with one when it squirts out.  Instead the newborn often will go several days without a name at all as I watch it and think about its future.  What do I see it becoming what name best fits its personality or goes with a story that fits it. 

Last year’s filly naming came to me quickly.  Izzy (Reg Name: Is A Bella) would zoom around the pasture at mock 10.  For the entire time she was with me not once did I see that filly trot, she either was standing still or at full speed. She sure was a Busy Izzy and the name fit her perfectly. 

This year’s filly was a little more difficult to name.  The registered name came easily though. She is now DHA Reno’s Southern Belle but nothing in that name seems worthy of a barn name.  My latest test for a call name is Ellie which I kind of got from Belle.  Researching the name, Ellie is short for Eleanor which means “The Other.”  I think Ellie will stick, she is after all “the other” full blood sister to Izzy.

How do you pick out your names? Or What is the worst registered name you’ve seen?

Tuesday Trail Tails
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If you’re a small farm owner like me and have your horses at home you probably don’t have the luxury of an indoor arena to keep you and your horse in shape throughout the winter.   Instead I’m stuck doing my spring conditioning on the road side until the field and trails dry up.  BORING!

Road riding doesn’t have to be totally boring though.  Here’s what I do to keep both my horse and myself entertained for our 1 hour workout.

Going away from the barn

1. I always start out the same way.  Mount up, flexing exercises both ways for a few minutes, and then walk off for ¼ – ½ mile as a “warm up”
2. I then proceed to pick up a trot and once we trot we don’t stop until I get ½ through my “planned ride.”  Clint Anderson calls it cruise control.  No matter what I do in the saddle the horse is to stay in gait (no faster, no slower) unless I ask them to.
   1. So, let the reins droop and ride drunk.  I reach up rub their ears, pat their neck, slap their butt, grab their tail, rub their sides with my hands, reach down touch my toes, swish my legs back and forth (just don’t touch them with your leg), do anything and everything I can think of to ride like a total idiot.
   2. The only time I give my horse a command is …
      1. They break to a walk – squeeze/cluck/spank back to a trot
      2. They break to a canter – 1 rein stop, do a few flexing exercises and ask for the trot again.
      3. You need to correct their direction because you’re about to get run over by a car or end up in a ditch otherwise let the reins hang loose.
3. I keep up this trot for 1-3 miles depending on the fitness level of my horse.
4. Why do I do this? Because I want the horse to ignore everything I do in the saddle unless I specifically ask them something.   I hate being on a horse where I go to scratch an itch and they take it as a queue to gallop off.

Turning around to come back to the barn

Unless you have the ability to go around a 3-6 mile block chances are you will be turning around to come home and horses know home.   I hate a barn sour horse so the trip “home” is always a cruise control lesson at the walk.

1. I do all the same drunk riding activities at the walk as I do at the trot. 
2. Got a jigging horse? These exercises often work for me. 
   1. 1-reing stop, flex a few times, ask for a walk again.  (I found most horses respond to this after a few stops)
   2. Still have a jiggy horse?  Try half trot circles.  You’ll notice they trot slowly in the circle when going away from the barn and fast when going back.  Push/cluck/spank when they are slow, ask for a walk and relax when heading back. If they don’t slow down repeat.
   3. Still no luck? Fine.  Make your circles more like large ovals and really push for a trot away from the barn.  Always breathe out and fully relax with loose rein when heading back home.  If you’re tense you’re just making your horse tense.  Always expect your horse to do the right thing first and correct them with “work” if they don’t. 
   4. Just remember make the wrong behavior hard and the desired behavior easy.
3. Unless you’re frustrated by a jigging horse you’re probably looking for other things to do on your walk back to the barn. Here are some other exercises I do on my road rides.
   1. Ditches – Down the ditch, up into the cornfield, back through and up to the road. 
   2. Leg yielding – The highway department often puts this awesome double yellow lines in the center of a road and it is a great tool.  Leg yield to the left of the line, back to the right or even side pass over it as if it was a pole in an obstacle class.  Just be conscious of road traffic of course.
   3. Whoa  (halts) – Not just for carriage horses but any horse should be able to stand still until you ask them to move.  Same thing as with cruise control, wiggle, rub and be totally annoying even at the halt.  Your horse should stay put unless you ask them to go forward by squeezing their sides.  The key is to quit them before they quit you.  If you think they will walk off in 4 seconds than you ask them to walk off in 2.   A good carriage broke horse will stand indefinitely and there’s no reason why a riding horse can’t do the same
   4. Backing up.  Sometimes I’ll ask my horse to back up instead of walk after a halt.  Heck, maybe that jiggy horse should just walk his butt backwards all the way home if he wants to be there so bad.
4. Home sweet home.  Finally back at the barn, but I don’t end my lesson there just yet especially on a barn sour horse.  This is where I take just a few more minutes and do productive lunging exercises.  Not just around in circles but with lots of change in directions or sending over/through obstacles.   It’s also a good time to desensitize to scary objects since they are probably tired and really want to stand still.
5. The last exercise I do is tying.  If I have a horse who doesn’t like the trailer then I let them rest on there, or I tie them to a tree, post or even leave them in the cross ties.  I try to let them stay tied for at least an hour if I can manage it.  Any time is better than no time to teach a horse how to tie.   Got a horse that tries to dig to China?  2-words “rubber mat.”  They can’t dig through the mat and it won’t wear down their hoof. 

Well there’s my road training 2 cents.  What exercises do you do on a trail or road ride?

Stay safe and Happy Trails.

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