As The World Turns at Birch Ridge Stables

Well... boring I must say. Except.... expensive too? FIRST: I had the vet come and do shots. So we all know how expensive that can be with 3 horses right? Secondly, the findings of the vet to include what we knew all along ~ Angel has an unlevel Lumbo Sachral and will need Chiropractic as well as, acupuncture to hopefully help his balance to allow us to move forward with training. LUCKILY - I wasnt able to send the check in for the VT Adult Eventing Camp, as I was waiting for my Coggins to come in. Luckily I say because Angel seems to need far more work than I had anticipated. The vet asked me to commit to at least $320 for 3 visits of chiro/acupuncture and then we can go from there. THEN: MON the farrier came and while he was trimming Angels pasture buddy, Angel was defiant by tear assing around the pasture in deep footing which I would later determine why he was"off". That evening I took him in for a curry and to ride, but noticing that he was holding himself in a manner that resembled being impacted? He was also not putting much weight on one rear hind. Farrier? Pulled muscle? I decided to massage him and do several back stretches on him and between sets... then pulling slightly on his tail, just enuf hoping to release muscle tension. Well the next morning showed me he was WAY off, and he really didnt want to walk to the pasture. Watching as he placed his rear hooves flatly and softly as he exited the barn.... ??????? He was sore. I buted him tonight and took note of his movements on the way in the barn. Then I brought the youngsters in ~ Charlie and Baby in from the front pasture. I happened to be behind Baby as she walked toward the barn... and she is OFF TOO! WHY? It must be the trim job. He didnt take much off? Maybe Dry dry pastures? They do have alot of "hang nails" on the heels... so I decided to goop them all up with Hooflex on their coronary bands and massaged it in hoping to add moisture to their feet. One 4 and One 9 and both with same symptoms? Weird. I will call the farrier tomorrow and ask his opinion. I will then make a call to the vet to see what he has to say. I know my horses, they are off. I will take note of their stalls in the a.m. and see how much they moved around or if they were irritated overnight also.

Sunday Charlie had a swollen knee but he moved out fine so I rode for 15 minutes. Baby hasnt been riden in a week?... and neither will Angel until this is resolved.... unless the Bute and/or the hoof oitment did something overnight. We shall see.

Its the never ending saga of having ONE horse to ride out of 3 or 4. NO wonder Phillip Dutton is taking 4 (FOUR) horses to the ROLEX!

Which BTW is only 7 days away now! WOOOOT WOOOOT!
Truthfully it will be hard to leave them unless this is resolved!

Note: I will not be using the loose snaffle on Angel as recommended by Tom Davis... Angel hated it and I feel it is undoing all the gain that we have made in the last 4 weeks. So I am going back to a regular snaffle. Secondly, I have purchased a figure 8 noseband to allow for less interferrance around the bit. I have also ordered some nice leather Dublin boots that will fit my calves! I have some awesome Effingham boots but the calves are NOW too tight and all the leather wrinkles at the ankle and caused blisters. I cannot continue to ride in my Danskos with 1/2 chaps...my small toes are crushed by the outside iron! I am not comfortable ...and my riding therefore sucks.

I am actually still up and its 11:23 p.m. in hopes to outbid some YANKEE on some awesome tendon boots, leather ... and of course BLACK! Nice looking ones... and comes with matching rear fetlock set! Dreaming and hoping to use them someday and give me a reason to sell my other black ones... and upgrade! Sooooooo

Fingers crossed everyone...

wish me luck...

10 more minutes....

DRUM ROLL................................................