Like!
Yay! I realize I joined the party late, but 1000 is still cool 
Sounds like some of you were getting some storms. I hope it’s at least warmer - we got some warmer weather where I am, but then it got really cold and windy today. I had two riding lessons with snow flurries blowing in my face. It gets really cold sitting on top of a Belgian!
At least I’m done with the school horses for now (last day of lessons at the schooling barn, only taking lessons on my horse now) and it’s just me and my gelding. Looking forward to some good rides!
How cool! And in all honesty, when I started the thread, I figured no one would respond, and it would just get buried down at the bottom. Boy was I wrong!
I’m doing ok. Weepy wound is doing well, lol. And a minor thing but when they pulled my NG tube, the tape was so stuck on my nose that when she ripped it off, it took a chunk out of my nostril and outside my nose. VERY painful. Not her fault, when you pull them you have to go really quick or it hurts even worse. But anyway, its FINALLY healed!
Went up to my trainer’s for a cocktail hour and it was nice to get out of the house. And, after I mentioned that I’m not going to be looking to buy a horse, and that I might lease something for the summer, I was given an offer from a fellow boarder to ride her horse! Very cute grey Appendix. She was totally selling the horse to me “I know a really fun horse you can ride, and he has 2 saddles to choose from, etc etc”. So I don’t know what she’s expecting (for me to pay, or I can just ride for free) but we’ll see! I’m glad to know its an opportunity.
Part of me really wants another horse but another realizes that at any point, I could get sick again, and the two I have are really all I could manage to afford if for some reason I lost my job or couldn’t work. And the two ponies are so easy to care for, so its not as much of a burden on hubby.
Oh! Another pretty cool thing. So, I put my saddle on consignment at Rick’s. Well, they called me and told me it sold. After debating (on here, too!) I decided to just take the $$. Well, when the check came, it was less than I thought, which leads me to believe the saddle sold for less than what I put it on sale for, which was not disclosed to me. So I emailed them and asked why. Well apparently they did, and forgot to ask me if I would take a lower price on it (a $50 difference, but still!) so they are sending me a check for the difference! No arguing, nothing. They apologized, and just did it. Way to go for great service and realizing that $37 is worth keeping a customer. Yay Ricks!
Hope everyone has a great riding week. I will be allowed to ride in about 3 weeks, I can’t wait!
Glad you’re up and about ST. And thanks for starting this support group. Over the years, there have been several attempts to do so, but this one seems in place to stay.
My horse is scheduled for his third shockwave treatent Friday. Then three more weeks of stall rest and then we start rehab. I’m kind of scared. But if he does not come back fully, we know we’ve done everything we could.
Warm and sunny here today! May try to do some gardening.
Wow! 3 weeks!?!?! I would be anxious too. Do you think you’ll dope him up a little before his first few outings? Id just be so nervous with this sloppy spring mud knowing my luck any horse of mine would end up doing more damage.
Good luck with the shockwave treatment. Jingles for you!!!
Expectation is that he will be ace’d for the first few (if not more) turnouts and rides. They start turnout for an hour a day in a round pen, which the barn staff will be moving onto fresh grass, in the hopes that he will just eat, eat, eat. The first two weeks or so of “rides” are just five minutes at a walk. The biggest risk when starting rehab is that the horse does something stupid (aka acts like a horse) and re-injures himself. So it’s crossed fingers, jingles, prayers and karma all adding up to a good outcome.
Glad you’re up and about, ST! Let us know what happens with the appendix!
And Pony4me, I’m sending good thoughts your way! Best of luck with the rehab!
[QUOTE=Dewey;6163957]
Glad you’re up and about, ST! Let us know what happens with the appendix!
And Pony4me, I’m sending good thoughts your way! Best of luck with the rehab![/QUOTE]
Ditto! Ditto!
And over 1000…yea!!
ST - I’ve been there! I remember waiting for the “doctor’s okay” to ride again after my accidents. I was a little too anxious and I may or may not have sat on my OTTB (with someone holding him on a leadrope!) just prior to getting the official okay.
Pony4Me - good luck with the rehab! My guy is a little accident prone, but so far, just tiny nicks and bumps, nothing major. Wishing you the best of luck!
We had some beautiful weather here today and I decided to ride, but my legs did not want to hold up - way too sore today. Hard to hold your position over a jump or keep your horse straight to a jump when the legs just don’t have the strength. It was a little frustrating. We had planned some easy hunter schooling shows and low-level combined tests/events this year (yes, I’m one of THOSE riders), but not sure if we’re going to be ready if I’m not strong enough. Sorry - venting over!
Hope everyone had a great weekend!
Glad to hear you’re feeling better, spacytracy. And glad to hear about your guy’s recovery, pony4m3.
dreaminOTTB: Do you ride a full Belgian, or is it a cross? Just curious. I came across a cute Belgian tonight while looking at horse ads and wondered about them …
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It’s raining again tomorrow. We need it, so I can’t complain much, but I had to reschedule my ride AGAIN (with the guy I might be leasing) from morning until the afternoon, and had to cancel my Fla. lesson in the process. This was the fourth time I had to reschedule due to the weather. But – I finally get to ride him!
On the flip side - and the exact opposite of spacytracy - while the rain was keeping me from riding, I did some thinking about leasing and owning, etc. I still need to ride him a few times before committing, of course. But I decided if this gelding doesn’t work out, I’m going to look to buy. Partly because leases rarely ever come up down here. But also because I don’t know how I feel spending so much money (and time and emotion) on something that I really have no control over in the end.
I also realized tonight I don’t need anything fancy for a few more years. I just need a safe, sane, sound horse to pack me around for a while and can eventually jump 2’. And I’m being optimistic on that requirement. 
I just happened upon a couple of cute horses that were being listed fairly cheap tonight. And it occurred to me that while having a horse that jumps 3’6 or 4’ is pretty cool, it’s also pretty pointless if you’ve only done a handful of crossrails.
Anyway … I’ve been trapped inside all day due to the rain and have been thinking way too much about horsey things. :lol:
For those horseless folks out there, is it possible for foster a rideable horse and get your horse fix that way? I’ve never done it, but the SPCA near me is often seeking foster homes for horses, and many of them are rideable, although they may be green or out of shape . I assume you’d still have the expenses and overhead of any other horse, but not the full commitment. Has anyone fostered?
[QUOTE=Hinderella;6165627]
I assume you’d still have the expenses and overhead of any other horse, but not the full commitment. Has anyone fostered?[/QUOTE]
I have not, but my trainer has taken in several rescues that she either gets via a local rescue, or finds off Craigslist or word of mouth, then retrains them to find better homes. Sometimes she even keeps them for her lesson program.
We have a few rescues down here, but several horses are either too small, have no training, or have physical issues that limit them from being rode. Or all three.
However, I have been perusing Craigslist in the area, and I’ve seen some horses that could probably be retrained and probably end up as a decent horse. It’s just such a crap shoot. And with my experience being so limited, I’d have to pay my trainer to take them on. Although one day, I’d like to be one of those people who could take on project horses and find them better homes.
If anything, I’d try to find something like this:
http://www.equine.com/horses-for-sale/horse-ad-1412119.html
… that had a great temperament, was broke but maybe needed a little tune up (and a bath/mane pulling), was more or less sound and under 10. Something that could be ‘trained’ by me with my rider helping.
(Sorry. Still raining here and it’s my day off. I have time to kill.)
Opus1 - I rode a full Belgian for several weeks at a schooling barn I was taking lessons at. I’m not riding there anymore (I’m just taking lessons on my OTTB now), but she was an awesome mare and I loved getting the chance to work with her! She was your typical Belgian: full bodied, big and muscular, a little over 17hh. For being a draft, she was extremely flexible and light under-saddle, but she could get a little “thuddy” when she got heavy on the forehand. While I’m ready to focus on my OTTB, I’m going to miss riding her!
For those talking about the “rescues”/retraining/project horses - my OTTB was one of those horses. He came through a large rescue (New Vocations) and had one owner before me, but didn’t do a whole lot with his previous owner. I found him through an ad online and the owner permitted me to do a PPE. They worked with him and loved him, but he was more of a “husband horse” and so he came to me with some training gaps. The best thing about him is that with his training from the track, at NV, and with his previous owner, he came to me as a horse with some basics, a GREAT work ethic, and the sweetest personality - and not for an extravagant price. Yes, it’s a risk, but you can find some awesome horses out there!
Well, saw the mare’s x-rays today. They are not a surprise. She has flat feet. The farrier is optimistic that he can fix them, but it’s going to be expensive. I don’t know quite how much, but more than I had budgeted for. I was hoping to get away with spending $100 every 7-8 weeks for her shoes, which is what the previous owner was spending, but it’s going to be much more than that…and more often. 
The bright side is that once her feet start to improve, we may be able to go to less expensive shoeing. I really hope so.
The money the horse is going to cost is really scary.
Sorry to hear that Dewey, its never fun to get bad news right off the bat.
Hopefully, like you said, eventually you’ll have an easier time with her feet.
Dewey sorry to hear about her feet. PPE’s are always so difficult, it never seems to be an easy yes or no.
How are you feeling? What are you going to do?
Well, it’s not a surprise. We knew her feet were flat and that she would always need shoes. I am going to hold off until the B/O can talk to the farrier about what I realistically can expect in terms of cost. I know he would like to shoe her every five weeks, but the B/O knows I can’t afford that, so she will be my advocate. He wants to pour some cushioning over her sole the first few times he shoes her to encourage her wall to grow down around the sole. I told her I was OK with that at first, but I can’t let him do that indefinitely, or I will go broke. If it takes him a little longer than he would like to get her feet in shape, then so be it. I hope we can compromise. I want to do what’s right, but I don’t want to get in over my head.
The owner is not going to be happy if I back out now. He won’t understand as she has been sound so far. He will just tell me to shoe her as often as I can afford, and there’s something to that. The mare will receive good care, and the B/O is not worried about her long-term soundness. It’s not as if I am going to be jumping 3’6" or showing her every weekend.
I asked the owner to put a hold on the deal until I talk to the farrier, and he is really upset. I had to explain that the mare’s shoeing is going to cost me a lot more than it cost him, which he did not realize. He thought her “corrective shoeing” was just going to be a continuation of what was already being done with her; when I explained that what he was already doing wasn’t enough and that more drastic measures are necessary (according to the B/O and the farrier), he calmed down a bit though he isn’t happy. I think he thought I was trying to weasel out of the deal and that he has already made great concessions to me. I explained that I love the mare and do want to buy her, but I have to make sure I can afford her shoeing.
The B/O also remarked yesterday that her foot problems would undoubtedly make her hard to sell, and I made the mistake of repeating this to the owner. That really upset him. He persists in thinking she is worth far more money that I am paying because of her breeding and potential. Oh, well. I am not going to change his mind about that, but I’m still hopeful that the deal will happen…I asked for some alternative plans from the farrier. If he can convince me that the extra expense for her feet will be temporary, I will go ahead.
Dewey, I’m really sorry that you are stuck in this predicament but it is FAR better to use your head than to get “stuck” on a deal where you end up in a far worse position.
Worse case scenario, you get this mare, her farrier care is more than you can afford, and before she’s “better”, you need to sell, for far less than you paid, and you’re out all that care you put into her.
Best case, you get her, farrier can fix her up in no time, and you’ve got a great horse.
I think its good talking to the farrier and really getting a true picture at what you are looking at, and decide if its worth your time or not.
Might be helpful to post photos of her feet for other farriers to weigh in.
Sorry to keep posting, but you can probably tell that I am fixated on this right now, and I need to talk to people who understand what I am going through. I am under a lot of stress!
The latest is that I have heard from the farrier. The news is not that great, but it’s better than what I feared. He thinks he can work on solving her foot problems with just regular shoeing, but it’s going to have to be done every five weeks for the foreseeable future. So each shoeing will not be as expensive as I feared, but it will have to be done a lot more often than I originally budgeted for. Still, the B/O has been very sympathetic, and she said she thought we could keep the mare’s expenses overall close to my original budget. So, after taking a deep breath, I sent the owner an email telling him we could go ahead!
By this time next week, I should be a horse owner!:eek:
