Monthly Archives: March 2009

Penelope and Kipper Still Riding!

Posted by Liz Goldsmith in English Riding, equestrian, equine art, equine humor, horses and tagged with , , , ,
Perhaps Thelwell cartoons were the inspiration for the Shetland Grand National!

Perhaps Thelwell cartoons were the inspiration for the Shetland Grand National!

When I was growing up, “Thelwell ponies” were part of the lexicon. Those fat, willful ponies with their determined young riders captured the imaginations of young and old equestrians.

Norman Thelwell (1923-2004) was a British illustrator who created the intrepid Penelope and her beloved pony Kipper. His first cartoon appeared in Punch in 1953 and while his cartoons addressed many areas of British country life, it was the Thelwell pony that hit a nerve on both sides of the pond.
Thelwell’s cartoons perfectly captured the relationship of girl and pony: adversarial on the small points yet full of love.

I hope that the current generation of young riders has the chance to appreciate the talent and humor of this amazing artist.

The Grand National (Pony Style)

Posted by Liz Goldsmith in Commentary, Competition, equestrian, horse racing, racing and tagged with , ,

Is it that kids have no fear? Or are they just so close to the ground already that they don’t worry about falling off? Whatever the reason, the Shetland Pony Grand National is just too cute!

The Shetland Grand National was first run in 1981 and was created to benefit charities. Money is raised through individuals or companies who sponsor the ponies and the money goes directly to the charity. More than $500,000 has been raised to date. The races are two-and-a-half laps around a ring over fences that are no more than 2′ high. The total length of the race depends on the size of the ring.

Participation in the event is restricted to registered Shetland ponies and riders between the ages of 9 to 13 and who are no taller than 5’1″. There are only 10 runners so aspiring racers must qualify for one of the coveted places. First, they must compete for a year in jumping, dressage and eventing events. After that year they can start the qualifying process (to race in the Grand National each child must win one race) which begins each year in May at Windsor. There, 40 riders try to prove to the judges that they can control their ponies at top speed and over jumps. Over the course of the qualifying season, that number is whittled down to 10.

I’m not sure I was ever small enough to ride a Shetland pony but wow, does that look like fun!

Clipping your horse: It’s not too late

Posted by Liz Goldsmith in Commentary, grooming, Horse care and tagged with , , ,
The Trace Clip

Freedom models his trace clip

Whenever I go out for a hack and run into people walking on the trails the first thing I’m asked is why my horse is two colors.

“It’s because I paid extra,” I like to tell them. “The second color costs more.”

Of course then I explain that I do what’s called a “trace clip” on my horse because he gets hot working in the snow and this helps him cool down without getting chilled.

My philosophy on clipping is to start with as little as possible then take off more hair as the weather and the workload warrants. That approach also lets me correct mistakes that I make while clipping! Of course the best part about clipping a trace clip is that people cannot see both sides of your horse simultaneously so it really doesn’t matter if it’s slightly different on each side.

Clipping

Often you need to refresh a clip two or three times over the winter.

Now that the weather is changing, I’m going to clip off the rest of my horse’s winter coat. Contrary to popular opinion, clipping in the spring will not ruin your horse’s summer coat. It merely gets rid of the remnants of winter hair. It does take a few weeks for the coat to “bloom” but since many people clip their horses year ’round, if you don’t like shedding, don’t hesitate. Results from a recent poll on the Chronicle of the Horse Forum show that 40 out of 67 people believe in skipping the shedding process.

In my part of the country, clipping also allows me to find ticks more easily so not only is the horse immediately more comfortable, but it’s also imminently practical.

Clipping is not rocket science. The basic requirements are a clean horse and sharp blades. However, don’t clip your horse for the very first time right before you show or go someplace important. I’ve seen some pretty ugly clip jobs over the years!

Much has been written on how to clip and how much to clip off. Here are some of the articles that I think are good:

Clipping: Working through winter

Tips on Clipping Parts of the Horse

And here’s a great series on how to clip a horse from Horse and Hound TV. They feature Jodie Summers who grooms for British eventer Mary King.

The Great Escape: Van and Freedom on the Loose

Posted by Liz Goldsmith in Commentary, equine, Equine Safety, Horse care, horse health, horses and tagged with , , , , ,

Yesterday I got one of the calls that all horse people dread: my horse and his pasture mate were loose and spotted about a mile from the barn running on the road. Someone had opened the gate and the two horses had simply left.

I drove the five minutes to the barn in record speed. The horses were, thankfully, back in their pasture. A quick inspection revealed that both horses had no cuts, scrapes or puncture wounds. Hooves that were supposed to be shod still had shoes. Neither horse had fallen or been hit by a car. I could tell though, that at least my gelding was uncomfortable and stiff just from how he was standing.

I am lucky enough to live in a town where one of the police officers also has a horse. Even luckier, he was on duty yesterday and was able to herd them back home and catch them. Thank goodness they waited until after rush hour, ran away from the commuting route, and stayed on back roads where people generally don’t drive too fast. I heard that they mostly stayed on the right side of the road too!

So, what should you worry about once your horse returns from an unscheduled outing on pavement? Laminitis and tying up.

Road founder is laminitis that is brought on by excessive concussion of a horse’s feet from running on the road. It’s actually a misnomer since laminitis refers to an inflammation of the laminae of the hoof. Founder refers to laminitis that is so severe that the bond between the coffin bone and the hoof capsule breaks causing the coffin bone to rotate and/or sink. While all horses that founder have laminitis, not all horses with laminitis founder. Quick action can prevent founder in many cases.

Tying up (exertional rhabdomyolysis) occurs when there is a lack of blood flow to the muscles of an exercising horse. One of the causes can be sudden and intense exercise, such what can happen when a horse gets loose. When a horse ties up, the symptoms are muscle stiffness and cramping. The horse may look stiff, show reluctance to move, and have hard, tight muscles, especially in its hindquarters. What you can’t see is that ER can cause muscle damage.

A call to my vet advised giving them a dose of Banamine and icing their feet in case the concussion of running on the roads brought on founder. The first 24 hours are the most critical when facing the potential of laminitis and icing can make a huge difference.

Check the digital pulse at the back of the fetlock join.

Check the digital pulse at the back of the fetlock join.

I checked their digital pulses and both horses seemed normal. I was very glad that there was still enough snow in one part of the pasture where I could stand them and have them iced up and over their coronary bands. Freedom was stiff and his muscles felt tight. I used some massage techniques and got some big releases.

Hoof testers are used to check for sensitivity.

Hoof testers are used to check for sensitivity.

Later that afternoon my vet stopped by to check on the two escapees. I wanted to make sure there was no hoof sensitivity, triple check the digital pulse and draw blood. He found no sensitivity and a normal digital pulses when he checked both horses.

By that time Freedom’s muscles had relaxed. The combination of Banamine, the several mile run, and a massage left him sleepy. Van, on the other hand, was showing signs of tying up. His muscles were tight and he was walking stiffly. To help him recover, the vet tubed him with Dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), which is both an anti-inflammatory and a radical scavenger, and also gave him electrolytes.

Having the vet come by and check them probably allowed me to sleep last night. I was so relieved that they were doing so well. At 11:30 last night they were both still doing fine and this morning they were a little stiff and highly annoyed that they are not to have grain until Wednesday or Thursday!

Read more about laminitis and tying up:

What’s wrong with this picture? Where should your saddle sit?

Posted by Liz Goldsmith in Commentary, equestrian, Horse care, horses, saddle fit, saddles and tagged with , , , ,

saddle-too-far-upI frequently see horses with their saddles placed too far forward. This photo represents a most extreme case, and to be fair, was used in an ad to sell a saddle so we can only hope that no one ever rode the horse with the saddle placed like this!

You can easily imagine how uncomfortable that saddle would be for both horse and rider.

Seriously, when a saddle is placed too far forward several issues occur:

  • The panels no longer distribute the weight of the rider on the horse’s back. Instead, all the weight comes down over the horse’s withers. Creating pressure points over the withers affects the horse’s entire central nervous system. Pinching here will cause the horse to drop its back away from the pressure and the pressure restricts blood flow which results in muscle wastage (this shows up as hollows that develop behind the shoulder blades).
  • The horse’s shoulders are restricted which will make it’s gait choppy and may cause the horse to stumble. The saddle needs to be 2-3″ behind the scapula to provide enough room for its shoulders to move properly.
  • Sitting on a saddle that tilts up at the front throws the rider off balance and puts all the rider’s weight at the back of the saddle. It’s obvious when looking at the photo above, but even when a saddle is just a bit too far forward it can unbalance the rider and cause the horse pain.
This saddle is in the correct place on the horse's back. You can see how the position of the saddle ensures that the rider's weight will be distributed by the panels.

This saddle is in the correct place on the horse's back. You can see how the position of the saddle ensures that the rider's weight will be distributed by the panels.

To place a saddle properly you should place it at the withers and then slide it back until it rests comfortably on the horse’s back. Check to make sure the scapula is in front of the saddle. Note: putting the saddle in the correct place doesn’t ensure that the saddle fits, but putting it in the wrong place will mean that even a saddle that’s fitted correctly won’t fit!

Lost . . . and Found! The Tale of Good Guinness and the Impostor.

Posted by Liz Goldsmith in Commentary, equestrian and tagged with , , , , ,

missingSometimes truth is stranger than fiction. In a story that echos the fairy tale of the Prince and the Pauper, a drama unfolded over the Internet over the course of the past few days when it was determined that a grand prix jumper delivered to a sales barn on the East Coast was uncovered as an impostor.

In September Good Guinness, a 17.2 hand dark brown gelding with a star, was placed on a trailer in California bound for New York by trainer Patrick Seaton. A black gelding with a star was subsequently delivered to Frank Madden’s barn on Long Island, NY where the horse was shown to prospective buyers.

Fast forward to the beginning of this week. Good Guinness, a horse with an estimated value of $200K has been shown to buyers, competed at a few shows, and has not yet sold. In fact, his performance has been disappointing. Patrick Seaton goes to check on the horse at WEF and discovers, to his horror, that the horse in the stall wearing GG’s halter is not the horse he sent to New York.

The first part of the mystery is solved quickly: a microchip implanted in the impostor horse reveals him to be a horse imported from Europe in 2004 named Con-Air.

An all-points bulletin for GG is issued and it doesn’t take long before the tips come in. Several people believe that they’ve seen GG showing under the name “Kanye” at WEF as in the high junior jumpers. Not surprisingly, he was quite successful. The fences probably seemed low to him.

“Kanye” was supposed to be a junior jumper that McLain Ward had taken in trade from a customer and who he had subsequently leased to a junior rider. The Ward’s barn was also the stop before Madden’s on the route of the shipper that had carried GG from California. By late yesterday, the identification was confirmed and an agent for Patrick Seaton had taken the horse from the barn where he had been living under an assumed identity in New Jersey.

So how did Kanye (actually Con-Air) and GG get mixed up? That part is not yet clear. Yes, the two horses are similar in appearance. But you would think that shippers have a good strategy for keeping straight which horses are going to which barns. Especially the horses with a street value of $200K. Was it a shipping mistake? Or did someone intentionally switch the two horses?

Then, there’s the question of performance. Poor Con-Air was expected to perform as a Grand Prix jumper, a job for which he clearly did not have the scope. Living as the prince must have been a challenge for him when he was really a 3’6″ horse. Didn’t anyone wonder why his performance was so under par?

As for the real GG, it must have become clear to his junior rider and her trainer that the horse they leased had considerably more scope than they expected. But I guess she and her trainer can be excused for thinking they got the deal of the century! In the end, she’s the one I pity: for six months she had the ride of her life on a horse that she thought she’d leased for a year. I wonder if the real “Kanye” will be a disappointment now.

Here’s a video of the authentic Good Guinness jumping:

Sources for the story:
Jumper Missing after Cross Country Haul
Impostor Horse Identified in Missing Jumper Case
Missing Jumper Located
Missing GP Horse Found Competing at Lower Level Events

Rehoming the Senior Equine

Posted by Liz Goldsmith in Commentary, Horse care, horse health, horse rescue, horses and tagged with , , ,
This 31 year old horse is one of the lucky ones -- retired by his owner!

This 31 year old horse is one of the lucky ones -- retired by his owner!

I got yet another email today from someone looking for a “forever” home for a 24 year old mare. It seems like I get at least one a week now.

The good news is that people are trying to find homes for their horses. The bad news is that they are not really accepting responsibility for the long-term health and comfort of their horse and this makes me angry.

Yes, there are a few “companion” or light riding homes out there, but for the most part I think it’s irresponsible to ask someone else to take on the care, feeding and increasing maintenance costs of a horse that you loved and rode until it was too old to keep doing its job.

When senior horses are advertised on Craig’s list for short money (or for free) their prospects aren’t good. Most of these horses do not enjoy their retirement years on green pastures. Instead, they are shipped off to auction.

Even owners who put “buy back” clauses into their sales contracts often find that their old friend has been sold on without a call to an unknown fate. There’s a sad story today on the Chronicle of the Horse about a much-loved lesson horse that was shipped to New Holland. Sadly, although this is a horse that some people wanted to retire, he most likely went to slaughter.

So what should owners do with their senior horses? The best situation is when they can live out their years in the owner’s back pasture. However, that’s a scenario that doesn’t exist for many horse owners. Retirement farms are an option for those who have owners that have the means to support them. As with any boarding situation, you need to be careful to ensure that the care is good. Typically, these aren’t terribly expensive facilities as the horses (hopefully) spend most of their time out grazing, generally are barefoot and live out their lives as horses in a herd. For those owners who can’t afford to board out their horses until they pass from old age, perhaps they should consider euthanasia rather than asking another to support their horse in its dotage. While it sounds cold, given the uncertain quality of life for an older horse that is sold to an unknown future, it may be a better option.

Here’s a Website with a list of retirement facilities for horses.

This site covers options for owners.

No, she’s not sinking — She’s just short!

Posted by Liz Goldsmith in Commentary, equine, equine humor, Horse breeds, Horse care, horse rescue
Because of her short legs, people who drive by think Mayflower is stuck in the mud!

Because of her short legs, people who drive by think Mayflower is stuck in the mud!

Mayflower, a small Shetland pony has become a minor celebrity in her hometown of Southhampton, Hants in the UK.

Four times passersby have called emergency rescue services because they thought the pony was sinking into the mud by a river. Apparently Mayflower’s pasture mates are all taller than she and, since her legs are so short compared to the proportions of her body, it looks like she’s in danger of disappearing!

Mayflower is called Shorty by the Fire Brigade

Mayflower is called "Shorty" by the Fire Brigade

According to the animal rescuers, costs are adding up. Last time two fire engines, 12 firefighters and a special lifting vehicle showed up. Mayflower’s owner thinks she might need to put a special sign by the pasture to prevent future emergency calls. That, or fence off the river bank!

Read more about Mayflower: Get Shorty! The tiny pony who keeps sparking 999 calls . . . because people think she’s stuck in the mud

Photos: Solent News & Photo Agency.