Buyer Beware When Purchasing A Horse
I participated in horse shows when I was in a therapeutic riding school and won two blue ribbons. I was told by my instructor that the school couldn’t help me progress any further and her advice was to go out and buy my own horse.
I decided I would lease a horse first, bad idea. While I was riding the barn owner”s horse “just to see how well you can ride,” the owner of the leased horse was drugging him in the back. He brought out the horse and I had a hard time getting him to cantor. Being young, stupid and inexperienced in the horse world, I signed the lease.
The very next day I took the horse out on the trails in the back . To get there you had to go over a cement road with ditches on both sides. As we turned to go back to the barn I could feel the horse gain speed and my instructor kept yelling “pull back on the reins” “pull back on the reins” which wasn’t going to help anyway but I couldn’t do a one rein stop because the horse was going so fast if I turned him he probably would have lost his balance completely and either broken a leg or rolled over onto me. I bailed and one of the workers caught him just before he hit the street.
Fortunately I was wearing my riding vest and helmet which saved my life. I was sore as could be. After a few days of rest I went back and started taking lessons on him. His name was (not really) Do-Do and I learned all his tricks and could ride him quite well. I decided I wanted my own horse and started searching and eventually found Baylee in a petting zoo. He had a camel on one side and a llama on the other, with lots of barn animals running around. I visited the zoo four times to make sure he was not drugged. Once, I took the owner from the leasing barn to evaluate him. All was well. He passed his vet check and I broke the lease.
I began to train Baylee myself and I basically used common sense and then discovered Clinton Anderson on RFD-TV. I added some of his methods and some methods I used in dog training and I must say I did a darn good job. That was eight and a half years ago and several barns later but he likes where he’s at.
I am writing this as a warning to parents and adults looking to buy a horse. The person you are buying from may seem as nice as can be, but what happened to me happens all the time. The horse industry is loaded with desperate people who will do anything to get rid of their horse, even if it means the next owner gets stuck with huge vet bills, injured or killed. Our economy has changed people and it’s a crying shame.
My best advice is to buy a horse from the 4 H Club because they have strict rules about not whipping a horse and no crops being used. Have someone more horse savvy go with you and watch the horse you are going to ride from the minute you arrive until you leave. It is also good to make an unplanned surprise visit to see how the barn is run. Buying a horse is the cheapest part. Learning how and then actually caring for him is what gets expensive.
Well I Missed Getting Those Fly Predators
This year one of the fellows that was working at the barn where I board Baylee said he would buy the fly predators and sprinkle around the stalls and the manure piles. I told him I’d pay him back and split the cost. He got a better job as a gardener and he just up and quit. I’m glad I didn’t give him my money, but I missed getting those pesky little fly predators again this year. I know they work, but by the time I found out Bob had left there was no way we could catch up without spending a lot more money than the other boarders would agree to pay.
To my surprise , since we live in the greater Cleveland area, and it was the end of August, we had about six more weeks of warm weather. First thing you do at this time of year is get rid of the adult flies that are laying eggs. You do this by aggressive trapping. This will also help for the next summer by killing off the eggs now.
Certain fly traps can be used inside the barn and others can only be used outside. Some fly traps have an unpleasant odor and dumping out the case of flies can be an obnoxious job.
There are two kinds of flies, the house fly and the biting stable fly. Spalding makes traps for both kinds that vary in price and whether they are re-useable. Their best one for house flies is called the Terminator Pro and costs $21.99 but it catches 13,323 flies. I have no idea who does the counting. The next best of the other nine they offer only caught 2166 flies.
If you don’t want to bother with re-useable traps and reloading them, Spalding makes a Giant Fly Relief Bag Trap for $59.00. The yellow EZ Traps sell for $9.29 for two and catche more flies and flying insects than messy coils. You can wash and dust the bugs off and reuse them a few times which you can’t do with the others they sell. These don’t work for biting stable flies. For that you should get the Bite Free Stable Fly Trap which costs $9.49 and is a trap every horse should have. This is the most effective trap tested by the USDA for biting stable flies. They are able to be rinsed off and reused. When a horse is stomping and twitching it is from the biting stable fly.
If there is a place at your barn that has standing water, it is a breeding ground for mosquitoes. The Pre Strike Mosquito Torpedo for five at a time, costs $8.99 and are three times more effective than the BTi, mosquito dunks that you can buy at the hardware store.
Fly predators take one month to begin to work and don’t work on adult flies. Now is the time to trap the adult population and get rid of them so that next spring you can use the fly predators and literally be rid of flies.
In order to kill the adult flies you need to get a case of three different fly traps and put them in three different areas. Make sure one trap is in the manure piles because the non biting house fly reproduces in manure. That is why you need so many traps. Also keep your horse’s stall clean.
Get the Bite Free Stable Fly Trap and put it in your horse’s stall. All traps have an item in them to attach to the wall, and include gloves. Then next year before fly season begins, an adult female lays 900 eggs so stopping them is very important.
Flies have a tremendous sense of smell and if your barn is not kept clean, the flies flock to the smell of urine and manure. When cleaning the stall make sure to do a thorough job and have someone help you lift the center matt, and clean under there thoroughly. That is where Sweet PDZ or Bye Bye Oder or baking soda should be put and also on the surface of the matt.
The only other way to reduce the and reduce the flies in the stall is to feed your horse garlic. It helps but the the other approach works much better.
How Important Is a Good Farrier?
A good farrier is the cornerstone to a healthy horse that lives a long life without constant bouts of lameness. Baylee has had four Farriers before I found Alan and you will know it when you find a good one. I had one that talked so much the horse hated him. The next one was worse. Quicker but he thought it was perfectly alright that Baylee shuffled his feet and didn’t pick them up. His reasoning was that he was a Quarter Horse. I fired him and then got a fellow who was pretty good but Baylee kept losing his shoes and this guy was always unavailable. I fired him and found a nutty professor. He did everything by tape measure and Baylee kept losing shoes and getting lame. Here was a perfectly normal horse that four professional farriers couldn’t shoe properly. I had a card from a fellow that put on one of his lost shoes. I decided to call him and get another opinion. He took one look at his feet and said “if you want to hire me now say so, otherwise I’m leaving.” I said “start working.” Baylee’s front feet were never upright before. He always looked like he was leaning back. By the time Alan got done with the front shoes I was looking at a different horse. His feet were upright and over the navicular bone just like the pictures. I was stunned. By the time he finished the back feet I thought he wasn’t real. He must have come down from the heavens. My horse never had stood so upright and I was dumbfounded. I quickly came back to earth when he handed me his bill. We scheduled his next appointment and he warned me that Baylee would run much faster once he got used to his shoes and the way he was standing. Each time he’ll get a little faster, so be ready for him really running. He also told me if he kept being shod the previous way he would be permanently lame in about two years. I knew that was true just by looking at the complete difference. How important is a farrier? For me he’s just as important as my vet. My advice is, if you find a really good farrier who works with your horse’s anatomy, don’t ever let him go. It will cost a lot more in the end if you go cheap on the feet.
Training Your Horse The Old Fashioned Way
When I bought Baylee he knew how to do two things well, swim and stand still looking gorgeous in halter classes. He won lots of ribbons and trophies but he lived in a petting zoo. In the middle of the ring were wildcats in cages, roosters, rabbits, a few miniature horses, a small zebra, Baylee in a stall next to a mean spitting Camel on one side and a Llama on the other side. You may be wondering what all this has to do with training.
Baylee was 6 when I bought him and he didn’t know a thing. I trained him myself by reading everything I could get my hands on and watching Clinton Anderson on RFD-TV and putting in my own touch to the method. Let me tell you it wasn’t easy, but I never used any devices that forced his head down or that kept him trapped in any way.
I just read an article about using a surcingle and running martingales and on and on, but I just don’t believe any of that is necessary. I used a stick with a rope on the end and a rope halter and did his ground training patiently, daily and consistently. He is a smart horse and caught on quickly to his lessons. Then I saddled him up and we went for a ride. He behaved like a gentleman for the first 3 weeks. I was using Mecate reins with the long rope coming off the reins. Baylee had a habit of going around the ring with his head straight, however his but was sticking out. After a few group lessons he got the hang of it and I continued to teach him more things.
I’ll never forget this one group lesson when he decided to challenge me on everything he had been taught. I was younger then and able to hop right on him and all the horses started to walk around the ring except Baylee. He decided he was going to back up, refuse to go forward and begin to buck. Eventually he walked with the other horses but cantered when he was supposed to trot and I had enough. I jumped off of him and took him to the opposite end of the arena and began schooling him in front of everyone. Bless those long reins. He knew I meant business and without much fight he began to behave and do his lessons. My classmates were amazed that he had become so well behaved in such a short time.
The lesson lasted 45 minutes and when it was over Baylee expected to go with the other horses. As they filed out I mounted him and said “you missed your 45 minute lesson that I have to pay for so now we’ll do the lesson by ourselves. His jaw didn’t drop to the ground but I knew he wasn’t a happy camper. He did everything perfectly and I was drained by the time the 45 minutes were up. I walked for a good half hour to cool him down and wound up closing the place, but it was worth every minute.
That night began a whole new relationship between us he learned to respect me and trust me and I’ve learned to respect him and trust him. You don’t need all the crazy things to put on your horse, all you need is a long rope and hard work. The reward is worth the effort.
Haven’t Been Riding Much
It seems like ages since I have written anything on my site. Things for the past several months have been very hectic to say the least. I had to go through a bunch of medical tests which all turned out fine.
In November the whole family went down to Florida to see my second youngest son got married on the beach at West Pamn Beach. We all were expecting eighty degree weather so all the women wore long very light weight dresses. Needless to say it was the coldest day and night on record there and we stood there freezing. It was a beautiful ceremony but knowing the weather in Cleveland was warmer than were we were was a bit disconcerting.
Naturally when I got back it was cold here but I rode Baylee until I could feel he was a little off. In the past several months he was losing shoes and was lame on first the left and then the right. I could tell he wasn’t up to par so even though the vet gave him a clean bill of health. I talked to another farrier when he lost his shoe again.
When the new farrier looked at him he said he’s too long in the toe and he isn’t upright on the front. He’ll keep going lame if you don’t correct this now. So Baylee got a new farrier and it was amazing to see the difference how he trimmed his feet. It was even more astonishing to see how Bayleet stood when Allen was done. His front feet lined up the way they should his feet were over the navicular bone and upright for the first time. Our other farrier said he was growing in a new frog, on his back left foot, but we thought it was thrush. Well it turned out we were right he has thrush and he is being treated on all four feet. He’s getting used to his new foot positioning. I am trying to get used to be in the cold weather. I plan on spending more time with him and riding him more. Actually giving him a rest until his feet were corrected was the best thing I could have done for him. Allen not only took his time but used different weight and types of shoes on the front and the back because the horses power comes from the rear those shoes were a heavier material.
It is very difficult to find a good farrier and when you do hang on to him. Most riders don’t realize how the correct trim and shoeing makes a tremendous difference in the performance of your horse. the farrier did warn me when he gets used to the shoes he’ll go much faster. This ought to be fun.
The Danger Of Untrained Horses In The Ring
Wednesday night is open riding night at the barn where I board my horse Baylee. People from other barns come to practice in our ring for two events Barrel Racing and Pole Bending. I like to go on Wednesday evenings so Baylee’s exposed to other horses. Most of the time when I ride no other riders are around.
Things started off as usual. People were warming up their horses and then they started running the barrels. One grey horse was totally out of control and I just tried to keep my horse away from the grey horse. The lady on the grey horse was with her husband, and his horse, a chestnut was in full control the whole time they were there. We took turns running the barrels and Baylee is not very fast because I don’t show him compete with him. He is kind of tall for the tight turns of barrels. But he makes up the time running back from the last barrel. He has gotten into this bad habit of stopping on his front legs when he knows he’s past the timer, so this was a perfect opportunity to make him continue to run until I stopped him. Everybody watching thought I was nuts running him through the chute and into the other ring. I was working on his sliding stop, and I was teaching him to stop when I want him to stop, and it worked. Now he can keep going or stop where I choose.
In the meantime the lady on the grey horse kept dismounting and mounting each time her horse acted up. She had no control over him and no other rider could do a run if she was on him, because he was crow hopping and side passing and running out from under her. When she ran the barrels, you could see there was going to be trouble, so I took Baylee behind the fence, and sure enough he ran away with her and she couldn’t stop him until he nearly hit the wall in the outer ring.
I watched her and her husband walking their horses later, side by side, cooling them off, and I noticed the gray horse’s left hip was at least two inches higher than the right one, and the saddle didn’t fit him at all. When he was acting up and running the barrels, the woman constantly pulled on his mouth. He fought the bit and hollowed his back and had his mouth gaping open. His head was up high and pulling on his tie- down.
When they left, myself and another girl from the barn stayed, and we set the poles up. Her horse was very fast, but he kept stopping on his front feet. I asked her if the horse ever brought his legs under himself when he stopped, and she said no, I don’t think so. I’m not sure what you’re talking about. I explained and demonstrated with Baylee so she could understand. She thanked me and told me how well behaved and beautiful my horse was and I thanked her for the compliment and dismounted and put him in his stall for the night.
I thought about the whole evening and realized all the other horses had no ground training. Baylee isn’t well behaved by magic or the luck of the draw. I spent, and continue to spend, a great deal of time training him. I just don’t understand why people find that to be such a chore and expect their horse to do things well by instinct.
People are predators. Horses are prey animals. If you do not ground train them they will never be well behaved. That is a fact. Since their first instinct is flight, and their second is fight, without training a horse to use the thinking side of his brain, they do not behave “our” way. What is done on the ground is transferred under saddle. Untrained horses are a danger to the rider and every other rider in the ring. I will never understand why people think you can get on a broke horse and your job is done.
I’m sorry, but when I ride, I don’t want to fear for my life or my horse’s life or worry that my horse or I will get injured because somebody was too lazy to bother to train their horse. When you send your horse out to be trained, you might as well just stand there and burn a wad of cash, if you don’t plan on working on his ground training when he comes back. I also can’t understand why people feel they are invincible and refuse to wear safety equipment. The only trainer on television who wears a helmet is Julie Goodnight. Good for her!
The AQHA Sends Out Mixed Messages
I own a quarter horse and he is registered with the AQHA and I have participated in their ride program and won a jacket. I think they are highly organized, proven by how many shows they sponsor all over the country. They started out as a registry for quarter horses which are still the most popular breed int the country today.
My problem with AQHA is they are sending out mixed messages to the public. Frankly I am tired of this attitude and feel their prize money has gotten out of hand. A portion of it should be used to form a committee on problems facing Quarter horse all over this world. I know they have a foundation but I have no idea how those funds are utilized.
In the September issue of “America’s Horse” page 6 there was this editor’s note ” Please note that the AQHA is not pro slaughter. Our position is about animal welfare and protecting our member’s private property rights. AQHA opposes abolishing the option of horse processing until there are other provisions to take care of the 80,000 to 100,000 horses that become unwanted or abandoned each year.
This is one of the best political statements I’ve ever heard. Let’s look at the statement between the lines. They are not pro slaughter. To me that means you are against the slaughter of horses, but they should have stopped there. Instead the AQHA wanted to appeal to everyone and not upset anyone so the next statement is protecting member’s property rights. They are a horse registry to keep the quarter horse a pure breed what business do they have to concern themselves about members property rights? The answer is very simple they can not afford to alienate the ranchers because they are the biggest users of quarter horses in the world.
They are taking the ranchers side against the Bureau of Land Management’s program to get rid of the mustangs roaming often on their land. I am not saying the ranchers don’t have a legitimate concern but it’s not up to the AQHA to put that in their mission statement.
Then comes the kicker when the AQHA attempts to appease everyone when they say “AQHA opposes abolishing the option of horse processing until there are other provisions to take the care of the 80,000 to 100,000 horses that become unwanted or abandoned each year.” This is aimed directly at the state of Texas who used to have a processing plant and is one of the states in a long line to try to get another facility up and running. The AQHA can not afford to alienate Texas because it puts on so many shows and rodeos and there are a lot of quarter horse ranches in that area.
That is a real slap in the face to every rescue facility, and there are many, who are taking action instead of what the AQHA has become so good at recently, talking out of both sides of their mouths. It seems to me that this organization is more concerned with growing by making more millionaires and creating programs where the offspring’s of world class champions get certain incentives.
The job of the AQHA is not to take care of a few rich people and then elect them to the board. I would love to know if I could serve on the board, or if I have to show and win a certain amount of money in order to be eligible, my guess I would be turned down faster than the speed of light. Stop sending mixed messages and take a stand, I thought the AQHA was about the welfare of quarter horses period!
It’s Fall Now, Time To Shorten Pasture Outings
As the weather cools and the leaves change color it won’t be long before winter is upon us. Some barns close the pastures in mid to late October. Others leave them open until it snows or it’s too cold to walk the horses that far. Now is the time to slowly reduce the amount of grazing time your horse gets. Fall is just like spring, the grass is high in fructan.
The grass undergoes a flush of growth with the return of moisture from the hot summer. This is followed by noticeably lower temperatures at night, which helps produce fructan. Fructan is found in the cool season grasses and it doesn’t matter what type of grass is in the pasture. The fructan level will will go up, and if you have a horse at risk for laminitis , or one that is obese, or insulin resistant you need to take certain precautions. In actuality all horse owners need to be more vigilant in early spring and fall.
You can keep them outside for the same length of time if you restrict the amount of grass they eat. In the fall you might have to use a muzzle to reduce the horse’s grass intake or switch to a paddock or dry lot so the horse can exercise without putting him at risk of over grazing. The less frutan your horse gets, the more chance he will remain healthy.
In this weather it is very important to exercise at-risk horses. Exercise can help reduce the risk of laminitis. It’s still warm enough during the day to go outside and ride and reward your horse by hand grazing him, so you can control how long he grazes and he’ll think it’s a great reward.
Barn Owner Cost Pain For Baylee
Last week I didn’t go to the barn after Labor Day because we started another venture and I had to spend at least two days on that. I planned on going out Thursday evening when I got a call from the young man who works at the barn and said Baylee has had two swollen legs both on the right side and a cut on the front leg and the swelling was getting worse. I told him to please stay with the horse until I arrived or the vet arrived which he agreed too. It was after five and I was forced to use the on call vet who I never met.
She took his temperature and carefully looked at his legs and then asked me to walk him and my husband who was watching him said “is that walking?’ I could hear his footfalls were totally disorganized and even though the visit cost me $300.00 I was glad I didn’t wait any longer.
The next day this same vet came out and checked him, my regular vet was out of town. She wrote down the instructions which included giving him antibiotic shots and fully dressing the front leg. On Monday my regular vet came out and he said that I should stop using the pressure bandage and gave him his last antibiotic shot because the bottle I had didn’t have a full dosage left in it. then he wrapped his foot and said keep him on stall rest until Thursday and if he seemed better I could ride him.
His back leg was fine but their was still some heat in the front leg so I decided to do some training so he could get out of the stall for a while. He actually enjoyed that. The barn had a clinic scheduled for Friday and Saturday so we went out Saturday and put a fresh bandage on. Now the wound was really bleeding, which it hadn’t been before. I cleaned it with iodine sprayed it with vetricyn and covered it and my husband hand grazed him for a while.
I had one of the women at the barn look at the wound and she thought I should get a hold of my vet. I knew that would be impossible but while my husband had the horse out she told me the truth about what really had happened. When the worker noticed the swelling Wednesday he immediately brought the barn owner over to look at it. He said yea it’s swollen. The worker assumed the the owner was going to call me but he did nothing. Thursday the worker and owner looked at it again and the owner said nothing. On his own the worker called us that Thursday because he felt we had the right to know and thought a vet should be looking at it. You can imagine how I felt when I heard this.
The following Monday I called and asked to speak with my vet who said, ” if you want me to stop by I will.” I immediately said “yes” and we arranged a time. I got their first so I took Baylee into the ring and let him loose to run and I kept him running for a good 15 minutes. One of the other riders was in the other ring and said “are you sure that’s a good idea”? I responded “the vet will be here soon and I want him to see if this much exercise is really ok for him since I wasn’t able to ride him except one time.”
The vet arrived and the wound was bleeding I told him that Baylee had been running around , he thought that was a good idea. He said the bleeding is because this area has so many blood vessels but it looks like it’s healing and if he isn’t lame which he obviously isn’t then keep riding him and let him go out to pasture as long as that area is covered.
I am writing this article for two reasons. First how do you think I should deal with the barn owner? The other is what I believe wholeheartedly when there is a change in a horse’s demeanor do not wait call the vet. Was it worth the money you bet you it was. Could it have waited? In Baylee’s case since there was never any fever it probably could have waited for his regular vet to see him. However I don’t gamble because usually the deck is stacked against you and who knows how sick Baylee would have been without the antibiotic shots. If you aren’t sure whether to call the vet think of this incident and make that call!
Letters In October Issue of Equus Made Sense
I do a lot of reading and writing and was amazed to read and agree with two of the three EQ Letters. I often don’t agree with their point of view. I keep talking about how some of the cruel things that we do for sport are really no better than not caring for a sick horse. No trainers want to admit this and most horse people won’t either, so you can image my shock when these letters addressed topics I have written about. I’m not alone.
The first letter questioned, “Why do we feel the need to be the biggest or strongest in any sport, regardless of the consequences”? That was asked by a woman who couldn’t figure out an answer.
Actually it’s quite simple. People who have low esteem have to do things that are dangerous and out-right stupid, to gain confidence and accolades from a crowd of strangers. The crowd is waiting to see an accident, but at least have the brains not to try eventing themselves. If a person wants to participate in a dangerous sport that’s one thing, but there is no person that can tell me the horse asked to be in harm’s way constantly. Where is the Humane Society while horses and riders continue to die in eventing?
The next writer also events and loves the sport, and says “I find that my experience makes me a hard critic of it. I think that as much as anything, arrogance is the downfall of eventers.” She went on to criticize the sport she loves and at the end she says “it can only be ego when eventers say that the integrity of the the sport shouldn’t be compromised by making the cross-country courses less difficult. Of course it should! People are dying!”. Is it me or does this woman have a problem with reality? She loves her sport, eventing, but the courses should be easier because people are dying. She never mentions how many horses die or that it could be just as cruel for her horse. So who is really arrogant?
The death of Eight Belles in the Kentucky Derby reminded the next reader of an event she witnessed at Del Mar last year. ” We watched another beautiful young filly live her last moments on the track. The staff propped up a tarp around the young horse to hide the truth of horse racing from the audience in the stands. Sadly, we had an open view of the euthanasia procedure”. She went on and said “the poor filly’s death went virtually unnoticed”. What does that say about us as human beings? Certainly nothing favorable. I wrote an article that speed kills, and in thoroughbred racing it is an absolute. Breeders want the horses taller and thinner and faster. They start them too young when their legs are so thin they break like match sticks.
Don’t think for a moment that Tennessee Walking Horses don’t suffer from the soring problem. It has gotten better in certain areas, however when government inspectors arrive, the horses are withdrawn from competition. Last July 400 horses withdrew when government officials showed up. Catalogs sell chemicals for soring that leave a green stain on the horse’s pasterns, so why don’t the inspectors look for the stain to see what is going on?
Don’t think that rodeo horses or barrel racers don’t get hurt when we have to win and go faster and faster. Heck, at the barn where I board my horse one girl owned two horses, and both died about a month apart doing pole bending. Thank the Good Lord I wasn’t there either time.
I love my horse and right now he is on stall rest. No one knows how he got cut on his right front foot, but it doesn’t matter. I will care for him not because I have to, but because I want to. Baylee is my trusted, loyal friend who is part of our family. He doesn’t have to prove anything to anyone. We are both much happier just being together. To me, all this rushing around and going faster and faster with no safety equipment is insane. What happened to the days when you rode your horse, taught him something new, and just spent time with him.
