Category Archives: Uncategorized

horse, random observation, Uncategorized

For The Love Of The Horse

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I love horses. Growing up I was a barn rat at a riding stables in Sweden and my favorite horse was a chestnut gelding named Van-Toomen. His sire was a racing TB and his dam a Swedish Warmblood. US people would maybe call him a warmblood, but “over there” he was a TB x. He was a favorite flats horse and safe for most riders. Jumping he could get a little excited and if you took him out on the trails he could throw a mean buck that would likely unseat you. I learned the finer points of riding and dressage on him and he was a safe haven for me during my teen years. Unfortunately, at the age of 16, he was euthanized because of debilitating ring bone, which made him chronically lame and unuseable as a riding school horse. A life of two to three lessons a day 6 days a week was catching up with him. In Sweden, almost all horses are sold for slaughter at the end of their life and the slaughter house comes to the farm to put the horses down and take them to the slaughterhouse after they are dead. Most horses are insured and the insurance company requires this ending for full payout. Horses that are spared by someone who loves them get freeze branded as “uninsurable” and sold for the meat price. I was of course devastated.

Lately, I have been struggling with purpose and goals when it comes to horses and riding. As most of you know, Amira was injured last year, and her injury prevents her from being a distance horse. While I have had a few people interested in her, everyone is concerned about her long term soundness, which is understandable. I ride her about three times a week, but find it hard to develop any goals as I do not want to “just pleasure ride”. Ring riding doesn’t float my boat at the moment. Or hers. Casually riding down the trails is kind of boring. In the last 10 years, our family has been working towards doing distance riding, with a goal of 50s and maybe more, but along the way, we acquired several horses that ended up not suitable or able to do the job we want them to do. Most of the time, it is some sort of arthritis, especially in the hocks, or in one case, OCD lesions, as well as one horse with ring bone starting in a 10 year old horse. It is one thing if this happens in a 20 year old horse you’ve had for 15 years, but in a horse you’ve had for a year or two? Heart breaking. Especially, if it’s a kid’s horse. It’s not like we over ride our horses or don’t take care of them either. Our horses are very well cared for. Supplements, adequan, injections if warranted. It takes a year or two to train and build up any horse’s condition to do distance riding, and when they end up lame and un-useable, it kind of breaks your spirit. Sigh. Six horses is our max number at the moment, and Huey is retired and one of those 6 until he dies. Mojo is not leaving. He’s been here almost 10 years and is one of a kind. He’s likely to retire in a couple of years, as he is experiencing some caudal issues. Gamble may or may not end up safe to ride (that’s a different story). Amira is rideable, with limitations, and then we have Fiona and JJ.

So, what to do? Give up horses? Give up my goals and dreams? Do 10K worth of prepurchase exams on a 5K horse? Only to have them injure themselves the next week? Euthanize any horse that cannot work anymore? I feel like this is so taboo and not talked about. Where do all the lame lesson horses from the barn end up? The horse that slices their hock open and is forever lame at 3? Going to auction, in a kill pen, sold to a well meaning neglect type situation, take your pick. Do owners have a responsibility to pay for every horse’s last ten years or so, at $400 to $600 a month or more? Just look at any post looking for companions, you could have ten horses in your field in a heart beat.

Although an unpopular opinion, I don’t believe in rescue for horses that are chronically lame or injured. Spending thousands of dollars caring for a horse that has no hope of ever being useful and is possibly suffering is fine for the original owner of the horse, should they want to for sentimental reasons, but I don’t feel such a responsibility should be cast on a fundraising rescue. Their focus should be on horses that have a shot at rehab and placement.

Thoughts?

endurance, horse, kids, Uncategorized

JJ’s Leg Injury

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WARNING! POST CONTAINS GRAPHIC PICTURES!

Well, if you think it’s been quiet on the horse front, it really hasn’t been quiet. We had some plans to make it to some late season rides, but JJ ended up with a massive leg wound at the end of August. Today, with Amanda home from school, was the first ride JJ has had since the injury.

On August 24 we were going to take JJ and Mojo to a WGHA local ride and JJ came out of the pasture with her leg looking like this:

So, instead of going riding we called our vet out to sedate JJ to be able to clean and assess the wound. It took 2 shots of dorm and three people to be able to clean, debride and bandage her up. The following gallery is a collection of photos over the next two months while this injury was healing up. We initially were able to stuff two pieces of wet gauze inside the void in her leg. By some miracle the tendons were not involved and she was never lame. After that we used honey and dry gauze as the tissue started to fill in the wound. For the first two weeks it took three of us, one holding a feed pan of stress free, one holding her other back foot and one person cleaning and wrapping her wound. She got better after that and as a bonus I am now able to wrap her legs on my own.

During these two months of healing we had a few set backs, as you can see, JJ developed some excessive granulation tissue or proud flesh, and we treated it with two phovia treatments and equiaide and the proud flesh got much better. BUT, as we continued to use equiaide it crusted over and allowed an infection to brew, and we ended up debriding the wound again. I started using a microcyn hydrogel and wonder dust and scrubbing the wound for a few days and it dried up again. A few weeks ago we tried to stop bandaging a little too early apparently and JJ’s leg swelled up and got hot again. A thorough cleaning, some bute and more bandaging later, we were finally able to stop bandaging this week. Her leg is a little scuzzy from being wrapped for so long, but has stayed cold and tight all week. So Amanda got to go for a short walking ride today. This is what the leg looks like now, pretty much all covered in skin.

How did she get this wound? Our guess is, she rubbed her butt on a batten that split and pierced her vulva, sending her flying and scrambling, using her hind shoes to rip up her leg. We found the batten at the right height and a wound under her tail, and she was in heat, so that’s the story for now.

Hopefully, fingers crossed, healing goes smoothly from here. Life with horses is never dull.

kids, random observation, Uncategorized

Amanda starts High School

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How is it possible my baby is starting high school today?

Wowsers.

Amanda is attending the Marine Science Magnet High School of Eastern CT this year. Following in the foot steps of her siblings, Amanda earned a spot at the school in the lottery. There are only about 271 students at the school, usually around 70 freshmen. MSMHS was the number 1 high school in CT in 2023 and has an impressive number of AP and ECE offerings, along with some unique class offerings in the marine sciences and aquaculture realm. The school boosts an 11 to 1 student to teacher ratio and we hope Amanda has a great first year of high school.

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FB Restored!

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2 weeks ago my Facebook account was hacked and I lost all access. FB offers NO customer support for individuals. There are help pages that don’t (help). After extensive research, it seemed the only way people were successfully getting accounts restored was through the intervention of State Attorney General offices. So, after a week of no success on my own, I submitted a request through the CT State AG website with the details. The next morning I received a reply from an intern requesting some additional details, which I provided. I did have to establish a new email address not associated with a previous account. This afternoon, I received an email that FB had taken action on my account. I tried to login and I was able to successfully restore access. All the previous hacker email addresses had been removed and it looks like my account was actually locked out by FB the whole time as there are no suspicious posts or messages.

If you use FB as your business site, I SERIOUSLY recommend you rethink that practice. One thing I learned is people have way too much trust in FB to help them. FB only cares about the ad revenues and even those sites get abysmal support. I have added 2 factor authentication through an app as a requirement so a hacked email account doesn’t give up an access code again.

If you are reading this on FB and aren’t sure it’s me, contact me through my cell (number is on our website).

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FB Hacked!

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Last night, my (Rob’s) Facebook account was hacked. When I got up this morning, I had multiple email notifications about changes to my account. I had 2 different email addresses and a phone associated with the account. It looks like 1 email may have been compromised first and from there, the hackers loaded a email address, changed passwords, and removed all of my email and phone info. Of course, I clicked on all the “this wasn’t me” notices in my email.

This type of issue is one reason we maintain a family website and don’t just rely on social media for our communication. Facebook doesn’t have a helpdesk you can call or even chat with for personal profile issues. I don’t know if this will ever get fixed or not. I have found a ridiculous number of posts all over the internet that indicate people working on this type of problem for months.

For now, if you need to reach me, contact me via email or on my cell. I was able to make a post from my FB account on my cell phone and it was immediately replied to by a lot of people I don’t actually know. Don’t trust any of the comments on that post.

amateur radio, food, hiking, marriage, random observation, Uncategorized

Camping at Mashamoquet Brook State Park

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This past weekend Rob and I went camping at Mashamoquet Brook State Park in Pomfret, CT, a whopping 30 minute drive from home. The campground we stayed at is called the Wolf den. We have a big anniversary coming up and with Rob’s surgery next week, we decided we needed a getaway. The farm is pretty much a constant source of projects and work, and we forget to take time to relax if we are at home.

We left home on Friday afternoon after Rob returned from work and Quinn and I came home from our ride at Arcadia. The park is 10 minutes or so off of 395, but tucked back into the woods. There was a total of 6 out of 35 camp sites occupied, mostly with tent campers, but few RVs. It was very quiet. Only one site (ours) has electric and water (which was leaking and had to get turned off). Rob brought his amateur radio equipment, and set up a portable station and I brought books.

The nearby camp nature trail by the brook had beavers and I saw at least 3 turtles laying eggs in the meadow. The wetland brook area also had great blue herons and tons of red winged black birds. The beavers have dammed up the brook, so no fishing is possible, it is more of a wetland.

The weather was gorgeous. No rain at all. Saturday we slept in, went on a few hikes, took a nap (me), read, and Rob played radio. Our main hike was on a nearby blue trail that was fairly technical with rock covered hills, and boasted an indian chair and a table rock rock formation and supposedly the wolf den of the last wolf to be killed in CT.

Saturday night we grilled steaks, baked potatoes, along with sauteed green beans and mushrooms. Yum! We sat by the fire after dinner and just enjoyed the quiet.

Below are a few pictures from the weekend. We will definitely try to do some other local staycations again.

endurance, horse, kids, Uncategorized

A step in the right direction

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Two years ago in February we bought SA Fiona in KY. She’s been a bit of a challenge. She is 11 this year, but had never been broke to ride. She is sensitive and was very herd bound when she first came, making it a challenge to even work with her safely without another horse present.

We started riding her in October of 22, but the weather shut us down, and last spring we started again and she did most of her 100 miles walking trails and learned to walk and trot in the arena. We had some saddle fitting woes, and worked extensively on reducing her reactiveness to anything touching her, bugs, saddle bags, legs, plastic bags, ropes, scary things and did a lot of long lining.

Quinn has been riding her more since getting out of school in mid May, and taking Fiona on longer and longer trail rides. Last weekend Alex and Quinn did 8 miles in Pachaug. Exposure to dirt bikes, cars, screaming camping children, mountain bikes, is all a part of riding in Pachaug State Forest. Our property backs up to the forest and offers hours of trails straight out the back.

This morning Quinn and I loaded up Amira and Fiona, and headed over to Arcadia management area in Rhode Island. It was the first time putting Fiona on our trailer since she came. She loaded right up behind Amira with only the slightest bit of hesitation. Unloading at the Horsemen’s area, we discovered she really didn’t want to back out, so Quinn let her turn around in the tight space ( she was in the third stall of our four horse slant load). It spooked Fiona a bit, and she quickly exited leaving Quinn behind, but luckily I caught her on her way out. In hind sight, I should have collapsed the rear tack to make things easier and more open.

Fiona settled pretty quick with some grazing ( Amira is a good role model) and we tacked up tied to the trailer. Then we went into the large grass arena and walked on foot before mounting and riding around another few minutes. Fiona seemed to take it all in stride, so we headed out on an 8 mile ride down to midway and back. We walked and trotted and it was uneventful. Even with mountain bikes that didn’t stop and loose dogs, no one died.

Back at the trailer, we realized we had never sponged Fiona before…just rinsed her with the hose at home. Lots of things to work on. On the way home we flipped the position of the horses and loaded Fiona first, so she would have more room getting out. Amira prefers to back out anyway. We will work on some trailer loading and teach Fiona to back out should she ever have to ride in a straight load.

Quinn was very happy with Fiona today and it was certainly a big step towards Fiona becoming the horse we want her to be. We will continue to expose her to new things and plan to do a camping outing with the horses soon.

goats, kids, random observation, Uncategorized

The Spice Girls’ Baby Goats and Phaylene kids

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Can I just say crazy couple of baby goat weeks…We had 7 baby goats in mid March. Two from Tulsi, two from Carolina and preemie triplets from Jasmine.

On Monday March 18, Chili was giving me all the indications she was planning to out her babies, but she wasn’t due until Friday, so I left her out with the others. She is a drama queen goat, and doesn’t like to be isolated by herself.

Well, after morning chores I decided to check on her and then go deal with milk dishes. An hour later I came out to check on her and she had two babies on the ground already. An almost 9 pound buckling and a small 5 pound doeling. We named them Kauai and Kipu. Kauai got Chili’s frosted nose and ears, but Kipu certainly got her personality as she is a little diva already. Chili has been great settling into being a milking goat and is super easy to hand milk. She is still opiniated and will let us know if we forget to bring out the alfalfa.

Later that week, on Thursday, Rob and I had been invited to an equine educational evening sponsored by Flemings Feed. It was informational and dinner was great with some awesome desserts. We came home and went to check on Pepper in the barn, who was due Saturday, and low and behold, she had one buck kid on the ground and was pushing out a second! Pepper had eaten dinner on the stand 45 minutes earlier with the kids…

We named Pepper’s boys Principe and Palau. Our naming theme this year is Vacation islands.

Here are some pictures from the foursome being outside last week. The three boys are available as pet wethers, as is Tulsi’s buckling Trinidad, if anyone’s looking. Kipu is staying here.

Principe
Kipu in the pink collar
Kipu in front
Kauai has the frosted ears
Kipu

Last Tuesday April 9 Phaylene, our aged doe, kidded with triplets. We had been watching her all day, but it wasn’t until we left the barn to have dinner that she decided to kid. We sent Amanda out after dinner and she called the house screaming “babies!”. There were two kids out and a third on the way. Two doelings, one buckling, all pretty small at 6.6-6 pounds. Phaylene did great and is already cranking out over a gallon a day.

Phaylene’s triplets

Quinn and Amanda named the kids Minna, Malta, and Mykonos (where Rob and I honey mooned). These may be Phaylene’s last kids depending on how she looks this year, as she is 9 years old, and Quinn wants to retire her. One of Phay’s doelings is likely to be available.

The current baby goat count is 14, with one goat left to kid.

Porsche is our last pregnant doe, due May 10, with kids from Fox’s Pride KS Smooth Swagger. Amanda is really hoping for a doe kid out of this breeding, as she doesn’t have one yet this year from her project does. Porsche is a yearling, and while we don’t usually breed our yearlings, Porsche was on the heavy side and plenty big enough at 110 pounds last fall. Keep your fingers crossed for her!