Tag Archives: SA Fiona

endurance, health, horse, kids, Uncategorized

Winter riding

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This afternoon Alex and Amanda went out into Pachaug for a trail ride. Alex rode Mojo and Amanda rode JJ. Alex is in the middle of finals still, but we all know he doesn’t ever study, so… They did some trotting and the report I got from Alex is “he feels sound”. Mojo spent two months or so slightly off after the Pine tree endurance ride. We did a lameness exam, x-rays and appropriate blocks along with ultrasound and concluded that Mojo’s pastern angles were unfavorable and he had some caudal heel pain going on. Whether it was an injury to the insertion point of the DDFT, pain from the navicular bursa, or slight arthritis starting between P2 and P3, we are not sure, but we decided not to do a standing MRI to find out more, as the treatment was the same for all three. Mojo was trimmed more aggressively at the toe and put into shoes with a wedge to give him relief from the pain he was having and change the angle of his pastern bones. After a few weeks his soundness was definitely improved; it’s been almost 10 weeks now and he looks pretty good.

Amanda has ridden JJ now both in the arena and on trail. When I’ve been working in the arena with Gamble, she has ridden JJ walk/trot and over poles (and a little canter, but JJ is still out of shape and weak behind). JJ is pretty chill riding wise, but gets nervous when tied up for tacking, especially if out of view of her herd. I believe consistency and patience will cure this, just like it has with Fiona.

Amanda and Alex rode 4 miles up to the farmhouse on Lee Rd and back and had no major issues.

Meanwhile, at the house, Quinn tacked up Fiona and worked with her in the arena. Quinn designed and sewed a winter riding skirt and plans to use it while riding Fiona this winter. Fiona can be a bit reactive to flappy things so it is a work in progress, but the skirt is working out so far. Dad helped her get on safely today. The skirt is made out of a waterproof fleece lined material, with a real wool filling and fancy lining fabric. There is a zipper on the back and a little flap preventing your bum from getting wet when open. There is a two way zipper in the front and there are snaps in the front snapping the sides up for mounting. Quinn also has straps that snap around the leg to keep the skirt from sliding off your leg when moving faster. Quinn chose this design over a full circle skirt due to weight and bulk. It is also easier for chores than a full circle skirt.

For those that do not know, I had a total right hip replacement surgery on Wednesday this week. It has been a long time coming. I was told it was inevitable in 2017 and probably wouldn’t make it through the winter in 2021. My sockets are deep and over time hitting the femur repeatedly on the edge, running, riding, biking, any lateral movement really, creating bone spurs, wearing out the cartilage and tearing my labrum repeatedly has created “severe osteoarthritis”. My hip balls were no longer round and my range of motion was very limited. So, it was time.

I am doing ok. The surgery was at 7:30 Wednesday morning and I was discharged at 4:15 that afternoon. I am walking around with a walker or cane for safety and have been outside walking for 2 days now. I am starting PT next week and will likely do the other hip next year. No riding for 12 weeks. The hardest part so far is lifting my leg up due to weakness in my quads and pain from the incision site.

Amira is having a Prostride injection into her tendon sheath injury from August to hopefully reduce it’s appearance (though she is not lame) so we can rehab together.

endurance, horse

Introducing Fiona!

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Fiona

In the fall, we decided it was time to start looking for another horse to add to our herd. We were all over the place with our criteria and considered a lot of different options: fully trained and competition ready endurance horses, yearlings, green but mature mares and geldings, and so on. We looked at local horses. We looked online at horses throughout the country. We considered trips to the West coast to look at horses (but didn’t go). Ultimately we settled on wanting a horse that was well-bred with a strong potential for endurance. That led to us having conversations with breeders from GA to ID and others in between. We found ourselves primarily looking at untrained mares that we could train, compete, and potentially breed in the future.

The searching led us to find Sun Arab Stables in Verona, KY. Daunna Sellers is in the owner and has bred Shagya Arabians for decades. We visited Sun Arab Stables in December during our holiday trip to Alabama and decided to purchase SA Fiona. Fiona made the trip from KY to CT this week and arrived late last night. Fiona is an 9yo, 15.1hh, bay Anglo-Shagya mare. Fiona’s sire is a well-known Shagya stallion, Bayram. Daunna owned Bayram for many years and he was a big part of her breeding program. Fiona’s dam, Flo Jo, is an Anglo-Arabian (half Thoroughbred, half Egyptian Arabian).

We talked with some others who also purchased horses from Sun Arab Stables over the years, and everyone had great things to say about Daunna and her bloodlines. One prominent endurance rider has actually purchased 9 horses from Daunna over the years and owns Fiona’s full brother, who is currently competing in endurance.

Fiona is green. She has had a saddle on her a few times, but is not trained to ride. We look forward to training Fiona to shape her into the horse we want her to be. She has a quiet demeanor and is very willing, hopped right on our trailer last night after riding in a different trailer for two days. She has a lot of the TB traits, including the classic thin coat – hence she got a blanket as soon as she arrived last night.

Shagya Arabian are essentially a different branch of Arabians and are a distinct breed from what most people refer to when they say “Arabian”. There are multiple Shagya registries in the United States, but the North American Shagya Society (NASS) has a great explanation of the breed here: https://shagya.net/shagya-arabian-breed. Fiona’s registration with NASS will be as a part-Shagya, since only her sire is a Shagya.