Limerick goes to Arlington Park!

Seriously, this mare's name is South Beach Luv and she looks almost exactly like Limerick. The height, body type, and coat color are the same, and the head is almost the same. And that blaze!

I bet on her to show but she won. Hooray for little Thoroughbreds! She was in a claiming race; beforehand, I told my husband to put a claim on her. After the race, I said, "We could be owning her now!"

I bet on three other races and picked the winner in two of them.

I think racing-fit Thoroughbreds are the most beautiful animals in the world. Early in our visit, I was standing by the paddock fence, ice cream cone in hand, waiting for the Thoroughbreds coming off the track to emerge from the tunnel. I was about to bite into my ice cream when the first horse emerged. I felt my jaw drop open. Sweat lathered his brilliant black coat and he snorted and danced sideways in that elegant way that only racing Thoroughbreds do, muscles taunt and powerful. Boy, are those horses gorgeous!

Some more photographs:

Happy Friday

First of all, I'm 95% sure at this point that my toe is broken. Not a big deal; at least it's the pinkie toe, not the big one! I just need to be careful not to bump it on anything, or turn on my toes, or...you get the idea.

I had an interview with a temp agency today. I wasn't sure if I should go because next week I'm going back for a second interview with the place I mentioned a couple posts ago. I have a good feeling about that second interview.

But I felt it would be bad luck to not go to the temp agency. When I got my last job, I had gone to a temp agency a couple weeks beforehand. Maybe it's a sign.

I had to wear nice shoes. To preserve my toe, I put the shoes on immediately before leaving my apartment. Three minutes into my drive, I began to feel woozy and nauseous from the pain. Fortunately, it passed before I arrived at the temp agency.

When I got to the barn today, I immediately noticed Limerick looked a little heavier. I'm so in tune to her body that I notice if she gains five pounds. Sure enough, according to my weight tape, her weight was almost back to normal. Hooray! I'm not sure what is doing it, maybe it's the trillion pounds of soaked beet pulp I've been giving her daily this week. Who knows? She still had a ton of hay cubes left in her rubber feeder. I checked the amount of hay cubes the other horses had--it ranged from very few to none. Oh, well.

The barn owner sent me an email last night saying she is having a first cutting of hay delivered to the barn on June 3rd so it is a relief the horses won't need to go weeks without hay.

I know I really shouldn't with my toe, but I rode Limerick today...and in my old field boots, no less. I had to walk gingerly in those boots at first!

But as expected, when I arrived at the barn, my toe pain was (almost) magically erased. There's something about the barn that makes my aches and ills disappear. For example, if I arrive with a bad headache, I will simply forget about the headache during the hours I am there, particularly when I'm on Limerick's back. Then as I'm leaving the barn, I will remember that I had a headache. But it will be a shadow of its former self, and easily gone within a couple hours.

When I rode the Andalusian mare the other day (swoon!), her owner gave me a mini-lesson. Today, I applied what she and the mare had taught me. To my surprise, it worked. My feet felt fairly still in the stirrups (good thing, I don't think my toe would have liked banging into the stirrup!), I was able to "lift" Limerick's front end up higher, and I felt very comfortable and secure in the saddle.

Limerick was good for me; I told her, "Okay, I'm going to work on fixing myself today. Don't mind me." With that, she went around the arena on autopilot, allowing me to concentrate on what my body was doing in the saddle.

She did make me laugh a few times.

At the beginning of our rides, I like to ride her on the buckle or a long rein at the walk, then the trot. A few moments into the trot, her "gears" will kick in and she will be ready to work. Today, she jumped straight into fifth gear and stayed there. She trotted around the arena like a racing Standardbred while I laughed. My laughing seemed to just spur her on.

Then there was a wet spot on the arena track, probably horse pee. Limerick refused to touch it with her dainty little hooves and would dance around the spot every time it came up. She also refuses to step on horse poo. She will give it a sniff then lift her hooves high over it, or go around it. She is too much of a girly-girl to spoil her feet!

Last, but not least, there was stubborn, dumb pigeon on the other side of the arena, also on the arena track. It refused to stay away. Limerick would trot towards the pigeon and it would flap its' lazy wings and jump aside at the last second. After a couple rounds of this, Lim began pinning her ears at the pigeon. As we approached it, I would say "Look out for the pigeon!" and she would pin her ears at it and I would laugh. Finally, the barn cat made an appearance and the pigeon was gone for good.

Good horsey! Crushed toe! No hay!

A friend drove up today. I had invited her to meet and ride Lim. I've been down to her place a couple times to ride one of her horses, a spunky 30+ year old Arabian gelding. She had an off-track Thoroughbred at one time so I knew she could handle Limerick, just in case Lim decided to throw a surprise her way!

I would never just let anyone to get on my girl. Compared to her younger years, she is a mellow, pleasant ride these days in the arena. But she is still a Thoroughbred, and still Limerick.

There have been a couple occasions within the past few months where I had to decide that, for the day, Limerick was unsafe to ride. On those occasions, I dismount, take her saddle and bridle off, and turn her loose in the arena.

"Fly, you wild mare!"

And she'll dig into the arena floor and explode forward, sand, mane, and hooves flying.

She was a good girl today, though, as expected. I rode her first to assess her mood for the day--perfect. My friend got on next. I love watching people ride Limerick. Being on her day in and day out, it's nice to stand to the side and get another perspective of her movement.

She is such a cute horse to watch. The whites of her right eye are always visible (the left is a normal, solid brown), and that eye will look forward in concentration, sometimes jumping to objects of interest here and there. Her walk still looks amazing, and at the trot, she lifts her forelegs up and forward in a nice rhythm.

Afterwards, we hand-walked her on the trail. We took her saddle and bridle off and put her halter on. As we left the barn, I wondered if I should have put the stud chain over her nose. Turns out I did need it--but not for reasons I expected.

Apparently it is hard to talk and walk a horse that is adamant on grazing. As I chatted with my friend, I had to try to assess by feel what Limerick was doing. I kept my right elbow out just a tad so Lim wouldn't bump into me and smoosh my feet. Alas, it didn't always work.

I was (and well, still am) wearing Adidas sneakers. At one point, she stepped on the pinkie toe of my right foot. Instantly, I jerked it out from beneath her foot.

Don't do that.

I felt the ligaments of that little toe streeeeeetch and pop. The taste of metallic pain flooded my mouth.

"Ha ha, she stepped on my foot," I said, trying to stay upbeat. My knees grew weak with pain and endorphins. I tried walking. My toe's presence within my sneaker was like a miniature sun, a hot red spot on my anatomy that screamed PAIN HERE! I thought Limerick surely had broken it.

But a few moments later, the pain had died down to a dull, heavy throb so I figured it was just strained a little.

For the rest of the trail walk, however, Lim kept trying to drag me off the path so she could get a mouthful of grass. Every time she did this, my toe howled in pain and I found myself wishing for that stud chain. A stud chain wouldn't have let her drag me around like that!

I found out yesterday that the barn is out of hay. Apparently, the two truckloads of hay delivered a couple weeks ago were moldy. On one hand, I'm very glad the barn didn't try to feed the horses that hay. But on the other hand...now what? The next delivery can't be made for another 2-3 weeks because my barn owner's usual guy says he can't cut right now; the hay is too wet. That will just lead to more moldy hay.

In the meantime, the horses are getting hay cubes--little compressed squares of grass hay. As a substitution, it's okay, but the horses really should have something to forage on. Unfortunately, Limerick doesn't like the hay cubes very much.

When I arrived at the barn yesterday morning, I noticed she looked a little leaner. I checked her weight with my weight tape and sure enough, she was down 15-20lbs. That set alarm bells off in my head. Lim is a hard keeper and if she is lame, sore, or ill, she will drop weight in the blink of an eye. She will also drop weight if her feeding routine is disrupted but I had no reason to suspect that at the time. I ran my hands up and down her legs, felt every square inch of her feet, and checked the digital pulse on both front legs.

For the non-horsey folks--the digital pulse runs along the side of the horse's pastern (about 2.5" above the top of the hoof wall). It feels like a malleable pencil. Normally, you wouldn't be able to detect the pulse, or if you do, it will feel weak and slow. A hard, fast digital pulse, especially accompanied by a hot hoof, is a huge red flag for laminitis.

Nothing.

I looked over the rest of her body and paid close attention to her attitude while I did so. I checked the capillary refill time on her gums and pinched the skin on her shoulder to check for dehydration. She was just fine, 100% normal. Hmmm. I decided to ride her anyway and see how she went. Once again, just fine. She even whinnied for her boyfriend a few times, and eyed the open arena door suspiciously.

I considered taking her temperature but decided that I didn't need to; instead, I would just keep a close (or should I say, closer) eye on her.

I went back to the barn later that afternoon to drop off a new bag of beet pulp shreds. I saw a small group of my fellow boarders clustered around a stall.

"What's up?" I asked.

They parted, allowing me to see five or so bales of hay in the stall.

"That's pretty much the last of the hay," one of them said.

"Whaaaaat? What are they getting then?"

"Hay cubes," she shrugged.

Later, it hit me--if Limerick had hay cubes for her breakfast, or even no hay at all (which I suspect is more likely, since I checked her grain bucket like I always do and there was nothing in there), that would explain why she had dropped so much weight in a day. She is finicky like that.

With the helpful folks on Illinois Horse, I've been emailing my barn owner the contact information of various hay suppliers. Hopefully she will be able to have hay delivered very soon. In the meantime, I will buy a few bales from a fellow boarder (her horse is pasture-boarded but she keeps some bales of grass hay handy for her horse trailer). I'll keep a couple bales in my Jetta and keep the rest in my apartment.

I think if Lim gets hay cubes in the morning then 4-5 flakes in the afternoon and eats that throughout the night, she will be ok.

On the plus side, I received my order of rice bran oil today. I'll start with a couple ounces a day and gradually move up to 6-7 ounces for weight gain.

What a day!

As you may have guessed by now, the Thoroughbred is my favorite breed.

Andalusians have always been my second favorite. I've seen them in the Parade of Breeds at the Kentucky Horse Park. I saw them in Spain, with thick braided white manes down to their knees. I have hardcover Robert Vavra books with Andalusians galloping across the glossy pages. When I collected Breyers, my favorites were the Andalusians. My computer wallpaper is a picture of an Andalusian, head bowed, mane in a french braid.

I've always thought Andalusians were jaw-droppingly beautiful. With their floaty action, regal heads, and long manes and tails, they are the epitome of romantic equine beauty.

Until today, I'd never met one. Today I rode a beautiful gray Andalusian mare. She was quite a change from Limerick. Honestly, Limerick is the only horse I have ever ridden dressage on. I know exactly which buttons to push to bring her into a collected frame.

The Andalusian mare had a big walk and high-stepping trot and canter. I felt this immense power coming from her hindquarters, just waiting to be captured. Yet at the same time, she wasn't hot or flighty; instead, she was patient and responsive.

The owner of the mare helped me work on my positioning. Legs are okay, toes could be turned inwards a bit. She said I hold my feet at a 45-degree angle and it's true. In fact, earlier that morning while riding Limerick, I felt an unfamiliar twinge of pain around my right knee...perhaps it's from that.

The biggest issue was my upper body--try as I might, I just had an incredibly hard time keeping it perfectly upright, chest open. This has always been one of my biggest issues when riding. Why? I don't know. It could partly be phyiscal. When Limerick was five and I was sixteen, she spooked and I was thrown into the arena wall. I didn't know it at the time but my right shoulder blade was thrown out of alignment. To this day, I can't pull my right shoulder back as far as my left. Even my tattoo artist has noted that my back is not centered. So who knows?

But I have plans to try and overcome this, starting with some physical excercises that I can do. Then perhaps riding Limerick on the lunge line, reins knotted up and put away, will help me some.

After the ride, I was introduced to some other Andalusians. They were all sweet, kind horses; curious yet polite--no toe-stepping going on here, despite us standing in the pasture with them, treats in our midst! And yes, they were all stunning. It was the experience of a lifetime, for sure.

Years ago, a seed was planted in my head. Today, it was watered. Someday, when we have our Kentucky farm, I'll get an Andalusian of my own.

Brrrr

From a taste of July yesterday to memories of March today. It's cold out there!

No riding today; I am very tired. I feel run down; must be the weather. I managed to clean the apartment but once I was done, that was it.

I did go to the barn. Lim's new Smartpaks arrived today so I took the 1.5 mile drive to the stable so I could put the new Smartpaks in the bucket on her stall door and say hello to her.

She is so good for me. Before I walked into that barn, I was tired and cranky. But as soon as I saw her, I broke into a smile. She watched me walk to her stall, head and ears up, nostrils slightly flared in a nicker. Unfortunately, I can't hear her nicker from afar but I can tell when she talks to me by reading her expressions.

I gave her a miniature candy cane. I had a ziplock bag of Christmas horse treats in my tack trunk and that was the last of them. She munched it happily and her breath smelled pleasantly of horse and peppermint.

What is it about these animals that makes us feel so good? Well, I can answer that, but that would be a whole other blog. I'll write it someday, maybe.

Double yikes

I just had my "fortune" hastily typed out on a message board I go to and it sucked--according to it, I'll find a job I'm happy with in September/October. I hope it doesn't take THAT long!

And, I also found out that new insurance policies often refuse to cover a pre-existing condition. Is being a skin cancer risk considered a pre-existing condition? I need to get my entire hide scanned twice a year. I had basal cell removed from my forehead in 2007 and a mole that was pre-cancerous for melanoma removed from my ribs in January of this year. There are a few other spots that my dermatologist was keeping an eye on.

If I don't actually have diagnosed skin cancer at a given moment, and I adopt a new health insurance policy during that moment, will my skin issues be considered a pre-existing condition?

Hot Memorial Day

Whew, it was humid today. We got a lot of rain sometime over the night but that didn't clear out the humidity.

Even my rats are hot--I had to put a desktop fan on top of their cage and aim it downwards. Nola is stretched out beneath it right now.

The mosquitoes and gnats were out in full force at the barn. The gnats kept flying into Limerick's ears....what is up with these things? I didn't see them at our old stable. They like to hang out inside her ears and suck her blood; they don't move unless I scrape them away. I ordered a fly mask with covered ears for her today--the Schneider's Mosquito Mesh mask.

I feel a little bad asking the barn guys to put a fly mask AND a grazing muzzle on her (and I hope her boyfriend recognizes her beneath all her head-dressings) but what can you do?

One thing I won't do is ask them to top-dress her grain with rice bran oil, which I also ordered today from McCauley Bros. Feed & Supplies.

I feel Limerick is already getting enough grain. Due to her history with laminitis, I am understandably reluctant to give her more grain. Beet pulp alone doesn't seem to be adding weight to her frame (but she sure loves it so I'll keep giving it to her) so I'm moving on to the oil.

A few posts back, I gave a short but sweet grass biology lesson. Remember how I mentioned how bad sugar was for Limerick? Most grains also have a fair amount of sugar and starch in them. Certain kinds, like the one Limerick is on, have a very low (tolerable) amount of sugar and starch. But even then, too much isn't a good thing. There, now you understand my dilemma.

Limerick's current diet:

Daily--

5lbs Buckeye Safe N Easy pellets
7-8 flakes 80-70% grass, 20-30% alfalfa mix hay
Nibbles of pasture grass here and there

4x a week--

About 3.5 liters soaked beet pulp
Various treats (carrots, bananas, apples)

Once upon a time, I used to give her about two apples and four carrots in one visit, but I didn't see her as often back then. Carrots, apples, etc, do also have a lot of sugar in them, too, so I limit her overall treat intake to the equivalent of four pieces of apple, four pieces of carrot, etc, per week.

Not a big deal. She considers the beet pulp a treat, too, so that relieves some of the guilt I feel when she looks for treats after a good ride--and she will, she always knows when she's been very good--and I only have beet pulp to offer.

Anyway, I already have the barn guys feed Limerick grain out of her own tub (with a carefully marked scoop, no less), give her a Smartpak every morning, and strap her grazing muzzle on before the horses are turned out onto the grassy section of pasture. Soon they'll have the fly mask to deal with. They are patient, nice guys but I am sure they will think I'm an anal whacko (not that I'm not one, but you know) if I ask them to top-dress her Safe N Easy with rice brain oil, too.

So I'll just do that myself when I feed the beet pulp, or if I get to the barn at around feeding time.

Reason number 345 to move to Kentucky--I can do every damn thing myself and not worry about "barn guys" thinking I'm a paranoid freak.

Happy Memorial Day!!!