Meet Woven Web '16!

It's a filly!

Echo was 340 days on May 4th but vet uses 343 days so we were hoping she would go on schedule and not run late like mares seem to be doing this year. She didn't disappoint and foaled a healthy baby filly on May 6th (242 days).

Day before foaling

Water broke at 1:44 am, born at 2:26 am. She was very lazy about pushing at first and did a lot of getting up and down. Had trouble pushing past the shoulders but with lots of pulling, she was able to birth her without any other assistance. Filly tried standing almost immediately and was fully standing by 2:50am and nursing by 4:00am. Echo of course held onto the placenta, delaying us going back to bed. It passed later in the morning and they both had a vet check that afternoon.

Yep... Echo's baby with those ears.

Legs! Standing for first time.

Super thankful she foaled on time and I got to spend 5 days with them after she was born and that Echo produced a so far nice filly for my friends. Fingers crossed for a successful rebreeding this year!

I'll post more photos once I have them on my computer and/or more get sent!

Impromptu Mare Visit

I had two days off in a row on Thursday & Friday and managed to switch my shift to getting off early on Wednesday so I drove to Lexington for an impromptu mare and friend visit! It's been since last May since I was in town so it was great seeing her and best friend. It was a quick trip and was there about 48 hours - not nearly enough time. 

I think she remembered me, she stuck her tongue out over getting a cookie, something I've been told she only does when I'm around. Anyways she looks amazing, is getting fat and is a super happy herd boss. Getting close to baby time - she's due May 4th. Hoping to make it there for the actual birth, and will be making some more trips this spring regardless.

Visiting Miss Echo (and Lexington)!

So I've been back from Lexington for two weeks - really late posting this! Lots of boring grown up stuff and working outside delaying me soooo... here it goes.

Echo!

Safe to say someone remembers me. She heard me talking upon arriving to the farm (where I also stayed with my friends) and perked the ears up and talked to me when I approached her stall. 

She's still a spaz. Since she's not on all the herbs and stuff she needed to be a sporthorse she's a lot more 'echo-y'. A new mare had arrived to farm a few days prior to me getting there and was put in stall and paddock next to Echo. They became fast friends before ever together in a field. Me trying to bring MareFace in for a bath without her friend also coming in? Disastrous.  We finally got her bathed, though it was more of a team effort than any bath ever warrants. 

Can't leave her friend...

She was bred last week so fingers crossed she checks in foal!

The trip was just what I needed. A reminder Lexington is where I belong and what I need to work towards (again). I have a sort of plan now of what I want to do, and what I need to do to get there. Just going to take some time but I need to be patient and just work at it all. 

The Miles They've Traveled

Yesterday I started thinking about all the miles both my horses have on them, literally. Not in the riding sense, but how many miles I've hauled them across the country. I was somewhat surprised Dakota's wasn't higher. Echo's is since I've had her, no idea where she may have gone, if anywhere, for weanling/yearling training. I didn't include any individual farm moves in Kentucky when Dakota and I first started out, there were a lot before we settled. So this is just pure long distance interstate miles, and of course approximate since I don't know the exact route shippers took to get them around.

Echo 

October 2012 - Lexington KY to Michigan

June 2013 - Michigan to Lexington

October 2013 - Lexington to Texas

January 2014 - Texas to Lexington

Total: 2,520 Miles (4,055 Km)

Dakota 

August 2006 - Michigan to Lexington KY

December 2010 - Lexington to Michigan

June 2012 - Michigan to Lexington

December 2014 - Lexington to Louisiana

March 2015 - Louisiana to North Carolina

Total: 2,940 Miles (4,731 Km)

Updates Updates - North Carolina?

So I've moved... to North Carolina. Not exactly something that was on the radar when I first lost my job. I moved in with my mom, step-dad and 11yr half sister. Something I never thought I'd do. But here I am, 10 days post move.When I was applying to entry level, any type of job really, I had a moment of if you're going to be doing something non horse related, you can do this work anywhere and where would you rather be located moment - goodbye Louisiana. Here's some pics of the last things I did there. I'll miss it, and will visit again one day but happy to be farther north again.

Went to Houston for a night to of course visit the racetrack.

Alligator Searching = success

Snake Hunting = Unexpected

Holly Beach - Gulf of Mexico

I think this building has survived a hurricane or two.

Avery Island and Tabasco sauce tours. Mini Tabasco sauce bottles = love.

Cypremort Point State Park - bay off the gulf

I really wasn't thrilled with the thought of going back to Michigan so I narrowed it down to KY and NC. I was applying for jobs in both states, KY more than NC, but I kept getting more bites in NC. So I came here and am now living in a house with 7 cats and a dog. Thankfully? that 7 includes my 2 who have taken over the ruling of the cat world. Also most of my moms cats are outside except to sleep at night. Could be worse I suppose. 

Holly making sure she wasn't forgotten in packing.

I've had one interview, but they're not in a rush to hire anyone so I still haven't heard back. I've been applying to anything and everything so hopefully it wont take too much longer.

The biggest perk of moving here is my moms house is on a large enough lot I'm going to be keeping Dakota here. He'll have about an acre fenced in, leaving some yard still for the humans and other creatures to use. He arrives March 15, so much to do still but I'll be ready for him. His paddock is split in two so I can have a sacrifice area and easily keep him off high amounts of grass to keep him from exploding and being constantly on the verge of founder. 

The next task will be building him a run-in shed. I'd love for this to be done before he gets here but time and unemployment funds only go so far. Goal is to build something large enough half can be for him and the other half can be used for me to keep his grain / tack / hay / supplies. The run in part will have a gate / door of some sort so if he needs to be locked up he can be. Also the neighbor has 4 mini donkeys and a horse all in sight so he won't be completely alone. They have more land and some trails so heres to hoping they'll let Dakota and I explore some. If he gets too lonely, maybe I'll have to find a mini to lease for company.

Celebrate, Regroup and Proceed

I guess now is just as good of a time as any for updates.

Echo is no longer being leased by the girl that was riding her. I had made the difficult decision to sell her. Lauren went to go check in on her, ride her and see how she was doing to proceed with selling her for me. However, what she found was an underweight mare with some new bad under saddle habits. Nothing terrible under saddle, all correctable, but the weight bothered Lauren and wasn't comfortable riding her in that condition. We decided it would take 6-8 weeks to get her to a comfortable weight to have her riding again and another 6-8 weeks to likely correct a few things under saddle. With that, I found an alternative route to take with her. I still own her, but she is now living with friends who are going to breed her this year for a foal to race. She knows them and if anyone else is going to have my horse for nearly two years, there's no one I'd rather have her with. No one.

As for Dakota and I... we will probably be moving. Again. Last Wednesday I lost my job. Something I'm completely ok with. About three weeks ago I had a reality check about the job and some health issues possibly going on so two weeks ago I had already started searching for new jobs here in Louisiana. If I decide to move of substantial distance, the job I had here will at least pay for Dakota and I to move. I'm relieved I had the Echo situation figured out before this hit, one less thing to organize. My lease is up on my apartment the end of March so if I can't find anything job wise here or elsewhere I guess I'll be moving back to Kentucky or Michigan (ugh). Kentucky is far more likely because well... I can actually find a job there.

Life... Why Me?

All I want is to have nothing exciting happen. It's too much to ask for though, I know.

My last post was that it was my birthday and I was going to Michigan so lets start there. My time home was great. Seeing my friends and family was the highlight but not far behind was all the time I spent swimming and enjoying the outdoors. Sadly the last two days of being home I got a stomach flu which I had to drive home with (not fun!) so my time seeing my grandparents was cut short - not happy about that.

Hanging out in South Haven with my Dad on my birthday. Lunch at my favorite restaurant. Fun fact - if anyone has read the book Time Traveler's Wife it's one of the places in the book.

 

Hanging out on the lake at my grandparents. 

Sunset at Lake Michigan on 4th of July aka my favorite holiday. 

Also while I was home my best friend Erin who lives in Michigan welcomed home the horse she grew up with. She's a 21 year old standardbred. The mare, Silver (yes she's bay and named Silver) was owned by Erin's aunt who passed away earlier this summer. Erin had her shipped to Michigan from Kentucky so she could stay in the family, Erin could have her childhood horse and give her a home to have rest of her life. Me being me... I had a scale to use on hay and grain in my car so I helped Erin figure out a good diet plan for her since she needs to gain a few pounds but not as much as expected. Silver also had a hoof injury right before Echo so it's been 'fun' to watch their hooves progress. Erin is 6' 2" so Silver really isn't that tiny of a standardbred - her owner is just that tall (sorry Erin).

Echo got over her withdraw problems with me fairly well while I was in Michigan. She went to a jump lesson with Lauren while I was gone and has had a flat lesson since. This past Sunday we planned to take the horses to Masterson Station again for more cross country schooling but we realized the park was full of carnival rides for the fair going. Instead Lauren jumped her outside on the grass. The ground was super hard due to lack of rain but she handled it like a pro, jumping her first oxer, barrel jump and lots of first time questions. After her jumping I gave her a much needed and deserved bath, head to toe. I rubbed her legs down in liniment and after some hand grazing to dry her off, let her take her afternoon nap in her stall. 

Off to her flat lesson.

Shiny after her Sunday bath.

Dakota's version of working hard. 

Monday Lauren texted me that her leg was swollen with lots of heat. Thankfully she was completely sound on it. So I cold hosed her, we poulticed the leg, wrapped it and turned her out for the night. Good news is the leg was tight with no heat the next day. The bad news was she had a reaction to the poultice. 

And then she had an allergic reaction to poultice. 

She's been lightly ridden with her weird rash / burn / whatever from the poultice and is sound so we are still planning on taking her to the jumping schooling show Sunday. 

In other life news, I might be moving. I will know more in 2 1/2 weeks when I meet with people and and figure out logistics. I can't say too much but hopefully it would be a good opportunity for myself and the situation would be something fitting for my four creatures. 

Cross Country School - Round 1

Monday = no work day for me and Lauren got out of work fairly early so we decided to take Echo and Dakota to Masterson Station. Masterson = free access to hundreds of acres to ride on. They hold events so there are jumps everywhere, arenas to use, etc. Neither horse had gone before and it was my first time riding there so I had no clue what to expect. 

I beat Lauren to the barn by maybe 20 minutes so I was able to get both horses groomed. Lauren got there as I was ready to tack up so she took over Echo and I got Dakota ready. We decided to tack up and trailer over instead of tacking at the park because we didn't know what kind of traffic would be at the park and how the horses would behave. Both horses loaded like pros and we were on the road by 5pm. 

20 minutes later we were parked, and unloaded. After Lauren made me go hug a tree when I made a rather stupid comment about falling off, we bridled the horses and off we went. Both horses stood to be mounted - no catastrophes.

We rode around one of the fields letting the horses settle in and Dakota and I trotted and did our own thing while Echo and Lauren warmed up. We regrouped and Lauren took Echo over the tiny fences to get her use to the idea of the jumps not being just standards and poles. Second time around they tried some additional fences and jumped the mid height ones. Echo seemed to love it, and had zero stop to her. If Lauren pointed her to a fence, no questions asked, Echo went over. 

Next we wandered our way to a different field where there were ditch jumps. We encountered a bike group and both horses minds were blown by all the bicycles but remained calm in their confusion. Echo jumped the ditch the first couple of times without hesitation but then began to question it and had a few moments of hell no, but got over it and jumped the ditches again without problem. While trying to film ditch jumping, Dakota decided a full body shake was necessary and my crop and phone went flying. I had to dismount, recollect my items and find a place to get back on. The unsteady pile of mulch didn't work so I led him into a covered pavilion and lined him up to the picnic tables.

Onto the next field. This required going through a creek. Dakota had conquered a creek once before but it was sandy on both sides and he leaped over it mostly. Echo had never been through it. Lauren ended up dismounting and leading her through. Once she realized it was water though, she didn't bat another eye at going through water. Dakota took some encouragement, but got through without leaping like a special horse. 

Echo's initial reaction to going through water and the creek. 

In the field were mostly training and prelim options for jumping but the water jump still was great to school both horses on. Echo walk, trot and cantered through the water like a pro. I held my breath the first couple of times because she started wanting to play in the water and knowing how much she loves to swim in water tanks I was afraid of her laying down in it. After watching Echo play, I decided to try Dakota in it, he actually went in! Proof is below!

Finally Lauren took Echo for a gallop and I decided to try cantering Dakota - something that doesn't happen often. After one more jump round, we headed back to the trailer, riding over a Dakota eating bridge that Echo had be his security blanket for. 

Tired ponies, ready to go home. 

I'll have more video of Echo on cross country by the end of the week. It's just taking me longer than I planned to get it uploaded. Dakota pulled a shoe yesterday after going to Masterson so he bought himself a few days off until I can get it back on. 

Catching Up: MareFace

Hello blog world. Haven't completely forgotten about you. Going to do my best to update everything over the next couple of days so I can go back to regular post going forward. 

The beastly Echo is doing as well as I could hope. We've had quite a few lunging sessions between L and I. L has spent time with her just playing around getting to know Echo - something we all know MareFace needs. L is equally as stubborn as Echo and doesn't let her get away with her lunge line antics, super amusing and impressive to watch. 

Both horses were scheduled to be trimmed / reset today but moving cost has me delaying it an extra week, pushing them to a 6 week trim instead of 5. Not overly worried about the extra week since 5 seemed a bit early to me, but you can see they both are ready. Yay for fast growth in the summer. Her hoof is looking great while she's slowly getting less aggressive each time I pick out her injured hoof. 

Weight gain, despite as much hand grazing as possible, seems to have stopped. Still without our rice bran pellets but I think the temporary substitute I have her on is at least maintaining her at the maximum amount to be fed of it. May 17 is D day for her to go out in her grassy paddock - which has grown a ton and looks great after being mowed. 

We're no longer on any type of stall rest. She's been out in muddy paddock a few times and it's caused no problems so we're free and clear there! Which has made for a happy mare too, getting to go out nightly. Also off our calming supplement that I put her on to get through stall rest. 

Hooves Don't Lie

Sorry for the lack of updates. It's been a tiring week since Echo was injured last Wednesday. Last big update on her injury was the next day when the podiatrist came out and put the bar shoe on her hoof Thursday. Well, Saturday my vet came out for the first hoof bandage change and while I was at work, it was reported that she was pretty naughty for it but the hoof itself looked clean and in ok shape. I was told to go ahead and proceed with every other day changes and stick to the hand walking plan. 

Monday I was at the barn bright and early to meet the farrier. First I held Windy for Colleen while he got his front hooves done. He's had chronic abscesses problems so she decided to have my farrier have a look at him and he did a great job with him. Next, Dakota stood like a pro (unlike last time) while his shoes were reset. Farrier was really happy with how his hooves have changed in the short 6 weeks he's been working on him. 

Stall set up. Moved Jolly Ball though and added a second hay net. 

Next up... Echo. Plan was to at least get through her front hooves and if she would tolerate it to try trimming the hind left (uninjured one). She was hesitant to pick up the fronts but was very well behaved for the ordeal. She actually offered up her hind left so the farrier went after it. Good news is the hoof is trimmed. The bad news is the hoof was in very poof shape. He said the trim she had right before leaving Texas set her hooves up for failure and that the right hind one probably tore easy like paper. Essentially the bars of the hoof weren't trimmed proper and over grew and created a nice hook for her to catch things on.

Last night was my second hoof wrap change. I got new no-bow wraps which I will write a review on at some point after we're through all of this to see how they hold up. They're the Lettia Coolmax ones and I love my other Coolmax products so I'm optimistic. I've been keeping her hind legs wrapped almost 24/7 just for support. She's had some filling in both with minimal heat in the right. Wrapping itself last night was smoother than Monday's hoof change thanks to Colleen and her ability to entertain a yearling state of mind. 

CANNOT stand still!

This definitely happened...

Me: "Crap there's another piece of gauze up in there" 

Picks up hoof and looks to see how I'm going to get it out.

Me: " I can't tell if that's gauze or... lamina"

Colleen: "Yeah that's lamina" 
Looks closer

Me: "Well I'm happy I didn't try to tear that out!"

Breathe Deep & Don't Overreact

First and foremost, I'm so grateful to everyone at the barn who got to her so fast on Wednesday. Their quick action drastically reduced her risk of infection. Secondly, thank you to everyone who has sent me messages tell me Echo has been in her their thoughts, the support means a lot. I'm sure I'm not the only horse owner that jumps to the worst conclusion and outcome. I was a mess Wednesday and those who were there did a great job trying  to keeping me positive. 

Podiatrist from Rood and Riddle came out yesterday to take a look at MareFace. I got there a few minutes before him since I stopped along the way to get hay and some supplements. Her stall was trashed and she had managed to get the duct tape off her hoof but was quiet and putting slight weight on the leg, thanks to bute. 

Podiatrist gave her a double dose of sedative since after one she still was freaking out if you went near her leg. Despite this, him and his 2 interns kept calling her a princess which made me laugh! He unwrapped her leg most of the way and then did a nerve block so he could work freely with the leg and not cause more pain. Once the block kicked in, he pulled all the gauze off and his first comment was that it's not as bad as expected. The diagram below - the one on left is what we thought it was, the one on right is actual. If it had been the one on left her suspensory would of been involved and more hoof tissue would of been exposed. We still have to worry about growth, scar tissue and infection but that is half the things that could of gone on if the cut/tear had been deeper or at a different angle. 

I quickly asked to see it, because my inner desire to be a vet comes out. It was... bloody, and gross but so interesting. Pretty sure his intern was peeved he had to keep holding Echo when I wanted to see something but I can't help myself. Anyways, the podiatrist proceeds to tell me he thinks we can bypass the hoof cast and go with a bar shoe and lots of padding. 

He trimmed the rest of her hoof since she's scheduled for a routine trim Monday, so her hoof was in best condition to put a shoe on. Packed the gap in hoof and under bar shoe with gauze and wrapped it up. He put a standing wrap on her leg since she had been blocked he didn't want her pulling something stupid. 

We're proceeding with a vet check up tomorrow from my normal vet.  I have to change her bandage every other day so she will take a look at it when it's time to be changed. She's expected to not need bute by the end of the weekend. If it's dry outside 100% she can go out for short amounts of time in her field. After 2 weeks I don't have to wrap her hoof as extensively, it won't be as crucial to keep the hoof dry. She can also be hand walked in the indoor if she's moving comfortably. The best news is when I said something about it being 10ish months of healing he stopped me and said it's more like 3-4 months because of it being by the heal and that equaling more blood flow. Plus once we see what the scar tissue does, he sees no reason that in time she can return to normal work.

Pictures:

The Tear

Removed Piece of Hoof - I won't lie. Last night Colleen and I found this piece laying around in the dirt, cleaned the blood off and had fun touching parts of the hoof and feeling the lamina. 

Standing Pre Leg Wrap

Finally her standing on it after being all wrapped up. Gauze filling in the shoe and injured area, vet wrap, more wrap, duct tape and then a leg wrap since she was nerve blocked during the procedure:

Happy Real 6th Birthday!

My mind usually just goes by the Jockey Club standards of January 1st birthday for all Thoroughbreds but I'm actually aware of what day her birthday is this year (unlike last). I just forgot to post this yesterday!

Someone is a scardey cat when it comes to the sound of clippers. I made her wait it out while one of the ponies got their bridle path and muzzle trimmed. She wanted as far away as possible from it! 

Weight Gain Update - Week 6

Today is 6 weeks since Echo arrived back to KY. Time is flying! Haven't been able to get down to business with her because of weather limitations. The last thing I want to do is work her 2 days and have her sit 2 weeks. We're breaking 40 degrees for the entire next week so I think we're within 10-14 days of starting back. Consistency, consistency with her!

So point of this post is to update everyone with her body condition, myself included. I see her every day so this is why pictures are so wonderful. 

5 weeks ago I posted this from the day of her vet exam. 

The following are from late last night. I put her on the same side of the wash stall and tried to get it from the exact same angle. Thoughts? I plan to do 2-3 week updates now that she's improving in condition. It will be interesting to see how she holds her weight as she goes back into work too. End of March / beginning of April cannot come fast enough, come on green grass.

New photos to compare for the future - the butt shot! I wanted to get one head on of her chest too for when she goes into work so I can see muscle development. However someone is too curious and wont stand long enough for a non blurry photo. 

I think there's some definite improvement in her weight. I won't lie, I was terrified to put the pictures side by side and not see any improvement. I think her coat, while it was pretty decent upon her Kentucky return, has also gotten healthier looking. 

Food?

Not impressed over being groomed. 

Hungry mare!