The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread TEN

See our "who's who" page! ^

[HairOfTheDog]

The FreeRepublic Saddle Club - Who's Who *pics*

This is a horse chat thread where we share ideas, ask for input from other horsemen, and talk about our riding and horse-keeping. We have a lot of different kinds of riders and horses, and a lot to share. In the previous threads we have had a great time talking through lessons, training, horse lamenesses, illnesses and pregnancies... and always sharing pictures and stories.

I always have a link to this thread on my profile page, so if you have something to say and can't find the thread in latest posts… look for it there and wake the thread up!

I also have a ping list for horse threads that are of interest, and MissTargets will now be pinging everyone most mornings. Let MissTargets and/or me know if you would like to be on the ping list. As FreeRepublic is a political site, our politics and other issues will probably blend in…. There are many issues for horsemen that touch politics… land use, animal rights/abuse cases that make the news…. Legislation that might affect horse owners.

So... like the previous threads, this is intended as fun place to come and share stories, pictures, questions and chit-chat, unguided and unmoderated and that we come together here as friends. There are lots of ways of doing things and we all have our quirks, tricks and specialties that are neat to learn about.

Previous threads:

The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread - thread ONE
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread - Thread TWO!
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread - Thread THREE!
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread FOUR
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread FIVE
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread SIX
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread SEVEN
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread EIGHT
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread NINE

New folk and occasional posters, jump right in and introduce yourselves, tell us about your horses, and post pictures if you've got them!

[HairOfTheDog]

Optimism is good, it keeps us from seeing boogies and ouchies every time our horse has a momentary pause. :~)

[MissTargets]

Sounds like Harley is doing very well. I am getting excited about your upcoming ride again. I thought I would like to try those competitive rides, but I don't think I could take it now. 4 or 5 hours at a pleasure ride 20 years ago was enough to kill my back. My daughter send me an email about an Appaloosa/Paso Fino, red leopard gelding that is near here. Only a 2 year old and not broke. Maybe that is what I need, one of those smooth riding horses.

I just came back from the doctors and he gave me a cortisone shot in the right hip. Then I went for x-rays on my knee. I forgot to tell you guys about the goat butted me good in the shin. I still have a knot there and that was two weeks ago. I thought maybe there was a clot or something. The doctor said I had bursitis. Since the weather cooled off, I have been doing a lot of yard work and probably over did it.Here is a link to the horse. I emailed her and asked if he had the paso fino gait. She just said he went "different" then her other ones..lol

Link to horse

[HairOfTheDog]

Heh.... the rough part of 2 year olds is their age, gaited or not :~)

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

This was posted on the NATRC site. Answers your questions about how much walking Barbaro was getting.


PHILADELPHIA (AP) - How's this for a breath of fresh air? Barbaro is enjoying daily outings outside his intensive care stall to pick his own grass, enjoy the warm weather and stretch his recovering legs.

Barbaro stepped outside his ICU stall and started daily walks on a grassy area near the unit last week for the first time since having catastrophic injuries in the Preakness nearly three months ago. The Kentucky Derby winner, also recovering from a severe case of laminitis on his left hoof, continues to show signs he's on the road to recovery.

"It's a big step just to know he feels good enough that you can take him out of the stall and walk him around like a normal horse and he eats grass like a normal horse," Dean Richardson, chief surgeon at the New Bolton Center, said Monday. "That doesn't mean he's healed. It just means things are going well right now."

The 3-year-old had made only a couple of brief walks back and forth from his stall to the surgery room at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center until last week. Now Barbaro is walked daily for about 15 to 20 minutes in a secluded area not far from the George D. Widener Hospital ICU.

"I thought he was thrilled the first time he went out," Richardson said in a telephone interview from New Bolton. "He just seemed very happy to be out. You can tell he's looking forward to it every day. It's absolutely normal. Horses love to be outside, obviously, and he's pretty excited about it."

Barbaro is shown on video released by the University of Pennsylvania grazing on grass, with Richardson walking him around.
Barbaro has a cast on his right hind leg that encloses the foot and extends up to just below the hock. There's a bandage on the laminitis-stricken left hind foot, and support wraps on Barbaro's front legs.

The colt's comfort level has taken a surprising turn since Richardson said in early July the prognosis for a full recovery was "poor."
"I think we're lucky his tissues are fairly healthy," Richardson said. "I don't know why he's more comfortable than some horses with the same condition."

Barbaro had the cast on his injured right hind leg changed last Tuesday and Richardson said it might not need to be changed for about another three weeks. The left hoof, which needs to completely regrow if the colt is to have any shot of walking, remains the biggest concern.

"He's got to get this left hind foot to the point where it's a solid structure that can sustain long-term weight bearing," Richardson said. "Could there still be some major things resulting in him having to be put down? Yeah. He's absolutely not out of the woods yet."
_______________________________________________

Becky

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

I'm sorry, I just noticed the ping to the Barbaro article already posted....

I guess I should pay more attention.

Becky

[HairOfTheDog]

That one has some slightly different information... thanks. :~)

Just washed the trailer inside and out... Gonna do the horse next, so I can try his new pad on him.

[Duchess47]

He sounds like a nice horse - he'll grow some more most likely. I'd like to see a picture of him :)and hear what his blood lines are - he may be from a shuffling line, that would be cool.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

The trailer had to be cleaned to try the new pad? :)

Becky

[MissTargets]

The owner is suppose to send me pictures. Even thou they only live a short distance from me, I want to see what he looks like. Being small does not bother me, I like little horses. But, like Hair said. He's a 2 year old. Hate to deal with that all over again.

[HairOfTheDog]

;~)

[Duchess47]

Ah, he's probably a nice two year old :)

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

So where are the pictures?

Becky

[HairOfTheDog]

Well, I'd upload them, but Snapfish has gone wonky and won't let me log in! Can you get into it or is it just me?

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

I don't use snapfish anymore because I started having trouble getting into it awhile back. i went back to sony's image station.

Becky

[HairOfTheDog]

Ah - well... I did take some, we'll either trouble-shoot and figure it out, or punt.

[HairOfTheDog]

Well, I punted and sized them down to upload at our other server. I'll figure Snapfish out later.

First funny part, I walked out, with hubby helping to hold saddle while I fiddled with the new pad, and I slapped it up on Bay like he was a 25 year old horse that had seen enough saddle pads to not be frightened of them...

Heh... I was wrong, he jumped and snorted and circled until he could ~smell~ it. ~shakes head~ Arabs ;~)

So we let him ~smell~ the scary pad and get used to it :~)

Here it is on...

And here's the part that is not quite as good as I thought it would be. I might have made a mistake in ordering the pad extra large to make sure I had enough overhang to pad where saddle bags would go. It means the pocket in it for the cashell cushion is really big, the cashell can float all over in there, and it's not real easy to tell if I have the cashell positioned straight, and correctly. It ends about where I drew these lines.

Before, when the cashell was just stacked, I could see it front and back, and make sure it was in the right place.

I got it positioned right, and I'm going to leave it all put together and see if it stays well.

[HairOfTheDog]

Reference pics... so you can remember what the cashell looks like. Because it's custom shaped for his back with fill where he's low, it's important it sit in the right place.

And how it looked on him before with the old pad.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

I can see where that might make placing the cushion more difficult. Personally tho, I think the overhang is good, not to much but enough you don't have to worry about pressure on an edge of it making him sore or rubbing. I don't like pads, English or Western, that "just" fit. If it slides just a bit crooked then you have an edge under the saddle and I don't think that would be comfortable.

That is funny that he knew the difference in pads:). Did you by chance, slap it up there different then you usually do....that can make a difference too.

Becky

[MissTargets]

Good Morning.

Hair, I don't know what was with Snapfish either, but I had to use Photobucket to post my pictures yesterday. Are you stating that the new pad slips inside the cashell or vice versa?

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Julia was suppose to come ride today...just canceled because her husband didn't get her trailer hooked up last night, and has already left for work this morning:\ I'm off to saddle talk to you all later.

Becky