Blue Ridge is a fictional town located deep in the heart of Kentucky. It is home to one of the most well known equestrian academies in the United States. Students and staff from all over the world join the academy for what it has to offer. Do you have what it takes to join us and learn from the Academy?
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Post by Cara-Jean Kitchi on Feb 8, 2013 20:39:45 GMT -8
“Of all the animals, man is the only one that is cruel. He is the only one that inflicts pain for the pleasure of doing it." Mark Twain
Just when I thought I thought I knew the cruelty of humans, I am once again surprised with how much I don't know.
We, the vet students, were called to the clinic today. I was stressing a little that something had happened to the foals, but Dr Carr quickly settled that stress. We followed the woman out through the barn to the yards and as well as the normal two horses that always lived outside, there were two new animals; a rose-grey pony and a blanket Appaloosa. It made me cringe looking at both animals. The Appaloosa, a gelding, age not easy to tell by looking at him, was a sack of horse flesh spread over bones. The pony, a young mare - her age was easier to tell - had bandages on each of her legs, and grazes over her side - from the way she was standing I could only see her right side (as opposed to her left) - and her nose was just a mess of scratches, no doubt she had grazes over her other side and chest.
Dr Carr told us - Annabelle and myself - that, if we wanted to, we could choose one to work with. I don't think the veterinarian even managed to draw in a breath before we both said that we would help. I felt honoured that Annabelle said I could pick first. I have never managed to really "click" with geldings, so I asked to work with the mare.
It was now, that Dr Carr shared with us the reason that the horses were in the state that they were; the gelding had been left in a paddock in the middle of nowhere to starve to death - what a horrible fate for any animal. The mare? She had been led to her new home, her new owners in their car. The mare had stumbled often before they were happened upon by a sheriff and the pony was taken into the custody of the humane society, and then into the care of Dr Carr and now, that of myself.
Wild animals never kill for sport. Man is the only one to whom the torture and death of his fellow creatures is amusing in itself. James A. Froude, English historian (1818 - 1894)
Post by Cara-Jean Kitchi on Feb 8, 2013 23:08:11 GMT -8
A single rose can be my garden... a single friend, my world. Leo Buscaglia
I have started my "work" with Pixie by evaluating her condition and sorting through the herbs that I can use to assist in her healing (of course, I have now cleared the herbs with Dr Carr). For her legs chest and sides I will use a mixture of manuka honey (dissolved in boiling water), with echinacea and garlic. Once cooled, I will bathe her wounds. For her nose I am going to use Hypericum (also known as St John's Wart) to treat her nose and muzzle.
At the moment, she also has a few trust issues, not surprising, which I will work her through with nothing more than my presence and possibly the use of treats (also know as alfalfa cubes). AS always though, I'll take things slow and not push her.
Pixie is a beautiful young mare though, and her's is no more than a case of negligent people purchasing her. I am hoping that once I manage to get her beyond what has happened that she will show me who she was before that.
Post by Cara-Jean Kitchi on Feb 8, 2013 23:22:48 GMT -8
A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down. Arnold H. Glasow
While dividing my time between the horses I work with, I spend as much time with Pixie as I can find. I change the bandages on her legs three times a day (while the sores are weeping they need to be changed this often), and I bathe the grazes on her body at the same time. I also have her on a good strengthening feed with the same ingredients that I am using to bathe her with, so the herbs are helping her internally and externally.
She is slowly coming out of her shell, I would like to say it's the bond we are slowly forming, but I'm getting the feeling that it has more to do with the cubes I am offering her as a reward for good behaviour, so we might need to cut down on the treats before she becomes nippy.
A friend is someone who gives you total freedom to be yourself.
Post by Cara-Jean Kitchi on Feb 8, 2013 23:35:12 GMT -8
Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival. C. S. Lewis
The more I work with Pixie the more I am learning about her. The grazes on her side and chest have almost healed and the ones on her legs have stopped weeping so they only need to be tended to twice a day now. And on days when the sun is out and she can be in her yard, I have been leaving the bandages off so that the oxygen can do its part with the healing as well.
I do not think I could have come up with a better name for the mare, as she can be a little minx at times. She will one moment be standing placidly, letting me do my work on her wounds, and then the next instant she will just explode and take off around the yard as though she has a banshee on her tail, at time bandage flapping around her leg.
It seems that Pixie may be getting a little bored with her lack of "real" work, so I need to speak with Dr Carr and see if I can begin to take her for walks. I can't even think about beginning to lunge her and things until her legs are healed. No matter how well I bandage her legs, there is too much chance of her getting sand into the healing wounds.
Post by Cara-Jean Kitchi on Feb 8, 2013 23:48:51 GMT -8
A friend should be one in whose understanding and virtue we can equally confide, and whose opinion we can value at once for its justness and its sincerity. Robert Hall
Things have moved along in leaps and bounds. Dr Carr fully agreed with mu idea about taking Pixie for walks, so I started slowly and for the first few days all we did was walk around the clinic, and then we began to lengthen the walks down to the other barns and out to the start of the trails, letting her have the odd trot.
Pixie seems to gain more and more energy as the days go passed and her coat is beginning to glow from the good feed and yes, the care that she is getting. Her timidness may as well now be a thing of the past as she looks up at anyone who may be approaching her yard and will swish her tail happily when she sees her feed bucket coming.
With a daily treatment of emu-oil is helping the scars on her side and chest slowly vanish into nothing, her almost roan-like colouring also helps with that, and she is thoroughly enjoying the massage she gets while I'm applying the oil.
Post by Cara-Jean Kitchi on Feb 9, 2013 0:03:09 GMT -8
Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend. Albert Camus
I has taken a good couple of months, but Pixie's legs no longer need bandaging twice a day. I am still bathing her legs with the liquid treatment, but they have got to the point that they have scabbed enough so that they do not have to be bandaged all the time, and she isn't crazy enough in her stall to knock off the scabs during the night.
As a reward for her legs being healed, I am going to take her into the arena and give her a good run on the lunge line. As I have no idea of she has had any actual training before she came here, I will use the line as nothing more than an extended lead to start off with and as we walk around the arena I will stop so that she has no choice but to follow the line and circle me, it is at this point I will see how much training she had had in the past.
After giving her a good groom and putting and exercise sheet over her (the weather is a little cool), I took her out to the arena, her walking down the track and me walking down the centre line. As I got to X, I stopped walking. I wasn't expecting it, as the arena was a new place for her, but she also stopped walking. Shaking my head, I clicked my tongue and wiggled the line to get her moving again, which she did beautifully, but stopped again after only a few steps when she noticed I hadn't moved. It took a few more tries, and in the end I worked a small circle in the middle of the arena as she walked around on the line. I finally stopped though and as she kept moving, it was easy to see that she had indeed had at least a little training before she had come here.
Her tail started swishing in annoyance after she had walked around for the sixth time, and I could tell she wanted to do something else, so I asked her to go faster. She bounced forward into a flowing trot, her tail held up like a flag - which was the evident display of the Arabian blood that came from the Thoroughbred and Hackney blood that was in Section B ponies, making them ideal hunter-jumper ponies for children. I watched her, transfixed before I brought her back to a walk and had her change direction.
After a great session, I gave her a well-deserved massage, put her winter rug on her and left her to her own devices in her yard for the rest of the afternoon.
Post by Cara-Jean Kitchi on Apr 7, 2013 23:02:01 GMT -8
The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing... not healing, not curing... that is a friend who cares. Henri Nouwen
While this beautiful mare is regaining her strength and muscle tone, I am keeping our training session short and simple. Basically just working her on the lunge or long-reins. The first time I took her out into the big pasture on the long-reins, she was so funny. As soon as I asked her to move off, she kicked her heels up and then moved into a trot, her feet floating across the ground, lifting her knees in a precise way so that she looked stylish. I am thinking that she was once trained to pull carts, and from the way she moves, it was obviously a cart that belonged to a lady who liked pretty horses. As soon as she settled down, we got to work, getting her to listen to me and the feel of the reins. She knew what she was doing, because if I asked her to do something the wrong way, she would throw her head up and kick out.
After we returned from the field, I free lunged her in the arena just to cool her down and make sure that she hadn't hurt herself when we first started. However, she trotted and walked in neat circled around me and then followed me back to her yard as placid as a lamb. She then had her massage and I rubbed my peppermint mixture into her legs just to be on the safe side.
I'm going to give her the next couple of days of any serious work, just so that I can make sure she hasn't injured herself. I'm used to the odd buck every now and then when she's on the lunge, but nothing like what she did out in the field. I am just thankful that she didn't get herself tangled in the lines. I am sure though, that even Coach Hoefflin would have been impressed with the straight vertical she got with a couple of her handstands.
