I thought he was having a heart attack

The other day I was talking to a member of the Wentworth Hunt and she mentioned that her draft cross had been very sick. When she described the symptoms I relayed the story of Cupcake and his mysterious illness. They had taken their draft to The New England Equine clinic and even they could not tell what was wrong with him. My vet ran extensive tests . I must confess, I have forgotten a lot of what she told me, but it seems both these drafts had the same problem. Symptoms were: And odd that they are identical....I took Cup for a ride, was not an exceedingly hot day in November, and he gets worked pretty regularly. He stopped on the trail and started to shake, he was sweating profusely, and I do mean profusely, dripping from his neck and off his chest. I thought my big white boy was having a heart attack and dropped my stirrups, preparing should I have to leap from his 17.3 height.
 My wonderful vet was not sure what caused the problem, but looked it up and found that the treatment for what she surmised was wrong was soaking his hay and changing his feed. He does not get a lot of grain as is, and he eats enormous amounts of hay in the winter, and shares with 3 other horses. If this was going to be his new regimen, I was in for a lot of work.  A while back one of the mares at Mountain Lane Farm tied up and got better as soon as she was given selenium and E. Mountain Lane's owner, Heather White, a wise horsewoman, thought perhaps we could try giving Cup selenium and see what happened. Within a few weeks there was a big change.
About a month later I was in Tracctor Supply and saw that they had selenium blocks. I had read that horses can actually get too much selenium, but that they will only eat what they need if they have the block free choice. My horses now have free access to not only an mineral salt block but also a selenium block and are doing great. They are not licking down the selenium as fast as the mineral which leads me to believe they are, now that they are back on pasture, in a good balance.
This leads me back to the Wentworth hunt Master's horse. I mentioned the selenium to her mother and I will be interested to see how her draft fares.

While this blog is titled "Life on the Farm" we all know that there are days when one just needs to get a change of pace. For me, that is either hiking or riding my lovely little collapsing bike which my son Baylor gave me. The most useful present aside from the camelback which followed later.
I am not a road biker. I don't have spiffy biking clothes. When it is cold, I wear riding britches and muck boots. In summer I wear a wonderful skort I got at LL Bean on sale for $10. (love a good deal) and a glow in the dark vest (also gift from son) which I wear even though I NEVER plan to ride in the dark. Vest does come in handy on those late evening walks back from the barn. I digress.....I love rail trails and started my fitness program on the little rail trail in Peterboro, NH. Part is paved, my favorite as far as my seat is concerned. Part is gravel, doable, and I usually let Cromwell ride with me when I do that part as we have to take it slowly. Part is dirt and roots which I avoid. The non paved section runs along the Contoocook river and is very scenic. I kayak the Contoocook often and highly recommend it, I start my boat trip in Greenfield and then paddle up to Peterboro, that way I can float with the current on the way back. (oops digressed again).
This month my favorite Rail Trail is the Nashua River trail. http://www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/northeast/nash.htm It is the perfect length for me to get fit, 22 miles or so round trip. There is a great little restaurant in Groton:  www.filhoscucina.com,  and a great sandwich shop, the Black Bird cafe. Filhoscucina looks as if it would be a white table cloth kind of place, but it is low key and great for bikers, and...for those who would like a little something extra while they sit outside, the liquor store is right next door.
So far, I have done this trip twice. The first time,  a group of friends were eventing at the Groton Pony club event and I could not pass up the proximity and the second time with a dear friend who is a far better biker than I but very patient. The first trip was far too eventful. A student of mine wanted to come with me so we started out in Groton, headed for Hollis. When we pulled her bike out I knew we were in trouble as it was small and looked more like a driveway bike than a Rails to Trails bike. Stupidly, I did not check the tires and the poor kid rode all the way up to Hollis with a somewhat squishy tire. In an effort to help I first asked a bickering couple. She was already upset as she had a flat and her "friend" couldn't seem to pump up the tire. I probably should not have asked them for help but we were somewhat desperate. He kept saying the pump was broken, she kept saying he wasn't doing it right. He loaned it to me to try on our tire, and it was quickly obvious that it was in two pieces and all the air was escaping out where the hose had split. I don't think I helped their relationship any. Next I asked a guy at the Hollis parking lot if he had a pump and he somewhat begrudgingly offered to help, only to find he didn't know how to use his pump and succeeded in letting more air out of the already squishy one. So now matters were even worse and we had about 8 miles to get back to the car in Groton. What I thought was going to be an great outing with some exercise turned into an exercise in extreme patience for me. Had it not been for the fact that my student is one of the most wonderful kids you could ever hope to meet, and always has a great attitude I think I would have had a melt down. It certainly shows that a smile and a laugh can make even the worst of situations better! We made it back to Groton, or I should say, she made it as she ended up walking most of the way while smashing her shins on her pedals. Finally a mother saw her walking her bike and asked if we needed help. She pumped up the tire and for the last couple of miles we got a good ride. Leave it to a Mom!!!  I guess Third time is a Charm. And... Mothers can fix ANYTHING!!
I couldn't wait to get back and try the trail again, which I did with my energetic friend, but that is for a later blog. 

Compendium of useful horse information

Life on the Farm seems to be taking on a life of its own and actually getting some useful information imbedded in the ramblings.

How to own a horse

I found this somewhere, and thought it too good not to repost. Whoever wrote it sure was spot on. I tell my students who wish to go to college and study Equine studies that they should become Drs or Lawyers instead so they can afford their habit and not be working other people's horses.

TEN EASY STEPS TO GET IN SHAPE TO OWN A HORSE:

1. Drop a heavy steel object on your foot, don't pick it up right away, & shout "Get off! Get off!"
2. Leap out of a moving vehicle and practice "Relaxing into the fall". Roll lithely into a ball, and spring to your feet.
3. Learn to grab your checkbook out of your purse and write out a $200 check without even looking down.
4. Jog long distances carrying a halter and holding out a carrot. Go ahead and tell the neighbors what you're doing.They might as well know now.
5. Affix a pair of reins to a moving freight train and practice pulling it to a halt, smile as if you are really having fun.
6. Practice your fibbing skills. "See, moving hay bales is fun!" and " I'm glad your lucky performance and multi-million dollar horse won you first place!"
7. Practice dialing your chiropractors number with both arms paralyzed to the shoulder, and one foot anchoring the lead rope of a frisky horse.
8. Borrow the US Army slogan; "Be all that you can be'...(add) bitten, thrown, kicked, slimed, trampled."
9. Lie face down in the mud in your most expensive riding clothes and repeat to yourself: "This is a learning experience, this is a learning experience ."
10. Marry Money!

Senior Horse Feed comparison

I have a senior horse who has been losing weight. He has plenty of energy and is getting more feed than my other three larger horses combined. I have been feeding him a senior formula feed, but wondered it it was the right one. After horse sitting for a friend down the road and noticing that her once extremely thin aged mare was looking good on the feed they were giving her, I decided to do some research. So, for any and all of you who might want to compare senior feeds, here are a list of their perspective ingredients. I have been feeding Blue Seal and am about to switch him to something else to see if there is a change. I love the Blue Seal product for my other horses as it keeps them in good weight. They are not hard workers, but do climb up the back of Holts Peak here in NH quite often. We shall see if changing feed helps the old guy or not.

another beautiful day in NH. I awoke to a host of male birds trying their darndest to convince the flying girls out there that they were the best. Each song had a "take me, take me" attitude. A great way to start the day. That, followed by a ride in the woods with good friends. Mud season is here, a bit early, and I know we in NH should NEVER think spring is here til mid april, or beyond, but it is hard not to agree with the birds and have a song in one's heart. We did a bit of slipping and sliding, but nothing compared to some of the icy rides we have had this year.

Not having enough of the outdoors, I proceeded to take my soon to not be lame mare Caly and Cromwell, my wonderful Cavalier King Charles on a muddy walk. It gets her out and starts getting her fit again, while helps me keep some of the pounds off. Some how after age 50 that gets harder and harder. What ever happened to the days when I could sit down and have a half bag of oreos with milk. now I look at them and have to plan at least 5 days to walk them off. I digress, a habit of mine......I am working on teaching Cromwell to ride Caly so we can go on trails together and when he gets tired, or we get near a road I can plunk him in front of me. Caly isn't so sure she likes the idea, but she is getting better. Cromwell doesnt mind anything as long as it involves warm bodies. He had his first ride a few weeks ago when he got wrapped up in digging for something, could be a rock or a vole, or anything as far as he is concerned, and did not come when I called, nor when I mounted back up and went looking for him. Two friends were training young horses and found him near where I told them he had gone missing. Very tired, I like to think a bit stressed when he realized I wasn't around. So, they put him in front of them and rode him home. Now he is in trouble. Now that  I know he can ride.

He is asleep behind me on his pillow as I type. He snores loudly.

It's been a long winter. Global "F#$%&ing" up of the weather prevented us from having a lot of snow up here in beautiful NH. Top that off with a lot of yo-yo temps and there were a lot of sick horses. I, who never seems to have issues with my 4, had my share. My favorite mare, Caly, ended up with a crack in her hoof, courtesy of the wet fields. My barefoot girl is now wearing shoes. She doesn't seem to mind and was actually pretty good for the farrier even though she hasn't worn shoes in 10 years. I so love her. She is on the mend and I can't wait to go for our meanderings through the woods again. Cupcake, the infamous, he has a fan page on FB, had a selenium deficiency. We thought it might have been his heart. Now that gave a scare. I noticed it when his 17.3 hand body started staggering, and he broke out in a sweat on the trail. He is, I am happy to report fine now and the selenium block I placed in the run in seems to have helped both him, and Azeem the 24 year old Morgan who again has come into my herd. Azeem poked his eye and for a while we thought he would go blind, but he is doing fine and back to sailing over 3ft jumps and galloping on trails. Friends have lost horses to colic this year and even at Mountain Lane we had a few cases, which is a rarity. On a good note, Rhumba is back under saddle after a 5 year hiatus. Her back seems to accept the western saddle and no major bucking, so, while she is the best jumper of all of them, it looks as if she will be relegated to western for my safety. Jumping in a western saddle is not something I plan to work on this year. So this week the weather is in the 60's, in March, go figure, next week it will probably snow. I am looking forward to summer pasture and watching the horses play in the pond. For now, I will clean their paddock and hope to get a few rides in before the snow flies again.