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Bay, Hot, & Sweet

21K views 198 replies 13 participants last post by  HarmonywithHorses 
#1 ·
Hot cocoa! Swiss Miss, to be exact - my first and current horse. This is a dedicated journal for April, aka Swiss Miss. April and hot cocoa have quite a bit in common, hence the title (if you can let me call hot cocoa "bay")!

People who have seen a few of my posts around have probably pieced together a bit of her story already, but I figured it's about time I put it all down somewhere. There's a lot to it, so I'm planning to break up everything that's happened before now into a few different posts on this thread, and I'm going to try my best to keep it chronological.

I know very little about April's history before 2015. I know that she was surrendered to the MSSPA (Maine State Society for the Protection of Animals) as a foal after some kind of abdomen injury, and that she was born in 2008. I've heard "wild cat attack" a lot - I'm assuming only a bobcat would be brave enough to attack a foal but not capable of killing it - and the mention of her being emaciated at the time. As found on a news post on the MSSPA's website by the Wayback machine: "Skeletal, recovering from wounds to her abdomen, April spent her first month after rescue living at a veterinary clinic. Eventually transported to the MSSPA’s River Road farm, she wasn’t even a year old when she stepped off the trailer with her filly friend Nutmeg."

Given the rescue knows she is half Arabian and half Standardbred, I hunted down who her sire is: Infidels Design, the only Arabian stallion at stud in Maine of which April is a spitting image of. This makes me think someone decided to breed their backyard Standardbred mare to him, but then were not able to sustain their care - thus the MSSPA stepped in.

Will continue in further posts!
First photo is April, 2nd is Infidels Design, 3rd and 4th pictures show her scars from her wounds as a foal.
 

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#2 ·
Now, where it all started: October of 2014. My neighbor, knowing I had been riding horses since I was 9, asked me (I was 15 years old at the time) if I was interested in coming along with her to see her new horse, Noah. For anonymity, let's call my neighbor Susan. Susan had recently gotten back into horses, 30 years and 7 kids later. She adopted Noah from the MSSPA. Interestingly, Susan's sister who had never done anything with horses in her whole life, copied her sister and adopted April from the MSSPA at the same time. I was told that Susan's sister had intentions of adopting April and training her to become a top dressage horse (LOL!) because she thought April was pretty and that alone would make her a good dressage horse, and she clearly had the skills to train a green horse. She also changed April's name to Missy, because it was obviously superior to "April." :icon_rolleyes:

On October 25th 2014, Susan and I went to visit Noah and "Missy." This was the first time I ever met her (1st photo). She gave off a sweet and curious but high-energy vibe, if you can't tell from her eyes and ears in the photo.

The next day, we went back, and Susan gave me permission to ride Missy (2nd and 3rd photos). I never did meet Susan's sister. Missy was sweet and attention-seeking, but so fast. She was incredibly speedy around the round pen - not in a dangerous way, just clearly unbalanced and green. If I remember correctly, I was told she had less than a dozen rides on her at the time, but she was very accepting of the saddle and bridle so I'm not sure about how accurate that is. It is in her nature, however, to just be fine with anything someone asks of her.
 

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#3 ·
Very quickly, Susan started building her own little two-stall stable in her back yard. By that point, her sister had decided she no longer wanted Missy (just a couple weeks after adopting - big shocker!!) so Susan decided to adopt her as a companion for Noah. She was so eager that she moved them both in on November 15, less than a month after adopting them, while there still wasn't even a roof or complete siding on the stable. Noah loaded no problem - Missy took two hours. Trailering was definitely not her favorite thing - she started to show her feisty side!

When we got there, the horses settled in just fine into their new makeshift stalls. We took them for a walk through their new pasture, which also was not complete, as you can tell by the single-strand electric fencing in the background. From that day on, I was so happy - for the first time in my life, I could look out my window and see horses!
 

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#4 ·
Starting late November and into December, I started riding Missy at least a few times a week. Susan let me have free-range to do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted with Missy, since she had no interest in training a green horse. I was absolutely thrilled to have a project! I had projects before, but never right in my back yard, and often those horses would be trained for a month and then be sold often to my dismay.

She was an amazingly sweet and friendly horse - she always wanted attention. This sometimes translated into pushiness, but she was often just fine. I could take her out of the pasture and ride her in the very large, open sandy area of my back yard. By that time of the year, there was a bit of snow on the ground, but not enough to stop us. She was very responsive - still fast, but never did anything bad. Unbalanced at the canter, but we worked through it, and we got along very well.
 

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#5 ·
As most everything gets sooner or later, things got bumpy in an unfortunate series of events. First, in January, Missy busted through her frozen-jammed stall door with so much force that she split open her shoulder. The vet was called out and, since at that point she was in theory "my" horse, I was going over there twice a day to clean her wound and re-administer antibiotic cream. I'd never seen a horse so good for vet treatment - I would go out there and clean it up and apply it without even having to put a lead rope on her. In this time, I got to just sit and spend time with her, over which we bonded. If she saw me walking down the path, she'd come running to the front gate and wait for me.

In the meantime, Noah began bucking Susan off during just about every ride, to the point she lost all confidence and was afraid of riding him. She asked me to ride him since I was not currently riding Missy, which I happily obliged. I had no problem with him myself, with or without a saddle, so I believe he was testing Susan and continued to buck her off once he realized he could once. She still got a chiropractor and saddle fitter out for him, which didn't improve his bucking, so she got a vet out to send out his blood for a broad panel of testing - the result was "cancer."

Not wanting to/having the capacity to treat him, Susan sent Noah back to the MSSPA. In exchange, she brought home two mini donkeys to be Missy's companions. Missy absolutely adored them, and so did Susan. So much so that she got a third by the end of January, and then another in early February. If someone tied twine (looking back, I don't know why we did this) to Missy's halter like a lead rope and handed the twine to a mini donkey's mouth, Missy would follow them around and let them lead her anywhere!

It turned out, as Susan found out after sending Noah back to the MSSPA, the testing company the vet had sent out Noah's blood samples to had mixed up their samples and Noah actually did not have cancer, nor anything wrong with his bloodwork. At that point, though, Susan was very happy with her donkeys and saw no point in changing what was working for her.
 

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#6 ·
In March, Susan built a division in the pasture to keep the mini donkeys and Missy separated. The mini donkeys had access to one stall, and Missy had access to the other. This was particularly because one of the mini donkeys was pregnant when Susan bought her (foal born in April - photo at the end!), so she didn't want to worry about Missy inadvertently harming the new foal whenever it was born. Missy was not a fan of this setup at all, since she couldn't spend time with her mini donkey buddies anymore, and spent nearly the whole day, every day, pacing the fence line. After not riding Missy for a couple of months because of her healing shoulder and the incredibly deep snow, Susan asked me if I could continue riding Missy so she would maybe be a little less high-strung.

As you might imagine, taking an already-anxious horse out of the pasture was enough of a task, let alone exercising her - especially when there was still snow and ice on the ground. For the first few days, leading her out was impossible without getting run over or the lead line getting pulled clear out of my hands. She would take a step forward, then shoulder her way in front of me, turn around and bolt for the stable. For a couple weeks, all I practiced was walking down the driveway and back. After that discussion was settled to the point I could accomplish an in-hand walk with only a few backward glances, I started putting her on the lunge line in our makeshift "arena," which was really just an extension of the pasture with the entry point closed off. She would seem fine until she wasn't: she'd hear one of the donkeys bray and then all hell would break loose. For example, the first picture was when she was relaxed enough to roll in the snow after a short lunge. Then as soon as she stood up and shook it off, she bolted straight for the stable and ripped the lunge line clear out of my hands. I was just lucky that she has always been highly respectful of fences, so all she did was run around the arena screaming with the lunge line flying out behind her. Eventually she was alright on the lunge line as well, without any bolting.

In April, I mustered up the courage to get back on and ride for the first time since December. There was still snow on the ground. I don't know why, but I figured I would ride her in the same open, unfenced area as I did in November/December. I barely had the chance to get on before she bolted straight for the stable. With only one foot in a stirrup, I eventually came off at a full gallop and (thankfully) hit and slid on snow. I slid a good distance, as you can see in picture 2. When I caught up with her at the stable, which really wasn't that far away - maybe 500 feet, she had obliterated her bridle by snapping the leather in multiple places. Well, so much for that. I texted Susan, who was more than understanding and was just grateful I was making an effort to get her exercised.

In my mess of irrational teenage hormones, I swore to myself that I'd never sit on another green horse again (lol). I had no motivation to continue her training. It felt like two steps forward and fifty steps back. Not to mention the fear of causing injury to myself.
 

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#7 ·
Back to square 1. After a week or so, I got back to working with Missy in-hand and on the lunge line in late April. No snow on the ground anymore made this an easier task. For a while, that's all I did: practiced getting and keeping her attention on the lunge line without a massive upset. She started to do really well, even better than she was before I got thrown.

In May, lots and lots of groundwork and a new bridle later, I was confident enough to get back on. This time, though, in our makeshift arena. The experience was like riding an entirely different horse. For the first time (not just in the new year, but ever), I was able to walk her on the buckle. We got some light trotting in, too, which was also phenomenal, comparatively speaking. Second photo was taken during this first ride.

Although with many more hardships ahead of us, this was the first major breakthrough that made me feel like I was doing something right. She taught me a lot just in those few months. The first of which being the helpfulness of establishing a relationship without any other expectations, like I did when I was over every day just to visit and hang out with her. The second of which was the importance of groundwork, which I had never been formally taught, since up until that point, I had only ever ridden under a trainer. And often, trainers teach you to ride, not to dilly dally on ground work. The third of which was to keep looking forward even when everything felt like it was crashing in reverse. And overall, I felt for the first time what it meant to have a heart horse: despite all the moments that were downright dangerous, she taught me just as much, if not more, than I taught her, and at the end of every day, still offered her affection no matter how much explosive crashing had happened just hours before.
 

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#9 ·
June through August was full of assorted experiences, learning about ourselves and each other, getting in lots of good exercise, and just being plain silly. I was riding her every day unless the weather did not permit. If too hot, I'd let her loose in our makeshift arena and we'd just run and play around.

After we established ourselves well in the arena, we began trail riding through the many nearby wooded trails. I was surprised to find that right from the start, she was not the least bit spooky, and she was very confident heading away from home without a trail buddy. This was a drastic difference from her dangerous bolts back home just months before. Off we went, exploring beautiful trails and riding through flowery fields like you see in the movies.

One day, Susan thought it would be a great idea to cut her long, flowing mane. She didn't really know what she was getting herself into. I showed up as usual and her mane was a jagged mess. I texted her, "Decided to cut her mane?" and she replied back "Let's pretend it never happened." :rofl: I pulled her mane to make it look a bit less jagged, but still nothing comparable to the mane she had before.

Some ideas, looking back on them, were probably not so smart. Missy had long had an aversion to being tied, especially cross-tied. For whatever reason, I figured one day it would be a good idea to cross-tie her to a birch tree and a white pine, both rather small. Flexible enough that she wouldn't necessarily feel as restrained, and if she decided to fight it, wouldn't be able to break the tree or the ties or herself. Again, looking back on it, probably not a bright idea, but it did work! No more tying problems to anything after that.

Missy had also had a long-standing hatred of farriers. My guess is no one regularly handled her feet in between farrier appointments while she was at the rescue. When Susan adopted her, part of her adoption page said "requires sedation for farrier visits." The first farrier visit Susan scheduled (way back after she first adopted her), they did not sedate her, and the farrier left bloody. As sweet as she was, she did not appreciate her feet being worked on. I think all she needed was daily hoof handling/picking and getting used to being held still, as she greatly improved fairly quickly and no longer mauled farriers.
 

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#10 ·
All of these experiences led up to August 10th, the day after my 16th birthday.

My dad woke me up to tell me: "Missy's going back to the rescue today, you might want to say good-bye." Absolutely no warning. Susan had decided a few days prior, but my parents told her to wait so I could at least enjoy my birthday before she left. I won't get into all the emotional stuff that followed, but as I'm sure everyone can understand, it was gut-wrenching and heart-breaking. Susan had decided she really did not have any use for this horse, and since her mini donkeys were less expensive and more entertaining for her, she called the rescue and arranged for them to take her back.

I was given a few hours to spend time with her and go for one last ride. I went straight out to the trails and we had one last long gallop down the sand strip you can see in the second photo of the above post. Then we rode back, untacked, and I handed her over to Susan as the rescue's trailer pulled in. The rescue workers were very dismissive of me, despite all the work and training and time I had put into her (probably just misdirected frustration at having to pick up a horse they thought they'd put in reliable hands, but upsetting nonetheless), so I decided to just go home and let them take care of it.

In the weeks following, I desperately fantasized about finding ways to visit her, adopt her for myself, or anything that would keep me in connection with her. The rescue was about an hour away, and at the time I did not have a car nor any means to keep her myself, so none of these options were realistic. I had to settle and just keep on keeping on at the stable I had been riding at for the last few years.
 
#12 ·
I guess Susan felt bad, because she offered to drive me to visit her a few weeks later. Apparently the rescue's trainer was having a difficult time riding her. She was a dressage lady, and was not appreciative of how fast April's natural trot was (her name returned to the original one she had all of her previous life once she went back). I had grown used to riding her huge Standardbred trot, and the trainer was appreciative of me riding her so that she could get some updated photos for her adoption page.

It did not help that the new trainer (being divvied up among all of the rescue's rideable horses) was only riding her two or three times a week, whereas I was riding her six or seven times a week. After all, she is quite a hot-blooded horse, and just about never ran out of expendable energy. On top of that, I am sure the dressage trainer rode her with much more contact and bodily loudness than I rode (given her dressage background), and I believe that also got April wigged out a bit.

Probably for the above reasons, or maybe something else I haven't considered, the day I went to ride her she was much more excitable than how she had been when I was riding her. I did not want to keep a lot of direct contact, but I found myself having to or else she would just spitfire around the arena. For some reason, the two pictures below are the only ones I ended up saving of the ones she took that day.

And that was the last time in years I got to see her. Not too long after, I saw she had been adopted again by a couple who operated a lavender farm (wow!) and who wanted a couple horses to trail ride with.

Just for fun, and because I forgot before, I'll include the picture of us about a week before she was returned to the rescue. She is a very smart horse and very easy to ride bareback and bridleless (if you can survive her trot!)
 

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#13 ·
It's about time I got back to this thread!

In late April (ironically) of 2019, four years after I last saw April, I suddenly thought about her and where she ended up, for the first time in a long time. Out of curiosity, I visited the rescue's website to browse their "successful adoptions" horses page, figuring she would be on there and I could read up on her a bit. Hmm... Strange... Couldn't find her, guess she had been adopted so long ago that they took the profile down to make way for the other adopted horses. So I opened up the "available for adoption" page just for fun, to see what horses they had there.

My heart stopped when I saw it: her profile under the "available for adoption". I double-checked I was on the right page - indeed I was. Her adoption profile read:

"April has an in your pocket personality; she is very friendly and loves attention. April is also very willing to learn and does well when she can be worked at least 4 days a week. She can be strong-willed at times, is quite forward under saddle, and so she requires an intermediate to advanced handler/rider. April has ridden both English and Western and recently had training doing walk/trot work under saddle."

And there I was, an emotional puddle just like four years before on the day she left. All logic went out the window, and before I knew it, I had sent an email to a lady who ran a private boarding facility out of her home stable just a couple miles away with a spot open, and also an email to the rescue, asking if April was, indeed, available.

The photos below were the ones posted on her MSSPA profile, as well as the ones I had snooped off of their Facebook page and other random photos on their website. The first one is what seems to be from her previous owner at the lavender farm in the four years between, and the rest are from the rescue. That first picture from the lavender farm owner gave me a hint that she had ridden her with quite a heavy hand, and possibly undone a lot of the training I had put on her, especially as her adoption description made her seem like she was barely green broke! I also have no clue why she's carrying a dressage whip on a horse that's already a total spitfire.
 

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#14 ·
The barn owner I contacted got back to me. I first told her about the situation I was in, being currently horse-less but potentially adopting one. I thought about how ridiculous it sounded after I sent the first email. "What? Am I really adopting a horse?? No, I'm not, I can't adopt a horse. I've never owned a horse before. I'm a college student with two part-time jobs. But I can get a horse, right? What's stopping me? I'm already in this deep!" She invited me to tour her property, which I did. Cute little quiet farm, maximum four horses at a time, 24/7 turnout. Perfect to keep an Arabian cross a little less spazzy!

She said she would hold the open spot, and she gave me her farrier and vet contact info. I talked to both of them, who both said they would be more than happy to take me as a new client and stand as references during the adoption process. I talked to a friend whose boyfriend trailers horses and would be very happy to trailer to Maine and back for a small sum. Again, my brain went, "What am I doing? Am I insane?? How deep am I going to get myself into this before I realize I can't do it? Well, I do already have a reserved boarding spot, vet and farrier references, a job... What's stopping me?"

The MSSPA was slower to respond. They got back to me, and said "Yes, April is up for adoption. Here's an adoption application." That's when it hit me really hard: I'm actually to the point of filling out paperwork for this horse! Am I actually following through with this? Holy crap! I filled out the adoption application and waited. And waited. And waited - for weeks. I got sick of waiting and sent them another email. Just a "hey, you said you'd review my application! Helloooo!"

They returned my email with the between-the-lines implication that they were sort of surprised I followed up with the application with so much determination. I explained to them my history with her, and told them all sorts of things I wouldn't have known about her without spending lots and lots of time around her. They started taking me more seriously then, and invited me up to visit her, despite their policy against out-of-state adoptions.

And so I did - I made the 400 mile drive up from Pennsylvania to Maine to visit her. The photos speak for themselves. She dropped her hay to come to the front of the stall when she saw me, and she went straight to resting her chin on my shoulder and taking a deep breath - they way we always used to relax when I went out to sit with her.
 

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#15 ·
The trainer heard about me and came out specifically to meet me during my visit, and to see me ride April. With just myself, the trainer, and April in the arena, I tacked up while we chatted, and I hopped on. She told me that my email messages were forwarded to her, and she was blown away by how accurate I described April and her behaviors. As we chatted on while I rode, the trainer went from "You seem like you know her a lot" to "Hold on, I can't even ride her that well, and I've been training her for months!"

While we were untacking, the barn manager and adoption advisor came down to talk to me. They had been watching me from the viewing area without me realizing, and said, in no uncertain terms - "We've been watching you. You can just take her, we've never seen a better fit!" They explained that she had gotten a lot of adoption applications because she was one of the very few rideable horses the rescue had, but everyone who applied either didn't follow through or came out and were completely unable to handle her, let alone ride her. This is also why they took so long to get back to me about the adoption application, because they figured I was just another person who was reaching too far above my capabilities.

They told me that because it was such a good fit, they'd waive their no-out-of-state-adoptions policy just for me. Any doubts I had up to this point vanished. There was no going back now!
 

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#16 ·
Just one week later, I drove back up to Maine again to bring her home. Only two days before I had planned the trip, my friend with a truck and trailer bailed on me, leaving me to hunt down a shipper within 48 hours. I am so glad, though, that I found a shipper willing to make the trip for me at the last second. The fee was $750, and I'm not very familiar with shipping fees, but I think that $750 for a 400 mile trip planned less than 48 hours in advance was absolutely worth it.

April has never been a fan of trailers - and I can't blame her. Every time she's stepped on a trailer, she's ended up somewhere completely new. It took two hours to load her using every trick in the book, the first being a big butt load of patience (didn't work).

June 2nd, 2019 - April made the 400 mile trip down to PA! We arrived just at sunset, and she unloaded like a pro. Stepped off, took a glance around, then dove for the grass. She settled down and spent the first night in the barn. The two photos were taken right after she got off the trailer.
 

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#17 ·
June 3rd - First full day at the new stable! The BO turned April out for a few hours in her own pasture, where I captured the first hilarious picture right as she was getting up from a good roll. In the afternoon, we turned her out with the other three mares, and she fit right in.
 

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#18 ·
It's now been almost a year since we moved April down to PA, and much has happened between then and now, but I certainly don't think I'll be able to take the time to detail it all. We've spent the year getting to know each other again, re-establishing ground manners, and getting back in shape. We've been exploring trails and suburb developments for the most part. I think she would make a great endurance horse.

A few days ago, I dragged my boyfriend out to the stable. It takes a bit of convincing to get him to come with me, but once he's there, his affection towards April shines through! I chose a pretty bad day to go, though, because the barn's neighbors were in the process of tearing down a metal barn only yards away from one fence line, the other neighbors were mowing the grass against the other fence line, and the BO was spraying weeds in the arena.

Despite all this, April was really brave to go out for a short hack in the pasture in between all this commotion while I asked my boyfriend to get a picture. I'm not fond of my defensive leg position here, but with all the spooky things going on and riding slightly downhill, I don't blame myself too much.
 

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#20 ·
Thank you!

I just graduated with my Bachelor's degree in biology. Since I graduated in three years instead of four, I'm taking this next academic year as a gap year, taking that time to continue my job at a vet hospital, and currently applying to vet schools to start in Fall 2021. I'm applying to the vet schools in the Northeast region; Tufts, Cornell, UPenn, plus a few others I still need to decide on that are outside of the region but still reasonable, perhaps like Virginia-Maryland and Lincoln Memorial. Ideally, I would like to stay in the Northeast so as to avoid trips longer than a one-way day's worth of driving to check out apartments and boarding barns before I move.

If I got accepted to UPenn, I could theoretically commute to the vet school and not have to move myself or April. That being said, I don't appreciate that the New Bolton Center is an hour drive away from the vet school/small animal facilities, not within commuting range. I would probably have to get an apartment somewhere in between the triangle of the vet school, the New Bolton Center, and my current boarding stable, which would all be about a 30-45 minute drive away from the theoretical apartment. However, I wouldn't even be going to the New Bolton Center for the first two years anyway, but organizing a move after my second year just makes it even more complicated. And do I really want to commute 45 minutes one-way from Trenton to Philly every day for the first two years? Am I willing to sacrifice my mental health to live here rent-free?

Essentially, the whole concept of attending UPenn is very complicated, even though it's the closest. At that rate, it might just be easier to get up and move myself and April to a new stable, apartment, and vet school entirely! Although, the hardest part about moving would be trailering April and finding a new boarding stable that is as reasonable, cheap, and drama-free as my current one. And - there's no guarantee it wouldn't be just as complicated somewhere else.

I figure I'll just have to sort it all out once I see where/if I get accepted. Input is always welcome!
 
#21 ·
Well, any of those vet schools would give you a great launch into the professional world.


Philly is one of my favorite US cities, and I think by far one of the most underrated. I loved living there and I think if I were to end up back in an urban location it would either be Philly or Portland (your Portland, not OR Portland :wink:). I was not riding at all when I lived in Philly though, so no help on logistics of having a horse near there. Plus, it was almost 15 years ago now so I'm sure my recommendations would be out of date anyway. I will say though I have a couple of really good friends who rent rooms in their houses occasionally, so if Philly does become "the place" in the future I can make connections if at all helpful.
 
#22 ·
My issue is just commuting in/out of a city and keeping my horse nearby. I'm currently living with my boyfriend rent-free in the suburbs, and wow, do I dislike the suburbs! I grew up in middle-of-nowhere Maine and suburbs are already a lot for me. "My" Portland (lol) was BIG to little-kid me, until I visited Boston. My barn is already a 45 minute drive from where I am (outside of Trenton) and if you take one step closer to the city, the boarding prices skyrocket into the 1000+ per month.

Thank you, I will certainly keep that in mind!
 
#23 ·
Thanks for letting me pry into your plans. I was just curious. My daughter is now a Sr with an Animal Science Major/Chemistry minor and will also be starting the vet school application this fall. She is not graduating early as the vets at the clinic she works at and has shadowed at told her not to. There are so many differing opinions out there! She has worked at our local vets since she was 15 - but can't officially do any shots etc because she is not a licensed vet tech (our state is really strict) and she has also shadowed at other facilities but has become friendly with 2 vets at another clinic by us. And everyone has a different opinion!! Her preferred schools are more in the Midwest where we live and taking her horse to school is important to her but everything will depend upon location and costs.

I can't relate to the suburbs but I have been to Boston, NYC, DC, LA etc for work and after a week or two dealing with traffic and people and more people and did I mention people? I cannot imagine trying to commute and get your work done.
 
#24 ·
Your daughter has a lot going for her, that's great! One of the best things a vet school applicant can have are the sincere recommendations of multiple vets. I have brief assorted vet shadowing experience with various small animal, large animal, shelter, and exotics/zoo vets, and over a thousand hours working part time (full time starting this month) at the vet hospital for the past year. There are very few opportunities for even certified vet techs in Maine, so I couldn't get a vet-related job until I moved to PA.

I only graduated early because I came in with 40 AP credits that covered all of my English and math gen eds, plus a little bit of chemistry and history. Basically, it knocked out my entire first year of credits and then some, so I didn't have to work harder than anyone else for the remaining three years (except I still did 19 credits a semester to take honors and other fun classes). I wouldn't recommend it for someone who has to cram a lot of extra credits in just to graduate early, but it worked out really well for me, especially to save a year's worth of tuition $!

I'm very lucky that my vet hospital/state regulations let me do almost all the same things as the certified vet techs besides monitoring and administering anesthesia. I can give vaccines (except rabies - must be done by a vet), draw blood, place IV catheters, take body and dental radiographs, perform dental scaling/polishing, calculate/draw up/give SQ/IV/IM injections, recover patients from anesthesia, plus of course all the regular vet assistant things. I'm even luckier that I came in with nothing more than my job shadowing/volunteering for previous vets and this place gave me paid on the job training to do everything I've learned. They've even included me in all of their professional training sessions that all of the other techs have had like CPR certification/brush-up, dental radiographs and cleaning, various product lunch-and-learns, and paid me for the hours I spent in them.
 
#25 ·
I had plans to go out to the stable yesterday, but I was called in to work a 10 hour overtime shift. Instead, I went to the stable in my scrubs after my shift was over because that wasn't going to stop me!

The sun was less than an hour away from setting when I got there, so we stuck to the arena and just did walk/trot. I spent most of the time working on her sensitivity to slow/stop aids and getting her to find her own relaxation. The first 20 or so minutes were just walking, stopping, backing, stretching on the buckle. She was giving me a nice, stretchy, relaxed walk. I just need her to learn how to get her mind in a more relaxed state and translate that to letting her body fall into a more relaxed state as well. When she senses any smallest inkling of an unintentional cue that I'm going to be asking "go," she is already going. For a while, I've gotten that down to her not going, but instead getting ahead of herself at a really choppy walk and waving her head in the air. Yesterday, she offered more stretchy walk than usual, which I loved.

When I did pick up the trot, she fell into a beautiful stretchy s l o w trot on the buckle, which is difficult to ever get her to do. The downside of this is that we had only trotted one long side before someone close by in the neighborhood shot off a firework :evil: No more stretchy trot! I can't say I blame her. All she did was scooted forward and we continued on, but at a more tense and brisk trot.

We spent the rest of the session just working on her trot to walk and walk to halt transitions. Once I got just a few strides of a half-stretchy trot again, we ended the session on a good note with lots of pets for keeping her head screwed on after the firework.

Her buddies were hanging out in the arena for most of the ride. There are pastures on either side of the arena with gates open at both ends, which I don't usually close when I ride since I like riding in and out of the arena, so sometimes the others wander through. They were also all fine during the firework - good moral support.
 

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#26 ·
Yesterday was another day of scares. Wow, this neighborhood is getting LOUD during social distancing and quarantine.

The entire two to three hours I was at the stable, there were police sirens going off just a few blocks away, loud music playing, people yelling random things over a megaphone, even some occasional construction-like bangs. Obviously some sort of party by the way the police sirens were made to sound like music, probably a drive-by grad party that have been very popular around here. Even a few cars drove right by the arena completely covered in long shiny streamers (amazingly, no spook from that).

April was completely distracted the entire time I was grooming, tacking, and riding. Not spooky, just curious about the commotion. By the time we got to the arena, she was balking at anything and everything, counter-bending and staring down wavy cat-tails behind the arena. Usually she focuses once we start trotting, but not today. When she spooked and planted her feet and flung herself sideways away from a small area where the stone dust spilled onto the grass as I asked her to move across the diagonal, I had enough of her shenanigans and made her march her butt out in a big, serious, working trot around the adjacent pasture. Photo below shows where she planted her feet in front of the spilled stone dust.

Got back to the arena, no more balking or spooking, but still had her head in the clouds. All she wanted to do was canter and gallop around the arena. Despite knowing I was picking a losing battle against the Arabian in her, I decided I wasn't going to fight her for the rest of the ride, so I dropped the reins to the buckle and let her canter and gallop to her heart's content both directions around the arena. After about twenty minutes of this, she settled herself down into an extended stretchy trot on the buckle, finally a bit more focused. Another ten minutes of trotting and she came down to a stretchy walk with a seat cue. We walked out on the buckle both directions for about five minutes, at which point I decided to end on a good note and got off and hand-walked her until she cooled down.

Not the best ride, but every ride is a learning experience!
 

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#27 ·
I finally have enough time to post about Sunday's stable visit!

We went out for a ride on the trails. I was pleased that April didn't try to rush in the places she normally tries to move up a gait without permission. She did, however, use her big spook-stop quite frequently - she'll be going around with her huge floating trot until wham, she slams on the brakes and comes to a stop for just half a second, then continues trotting on. The low-growing plants with the huge foot-long, flat, shiny leaves are popping up like crazy out of nowhere and April isn't used to them. I do have to admit, her spook-stop is better than a full spinning/bucking/bolting spook that other horses might do, but it's jarring! I'm thankful to say that she's never gotten me off this way - thank you, all the bratty ponies of my childhood who gave me seat glue. I have gotten in the habit of sometimes holding one side of my reins crossed between both hands so that if she stops suddenly, it hits her neck before my face does.

After the trails, we rode through the suburbs and down the paved walking path. Lots of walking, too many people to do much trotting. It was a great day for bike desensitization. April even stood still patiently while we waited behind a little boy learning to ride on training wheels down a narrow part of the path. It was also a good day for suburb desensitization, with all the people out and about opening their garage doors, mowing their lawns, hanging bird feeders, etc. I was proud when April didn't even glance sideways as a man weeding his flower bed suddenly popped up just on the other side of a solid fence we were walking along, nor did she spook when a dog came flying and barking out of a house and across the unfenced yard right behind us (was appreciative of invisible fences in that moment).

The whole ride was 6.1 miles and 1 hour 20 minutes.

When we got back, I worked on hosing down her face without her getting upset and letting me rub fly spray into her ears. She's generally fine with ear-touching, but gets suspicious when she sees the bottle, even though I don't use it directly on her face. Both issues improved well in one session but she still needs more sessions for consistency.

I'd like to think she's slowly building her topline, but I might just be imagining things, especially since the horses were put back out on grass about a month ago and she could just have added fat in a few convenient places. As always, I'm very open to others' input, especially those who don't see her all the time!
 

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#28 ·
Today was incredibly hot (88 F) and I decided to skip riding. I went to the stable after my morning vet hospital shift and within five minutes, my scrubs were sticking to me with sweat. Instead, I just spent some time working on her feet in the shade (still too hot for my liking). I swear her feet grow faster than most other horses - I feel like I'm cutting back her bars and rasping every single weekend, and then the next, they need to be brought back again. And that's on top of all the daily wear she does on them being turned out 24/7, and walking over gravel and concrete every day for feeding. Her Arabian hooves are hard as rock, even her soles. Which is nice - I have a sound horse with solid feet. But I can feel my knife dulling with every cut. I am actually very thankful for the thunderstorms that rolled through in the past few days since the moist ground softened her feet just a touch below the rock hardness and made my life a tad easier.

She's never been a fan of the crossties. It's something we've had to do a lot of work on in the past, but she stood very nicely today, even when a group of motorcycles drove by. Telling by how she took off when I turned her back out, I don't think she was only cooperative because of the heat.

Uneventful day, but a good day!
 
#29 ·
Sunday was absolutely gorgeous! Going from 88 to 75 degrees makes a huge difference. Lots of photos!

April and I went out for a group trail ride with the BO and one other boarder. Both of them barely ever ride their horses, so their horses were quite out of shape and almost the entire ride was walking. I could feel April itching to move out, but she was very respectful and rode on a loopy rein for just about the entire ride. Given the lack of confidence of the other two, April took the lead for most of the way, although she is just as fine following as she is leading.

We started out on our regular trails. The boarder's horse barged forward when she heard the stream - she loves, loves playing in water. Later, the BO got in some great bird desensitizing and rode straight into a sitting flock of black vultures! That was quite a show and made for a good laugh.

We reached an area I had visited before but never crossed because of the "no trespassing" sign. The BO said "Oh, I know this farmer, he lets us ride on his property" and we found ourselves on some absolutely beautiful, impeccably maintained trails. This included a flat mowed grass track that circles around the farmer's central fields in a rounded rectangle. According to Google Map's distance measuring feature, the track is exactly a mile long. It also has some equally well-maintained pathways that cross through certain areas, making smaller tracks embedded into the larger one.

There were a few natural/woodsy trails that branched off of the track that we also explored a little bit of. They are just as beautiful, well-kept, and mowed as the track. Wow, we are lucky! I can't even express how thrilled I am to know of a few more miles of trails on top of the ones I already ride regularly, which are admittedly rather boring by comparison.

Once we got back to the stable and were passing through the hay field, the horses were diving down every few steps in an attempt to just get a taste of the hay that was cut the same morning. I can't blame them for the temptation, even the humans were taking deep breaths of it!

Total ride was about five and a half miles and two-ish hours. I can't wait to go back to that track alone and take it for a little test gallop. That would also be the perfect area to get more trotting miles in without having to turn around and go back and forth.
 

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