Cowboy Magic is my HERO!

For those of you who have actually read my earlier blog posts or followed my pitiful face book statuses in the past couple of months you probably know all about my trials and tribulations with Rio's feet. For those who don't I'll try to give a quick recap... I apologize in advance for the size of this post. It was really met to be spread out as updates over 10-14 days, but lord knows I can't keep up with anything! If you've read the other posts you can skip over the back story and go straight to our verdict on the Cowboy Magic Product!

- Back Story -

Rio has lived most of his life on close to 100 acres of grass pasture. He's had a simple life, getting very little grain, only getting hay in winter months when things were dry, getting his feet trimmed every 6-8 weeks. He's never worn shoes, and he's never been on any other supplements. He WAS an uncomplicated pony until we moved to Central Florida. 

For those who live in Orlando you'll sympathize with us. There is pretty much NO pasture turn out for horses! So Rio moved into a stall with an attached paddock. He also went through a major diet change switching to free choice coastal and starting on grain... nutrition is a whole other blog post all on its own so I won't go into major detail right now, but I attribute the change in life style and nutrition and a slew of crappy farriers to the root of our problems. 

July through early October we lived through several re-occurring abscesses, and 3 changes in farrier. 

Just when I thought we had the abscesses cleared up he started to show signs of thrush.

 I tried cleaning his stall myself, putting down lime and extra shavings to keep things as dry and clean as possible. I tried soaking the feet in a 10% bleach solution. I tried spraying them with apple cyder vinegar. I tried pretty much every thrush product known to man. Nothing worked with consistency. None of the treatments were quick and easy. The chemical products like coppertox, dursoul and thrush buster were messy, dried the hoof wall out, iterated my skin and left it a pretty shade of blue green.

And then I found a trial for a new Cowboy Magic Thrush Killer product. They needed 100 horses to test the product and they were giving it to the testers for free. So we gave it a try... what could it really hurt? And, if you made it through reading all that bravo to you!  So what's the verdict on this CM product?

WE LOVE COWBOY MAGIC!

Cowboy Magic was looking to verify that (1) the product does indeed kill thrush, (2) that it does not dry the hoof wall and (3) that it does not stain or irritate your skin or the horses skin/feet.

And, unlike so many other products on the market it does exactly what it claims it should do!

I saw a significant difference in his feet with in a few days and continued improvement over about 2 weeks of treatments.  Further more it was very easy to apply, not messy or irritating, and the product lasts. One eight oz. bottle lasted 2 weeks of daily treatment. The CM product was the consistency of a thick hand soap so it tended to stay put until you could get it scrubbed into the foot rather then run off like so many of the liquid based products.  It was also very time efficient. I found the product worked weather I scrubbed the feet clean first with soap and water or simply picked it, brushed as much dirt away as possible and applied the medication. It did not dry the foot. It did not bother my skin, though in all honesty I never got any on my skin because the product stays where you put it! I'd let the product soak into the foot on a clean concrete surface for 2-5 minutes and throw him back in his stall. No half our soaking sessions. 

This is what the product looks like. It comes in a squeezable bottle. You simply squeeze a portion onto the foot and then use the back of a hoof pick with scrubbing bristles to spread the product over the entire foot. 

I took pictures of all 4 feet every day of treatment through the first ten days and then after his most recent trim about a week ago, but to post every single picture here would  make this post even bigger so what I'm showing you is a selection of shots over the ten days of the worst of the feet. 

Nov. 26, 2011 Prior to any treatment, but scrubbed clean with soap & water

Notice the black coloration, the cracking feet, craters in the sulci (sp?) of the frog, and the deep crack that goes up into his heal. Here his feet have been scrubbed clean with soap and water so you can really see the damage to the foot.

Nov. 25, 2011 worst of the four feet

 

Even after only one treatment the coloration of the foot is better & it may be my imagination, but that big old crack in the top of the frog/heal of the foot is looking a bit less nasty to me.

Nov. 28, 2011

Notice I'm getting lazy. I haven't scrubbed the feet with soap and water here. I've simply picked and brushed them as clean as possible The frog is slowly starting to heal and the cracks in the heal are less pronounced. 

Rio's best foot Dec. 26, 2011 One month post treatment

As you can see, sort of anyways.... this is not the best angle or photo the crack that goes all the way up his heal is much less pronounced if not gone. The frog isn't eaten away. What you can't tell from the photos is that the black discoloration and the yucky smell caused by thrush is most definitely gone! The foot is in the middle of shedding and the ground has been very dry so the foot looks a bit dry, but it's not so much from the product as it is from the those two circumstances. This is the best of the four feet. We are still having minor relapses in the back feet from time to time.

The good news is that the product works and I now have a fall back when we have relapses. I think I am still going to be in for a battle during the rainy wet season, and I am convinced that a change in nutrition will make a difference in prevention. I also FINALLY have an awesome farrier. 

We have a road ahead of us to get him to were I truly want him to be, but he has many more good days then bad and I think we are finally finding a balance with the feet. 

If you have had or are having issues with thrush I highly recommend this product. As soon as I find out when it will be on the market for general public you can bet I'll let you know where to get your hands on it!

Merry Christmas (better late then never) & Happy New Year!

Rio wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas... but alas I never seem to have time to write so nothing ever gets posted when it actually happens!... I have a list of blog topics a mile long! Oh well better late then never right? Not that it really matters because I'm pretty sure we have all of maybe 5 readers!

Since I was a young kid with my first horse Katie, I have always dressed the horses up for a holiday photo... much to their dismay and my delight! Christmas is one of my favorite times of year!

This year I  managed to talk a few of my fellow boarders into participating... I think they had a good time despite some groaning when I first mentioned it.  I brought cookies for the humans and carrots for the horses... Lynne contributed a veggie tray and Erica ended up buying pizza for all of us. And, we didn't look half bad for a last minute plan! Next year we'll plan better, but it was certainly not bad for last minute planning!

Thank you to my awesome friends for sharing in the fun & to Dan & Erica (the barn owners) for our Christmas present. Rio enjoyed the carrots immensely!

Happy Holidays &  Best Wishes for the  year ahead!

Cowboy Magic Test Day 1

As promised in an earlier blog Rio and I will be participating in a Cowboy Magic product test over the next 3-4 weeks. I'll be posting periodic updates with pictures for those who want to fallow along. 

Day 1 Pictures...

Nasty right? This was the only shot that turned out even though I took pics of all 4 feet. All 4 feet have thrush, but this is by far the worst of the four. I've tried other remedies that seem to keep it in check, but don't get rid of it in its entirety.... Thrush Buster, Durasoul, natural remedies like antibacterial scrub followed by apple cider vinegar to concoctions of Neosporin, anti-fungal ointment, and iodine. Nothing has worked with 100% effectiveness and our biggest problem is that its hard for me to get out every day let alone more then once a day to spend 45 minutes doctoring feet.   The harsher chemicals like dursoul or Thrush Buster also tend to dry the foot out and do their own damage in place of the thrush. 

The product we are going to be testing out is a Cowboy Magic product called Krudbuster Thrush Killer. They claim that it will not dry out or damage the foot like other products, and will not stain or burn your skin if you get it on yourself during application, AND that it will effectively kill thrush. 


The active ingredients are Chloroxylenol (antibacterial) and Salacylic Acid (anti-fungal) which are supposed to kill both gram negative and gram positive bacteria where other antibiotic topical kill one or the other.


Since I'm testing the product I'm not going to be using any other treatments with it that could invalidate the test. I pick the foot and brush as much dirt out as possible then scrub the foot with soapy water rinse and apply the Cowboy Magic Thrush Killer. I brush it into the foot and heal with a tooth brush and I let him stand for 10-15 minutes on clean dry concrete before putting him up. The product claims that 2 minutes on a clean dry surface is enough time for the product to soak in, but I'm not taking any chances... besides its extra time with the horse which is never a bad thing!


It is my goal to be at the barn everyday to treat the feet at least once for the next 10 days minimum and I'll be posting updated pictures and notes ever few days. 


Outside of the using the medication I'm going to try adding more bedding to his stall and picking it myself as well as cleaning his paddock myself. I'm hoping a dryer environment cleaned more often in combination with this product will drastically improve the situation with his feet. 


Tune in for follow ups!

Testing... 1...2...3.... OR the never ending feet saga...

When I bought Rio one of the things I loved about this horse is that he was uncomplicated.... healthy, sound, sane, no vices, no outrageous behavior issues that weren't easily fixable... NO issues aside from simply being green!

In the last six months we've had a lot of changes and with that change has come dreaded foot issues!

In Georgia Rio was on pasture 24/7 with good green grass on close to 100 acres. We had a superb farrier that I loved... shout out to Rob if he happens to be reading this... and we never had feet issues. Once in the six years I was there he had a hoof abscess that cleared up on its on less then 5 days. He's never worn shoes in his life.

I'm not as lucky in Central Florida. Pasture is non existent. For a while I tried self care at one place, but between the rocky footing in the rings, and the constant flooding during rainy season it was a constant battle to keep Rio in good shape. Never mind the fact that finding a truly good farrier is next to impossible.

So I moved him to a smaller lower key facility on full care board. The owners and the other boarders at the barn are amazing, wonderful, sweet people who care about the horses. But, that doesn't make up for the effect a change in the environment has had on his feet. No grass means standing in mud when it rains. Being stalled and confined to a smaller space means that no matter how much cleaning they or I do he is standing in urine or poo at least some of the time instead of on clean dry grass covered footing... we all have real work and can't pick the stall ever 2 hours! The barns that have full time staff there all day charge almost as much as I pay in rent every month for a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom house... that is just not doable!  Laura (a fellow boarder) and I were joking that it would be a lot easier if we could teach the horses to pee and poop in a bucket. Alas that is never going to happen! My too smart for his own good horse does go in his stall to poop or pee on purpose rather then go outside! No helping the situation...Frustrating! 

Anyways, the point of all this is that we started out with an abscess that I'm convinced was a result of how his prior farrier had been trimming him... change in farrier and 5 months of soaking, packing, and slaving over his feet and we are now out of the woods with the abscess... but not out of the woods with his feet. If its not one thing its another and NOW we have thrush. It comes and goes depending on how often I can get to the barn to treat the problem and do my own cleaning, and depending on the weather... Luckily its not severe enough to cause lameness, but it is irritating because obviously if it gets out of control it can cause all sorts of other problems for him.  Medications are getting expensive so at this point I'm ready to try anything!

Enter Cowboy Magic! 

They have a new product (Krudbuster Thrush Killer) that they want 100 horses to test out before it goes on market for the general public. OK... I'll bight... So I have 2 free bottles of this stuff and we are going to give it a go! I'll be chronicling it here for anyone who wants to see if the product works! We'll be starting with it Monday after my family leaves town so that I can be consistent with the treatment.

In the interest of keeping this blog from growing any longer... for those interested in reading up on Thrush and what it is do a google search for "The Horse.com Thrush in Horses". Click on the link to the PDF that will be the first thing that pops up. Its a good, short basic article. If I have time I'll expand on it here at some point. 

For those who want to know more about the product I'm trying out go here: http://www.cowboymagic.com/products-thrush-killer.html

Follow ups with pictures to come! If you've had a horse with thrush or hoof problems I would love to know what treatments have been successful for you, and more so, what you do to sucessfully prevent it from coming back, outside of the obvious which is cleaning the feet and keeping the living space as clean as possible? Please share if you have a minute.... don't want to post here... you can always e-mail me at MJAppaloosa@gmail.com

Rio Says Happy Halloween!

 Rio the ghetto unicorn and Ginny the Fairy Princess at the Miracle Ride Oct. 2011

"Twinkle Toes"

Our barn buddies Moon & Alice

60 second recap of the last six months...

I am a horrible blogger… just horrible! Funny how when you get busy and you actually have something to write about you have no time to write because you’re busy… it’s a conundrum!

I recently stumbled on to the fact that a friend of mine, also a boarder at my new barn, has a blog and reading it, I of course, am inspired to pick up this blog again… so I went to put together a post and saw that I have not posted in 6 months… bad , bad, bad blogger!  Not that it matters because I highly doubt anyone reads it!

So here is my attempt to catch you up on what’s happened in six months… six months of blogging in 60 seconds…

When last I left we were gearing up for our first ever beach ride and we did go. It was an amazing, but also scary experience… more on that in a separate blog.

 Hot & Sweaty after the beach ride... waiting to load onto the trailer..

Rio celebrated his 12^th Birthday with carrot cake, and birthday hat to match! I cannot believe he is 12 or that I’ve had him for just over 6 years now… slightly crazy! 

Lauren came for a visit from Tally and took Rio out for a ride. She was impressed with how much more forward he moved off of her leg and how much weight he'd lost and how much muscle he'd gained.

We had a few months of dealing with some crazy horse people at our barn and crazy events in general. I won’t go into too much detail on the off chance any of those people read this blog… lets just say we moved to a new barn and we’re putting all that behind us. Somewhat sad as there were things I did like about our last home, however short lived it was.

The new barn and its boarders are all absolutely amazing. I love having other people to ride with and while I’m still working on Rio’s dressage and occasionally experimenting with jumping we could easily retire to the life of a trail horse… or try endurance!

In mid October we participated for the second year in the annual Children’s Miracle Network Trail Ride with our new found friends, which was a blast and warrants its own blog topic in the days to come.We also meant up with a friend I met as a teen through a horse sim game... Dana is even more awesome in person now then she was when we were younger and her horses are adorable! She joined us for this event and I hope will be coming back for a beach trip and a repeat of this ride next year.

I’ve found a really great guy to half lease Rio and he’s quickly become a friend and riding buddy.

We’ve spent the last few months dealing with the feet from he**. Hoof abscesses, and thrush, and 3 farrier changes before finally finding one I like.

In two weeks I move to Sanford which will be a blessing and a curse because rent will go up, but driving will go down and I’ll be 10 minutes from the barn so I can see Rio that much more with out spending so much on gas and tolls…

I still have not been able to find a regular teaching job so I make ends meet by subbing, working for my mom, tutoring, teaching the occasional riding lesson, and half leasing Rio... makes for a chaotic life, but at least I still have my horse and I swear he lives better then I do! Spoiled rotten pony!

And that, ladies and gentlemen pretty much brings us to current…

I promise I will try very hard not to fall of the face of the Earth with this blog again…  and the next few weeks will be a mix up of more detailed posts from some of the events in the last 6 months combined with new news…I see others post occasionally about different horse related topics or do just pictures posts and I want to steel… *cough* … I mean borrow those ideas and share the things that I am learning as well!

Until then, Rio says hello to his cyber friends and hopes to get a few more followers! If you have a blog please share. I’m always looking for good blogs to read!

Its greek to me....

I've been riding since I was 7 or 8 years old... that's 22 years if you really want to do the math. I've even taught some young kids the basics up through walk, trot, canter, posting, diagonals, two point ect... So I know I'm not a horrible rider, but I've never really had self confidence either. Not being able to take consistent lessons has not helped my self esteem any or my leg and core muscles which seem to have disappeared & refuse to work anymore!  Its easy to look at someone else and tell them what they need to fix, but not always easy to look in the mirror and fix your own issues. 

Anyways, I promise this blog does have a point! Rio & I took our first lesson tonight with our friend Lizette. Prior to moving here my lessons were mostly general equitation and I eventually went down the path of dressage and got stuck in that rut. Lizette's training has been in hunters and let me tell you the two disciplines could not possibly be more different from each other. Hence the blog title... it's all Greek to me lol...

Where in the past I have been taught to ride with a wider lower base to my reins tonight I had to be constantly reminded to bring my hands up and together... though I have to admit I did get a positive response to the change from Rio. I also rode with stirrups much much shorter then usual, but had a better support base that way.   Though I think if we keep this up I'm going to have to switch to a hunter/jumper saddle or my all purpose saddle. Holding the more forward position in my dressage saddle was not the easiest feat. He was less figity when I left his mouth alone and just used more body position to communicate with him. As his top line develops more I'll work on getting the nice head set that we used to have back. The less I did the more I got out of him which was nice. He even picked up his left lead canter which is sometimes a struggle for us so I was very happy.  

The only downside to the night was that I pooped out 40 minutes into what should have been an hour lesson. The tendons in my ankle just did not want to hold up under the pressure.... I have a long way to go to get us both back in shape. Its so easy not to push yourself when it's just you and your horse schooling, but now that we are back in a lesson routine (hopefully!!!) If I don't really challenge myself between lessons I'll look like an idiot during lessons so I have some intensive to do the work on the in between days.  

More cool than anything else that happened to night was the fact that I voiced my goal of doing a horse trial with Rio and did not get laughed at! I've been stuck going in circles for so long not moving forward with my riding that I'd kind of given up hope of that goal every happening. It was really nice to hear someone I respect tell me that I wasn't crazy and that it was a doable goal.

We finished the night with a short trail ride around the neighborhood with Lisa & Maverick. I have to say I love my horse! He'd never been outside the main property since we moved two weeks ago and he pretty much took it all in stride even going along a busy road with cars. This weekend will be another first for us... a trip to the beach! He LOVES water so if we can get past the fact that the water is moving and making noises we should be good. Its looking like quite a few people are coming so it should be fun!... If you don't hear from me with a blog update... send out a search party! Hopefully he will be a good boy and it will be another fun and uneventful first experience for us!

Until next time!...

XOXO Rio & Sam

The Birthday Cake Massacre...

My spotted pony turned 12 today! Twelve, I cannot believe it! When I first met  him just over 6 years ago he was a green little baby and now he's 12 years old. Time flies when you are having fun I guess.

We celebrated his birthday with Friends, Ginny & Jill, and the other kids at the barn today. Yes, I am one of those crazy people who celebrate their "pet's" birthdays & dress them up (much to his dismay). Since I don't have any kids of my own Rio gets to play substitute. Plus the kids at the barn loved it and had a blast.  I always had to celebrate Katie's (my old mare) Birthday on mine since she was a rescue and I had no idea what her Birthday even was so I take full advantage of having a registered Appaloosa with a none birth date. 

First we went for a short ride, and he was so on and so ready to go it was a blast! We even tried a few small cross rails, this time with me riding... no longe line and I felt like I was flying... even if they were only a foot or less! Ginny got on and went for a ride too. I was super proud of her for riding in the big ring with the other more advanced kids... I know it can be intimidating to her! She did great. 

 He was, of course, spoiled rotten with hugs, carrots, apples, granola, and even a piece of carrot cake made especially for him (more on that in a minute).  He got the spa treatment thanks to Ginny who gave him a bubble bath and a massage with the curry comb. And, he is currently enjoying a well earned nap in his stall munching on hay. 

But, what about the title...Birthday Cake Massacre I am sure you are asking...? Back to the cake as promised... this horse eats just about anything! Do you think he liked the gourmet carrot cake I made him with real raisins and carrots....?  

Here's your answer....

Oh well right! We had fun and he deffinitely knows he's loved! Happy Birthday to my spotted pony!


Until next time...


XOXO Rio & Sam

Jumping For Joy...

I am always a fan of happy surprises so when I showed up at the barn to feed this morning and the horses had already been fed... small mis-communication...  I took advantage of my unexpected extra time, the quiet, and the cooler morning temperatures to enjoy some quality time with my boy. 

 Ready to ride... not a very enthusiastic look though...

The birds were singing. We had the place all to ourselves... I think he'd rather have been snoozing in his stall, but hey I enjoyed it!

We did our typical 30 minute workout on the flat working on bending and stretching, and transitions. He was going great. I could have ridden for hours... except for one little issue. I have a really weak right ankle which almost always cramps up or wants to give out on me half way through an hour ride... especially when I haven't been riding regularly the way I should. Needless to say the ankle interrupted our progress today. But, I wasn't ready to call it quits... especially since he's been cooped up in his stall more then he's gotten ridden this week, so I got a bright idea... why no longe in the big front jump ring? It would give me a chance to get him used to the bigger ring... and all those horse eating jumps. 

Now in order to tell this story properly I have to back track a little for those of you who don't know my horse's entire history. I bought him as an almost six year old with minimal training, and in the beginning I tried him over small jumps. To say the least he either had no clue what to do with his feet over a jump, or he didn't want to. He repeatedly refused even small cross rails, and I had not done very much jumping prior to buying him. In part because lessons were always in consistent. Something always interrupted my progress and  right about the time I started jumping lessons for the umpteempth time during college my mare started to get arthritis. Then we made a big move, and the money for lessons just wasn't there.  So to say the least I wasn't going to be the one to push him into jumping. 

So for several years now we've focused on flat work, low level dressage, trail riding, and giving beginner lessons to kids. I've wanted to push up to that next level of training with him for a while now... lateral movements, and maybe trying some jumping, but that's hard to do when you don't have the time or money to work with a trainer.  I'm a decent rider, but when it comes to teaching the horse these new things I tend to lack confidence. 

When we moved to Orlando last year I decided to let one of the teenagers at our last barn do some work with him... she had a ton of knowledge and experience with hunters, but no money to lease or own a horse, and I needed someone who wasn't afraid to break her neck if he refused a jump... yes that would be me... its true you really do loose some nerve when you get older and things just don't heal as quickly if you get yourself broken. 

So for a few months Mackenna worked with him one or two days a week, but usually when I wasn't around thanks to a crazy work schedule. I never got to see her jump him, and I only tried jumping him over a very small cross rail myself maybe once or twice. I never really tested him out...

Until today anyways. I started longing him over trot polls which I knew he could handle. The nifty thing about being at a decent size barn mostly focused on hunters is that unlike my last two barns they have a decent set of jumps and equipment including stackable plastic jump standards which make longing a horse over a jump much easier because there is nothing to get in the way of the longe line... 

So bright idea number two... set up some small jumps and see what happens of course!

 Unfortunately being the only person there means no pictures of us jumping, but here are the pictures of the jumps...Ok I know... small... maybe a foot if that, but it was a huge step forward for us & I am excited!

To my surprise and delight he handled them easily & actually seemed to be having some fun! I did not get on to try jumping them in saddle... figured I would save that for a day when other people were around the barn just in case I manage to break my neck, but I was really really happy with the little experiment today!

Where we currently board I have the opportunity to work off part of my board and some lessons so you can bet we will be getting back into the swing of things... maybe stop going in circles and actually make some progress this summer! I am excited about the possibilities and of course we'll share the new experiences here! Hey look at me I'm actually keeping up with a blog for a change!

Until next time x0x0

Rio & Sam

Home Sweet Home... I think...

If you board your horse I'm sure you know how hard it can be to find the perfect barn... one where you can ride with friends, no drama, great & safe facilities, and super great care at a reasonable price. Until I moved to Central Florida I had that in the form of Spoon Blue Stables in GA.... I always appreciated my Spoon Blue people, but I think I appreciate them even more after the last year! I wish I could pick them up and move them here!

Lets just say horse boarding in the Central Florida area is lacking... Every barn (ok most every barn) thinks that they can charge you an arm, a leg,  and your first born child no matter the shape of the facilities or care given because of supply and demand and the number of show barns that compete against each other. Then there's the lack of turn out pretty much anywhere... I'd have to drive an hour from home just to find a place with any kind of pasture! We recently moved out of Seminole estates because of crazy drama at the barn that I just could not put up with any longer... that seems to be a theme at a lot of barns here too... ugg!

We finally settled on Tanglewood Equestrian Farm/Twelve Oaks. Two barns run out of the same facility. I had to settle for paying more to give Rio what I feel he deserves, but I'm able to work off a chunk of that board making it doable, and so far I love all the other people at the barn. Lizette (the barn owner of Tanglewood has bent over backwards to help me make things work despite some unexpected complications... if you read this Lizette <3 thank you!

Rio, who spent most of his life out on multiple acres seems to have settled into life as a stabled horse with turn out at night in a small paddock... I think he actually likes being able to come in a way from the flies & the heat of the sun. I also have to say that I can turn him out with ANYONE and he doesn't bat an eye... he even gets along with Maverick who apparently can have an attitude sometimes, though I haven't seen it yet! Tomorrow marks one week post move so we will see how this new place works out.... hopefully okay! I am so tired of having an ulcer over making sure my horse is safe, and that I can continue to afford him... But, then I can't imagine life with out him either. The crazy things we do for horses!

An added bonus I'm doing some extra work for riding lessons so I can get back in shape, and there are other teachers at this barn so that is nice! And, I am really enjoying the nickers I get when I walk in the barn, all the barn smells, the fresh air and exercise, and the fact that I see my boy everyday!

I hope and pray we've settled at least for a while... still looking for permanent teaching jobs for next year though... which will be the deciding factor so if you'all could say a little prayer that I get something and that my teacher friends keep their jobs... (teaching is so hard here right now!) I would appreciate it!

Pics of the new place are below! Until next time... 

xoxo Rio & Sam 

Outside of the barn

Inside the barn

Tack Room

 Bath time in the grooming area...

Oh The Places You'll Go...

This blog is dedicated to my partner in crime, and best friend Rio, and our progress together as we travel down the path of equine & human partnership. I hope to share our daily lives with friends who have been involved along the way, to keep track of our goals and accomplishments, and to share knowledge with my young riding students, and fellow horse friends along the way. 

Rio in September of 2009 Spoon Blue

I can’t keep a diary, I can’t even keep up with my own human related blog, so what possessed me to start a horse related blog, or think that anyone will actually read it is beyond me, but here we go anyways.

What better time to start a blog then on a very important anniversary for Rio and myself. It was 6 years ago in April that I first met Rio then Slick to our Tallahassee friends. He was curious, and willing, but very green and had not been ridden much in several months prior to my leasing him. He was then, and is still, a horse that very much looks to his rider for safety, security, and direction. I have to admit, I had been out of regular lessons for quite a while, and despite years of riding, I was intimidated by him. I almost turned the lease down. Not many know that. But, faced with the choice of no riding at all due to my own horse’s health, or taking him on I decided to give it a go, and never looked back.

After many, many struggles financially, and time wise to try to find a way to buy him, three years ago on this very day (March 29, 2008) I made the craziest and best decision of my life in purchasing him. Its been said that there is never perfect timing for having a kid. If you wait until your life is perfect you never will have kids. The same goes for having a horse I think. Despite the risks I took in buying him when I did everything always seems to fall into place. weather you believe in God's will or not, I know we were meant to be a team because no matter what road blocks presented themselves we have always found a way to stick together.   Its been quite the ride over 6 years, from bonding and working through some personality miss-communications early on to where we are to day, pursuing a show career in low level dressage and jumping. Or, at least those are the goals for this year, now looking very, very possible for us!

Many of the leaps forward that we have made have come in the past year and a half. With out school and major moves to get in the way I have been able to finally spend the time with him that he deserves.  In 2010 Rio dawned his new name, something I’d been thinking about for a very long time, that finally made him feel mine, and signified the start of a new life in a new place. He experienced his first trailer ride in 7 or 8 years with me on his move from GA to Orlando. He explored the trail system in our horsey community, and a local national park, which is something I never thought we would be able to do because his and my confidence level in each other weren’t quite there. He jumped in head first participating in summer camp activities with young riders.  And, with those leaps in confidence, and his super goofy personality Rio has become his on savior! Despite the ever constant challenge of providing for my baby in this economy, and as a teacher no less, we have made things work. Together we now teach youth beginner riders the ropes of basic equitation. Rio literally works to pay his board, but loves every minute of attention he gets from his young friends. He is learning to jump. And, he works in a nice frame willingly moving forward so different from the horse that used to go around the ring with his head up in the air trying to avoid the bit.   He is patient, kind, and curious. He loves having a job to do, and exploring new things.  We give each other unconditional love that only another horse person can truly understand.

The fact that we are still together and have come so far despite money challenges, despite having to finish school, despite moves, job losses, new jobs, my genera inexperience in many areas, and life transitions is a testament to how stubborn I am in not giving up, but mostly to having really great family members and horse people as friends in our lives a long the way who have been there for us. If you’re reading this I’m sure you know who you are.  You all have angel wings and are much loved by both of us!

Rio with his friend 5 YO Bristol 2011

I hope you continue to stay in touch with us, and follow our journey through this blog! I will do my best to actually keep up with it, and try not to bore you!