End of an Era

 Peebs' barn has slowly been winding down their boarding operation, and is going to close in May. I knew it was coming, but it was still a bit of a shock to get the official notice. We've been hauling over there for lessons since 2018, and Cinder moved there in 2019 and Peebs in 2020 so it feels like we've been there forever. I'm going to miss this perfect little barn. 

I've been on the hunt for the last few weeks for another retirement/low key boarding barn that offers as much turnout as possible. My area is (normally) fairly wet in the winter and a lot of barns really limit winter time turnout to save their fields from turning into absolute mud pits. Peebs has been used to pretty much 24/7 turnout the past few years, either being out in the pasture or the dry lot paddock with a run-in shed. And his stall has a large run off it so even when he's "in" he's not stuck in a box stall. I don't want him locked inside all winter. 

I put up a post on a FB boarding group and got some leads, and I asked my vet for recommendations when Peebs got his spring vaccines. Trainer M also offered a stall at Cinder's barn if I can't find anything by the time I need to move out, and I joked that Peebs could earn his keep by doing pony summer camp. I ended up touring three barns and am going to drop of a deposit check on one tomorrow. 

The first barn was the farthest away (45min) and $50/month more than what my current board is. I would have to switch both vet and farrier as it was outside of their service area. The farm was absolutely lovely, part of a 250 acre family farm that grows their own hay, but their pastures were super lush and they keep multiple hay nets full in all the stalls. Which for most horses would be great, but not Peebs. His fecal water syndrome is best managed with limited hay, soaked hay pellets, and he needs to be out on non-lush, short pasture. I liked the place, and it would be an awesome retirement home for most horses, but it just wasn't a fit for us.

Barn 2 was recommended by my vet, only 20 mins from my house, but $175/month more. My vet goes to this barn regularly, but I need to see if my farrier does or will. Its about a dozen horses, half retired half not, but very laid back and relaxed. Horses are in at night, and out during the day with the option for 24/7 turnout in the summer. The property is on a hill, so when its snowy/icy horses don't go out but get indoor arena turnout. Someone is there 24/7 and they check on the horses multiple times a day and do night check. I really liked the vibes of this barn. 

Barn 3 was the same price as my current barn, and while 40mins away, it's only 10mins off the freeway that I drive on to go see Cinder, so I would be passing it multiple times a week. Again, would have to switch vet and farrier, but this barn did include holding for their farrier in the board price. It was a backyard barn, with an old somewhat run down barn that had two stalls that aren't used. Horses are out 24/7 with run-in sheds and fencing was flexible to make a smaller paddock or let the horses out into a bigger pasture. The fences were falling down a bit, and "theoretically" hot. The manager only comes out twice a day to feed, and the horses are mostly unsupervised. I would have to let them know when I was stopping by, so the property owners (who are only there in the summer) wouldn't be surprised by people showing up. Which I understand, but I don't want to have to make an appointment to see my own horse. 

So barn 2 it is! I still need to iron out the date of our move, and see how much tack room space there is so I can pair down all the shit I have, but I'm relieved to have found a place for Peebs. Hopefully he settles in well and the moves goes uneventfully. 

The Best Laid Plans

 Well the start to our show season is being delayed a month or so. We were supposed to leave for Thermal on Saturday, but scratched last Tuesday. DIHP put out a small little blurb last Monday about "a small number of horses" testing positive for equine influenza, but not to worry because they had been removed from the show grounds and were in a quarantine facility. 

Cinder was not pleased at getting a bath for a full body clip, now all for naught

Our vet is an FEI vet who has worked with the main show vet at DIHP in the past. She called him up and asked what exactly was going on. Allegedly there were 10 horses that tested positive, all vaccinated, and it appears that its a new strain of flu. She strongly recommended that we do not go, and if we did, that we should quarantine the horses when returning to Oregon.

Kill me

Combine that with the weather forecast for our week there, and all four of us going decided to scratch. There's no way our horses, or us humans, would have been ok with showing in that heat. It's hasn't broken 70 here in Oregon and the shock of going to 107 would have been cruel. Let alone hauling in that heat. 

I'm taking this as a sign from the universe that I'm supposed to show in Thermal in the fall, hopefully at Adult Hunter Finals if we can qualify. 

2025 Year End Awards

 Despite only getting to 4 shows last year, and one of those (Tbird) didn't count towards points, we somehow racked up the ribbons. 

These are all from the Oregon Hunter Jumper Association, and I realized after taking the pic that I forgot to pick up one ribbon. I am also eagerly awaiting my reserve champ vest to arrive. 

Reserve Champion Long Stirrup Hunter

4th 0.80-0.85m Jumper

5th USHJA 2'6 Hunter

6th 0.70-0.75m Jumper

6th Low Adult Equitation

6th USHJA 2'3" Hunter

Stepping it Up

Our first show of 2026 is a month away, and Cinder and mine's first clinic together is two weeks away, so we're officially stepping things up. The tentative plan is for Trainer M to take Cin in the 3' Green Hunters and she's been jumping her bigger once a week or so and hot damn if Cin isn't rising to the occasion. 

They make it look so easy

We've also been in flying change boot camp which seems to finally be paying off. She's at the point now where she 100% knows what we're asking, she's just lazy and doesn't want to. And she get pissy, mostly on the flat, when you try to set her up too much before asking for them. She's better about getting them while coursing, and Trainer M even put us on a flying change ban on the flat for now, as to not anger the beast too much. 

I'm hoping to do the 2'6" with her at the show, but my main goal is go and have fun. We're heading south to Thermal for a week, and Indio/Thermal has been a dream show of mine for about *cough* 25 years so I know nerves and the intimidation factor will play a roll. I do think we have a better plan for Cinder's nerves (vet recommended big dose of ulcergard and some perfect prep the first few days) so hopefully her being more chill will help me be more chill. 

The countdown is on and final prep is being done and I can't wait! 

 

Peebs' Takes a Turn

 Despite the two atmospheric rivers the PNW got in December, it's been a dry year for us. We had about a 10 day streak at the end of January where it was dry and sunny, but cold at night. Temps in the low 20s overnight but warming up to the 40s during the day. Peebs, who has turned slightly feral in retirement and prefers to be outside as much as possible, was left out in the bigger paddock with the run in shed during this time.

I pulled into the barn one Friday night to feed dinner and could see him walking around in his paddock. He took a few off steps, then was fine, then took another funky step. I pulled him out and he was reluctant to walk across the gravel and into the barn. Definitely lame on his right front. I was thinking abscess so I wrapped him up and left him inside. He was slightly better Saturday, slightly worse Sunday, and by Monday was lame on both fronts. So I called the vet. 

On Wednesdays Tuesdays we wear pink

I kept wrapping both fronts as if he had abscess, and while he was more comfortable moving around with the wraps on, I didn't really think we were dealing with abscess. He's very stoic, and has had abscess before without showing any symptoms. He was also lamer during this time than he's ever been in the 10yrs that I've owned him. I did briefly think he might have been foundering. 

Thankfully all he has is some bruising on both front feet more than likely due to the hard freezes we had and his feet being a bit soft from the atmospheric river last month. He got a set of shoes and pads put on (he was very offended when the farrier started nailing shoes on after being barefoot for 4yrs) the day after our vet visit and walked away perfectly sound. Both my vet and farrier think he'll only need the shoes and pad for a cycle, maybe two and will be back to barefoot after that. 

AAAAAHHHHH

 I think most of us can agree that the end of 2025 and the beginning of 2026 can best be described as The Horrors. I've felt like that last month has gone by in both a blink of an eye and that its lasted an entire year. Living in the US sucks, work sucks, the professional organization I'm on the board of directors of sucks, and my dad had major surgery so I've been helping my mom take care of him (thankfully he's doing great and recovery hasn't been as bad as we were expecting). But thank god and *knocks on wood* the ponies have been wonderful. 

We did start 2026 by lunging just to cover our asses

Cinder's massive abscess thankfully blew two days after it made itself known. It did take about 10 days to fully drain, but she felt better pretty much immediately. She did get cleared to slowly get back to work while it was still draining, mainly because she was bit of monster in her stall and for her hand walks. The abscess blew during the two atmospheric rivers we got in the PNW so for part of her stall rest no horses got turned out and then it was too muddy to turn her out with a still draining hole in her foot, even with a wrap and a boot. She was only a monster for about a week, and most of her energy was handled with a pre-ride lunge and the pelham. 

Peebs and I celebrated 10 years together this week

Since she's been fully back to work, and regular turnout, Cinder's been great. The contrast between last winter and this is amazing. Last winter she got lunged before every ride and even then she felt explosive. This year, minus the week or so after her abscess, I don't need to lunge and we've been riding mostly in the d-ring mullen mouth. And I even jumped for the first time in six weeks in the d-ring. I think she had had ulcers for much longer than we thought and treating them has really, really helped. She just feels so much more settled mentally and physically. 

A little pre-lesson marinade in her BOT quarter sheet

Trainer M has sent out the proposed show schedule for the year and we have our yearly show team goals meeting next weekend to start planning out our season, which may or may not involve escaping to the desert in two months. What better way to survive The Horrors and the winter weather than to plan a trip south? 

The Biggest Drama Queen to Ever Drama Queen

 I do have a fair bit of catching up to do on the blog, including both Trainer M and I falling off of Cinder 8 days apart from each other, but let's jump to the new and fun traumatizing way Cinder decided to spend a Saturday. 

I have a 10am lesson on Saturdays. Cinder is usually finishing up eating breakfast when I get to the barn, so I tend to groom her in her stall. I had taken her blanket off and noticed she was a bit warm, but it had been warmer overnight than was expected and she was in a medium so I figured she was just a bit hot from being over-blanketed. As I was grooming I noticed her right front was a bit swollen, on the outside of fetlock. I took her out to the crossties for better lighting and yep, a nice swollen leg and she was 1/5 lame at the walk. Her hoof was a bit warm, and she had some lovely protruding veins popping on that leg. I took her temp just because and she was at 102.3.

Hard to see, but the back of the fetlock and a little bit up the cannon bone towards the back of the leg

Assistant Trainer I and Trainer M arrived right after and we started discussing. AT had ridden her the day before and said she was fantastic. Horses hadn't been turned out that day due to sideways rain and wind, and when M left around 7:30 Friday night, Cinder had been fine. We were all pretty much in agreement that we were dealing with an abscess so we soaked and put a poultice pad on and wrapped the hoof. Cinder went back into her stall and I hung out watching lessons for a few hours. 

a few hours later

When I was getting ready to leave, I went back to check on Cin and put her blanket back on. She was standing in the middle of her stall, shaking and her leg had absolutely blown up. I took her temp again and it had gone up to 103.9. AT was standing a few feet away and I called her over and we both agreed this had turned into call the vet territory. Vet advised to cold hose her hind legs to try and get her temp down, and that she would be on her way to us. Cinder was now 4/5 lame, but was happy to weight the leg, just not lift it up. In fact while we were cold hosing her, she would lift a hind leg to show her displeasure with us. 

Her leg looked so weird

AT noticed that Cinder had swelling on the inside of her upper leg while we were waiting for Doc to get to the barn. It was so weird. We had started thinking cellulitis, but her swelling was patchy, not the typical stovepipe leg that's common with cellulitis.

Doc finally arrived and after a quick vitals check, temp now 104.2, gave banamine and watched Cin walk from the wash rack to the crossties. She had been at the barn and watched Cinder go on Friday and kept commenting that Cin looked great not even 24hr previous. Blood was pulled for a stall side analysis, and she had us start shaving the whole leg to see if we could see any cut/scrape/puncture and in prep for ultrasound. We found nothing in terms of a wound, so Doc started ultrasounding the upper leg. All we found was swelling outside the muscle, but no tears or abscess there. We moved onto x-rays, both of her upper leg and cannon bone. Nothing remarkable. Doc even said those joints looked great. We finally put hoof testers on and got a big reaction to those. 

Probably overkill but I don't care at this point

The bloodwork showed that Cin's inflammation markers were extremely elevated, normal is below 50 and she was 671. I don't remember what other values were off, but basically it said she was also extremely stressed. Me too Cinder, me too. Doc theorized that Cinder was probably laying down overnight, started hurting from the abscess, and then was having difficulty standing up and kicked herself in the upper leg. Then the pain from the abscess and kick sent her into something similar to a panic attack and caused her temp to spike. Since an abscess is an infection, that could cause a small fever but not to the extent that Cinder had. There's still a small possibility that she has a stress fracture that won't show on x-ray for a week, but Doc doesn't think that's very likely. Basically my drama queen of a mare had a panic attack and made it everyone's problem. 

By the time we were done and the sedation had worn off, Cin's temp was back down to 100, she was back to 1/5 lame at the walk, and was very hungry for dinner. Doc put the above bandage on and gave her a shot of Excede to try and prevent cellulitis. Cin will get another Excede shot Wednesday and Doc will take off the bandage and recheck the leg. She did say this was the most she's ever done for an abscess but this wasn't presenting as a normal abscess; this was presenting as nothing she's ever seen before. Leave it to Cinder to be that special.