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Reno

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Reno is a 5 year old Percheron gelding. Trained and worked in harness regularly, Reno came in from the pasture lame one day. No one really knows what happened. Just a blown up hock and a lame horse. For several weeks he would improve then appear to reinjure himself in a frustrating downward spiral.
I decided to accept him as a rehab project in January when his owner, frustrated, was looking an option that did not involve euthanasia. Reno was apparently a very nice horse, one who could be handled and ridden by children, despite his size…18 hands.
Above is a photo of Reno from behind on the first day. No he is not walking…he is standing. Note the contracture and atrophy on the injured left side. He virtually stood like this nearly 100 % of the time, with the left hind in the air.

I put Reno in a smallish paddock with my mini fosters. He was great with the little guys and there was no drive for him to overexert himself. It was a level area and a good place for him to move around but not enough to aggravate his injury. The first few weeks he was laying down alot. He learned how to lay on the bad side as well as the good side and get up equally well (very sensible horse). His attitude has always been inquisitive and engaged…..he seemed happy….despite his injury.
A month later he was getting worse, limping pathetically with every step. I was starting to wonder if we could save him, despite my attempts at conservative management with nutritional supplements, minerals and rest. I had my vet out, who did more xrays, ultrasound and needle aspirates. Nothing was definative. I still had a suspicion that there was an infection in the joint. I mean it was huge and hot most of the time. So I talked my vet into IM antibiotics. We devised a plan for penicillin and gentamicin, both given twice daily. These were huge shots…one was nearly 20 ccs, ouch! Reno, at first apprehensive, soon accepted these shots without being restrained. I think he understood that they were necessary. I told him that every day.
Two weeks of these antibiotics were worth the pain and aggravation. He was walking without a limp. My vet was impressed and I was relieved. He was turning the corner at last.
Last weekend, as I was cleaning up the paddock, it occured to me that Reno looked bored. Since he was moving so well, I decided to let him over to the main track with my main herd for a visit. They had known him from over the fence, for 2 months now, so I knew it would be no big deal. Well, he froliced…quite literally….playing with my belgian youngster. I was amazed to watch him trot, canter and gallop soundly. He even did a sliding stop that made my heart skip a beat…worried that he might re-injure himself. But he handled the exercise very well and seemed quite happy to have the social interaction.
I have been watching him carefully for signs of a relapse, but he is tolerating more and more activity everyday. I think we have turned the corner and he is now ready to rehabilitate. He will need to rebuild lost muscle and reconnect his poor back which is twisted from his abnormal body habitus for all these months. But I am now very optimistic, He may not regain the ability to do heavy work, but I think he will be able to perform at a lower level with appropriate rehabilitation. Above, a photo from 2 days ago. Note the improvement in muscle on the left as well as the normal weight bearing. This is stuff that makes me smile!

Spirit’s hoof rehab

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Spirit is a mini that I rescued in December. Since I have such an interest in feet, I thought it would be cool to record the changes in his hoof quality with regular trimming. On his arrival, it was clear that Spirit’s feet had recieved little attention in the previous few months. He had bad thrush infections in all four feet..tiny necrotic frogs and alot of false sole in reaction to the frog weakness. Below you will see his left hind…pre-trim, then post first trim (you will see the false sole and lack of concavity)…then post third trim (where you will see normal concavity and a healthy frog)…a thing of beauty! This foot was in the best shape (and the photos were the best) so it is presented here. But the remining 3 feet are coming along as well. As the frog health improves, so does the rest of the foot. I’ve used Eclipse wound cleanser with each trim. We’ve had cold hard conditions here in New England which has helped the cause tremendously as well. I really like Cleantrax for thrush infections but in the winter it is difficult to impossible to apply successfully.



Comments welcome…I’m pretty happy with his progress!

Insights from a Manure Slinger…

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Some of my friends suspect I am alittle obsessive-complusive about manure. Whats true is that I enjoy manure management….and I find I occasionally have my best epiphanies while mucking stalls and the like.

This, occured to me this morning while chipping piles from the snow….6am…..21 below zero….

“When approaching a problem, sometimes going at it at a slightly different angle is all you need to find the solution”

Meet ‘Holiday Spirit’…

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In early december, I became aware of a miniature stallion at risk at the New Holland Auction in PA. Though at the time I thought surely someone would adopt him… it turns out he was out of time. I had to step up. As fortune would have it, I instantly had a crew willing to drive (9 hours each way) down to get him, as I was out of town for a meeting. I returned home in time to get a stall with a run-out ready for the little guy. He arrived the evening of Dec 15th…my mom’s birthday!

What a joy he is! Cute as a button and a very sweet temperment…

The first challenge was keeping him adequately quarantined from my other horses as there was some question about a strangles exposure. Its been over two weeks now…so far, so good.

My Vet came out to see him shortly after he arrived to check him over. She thought he was likely around 15 years old and in reasonably good condition. He has something going on with his skin…he is extremely itchy and is losing lots of hair. She thinks it might be a recent lice infestation, though we did not find any nits. We made a plan for the next month or so for vaccines and gelding, before he can join the main herd safely. He is tolerating solitary confinement very well.

His feet were not in good condition…thrush and necrotic frogs in all but one foot, lots and lots of false sole and long walls. Poor thing was walking on snowballs! I trimmed him cautiously as I am somewhat concerned about a history laminitis given his age and breed. But even the modest trim he got made a big difference in how he moved. I will keep at it with trims every two weeks and agressive thrush treatment. Of course I am photodocumenting his progress and will post them in a separate entry.

My dear friend and animal communicator, Sheila Ryan, was up last weekend and checked him over for me. Seems like he was a well cared for and loved pet for many years, was ridden by a child and has some show experience. He told her he was separated from his family by a large storm (Katrina???). Physically he was in good shape except for the itchy skin and some back discomfort related to his unbalanced feet. During his session with Sheila, he kept staring at my mini cart which was at the end of the hall, so I got out an old harness and hooked him up…yes, just like that…and off he went. You should have seen the look of joy in his eyes as he trotted down the road with us. We kept his first drive very short (less than 10 minutes) as I was concerned about his fitness level, but boy, was he a cool little driving horse!
So we’re off on another adventure. Will post details as they develope. This little guy will be up for adoption in the spring, once his rehab is complete.
Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays 2008!

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Happy Holidays, Everyone!

2008 has been a very exciting year…with both highs and lows! We’ve added to the farm in many ways and have cut back in other ways!

During the winter, I finally got the family on board for some horsey activities, namely skijoring! Bear, Marina and Evan (supported wholeheartedly by freezing mom, Michelle and Vera on the side lines) competed behind Manny and me in two divisions. Bear and I took second at the Newport Winter Carnival…a product of smart strategy and great skiing! Videos are on my blog (see below). 2008 was the best winter in memory for me, full of snow! We had over 100 inches last winter…truly beautiful!

In the spring, we had a blessed lack of mud, thanks to the heavy snow and thin frost underneath. We started our spring renovations…a farmer’s porch for the horses on the barn and a composting shed….a place to make manure a renewable resource! With rising diesel prices, I parked the big truck and limited my distant horsey activities to a minimum. I am totally grateful to Dad for the gift of a small farm truck last summer. I have enjoyed that truck and its gas savings immensely during these rough gas price times.

I spent the summer riding in my new arena and upgrading the farm. We added 2 Nigerian Pygmy goats…Alice and Betty…who have been immensely helpful in managing brush on our property. They love bushes and small trees. I built a chicken coop and populated it with birds over the summer. By the fall we had full production and a half dozen eggs a day. Yummy. We sell 2-4 dozen eggs a week, which pays for not only the organic chicken feed, but subsidizes the goat’s grain as well! I finally feel like I am a real farmer…

Brad and Kris hosted their annual ‘Mud Fest’ over Memorial Day weekend. It was the first time all the Judkins and Provencher cousins were in one place in many, many years. There was a lot of laughter and storytelling around the campfires that weekend.

Over the summer, I became affiliated with a grass roots organization promoting ‘draft animal power’, attended (and volunteered) at their ‘animal powered field days’ and learned tons about what can really be done with a big horse and not much else. Talk about ‘fuel efficient’!
This fall, I finally got Peanut into work. He spent 3 weeks at a trainer (Ted Russell) to get him started driving. Since he has been home we have been driving all over the place. We even learned to skid wood! I have big plans to use Peanut to move manure and drag the arena as well as other of the more mundane farm chores I have. We’ve got Miss Molly (miniature horse) pulling a cart as well.

We had Bear, Michelle and the kids, as well as Brad and Kristen over for Thanksgiving. Everyone made something…the kitchen was bustling! The kids enjoyed the barnyard and took turns driving Miss Molly around in her cart. The adults enjoyed a relaxing weekend catching up and taking it easy.

After the Holiday, I lost my beloved Dog, Dax. She died quietly at home after a yearlong battle with congestive heart failure (full story below). I was sad to lose her, but grateful that she went without pain, suffering or a trip to the hospital. With the addition of Maxwell Smart over the summer, life goes on…here at Resting Heart Farm!

Wishing you and yours a blessed holiday season, full to love and gratitude! Merry Christmas!
Jennifer, Laila, Manny, Canon, Peanut, Doc, Magic, Miss Molly, Max, Newt, Lucy, Banjo, Lilly, Alice, Betty and the girls (in the coop)!

PS. Click on image to enlarge…

The Passing of a Great Dog…

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Dax was an Australian Cattle Dog I rescued in Colorado, more years ago than I can remember. Meant to be my husbands companion, she became mine when he left us. We’ve had a pretty remarkable relationship ever since.

She was a sensitive type of dog, right from the beginning. I learned quickly, that you didn’t need to yell at Dax to make your point. She knew every word of english I do, I swear. All you had to do was frown abit and she would know you were unhappy with her and she would hang her head in shame.

Loyal to a fault, she never needed a leash or collar. She could be trusted to stay in the yard, even when unattended for hours. I had as much control over her at liberty as anyone had with their dogs on a lead. She was the best dog I ever knew

The vets have been telling me to expect the worst for the past 7 years on and off. First was the diagnosis of a ‘fatal’ congenital heart defect when she was 8 years old. The cardiologist had never seen an adult dog with the condition and was amazed when I told her she spent her days chasing horses about. He fully expected her to drop dead one day without surgery. I told him that if she dropped dead doing something she loved so much…so be it.

Dax loved to chase my gelding, Manny. It was a sport I never could get control of and since she was such a perfect dog in every other way, I tried hard to let it go. But the sport has had its risks. She’s been knocked senseless twice…both times I thought she was dead. She has broken her cheekbone, her jaw,and several ribs (flail chest..the vets thought I would definately lose her over that one) and lost several teeth. I stitched her up several times at the barn without any anesthetic…she just stood still, letting me tend to her wounds, before turning right back around and going back to work.

A year ago (a full 6 years after the deadly heart diagnosis) she did start to show signs of congestive heart failure. The vets stabilized her with medication, but were very pessimistic, saying Dax would likely die in the next few weeks, as they have never seen a dog survive this disorder.

A month went by, then 2 and she resumed her job of chasing my gelding, as well as frolicing with our 5 other dogs. I tapered her off her meds and started her on CoQ10 and hawthorn berry, which she has been stable on for the past 10 months. The only thing slowing her down was some arthritis in her lower back.

We had 9 dogs at the house this weekend with my family visiting. Dax did all the things a pack of dogs do together. After everyone left yesterday, she ate her dinner, napped on the couch, then laid at my feet while I checked my email, which was her habit. I looked down at her once and she was gently playing with our 3 lb yorkie puppy…teasing her with a toy. I smiled. Then her breathing became erratic briefly, the light left her eyes and she was gone…in an instant.

As much as I will miss her presence in my life, I am grateful that she went quietly and quickly, without pain or a trip to the hospital. She lived a life we could all learn from. A love of play, an intense drive to keep moving, and totally irrepressible spirit of love and loyalty.

This dog taught me to never buy into anyone else’s paradigm of negativity. It was by watching her out survive the vets’ prognosis over and over again that has given me the confidence and freedom to say ‘no’ to traditonal intervention when that felt like the right road to take. I have no regrets as her caregiver. She led a very full and happy life to the moment she passed. There is alot for me to be grateful for on this Thanksgiving weekend indeed.

Peace.

Educating Peanut. Part One

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Educating Peanut, Part One…

In June of 2006, I glanced into a neighbors pasture as I drove home. I was surprised to see a Belgian foal on the ground and stopped to investigate. As it happens, he was 10 minutes old and I watched as he stood and took his first steps…it was love at first sight. I had no experience at all with draft breeds but this did not deter me from inquiring about him and after a brief conversation with my dairy farmer neighbor, a deal was struck. Having spent the past 10 years studying natural horsemanship pretty intensively, I felt pretty confident about his early handling. Turns out, everything about him was easy. Weaning was a simple matter. Halter training and leading went uneventfully. He learned to stand quietly for me to trim his feet with very minimal fuss. As a yearling I brought him to Mark Rashid while he was visiting New Hampshire and he got us started with lunging and ground driving. Peanut was indeed an easy-going horse…sensitive and sensible…all was going well.

As a two year old, Peanut was acquiring some size and although he continued to be easy to work around, I became increasingly aware that we were making less progress toward our goal of driving. I always planned to train Peanut to do some work around my small farm and though I thought that goal could be easy to attain, in reality I did not possess the experience to put together the steps to get from where we were to where I wanted to go. I was stalling….and he was getting bored. One day, he simply left. I like to tell people he was scared and jumped the fence in fear, but the truth is, he left because I had nothing of substance to offer him. Like when you go to a dinner party and there isn’t anyone interesting to talk to…you make an excuse and leave early. I know enough about horses to not take this sort of thing personally. It’s just feedback after all.
I first met Ted Russell at the Beginners Driving Clinic last spring and after talking with him more at NEAPFD this fall, I decided to call him for help. It was hard for me, being somewhat of an alpha mare, to turn over training to someone else. But Ted’s style is very horse-like and that made it easy for me. He has a quiet, but confident manner that I think represents the non-dominant leadership that Mark Rashid describes in his books. His equine students outrank him in size by many categories, so intimidation is not an option. That first impression of Ted would hold true during the time Peanut spent as his student. Ted is the sort to go with the horse a long ways before exerting any pressure on the horse to commit to his idea. This kind of composure is not common in my experience and comes from many years of experience with all kinds of tricky situations. Ted doesn’t get mired down in minutia, like I could. He focuses on what is working and not on what isn’t. It’s that kind of focus that creates progress.
I tried as much as possible to make time to come out and sit in on Peanut’s education. The first week, Ted had him hitched with his extremely valuable Belgian, Clayton, and let Clayton educate Peanut about how things work in harness. By the time I came out at the end of a

week, Peanut was mostly pulling his own weight and pulling a harrow and manure spreader with Clayton.

The second week, Ted had Peanut working alone. They did long trail drives, pulled the manure spreader and re-enforced the verbal cues he learned while working next to Clayton. I was amazed to be actually driving him after just two weeks of training, through the woods, up and down hills and through water. I certainly made more mistakes than Peanut did that week.

The third and final week, Ted skid wood with Peanut. I had expressed a desire to have Peanut pull me around on skis this winter (skijoring) and Ted thought skidding wood would be a good primer for this activity. Apparently, it took several hours in the pouring rain the first day before Ted was satisfied with Peanut’s performance. Seems like that worked well, as Peanut had the job down pat the next day.
I went up for the weekend at the end of that week…to spend some time with Ted in lessons and to bring Peanut home. Ted and Josie graciously opened their home to me and my pooch, Newt for the weekend. Ted made the best corn chowder I’ve had in years! Who knew he could cook?!
On Saturday, I drove Peanut solo, even gave a visitor a ride around the meadow. Ted made it pretty clear that his faith was in Peanut, not necessarily me. Later we went on a long drive through the woods, some of it pretty rough, through water, across a busy road and into the countryside as Ted showed me the sights. Peanut was perfect! It was like he had done this his whole life! Ted made sure I was using cues appropriately and gave me lots of feedback.
On Sunday, Ted taught me to skid wood. Now THAT is a fun adventure! After watching Ted skid some, he handed me the reins and supervised me…at first very close at hand. Before I knew it he was just taking pictures. Peanut appears to enjoy this work. At one point, the tree we were skidding hit a big rock and Peanut stalled. Before I could redirect him, he put his shoulder into it and pulled the wood free and on we went…amazing! I think skidding wood was the perfect exercise to put to work all the skills Peanut had acquired over three weeks with Ted. He had to stand for periods while I fumbled with the chains and the tree, then move around in tight quarters, adjust position as needed to get the wood clear, stop periodically for me to switch sides on the log, adjust speed so I could keep up. Myself, I had to adjust my focus to not just my horse, but to the trees and the skid…go wide at the corners, plan ahead for path way ahead…quite a change from riding. When we were done, I felt like we had really done something…it felt very good.

Now I have Peanut back at home….which also feels very good. I know have to continue the work Ted started and I at least now have a vision of what the work should feel like (maybe later look like) and that has made Peanuts time with Ted more than worth the money spent. The best part is that I have a mentor I can call when I get stuck….I think this is key for the novice teamster. What Ted gave me was the broader picture, the landscape in which I will work with Peanut. I have confidence now that we can proceed together toward the goals I had set previously.
In closing, I would encourage anyone struggling to progress or who might be feeling stuck with their team or horse….find some help with a teamster like Ted Russell…it is money and time very well spent.
Stay Tuned…

Peanut and Bear

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Peanut’s 3rd ride was with a total newbie….my brother Bear….who had never ridden a horse. I had spied Bear making some advances toward Peanut on the sly that looked like a ‘connection’…so I taught him to halter and saddle, then mount (though that went less than perfectly, but oh well…more for Peanut to get used to and prepared for). Peanut will be a perfect mount for Bear in regard to his size and even at this young age, Peanut does not look too small to carry a big guy like Bear. I then led him on a 10 minute ride, lead line style and gave him the basics of being centered. Good first lesson for Bear and Peanut did great in his 3rd saddling. Video links below..

Tip #1 for combating mud season

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I just despise ‘mud season’ and boy are we in for one heck of a season this year with over 120 inches of snow this winter! So every victory won against that boot sucking mess is a thrill to me! Here is my first tip….

I hate to put my shavings in with the manure…it slows the composting process and feels like a waste. So now I sift out the manure for the compost pile and dump the soiled shavings outside in the muddiest areas. This turns out to be a brilliant idea! Instead of a mud patch outside the barn I have a soft spongy area that the horses have turned into a nap area (its also warm and easy to keep clean)…so here’s to mulch in stead of mud!