Back at Blogging, with some new faces!

Well, it's been quite a while since I've posted a blog update! I've had lots of changes in my life since my last post, so I'll consider this post an exercise in brevity.

The biggest change has been that as of July of this year my friend Kay and I have started our own farm business, renting the facility where we grew up riding. It's a dream come true! We have creative control over a facility that really has potential to be a great place! The property owner is involved just to the right degree, and we have been able to make tons of improvements and repairs even though we've only been at it two months. Our barns and fields are almost completely full, too, since word has gotten out that the we're running the facility. It's been a very inspiring and flattering experience to have so many people join us in our new adventure. Our new farm business is called Meadowlark Equestrian, and we've got a pretty decent website which includes our own farm news blog. We're also on facebook and instagram.

In addition to the new adventure in barn management, I've brought a couple of new faces in to my lesson/training program since the last time I posted.

The first is "Moth" or "Moth of Peace" as she is registered (seen on the left), and she is a retired standardbred racehorse. She is a TANK, with lots of bone and a huge stride. She is still green under saddle, and developing trust in the canter. She doesn't seem prone to racking, like many standardbred ex-racehorses, but she will occasionally get out of sync with herself in the canter and has a lot of anxiety surrounding it. We're working on it, though, and she is finally replacing some of that rippling fat with muscle! LOL. 

The second new addition is this big, handsome boy (who has some serious concern reflected in his eyes) who has come to stay with me on a 90 day trial, an possibly indefinitely.

This is Branson, a ~20 year old, 16+ hand Hanoverian gelding who has been having some soundness issues. I'm not sure I have his background story totally straight but I believe he has not been worked much in the past 3 years. A few months ago he came up very stiff and uneven in his gaits. His owner called the vet and the vet couldn't quite pinpoint the source of the pain. Branson (then called Andy) flexed off lame in his hind right pastern, but he doesn't appear to be uneven when he is bending and tracking left. He has had no heat or swelling, and the vet thought it was possible he had an OCD chip, but that it was more likely that he had injured himself in the field somehow. Earlier this year, poor Branson had also had Potomac Horse Fever so I imagine his body condition and muscling decreased considerably when he was going through that. 

I strongly suspect that his issue is more related to the fact that his pelvis is slightly rotated and he has very weak muscling at his stifles, since he was sick earlier this year. Branson is definitely a work in progress, but hopefully with some joint/weight supplements, chiropractic care and stifle exercises he'll be on the road to recovery and eventually have a career as one of our beloved school horses! 

Check back for updates!