Category: Uncategorized

First and foremost – Percy is doing really well. The laxity in his legs has rapidly improved, he’s graduated to a slightly larger turnout space, and he continues to be perky and happy and is eating well.

He’s really started to figure out those limbs now and what was a very spidery canter is quickly turning into a pretty good little gallop. He definitely is still a little on the smaller side and needs to gain some weight, but there’s already marked improvement in his muscle tone even just since last weekend. He should continue to look a bit better (or more like a “normal” foal, really) week over week. He certainly doesn’t seem to know that he’s had any struggles though, judging by his spunk!

It’ll be a while before Percy gets to join the other kiddos in the big pasture, but they did have a new addition to their crew – Teddy joined the party! As usual, Pippa was the first one interested in the new arrival, and the first one to try to approach to say hello. Stormie was not very interested in that.

When attempting to approach by herself didn’t work, Pippa roped her mother into her scheme, maybe thinking that Stormie would be more accepting of a familiar mare.

Stormie, however, still wasn’t particularly interested in that. According to her she clearly has the best baby of the bunch and all the other mares are probably just trying to steal her. And why is Stormie so sure she has the best baby? Because Teddy is a total little Mini-Me. Stormie 2.0 but in Stormie’s original color.

They both have that “yeah we know we’re the best” attitude that ponies so often seem to possess, plus they’re mares, and now there’s TWO of them. Lord help the farm. Luckily Teddy is very snuggly and sweet to people, just like her dam, but they both feel like they’re the Queen Bees of the pasture. Teddy did eventually settle in and play with Pippa (after the camera left of course) so clearly she will deign to mix with the commoners when it suits her.

Pippa is pretty good at entertaining herself though, with her constant zoomies. I swear I could do an entire Foal Friday post every single week with just pictures of Pippa galloping. She’s gotta be fit enough to run around Kentucky by now.

Meanwhile the boys are… well… boys.

Dear sweet Patticakes, even when he’s in Bitey play mode, still isn’t that rough or mean. Mostly it’s just a lot of excitement which turns into bouncing which morphs into biting. Because colt. That’s what they do. Obi is a little bit of a terror so don’t feel sorry for him, he deserves anything Patrick dishes out. Exhibit A:

He spends a lot of time with his legs somewhere on or near Chanel’s head. Which is kind of her own fault, because she hasn’t put a stop to it. The kiddo is rowdy. He’d be like the kid in the restaurant running around to other tables with one shoe on, talking to random strangers and climbing up on the seats and writing on the wall with his crayons.

I think Patrick is emerging as the popular kid of the pasture, able to get along with and play with anyone. He loves to antagonize his brother, of course, but he’s still Pippa’s playmate of choice too.

It’s a hard job being everybody’s friend, but somebody’s got to do it.

As Teddy settles in more we’ll see how the dynamic changes. I’m convinced that her mother is her favorite (and vice versa) but she’ll definitely start playing and interacting more with the other babies. It’ll be interesting to see what she really thinks of Obi. I have a feeling she won’t tolerate any of that nonsense. There’s definitely a pasture full of cuteness out there now though!

You know when your phone rings early in the morning, especially on a weekend, and it’s the person who takes care of your horse? If you’re anything like me your reaction is “ah, fuck” and in the millisecond it takes to hit the button to take the call, you’ve already run through any and all possible scenarios including but not limited to: colic, broken leg, and struck by lightning.

And while this particular scenario wasn’t any of those things (thank every diety, knock on wood, pick a four leaf clover, stuff a few crystals up your butt, whatever it takes…) this past Sunday Presto did have a fever. While he’d been totally normal the day before, that morning he was picking at his food and seemed uncharacteristically lethargic (any and all brands of lethargy are uncharacteristic for that one), so Megan took his temp. 104.7. Yeesh. She was calling me to tell me what was up and that she wanted to take him to the emergency vet down the road, which of course I agreed. Those symptoms immediately make you think viral and ain’t none of us messing around with that given recent happenings.

They got to the vet, did bloodwork, checked him over, etc. All of his bloodwork looked great, and he had no other symptoms whatsoever aside from the fever and lethargy. He got some Banamine and got monitored for a while. Soon the fever broke and he was back to eating at least, even if a bit more subdued than usual. He didn’t have anything terrible so he got to go back home, with instructions to give him more Banamine if the fever came back and monitor him for any other symptoms. When Presto doesn’t feel good he gets particularly mopey and cuddly (the only time in this horse’s life where he’s ever remotely cuddly) and honestly I’m starting to think he likes Megan better than me (which I am supremely offended by considering how much effort it’s taken me to keep him alive to this point) so of course he wants to cuddle her when he doesn’t feel good. Traitor.

The next day he did get a little bit of a fever again, so he got more Banamine. He’s gradually gotten better though and he’s continued to eat, and he seems to be out of the woods now (thank every diety, knock on wood, pick a four leaf clover, stuff a few crystals up your butt, whatever it takes…).

And because Megan is the best and Presto has a way of working his goofiness under your skin, she went to the store and got him some Oatmeal Creme Pies as a special “feel better soon” snack while he was sick. Coincidence that they actually worked? I think not. OCP’s are magical. Facts. An OCP a day keeps the doctor away, or something like that. Pretty sure that’s how the saying goes.

Of course she’s been offering OCP’s to all of her horses too, because as soon as one of them sees a treat being dispensed you have to give a treat to all of them (horse rules, I didn’t make it up) and now they’re all addicted. Yet another new OCP Club inductee. I think Little Debbie at least owes me some swag by now, considering how many OCP sales my horses have generated.

Hopefully Presto is past this little bug and can get back into the swing of things! The struggles of being a baby horse…

And this is why you get the athletic, flexible pro rider to take the baby horse around his first BN.

I have no idea how the HELL she even stuck that. It was a hell of a spook. She’s completely defying gravity.

I’ve watched it approximately 250 times and still cannot stop laughing.

I used to do these little “what I learned” posts after every horse trial, but uh… I haven’t done a horse trial in almost 2 years so… yeah those posts tapered off. And while I still technically still didn’t do one myself, I was just there to watch my horse go, I still came away feeling like I learned a few things.

First and foremost, I need myself a damn Cricket. Hillary got this mini golf cart that is FREAKING ADORABLE, fits in a spot in the horse trailer, and is a total lifesaver at weekend shows like that one where everything is approximately 45 miles apart. I am legit obsessed with it and now I need one in either black or blue so that I can then put rainbow glitter over top and have the most badass lil golf cart known to mankind. Plus there was one particular incident where Hillary and I were going down the big hill between the RV parking and the stabling and the brakes went out, and Hillary was yelling “I HAVE NO BRAKES” in terror while frantically pumping her foot on the pedal, and I’m over there laughing maniacally and having a grand time. There are two kinds of people in this world, y’all, and clearly I’m the kind that’s just a wee bit off. The best part was when she finally had to turn the key to stop it and the Cricket skidded dramatically to a halt like some kind of Tokyo Drift shit in miniature. Anyway, 10/10 would recommend. I may or may not have told the SO about the Cricket for so long that I’m pretty sure he’s at least mostly convinced that we need one, even if it’s just to get me to shut the hell up. Hey, annoying the shit out of someone until they give in is totally a valid strategy to get what you want.

Speaking of Hillary, I also learned that there are few things more fun than watching friends figure out new horse. She’s got such a nice little horse in Lex, but boy is he very different from everything she’s ever had before. He’s quite an adjustment and there’s a big learning curve, but she’s been working hard at it, and it all really came together beautifully for her that weekend. It was so freaking fun to watch things click into place. She was riding better than I’ve ever seen, and on a horse that really has the potential to do everything she could possibly want. I am excited for her. Plus like, all I do is give Lex cookies and tell him how cute he is without demanding anything in return so he likes me more now. I have stolen the hony. Mine.

I also have to be honest, despite being away from the eventing horse show scene for almost 2 years, over that time I’ve struggled to feel like I really missed it. I think partly it was burnout… I have this tendency to go balls to the wall about things and burn myself out eventually, it’s a pattern I’ve repeated over and over throughout my life yet still can’t seem to break the cycle. But also it was partly because for so long we were working on getting Henry up the levels, always moving the bar higher, seeing what we could do, finding something else to reach for, etc etc. And then we found the upper limit of what was possible for him, and I ended up feeling a little aimless at that point. Honestly though, I really needed a break. I was mentally a bit tired and a bit over it. And then covid happened and gave me a really good excuse to take some time away and just enjoy horses again without any stipulations or expectations. Still though… as shows started happening again I just wasn’t feeling the FOMO the way I expected. And then I went to Texas Rose and over the course of the weekend I remembered why I really do love the sport, and the people, and why it’s worth the effort. I finally feel some of the fire returning, and I’m actually looking forward to getting back out there again now, whenever that may work out for me.

Another thing that really stuck out to me, and I’ve said this before on this blog I think, is how much I deeply enjoy being an owner. Like, no joke, I got just as much enjoyment out of watching Megan ride my horse than I would have if I’d been riding him myself (and uh, sometimes more, when he decided to be extra green – you’ll see tomorrow). Watching good riders ride your horse is freakin fun. Especially one you bred and are really invested in. If I had the kind of money it takes, I wouldn’t even hesitate for one second to get or breed a nice horse for a good pro just so I could go to shows and watch them ride it. New life goal for when I hit the lotto (note to self: start playing the lotto).

And last but not least, this was the first “public” thing I’ve done in over a year that didn’t require or really even necessitate masks. It was all outdoors and the showgrounds are huge, thus it was very easy to maintain plenty of distance from anyone who wasn’t in your friend group (yay for us already being vaccinated!) so we didn’t have to wear one. It was friggin weird that first day, y’all. WEIRD. It’s amazing how fast we acclimate to things, because I kept reaching for my mask or looking at someone’s naked face like AAAHHHH WHY CAN I SEE SO MUCH OF YOU (I definitely feel this way when I see people in the grocery store with no mask – thankfully they’re few and far between). But I have to admit, it was also really nice. The whole weekend almost felt like normal life again, as if 2020 had never really happened. I know I spent parts of last year wondering if life would ever feel normal again, and in a lot of ways it won’t (you definitely notice when someone from outside of your “pod” gets within 6′ of you and have that immediate instinct to move away), but getting a taste of it at the show definitely bolstered my spirits about the whole thing a little bit. I’m definitely still on the mask-wagon for anything indoors or crowded or where social distancing can’t be maintained, but it was nice to have a weekend outdoors without it while spending time doing something fun again. This is a long way from being over but I feel like there’s a light at the end of the tunnel at least. I’m glad that so many people (at least the ones that I know) are opting for the vaccine, and I hope that everyone who can have it is able to get it!

As promised last week, we’ve got a new WTW foal to introduce to you! This guy had a rough entrance into the world and had to spend his first few days at the clinic, but he’s home now and progressing really well, so I think we’re far enough along to share his ordeal.

This little dude was carried by Ginger, a surrogate mare, and the colt is by Utrillo out of Lissa. Being a loaner surrogate mare, Ginger was a bit of an unknown to us as far as what her normal pre-foaling patterns would be. She had milk for several days so she was being watched very closely, and then on Tuesday she was pacing, pacing, pacing up a storm. Clearly she was close and seemed a bit more distressed than what might be considered normal. Mid-afternoon she looked ready, her tail went up… and nothing. No water breaking. It seemed to be taking too long… something was off.

Michelle gloved up and stuck an arm in and felt a rough texture. This was the sign of an emergency. In a normal birth, the foal presents in a smooth whitish colored sac. But in about 1-2% of births the placenta separates prematurely and results in what’s called a red bag delivery. I’ll let the internet explain since they already wrote it up way better than I could:

Dr. Dorton explains that the premature separation of the placenta from the uterus creates a dire situation because it eliminates the foal’s source of oxygen. “Normally, the mare goes into labor, the placenta tears at the cervical star (where it opens into the birth canal), the amnion (the white sack that contains the foal) starts to protrude out of the mare, and the delivery proceeds normally,” Dr. Dorton says. “The foal comes out; then, in the next few minutes to few hours, the placenta releases from the uterus and is delivered.”

“In a red bag delivery, the placenta separates from the uterus quickly, before the foal is delivered. The first indication of labor is the red, velvet appearing placenta, the ‘red bag,’ which is presented first. This is a signal to the foaling personnel that the delivery is not proceeding as normal, and intervention is needed, since the foal is now without a source of oxygen supplied by the attachment of the placenta to the uterus.”

Basically once you know you have a red bag, you have to cut or rip the placenta and get that foal out ASAP. The longer it takes to get them out, the longer they’re without oxygen, and they can easily die or sustain neurological damage. Now, to add insult to injury, Percy wasn’t just a red bag, he was a red bag PLUS a dystocia – he was positioned upside down. The normal position for a foal in the birth canal is this:

Percy was positioned like this:

Typically upside down isn’t too terrible (not as bad as some other wrong presentations, anyway) and if you give the mare some time, usually she will get up and down a couple times or maybe roll a bit and succeed in repositioning the foal on her own. The problem with the whole “wait it out” thing, obviously, was the red bag. That meant he had to come out ASAP, they couldn’t afford to wait for Ginger to reposition him on her own. This is where it’s so important to have experienced foaling attendants that know what they’re doing… things can go really bad really quickly.

Step 1 was to cut open the placenta. That done, they were able to get Ginger up and walk her around for a second, which helped moved the foal just enough for them to start to manually turn him. It took two people, turning him and pulling at the same time Ginger was pushing, to get him out as fast as possible. If not for their quick thinking and quick actions, there’s no doubt Percy wouldn’t have survived.

The good news is that he was breathing on his own and hadn’t seemed to aspirate much fluid, so he was fairly stable all things considered. The bad news is that he was slightly dysmature (“undercooked”-looking if you will, for a newborn). No time was wasted in hooking up the trailer, loading Ginger up and carrying him in, and hauling them to the clinic. He was there within an hour and half of birth.

Luckily he was fairly active and had a good suck reflex right from the very start – he definitely wanted to nurse. Often if they’ve been compromised from oxygen deprivation they just seem dull and uninterested in nursing, which is obviously really bad. Their quick thinking and getting him out in time prevented that, thank goodness. But being dysmature meant his legs were a bit floppy and unstable, thus he had a hard time balancing on his own to nurse and needed to be bottle fed for the first day or so to make sure he got enough. The clinic also got some plasma into him ASAP, along with some meds and fluids and antibiotics (another potential complication for red bag foals is pneumonia if they aspirate too much fluid, luckily he seemed fine in that regard), and ran some bloodwork.

He responded very quickly to treatment. After a couple days he was steady enough on his feet to nurse on his own, no more bottle assistance required, and he quickly started showing the normal foal spunkiness. His bloodwork improved by the day, he continued getting meds, and within a few days the IV catheter was able to come out. Other than looking a little underdeveloped, you would never know that anything had ever gone awry.

It will probably take him a few weeks to catch up to what would be “normal” looking for a newborn, but other than that he’s doing well. His lax limbs are already starting to tighten up and straighten, and he’s put on some weight. He’s getting a little bit of “PT” and has to stay on a more restricted turnout schedule for while until his legs get a bit stronger. He’s plenty spunky though, and makes good use of the space he has. He’ll be segregated from the other foals for a little while until he’s filled out more, but knock on wood so far he appears to be no worse for wear. Heck of a birth story though, and probably took a few years off Michelle’s life! This is the really scary part about breeding that always freaks me out a bit. It’s terrifying when things go sideways.

It took a few days to come up with a name for him but there’s really nothing better for him in a P naming year than Perseverance WTW, aka Percy. At not even a week old this kiddo has already been through the ringer and overcome a lot of challenges. Hopefully he’ll always keep that same tenacity.