Heavey horse? That's heavy, man

Now I should probably go back to an episode Sammy had that summer in the paddock.  I came out one day to hear him coughing and groaning, really breathing hard and just looking miserable.  I called the vet out and of course in the lapse of time, he had recovered.  It was determined that he probably had encountered some dusty hay and had a tiny heave-like episode.  Of course, by the time Dr. Frederickson got there, he was completely normal.  Of course he was!

So we got back from England, and he had been on the questionable roundbales for a couple of weeks.  He was now so bad that putting a saddle on and girthing it up caused him to drop his head to the floor and groan and cough.  It was heartbreaking. 

So I called my good buddy, the vet, out again.  She listened to his lungs and yes ma'am, he has heaves.  He had fluid in all four quadrants of his lungs.  The prescription, get him off the roundbales.  Great!  Going into winter and no roundbales.  What to do?

We put him on a course of Dex and Aeropulmin, a brochodilator syrup to knock out the inflammation.  He went back into a paddock.  And this time, rather than take a chance on bad hay again, we bought Chaffhaye, a haylage product in a bag.  We had to drive a few hours to pick the stuff up, but we bought a whole truckload.  We had to rent a trailer to bring it back on.  He went through a 50lb bag every 3 days.

It was one of the coldest winters we had seen in years and years.  I was used to Sammy being able to graze at will and stuff himself with hay as needed.  Having him on a strict diet, which I was totally controlling, he quickly began to lose weight, as seen in that second picture above.  During this time, the hubby was laid off and unable to find a job.  He went up to the barn every 3 days to weigh out and mix Chaffhaye and supplements in a bag to totally idiot-proof Sammy's feedings.  Even so, there were times he was missed.  By the end of May, he looked pretty rough.  We put him back out in the pasture, only have to pull him out again in July, since there was no rain and the grass wasn't growing.  They had to put out roundbales again.

Going into his second winter in a paddock with no shelter, and up to his fetlocks in mud in the spring, I knew we had to make a change.  Sammy was depressed alone in the paddock.  I wanted to find a plac where he could be a part of the herd year-round.

Time to move again.  After nine years at this barn, it wasn't easy to tell Barn Owner I was moving.  She took it hard, but I was relieved to find the new place and know it was totally willing to care for special needs horses.

And oh boy, is Sammy special needs, let me tell you!

The Lameness Chronicles--Part 2

So here we are, all the way up to Fall 2007.  Wow, getting caught up to the present now. 

Sammy was all better from the abscess.  Going just great.  Then, about October of 2007, I noticed it again.  At first, it was only because my posting felt off, just a slight "swing".  But the swing progressed to a faint head nod.  I talked to the farrier, I talked to the vet.  The concensus was that it was likely a pulled muscle.  I gave him a few months of just being in the pasture, no work really.  I would just pull him out and longe him to see if the head nod was still there.  Yup, still there.  So many people would tell me I was seeing things, it was so slight.  As he would work longer, though, it would become more evident.

Finally, in February, it became obvious that it wasn't going away.  We made an appointment to haul Sammy to Anoka Equine again, but this time, the Barn Owner didn't have a trailer we could borrow anymore.  We had to rent a two horse straight load, which was nice, new and roomy.  We spent all morning and all afternoon trying to load Sammy into that trailer, and it was a complete no-go.  He could stand with 2 feet in the trailer and still reach me at the front, so he didn't need to get in the trailer all the way.  He knew as soon as he got in, we were going to slam the door on him and go.  Finally, I was convinced it wasn't going to happen.  So I called Anoka Equine and cancelled the appointment.

The next course of action would be to find a vet who had a portable XRay and could bring the testing equipment out to Sammy, since I couldn't get Sammy to the equipment.  Enter then Dr. Voigt (now Dr. Fredrickson) with Sunrise Equine.  She was so patient with Sammy, putting up with all his weird quirks.  She nerve blocked him, and he went sound off the heel.  Great, it's in the hoof again.  She set up the XRays, fearing navicular, founder, or arthritis.  The XRays were clear.  Stumped, the only thing she could think it might be was a strained impar ligament, possibly from slipping in the October mud on the steep hill in his pasture.  The prescription was stall rest and lots of handwalking on the straight, no turning to the left to avoid torquing that left front. 

Of course, Sammy, being the ADD poster child, was not going to survive stall rest, so we had to build a paddock behind the barn for him.  It was about 24'x24', not quite enough room for him to get running around.  It only took a few days for him to settle.  We gave him a giant bucket for water and another for hay.  It looked like a potentially great weightloss plan as well, let's face it, Sammy was fat from all that pasture grass.


Here is fat Sammy.

So the paddock rest and weightloss program began in about March 2008.  Here he is in his paddock behind the horse trailers for a windblock.

And then began the loss of his topline.

And here we are handwalking, once he had been in the paddock a few months and the vet had ok'd the use of ground poles to try and improve the fading topline.

After about 5 months, he trotted sound on the longe.  I started him back under saddle in mid August.  He was obviously very weak at first.  Watching him shuffle along on the longe at first, his bones all looked like they were rattling together.  He was so out of condition.  My new lesson teacher was amazing though, and gave us lots of good, low key things to work on.

By October, he was sound and his strength was built up enough to turn him back out in the pasture.  So we turned him out and went to England for two weeks.  We came back to a terrible coughing and groaning horse. 

Enter the heaves!





The Lameness Chronicles, part 1

So here we are, things have improved. Horse is doing much better, less rebellion. Life is good. And then suddenly one day, Sammy is noticeably off at the trot. Uh-oh. No big. Wait it out, maybe he pulled something. Nope, still off and it's a month or so later. By now, I have been married a couple of years and Dear Hubby has a truck. I talk to New Barn Owner, who, after 6 years of being at her place has now had her name changed to just Barn Owner, happens to have a small, stock-style 3 horse bumper pull trailer. I ask her who she recommends for mysterious lameness, and she tells me Anoka Equine. So we borrow her trailer, stuff Sammy into it, not without some trepidation, and head off across town.

About an hour later, we pull in. Sammy, having whinnied at every single stop along the way, causing head turning everywhere we went, has worked himself into a lather. I also notice that he is a bit tall for the trailer, his ears are smooshed as he stands with his head at normal height. Oops.

We get him off the trailer without incident and the vet techs take over. They longe him (and he actually does it, yay for me and my training!!), agree with me that there is definite off-ness, so we head into the actual clinic barn. He stands very well for heel nerve blocks and the big garage door going down. Very impressed with him. Unfortunately, he trots sound with a heel block, so we know it's a hoof issue. Dang it! Arthritis? Navicular? Founder? Worse? Is there worse? My mind races as they set up the X-ray. I go into the tech room with the vet as he looks at the radiographs. Not any of the above. Horse has a toe that's a smidge too long. Take his toe back an inch or so, slap some front shoes on him for a few months to support the heel and he should be fine. Oh and find a new farrier, this one is leaving him too long.

Sammy, while sedated, positions himself directly over the grate in the middle of the floor and lets loose a really good pee. I have a good chuckle over that and head in to the office to pay the bill. Best news yet, it's just under $200. This is great! No long term issues and a cheap vet bill, hooray!

We get him home and all is well. He pulls off the first set of shoes in a day, the second set in a couple of days. We add bell boots and things go better. I find a new farrier who is great. Sammy is finally back to normal.

The winter passes, spring comes around again. Suddenly, we are out to the barn and Sammy is uber lame, like holding one front leg in the air lame. Not Good!! We throw him in a stall overnight, which he hates and I call the vet out the next day. Vet comes out with a less than stellar bedside manner, punches Sammy in the belly for "kicking" at him and then after several goes with the hoof testers, declares it an abscess and charges me somewhere in the neighborhood of $100. I am somewhat skeptical on the abscess thing, but he tells me if I leave Sammy in for the day and overnight and it gets worse, it's an abscess. Sammy goes back in the stall.

Next morning, I go out to the barn and Sammy is in a sweat in the barn. It's pretty chilly out yet, so I throw a cooler on him and walk him around. He is no longer 3-legged lame, so it seems to me he has improved=not abscess. I figure he is smart enough to not hurt himself, so I throw him back out in the pasture. He stresses less out there anyway. A few weeks later, there is an obvious abscess blowout at the top of his hoof.

Fast forward a few months and the blowout has grown down about halfway. A crack started at the bottom and worked it's way up to the blowout. So now he has what looks like a cloven hoof. The new farrier is concerned about Sammy breaking off chunks of toe, so he throws front shoes on him again. This time, they are attached well, and they stay put for the duration. Did I mention I am VERY happy with this farrier?



We got him past this ugliness and all seemed great. Until October, 2007. See part 2 for exciting continuing saga :)

You live and learn and then get . . . lessons!

Surfing the internet one day, I came across an ad for someone offering lessons. I was especially intrigued because she offered saddleseat lessons. Since I took my very first lessons as a 7 year old on 16 hand Saddlebreds, I was feeling the itch to pick up where I had left off.

It was clear when I started that it had been a long while since my organized riding days. I had basically spent the last 10 years dinking around in my backyard or riding complete greenies. I had only taken about one year of real lessons, and it was about 16 years previous. Everything else I knew, I had "perfected" on my own. I felt very out of control and all over the place on that flat saddle.

Cute Lesson Teacher didn't have a "real" saddleseat horse, but she did have a very high energy little Arab mare named Tina that she used. Tina had to be ridden in a martingale due to the fact that she zoomed around at Mach 10 with her nose in the air. She was very speedy and very fussy. At my first lesson, CLT asked me to canter Tina. I was like, "Ummm . . . I have serious canter fear issues, like that's the whole reason I'm here."

She gave me a look that said, "clearly you are hedging, canter now please."

I nudged Ever-Ready Tina into a canter, and we went flying down the long side. I instantly tensed up freaked out and all but dropped the reins. My butt was flying waaaay out of the saddle, and I was terrified. CLT was yelling, "Sit back!! Relax!!" as Tina zoomed down to the corner, almost smashed into the wall, veered around the corner, and came to a shaky halt. The halt wasn't the only shaky thing.

I was whimpering and feeling generally defeated. CLT just had me go back to trot work. Then she expained we would work on centered riding, and really developing a nice secure seat.

As my lessons prgressed, CLT transitioned me more into dressage as that was where her focus was at the time. As my confidence grew, she had me riding the new horses she got in on consignment to sell. She would tell me, "You'll really like this one, he's got a nice trot and a great canter." I stopped asking her if every horse had a tendency to buck. I started to relax more. I felt very proud when she told me I have great hands.

I had just gotten Tina to bring her nose down and in and travel in a reasonably nice frame. CLT gave me the greatest compliment when she told me Tina went better, prettier, and slower for me than anyone. She asked me to ride Coach, her old fart lesson horse and try to slow down his canter. She used him for the little kid lessons, and he liked to lean into your hands and really bull along at a high speed canter.

I followed her to three different barns, and when she told me she was moving out of state, I was devastated. I had learned so much about balance and to be more confident and more solid in my seat. Her dressage technique was definitely more German-style push/pull, lots of left-right and worrying about headset. I definitely learned bad habits. But I needed the confidence-building and the good solid horsey friendship she provided. I needed to ride horses other than Sammy, horses I could trust. Horses I didn't have a history with. I needed someone to confide in, someone who didn't criticize me for my fear or make me feel incompetent. Our lessons were laidback. A lot of times, she would just saddle up and ride alongside me. Once or twice, she came out and met my Sammy and gave me a lesson on him and rode him a bit herself. She was what I needed at the time and I learned a ton.

I took all of that back to my Sammy. One day, I put my western saddle on him, with a halter on under his bridle. I looped a leadrope around the saddle horn so he couldn't drop his head as easily, and I asked him to canter. I didn't attempt to steer him or push at all. I just sat and let him canter as he pleased. We went down the middle of the arena and stopped. And I threw my arms around his neck and cried a little bit. Cried with a big, idiot grin on my face. It had been 3 long years, but we had made it. I was riding my horse W/T/C again. Things were looking up!

Not that everything was instantly better from that day. I got bucked off another time or two, but things were definitely improving. I was riding in a bitless bridle now and back in a better fitting English saddle, first a saddleseat saddle and then a Wintec dressage saddle (at $500, the most expensive saddle I had ever owned). I had lost my trainer, but I was light years ahead of where I had been. So we just putzed along, doing the things I had been taught by the CLT. We never really progressed that far, but we were doing much better than we had been, less eruptions, less battles of will.

We are now up to about 2006 and the first lameness. Oh boy, the lameness chronicles!

Bucking Bronco!

Well, you might have guessed from the end of my last post that things wouldn't necessarily continue on so smoothly. Sammy stressed out a lot from the move and dropped a lot of weight that winter.

I rode him many times in the new indoor, trudging from the barn across the frozen parking area and through the deep drifts to get to it. He was very well behaved at first, and things were going swimmingly.

Then, one day, the sun came out and things began to warm up. You other horsepeople out there will know what I'm talking about. Yes, the ever-so-frightening snow sliding off the indoor arena roof. It comes out of nowhere and has the power to unhinge even the most bombproof horse. Well, a 6 year old greenbroke Saddlebred is hardly what you would consider bombproof.

Part of the issue was that I was doing what you're never supposed to do when riding. I wasn't paying attention. I was riding along, chit-chatting with one of the other boarders, totally draped reins, loose legs, just hanging out in the saddle as we walked around the arena. Out of nowhere, WHOOSH!!

Both horses spooked, and I totally fell backwards across Sammy's butt. And then the unthinkable happened, my foot got stuck in the stirrup. Sammy completely lost it and bolted. I was dangling off his side, suspended by one hand on the reins and one leg in the stirrup. The stirrup leather came away from the saddle (thank heavens I didn't have locking stirrup bars) and then I was being dragged by one arm. Somehow, I couldn't figure out how to tell my hand to let go of the rein. When I finally let go and lay in the sand, the other boarder rushed over to see if I was ok. Sammy stood, trembling, at the far end of the arena, tail over his back and at full attention.

I stood up and brushed off. Nothing was broken. I had sand in my hair, ears, and even the pockets of my jeans! I walked slowly up to Sammy, tried to calm him down, and then did what you're supposed to do when you come off the horse. . . I got back on. We walked one or two laps of the arena and called it quits.

I went home and woke up the next morning unable to lift my head off the pillow. The roommate drove me to urgent care, after I literally rolled myself out of bed. After some X-rays, it was determined that I had sustained whiplash, but nothing was permanently damaged. Thank goodness for that. I took time off of riding and healed up, figuring that that would be the last time I would come off. Next time, I would pay better attention. As it turned out, Sammy had other ideas.

Apparently, it had never occurred to him that the rider could be dislodged. Once he learned this little tidbit, he began to put it to use. At the time, I chalked it up to him being naughty or just being green, but I know now, that it was likely his way of objecting to a poor fitting saddle and a very unbalanced rider. I grew to have such a fear of riding that summer, that I imagined Sammy sitting in that beautiful grass pasture all day long just thinking up evil things to do to me.



One day, I was riding around the outdoor arena, and asked Sammy to canter. He hopped into his nice, rocking chair canter for all of about 2 strides. Then he slammed on the brakes, dropped his head to his knees and turned into a bucking bronco. I didn't have a chance. I slammed into the ground while Sammy continued bucking over the top of me. His hoof connected with my back and then he ran to the gate. I stood up, but my left leg was numb. That totally freaked me out, but I dutifully went and got the horse, mounted up and rode one small lap at a walk. My leg began tingling and I was relieved to know the numbness wasn't permanent, but it still scared me.

After that day, he bucked me off two more times. I became so frightened of cantering him that I stopped cantering at all. In fact, I was even afraid to canter other people's horses. I would always ask before I rode if the horse bucked at all, and I was petrified of riding any low headed horses, since they already seemed like they were ready to assume the bucking position.




I started doing groundwork more, riding less. Lots of lunging. But Sammy had clearly lost respect for me. He would buck and pull on the lunge line, trying to rip it out of my hands. I couldn't get a bit in his mouth anymore, at least not without a two hour long battle. So I gave up and rode in a rope halter. He would just quit on the lunge, and then, when I would flick the whip or "sting" him with the end, he would turn in to the middle and charge at me. We would have these battles of the will that would end with both of us drenched in sweat and neither one clear as to who had won. I was so intimidated that I didn't know what to do.



Loud Mouth Barn Lady watched me working him one day and offered to "help". She said I was too soft on him and that I was letting him get away with stuff. She asked if she could lunge him for me, but she told me "I might have to hit your horse". I was fine with that. As far as I was concerned, she could do whatever she liked with the awful beast. She proceeded to really "get after him", using her loud voice and her very aggressive body language to push Sammy. And when he responded with aggressiveness of his own, she cracked him a few good ones with the lunge whip.

She had brought a little yippy dog with her, and the little dog ran barking at Sammy's heels as he trotted anxiously around the circle. Sammy kicked out at the little dog and missed, so the little dog continued to yip and chase. Then Sammy lashed out again, and this time, he connected with the dog's head. The little dog yelped and flew out to the middle of the arena, where he lay in convulsions and making awful snorting sounds. Sammy became even more anxious and sped around the circle. I started crying, watching that poor little dog.

Loud Mouth Barn Lady looked at me crying and said, "Don't worry about the dog. It's not Sammy's fault. I can't stand a dog that chases horses, and if he can't learn, then it's better if he doesn't make it."

New Barn Owner was watching the whole thing, as she'd been helping me try to lunge Sammy earlier, so she went out to the little dog and picked him up. She carried him out of the arena and took him up to the house. After a few minutes, she came back down with the dog and told us he was ok. He had bitten his tongue, but otherwise he seemed totally fine. Sammy, on the other hand, was a complete wreck. And the only lesson he had learned was to be petrified of little dogs. To this day, he is very uneasy around little dogs, and I can never trust him with them either. I always worry he will kick again and this time, the dog won't be so lucky.

After that day, Sammy and I continued on, but I tried to be more understanding of him. I still would only walk/trot, but I tried reading and studying different methods. I tried some Parelli with him, which he hated. I tried just being more consistent. Nothing was really working, and I had lost a lot of confidence for riding, so I decided it was time to take some lessons.

The New Place

2 posts in one day! I am ambitious tonight. Actually I just really want to catch this up to present day. We have gone through so many things lately, that I want this to be a current chronicle, not always 10 years ago.

I went up the road to look at a new place, just a couple of miles away from Big Name Barn. A couple of miles away in distance, but lightyears away in standard of care. I went for my tour and was very impressed with the small barn. It was older and not as well lit, but the horses had large grass pastures and the stalls were spacious and very clean. Sign me up!

I arranged the day for the new barn owner to come and pick him up. It was the very beginning of November. It was a Friday evening and I was sick. I had left work early, feeling feverish and dizzy. I went out to the barn with my roommate to wait for the new barn owner. It was drizzling and very cold. I sat and waited with Sammy in the cold drizzle and felt more and more miserable. My roommate finally ordered me back into the barn, and she took control of the situation.

The new barn owner pulled in and we loaded Sammy. He trailered nervously the couple of miles to the barn and when we got there, he had managed to shove all the mats against the door of the trailer.

We got him there and unloaded. Once he was in his new stall, he calmed down. I told the new barn owner I was usually out every day and that I would probably be out in the next few days. Instead I ended ups getting sicker and sicker.

I called in sick for work on Monday and then again on Tuesday. It was Tuesday night, the night of the 2000 presidential election. I felt like a knife was being stabbed into my ribs with every breath or every movement. At midnight, my roommate took me to the ER. We were a bit upset to think we were going to miss the election results. Little did we know that the election was going to last 5 weeks before a decision would be reached. In any case, my diagnosis was pneumonia. I was unable to go to the barn for 2 weeks.

When I was finally able to go out to the barn, I was happy to see that Sammy had water and food and a clean stall. I was too weak from the pneumonia to ride, so my roommate rode him for me while I watched.

The new place was a big improvement and Sammy seemed happy. I couldn't wait to be strong enough to ride, now that I had a trained horse and a good place to keep him. Boy, was I in for a surprise! Apparently 45 days of training isn't enough to consider a horse fully broke. Who knew?

More to come!

Real Training

Do you ever feel like life moves along way too fast? I can't believe I am still working on telling you this part of Sammy's story. His real training was 10 years ago! Well, I guess this is as good a time as any to update the blog. Eventually, we will get caught up to today.

Sammy was at Big Name Barn for just 2 months. While he was there, he learned how to be "civilized". He learned how to be in a barn, how to take a bit in his mouth, and how to move off leg. No more whacks on the butt with the leadrope. He was round pen trained and learned to be very light on the lead. I appreciated the training, but I didn't always appreciate Big Name Barn.

We had some negative experiences there. When I first dropped him off, I had no idea what I was getting into. I knew this was a big barn with a big reputation. I was young and ignorant. Right out of college, but with no idea about real life.

The day after I dropped Sammy off, I came back to the barn to watch his first training session. I was very excited to see how he would do. When I got there, he was already in the roundpen, looking very nervous. There were a few spectators watching the action. I wasn't sure what had happened so far, but I immediately noticed he had a cut over each eye. What the heck?

"What happened to his face?" I asked the trainer. "We were going to ask you the same thing," was the response. Uh, say what??!?

"He didn't look like that when I dropped him off yesterday." All the spectators just looked at me. Clearly, they didn't believe me. I could tell we were off to a rocky start.

Then there was the cleanliness issue. Sammy was a "training" horse, as opposed to a regular boarder. This meant he had to share a stall. My poor boy who had never seen the inside of a building in his life now had to be in a tiny stall with a sloping ceiling all day and then be outside all night. Another horse was in the stall all night. So it never dried out. Ever. It reeked in that stall. Ammonia. Oh, and I figured out what caused the cuts over his eyes. It was caused by the bail on his feed bucket. When he put his head into the bucket to eat, that wire bail rubbed the spot over his eyes raw. I could just imagine his first frantic day locked in that stall, nervously shoving his head into the feed pail again and again.

Then there were the paddocks, for Sammy his overnight place. No shelter and up to the fetlocks in mud if it rained. Sometimes there was no water in the giant stock tank. Luckily I was out almost every day, so I was able to fill his water up. And yet I stayed. This place had a great reputation, so what did I know, right?

Then there was the day I decided to play with Sammy in his paddock. I had watched a few roundpen sessions by now, so I thought I'd play with him and get him to move away and change directions like I had seen the trainer do. He was going at a nice trot around the paddock for me when a voice called out to me.

"What are you doing?"

I turned to see the trainer.

"I'm just playing with him," I said back. The trainer was on another of his horses in training. Clearly heading out for a ride out, which he told me he was going to do with Sammy.

"Well don't, you're going to confuse him." He turned the horse and rode off toward the driveway.

Properly chastised, I made sure not to do any kind of work with Sammy. I sat in his paddock and brushed him in the evenings or led him around the indoor arena at a walk in the daytime. No more playing. No more roundpenning. Until I took a lesson or 2 on him. That was the rule.

I took my first lesson on Sammy and it was great! He walked, trotted, cantered, and stopped . . . on his head. It was ok, he was learning and was still unbalanced. It's pretty common for a young horse to stop heavy on the forehand. I wasn't worried about that, I was riding my horse. Finally!!

We participated in a clinic at the Big Name Barn on the Barn Owner's suggestion. My Saddlebred, very green, was in the arena with all those quarter horses. And he is Mr. ADD. Chink, chink, chink, chink he was constantly fidgeting with the bit. Dance around, chink some more. The Barn Owner tried to give more directions to the people in the clinic. Ask your horse to lower his head and then have him walk across the arena like that. Did I mention Sammy is a Saddlebred? Did I mention he is very high headed. When standing with his head up, he measures 7' tall at the ear tips. His neck comes straight up out of his withers. He doesn't "do" head-on-the-ground. Sorry, he doesn't.

Barn Owner wasn't happy with Mr. Antsy Pants and his constant bit chinking. He asked me to get down and give my horse over. So I did. Again, young and ignorant. Barn Owner proceeded to pull on the reins and so Sammy, being sensitive (did I mention he's a Saddlebred?), put his face behind the vertical to escape the pressure. Barn Owner gets mad the he is going behind the vertical, so he proceeds to kick, kick kick while still hauling on the reins until Sammy at last sticks his nose out. Well, that was a good lesson (note sarcasm). He gives me my now completely frustrated and hyped up horse to ride back to the barn. Surprisingly enough, he held it together enough to ride back down to the barn.

The last straw was when I went out to Big Name Barn to ride. Sammy had been there about 2 months, but only had 45 days of training. He had started to be very difficult to bridle and the trainer claimed he didn't know why. I got out there that day and managed to get the bridle on him. I led him out to the arena and got on, but he seemed very dull. Not his usual sassy self. He walked at a slow plod. I asked him to trot and nothing happened. I insisted and he broke into a shuffling trot for a couplpe of steps and then quit. Something was obviously wrong. I jumped off and took a closer look at him. His eyes seemed dull and he was just listless. I noticed some funny streaks on his legs and realized they were dried snot. Sammy was sick! He had been having thick nasal discharge and wiping it on his knees. Poor baby!

I brought him back into the barn and started untacking him. Just then his trainer walked by.

"He seems like he is sick," I said.
"Yeah, I noticed he's been really sick the last couple of days," was his response.

Say what?? No one ever told me? No one ever called a vet? That was it. There were days I watched the barn crew hitting horses as they brought them in, days my horse had no water. The farrier disliked Sammy just because he was a Saddlebred. The barn princesses stuck their noses up in the air everytime I walked by them. The barn was smelly and unkempt. The paddocks were gross. So many people and horses were coming and going that I had no idea who was supposed to be there and who wasn't. There were rumors of people just showing up there and riding horses or stealing tack. I finally woke up to the fact that Big Name Barn may have a good reputation, but reality was something slightly different. It was time to move on.

Time to find a new place . . .