Feet

Baby Maxwell finally got to see the farrier this week. It was less than desired news, but the farrier said overall he would NOT classify Max's feet as horrible. They will just require some diligence and care to become their best. We have to remember, two months ago he had been in shoes for almost his whole life.

The farrier diagnosed him with mild white line disease and the RX is to treat with White Lightning Gel and keep the feet as clean as can be. I've decided to share some pictures so others can see what we're dealing with. I have high hopes, but as of yesterday, Baby Max is back to foot sore, so no further training or riding until he feels better. I'm hoping that tenderness subsides sooner rather than later. I have also started him on Actiflex 4000, the same joint supplement that I had Bella on. Thank GOD he ate it. It's liquid, and he has a thing against liquids. But this one smells deliciously like Pina Colada.

Left Front

Left Hind

Right Front

Right Hind

Right Front Head on--Showing the seedy toe (WLD) that is the most severe of the feet

Right now, I'm waiting for his White Lightning Gel to come in. It should arrive Friday. In the mean time, I've been cleaning the feet and treating them with Banixx spray and Absorbine's Hooflex Thrush Remedy (bottle directions indicate it is effective against WLD) so that I can at least start treating it while the 'big guns' arrive in the mail.  These were things I already had at my disposal and I couldn't just sit back and not do something in the mean time.

I'm hoping to have a better update after seeing him tonight and tomorrow. Praying his footsore-ness doesn't last but a few days as he adjusts to his shortened feet. The farrier removed a lot of old water damaged/WLD toe to get ahead of the infection. He is NOT concerned and is confident the White Lightning Gel will kick it out quickly. 

Baby Maxwell was amused with all the attention his feeties got yesterday

My Monster

I love to call Max "My Monster". Mostly because it's absolutely hilarious that he is the complete and utter OPPOSITE of that. But this week I got a call that it looked as though a monster bit him! I got that dreaded call that every horse owner is terrified to receive....you know, the one where the BO calls in the middle of the day when you're at work (or in the early morning when she knows you're heading to work) and the first words out of their mouth IS NOT "Don't worry, your horse is okay..."

Max is fine. He just got bit. My first impression was that it was NOT a bite. My second and third impression say, yes, an adjoining neighbor took a bite out of his neck. Its a bizarre injury that swelled up a bit for the first two days, but has sense seemed to returned to normal size and has even started to scab over. Baby Max appears to have thin thin skin, hence his reservations about being groomed, and all those silly scars on him. Only one spot actually broke skin, and the rest of it actually has skin still closed, but it was just enough to remove the hair. WEIRD! If this were my last horse, she probably wouldn't even have a mark. Proof is in the puddin' right there that some TB's just literally have thin skin.

 This is what it looked like when it was discovered, post cold hose, before I saw it in person. It appears as a puncture wound or HUGE sting in this picture. WEIRDEST THING EVER.

This was taken about 5 hours later. You get a better idea of the swelling and the location of the injury. Still strange as can be. Thankfully the swelling kept traveling with gravity down his neck and is gone as of yesterday.







Yesterday, Max went on a hack around the farm. Our riding buddies this time were Kristina and Brewski. Brewski made sure to show Max all the super neat stuff around the property, since it has changed since the last time he was out and about. See below:

As you can see, both me and Baby Maxwell thought this was a funny situation. You can see how quickly his neck bite has healed, as it's that spot next to my hand.

Brewski was a bit more brave than Max, but we're alright with that. It was a big feat for either of them to interestingly walk up to such a 'scary' yellow monster. Funny enough, they had more qualms about the scary goat than this big piece of machinery.

We Cantered!!

Baby Maxwell had a pretty decent walk trot school Saturday evening. This past week has been forever hectic at the farm for everyone there with all the construction and weird turn out times going on. Everyone was a little thrown off, I'm sure, but I was very pleased to see how well Max adapts to his ever changing environments. This lead me to seriously consider attempting our canter.

Max still hasn't had his feet trimmed. The farrier got sent away last week because of the surprise! Demo crew showing up to knock down buildings at the farm. Obviously big bulldozers crashing into structures and trees don't make for ideal circumstances to have the farrier trimming and shoeing horses. Thankfully he will be out this week. I'm happy to report, though, that his feet have REALLY toughened up, ALL on their own. I haven't applied any oils, compounds, nothing nada zip zilch to his feet. It's not to say I didn't want to, but I had been waiting for my farrier to see his feet and make suggestions or recommendations on what might be a good idea for his particular situation. His soles are tough, and he doesn't misstep or take ouchy steps any longer! Max won't get another tough work out until he is trimmed, however, because his feet are going through a chipping stage now. The new growth is immaculate and looks just stunning, but the point of his hoof where his nail holes were at is now the very end of his toe, so the last of the weakened hoof is at it's end. I am confident that after this trim, he will have no evidence of shoes, and should hopefully continue to progress in that department.

So Sunday morning comes very early, and we're out there at 7:30 in the morning, to beat the heat. Max got tacked up in his stall because the cross ties are out of commission until the rest of the old barn debris are removed. He was a good boy and we mounted down at the barn and walked up to the arena, three horses including us. One first timer to the arena (and first timer to anything we did that day) and Max's buddy Prince.

I have been working him consistently over poles, learning where to place his feet and making appropriate decisions about when to lengthen and shorten to make the distances work. He is really smart and I love to see his ears making lots of movements while we go over the poles, thinking for himself. We walked and trotted over some cross rails that couldn't be more than 12" high. I think we will introduce some basic cross rails to jump soon. We had some great trot work and finally I decided to take the plunge. I rocked my hips and gave Max some kisses and he moved right into the canter. I looked like a bird learning to fly on his back, flapping around and finally settling into a half seat. I guess I just didn't prepare myself and have a plan for how I wanted to approach the first canter with him. I opted for 'off the back' this time around. He did really well and we made one full lap around the arena with a pretty connected canter. Heavy on the forehand, but still pretty awesome.

My (arguably) worst bad habit is tipping forward at the canter and taking a half seat, THANK YOU overzealous hunter/eq barns of my past. I really like to get off my horses' backs when they are first learning to carry a rider and accept that weight, and a lot of what I did when I was in my junior campaign was work greenies to get extra ride time. Always off their backs during our canter work, nice half seat, didn't really start thinking about sitting the canter until I got on some squirrelly horses who needed the weight to say "WOAH DAMNIT".  That doesn't mean it was pretty. Hunch backed, eyes down, I was a mess. I progressed some when I went to ride with one of my trainers who started specializing in eventing and had a great dressage base. If the horse had a united collected canter, the sit was unbelievably easy. I struggle every single ride with sitting the canter and looking like a halfway decent human being while doing it. On Bella, I rarely struggled to sit. I will give it another go on Max, hopefully with more sitting, to get a better judgement on how tough his canter is going to be to sit. I love those short backs, but sometimes it makes that tipping oh so harder to overcome! It can be done, though, and HAS been done, so I have confidence that once I get into more of a groove with Max, my equitation will catch back up. Otherwise, well, there's always the jumper ring (HA! PSYCH! You need your sitting WOAH DAMN IT more in that ring that any other!) Anyhow, Max doesn't really require an E Brake at this point (probably never will, but never say never...) so I am optimistic that this is something I can comfortable and safely work on while riding him. You guys have to remember, I've had no real continuous-continuing education (huh?) in riding for roughly the last 6 years. That's the last time I had a consistent at least once a week lesson with a competent trainer. Of course, throughout the course of owning pony, I had several lessons, but more to the tune of once or twice a month, sometimes no lesson for a month or more at a time...I cannot WAIT to start lessoning with Max. With Bella, it was all about making her as perfect as I could, having lots of fun with her along the way. I totally threw myself on the back burner, disregarded any issues I was struggling with as a rider (we all have them, and if you don't think you do, you clearly have no business being in this sport) and focused any and all lessons we did have on HER and HER training. Not me. Now that I have what I presume to be my 'forever' horse, it's time to start learning as a team, and fixing issues as they come up, for BOTH of us, not just him.

Anyhow, The new routine is going to be something along the lines of 5 days on, 2 days off work. Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Saturday Sunday. Probably won't stick, because with the looming afternoon storms of Florida's gulf coast throughout the entire summer, it's bound to make me move days/lose days altogether. I can't wait to get out there and ride Baby Max. I look forward to every day I get to hop on such an amazing creature!

Baby Max doesn't do nearly as well with candid photography as Bella did. However, he's still handsome as can be. We might just need to hire a professional to photograph him in all his glory, because he's too interested in being ALL UP in my business when I have a camera in front of me.

Another Peaceful Night

Went out to the barn after work. It was overcast but boy! Was it hot and humid. After turning out the first horse I was soaked in sweat. Seriously? Hope the whole summer isn't miserable.

Since Max's poop has been a little loose, and he is on (YUMMY) smelling yeast/enzyme supplement, flies are all over his stall. He calmly sits in front of his fan and munches hay all day. Perfect situation since the fan keeps those buggers off while he stuffs his face.

I got these essentially most likely overpriced party streamers(fly ribbon) for max's stall today. If nothing else they were at least ten times less a pain in the ass to unroll and handle than the cardboard cylindrical ones with the little red ribbon on them that are $1.99 for 4. (These were 3.99 for 3). Wishful thinking, huh? We will see if Max appreciates the lime green and blue fly tape.

The old barn demo got pushed back but should be happening tomorrow. The horses spent most of the day out today in preparation for the barn coming down. Max will enjoy another full day and night out tomorrow. I cannot wait to see how different the farm looks with a house bulldozed, tons of trees removed, and the old barn in the middle of it all gone!

That's about it for now. Max got to have a break from riding yesterday and today and will pick back up with his riding education Saturday.

Blood

If there is something worth appreciating with an OTTB, it's that you know a big chunk of their story as far as who their mom and dad and ancestors were. I had a gorgeous *gorgeous* 14.1 hand pony mare, Bella, prior to Maxwell. Not a clue who mom or dad was, just knew she came out of a backyard at 2 years old. No tattoo to check into her, and be sure of who she was. She's a "your guess is as good as mine but we like to call her anything from Connemara to Thoroughbred/Welsh to Quarter Pony depending on who you ask".

 Yep, she's quite the looker, that one. I miss her, but of course I don't regret my decision and LOVE having Max. Anyways, the point is, I never knew, and most likely NEVER WILL KNOW her story and her ancestors and where she came from and what she is. I'm happy to be able to tell you exactly who Maxwell is, where he came from and what his family is. In the course of researching Max, I decided to look up the two racehorses my mom and dad owned back in the 80's, prior to me. I guess it's in the family, sort of, to have an OTTB. They weren't HUGE into it, and both race horses, though showing true promise, weren't holding up on the track. I can't recall what happened to each, I know one was put down on the track (allegedly) from a training injury, but my parents never saw the horse once it was 'put down' and the there had been a rival at the track (Hawthorne) that had eyes for the horse. So much drama, man! The other one I believe retired but I don't know the details. I've decided to share a bit of Max's history as well as the two other track horses that were in the family, even if it was before I existed!

I'll start with Baby Maxwell:

 This is pretty much self explanatory. I have heard many good things about Skip Trial having some nice jumper babies. As you can see Max is well bred on both sides. He has Storm Cat, thankfully far enough back that he doesn't display the 'standoffish' personality associated with his offspring. However, maybe that's where Max's grouch face comes from when it's grooming time!

Power Turn:

Power Turn was the race horse that I saw most pictures of from my parents growing up. He was the horse that they had high hopes for. There's a little bit of his blood in Max's blood, through that Secretariat lineage. It was neat to still see my parent's names on Equibase under connections as of last start.

Tiltawhirl:

I don't know as much about this guy, aside from the fact that I always loved his name.

I just think it's so awesome to be able to track an OTTB's pedigree back as far as we can. To know a bit about their history at the race track, and to really know the life they led and what they did. Obviously many other breeds have books dating back much farther, but really so much is lost when an animal is imported, including career records.

I've got the OTTB bug, everyone!

6th Ride off The Track Happened Tuesday...

I give Baby Maxwell credit today. There are a lot of scary loud things happening at the farm this week. It started yesterday (Tuesday) with the demolition of a house on the property. Obviously seeing large yellow machines banging around and knocking stuff over is terrifying to any horse. I got to the farm about 5:15, when the crew had gone home for the day. Max was visibly 'worried'. If you even call it that. I call it alert. He just wanted to look. Sounds were more interesting to him yesterday than they were in days past. Can we really blame the guy? He just watched a house get knocked over all day long. Of course he's curious.

I didn't expect to get much out of him during our ride. He was not misbehaving, not spooking, not acting out of sorts, but he definitely wanted to "look" a lot more than he has up until now. We walked some laps in the round pen, and I dismounted and walked him over to the paddock. Horses were already turned out (they graze the grass arena at night) so I could't ride in the arena. This was fine though, because it was Max's first time since being brought home that he was ridden alone without another horse as a 'buddy/guide'. He did great. He LOVES to stop and smell poop. We'll address at a later date when it's appropriate and not appropriate to do that. But we walked around the paddock and worked on bending and listening to my leg. Of course bending to the right was a challenge. His body curled right around my inside leg, but that neck was in a totally different universe. Time. That's what I have to keep saying. This horse advances so quickly and is just so well minded that I have to keep reminding myself about Time. We trotted a lap or two each direction and I called it quits. It was hot, it was a windy day, and he had a lot of action throughout the day.

He is generally happy to trot along with a little squeeze and a verbal "tee-rot" from me. I cannot wait to start cantering and eventually popping over some cross rails. TIME. Time. time. No reason to rush. Max isn't in a big hurry, so neither should I be....

Love that monster! Here's an adorbs picture of him playing in the mud. I don't think we'll have trouble learning about water and horse eating puddles!

Maxwell's Nutrition

This will be an ongoing thing, and something that I  probably never stop talking about. Nutrition became a very important thing for me as an owner to learn. I had a very easy keeper pony mare, and when she drastically dropped weight very quickly (it almost seemed one day she was fine, the next, RIBS!) I knew I needed to arm myself with the proper education to get her back to a good weight; and further more, be able to identify why exactly she dropped the weight in the first place.

The first step is to always make sure there are no health or physical issues that may be allowing the weight loss to take place. After a trip to the vet and finding out the mare was just in a calorie deficit for the work she was doing, I educated myself. I'm still learning, still asking questions, and still craving knowledge as it's made available to me.

Maxwell came to me with a couple of dietary needs. He is still coming down from the race horse high. He went through the typical race horse crash. He has a thick bone structure (woohoo) and even when he was race fit he looked fairly well put together and had good weight. He crashed and the muscle dropped off, and the ribs poked through.

Obviously the first rule is to WEIGH ALL YOUR HORSE'S FOOD. I have NOT yet done so, but It didn't really matter because what he was eating was what he was eating. I plan on dragging out the scale this week to get actual weight amounts.

Max came to me eating the following:

Cavalor Fiber Force (3 quarts twice a day)
Tizz Whizz Senior (3 quarts twice a day)
U guard Powder (1 scoop a day)
Unlimited access to grass hay
Grass from 6pm to 6am
1 flake (heavy) of alfalfa 2 times a day

Maxwell's First Week

Maxwell came home Saturday April 4th. Sunday April 5th was not only Easter, but it was Maxwell's actual birthday, too! My now 7 year old OTTB got a new home for his birthday! And he hasn't done anything less than amaze me each time I've worked with him since.

Sunday was the day to start bonding, and to get comfortable with each other. Max got a birthday bath, birthday carrot, and birthday apple. He totally didn't understand the apple, and he is the MOST GENTLE carrot eater I've ever met. Bath went fairly well, all things considered. He stands like a perfect gentleman in cross ties, and you can pretty safely maneuver yourself around him without too much worry.

Monday was spent getting Max acquainted with his new digs, and new life. We started with grooming. Since I know he doesn't care for grooming, we started really slowly and with my softest brush. Because Max is such a gentleman, though he doesn't care for grooming, he still maintains composure and just makes lots of facial gestures and tail swishes. He has never offered to intentionally hurt me or anyone else around him. Just simply lets you know that he doesn't care for it. We walked around the property, and I introduced Max to the round pen and surrounding areas.

By Tuesday Max was settling into his new home very well. I decided I would sit on him. We went into the round pen and walked around a bit. Max was a bit more willing to move forward than he had been when I first tried him out. I believe that his feet are finally starting to feel good after 7 years of race shoes! We walked and walked and turned and turned until that was just too boring for us. Prince (his new buddy) was being worked in the paddock next door and so I thought it would be a great chance to get him acquainted with those surroundings. Nothing phased him and he kept a steady, quiet pace with each lap we did. Typically at the farm we like to walk the horses in the big open field for the cool out, because it's a great mental decompress for both human and equine alike. Prince was headed that way, and since Max seemed to be doing so very well, I figured, hey, why not? OTTB and an open field, what's the worst that could happen? (hehehe) He was a superstar. Walked around on a loose rein like he'd been doing it his whole life. Everything with this horse is just so easy. He also met a new turn out buddy named Uno that night, and now has a whole row of paddocks full of geldings who share the love that I have for this horse.

Thursday and Friday were more bonding times.

Then came Saturday.

We brought Max and Prince up to the big grass arena up front. It looks pretty scary for an arena, with a pond in the middle, a street nearby, and lots to hear and see. Max took it all in stride, and we practiced walking over poles, going between jump standards, and practicing our walk to halt to walk transitions. He was getting VERY proud of himself for carefully walking over obstacles and poles, that after one go through he trotted away. I kind of went with it, because up until that point he had been foot sore to trot. We had an AMAZING first trot in both directions on Saturday. Videos were uploaded via facebook, so I can't really figure out how to link here, bummer!

Sunday we had another trot session that went flawlessly, followed by another bath (geldings are DIRTY!) and more bonding. Max is getting SO much better about being groomed.

Now that we're trotting, we will start working on transitions, bending, softening, and really using his body.

Maxwell really is turning into my dream horse, in the short week I've had him.

I always thought my dream horse was a 17 hand dappled gray warmblood gelding. I came close (not really) with my 14.1 hand dappled buckskin MARE. Now I have a VERY happy medium: a 16 hand Bay Gelding that would do anything you asked of him. <3 <3

The Story of Maxwell

Hi There!

Welcome to my blog, and thanks for reading along. It's about a week late, but I've decided to start a blog chronicling the progress that myself and my newly acquired OTTB make! Now on to the good stuff: The Story of Maxwell.

Baby Maxwell
2008 Florida Bred Thoroughbred
Skip Trial X Mary is Purrfect by Noble Cat

Maxwell had 36 starts, 2 first place finishes. (the above pedigree does not reflect correct race information on him).

Max had a bad last year on the track. He seemed to mostly race between Calder and Tampa Bay Downs. He ran in mostly claiming races, and really you can just tell his heart wasn't into the whole race thing by looking at his record. He retired sound from his last race on February 27, 2015. 

There are many great organizations that try to take prospects or horses just needing a place to land after racing in our area. Summer happened to get a phone call regarding this sweetheart gelding.  I had mutual friends on Facebook with Summer and one day decided to request her friendship so I could more closely follow the OTTBs she finds off the track, restarts, and places in new homes. Baby Maxwell had popped up on my Facebook feed almost daily for a week at one point. Summer had posted some updates after his 30 days off, showing Max's first, very uneventful (that's a good thing) ride post track life. I had been actively seeking out a home for my large pony mare, Bella at the time that Maxwell found his way into my heart. The next few weeks were spent closely following his progress and admiring him through the internet. 

April 1st 2015 was the first time me and Summer spoke on the phone about this remarkable gelding. I had formed my own opinion of him through pictures, Summer's updates, and a few videos. This gelding was the exception to the rule of OTTBs. I'm sure many people feel that way about their's, but seriously, he wasn't even mine and I thought that of him. I was in love, folks. And they call it puppy love.....only this time, it was a horse. So April fools day and I'm driving home from work talking to this extraordinary human being that happens to be housing the horse of my dreams. She tells me all about his quirks, the good the bad the ugly. I don't think Max would be appropriate for everyone. He needs a human that accepts his personality and can take a joke. The only ill thing Summer had to say was that he simply didn't care to be groomed. She probably could have told me he'd torn her left arm off and I would have said, "uh huh when can I come see him?"... 

That was on a Wednesday, and the following day I had an appointment lined up to try two horses that were being offered as a trade for my mare. After much anticipation, the horses I tried just weren't what I was looking for. My barn owner and best friend Kristina knew what was up. On the drive home in the truck she simply said, "You already know what horse you want, don't you?" All I could simply manage was a smirk, and a nod.  I hadn't even met this horse and I was almost certain that I would be taking him home.  Many thoughts in my mind led to stress that seemed never ending. "What are you going to do with an OTTB?" "Has he even been restarted?" "Do you want the responsibility to restart this horse?" The anticipation was killing me, but FINALLY Friday after work, I got to meet the infamous Baby Maxwell. I can only imagine what thoughts were in Kristina's mind when we pulled up to the farm. Up until now all she knew of Max was that he was "really sweet" "a racehorse off the track since end of February" and that he had only had "one ride post track". It's safe to say she probably thought I was insane.

Baby Maxwell's second ride off track was split between Summer showing me how he was, and me trying him out for myself. I probably spent a collective 15 minutes on his back that day. No more than a few walking circles. Mostly standing still rubbing his neck and admiring what a sweet old soul he was. We un-tacked Max, gave him more and more love, and finally, we were on our way home. I don't think we got a mile down the road before me and Kristina started discussing how to make this work. She finally understood. She had gotten to meet him, and finally another human understood why my conscious told me this was the horse. 

As we walked back and forth from the barns to the paddocks at 8:30pm in the dark to turn out horses, I chatted back and forth through text with Summer, and in person with Kristina. This deal was happening, and quick! After about an hour and a half, we made arrangements to pick up Maxwell the next morning. Baby Maxwell was coming home.

Baby Maxwell--Last day on the Track

Baby Maxwell's first moments in his new stall

Stay Tuned. As I said, I have had Maxwell for a week now, so I need to slowly update what has happened over the last week (a lot of good stuff!) but I wanted to get his backstory on here as quickly as I could!