When you're down and troubled and you need a helping hand...

I know what you're thinking...Carole King?  NO? Really? Okay good, so you've got James Taylor in mind too, then. My mom used to blast the Carole King version of this song on cassette tape while we waited in the car to pick my sister up from school. I've always been partial to the James Taylor way about it. Both versions are beautiful, which can be said about most songs done by more than one person. This song has a LOT of substance in my life. Like, more than anyone reading this could ever imagine.

Music is a powerful masterpiece. If you want to really shake me to my core as quickly as possible, send me a song name and artist. I'll get the message quicker than anything you could ever imagine saying directly to me. Music is amazing. This song is amazing. I used to sing it quite often growing up. Whether I was singing to my animals, my parents, or myself, I can honestly say that I've never sung it to or about a friend in the true definition of the term. 

Summer Thurber is the wonderful woman I've spoken about in past blog posts who I got Maxwell from, and who currently has Bella, the pony I owned prior to Max. I've talked in part about what an amazing individual she is, but I feel like I've never done true justice in explaining what this person is to our world. 

Summer is one of the most benevolent people I've had the pleasure of ever knowing. Her level of compassion for those in her life both human and animal is unimaginable. Her knowledge, passion, time, blood, sweat, and tears are all poured into these amazing creatures we call horses. Her biggest downfall is her big heart and her need to nurture those who require nurturing. Aside from her personal string of misfit animals and those who call her home their home, she spends whatever remaining time she has caring for her beautiful family and a herd of retired Thoroughbreds from Thoroughbred Retirement of Tampa Bay (TROT). Summer has always offered with each horse that she places in a home, a 24/7 365 day a year open line of support. She really wants to ensure that these horses, some her personal horses, some those of TROT's ownership, seek out the perfect fit and that the new owners are well equipped to handle everything. It's not often that someone sells you a horse, and regardless of if the horse was bought for $5 or $10,000 you are offered an unsurpassable amount of help whenever you request it. 

This brings me to my point, now. In obtaining Maxwell, I obtained a life long, great friend in Summer. We're forever connected by the bond of our horses. I've found a kindred spirit. They tend to come along at the right time for the right reason, just as was with this case. I'd been dealing with a growing laundry list of issues with  Maxwell. All were minor in the grand scheme of things, but a lot of little issues add up to big ones if you let them get out of hand. I recognized that my horse was speaking to me in such subtle ways, and I craved assistance. I hope I haven't driven the woman mad yet, but she made good on her offer to always be a system of support for me and Maxwell, and now here we go, through each issue as a TEAM. I'm forever in debt to her not only for the horse I have, but by the help she offers me on a daily basis.

This past weekend I had the pleasure of Summer coming over to work with myself and Maxwell. We covered all the basics from ground work to saddle fitting to riding. It was really nice to have another person who takes things as seriously as I out there, working for one common goal: to have a happy harmonious connection between owner and horse. The changes in Maxwell after just a few hours of work are fascinating. I learned a LOT about my little Thoroughbred in the short time we all worked together. 

This song has always had some form of a meaning to me. That meaning was renewed and grew when Summer mentioned one day that this was Maxwell's song. It makes perfect sense. He wasn't rescued from a dire situation. He was simply a grumpy racehorse who didn't want to race any longer. The song perfectly ties in what Summer is to Maxwell. It ties in what Summer is to me. A friend. Someone you can lean on when times are dark and you need help. In any respect, horse related or otherwise, I have no doubt that Summer would lend a helping hand. And now I can finally put a face other than my horse's to this song.

Summer snapped this picture of Maxwell and I after a very hard day of work

Ch Ch Ch Changes...

Okay, seriously. I had to with the post name. Yesterday David Bowie passed away, and if I didn't make some homage to him, what kind of music lover would I truly be? And yes I realize the photo provided is in fact Space Oddity not Changes. I like Space Oddity and recently heard it, and also came across this photo so I decided to add it. Don't judge.


The title of this post actually has some substance behind it, if  you didn't notice when you stopped by here today. I'm going to come right out and say it; that I've been challenged to have more accountability for my blog. I never really knew what direction I was going to go with this blog, but I knew my main subject was always going to revolve around the horses. It's the only thing I'm kind of good at, and this is one of the few outlets I have to totally geek out and not completely annoy my friends on various social media platforms. [okay, so I still do that too...]

I've taken it upon myself to start giving a better appearance to my blog. Gosh, am I ever lacking in that. Back in my hay-day....[yeah yeah shut up I know I'm young] in high school, I actually took several HTML CSS and Digital Editing classes. I knew my way around HTML like nobody's business and could build you a bangin' Myspace page in under 2 hours. However, times have changed, and what you don't practice, you lose. That's true. I've forgotten nearly 4 years of Spanish, learned in the same time frame as all this computer stuff. Neither were implemented much after graduation, therefore, beyond asking for food, shelter, and a place to relieve myself [not to mention all the silly, dirty things that stick with you], I can't speak a lick of Spanish. My HTML is seriously lacking as well. I can't get much past being able to display a photo, align text, change colors, and some other bare basic maneuvers with the HTML. It's also quickly becoming obsolete on it's own, as many developers have moved onto other coding types that I can't even get into...ANYWAYS...

I didn't want to  keep this blog exclusively for Maxwell. He's always going to have the biggest light shone on him, but I wanted to expand a bit. Talk about horse related things as I have done in the past. Products, opinions, ideology, etc. I really do need you, the readers, as help! What do you want to hear about? What do you want me to discuss? If you ever have any questions, concerns, opinions, or ideas, please share them! If you can't figure out how to comment here on the blog [I struggle with that myself sometimes. Blogger ins't exactly the most user friendly--logic goes out the door and you've just got to start clicking to figure it out], please, go back to whatever outlet lead you here [likely Facebook] and comment your thoughts/suggestions/what have you, there! I would LOVE some feedback and ideas! Otherwise I'll keep going on and on about Maxwell, stuff that works, stuff that sucks, etc etc etc. This is about building a community of people who share the same passions, interests, and ideas. I want to appeal to all of you, while staying true to myself and my personal experiences.

For today, that's all. But you better believe I'm working on a post for tomorrow already! I had a miraculous weekend with my horse and I can't wait to share all the details. I also have an exciting opinion on a product I was able to try for free! [Free samples rock!!!!!]

One Expensive thing at a time...

Wow! I really slacked on this blog towards the end of 2015.... There is SO much I should be catching up on here...whew where do I begin???


To make a long story short, three things have happened recently. Maxwell has yet another new farrier. He actually has his second appointment with this farrier on January 12th. His feet have held up very well since the last trim, and so far I'm impressed! The second thing, is following a minor gas colic episode, Maxwell has had all processed grains removed from his diet. Not including his supplements, my horse is on a 100% forage based diet. The third thing, is a quest to find hay that Maxwell approves of, following the gas colic episode. Here we go....


Not a whole lot to report on in terms of the farrier. My previous farrier, who I thought I liked okay, seemed to want to focus on different issues with my horse's feet, rather than the issues both I and my vet were concerned with. Knowing that it's hard to reason with someone who views something differently than you, I knew it was time to find another farrier. I'm hopeful for a bright future with sound feet. (not that Maxwell was actually ever unsound, but we were probably pretty close with some of the cracks that developed a mere 2 weeks following his last trim with old farrier)....

The gas colic thing was strange. I knew something was wrong. I'll spare all the details, but basically I figured out he was having a gas colic, which passed, and he was fine. However, we always knew he had the potential to be sensitive to fats in his diet. Processed grains, fats, preservatives, additives. You could feed him the best grain (I did! He was on Seminole Wellness Senior Mix, a very good senior feed) but the amount of 'junk' in it just didn't agree with his body. The fats were a little too much for his very delicate system. After discussing with a trusted friend, I decided to turn down the path of feeding a 100% forage based diet. I replaced his 6lb grain meal with 6lbs of alfalfa pellets, on top of the alfalfa pellets he was already receiving with the grain. That makes for a total of 12lbs of alfalfa pellets per day. He's also getting 2lbs of Cavalor Fiberforce. This gives him a bit more for calories as well as some nutrients which straight alfalfa can't provide. In addition to the alf and cavalor, he's also receiving a multi vitamin, magnesium supplement, Smart Digest Ultra, and U Gard. He's been blossoming on this diet, so far. Time will only tell.

The hay thing has by far been the most frustrating part of the last few months....Maxwell came to me eating coastal hay. When I brought him home, we swapped him to the barn's T/A/O. Maxwell was eating such a large quantity of hay, that I needed to try to save a bit of money. The T/A/O is $14 a bale and he was eating a bale a day from his hay net. We put him back on coastal and he did great for some time. However, lately, Maxwell hasn't been impressed with ANY hay. I gave up on coastal and started bringing in compressed bales of various types. He ate off a compressed bale of gorgeous straight orchard grass for 5 days before he decided he didn't like it any longer. Next he tried a beautiful orchard/alfalfa (pictured below) which he loved immensely, however at $16 a bale, it wasn't lasting long enough to be worth the cost. One bale lasted 1.5 days. So, yesterday we swapped him back to the barn's T/A/O hay....too soon to tell. He used to clean it right up, but lately he hasn't cleaned anything up, really.

Which leads me to my next thing:

Stress. Maxwell is a stoic soul. He doesn't really tell you what's bothering him, unless it's REALLY bothering him. A shuffle in barn mates has made it more stressful for Maxwell. He lost his paddock buddy, who moved, and he's been in a barn full of mares for the last month. He's gotten a bit more grumpier in his stall, which is heartbreaking. He just doesn't get along with the moody mares. He likes the dead head gelding friends he once knew. Anyways, we've always had our woes in riding. Once he warms up, he's like melted butter in my hands, but during the warm up, it's heartbreaking to see how much he objects at times. We're starting to really work into contact. He's started to stretch into the bit and lift his back up. However, with this huge milestone in his training, and all this added stress from his daily life, he's started to become quite a busy mouth under saddle. His teeth are fine, the bit fits him, he's ACCEPTING, taking, ASKING for contact, however he finds it necessary to grind and chew on his bit. I took his bridle home for cleaning this past weekend, and the indentations on his metal bit were rather interesting. The amount of stress on him, combined with ALWAYS trying to do what I ask of him, has left him feeling conflicted. I think he likes the bit, he enjoys seeking and finding the contact, and I ALWAYS have a blast riding him when he starts to ask and we have those beautiful moments of connection. Now I just need to alleviate his stress.
Two new geldings have arrived in his barn, and I'm hoping the dynamics change a little, and the mares lay off some. I'm searching for a new bit. There's nothing wrong with the full cheek french link he's gone in since I got him (well, he did some time in a loose ring with the same mouth), but I'd like to play around with different pieces in his mouth. We have brakes, he's fairly soft, but I'd like to keep encouraging him with the bit. Sometimes it's the piece in their mouth causing anxiety. I know part of this is from his daily life, but sometimes a change of mouth pieces means the world. Anyone have suggestions? Again, soft mouth, we have brakes in a french link, just looking for something different for him. Maybe a mullen? I dunno.

The last step in the journey I've been on lately, involves reducing stress as best as I can for this guy. I've tried to move his stall, which I was unable to do. I'm hoping the geldings even things out in his barn a little bit. My next step is treating for ulcers, working on saddle fit, and hopefully boosting his hay craving while reducing the stress/pain/tension in his life. We're going to start ulcer treatment in the next couple of weeks. Hopefully I can get someone out to help assist me with his saddle. We need to try and make this saddle work for another year, and then I can look into purchasing a new saddle that fits him perfectly. Between a bit change, ulcer treatment, and saddle fitting, I'm hoping to get over the few little humps standing between Maxwell & I and the sky as our limit. One thing at a time.

One expensive thing at a time.

Looking good on the forage only diet. This is that pretty 50/50 orchard alfalfa mix. YUM!

I'm on fire....

Alright, not really. But I've been steaming angry for the majority of the weekend. You see, someone insulted my intelligence, and my horse. In the same breath. And I want to strangle them.


I'm not an expert. My card is quite clearly in the amateur deck. I've never claimed to be an expert, and honestly, even if I felt comfortable calling myself one at any point ever, I probably wouldn't.

But I have dedicated a large part of my free time to research. Getting Baby Maxwell kicked my butt into overdrive on finding out everything that I could about equine nutrition. I've still got a LONG way to go. I will never be done learning, because things change, new products arrive, new studies are done, etc. But I like to think I have obtained quite a good start in the nutritional world of horses. A good understanding of horse nutrition can be the difference between ribs and fat. It really can.

Anyways, today I'm going to focus on hay. Why? Well because that's what got my blood boiling this weekend. You see, I've gone through several different hays for Maxwell over the last 7 months. Every horse is different. Every horse is an individual, just like people. Each horse's body requires something different. What works for the first 10 in your barn, won't work for the next 5. What works for the 22 horses in your barn, might not work for a single one in mine. It really matters that much. That's why most people are never really happy with feeding arrangements in many large boarding barn operations. They either don't have the time, the money, or the brains to realize that many different needs may need to be met. Anyhow....let me start off by telling you to look back at the beginnings of this blog, as I struggled to figure out what worked for Max. It took months. It took much fine tuning. It will always be touched and tweaked as his needs change, as the weather changes, and as his work load changes.

Please note first and foremost that my horse is fed hay on a free choice basis. I will never go back to traditional hay meals.

When Maxwell first came to me, I placed him on the barn hay, which is a Timothy/Orchard/Alfalfa blend. I supplemented him with a few flakes of alfalfa for weight and ulcer prevention. I soon found that not only was this not his favorite hay combination, but he would much rather poop on the alfalfa hay than eat it! WHAT?! Poop on crack? No way! So I simply tried again with something else. I replaced the alfalfa hay with alfalfa pellets. Instant hit. Those are his most favorite thing in the entire world. Because he is still receiving free choice forage, I was okay taking away a little bit of long stem forage and replacing it with pellets. Anything to get the calories into him, the alfalfa into him, and to see him thrive.

Months of peaks and valleys. Weight doesn't show up over night, especially in a Thoroughbred going through some pretty extreme body changes. One day he was an athlete in prime condition. The next? He was expected to sit around and do nothing for a while. The metabolism doesn't just stop because the horse does. A little more trial and error on the hay, and I realized I wanted to try something else.

Chatting with a trusted friend put thoughts of coastal in my mind. Up until this point I was pretty anti coastal. I didn't know why, aside from the stigma surrounding it's link to impaction colic. I knew many boarding barns refused to even let it be on the premises. Prior to getting Baby Maxwell, when I was on my search to find a new horse, I even came across a Thoroughbred organization that refused to adopt to anyone who had coastal hay fed on their property. But you know what? Many of this trusted friend's horses thrived on it. It is so widely available here. The price is attractive. What you people who aren't from my region of the south don't realize, is things like timothy/orchard blend hays run you $15-18 a bale. That's not even the really NICE stuff. Alfalfa will cost you over $20 a bale. It's not because I COULDN'T afford to feed these hays that I switched, but simply because I didn't see the results in my horse that I wanted to. After learning more about the coastal/bermuda/tifton varieties of hay, I felt much more confident feeding it to my beloved Max.

Let me stop here and explain something to you.

Impaction colic can happen to any horse for any reason. ANY colic can happen at any time for any reason. Many of the studies done on impaction colic as it relates to coastal type hays don't really hold much merit because the studies were done in predominantly coastal fed areas (southeastern regions) so the fact that all the horses were eating coastal does NOT in fact mean that coastal has a higher incidence of impaction. Anyways, I'm not here to argue that point. The fact of the matter is this:

When fed on a free choice basis, with attention being made to the amount of water a horse is consuming, coastal can be a valuable, economical tool in your horse's diet. The free choice offering keeps mobility in the stomach. The constant influx of forage into the gut keeps everything moving, just as the horse's gut was designed to do. It's when a horse is fed a large single meal of coastal at one time that perhaps an issue could arise. The stomach movement stops. Whatever was last to enter the gut gets stuck because now it's not moving anywhere. The next influx of forage/food comes in several hours later at dinner, and guess what, folks? We've got a clogged pipe.
The other thing to remember is how important water is to digestion, particularly in the horse. I feed Maxwell table salt on top of his grain twice a day. This keeps him a little thirstier than he would otherwise be. It keeps his water intake up, which can only help his gut, and in turn, helps his gut keep moving hay and other food through.

There is a place for coastal. Some horses should not eat it, particularly if they've had gut issues or colic in the past. It's important to make sure your horse's teeth are in good shape, so that he can chew and process that finer stem to help it pass through with ease (that goes for ANY food guys....get your horse's teeth done each year! PLEASE)

Anyhow. The whole reason I went on this tirade today is because over the weekend I was essentially told that I didn't care about my horse because I offer him free choice coastal/bermuda hay. That I must have a death wish because why would I feed my horse such an awful product? That my horse didn't look to be in great health anyway, so how could I say that this was the right choice for him?

Really?? REALLY?? How many hours of research have YOU done on YOUR horse's nutrition? OH! THAT'S right! You simply heard through the grapevine that coastal causes impaction and made the assumption that I must be wishing death on my beloved horse because I feed it.

I'm not an expert.

But I'm not an idiot either.

It really looks like I want my horse to die, right. It really looks like he's NOT thriving right now, right? RIGHT? Yeah, didn't think so.

Moral of the story is this:

Don't open your mouth and try to give your opinion when A) It wasn't wanted and B) I actually do have a bit more knowledge than I let on, and you're making an ass out of yourself trying to tell me otherwise.

So yeah. I feel coastal. I feed it in a tub. I feed a bale a day. Does that make you lose sleep at night? Well it should, because my horse is happy and thriving, and your opinion has nothing to do with it.

Proud Mama....

Every once in awhile I just need to brag about how beautiful my OTTB is. What a rewarding thing, to watch this once racehorse blossom into something quite extraordinary! I won't take the time to bring back all the older pictures (click back through and look from the beginning of this blog!)  But I will share some new photos!

My handsome boy got body clipped by our favorite lady Summer! Now he looks so perfect!

This was play fighting. Seriously. My horse isn't all evil ;-)

Right after his body clip. Hubba Hubba

I'm SO mad mom! Not okay!

But really, I'm just beautiful

And evil

And hilarious

And really tired

And hungry. Always hungry. 

Mystery Map

I wasn’t going to even bother trying to post about this, because I got no pictures, and what’s a post without pictures?! But then I realized that apparently other people were taking professional pictures, and so that changed my mind a bit!!!

A few weekends ago, our barn went to an event called the Mystery Map Ride. It takes place annually in October at one of our local state parks, Little Manatee River State Park. (One of my favorite places to trail ride!) Several volunteers set up obstacles, the scarier the better, for horse and rider to complete along the trail. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like we really got any photos of the obstacles, but some candid’s while we were on the move got captured, so that counts for something!! Maxwell has been on a handful of trail rides since he came off the track. We did more of that than anything else for the first two months that he was home. He had a hiatus from trails over the summer, partly because we are more focused on ring work, but also because it’s just too much to trailer him all over the place and to then put him through a hot ride in the dead of the summer. He went on one ride the weekend before this event, and he was perfect, of course.

I was a bit apprehensive about how he might react to all the other horses and riders being in costumes.  This was, of course, his first ‘event’ with a bunch of other horses, since he came off the race track! I could only expect him to react how he might at the race track—with passion and excitement! So this year we opted to NOT dress up, and to use this as a good experience and training event. I was pleasantly surprised that he didn’t bat an eye at any of the crazy costumes, and really didn’t have anything to say about any of the ridiculous obstacles either. There were some we skipped, but we walked right next to each one that we did skip, without freaking out. I found out that Maxwell prefers to be a leader. In the back of the pack he was pacing and jittery. Grinding his teeth and holding his head up tense as could be. As soon as we migrated to the front of the pack, he settled right in, quiet, happy, and BRAVE! My little green OTTB wanted to be the leader of the pack. The greenest horse in the group, but the leader, and a good one, if I do say so myself!

Anyways, it was a great training experience for Max, and enlightened me on his ability to take in sights and activities and not overreact to them. I should have known. He’s spent most of his life on the track where things are always loud and there’s plenty of commotion, and probably a couple of weird sights to see at times. Baby Maxwell…always proving to be quite a perfect horse

This was towards the end of the ride--I can tell by my slouching posture

IM the one who looks out of place not being dressed up. I'd be lying if I said this wouldn't look super badass with everyone ELSE wearing sunglasses too. Hehehe watch out, Olympia Equestrian coming through!

Max has start box jitters. I told him it's okay, most horses who actually know what a start box means have a little get up and go in them...hehehe

Waiting in line to go over the first obstacle, some cavaletti

It's funny I'm looking right at the camera but had no idea my picture was being taken. I was simply giving my muffin a pat on the neck for being such a big brave Thoroughbred

I was laughing at something--I think Kristina threw the ball (which should have gone in that snowman behind us) and nearly nailed us. Max was doing a great job modeling, though!

Olympia Equestrian on the move!

OH! In December the Hunter Pace comes to Myakka! Closer to home. Last year I took Bella on one up in Wesley Chapel--this year Max will go on his first pace closer to home! I can't wait! Time to condition!!!

Special

I just want to talk about how much I adore my horse. I flood my facebook and other social media with pictures of him, gushing, worrying, loving…whatever. But I just can’t get enough of that special horse. I always roll my eyes at people who say “he was/is my heart horse”….I don’t like that term. However, I do believe there are horses in our lives that touch a special part of our heart that none other does. This doesn’t discredit my love for other horses in my life; past, present, or future. It simply means that this horse has a much more emotional connection to my heart than other horses have. That’s not to say that a future one won’t touch me further, or differently altogether. But this horse, as himself, has me reeled in and I’m infatuated with him. Everyone thinks their horse is the most special. I’m okay with that. I just feel so humbled to know this creature.

I have to give myself a reality check when I realize it hasn’t been but *almost* 7 months that I’ve owned him.  That he has only been retired from racing for 8 months. That we still have a way way way long journey ahead of us. I can’t wait, because it’s been an exhilarating couple of months so far.

 My horse had a job. He had a purpose. He gave his heart to what he did. He might not have been the Triple Crown winner, or really, a winner more than twice ever on the track. But you better believe that I let him know he’s a winner in my eyes every single day I’m with him. What an exhilarating feeling to know that his 2^nd ride off the track and onward has all been my doing. I’m the one who got him where he’s at, and where he’s destined to go. It’s really hard for me to take credit for the good things I’ve done. It’s even harder for me to take a compliment. But wow, what a feeling it is, to know that I’ve started to mold this horse into quite the special deal. Everyone is biased in thinking their horse is the greatest. I invite someone to get on Max and tell me he isn’t some kind of wonderful.

 (Okay, that was a rhetorical invite. There’s only a handful of people who I’d let sit on him. Duh.)

Okay so now that the mushy gushy stuff about my special OTTB is over, I have to share something! This weekend, the gang was all together! Gang? What gang? Well, the group of ladies connected through a very special pony mare that I like to talk about often. YEP! That gang! What a wonderful Saturday morning spent working out quirks, enjoying our horses, and revisiting with Bella. I sat on her, and it was so awkward! It was hard to believe that I spent so much time on her! She felt so little compared to Max! To see the beautiful pony in action was even greater. Trotting around with her nose down low, slow moving. I’m so very proud of that special pony. That myself and Kristina both gave her a great start, and that now she’s in the right hands to really turn her into the best little hunter pony a person could ever ask for.  That pony brought Max to me. We all got what we needed. That goes for both horses and owners involved. I’ve got a special friend who owns that special pony, who made it possible for me to own my special horse, and in turn also made it possible for Kristina to be touched by yet another special horse. There’s lots of special horses in this world. I just get the warm fuzzy feels every time I think about our little group of specialness. Not to mention all the horses attached to each of us who make up an even bigger group of special horses.

Max & Me, Bella & Summer, and Aiden & Kristina

Lots of specialness.