Contest Time!

Now that Lucy is back in work-ish, my priorities are to keep her feeling good, and not leave room for any reinjury. This means a careful warm-up each time I take her out to work on the lunge line, and a careful cool-down. I am also using liniment to treat her muscles with, to ensure she does not feel sore.

of course when a big honkin' bomber fly lands on her butt and makes her
 take off like a rocket and pull stunts like this, I can't help but sigh...

My usual go-to product for anything muscle-related is SoreNoMore, but I recently heard about Abraxas Equine (website), a small business specializing in all-natural herb-based horse care products. You can sign up for a free sample on their website, and I love trying out new products. They sent me some of their Hydra-Luxe Liniment, and also some of their Supra Daily Shampoo to try on Lucy. The shampoo is awesome because it is a low-sudsing formula, so it rinses out really easily. A lot of us equate bubbles with cleansing, but honestly, whenever I give Lucy a bath I spend more time getting all of the suds out of her than anything else, and it's frustrating! I don't want to leave any in there, because that would cause skin issues, and I do wish the shampoo rinsed out easier.

The Supra shampoo does just that: cleanses thoroughly and rinses out easily. It is very concentrated, and they recommend putting some in a bucket, adding water, and bathing the horse with the soapy water instead of putting soap directly on the sponge.

As for the liniment, it is Arnica-based and safe to use as a normal liniment, brace, or under wraps. It is the consistency of water, and spreads easily. A little bit seems to go a long way. I have a huge bruise on my wrist and hand that is very sore. I put some of the liniment on there and while it didn't have the immediate effect I usually get when using a liniment, it really soaked in and helped the discomfort, lasting for quite a long time. Today, the area is much less sore. The Hydra-Luxe formula doesn't use any alcohol or menthol to create that cooling effect, but instead focuses on long-term soothing and deep healing. You can read more about the formula on their website here.

Today I tested the shampoo and the liniment out on Lucy. After I lunged her, I cooled her out and then put her in the wash rack.

looking kind of clean, but really very dirty

I followed the directions of the shampoo and put some in a bucket, along with water. I sponged the soapy water onto Lucy and washed her normally. I thought the suds were quite bubbly.

after soap

I rinsed her off and I could immediately tell a difference between this soap and Gallop Shampoo, which is what I normally use. This rinsed right out of her coat and tail, and didn't leave any residue. When I used the sweat scraper to dry her off, the water ran out of her coat clear, without any additional soap that I missed.

I put her out in a grass paddock and let her dry in the sun. I didn't brush her at all and this is how she looked:

When I put her away to eat dinner, I applied the liniment down her spine and to her knees, suspensories, and hocks. She was busy eating dinner and didn't seem bothered by any of it. It smelled nice and felt light and slightly oily on my hands, but not gross. I hope it helps her muscles tonight.

Anyway, I am pretty impressed with this stuff, and no, I didn't get paid to say any of this! If you want to try out samples, check out their website, and if you'd like to win a bottle of liniment or a bottle of shampoo (I have one of each to give away), leave a comment here with your name, email, and which product you'd most like to try! Winners will be chosen randomly on Friday 7/5. Thanks to Abraxas Equine for sponsoring this giveaway!

My unappreciative horse

I had a vet out today to do some acupuncture on Lucy. I felt very hopeful that she would like this, because she is so well-behaved for normal vaccinations.

Well, I was wrong. She hated it.

HATED.

She stood ok for the first few needles, but then got really, really pissed off. Bucking, kicking, etc. She was not having any of it.

The poor vet...he was so patient and kind with her, and I felt so embarrassed, but he assured me that he had dealt with horses that hated it even more than she did (I'd hate to think what kind of nonsense they pulled, because Lucy was pretty horrible!).

She bucked so hard that two of the needles actually fell out.

after causing the fourth and fifth needles to fall out

Lucy, you bad girl.

We are going to try again next week, this time with a bit of sedative on board to hopefully quell some of that reactivity.

I will say that before he started with the needles, he used a really cool laser that is apparently $5000 (!!!!) and as soon as he touched her with the laser, her head dropped into my arms, she yawned, and her whole body seemed to exhale. That was nice to see.

look where you're going!

Maybe one of the reasons that Lucy failed miserably as a racehorse is that she doesn't look where she's going.

Lu, you might want to pay attention to that fence that's rapidly approaching.

Lucy said, "ok, I'll go the other way!"

"Hmm, there's a fence in my way again. Maybe I should start paying attention."

Can we also talk about the dapple EXPLOSION?

 

With her new friend, Nick, who came to the barn the first of this month.
Nick is in love with Lucy.
Lucy is too busy to care much.

In other great news, my former childhood lease horse came to my barn last week. My barn owner was casually looking for a new horse for her step-daughter and this horse, Dreamer, was looking for a new home as a free lease. He carted me around the hunters and jumpers when I leased him back throughout middle school and high school, and is an incredibly special horse. I know he will teach his new girl lots of great things while at the same time boosting her confidence, encouraging her to be brave, and showing her how to really enjoy horses.

I just love him.