Jockey Club Birthday

Happy Birthday to Lucy and all her JC-registered Thoroughbred friends.

Mother Nature is sending a blizzard for her present, so I spent most of the day at the barn preparing for the snow. Maddy also coordinated the delivery of 80 bales of hay for Brantley and Lucy, so they should be good for a little while!

Lucy has been doing well in Manners Boot Camp so I gave her some nice cookies, groomed her, and clipped a bridle path after finishing my chores. I hope she will be well-behaved enough for Amanda to get in a fun snow ride this weekend!

She managed to bash her face in her stall a couple days ago. She has abrasions
over both eyes, and one right in the middle of her forehead. So talented.

a time out, and Cairo turns 3

Happy 3rd Birthday, Cairo! 3/16/13

After Morgan's ride last Tuesday, which went really well, Lucy seemed sore and stiff and that is why we just did some low-key walking trail rides on Wednesday and Thursday.

On Friday I rode in the ring to see where we were at. She looked good on the lunge line, but threw a ton of bucks and romped around. When she had calmed down and was stretching out nicely, I hopped on. She started out feeling ok but then felt not quite right, and then felt lame.

I decided it is vet time so I made the call and set up the appt. I am concerned that if it were muscle soreness, she would most likely work out of it as she warmed up, but she felt worse and worse as the ride progressed. All we did was walk and trot, too. Maddy took some video for me and it looked like her right hind.

She got Saturday and Sunday off and I gave her bute both days, and then on Sunday afternoon I gave her some Ace to make her rideable without lunging first (didn't want to put a ton of stress on her body lunging if she wasn't feeling well). The Ace kicked in and I had a very nice, rideable horse...who was still lame. Notice the hitch in her RH, especially around corners.



The vet is scheduled to come out on April 3 for shots so she will get a little vacation and some hand walking, maybe walking trail rides if we get a really nice day, and as long as things don't worsen we will wait until then. I emailed my vet and included the video and she assured me that Lucy would survive until April 3. She trots around her paddock and looks sound, and stands square on both hind legs in the barn aisle and in turnout, so I am not tooooooo too worried. I let her loose in the indoor today to have a roll and she trotted around a bit and looked totally fine.

I am wondering if Lyme disease may be a factor since she seems sore through her whole body and the "lameness" side of things seems to travel from leg to leg, but I will follow my vets advice in terms of diagnostics and I hope we will get some answers so Lucy can feel better and I can start enjoying her again.

In other news, Cairo almost broke my knees the other day:



Um yeah, OUCH, Cairo. I survived with a nice big bruise on my right knee cap and I felt like I got hit by a Ridgeback sized bus. She looks cute and cuddly but she is at least 75lbs!

I really can't stay mad at her for long...

pony ride pony

One of my coworkers celebrated her birthday on Tuesday. Last week, she asked me what kind of stuff she had to have to ride a horse. We talked about boots with a heel, long pants, and a helmet. Then she looked at me and asked me where my horse lived. "Do you want to ride my horse for your birthday?" I asked her. "YES!" she replied. So we made it an office pony ride party (there's only four of us in the office, including me), and Lucy was the chosen steed. Everyone came dressed to work in their best equestrian-themed outfit. I bought the birthday girl a pink sparkly crop at Dover, not that she'd need it for Lucy, but it completed her equestrian outfit. One of my coworkers supplied homemade cupcakes, and the other brought cheese, crackers, and champagne.

Lucy was pretty tolerant. I tacked her up with the Western saddle and hopped on to give everyone a crash course in how to steer and sit. Then each girl took turns getting a leg up and riding around for a bit, with me leading Lucy.

Birthday girl aboard.

Coworker #2 putting her super cute boots to good use.

Showing coworker #3 how to hold the reins properly.

Birthday Girl

Today is Lucy's 4th birthday!

I have been debating for a week about what to get her, but I settled on a Jolly Ball because I thought she would enjoy playing with it. Kenny and I went to the barn tonight together to give it to her and she seemed to like it!


She played with it a bit in her stall and then we turned her out in the indoor to let her get some energy out, and of course we were hoping that she would play with her new toy a bit more. She seemed not to be interested in the Jolly Ball while turned out, though, so we just had a bit of fun watching her run around, and then she wanted to cuddle so she got lots of pats and attention (she is the birthday girl, after all!).

After she was done running around, we tied the Jolly Ball around one of the overhead beams in her stall, and it now sits against the back wall in her stall, so that she can nudge it around with her nose and play with it. Before we left, she had already figured out how to push it, so I hope she enjoys it.

"Thanks, Dad!"

I think what she really wanted was a kitty.

O.C. was not interested, though. Sorry Lucy!