Ginger is actually doing a little better over the last couple of days.  Our farrier stopped by again on Friday to trim and shoe two other mares and while he was here he checked on her.  She still isn't putting her heel down as much as he'd like so we are going to keep checking each day and if she isn't doing that regularly in one week, he will come back and put an even larger wedge pad on that foot.  Today, I spent time with her in her stall and in the arena.  I noticed her relaxing that foot a little more than she has.  When I was hand walking her in the arena she actually jumped at the wind noise and then she just walked back to me like there was no problem.  That was the most encouraged I've been in a while.

The only other change we've made is to change her pain medication.  On a recommendation from our friends at BSB Quarterhorses, we asked our vet about switching to Equioxx, which is a different nsaid than we've been using.  It has less of an impact on her digestive system and it impacts different pain receptors.  They used it on a horse they cared for with a similar problem and it made it difference.  Our vet sent me a bottle and she's had it now for three days.  So far so good.  If you don't rely on the knowledge of others you will never get anywhere with horses.  No matter how much you know, how much you study, how much you read and do, there is always something to learn.  I've said it before that they are a great resource and they have more experience than I will ever have.  They are such great horse women and I truly appreciate their friendship.

So now we are about 1 month away from Ginger's delivery.  I anticipate more ups and downs but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

As for the picture, Ginger was being hand walked by Natalie and she layed down and rolled.  She stayed down for a minute to just rest and while she was down, her pasture buddy, Ernie Drives A Lexus, came over to check on her.  They really like each other and Ginger just let Victoria rub on her and groom her.  Some people like mares and some do not.  I love mares because at the soul, they care about their herd mates.  They are also capable of incredible tenderness.  I see it with the way they care for their babies and I see it when they care for each other.  Not a day goes by when I am not touched by their tenderness. 

New shoes for Ginger

Today our farrier reshod Sugar Cookie.  He took notes, studied surgical videos and measured angles.  He used a different shoe, special pads, gel cushion and a special trim.  The nerve block she was given the other day did not make much difference.  She was still sore during the process but she got through it.  We noticed an improvement in her walk last night and this morning.  The hope is this will continue to provide her with some relief through the foaling process and afterwards.  Her due date is February 23rd.

Last night I went out to the barn and brushed her.  She is the definition of an "in your pocket" mare.  She just wants attention and a rub under her chin and along her throat latch.  When you do this she wraps her head around you and lays her muzzle on your outside shoulder.  She's more of a pet at this point than a brood mare.

We are supposed to only hand-walk her because her hoof wall on the bad foot is very fragile.  In fact, a portion the size of a quarter literally fell off during the shoeing process.  What is happening is the circulation in her foot has been compromised by the pulling on the coffin bone by the deep digital flexor tendon.  I am told and I have read that the laminae that connect the bone to the hoof wall are being pulled away and that is what is making the hoof wall fragile.  So I am going to try to walk her around the house and maybe around the neighborhood.  We did this years ago when "A Pretty Sensation" was recovering from her first colic surgery.  The neighbors are used to us doing this and often they will come out and pet the horse, take pictures and so on.

I wish I knew what caused all of these problems for Ginger.  I blame myself and I blame fate but really, there is no one to blame.  We've raised a lot of horses here at Painted Plantation and we have reached the point where we do a good job.  So as a breeder you just have to accept the fact that sometimes, there is nothing you can do.  Sometimes these things just happen.  You get over the disappointment and frustration by looking at the cute week old filly in the next stall.  You bring up old win photos of horses that you've bred and sold to others.  You look at the ribbons and trophies in the barn and the house.  You think about the people that you've supported and the work they've put in by helping to raise and care for the horses.

And then you move on.

The next step

Ginger was given a nerve block in her left front leg today.  Our vet consulted with two other vets and between them they agreed on the medication and dosage to administer.  I can’t tell you how many times I marvel at the effort veterinarians put in to do best by our animals.  I also admire their courage.  They demonstrate it by admitting they want a second opinion.  I respect that because in my profession I do the same thing.  No professional knows everything.  It is instead the true professional that parks their ego and seeks the opinions of others and then thoughtfully comes to a conclusion.

I also spoke to our farrier, who is coming out tomorrow to reshoe her.  He also consulted with another farrier and they discussed past therapies and strategies and then they came up with a plan.  He had to drive to Ohio to get the necessary shoes for tomorrow.  Between the nerve block and a dose of bute in the morning she should be comfortable enough for the work on her feet.

In the meantime she is happy today and bickered for her food.   Onward and upward.

No Hoof No Horse

We had Ginger's front feet x-rayed today to compare them to the x-rays that were done in August 2018.  Before you see the x-rays let me give you a little history on her condition.

Ginger was two and was being prepped for sale at one of the national horse show sales.  She is a sweet mare, is remarkably beautiful and has very strong blood lines.  We thought she'd bring a high dollar at the sale.  Prior to the sale she started to show some signs of soreness on her left front foot.  A vet was called and recommended that we authorize check ligament surgery on her left front leg to increase the flex in that foot and to relieve some of the stress being caused to her coffin bone.  We took her out of the sale and we authorized the surgery.  After six months of time off and rehab, including time at a therapy center, she was doing better and we decided to put her in training to see what we had.  At first the training went well but Ginger kept developing abcesses in her left front hoof.  A vet was called to treat her and he recommended the usual treatment, time off, soaking, rest, etc. Eventually it became clear there was more going on in that foot.  X-rays were taken and it was determined the coffin bone was rotating downward.  We brought her home and began a program of therapeutic shoeing with our farrier.  This included pads with wedges, special shoes, leg rubbing with liniment to relieve the strain on the ligaments and tendons, and a few other things.  Eventually, she got to be reasonably sound and was able to resume just being a horse.  She was never going to be a rider but she could be a broodmare, she was only 4, she had so many positives including beauty, bloodlines, and kindness that we wanted to try to breed her.  Last year, we bred her to a double registered stallion named Iresistible Sudden by A Sudden Impulse.  He had produced several big winners and his bloodlines crossed well on her.

We were aware that the added weight of the pregnancy would have to be watched.  There would be a balancing act between giving her the necessary energy to allow the baby to develop but not make her fat.  To accomplish that, we've chosen just a ration balancer grain, with very low levels of starch and a good quality timothy, orchard grass and alfalfa hay.  Until the 9th month of her pregnancy, there were very few days that she was too sore to go out.  She always had a slight limp but she would run and play and some days she would act perfectly normal.

Beginning in the 9th month of her pregnancy she became increasingly sore.  The fetus was obviously growing rapidly and her belly began to get wider.  The added weight was enough to make her uncomfortable.  Plus, the hormones, the soreness from just carrying a baby and the lack of energy has made her less than happy.  She is still kind but just kind of grumpy.  Our vet has been out to look at her multiple times and so has our farrier.  It was suggested that we try bute and give her omperezole to reduce the risk of ulcers.  It was also suggested that we try Soft Ride boots to relieve some pain on the sole of her feet.  These therapies have helped but have not eliminated the problem.

The x-ray below is today's image of her left front foot.  The plan now is to adminsiter a temporary nerve block to get her through the delivery.  Our farrier and another farrier are consulting each other on additional shoeing techniques through the remainder of her pregnancy.  After she delivers, we will administer plasma to the foal to help build up the immune system and the foal's strength.  Soon thereafter, we will take them both to an equine surgeon in Indiana and they will operate on her deep digital flexor tendon, which should allow the coffin bone the ability to have less "pull" and possibly rotate back slightly, which would relieve her pain.  This surgery can be done with local anesthesia so that she won't have to be separated from her foal.  This is a long ordeal and it is nerve wracking but it is my responsibility.  I bred her mother to bring her into the world and she is my responsibility to care for.  This will be the only time she carries a baby.  If we breed her in the future, and that's a pretty big if at this point, we will do embryo transfers.

Like I always tell people, breeding and raising horses is not for the faint of heart.

Caring for our injured mare Ginger during her pregnancy

Our mare Sugar Cookie, known as Ginger, is due to have a foal on February 23, 2019.  She also has a bad foot, her left front.  She has foundered on that foot, twice.  She's had surgery on her check ligament and on her flexor tendon but neither worked.  As she gets closer to delivering her foal, she gets more and more lame.  I am going to chronicle everything we do to keep her as comfortable as possible until she delivers the baby.

Friday our vet was out to check on our newest foal and we had her check out Ginger.  She had x-rayed her foot in August and used that information to provide guidance to our farrier.  After the examine, she said she wants to do another set of x-rays because she is worried the foot is worse than it was in August.  She'll be out tomorrow.  In the meantime, she and our farrier had a conversation about the foot and they will converse again after the x-rays.

Today we put on Soft Ride boots to help relieve some of the pain.  Ginger has also been getting 2 grams of bute a day for about a week.  I've also been giving her omeprazole to keep her stomach from becoming irritated.  Ginger hates getting these medications.  Watching a horse you love experience pain is hard.  Especially one that is as good natured as this horse is.  She is also at that point in her pregnancy where she is uncomfortable.

This is going to be a long seven weeks.

A Never Ending Commitment

A Never Ending Commitment 

1918
This was the year my two grandfathers sailed across the ocean from Malta, a very small European country, and landed at Ellis Island for immigration processing. Both men were 18 years old and recently married. Both of their brides who were only 16 had to stay in Malta. Neither of their families would allow them to travel to America until their husbands could support them.

Traveling was hard. They both stayed in small below deck quarters on small ships. It was a ten day trip in those days. It was hot, dirty, smelly and cramped. They were each sponsored for entry into the U.S. by family and friends. Back then you couldn't just cross the border and become a citizen. There were limits on the number of immigrants because the existing population wanted to protect their jobs and their way of life.
After they were processed my grandfathers lived with family and friends in New York before they both moved to Detroit seeking jobs in the auto factories. Neither man spoke much English. They had very few skills. They were willing and desperate for work as they sought to build lives for themselves. One got hired by Ford and the other by Chrysler. Their work was hard. They toiled every day in loud, dangerous and dirty factories. OSHA or union rights did not exist back then. There was no such thing as paid vacations, personal or sick days. These men of just eighteen years toiled and saved. They saved enough money to each buy a house. They bought homes in the Maltese neighborhood in Detroit, near the old Tigers Stadium.

After ten years and many letters and testimonials to their brides families they were able to bring their wives to America. I can't imagine how afraid my grandmothers were. They were leaving their families and friends and moving half way around the world to live in a country that they knew very little about. They were totally dependent on their husbands and they really barely knew them. After all they were married when they were just teenagers. My grandfathers didn't know what to expect either. They married girls and now they were women with lives that had evolved without them. Both families were reunited in 1928. The next year The Great Depression came.

The next ten years heaped unimaginable stress and anxiety on these two young couples. They struggled for whatever work was available. One shoveled coal to make up for lost work at the factory. One of my grandmothers cooked for my grandfathers factory foreman just so he would select my grandfather for whatever work was available. Being good Catholic families, each couple had children during this time. Their children were born at home at first. Doctors came after the fact.

It took more than a decade for the economy to improve. And then the whole world was at war.

These two couples were now just I their late thirties. I'm sure there were times when they fought and argued. They must have thought at times how awful their lot in life was. Each one must have wondered to themselves “is this all there is”. Yet they persevered. They sought the better life that they had dreamed of. They took joy in the growth and success of their children. They relished time with their families and the came to realize what they had built together would leave a legacy that was far greater than material success. Each family raised children that served in the military, that went to college, that raised successful families of their own.

I am proud of my grandparents and they are among my greatest heroes. When I see friends struggling with relationships I think of these four people and the dedication they had to one another.

Pam and I are celebrating our 39th wedding anniversary today and I will always be grateful for the role models they were for us.

The Four Horsemen and The Red Rooster -- My Introduction To Texas

We had purchased a few horses from a breeder in Indiana and we had some success and a lot of fun.  They say that success makes you want more success and that was the case with us.  My trainer and I did a lot of research on the APHA horses that were winning and it became pretty clear that most of the horses that were winning the large national shows were coming from Texas.  They were bigger, stronger and better movers than the horses we were buying.   Or so it seemed.  I've since come to learn that great horses come from all over the country but I was still learning.

Anyway, we decided to go on a horse shopping trip to Texas.  My trainer had some connections with other trainers and he was able to make appointments for us to visit farms in Texas.  I was excited and looked at this trip as a guys weekend, similar to a golf weekend.  Recently, I had been to Pinehurst with 11 other friends and we had a spectacular long weekend.  We played great courses, ate good food, stayed up too late playing cards and drinking beer and we just got to relax.  This was my vision for this trip.

Our trip started out a little rough because our plane was late.  We left on a Thursday night, after I got done with work.  Our flight was supposed to leave at 6:30 pm and it didn't leave until almost 8:00 pm, which meant we wouldn't get to Dallas/Fort Worth airport until 9:30 pm Central time.  When we arrived at the airport, we went straight to the car rental counter where our car was waiting.  We hopped in and drove straight to our destination, The Four Horsemen Motel.

For those of you from the Pilot Point, Texas area, you'll know this motel.  Not being from there I wasn't sure what to expect.  My trainer, who made the arrangements, assured me that it was a good place and his friend, a farm manager that he had once worked for, was able to get us a good rate.  We pulled into the parking lot around 10:30 pm and stopped at the office.  We walked in to the somewhat disheveled office and there were two friendly ladies who were closing up for the night, literally.  I asked if they had our reservation and they said yes.  One of the ladies offered us each a cookie and since neither of us had eaten dinner, we gladly accepted.  I asked them what they would have done if we didn't get there by the time they left and closed the office.  One of the ladies said to me, "Sweetie, we would of just left the key under the mat outside with a note on the window."  Obviously we weren't in Detroit any more!  Back home this would have been a good way to get robbed.   Since I hadn't been called "Sweetie" in a long time, I was little disarmed and just nodded politely, took our keys, one for each of our separate rooms and walked to the door.  The other lady said the room with the bigger key is a suite and my trainer offered for me to take that room and he took the other.  We drove to the back of the hotel where our rooms were, it was pitch black outside so you couldn't see much with the dimly lit door lights being the only light to guide us.  We agree to clean up for a minute and then meet at the car in ten minutes to get something to eat.

I have traveled often in my life.  I have been in every state East of the Mississippi River and most of the states west.  I have stayed in some of the finest hotels and in some of the dumpiest.  Once I stayed at a place in New York City where I was greeted at the door to the hotel by a group of hookers asking if I had any drugs for sale.  That was kind of eye opening!  It wasn't like staying at the Plaza, which was a spectacular experience by the way.  Another time we traveled to Richmond, Virginia and the hotel had an alligator in the fountain in the lobby.  Well back to the Four Horseman.  I walked into the suite, which was very clean but obviously very old.  I was used to staring at cottage cheese ceilings, but never have I seen cottage cheese walls before.  And they were painted with what can only be described as operating room gloss white paint.  When I turned the lights on that room was so bright I think really think you could have seen well enough to do surgery!  The carpet was sort of a blue color and the bed spread with kind of a green and orange paisley.  I set my bag on the bed and it kind of bounced for a few minutes.  This was going to be interesting.  I unpacked my belonging and placed them in the drawers of the dresser that looked identical to the one I had in my bedroom growing up.  I knew my parents had given that bedroom set away when I went off to college so I never thought I'd see ever see it again.  Who knew!

I walked into the bathroom to wash up and the cottage cheese/bright white theme continued.  I looked in the mirror and could see every whisker on my face with a clarity that I'd never experienced before. I splashed some water on my face and turned to grab a towel when I realized there was one purple towel and one orange towel.  These towels were clean and you could still smell the bleach that they had been washed with.  Not only that but they were stiff as a board.  Seriously, I took one off the rack and it stayed folded and upright, as if to allow me to stand it up on two feet with the fold in the middle.  Again the bathroom was very clean so I thought to myself that its only for the weekend and I can make this work.  We aren't going to be in the room for very long anyway.  Plus its a suite so I can sit down for a few minutes in the other room and relax before we go and eat.

I go to the other room and there is a small sofa, which was very worn, facing a tv with a dial.  Even fifteen years ago, most television sets had abandoned dial tunings and were remotely controlled.  But even more interesting was this television had a rabbit ear antenna, which I hadn't seen since we were in college.  I turned it on and it took a minute for the tv to "warm up" and the picture to stabilize.  I cranked the dial around to see what channels were available, there were only two that came in so that made choosing less complicated.  I selected the channel that had a football game on and I went to sit on the sofa.  I went straight to the floor.  Picture me with my shoes on the floor, my knees bent so that my shins were pointed toward the ceiling and my rear end sitting on the floor with only the thinnest of cushions and the remnants of a spring between me and the floor.  It was pointless to call the front desk because the ladies that gave us a cookie and called me "Sweetie" had surely left by now.  I struggled to get up and just sat on the bed for a few minutes before going outside to wait for my trainer.  He soon came out and he said there probably isn't any place around here that's open other than the Red Rooster, which is on the same property.  Let's just go there and have a drink and relax and then we can get up early and have a big breakfast and start our search, he suggested.  I agreed since eating at 11:00 pm is never a good thing for me.

In we walk to the Red Rooster!  The Red Rooster is sort of a bar/honky tonk/meeting place all rolled up into one.  We sit at the bar and there are two, three foot tall plastic drink holders like you see with those blue drinks that people get in Vegas.  Instead of a blue concoction these were filled with goldfish crackers about half way up.  I noticed people would just grab the containers and pour our a handful and just eat them.  There was no silverware or napkins to be seen so I assumed this was all there was going to be to snack on.  The two ladies who were behind the bar were very busy.  The place was packed because it was Karaoke night.  More on that later!

After a minute one of the bar tenders approached.  She was probably as old as I was but she clearly had spent a lot of time in the sun because her face had that weathered look to it that you get from too much sun exposure.  She also had a cigarette dangling from her mouth with an ash that was at least one inch long.  Without taking the cigarette out of her mouth and without loosing the ash she said, "What do you want to drink Sweetie?"  Twice in one night, hmmm!  I asked what do you have?  She obviously knew at that moment that I was not a local and she told me in a somewhat, "What in the world is this guy doing here" sort of way that they had whiskey and beer.  Great I said.  What kind of beer?  Coors and Lonestar, she responded.  I'll have a Coors.  My trainer had a Lonestar.  Now he was more appropriately dressed because he had his hat and boots on so he fit in a little better than I did.  I tried to just sit there and drink my beer and just relax.

I said to my trainer that this place is really loud.  He said it's all concrete.  I hadn't noticed when we walked in but he was right.  The walls were concrete, the ceiling was concrete and the floors were concrete.  There wasn't a stitch of carpet anywhere in sight.  At the back of the building was the Karaoke stage and one person after the other took the microphone and attempted to impress the crowd.  I noticed the crowd was a mixture of just about every kind of person you could image.  As I look back on it I'm reminded of the Toby Keith song, "I Love This Bar," because this place had everyone of those characters.  There was a policeman who had gotten off work, there was an Indian wearing more turquoise jewelry than I had ever seen, there were cowboys and farm hands, there were girls looking for a date, some not looking for a date and some selling a date, if you know what I mean.  As I was halfway through my second bottle of Coors I noticed the biggest man in the place stand up and approach the microphone.  This man was at least 6' 5" tall and he had to weigh well over 300 pounds.  He was broad shouldered and had massive arms.  You could see his shoulders and arms clearly because he was not wearing a shirt.  Instead he was wearing green bib overalls and a John Deere ball cap.  The next few minutes were, to this day, some of the most surreal I have ever experienced.

I anticipated that this guy would attempt to sing a Waylon Jennings song or maybe a Merle Haggard tune.  On second thought, maybe he's going to sing something by George Jones.  The noise level in the place dropped a bit as people noticed he was moving to the stage.  He'd obviously been here before and people were paying attention so I thought this should be interesting.  The sound had been reverberating throughout the building all night and my ears could not really take another bad song sung by someone that couldn't hold a tune.  Karaoke can be bad but when the sound ricochets around a concrete building that echoes like he Grand Canyon no amount of beer is going to sooth that sound. So I was hopeful that this wouldn't be bad.  The music track started up and it sounded familiar but not at all what I was expecting.

John Travolta was popular in Texas because he had done Urban Cowboy and the movie had been a big hit a few years before.  I've been told that many of his movies became sort of cult classics in Texas after this movie came out.  Apparently, the guy in the green overalls was a fan of John Travolta's work in Saturday Night Fever and saw himself as Travolta's character Tony.  The soundtrack playing was that of the Bee Gees singing Staying Alive only without Barry Gibbs.  All I could think was this guy is never going to be able to sing those high notes to this soundtrack, this is going to be awful.  Let's just say I was shocked.  The guy could carry the tune and singing in what was obviously a falsetto voice, he managed to hit most of the notes and stayed reasonably close to the correct key.  As he sang, most of the girls with dates, paid for or not, and their guys were up on the dance floor.  I asked the off duty cop, who was now standing next to me at the bar, if this guy is a regular.  The cop said he's here every night and he has a regular following.  He also said he'll sing all kinds of songs and everybody seems to enjoy it.  The cop asked where I was from and what I was doing in the area.  I told him we were on a horse shopping trip and he said there were a lot of nice ranches nearby and we should find what we were looking for.  I asked the bar tender, who was now smoking a new cigarette, to bring the cop a beer and me the check.  I settled the tab and we left to go back to the room and get some sleep.

On this trip we went to fix or six ranches and we probably rode twenty or twenty five horses.  We couldn't agree on anything so we didn't buy anything that weekend.  I don't even remember what horses we rode or what ranches we went to, but to this day, I still remember the Four Horsemen Motel and the Red Rooster Honky Tonk like it was yesterday.  And so went my first real horse buying trip to Texas.