Not-So-Speedy Dressage

Abscess Update

2/21/2020

I don't have great news, but Speedy is showing improvement. But first, are you that equestrian that gets excited about poop? Or pee? If not, you probably don't want to read any further ...

I DO get excited about poop. It all floats my boat - big piles, round piles, greenish brown piles. I don't like liquid poop or lone poop balls though. Those mean trouble. I also like pee, and it's even more exciting when it's pale yellow and gushing. Coffee colored, or worse, tinged red, are obvious signs of bad pee. Not of fan of that either.

So when I give you Speedy's abscess update, you'll recognize why I am so happy. Last night, he was still lame, and even more lame than on the days before. I wasn't particularly worried as that's the nature of an abscess. Even so, I dragged out my trusty bucket-o'tools and set to work.

I am ready for more of this.

I peeled off the old wrap and gave the hole I had dug a visual exam. Nothing new caught my eye. I poked at the hole with a hoof pick and got a "HEY! - THAT HURTS." Alrighty then. When it still hurts like that, the abscess hasn't yet drained out.

With a quick swipe of my hoof knife, I was able to remove just enough foot that pus finally leaked out. I love pus as much as I love poop. Since Speedy DID NOT want me to use the knife again, I gently squeezed his coronary band, hoof wall, and even the sole of his foot and was rewarded with even more pus. Oh, hallelujah.

Knowing he wasn't going to like it, I urged Speedy to take a deep breath. Before he could blink, I gave one more flick of the knife. Blood surged out of the hole, carrying with it whatever infection had been stewing in his hoof.

Mildly graphic photo below.

When blood makes you smile!

I rewrapped Speedy's hoof with another Betadine wrap which will work on killing any lingering infection while also hardening his sole. He and Izzy are scheduled to see Dr. Tolley tomorrow for fecals, dentals, vaccinations, bloodwork (for Speedy), and an all over wellness check. My fingers are crossed that Dr. Tolley gives the abscess the all clear.

Poop, pee, pus, and blood ... I've got to get a new hobby.

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Flying Solo!

2/20/2020

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This past weekend was definitely a difficult one. Sorry to be so melancholy about the whole thing. It's not like anybody died. Yet. The Cushing's Disease combined with the abscesses and Speedy's insistence on getting old too fast have really forced me to contemplate his eventual passing. It wasn't a conversation I was ready to have.

The first week we met, 2007.

I never stay angry for long. Or sad. Or bitter. I move on. After riding Izzy three days in a row out in the neighborhood and out on the old golf course, I decided to do something even more productive. After three months of owning Newt, my new truck, I still hadn't hauled either horse anywhere. Instead of hauling Speedy to a show, I decided to take Izzy to Hart Park on Monday. Alone. It would be the first time to take him somewhere where there wouldn't be any horses to greet him.

Horseman's Barn Staging Area

Izzy has been to the barn at Hart Park more than several times. My friend Kathy and I like going there. The parking is good, there are water faucets, the shade in the summer is much appreciated, but best of all, there is excellent access to trails. I've taken Speedy there by himself many times, but I'd never felt that Izzy was reliable enough to handle the trip alone. You never know until you try though.

Not completely relaxed, but he was very sensible.

My plan was to ride for two hours, heading east to Lake Ming and then circling back. You can easily ride this loop as a figure eight, which is what I did. The small circle on the left side of the photo is the barn where I parked. The dotted arrow lines show the route and direction we took.

Click to enlarge.

We ended up finishing in less than two hours, but that was because I decided to trot everything that wasn't rocky or covered in asphalt. After the initial surprise of being out there all alone, Izzy settled right in. He trot when asked and came back to a walk when asked, happy to march along without any jigging.

Overlooking Lake Ming.

Izzy's done a fair amount of trail work already. I've spent every summer since I first bought him doing boot camp trail rides. This was the first time I felt confident enough to head out alone though. Did he disappoint? Nope! Instead, he handled everything like a seasoned pro.

There was no jigging, no flinching, no flying backwards. Instead, he approached each obstacle with a thinking brain. He stood politely to the side as joggers bounded by with their dogs trotting alongside. He stood calmly as ladies with strollers rolled on by. Even their toddler on a bicycle didn't phase him. I got off to drink from a drinking fountain and then pushed him alongside a park bench to remount. No big deal.

On our way back with the soccer fields ahead and the reservoirs to the right.

While he wasn't perfect, I enjoyed every minute of the ride. He stayed focused the entire time and never lost his marbles. He spooked once or twice, but they were of the gone weak in the knees sort. He was so well behaved that I rode with a pretty loose rein during all of the long trots.

About a quarter mile from the trailer, he started to plod. In the five and a half years that I've owned him, I've never really seen him tired. Relaxed yes, but not actually tired. I was glad to see him tired; that's when endurance horses really start to learn. While he's not an endurance horse, he has that same go-go-go mentality that keeps him from listening.

He still doesn't recognize "his" trailer.

Having ridden a lot of tired endurance horses, I wasn't worried about how exhausted he thought he was. I knew he was going to be just fine, but I let him plod anyway. I did find it funny that he never has been all that good with directions though.

I don't know if it's just an Arabian thing or maybe a sixth sense that endurance horses develop, but all of my Arabs have had incredibly accurate homing beacons. They all knew exactly where the trailer was at all times no matter how far out in BFE we found ourselves. We were AT the trailer, and Izzy still didn't realize he was done for the day.

An incredibly horrible selfie I took for my dad.

After a quick shower, Izzy walked right onto the trailer as though he does it every day. He unloaded just as calmly. After nipping at Speedy, taking a long pee, and grinding out a good roll in the sand, he settled in to finish his breakfast without ever wondering why I had made him work so hard.

Sometimes, I kind of like that he's more brawn than brain.

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Everything You Never Wanted to Know About Abscesses

2/19/2020

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We didn't go to this weekend's show at El Sueno because Speedy developed an abscess overnight. I am sure they don't actually develop overnight, but it has sure seemed that way. At best count, Speedy has now had 6 abscesses in 12 months. Before last February, he had never had a single one.

I suppose I should be grateful. It's far better to know what causes a lameness rather than not knowing for sure. After his abscess in August, I invested in hoof testers and a hoof knife. I've put them to good use. I've grown quite good at locating an abscess and digging it out. And not just Speedy's. All of the ranch's horses are now under my watchful eye. I treated the Thoroughbred mare's abscess last month.

It's sort of sad that I have to keep an abscess bucket.

The scariest thing about abscesses is how they present themselves. If your horse shows up looking like his leg must be broken, take a deep breath. If there are no lacerations or marks, your incredibly lame horse probably has a hoof abscess. The painful foot might also show some heat and swelling.

Before freaking out, I always pull out my hoof testers; this is the pair I bought. As a side note, these are really easy for a woman to handle while still being very accurate. I always start on one side of the hoof near the heal, and start squeezing my way around the toe back to the other heal. You almost can't squeeze too hard. I squeeze until I see the sole flex. The best way to learn how to use hoof testers is to try them out on a sound horse so that you know how hard you need to squeeze before you get a reaction.

Left front hoof, outside bar.

Speedy tested positive on the outside bar. Once I know where it hurts, I start scraping with my hoof knife. The one I bought is sharp enough that I can dig down through the sole as far as I feel safe digging. It's also double sided so I can scrape to the left or right.

The first thing I try to find is the abscess track, marked by the red arrow in the photo above. The track is the path that the grain took as it entered and migrated up into the hoof. Once I find that, I just keep digging deeper and deeper until I either see pus, which is rare, or more commonly, Speedy starts to get really "ouchy." That means I am nearly there. The red circle marks the hole I dug.

Getting close to drawing blood.

The reason I don't like to dig too deeply is that the larger the hole, the longer it takes to fill in. Even though I wanted the satisfaction of "draining" the abscess, I stopped digging when I saw that I was approaching blood. You can tell that the white of the sole is starting to turn pink. Speedy was also in a lot of pain. Simply opening up the sole, even if you don't go all the way, makes it easier for the abscess to drain. I knew that by applying a poultice, the sole would soften up enough to allow whatever particle had made it's way up into the hoof to drain out.

My arsenal: scissors, Numotizine, telfa pad, brown gauze, vet wrap, and duct tape.

The poultice I prefer is Numotizine. The Numotizine seems to soften the sole, drawing out the infection. Sometimes I can get away with just poulticing without even using a hoof knife. And the good thing is that you can't hurt the hoof by poulticing it for a few days.

Numotizine and telfa pad

I like to scoop out the Numotizine with a telfa pad. Numotizine stinks, and it's hard to get off your hands. By applying it with a telfa pad, it also provides an additional barrier for when the duct tape and vet wrap inevitably wear off, like in the photo below. Underneath the torn duct tape, the brown gauze and telfa pad were still firmly adhered to the hole in Speedy's sole.

In need of a new wrap.

While it's not necessary, I like to wrap with brown gauze before wrapping with the adhesive bandage. The brown gauze holds the telfa pad in place, and really, with horses that live in turn out like Speedy, your bandage needs all the layers it can get. If your horse is in a lot of pain, you can also use the brown gauze to wrap cotton sheeting over the Numotizine to help relieve the pressure of standing on an abscess.

Brown gauze - just wrap it around a few times. It doesn't have to be pretty.

Once the brown gauze is in place, I continue with the adhesive bandage. Any brand will do. At any given time, I have Co-flex, Vet Wrap, or a brand I've never heard of filling my bucket. I generally only use half to three-fourths of a roll.

I always choose blue.

The last step is probably the most important. If your duct tape isn't secure, the whole thing will fall off and have served no useful purpose. I like to apply the duct tape like a bandage. I wrap it around and around the hoof first. After I've covered most of the hoof, I switch to strips. I layer them across the bottom of the hoof going eat to west, and then I repeat that step laying them north and south. The bottom of the wrap is the part that wears through the quickest which is why I like layering the duct tape in a criss cross pattern.

You can just make out that the duct tape runs north and south as well as east and west.

I like to leave the poultice on for three days. The first wrap made it from Friday morning through Sunday morning, only 48 hours. On Saturday, Speedy was still quite lame, but on Sunday morning he was sound at the walk and 95% sound at the trot on the grass. Even so, I repeated the poultice. I've learned that while the horse may look sound, things aren't quite healed up. And besides, poulticing a few extra days won't do any harm.

NOT BLOOD. Gauze soaked in Betadine solution.

Once I feel that the acute phase of the abscess has passed, I rewrap the hoof in the same way except that I substitute a telfa pad soaked in Betadine for the Numotizine. The Betadine helps kill the infection while the hole slowly closes up.

Last night, Speedy was once again lame, but I am pretty sure it was because his foot was just soft and tender from the Numotizine. With the new wrap in place, he walked off sounder than when I had jogged him out completely barefoot. Besides killing the infection, the Betadine also hardens the foot back up.

Both horses are going to the vet on Saturday for their annul work up. Dr. Tolley will be able to assess the state of the abscess then. My fingers are crossed that Speedy is sound by then.

Today is just another day ...

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A Change of Scenery

2/18/2020

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Before I write today's post, I would like to thank the many riders who reached out to me privately yesterday. It meant a lot that so many of you took the time to commiserate or just offer a virtual hug. I wish I could say I am over it and moving on, but I am not there yet. If anything, I feel even more pressure to get that bronze medal for Speedy. I know it's sounds selfish, but I really need the world to see how amazing my little Arabian really is. Big sigh ...

Seeing that Speedy was lame with my own eyes literally knocked the wind out of me. After confirming that it was yet another abscess, I wanted to just get back in my truck and go home. I wanted to grab the remote control and stare blindly at the TV for the rest of the day. But I didn't.

Instead, I started unloading my truck. I did it sluggishly, without the enthusiasm of the afternoon before. I figured that once everything was back in its place, I could then go home and find the remote. But again, I didn't. I moved on to the trailer, unloading my tack and the rest of Speedy's weekend wear. I kept thinking about the TV remote as I fought back angry tears.

When everything was hanging in its place or back on its shelf, I paused in the warm sunshine and contemplated what I should do for the rest of the day. It seemed such a waste to park myself in front of the TV, but I knew I wasn't in a healthy frame of mind to give Izzy a good schooling ride. More than any horse I've ever owned, Izzy reads my emotions and responds in kind. It makes him very anxious if I am not present and mentally centered.

Then I remembered my monthly goal of getting Izzy off the property at least twice a month. We were half-way through the month, and I hadn't even thought about going anywhere. Feeling angry was actually just the right attitude I needed to leave the property. Normally, I don't have the energy to deal with his away from home anxiety. With anger and resentment running through my veins, I needed to fight something. Izzy's anxiety was the perfect opponent. I saddled up.

Goal met and exceeded.

Since I hadn't planned on riding, I was wearing jeans and tennis shoes. I didn't care, I kicked off my tennies and slipped into my muck boots. I grabbed Izzy's correction bit and sent him walking down the driveway.

That ride was just what we both needed. Over the past few weeks, Izzy had gotten so far behind my leg that every ride had become a battle between crazy and lazy. I just couldn't get him stepping up to the bridle, and when i did, it was balls to the wall with no softness or give. Heading out of the arena gave him a reason to go forward without me needing to kick, kick, kick.

Haner farm on the left.

For three days I repeated the same ride. I varied the loop just a bit, but each ride took us past the ducks and turkeys of the Haner farm and then out onto the old golf course. The third day we walked by, Izzy was very stoic about Tom turkey's gobbles. He gave him the stink eye, but he marched past without all of the theatrics of the days before.

Mostly empty right now, but soon the cages will be filled with pigs and young turkeys.

The "golf course," now a field that is just kept mowed, is the perfect place for a big gallop. Usually I ask Izzy to keep his marbles in his head and just canter politely. That first day out on the course, I got in two point and let him just blast around. For 15 minutes. I rode it like it was a cross country course. We didn't jump anything, but we galloped all of it - the little hills, through the trees, and even over the old greens.

The "greens" are covered with some kind of synthetic turf.

The second day, Izzy knew what was up so I checked in with him a lot more frequently asking for bigger half halts. We still galloped, but I added a lot more changes of direction and pushed him through the narrow openings between the trees.

We circled in and out of this grove.

Its hard to see the undulating nature of the old course, but it made for some fun obstacles. Sometimes we galloped the rim of the hills, and other times, we blasted straight down them. I used the shape of the land to school simple changes of lead. Galloping from the grass straight onto the turf of the greens showed real courage on Izzy's part. I know I had fun, and I am pretty sure Izzy enjoyed the change of pace.

While I am still bitterly disappointed about the weekend, I managed to be productive and give Izzy some much needed time out of the arena. I can't change what is, but I can try and cope with a bit more grace. I am not going to apologize or feel remorseful for my initial outburst of rage, but I am going to try and get back on a more even keel.

Both Speedy and Izzy need that from me.

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Bitterness

2/17/2020

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I didn't really say a whole lot about it, but Speedy and I were supposed to go to a two-day USDF show this past weekend. We didn't go. The trailer was loaded. The truck was loaded. As I was pulling out of the driveway heading to the ranch to hook up, I saw a missed call from the ranch owner. Speedy was lame.

I am very much a glass half full, find the silver lining, make lemonade sort of girl. After hearing that Speedy was lame, I shrieked. I cursed. I cursed at God. I tried to cry, but the tears wouldn't fall. I thought I might vomit. I wanted to. Instead, the anger just burned and seethed in the very pit of my gut. There was no silver lining. The disappointment turned to a deep bitterness that enveloped me, squeezing me until I thought I would suffocate.

I tried to find a rational explanation for my anger. It was just a show. There will be others. There will always be others...

But what if there aren't'?

And that's when I understood my anger. Speedy isn't a machine. He won't be my partner forever. And in all likelihood, he won't be my partner for much longer. His Cushing's Disease, despite my best efforts, will progress. I will be faced with painful decisions. Decisions that I am already making in my head. I can't let my heart make them. I can't even open my heart because the second I try to, the tears fill my eyes, threatening to fall and fall and fall.

Speedy and I aren't done. There is so much more that I need from him. For him. This Bronze Medal that is so close, it's for him, not me. Speedy doesn't owe me a single thing; it's I who owe him.

Just one more show. Please.

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Some Interesting Numbers

2/14/2020

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As a rider, I pretty much know where we struggle and where we do well. Speedy loves long lines but is less enthusiastic about bending. His trot work is better than his canter work. Even though I know this, I wanted to take a look at it statistically to see if I was right.

June show 2019

While I use Excel, Pages, and Google Sheets daily, my needs are only about entering data for charts and tables like who has turned in which assignment, who was tardy, and whose 100-meter time was fastest. Producing statistical data isn't something I usually do. However, we just started using a piece of software at work that creates a matrix of student scores and percentages.

When I give a particular test, I can see a spreadsheet of who answered the question correctly (or incorrectly), but more helpful is that I can now see the percentage of kids collectively who answered a particular question correctly or incorrectly. This data shows me where we're doing well as a group, or conversely, where I need to reteach.

A second June show 2019.

I decided to use that same matrix to see where my own strengths and weaknesses at Third Level really are. For my spreadsheet, I entered every score from every Third Level test that I rode last year. There were 16 tests from CDS and USDF shows which gave me what I felt was a decent data set. I rode 3-1 eight times, 3-2 three times, and 3-3 five times.

July show 2019.

Entering the data gave me what I wanted to know. Patterns started to emerge immediately. Even though I knew where we are weak - flying change to the right, I also started to see where we are strong - our final halt and salute. Patterns weren't enough though. I wanted to see hard data that showed exactly how weak or strong we really were. I needed my husband for that.

A second July show 2019.

My husband is the comptroller for a large company, so he works with spreadsheets all day long. Once my data was entered, we sat down and discussed what exactly I wanted to know and why. With just a few key strokes, my husband helped me enter the formulas that I needed. The first thing I saw was that we do well at our first enter and halt. Our average score is a 6.63. In fact of the twenty-six movements for which I entered data, we scored a 6.0 or higher on exactly half of them, thirteen.

Click to zoom.

Of the remaining thirteen movements, we scored 5.1 to 5.9 on ten of them and 4.5 to 4.8 on the other three. Those are the movements I need to work on, and we have. Our three weakest movements have been the flying change from left to right (4.81), canter half pass right (4.56), and canter half pass left (4.75).

Click to zoom.

While we have earned some 60% and above final scores, five of them actually, our average at Third Level is 58.84%. We're really close to that 60% threshold. For me, that's my benchmark. I know others need mid-60s and even 70s to feel successful, but for me, earning those 60% scores tells me we're getting it. In fact, on the majority of the Third Level movements (except for nine), we've earned a 7.0 or better. I just need to pull it all together at the same time.

October show 2019.

I'll get three chances this weekend. We're showing 3-1 and 3-3 on Saturday and 3-1 on Sunday. It looks so much easier on paper.

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From Floor Mat to Polar Bear

2/13/2020

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I have a white horse. I am grateful that Speedy is such a diva because otherwise, I don't think I could live with a white horse in winter. Even though he avoids mud and poop, Speedy's very long coat still gets pretty stained and coarse.

With a show just days away, I was really worrying about how to make him at least somewhat show presentable. And then the weather gods smiled from above and gave us a Saturday filled with warm sunshine and highs in the 60s. My mission was to turn my grimy floor mat into a fluffy polar bear.

I know he doesn't look that dirty, but he was.

Speedy wasn't too happy about it as the water was pretty cold, but he got a through bath with bubbles. The only thing I left dirty was his face. As I hosed and scrubbed, dirty water flowed from his coat rinse after rinse. I am sure I could have kept scrubbing, but at some point I decided he was clean enough, especially since the show was still a week away.

Post bath and nearly dry.

I covered him with a fleece cooler and set him free in the yard. It took the better part of an hour for him to dry off, but he looked and smelled so much better. In the sunlight, it almost hurt my eyes to look at his coat; it was so white.

We'll be in the Ventura area for the show, and the weather there is predicted to be warm and mild for this weekend. Speedy will get another bath tomorrow where he'll hopefully come out looking less like a carpet and more like a fluffy show pony.

Maybe we'll blind the judge a little during the half pass, and he won't see our trailing haunches.

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My Second "Job"

2/12/2020

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Horses are expensive. I've written about that extensively here, here, and here. And as we all know, it's not just horses; mortgages, cars, groceries, shampoo ... they're all expensive, especially if you live a First World existence. To make ends meet, I teach fifth grade.

My classroom.

In all honesty, my salary is a good one, and my health benefits are second to none. My salary isn't exactly consummate with my level of education though. But whose is? The 49ers quarterback, Jimmy Garoppolo, signed a five-year contract worth a guaranteed 137.5 million. Dollars. My husband earned his B.S. and now makes twice what I do. Neither of them has taken more classes than I have. I clearly should have learned to play a sport or review banking contracts as pay both better than what teachers make.

Feeding horses or cake for classroom parties?

Since I don't make 27.5 million a year like Garoppolo, I've had to figure out ways to either stretch the dollars I do earn or find a way to earn a few more. One thing I could stop doing is spending so much on my classroom. Just this month I've spent $100 on classroom rewards and parties. That's my feed bill for the month. But since no teacher ever chose this career because she wanted to get rich, I've had to find other ways to subsidize my salary. One way I've done that is with detention.

I can't actually show the detention kids. You know, laws and such.

Our Parent Club pays for someone to monitor students during our lunch time recess. Our kids go to lunch at 12:00 and spend up to 30 minutes getting their lunch trays and eating. As a side note, my district provides our schools with pretty good lunches, including a legit salad bar. Beginning at about 12:20, kids who have finished can head out to the playground for recess until 1:00. Kids who have been assigned detention get to line up to eat first, but then they sit at a table in the back of the cafeteria. The detention teacher picks them up at 12:30 and walks them back to his or her room where they miss lunch recess.

My time card sits on a window sill behind something else, so it gets pretty warped as I wait to fill it up.

I earn about $15 dollars each time I monitor detention which is every Friday and Monday. It's not much, and it's not exactly fun dealing with the naughty kids who get assigned detention, but I remind myself that it's paying for Speedy's Prascend - his prescription to control his Cushing's Disease. Over the years, I've used the money I earn monitoring detention to pay for shows, boots, vet bills, and a host of other things.

Detention for pills.

I am about a third of the way through what it will take to pay for Speedy's next box of Prascend. Each box of 160 tablets costs me $342.02. A full time card will generally cover that cost and maybe leave me with enough money for lunch.

Will work for drug money is my new motto.

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Hoof Drama

2/11/2020

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On Thursday afternoon, I clipped a lot of Speedy's fetlock hair in preparation for this weekend's upcoming show. I spent a lot of time looking at his feet while I hacked away at all those feathers. Afterwards, I gave him a pretty good work out. The next afternoon, while doing my daily "check," I saw this.

How in the world?

I groaned out loud, and my stomach rolled unpleasantly. I needed a second pair of eyes, so I immediately texted the ranch owner. She came out and looked at it with me. It was definitely not there the afternoon before, and in fact, it looked old. We both stood there poking it and tossing out ideas. Maybe he ... He could have ... What if he ... Neither of us had ever seen anything like it.

I jogged him out. He was sound. I carved at it with a hoof pick. It collapsed in a bit more. All the while, Speedy stood there half asleep, occasionally checking for treats as I rested his hoof on my thigh. Nothing I did elicited any kind of pin response, and Speedy's not particularly stoic.

Our best diagnosis was that it might have been an old abscess that never surfaced. That didn't ring true though as he hadn't been unsound. And with Speedy, abscesses have hurt enough to make him really lame. Our other thought was that he whacked it some time ago, forming a bruise. It could also be something completely different. Whatever it was, we surmised that during our ride the day before, his hoof must have flexed enough to weaken the damaged part of the hoof which then flaked away.

Internet image.

My most immediate concern was that the hole might be deep enough to have gone through the hoof wall into the sensitive lamina. As we studied Speedy's hoof, we did some very rudimentary measurements and determined that the hole was probably still within the horn of the hoof. Just to be on the safe side, I flushed the hole with Betadine solution which would help reduce the risk of infection. It was just after 5:00 which meant my vet's office was closed for the day. Since Speedy wasn't in any pain, I decided to wait until the next morning before calling the vet.

The next day.

The next morning, the hole looked less ragged. I decided to ride before calling the vet. I wanted to see if I felt anything that was Not Quite Right (NQR). We had a great ride, and the next day, Speedy gave me the best third Level work he's ever done.

Needless to say, I haven't called the vet yet. It seems that whatever it was, it resolved itself long ago, and today I am just looking at the remnants. My farrier is due in early March. I'll let him tell me what he thinks it was.

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How Does He Do it?

2/10/2020

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You know that by "he" I must be talking about Izzy. I am not one for too many gizmos and gadgets, but I am this close to buying a "baby cam" so that I can watch what the big brown horse does all day.

I know there is a lot of this.

I know for sure that he does at least three things: eat, poop, and nap. He probably does more pooping than anything else. I wish someone could convince him to do it in one neat pile like Speedy does. Izzy is the most indiscriminate pooper I have ever met. He poops wherever he's standing which is usually in his hay pile which means his hay is always mixed in with his poop. Just gross, Dude!

Cone, Jolly ball, and Big Blue Barrel.

The other thing he does is fling stuff at Speedy. He has a variety of things that he likes to pick up and throw, so I hope he's not actually hitting Speedy with any of them. On any given day, his traffic cone and purple jolly ball are on Speedy's side of the fence. His big blue barrel, which you can see is still on his side, also gets a lot of attention. It's never in the same place, and fortunately, it has proven too cumbersome for him to toss over the fence. I bet he has tried though.

He's a lot like Yellow Dog, our youngest lab. She grabs any toy that she thinks will entice us to play with her and gleefully tries to shove it in our hands or faces, whichever is most convenient. I am assuming that Izzy does the same thing to Speedy. He would be in HEAVEN if Speedy were to actually grab something and play tug of war. That will never happen; Speedy would be aghast to put something dirty in his mouth.

This thing.

None of Izzy's shenanigans bother me too much except for that black feed pan. It's supposed to live in his hay feeder so that I can pour in his beet pulp slurry without it getting dumped all over the ground. It doesn't matter what day it is or what the weather has been, that feed pan is always, always somewhere else. Most days, it's at the far end of his field on Speedy's side which is a good 50 feet away. I am desperate to know whether he carries it down there in one go, or does he drop it along the way only to pick it up and continue on his journey.

One of these day I just might catch him in the act!

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About the
Writer & Rider

I am a lifetime rider.
I began endurance riding in 1996 where I ultimately completed five, one-day 100 mile races, the 200-mile Death Valley Encounter, and numerous other 50, 65, and 75 mile races. I began showing dressage in 2010.
Welcome to my dressage journey.

Photo by Lori Ovanessian

Email Karen

About Speedy G

Speedy went from endurance horse to dressage horse. We're currently showing Third Level for the 2019 show season. Speedy is a 2004, 15'1 hand, purebred Arabian gelding. His Arabian Horse Registry name is G Ima Starr FA.

August 2018

About Izzy

Izzy was started as a four-year old and then spent the next 18 months in pasture growing up. I bought him as a six-year old, and together, we are schooling and showing at the lower levels. He is a 2008, 16'3 hand warmblood gelding. His Rheinland Pfalz-saar International (RPSI) name is Imperioso.

March 2019

Bakersfield Dressage approved!

FOR THE SMALLER EQUINE ATHLETE

I love her stuff!

National Awards

USDF Second Level Rider Performance Award - 2018

2nd Level Rider Performance, 2018

USDF First Level Rider Performance Award - 2015

1st Level Rider Performance, 2015

USDF Training Level Rider Performance Award - 2013

Training Level Rider Performance, 2013

State Awards

CDS Ruby Rider Award - 2018
CDS Second Level Horse Performance Award - 2018

Ruby Rider Award, 2018

2020 Show Season

Show Rating
(***) CDS/USDF/USEF
(*) CDS
(s) Schooling
(c) Clinic
(r) Ride-a-Test Clinic
(Q) Must Qualify

2020 Pending …
3/7-8 El Sueno (***)
3/22 Fresno (***)
4/11-12 El Sueno (***)
4/26 TMC (*)
5/9-10 El Sueno (***)
5/31 TMC (*)
6/13-14 El Sueno (***)
6/28 TMC (*)
7/11-12 El Sueno (***)
7/26 TMC (*)
8/8-9 RAAC (Q)
8/30 TMC (*)
10/24-25 SCEC (***)

2020 Completed …
10/26-27/19 SCEC (***)

Qualifying Scores for 2020

Regional Adult Amateur Competition (RAAC)
3rd Level Qualifying
3 Scores/2 Judges:
Score 1: 60.405% Atkins
Score 2: 62.432% Atkins
Score 3:

CDS Championship
3rd Level Qualifying
5 Scores/4 Judges:
Score 1: 60.405% Atkins
Score 2: 62.432% Atkins
Score 3:
Score 4:
Score 5:

Working Towards:

CDS 3rd Level Horse Performance Award
3 Judges/3 Shows:
Score 1: 63.514% Lindholm
Score 2: 62.105% Lindholm
Score 3: 63.243% Wadeborn
Score 4: 60.405% Atkins
Score 5: 62.432% Atkins
Score 6:

CDS Sapphire Rider Award
Third Level: 63.514%
Third Level: 62.105%
Fourth Level:
Fourth Level:

USDF Bronze Medal
First Level - 70.179%
First Level - 72.600%
Second Level - 62.879%
Second Level - 61.970%
Third Level - 62.432%
Third Level -

Abscess Update

Flying Solo!

Everything You Never Wanted to Know About Abscesses

A Change of Scenery

Bitterness

Some Interesting Numbers

From Floor Mat to Polar Bear

My Second "Job"

Hoof Drama

How Does He Do it?

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About Izzy

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