Ponies, Ponies, Everywhere!

Sorry for the delay updating this - life is almost back to what passes as normal around here and we'll get all caught up shortly!

After an overnight in Vancouver, we were ready for the 6 hour drive to Ginger's summer camp aka Carrick Welsh Cobs.

I'm so lucky to have G in my life. Even after so many years together, we can make each other laugh to the point of tears over the most ridiculous things. This sign in a rest stop washroom being case in point: 'Do Not Drink'

"But I'm so, so, thirsty!" Do they seriously have a problem with people drinking out of the toilets here?

We arrived to a warm welcome at the farm just before dinner. I was immediately rounded up to head out for a surprise trail ride so they could show me the area. I was so excited to ride another Section D! I was given the cutest little buckskin mare. She's about 14.1hh, and rides a bit like a little sports car. I thought that the difference in height would be a bit for me to get used to, but she felt really similar physically to Ginger under saddle so I immediately felt at home riding her. She also had the same forward walk and giant, powerful canter as Ginger. The only difference was the trot - Ginger's is more level, while I could feel this girl has a little more knee and hock action. I wanted to take her home with me! We did a quick tour through some rolling fields up to the bottom of a vineyard, then returned back for an amazing dinner. Welsh people are seriously nice! Sadly, no pictures of the ride since I was caught of guard and didn't even think to bring my phone.

After dinner, we met all the ponies. The mares all live together in a large field and came running up to the fence to compete for our attention. Like the farm owners, the ponies were seriously friendly :) The mares vary in size : I'll hazard a guess and say the smallest is around 14hh, but she's only three years old, so room to grow. She's a little bay mare and I want to bring her home with Ginger. The tallest is about 15.1hh and by strange coincidence is Ginger's grandma! Ginger wasn't bred by this particular farm, so it was a surprise to see a relative there. Grandma Meg is a beautiful black mare and has the same funny giant lower lip as Ginger. Too cute! I'm pretty sure Ginger is going to be very happy at the farm living with Grandma and the other mares. They have lovely big pastures and a more natural life style than can be found on the coast.

Hangin' in the pasture - Ginger's soon to be herdmates

Grandma Meg courtesy of Google images

Meg again, thanks to Google. My pictures unfortunately didn't turn out all that well and don't do the girls justice

I want to bring this girl home. Dreamhorse Sale Ad

Or maybe this one.  Old Ad Here - not sure if she's still for sale, but lots of eye candy pics there!

One last picture before we left. The buckskin in the back was my riding buddy, and also the dam of the mare in the picture immediately above this one.

Next up, we visited the geldings. They're both little chestnut cuties and one in particular reminds me of CobJockey's Connor:

 

Here's a more glamorous shot of him I found via Google:

 

There's also a gorgeous gelding who was (I think) bred to be a Sec B, but he grew to 14.2hh!! He's amazing and looks like a mini warmblood - not cobby at all but so, so classy. He loves to jump and it sounds like he's been cleaning up at competitions. He's for sale and you know you want him! Sorry, link to ad is old, but gives you an idea: Awesome Jumper Pony


One last thing I really need to mention. All the cobs at this farm seemed so level headed! Only being familiar with Ginger, I never thought I'd go to a farm of Welsh D's and have the owner be wavering between three or four completely safe and sane cobs for their guest to ride. I'm impressed with her breeding program - all the horses at the farm seem to be really nice all purpose types with good minds. Of course, we started talking suitable studs for Ginger ;) G was worried I was going to sign her up for a date, but I'd hate to be without my riding horse next spring and the logistics of having a foal would also have to wait until we have a larger property. There`s also the tiny fact that I`m not sure its something I`d even really want to do - you hear so many horror stories of breeding or foaling gone wrong I`m not sure I`d sleep for 11 months! :)

Update soon...

It's been a hectic trip but we've finally made it here. I've found a place to rent and Ginger got delivered to her new home this morning - a complete surprise to all involved including myself. Long story and worthy of it's own blog post. We visited the welsh cob farm and had a blast, and also managed to get to a horse expo this weekend. I'll update everything in detail soon, for now I just need to sleep...

On Our Way

We're on the ferry heading to Vancouver and there were just hundreds of dolphins leaping alongside playing in the wake of the ferry. So cool, it's made my day. Hard to explain, but it sort of makes me feel like this is a lucky day and lifts me up a little after being a bit sad to leave home ( and Ginger! ) this morning.

Tomorrow...off to Welsh Cob land in the interior of BC! I don't need another one...right?

Playing Tourist

I started out the day feeling very lazy and sleepy. Then the sun came out and I was magically energized! Today is my last full day here to do as I please. I don't leave until Wednesday, but Monday and Tuesday are scheduled full trying to finish the never ending bathroom renos! Ginger is going to leave on Thursday or Friday, so unfortunately we won't get to see her settled in to her temporary home :( We do still have a visit there scheduled Wednesday and I look forward to showing you lots of Welsh Cobs. This breeder has a few beauties, and some are for sale if anyone is looking...

I finished planting the garden this morning. Gardening is one of my favorite things so it's a little bittersweet this year - by the time I get back home the garden will be long done. Still, an excellent way to spend the morning. It's horse related too because Ginger supplies all the compost!

We then headed up to the barn and said hi to Ginger. We were going to take Ginger for a good hike, but unfortunately there was a bit of drama at the barn (not involving me, thank goodness) so I opted to just head out and enjoy the day rather than take a chance on spending part of my last 'free' day with negativity.

We went for a last hike up one of our mountains. I have no idea what the real name of it is, so I just call it 'Death Mountain', because I feel like dying by the time I puff my way to the top. It's gorgeous, but sadly it's too steep and rocky to get a horse up the trail.

'Death Mountain' south/west facing views:

Not sure I would trust Ginger near the drop off :)

North views:

 

Following that, we went for dinner at a little village up the coast from us. It's a cute little ex fishing village that now bases most of it's income off the summertime yachting crowd that comes up from the US. View from our dinner table:

Then, my favorite part of the day (particularly with the barn drama this morning). We went for a drive in our favorite rural neighbourhood and took a closer look at a hobby farm we're sort of interested in. It's got a cute little log house and about 6 acres of nice land - more than enough for Ginger :) No pics because I don't want to jinx anything!

Finally, an ice cream on our deck, enjoying the sunset:

Sorry it's not an overly horsey related post, but I thought you might enjoy the scenery considering in less than a week you'll be back to seeing pictures like this :



Typical Sask view - pretty exciting stuff hey? ;)

This one was sort of cute, though!



Happy Belated Birthday, Ginger!

I'm spending today organizing the various bits of paperwork I need in order to move provinces with a minimal amount of hassle. Wouldn't you know, in my folder of important papers, I found Ginger's registration. It seems we missed her birthday on April 3rd!  It's OK though, because it seems at least 3 other birthdays have also gone mysteriously missing since she's still convinced she's a 2 year old ;) I'll have to throw a few extra birthday parties for her this year in hopes of tricking her into thinking she's older and much more mature.

So, Happy 6th Birthday, Ginger. And Happy Early 8th Birthday, Lainey (before I forget!)

I made them pose in birthday hats last year for G's B-Day - the fun never stops ;)

Lainey's sale is still not final, so we'll celebrate her birthday as well. Besides, everyone loves birthdays, right?

 

 

 

Pictures

Since I've been boring everyone with super wordy posts, I thought it might be time to go the opposite direction and give you a 'picture post'.

These are from today. I wish the lighting was better - perfect for all those Twilight type movies they love to shoot around here, not so great for taking pics of your horse with an iPhone.

Western jog imitation

Ok, I'll trot if you insist.

Half hearted attempt to canter - pony is very very lazy today

Are we done yet?

Let's get out of here

Happily visiting her mini friend

Random dog sitting on our front steps to greet me when I got home. Luckily his owner came and got him - our last dog was a chocolate lab and we might have been tempted to keep this one!

Hoping for a mini trail ride with a friend tomorrow - it'd be nice to end this rotten spring with a couple of fun rides before we head out.

Vet Visit Redux

I hope this isn't too boring of a post - this recap is more for me to refer back to when I start to wonder just what it was the vet said or the test results came back as :)

Favorite vet showed up today to give Ginny her spring shots so she's all prepped and safe to move to her summer camp. I got totally paranoid and she had the regular 5 way plus the West Nile and Strangles vaccines as well.  He's impressed with how much better she's looking and even had our long awaited test results in hand!

The results came back normal, except for the selenium, which if memory serves me right, is in the normal range at 12-24 and hers is at 11. He's recommended supplementing her, because even though the result is technically very close to normal, he finds most horses showing signs of general soreness  improve with supplementation even when the results come back as a low normal. In his experience, some horses may naturally need to be on the higher side of normal to feel really good and will need to be supplemented all the time, while others do just fine without for their entire lives.  He's not thinking she's ulcer-y (is that a word?) since she's not over reactive to the touch anymore, has picked up a good bit of weight and her coat is looking much improved from the last time when he did her teeth.

The good news is that the grass/hay in the interior of the province is not deficient in selenium, so he's said she should be fine while she's there, particularly as she'll be on vacation. When we come back here, I'm to go ahead and give her a normal mineral supplement with selenium and we'll retest next spring. Thinking ahead, my other option could be to buy my winter hay from the interior and bring it back with her it she's doing well on it.

I feel bad for not supplementing her with the special selenium blend from the start - I've never had a problem with just hay and a regular ration balancer so I guess I didn't see any reason to change.

Since she's feeling better after the little break she's had I'm fine to get back to riding her lightly, just been advised not to overdo it as she will be inclined to get more stiff/sore than 'normal' until we get her selenium levels up.

The hauler has a couple of openings on her trip next week, so Ginny may very well be moved before we drive through the area. It would be nice if that were the case, I know it will give me a lot of peace of mind to see her all settled in in person.

After Ginny's visit, the vet did some work on one of her barn buddies. (I'm a total geek and find this stuff interesting, so stop reading now if you're a normal person and equine dental work isn't on your list of afternoon blog reading must-haves.)

Mr. Chilly the Paint Pony has the biggest parrot mouth I have ever seen hiding in that cute little face. It's funny, because if you look at him from the side, you really wouldn't guess. Once you open his mouth, though, WOW. I guess when the barn owner took him in last year apparently he was skin and bones because his teeth were in such a state he could barely eat. Since he's still on the younger side (3?) the vet has been able to do some pretty significant work and Chilly's teeth have been growing in much better. He actually had to grind down his bottom incisors and remove some teeth to prevent them from growing into his palate (ouch!) Ditto for his top incisors, they just don't wear normally since they don't meet his bottom teeth at all. His mouth is also super crooked from left to right and his top and bottom molars don't line up that way either so again, some serious work was involved removing some teeth and grinding others down that he can only partially use. The vet said that if Chilly was a person, an orthodontic surgeon would "just" break his jaw and reset it. Double ouch! It's amazing to me that he packs a bit around quite happily - it can't possibly be sitting level in there. Today was just a maintenance visit - it's going to be super interesting to see where he is in another 6 months time. He's fat and happy these days, so it would appear his dental regime is working for him. He's lucky he's landed in a really good place (and is just generally such a good boy that everyone loves him).



Random pic of the day. Ginny has become kind of the barn mascot - we let her wander around the barn and mow the 'lawn' while I'm busy if the barn is quiet. The horsey part of the farm has a perimeter fence so she's always safe, but she always stays within eyesight of me and comes back when I call her. So cute. She's a smarty pants Welsh so she probably knows her special privileges would be revoked if she ran around acting like a dummy visiting the other horses or made me hike to the bottom of the property to find her ;)

Don't worry, I take the lead rope off when she's unattended- I was originally trying to get her to pose nicely by holding the leadrope in one hand and taking an iPhone pic with the other. For the record, it doesn't work.

Spa Day

I've been avoiding dealing with the crazy Welsh Cob mane Ginger is blessed with. I thought it might look nice longer...or so I told everyone to try to justify my laziness.

She's got such a pretty head and neck it's really not overly flattering when I let that super thick mane hide them -she instantly looks like she's got a short, thick neck. Since she has a looong back, I'd especially like to avoid having her neck look uber short.

She also continues to shed like crazy. I give her a good grooming about every second day, and for the last couple of weeks, I swear I comb out more dead hair each time than Lainey sheds in an entire season.

She has four white socks, and it's April on the Wet Coast. Never a good thing.

I finally had to break down and stage an intervention on myself. Today, it was time to stop procrastinating and get Ginger looking like the beautiful girl she is.

Too ashamed of her mane and general state of filth to face the camera:



I have no self esteem left and must comfort eat

 

I have to give Cowboy Magic Green Spot Remover a rave review. It says on the bottle to just spray it on and rub it in. Since I'm allergic to just about everything leaving products on Ginger makes me nervous. I usually hose her legs off after a minute or so. The stuff still works amazingly well - her feathers were all full of clay dirt and it got that right out and left her legs sparkling. I usually run a plastic mane comb through after, but with the Cowboy Magic, there was no need - it must have a detangler in it as well. I'd highly recommend it to anyone looking for a quick way to get their horse presentable.

Insta-white!

 I literally spent an hour and a half just on her mane before my patience was up. Still a long way to go, but a definite improvement:

Pull my mane all you like...there's more where that came from.

 She's still pretty fuzzy, but at least it's a kind-of-under-control-fuzzy now. I'm loving the dark bay she is now, but it's going to be short lived. You can probably see on her face and flanks where her real summer coat is coming in and it looks to be fairly light in color this year. Like many welsh, she started off life as a pale chestnut kind of color, with a silver mane and tail. Then, when she was about 2 or so, her legs, mane, and tail started growing in black and her body got more of a deep bay color. She's actually registered as a chestnut, but she sure looks bay! It's always interesting to see what color she sheds out to in the spring.

A few randoms of Ginny enjoying the day, and the new grass:

First World Problems

I have to start off by saying I appreciate the comments on my recent posts (well, all of them really, but the more recent ones the most!) I've never put this blog 'out there' or advertised it at all - it was just meant as a fun diary for me to refer back to, particularly as Ginny and I were going from full training to the 'wilderness' of the BC coast and no coaching at all. I figured I'd need some training notes and ideas to refer to now and again - and boy, did I ever! It's such an unexpected treat that there are others out there sharing this blog with me and posting such helpful and supportive comments.

I posted yesterday right after getting off the phone with the vet. I was panicking over just what I was going to do with Ginger - I've committed to a contract starting May 1st in Alberta and am scheduled to leave here somewhere around the 24th or 25th of this month. Ginger was supposed to come with me and I was really excited to get back to regular training and lessons and to hit a few shows. I didn't really consider that we wouldn't have a handle on vet treatment by then, or that the 3+ day trailer ride might not be a smart choice for a horse who isn't feeling 100%. Or that the barn in Alberta is for lessons and training - they prefer not to board if you're not actively part of the lesson/training program.

After venting on this blog and to poor G, I'm feeling much more positive. Talk about first world problems. "My pony is sort-of-kind-of not feeling perfect. Yes, she's happy and looks pretty good. Yes, I'm pretty sure it's something non life threatening. BUT...***sobbing*** I have to leave for work! I might not be able to ride her! I may not be able to bring her with me! She'll just be 'wasting time' in a big pasture with her old friends and excellent care!" Tragic, hey :) ? I needed a serious reality check. Besides, she's only turning 6 this year, so it's not like we need to be in a rush.

It's incredible just what a big part of my life Ginger has managed to take over in the one and a half years I've owned her. G teases me that I will miss Ginger more than him, and some days there might be some truth to that ;)

So the plan for now is to send her to her breeder's in a couple of weeks or so - it's worked out that some horses at the current barn need to go to a nearby town, so we're going to luck out and all be able to share the costs of the ride. Ginger's next door buddy Curly (of the super curly shedding hair) is going along with the rest, so she'll have a good friend to keep her happy on the trip :) We'll re-evaluate things in a month or two - she may still make the journey out to live with me for a few months - if not, I'll pick her up in the fall on my way back out to the coast. If we miss out on the Alberta experience, I do have a really great contact in Vancouver who can provide us with a working student/training type situation for a month or so once I'm finished my current contract. This could be the perfect set of circumstances to take her up on her offer and give me something to really look forward to.

If you're curious, here's a map of where we're heading. A = current location. B= Ginger's temporary home. C= Where I work. Total distance A to C = 1624 km/1009 miles (plus 2 ferry rides).

Frustration

I gave in and called the vet this morning. Turns out they're also wondering where their test results are! The receptionist kindly called the lab who, it turns out, sent everything to Washington state and are expecting the results in two MORE weeks. I feel really really sorry for all the people waiting for more important results than me - I know I'm beyond frustrated so I can't imagine how upsetting it would be if you were waiting for results of a more life or death type test. It's pretty unacceptable even for me since the vet is back over here on the 16th and won't have any results to work off of. I will be leaving the following week for Alberta so I'm not really sure what to do at this point. I'll have him look her over again and do her spring shots, but I'm not pleased to be paying a $100 call fee just for that. I'm not prepared to wait until mid May for him to visit again (besides the fact that I won't be here) but I'm also apprehensive about putting her on a long trailer ride when something is obviously not right with her. I'm leaning more and more towards the shorter ride to her breeder's and letting her have the summer off out at pasture. They have a good vet who will do farm calls there too. I hate that I won't be there, but it's unlikely I would be able to take a day off to attend vet appointments in Alberta either - I usually have to let the barn manager handle it.

 It's funny, if Ginger had a definitive diagnosis requiring time off, I'd be disappointed but accepting. Since I feel like we should have been able to get to the bottom of things by now, I'm resentful and upset not only about the lack of treatment, but that it might be an easy fix and we've been put on hold anyways. Selfish, I know -in the grand scheme of things a summer isn't the end of the world and giving her time off can only help.

I sure wish there were more equine vets in the world. I always thought it was just where I live now, but after travelling a bit for work, I'm finding they're sort of a rare breed. Even in Alberta, the 'good' vet is a 2 hr drive away in Edmonton. I'm grateful we do at least have an excellent one that visits us here every month or so.

The good news is that Ginger continues to look better - her coat is shiny and healthy and her weight is already at an acceptable level. Obviously her teeth were bothering her - can I be frustrated again with the vet that looked at them/floated them last time and apparently missed the back left corner of her mouth? I'm still concerned by how sensitive her back, flanks and girth area are although my thoroughly unscientific poking may indicate she's feeling a little less sore. I'm not sure whether the lack of topline and muscling over her hindquarters are soley due to decreased exercise. She still appears slightly tucked up, but she's eating and drinking very well. I've been giving her a ration balancer, beet pulp, and alfalfa, as well as free choice local hay to keep her weight up. The alfalfa is intended to add calcium and soothe her tummy in case she was/is dealing with ulcers. It's also higher in protein to help those muscles out. Once we can get her out to full time pasture I think that will help as well. I'm just taking a shot in the dark with this so don't take any of this as feeding advice - I'm doing the best I can with limited resources :)

Oh My!

Someone is feeling really, really good. Still no word from the vet/lab, but I think Ms Gingersnap has done her best to convince rest of the barn she's made a full recovery.

I arrived at the barn at lunch time, like always. I grabbed the wheelbarrow and manure fork and headed to Ginger's paddock, like always. Except according to Ginger, this is the very first time she's ever seen a wheelbarrow. SUPER scary. And that manure fork? Surely I mean to stab her with it and roast her over the pits of hell? Cue wide eyed, "OMG I want to come say hi to you, mom, but that cart of death is in my way! I can't stay away, I must visit you...but that manure fork...OMG you are tossing my poo into the wheelbarrow! If it can make my poo disappear surely we're all doomed! Quick, run while I can still save you!"

Predictably, all of this is followed by a sudden desperate need to rush into her newly cleaned stall and take the longest pee ever. I've been trying to save what little dignity the poor girl has, but I think we need to mention she has this thing about peeing in her stall. I can feel her getting wiggly and uncomfortable on our rides sometimes, but she will not pee until she's back in her stall. And only I am allowed to watch. G has great fun pretending to walk away and then peeking back around the corner so she'll get to her spot and then have to hold it - really ridiculous behaviour on both their parts. I wonder what the neighbours think when I'm like "Hey, G! Stop being a perv and let Ginger pee in peace!"

After finally figuring out that the whole wheelbarrow drama was likely because she wanted to pee and the wheelbarrow was not welcome to 'watch', I let her out into the big sand round pen to burn off some steam. And did she ever! Someone has found that big bouncy canter she lost a month or two ago. If I'm critical, she still looks a bit tight through her back and hind end, but she's much improved from even a couple of weeks ago. She's still fairly sensitive to the touch, so no miracle cures here, but the break and a bit of sunshine seems to have made some difference. Let's hope the lab gets around to sending some results one of these days so we can really start to get to the bottom of things. Vet will be back visiting in a week so they'd better have the results in by then! It's beautiful here, but the isolation factor and lack of a local equine vet really stinks sometimes. I think my next post will have to be about the love/hate relationship I have with this area.