Pinto show this weekend

Got to the show quick. Trailer all hooked up and ready for bed tonight. Maddie is already on her horse working with her awesome trainer. Mommy is at Costco getting pizzas. Great start to this weekend .

Pinworms what are they?

Showing horses doesn’t start in the arena it is a 24/7 commitment to yourself and you horse.  This includes exercise, nutrition and proper health maintenance. 

Within the last few weeks I have noticed a large amount of horses coming down with pinworms.  I know nothing about pinworms other than just the thought really grosses me out.  I decided I needed to educate myself on these yucky little creatures in order to possibly prevent our Indie from getting them. 

Here’s what I learned:

Pinworms have the most efficient life cycle of all the parasites that infect the horse. They don't migrate through any organ tissue, and they have developed a means of reproduction by which the eggs don't leave the herd of horses.

While the horse is relaxed or sleeping, female pinworms crawl out of the horse's rectum, deposit eggs and a sticky substance on the perianal region of the horse, and crawl back into the rectum. Infective pinworm eggs are ingested orally and, once in the colon, the larvae develop through various stages before becoming sexually mature in about five months. As horses migrate, they take the eggs and adults with them.

About the only damage that pinworms cause is itching of the tail head. This annoys the horse but doesn't threaten its life. Because pinworms spend their entire lives in the lumen of the intestine and don't migrate, they cause very little physical damage to the horse. Horses can have massive pinworm infections without exhibiting significant health problems.

To treat pinworms you will need to find a wormer with the active ingredients such as ivermectin, moxidectin, oxibendazole, pyrantel pamoate, pyrantel tartrate and fenbendazole.

To get an idea of what pinworms look like see the images below.

 

 

Humans cannot get pinworms, though you can spread them from horse to horse without proper washing.  Wash, wash, wash your hands as well as any other it items you have used between horses.  I currently have all my brushes in a bucket of bleach water soaking.  You don’t need to panic by all means just be aware of cross contamination.

A great article on pinworms can be found at:

http://www.parksidevets.com/news/article/54/Pinworms-in-horses.html

 

**I am not a veterinarian and all information I provided was taken from different web sites and books. If you believe your horse could have pinworms or any other health concerns always contact your veterinarian.

Getting those winter blankets clean and ready to store for summer

As winter is coming to an end we are all putting our winter blankets away and bring out our spring sheets.  We are thinking about getting them clean and how to store them until next year.  There are so many options for cleaning and storing blankets.  Me being a thrifty mom wants to get the biggest bang for my buck so I started doing some research on the easiest way to wash a horse blankets.  You’d be amazed at the different ideas on washing blankets.  Some take them in to professionals, others wash at home, some just brush off the dirt and shake out the hair.  There are also others that have different ideas on whether to use at home laundry soap or to get expensive stuff from the tack store.

With all these different ideas out there I wanted to give everyone a chance to decide for themselves.  Below are a few articles I found on this subject.  Some just make sense.  Obviously fabric softeners can cause irrigation to your horse skin.  Also if it’s not dry when you go to store it for the summer it will rot.  But I didn’t think about how soap can break down the waterproofing on a blanket.  I’d be curious to know if this is true.

 

http://www.petplace.com/horses/how-to-clean-horse-blankets/page1.aspx

http://www.beginninghorsemanship.com/?page_id=384

 

Now for how I do it (please note I hum the Mission Impossible song the entire time):

How to wash a horse blanket Summer style...

Step 1:

Wad messy muddy blanket into a ball of ick, put in back of my car.

Step 2:

Drive by laundry mat... scope out any witnesses.

Step 3:

Drive by again. Drop off  Maddie who will load the supersized industrial washer with needed coins.

Step 4:

Park, unload icky wad of smelly horse blanket... run to said washer and stuff it in. Have Maddie standing at doorway ready to fake an illness if spotted.

Step 5:

Hit Start, make sure it locks... and run back to car, go for 30 minute coffee.

Step 6:

Arrive 5 minutes before washer finishes. Have Maddie at car/doorway opening back of car.

Step 7: Once it finalizes the last Spin and unlocks... Grab damp blanket and run like hell! Stuff it in the car and DRIVE!

Step 8: Take blanket home, Toss over fence to dry in sunlight.

Giving Andis Clippers away while supporting a passion of mine!

I wrote a post on the Horse Showing Mom facebook page yesterday about how using positive reinforcement as a trainer can make a youth rider excel in their riding abilities.  I received so much feed back to support this way of training.  There was one though that stood out to me.  It opened my mind and heart to a whole new way of applying this idea to riding.  The message was below:

“Horse rehab for cancer patients:

 
Healing Reins is a national accredited horse-centered therapy program in Central Oregon.

The program helps more than 100 riders a week including those suffering with autism, traumatic brain injuries to even at-risk youth.

Now, add cancer patients.

The High Hopes Cancer Survivor Program started six months ago, through St. Charles-Bend.

The program helps patients who are six months to a year into their recovery.

The program has six riders this term, teaching them the basic level of grooming to riding.

"It's really exciting, because this program can help everybody," said Polly Cohen, Healing Reins program director. "Men, women, young kids -- even older adults can help by being in this program."

The 8-week session costs the program about $240 per rider. But for these riders, it's all free.

It's a way for the program to give back to the community, staff members say -- especially since just about all of us have been affected by someone with cancer.

If you would like to help contribute to the High Hopes program, you can donate by calling Healing Reins at 541-382-9410. Learn more about the programs of Healing Reins at http://www.healingreins.org/”

I was so selfishly thinking about my daughters experience while riding and I never thought about those whose lives are changed every day just by getting on a horse, touching them, caring for them, loving them.

Since I started my blog I have never said 100% I believe in this, but I will say I 100% believe in what these people are doing.  Because I do believe in what they are doing I am dedicating an awesome giveaway to help support them.  Andis sent me some pretty nice cordless clipper.  I will be giving these to one reader who sends a donation to this program.  It doesn’t have to be big.  If you can only do a dollar that’s ok.  For that dollar donation you can not only help make a difference in someone’s life giving them the opportunity to ride like we do, but you are have an opportunity to win the Andis Super AGR+ Professional Rechargeable Animal Clippers with Sensa-Charge. 

Here’s how to be entered to win:

1.)   Send your donation to:

Healing Reins Therapeutic Riding Center
60575 Billadeau Road, Bend, Oregon 97702

2.)   Either comment on the blog page under comments, email me at horseshowingmom.com or comment on the Horse Showing Mom facebook page.  Just let me know you did it.  (It’s the honors system.  No proof needed)

That’s it.  It’s that simple!

I will be closing the giveaway in one week.  It will run from 4/21/13- 4/28/13.

 

**I do not know the individuals who run this organization and the person who contacted me is not affiliated with them.  I hope someday they will allow me to spend some time working with them and to give them all hugs thanking them for what they are doing.  Prayers of thanks for the folks at Healing Reins Therapeutic Riding Center.**

How to get the white, white!!

I had the opportunity to speak with the founder and owner of Luck Braids.  I found Ruthann Smith to have a true passion for making your horse show at his very best through a proper grooming regiment.  Her knowledge was very in depth.  She gained this knowledge though extensive research on her products and by using them on the show ring.

As many of you have seen our Indie is a very white boy.  Keeping him white is a challenge.  When looking though the Lucky Braid website I found an article I think was written just for us.   It outlines exactly what to do to maintain you white and grey horses. 

Here's a link to the article:

http://luckybraids.com/edu/WhiteLies.pdf

We could learn something from our horses

I was at the barn last night helping Maddie get Indie ready to ride. One of the other boarders came in looking very sad. I asked her what was wrong and she told me she had just lost her daughter. She was 36 years old. How difficult it must be to lose your child at such a young age. She had come to the barn to hug her daughters horse. Its amazing how our horses can bring such comfort in our times of need. He was just eating his hay, but just his presents meant everything to her. Maybe we can learn from our horses. When someone is hurting we don't need to say anything we just need to be there.

It's Q and A time. Let me find the answers to all your horse questions

My blog has primarily been about my questions, but I bet there are questions out there I haven't even thought about.  So what are your biggest horse questions?  What have you learned recently you know others would benefit from.  No questions are to big or small and remember like we have all been taught no question is a dumb question.

Some examples could be:

What bridle to use for what riding discipline?
How to pick the perfect horse for your needs?
Feeding to get the best from you horse?
Breeding to get a potential winner?
How to save money when spending money on your horse?
Why all the bling when showing?
How to get the biggest bang for your buck when buying a trailer?

You know whats so cool about my blog and reaching out with social media. Myself and all of you have hundreds of thousands of expects at our finger tips who all love their horses and want to see each one of us be our best. These are been there done that people.

What do you want to learn?  I'll take all the questions and dedicate a post to each of them over the next few weeks until we get all your horse questions answered.