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The Florida Department of Agriculture (www.freshfromflorida.com) has issued an update today on the EHV-1 outbreak that started at HITS several days ago.

From the update: [PDF]

Five additional horses that are linked to the HITS Show in Ocala have tested positive for  EHV-1 wild type. One is located at Redfield Farm in Ocala, four are located at Miles Away Farm in Loxahatchee, Florida. One horse not believed to be linked with any of the HITS-associated quarantined premises has also been positive for EHV-1. This horse is located  at Tequestrian Farm in Wellington, Florida. None of the six new positive horses have  exhibited neurological symptoms at this time. While the additional positive horses were  detected after leaving the Showgrounds, they resided in Tent 3 and Tent 6 in proximity to  Tent 7 which housed the index case. With evidence of more widespread exposure, all of  the horses at the HITS Showgrounds have been placed under quarantine through March 14. The Division of  Animal Industry is continuing their disease investigation and developing protocols for  surveillance and quarantine release measures. An Incident Command Team comprised of  state and federal personnel is being mobilized to implement appropriate control  measures.
Quarantined Farms/Premises**

•  HITS Showgrounds, Ocala – Entire facility
•  Up Country Farm/Synergy Farm, Ocala
•  Montera Farm, Ocala
•  Flutterby Farm, Ocala
•  Foxwood Farms, Pinellas Park
•  Black Forest Farm, St. Augustine
•  Littlewood Farm, Wellington
•  Brookmore Farm, Oviedo
•  Kings Ridge Farm, Reddick

New Quarantined Premises:
• FEI Tent at Wellington Showgrounds
• Tequestrian Farm, Wellington
• Redfield Farm, Ocala
• Miles Away Farm, Loxahatchee

**The quarantines listed above do not necessarily encompass the entire premises.

As we mentioned a couple days ago, Rocking Horse Winter III HT is requiring current health certificates (within 72 hrs) or a letter from your veterinarian stating your horse is healthy and EHV-free to compete this weekend.  We encourage everyone to keep a close eye on your horses if in the Ocala area.  At this time, the Florida Department of Ag has no travel restrictions, outside of the quarantines listed above.

**Update from Rocking Horse**  7:45pm

Due to the new circumstances, we are currently meeting with all officials and contacting the state to see what is in the best interest of our equine partners. We will have a final decision on the status of Winter III tomorrow morning by 10 o’clock

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For more information on EHV-1, see this article from The Horse.com.   In most horses, EHV (“rhino”) is a respiratory illness, and can cause pregnant mares to abort.  However, it does sometimes cause neurological symptoms. EHV-1 has an incubation period of 7-14 days, before neurological symptoms may be present.  The disease presents first as a fever, so monitoring your horse’s temperature is the most important step an owner can take.  The virus is transmitted through horse-to-horse contact, but can also survive on grooming tools, buckets, trailers, and other equipment surfaces.  There is a routine vaccine available, most effective from 7 days, up to 90 days post-vaccination.  The vaccine may not prevent the neurological form of EHV, but it will likely lesson the shedding of the virus, thereby limiting the transmission of the disease to other horses.

Lesley Grant Law (wife of Leslie) is back with more animal tales from Florida.  You may remember her first blog last year, introducing us to the bugs, spiders, and gators sharing space in the sunshine state.  I’m sure we’ve all had pest problems at one time or another…but here Lesley describes it as only she can.  Thanks for writing, Lesley, and thanks for reading!

Are you seeking a working student opportunity?  Law Eventing is looking for an enthusiastic working student to join mid-late May.  Candidates must be 20 years of age or older, have some kind of performance horse work experience, own their own vehicle, be able to commit to a term of no shorter than six months, and be able to pay for their own accommodation.  In exchange they receive our equivalent of training board for themselves and their horse and the experience of getting first hand insight into the workings of a top level event yard.  Please send all inquiries to:  [email protected].

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From Lesley:

I am a terrible killer.  Ever since I was young I pretty much adored all animals with the exception of what I would consider the “standard issue unlovables:” reptiles and insects.  When I was 16 and just started to drive, I absolutely trashed my mother’s Audi when on the way to the barn one afternoon I swerved to avoid a raccoon and instead ran the Audi up alongside a barbwire fence for about 50 feet.  I got out of the car, saw the front grill/bumper on the road, the barbwire scratches all down the side, started bawling and then just left the car there and walked the final mile to the barn.  Can you imagine?  Being a parent now, I am unsure of exactly what I would do to our child if they did that.  That is part of being 16 I guess, not thinking that the raccoon probably had rabies and was about to die anyways if it was waltzing along in broad daylight and that that bumper probably cost about six grand.  Point being, ever since I was a kid, I have done my utmost to preserve animal life even if it just about cost me my own at my parents’ hands.

I tell you this so that you have some background information for my latest conundrum: mousetraps.

Every time the weather changes from hot to cold here in Florida we acquire a new tenant– a mouse.  Now my friends, who apparently are “Mouse Experts,” scoff at me as they claim that one never gets just ONE mouse.  Yet apparently we are an exception to the rule because our mice are clearly loners as I have never seen more than one in a season.  The first time it happened was last year when it got chilly and Leslie went into his sweater drawer and low and behold, every one of his four cashmere sweaters had some kind of small hole in it.  At first I thought perhaps moths? But alas no, there was poop and as far as I know, moths don’t poop.  (Not visibly at least.)  As you can well imagine, Leslie was very upset as here he was sans sweaters in the cooler weather.  Luckily for him, this happened just prior to Christmas so I was able to put in the good word to my mom who is the gifter of the sweaters.  Although in the past mom was a “one sweater gifter” to Leslie, now that he has provided her with her one and only grandson, he has moved up to “multiple-sweater” eligibility and thus he did receive more cashmere in a short period of time.  Sweater crisis solved, I still had to locate and remove said pest.

Living in the heart of bug country, we have a contract with a pest control company so I gave them a ring and told them of our problem but also explained that we had dogs and a young child so poison was out of the question.  Their solution was what they called a sticky trap that looks like a long paper teepee and has some NASA grade glue all over the bottom.  The pest guy hid these all over our house and within a few days I woke up to some very concerned squeaking and sure enough there was a tiny mouse stuck in one of these traps.  Now what?  He (I assume it was a he but certainly it could well have been a she) was very clean and sweet looking; this little grey Mickey.  I felt terrible about what I had done to him and couldn’t imagine just throwing him out to have him starve to death.  Luckily we had a new working student fresh in from Texas.  Lovely girl, I took the woeful mouse out to her and told her that one of her first duties was to cut this mouse very carefully out of the trap. She grabbed some scissors and a few other sharp objects and with time, concentration and precision she cut that little guy out of that trap and sent him on his way.  I couldn’t help thinking that with her exceptional hand/eye coordination she was most certainly wasting her time here and should be at school to be a surgeon.  Anyhoo, off this mouse went, happy as Larry, with his fancy new little white pads on his feet.  If you are ever in Florida and see a mouse with some white booties on, you will know who he is.

This season I had thought we had avoided all mouse encounters until one morning when Leslie was sitting at his computer at 5 am he noticed a mouse breaking his fast on our loaf of bread which sat on top of the fridge.  When I stumbled into the kitchen at 7am (Leslie is a morning person, I…not so much) I was greeted with, “There is a mouse eating our bread.”  I had been told, so off to task I went.  This year I felt much more prepared being an experienced mouse hunter and all.  I had left all the traps out from last year as I figured they were out of sight and it couldn’t hurt to leave them out so I just figured I would gather them all up that night and place them strategically around the bread so that if our friend got the midnight munchies he would undoubtedly have to step into a trap.  Sadly our former working student’s term had come and gone so I wasn’t sure how I was going to get the mouse out of the trap but I figured one step at a time.  I even went so far as to go to the hardware store that day and buy some extra sticky traps, different ones that were just flat larger trays so I was sure to nab Mickey before he ate too much of our bread.  That night right before bed as Leslie was washing up in the bathroom, I, with battle-planning precision, placed out my new glue trays on the top of the fridge around the bread and then skipped around the house picking up the old teepees out of their hiding places to add to the new.  One of the old traps was on the floor behind the headboard of our bed.  I had seen it out of the corner of my eye every morning for a year as I make the bed.  With face smushed up to the headboard I leaned over with arm stretched behind the bed and hooked a finger under the top of the teepee.  That is when everything went horribly wrong.

(more…)

From Lauren:

Good Tuesday to you, Eventing Nation! February is almost over and, while I can hardly believe it, the Eventing season is starting to gear back up here in Area VIII with our first recognized event (Spring Bay) barely a month away.  Hopefully this article finds you in a warm place with good footing with your spring training already well under way.  This week, questions were pretty sparse and mostly readdressed topics that this column has already covered.  So, in the spirit of last week’s article, I will offer a bit of direction on what to do once your new OTTB prospects has been found, vetted, and paid for.  Enjoy!

The miles and dollars whiled away on trips to and from the racetrack, the hours on the phone and computer pouring of race records, pedigrees, pictures, and histories, and the pacing and hand-wringing of waiting for radiographs to be read have come and gone.  You are the proud new owner of a brand-spanking new OTTB.  Oh crap, the van is on the way to your farm.  Now what?  While much caution should be exercised during the acclimation of your new OTTB to his or her surroundings, her mates, and new routine, pleasepleaseplease keep in mind that they are HORSES and not china dolls ready to shatter at a moment’s notice.  When a horse arrives to my farm fresh from the backside, there is a routine that I follow to ensure the integration into normal horse lifestyle is both smooth and stress-free.  It goes something like this:

• Have a stall bedded down for the new arrival, preferably on straw or hay but shavings will do as well.  Two full water buckets, a feed tub, and some fresh grass hay in the corner will make OhMyGodWhereAmI feel right at home.  Remember that most horses on the track are accustomed to being contained within their stalls behind something (a gate, stall guard, webbing, stall chain etc) that they can stick their heads out over. Closing them behind a full stall door without a way to poke their curious noses out to investigate passers-by may induce some claustrophobia.
• Once OhMyGodWhereAmI had made his or her off the van or trailer and into the stall, give him or her some time to settle.  There may be some frantic moments or it may be all smooth sailing and quiet snorting and slurping while munching hay.  Hopefully the latter.
• I will often leave newly-OTTBss in a stall their first night on my farm just to rule out any travel-related maladies and to allow them to become acquainted with the sights and sounds of the my barn.  All of my horses live out 24/7 unless terribly inclement weather or illness keeps them inside so I never plan to permanently house my new OTTB’s in stalls but if you plan on a 12/12 schedule this should be normal anyway.
• The first day I will usually hand walk around the area and turn out in a small, confined space, ideally a round pen or ½-acre paddock.  There will almost always be some tearing around like a moron because God only knows how long it has been since OhMyGodWhereAmI has been left to his or her own devices in a space larger than 12’x12’.  Don’t be too alarmed.  As long as your fencing is solid and the footing is pretty good, OTTBs aren’t typically a danger to themselves or others when first turned out.  I do find it helpful for the first turnout space to be small enough that they can’t travel Mach 1 right off the bat, however.
• Once OhMyGodWhereAmI has settled into a stall and experienced some turnout, my next course of action is usually to find a buddy for him or her to go out with and slowly begin the process of integrating into a herd.  Most of my herds are broken up by gender and nutritional requirements.  Here, it is important to note that you want to attempt to maintain the new OTTBs feeding schedule from the track as best you can for at least the first couple of weeks so he or she doesn’t crash and burn when they are suddenly eating 3000 fewer calories than they were last week.  Make sure to ask the seller what the horse is accustomed to receiving rations-wise.  Also, remember the OTTBs may have varying degrees of food aggression and have not had to ‘fight’ for their food.  Most OTTBs will sort of ‘pick at’ their grain much like natural grazing patterns because they have all night to eat it (and not really much else to do).
• Usually 2-5 days after arrival to my farm, I will endeavor to ride my new OTTB for the first time (the sooner the better if I have not had an opportunity to ride on the track).  As a blanket policy for every single horse that comes into my farm, I treat them as though they have never been ridden.  Every trainer that starts horses under saddle has a different method so certainly go with what you know.  At my barn, I tack the OTTB in exercise tack with a basic bridle, simply caveson/noseband, and kind loose ring or D-ring snaffle.  If you only have English jumping tack, that is fine too but understand that the average English saddle weighs about 10x that of an exercise saddle so there may be some adjustment period here.
• Perhaps 10% of OTTBs know how to lunge on a line.  You can chase most around a round pen at liberty without too much drama but don’t expect any OTTB to take too kindly to lunging on a line right off the bat.  Because of this, I tack my new OTTB’s in a stall (usually 14’x14’) and mount them in there.  If they turn left, right, and stop in good order, the next step is usually to walk up and down the barn aisle a couple of times and then head to the round pen.  Depending on the demeanor of the horse, I may or may not have someone with a shank on the horse’s head for any or all of these steps.  In most cases, however, there is zero drama and in short order I am W/T/C-ing around the outdoor ring.
• As a last note, Anti-Lock Brakes and Power Steering are probably not installed.  If you are not comfortable with that or with anything mentioned above, and even just as a good general rule of thumb, have a professional familiar with OTTBs put the first few rides on for you as sort of as a crash test dummy.

Good luck, EN readers, and if you need ANY help or enabling when it comes to OTTB hunting, shopping, viewing, or purchasing, please do not hesitate to ask ([email protected]).  Also, don’t forget to send questions about your new OTTB’s crazy habits, quirks, and neurosis to me to answer next week!  Go gallop your former racehorse so you can (very soon) GO EVENTING!

From Yvette:

Tips for Eventers Living in Itty-Bitty Apartments in the City:  The Fiscal Cliff Edition

Hey there, Eventing Nation!  Well, I don’t know about your neck of the woods, but here in the Beltway, it’s all fiscal cliff all the time…well, except for those several hours on Sunday when everyone was trying to figure out what the heck Anne Hathaway was thinking when she picked that dress for the Oscars…but I digress.  While Federal employees and contractors (including yours truly) brace for the “F” word (furlough, which although fit to print, is no less uncomfortable than the shorter word I know you were thinking about, you gutter-brains!), I can’t help but think…

“If the USEF managed to pass the one-fall rule for N and BN, surely Congress and the President can resolve their differences and get a reasonable budget in place.”

It’s time to think creatively, America!  And when Eventers think creatively, well, we find ourselves able to put three strides into a two stride with a 17.3 HH beast, muster impressive upper body strength to keep from taking an unexpected bath in the water jump, or realize that we’re okay being known as “Walmart Shopping Cart Girl” for the rest of our lives (okay, maybe that last one only applies to me).  While the many tourists who visit the DC area marvel at expanses of green space within the confines of “downtown” (well, it’s currently brown and muddy, but will be green shortly), I can’t help but look at the White House lawns, the Ellipse, heck even the National Mall, without thinking…”Dang, this would make a sickest eventing training facility!” Which leads me to this week’s tip:

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Tip for Eventers Living in Itty-Bitty Apartments in the City #30:

While it may seem like a great and lucrative fundraising opportunity, I highly suggest that you do not schedule clinics, gallop sets, or cross-country schooling opportunities on land with its own Secret Service detail because the kickball and ultimate Frisbee leagues don’t take kindly to divots on “their” playing fields, the White House staff get really snippy when you ask if you can use the South Lawn for stabling or turnout, and…well…quite frankly, you’re always going to look suspicious toting a portable chevron on the Metro.

Photo by Ivegotyourpicture.com

Thanks to Beth for the heads up!  If you are planning to attend Rocking Horse Winter III Horse Trials this weekend, here’s what you need to know:
Rocking Horse Stables

With the recent diagnosis of EHV-1 in Ocala, Rocking Horse Stables is requiring a health certificate for all horses shipping in and staying in our temporary stalls for our upcoming Winter III Horse Trials. Certificates must be issued within 72 hours of horses arriving on property. We will also accept a letter from a veterinarian stating that the horse is healthy and showing no signs of EHV-1. Certificates/Letters can be faxed to Rocking Horse at the following number: 352-669-7689. Please make sure to have all current information listed, including Rider’s name and Horse’s show names. We will also require that they be sent beforehand if you plan on arriving after office hours. If the state decides to lift the quarantines currently in place, we may suspend this mandatory requirement. Please check our website for more updates. Until then, please make arrangements to fulfill these obligations. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

352-669-9982

[email protected]

www.rockinghorseht.com

When I last checked in about my project horse Aero, he was gaining a bit of weight and grasping the concept of hacking.  His ridden work was interrupted by some awful Kentucky weather– snow, mud, frozen mud, more mud, etc– and so when I got the chance to spend several weeks in Ocala, Aero and friends found themselves stuffed in a trailer headed south.

Unfortunately, we had a few setbacks– the stress of shipping upset his tummy again, and all his hard-earned weight gain slipped off.  And the frozen Kentucky mud had bruised Aero’s right front foot, resulting in a week off with an inconvenient abscess.  Thankfully he’s been drinking well and his appetite is back, and he’s absolutely thrilled with the sandy pits everywhere in his paddock: rolling is his #1 favorite leisure activity, accompanied by much moaning and groaning.  His haircut is a little blotchy, as he was terrified of the body clippers, but by the end of it he stood just fine even for his face and behind his ears.

Now that Aero’s over all that, I’ve been able to start a bit of real schooling.  I lunge him before I get on, to get his back warmed up and get him in a working frame of mind.  I snap on the sidereins for a few minutes of trot work, to teach him about contact while letting him find his own balance.  Lunging can be hit-or-miss with OTTBs…some are well-started in the round pen, some have no clue what to do at the end of a 30′ rope.  Thankfully, Aero seemed familiar with the idea and especially the word “Whoa.”

Aero is one of those horses who likes to be inverted– running around with head up looking around, back dropped stiffly, body thrown hither and thither.  Lunging in sidereins has helped soften his jaw, let him focus and relax; this has transferred under saddle quite well.  He is starting to accept the bit and yield willingly to the aids, instead of instinctively bracing against hand or leg.  Unlike many OTTBs, he naturally wants to bend right, and less supple to the left, so we spend lots of time at the walk gently flexing left and spiraling in/out on a left circle.  At this point, he can only achieve about half a circle at the trot with proper bend, but I’m encouraged by his willingness to try and even when he may be confused, he rarely gets frustrated.

Our rides are mostly focused at the walk and trot for now, as he gets more solid in bend, change of bend, and maintaining rhythm.  We canter just enough to establish proper leads, perhaps a circle in each direction; he’s still quite stiff and braced at the canter, and he doesn’t know how to move off the leg well enough at walk/trot for me to expect much at canter.  To avoid boredom, he’s trotted over poles, and even a tiny cross-rail, with good confidence and a “Sure, why not?” attitude.  I can’t say much about his style just yet, but the willingness is certainly there.  Aero hacks out in this unfamiliar place with interest, and despite a couple baby spooks at aggressive dogs and thrashing squirrels in palm trees, he settles right back down to a flat-footed walk.

My hope is to have him ready for a beginner novice event later this spring.  It seems an ambitious goal, as he’s hardly jumped yet, but I think his willingness to learn will allow him to progress steadily.

The video shown below is from his third ride on the flat.  We still have a lot of work to do!  (And I need to  quit dropping my inside shoulder and pick my hands up!)

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It’s great to see Courtney Cooper and Who’s A Star back out looking great at the Advanced at Pine Top this past weekend.  Courtney suffered a scary accident last summer when she was getting on a sales horse, and long story short, it backed up, lost its footing, and flipped over on top of her.  She was diagnosed with multiple fractures and was looking at a 2-3 month recovery.  Unfortunately, ten days later she was back in the hospital with pulmonary embolisms (blood clots in her lungs), which meant a very lengthy time out of the saddle. At Christmas, Courtney was able to start riding again, and look at her now!  Who’s A Star (Tag) has an awesome gallop, and they are a fun pair to watch!

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Forget the Oscars– bring on the ESMAs.  The Equestrian Social Media Awards will be given out this week, with multiple categories announced each day Monday through Friday.  Eventing Nation was nominated in two categories: “Best Use of Facebook,” and the big one, “Best Blog.”  Our sister site, Horse Nation was nominated in the “Best Newcomer” category.

Best Newcomer will be announced today, Best Use of Facebook tomorrow, and in a dramatic build up Best Blog will be revealed on Friday.  See the full week’s schedule here.  Go ESMAs!

The Florida Department of Agriculture has issued some information on the EHV-1 outbreak.  Click here to read the PDF.  Thanks to reader Julie D. for the link!

Some points included:

• The horse at HITS was sent to the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine and tested positive for EHV-1 wild-type strain.  The horse is currently in stable condition and no other confirmed cases have been reported at this time.
• A disease investigation has begun, which includes the HITS showgrounds, the local index farm, and other premises that house horses which may have been exposed.  There are currently 7 locations under state quarantine: Tent 7 at HITS, the index farm, two other Ocala farms, one in Pinellas Park, one in St. Augustine, and one in Wellington.  At this point there are no known exposed horses in other states.
• Additional state movement restrictions have NOT been imposed.  However, horse owners and trainers should contact your local show venues and facilities for any additional requirements.
• Please practice prudent bio-security on your farm and report any suspected cases of EHV-1 to by calling 850-410-0900 Monday through Friday 8:00am-5:00pm and 1-800-342-5869 after hours and weekends.

We’re not quite sure how this situation is going to affect other upcoming Florida events.  Rocking Horse has announced via their facebook page: “Due to the recent diagnosis of Equine Herpes Virus (EHV-1) in Ocala, we have decided to air on the side of caution and close all schooling at Rocking Horse at this time.”  Hopefully this outbreak will be limited to one unfortunate horse and the spread of the virus will remain contained.  We will continue to post updates here on EN as we learn more.

Becky and Can't Fire Me win the Advanced 3 at Pine Top. Shown here winning the CIC*** at Richland Park last year, photo by Samantha Clark.

The Advanced results from Pine Top are now final.  Here are your top scores:

[All Scores]

Advanced 1

1. Jan Byyny / Syd Kent  34.9
2. Erin Sylvester / No Boundaries  41.7
3. Jonathan Holling / Downtown Harrison  44.3

Advanced 2

1. Will Faudree / Andromaque  30.2
2. Michael Pollard / Mensa G  42.2
3. Holly Payne / Madeline 50.7

Advanced 3

1.  Becky Holder / Can’t Fire Me   43.3
2. Phillip Dutton / Mighty Nice  43.8
3. Danielle Dichting / The Graduate  46.2

Florida Ag Inspection. Photo by Colleen Hofstetter

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Originally posted 11:29pm 2/22/13

I just spoke with the Florida Ag Inspection Station to learn that horse travel may be affected in Florida at this time, presumably due to the EHV-1 scare at HITS Ocala.

**Update 2/22  11:46pm**  A phone call to a different Ag Station (on I-95) says that horses may be permitted if they have a Health Certificate within 24-hours stating the horse is EHV-free.  The State Veterinarian is in control of setting the regulations as necessary to protect the equine population, and these measures may change tomorrow morning.

**Update 2/23   7:40AM**  I called the Ag Station again this morning, and the officer says that horses with a normal health certificate and Coggins will be allowed to pass.  This officer seemed a bit less knowledgeable than the one I spoke with last night– even stating that “The public sometimes knows restrictions before we do,”…but it seems all is ok.  If you would like to call and verify, their number is (386) 397-2295 (Trenton) or (386) 362-1329 (Live Oak) .

This may have an impact on quite a few Ocala-based horses competing at Pine Top (GA) this weekend.  The Advanced and Intermediate divisions will finish show jumping tomorrow… will they be allowed home?

Ironically, from all official press it seems to be “business as usual” at the HITS showgrounds, with on-going competition and horses shipping in or out (except for the one quarantined barn); though the State Vet may set new restrictions in the future.  The Winter Equestrian Festival (Wellington) is not allowing any Ocala horses on their property, whether or not they come from HITS.

For more information on EHV-1, see this article from The Horse.com.   In most horses, EHV (“rhino”) is a respiratory illness, and can cause pregnant mares to abort.  However, it does sometimes cause neurological symptoms. EHV-1 has an incubation period of 7-14 days, before neurological symptoms may be present.  The disease presents first as a fever, so monitoring your horse’s temperature is the most important step an owner can take.  The virus is transmitted through horse-to-horse contact, but can also survive on grooming tools, buckets, trailers, and other equipment surfaces.  There is a routine vaccine available, most effective from 7 days, up to 90 days post-vaccination.  The vaccine may not prevent the neurological form of EHV, but it will likely lesson the shedding of the virus, thereby limiting the transmission of the disease to other horses.

Jan Byyny and Syd Kent, shown here at Richland Park. Photo by Samantha Clark

Dressage and cross-country have completed for the Advanced divisions at Pine Top.  According to Samantha’s twitter, the day started out soggy and miserable.  However, the riding has been quite impressive.  Here are the results so far, show jumping will proceed tomorrow morning.

[All Scores]

Advanced 1

1. Jan Byyny / Syd Kent  34.9
2. Erin Sylvester / No Boundaries  41.7
3. Leslie Law / Zenith ISF  42.1

Advanced 2

1. Will Faudree / Andromaque  30.2
2. Michael Pollard / Mensa G  42.2
3. Holly Payne / Madeline 46.7

Advanced 3

1.  Becky Holder / Can’t Fire Me   39.3
2. Will Faudree / DHI Colour Candy  41.6
3. Danielle Dichting / The Graduate  42.2

*Previously listed in 1st place, Jon Holling and Proper Timing were assessed 16 time penalties, and he moved down to 11th place.  Thanks to commenter Liz Fletcher for the catch!

A horse has been diagnosed with the neurologic form of Equine Herpes Virus (EHV-1) at HITS Ocala.  The barn the horse was in is currently quarantined, but no other travel restrictions are imposed at this time.  Show vets are monitoring other horses on grounds, and normal ship-ins are unaffected so long as they meet standard health entry requirements.  [COTH]

The Equine Chronicle has a statement from show manager Kristin Vale:

“We are currently quarantining a tent where the horse was stabled,” Vale says. “We did have a horse yesterday that was taken to the University of Florida in Gainesville, and it has since tested positive for EHV. The barn that the horse was stabled in has been quarantined, but everything else is business as normal at this time. There are not any movement restrictions on or off the grounds.”

“We’ve had meetings with the state vet first and then a meeting with trainers and owners, the horse show vet, and other vets. We’re suggesting that people watch for any high fevers, and [if any are discovered] they will be treated by the vet on the premises. We will be taking all precautionary measures. We are in sort of a holding pattern, because right now, we know of that single horse [with EHV], but no others with fevers in the tent. So, we are hopeful this is an isolated incident.”

 

There are some unconfirmed reports (via Twitter and feed store gossip)  that there may be a more serious “lockdown” at HITS resulting from this situation.  At this point, I cannot find an official source for that information.  But it’s probably best to stay clear of HITS for a little while, and if you’ve been there recently keep an eye on your horses.

Here are a few brief notes from the sessions with Linda Zang this morning at the Ocala ICP Symposium.  Sorry they are not terribly well-organized!  We will have more from the Symposium, as Yogi Breisner taught show jumping on Monday, and David O’Connor was teaching cross-country riding this afternoon.  EN’s own Jessica Bortner-Harris was riding in the Advanced group at the end of the day…looking forward to her report!

Dressage Notes:

Forwardness and straightness are the key.  Counter canter is a great exercise to improve the canter– it’s not about creating a “10” counter canter, as it is to improve the true canter.  Many horses improved simply by getting straighter through their bodies– and a reminder that even riders like Cathy Weischhoff and Leslie Law are mortal– they too hang a bit too much on the inside rein and collapse their inside ribcage!  In the rider’s position, it is important to sit tall and square.  For proper bend (lateral movements, such as half-pass/haunches in), the rider’s outside seat bone should shift to the middle of the saddle, the inside seat bone moves forward and in.  The inside leg should sink down and forward, but the rider must still stay tall through the inside shoulder– no curling!

A good exercise, ridden in trot and canter, is to leg yield off the rail, straighten, then think Go Forward.  This allowed the horses to open up through their shoulders, unlocking at the wither and stepping through from behind.

When a horse tilts his head, he’s not in balance.  Maybe let the horse stretch down and relax in the neck– take the blame as the rider, let the horse stretch, check your position.

For horses that tend to get deep, it is often because the rider is overusing the inside rein.  “Inside rein bends and brings down, outside rein straightens and brings them up.”  You could see an immediate difference when riders let go of the inside rein and straightened the horse with the outside aids.  The horse wouldn’t always stay there– but for two strides, the horse shifted its balance up and into a better position.  Bill Hoos, in particular, had a lengthy lesson on straightness.  His horse Carmac tended to be very crooked (overbent) in the canter, and Bill struggled to sit straight (not off to the outside).  Letting go of the inside rein, and shifting his outside hip to the center of the saddle caused the horse to open his stride and look much more through over his back.

Half pass is simply a haunches-in on the diagonal.  It is a FORWARD movement, so the shoulders of the horse must lead the haunches, by remaining forward-placed on the diagonal line.  In this country, we tend to get too fixated on remaining parallel to the long side, curling the horse around our inside leg, and then shoving them sideways.  This is incorrect; get the shoulders positioned on the diagonal, and bring the haunches in, maintaining the bend.

Demo rider Peter Gray received some “oohs” and “aahs’ with his lovely Prix St Georges horse, demonstrating a beautiful counter canter, then stepping forward into a jaw-dropping trot springing with suspension.  Peter demonstrated a very correct position, and it was easy to see how rider form allowed the horse to function properly.

Addressing flying changes: Lisa Barry’s gray horse was a bit tight and tense, and his problem with changes (other than being less experienced) were due to his lack of straightness.  Linda had the horse leg-yield off the outside leg, to straighten the outside shoulder and get the horse a little softer and more relaxed.  After several trips around doing leg-yields off the rail, she had the horse counter canter on a 15m circle.  On a right circle (left lead), ask for right flexion; not to get a perfect counter canter, but to get straightness and softness.  By thinking a little bit counter bed, and then asking, the horse then produced a very soft, correct change with no fuss whatsoever.

Vicki Martinez emailed us a wonderful story about her journey with horses and how she ended up with Ethop, a Selle Francaise gelding. ” Hoppi” has now participated with three generations of her family, from a Century Ride with Vicki’s mother, to taking Vicki’s daughter around preliminary.  In 2012, Vicki and Hoppi completed their tenth season of preliminary horse trials together– quite a feat!  Many thanks to Vicki for writing, and thank you for reading.  As a reminder, all reader submissions are eligible for the Omega Alpha Reader Submission of the Month in which they are published.  Have something to share with EN?  Send it to us at [email protected]!

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Hoppi, My Horse of a Lifetime.

One amateur’s story

By Vicki Martinez

My trainer once told me that if you are lucky, you will get one ‘Horse of a life time’. This is the story about how it came to be.
I grew up in the 60’s where we had inexpensive backyard horses.  I survived galloping through the back hills bareback and unhelmeted along with my equally crazy friends and their mounts. The closest we ever came to jumping was over homemade contraptions fashioned from sticks and logs we would drag across the trails, a sort of cross country for the time. During my teens, I spent hours in the saddle conditioning my horse to compete in fifty mile endurance rides, the closest I ever came to any organized type of riding.

I was never without a horse until my acceptance to UCSF medical school at the age of twenty six.  After studying opiate addiction in medical school, I realized that my relationship with horses was no different.  I had to kick the ‘horse habit’ to make it through the rigors of medical school. There would be no time or money whatsoever for horses for the foreseeable future.  By staying “clean” of horses, I managed to get through medical school and a demanding residency in emergency medicine.

After finishing medical training, life continued to be very busy with young daughter and a full time career as an Emergency Physician. I couldn’t afford the time for myself, but introduced my daughter to the horse world, wanting her to have a similar experience as I had growing up with horses. I became a “Show Mom”, and bought her an Arabian named Sham. Pretty soon we were traveling all over California, where the two of them successfully competed through Training Level in the eventing world. My riding addiction began to creep back as I would fill in riding Sham.  My fate was sealed when my daughter had an injury that prevented her from riding for two months.  That spring and early summer I completed in four novice events.  My trainer said it was time I had my own horse.

Enter Ethop, aka “Hoppi.”  Hoppi was a ten year old Selle Francaise, who arrived at my barn for sale.  He was the favorite horse of Oliviere Fauques, a saddle sellier who had moved to the USA with his family. Ethop means “giddy up” in French, and he was nicknamed “Hoppi” by the barn crew.  He had been a successful, open 4’6″ jumper in France.  Now, sadly, his owner was selling him due to lack of time to ride him.  Hoppi knew three movements: walk, canter, and jump. My trainer said I had “preliminary” potential and that I should buy him.  I was hesitant because not only was having my own horse a huge time commitment, but Hoppi had a serious respiratory ailment called “roaring.”

On pre-purchase exam, he had one completely paralyzed vocal cord.  Strider, the sound of airway obstruction, could be heard merely when he was walking.  How could he ever gallop a XC course?  I arranged the definitive surgery for the condition called a “tie back” as a condition of purchase.  I actually watched the delicate surgery, but could not bear to hear him fall multiple times in the padded stall while awakening from general anesthesia. I was his first vision when awake and successfully on his feet.  It was as if he said “Are you my mother?” He bonded with me from that day forward and I have since always been ‘his person’. Hoppi’s surgery was a success and he had no further airway restrictions. We started training in earnest once he healed up with our trainer, Andrea Pfeiffer, of Chocolate Horse Farm in Petaluma. At seventeen hands and 1500 pounds, he was the biggest horse I had ever ridden!

Hoppi has been my loyal partner now for a decade. We have evented from California to Montana, galloped the beaches, attended horse camps, and enjoyed many happy trails. There are so many memories and they are all so good. Hoppi has participated in three generations of horse women in my family.  My daughter teamed up with Hoppi to ride her first Preliminary event. My mother and Hoppi performed a ‘Century Ride’ last year, where a formal dressage test is completed by a pair whose age total at least 100. Hoppi has been a very special horse to our family!

Hoppi is a master show jumper, with only a handful of rails in ten years. To this day, outside the show jump arena, he literally watches other horses jump and paces impatiently waiting for his turn.  Once introduced to cross country jumping, Hoppi quickly became a seasoned and extremely reliable cross country jumper.  We moved up to Preliminary our first season, and he has thrilled me for a decade, now flying around the courses. We even finished two Intermediate Events in Montana and California before settling into our niche at Preliminary level. 2012 marked our 10th successful season of Preliminary! Hoppi has been an amazing athlete, never having one lame step in our years together.  We have completed two Intermediate, twenty nine Preliminary, one Star*, and five Training Level events in our years together.  He will be twenty one years old spring of 2013, and is still excited to see that start box!

It makes me wonder if many other horses have gone more than a decade of successful Eventing in to their twenties – and that on a second career after stadium jumping his first decade.  Hoppi has been a rock for me through the highs and lows of life, always encouraging life’s important qualities: discipline, commitment, courage, trust, humility, and most of all, balance.  I am incredibly fortunate to have been blessed with Hoppi “My Horse of a Lifetime!”

Photo credit: Tass Photography

From Yvette:

Tips for Eventers Living in Itty-Bitty Apartments in the City:  The Weather Forecasting Edition

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Hey there, Eventing Nation!  Just over two weeks ago, it seemed that everyone was rejoicing the fact that Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow, forecasting an early spring.  Since then, New England was pummeled by a blizzard named Nemo, and this past weekend, I about froze my face off getting rides in on my guys.  I don’t know about you, but I’ve pretty much lost faith in rodents who proclaim to be weather prognosticators.  I mean, after all, these are the same rodents who seem to take a lot of pride in gutting up pastures and galloping lanes…shady sons of…but I digress.

As a scientist, I know better than to trust the ability of a groundhog to “see” its shadow in early February as a weather indicator.  Throughout my doctoral training, I was encouraged to question assumptions, develop hypotheses, conduct experiments, and come to my own conclusions.  Therefore, when it comes to something as important to an eventer as knowing when spring will REALLY arrive, I turn to the only one I can trust…

My 24-year-old Thoroughbred.

While the town of Punxsutawney, PA was celebrating Phil’s prediction of an early spring, Roger Rabbit nuzzled my right coat pocket (you know, the one where I stash the cookies), and basically said, “Fuhgeddaboutit, lady.  It’s gonna be cold for a while longer.” No, no…I’m not so silly as to think Roger actually TALKS (without me doing the voiceover).   All it took was one pass over his shaggy coat with the curry comb to realize that Phil was wrong; not a single hair of Roger’s rather woolly coat (it’s seriously hard to believe he was full-body clipped in October) budged.  See, Roger doesn’t like to be cold, so if the old man has even an inkling that there are still a few cold snaps in the forecast, he ain’t giving up that coat any time soon.  Based on the past two weeks, I’d say the score is:  Roger – 1, Phil – 0.

However, I am happy to say that yesterday Roger proclaimed that spring is finally on its way, a message sent via clumps of dingy fleabitten coat in my curry comb, which leads me to this week’s tip.

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Tip for Eventers Living in Itty-Bitty Apartments in the City #29:

One can never have too many lint rollers, particularly during shedding season, and especially if you have a grey horse combined with a non-barn wardrobe consisting of black business suits. Put a lint roller in your car, your purse, your desk drawer, and pretty much any flat surface in your itty-bitty apartment because YOU KNOW that wayward horse hair will find its way onto your black Prada jacket at the most inopportune time (e.g., before an important client meeting, presentation in front of 400 people, or a job interview).  Don’t have access to a lint roller?  Get all MacGyver with some sort of tape (scotch, masking, duct…knock yourself out), a towel, SOMETHING…because non-horse people just don’t deal well with horse hair (not even the Office Crazy Cat Lady).

Several years ago, we started the “LLRP” series on this site: the Lower Level Event Rider Profile.  In a return to our roots, we’ve decided to bring back the spotlight to the lower level riders (that’s most of us!) and post your inspiring goals and stories.  We’ll feature about one LLRP a week, so send yours in!  Please include a photo suitable for publication– we must have consent from the copyright owner (photographer).  Fill out the questionnaire below, and send it to [email protected] with “LLRP” in the title.

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Lower-Level Event Rider Profile

Your Name: (first is sufficient)

Email: (will not be published, just a way I can contact you)

Age:

Location:

Primary horse’s name:

Age, breed, pertinent info:

Level currently competing:

Short term goals this spring/summer:

Year-end goals:

Overall goals?

What’s the best thing you’ve learned recently?  Any big epiphany or light-bulb moment?  What are your strengths/weaknesses?

Favorite eventing moment/story?  (can be anything, something you did, felt, witnessed, realized…?)

Link to blog or website, if applicable:

Photo(s) or videos:  Links or attachments are acceptable.  Please no Facebook links that require sign-in to view.

Thanks for your participation.

Michael Pollard and his new 8-year-old Trakehner stallion Halimey had a wonderful weekend at Rocking Horse, winning Open Prelim B with a score of 27.0.  Thanks to The Horse Pesterer for the excellent coverage; check out more videos from Rocking Horse at thehorsepesterer Youtube channel.

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From Lauren:

Happy President’s Day, Eventing Nation!  If you have the day off of work, it’s probably Tuesday now before you’ve gotten back to the office and are reading this post while ignoring the ‘In Box’ stacked full of papers…ok, so I don’t work in an office and I don’t know if they really have those boxes in offices.  For your sake, I hope not!  This week I bring you a tale of mystery, wonder, and OTTB shopping success!  These sort of shopping trips are never just plain Jane, vanilla, come/see/conquer type endeavors so, without further ado, I bring you (in my best TV announcer voice):

THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME: THOUROUGHBRED EDITION

Okay, so by “game” I mean shopping spree.  My phone rang early one morning in late January and on the other end, Alison Wilaby, one of EN’s biggest fans and most dedicated supporters in more ways than I am allowed to mention, had finally gotten up the nerve to buy a new horse.  Having recently sold her longtime Two-Star partner to a Dressage home and graduated college, the time was write to welcome a new family member.  I hear this story a lot, folks.  Doesn’t sound like you?  Are you living in an 800 square foot roach trap near campus or recently divorced or going through a mid-life crisis?  There is never a bad time to buy an OTTB!  As long as you can still afford to feed, clothe, and house both you and your steed, cruise those CANTER sites and call people like me!  I digress, though.  CANTER Kentucky had just listed a dozen new horses and Ali and planned a pony perusing rendezvous pronto.  Of course, in the spirit of complicated horse trips, I need to at a ski resort in Indiana to get my feet wet learning to race around gates on skis at Mach 1 at 6:30 that evening.  Of course, the witching hour for horse sales is towards the end of or just after morning training hours at the racetrack.  What, oh what is a girl to do?  Ride shotgun from Lexington to Cincinnati in the morning with truck and trailer in tow, return to Lexington complete with pony shortly after lunch, feed horses, and drive to Indiana at warp speed during rush hour.  Piece of cake.  But I’m getting ahead of myself.  So Ali and I, on our smartphones, scrutinized the CANTER KY listing zooming on and out on fetlocks and shoulders and tendons like crazed gamers with our thumbs and forefingers stuck in a holding pattern of baby bird mouth movements (try it, and you’ll understand what I’m talking about).  Then we had our short list.  At this point, EN readers, you may want to get out a pen and paper…or open the Notepad/Sticky Note App on your smartphone.  So far, the order of operations goes:

• Identify reason to search for OTTB (any will do really)
• Call up your closest friend with OTTB know how
• Together, peruse every website known to man that lists OTTB’s
• Plan a trip to the nearest racetrack/training center/breeding farm/all of the aforementioned
• Make a short list of horses you want to see.

Are you all still with me?  Okay, now learn at least one non-English language, preferably Spanish.  More than a decade of early mornings trying to communicate going 35 miles an hour into a headwind with a jockey on a horse next to me that speaks only dirty English words has taught me all the Spanish I ever need to know (atrocious grammer/spelling/punctuation and all) or at least enough to broker horse sales with trainer of all shapes, sizes, and ethical outlooks.  Between Ali and I, we set up appointments to see six different horses and set out on a quest for the America’s Next T.I.P. Model (for those of you that have not yet stumbled upon this wonder, The Jockey Club Thoroughbred Incentive Program is the key to fame, FORTUNE, and schwag for you newly minted OTTB).  Upon arriving at the track, we roamed from one dimly-lit, pooly-ventilated, orange-cone studded (to denote the vicious, teeth-snapping equines) shed row to the next.  We could easily have coined a new song entitled The Twelve Lames of Backside-Mas with all of the angular limb deformities we laid eyes upon.  Even beyond bows, fractures, firing scars, and curbs the most stunning atrocity that we beheld was the farrier work.  Holy mother of mile long toes, inside hoof walls INCHES higher than their outside compadres, and ten nails in EACH foot.  Some of these horses literally were walking miracles.  One such horse was for sale for 5 THOUSAND dollars, in fact.  Apparently, here in Kentucky, five G’s will buy you 5 years of corrective shoeing.  Who knew?  Somehow, we managed to survive the onslaught of desperate trainers with dilapidated horses, dodge the skeezy male trainers with less than noble intentions, and find a barn full of happy horses not trying to maul us with a good farrier, reasonable prices, and an understanding trainer willing to let us TAKE HORSES ON TRIAL!!!  Heaven on earth?  Yes siree, Bob!  In short order, Ali’s newest bestie, Atomic Speed (from the barn of trainer Burton Sipp), made his way back to Lexington for a test ride from yours truly and a thorough vetting from EN favorite Dr. Chris Newton.  Really, it can be that simple!  Ultimately though, this is a cautionary tale for one very important reason: the OTTB bug is HIGHLY contagious.  Just being around Ali and her affliction infected me and while we were doting on Atomic Speed (now affectionately known as Myles), his fantastic farrier (responsible for the most solid and well balanced feet I’ve seen on a racehorse in YEARS) stopped by and introduced me to several of his horses, a gorgeous 5 y/o with four white stockings and a blaze named Jacardi included.  The moral of the story: Ali and I are now deliriously smitten with our newest four-legged loves and you can be to!  To complete the bulleted checklist started above, make sure to do the following:

• Learn some version of Spanish
• Subscribe to T.I.P. emails
• Hook up trailer and drive to nearest racetrack (maybe also buy padlock for back doors so that uninvited TB’s can’t be snuck on while you’re in the barn)
• Wear enough clothes to hide even slightest feminine curve…a ski mask and ugly Carhartt beanie might help too
• Study up on every lameness known to the Veterinary World
• Drain your ‘special OTTB savings account’
• Find a great partner-in-crime/enabler, trainer, and vet
• Be ready for OTTB awesomeness.

Good luck, EN readers, and if you need ANY help or enabling when it comes to OTTB hunting, shopping, viewing, or purchasing, please do not hesitate to ask ([email protected]).  Go buy a former racehorse so you can GO EVENTING!

Australian phenom Black Caviar returned to the races on February 16 after a six-month layoff.  The 6-year-old dark bay mare, known affectionately as “Nellie,” ran in the Black Caviar Lightning Stakes– a race named in her honor– and she won it again for the third time, setting a track record in the process.  She is now unbeaten in 23 starts, 13 of them G-1 stakes.

From the Bloodhorse.com:

Piloted by regular rider Luke Nolen, Black Caviar exploded to the lead and cruised to a 2 1/2-length win over stablemates Moment of Change andGolden Archer while covering 1,000 meters (about five furlongs) in :55.42.The time eclipsed the previous record of :55.50 set by Special in the 1988 Lightning Stakes.

“I’m just so proud of her,” trainer Peter Moody said. “I’m a little bit emotional for the first time. It’s just good to have her back. She’s just a good news story.”

Alexandra Knowles and Juicy Couture, winners of OI-B at Rocking Horse. Photo by Samantha Clark

Here are a few results from the events this weekend: Rocking Horse Winter II in Altoona, FL, and Paradise Farm HT in Aiken, SC.

Rocking Horse Winter II

Advanced A-A

1. Buck Davidson – D.A. Adirmo  33.7
2. Julie Norman – Consensus  38.1
3. Emily Renfroe – Walk The Line   44.

Advanced A-B

1. Buck Davidson – Ballynoecastle RM  32.4
2. Rowdie Adams – No Money Down  35.9
3. Marilyn Little – RF Demeter  42.1

Advanced B

1. Joe Meyer – Sanskrit  27.0
2. Katie Ruppel – Sir Donovan  36.3
3. Buck Davidson – Mar De Amor  39.1

Intermediate Rider

1. Callie Evans – Glendening Avis  32.8
2. Tiffany Cooke – Patent Pending – 38.8
3. Sable Giesler – Evil Munchkin – 44.8

Open Intermediate A

1. Elinor MacPhail – RF Eloquence  29.2
2. Alexandra Knowles – Last Call  33.6
3. Leah Lang-Gluscic  – A.P. Prime  36.4

Open Intermediate B

1. Alexandra Knowles – Juicy Couture  35.6
2. Bonner Carpenter – Basco  36.8
3. Leah Khorsandian – Pamiro W.  45.2

Open Preliminary A

1.  Sharon White – Merloch 37.8
2. Lauren DeNeve – Cindy One  39.8
3. Blair King – Kingsman  41.6

Open Preliminary B

1. Michael Pollard – Halimey  27.0
2. Buck Davidson – Chesterland’s Image  30.5
3. Anita Nemtin-Gilmour  – Topper  36.6

[All Rocking Horse Scores]

Kim Severson and Cooley Cross Border, 2012 YEH 5-y/o Champion, wins OP-Weekend at Paradise Farm HT. Photo by Jenni Autry.

Paradise Farm Winter HT

JYOP

1. Sydney Solomon – Lillian Pink  39.1
2. Margaret M. Ragan – Surefire’s Anwar  40.0
3. Morgan McCue – Havanna’s Orphan Annie  44.1

Open Preliminary – Weekend

1. Kim Severson – Cooley Cross Border  28.4
2. Kurt Martin – Anna Bella  29.1
3. Erin Sylvester – Peace Proposal  33.8

Open Preliminary

1. Phillip Dutton – Mansfield Park  30.5
2. Erin Brooke Freedman – Voila  34.3
3. Eliza Farren – Mysugamama  35.0

Preliminary Rider – Weekend

1. Leah Snowden – Ivy League  37.6
2. Ashton Hays – London By Night  46.8
3. Julie Henk – Merry Sioux  61.1

Preliminary Rider – Friday

1. Krista Rose – By His Grace  30.9
2. Brynn Hamel – Cavalier Clover Boy  42.5
3. Beau Guimond – Otter  53.4

Open Training – Friday A

1. Ryan Wood – Woodstock Bennett  24.1
2. Kerry Torrey – JBF Theodore  30.4
3. Elizabeth Ricklefs – On The Rocks  35.0

Open Training – Friday B

1. Ryan Wood – Woodstock Wallaby – 24.1
2. Ryan Wood – Pygmalion Prince  29.6
3. Mara DePuy – Calero  29.6

Training Rider – Friday

1. Katie Lichten – Silent Faith  25.0
2. Kay Amann – Tin Roof Rusted  32.3
3. Heidi Beaumont – Northern Spy  32.3

[All Paradise Farm HT Scores]