Park Butte on horseback! Photo by Michelle Sullivan-Brookshier
My passion for puzzling out young horses will always offer me a certain level of job security, because they all start out that way, and not everybody wants to deal with their formative years. A client who I’ve been helping with a delightful now four-year-old sent me a quote the other day about riders versus trainers, and I think it finally helped me with my equestrian identity. Becoming an excellent rider is so so hard, but becoming an amazing trainer is equally as difficult, and the two are not always the same. Start your Friday with some philosophical musings about which category you identify with by checking out the post here.
U.S. Weekend Preview
Apple Knoll Farm H.T. (Millis, MA) [Website] [Volunteer]
Middle Tennessee Pony Club H.T. (Nashville, TN) [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times] [Scoring]
The Maryland Horse Trials at Loch Moy Farm (Adamstown, MD) [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times][Volunteer] [Scoring]
WindRidge Farm Fall H.T. (Mooresboro, NC) [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times] [Scoring]
Woodside Fall International (Woodside, CA) [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times] [Volunteer][Scoring]
Major International Events
Military Boekelo CCIO4* [Website] [Schedule] [Live Stream] [EN’s Coverage]
News From Around the Globe:
Boekelo action day two! If you missed the report on the first day of dressage yesterday, we got you covered. In short, Julia Krajewski is basically a master at producing young horses to blow us away on the international stage again and again. [Julia Krajewski Takes Day One Lead at Boekelo]
Mare owners, listen up! A new alternative to managing your mare’s hormones and painful ovaries might be just what your looking for to help your girl feel her best. A lot of us don’t want to handle Regu-Mate, but some mares have very intense and painful cycles that prevent them from functioning at the appropriate level. Olivia Shlichting, DVM, was also annoyed with this, so she invented the Pearl Pod. The Pearl Pod consists of three elliptical plastic-coated magnets slightly over 1 inch long and half an inch wide. After the three pieces are inserted into the mare’s uterus, the north and south poles of each magnet cause the pieces to self-assemble into a ring configuration. Basically, it’s an IUD for horses. [Solving Problems with the Pearl Pod]
Pharmaceutical company Merck has recalled an additional four batches of Banamine. Merck Animal Health announced it is voluntarily recalling four additional batches of Banamine 50 mg/mL in the United States, used for injection in horses, cattle and swine due to the presence of particulate matter. These batches are in addition to the three batches of Banamine that Merck recalled in early September due to the presence of particulate matter. [More Banamine Recalled]
Cross country is a hard phase physically, but also mentally. For the rider, yes, but also horses can struggle with keeping their focus when the questions keep coming. What do you do with a horse that zones out on cross country and loses focus, and thereby becomes slightly unrideable? Get the low-down on this particular training challenge with this article. [How to Regain Control on Cross Country]
Ulcers are the bane of the existence of horse people. We have them, lots and lots of performance horses have them, and treating them is expensive and often ineffectual long term. Researches have now confirmed that some horses being treated with omeprazole, however, suffer rapid recurrence of gastric ulcers upon discontinuing treatment. Tapering the omeprazole dose when planning to discontinue this medication is unlikely to minimize rebound gastric hyperacidity. Instead, caretakers should implement management changes to further protect the horse from developing new lesions. [Rebound Gastric Hyperacidity in Horses]
