My Everyday Horses

Too hot to ride here in Northern Virginia for the past few days. The routine at the barn is slow and easy. The fans whir at high speed.

For the past few months I have been down at the barn every day. I, like many Americans, am in career transition. This has given me a unique opportunity to do something I have not done before in my life – ride or be around my horses every day. My full time job allowed time for weekend riding and perhaps a night during the week. So all clouds do have a silver lining. I am sure my horses – To the Maxx (Maxx) and Crescendo (Chris) wish I would get a day job soon!

The three of us have fallen into a routine now. Maxx is 23 years old. I have owned him since he was ten. He is 17.1H Hanoverian/Thoroughbred who I found on the Internet at a time when the idea of buying a horse on the web made other folks laugh. Maxx should have been a hunter/jumper, but I thought we’d do Dressage instead. We got up to First Level two before arthritis set into his knees and hocks. He has been retired for two years. Every once and awhile, if I see he is having a good day, I’ll ease up on his back and go bareback for a few turns around the ring. I cry each time out of joy and gratitude for that one extra ride.

Chris is my beautiful shiny penny of a horse. Eight years old. Oldenburg out of Contucci. Where Maxx is like riding a block of wood, Chris is like riding a rubber band. He is a real athlete. I cry with joy and gratitude when I ride him too! I co-own Chris with my best friend, Cheryl. Our standard joke is which one of us owns which half of Chris. Cheryl has another horse too. Also retired. Shaman got laminitis from Potomac Horse Fever about 4 years ago. We just started showing Chris at local Dressage shows and began at the very bottom – Intro 1. We have fun at the shows – providing he gets on the trailer but that will be the subject of blogs to come!
When I get to the barn each day, I let Maxx out of his stall. Halter-less, he ambles around the periphery of the barn, grazing. Chris stamps his feet wanting to do the same.

We board at a small privately owned barn in Haymarket with 5 other horses, 2 donkeys, 5 dogs, a cat and chickens.

The horses have been pretty quiet this week. All of them seem to have developed scratches. I’ve got a great inexpensive treatment for scratches and rain rot - Mix one part Wintergreen alcohol (has to be Wintergreen) with an equal part baby oil in a spray bottle. Spray on the affected area and lightly work it in a bit. Leave on for about 10 minutes. Then you can remove the skin irritations easily. Respray and leave in. Chris was stamping his feet really hard yesterday and biting the coronets on his hooves. The vet gave me another easy home remedy for this dermatitis which apparently drives them crazy. Feels sort of like poison ivy. I washed his feet with an antibacterial shampoo and dried it. Then I applied a Solarcaine-type gel to take out the pain. When that dried, I put on a generic Caladryl lotion to stop the itching. Worked like a charm. Chris calmed down right away.

So I hope you liked my home remedies for scratches and itches. Let me know if you have any tried and true solutions for your Everyday Horse.