My heart rate being in Zone 5 for most of my ride reminded me to make an appointment to get my thyroid levels checked 🫢 I have Grave’s Disease that I had my thyroid irradiated for and have been on Synthyroid since! Some telltale signs of hyperthyroidism is actually an elevated heart rate and “feeling out of shape” since it causes weight & muscle loss, heat intolerance, elevated heart rate, and excessive sweating. Its actually not normal to feel like you’re going to vomit or explode after cantering a lap! If you start to feel this way, back off and let your trainer know or somebody nearby in case you do need to get off quickly. You might feel embarrassed, but your health and safety comes first. Advocate for yourself at the doctor, you know yourself better than anybody else! After years of saying that I could not build up endurance, couldn’t do any cardio, and couldn’t do canter work for longer than a few minutes, I finally had a doctor who tested my thyroid and didn’t blow it off as “being lazy”. As for me, I’ll be setting up a bloodwork appointment this week or next, before I ride again 😝

This one was hard and has me questioning if I should redesign the 5th jump i have planned. While it is in my opinion very pretty, She is super hard to move around

Left my dad with the pony for a few minutes. Came back to this adorable photo! Love both of these sweethearts so much 💕💗

She just did a kids party 🥳 and she is beyond mad at me , and everything around her. This is her death to me stare

Since we're in fall and the weather is less predictable, I expect people other than myself will start dealing with abscesses! I hadn't had one for several years in a horse so I thought I'd share what worked for me to get it to pop quickly. Abscesses are in that weird grey area where it is medical, but also hoof/farrier, and also something we all face at some point! It's always assumed you know what to do but you second guess yourself the whole time because it's just so darned painful for the horse. 🏥 Absolutely first, make sure it is an abscess. The telltale sign is a horse that isn't lame one day, and then looks like they've been shot the next and are almost non-weight bearing. Also look for heat in part of the hoof, fast pulse on that leg, and no other visible injuries. Your farrier and vet can also help with diagnosis. 💅 Get your farrier out to take a look. Mine did not want to "dig it out" because he didn't feel it was close to the surface and did not want to open a large hole which takes longer to heal and introduces risk of secondary infection. For one that's soft on the surface, he'll pop it manually, but this one wasn't ready. 💧🧂 Soak soak soak! Epsom salts (lots) with very warm water 20 minutes twice a day. I highly recommend a hoof boot for this (see photo). This allows them to wiggle a bit without you getting frustrated and having to start over with a bucket. 🎁💝 Pick a poultice or poultice pad to help draw it out. I used Animalintex pads and an Epsom salt poultice combined. Wrap in a diaper and/or vet wrap. Then use duct tape or a boot meant for medical use to keep everything in place. I often make a duct tape pad - so several strips one direction, then several the other way, and then just place on top of previous layer. 💊 Medicate for pain with your veterinarian's advice. Mine recommended bute, but to try not to do for several days in a row for the stomach/gut/kidneys. If your horse is very low/depressed, make sure they are hydrated if you use medications. Manure and skin tests can help guide you with how hydrated they are. 🍸 Pour yourself a drink because this whole process is unpleasant! ⌛ Keep up the process until you see the abscess blow. Normally your horse will come in more sound when this happened. 🔁 Annnnd keep it up because it needs to stay clean while it drains. I am switching to ichthammol now that it has popped to pull more out. ✨ Other things to remember: 🐴 Keep your horse on at least partial turnout. Movement is your friend. 📞 Always talk to your vet when you suspect an abscess. Mine did not need to come visit but I like to keep them aware in case I need an emergency call if something changes. ⚠️ if the leg swells at any point, call your vet. The infection has spread and you need antibiotics. 🚨 trim your bandage so it does NOT constrict the coronet band. If you do not know how to wrap a hoof, have your vet show you ☺️ Does anyone else have a tried & true remedy or recipe to share?

I thought I could use some new jumps. The jumps I had are 10 years old . most of them are gone with the exception of a few poles. They were nothing fancy just straights with oxers painted . I took it to task to make some nicer jumps this time around and hopefully they will last a bit longer than the last ones. This is one I made all by myself and I have 2 more in the works.

So, funnily enough (not so funny really because abscesses are terrible), another poster asked about hoof soaking the other day and I recommended this. Well, my mare came in 3 legged lame today, and my farrier has found that there is an abscess, but not close enough to the surface to dig out. I went to Tractor Supply and picked one up. I highly recommend it! It fit my mare fine, lots of space and easy to pull snug. I was able to put it on her and do other chores, and I never would be able to do that with a bucket! $40 well spent.

My car has always been completely covered in horse glitter, but it’s now perfectly clean with this hair removal blade that I found at Aldi! This little thing has been a life saver. It just takes a few minutes of scraping this along the carpets and they’re good as new.