Bad News Bear

Fracture in Left Hind Splint bone

Gator, then Zorba, is now officially named "Bad News Bear"

I had a strange feeling last night about Bear and decided to squeeze him in at Cornell for an ultrasound of his hind left today when we brought Cola for a farrier appointment.

On Saturday (5 days earlier) Bear had come in from his evening in the back field with a very swollen fetlock. It was so tender that he broke away from the wall. We buted him immediately hoping it was a sprained fetlock.

As the days passed, I wrapped him, iced him, cold hosed him and the swelling went down a bit in the fetlock. However he still had a little "overall" swelling and was definitely still lame. We tried stall rest in a 12'x12' stall but he was so anxious we decided to put him out at night.

Today during the ultrasound none of his tendons or ligaments had issues; so we probed deeper. As we were watching we uncovered a hidden puncture wound - very small wound. As we probed we saw what appeared to be a fracture in the splint bone. The fracture isn't even close to where he was swollen.

See a clip from the ultrasound: http://youtu.be/UUs5Nyht8CM

Radiographs confirmed that he had indeed fractured his splint bone.

He is now on antibiotics and bute hoping to avoid any infection in the bone and avoid surgery. He has on a sweat wrap, which will come off tomorrow and be replaced with a pressure wrap. He will be on stall rest 24/7. Because he gets so anxious in a stall, we have him on the broodmare indoor-outdoor stall so he can have a little more space.

Frustration cannot begin to explain where I am at right now. Bear is a horse I just purchased merely 3 weeks ago for jumping lessons. He's a wonderful guy and I was eager to play with him and take him to the fall hunter paces. I went to Cornell to confirm that it was just a simple sprain and could have him on regulated turnout and I came back with something surprising.

He is officially a wonderful Bad News Bear.

What is the value of a horse?

A post online this morning brought up the concept of the value of a horse. I thought it was a great concept to ponder!

It is important to remember that there's no such thing as "real value." Just because you bought a great horse for $1000 or $10,000 it doesn't matter. The value is based off of so many factors that many people fail to understand:

HORSE: Age, Height, Training, Pedigree, Breed, Appealing looks, Pedigree, Personality, Safety, Potential, Conformation

FARM: Reputation, Trainer, Location

MARKET: Economy, Demand, Supply

SENTIMENTALITY: Connection of owner to horse, Connection of buyer to horse, Matchmaking for buyer

Undercutting your horse's value only devalues them for the future because VALUE IS PERCEIVED not innate and that low price will decrease the perception of your horse's value.

That said, over valuing your horse could simply be unrealistic. If the market isn't supporting it and there is no desire, then a price just isn't right.

If people will pay it, then it's a fair price. If the RIGHT PEOPLE will pay it, then it's a great price.

Ithaca Festival 2012

© 2012 Dave Burbank I'm posting this so that everyone who might be interested can be involved.

I need help. And LOTS of it!! For the past 2 (now 3) years Painted Bar Stables plays a pretty big role in the Ithaca Festival. We march in the Thursday opening ceremonies parade and also offer pony rides during the weekend at the festival. In the past, we have only offered pony rides for Sunday when the festival moved to Stewart Park. This year, the festival is staying on the Commons for both days and we are invited to offer pony rides both Saturday and Sunday. I need people to help me with all aspects of the festival.

Beyond the Painted Bar Stables involvement, the Ithaca Fest is huge. They say that over 10,000 people attend the festival and there's at least 5,000-6,000 people in and attending the parade. This is an enormous event, especially for our horses!

TO REGISTER TO HELP US PLEASE SIGN UP AT http://tinyurl.com/PBS-IthacaFest2012 

© 2012 Dave BurbankTHURSDAY 5/31: Parade

This is the fun part where the kids get to really show off! We need kids to come and ride in the parade to show off our horses. We also need people (kids and adults) to walk along with us to hand out fliers, wave and greet people as we walk along, not to mention our infamous and well loved poop crew!

All Parade Walkers must either wear jeans, appropriate footwear, and a Painted Bar Stable T-Shirt or a solid red shirt!

Roles Needed:

• Horse Washers: We need people to help groom our horses and get them on the trailer at the barn, then help to unload them and get them tacked up and ready at the festival.
• Youth Horse Riders: we need a kid for every horse! These kids get to sit on the horses and wave to the crowd. This job is NOT as easy as the kids think it is - it requires them sitting on their horses for sometimes over 1½ hours! It's tough but it's glorified.I know that every kid wants to play this role but we will only have a certain number of horses and we found it too hard to switch riders. Priority will be given to kids that are current students between the ages of 7-12 but we will try to get everyone we can on horses. 
• Horse Leaders: Every horse will be ridden by a child and lead by an teenager or adult. Leading horses is not a feat for the faint of heart. Your arm will be exhausted, it takes a lot of focus and is physically tiring. However, it's also a great privilege and INCREDIBLY NEEDED!
• Banner Holders: we have a banner that gets strung on a pole. We need at least two people to carry the banner in front of us and to help maintain our distance from the parade floats in front so our horses don't get too close to the group in front of us.
• Walkers, Greeters and Brochure Givers: These are the people walking alongside, helping out, handing out brochures, engaging the crowd and telling them about what they do at Painted Bar Stables, and answering questions. These are also the people that remind everyone that "These horses will be available for pony rides at the festival on State Street!"This role is much more important than you think. There are a lot of irresponsible parents it seems who like to let their kids walk out in front of the horses. Our walkers are the people who catch these kids and send them back to the sidelines.
• Glorified Poop Crew: This is the most important job of them all!!! We need people to dance behind our horses and pick up poop and put it in a wheelbarrow. Last year this crew got the loudest applause from the crowd. They were famous. People still come up to me and talk about how cool the poop crew was. EVERYONE THAT SIGNS UP AHEAD OF TIME FOR THE POOP CREW WILL GET A FREE PAINTED BAR STABLES T-SHIRT WITH "POOP CREW" ON THE BACK!

© 2012 Dave Burbank

Horses Being Used:

• 11-15 horses:Misty Belle, Mack(?), Little Joe, Maxie, Scotch, Dutchess, Dozer, Crystal(?), Mister(?), Chico, Kasper, Pepsi, Aspen, Beauregard, Dreamer(if Gary comes)
• Not sure if Gringo is ready to make his appearance with the Poop Crew yet - that's a goal for next year!

Special Requests: 

• Branden - Can we borrow your truck and trailer for the event? Can I borrow you too? I'll buy you ice cream and everything you want!
• Rachel or Allie - If you're free I would adore your braiding skills! I'll owe you dinner.
• Dad - Poo Crew Leader?
• Ashley - I would love you to be responsible for Mister if we take him and we can talk about who we would like to ride him

Ideas:

• Maxie ALWAYS leads the way. This year she may just be too pregnant. I think we should make a sign for her saying "I'm pregnant and my baby is due in a month!" and she should still lead the way. 
• Last year we had a lot of success with "Synchronized Circles." The horses get too antsy and the parade goes too slowly. By doing a "1-2-3 Circle" and all the horses doing 1 spin it kept the horses engaged and less fussy, it made us look organized, and the whole crowd said our horses were "dancing!"

FRIDAY 6/1: Setup for the Pony Rides

Pony rides will be conducted in the gravel parking lot on State Street between Capital Corner Chinese and Medusa Tattoo Salon, across from the Cornell Daily Sun. So basically we are just off of the "Main Commons" in the area used for food during the Ithaca Festival. This is where we fit.

We need 3-4 people to come and help load the round pen into the trailer, and then unload it and set it up on Friday night. We will also bring with us: mounting blocks, tables, shade umbrellas, chairs, banner, signs, water jug, etc....

We need to set up a round pen as well as a "holding stall" for horses on break as well as a "chute" for kids that have had their ticket taken but need to get helmets on.

SATURDAY 6/2 & SUNDAY 6/3: Pony Rides and Learning Workshops

Pony Rides will be conducted all day, probably starting around 10:30am and going until 7:00pm or so in the round pen that we set up. 

Horses will be loaded up around 8:30am to be brought down to the festival for the day. We will be using 3-4 of the following horses: Pepsi, Dozer, Beauregard, Kasper, Little Joe, Chico.

Roles Needed:

• Prep People: 2-3 people who will meet us either at the barn or the festival to unload the horses, tack them up and get everything ready.
• Pony Walkers: Must be at least 14 years of age and we need 3-4 Walkers per shift. Each pony ride will consist of 5 loops around the round pen.
  • Shift 1: 10:30am-12:00pm
  • Shift 2: 12:00pm-1:30pm
  • Shift 3: 1:30pm - 3:00pm
  • Shift 4: 3:00pm - 4:30pm
  • Shift 5: 4:30pm - 6:00pm
  • Shift 6: 6:00pm - 7:00pm and help with tear down
• Ticket Sellers: We need 2 ticket sellers at all time! Must be 18+ of age and meet approval.
• Ticket Takers: Sellers will be selling tickets. We need 1 person (can be a responsible youth) per shift to take the tickets at the gate and send them into the chute. No parents will be allowed in the chute unless they are helping their small child as a "walk along." All walk along parents MUST HAVE CLOSED TOED SHOES. I would prefer that PBS people do the walk along if possible.
• Helmet Giver:  We need someone (can be a responsible youth) to hand out helmets of the correct size and help kids get them.
• Mount Up Helper: We need someone to help the kids up and onto the horses and to adjust the stirrups quickly.

If you haven't noticed, throughout the day we need about 9 people at a time! That's a lot of people. 

ANYONE WHO VOLUNTEERS FOR AT LEAST TWO SHIFTS OF PONY WALKING or THREE SHIFTS OF OTHER PONY RIDE ROLES RECEIVES A FREE T-SHIRT AS A TOKEN OF MY EXTREME APPRECIATION!!

TO REGISTER TO HELP US PLEASE SIGN UP AT http://tinyurl.com/PBS-IthacaFest2012 

Landscaping Planning

Check out the awesome sketch that Lisa did for us! She's going to completely redo the landscaping at the farm.

Thank god, because I'm just obviously incapable!

What Owning a Horse Entails

A student of mine asked me to elaborate on what owning a horse entails. This list is an elaboration of the note on "Barn Mathematics" that I previously posted here:http://paintedbarstables.blogspot.com/2010/12/barn-mathematics.html

Horse Ownership List:

• Board
  • $40 - grain
  • $50 - hay
  • water
  • $40 - bedding
  • general labor / utilities
• Farrier (every 6-8 weeks)
  • $25 - Trim
  • $70-120 - Shoes if necessary
• Veterinary 
  • Annual yearly appointments (in spring)
    • Necessary
      • $15 - 4-Way Shot (Tetanus, Flu, EEE, WEE) 
      • $25 - Rabies
      • $25 - Coggins (every 2 years)
    • Recommended
      • $15 - Potomac Horse Fever
      • $15 - West Nile Virus
  • Dental
    • $65-110 - Dental exam, float and repair (annual or semi-annual check)
  • Emergency Care
    • Wounds
    • Colic
    • Fever/Disease
    • Lameness
  • Specialty Health
    • $30-60 - Equine Massage 
    • $60 - Equine Chiropractic
• Tack and Supplies
  • $200-600 - Saddle (and rigging)
  • $50-100 - Bridle (and rigging)
  • $30 - Saddle Pads
  • $80-120 - Winter Blanket
  • $50-70 - Rain Sheet
  • $20-40 - Grooming Supplies
• Insurance
  • Personal Liability (you do something wrong - like Car insurance)
  • Horse Insurance (something happens to your horse - like Health insurance)
    • Mortality Coverage
    • Colic Surgery Coverage
    • Surgical Health Coverage
    • Stallion Infertility Coverage
    • Loss of Use Coverage
• Time
  • Working with ground manners
  • Exercise and Riding
  • Training
  • Attending appointments
  • Taking care of wounds or illness

Sierras All The Gold learns to mount the Phantom

Today we took Sierras All The Gold, our wonderful APHA stallion, to Cornell University's Equine Park to prepare him for his first season of semen collection for non-local mares to be impregnated through artificial insemination (AI). The goal of our visit was twofold:

1. Sierra needed to learn how to mount the phantom for collection.
2. We needed to analyze Sierra's sperm to make sure that it is viable for cooling and shipping.

The process can be a difficult learning curve for stallions as it requires them to do something that is completely non-instinctual: mount a phantom. A phantom for breeding is a padded dummy mount that looks quite similar to a gymnastic vaulting apparatus. When you think about it, there is absolutely no reason why a horse would naturally want to jump on top of this, let alone have sex with it!

How the process works is that a mare in heat is selected to be used as a tease, based on the specifications and preferences of the stallion. Yes, stallions have preference; for Sierra his preferences are the little ladies with the giant butts. The mare is then brought out to excite the stallion, causing him to drop his penis so it can be washed. The mare is placed behind a short wall just behind the phantom to encourage the stallion to then mount the phantom. As the stallion mounts, a receptacle is used to gather the semen. The semen is then tested for: presence of urine, sperm count, sperm motility and sperm preference of three extenders that will help keep the sperm viable during the cooling and shipping process.

The mare chosen for Sierra was a cute little buckskin quarter horse, Nina. And she was just perfect for him. He immediately took to her and dropped and was a very good boy about his penis being cleaned. On his first try at the Phantom, Sierra didn't quite understand what we were getting at. The phantom didn't even register. He knew his job: mount the MARE. He ended up mounting the wall and putting his feet over the mare's back instead of mounting the phantom. We were able, however to get a good collection from him, regardless. 

Sierra at the Cornell Equine Park with the Phantom

While testing his first collection, we unfortunately found that he had urine in his ejaculate. Urine kills sperm; almost everything kills sperm. This is a common issue. Many stallions, like Sierra, go years successfully impregnating mares through hand breeding and pasture breeding without issues. The mares uterus is amazing at assisting and supporting sperm. However, when breeding through AI it can be a another obstacle in the process.

Example of Equine Sperm Under Microscope (Not Sierra's)

His first collection had a good sperm count of 177 million per milliliter (average sperm concentration is 100-200 million per ml). However, when looking at his first collection of sperm under the microscope, the motility was low (20-30% instead of the average of 70-80%). This was a result of the urine contamination damaging the sperm and reducing motility.

After trying unsuccessfully to get Sierra to urinate before our second attempt, we gave it another go. This time, Sierra figured it out and successfully mounted the phantom. A fantastic learning curve!

In the testing of his second ejaculate, the urine content was greatly diminished. The staff at the Equine Park were also able to sustain the sperm by both centrifuge as well as use of the extender to dilute what urine was in the semen. The results were positive: concentration of 195 million per ml and a 75-80% motility rate. His sperm also seemed to work well in all of the extender options.

Sierras sperm are now undergoing testing to see how well they cool and more information will be available in the future.

Off to Lehman's in Rochester for a Impromptu Show

So, as a last minute decision I decided to take Little Joe to a hunter/jumper show in Rochester... TOMORROW!

Figured I might actually want to jump him before I arrived in Rochester.

He did a great job and as an afterthought I thought I would post a video of him. I was bummed that we had our leads all worked out until the video camera started, but I guess he was tired after our practice. I was actually shocked he got the wrong lead. He always gets the right one! However... The gate to leave the arena was also to the left.... Hmmm...

(BTW, when he got the proper lead it was a RIGHT lead and I marked it wrongly as a LEFT lead)

So now I am all packed up (and bathed!) and ready to head to Lehman's tomorrow morning with Little Joe.

I'm hoping that people see that I am pushing my boundaries and taking a leap of faith in my horse and our relationship and feel like they can do the same. We all know I'm a horse girl, but not a show girl, but I'm really looking forward to this opportunity.

For me it's a Lehman show.

For others it might be a trail trial, or a local fair!

I want people to get out more with their horses and have little moments of "win" for themselves, their horses and their relationships, even if they don't get a blue ribbon.

Tomorrow is just another trail ride... In an arena... With jumps!