To Give Advice or Not

I don't beat around the bush, my responses are straight forward and blunt, especially if the welfare of horses, or humans, especially children, are at risk.

Recently one of Hubby's co-workers asked for some advice on buying a horse. He and his wife had decided to buy their eleven year old daughter a horse. Presently, they have nowhere to put the horse, but are working toward building a run-in shed and putting up fencing. Hubby had filled me in beforehand. I was already cringing during the intro chat but........Hubby referred the fella to me. Hubby is still relatively new to the whole horse thing, he usually defers horse questions to me. Hubby's specialty is premise maintenance and construction. He's great at that.

"Bob", not his real name, called me, well, Hubby called, but anyway......Bob asked my advice on buying horses. His first question concerned the age of a horse, as in what's a good age. He said they were looking at a 2 year old. I cringed. I told him for an inexperienced, young rider I would suggest anything between 7-15 years that has been ridden alot. He told me his daughter has been riding the neighbor's horse and knows all about horses. OKEY DOKEY. Has "Janie" taken any lessons in the past? Naturally, the answer was no, but she has learned about some horse care through a group she's in and from the neighbor girl. I am trying to keep my voice calm at this point, figuring I'm talking to a completely inexperienced person when it comes to horses. The family lives out in the country and own property. I thought maybe they'd been around horses in their lifetime. Evidently, only goats.

Though I've not had my fair share of riding lessons in my adult life, a child's parents I will always advise, GET LESSONS. Learn how to ride correctly. Learn about horse care before jumping into horse ownership. At the facility I worked at for a few years, I helped teach kids beginner riding lessons and horse care, I know the importance of safety. To this day I am amazed that parents will simply buy their kid a horse without themselves even knowing much about horses.

My next question concerned gender of the horse. I asked if they were looking at a gelding or mare, and hopefully not a stud colt. Bob hesitated and told me a gelding, he thought. hmmm. I wasn't convinced he was sure that's what the horse was. I told him the difference between a gelding and a stud colt, in case he wasn't sure and just didn't want to admit it to me. I also told him, in no way shape or form, in my opinion, should an eleven year old be trying to deal with a stud colt unless they were going to geld him soon. I could tell from the silence I might have hit on something there.

I also mentioned that if he could find a good trainer for a two year old horse, he would probably be better off to send it there before taking it home. Bob said he felt his daughter would be able to handle it. I feel I'm getting no where now.

Bob asked about saddles which I thought should be the least of his concerns at that point in time, but gave him my insights since he asked about the synthetic vs leather. I thought for a young girl a nice light synthetic would be ideal. We used them for our classes and for the 3 years I was at the facility, they held up well with little maintenance. Not like the leather anyway.

My personal inquiry to him was about a helmet for his daughter. Bob told me she didn't have one. I stressed the importance of getting her a good fitting helmet. He said he'd have to see how SHE felt about that. I was basically deflated at that comment.

OK, so zoom ahead to present time., probably about 2 months from the original phone call. Hubby informed me Bob had purchased a 2 year old mare, which I informed him at two, we're talking filly, but that's probably a mute point. Janie had been riding the filly at it's place of residence since Bob doesn't have their place set up yet. Bob said the horse's main problem was that is wanted to stop and eat grass. I'm getting this picture in my head of this little eleven year old girl, no helmet, pulling on the horse to stop eating grass......................these kinds of stories do make you cringe. It's hard to say how that little filly will act once it leaves it's farm. The man who owns the filly told Bob that she does OK with a group of horses. We all know as horse people, you ofte need to read between the lines when it comes to horse selling. Can't you see all the warning signs here? Hubby told me yesterday Janie was trying to ride the filly but the mare was being moody. I don't know the specifics of what happened, I can only guess. UGH! I'm sure none of them know what to do in that situation, or any of the situations that will probably come up.

I feel bad for the eleven year old girl who has dreams of that perfect horse until it does something not very cute, since it will probably have very little guidance and will act, well, like a horse. I feel bad for the horse. I hope the end result is better than my imagination of events.

I know myself, I have learned SOOO much about horses in the past five years. I was immersed in them through working at a riding facility. I learned things I didn't know, especially about behavior, having witnessed them first hand. I understand why people have problems when they simply bring a horse home or get the daughter a horse for her birthday.

Horses are not like dogs! They are big! They often won't stay when you tell them too, unless properly trained of course. They aren't always ready and willing to take on the day. My biggest concern for Janie and her family is that they get this filly home but she doesn't act "right". They don't know how to deal with her. Someone gets hurt or the horse gets forgotten because things weren't as easy as they thought they would be. Why oh why don't people at least find out what they're really getting into? I cannot imagine an eleven year old girl trying to manage a two year old horse of any kind, unless she's had proper training herself. To me, this situation appears to be a train wreck, one way or another, in the making. I hope I'm dead wrong but right now, things don't look to be on the brighter side.

I've sent my horse magazines to Janie and family. There have been some really good articles lately in Horse and Rider and Trail Rider. Maybe they will take the horse on as a family project. Hopefully they'll get the filly a buddy, if not another horse, then one of their goats. I also sneaked a DVD in the magazines about riding safely.

We all make choices, but as for myself I try to be informed. OK, I bought a 2 year old with very little training, but I was forty four years old and had spent a summer immersed in horses, as well as 3 years after that. I told Hubby to let Bob know I would be glad to help Janie with teaching ground manners to her new horse. I'm not one to teach much more than beginner riding, but I feel I have a good method with ground manners.

I may have overstepped my boundaries with my suggestions and advice anyway. You know, people often hear what they want to hear, and do what they want to do. Hubby mentioned that pricing of the 2 year old had alot to do with the purchase. That saddens me too, especially when an eleven year old child is involved. I remember telling Bob he may have to pay more for a well trained horse, but it would be worth it in the long run for his daughter.

It's times like these you wonder, should I give advice or not? I was asked, so I gave it as I see it. When it comes to the safety and well being of a horse and a child, I will always be blunt and truthful. I hope Janie's dreams of a perfect horse aren't doused. I hope no one gets hurt, including the horse.

Please, please, if you are thinking of buying a horse, but have no background or knowledge of horses, read up, or find someone who can help. A horse is not a dog! It's not that simple.

Detective Work

I'm a straight forward kind of person. I want the facts, straight up. I want to be able to know what's going on, not have to figure things out. Maybe that's called lazy, but at any rate, when you have animals, and especially horses, you'd better be ready to be a detective when it comes to illness or injury.

A week ago, Monday, things were rolling along as they usually do. Fed the horses in the morning. I always eyeball them making sure no one got into anything during the night. Both looked fine. Spirit seemed like himself. I remember a couple of hours later I glanced out the back door, noticed the horses out on the hill near some trees. Everything OK, again.

Around 12:30pm I went out to open the gate to the front field. Both horses were standing in the stall area. Bo standing near the water tank. Spirit partially in the stall with shavings blanketing the left side of this body and mane. I took that in as being a little odd, but then dismissed the thought. Walked straight for the front field gate and both followed though they were hanging back more than usual. Most days, Bo is right up front ready to go through first.

Still not noticing anything amiss, I opened the gate and Bo walked quietly out to the field. Spirit stood right where he was and it was then I noticed he was shaking. His whole body trembling!

Now, I must admit, I sort of went into panic mode. I'd dealt with various injuries and illnesses with the horses in my care at the ranch, from colic, to a slashed leg artery, to hoof abscesses among a few. But, when my own horse was standing there shaking and trembling I became weak in the knees!

Thoughts running through my head "What if he collapses right here? Where will we bury him? Crap! What's my next move? Crap!"

The poor guy tried to walk out into the field to eat some grass. I quickly ran back to building to get his halter and lead rope. I knew I needed to get him back to the stall, at least to see if his vitals were irregular. Then there was the mud he'd have to wade through. My mind simply said CRAP! Although I'm pretty sure I used the other form of the word. "What if he collapsed in the mud? Oh gosh that would be awful." Pushing those thoughts out of my head, I waded in mud up over my boots, and sloshing mud water on my clothes, I gently coaxed him back to the stall. In the mean time I had to close Bo out in the field because if he came in, well, he tends to bully Spirit out of what he deems, his corner.

I get Spirit into the stall. I break out the first aid kit where the thermometer is stored. I check his gums. Capillary refill seems OK. Doesn't look like shock yet. I take his temp. It was up to 102. I try to check his pulse, unfortunately, I am very lacking in that talent and curse myself for not being able to find that darn artery under his jaw. Check respirations, fairly normal, not rapid and not slow. He does not seem in distress except for the shaking. I'm thinking about which vet would be easiest to contact, but, I don't want to jump to that conclusion too quickly.

My next move was to get an old blanket to throw over him for a little while in case it may be some kind of toxic shock. I feel all over his body, his legs, shoulders, ribs, don't see anything out of the ordinary. He's still shaking.

At this point I'm frustrated. I go into the house to find my two horse vet books. I still can find nothing that really fits. Maybe it's wait and see. I spent the afternoon in the stall with Spirit. There was definitely something going on with him. He wouldn't miss an afternoon out in the grass. I gave him some hay. He started nibbling. His manure looked fine and he wasn't dehydrated.

Eventually the shaking subsided. He walked around the stall. He ate some more hay, slowly. He drank the water I offered in a bucket. The only thing that really started standing out was when I ran my hand down his right front leg, he would lift it up. Now, That's not something Spirit does. I mean, he'll give you his foot if you ask, but to just lift it like a dog would lift it's paw, that was odd.

At that point I started pressing on his shoulder and ribs while watching his face. I noticed a bit of a wince on his part and he looked back at me. It was right then and there I decided that Bo had probably kicked Spirit. I found no outward evidence. No hoof prints on the skin. I'd seen that happen with the ranch horses plenty of times. Usually the mares, Kleo or Lena, hauling off and kicking one of the others leaving a dusty hoof imprints.

From this evidence, I deducted that the reason Spirit had shavings all over him was because he had either been down in the stall, lying or rolling, or whatever, and Bo decided he wasn't happy with that, because Spirit was in "his" space. In response, Bo kicked the crap out of Spirit. That's the only thing I can really come up with. Through the rest of the day and evening, Spirit walked gingerly on that leg, dragging it a little as he walked. I'm pretty sure it was a shoulder or rib kick. Bo usually does the double legged kind of kick. Spirit, on the other hand, is more of a cow kicker type.

The next day, Spirit was not dragging that foot. I still had in my mind any type of toxic problems from EPM to Lyme disease, but he didn't fit any of those symptoms. Over the next few days Spirit was back to his almost usual self. The only other evidence of an altercation that I have witnessed is the fact that Spirit appears a little more wary of Bo. I don't like that, but in the horse world, they have their own rules. I don't stand for any kind of aggravating when I'm around, but when I'm not there, well, there isn't much I can do about their disagreements. Most of the time, Bo and Spirit get along fine. I'll never know what sparked the incident, and I'm not even sure if I'm right about it. I'm only going on clues, evidence and gut feelings.

I never did like playing Clue!