• Women skiers, this is the place for you -- an online community without the male-orientation you'll find in conventional ski magazines and internet ski forums. At TheSkiDiva.com, you can connect with other women to talk about skiing in a way that you can relate to, about things that you find of interest. Be sure to join our community to participate (women only, please!). Registration is fast and simple. Just be sure to add [email protected] to your address book so your registration activation emails won't be routed as spam. And please give careful consideration to your user name -- it will not be changed once your registration is confirmed.

Having One Of Those Horse Weeks...

Serafina

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
7am on Monday, get a text message from the BO. This always makes my heart pound because I think it will be something truly awful. Was happy to find it was only a thrown shoe. A winter shoe, with drive-in studs, and a snow pad, that was now lost in the paddock until mid-April, but still, only a shoe. AND the farrier was already coming out to the barn in another hour to shoe a different horse. Bad news, but the best bad news it could be. Farrier will just add the cost of this (whatever it is) to the next regular shoeing.

7pm on Monday, get another text message from the BO. This time, to tell me that My Wonder Horse had been fighting with another horse through, or over, the electric fencing, and had two (2) black eyes as a result. She didn't mention that he's now freaky as hell about the electric fencing. There wasn't enough light at this point for me to really assess things, and she was going to put some arnica on him anyway, so I waited until this morning to survey the damage.

He sure did have one doozy of a black eye. Far as I can tell, he got into some kind of head-butting game with the other horse, got some bite marks around the one eye, and got head-butted or bitten on the other eye, which was swollen nearly shut, with some broken skin on the lid. I put a cold compress on it for a while, and went home to call the vet, who is of the belief that any eye injury needs to be Looked At. I was kind of suspecting that anyway, so after an hour and a half of phone tag, it was back to the barn for me.

$190 (farm call, emergency visit, evaluation, and a shot of anti-inflammatories) later, I have the good news that his cornea is fine, there is no structural damage, and it's just a whopping great shiner.

I kind of don't want to answer the phone tomorrow...
 

contesstant

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
What are these studded snow shoes you speak of? :laugh: Maybe I'll know when we move to Utah!
And I agree with your vet on eye injuries--I've known WAY too many horses who ended up having to have a corneal transplant or their eye removed due to what started as a very innocuous injury to the eye area.

It's amazing how they hurt themselves. I am glad mine likes his cozy stall and only gets turned out with a grumpy old mare once in awhile.
 

Serafina

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Mine doesn't usually get turned out with anyone. Huey is of the opinion that he is an essentially Superior Creature (including the mares) and that all other horses should therefore show him humble respect and honor. Unfortunately, the other horses do not share this perspective, which leads to a considerable amount of ongoing and unresolved conflict.

We had a horse this summer that he got along with and had him on turnout together - mostly, they just ignored each other - but every other joint turnout attempt we've made has failed utterly. I have had to come to terms with the fact that My Precious Baby appears to be the Playground Bully. Usually it's just a matter of poor manners on the leadline, or horse-shoe-shaped abrasions on the side or chest, maybe a few bite marks on the neck. This is the first time he's come home from school with a black eye.

And I'm there, thinking that I ought to put something cold on it. Tradition suggests a raw steak, but I didn't have one and couldn't see him tolerating that anyway. But I didn't bring any cold packs either. Then the penny dropped and I'm like, duh...use. the. snow.
 

contesstant

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Anytime you have a gelding who thinks he rules the roost, it gets ugly because there's always the mare (or two, or three) who will make sure he knows he does NOT. My horse gets along with everybody. Including all humans! He's just so sweet.
 

gardenmary

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Anytime you have a gelding who thinks he rules the roost, it gets ugly because there's always the mare (or two, or three) who will make sure he knows he does NOT. My horse gets along with everybody. Including all humans! He's just so sweet.
I can attest to this - he is one of the sweetest, funniest horses I've ever encountered. And that old mare, yeah, she's grumpy all right!
 

litterbug

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I thought I had seen a lot of things, but I never even knew a horse could get a black eye! Poor baby (even if it was his fault).
 

Serafina

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I thought I had seen a lot of things, but I never even knew a horse could get a black eye! Poor baby (even if it was his fault).

Nor did I. I wanted to take a picture of it, so that next time someone runs a "what's the weirdest injury your horse has had" contest, I could win. Didn't bring anything with me, though. And hoping that today the shot and the miracle of time will have reduced the swelling enough that I missed my big chance to win.

It might have been the other horse's fault. He's chronically lame - too much jumping, too early - so he doesn't have a rider at all. He belongs to another barn that my BO does a stall-swap with in the winter because she needs access to an indoor ring, which we don't have. Other barn is a relatively big business, and this horse, being lame, doesn't bring in any revenue, so he's the one to get sent off. Unfortunately, because he's an un-rideable horse owned by a lesson barn, he doesn't have anyone who is invested in making sure that his manners are good, so he doesn't have any. I wouldn't put it past the other horse to have called Huey some Bad Names, and Huey lack enough sense to let himself get sucked in. :smile:
 
Last edited:

contesstant

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Well, their eyes are already black/dark brown so technically, they get a contusion around the eye. And with the way their eyes are set on their heads, it's easy for them to whack them on things (like stall walls, etc.)

And arabians REALLY have wide-set, big eyes. Add in their triangular-shaped heads, and it's a wonder they don't poke them out regularly! Isn't he cute? (Shameless brag :becky:)
542884_300513606715358_1071059097_n.jpg
 

Serafina

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
He's one handsome devil!!! And you look great together!!

I got some professional portraits made of me and Huey, as a gift for my husband. Will see if I can make one small enough to upload.
 

Serafina

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I have a framed copy of that middle one hanging in my study. Those were the first braids I ever put on a horse, and lord bless him, he left them strictly alone overnight so they looked exactly as I left them the day before. And he was...mostly...clean. Was already too cold by then to bathe him properly, but I tidied him up as best I could. I think he looks like a Million Bucks.

I didn't realize, until I braided him up, how much he looks like his daddy (KWPN Emilion, Keur)
 

contesstant

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
OMG he has the adorable Floppy Lower Lip! I confess to flopping mouths like that and sticking my fingers and treats into those flaps! And we both apparently felt red was the color of the day! :D
 

Serafina

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
He has a very floppy lip! I do play with it, even though I'm not supposed to.

When he gets stressed out, usually in the ring when I'm asking him to do something but not being clear in my signals, he flops his lip so much it makes a loud popping noise as we go around the ring at a trot. It's hilarious, but it's also a really helpful sign to me that I'm doing something wrong, and that it's time to regroup, go back a few steps, and clarify things with him.
 

Serafina

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Just went out to see him, and I swear, his eye is the size of a clementine. He's not happy about it. He's also acting like a freak about the fence. Doesn't want to get anywhere near it, doesn't want to be haltered and go out, sheesh. I'm assuming he got full-body contact from the electric fence when he had his little fight. I really hope he settles down about that, since we've got 18" of snow with a 2 or 3" breakable crust on top, and it's no fun to go walking out after him in the paddock in that.
 

VickiK

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Good luck with Huey, @Serafina . Hope he's doing better soon. He is a very handsome boy, and I loved those photos of you two.
 

Serafina

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Vet gave him a shot yesterday, and it might have slowed things down, but otherwise, no. Vet says it needs time. :( Poor boy.
 

Serafina

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I wish I could believe that he'd remember this next time he decides to get involved with a face-biting fight.
 

Latest posts

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
26,237
Messages
497,685
Members
8,503
Latest member
MermaidKelly
Top