Bar 4X Ranch

02/25/2022

Too good not to share!

1. Horses don’t get broke at home. Be brave and enter!

2. EVERY disappointment at the show is a learning opportunity..... Be humble, be open to change.

3. Everyone gets nervous. Everyone has bad days. Everyone makes mistakes. Literally: EVERYONE!

4. Don’t watch others in the warmup ring and start changing what you have been doing - if you see something cool or you want to step up your game that’s homework for after the show!

5. When we run out of knowledge, we often punish our horses. Seek help instead.

6. Be a competitor! But be a horseman first. There is always someone watching who sees you as a role model.

7. Supporting your fellow competitors and engaging with people will enrich your show life.

8. Know the rules of competition! Make sure your attire and tack is legal. Read the rule book, ask questions and be well prepared.

9. Have FUN, don’t sweat the small stuff!

Originally from Dawn Watt

12/30/2021

The price of a good rope horse and barrel horse has sky rocketed in the past year thanks to the Pink and Ruby Buckle. To give you an example of just how ridiculous the prices have gone, the last horse Emma priced was $150,000 and her horse outran it at the barrel race that day. Excuse me? You want to do what? Obviously, that wasn't happening. Emma recently sold both her good barrel horses and his good rope horse just up and went from winning right into kidney failure for reasons unknown. It was awful. But both of them still have their good old horses and a good young horse. Not to mention the horses I see literally staring back at me right now just looking for a job. I get their dilemma. I do. But, I also think sometimes patience is a virtue. What comes up, must come down. It's just how things work. This runaway market isn't going to last forever and neither do horses. And usually, what you need is right in front of you anyway. And so I told him a story.

I started reading Jentezen Franklin's book Acres of Diamonds a few weeks ago. In the opening he tells a story that's been given as a speech by Russell Conwell, an attorney, over 6000 times, a fact included in Ripley's Believe It or Not!, believe it or not! It's a true story and I will paraphrase it for you.

One day a farmer named Ali Hafed was working on his large farm in India and a stranger, who happened to be a priest, stopped by. As they visited, the priest told him that large diamonds were being found in a distant land. He said with a handful of diamonds he could buy a whole country. The stranger went on his way but the once content farmer couldn't quit thinking about the diamonds. He was so intrigued and so badly wanted those diamonds that he decided he must leave and go search for them. He immediately packed up all he could, told his family goodbye and left his large farm and family. He went to Africa, no diamonds, Palestine, do diamonds, Europe, no diamonds, Spain, no diamonds. He eventually had to sell his farm, all that he owned, and finally in his despair, took his own life by walking into the sea.

The man Ali Hafed sold his farm to was watering his camel one day and he saw a flash of light in the stream. He noticed a beautiful black rock and so he picked it up and brought it home. He sat it on the mantel of his fireplace. (I love this part of the story because I drag rocks home all the time.) Not long after, the same priest was traveling by again. He was invited in and immediately noticed the rock. He said "That is a diamond!" The farmer said "No, it's just a pretty rock I found in the river." He said "That is a diamond." The very farm that Ali Hafed left behind and sold was the famous diamond mine of Golconda. The most magnificent diamond mine in all of history.

All he had to do was look down. Sometimes what you are searching for is standing right in front of you. Contentment is a state of mind and a choice. Look around you. You think you need more but do you? I loved this story because I know it to be true. The Cowboy dreams of building a house on a hill over looking the river bottom but guess where our house sits now? On a hill overlooking a river bottom. I had to finally explain to him that I'm not moving. I can see the sun come up in the morning in my living room and set in the evening on my back porch. Driving in my driveway is my favorite thing to do.

Look around folks. You might just be standing on a diamond. Things come and go. People come and go. Horses come and go. Jobs come and go. What you make of what you have, well there's the diamond. Jentezen said "The answer to your dreams may be right at your fingertips, if only you could see what is possible and believe.....and if you have Jesus as your Savior, well you are presently living in acres of diamonds.

I am going to give you a four-letter word that will change your life....STAY! Learn this word and live it. The grass is not greener somewhere else, you just have to learn to see, value and grow what you have, right where you are."

10/20/2021

Good info!!

10 things veterinarians want horse owners to know about Banamine.
1)Banamine is a brand name. Flunixin meglumine is the drug name but many people refer to it by the popular brand name “Banamine” made by Merck. This medication is available in injectable liquid and oral paste formulations.
2)Flunixin is classified as a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug which can be shortened to “NSAID.” NSAIDs reduce inflammation, pain, and fever by decreasing certain biochemical reactions in the body. Other drugs that are also classified as NSAIDs include phenylbutazone (Bute), firocoxib (Equioxx®, Previcoxx®).
3)Flunixin treats pain. By far the most common implication for the use of flunixin in horses is analgesia, or pain control. Flunixin provides good pain control for visceral (in the belly) and ocular (eye) pain. It is often used in cases of colic (abdominal pain) to make the horse more comfortable which reduces the risk of harm to the horse and handlers. It is important to note that flunixin does not cure the cause of colic; it temporarily relieves signs by providing pain relief.
4)Flunixin can reduce fever. A normal horse’s temperature is between 98.5 and 100.9°F. Like humans, horses can develop a fever secondary to an infection or illness. Many febrile horses will not eat or drink well when they have a fever but their appetite improves once the fever decreases. Flunixin can be used to reduce the horse's temperature often making them feel better. On a cautionary note, we often recommend owners take a temperature BEFORE giving flunixin as this can also a mask a fever.
5)Flunixin lasts 12 hours in the horse’s body. Some owners with a sick horse give a full dose of flunixin and then redose the horse a few hours later when he/she became uncomfortable again. This practice is not recommended for two reasons. First, overdosing can increase the risk of adverse effects including kidney damage and gastric ulcers. Second, if a horse's clinical signs do not resolve with a full dose, an examination by your veterinarian is likely warranted sooner rather than later and administering a second dose may delay treatment.
6)Flunixin can cause gastrointestinal and kidney damage. The same pathways that are down-regulated by flunixin to reduce pain and inflammation also partially protect the kidneys and stomach. At a normal dose the risk of these side effects is reduced. However, patients treated with an overdose or long term dosing are at an increased risk for renal (kidney) damage, gastric ulcers, and hind gut (colon) ulcers .
7)“Stacking” NSAIDs is not recommended. As previously stated, other drugs commonly used in horses that are also classified as NSAIDs include bute, Equioxx and Previcoxx). It is important to note that giving either of these medications together or in combination with flunixin can cause the same adverse effects as overdosing. For this reason,we do not recommend “stacking” NSAIDs or administering two of these drugs together. Many geriatric patients receive Equioxx or Previcoxx daily for pain and inflammation associated with arthritis. If this is the case, we recommend discontinuing that medication before starting another NSAID an allowing enough time for the body to clear the first drug completely.
8)Flunixin does not cause sedation or cure colic. Although we often use flunixin in colic cases, it is for the purpose of pain control. Alleviating the signs of colic by controlling pain is safer for the horse and handler when a horse is being treated and gives the horse’s body time to respond to treatment (ie oral fluids, IV fluids, motility agents). We often recommend removing hay/grain from a horse that has been administered flunixin for signs of colic until he/she can be examined by a veterinarian. In some cases, once the horse FEELS better he/she will try to continue eating and make the colic worse. If you think your horse may be colicking, we recommend calling your regular veterinarian and following her/his recommendations on medications and feeding.
9)Flunixin should NOT be given in the muscle (IM). Oddly enough, Banamine is still labeled for IM use in horses on the bottle but I strongly recommend against this practice. In rare cases, IM administration of flunixin (or phenylbutazone) has been known to cause a secondary condition called “Clostridial myositis” which can be fatal. The medication irritates the surrounding muscle tissue and bacterial spores can take advantage of the inflamed environment and cause a massive release of toxins. This disease is extremely painful and the treatment can be quite gruesome but horses that are not diagnosed and treated promptly may die from toxic overload. For this reason, we recommend only injecting flunixin in the vein (IV) or squirting the injectable fluid or paste in the mouth.
10)Flunixin injectable solution can be administered by mouth. The injectable formulation of flunixin can be administered by mouth at the same dose as IV use. Oral administration (either injectable solution or paste) takes about 20-30 min to reach full effect compared to 5-10 min with an IV injection. Oral administration does not take significantly longer than IM injection to reach peak absorption and is much safer for the horse.
Lastly always call your veterinarian if you suspect your horse appears off in any way before administering any medication.

09/04/2021

The growing season.
To the girls going through the growing season.
1,000 dollar horse, 10,000 dollar horse, or 50,000 dollar horse there’s always a growing season. There’s a season where you wanna cry scream and just give up. There’s always a season where God humbles you and shows you how to appreciate what you have. The growing season is meant to knock you off your feet and show you how to grow from nothing, yeah you’ll never believe where the name came from. It’s meant to teach you to come from nothing and show you how much everything really means. Sometimes it’s winning 5 bucks from getting 3rd in the 3D. Sometimes it’s that 5 bucks that’s that little step that shows you you’re heading in the right direction. No, it’s not enough to cover even half of the entry fees or the gas home but it’s something more then you had. Sometimes it’s winning 1st in the 2D and then going straight back to not getting in the money at all. It’s all part of the growing season. Put your trust in God, he has a process and that process is beautiful. Appreciate your growing season, it shows you how to be a real competitor, whether it’s on the 1,000 dollar horse, 10,000 dollar horse, or the 50,000 dollar horse.
Remember where you came from.

Credit- Grace Troutner

08/04/2021

FAILED VETTING ??? Flexion Tests???
100% worth a read!

You’ve decided to sell your horse and the potential buyer has sent a veterinarian to your stables to perform a pre-purchase exam. Or, you’re the buyer, and you’re excited to complete your purchase. As you stand, beaming with satisfaction, the veterinarian picks up the horse’s left front leg. Bending it at the fetlock, he or she holds it in the air for 60 seconds or so, releases the limb, and asks that the horse be immediately jogged down the drive. In astonishment, you watch as the horse that you’ve known – or hoped – to be sound moves off with an obvious bob of the head. He’s most decidedly lame after the test.

What happened?
What does it mean?

What you have witnessed is a phenomenon not necessarily of the veterinarian’s creation, but something that can sometimes occur following a procedure called a forelimb flexion test. In a forelimb flexion test, various joints and soft tissue structures of the lower limb are stretched and/or compressed for a brief period of time by bending the limb. Afterward, the horse is immediately trotted off and observed for signs of lameness.

Simple, really. But it gets messy.

Forelimb flexion tests were described in Swedish veterinary literature as early as 1923. And, since then, they’ve become something of an integral part of the evaluation of the lame horse. But not only that, forelimb flexion tests are generally routinely included in prepurchase evaluations of horses intended for sale.

The test is not unlike what you might experience if someone asked you to sit in a crouch for sixty seconds and then run right off. Usually – and especially if you’ve never had knee problems – you can run off just fine, particularly after a couple of steps. If you’ve never had a problem, chances are that you’re fine, no matter what happens in those first couple of steps. But very occasionally, that stiffness and soreness that you might feel could signal a problem (such as a bad knee).

This test used to make me nuts, and to some extent, it still does. That’s because I’m often not to sure what to make of the state of things when a horse takes some bad steps after a flexion test. I mean, I know I might not pass such a test. So who’s to say that every horse should?

Because of that question, back in 1997, I did I study. It’s still timely. In my study, I looked at fifty horses (100 legs) of various breeds, ages, s*x, and occupation. The owners were gracious enough to let me explore my curiosity about forelimb flexion tests. The horses were from my practice, an included a wide variety of pleasure and performance horses – including some world class jumping horses – but overall, they were a representative sampling of all of the horses that were in my practice.

Here’s what I found.

I found that forelimb flexion tests couldn’t tell me anything about the future of a sound horse. I could make every single horse lame with a hard enough flexion test, with the exception of one particularly annoying Arabian gelding who was always trying to bite me (no Arabian jokes, please).
Horses that had “something” on their X-rays weren’t any more likely to be lame after a “normal” flexion test than horses that had “clean” X-rays.
Horses that had positive “normal” flexion tests weren’t any more likely to be lame 60 days out, either (those horses that were lame mostly had things like hoof abscesses, which nobody could have predicted anyway).
If you follow a groups of horses for 60 days, there’s a decent chance that a few of them might experience an episode of lameness. Who knew?
So what did I conclude? Well, I said – right there in front of an entire meeting of the American Association of Equine Practitioners – that I didn’t think that it was a good idea to rely on forelimb flexion tests to make a diagnosis of some current or future problem without some other supporting sign. I said I didn’t think that they were very sensitive, or that they were very specific. And I said that I didn’t think it was a good idea to turn a horse down base solely on a response to a forelimb flexion test, either.

Which caused a bit of a kerfuffle.

What’s the Bottom Line?

If you’re a seller, I don’t think that you need to be overly concerned if your otherwise sound horse takes a few lame steps after a forelimb flexion test. There are just too many variables.

For example:
Older horses are more likely to be positive to flexion that are younger horses
The longer you hold a limb in flexion, the more likely the horse is to take a few lame steps afterwards
Men tend to flex more firmly than do women
The same horse may have different responses to flexion tests on different days
If you’re a buyer, don’t be too eager to walk away from a horse that you otherwise like just because he takes a few lame steps after a flexion test. You have to consider a lot of other factors, such as whether you like the horse, or whether he does what you want him to do, or if he’s a colour that you like...

You just can’t consider the forelimb flexion test in a vaccum. It has to interpreted in light of clinical findings such as fluid in the joint, reduced limb or joint flexibility, pain to palpation, or clinical lameness in the limb that demonstrates the positive response. If you see abnormal X-rays findings (such as osteoarthritis) in a limb that has a positive response to a flexion test, that may add some significance, and particularly if there is concurrent clinical lameness. However, to keep things confusing, my study also found that many radiographic abnormalities occur in clinically sound horses. Remember, you have to ride the horse – you can’t ride the radiographs. Horses can and do perform well for a variety of riding endeavors even when they do not perform well on a forelimb flexion test.

As for a positive response to a forelimb flexion test, it may just be that everything is OK, but the horse doesn’t like his leg bent up!

Thanks to Dr. David Ramey for the info! here’s a link to the original article: https://www.doctorramey.com/flex-test/

07/12/2021

To the Up and Comers:

•To the girl who looks around at a barrel race and says in the back of her mind, I’m a nobody, surrounded by amazing trainers.
-You aren’t a nobody. Everyone notices your talent

•To the girl who only has one horse to run, her old faithful she’s put so much time into over the years.
-You didn’t “just get lucky” with that horse, you made that horse into what it is.

•To the girl who retired her good horse and is bringing up a new one, trying to make a good impression for all your hard work, and it tries to buck you off the entire time only. And you’re almost too embarrassed to go back.
-It happens to EVERYONE, that’s why they say colts are humbling. Go back. Make adjustments so it won’t happen next time.

•To the girl who’s struggling to get her horse to turn the barrel perfect or go in the gate, and you hear people whispering.
-Don’t worry what others think, they don’t know your horse or your struggles or how far you’ve come. Its your race not theirs.

•To the girl who has no motivation to ride or compete because they/they’re horse are struggling, and they feel discouraged.
-Keep riding! Even if it’s just 10 minutes a day. Push yourself to ride, work drills, go to that race. We all get in slumps, they can only last so long! You will get through it.

The list could go on and on, horses are humbling and so is each discipline. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed as someone trying to make it, especially in a field with so many established trainers. DON’T GIVE UP! Your time to shine is coming. Your growing pains only mean you’re on the way to your season of winning!!


-Amanda Enzenauer (7/8/21)