Ferme Avant-Garde Farm, Luskville, Quebec

12/04/2024

What do you think?

What do you say, if anything?

A not uncommon thing to see will be a harried barn owner hustling around to keep things in order while various “clients” sit and watch without making any attempt to help. (those in the photo were NOT like that)

They might be boarders or kids there for lessons, or parents, and, technically I suppose, they are completely within their rights to not lift a finger, but should they?

These onlookers may not know enough about barns, the horse world in general, to have any idea that she might want a helping hand. Or they might be kids who don’t have chores at home and who haven’t developed a pitch in and help mentality. Or they might be among the ranks of those who consider menial labor beneath them, (and those people do actually exist.)

Say something or let it go? Thoughts on this common scenario---???

11/28/2024

11/27/2024

Lol.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1031779415657000&id=100064748526720

11/20/2024

11/18/2024

Yup.

11/17/2024

This advice will NOT be popular with those who want it RIGHT NOW, but nevertheless, here goes---

If the goal is to become two things, a good rider and a good horseman/horsewoman, be willing to think in decades rather than in years.

That first decade, from whatever age you began, will take you only so far, and may even take you to the Olympics, but riding skill alone won’t give you all you need to know and be able to do. The next couple of decades will let three components, your physical skills, your control over your emotions and your knowledge, all intertwined to complement one another.

That’s why many of the best riders and trainers are in their 40s, 50s and in some cases in their 60s, even 70s. They didn’t get those tens of thousands of hours overnight.

There are ever so many riders and trainers who gave up too soon. They just needed to have hung in there another ten years, maybe twenty. Which sounds insane, but actually isn’t.

11/15/2024

Fresh pasture provides an abundance of vitamin E but hay is devoid of vitamins after harvesting.

My horses have always been on VE supplementation during the winter & since moving to Arizona they have been on it full time.

However as of late I’m learning it’s not enough. 😖

The NRC recommends a daily intake of about 1000 IU per day for the average horse in light work, although many experts insist this should be higher.

I typically provide 2-3000 IU to my horses depending on their workload however after my best boy Prowler displaying odd and unusual behavior, off to the vet we went.

Over the last few months he has been becoming unpredictable, overreacting at the smallest thing, feeling out of control even at a trot & exploding for no reason (the latter resulted in bucking me off very badly).

After cervical xrays, ultrasounds, THO & hyoid scopes, the vet came up with nothing. But she agreed something was “wrong” as Prowler seemed to have vision impairment & failed his baseline neuro exam.

We started with running blood work for EPM which came back negative, so her next idea was testing for Vitamin E through which we uncovered he is dangerously low in this essential piece of nutrition. 🏥

Symptoms of VE deficiency that look like other common problems:
🩺Eye & vision changes aka: becoming spooky, reactive or nervous
🩺Muscle pain & stiffness: we often reach for the magnesium here
🩺Dry/damaged coat: more omegas are typically toted as the answer
🩺Neurological problems: often we reach for trial treatment of EPM & Lyme.

Untreated - vitamin E deficiency can cause severe issues including permanent vision problems as well as equine motor neuron disease and equine degenerative myeloencephalopathy (this is fatal).

Although we finally have a direction of Prowler’s problems, now begs the question if we found it soon enough. For me, as the ever advocate of prehab & prevention, it feels like I’ve failed my horses once again by having to learn the hard way.

He’s now on 10,000IU of natural VE per day and we will retest in 3 months 🙏 Natural VE is also the key, with liquid form being more bioavailable than powder, but both are better than synthetic. If you do feed a powder it is essential to feed an oil alongside it for optimal absorption.

Running testing for vitamin E will become a regular part of my veterinary workups for all my horses - how about you?

11/02/2024

Hard to do but so important if the choice is there.

10/26/2024

10/18/2024

So true

Every perfect movement you watch in dressage is the result of hundreds of imperfect tries, of riders who never gave up, and horses who slowly learned to trust. Celebrate every crooked halt, every almost-there half-pass, because they are the real victories. The path to excellence is paved with mistakes, but also with perseverance and love.

10/17/2024

Yup

Welcome to fall 🍁🍂

09/06/2024

When Gem was learning changes. A bit of air 🤣😂🤣 Carolyn

08/18/2024

Praise often.
Praise the smallest try.
A touch, a walk, a break, a gallop, a long rein.
A word filled with friendship and pride.
Nothing builds confidence in horses like the acknowledgement of their good will and efforts to please.

- Manolo Mendez

06/25/2024

I have done this exact thing back in 1994. Had a split in 2 talus bone but whole boots 😇😂

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