Holiday Newsletter December 2016

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1 Holiday Newsletter December 2016 The holidays A time to reflect once again on what s important. For us it s the care and wellbeing of our horses and our relationship with our barn family and friends. Without each and every one of you this would not be possible. We care and support nine horses each and every day. We could not do this without all of you coming to our barn and supporting us in so many ways! You are ALL appreciated so very much! Remember without you, these horses would not have the life they have. One filled with knowing they are loved and cherished. We are all blessed to have YOU! Holidays Camps December 20, 21, 22, 27, 28, 29 Time: 9-3 Cost: $65 each day Your child will enjoy a day filled with fun and friendship. Each day includes feeding horses, learning horse care, chores, riding, grooming, and games with the horses, along with art and other activities. Great gift idea for grandparents. Calendar for the horses We have created a calendar showcasing our horses as a fundraiser. Do you still need a calendar at home, know someone who needs one, or still need a gift idea? They are only $19.95 and all profits will be going to veterinarian costs. This appears to be so popular we are planning to do one every year. Gifts for the Horses As most of you know, we have rehomed with us a barn full of horses (yes, the mini is a horse too) that might not have had a home otherwise (or at least not one where they are loved so much or gotten the real care they needed). Without all of you, this would not be possible! Every year we receive requests for what we need around the barn or for what the horses need as gifts for Christmas. Life has taught us to not deny those who wish to give or the pleasure of doing so. We greatly appreciate the members of our barn family and are glad to have so many wonderful people around us. We are truly blessed by so many who give in so many ways. If you are not able to give, please do not feel obligated. Bringing a bag of carrots or apples is greatly appreciated as well. - Giving Tree - For those who want to purchase gifts we have put up a Giving Tree in the front of the barn aisle decorated with tag ornaments with items written on them for the barn and horses. If a tag says see picture there is a notebook of printouts showing what the item is for ease of ordering. - GoFundMe We have an account if you want to donate to our ongoing vet bills in order to continue to get these horses the best possible care they need, including Jack s ongoing rehabilitation and vet bills for his osteoarthritis (see story in newsletter), Cat s ongoing bills to monitor her ligament and follow up ultrasounds, Tahlia s ongoing process of working through all the issues she came to us with, along with the dental work the barn is needing. If you would like to donate and help the horses visit our page at - Veterinarians and Special Caregivers You are also able to give directly to any of the caregivers we use. See the article located on the last page about our team that we use to care for these special horses. We also want to give acknowledge Rob Allen, our wonderful horse shoer (farrier), that does such a fabulous job taking care of our horse s feet. With lots of patience, good cheer, and humor he has been with us since before the program started and I am forever thankful we found him.

2 Reminders All payments due the last week of the current month for the next month s lessons. Invoices are not handed out so please remember to bring payment to your lesson. Private lessons are 45 minutes long. If they go longer please consider it a gift. Speed on the drive is 10 mph or less for the safety of the horses and children. Students must wear long pants and hair needs to be pulled back. Not gum allowed at the barn No glass containers Please do no feed horses without asking first Helmets and boots with 1 heel are required. 4-H Corner Congratulations go out to the 4H team. All the horse members and Hearth members as well as our Cloverbud earned awards at the Awards and Recognition Night. All the horse members also earned their Triple Crown Award this year. Great job girls! Our Logo After many years of discussing it, we finally have a logo for our program. We are SO excited to finally have one and love the way it turned out! If you want to order any clothing items, please let us know. Horse Judging and Hippology Day Meet the Kittens We have wanted a cat for a long time around the barn, and now we have two. Oliver (orange) and Ziggy (grey) were born around August 10 and came from a friend s barn. As soon as they are old enough they will be free to roam the barn, catch mice, and greet everyone. Right now they are living in the office and seem to be causing lots of messes by getting into things they shouldn t be like some of my ribbons! Life is Truly Better with Horses Happiness and Rainbows for the Horses

3 A little over four years ago, we began to mull over the idea of bringing in another horse. We mentioned this to our farrier who just happened to have another client looking to rehome her five horses. The owner had had a tragic riding accident a couple years prior which resulted in a permanent brain injury. She was no longer able to care for her horses and wanted them to go to good homes. Our farrier knew the horses fairly well and told us the roan she had would probably make a good lesson horse. So, we arranged to go and meet the horses. When we go to meet a horse, we like to put them through their paces to judge their knowledge, willingness, and temperament. Without an arena, it was hard to do too much, but we were satisfied that Jack could do what we needed. That day we also meet Lilly. After a couple days of talking it was decided that both horses would come home with us. Jack was not even home a week when he worked his first camp. He was not as easy going as we had hoped he would be, nevertheless several of our riders fell in love with his sassy attitude and grumpy demeanor. He was independent and had a mind of his own and many discovered in him a kindred spirit. Unfortunately, it was only a short while before we began to see sings of lameness in Jack's left hind leg. It was not long before we discovered the arthritis in his hock. Over the next couple years we tried several medications for his arthritis and were able to keep him happy, comfortable, and usable. He went to 4-H Horse Fairs, horse shows, and trail riding; handling it all like a champion. This last year however it became increasingly apparent that he was uncomfortable and sore. And so began our search for a lasting solution for Jack. An x-ray of the hock showed that two of the bones in the joint had almost fused together- this is often the most painful part of the fusion because the bones are still moving against each other. So we made the decision to inject the joint. There was not much improvement from the injection, but a couple months later we decided to give it one more try. Instead of getting better he seemed to get worse. Another exam showed that the hock was practically fused entirely so to was unlikely to cause enough pain to cause the level of lameness we were seeing The Story of Jack Further investigation showed that it was likely something in the soft-tissue. Traditional veterinary medicine is limited in its methods for diagnosing and treating these types of issues so we decided to try acupuncture treatments. Dr. Salewski located a trigger-point deep in his haunch muscles and relieved it through several acupuncture treatments along with our daily application of Tiger-Balm. Jack was getting better and we were all very happy. Suddenly he was lame again; worse than before and continually getting even worse. Dr. Salewski felt there was something wrong in his front right leg and advised us to have our regular vet do nerve blocks and x-rays to isolate what and where. Our regular vet felt the pain was in his feet and diagnosed his lameness as laminitis. The treatments for laminitis did not seem to be helping and Jack was even lamer. Worried about Jack, we asked our friends in the horse world about who they would see for lameness and several recommended Dr. Jack Root. So we made an appointment for Jack to see Dr. Jack. Dr. Jack's examination found Carpal spavin which is a degenerative form of osteoarthritis at the capomectacarpal joint the lower joint space in the horse s front. located at the junction of the medial splint bone (the inside part) and the second carpal (knee) joint. This condition with a quick onset explains why he got so bad so quickly (you can read an article explaining the condition here: (Picture below is example of the joint) The only treatment option for this condition is surgery to break up the material in the joint which causes it to fuse quickly; without surgery the leg will begin to bow out and horses are put down within a year or two. Dr. Jack performed the surgery within the week and soon Jack was back home again and walking much better than before and in much less pain. Jack is still in the rehabilitation process following his surgery and Dr. Jack is optimistic that Jack will make a full recovery and will be able to return to work. X-rays three months after his surgery showed that the bones were in fact healing as hoped. It has been a little over four months now since Jack's surgery and he goes in for another check-up soon. We are looking forward to more good news on Jack's road to recovery.

4 Our Thanks go to: Without each and every one of them, we could not do what we do e Oakhurst Equine Providing Comprehensive Veterinary Care to Equine Athletes for Over 20 Years! Dr. Jack Root and his Dream Team of staff have quickly become very dear to us after performing a virtually lifesaving surgery on Jack in July. Since then they have continued to monitor Jack s healing, diagnosed Cat s lameness, given Rose a fitness check to make sure she is physically ready to drive, and performed dental work on Joey when he needed it quickly. We are so happy to have found Oakhurst! Dr. Mark DePaolo is a holistic veterinarian that we consult with on many of our horses health issues. We credit his diet and supplements including Excel, Lysine, Harmony, and Colloidal Silver with the continued good health of our herd. His insights have helped in treating our herd and three years ago, save Melody s life. Equine Performance Solutions Veterinary Chiropractic and Acupuncture for your Horse and Companion Animals Dr. Melissa Shaver is a Jill-of-all-trades. It was her combined approach that lead us to seek her help with Tahlia. With her constant head tossing, anxiety, and odd movements we had a hard time pinpointing a single cause and without cause it is hard to know which treatment path to following; did she need x-rays? Special supplements? Chiropractic treatment? Dr. Melissa was able to adjust, do acupuncture, suggest special shoes, etc. and helped send us onto our next specialist for Tahlia. Each specialist helps gets us one step closer when we have a puzzle to solve. Chiropractor Ron Barker has been involved with treating our horses since Melody joined the herd eight years ago. His curiosity about the benefits of chiropractic treatments for horses lead him to study not only chiropractic, but massage and acupressure techniques as well. He was a big part of Hottie s rehabilitation. Farrier (Horse Shoer) Rob Allen has been with us for many, many years and brings a wealth of knowledge regarding the feet and physical wellbeing of our herd. His sense of humor along with his compassion for our horses, has made him a favorite not only with us, but with our kids as well. He has become not only a teacher for us, but a friend. Telling us he is retiring is something he loves to tease me with. It s true when they say no hoof, no horse. Well Rob makes sure that they have healthy feet that are well balanced and trim.

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