I Wrap Hooves like a Champ

So Misty is recovering from a rather large abscess that burst with a vengeance out of her RH.  Well, after the vet dug it out, of course.

At first, I wasn’t sure Misty was actually abscessing as I’ve had her 3 ½ years and the only other time she’s abscessed was 6 weeks after I got her…and that was as a result of semi-throwing her racing shoes on her second day home and stepping on a nail.

I thought maybe she had twisted something on the frozen ground because, although her lower leg was swollen, she was still sound…and then she was just a little off…then a little more…then…you know?  I think she’s abscessing!  Enter diapers…and duct tape…and vetrap (pronounced like “vet wrap,” not “vet trap,” as I pronounced it as a stupid kid)…and Ichthammol…and hot water…and Epsom salts.

I wrapped Misty for a few days before I had the vet out, (but I was tired of watching her limp – figured the vet could speed up the process a little)…and since the hole was pretty big (about the size of a nickel and very deep), my vet suggested I keep it wrapped for another week so it would stay clean and could continue draining.

The foundation.

First, I have to give props to Misty – she’s the BEST patient ever!  She stood so perfectly still in her cross ties as I soaked her for 20 minutes and picked at/cleaned what must be an awfully painful little hole!  Then she continued to stand while I wrapped her hoof with a baby diaper.

Ichthammol - sticky, gooey, and dark brown...ick.

Second, I have to give props to myself…I’m a Master Wrapper.  After I’ve soaked her hoof in hot water and Epsom salts, I set it down on a clean towel and let it dry.  Then I smear the Ichthammol on her actual hoof and inside the diaper.  (Note – this is the ONLY time I ever want to see anything dark brown smeared inside a baby diaper – gag!).  Then I wrap her hoof in the diaper and use duct tape to secure the top.  Then around and around I go with the vetrap…then more duct tape…especially at the toe which is on the ground the most since the poor thing keeps it cocked up, almost dragging it.

Misty prefers vetrap in blue or pink.

How do you know if you’re a Master Wrapper?  Is the wrap still on in the morning?  Yes?!  Woo!

Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture of my magnificent creation since I am the last person on earth who does not have a smart phone…so no camera.  So just use your imagination.  Give me a diaper and a horse hoof, and I will give you art!

The main ingredient.

So all this happened about a week ago…and Misty is still on the mend, but not completely ride-able yet…which makes perfect sense because the weather has been amazing and unseasonably fantastic for this time of year.  Figures.  But at least my girl is improving. 

Happy Birthday Sassy Grey!

This is a special day for three reasons!  First, and in no particular order, today is the 1^st birthday of The Sassy Grey blog.  I began this blog a year ago to coincide with another birthday, that of THE Sassy Grey, Misty Mystique!  My Misty is 8 years old today; I can’t believe my Valentine’s baby is all grown up!

And finally, it’s Valentine’s Day – a great holiday devoted to love and chocolate.  What’s not to love?

Misty on her first day home - look at that sweet face!

But back to Misty…when she came off the track and into my life, she was a silly filly of 4.  Now she is a mature lady at 8 – all grown up, but still my baby doll.  I've owned her for 3 ½ years now – where has the time gone?  We have taught each other so much in what feels like so little time; I thank God every day that she’s a part of my life.

I look forward to celebrating many more birthdays, to growing together as horse and rider, and to having fun! 

I’m also excited for The Sassy Grey blog!  I have some great plans in store for it this year – stay tuned!!

Hopelessly devoted to ribbons – Part II

In one of my last posts, I encouraged my friend Kelsey to “hop to” and create her ribbon shadow box.  Well, she must have been inspired because look at what she produced over the weekend?  Isn’t it perfect?

And for those of you wondering, she did not cut the ribbons; she simply overlapped them or folded them back to make space.  Leaving the rosettes attached to the ribbons themselves provided some background / filler.

I think it turned out beautifully – nice job, Kels!

Pixie, the original Sassy Grey

I’m devoting this post to the best cat in the world, my Pixie cat.  Pixie has been my girl since the summer before my senior year of high school.  And even though she’s still mine, she lives with my mom, who couldn’t let her go after I got married and moved out.

It was a hot summer day in 1999 when my mom, sister, and I ventured into the PetSmart off of Route 40.  As usual, we stopped by the cat adoption center to look at all the cute kitties in their crates.  This day, a volunteer was cleaning the cages, letting each cat out one at a time to walk around.  I looked through the glass and sitting on a climbing tree and staring back at me was Pix, a half-grown, beautiful grey tabby.

Pixie getting her poker face on.

I knocked on the window and Pix saw me and started rubbing around the glass on the inside.  Immediately I knew I must meet that cat.

The volunteer came over; I pointed to Pix, and asked if I could see her.  The three of us came inside and before we knew it, Pix had weaseled her way into our hearts.  As we held her, she purred like crazy and gave us kitty hugs by wrapping her arms around our necks, and kissed our cheeks.  She was an excellent sales-kitty – we were hooked.

The adoption center had named her Cori, but that name sounded too human.  I was almost settled on Dixie when Pixie popped into my head – what a perfect name for such a sweetheart.

She's ALL IN!

Pix has always been the family favorite.  She’s our “Love Kitten,” our “Meow Meow,” and our “Schnookums.”  She’s more dog than cat, a very talkative cat who will sit and listen to you as you talk about your day, and then offer her thoughts.

However, she’s not always her Love Kitten self.  Like any true sassy grey, she can be quite the diva.  If you pet her the wrong way, she’ll smack you.  When we would go on vacation (and my grandmom would watch her), she’d run to greet us when we returned…then ignore us for a few hours as if to punish us for leaving her.

Regardless of her attitude, she’s been nothing but an absolute joy to own.  She even had a Lassie moment.  One night, years ago, my mom was getting ready for bed when Pix came bounding into her room and jumped on her chest.  Then she jumped off, stood there looking at my mom, and “yelled” at her.  Then she tore off out of the room.  My mom followed her thinking she wanted a bedtime snack or something like that.  Pix flew down the steps and raced into my sister’s room where my mom had left a space heater running.  It had just begun to smoke.  My mom quickly turned it off and thanked Pix, who must have known something was wrong!  Good Pixie!

Now, 13 years later, Pix is still doing well, still her diva self.  She is the Queen of the House; we let her do whatever she wants.  If my mom complains that she’s walking on the kitchen counters, we just reply, “but she’s Pixie cat!”  After all, the best cat in the world can do anything she pleases. 

Hopelessly devoted to ribbons

I have ribbons on the brain for a few reasons.  First, with this warm weather (Best. Winter. Ever.), I’m already looking ahead to spring.  And after spring comes the best of all seasons, my glorious summer.

And summer means horse shows!  I can’t wait to get back in the saddle on a regular basis and start pointing Misty towards some shows. 

Misty's like, where am I?

Oh sh*t, a horse show.

I’m also thinking of ribbons because I finally posted some pictures on Facebook of the show I was in last November.  It was Misty’s second of the year (third total) and it was her first dressage schooling show.  Please see the pictures below – she’s a sassy grey star!

My photographer husband comes in handy!

Saluting the judge before my test.

Yay!

Like most riders, I love displaying my ribbons around the house.  When I first brought home these blues, I hung them on my hutch, then they moved to my mantle, and then finally to my home office.  As I was hanging them up with my other ribbons (a variety of 1^st through 6^th places), I started wondering about the colors of the 7^th through 10^th place ribbons.  In your average sized, local horse show, ribbons are given out up to 6^th place, but in larger shows and events, the ribbons go to 10^th.

So I Googled and found this:

1^st – blue
2^nd – red
3^rd – yellow
4^th – white
5^th – pink
6^th – green
7^th – purple
8^th – brown
9^th – grey (must get this one sometime!)
10^th – light blue

Believe it or not, when I was in high school, I liked to shoot for the 6^th place ribbon because it was green and matched the décor of my room at the time.  Yes, that’s right.

yeah girl!!

But as I was doing my research, I found out that in Canada and Britain, the 1^st place ribbon is actually red and the 2^nd place ribbon is blue!  Can you imagine ‘going for the red’ instead of ‘going for the blue?’  What an odd concept to us blue-obsessed Americans! 

Now I just need to bring home some Canadians or Brits – with all the red ribbons I have, they’d think I’m a superstar!

The traditional 1st through 6th.

Some people are creative and put their ribbons and numbers in shadow boxes...I'm looking at you, Kelsey!  Let's hop to!

My New Addiction – The Retired Racehorse Trainer Challenge

So my latest and greatest horse addiction comes by the name of the Retired Racehorse Trainer Challenge.   This Challenge is the first ever of its kind, and is part of the Retired Racehorse Training Project (RRTP), a non-profit organization developed to increase the demand for recently retired racehorses.  (Basically – let’s turn these puppies into sport horses and give them the second careers they deserve)!

Of course, this is something that is near and dear to my heart since my own mare, Misty (the Sassy Grey), is an OTTB (off-the-track Thoroughbred).   I’ve owned Misty for 3 years now, and I can honestly say that they have been the most challenging, brilliant, turbulent, and utterly fulfilling years in my riding career thus far. 

Until Misty, I had never owned a Thoroughbred – never even ridden one!  But many years of riding my mom’s hot-headed Arabian led me to believe that I had what it took to take a racehorse off the track and make her my own.  And I did.

Though Misty and I have had our moments, (I call them her nightMARE moments), she’s my baby doll.  I’ve thoroughly enjoyed working with her and look forward to us continuing to learn and grow together. 

So would I do this again?  Would I take another horse straight off the track and start from scratch?  Absolutely.

That brings me to my addiction – this Trainers Challenge through the RRTP.  Steuart Pittman, owner of Dodon Farm in Davidsonville, Maryland, was the mastermind behind this organization.  He has done a tremendous job in building this Project and is doing a great service to OTTBs everywhere.  We in the horse community can’t thank him enough.

The Trainers Challenge is quite simple.  In an effort to show the general horse public how trainable OTTBs really are, Steuart began his search for four Thoroughbreds recently off the track.  After he found them, he chose three professional trainers who would, at the Maryland Horse Expo, pick their favorite horse, (with one serving as an alternate).  Each trainer would get to take their chosen horse home to their farm for five weeks of training.  After the five weeks, each trainer will bring their horse to the Pennsylvania Horse Expo in February and show the audience their stuff!

So yesterday the trainers picked their horses: Eric Dierks chose my favorite, Brazilian Wedding (why is she my favorite, you ask?  Oh just something about her grey mare-ness); Tiffany Catledge chose High Level (although he was lame this morning, so she had to ride the alternate); Kerry Blackmer chose Four X The Trouble; and Solidify (my second fave) was the alternate.

The horses and trainers of the first ever Retired Racehorse Trainer Challenge.  (Picture courtesy of the RRTP site).

Today was awesome!  Today the trainers rode their chosen horses for the first time in front of a very large, excited MD Horse Expo audience.  The three horses, Brazilian Wedding, Solidify, and Four X The Trouble were exceptional.  I honestly expected some fireworks, but was pleasantly surprised!  Each trainer walked, trotted, and cantered around the ring as if they had been on their chosen mount for years.  It was most impressive!

So what happens next?  Each trainer will take their horse home and work with him/her for five weeks, taking their training in any direction they’d like.  The trainers will keep everyone updated through FB posts and blogs and videos – I can’t wait to see the progress!

We’ll get to see these babies again in person on February 25^th at the Pennsylvania Horse Expo in Harrisburg where they’ll be evaluated by a panel of judges; a winner will be selected.  (Though we all know – they’re all winners)!

I. Can’t. Wait.

For more information about the Retired Racehorse Training Project, please visit their website here: http://www.retiredracehorsetraining.org/ or on Facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/RetiredRacehorseTrainingProject.

Follow Cupcakes by Clara

One of the best things about my job is working with my co-worker, Clara.  Not only is she a fantastic proposal writer, but she likes to talk books as much as I do.  She also loves to bake cupcakes…and I love to eat them!  It’s the perfect friendship.

Mmmmmmm.........

Clara started making cupcakes occasionally when it was someone’s birthday or work anniversary.  She then began researching fun recipes and bringing in her delicious treats for us, her delighted, greedy guinea pigs, to try.  Now she has just started her own blog where she’ll share some cupcake baking tips and post beautiful pictures of her creations.

Follow it here: http://www.cupcakesbyclara.com/blog/

Again I’ll reiterate, I have the best co-workers ever.  Be jealous!