Merry Christmas!

It's last year pic but still a great one! After my move from MI to NC. I just was sooo busy not enough time to get some new Christmas pics. Kaspin and I wish you a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year!! I hope for a lot more riding with Kaspin again for 2015! Xoxo

Finally in the saddle!!

Best 1st day of winter ever! Got to go on an 1 hour trail ride! Has been a long road to get here again. Got the ok to ride again from vet and natural hoof trimmer. Actually was incouraged to get Kaspin back to work to continue the healing in his hooves! And the work keeps sugar levels in his body down. Kaspin was nervous on his 1st ride out in about a year. But I was very proud of him and will try to get him out a few times a week from here on out. Hopefully Kaspin will get more and more comfortable with trails. This was us once we returned back. There was 4 of us that went out. 

All smiles!!

All happy j9 and Kaspin!!!

Weather!!

Kaspin and are soooooo enjoying these sunny skies here in NC!!! No more depressing clouds for 6 months basically! So weird to not walk out the door with gloves, hats, scarves, extra layers of all clothes and no hand warmers!! Today is 74 degrees and sunny on 12/1/14. Just love it!! Kaspin really is doing amazing after his long haul from MI. I am so happy for him. We only have a round pen and one pasture to play in at this new boarding barn, but it works!! Smiles!!!

We moved!!!

Well Kaspin and I made it to NC!! Took us 21 hours to drive and basically 3 days!! The most stressful thing I am sure Kaspin and I have ever done! We had terrible rain to drive through for hours. Including terrible rain in the night for hours. If my steering wheel would have been thick glass I would have broken it!! Since I was gripping the wheel so hard!!! After all the rain and darkness we made it to lexington KY to stall Kaspin for the night. We drove 9 hours and 44 mins this day. Kaspin was pretty stressed and breathing hard. Gave some banamine for his bit higher temp 101.4 and for his muscle pain. Kaspin was so out of shape for this trip. Due to the laminitis he was recovering from the last 6 months. We were to travel to NC the next day but we decided to not travel. Kaspin needed more time to rest. We needed more time to rest! And the weather was still crazy! 30 to 45 miles per hour wind now!! Wasn't going to travel in this!! Took off the next day and what another tough day that was!! We drove 12 hours to NC! Longest day of my life through the mountains. Twisting and turning, up and down constantly. It was nuts!!! THEN  of course more rain and my running trailer lights went out in KY!! On both these days we traveled we would stop to give Kaspin muscle breaks and a break in general. I was also giving horse calmer paste. To keep Kaspin calm while traveling. The calmer helped a ton and so glad I used it. Kaspin isn't too fond of the trailer in general. All and all I am super proud of Kaspin!!!!!!!!! Here are pictures of our journey along the way. I moved my home, dog, 2 cats, Kaspin, AND my fish in my 12 gallon fish tank!! Just happy that we made it here all safe and sound! I never want to do a long distance trip like that again!! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!! Safe Kaspin and J9 

Kaspin making friends!

Kaspin has a new barn kitty friend! Kaspin is so gental with the cute kitty and they both match in color! 1 more week till the huge move to NC! I think Kaspin is better. He is perky again. But he is being super picky now about his supplements. And it's things I need Kaspin to eat! He got picky when he was sick. He basically stopped eating his grain. So I removed the supplements and only gave grain. Now I have been adding them back in! But Kaspin now has figured out that grain taste much better without any supplements. The little stinker!! So basically the not eating grain well is more from him being picky than not feeling well! Not many things I can top dress with when I have a insulin resistant horse! The right rear hoof seems to be doing well too. No more heat and walking fine. Smiles from kaspin!!

We reached the light??

Thanks for all the kind wishes. I hope I am not talking too soon? But today Kaspin was 99.3 and sassy and full of himself!! Even the possible abscess right rear leg was better today too. Heat basically gone and Kaspin walking better too!! Common good vibes!! We need to get to NC!!! Look at the happier eyes and ears!!!

There has to be light at the end of the tunnel?

Well after its bad, it gets worse. Let's hope it will turn around soon? Otherwise I will never get to NC!! Kaspin didn't want to eat his grain tonight. This is new and so he is still feeling crappy. Then I always check heat in his hooves since the laminitis. Tonight right rear hoof was on fire and he was lame. So not only sick and feeling like crap but now probably another abscess in right rear hoof, aghhh. Hoping my boy will feel better soon! And yes Kaspin still hates his banamine. I feel sooooooooooo bad giving it to him! I never seen a horse drool!! Poor Kaspin and tired J9

Awhhh common a virus! Yuck!

Well vet caled back today. Kaspin has a virus of some kind, boo! Kaspin has been off like all summer with the laminitis issues. I was just finally was trying to get Kaspin a bit in shape for the 2 days of travels to NC Nov 22nd. And now he is sick and off again! I just hope Kaspin can heal in time to move Nov 22nd. Oh how stressed I am! Love, Sick Kaspin & me

Kaspin feeling better again. I hope!

Vet was out at 10am. Took blood work just in case. Kaspin was still quiet but more alert than last night. Temp was 99.1 so that is good. Kaspin left a tiny bit of food behind in food bowl this am. So Kaspin is by no means dying lol. But he isn't 100% either. Vet gave some banamine too. Kaspin despises banamine or any bute! Here is his photo after banamine today. He will do this for an hour after, won't eat, and even drools. Vet is hoping just a little bug and Kaspin should be fine. Let's hope. I need a healthy horse moving to NC. Thus the fast call to vet! 

Dirty and Kaspin sick again!

Well so much for Kaspin feeling the best in a long time. Tonight Kaspin was too quiet. My friend mentioned on Sunday that he was quiet when she fed him dinner. She thought he was nice and relaxed from his first ride. But no Kaspin is sick. He is still eating, drinking, and no temp so far but he is not right. Tonight I worked him about 10 mins to see how he was? Kaspin actually did really nice for not feeling well. After the 10 mins I noticed Kaspin was breathing very hard with his sides moving and nostrils flaring. That sure is not normal! He also at this point didn't want his sugar free treats either! I gave him some time to catch his breath and cool off. Afterwards he did catch his breath and then did take treats and when he went back outside he munched on hay again. He was also eating hay when I got there this evening. So definitely a respitory problem. Vet is coming out at 10 am tomorrow. Hopefully we can fix Kaspin back up fast and wow was he dirty!! Send us some healing thoughts!! P.S. yes I voted today too. 

Phone fun!!!

Well I wanted to see if I could post from my phone and I can!! That is cool and easier to load my pictures too!! Learn something new everyday!! Happy horse day!!!

Kaspin mended, I hope! And NC move!

Well has been 2.5 months since I have rode Kaspin! I rode Kaspin yesterday, yeahh! He had his 2nd round with laminitis in Aug and Kaspin been healing since. Plus, I have Kaspin on all his new supplements for his insulin resistance, metabolic stress, stress in general, hoof, and stomach. I can tell Kaspin is feeling the best he has felt in a while. It's good to see Kaspin smile again. THEN, for the huge news! Kaspin is moving again! This time to NC! We are moving Nov 22nd! Time is flying! For the trip I also got Kaspin new Old Mac hoof boots to help out his front hooves inside the trailer. Yes, we are moving Kaspin ourselves over 2 days. About 7.5 hours each day and stopping in KY at a horse hotel. I can also use these Old Mac boots for riding on the trails later! Kaspin at first will live at a boarding barn in NC. We do have our own property but no home or fencing. Will be a while before any of us will live on our own property yet. Please stop in and say Hello! So I know everyone is still around! 

Happy trails! Janine and healing Kaspin!! 

LIFE ON A DIRT LOT.

Well I moved Kaspin yet to another barn this past weekend! Kaspin already had his 2nd round of laminitis from grass. We tried to get him back out on some grass with a muzzle at the last barn. But laminitis was back again so soon from the 1st episode. Poor Kaspin had to head back to stall rest for 14 days, ace a few day, bute for 10 days, and soaked hay. I also did a hair analysis on Kaspin too at www.uckele.com. I am so glad that I did it! Yes, Kaspin is Insulin Resistant and can no longer have grass for the rest of his life(he is only 9 years old, sigh). And his whole inner body is stressed out to the max from the laminitis, etc. Uckele could also tell me what he was deficient in and what he was too high in. I ended up ordering 3 new supplements for Kaspin. I hope to get his body healthy again. It takes 6 months from today for Kaspin to grow out a new hoof too. For now Kaspin is off to recover till spring. I am hoping the hoof trims and new supplements can get him back to healthy! 

Here is Kaspin at his new barn and new pony friend named Puzzle. They get a long great and I am happy Kaspin has a friend.

Love, J9 and Kaspin

Selenium, & B1 saved my horse! Amazing what supplements can do! Plus weight loss accomplished.

Hello all! I hope everyone is doing great this summer! Kaspin is doing well, after his laminitis episode from too much grass and moving to his new barn. Before we moved, I had mentioned I had his selenium tested. Kaspin was sweating so much it was crazy and he would get fatigued. I also mentioned to my vet that Kaspin is always nervous. Almost like an anxiety! I always joked he was like chicken little! Always looking for the sky to fall on him! It drove me nuts actually and I always felt sorry for Kaspin being so worried all the time. Cannot be fun to live like that. He was better when he was with the herd but always nervous with me and away from the safe herd. The selenium was very low so I put him on a selenium supplement per vet. The vet said, I could also try B1 and see if it helps with the nervousness/anxiety? I had Kaspin on the selenium first about a month or so and the sweating like crazy finally stopped! Yeah!! It was soooo nice to not have a horse get sooo extremely sweaty even with light work. Then I added the B1 supplement for about a month. After a few weeks, I realized Kaspin got super quiet. Soooo quiet, that I stopped the B1! Now Kaspin remains on the selenium. Then kaspin got the laminitis pretty quick after I took him off of the B1. So I wasn't sure was Kaspin just quiet from his hooves hurting, or were both supplements doing something?? When Kaspin got the laminitis I moved him to a new barn. So they could help me with his care daily. Today it is one and half months since the laminitis episode and Kaspin is still really quiet like a Haflinger should be. But it is so different, that it is not my horse. I know, I sound crazy complaining of quiet!! But Kaspin changed so much? I question?? Does he have an ulcer or something going on inside that I don't know about?? That is causing him to be this quiet? So I had the vet out again. This time to do a full blood work up. Just to make sure I wasn't missing something else? And to give me piece of mind! The blood work was all normal!! Thank god! I had heard that selenium can also be linked with nuero transmitters and nervous behavior when selenium is low. My vet thinks is was the B1 for that month that leveled him out? Kaspin might have been low on B1 as well and once I got it back to normal the anxiety/nervousness went away? Either way, one or both of these supplements helped Kaspin tremendously! We never changed anything else! And we are both thankful for it!! I have a sane horse and Kaspin has a sane mind now! Here are a few update pics too.

Kaspin was too heavy at the other barn. No hips, fat deposits all over body. I only post so others can watch closer than I did this year, boo. 

Last week at the new barn. Kaspin lost about 120 pounds! Look, he has now to see hips, LOL. Yes, mane is a bit shorter. Kaspin been scratching it a lot, boo. 

Kaspin loves the new outdoor arena. Rolling in it is the best!

 

And the sand for the hoof rehab is awesome! And notice, I have just started to ride him a bit again! Thanks god!! And fun!!

Storm that came in the other day and got some cool pics! 

Yes, we went in after the pics, LOL! 

Savvy on, Kaspin and J9

Kaspin is slowly recovering

Kaspin is slowly recovering for his laminitis episode over a month ago. I was allowed to start hand walking him about 2 weeks ago for 20 mins a day. Just 2 days ago, we started him on another small pasture with a bit more grass. Where Kaspin wears his muzzle and goes out for 2 hours and day. Then he goes back to his dry lot for the rest of day. The goal eventually is so get him out with other horses again without a muzzle. In a field with very little grass. I hope it works out for Kaspin. Kaspin is doing well with his muzzle but I still hate seeing it on him. This past Saturday there was a schooling show at my boarding barn. I decided to at least take Kaspin in 1 halter class just for fun. I had no idea what I was doing at all. I even used an old leather halter from Enzo, LOL. I don't have one for Kaspin as of yet. Looks like Enzo's fits Kaspin. So maybe time to get new name plate. Anyway we got 6th out of 12 entrants! I was thrilled with that. The judge said, I didn't trot Kaspin big enough when I passed him. That was only reason for 6th. But I didn't know how to do halter and did this tiny slow jog, LOL!! Oh well, all just for something to do. Since, both of us are bored! I also was the ring steward for this show and the last show we had. Very interesting to do and again gives me something to do. While Kaspin is on the mend! I am looking forward to playing with Kaspin on the ground more and eventually to riding again in Aug!! Here are a few pics. Happy Summer! Kaspin and J9

Kaspin and his muzzle. 

Why do horse have to get Laminitis!!

Sorry, I have not posted much! Summer is the time to be outside and not on computers. Sometimes I wonder how much I should keep this blog up?? With all the social media these days. I am a firm believer in spending less time on computers and phones. I have facebook and it's easier to update than this blog(especially for pictures). Plus, most of you already follow me on facebook!! So I feel I just post things 2 times. Give me your thoughts! Kaspin is currently healing after a laminitis episode from too much spring grass here in MI. Another reason I have not posted much. I hope everyone is enjoying their summer with their Equine friends!! 

Kaspin on stall rest enjoying his nibble net hay bag!

Kaspin making faces after the bute!! Kaspin hates bute!

Finally after 2 weeks stall rest! Outside!

Savvy on, Healing Kaspin!

On the trails again with lots of ups and downs, literally! LOL

Well Kaspin and I accomplished out 1st trail ride of the year!!! I think we were both rusty on how this all goes! But I was super proud of my boy!!! 

This isn't the best picture. But this is Proud Lake trails. It's about 8.5 miles. We accomplished orange, yellow and green(did not do red). So I am not sure how many miles that was exactly? But we rode about 4 hours! I found out that the yellow was the hardest and most people skip yellow. Since this was my first trip of the year I wanted to take it easy. I couldn't find any of my regular friends to ride with. So through my one friends she paired me up with a mom and daughter team. This was a trivial pursuit ride. We had to go out on all the trails and find 16 paper plates in tress with numbers 1 through 16. They had little pieces of paper in the bag for everyone to grab one number and bring it back to show you found the plate. I got 1 through 12. I missed the last 4 since I didn't do the red trail the easiest trail! I should have started there, LOL. But since I was basically going out with strangers and silly me assumed that this whole park was easy! I just followed them!! While we were out on yellow we went up and down and up and down steep hills continuously!! Finally I asked what is up with all the hills. One was sooooooo steep I was afraid Kaspin was just going to jump to the bottom. He didn't but I felt I was leaning so far back I could kiss his tail!!! Anyway, a bit much for us yet! Anyway the daughter I was with informs me then, that the yellow is the hardest trail in the park and most people skip it!!!! Then, what are we doing out here( I am thinking quietly, LOL). Well we were out there now and we had to finish up. Now I put in my memory for the future(don't forget yellow is hard, LOL)! We also came across boy scouts hiking and for some reason Kaspin was all bothered by them! I could even feel his heartbeat between my legs!!! We made it past the boy scouts. Then we had to cross rail roads tracks. OMG, I never done that with Kaspin. Kaspin's head was spinning off everywhere looking at everything. When we came up to the tracks he was just following the horse in front of him and not paying any attention to the ground. Kaspin crossed the first track then looked down and jumped the rest of the tack!!!! Silly Kaspin! I guess Kaspin was not thrilled with the tracks. And you guessed it! We eventually had to come back over the tracks to get back. When we came to the tracks the 2nd time. Of course Kaspin wanted nothing to do with them. I was afraid Kaspin would now JUMP the whole tacks. So I got off and walked Kaspin across. With me leading(Kaspin trust me) he followed me across without a problem. Yeah, for that. Our last trail was RED, the ladies asked if I wanted to go on? I was all done and I think Kaspin was too! My knees and ankles were killing ME and I had no idea why? This was my first trail ride in my new used trail Parelli crusier saddle. Plus on the red trail we had to cross a wooden bridge over running water. I have no idea what Kaspin would say to that??? And I was not going to find out anymore that day. Later I finally found out why my knees and ankles hurt so bad and why I kept feeling like I was falling forward on Kaspin just walking. I have never done hills like this and Kaspin's saddle had slid back! Kaspin is already built down hill and now the saddle was even more down hill, aghhh. Now I felt really bad that the saddle was in a weird position for so long. I realized I forgot my shims for the saddle pad too that day. They were in my English saddle pad at the barn! They raise the saddle up in the front to keep the saddle level. Well with those missing the saddle slid back even easier! So I felt really bad this all happened!! But live and learn, right?? I have to get shims for my trail saddle pad and hopefully none of this craziness will happen again:)

Kaspin being much better about being tied to the trailer. He used to be sooo nervous he wouldn't eat hay! In this picture Kaspin was eating his hay!! Good boy Kaspin!! 

 Kaspin grabbing some grass before we ventured out that morning. 

 The mom behind me and a few other riders we picked up for a short while behind us that day. 

Kaspin and I going along:) We kept Kaspin in the middle. Kaspin wasn't ready to lead and Kaspin was nervous being last in line too that day.

 Kaspin again being a good boy on the trailer. I actually left him for the 1st time(me get something to eat and bathroom). So far I wasn't able to leave him without Kaspin going crazy. And the other horses were not even that super close to him if you notice in picture. So very proud how Kaspin is being more calm on the trailer. Someday we might be able to camp after all. So far I only do day trips with Kaspin. 

Keep it natural! Janine and Kaspin!