Phil was and is a very handsome, athletic and competitive young Morgan Horse. Phil and I had just completed his first competitive class at the New England Regional Horse Show in New Hampshire where he took third place in a field of eight horses. Six of them were former world champions, so in his first outing at New England he had in affect ‘split’ the world champions, pretty good for  [ Read More ]

My story begins when my son was ten years old. He was diagnosed with ADHD and with a Mood Disorder. Lacking in the ability to empathize with animals or children, I thought what better way than to learn these abilities than with a horse. For my son, it was love at first sight. Immediately, Sakura dropped her head into my small ten year old’s hands and together they learned to  [ Read More ]

I know Legs is feeling colicky when she curls her lip up repeatedly. Never fails, that’s her sign. Oh sure, she’ll swish her tail, maybe kick at the belly, but she might just be going after a fly…once she curls that lip, I’m on it. Sometimes I can stave off a full-blown attack with a shot of Banamine, some electrolytes to help encourage her to drink (fresh water is a  [ Read More ]

I was Raised with Quarter Horses and Paints my entire life, so I was never a huge fan of Arabians. Twenty years later I met Concert – an Arabian who took my breath away. The woman who owned him said, “this horse will change your mind about Arabians, he loves people back.” At this point I wasn’t really sure what she was talking about until she said, “watch.” The owner  [ Read More ]

  Two weeks before Christmas, on December 9th, I received a call from my (at the time) barn owner. They had said my newly-adopted 6 year old Appendix QH mare, SoCo hadn’t eaten her dinner or breakfast and was acting funny. My mom and I jumped in the truck, Banamine in hand, and rushed to the barn. Twenty agonizing minutes later I arrived to find my mare in the pasture,  [ Read More ]

On January 31, 2013, my trainer found my horse Tippy colicking. Tippy was trailed to Virginia Tech Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center and had to go into surgery. He had displacement colic where the last 10 feet of his small intestine had gone through a hole in his abdominal wall and died, causing the rest of the intestine to back up. The surgeons had to go in and resect  [ Read More ]

Everybody has a colic story. Whether it’s a story about your own horse, a story about a friend’s horse, or a story about another horse in your barn, just about every horse person understands what it’s like to endure a colic episode. If you’ve personally experienced colic, you know how scary it is. That late night phone call to the vet, the decision to go through with surgery, the constant  [ Read More ]

Most horse owners know the basic signs and the risks of equine colic, but the truth is that there are also a lot of myths that circulate the barn aisles. Test your knowledge and see how much you really know about colic. 1. If you limit your horse’s access to quality hay/grass, it will lower his risk of colic. False. Horses are natural grazers, they weren’t meant to be stalled  [ Read More ]

Beau was 19 when he had to undergo a five and a half hour colic surgery for an impacted large intestine and bypass of the cecum. The vets gave him a 50% chance for survival, so we were scared and anxious waiting for the vets to finish. Beau didn’t have a history of colic, this episode was out of the blue, making the experience even more nerve wracking. Surgery went  [ Read More ]

You know if you see these signs of colic, it’s time to call the vet. You pray that it’s a simple case of gas colic that can be resolved with lots of walking and watching over one sleepless night. But sometimes the outcome requires colic surgery and you suddenly find yourself taking care of a horse in recovery. Either way, your vet will eventually go home and you will be  [ Read More ]