New family member

[rockfan4]

Well, it happened.

It's been almost 2 years since my wife started riding again, and she got bucked off tonight. She doesn't seem to have any broken bones. She had the wind knocked out of her, and she says her butt is pretty sore. She landed on her right side.

She was working with her trainer, first walking a pattern around a set of cones, and had just started the same pattern at a trot when it happened. If it means anything, I think the horse was genuinely concerned about what happened. He didn't run off, he stopped and just stared at her on the ground. She did get back on him and rode him a bit at a walk, and then did some other exercises with him before putting him back in the pasture.

I imagine she will be pretty sore tomorrow. We do have a whirlpool tub, maybe she'll make use of it.

[Ovdee]

Originally Posted by rockfan4

Not a dog, not a cat.

The wife hopefully found her heart horse, after a 50+ year search. There may have been some breaks in that search, but this is something she's wanted since she was a kid.
He's 13 or 14. His name is Cash. We load him up and take him home tomorrow. I'm sure the wife will be a nervous wreck the whole way home.

Hello Cash..

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by rockfan4

Well, it happened.

It's been almost 2 years since my wife started riding again, and she got bucked off tonight. She doesn't seem to have any broken bones. She had the wind knocked out of her, and she says her butt is pretty sore. She landed on her right side.

I hope she's OK. If she was well enough to get up and got back on, I'd guess she didn't break anything.
I was riding once, jumping a little mound made of railroad ties stacked 2 high with a dirt ramp on one side. The horse loped up to the mound and stopped. I went over and landed on my side on top of the railroad ties. It didn't break anything, but it rang my bell pretty thoroughly and I was sore for weeks.

[rockfan4]

Baz asked that I update this thread. Here's my update from the Animal thread.

Originally Posted by rockfan4

An aggressive strain of Equine Herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) — including neurological cases classified as equine herpes myeloencephalopathy (EHM) — has been confirmed by multiple equine veterinary clinics in Texas. Several cases have been traced to horses attending major events in early November, including the WPRA World Finals and Elite Barrel Race held Nov. 5–9, 2025, in Waco.

As far as I can tell, there have been no cases reported in Wisconsin, but that's not stopping my wife from freaking out. She was supposed to have a horse chiropractor come next week, and a saddle fitter the week after, but she is postponing both appointments for now. I was supposed to haul a friend's horse to a trainer tomorrow, but that is being postponed. Another friend who is a horse trainer in IL was going to do a session with our horse Cash in early December, but she has cancelled that for now. We weren't taking him to IL, her parents live near here and she was going to do some training while she was visiting.

I doxxed one of the horses that shares a pasture with Cash. I thought he was a Thoroughbred or Appendix, because he's so big. Easily over 16 hands. But I looked up his registered name and he's a Quarter Horse. His sire was 17.1 hands. Typically a Quarter horse is 14 - 16 hands, with most of them closer to 14.

The wife has decided the saddle she bought doesn't fit him properly, and that might be why he threw her. So she hasn't ridden him with that saddle since it happened. She has ridden him a few times with borrowed saddles, but only with a trainer present. She might have her saddle sold, but she may not get another one before Christmas.

Now that winter is here, we've upped his grain intake. He gets a scoop full of grain and some alfalfa pellets every evening.

We had a photographer take some photos of her and the horse, and I was even allowed to be in a couple of them. Sorry, I'm not going to post any here.

Here is a recent photo of him. His winter coat is coming in and he's really fuzzy.

You can compare it to the one at the top of this thread.

[Scott Douglas]

Do I assume correctly that Cash had been ridden before your wife purchased him?

My sister used to have a horse. It wasn't a very nice one, and almost killed her when he kicked a shovel she was using to muck out his stall.

He shortly there after became glue or dog food, I'm not sure what they do with them down in Australia to get rid of them.

[greglepore]

The entire horse world is completely freaked by the EHV outbreak. Its super contagious. Shippers are cancelling everywhere. Ours don't generally go anywhere except by themselves, so we're not worried, but you do need to be concerned about anyone that contacts other horses then yours, ie farriers, vets, fitters, trainers yada.
In my part of Va we are mostly hunter jumper fancy horse snobs, so less concern than in areas with Western style riding, but still everyone on edge.

[rockfan4]

Originally Posted by Scott Douglas

Do I assume correctly that Cash had been ridden before your wife purchased him?

Yes, he has been ridden before. He's 14 years old, and supposedly a ranch horse from Texas or Oklahoma. If someone who knows what they're doing, and has a good sense of balance rides him, there's no issues. Here's his sale info -

Cash 14'3h bay overo gelding.
Super good horse. Rides around quiet for anybody. Handy as a pocket on your shirt. Trail rides great, lopes good circles in the arena and has some expression on a cow. More color than a new box of crayons.

What the ad didn't tell you.
He's hard to catch. He's getting better, but it still takes my wife about 10 minutes to get a halter on him. I can't catch him, if he sees me with a rope he won't come near me.
He doesn't like closed spaces. When he's in the barn, every noise anywhere freaks him out.
Related to that - he doesn't like cross ties. He will twist and turn, and go forward and back, straining against the ties. He's broken the bailing twine used as a fuse on the ties twice now. One tonight.
He's gotten to the point where he won't eat his grain in the barn either. I may have mentioned above, but the two horses he shares a pasture with come in for the night, so we have to wait for them to come in and then give him his pan in the pasture.

This horse is an incredible time suck. Between the hard to catch, and his dancing around and not eating, it is usually a minimum of 2 hours to deal with him. 2 1/2 if you count drive time. If my wife does ground work with him it is even longer. He gets all sweaty even though the arena isn't heated, and then she puts a cooler on him and waits for him to dry before she puts him back. So 3 - 3 1/2 hours to deal with him. Let's just say there's a lot of stuff around the house that either I end up doing now, or it just doesn't get done. The dogs are used to getting fed at 4:30, and if I go with her, they don't get fed until sometimes after 7:00. They don't like that.

The other owners don't spend nearly the time my wife does. They'll come out, the horses meets them at the gate, they go in the barn, eat their grain, and are right back out in less than 30 minutes. Even the ones that ride are sometimes in and out while we're still waiting for the dancing doofus.

[oldE]

Sorry this isn't going the way you hoped.
My wife, after listening to a recounting of the situation advises your horse is in pain and does not want to be ridden. The saddle might be a contributing factor. There is likely to be an underlying physical problem.
Best of luck.

[rockfan4]

Les,
See Post 28 for the vet report. If you trot him on a hard surface and watch from behind, you can see he favors his right rear a bit.

If anyone wants to see him go through the sale ring, he's at 37:24 in this video. He was a no sale at $2900, the wife paid more than that for him a couple weeks later.



They took down the videos that were on their facebook page or I'd link them too.

At this point my wife has bonded with this horse and she will keep him as long as she is able, whether she can ride him or not. She goes to visit him every day, even though the workers at the barn would feed him and give him his pill for her.

[john70t]

Originally Posted by greglepore

The entire horse world is completely freaked by the EHV outbreak. Its super contagious.

Looks like it's spread by air. I wonder if UV lights and a certain type of disinfectant will reduce transmission in stalls.

[oldE]

At this point my wife has bonded with this horse and she will keep him as long as she is able, whether she can ride him or not. She goes to visit him every day, even though the workers at the barn would feed him and give him his pill for her.

I can't say I'm surprised. Over the years we have had a number of "lawn ornaments " who captured my wife's heart and lived the rest of their lives in her care. Maybe that's why she has kept me around for 50 years.

[rockfan4]

Tonight is the first night my wife hasn't gone to feed the horse. Don't worry, the barn manager is feeding him for her, he's not going hungry. There's just too much going on. Both of her kids and the granddaughter are home, and tonight we had a belated Thanksgiving dinner at her brother's place.

Tuesday he saw a chiropractor. I don't know that he needed one, but since he has that old hock injury my wife thought it worthwhile. Tuesday it rained all day, and he was covered in mud. We did our best to rinse it off with some warm water. He then got to meet the pet dryer. He didn't like that, lots of snorting and dancing around. But he eventually figured out it felt good. The chiro saw him, and said other than a bit of a stiff neck, he didn't really need anything. But she wanted a report after a couple of days. I took him back to the pasture in the rain, and he whinnied at me. "Hey, you forgot my food." I couldn't carry the food, lead him and open the gate, so I had to make two trips.

I stayed home Wednesday night. My wife said she didn't have any issues feeding him.

I went with on Thursday, and it seems he has no issues moving. He was being a butt, running all over the pasture and not really wanting to be caught. But he eventually gave in, and we just took him in the barn, cleaned and checked his feet, and then took him to the outdoor round pen to feed him. I think I mentioned before, he gets really nervous in the barn. He just paces around and doesn't really eat. So the two of us stood around freezing while he finished his pan. It was about 25 degrees and a 20 mph wind. I led him back to the pasture, and he stopped. He didn't want to go. Maybe he actually wanted to spend time with us.

Friday my wife went by herself. She said she called him, he ran to the gate, and stood there for her to halter him. Maybe he has changed. She fed him, started to lead him back to the pasture, and same thing. He didn't want to go.

We're both going to the barn after my wife gets done with work tomorrow. We will see how it goes.

[wdfifteen]

Seems like things might be improving. I guess horse’s minds work similarly to a dog’s and it takes time for them to forget old habits and learn new ones. It’s a good thing they aren’t like cats.

[oldE]

Sounds like you may have reached a turning point where the horse is starting to trust you. That is huge. Best of luck.

[greglepore]

Most of the horses I've had have taken at least 6 months to really relax in their new environment/people. Some shorter, some much longer. My current mare was "cowboyed on" at some point in her life and didn't warm up to me for almost 18 months, and now we're best friends, well, as friendly as a mare can get.

[rockfan4]

I almost got kicked in the head tonight. Twice. Not our horse, the boss of the pasture. He gets wound up when he doesn't get to go in the barn when he thinks he should, and takes it out on everyone else. He runs the other horses around, tries to bite them, and just makes it just about impossible to get Cash calm enough to catch him. When you've got a snorting horse with his head down coming right for you, you begin to rethink your life choices and whether it's all worth it. When he does this I'll stomp my feet and start walking towards him, and that throws off his game, he runs off and starts bucking and kicking, and then circles back and tries again. The funny thing is the old man in the pasture walks over and stands by me, hoping I'll protect him from the boss. He's 29 and he's had enough of the BS. Or is it Horse S?

I mentioned in another thread the amount of time it takes to work with the horse. Here's the breakdown.

We left the house about 4:00pm today. It's at least 30 minutes to the barn. Between catching the horse, grooming him, working him on the ground (no riding tonight) cooling him down, feeding him, drying him off and taking him back to the pasture, and then driving home, it was 7:30 when we walked in the door, and I'm now eating dinner at about 7:50 pm

Tonight will be Cash's first exposure to below zero temperatures this year. It's supposed to get to -2 overnight. They were predicting colder temperatures and higher winds, but it looks like the forecast has been revised. He should be okay. He's super fuzzy now.

[rockfan4]

From the OCD thread - I made a couple stall signs for the new mare at the barn, and the horse stalled next to her. The signs are still there a few days later, so I guess they didn't hate them.



The boss of the pasture was much more relaxed tonight when we went to retrieve Cash. He wasn't pacing at the gate, but he and Cash did come to the gate when they saw us coming. I just petted him while my wife caught Cash. He rested his head on my shoulder, and it is freaking heavy. My wife wanted me to shoo him away from the gate, but I just tapped him on the side and asked him nicely, and he walked off, no drama, no fuss. Same thing when I brought Cash back to the pasture. I asked him to move, he thought a couple seconds, and walked off. No fuss.

Barn news - The girl I mentioned earlier with three horses has been offered a maybe 2 year old son of a reining champion. I'm not sure on the age. To afford him she will have to sell her gelding, and also rehome the older horse she took in earlier this summer. She has found a place for the older horse, and I might be asked to move him. Maybe another trailer adventure. Hopefully the weather is good. The new horse is in Kentucky. I could consider retrieving him, depending on the weather. Sounds like if she does buy him, they will board him for free until May. That would make moving a lot easier. She has a 3 year old mare that she will breed in the spring.

[rockfan4]

I guess the deal fell through on the older horse. I hope she can find him a good home. He has a cracked hoof that really needs attention, nobody has tacked it for quite some time. I don't know how old he is, but he is pretty much a pasture pet now.

In other news, I didn't go to the barn last night and my wife's boyfriend tried to kiss her. He had just finished his soaked alfalfa pellets and grain, so she didn't appreciate it. I went with this afternoon, and he tried it again. No respect, no respect I tell you. With the upcoming below zero temps, he is going inside for at least the next two nights. We would have probably left him outside if he had another horse to stand near, and there is a shelter, but why take the chance?

I forgot to mention, went to Farm & Fleet today to pick up more feed. They've got a sale going on, and they're completely out of any alfalfa cubes or pellets, and also the senior feed he is used to. We've got about 10 days of feed left and they have more on order. I suppose we should order it online to get the sale price.

[cjh]

Go back to Fleet and ask the for a rain check for the number of bags of each you want.

[rockfan4]

They said in the ad "no rainchecks" The alfalfa pellets were $15.99 a 40lb bag, normally $20.99. I don't remember what the Kalm Ultra was, their website say "add to cart to see price", but there's no stock at the store or online, so I can't add to my cart. But it was a good deal. Add on top of that they were giving back a $10 gift card for every $100 spent. Personally, and this is just my opinion, we've achieved our task of fattening him up for winter and maybe his diet needs to be adjusted going forward so he doesn't have an extra 200 lbs on him come spring.

The other horse I was talking about has found a new home. A woman came from 3 hours away to pick him up. She said she told her husband she was getting a pony. He's no pony, he's at least 15.2. Maybe taller.

This means there's a spot open at the barn. I don't know if there's a waiting list, but my wife says I can get myself a horse and show her how all my armchair horse training is superior to what she has learned from her trainers and coaches. Naa, I'm good. I told her before, I'll get a horse if we find a place with enough land to support them. There's only one that fits the bill for sale right now but I don't like it. It's a remodeled 40's farmhouse with only 7 acres. It looks like they used to have more land but have been selling off lots.