Quacks vs Cracks
Monday, April 25 2011
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Nearly every horse I’ve come across flinches when you reach across their spine to the other side of their back, dig your finger tips into the muscle, and pull toward yourself. This is a favorite way of examining backs by many people, including some vets.
- Published in Injecting Perspective, Z-Blogs
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A Very Important Weekend
Friday, April 22 2011
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Harvey and I at the first of two open corners on the CIC 3* course at Burnham Market. I'm sorry but look how sweet his expression is! This past weekend was quite an important weekend for me. I’m not actually sure if I mentioned this in an earlier blog but I had a bad fall at the end of last year in the three star up at Blair Castle in Scotland. Long story short my amazing little Harvey and I were three fences from home after having a great run and we ended up crashing through a ditch and palisade. To this day I have no idea what happened. Some people say that Harvey didn’t see the ditch because it was going from light to dark out of the woods and the light was in his eyes.
- Published in Onward, Upward, Z-Blogs
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Plastics
Thursday, April 21 2011
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“I want to say one word to you. Just one word…Plastics.” That famous quote from The Graduate was pretty good advice for the time.
- Published in Injecting Perspective, Z-Blogs
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Paying Dues
Thursday, April 14 2011
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After my internship was over and before my next job began, I did a little stint covering a backyard practice in Virginia, while the owner of the practice went on an extended vacation. Her need for a long vacation should have been my tipoff.
- Published in Injecting Perspective, Z-Blogs
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Of Beer and Gray Hair
Thursday, April 07 2011
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“You know what it takes to be a successful horse trainer?” My boss asks, sliding a cold beer across the bar to me. “No. What?” He slowly raises his glass to his lips, then speaks out of the side of his almost covered mouth. “Three things.” He takes a draw off his longneck for dramatic effect. “You have to have gray hair, be a good salesman, and be able to cheat on your wife without remorse.” “Nothing to do with training horses?” I ask
- Published in Injecting Perspective, Z-Blogs
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Gatcombe
Sunday, April 03 2011
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Last weekend went well at Gatcombe Horse Trials with Harvey and Bree. I ran Harvey in the Open Intermediate and my new mare, Bree, in the Open Novice just as a nice easy run so that we can start getting to know each other.
- Published in Onward, Upward, Z-Blogs
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To Medicate or to Train
Thursday, March 31 2011
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Supplements People often ask me what oral supplements I recommend for their horses. This is invariably after I just injected a joint or two, and their horse is still hanging in cross ties, groggy from the sedation. Before my eyes glaze over, and I start to look like their horse, I try to get out something along the lines of, “Spend the next 12 months saving that money, then you can pay me to put the medication right where it’s needed next year”. Then I slowly raise a finger and point at their handsome steed, at this point looking more like my victim, than something that could carry them into battle. Most of my clients recognize when I’m just makin a funny, and new clients usually pick up on it pretty quickly, due to my lack of a poker face. But it’s a serious question and it deserves a serious response, so I usually follow it up with a good visual that sums up my true convictions. I hold my index finger and thumb in the” I’m crushing your head” Kids-in-the-Hall pincer position, and say, “This is how much a difference oral supplements probably make in your horse’s soundness”, then I take both arms, straighten at the elbows to show the size of the fish I caught last week and say, “and this is how much difference you get from the training decisions you make every day.” This is a good time to quickly summarize my feelings on the utlility of each product, before moving on to what really matters
- Published in Injecting Perspective, Z-Blogs
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From Diapers til 12
Thursday, March 24 2011
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From diapers til 12, my dream was to be a jockey. I grew up in Nova Scotia, where the only horses around were the Standardbreds that were too slow to make it on the local bush league tracks. We lived too far from town to do much after school, but get off the bus and run to the pond to see if the ice was skateable . My only respite from the depression of what seemed like the last outpost of equine civilization, was the monthly anticipation of that which sustained my dreams: the arrival of The Bloodhorse magazine. I guarantee I was the only subscriber in the province of Nova Scotia, even though I could barely see over the counter at the $2 windows
- Published in Injecting Perspective, Z-Blogs
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Spring has Sprung, the Grass has Ris’
Thursday, March 24 2011
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Spring in Aiken is unfolding in all its glory. Azaleas are in bloom, Banksia roses are open, the city has become a haze of lavender Wisteria
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You Gotta Start Somewhere
Monday, March 21 2011
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Several weeks ago when I was the photographer at Sporting Days March Horse Trials, late Sunday afternoon featured the Beginner Novice and Tadpole Division starters finishing their Eventing debuts with the cross country phase. I was struck by how many horses were getting their first serious start at Eventing that afternoon, piloted by some of the most capable in the sport. I’ve put together a collection of photographs of these Beginner Novice horses paired with their same riders at Intermediate and Advanced events over the last year or so. I think it is fun and I hope you do, too.
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