To Medicate or to Train
Thursday, March 31 2011
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
Cream of the Crop.
Monday, March 28 2011
And the hooooome of the, braaaave...... Photo ©Kym Ketcham Because if a skydiver trailing an American flag hadn’t touched down in the International Arena just as Ki-Juan Minors sang the final, pitch perfect note of the National Anthem, the night would have seemed incomplete, somehow. Fortunately, that is how the 2011 WEF season’s finale class opened, and the 7,000 show jumping fans filling every available space in the International Arena (a sight that warms On the Line’s heart) were thoroughly impressed.
- Published in On the Line, Z-Blogs
If Louboutins Were Saddles, They Would Be Called Voltaire.
Thursday, March 24 2011
Va-Va-Voltaire! When was the last time a saddle was likened to Sex and the City, or designer shoes? I would venture to say, um, never ! Until now, that is. If you hang around horse shows, chances are you’ve already met Brice Goguet. The tall, 32-year-old Frenchman is on quite the mission to tell the world about his Voltaire saddles. With a prime vendor booth at WEF that is right on the path where all the warm ups intersect, Voltaire has been impossible to miss all season
- Published in On the Line, Z-Blogs
From Diapers til 12
Thursday, March 24 2011
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
Spring has Sprung, the Grass has Ris’
Thursday, March 24 2011
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
Notes From a Polo Staycation.
Tuesday, March 22 2011
Photo ©David Lominska My fondness for polo has been well documented, and for me, going to watch a game on a Sunday afternoon is a little like a stay-cation. After spending the week immersed in the horse show world, even the most dedicated show jumping fan/reporter/industry buff (which happens to sum up On the Line perfectly) needs a break from that scene.
- Published in On the Line, Z-Blogs
You Gotta Start Somewhere
Monday, March 21 2011
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.
Silicon Alley
Monday, March 21 2011
From the title, you might think this is a tabloid article about who’s sitting at whose table at the latest charity event. I’m actually talking microchips… in horses. Straight from the horses mouth! Unless they’re crazy famous, most horses in the sports world get handed around like foster kids, with occasional name changes along the way
- Published in Injecting Perspective, Z-Blogs