Karen's EasyCare & Endurance Musings

Needing to do research?

Here is a great list of resources on the internet -- "9 Websites to Satisfy All Your Research Needs". 

Check it out!  You may not need this information today, but it could come in handy - you just never know when you may need to learn what a hoof boot is, for example. ;)

Some humor from blaugh.com

A photo of Pro Bono (Bo) galloping with Easyboots on all four hooves!

Here is another photo of my new horse. This was the one that is in the 2008 EasyCare calendar. We are looking for photos for next year. If you have any, submit them to us. They need to be landscape shaped, and hi-resolution.   

I took Bo out on a ride for a couple of hours  tonight. We mostly walked with just a bit of trotting. I opened and closed the gate from his back. 

I put four Epics on him for the first time. He took 2's all the way around. I think that I will eventually be able to get 1's without a heelstrap on his hinds, but for now it's a bit tight. He lifted his feet up high for the first few steps but by the time I trotted him out and back he was moving normally in them and felt totally comfortable in them on our ride. I'll give him plenty of time to get used to the boots before his next competition. He goes fine in regular Easyboots, but now is the first time he's using Epics on his unshod hooves. I don't have very many size 2 boots with gaiters but now that I have Bo and Tigger taking 2's and will need 6 size 2's between them if they go out for a ride together I'll have to get some more!  Fortunately, if I need to I can use 2's on Chief's fronts as well - he actually measures in the size 2 range and the 1's are a super snug fit. It's nice when they can go okay in more than one size, and lots of times the Epics adjust enough so that they can.  I always like to be prepared, so that means having enough boots on the horse.  Plus I like to carry spares on my saddle and also in my crewbag at rides.  I rarely need them, but everybody knows who to come to if they need a boot -- ME!  So I often am lending them out -- usually to riders whose horses have lost a shoe, or have a loose shoe.   

Bo is definitely a pleasure horse - I feel so relaxed riding him. I've been spending time with him just hanging out getting to him. He wasn't bothered on our ride tonight by anything - the two dogs running about, birds, rabbits, motorcycles. I think he has close to a 5 mph walk too. I'll have to take the GPS with us next time and see. 

Xobni now available to everyone!

I have been using Xobni for a few months now and don't know how I could get by without it - very helpful add on for Outlook email!  I had been using Eudora which I prefer but have no choice with work email (I still use it for my personal email), and boy am I glad to have Xobni!  Here is a post I recently received about it.  If you use Outlook for email, be sure to check it out!

Thank you for your patience during Xobni's invite-only beta period. We're pleased to announce that beginning today everyone can instantly download Xobni to organize and search their Outlook email. 

Download Xobni for FREE here: http://www.xobni.com/download 

You can read more about Xobni's public launch in today's New York Times here: 

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/05/technology/05xobni.html 

We look forward to receiving your feedback as we continue to work to improve Xobni and the overall Outlook experience. 

Thanks! 

Matt Brezina
Cofounder

And the shoes came off the endurance horse!

These shoes were removed intentionally!  I took a lot of photos of Bo's hooves.  He has nice sized feet and they seem to be strong and healthy.  There is definitely room for improvement.  I can't wait to see the changes!!!  Can you tell I couldn't wait to get the shoes removed - I've only had Bo for 24 hours and in that time have hauled him home over 600 miles.  He is so pleasant to work with.  I let him graze with Chief in the pasture for awhile after we got home.  He is in his own paddock now so the horses can get to know each other a little better with a fence between them. 

Karen may have found the perfect new horse!

I will post more about my new horse soon --we have only just gotten home from Utah this afternoon.  I rode Bo (here is his ride record) 55 miles (day 2 of the ride) and really liked him.  He sure is nice -- though not exactly what I was looking (he is tall).  Fortunately, he is built really well and my saddle fits so nice that getting on him is really easy!  Plus he is absolutely one of the best mannered endurance horses I've ever seen and stands still when you mount.  He turns 10 this month, so was at the top of my preferred age but that is okay. He is really well trained, very level headed and he is ready to go to rides!  I used Easyboots on over his shoes since he came shod, but we will be pulling his shoes off tonight!  I am going to ride him next at Fort Schellbourne and then decide if he'll be coming home with me permanently. 

This photo of him was taken at Bryce last year, with his current owner Kerry.  They are also the March 2008 photo in the EasyCare calendar and on the back of the EasyCare catalog.  Small world! 

It had been years since I rode a shod horse in an endurance ride.  It was kind of weird.  At least he had boots on over shoes, which was nice because it kept him from slipping on some of the slick rocks like many of the metal-shod horses did.  The boots also came off clean and nearly free of sand so were a really good fit.   He takes a size 76 blanket.  Chief takes a 68.   

Back from Mt. Carmel & Easyboot Contest Update

We had a great time this year at Mt. Carmel.  The weather was fantastic and the trails in great shape.  I love this ride because it is so colorful with lots of singletrack sections and some technical stuff as well.  A great variety of terrain - we ride in sugar sand, dirt, rock, coarse sandy washes, over slickrock, boulders, shale, through pine trees and pink and orange colored cliffs.  Turnout was good with 78 riders the first day. 

We had several riders in the EasyCare hoof boot contest racking up more miles.  Once all the results forms are turned in check for updates here at this link.  Terri and Oliver are still in the lead.  Have I mentioned before that Ollie is a gaited horse?  He is doing great in the boots, and is sure racking up a lot of miles! :)   

I rode Chief on days 1 and 3.  He had a really great ride both days.  He wore me out on the last day but then finally settled in a bit after lunch.  We went a little faster and that just made him want to go even more.  I used two Bares and two glue on boots on him.  They stayed on both days and really worked great.  He moves very nice in them.  Check out this photo and see if you can tell which hoof or hooves have the glued on boots on?  He had just been bathed and then had sand stick to him.  From a distance you can't even tell if the horse is barefoot or not.  Natalie and Cheyenne completed all three days together with the glued on boots on their hinds and EasyUp Easyboots foamed on the fronts.

50 Ideas for a Healthy Lifestyle

What is a Healthy Lifestyle?

According to a study by Michigan State University, a healthy lifestyle is defined by four basic criteria:

• Not smoking
• Holding weight down
• Eating right
• Exercising

Of the 153,000 respondents, only 3% participated in all four of what are termed healthy lifestyle characteristics.

Click here to read the entire article.

Great movie clip, an absolute favorite!

This is a great scene from "The Man from Snowy River".

New technology for horse foot wear

ABC News recently did a short story on advances in hoof care including the use of EasyCare hoof boots in place of iron shoes.  Click here to view. 

Inspired talks by the world's greatest thinkers and doers

Ted.  Check it out.

Mt. Carmel XP, 2008

I'm leaving today to go to Mt. Carmel, Utah.  This is a 3 day 155 mile ride and I am bringing Chief.  It is a long way for me to go (600+ miles one way) with just one horse, but I want to give Tigger a bit of a break after Color Country.  He tripped and clunked something into a rock on the 2nd day, and while he was able to walk in the last ten miles and trotted out sound at the finish I think it's good for him to have a month off before returning to work.  Chief on the other hand, is... well... Chief --- he did three days at Color Country without any issues.  I don't know yet how many days he will do at Mt. Carmel because I have a couple of people bringing horses for me to look at.  I may want to try one or both of them out and ride them on the ride.  Won't know till I get there! 

Chief has been to Mt. Carmel several times.  It was his first ever endurance ride.  It is a really beautiful ride - very challenging at times due to the sand, and the climbs.  The country is gorgeous and it's just spectacular to ride through.  The top photos shows riders starting to lead down the "trail of death", which is really not that scary.  Click here to see more photos from last years ride.

Do you see the light?  I love riding Chief through tunnels! 

Skin pinch test not a reliable way to gauge hydration

The researchers found that the commonly used "skin tent test" (pinching up a section of skin to note the time it takes to return to its normal position) varies greatly according to the horse's age, the humidity of the coat, and the site of the skin tested. Furthermore, it has no significant connection with the actual state of hydration in the horse, according to the study.

Click here to read more on this topic at thehorse.com

Do you have a Plan B?

I always like to have a backup plan, and more often than not, a backup plan for the backup plan. It has come in handy many times.  Especially when something happens like your backup drive fails (good thing I had 2 backups!), or when the horse you were planning on taking to a ride the next week dings up his leg.  It's always good to be prepared for when things go wrong.  I always like to think that if I prepare for the worst, it won't happen.  And then if it does, I'll be prepared.  My horse Rocky started out as Plan B.  He is currently my highest mileage horse.  Then when I got Chief, we called him Plan C.  He will soon (knocking on wood) surpass Rocky in mileage and become my highest mileage horse.  Not bad for two backup horses!  Anyway, I thought this was a pretty appropriate quote.....

“The most successful people are those who are good at plan B.”—James Yorke, mathematician, on chaos theory in The New Scientist

Barefoot Mounted Police Horses - Houston, Texas

Here is a video of a couple of the Houston Police horses on patrol.  The Houston PD has one of the largest mounted patrol units in the country - and they keep their horses barefoot.  They also use EasyCare hoof boots when needed - click here to view a photo album, and click here to read more about their hoof boot use. 

Are you at 211° and don't know it?

The Difference Between Ordinary and Extraordinary?  It’s That Little Extra.

You've probably heard this cliché at some point or another. It's a cliché for a reason – it's true.

So if the difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra, what exactly is that little extra?

Think about this… at 211° water is just hot. At 212° water boils and creates steam.

Steam is the power behind the locomotive engine and the power that brought American civilization across the western frontier forever changing America's destiny.  In this case 1° is that little extra that makes all the difference.

Click here to read the entire article. 

I'm looking for another endurance horse

I'd like to find another horse that I can ride endurance on.  Please let me know if you know of anything that might work, or know of somebody that does.  I really only have one good competing horse right now with Chief.  Tigger bucked me off at the start of Cuyama and I'm not yet decided on if I want to keep working with him, or let Dave Rabe handle him, at least for awhile.  Rocky will need a few more months to fully recover from his hoof issues and then he probably won't be doing much endurance.  Zenos is going to become a pleasure trail horse/ornament next door with my neighbor soon.  He is recovering from a paddock injury (vets have been unable to diagnose or fix, not for lack of trying) and I just don't want him doing endurance--he will have a great home where he is going.  I'll still get to see him every day too!  Below is a list of things I'd like to have in a horse: 

Requirements:
Gelding
Arabian
at least 5 or 6 years old
no older than 10
sound
sane
good feet
some conditioning and training
not the dominant one in a group

Wish list:
Short:  14.2 or 14.3 range
Chestnut or Bay (though for a good horse, I'm color blind)
Ready to complete slow 50's

I don't mind paying a fair price for the right horse, and would be a good home.  I want a horse that can do conservative, steady mileage - I'm not interested in racing.  Karen

We've been shake, rattling and rolling here in Nevada!

There has been a huge increase in the number of earthquakes here in Northern Nevada.   Click here for a local news article on the topic - we had a magnitude 4.7 last night at 11:40 p.m., followed by another 50 aftershocks.  I'm south enough of Reno to not feel most of them.  I have one overly sensitive dog that doesn't like the shaking and I'm quite certain the horses know as well.  They tend to stay out in the open more. 

I just took these photos of Rocky today.  I love the ear in the first shot!  I'll post more later about his feet and how things are progressing after his founder episode earlier this year.  He's been on a diet - can you tell? 

Get a FREE virtual assistant!

I have used Jott in the past, and signed up to give Sandy a try out.  Why not, it's free?  I think I do pretty good already with my Google and Outlook calendars (especially now that they sync together, and also with my phone) and email notifications.  I like how Jott works and have found it very handy on a few occasions. 

So anyway - check out this article here. 

One of my other favorite productivity tools is Spinvox.  Spinvox will take your voice message and converts them into text for you - then will email or text message them back to you.  It is fantastic!  I can get my messages much more often this way when traveling as a text message is often more likely to get through than an email or a voice message.  Lots of times I used to get a message that I had a voice message, but then did not have a signal strong enough to retrieve it.  Spinvox eliminates that from happening. 

Work From Home & Pass The Gas

Currently, only four percent of the U.S. workforce works from home, but research shows that about 40% have jobs that could be performed at home. Our analysis shows that if they did, these new teleworkers could annually save 625 million barrels of oil (roughly equivalent to 80% of our annual Gulf Oil imports), reduce greenhouse gases by 107 million metric tons of CO₂, and save almost $43 billion at the pump. Each worker individually would save 26 work-days and over $800 — time and money now wasted commuting. That’s the equivalent of an extra 5 weeks vacation a year!

Check out the rest of this article here. 

I'm fortunate to be one of those that are able to work from --- well, wherever I happen to be.  Especially if I have an internet connection.  I think that it is a huge advantage both for myself and my employer.  Because I don't have a commute time (does 30 seconds count?), I actually spend more time working and being productive.  I save a ton of money because not only do I not need to drive anywhere most days, I no longer go out for lunch.  Everybody benefits.   In this age of technology, more companies should be looking into allowing their workers to telecommute. 

Are you thinking about trying barefoot for your horse?

I've been looking through a lot of my hoof photos.  It's really encouraging!  Along the way I've learned a lot about horses feet.  I'm glad that I have, it's been a good experience and while I don't consider myself an expert on the topic, I can at least tell what a healthy hoof should look like.  I am always open to learning more and actively seek out the opinions of others.  I am willing to try new things even when what I'm currently doing is working if I've been presented with enough evidence that it might work better.

Cheefy has a new baby brother!

Isn't he the cutest thing ever?  Click here for more photos.

Update:  Congrats to Wizard Arabians - here is a link to the new foal's pedigree.  Click to enlarge.   Chief and Zenos are both excited to have a new baby brother!  I'd love for him to stay chestnut, but he'll probably grey out.  I guess that's okay, I've grown somewhat partial to grey horses.  ;^)   Can't wait to find out what his name will be - I kind of like Crystal's Gem. 

Vinyl fencing sucks for horses!

About the dumbest thing we ever did was replace our wood fence with vinyl.  It's got to be among the worst possible material for containing horses in.  In the winter when things are frozen, the horses need only to roll and bump into a rail of the fence to have it shatter.  When that happens, the shards fly everywhere - check out these that I picked up today after I removed the manure from the paddocks and dragged the fields with the tractor - these pieces just keep popping up (plus some are from recent damage as well).  The pieces are so sharp you could use them like a knife.  Imagine the damage they could do to a horse if they were to be stepped on, or rolled on? 

In addition to the fence rails breaking, it doesn't take much for the fence posts themselves to crack and come apart.  I guess you know it's time to replace your fence when it's held together by duct tape, eh?  My neighbors fence (also vinyl) is also experiencing the same problems with the splinters, fractures and broken posts. 

If you are looking into getting fence for you horses whatever you do look at choices other than vinyl.  It is just not reliable long term.  Even having hotwire on the top rail doesn't stop the damage - horses are still going to roll and knock into it here and there.  We have already replaced the paddock cross fencing with metal pipe - now we will need to do the same with some other sections  before my horses start getting out - fortunately the areas with the most damage are still within an additional fenced in area. 

 

Amazing Human Athlete & Boa Technology

This is an almost unbelievable story about an amazing human -- a long distance runner who has run 50 marathons in 50 days in addition to some other incredible feats.  In the article he gives some advice for pushing athletic performance from the unthinkable to the untouchable.

Reading an hour a day could change your life

Here is a nice post on how reading can improve your life, from the Positivity Blog.  I admit to having always been a bit of a bookworm.  Even from a very young age I think I've probably averaged about two books a week.  There are times when I may only make a chapter or two a week, but then other times make up for it.  I also like audiobooks and find them fantastic for those long drives to rides! 

I have a book list on the right hand side of my blog that shows some of the books I've been reading or recently read.  Sometimes I forget to add new ones, especially if they are audiobooks, as I can really zip through those with all of the traveling that I do.  I am fortunate enough to have a local library system where I can check out audiobooks for free at the rate of four every two weeks.  I also get books from audible.com, another great source. 

Speaking of books - two nice books that I've read recently and recommend to any horse person:

1)  Too Proud to Ride a Cow, by Bernie Harberts.  Bernie has a great sense of humor!
2)  Soul of a Horse, by Joe Camp.  Here is my review of this book. 

Good Foot, Bad Foot - Can you tell the difference?

Can you identify a good hoof?  Do you know what a good hoof looks like? Do you know the difference between a 'good looking' foot and a 'sound' foot?  Is there a difference?

Click here to read the entire article by Journeyman Farrier Keith Seeley. 

Check out these cool webcams!

Click here to go to a website that has a list of live webcams on the marestare.com website.  There are several mares expecting and some that have already foaled.

Quotation on Patience

The greatest challenge to the development of patience is being able to wait for the tangible evidence that your efforts are paying off.  We have a fixed idea of what we want and what it will look like when it shows up.  We hold that idea so firmly that often we are unable to detect that the very thing we want has actually arrived.  If it does not look the way we thought it would, or if it does not feel the way we imagined it would, we are unable to detect its presence.   Iyanla Vanzant

You can enter the EasyCare $10,000 Hoof Boot Contest for FREE! It's not too late!!

Here are the standings from this years contest so far.  It's not too late to enter - if you are participating in AERC or AERC endurance rides of any distance, with two or four EasyCare boots on your horse you can enter!  There is no fee to enter and once you have completed a ride and submitted your results to EasyCare you will be eligible for discounts and special promotions.  Plus you might have the opportunity to win some $$ to help with your ride expenses this year!  Last year the top 25 riders also received horse blankets, so even if you aren't going to ride enough to place in the top ten you could still end up on the receiving end of some really great prizes and awards.  Click here to go to the page to download contest entry forms. 

The current leader in the contest is Terri Tinkham, riding Oliver, who is a Tennessee Walker.  They are doing really well this year and have completed 665 miles so far in the 2008 ride season.  Last year they placed in the top ten AERC National Mileage and finished 2nd in the EasyCare Hoof Boot Contest.  Here is a photo of Terri and Oliver from the Color Country ride. 

Hoof Building, Tips on Protecting and Building Sole Callous

Benefit Raffle for Dave Rabe

Here is your chance to help Dave and at the same time win some really cool items!  There are lots of ride entries here (you can pick which region you are interested in), as well as many tack and other horse related items.  Be sure to check it out and please tell your friends!  One ticket is $5, and 6 are $25.  More items are coming in too!  Many thanks to Susan Favro from Healthy as a Horse for getting this together! 

Click here.

Back from Color Country

Chief and I had a terrific ride at Color Country this last week.  It is a three day 155 mile ride in Hurricane, Utah. 

Many times over the weekend were we told that "they don't call it Hurricane for nothing".  Yep, it WAS windy --you couldn't see across camp at times.  Reminded me of the windstorm we had at Death Valley a couple of years ago. 

Turned out though that the first day of the ride in the wind was really very nice.  It kept the horses cool, and that was by far the easiest day of the ride.  We had a great time riding with Tigger and Dave Rabe.

The second day was also a nice day.  However, the wind had died down and it was getting warmer - almost too warm.  The horses both did well, and we took our time and enjoyed the day.  The sky was so blue that some of the colors almost seemed unreal next to the orange, red, purple and white colors that we rode through. 

After finishing on day 3, we were greeted warmly (moreso than normal) by the finishing committee.  Turns out that