*Ride Em Like You Stole Em*

SORRY THIS IS SO LONG BUT PLEASE READ!!!

So last Monday, I was riding my horse and my trainer had me leading a young horse right next to us so she can learn to follow instead of shy away. So I was leading her around for a little bit, then my trainer asked me to pull her head right up next to my leg, so she could stop swinging back behind my horse. Well when I pulled her forward she freaked out and started rearing up. I had both of my hands on the lead rope, and my left hand got caught between the saddle horn and the rope, and I had pretty bad rope burn on one of my fingers. When she pulled back I also jammed my right pinky finger and bruised my hand where my thumb meets. Well, I got off my horse and gave him to my trainer to ride because my hands hurt and I needed a slight break.

Well while I was sitting down I noticed that every time I lifted my left arm it would shake REALLY badly and just felt very weak and sore. I first thought well, it's just my adrenaline still going ninety from the little accident. After my trainer rode, I got up to put my horse away and it was very hard to lift my arm or do anything with it. My other arm was just a little bruised up by this point so I was able to still do things, I just had to do them one handed.

So on Tuesday morning I got up to go to work and my arm hurt SOOO bad!!! Right where my bicep is it hurt like nothing I had ever felt before. Every time I would touch it it was so tender and sore, and every time I went to use my arm it would shake and hurt so I would stop and use my other arm. I went into work and just continued on my day one-armed. Same thing on Wednesday.

I am interning for my horse trainer so I still had to go out to the barn to do my job. However, I had 4 stalls I had to clean and it usually takes me one hour to do all four but this time it took me an hour and a half to do just one stall. So I went to the barn manager and she told me to quit until my trainer got there so I did. When he got there the barn manager had already told him I was hurting but they didn't know how bad. So I walk into the barn and am holding my arm at a little over a 90 degree angle and was not able to move it up or down really from there without it hurting bad. So he proceeded to tell me don't do anything that hurts, which is like next to impossible in a barn lol.

He then said that when his wife (horse chiro) gets home that they will use the magna wave machine on my arm. So they used the machine and when it was on my arm my bicep twitched during every pulse REALLY bad (which means there is a lot of damage done to the tissue). It did help release the tightness and made me be able to move it a little more but it was still sore, tender and all over achy. So it's been 4 days, and I have basically full range of motion back, but it still hurts and my arm shakes when trying to fully extend my arm.

So I was wondering is there anything I can do to get rid of this dull ache that never stops, and any way to strengthen my arm back up without tearing it up anymore?

Should I use the magna-wave one more time? My trainer wanted me to use it again Thursday night but I was headed out of town for a graduation then. Has it been to long since first treatment for it to do any good?

Here's the machine http://magnawave.ws/ (yes there is a human version, but I used the horse one and had it turned down to tolerable settings) my trainer and his wife use it all the time on themselves.

I will more than likely have to pony and use my arm heavily again in the future, is there anything you suggest me doing to prevent this from happening during those stress times?

So right now I currently work my horse in a twisted wire snaffle with a training fork for the first part of our sessions, then I take the training fork off and just go off the twisted wire, and then I go on to my show bit which is this bit: http://www.statelinetack.com/item/ss-copper-mouth-...

But the problem is before I moved my horse here with me...I had him at a boarding facility back home with no trainer and I use to use his "show" bit everyday...He was so use to getting away with everything in it...and still is...

In the twisted wire he goes so well, this is the bit my trainer I worked with over the summer had me using and it worked wonders he LOVES IT but the problem is...he's 7 so I HAVE to use a shank bit in pleasure classes...

He has gotten so use to just ignoring my hand in the correction and it doesn't do it's job anymore...it has gotten so bad that my trainer and I went against everything we stand for and used draw reins on him WITH the correction at the last show during the warm up to get the message across...it worked for the first two classes but then he started ignoring it again...I really don't want to have to keep strapping "devices" to him to get him correct...he goes correct in just the snaffle no training fork...

What I am asking all of you is what bit should I go to next? How severe should I go? What's the next step? I've never had a horse that I have had to choose the bits for before...Usually I'm pretty good bout picking out bits he does and doesn't go well in but this is new territory since I've only ever used the one shank bit on him (other than the tom thumb that he hated and ignored the first day)

So what bits do you guys use? Which ones are legal? What do you think would be best?

(Sorry it's long)

Okay so I have a 7 year old paint gelding and recently he wants to put anything and everything in his mouth! It's even gotten to the point where he tries to nip at me or my clothing. Don't worry I punish him right away by smacking his mouth and saying NO very firmly. He's gotten better on the "eating people" since I have been punishing him. But now his new thing is EVERY time I am leading him to or from the arena with his bridle on, he gets ahold of one of the reins and starts chewing on it! I quickly jerk it out of his mouth and once again say NO but it hasn't been working. Back at the beginning of summer he had a leg injury and started chewing on his wraps (this is when the chewing started), so I put chili powder (my friend told me cayenne but the store was out so I went for the next spiciest thing) on the wraps and didn't notice any more chewing or chew marks. So after he started chewing on his reins, I put chili powder on them. BUT HE LIKED IT!!! The d a m n horse KEPT CHEWING!!!!

He is all UTD with his dental work, he had his teeth floated late June. So I don't believe he's "teething" (even though for his age shouldn't be happening) or has any pain, I think it's just a boredom thing.

So today I was riding him for class, and I was bending him towards the rail, but as I was pulling on the right rein he was just ignoring it. Or so I thought...I started to bump harder and pull further back...still nothing...So my teacher saw my frustration then looked at my horse...She told me to stop and my horse HAD THE REIN IN HIS MOUTH!!!! It's gotten to the point where he will chew on the reins while trotting!!!

So I need ANY and ALL advice you can give me to get my horse to stop chewing!!! Also today it got to the point where when I switched from his snaffle to shank bit he was chewing on the shanks!!! UGH!!!!!

HELP ME PLEASE!!!!!

Sorry it's long :(

Registered Name: Socketts Cody Bar

Barn Name: Cody

Age: 7

Breed: Paint

Color: Chestnut Overo

Discipline: Western and English Pleasure and will be learning basic training level dressage this fall for school :)

Left Side Confo Shot

http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/263...

Right Side Confo Shot

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/284...

Front Legs Knee Shot

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/223...

Left Front

http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/252...

Right Front- flies were really bad sorry bout the left front in the background lol

http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/249...

Hock Shot (sorry he wasn't exactly standing square)

http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/284...

Hock Shot (he's square but pic is dark)

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/205...

Please feel free to be as honest and harsh as you want...

my horse has recently come up lame in the back left but has been cleared for LIGHT riding...however every time i ride i hear a lot of "popping" in his hind end...i am going to have a chiro look at him soon because the lameness is a mystery since there is no swelling, heat or twitching when touched anywhere on his leg...he is a 7 year old paint who has only ever been lame once before and we think that he injured himself last time worse than we thought and that it is an old injury making him sore...about 2 months ago he randomly showed up lame in the back left and showed these signs: limping really bad at trot (so bad to the right that he didn't even want to go) and slightly limping at the lope but not at all at the walk...no heat, no swelling, no tenderness to touch...

so basically what i am asking is would a chiro help? and for the popping noises should i maybe get him a joint supplement? we think it might be in his stifle or hock area but not sure

also i had him outside for a bit grazing and i noticed that his back left hoof had some pink spots in it almost like bruises...all four feet are white...what could this be?

thank you all for your help!!!

I have a problem with my horse and clipping his ears...he's fine with the sound and vibration but once i start clipping he shakes his head and tries to pull away...I'm not 100% sure but my guess is that he hates having the hairs fall into his ears cause it tickles...I can get some clipping done before he shakes but when he shakes he makes me mess up and sometimes i get some areas too short while some are still long...

I've heard of people putting cotton balls/tampons in their horses ears for loud noises BUT I was wondering could it maybe work to keep the hair out of his ears and keep it from tickling so much? Or does anyone have any better ideas to help? I've tried twitching him thinking it was just that he hated being clipped...but that didn't help at all he still shook his head and then got really irritated cause he was twitched lol any help would be great!!! thanks!!!

I have a show saddle that has silver "plates" on the pommel like most show saddles have...however mine are coming off of the saddle...i believe they were put on by the previous owner so they are not manufacturer and were just nailed on with small nails...is there any way i could possibly fix this? would i be able to screw it on with screws of a little bigger size? some of the nails have gone straight thru the silver pieces and are just on the saddle and not even touching the silver anymore...what should i do? and removing them completely is not really an option because i still want the silver there...

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs1358...

http://l25.sphotos.l3.fbcdn.net/hphotos-l3-snc6/hs...

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/hs018....

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs788....

how many square feet of fencing would I need to surround 150 acres? (school project) i have to "build a 30 stall barn with pastures and turnout on a 150 acre piece of land thanks!

What does this mean exactly? Which breeds can a semi qh bar saddle fit? Would it fit my paint?

I am doing a project for my Ag Facilities Maintenance and Mechanics class and the assignment is to design and calculate the cost of a 30 stall barn...we have 150 acres to work with and I have $500,000 to work with. I am going to have my stalls connect directly to individual turnouts for each horse...my question for you is what would you suggest for the size of the turnouts? I can always make it to where its 2 stalls per turnout instead of just one...

thank you for your help!!!

Okay i need to pick your brains and maybe computer searching skills lol...

Well my drill team was just split into groups and our teacher told us to come up with a theme for our small group routine. My group picked "The Lion King" for our theme and I need some ideas for costumes...we have decided that my buckskin mare "Daisy" is going to be "Timon" the meerkat and my friends sorrel gelding "Cody" is going to be "Pumba" the warthog...I think we decided the black gedling "Buster" is going to be "Scar" the bay tobiano mare "Angie" will be either "Rafiki" or "Zazu" and the sorrel gelding "Beauty" will be "Simba" we have one other member of our drill team but no clue as to who the horse will be...we have decided that all the horses will be the main characters and the riders will be the various bugs that Timon and Pumba eat lol Now what I need from you guys is some ideas on how to make these horses look like the characters I just mentioned...I have NEVER done costume classes of any sort so I am clueless as to what to do in order to make a horse costume lol we have already decided on finger paint on either one or all of the horses butts to say Timon and Pumbas catch phrase "Slimy Yet Satisfying" and we decided on brown vet wrap wrapped around Cody's tail with a little bit of hair sticking out of the bottom painted black...anyone have any other ideas??? I could REALLY use some help!!! lol Thank You SOOO Much!!!

My school just received 12 new arabians and once they got to the farm they were all turned out in the pasture together. Well they were all running and playing and acting just fine. The next day one of the students went to check on them and one of the arabs (Gage) was limping around and did not look right. Well the vet examined him and turns out he did something to injure his stifle. He is now on stall rest and one of my good friends just "took over" him as her new project horse. He is very un-muscular and thin due to poor feeding at the old owners place. My friend is wondering is there any way she can work up some more muscle on his hind quarters without over doing it? There aren't really any hills she can take him for walks on and he CANNOT do anything more than a walk. He cannot be ridden either. He is a little on the spooky side and is scared of simple things like brooms. So does anyone have any ideas on how she can muscle up his hind end? I know with the injury it will be hard but I appreciate ANY ideas!!! Thank you soo much!!!

I let my membership expire in July since I never participated in APHA shows before. I was wondering do I need to be a member in APHA to participate in this show? It's the "Zone 5 Turkey Circuit Zone-O-Rama" show. Now my horse is registered with the APHA would that be enough? And after you let your membership expire how much is it to renew the membership?

Thank You SO Much for your help!!!

I know at least 6 people who own their own horse but maybe see it once a year. I know 2 people that only come out to see their horse once or twice a year for the barn shows. Other than that, their perfectly good horses just sit there...bored It really kills me inside when I am not able to see my horse every few days. How on earth can some people go months without seeing their horse and caring for them? I also know that those same people have gone through some really good horses and because they weren't taking care of them they lost them. There was one time the horse was sick and the barn owner called the owner of the horse and even though it was a minor thing that was treatable the owner said to put it down...the barn owner couldn't see through with it and wound up buying the horse and turned it into one of the BEST lesson horses the barn had ever had.

I just want to hear some of your thoughts and opinions about these "horse lovers" who don't take the time to visit their "could be" best friend.

Well I am not around my horse anymore...wont be til bout January...I moved away from home and my dad is currently taking care of him until I can bring him here for school...well anyways two days before I left I found what looked like a nasty kick mark on the side of his neck...it had already scabbed over and was healing quite nicely...it didn't look swollen or infected and was not oozing at all...so I just let it be...well my barn owner told my dad that she thinks it might be his fly sheet rubbing...since he is a playful horse he likes to run alot in turnout which caused the blanket to rip and now is creating a rub spot...so she is not going to be putting that on him anymore...well to get down to my question...since I cannot treat it daily and my dad cannot get out there very often maybe once a week at the most...is there anything I can do once he gets to my school in January? I'm going to be visiting him every once in a great while when I can make it home before then but is there any way to regrow the hair after that long of a time frame? My horse is a show horse and that will not look very attractive to the judges in the halter/showmanship classes...it is a BIG bare mark...it's bout the size of a straightened pony-size horse shoe...

any ideas? I do have M-T-G but I don't know if that will work since it wont be a fresh cut...

I am on a mission...

to see who has skills with a camera :)

We all have had those priceless picture perfect moments with our best friends...now I know what my favorites are but what are yours?

No edited or photo-shopped pics please...I just want your favorite un-doctored photos :)

I think every one will have fun with this question :)

here's my all-time favorite...and believe it or not I snapped it with a disposable camera :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sockettscodybar4evr/4...

I hurt my back on Sunday while riding the mechanical bull at the fair...LOL I ride horses and have been bucked off before and have ridden the bull before but have never hurt myself like this...I must have moved wrong and threw out my back...well it hurt so bad that I couldn't walk hardly without it hurting and it didn't help that I had to work to 8 hour shifts :( well i went to the chiro yesterday (Wednesday) and he took x-rays of my spine...turns out my spine was far from straight...it curved about every 5in in either direction...well the chiro was feeling around and found a TON of REALLY tight spots where the muscles hurt really really bad...anyways he adjusted me and got at least 30 cracks out of each part of my back...then he gave me some at home exercises to help straighten my spine...well after my adjustment I felt great and had almost NO pain at all...that only lasted a couple hours...I started to hurt again so I took 2 Aleve and tried the exercises seeing if they would loosen my back up again at all...they helped a little but my back started hurting shortly after...today it is hurting even worse then yesterday...I did do some heavy-ish lifting last night and this morning...I am moving out of my parents house this weekend and have been lifting boxes and all my horse tack...some of the boxes are 20-30lbs a piece and I ave been lifting them myself...is it possible I threw my back out again? Also while I was at work before being adjusted I had to lift a bunch of heavier things and almost dropped stuff because I kept having shooting pains run straight through my back...how long do you think it will take for the pain to disappear and me to start feeling normal again and be able to lift heavy things without a problem? Both my job and my personal life require me to lift a lot of heavy materials...I can't be out for too long...I'm going to school for horse training and will be lifting heavy things all day long during my classes...And when I transfer to school I will be transferring my job too...I can't be laid up seeing as school starts in a week!!!

Anyone have ideas to help me get back into working order? I use heat pads every night to relieve pain and I keep taking Aleve trying to release some pain as well as doing the exercises the chiro gave me...

I hurt my back on Sunday while riding the mechanical bull at the fair...LOL I ride horses and have been bucked off before and have ridden the bull before but have never hurt myself like this...I must have moved wrong and threw out my back...well it hurt so bad that I couldn't walk hardly without it hurting and it didn't help that I had to work to 8 hour shifts :( well i went to the chiro yesterday (Wednesday) and he took x-rays of my spine...turns out my spine was far from straight...it curved about every 5in in either direction...well the chiro was feeling around and found a TON of REALLY tight spots where the muscles hurt really really bad...anyways he adjusted me and got at least 30 cracks out of each part of my back...then he gave me some at home exercises to help straighten my spine...well after my adjustment I felt great and had almost NO pain at all...that only lasted a couple hours...I started to hurt again so I took 2 Aleve and tried the exercises seeing if they would loosen my back up again at all...they helped a little but my back started hurting shortly after...today it is hurting even worse then yesterday...I did do some heavy-ish lifting last night and this morning...I am moving out of my parents house this weekend and have been lifting boxes and all my horse tack...some of the boxes are 20-30lbs a piece and I ave been lifting them myself...is it possible I threw my back out again? Also while I was at work before being adjusted I had to lift a bunch of heavier things and almost dropped stuff because I kept having shooting pains run straight through my back...how long do you think it will take for the pain to disappear and me to start feeling normal again and be able to lift heavy things without a problem? Both my job and my personal life require me to lift a lot of heavy materials...I can't be out for too long...I'm going to school for horse training and will be lifting heavy things all day long during my classes...And when I transfer to school I will be transferring my job too...I can't be laid up seeing as school starts in a week!!!

Anyone have ideas to help me get back into working order? I use heat pads every night to relieve pain and I keep taking Aleve trying to release some pain as well as doing the exercises the chiro gave me...

I threw out my back a couple days ago...I'm only 19 lol it sucks!!! well I'm going to the chiro tomoro morning and well I used a heat pad once and it seemed to help a little but I am using it once again and it seems to only be making it worse...is it okay to use heating pads for this? I dunno if I just pulled some muscles or if I need an adjustment so I'm not sure what to do to alleviate the pain!!!! It became so unbearable I started crying last night when I stood up and tonight I had to work and started crying during my shift cause I was in so much pain...It hurt to sit, it hurt to stand, the only thing that seemed to help was laying flat on my back on the floor, a bench, my bed, a couch, whatever i had available...I didn't leave work cause it's my last night ever at that job and didn't want to leave them short handed so my manager just had me doing easy jobs that kept me upright and not bending over...I took 2 aleve and can't take anymore til later but for the time being will heat or ice help my back?

You all know...it's the one we all dread...the one that says something is wrong with your horse come check on him immediately...

Well I have only had my horse for a year and before I owned him he had gas colic once while my friend and I were out riding...He wasn't acting right but he pulled through it...

This morning at 9 am I got a call from my barn owner...my horse was not eating and kept trying to lay down and was acting really groggy...We had a show on Saturday and I let him rest yesterday just like I always do...so I knew it couldn't be that he was tired...Well anyways I went out to the barn and he pulled out of it but it REALLY scared the crap out of me lol It turns out it was just gas colic again and that he had extremely loud gut noises so nothing was blocked...

But anyways has anyone ever experienced THE CALL? lol