GOING Gaited
ONLINE
When the going gets rough... go gaited!
MAGAZINE
f o r g a i t e d h o r s e e n t h u s i a s t s
Photo of Ivory Pal by Cheri Prill Tennessee Walking Horse Issue August 2010
a
Column
Archive
 | ||||
Follow us on Facebook
f
| ||||
- Gait Training
- Behavior Training
- Veterinary Info
- Farrier Info
- Equine Tax Info
- ...and more
- Expert Q & A
- Gaited Horse Sense (GHS Messageboard)
- Forum Guidelines
- Gaited Breed Assoc. Directory
- Tack/Product Review
- Reciprocal Links
- Printable Photo Calendar
- Horse Trails by State
- 5-Star Campgrounds
- Terms of Use
- About Us
- Advertising
- Handpainted Browbands
- Logo Clothing
- eBooks
- Note Card Gift Sets
- For back issues of the magazine by month
- Search this site
Photo Credit: Linda Snyder of Picture Perfect Photography in Bunker Hill, IL.
Betsy Kelleher has compiled stories from mare owners across the country into her second book, MARES! (ya gotta love em)…Fifty Stories to Aid & Inspire Mare Owners. Visit her website for more information: www.goduseshorses.com.
Something on Facebook inspired this column. Heaven’s Gate Farm posted a link to a blog, Juli Thorson’s Horse Talk on Horse and Rider online magazine, asking the question: If you couldn’t ride, would you still keep horses? Though the question was directed toward people who could no longer ride, it reminded me of horses that could no longer be ridden.
I immediately thought of two horses in the stable where I board. One is my own gelding, Traveller, now at least 26 years old, whose rear end has become so weak in the past year that I’m afraid to put anyone on his back. There’s also an older mare with arthritis and a bad knee that can no longer carry a rider. We are paying for board and feed for horses that will never again carry us down the trail, but whose eyes remind us that a special relationship exists on the ground as well as in the saddle.
Traveller wasn’t a competitive mount with a spirit to win like my first mare that I rode on distance rides. His gift to me was seven years of wonderful, safe trail riding before he was diagnosed with EPM, and many good rides after that. Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis is caused by ingestion of spores from an infected opossum. A tiny parasite gets into the central nervous system causing unknown damage that often shows up even after the parasite is killed.
Traveller began to tire easily in 2004 as we rode the hilly trails at Pere Marquette. I felt something was wrong, but it was several months before a vet made the diagnosis. Traveller responded quickly to medicine, but symptoms later returned. After more medicine, he seemed over it and I rode him in a horse show the following year. During one winter, he had strange seizures lasting about an hour, usually around 7 p.m., involving muscle tremors, soft manure, eyes rolled back and nose drawn up tight. After a vet suggested it might be an ulcer, I treated him with herbal products for ulcers, then kept him on a daily dose of herbal product for the central nervous system. He has had no more tremors, but his weakness has been a gradual downhill progression.
I enjoyed my last good ride on him in September of 2010. For several months after that, he was leased to a young girl and her mom who gave him extra attention as they learned about riding while working to strengthen his muscles. It was difficult for all of us to give up on him.
Traveller was my most sensible, most dependable trail horse. I never worried if he would do something to hurt me. I could relax and enjoy riding. On one outing, I ventured off the trail and Traveller got stuck in a ditch full of vines. Unable to move, he stood there quietly while a fellow rider came to cut the vines from around his legs!
Besides enjoyable rides in various parks, I took him on Hunter Pace events, often with Cindy Medina as my partner. I remember that it rained most of the way to The Riding Center one certain morning, and we debated about turning around and going home. But I kept driving, and the rain stopped by the time we arrived. Although the trail was wet, we had a good ride and we won the blue ribbons!
