Nine Fabulous Lives

Last Sunday I taught a clinic, then at the end of the drive home, I got really bad news.

My dad needs to call me more. Luckily for me, my boyfriend was driving, so when my dad called, I picked up after telling him "my dad never calls me, this is not good." The last time my dad called me was when Cooper died.

Stretch, who had been running and playing in the pasture all day Saturday, laid down Saturday night and wouldn't get up. He never lays down. So the vet was called and they gave him banamine and steroids and he still wouldn't get up. He told my mom it was time and she let him go.

He was the best boy

Best little pony club paint (except he was a nightmare to keep clean)

I was, of course, devastated. I was already exhausted after teaching all day and hadn't had the best week at work leading up to the break. I'm still sad about it, but you couldn't have asked for a better life or a better way to go. Stretch truly had nine lives and every one of them was fabulous.

Stretch began his life as a very adorable baby and was broke at 2. His previous owner told a story about how he was show sheened too much before being tacked up at the Cow Palace where he had been brought to be shown in some baby classes. His saddle slipped, rider fell off, and he went galloping around the show grounds.

He then competed in the Junior Hunters until his previous owner bought him and turned him into an eventer. He evented through Training and never made time, so she leased him to me while she bought a new horse with Prelim+ potential.

He was a great novice horse!

When I began leasing him in 2001, I was scared to jump. I had been riding my old thoroughbred who had bucked me off quite a lot. We were looking for a packer to take me around the low level hunters and do pony club on. He was perfect. I showed him in all three rings and passed my C1 pony club rating, all in one year.

After that one year, it was apparent I had outgrown him, though he was ours now and I ended up teaching lessons on him, leasing him out to a client, and then my mom began trail riding him.

He was my mom's horse for way longer than he was mine. He lived at TC's breeders in 2009 when my parents bought their property and then moved to the ranch in 2010 when they built their barn. He lived there for nearly ten years.

Hey I do this on the flat too, Stretch was a saint

He got internal pigeon fever and nearly died several times. It was revealed to us that he had liver disease from the pigeon fever, so he was put on a supplement and special diet. But he came back to riding and I even jumped him a bit at the ranch for fun while my mom trail rode him with my dad and his horse, Riot.

He got a bit neurologic in 2015 and the vet said that the only treatment was steroids, which could give him laminitis and then he'd need to be put down. We opted for it and he recovered spectacularly, galloping around in his pasture, though we stopped riding him just in case. Over the next several years, he needed more steroids (he had narcolepsy and we thought that sometimes he'd fall and hit his neck pretty hard), each time we held our breath and he recovered.

He figured out how to sleep over the years (pressed up against the wall of his stall) so he wouldn't hurt himself. He hadn't been neurologic in a while, I even sat on him once or twice (he loved being ridden) and my mom longed him while he went nuts just weeks before he died.

Not the best dressage horse but then again,
I was not the best dressage rider

Just earlier this year, I saw the vet who had treated him for pigeon fever and dealt with the neurologic stuff too. She's now TC's chiro-vet. I told her Stretch was still galloping around in his pasture getting really possessive over the neighbor's mares. She said she was so happy to hear that and that my mom truly does an amazing job with her horses. I'll be sad to tell her he died, but he lived probably about five more years than he should have.

He was born in April 1991 and we lost him in December 2019, he lived a really amazing life and gave my family and I so much. I'm sad, but I couldn't have asked for a better life for such a great horse.

Jumpers

I think that what I'm struggling with most right now is that Rico is now the oldest horse at the ranch, the one we'll lose next. But I know he's living his best life right now at nearly 24, still running around in his pasture just like Stretch. I hope he has another five or even ten years there because he deserves them. Either way, I am still very happy to be giving Rico the retirement he deserves and I'm glad that Stretch had all the time with us that he did.

WW: Showing Stretch

I ran across some more old pictures! This is Stretch and I showing in 2001 or 2002. We showed in the jumpers and equitation at B circuit shows (and I think 1-2 A circuit shows but I haven't found those pictures) and in a few schooling shows too.

Jumpers at Santa Rosa

Jumpers at Santa Rosa

Me falling off (or not?? how does gravity work again) in the
jumpers at Santa Rosa. Stretch is just like whyyyyy. 

Equitation at Almaden

Equitation at Almaden

That fall we did the halloween horse show (schooling show) at the local barn.

Loping over this tiny jump

Stretch was so cute over fences

We even did the dollar bareback class! He was super smooth.

WW: Stretch on Cross Country

Back in 2005 I took Stretch out on cross country. I had just gotten Rico and was mostly riding dressage at that point, but Stretch was a fun stress reliever when I was used to riding a big, green, powerful, sometimes scary young dressage horse.

Stretch is still hanging in there at my parents' ranch. He's had a lot of issues (narcolepsy, neurological problems caused by falling, neck arthritis, liver disease from complications from his Pigeon Fever about five years ago) but he's so friendly and sweet to have around. All he wants these days is to bite Rico, eat grass, and get lots of scratches. So that's what he gets.

He wasn't the most athletic but he was a good, safe horse

I think we may have had a show the day before? His mane looks
curly like he was braided

BN log at Woodside

Palisade at Woodside

Hanging log

The first Novice fence

An Update on Stretch

Thanks for everyone's guesses about what is going on with Stretch on Monday. It definitely helped me sort of wrap my head around all the possibilities. I don't talk about Stretch very much here, but after Rico, he's probably the most influential horse on my riding.

That spot on his neck was my "release spot"
over fences

I got an email on Tuesday afternoon at work from my mom and talked to her later that day. Stretch took a turn for the worst on Monday night. He was what my mom described as crab walking out to his paddock and then got to the point where he began circling over and over again. He had a "starry" look in his eyes, my mom thinks from the pain.

My parents called the vet out immediately, but it was 8pm. Still, someone came out, but she was a young vet assistant rather than their regular vet. The vet wasn't sure exactly what was going on but was guessing that it was a neck injury. Stretch didn't want to bend his neck but could if you really asked him to.

She didn't think it was broken or anything super severe, and Stretch passed all the head injury tests. She also mentioned EPM. There wasn't much to do that night, but she gave him some dex (and warned my parents of the risk of laminitis) and he was back to the way he was this last weekend on Tuesday morning/afternoon. That improvement made us all feel better.

Not this good, but better

Wednesday the regular vet (not my miracle vet, this vet is more local) came out. She was kind of late so I spent all day at work texting my mom asking how he was and getting "vet isn't here yet, will let you know" back. Finally after I had driven all the way home to get my damn wallet and put gas in my car, I was off to ride a client's horse across the bay and I got a call.

I guess the vet is fairly convinced that it's neurological, although I think her definition is different than mine would be. She thinks it's one of two things.

First, she took x-rays of his neck. One of the theories is that he had fractured or injured his neck or had neck arthritis. The vet was able to look at the x-rays at the ranch and come to the conclusion that he did not fracture his neck. She saw some arthritis in the facets of his C3/C4, which could be contributing to the pain. But she needs to look at them at the clinic, I haven't heard anything else though.

The theory would be that he has been developing neck arthritis for a while and then had a pasture accident (he has narcolepsy so sometimes falls asleep and actually falls, seriously it's a miracle he's alive) or similar that exacerbated it. Treatment was unclear, but regardless of what it is, Stretch is going on Previcox. He was kept off of it to help his liver (he developed liver disease a couple years ago after having a severe episode of Pigeon Fever, seriously the horse is lucky to be alive in the first place), but my mom said that he was getting old enough where it's better to keep him comfortable and risk damaging the liver rather than preserve the liver and have him be uncomfortable. I agree.

Aww love Stretch

The next thing she did was to pull blood to test for EPM. We don't hear back on this until Monday. The treatment may not bring him back completely, but the vet was pretty sure that he'd be good enough for pasture.

Generally, it was a fairly positive visit given how bad he was. My mom was even talking about being able to ride him again, maybe not on the hills she wants to ride on with my dad and Riot, but at least down the road and in the arena. I volunteered to be the first one on him.

She did talk about Rico too. This weekend I'm heading down for Easter and am going to give her a lesson on him. We've talked about bits, since one of my mom's biggest fears is not having brakes. I kind of laughed and said that she could ride him in anything and have all the brakes she needed. But I think that the hackamore I always ride him in will be fine, plus TC won't ever need it since it's too strong for him.

Permanent new partnership! I might steal him
sometimes all the time though :)

We're also going to figure out a saddle for her, since she wants to ride him western. The ultimate goal is to take measurements up to Western States Horse Expo in June and get a custom fit western saddle for him and for her. She wants a saddle that's lighter than the ones she has now. And none of the western saddles my parents have fit Rico. She sat in a saddle last year at Expo that was half synthetic and half leather and she loved it. It was light and fit her well. AND they do custom fitting, since Rico is probably the most uphill built western horse around.

I'm excited for the western saddle, I'm definitely going to be trying some western dressage on him!

Previous Rides: Stretch

This is my little Stretch. He also goes by Stewch and Stitch.

So tolerant

I got Stretch when I was in a pretty awful place in my riding. I had a lot of fear and I had just retired my thoroughbred, Quest, who bucked me off all the time. I was afraid to jump above 2'/2'3, but I had dreams of competing on the A circuit and eventing and earning my pony club ratings. So we set out to find me a confidence builder.

Along came Stretch! He was a 1991 paint horse gelding who was sitting over the winter because his owner, who had evented him through Training level, had bought a new horse. She didn't want to sell him, so she put him out to pasture over the winter. I casually mentioned I was looking for a horse while shopping in a tack store and that's when I heard about Stretch.

I started leasing him in early 2002. His owner ended up wanting to sell him later that year, so we bought him. He didn't quite pass the vet check, but I was riding him at a lower level than he had ever gone (he was a Junior Hunter for years and then evented through Training with his old owner), so he was fine. Except that he promptly went lame at the very last show of 2002, so I only really got one show season on him, but it only took one year to give me the confidence boost I needed.

Stretch was a dream to ride and he was great (at a low level) at everything. He has the smoothest gaits I've ever sat, which is what made him an excellent equitation horse for a kid with very little core. He was a steady-eddy over fences which made him a pretty nice little hunter (he was a JR Hunter before I bought him). He was very handy, which made him a fun jumper. He was the easiest horse to put on the bit, so he did well in dressage. And he'd jump anything without hesitation, which made him fun on cross country. He was the perfect all around horse! He had no bolt, no rear, and had some pretty silly crowhops for bucks. I was not afraid on him ever.

We started out playing at some B circuit shows and eventually an A circuit one. We dabbled in all three rings and here are some pictures!

At our first show in the maiden ring

2'9 or 3' jumpers just a couple months later

2'9 jumpers I believe

More jumpers, we didn't get many pictures from the other rings

Equitation at Almaden farms

Jumpers!

I then started schooling him out on cross country and earned my C1 pony club rating on him.

One of our last cross country schools

Such a good boy

The same day

schooling at the horse park

He loved cross country

We also competed in numerous little combined tests

The easiest dressage horse

I was seriously twisted in the tack for a long time

Such a cutie

So adorable

After he was rehabbed from his injury in and it was determined that he'd never jump above 3' again, I leased him out to a few of my students who took pony club ratings and showed at schooling shows on him. I had moved on to a higher level event horse in 2003, who I turned into a dressage horse in 2004, and then Rico came along in 2005. But Stretch always held a special place in my heart.

So special that my mom ended up wanting to keep him for herself! He became her trail horse and still lives at my parents' ranch today, occasionally being trail ridden down the road or at the local parks with my dad and his TWH, Riot. And occasionally being tortured in the arena by yours truly or being made to give beginner lessons to various members of my family.

He still remains one of the most fun and easiest horses I've ever ridden. I'm so happy that I found him all those years ago. He was probably the horse who gave me the most confidence in my riding and I'm ever grateful for that.

Stretch is really not amused about being made to walk next to
Riot for this picture! He really is sweet, I swear!

Unexpected Trail Ride

On Saturday morning, I was unexpectedly included on a trail ride with my parents. I had planned on heading down so that I could pick up a few things that I needed and had forgotten when TC moved, so I let them know that I'd be down there sometime in the morning. That morning my mom and I texted and she made it clear that she wanted me down there before they left on their trail ride. I was kind of confused, but figured that she wanted to keep an eye on me so I wouldn't take stuff she didn't want me to (wtf though).

Love these ears

So I finally got down there and gathered a few things. I put them in a pile and went to hang out with Rico while my parents got their horses ready. My mom called across the barn to my dad to brush his horse so they could leave. I was just mindlessly poking at Rico and telling him that I was going to pull him out of retirement, which I threaten him with on a regular basis, especially with TC being obnoxious. But then my mom calls to ME to seriously get my shit together and brush my horse. What?

Yah apparently my mom thought it was heavily implied that I was going with them. She didn't ask me! But apparently she and my dad talked on Friday and Saturday morning about trail riding me. If she had given me a heads up, maybe I would have brought my boots or my comfy dressage saddle. Luckily I carry a helmet and back brace in the car (which I know is not good due to heat but hey it's better than nothing). So I obliged, of course.

Look how FUZZY he is! He looks like a stuffed horse

Rico was super stoked to get in the trailer and head to one of his favorite spots. He is kind of obnoxious to load in the trailer now when the other horses are going. Once as he sees the trailer, he starts getting all chargey. I've started sending him in without me walking in first, there's no way I'm getting between that horse and his trailer.

What a nice morning it was on Rico. I do miss riding him. It's kind of mean to admit, since was my only horse for so long, but I find that I don't really miss him when TC is doing well. There is a lot to love about TC when he's being good- he is more willing than Rico, he is (was) less ornery than Rico, he genuinely wants to work and learn. But boy do I really appreciate that I've already been through the rough times with Rico. Rico is always the exact same horse. Always. No matter what situation he is in, no matter how much or little work he's had, no matter where he lives or what the weather is like. The same.

Aww pony

We got to the park and I ground tied Rico in the middle of the parking lot. Because I can. And also there are only two tie spots on the tack room side of the trailer and I don't like being so far from my tack. Which was a hackamore and bareback pad. But still. I threw the tack on him and led him to the mounting block.

I had to sit on him for a bit while my parents got their horses tacked up (since they like, use saddles and real bridles), so Rico entertained us by "spooking" at a sign and a few large rocks. This is what Rico does when he gets amped, he doesn't get hot, he doesn't buck (although I got a couple of rears out of him when telling him he couldn't spin), he fake spooks at shit in slow motion. I know it's fake because when he really spooks, you can feel his heartbeat and he gets a very scared look in his eye. And he's not the sort of horse to really put a lot of effort into doing anything, so he snorted at the rock and then slowly spun around to get away from it.

Skeptical about rocks

I made him piaffe and passage in the parking lot just to torment him. If he has the energy to fake spook then we can certainly play. He's always willing to piaffe, but the passage is a little harder for him. Interesting, since the piaffe was never very easy for him. And i know it's actually good piaffe because my SIL came out to ride him and piaffed him for me (she's ridden like ten times and piaffed my horse on her own, I dunno if I posted about that, my horse is awesome).

Out on the trails, Rico was excellent. He's just the best horse. He tends to get left behind, since Riot is a TWH so his walk is HUGE and Stretch is always on a roll. Rico also struggles physically with being forward while walking downhill, he just sits down too much, which makes him very comfortable to go downhill on, but it makes him slow. I let Rico trot and canter to catch up sometimes, which is entertaining for me since my parents like to mostly walk. Rico sometimes takes this too far though. There was a dried up riverbed that we had to walk through (both on the way out and on the way back) and both times, Rico was left behind going downhill and he leapt over the riverbed and cantered up the other side, shaking his head and getting all sassy.

Riot and Stretch look thrilled to have to walk by each other

Overall, it was just so nice to have a fun, stress free, thinking free ride on a steady horse. I think I need to get Rico out some more this winter. I live an hour and a bit away, but it's so nice to get some perspective and just be able to RIDE without thinking.

That was the theme of my lesson on Sunday. I need to stop thinking and just ride (ahaha I remember telling my AAs the same thing- just RIDE, but you know what, it's a lot harder when you ride ONE horse 4x per week vs 8-10 horses per day). But I'm still figuring out how to write that post because a lot came out of it and I need to figure out what I'm comfortable sharing right now. But just know that it went really well, I'm really glad I had her out.

I Used to Jump

Today is my last day of class EVER. NO MORE CLASS EVER. I have lots to do, so enjoy this post I wrote two weeks ago (look at me acting like a real blogger, setting up content so I don't go too long without a post).

It's hard to tell with all the DQness that goes on around here, but I used to jump!

I've actually jumped for a lot more years than I've done dressage. I've been doing dressage since 2004 (so 11 years) and I jumped from 199something to 2010 (at least 15 years). I did a little jumping in 2012 when I took the paint horse on, but he severed a tendon in his hock before we could actually do anything fun and then had a year of rehab before he could jump again. By then I was competing at the FEI levels and in grad school so no fun eventing horse for me.

Obviously I'm better at dressage than I am at jumping. Much of my jumping training was from not-so-great trainers at a low level and half of my dressage training has come from big name trainers at a high level. I also never put as much effort into my jumping as dressage. I find dressage really fascinating and I find jumping cool, but the level of fascination isn't strong enough to actually want to sink time into it. Maybe one day I'll have a horse that is SUPER fun to jump and I'll actually want to do it. Most of the horses I had (save for the paint horse) were slow off the ground and lazy to the fences = lots of leg. I love those horses on the flat. I hate them over fences.

Whatever horse I end up with though, I want to get some jumping lessons on eventually. I'd love to compete at Beginner Novice in eventing and maybe do a few schooling shows (hunter jumper shows are so confusing to me, I'd have to have one of you guys help me fill out the entry). I do like jumping, especially cross country. Just that on any given day, I'd rather be doing dressage.

Pictures!

Rico and I jumped together in 2007-2008

Rico wasn't the best jumper at first...

Dillon and I jumped a little in 2012, he's a pepperpot

I evented at Rancho Murieta in 2003

A combined test in 2004

Rancho Murieta in 2003, I stuffed him at the base and jumped
up his neck, quality riding right there! *note the difference in
me between 2002 and 2003, that is what a horse change for the
stronger and a trainer change for the worse does to you. 

This was in 2001 or 2002, I did the jumpers on Stretch

Stretch and I never did an event (he went lame) but we schooled
a lot of cross country for pony club

These were in 2007, I was schooling him before one of my clients
took him out in the field

He was so fun to jump, he always found the exact perfect distance

Quest in early 2000, he was great when he wasn't bucking

Pony club camp in 2000

2000 on Quest, note the devil horns! It was our Halloween show
and this was me getting him back for bucking me off all the time

1999 or 2000 on Dandy

2000 I think on Dandy

2002 on Stretch again

2003 I think, I show jumped a Gypsy Vanner!

The cutest connemara pony in 2003

I've shown a picture of this guy in the past on here- Novice at
Galway in 2010

His first event early in 2010