OMG it's January!

January means that I have to learn a whole new set of ages for all the horses. I love older horses, really, but I hate to think of what it means for my herd in the next five years or so. This year Owen and Rosalynn will turn 21, Tiffany will turn 20, Tickle will turn 18, Teddy will turn 16, Phoebe will turn 15, and Ginny will turn 14.

Previously I had decided that Tiffany was retired. Her story is typical of a Thoroughbred mare. She was used for breeding, first at a racehorse farm where I hear she had one stillborn foal and then at a couple warmblood breeding farms. Her foals were spectacular, earning first premium papers no matter what stallion she was bred to. The breeder of the first three Oldenburg foals was an excellent and conscientious owner but when that program disbanded she was sold. The last time she foaled she did not receive adequate postnatal care and has a tear that healed on its own with jagged edges. Because of the number and size of the foals she had, her vulva gapes open, leaks vaginal fluids, and sucks air into her uterus. After weaning her last foal she was turned out into a winter pasture (in Oregon this means mud and no forage) with no blanket and had to fend off two big geldings for her food. I went to see her because I recognized her as the dam of Isabelle and thought she might make a nice addition to the lesson program or broodmare herd or both. When I saw her I realized that she was in no state to do either but she needed to come home with me anyway. Not only was she severely underweight, but she had such bad rain rot that her skin broke and bled when she was brushed. Tiffany is one lucky mare that I found her and took her home to recover and retire. Many Thoroughbred mares are not this fortunate.

It is now several years later and Tiffany is living in luxury in the first stall in the barn so she gets all the attention from visitors. Her paddock door is open in all but the worst weather so she can go stand in her favorite corner spot outside. Her next door neighbor is her own daughter and I have taken down half their wall so they can visit. She wears a warm blanket and I pour food into her to keep her Thoroughbred frame filled out and her coat sleek. She eats more than mares who are pregnant or nursing! She is healthy and mostly sound (occasionally she appears to have a little trouble with her hips but she works out of it) so I was inspired by FHOTD and decided to start riding her again. She's a rocket! She flexes at the poll and moves off my leg, but her preferred speed is whatever is faster than I'm letting her go at the moment and if I half-halt too many times in a row she explodes straight up, even though I'm only half-halting with the strength of a few fingers. I love her.