Artist Selected to Create Barbaro Memorial Statue

Nearly two years after Barbaro took the Kentucky Derby, and a year and a half following his death, the colt's memory continued to prevail as dozens of fans and media gathered for a special announcement regarding a memorial statue of him at Churchill Downs.

Surrounded by images of their deceased colt projected on the walls of the Kentucky Derby Museum, Roy and Gretchen Jackson May 1 announced they have selected equine sculptor Alexa King to create a permanent memorial honoring the 2006 Derby victor.

King will sculpt a statue of Barbaro, which will become the focal point of his official burial site in front of Gate 1 at Churchill Downs. A one-third-scale model clay replica of the statue was unveiled at the museum, which features Barbaro and jockey Edgar Prado in mid-flight between strides nearing the finish line in the 2006 Run for the Roses.

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Ponazuril Prevents EPM?

clipped from www.thehorse.com Ponazuril and EPM: An Ounce of Prevention by: Stacey Oke, DVM, MSc April 25 2008, Article # 11747 Researchers at the University of Florida studying equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM) recently found that administering ponazuril once every seven days might prevent EPM caused by Sarcocystis neurona. Equine protozoal myeloencephalitis is an important neurological disease of horses. It is typically caused by the parasite S. neurona, a protozoan parasite that penetrates the central nervous system and causes diverse neurologic signs, including ataxia and muscle atrophy. Ponazuril, known commercially as Marquis, is one of several antiprotozoal medications available to treat EPM. Read more

True Innocents Equine Rescue (TIER ) Used Tack Sale

From the Tack Sale Coordinator:

"TIER supporter Lyn M. sent me a nice heavy box full of stuff for our
upcoming tack sale. I'd been having some problems with my server and
couldn't log onto my email (seems to be working now) so Lyn kindly
sent it to our friends at All Tacked Up and I picked up the package
today.
Thanks so much Lyn M!"

The Used Tack Sale is our major fundraiser for the year. 100% of the
proceeds are used for the care and maintenance of TIER residents.

Feed costs have risen and most probably will continue to do so. We
have several old soldiers on pelleted feed for the bulk of their diet
and we have been forced to go to bagged pellets. Previously, pellets
were purchased by the ton and pumped into a 3 ton feeder/silo. Due
to the rising costs, distributors will not deliver less than 5 tons
of pellets. We are not in a financial position to purchase a 5 ton
feeder, nor do we have room to add another 2-3 ton feeder.
Purchasing by the bag (80 lb.) has increased the costs.

Hay cost have risen and so has the price of water. We really need
your help to make this fundraiser a success for the TIER residents.

So clean out those trunks, carefully open those closet doors & donate
any HORSE items/tack that you don't need or no longer use to TIER!

May 17, 2008 8:30 am-2:30 pm Mira Loma, CA

Tack donations are needed for this sale!

All donations must be received by May 12, 2008.

So clean out those trunks, carefully open those closet doors & donate
any HORSE items/tack that you don't need or no longer use to TIER!

Donations : For further information or if you have questions, contact
Peggy at tiervoluntier@yahoo.com or call (951) 360-8725. Donations
may also be dropped off at:

All Tacked Up, 343 6th St. Suite N, Norco, CA or after May 1st, at
their new location at 605 6th St.

All donations of tack, supplies, or funds are tax deductible! (EIN #
and donation form available.

Link for flyer: http://www.tierrescue.org/2008UsedTackSale.pdf

The Rights Of Spring (And A Couple Of Wrongs)

Ah, SPRING! My favorite time of year! Really now, isn't this picture a lot better



than this one? Come on!



Isn't the sight of Indy and Ami grazing with their dear, deer friends lots more inspiring than all that snow? I realize the horses love cold more than heat, but I'm willing to meet them halfway. Well.... maybe not halfway, but I don't require 80s. 70s maybe. Heck, I can't even groom when my hands are freezing, and Indy especially wants his grooming, scratchaholic that he is.

Spring, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways:

No more electric water buckets. Those buckets are a godsend, no doubt about that. I don't know what we would do without them - too horrible to contemplate. Still, they are bigger and heavier than regular buckets because of the false bottoms enclosing the heaters. And then there are the long cords to gather up or else step on/trip over when you take the buckets down to clean.

We can leave the water on instead of having to turn it off and on under ground every time we need it. We keep a small heated tank to top off the buckets, but the water still has to be turned on/off and the hose connected/disconnected and drained at least once a day, and often twice a day to keep the buckets clean and full. A bit of a pain, to be sure.

I can go outside without having to spend twenty minutes getting dressed. Not only is dragging on all those layers a pain in itself, their weight makes my back hurt, the heavy gloves make my hands hurt and the heavy boots make my legs hurt.

Although it was fairly cool today, it's getting warm enough that even Miss Ami will consent to having her body groomed by her Personal Attendant (that would be me). Since it stayed cold so long, and I got a late start getting them shed out, it's quite a challenge for my hands and wrists to get the job done on both of them at the same time. Not that they are concerned about that mind you.

All the cats are enjoying the weather too. They're all over the place. Every time you look out the window you see another set of kitties lurking, trying to sneak up on birds, butterflies, blades of grass or each other. They are seldom successful in any of these endeavors, but they love life so much they don't care. It's the journey after all.

Of course nothing is perfect, and I'm afraid that goes for Spring too. Sometimes there is scary weather. And the bugs - face flies, gnats, deer flies, horse flies, fly flies. I've already started using the fly masks on their faces, and soon I'll probably be getting the full fly sheets out. And, then there's the spraying before and after riding and before turning out for the night. Fortunately, they both understand what the spray does for them and stand well for it.

Worst of all, there's the fact that they have to stay in the paddock until late fall instead of being out in the full pasture. The paddocks are quite large, but it isn't the same, I know, I know. Still, it's better than obesity and/or founder. Even they have to agree with that.

Even with these minor glitches, Spring is the most glorious, beautiful, wondrous season of all. I mean, how can you beat this?

Warm Days, Spring Vaccinations And More Great Stuff

I can hardly believe it! Every day this week has had highs in the upper 60s/low 70s. What a change! I groomed both horses yesterday and today, and got bales of hair. Horse hair mattresses, anyone?

Also, Dr. Conley came out to give the guys their spring vaccinations and generally look them over. That all went well, and Dr. C was happy that both horses had lost some weight. They need to lose more I know, but at least we have progress.

Dr. C had a bit of very exciting news. He and his associates and planning to build an equine clinic - with full surgical facilities - between Ft. Wayne, where Dr. C is based now, and Columbia City, which is out our way. That would make it something like 30 to 45 minutes away! Right now, the large animal hospital at Purdue, 100 miles away, is the only option. Not that Purdue isn't fantastic, because they are. But 100 miles could be a long way with a very sick horse. Dr. C is an excellent vet, and I'm sure his associates are of equal quality or they wouldn't be his associates.

Not only is this great news in itself, it also relieves our worrying about Dr. C deciding to retire or go teach at Purdue (he's been invited to do so) or something else equally devastating. I guess you've picked up on the idea that we don't want to lose him as "our" vet!

When we moved here in 1992, I had a difficult time finding a vet. In Dallas, I'd always had "equine only" practitioners. I found out quickly - with some very bad experiences - that I wanted the same here. There aren't as many to choose from as there were in the DFW Metroplex, but I found two - Dr. C and Dr. Jensen. I want to keep both of them!

And, to continue my paean to spring's arrival, we actually had to get out the fly masks for the guys this morning! I thought they were being bothered yesterday, and sure enough, they stayed our much more today with their masks on. Will fly sheets be next?

Everybody Talks About; No One Does A Thing About...

The weather. Oh yeah. I hate to keep posting about the darn weather, but it's about the only thing going on. It was 28 degrees this morning. Thank goodness Indy and Ami love this weather and were apparently outside most of the overnight hours since there was nothing to clean up in the stalls. Even the cats must have been out all night.

We did have one fairly warm day last week, with the afternoon temp being almost 70 degrees. Unfortunately, the wind speed was up there too - gusting to almost 40 mph. Just a bit much. In fact, it seems to happen that way quite a bit - reasonably warm day with wind speeds to match the temperature.

That situation does remind me of the comment made by one of the saddlers at Down Under Saddle Supply where I got my Aussie saddle. The first saddle that I ordered was the Wizzard Poley, which has stuffed panels similar to an English saddle. I had done quite a bit of homework on Aussie saddles, and I knew that for very wide backed horses, the ones with a fleece panel, like a western saddle, were recommended. With that in mind I had intended to put the Snowy River Legend - which has the fleece panel - as a second choice. But, of course, I forgot.

A couple of days after I mailed off my order form, I received a phone call from Lance at Down Under. He had called because after seeing Indy's withers tracing he was concerned that the Wizzard Poley wouldn't be comfortable for him. He suggested that I might want to change my order to one of the fleece panel saddles.

Well! I was impressed. I mean, he could have just sent the one I ordered after all. I told him that I had intended to put the Snowy River Legend as my second choice on my original order, and it would be just fine since I really liked both saddles.

Lance said okay then - he's get the saddle made and shipped out that evening. I told him that he didn't really have to rush because the wind had been so strong I couldn't have ridden anyway.

Then he said that he didn't think the horse that went with this withers tracing was in any danger of being blown over! I had to laugh out loud at that one. Of course, it wasn't Indy I was worried about in the first place.