Chaco’s Journey

Follow Chaco’s journey as we work towards removing three bone chips from his stifle region from a two year old injury.

When I picked him up at Albuquerque Downs racetrack a year ago, I felt unsure about my decision to take on another horse, but then I saw him. I walked up to him, put my hands to his nose, and he took a big whiff. I lowered my head towards his, and all the nervousness and doubts vanished; I fell in love.

I asked about his previous injuries, and I was told he had hurt a fetlock and broken a rib in a fall during a race; however, he is fine now. To be honest with you, I would have taken him home no matter what. I looked into his eyes, and I could see that he needed something different. I could give that to him back home where he could be a horse, live like a horse, graze like a horse, and play like a horse. For the past year he has done all of the above with gusto. Around here we call him Chaco.

Last week on our year anniversary, I walked him to the paddock when he suddenly took an off step. Three more steps later he couldn’t walk on all four legs. Panic went through every ounce of my being. I recently lost my beloved thoroughbred Shandoka, so seeing Chaco like this, made my heart come to an abrupt halt. Slowly, we limped back to the barn (it took us about 15 minutes to walk 30 feet), where I put him in a small run. By the end of the day, he could walk a bit better.

A few days later we went to the vet where he was diagnosed with three bone chips in his stifle. It is an old injury, because the bone that these chips came off of healed. We can’t tell where they came from, and they migrated away from the bone. Back in 2016, Chaco was brought up along the inside during a horse race. His other races showed he preferred to go on the outside away from any trouble and traffic, but this day he was on the inside where he ran into trouble. Heels clipped and he went straight down with a horse falling over him. Initially, I was told he had a broken rib, but after finding out about the chips, I learned they suspected he also broke his pelvis that day. My theory is a horse kicked him in his stifle before falling over him creating these chips.

One of my options is to let him go on like this, get injections and put him on bute. I am passionately against injections, and the last thing I want him on is bute. Bute is an anti-inflammatory that masks pain. It is the reason why a lot of horses will keep running with a broken leg on the racetrack. It also causes ulcers, and it causes colic. I just lost a horse to colic, and I will do everything I can to not watch another horse die that way. Chaco, I believe, had ulcers, which at least 90% of racehorses have from being kept in a stall for 22 to 23 hours a day. When I brought him home, I treated the ulcers herbally, and he now cleans his bucket every day. Recently, he put on seventy five pounds. Bute will bring the ulcers back, the weight will come off, and he will be in pain in a whole other way all the time.

Joint injections can cost $65 to $250 per joint monthly. Joint injections can cause a deterioration of articular cartilage, joint infections, joint inflammation, corticosteroid induced laminitis (life threatening condition), and it may not even work! You can see why injections do not thrill me at all as an option.

What gets me every time I think about this is that he raced for a full year with these chips, and he worked a year with me never complaining. He gives 150% during our trail rides and training sessions each and every time. A friend of mine who competes in show jumping asked me if he’s real bucky or balks at doing work. He never has. Never. I think he’s hurt this entire time, but he put my desires and safety ahead of his pain out of concern for me. He wants to please me, so he ignored his pain, which the thought of breaks my heart.

I’ve thought about not getting the surgery, doing the injections, but what if we are on the trail ten miles or even one mile out, and he goes dead lame again? Trying to get him back to the trailer could be next to impossible. I could let him be a pasture horse for the rest of his life not doing injections or anything, but he went this lame after being on the pasture. My mind wanders to the day it started to rain, and we galloped lap after lap in it. His stride was long and strong, his breath was rhythmic. Our bodies moved together going from steps to suspension where we flew threw the air. When we finished, we were both soaked, but together we were on Cloud 9. I can’t take that away from him.

When the swelling is gone, you can see where the chips are, and yes, the swelling goes up and down every day.

This is how he stands most of the day to find comfort and relieve the pain.

Now it’s time to put his well-being ahead of everything and get him sound and healthy. The other option for him is arthroscopic surgery to remove the bone chips. He will be completely sound, 100% in two to three months after the surgery. He won’t need bute or injections. He will be able to play and run with Harley (his buddy), go out on the trail, and gallop with me in the rain pain free. He deserves this, because he loves all of these things.

Problem is Bill and I can’t afford it right now. We recently had to fix something on our home that turned out to be a bigger problem than originally expected. We can pay for all of the post-surgery exams, but paying for the surgery as well is simply more than we can do right now. I want to be transparent on everything. The cost of the surgery will be $2500. The reason why I am asking for $2,900 in donations is to cover the costs of what Paypal will take out. I chose Paypal instead of GoFundMe, because more of your money will go towards the surgery. Also, you do not have to have a paypal account to donate. You can use your credit card or debit card. Every day I will update how close to our goal we are here on this blog and also on Facebook. Also, in a few days, I hope to figure out how to raffle a painting of mine, and sell some giclee prints and another original painting of mine on this site. I will make an announcement when I get that set up, and all the funds for those sales, except for shipping costs, will go towards the surgery.

If you choose to donate, I promise to continue the transparency by posting regularly on this blog. I will share with you everything we go through, so you can see how every single dollar is going to his health, healing and well-being.

I promise you he will never end up on the track again. He will live out the rest of his days with me. A friend said I should post my goals for him post surgery. Here they are:

1. Love him forever
2. Maintain his happiness, health, and well being
3. Go out on the trail, and let him see the world.
4. Hopefully develop him into an ambassador on the Western Slope of Colorado for Off Track Thoroughbreds. Over 10,000 thoroughbreds are sent to the slaughterhouses in Canada from the United States each year. He can show people how versatile OTTB’s can be, so maybe we can save some lives.
5. Enter into some competitive trail riding competitions, pole competitions, and maybe some equitation work to show how smart and talented thoroughbreds are.
6. Possibly work with kids as a therapy horse
7. Let him run and play

If you have any questions about the surgery, please feel free to email me at Contact. I will be more than happy to answer anything. I know that I’m asking for a lot, but I wouldn’t ask if he didn’t need this. He has given his heart to all of the humans in his life. Lots of times horses with this type of pain can get mean. When he hurts, all he wants me to do is hold his head and love on him. He wants to play when he feels better, and he is missing going out and working together. I want to give back to him, if at all possible, what he has given to me. If you wish to donate to the cost of his surgery, please click on the Paypal button below, and donate whatever you wish. Bill, Chaco, Harley, our five dogs, and myself thank you from the bottom of our hearts for being part of Chaco’s Journey.

10/8/18 Between this and my FB charity, we raised $275. Tomorrow thanks to everyone, I’m calling to get the pre-op appointment scheduled.

As of today, 10/9, we have raised $900. As of 10/15, we’ve raised $1,100. We also scheduled the surgery for 10/23. Thank you from all of my heart.

“You don’t throw a whole life away just because he’s banged up a little.”

Tom Smith, trainer for Seabiscuit

Mojo’s Shoulder Rest

Yesterday was Mojo’s Birthday. I never got to celebrate his birthday with him, but we still celebrate his birthday. All of the horses got some hay cookies in their cookie balls as a form of celebration.

My friend Linda, who saw the above picture, wrote “Marie… this is a picture for the ages. I can only think and know how lucky he was that you found him and had him for the remaining days of his life. He was so loved by you.”

I can close my eyes, and I still feel it all. Mojo would come stand behind me. If I was on the downhill side, I would move to the uphill side, because he was a tall horse. He would turn around, and I would gently lift his head on to my shoulder. Within seconds his breathing became deeper and slower as fell asleep. The full weight of his head sunk my shoulder downward several inches. We would stand like that for who knows how many minutes.

I walked around with a bruised shoulder the entire time he was here, and I have no regrets about it. Actually, the thought of it makes me smile.

I can close my eyes and feel him on my shoulder. They were the most precious moments. My husband says that since I can still feel him, he is still with me. I don’t know if it is that or body memory.

All I know is it was absolutely wonderful being his headrest.

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If you don’t know who Mojo is, you can visit my first blog about him at https://wordpress.com/post/reenchantedthoroughbreds.com?jetpack-copy=891

There are several blogs about him after that first post.

Sueño’s Pillow

This week brought rolling clouds with relentless winds. At times rain or snow stampeded in, and the sun never had a chance.

The horses stood in the corner bracing against the winds patiently waiting for that moment; the moments when the clouds would part and a bit of warmth would shine through. They waited and waited for the light. During that time they ate and rolled thoroughly in the mud and went back to standing against the wind.

Yesterday it happened! The clouds retreated, and even though the air temperature remained the same, it felt glorious. The wind stopped. The sun came back to us, and we all stood there reveling in its warmth.

Sueño decided it felt so good that standing wasn’t enough. He needed to lie down and soak it all in. After turning a few times this way or that, he finally bent his knees and plopped down in bliss.

Now, I was out there picking up their poop, and of course he picked the spot next to the last pile of horse poop. It happened to be a deposit from Harley, who never releases anything of a small nature.

I begged Sueño to not stretch out, and to wait for me to get over there to pick that last pile up. Of course he ignored me, and let out a big moan, stretched out and plopped down on his side. Harley’s poop became his pillow.

I swear Sueño had a smile on his face.

Dear Chaco

Dear Chaco,

It’s been a year since you left us. You are so missed. A lot has happened since you died, but you are never forgotten. It took a long time for the horses to move on without you. Dulce would come down every single day from the pasture looking for you. He finally stopped a few months ago. I’m not sure what made me sadder; him looking for you or him not looking for you.

Dulce was lost and grumpy without you for quite a while. You were his best of friends. Do you remember when you bit him on the hock, and you got kicked on the side of the mouth that July 4^th? You galloped down from the pasture to me so fast bleeding out the side of your mouth, and Dulce was right there with you. It was so hard to separate you two because he was worried he hurt you. Luckily, everything was okay. Your mouth was swollen, and we got the bleeding stopped quickly.

I spent several nights with Dulce in the barn letting him know we would all be okay.

You will never believe this, but even Harley was lost without you. Gosh, he sure resented you when we brought you here. He had no intention of sharing you with Shandoka. Trying to bring you two together took every ounce of creativity that I had. Remember how I ponied you and Harley on either side of Shandoka? I thought it would be a disaster or go well. Somehow, it went well, and you guys became the best of friends. Now he and Wiz play over the fence waking me up every night

You taught Weather Wiz well. Harley only liked playing with you if there was a fence between you. My guess is because Harley was three hands shorter than you and Wiz.  All those mornings that Wiz could have gone up on the pasture, he stayed with you, and you two played until I would take you for your hand graze. You were preparing him to step in for when you left, weren’t you?

He is almost as good as you were at taking off Sueño’s mask by the way. He’s not quite as fast but very good.

Sueño struggled. He was always on the verge of cribbing since the day he arrived, and I was always able to keep it at bay. This time I couldn’t. Your death was too much for him, and it started. I really tried to soothe him, but nothing I did was enough this time; your loss was too huge. We manage it with acupressure points, and he is doing okay with it.

He also challenged Harley after you died. He suddenly started going after him, because he no longer felt safe. Harley is the one that keeps them safe when I’m not around. He got obstinate with me as well. I understood. Harley seemed to understand. It was Dulce that ended his challenge one day when I got caught in the middle.

They all developed ulcers after you left us too. Don’t worry. We took care of that.

They all seem to be doing better now. Dulce’s coat is covered in dapples, and everyone else is shimmering in the sun or moon’s light. They play quite a bit, and yes, Dulce still dumps the water tank everywhere.

Nobody likes it when I blow narrow streams of air into their noses like you did, and nobody dribbles water down my back when I am scrubbing the tanks. Nobody will every be like you my four-legged Baryshnikov.

My hope is you and Shandoka are running around playing. He always took such good care of you.

We are all doing well, but that never means you aren’t missed and loved each day.

Wiz Is In

I open the gate, and the horses lazily walk up. Their heads immediately drop to the ground as they begin snatching grass. Above five minutes later Sueño lifts his head, collects himself and begins trotting circles around Weather Wiz. Wiz accepts the challenge and off they go racing one another, doing a few laps when Dulce jumps in bucking a few times. After a few laps around the pasture, Harley pins his ears back telling them to stop. Dulce and Sueño immediately stop, while Wiz is reluctant to give in. Dulce lets him know it is time to stop with a tossing of his head towards Wiz. Back to the arduous task of eating grass. These are our mornings.

It took a lot of work to get them to this point. I am not one to turn a horse out into a herd without support. Two of my friends that did it that way each lost one of their horses. One horse broke a leg trying to run away from the other horses that were relentlessly chasing him, and another’s leg was broken when kicked by another horse. I know a lot of people do it that way, but I do not. The new horse and I take our time, and Wiz kept telling me he needed to go slow.

When a horse lives and races on the track for several years, there is a delicate dance, or maybe a tightrope you walk with the horse when he is first retired. Their movements up until retirement are controlled as much as possible by humans 24/7. They don’t get to run and around and play with their buddies. Instead, it is all about training for the sport. When they leave their stall, a human hand is always with them.

When they leave the track, they suddenly have room to run and do as they please, and all sorts of trouble can happen. They haven’t had that kind of freedom since they were yearlings. Weather Wiz is an unbelievably playful horse, so transitioning him to be a part of the herd and retirement life was exciting and a bit scary at the same time.

Does he love retirement? Yes! He was ready for it. Wiz loves being an OTTB. With that said, easing him into it had its challenges.

Besides wading through Winter, and sweating through a ridiculously hot summer, Wiz is doing great and loves his herd. When he first arrived, the first month was about him adjusting to his new life. He was nervous around the other horses even though he was in his own area, he would step back into the barn if another horse got too close to him that wasn’t Sueño. I spent time watching him that first month, and I figured it would take some time to introduce him.

I always start out with a new horse on one side of the fence and the others on the other side. This way they can get to know one another in a safe way. I put piles of hay all along the fence on both sides, so they can start eating together. Eating together is the key that begins to open the door.

After about a month, which is what Wiz needed to rebound from everything, he seemed ready to integrate with the boys.

Then, one day, he came out of his shell, and he began playing with the horses over the fence in a very acrobatic way. Up until then I either hand grazed him, or I let him graze on his own after I brought the other horses down. He always spent his mornings with Chaco who I believe taught him how to play over the fence. It was his specialty. Act sweet, pretend like you’re falling asleep, and when they least expect it, lunge over the fence to land the perfect nibble on the neck.

The morning arrived that I decided it was time to introduce Wiz to the other horses up on the pasture. After taking Chaco for his hand graze, I took Wiz up to the pasture. There is no walking slow with Wiz due to his long stride. He walked and I basically trotted alongside him. The first thing I realized was he didn’t understand the body language of the other horses. They would tell him to back away from them, and for him that meant get even closer. First lesson was how to respond to the horse’s body queues.

How? I had Wiz on a rope, and I would let him walk wherever he wanted with me right by him. When Harley would pin his ears at Wiz if he got too close, I would yell, “Run!” and he and I would move away quick to where Harley felt comfortable. When Dulce walked straight at him with his head low, we would turn around and walk in the direction that Dulce was pushing us towards. Over and over with all the different signals, I helped him understand how to respond.

When Wiz showed he understood, I began introducing him to each horse on the pasture individually. He stayed as far away from Harley as he possibly could, which is not such a bad idea. Dulce was a bit different. One time Dulce was trying to get him to trot around with him when Wiz turned and slow trotted into Dulce’s neck. I was about to panic when Dulce turned and looked at me as if to say, “What’s up with this guy?” Dulce then began to push Wiz forward when Wiz bucked trying to land a hoof on him. Dulce knew it was coming, turned his head to the side and continued to move him. That was that. They’ve been best buddies since then.

When I turned Wiz out with Sueño, they played way too hard. I decided to bring Dulce into the mix sooner than later. Whenever things seemed to be getting out of hand, I would start to walk in to break it up when Dulce would masterfully put them in a time out…. literally. He would drive Wiz down to the dirt paddock while keeping Sueño on the pasture, and Dulce stood in between them not allowing either one of them to engage with each other until they calmed down. After that, all I would have to do is call out Dulce’s name, and he would put them in time out. Dulce is the Passive Leader of the herd, and I learned so much from him each time he decided to step in.

Dulce became Wiz’s teacher, and you rarely found Wiz too far away from him. Still, to this day, he stays close to him, and you usually will find that Dulce will be in between Wiz and Sueño.

One day Wiz decided to challenge Harley, who is the leader of the herd. Nobody really messes with Harley, which is maybe why Wiz decided to take him on? I have no idea what brought this on, but when I heard the sounds horses make when a challenge is on, I dropped everything and ran up to the field. This is when I witnessed something performed brilliantly. Dulce and Sueño trotted over to the two of them. Dulce scooped up Harley guiding him away from Wiz, while Sueño herded Wiz away from Harley. They all ate separately for about ten minutes before all four horses came together once again. Wiz was in.

Perseids on the Pasture

The alarm sounds and reluctantly my eyes blink open. It is Monday morning. Sueño is pawing the gate impatiently hoping that the sound will hurry me up somehow. Pharoah crawls over to me licking my chin while stretching out every ounce of his being. I put on my clothes and shuffle out the door.

The sky is pitch black with Pleiades hovering above me, and Orion’s Belt is in the upper portions of the eastern sky. A faint hue of yellow barely outlines the mountains as the crescent moon begins its climb. The air is crisp but not chilly. Not even a gentle breeze moves the air. It is as if the whole world is holding its breath.

I remember why. I see the first one. A meteor flies through the midnight blue darkness above me.

I open the gate, and Sueño and Wiz walk on to the pasture with nice long strides. I feel them walk by me as I listen to the sounds of their hooves striking the ground. Harley and Dulce wait for me. For some reason they like me to walk them up to the pasture individually. I first walk Harley. He is my shortest horse, so I easily drape my arm across his back, and we silently walk up to the pasture together. There is no need for a lead rope. We walk side by side in silence.

More meteors dance through the sky. Some brighter than others. Some seem closer than others.

Once Harley is on the pasture, I quietly walk to the barn where Dulce is waiting for me. He pokes his head out for a scratch. After he feels loved on enough, he leaves the barn and we quietly saunter, as only Dulce does, up to the pasture. Again, no lead rope. We walk shoulder to shoulder. I look up and see more meteors making their way through the sky.

We join the others.

They all graze around me as I stand with them in that deep, beautiful, blue darkness. There is something magical about standing with your horses in that kind of darkness with flashes of light sparkling through the sky. Faith, knowing that I was safe standing in the center of these four beautiful beings before the sun colors the sky a different shade of blue.

Weather Wiz’s Adoptaversary

A year ago, Weather Wiz and I met for the first time in a hot, dusty stall out on the plains. Temperatures were in the upper 90’s without a breeze anywhere in sight. The grass was burnt a light brown in all directions. No water anywhere, but here we were. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else but there at that moment. This was when we became friends.

It was also the anniversary of when I lost my beloved horse Shandoka. This was not lost on me as we stood there together amidst this horrible drought. I met Shandoka during this long, twenty-year drought. He was a wild thoroughbred at the time. He didn’t trust humans one bit. Before he was given to me, I would climb into his pen, sit on the opposite side of him while looking at the ground. I tried to be as non-threatening as possible. Each day he would come closer to me before walking off. The day he finally allowed me to touch him, it rained. It hadn’t rained in ages, but it rained while we stood there together realizing it could work between us. That is when I decided to name him Shandoka, which means Storm Bringer or Storm Maker. My last night with Shandoka was also during a time of drought, and that night it rained. I knew as those sweet drops fell upon our faces; it would be our last night together.

Weather Wiz’s dam is named Stormy Welcome. That first night together, the rain came. Beautiful rain came to that barren, dried out land. I stood with Wiz in his stall listening to that beautiful rain falling on the metal roof cooling off the stifling, hot air. This was not lost on me.

A lot of people ask me what Wiz is like. That isn’t an easy answer, because he is so many things. He is a big horse. I still haven’t sticked him to see how tall he is, but he is taller than me at the withers. When we walk together, I almost have to jog because of his long stride. Half the time he greets me wanting to cuddle, and the other half of the time he is all play. He has the sweetest heart, a big, tender spot deep within, so when I work with him, I always think about that. I want to preserve that, nurture it, and never make him feel like that part of him needs to be hidden. I want to be his safe spot.

He can be nippy, but it is with his lips, not his teeth. When he does that, he is telling me he is nervous; that I need to slow down or break the lesson down into smaller parts. I hand him the lead rope, or I play with his mouth. A chewing horse is a relaxed horse, and while he chews, I figure out a better way to present the lesson to him.

The other reason he can be nippy with those lips, is he is trying to pick pocket me looking for cookies.

Wiz is all about playing. We can be walking together when he suddenly rears up and starts crow hopping wanting to play with me. When the other horses are grazing, he starts trotting circles around them until Sueño or Dulce accepts the challenge, and off they go playing with one another. He may be 9 years old, but that foal in him is still wanting to run around and play.

Wiz likes a kiss on his nose when you bring him a bucket of food before he starts to eat. When it is time to eat, he stands at the fence watching me mix up the food through the back window of our tack room. He can be food aggressive towards Sueño, but that is a two-way street.

When I soak or trim Harley’s hooves, he stands with us keeping Harley calm.

When he is ready to be in his own turnout area, he stands at the gate waiting for me to notice and let him in. He still likes to have his own space at night, but don’t worry, he is surrounded by the other horses throughout the night. Often Sueño is sleeping with him on the other side of the fence. I often open the gate to see if he wants to go out with the guys at night, but he stands there looking at me while eating his hay. Doesn’t move at all. As long as he wants his space, he’s got it.

I’ve been asked if he was retired with an injury. The short answer is no. The long answer is that he was sore all over, and his tendons and ligaments were sore from a long racing career. This is normal for any horse retired from a racing sport. The rest this past year, along with different types massage including myofascial release, has done him a world of good. I also red light acupuncture points. He does not tolerate the needles well, but he loves it when I red light them, falling into a deep, restful place.

I’m often asked if he likes being an OTTB, and my answer is heck yes. He was so ready for this. He loves going up on the pasture in the mornings. He loves being with the other horses, and I think he likes me. I believe he loves not working all the time, and he truly enjoys the companionship and being a horse with the other horses. He and Sueño are like brothers, but he is extremely close to Dulce and Harley. I will write about this in another blog.

The other question I am asked is what will his second career be? Well, the first six months was about letting him learn how to be a horse again. Winter hit and we were buried in snow or drowned in rain. Mud…. we had the longest mud season ever as several atmospheric rivers flowed above us. Trying to work with any of the horses was next to impossible. When the ground did dry out a couple of times, I let him be with the horses instead of asking him to do anything else. I think the prolonged rest, in the long run, this did his body and mind good.

The times I brought out the saddle for Dulce, I noticed something. Wiz got aggravated and would walk at a brisk pace into his stall hiding from sight. The first time I saw it, I took note. The second and third time I saw it, I listened. I needed to figure out a new path for him, something completely opposite of what he’s done in the past. I know I could get on him right now, and he would accept me and do what I asked. However, it would be work to him. I want it to be fun for the both of us.

I had hoped we could go up and work on trail riding, but he is still not the biggest fan of cows. Deer give him pause, and I’m not sure what he would do at the scent of an elk, moose, bear, or mountain lion. This idea is on the back burner for at least another year.

One day I was watching a demonstration done by Jonathan Field, and I knew i found the right path for Wiz. I decided to try Liberty work with him as a jumping off place. It is the perfect choice. It does not resemble racing or his training in any shape or form. We need to do groundwork, but I want to make it fun for him. He loves to play, and he already follows me around as it is. Liberty is all about playing and dancing with your horse free of all tools such as a lead rope, halter, or saddle. We’ve begun on the basics, and he is picking it up nicely. He seems to like it, because he waits at the gate for his turn. Who wouldn’t want to dance with their horse? Horses seem to like to dance with us too!

Shandoka and I used to play hide and go seek. I would hide from him, and when he found me, we would run all over the place together.

None of this is lost on me. So many full circles.

We are so happy Weather Wiz is here. He is a blessing in every way, and he makes us all laugh each day. I love it when he wants a hugs or wants to goof off. He is a character in every way, and he fits in perfectly with our small herd. Happy 1st anniversary Wiz, and your are so missed Shandoka…..but I know you had a hoof in bringing all of these horses together.

If you don’t know what Liberty work is, here is a video. I will post updates as we progress.

Thunder Flying Like The Wind

Weather Wiz that night a month after he came to live with us.

The wind pounded us, assaulted us, and wore our minds out yesterday. It was unrelentless as a cold front pushed up against a warm front and they battled it out. I stood with the horses thinking about a warm, summer night walk with Weather Wiz.

When Weather Wiz arrived here, he of course wore shoes. If you know me, you know I am all about transitioning a thoroughbred to being barefoot, and I couldn’t wait to begin with Wiz.

One of the things I immediately noticed when I met Wiz was that he tripped a lot, because his hooves were landing toe first instead of heel first. He walked as if he wanted to go on pointe like a ballerina. Some people think this is the proper way for a horse to walk, but it is anything but. It causes a lot of destruction to the hoof. It tears the hoof wall away from the underlying structures weakening it, which can lead to issues such as laminitis. What causes a horse to do this? Usually it is because they are heel sore from an issue such as thrush, or worse, they can be navicular, etc. Also, wearing shoes constantly can cause this heel soreness to occur, and couple that with a horse that runs at incredibly fast speeds, and that pain only worsens. Imagine how you would walk if both of your heels were bruised? Probably toe first, and now imagine how much pain you foot and legs would be in from walking toe first all the time. This is what happens to horses.

When I looked at his heel bulbs, I saw that they were severely contracted with his heel bulbs butting up against one another and upwards. He definitely was heel sore. My first priority was to pull Wiz’s shoes.

He was such a good horse about letting me pull his shoes. I am not a big fan of pulling shoes with clips on them. It makes it a bit more challenging, but after pulling out a couple of nails, I was able to easily pull them off. He barely knew me, yet he stood perfectly still. After they were removed, I saw that his toes were bruised from the repeated toe landings. His heels were uneven, so I began to gently file on one of them when he pulled back violently on me terrified by the pain that I unknowingly inflicted upon him.

After I calmed him down and reassured him, I saw how the heel horns were blood red just underneath the surface. They were badly bruised. I could only use the fine side of the rasp gently to get his heels to the right height. I whispered to him, “I bet it hurt to run didn’t it buddy?”

The best thing for rehabilitation of sore heels and to encourage a heel-toe landing is to walk the horse. For the first two weeks he wore Cloud boots. After that he was fine to go barefoot. Each day Wiz and I went for walks four to five times a day all around our property. Not only was it great for his hooves and their healing, but it helped Wiz and I get to know one another.

I know Wiz enjoyed our walks, because he waits at the gate for me when it is time to go out. During the summer, we meandered all around as I learned what made him nervous, what sparked his curiosity, and how I never felt like he wanted to break free from me. I’ve never put a chain across his nose, or any of my horses for that matter, and I can walk him with a light feel on the lead rope. He is a joy to walk with.

We often stood together gazing in the distance at other horses, or he would play with me and the lead rope. Wiz loves to play, and he shows me that for training in the future, to always include some aspect of play into it. He also loves to hug. When he needs contact, he will gently rub his head all over you. He never pushes you, he is always gentle about it, and it is loving.

One thing I noticed the first month he was here was that he didn’t want to canter, didn’t want to trot, and galloping wasn’t even a thought in his mind. He always remained at the walk, because those heels were so sore.

When you first pull shoes off a horse, the hoof expands, because nothing is holding it into some predetermined shape anymore. Thus, I trim every two weeks to make sure that nothing becomes a fulcrum that can cause cracks or any further tearing of the hoof wall from the underlying structures. Each time I worked on him, those heels were red until we hit the month mark when two of the heels on his left front were normal. He didn’t even twitch when I rasped them.

Our last walk of the day during those warm, summer nights was always around 8pm. We would walk up to the top of the pasture, and listen to the water flow along the irrigation ditch before we headed back to his barn. I usually would unclip the lead rope and we would walk together at liberty.

One night I removed the lead rope like usual, but he didn’t follow me. Instead he watched me. I kept looking back to see if he moved. He didn’t. When I got within twenty feet of the gate, he gave me a look, arched his neck, and he opened up. He didn’t trot or canter, but he ran as if he busted out of the gate on some track in his memory. He ran straight for me. His hooves seemed to barely hit the ground, yet they made the sound of thunder. As he dropped lower, the wind tried to keep up with him as he flew through the air. My breath escaped me as I watched the racehorse within him return. He blew past me only to corner on a dime that a horse as a big as he is shouldn’t be able to do. He then trotted to me with his head held high, nostrils flaring, and tail raised. He touched his nose to mine.

“Wow! You are amazing Wiz,” I whispered as I stroked his neck.

I clicked the lead rope back on, and we walked back to the barn together both of us smiling.

Man o’ War’s Warriors

Both Weather Wiz and Chaco are direct descendants of Man o’ War through the same line….In Reality.

Chaco is Texas bred. Chaco’s sire, Captain Countdown, is also Texas bred, and the fee to breed to him was $500.

Weather Wiz is Kentucky bred, and his sire is the great Tiznow, who was bred in California. His highest breeding fee was $75,00, and Tiznow stood in Kentucky at Winstar.

Chaco would be considered a low level claimer racing primarily in New Mexico, Arizona, and also in Texas. For the record there was nothing low level about Chaco.

Weather Wiz raced on the New York circuit before going to Gulfstream where he was claimed. He then raced on the mid-Atlantic circuit.

Chaco won five times, and he came in second six times as well as in third six times. He earned just over $48k.

Weather Wiz raced 33 times winning six times. He came in second eight times, and he came in third four times making almost $309k.

They both finished in the top three 17 times.

I told Wiz that their earnings should be equal since Chaco went down in a race, had two horses go over him, and he lived to tell the tale. Wiz agreed.

Similar stories with very different track experiences, both direct descendants of Man o’ War through In Reality, and they found each other here in Colorado.

Each morning they were together, and they became instantly close. Chaco taught him how to play and passed on his knowledge. Chaco was a lot like Wiz is today… racing for many years, coming off the track, and having to learn what being a horse with other horses was like without a human controlling their every movement. Chaco had a lot of knowledge to share, and often I saw Wiz intently listening and learning from Chaco.

Two warriors becoming the best of friends in a short time.

I shot this a few weeks ago: https://youtu.be/VOLVpw25f3k

The first time Chaco and Wiz met

Chaco is the one who taught Wiz how to take off a fly mask

Goodbye to my Gentle Giant Chaco

Chaco a few weeks before his arthroscopic surgery

A horse isn’t meant to put all of his weight on three legs. Compensation for an injury wears everything else out in their body, and no matter what you do to try and ease the compensation, it is a battle you can’t win. You tread water at the same place for a long time until you hit a slide down a hill you’ve been trying to avoid. Once you find the plateau, you tread water again until you get sucked down another slide, where you tread water as long as you can while eyeing the next slide hoping you can keep it as far away as possible. You desperately try to find answers staying up late at night Googling everything you can, writing to the most prominent vets in the country, and reading any new studies released only to realize you are on the precipice of another slide downward.

Stifle injuries are complicated. There is no magic surgery to fix a stifle. You can’t fuse it, because it is a high motion joint, and once the cartilage is gone, it is gone. Nothing out there regenerates it.

Chaco, as I mentioned in my last blog, went down in a race. He was brought up on the inside along the rail. All of his other races he went wide away from all of the traffic. He had a big stride. This time on the inside he clipped heels, went down, and two other horses went over him. One kicked his stifle breaking some of the bone off into big chunks. His pelvis was fractured along with a rib. He recovered and raced two months later winning his first race back.

Unfortunately, they never removed the bone chunks. (For the record, they were not chips. They were the size of your adult, front teeth.) Instead they blistered him probably so his muscles and tendons wouldn’t rub against the bone chunks. He raced for a year, and those chunks worked their damage on the femorotibial joint in his stifle. When I adopted him, we had them removed, but the damage was severe. I was told that he would never be truly sound, and each day was on borrowed time.

I created med pens trying to restrict Chaco’s movements while allowing him to be surrounded by his friends and be out in the sunshine he so loved. It might be close to 100, and he would sunbathe. After all of those years in a stall, he was a devout sun worshipper. If I tried to confine him in a stall, he often crow hopped until I let him back out into the sun.

I gave him shots in his neck each week of glucosamine and pentosan once a week, which at first really helped. After a year, their ability to help faded and faded.

We literally spent thousands of dollars on his leg each year trying to keep him sound…trying to ease his need to compensate.

I tried different injections such as IRAP, ProStride, which never worked. After one horrible winter, I found out that Noltrex was finally available in the US. He got that, and it was like a miracle. He went from being severely lame to being able to walk with ease. I have a ridiculous amount of pictures of Chacoi resting his left leg after that injection. He finally was able to give his left hindleg a break.

I made him a promise that I would never let him get like that again. If he did, I would do right by him.

After his last Noltrex injection a month ago, I noticed it wasn’t helping him. He was a yo-yo in how he would do from day to day. I tried everything and then he slipped. After that, the story is between Chaco and I, but I did right by him. He was done. He was tired. He wouldn’t even try to play with the horses anymore.

That last morning, Wiz wouldn’t go up to the pasture with the other horses. He stayed with Chaco….standing by his side.

I hoped he would die from anything else but from his racing injury. No matter how hard I fought, I couldn’t give him that. I had to put down a completely healthy horse, because of his leg. If your horse has chips in those legs, get them out immediately. Don’t wait for them to cause your horse to be lame, because if you do, it is too late. If they would have removed them immediately while he was racing, a simple $3k surgery, Chaco would still be alive today. Get those chips out!

Compensation for an injury is a huge price for a horse when prolonged. He compensated for six years, one of which he raced. I’m not going to share what it was like for us the last two weeks. That is between us. All I will say is he changed. He knew. I knew.

I stayed with him long past his last agonal breath. I’ve been fighting to keep him alive for five years. How do you stop fighting? How do you let that fight go when it is part of your daily routine.

I asked my horse Shandoka who always looked after him to give me a sign that Chaco was with him. Shandoka’s name meant Storm Bringer. Even though rain wasn’t supposed to start until 8 hours later, a storm gathered around us. It started to rain lightly, and then the clouds opened up forming a circle above us with the brightest sunlight pouring through as it continued to rain. Probably to anyone looking our way, they saw a rainbow.

* * * *

A few days before all of this I had to scrub out Chaco’s water tank. He loved to help me. He stood next to me, and whenever I stirred up the water for the water pump, he would stir it and splash me. He then would take a long slurp. When horses hold water in their mouths, their tongue will stick out a bit. While I was scrubbing, he would put his tongue on the back of my neck and let the water dribble out all over me. Each and every time I scrubbed the tank he did this, and he got a kick out of it each time. This is the horse I will remember….not his leg problems…but how my Gentle Giant loved to play…how he loved life.

Chaco’s Jockey Club name was Lesis More. There was nothing “Less” about him. He was everything.

I want to thank everyone that supported him in some way. You know who you are. We great appreciate you. I will be offline for awhile as I try to help my other boys get through this.

Off to See the Wiz…and Pearl

I came in from feeding the horses one morning in early July when I received a text from my friend Linda asking me if I heard about Weather Wiz. A pit sank into my stomach. I wrote back that I hadn’t and to please tell me. She told me to contact Lisa. I asked her to tell me, that I wanted the band-aid ripped off. I feared he broke down during a breeze, and I didn’t want to contact someone else to hear about it.

She wrote back saying, “You got Wiz.”

I sat stunned for I’m not sure how long.

For quite awhile I’ve offered a home to Weather Wiz through his former owner Centennial Farms, but his present owner/trainer was not interested in retiring him each time they reached out to him. After getting that text from Linda, I called Lisa. I honestly wondered if I was being punked I was in such shock. Centennial reached out two weeks ago, and he once again declined the offer. Lisa answered my call, told me the story, and I guess Jamie Ness (owner/trainer) told a friend of hers, “Tell Centennial I will give him to that woman who wants him.” That woman was me, and I was incredulous.

Next I called Danielle from Turning For Home who was the one that spoke to Ness. After a lot of back and forth, we agreed to meet outside of Denver on July 15th where I would meet Wiz for the first time. She was traveling with her niece up to Wyoming for a competition.

My husband stayed behind to take care of the horses and dogs, and I packed up and headed east. It was a hot day and I was making good time until I got east of Glenwood Springs. There I hit the weekend traffic heading to the mountains or Denver, and we all found ourselves in a monsoon downpour. Traffic crawled. Seeing Wiz was delayed by an hour at the least. I grew irritable.

I’ve watched Weather Wiz since his first race at Belmont back in 2017. He is by Tiznow, who is a California bred horse and won two memorable Breeder’s Cups back to back. He is the first and only horse to do that. Tiznow is a special horse that found a huge place in my heart during his racing days. He had this grit, such heart, and he seemed to pass that on to his offspring. Also, when Mojo was supposedly abandoned in some field in Oklahoma, he was found with a Tiznow mare. When Mojo died, I swore I would take in another Uncle Mo or a Tiznow in honor of him. Before I left for the Front Range to pick up Wiz, I realized the day I would meet Wiz was also the anniversary of when Shandoka died. It seemed that I was coming full circle on both tragic losses.

When I finally hit the plains, I couldn’t wait to get to him. My nerves were frayed, and the temperature boiled at 98 degrees. When I exited the freeway, I realized I was in the middle of nowhere. As I looked around it seemed that everyone but a few farms sold off their water. Brown, burnt grass sizzled under the hot sun all around. What used to be thriving farms was now dried up, barren land.

Following the directions, I was surprised to see that I did drive by a weather station that looked like a gigantic golf ball. A short ways down the road, I turned left into the motel where I found other people staking out their spots for the night in a dirt field covered with sparse, brown grass. Butterflies fluttered. All I wanted to do was get to Wiz, but first I had to park where the owners of the horse hotel wanted me to. I got out and headed straight for Wiz where I found him in the back barn. He was tired, worn, and dehydrated from the long trip from Maryland. Laying on the floor of his stall he gave me a look that said, “Get me out of here.”

Exhausted Wiz after a long trip

I pushed a full tube of electrolytes into him to treat the dehydration, which got him up on his feet within ten minutes. He looked straight into my eyes and buried his head in my chest; I held his head while kissing him on his neck.

He loves to be kissed

“Let’s get out of this stall,” I whispered to him.

It was 98 outside but much warmer inside the barn that was filled with stale and heavy air. Nothing circulated. The owners were kind and hung a fan for him when they realized he needed some help. We walked through a small arena to an open area where a gentle, hot wind blew. I hoped the monsoons would come.

His tired yet gentle eyes filled with interest as we watched an elderly man strolling around his yard with his elderly dog. He was fascinated with them as they plodded along on his green grass.

I took him back to his stall where he drank down quite a bit of water over the next few hours. Relief eased my wrinkled brow. I went back to the truck to haul more water for him when I saw the monsoons. They’re coming.

Wiz watching the neighbor walk his dog

I headed back, pulled him out of his stall, and we went back to the opening in the arena. The breeze cooled and the sky poured a blissful rain upon the parched plains. Wiz and I stood in the mist and he let out a long sigh. We stood there or walked around gently for almost an hour. When it was dark and time for sleep, he hadn’t pooped due to the dehydration, I worried about him becoming impacted, although he drank a lot of water since I arrived.

I went to the truck, got my mat, bedding, and some banamine just in case. The closest vet was an hour away. I unrolled my mat and bedding on the floor next to Wiz’s stall. I plopped down from exhaustion. The sky ripped open and it rained hard for almost four hours. I was sure the ground would be mud, and I wondered how difficult it would be to drive out in the morning. The temperature dropped by twenty degrees, and I was lulled into a comfortable sleep listening to Wiz and all of the other horses munch on their hay.

THWACK!!!!!

THWACK!!!!!

Startled, I shot straight up after an hour of deep sleep; a horse violently kicked the side of one of the stalls. I jumped up to turn on the lights. This is when I finally noticed Pearl. How did I know her name? Her owner hung a sign with her name written in glitter on her stall.

Pearl is a Palomino mare, tall and wide, and she definitely was the queen of the barn. None of the geldings felt like taking her on. Her ears were pinned to the backside of her head, her eyes narrowed, and she bared her teeth at the thoroughbred next door to Wiz. She quickly turned her ass at this terrified horse, and kicked the stall wall that they shared extremely hard. I ran over to her to make sure her leg was still in tact. She upset all of the other horses who began to express themselves in different ways. The horse next to her began walking the stall. The horse directly across from her incessantly pawed the ground. Two other horses were trying to break out of their stalls. Wiz stayed pinned to the stall door next to me not moving.

The thoroughbred moved over by Wiz’s wall and the mare instantly perked up here ears and relaxed. Kindness returned to her eyes as her whole demeaner changed with the flick of a light switch. I went to the stall walker and nuzzled with him, went to the pawer and soothed his mind with some kind words, and went to the two that were sure they could break out. I stood with them until they returned to their feed. I walked back to Wiz reassuring him that all was well. He took a sip of water and returned to eating his hay.

I turned off the light and fell back to sleep. An hour later:

THWACK!

THWACK!

“Pearl, he is only trying to stretch his legs!”

I got up and repeated the above until everyone calmed down again. This happened every hour on the dot.

At 2am when Pearl started, I had it. I turned on the light, checked on Wiz, and stomped over to Pearl.

“Listen you, you’re not the only one in here with mare energy. I have more than enough to match yours. What are you going to do about it? Her ears instantly went up, and she walked over to me for some cuddles. I then went around calming everyone down before collapsing on my mat.

Plop

Plop

Plop

Wiz pooped. Finally. “We’re going to be okay buddy,” I whispered as I dozed off.

At 4am Pearl started up again. I looked at Wiz and said, “Let’s get out of here and go home.”

I normally would never do this with a horse I didn’t know, but Wiz and I had already been through a lot in the twelve hours we knew one another. I also wanted to get him home before the heat of the day boiled. A heat wave was moving in.

I calmed everyone down, rolled up my bedding, and I headed out to the truck in the darkness. Several generators were running, so I didn’t have to worry about waking anyone up. I slid open the main door to Wiz’s barn. I went into his stall, and I told him if this was too much for him, we would head back. We both looked at Pearl, and he seemed more than willing to go. I trusted our relationship.

We headed out of his barn into an open breezeway, through another barn, between two very long horse trailers with generators running, into a moonless night. We walked through a crunchy field to my truck when it dawned on me that despite all of the rain the ground was as hard as a rock, this drought is horrible. Without any hesitation he loaded in the trailer.

I kissed him on the nose and off we went. We drove easily through Denver, but instead of driving along I-70, we went on 285 through the mountains. We climbed passes, drove through beautiful forests with interesting rock formations, followed creeks and rivers, saw a herd of buffalo wandering through an old homestead on a wind swept, high mountain plain before we made the turn for home. The temperature stayed in the low 50’s the entire trip. Each time I stopped to check on him, he was bright eyed and chomping on hay.

After six hours, we pulled into our driveway. The other horses were snoozing in their stall avoiding the heat. When I put Wiz in his turnout area, Sueño came over to greet him. Ever since that moment Sueño has been his companion. They love one another.

Pearl exhausted me, exhausted all of those horses that night, but I honestly think Pearl is the reason why Wiz trusted me as we walked out to my truck in the dark. He knew I was his safety net, and I think we all wanted to escape Pearl. If he ever gets ornery, which happened one time, I tell him, “Don’t tell me you learned that from Pearl!”

I can’t begin to tell you how many times I walk outside and can’t believe he is here. I honestly never thought he would come here even though I never gave up. Seeing him each day brings a huge smile to my heart and soul. If you are offering a home to a thoroughbred that is currently racing, remember it takes time.

After resting and eating, I went out and stood with Wiz who was looking at the mountains., “You’re home Wiz. Those mountains are yours now.”

Wiz enjoying the pasture

I want to thank Centennial Farms for believing in me and putting up with me when I began getting a bit nervous about Weather Wiz. I thank them for reaching out to Jamie Ness for me several times. I especially want to thank Julie who has always been kind to me. I want to thank my friend since the 3rd grade, Lisa, for listening to me as I planned this out. I also want to thank Susan, Lisa F, J, and Linda for being so supportive and being a bridge for bringing Wiz here. I want to thank my dear friend Heather and new friend Robbie for trying to help solve the bumps in the road. You’re the best. Thank you Athena for always having my back. I also want to thank Danielle reaching out to Ness and for bringing Wiz to the Wild West, and I want to thank Jamie Ness for retiring Wiz to me. Thanks Mom for being his cheerleader. Last and the best, I want to thank my husband for all of his support and understanding. Weather Wiz is so loved by Bill, the horses, our dogs and me.