#weatherwiz – Reenchanted Thoroughbreds

Good New About Wiz!

And somethings to think about

If you’re reading this, you know that Weather Wiz has been having soundness issues. My vet came out here and did x-rays and diagnosed him with sesamoiditis. He sent the x-rays off to Dr. Lamb at Roaring Fork Equine Hospital for possible treatments plans. She suggested a thorough ultrasound and PRP Therapy.

We have been inundated with monsoons for about three weeks, which is highly unusual. They usually don’t start until mid-July. The rivers are high, and we were in a flash flood watch when I loaded Wiz into the trailer to head through the West Elk Mountains to Glenwood Springs.

Wiz runs warm, so I chose to go through the mountains to keep him cool. It got a little dicey on the way. There were several spots where the material from the pull off spots had washed across the road, and water from new streams meandered along the roads to the other side into the river below. I came across two mudslides that were luckily being cleaned up as I got to them, and there were some mini rockslides. It lightly rained the entire trip, and it was an amazing drive despite my stress. Wiz and I literally got to drive through the clouds as we descended McClure Pass.

Once we got to the hospital, we waited for maybe five minutes before it was our turn. I unloaded him, and he handled everything like a champ. I am so proud of my rambunctious guy.

Some people think that this may have happened due to his training with me, and to be honest, I was concerned that I did something. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure it out. I’ve always had some concerns about his right leg, so we have worked really slow. I haven’t even lunged him, which turns out to be a very good thing.

What has been happening? Well, the first time, he got up from a nap, did a little yoga, and suddenly he was three-legged lame. I kept him in a small area, and he did worse. I decided to take him out to hand graze, and guess what? He was 90% better in three days. After six months, I started letting him do more. He was doing great. One morning I was watching him on the cameras, and when he got up from his nap, he was three-legged lame again. I went back over the footage, and he was sound before he plopped down for his nap. Again, I put him in a small area, and he didn’t improve at all. He was scared to walk. I took him out for a hand graze, and he improved 50% due to that short walk while eating. In three days, he was almost 100%. The main tell right now is that he can’t cross his right leg in front of his left if he does a tight turn.

According to Dr, Shull and Dr. Lamb, the sesamoiditis is from his horse racing days. He has definite changes to his sesamoids, changes that make me cringe, and one very bumpy area that we need to keep an eye on. We have our baseline x-rays and ultrasounds of his sesamoids, so we can note any changes from year to year. Dr. Lamb does not believe his lameness issues currently have anything to do with his sesamoiditis. Sesamoiditis develops from repetitive, concussive work such as jumping, barrel racing, and horse racing.

This is good news that it didn’t flare up.

She then began examining his tendons and ligaments their entire length and origins and insertions. She said, “The good news is there is nothing major going on here, and nothing to stick a needle into (referring to the PRP therapy we thought he needed).”

What she did find were two old injuries to his suspensory. One is at the medial distal branch, and the other was halfway up his cannon bone. I hoped to have the image, but I haven’t received the report yet. The fibers of the healthy part of the suspensory are long, and then you see much shorter fibers. These two areas are what she thinks are bothering him. He reacted more to the area halfway up his cannon bone.

These are old injuries from his horse racing days. What she thinks, and what I saw, is that he tweaks them doing yoga or getting up. Imagine getting up out of bed or off the floor. You might get up in a weird way or slip a little bit, and then you tweak that muscle in your back or your knee. This is what Wiz is doing. This is why movement improves it instead of makes it worse.

She said that the ligament has great tone, so our hand grazing and ten-minute walks in the mornings are benefiting him; not hurting him. She and Dr. Shull both told me that I had it figured out and to keep doing it. I can never lunge him. Not only is it bad for his suspensory but bad for the sesamoids. Whenever he works, he will have his Cavallo boots on, and his suspensory, orthopedic leg wraps. She showed me where to use the red light on him, and she told me to keep doing the myofascial release work I’ve been doing on his leg and for his body. His tight shoulders and poll that I am releasing every couple of weeks are definitely tied to this. For the record, I have not given him any pain meds; only herbal anti-inflammatories and icing or cold hosing.

The great news is he doesn’t need any pain meds! Instead, I brought home a tube of Surpass for whenever he has a flare up, and that probably will happen for the rest of his life. If he doesn’t recover in a short time, we will head back up to Roaring Fork for another ultrasound to see what changes have happened and treat as needed. He may need PRP one day, but right now, it is all manageable.

We can return to Liberty work, because his leg needs it. It will help keep his leg healthy as long as I don’t let either of us over do it. It is all about balance and will be low level work. We will be doing Liberty work, pole work, and we will do a lot of walking together. Maybe one day we can do low-level dressage work. Riding is out of the question for now. All I care about is Wiz…all of my horses. Their needs always come first. I miss riding. I would be lying if I said different, but what matters to me is them. I love the relationships I have with these silly guys, and that is so much better and important than riding.

Now I don’t have to worry that I just walked Wiz too much this morning. Today we walked all over the pasture and walked back and forth over the irrigation pipe, and instead of being worried, I know that it helped him.

To Horse Racing: I have suggested it before, and I will suggest it again. Turn the infields into cross-training areas for racehorses. If they could cross-train, it could create much stronger bones. It would be great if they could go on a trail that had gentle rolling hills, a pond to walk through, and an arena to do some basic pole work and dressage. It would only help the horse.

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.

Weather Wiz’s Adoptaversary

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 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.

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