(Quick unrelated pre-post question: If Lady Gaga's fans are called her Little Monsters, what does that make lady Gogo's fans? Little.... Maresters?)
Anyway.
As some of you know, I am absolutely horrible at responding to e-mails. I get dozens every day in my generic e-mail from all sorts of different places, and e-mails always get inadvertently get misplaced, or sometimes never read at all. Fail! I have every intention of responding to all e-mails that I get, and I always do my best, but I do know that there have been at least a few lost to the wilds of the Interwebz somewhere out there. Because of this, Eventing-A-Gogo now has a new e-mail specifically for blog-related contact: EventingAGogo@gmail.com. Pretty simple! So fire away, my um.... Little Maresters?
I am also taking specific requests for upcoming blogposts. Some of you have asked me to touch on a few fire-hot burning (okay, maybe not fire-hot... but they are interesting and relevant!) subjects such as:
1) How to train a horse to use the treadmill
2) Booting and traction options for the event horse, and upcoming planned experiments for this
3) and an article I'm writing called Why I Support the Novice 3-Day. That may not make it on here as I might try to submit it somewhere for publication, if it turns out well enough. I'd like to, anyway! We'll have to see.
So now I'm taking other requests too. What would you like to hear about?
Last item of business on this cold, rainy Thursday: success stories. You all know of Gogo's abuse history, and about our journey coming back from this injury. Now, I want to hear from you. Similarly to the Mouthy Mondays that Mugs does, I want to start featuring a success story from one of our readers every week. It can be any story about overcoming adversity, physical or mental. It could be about rehabbing from an injury, overcoming cruelty, or anything inbetween. It could still be a work in progress, or it could be in years past. I'd really like to hear success stories about barefoot horses coming out of shoes, overcoming lameness or hoof damage, or maybe just showing off what healthy bare feet can do. (If you'd like to read a great and ongoing story right now about bare hooves overcoming laminitis, read about Lazarus. Truly heartwrenching and inspirational. And they're from my old stomping grounds in Michigan!) But any good success story about overcoming whatever life throws at you is exactly what I'm looking for.
So how 'bout it?
Ok - so this actually isn't a "new" suggestion, but I just want to register my support for the blog about booting and traction options for event horses. Pretty please! :)
ReplyDelete~Sarah
Excellent! I will have to submit a story, definitely. My mare has an interesting, ongoing story...when I bought her she was an obese trail horse with horrible feet, incorrect muscle development and a LOT of anxiety. Her rehab has been a very multifaceted process, and while she is nowhere close to perfect, she's perfect for me nonetheless.
ReplyDeleteSuggestions...anything about basic walk or walk/trot work would be helpful to those of us with green or "challenging" horses. I know you've been forced to go "back to basics" by Gogo's injury and rehab...how do you make it interesting when you're limited in what you can do? I often feel quite limited by space constrictions when I ride my arthritic mare who prefers big fields and trails in the indoor arena at my barn. Although not last night...last night she decided to be freakin' amazing in the indoor, probably because our would-be trainer who thought she was a bitchy mare with no talent was standing there watching. Rock on, Sofie!
I would like hoof trimming photos and notes. I also trim my horse, so I am interested in technique and examples of bare horse feet. :)
ReplyDeleteGreat idea! I follow your blog because you event and seem to have a mare that rocks at it! (And will again once she's back on her game.) I don't event yet, but very much want to. I am bringing along two green horses, so I'm months and months away from trying even beginner novice level, but more than that, I'm WAY intimidated by the whole thing! I work my own horses, take pretty regular lessons, and have never shown with trainer at a show. So trying to launch into a new sport with lots of special forms and registrations and rules I don't know about is very daunting. I'd love to hear how you got started. About your first event. What you would tell yourself now if you could go back and watch those first couple events again. That sort of thing would be great!
ReplyDeletehow about writing a post about your favorite riders in each disapline, favorite dressage rider, favorite showjumper, favorite eventer, favorite big time horses. I think it would be very interesting!
ReplyDeleteOMG..Laz is blushing at being mentioned! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks..very sweet. So funny too, b/c I was going to put "WRITE ABOUT BAREFOOT" b/c we are sooooo new in our barefootness and loving it so far, but want to learn learn learn more! :)
I guess that makes Laz and I maresters. ;)
I like it, all of it!!!
ReplyDeleteA suggestion... maybe something for noobs or people who are have never known anything but placid geldings: help with anxious horses and getting them acclimated to new things, like an outdoor arena or a show atmosphere or just trailering to a new place for a day in general. I'm getting the hang of it, I just like to hear what other people do, see if there's anything I can learn from. And I'm sure there are plenty of other people out there who could find it useful as well.
Sincerely,
A Little Marester and her Maresy-Mare ;)
I would like to hear about how exactly you care for your mare's amazing feet. Including how often you trim her, any supplement she's on for feet, what products you use, etc.
ReplyDeleteI ask because I want to transition my horse to being barefoot. You have made me curious and have convinced me its worth a shot. Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated!
& I'm sure I'm not the only one wondering..
I'd love to know more about treadmills and how you incorporate it into fitness(both as rehab and as conditioning for events. How much and how often? Any scary stories? How much do treadmills cost? I'd love to get one at my barn but they sound quite expensive.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I TOTALLY support the novice 3day. My current green pony just rocked out his first BN event and really matured there, but he will probably never event past novice. I intend to move him up to novice this fall after a solid summer of schooling, but after we get comfortable at novice, then what? I'd like to qualify for the AECs next year at novice(fingers crossed), but other than repeating the same events(with XC and SJ courses that pretty much never change, so you really just ride the same course every time you go to an event) but I'd like to see more opportunities for lower level horses. http://useventing.com/blog/?p=9549 is a great article about the "good eggs" of eventing, and lets face it, most amateur riders are at the lower levels. It's expensive to compete at the upper levels, and most people can't afford the horse or trainer to get past training. I'd like to see the lower levels to get the attention they deserve.
Sorry for the long post, but I'd love to see your article on the novice 3day. It just inspired me to write my own mini essay.