Happy Birthday Takoda!

Monday, March 23, 2009

Ok, so there are a couple surprises I have not posted about Takoda yet. I wanted to save them for a very special occasion, and today happens to be it!

Several weeks ago I did a search on pedigrees, as I was trying to ascertain if Takoda had ever actually raced. I found a site www.pedigreequery.com where any race horse that happens to be in their registry has all sorts of information about them listed. Here are some VERY neat (I think) things I found out about our boy:

• He was foaled in Florida on March 23, 2003 (making him 6 years old today!)
• He was bought (I believe in November, 2003) for $29,000.
  
• His actual name was Collective, by Charismatic and out of You're A Lady
• He has two VERY famous great-great grandfathers: Secretariat (whose earnings were $1,316,808 in the early 1970s!) and Mr. Prospector (who sired a winner of each of the triple crown races)!!!
  
• He has raced 26 times! but did not do so well (fine by me!): 3-1-3 (win-place-show)
• His career earnings were a paltry $40,133
• His lip tattoo reads G15791 (the letter is the year he was born, and the 5 numbers have to do with his jockey club registration)

But, regardless of all that, he's got a new life now. As Kim emailed me the other day in response to an update I gave her on Takoda she writes, " He has a family that loves him and that's the best part." I couldn't agree more!

Happy Birthday Takoda! May you have many, many more as a member of our family. Of course there are pictures below!

Here he is wondering what the heck we put on his head and why the whole family has come out to see him!


The birthday treats we made for all the horses were carrots with a center carved out to hold a frosting filling - then covered with sprinkles of course! That's my 7 year old daughter feeding his "birthday carrot" to him.


After one bite, he decided he liked them enough to come back for more.


Handsome Birthday Boy!

Longeing Under Saddle

Sunday, March 22, 2009

(Note: Schoolwork kept me from posting these next two posts the day they occurred, but here they are anyway!)

Cherie came Sunday for a lesson. Jordan, Kristin, and Jeff all rode, and Takoda and I were to have another groundwork lesson - this time with a saddle! The weight of a typical English saddle is much heavier than a racing saddle that Takoda would be used to. And, it's been many months since anyone's saddled him up for any reason! We will never know how long he sat in a stall (starving) at the track, but one thing is for certain, he had not been worked in a LONG time. All his muscles are flacid, and they sink in in places where they should be rounded out.

Saddling him was uneventful, much to my surprise. He seemed unphased by the saddle pad and the saddle, and even the girth! This boosted my confidence about how the lesson would go. Interestingly enough, he longed beautifully to the left at the walk, as if the saddle were truly no big deal. It was not until I asked him to trot that he finally actually noticed the weight of it on his back. He tried to get it off by bucking mid-trot. Cherie taught me to correct him quickly and send him right back to trotting every time. I am still getting used to holding the longe line, the slack, and the whip, so I am actually glad Jeff took videos of both Cherie and me longeing him. She makes it look absolutely effortless! Watching the videos of me longeing him, I realized that I am MUCH slower to react than I feel like at the time. Now I know why she wanted me to correct him faster and send him on faster!

The photo below is Takoda longeing beautifully at the walk before he ever really realized he had a very heavy saddle on his back. The video below it is the last part of the lesson where we got him to go pretty well at the trot. He finally gave up trying to buck the saddle off most of the time, and was actually quite exhausted at this point (as was I!). My schedule prevented me from longeing him today (Monday) but I am excited to get back out there and do it again tomorrow!

Dental Float

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

When a horse has its teeth filed, they call it "floating" the teeth. Their teeth usually need to be floated yearly, or more often if necessary. The vet had said Takoda has 3 baby teeth he should have lost already but looked like they posed him no problem. She also said his teeth were done recently and did not need to be done. Always listening to my gut, I wanted a second opinion. I just "felt" there was something going on in his mouth and I wanted to be sure. MJ had an equine dental specialist out today to do Beauty's teeth, so I had him do Tonka's and asked him to check Takoda's. He said Takoda did have some sharp points in the back but they weren't too bad, but his real problem is that his canines were way too long and sharp. He showed me how they poked into Takoda's tongue every time his tongue slid over them, and said the poor guy had to be super careful not to get his tongue caught on them - all 4 of them! He pulled the baby teeth, as they were actually making his adult teeth come in very crooked behind, and he cut the canines about in half, and then filed them down. And the best part is, Takoda was SUPER GOOD! He did not fuss, even when he had 3 teeth pulled with no tranquilizer or sedative! Another neat thing is there was one point when he kept lifting his head too high for the dentist to cut the canine (honestly, I think he was just plain done - he had been good and still for SO long, and this was the last tooth to be done). MJ was holding his head, the dentist used a gum shank to control him, but what got his attention was my voice - I spoke softly to him, and he looked at me, held still and began breathing again. From then on he was an angel again, and he even behaved nicely when we turned him out. I half expected him to take off and tear around, but he didn't do either. He just looked around, wandered to a pile of hay, and happily began munching - this time without the worry that his tongue would get sliced by those canines! Attached are some photos - the teeth are the baby teeth that were extracted.

Saturday Lesson

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Cherie came back for lessons again and Takoda strutted his stuff for her. He showed her that he's becoming a pro at longeing to the left at a walk. Cherie raised the bar for him and we trotted him to the left for some time today, which he actually began doing nicely after awhile. Cherie taught me how to come in to him to tap him on the rump with the longe whip to get him to trot when he does not heed the voice command. I feel like we do a dance when we're doing this. In toward him, then back to my spot, and in toward him and back to my spot - and try not to move! lol The worst part about it was that my hands cramped terribly from holding the longe line (the slack end) and the whip, and using that same hand to tap his rump. Definitely not a position my hands are used to! Thankfully Takoda was quite forgiving when I had to re-position my hands or re-wrap the longe line overlapping to avoid a loop that could take my hand off if he decided to spook and take off.

Longeing to the right was really humorous. Poor Takoda thought his humans had really lost their minds! Understandably, he became quite confused with me on his right side, and wanted to keep turning in toward me as if to tell me I had it ALL wrong! Cherie said to "throw a party" when he makes even the slightest attempt to obey" which we did. One sideways glance at us with his big, gentle, brown eye told me that he thought we were really off our rockers. At least I know I will be getting my exercise this week working him on the longe, in to get him to go, back out to my spot, repeat as necessary!

In other news, Takoda has become quite the dominant gelding in the field. Beauty has battle wounds (bites) all over her hind end mostly from Takoda, but even a generous nip from Tonka. Takoda nips at everyone (horse) he can, every chance he gets. New fencing put up to separate them should help. In addition to Laramie's twice daily medications and Beauty's new medication to treat her melanoma's, we're now doing a nightly wound check and treatment! Kids!!!

My Baby's Gaining!

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Takoda has been here for 4 weeks and 2 days. The vet was out again this morning for Laramie and together we weighed Takoda (with a weight tape). Takoda is up to 1064 lbs. today! That's an 89 pound increase in the month he's been here, possibly a little less if you account for variations in weight tapes and people doing the measuring. She said she can see he is filling out behind his withers and in his flank, and he is much less "ribby" than the last time she was out. Another week or so of increasing his grain and we'll level him off there until he reaches a healthy weight.

I've been longeing him almost daily this week in the pasture, and Takoda's attitude and behavior are vastly improved. He longes to the left at a walk very nicely now, even if he does look thoroughly bored by it. I have not been able to get him to a trot myself, even tapping the longe whip on the ground behind him (he acts like he couldn't care less what that is). He has shown attempts to start trotting, so I praise him for trying, but soon I will just expect him to trot and will only praise for that. We have not longed to the right yet, but I'm planning to start that this week if the weather holds. Beauty is in season again and so he's easily distracted, but will return to paying attention when reminded. Beauty and Tonka are hopefully leaving for another farm on Thursday - and I cannot wait! Beauty is causing so many problems with wanting the boys to breed her!

I'm just so thrilled by his weight gain! The vet said he definitely looks SO much healthier than before, and that Beauty looks a hundred times more healthy since being here, too. Her words were the perfect medicine for me today - it helps balance out the daily frustrations caused by the ever-growing problems and vet bills for Laramie! (For those that don't know, she's been diagnosed with uveitis, and has lost about 90% of her vision and is in constant pain. Once we get this flare-up under control - and we're almost there!, she will likely have surgery to help combat her pain.) It's nice to know they thrive here even if we don't have as much room as they deserve! I will post a picture of Takoda's new "pysique" as soon as we have another sunny day.

First Snow!

Monday, March 2, 2009

It is quite likely that Takoda has never been turned out in snow except maybe when he was a baby. He actually looked stunning in his brand new blanket, which we put on him yesterday prior to the snow starting. What do all horses do with a brand new blanket? Roll in mud of course! Most do the same thing right after a grooming if they are turned loose, and Takoda is no exception to that rule. I am looking forward to his weight gain when he actually fills out his blanket and it does not hang off him like a loose tent!

Here are pictures of him in probably his first snow ever. Checked it out thoroughly, then looked back at me as if to say, "Are you SERIOUSLY considering leaving me out in THIS?"

Once I began to walk away he decided to see if snow was good for rolling in. I think this last picture speaks for itself!

Making Progress

Saturday, February 28, 2009

Cherie came for another lesson and after the week I'd had with Takoda being horribly full of himself and fully taking advantage of my lack of confidence, I must say I am SO pleased with how the lesson went.

We started by grooming him, and he was disciplined "no nonsense style" every time he picked up a leg. After 10-15 minutes of this he finally seemed to get it that I was serious and started to show more respect and obedience. By the end of his grooming he not only looked fabulous *smile* (thanks Cherie!) but he was also ready to get down to work and not try any funny business. Cherie had me pick up the pace on the walk during walk/halt and he and I both enjoyed that more. He longed to the left beautifully at the walk and then we taught him to longe a the trot. It took him a bit to figure that he could actually trot, but by the end he not only looked great, but was also beginning to "whoa" on the longe without turning in!

He looked a bit painful at the trot, and I knew those front shoes have to come off and he needs a trim. His hooves in front were getting very long and the way he pranced, he looked very tender.

He was rewarded for really good behavior with lots of affection and a couple of treats. And I am rewarded by already seeing a difference in his respect towards me in just one day!

As this is a day late, the farrier managed to make it out today. He pulled the front shoes, decided to keep him barefoot, and trimmed all four feet up. His front left was quite a bit longer than the others - I don't know if that's a race track thing (they do race to the left) or if it was just a goofy job done by his last farrier, but either way they are nice and even. I will watch for tenderness on those feet the next few days. Tonight at feeding he did not look tender on them at all! And I must say yesterday's lesson paid off big time for both the farrier and for blanketing him for this winter weather we're getting. He was outstanding for both!