We arrived home from vacation last night, only to wake up really early this morning so we could attend the last day of the California State Fair…

Needless to say, I’m pooped.

Anyway, to get back to our arrival home, as predicted there were no issues while we were gone – other than the horses are even fatter.  I don’t know what it is about horse feeders but they always think more is better.

To be fair, from their point of view, ‘better fat than skinny’…  So, I’m not complaining.  All the waterers were full, half the fly masks were on (it is always easier to take them off than put them back on) and no one had any injuries.

All was good.  The feeders had been successful.

Yay!  I fretted for nothing.  As usual.

 

DO YOU EVER ASK YOURSELF…

So, let me ask  you… do you ever go on vacation and find yourself musing about how much your horse would like it there?

That happened to me on this trip.

We went to Grant’s Pass, Oregon.  You might not have heard of that town but you’ve probably heard of the Rogue River.  Well, the Rogue River runs through Grant’s Pass.

The valley is gorgeous.  Beautiful.  Mountains, valleys, rivers, greenery and glory.  Simply awesome.

And, there were gazillions of blackberry bushes.

Y’know, when you live in Oregon, blackberries are the scourge of the earth.  They take over EVERYTHING.

But, when you don’t live in Oregon, blackberries are a delicacy – especially straight off the vine when the sun has warmed them.  YUM-MY!

Anyway, my trail horse Finn loves blackberries.  He also loves single track trails, trees and river paths.

So, as I was picking warm blackberries off the vine while trekking on a glorious single track trail through the trees and near the river, I thought to myself:

“Wow, Finn would really love it here!”.

And then I smiled.

Do other humans think like this, I wondered?

 

 

 

AN UPDATE ON A CONTEST WINNER HORSE, APOLLO

About a month ago, H&M had a contest to give away particular Omega Alpha products that I love.  (I have no affiliation with Omega Alpha.  I just really believe in their products.)  To enter the contest, those of you who were interested were asked to write your stories on why you felt your horse could benefit from whichever product desired.

Upon reading all the submissions, Omega Alpha sent product to 38 of you.  Nice!

It is now about time for me to write to all the participants to see how they are doing…  but before I was able to send out the emails, I received this note in the my inbox today.  Apollo’s AFTER letter!

Here is the ‘before’ letter that won Apollo a free trial of Respi-Free and then the ‘after’ letter from today.  Thank you, Red Falcon Ranch!

BEFORE LETTER:

Hi Dawn!

I am submitting our horse, Apollo, for your contest.  He is a 13 year old Appendix QH ridden by my 11 year old daughter, Sarah.  Sarah has struggled with confidence issues riding horse and could never find the right horse in our herd to connect with.  Apollo is a gentle horse, but at 15.3 hands, Sarah always felt he was too big for her.  She would say, “my eyes are too far off the ground”.  Finally, in February of this year, I found a wonderful young woman horse trainer/riding instructor that my girls really connected with.  Sarah was game to give Apollo a try in a controlled environment.  They clicked right away.  Sarah poured all of her love into Apollo and he was happy to let her fuss over him for hours with brushing and mane and tail braiding.  For two months I trailered the girls and their horses to the trainer’s barn and they improved quickly in their riding skills.  Sarah even started working on small jumps with cavaletti.  Then April came.  Apollo started a small cough.  We had never experienced this before, so Sarah skipped her lesson.  The cough didn’t go away after a week so I contacted the vet.  He said that it was allergic bronchitis, aka heaves.  The vet recommended Tri-hist, but we really didn’t want to start him on medication, so tried Cough Free first.  After several weeks we did not have any relief from the cough.  We decided to go with the Tri-hist and again, it has been several weeks with no change.  No change, no riding lessons, and no trail riding — which is what we love to do as a family.  Sarah finally found the horse that gives her confidence.  Apollo’s quiet confidence and ability were just what Sarah needed.  It is now June.  We live in Minnesota and have a limited riding season, with right now being the best time of the year.  Sarah loves Apollo so much, but now is not riding him.  Finding a product to relieve his cough will get Sarah and Apollo back on the trail and back in riding lessons to continue her horsemanship skills.  It is so hard watching a beautiful member of our family struggle with breathing and we welcome an opportunity to find him relief.

Attached are some photos of Sarah and Apollo.

 

THE AFTER LETTER:

Dear Dawn,

I want to thank you so much for sending us the bottle of Respi-Free.  We have been using it for about a month now.  We give Apollo 40cc in the morning.  We drench it in the back of his mouth with a drenching gun when he is done with his morning ration.  I am so happy to say he is doing incredibly better.  We have tried other products with no results.  Respi-Free really does work!

Last Friday, we loaded up the horses and drove two hours to a beautiful state park.  We rode across a prairie and up and down steep hills with not one cough or heavy breathing episode.
Attached are photos of Sarah and Apollo back out on the trail.

Again, I can not thank you enough.  I will be ordering another bottle in the next week.

 

 

HORSE AND MAN is a blog in growth… if you like this, please pass it around!

 

 

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