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  SOLD....5/2010 Congrats to Heidi S.! Signatures Saturn (DW Signature x Bint Serr Pasha) 15.1 hand straight Egyptian. 1998 model. He has completed all 5 rides I entered him in so far. He has excellent recoveries and is super on trail. Click here to see his pedigree: http://www.allbreedpedigree.com/signatures+saturn I am sending in my entry for the NJ Canal ride. 25 mile CTR held in New Jersey on November 1rst. Depening on how Saturn does, will determine which distance I enter him in for the Mustang Memorial endurance rides, held on November 14th and 15th. I really want to enter him in the 50, so I can finally get one under my belt, but it all depends on how he feels. I will post later on he does...... NJ Canal 25 mile CTR, November 1rst 2009. I loaded up Saturn on Saturday and headed for NJ. It rained the whole way there, 2 hours of driving in non-stop rain. Yuck. I got to base camp around 5:00 p.m. Parked in the field next to my friend Renee, and set up my corral panels for Saturn. He is a very good camper. At this CTR, they do all the vetting in the morning of the ride. So there wasn't much to do but visit with friends the rest of the night. It was drizzling, but a bunch of us sat under Renee's awning and shared a dinner of chili, macoroni salad, chips, dessert and wine. Nice. Then when the wind finally started blowing the rain hard enough to make us wet, we all departed to our own trailers for the night. I am roughing it, sleeping in my 12 stock trailer with a camping mat and a sleeping bag. Portable toilet consists of kitty litter in a 5 gallon bucket. Nothing fancy by any means, but it works for me. Rained most of the night. Got up at 5:30a.m. to feed Saturn, and sit and have my own breakfast. Vetting in went well. I put his easy boots on his fronts over his shoes. The towpath along the canal is concussive. The first 7 miles were fast, as Saturn and George (Renee's mount) had alot of energy. Saturn did most of the leading, as that's where he is best. The first loop is totally along the towpath, out and back for 15 miles. At the 20 minute hold, Saturn pulsed down to 40, breathing was 16. Awesome. Trotted out fine. I took his easy boots off at the hold to ride the second loop without them. Second loop is entirely in grassy fields and single track trail through the woods. Soft footing. Both horses still had plenty of gas in the tank as we did this loop. It was great. Back at the finish, 20 minutes till P&R's are taken. Saturn's final was 42/8. SUPER!! His trot out was good, but he was a little tired. Saturn did not want to drink on trail at all, except for one of the river crossings on the second loop. I use Perform N Win powdered elytes, and put that in his mash that morning. I think he drinks better on trail with out any elytes. He sure did eat enough through out the ride. Great eater. We finished in 2nd place HW division with a score of 96. His best score so far!! Whoo Hoo, I was happy. Points off were for overall body carraige , and willingness to trot out. And 2 points off for lameness. The vet said "he looked a little weak on his left front when you circled him to the right"....but he felt great the whole ride, so I am not fretting over that one. Mustang Memorial 50, here we come!!! Mustang Memorial 50 mile ride......November 15, 2009. I loaded Saturn on the trailer Saturday afternoon and pulled out at 1:50. It's a three hour drive to the Wharton State Forest where the ride is held. I got there a little after 5:00p.m. It was already dark. Found a dry place to park in the back 40. It's a long walk up to the front where vetting is, and the hold area. I got Saturn off the trailer, set up his corral and got him his water and hay so he could chow down. Took him up to vet in under the flood lights. The vet thought he looked funny on his LF, so held my card and told me to have him re-checked in the morning. Went to ride dinner where I had ziti and meatballs, hot apple cider, and some yummy choco cake. Ride meeting was brief, but clear. Red loop, white loop, blue loop. Red loop was 20 miles, white loop 15.8 miles, blue loop was 15.2 miles. Got up in the morning after sleeping in my trailer. Restless of tossing and turning. The trailer floor is HARD. 5:00 a.m. up and get Saturn fed. Nice beet pulp mash with Carb Guard and elytes mixed in. Yummy. At 6:30 I took him back up for his re-check. Art King watched him trot out and said "Good Luck"...so we were Ok'd to start. Saturn was anxious to start. I warmed him up at my trailer, didn't want to mix him in with the crowd at the starting line. I planned to start him at the back, and keep him slow and steady. This is my first attempt at a 50, and I did not want to blow out all his steam on the first loop. We left basecamp to cheers from Cate Peloquin and others I didn't know. "Ride safe" "Take it slow and easy" "Good luck".....that felt really nice. Saturn was controllable, but really moving out in his trot. He knew there were other horses up ahead, and he wanted to catch them. He pulled alot. We very quickly caught up to others. I met up with Kyle Gibbon and a small group who were stopped fixing a rider's rein issue. I stopped for a moment, but it was under control. Saturn did not like standing there. We moved on. He was feeling great. Go, go, go. Kyle caught back up to me and rode with me for a ways. It was good to ride with him again, he is doing so well in this sport. Makes me jealous. (grin) He was riding with Steve Rojek, who we caught up with. I figured since they both rode the same horse the day before, and were taking it easy today, that I would try not to let Saturn pass them. I assumed that if I rode their easy, slow 8mph pace, I'd be in good shape. Saturn did not start drinking on the first loop till about mile 15, then he stopped at several puddles and drank. The trails were awesome, good footing. I want to come back next year with Cosmo and do it barefoot. The sand and pine tree scenery is pretty, but very quickly becomes monotonous. We did the first loop in 2 and 1/2 hours on the dot. Hopped off Saturn at the check, Renee came to check his pulse for me. He was at 60, so we went right to the vets. When he trotted out, they thought he looked funny in his right hind. They held my card and said bring him back before you leave. We had a 45 minute hold. My out time was 11:00a.m. We went to our hold area where I had mash and hay ready for him. Renee took his saddle off and sponged him down for me while I ate a sandwich. Saturn ate all his mash and started on his hay. At ten minutes before my out time, I tacked him back up and went over to the vets. I trotted him halfway down and heard them yelling to come back. He was noticeably lame in the right hind. Dr. Art said it seemed like a bruised heel. (sigh) So my first attempt at a 50 came to an end right there. Saturn had felt fine the whole loop. I didn't notice any gimpiness in him. HOWEVER, since every ride I have done with him, he loses points in the lameness section, it is time to have him looked at. I had my vet out back in June to check him. She did the flexion tests on him, and he was fine. Nothing for her to make her want to exray anything. She said just ride him. But at every ride, the vets are seeing SOMETHING. And it's always a differant leg. Everything else on his card was all A's. So when I got home last night I called my vet to come and draw blood for a Lyme's test. When I got home, Saturn jumped off the trailer and trotted down to the barn. He looked perfectly fine to me. And he was fine this morning also. No heat, no swelling anywhere. I even had him worked on back in Sept. by a equine message person, who also does chiro work on them. He needed alot of adjustment then.....but was so much better after that.....so we will see what happens with him.
November 18th. Ok. I removed Saturn's shoes on the 16th. So he will be barefoot now also. Since I plan on starting Cosmo up for next years ride season, Saturn will have time to transition to barefoot. I hope he does as well as Cosmo did. The pic included above is immediately after I removed his shoes. November 26th. Had my vet out to draw blood today for the Lyme's test. It was negative. Then after explaining what happened at the last ride, she asked me to trot him out for her. She noticed something in his LF. After examing his leg, she found a mid-cannon, medial splint. Painful to palpation. So, that has been his problem all along. We were always looking at his FEET, and not higher up. That explains why when I used Easy Boots over his front shoes, he was better. He wasn't feeling the concussion. Vet recommended 4 months of rest. Which is just right for the time of year. Shoes are removed. Winter is here. And he will get the rest he needs for the splint to heal, and go barefoot at the same time. He is already doing VERY well barefoot. He's not ouchy crossing my gravel driveway. He is taking to it better than Cosmo did. I am so happy!! As soon as I get a chance, I will take a pic of his foot now that he's been barefoot 2 weeks, to compare with the photo above after pulling the shoes. It will be neat to see any changes. (11/09) I finally took more pics of Saturns feet. The bottom foot picture is approx. 3 1/2 months of being barefoot. There is nice concavity returning to the foot. The white line is tightening up. The nail holes have grown down and are almost out. The wall is thin in those areas. Other than the nails holes chipping out, Saturn has no cracks or chips in his feet. I think they look pretty good considering we have not had any dry periods this winter. The feet are wet most of the time. I bring them in at night so the feet have a chance to dry out. I still think his toes are forward flared, and am keeping a mustang roll on them to bring them back. They are a work in progress! His splint is healed. But I won't start riding him till some time in April, bringing him back slow to compete later in the summer. (updated 2/28/10) KNOWLEDGE IS POWER and I am beginning to feel very powerful. Once you step outside the box, and start learning new things, it opens up a whole other world. Learning about barefoot trimming, is "the other world" for me.
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