Holly Hill HT: The “everything else” part

Published on by Amanda C

A lot can happen in 3 days a horse show, and this one was no exception. There were a lot of other extraneous things going on outside of the show itself that I wanted to talk about.

First of all, we tried Magna Wave for the first time. Yes we, because the practitioner let me feel it too, before she put it on Henry.

Image result for magna wave

I was so fascinated with watching and asking questions that I totally forgot to take a picture. But Henry was licking and chewing within a minute of starting the session, and although we kept it light and short since it was his first time, he definitely seemed to enjoy it. I’d had some issues the previous few rides with getting him to connect in the right rein, and the next morning after the Magna Wave treatment he definitely seemed better in that regard. I need to look into the local MW person more to see what her prices and travel availability are.

Second thing – the cot. This was the first time trying out the new cot, and I figured it would be the perfect opportunity since it was supposed to be cold at night and the humidity is always so bad in Louisiana that if you tent camp, it ends up dripping condensation on you INSIDE of the tent. Waking up with a wet head/pillow at 4am is about as fun as it sounds. I learned my lesson about that the first time we were here 2 years ago. Not doing it again.

my really fancy room for the weekend

So I cleaned out the horse part of the trailer, laid a tarp down over the shavings, and set up my bed. First was the cot, then it’s cushion, then a top sheet, then a fleece blanket, then a quilt, and then I opened up a sleeping bag to serve as a comforter. I pulled the door mat out of the dressing room to put inside and voila – I had a decent little space. I was pretty darn comfortable back there, and the cot worked out well. I’m a splayed-out stomach sleeper, so I do wish the cot was maybe 6″ wider, but I slept well anyway. It was nice being able to completely close up the trailer to keep some of the chill out, especially on Friday night when it dipped down to 45 degrees. I think the cot will be a good viable option for when tent camping isn’t so practical, so in that regard it was a successful test run and totally worth the cot’s $50 purchase price.

Next up on this recap of randomness, we have a video of Henry eating a Pop-Tart, which he LOVES, but I don’t give him often. I had run out of treats and this was what I had as backup. What, you don’t keep emergency Pop-Tarts in your trunk? Weird. Wondering why the hell I’m showing you this video? He got the Pop-Tarts to hold him over until I could go get my wallet and run to one of the vendors to buy him some more. I wanted you to see what led to the circumstances I found myself in, how it started with the purely innocent goal of buying my unicorn some well-deserved treats. SURELY YOU SEE WHERE THIS IS GOING.

Yeaaaaah so I bought cookies… and new dressage reins. My only real complaint about my Eponia bridle is the stupid rubberized web reins that came with it, but I never have gotten around to replacing them. On Friday I spent what felt like 3 hours cleaning those stiff, stupid things before giving up on getting all the dirt out of the webbing, so on Saturday when I went to get Henry some more cookies and saw the Kavalkade soft reins (because one does not just walk into a mobile tack shop without browsing just a little, right?), I was sold.

Well ok, I told the vendor that I would buy them only IF she removed the stupid martingale stops for me, which I also never remembered to do with the Eponia ones. She pulled out a knife, sliced through the stitching on each one, and I got myself a new pair of dressage reins. I’ll do a review once I use and abuse them for a while, but Riding Warehouse also carries them in black and brown in a 3/4″ width and a 1/2″ width. I think I’ll set the Eponia reins on fire and laugh maniacally while I watch them burn. Just kidding. Probably.

Image result for watch it burn gif

On Sunday morning I started prepping Henry’s stud holes early, and I’m really glad I did because as soon as I picked up the left hind I knew we had a problem. Somehow he had twisted his shoe about 1/2″ to the inside and stepped on the clip. He was totally sound on it and didn’t even seem to notice, but clearly I couldn’t run him XC like that. I called the show farrier and off we trudged to meet him at his truck.

Chillin with 3 shoes, because this is definitely what you want to be doing an hour and a half before XC

He pulled the shoe off, noting that luckily the clip had stayed in the wall (right where the nails typically go) and didn’t make it any further into the hoof. Henry had an ever so slight reaction the first time he clamped down with the hoof testers, then nada. I asked him whether he thought I should scratch (he’s from a family of eventers so I trust his opinion) and he replied with a very emphatic heck no, but maybe pack the foot with Magic Cushion overnight in case there’s any latent soreness there. I do that anyway after XC, so no biggie. This farrier is very good and has actually mentored my own farrier quite a bit, so he asked me to take some pictures with a couple of slight changes he suggests my farrier make. He bent the inside heel of both hind shoes in a bit more to help prevent Henry from being able to step on himself as easily back there, and then had to re-tap to make sure the stud holes were still good after that. It was NOT a cheap show farrier visit, but he got the twisted shoe fixed, addressed why it happened, we got a bit of a “consultation” if you will, and Henry trotted off 100% sound.

I might be biased but I think this boy is pretty handsome

Speaking of Henry feeling fantastic, he also looks pretty darn good right now. He’s FIT and he’s strong, and I’m really happy with his overall condition. He must be feeling as good as he looks, because on Sunday morning before XC I tried to take him out to graze and all he wanted to do was drag me to XC warmup and stare off into the distance at cross country. He knew exactly what it was and that it was his next phase. Henry is normally relatively chill in XC warmup, and always stands very quietly, almost looking asleep, in the startbox… not this time. He was spring-loaded and I had to circle through the box until our 10 second countdown. He exploded out of there, ears already on the first fence. I think between his fitness level and the temperatures finally cooling off, he’s pretty full of himself. He really feels like a horse that understands his job, and seems confident about it and happy to do it. I came away from this show feeling very satisfied with where he’s at, mentally and physically, and that’s what’s most exciting to me.

43 thoughts on “Holly Hill HT: The “everything else” part”

  1. One of the boarders at my barn is a massage and magnawave person. (I am sure there is a better term for this than “person” but the caffeine has not kicked in yet.) she gave me a free trial, doing May’s hooves right after I pulled her shoes. My first thought was, “There is no way that is going to make a difference.” Imagine my surprise when May walked happily over gravel right after her session… I haven’t been able to sneak it into the budget since then, but maybe with her half leaser we can make it a regular thing.

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    1. Given the success we’ve had with electroacupuncture for Henry, I’ve been wanting to try Magna Wave for a while. I’ve heard such good things from other people. Wish I was rich so I could just buy him one of those blankets.

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  3. My 16 year old gelding gets regular PEMF treatments (my lady has a Pulse machine instead of the MagnaWave, but they are basically the same thing) as well as myofacial release. I try to alternate each every other month. I definitely notice an increase in his comfort level after a session. It may be a complete placebo effect, who knows, although there is research in humans that the PEMF can help heal bone. I tend to try not to buy into “fad” medical treatments, especially for horses when there is usually little research on effectiveness, but as long as I continue to see results, then I may as well keep paying for it. I’m sure I would find some other way to spend that money on my horse haha

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  5. I’ve had the MW lady out a few times for my mare and the last two we tacked on an appointment for my husband who has very tight calfs. I’m not sure who loves it more to be honest.

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  6. My barn manager is a magnawave rep and I take advantage whenever she does specials. It’s helped my back and arthritic foot, and Juice seems to be a happy camper whenever I have her do his hips and shoulders. Totally worth it.

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  7. I do MagnaWave on my horses, and at first I was skeptical. Then the MagnaWave lady let me try it out on my back. I felt GREAT afterwards. We even get it for our older dog now as well.

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  8. My show barn has a MagnaWave and I get PEMF treatments on my horses at home as often as possible. I’ve also forced my husband to participate in PEMF (he has nerve damage from a botched surgery and needless to say has some significant chronic pain). Everyone benefits from it in some form or fashion. I’d love to win the lottery and buy my own, but dang they are ‘spensive!

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  9. I love Magnawave! I’m a naturally tense person predispositionally born with bad knees (thanks mom and dad) so I tend to feel more wear and tear from riding. Getting weekly or biweekly sessions was amazing. I always felt so loose afterwards, like having the greatest and longest massage of my life.

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  10. Henny has been pretty hard on his shoes the last few weeks, huh?
    Glad he didn´t hurt himself and hoepfully the tips will prevent him from stepping on them in the future.
    He looks really fit. I am in love with that one XC pics from one of your last shows, it shows off his well-muscled neck and shoulder *so* well!

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  11. I need Magnawave not my horse. My back and legs are still so tight from Saturday. Ridiculous. I am glad you bought Henry new treats poor deprived horse. Also those reins are NICE. I also do not use the Eponia reins but have a cheap set of other reins I use..hmmmm STOP SPENDING MY MONEY YOU WITCH (hahaha it is Halloween).

    Henry does look amazingly fit. When is your next/last show the one where you go P/T?? CANNOT WAIT

    Also glad the cot worked out. It is good to have a back up plan instead of tenting!

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    1. The tack shop also had Schockemohle calfskin reins (same style as what I got, but upgraded leather) that were SUPER nice. If I hadn’t just dropped a lot of money on other things I would have bought those. The Kavalkade seemed like a nice enough substitute for half the price, we’ll see how they hold up. If I like them I might get some in brown for my hackamore. I definitely prefer the feel of the leather reins as opposed to the the web.

      The P/T is next weekend, Nov 10-11! Still pooping myself a little.

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      1. oh good let’s keep this stuff rolling (i.e. P/T) You will be fine. As long as you have extra cookies and keep his shoes on HA. I will take a look at the Kavalkade I don’t want to spend a fortune but I do like nice reins. The one I am riding in are NOT Nice but are better than the Eponia ones that hurt my hands through the gloves LOL

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  12. Henry looks really good! Glad to hear his foot is no worse for the wear. I have heard great things about MagnaWave/PEMF, but have not personally tried it.

    Who goes to a tack store and only buys treats? This lady. That’s what happens when I can’t ride. I can’t justify buying anything else, so instead my horse gets a $13 tub of treats. Putting all my hard earned money to good use. Obviously.

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    1. I think the only place I can walk into regularly and only come out with what I went in for is Dover, because everything is marked up so much. I hate paying through the nose.

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      1. Since I work in a tack store and can buy anything we have at cost, it’s really hard for me to buy anything at full price unless it’s something we don’t carry. To be fair, we can order a lot of things, but sometimes I’m just not patient enough to wait on whatever it is to arrive.

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  14. Ooh the cot was the most interesting part to me (sorry Henny, love ya) I think my tack room would have room for one, so maybe time to upgrade from the mat… Your set up looks great! As does Henny!

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    1. I was pretty pleasantly surprised by the cot. It was comfortable (although I do like a firm sleeping surface… if you like something softer you might want to double up on the cushioning) and it’s really really easy to set up/take down. Like 30 seconds. Relatively small too, it fold up to fit easily against the back wall of the dressing room. It will live there so that I always have a backup sleeping place no matter where we are!

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  15. Did the horse smell not bother you when you slept? The one time I tried sleeping in the horse trailer I was up all night between the rubber mat and manure smell. I may need to try laying a tarp down. I’m getting too old for tent sleeping these days. Or just too grumpy for it.

    Henry looks amazing and what a cool feeling to have him know his job and go out there and get it done. All your hard work and training is paying off in spades this season. Good luck this weekend! You guy swill do awesome running P/T!

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    1. I kept the screens open on the windows for ventilation, but honestly no, horse smells don’t bother me much at all. I’m not even sure I smell it anymore. At this point I might even smell like horse poop 24/7 and I probably wouldn’t even know. LOL

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