Long Time No Update!

Hey Everyone! Sorry I never updated on the show or anything. Jade had a fabulous time. Fred had an awesome practice ride with Jade on Friday, really was looking like a champ, we were so proud! Saturday morning the temp. dropped from the 80's into the 60's and boy could Fredly feel it! He was acting like a young man again but he still managed to tote her around the ring. She showed 3 classes...

Class 1) Saddleseat W/T (forgot the walk wasnt optional) got the blue but was the only one in her class

Class 2) English Pleasure (still not remembering the WALK part) W/T got 4th out of 6 but was absolutely fascinated she beat 2 horses!!!

Class 3) English Equitation W/T got 5th out of 7 and couldn't be happier. Fred decided he wanted to canter on the second trot and the judge was watching, but hey he walked this time!!!

She got many compliments on how well she handled him and most importantly had FUN!!!

It's SHOWTIME!!

Well the time has come, Fred will be attending his first show with us this weekend (October 17). It is a smaller show put on by the North Florida Arabian Horse Club at the Clay county fairgrounds. I am so excited to see him strut his stuff with his little rider aboard! Jade (10), who has been riding him since he first came here will be showing him in Saddleseat Pleasure W/T, English Pleasure W/T, and Saddleseat Equitation. We will leave Friday night and Fred will stay the night and settle in then it is showtime on Saturday. Hopefully all will go as planned and he will be nice and relaxed.

Fred's weight gain has about leveled out. I want to keep him on the thinner side b/c of his old man joints, but he no longer is looking ribby and has a nice thick saddlebred neck. He got body clipped this week and seems so much happier and cooler considering he had a full winter coat and it has been 90 degrees (in October...what?).

I will make sure to take tons of pictures this weekend and keep everybody update on how it goes!

Fred has found a Forever Home

As many of you know the original plan when we first got Fred was to rehab him fully and rehome him. Well I am glad to say Fred has finally found his home for the rest of his life...right where he is at. I have fully fallen in love with him and realize our riding styles and personalities are very similar. I feel completely safe and trusting with him when we are out on the trail and vice versa. And I have never enjoyed riding a horse on a trail more than I have with him. Yes, he is an old man but you would never be able to tell. He keeps up and passes all the other horses, and his favorite gait is anything but a walk. I only wish I had found him earlier in his life so we could have longer together.

Now with keeping him I have made another hard decision. With the economy being so bad I am needing to rehome a few horses. Fox my first horse will hopefully (fingers crossed) be going to Missouri to be a lesson horse. I know that will be a very tearful day, I have owned him for about 10 years, and we have a bond that will never be forgotten...but I know he will love growing old up there out of this heat, and having tons of little girls to love all over him for the rest of his days. And I have also decided to rehome Cody, at least on a free lease until he finds the perfect home. Cody and I have always gotten along but I have never truly felt a strong loyal connection with him. I am hoping to find him someone who can give him the time he deserves to truly be all-trusting.

But as for this blog it will no longer be just about Fred's recovery, but about our Journey together and all of Drop Dead Fred's adventures.

Fabulous Fred

and he is doing just that...fabulous! I switched him from Seminole Senior Feed and Purina Sweet and I have a new horse! He has taken the energy level down a few notches and is really starting to blossom and trust his rider under saddle. Wednesday he had his first lesson with Jade in a long time and he was on his best behavior, didn't miss a beat!

Weight wise he is looking awesome. No more ribs for Fred and his hips are now beginning to fill out. His neck is also alot thicker and you can no longer feel every ring in his throat, and he hasn't choked since we switched his grain over (which is a HUGE relief for both of us). I promise to try to get some photos soon, I am wanting to hit the trails before we leave for N.C. on wednesday so I will try to get some then!

Happy Trails :-)

Getting Fat and Happy

Fred is doing better everyday and is slowly but surely putting on weight and muscle. We've had to call Nancarrow (vet) out the past week b/c Fred has been choking easily. The first time he passed it in about 20 minutes and then was confused as to why we wouldn't let him finish his dinner. The second time was a bit scarier. He didn't pass it for about 45 minutes and was coughing up mucus, while it nose was getting leaky...not fun. When Nancarrow came out and tubed him he noticed he had a pretty deformed trachea. I had always noticed it stuck out to the left of his neck and you could feel each individual ring. I figured it was just b/c he was so skinny and thought it would go away. Nancarrow said that b/c the trachea is so screwed up it may mean the esophagus is deformed as well, causing him to choke. Needless to say, everything Fred eats is fully soaked. His grain is now reduced to a soup and he loves being messy with it.

We haven't gone riding in awhile due to the 20 some odd inches of rain we have had fall the past week. We are going to try to go out tomorrow though. Right now Fred is just content to finally be able to go back outside and not have to swim.

Sorry it took so long for the update, have an awesome week!

First Lesson and Trail Ride

Fred had his first lesson and trail ride this week. He was very good for Jade during the lesson, she was just a bit timid of his size. She did go from a 15 hand appy to a almost 17 hand Saddlebred. She adjusted well and he tolerated her timidness like a champ.

Chris and I decided to take Charley and Fred on a trail ride together the other day, a bit weary of how Fred would behave. Not sure why because Fred is always impressing us with how relaxed he is. Of course he was very well behaved. He handled riding on the side of the street better than an actual trail. He wasn't too sure about the woods but still tried his hardest. Never flinched when cars passed or when we rode past other horses. All in all he got an A+!

Health/Weight wise he is doing great. His coat looks so much shinier and healthier than before and he gaining weight quite consistently. His back is quite low from not having the muscle to hold it up, he will probably always be sway backed but he doesn't seem to have any back pain from it. The photo is from his ride the other day.

Happy Trails!!

Doing great!

Fred has been here for almost 2 weeks and is doing awesome. Everyone has fallen in love with him and he is finally coming out of his shell a bit. He is greeting us when we come into the barn in the morning, and expecting his nightly carrots after we feed at night. He finally figured out there is a window facing the barn aisle and is actually using it (before he only stuck his head out the outside window). Nancarrow came out and floated his teeth, he said they actually weren't too horrible...which was surprising considering he was have trouble chewing. But all is good now and he was given a clean bill of health. I am starting to see weight gain on him, and his coat is looking alot shinier.

Fred has his first lesson on Saturday and I am excited to see how he does. He is so awesome when I ride him, so it will be interesting to see how well he behaves with a beginner. Yesterday when I rode him we went on a mini trail ride out around the lake and of course he was a perfect gentleman! He walked right over our wooden bridge and everything. I will try to remember to get pictures of his first lesson, he is looking so good!

Finally Settled In

After 5 days of settling in and making his new herd feel like "home" I think it is safe to say Fred is fully adjusted. We went for a ride today in the arena and he was perfect and very understanding of me trying to figure him out. Like we had guessed before, Fred has definitely been shown, but what we didn't know was how extensively he was shown. He is 5 gaited, which in itself takes about 18 months of professional training just to get showable. He sets his head quite naturally and uses his hind legs very well. And I am beginning to figure out his cues to rack (completely foreign to me) and I love it! Although we are doing pretty much nothing except walking and a little racking (his preferred gait) he tries so hard to do everything I ask of him. Mom is convinced he was a champion show horse (as she puts it), we will never know but he sure has the pride of one.

It seems everytime I go out and spend some time with him I discover what might be a little part of his past. The other day when I was currying him I noticed a good size scar right down the middle of his belly, very old but noticeable. The more I curried, and the more winter coat that came off, the more prominent it became. Almost reminds me of a scar from a colic surgery, if it is, someone really cared enough about him to invest thousands of dollars in an unpredictable surgery.

He is really taking a liking to Fox and yesterday they actually shared a mutual pile of hay, which is a HUGE step for Fox in the acceptance department. He has also slowed down his eating, but still thoroughly enjoys his T&A hay. The Vet is coming out tomorrow to float his teeth, and give him a checkup. Hopefully all is well!

No pictures today but next time I saddle him up (maybe for a trail ride?) I will definitely snap a few!

Fred's 1st Day

Fred made it here today around 2:00 PM. Unloaded him and put him in his stall and he started chowing down immediately...needless to say he is already quite all right with his new "digs". As we were cleaning out the trailer he was getting very vocal about being the only one inside on such a beautiful day. We let him out around the barn so he could check everyone out while they were in their pastures. He made his rounds to say hello to all of his new friends, and then found some leftover hay and started munching away. He is VERY food oriented. He is settling in nicely besides the occasional squeal when someone sniffs too much, letting them know he means business! I have no worries he will be at home tomorrow once he gets a night under his girth!

I am going to try to get the vet out this week to get his teeth taken care of, and just a checkup to make sure he is doing good. Besides all that his feet are in great shape and he is shedding like crazy! The picture is of him from today after saying his hello's!

The Beginnings of Fred

<--Fred when he was first rescued

Since this is the first post on Fred I will let everyone know what little background information I have on this gentleman. Fred was rescued by a lady in Lake Helen named Monica, she found his ad on Craigslist. She said the picture was of this skinny, lanky saddlebred hooked up to a cart by someone who obviously had no idea what they were doing. She knew he had to be a decent horse to tolerate someone else's stupidness. When she actually went to see him she was appalled by what was standing in front of her. He was about a 2 on the emaciated scale but still had enough will to trot when being led. When she confronted the man who had him as to why he was so skinny, he simply said because he didn't have enough money to feed all of his horses so he figured he would let Fred starve. At that point Monica handed him $100 and loaded Fred up.

The following is all we know about Fred:

- He is a 20 yr old Saddlebred Gelding (5 gaited)

- His name was originally "Rouge" by the owners that starved him. Rouge is french for Red which then evolved into Fred

- He is registered but have no idea what his name is maybe something with "Rouge" in it

- Rides and Drives with the best attitude

What we are assuming:

- He has obviously been shown before, knows how to set his head...has a total show horse mentality

When Monica had the vet out the day after getting him he said he was probably a week away from dieing. She gave him all of his shots, had his feet done, and has slowly been bringing him back. I saw a post on the flahorse board about Fred and decided to email Monica since I had been keeping my eyes out for lesson horses for the new farm. I had seen her orginal posts when she first got him and remember thinking about how much he reminded me of my old Saddlebred Sonny. Needless to say I set up a time for myself and Chris to go take a look. We got to the barn a little bit before Monica and stood on the fence and watched him for a bit. After about 5 minutes he finally decided to come check us out. He had just gotten a new hay roll so he was much more enthused with eating then us! When Monica got there we went into his pasture and he stood there and hungout with us for about 15 minutes and let us rub all over him.

Leading him out of the pasture he pranced along side of me, not trying to get away or anything, just being happy. He stood perfectly to be saddled and perfectly to get on. He was a perfect gentleman and listened and tried his hardest. Needless to say there was no way I couldn't offer him a home to complete his recovery. He will come to his new home and meet his new herd this Saturday.

He needs about 100 or so more pounds and of course some muscle, to look his best. But what amazes me is that even though he was a week away from dieing he seems to hold no grudges. He has the spirit of a true Saddlebred, and has proved that it is unbreakable. I look forward to helping him with his Journey, and keeping ya'll posted along the way.