Rio's History

I finally got a hold of the woman, Pat, who gave Rio to Alicia Gaarder to sell. Alicia was who sold Rio to Cindy (his previous owner). Cindy was who I bought Rio from. Turns out Rio's name used to be "Yoyo" and that he was owned by a woman named Pat for 4-5 years before he was sold to Cindy (who had him for 3 years). Before that he was used by an older guy in MN for trial riding. So, he's not from Montana and not - nor never was - a registered quarter horse. If he's 13 now, which was what the equine dentist said, that means he was 10 when Cindy bought him, and he was 5 or 6 when Pat bought him. Used as a trail horse for most of his life and as only had training within the past year.

Time for Heavy Sheets and Winter Blankets

It has officially gotten cold enough in MN for Rio to need his heaviest blanket. Luckily with his new haircut he cooled off quickly so that I didn't have to worry about him being too sweaty when I put it on him. He was so funny once he was cooled off and I put the blanket on him. He kept trying to see if I had more "noms" and treats for him, so he wouldn't sit still long enough to get a good photo of his new "clean" blanket.

Rio's Trace Clip

After Rio got his teeth done on Friday I thought it would be a good time for me to clip him. I wasn't really expecting him to be naughty that I needed him to be doped up while clipping him, but it seemed like an easy thing to do. I tried to use this technique that I read about in a Knack Book on grooming where you use tape to mark your lines on where you're going to clip. It was a good idea in theory, but once Rio started to wake up the tape didn't really stay in place. In the end he got a higher trace clip than I had intended to give him, but it still looked pretty good. It'll be interesting to see how long it takes for him to cool off tonight after our lesson.

Rio Get's His Teeth Done

Rio Get's His Teeth Done

The Equine Dentist came to the barn yesterday and Rio got his teeth done. They gave him a dose of "sleepy pony" and put the face thing on and I got to put my whole forearm into his mouth and feel his teeth. They were really interesting. I was expecting to feel these ridges and sharp points from the way horses chew their food. Not the case. The teeth were all bumpy and had a lot of ridges and almost no sharp points. When the dentist started Rio was still pretty wiggly, so they had to give him a second dose. Even with that apparently he still tried to chew a lot and moved him mouth around, hence all the blood in the photos above. After the dentists were all done his teeth felt much nicer. No odd ridges or bumps...just smoothness. It'll be interesting to see how Rio rides after this because since he has some mouth sensitivity the dentist said that this would probably help. I also asked them if they could confirm an age for me, since the seller said 11 and the vet said 12-15. The dentist said that Rio is probably closest to 13. So...13 he is. See the video of the dentist at work.

Planning Rio's Haircut

Rio has still been getting pretty sweaty. Not nearly as much as before since he's lost some weight, but it still takes quite a while for him to cool off. After careful consideration I've decided to give my hairy beast (see bottom photo above of Rio in his cooling sheet how hairy his neck is) a low trace clip (see "Figure 6" illustration above at the top). The photo in the middle is Rio after having worn his cooler for about 45-50mins and having it removed. It was cool, but still pretty wet by the girth, belly, top of the legs and chest.

Lesson with Rio - 11/2010 (2)

Lesson with Rio - 11/2010