Yesterday I took off from work early in order to get a ride in my new mare Jewell while we had a day of warmer temperatures and bright sunshine.

My neighbor has been giving my musician husband riding lessons. I saddled up to go join them in her arena. Jewell was looking around as usual, then spied the mechanical gate walker used at Kentucky Equine Research to exercise the horses used for nutrition research. The fast movement of several horses and the mechanical noises had her on edge.

I walked her and stopped several times so she could see it from several angles, then entered the arena and walked her around there to see it again from that angle.

Then a couple of other research horses were turned out with full muzzels (they can't graze, but they can drink and get exercise). I'm sure they are a strange sight to an unfamiliar horse.

We worked, but Jewell was reluctant to move forward off my leg. Since we are still learning each other, I assumed she was just being obstanate. I should have known better.

We didn't work hard or long, but when I finished, she was very sweated up and seemed to be moving a little stiff. I dismounted and the first shadow of "Uh oh" creeped into my dull brain.

Was Jewell tying-up?

We had to walk home (I was leading her), and we took it very slowly. It wasn't far. She was stiff, her respiratory rate was higher than it should have been, but she didn't seem in excess pain or refuse to move.

She was sweaty and her respiration rate was still higher than it should have been when I made it home. My husband and I toweled her off as I didn't want to walk her to cool her out. I watched her for a while, still wondering if I was correct about my lay diagnosis. I turned her loose in the dry lot just to see if she still was moving stiffly, and she was. She loves to roll, so I put out a big pile of fresh hay to tempt her if she wanted to lay down. She wanted to, but didn't. When she postured to urinate and was almost too stiff to be able to posture, time to call Dr. Carol McLeod.

After going over clinical signs, Dr. McLeod said she'd be there in 30 minutes.

Her notes said: Mild tying-up. Heart rate 44. Respirations 32. Splinted abdomen (trying to hold muscles still so they wouldn't hurt), but muscles were soft (often horses that are tying-up have rock-hard muscles). Eating hay slowly. Mucous membranes were pink and moist.

She treated Jewell with IV bute and banamine, and said she'll come back mid-morning today to see how she is.

I covered her with a fleece blanket to keep her muscles a little warm in the cold night air at Dr. McLeod's suggestion (I don't have a horse blanket--yet). She didn't drink while I was there, but she was eating hay.

At 3:30 a.m. I convinced myself that going down and bothering them wouldn't be any help. At 6 I couldn't wait any more (and usually I'm at the barn by 6:30 anyway). She walked up normally, and she immediately started in on the hay I put out.

Now let me go back to last night after I had tucked Jewell in for the night.

I talked to Dr. Joe Pagan, one of the leading equine nutritionsts in the world. THis mare was not a nervous sort (what we typically see in Thoroughbreds that tie up). My daughter had ridden her solo and with strange groups of horses over all types of territory. She'd worked her 20 miles in one day herding cattle.

He told me of an unpublished study by Dr. Stephanie Valberg of the University of Minnesota, one of the foremost researchers into polysaccharide storage myopathy (PSSM). Dr. Valberg had traveled out west and tested a large group of Quarter Horses for the genetic defect that causes PSSM. She found while quite a few had the defect, none showed clinical signs. The assumption was because of the low-carb diet that most of those horses lived on; dry pastures and alfalfa hay (which is low in structural carbohydrates).

I know the grasses in Kentucky have high sugar content. And our hays here are the same.

So, I sent an email to Dr. Valberg last night and I'll talk to Dr. McLeod today. We'll test Jewell and see if she carries the genetic defect for PSSM. Then we'll make our decisions from there.

For me, while it's only been two weeks, I've fallen for Jewell. I hate the thought of dry lotting her for the rest of her life here in Kentucky, and I hate the thought of having to give her up to go live back out in Wyoming with my daughter.

Anyway, here are a couple of articles on PSSM. TheHorse.com has lots more information, but I thought this might help you as it helped me.

AAEP 2008: Genetic Diagnosis of Polysaccharide Storage Myopathy

Researchers Examine Effects of Hay Carbs on PSSM Horses

Those of you with PSSM horses, what are your management options in case this is the problem?

Please take time to go visit the American Horse Publications Horse Industry Survey, sponsored by Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health and Pfizer Animal Health.

Share the link with your friends: www.horsesurvey.org.

Thank you!

When my daughter Barbara came in from Wyoming, she pulled a three-horse slant trailer with her crew-cab GMC diesel truck. She's lived in Wyoming for two years, meaning two winters, and that truck wasn't a four-wheel-drive vehicle. So she decided while she was home and dealers were having sales she would try to find a new four-wheel-drive truck.

Let the shopping begin!

Online was the first stop. See what was available in the area. Results? Not much.

I've driven Fords all my life (my dad ran a Ford dealership when I was a kid). My youngest daughter wouldn't be caught dead in a truck unless it was a Dodge. And my older girl loves her GMC/Chevy. Barbara was open at first to looking around, then decided she wanted to stay with what she'd had success with.

So, we went GMC/Chevy shopping. And they were having a 0% financing deal, which made looking at new trucks an option. She was open to a variety of makes and models, trying to keep the price reasonable. But she really wanted a Chevy or GMC crew cab, four-wheel-drive, diesel. It had to be equipped with a gooseneck to tow her trailer home. And we had four days before she returned Wyoming.

One dealership about 45 minutes from where we live, Mike Wilson Chevy near Winchester, Ky., had 15 trucks on the lot; many other dealerships had one or two, and not what she was looking for. Barbara worked the poor salesman like a rented mule. She drove multiple types of each vehicle, from a stripped-down "work model" Chevy Sierra extended cab to a club cab duelly.

She finally settled on what she wanted, and it wasn't in stock at that dealership. So the dealer went online (back to the digital world). He found exactly what she was looking for, except it was a white truck. But, it was equipped as she wanted, so like a good horse, the color often is your last choice.

We made the deal (and Barbara is a top-notch horse trader), and they were to go pick up the truck and get it back to have the gooseneck installed and do some of the other detailing needed.

Next day we get a call from our dealer. Seems the other dealership backed out. Don't panic, another truck had been located. Good news, it wasn't white!

Okay. This seemed like good news for us. We needed to get Barbara's truck back to the dealership to get the running boards removed to speed up the turnaround time.

Once there, more bad news. The other dealer had sold the vehicle out from under us. But, not to worry, they'd actually found two more. A little farther away, but the good news was the black one had all the options Barbara wanted, plus more "bells and whistles." And the dealership was sending a guy up at 3 am the next day to pick it up for the same price as the original.

To shorten the rest of the story, Mike Wilson Chevy got the truck in, had the gooseneck hitch installed by a place we've had do work for us before so we knew it was quality even though it was done quickly. And as dark fell the night before Barbara had to drive back to Wyoming, she got in her truck and drove back to our little farm in Versailles, happy as a clam.

Hitch worked fine. We loaded up the furniture she was taking back with her, and the next day off they went b back to Wyoming in the shiney new black GMC crew-cab, four-door, diesel, with all the bells and whistles!

She said the truck was a dream as she drove it the 21-plus hours home. Cody (her Aussie/Border Collie cross) had plenty of room to lay on the back seat on his new blanket. The seats were comfortable and adjusted to the drivers or for the passenger to lay back and sleep. The satellite radio gave them plenty of tunes. The OnStar was available in case they had problems and weren't in cell phone service. And it was much quieter than her older truck. Those highway miles are supposed to be good for breaking in a new truck.

So, have you taken advantage of the "cash for clunkers" or all the great deals on trucks right now? What's your preference? Do you ahve a "I bought a new turck" story to share?

My daughter arrived yesterday with my new horse, Jewell!

She's a 7-year-old sorrel Quarter Horse mare. She's ranch-bred, has worked cattle, been trail ridden in the Tetons for hunting and camping, and done lots of other ranch work. She even worked a bit as a wrangler horse at the dude ranch this summer. (At 9,000 feet I bet her oxygen-carrying capacity is much better than mine.)

Jewell traveled well (ate, drank, peed, and pooped regularly on the drive), and the weather was good for traveling from Wyoming to Kentucky.

She was happy to get out and stretch her legs and crop some grass. We put all the other "critters" in the adjoining paddock so they could visit across the fence (I know, bad for disease control, but my property is too small to have isolation). Jewell was at one farm with no disease problems prior to her travels, and she had been vaccinated and had health papers and a new Coggins. (Only vaccine she needs for Kentucky that they don't use in Wyoming is rabies. Everything on the property, including the goats, are all vaccinated. We had a bad year with rabid wildlife and domestic animals in Central Kentucky this year.)

I let the goats into the field with her yesterday afternoon, and I guess she's never seen goats before, because she certainly looked hard at them. But after trying to herd them a bit Jewell pretty much ignored them (she thinks they smell funny).

We went for a short trail ride yesterday afternoon. Mostly walking with a short jog now and then. My daughter, Barbara, and neighbor, Anna, each rode a youngster, so Jewell was the old pro on the ride. My hubby, Ben, walked along with us for a spell (I think just to see how long I could smile without getting facial cramps).

This afternoon the rest of the herd was let over to get acquainted, and apparently there were a few hindquarters shown, then everyone settled in to graze without a fuss. I'm sure Dusty, the retired Paint gelding, is glad to have someone his own size to do some mutual grooming. The two Miniature Horses and the Miniature Donkey weren't tall enough to reach his back.

Anyhow, I'm very pleased with her attitude, personality, and willingness. I'm sure over the next few weeks and months we'll learn a lot more about each other. (My hubby even made noises about a new truck and trailer!)

Please share some tips on getting acquainted with a new horse; pros and cons!

Fall is nearly gone, and winter is coming fast. November will be here before you know it. That means Thanksgiving and a time of reflection.

My reflections lately have been centered around family, work, the farm, the future. I'm sure if my Dad were still alive, he would have shaken his head at all of the economic problems this country has faced in the past year. He was a child of the Great Depression, World Wars, and Eastern Kentucky. He was one of the “don't buy it if you can't afford it" generation. I believe this past year has pushed more of us into that mindset; avoid debt—save until you can afford it.

But one thing that has come to mind is occasionally there are times in your life you have to take that big step into the darkness while holding on to faith that things will improve. That faith has me believing we are headed for more secure financial times, albeit perhaps with a little more reflection on practicality before spending. That faith had me horse shopping, and horse buying.

Horse Shopping Means Swapping

In order to have time for a new horse of my own, I'm going to have to “swap out" some of the money and time I'm spending elsewhere in order to keep my equestrian passion alive and well.

I think that's what a lot of people have done this past year. I was surprised when we did our recent magazine survey to see that while people's incomes and net worth had declined (as expected), the average number of horses owned held solid.

Our readers weren't willing to give up their horses despite a decline in their financial status. So, they had to find ways to swap out money and time.

The one thing everyone has in common is 24 hours in a day. But, how do we find time to devote to our horses?

We all know we spend 80-90% of our “horse" time on the ground doing things (mucking, grooming, mowing, cleaning) rather than riding. But for a horse person, that's part of the passion. (Okay, hauling buckets of water through freezing weather because the hydrant froze--again--isn't really a positive, but it certainly takes passion to do that!)

We find time by evaluating what we are doing and by learning to accept we can't do everything. Prioritizing is key.

For some people this past year has meant giving up some or all of their horses. But I hope as time and resources return that they, too, will return to the fold of horse owners.

In the meantime, keep your eyes open for a good horse that needs a home. I'll have mine soon, but perhaps you can find your next horse.

And have some fun swapping out your time and finances. It doesn't have to be a burden. I found that not dusting the furniture as often doesn't really cause the roof to collapse (contrary to what my mother believes).

Have a great fall, and share with us how you have made the "swap" to have money and time to spend with your horses.