Maggie Mae
Maggie - Poster Girl for Horse Protection Society of BC
Maggie is a Holsteiner x Thoroughbred mare, born 1999. Unfortunate circumstances found Maggie at an auction in 2006. You can see her postcard on the website for HPS, HorseProtectionSocietyofBC.com . When I saw her there I knew that this horse had something special. We bought her and brought her home thinking that we would probably show her for the summer and sell her as a jumper/event horse. We had a very talented young lady, Jill (Hartzenberg) Cross riding her for us, especially since I don’t jump more than the occasional log.
Maggie was indeed beautiful, although not in top condition. However, she had a real bad attitude and was very strong in her opinions. Maggie did not sell and we didn’t really know what to do with her. If anything her attitude just got worse.
First I decided to take a few steps back with Maggie and just “hack” her around the property. We rode on a loose rein, I let her pick her own pace and I took her to the park on the trails. Maggie developed a few problems with steep hills on the trail, although she was solid enough in her mind to not be a scared, spooky type she started “freaking out” going down hill.
I started to look for physical reasons for her strange behaviour, although she wasn’t lame in any way. I began with the farrier, trying some different shoeing options. In the end we put long trailers on her back feet for support, with a leather wedge on one foot to even out the angles. We found that she needed to be re-shod every 4 – 5 weeks to keep her happy and moving forward. With her front feet we just put regular shoes but we found that in the wet weather (of which we have a lot here in the Pacific North West) that we needed to keep her feet hard. Originally the vet suggested pads on her shoes, which worked well, but the following year I started in the fall spraying her feet with a mixture of formaldehyde and iodine three times per week and that kept her feet hard enough throughout the winter. Of course, she is stalled in the winter as well.
As Maggie began feeling better with more support on her feet her attitude began to change as well. She has come around to actually love to work. She has a special spark and fire to her and phenomenal movement…even better than I originally thought. Maggie (and I) have been lucky enough to work with some excellent riders and trainers, Jill Cross, Ian Veenendaal and Josephine Brouwer. Jill did take Maggie to a couple of dressage shows summer of 2009 but an altercation with another horse over the paddock fence caused another injury and Maggie was unable to complete her show season.
As she wasn't really coming around from her injury we decided to give her a time off period and we leased her as a brood mare to Jill Cross. Jill had Maggie bred to Sonny Boy, from Germany, a phenomenal dressage horse.
Jill now has a beautiful filly, born Feburary 27th, 2011. We call her "Mini Mag" because she is the spitting image of her Mom in looks and attitude. Jill will have herself a spectacular dressage horse one day, and we will all be there to watch.
Maggie was indeed beautiful, although not in top condition. However, she had a real bad attitude and was very strong in her opinions. Maggie did not sell and we didn’t really know what to do with her. If anything her attitude just got worse.
First I decided to take a few steps back with Maggie and just “hack” her around the property. We rode on a loose rein, I let her pick her own pace and I took her to the park on the trails. Maggie developed a few problems with steep hills on the trail, although she was solid enough in her mind to not be a scared, spooky type she started “freaking out” going down hill.
I started to look for physical reasons for her strange behaviour, although she wasn’t lame in any way. I began with the farrier, trying some different shoeing options. In the end we put long trailers on her back feet for support, with a leather wedge on one foot to even out the angles. We found that she needed to be re-shod every 4 – 5 weeks to keep her happy and moving forward. With her front feet we just put regular shoes but we found that in the wet weather (of which we have a lot here in the Pacific North West) that we needed to keep her feet hard. Originally the vet suggested pads on her shoes, which worked well, but the following year I started in the fall spraying her feet with a mixture of formaldehyde and iodine three times per week and that kept her feet hard enough throughout the winter. Of course, she is stalled in the winter as well.
As Maggie began feeling better with more support on her feet her attitude began to change as well. She has come around to actually love to work. She has a special spark and fire to her and phenomenal movement…even better than I originally thought. Maggie (and I) have been lucky enough to work with some excellent riders and trainers, Jill Cross, Ian Veenendaal and Josephine Brouwer. Jill did take Maggie to a couple of dressage shows summer of 2009 but an altercation with another horse over the paddock fence caused another injury and Maggie was unable to complete her show season.
As she wasn't really coming around from her injury we decided to give her a time off period and we leased her as a brood mare to Jill Cross. Jill had Maggie bred to Sonny Boy, from Germany, a phenomenal dressage horse.
Jill now has a beautiful filly, born Feburary 27th, 2011. We call her "Mini Mag" because she is the spitting image of her Mom in looks and attitude. Jill will have herself a spectacular dressage horse one day, and we will all be there to watch.
Mini Mag and Grandpa Skip!
Mini Mag and her Mom - Big Mag
Outstanding performance, Jill
Ian at Willow Acres
Maggie and Me - Hacking
First Moments...Maggie falls in love
Holy! What are you?
I'm a little Show Girl!
Are you getting my best side?
We call this a Mini Hug
Jill at Coghlan Park
Ian jumping at Thunderbird
Maggie Loves to Show
Where did you come from?
Baby's First Blanket
