Saying good-bye to Jazz (Road to the Tevis Cup #96)

Read about Jazz’s first 100-mile ride with Rachel Shackelford here: what’s up with Jazz? Looks like he did great!

As anyone who has followed this blog knows, I leased Jazz last spring to have a horse to condition. It was an open-ended renewable lease. It was a win-win: I’d get a horse to work with, and his owner would get back a fully trained and conditioned horse. Once I realized he could do it, I planned to train Jazz for Tevis. His owner and I spoke about it last October and she agreed to let me have him until after Tevis 2024. This morning, August 7th, at 10:28, I received a message stating she was selling him to the trainer who started him several years ago. I asked her what his price was. Saying good-bye to Jazz eventually has always been my plan, and I’d rather not buy, but I would also rather not lose him now.

Normally the lessee gets the first option to buy. (Note to self: I guess that needs to be in the contract.) In this case, the owner had offered him to me when I picked him up. But I did not want to buy. I would have considered it now, but the owner told me that she had a prior agreement with said trainer. And that Rachel would be picking him up early tomorrow morning.

I’m not sure how much time Rachel spent with him. Owner said 60 days when I picked him up. Rachel said she had put only 30 days when she saw me ride him at a Fire Mt. in January, but then said 90 days of training today. It doesn’t really matter. I am sure she’ll be fine with him. In fact, I told her I hoped she was going to be the one riding, because he needs an experienced rider. If I cannot do Tevis with Jazz, I want him to have the best chance possible. Rachel will give him an excellent chance.

Jump to:

Saying good-bye to Jazz with grace
Jazz’s dietary regime
An approximation of Jazz’s exercise regime
Jazz’s veterinary history
What my plans were
Jazz’s internet presence
My plans after saying good-bye to Jazz

Saying good-bye to Jazz with grace

The owner’s mitigating circumstances

Jazz’s owner has had some serious health issues this year. She has not told me much directly, but I have seen her posts on Facebook. Her rationale for dropping this on me was that she is trying to wrap up things in her life and would find more peace if Jazz were with Rachel. Her rationale for not offering him to me was that Rachel had trained him and therefore had first dibs. I am of course truly sorry that the owner is suffering. I do not believe I would have acted as she has, but then, I am not her. No one can know the circumstances of another’s life. It’s easy to say one would do x, y, and z even if one were in pain, but pain and anxiety warp everyone’s judgment.

I resolved to contact Rachel.

The trainer (and new owner’s) decision

I am very sad to lose Jazz, but I am also upset because Fantazia will have no pasture mate. That and there is a lot going on in my life right now that makes it difficult for me to fix on a time for pickup. I immediately texted Rachel to ask if she minded giving me a bit of time to find a new horse. She responded politely but said “I planned on picking him up first thing tomorrow per my agreement with Lynne.” That turned into her saying she’d be here at 7am. I took a deep breath and did not ask if she’d had a look at the map. By this time I had a lot of people around me getting sad and angry on my behalf. This always makes it easier to remain calm.

Ultimately, I would rather he go sooner rather than later. I don’t want him getting injured in some freak pasture accident when it is clear that there is substantial fear that something will happen to him if he stays a single day with me. Still, it was surprising to see this fear so clearly evident. (Or perhaps it was thought I’d sell him? There was a bit of a lease-fear-mongering-thread on the AERC Facebook page yesterday.) I’ve leased many horses over the past several decades and never had a bad experience. Saying good-bye to Jazz tomorrow was not on top of my to-do list at 10am this morning… Now I would like to get it over with.

I volunteered the information that Jazz was due for his annual performance horse wellness check. (I do some extras on top of what is listed there.) Because this included computerized gait analysis, this led to some confusion about Jazz’s soundness (he’s sound). Rachel asked me to share with her details of Jazz’s supplement regimen and so forth. She also wanted me to release his vet records. A big ask, but I decided in the end to simply post them here if possible. Because he was going to get the full lameness exam, bloodwork, and radiographs this month, his records are old news. With that caveat, here goes a description of Jazz’s experience with me.

Jazz’s dietary regime

Constants

I give my horses about 3 pounds of carrots a day each, unless I run out of carrots (happens occasionally). I also add a tablespoon of salt to their pelleted feed once a day. They have white and mineral salt blocks that they never touch. Out in the pasture they have a large pond, a spring, and a trough filled by an artesian well.

Above: Jazz and Fantazia on vacation in their pasture.

Jazz on vacation

After Jazz and I got home from our tour of northern California (read a summary of our adventures by clicking here), I had my farrier take his shoes off and turned him out to pasture with Fantazia. They’ve been on 30 acres of excellent pasture for exactly four weeks now. During that time, they’ve received about 4 lbs of pelleted feed and half a flake of alfalfa a day each. The pelleted feed was a mix of the remainder of all my bags. (Triple Crown Senior Active and Nutrena ProForce Fuel xf with a bit of Nutrena ProForce Senior).

Read about the pasture here: What’s growing in my pasture.

Note that Jazz is not picky and will eat anything. I generally keep a mix of feeds for a variety of reasons.

1. This allows me to feed differently depending on the work.
2. I like to offer different feeds at rides.
3. Fantazia is picky and eats better if I switch things up.
4. I cannot always get the feed I want at my local feed stores.

That said, I do pay a lot of attention to what they eat during work.

Jazz at work

Yesterday I rode Jazz for the first time since the Buck Mountain Boogie 50. I ponied Fantazia from him, and rode about 3 miles, jogging and walking. The day before I had ridden Fantazia and ponied Jazz about 3 miles. Both days I gave them a mash of beet pulp and oat/timothy cubes. I always give them mashes when they work. Jazz prefers very watery mashes, especially at rides.

Daily diet during conditioning

If I am riding at least 15 miles a week, Jazz gets about 5 lbs of pelleted feed and 3 cups of Outlast, in two meals a day. Most of the year he has eaten the Nutrena Fuel xf, but for a few months he was on Ultium Gastric Care (he didn’t get Outlast then). On riding days he gets 1-2 cups of oats or oat pellets on top of that, plus the beet pulp and hay cube mash described above, in a separate meal after riding.

When the pasture is not lush, or when off it, Jazz gets a mix of alfalfa, wheat, oat, and Bermuda grass hay. I make sure he always has hay in front of him if he does not have access to grass.

Daily diet during rides or when travelling and riding in the wilderness

When living out of the trailer, Jazz gets free choice grass hay, alfalfa, and wheat or oat hay. I use a tub and 2-3 hay nets and refill them when they are getting low. He gets at least 8 lbs of pelleted feed on days that I ride him, plus the mashes described above. Again, he prefers watery mashes.

E-lytes

Jazz does not like e-lytes forced into his mouth. I give him enduramax the night before and on ride days, mixed into his feed.

Supplements

I did vitamin E and selenium assays last August. He was low in Vitamin E (I got that confused today when messaging with Rachel, but just looked it up). He received a vitamin E supplement until six weeks ago. I’ve stopped it and planned to get assays done again this month.

An approximation of Jazz’s exercise regime

When I got Jazz last April, I spent a few weeks in the arena (read about his first five days here.) Then we headed out to the cattle ranches that are my main conditioning grounds. I live in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, and it is steep. Most of my conditioning consists of walking up steep hills. For months, that’s mostly what Jazz and I did. Because of my work, I could not ride him every day. At first, I did have more time, but once the semester started last August, I could only ride him twice a week for the 16 weeks of Bakersfield College‘s semester.

Reading through this blog will give you an idea of what Jazz has done. I plan to add a summary of the miles he’s done in conditioning eventually, but I want to get this out so Rachel can read it tonight. Summary will come later!

Training details?

Long story short: Jazz and I have ridden many miles on very technical steep terrain in all weather. He will go through anything, up and down anything, over any bridges, into any water. He’s used to cattle, wildlife (turkeys, bears, deer, feral pigs, quail, bobcats…), and traffic of all sorts.

Jazz is used to being ponied and being used as a pony-horse. (Read about why you might want to pony your horse here: The many advantages of ponying.)

Jazz is used to hobbles. (Read about that here: Training a horse to hobble.) He was ground-tying fairly well last summer, but I haven’t worked on it since then and wouldn’t trust him.

Jazz knows how to do gates and is very good about waiting while I hang off his saddle to close complicated chains.

I can and do tie Jazz anywhere. I use a rope halter and a strong rope without hardware. He’s the kind of horse you never want to realize he can escape.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jessica Black (@jessica_e_black)

Tack?

I ride Jazz in this copper and steel roller D-ring snaffle. He hasn’t got a lot of room for bits in his mouth. I bought this one after riding him for a month in a variety of bits. He goes well in it.

I use 8′ split reins.

I have ordered a custom made McCall western saddle for Jazz. I’ll be looking for another high withered horse to fit the saddle I suppose! (Read about the resulting saddle here: A McCall Saddle custom-made for endurance.)

I’ve been riding him in a Circle Y Western saddle at home, and my Zaldi endurance saddle at rides. I use breast collars with both. He is used to big saddle bags.

Jazz’s veterinary history

When Jazz got to me he was a bit crooked (perhaps due to trailer ride) but sound. Stretches and more circles on the bad side fixed the crooked. He also had old, cold bone splints on each front canon. Nothing to worry about, probably just did a lot of circles when he was started.

Jazz is very slightly parrot-mouthed, has a mouth full of teeth (comparatively little space), and often has bad breath. I kept thinking he had a rotten tooth when I first got him, but no. He just has bad breath for a horse.

His hocks were a bit sore after a few months of hills (read about that here). His first full lameness workup reflected that (it was also right after his toughest training ride yet).

Jazz has vetted in sound at every ride, finished sound, and received two BCs (plus a top vet score). One time I thought he was lame (at the Laurel Mt. ride I believe, but it could have been Western Mojave). He took about 10 lame strides. I hopped off, looked in hooves (nothing), made him trot in small circles around me (no limping)… got back on. Trotted sound. He was first place and BC at Western Mojave, first and top vet score at Laurel Mt.

Other than that, he’s never been lame. Sore, yes. Lame no.

Sore?

I suspected Jazz of tying up at the Fire Mt. ride because he wanted to stop and turn his butt to the wind and sleet on the last loop and was the picture of abject misery. But he was fine once he realized where ride camp was and he completed with As on gait and muscle tone. Still, I decided to give him a bit more enduramax.

In April, I did a crazy local ride, the Jackass Mail Run. Jazz definitely had a very mild case of tying up there, mainly from hysteria. Normal pee, no sweating or being unable to move. But he was tired, and he had two telltale patches of sweat on his croup. The next morning he was again a picture of abject misery so I gave him banamine and observed on the vet’s orders. He was fine by 10am. (Read Jazz at the Jackass Mail Run.)

Conclusion? I need to make sure to ride as much as possible in the week leading up to a ride, give e-lytes even for a short local event, and make sure there is always water available.

Some of Jazz’s vet reports

I will not provide all of his reports, because they are not recent and I don’t have them readily on hand. Saying good-bye to Jazz is bad enough without having to upload a ton of documents! But the main workups can be found below. I’ll try to get the lab work uploaded when I find it.

Jazz’s fall wellness workup report:

Note that I was supposed to keep riding him after this exam, but I fell on the river and bruised my tail bone, so he got a few weeks off.

A few x-rays of his feet:

Jazz’s spring wellness horse report:

Footware

Jazz was barefoot when I got him and his owner said his feet were fine that way, but I had to shoe him quite quickly because his feet got sore after a few rides on our dry ranch roads. However, his feet are excellent. He wears eventer steel shoes. No interfering or forging. (He is very correct.) He’s barefoot now because I was giving him 6 weeks off.

You can see the current clean state of his legs in the video I took today below:

What my plans were

I was going to enter Jazz in the new Gateway to the Canyons ride on October 7th. Then he was scheduled to do back to back 50s at Sesenta Anos and Fire Mountain. The 100 at Twenty Mule Team. Cayuse, Montana de Oro… and Tevis 2024.

Jazz’s internet presence

See this YouTube Playlist dedicated to the Adventures of Jazz

Below are most of the posts on this blog that feature Jazz.

Jazz’s first five days

Why I don’t give horses “time to settle in”

Working with a green horse

Being a weekend warrior

Adapting conditioning and training to fit the horse

Bumps on the road to the Tevis Cup

Teaching Jazz to ground-tie

Planning Jazz’s first ride

Jazz’s first LD at the Bill Thornburgh Ride

Second place and Best Condition: Jazz’s first 50

Jazz’s first endurance win–and mine!

On winning an endurance ride

How fast is too fast?

Two surprise wins

Jazz received Top Vet Score but not BC

Training my horses during competition

The last Western Mojave xpride

Effects of an irregular feeding schedule for horses

Jazz at the Jackass Mail Run

What’s up next for jazz and me

The Montaña de Oro Endurance Ride

Jazz is enjoying a rest while life moves quickly

Training a horse to hobble

Jazz’s adventures in the far north

Riding in the Marble Mountains

The last La Grange Ditch 50

The Buck Mountain Boogie, our last ride together

My plans after saying good-bye to Jazz

Anybody got a horse they want to lease me?

Edit: I’ve found a horse! Read about her here: Meet my new mare River.

I know some of you are thinking I haven’t learned my lesson… well, the next contract will be a bit more explicit. But I still believe that most people will act in good faith. And I would still rather not buy a horse if possible. That said, I wouldn’t mind buying one if I cannot find a good one to lease. I would be particularly happy to find an Arabian off the track.

Tevis 2024 is probably off the books for me now. I know I could probably get a horse that is far enough along to be ready by then. But in principle I’d rather do most of the prepping myself. Still, if you’ve got a horse I might like, please let me know!