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Cover Girl

An affectionate and child loving 18 year old Thoroughbred mare

Due to the arthritis in her left hock, "Covey" has been retired from jumping and showing and is not living her days happily as a walk/trot horse. While she provided me with an adequate challange and plenty of experience in the Hunter ring, she fits the description of a child's baby-sitter perfectly. Covey is just as eager to be spoiled rotten by anyone, especially kids, and pack around beginner riders as she is to...well, pretty much do anything else! Her arthritis does not seem to be causing her pain because she can go out in the pastures, (with her friends Celeste, Willow, and Breeze) kick up her heels, and keep up with all of those youngin's as easy as pie. She is, however, on a Glucosamine/Chrondatin supplement called Corta-Flx which comes in a liquid form. It seems to help her quite a bit and this would *definately* be something she would want to be given in her new home. Exercise and movement is very good for arthritis, and so she would need adequate turn-out time in a nice paddock. Right now the horses get turned out about a minimum of 6 hours a day unless awful weather does not allow it.
As you can see in the picture, she put up with a gimpy teenager leading her around :) She never takes advantage of beginners and is safe to be left grazing or walking with even the most novice of horse people. (My mother can attest to that!) Covey has very correct conformation with an extremely nice neck (at least I think so...), her coat shines in the summer and is just furry enough in the winter, she's an easy keeper and is not hard on her blankets or other equiptment, she has never had problems with her (symmetrical) feet, and thanks to a careful care regimine, her once hock length tail nearly touches the ground. hehe

She has been trailered in all sorts of situations. She deals well with both ramp and step up trailers and has no apparent dislike of either straight load or slant load. Covey stands very patiently for the farrier and is good with her shots and vet check ups, though I must admit she is *not* a big fan of the tube wormers! All of her shots and vacinations are current, with a recent (April 12th, 2000) coggins test preformed, she has also received the intra-nassal Strangles vaccination. Covey is so....she's just so incredibly perfect to me. She is absolutely gorgeous, even more so in person when you can see the lovely calm, quiet, and inquisitive look in her eyes. She's good around foals...mares in foal...young horses...other mares...heck, she's even been around a stud colt during breeding season and not had a problem! If you can't already tell :) I could simply go on forever and ever and ever about all of Covey's wonderful traits.
Pictured is Cover Girl and her (now 14 year old) Hannoverian cross colt, Lovat.

Some Honest Facts
Covey is not a horse that can be shown...the home we're trying to find is a place where she can be lightly ridden and used as a teacher to beginners but, then can be retired in when the time comes.
Currently, Covey has a large fluid filled "thing" on her left knee. The vet has come out twice to drain it and give her antibiotics. It really doesn't present a problem because she has full range of motion with it. Since the texture of the swollen place has grown squishier, we are going to have it drained again to see what happens. At the worst, it just looks a little funny.
Like I said before, plenty of turnout would be best in order for her to move around stretch. If your muscles were a little tight, you wouldn't want to be stuck in a stall all day! A pasture board sort of situation where the horses were brought in at night would be heaven for Covey :)
She's big! Don't be intimidated by her size though, she's an incredibly gentle horse. Usually when I groom her I don't use any cross-ties, I just let her stand in the asile. She barely even moves a foot the whole time.
If it's cold...she's going to be a little stiffer when she starts off. However, she is oodles better once she warms up. Just make sure she's walked for an appropriate amount. (Generally 10-15 minutes)
If you want to breed her: It's going to be a good idea for us to have the vet evaluate her situation before she is bred. Though she has an excellent temprament, excellent conformation, and very respectable bloodlines, I'm not sure what effect carrying a foal for 11 months would have on her hocks.
She's scared of vacuums! I tried to use a horse vacuum on her the first winter I had her and she did not seem thrilled. hehe She can handle the noise -ss long as the vacuum is not on her, and she can handle the nozzle etc. - as long as there's no noise.
Covey will definately eat all of your carrots and apples.

Look at how much this poor thing puts up with :)
This is a picture from Halloween of '98. For the horse show held at out barn, my friend and I decided to dress up as a cowboy and an Indian. Of course, we had to make this as elaborate as possible soo...We chose to use colored hair spray to turn a chestnut and a bay into a Paint and an Appaloosa! I rode Covey in a ring filled with horses and "scary" costumes with nothing but a halter and some leather straps with clips on the end. Heck, we even had a rope around us to complete the look of being captured by the cowboy.
A happy horse owner and her two End of the Season awards which could never have been earned without Covey!!
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