Eagle Ridge Farm

04/05/2026

Happy Easter from Eagle Ridge Farm 🐣🐎

May your days be bright,
and your spring be “gold” from morning to night! ✨

04/03/2026

04/03/2026

✨ Big News for Buckskin Owners!

ABRA expanded the Buckskin Bred Program, and more horses than ever can now be recognized for their Buckskin lineage.

You may qualify if your horse has:
• A Buckskin (or qualifying color) great-great-grandparent
• Verified parentage
• White markings outside ABRA’s color rules (Hardship Clause REG124)

AND in 2026, Hardship Buckskin Bred registration is HALF PRICE!

💛 Member $100
💛 Non-Member $140

Learn more 👉 https://www.americanbuckskin.com/buckskin-bred-program

03/24/2026

I don't think it's an accident that his body is a perfect mirror of the horse. Or maybe the horse is a perfect mirror of his body?

We should do in our body what we want the horse to do in his body.

Shoulders here. Seat there. Balance where? Easier said than done of course.....and on so many levels!!

I can't stop staring at these pictures. Goals? Aspirations? Pure poetry.

Buck Brannaman pictured, in case anyone was wondering 💖

Original photo by Desiree Sides

03/23/2026

🔔 Halter horse friends~

If you shop at Aldis, they have the 32oz light corn syrup on sale for $1.39!

03/22/2026

Here’s a short, extra-silly cheat sheet for Bute, Equioxx, and Banamine.

By Gaye Derusso

The Holy Trinity of Horse Pain Meds
Translation: “My horse did something dramatic… again.”

1. Bute (Phenylbutazone)

Aesthetic: Old-school cowboy, smells like a show barn in the ‘90s.�Nicknames: Horse Advil, Powdered Attitude Adjuster, Farrier’s Little Helper

Use for:

• Lameness, arthritis, “I’m 20 but pretending I’m 4” soreness
• Post-“I galloped on wet grass like a moron” pain

Pros:
• Cheap and works. Like duct tape, but for legs.
• Every barn has some. If they say they don’t, they’re lying.

Cons:
• Can tick off the stomach, colon, and kidneys if you get dose-happy.
• Not a lifestyle choice. More of a “long weekend” solution.

Absolutely not:
• No mixing with Equioxx or Banamine. This is not a cocktail bar.
• No “just a little extra” because your horse looked a bit sore.

2. Equioxx (Firocoxib)

Aesthetic: Fancy, expensive, your horse’s designer arthritis med.�Nicknames: Fancy Bute, Gucci Painkiller, Retirement Plan Drainer

Use for:
• Long-term arthritis, creaky joints, “my horse has more years on the odometer than I do.”

Pros:
• Easier on the gut than Bute. Great for the delicate flower types.
• Once-a-day, set-it-and-forget-it vibes.

Cons:
• Costs approximately one kidney per month. Yours, not the horse’s.
• Still an NSAID, so kidneys and GI can still complain if abused.

Absolutely not:
• No teaming up with Bute or Banamine. This is not The Avengers.
• No double-dosing because “he was extra stiff before the show.”

Call the vet, not your chaos brain.

3. Banamine (Flunixin Meglumine)

Aesthetic: Emergency hero, mild chaos energy.�Nicknames: Colic Juice, Vet’s Best Friend, The Panic Paste

Use for:
• Colic pain, gut drama, “he’s looking at his belly and you’re spiraling.”
• Some eye pain, fever, general internal “something’s on fire.”

Pros:
• Amazing for colic pain and inflammation. Buys time while you call the vet and ugly-cry.
• Can turn a dying-swan performance into “ok I’ll nibble some hay.”

Cons:
• Can make a colic horse look better than they actually are. Fake it till you crash.
• IM injections? Hard no. That’s how you summon abscess horror stories.

Absolutely not:
• Do not use Banamine as your “let’s see what happens” instead of calling the vet.
• Do not combine with Bute or Equioxx to create Super Colic

Death Mix.

Lightning Round: Who’s Who

• Bute: “My feet hurt, my joints hurt, everything hurts” – short-term, musculoskeletal drama.
• Equioxx: “I’m old, arthritic, and still think I’m a barrel horse” – long-term joint management.
• Banamine: “My stomach hates me” – colic, internal pain, fever, emergency vibes.

Organ-Saving Rules

Print these. Tattoo them on your brain. Maybe your tack trunk.

• One NSAID at a time.�Bute or Equioxx or Banamine. One. Single. Uno.
• Vet decides dose.�This is math and medicine, not seasoning a stew. No “just a pinch more.”
• Watch for drama after meds:�Not eating, diarrhea, dark p*e, depression, “something’s off” → call the vet.
• Colic = call first, dose second.�Banamine is a tool, not a vet replacement.

If They Were People…

• Bute: The cheap gym bro who’ll help you move a couch, then vanish when the chiropractor bill hits.
• Equioxx: The rich aunt who pays for Pilates and joint injections and looks suspiciously good at 65.
• Banamine: The friend you call at 3 a.m. during a crisis. Shows up, helps, then leaves you with the bill and the feelings.

03/21/2026

03/19/2026

Great tip!! ✴️

03/18/2026

Everyone remembers Secretariat's 31-length Belmont victory in 1973. But almost nobody talks about the horse who refused to let him win without a fight — and paid an unthinkable price for it.

What happened to Sham on June 9, 1973 is one of the most heartbreaking stories in all of sports history.

Sham wasn't some average horse who got outclassed. He was a generational talent who, in any other year, would almost certainly have won the Triple Crown himself. At the Kentucky Derby, he finished second to Secretariat — but still ran fast enough to shatter the previous Derby record. Let that sink in. Sham broke the Derby record and *lost*. At the Preakness, he chased Secretariat desperately and still couldn't catch him. Two races. Two records broken. Two losses. All to the same horse.

So when Belmont came around, Sham and trainer Pancho Martin had a choice to make.

They could play it safe. Hang back. Run conservatively. Collect second-place money and protect what was left of a brilliant horse's career. Nobody would have blamed them. Secretariat was already the heavy favorite to become the first Triple Crown winner in 25 years.

But Sham didn't play it safe. He went to war.

When the gates opened at Belmont Park, Sham flew to the front and matched Secretariat stride for stride through the most suicidal early fractions ever run in a Grade 1 stakes race — a quarter-mile in 23 2/5 seconds, a half-mile in 46 1/5. Those are *sprinter* numbers. For horses running a mile and a half. Sham was out there daring Secretariat to keep up, refusing to yield an inch, refusing to acknowledge that maybe — just maybe — this race was already decided.

And then, rounding the far turn, his body finally gave out.

No horse alive could sustain that pace except Secretariat, whose heart literally weighed 22 pounds — nearly three times the size of a normal thoroughbred's. As Big Red kept accelerating impossibly into the homestretch, pulling away by lengths with every single stride, Sham was falling apart behind him. Legs turning to jelly. Lungs on fire. Giving absolutely everything he had, and it wasn't enough.

Sham finished dead last in a field of five horses, beaten by over 40 lengths.

And here is where the story turns truly tragic. After the Belmont, Sham never raced again. Not because of a decision his connections made — but because his body was broken. The physical toll of trying to match Secretariat's impossible pace had taken something permanent from him. He retired immediately to stud, having given everything and received almost nothing in return from history's memory.

Think about the cruelty of that for a moment. Sham set a new Derby record — and lost. He ran the Preakness faster than any horse before him — and lost. He went toe-to-toe with the greatest racehorse who ever lived at the Belmont — and finished last. Three races. Three performances that would have won any other Triple Crown in history. Three losses to the same horse. And then silence.

Pancho Martin admitted later that he regretted pushing Sham so hard at the Belmont. He said he should have let his horse run his own race instead of trying to match Secretariat's pace. The strategy didn't just fail — it ended his horse's career on the spot.

But here's the thing about that choice that history keeps getting wrong.

There is something profoundly noble about what Sham did that day. He didn't mail it in. He didn't settle for whatever scraps Secretariat left behind. He looked the greatest horse who ever lived square in the eye and said *not yet*. He made Secretariat earn every single one of those 31 lengths. He forced Big Red to run faster than any horse should be able to run over a mile and a half, and in doing so, helped create the most dominant performance in the history of American horse racing.

You can't have Secretariat's 2:24 flat world record — a record that still stands over 50 years later — without Sham pushing him to it.

The racing world celebrates Secretariat's brilliance at the 1973 Belmont, as they should. But the next time someone mentions that race, remember Sham too. Remember a great horse in a great horse's shadow, who decided that if he was going down, he was going down swinging.

He finished last. He ran like a champion.

Rest in peace, Sham. You deserved better than history gave you.

---

03/17/2026

🍀🍀 Happy St. Patty's Day!!!! 🍀🍀

May you always have work for your hands to do.
May your pockets hold always a coin or two.
May the sun shine bright on your windowpane.
May the rainbow be certain to follow each rain.
May the hand of a friend always be near.
And may God fill your heart with gladness to cheer.
~ Old Irish Blessing