What's Up Wednesday

 

Okay let's see... What all happened last week... Al was flatting lightly and awaiting a visit with the vet when we last left off. Of course, earlier on the day the vet was coming this happened:

And then a little bit later THIS happened:

Fortunately, the very kind man that put the fence up for me a couple of years ago was available the same day this happened to fix it back up for me. But boy am I flush out of money this month now! Sheesh. Of course, despite the good luck of being able to get it fixed right away, the timing was as you would imagine. My fence fixer arrived only moments before the vet pulled in. So needless today, we did the ridden part of the exam with a little chemical assistance. 

The bonus to that is whatever unsoundness I've been feeling would be exaggerated and speed up the exam. So that actually worked out pretty well. While I was convinced what I was feeling was up high and probably some kind of muscle strain, turns out, I was wrong. (I'll admit when I'm wrong! And buckle up because this issue will prove me wrong on more than one occasion.) 

Cute photo of Al to break up the text...

So despite my hypothesis on what I was feeling, turns out, he blocked sound right at the foot. What's interesting about this is that this has happened once before when he was feeling NQR. At that time, we were fighting with that dermatitis on that leg and I was 100% convinced that's what was hurting him. He's been known to go full on three legged lame for a tiny skin abrasion, so it wasn't ridiculous of me to assume this. However, at this point, we have the dermatitis cleared up (though there is a pesky line of scar tissue that I can't quite seem to get ride of entirely). So that's not longer a reasonable explanation. 
After blocking, the next step was to investigate. Now, we already know that Al has a very upright heel on the inside of this leg. When I got him, both legs had inside heels that were kind of squished upward. This is pretty common with stallions. Often once they're gelded their stance changes and their heels drop down to match their counterparts. Which did happen on the right side for the most part. But did not on this left leg. This is something my farrier and vet have been working on together, but we're going to have to get more aggressive in our collective efforts. Likely he'll be getting shoes back on. (He's been barefoot since last fall because of the quarter crack up front. Jury is out on if we'll shoe all the way around or maybe just behind, weird as that may seem.) So that was the starting point, he blocked sound to the foot and has the heel issue. But what else might we find? So next we did x-rays. The normal shots for balance all looked good, nothing extraordinary of note. But when doc x-rayed the coffin bone, we found a bit of an anomaly. Not likely the cause of his soreness or anything, but might explain a little of why the heel is the way it is. So, the coffin bone as viewed from above is sort of crescent shaped. The two ends should be more or less the same length and width. But on Al's foot, the side where his heel is compressed has a stubby end. It's shorter and wider. I'm calling it his Nemo fin. Other than it's odd shape, there's no issues though. It's not jagged or broken or anything terrible like that. So we moved on to ultrasound. This was also mostly unremarkable. There was a bit of fluid that is slightly irregular, but matches on the other side, so we're not worried about that. Overall, it's good news in that there's nothing major going on in there other. We are hopeful that getting the heel situation worked out should fix our issues. He's on some meds to help him get to feeling better and my vet and farrier are going to conference about next steps for our next farrier appointment. That should happen soon as he's coming due anyway. He had the weekend mostly off, we tack walked and hand walked. I hopped on Tuesday to see where we were at, and he felt about the same. So after a few laps each direction at the trot, we went back to walking. Today though, he actually did feel a lot better. Again, I just did a few laps each way. We'll ease back into things. But hopefully we're moving in the right direction. 

Shiny got to have a shockwave while the vet was out, which she really seems to benefit from. She's feeling good for the most part, but doc still thinks she's too fat. Not sure exactly what else to do, short of actually starving her... But I did chat with my morning helper about how much hay he's giving her in the morning. Hopefully that will have an impact? I dunno. You always hear about horses that are hard keepers, but no one prepares you for horses that are too easy to keep. They're just as difficult! 

Eros is perfect though! Okay well, yes, Eros is also fat. Apparently all my horses are fat. EVERYONE is on a diet. Should help with the hay bill though I guess? But otherwise he's doing just fine. He still comes out pretty stiff but once he's cantered he feels much better. He's also still very concerned about the woods, but he's not quite as jumpy as he was last week. I can't say I blame him really what with the bear sighting and all. But it would be nice if I could get some true inside bend once in awhile... Ha. Despite his inattention to me, he's been wonderful to jump. No torpedos and he's jumping pretty well. 

I haven't jumped anyone yet this week. I'm thinking maybe tomorrow, but we'll have to see how the timing works out. I finally have the guy coming to rebuild my fridge. I've been without a working refrigerator for almost a month now. I'm getting so tired of canned soup and gas station sandwiches... Very much looking forward to modern living again! (What a summer huh? First the truck, then the fridge, and the fence, and the Al foot...)

Thankfully, I had some braiding jobs last week, and I have many this weekend so I have some money coming in to help pay for all of these inconveniences. 

Wednesday night

Thursday Night

Friday Night

Last weekend was our state associations big medal finals. So that's what the above were done for. This coming weekend is a smaller associations finals which focuses on lower levels. It's super cute, and very well attended. Last year I nearly died having eleven horses to do each night. Thankfully I have a few less this year. But Friday will be a challenge because I have seven to do at FOUR separate locations. It's cool though. I've got all the good snacks and bought high octane soda to keep me going all night long. Plus you know... all the $$$. That's generally a good motivator. I'm toying with the idea of offering myself as tribute to the other braiders for New England Finals. Never hurts to pad the bank account, and it's only about an hour from me. We'll see. 

That's about it from here. I shall leave you with the cutest photo of Rita every taken:

What's Up Wednesday

 

I have literally nothing exciting to report this week. Al's still nqr, but he has an appointment on Friday, so hopefully he can get patched up! He's definitely improved though, so we're on the right track. 

Shiny and Eros had an appointment to get their teeth done (Al's got done earlier in the spring when he was the only one still at the boarding barn). Doc arrived and sedated Eros only to discover he didn't need to be done yet. Oops! So since he was sedated and I felt badly they came all that way for nothing for E, I had his tech clean E's sheath. He's terrible about it and has to be sedated for it, so it was worth it. We were smarter and checked Shiny before sedating her, and she ended up not needing them done yet either. Sorry Doc! But better to stay on top of it than to miss something. 

The show I mentioned last week wound up being canceled, so poor Shiny has to wait still for her big horse show debut. Some day! 

I haven't jumped anyone since last week. I was going to over the weekend, but the weather kept interfering. So we've been working hard on the flat instead. (Well, Eros and Shiny have, Al is just riding enough to keep him semi sane and see how the NQR-ness is doing.) Unfortunately, when I was getting off Eros yesterday, I landed wrong on my questionable knee and heard a very loud pop. It's pretty swollen and it's a little angry. I rode four horses today on it, but it wasn't thrilled. I have a busy couple of weekends coming up with finals happening (I have braiding jobs) so once that's all done I may actually get this thing imaged and try to fix it for real. It's been giving me trouble on and off for awhile now, so maybe it's time. It's tough getting old! 

That's really about it from here. Hope you all are having a great week!

Truthful Tuesday

 

Heh.... It's been awhile since I had a truly embarrassing anecdote to share with you all. But I have one today! You're welcome.

So let me set the scene. It's Sunday afternoon. I'm hand grazing Al after our ride. My dad's boat captain arrives. He stays in the apartment next to my barn during the summers. The boat (and said captain) have just arrived from their long journey north from Florida. He has the rest of the crew with him, including our new stewardess. (Our former stew is expecting her first baby! So excited for her!) Anyway, everyone comes out to say hello, and as I'm introducing myself to the new stew, Al very rudely pulls me the other direction. But since I'm facing the other way, I somehow trip over my own feet, and fall right over. Like, BAM! On the ground. Ha! Al was like WTF?! Mom you're so embarrassing. So yeah. I fell over in front of the entire boat crew. Clearly, I'm the classy, coordinated member of the family. Thanks for that Al. 

What's Up Wednesday

 

So last week, as I mentioned, Al just had the one lesson, on Thursday. It went well, and he was a very good boy. So I was pretty excited for today's lesson since head trainer was back this week. Unfortunately, Al came out a little funny today. So I didn't end up jumping. I don't think it's anything major, and in fact it might still be that "wound" we've been dealing with forever. I keep getting it almost cleared up, but can't quite get it done all the way. And I *think* that's what is bugging him. But I'm not positive. I have him on the vet list now, but of course, the vet was just out yesterday. So it might be a bit of a wait until I can get him back out. Hopefully Al will feel better before then. 

I do think it's possible it's time to start hock injections for Al. Which also may be what I'm feeling. The last time Al saw the vet, he said we should think about doing the hocks soon, but that he didn't need them just yet at that point. (This was early in the winter. Maybe January-ish.) Al jumped a lot of big fences before he came here, so it's not surprising that he'll need maintenance sooner than later. Plus, suddenly, this weekend, the counter canter broke tracking to the right (so cantering left lead, going to the right). It's always been the harder lead for him, but he's never not done it. Sunday, at first he would pick it up, but then either break or swap when we'd get to the turn. The more I tried, the less willing he was to even pick it up. I didn't fight for it much Sunday, figuring it might be a battle for a different day. So I tried it again Tuesday. And he wouldn't even pick it up. I got him to at least pick it up and canter part way down a straight side and then shelved it for a lesson day. I was feeling pretty sure the problem was likely me, so it might be best worked on with some supervision. Today in the lesson, we tried it again, and again he didn't want any part of it. Due to him coming out not so great, we did the same thing, got a few straight strides of it and let it be. It's very possible this counter lead problem and the mild unsoundness are related. 

Also, before anyone gets worked up that I was working a lame horse, I needed to get him unlocked and moving forward before we could really assess if something wasn't right. And the more he worked the better he felt, so I don't think it hurt him any. I don't see any real swelling or heat anywhere, so I don't think this is the type of problem that light work will make worse. Hopefully I'm not wrong in that assessment. 

I've been using the silver/honey ointment on the "wound". (I don't know what to call it, it was dermatitis, but now it's just like.... I dunno... a scab? A scar? It's not actively infected anymore, he's not stocking up from it anymore, but it's always either kind of a hard scab or it's like a sore.) I had been using Krudzapper which worked great to a point, but then it seemed like I needed to dry it out more, so I switched to the silver/honey stuff. I thought that was finally going to clear this thing up, but then today happened. So tonight, I went back to the Krudzapper. We'll see what we have tomorrow. Horsing ain't easy guys!

So anyway, that's what's up with Al. Things at home are pretty good though! Shiny is loosening up some in her neck via lots of hard work. So today I let her jump some fences. 

I kept everything under 2' except for the one little box because I can't put a rail lower than that on top of it. I wasn't planning on even jumping that one, but she was having fun and seemed to be having a great time, so I let her. And uh... there were some antics. 

You see, she was going a little too slow on the way to it, which isn't ideal... And I had this feeling she was going to cut down with her back end a little early. Which is exactly what she did. But Shiny has big feelings about having rails down. I was ready for the scoot and buck like she sometimes does when she has a rail, but instead I got a scoot and a leap. Probably because I grabbed her face when she scooted. My bad. But also, don't do that and I won't grab you! It only lasted about a stride and a half. I had to get off to fix the fence, but then we jumped it again with zero drama. So I let her finish there. She is fun to jump around once the motor gets running. 

Eros is feeling more or less the same. He comes out stiff, and then gets mostly better. But I still want doc out to check him. I was trying to wait for Al to get home to schedule, because I have a better chance of getting him here if I have more horses for him to look at. I'm going to call Monday anyway to get on the vet's list and then however many horses are here when he can come is how many he'll see. Al should be home in about a week anyway. I let E pop over a few teeny jumps today because he does thoroughly enjoy it, and I didn't think they'd do any harm. He actually felt better at the trot after we jumped than he did before, so I'm confident there's no harm done. I iced him after anyway just to be safe. 

OH! But he did almost spook me off before we started...

That was a close one.

The weeds on the other side of the fence have gotten to the height that Eros thinks is terrifying. He's a perfect boy, but not always the brightest. At least he didn't drop me! Anyway, back to the lil jumps. He was perfect, and really seemed to be enjoying himself. We didn't do much, just popped over each fence once or twice. He was ridable and happy so that was lovely. Being in the smaller ring tends to keep the torpedo in check. Not always. But often. 

That's really about it happening here. Things aren't perfect, but they're okay. And really, that's not so bad at all. I feel pretty confident that everyone's creakiness will be patched up pretty easily once the vet comes out. So staying positive! 

Hope all is well with you guys! Are you getting to go on some adventures with your horses? Any shows or clinics? Or fun trail rides? 

Truthful Tuesday

 

I loved having a little time away, but I am SO HAPPY to be home and back riding my horses. That's my confession. I'm happiest when I'm with my four legged kids. I have no trouble filling the hours in the day with or without them. But spending time with my horses is definitely my favorite way to spend those hours. Al and Shiny seemed happy to see me today. Eros was a bit indignant when he first saw me. I think he doesn't like when I disappear and lots of other people ride him. Not that he'd ever put a foot wrong, but I think he prefers his regularly scheduled program. We all know Eros likes what he likes. 

Anyway, back to my confession. I'm not sure I'd call myself a homebody... I enjoy seeing new places, or visiting ones I've enjoyed before. I just wish I could take my horses and dogs with me when I go. I think that's why I like showing so much. I get to do exactly that for horse shows! 

How about you guys? Are you happiest with your equine around, or are you content either way?

What's Up Wednesday

 

Not sure where the weeks go these days. But I hope the winter ones keep going quickly! Things are going well in these parts. Getting lots of saddle time in that's for sure! I even got to ride a small pony last week! Which was pretty hilarious and probably the most fun I've had on a horse all year. I've wrapped all the presents and even distributed the vast majority of them already. We had our family Chanukah party on Sunday evening which was a lovely time. My mom made a delicious dinner, and once we ate, we all opened gifts. (My mom, me, my brother, and his family.) 

Oh and I wore this:

I wonder if I'll ever meet anyone as weird as me? 

But you're not here for my antics, you're here for the horses! Let's start with Al. He's the most... interesting. So he's been spooky. He hates the indoor. This isn't new. Wednesday he had a training ride in which he was very spooky and trainer really got after him for it. We were hoping that by the end he might have decided that being afraid of the big doors is silly. Unfortunately, that's not what happened. Instead, he learned that when he's scared and wants to spook, he should also be extra tense and scooty. So not the lesson we'd hoped for. I had a lesson scheduled for Thursday afternoon with him. But he was feeling very electric and spooky during the warm up/flat portion of the lesson, and I opted out of trying to jump him. I just wasn't feeling it. I'd had a long (but super fun) day before that lesson, and I think my tank was just empty. (Lessons on both Shiny and Eros, and rode two additional ponies.) I'm not one to give up though! So we tried again with a lesson on Friday. It started off iffy with him still being a spooky idiot, but once we started jumping he settled into that job nicely and was his usual good boy. I swear he just wants to jump all the time, but that's good for him! I was really relieved to have a good jump school on him though after how the rest of the week had gone. He was pretty good for the rest of the weekend too. Though I'd be lying if I said I used the whole ring on Sunday... hey, some days we have to choose our battles. This week's been going okay with him. Instead of a training ride this week, we decided to try the lunge rig instead. So he did that today. I hopped on later in the day just to see how he'd be. He started out wanting to spook, but after a couple laps he used the full ring nicely. So I let him quit after 15 minutes of just walk/trotting since he'd worked so hard in the rig earlier. Tomorrow we lesson again. I'm hopeful he'll be a good boy!

Shiny's the next most interesting but for entirely different reasons. Her injections a couple of weeks ago did not have miraculous results like I'd hoped, but they did improve her somewhat at least. She was much happier in her jump lesson last week and while still cranky for the first canter depart each ride, she's more willing once we get past that. So I'll take that for now. 
Our body worker was here yesterday, and found Shiny to be improved from the last visit slightly, but still not quite her usual self. She was also concerned because she felt a slight digital pulse in both front feet. She's standing squarely on both, and there's no excessive heat, so we don't think she's foundering, but she's obviously uncomfortable. She was trimmed on Monday, so our current hypothesis is that perhaps she was trimmed just a touch too short this time. She doesn't feel bad to ride, but I opted to skip our lesson tomorrow. She doesn't need to be jumping on sore feet. So, is a small part of me worried that she's foundering from her injections? I'd be lying if I said no. But I really don't think that's what's happening. For now, I'm just keeping a close eye on her and working her lightly as long as she feels okay. I ordered her a new hay pillow with smaller holes to try and slow down her hay consumption more too. I'm sure she'll be just fine, but I'd really like to get her back to feeling like herself. I'm starting to think she just has a tough time during the colder months. We always seem to struggle in the winter time. 

Photo credit to Chelsea Lothrop Photography
Also note: he really is a wide load. 

And then there's Perfect Eros. He's been great. Like really great. He's feeling good and has not been a torpedo in our lessons, despite my asking him not once, but TWICE for a long spot on the diagonal. (His favorite place to torpedo!) Last week, he even jumped a bending line MULTIPLE TIMES without taking out strides. What a star. So proud. Do we free lunge on lesson days? Yep, sure do! But does it help? Also yes. 

He had a fun and busy day yesterday. We are helping out our friends at Pinsnickety with some marketing material. So our favorite photographer friend Chelsea Lothrop came by and we did some modeling. Six or seven outfits later (I lost count) it was a long day, but so fun! Look for us on the Pinsnickety Instagram in the coming weeks and months!

I think that's about it from here. Did you all have a good week/weekend? How are your horses? Looks like some crazy weather happening all over the country in the next couple of days (rain and very high winds here followed by a deep freeze) so stay safe everyone!

What's Up Wednesday

 

It was a quiet horsey week here with Thanksgiving last week. But the weekend was really nice so we got to ride outside without freezing. 

There's a good size buck out in that field that Eros is looking at

Eros had his lessons last week early and you've already read about those. We did our flat lesson this week on Tuesday like normal and he was hilarious. He was very good, but had about enough about half way through and started pulling his face down to the ground. His body worker was out this week and reported that the loaner saddle is making him sore at the base of his withers so that's not ideal. And might be why he wants to stretch his head down so much. But he also just likes to do that. So who knows for sure. Either way, I'm waiting on payment for one possibly two of the saddles I have for sale, so once that comes through, I can look into getting something for him that fits better. Otherwise his body work visit went well and he had a good report there.

Al... oh Al. Al is either wonderful or a total ass hat. That's where we're at. He was so happy to ride outside Sunday and was completely relaxed and didn't spook. A real rarity! Tuesday I had probably my worst ever ride on him. We were back indoors much to his dismay. And I could barely get him to go around the ring. So today I let him have a training ride and I hear he was good for that. (She did him before I got there today.) He's no dummy. Trainer just keeps kicking until she gets what she wants. I would also do that, but my fear of getting spun off makes it very hard for me to accomplish at the moment. Hopefully all in good time that will work itself out. I still love him, and I think he's amazing in almost every way. We're just stuck in a bit of a rough patch. I mentioned his behavior to my vet who suggested we pull a lyme titer so we did, and maybe there will be an actual reason for his nonsense. I don't really expect there to be, but it doesn't hurt to make sure. He saw the body worker this week too and got a pretty good report. He's still bracing around that quarter crack foot some, but it doesn't actually seem to be bothering him. Hopefully it will be better next time she comes now that he seems to be doing better on it. 

Little Shine has been feeling pretty blah. So I had her on the list for the vet this week. She skipped her lesson last week since it fell on Thanksgiving. Since she felt so crappy in her lesson the week before I figured it wouldn't hurt her any to have the week off from jumping. In fact, she had a really easy week. We are allowed to ride on holidays at the barn. So even though her brothers had to work on Thanksgiving, I just hopped on her in a halter, lead rope, and her blanket, and took her for a walk around the indoor that way. Sunday was a similar ride... I had tacked her up fully intending to work her, but wound up just chatting with someone else walking a horse for 30 minutes and called it a day. The vet watched her go Tuesday and did some flexions. We talked about the doxy and how it seems like she's feeling worse while on it than she did off of it. He says if that's the case, we'll just finish the tub she's on, and not do the additional two weeks that's normal protocol. He thinks we need to do hocks with steroids this time as the alpha-2 really didn't hold for her. The body worker felt she was kind of a mess all over and said that she's acting like the horses she works on that are insulin resistant. The regular vet agreed that Shiny is ridiculously tight in her muscles all over. And we agreed that we should hold off on injections until after running glucose and leptin tests. So he took blood and pending those results we will decide how best to proceed. I am planning to lesson on her tomorrow, but if she tells me jumping is too hard right now, we'll just quit early. She got clipped this afternoon though... so she may be feeling pretty good tomorrow. Hopefully not TOO good... Lol!

In other news, I got to braid a pretty horse for a holiday photo shoot this week! Her owner wanted something a little fun and different, so I did that scallop type thing where the scallop is over the top of the braids. I've never done it before, and it really requires a longer mane, but I got it to work and it cane out really cute! We also added bows for some extra holiday spirit. The forelock was the cutest.

And in other, other news.... I finally figured out what to do with that cute black and white composite I made of the horses faces and my logo... 

Yep, I put it on socks!Why not? 

That's about it from here. Hope you're all having a great week! 

We're having a random wind and rain storm here right now, and I'm running on generator power... Let's see if this manages to post. 

Truthful Tuesday

 Admittedly, I am currently living a life of leisure. But I still have a habit of saying yes to things that will make life a little hectic temporarily. But it seems to me, that everything always seems to happen all at the same time. So not entirely my doing.

This coming weekend is the end of the month. Which means Eros and Shiny will be coming home!!! YAY!!! They'll come home Saturday afternoon. Also at the end of this month is a local show that used to be quite a big show. It used to carry an A rating, though I'm not sure that it does any longer. Regardless, it's a show that horses need braids for, so as you may have guessed, I have some work lined up. Saturday is also my birthday. Needless to say, I'll have to put off any sort of celebrating until after this weekend. 

I have horses to braid Thursday (2), Friday (4), and Saturday (5) nights. I also have lessons Thursday (Eros), Friday (Al), and Sunday (Al again). And also, I have to move the two horses out of the boarding barn and back home. If Pia keeps me up Sunday night with her barking I'm gonna be a very sad dog momma. 

I briefly thought about not being available to braid this weekend. But I really could use the money (Al's saddle won't pay for itself) and I don't want to leave my regular customers high and dry at the last minute. I do want future jobs! So I'm going to likely exhaust myself this weekend, but it will be worth it in the end. Some cold hard cash in my pocket and two horses back home, will be LOVELY! 

In order to prepare as much as possible ahead of time, I've already fueled up the truck and hooked up the trailer. I'm going to bring home a few things I'm not using at the barn tomorrow too, which should help speed up packing. My worker will get the stalls ready, and that's really all that needs to be done to prepare for the tall kids arrival. I have reorganized all their home blankets and what not, so things are ready and waiting for them. Which also means I don't have to rush to unpack when they get here. Thank goodness. Since I have five horses to braid that night. Oye. Sunday's Al lesson might be a shit show... Though in my younger years, I rode pretty great when I was too tired to think. Hopefully that will still pan out. For Al's sake. Haha.

Do you guys ever find yourself in these situations where 200 things are happening all on the same day? No? Just me?

Truthful Tuesday

 

Ugh. You guys. THIS WEATHER. It's miserable. Two weeks ago we were riding outside! Last week were about half and half in vs out. Which is probably how this week will go too. But right now? It's late morning and this is what we have:

I'm not enjoying it. I'm dragging my feet heading out to ride because I don't wanna go out in that! WAAHHHHHH!

So that's today's confession. I'm whining. A LOT. About the stupid cold weather.

Has winter returned where you are too? 

Truthful Tuesday

 

Hey guys! This is Shiny. Mom said I had to write today's post because I did a mistake for the second time... She said I had to confess about how I did not learn my lesson the first time. Lessons are hard! And feelings are hard to not share, ya know? I can't help it. I'm just a pony!

You maybe remember a couple of years ago, right before the plague happened, I kicked the wall super hard because I was SO MAD at my neighbor. And a piece of the stall got stuck in my foot? And mom thought it was so crazy but also would probably never happen again? Um. Well. I think Brittney Spears said it best. "Oops! I did it again..."

So Sunday, my friend Barb who lives next me was outside having play time. And some little kid put a LESSON HORSE next to me. Ew. Can you believe it? He's all old and like everyone loves him. So annoying. I couldn't handle it. And then they gave me hay, and I was so mad because the other horse saw. I don't like other horses seeing my food. It's very uncomfortable, and like SHINY DOESN'T SHARE FOOD! So stop staring! 

Now... I'm not saying that's when it happened. Because mom thought I looked normal when she left that afternoon and my friend Barb was back in her stall then. So it's possible I did it later. But I don't usually kick at Barb cause she's my friend. So mom's not really sure when I did it. I'm not saying either. Not everyone needs to know everything about me all the time.

Anyway, mom always taught me to try my hardest no matter what. So I figured if I'm going to do something again, I should do it even better! And so I did! Check out the size of the wall chunk I got stuck in my foot this time!

WAY bigger than last time. I'm so tough! Mom found out Monday morning that something was wrong, but the barn worker who found me with my ouchie foot wasn't sure what was wrong. Mom knew though. Moms always know... So she came out and picked my foot and found this:

The part that looks like shavings next to my frog is the top part of that wood chunk. It was in there SO TIGHT that mom wasn't so sure she should pull it out. Doc thought the same when he saw this photo and said to wait for him to come and leave it in my foot! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT? I had to keep it in my foot! But I was so brave, and it was okay. Mom said a bad word when doc pulled it out though because it was SO BIG! 

It hurt a lot yesterday, but I got some shots with Banamine and antibiotics. So today it feels better. I'm not allowed to have outside play time for a few days though, and I have to keep it wrapped up. Doc said it might still abscess, but I hope not cause those hurt too. Doc checked it today and thought it looked so good, so mom's gonna check my temp everyday and put a new wrap on it and take me for walks in the soft indoor. Then on Friday doc will visit again and maybe then I can play outside again. But I am excited because mom can't ride me for awhile. She said there are kinder ways to ask for a vacation, but this way seems to be very effective. 

So as mom says, that's my confession today! Have any of your horses ever done this? Do you want me to show them how? I'm SO GOOD AT IT!

What's Up Wednesday

 

It's still winter. I know that's not news, but just in case you forgot. We are enjoying a few days reprieve though, with temps in the 40's. Feels almost like spring! Ha. Anyway, you're not here for the weather, you're here for horses. So let's talk about them!

Listen, in the winter we're lucky for any media...

Al has been wonderful! We had lessons Friday and Sunday this past week. I think jumping twice a week is what my little brain needs right now. I'm finding Al a little tricky in that you have to stay on the gas pedal all the time, but you also still have to keep all the parts in line. If you focus on something other than forward he thinks he can have a break. Which, I mean, relatable.... But boy, do I get out of breath after a course! It may sound like I'm frustrated, but I'm really not. I'm enjoying the learning curve we're on. But I am also looking forward to when we are more in sync with each other. It will come!  
I had some struggles in our Thursday lesson. Nothing major, but he was a little up so trying to manage forward with keeping his attention was TOUGH! Sunday though, he was very relaxed and everything was just so much easier! 

Here's a short clip from our Sunday lesson:

Oh but Saturday... Ha. Saturday we had a little excitement. It should have been a nice easy flat ride. But the winds outside were blowing hard. So much so that the roof was rattling, which Al isn't so much a fan of. He can handle things he doesn't like, but if another horse has a moment... Al thinks he should too. What can I say? He's still a kid, not yet 7 after all. Anyway, we were trotting toward the "scary" end of the ring when there was a huge gust of wind and one of the other horses in the ring spooked and bucked. (Thankfully that horse's rider is used to such antics and she held on fine.) Anyway, Al took that cue to also spook, except as he was spooking he tripped and fell on his face and knees. Then in the process of righting himself, let out an enormous buck. Somehow I held on though! (Pure luck I'm sure.) He was fine too (thank goodness) though seemed a bit embarrassed. He was a perfect gentleman the rest of the ride.

Eros is doing well. Per our discussion with the vet, he's trying a little Meloxicam for his winter soreness and I think it's really helping him. He's not 100%, but honestly, he never is. He's giving me great work though, and while he's still pretty strong when we jump, I think we're making progress in getting back to where we were last summer. In our lesson last Thursday, we were able to jump a small course, though we did need a few circles to reestablish our canter. Still an improvement over where we started a few weeks ago. Back then he was just torpedoing at anything I pointed him at. I mean... remember when he did the 4 in the 5? I do. I did not like it. Yesterday, I tried to recreate the exercise I liked having at home, but with poles instead of small jumps. It's just one pole on each diagonal, and I let him figure 8 over them until he thinks it's boring and stops trying to take over. Unfortunately, we didn't quite get to that point before someone came in to rig a horse, but I still think it was a productive ride. We have a lesson tomorrow, but hopefully I can try it again another day. I think if I can get his internal metronome reset, I'll have my summer horse back. Wish me luck...

Not much to report back on with Pammon. We're walking 30 minutes a day still, but using the Equicore bands every other day. They seem to be helping I think? I can feel a difference in how he steps with them on. But it's really hard to say for sure until we're able to trot. All in good time though. No need to rush things. 

More news on the Shiny front though... She was actually going to see the vet this Friday, but he was scheduled for a pre purchase on Monday for a horse that was delayed in transit. So she had her appointment Monday instead. If you remember, when the vet was out last, Shiny had hit her head and couldn't be ridden that day. We tried some shockwave, but honestly, it didn't really help, and she had some new issues developing. Namely, kicking out any time I asked for right lead canter. That's not entirely new, but in the past it might happen on the first transition of the day and then it went away. But now it was every single transition, and that really screams soreness to me. 

So doc watched her go, did a bunch of flexions, watched her go some more. Finally we did some blocks and watched her go AGAIN. Long story short, the biggest problem? She's much too fat. She always puts weight on at the boarding barn because she eats too much hay there. Mostly when she's out in the paddock since they just throw hay for the day out there, and she goes out early so has ALL of it at her disposal. Girl can hoover I'll tell you. While it's easy to say, "please only throw one flake out there for her" it's not always easy to actually get done at a busy boarding place. People get used to what they do, and it's hard to change habits. But I just ordered her a hay pillow, so hopefully that will at least slow her down in the stall. 

The weight might be the main problem, but the symptoms are many. She was actually mildly lame right hind for the vet visit which I've sometimes thought I felt, but was never convinced. Doc hasn't seen it until this time though. In addition to the lameness behind, she was also showing soreness in her SI as well as up front through her left shoulder. That's a lot of things to be hurting, and so we have some more investigating to do. There are a few things we're checking before proceeding with any sort of injections. First, doc pulled blood to check for Lyme. It's VERY common here in CT ( it was named after the next town over) and frequently will cause soreness in multiple body parts. It can come and go too. Lyme is weird and presents weirdly. The second thing he's checking is her insulin levels. Being that she is part quarter horse, she is predisposed to have some metabolic issues. Hopefully those results will come in this week, so when doc is back Friday, we can proceed with any therapeutics she might need. The current plan is to inject with a biologic rather than a steroid. We'll do hocks and shoulder and hold off on the SI for now. Hypothesis is that the sore SI may be from favoring the hocks. As for the shoulder, that's something we've been thinking about doing for some time, but held off since we knew the neck was troublesome. I'm telling you, this inexpensive pony has turned kind of high maintenance... Good thing I love her so much! I just really want to get her comfortable again. She tries so hard, and I can tell she's struggling right now. Fingers crossed we can get her patched up this time. 

And now you're all caught up on our week! How are all of your equine doing? Any dramatics or are things going well? Or maybe both? It's usually both. 

What's Up Wednesday

 

Winter has been a little bit of a PITA these past couple of weeks. Despite having an indoor to ride in, sometimes it still is just plain too cold to work horses. Here in southern New England, that doesn't happen often. Usually once or twice a winter. But it happened twice in the same week already! Fortunately the days were spread out, so there was plenty of riding anyway. The unfortunate part is that it interrupted some of my lesson plans. 

Last Tuesday was one of those too cold to ride days, which meant all the horses had two days off (barn is closed on Mondays). I was a little worried they would all be murderous lunatics by Wednesday, but lucky for me, they were all just fine on Wednesday. Nothing exciting that day, they all just flatted. 

I haven't been jumping Eros since he's not 100% right now. Shiny is also on the flat only train, so I opted to do just my morning lesson on Thursday with Al. Normally I would do either Eros or Shiny in the morning and then Al in the afternoon lesson. But honestly, during the winter, I don't really like waiting around all day for that late lesson. So I decided to do the earlier one. It's a less advanced level class, but honestly, Al and I need some work on the basics anyway. So it was the perfect fit for this week. He was being a bit of a child about the end of the ring (most of the horses find it spooky down there, Al is no exception) but he worked through it. By the time he got to jumping, he'd mostly forgotten about the death eaters down at the end. I'll call it a win! Even when he's being spooky, he rarely actually spooks. He just stares and asks repeatedly if we can run away. If I say no he accepts that. Rio was the same way when he was younger. So I'm hopeful he'll outgrow it at some point. (Took Rio about 15 years...) 

I had hoped to keep the momentum going with a second lesson on Saturday, but alas, too cold again. 

When the feels like is -2F... this is what I wear for hand walking.
And yes, I'm wearing two jackets under that coat. I might have
overdressed though... I was sweating halfway through my first horse.

I felt especially sorry for Shiny as she got clipped again on Friday. Poor thing. She and Al both got clipped right before the two coldest days of the year. Fortunately, we have plenty of warm layers for them, and the barn itself stays quite comfortable. Even on the really cold days, it stayed in the 30's (Fahrenheit) in there. 

She's pink now.

It was unclear initially what Sunday would bring. At 8 am the indoor was 8 degrees. So I stayed home until about noon and then headed over. I dressed to ride just in case, but figured I'd see when I got there what the temp was like in the ring and what everyone else was doing. Turns out it warmed way up and the ring was 30 degrees! So everyone got ridden. I knew Pammon would be fine since he gets a little ace for our walks still. I wasn't so sure about the rest. I suspected Eros would be fine since he usually is, but he was a little spicy! Nothing naughty, but I could tell he was looking hard for a reason to be silly. He kept his poo together though, and we had a nice ride. Shiny was the wild one! And wild for Shiny just means she's a little extra belligerent and she might scoot a little here or there. All of which were things that happened, but nothing tough to deal with. I was most worried that Al might be a little crazy. I saved him for last as the other boarders were heading out, and I figured I'd be able to free lunge him before I got on. Unfortunately, the next wave of boarders showed up so I had to just get on. And I felt like an idiot for worrying. The horse was absolutely perfect. Go figure. 

After my Monday off watching 10 hours of Golden Girls while deep cleaning my kitchen, I was ready to work Tuesday. It's been much warmer here this week, which also helps my motivation. All three working horses were pretty fantastic for a Tuesday this week. Eros especially was on his game. I got some trot work out of him that I haven't been able to access in weeks. And today he even gave me some great canter work on his tough lead. Miracles happen! Al and Shiny both had free lunges in the morning before I got to the barn, so they were both super relaxed and willing. Pammon was good too... you know that 30 minutes of walking is so strenuous. Ha. Sorry Pammon. Hopefully we'll get clearance to trot soon.

Today was also a good day all around! Tomorrow I have a dr appt in the middle of the day which kind of messes up lesson plans. Instead Eros will do the morning lesson, I'll ride Shiny before that, and Pammon after. And Al will have a training ride. I'm going to lesson him Saturday this week. Hopefully next week I'll get on a better schedule with him. I'd like to jump him twice a week, but I've been slacking on signing myself up. Cold weather is just so demotivating! I'm working on it. 

In doggy news, things are still a little touch and go with Rita. The bathroom troubles are real... and she still being rude to Pia. But these things take time and I really want to give her a chance. I'm hoping we can make this work. If not, there were several other people interested in her before I got her, so maybe another family without other dogs would be a better fit. We'll see. She's very sweet otherwise! And I've already bought her collars (yes multiple, I have a problem okay?) and her official tag. 

So that's it from here. Things are going well, just waiting on spring time! Did you all have a good week? Staying warm?

What's Up Wednesday

 

Well guys, it was a week last week. I already mentioned having my well pump replaced, but I did not mention that I'm still dealing with rust in the water. This is normal and can take awhile, but it just feels horrible seeing my horses' water buckets like this:

It's 100% safe but man. It seems like I don't take care of these animals if you see these buckets. Please don't call the authorities. Fortunately, it's not this bad anymore, and hopefully will be all clear soon.

Eros had THE BEST jump school on Wednesday. I had changed the course Monday, and he just clocked right around like nothing was new. AND all but one of the jumps was set at 2'9". He felt amazing. And took some adorable screen shots:

Shiny, however, was a train wreck and a half! I made the mistake of forgetting to put my spurs back on. Lesson learned there. NEVER try to jump Shiny without spurs. Sheesh. I could not get that lil' nugget up in front of my leg for the life of me. And she was acting like she had never seen any of these jumps before in her life. Oddly enough, the jumps she jumped well, she jumped really cute. 

But the ones she didn't...

Monsters under this one.

Yep, had that rail down

Kids. I can't say she was a bad pony. She wasn't at all. She never said no to anything and she doesn't try anything dirty. But it was just like she had lost her confidence. She would kind of stutter in front of everything the first time and stare down at them. But once she'd jumped everything she went out pretty well and we called it a day.

Thursday was flat day for both of them, and they were good. Nothing out of the ordinary. It was a relatively easy day as it was kind of raining off and on, so we just tried to get it done in between the weather. 

The rain did stop in the afternoon for my lesson with Lil'B! We did all kinds of hard things like figure eights over bending lines. 

We made it through pretty nicely the first time, but then I proceeded to mess it up most of the other times. Oh well. Finally, the trainer stood in the middle to make me bend around her and it all worked out nicely. Sometimes you just need a landmark!

Friday is where things took a disappointing turn. I got on Eros and all seemed fine while we were walking around. But when I picked up the trot he was lame. Like really lame. Shit. The only good news was that it was Friday and most Fridays my lameness vet is in the area. So I sent a text and he said he'd try to fit me in that afternoon. I rode Shiny in between and thankfully, she was just fine. 

The vet arrived around 4, and had me lunge Eros so he could see what I saw. Yep. Lame. We were all hoping abscess but he was negative to the testers. So on to blocking. He did block nearly sound with the first set so we narrowed it down quickly to foot, maybe lower pastern area. Which is good and bad. It's his leg with the weird tendon so that's not ideal. Since we blocked, we couldn't ultra sound, but since we were leaning toward foot, doc shot some x-rays to see if we could see anything. 

They looked great which is good (and bad). So ultimately, we don't really know what's wrong. Hypothesis is that he somehow jammed that weird tendon of his. We decided to inject the coffin and give him this entire week off, then see what I have on Friday. If he's sound, we'll make a plan for riding, and if he's not, we'll have to do more diagnostics. Cross your fingers for us friends!  

As for what happened, we aren't really sure. I'm feeling incredibly guilty, that maybe it's because I put the jumps up a hole. But he was sound the day after our last jumps school, so I'm not sure that's rational. Doc thinks he should have tolerated the slightly bigger jumps just fine. He could have just hurt himself stomping at flies (he's very aggressive about that...) or maybe in turnout. Who knows. For now he's getting his regular turnout in the mornings and hand walking in the afternoon. Hopefully he'll look good on Friday. 

Shiny got to have her second jump day on Saturday. I made a point to flat her longer before we started jumping. I worked a lot on getting her to move forward and come back at the canter in the hopes it would translate to being adjustable once we were jumping. For the most part it was successful and she was so much better than earlier in the week. She was super ridable and seemed to be enjoying herself. Oddly enough, she didn't jump as cute, but I think when she's relaxed, she just doesn't try as hard. 

I'll take relaxed and rideable over a pretty jump any day though. 

I had a nice flat ride on Bellino Sunday and then Sunday Funday with Shiny. But she kind of ruined it. I don't ride B with spurs so I didn't have them on. I figured for a ten minute bareback ride I wouldn't need them for Shiny. But alas... She knew I was unarmed. No spurs, no stick... Little hussy wouldn't canter! WOULD. NOT. I was pony kicking like a really strong child to no avail. So I got off, got Mr. Tappy, and got back on. She smartened right up thankfully, and we had a pretty lovely ride. Despite being in the sidepull, she brought that hind end up under herself, and gave me a lovely shape. My legs were toast after 20 minutes, and we were both happy to wander out in the yard and eat grass after that. Well, she ate the grass. I sat on her and scrolled Insta. 

This week has been uneventful so far (knock on something please...). Eros is hand walking and Shiny is so far being fine. Looking forward to Friday when hopefully Eros will surprise me with a lovely, sound trot!

Did you all have a good week? Horses trying to drive you insane? It is what they do best afterall...