Poor Red Mare

Bre has had issues with soundness over the years. Initially (age 4) it was a trimming issue then she did great until I took five weeks off for a knee injury (my own) and she came back super lame (age 5). We never really figured out what it was (yes I had multiple vet opinions). I brought her back to Oregon and tried a few things that seemed to work because for the most part had a sound happy horse. She has super thin soles and I have to be really diligent about how her feet are trimmed. She has received regular chiropractic or acupuncture treatment since she was a 4yo. For about a year my friend who was in human chiro school and training to do horse chiropractic as well worked on her. Since she was hired to work at a horse/human chiropractic clinic in Boston I let Bre's body work go. It has admittedly been almost two years since she was adjusted. When Bre went lame about a month ago I immediately assumed it was feet issues. Her farrier (who is awesome) has had to let her go long twice this summer because of vacation. The horses just happen to be growing super fast this year so her angles are off on one foot. She also has chunks of dead sole coming off in patches and catching rocks in the holes. With these things in mind I just assumed he would get her all fixed up at this next shoeing.

When he arrived I let him know what was going on and he said the last time he trimmed her she had a hard time holding up her right foot because she wanted to keep weight off the left hind. I have noticed her pulling her way with the right front and took it to mean she didn't want me messing with that foot. It is hard for me to see what is going on with the rest of her body when I am the one bent over. Watching him do her shoes I could really see her tucking her hind under and shifting her weight on the hind often to get comfortable. She really didn't want to put all her weight on her hind to pick up a front foot. When he trimmed her left hind she was obviously uncomfortable. When left to her own devices she cocks up the left hind and puts more weight on the front. She has a hunters bump that I have noticed looks larger than usual.

He said she is acting similar to when he first trimmed her. Lo and behold after he first trimmed her I started intensive body work. My friend was working on her several times a month until she moved away. I also put her several scoops of cosequin a day. I ran out of cosequin in June and was planning on putting her back on it this month now that I am more financially settled after graduating from RN school. She sliced her right leg open last year and was swollen and sore for over a month. I wonder if she tweaked herself then and it just kept getting worse. Between that and a longer than usual spring abscess I am not suprised her back is sore. She's also a nut and won't walk when she's sore. She runs everywhere if it is physically possible so she doesn't give her body a chance to heal. I have a bum hip that does the same thing if I don't rest and nip it with proper chiro work. I felt terrible and guilty to see her sore. I love this mare so much my heart feels like it is going to burst so when she hurts I always feel like I should have fixed it sooner. She is the sweetest smartest girl. No one has been riding her the last month but she loves to be ridden and we have some great fall trails calling to us. I am hoping she can get back on track.

Romeo needs some work done too so I have called the vet out Thursday. My vet clinic does acupuncture work. Bre used to get acupuncture work from another vet who has since narrowed her practice down to small animal. Luckily that vet trained my equine clinic. It is nice to know whey will be able to notice if something bigger is going on. I am going to start massages on Bre tomorrow and keep on top of it over my next week off work. She loves her massages and will position herself so I am getting to the right spots.

Recycled iphotos (since I am still working and can't get to stable)

First Ride!!!

Video of Mr Goofball in the arena this weekend. 

Gahhh!! I feel so behind on blogging. I have been able to read every one's comments on my iphone between running around and just haven't gotten the chance to respond. I am also keeping up on blogs and loving all the horsey stories. It inspires me with all my horse adventures. 

I worked Weds-Fri which means I was off Sat morning. I found myself totally exhausted after a busy week at work. Sat I pretty much slept all day but enjoyed an amazing birthday dinner with my partner. My birthday was Sunday and I got to spend a good chunk of it at the stable. I gave a riding lesson on Romeo and was very happy with his young rider. He still wants to break to a canter rather than move out at a trot. I believe this is remnants of jogging wayyyy to much. She is doing really well at riding him through different lengths of stride using only her seat. I think that he will remember he can move out pretty quickly. I am going to ride him again this week once I finally have a little break from work. 

On another Romeo note, he managed to imbed some wood chips into his head a week or so ago. Erin was worried that the puncture wound (which was cleaned by the vet initially) was looking a little oozy. There is nothing I love more than the chance ot squeeze something nasty so I ran out there today. I had been picking at it every day until I worked Wed-Fri then yesterday I didn't tack him up so I forgot to look. Sure enough today I saw it was swollen so I cleaned it with betadine and gave it a good squeeze. Out came lots of goo and I flushed it was sterile saline then squirted in some medication from the vet. Looks like it might need daily irrigating for a few days but it was actually not too bad. I think he will live to tell about it. 

Romeo's wood chip piercings......

Dickie play time was also on my list of weekend fun. By best friend and silent co-owner used to start horses for a living. He has been trying to get out there to play with him and give me some tips but he's been working 10 hrs a day five days a week for the last few months. We decided to see how Dickie would feel about me sitting on him. I have no plans to do anything more than sit on him a few times before his third birthday and the BFF is the only person I trust to lead me on him. I trust his judgement to tell me when the horse is ready, to keep the horse under control, and tell me if I should hop off. I have been leading him up to the mounting block since I got him and leaning over him too. We gave him a good workout first and BFF did some ground work as well. It was great to see how he handles him and learn some new tricks. 

After his workout we went to the mounting block and I got on. We have an awesome super tall mounting block that I barely have to lift my left to swing it over him. I had to hop off twice when Dickie got mad at the BFF for refusing to be eaten but Dickie could care less about me. He turned around a few times to chew on my feet but other than that didn't seem the least concerned I was up there. I mounted from the block at least 5 times with zero objection. The first couple of mounts we just walked a step or two and stood still.  By the last time we walked around a lap around the arena. IT WAS SO FUN!!!!! I loved feeling him move under me and he's pretty comfortable bareback. I won't be doing it again anytime soon because he is too young but it was amazing to be up there. I have never been the first person to sit on a horse. I was so happy that it was the BFF and I together for the ride. Dickie is going to go on so many fun adventures with one, or both, of us over the years. It is only fitting that we are both part of his first journey's into real working horsedom. 

For now though we go back the drawing board with ground work. I got some good ideas from seeing the BFF work with him. I can't wait until I have a stretch of seven days off and can work with him consistently for a longer stretch. I am also really looking forward to riding Romeo too. It is fun to feel the progress with a horse. I think I might even pop him over some cross rails (Romeo not Dickie of course). He seems to enjoy doing something different. Yay for Friday at 730am when I am off work for a week!!

Bonding

I think I am fairly good at figuring out the general personality of a horse quickly. However, I love taking time to really get to know what makes each horse unique. I have known Bre for 11 years and at this point know her as well as I know myself. I can tell what naughty thing she is thinking up by just the look on her face. I knew both Bre and Belle for many months before buying them. I had been taking lessons on Belle until she needed colic surgery. Then when she was rehabbing from surgery I spent a ton of time hand walking her and getting her back in shape. When it came time to buy a horse of my own I kept looking for one just like Belle so when they offered to sell her it was a no brainer. I started training Bre at age three and bonded with her long before buying her was an option. By the time my name was on her papers Bre had already chosen me as her owner.

In comparison Dickie and I have only know each other for a very short time. I bought him after only meeting him for a few minutes. He has one of those personalities that sucks anyone in so it didn't take me long to fall in love. He is such a social guy that he demands everyone within his sight loves him. Even with that endearing personality it still takes time to really know a horse. After two months I feel like we are getting to the point where we have a personal bond. He doesn't like me just because he likes everyone, he recognizes me individually. He whinnied for me twice on Sunday and I went all gooey inside. It was the girliest little baby whinny and hilarious coming out of this big studly looking horse.

The more I get to know his weird quirks the more I love him.  For example he likes to put everything in his mouth but there are a few things that make him as joyous as a little kid on Christmas. When I get my gloves out he perks up and starts this crazy ants-in-my-pants dance with a gleam in his eye because he wants to chew on them BAD. Today he was super focused on unscrewing the top of the treat tub but left that in a second when he saw the gloves. If they are on my hands he doesn't bother them but if I haven't put them on they are fair game. God forbid I let my guard down because once he gets a glove in his mouth there is no getting it back. I would have about as much luck winning a tug of war match with a pit bull.

His lead rope is also apparently as tantalizing as horse crack. We will be walking along with him looking around at the birds and cats and things then suddenly I see a light bulb go off "OMG LEAD ROPE!!!" he will do a crazy double skip hop in the front and bite the air away from the lead but his ears and eyes are a dead giveaway to what he is planning. If I can catch him at the first skip with an "Ahhhh ahhh ahhhh" I have some hope of keeping the lead out of his mouth. If he gets past crazy hopping to air snapping his mouth then I might as well just give in and let him carry the rope because he has his mind set. He cracks me up because I really think he thinks he is being sly. There is nothing sly about this guy though. When something gets him happy he hops and does crazy dance moves with his head and snaps the air. Usually he gets most happy when he sees I am in possession of something he might want to put in his mouth but large fluffy dogs have also been known to elicit dance moves.

The more I get to know him the more I love his personality. He is just so fun. Sometimes he is exhausting because he never stops. He is always looking for something to grab or knock over so I can't let my guard down. I know horses who can just chill out while people are talking and he isn't one of those. If you watch him closely his mind never stops. I have never seen him just zone out and chill. It isn't that he is anxious. This horse is far from anxious. He's has to be the happiest horse I've ever been around. Even when he throws a tantrum because he doesn't want to do something the second he is done Mr Happy face comes right back. When I am not keeping his mind busy he's just always watching, plotting, and planning. He doesn't see why we should just stand around when we could stand annnnnd pull down halters, knock over plants, smack humans with the lunge whip, twirl the lead rope, and do a little dance at the same time. I am really trying hard to find the balance between having an obedient horse and without expecting too much of him. I don't want to lose that curious nature by expecting him to stand still at all times.

Tonight I took him in the arena to lunge and drooled all over myself. He is getting so strong and confident in his movements and it doesn't seem real that I will get the privilege to work with such a nice horse. He has some real talent. We also tried long lining which was both a win and a disaster. My main goal was to make sure he wouldn't mind all the ropes and he didn't. In fact he was so relaxed with all the ropes around his body that he decided the most logical thing to do would be to roll. Somehow I managed to keep everything away from his legs. However, he didn't want any part of steering and decided that he could walk any direction he felt even if I had him turned the other way. I have plans for fixing that but he was so mellow and seemed so happy to be learning something new that I quit and called it good. We ended with our usual stand by the mounting block. We did that quite a bit at the old barn but I have neglected this routine the last few weeks. This arena is a little more difficult because there are really cool things by the mounting block. He wanted to stand still but he also gets a craving for eating lunge whips from time to time and the neatly lined up row of whips was calling to him. This mounting block is also really tasty. The mounting block is made for all the 18h warmblood hunters so I towered over him. I couldn't resist laying over his back to see how he felt. He took a few steps with me over his back and could care less. I slid down to the ground and gave him a good rub down. I love him.

It's hard to get pictures without at least one blurry body part because he is so busy. 

Attempting to throw halters on the floor, and rip his fly mask off the stall door. He is super shiny and you can kind of see here. I am sad that we will be losing the summer shine soon. 

Opening the treat bucket. He left that in a heartbeat when I pulled the gloves out of my pocket.

 Looking quite grown up. 

 Ready for some loving. Notice the fleece surcingle pad isn't on his back where it should be. That occured during the long line rolling fiasco. 

 Rub my face please. 

Just A Photo Post

Photo of jumps for different levels of the horse trial I watched this weekend. Such a pretty fall morning. 

Trailers lined up and ready for the day. 

Tari getting her forelock prettied up before dressage. 

View of the main field and bank complex. 

 Tari jumping hay bales like they are three foot horse eating monsters. 

Weekend funsies

I have had a busy few days. I works thurs thru sat. I got off work sun am and managed to stay awake for over 24 hours. I am usually very careful about getting enough sleep and keeping a sleep routine. When I get off work I grab a quick snack and am out like a light by 9am. Sunday I really wanted to go watch a horse show. I made plans to go back when I wasn't working Saturday night. So instead of stopping coffee consumption at 2am I kept it going. I was feeling pretty good by the end of my shift and was actually coherent when I arrived at the show. A new barn friend was competing at a little eventing derby that the local hunt club holds three times a year. It's not a long serious country course but we pretty much have nothing in the way of eventing in Portland so it's fun to go. You have to drive at least 3 hours to get to any events around here and there are only 3 i have found. This one used i have 3 phases but they morphed stadium and xcoubtry into one long course. I felt old when i found myself saying "back when I was showing they has this......"

Everything is low key and try have a few mini courses below beginner novice. I'm hoping I take Dickie to the trot a rail next year because it's so mellow there and only a few mins from where he lives. My only complaint was that the timing was disorganized. Dressage ran late, when does it eve run on time, but the jumping ran on time. This meant there was barely time to switch tack between events. By the time you switched there was only time for two or three warm up fences. It was super fun and my friend got 5th and was one of only 3 clear rounds. It was her mares first event and I was happy I got to watch.

After that I gave my first lesson to Romeos lessee. The person who started Romeo came out before she got there to see I she felt the same problems as I dd. it was nice to have someone who knows the horse come to the same conclusions I did. Because Romeo felt so sucked back I just worked on forward with the girl. I let her know we can go back to a western jog Eventually but he needs to et moving correctly first. I was incredibly impressed with her. Initially he was chomping at the bit w ears pinned the second she picked up the reins. She didn't hesitate when I told her to ride on a lose rein and picked up on everything I told her. By the end of the ride she had him soft, forward, and stretching down looking for contact. He has been really bad about nervous bit chomping and he didn't do it once after the first five minutes. I hope that she had fun because she did wonderful and I think she can go far. I know that ribbons aren't everything but I think she can clean up. It would be nice to see her winning without forcing him into a headset like the other trainer  was so focused on. Im excited for our next lesson!

Dickie got his feet trimmed and a new jolly ball. And he's started whinnying when I get there. It's the funniest high pitched baby whinny. So cute. More on him later. It's hard to write a post on my cell! I have event pics too but can't figure out how to upload them til I get to my Mac.

The Wind Strikes Again

What the BLEEP is it with horses and the wind? I had kind of forgotten about the whole wind situation because of Bre. Bre is one of those rare horses who doesn't care about the wind. I recall once when she was 3 or 4 and it was a super windy day. The barn felt like it was going to fall down around us, some people were opting not to ride. I decided I was lazy and going to ride bareback. People were peeking in the cracks of the arena door just to see if that crazy girl on that dangerous (she was known for going to crazy town) red horse were really in there. We sure were riding in the wind and Bre was fine. Bre might think bikes (the pedal kind, not the legitimately scary Harley kind) emit horse killing death rays but she will take you out into a hurricane no problem.

So the fact that it was a brisk fall evening on Weds with the wind picking up didn't even enter into my mind as being a factor on Dickie's walk today. He came up to me friendly and engaged so I figured we would have none of the power struggle shenanigans from the earlier week. Boy was I mistaken. He showed me some fancy footwork. He wasn't being disobedient, when I would focus him he tried his hardest to listen but the world had him on overload. Generally when life is scary he will snort, grab his lead rope, then look at me (sometimes whacking me with his head in the process) to see if I agree it is time to get out of dodge. If I seem calm he will relax and keep going with me. Today he still checked in with me but then decided I clearly wasn't taking the danger of a windy day seriously enough and went on guard for both of us.

Dickie:
Snorts, snaps around to see mom and whacks mom with his head "Sorry about the head whack but LOOK!!! Do you see that!! It's a cougar over there in the field you are leading us to" 
Mom:
"Dude watch  your big head, how can you even see where you are going with your head looking backwards!! NO NO lead rope is mine! "
Dickie:
"Boy you are clueless today, you must not see the cougar. I think I can calm down if you let me carry the lead rope in my mouth." sigh, relaxes for about 60 seconds "SHIT,  RUN FOR YOUR LIVES IT'S COMING!!" Nearly falls over from sideways scootrip, rears, lands somehow still in upright position, still right next to mom.
Mom:
"There is nothing there, I can't see anything. Wait wait I see it........Dumbass, it's a cat!! You like cat's. There is grass over there in the cat field don't you want it?"

Both parties walk relatively calmly, albeit apprehensively, into the field.

Dickie:
"Ahhhhhh!!! COWS!!! These aren't normal cows, these are totally zombie horse eating cows. I am so sorry to do this but....... THE ONLY WAY OF ESCAPE IS RIGHT WHERE ARE YOU STANDING". 
Mom:
"DUDE!!! I am too old for this, my butt doesn't get out of the way fast enough. Time to walk backwards because walking over me is not an option"
Dickie:
"Sure I can walk backwards AND sideways if  you want me to. I will chew and lick and be submissive. I am a good boy. And I can do it all with my tail up in the air and eyes locked on the cows".

Finally horse realizes he is standing fetlock deep in clover and decides zombie cows need friends too.  After clover eating both parties head back home towards the gate. Said gate goes between tall blackberries bushes.

Zombie Birds in the Bushes:
"SQUAAAWWWWK, cackle, cackle, squeek, SQUAWK"
Dickie:
"No way man, we can't walk by those bushes, haven't you seen that Alfred Hitchcock movie?"
Mom:
"They are just birds, totally unnatural sounding birds but birds. You are HUGE, you can kill them if needed".
Dickie:
"Not moving, you can't make me. And I certainly am not walking next to you. You just want me between creepy devil birds and you."
Me:
"Ok, maybe you are right. Those birds are a little creepy, sounds like they are plotting something. Now you are freaking me out. UGH, I will go first but don't run me over if I walk in front".
Dickie:
"Seeeeeeee, I told you those birds just aren't right. I will follow you through. No, I won't step on you but I don't have to be calm about it". 

That was a snap shot of our walk. I am happy to say that no feet were harmed in the process. We had round pen workout that was going great until dinner time started so I would say today is a win. At least I got a good taste of how he behaves when he is upset.