Brrrr

I'm back home drinking hot tea and trying to warm up after my lesson tonight :). I got to the barn in time to trot out Dude and see that he is still off, so I decided to ride Bestie. I lunged her on Sunday and Monday, although Monday was sort of a weenie lunge with not much action on her part nor effort on mine.

It ended up being just two of us in the lesson tonight. I hadn't really thought through the change in weather (lots of snow, colder temps), so I was lucky that I had pretty much my whole ensemble of jeans, long johns, wool socks, etc. in the car, and enough outer layers stashed in the barn already to keep warm.

We did a lot of walking and talking, and Bestie was really relaxed. At about the 40-minute mark I suddenly started to freeze. I think I just hadn't been moving enough. That was right about the time we moved into trotting. Bestie made it almost around the indoor at a lovely little jog, then kicked into high gear - trot trot trot trot head up in the air trot trot trot trot. I know I wasn't helping and in fact, I may have initiated the wild trotting, because I could feel myself tensing up and shivering from the cold. Heading back to the barn after a short calming walk seemed like the best option.

It's hard with her when it's cold because she doesn't like having the quarter sheet on her haunches, and using that is the sure way for me to keep warm. I may have to dig out the insulated riding pants on these days when the temps are mid 20s or lower. All in all, she was good, especially considering she hasn't been ridden in at least two weeks. Got her and Dude all dressed in their winter blankies prior to heading home, since it's supposed to be really cold for a few days. My toes have thawed and my cup of chai tea is tasting really good tonight.

Back in the saddle, Part ... 2? 3?

So I did join the lesson group on Tuesday nights the week of Thanksgiving, and it was fun, but the experience was curtailed by the fact that Dude was lame. I didn't discover that until the lesson was about three quarters over, because we practiced a lot of walk-halt transitions and good movement at the walk before moving into trot.

Right away he felt odd to me and Emma confirmed that he was indeed off, seemingly on the back left leg, which is where he's had the scratches. But the scratches are definitely on the mend and have healed to the point where I find it hard to believe that the tiny rough spot that's left would bother him. Maybe he tweaked the leg in the field goofing around. Who knows, really.

So my return to lessons was brief! One night. We put Dude on bute for a couple days. I trotted him last night and he was still off. I don't have a plan except to give him some more time off and see how it goes. He's had such issues with his feet/heels lately with the wet weather that it wouldn't surprise me if he has another abscess brewing. And he's about a week-plus overdue for trimming and shoeing.

I'm thinking that in next week's lesson I may try Bestie, but that means I need to get my act together and lunge her a few times, because with the holiday, she hasn't been too active except for turnout and one low-key pre-Thanksgiving lunge. Work has been super busy and I haven't been able to spend as much time at the barn as I'd like to. Been one of those rush in, rush out weeks, ugh.

Getting back into lessons

Last Sunday was absolutely beautiful so I decided to ride Dude. As I was saddling up, another barn mate was getting ready and we decided to ride out to the outdoor together. It worked out well - her horse is young and Dude's role was to be a good influence, and having someone else out there kept me in the saddle a little longer, which was a good test of the ol' knee.

It was fun. Dude was a little hoppy as we approached the outdoor, but not bad. Turned out there were deer along the treeline, and horses in the adjacent field that were just barely visible through the trees, and that was the cause for a little bit of consternation on his part. We trotted a little bit, but mostly walked. There was a jump course set up, so it was good practice to ride him around in little patterns. At about the half hour point I felt like I needed to take my right leg out of the stirrup and stretch out my knee, but other than that I felt pretty good.

So good, in fact, that I asked Emma if I could join the lesson group she has on Tuesday nights with a bunch of moms whose kids are off (or soon off) to college. It'll be a lot of fun to ride with other people and learn from each other, and I really enjoyed my lessons last winter with Emma on Dude, so I'm looking forward to it. I think Dude will enjoy it, too. He likes being in a program. We'll both be getting back into shape together.

Katie got home last night and rode him today. I'm sure he's glad to have his kid home for a bit.

Leaving the kids with the sitter

Wednesday night was prep night for leaving the equine kids in the barn manager's hands. I had to leave Thursday morning for a couple days in Boston. I don't go away all that often and I don't often miss a day at the barn, so it's always something of an event. Getting ready to go reminds me of when I would leave the kids with a babysitter, and how I'd run through the ol' mental checklist to make sure everything would be covered.

The equine version of the checklist:
Note on both of their stalls with a plea to take off their turnout sheets if the weather warmed up over 40 degrees - check.

Contact numbers for husband (who will be home) left for barn manager - check.

Discussion with husband about calling vet in case of any emergency - check.

Desitin still outside Dude's door to be rubbed on his scratches prior to turnout - check.

Extra bag of shavings outside Dude's door in case his stall gets really bad - check.

Supplement drawer full - check.

Kisses to the ponies as I ran out the door of the barn late Wednesday evening - check and check.

Got back home last night around 7:30 and decided to be a sane person, trust in the barn management, and not run to the barn to check on Dude and Bestie. Looking forward to seeing them today!

Another attempt at getting back in the saddle

This afternoon the skies cleared after a stretch of really gloomy weather and it was just beautiful. I went to the barn early in the afternoon since I felt like I had been short-changing the horses all week with rushed evening trips after work. They went out in their paddocks today, which was great. Bestie had gotten a little stocked up over the weekend from being inside, and I was happy to see that after today's turnout her ankles were fine. I had eight muddy feet and lower legs to clean up because it's still pretty soupy in spots from all the rain we've had.

I decided to make another attempt at riding Dude since my knee has been feeling pretty good. Got him saddled up and we rode out to the outdoor ring, circled it a couple times, then headed back. He was full of it, which for Dude -- generally a pretty low-key guy -- means head way up in the air, frequent breaks into a trot, and lots of looking around warily at the field across the road and the woods up above the path, which he seemed convinced hid some sort of threat to his well-being. All in all pretty tame behavior for a horse that hasn't been ridden since August. Ha. I love riding him at this time of year. He's so fuzzy it's like riding a big chestnut teddy bear.

My knee felt good and it was fun to ride even though it was a short one. The last time I got on (September?), my knee got all twinge-y right away, but I didn't feel much of anything today. Fingers crossed that this is a sign that other activities I've missed, like playing hockey, will soon follow.

After I scrubbed Dude's back heel where the scratches are, I used a little purchase from yesterday, a microfiber mitt intended for use drying dogs that quickly absorbs the wetness and cuts the drying time w-a-y down. Magic! Set of two mitts, $4.99. Thank you, TJ Maxx!

Rider aches and pains

When I got on Dude several weeks ago to test out my knee I thought for a minute about how it felt to him once I got in the saddle. Right from the get-go it was clear that I wasn't really balanced (if I ever am!) because I couldn't hold my right leg in the same position as my left. I've got some muscle tightness issue going on related to my knee, although I've definitely noticed an improvement in recent weeks.

Then I came across this article about being a relaxed rider on HolisticHorse.com and found it really interesting. So much to think about when you ride, and the fact that there may be some slight imbalance that you don't even notice but that can be felt by your horse.

When I read the tip in the article about using two scales to detect leg heaviness, of course I had to run around the house and find two scales. Turns out I'm 5-7 pounds heavy on my right leg. It actually came as no surprise to me (well, the range of weight did!), because when I ride I've noticed that I put more weight on the right stirrup. I guess the first step is to be conscious of it, and second step is to correct. A friend of mine told me she's working with a physical therapist to correct some posture issues that impact her riding. We're talking at the barn about finding some one locally to come in and do a few clinics and something on balance and posture analysis might be useful.

Still wrestling with scratches

Last Monday I got to the barn and the area just above Dude's back left fetlock, the heel that has the scratches, was swollen. I called the vet and they said they could come out the next day and suggested I give him a dose of smz tablets that I had on hand. That night I scrubbed the area again with Betadine, and asked someone to wrap him to help with the swelling.

When I arrived for the vet appointment the next day, the swelling had really gone down - the miracle of smz's! The vet checked him over, including a little mystery spot that I had noticed on his back RIGHT coronary band, which turned out to be an abscess popping through. It had basically popped through overnight, because when I noticed it the night before, it was sort of like a tiny bubble. Sigh. I guess it was good that it came through, because she said that I just needed to soak it for a couple days to get it cleaned out, and dab it with ichthammol afterwards, and that he could continue to go outside (yay!). That spot seems to have healed up nicely.

Back to the scratches. She wanted him off the smz's and the bute until the abscess healed, unless the swelling got bad again. So I took him off both, and kept wrapping him (actually - having other people wrap him - more on that) at night. The swelling pretty much stayed down until this weekend, when the horses had to stay in because of the weather, but it hasn't been too bad, and he wasn't lame when I trotted him tonight. The scratches seem to be healing, but it is a s-l-o-w process. Basically the irritation is right in the crease that occurs when he rests his back left foot. I think that even though I've been working the Desitin into the whole area, it sort of oozes/squeezes off that particular area when he bends the foot. The vet was pretty dismissive of the Corona's effectiveness, so I quit using that.

Upon the recommendation of someone in the barn, last night I started trying a new concoction, a mixture of equal parts of Desitin, antibiotic cream (a Neosporin generic) and a hydrocortisone cream (a Cortaid generic). It seemed to be a mix that made sense. I thought his heel looked better today, but that darn crease is still fairly red. Scrubbed him again and lathered the mix on. I'm starting to feel like I always have the aroma of Desitin wafting about me.

Back to the wrapping. I never learned to wrap; the kids always did it. And our horses really were never wrapped for much except for traveling, and in recent years I've used shipping boots. And for some reason I was really paranoid about doing it "wrong." I guess I've heard all these horror stories about bad wrapping jobs that stuck in my mind for some reason. But truly, it was getting a bit ridiculous always asking people to wrap for me so I took the plunge this week. I've done it three nights now and have had more expert wrappers in the barn double check me to make sure the job is done right. So far so good. I'm horribly, painstakingly slow and poor Dude definitely gets the award for patience. Tonight I thought I detected a sigh from him as I clipped him into the crossties in preparation for wrapping. :)

Wrestling with scratches

I've been scrubbing, drying and anointing Dude's back left heel for a week. A couple weeks ago, there were a couple suspicious little patches that looked like scratches, but they went away quickly. In fact, I think I only scrubbed and treated them once or twice.

Then, last Sunday, an ugly spot about a half dollar in size popped out seemingly overnight in his heel crease. I've been waging war with povidone-iodine scrub, then drying the heel and putting either Desitin diaper rash cream or Corona ointment on the patch. I started with the Desitin until Katie reminded me that what worked for us last time was the Corona, maybe four or five years ago when he had the scratches last. But then I read on the web that it's better not to use only one product because scratches can be caused by a variety of things. Both Desitin and Corona seem to provide a necessary barrier to keep the area clean, but it appears that Corona may have more of an antiseptic property to it.

My head is spinning from reading about all the home remedies that people try for scratches. I did read one suggestion to use a blow dryer to dry the heel, which is definitely valid since I'm sure my blotting with a towel is not getting the area totally dry.

The patch seems to have gotten less ugly over the course of the week. Early in the week it was scabby, then when the scab came off it looked red and painful, and now it just looks sort of pink. But that same leg around the fetlock joint has had swelling off and on for two days. No heat. He's been getting wrapped and is on bute. I guess I may need to call the vet if it doesn't look better soon. The swelling worries me, and it seems odd that it would develop as the area appears to be healing.

Yesterday the area seemed pretty ouchy. Today it wasn't as bad - he didn't seem to favor it, but that may be the bute taking the edge off. He's going out on grass and is not in mud, but it has been fairly wet so when he's outside his heel most likely is not dry. However, if he stayed inside with no turnout he'd be one very angry boy. Yeesh. You can't win sometimes.

There are a couple of other horses in the barn who also have scratches. Just seems to be the cooler time of year and the damp weather conditions.

Snow on the mountain top

This is the view when I'm heading back home from the barn. It's a great view any time of the year, but really striking when there's snow on Mount Mansfield. Last Friday (the 15th) a nor'easter came through that left about 2 feet of snow on the mountain. We've had a run of cold nights, so even though a lot of the snow has melted, there's still plenty of white up there.

The horses started wearing their turnout sheets a couple of days ago. It really hasn't gotten much above 40, and the temperatures have been dropping into the 30s at night, with a very slow warm-up in the morning. I'm hoping we get a little warm stretch; I'm not ready to settle into winter cold just yet.

Oooh, new look!

Just played around with the Blogger templates, decided I like this one. Fun stuff! The old vivid green is history, and after two years, it was time for a new look!

Fall day at the barn

Arrived at the barn and spent a couple minutes in the car watching the field dynamics. Dude and his gang are in a front field now, and the barn parking area is a good vantage point to spy on them. It's great seeing him so relaxed. He's got his BFFs Chance and Buddy and ambles back and forth between the two of them. Elder gelding Dusty, the Boss Man who is the fourth horse in the group, wasn't out, so things were pretty peaceful. In the photo, Dude is only partly visible behind Pearl in the red turnout sheet. He had wandered over to the fenceline to say hi to the girls in the next field, but they were pretty uninterested in him. Rejection. He didn't seem too bothered by it. So well adjusted. :)

Bestie gets a tummy ache

Monday I got to the barn to find Bestie just coming back after being walked in the indoor because she seemed a little under the weather. She was pretty zoned out, but not exhibiting any of the colic symptoms I've seen before like agitation, biting at her side, trying to roll, etc. She just seemed really out of it. I took her back out to the indoor and walked her for about 10 minutes and she placidly walked along with me.

We then came back in and I put her on the cross ties to groom her. She was fine, just kind of hanging out, but definitely reacted when I started currying her stomach; pinning her ears and kind of rolling her eyes back toward me. Her stomach seemed a little bloated.

I pulled her hay out of the stall and dumped her grain out. Then we stood there staring at each other for a good long while; her in the stall and me in the aisle. After a couple of minutes she seemed to sort of doze off, then she started vacuuming up the microscopic bits of hay that were left in her stall and she seemed much perkier.

But about 20 minutes later she went into zone-out mode again and laid down in her stall. She still didn't seem agitated at all, just really wiped out and without the usual sparkle in her eye. By then Emma the barn manager had come back, so we both stood in the aisle watching Bestie and debating whether she should get some banamine and whether I should call the vet. I ended up not doing either. I think because she seemed so calm I had a feeling she would work her way through it. I think everyone at the barn was a little on edge this week because one of the other horses had a pretty severe colic, although he eventually came out of it fine.

Emma checked Bestie's pulse, respiration, and whether she appeared dehydrated, and she checked out ok. The whole time Bestie was lying down she was pretty gassy. Really gassy. Amazingly gassy! When she finally got up and Emma went in to check her temperature (normal) she let loose with what seemed like the final blast. And within about 15 minutes, she completely perked up and started in with her classic very pointed looks at the hay cart, standard procedure when she's out of hay. It had passed, literally as it turned out, because she also pooped.

The whole episode was very strange as she had only been on grass for a couple hours and then was switched back to one of the paddocks with the scrub grass. But the weather has been very changeable, so maybe it was that in combination with the grass. Who knows, really. All I know is that it was scary seeing my crazy girl without her spark. Glad that she's ok.

Horse movies ... gotta love them

I've been on the Internet a lot today, and I feel like everywhere I go there's a trailer for Secretariat, the new Disney movie. Perhaps the Google gods are matching me up with those ads because of the blog? Anyway, I have the movie on my list as a "must see," but I have to confess to being a little worried because I've been crying watching the online trailer. I'm going to be a mess when I see the movie.

Makes me think back to all the other horse movies I've seen ... The Black Stallion, Seabiscuit, Dreamer; just to name a few. Dreamer was particularly fun because my daughters and I went with a bunch of other horsey 4Hers and moms and it was one big happy sobfest. It's like you watch those movies and all the crazy emotions you have wrapped up in your own horses come bubbling over. Your horsey friends and compatriots understand. Other people look at you like you're nuts.

My husband wants to go see Secretariat with me. I know he'll be perplexed when I start sniffling and muttering, "so much (sniff) heart (sniff) in (snuffle) (gulp) that horse." Prediction: I'll leave the theater red-eyed but happy.

Any one else out there a complete sucker for horse movies?

Halter for sale

A friend sent this along to me; it must be making the rounds. I think anyone who has been around horses for any length of time is familiar with (and has probably learned a lot from) this sort of character!

Used purple pony halter $600
I have a used bright purple pony halter for sale. Adjustable and in fairly good condition.

A pony will be included with the halter. I currently call this pony "Juicy" although he goes by many other names as well, depending on my mood and his behavior.

This pony is just waiting to become someone's little dream pony.

This 12.2 hand, 7 yr old pony is fantastic, if you are into the type of equine that is is constantly invading your space/vehicle, etc.

He believes he needs to be everywhere you need to be, especially when food is present.

He is in great shape, if you consider round a shape.

He never met a horse trailer he didn't like and climbs in them every chance he gets, whereupon he immediately puts his feet up on the manger so he can look out the window. He made it halfway in the back of my car the other day before I noticed and sped off.

He LOVES little kids, especially little kids with treats. He will eat them. (the kids, not the treats) Just kidding.


This pony has been worked over 2'6" jumps and lunged over 3'3" jumps. However, he likes jumping my 4 ft. pasture gates the best.

He could absolutely be someone (else's) dream pony.

He's very affectionate, both with people(especially women) and horses(especially mares). This little guy is the neighborhood gigolo. By affectionate, I mean he will have no issue invading your personal space/private parts, if you know what I mean. He sticks his nose wherever he wants. With mares, he is lucky he is quick because he will mount mares, even the ones who have "a headache." He is not at all discriminating, although I've noticed he likes the fuller figured gals. His absolute favorite is mounting a mare while a woman is on the mare. Ask my friend Lisa, I'm sure she considered that a good time.

And when rejected? You can see that he is clearly thinking that the female is merely playing hard to get. This just makes him more determined.

This porky little guy very much thinks that he's got what the ladies want, even if they don't know it yet. He reminds me of the little guy at the bar who hits on everybody, whom you practically have to blow an air horn in his face to get rid of.

This pony has been on television, which probably adds to his ego trip.

He could be the perfect little dream pony(for someone else).

He walks/trots/canters/jumps, takes trips to the mailbox and to check the waters, goes trail riding, swims, poses on stripper poles(ask me), tests your trailer floor weight limits, tests your trailer emergency walk through doors, taste tests anything and everything, steals food from blind horses, tried to mount my dog(it is a big dog), stands tied patiently to the swing set while my son swings, loves to roll in the sand box, allows little kids to mount him from lawn chairs, buckets, swingsets, clubhouses, ladders, gates, side of the trailer and anywhere else, pulls little kids on sleds in the snow, tries to decapitate adults by running them under arena railings, and so much more.


Did I mention that he could be the perfect little dream pony(for someone else)?

"Juicy" is also a fantastic workout companion. I think I've lost at least 15 lbs since I've had him. I've never run so much in my life, either after him or from him. Though his little flabby butt cheeks closely resemble two pigs fighting under a blanket, he got me in wonderful shape.

I firmly believe he's a dream pony (someone's else's dream, that is).

Call me if you want a used purple halter and are a glutton for punishment.

Gratefulness

I had a bunch of miscellaneous thoughts this week as I made my daily barn trips. Tonight I realized that they could all be grouped under the heading "gratefulness":

To Dude and Bestie for always giving me a nicker when I arrive, and for providing warm fuzzy necks to lean against and ground me after a rough day.

To Amanda, who is riding Bestie for me while my knee is messed up. I had a chance (finally!) to watch her on Bestie this week and it was an awesome sight. Looks like we got a little Western pleasure pony on our hands ... who woulda thought?

To the barn folk today for watching the skies and getting the horses out for a few hours and back in before the weather turned positively yucky. As I told them, I was positively stressed because I got stuck at work late, so I drove to the barn in a steadily increasing state of horse mom guilt, weighing my desperate need to regain mental health at yoga with the fact that the horses would have been cooped up and need to be walked. Miracle! They'd gone out. Guilt gone, replaced by supreme gratefulness to barn friends.

Back in the saddle, kind of

So I hit the 8 week mark after my knee injury two days ago. Well, actually it was the eight week mark after I reinjured my knee by twisting it in a garden divot exactly one week after the initial injury on July 16. The orthopedist had said to take it easy for about 8 weeks. And I have been good - only in the last week have I gotten out and walked for exercise on local roads; prior to that it had been all "safe" indoor cycling and walking on a track after the pain and stiffness had diminished.

My knee has really been feeling pretty good, so today I thought, "What the heck. I'm gonna get on Dude." More than anything I was worried about swinging my right leg up and over the saddle. Part of the fall-out from limping for four weeks was a resulting tightness in my right hip flexor; I still can't sit cross legged and have both knees pointing out evenly. There's just not much flexibility in my right hip.

I knew Dude would be good - you can count on him to behave even when no one has been on his back for a month (or longer). I got him lined up next to the mounting block, swung my right leg over, and my hip felt fine. Whew. I only walked him around for about 5 minutes, because I could feel the stretch in my right knee - that in-the-saddle position is one the knee hasn't been in in a l-o-n-g time. So I didn't want to push my luck, and I will see how it feels tomorrow. Those few minutes in the saddle felt really nice. :)

It's been a muddy week

Dude loves to roll - absolutely positively loves to roll. In the winter when I walk him in the indoor arena, at times he barely gets his big butt through the door before he drops and rolls. Right now he's up in a paddock that almost always has a wet spot down the middle of it, so of course that's the spot he picks.

On Tuesday night this past week I got to the barn late after a meeting, so it was probably about 7:45 when I walked into the barn to be greeted by a large mud ball with legs. He had mud everywhere ... on his tail, on the backs of his ears, and everywhere in between. It was on thick. He must've had a really good roll that day.

By the time I got done cleaning him up, I felt like my right arm was about to fall off. I was reminded of Charlie Brown's friend Pig Pen, the one with the dust clouds floating about him. That's the way it looked in the barn aisle around Dude, and I took the photos after the first pass on his left side. A couple of curries on each side, then the dust settled, and there was a lovely Quarter Horse-sized oval of dirt on the aisle mat. I think I've been through this process at least three times this week, although that night was definitely the worst.

Neighbors

These guys recently became residents of the field across the road from the barn, where the sugarhouse is. They are Highland cattle. I love them; they just have the cutest faces and those horns are totally amazing. When we went to the fair a couple weeks ago, there was one getting groomed for showing. The owner had what looked like a leaf blower and he was blowing out the cow's coat, which was positively luxurious, as the cow stood there placidly looking around. Quite the scene. Tonight I felt a little bad taking their picture, because I think they came to the gate because they got all hopeful that it was feeding time.

They arrived on the scene maybe a month ago, when there were a bunch of horses that were temporarily in the same field. These were a group of horses that were unaffiliated with our barn. In fact, they were tough-guy horses, big drafts for the most part, and they stayed out 24/7 eating the scrub, unlike the prince and princess ponies in the barn who get brought in and out every day, and get treats, and grain and hay on a regular schedule. I wish I had taken their picture. They were so big and muscular that I imagined them staring across the road at the barn horses in their paddocks and thinking, "Pansies. We could so kick their butts."

But back to the Highland cattle. One night there was a bad storm, and the furry cows disappeared. They had broken through the fence in a corner of the field, and barn owner Larry finally tracked them down at a neighbors' place. The tough horses left one day, so the Highlands have the big field to themselves. I'm happy they're back. Just something cool and cute to check out on my daily barn trips.

Fly prevention

Our barn uses fly predators, and this was my first whole summer there, so I really couldn't comment on whether the fly predators were as effective this year as in previous years. All I know is that suddenly this week, the flies seem to be all over in the barn, with lots of tail swishing and leg stomping going on with Dude and Bestie. So when I read this story about how pennies in a bag of water can deter flies, I was like, hmmmmmm. Actually, my first reaction was "What???? How can that possibly work???" But, if it does work, it only costs pennies! www.botanicalanimal.com

The place to be on a hot day

Dude, such a handsome guy with his mane blowing in the fan's breeze!

Summer returned to northern Vermont today. After about a week of days in the 70s and nights in the 50s, today the temperatures crept solidly into the 80s and they are supposed to climb even higher tomorrow and Wednesday. When I got to the barn around 5 pm, the horses were in the barn, and Dude and Bestie were sweaty but cool to the touch. I groomed both of them in front of the big barn fan - they love it. Bestie fell asleep so I didn't have the heart to take her picture and have the flash pop in her face. Whenever I put them on the cross ties in front of the fan it amazes me - I never would have thought they'd walk up to this big rattly thing, let alone fall asleep in front of it!

Playing nice with others ... or not

Yesterday a mare returned to the barn after being at home for the summer with her rider on college break. This mare, Lexie, was Bestie's sidekick back in the spring before she went home. The pecking order was Bestie, Lexie, Bacardi - a little palomino pony - and Sadie, a Quarter Horse mare who came to the group last and was definitely the low girl on the totem pole.

When Lexie went home, Bacardi moved up to sidekick position. Whenever I'd go get Bestie from the field, as soon as I'd get her through the gate, Bacardi would do a couple bared-teeth-rolling-eyes-monster-pony faces at poor Sadie just to let her know who was in charge in Bestie's absence.

Then Bacardi went home, and the dynamics shifted yet again. While I wouldn't say that Bestie and Sadie become BFFs, they did seem to reach some sort of agreement whereby they would hang out together quite peaceably, and Bestie would even get upset if Sadie's rider came to get her out of the pasture. The girl and her mom would end up bringing Bestie in to the barn also (thank you to them for their niceness and understanding about that!).

So now that Lexie is back, I figured Bestie and Lexie would immediately rush back together again; after all, it's only been about 3 months. But no - no nuzzle nuzzle reunion. Lexie's owner said today that Lexie is now the lowest in this little herd. Bestie and Sadie seemed to have teamed up to shun her. When Jessica, Lexie's owner went to get her from the field today, Bestie and Sadie were at the gate and there was no way Lexie was going to walk up and approach the "mean girls." Does she have to earn her way back into Bestie's heart? Is Bestie giving her the cold shoulder to make her pay for leaving for the summer? Will Sadie drop back down into the third wheel position she held for months? Only time will tell. It's tough out there in the mares' pasture!

The barn garden, the definition of "lush"

I've been meaning to write about the vegetable garden at the barn for a while now. About ten of us went in on seeds and plants, and now we have this amazingly lush garden that cost each of us $20 and a little bit of sweat equity. We planted together, people are assigned to harvest twice a week, and each of us has a weeding day assigned, and that's pretty much it. It's amazing what we've harvested already: summer squash, zucchini, swiss chard, spinach, lettuce, beets, carrots, radishes, green beans and yellow wax beans, eggplants, potatoes, endive ... I think that's it, so far! There are a ton of tomatoes still ripening; we've harvested a few, but there are a lot more on the plants and in fact they needed to be thinned out because they were so thick that it didn't seem the tomatoes were getting enough sun.

This is all very exciting, but I have to admit that for a couple weeks now I've felt a bit of veggie overload. Back in the spring (when I usually make rash decisions about gardening) I bought a farm share from an organic farm. I pick that up each Monday at work, and then get load #2 on Fridays from the barn. Early in the season, it seemed we ate kale and chard in every conceivable form; now, we're doing the same thing with zucchini and squash. It's absolutely great to have all this good fresh food, but it is a bit overwhelming. Katie had to harvest for me last week; I'm trying to stay out of the garden since the footing is so uneven, and after quality time bean harvesting she said she hoped she NEVER saw another green bean again!

The monster zucchini harvested last week; still on the counter for new visitors to the house to marvel over :)







Looking down the garden, greens up at the top, squash and zucchini way down at the bottom, herbs in the raised bed over to the right.

Horse Mom has a lameness issue

I haven't written about this because I kept hoping it would just go away :). Just over three weeks ago I was supposed to play in a weekend hockey tournament. In the first period of the first game, I took a fall; got tangled up with another player. When I fell my right leg swung out to the right and I felt a painful stretching feeling on the inside of my knee. I got up slowly, sort of testing it, and it could bear weight without any problem so I kept playing. Probably dumb of me. I iced it when I got home but nevertheless, the next day I was pretty sore. After a week of Motrin and icing it felt pretty good, but then I twisted it while picking vegetables in the barn garden. Grrr.

Since then it hasn't gotten better or worse. It gets really stiff when I stay in one position for too long, but I can basically get around. No way can I swing the leg up over a saddle. Pretty much anything that would cause a stretch to that inside portion of my knee hurts, so I avoid those movements. Given that I play hockey, ride horses, and work at a ski resort, I have heard LOTS of very interesting knee injury stories. I'm going to an orthopedist this week.

I'm pretty sick of the knee thing, needless to say. Missing hockey, missing my bike, missing riding. I've made it to the barn most every day and my activities consist of grooming the horses and mucking their stalls. I'm pretty leery of walking out and getting either one out of their fields, since I don't want to get bumped around and tweak the knee again. I did get Bestie one day since she, more so than Dude, is pretty respectful of your space and where you want her to go.

A fellow barn mate just started riding Bestie at the end of last week. Her own horse is having some navicular problems and just went home to hang out, and she was looking for a horse to ride until she comes up with a new plan. She's a good rider and a thoughtful one, so after mulling it over I asked her if she wanted to ride Bestie. She worked with Emma for the first session, since Emma has ridden Bestie and has some insight into what makes her tick. I did get a cell message after the first ride that they worked through some "issues." Yeah, I bet they did, since Bestie has had the easy life for a couple years now, and undoubtedly will want to test her.

Hoping to get a game plan at Thursday's doctor's appointment.

Good boy, Dude!

Two moments at the barn yesterday that could gone either way -- and luckily went the right way.

First, when Dude was on the cross ties in the aisle, a little kid came running up to him and shouted right in his face, "Hey, this is a big horse!" Dude didn't move, just sort of looked at him like, "Yeah, and what's your point?"

Second moment: I was in Dude's stall with him with the stall guard across the door, when all of a sudden the boy's large black dog came halfway into the stall. It certainly took me by surprise. Dude was eating his hay, swung his head around, checked out the dog, registered a momentary "huh-how-'bout-THAT" expression and went back to munching his hay.

WhatEVER. :)

Vaccination time coming

I was just starting to think about mid/late summer vaccinations when Julie at the barn mentioned that the other local vet practice had already been out to the barn to do their clients' horses. The Potomac and the flu/rhino vaccinations were given. I'm never very consistent about getting Dude and Bestie scheduled for these two (I feel like in past years they've been given them anytime between August and September), so it was good she reminded me. They'll get scheduled soon with the handful of other horses that use the same vets we do.

Word on the streets is that Potomac may be bad this year in our area, although our vets do not yet have any words of warning on their website, and they're usually good about that. I can never remember the specifics of the disease, and had only a vague sense that snails were somehow involved. I visited the website for the American Association of Equine Practitioners to grab the following info:

"Equine monocytic ehrlichiosis (Potomac Horse Fever) is caused by Neorickettsia risticii (formerly Ehrlichia risticii). Originally described in 1979 as a sporadic disease affecting horses residing in the eastern United States near the Potomac River, the disease has since been identified in various other geographic locations in the United States and Canada. The disease is seasonal, occurring between late spring and early fall in temperate areas, with most cases in July, August, and September at the onset of hot weather.

Clinical signs are variable but may include: fever, mild to severe diarrhea, laminitis, mild colic, and decreased abdominal sounds. Uncommonly, pregnant mares infected with N. risticii (usually in the middle trimester between 90 and 120 days) can abort due to fetal infection at 7 months of gestation.

If Potomac Horse Fever has been confirmed on a farm or in a particular geographic area, it is likely that additional cases will occur in future years. Foals appear to have a low risk of contracting the disease. Vaccination against this disease has been questioned because field evidence of benefit is lacking. Proposed explanations for this include lack of seroconversion and multiple field strains whereas only one strain is present in available vaccines.

Vaccine
The currently available commercial vaccines are killed, adjuvanted products. Two of these are also available combined with a rabies vaccine. None of the current vaccines carry a label claim for the prevention of abortion.

Vaccination Schedules
Due to the seasonal incidence of disease, vaccination should be timed to precede the anticipated peak challenge during the summer months or fall.

Adult horses, previously vaccinated: Manufacturers recommend revaccination at 6- to 12-month intervals. However, veterinarians may consider an interval of 3 to 4 months for horses in endemic areas because protection following vaccination can be incomplete and short-lived."

(There's a bit more info on the vaccination protocol on the AAEP site at http://www.aaep.org/potomac_fever.htm)

It certainly doesn't sound as though the vaccination is a sure bet in terms of prevention, which is unfortunate. But still, it will give me some peace of mind once they've received the vaccination.

Weather finally shifts to summer

After weeks of rain and cool weather, we plunged into summer last Friday. Typical Vermont weather change - the day before I wore a soft shell jacket in to work! Friday was actually quite beautiful with sunny skies and a good breeze. It's gotten progressively warmer since then.

The horses' fields are really drying out with this warm weather, which is good. Dude had lost a shoe about a week ago when the field he was in was pretty swampy. It was so wet back in the field that there was no way I would find the shoe, which I realized after about ten minutes of walking the field. It'll probably turn up in a frost heave this winter! We've been scrubbing his legs quite a bit since it seemed like the constant mud might contribute to scratches.

I rode Bestie on Friday and it was a nice ride. She didn't do her usual 360 turn as we headed out to the field after about fifteen minutes in the indoor. And she was totally over the pigeons roosting in the rafters, which had caused a major sideways leap about a week ago - yay for saddle horns to grab on to!

The past couple of days we have gone to the barn only to clean them up and hose them down because it has been so warm. Dude in particular gets really sweaty when the temps zoom. I decided to cut his evening grain by half over the next few days just to play it safe. The big barn fans are running and there are a couple of box fans hung down at our end of the barn, so the air is circulating and the barn stays fairly pleasant. I think Dude and Bestie sweat when they first get brought in as a result of the transition from outside to inside and the walk in. And Bestie unfortunately has the afternoon sun coming in her little window, although she doesn't get as sweaty as Dude.

Looks like the whole week will have temps in the upper 80s. I am certainly not complaining - it is great to feel the warmth and see the sun!

Busy week but time for a mini lesson on Bestie

Last week was a blur between work and my other activities. I've always kept a little calendar in the car to keep track of the horses' turnout, riding, and lunging, but with both kids home the car swapping is getting a little crazy and I haven't been too good about keeping up with the calendar. Consequently I'm sitting here trying to remember when I rode Bestie last week, other than my Wednesday lesson. Hmmn.

She was pretty good on lesson day. Basically she tries to go outside after a couple of loops around the indoor, but she didn't fight me when I kept her inside. I rode her around at the walk for several loops while Emma and I talked about her behavior over the past couple of weeks. We discussed what I could do to calm myself down when she misbehaves (deep slow breathing, putting balanced weight in my core, thinking positively and not fearfully) and then moved on to what I could try with her when she gets all worked up. Emma thought it would be useful to train her to respond to a command to drop her head, to train her so thoroughly that it would be second nature to her when I gave the command. The thought was that it would be hard for her to act up with her head dropped, and apparently it's calming both to have it in that position and to respond to a familiar request.

So I got off and Emma got on to teach it to her. The first couple times circling around, Bestie kept fixing her eyes on me, a bit wild-eyed, like she wasn't sure about this situation. I'm the only one that has been on her in a long time. Emma must have stayed on her for almost half an hour, gently pulling on the left rein, and immediately releasing when Bestie dropped her head even a tiny bit. By the end of the session, she was dropping her nose to about 6-7 inches off the ground. It was interesting to watch her process the training. She definitely thinks about everything, and initially would often do the drop but then jerk her nose out a bit, like, "Ok, I did what you wanted. But I'm only doing it because I want to, NOT because YOU want me to." She just had to add that little extra nose punch of attitude. She's definitely smart, which is, as Emma says, "a blessing and a curse."

So now I need to get on her and keep doing it, and work on the right side, being careful to release as soon as she dips her head. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to ride. I didn't get to spend much time at the barn today, just enough time to groom them both and clean up their stalls. Dude had four bald strips on his rear end right by his tail where the hair had been scraped clean off by one of his pasture mates. He's been looking pretty good for a week or so, and I thought they had all settled down. Time to get the A&D ointment out again.

Return of Psycho Mare

"Last published on May 19." Yeesh, I always feel like a loser when I see a spread like that between posts :). What's transpired since May 19? Both daughters arrived home from college, and that means that Dude is very pleased to have his girl back. The day before she arrived home, I told him, "Dude, you are gonna be one happy guy tomorrow." And he was. It's been nice having her company at the barn, although we've only managed to do one ride together. Which brings me to this post's title...

I'm trying to spend more time on Bestie now that Katie's home to ride Dude. So one beautiful Friday night I got on her to ride out to the outdoor ring. I rode her around in the indoor for 10 minutes or so, and she was positively sluggish. She'd been outside all day in the sun. We walked around and warmed up, did a couple lovely little jogs around the indoor and then headed out. About half way to the outdoor ring, we met up with barn manager Emma, who was walking back to the barn, and I pulled Bestie up to chat with Emma about something. Bestie was fine for a minute, then got really irritated and starting bouncing about, clearly ready to get going. We continued on down the path. Once we got to the outdoor, we rode around at a trot and the walk, circling around the jumps and just working on keeping her slow and bending. She just kept getting more and more irritated, progressively faster and clearly not listening to me.

This situation just wasn't going anywhere positive, so I jumped off her so that I could pick her poop out of the ring. She calmed down as we walked back and forth, back and forth, with a couple forkfuls of manure to the wheelbarrow. Then I brought her back to the step stool to get back on her to ride her back to the barn. She would not hold still for me to get on, just kept circling around. We were the only ones out there, so we weren't in anyone's way. I just kept walking her back to the step stool and positioning her, then she'd move off before I even got to the top of the stool.

Finally I was able to get on her, and then she headed like a bullet to the open gate. There's a dressage ring set up within the ring, and I was afraid she was either going to run right through the poles, or jump them. I got her pulled up and she stepped over the poles, then she shot through the gate and started bouncing around on the path, sidestepping one way, then the other and tossing her head around. She was pretty worked up. I was afraid she was going to rear. I was trying to stay really calm and not pull on her mouth too much, because she hates that, but I wanted to keep enough pressure on to keep her from running off. Finally there was a pause in the action and I jumped off. Fun.

I walked her back to the barn. By the time we got about half way back she had settled down. I don't know what set off the temper tantrum, it really came out of the blue. We've ridden out there before all by ourselves and she's been fine. And I've been either riding or lunging her regularly.

I got back on her the next day but only rode in the indoor, and she was good. The following day I rode out to the outdoor, and she tried to spin around and go back to the barn a couple times, but I was able to get her back on the path without much of a fight. I'm having a lesson on her Wednesday, which will be good. You can't fight with her and win, so I'm hoping Emma will come up with some good tools to focus and calm Bestie when she has a "moment." I'm also hoping this is a temperamental phase that will pass as suddenly as it arrived.

Great road ride with Dude and friends

On Monday afternoon, all the stars aligned and I didn't need to get home for anything, meaning more time at the barn. When I got there, Kate was saddling up Spot for a ride so I asked if I could go along with her. It ended up being us and Farrah on Jackson.

We rode out through the field toward the outdoor ring. It's so pretty this time of year, with a million shades of green as the trees leaf out. The grass is so high, it's unbelievable. The horses were dying to stop and graze. We rode all the way to the field boundary where there's an open section to access the road. We then turned left on the road to head back toward the barn. Traffic wasn't too bad and there were only a couple speeders. Most people slowed down as they approached us. There were quite a few motorcycles and one cyclist.

All three horses were great, looking around curiously as they walked and unfazed by the intermittent traffic. It was Dude's first time out on the roads this spring; I think Katie may have ridden him out once this winter. He was so relaxed, I had the reins loose and swinging. All three horses kept shifting positions in the line-up, but in a calm way, and none of them seemed to mind when they got another horse's nose in their tail. They all seemed perfectly happy to plod along, and it was really pleasant.

When we got back to the intersection by the barn, we decided to go down Chapin Road. The intersection by the barn is a little bit hairy. The main road, Old Stage, is paved and people tend to fly up the hill that is right before the intersection, and many take a quick right onto the dirt road the barn is on. Off that road is a hairpin right onto Chapin. It's definitely a good spot to by hyper-aware of oncoming traffic and to be completely sure the coast is clear before making a move.

The ride down Chapin was nice also. That road doesn't get much traffic at all. When we turned and headed back to the barn we were on a slight uphill grade, and I could feel Dude really working his hind end. When I took the saddle off back at the barn, he was sweaty under the saddle pad, so it was a good workout for him. I think we were gone close to an hour.

On Friday, Dude has an appointment with a holistic vet that we've seen before. She flies in from Utah 2-3 times a year to meet with clients. We haven't seen her in about 3 years, both as a cost-cutting measure and because we haven't had much need. I'd like to talk with her about Dude's winter weight loss and how best to handle it going forward, and a couple of other minor things. He'll also have a chiropractic treatment -- his saddle is so heavy and I feel like I drag it across his back, which isn't good. I've always enjoyed our appointments with her and I'm looking forward to this one. Looks like it will be a late arrival to work after a couple morning hours at the barn!

Back in business

Spent some quality time at the barn today which was good, because this past week was rush-rush-rush. Had given Dude the previous week off because of his little wall-kicking lameness episode, then I was so busy I didn't have a chance to do anything with him during week #2 after the wall kicking. I lunged Bestie about a week ago, and then she also got to have a week of leisure.

It was great today to go to the barn and not feel rushed. Yay for weekends! Dude and his buddies have been switched to a back pasture; they're rotating other horses through the lovely grassy paddock where he was last week. The field he's in now is kind of a mess because it has woods all around the perimeter and doesn't seem to get a lot of sun to dry it out (not that we've had a lot of sun). So it's quite soupy along the lower fenceline and the back corner that adjoins Bestie's field. I now know his field well because I had to walk it today to find his fly mask.

I got him all cleaned up and saddled up and then we headed to the outdoor ring. He was peppy, which was nice, and I took it as an indication that he was feeling pretty good. He just seemed to be happy to be out and about. One thing about Dude, no matter how much time he has off, you can jump right on him with no repercussions.

We got out to the ring and it was great, just damp enough to not be dusty. Trotted him a little bit and did circles around the jumps that were set up, then went out and around the perimeter of the ring to head back to the barn. The dark clouds rolled in all day, but it never did rain. The temperature was slightly cool but pleasant, and there were no bugs. All in all, a nice day for a ride.

Once we got back, I untacked him and then took him to the wash stall to scrub his legs. I noticed last week that the creeping crud that we usually encounter on his back legs is on his front lower legs also, so I've been scrubbing with Betadine whenever the weather permits a moment in the outdoor wash stall. I think they're looking better. Will probably scrub again tomorrow. I just did a search on it (which would've been quicker if I hadn't gotten mixed up about pasterns vs. cannons), and it seems like "gelding crud" is a pretty common thing that people battle with everything from Betadine to MTG to Neutrogena T-Gel shampoo). Plus he's got a couple nicks on his lower back left leg that I've been cleaning off and putting ointment on.

Looking forward to going to the barn tomorrow ... it's supposed to be in the upper 60s and sunny!

More issues with Dude

Dude just appears determined to cause trouble. His old neighbor Jonah moved back into the stall next door after time away training in the South, and they shared a few ugly faces through the chicken wire before settling down. During one of the ugly face-making sessions, I happened to be across the aisle in Bestie's stall when I heard a crash, like a kick, against the wooden wall. I didn't really think too much of it until I went over to Dude's stall to groom him and noticed he was favoring his back right foot.

I got him out and walked him and the strange thing was that he would walk a few steps and then go gimpy, walk a few steps, then go gimpy. It wasn't consistent at all. I hosed his back leg down, which he didn't like, and after debating with myself, told Larry to go ahead and turn him out in the morning since I figured he would NOT be happy and would likely cause more trouble for himself stewing inside. I gave him bute.

The next day I called in to see if I should come by the barn, and Larry said he looked better. And was behaving outside; always nice to hear. So I waited until after work to go by, and he did look fine. Granted he had two doses of bute since it had occurred, but I expected to see at least a little limp given how bad he had been the previous evening when he went "off."

The kick happened on Saturday. It's now Wednesday and I'm considering taking him off the bute to see how he does. He's apparently had a pretty quiet few days outside, and I haven't ridden him. So we'll see.

If you don't like the weather...

wait (fill in short time period of choice), it'll change. The old saw about Vermont's weather held true this week. On Monday I rode Bestie on a nice leisurely stroll out to the ring and around it a couple of times, both of us just enjoying the sunshine and warm temperatures and taking in the welcome sights of trees leafing out (me) and grass greening (Bestie). On Tuesday I got up and by 8:30 am it was snowing, hard. And it snowed and it snowed and it snowed right through until about 2 pm today, Wednesday. I think here at home we got about ten inches. I never did measure, but it was over my snow boots and not quite up to the top of Maddie's tall rain boots. It was a lot of snow. Especially for April. LATE April, aaaarrrgh.

The horses did not go out during the storm. That was certainly fine, it was pretty crazy; not very good visibility and lots of wind. When I got to the barn yesterday, Dude was crazy to get out. There wasn't really anywhere to go except to trek across the driveway to the indoor and walk him around in there. He rolled, and that made him happy.

Same story today, except that we had the indoor to ourselves for a period of time and I let him off the lead and let him run around. Not that he ran much, he was more intent on prancing up to me and snorting, like he wanted to play. I ran backwards and he ran along behind me, snorting and hopping. When he'd get too close, I'd get nervous and make him stop. He has no concept of personal space, so I do get a little nervous when he's hopping around right next to me. Then we pushed the giant exercise ball around for a bit. I really wished I had my camera. The first time I kicked it to him, he stood there, with his ears all cock-eyed, staring kind of perplexedly at it. I'd kick it at him, and he'd push it with his nose. Never back to me, oh no. Usually in some completely random direction and then he'd look at it and then at me like "Huh. Why is it going THAT way??"

All that play time took the edge off, somewhat. He was still pretty antsy as I brushed him on the cross ties, but settled down once I put him back in his stall with a flake of hay.

After I got him taken care of I mucked out Bestie's stall and took her into the indoor. I could tell she really wanted to roll, but there was a jumping lesson going on and we just couldn't get the roll timed with when the other horse wouldn't be coming around headed toward a jump. All in all, she was really good as I walked her around and pulled her over a couple times so as not to be in the way of the lesson. She's much more accepting of confinement than Dude is. Even if they don't go out tomorrow, I think I'll be able to graze them as the snow is melting pretty quickly. And with yoga cancelled for tomorrow, I'll have more time than I usually do on my typically rushed Thursdays.

Not enough hours in the day

So my first week of being back at work full-time is almost over, and I'm surviving. I haven't worked full-time since 1993 when I quit the government to stay home with the kids--hey, it's been a nice long stretch. Someone said to me today, "You've had it pretty good for way too long." Ha. I know I'm lucky that it's all worked out this way.

The only thing about going full-time that bothers me is cutting into the pony time. I'm trying not to let it cut into barn hours, but I think it's inevitable that it's going to happen. There's a constant feeling of being rushed that I'm not sure is going to play out well over the long term. Tonight I zoomed from work to the barn to yoga, where I ran in like a crazy woman at the last minute and someone kindly made room for me.

Last night I rode Bestie out and around the outdoor ring. I got on her in the indoor and did a couple laps, but then had to get off of her to get the door open, and she took that to mean we were done. So she was then a little uncooperative once I tried to get back on again outside, but I made it--third try, I think. We rode out with another horse. She was good, and you could tell it was pretty darn exciting to be out on the "open range." Head up, lots of deep snuffly breaths. Once we got to the back 40 beyond the ring, the other rider went on and I turned around to head back. Very unexciting for the first time out there since the one winter ride I did. Pretty darn good for Ms. Excitable.

Afterwards I took Dude out to graze him for a few minutes and promptly discovered that his right front leg was swollen along the outside of his cannon bone from just above the fetlock to the knee. Great. It was pretty soft-feeling. After grazing him I brought him in and rubbed him down with liniment, then gave him a tiny bit more grain with some bute. Discussed with another boarder the merits of wrapping him, and decided against it since the swelling was actually up into his knee. Left a note for the barn folk to check him out in the morning and call me if he looked bad so that I could phone the vet.

When I got to the barn today it looked pretty much the same. I took him out to graze him again and he trotted out enthusiastically and with no lameness. Wierd. I hosed him and doused him with liniment again, and he had more bute in his grain. Barn manager Emma checked him out and said it seemed like a lot of fluid from a bruise most likely concentrated on his knee. Of course it is that leg he bangs the door with. He's apparently one of the first to go out, so I don't know what he is getting so angry about. Crazy horse. I don't know what to do except maybe buy a bunch of Mellow Out and start dosing him in his water bucket to maybe take the edge off.

Good reading

I know I've written before about articles I've read in the Holistic Horse newsletter I get; it seems there's always at least one article that interests me. Although our show season days are well behind us (except for helping out with the occasional 4H show), I thought this article on holistichorse.com -- Seven Tips to Prepare Your Horse for Show Season Travel -- had some good points to think about when preparing for show season and how travel can affect things like immunity, stress, digestive health and more, with suggestions for possible products to use in each category. Certainly stress related to new surroundings and a different routine have been things we've had to deal with at horse shows (drops of Mellow Out flower essence in their water and on treats), as well as improper hydration due to overly chlorinated water (apple juice in the water didn't work; ended up buying gallons and gallons of spring water!). It always seems like no matter how much you prepare, there are always some things, like the chlorinated water, that you don't discover until you arrive at the show.

The light bulb goes on

Recently Dude has done this strange thing where after standing for a while in one place, like on cross ties, he puts his right front foot out ahead of his left. Now, the last time he did that (back in December) he was really lame on that foot, and I soaked and soaked it, assuming an abscess to be the culprit, and one day it was better even though I never saw an abscess come through.

This time he doesn't appear lame at all; in fact, I was just telling Emma about it during my lesson on Friday and she remarked that he didn't look off. The only odd thing is the placement of the right foot, and an occasional unwillingness to pick up his left front foot and place total weight on the right.

I've been thinking about it, and I think it's from kicking his door. They've mentioned a couple times at the barn that he gets really impatient when he doesn't get right out, and I know that I've caught him kicking his door when I've arrived on days when there hasn't been turnout. When I've seen him do it, it's always been with his right foot. He's doing it enough that the door doesn't slide easily on its track any more. What I can't figure out is why he wouldn't show signs of lameness when he's being ridden, if it is bothering him enough to shift his weight when standing. Hmmmn. And I definitely would like to have some sort of solution to the door kicking.

Grooming and grazing

I hope the last couple of weeks aren't a sign of what's to come. I've been really busy at work and have been doing very rushed trips to the barn that aren't very enjoyable at all. I did pretty well during the early part of the week, lunging Bestie on Sunday, riding Dude on Monday, and riding Bestie on Tuesday. It all fell apart after that, and I didn't have a chance to get back on either one of them until my lesson on Dude Friday.

Last weekend was positively gorgeous, really warm and sunny. We had a few wet days throughout the week, so their turnout has been unpredictable. Yesterday and today they were in, and by the time I got to the barn today, Dude was ready to kick his door down. I think that they are a bit crazy from the grass; it has really started to come up in the past week and there's that spring smell in the air. I've taken them out as much as I can to graze them, and they just wolf the grass down. Today I grazed Dude, and he had just taken a bite of grass when he suddenly dropped and rolled! Then, before getting up, he grabbed another mouthful of grass and lay there, leisurely chewing! It was pretty nice out, sunny and in the low 50s. Crazy, because we woke up to snow! It was nice standing out there currying him.

After I grazed him, I let him loose in the indoor since no one was in there, and he tore around a little snorting and bucking. He was pretty fired up. After bringing him in I had to brush him again, since he had rolled again in the indoor. Here he is on the cross ties, zoning out, with Bestie looking on and periodically whinnying as if to say, "Hey, when's my turn??"





I took Bestie out to graze and curried her while she munched, then saddled her up for a quick ride in the indoor. The wind was really blustery, so we didn't go too far down the path; she was on high alert :). The weather looks ok for tomorrow so maybe they'll go out, which will be good for everyone's mental outlook.

Rain, rain, go away

Just when the fields looked like they were starting to dry out from snow melt and late winter rain, the rain started again. Ugh, in my book there's nothing worse than cold rain. It started Sunday night, and continued through Monday into today. Looks like some more tomorrow. After that, amazingly, it is supposed to be warm and sunny; actually, let me retype that: sunny and WARM, like, starting at 63 degrees Thursday and heading right up to about 70! Crazy.

With the days of rain, the horses have been in. Not complaining about that, it's definitely my preference since my two wouldn't be happy out there in the rain and wind. But I had to come up with a plan to keep them active; so, I've been alternating. Saturday I lunged Bestie so that I could have a worries-free ride on her Sunday. Monday I rode Dude and did a light lunge of Bestie. Tonight I handwalked Dude (who enjoyed a nice roll in the indoor), then rode Bestie. A light ride since it was a jumping lesson night and the ride was all about avoiding other riders and jumps. Tomorrow, back on Dude -- hopefully; he seemed a little funky at first on his front right and I wondered if he might have a bit of thrush or an abscess going. He seemed ok after the walk, though.

Thursday is probably the only day they'll each get a quick handwalk since I have yoga. With the warm temps coming, I'm hoping the fields will dry out enough by Friday that they can go out. Since Dude just got new shoes last Friday, I certainly don't want him to pull a shoe out in a mucky field. If the fields do dry out this weekend, it's more than likely the cycle will start all over again ... seems that rarely do we get a dry spring in Vermont.

Couple crazy weeks with not much pony time

The last couple of weeks were b-u-s-y. Katie was home on break for one week, then Maddie was home the second week. Then Katie came back for the final weekend of Maddie's break so we could go to a concert in Montreal-- Bon Jovi, AWESOME! There was also the drive down to get Mads, and a one-nighter in Boston for a Penguins/Bruins game thrown into the mix. Plus all the usual.

All this meant not much time with the ponies, just a lot of rushed visits to the barn to clean them up and muck their stalls. I think I actually did go exactly two weeks without riding or lunging, ughhh. I don't like to have stretches like that. The weather was absolutely glorious over this period, with a batch of sunny days and temps in the upper 40s and 50s. Unfortunately, that also means MUD as the frozen ground softens up.

Their turnout sheets are a mess. After one week I switched to the second turnouts for each of them because the first turnouts were absolutely caked and stiff with mud. It was at the point where it had permeated the sheets, you couldn't brush it off. Believe me, I tried. Now the second turnout sheets are looking just about as bad. I can already see that there's gonna be one of those visits to the laundromat in my future where I skulk in and hope no one sees me, the sheets are that ugly!

I finally did get to ride Dude a couple nights ago, which was nice. He seemed pretty happy about it, too. I lunged Bestie last night. She was pretty good, just a couple little snorts and bucks; not bad at all. Her back right ankle seemed a little swollen Tuesday, but Emma wrapped her and it seems to be coming and going depending on whether they're out or in. They were in for a couple days because the fields were so bad. Today they were out and her ankle looked better.

They got their first spring shot on Monday night and were perfect angels -- you just never know! Totally unpredictable. I think we've got the drill down; the vet just needs to sidle up, not show the needle, give them a couple pats, then quickly do the shot so they never know what hit them. If they see the shot, it's a no-go.

They had the dreaded five-way, dreaded because they have reacted with large lumps at the injection site in the past. Last year they were ok, and this year they were ok. I buted them a couple days prior just in case. Bestie had a small lump the next day, but nothing compared to years' past.

Tomorrow I've got a lesson on Dude, my first in at least two weeks. And they're having their feet done. Wondering if it's time to take Dude's winter shoes off; will have to confer with the farrier. April's inching closer and closer. I'm loving the sunshine!

First appearance of the spring crazies

When I got to the barn today Dude and Bestie were fully engrossed in the all-important task of consuming grain and hay. They were so totally uninterested in my arrival that I was really surprised when I found out that the horses hadn't gone outside today. Usually a day with no turnout means that they are a little stir crazy by the time I get there.

I didn't have time to ride or do anything, and since they had just eaten, I didn't want to take them in the indoor because they always roll when I walk them in there. That didn't seem to be a good thing to do with full bellies. So I decided to walk them down the road; a little stroll on a nice day. I got Dude haltered and ready, and we headed out. The first stretch of road is always busy in the late afternoon with commuters even though it's an unpaved road, but he was fine as cars passed. We strolled by a flapping tarp. We passed a house where a guy, barely visible through the brushy trees, was loading his car and opening and slamming the doors.

The walk was going swimmingly, and then my socks started to fall down. I had kept my dinky little thin socks I'd worn to work on with my Columbia boots, and the socks proceeded to slowly slouch down until basically there was a big lump at the base of my heel. Right about the time the sock lump was starting to drive me crazy, Dude started to do his huffy snort and short prancy trot--typical behavior when he wants to make a point about something he doesn't like. He was snorting in the direction of two people walking a dog waaaaayyyy across a field.

So much for the pleasant walk. He stopped in the middle of the road (no traffic, luckily) to snort at the threesome. After that, as we made our way back to the barn, everything became cause for alarm: the flapping tarp, the guy in his driveway, the cars passing. Not real alarm though, because he didn't really freak out. I think he just wanted to snort and trot and have a little fun in the warm weather and sunshine. Got back to the barn and put him on the cross ties to groom him, and he basically fell asleep.

I decided not to attempt the road with Bestie, and just took her to the back field to let her pick at the grass now that most of the snow is gone. At first she didn't know what to do with herself ... so much grass, where do I eat?? Eventually she settled down, seeming to prefer the clumps of still green crab grass. An uneventful little graze. I like that.

Suffering from pony withdrawal

Today was my first day at the barn since Wednesday. Last week was crazy with 4H commitments on two evenings, a drive to MA to pick up Maddie, and a hockey tournament. Luckily Katie was home on break to pinch hit for me and to also enjoy a couple rides on Dude.

When I got to the barn I checked out their stalls, added a bit of shavings to Dude's, then walked out to get Dude and Bestie from their fields. Bestie nickered as soon as she saw me, as did Dude when he spotted me--what better welcome than that??! I went to get Dude first, and he started to head to the gate, but then Dusty, one of his pasture mates, got cranky and went after him, so Dude took off at a run around the field, away from the gate. The fields are such a mess after these two weeks of thawing that I was afraid he was going to slip and fall. I yelled and shook the lead rope at Dusty so he'd leave Dude alone, then I caught Dude and got him through the gate. Grrr. Put him in his stall, then went back out for Bestie.

Since I had played hockey all weekend I really only wanted to groom them and then head home to crash on the couch. They were a total mess: blankets caked with mud, mud on their legs and necks, hooves packed with mud. It took forever -- two hours -- to clean them up, and my arms are soooo tired tonight. I scrubbed Dude's feet out with hoof antiseptic. I tried to brush off their turnout sheets, but didn't accomplish much, it's like the blankets have reached the stage where the dirt is ground in. Hopefully the fields either freeze up or dry out. I just can't believe that it won't turn cold again ... it is awfully early for consistent temps in the 40s to stick around. Also hope this week allows for a bit more barn time. I miss the ponies when I can't see them every day!

Maple Valley sugarhouse steaming ... spring coming?

Today I made two trips to the barn, and on my second trip I sat in my car for a few minutes eating my lunch before going in. I noticed I could see the Maple Valley Farm sugarhouse in my side mirror, and it was really steaming. Very pretty against the snow and blue sky. It seems we've had great temperatures for sugaring, with nights in the 20s and days much warmer; the weather forecaster on the morning news is even commenting on it each day. If the stretch keeps going, maple sugarers are going to get that oh-so-tired zombie-like look soon!

Why two trips to the barn? Well, first trip was for my lesson. Dude was napping in the sunshine, and he was so slow during the lesson I don't think he ever really came out of his nap! We trotted figure eights and serpentines, both at the jog and at a posting trot, and then practiced transitions by trotting the curves of the serpentine and walking the straight path between sides. He was pretty good, just kind of dozy and slow--it was hard to get him into a nice trot that I could easily post to. And I haven't posted that much, so my legs are t-i-r-e-d.

With all the circles and curves I expressed a little worry that his old hind end injury might be bothered. Emma said he looks good, and he does feel fine to me. I guess I just need to be conscientious about warming him up, and she felt that the lesson plus one other session of similar length during the week and one little short one would be sufficient to get him into shape yet play it safe. Once the weather changes for good, it'll be nice to have the lesson in the outdoor ... more room. And it is also a lovely walk to get down there and back.

I ran and did some grocery shopping after my lesson, then came back in time to bring them in and pick out their feet. The fields are starting to get a little messy with these temps in the upper 30s/low 40s. Hopefully they don't turn into mud pits too soon. But they're messy enough that I'm really trying to take care of Dude and Bestie's feet. It's tempting to think that spring is coming, but it IS March, our month where we usually get a whopper snowstorm. We'll see!

Dude and his frogs

This is exciting news: Dude has one good-looking frog! This despite the fact that I have definitely been shirking my hoof-cleaning routine this week. I had to bring the Betadine home to wash out a skin irritation that Dixie has, so I haven't scrubbed Dude's feet in many days, just picked them out. And I arrived late to the barn this whole week, so have been picking them out in the dark of his stall. Bad, bad, bad. Imagine by surprise when I went to scrub them out today and picked up his left front only to find a perfect sturdy triangular frog!

I know I've written before about the trials and tribulations of Dude's feet. They are just plain hideous; always soft and peely on the frog. It's like they're constantly hovering on the edge of a giant thrush infection, and sometimes they cross right over into that stage. Katie once did a tabletop exhibit on thrush for 4H and we had Mr. Textbook Example conveniently around for hoof photographs. Most people look at Dude's hooves and sort of curl their lip in disgust. I think our farrier is so used to them that he doesn't do the lip curl, and he does celebrate the minor successes with me by grudgingly saying at times, "Well, they look pretty good. For Dude." I'm tempted to try to take a photo tomorrow to document this occasion. He's so bad about holding up his feet, I'm not sure I'll be able to hold the hoof with one hand and take the photo with the other. We'll see.

Today I cleaned them out really well with the 50/50 mix, then let him stand in the aisle while his feet air-dried and I got him brushed and reblanketed.

Had a nice ride on Dude today in the indoor. I practiced posting and we did some walk/trot transitions and figure 8s. When I pulled him up at the end of the ride, we both heaved a sigh right at the same time. Pretty funny. Before arriving at the barn I had thought about riding outside because it was a gorgeous sunny day with temps in the upper 30s, but the pathway was total slush and really messy. Our megasnow from Wednesday has gotten ugly.

Blanket juggling

Today temperatures were in the 30s and we had frequent bursts of wet, heavy snow. When I got to the barn around 3 pm and brought the horses in, Bestie's turnout sheet had soaked through to her stable blanket, and Dude's turnout felt sort of like it had soaked through but I couldn't really tell; it might've just been damp. When the weather's fairly warm and wet like today, I find it really hard to tell if the blankets are wet or just damp with slimy mid-winter yuckiness.

It appeared to be the perfect opportunity to bring the whole mess home and wash 'em up, and dress the ponies in their new fleece sheets from Schneiders Tack with clean turnout sheets on top. The doors were all open in the barn, so the temperature inside was hovering a bit under 40 and likely to drop slightly overnight, and tomorrow is supposed to range into the upper 30s. The fleece and turnouts seemed like a good combination to get them through the next day or two.

Bestie's size 78 fleece fits her perfectly, ditto for Dude's size 80. Is great having the leg straps and belly surcingle. They both looked so cute, like they were dressed in their warm jammies. Nothing like a just-out-of-the-box blankie!

I tossed the wet turnout sheets and stable blankets into the back of the car, briefly debated going to the laundromat, and then decided to go home--just couldn't muster the energy to march into the laundromat with four stinky blankets, although maybe on a Saturday night no one would've been there. My car smelled lovely by the time I got home :)

Now to get them all clean before the temperatures drop again...

Dude and I serpentine

I almost cancelled my lesson today because I've had a cold for a couple days and have felt yucky, but Emma is on vacation next week and I didn't want to go too long without a lesson. Plus, nothing clears out the sinuses like a cold indoor arena or an energetic session of stall mucking :). But am missing this weekend's barn party in favor of hanging out at home and drinking tea in my pj's in hopes of nipping this cold once and for all.

I got to the barn at noon for my 12:30 lesson, which was definitely pushing it; the traffic didn't cooperate coming out of Burlington. Luckily the lesson before mine was running long, so I had about 10 minutes to warm Dude up once I got out to the arena at 12:25. It worked out well.

After warming him up at the walk, we worked on my posting trot. We did it in sections around the perimeter of the arena using the dressage markers as guides. Basically I was trotting the segment in a "J" shape each time, because I always caught a straightaway and part of a curve. By the time we started the second round, Dude had caught on so we shifted the pattern a little bit. There were several good walk-trot-walk transitions, and a couple not-so-good ones. It's always a fight to keep him on the wall, so a couple of my transitions weren't too pretty as I tried to wrestle him back on the wall.

Then we went to jogging a serpentine, which was fun. And again, some lovely curves and some downright ugly curves! But all in all, enough nice ones that it felt good. We did a full pattern twice at the jog. I find I have to really concentrate on "feeling" his movement, because his jog is so slow that he can break without me feeling it coming. Emma pointed out that he tends to break in certain spots (nearing the door, for one!), and that I should keep alert for those spots and give him a bit of encouragement on the approach.

By the time we got done it was about 1:15, so I decided to just keep him in since they usually come in around 2/2:30. When I looked out to check on Bestie, Dude's pasture mates were chewing on each other--another reason not to put him back out! I brushed him really well and then got Bestie and groomed her. Was going to lunge her but my head started clogging up again.

Talked to Emma a little bit about his weight. We upped his grain about six weeks ago, but he is still looking ribby. Sometimes in the last couple of weeks I've felt like he's started to put on weight, but today I didn't feel that way at all. We decided to give him another couple weeks. I can't figure it out. It started about the time we got snow and they went off grass. With his grain increase, he's getting about double the senior feed he was getting.

When he's in his stall I think he gets more hay than he got at the previous barn. The only wild card is when he's outside--at this barn they feed hay outside rather than in the stall in the morning, so I'm not sure how much he eats out there (whereas at the previous barn he was definitely eating two flakes in the morning). Today when I got him for his lesson, there were still two untouched flakes laying in the snow in his pasture. He's not low man on the pole, but I still wonder how much he's eating. With his grain in the evening he has about a cup of Glanzen GL, one third cup of rice bran, and one little scoop (maintenance dose) of Vitamin E powder. He eats it all right up--never any grain left in Dude's feeder!

Following our usual schedule, I had his teeth checked in the fall, but it's definitely time to have them looked at again in the next few weeks.

Fridays are Barn Day

Fridays have become Barn Day, since I usually don't work on Fridays and rarely have anything on that day besides the occasional appointment. Yesterday Dude and Bestie had a farrier appointment at 9 a.m., so I got there around 8:45 and brought them both in, then spent a few minutes fussing around with some little things as I waited for the farrier. Got Dude's saddle cleaned; it was looking pretty dusty after all the reno work in the tack room.

Their feet were a little ragged. The fields have pretty light snow cover right now and the ground is frozen, so they are walking around on frozen clods of dirt, snow and some ice, which takes a toll on their feet. No soreness from it though. Dude's feet are in their usual ugly state, with poorly defined frogs. I've been scrubbing them out every other day with a Betadine/water 50/50 mix to keep them somewhat dried out. He doesn't get many shavings in his stall and he tends to poop and pee all over the space, so once it gets wet, he's standing in a thin wet layer of sawdust most of the night. It's a constant battle and we've been dealing with it for as long as we've owned him.

I had another nice lesson. We worked on getting him to bend (he doesn't) and the posting trot again. His "go" button just wasn't on yesterday as much as it was the week before, at least until another horse came in for the next lesson and he started enthusiastically following her around the arena. It was good though. I've been using the wool quarter sheet with him to keep his hind end warm since he's pretty stiff back there. It feels really good on my legs too! (Even though yesterday the temperature in the arena was a balmy 30 degrees, probably the warmest it has been in there since November.)

After my lesson I ran some errands then stopped back by the barn on my way home to make sure they were all tucked in for the night. I tried the 78" fleece sheet on both of them. The sheets can't be returned if they get dirty, but I knew the 78" would fit one of them. It was a little snug on Dude but fit Bestie well. I had ordered an 80" for Dude, so he's all set. It'll be a nice layer to have under their turnout sheets once it gets into the low 30s, or even under their blankets outside if we get back to single digit weather.

Trotting trotting trotting trotting

That was my lesson today: trotting. And more trotting. It felt like a lot of trotting to me, and presumably to Dude (who heaved a big sigh at the end), but probably to more accomplished riders, it wouldn't be much. Bottom (ha ha) line? It was fun.

We started with our usual battle. Me trying to put and keep Dude on the rail, with a few occasional polite moves out of someone's way; him trying to wander aimlessly around the indoor wherever and whenever he wanted to. There were a couple other horses in there, so he liked to attempt to veer after them as they passed. He's worse with those tricks at the walk. Once he's trotting he's better, and he's gotten pretty responsive to my requests to move out, which is nice.

Emma adjusted my stirrups to be just a little shorter so that it would be easier to post. After a few "practice posts" while Dude stood still and at the walk, I asked him to trot. Since his preferred speed is s-l-o-w, it took a bit to get him going at a trot that I could attempt to post to. When he was moving at his usual jog, it was very hard, there was too much hangtime with my rear end suspended in the air and I couldn't get a rhythm going.

Toward the end he got into it and was moving pretty speedily around the indoor. Then we slowed back down to do a sitting jog around the ring and one big figure 8. He definitely is a big hairy sofa when doing his jog, it's so comfortable. I didn't walk him down through the field today, it was too windy and cold even though the sun was out. I brought him back into his stall and groomed him, then turned him back out with his buddies.

I lunged Bestie after the indoor cleared out. When I walked her yesterday (with intent to lunge) she was pretty peppy, so I abandoned the idea of lunging her because there were a couple beginner riders in the ring and I didn't want to spook anyone's horse. Today she had a couple little head tosses and bucks when ice slid off the roof, but those were really nothing compared to when she's in full form. Actually, I don't think she's had a major racing, snorting, bucking, farting fit since we moved. All-day turnout is definitely good for her.

Both horses stepped on my left toes today. Like TOTALLY stepped on, with a fully planted hoof. One toe is pretty red. Neither horse has done that in ages. Twice in one day. Owwwwwww.

Ordered fleece blankets from Schneiders for both Dude and Bestie. I'm still wrestling with how to dress them appropriately when it's cold outside but 40-plus in the barn. Twice this week I left them in their cotton/poly sheets because it was 45 in the barn, and they got turned out in those sheets and turnout sheets with outside temperatures in the teens. Ugh. I really don't want Dude cold because I'm trying to get some weight back on him. Last night I put them both in their midweights and then worried all night that they were too hot in the barn. My thought with the fleece blankets is that the fleece would offer a bit more flexibility with the combinations--a little warmer than the cotton/poly sheet, but not as warm as the midweights. An in-between layer. Sometimes I feel like I spend entirely too much time thinking about the complexities of blanketing.

Whose product is it, anyway?

A week or so ago I was at the barn and a couple of us were moaning about the bites on our horses. One of Dude's pasture mates had been kept in for a week or so, and apparently when he got turned back out, he felt the need to make his presence known. Very surprising, because prior to being stall-bound, he was low man on the totem pole. They've all settled back down again now.

In any case, as we were comparing bite marks, the other boarder mentioned that she swears by A&D ointment when her horse gets a bite that doesn't break the skin but takes the hair clean off. She was quite enthusiastic about its skin protecting and hair growing properties. A&D was our diaper rash ointment of choice when the kids were small, so I was familiar with it. Never one to pass up an easily found, inexpensive product for horse ailments, I bought a tube. I've been applying it to Dude's bald bite spots for about a week. It does keep the skin soft, which is better than having the spots get super dry and scaly in this cold weather.

Buying the A&D reminded me of the time that Dude got scratches. Everyone seemed to have a homegrown remedy. I'm sure I could've bought a cleansing/protecting product specifically for equine scratches, but trying the homegrown remedies appealed more to me--the products suggested were familiar ones and known to be gentle, and therefore seemed safe to me. Plus, the customer testimonials were hard to resist. So, following a friend's recommendation, we bought some lavender soap ("gentle and antibacterial") to scrub the ugly scratches spots on his heels and a tube of Desitin diaper rash cream ("soothing and healing") to rub in after the scrubbing and once we had dried his heels off.

What I learned from this episode is that there is no miracle cure for scratches. We were conscientious, but after several weeks of scrubbing and drying and applying, we concluded that the lavender/Desitin combo wasn't working for us, even though it had worked on our friends' horse. We ended up having success with a lavender soap wash/Corona ointment treatment. We've still got that tube of Desitin in the horsey first aid kit. It's hard for me to part with stuff like that--I always feel like I need to keep it, just in case. I'm thinking that at this point I need to check the expiration date.

The product thing goes both ways. I sing the praises of Sore No More liniment (used on myself and on the ponies) to anyone who will listen. Bag Balm works for me when my heels get rough in the winter, although it's greasy so it does kind of mess up the sheets. (The instructions on the can indicate that it's a product for cows, but it is sold in the skin care section of many drugstores in our neck of the woods.) I know I've heard people talk about using their horse's Corona ointment for their cuticles. I love hearing "cross over product" stories; when people start telling them, I'm all ears. Sometimes I hear a great tip, other times I think, "hmmn, kinda wierd." You have to determine your own comfort level. But the tips are always entertaining. Off to put Bag Balm on my heels. :)