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. :)

And what do you do with your horse when temps are in the single digits?

Answer: nothing. That's my answer, anyway. I had to work part of the day, so got to the barn at about 3:30. The horses had gone out for a two hour shift because of the extremely cold temperatures and wind. It's been a funky week because the fields and walkways were icy and all the fields couldn't be used for a couple days. It speaks to the energy level of the barn folk to make the effort to cycle about 30 horses through turnout on those days!

What was funny today was that despite the limited turnout, all the horses were quite dozy when I arrived. Of course, they had just had their hay and grain, so I guess full tummies and the cold temps had combined to tire them out. Even Bestie stopped eating hay to take a quick snooze. I have never, EVER seen her stop eating to nap. Amazing.

When the doors are shut, the barn stays pretty warm. The indoor thermometer registered 40 degrees while I was there today. Not bad at all. Unfortunately, when the doors are closed, the smell goes up a notch. It permeates your clothes quickly. Oh well.

I mucked Dude and Bestie's stalls, then groomed both horses, put their blankets back on, and left them contentedly munching hay.

The mirrors got installed in the indoor today. I pity the poor installers, they must've been freezing. When I drove to the barn, the thermometer at the truck place near home said 3 degrees. It was so cold I couldn't even bring myself to walk outside to the indoor and check out the mirrors. Will admire the installers' handiwork on our next "warm" day!

New tack room

I arrived at the barn yesterday to find a doorway cut into the wall of the old tack room leading to the new, improved, larger tack room! It is beautiful! They built "lockers" so that everyone has a personal space. Eventually the old tack room will be remodeled to look the same and we'll all be spread out between the two spaces. I picked a corner (everyone who has two horses gets a corner--bigger space) and it's the corner shown in the right of the photo. My tack trunk will fit in the open spot and to the right there is room for the stuff that doesn't get used frequently. Bridle hooks and saddle racks will go on the walls. I'm looking forward to shifting my stuff over, most likely at some point this weekend after Larry gets the saddle racks installed. I'm hoping it means no more driving around with horsey blankets in my car. So exciting!

Today I got to the barn and discovered the new doorway had been framed, so progress is being made daily. Also there was a note on the board saying that the indoor would be closed on Monday while they install mirrors. Very cool!

Rode Dude out in the field tonight. I love riding in the snow, it's so much fun. I need to get a couple more rides in before Sunday, when it's supposed to hit the 40s and RAIN. Ugh. We've been lucky to hold on to our Winter Wonderland for so long.

Lesson on Bestie

Today Katie ended up not having to teach skiing so she and I both went to the barn. I decided to ride Bestie for my lesson so that Katie could ride Dude down the road. I had ridden Bestie last night and she was really good in the indoor. Today, when I entered the indoor, Emma warned me about the roof shedding. The temps today got up into the mid 30s for the first time in weeks, so the snow on the indoor roof was sliding off periodically. The last time I was in there and it happened, I had Bestie on the lunge line and she freaked out. Needless to say, Emma's warning did not make me feel too warm and fuzzy about the lesson!

To make a long story short, Bestie was awesome! We warmed up at the walk for quite a bit, and then practiced walk/halt transitions. Emma had been riding her horse Berry and kept the mare in the indoor, so Bestie wasn't alone, which was probably good. We moved on to walk/trot/halt transitions on a circle half the size of the indoor. Again, she was good. Not perfect, but well-behaved even with occasional swooshes of snow falling off the roof. She got better and better at the walk/trot transition, and Emma showed me a way to signal to her to slow down with little repeated half halts. The first time I wasn't consistent enough, but the second and third circles she was much better. And the good thing is that the repeated small half halts don't make her all cranky. Once she gets all worked up, I might as well get off. She loses focus.

All in all it was a really good lesson and gave me some things to work on with her. Three rides this week; nice! We had planned to ride in the field, but by the time my lesson got over and Katie returned from her road trip with Dude, we decided to bag the walk in the field and just put them away. All the other horses were coming in for dinner time -- good timing for Dude and Bestie to just hang out.

Lesson nirvana

Ok, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but it was a FUN lesson. Dude's so awesome; I've only ridden him once since we got back from Florida on the 25th, but I hopped right on and he was fine. He's just so "whatever" under saddle. I used the wool quarter sheet today since it was cold and rode him at the walk for about 15 minutes to warm him up as the lesson prior to mine was finishing up. That horse was being longlined and Dude was fascinated with the whole thing.

Emma had set up ground poles and a little pole maze, so we combined doing those with some walking and trotting. Dude is still fighting me about staying on the wall, and that gets a bit old. But he was pretty responsive once we got going at the trot, and it was fun going through the maze. In fact, he seemed to enjoy it--he tried to veer back into it once when we trotted past it later on. It was a good workout for him and me. By the time we were done after about 45 minutes and I rode him down the path a little ways, then jumped off, my legs were tired. There seems to be nothing that works the same muscles, and the bottom line is that I need to get my act together and ride more. It's been hard with the cold and work demands.

Bestie got to hang out with her buddies all day. I was going to lunge her but ran short on time since I needed to get the car back home for Maddie's use. They introduced a new mare into her field today, which I was nervous about. It went well though. The new mare seems to be pretty passive and anxious not to cause any problems, so they all survived the day just fine. Now that there's four in the group they're going to be moved to a bigger field. No other horses had been in their field before yesterday, so they've all gotten a workout walking around in two feet of undisturbed snow. Bestie's ankles had been a little heavy the night before when I saw her, but today with the snowpack on her all day, her "cankles" were gone.

Horse Moms unite!

Last night I saw my friend Mary at a New Year's party. We commiserated, as we do whenever we meet, on our horses. Her daughter left for college this fall also, and Mary is taking care of equine kid Jacob, who is boarded near their home at a small backyard barn. She was telling me how she has her routine with him when she gets home from work; how she goes over with some apples or carrots and grooms him, and how everything else just fall away when she does that. It's apparent that she enjoys her time taking care of him, and that it's a responsibility she's gladly assumed because Jacob became a member of the family through the years. We're both in the same place with that, and it's always great talking to her ... a little Horse Mom support session.

Catching up on the last two weeks

Over two weeks without a post. Some of that time was spent in Florida celebrating my parents' 50th anniversary. Had to get the horse care and the dog care squared away prior to departure. The dogs were able to stay in the house rather than go to the kennel, thanks to the assistance of a couple good friends. The ponies were tended by the usual barn folk, and Dude's neighbor's owner picked out their feet daily. All weathered our absence just fine. By Day 3 in Florida, I stopped asking Kris, "Any messages from the barn?"

A couple of days after our return, Dude and Bestie had a farrier appointment, which was good because their feet were looking a little beat up. While I was gone, Dude had somehow managed to pull the top layer off his back right hind hoof, about a half inch up almost all the way around the hoof. With the trim, it's a lot more narrow, but still noticeable, kind of like the top layer peeled off. Very strange looking, but no ill effects. Bestie just had a bunch of little chinks and rough spots on her feet. So now they are shipshape.

I lunged her tonight and she seemed a little stiff, but then again, I haven't had time to do much with them over the last two weeks and it has been cold. They were in for a couple of days right after we got back; the fields and walkway to the fields had gotten icy. We've had snow this week and are expecting more, which is good. The fields look so clean with the new snow, and it seems the horses are eating more hay out there because it lays on top of the snow and doesn't get ground into the mud.

I increased Dude's grain to a full scoop twice a day. He was getting a half a scoop but has started looking ribby in the last few weeks. I think part of it is that he doesn't get hay before going out, and when they go out the thrown hay is shared by all the horses in the field, so it's hard to know how much he's getting. Plus they're outside all day burning calories in the cold. Hopefully the extra senior feed will do the trick. I'll have to watch him and see how he does. And we might be able to cut him back once the fields get some grass in the spring/summer.

Bestie's been wearing her new midweight from Smith Brothers; it's an Open Range blanket and I love the way it fits her. It's navy with silver webbing and she just looks so darn cute in it. And that's what's important, right?! I've been doing a lot of blanket and turnout sheet washing since we got back. For some reason everything had gotten really messy and I just couldn't stand it. It's a logistical challenge washing stuff and trying to have enough at the barn to keep them warm and dry.

Hoping to ride Dude tomorrow. Would be nice to ride outside since it's not too cold, but will have to see how much snow is falling. We're supposed to get 3-5 inches tomorrow!