Do you sweat or smile when the barn shows up on caller ID?

I guess that, for me, the answer to that question depends on what's been happening lately at the barn. Has there been a run of horsey incidents? Sweat. Everything seemingly going well? Smile. With Dude, for instance, he's been rehabbing from his hip injury, and as I've had recent reports from observant boarders that he's been running in the field, I expected the worse when I got a call from barn owner Julie yesterday. Particularly as the plan was to send him out with a buddy after 4 months on solo turnout. Sweat.

But the call yesterday was to report that they had decided to switch things up, and rather than turn Dude out with a horse who had just arrived, and who he had been visiting with over the fence for a couple days, his new arrangement would be with TC and Skye, two of the most "whatever" geldings in the barn. They're not runners or blanket rippers, they're more like Dude, eat-and-stand-around-ers. So that was good news. I stopped sweating, and went back to smiling.

Today's project: blanket repair

We just had a great series of days with sun and temperatures in the 40s/50s, but the forecast for today is for steadily dropping temperatures - what better day to do a blanket repair? Actually, it's kind of a cozy project as I've got it spread over my lap while I stitch, slight aroma of equine wafting about the living room. I'm holding the top layer up with one hand while I sew with the other so I don't go through all of the layers and hit my jeans, which *has* happened before. :)

We just got back from a few days away visiting family for Thanksgiving, and I wasn't organized/prepared to convert from turnouts to blankets after our return yesterday. Consequently, Bestie is out today in her other  blanket, but no turnout because I forgot to bring the bigger one to the barn and the one she was wearing is a wee bit snug over a blanket. So I'm sewing away as I fully expect the one she has on today is going to be a mess and I'll need to swap out. I absolutely love this one: a) the tartan plaid looks so cute on her, and b) we bought it used from friends and it still looks new - after 8-plus years. It's made by Saratoga Horseworks, whose blankets when new honestly are out of my budget, but they do seem to be constructed to last. Quality is long remembered after price is forgotten, as our dear friend Jim J. loves to say (but would NEVER EVER EVER apply to anything having to do with horses!).

Dude the cat whisperer

Suddenly the barn kitties have started hanging out in Dude's stall in the evenings. A couple nights ago it was the black cat, and even when I shooed him out, he kept coming back into the stall. That was odd because normally they're fairly skittish. Last night two of the gray and white cats approached his door while he had his stall guard up and -photo opp but I didn't have the camera- he reached his nose down to them, so cute. This kitty tonight kept trading corners, first the right then the left side of the stall, all the while staring at the wall intently. Does Dude have a mouse family living in his wall? Maybe it's not his cat whispering powers or magnetic personality that are drawing the kitties in.

Bestie, hangin' at the gate

Barn friend Michelle is back in town for a bit, called in as back-up while our barn owners enjoy a vacation. Michelle was taking lessons at the barn when I first moved Dude and Bestie there. She is bubbly and talkative and a lot of fun. She now lives in Hawaii, and when she comes back to town she brings tons of goodies - so far we've enjoyed coffee covered macadamia nuts, macadamia caramel clusters, guava cookies, wasabi peas, macadamia caramel popcorn ... a different wonderful treat magically appears on the tack room table each day! Michelle seems to really enjoy the horses and their personalities, and snapped this pic of Bestie during the work day; I'm not sure if Bestie was at the gate to keep tabs on the comings and goings or because it was turn-in time. She does sorta have that "Hellooooo, The Princess wants to come in" look.

Dude gets rechecked

Yesterday Dr. Kim of Animal Health Options came back to town to make her rounds and she rechecked Dude. I trotted him out for her and although he was still off on the right rear she felt he was definitely moving better and he looked pretty good. She also used her thermal camera to look at all the same areas she checked the first time, and while there was still heat in his right hind, it wasn't nearly as bad as when she was first out. There was also some heat showing in his left hind from compensation.

Following the original plan, Dude still has another month on solo turnout, and then I guess we'll check him again. Kim said she'd recommend some herbs if it seemed like he was going to go out with his buddies and mess around; something to take the edge off, presumably. She also recommended that I do some core work with him to strengthen him for when he does go out and return to work, for stabilization and better management of his body. He's long backed and heavy and not the most agile of horses, so core work I'm sure would be beneficial (maybe Dude and I both can go on a program!). The book she recommended is "Activate your horse's core" by Narelle Stubbs and Hilary Clayton. I like the fact that it's a book/dvd set and there are a few good reviews on Amazon, but with a $54 price tag I'm going to have put that purchase off for a couple weeks.

He was chiropracted ... with much unnecessary drama just because he is a big baby. As with shots, he basically reacts to the vet's approach and then relaxes when he's actually being treated.

I had taken Dude off bute a  bit over a week ago because he seemed to be getting cranky with me when I curried his stomach, and I thought he might be bothered by the bute. He's been on a dose every other day since July, so it's been a long course. Now he's just on the  Horsetech OptiMSM and Glanzen GL (lite), vitamin E, Equilite's probiotics, and rice bran.

Fingers crossed that he continues to make progress.

Rain rain go away

We've had a stretch of wet weather. The horses lost one day of turnout last week, but it's been raining so much over the last couple days that the fields are a mess and they'll be staying in tomorrow. Last night I arrived to find mud caked horses. I love how they look at me, filthy yet all perky, like "What?"

Dude is usually just muddy on one side since he doesn't roll from side to side and rarely drops twice to hit both sides. Bestie, on the other hand ...

This is what was left on the barn aisle floor after I groomed them tonight - a nice grey dust circle and bunches of mud and gravel from their hooves. Nice dark circle in the middle where they were standing and blocking the flying dust!

Fall shots

First, a little shot taken earlier this week on my way up to work. I love fall in Vermont! Up in the mountains, the foliage has changed more than down by the barn, where it's still pretty green. But the temperatures this week are a little crisper and the horses seem to like that, along with the fact that there are fewer bugs outside. Fly masks have been retired until next spring.

Normally we do Potomac Horse Fever and flu/rhino boosters in the fall. This year, Eastern Equine Encephalitis and West Nile have been recommended by our veterinarian as boosters, due to recent evidence of both in Vermont in an area not too far south of us. I think it's the first time in the 12-plus years we have lived here that I've heard of EEE surfacing. There has been local news coverage over the last few weeks and it's a bit scary. Heartbreaking for the families impacted by the two infections and subsequent deaths that have occurred with people. Our vet's Facebook page has identified two equine cases thus far.

Dude and Bestie had their boosters last Friday, and will get the rest of the shots this coming Friday. No ill effects, just very slight lumps on their necks at the booster site.

I was off to Tennessee mid-September for several days to visit my parents so I haven't ridden much lately. The two rides I've had since I've been back have been good ones. Bestie was off a week and a half while I was traveling, and I was able to get right on her. Once upon a time that wouldn't have been a good idea. Hugs and kisses to the new mellow Bestie. :)

Supplementing with Vitamin E

Dude's been on a vitamin E supplement for, gosh, I don't even remember how many years. It was suggested by the vet one fall when he seemed to drop a bit of weight, and the hay quality wasn't that good going into winter. He gets a scoop of Elevate powder that delivers 1000 IU in his evening grain. The hay at this barn is definitely higher quality, but the grass gets eaten down pretty quickly in the summer, so I just keep him on the dosage year round. I was interested recently to read an article in the Holistic Horse newsletter about vitamin E supplementation; it sounds like he could go a bit higher, and I'm wondering if Bestie should start on it, too. Something to discuss with the vet when they visit for the next go-round of Potomac shots, which should be coming up soon.

Importance of Vitamin E in horses, holistichorse.com

Update on Dude

Back in June I wrote about Dude and Bestie having a visit from the holistic vet we've known for years. Dude was off on the right hind during that visit, and she diagnosed him with a possible abscess in his right hind hoof and a hind end injury, possibly groin, from his slippy slidey fall in the mud the previous month. For a few days after her visit we tried to soak his foot in an attempt to draw out the abscess, but he was unusually uncooperative. One day Katie was there attempting yet again to soak him, and there happened to be another farrier there trimming horses. When prompted by barn owner Julie he offered to take a look at Dude's foot and trim it up to see if the abscess would release. He trimmed him up pretty good, and thought it might actually be a bad case of thrush rather than an abscess. Given his hunch, and the fact that Dude wasn't interested in soaking - odd, as with past experience he's normally fine with soaking for abscesses - we decided to treat for thrush.

His hoof ended up cleaning up pretty well (as much as his back feet ever do), but he was definitely still off on that right hind. So we called in our regular vet from Vermont Large Animal Clinic. After ruling out other possibilities, Dr. Phil said it seemed like a right hip injury, and pointed out that his muscle tone looked a little sunken on his right hip. He recommended that Dude should be on solo turnout on as flat a pasture as possible for four months in hopes of preventing further tweaking. No riding, of course. Deja vu moment ... haven't we heard this before ... flashbacks to his hip injury several years ago = * heavy sigh*. At least the vet said four months this time; last time it was a full year off.

So, at this point, Dude's about a month and a half in to his treatment. He seems to be doing ok in the little paddock; there are a couple geldings next to him on solo turnout that he likes to hang out with along the fenceline. It's wonderful that he can go out all day and stroll around because he'd be going nuts if stallbound. There's not much grass in the paddock, especially in the last couple weeks as summer winds down, so we try to give him at least a half hour of hand grazing when we get there at the end of the day.

At Dr. Phil's suggestion, I added MSM to Dude's supplements for anti-inflammatory benefits. Over the last month or so, he definitely has filled out some and isn't so ribby. Perhaps the probiotics, which he started in late June, are helping him hang on to the nutrients in his grain and hay better. He's got a full supplement container now with HorseTech's Glanzen GL Lite and MSM, vitamin E, Equilite's PrePro plus a 1/4 cup of rice bran to wash it all down tastily.

A bad summer for hooves

Although our summer hasn't been as dry as some parts of the country, it has indeed been dry. I really noticed the effect of the lack of moisture on the horses' feet during this last farrier cycle, which ran from mid July to a appointment earlier this week for a trim and shoeing (for Dude) and trim (for Bestie).

Dude and Bestie have very different hooves and are on the same combination supplement with biotin in it for hooves. It was interesting to see how the dry summer weather affected them.

Dude, who has soft feet, fared better. His hoof edges got a bit ragged with some chipping. Bestie, who has harder hooves, had significant chipping and vertical cracks.

I was relieved when farrier Scott came out this week and cleaned them up. Here's what Bestie's feet look like now (with a coat of Absorbine Hooflex All Natural Dressing):

Pretty nice. 

Changes at the barn

Over the last month there have been a couple exciting changes at the barn. 

Especially nice is the newly painted and redecorated bathroom, with lavender lower walls and floral prints, a huge new vanity, and hooks on the wall to hang clothes. Barn owner Julie had her horse stuff in the bathroom before, so there wasn't much room if anyone needed to change, and I'm sure it was a squeeze for her and at times inconvenient if someone was in there and she needed her stuff. She now has a spot in the tack room, so a whole end of the bathroom has been freed up for changing - the space is to the right of the vanity. Super nice, especially for all of us who come straight from work.

The other project that was completed recently was a redesign of the feed room, located in the center of the barn just off the main front entry. Larry installed an old kitchen counter along the side wall, which gives much more convenient access to everyone's supplement drawers (which used to be stacked wayyy high). Grain cans are off to the left and along the back wall, and extra grain bags are kept under the counter. Larry also installed a big utility sink just to the right of the entry door, meaning no more trekking down to the other end of the barn to access the big sink and hot water in the former milking room. Larry hooked up a water heater in the bathroom, so there's hot water there as well as in the feed room.

I really appreciate the way barn owners Larry and Julie are always making improvements. Feeling a bit spoiled!

Lots of mud after three days of rain

I took this photo to text to Katie as a head's up on what to expect at the barn tonight. Her response? "Ughhhhh." Yep, that pretty much sums it up. Luckily Dude hardly ever rolls all the way over - his other side was basically mud-free. I couldn't figure out how he kept his hooves and stockings so clean. Thinking about it, I was picturing acrobatics that I don't think he is capable of (although maybe I should give him more credit -  he IS the horse who has limboed under his stall guard twice in the last six months!).

90 degrees

Ugh; that's all I have to say. The temperature was fluctuating between 85 and 90 degrees as I drove to the barn after work, depending on whether I was on the blacktop or on a dirt road in the shade.

When I got there, all the horses had their doors open with stall guards and were totally dozey. I hosed Dude and Bestie, mucked their stalls, cleaned out their feet and that was pretty much it.

While I was mucking his stall Dude was on the crossties. The photo says it all - the energy level in the barn was pretty low!

Dude and Bestie get a visit from the holistic vet

We've had an ongoing relationship with Dr. Kim Henneman of Animal Health Options in Utah for some years now. We started seeing her at the recommendation of Maddie and Bestie's former trainer. Kim hits the East Coast a couple times a year on whirlwind visits. I say whirlwind because she visits so many places, but definitely not whirlwind in the time she spends with clients - seemingly whatever time is needed.

For instance, today she spent about 2 hours with Dude. Her visit happened to coincide with recent concern on my part that he had been dealing with a lot over the last 6-9 months and that it might be good to have a fresh set of eyes look at him. Given last fall's mystery illness (Kim thought it was fairly likely a mild case of Potomac), his mild early spring gas colic, and the fall he took in the mud a couple of weeks ago, when I got her "visit alert" postcard in the mail, I thought it would be a good time to get him checked over.

Kim had me trot him out, and surprise, surprise - he was really lame in the right hind. We brought him back in the barn and she started checking him over with her infrared camera - totally cool. I think it was a FLIR camera, described in this article at equinechronicle.com. His right heel bulb definitely had a hot spot, as did the inside of his back leg just above the stifle, perhaps a slight groin injury from the fall, she thought. So he's on turnout in the convalescent run, next to a mare who is also recuperating from an injury. And we're soaking the back hoof for a few days to see if the abscess draws out.

She acupunctured Dude in several spots and I can't even begin to identify what they all were - I should've taken notes. I know she did acupuncture what are called Ting points around the coronary band in his back feet, for both specific injury treatment and overall energy balancing, I believe. It was, as usual, fascinating to watch. She also treated him with a homeopathic powder called hepar sulph, which is supposed to aid in drawing out abscesses and infections. I did a search on it just to read more about it tonight, and found this article on holistichorse.com in which the section on homeopathic treatment of abscesses is written by Kim. Reading further, there were a few sites talking about the treatment being used for basically the same purpose in people. She'll recheck him on her fall visit to Vermont.

Bestie's appointment was sort of ho-hum compared to Dude's, thank goodness. She got adjusted, and Kim thought she was in pretty good shape, especially given the fact that she hasn't been adjusted in years. There were a few good little adjustments with her sighing and licking her lips afterwards. Her withers were a bit off, so we took some time to check out the saddle fit. She has definitely gained weight over the years and can stand to lose some (better than me having to buy a new saddle). The fit of the saddle isn't too far off, and with a slimmer saddle pad (actually, more of a blanket and thin pad) it should be ok until she can lose the weight. And then hopefully I can get back to using my new Professionals' Choice pad. After all the manipulations Bestie headed back into her stall at a perky pace.

All of this took from around 11:30am to about 2:30 pm. I went to work for a few hours then headed back to the barn to soak Dude's foot. He didn't even want to put his hoof down in the water, so I just kept swishing water up and over the spot for several minutes, and really trying to get it cleaned out. Then I soaked a cotton ball in Betadine and wedged it in there prior to wrapping him up. I checked his other hooves and they actually looked quite a bit drier just based on the change in paddocks today. Katie's doing a quick run to the tack store to get more Betadine tomorrow.

Tucked them both back in as Reggie was coming down the aisle feeding out newly cut hay, called it a night, and left them happily munching.

A night at the barn

I was looking forward to riding Bestie tonight as I hadn't had time to ride since Saturday. Despite heavy, paddock-soaking rains yesterday, they had gone out today, so I breathed a sigh of relief that I could just saddle her up and go. If they haven't gone out I feel bad, so I tend to graze her first and then ride. No need for that tonight, especially as a girl at the barn mentioned that they had just come in when I arrived at 5 pm. A good long day outdoors, as they usually get out around 6 am. (Whoever would've thought that Dude, Mr. Hothouse Flower, would last ALL day outside??!)

I rode in the indoor, solo. Someone had left a couple low poles set up, so it was fun to trot her over those and use them to do different patterns. She was good, kind of sluggish at the start, but overall nice and relaxed; she didn't get too speedy toward the end of the ride like she normally does when she has had enough. Her 20-minute timer didn't go off tonight for whatever reason. :)

When we returned to the barn I noticed that Dude was still hanging out at his open door and he hadn't eaten any hay, which is odd for him. He had also dragged a bunch of it and strewn it all along his back wall, which is usually a sign that he's not thrilled with it. I sniffed it and patted it to check for dust and mold, and it seemed fine. I threw a bunch in Bestie's stall, and she wouldn't touch it either. Strange. When I went and got him a new flake, he dove right in. I ended up tossing most of the first batch in the spreader, and I felt bad because it seemed fine, but I wasn't going to leave it in there for him to stomp it all into his shavings and make a mess.

So much for not watching horse racing anymore

It took me a while to watch any horse races after the whole horrific accident involving filly Eight Belles.

I don't know what drew me back in this year. I watched the Derby and the Preakness with my heart pounding, hoping that everyone, horses and jockeys, would end up at the finish safely. But what a fun year to be watching, with I'll Have Another coming from behind and going for the Triple Crown. Of course I want him to  win. I feel like it's about time - it's been a l-o-n-g time - I was a junior in high school when Affirmed won all three.

Thinking about the Belmont drew me in to watching some of Affirmed's races online. I had totally forgotten about Steve Cauthen being the jockey. The Kid - he was 18; I think at the time I was following the jockey more than the horse, given how close in age we were. Poking around while trying to refresh my memory about Affirmed, I found a great site, http://www.derbylegends.com/, that has footage of  incredible races, including Secretariat's Belmont win. Watching that race footage always brings me to tears it's just so amazing.

Hoping we have another legend in the making.

Dude briefly under the weather

I arrived at the barn last night to find Dude pawing his stall floor, not eating his grain and looking fairly pitiful. It definitely wasn't the usual "Hey, I want to go out" pawing; something was clearly wrong. I got him out right away and walked him around the indoor. He tried to roll a few times but didn't really fight me when I wouldn't let him drop down. Whenever we would stop walking, he would paw the ground again. After a bit we went outside and did circles around the parking area. Then, after about a half hour, I put him on the cross ties. He didn't paw, and had a little more of his usual twinkle in his eyes. I decided to go ahead and groom him and see how it went.

While he was on the cross ties I threw out what was left of his grain. He had probably eaten about half of it. Then I went back to grooming him, taking a while with the soft curry and really rubbing him down. Every so often he'd lift his tail and pass a little gas, and by the time I was done with the grooming, he seemed fine.

I put him back in his stall with a little hay, which he promptly started eating. Before I left for home I alerted the barn folks, who said they'd keep an eye on him. Later in the evening I received a text from Julie saying that he looked fine. Nice of them to let me know and give me peace of mind for the night.

Thank goodness, it seemed like a quick little bout of gas colic the he needed to work through. It's always hard to piece together the causes of these things, but  I suspect the fact that he was just transferred to a field with quite a bit of grass from his previous field, which is pretty eaten down, may have had something to do with it. And yesterday it was warmer than it has been. The horses' turnout schedules have been pretty erratic because of the weather. We try to hand graze them the days that they don't get turned out, just so they keep some grass in their bellies. But I think that field may have been a wee bit too rich for Mr. Dude. He turned 19 at the end of January, and now I'm wondering, am I going to have to anticipate these things more? Is he getting an oldster's more finicky needs?

Head tossing as a means of communication

Over the weekend we finally got some sun, and the fields got a bit drier, so the horses were turned out on Sunday. We arrived at the barn mid-afternoon as they were coming in, covered with mud and sort of dozy from their day outside. Well, Bestie was dozy, but Dude seemed to take our arrival as a sign that he'd go back out and handgraze, since that's been the routine all those days they were in.

Katie obliged and took him out while I lunged Bestie. I wanted to ride, but decided that it might be smarter/prudent/more cautious to lunge since I hadn't ridden in four days and given the lack of turnout over the course of the week.

On the lunge line she strolled slowly at the walk like she could barely drag herself around the circle. When I clucked her to trot she looked at me like "Really?" and gave a little sideways head shake - "No, I don't think so." I encouraged her to trot again and she finally started up, doing her Western jog - not the most ideal gait to get out excess energy.

Clucking at her again led to the up-and-down head shake, which is the "I may do what you want, but let's keep negotiating on this" shake. I clucked at her again and gave the lunge line a little wiggle. Up-and-down head shake, snort, circular head shake: "ALL RIGHT ALREADY." And off she trotted in a nice big trot. She was actually pretty good, transitioning well between the trotting and cantering and coming back down to a walk nicely. I thought for sure that she'd have one of her maniacal gallops, but I guess the day out in the sun had tired her out.

Hockey tonight will leave little barn time. Hoping to ride Tuesday after work.

Eating their greens

It's that time of year when the grass and other greenery is beginning to grow, and it fascinates me to watch Dude and Bestie grazing. I spend a lot of time doing that since it's still mud season and turnout comes and goes depending on pasture conditions. After the previous confinement, we had a run of really nice days, but now we're back to a rainy stretch and they've been inside for two days. I try to get them out for at least 20-30 minutes of hand grazing.

Bestie seems less selective than Dude at this time of year. She pretty much wolfs down whatever she can munch on and often seems to be inhaling it rather than chewing it up. I tend to graze them along the path that runs between the pastures since the grass there is pretty lush. Bestie is like a buzz saw making her way methodically down the path.

Dude wanders more as he grazes; in fact, he's all over the place. At this time of year he tends to grab clumps of young crab grass, dandelions and big leaf plantain along the path. He doesn't like anything fine (that goes for hay, too). Pretty soon he'll start avoiding the dandelions and plantain. I've read that those plants tend to get bitter as they age. His choices are interesting, given that you often hear that horses choose to eat certain plants for a reason. I've read that dandelion is rich in certain minerals and that plantain has a calming effect on digestion.

I recently read an article about growing an herb garden for your horse, which I thought was such a fun idea. The article is on holistichorse.com. Of course they suggest working with a knowledgeable practitioner of herbal medicine before treating your horse.

A run of rainy days

The horses have been in all week because we've had a bunch of rainy days that have turned the fields to mud. I haven't had time to ride, but I have been able to get them both out for a graze each day. One day I was out with Dude and a groundhog came out of the woods to graze about 25 feet away - cute (as long as his burrow is in the woods and not the pasture).

A couple photos of the muddy track and the princess grazing. The sun is due to be out tomorrow, yay!

Monday

Monday. Enough said? Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad, sometimes it's ok. This particular one was coming off a weekend where I felt I didn't have enough down time. And the day itself was busy. And I stopped at the grocery store prior to the barn so I was running later than usual. AND it's Katie's long day at work, so I usually do both the horses. This is all called "setting the scene."

Turnout has been a bit sketchy lately due to the wet weather making a mess of the fields. The barn folk helpfully send an email when the horses have to stay in. I checked my email late morning; no note from the barn. Got to the barn and - surprise! - found them in; the note had been sent at 2 pm. I had really wanted to ride Bestie, but now was faced with getting both of them out to shake off a day in the stall, and horsey responsibilities were battling with visions of the fillet of salmon I had just purchased for a nice dinner. The whole scene made me very cranky.

I got Dude out first as he is the most vocal about the terrible injustice of being in for the day. We headed out to the round pen, where he trotted around snorting and tossing his head just to make sure everyone knew that really, he should've been outside all day. Then we handgrazed for a few minutes. The grass really hasn't grown very long, so grazing options are a bit slim, but it was enough to make him happy, and how could I not smile at the gusto with which he attacked the new grass? Then I got Bestie out to lunge her, and she trotted around so slowly, it was like she was a thousand years old. I had to laugh at that - you just never know whether a day inside will set up bucking bronco Bestie or oh-this-is-so-much-work Bestie. After lunging, we went out so she could get a few mouthfuls of grass. When we came back in, Dude had his head out over his stall guard like he was waiting for us; once Bestie got resettled in her stall, he went back to his hay.

As cranky as I can be upon arrival, I never leave the barn that way. Making them happy with a bit of grass, cleaning the stalls, and leaving to the sounds of contented hay munching - impossible to be unhappy when all is right in the horses' little world.

Just another night at the barn

Not much excitement tonight at the barn. I debated riding Bestie, then decided against it since my legs were a little tired from cross country skiing and playing hockey last night. I gave her a good brushing and that was it. Whenever she's on the cross ties she keeps one eye on Dude, who has been known to give the cross ties a yank when the urge strikes. Tonight he was sleepy after a big day out in the snow.

It's been fairly warm, in the low to mid 30s, so I've been putting Dude and Bestie in their fleece sheets at night and then at turn-out time in the morning Larry or Reggie throw their turnout sheets on over the fleece. Love the fleece sheets, but every night after I groom the horses, I groom the sheets! They pick up everything! But they do wash up really well.

Bestie's sheet prior to brushing it off - I'm surprised there were any shavings in her stall!

Dude and I have a little ride

I didn't have to work this weekend, which was nice since it added a lot of hours to the weekend. I decided to ride Dude. Katie has been very busy and is working this weekend, and the poor guy has been looking kind of down in the dumps watching me tack up Bestie. I had brought his bright turquoise saddle pad because the other one we had at the barn got eaten by mice. Burned me up - it was a gorgeous cream, black and gold Mayatex and the rodents chewed a big hole in it. Once I got him saddled up the girls at the barn made a fuss over him in his pretty saddle pad and you could tell he thought he was hot stuff.

We were out in the arena about 25 minutes. It was pushing 40 degrees today, so fairly warm, and it just felt nice to ride and not be super bundled up. He was pretty peppy, and we did a nice big trot. His saddle is so much less cushy than Bestie's; my rear end was killing me toward the end. We had the arena to ourselves until the end when one other horse and rider came in, and it was a lot of fun to bop around.

A couple days ago Katie discovered a little spot just below Dude's left hip that barn manager Caitlin diagnosed as rain rot. The spot is about the size in diameter of a pencil eraser and slightly raised. I scrubbed it with Betadine (then scrubbed the scrubber) and treated the spot with some ointment - Farnham Tri Care - that we have on hand. Have gotten recommendations to use MTG or icthammol from others, but will stick with what we've got for now. The scrubbing didn't seem to bother him. It's the first time we've ever dealt with rain rot, so we'll see how it goes...

Hello blog! I've missed you!

I certainly wouldn't have guessed that the last time I posted was in mid-December. But, really, no surprise; that's about when the ski season began and therefore, when work got very, very busy. Over the last couple months I've found that when I come home at night, the last thing I want to do is get on a computer. I started the blog to have something fun to write that wasn't connected with work, but work is tiring me out too much to have the energy left at night to write. I'm wondering if anyone else who has a day job involving words has the same problem.

The other unfortunate side effect of being busy at work is having less time at the barn. And winter in Vermont means that everyone migrates to the indoor arena, so it is tough to find time to ride that coincides with when I have an open hour or two and a whole lot of other people are not in the indoor. Pre-holidays I was doing pretty well with lessons, and trainer Caitlin was riding Bestie about once a week, which was working well. Post-holidays I've hardly ridden at all and haven't had the $$ to pay anyone else to ride.

I've pretty much resigned myself to grabbing the horsey time when I can. Last Saturday I rode Dude. I hadn't ridden him in ages, and had forgotten how much direction he needs, as compared to Ms. Sensitive. My legs were t-i-r-e-d after 25 minutes on him. I had ridden Bestie a few days before. There was a jumping lesson going on, and she gets very, um, aware, of all that activity, so we basically just walked the whole time. I lunged her today and she had a few moments of snorting and bucking. The fields have been icy so the horses are really just going out and standing around, and she clearly wanted to seize the opportunity for a good buck-and-run (which was fine after the one other horse and rider left the arena).

Dude and Bestie are both shedding and have been for at least a couple weeks. It seems to be happening quite early this year. I'm hoping it doesn't mean we'll have an early spring. We haven't had much of a winter yet, and I'd be fine with some good snows over the next couple months. I've got new cross country skis that I'm excited to use.

Dude celebrated his 19th birthday in late January. He's been part of the family since he was 8. Where does the time go?!