Ups and downs

Geez, Mom, can I have some privacy?

I couldn't help it, I had to take a picture. After probably about four weeks of loose manure, and a couple weeks of daily doses of yogurt for probiotic benefits, this firm poop was pretty darn exciting.

I think - I know - that Bestie has been gorging on grass. Since the grass came in, she hasn't been eating much hay at all, just grass and the small amount of grain she gets. I think it's been too much for her, and actually,she wasn't the only one - there were other horses at the barn with loose manure. A couple of weeks ago, it seemed to get better for a bit, but went back to cow patty-like. Today it was normal in consistency but still green as grass. Bestie's field was mowed and the mares have eaten it down, so those two factors may be helping, too. Fingers crossed we're back to normal for good.

Yesterday we had a lesson with Sue. I asked her to help me with Bestie's tendency to walk off as soon as I get up on the mounting block. Sue first took the saddle off to be sure there was no physical discomfort. It turned out that Bestie is a little tight in the back, but Sue didn't think that the saddle was causing it. More like she needs to get her core in shape (with you on that, girl). So we spent probably 15 minutes working through the walking off, and then practiced it again at the end. It will be interesting to see if she tries it when I ride again. Basically the drill is that I get ready to mount, tell her whoa and if she walks off, I get off the block, back her and try again.

The rest of the lesson was good. We worked on getting her to walk at a speedier but relaxed pace so that she actually works for a bit; more than she does at her usual mosey. Did a little walk and trot in a serpentine pattern. And posted. Yikes, I haven't posted in a while, so I pooped out quickly. Plus it was toward the end and I was feeling a little fried. As was Bestie too, I believe, because she kept speeding up and I had to keep asking her to slow down. Every time Sue called out, "It's a beautiful trot!" I felt it was too fast. :) I need to regain my confidence again.

So to recap, "ups" in the past two days were our lesson and a normal poop. And "downs"? Ugh, a field altercation during turnout last night ... more on that in next post.

Because she hasn't been eating her joint supplements (Senior ReitSport from HorseTech), on the barn's recommendation I'm trying her on Cosequin. First dose tonight with her grain. We'll do the loading dose of two scoops daily for a couple weeks and see how it goes. She has gotten really "clicky" in her leg joints, and the chiropractor had mentioned left hock arthritis, so hopefully the Cosequin will help increase her comfort level. A couple horses at the barn have responded well to it. I'm sad to be leaving HorseTech though; we've been with them a lonnnnnnng time and have been very happy, but despite my best efforts, I just can't get her to eat the senior supplement and it seemed like the one she had been on wasn't helping. I also bought a can of venice turpentine to treat her ouchy soles with on the farrier's recommendation. That will start tomorrow; ran out of time today.

Swelling, salt, and a side of yogurt with that grain, please

A bit dozy on a hot day.

When I returned to the barn on June 6, Bestie's legs remained stocked up. And there was a new and exciting development - she had a half-lemon sized lump on the lower edge of her neck about 4 inches down from her jaw. I definitely wanted another set of eyes on her, so I checked in with Joe, who owns the barn. The lump didn't seem to bother her, and we couldn't see any skin breakage, but he thought it might be either a kick or an insect bite. Really bizarre. As for her swollen legs, when I described to Joe how she'd been going to town on her salt brick, he suggested taking it out of her stall for a while (there is a mineral block in her field that she can find).

It took a couple days, but her legs returned to normal. Maybe she was retaining fluid due to overconsumption of her salt block. I've been offering it to her just while I'm at the barn, so she typically only gets it for a few minutes. The swelling in her legs hasn't returned.

However, the neck swelling has taken forever to go down. Each day I soaked the area with Sore No More liniment, and the swelling started to flatten out right away, but even today, almost a week later,  it is still slightly visible. 

I talked to Sue again about Bestie's poop, since it concerns me that it has stayed loose for so long (about a month now). Sue suggested trying her on yogurt, on the premise that maybe she needs a little extra probiotics to jumpstart her system back to normal. So Bestie's getting a spoonful of plain yogurt with her am and pm grain ... and acquiring a bit of a reputation as high maintenance. The first day she did not like it at all, but now she's licking her bucket clean. She's been on the yogurt regimen since Wednesday, June 14. Her manure today actually had some form to it. We'll see how it goes. 

We've had some nice rides and one more lesson. Still working on positioning for me and relaxing my hips. A lot of stretches and hip openers on the lunge line last week during my lesson, and during the week I rode on my own quite a bit without stirrups to lengthen and relax my legs and sit deep in the saddle. Tomorrow she'll get a trim from the farrier so I won't ride. Her feet have gotten quite long in the last six weeks.

The girls

This is Bestie's girl gang. Well, until today. I understand one more mare may have just gotten introduced. She's new to the barn and young, and hopefully will assimilate with no difficulty.

The dynamics seem to be that Bestie is the alpha, and when she's not out, the other 20+ year old mare moves to alpha. There are two young girls who defer - a heartfelt ear pinning by the older mares sends a clear message to them. And then there's Shirley. I'm not sure how old she is, but she likes to push buttons. She and Bestie seem to have moved into the detente period after a few skirmishes early on. They've agreed to disagree.

The field is very big, so they definitely don't need to get in each others' way. I think most of the run ins occur in the run in - the shed gets a bit small if they all crowd in there to escape rain or flies. Another dicey spot is at the gate when one of them is coming or going.

Things have been going pretty well with the group. My fingers are crossed that the new girl doesn't rock the boat.

I've had some good rides with Bestie recently, doing more trotting with some patterns and trying to get her - and me - back into shape. My last lesson with Sue was exhausting (for ME, anyway), as she put Bestie on the lungeline and we did a lot of positioning work. It was good though. Last week some of the obstacles were out and we actually rode across the mattress for the first time. Sometimes Bestie so surprises me - she walked right across the squishy thing without batting an eye.

Her poop has not been normal/firm for a couple of weeks. Folks at the barn think it's because we've gotten so much rain the horses are basically eating wet grass all the time. But we just had three days of sun and her manure firmed up a bit but not to normal. Maybe as a result of the loose manure, she's been going to town on her salt block recently. She does seem to be drinking normally. Today her lower legs above the fetlock were swollen. Not super swollen, but definitely noticeable. I walked her, then hosed her, and soaked the area in Sore No More. She wasn't lame. I plan to see how she looks tomorrow and then confer with someone at the barn as to what plan B should be if the swelling is still present. I have seen her back legs stocked up, usually due to too much standing, but never all four. I wonder if it's possible that all the salt block licking is causing her to swell in the legs? I dunno. Seems like horse ailments are always such a puzzle. I'm anxious to see how she is tomorrow.