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?