I had a conversation yesterday with a girl whose horse has been experiencing lameness issues for quite a while now. She said a recent diagnosis indicated that the lameness would be a continuing problem, and that surgery was possible but would be expensive and might not be successful. Her family opted not to do the surgery and to try to find him a good home to hang out at. She has owned the horse for less than a year; I could only imagine the disappointment that she must be feeling.
It made me think of the trying times - big and small - that we've experienced with horses over the years. Buster, Katie's first lease horse, was sent back to the farm he'd come from when the stable we were riding at decided they couldn't use him. It was a sudden decision, we were not informed until the last minute, and he was basically loaded on the trailer immediately after she had a lesson on him, and off he went. Lots of tears of disappointment after that event (and a private vow by Horse Mom never to be at the mercy of someone else through a lease!).
There was Dude's hip injury. A prognosis that a year's time off would heal the injury, which for the kid meant an adjustment in plans, with no show season for two seasons, lots of hand walking, lots of time doing the care end of things.
Then there were the little things. Like the horse deciding to act up in a class, the horse losing a shoe right before a show, the horse going lame before a show.
In thinking about these situations, I considered how much my kids learned through all of these experiences, and really, how wonderful it was as a parent to watch that learning process, even though it was disappointing or heart-breaking at times. Compassion, responsibility, patience, flexibility, leadership, and invaluable "people skills" developed through interaction with other horse-crazy kids, and adults in their roles as boarders, barn managers, trainers, farriers and veterinarians.
While it was sad news about the horse in our barn, I definitely admired his young owner's ability to talk knowledgeably and confidently about her horse's condition and the plan the family had been considering for him.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Spring? Winter? Make up your mind, Mother Nature!
It's been one of those weeks. We started off with a H-U-G-E snowstorm that blew in over Sunday and Monday, depositing about two feet of snow in many northern Vermont areas. Welcome to March! Then we had beautiful crisp, blue skies on Tuesday and Wednesday, blustery winds on Thursday and Friday, sprinkles on Saturday, and rain/sleety snow on Sunday.
The horses were in on Saturday and Sunday due to the rain; the temps had dropped back into the low 30s and it was kind of messy. Not that either said, "Hey, thank you for thinking of how chilled we might get standing out in that freezing drizzle." Uh, nope. Both Dude and Bestie looked at me pretty darn expectantly when I arrived at the barn Saturday and today. I think the message they were trying to send was more like, "There's been a terrible miscommunication, we've been stuck in our stalls all day, and we want you to make it right."
My "making it right" involved letting each of them roll and wander around the indoor for several minutes. Not too exciting. But the roads are slippery mud and the path through the paddocks is ankle deep in slush, so we didn't have a lot of options. Luckily, having that roll and strolling around the indoor seems to take the edge off. That, and a flake of hay upon return to their stalls.
The horses were in on Saturday and Sunday due to the rain; the temps had dropped back into the low 30s and it was kind of messy. Not that either said, "Hey, thank you for thinking of how chilled we might get standing out in that freezing drizzle." Uh, nope. Both Dude and Bestie looked at me pretty darn expectantly when I arrived at the barn Saturday and today. I think the message they were trying to send was more like, "There's been a terrible miscommunication, we've been stuck in our stalls all day, and we want you to make it right."
My "making it right" involved letting each of them roll and wander around the indoor for several minutes. Not too exciting. But the roads are slippery mud and the path through the paddocks is ankle deep in slush, so we didn't have a lot of options. Luckily, having that roll and strolling around the indoor seems to take the edge off. That, and a flake of hay upon return to their stalls.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Play time with the ponies
The horses didn't go outside today because of the weather. I actually missed the worst of it because we had gone to Boston for a hockey game. Apparently it rained here in the morning, and then right about the time we were heading back north, the rain turned over to snow. Now the forecasters are calling for anywhere from 13 to 30 inches! (This is a bit hard to take because it was 60 degrees in Boston!)
After we got home I went to the barn to check on the horses. No one was around, which was great because the indoor arena was empty and I could let them (one at a time) drop and roll and walk around.
I always find it kind of funny to watch them with this opportunity. Dude's routine is to roll first thing, then get up all full of himself and prance around for a bit. Next he'll try to get me to play with him by trotting up and sort of tossing his head around and looking at me expectantly. What he thinks I'll do, I don't know. He doesn't really recognize personal space too well, so I always shoo him away, telling him, "You're way too big to play with." After about 15 minutes of wandering about and sniffing things in the arena he gets bored and goes to stand by the door to wait for me to put his halter on and take him back to the barn.
Bestie wanders around sniffing the ground, looking for the perfect spot to roll. She's a much more leisurely roller than Dude is, and when she's done she stands up and looks at me for the next step. A lot of times if I start walking, she'll walk right alongside me like she's on a lead rope. It's hard to get her to romp around like Dude does.
The short walk from the side barn door to the indoor arena was pretty soupy with about 6 inches of snow and water running underneath the snow. With temperatures in the 40s earlier in the weekend and the rain, there's some flooding going on in the area. I'll be surprised if the horses go out tomorrow - things need to firm up a bit. Can't really complain though; they've only missed two days of turnout this winter - that's got to be some sort of record.
After we got home I went to the barn to check on the horses. No one was around, which was great because the indoor arena was empty and I could let them (one at a time) drop and roll and walk around.
I always find it kind of funny to watch them with this opportunity. Dude's routine is to roll first thing, then get up all full of himself and prance around for a bit. Next he'll try to get me to play with him by trotting up and sort of tossing his head around and looking at me expectantly. What he thinks I'll do, I don't know. He doesn't really recognize personal space too well, so I always shoo him away, telling him, "You're way too big to play with." After about 15 minutes of wandering about and sniffing things in the arena he gets bored and goes to stand by the door to wait for me to put his halter on and take him back to the barn.
Bestie wanders around sniffing the ground, looking for the perfect spot to roll. She's a much more leisurely roller than Dude is, and when she's done she stands up and looks at me for the next step. A lot of times if I start walking, she'll walk right alongside me like she's on a lead rope. It's hard to get her to romp around like Dude does.
The short walk from the side barn door to the indoor arena was pretty soupy with about 6 inches of snow and water running underneath the snow. With temperatures in the 40s earlier in the weekend and the rain, there's some flooding going on in the area. I'll be surprised if the horses go out tomorrow - things need to firm up a bit. Can't really complain though; they've only missed two days of turnout this winter - that's got to be some sort of record.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Day off ... earlier arrival at the barn
I took today off from work and boy was it nice getting to the barn in the sunshine, after a week of arriving in the dark. Never mind the fact that it was 19 degrees, it was still nice seeing the sun. The horses had recently come in from outside and were quite occupied with eating their hay. Well, except for the horses like Bestie who seemed to have vacuumed it down already.
I pulled her out of her stall to groom her first since Dude was still eating. I had good intentions of riding him (had the insulated pants and everything), but when I looked outside, the path down through the paddocks seemed to only go as far as the last paddock. The snow is probably a good two feet deep and pretty challenging to plow through. And it was getting a bit too close for comfort to the end-of-the-workday traffic surge for me to feel good about venturing out on the road. If I had gotten there about a half hour earlier I could've headed out with a couple other riders; bummer.
So instead we had a leisurely grooming session. They are both shedding quite a bit, so much so that the curry collects a mat of hair that can be pulled off in a solid clump. Hard to believe they're losing that much hair, because it has been pretty cold. But now's about the time of year when we start feeling the sun more and don't get as many of days in the single digits or low teens (yay!).
Not working tomorrow either, and looking forward to another day of more time with the ponies.
I pulled her out of her stall to groom her first since Dude was still eating. I had good intentions of riding him (had the insulated pants and everything), but when I looked outside, the path down through the paddocks seemed to only go as far as the last paddock. The snow is probably a good two feet deep and pretty challenging to plow through. And it was getting a bit too close for comfort to the end-of-the-workday traffic surge for me to feel good about venturing out on the road. If I had gotten there about a half hour earlier I could've headed out with a couple other riders; bummer.
So instead we had a leisurely grooming session. They are both shedding quite a bit, so much so that the curry collects a mat of hair that can be pulled off in a solid clump. Hard to believe they're losing that much hair, because it has been pretty cold. But now's about the time of year when we start feeling the sun more and don't get as many of days in the single digits or low teens (yay!).
Not working tomorrow either, and looking forward to another day of more time with the ponies.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
"Last published on December 7"
Yikes. It's been a while. Totally due to a combination of the winter season starting up at work and the holidays. And frequent stretches of work craziness combined with cold weather have led to very quick trips to the barn for grooming Dude and Bestie and mucking, but no riding.
The good news is that we're starting to see more light at the end of the day, which is nice, and I'm happy to no longer be driving in the dark if I manage to get out of work by 4:30 or so. The horses are still on their winter turn-in schedule, which means they come in around 3 pm. That's fine, because they seem to get bored outside once the morning hay is gone. The geldings appear to spend much of the day chewing on each other. Dude has little patches of hair missing from his jaw and his rear end - they can even get under the blanket and turnout sheet to nibble!
Seems like every winter about this time I start debating the merits of the blanket/turnout sheet combo that I've always used versus the insulated turnout blanket. The good thing is that if the turnout gets wet, generally the blanket stays dry for them to wear inside. Despite the extreme waterproofing I did late in the summer of the turnout sheets, they're still soaking through in heavy snow. It's very frustrating, but maybe the waterproofing just doesn't last more than a couple years. At least the moisture soaked into their under-blankets only once. Dude's turnouts seem to be slightly more water repellent than Bestie's (with the exception of her brand new one purchased in the late fall).
I'm hoping to squeak through this winter with the current turnouts, but I think I'm going to have to invest in new turnout sheets for next year. I've already got a bunch of catalogs laid out with pages marked - blankie buying is one of my favorite things :)
The good news is that we're starting to see more light at the end of the day, which is nice, and I'm happy to no longer be driving in the dark if I manage to get out of work by 4:30 or so. The horses are still on their winter turn-in schedule, which means they come in around 3 pm. That's fine, because they seem to get bored outside once the morning hay is gone. The geldings appear to spend much of the day chewing on each other. Dude has little patches of hair missing from his jaw and his rear end - they can even get under the blanket and turnout sheet to nibble!
Seems like every winter about this time I start debating the merits of the blanket/turnout sheet combo that I've always used versus the insulated turnout blanket. The good thing is that if the turnout gets wet, generally the blanket stays dry for them to wear inside. Despite the extreme waterproofing I did late in the summer of the turnout sheets, they're still soaking through in heavy snow. It's very frustrating, but maybe the waterproofing just doesn't last more than a couple years. At least the moisture soaked into their under-blankets only once. Dude's turnouts seem to be slightly more water repellent than Bestie's (with the exception of her brand new one purchased in the late fall).
I'm hoping to squeak through this winter with the current turnouts, but I think I'm going to have to invest in new turnout sheets for next year. I've already got a bunch of catalogs laid out with pages marked - blankie buying is one of my favorite things :)
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
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.
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.
Friday, December 3, 2010
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.
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.
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