Finally a nice day!

We finally had a nice day to go out and ride. Even after it snowed this weekend (can you believe that?). Axel is looking better, seems a bit tender still. I told the caretakers to cut down his bute a bit and then just give it to him as he becomes sore. We'll see how that works. He was feeling well enough to chase Poppy around and to sneak under a makeshift fence. I grabbed Cody and Kiko for today's ride. Steph was busy so Tricia came out to ride Kiko since Axel is on the bench. I really do promise I'll work with Cody on the standing still thing. He did really well with backing out of the barn so I expect if I put my mind to it I can get him to stand still. I also plan to do a bit more work with him this summer as far as schooling goes since Axel is resting. He's not totally willing to listen to me yet so maybe some time in the "arena" will help. I'll have to do some research on methods to teach him to stand to beef up my arsenal.

We had our usual mounting difficulties so we walked down to the first stretchy gate and mounted there. He made a few very weak attempts to convince me that riding on the trail wasn't in our best interest, but he gave in quickly and without a fight. Over all the ride was very calm. We still have issues with going down hills and wanting to go too fast or run. And when we came out of the woods into the clearing and tried to work on some circles he was a bit miffed. He hates turning to the left and will fight it with all his might. So serpentines will be in our future. And despite the minor fights, the first hill work of the year, and still having a partial winter coat, we came back up to the barn with very little sweat. So that's a good sign that he was relatively calm with the situation. Granted Kiko was along. I am hoping one of these days he will finally settle in with the new herd and be back to his post-chiropractic happy self.

Poor Axel

Well I got a call on Wednesday this past week that Axel was sore on his hind left foot again. The vet figured that after a round of antibiotics it wasn't an infection that was making him lame. He has a lot of calcification from the lower ringbone and the vet though he probably just fragmented some of that calcification. So the new diagnosis is just that and the treatment is bute for the pain and rest for a month. Sounds like rest just means keeping him at a walk if we ride and keeping him in a smaller paddock. I probably won't ride for a while just to give him a fighting chance to feel better. The herd will be in the upper paddock for a while yet so keeping him in a smaller area isn't a problem. He should be feeling better by the time we open another pasture. If the month of rest doesn't do the trick we have some options with steroid injections and whatnot and I'll be getting him some of the 4-in-1 HA supplement for his joints.


The goofy horse was eating the powdered antibiotics with applesauce and licking the bowl clean. So I figured for the ease of the caretakers I'd get the powdered bute which they could mix with the applesauce. Well apparently bute tastes much worse than antibiotics. I picked up the x-rays and the bute on my way over and put together his dinner for that night. He ate about half of his grain/bute/applesauce mixture and then went on a hunger strike. He just stood there nickering at me and lifted his sore foot. Poor Cody will not be terribly happy that Axel gets vacation and he is going to get ridden more often in the next month.

Lazy Sunday

The caretakers of the barn sent me this photo on Sunday (I think it was actually shot on Saturday though). All but two of the horses laying down taking a nice nap together. Axel and Daley were standing guard. Too bad it was so muddy and kind of yuck. I think they'd look super cute napping in a field of daisys! Heh.

Saturday at the barn

After a meeting at WCR on Saturday I made it out to the barn to see how Axel was doing. He was down to 1g of bute per day and Sunday would be his last day of antibiotics. He was walking on this foot, still the tiniest bit tender, but nearly sound for the most part. He didn't run away from me in the pasture so I guess he's done being mad that we locked him up when he was recovering. As usual he's got scratches and scrapes all over him, what that horse does when no one is around, I will never know. There's no sign of any new scabs or anything on his feet from the mud fever. Now that the mud is starting to dry up he'll hopefully make a full recovery with no relapses. I'm still waiting on the bill from the vet for all the x-rays (yikes).

I did do a bit of work with Cody. After a quick grooming I took him out to the side pasture to do some ground work. We're still not quite sure how to move away from the person lunging when he starts to cut in. But we'll keep working on that. Until we get that part I don't think we can do lateral movements. I took him to the opposite side of the trees so he couldn't see his friends and did some work there. He wasn't 100% on that side but was doing fair. He had no interest in the pedestal. So I guess he's not much of a trick horse. Though I didn't push him, I just wanted to see if he would be interested in it at all. Finally we went to the round pen where I knew he'd be more relaxed with his herd nearby. Did some basic lunging and direction changes. Worked on moving the forehand and the hindquarters. Then we tried some liberty work. He actually did really great that the liberty work. Slightly distracted at times but still changed directions on command, even into the circle as he was taught. All that of course happened after I shot this little video. It's hard to shoot a video of lunging without getting dizzy and falling over.

Update on Axel

Lessee ...

Monday: Got the call that Axel was lame, had a friend check him out she confirmed I should call the vet, had the vet take a look at him, he was kind of stumped so he took some x-rays to be sure, short of broken bones we decided it was infection from mud fever, he stayed in the barn all day and that night.

Tuesday: Axel was feeling no pain after a few rounds of Bute so we decided to cut him down a bit so we could actually see if he was improving or not, he was moved out to the round pen so he could see his buddies and get some fresh air, he was actually walking fine. Report from Vet said no broken bones. We spent our usual Tuesday night at the barn grooming, feeding antibiotics, giving vaccines, and cleaning hooves.

Wednesday: Reported from the caretakers, after less Bute he was putting weight on his sore leg but not confidently so he stayed in the round pen for the day and night again.

Today: Reported from the caretakers, he trotted away from them this morning, tried to rear, refused to be haltered and went on a hungry strike. He's now turned out with the herd for the day.

Silly horse. I won't see him again til Saturday, maybe tomorrow if I get an itch. He'll be on the antibiotics until Sunday for sure and cutting down to even less Bute between now and then. It sounds like he's feeling better but we'll see how he feels after being turned out all day. If it's just the infection there's not really any worry that he'll hurt himself worse and the mud is drying up and he's on antibiotics, so I think he'll be fine turned out. More likely than not, he'll spend the day standing in one place like usual.

Happy Monday

Nothing like a call from the caretakers of a person's barn at 7 am on a Monday morning to brighten your day. Turns out Axel was lame. And over the phone, they said he wouldn't even walk up to his bucket for breakfast. It didn't sound like anyone really knew what to do and I didn't think I should run out there if it was just some lameness. So I called Steph to have her run up on her way to work and see if she thought I should call the vet or what. My thought was that it was just the mud fever acting up. All the mud out there for the past few weeks certainly doesn't do anyone any good. Steph determined he was quite lame, 3 legged lame in fact. They managed to get him in the barn and she thought I should probably call the vet. So around 1:30 Brad arrived out at the barn and Jeff and I met him there. We drove up at the same time so I hadn't seen him yet.

He greeted us in the barn with a nice knicker. Brad had me try and walk him to see what was the deal. He was dead lame, hopping on 3 feet lame. The vet did some testing to see if it was any joints that were bothering him - no reaction. He did some pressure testing on his hoof - no reaction. He looked like he had an abscess but that would have shown up with the hoof tester and it didn't. He was sore when he pressed on some of the lumps and bumps from the mud fever but that was the only reaction we could get out of him. And the mud fever wasn't all that bad externally at least. The vet decided that he seemed just too lame and he better xray his foot to make sure. I guess he was walking like a horse that broken it's coffin bone. Though that kind of break usually results from the horse kicking something really hard and Axel isn't really a kicker.

So until we see the xrays he said to give him some antibiotics and bute in case it is just the mud fever and it went deeper and caused the lameness. If that's the case we should see some improvement in a few days. The vet hasn't called about the xrays so I should hear from him in the morning. So keep your fingers crossed that it's just the infection. We'll be heading out there tomorrow evening as usual so I hope he's showing some improvement. Scott called earlier and asked if he could put Axel in the round pen tomorrow during the day. I guess he's not totally content in the barn by himself. At least in the round pen he can see the other horses better and be out in the sun. Hopefully he takes his bute in the morning and doesn't give them a hard time.

As usual I'm behind in posts

Last Saturday I ran out and met Tricia at the CSDEA tack sale to see what kind of good deals we could come up with. I actually didn't do too bad. Traded places with Tricia who found all the deals last year. I ended up with some new bell boots, a Cavallo memory foam pad, a Ultra Soft Gel pad, and a white dressage pad all for $40. Still haven't found a good deal on a saddle cover that will fit my dressage saddle so I might be destined to just buy a new one, they aren't actually that expensive.

After hitting the tack sale we went out to Tricia's in-law's farm to ride Oly and Cinder. Cinder is getting much better at letting people put his bridle over his ears. I guess Tricia's niece has been working with him a lot on that and it's showing. We took a trip down the dirt road across the highway. Met up with some dogs that thought we were scary monsters and had full mohawks to go along with their barking. Both horses were just fine with the situation. Oly had some issues throughout the ride, wanting to ride in the ditch and not the road. Makes me feel better that it's just not my horses that have "issues."

After riding there we went over to the ranch to ride my horses for a while. I rode Cody and Tricia jumped on Axel bareback for a trip down the road. Cody was pretty good most of the ride but he gets so worked up on the way back he just won't pay attention. We are having some serious issues turning left lately. Even just weaving to the left he gets really angry. The closer he gets back to the barn the better he is of course. At least this ride Tricia didn't have to dismount to hold Cody while cars went by. He and I are going to be doing a lot of work soon.

So last night Steph and Tricia and I meet out at the barn. Steph is still recovering from her pulmonary embolus so she opted to ride Axel. She's on blood thinners and can't fall down. Axel, while kind of goofy, is a stable bombproof horse so he's the best bet for not falling. Though sometimes I wonder why he doesn't fall down himself. I groomed him, and then fetched Cody and Kiko from the sea of mud and we worked on grooming them. Axel is almost done shedding but Cody still has a ways to go. He was a bit more calm in the barn with Kiko there but someone, I think Papillon, was outside calling up a storm. We still really have to work on standing still with Cody. He'll halt when asked and back and all that but he won't halt for more than a second before pacing. So it was an uneventful ride down the road. Tricia rode Kiko out for the first time in a long time and she was actually sane. Cody was a little more feisty on the way back to the barn. I didn't want to fight too much so we didn't attempt a left turn away from the barn, but I did try and work on serpentines which he still won't do to the left. He thinks I'm trying to steer him away from the barn. The closer we get to the barn the better he bends. So next time we ride I'm going to work him really hard near the barn, take a few steps away from the barn and rest and get off. And we'll keep doing that until he realizes the barn means work. Or until he gets over his need to keep track of his herd at all times. Of course it didn't help that Kiko was in season and he kept trying to get her attention. Boys!

If you missed the CSDEA tack sale or the big Farmington 4H tack sale this year, make sure you check out the We Can Ride Tack Sale this coming weekend. We have all sorts of tack at great prices since we don't do consignment. I, unfortunately, won't be there to help out as I have my NARHA Instructor Certification this weekend.

My Methods Aren't Perfect

Okay so my methods are far from perfect. I'm working on it and I have two good friends overseeing my feeble attempts (and probably snickering along the way). On Saturday after the WCR barn clean up I ran over to see the boys. I was much too lazy to ride so I thought I'd take Cody out on the road and do some ground work in a place he wasn't quite as comfortable. I was right about his lack of comfort. He lead really well but once we started heading away from the barn he kept trying to look back. I sent him out on a circle several times but they were always really spastic and frantic. He just wouldn't relax. We ended that adventure by stopping facing away from the barn for a few moments.

As soon as we start approaching the barn where he can see everyone, then he slows down and relaxes, so I think the next step is to work on the road where he's comfortable and then push his comfort level a tiny bit each time by stepping further away. I might ride him out there as well, at least if he's relaxed we can get some work done.

When that adventure was over I measured his hooves one more time. I'm still wary on what size boot to buy as he's right on the very edge of two sizes. My next plan of attack was to deworm the four horses. I wanted to start with Cody and get it over with because he can become a bit of a pill. Unfortunately I haven't quite gotten the hang of it and I took too much time and the head tossing began. So I resorted to putting it in his feed bucket with an apple and some feed. This worked for both my horses the last time I tried. This time, not so much. Cody ended up eating most of his, spit out a little. I was too lazy then to try deworming everyone the right way so everyone got theirs in a bucket. Kiko ate all of hers. Kalani managed to spit just the dewormer out. And Axel, you know - the horse that eats anything, staged a hunger strike. I haven't heard how the next day went as we left his dewormer in the bucket to try again in the morning. So it's back to the drawing board on that one. Steph doesn't have an issue deworming my horses so it's just a matter of practice and techinque. At least I have two months before the next time.