Still Puffy

Made a trip out to the barn to check on Axel post vet visit. No changes yet in his swelling. I brought him into the arena to walk him around. He wasn't all wound up like he was when the vet was here. I didn't have to force him to walk but he wasn't booking it around at all. His foot was a little sore so I ended up giving him some bute with some feed. He ate most of it but he doesn't like the apple flavor and turned him nose up at the rest. I'll have to get some non flavored bute next time. As far as I could tell there was no change at all, better or worse, with his lumps so it's a waiting game.

I brought Cody in for a while as well to see if he wanted to kick up his heels at all in the arena. He trotted around for a while if I clicked at him and bucked a little but he wasn't terribly riled up. He's looking really good though, he stretched out his back while trotting and his razor blade withers all but disappeared. It's about time I get him back to work. I figure I'll get him moving around the arena a bit for a few days then start riding again. It's supposed to get pretty cold for a while so we'll wait til it warms up a bit.

Vet Update

So the vet made it out last night to take a look at Axel. While I was waiting I brought him into the crossties and Cody into a stall. Axel stood patiently while I groomed and then I put him in the arena. As soon as I turned my back he started to run around bucking like crazy. Apparently this sore foot thing isn't as sore as he led me to believe the day before! He was really working himself up so I put Cody in the crossties and Axel in the stall. Normally I'd like him run but I didn't want him worked up before the vet arrived.

Cody's mane "tornados" weren't as bad as Axel's so it didn't take long to get him groomed. He's looking so good this winter having a round bale. As soon as this thing with Axel is cleared up Cody will have to be put back to work. Apparently the other day when J & J left the house Cody was napping in the hay, flat out sleeping. When they came back 2 hours later he was in the same spot. Not a good sign. They yelled his name and he picked up his head and looked at them. Turns out he cast himself on the very small portion of the bale that remained intact. J went out and kicked the bale out of the way and Cody got up on his feet. Goofy horse. He doesn't lay down very often and now that he's pretty comfortable with life he goes and casts himself on a bale in the middle of the wide open pasture.

So Axel wasn't too happy to be in the stall. He even bit at the metal bars on the door. J came out and waited for a bit and said he'd be back out when the doc got there. So doc arrived, J came out, and A showed up for moral support. He took a look at Axel and took his temperature. Just as my thermometer read a little low the day before, doc said his temp was 99F (should be 99.5F). A little low but he's got a good winter coat and he's not shivering so not really a concern. He poked at the swelling on his belly and confirmed that it was pitting edema and it was symmetrical. Poked his bits for a while and looked around a little. He said he didn't really know what it was but maybe it's a dirty sheath causing Axel to stand still too much and thus stocking up. He poked around a bit more and discovered Axel was a little dirty but not too horrible. But he also discovered that Axel is a liberal fellow and had no issues with doc being in that neck of the woods. So he got some warm water and betadine and whatnot and went to work cleaning his sheath. He didn't uncover any mysteries and there was no bean so that diagnosis looks a little half hearted. But he said to see if that does the trick.

When I put Axel in the arena again while doc was packing up he did his usual running around and then started in with the lame walking again so I had the vet watch. He got out the hoof testers but didn't get any reactions. Can stocking up make a horse sore? Anyway my plan is to get out there this week as much as I can and get him moving around in the arena to help reduce the swelling. The vet was terribly full of suggestions or "just in cases" so if the sheath cleaning doesn't remedy the situation I might see about getting a different vet out for a second opinion. It's hard to doubt a vet that's been working for over 30 years but he left me a little at a loss. A little bloodwork would have been an acceptable "just in case" for me. So we shall see.

Poor Axel

I went out to see Axel last night, deliver gifts and see how he was doing. He's still swollen like A said. J had called to fill me in as well and said he wasn't doing any better and she thought he was maybe a little off on a leg. Turns out his back right (the non ringbone leg) is stocked up as well now. His belly lumps have pooled to a single huge lump and the muscle area over his sternum are swollen as well as his sheath. I couldn't find anything else notable. His left eye was a little puffy if you used your imagination. I remembered the thermometer this time so I took his temp but he did not have a fever at all. I groomed him and got all the knots out of his mane and then tried to walk him around the arena a bit. If he was just stocked up from not moving enough in the pasture, walking in the arena should have helped. Unfortunately the more I walked him the lamer he got. Not knowing exactly what is wrong with him I decided to stop before I made anything worse.

So the vet is due out tonight sometime. Hopefully he has some ideas. I took a look at my calendar and wrote down anything that changed in the past couple months.

10/27 Both he and Cody had rain rot for about 2 weeks
11/9 We stopped giving him the 4-in-1 HA supplement
11/20 He started excessively chewing on wood
11/30 We put him on the Quitt supplement for a month
12/7 He stopped chewing on wood for the most part
Some time in here they got their first round bale
12/15 Farrier trimmed hooves
Second round bale was put out
12/24 We first noticed the swelling and gave him some benedryl
12/28 We first noticed he was lame on the back right and still swollen

Interesting to note that the wood chewing started after stopping the 4-in-1 supplement. At the time I didn't even connect the two. The 4-in-1 has probiotics, biotin, joint supplements, and omega 3&6. I'm not sure if any of that would make him want to chew wood in it's absence. Maybe just the sudden change in itself? Anyway, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the vet knows what this is and fixes it.

Merry Christmas

We stopped out to the barn on Christmas Eve morning to check on the boys and deliver some carrots for a holiday treat. I hadn't been out there in over a week and it showed. The horse's manes are a mess. It's going to take me forever to get them detangled.

I noticed as we drove up that Axel looked exceptionally lumpy. But since he's so hairy I thought it was probably just puffy winter fur. Of course I was wrong. His boy parts are all swollen and he has some big swollen lumps on his belly. We brought him into the barn to check him out. His attitude was the same as always, he was happy to eat carrots, and he was happy to eat the feed and benedryl we gave him. He went right for the water fountain when we turned him back out and he was very willing to chase down Jeff in the pasture to try and get more treats. So he's feeling okay just really puffy.

Cold Day for the Farrier

So we picked the coldest day so far to have the farrier out. He said if it was too cold he would have canceled so I guess it wasn't too cold. Axel was super mellow and only wanted to lift his right hind (which is weird since it's his left hind that hurts). Cody was a good boy as usual. I don't think either of the horses needed much trimming, just some filing and cleaning up. I really should get one of those rider's rasps and try it out.

It was a pretty uneventful trip to the barn. I helped bring in Vinnie for his manicure and stood around chatting. Cody is looking awesome now that he has a round bale and that was one of the many reasons they decided to put some out. He and Vinnie seem to be pretty good buddies while Axel still chases Vinnie around a little. Vinnie wants to eat at the feeder with Cody and Axel but he's not allowed to do that quite yet. There's a few "test bites" on the rafters in the shelter but other than that everything looks unchewed. And the round bale makes me feel better about the horses when it's below zero. They can keep warm stuffing their faces with grass.

One of these days I'll settle into the cold and get back to riding. Winter conditioning and winter therapeutic riding classes start the first week in January so I'll have to get used to the cold by then. At least the TR class I'm teaching is in a heated arena at the U.

Round Bales

We made it back from the farm with the intention of going to a film festival. Unfortunately Jeff thought it started at 5 and in reality it started at 3. So when that went out the window I went out to the barn to check on the horses. It has been -5F in Canby so the 16F at the barn felt like a heat wave, for a few minutes at least.

The three amigos were still in their pasture together. Cody and Vinnie were hanging out by the round bale and Axel was standing off by himself. That's right, a round bale. Apparently the horses were all eating their hay so fast and then standing around being bored so J decided they needed some round bales. A had suggested getting a round bale to deter the wood chewing but J said they had already spent a bunch of money on all the small squares for winter and didn't want to get more. But in the end the small squares aren't going anywhere and now they'll be there for next spring when hay is harder to find. Cody is looking pretty good and the free choice hay will really help him.

Axel, on the other hand, is going to be a fat fat horse. But like I said, he was off standing by himself not eating, I thought maybe his foot was hurting. I grabbed his halter and went out to get him. Luckily he wasn't lame, just lazy. Very very lazy. I just put him in the arena and left him loose while I groomed. He didn't even want to run around at all. He walked a bit and sniffed at various things on the ground but that was about it. I lunged him for a quick few minutes just to get him moving a bit. Just a bit of trotting and no bucking. I tried to give him some carrots while doing some tricks but he always gets my fingers. I guess I don't learn my lesson very well.

When I was done with Axel I grabbed Cody and brought him in the arena as well. He seems to be filling out a bit finally. You can just feel his ribs if you look for them. He was a little more willing to lunge than Axel was and even gave a few feisty hops when asked to change directions. We even managed some sidepassing at the wall in one direction.

Snow!

I took a couple really crappy phone pictures last night and I don't think I'm even going to bother uploading them. By the time I got out to the barn it was dark, the wind was blowing, and there was snow everywhere. Axel is now back in with Cody and Vinnie and from what I can tell in the dark there isn't any new chewing. It's hard to tell though.

Cody and I trampled through the snow into the barn. All the horses had their custy layer of ice and snow on their backs and I didn't want to scrape it off. Supposedly it creates some insulation to keep them warm. I just let him run around a bit in the arena. He bucked a lot and kicked up his heels. It was pretty windy so I think he was just a bit on edge. I thought maybe he'd want to roll but he just wanted to go back outside. So we only spent a few minutes in the arena.

Sometimes I get to see Axel as a real horse and it's always dependent on his height when I pull him out of the pasture. Last night he was pretty tall. I put him in the arena and he cantered around *not* on the forehand. He was light and fluid and looked like a real horse. He too didn't want to roll and wanted to get back out to the great weather as soon as possible. So back outside he went to stand in the snow and the wind.

Poor Vinnie is apparently not allowed in the shelter so he stands on the side where he can be blocked from the wind. Though all the horses had a layer of crust on them so even Cody and Axel had spent a fair amount of time outside of the shelter during the storm. I distributed carrots in everyones' feed bunks and headed for home. Then it snowed 6 more inches. Maybe the snow will keep Axel occupied for a while so he forgets about chewing on things. Of course now they won't be able to find their toys under the snow. The race car tire was still in the shelter so they can play with that if they get bored.

Getting Colder

It's really sad but I'm kind of bored of riding in the arena already. I'm going to have to really start working on some specific things so I don't pull my hair out. It's only December!

So the good news is, Axel hadn't chewed his way out of the pasture. Wednesday I noted he had found a new spot to chew. While that was a good sign the stuff we were using was working, it still meant he was chewing. So we stopped after work to get more "stuff" but didn't make it out to the barn until Saturday due to cold and laziness. So armed with the spray container I went to the barn. Low and behold, the new spot Axel had chewed on was exactly the same as it had been on Friday. Plus I don't think anyone had put anything new on it to deter him. So either the supplement is working or it took him a quarter of a post to realize it tasted bad. Either way, I resprayed that spot and a few others just to make sure.

Because of my laziness or boredom I just groomed Axel quickly and turned him out in the arena and let him cruise around a bit. There wasn't a lot of bucking and horsing around but when we first got in the arena I could tell he wanted to move. The ground is now frozen so it's a little hard to get around in the pasture so some leg stretching was in order. No worries I'm putting his boots on for these little romps no matter what. I'm hoping that'll keep him sound and let him work of some steam at the same time.

I'm rethinking my feeding him treats by hand while trying to teach him tricks. Holy wow is he mouthy. Someone's going to loose a finger if I don't stop. So we did a few little ground work things and he'd get his carrot from the mounting block.

I didn't want Cody to feel left out so I brought him into the barn as well. If anything I like to make sure I check on both horses at least once a week to make sure there isn't anything going on that wouldn't get noticed during daily feedings. He was a little slow in the pasture but it was just from the frozen lumpy ground. Once we got in the barn he was fine. Luckily with the frozen ground the horses are easier to groom, no mud!

Cody was feeling okay as well and did some leg stretching in the arena. He even threw out a few bucks and head tosses while he trotted around. The old man still has a little spunk left in him. And if there was any doubt that Cody and Vinnie were getting along, it's definitely gone. I put out some extra food for Cody and he just stood there while Vinnie ate some of it. Silly horse.

I Knew It

And I was right not to think this issue with Axel was over. Went out last night and he had started chewing again. Though this time he's chewing in a different spot. I'm wondering if the stuff we put on the posts soaked in good to the already chewed spots but maybe didn't soak into the fresh smooth wood well enough. We might pick up some more stuff from Fleet Farm tonight as I'm still waiting for the Bitterlicks to arrive (or for them to even answer my email about when it'll ship).

Cody was looking pretty good so I didn't give him any extra food I just brought him in the barn to scrape some mud off and get out of the wind for a while. I hadn't really planned to ride but decided at the last minute to jump on bareback for a while. This of course was not as easy as it sounds. Cody decided standing by the mounting block was not in his plan for the evening so it took a lot of adjusting to get there. We mostly walked around, a bit of trotting, and then worked on some of the side-passing exercises. Cody isn't quite getting the point of moving his hind quarters when I ask so we worked in the corners of the arena for a while. Near the end of the ride I tried the forward into the wall and then sideways thing and Cody kind of got it. I don't think he got it enough to do it all on his own but he was getting somewhere so that was good. I might have to grab a carrot stick and practice having him move parts of his body with a tap. Kind of get back to basics.

I finally remembered to bring some carrots so Cody did some stretches for his. I put a few in their bunk so Vinnie could have some as well. And I passed Axel some through the fence. I was too lazy to open all the gates to get to him.

Not Relieved Quite Yet

I'm still holding my breath but so far, as of Sunday's concoction and Monday's concoction, no one has chewed on the wood. We're going to give it at least a week, due to the supplement, but I'm hoping this is working. I should be able to make it out there tonight to check on things and groom Cody. And I should have numerous chances to get out there Thursday-Sunday as we're staying in town this weekend.

After checking the posts quickly I grabbed muddy Axel and brought him into the barn to get ready to ride. Axel has apparently found the mud as well and my new favorite grooming tool is the metal cattle curry. A had some obstacles set up in the arena so we set to work. It's not really work for Axel, not a lot scares him, but I think it might have been interesting enough. He's been chewing on his bit a lot when we ride but he kept it to a minimum last night. And I don't mean working the bit - down right chewing on it. Probably another sign that we should get a second opinion on his teeth. So we weaved some cones, walked over a tarp, went over some ground poles, and squeezed between some barrels and the wall. If it weren't for 1. Axel beating up on other horses even under saddle and 2. his ringbone, Axel would have made an excellent mounted posse horse.

A showed me a method of working on sidepassing so we made some attempts there. Axel is still quite confused on what I want but he'll get it if I keep working on it. We go forward toward a wall and then the idea is that the wall will stop us but we still have forward so our only option is to go sideways. Well Axel goes forward into the wall, and keeps going into the wall. So yeah, we'll keep working on that one.

A had both Vinnie and Danny in the barn so with me taking Axel, Cody was left all by himself. I only heard him call out once though. When I brought Axel into the arena Vinnie was already there and knickered at him. If the horses were people I'd say Vinnie is the younger brother looking up to the trouble maker older brother, Axel. Even though Axel picks on Vinnie, he stands next to him at the fence and knickers to him when he comes into the room. It's kind of cute.

Axel's Addiction

So I got a call yesterday morning to discuss Axel's fun little habit. They moved him into the small paddock by himself so he didn't completely destroy the lean-to and also to distinguish between what he's chewing and what Vinnie might be chewing. He was put in the small paddock sometime before Friday and had already gone half way through two more posts.

I ordered some Bitter Licks but in the mean time needed to come up with something to try and tackle the issue. J had replaced the first several poles and A had already mixed up some sort of concoction with bitter apple and hot sauce and put that on all the posts and the lean-to. Her concoction seemed to be working at least for the one day that it had been there. Jeff and I picked up some Quitt as well as something called Halt Cribbing from Fleet Farm on the way home. Quitt is a supplement that's supposed to reduce wood chewing within 7 days on the assumption that the chewing is caused by a deficiency in the horse's diet. The Halt Cribbing is just another concoction that you paint/spray on the wood and is supposed to deter the horse from chewing because of its taste.

A couple points to note:
A. Axel hadn't chewed on any of the square posts that had been painted earlier this year
B. Axel was for sure chewing on the round fence posts that had either not been painted at all or had only been painted in a hurry.
C. Axel had chewed on the lean-to before it was painted. I saw Vinnie chew on the lean-to after it had been painted quickly.
D. As of Monday night no one had chewed on anything that had been re-painted by A, there might have been one or two test spots but there wasn't any major chewing.

So Jeff and I sprayed all of the posts in the small paddock paying close attention to Axel's favorites. We also sprayed the rafters in the lean-to and used up the rest of the spray on some of the posts in the big paddock. Since the lean-to had already been painted dark we should be able to see if Vinnie continues to chew. And we know there were only two posts Axel had done work on in the small paddock so we should be able to see if he chews again.

The plan is to keep Axel separate for about 2 weeks. Partly to give the supplement time to start working and partly to just be able to tell who's kicked the habit. I just hope he figures out that wood tastes horrible now and doesn't chew again. Though I'd be willing to pay the 25 bucks every once in a while to reapply any of that spray. If what we've done so far doesn't work we'll try the Bitter Licks when that arrives. If that doesn't work, then I don't know what we'll do. Axel will have to move out if he keeps chewing. I'd rather not think about that right now.

Post Thanksgiving Ride

More on Axel's little addiction in the next post. The day after Thanksgiving the whole family, well Jeff and his sister and niece and nephew and I, went to the barn to visit the horses. We cleaned off the mud, saddled them up, and rode around the arena for a while. Jeff, his sister, and nephew left Amanda and I in the arena to ride while they went home to play video games. Amanda cruised around on Cody and practiced doing turns while trotting. Something she said is hard to do on her horse, Silver, because he's got a much bumpier trot than Cody. Axel and I plodded along at the walk and the occasional trot and even a bit of a canter. I set up the cones to do some weaving. Cody and Amanda made it through the course at the trot.

When we were done we passed out some carrots and broccoli. The horses weren't quite sure what to think of the broccoli but in the end they ate it. They much prefer the baby carrots though. We practiced bowing with the carrots which leave my fingers a little more intact than with the small treats.

Axel is on The List Part 2

So after Saturday's visit and discovery of Axel's new obsession I went out to the barn to make him work. Maybe he's bored since he's had quite a bit of time off due to the ringbone. So I was going to attempt to get his brain working. He actually stood in the cross ties like a statue. Which is a little unusual for him but one of the new boarders' horses was in the ties behind him so perhaps he was just paying attention to that horse.

We did some circling. This time no was not an option when I asked for a change of direction. He "hopped to" pretty well. I did a little bit of groundwork with turns but nothing mind blowing. I setup a row of cones to work on weaving as well. Axel was a little bit tender it seemed so I didn't really do much trotting. We weaved between the cones quite a bit at the walk which I think Axel enjoys but I don't think it was enough to get his brain going, so back to the drawing board on that one. Nothing was majorly off with Axel, I think most of it was me.

I am increasingly frustrated and embarrassed with him destroying his pasture. Between Friday and Saturday he ate complete through two of the posts. I didn't even go to the barn yesterday so who knows how much more he's ruined. I'm willing to pay for new fence posts but it's still a pain and they'll have to be put in and all that. Ug. It doesn't help that I'm kind of an obsessive to begin with.

Axel is on The List Part 1

I have Fridays off for the rest of the year to use up some vacation time so I don't loose it. So of course I'm going to spend it at the barn. Is that really any surprise? It was really nice out so I spent a little time wandering around the pasture taking some photos of the ponies. Vinnie and Axel were standing pretty near each other and there were no fireworks. So that's always nice to see. Since I had ridden Axel last it was Cody's turn. And he needed to be groomed pretty badly. Somehow my horse that doesn't like walking through mud has decided rolling in it is just fine.

So Cody and I worked on weaving some cones in the arena and we did some circles and serpentines. He speeds up on the wall opposite the gate going away from the gate. And then he slows down going toward the gate. Seems a little opposite of what you'd expect but I think he's nervous facing away from the gate and calm when he can see it. When I get some long lines I think we'll be doing a lot of ground driving and long lining this winter. I'd like to convince Jeff to ride while I lunge Cody but we'll see if that happens.

So as I'm turning Cody out I noticed the fence posts that J said Axel was chewing. I thought maybe he was chewing the tops. Oh no, he's doing a pretty mean beaver imitation. And now I am horribly frustrated, stressed out, and embarrassed by all this.

Axel Prefers Guns

So apparently the key to Axel's success is shooting guns. J was target shooting or sighting in or something when I got to the barn last night. Axel and Cody and Vinnie were hanging out in the corner. Three of the horses in the other pasture were hiding in their far corner. Axel was a little more alert than he normally is walking up to the barn. He didn't want to stand in the cross ties to be groomed so instead of fighting I put him in the arena. Where he trotted, and trotted, and trotted. He would barely stand still for me to put his boots on even after he had trotted around for 15 minutes. I ran around with him for a little while and even set up a tiny little jump for him which he followed me over at a trot. When he started to come up to me and stand for a while I finished grooming and tacked him up. I didn't expect to have any explosive episodes but one never knows.

The gun shots had actually stopped by this time but Axel was still walking around on his toes. He had already trotted for quite some time and he seemed a little gimpy so I just had him walk. He was moving out so I did my best to not nag him and just let him go. I don't think I rode for very long. I asked for a whoa and a back up and Axel was "on." He stopped on a dime and backed up with barely a cue and tucked his butt under and put his head down in the process. So we tried that one more time and got the same result. So that's when I got off. He was just too good to not reward. This is why people prefer forward horses to sticky ones.

New Saddle Racks

I made it back from my scrapbooking retreat in time to get out to the barn for a while in the nice weather. Really I'm not sure why it matters if the weather is nice or not when I end up just riding in the arena anyway. Oh well. When I arrived I noticed the tack boxes were outside in the driveway. I thought maybe they were new ones to be added or spring cleaning or something. But it turns out J&J picked up a couple racks from the sale they went to over the weekend so they cleaned out everyone's boxes and reorganized the tack room.

It's quite swank thought it means I had to cut down on the crap I had shoved in my box. Something I planned to do eventually anyway. Right now I'm down to my saddle and pads on the rack, my cooler got hung up with the other coolers in the aisle, bridles and halters and lunge line on the hooks, grooming tote on the shelf, and my orange bucket with bute, treats, boots, and my dressage whip. I was thinking of getting a bin or something instead but the bucket might work just fine. We'll see.

So I cleaned up Axel while Steele was in the aisle getting ready as well. His rain rot doesn't seem to be getting any worse and I was able to scrape off almost all of the remaining scabs with the metal curry. I'm not sure if it's from the rain rot or just dirt in general but that metal curry really brings some crap to the top. Guess I should use that more often. The mud has finally disappeared more or less so cleaning legs and hooves wasn't a chore either. We didn't spend a lot of time in the arena riding. We usually end up chatting more. When J and Steele were done we did a bit of trotting. Axel was pretty sound actually. I asked for a canter but just got the usual hop, skip, jump, and stop. I have a hard time deciding just how hard to push him or not. Will he be sore the next day? Will the exercise be better for him than just standing around? Does it matter if we ease into it or not? Ug.

I cleaned up Cody when I was done with Axel. His scabs weren't coming off as easily so I thought I'd wait til after we rode and maybe he'd be warmer and they'd be easier to remove. I gave him a bit of his extra food but saved the rest for after our ride. He's got a little cut on the left side of his lower lip. He wouldn't really let me look at it but it didn't seem to be bothering him and it wasn't in a spot to interfere with a bit. So we rode around the arena for a while. He wasn't as excitable as he has been in the arena but he wasn't a complete bump on a log either. We trotted and I asked for the canter. Still having issues with that left lead. I'm starting to feel okay enough to keep asking him to keep the canter going even if he speeds off. I think I want to work on maintaining the gait and when we have that down we'll work on relaxing more and not zooming around. We did make it around maybe one and a half times without stopping. We followed it up with some roll backs on the rail. He's not quite rocking back on his hind quarters but he picks up the canter and stops on a dime. It's really nice knowing he'll go really fast but stop when you ask. So when we were done he got the rest of his food and I ended up getting most of his scabs off while he grazed in the yard.

The real news of the day was that Vinnie and Axel have come to some sort of truce. When I was haltering Axel, Vinnie walked right up to us, not afraid or hesitant at all. Axel didn't even put an ear back and normally something like me haltering him would not have stopped him from chasing another horse, he's not very respectful in that way. So apparently Axel is warming up to little Vinnie. When I brought Cody back out from the arena Axel and Vinnie were standing next to each other. I wish I would have gotten a photo. J says to keep an eye out to make sure Vinnie's not eating their tails but I don't think they are that good of friends yet. I'll be surprised if they ever get to that point.

Dirty Ponies

It's been so nice out lately I was able to groom the horses outside in the fresh air. And luckily I made it to the barn before it got dark making that task possible. I gave Cody some extra food while I took care of Axel. Cody even let Vinnie share some of his feed. Axel's rain rot doesn't seem to be getting any worse. It's hard to tell if it's going away or not but I think a full week of no rain and sun and the chlorhexidine should be working. After I groomed him I scrubbed some of his "spots" again just to make sure.

Cody's rain rot wasn't as bad to begin with so I didn't do anything more to him. Most of his scabs are gone and he hasn't lost any patches of hair. I figured he was going to be a big crusty mess after all the sweating on Sunday but he wasn't that bad. It'd be great if we had some heated water to do baths but they are just going to have to wait until next summer. Dirty ponies.

Thank You "Beery" Much!

I was going to scrub some horses last night but the yard is stacked with leaves so they trumped the mud and rain rot. Wednesday, I promise! But I did run out and drop off a case of beer as a "thank you for the heroic rescue of 3 stranded trail riders, their horses, and the trailer." J said she was just glad to help but I figure who can't use an extra case of beer, right? I grabbed my grooming bag with the intent to sterilize all the brushes, when I'm going to get a chance to do that before tomorrow, I'm not sure.

I checked on the muddy horses' backs and the rain rot isn't gone gone but it doesn't seem to be getting any worse and Axel hasn't gained any new bald spots. It's not a trip to the barn with out passing around some snacks so I brought out 3 apples. Vinnie got his first as he was waiting by the gate. He eats very daintily so I shooed away Axel while he finished his apple. Cody got his next and Axel sulked in the corner until he got his. He's still chasing Vinnie around but Vinnie is starting to fight back a little. They have a sheet on him to help protect him from loosing chunks of hair and skin. Axel has done a pretty decent job ripping the blanket to shreds and it's a heavy duty New Zealand canvas sheet. But it might be giving Vinnie enough courage to throw some kicks in Axel's direction. If he'd make contact one of these times maybe Axel would settle down a bit.

Fall Trail Ride in November

I finally made it out for a fall trail ride now that November is acting like October. I missed the few nice weekends in October when the barn went riding so I was very happy to make it out to what could be the last nice ride of the year. We actually rushed out of church on Sunday after spending Saturday farming and high tailed it back to the cities. Jeff wanted to bring the brown pickup back so he could get the trailer back to the farm on the next trip so I twisted his arm into letting me use the truck and pull the trailer for the trail ride. Otherwise we were one slot short. So against Jeff's better judgement he hooked up the trailer for me and sent me on my way.

Cody loaded well, just a few little stops, and we still have to kind of poke and push him into moving in the stall enough to shut the gate. Stitch and Diva got in no problems and we were on our way. The haul there went well and everyone unloaded. Cody wasn't even sweaty when we got there. I had put his boots on before we left which worked out well so all I had to do was saddle him up. I put some chlorhexidine on his spine and rubbed that in before saddling. Since the rain rot bacteria is anaerobic I figured it would be very happy to grow under a saddle. Hopefully it didn't with the anti-bacterial on there. I forgot the breast collar of course so I was riding Cody's tail by the end of the ride as usual.

Cody was slow as usual at first, having to trot to catch up. It didn't take long before he was a sweaty mess with the warm temps, full winter coat, and trotting. He did seem less concerned about his feet so that was good. He didn't really want to walk next to Vinnie, he seemed to want to be up with either Danny or Stitch if he wasn't lagging behind. We passed a ton of other horses and Cody behaved pretty well when they passed. Mostly I think he wanted to turn around and follow them back to the trailer. A couple times I thought we'd canter but he'd just speed trot. We did get one tiny canter/gallop in a clear spot when Stitch and Diva were cantering. I'd love to get a nicer calm canter on Cody like Diva's someday.

On the way back Cody was a lot more concerned with staying up with the group. The others had slowed down so it wasn't quite as much work to keep up but we had to trot a bit still. Cody was very happy when we got back to the trailer and everyone stopped. He was pleased to stand there and watch what was going on.

Everyone loaded back in the trailer well. A few less pokes that time to get Cody in his stall. And then we were off down the road. About a block from the intersection in Rosemont we found ourselves on the side of the road with a major blown out truck tire. I had noticed it looked low at the trail but didn't think much of it and there wasn't much we could have done about it at that point. We hadn't even passed a gas station when we had to pull over. We heard a loud crunching noise and I assumed it was the brakes. Then it dawned on me that it was the wheel. So stuck on the side of Hwy 3 with a trailer full of horses and no truck spare (we hadn't gotten that far in our repair/set up of the horse hauling rig). We made some calls and couldn't find anyone with a spare so J&J drove out with their truck to get the horses and trailer. Jeff came out from work to assess the situation and pull the truck off to an empty parking lot.

We zipped back to the barn and unloaded everyone and everything. Cody did his new usual slooooooow unload and was happy to be back in his pasture with Axel who was chasing Vinnie around.

Rain Rot Ick

I just stopped out at the barn to clean up the horses before we ran out to the farm for the weekend. Axel wasn't too dirty but I wanted to get some scabs off and put some chlorhexidine on the rain rot and hopefully kill it. I tried putting MTG in a spray bottle but I think it's just too thick so now I'll have to transfer it back to it's original bottle (glad I kept it). It didn't smell nearly as bad as everyone says it does but it isn't pleasant. Since I had the anti-bacterial stuff I was just going to use the MTG to help loosen the scabs which I tried to brush off with a metal curry. I got quite a few off but it was taking quite some time so I just finished with the scrub and turned him out.

Cody was covered in mud so I had to de-mud him the best I could. I'm happy that he enjoys having his face scrubbed with the rubber curry, that says a lot coming from a horse that was previous super head-shy. He didn't have quite as many scabs and they were mostly right on his spine or his rear so I just scrubbed him with the chlorhexidine in the hopes that it would get better before Sunday.

This day light saving time thing is a real bummer. I couldn't even see Axel in the pasture it was so dark. I could barely make out Cody's white face. I guess I need a flashlight for this time of year. When I went to get Cody I stopped just short of some serious wet mud without knowing it. Cody sunk in it when he came up to me. Ick.

Axel's Bumps Part II

I didn't have a lot of time yesterday so I just ran out to do some grooming and make sure everyone still had all their limbs since it had been a week. It was a pretty good day for just grooming as the wind had picked up and it was a bit chilly. Though I'm still trying to figure out if Axel's bumps are bug bites or rain rot. Axel was covered in mud which took me a good half hour to get scrubbed off and he still looks dirty. He's been wearing his hay on his face so he has a wonderful green dusty tint to him. If it's as warm as they say it will be this weekend I might have to break down and do baths (especially if it is rain rot).

Nothing terribly goofy about the boys, Axel has 3 scrapes which I assume are from rubbing on something. The winter hair seems to come out in bigger clumps than summer hair and it's that much more obvious when it does come out. Axel got his treat and some MSM which he was happy about, he knickered the whole time I was in the tack room getting it ready. Cody got his extra food while I groomed Axel. Cody's bumps are mostly along his spine while Axel's are in more places and on his rump. Cody didn't have any scrapes though but he had equal amounts of mud. He seems to have gained enough weight to cover his ribs but his back is still pretty hollow. I suppose he'll need to do some work on his topline to ever get that back in shape.

I should be staying in town this weekend and it's supposed to be nice so I'll probably be spending a fair amount of time at the barn. Supposedly a trail ride on Sunday. Maybe I'll do some baths on Saturday and try and scrub some of the scabs off. I'll have time to stand around waiting for the horses to dry with their coolers on at least. Though I can imagine if I do give baths they aren't going to be too great with cold water. (note to self, install heated wash stall in own barn when it's built)

Axel's Bumps

So Tuesday I made it out to the barn on one of the two gorgeous days this week. But I feel a little guilty about not riding down the road or something. I stayed in the arena. Axel was every so slightly off, like really hard to tell but still. I spent a bit of time grooming him and trying to figure out what all the bumps are on his back. They are scabs but big pointy scabs. J thought it was a fungus but it's not patchy like rain rot. They weren't itchy but they were a little tender when I pulled off some of the spots. Axel's newest habit is grabbing the cross tie and trying to get the whole thing in his mouth. I have no idea what that's about, some sort of nervous reaction I suppose. I measured his back pasterns so I can try and make him some wraps. He's around 9.5" at the top and 12" at the bottom (circumference) on his bumpy leg.

I had him do some circles in the arena on the lunge line to see where he was at. He stuck to a walk this time and was a tiny bit tender but not too bad. I actually didn't have quite as hard a time getting him to go left like I usually do. Perhaps he's figured out that if I only ask for a walk that's all he needs to give me. I did ask for a little bit of trot which was okay but lazy. I decided to forgo the saddle and just grabbed his bridle and jumped on bareback. We spent a lot of time walking around the arena while J lunged and rode Amigo. Axel still pins his ears at the other horse but didn't try and kick. I was trying to get him to bend a little, I figured it was pretty much the one thing we could work on without hurting his leg. But he wasn't really hearing me. I tried some seat aids to get him to bend around my leg and support the other side with his back, tried to do a bit of shoulder-in, and even tried some turns on the forehand. Nothing really worked 100%. Axel spent the time grinding his teeth which I'm thinking is him not relaxing. He tends to take on a headset even when he's not collected, bit evasion I suppose. I couldn't quite get to a point where he'd stop grinding, maybe had he understood all my goofy aids he would have stopped grinding and started thinking.

When I was done riding I sprayed some betadine on Axel's back just in case the bumps are actually a fungus. He's too hairy for a real bath, he won't dry anytime soon and I didn't have all night. So if it's bugs they should be dead with all the cold and if it's fungus, well I hope it goes away.

Another Ride in the Drainway

When I got to the barn on Saturday B and Steele's Mom were already there thinking about going for a ride. I was going to grab Axel but he had decided he was lame again, I assume from the mud. So he tricked me into riding Cody instead. Cody had found the mud so it was a bit of work to get him cleaned up. B wasn't sure if her knee was up to a ride down the road so we all started in the arena. Cody was feeling his age again and needed some convincing to get moving. We attempted a canter while the others waiting in the middle, it went alright but was kind of strung out and unbalanced.

We decided to head out on the road for a quick ride so I went to put on Cody's boots. Cody decided to pee in the aisle while I was holding his front foot to put his boot on. So I had to scramble around to move things so the ever growing puddle didn't get everything wet while simultaneously putting shavings in the aisle to try and soak some of it up. Of course everyone was out side waiting for me. I finally got his boots on and he pooped in the aisle. At that point I just left it all to clean up when I got back.

Cody was a bit of a pill not wanting to leave the barn. So we drug along behind everyone slow as could be. We decided to see where the drainage area on the right side of the road would lead us to since we hadn't taken that route yet. The ground didn't seem too wet and both Diva and Steele had their shoes pulled so the grass was a good choice. So at least until they get the corn out and plow the fields those drainways are really nice to ride in. The corn blocks a bit of the wind and provides kind of a protective wall. The horses were a little flighty with the wind and noises but not too bad. Cody had apparently not heard my new phone's camera before so that startled him when I clicked a photo but since he's feeling lazy lately it was only two steps and he was back to slow-mo.

On the way back Cody stopped to pee (again!) and the other two ended up getting ahead around a corner. Cody couldn't see them at this point and went from parked out to running in a split second. Luckily he doesn't feel the need to get any closer than a couple horse lengths behind the other horses so as soon as he saw them he brought it down to a canter and then to a walk when he caught up. He actually didn't really speed up a whole lot on the way home like he usually does. He was a bit quicker to break into a trot if he thought that's what I wanted but we brought up the rear most of the way back.

Taking Measurements

It is really hard to take conformation photos of a horse by yourself. So these aren't the greatest but at least they should a little bit of the horses's body condition. I'd really like to get more weight on Cody and get his butt back to where it used to be. I took a couple shots from behind him and he's pretty hollow these days.

I took photos of all their hooves side, front, and bottoms since they just got trimmed, unfortunately I was too lazy to clean off most of the mud so yet another half-assed attempt on my part. I also measured both horses with the weight tape and the height stick. Though the lengths I ended up with seem a bit fishy.

Axel=1172lbs, HG 196cm, Length 186cm (1385lbs if you use an equation)
Cody=952lbs, HG 181cm, Length 186cm (1181lbs if you use an equation)

After grooming and doing all this I watched J&J and another guy work on a horse that's going to the sale this Sunday. She's a little nutty. It'll be interesting to see if they get her sold.

Consistency?

I just really like this photo of Cody from this summer. I haven't been great with the camera lately, especially when there's so many people around at the barn. I'll have to make up for that this winter and maybe even bring my big camera out of hiding.

Yesterday was farrier day so I went out to the barn pretty early to fetch up the horses and be there when everyone arrived. Axel was a bit of a pill and jumped around when the farrier had his back left. And he tried to kick Diva several times when she passed by. Cody was pretty much as normal. He just wanted to see every direction at once.

I set up some cones in the arena to work on some trotting, kind of the NSEW exercise. It went sort of okay. Then we worked on some circles since the outside of the NSEW pattern makes a nice circle. We're having consistency issues. We go slow around a couple corners then speed up or almost canter around another corner. We have a hard time turning away from the gate and then the opposite corner of the gate he cuts in and speeds up (maybe cuz that's the first time he sees the gate again?). So there was a lot of "trot-easy-trot-easy" going on. We worked a bit on cantering with the same issues getting around that corner by the gate. J was watching and telling me to put my outside leg on. Our other issue is lack of bending and lack of understanding what I'm asking. I try and ask for a bend with my inside leg on the girth but he thinks that means speed up or canter. And trying to get him to move off that inside leg to keep the circle wide gets the same result. I'm not sure what we should work on in respect too all those issues. Do we work on maintaining a constant speed first and then add the bend? Or vice versa? I will have to think on that a bit.

We spent a few minutes working on turn on the forehand in the corner of the arena. The wall helps block forward movement but the turn on the haunches is another story. I tried to back into the corner to work on that but we weren't as successful. And our backing up issue is still there. I've changed to verbal-wiggle reins-more rein-smack on shoulder. I'm hoping if I keep that up consistently we'll get down to only needing verbal or the rein wiggle. The smack on the shoulder right now gets his attention and he'll back a few steps quite lively. We might have to spend a day only working on that, once he gets it I think we'll be fine.

Disuniting Again

Axel got back on the road last night. S and Stitch were out so I grabbed Axel and cleaned him up the quickest I could, gave him some MSM, and gave Cody his extra snack (which he's getting quite used to and knickers at me when I arrive). Lately Axel has decided he just really can't walk with those bell boots on. I put them on like normal and he picks his back left leg up all the way to his belly and then jumps around on three feet. Last night he did this while still cross tied. Really?

It was slow going as we made our way between the corn fields, Axel dove for the grass every chance he got. We trotted a bit to get his head out of the grass and he moved soundly even on the squishy ground. We ended up heading down the road next to the cows and went for a canter. Unfortunately I couldn't get Axel to pick up the lead correctly. He kept cross cantering even after I'd bring him back to a trot and try again.

On the way back we tried another canter and this time I think he managed to get the front and the back end to cooperate. I was busy keeping him moving to really check what lead we were on and all that. There was no bucking either time. He was a little off for the rest of the walk home but it was very minuscule. We'll see how he feels today. It shouldn't have been any more work than normal so maybe he was just tired and lazy at that point.

I picked up a bunch of little cones from Northern Tool Outlet so I'll mark some dressage letters on them and leave them at the barn to work on patterns and weaving and all that. Axel used to really like weaving so we'll see how he feels about that now. There's a clover leaf pattern that I want to try and another basic trotting pattern. Gotta come up with some interesting stuff for the winter.

Cantering Cody

Groomed Cody and gave him his extra food. This time I put some water in it to see if that would make it easier for him to keep it all in his mouth. Instead it just made a sloppier mess. Back to the drawing board I guess. It has nothing to do with his ability to chew but rather his ability to keep his mouth shut while doing it. I think the next attempt should be a wide shallow pan where the food has to be spread out. I hate grooming this time of year, everything is staticy. I should probably put some dryer sheets in my grooming back to rub on the horse before brushing so I'm not zapping them all the time!

So I lunged Cody a few times with the shorter rope just to get his attention. A had brought out a couple barrels to the arena so I set those up on either end to do some figure 8s and maybe get slightly more circular circles. Cody was pretty amped when I got on. If I didn't know better I'd have thought he was a barrel horse and the sight of the barrels got him worked up. We walked for a while and trotted quite a bit. I had to make constant adjustments as Cody kept "surging" forward and speeding up his trot. Which in the end is a nice change from the past few months of him only moving if I was carrying a whip. He was very willing to canter so we managed to make it around the arena at a canter about a time and a half before breaking stride going to the right. To the left there were some issues getting that lead but that's been our MO lately.

I kind of threw away the circles and figure 8s and worked more on the cantering just because it was more fun and he was so willing to keep moving. I attempted some rollbacks on the rail and then moved into rollbacks and cantering half the arena, rinse, repeat. It wasn't great, Cody wasn't sitting down or turning on his haunches, but he was moving out so I decided our lesson was more on doing what I asked. Speed up when asked, calm down and slow or stop when asked. He was doing really well even when he got worked up. We ended the lesson with some calm trotting and then worked on some backing up both mounted and unmounted. He doesn't get a great grade for the rein back but we'll keep working. I did some stretches when we were done. He stands really well for the front leg stretches so I can only assume he doesn't mind doing them. I noticed he's full of little scabs everywhere. They're mostly grown out but the bugs must have kicked in at the end of summer or something.

A came in and worked with Vinnie jumping over the barrels while I groomed Axel. He's been kind of a pill lately, grabbing at everything and chewing on stuff. He puts the cross tie in his mouth and pulls on it. He's not wind sucking that I can tell but the chewing on stuff is getting to be a really annoying habit. A finished up with Vinnie as I was ready to go back in the arena. I just wanted to let Axel move a bit since it had been pretty muddy all week. So I just sent him off without a lunge line and he trotted and cantered and really didn't buck a whole heck of a lot. He had a nice big extended (for him) trot, nice canters on both leads, even a flying change. Why can't he do that when I'm riding? I thought maybe he'd jump the barrels that were still set up but he went around them every time, I wasn't going to force him into jumping them with his sore foot but if he chose to do it on his own I'd be excited to see it. That was pretty much all for the night for Axel.

Back in the Saddle Part 4

Axel shows off my new favorite place to ride. Even after Cody dumped me out of the saddle on Friday.

I ended up having more time on my hands on Sunday and the sun came out and it wasn't completely freezing so I ran off to the barn for a quick ride. I gave Cody his extra food in the feeder and Axel had a snack and his MSM in the barn aisle. I did my best to get the mud and dirt off but a black horse this time of year just gets dirtier the more you groom. On top of that he was getting quite fed up with standing in the cross ties. So he fidgeted himself into a little big of lunging before our ride. He actually trotted out pretty sound, he was a little cranky about going to the left but that was the extent of it.

So it was Axel's first ride out since his last bout of lameness. He spent most of the time trying to rip the reins out of my hands to eat grass. We did end up trotting for a while, then walking, then some more trotting, followed by some cantering until we hit a pretty wet spot. We walked pretty slow on the way home but sound. We didn't go far into the field as I didn't want to push it too far with Axel's sore foot. Though he has been babied for quite some time now he might be as good as he's going to get until the next big lameness.

Adventure

I think it made it up to a whopping 48F today but it was sunny and not raining so a trip to the barn afterwork was in order. Cody had his extra food and some MSM and Axel had his MSM. I scrubbed the mud off of Cody and cleaned up his feet. B made it out since her trail ride was canceled on Saturday so we got everyone tacked up to go for a canter between the corn fields. I decided to put Cody's boots on just in case it was too wet to stay in the grass so this time I tried out the pastern wraps to see if they would snug up the boots a bit and I think they did the trick.

Cody was reluctant as ever to leave the barn so that took us a bit more time than it should have. The first part of the ditch was pretty wet and Diva hates wet and mud. It seemed to be a bit drier when we got to the spot between the fields so we went for it. We walked for a while, well Diva walked and Cody lagged behind then fought with me over catching up and kept weaving back and forth in an attempt to go back to the barn.

We decided to canter for a bit to hopefully wake up Cody a bit. He took off like a rocket when I asked him to change gaits but he settled in fairly quickly. After a little bit of cantering all of a sudden I was standing next to the horse instead of sitting on his back. Something spooked him and he spun around to the right and I more or less dismounted on that same side. I landed on my feet and managed to keep the reins in my hand so he didn't run off. Had I let go I'm pretty sure he would have ended up back at the barn and I would have had a bit of a walk. I'm not sure if I would call it a fall even, it was pretty controlled and to help matters I landed on the upside of a little hill so that could be why I was still standing.

Turns out the horses saw a deer and decided it was there to eat them. Diva's not horribly spooky but she was nervous enough and doesn't like walking in water or mud and Cody was nervous and they were feeding off each other pretty well. So we decided to walk forward for awhile and then turn around. Cody decided to walk backward about 30 feet before we could finally walk forward and meet up where Diva was waiting. Then we circled around and headed for home. By this time it was pretty much dark and it got cold so heading home was more than fine with me.

Axel was upset because J and J fed everyone but him as they were waiting for Cody to get back. He didn't even knicker at me when I put Cody back in the pasture. I don't think he holds grudges though so we should be fine next time I get out there ;)

Back in the Saddle Part 3

Finally a sunny day but after all the rain I didn't want to risk the ground being really soft or slippery in the corn field so I stuck with the arena. Plus Wednesdays I don't have a whole lot of time and it's easy to loose track. Axel was surprisingly not that muddy considering. I suppose laying down in the mud while it rains for 4 days isn't exactly on the top of his list. I ended up scraping off what I thought was dried mud but turned out to be a scab/dried skin/scar tissue. So I had to tend to a bleeding coronary band for a bit. Luckily it was pretty minor and didn't bleed for more than a minute.

He didn't seem terribly glad to be saddled but into the arena we went. J had taken Amigo out on the road so I had some room and lunged Axel for a bit. He was pretty calm about life, really just wanted to look at the horses in the pasture. There were some minor head flips but no bucking when he was asked to trot. He moved pretty well, a little off now and then but pretty good. I stopped with the trotting, still trying to take it a little easy.

We rode at the walk for quite a while, he was kind of cranky, nothing major just a little fidgety. I finally asked for a trot and it was slow going at first, lots of stopping but he eventually picked it up and trotted pretty well. We did a lot of walking between trotting and we stuck mostly to going to the right. For obvious reasons he doesn't like when I post the correct diagonal to the left. We walked around for quite a while and even had some nice rein back before calling it a day.

I'm still hesitant to really start working. He's had 1 week off completely and 2 weeks of real mellow hand walking or easy riding in the arena. I really want to go for a canter down the field but I should probably hold off a bit longer. Even though when he trots he walks out of it sound and he tends to choose the canter over trotting when he is sore. We'll see, I could give him some bute before we go I suppose to take off the edge. It's Cody's turn next anyway so perhaps I'll just get my cantering fix with him.

Rain rain go away!

I debated just going home and staying in but I thought it'd be pretty quiet at the barn in the rain on a weekday. I was right, the place was deserted. The boys were standing half in the lean-to and half in the rain. When I went into the little barn to get Cody's food I could hear them nickering, but instead of coming up to the gate to wait for dinner they just stood in the lean-to and nickered there. They both really wanted to come in when I went to get Cody.

Cody took his time eating his extra food and he didn't mind the MSM I had snuck in the bucket. I tried to dry him off a bit with a wool blanket and groom him a bit. The barn wasn't too loud with the rain but I turned on the radio anyway. Cody lunged pretty good and seemed to be paying attention, though he was paying attention to the gate. My guess is that's just where he wanted to keep his eye on in case the rain got scary or something. He wasn't too happy about standing at the mounting block so it took a few tries before he stood for me.

We worked on some trotting in circles, Cody is having a hard time bending, especially to the left. Even with the clear circle wore into the footing he had a hard time staying on the circle (it's time to get some cones). So we kept working on that for a while and worked on keeping in the trot until asked to do something else. At least he was moving pretty well and I didn't have to carry a whip at all. We got a pretty nice but a little fast canter to the right. To left took a lot of tries as he kept picking up the wrong lead. When he finally picked up the correct lead it was kind of unbalanced but since that's what I was asking for I let him stop. We trotted a bit more so we could end on a nice note. Sometimes after the canter he gets a little strung out so I wanted to make sure he'd go back to a nice easy trot. Even with the noisy rain he was calm.

After he backed up when I asked I dismounted and we worked on some turn on the forehand for a while as well as some bending particularly to the left. I untacked him and grabbed some treats and we did some "carrot stretches." He was really good at them and kept his feet in once place while bending to each side and down between his legs. He didn't really want to stretch up to get a treat though, so I'm not sure what that's about. I also did some leg stretches with him that I think he actually enjoys, or at least he tolerates them well and stands still and doesn't yank his feet away. He even seems to not mind the tail circles. I might have to do some of the bending after some lunging circles for warm ups and before riding to try and get him bending better.

When Cody was eating his extra food I ran out and gave Axel some MSM and a little grain in the lean-to. After I turned out Cody I stood in the shelter for a while while Axel proceeded to chew the wood off the inside of the building. I smacked him a couple times with the rope when he started to chew and scared him a bit so he wandered off. I put some manure on the spot he was chewing in what will probably be a feeble attempted to keep him from doing it again. Grrr ... kids!

A Quick Ride

I spent most of the day at the U Equine Center helping out with a big Girl and Boy Scout Badge earning day. But my evening plans were canceled so I was able to make it down to see the boys afterall. Once again I didn't suspect the crowd that was at the barn. A was just getting back from her trail ride as were the new borders and B was just coming down the road after riding Diva. I grabbed Axel to see how he'd do two days in a row and B hung out in the arena waiting for us. She watched us trot out a little and said that Axel looked pretty good. He was still a little bouncy and wanted to canter more than normal but over all he felt okay. We stood at the fence and tacked to J for a while and Axel got antsy and forgot he was wearing the boots. So when we moved a bit he hopped around avoiding the boots and nearly fell over. When we walked a bit after that he was a tiny bit off but when I dismounted he walked find on the cement. When I turned him out in the pasture he seemed careful but not sore.

Back in the Saddle Part 2

Late on a raining Saturday I didn't expect to see many people at the barn. J was out catching Steele when I got there, then the new folks arrived, then A arrived with some family in tow. It was grand central station. I rode Cody in the arena with Steele for a while. We even (to my surprise) picked up both canter leads without running into them. After the canter Cody was a little wound up but after standing for a bit he calmed down. We visited with A's family and let the kids pet and look at the fuzzy ponies. Cody went back out to his pasture, Steele spent some time grazing the yard, and I grabbed Axel to see how he was feeling.

Axel went pretty well in the arena with one of the new horses. We didn't get close enough for him to act like a bully. I decided to try a bit of a trot to see where he was at. He was feeling a little bouncy but not too bad and trotted okay for a bit. Perhaps a little off but he returned the walk and was sound. So that's pretty much all we did for the day. Lots of chatting with all the people around since it's a rare occurrence to see so many people at once. Cody got his extra food and some MSM and Axel got some MSM and he wore his boots while riding.

Drive By

It was just a quick "drive by" style visit last night. I wanted to spy and see about the new boarders, well and check on my ponies of course! Note to self - resume giving MSM and extra food individually in a bucket. I thought I could give both horses some extra feed and Axel his MSM in their feeder. Well Axel ate most of Cody's food and Cody probably got more than half of Axel's MSM. So yeah, back to the bucket on that one.

I had a few more minutes before I had to leave for Ballet so I grabbed Axel, walked him around the arena a bit and then hopped on bareback. There was some minor tail swishing (that continued after I was dismounted so probably unrelated) but he seemed to be feeling good and moved out at the walk. He appreciated the attention I paid to his itchy spots afterwards.

The new horses were moved in, J said a day early but I swear she told me they'd be around on Wed. So who knows. Dallas and Riley I think are their names, two geldings of the QH/Paint variety. Right now they are in with Vinny and Jessie went in with Diva and Dolly. It looked like Dallas was chasing Vinny around a bit while I was there but it didn't seem too volatile. J still wants to get Vinny out with the big boys in the back pasture. They moved my trailer up by the house and put the new trailer next to the barn. The new folks trail ride a lot so they just keep their tack in their trailer so it's easier if they're closer. Eventually J said they'd move their small trailer next to their camper and make room for my trailer with the others. But we'll be taking it to the farm this winter to work on it so everything is just temporary right now.

Lazy Cody

I convinced B to come down after work and go for a ride down the road last night. Cody got his extra dinner which he spilled all over the ground and had to clean up. I might have to start feeding him in a wide tub he doesn't spill any when he's picking it up one piece at a time from the ground. I grabbed Diva out of the pasture for B and I fed Axel a bit of Cody's food with some MSM thrown in. MSM must taste pretty good, he licks the bucket clean.

When I was done grooming Cody I lunged him a bit in the arena while I was waiting for B. This time I just stuck with the 12' lead and did some circles and changing directions. He picked up the pace after a few times of making him change but he was still pretty lazy.

I decided since Diva was on the mend that Cody would go out sans boots and we'd stick to the ditch (secretly hoping for a canter). So we ended up riding the whole drainage ditch between the corn fields. I still plan to get out there and run a bit one of these days. Now we've seen the footing the whole way, it's not too bad, a few big rocks that are easy to avoid and very few holes. Cody was pretty tough to keep moving, he kept pretty far behind Diva and we had to trot to keep up. I'm thinking it might be time for the chiropractor visit again. And there's always the dentist and sheath cleaning. Expensive ponies.

When we came to the end of the corn field we went up the road a ways and stopped by a small herd of fresian crosses. Cody was a little quicker on the way home but I wasn't having to hold him back at all. We ended up chatting for a while in aisle while Cody and Diva sniffed each other politely and stood patiently.

Windy Monday

Too windy to enjoy a ride down the road today but I want to keep a sort of close eye on Axel so I went to the barn anyway. The wind must have gotten everyone all riled up, both horses were kind of weird and trying to climb in my pockets. I brought Cody in and gave him some extra food while I groomed him quick. He's so fuzzy already. I lunged him a little with the 12' line. He's been so slow and lazy lately so it was time to get him responding. He did pretty well actually. I worked on some of our regular ground work. I need to get a little more precise with the turns on the haunches and forehand. Cody remembers stuff once he learns it so I just need to get it right.

I hopped on bareback and rode around a little while, mostly at the walk and a tiny bit of trot. We mostly worked on the left turns. I also tried a bit of what was supposed to be sidepassing but was more of a lesson in turn on the haunches, or just moving the specific parts of the body when asked. Something I probably should have kept on working on but I didn't. When I was done riding I did a few stretches with Cody and we went back outside.

Axel had his turn inside. I mostly just hand walked him around the arena, I thought the good footing and a little moving would be helpful for his foot. He was sound at the walk and wasn't shortening his stride at all so that was good. I tried to lunge him a little at the walk but he kept speeding up going to the right. To the left he kept pawing, almost spanish walk, and eventually a little buck and a kick. I kept telling him to walk and "easy" but he got it in his head that I wanted more so we had to stop so he didn't hurt himself. I ended up giving him some grain to see if he'd eat the MSM I bought. He licked the bucket clean so that's a good sign. I'll probably just give him the extra MSM when I'm out there instead of adding it to his regular feeding, at least for now.

Getting Rained On

I have some good timing. It was sunny most of the day and it's sunny now but when I pulled into the barn it was cloudy and getting pretty dismal. Axel was hiding from the wind in the lean to and Cody was out grazing by himself. I thought Axel was still sore but he came out of the shelter and was walking on all 4 feet. He was a little off but way better than the 3 legged gimp.

As I was grooming and tacking Cody the wind started really whipping around. Cody stayed calm in the barn aisle. I gave back the low back pad I was trying, I'll have to order one for myself sometime when I have extra cash, they aren't cheap. So I thought I'd try and add a gel pad. It's not meant for western saddle but I thought it would maybe fill in some of the gap in Cody's back. Cody walked across the driveway without limping too much so I thought we'd limp across the road to the ditch and forego the boots for today. Things were slow going as they usually are when we leave the barn (time for another chiropractor visit maybe?). I thought we could make it down to the drainage ditch between the two corn fields and have a canter but we only made it along the first section of beans. Between Cody's slow moving and diving for grass and spontaneous stopping and backing up we just didn't make it very far. Perhaps he was trying to tell me that it was going to start raining and we should turn back. So I went with his last bout of backing up and we kept going for a while before turning around. We cantered a bit, sort of his idea, but he slowed to a walk when asked.

As we came up the grass next to the pasture we trotted for a bit since the rain had started. Axel was running and bucking and cantering. After the first few bucks I guess his foot hurt so he was literally cantering on 3 legs. At least 3 strides of canter without putting that hind left on the ground.

Cody didn't really want to go back outside in the rain and the wind but it died down after I untacked him and gave him a treat so I put him out and grabbed Axel. He walked soundly to the barn even over the gravel. He didn't want to stand on that hind left for me to clean hooves but he eventually did and he walked out sound even on the cement. I don't think he had any more bute since Tuesday so I think he's on the mend, just steps wrong once in a while. I think I might have to break down and get him some magnetic bell boots and a cold wrap. The magnets seem kind of fishy to me but supposedly they help, at least they would block him from kicking himself more. The cold wrap I might start using after I ride in addition to if he comes up lame. Unfortunately the bell boots are kind of spendy, the cold wraps are not.

Gimp Again

Stopped by the barn on the way out of town to check on the boys. It had rained for part of the day and it was a little muddy in the pasture. Axel was standing kind of funny when we pulled up. He was back to gimping around again. We didn't talk with J at all so I'm not sure if it was just the mud or if his drugs were still working on Wednesday when he was sound and they wore off. Either way he's just going to have to muddle along until he feels better. Poor boy, not sure what else we can do that isn't terribly invasive, require stall rest, and be super expensive.

Back in the saddle?

Okay so Axel is not back in the saddle yet, but he is sound in the pasture at the walk at the very least. And he's as obnoxious as he ever is. He had 2g of bute on Monday noon and Monday around 4pm, 2g on Tuesday morning, and nothing on Wednesday. And when I saw him in the pasture on Wednesday he was feeling good. I don't think the bute sticks around quite that long to be masking pain but I'm letting him have some time off anyway. Then we'll ease back into it, with boots on for sure!

So poor Cody has to do some work while Axel is on vacation. I wish I could figure out what Cody loves to do besides be with other horses. But until then I guess we just keep trying things. So I wanted to try the low back pad again since all I did was walk last time. Cody was calm for tacking and didn't even yawn. And I'm sure it was a fluke but as soon as I put his bridle on, he walked over to the mounting block. Albeit a little too far away for me to use but it was like he was saying, "fine, we do this everytime, just get it over with already." He lunged lazily but sound so we walked and trotted in the arena. The low back pad seems to make a huge difference in how the ride feels. It seems a lot more lateral or "wobbly" for a lack of better words. The trot was still "sit-able" and after a bit of prodding Cody would maintain until told otherwise. He wasn't happy about the left turn in the middle of our figure-8s though. I had a few minutes left before I had to leave so I decided to grab his hoof boots and head out on the road. One of the bad things I noticed about the low back pad is that it pretty much takes away Cody's withers which means spinning saddle when mounting. So that was a bit frustrating.

It was, as usual, a painfully slow departure from the barn. I really wanted to trot or canter and just let Cody go for a while. So when we got to the first little drainage ditch between fields we went that way. I haven't ridden in them yet and don't have permission to but I went for it anyways. I really really really love those ditches. The corn is high on both sides so it's a perfect place for a canter with the safety of "walls" so discourage any runoffs. The grass was probably a little too long to see the footing but when we got to a spot that looked like it had been mowed we went for it. Cody took a little while to get into the canter and was kind of weaving all over but he was calm and had brakes and I think he enjoyed it a bit. I would have kept going but I didn't want to be late for ballet so we had to turn back. But you can bet we'll go back before they get the corn down. I have to call the tack shop in town and find out if they have any of the pads that go inside the hoof boots. I'm a little afraid his boots are a bit too big for cantering.

On the way back I wanted to make Cody do some work but we weren't in a good spot for it so we trotted then walked then trotted then walked. I don't typically like to "run" home but Cody likes to trot so his reward for walking when asked is to trot again. Maybe that lesson is "if I listen to the rider I get home sooner." When we hit the drive way Cody wanted to go in but after realizing we don't do that he kept going. We stopped and did a little reluctant backing up and then went back to the barn.

I've been doing some of the massage techniques to get Cody to stretch his back, namely the one where you run your hands on either side of his tail. He stands well for it and it seems to get him to lift a bit. I also did some tail circles. I saw something once where they said if it's hard to do a tail circle to one side that is also the side the horse doesn't bend to as well. So I was testing that theory since Cody didn't want to turn left. My results are inconclusive.

Murphy's Law

Did J not just say that Axel looked like he was trotting well? Did I not just say it was time that Axel started working more? Got a call this afternoon from J that Axel was 3-legged lame. Limping around with that back left foot in the air. I thought we were doing pretty good. I hadn't gotten a call from this barn at all yet and Axel had been pretty sound for a year or so. My assumption is that he either kicked himself while I was riding or sometime in the pasture. Either way he was hurting pretty bad. J gave him some bute at noon and I gave him some more at 3:30 and when I came back at 6 he was still sore. So hopefully after a couple days of bute he'll start to feel better. There's not a lot we can do for him except for bute. That's all the vet would suggest save for some serious surgical alternatives. So we'll just keep up with the pain killers til the inflammation dies down. After limping across the drive way yet still trying to eat grass the whole way I hosed off his foot for a while, trying to help with the pain and any swelling with cold water. Axel wasn't terribly happy about that though. I might have to get an ice wrap for occasions such as this. I can't make it out to the barn tomorrow I don't think so hopefully he only improves between now and Wednesday.

A Whole Week Off

The horses ended up with a whole week off after the big trail ride. Jeff went out to drop off the trailer last Wednesday and confirmed that both horses were still alive but that was about it. We stopped by Friday to get the trailer to take it home to the farm and I checked on both horses but my back was having some issues so it was a quick visit with just a little scratch here and there. In the end the pickup brakes were stuck so we didn't bring the trailer back after all.

Jeff had to work on Sunday so we were back in town early and my back was just about 100% normal so I spent some time at the barn. I wanted to try out a low back pad on Cody to see if that's something I should buy for him. He's not totally swayback but his withers are so high and he's lost a bit of topline so his saddle isn't in the most ideal place on his back. Hopefully the low back pad will help keep everything even and comfortable. Unfortunately he was feeling a bit off on the lunge, not to mention he's been way lazy lately. So after walking around in both directions and a little bit of reluctant trot I got on for a few minutes of loose rein walking just to try out the saddle pad. From what I could tell he was just generally stiff/sore. Though his feet are pretty chipped up already so that could be the culprit also.

Axel, on the other hand, was feeling pretty darned good. He wouldn't lunge at the walk, immediately went into a trot. Not the nicest trot but a trot nonetheless. Even struck out in a canter in both directions when asked, only kept it up for a few strides but there was no bucking or nonsense. So it's back to work for poor Axel. He's been slacking for too long. We trotted, and trotted, and trotted. We probably didn't trot for an obnoxious amount of time but since everyone's getting their winter coats he was sweaty. We did some circles and even some figure-8s without breaking out of the trot. J said he looked pretty good from what she could tell. He didn't feel all that great but it's good to know he looked good. He was generally just bumpy and uneven, his usual MO. But he hasn't had to work for a long time so we'll just keep going. I'll have to look for some advice on how to get his trot a little more free flowing. If only he'd figure out that a nice trot is better for his leg not to mention his back (without me bouncing around on it). He's forgotten some of his backing up lesson from the cattle clinic so we'll have to keep working on that one as well. Ideally if he can remain sound at the walk and trot I'd love to get to a schooling show next year. I don't want to take him if he looks lame even if it's just how he is, probably not the best to show up at a show riding a lame horse. And even if he lacks a bit of energy if he can get a nicer trot we should have some fun at a dressage show.

We Can Ride Trail Ride

Despite the gorgeous weather the turn out for the WCR trail ride was dismal. But those of us that did make it made the best of it. Steph and I and Jeff went to the barn early to pack up the trailer and get the horses ready to go. A was going to meet us and follow us over. I successfully backed the truck up to the trailer and then pulled the trailer out of it's parking spot so we could load. Axel got in first as usual with no issues. Cody got in with only a minor amount of reassuring and *NO* backing out. We then had to help Vinnie load in A's trailer so the boys stood in the trailer waiting and they were exceptionally patient. I was just surprised Cody got in so willingly and that Axel didn't put up a fuss while standing there waiting.

When everyone was loaded up and ready to go we pulled out and hit the road, me driving! Only one issue that could have been a big deal, stopped at a light I probably should have just ran, on the way. We missed a turn and got a little lost but it only took a trip around the block to get corrected. And parking at the park was pretty easy since we were fairly early. It was warm out so the boys were pretty sweaty when they unloaded, then they stood in the sun eating hay while we situated the trail ride. So by the time everything was set I had two sweaty messes. We tried to put them in the shade and cool them off before they got their massages but they were still pretty nasty and the poor massage gal had some really dirty hands after my boys. Cody was kind of fussy between wanting to keep an eye on everything around him and the flies I'm not sure he took time to enjoy his massage. Axel had some issues with the flies as well and he had the hiccups. Seriously, hiccups. So weird. But since he's an itchy horse this year he did show us which spots he was happy to have massaged by curling his lip and making everyone laugh.

When it was evident no one else was going to show up, A, Steph, another gal, and I set out to the wooded portion of the trail to avoid the heat. It was pretty rocky and just about all of the horses in our group were unhappy about that. Even Cody with his boots on wanted to wander into the woods instead of staying on the trail. We made a stop in the lake for a sip of water. Cody stayed on shore, it was so muddy I was afraid he'd loose a boot. Axel tried to go for a swim and ended up covered in mud. We decided to stop back at the picnic area and take a break before heading out on one more loop of the trail. The horses appreciated the break and a sip of water and more fly spray while we packed up some of our stuff so we were ready at the end of the day.

A ended up bringing in the second most money so she picked out the western saddle and Steph as usual brought in the most money and was taking home the english saddle. When everyone was set to go we went out on the dog/horse trail that goes around one of the lakes. We had been on that trail the first time we visited Murphy. So now there's just one loop or so that we haven't seen. By the end of the day the horses were tired as well as the people. My hips were killing me, my stirrups were too long but since we were taking it easy I didn't bother fixing them. I think it's what made my hips hurt though. So up a couple holes on that saddle next time.

After we untacked and everyone had their share of water we dumped a few buckets on them to wash off some of the sweat and mud. Everyone loaded like an expert and they were starting to figure out how they need to squish a little for us to close the dividers in the trailer. It was a fairly uneventful drive home in the trailer and everyone survived. Cody unloaded so carefully and quietly he got extra praise as I was so impressed. Sadly I think it's because he's afraid now, but a quiet unloading horse is a quiet unloading horse.