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.