Better Late then Never

Axel is still gimping around on his front knee. I lunged him for a bit in the arena to get him moving. He ran around a bit kicking up his heels.

J was riding Dolly in the arena when I tacked up Cody and got on to ride. He was sort of okay for the most part until we turned to go to the left. Unfortunately we didn't go left until we had already been going for a while so I'm not sure if it was the act of going left or just the time frame that upset Cody. He wouldn't stay on the rail, would counter bend all over, wanted to stop, was just plain hard to control. We had spent a little time trying to work on some lateral work so then when he was being a pain tracking left he'd spontaneously swing his rear end like he was trying to sidepass even though I wasn't asking. When J was done riding I made the mistake of asking Cody to canter which was just a good excuse for him to bulldoze around the arena. I am looking forward to when he stops being a pain in the rear, that's for sure.

Last Shot for April

Axel had his last shot for April last night. That completes his month of 7 shots in the loading period. He'll just get one a month from now on. He's still sore on that front right knee though so I'm not sure what's up with that. If I can find some natural rubber gloves I might try the DMSO and see if he can tolerate that. Otherwise in a month when I get more Adequan I'll get some Surpass as well. Until then we'll keep up with the lunging and see if just some exercise and moving helps him feel better.

His head swelling seems to have gone down as well so I'm hoping that doesn't come back randomly. His mud fever is getting a bit better as well. I didn't really pick any scabs last night, a few came off when I was brushing and what not but I did scrub his legs with the Norwex cloth again. I'd like to shave more hair off his feet again but the scabs are kind of making that difficult. Next spring I'm going to shave his feet as early as possible and just keep scrubbing with the Norwex cloth and see if that will keep away the mud fever to begin with. The Norwex lady said that she never heard of a person using the cloths in the barn but at the very least I can leave it in the barn and it doesn't stink. If the cloths are supposed to get ride of acne causing bacteria and what not why not try it on mud fever bacteria!

A Good Ride

I couldn't sit at the horse expo all weekend and not go see my own horses so I left the expo earlier today than planned and went out to the barn. Axel's face swelling is down a bit and he's still a little off on his front knee. I brought him into the barn and got him groomed up a bit. He still has some brown winter hair left that I haven't been able to get completely off. I wish the Furmanator wasn't so expensive. I didn't work on his scabs at all but it didn't look like he had any new ones so that's a good sign. I put him in the arena but forgot to put his bell boots on before I turned him loose and he took off like a bat out of hell. He was cantering and bucking and generally let loose. I was able to get his boots on when he stopped to say hi and before he went off running and bucking again. He kept slamming down on his front end both feet at the same time. By the time he was done letting loose he was limping pretty decent again. I lunged him for a few minutes but he didn't want to walk and trotting hurt so he'd bounce around and canter a bit. I tied him to the wall while J&J were talking to a farrier about Logan's shoes and he was fairly patient with that situation.

I grabbed Cody when Axel was done right as B was driving up. We groomed our horses and joined S and her friend in the arena. Cody was fairly well behaved in the arena with 3 other horses that he technically doesn't know. I spent a little time working on some lateral work against the wall. Cody doesn't completely get it but started to take some steps in the right direction. We played with the big green ball for a while but Cody doesn't like to push it and he started acting afraid of it and shying away from it. Diva really loves pushing the ball around, she's fun to watch. Eventually we set up a little jump and took all the horses over it. Cody did pretty well and jumped it after just stepping over it a few times. He even managed to ground tie when I got off to reset the jump. Of course all that good had to be followed up with something not so great, Cody decided to pee in the barn aisle when we were done riding so I had to get that all cleaned up so it wouldn't stink. Hopefully I got it washed off good enough.

Picked up all the vaccines at the expo this weekend so I have to give those sooner than later and I need to pick up some de-wormer as well. Plus Axel will have his last Adequan shot tomorrow for the month. I talked to the chiropractor that the vet recommended at the expo and I'll have to give him a call sooner than later and have him adjust Cody.

Cody Wants to Kill Me

Well Axel is starting to thin down a bit, since his swelling has gone away on his belly and sheath and he's off the round bale he's looking pretty good. His knee is a bit sore still. The mud fever doesn't look any worse but I didn't work on it last night. The swelling on his face apparently didn't change after being in a stall all night but when I saw him yesterday afternoon he looked good and it was almost gone. So hopefully whatever thing he ate was a one time deal and it won't come back. J is going to keep an eye on him.

Cody had been so calm the last time I lead him down the road I thought I'd try riding him this time and see if he was doing any better. We actually got quite a ways (down to the neighbor's driveway) before he started stopping and backing up. I urged him forward and he had a mini hissy fit so I got off and made him circle in the field and stand and look at me. I walked him a ways further to the drainage ditch before I got back on and pressed forward. He was a little more speedy forward but slowed down when I asked until we got to the next drive way area. My plan was to stop and wait for a truck to pass and then turn around and go home since he was behaving at that point. As soon as that truck drove by Cody whipped around and tried to bolt for home. I had the right rein about a foot from the bit and had his head pulled around but he just kept going and tried to back out of the ditch right into the path of the truck. I managed to 1. stay on 2. keep him in the ditch and not get run over. He finally stopped but was clearly freaking out. I chose to ride back to the barn and work him in the arena (safer). He tried to trot the whole way back on the road and wouldn't calm down until we were midway past the pasture.

So we trotted in circles for quite some time. And actually he was really starting to get on the outside rein circling left. He kept going around and didn't start to slow down until he was tired so we kept going. We trotted in both directions, cantered several consecutive circles to the right, cantered a couple messy circles to the left and then trotted some more. He actually wasn't huffing and puffing or anything but I think we went long enough to wear off some of the adrenaline so it was back out to the road ditch.

This time we didn't go as far but that wasn't the point. I just wanted a forward non-freaked out walk, which he did. But when I turned him around he tried to bolt again (not as bad as before). So we turned back way from the barn and kept going. Third time was the charm, I asked him to turn around and he calmly turned and continued to walk. I really hope we can get over this hump soon.

You Have Got to Be Kidding Me ... Again

Monday I go out to the barn after doing some yard work and bring Axel in to work on his scabs. I get him hooked up in the cross ties and I notice his face is swollen. He has a big welt on his left check. First I thought it was from falling over and maybe hitting the stall door but that was the other side. Then I notice his throat latch is swollen and under his chin. Seriously? It was like 7pm and I didn't particularly want to pay for another vet visit. I took his temperature and he didn't have a fever. His eyes were clear, no lumps anywhere else, no snot, attitude was fine, he had been grazing and happy. J&J didn't have any ideas so I called the vet and left him a message. He called back just a few minutes later and couldn't give me a snap diagnosis from the symptoms but thought he'd be fine if we just watched him a few days. One idea was swollen salivary glands. Upon further investigation I found something called "grass glands" which is swollen salivary glands due to possibly an allergic reaction.

So last night I went back out to check on him and go back to work on his scabs which I neglected then since we got sidetracked with the swollen face. His swelling is mostly still there, kind of spread out a bit, maybe a little lower, hard to tell. I poked at him to make sure it wasn't tender and he seemed just fine. I set to work on grooming and picking scabs. I did end up getting a lot of scabs off and scrubbing him with the chlorhexidine. There are still some scabs left but I'm hoping to get them all off gradually.

J said she'd leave Axel in a stall overnight to see what happens. Apparently if the swelling is "grass glands" then it should get better overnight when he's not grazing and then get worse after a day on the grass. It won't really change anything I don't think but we'll know we're probably dealing with an allergy. I'm hoping it'll go away as he gets used to the grass or whatever it is he's eating goes away. From what I can find on the internet is another sort of common ailment that you just put up with. It doesn't seem to bother him so far but I haven't tried working him or riding him yet.

I had been neglecting Cody so I groomed him and then took him for a walk down the road. He was even more calm than the time prior so I think tonight maybe I'll try and ride down the road and see how he does. And I need to get Axel lunging again but at least he's moving around more in the pasture. His knee is a bit sore lately which I assume is from increased movement.

Scabby Axel

The boys are back out in their pasture and Vinnie is out back with the geldings. I guess he's not terribly happy with the situation and would rather be up with my guys. But it seems like Cody is pretty happy with where he is. Jesse and Steele are in the paddock so even when I take Axel out he has other horses to visit with. He didn't call for Axel at all when I had him in the barn tonight.

I ended up wrapping Axel's back leg with a wet cloth to try and soften up the scabs so I could pick them off. Axel won't stand with his foot in a bucket and the water is super cold so I guess I don't blame him. He was weirded out about the wet cloth but he stood patiently. I couldn't get all the scabs off yet but made some headway. Hopefully if I keep working at them this week I'll get him all cleaned up. I also bought a cordless clippers from one of the boarders so I'll probably clip up his feet again as best I can (it's hard to work around the scabs).

The good news is that his belly swelling was all but gone tonight. The 3 dimensional swelling he had is now flat, it's still a bit hard (pitting) but it's not raised. Soon he'll just be flabby and fat. The swelling in his sheath has gone down as well. So that's all an improvement over the last week. They've only been on pasture for a day or so, so I'm not sure I can chalk it up to lack of round bale but in any case it's good to see.

Oh and I forgot our little mishap. I was picking Axel's back right foot and he kept pulling it forward toward his belly. I don't usually let go unless there's a problem, he can learn to not yank his foot away. Well apparently there was a problem I was unaware of and pretty soon he had fallen on top of me and pinned me to the stall door. He scrambled a bit and got on all four feet again but I'm left with a bruise on my elbow and my shoulder. Guess I better start working out more if I'm going to be holding up a 1300lb animal.

2 More to Go

Just two more shots for Axel left for this month and then we'll be going monthly or maybe every 3 months, we'll see. He's definitely not "miraculously healed" so far. From the sounds of it, this will just help him not get worse.

So apparently a few days of not grooming + rain = weird half shedding wet curly horse. So after a very long session of grooming and standing in the barn aisle with Logan we went into the arena for a little work. I forgot I was going to vet wrap a wet cloth on his legs to soften up the scabs, I'll do that the next time I have some time.

Overall he's still gimpy at the trot. And he's not really trying very hard. It'll be difficult to distinguish between lazy and hurting for a while I think. He's getting better at staying out on the circle when we lunge at the walk so that's a good side effect and we spent some time working on "walk up" so that he's not just lumbering along at a snail's pace. He is sound at the walk and not taking short steps which is an improvement over this winter. And I'm still not working him very long on the lunge, I was kind of hoping he'd show up sound one of these days but I think it'll be a slow process. I'm sort of paranoid to try the DMSO even though it seems to work for a lot of people's horses and Axel is pretty tolerant. I for sure can't use it on his ringbone since he's covered in scratches right now but perhaps I can try a bit on his sore knee and see if it does anything.

He really needs to start moving around, the small paddock isn't exactly helping matters but it's at least keeping the spring crazies to a minimum. After a few minutes of lunging walk and trot I scrubbed his back legs again and we took a walk down the road and grazed for a few minutes in the ditch. Axel's been a bit more swollen the past week so I'm not sure what that's about. I'll be happy when he's off the round bale. Then maybe we'll be able to tell the difference between fat and swollen.

Back on Track

Tuesday I just ran out and gave Axel his shot and some MSM. They were back in the pasture for the night since it was raining and there is no shelter in the small paddock. Cody and Vinnie were out in the rain grazing and Axel was hiding in the back of the lean-to.

Friday the barn was busy. Riley had some people out interested in buying him. Stitch and Cody2 were out riding on the road. I had Cody in the aisle for a few minutes to groom and then had Axel in to work on his back feet a bit. And A brought Vinnie in to get ready to work in the arena.

I hand walked Cody down the road ditch just up to the neighbor's property. He wasn't perfect but he was a million times better than he had been last time I rode him. I might keep that up for a while and see if he makes any progress before trying to ride him down the road alone again.

I wasn't able to get too many more scabs off Axel but the foot that I had cleaned up on Monday was doing good. I got the other foot cleaned up a little bit but it still needs work. If Axel would let me soak it that would help. Maybe this week I can wet a rag and wrap that foot with some vet wrap then he can stand there acting helpless while the scabs soften up. Easier than dealing with a bucket.

When the arena was open I went in and lunged Axel at the walk again for a few minutes with a few stints of trotting mixed in. He was looking sound at the walk but a little gimpy at the trot which was to be expected. He takes a few bad steps at the walk still but perhaps that is due to no exercise for 5 months. I ended up getting on bareback with just the halter and lead rope. Last time Axel was recovering from whatever random lameness he had he was sound at the walk but with a rider he was still lame. We did a few laps in each direction and he was pretty darned sound even with me on his back. He was very interested in looking out the open arena doors and he was a bit hard to control with just the halter but he did really well and didn't offer any unneeded feistiness. Yay Axel!

Saturday bright and early I ran out and gave Axel his 4th Adequan shot before heading up to the We Can Ride tack sale. I ended up buying a few things at the sale: John Lyons rope reins, new riding tights, a foam english saddle pad, and some black saddle bags for Axel's saddle.

Sunday I went out to Murphy with A and rode Danny. Cody just won't fit in A's trailer and riding Danny was like a vacation. It's been a long time since I've had a calm trail ride. It started out a little hairy when the horses thought some hikers were going to eat them but after that everyone settled in and it was a gorgeous day.

I groomed Axel outside when we returned and then worked him a bit in the arena. He was not about to let me lunge him outside where there was grass to eat so we had to go in the arena. He was sound at the walk with the exception of a few wrong steps and he trotted a little on the lunge line. We only worked for a few minutes before I unclipped and sent him out at liberty. He went 1 lap in both directions at the trot (a bit of canter to the right - I think that was the direction). He was a little gimpy which was no surprise. Right now I just want to work him up to doing more trot and getting back into shape. He looked a bit more swollen as well which I hope is just because it's been warm and there's a lot of standing around with the round bale in the small paddock. All things considered, he's not that much off when he trots. The cranky head tossing or pawing seems to have dropped a notch and he'll trot fairly willingly when asked. I'm sure we're dealing with some laziness as well. We'll just keep plugging away.

Only 3.5 Hours

I only spent 3.5 hours at the barn last night. Maybe a little longer than planned but it was farrier day so there was a lot going on and a lot of people to talk to. All the boarders are pretty spread out in the times they are able to ride. I'm usually there week nights, A is there later on weeknights, S is there during the day as well as S&L and J, and B is usually on the weekends. So we don't all run into each other very often unless we plan something.

J was fertilizing the pastures and hoping for rain. There was a note on the white board that Dallas was sold already. S&L are getting out of horses so they can move to FL or something. I was surprised how fast Dallas sold and I guess Riley has some lookers as well. I guess Dallas is going to a 6 year old girl that does breed shows so that should be a really good home for him.

I brought Cody in first and tied him in the arena with Amigo. He was tied near the open barn door but he was still kind of concerned at the happenings going on around him. He calmed down a bit when I brought Axel in and tied him next to him but he managed to dig himself a pretty impressive hole in the arena that I had to fill when we were done. Cody stood for the farrier as well as he usually does. He has a crack in his left front that the farrier marked with a rasp to see if it's getting worse or growing out at all. Axel was a little less than patient and really didn't want to stretch his back left out behind him. I should probably start working on the leg stretches with him too. The farrier looked at his xrays before trimming so maybe he'll be able to get around a little better now.

While we were working on Axel, S suggested we clip Cody's goat beard. I had my doubts that he'd actually tolerate the clippers but she thought her clippers were quiet enough so she gave it a try. Only a few minutes later and Cody is a new man sans beard. He looks so much nicer now. I guess he was just fine with the clippers. S is going to be selling all her equipment when Riley sells so maybe I'll see if I can buy the clippers from her. J might also be interested so we might have to duke it out.

I ended up lunging Axel at the walk for 5 minutes in each direction. He did pretty good for the first 5 minutes but the second 5 minutes he was getting bored and wanted to stop or slow down. He ended up doing a little bit of trotting just to pick up the pace and so I could ask for a walk and hopefully get it. He was moving well at the walk though, more sound than he's been all winter. He was pretty cranky about getting into the trot but would settle in after a few head tosses. I think by the end of the month he'll be trotting fine, I bet most of it is just annoyance at having to work again. Lunging at the walk is really difficult I've found. It's boring and hard to keep the horse moving and out on the circle without wandering away.

I lunged Cody for a few minutes as well and he did finally break into a canter but it wasn't great. I was happy he at least did it considering the last time we tried. I ended up putting both horses back in the pasture before B arrived and wondered if I was going to ride. So I went out and got Cody again and decided to get back into the dressage saddle (note to self, wear breeches next time, jeans + dressage saddle = not fun). B wanted to work on her posting and whatnot for the show she's doing this weekend so we were exchanging tips and tricks. She was trying to find the right stirrup length both for her saddle and for her ability to trot. We ended up swapping horses so she could try and post on Cody and I could try Diva. And we've determined it's not her ability to post it's Diva. She is so bouncy you just can't help but post high out of the saddle. I felt like I was three miles above her. I'll stick with my QA/Paint horses I think. Yikes! Cody and I managed to get a left lead canter after a few tries and B got a right lead canter albeit pretty lazy on Cody's part. So I called it a night at that point and helped video tape B so she could analyze her riding before the show.

My plan next is to keep working on Cody from the ground doing some of Kirsten Nelson's exercises that I have in her first workbook. I'd love it if I could get Cody back to sane without the chiropractor and then just use the adjustment as icing on the cake later on. Cody is going to need some sane as soon as the pastures are open again because Vinnie is going in with the big kids and Jesse is probably going back with Logan and Steele and Cody hates change. We've decided the pasture arrangements are as such "the geldings", "the girls", "the old men", and "the big kids." Cody and Axel are the old men.

Still Trying

Friday Jeff had a photoshoot so I had more time than usual to visit the horses before going out to the farm. Axel needed his shot and I had time to do more work than that. Both horses were pretty crusty so it took a while to get them groomed.

I put Axel in the arena (with his bell boots on) and he trotted around for a few minutes, lifting his back legs up as far as they'd go. At least he was working a little harder since he was annoyed at his boots. When he started to get lazy and just wander around I grabbed the lunge line and had him walk on a circle. I only had him work for 5 minutes total including both directions. Near the end of that 5 minutes (going counter clockwise I think) he started to get annoyed with me and fling his front legs out like he was doing the Spanish Walk. I think Axel has perhaps forgotten some of his ground manners and thinks that work (no matter how easy it is) is not on his agenda. So I'll continue to work him little by little until this first month of Adequan is over and then we'll start trotting more and maybe some riding.

Cody was crustier than Axel since he was a ball of sweat on Wednesday and rolled in the dust. I debated on what I was going to do with him when A came in to ride Vinnie. I decided to tack up Cody and just ride in the arena. He was calm in the cross ties until Vinnie went into the arena then he started to get restless. He did pretty good in the arena. I did some circles in both directions before I got on just to make sure he was paying attention to me and not Vinnie.

We walked and trotted and, if you can believe, cantered on the left lead after only 2 tries. We manged the right lead as well but it was pretty spastic and short lived. When Vinnie stopped in the middle Cody had a hard time not darting into the center to stop, we'll have to work on that more. But considering how bad our ride was on Wednesday it was a nice change, though we didn't try going outside. I'm wondering if it's worth it to get Cody walking down the road in hand instead of undersaddle.

It Didn't Work

So my thought that maybe the teeth floating and sheath cleaning would make Cody a happy camper was so wrong. Maybe it was bad timing. I think he's got a bit of anxiety right now since they've been pulled off their pasture and put into the small paddock with one new-to-them horse and they are right across the fence now from the horses in the big paddock. Right as I brought Cody into the barn to groom J, S, and J came riding up the road. Cody wanted to look out the door behind him as well as out the door in front of him so he was being kind of a spaz in the cross ties. They tied Amigo in the cross ties in front and put Jesse in a stall and by the time I was done grooming Cody had pooped 5 times and was shaking from nerves. He just can't stand not being part of everything that's going on around him.

I hand walked him in the arena for a while to try and calm him down. He was a sweaty mess and I hadn't even done anything yet. He was very calm doing a few circles at the walk and trot and changing directions. I got on and rode at the walk for a while and then a little bit of trot. Stitch was tied in the arena but it didn't seem to faze Cody too much so I decided maybe we'd try going down the road again.

We didn't even make it to the end of the driveway before he started backing up. So we kept backing up all the way back to the barn before I let him walk forward again. We did the usual weave down the road in the ditch desperately trying to see the barn/pasture. Our first lap back toward the barn was fast but not totally spastic. We passed the driveway and kept going, he calmed down a bit but then had a fit on the way back so we went for lap two. More freaking out and backing up and stopping so there was a third lap. And then a fourth lap but this time in the plowed corn field. I thought maybe having to work a little harder to move would make Cody think twice. He actually moved out pretty good at first but got pissy again when we turned around. He had one minor hissy fit when one car passed but was fine for all of the other cars passing, like I said, cars are just an excuse to bolt for home. He wasn't really settling in so I took the smallest try and called it quits and went back to the barn.

We trotted quite a bit in the barn and then worked on some cantering. We were good to the right but we could not get the left lead canter to save our lives. Over and over again I tried. Cody got to the point where I'd barely move my outside leg back and he'd leap into a canter, but on the wrong lead. I didn't want to end not getting that lead but I had to get a move on so I got down and tried to lunge him and get the left lead, couldn't even get a canter at that point. He was pulling out some really nice extended trot but just wouldn't pick up a canter. I had to stop at the point, he was dripping wet. Luckily I think the wet was from the 70F weather. He didn't seem to be breathing hard so I don't think I wore him out too much. We've rode a handful of times lately so hopefully I'm not overdoing it for him. I stretched him out before putting him back in the paddock.

He chased Axel around a bit and then a flock of birds before he flopped down on the ground and proceeded to make himself as muddy as possible, dust + sweat = mud all over his face. Oh and I didn't kill Axel with his first injection, he was just fine and thought I was there to take him out of the paddock and do something like give him treats. Poor Axel, doesn't know what's in store for him once he feels good, hay belly be gone!