Axel back on the long lines

I ran out for a few minutes before the Christmas holiday to drop of gifts and check on the boys. I put them both in the arena together again and was ready with my camera. And I got nothing. They apparently were not feeling it so I groomed them both real quick and put them back out to enjoy their round bale.

Cody rolls from Elise Ferguson on Vimeo.

After the very cold holiday I picked a warm melty day to go visit again. Though the warm and melty means it's supposed to rain and snow and freeze this coming weekend, ick. Both ponies were excited to see me, go figure, and came right up to the gate. I was crinkling some plastic and they were sure it was something truly great. Unfortunately for them it was dewormer. But I managed to deworm both horses without very little issue. Axel did end up spitting some of his out but I think Cody kept all his where it belonged.

I grabbed Axel and brought him into the arena. Another boarder and a friend were coming in at the same time and Axel started acting like he was going to have a nice run but as soon as I untied him he just stood there. I groomed quickly and tacked him up to do some ground driving. I think he could have benefited from a bit of a run. He did pretty good at first but started in with the bucking when the combination of two other horses being lunged and a dog barking got the best of him. At least that solidified my idea to not ride him any more this winter. I'm hoping this ground driving thing will help him. He has a hard time staying on the rail right now without leg aids but that should improve. He seemed to be walking out pretty well and didn't seem like his knee was bothering him too much. He even had a few moments of a very light trot that almost seemed sound. Though I can see how crooked he is while I'm walking behind him. I'll have to figure out how to get him more straight despite his sore knee. He might need an appointment with the chiropractor this spring if I can save up some money.

New Friends

I am such a bad photographer's wife/horse mom. I did not bring my camera out to the barn yesterday and it would have made for some nice photos/video. I met with a gal that's going to be riding Cody once a week to help me keep him in shape as I become more and more out of shape as it were. We put both boys in the arena since they were getting fidgety in the cross ties. And that's when I should have had the camera. Axel jumped around, was rearing and running along with Cody. They were playing a little and having a decent time. But of course I did not catch any of it to show. I've never actually seen Axel rear like that. I've seen Cody play with other horses like that before but Axel usually just hangs out.

When they were done messing around, N tacked up Cody and I got Axel set up with the long lines. She tried out Cody and I long lined Axel for a little while. Cody seemed to be behaving well enough. She had him canter on both leads which he did but he'll need a little work, he gets a little stressed out. Axel did pretty well on the long lines and his knee didn't seem to bother him at the walk at all. Next time I'll have to set up some cones or something to weave around and make it a little more interesting, maybe some ground poles or something.

Over all I think it went well. It'll be nice having someone come out and work Cody for me. Especially with WCR stuff starting up in January again, then I just have to worry about keeping Axel moving around.

So Much Snow

Visits seem to be few and far between these days. Partially because it's cold and snowy and partially because my back is so messed up I haven't been able to do much to begin with. But! There's a light at the end of the tunnel. My back is starting to feel better and I might have found someone to ride Cody on a regular basis. That would leave me to just have to worry about getting Axel back into ground driving. So more on that after this weekend.

J had plowed a bit of a space in the boys' pasture so they could get around and I could open the gate and all that. The snow is higher than the waterer. Both horses were pawing at the snow trying to unearth some hidden hay when I arrived. There was two small paths out into the deep snow and back, someone must have taken a little loop just to check things out. There are still no paths way out into the pasture though. Lazy ponies are sticking close to the round bale at all times.

Axel isn't in the mood to run, and it hurts his knee from Elise Ferguson on Vimeo.

I put Axel in the arena and tried to video tape him running around but he did very little. His knee still seems pretty stable though it looks a little knobbier. He's still swollen as ever of course and not terribly interested in doing any work. I brushed him quickly and got the knots out of his mane and managed to pick his feet. Then I just did a very quick little session of walk-on and whoa on the lead line. If I could get a couple nice warm days I could work on getting his legs cleaned up from the mud fever but so far that doesn't seem to be happening any time soon. I just hope that stuff can't thrive in the freezing temperatures.

Cody stretches his legs a little from Elise Ferguson on Vimeo.

Cody ran around a bit more with some encouragement. I put him on the lead line and worked on some walk-on and whoa and some bending and turns on the forehand and haunches. Just trying to get him tuned up a bit so he's not in complete vacation mode when his new rider comes to try him out. He's still swollen as well but doesn't seem any worse for wear.

Chubby Ponies

Ran out to the barn last night after work to find the farrier already in the barn finishing the last horse before mine. J had him come out early and I made it just in time to grab my guys. He trimmed up Axel first and despite the "please hurry up" look at Axel's face, he handled his right knee very well. It must be retaining a bit of flexibility still so that's good. I had both boys tied in the arena when they were done while we chatted for a bit with the farrier. Danny and Vinnie were in the arena as well and everyone was very quiet. It must have been nice to just rest out of the cold and wind on decent footing for a while.

We discussed Cody and Axel's swelling. The farrier said every time he's seen something like what my guys have it was due to extra fat. Which I think stands to reason. Axel is totally chubby has been for years, he's just a big guy. Cody wasn't huge last year and the round bale really helped him. But this year he went into winter a lot more fit and maybe he had just enough weight that adding to it was just what he needed to add that swelling. So I think once again we're at old + cold + no movement + eating too much = swollen horse.

Now with the snow in the pasture it's interesting to see where the horses have gone. Someone has a spot for rolling but mostly they've stuck near the feeder or the round bale. There's one set of tracks that goes along the fence line out into the pasture maybe 10 feet but that's it. No one has gone frolicking in the snow. The other groups of horses I've seen all over their pastures and frequently see them playing. Cody and Axel just love their hay. I wonder what would happen if they had round bales all year ... I might have to buy super wide saddles!

Snow!

Still suffering from back pain so I haven't been quite as ambitious getting out to the barn as I should be. I did finally get out on Sunday to see that the boys are much happier now that it's snowed 6 inches. They can just about walk around their pasture like normal without slipping and sliding. I noticed no one has gone for a run in the fresh snow on the opposite side though. I guess that round bale is just too tempting.

I put Axel in the arena and brushed him off quickly and removed the tornadoes from his mane and the icebergs from his hooves. He wasn't too interested in running around on his own but I grabbed a lunge whip and clucked at him and off he went for a few bucks and a few laps. He had a bit of a gimpy trot but pretty much the same quality that it's been all this fall so I'll take that as a good sign. He's puffy as ever and he looks more pregnant than I do. I think he might have an eating disorder. I couldn't even pull him away from my grooming bag when he found the bag of treats in there. I had to scare him away. Seriously. He must thing he's a camel and he's trying to store up fat or something.

I brought Cody in for a while as well and got his hooves cleaned up. He does have swelling on his belly and sheath, not quite as bad as Axel but it's there. He definitely doesn't want me touching his business but that's how he usually is. He took a few laps around the arena with a bit of encouragement as well. I'm really hoping to get this back issue resolved so I can get back to riding at least a few more times before I can't get myself up there. Then I really have to get on the ball and start ground driving both horses. It won't be all that much exercise for them physically but maybe it'll keep their brains going.

Wish I Was a Detective

So I went out to the barn last Wednesday just to check and make sure everyone was right side up (stole that phrase from A, makes me giggle every time I hear it). At that point the boys had been back on round bale for not quite a week. Of course Axel was swollen up again, more like he was last year. I wasn't surprised. Other than that everyone looked pretty pleased with themselves so I went back home to get ready for Thanksgiving.

Between Thanksgiving festivities and throwing my back out (and being lazy when it gets cold) I didn't make it out to the barn again until last night, a full week later. Everyone was still on all fours when I arrived. I actually got side tracked by an injured deer that Jason and I tried to chase down and put out of it's misery but it apparently wasn't as injured as I thought and we couldn't find it after it ran off.

Let me just say, the boys are not impressed by their pasture right now. They were both standing up by the hay feeder and it took me 10 minutes to get Axel down to the gate. He wouldn't move. I thought maybe it was his knee bothering him. Really it was the frozen ground. Every step he took was slow and careful and followed by several minutes of waiting and me begging him to keep moving. All the mud froze in nice hard lumps all over the pasture with patches of ice between. I get the feeling both horses had done some Bambi moves prior and were very uneasy about moving. I'm actually looking forward to the 4-6" of snow we're supposed to get this weekend, maybe it'll make it easier for them to move around.

After skating Axel across the drive way we finally made it into the barn. Luckily there as no hay in the arena so I was able to turn him loose to do what he wished. Turns out his knee wasn't actually that bad. His mud fever is pretty nasty and it's way too cold to do anything about it. (I might be able to scrub them with hot wash clothes, scrub with chlorhexidine, and then maybe wrap them with polo wraps or towels til they dry next time I go out, that might not be too bad) Anyway, he wandered around in the arena a bit, tried to steal my shedding blade, the usual. I scraped some of the crusty spots he had from laying down and he wandered a bit more. Then he got excited a took off for a few minutes. A little bucking and running and snorting. He acted like he wanted me to play, he kept running up to me and stopping and then taking off again. I was going to get the big green ball out for him but it was pretty deflated and I wasn't in the mood to pump it back up. When he calmed down I skated him back out to the pasture where he stood and refused to move out of my way.

Cody took about as long to get from the feeder to the gate but we found a better route up to the barn so he didn't have to skate quite as much. He took off almost immediately when I put him in the arena. He was rearing, and jumping, and running, and having a great time. I suppose after standing still and tense on the ice it felt good to move a little. He ran around quite a bit more than Axel before he settled down enough for me to groom and pick his feet. I did notice Cody's sheath is now swollen as well. I couldn't tell if his belly had any edema and he sheath wasn't nearly as bad as Axel but it was puffy for sure.

So I have no idea what that means. Cody didn't swell last year and he didn't swell on the first round of hay bales this fall. But it's colder and it's icy and I don't think either horse is moving at all. So maybe we're coming down to it just being cold + lack of movement + too much eating + being old. I really wish I had a definitive answer though. I hate ignoring it not knowing exactly what it is. It's certainly not bothering Cody at all, though he doesn't want me to touch it which is normal for him.

As much as it'll suck having to feed horses in the winter, I'm looking forward to having the horses at our own place someday. I want to put Axel on a few more supplements but it's just too much work for J&J to feed powders or make sure Cody's not eating Axel's stuff. Plus I'd love to be able to grade the pasture and things like that to help de-lumpify it, or make it less muddy or just whatever it needs. But I oh so love not having to go out in the cold and feed every day.

Now that I'm pregnant it's not going to be long before I'm going to want to stop riding. I'd really like to get someone to come ride the horses for me weekly but J has made it known she doesn't really trust folks from the internet so finding someone online to ride might not be the best idea in her eyes. Sadly I don't know anyone in this area that needs a horse to ride.