The Sweet Life of Axel and Cody (and Haji)!

A little catch up

2012-01-12T16:10:00.001-06:00

As you can imagine life with a baby is a little different than life without one. Needless to say I don't get to the barn often and when I do I usually just let the horses in the arena to run around a bit. Axel is pretty much officially retired. I say pretty much because I figure Daniel will be able to ride him a bit eventually. But I think my days of riding are over. Nancy has still been riding Cody when she has an opportunity and that makes me feel so much better about slacking so much. I did make it out there on Saturday and I actually got on and rode, if you can believe that. Cody did so well. He was calm and not terribly concerned with being in the barn alone. He still can't pick up the left lead and he gets a little excited and offers the trot or canter but overall it was great to get back on.

Things are a little slow

2011-12-12T12:40:00.002-06:00

Things are a little slow these days. What with the baby, Axel being more or less retired, and the cold and dark winter weather, I haven't made it out to the barn in quite some time. The most I've done was some grooming during the last farrier visit. The boys are pretty happy with their round bales so I'm not too worried about them. Plus N makes it out to ride Cody. Axel has his usual winter swelling going on but his knee is doing okay. One of these days I'll get back on track and start doing some ground driving and maybe some trick training.

A Third Horse?

2011-11-22T15:20:00.001-06:00

Yes, I have a third horse. Well actually it's Daniel's horse. One of the therapy horses has retired and we've agreed to give him a retirement home. Eventually he'll be in Canby when we move Cody and Axel there but for now he's living with a friend down in South Western Minnesota. He's got 3 other horse friends out there and it's a much better place to be a horse than at the farm with only cows. Of course it was an adventure getting him there. We spent the weekends prior getting the trailer up and running again after it's remodel. Then we hauled the horse, Haji, out to the farm for the night where he paced and worried most of the evening. He had been at the therapy barn for 19 years so moving to a cattle farm was a bit of a change for him. On Saturday morning we were going to bring him down to his new temporary home when a snow storm hit. Daniel and I ended up staying at the farm while Jeff drove Haji down in the snow and ice. They arrived safely and Jeff ended up just leaving the trailer down there for the time being. I guess he slid through many stops, yikes!

Someone is feeling good

2011-11-03T10:12:00.001-05:00

Apparently a sore knee only means walking calmly is difficult. Bucking and jumping is exempt from the sore knee. I met N out at the barn last night for a ride before the darkness of winter took over. I walked Axel down the driveway and back and he seemed to be moving as well as the week prior so we gave it a shot. He actually moved out really well down the road. Due to our lack of riding lately he was working pretty diligently at ripping my arms out of their sockets. He had a tendency to abruptly stop and not want to move. I know Axel pretty well so normally I would haven't shied from telling him under no circumstances were we to stop but being as he has hardly been ridden the past couple years and it was cold and windy I was a little hesitant to use the same amount of convincing I normally would. He did give me one little crow hop on our way toward the neighbor's yard. Just about near the 1 mile mark everyone was walking calmly and forward so we asked them to turn around. And then the parade of tractors started and didn't stop. And Axel got a bee in his bonnet and started bucking. I more or less kept my seat but not until after I had hit my leg on the saddle horn. I asked him to stop and stand calmly and then I dismounted. Not something I would normally do but as I don't feel like it's appropriate to really make him work it was probably the safest thing to do. Cody was calm as could be while Axel bounced around behind him several times while I led him home. He was really moving out well at that point and it was just the occasional trip on the gravel that made him look the slightest bit off. I still don't think he's going to be doing any trail riding in his future though a calm ride on an isolated trail might be a little nicer than the busy road. I'll reserve the right to change my mind next spring when we get him another injection and the weather is nicer. Until then I think we'll have very few rides down the road if it's nice out, otherwise maybe some ground driving in the arena and some trick training if I get bored.

On the up swing?

2011-10-28T09:54:00.000-05:00

A week after Axel's last injection I ran out to the barn to check on him. N was out on Cody with Steele so I just grabbed Axel and we walked down the road. He's been almost sound at the walk on flat ground without a rider for a while now and I was a little disappointed to see he was the same a week following his injection.

A week later I got Jeff and Daniel to come out to the barn with me and we grabbed Axel to see how he was doing. He was a lot better, moving out quite a bit at the walk on flat ground. I brought him into the barn and picked out his feet and Daniel had his turn sitting on the big horse. Then I jumped on bareback for one lap around the arena, a very fast and sound lap at that! I'm trying not to get my hopes up but maybe he'll be sound enough for a walk down the road next week with Cody and Steele. I'm pretty sure we're not going to be trail riding ever again but if we can keep him sound at the walk without a rider I'm formulating a plan to take him to a lead line show with Daniel some day.

Another Knee Injection

2011-10-12T12:46:00.000-05:00

I ran out to the barn yesterday afternoon to meet up with the vet. We decided to give Axel another injection of steroids and HA to see if that would help him out a bit. They stand around so much in the winter I wanted to get it done so he was a bit more mobile before the ice started. If it works well enough for me to ride him down the road at a walk, all the better. We'll see how he feels in a week. He's such a good boy, stood perfectly still while having several needles stuck into his joint. Can't say I'd be able to do the same thing!

Daniel Meets the Boys

2011-10-12T12:43:00.001-05:00

I took Daniel out to the barn last week to meet Nancy and the horses. The first time he was at the barn he slept through the whole thing. We put him up on Cody for a photo op. He was a little unsure of what was going on. I don't know if he was afraid of Nancy or of sitting on the horse but he almost started crying. He was interested in trying to pet Cody's nose but horses bite hard so we didn't let him get too close. Have I said I cannot wait until he's big enough to ride?

Nearly Perfect Ride

2011-09-29T15:04:00.002-05:00

We had a farrier appointment on Tuesday so I ran out to the barn and left the baby with Jeff for a while. He was set up with a bottle but it's nicer if we don't have to waste a bottle so they try and wait until I get back. I thought Jeff had plans on Wednesday so when J suggested we go riding I didn't think I'd be able to. Well Jeff's plans changed and he offered that I go out to the barn and ride. So I met J at the barn and we took Cody and Steele down the rode. Nancy couldn't ride this week so I took her place ;) Cody was pure gold. I haven't had a ride like that on him in ages. He was calm, didn't need a lot of coaxing to leave the property, and went the same speed home as he did leaving the barn. We went south in the drainage ditch between cornfields and then ventured a bit further south than we usually go. Other than snatching grass every chance he had, Cody was a saint. He had a few tiny starts at the boogie men in the corn and needed to play catch up a few times since Steele walks quite a bit faster but it was great. Even during our little catch up trots he was calm and smooth. It's so nice riding a horse like that. I wish he was like that when he was alone but I'll take what I can get, who likes to trail ride alone anyways?I'm trying to schedule a time for the vet to come out and inject Axel's knee again. I'm hoping that helps enough for him to do an easy trail ride this fall if my trailer gets finished and brought down here. If it doesn't help him this time around then Mr. Axel might be looking at retirement at least from riding until Daniel is big enough to ride. I was trying to think of what I can do with Axel this winter if we're not riding. I was thinking of maybe clicker training him to do some tricks. Of course we can't work on bowing but there's gotta be some other tricks we could do. Maybe picking up items from the ground, he's already too mouthy, maybe we could put it to good use.

On my own

2011-09-08T10:34:00.001-05:00

Back out to the barn last night. This time on my own. I decided to take Cody for a spin since it had been so long. He was, of course, the same as he usually is for me, uninterested in leaving the property. We worked in the ditch, back and forth, in front of the property. There was some fighting, a bit of cantering, and some crow hopping. You know, the usual. we ended by doing some trotting and a bit of wrong-lead cantering in the arena.

I jumped on Axel bareback in the arena for a few laps. He's still pretty "off" especially in the deep footing. I'm hoping next week we can get back out on the road with friends for a ride. If only I could get him to eat all his bute, he'd sure feel better as would I. Both boys had fly masks on but Cody had one ear out the side and one ear out the forelock hole. When I was done riding him I put his mask back on and put him in the pasture. By the time I was done with Axel (a whopping 15 minutes I'm sure), he had an ear out of the fly mask already.

Bath Time

2011-09-07T10:29:00.000-05:00

I went out again last week to ride but poor Axel had other ideas. He looked good when I brought him into the barn. I groomed and tacked him up and we headed down the road with Cody and Steele but before we even got past the property it was evident that he wasn't feeling too great. I got off to see if he'd walk it off but he wasn't even putting his full weight on that sore leg. So not knowing if he'd go completely lame or what we decided to turn around and head back. Cody and Steele kept going to have a nice ride in the drainage ditches.

Since it was pretty hot out and the horses had been sweating just standing in their pasture I decided to use my time to give Axel a little bit of a bath. I didn't use soap but I hosed him down really well and even scrubbed and clipped up his back feet. I say every year I'm going to try and preemptively combat the mud fever but I never get around to it. So this is the first step in that. If I can keep them cleaned up before it hits maybe I can keep it away by keep some MTG on him. When the gals got back from their ride they hosed off the other horses before turning them out. Of course Cody went for a nice roll in the arena, good thing we didn't use soap, I bet it felt good though!

A Real Ride

2011-08-26T08:04:00.000-05:00

Whoo hoo! I think I'm officially back in the saddle! Of course Axel is still pretty sore on that front knee but it was time to venture out of the arena. Axel's true colors shone through once again. After essentially being on vacation for over a year (with a little work in the middle) I was able to throw a saddle on him and take him down the road. I left the baby with his dad and they went to a car show and I met up with the gals at the barn and we had ourselves a mini trail ride a mile down the road and back. Axel was limpy, he wouldn't eat his bute before we left, hey I tried! But over the course of a mile and half he didn't really get any worse. He was calm and sane. He stopped a few times in an attempt to convince me the ride was over but it was nothing major. Cody was also a rock star. Calm as can be, as far as I could see he didn't try to bolt or trot or even turn around. What good boys!

I ended up getting off half way home and leading Axel, I figured it just wasn't fair for me to make he go that long after having so much time off. He moved out pretty well after I dismounted, for part of the walk he was nearly dragging me, guess I gotta keep working on my running so I can keep up. If I could get him to eat the bute he would have probably been just fine for the whole 2 miles. Since it's arthritis I'm still going to try and keep riding, just nice easy walks of course. He needs to keep moving and I think if I can get him to start using his rear end again that will help take some pressure off the front end.

So all and all it was a good ride. I would have loved to go longer, I would have loved to do some cantering, I would love for Axel to be 100% but it's just not going to happen. Depending on how he's doing and what the vet says next spring I might have his knee injected again. It's not expensive and it helped quite a bit last time, I wonder if there's any cumulative benefit to having it done every year? It'd be nice to keep him sound and working for the next few years until we move out to our own farm and he can retire with Cody. Of course with all the excitement of finally getting out again I forgot to take photos til we got back, whoops.

Back in the Saddle a second time

2011-08-18T14:18:00.001-05:00

Another farrier visit already. I left the baby with his dad and hit the road for the barn. The boys thought I was maybe going to feed them so they came trotting up from the opposite side of the pasture. Okay, Cody trotted, Axel limped.

After they had their feet done I saddled up Axel and took a few laps around the arena. He was moving out really well for the first two times around and then he decided he was sore and started limping like crazy. I guess it doesn't take much when you are out of shape. I wish he felt as good as he looks.

I'm still going to attempt a trip down the road, next week if I can get out there when N is out riding Cody. Axel might get himself some bute before that ride just to smooth it out a bit. He doesn't quite understand when I tell him that he's gotta keep moving despite the arthritis, it's the only way to keep it from getting stiff. Maybe drugs will speak louder than words.

Back at the barn!

2011-08-10T20:27:00.000-05:00

I finally made it back to the barn for more than a few minutes! Jeff, armed with a bottle, took baby duty so I could go play with horses for a while. I didn't do a whole lot but it was more than I had done in a long time. Axel isn't so much a black horse any more as he is a nice dark brown from standing out in the sun. It probably took me an hour to groom and get all the knots out of his mane from the wind. We did very minimal ground work in the arena, mostly Axel just wandered around checking things out. I was thinking I wouldn't ride for quite a while but Axel tends to not make huge improvements from ground work. So I'm thinking the next time I can make it out when N is riding Cody I'll ride Axel in the arena. Until then I might tack him up and do ground work just so he's reminded what it's all about. We'll see if I stick to that plan ;) Cody was not too happy that I took Axel out of the pasture. He's been the one to leave the pasture not Axel. We could hear him calling all the way up to the barn.

Still Alive

2011-07-06T11:56:00.000-05:00

I'm still alive and so are the horses. We stopped out last week to bring Daniel out to meet the boys but only stayed for a few minutes, the bugs were pretty bad. Then last night we had a farrier appointment so I left the baby with his great aunt and ran out to tend to the boys. Their hooves were looking pretty beat up from stomping flies. N has been riding Cody down the road, the last few times with another horse, and it's been going well. Meanwhile I'm counting down the days until I can ride again, though after so much time off, Axel and I might spend quite a bit of time in the arena! I can't wait until Daniel can ride!

Memorial Day

2011-06-03T10:35:00.001-05:00

I waddled out to the barn again on Memorial day for a little while just to check on everyone. N has been busy lately so she hasn't had too much of a chance to get out and ride and who knows when this baby is coming so I figured I better take my chances while I had them. Instead of doing the long walk to the pasture to get a horse and bring him to the barn I just grabbed a few brushes and went out to groom in the pasture. Of course Cody was on the opposite side and Axel was no where in sight. Turns out he was napping on the far side of the pasture and it's a slight hill so you can't see on the other side until you get closer. It was difficult grooming, I didn't grab the right brushes and both horses had quite a bit of mud. Plus the bugs are starting to come out so there was a lot of swishing and biting going on that I had to dodge. The horses haven't quite figured out that standing on top of me does not make the bugs go away. I'll have to remember to bring out the fly masks next time I go out and pick up some fly spray as well. So in the end I didn't get much grooming done. Axel's legs are looking pretty good, still a couple remaining scabs but nothing new so that's good. Next time I'm able to bend over I'll get him shaved up again and maybe start putting on either some desitin or MTG.

I did manage to catch some crazy horse antics as I was walking back to the barn. Someone got some wind up their butts and took off in the next pasture so Cody and Axel started running. It resulted in a good 10 minutes of the next pasture running back and forth at full speed and Cody and Axel running in circles around their feeder. Axel was bucking and bouncing and Cody was just his usual frantic self. Of course by the time I got out my phone to try and video tape it they were too tired and hanging out by the water tank instead.

Chiropractor and Farrier

2011-05-26T12:38:00.000-05:00

Last week I waddled out to the barn to have the boys' chiropractor appointment. I foolishly decided to grab both horses at once which went okay until we got to the last gate and then both horses ended up in the yard wandering around and me with no lead ropes in my hand. Luckily Axel doesn't go any further than food and Cody was confused enough to stay put as well so I was able to catch them both without an issue. Then I figured I wasn't going to get them both through the little barn door so I tied Axel to the picnic table which he proceeded to drag into the driveway. *sigh*

Once I got both horses in the arena they goofed around for a while, Cody rolled and chased Axel around and they finally settled down. S was having both her boys tended to first so that gave us some time to wait. When she was done I put both boys in the cross ties and opted to start with Cody, figuring he hates waiting so maybe getting his adjustment first would calm him down. He wasn't horribly out of wack but had some low back issues. Axel also had some minor low back issues but that was about it for him. Of course Cody was not patient. He left two huge cow pies in the barn aisle and started to do his little cat stretch which freaks me out. I put Cody in a stall so I could clean up his mess and in case he peed. He proceeded to pace and sweat and just generally be a pain in the butt while Axel was finishing up.

I brought them back out to the pasture one at a time (hey I learned my lesson). Cody first, since he was the most likely to kill himself waiting. He proceeded to run around in circles while I went and grabbed Axel.

So then yesterday we had a farrier appointment. I was getting worried I might have to call and have someone else handle my horses if I was having this baby but the baby stayed where it belonged and I was able to waddle out to the pasture once again to get the boys. Cody was actually very calm and let me lead him slowly back to the barn. He stood well for the farrier while I grabbed Axel. Axel, the fat lazy lame horse, has found a new walking speed that I cannot keep up with so leading him is a bit harder these days. I'm glad he's feeling so good though. He was fine for the farrier and I put Cody back outside and left Axel in to do a bit of grooming since it had been so long. He still has a few remaining scabs but otherwise is looking good. I really should get out there one more time with the hose and try and get those last bits off and I still haven't ordered any Tea Tree spray which I'd like to use throughout the summer just to keep things at bay. It's rained probably 5 inches in the past week or two and there really is only one muddy spot in their new pasture so that's a good sign and it's not all that bad of a spot. So if I can get Axel cleared up maybe I can get ahead of the scratches this year, finally.

Finally Spring

2011-05-19T10:25:00.000-05:00

Boy is it a lot of work going out to fetch horses these days. It's a long walk and once I get Axel haltered and ready to go he's now walking much faster than me. Too bad getting on and riding from the pasture to the barn isn't an option. Luckily it should only be a few more weeks before the baby arrives.

I did make it out on a nice afternoon just to check on things. Axel's legs are healing up finally, he still has a few scabs here and there but J has been helping pick them off when she has a chance. His ventral edema is gone and any stocking up in his back legs seems to be gone as well and he doesn't seem to be in pain. He is fat though, very very fat. There's so much grass in the pasture they are in now, even without grain he's keeping the weight on. Poor boy is going to be in for a shock when I can ride again!

I gave Axel his spring shot in the barn and then I just brought Cody's shot out to the pasture with me. I wasn't in the mood to do the walk back to the barn an addition time and I figured Cody would be a lot calmer if he didn't have to be taken away from his neighbors who he loves so much. He really wants to be in with Cody2 and Stitch. I guess all the brown/white horses like to hang out together.

N rode in the arena this past weekend and walked Cody down the road a bit. I guess it went pretty well. He was a little upset about being away from the neighbors but not too horrible. Chiropractor is coming on Friday so I'll be excited to see if there are any attitude changes following the adjustment.

New Pasture

2011-05-11T10:36:00.000-05:00

So the boys are now out back in one of the big pastures. There's a bit of gate management that has to be done to get my guys out and not get the other herd with it but with all the grass it's not a huge issue. And boy are the horses happy to be a dry grassy pasture. They made me walk nearly to the back of the pasture to fetch them last night. Not that I couldn't use the exercise but it was the first 87F day and I think that might be my limit for heat while pregnant. I was beat by the time I got Axel back up to the barn. If I was agile and not in the state I'm in I would have figured out how to get on Axel and ride him back.

Cody was standing next to the fence with the other herd nearby. He didn't seem terribly concerned when I took Axel out either. He might have been calling a bit while we were in the barn but it's hard to tell who was yelling. He did come running up to the gate when I brought Axel back so he missed him a little. It'll be interesting to see how he reacts when N takes him out the next time. I just didn't have the energy to do it myself.

So I hosed off Axel's legs one more time, perhaps the last time if they keep healing. I got a handful of scabs off and things are looking pretty good. He must be feeling okay didn't pull his legs away when I picked or scrubbed. There's still a bunch of scabs stuck on there pretty good but things are going in the right direction. After spraying I scrubbed them good with the chlorhexidine. Seems like the hair is growing back as well. And in even better news, the winter fuzz is all but gone. Axel is shiny and black again and nearly all the swelling on his belly is gone. In a week or two he should be looking pretty darn spiffy. Then he'll turn red again of course but we get a few good days in there. He's also walking pretty well at least on the lead. I'm hoping this fall we can get back to light work again and maybe a trail ride if we can work out any of our kinks from not being ridden in so long. Jeff offered to start going out there and working with him as well but we'll see if that happens. I don't think a few more months off work is going to make a huge difference in his attitude after having a year and a half off. We'll just have to start with lots of ground work in tack as a reminder.

Vet Visit

2011-05-05T07:59:00.000-05:00

Well I guess we lucked out on Tuesday. Cody used up all his calm then and left me with a crazy horse when the vet came yesterday. Granted I should know better than to bring him inside before we're ready to go. Had him and Axel in the aisle to groom while I waited and he was there maybe two minutes before he started sweating and peed on the cement! So I put them both in the arena and he ran around like an idiot for a good 15 minutes. The big side door in the arena was open so he'd run up there look out at the neighbor horses and then try and run to the back corner where he thought he'd be closer to the horses but he couldn't see them there so he'd run back to the open door. Over and over. We ended up having to give him his shots outside where he could see his friends and he still wasn't the best but at least the vet got the needles in okay and he didn't really notice since he was so concerned.

I'm starting to wonder if it's not Dolly that has him worked up but instead Logan. Because Tuesday Logan was in and he was calm as could be. And he stands next to Logan at the fence all the time. So either he likes Logan a lot or Logan is competition for Dolly and he wants to know where he is at all times, doesn't want Logan to take Dolly away.

That horse, I tell ya, I think he has multiple personalities!

Axel was calm and patient like he usually is. Both horses scored a 5 on their body condition which surprised me. I figured Axel would be a notch over and Cody a notch under but the vet said they were looking good. Got some suggestions for Axel's scratches and the vet doesn't think it's copper deficiency he said it's hard to test for and doesn't happen very often. He did say supplementing for it wouldn't be a bad thing if I wanted to see if it helped at all. He figured the scratches were bacterial and thought I could maybe try some Animax/Panalog. His only other thought was maybe some sort of chorioptic mite (which is mange) but that again is tough to test for. It responds to an IM injection but I guess it's a bit tricky and it's doubtful that it would be it. He did agree that if Axel had a less than stellar immune system it would explain him getting them so often and so bad.

So everyone is caught up on their Rabies shots and had their coggins pulled. I have their other shots at home that I'll give. I actually ended up with a combo that has nearly everything in it so I just have one spring shot and then a strangles shot in the fall. The vet did recommend a Potomac shot but everyone declined that one. The last I heard it wasn't really around here and people don't usually give that shot. Glad I bought my shots at the Expo though, the combo shot was about 3 times as much from the vet as what I paid. Yikes!

Good Boy, Cody!

2011-05-04T08:24:00.000-05:00

I should know better than to forget that horses like to prove their owner's wrong every chance they get.

Ran out to the barn last evening. It was finally nice out and sunny and it had been dry for at least two days in a row. The wind is still chilly but the sun is nice to see. I grabbed Axel and hosed off his legs. Quite a few more scabs came off easily so now there is a lot of clean skin showing through. I'm hoping the more skin that gets exposed the faster the fungus/bacteria will go away considering it's an-aerobic and all. And I could tell he was starting to not hurt so much, he didn't yank his feet away from me nearly as much. So this time I just scrubbed him up with Chlorhexidine and let him stand there and dry for a while.

N came out to work with Cody a bit and there were a few other people in the arena as well. Nice weather brings everyone out to the barn it seems! So while Axel stood not so patiently Cody got groomed and he actually stood nicely considering how nervous he had been the last time he was taken away from his new girlfriend. I put Axel out and N tacked up Cody and brought him into the arena. There were two other people riding/lunging at the same time but Cody did awesome. It didn't look like N had to coax him to keep moving too much and he was super calm. When she'd ask him for a canter he'd attempt it without running into it. He still needs working picking up the left lead but he just kept trying never really getting out of control. Even trotting after being asked to canter he was calm and slow. He actually looked like a decently trained western horse.

Darn horse sure has a way to make his owner look bad! I can't get him to do any of that stuff calmly when I ride. When I start riding again I'm really going to have to work on sitting calmly and not driving him nuts with legs and seat and hands. He really goes well for a western trained or more experienced rider. Silly pony.

Superpowers

2011-04-28T12:04:00.000-05:00

In the excitement of trying to put the gate back on the hinges I completely failed at taking any photos during my last visit. The boys had spent the day in stalls on Tuesday while it rained and Cody was less than appreciative of that arrangement. So when I got there on Wednesday they were back in their old paddock with the shelter. And the mud. So much mud. Not that their other pasture didn't have mud. I let Axel wander around in the arena for a while in hopes to dry off his feet a bit before I started grooming. He's down to mostly random spots of red/brown hair with shiny black in between. But I think we still have a ways to go before he's back in his summer outfit.

I didn't spend a lot of time on his scabs since it's supposed to keep raining. I did get a few big ones off easily and coated him in MTG again. As much work as it's going to be since he isn't too fond of the procedure, I'm looking forward to a warm sunny day when I can hose him off really good, work as many of those scabs off, disinfect the area, and cover him in something medicated. Common sun, where are you? (you know what will happen, it'll be cold and rainy and then it'll go straight to 90F heat, ug)

When Axel was done I grabbed Cody to get him some time in the barn away from friends. Though now that they were back in their old paddock he didn't seem to care too much about being separated. Apparently he just really likes Dolly. I let him run in the arena for a bit. First thing he did was roll of course. I free lunged him for a few minutes to get him moving since it's pretty hard to get around in the slippery mud and rain. He stood decently enough for grooming, a little pawing but that was about it. He must have gotten himself a little worked up in the stall on Tuesday, his chest was all full of dried sweat and hair. Poor nervous horse.

When I went to put him back I lifted up on the gate to unlatch it and pulled it off the hinges. I managed to get Cody back in the paddock and then tried to get the gate back on but I could only ever get one hinge, never both at one time. So I had to suck it up and tell J&J that I broke the gate with my super human strength ;)

New Pasture

2011-04-25T09:38:00.000-05:00

The boys have been moved to a new pasture for a while. J&J are hoping to get something done about the massive bog that seems to be growing in their original pasture and until then they thought it'd be better to move them. This pasture doesn't look a whole lot better as far as mud but I'm pretty sure it dries out a lot quicker than the one they were in. If the weather gets bad they will go back in their original pasture with a shelter until J has a chance to make a new shelter. Needless to say Cody is very happy having some new neighbors to talk to, one of which is a mare.

Ironically he was giving Dolly the "hey baby" knicker and she walked away to go visit with Axel. Axel could care less and was more concerned that there was a little bit of grass for him to try and eat. Cody and Logan seem to be keeping close company but that might just be competition.

Axel's legs aren't worse but they aren't better yet. I'm not really getting my hopes up for a while since it's been raining and is supposed to rain a bunch more this coming week. Until we see some sun I've just been brushing off the dry mud and any scabs that want to come with and then putting as much MTG on him as possible. I *think* that's at least keeping the scabs from getting too huge, I think it loosens them up a bit so they fall off on their own. And hopefully it's keeping the mud fever from spreading up his leg too far.

So far I have about 1/4 of a horse again (the rest being buffalo). His neck has shed down to shiny black hair. Now if only the rest of him would follow. And it looks like his belly/swelling is starting to go away and his sheath is almost normal sized. Pretty soon he's going to look like the fancy black horse again.

Is it Spring yet?

2011-04-19T10:21:00.000-05:00

I forwent a nap so I could visit the boys last night. Lots going on this week so it was my only chance to check on Axel and make sure he wasn't completely miserable from the mud fever. Much to my surprise he was doing pretty well. Still scabby of course but the scabs seem to be contained and of a smaller variety than last week. He's still sore and standing around with one foot in the air but at least it's maintaining for now. If we could just get a good week's worth of sun and warm to dry up their paddock it would really help. Not to mention if it gets warmer out I'm more inclined to hose him off and try and get some of the scabs removed. J said he had been sleeping all day, out there completely laid out on his side. She called to him a few times to make sure an ear would twitch. He's pretty round and laying down I imagine he looks a bit like a dead bloated horse. I'm surprised no one calls or stops by to tell her about the "dead horse" in the paddock! I cleaned off as much dirty and mud and hair as I could. Luckily the mud on his legs was dry so I brushed it off and tried to soak him in MTG again. I didn't feel like being hunched over with the hose and the MTG usually helps loosen things up anyways. Hopefully I can make it out this weekend and it'll be nicer out.

Cody was very sad that not only was Axel in the barn but both his neighbor horses were in the barn so he was ready to bust through the fence to find them when I brought Axel back out. He spent quite a bit of time in the cross ties calm but started to paw as I finished up grooming. For once he wasn't a ball of sweat. I left his legs alone as he had trampled through the wet mud before I haltered him. Since N hadn't been out to ride the past weekend I took him in the arena for a few minutes just to do some circles and get his brain working. He was calm and fairly willing to listen even though his neighbor was being lunged as well though he kept looking outside at some mysterious invisible thing. And of course he had to ruin a good evening by grabbing a whole bale of hay on his way by and spreading it all over the barn.

A New Tactic

2011-04-14T08:15:00.000-05:00

So Tuesday the scratches were in full effect. The scabs on Axel's legs are huge and he's very sore. I even resorted to giving him some bute to hopefully take the edge off. J had the warm water turned on so I hosed down Axel's legs, in retrospect a cold hosing might have felt better but the warm water helped work some scabs off and wasn't quite as shocking. I couldn't get all the scabs off, some were on there to stay. After I soaked him for quite some time we went in the barn and I scrubbed him up with the chlorhexidine. While I waited for that to dry I removed another horse's worth of hair from Axel's winter coat and convinced him to eat some bute. He didn't eat all of it so I'm hoping he got at least a decent amount to make him feel a little better for the day. Since he's so sore I decided to try some tri-care on the spots where I picked the scabs instead of the MTG. At this point I'm just kind of pulling at straws to find something to make him comfortable until the pasture dries. My initial thought is that having less scabs should help at least a tiny bit.

I did a little research and it seems like perhaps Axel could have a copper deficiency. The symptoms of such are mud fever, dull reddish coat, swollen joints. All three things Axel has. So now I'm looking at finding a copper supplement and seeing if he'll eat that. I probably won't have J&J feed it to him every day but between N and I we can probably get a decent amount in him a few times a week. I know J&J would offer to feed it but I think at 4am feeding time the last time a person wants to do is deal with more supplements. Considering the month's worth of joint supplement Axel gets lasts several months, I'm thinking it gets skipped once in a while. I am looking forward to having the horses at my own house and being able to make weird diet changes without putting someone else out. Another reason I'd rather not send them back to the farm when the Baby gets here, who's going to pamper my spoiled horses?

I did bring Cody in for a few minutes to do a little ground work and let him run around a bit. I could tell he really wanted to roll while I asked him to circle but because of that he had a really nice long and low trot, good back stretch! When I was done on the lead line I let him roll and then I asked him to move out a bit and stretch his legs. I did scrape about a half a horse's worth of hair out of his winter coat but he's got a ways to go (and he gets groomed twice as often as Axel)! Lucky boys get the weekend off. I wanted to make it out to the barn one more time before the weekend to tend to Axel but it rained yesterday and it's supposed to rain Friday as well and we have to get the house cleaned up for some guests so it's probably not going to happen.

Still Fighting the Mud

2011-04-12T08:19:00.000-05:00

I managed to make it out to the barn twice last week. The weather was great and I had more or less unlimited time so it was a nice break. I dealt with Axel's feet for as long as my back could stand being hunched over. Put a lot of cold water on and scrubbed a bit to get some scabs off. I figured the cold water might feel good on sore legs. Axel wasn't terribly happy about the whole situation but he was manageable. I ended up scrubbing with Chlorhexidine first and then letting his legs dry while I chiseled the mud off the rest of him. Then I soaked him in MTG before I sent him back outside. So we'll see the outcome when I make it out there this week. I don't expect miracles but it'd be nice if the scabs were at a minimum. I brought Cody in as well and tried to get off as much mud as humanly possible. I am looking forward to everything drying out which I don't think will be too long. Rumor has it, the boys might go out back with the bigger herd. It'll be interesting to see how Cody reacts to being taken out of that herd to be ridden. He might be a bit of a pill for a while until he settles in. But I guess time will tell!

The weekend report for Cody was pretty good. N and Cody made it down the road further than usual. N usually dismounts near the end of the road and walks Cody a bit further then remounts and rides back. She's going to be gone this coming weekend so hopefully I can get out there a couple times and lunge him a bit just so he doesn't forget that he's not retired quite yet.

Mud Fever in Full Swing

2011-04-05T13:33:00.000-05:00

Sounds like Cody was feeling a little goofy on Saturday when N went out to ride. I'm hoping it's just a little Spring fever. Though we do have an appointment for the chiropractor in May, just too bad it's so far off. I guess they got as far as they usually get down the road and back, then a car passed by and he went a little bonkers so N dismounted. And as it has been lately, this occurred right in front of the driveway. Here's hoping a little nicer weather, more riding, and the chiropractor can get Cody back to earth.

Monday was our usual farrier visit and other than Axel being a bit of a pain in the rear everything went as usual. I brought Axel back in after everyone was done so I could attempt to remove some of his scabs. He's mostly okay with me fiddling around but tends to yank his feet up as high as he can. It's not too big a deal if I'm ready for it and don't get in the way but occasionally he loses his balance and I don't want to be pinned between him and the stall or the floor if he falls. I did manage to get off some pretty large scabs, they were pretty loose so it wasn't too hard to do between his little dance moves. I decided to go with the MTG this time so I did my best to get his legs good and soaked in that. I figure at the very least it might loosen up some more scabs. J offered to share some of his sulfur mix he makes for the clydesdale and hose down Axel's legs and what not for me. I still have my doubts that the sulfur mix or the MTG will actually kill anything but it's worth a try. Luckily the pasture is now roped off so they can't get to the low spots and the area they are confined to seems like it might dry out pretty quickly. Apparently when J was putting up the temporary fence he took a step and ended up over his muck boots in mud/water. The low spot of their pasture is basically like a bog. He thinks there's something up with the tiling that was done by the county a couple years ago. It'll be nice when it dries and they get some of the footing (read: manure) packed down a bit. Axel is pretty sore right now so I might see if I can find some tea tree spray, someone mentioned that it has a bit of a numbing affect and being able to spray it on from a distance is always a nice feature. After all of this including being a real bugger for the farrier, Axel was actually walking very soundly on our way back out to the pasture. I should have taken some time to work him a bit in the arena but with sore pasterns I don't really want to put boots on him yet. Maybe next time (famous last words).

Still waiting for spring

2011-03-29T10:05:00.000-05:00

We're still not up to the nice 40's and 50's we were a couple weeks ago but the sun was out this weekend and the 30 degree temperatures felt pretty warm since the sun is much closer these days. I brought Axel in for some grooming and who knows what. A was in with both her horses and Vinnie was being his usual teenage self. The bad thing about a black horse is the more you brush the dirtier they look especially this time of year. The shedding has slowed down a bit for now but Axel is still as hairy as can be. He's still swollen but they are also still hanging out close to the feeder so I don't expect too much change in that department until it starts getting a lot nicer.

The pasture is getting pretty muddy but there's still a good layer of ice under the manure so when I pulled Axel out of the pasture he wasn't walking too well but he shaped up when we got on good footing. His nice clean back feet from when I got them shaved up the last time are no more. The back of his left hind is full of scabs again and it must be sore judging from the way he did not want me any where near it. I didn't scrub with the chlorhexidine this time instead I just covered him in MTG in the hopes that either 1. it loosens up the scabs a bit and keeps away some of the mud and/or 2. it actually does kill the mud fever. I might go on an alternating plan this spring, one week scrub clean and the next time douse in MTG. In the grand scheme of things even when his legs hurt he's very cooperative.

The BOs are going to put up a temporary fence in the pasture to keep the boys off the low parts and give that half a chance to actually grow this year before they start grazing it down to nothing. I'm glad about that but I'm sure that means Axel will stay swollen a little longer and where they do end up will probably be pretty muddy.

Sunday I wimped out and stayed home but N had a chance to get out and work with Cody again. I guess he did pretty well and made it down the road to the spot Danny had issues in last week. Then he started to balk a little. N dismounted and walked him past the scary ghosts and got back on and heading home. He was a little worked up on the way home (doing his best Rollkur impression I'm sure) but settled in and she didn't have to have him circle at all. I guess they worked on stopping and resting and being calm on the walk back. And apparently he was not sweaty when they returned which means despite some of his protesting he was calm enough to not work himself into a lather, good boy Cody! Hopefully by the time it's really nice out and people are ready to ride around the block Cody will be easy to handle and N can get out for some longer rides with him. He seems pretty decent when you take him away from the property on a real trail ride so I'm not too worried about that and all this going out alone on the road should only help. I just wonder if we'll every get Axel back in physical and mental shape to do some trail rides this fall when I'm able to ride again and my trailer is done (fingers crossed).

Flying a Kite

2011-03-19T18:36:00.000-05:00

Made it out to the barn on a day when it was warm enough I didn't have to wear 10 layers of clothes, and boy was it nice. N was getting Cody ready and I had Axel in the aisle with him. Of course that didn't stop Cody from sweating just standing there. A showed up and got Danny ready while Cody was warmed up and Axel was long lined for a while. We decided we should all head out on the road for a while and enjoy the weather. I decided it was probably going to be easier to just lead Axel on the road rather than ground drive him but I left his tack on, figured maybe he'd stay in "work" mode that way.

Things started off a bit rocky. Stitch was alone in his paddock and subsequently running the fence line and calling. We were barely out of the driveway when Axel took flight. He went straight up in the air with all four feet, bounced a couple times, and then came down calm as can be. So we walked on. A little while later he did the same thing. When cars would pass we'd stop and wait just to be on the safe side. Cody was very well behaved and even led the pack for most of the ride. Axel repeatedly flew up in the air for no reason. Our goal was to make it the full mile but as we were getting about a 1/4 mile away from our destination Danny decided there was some horse-eating corn stalks in the far ditch and had some moments of trepidation. It eventually led to him backing up til he hit the near side of the ditch. I think he spun around at the change of footing and lept into the ditch. Well most of the snow is melted around here but the ditch has a good 3-4 feet still in it. Basically the top of the snow in the ditch is level with the road. Danny was unable to float on top of this snow and ended up sunk to his belly. A was able to get off and re-situate her reins to use as a lead while Danny laid in the snow patiently waiting the "ok" to work himself out of his predicament. And there I stood not taking photos with my phone. Duh.

In the end he made it out to the field side of the ditch and they walked back toward the nearest driveway so they could get back on the road. Unfortunately the field was very muddy so it wasn't a clean walk for either horse nor leader. We decided that was a good time to head back. Cody was a little wound up on the walk back, when Danny thrashed in the snow, Axel freaked out a bit and Cody tried to head for home. Nice to know when his buddies are in trouble he'll just be getting the heck out of there ;) We did make it back in one piece, Cody using his best Rollkur impression the whole way. Halfway down the driveway Axel decided to rear and jump around like an idiot so he sealed his fate for some lunging.

I haven't been lunging him much because of his knee but in my mind if you are sound enough to leap in the air or rear then you are sound enough to sweat some energy off on the lunge line. So he trotted and cantered a bit and it didn't take long before he came back to earth. Apparently a little adrenaline makes for a nice painkiller for arthritis.

All three horses rolled on their lead lines and we stood around and chatted for quite some time. It's been a while since there's been more than one or two people at the barn at one time and the weather was nice so we didn't freeze standing out there talking. Now if only I could have been working on my favorite part of horse riding: practicing the halt under saddle while chatting with people ;) I should get plenty of practice with that later this summer when I can get back on a horse again, hopefully after wearing Axel out first!

Any Day Now

2011-03-15T10:02:00.000-05:00

Any day now it's going to be Spring. I was lazy last week but I finally made it out to the barn yesterday. My car said it was only 35F but I swear it felt warmer than that. The shedding is still happening and now the boys are finding places other than snow to lay in so grooming is taking longer than normal. Axel volunteered to go fist and came up to the gate when I arrived. I groomed him in the cross-ties and then put him in the arena to roll off the rest of the hair I couldn't get off. He made it evident that it felt pretty good to roll - grunts and everything.

I put Cody in the arena first since he had found something pretty dirty to lay in. He trotted around looking for a good spot and rolled before coming back up to me. Which he followed up with turning and running away for another quick run around the arena. He was fairly calm in the cross-ties but I think he wished I would have finished quicker. I took him down the driveway for a quick walk to see where his head was at. He hasn't been ridden since his last trip down the driveway when the car passed and made him upset. Of course another truck passed at lightning speed and I was once again flying a kite. We worked just in front of the property walking back and forth and doing circles trying to get a nice calm walk and maybe some licking and chewing. When he finally gave in just a tiny bit I called it quits and we went back to the barn. I made him back up for quite a few steps before he was allowed to go back to the pasture. I didn't feel like lunging so I just wanted him to do "something" near the barn before he got his reward.

Gonna have to bring out the clippers and clean Cody up a bit next time I'm out. He's resembling a billy goat and it can't hurt to clean up his feathers either. Sometime in May we might have the Chiropractor out so I'm hoping that helps with his attitude again.

Sunny Winter Day

2011-03-05T19:27:00.000-06:00

It ended up getting a lot warmer today then I thought it was going to and the sun was shining so after running some errands I made it out to see the boys. I ended up bringing the real camera out though I'm not entirely impressed by my results. Try, try again I suppose.

I groomed Cody in the cross ties and then had him do just a handful of circles and change of direction before we went for a walk down the road (after he got in a roll of course). He was his usual self, speeding up to get in front of me but listening when I said "easy." He was a bit concerned with cars again so we did quite a few laps back and forth in front of the pasture and the neighbor's yard. We made it past the drive way and to the end of the other pasture with only one freak out because some dumba** thinks it's okay to dive 65mph on a gravel road. I don't blame Cody one bit for that freak out. Cody2 is now in the pasture with Steele so there was some playing going on there and my Cody wanted to get in on it so he was a bit distracted.

I brought him back into the arena to have him free lunge a bit more while I tried to take some videos. I decided maybe I'd bring in Axel to play as well. Of course Cody went from warm and slightly damp to sweating in the two minutes he stood there alone while I got Axel out of the pasture. Both boys together didn't really want to play too much and Axel was pretty dirty from laying in the snow and hay. I put Cody in the cross ties with a wool blanket and put Axel in the other set of ties. I figured maybe Cody would be calm enough to cool down while I groomed.

Axel stood like a champ while Cody tried to do his best to pace while tied up. Needless to say he didn't really dry off much. Luckily it was still sunny out so I scrubbed him as dry as I could with the blanket. I left Axel in the arena while I brought Cody out. Axel didn't turn the radio on this time but when I came back in he was standing with his foot on the bottom rung of the gate. He wasn't stuck luckily just impatient. I had thought about walking him down the road but it was getting late and the pregnant lady needed a rest room so it was back out in the pasture for the big woolly bear.

Still Long Lining

2011-02-28T11:50:00.000-06:00

Made it out to the barn on Sunday to check on the boys. Shedding is in full force. Axel laid down to roll in the arena and left a black imprint from all the hair. Both the boys ran around the arena a bit and Cody rolled. I wanted Axel to have a chance to roll without getting chased off by Cody so I tied him up in the arena. I groomed while Axel finally got a chance to get down on the ground. I don't know for sure but I don't think Cody was sweaty before I tied him up. He was tied for maybe 5 minutes, in the arena, where he could see Axel, and he still broke out in the sweats. That horse, what a nervous Nancy!

I left Axel in the arena while I took Cody back out to the pasture. When I came back into the barn Axel had figured out how to turn on the radio. Clearly this horse needs more work. So I suited him up to ground drive. He actually does pretty well with the driving, listens to voice commands pretty well and he's getting better at steering without leg. He still yanks on the reins though but I *think* it took longer before he started yanking this time. I'll have to get some ground poles and cones out next time to make it a bit more interesting. I should also start cantering him on the long lines but one step at a time I suppose.

Back on the Long Lines

2011-02-17T09:11:00.001-06:00

I was determined to do some work last night since it's been forever since I've gotten anything productive done at the barn. I grabbed Axel and cleaned him up the best I could. He apparently laid down at some point as well as ran through something sloppy that was splattered all over his opposite side. I outfitted him with a saddle pad, the training surcingle (on the last holes, fatty), an ace bandage to keep the surcingle from spinning, and bell boots on all his feet. Once we got past the "OMG I can't walk with these things on my feet" I put him in the arena and let him move out a bit just to get used to the boots. On his own accord he trotted around a few circles at a very forward and almost sound gait. Go Axel. When he finally stopped I put his bridle on and hooked up the long lines and set to work. He moved out well at the walk in both directions and did a decent job at a figure 8 to switch directions. About that time Steele came into the arena with his owner so Axel really wanted to go pester them. It was a bit more work to keep him focused but we did okay in the long run. Several more circles and a few more changes of direction later he was getting pretty fed up with me and started yanking on the reins. All I have to say is thank god I was on the ground, had I been on his back I would have had my arms pulled out of the sockets by his yanking. Maybe if we do enough long lining he'll get over that before someone rides him again. It's an old habit that we had broken when he was working every week but apparently boredom brings it back.

Following the long lining I walked him down the road to the neighbor's mail box just to get him out. He was moving forward and well and seemed pretty content being out and about. I happened to be positioned at his shoulder so when I moved up to his head (whether it had to do with my positioning or the fact we were further from the barn at that point) he started in with his head flips and almost-crow-hops. I corrected him a couple times and he settled down. He had done that last year when I was hand walking him to get him back into shape after being off so long, I'm guessing it's just the usual extra energy.

Incidentally the bell boots on the front were an attempt to get him to pick up his feet a bit more but it didn't really have the affect I was after. He actually tripped on the driveway while I was watching, basically just didn't pick up that right front and skidded his toe on the ground. Maybe I could try some chains like they use on Saddlebreds. Maybe the jingly feeling will make him pick up his feet more. I know he hates SMBs, I could try those but that might just be flailing rather than picking up his feet.

When we got back to the barn Steele was done playing so I turned Axel loose to let him roll or whatever while I put some stuff away. He didn't seem interested in rolling at all so I thought I'd see if I could coax him into moving a bit more. I won't be out to the barn for a while and figured he needed a little more time to stretch his legs. I hardly had the whip off the wall when he bucked and took off. Apparently he was ready and was just looking for an excuse to run, without Cody there to help him. So he cantered both directions, bucked, and tried to convince me to play with him (sorry guy, I can't play that way with a 1200lb animal). I always love his posture when he's done cruising around like that. You almost can't see his pregnant belly and he stands up nice and tall. He was a little damp on his chest but not steaming at all and apparently did not want to roll. I had a lasagna in the oven I had to get back to so I out to the pasture he went.

I said "hi" to Cody before I left and noticed it's been a few days since they've had a round bale. Not sure if they're done with round bales now for the winter but it'll be interesting to see if Axel's swelling clears up before the snow or not. Cody's swelling seems to have gone away completely, so there might be something to the whole exercise thing. I think I just can't keep up with the rate Axel eats. Maybe if someone was riding him daily we could affect the swelling with movement.

Finally Warm

2011-02-16T15:19:00.000-06:00

It was finally warm enough last night that I drug all my various tools out to clean up Axel's legs. (It just struck me as funny thinking of how many hits my photos will get from people searching for "shaved legs"). So after grooming a huge pile of hair off of Axel I set to work on his back legs. I shaved them (as best I could, I don't think the clippers were charged as much as I thought), then I scrubbed them with warm water and a Norwex cloth, then I scrubbed in some Chlorhexidine. So he's looking a little naked on the back end but hopefully it will help kill some leftover mud fever and if I can keep it at bay I will be able to cover him in some Zinc Oxide before the mud hits and try and keep him a little cleaner this year. He was actually being very well behaved while I did all this, barely moved a muscle. Though when I went to put him back outside he held his foot up as high as it would good, that short wet hair must be so heavy you know!

It was still light out and warm so I decided to take Cody down the road a bit. I figured it can't hurt at the very least and it's good exercise for me, right? So we went east at a decent speed, we got almost to the neighbors mailbox (which is about 400 feet according to google maps). He had a few moments where he sped up to try and get in front of me but he reacted beautifully to a verbal command of "easy." He even turned around calmly when I asked. He was definitely on a bit more of a mission going west toward the barn but nothing excessive. A very noisy bus started to approach us at one point and he was mildly concerned with it (pretty sure he was just formulating how he could use the bus as a reason to bolt). I asked him to stop a few times to keep his attention and the bus passed and all was well. He did get a little jiggy at that point so I asked him to circle. Unfortunately he was in a soft spot and slipped so he recovered by bucking and circling as fast as possible. After a couple circles he settled down so we walked on. We went another 400 feet past the driveway to the west with success and turned around and went past the drive way again. I think we went one or two more times past the drive way before I asked him to stop at the drive facing away and then turned him in the opposite direction he preferred before we headed in.

I put him on the lunge line in the barn to work on some cantering and get it in his head that going to the barn isn't always the best option in life. He's still disuniting like N pointed out but it's so hard to see with all those white feet! He's decided that "good boy" means stop so we tried to work through that a bit as well. His chest was a little damp when we finished so I groomed him in the aisle for a bit before putting him out. That reminds me to get out some Velcro and make up some sort of fleece neck cooler for him since that seems to be where he sweats most and it's hard to keep the regular coolers in that spot.

Cody's Report

2011-02-14T08:17:00.000-06:00

Ahh finally a gorgeous weekend. Wish I would have been able to get out and enjoy it on the back of a horse! Luckily for Cody, N was able to make it out and ride. She took him out on the road for the first time this year and he was not a perfect calm trail horse. But I wasn't expecting that. I was *hoping* he'd be super good for her but alas that was not the case. Sounds like it was a slow ride out and a fast ride home. She had him do a lot of circles and passed the driveway back and forth several times. I guess he did a lot of jigging but it doesn't sound like he tried to kill her or anything so that's good. Maybe after a few times he'll settle down. He's still cross cantering and doesn't like to pick up the left lead canter.

So Mr. Cody needs to do some more work. Ideally I'd ground drive him more (and Axel) and lunge him more at the canter. I also have an exercise that's supposed to help his canter leads but N would have to work on that one under saddle.

I just hope he can settle in by Summer so when I'm feeling back to riding again we can do some trail rides. Well I suppose we have to finish the trailer first ;)

Farrier Visit

2011-02-09T18:04:00.000-06:00

Well the good news is that the next time the farrier comes out it will be a lot warmer. We always end up with one appointment on what seems like the coldest day of the year. I broke out the full carhart overalls and jacket this time. Both boys got trimmed up. Cody still has that small crack/chip we keep trying to work out but it cracks just enough that it's never completely gone. Doesn't bother him and it was just a crack this time not a full on chip. Axel behaved as best as he could and only complained about his knee for a few minutes. That was about it, I hung out and chatted while the other horses had their feet done. It's been a while since I've been to the barn when other people were around, too bad it was freezing out.

Playing with the Neighbors

2011-02-07T15:02:00.001-06:00

I unfortunately thought I had less time than I really did when I went to the barn on Saturday. So instead of long lining Axel I just groomed him and let Cody and him run around a bit. I did get in a much better grooming session than Axel's had most the winter. Still haven't gotten around to washing and shaving his legs. The scabs on his legs right now are flakey and white and don't seem to be the usual scabby scabs. I scraped as much off as I could with the shedding blade so now he looks like he has mange or something. I think if I can keep them cleaned up this winter and get a chance to wash and shave before spring I might be able to fend off some of the mud fever that's bound to happen. I'd really like to get his legs clean enough to put a nice thick layer of desitin on there and block the nasty stuff but only if I can be sure his legs are clean first. I might be able to get away with just using MTG on Cody's legs. But alas, Axel is definitely shedding. He spent most of his time in the arena looking for a place to roll and thinking really hard about it but I guess he couldn't quite muster up the fortitude to get down on those knees this time around. Cody, of course, had no issues. They ran around a little but nothing too exciting to report.

I tied Cody and brought Axel out to the pasture. Before I could ask him to step out of the door he came running full speed at me through the tack room and outside and then stood there looking around. I walked him down to the gate where he proceeded to jump into a huge pile of snow and bounce around and buck at the other end of my lead rope. He then froze in place with his tail straight up in the air. This is when the 16hh horse seems a bit more like 18hh than the lazy 15hh he usually feels like. I put him in the pasture and waited for a minute to see what the deal was. Turns out the boys in the paddock next door were having a good run. Axel took off running toward them, up and down the fence line, bucking. Of course I didn't get a video of any of this. I should really just get a helmet cam and keep it running all the time when I'm out there, just in case something exciting happens.

Cody was much calmer exiting the barn than Axel. I decided to help things along with the transition into nicer weather and trips down the road that we'd take a walk down the driveway just to start getting used to it. He's usually much better on the ground than under saddle so it was no surprise that he walked down the driveway at a normal pace. Though he spent his time making eyes and arching his neck and the lady horses in the pasture on the other side of the driveway. We didn't tempt fate by leaving the driveway but we'll get there. I don't know that it helps much to hand walk him on the road but I figure it can't hurt. You'd think he'd eventually get a clue, we've been at this barn now for over 2 years. Silly horses.

Windy Day

2011-02-02T11:56:00.000-06:00

So I didn't work Axel like I'd planned. But! I at least made it out to the barn last night. It was so windy and cold the boys were huddled in the lean-to hiding. I brought Axel in and Cody looked like he really wanted to be inside as well so I just put them both in the arena. They did the usual bucking and running to a slightly more hyper level than normal, the wind was blowing the snow off the roof so there was a lot of snorting going around. I brushed both horses the best I could while they wandered around. Axel is shedding, already. I know this usually starts in February but seriously, February 1st? That seems a little early. Hopefully it'll warm up soon so we can groom outside and not have to clean up all the hair.

It sounds like Cody did well over the weekend with N. It was good weather and they had a nice time in the arena, WTC and all that. She was asking about going down the road when it's nicer out. I just hope Cody is better behaved for her than he has been for me in past springs.

They're Alive!

2011-01-26T11:55:00.000-06:00

The boys are both still alive and in one piece. After trying to wait out the cold weather last week and just being too lazy this weekend and N being busy the horses hadn't seen either of us in a while. But everyone was in good shape and enjoying their hay as usual.

Someone (Cody) actually made one path through the middle of the pasture to the fence line presumably to check out a couple new horses that are in the paddock across the driveway. But other than that, all signs point to very little movement away from the beloved hay bale. Man I can't wait until they can graze again.

I put Cody in the arena and grabbed Axel as well. Cody went about his usual speed inspection looking for a spot to roll, followed by the buck/fart/chase Axel routine. Cody ran Axel around the arena for a while before he finally got bored with that. I manged to brush both horses when they'd stand still for a few minutes. Looks like Axel might have found a spot to lay down outside at some point. He snorted around looking for a spot to roll in the arena; it took him a very long time between Cody chasing him off and his own reluctance to bend that knee.

So my plan was to tie up Axel, so he didn't kick down the gate or eat every rope in the arena, and bring Cody back out to the pasture. Axel decided his plan was to show me that I really need to start putting him back to work. He stood tied to the wall and bucked, and bucked, and threw a fit. For the safety of the barn itself and the horse I untied him but he was still being a spaz and I expected him to smash the gate open and gorge himself on alfalfa that was stacked in the aisle. So he won that battle and I tied up Cody instead. Cody was a little calmer and tends to opt for the side of self preservation over destruction so I figured he'd be fine tied, not to mention the fact he's been working all winter and is a little more sane. So poor Cody had to stand and wait while I put Axel out first.

Next time (dare I say tonight?) it's all Axel, ground work, lunging, and ground driving.

Always fun in the arena

2011-01-17T12:01:00.000-06:00

How did it work out that I have today off *and* it was above 20 degrees? Good deal, I have to say. I ran out to the barn just to check on the boys and put them in the arena to stretch their legs. I'm really not doing very good in my quest to ground drive Axel all winter. I really need to get back on track with that.

Anyway, N was out to ride yesterday and said Cody wasn't interested in rolling. My guess is because Danny was in the barn aisle Cody was preoccupied with that as he's known to do. Otherwise she said he did really good and she thinks he's getting used to her and vice versa. Today both boys were covered in some ice/snow/wet since it snowed last night and was warm enough to melt on their backs so I figured if they aren't going to roll today then that's their own fault!

I put them both in the arena and actually had my Flip camera this time. Remind me not to zoom with it though. It's either the low light or the Flip doesn't have an optical zoom, either way it looks kind of crumby when I zoomed in, sorry. You can go to my YouTube page to see these in HD, I just linked a smaller size so it would fit on the page.

Cody rolled and ran and chased Axel.

And Axel did his best to fight back.

After many attempts to find a place to roll, Axel finally got down and rolled his heart out. It looked so good Cody joined in for a second roll of his own.

Just a little running around

2011-01-13T08:36:00.000-06:00

Running Around from Elise Ferguson on Vimeo.

I had to drop off Axel's supplement last night so I put both horses in the arena for a few minutes to stretch their legs. I really wish they'd start using more of their pasture instead of just hovering over the round bale at all times. Common' horses, frolic in the snow a little, why don't ya? The boys seemed a little lazy so I brushed them down a bit, they must have been laying in the snow at some point. Cody had icicles on his tail and belly and chunks on his back. Axel was a little cleaner. For as lazy as they seemed it really only took one cluck or two from me and they were off. Cody's been trying out this new little bunny hop move that's pretty entertaining to watch. I did manage to catch some of the fun on video but as I'm standing there with my phone I realized I had the Flip in the car which would have made much better movies. Next time I will put the Flip in my jacket so I have it ready. Cuz really, you can never have too many videos of the same horses running in the same circles, right?

Oops I did it again

2011-01-10T11:21:00.000-06:00

I made it out to the barn yesterday afternoon just to check on the boys and see if N was around and how things were going. She was just un-tacking Cody when I came in. The boy was calm and relatively sweat free. I, of course, ruined that. I grabbed Axel and we put both horses in the arena. They both laid down to roll and Cody found two spots to roll. There was a little bit of running and playing but nothing too spectacular. While N went and swept the barn aisle I grabbed a whip and encouraged the boys to get moving a bit. They did a couple laps in both directions at full speed before stopping and begging to be let out. Axel was breathing heavy and Cody was now a ball of sweat. Oops. He didn't seem interested in rolling at all so I put a blanket on him. Then of course he wanted to roll. Two blankets later he wasn't terribly dry but had stopped steaming a bit and was just making himself nervous wanting to go out so we let them be. I stayed a few extra minutes to make sure Cody wasn't getting cold but he seemed pretty okay with stuffing his face with hay.

I guess Cody was much calmer for N's ride this time than he was last week. He was a little startled by snow falling off the roof, she said but that was about it. They just did some walking around for the most part.

More Rearing

2011-01-05T18:11:00.000-06:00

Ug I missed it again. I scrambled for my phone to try and capture Axel rearing and I missed it. Use your imagination, fat black horse up on his back legs.

Anyway I went out to the barn and really should have done a lot more than I did. It wasn't terribly cold tonight and I had a lot of time but as usual I just dinked around for a while. I groomed Axel and put him on the lunge line where he proceeded to trot like crazy several circles without me asking. Lame of course but not too bad in the grand scheme of things. I think he was tracking left/counter clockwise at the time. I can never remember which sides are my horses good sides and bad sides. Anyway, he walked when I asked and it was a really nice forward walk until I told him "good boy" and that's when he slowed down. I'm pretty sure he thinks "good boy" means "whoa." We spent a few minutes working on "whoa" and actually stopping when I said it. I had him switch directions and he set off cantering and bucking (on the right lead thank you). It took a few tries to get him back down to a walk but he's much better at stopping going to the right, he must not like that side as much. He seemed pretty alert on the lunge line so I thought maybe he'd be up for some fun with Cody.

Cody spins and rolls from Elise Ferguson on Vimeo.

I brought Cody in and turned both horses loose and that's when I tried to get to my phone in time. There was some running and bucking and rearing and I pretty much missed it all. I did manage to get a clip of Cody trotting around looking for a place to roll. He would spin and spin and spin before he finally got down to the ground. Why can't I get him to spin like that under saddle?

When the boys were done playing I thought I'd experiment and put Axel out and see if Cody had the same fit he did for N over the weekend. He did call out quite a bit while I turned Axel out and he nearly walked on top of me when I brought him to the center of the arena. I didn't have to encourage him to keep moving on the lunge line either. He was more than willing to get up and go. He was being a bit of a pill and trying to duck behind me so I wasn't in a position to drive him forward but other than that he was pretty decent. I didn't ride of course so I don't know how patient he would have been with tacking and all that. But hopefully we got a point across that it's not the end of the world. He'll probably be fine if he's first in the arena alone. I guess the alternative would be a horse you couldn't get to move.

Cody's a bit of a pill

2011-01-02T18:29:00.000-06:00

Just heard from Cody's new rider. She made it out this afternoon for a bit of horse time. She put both boys in the arena for a bit so they could frolic and do their thing and then put Axel out so she could ride. Cody had other ideas and proceeded to freak out a bit at the thought of being alone. She did get in a ride but it sounds like it was a little bit more like prancing than walking. The old man would not calm down and kept calling for Axel. Not sure what his deal was, perhaps he's more used to me than I thought, or maybe just the slight change in routine was enough to put him off his game. Her plan for next time is to ride first and then bring Axel in last. Seems like that should do the trick. I rarely have both horses in at once and I think subconsciously I rarely leave Cody the last one in the arena. It's funny how you do things automatically without thinking. But it's a good lesson for Cody, it's not like in his 21 years of life Axel has ever left and not come back. Goofy horses.

Axel back on the long lines

2010-12-29T13:46:00.001-06:00

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

2010-12-20T09:50:00.000-06:00

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

2010-12-18T16:39:00.002-06:00

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

2010-12-08T18:46:00.000-06:00

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!

2010-12-06T12:37:00.000-06:00

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

2010-12-02T08:42:00.000-06:00

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.

Winter Already?

2010-11-17T13:58:00.000-06:00

I mustered up enough motivation to run out to the barn on Monday. I'm pretty sure that's going to be increasingly more difficult to do as it's dark and cold out all the time. Boo. Both horses were standing far out in the pasture looking forlorn and bored. I stood at the gate and waited. I paced around a bit. Pretended to go up by where they get fed. Crinkled my pockets pretending to have treats. I even went into the barn where the feed is (to check on Axel's supplement). They both just stood at the far end of the pasture watching. Since it just dumped rain and snow on us seemingly out of the blue I knew the ground wasn't actually frozen and I wasn't about to go wading through the mud to get the horses. I ended up walking down the driveway next to the fence. When I headed back up toward the barn Axel decided to follow. Right through the mud. Then Cody decided to follow at high speed. Right.Through.The.Mud. Yuck.

I grabbed Axel and brought him into the barn and tried to scrape as much mud off him as possible. I'm not quite sure what the deal was, maybe I just tickled him but I was using the shedding blade and hit a spot on his right flank/rib area and he stomped down. It didn't seem like it was a directional kick but more of a "HEY WTF!" stomp. I poked a bit and couldn't find anything out of the ordinary so I just steered clear of that spot and finished grooming. I lunged Axel for a few minutes in the arena. He wasn't too excited about working and he wasn't offering any trotting or cantering. He wasn't feeling 100% but I don't think the little grooming incident was affecting him at all. He was short striding a bit but that's not terribly unusual for Axel.

His swollen bits don't seem to be getting worse. His sheath is slightly swollen on his right side and he still has a lump on his belly. It's move down to the lowest part of his stomach and is mostly on the right, almost in the center and about as big as my hand. I haven't decided what that means. They've been off round bales for a couple weeks now. I would think the swelling in his belly would take a while to go away but who knows. We'll see what happens when they get put back on round bales, I think this weekend. At least he'll be happy.

Cody had planted himself squarely in a nice muddy spot and was visiting with the neighbors over the fence while waiting for dinner. I didn't have my muck boots so I decided to just let him be for the night. He'll get his turn later when I remember my boots.

Not a happy camper!

2010-11-13T00:56:00.000-06:00

Last Sunday Axel was in fine form. I brought him into the barn and tacked him up, lunged him for a while. He was feeling pretty lazy and wasn't interested in running and bucking at all. I finally got on and walked him around for a while. It was so nice out I decided we should head down the road a little so we could keep moving but get some fresh air. We headed into the ditch and walked along until we got to the spot between the two fields. Axel stopped to look around and be the usual lazy Axel. I asked him to turn and head between the fields and before I knew it I was on the ground next to him and he was grazing. I have no idea what happened. He wasn't pissed as far as I could tell, there was no tell tale tail swishing or ear pinning. So I don't know what his problem was but he had all four feet off the ground and I flipped over his shoulder. I'm almost positive I landed on my feet and then stumbled backward and hit the ground. I wrenched my arm, side, and shoulder trying to rescue myself and keep hold of the reins. Though I had no need to worry since Axel was more interested in grass than going anywhere.

I grabbed him and tried to lead him over to the side of the ditch so I could mount easier. He decided (after weeks and weeks of standing knee deep and running through mud) that he was not going to step in the wet part of the ditch so he launched himself over the ditch and kicked my right leg in the process leaving me with a purple goose egg bigger than my hand. Needless to say Axel spent some quality time on the lunge line in the arena after that. He actually cantered both leads soundly until he was sweated up pretty good. Probably the most exercise he's gotten in a year. He even did some trotting that looked more on the side of sound than usual. Maybe a little stretching out is good for the ole boy. I was very unhappy with him so after he ran enough I put him back outside and went home.

My next trip to the barn on Tuesday was a little calmer. I just groomed both horses and scrubbed up their legs with some Chlorhexidine to try and fend off the mud fever. It just won't stop raining and they haven't had a chance to even dry out and now it's getting too cold to get the hose out so I'm left with mud, wet rags, and long hair. Ug. If they ever dry out I'll try and shave them both up a bit but who knows when that'll happen.

Back to Work, Again

2010-11-04T09:15:00.000-05:00

I went to the barn armed with a plan, sort of. The plan is to get Axel riding more. And to maybe put them on small squares for a few weeks to see what happens, or maybe not. I was still deciding at the time. Cody seems to have managed to stay out of the mud lately. Axel, on the other hand, has not. Most of the mud on his legs was dry but near his hoof it was still pretty wet. Since I planned to ride I need to put his bell boots on so I scraped as much mud off as I could.

It's amazing what a mess he leaves behind when I groom him. I was sneezing dirt all night. So much to Axel's dismay when I was done grooming him I tacked him up and brought him into the arena. I started by just lunging him for a while. I was hoping he was feeling as frisky as he was the other day and I wouldn't have to force him to pick up some speed. But he was pretty content just walking. So after he walked along in a circle (which he's getting almost good at) in both directions I clicked a few extra times to see what he'd do. First I got the "WTF" look from him and then he'd hop up in the air like a bronc a few times and then break into a trot for a few strides. I asked him a couple more times, I didn't really want him to trot, cantering seems to be a better gait for his knee but he just was not into it last night. He did manage a few strides of canter in each direction but there was a lot of crow hopping to get there. His trot was actually not terribly lame and I think if he'd bend his knees and pick up his feet it would go a lot better. I had forgotten his second pair of bell boots, I was going to put them on all 4 feet in hopes of inspiring a little less shuffling.

So we wrapped up the lunging after only a few minutes. Probably over 5 but I'm sure less than 10. Axel has not been pleased to wear a bridle lately. Not sure if it's just the year vacation he had or if something is bothering him. But I put his bridle on, convinced him to stand still at the mounting block, and hauled myself up on his back. He actually walked out really nice for the first lap or two around the arena on a loose rein. Then he started chewing on the bit and it seems like when he starts doing that he stops moving well. So the next 20 minutes or so I was after him to keep moving. I tried a few things like backing him up, wiggling the outside rein, holding my hands a little higher, and bending him both directions in attempts to get him to stop chewing on the bit and start paying attention. Didn't really work. He was paying enough attention to me that I was using mostly leg and seat cues to change his direction. He almost seemed like he was going to settle in near the end of the 20 minutes but as soon as we stopped to rest he started up again. If he doesn't settle in after a couple weeks of regular riding I might have to investigate his bridle and bit a little more. He did make it the full 20 minutes without a change in his lameness which was nice and after I got off he seemed the same and moved out fairly well. He wasn't interested in rolling, he wasn't really sweaty at all.

He's definitely low on muscle tone these days. It's hard to tell since he's so beefy to begin with but you can see between his back legs when he walks, normally those muscles rub together. And when I shift my weight to dismount he really braces himself and grunts a little. I should really get the chiropractor out to adjust him. He usually doesn't need it but a year off of riding and moving in general might have taken a toll. I just have to find the money. There so many other things he probably needs first like another knee injection, teeth floating, things like that.

So in the end I talked with J and he has some small squares he kind of wants to get rid of so he has room for the tractor in the barn. I hemmed and hawed over what we should do. On one hand I don't think it really has anything to do with the hay and I hate changing more than one thing at a time. On the other hand if we're going to test that theory we should do it now when it's still warm out. So he's going to put out small squares for a couple weeks and we'll see if that makes a difference. In then end we'll go back to big rounds for the winter because Cody just really needs it. My thought is keep exercising and if he gets better with both small squares and more work we'll see what happens when we add rounds back into the mix. If I wasn't worried about him eating fences posts or Cody losing too much weight, I'd say Axel could stand to drop a few pounds. He's probably better off being on the lighter side of things with his arthritis and ringbone but he's destined to be retired sooner than later and I think he'd rather be fat and happy than thin and mobile!

Really? Again Axel?

2010-11-03T09:40:00.000-05:00

Cody was actually fairly mud-less last night. Hairy and dusty, yes, but very little caked on mud. I grabbed him first since I planned to ride a bit. It's hard to get back in the habit once you start slacking. It's just so easy to groom and throw them back into the pasture. Anyway Cody was feeling a bit frisky so we did quite a bit of lunging first. Changing directions and backing up and all that. Once I got on he seemed fairly calm and actually spent a lot of time licking and chewing. We stuck to the walk for the most part and worked on some neck reining, circles, and serpentines. We managed a couple really nice turns on the forehand and almost got a side pass but not quite. I keep trying to work more going to the left since that seems to be his stiff side but it requires a lot of fighting to get both our bodies cooperating. We did manage to make it through all this work with almost no sweating and it was in the 50s so it was nice to not have to blanket after riding quite yet.

Axel was another story. I wasn't going to do anything with him last night until I brought Cody out and noticed his belly was swollen again. Ug. So I brought him in to check it out and see if I could get it to go down by lunging. So he walked in both directions for about 10 minutes total and there was no change. I should have gotten on and ridden but it was getting late at that point. I just keep going back to the round bale. How is the round bale causing this? It's a different hay supplier than last year but it's the same hay field he's been eating off all summer just in big rounds instead of small squares. It's not even first cutting. My first few thoughts are to do a powerpac, take him off the round bale for a couple weeks and see what happens, try antihistimines, and actually ride him and see if any of that works. I actually don't think it'd be allergies, how would that last all winter? Right now I'm thinking we'll pull the round bales for two weeks and I'll try and get him more exercise then add the round bale back in and see if keeping the exercise up helps. Unless the vet comes up with something else. It probably wouldn't hurt to do a powerpac anyway since I don't keep up on deworming too well but they are kind of spendy so we'll see what the vet thinks of that.

Round in Circles

2010-11-02T09:37:00.000-05:00

Since the rain and the wind finally stopped I was able to make it out to the barn last week on Thursday. It was still pretty chilly but at least the sun was out. The pasture wasn't as nearly swampy as I thought it would be but the horses were covered in wet mud as usual. I ended up grooming the dry parts and then lunging both horses in the arena. I would prefer to free lunge them but there's a few bales of hay still stored in the arena so that would not be a successful lunging session to say the least.

Axel actually walked out on the line pretty decently but when I asked him to keep walking he kicked up his heels and cantered away throwing in some bucks for good measure. He did manage to get the correct lead in both directions when he did canter. He had a few moments of trotting which weren't completely sound but didn't look too horrible.

Cody had his chance to kick up his heels as well. Any of his lazy summer attitude was definitely gone. It might have been the 3 days of constant wind that had him worked up but he was more alert than he's been in a long time. Hopefully he'll keep some of that energy through the winter so we can get some work done for once.

Uninspired

2010-10-26T10:32:00.000-05:00

I'm feeling very uninspired lately. It mostly has to do with the mud. So much mud. The horses are living in a bog. On top of that it's been raining all week. I'm pretty sure they are going to go from bog-living to bumpy ice rink living sooner than later. There's no way this water is going to go anywhere before it freezes. Ug. I foolishly thought having the round bales would mean the horses would stay on the dry side of the pasture. Oh no. When I get to the barn they are standing on the far side grazing the non-existant grass and staring at me. Sunday I ended up tricking them into thinking it was dinner time so I didn't have to wade through to get them. They paced back and forth on their side of the swamp trying to figure out what to do. Finally Axel took the plunge and instead of tip toeing through the muck he went full speed, mud flying everywhere, and for good measure he threw out some bucks just to spread it around a bit. There is next to nothing I can do when they are full of wet mud like that. You can't brush it off. Luckily it's still warm enough that the barn owners have the hoses still out. So I sprayed both horse's legs off for what could be the last time this fall. The warm water was actually steaming off their legs. I did a very poor job on Axel's legs. It's very hard to see black mud on a black horse. Cody's was much easier. Surprisingly Axel's mud fever/scratches aren't bad at all. He has one spot with some big scabs but that's it. I expected to see much worse. Cody's was spread around in little scabs here and there. He has a few larger ones that I just can't get off yet. The small flaky ones seem to come off easily just with the hose. So I scrubbed them both up with chlorhexidine and sent them back out side. They, of course, approved since they had just gotten a new bale of hay.

New Camera

2010-10-21T08:59:00.000-05:00

We picked up "my" new camera the other day so I yesterday I thought I should go out and give it a try on the horses. I definitely need practice still, I kept cutting off everyone's ears or nose and the first 10 photos were all blurry or focused on the wrong thing. I guess it's been a while since I've used a real camera! The cool thing about this camera is that it shoots 1080p video so HD horse videos will soon to follow!

The boys were happily munching away at their hay and wondering why I was just standing there clicking at them and not bringing them into the barn. When I was done shooting I did grab a brush and just bring it out to the pasture to give them a once over. You can see in Axel's photo they are still covered in mud so I didn't go below their bellies. If I can scrounge up some time this weekend I'll have to hose them off and get them scrubbed up again. The mud is not receding so it's kind of a pointless task but maybe it'll kill a few bugs.

Playing Catch Up

2010-10-19T14:12:00.000-05:00

Alright so I missed a few posts which makes it very difficult to recall when I went to the barn and what I did. I do know that two weeks ago the day after riding Cody between the fields the other boarder and I went out and I rode Axel down the road. We went nearly the whole mile before turning around. I did end up dismounting a bit before the neighbors and walking the rest of the way. Axel was tripping a bit and having some issues with the gravel but once I dismounted he walked the rest of the way back sound as a bell and quick fast even. I'd say he's been pretty darn sound for the past month or so.

Pretty sure I got out to the barn sometime last week as well but I think I just managed to do some grooming. Last night I went out for another lazy grooming session which turned out to be more lazy than usual. Axel was fairly muddy but most of it was dry with the exception of his feet. Cody, on the other hand, must have run through the mud when I had Axel in because he was covered in wet mud. I brushed the dry parts and ended up just putting him back outside. Can't do much with wet mud.

Axel seemed a little bit off again last night but walking from the pasture to the barn isn't too far to really assess him. I'd like to get him out on the road a couple more times before it's too late. Then we'll start some ground driving in the arena and move up to riding. The deep footing seems a little hard on his knee so we might have to work up to to it.

Riding between the fields

2010-10-06T09:09:00.000-05:00

Since Jeff is out of town for the week I naturally use every free day I have to go out to the barn and hang with the ponies. I went out to the pasture to grab someone and Axel comes booking it over to me, completely and utterly sound. So I groomed him and tacked him up and set out on the road. And I kicked and kicked and kicked. And he stood there and stared and didn't move. We made it halfway down the block before I finally gave up and turned around. He did manage to walk most the way back without stopping until we got into the driveway. If you'll recall when I first got Axel this is how life was, thus his nick name "thigh master." After riding him I wouldn't be able to walk for days he required so much leg to keep moving. I guess he's back to his old self after not having to work for nearly a year.

Another boarder showed up right as I was heading out so when I got back I got Cody tacked up and we set out on the road for a little ride. With inspiration from the other horse Cody actually made it down the road almost faster than a snail. We decided to turn into the ditch between the corn fields and check that out. Both horses must have gotten a little wind up their butts because what was a calm slow ride turned into a much more hyper walk/trot complete with a few spooks and the other horse doing a might fine PRE horse impression. They finally calmed down by the time we got to the other side of the field. We happened across a guy in a truck scoping out a place to bow hunt, I guess we'll be wearing orange from now on. We had one more spook on the far side of the field when a bird flew out. I admit, it scared me too so I can't really blame Cody. We were going along at a nice decent walk on the way back down the road when something snapped in Cody's head and he took off for no reason that I could find. I got him reined in and made him turn around once and we did some serpentines to get his mind off of whatever made him run in the first place. A tractor came up behind us so I pulled him down into the ditch and he decided to pull his litttle running backward into traffic move. I have no idea what his deal was, we were calm, heading home, going in the direction he prefers so there was no reason to start having a meltdown. When we got to the driveway I turned him around and got several "okay" steps backwards before dismounting and calling it a night.

I padded out the turnips I picked from the farm but most the horses had no clue what to do with them. Cody and Axel had a few bites but I think they were hard to chew or something. I dumped the rest in the pasture, maybe they'll get around to figuring them out. If the other border is around tonight and Axel is still feeling sound I might see if she wants to go for a quick ride down the road. Perhaps another horse will be a bit more inspiration for him. I think he should be able to manage a slow flat mile and if not it's not too far for me to dismount and walk.

What's Our Motivation?

2010-09-29T21:19:00.003-05:00

Before heading out to the farm for the weekend I only managed to sneak out to the barn on Wednesday. I wasn't feeling overly motivated so I groomed both horses and tried a bit of lunging in the arena. Axel just for a few minutes at the walk. I asked for a trot but he was quite reluctant to go anywhere. Cody was being his lazy self again. I'm going to have to figure out how to get him moving again. The best I can figure is that I need to work with him on the short leadline with some change of direction and then switch to the lunge line after he's for sure paying attention and hopefully more alert. After fighting with him on the lungeline for a while I unclipped and chased him around the arena to get him moving more. At least that way he was able to get into a canter and stretch his legs a bit.

Home Again Home Again

2010-09-29T15:11:00.001-05:00

Well the boys survived the week while I was in Colorado. Not only did they survive but at some point they were blessed with a round bale in their pasture. I swear to god they look fatter already. I'm really going to have to stay on top of things and keep Axel moving this winter, no slacking. Maybe having a round bale when there is still grass will help ease them into it. I guess time will tell. What I do know is that they already have a good start on their winter coats. Axel is almost all the way black again and Cody is starting to look like a teddy bear. I guess it's time to make sure the coolers and wool blankets are at the barn. How does this happen so fast?

I just ran out to check on everyone so I brought Axel in to groom. His wound is looking good I didn't even put any UHM on it this time. I did give him some MSM as usual. He was walking pretty good just lazily. And since they have the round bale now it seems like they are spending a little less time in the mud. I scrubbed Axel's back legs again. Next time I'll have to try and shave them up again and I'm almost out of Chlorhexidine so I'll have to pick up more of that.

Cody's scratches weren't looking too bad either but his back right leg seemed a bit stocked up so I scrubbed him as well. I might have to shave his legs too just so I can keep an eye on them. I put Cody in the arena for a few minutes to do some circling and we worked on driving over the fake bridge. The plan for both horses is going to be a lot of ground driving and lunging this winter. Now I just have to finish making my driving lines.

Gorgeous Sunday

2010-09-20T09:32:00.000-05:00

We're headed out to Colorado for a wedding this week so my trip to the barn yesterday was my one and only for the next week. I figured I better get out there and count everyone's limbs and get a handle on the status quo so when I get a phone call stating that one of them has decided to amputate something, I'll know how bad it is.

J and J were getting the big boys ready for a carriage ride when I got to the barn. I didn't have too much time since there was a ton of stuff left to do at the house before leaving for a week so I opted to not go with them. Axel seemed like he was moving pretty good so I saddled him up in his dressage saddle and set out on the road for a quick trip. Axel was very very sticky and I didn't have a whip so we inched our way past the pasture and didn't even make it to the trees. The team passed us so we turned around and headed back to the barn. He didn't seem terribly "off" just annoyed and stubborn. Granted this would be the second time he's had a saddle on since last December. I guess I'd be annoyed too. I also didn't give him any bute so cutting the trip short seemed like an okay idea just in case.

In the meantime Cody was acting like I hadn't taken Axel away in years. He was calling and running around. Not sure what got into him. Another boarder was there and had forgotten her bridle so she was bummed that she couldn't ride with us. Probably a good thing since her horse had thrown a shoe anyway. But it would have been nice to get a longer ride in. She was hand grazing Steele out in the ditch when we were tacked up and ready to head out. I got a little speed out of the drive way. I asked for a trot and Steele was standing at the end so Cody was a little more willing to move. We took the ditch (slowly) down to the path between the fields. So far Cody hadn't tried to turn and bolt so I asked him to turn into the drainway between the plowed wheat and the bean field and then I asked for a trot. It took a couple times to keep him moving and I asked for a canter. We took maybe 10 sort of bumpy strides in the canter but when I asked he went back down to a walk and was calm about the whole situation, despite having his head up in the air like a giraffe. So I asked him to turn around, which he did without bolting. His reward was a walk back to Steele with a loose rein where I dismounted and let him graze. I probably shouldn't reward him near the barn like that but he did behave very well.

I ended up hosing off both Axel and Cody's legs before I rode. J&J had the warm water hose already out so the boys got a treat in that respect. Axel's wound is looking okay. I think the scab was coming off so it was a little raw looking but not too bad. Cody has got himself some mud fever on his back shins (basically) so I actually shampooed his legs and then scrubbed them with chlorhexidine. I was hoping he'd drop while I had the bucket of soapy water but he's not a fan of the hose so I didn't get a chance to clean up his man bits. At least he's been letting me use a baby wipe, it just doesn't clean as well. The mud out there is like cement I don't know how they get it all out of the Clyde's feathers. Even with warm water, shampoo, and scrubbing Cody's legs were still pretty dirty.

On my drive home I passed the team coming up the highway in perfect sync so I slowed down and stuck my phone out the window to take a photo. Wish I would have had a real camera!

Just a quick ride in the arena

2010-09-16T15:19:00.000-05:00

Not a whole lot exciting on my last trip to the barn. I decided to give Axel a shot without any bute this time. Unfortunately he was having an off day so I rode bareback in the arena for 5 minutes at the most. So that was a little disappointing.

I tacked up Cody and rode him in the arena while J rode Logan and tried to convince him that Cody wasn't going to chase him. Cody tried to convince me he'd rather be napping but with a little help from Mr. Dressage Whip we got a little inspired. Just some trotting and a tiny bit of canter so I could convince him I could ride without yanking on his face. He's very inconsistent so we'll be cruising along just fine when all of a sudden he surges forward and leaves me behind and usually yanking on his face. I haven't quite decided what I want to do to work on this issue yet but I'll come up with something.

I generally spend a lot of time and effort trying to keep Cody on the rail which right now means he's nearly always counter bend and my inside leg is always dying from exhaustion. We had been working on a little bit of leg yielding and things like that which Cody never seems to understand until he wants to avoid doing something else. Frequently I'll push him to the rail and instead he'll either speed up or spin around like I asked for a turn on the forehand. He actually executed a very nice turn on the forehand for me on Tuesday even though that was not what I was asking for. So I played along and kept asking and insisted he go around a full 180 degrees. Good to know he can do that stuff just wish he'd do it when I asked!

After that I worked on getting the brush through his tail (need to get more show sheen the miracle groom doesn't work as well) and I was able to clean up his bits and pieces again with no kicking. Next time he gets a bath (with warm water) I'll see if I can convince him to let me clean him up with a sponge and soapy water, works much better than just a baby wipe.

Axel on the road!

2010-09-13T10:38:00.000-05:00

I really should keep better track, I can't recall if I went out to the barn on Friday or not. I think I did and just groomed but who knows. I did go out on Saturday after some extensive napping. I decided to groom outside again, the weather was perfect. I took Axel up to hose off his legs again since it's been a while. The mud just won't go away so it's kind of pointless but I want to keep tabs on the mud fever and make sure it's not getting any worse. He's actually got it on his shins (basically) right now. There's really not much on his ankles where it usually is but the front and back of his left rear cannon have some weird scab like bumps. Those don't seem particularly awful, they are more like clumps of skin and hair than they are scabs. I scraped off as much as I could and scrubbed him down with the chlorhexidine as usual. I hosed off his front feet as well and put some more Underwood Horse Medicine on his wound. It's looking pretty good, seems like it's healing up decently. I decided since Axel seemed to be feeling pretty good the past week that for a change of scenery we'd go out on the road for a quick ride.

If Axel stayed at his current state I'd be happy. I grabbed his bridle this time but opted to get on bareback since the picnic table makes such a nice mounting block. Axel was a little figity with the bit and spent a fair amount of time diving for grass but other than that he settled in to "work mode" a little better than I had expected. We walked to the west for a bit and then to the east, staying on the shoulder area where we wouldn't have to fight with gravel. I think overall he remained more sound than he did when we last rode in the arena. And really, how many people can get on their horse bareback for a ride down a semi busy gravel road after the horse has been out of work for 9 months? I didn't time it but I'm sure we didn't go for more than 10 minutes. I hope I can get him back in shape enough to do easy trail rides at the walk. Even if he needs a couple grams of bute every time we ride, a couple times a week shouldn't be too big a deal. I think the combo of the injection and the supplements seems to be finally paying off. We'll see if he'll ever get back to trotting shape or not. I think walking and carrying weight will be the first hurdle. I'm trying to go conservative on the pain meds so I can see if riding is making things any worse for him, so far it seems like it's having no negative affect.

When Axel was done I brought Cody into the barn to groom and tack up. He needed another ride on the road, I'm determined to keep it up and see if he improves at all. There's bound to be some trail riding this fall and I'd like a sane horse. We made our way down the driveway and down the road pretty slowly. Once we got past the culvert and a few moments of "I won't go forward" things picked up a bit. We actually made it down to the second to last field entrance before the intersection and Cody was moving out and not weaving so I asked him to turn around. Of course that was the moment a nice big wind blew up his tail and he scooted forward so we turned around and tried again. After that we walked back to the barn at a nice pace with no trotting. Except for the moments of not wanting to move forward we're making it further and further each time. I'm still trying to reward him for going forward without hesitation so I haven't pushed him further than the first mile. Next time we have someone to go with we'll most likely go further.

Cody on the Road - Try Try Again

2010-09-09T13:04:00.000-05:00

It was too nice out to not go for a ride down the road even if it had to be a slow one with Cody. I groomed and tacked outside to avoid having to clean up the barn aisle since I was short on time. Cody was his usual pokey self going down the driveway. He decided he needed to go left out of the driveway first. I assume he was looking for his almost-girlfriend, Diva, who has since left the barn. When I turned him around it was slow going again down the first part of the road in front of the pastures. We ended up in the ditch that they had mowed fairly recently. As soon as we passed the first culvert Cody stopped and started his backing up routine. When I finally got fed up with asking nicely and kicked him on he gave in and moved forward. I asked for a trot and a canter to wake him up but the canter ended us in the middle of the road. So we went back to the ditch and continued away from the barn. But I had his attention at this point and he moved forward without proding so we turned around (calmly) and headed back to the barn.

I generally make Cody walk past the barn before we turn in so he doesn't get any ideas. So we stayed in the ditch and passed th driveway at a bit of a trot. When we turned around to go back past the driveway I turned him around again and this time he didn't want to go back to the barn. He was dead set on going back down the road in front of Diva's and Dolly's pasture. Then he was dead set on going past the pasture toward the highway. I'm not sure what got into him maybe he was lost. I finally turned him around and aimed him back at the driveway. So it's still not relaxing to ride Cody down the road but he's getting better, slowly. It's been a long time since we've gone all the way down past the first intersection with or without some one else, we'll have to give that a try. At least the rides haven't been scarey or dangerous like they were earlier this year. And of course when we returned to the barn everyone got their last two cobs of sweet corn as a reward for being just so darned cute.

Everyone's got their groove back!

2010-09-08T13:30:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I've gone to the barn and felt like I got done as much as I should have. Axel seemed to be feeling okay in the pasture so I brought him in and gave him some MSM and bute and cleaned him up a bit. Flies seem to still be an issue but I'm out of fly spray so I didn't clean off all the mud on his legs, plus most of it was still wet. When I put him in the arena he was probably 95% sound at the walk. He wasn't feeling terribly feisty so I didn't put his bell boots on (I didn't think it would have been a good idea over all the mud in the first place). I scrambled up on him bareback and he walked off. I'd say he went the first 5 minutes 90% sound and maybe dipped down below that for the last 5 minutes. I tried to keep him moving the whole 10 minutes. He stopped quite a bit in the last half of the ride and started backing up a few times but I wanted to push him a little to make sure we were getting past any behavior/laziness issues and were just dealing with soreness. Overall he was pretty stable and didn't seem to get any worse the longer I rode. Lazier for sure, but his gait stayed constant.

Before I rode I picked up both front feet and held each knee bent for a minute. It seems like after the farrier was here he walked out so much better and I wondered if it had anything to do with being a little more stretched out. So I flexed his front knees and stretches his front shoulders before riding. He still braces himself when he stops (head up in the air) and when I go to dismount, though this time he didn't grunt as I slid off. I'm still not sure if that's pain related or just Axel related. I flexed his knee again after I dismounted and then did some massage on his front shoulders, back, and rear end. He seems to really enjoy having his rear end muscles massaged. And of course I scratched his itchy spot behind his girth. Anything to give him a good memory of being ridden. When we were done I gave him a couple cobs of sweet corn that Jeff decided were past their prime for our personal consumption.

I decided that I'd just do some ground work with Cody instead of riding in the arena for a change of pace. We haven't really worked on anything in a long time. He really needs some time on the lunge line building up some muscle but he also needs to remember that he has to move when I tell him to. So we started with some regular lunging but he was reluctant and it was hard to get him to move so I removed the lunge line and got him going at liberty. Without the lunge line I can weild the lunge whip a little more effectively and inspire a little more movement out of the old man. So he trotted around looking very nice for a while and then cantered around in both directions. When he was nice and awake I put him back on the lungeline to get a few more structured circles out of him as well as some change of direction. By this time he was back to his responsive self, changing directions with energy and paying attention. So I'm thinking we must get back into the habit of working on this sort of thing more and I have to make sure I don't settle for less than an energetic response to my requests.

Cody on the Road - Another Attempt

2010-09-02T23:38:00.000-05:00

J&J were just about to hitch up the boys for a ride down the road when I had grabbed Cody out of the pasture. J asked what I had planned and told me to "throw a saddle on and ride" in response to me not knowing what my plans were. I had Wednesday off to head out to Canby for the wedding but Jeff had to work so I used some of my time up at the barn. Unfortunately I didn't know how much time I had so I could have spent much more time out there than I did. Cody has been pretty sluggish lately so before I got on I asked him for some circles and change of direction in the arena. He's not nearly as peppy as he used to be but he seems to still be paying attention. He was very concerned that the clydes were heading down the drive way without him. I took that opportunity to mount up and hopefully have a little more inspired ride down the road than usual.

I did get him to trot a bit down the drive way and his speed was a little faster than the snail's pace he usually finds but the clydes were far enough ahead that they weren't much for inspiration. Luckily that also meant Cody wasn't going to feel the need to chase after them. We did make it down the road with very little incident. I didn't make him go all the way to the intersection and picked a moment when he was calm and not weaving to turn around. And luckily our change of direction did not mean bolting for home. He picked up a little faster pace but that was about the extent of it. Cars passed and he ignored them and he refrained from grabbing for grass. So overall I'd say the ride was slow but successful. I hope I can recall this fact and keep riding the old man all winter so he stays fairly cooperative. Which might not be too hard if Axel decides to be lame for the rest of his life.

Speaking of, I'm pretty sure I rode Axel a second time last week but seem to have lost track of when. It was maybe Tuesday; bareback with a halter and lead and only for a few minutes. If you'll recall he sped around the arena the time before kicking up his heels and was not worse for wear. So I got on a second time and he was his usual gimpy self but as long as he's not getting worse I think we shall persevere. This time, however, he was quite sore after I dismounted and led him back to the barn aisle. But after standing in the aisle for a few minutes he walked out fine. I've been giving him 2g of bute on the days that I ride just to take any edge off. The next day he was the same as ever so his momentary soreness must have been just that. I am tempted to save up some cash and have that knee x-rayed again next year just to see if anything has changed. We'll see how he holds up this winter. I have the long lines ready so even if I don't ride I'm going to try and keep him moving. Axel's other injury seems like it's healing up decently. You can see more skin starting to grow back so that's a good sign.

Bath Day

2010-08-31T12:49:00.001-05:00

Friday I was going camping all weekend so I just ran out to check on the boys and make sure everyone was still in one piece. Axel's wound looked like it was either scabbed over or covered in mud, or both. I did get quite the welcome, both horses were standing head first in the lean-to and when they heard me open the gate they both whipped around and started knickering. Too bd I didn't have any good snacks for them.

Camping ended early on Sunday so I was able to make it out to the barn on a hot sunny day. Axel was a little gimpy so I decided not to ride him afterall and opted for baths instead. With soap! I was scolded afterward for not using the warm water but it was so hot out I thought maybe the cold water would feel okay. Axel didn't seem to mind as he stood pretty decently for the scrubbing.

Cody, on the otherhand, was not too happy about the situation. He paid me back by rolling right away so you couldn't even tell he had a bath. I tried out the Underwood Horse Medicine on Axel's wound and one of his feet with mud fever, we'll see how that works on it. Cody's back legs were so dirty down to the skin I wasn't even able to get them all the way clean. I don't think he has mud fever, I'm pretty sure it's just dirt. I should have grabbed a scrub brush or something and worked on it but he was pretty unhappy about the bath so I just went as fast as possible. If I hadn't had given them the baths I don't think I would have noticed that they both have bot eggs on their legs. So now I have to find my bot knife and remember to bring that out and try and get them cleaned up. Sheesh horses.

The Mud

2010-08-26T09:09:00.002-05:00

Picture this: Sorrel paint horse with white stockings up to his knees + black black black mud = sorrel paint horse with black stockings up to his knees. I ran out to the barn late last night just to check on Axel and take off what I guessed would be a nasty muddy wrap. I was right about that. In fact the diaper that I had used was long gone and it was just some muddy vet wrap left. I tried to get it off in the pasture but the flies were bad so no one would stand still and after Axel slimed me with mud I decided to grab a halter and lead and take him out of the pasture. I didn't bother washing off the wound since it was covered in mud and would be covered in mud seconds after cleaning it. So I can just hope that it gets a chance to dry out and heal a little over the weekend. At the very least I hope it doesn't get any worse. I was curious if he was going to be extra gimpy from his mild bronc impression in the arena the night before but he was booking it around the paddock pretty well so either the flies were bad enough that he forgot he was sore or he was feeling pretty okay. Maybe a little exercize is what the doctor ordered. This cool weather must be a nice pace for the boys as well. Sadly I didn't get any photos since it was dark and everything was covered in mud.

Lame, huh? Coulda Fooled Me!

2010-08-25T09:11:00.000-05:00

I decided it was time. Axel needs to get back to some sort of work. Not hard, mind you. The vet was very adamant that I not do something that will make his condition worse. But the last time we chatted discussed the fact that standing around not moving was not going to help his arthritis so I think getting him walking is the key. If I can get him so that we can walk him down the road or trail with a little bute before hand and no heavy duty trotting or anything like that, I think that's the way to go. I don't think it's going to make anything worse at this point. The vet also suggested that I get some Surpass which I agree with and had suggested a long time ago. So I'll add that to my list of things to get.

I made this nice little graph of his soundness since the day he got the injection. Just for fun of course, that's what I do. So it was finally cool out so I made sure to get out to the barn. The wrap on Axel's leg was so black I thought he had lost it in the pasture somewhere. You couldn't even tell the vet wrap used to be yellow but it was still on his foot and it actually kept the wound clean. I hosed him off and brought him back into the barn. It seems like he's got some scabs on the backs of his legs higher up than he usually gets for mud fever but I can't quite figure them out so I made sure to scrub them good just in case. The scabs are staying to a minimum on the rest of his legs so that's good. If it would stop flooding in his pasture maybe I could stop worrying about it so much but at this point a quick scrub is much easier to deal with than if the scratches got as bad as some of the other boarder's horses. So I scrubbed his back feet and his cut with the Norwex cloth and then some chlorhexidine, then I put some tri-care on the cut, then I wrapped his cut again, and put on his bell boots in the back. I gave him some MSM and some bute since I planned to ride a bit and it had been a long time since he's had someone on his back.

When I brought him into the arena he nearly plowed me over ready to go so I unhooked his lead rope and let him go on his way. All the doors were open so he had to check out each one and then he took off. Cantering, trotting, you name it. The lame horse was not looking so lame all of a sudden. Sure he wasn't 100% at most gaits but he sure didn't seem to care. After about 8 minutes of him running and trotting and looking around he seemed to calm down so I grabbed his lead rope and tied it up like reins and led him to the mounting block. I will admit now that it took me three tries to get on. The first two times I jumped up, was laying over his back, tried to swing my leg over and felt myself going head first toward the ground on the other side of the horse so I bailed and landed on my feet. Third time's a charm I guess and I finally made it up on his back. He walked out with a bit of a limp but it was pretty stable and he was willing (for a few minutes). I didn't want to work him any longer than 10 minutes total including his little stint as a crazy horse running around the arena so I only stayed on for maybe 2 minutes. Basically a couple laps in each direction. Since he's started having all these issues I've jumped on bareback a couple times and I've noticed when I go to dismount he's very unhappy. He puts his head way up in the air and grunts as I swing down. I'm getting down on his left side, opposite of his sore knee, so I'm not sure if his back is sore maybe or what. The last couple times I got around to trying to do some massage on his back he seemed to really enjoy himself so perhaps that's the key. Old boy needs a masseuse apparently. Too bad he's already spent his allowance! To end the evening I took him for a walk down the road just to the end of the pasture and back. I think we're lacking in the stamina department right now, he got pretty slow just after that little bit and it didn't seem like soreness, just tiredness. So we'll try and keep up the 10 minutes of moving for a while and then increase by 5 after a few weeks.

Hopefully I can pop out there quick tonight and remove that bandage and leave it off for the weekend, maybe it will scab up. I'm just hoping the proud flesh doesn't get too bad. I should have taken a photo of it last night but I forgot, maybe tonight.

Makeshift Surgery

2010-08-24T09:34:00.000-05:00

Axel may be accident prone but he is really the best patient I could ask for I think. I actually beat the farrier to the barn this time as did two other boarders. Since they already had horses in I messed around getting my saddle and stuff out of the car, put it in the sun to dry more, and hung out for a bit while they had their horses trimmed and shod. I grabbed Axel and brought him over to the tree to hose off his feet. I half thought about giving him a real bath but decided against it. The cut on his foot was looking okay. The flap of skin wasn't completely shriveled up yet and the wound itself was a little meaty looking. He might be getting a bit of scar tissue. I'll have to do some research on how to prevent that from getting too bad. I got him groomed up, scrubbed his back feet with the Norwex cloth, scrubbed in some Chlorhexidine on both his back feet and his wound, and then put some tri-care on the cut while we waited for our turn. He was starting to get a little antsy waiting so we walked around a bit on the gravel beside the arena so he could at least keep his wound clean for a few minutes.

The farrier trimmed him up taking extra care on this right front since that's his sore knee. I guess he had forgotten about that particular issue of Axel's but noticed Axel stiffen up ever so slightly as he picked up that foot and immediately remembered. When he got around to that left front with the cut and flap of skin he asked if I wanted him to nip that off. I told him he could try, I wasn't sure how much of it was still alive or would be painful. Axel stood there with his foot on the stand while the farrier tried to get the flap of skin off with his nippers. Then he tried another nippers. Then he had to resort to his hoof knife because the flap just wasn't coming off. Axel didn't move a muscle the whole time. So either it didn't hurt at all or he's just that awesome. I'm guessing the former. That little flap of skin bled like you would not believe so I grabbed a diaper and some vet wrap that I keep in my little first aid bag and we wrapped up his foot. I left him in a stall for a while but it was apparent he was unhappy with that situation so I put him back out in the pasture. I figured it'll at least stay clean for a little bit while it clots up and I'll just unwrap it in a day or so and see how it's doing. I'll have to remember to restock my first aid bag as well.

Cody was the usual patient boy for his trim. He had some troubles with his front feet on the stand stretched out I might need to do some more leg stretches with him and help him get relaxed in that position. He might have just been stiff from Saturday's ride though he trotted up the yard in front of the barn while I was leading him up to be trimmed.

We Can Ride Trail Ride

2010-08-23T08:55:00.000-05:00

Well after a whirlwind summer we finally made it to the We Can Ride Trail Ride Fund Raiser weekend. I went from having no horse to ride, to having a friend's horse to ride, to having my own horse to ride. J&J offered to bring Cody for me which worked out well in the end since Cinder is getting pretty old and deserves his time off and that meant Tricia only had Dusty to offer to me and/or Anne.

So while I packed as much stuff in my mini as I could, J&J loaded Cody and their two TWHs into the big trailer. Supposedly Cody had no issues loading. Though when he got off the trailer we noticed he had a big scrape on his back right hock. Since he loaded calmly the best we can figure is he just stepped on himself while in the trailer, maybe shifting his weight at a stop or something. Cody was a little sweaty already getting off the trailer but that's pretty normal, he gets nervous and sweats. So he stood tied to the picket line for a while and grazed a bit while we finished getting everything ready and had lunch and all that. He was actually very patient. We tacked up and tried to get everyone organized to go. J&J had already set out on the trail. Cody started off as he usually does, trotting and worried about life. The last time B and I rode this trail he settled down pretty quickly so I was hoping and waiting for that moment. But it didn't come. He pretty much trotted the whole trail. Around the time we got up to the road and started heading back to the trail head is when he started to settle in with bouts of trotting to keep up with Vinnie. We did lead for a few minutes but that didn't seem to make him any happier. He might have been better off in the back but we didn't try that this time. He was a ball of sweat by the time we could see the trail head. I did get one little stretch of canter beside Steph and Boogie (gorgeous saddlebred canter on him). At least when Cody is tired there's nothing scary about his canter since I know he'll stop and not get too wound up.

After the ride I untacked the sweaty boy and dumped the pools of sweat out of his hoof boots. I hosed him off at the well and then tied him up to the trailer. He actually stood at the trailer quiet for a long time. He must have been tired. I ended up loading him to go home. J&J's trailer has a ramp and that did not seem to faze Cody at all, so that was good. In my mind a ramp would be easier, no big step up. Cody balked once but got in pretty decent after that with just J standing behind him and telling him to step up. Since I had to pack up my car, unpack my car, and get to Minneapolis J&J were just going to take Cody home and turn him out for me. I imagine he got in a real nice roll when he got home and caked himself with mud that I'll have to chisle off him.

Trail Ride Prep

2010-08-19T14:33:00.000-05:00

I decided if J&J were going to bring Cody to the trail ride for me on Saturday I better put him to work so he's hopefully not a pain in the butt for them. I set up the "bridge" in the arena next to the wall with the two barrels (which I now remember I forgot to put away - doh) on the offside to simulate a close-quarters situation. I made Cody circle and change directions a few times (lazy pony) before walking him over the bridge in both directions. Then I sent him over the bridge with no issues. Well the only issue being laziness. But it was good to see he'd drive over the bridge even when it was loud and wobbly. Hopefully he'll walk into the trailer just as easy.

I worked with him for about an hour including riding. We walked (slowly), trotted (reluctantly), and even cantered on both leads (once and very spastic). We spent a few seconds on the turn on the forehand but he really will only swing his butt to the left. We tried to circle left and that was a fight more often than not, Cody is not left handed apparently. His neck seems a bit thicker on the left side as well so maybe he does need some stretch and massage in that direction like I conveniently ignored from the chiropractor.

When we finished up I cleaned up his bridle path and tried to clean up his whiskers. Cody prefers to try and eat the clippers instead of being scared of them. It makes clipping whiskers very tricky. I'm still questioning the amount of heat on his back from that Tacky Too pad. It just seems like no matter how cool it is out he sweats a good deal under the neoprene or whatever it is. I might have to go looking for some research.

When I put him out Jeff drove up on my motorcycle for a visit so we grabbed Axel and cleaned off his wound. He actually had stayed out of the mud since the night before so it was looking pretty clean, just full of flies. So we cleaned, scrubbed with Chlorhexidine, and borrowed some Swat to put on it and keep the bugs away. So far I think it's healing well, I just hope it doesn't get proud flesh or scar too bad. When it closes up I suppose I'll try the MTG on it but I think that'll be quite a while, it's a big wound.

A Nice Barn Trip

2010-08-18T09:35:00.000-05:00

For once (and I'm knocking on wood and crossing my fingers and throwing salt over my shoulder right now) my trip to the barn was pleasant. Axel was waiting at the gate so I didn't have to wade through the swamp to get him. He wasn't pleased as punch to be hosed off but the most he did to protest was pick up each foot. I cleaned off his wound and hosed off his back legs as well. His cut was looking pretty good. The skin flap is shriveling up and the cut itself didn't look too horrible. A thought maybe it was getting infected but at this point I don't think it is. It's light pink, not too oozy, no jagged red edges, and it didn't seem hot or too painful to the touch. Of course the flies love it but I know as soon as I put him back in the pasture it'll be covered in mud anyway. I scrubbed his back legs with the Norwex cloth, let them dry for a while, and then scrubbed with Chlorhexidine. They are looking pretty good actually. A few scabs a little higher up than he usually gets in the spring but the swelling has gone down in the back right leg.

I put some Chlorhexidine in the cut on his front foot. I'm hoping it's still effective even if it doesn't get scrubbed in. I did scrub around the wound with it and Axel seemed to appreciate that a bit, I suppose it's itchy as it heals and I was keeping the flies away. I tried to scrape the rest of the dried mud off his body but I didn't want to get too much dust in the wound so I took it easy. I should try and sneak in a bath yet this summer, he hasn't had one yet and the warmer days are getting fewer. Though the last time I bathed Cody I discovered there is warm water available. I didn't get Axel moving save for the walk to and from the barn but he's looking pretty okay, hard to tell on the gravel. Drat and I forgot to give him some MSM, oh well.

Cody had of course left his fly mask laying in the pasture. At least this time both he and the mask were on the near side of the swamp so I lucked out with both horses and didn't have to don the muck boots. The sun must be getting just low enough to keep him from getting too bad sun burn. I'll probably leave their masks off starting in the next few weeks, maybe September. Cody didn't have nearly as much mud on him as I thought he would and it must have been a while since he was in the wet because it was all dry. After I got him groomed up and put back in the pasture I chatted with J&J for a while mentioning the We Can Ride Trail Ride Fund Raiser this Saturday. I said that I was maybe borrowing a horse since I didn't think Cody would fit in A's straight load. So J&J decided to attend and they will bring Cody for me. I have to be early to set up so I'll just get my saddle and stuff in their trailer Friday night and they'll just grab Cody Saturday morning and bring him over for me. I'm so glad the old man gets to go to the ride (he might regret it but oh well). I just hope he loads okay for J. That leaves Dusty open for someone else to ride and it's always kind of silly to own two horses and not be able to have either of them with me. I'll have to make sure Cody gets groomed up real nice on Friday night, see if I can get my brush through his tail ;)

Mud Season Again

2010-08-17T13:29:00.002-05:00

This was the photo I was sent by A who was watching after Axel this past weekend while I was in Colorado. Kind of hard to see what's going on but it looks good to me. We'll see what it looks like when I get out there tonight. She said she thought it was maybe starting to get a bit infected so I'll have to make sure I get it cleaned up really good.

The other update I got while I was gone was about Cody. B sent me a message on FB about my silly horses.

"I saw how Cody gets mud up to his knees! Sunday after I put Diva back out I saw him in the middle of the pasture not far behind their shelter. Thought he was on his knees mid lay down, no he sunk so far into the mud there that he was up to all four leg to the top of the white. And he'd stand there and graze like that, then hoist a leg out one at a time and move and graze some more, without having to stretch his neck so far down! Hope he doenst ever get stuck!"

Sounds like I will be hosing off both horses tonight.

Axel Misses the Vet So Much

2010-08-12T13:17:00.000-05:00

Maybe I should tell Axel all about Jeff's new toy, a .44 Magnum. Because it doesn't seem like anything else is preventing him from trying to mame himself daily. I'm going to Colorado for the weekend so I thought I better run out quick last night and clean up Axel's back feet in an attempt to fend off the mud fever a bit. Sort of a pointless task since it rained 5 inches on Tuesday but I'm sure it doesn't hurt to at least try. I half thought maybe I wouldn't clean him up but I saw he was pretty much covered in mud, you couldn't even tell his back feet were supposed to be white. So I tied him to the tree and grabbed the hose and started spraying down his back legs. They actually cleaned up really nice since I had shaved him on Monday. The scabs were soft from standing in the muck all day so most of them came off with just the hose. I sprayed a little mist on the rest of him to cool him off since it was a billion and a half degrees out. His fronts were pretty muddy so I decided I might as well clean them up too even though he doesn't usually get scratches up there. Low and behold one piece of loose hair I can't seem to spray off. Well gee maybe that's because it's a big ole flap of skin that he decided to try and remove himself.

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, I'm leaving for the weekend and the barn owners are probably going camping, what better time to hurt yourself! So I sprayed in and around the cut trying to clean it out. There seemed to be something stuck in there but I couldn't tell if it was mud or flesh. I discussed his injury with J and we concluded there wasn't much that could be done about it save for cleaning it out. S took a peek at it as well as A and they both said they'd bring him in over the weekend and hose him off and make sure it wasn't turning gangrenous or anything. Thank goodness for nice boarders! I did email and call the vet to see what he thought but I haven't heard back and I'm running out of time (though A said she could meet the vet there if I couldn't make it). The general consensus on the interweb is that he'll be fine just probably have a nice scar. It seems like mostly skin and probably didn't even bleed much.

So I scrubbed Axel's back feet with the Norwex cloth, picked more scabs, and scrubbed him with the Chlorhexidine (I really should get some stock in this stuff). The good news so far is that the mud fever doesn't look too bad on the back legs and I think maybe the swelling is starting to go down (I suppose standing in cold water/mud helps that a bit). He's also walking pretty okay and if it would ever get to a temperature where he's not out there sweating from just standing still I might get to see him move more. I put some chlorhexidine in the wound on his front foot and tried to scrub a bit, he wasn't too pleased with me scrubbing though. I also tried to put some Tri-Care on the wound but I doubt that did any good. Without jamming my finger in there I was only able to really get the edges.

And I just got a call back from the vet that said we're doing all the right things, can't stitch it at this point so just keep it clean and call back if it gets nasty.

Sweaty Evening

2010-08-10T13:29:00.001-05:00

When I got to the barn around 7:30 last night the horses looked like someone had dumped a bucket of water on them, they were sweating that much. Of course the first thing Axel does is try and rub on me, ick ick ick. I wanted to get his legs cleaned up and decided he would appreciate some time standing in front of the fan while I scrubbed away. I really should carry the other camera more, Axel looked pretty cute with his fabio hair blowing in the wind but my cell phone hates the overhead lights in the barn aisle and I must have sweated on the lens or something.

So Axel has been on his new supplement (Flex-in-Motion) for a week now, not big breakthroughs but he was moving pretty good. Still a bit off at the walk but better than the last few weeks. His back right leg is still puffy but I'm hoping that's just from the scratches (mud fever). So I brushed as much of the dried mud off, scrubbed with a rag and water, let it dry for a while, shaved the hair short, scrubbed with a Norwex cloth and water, picked a few scabs, and then scrubbed in some Chlorhexidine. He wasn't terribly happy with the scrubbing but he tolerated me for the most part. I can't imagine the cold water felt too horrible considering the heat. I'm hoping to get this cleared up and see a change in the swelling sooner than later. If it ever cools down I'm going to start long lining the old man.

I brought Cody in to have his time in front of the fan as well while I just cleaned him up a bit and gave him the once over. Both horse's manes and tails are disgusting, sticky dirty gross. Axel had some nice hair "tornadoes" in his mane I had to get out. Cody had found the mud which I don't think I actually got completely off. I should get some show sheen to clean them up but I suppose it's kind of unnecessary. Maybe I'll get around to giving them a bath one of these days. Cody's nose is looking pretty good now. A was barn sitting this past weekend and put Cody's fly mask back on him when he'd lose it so I think that helped clear up some of the sun burn. He's not been great about keeping it on this summer, Axel has kept his on for longer stretches of time. Cody didn't seem to enjoy the fan quite as much as Axel but I think was starting to get used to it by the time I went to turn him out. He's got a weird bump on the outside of his right front which had a scab on it. I picked it in case it's mud fever so we'll just see what happens.

I had put their fly masks back on but they were both wet with sweat so I changed my mind and removed them. I should spray them down with some bleach water or something and air them out in the sun while they aren't wearing them but that takes planning. So far this morning it's rained and is now overcast and sunny so they shouldn't be too bad without the masks. We'll see how they feel about it tonight. I won't be around this weekend again so maybe I'll put them back on so at least they have them for a bit until they take them off.

A Little Better Visit

2010-08-04T14:20:00.000-05:00

Of course the day I'm able to get out to the barn it's a billion degrees out. I waited until as late as possible to go in hopes that it would cool down a bit. So around 7:30pm I finally went out to see the boys. Cody, once again, was missing his fly mask. Axel came barreling up to the gate, it was nice to see he was feeling pretty good again. I grabbed him and brought him into the barn so I could get him cleaned up. He ate his new supplement without fuss as well as his MSM.

That back right leg was still swollen and I noticed there was quite a bit of mud fever under the dried mud. I should have cleaned him a lot more than I did but I got off as much of the mud I could with a brush and scrubbed some chlorhexidine on both back feet. I'm hoping the swelling is just from the scratches and nothing else. He was actually walking pretty well on the front for once so I didn't give him any bute. Once again I'm just about out of fly spray, I should have gotten the big jug but it's just so much money at once. I tried to clean up some of the rough edges on his hooves before turning him back out. Cody already had his supper at this point and Axel went running off to catch up on the hay pile. It might be a feeble attempt but I put both their fly masks back on. Cody's gotten a little sun burnt the past couple weeks so I want to keep his nose covered as much as possible.

I don't think I'm going to get a chance to get back out to the barn this week, but I'd like to get Axel's feet cleaned up better and maybe shaved as well. Perhaps if our plans fall through tonight I can make it out. If the mud would dry up that would be helpful.

Common' boys!

2010-07-30T13:20:00.017-05:00

I managed to drag my lifeless body out to the barn before going to the farm. I came down with a nasty cold on Thursday morning. I mustered up enough energy to try out my new Rider's Rasp on the boys. Cody has decided to remove his fly mask as often as possible now. So I got him groomed up and fly sprayed and tried to even out some of the jagged edges on his hooves with the new rasp.

Axel was looking kind of bad. He was limping still and the more I looked at his legs the more I noticed he was kind of puffy. I looked around the best I could see and didn't find anything obvious so after grooming and fly spray we walked up and down the road a little to see if that would reduce any of the puffiness. In all reality I think it was mainly his back right that was swollen. So I gave him some MSM and bute and put him back outside in hopes whatever it was would clear up over the weekend.

Cody on the Road - Again

2010-07-27T15:23:00.002-05:00

I was actually around this weekend so I made it out to the barn on Sunday. Unfortunately I got there after J&J left for town with the clydes. So it was just me and Cody left to our own devices. It was warm but I decided it was time for another trip down the road alone. We will conquor this riding alone thing someday. I still need longer straps for Cody's breast collar, I tried it on him again and it's just too short but the new pad seems to help the slipping issue. With our boots on and a lead rope with a popper at my disposal we crawled down the driveway. Then we crawled down the road. We had a few stops on the way but only had to get popped with the lead rope once. Might be something I should do early on while we're still near the barn (less chance of a freak out and more chance for establishing some sort of alpha position in our relationship). We stopped when cars drove by but we did not spin around and bolt for home. I will remember treats next time. Perhaps cody needs some clicker training! Anyway we made it further than ever before (this summer). Almost all the way down to the next block. I'd say we had one minor spaz attack that was easily curtailed. When he calmed down we turned around. When he got amped to be facing home, we went away from the barn again and tried a second time. I'll take a nice brisk walk but I won't take a spazzy vertical trot, we don't run home, mister.

Going home should equal work so we did some serpentines. The first several were very spazzy "OMG are we turning around again I wanna go home now!" but once he figured out we were just bending then he settled in. I tried a bit of leg yeilding as well but without an audience it's hard to tell if he's crossing over or not, my guess is not. We went back to the serpentines and then tried some circles. Circles to the right were okay. Circles to the left looked like half circles with the sharp turn happening when we weren't facing the barn. Left is a real problem for Cody and it shows up a lot when he's freaking out. Left = freak out more. When we got near the drive way we trotted ... right past the driveway much to Cody's dismay. But as he calmly kept going with only a bit of encouragement we stopped and I got off and we walked the rest of the way home.

While I was riding I noticed Cody would get a weird hitch in his back end. Back left to be exact. Upon furthur investigation on the ground it seemed like he wasn't quite picking that foot up far enough and as we'd cross the crown of the road that toe would drag causing a bit of a catch/stumble. So Mr Cody might have to work on some ground poles as well. You'd think with the number of things I keep coming up with to work on I'd be busy out there all the time. But it's hard to get motivated and not just play around. I'm going to stop at the tack shop on the way home tonight and see if the have one of those Rider's Rasps. Cody has some serious chips going already and Tricia has expressed great love for the rasp so I think it's time to give it a whirl.

Get Better Already, Will Ya?

2010-07-23T21:12:00.020-05:00

Well Axel is still down in the dumps as far as that knee goes. It's big and swollen again and his limping around. I gave him some MSM and bute and then took him into the arena. Instead of lunging at the walk I just followed him around the arena with a lunge whip to keep him moving. He was off but he didn't get worse. At this point the only thing I can do is keep him moving. Though with all this swelling and soreness his knee is still much more flexible than it was before the injection. So we'll try a few more days of bute and see if the swelling goes down. Not much else I can do. There's nothing on his x-rays and since it's a joint there's really nothing else it could be but reaction to arthritis. I should probably bite the bullet and order some supplements for him and get him back going on that (done and I ordered some liniment to try). Hopefully getting him back on a joint supplement will do some good. The one I'm going to try is similar to what he was on before minus the Yucca, has more Vitamin C, no MSM (which I give separate anyway), has Collagen, little less HA, more Chondroitin, and a little less Glucosamine. So the affects should be about the same as the more expensive stuff he was getting. We'll see if my theory that he went to pot after I stopped the supplement is true. Especially since I can't do the joint injection more than every 3 months. Wish I would have gotten off my butt and ordered this stuff earlier.

So Axel got put back outside and I grabbed Cody. I had planned on maybe just getting on bareback in the arena for a few minutes but the new boarder showed up (she's been around a few months now but this was the first time I met her). I didn't really want to fight with Cody without a saddle for support so I threw on the dressage saddle. New horse, new people, I figured he'd want to pay attention to them and not me. He wasn't actually bad and after we did a bit of trotting we stopped to talk to the boarder which Cody appreciated. We finished off the night with a tiny bit of cantering and made around to the right almost 2 laps.

Finally a Ride

2010-07-21T09:57:00.000-05:00

One of these days I'll bring out a decent camera instead of my cell phone. Until then you get weird orange tinted photos where you can't actually see just how shiny and dappled Axel is. I ended up leaving off his fly mask this time around, he's getting some rub marks on his face from it. We'll see if gets bothered too much by bugs without it. He went all last year without one and didn't seem worse from wear. I ended up just grooming him and putting some fly spray on. He was a little limpy still, maybe down to a 4 on the Axel scale but I didn't put him in the arena or anything to really see how he was feeling. I should have more time this weekend to get him moving a bit. The sore knee certainly hasn't slowed him down any. I just have to decide how much I want to push him.

So A was at the barn and suggested we go for a ride down the road. I tacked up Cody (no yawning) and put on his boots and some fly spray and we were off ... like a snail. He's soooo darned slow. I have yet to bring a whip with on the road but I might have to start especially since my reins are one piece and don't have any ends to use as poppers. We went along at a glacier's pace for maybe just under a half mile before he started moving a little better. Maybe he also needs a warm up but I'm sure most of it is barn sour. But with every car that passed and he didn't decide to bolt home I praised and patted him and we kept on. When we turned the corner at the mile mark he picked up speed, mostly because going parallel to home is better than going away from home. He had a few bursts of trot but they weren't completely spazzy and since Vinnie is a pretty solid and lazy guy Cody didn't really have anything keeping him amped up. As soon as he relaxed down to a walk and licked I asked him to turn around and he did so very calmly. The past few times even if our ride out is calm (but slow) when we turn around he turns it up to 11. So I was very happy when he didn't bolt as we changed directions for home. He did pick up a real walk finally. I should have made him work a bit more, do some serpentines or something, but I chose to let him walk calmly the whole way back.

I'm really going to have to keep riding him out as much as I can even during the winter so he doesn't get barn sour again in the spring, he was going pretty good last year (I think) and then spring came around and he was crazy again. But more time will always help. Part of his slowness I think is his application for retirement. I don't think he needs to be a pasture puff quite yet and I'd like it if he'd keep in shape and become a nice kid's horse. So he and I will keep working and one of these days one of us will win (hopefully it's me).

Two Steps Forward One Step Back

2010-07-15T08:57:00.000-05:00

So the million dollar horse wasn't feeling up to par on Monday. Let's say on a scale from 1-10, 10 being awesome totally sound at all three gaits (something he hasn't been since this time last year) and 1 being so lame he can't move at all, holding up one foot hopping around style. Before he had his injection I'd say he was at a 3. After the injection he was at a 7 (still lame at the trot, sound at the walk and really moving out). Monday he was down to a 5. Not nearly as bad as before the injection but not as good as a week after the injection. I really don't know what the deal is. Just ups and downs I suppose. The only thing I can do right now is keep going slow, get him moving around more and back into shape. If this is really just arthritis issues then more work isn't going to make it worse, he doesn't have a broken leg or anything, it's just going to maybe hurt. My thoughts right now are to keep him going at the walk until it's been a month. Then we'll put a saddle on him and work more at the walk. I'm going to pick up some liniment as well. Of course I'm impatient but in all reality if you limped around 6 months it would take at least a month if not much more to start feeling normal again. Jeff's niece broke her foot and has been out of a cast for a month or more and she's still limping and is a little gun shy. Why should I expect Axel to be any different?

So I did ask him for a trot to see what was up and he jumped and flung his head and cantered instead. Not the best day to ask for that I guess but you don't know til you try. So I put him out after giving him some MSM and grabbed Cody. Cody managed to stay stress free while I tacked him up in the cross ties. I decided to put out some cones before I got on to ride. I'm not really worried about Cody rolling or doing something stupid while tacked so I just let him wander while I set up. I put the cones down the centerline so we could work on weaving a bit and when I got to the end and turned around, Cody had knocked every cone down and was standing behind me. So after I reset all the cones I got on to ride. Cody was slow as usual so I grabbed the dressage whip for some inspiration. It seems like he doesn't start working until I ask for a canter and then he's on his toes. Which was the case on Monday but he's starting to calm down a lot faster after a spazzy canter. He's a little hard to motivate and when I'm riding alone I'm hard to motivate so I'm guessing that's no help to him. I should get someone to come in and instruct me or something.

We did weave the cones a bit but without impulsion it's a pretty difficult task. At first Cody decided he was supposed to walk up to each cone and stop. After we got over that idea then he figured out we were weaving. I probably should have put the cones a bit further apart for him. So while we were in the arena riding Axel was out in his pasture screaming his head off. Usually he doesn't care if Cody is gone but for some reason he was very unhappy with the situation on Monday. Of course his screaming makes it harder for Cody to concentrate on the task at hand. We made a few attempts at side-passing on the wall with no success and then we did a few tiny turns on the forehand. That was pretty much it for the night. And since it was a billion degrees last night I didn't go to the barn at all. So we'll see how everyone is feeling on Monday when I can make it out again.

Tired Axel

2010-07-09T14:49:00.000-05:00

So I put Axel in the arena and lunged him at the walk on Wednesday. I tried some body wrapping ala TTouch but it didn't seem to inspire him to pick up his feet any more. Still dragging those fronts. He moved around slowly and lazily but sound, just dragging. I tried a little more massage which he seemed to enjoy or at least tolerate well. But as soon as we walked out onto the cement he was sore. I can't quite figure if he's just hot, tired, and out of shape or if this is the knee talking. Especially since the duration of his knee troubles he was always more sound on the cement than he was in the arena footing. Wednesday it was opposite.

And I am ignoring this new lump. Sort of new lump. I think the lump was there before but it's bigger now. More ringbone maybe or just arthritic changes, we do know he's an arthritic boy. It doesn't hurt him nor is it hot and it's hard. Perhaps just a bump and it'll go down. Seems fishy if it's just arthritis that it'd show up nearly over night so for now I'm pretending it's not there. Luckily I've been photographing his legs and feet for a while now so I can keep an eye on changes.

Boy Axel, you sure go through a lot of work to get out of work.

I Guess It's Summer

2010-07-06T22:32:00.000-05:00

I missed the farrier appointment yesterday because of the holiday but B held the boys for me. Sounds like they acted decently enough. I made it out tonight to see them after a week away. Axel was in a decent mood so I groomed him and then we went for a walk down the road. Even after the trim Axel is still dragging on the front so we'll just have to keep working and see if it improves. We went about a half mile total. Near the end of the walk he started tripping a bit and slowing down. I thought maybe he had a rock in his hoof but I didn't find anything. Granted it was in the 90s and a billion percent humidity so perhaps all of that contributes. Anyway we'll keep going slow and steady and hope for the best. And he has a new lump which for now I am going to ignore and pretend it's nothing. It's probably nothing? Definitely nothing? It's on his front right pastern. Looks like there is usually a lump there but comparing photos, it looks bigger now. It's hard but doesn't seem to bother him. Darn horse.

So I brought sweaty Cody in from the pasture to groom him and get him fly sprayed. Doing anything more than that required too much sweating on my part. I did find a few of his itchy spots. If you know Cody you'll understand why this next part is so cool, I was able to clean his "bits and pieces" for the first time. He was hanging it out when I came back in the aisle with a baby wipe and he didn't yank it back in when I started to clean it. And he didn't kick at me. He might have actually been calm about it. We may not be riding a lot but we seem to be getting somewhere in our horse and owner relationship. I'm not sure if the farrier trimmed Cody's left front a little shorter than normal to get rid of the crack he has or what. It looked pretty short and the crack was nearly gone but he seemed pretty tender footed. We'll see how it shapes up in a few days when it's had a chance to grow a bit. Luckily it's too darned hot to even think about riding lately but there's always tomorrow.

Just Some Walking

2010-07-06T14:53:00.000-05:00

Brought Axel in, now a full week after his knee injection, groomed him and got him in the arena. I had him walk on the lunge in each direction for probably less than 5 minutes each. Still sound but dragging that right front a big (we'll see how he looks after a trim). Of course now it's a week later and I can't recall if I asked for a trot or not. But I was dared to get on bareback I think B thought Axel was going to act the fool. I jumped on with just the rope halter and lead and we did one lap in each direction at the walk. It was a perfectly sound and willing walk. It's been a long time sine I could say that. So even with some weight he's sound at the walk. My thought is that even if we can get him sound at the trot he can still do little trail rides at the walk.

I didn't feel like riding so I grabbed Cody and just groomed him quick and asked if B and Diva wanted to go for a walk down the road in-hand. Diva is getting over a nasty case of scratches so she's on vacation for a bit but a nice walk would do us all some good. Cody was slow on the way out but no calling and no wheeling around to bolt for home. We even made it nearly the whole mile. I asked him to turn around and go back as soon as he relaxed and started licking. Of course the trip back was much quicker but it was calm. We even stopped to visit some grandparents walking with their little granddaughter, she wanted to see the horses.

I think Axel and I might start walking down the road for our conditioning, it's much more interesting that lunging at the walk and easier to judge distance/time. If I was a smart person I'd have already trained Cody and Axel to pony and I could ride Cody and pony Axel but the road is just a bit too busy for me to feel comfortable doing that.

Axel is on the Mend (Knock on Wood)

2010-06-29T15:06:00.000-05:00

It was the moment of truth as I walked up to Axel in the pasture yesterday. Sound or lame? He chased me around, tried to eat the halter and the fly mask, and tried to knock me over. Sound! No head-bob at all at the walk! I groomed him and took him in the arena. I lunged him for 5 minutes at the walk in both directions. Still sound! I asked for a trot. He cantered a bit then trotted out almost sound. Way more sound than he has been for 6 months. I'd put him at 75% for the trot. And the fact that there was no head tossing was a nice treat. So now we begin a slow increase into some work. Granted my guys don't really have to ever work. We dink around the arena for a few minutes, maybe ride down the road a bit, and sometimes we hit up a trail for a few hours. But I'm hoping easing him back into some sort of shape other than round-bale-green-pasture-blob will help loosen up those joints and keep him sound longer. After he did his tiny bit of work I did a little horsie massage which he seemed to enjoy tremendously. I can only imagine how most of his muscles must be sore from limping around for half a year. So that will be the ritual for a while, tiny bit of moving at the walk and then some massage. We'll add in a tiny bit of trot in a couple weeks. He's still dragging that right toe a bit so hopefully that will improve as we work. I might try some polo wraps just to give him some attention to the fact his has front feet. Works with the bell boots in the back pretty well ;)

Cody and I did end up riding along with J and the big guy, Logan. He's just been started under saddle and thought Cody was maybe going to chase him down and get him in the arena but even so he was darned calm about life. Cody was a bit less than energetic as usual so I had the dressage whip for inspiration. After a few lazy trips around the arena at the trot we ended up the evening's ride by working on turn on the forehand. So far it's "leg, leg+whip taps, leg+whip taps+voice cue" to get him to move that back end away. But it was enough to keep me working on it and I hope to get him to move away from leg eventually. Then maybe this lateral stuff will start to become more easy. If he doesn't want to truck around at any sort of speed then we'll concentrate on moving body parts instead. Especially easy to do on a hot day or bareback or heck even a cold day that we don't want to sweat. At 20 years old I think maybe we'll concentrate on trail riding, staying sound, and learning as much as possible to be a good kid's horse someday.

We spent a lot of time in the cross ties with Diva just hanging out and chatting. Cody's personality is really starting to show. I cleaned his nose with a baby wipe and he spent the time trying to eat it and then giving us the nice "that smells" face (flehman response) despite it being an unscented wipe. He was generally just being goofy. He's getting more and more comfortable with me scratching around his sheath. I'm hoping he'll eventually let me clean it because, yuck, he's a dirty dirty boy.

Axel gets the big guns

2010-06-24T12:29:00.000-05:00

Adequan, MSM, DMSO, and some bute was just not cutting it for Axel's sore knee. In fact the vet was surprised the Adequan didn't cut it. But Axel is good that way and feels bad for the vet and wants to help pay for his children's college. So after a week of phone tag I spoke with the vet and made an appointment for Tuesday to have Axel's knee blocked and then injected if the block indicated as much.

Axel actually wasn't terribly lame after not seeing him for a week so that was nice. I tried to get him groomed up before the vet arrived but he was a little early. He had me walk Axel in the arena to see how lame he was and make sure it was that right front (obviously). He had a significant head bob on that right knee. I asked him for a trot and got a big fat "F You!" He flung his head and bounced around and I don't think actually trotted at all. Of course this wasn't really a surprise to anyone. The vet scrubbed up Axel's knee for a nice long time to prep for the Lidocaine injection. Axel stood very quiet for a couple shots. I walked him around the arena once to get the injection spread out and then we stood for a few minutes to wait it out while I finished brushing his mane and looking for woodticks (found 2). When he had 10 minutes or so of waiting I walked him back in the arena up and down the wall a few times. The vet thought he had about an 80% improvement at the walk. The head bob all but went away. He still has his usual stiffness but he never did move all that well and he hasn't worked in 6 months, I would think that would affect it as well. I did ask for a trot and got a bit of a head toss and then a few strides of trot. He was off at the trot but I didn't get the big reaction I did the first time. So the vet thought all this meant the injection would be the way to go.

So another round of scrubbing commenced and then a couple more injections right into the knee. This time it was some steroids and hyaluronic acid. Once again Axel stood really patiently, admittedly it was too danged hot to move in the first place. After that I turned him out and now it's a waiting game. When the block wore off he was back to his normal lameness. I guess it takes about 5 days or so to really kick in and for him to start feeling better. So we'll wait and see and the vet wants a phone call update on how he's doing in a week or so, so keep your fingers crossed that this was the right fix.

So after all that I brought Cody in to groom. It was way too hot to ride or do any work but since it had been a full week I thought the old boy deserved a bit of pampering. Well the longer we stood there the more I kept thinking about clipping a bridle path. I tend to go on the au natural side of things, I like long manes and all that. But I gave in. I clipped Cody's feathers, whiskers, and a bridle path. I'll admit it was a small bridle path but enough so I can tell what is forelock and what is mane. The whiskers I didn't get all the way down to the skin but I cleaned up the long dirty ones now he just has stubble. And for some reason he still had some pretty impressive feathers on his legs from winter so I clipped those off as well. I have to say I love my new clippers. It's so quiet and quick. Cody almost looks like a real horse (J said she's going to have to go out and lead him to the hay in the middle of the night now that he doesn't have whiskers to feel his way around - barn joke). So Cody who everyone is pretty sure was treated very poorly as a yearling, who was very head-shy and not terribly friendly now let's me wipe his nose with a baby wipe, scratch his ears, clip his bridle path and whiskers, AND when scratching his face with the curry gave us another lip curl. Go Cody! It only took 20 years!

So yesterday I made it out to the barn again and thank goodness for cooler weather. It rained off an on all day but it was only 70F and not humid so I planned to do some riding. Axel followed me around the pasture for a while and he was looking pretty good. Still limpy but I think it's getting better. I groomed and tacked up Cody and brought him in the arena. He was pretty pokey and I had a hard time getting him moving. Seems like the only way to get him going is to ask for a canter and then he gets a little spazzy and will move out for a few minutes before going back to his slow turtle speed. I think I'll be riding with a whip from now on at least until he figures out we need to just move out and not stop until I ask. We visited with B and Diva for a while and luckily for Cody I was as lazy as he was so I only ended up being mounted for a half hour.

Cody likes it!

2010-06-16T10:43:00.000-05:00

I made a quick stop out to the barn on Friday on my way out of town. I didn't want to go a whole week without checking on the boys. They're usually fine but I like to see with my own eyes and assess things like just how lame is Axel today. He was still "ok" on Friday after 5 days on and 2 days off bute. I pulled off their fly masks and checked for bugs and rub marks. Axel's got a little rub on the left side of his face, it's kind of low so I'm not sure if it's from the mask or what. The one thing I hate about fly masks is how they grind in the mud when they roll.

So I didn't make it out to the barn again until later last night. I had planned to ride but it was almost 8 already. Axel was back to his worse than normal limp so I gave him some bute, MSM, and put some DMSO on his knee. I'm hoping this new biting/chewing issue is due to pain and if we fix the pain the biting will stop. I walk up to him in the pasture and take off his fly mask to put on his halter and he either takes the fly mask or the halter or lead rope and tries to cram the whole thing in his mouth immediately. And he'll grab at the cross ties and bite down on them as hard as he can. I keep waiting for him to start wind sucking but so far he's just biting/chewing. He hasn't been on enough bute on a regular basis to cause ulcers so who knows what his deal is. He's grazing fine and doesn't seem to be chewing on the fence posts at all that I've noticed. He walked out a bit better after his meds and some grooming. I have a vet appointment for next Tuesday to block that knee and see what happens. From the sounds of it, if it's really arthritis and we numb the knee he should be sound and then we'll do an injection right into the joint. If we numb it and he isn't sound, well then I'm not sure what the problem would be. Seems unlikely that if the problem isn't located in his actual knee he'd be as swollen and as knobby as he is. J thought perhaps that right front is so bad because his hind left had been sore for so long and the compensation finally caused an issue. I really should have looked into major medical coverage for him a long time ago (just emailed an agent to find out if he has any literature he can send).

I put him out and grabbed Cody to get him groomed up. Cody has found a new love of rolling in the mud I think. He used to never be dirty but the past year or so he's always caked in mud and dirt I've even caught him laying down which I rarely did before. And despite our arguments over riding he's been getting a little more cooporative bit by bit. Since I can't get him to stand still to put desitin on his sun burnt nose I bought baby wipes with aloe, it probably won't really do much but it was worth a try. He stood really well for that last year and this year. I've even been able to clean out the dirt in his nose and he just stands there and lets me. I can scratch his ears when they are itchy and for the first time when I was scratching his face with the curry I got an honest to goodness lip curl. Of course wearing a fly mask makes for an itchy face but this is the first time he showed a visible reaction to enjoying his face curry time. Go Cody! So on top of him behaving and being really patient last night, the other horses were in their stalls eating dinner and I decided that my laziness would win and I wouldn't force Cody into doing work during dinner time. I hope he appreciates it!

Cody is not a Dressage Pony

2010-06-11T14:27:00.000-05:00

So Wednesday was day 5 for Axel on bute. The swelling has gone down to a usual knobby arthritic size but he's still lame. Not *as* lame as he was on Sunday. I'm just happy he actually ate powdered bute from a bucket this time with very little fuss. Apparently bute + MSM tastes better than bute + antibiotics. I'll have to make sure there's always MSM around (which I will taste myself one of these days). I did an extra good grooming job since I'll probably be out at the farm this weekend of course I think it's supposed to rain the whole time so my grooming is probably gone to waste already along with the fly spray. Still June and I think I have to go buy another bottle. I might have to break down and get the big jug.

So I grabbed Cody and got him groomed up quickly and threw on his tack to ride in the arena with A and Danny. We're still having troubles tracking left but not quite as severe as before and I'm sure it makes a difference that this was day two of me riding him. I played a little with contact and trying to get Cody give to it, he did figure out the little exercise A showed me after a few tries. Part of his problem is that he doesn't like contact, it stresses him out or makes him nervous. So if he surges, I accidentally put more contact on the reins and then he freaks out and takes off even more. I don't know if it's worth it to try and get him to accept more direct rein contact or for me to learn to ride with less contact. Maybe a little of both? We actually had one nice round to the right of canter peppered with some bad spazzy moments but we ended up riding for more than an hour I think working on various things. So I still really need to get some long reins and work on ground driving with him as well as work building up his back. And then on top of all that my dressage saddle does not fit it. It's actually too narrow if you can believe that. But unless I some how stumble on an inexpensive saddle that fits we might be out of luck for a while. Anyone have a wide tree cut back 18" dressage saddle laying around?

Happy Birthday Cody!

2010-06-09T12:19:00.000-05:00

Soooo I don't think the Chiropractor fixed our issue this time. Monday I got Cody ready to go and we went out on the road. I've had worse rides and I've had better. It was slow going out as usual. A few stops here and there. Speed increase when we turned toward home. And one "OMG I'm going to die if I don't get home instantly" episode when a truck drove by. So either this chiro isn't as good as the last or it was a fluke that the chiro and this issue went away at the same time a couple years ago or I have no idea. Luckily I don't usually have the urge to go riding down the road alone very often, it's just been a personal challenge so far. I'd much rather ride with other people.

Axel's forelock gets all funny under the fly mask so I decided to braid it and now he looks so fancy. I even had a yellow binder for him. Monday I gave him his bute, water, MSM, sweet feed, candy mixture and he ate it right up. No clear improvement. Tuesday I got him from the pasture and he was walking quite a bit better. He ate his mixture and I turned him out in the arena where he contemplated rolling for quite some time before finally easing down to the ground. It's gotta hurt to bend that knee all the way so he makes sure it's really what he wants to do. Since it had rained all day he wanted to roll really bad. Of course after he got up he was back to full on lame which didn't stop him from running and bucking immediately upon getting up. I wish I knew what his deal was, it just seems like if it's arthritis it wouldn't be so swollen so fast and for so long. Bursitis maybe? Capped knee? Blah Axel, get better already will ya!? I put a call in to the vet to get some more Adequan ordered and try some Surpass and see what else he thinks is going on.

So Cody was probably not happy with me making him work on his birthday but that's the way it goes. He gets enough days off as it is. J thought I should have brought out some cake but all I had was some carrots. I figured out why I want to get Axel back to work so bad, I loooooove my dressage saddle. I don't think it fits Cody very well but I love to ride in it. It just seemed like a day when Cody was going to be slow and there was going to be a lot of kicking so I grabbed my whip before I got on just in case. The whip always seems to inspire a little more pep out of the old man just by having it in my hand. I think overall the ride was sub-par but I did get some decent practice in. I'm trying to work on a steadier leg and we had some moments when I could post and work on that. But we had a lot of other moments of Cody speeding up and slowing down and speeding up and slowing down. He's very inconsistent and we need to work on that. Add some nerves on top of that and the tiniest amount of leg equals speed trot or spastic canter. So we'll keep working. I wonder if he thinks the tighter rein means go fast and is getting confused. I tried to work him to the left more which went okay for a while but given the choice of what direction to go he picks right every time. I'll probably ride in the dressage saddle a few more times to make sure it's not making him sore and we'll keep working on some basics. The whip is kind of handy to get some lateral work done but he's pretty good at ignoring me, I need to get a bit stronger with him I think. I'm probably babying him for no reason. In any case my legs hurt today, whew!

Horse Show

2010-06-07T14:35:00.000-05:00

I helped out at my first horse show yesterday. Didn't bring any of my own horses but I went along with a fellow boarder and played "groom" for the day. Took some photos and recorded some video and got sun burnt, wind burnt, and sand blasted while I was there.

When we got back I brought Axel in for another dose of bute. This time I mixed it with the MSM, sweet feed, and a few pieces of candy and he actually ate it all. I'll try that again tonight but he's usually pretty good at turning his nose up at something that he thought was fine the day before. Trying to give him bute for 5 days this week and see if his knee starts to feel any better. It's getting quite knobby lately and he's limping around pretty badly (but he's getting really good at limping fast). I put both the boys fly masks on as well so we'll see how long they keep them on this summer.

Rainy Saturday

2010-06-05T22:40:00.000-05:00

I tried to wait out the rain but it wasn't letting up or clearing off so I went out to the barn anyway. It's pretty quiet out there on a weekend when it's raining so it's kind of nice.

Axel was pretty sore and puffy still on that knee. I scraped off as much rain as I could and groomed him up a bit. It seems like his knee has better ROM but is more sore lately. I put more DMSO on it and gave him some MSM. I put him in the arena and he took off running and flinging his head. Then he'd gimp around smelling everything he could get his nose on. I decided since I'll be able to get out there several days in a row this week to try and bute him. Not sure how much actually got in his mouth, I mixed it with water and put it in a syringe. I wore quite a bit of it on my arm. I think I better get something a little thicker than water next time. My plan (ever evolving) is to get a new supplement to try for a few months, I found one that has a decent amount of Glucosamine, Chondroitin, and Collagen in it and is pellets and less than a dollar a day. Plus when I get the money together I'll get his next round of Adequan and some Surpass (gotta find someone going to Canada to get me some of the OTC human version sometime). I put together some prototype wraps for Axel's back legs so I fitted those so I can try and put something together. Eventually he might feel well enough to ride, right?

I grabbed Cody out of the rain and started grooming him when B came in with Diva. I was debating on if I was going to ride or not but wanted Cody to dry off more before putting the tacky too pad on him when he started to shake. He was yawning quite a bit and then stretching out both front legs almost like he was going to lay down in the cross ties and then he started shaking. He was still wet so we thought maybe he was cold so I put his blanket on. He was still shaking so I walked him into the arena in case it was actually nerves. He trotted around a bit and then started frantically looking for a place to roll. I still don't know if it was nerves or cold. Would he lay down and roll twice if he was freaked out? Or was he just looking for the quickest way to get warm? Very weird, but after that he was just fine. I lunged him a bit before turning him back out. I probably could have ridden but I was kind of caught off guard at that point. B was getting Diva ready for the show so I just hung out and chatted.

The sun actually came out by the time we were done so I took some photos of the clydesdales and then of Cody who so kindly posed for a nice conformation shot and then hung out by some daisies for me. Tomorrow I'm going to tag along to the horse show and take some photos and play groom for B and Diva. I'm hoping it doesn't rain though, ick.

Long Time No See

2010-06-02T21:06:00.000-05:00

I ran out to the barn tonight to visit the boys and make sure everyone's appendages were still attached and all that. Axel has some lumps on his face again and I'm starting to think he gets this after it rains, maybe there's some gnats or flies that hatch in the rain and bite. His knee was looking pretty swollen as well but as usual it wasn't hot or even warm. After I groomed him and picked 3 wood ticks out of his forelock I put some DMSO on his knees. The last couple times I've used it he seems to move a little better afterwards. I have to pay off some of the repairs on the trailer and then order his Adequan and some Surpass. I'm also thinking of getting some denatured collagen II (supplement) to try since the recent research article in The Horse. I'm tempted to find a supplement that has MSM, collagen, and HA and put him back on that but ug, it's all so expensive especially since I like the pellet versions best.

When Axel was done I grabbed Cody and brought him in to clean him up a bit. He didn't have a single wood tick so I'm not sure what Axel gets into that Cody doesn't. I decided not to ride tonight and just got him cleaned up and both ponies sprayed with fly spray. I *will* fix fly masks this week, Cody's already got some scabs on his nose from sunburn. Not sure if Axel will keep his on but it's worth a try and maybe he'll get less lumps on his face.

Farrier Visit

2010-05-27T09:56:00.000-05:00

I should have awesome pictures of the three clydesdales running around the pasture and lining up in a row at the fence. But I don't. You'll have to use your imagination or find a Budweiser Clydesdale commercial on YouTube.

I held Axel and Cody and Diva, fetched Dolly, Steele, Danny, and Vinnie, and held Vinnie for the farrier last night. Everyone was on their best behavior. Axel was a little annoyed at having that right front knee bent and he kept wrinkling his nose and snorting. I've never seen him do something like that before, but he didn't pull his leg away and was much more cooperative with all 4 legs than he had been the last time Marv was out. He had a couple ticks, one on his nostril and one big yucky one on his forelock along with a lot of scabby spots from previous ticks. Ick. I keep spraying him with fly spray but I might have to bust out the Wipe for his forelock especially if I'm going to be gone all weekend, maybe I can sneak out on the way out of town on Friday and wipe him down. And someone please tie me to the sewing machine until I fix Cody's fly mask so save his poor pink nose.

Cody's crack isn't completely grown out yet and it passed the mark we made in his hoof so we could track it but it didn't seem to get too bad so hopefully it'll grow out this next time.

It was just too nice and cool to not try and ride again so after everyone was done I tacked up the old man in the arena. No yawning as I tacked. I got on and off a couple times because I really wanted the pad to be exactly right so I wasn't pinching anything. He was still not very willing and pretty darn lazy so it didn't go much better than our first post-chiro ride. But once again there was another horse in the arena and he has a hard time thinking about what he's doing and not paying attention to that other horse. It's part "I have to keep my eye on him" and part "he's not working why should I." Yes, I know, we need to work on ground driving. The next test will be out on the road but I didn't have enough time last night so we just stayed in the arena.

I'm not sure how I like the Tacky Too pad. I know we use them a lot in TR but it just seems like his back gets so darn hot under it. Maybe his back gets just as hot with the wool pad and I'm just looking for issues right now. But! there was a lot of long and low stretching. Still some yawning while I was riding but the long and low seemed like it was a good sign. And! there was a lot of licking and chewing. So maybe we're doing okay.

New Saddle Pad and New Horses

2010-05-24T22:03:00.000-05:00

I broke down and went to Fleet Farm to find Cody a new saddle pad to fill in some of the gap from his lower than normal back. The chiropractor suggested that maybe if the saddle keeps slipping back it could be causing some issues with Cody's back. So it was time to bite the bullet. I found a saddle pad that someone must have tried on their horse and not liked so it was marked down by about $15 or so. I did try and ride on Sunday but it was hot and sticky and Cody was feeling lazy as can be. He still had troubles with tracking left but he wasn't trying and apparently I wasn't either so we called it a day and just tried his new pad on.

J&J came home with a new team of Clydesdales so they hitched them up and we all went for a ride around the block. Sounds like the plan to keep Logan but he needs some time to recuperate from his weird horse shoe issue. They might then keep him and one of the new team but they were a pair at the sale so they ended up with both for now. The bigger of the two horses has blue eyes which I've never seen in a Clydesdale before. I think Logan is happy to have some friends in his pasture. He apparently owns the waterer though and frequently chases the brothers away from it.

Cody's Appointment

2010-05-20T23:05:00.000-05:00

Just got back from Cody's chiropractor appointment. He definitely had some issues brewing. His left side was uneven from his right quite a bit which could explain how going to the left doesn't go as well. He had quite a few ribs out, I think 3 on one side and 2 on the other. And he was a little out at the poll. His neck is really stiff so the chiropractor instructed me to do some massage and stretching of his neck. The TTouch clinic I'm going to in a couple weeks should be a good addition. We walked him out then after some of the adjustments and he walked much quicker and the chiro said he was tracking much more evenly with the left. So we'll see how he feels in a couple days and if he'll go down the road a little happier. He did ask about what kind of padding I used for Cody's saddle and thought maybe some additional padding would help and to make sure the saddle doesn't slide back. So I'll have to see if I can find a low back pad that doesn't cost me an arm and a leg.

S and her friend L thought Axel looked worse than the previous day so I brought him in to check hm out. He looked a tad worse since I rode him yesterday but nothing really of note. I groomed him up and checked for ticks and luckily didn't find any. His scabs are getting close to gone but there's still a few big ones that haven't loosened up yet. I fed him a double dose of MSM and put some DMSO on his knee before turning him out. He actually moved really well at that point so maybe the DMSO is starting to do something? I'll keep up the MSM and DMSO until I get his next Adequen injection and some Surpass to try.

Cody's Test

2010-05-20T10:20:00.000-05:00

Axel is not ready to be ridden which makes me very sad. He's still lame on that front knee and he's not working out of it. Brought him in and put more DMSO on it and saddled him up for the first time since probably November. He was not pleased with having to wear a bridle or the saddle for that matter. Got on him for maybe 5 minutes. The first 30 seconds was a fit of head tossing and then he settled down but was Limpy McLimperson. As soon as I finish my rider evals and get paid from WCR I have to order more Adequan for him and I'm going to get some Surpass and try that for a couple weeks. I'm not sure if it'll have any lasting effect or if he'll just feel better during the time it's being applied but we'll see. Maybe if I can get him feeling okay he can start back to work. I think I'll have to add the MSM back to his diet as well. The MSM I could probably mix into a snack since he likes to eat it, that way it's easier for J to feed it instead of the straight powder. Poor Axel, I wish he felt better. I miss riding him and with only one horse it really puts a damper on my horse camping plans with Jeff. Especially now that I hear the trailer has it's new sheet metal welded on. It's almost time to paint!

So I decided that I should test Cody to see how he was feeling before our chiropractor appointment. Since Sunday went so well (save the trailer loading issue) I thought maybe he was feeling better about riding and it really was just time/work that sorted everything out and not necessarily a pain issue. He did yawn as soon as I got out his boots and saddle. He was pretty mellow as he has been the past few weeks otherwise so we just did a few minutes of circling and changing directions before setting out on the road. It was slow going. Lots of stopping and weaving back and forth but no backing up or bolting. The yawning increased the further from home we got but he seemed calm. Much calmer than he had been the previous times. We didn't end up going any further than the first field entrance but he turned around calmly and just sped up to a nice paced walk. I tried to make him bend and serpentine on the way back and he'd jig a little but that was about it. I'll take slow over bolting but a nice relaxed ride without having to poke and prod him to keep going would be nice.

We did a little trotting in the arena when we got back, I wanted to test out my theory that going to the left was worse than to the right. He wasn't nearly as bad as he has been but he is more reluctant to the left. We'll see what the chiropractor says. We did manage to pick up a canter to the left from the walk on the correct lead. I'm definitely comfortable on Cody in the arena now and can canter and continue to ask to maintain that canter even if he gets a little scrambly. Not sure how I'd feel out in the open, I like brakes, but eventually we should be able to have a nice canter outside. Maybe we'll start by riding out in one of the pastures in back, at least we're a little more contained there. B wants to start doing more dressage so I'll have to put some letters on my little cone and she and I can go out back and pretend. And Cody seems to be almost getting some of the lateral stuff. Right now it's almost coming across as an evasion, he'll get up to the wall instead of turning and almost sidepass. I'll be interested in seeing what things change after the adjustment.

Cody still understands the front leg stretches but he's not quite into the back leg stretches yet so I'll have to keep working on those. I want to start stretching Axel as well but since he's been so sore I haven't wanted to start, maybe if we can get to a stable point we can start that and hopefully maintain.

Both boys are looking mighty shiny these days and nice and round. I really want to get out on more trails this year and I can't wait until the truck and trailer are ready. At least with just one horse ready to go I have room in the trailer to bring someone else and their horse with.

First Trail Ride this Year!

2010-05-17T13:42:00.000-05:00

I ended up making it out to the barn for a few quick minutes between chores on Friday to check on Cody and do a little pre-assessment on how his attitude was going to be for our scheduled Sunday trail ride. He was a mellow fellow so we just did a tiny bit of ground work and that was about it. Axel is lumpy again/still (face).

I hoped for good weather all day Saturday while sitting inside at my computer and 10am Sunday morning rolled around and I was not disappointed. Short sleeve weather but not too hot. I groomed Cody and planned to do some lunging just to try and make sure our ride wasn't going to be a rodeo. But he was still mellow as can be. So we did a tiny amount of ground work just to get everybody's brain where it belonged and then we waited for B and Diva to get ready. I put on Cody's boots so I wouldn't have to deal with that at the trail and we were set to go. Cody hopped right into B's 2 horse slant trailer and we were off.

We opted for a close trip to UMore which was fine with me since I hadn't been there yet. Cody got off the trailer fairly quickly but the step down is a pretty high one so I don't blame him. And he didn't continue to fly backward he just zoomed out and stood there. He was a little sweaty but not as bad as I thought he might be. The first few miles of the ride we did a little jigging and some falling back/trotting to keep up. But he finally settled in and things were going great. He was getting pretty sweaty and the trail was mostly grass so I took off his boots right before we got to the slightly gravelly part. Whoops. He was fine though, hugged the side of the trail a bit more than I would like but it wasn't horrible. Maybe halfway through our ride we met up with a lady on a big black Perch/Standardbred mare so she joined our little group and Cody was pretty happy about all the girls. Other than one other group of horses we didn't see anyone on the trail, seems to be a kind of underused treasure I suppose.

Cody started to get a little tired at about the 3/4 mark and for a while I thought he might try and lay down in the sand but we plugged along. At some point he decided he knew the way home and kept drifting to the south despite the trailer being to the west. I don't think he would have appreciated walking the whole way home so I convinced him to continue on to the trailer. When we could see the trailer parking and our new mare friend had turned off to head home we decided to get down and walk. B's knees were hurting and my hips were crying for a break so we walked the last little bit. So the really nice trail ride with Cody being a real gentleman couldn't end completely perfect. He decided he wasn't going to get in the trailer to go home. We tried all the usual tactics: general encouragement and clucking, tapping on the bum with a whip, tapping his feet so he'd pick them up, lunging/circling away from the trailer. Nothing was working. The difference between this new refusal to get in and his past antics was that he wasn't acting scared to get in. He just plain wasn't putting his feet in. He had his head all the way in and he'd bunch himself up but he wouldn't step up. He was as calm as could be. Part of the issue was that there was a mare at the next trailer winking at him. Perhaps he thought this trailer wasn't big enough or the step up was too big. We finally took Diva out to see if more space would help. But in the end we had to go the butt rope route and he finally got in. I suppose we didn't spend too much more than 30 minutes trying, maybe not even that long, and he got a ton of scratches and praises once he made it in. I guess we have something to work on when my trailer gets done, it'll be interesting to see if it was a size or step issue since my trailer is larger and has a lower step up.

When we returned from the ride Cody waited patiently to be asked to step out of the trailer but he was very hesitant about stepping down. B suggested we put him back in and of course once we started to ask and he balked we had to keep going til we got it. B and J locked arms and pushed him in after the usual tapping and whatnot didn't work. It went faster than before but he did end up tripping and landing on his knees in the trailer and scratching his left leg. Poor Cody, just can't figure out why he will get in really good for a while and then decide he's not going to do it.

After all that we decided it was bathtime. So Cody got his first bath with shampoo since I bought him. I'm not sure if that was a reward or not but I think it would have felt good. We scrubbed down Diva and Cody and then gave them the rest of their spring shots before turning them out. I was surprised to see that Cody didn't find some dirt to roll in after his bath but he is kind of a neat freak that way, he likes to be clean most of the time. Axel got his shots and we stood around and chatted for a while and before we knew it it was almost 6pm.

Bugs?

2010-05-13T13:26:00.000-05:00

I do not know what's up with Axel or Cody for that matter. Axel has the lumps on his face again only this time it's not behind his jaw or under his chin, it's just lumps on his cheeks. Which I don't see how that could be the swollen salivary gland diagnosis we had last time. It looks more like bug bites or bee stings. And judging from the fact that the last two times I've come back from the barn I've found a new itchy bite on my side. So I fly sprayed him, I just hope it stuck before it rained.

Cody had been hiding in the shelter when I arrived but walked over to the fence to visit with friends before I got out there to get him. So he could walk fine. But when I got up to him he was doing what I can only describe as "a potty dance." With his back end. You know the dance little kids do when they have to use the rest room? Cody had his back legs crossed and kept switching them back and forth like he was dancing. He kept stepping on his own feet in the process. I saw no bugs or cuts or anything and when he finally let me lead him to the barn he walked just fine. The best I can figure is that he was trying to scrape the mud off his back feet? Who knows. I cleaned him up and did a tiny bit of ground work in the arena and then hand walked him down the road. Conditions were not great, it was windy and threatening rain but we made it. We made it all the way to the culvert with no freak outs. He stopped twice but that was it. Cars even passed and he didn't use that as an excuse to run home. Granted I was on the ground and he behaves a lot better that way but it's a start. He got a lot of fruit ring treats and some grass when we got to the culvert. We walked much faster home but on a loose lead line and I didn't have to run to keep up. So I put that in the win category.

Of course good things always seem to be accompanied by bad, I just heard that Jeff's niece's other horse died this week. She lost her first horse a month or two ago and now her only other horse has apparently had a heart attack. So sad. RIP Silver and Buckeye.

Spring Vaccine #1

2010-05-10T19:16:00.000-05:00

I just made a quick trip out to the barn since it was cold and gloomy out. I gave Axel his Strangles vaccine, a couple treats, and groomed him up and wiped off his legs with the Norwex cloth real quick before putting some DMSO on his knees. He still didn't really react at all. I walked him back out to the pasture and he walked pretty well actually. He ended up running off when I turned him out, a little bucking and head tossing but still gimpy.

Cody chased after him so I had to go fetch him from the far side of the pasture. He stood very patiently for his Strangles shot so that made me happy. He had some nice tornadoes in his mane that I had to get out and I brushed him off pretty quick. So overall not a very eventful visit.