Cold Day for the Farrier

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

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

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

Getting Colder

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

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

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

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

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

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

I Knew It

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

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

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

Not Relieved Quite Yet

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

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

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

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

Axel's Addiction

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

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

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

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

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

Axel is on The List Part 2

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

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

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

Axel is on The List Part 1

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

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

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

Time for Shots

Stephanie came out yesterday to show me how to do vaccines and we went for a little ride around the arena as well. Groomed both horses in the crossties, they were fairly patient as far as that went, tacked 'em up and we were off. Originally my thought was a trail ride down the road but it was cold and threatening rain so we stuck to the arena. Steph rode Cody and I rode Axel. Axel had his fast pants on and we had to circle frequently so we didn't run over Cody. We did a bit of trotting and experimented with posting diagonals to check out if his crankiness was learned or if it was actually his back left foot. It was his back left, unhappy horse when you sit on that diagonal in both directions. So I might be posting the correct right diagonal and the incorrect left diagonal from now on. We'll see how that works out. We attempted a few canters purely because when I post that one diagonal Axel either bucks or tries to canter. We went with the canter as long as he was offering. Oddly none of the cantering felt good, it was the correct lead (right) and wasn't disunited but it just felt yucky. He kind of leaps into it and puts his head down and I think he's going to buck. Turns out ... he's actually striking off into the canter with his rear end (like he's supposed to) and he's brining up his back and putting his head down a bit to do so. Aka, this is what a real canter from Axel should feel like. Go figure. Sure makes my legs hurt, though he did have a few wonky sort of bucky canters that I had to squeeze him through.

Steph worked on some trotting and cantering with Cody as well as some halt and giving to the bit. She had him backing on a super light rein. She had him working on little bits of turn on the haunches, an 1/8th of a circle at a time. He struck off at the canter on the first request on his good side, it was a little more work on his bad side (left I think) but he managed. His canter doesn't look as speedy and big as it feels. It actually looks kind of "sporty" to me, almost like a reiner. He was doing a nice regular trot for her while she posted - no speeding up. And they worked on a really calm western trot as well.

Axel and I worked on backing off the bridge for a while which worked well 2 times and then he refused to cooperate any longer. After fighting through that 3rd attempt we managed a 4th attempt and called it a night on that. He's so goofy about it, hops right up on the bridge before I'm even ready but backing off it - heck no! We played a little with the bowing and treats but he turns in a big beggar when there's treats or anything that might be a treat so I don't think I'll be treating him by hand any longer. Cody did some stretching for treats with Steph and was very polite about it. She gave him his shots to show me how and I gave Axel his. It went well and was not nearly as scary as I thought it would be.

Cody's little fight of the day came when I saw some wood ticks on his nose. He was displeased and would not keep his head down for us to pull them out. He goes into immediate giraffe impression as soon as something gets near his nose that is not petting. I really have to keep working with him on that but he seems to do well when there aren't ulterior motives, he's too smart that way. I am going to pick him up a fly mask with a nose piece on it to keep away some of the sunburn he's prone too since he won't let me put any cream on his nose.