On the up swing?

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.

I Guess It's Summer

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

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)

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

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!

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

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!

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

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.

A Good Ride

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

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

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

Light at the End of the Tunnel?

I had a meeting on Monday so I couldn't get out to the barn to check on Axel so I was a little scared going out there on Tuesday. I had left a note in the barn that if Axel looked worse on Sunday night he could have more bute. There was a note in response that said he looked good so they didn't give him anything. I went out to fetch him and he seemed a little careful of that back leg but by the time we got to the driveway he was walking really well, almost sound. In fact the lame back left seems to balance out the lame front right. Heh go figure!

I was very relieved. It's been raining lately so I'm glad he's moving around well enough to get in the shelter if he wants. So I groomed him and gave him his MSM. He's a little resistant when I go to pick out that back left. I don't imagine holding his foot hurts him but he yanks it away for some reason.

The belly swelling has gone back down again. The sheath swelling is the same. The next warm day that I have a lot of time I think I'll bring a thermos of hot water out and try cleaning him out again. Maybe on vet day since I have the day off. Gotta find a thermos first ;) I put Axel in the arena to walk around and roll if he felt like it. He was kind of wet so I thought maybe he'd roll but he just explored a bit.

So it was finally a good visit to the barn. When it stops raining I'll have to shave Axel's back legs to help fend off the scratches he's so prone to getting. I'm going to try using some MTG as well, he has a few spots I had put it on the other day which were already growing hair the next day. Even if the MTG doesn't stop scratches it might help his dry skin a bit and maybe soften up some of the scabs on his legs.

Feels like Spring

I wasn't feeling quite as ambitious last night as I thought so I didn't end up riding. Who really needs to ride more than 10 minutes a week anyway, right? I chatted with J for a bit, he was getting ready for the big tack sale this weekend that his saddle club puts on. We discussed the impending mud and the fact that Cody's girlfriends left today and everyone was running around and bucking.

J's mom wants him to save horse hair for the hummingbirds to use for their nests so I filled a bucket with Axel's hair when I was done grooming. Axel has been very mouthy lately, even before this swelling issue. At least back to the wood chewing and a bit before. He grabs onto the cross ties and bites down or tries to get the lead rope in his mouth. He doesn't appear to be wind sucking at all, just biting the ropes. He'll stand quiet for either a period of time or until I start grooming with the brush instead of the shedding blade, I haven't figured out if either of these is a trigger or what. The last 3 out of 4 times he's picked up his hind left foot when I asked instead of the other hind foot. The knee swelling seems to have gone down a bit. His sheath is still swollen and his belly is still swollen. There was a weird squishy tendon (or something) on his hind right but he wasn't standing square so it might have just been nothing (figured I should document it since it tends to come in handy).

I walked him down the road again. He made it almost all the way down past the neighbors before he started with the head tossing. And it definitely coincides with Cody calling for him. So I think he's just being naughty. He was a little more gimpy last night then the time before but he walks out pretty well on the road, it doesn't slow him down too much. When we went back in the barn I thought he'd maybe want to roll or something. I was cleaning up some manure when he came bolting across the arena, bucking and cantering. And the belly swelling and round bale induced fatness seems to go away when he gets all riled up like that. It's nice to see him looking a bit more fit once in a while. I'm looking forward to starting to work him after the vet confirms the arthritis and we discuss Adequan or something of the sort.

Cody is sad that his girl friends over the fence are gone. I think Dolly (or maybe Jesse, I can't tell the difference) is still in that pen but who knows for how long. If I make it out to the barn this weekend I want to clean out my grooming bag, try some DMSO on Axel's knee (it freezes at 65F so I haven't tried it yet, it won't be that warm but it should be worth a try), and maybe ride Cody down the road.

Now They're Both Shedding

Stop by on Friday on the way out of town to the farm. Axel's belly seemed a bit more swollen than normal.

Tonight my car said it was 45F so a trip to the barn was in order. After brushing off at least another horse's worth I took Axel for another walk down the road. He was being a little bit of a pill. I think he was hearing Cody calling or something but he'd toss his head, ended up hitting me once. Of course I'm paranoid so I'm thinking it's some sort of neurological issue. But I think he was just being Axel. Spring + no work all winter + horses calling = slightly misbehaving Axel. As soon as we get the x-rays or he starts feeling better then he's going to have to do a lot of ground work to get some manners back before riding. I'm hoping he just has some steam he hasn't had a chance to blow off yet.

Cody started shedding now too so when I removed a miniature horse's worth of hair from him I saddled him up to ride in the arena. We did some figure 8s, some corner circles, trotted a circle in the middle, and he offered some canter. I ended up only riding for about 10-15 minutes after lunging for 5-10 minutes but he was just starting to sweat so it was a good time to stop if I didn't want to stand around all night cooling him off. I thought maybe he'd roll but he wasn't interested. I did some leg stretches, neck stretches, and tail pulls with him before bringing him back outside.

Two (too) Hairy Visits

I try to not put two posts in one but I'm approaching a week behind so too bad. I had Friday off work so we were heading to the farm on Thursday evening but Jeff had some stuff to finish at work first so I ran out to the barn. Axel got his MSM and I opted to not groom since he was shedding in full force and I didn't want to be covered in hair. I did however find a very itchy spot on his back and we stood in the arena while I scratched him. I ended up getting covered in hair anyway. I thought maybe he was going to roll but in the end he didn't. He thinks hard about it though.

So last night I went out to the barn while Jeff was rock climbing. I thought he would be busy for a while and I'd get a chance to get on Cody. I grabbed Axel first and got him groomed up. He's shedding like mad. I've noticed this both last night and the week prior, but he's stopped picking up the wrong back foot. For a while there when you'd ask for his hind left he'd pick up his hind right. My guess was that it was a balance thing so he didn't have to put weight on that sore front knee. But the last two times he's picked up the correct foot without an issue. And he's seemed mildly perkier/less sore. His knee is still puffy though. I walked him around the arena a bit and he was slightly less lame. It's all very subtle still at this point. On our way out of the barn I decided we'd take a little walk down the road since it was very melty. He walks really well on the flat harder surface so I thought this was a nice change and a chance to move a little. We only went down to the first mailbox and back. He was a little hyper on the walk back and nearly trotted over me going into the driveway. Needless to say you couldn't tell he was lame at that point. He hasn't been on stall rest but he's pretty much done nothing all winter so I can see where he'd be a little wound up on some footing that seemed safe. We might have to go for some more walks down the road before we start lunging or anything like that.

Cody isn't shedding nearly as much as Axel but he's getting there. His neck and his face have started pretty decently. I brought him in the arena to move around as well. I had originally thought maybe we'd go for a ride down the road but it gets pretty chilly quick and with no ditch traffic could be an issue so I figured he'd be just fine stretching his legs inside. Jeff was already on his way home so I scrapped the plan to ride and just free lunged Cody for a while. I need to bring out the Flip and get a real video of how good Cody looks these days. The cell phone videos leave a bit to be desired. We did a little more work in hand than we've been doing lately which took him a while to settle into. I really have to work more on the turns on the forehand and haunches he tends to ignore me on those which could be why we don't do them under saddle. I'll have to brush up on some techniques online or something.

Ponies in the Snow

So a quick run out to the barn to check on the boys before heading to the farm for the weekend. Kind of sad there wasn't more time, it was a gorgeous Friday. It felt warm and the snow was really pretty. But there was only time for some MSM and a few minutes of taking photos. There's really not much to update, Axel is still swollen and his knee still hurts. Kind of the status quo around here. Cody is still looking mighty fine and visiting regularly with the girls on the other side of the fence.

Manicure Time

Last night was farrier night. I was a bit early as usual so I fed Axel his MSM while we waited. He was already in the crossties so he had his feet done first. He's been doing a new thing lately where you ask for his hind left and he picks up his hind right instead. I'm not sure if he's just trying to avoid putting more weight on his front right or what. He was not terribly pleased to have that front right knee bent and the farrier only bent it the bare minimum. He seemed pretty sore when he was done so I tied him in the arena while I tried to thaw out some paste bute. I'm ready to give up on the powder. I think I'll just get a dosing syringe from Fleet Farm and mix the powdered bute with water and dose him that way. He actually doses really easily, at least the last two times I've buted him.

So I got Cody and groomed both of them while we waited for Cody's turn to have his feet done. His front left has a bit of notch/chip in the toe. Not sure how he got a chip walking through 2 feet of snow but he managed. It's not too serious, hopefully it'll grow out. And other than hanging out while everyone else got their feet done that was about it for the trip to the barn. They've got a lot of snow out there and I guess Cody was running around playing in it a bit. But for the most part they all confine themselves to the round bale.

The plans for spring are to move Vinnie into the big pasture and Cody and Axel will go in the paddock until their pasture has a chance to revive itself. Assuming they stop the round bales near that time, it might be a good diet for fat Axel. We're working on getting an appointment in March for shots and coggins and I'll get Axel's knees xrayed and then figure out what the next step is. It might be easier/cheaper to go with something like Adequan instead of the daily supplements (which haven't started working yet as far as I can tell).

Cody's Girls

Sunday was another quick trip to the barn. It had started snowing and a movie and a nap was calling my name so I just ran out quick to feed Axel his MSM. He was walking about the same, maybe a bit better but any changes lately have been minuscule. Mainly he hasn't gotten worse. I'm still really hoping the MSM kicks in, I don't want to have to bute him all the time. I was hoping to not have to add that joint supplement back in but that might be the case. I'll give him a little more time before I decide. He's getting around, seems happy as usual, and even rolls. From what I remember he was lame through March the last time his knees were bothering him.

I just checked on Cody in the pasture. He was standing guard for his new neighbor girls. I guess Stitch loves the girls as well and they knicker for him when S brings him into the barn. Silly boys.

Quick Trip

I only stopped out at the barn on Saturday morning for a few quick minutes to give Axel his MSM and check on him since his oh so fun practical joke. He was walking pretty decently. He wasn't horribly worse at all but wasn't a whole lot better, he must not have gotten much bute in after all. I didn't even bring him in the arena for fear he'd lay down again and I'd have to convince him to get up and get home in time for house guests. He's still swollen of course no better, no worse.

Out to get me

I swear Axel thinks this is some big joke. I brought him into the barn for his usual snack of MSM. I'm just about out of senior feed, I might have to pick up some more. He certainly doesn't need any additional sweet feed. I put him in the arena since he seemed a bit peppier than on Tuesday. He was a little less lame so I didn't think he needed any bute. He hasn't rolled in the arena since all this started though he's clearly laid down outside and sometimes had even went down on his knee evident by how dirty it was. Last night he sniffed around right away, looking for a spot to roll. He went down slowly, stopping midway through as his sore knee was half bent, almost trying to decide if it was worth the pain to lay down. He made it all the way down and rolled several times and then he just laid there staring at me. He hadn't tried to get up and he wasn't struggling, he rolled just fine. He laid there for quite a while before I started trying to encourage him to get up. He'd sit up slightly one or two times but never bent his legs under himself to get up. I was getting mildly scared, he wasn't struggling or thrashing but it just seemed weird that he'd lay down and not get up or even try. I started to walk toward the gate, I can't recall what I was going to do, but I turned around and Axel was standing. He must not have struggled nor grunted at all so the best I can tell he was trying to play a funny joke?

Anyway when he got up his knee was pretty sore so I thought maybe I would give him some bute just so he could get around a bit better for the next couple days. I mixed the unflavored bute with applesauce and sweet feed but he turned up his nose. I gave in and grabbed the paste bute which didn't seem frozen. Unfortunately it was colder than normal and I don't think a whole lot got in his mouth. Hopefully he got at least a gram.

I brought Cody in as well just to groom and let him move around the arena a bit. He wasn't ready to run but he wanted to walk around, I thought maybe he was going to roll too but he was just exploring. I grabbed the lunge whip and asked him to move a bit. I had him move around for a while and just stretch his legs. He let me stretch his front legs but he wasn't thrilled with standing still, he was just not into it. He's looking really good these days. I'm excited for him to shed out this spring. Axel is well on his way to shedding as well. It's almost spring!

Still Icy

Okay leave it to Axel to make me a liar. He was pretty sore last night when I went out to the barn. He ate his MSM with gusto but when I tried to give him some bute he turned his nose up at it. I added some slightly frozen applesauce but that did not inspire him. So he went without. Though it did seem like maybe the swelling on his knee was down a bit.

So I grabbed Cody and groomed him up. He must be laying down more often now because he looks a complete mess. He is also spending a lot of time visiting across the fence with his temporary neighbor girls. After I took the huge snowballs out of his feet and got him cleaned up we went into the arena. He seemed a little energetic so I just turned him loose but he wasn't in the mood to kick up his heels on his own so I got out the lunge whip and he free lunged for a while. He's really lifting up his back these days which is nice to see. After he stretched his legs a bit we did a few change of direction on the lead line. It took a few tries to get him to stand still at the mounting block again but I jumped on bareback for a while. We spent some time working on the rail and staying on the rail and going deep in the corners. Cody thinks he knows me and wanted to do corner circles but that was not my plan, silly boy. He picks up on repetitive things very quickly.

We played around with some leg yielding and still didn't get quite it. We had a few tries of turn on the forehand which went just okay. There was some decent rein-back, he's a lot more willing to do that when I'm just riding in the rope halter and no bridle. And overall we worked on seat and leg cues and neck reining. I even attempted some sitting trot for a little bit. We ended the night by standing next to the mounting block, getting a treat, and me getting off. I also did some of Cody's stretches and massaged his hips a bit. He's got these new weird indents on his hips which I assume is just from weight gain but they are odd.

I made the mistake of taking him out the side barn door since S had just come in with her boys and had the door open still. Cody just about pulled a Bambi and did the splits on the ice. He held it together but we won't be using that path again any time soon. I'm glad I didn't go that way with Axel, yikes.