Axel Wears a Harness

Went out to the barn early yesterday as the vet was going to meet me out there. My horses and Tom's horses needed their Coggins test done and Cody needed some xrays to confirm/deny laminitis and judge any rotation. The vet actually thinks perhaps it isn't laminitis, he didn't get a lot of reaction with the hoof testers. He's thinking maybe thin soles. I do have my doubts since he only showed up lame 3 weeks ago and would have had the same thickness soles for several years. But he's supposed to call with the results of the film this morning. Cody stood very well for the xrays in any case so they should look good. He flinched for the blood draw but wasn't overly worked up about it. Even Kiko flinched. Once again Axel was complimented on his fine looks. We were talking about Kiko and Kalani being for sale and how we thought why wouldn't anyone want Kalani. And that everyone seems to want Axel instead. The vet likes Axel's head.

So after the vet left we got out the harness we borrowed. We didn't think Gunner's harness would fit so the one we borrowed is a synthetic half draft harness. It fit pretty well, just needs some minor adjustments and is missing a few pieces. The one piece it's missing isn't too big of a deal, just the holdback or footman loop. The other missing piece is the check rein or overcheck. Sometimes not a bit deal but from the looks of Axel dropping his head to the ground, he'll need an overcheck. I'm not sure where we're going to come up with one. Maybe there's one on Gunner's harness we can borrow for the meantime.

So we fitted him up and ground drove him for a while. Then we added the pool noodles with some sticks inside them for fake shafts so he could feel what it is like moving around with stiff rods next to him. When he was bored of that Steph suggested the next time was adding the cart. I haven't talked to the caretakers yet about using their cart *and* I was a little worried. A cart on wheels seems like it would be easy to run away with. So instead we tied a wood pallet to the harness to see if he would pull that and how he'd react. In my mind I thought a heavy wood pallet is harder to run away with. In reality it's probably way more dangerous and way more heavy than pulling a cart but Axel is set solidly in his lazy ways so I wasn't too concerned. So he pulled and he didn't much appreciate it but he did it anyway. I wish we had a pull behind drag and he and I could practice by dragging the paddock every week.

Next time, if we move onto the cart, we'll need to get some helpers (so I'm told). One header, one person in the cart, a driver, and two people on the sides of the cart to move it around if it gets stuck some where. I think prior to that Axel will have to be ground driven in the overcheck and get used to that. I can imagine that won't make him terribly happy not being able to drop his head.

Just a visit

Jeff and I ran out to visit the boys quick after Steph's house warming party on Saturday. Can't go within 5 miles of the horses without stopping in for a visit, now can we? Everyone was without a fly mask but Axel so I removed his. It was covered in mud. I guess they were all getting tired of the masks and helping each other remove them. So we'll take that to mean break time.

We watched Cody eat his dinner. Darn horse eats with his mouth open. By the time he's done with his bucket of food there's more on the ground than went in his stomach. I watched all of the other horses and they don't seem to open their mouths so much when they eat. On top of it he looks around a lot so he takes his head out of the bucket and drops the food on the ground. Reminds me to not give him supplements, they will just end up on the ground and someone else's horse will eat it.

From Cody's Rider

I haven't gotten the full report yet but until then here's what I know about Cody's ride on Thursday: He was good last night only did his weird pace thing at the end of the trail ride. They went out with other horses he even behaved without Kiko. They took Papillon, Gunner, Daley and Cody. I guess he stayed in the back of the pack and was perfectly happy about it.

For Lack of a Title

I went out to the barn, all on my own this week. Steph and Tricia both had things going on. Patti wasn't even around so it was just me, the horses, and the flies. I figured I would ride Cody a bit if he was feeling okay. I lead him into the barn and he was walking like he was sore. So, as usual, my plans changed. I groomed him, fly sprayed him, and let him wander in the barn for a while with his fly mask off. I grabbed Axel and groomed him up as well and they both just wandered around until Cody decided he wanted to leave. Of course as soon as he walks out of the barn door he's walking in the paddock perfectly sound. I think I might have been hoodwinked!

I decided to do some ground driving with Axel and see how he'd react to the pool noodles I bought. We just drove normally in the side pasture for a while to make sure we remembered how. Our steering is still a bit wonky, lots of over correcting. I think hooked up the pool noodles to the sides of the surcingle, mimicing the shafts that would be on a cart. I carried one end for a while so they were just bumping his sides. When that didn't faze him I let them drag behind him, hitting the lower part of his legs off and on. We walked and trotted a bit and the only thing he was concerned with was the fact I wouldn't let him eat every time we stopped. He's getting pretty good at verbal commands, I'll have to start adding things like "Gee" and Haw." I think he appreciated me not getting on his back with all the bites he has. Someone has been picking on Axel a lot lately and his whole left side is covered in teeth marks. When we were done with the noodles we drove down the road a little bit which also went just fine. It's funny to watch Axel grow in height when he sees something "scary." The sprinklers were all on at the nursery next door and the closer we got the taller Axel got. That's all he did, of course, but it was fun to watch. You don't get to see those things when you're on his back.

It was still pretty early when I got back to the barn so I decided to hand graze Cody for a while. The lawn was getting pretty long in places so we helped clean that up for a while. Maybe that's not the best idea with a laminitic horse but we were only out there for 10 minutes at most and they'll be back on pasture soon. Plus who knows what caused it in the first place, I'm pretty sure it wasn't a food issue to begin with.

Cody's New Shoes

So I went out to meet with the farrier yesterday to see what he thought about Cody. Cody was a little slow going but he seemed sound still. He managed to get a little rub spot on his one leg from the boots. The farrier put the hoof testers on him and concluded that indeed he is a bit laminitic in both feet. Not exactly the diagnosis I wanted to hear but oh well. He put front shoes on him. For not having been shod in over 10 years, Cody did really well. Even with the hot shoeing. I should have had a better camera, the smoke that comes off the hooves with the hot shoe is pretty neat looking, stinky though. The flies were bothering everyone so they weren't standing quite as nicely as they could but I think Cody did really well. I think the hammering was a bit sensitive for him. So when I have the vet out for Coggins pretty quick here, I'll have to have him do xrays on Cody's front hooves to check the rotation. The farrier thought it was pretty minimal at this point so now it's just shoe and hope it gets better.

Axel did fine compared to most the horses. Everyone was having a difficult time. I guess Gunner is a bit of a tough cookie with feet. The farriers were trying to pass him off on each other. Axel must be getting himself into some sticky situations. His whole left side is just covered in bite marks from another horse. They probably aren't as bad as they look but I might not be riding him tonight. They are right where the saddle will hit. Hopefully Cody is feeling up to a ride with his new shoes. Pretty soon he's going to have more pairs than me!

From Cody's Rider

Now that Cody seems to be feeling good in his fancy boots, his rider decided to take him out to ease him back into riding. Here's what she had to say about it:

"Your pony is moving well! I went out to ride today, and Cody looks very good. I think those boots are really helping him move out. Herd-bound, he is, however--we walked up from the pasture by the creek, and suddenly a shrill whinny pierced my eardrum and the entire thundering herd came a-runnin' up the hill at full-tilt. I did coax him away and took him out on a short-ish ride that he wasn't entirely happy about when he found out he was the only one going. There was a point when he went in reverse, hard, despite any ideas I may have had about what we were going to be doing. But, we worked in the "mowed circle" for quite sometime, walking, trying to get him to bend and flex a bit, and convince him that I had better ideas of what to do than he did. There was the predictable prancing at the end, but for the most part, I think it was pretty constructive. I think he'll really start to calm down with more practice. Did not bute, he came back to the barn sound and relieved to have re-joined the party :-) I hope to get out this weekend sometime, so more updates to come."

Eureka! Part II

I feel pretty silly that I was out at the barn on Sunday with my good camera and I didn't take any photos of my horses. Anyway I was off to the barn on Tuesday as usual. It was pretty hot so we decided to just stay and ride there instead of going anywhere. Tricia brought just Dirt/Dusty/What's-his-face so she could work on his constant need to trot. I had Axel in the barn and Steph brought in Kalani. Cody wasn't moving much in the paddock so I brought him inside to see how he was doing. We put the boots on him Sunday and left them on. That darn horse was walking sound at both the walk and working walk. The last time he got Bute was Sunday. Assuming nothing changes, I take that to mean my horse is going to be shod with pads on Monday. The boots seemed to hold up pretty well even. I took them off to check them, no dirt and no rub marks. They seem a tad big, he kind of clops around and it sounds like he's wearing flip flops. I might have to get some pads for the inside of them to tighten them up a bit next time he needs to wear them. Until then, they are definitely doing the trick.

So we rode down and up the back hill. Dirt worked on not trotting. Axel worked on flipping his head with ever step he took (note to self, just put on the fly mask even if it doesn't seem that bad). And Kalani just went along for the ride. Axel did pretty well, moved out good, didn't do anything totally stupid. Dirt was fine since Tricia is able to catch him before he does anything wrong. We worked a little in the meadow but everyone thought we were too slow so Axel and I went and made our own circle in the meadow. He wasn't terribly pleased with that and tried a few wimpy bucks but that was about it. We worked on some figure 8s and bending and me not using the reins to turn, that went pretty well also. The only issue we really had was Axel forgetting all the work we did on not ripping my arms out of the sockets by yanking the reins. Guess he forgets easily with time off.

We ended the ride with a trip down the creek. Kalani needed practice and Dirt had shown some possible aversion to water so we figured a hot sticky day was a good day to try it out. Our creek isn't the greatest as it's pretty rocky. Axel has a hard time getting his footing and really just wants to walk on the bank and eat grass. Kalani and Dirt did just fine. Took Kalani a bit to get into the water with Steph leading but he did make a trip under saddle at the end.

On the way back up to the barn we had to dismount and do some horse shifting to avoid getting an audience. They took Axel and the other two up for me and I stood at the fence with Cody and some others waiting for the coast to clear. Cody spent his time beating up on Papillon and letting him know who was the boss. When I was finally able to open the gate for them Cody just bolted. Galloped up the hill, boots and all. I'd say my horse is sound once again.

Really big horses

Went out to see the draft horse competitions at the Scott County Fair today. The 8 horse hitches were pretty impressive. After that Steph and I ran up to the ranch to meet with a couple that are interested in Kalani. Steph and the two potential buyers took Kiko, Kalani, and Axel out on the trail to try him out. We're not sure what they are going to decide but Kalani's cantering issue might hinder the situation. They did like Kiko though so maybe they will be interested in her.

While they were out and about I collected all of Cody and Axel's old tack to bring back to Canby this weekend. I'll have to clean it up some time this week but that shouldn't be too big of a deal. It lightens my load a bit in the tack room. I'll have to pick up a new curb chain for Cody and possibly a neoprene girth if the regular one doesn't work. Eventually I might need a breast collar too but we'll see. I'm hoping when Kalani sells I will be able to buy his western saddle for Axel.

Cody is still off on his front end, still both legs/shoulders. He's on a minimal amount of bute to keep him comfortable but still be able to tell if he's improving or getting worse. He definitely gets worse when he's turned out on the hill and has to walk up and down a lot. We still have a week and half before the farrier is out so I put his boots on. We'll try that for a few days and see if there's any improvement. He did look better even after only a few minutes of wearing them. So we'll see how he's doing on Tuesday when I go out. At least if this helps it implies that shoeing him for a while with pads is a good option. I just hope he doesn't wreck the boots in the mean time!

Murphy Hanrehan

Wednesday we decided to venture out of our little comfort zone and head over to try Murphy Hanrehan for some trail riding. I was lucky enough to have Tricia and Steph fetch all the horses and gear and I just met them at the park as it was on my way. Tricia brough Oly and Lexi had her new horse (Dirt, Dusty, whatever). I rode Kiko and Steph was on Kalani. It's a pretty nice area, the camp ground part is really nice. The part of the trail we took was a bit rocky (bring boots if Cody ever goes) and some of the horses were having issues. Kiko had shoes on so we had no problems at all. It was nice to finally have a calm relaxing ride. Kiko was an angel while every one else came up with issue after issue (mostly the rocks).

After I got used to the fact that Kiko moves out a lot more than any of my horses things were fine. I even had her in the back of the pack which we'll blame on my "slow butt." The only potentially scary thing that happened was on a nice flat strech we decided to canter. Kiko took two strides of canter and then bolted into a gallop which I was not ready for. She then dove into the weeds for no apparent reason, made it back on the trail, and came back down to a trot when asked. Not sure what that was about but it was Kiko's first gallop under saddle.

Too many flies

Cody was looking better last night. Still a little iffy when he walks but he's moving around and doesn't seem to be bothered. They've figured out how to get him to take paste bute so now they're at least getting it all in and it's helping. I'm still hoping this lameness is just a pasture injury and will go away soon. Someone suggested that he did a "bambi" during the rain storm we had right before he turned up lame. I brought him into the barn and groomed him up and used the remaining fly spray I had on him. I even dug out the fly masks and cleaned them up for him to wear. The flies were pretty bad and he couldn't walk a step without flinging his head all over to rid him self of them. He pleased as punch to stand in the barn with me and even made a request that I scratch his forehead with the mane/tail brush. I filed his hooves a bit more (I'm still not very good at it and don't really get much off) and turned him out. He stood at the dutch doors with his head in the barn the rest of the evening watching me. Pretty sure he just wanted back in where the flies weren't as bad.

Axel looked pretty good so I groomed and squeezed a few drops of fly spray out for him. Steph was working on getting Kalani to figure out the canter in the round pen and everyone else was helping throw hay. Axel figured he better stay and help with the hay but I tacked him up anyway and we went out to the end of the pasture to ride a bit. He was feeling pretty good, quick even. But the flies were bothering him quite a bit so we didn't work long. Just some nice walking and some trotting. He'd take a step or two that wasn't quite right but he was mostly sound so that was a nice change. Particularly nice considering he's not on bute just that supplement, so a little off isn't a bad deal. I put the fly mask on him before turning him out too. It's only minor relief but at least it's something. I just think a fly sheet would be so warm. I still might get some fly wraps for his legs. That black horse is a magnet for flies it seems.

When we were done I watched Patti give Cody his bute for the night. He's still not a pro but she's got him figured out pretty well so it isn't quite the hassle it used to be. I'm wondering if he'll eventually stop flinging his head up with all this attention and let us de-worm him peacefully in the future. I think he is figuring out that people's attention = less pain. He's been a bit more affectionate lately, doesn't walk away when being caught, and asking for spots to be scratched. Not the "always on duty herd boss" Cody usually is.

Eureka! I hope.

So Cody ate his bute on Monday. And I think he ate most of it last night as well. In any case either one actual dose of Bute is helping or he's feeling better on his own. Last night he was looking pretty good as far as his ability to walk. I brought him into the barn to try and file his hooves down a bit as we were thinking they were too long. Of course looking at the photo I took the angles don't look nearly as bad as I had thought (outside opinions are welcome on the topic). My photo of the other foot isn't a very good representation so I left that one out. This photo he does have all his weight so his pastern angle might be a bit more than normal but shouldn't be too far off. So maybe it isn't hoof angle that's causing issues, maybe he just over did it in the pasture or something. Time will tell. We plan to keep him on the bute through Friday and then see how he does over the weekend. I think I'll keep filing his feet each time, at the very least so I can get better at it. It would be nice to keep them filed between farrier visits. He was very patient while I tried to figure out how to hold his hoof and file at the same time. I think he appreciated the fly spray and standing in the slightly less buggy barn all the while watching Kalani get his butt kicked in the round pen since he's been such a pill about cantering lately.

When Steph was done chasing Kalani around ;) we decided to go down to the creek. Axel had been sweating just standing in the sun and Kalani was pretty sweated up from working in the round pen. Wisely we opted to throw the synthetic saddles on, neither of us wanted to sit on their sweaty backs without one. I think I'll purchase a synthetic western one of these days, the Big Horn saddles that Kiko and Kalani use are pretty nice, lightweight, fit good, and are comfortable. Axel was moving pretty good again despite his lameness on Sunday. But he's pretty off and on as far as that goes with his ringbone. He's always very willing to jump right in the creek and then stand there and eat grass off the bank. Kalani was slightly less willing as he hadn't been in the creek before. Steph attempted to ride him in but he wouldn't take the plunge so she got off and lead him in which worked much better. She remounted and we walked down the creek a little ways. Axel was determined to get back on the bank and eat grass plus some parts of the creek are rocky and he has a hard enough time walking on flat ground. So he make a break for it every chance he got. Kalani took the whole creek business in stride. Stopping a few times to figure out what was going on when he started sinking in sand or there was a bit more of a current. He even found some spots in the creek where he was up to his belly in water.

Kalani's first reaction to getting in was to stick his head under the water almost up to his eyeballs. I found this to be very humorous. He then tried to blow bubbles with his nose. Overall we think he enjoyed himself. He didn't paw or try to roll, so I think that's a good sign. Fortunately (or unfortunately as it was sweltering) neither Steph nor I got very wet. And here's my second sales pitch of the post, I had used Kalani's saddle and pad and Kalani had on Kiko's. Kalani has a plain wool pad which I put on Axel's sweaty wet back. When we were done riding that wool pad was dry as a bone. I guess wool pads really do wick moisture. I might have to pick one of those up, I think the plain flat wool "underpads" aren't too spendy compared to most western saddle pads. And I think Fleet Farm now carries Reinsman tack.

Could it be?

Rumor has it that Cody ate most of his Bute last night. From the caretakers: "so we mixed the powder with water, mixed it with one cup of Lite Balance, and then mixed in two cups of regular senior feed. He ate almost the entire amount!" And this was still the apple flavored Bute. Yay Cody, hopefully he feels a little better today then.

Lame Again Lame Again Jiggity Jig

So on the way home from the farm last night I check my email (yay for phones will internet) and find an one from the caretakers:

"Sorry to have to say this, but Cody is extremely lame. He can hardly walk - it's terrible to watch. We've tried every combination of bute/feed/water/applesauce/molasses/paste all weekend long - but he will only eat a small fraction of whatever it is and refuse the rest. Axel is looking sore again, too. We gave him bute and applesauce in his feed and he ate most of it (all except 1/2 cup maybe). Hopefully he'll work out whatever that's about overnight!"

So I convinced Jeff to swing by the ranch on the way into the cities so I could determine if I needed to make a call to the vet or not. Axel was happily eating hay in the furthest hay feeder and probably pretty pleased that everyone else came up to see what was going on so he could stay back and eat in peace. His lameness just being the usual flare up of his ringbone. Cody, on the other hand, was standing in the paddock trying his best to keep the flies away without moving. I asked him to walk and reluctantly he moved forward, very slow, sore, and tentative. However, not nearly as bad as the email had sounded. Apparently they had some bute paste and managed to get at least some into his system earlier in the day so he wasn't nearly as off as he had been. Patti came out and walked him for me after I picked out his hooves. There was no heat or pulse but he still stands like he's foundering. His appetite is fine and he's drinking water like normal, just takes him longer to decided that it's worth the pain to walk to the feeder or water tank. I tried his boots on but that didn't provide an immediate improvement. He didn't "improve" much with walking but became less tentative the more he moved around. He picked up both feet for me, let me stretch him and bend him and had no issues with any of that. So we're still thinking shoulders.

Patti is borrowing some bute tablets to try tonight instead. Our thought is maybe the unflavored is going to be easier to conceal than the apparently nasty apple flavored bute he won't eat now. I don't think I'll be having the vet out at least for now, I'm pretty sure he'll suggest bute so we already have that covered we just need to figure out how to get him to eat it. We might try some cold hosing and maybe some linament rubs on his shoulders to see if that does anything.

After some discussion with Steph we think maybe what is happening is that his hoof angles have changed too much. His toes have been pretty long lately with the new farrier and with his heels getting lower and lower the change in angle might be causing him pain up in his shoulders. It seems like the diagnosis fits. So right now we're going to get bute in him, try and file down his toes bit by bit before the farrier returns, I'm going to meet with the farrier this time and see what he thinks (he'll probably need to be shod with wedges til winter to get the angles back), put him on Axel's supplement when the bute fiasco is over, and possibly even add some DC-Y to his diet (which would be good for Axel too but spendy so we'll see). Our other thought is to put him in those boots for a week of turn out and see if that helps. I don't want to do all of this right away or we won't know what is helping so it'll be a matter of trying different things.

But it looks like I'll be riding Kiko or Kalani for a little while at least until Axel is feeling okay again.

Andrea Rides Cody

Last Thursday (7/3) before Cody's lameness Andrea went out for the first time to ride Cody since our little trail ride. Here's her report:

"Went riding on Thursday with Patti and Dal, and Cody was practically angelic. We didn't go into the woods for fear of the gnats, but we rode around in the field-y part for a good 45 minutes or so, Cody lead the group, Cody was the last horse, and Cody was in the middle--very well behaved at all points.

Only when we turned for home (going up that final hill to the stretchy gate) did he decide he was annoyed. Some prancing was involved, then sidepassing, and when I tried to straighten him out a bit, there was a tiny little jumpy-buck-like motion, but nothing too serious. We then circled a tree and tried it again at a walk, and it was much improved. He walked very civilly into the barn :-)"

Now if only he could stay sound then this more than once a week riding is really going to be great for him. Leave to the "children" to go lame right as company is arriving.

She went out again this Wednesday and he wasn't really looking any better:

"So, I went out to Pinto Creek to ride tonight--though opted not to ride Cody due to his apparent soreness. His stance was even looking kind of sad, with his left front leg positioned further infront of him than his right. I took him around at a walk for a while on the ground with his long leadrope, just trying to see if it loosened up with some movement on level ground, but I just didn't think he looked sound enough to have a very happy or productive ride. I also didn't give him any bute, although Patti and Scott said that if you wanted to give it to him for the next couple days, they'd be willing to administer whatever dosage you'd like, just let them know. Again, I was just being cautious and not wanting to push him through pain, because it really did look like walking was painful for him today."

I'm slightly worried despite the assurances that if he really was foundering to the point of rotation and having to stand the way he's standing, I would have felt a lot of heat in his hooves. We're still thinking it's his shoulders right now. I told Patti to give him some bute last night but I guess that didn't go so well:

"You know the look on a person's face when they were SO ready for dinner, but the food was disappointing? That's totally the look Cody had, applesauce notwithstanding. He was not going to eat it, not more than two bites, anyway. How about molasses? Good for two more bites. Dumped that out and tried just sprinkling plain ol' bute on it and that was good for about two bites....then he was totally done and annoyed. I don't think he got much of the bute, sorry."

Kids, I tell ya! I'm starting to think I'm going to have to put Cody on that same supplement that Axel is on. Cody is getting up there at 18, but he really should still be in the prime of things as he has a pretty easy life.

Collecting Lame Horses

Stephanie pointed out that I seem to be collecting lame horses lately. Tuesday we went out to the barn and I planned to ride Cody in the pasture a bit. Patti mentioned that she thought he was off. So I walked him around a bit and sure enough he was lame. Steph thought he was off on the left and then he switched to being off on the right. There doesn't seem to be any heat in his hooves. He doesn't have a problem bending any joints. Our best guess on this one is his shoulders and probably just arthritis that the chiropractor had mentioned in the past. We put his boots on just to see if it was maybe a stone bruise or something like that and he did improve his gait but was still a little off. I ended up riding him bareback in the pasture just at the walk to see if he'd work out of it. He didn't seem too bad then. And his boots worked really well but they make a funny noise that makes me think they aren't staying on all the way but there was no rub marks or anything so who knows. As soon as I dismounted he was back to walking funny.

Axel of course is still not quite right in the rear on that leg with the ring bone. He walks pretty good. I saddled him up and rode him in the pasture as well. His trot is all off kilter though. Granted the ground was not even but he wasn't quite working out of it this time. He's a lot more willing and happy on the trail so I guess he ignores his pain then better than just plodding around in the pasture with me trying to get him to do things properly.

Steph spent the whole time working on Kalani's canter which he would just refuse to give her. She finally resorted to lunging him so she could get something out of him before stopping but he just went around in a tizzy. When I was done with Axel I finally got on and she lunged him while I was on his back. It still took him a while to work out of the fit his was having but he did finally calm down. Not enough to try a canter, the trot was still a bit spastic and me without reins, I didn't think a canter was in my best interest.

Cody's new rider

I've asked one of the We Can Ride staff if she'd be interested in riding Cody whenever she's out at Pinto Creek. She goes and rides with Patti sometimes so I thought it would be fairly convenient for her. So Tuesday she came out to witness the chaos that is Tuesdays at the ranch. Tricia brought Meaghan to have a riding lesson on Poppy. So while Steph taught her lesson we hung out and scratched horses. Axel was feeling a little off on his front left but we figured it was probably just the arthritis. When everyone was tacked and ready to go we ended up with 5 horses and riders. Andrea on Cody, me on Axel, Tricia on Kiko, Steph on Kalani, and Meaghan on Poppy. Axel worked out of his soreness quite easily. He wasn't quite up to his feisty self that he had been a couple weeks prior but he was moving out a little more than normal. He also progressed from fairly well behaved to obnoxious by the end of the ride. Constantly trying to eat grass, flinging his head due to bugs, and just being a regular space cadet. Evidence would be the scratches on my arm and lip from running into numerous tree branches. I actually had a hard time getting him to walk up the hill on the way home.

Cody wasn't an angel but he also wasn't totally horrible either. He gave Andrea a taste of his annoyance at having to ride, the huffing and puffing, sweating, and bit avoidance. But he was comparatively calm and she had him walking down hills pretty well. So hopefully she'll have some time to go ride him once every or every other week.

I guess Kiko was being a little bit of a handful herself. Poppy started out pretty quick but realized she couldn't keep up with the big horses and calmed down a bit. Kalani must have been just fine as I didn't hear too much from his direction. I ended up using Axel's new bell boots finally, I haven't had a chance to clean his old ones yet. Kiko has moved into the blue bell boots so she doesn't remove her shoes. And I donated Axel's combo boots to Dirt (Lexi's new horse) as he's wearing bar shoes right now and Tricia likes to have him in SMBs when she trail rides him. I'm too lazy so far to take the white saddle pad off the dressage saddle so we've been trail riding in style. I've gotta dig out the ear nets one of these days as well.

Next week we have no Tricia so I think we are going to take some photos of Kiko and Kalani for their sale ads. I thought I had another idea of what we could work on but it's not there. I think Steph wants to work on Kalani's canter more so maybe we'll just do some schooling.

Kiko and Kalani

I decided to make a separate post for Kiko and Kalani's videos. These will hopefully get put into an FLV so they look a lot better before we really start advertising them for sale. But if you're interested in my awesome video editing skills you can witness them here.

My kingdom for a seat saver!

A person should probably work up to a 4 hour trail ride in a hard western saddle. It's probably not the best idea to bite it off in one big chunk. But I never said that I usually do the smart thing. Rather than deal with Cody's trailer loading issues and Axel being possibly lame still, I just went up to Tricia's and we took Oly and the new horse out to Lake Rebecca park. The new horse is Tricia's niece's horse. His name is Rocky Top Scotch (or something like that) but they haven't come up with a barn name for him yet. We went through a plethora of ideas while we were riding though. Too bad I can't remember half of them.

On my way up to her farm I was getting a little concerned at the weather. It was raining in one part of Farmington, sunny in the next. When I got to Waconia it just started downpouring. By the time I got to Watertown there was no rain at all. I have learned my lesson being so far away from everything, that the weather could and probably is totally different on the other side of the cities. I was right about that. We made good time packing up the truck, loading the horses, and getting to the park. Then we had to clean the mud off of both horses. What is it with buckskin/palominos that make them roll in the mud more than any other horse?

The trail was pretty nice. No one else was there and most of it is closing starting the 7th of July for repairs. So we squeaked in right under the wire. It was a little buggy in some of the lower areas but only one really bad section of the 9 miles. The only bad part is there is only one picnic area along the way and no tie ups for the horses. The new horse is a little excited and liked to trot as much as possible. He was tough going down hills and he just kind of scrambled down them tripping and not paying attention. Other than that he seemed fine, nothing really bothered him at all. Even when Oly spooked at a few things he was calm about it. They did both spook at a tree when they turned to look at it a motorcycle zoomed by on the nearby road and they both jumped sideways, the new horse landing on Oly causing a bit of a chaotic mess. But they came out if it well and were just as calm afterwards. We kept our ride to a walk and a trot, not sure how the new guy's canter would have been. He's a smaller horse so it could very well be pretty choppy.

Near the end of the ride, about the time I thought I might die from hip and knee and rear end pain, Tricia and I switched horses so she could see how the new horse was. Now Oly has gotten himself a bad reputation. Something about trying to kill Tricia when she first got him. I had actually ridden him right after she bought him (pre homicide attempts) but hadn't been on him since. She's worked him through his issues and now he's a pretty solid calm trail horse. The difference in how he felt now from when I first rode him is pretty extreme. He still moves out but he's got a much calmer feel about him. We even had a trot near the end of our ride. It started raining about 10 minutes before the end so we trotted up pretty close to the end of the trail. Oly has a very nice trot, easy to post and not frantic. I'll have to ride him again sometime.

After regaining my ability to walk we loaded up the horses (the rain had stopped right as we got to the trailer) and stopped at the DQ on the way home. I'm a glutton for punishment so I decided as long as I was sort of in the neighborhood I would stop by Pinto Creek on my way home. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do but I figured I'd think of someting. Patti was feeding when I arrived so I groomed both Cody and Axel while they ate. It had rained there so trying out the hoof boots on the road wasn't going to happen (wouldn't want to get them dirty already!). I finally decided on riding Cody in the side pasture to see how he was doing. Surprise surprise he did really really well. We still had our usually dance around the mounting block. But the ride was nice. He was interested in the other horses but was listening to me. We did some circles and some figure 8s. We even went around the tree and worked a tiny bit on the other side of the trees away from the herd. I worked on a loose rein with lots of leg and that seemed to go well for Cody. Not quite as precise as it probably should have been as far as getting our turns when they were asked but he never ran off out of a pattern. I only worked him for a few minutes, he was being so good I wanted to be sure to end on a good note and not push it. We rode to the opposite side of the trees and dismounted there (at a good solid halt). I then untacked at the mounting block to practice our halt there as well. And I led him out to where Kiko was standing and turned him out at that point. So overall it was a successful ride. And my dressage saddle is way more comfortable than that western I had been riding in.

Movie Stars

I got Jeff to come out with the video camera to take some video of various things. First thing he taped was Cody experiencing his new hoof boots for the first time. Application of murphy's law #1: Cody pretty much walked normally with the boots on. He did step a bit higher than normal, with the back feet, the ones *not* in the boots. Of course the horses get trimmed today so I hope the boots aren't too big now that he's got them dirty. I measured after a trim so I should have the right size. Maybe we'll take a ride down the road next time and see how it goes.

Then Steph got on Kiko to do some riding for her sale video. She did pretty good. No funny business much to Jeff's dismay. She's not quite up on the cantering thing but she did pick up both correct leads so we called it a success. Hopefully we can pull some of the more interesting things off that clip as Cody was standing in the pasture making horrible perverted noises every time Kiko would pass by (she's in season). And something bizarre happened where Poppy got scared or spooked, freaked out a bit, then laid down to roll.

Application of murphy's law #2: Kalani was not having the canter. Everyone's feet were so long and Kalani kept interfering. He did fine at the trot but when Steph would ask for the canter he'd do this cute little butt hop thing and then kick out at her outside leg. It was quite entertaining. We might be reshooting that one when she can get him to canter properly. Neither of them have been in work since last year so they need some fixer upper lessons.

Application of murphy's law #3: Axel decided he was lame again. I broke out the tall boots, white breeches, velvet helmet, and Axel had the white saddle pad, dressage bridle, and white polos. We looked good! He of course was back to his slow half asleep self. We walked around the pasture to warm up and it was apparent ole "thigh master" was back. Every step I had to use leg to keep him moving. What happend to the past two weeks where he was full of himself and trotting all over the place not wanting to walk. I fully expected to get some video of Axel trying to buck me off after the last two weeks. I asked for a trot and got a very lame gait. So we warmed up some more and tried again, still lame but not as bad. The only thing I can figure is that on the trail rides he had plenty of time to warm up before he started offering up the trot. I probably could have worked him out of the soreness but it was so hot I was already sweating and tired from just keeping him moving at the walk. We might have gotten 15 seconds of a nice sound trot on video so here's hoping.

So Jeff will probably have to come out and video tape again some time. I probably won't be sporting the white breeches but I could keep Axel in the white saddle pad and dressage bridle. Probably skip the polos though they make him look like he has a lot more action than he does. Hopefully I can get him to get me some of the video clips sooner than later and I will add them to this post.

Another Frustrating Night

One day we'll have a breakthrough and both of my horses will be nice, well-behaved, calm animals. Not sure when that will happen though. Last night was another trying night. Tricia brought Cinder and Oly and her neice Lexi. While I decided to do some ground work with Cody, Steph gave Lexi a riding lesson on Poppy in the round pen (part of her birthday/xmas present or something). I didn't want to ride Cody until we had a chance to ride him and another horse (not Kiko) out and see what his attitude was like. And adding in all the extra horses isn't going to to start us out on the right foot. So we went over to work in Tricia's trailer.

He was a sweaty mess by the end. He's gotten to a point where he'll willingly put in two feet
but that's it and he'll stand there calm then all of a sudden fling himself backwards. So then we circle and do some change of direction then try again. Two feet, calm, back out and back in a few times then he flings back wards so we circle. Rinse and repeat. So finally Tricia was standing there watching, he had two feet in and she walked towards him randomly and he jumped in. So we tied him and she shut the door and we tried to give him some grain. He wasn't really interested in eating, he wasn't that calm yet but he wasn't pulling on the trailer tie at all and he wasn't pacing. He was standing there sweating and occassionaly looking out the window at his herd. So after what we figured was as calm as he'd get we opened the door and backed him out. He backed calmly and slowly the whole way, two back feet on the ground then flung himself backwards. So we went right back in and surprisngly he went with no question. We stood at the front of the trailer for 15 seconds or so and he was pretty calm considering so we backed out one more time slowly. This time he got all four feet on the ground without flying backwards so we stopped for the night.

I brought him over to hose him off since he was so sweaty. It was just dripping off of him and I figured he'd just go roll anyway. Goofy horse stands just fine for the scary hose. Unfortunately as I was turning on the hose, he somehow got behind me or something, I can't remember, and as I turned around he moved his head and just clocked me in the face. I now have a bit black welt and a rope burn on my forehead. I should have taken a photo of it last night it was probably a lot worse, it's subsided a lot now. But man it still hurts. He didn't hit my jaw at all but I swear all my teeth rattled on impact. I turned him out and Steph and Lexi were finishing up with Poppy so she got to go out as well.

I had already groomed Axel so he was standing there waiting more or less patiently along with Kalani and Oly and Cinder. We tacked them up and headed down to the trail. Axel seemed to be feeling okay to feisty on the scale of horse attitude. He had a hard time staying behind everyone on the way up the back hill. He was back to his normal slow way down then trot to keep up through the meadow area. As soon as we got to the first little hill in the woods, I collected up my reins and got a buck. Buck buck buck down and up the little hill. The best I can figure, this is not a pain response as he started before he had to do any work walking down the hill. After that he was a little more feisty but not horrible. We made it down the really big hill as slow as possible. I always feel like I'm going head over tea kettle especially on Axel. It was like a vertical drop down. Everyone decided to run up the next side, Axel chose to buck. the. whole. way. It is really hard to pull a horse out of a buck when he's going up hill. Heck I would think it would be hard to buck up a hill period. He and I walked back down and tried again. More bucking. Popular opinion is that he's not using his hind end and pulling himself up the hill. A winter and 8 weeks off from actual work has apparently caused him to forget everything we worked on in the past two years.

The rest of the ride was a little sideways. Axel was good and worked up now and would buck (really wimpy) every time I squeezed the reins. We did some circles in the meadow and he did pretty well. A few minor hiccups and even bucked himself into a really nice right lead canter that I maintained for a while. Left lead, not so much. And let me tell you, Axel's counter canter is not something to be trifled with. Ug so horrible. He made one evil attempt at Cinder's life and all the horse spooked at one point to some mysterious nothing in the woods. The walk back down the hill was a little sideways interspersed with bucks as well. He's becoming quite the handful. Perhaps some more schooling work will get him back to behaving. Despite the crankiness he's still a much more familiar ride for me than Cody. I still don't know all the tricks Cody has up his sleeve so he's a little scary to ride. Axel is pretty consistant and easy to sway. Everyone said he looked really good though. He was moving out (for Axel) and seemed to be feeling good, maybe too good!

I took another really crappy video on my cell phone of the girls trotting around us. Axel was desperate for some grass I wouldn't let him have so you get to see him struggle a bit.

When we returned we had the daunting task of deworming our four as Patti's had been done the night prior. Steph took the honors, thank goodness, I was not up for another fight. Kiko, Kalani, and Axel were fine as usual. Cody put up a fuss. How he knows we are coming at him with dewormer is beyond me. She was finally able to administer it by sticking her finger in his mouth for a while and he relaxed and she was able to shove the wormer in. So it looks like I'll be putting my fingers in his mouth every time I go out there from now on.

When all the dramatics from that were over we tried Cody's new boots on him. I was under strict orders to not let him walk in them as Jeff wants to be there to video tape the hilarity. So we just wrapped his feet in saran wrap so we could make sure they fit without getting them dirty in case we had to return them. His toes are really long right now but they seem to still fit so I think we're good on sizing. Naturally next week we'll be out there the night before the farrier, great timing. Expect some much better video quality of Cody walking around goofy in his new boots for the first time. They look pretty snazzy and everyone was impressed by the easy of getting them on him. I think Jeff might also be taping Kiko and Kalani who are both going to be going up for sale soon.

Naughty Naughty Horses

So the last time Tricia brough Oly out she also brought Rocket and the whole trail ride was kind of a mess. This time she just had Oly. I was taking Cody and Tricia's niece was going to ride Axel, his first real ride in 8 weeks. Cody was nearly in a full sweat while still tied before we even left the barn. I really can't tell you what/who was to blame for the idiocy that ensued, there were too many variables: new horse, no kiko, first ride in 8 weeks, storms coming, you name it.

The ride from the stretchy gate to the bridge was ok. Then Axel trotted down the hill right before the bridge giving Meg a good baseline for what was to come. Most of the ride was Oly in front, Axel in the middle, followed up by Cody. Axel was not his usual slow boring self. Cody was doing just okay for a while. Somewhere in the woods Cody decided he was only going to half pass the rest of the trip and Axel was getting annoyed at Oly. Neither Cody nor Oly would actually walk more than two steps before trying to trot. At one point Axel passed Oly, tried to kick him. Cody joined in on the fun and they both just attacked Oly and ran him into a tree with Tricia aboard. Cody found some new really fabulous dance moves that involved a little spin, just enough to get me off balance, and then a step in the other direction. He was pretty darn close to loosing me a few times with that new technique. He also brought out this really great vertical canter. Think piaffe, but canter not trot. In addition if Axel was behind him he decided to try and kick him the whole time.

When we finally got out of the woods into the clearing we went about our little schooling circles and then things calmed down, at least for Cody. Axel had been showing a bit of bucking on the trail, down the little hill and what not. While trotting on the circle he kept bucking, slightly larger bucks for Axel but still not too bad, Meg sat them just fine and circled him each time to let him know she wasn't going to stand for it. When he just wouldn't stop testing her Tricia got on and circled him several times. Trying to keep it nice and easy since he's out of shape and just off being lame. He, however, had different ideas, going anywhere from offering a canter on the correct lead, framing up and lifting his back, interfering front to back (something the short stepping Axel never does), bucking a bit, grinding on the bit, and executing trot to walk transitions perfectly. I can't even begin to explain what he might have been thinking. Perhaps over his vacation he forgot how to be lazy? Time will tell.

I can't figure out Cody either, on the trail he's just gung ho to get back to the herd. But in that circle, doing some schooling work he's pretty darn good and calm. My only thought is that he knows the circling isn't going anywhere near home, but on the trail we could, at any moment, be heading home and he must be ready for it no matter what. The rest of the ride back to the barn was as spazzy as could be. We did manage to get into the creek for the first time this year. We haven't had a change to scope out the footing ourselves so the three horses just got in, stood for a while, and ate some grass while they cooled their feet.

Once we bounced our way home, Meg rode Oly in the round pen for a while and I took Cody over to Tricia's trailer to see where he was at with that whole thing. He started out blowing at the trailer quite a bit, but put his nose on it. We did a few circles, which were not calm at all, and then tried to see how close we could get. Driving him forward he would only get right up the trailer but wouldn't step in. As soon as I stepped in he put both front feet in the trailer, quite willingly even. So I stopped right there, backed him out and we went back to the herd to get turned out. Next time we'll go for 4 feet. Granted we've done this before and he's fine for practice but not when we want to go somewhere. If we have time we'll put him in, drive down the road and back, and turn him out.

One of the next experiments is to take just Cody and Axel, or Cody and Kalani out on the trail. Eliminate the Oly factor and see how Cody does with Kiko. I feel bad since I know Cody doesn't like direct reining but when he's acting like a total fool it's really hard to let him have his head on a loose rein. I'm slowly getting better but I think he needs to start giving a little back as well before I'll feel confident about neck reining him. I have to say we are quite the misfits when we go riding. Cody is in a black dressage saddle, brown hunter breast collar, western headstall with rope reins. I'm in brown boots and half chaps, tan breeches, and black helmet and gloves. Axel was in a brown western saddle, brown english bridle, and blue bell boots on his hind feet. Soon we'll add black hoof boots for Cody, at least if we go where it's rocky, probably don't need the boots for the back hill, it's all grass. The boots are so funny, unfortunately they came after I was at the barn so I haven't had a chance to try them on him. He's going to hate me even more.

Back in the Saddle

So last night turned out to be just me and the boys. Tricia decided to stay home as it was pretty gloomy all day and Steph got a call back to work as she was pulling into the driveway. I started out grooming Axel. Patti and Scott put up trailer ties on all the posts outside, it sure makes grooming and feeding a million times easier. Axel is getting very shiny these days. Not sure if that's normal or if it's his supplements kicking in. But his tail was awesome, soft and easy to brush. The ends of his tail are about as red as Cody's but the top of his tail is jet black. In the right light I think he's getting his dapples again already. The black flies seem to have subsided at least for now (it was only 60F out) and I haven't found any ticks yet. Patti had sent me some photos of Axel's feet thinking they were getting worse as far as the mud fever was concerned. But turns out they were actually getting better. Last week they were really scabby. This week most of the scabs were gone. His legs are just always that lumpy. I picked the rest of the scabs I could and sprayed him with Betadine and sent him on his way.

I then groomed Cody who is also a very shiny horse this spring. He's not quite as appreciative of the attention and doesn't like to be tied away from his buddies for too long. I ended up talking with Patti for quite a while so it was a good lesson for Cody. After she left and Cody was groomed I went to get my ropes to make a bitting rig and some long lines. I think my bitting rig is a bit long and my long lines are a bit short (go figure). Cody had to stand tied through that and watch me cut and tie the ropes. I grabbed his snaffle bridle and the training surcingle and whip and brought it out to get Cody ready. He was not a fan of the whip and just about ripped the eye hook out of the post trying to get away from it. Yeesh, mistake number 1 I guess. When he calmed down I hooked him up to ground drive. He didn't exactly understand that whole deal. Which stands to reason as he hates direct reining. We made a few turns and I called it quits on that idea and went to the round pen with a real lunge line. I had been just lunging on a 6 foot lead but decided we needed to work on a longer line. A couple of issues we have lunging are 1. walking 2. staying out on the far side of the circle 3. cantering. The whip helped with 2. and 3. The walking we're still not great at. The downward transition from canter to trot was good, and trot to stop. But the trot to walk just isn't happening. He's still always too worked up about leaving the herd. I made a feeble attempt at some lateral work with the whip but my heart wasn't into it so I stopped. The mosquitoes were getting awful so after some fly spray we were done for the night.

I hadn't planned on riding, I had thought about it and decided against it, and then I changed my mind. I hadn't changed into my breeches and I was too lazy to get my helmet out of the car so I just grabbed a helmet from the tack room and a bridle. Way too lazy for a saddle so I took Axel into the round pen. He's sound now (as sound as he gets) and has been off of work for 7 weeks. Tricia's mom is going to ride one of these days so I thought I better get on and see what his attitude was like. He was a bit swishy (which could have just been the bugs) but otherwise he was really well behaved. Surprise surprise he even stood when I had to climb up the fence to get on. He moved out at the walk for once. We just did a few circles and a few direction changes on a loose rein and he was really good about seat aids. So there we have it. Probably a few more rides at the walk before we trot. And a few times at the trot before we head on the big hills. But Axel might be back in business. I still plan to ride Cody a bit more this summer though, he needs the practice more. And if we go out on the trails Cody might be my man as well. Depends on how this trailer loading goes. I have also finally ordered Cody's hoof boots. They should be here today and I can't wait to try them out. I think Cody might feel differently but it'll be nice to be able to walk on gravel without tripping.

Another Day Another Bit

Another nice day for riding this week. Wouldn't you know, I pull into the driveway and all the horses (okay, not Gunner) are standing around lazily in the paddock. As soon as I get my stuff out of the car and get my boots on, they've all decided to walk down the hill. They must know I need the exercise. Axel did decide to stay near the barn and see what I was up to. I picked on some of his scabs for awhile, he's still got some nasty mud fever even after the wet is gone. I sprayed him with Betadine but he wasn't too happy about it so he started to head for the hills as well. I went to see how close everyone was and if I could whistle and get them to come back. Axel was maybe 10 feet from me on his way down when I whistled. He turns and looks at me, and then decides I must be whistling for him so he turns around to come back to me. Goofy horse. Of course no one else came running, probably didn't hear me, I can't whistle very well.

Tricia arrived so we went down to fetch Cody, Kiko, and Kalani. Steph made it down and manned the gates for us. We groomed and tacked and all that good stuff. It's looking like I need an additional pad for Cody. His saddle is starting to get closer and closer to his withers. Ideally I'd have a couple nice contoured wool pads but they're pretty spendy so I'll have to use what I have for now. I also got a few different bits from Steph to try on Cody. We ended up trying a low port, short shanked, aluminum bit. The last one we tried was mullen and possibly put too much pressure on his tongue. He seemed pretty okay with our newest choice but we'll see after a few tries. It seems like it might be a bit narrow but both Tricia and Steph thought it looked alright.

I might need to take some western riding classes so I can learn how to neck rein. I feel a little out of control trying to ride with a super loose rein. Overall it went well. Steph got back on Kalani and he was just fine and Kiko was a rockstar as usual. Cody was really calm for most of the ride. We walked down the big hill, Cody leading, and he went slow and even stopped at the bottom of the hill (usually he wants to run). We decided to go back up the big hill. Kalani went first. I held Cody back thinking maybe we'd run up but we didn't really have space to start. But I barely even thought about asking him to move on and he just bolted up the hill. I'm surprised I don't have a cantle shaped bruise on my rear end. After that stunt he was a little worked up. Granted we were heading back in the direction of home so that might have had more to do with it.

We stopped in the clearing to do some schooling. Cody was much better than last time. He doesn't quite understand the point of going in a circle and staying on the circle instead of cutting in to get right behind another horse. But he was doing good. And I am getting better letting him have his head and using leg to steer. We even managed some left turns away from the group and the barn (left is our bad side). I did make one mistake on the way back. I thought I'd cut through a short cut and no one followed me, Cody realized it and spun around as fast as he could (we might have to teach him spins and rollbacks!). That and the usual dance up the last hill on the way home. No worries, we'll keep working on it.

Hey! It Really is Spring!

Well I think we can finally say it is spring. Steph and I went out on Tuesday to ride. Steph decided she was ready to ride Kiko. They had all just been turned out on the hill pasture so we had to go on the hike to find them. We were greeted by a stampede of horses. We grabbed Kiko and Cody and hope the rest of the horses would follow so we could lock them up and not have "helpers" when we went to ride. Unfortunately the rest of the herd decided to stop where they were and graze some more. We groomed Kiko and Cody in the paddock where Cody proceeded to scream and cry. We had their saddles on by the time the rest of the herd finally came running up the hill to see what the fuss was about. Axel was trailing the group but cantering and looking really great. It's too bad I didn't have a video camera or something, he looked really good.

So in the end we were able to lock everyone up in the paddock so we could make an easier crossing. Gunner was the only one that decided grazing was a better idea than coming to see what Cody was going on about. So he ended up staying in the pasture. He really didn't care what we were doing so we were able to cross the bridge with no help. Once we got across the bridge and on our way Cody calmed down and was a manageable horse. He still had some issues not totally walking down the little hills but he wasn't freaking out. I went with the longest rein I could muster and I think it really helped. He still wasn't totally in tune with listening to me asking for a walk or halt. But he was a lot calmer about the whole situation without me yanking on his face.

Windy Saturday

I was able to make it out to the barn again this weekend and it was really nice out today. No one was around and all the horses were standing in the paddock looking pretty bored. I brought my real camera with this time. I wasn't certain what I wanted to do so I started with grooming Axel. It was way too nice out to be in the barn and there were too many "helpers" standing around so I took Axel out to the yard. That way he was able to graze and help mow the lawn while I groomed. He's still looking pretty good. The tiniest bit tender on that back foot but walks around just fine. He's still getting scabs on his legs from the mud fever but that should start going away now that the mud is gone. He could have used a good scrubbing but I guess I'll have to do that another time. When I was done with Axel I grabbed Cody and groomed him in the same place. He's not quite as concerned with his herd when there's lush green grass in front of him. He wasn't too pleased to pick up his feet while he grazed however. I'm always wary to push my luck too far with Cody, I don't want him to shut down completely. I decided to do some ground work in the side pasture to see where he was at. We just did a few circles and he seemed pretty calm about it. We even tried the pedestal. He got right up to it but couldn't quite figure out what I wanted and ended up banging his knees on it trying to side step around it instead of taking a step up.

Since he was being pretty good I tied him up and grabbed my saddle and a mounting block. On the trail Cody can tend to be very distracted and stop paying attention to his rider completely. In the side pasture he's half distracted but will pay attention to the rider at least half the time. And when he's paying attention even just half way he's a pretty awesome horse. He's super sensitive and we were doing serpentines with just leg and seat aids. It took a little while to get him to turn both directions but he loosened up when he figured out we weren't traveling away from the herd at all, just doing circles and patterns. At the end of the ride he willingly walked to the far side of the trees where he couldn't see his herd. I dismounted and loosened the girth there as a reward.

I'm still trying to figure out a way to work on the standing still issue. I did try one trick, after riding I led him into the mounting block and asked for him to stand. I started untacking him there. As soon as he moved I put the saddle back on and walked him back to the block and asked for a halt again. This time he stood and I removed the saddle. He's good at standing for dismounting so that method of teaching him to stand still doesn't work too well, but the untacking might be a method that I can keep working on.

After that I hung around for a while and shot some photos with my camera. I let everyone into the round pen to eat the dandilions. I wasn't sure what the plan was for letting the horses in the pasture so I didn't want to step on any toes there, but I figured the round pen for a few minutes wasn't a big deal. All the horses were pretty happy about it. Axel was a bit pokey and couldn't find the door to the round pen. He ended up following me around quite a bit. I found a few itchy spots that he was more than happy to let me scratch, he was being kind of a puppy dog. It was nice spending some time with him.

Not the Cody we remember

Axel is looking pretty good these days. Not only is he almost done shedding and getting his shiny black summer coat (which will shortly be brown when he stands in the sun too long), but he is looking pretty darn sound considering. A month ago I thought we were in for a long haul with him. I expected that rest and bute wasn't going to do much and I'd have to explore injections or shoeing or something more expensive. But so far (knock on wood) the rest is doing the trick. The farrier was out on Wednesday and thinks he has a stifle locking issue but we'll give him a bit more time to start moving around more normal before we start diagnosing more issues that could just be stiffness due to favoring one leg. Anyway, he promptly trotted away from me in the pasture proving that he's feeling pretty good these days. He's been off the bute for a while and on some joint supplements for a few days. I'm giving him a week or two more of no riding and they should be on part of the hill pasture soon, that might put a bit more stress on his legs so I'm going to give him a chance to see if that will have any affect at all.

So we rearranged our riding this week to avoid rain and whatever. So Wednesday we all finally had a chance to get together and go for a ride. Tricia brought Oly over for the first time this spring. And by a twist of fate or just some communication error she ended up bringing Rocket over as well. The Pinto Creek herd was quite surprised to see a trailer pull up with more horses and it was quite the fiasco getting them past the herd out to the trail. Note to self, use the system the caretakers have set up with the rope to separate the paddock. Everyone was especially interested in Rocket. I think Kalani wanted to take him home and keep him.

So we looked at our options and thought maybe it would be best if Steph rode Cody. He has his moments but they are usually pretty mellow and Kiko and Kalani are still pretty unpredictable. So I was going to ride Kalani for the first time. Before Tricia arrived we had Cody and Kalani in the barn for grooming and Cody was being pretty decent. Only a few attempts to dig a hole under the barn wall. But things changed when Oly and Rocket arrived and then never really calmed down. By the end of the ride Cody was a sweaty mess. Our plan was to try Cody out with a shanked bit and neck rein since he was so responsive in the round pen over the weekend. But it's really hard to judge how that went since he was having a heart attack over Oly and Rocket instead. In all reality he did okay. Very prancy but never dangerous. Kalani was great. A little fast actually which was the opposite of what I expected as they told me he tends to just stop and refuse to move. Somehow I feel less in control with a hack, and a bit like I have no idea what I'm doing. I also felt a little heavy handed with him. He does move out more than either of my horses so I have a hard time telling if we're just walking normal but fast or if he's going to break into a trot. Thus the heavy hand.

After all the excitement, the ride was acceptable, we did a little schooling in the meadow. Kalani was not interested and wants to just follow someone else. Not something I feel like trying to break him of, so that'll just have to go on the trainer's schedule (Steph). Since Cody was so worked up we decided this was not the best choice to work on trailer loading. Turns out little Rocket had only been in a trail 4 times and he tends to leap into the trailer at that. So loading him took a few minutes but he really was good about it. He got both front feet in nice and quiet and then jumped in with both back feet at once. I guess when they got home he wouldn't get out of the trailer.

I'm hoping to get out there this weekend once or twice even and might just do some riding on Cody in the pasture. If the herd is out on the back hill it might be a tough ride since he'll be concerned that they aren't around. But it must be done. We'll see what happens, plans tend to change pretty easily.

Raining Saturday

I was on my own on Saturday so I ran out to the barn and tried to beat the rain. I actually ended up driving through it on the way down there but it was light and it was intermittent. I still would have preferred a day like Sunday but I guess I'll take what I can get. I groomed Axel first since he was nearest and looked interested in some attention. He's walking really well now. Just the tiniest bit tender but I watched him canter away from someone and came out of it no lamer than before so that's a good sign. And I hear he's been off the bute for a week now, another good sign that he's on the mend. My main purpose for heading over there this weekend was to drop off Axel's super huge bucket of joint supplements. It'll probably be a few weeks before we see any results from them, but I'm looking forward to it. Axel is almost back to his nice sleek black color. Which will of course turn brown again when he gets out in the sun.

I ended up having to chase Cody around the pasture for a while. His usual method is to walk away from me for 10 feet or so and then stop and let me catch him. Well he decided he wasn't going to be caught. So shooed him away with the lead rope several times around the pasture, in and out of the paddock. He finally ended up in the paddock alone so I locked the gate. He ran up and down the fence line for a while trying to figure out what to do while I watched. He finally stopped and walked toward me when he got tired of pacing. I really have to lay out a plan for working him through this herd bound issue. I groom him in the barn away from the other horses. He's not terrible but after a few minutes he tries to dig a hole under the barn wall. I finished grooming him and the rain had let up, at least for a moment so I saddled him up and went out into the round pen. My other idea for getting him through his issues is to do more work near his herd where he can be calm and listen to me. It's not fool proof but we'll keep working on it. He was fairly attentive in the round pen. And I did discover he's a lot more willing with neck reining and leg than direct reining. I'm not sure if that will translate to the trail when he's ticked off about not being back at the barn, but I'll give it a try. That also means I might have to pick up a new shanked bit if that's what he'd prefer to listen to. We worked a little on bending to a stop as well, but that didn't go quite as smoothly. And we're still having troubles standing for mounting. The trick to work on standing while dismounting isn't going to work for him since he stands well for that. I'll have to dig around and see what other techniques I can find for working on that issue.

Finally a nice day!

We finally had a nice day to go out and ride. Even after it snowed this weekend (can you believe that?). Axel is looking better, seems a bit tender still. I told the caretakers to cut down his bute a bit and then just give it to him as he becomes sore. We'll see how that works. He was feeling well enough to chase Poppy around and to sneak under a makeshift fence. I grabbed Cody and Kiko for today's ride. Steph was busy so Tricia came out to ride Kiko since Axel is on the bench. I really do promise I'll work with Cody on the standing still thing. He did really well with backing out of the barn so I expect if I put my mind to it I can get him to stand still. I also plan to do a bit more work with him this summer as far as schooling goes since Axel is resting. He's not totally willing to listen to me yet so maybe some time in the "arena" will help. I'll have to do some research on methods to teach him to stand to beef up my arsenal.

We had our usual mounting difficulties so we walked down to the first stretchy gate and mounted there. He made a few very weak attempts to convince me that riding on the trail wasn't in our best interest, but he gave in quickly and without a fight. Over all the ride was very calm. We still have issues with going down hills and wanting to go too fast or run. And when we came out of the woods into the clearing and tried to work on some circles he was a bit miffed. He hates turning to the left and will fight it with all his might. So serpentines will be in our future. And despite the minor fights, the first hill work of the year, and still having a partial winter coat, we came back up to the barn with very little sweat. So that's a good sign that he was relatively calm with the situation. Granted Kiko was along. I am hoping one of these days he will finally settle in with the new herd and be back to his post-chiropractic happy self.

Poor Axel

Well I got a call on Wednesday this past week that Axel was sore on his hind left foot again. The vet figured that after a round of antibiotics it wasn't an infection that was making him lame. He has a lot of calcification from the lower ringbone and the vet though he probably just fragmented some of that calcification. So the new diagnosis is just that and the treatment is bute for the pain and rest for a month. Sounds like rest just means keeping him at a walk if we ride and keeping him in a smaller paddock. I probably won't ride for a while just to give him a fighting chance to feel better. The herd will be in the upper paddock for a while yet so keeping him in a smaller area isn't a problem. He should be feeling better by the time we open another pasture. If the month of rest doesn't do the trick we have some options with steroid injections and whatnot and I'll be getting him some of the 4-in-1 HA supplement for his joints.


The goofy horse was eating the powdered antibiotics with applesauce and licking the bowl clean. So I figured for the ease of the caretakers I'd get the powdered bute which they could mix with the applesauce. Well apparently bute tastes much worse than antibiotics. I picked up the x-rays and the bute on my way over and put together his dinner for that night. He ate about half of his grain/bute/applesauce mixture and then went on a hunger strike. He just stood there nickering at me and lifted his sore foot. Poor Cody will not be terribly happy that Axel gets vacation and he is going to get ridden more often in the next month.

Lazy Sunday

The caretakers of the barn sent me this photo on Sunday (I think it was actually shot on Saturday though). All but two of the horses laying down taking a nice nap together. Axel and Daley were standing guard. Too bad it was so muddy and kind of yuck. I think they'd look super cute napping in a field of daisys! Heh.

Saturday at the barn

After a meeting at WCR on Saturday I made it out to the barn to see how Axel was doing. He was down to 1g of bute per day and Sunday would be his last day of antibiotics. He was walking on this foot, still the tiniest bit tender, but nearly sound for the most part. He didn't run away from me in the pasture so I guess he's done being mad that we locked him up when he was recovering. As usual he's got scratches and scrapes all over him, what that horse does when no one is around, I will never know. There's no sign of any new scabs or anything on his feet from the mud fever. Now that the mud is starting to dry up he'll hopefully make a full recovery with no relapses. I'm still waiting on the bill from the vet for all the x-rays (yikes).

I did do a bit of work with Cody. After a quick grooming I took him out to the side pasture to do some ground work. We're still not quite sure how to move away from the person lunging when he starts to cut in. But we'll keep working on that. Until we get that part I don't think we can do lateral movements. I took him to the opposite side of the trees so he couldn't see his friends and did some work there. He wasn't 100% on that side but was doing fair. He had no interest in the pedestal. So I guess he's not much of a trick horse. Though I didn't push him, I just wanted to see if he would be interested in it at all. Finally we went to the round pen where I knew he'd be more relaxed with his herd nearby. Did some basic lunging and direction changes. Worked on moving the forehand and the hindquarters. Then we tried some liberty work. He actually did really great that the liberty work. Slightly distracted at times but still changed directions on command, even into the circle as he was taught. All that of course happened after I shot this little video. It's hard to shoot a video of lunging without getting dizzy and falling over.

Update on Axel

Lessee ...

Monday: Got the call that Axel was lame, had a friend check him out she confirmed I should call the vet, had the vet take a look at him, he was kind of stumped so he took some x-rays to be sure, short of broken bones we decided it was infection from mud fever, he stayed in the barn all day and that night.

Tuesday: Axel was feeling no pain after a few rounds of Bute so we decided to cut him down a bit so we could actually see if he was improving or not, he was moved out to the round pen so he could see his buddies and get some fresh air, he was actually walking fine. Report from Vet said no broken bones. We spent our usual Tuesday night at the barn grooming, feeding antibiotics, giving vaccines, and cleaning hooves.

Wednesday: Reported from the caretakers, after less Bute he was putting weight on his sore leg but not confidently so he stayed in the round pen for the day and night again.

Today: Reported from the caretakers, he trotted away from them this morning, tried to rear, refused to be haltered and went on a hungry strike. He's now turned out with the herd for the day.

Silly horse. I won't see him again til Saturday, maybe tomorrow if I get an itch. He'll be on the antibiotics until Sunday for sure and cutting down to even less Bute between now and then. It sounds like he's feeling better but we'll see how he feels after being turned out all day. If it's just the infection there's not really any worry that he'll hurt himself worse and the mud is drying up and he's on antibiotics, so I think he'll be fine turned out. More likely than not, he'll spend the day standing in one place like usual.

Happy Monday

Nothing like a call from the caretakers of a person's barn at 7 am on a Monday morning to brighten your day. Turns out Axel was lame. And over the phone, they said he wouldn't even walk up to his bucket for breakfast. It didn't sound like anyone really knew what to do and I didn't think I should run out there if it was just some lameness. So I called Steph to have her run up on her way to work and see if she thought I should call the vet or what. My thought was that it was just the mud fever acting up. All the mud out there for the past few weeks certainly doesn't do anyone any good. Steph determined he was quite lame, 3 legged lame in fact. They managed to get him in the barn and she thought I should probably call the vet. So around 1:30 Brad arrived out at the barn and Jeff and I met him there. We drove up at the same time so I hadn't seen him yet.

He greeted us in the barn with a nice knicker. Brad had me try and walk him to see what was the deal. He was dead lame, hopping on 3 feet lame. The vet did some testing to see if it was any joints that were bothering him - no reaction. He did some pressure testing on his hoof - no reaction. He looked like he had an abscess but that would have shown up with the hoof tester and it didn't. He was sore when he pressed on some of the lumps and bumps from the mud fever but that was the only reaction we could get out of him. And the mud fever wasn't all that bad externally at least. The vet decided that he seemed just too lame and he better xray his foot to make sure. I guess he was walking like a horse that broken it's coffin bone. Though that kind of break usually results from the horse kicking something really hard and Axel isn't really a kicker.

So until we see the xrays he said to give him some antibiotics and bute in case it is just the mud fever and it went deeper and caused the lameness. If that's the case we should see some improvement in a few days. The vet hasn't called about the xrays so I should hear from him in the morning. So keep your fingers crossed that it's just the infection. We'll be heading out there tomorrow evening as usual so I hope he's showing some improvement. Scott called earlier and asked if he could put Axel in the round pen tomorrow during the day. I guess he's not totally content in the barn by himself. At least in the round pen he can see the other horses better and be out in the sun. Hopefully he takes his bute in the morning and doesn't give them a hard time.