Randomness -- Give your thoughts

I got a pretty strange call last week, that I forgot to write about. 

I was at work, and my cell phone rang just after lunch time. I had a moment of that instant panic that didn't allow me to enjoy my new ring tone, because it was someone from the barn. At least she started the conversation by telling me that nothing was wrong with Promise. But then it got a bit strange.

She began telling me about one of the girls who takes a jumping lesson on Saturday morning - and (some of the details escape me here, so I'll make a long story short) she was calling to see if the girl could try Promise in her lesson. She said I had no obligation to say yes, they were just asking, etc. 

Ok...

I told her I was hesitant for a few reasons - the biggest one being Promise's current physical condition, and that I was very uncomfortable with her jumping, even small fences, right now. The second being that she has a history of back problems, and reacting quite violently to that pain -- and I do not want to put myself in a situation where it is a kid riding my horse, whose parents can turn around and sue me, should something *god forbid* happen to their kid. At least with an adult, they would be the ones physically signing the contract that I can assure you would have been longer than the one I made when I half-leased her 6 years ago. And, my third concern was that Promise needs an experienced rider, and has only had about 5 people on her since she was started under saddle - but it has mostly been me since day 1. She said she understood, and the conversation ended a few seconds later.

I think it took a long time for my brain to absorb what had taken place. On the one hand, I was flattered that they like my horse so much, and initially had thought about taking up the offer to go watch the lesson on Saturday and see the girl ride. I thought, perhaps, I would let her try Promise. And then I came to my senses. And realized that on the other, I was a bit insulted that she had the *ahem* balls to call me and ask me to make Promise -- a personal horse, basically, a lesson horse. Whether it was for this one girl only, or if they would eventually ask to put others on her -- I just can't even begin to fathom doing that to my mare. Not to mention the fact that, if I had wanted to do that to her, I wouldn't have had so much trouble riding on the equestrian team my freshman year in college, because my horse would have been a part of it -- and I wouldn't have had to miss practices to work off board so I could afford to keep her.

I also began to wonder who cooked up this scheme and actually thought it might work. I mean...wow. 

I just think, in hind sight, that it was an extremely forward thing to ask a boarder who has been there for less than 3 weeks at that point, and that perhaps it wasn't taken into account that she isn't as perfect a horse as she may *seem* with me.

What do you think? 

Based on what you've read of Promise so far, you've probably figured out that she is pretty opinionated and not shy about saying something hurts in admittedly inappropriate ways, etc. I find this is the biggest concern -- that she would get sore, and unintentionally hurt the kid who has probably never had the experiences that I did, riding bad ponies that I volunteered to ride and school or dealing with Promise's rearing and bucking phases, since I owned her in her most demonic stages. 

But even in your own situation with your own horse -- would you be open to this? Or are you too protective, like me, to allow it? What's your reasoning either way? If you accepted, would you seek a deal from the barn in terms of board or leasing? etc. 

I'm curious to see thoughts on this.

Girls will be Girls

The two mares apparently decided to form a truce. I guess they liked each other enough to realize that they were running out of time to sort things out, when Amy and I agreed on another 1/2 week of trial. 

I'm not sure who is alpha now, but as long as they're not beating each other up, it doesn't affect my life, lol. Miss Promise had no *new* cuts, although her butt is a bit banged up with pieces of hair missing, there were no skin abrasions.

When I was there on Sunday, her right front was still a bit swollen - but mostly around the cut itself, not the entire lower leg. She's also still a bit off on it - about a 2 on a scale from 1 to 10, 10 being the worst. I did ride her for a bit, and she felt better on a straight line than on a circle (big surprise there). I did ask her to trot a few times around, and she seemed to work out of it some - so it might be stiffness related also. And we cantered about 1/2 of the arena. It's the first time in a long time she has gone out for a ride with no polos on! How embarassing! :)

Afterwards, I washed it, scraped the scab off and put peroxide on it until it stopped fizzing. 

The joys of herd dynamics

"I'm surprised you're not more upset about Promise getting so beat up." my boyfriend says, after threatening the mare who has been doing the damage. "I figured you'd want to kill Grasshopper for hurting your baby."

I had to explain how herd dynamics work and that the pecking order takes time to figure out. Of course, I don't think anyone expected it *wouldn't* be sorted out 2 weeks later. Clearly, they are both alpha mares, and clearly neither has backed down yet.

I love the fact that he was feeling protective of Promise this weekend. It was probably due in part to the fact that he was forced out of bed early (well, he considers it early, it really wasn't) to go with me to take care of her leg on Sunday. And that he froze on both Saturday and Sunday while I cold-hosed it, and hand walked her and cold-hosed it again, and washed it with peroxide until it stopped fizzing. Then tended to her *other* wounds.

The one on the inside of her right stifle will be fine. I picked the scab off of it because it was loose, and I didn't want her to tear it somehow. I washed it, and then put some wonder dust on it. The scrape on the back of her hock is mostly healed. The coronet band thing...man, I have no idea what it is. I'm not going to worry about it for the time being.

The right front was pretty swollen on Saturday. I took her out to the arena to put her on the lunge line to see if she was off. This mare is backwards. Going to the right, she was fine, didn't look off at all. But, going to the left, she was about a 2 or 3. I say she's backwards because *most* horses show lameness when the sore side is on the inside of the circle, not the outside. Whatever. She's a freak. So, I brought her in and did my cold-hose, walk regiment. Swelling went down a bit. 

The leg is pretty sore. All of the swelling is in the front of her cannon bone. She got kicked pretty good, but being that the lameness is so minor, and the swelling was manipulated so easily, I'm positive nothing is broken. She'll survive, and in the meantime, she got the weekend off. Lucky her.

On Sunday, the swelling was considerably less than it was on Saturday. Still very sore to the touch. I didn't try to lunge her, as I knew she'd probably still be off. I washed it, checked on the stifle cut, then took her out to hose it for 10 minutes, walk for 10, hose for 5, clean it up again, give her a once over and call it a day. 

As I was walking her out to hose (the first round), my boyfriend gasped and made me stop her. Wow, guess you can tell I was going to do my once over AFTER cold-hosing...she had an arab sized hoofprint on her right hip. Poor guy was horrified, and that's when he started getting protective. It is mostly hair missing. The area was a bit swollen and sore to the touch, but the cut was very minor, so it was just an impact thing. She let me wash it and only tried to kick me once. Nice of her, huh?

Amy and I have agreed that if the 2 mares don't figure it out by the middle of this week, she needs to switch the groups around to find a balance. The weird thing is, they are next to each other - they *could* work out their alpha-troubles in the stalls with minimal damage, but it seems they're not bothering...and neither one apparently wants to back down, since they're both banged up.

On a brighter note - 

My boyfriend seems to be taking more of an interest, and is even socializing with Promise, scratching her nose, talking to her and hanging out on the edge of her stall while I take care of her. He is convinced she's a lot happier -- and I don't disagree -- even with the bumps and bruises. I think he was a little disappointed that we didn't get to ride this weekend (we had planned to go Sunday) -- but even as minor as I consider the lameness to be, I don't want to get on her. It's not fair. 

He finally understands why I had to pull Promise's hind shoes before she moved, and why none of the horses are allowed to have hind shoes in this situation. After seeing the damage that "just a hoof" does, he conceded that he didn't want to see what a shod hoof would do, after all.

After threatening Grasshopper, he looked over at Promise and said, "You're two times bigger than her, don't let her beat you up, just use your size!" I think he even told Promise to just sit on her, but I could be mistaken.

Oh...and she's slowly beginning to lose some weight. She's looking slightly less plump, and seems to be getting fitter already.

It's a love/hate thing

I typed the title, and then realized this post could take many directions. I did have one in mind.

I went for a walk with one of my coworkers at lunch time today. Usually there are about 5 of us, but today there were just 2 of us. Anyway, apparently my phone rang while we were walking, and I guess between the low volume and traffic, I didn't hear it, even though it was in my pocket. I saw the missed call when I got back to the office. It was the barn owner. 

Crap. Instant panic. So here is my love/hate thing...I love that she called me to tell me about such a minor thing (I'll detail in a second) and hate, at the same time, that automatic oh.my.god.what.happened reaction that sets in whenever a barn owner or manager calls me, and I know it's not about money, lol.

She called me to tell me that Promise's right front leg is swollen. She said she thinks its due to a small cut on her fetlock, and she doesn't think it's serious, and she cleaned it up for me. She also noticed the two cuts she has on the right hind, but didn't seem concerned about those (I wasn't either) -- and *thinks* she might have an abscess on its way out in the right hind hoof. I hope not...she's never had one before. I assumed it was something to do with the scar right at her coronet/hoof line from several years ago when she kicked herself with winter shoes and pads on. 

We both agreed it is probably from her just standing in her area, since she doesn't walk around much when she's in -- and Amy said she didn't notice any swelling when she was in the barn at 9 AM...Promise only would have been in for an hour or so at that point. She said if she sees any change later she'll call me. And I said if she thought I needed to come out and ice it, I certainly would, and that I would stop by tomorrow, just probably not at the time I have been coming out since the boy and I are going to see a civil war reenactment tomorrow. Sounds cool. :)

So anyway...we're not worried, really, but she wanted to forewarn me, which I definitely appreciate. And I am also incredibly relieved that it wasn't an emergency!!!

Have a great weekend. I am off Monday, but will probably have an update on Tuesday. :)

Success...sort of

I find myself in a situation where I just can't complain about my horse. She's being...well, amazing...if not a little bratty, but she's not doing anything that I would consider "bad." 

When I got there on Saturday, the therapy kids were getting ready. I thought I had more time than I actually did, to get ready, lunge for a couple minutes, and then hop on and ride. We'd just started trotting when they all began filing into the arena. I didn't realize how small the space was until there were 5 horses in it, 4 of them with 2 people walking, and 1 riding. Wow. I ended up leaving the arena to stay out of the way - and one of the parents was nice enough to offer to open the round pen gate for me so I could ride in there. No biggie, we could use some work on circling properly anyway. I rode for a bit in there, and when they were finishing up, I came back out, and remounted, intending to try to cross the river a few times.

She wouldn't even walk toward it. She was convinced (I guess) that it was going to eat her alive, and she had to get us out of there as quickly as possible. It got so that I couldn't even get her to circle facing that direction. Grr. I made her stand, facing the bank, although too far away for my taste (damnit, to not having a whip with me and my legs being sore from the gym), and dismounted. I walked her closer to the bank to where my lunge line was sitting on a chair by the round pen, removed her polo wraps, attached the lunge line, tied up the reins, and let her down to the bank.

She followed me to the edge of the 4-wheeler ramp and planted her feet. Progress. Not sure why it is so much more scary if I am not beside her...it's not like I would actually sacrifice her to the minnows. I walked her in a small circle, and tried again. Planted again. 

Ok...we're not playing this game today. I walked back up to the round pen, and grabbed my new friend the dressage whip. I only had to tap her twice, the first time we tried to cross. After that, she crossed 4 more times (so, 10 times, total). The last 2 times, I had no whip in my hand (I dropped it on the edge). And the last time we were crossing back toward the barn, I made her stand in it for about 2 minutes - until she looked around bored.

~*~

On Sunday, I decided not to ride because I really don't want her back getting sore, but lunged her for a bit in the round pen, and then long-lined her at a walk. We worked on softening, steering, and making sure she's using her hind end and starting to reengage it for me, so that she can build it up again. We did little figure 8s and a few small circles in the "corners."

When we were done, I took the surcingle and polos off, and then led her over to the river with the dressage whip in hand. She didn't stop, she didn't hesitate, she just walked right in after me, stood there for about 30 seconds, finished crossing, walked up the trail a bit then turned around and crossed again with no hesitation. 

~*~

I think she's starting to lose a bit of weight already. It seems like I won't need the girth extender too much longer, it's already iffy being just tight enough. So, I am hopeful that in another few weeks, maybe I won't need to use it anymore. She doesn't seem to be getting beaten up in turnout - although she does have a 3 or 4 inch long cut on the inside of her right stifle, that was scabbed over on Saturday and looked pretty clean, so I didn't mess with it. 

On Sunday, she had a surface scrape on the back of her right hind, just above the hock. She wasn't off at all, and it didn't seem sore to the touch. She let me clean it and put furazone on it with no fuss. 

I need to buy another bottle of peroxide and a new spray bottle (it's great for those leg wounds, such an awkward angle to pour peroxide on). I completely didn't remember that the spray bottle I had with peroxide in it no longer sprays, but I wasn't terribly worried about the cuts, so I'll grab them next weekend.

Saturday & Sunday

It was time to check on the beastie and see how she fared the night in her new home. I picked up my boyfriend and we made our way to the barn around 12:30. I was thinking they'd be done with their therapeutic riding lesson by then, but no such luck. They were just finishing tacking up when we arrived. Oh well.

I walked to Promise's stall, and she was looking over to back gate to the paddock watching the horses. She came over when I called her and said hi, then proceeded to stick her nose in my boyfriend's hand while he tried to screw the small hooks into her stall wall for her name plate. She wouldn't leave him alone. 

She had rolled or laid down over night - she had shavings on her back, so that was good. She must have been feeling comfortable.

Since there were no cross ties available, and I had 2 horses to get ready, I grabbed her tack and set it out around her stall - saddle sitting on the wall, bridle on halter hook, brushes on the floor outside the door. Then I went to the school tack shed and happened to catch the instructor, so asked for her help with a saddle that would fit Buttons - the little black and white paint mare designated as my boyfriend's mount that afternoon. Brought all of Buttons' stuff over and then we set out to get her in the paddock down the hill. 

I tied Buttons in the aisle, brushed her, and put her saddle on, then went to get Promise ready in her stall. I was a little nervous about having her tied facing the mare who makes ugly faces at her, but she left us alone, and Promise stood quietly like she always got tacked up in her stall. Once her saddle was on, I tightened it enough so it wouldn't move but wasn't tight, then went to bridle Buttons, and hand her off to the boy. He held her, I bridled Promise, attached the lunge line to her and told him to go ahead and start walking toward the arena we'd be right behind him. 

The instructor was nice enough to check his cinch for me - it's been so long since I've done up a western saddle, I had no idea if I'd done it right or if I was destined to kill him off. She redid it and Buttons and Promise get along well enough that I was able to stand by and watch what she was doing. Then I held her so he could mount, and he waited while I lunged Promise for a few minutes. 

I figured since we had a rather large audience, she'd be a demonic bronc. She surprised me. Although she was a little tense for a couple of seconds, she walked off like that pro I expect her to be - and then we attempted to tackle the small (and I do mean small) river to get to the trails we intended to ride. I didn't think she'd care - she loves splashing in puddles, so I figured this would be easy as pie, and we'd be on our way in no time. She thought otherwise.

I have to say - she didn't do anything bad. The worst she did was turn away and try to trot back up the side bank (which I must admit is pretty steep). She turned back, would circle - would mostly stop, although she was getting herself all worked up, so she was dancing. But over all, she didn't do anything bad. The barn owner was there and tried to help me by leading her to the edge, but it wasn't really helping. Even stuffing her up Buttons' butt didn't work - they had just met, and had no bond to really get that method to work, lol. So, I ended up dismounting and walking her across. It only took a little bit of convincing once I was calf-deep in water. Typical -- "You go first mom, if you survive, then I'll go."

The owner then brought the mounting block across for me (she stayed dry by walking across on a human bridge) - and held her while I remounted (how cool is that?!), and then we were on our way. Promise was determined to lead, which surprised me a bit, as she didn't know the area. But she was being confident and looking, but didn't feel spooky in the least, so I let her go at a pretty brisk walk. 

Then Buttons decided she'd had enough. I'm not really sure what happened, since I was ahead of them. She just refused to walk any further, and he wouldn't kick her because "It's not my horse!" -- I told him to sit up and stop leaning so far back and then squeeze her hard with his heels. He squeezed, but he didn't really sit up. Boys. I think it was either she was confused with his weight on her back (telling her to whoa, for all intensive purposes) and his legs telling her to go, so she did the only thing she could, and stopped, lol. The only other thing I can think is, she's basically a school horse, and she may have just been testing him. Without me getting on her, I really have no way of knowing. 

Anyway, he ended up turning around, and tried to tell me to keep going - but apparently forgot I won't go out on a trail by myself - which was the point of borrowing the horse for him in the first place. Plus, it is SO much better riding my own horse than some riding school trail horse, when I *could* be on Promise. I had to dismount to get her to cross again, but she went right over. I remounted in the arena and worked her for a bit to get her to come down - she worked herself up again over the silly river.

~*~

On Sunday, I stopped on my way to his house and worked with her for an hour. I free lunged her in the round pen for about 15 minutes, and then took her out to the river to try to get her to cross again. I figured my sneakers were already wet, so what the hell. I discovered I can pretty much pull on her halter all day long, and she doesn't give a damn. (Weird lesson to learn after 11 years with her, isn't it? lol) Great. Not helpful, Promise. All she did was pull back and plant her feet. 

So, I stopped for a couple minutes debating, and letting her relax. There isn't a less-steep area to work on this, its this path or not at all. I tried again, she went a little further down the bank, then stopped and backed up. We did this for about 40 minutes. Mostly standing, sometimes taking a small step forward, then backing up (all her, not me asking her to), then standing some more, then looking at me like I am absolutely out of my mind. I tried luring her with a candy cane, I tried the stupid high-pitched you're so good voice. At one point, I got her to the edge of the water, and she changed her mind. Back up the bank we went...backwards. We stopped again, and I decided to push it a bit more. Took her back to the round pen to grab the extra long dressage whip, and carried it behind my left side so she couldn't see it - not that I honestly believe she didn't think it was me, lol. We walked back to the bank area, and I tried to get her to walk down the slope again. Planted feet. I reached back without turning and tapped her butt lightly. She looked at me and swung her butt to the right. Ok, not a wrong answer, but not what I wanted. I said "Walk on" and tapped her butt again. She took half a step with her right hind. I praised her like crazy. Ok, the butt thing isn't working. I decided to put pressure on her legs, instead. I said "Walk on" and gently tapped her left hock. She took two complete steps and then stopped. Praise like crazy again, give her a bite of candy cane. (Wondering how many hands I have yet? lol I swear only 2.) We did this a few more times - she moved away incredibly from such light taps  (I don't use crops or whips often, don't need them - but she does know to move away from the pressure/tap). I got her to the edge again, and made her stand there on a loose lead, she ate and entire candy cane, snuffled at the water a bit and then looked bored. 

I repeated the process again, "Walk on" and a tap on the hock. She walked into the water with me and somewhat nervously stood there for a minute or two while I praised her and made a big deal about how grown up and brave she is. Then we walked to the other bank and up the trail a bit to turn around. I didn't waste any time, I wasn't going to push her and drill, I just wanted a positive experience, and to call it a day - so, we turned and walked right back into the river, crossed it with no hesitation, no tapping, just walking normally, and headed back to the barn for more candy canes and a rinse. Then I put her back in her stall and told her I'd see her on Saturday.

Friday, January 2, 2009

I got to the barn around 8 a.m. so that I could ride before she got on the trailer. My boyfriend had wanted to go riding after she was moved, and I figured this way, I wouldn't have to worry about the fact that I've been a horrible horse mom, and haven't ridden since the beginning of November. Yes, it really was that long. I can't believe how quickly those two months went by.

The barn manager yelled at me for lunging outside of the center paddock - where I always lunge (grr) - and I ride there, on a circle, too, so it's not like making me move to the arena made that much of a difference - plus I was almost done. But, whatever. We moved to the arena to finish lunging, and of course, she was instantly as high as a kite because we don't go in there often, so I ended up lunging about 10 minutes longer than I would have had he just let me be. I wouldn't really have cared, but I know for a fact I signed a rules list stating there is no lunging in the arena, under any circumstances. Well, again, whatever - she was leaving in 3 hours. 

I got on, and she was pretty tense. She wouldn't walk off like a grown up, kept taking little baby steps, 2 or 3 at a time, and stopping. Ignored my squeezing and encouragement. I guess she talked  herself out of bucking. Once she relaxed, she was pretty good, although a bit speedy and still high from being in the big scary arena. I rode for about 30 minutes, then put her in her stall for a few to pee and get a drink while I started getting her standing wraps ready. Since it was so early, and she was part of the 2nd rotation, she got turned out for a little under an hour - I went and grabbed breakfast, called the new barn owner to make sure she knew where she was going, then waited for someone taking a lesson to tack up and leave the grooming stall before I brought her in and wrapped her up for the trailer. I did it about 30 minutes before her ride was to arrive so she'd stop cow kicking her hind legs (omg, they're wrapped!). Didn't want her kicking the trailer walls.

They arrive 10 minutes early (wow!) and she loaded perfectly on the first try - much to their surprise. They then told me they had to go pick up another horse not too far away for a friend, and I could either follow them, or head up and meet them at the barn. I decided on the latter, and drove the hour to her new home. 2 hours after I had arrived there...they pull in the driveway - with just my horse. I had a feeling they'd had trouble loading the other horse, and in fact, they never got him loaded (poor Promise). They said she was great, but was more than ready to get off the trailer.

She stepped off politely, spooked at a rock, and then walked around with me quietly, said hi to a couple of her new neighbors, but wasn't overly interested in socializing. I put her in her new stall to help them unload my tack trunk, and when it was moved, she was already nosing around looking for food. 

She really couldn't have cared less that she was in a new place, or that her neighbor was making ugly faces at her. I could almost see her shrug at the other mare and tell her to get over it, lol. 

More later, but overall, I am very happy with my decision, and I think Miss Promise is also.