MIL took Sis back for a recheck yesterday and the vet was amazed with her results in the last week. We are hoping this means that surgery is no longer even on the table. I think it has helped a little bit having her back at my house as she really wants to keep track of the other horses so I think she’s moving more. She’s back to some of her old antics so I know she’s feeling better.
The vet gave MIL the go ahead to start riding her for 20 min. a night at the walk for 10 days. I think after that she can gradually ad in 5 min. of trotting and work up from there. He told MIL to keep an eye on her and if she felt she was doing poorly to call him first but he didn’t feel he needed to see her again anytime soon.
Lucy went to the clinic with Sis too. It appears she had issues with her TMJ. The vet had the dentist float her teeth and remove 4 caps (we knew these were there but when we had her floated in May they weren’t ready to come off). We’ll keep an eye on her to see how she’s eating and how she’s collecting now.
If I didn’t know better I’d think Black gained 10 yrs. here recently. I took her to drill Tues. night and she was full of P & V. I never thought I’d see the day where I had to hold her back but I had to.
We have a rodeo Sat. night about 2 hours away and then she’ll get some much deserved time off until Sept. I’m going to try to focus my time/energy on Lu. My next show is Aug. 22nd and I’d really like to have her ready for the w/t class at least.
Tuff E Nuff Quarter Horses
Lucy
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Monday, July 27, 2009
Where to begin?
I’m not even sure where to begin with this weekend. Saturday I got up, headed to the ATM to get some money as we had two shows to head to. One was for a drill performance and the other was to actually ride/show. When I got to the ATM I got a message saying “card restricted” and no money. It was too early to call the bank so I headed to the barn to finish cleaning up ponies.
While finishing up I got a call from the bank asking if I had authorized two internet purchases. No I hadn’t. So needless to say my card was cancelled & I will be watching my account closely. Thank goodness for mom and day (I had to borrow cash from them).
We finally got the ponies loaded and headed out. The performance was less then perfect (our worst of the year). Black did great (we have an easy job) and I do think she really enjoys it. Abby popped her butt up once but MIL was quick to whack her. She is getting a little bit better with each performance. I’m not sure what happened but someone got out of place. When you get out of place it is very hard to get back in and it messes up everyone else. Needless to say they managed to make it “look” ok but we were all pretty embarrassed. Thankfully, most of the crowd had no clue what happened.
We loaded up and headed over for the show. I had to do registration so I needed to be there early anyways and I wanted to have a chance to ride Lu a bit before the show. I decided to go ahead and take her in w/t at least. She really needs to get the experience even if we don’t do well. I had been having issues bending her but she was doing great! Her head was low and soft and her trot was to die for. She was getting a bit nervous when the other horses would get around her (looks like I need to take her to a few drill practices) but for the most part she was great. I rode for maybe 20 min. or so and then took her to the trailer until closer to my class.
Once the classes started I saddled Lu back up and headed over to wait. Chase was in his w/t class and he was as stiff as a board but somehow managed to come out with the first place ribbon. There were two more classes before my class and Lu would not stand still. She’d either back up or want to walk off so we did flexing and bending but she still refused to stand still. By this time she’d started to sweat and laid down on me. I hopped off and kicked her and then whacked her w/the reins until she got up. We then went for a “behind the trailer” session. Nothing big, just some LFR to let her know that wasn’t a good idea.
I mounted back up and headed in for my class. By now she’s dripping with sweat (I think it had more to do with nerves vs. heat) & I could tell the sand arena was very appealing to her. The class was so bit they split it in half. I tried to keep Lu moving so she wouldn’t go down. The class finally started and she was moving beautifully. Her head was low and tucked and her knees were flat and flowing. She was getting annoyed (by the sweat) so she tossed her head and as she did my headstall came flying off (the new one DH just got me). I got it back on and we continued w/the class. After lining up and backing I dismounted so she wouldn’t go down with me again. They called for the second batch so I left the arena and headed back to the trailer.
At the trailer I put on her halter but did not untack her. For those who have followed my blog and have followed my “adventures” with Lucy you will know that when she gets hot (even if I’ve only worked her 15 minutes) she will try everything in her power to lie down, even if she is tied. A lot of those times she’s succeeded so it has ingrained the behavior even more. This was one of the reasons I refused to unsaddle her. She needs to learn how to deal with it.
I walked her behind the trailer and anytime she’d tuck a knee like she was going to lie down I’d back her a few strides (I had my crop ready in case she actually went down), nothing hard or fast but just me saying “no”. She was fidgety and would not stand still. She tried several times to tuck her knee so she could go down. When she got close to the trailer she’d throw herself into it to try to rub/scratch my saddle off so I’d move her back over (another reason why I didn’t just tie her up).
I had already decided that *if* by some odd chance I was called back in from the split that I wouldn’t be taking her in. As expected, I wasn’t called back in so it was no big deal. This is when things started to get fun. Another participant decided to come back and offer me some advice. She politely (using the word politely very loosely) suggested that I needed to untack Lu. I thanked her for her concern but assured her that she was fine and told her that I would not be untacking Lucy. She again politely (again using the word loosely) told me (this time she didn’t suggest) to untack Lucy. I again assured her that Lucy was fine and informed her that I would not be untacking her.
I was then informed by her that she has been in the consulting business for over 40 years and knows when a horse is tying up (Lu’s abdominal muscles were tight but so where about 50 other horses at the show). She then proceeded to threaten me that if I didn’t untack Lucy that she would call the Humane Society on me. I encouraged her to do so (by this time my patience was gone).
Now – as for the “concerned citizen”, let me give you a little bit of background on her. She is IDK how old (50 or so). She has trust money (and lots of it) so she hasn’t worked a day in her life. She buys OTTB, uses them up and then dumps them. I’ve rarely seen her keep one more then a year. NO ONE can stand her! The only reason they put up with her at the shows is because of her money (which I think is bullshit). She can not keep workers because she is such a xxxxx that no one can stand working for her. I was ok with her concern until it became a threat.
Needless to say about 5 minutes later I had about 10 people at my trailer looking over Lucy. ALL of them had seen her pull this before (getting hot and laying down) and they all knew I wouldn’t put her in danger (still not sure how untacking her would have kept her from tying up if that is indeed what she was doing). I stood my ground and they stood behind me. 15 min. later when the sweat had started to dry Lu was being a pain in my butt trying to get hay and treats. After she had fully dried off I untacked her and let her stand at the trailer the rest of the night happily munching on hay.
Now while this “concerned citizen” was all over my ass about Lu she never once said anything to the gal who was riding a weanling (gal said it was a 2 yr. old but it looked like a small yearling at the most).
I’m still very irritated that she felt the need to threaten to call the HS on me. How would you have handled this?
I forgot to mention - I was told by the ring steward that the judge REALLY liked Lucy but that she didn't feel like she could call me back in due to my tack mishap. She said she debated over and over because she really liked her. I guess that is good to know once I get her to quite laying down with me. :-)
While finishing up I got a call from the bank asking if I had authorized two internet purchases. No I hadn’t. So needless to say my card was cancelled & I will be watching my account closely. Thank goodness for mom and day (I had to borrow cash from them).
We finally got the ponies loaded and headed out. The performance was less then perfect (our worst of the year). Black did great (we have an easy job) and I do think she really enjoys it. Abby popped her butt up once but MIL was quick to whack her. She is getting a little bit better with each performance. I’m not sure what happened but someone got out of place. When you get out of place it is very hard to get back in and it messes up everyone else. Needless to say they managed to make it “look” ok but we were all pretty embarrassed. Thankfully, most of the crowd had no clue what happened.
We loaded up and headed over for the show. I had to do registration so I needed to be there early anyways and I wanted to have a chance to ride Lu a bit before the show. I decided to go ahead and take her in w/t at least. She really needs to get the experience even if we don’t do well. I had been having issues bending her but she was doing great! Her head was low and soft and her trot was to die for. She was getting a bit nervous when the other horses would get around her (looks like I need to take her to a few drill practices) but for the most part she was great. I rode for maybe 20 min. or so and then took her to the trailer until closer to my class.
Once the classes started I saddled Lu back up and headed over to wait. Chase was in his w/t class and he was as stiff as a board but somehow managed to come out with the first place ribbon. There were two more classes before my class and Lu would not stand still. She’d either back up or want to walk off so we did flexing and bending but she still refused to stand still. By this time she’d started to sweat and laid down on me. I hopped off and kicked her and then whacked her w/the reins until she got up. We then went for a “behind the trailer” session. Nothing big, just some LFR to let her know that wasn’t a good idea.
I mounted back up and headed in for my class. By now she’s dripping with sweat (I think it had more to do with nerves vs. heat) & I could tell the sand arena was very appealing to her. The class was so bit they split it in half. I tried to keep Lu moving so she wouldn’t go down. The class finally started and she was moving beautifully. Her head was low and tucked and her knees were flat and flowing. She was getting annoyed (by the sweat) so she tossed her head and as she did my headstall came flying off (the new one DH just got me). I got it back on and we continued w/the class. After lining up and backing I dismounted so she wouldn’t go down with me again. They called for the second batch so I left the arena and headed back to the trailer.
At the trailer I put on her halter but did not untack her. For those who have followed my blog and have followed my “adventures” with Lucy you will know that when she gets hot (even if I’ve only worked her 15 minutes) she will try everything in her power to lie down, even if she is tied. A lot of those times she’s succeeded so it has ingrained the behavior even more. This was one of the reasons I refused to unsaddle her. She needs to learn how to deal with it.
I walked her behind the trailer and anytime she’d tuck a knee like she was going to lie down I’d back her a few strides (I had my crop ready in case she actually went down), nothing hard or fast but just me saying “no”. She was fidgety and would not stand still. She tried several times to tuck her knee so she could go down. When she got close to the trailer she’d throw herself into it to try to rub/scratch my saddle off so I’d move her back over (another reason why I didn’t just tie her up).
I had already decided that *if* by some odd chance I was called back in from the split that I wouldn’t be taking her in. As expected, I wasn’t called back in so it was no big deal. This is when things started to get fun. Another participant decided to come back and offer me some advice. She politely (using the word politely very loosely) suggested that I needed to untack Lu. I thanked her for her concern but assured her that she was fine and told her that I would not be untacking Lucy. She again politely (again using the word loosely) told me (this time she didn’t suggest) to untack Lucy. I again assured her that Lucy was fine and informed her that I would not be untacking her.
I was then informed by her that she has been in the consulting business for over 40 years and knows when a horse is tying up (Lu’s abdominal muscles were tight but so where about 50 other horses at the show). She then proceeded to threaten me that if I didn’t untack Lucy that she would call the Humane Society on me. I encouraged her to do so (by this time my patience was gone).
Now – as for the “concerned citizen”, let me give you a little bit of background on her. She is IDK how old (50 or so). She has trust money (and lots of it) so she hasn’t worked a day in her life. She buys OTTB, uses them up and then dumps them. I’ve rarely seen her keep one more then a year. NO ONE can stand her! The only reason they put up with her at the shows is because of her money (which I think is bullshit). She can not keep workers because she is such a xxxxx that no one can stand working for her. I was ok with her concern until it became a threat.
Needless to say about 5 minutes later I had about 10 people at my trailer looking over Lucy. ALL of them had seen her pull this before (getting hot and laying down) and they all knew I wouldn’t put her in danger (still not sure how untacking her would have kept her from tying up if that is indeed what she was doing). I stood my ground and they stood behind me. 15 min. later when the sweat had started to dry Lu was being a pain in my butt trying to get hay and treats. After she had fully dried off I untacked her and let her stand at the trailer the rest of the night happily munching on hay.
Now while this “concerned citizen” was all over my ass about Lu she never once said anything to the gal who was riding a weanling (gal said it was a 2 yr. old but it looked like a small yearling at the most).
I’m still very irritated that she felt the need to threaten to call the HS on me. How would you have handled this?
I forgot to mention - I was told by the ring steward that the judge REALLY liked Lucy but that she didn't feel like she could call me back in due to my tack mishap. She said she debated over and over because she really liked her. I guess that is good to know once I get her to quite laying down with me. :-)
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
New Pictures (Karbo Combo/Lucy)
On August 2nd Lucy will have been on the Karbo Combo for 60 days and I will be able to lower her to the maintenance dose. I think I’ve seen a HUGE improvement in both Lu and Black but I think the pictures tell the “real” story. I probably won’t post anymore before/after pics after this unless something drastically changes (that doesn’t mean I won’t post pics).
For those of you who have decided to try the KC too I’d love to hear what you think of it.
Rear View:
Right side:
Left Side:
And just for fun! Here is the new headstall DH bought me.
Up close (can you tell she was thrilled):
Tied to the patience pole after our short bareback ride. Look at her glow!
For those of you who have decided to try the KC too I’d love to hear what you think of it.
Rear View:
Right side:
Left Side:
And just for fun! Here is the new headstall DH bought me.
Up close (can you tell she was thrilled):
Tied to the patience pole after our short bareback ride. Look at her glow!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Ready to run!
Here is the video of the Friday night performance. Sorry there is no music. I had to mute it due to the camera man forgetting that everything he said could be heard.
Karbo Combo Update
I know I never really took any "before" pictures of Black but as I was posting a picture today I saw an old picture of her in my photobucket account and I guess I didn't realize she'd made such a drastic change.
These pictures were taken May 30th. I wasn't trying to get full body pics. I was trying to get pics for a friend to show her how much Black dropped off behind the withers (muscle atrophy due to age). But I think they still give a pretty good idea of her "condition".
Can you see her ribs and lack of topline covering over her hips?
This looks like an old horse to me. She was always tucked up and "gant" in her flanks.
This was last night (Abby had to sneak in).
Look at how filled out she is in those hips and the flank! I can also tell you that her ribs are getting more and more difficult to see.
I managed to talk another drill member into trying the KC. Her horse is a TB that is always thin. She's taken him to several different vets (including ISU). She has him on daily ulcer meds and still he looks like death warmed over. She started him on the KC almost 2 weeks ago. The first week she though she saw results but like me didn't want to admit to it. The start of the second week he quit eating. She took him to the vet and his teeth had locked his jaw closed. The vet unlocked his teeth and he will go in for a float but she said the vet commented that he'd never looked better.
When I saw him last night there is no denying that the KC is helping him. It will be interesting to see how getting his teeth done helps too.
Lu is still doing well too. We have a busy few weeks ahead of us but one of these days I will get new pics. She's kind of leveled off but her movement and attitude are still improving.
These pictures were taken May 30th. I wasn't trying to get full body pics. I was trying to get pics for a friend to show her how much Black dropped off behind the withers (muscle atrophy due to age). But I think they still give a pretty good idea of her "condition".
Can you see her ribs and lack of topline covering over her hips?
This looks like an old horse to me. She was always tucked up and "gant" in her flanks.
This was last night (Abby had to sneak in).
Look at how filled out she is in those hips and the flank! I can also tell you that her ribs are getting more and more difficult to see.
I managed to talk another drill member into trying the KC. Her horse is a TB that is always thin. She's taken him to several different vets (including ISU). She has him on daily ulcer meds and still he looks like death warmed over. She started him on the KC almost 2 weeks ago. The first week she though she saw results but like me didn't want to admit to it. The start of the second week he quit eating. She took him to the vet and his teeth had locked his jaw closed. The vet unlocked his teeth and he will go in for a float but she said the vet commented that he'd never looked better.
When I saw him last night there is no denying that the KC is helping him. It will be interesting to see how getting his teeth done helps too.
Lu is still doing well too. We have a busy few weeks ahead of us but one of these days I will get new pics. She's kind of leveled off but her movement and attitude are still improving.
Monday, July 20, 2009
A fair affair
Thank god the fair is finally over! I’m exhausted! I’d like to relax but unfortunately that isn’t going to happen.
Thursday night Black was great as she entered the arena before the drill team carrying the flag. If I didn’t know where she came from I would swear she was an ex-barrel horse. As soon as we entered the ring she immediately turned sideways and did a flying side pass down the back of the chutes (but close to the cutes, she wasn’t afraid of them).
Unfortunately I can’t say the same thing for Abby’s performance. She decided humping up and offering to buck was a good idea. Since MIL hasn’t ridden her enough she wasn’t sure what to do. I told her next time to knock the snot out of her!
Friday night as we were preparing for our practice run our drill captain mounted up and noticed her horse was very sore/lame. She asked if I felt I could fill in with Black and I said I’d give it a try but I couldn’t guarantee she could make the entire run. Typically we don’t get a practice run before a performance but we were able to get one in. Black did great! I didn’t push her because I wasn’t sure how much she had to give. After the practice run we decided to give the performance a try.
I have to say, we had a lot of things stacked against us (her age, her feet, her lack of conditioning, her dislike towards other horses, etc.) but when it came time to perform I can guarantee no one knew any of those issues existed. She was wonderful! I only had to “ask” her to speed up a few times. And even better she didn’t act stiff or sore at all afterwards! Our performance is almost 8 minutes long too!
Abby was better this time. She didn’t hump up but she did kick one of the horses during one of the maneuvers. MIL was pretty upset. I tried to explain to her that Abby has just been thrown into this and she hasn’t been eased into it like the other horses have. ALL of them kick at one point in time (including Max). The difference is, in practice you can correct them. Abby had only had 3 practices (one with MIL) and then was thrown into the two performances. I’m not trying to dismiss the kicking but at the same time I do feel MIL should cut her a little bit of slack.
I have a video I’ll post as soon as I can figure out how to edit DH’s comments.
Thursday night Black was great as she entered the arena before the drill team carrying the flag. If I didn’t know where she came from I would swear she was an ex-barrel horse. As soon as we entered the ring she immediately turned sideways and did a flying side pass down the back of the chutes (but close to the cutes, she wasn’t afraid of them).
Unfortunately I can’t say the same thing for Abby’s performance. She decided humping up and offering to buck was a good idea. Since MIL hasn’t ridden her enough she wasn’t sure what to do. I told her next time to knock the snot out of her!
Friday night as we were preparing for our practice run our drill captain mounted up and noticed her horse was very sore/lame. She asked if I felt I could fill in with Black and I said I’d give it a try but I couldn’t guarantee she could make the entire run. Typically we don’t get a practice run before a performance but we were able to get one in. Black did great! I didn’t push her because I wasn’t sure how much she had to give. After the practice run we decided to give the performance a try.
I have to say, we had a lot of things stacked against us (her age, her feet, her lack of conditioning, her dislike towards other horses, etc.) but when it came time to perform I can guarantee no one knew any of those issues existed. She was wonderful! I only had to “ask” her to speed up a few times. And even better she didn’t act stiff or sore at all afterwards! Our performance is almost 8 minutes long too!
Abby was better this time. She didn’t hump up but she did kick one of the horses during one of the maneuvers. MIL was pretty upset. I tried to explain to her that Abby has just been thrown into this and she hasn’t been eased into it like the other horses have. ALL of them kick at one point in time (including Max). The difference is, in practice you can correct them. Abby had only had 3 practices (one with MIL) and then was thrown into the two performances. I’m not trying to dismiss the kicking but at the same time I do feel MIL should cut her a little bit of slack.
I have a video I’ll post as soon as I can figure out how to edit DH’s comments.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Isn't she lovely..................
Sunday I had planned on getting a few pictures of Lu but the stormed moved so I was unable to get any. Last night I decided to try again.
These aren't quite what I was hoping for but I still thought they turned out decent so I'm going to go ahead and share them anyways. She has this AMAZING sheen to her (it doesn't really show in the pics). I wish you all could see it! I'm not sure if it is the Karbo Combo or if it is just her natural coat since last year we only had about 2 months of a nice coat between the hair loss and the "mysterious" bumps.
So what do you think?
These aren't quite what I was hoping for but I still thought they turned out decent so I'm going to go ahead and share them anyways. She has this AMAZING sheen to her (it doesn't really show in the pics). I wish you all could see it! I'm not sure if it is the Karbo Combo or if it is just her natural coat since last year we only had about 2 months of a nice coat between the hair loss and the "mysterious" bumps.
So what do you think?
Monday, July 13, 2009
Busy, busy, busy
Last week MIL took Sis and Cat back to her house until Sis is healed up. Saturday we loaded up the ponies and headed over to the arena to ride. I wanted Chase to get on Abby before the show on Sunday and MIL needed to practice too & for once I got to ride my own horse!
Lu was great! She was soft, she was tucking her head and she was moving great! I joked about taking her to the show on Sunday. MIL was having a blast on Abby. A friend was there and they “raced” around the arena. MIL almost fell off when Abby turned but she managed to squirm back into the saddle before slowing down. She had a smile from ear to ear and she needed that after the news about Sis.
After that Chase got on and rode her around a bit while I got on Black and worked on carrying the flag on her (we might be opening up for the drill team at the rodeo on Friday night). DH hopped on Lu and I just looked the other way. I told him to watch her because she would probably try to lay down with him (when she’s hot she wants to roll). The next thing I notice is Lu on the ground and DH kicking my saddle (next time honey, kick the horse). I really wanted to say “I told you so” but instead I gave him back Black.
Chase was having issues with Abby so MIL hopped on Lu while I worked with Chase. We worked on post to post and Chase looking where he was going vs. looking at Abby. It made a HUGE difference in Chase’s riding and Abby worked a lot better for him.
I had decided not to go to the show on Sun. so Sun. morning DH got up and loaded up. DH called me to tell me he’d thrown Lu in the trailer so Ty and I headed to the show to keep an eye on Lu. When I got there DH was riding her in the arena w/Chase (we are going to have to have a discussion about him riding my horse). I took her back to the trailer and tied her up.
We put Abby in a one handed bit for walk/trot. She’s not fond of them but I’m trying to teach Chase to follow rules. The young kids do not know how to spread out and I could see trouble brewing with one horse before the class even started. Abby would trot and then walk then trot then walk and on one occasion she went ahead and popped into a lope so I knew Chase wasn’t going to place. I know this is not Abby’s strong suite so we’ll have to work on it. When going the second direction at the trot one of the horses started bucking (bronc style) so I yelled at Chase to stop Abby. The announcer must have heard me because he then FINALLY directed the other children to stop their horses as well. Luckily no one else was hurt.
I decided with no preparation to take Lu in walk/trot. She did great for what little I’ve done with her. She wanted to have her head up but when I asked she tucked it nice and low. Her trot was a bit fast but she looked amazing in my show bridle! The arena was packed! We didn’t place but I was happy with her performance.
Chase did great in poles. He watched where he was going and placed 2nd. By the time we got to the barrels it had started to rain softly. Chase went in and did a great pattern as well. He placed 2nd again and he was happy with his “paycheck” from the show.
This week is a busy one. Tomorrow we have drill practice, Thursday & Friday we have the rodeo & Saturday Chase shows Dozer.
Lu was great! She was soft, she was tucking her head and she was moving great! I joked about taking her to the show on Sunday. MIL was having a blast on Abby. A friend was there and they “raced” around the arena. MIL almost fell off when Abby turned but she managed to squirm back into the saddle before slowing down. She had a smile from ear to ear and she needed that after the news about Sis.
After that Chase got on and rode her around a bit while I got on Black and worked on carrying the flag on her (we might be opening up for the drill team at the rodeo on Friday night). DH hopped on Lu and I just looked the other way. I told him to watch her because she would probably try to lay down with him (when she’s hot she wants to roll). The next thing I notice is Lu on the ground and DH kicking my saddle (next time honey, kick the horse). I really wanted to say “I told you so” but instead I gave him back Black.
Chase was having issues with Abby so MIL hopped on Lu while I worked with Chase. We worked on post to post and Chase looking where he was going vs. looking at Abby. It made a HUGE difference in Chase’s riding and Abby worked a lot better for him.
I had decided not to go to the show on Sun. so Sun. morning DH got up and loaded up. DH called me to tell me he’d thrown Lu in the trailer so Ty and I headed to the show to keep an eye on Lu. When I got there DH was riding her in the arena w/Chase (we are going to have to have a discussion about him riding my horse). I took her back to the trailer and tied her up.
We put Abby in a one handed bit for walk/trot. She’s not fond of them but I’m trying to teach Chase to follow rules. The young kids do not know how to spread out and I could see trouble brewing with one horse before the class even started. Abby would trot and then walk then trot then walk and on one occasion she went ahead and popped into a lope so I knew Chase wasn’t going to place. I know this is not Abby’s strong suite so we’ll have to work on it. When going the second direction at the trot one of the horses started bucking (bronc style) so I yelled at Chase to stop Abby. The announcer must have heard me because he then FINALLY directed the other children to stop their horses as well. Luckily no one else was hurt.
I decided with no preparation to take Lu in walk/trot. She did great for what little I’ve done with her. She wanted to have her head up but when I asked she tucked it nice and low. Her trot was a bit fast but she looked amazing in my show bridle! The arena was packed! We didn’t place but I was happy with her performance.
Chase did great in poles. He watched where he was going and placed 2nd. By the time we got to the barrels it had started to rain softly. Chase went in and did a great pattern as well. He placed 2nd again and he was happy with his “paycheck” from the show.
This week is a busy one. Tomorrow we have drill practice, Thursday & Friday we have the rodeo & Saturday Chase shows Dozer.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Tough times
Getting news that your child is ill is never easy. For a lot of us our horses are just like our children so when they are sick and don’t feel well it is just as difficult.
If you recall I posted that Sis hasn’t been feeling well. She slipped in a hole Memorial weekend and has been “off” since. MIL consulted with her vet shortly after the accident and he suggested time off with bute. After some time off she was as little better but still wasn’t “Sis” so I suggested that MIL have a chiro look at Sis to make sure she wasn’t out. The chiro was out and found lots wrong with Sis. She felt heat in the buttock area and suggested 1 mo. off as she felt Sis had a pulled/torn muscle.
After some time off Sis slowly got worse so I suggested MIL take her to her vet. Below is his diagnosis.
slight raise of the right hip at the trot. Slight stiffness and response to palpitation of loin, xrays showed-right hock-narrowing tarsametatarsal and distalintertarsal joint space. ordering surpass cream --put 5 inch ribbon along area, rub lightly can wrap or not
Basically he told MIL that Sis was getting arthritis and the treatment for it was to work her and then put the surpass cream on her hock after she was exercised. This was great news to MIL as she really didn’t want to be without Sis for a month. I had my concerns about this diagnosis since arthritis doesn’t explain heat in a muscle. MIL was so excited though that she started riding her slowly and that weekend we had our show. The following day MIL and Chase left for Utah for 2 weeks so Sis was in my care.
That Tuesday I took Sis to drill practice. I had only planned on trotting her through the routine but after warming her up I decided I wouldn’t even do that. She was so stiff that even the gal who rides her gimpy horse ever practice noticed it (her horse could be bleeding and she wouldn’t notice). When I got home I had a talk with DH and we decided to seek a second opinion. While neither one of us disagree that she might not be getting arthritis, neither one of use feels that this is due to arthritis.
It took over a week to get her into another vet. Horse vets around here (good ones that is) are few and far between. The vet we currently use is supposed to be one of the best. Since we are busy at work I was unable to join DH yesterday when he took Sis in. The results were what I expected but not necessarily what anyone wants to hear.
Sis has a pulled muscle but worse yet due to all of our pissing around this muscle is starting to ossify. If she doesn’t respond well to his treatment it could require surgery. The muscles affected are the popliteus muscle & gracilis muscles on the inside of the stifle. He injected the muscles with several different injections and did shockwave therapy on the leg. He also had his chiropractor look at her while she was there and he did find that she had popped her shoulder back out.
This was the good news. The bad news was that he thinks she has EPM again. This didn’t come as too much of a shock to me but it still wasn’t something I wanted to hear as I know treatment is very expensive. Unfortunately the meds he used on her leg will make it worse if it is EPM so I can’t try the Karbo Combo on her so DH is picking up the treatment today so we can get her started.
What I’m finding out about EPM is that it seems a lot of horses have it but it is so mild that it can/does go unnoticed and that stress, injury or an illness can cause the protozoa to become active (assuming this is the case with Sis). It sounds like cancer – everyone has the cells that make cancer but not everyone gets cancer and those who do get cancer don’t get it to the same degree (different stages). The chiro that was out said that a lot of the reiners/cutters were finding that when their horses were “off” they had EPM and after treatment they were better. With EPM the only 100% way to diagnose is through a necropsy. All a serum test does is show that the horse has built up antibodies to the protozoa. This doesn’t mean they are infected. A spinal tap can be done but it is expensive and those results aren’t 100% either so most diagnosis are based off of a clinical examination.
If you recall I posted that Sis hasn’t been feeling well. She slipped in a hole Memorial weekend and has been “off” since. MIL consulted with her vet shortly after the accident and he suggested time off with bute. After some time off she was as little better but still wasn’t “Sis” so I suggested that MIL have a chiro look at Sis to make sure she wasn’t out. The chiro was out and found lots wrong with Sis. She felt heat in the buttock area and suggested 1 mo. off as she felt Sis had a pulled/torn muscle.
After some time off Sis slowly got worse so I suggested MIL take her to her vet. Below is his diagnosis.
slight raise of the right hip at the trot. Slight stiffness and response to palpitation of loin, xrays showed-right hock-narrowing tarsametatarsal and distalintertarsal joint space. ordering surpass cream --put 5 inch ribbon along area, rub lightly can wrap or not
Basically he told MIL that Sis was getting arthritis and the treatment for it was to work her and then put the surpass cream on her hock after she was exercised. This was great news to MIL as she really didn’t want to be without Sis for a month. I had my concerns about this diagnosis since arthritis doesn’t explain heat in a muscle. MIL was so excited though that she started riding her slowly and that weekend we had our show. The following day MIL and Chase left for Utah for 2 weeks so Sis was in my care.
That Tuesday I took Sis to drill practice. I had only planned on trotting her through the routine but after warming her up I decided I wouldn’t even do that. She was so stiff that even the gal who rides her gimpy horse ever practice noticed it (her horse could be bleeding and she wouldn’t notice). When I got home I had a talk with DH and we decided to seek a second opinion. While neither one of us disagree that she might not be getting arthritis, neither one of use feels that this is due to arthritis.
It took over a week to get her into another vet. Horse vets around here (good ones that is) are few and far between. The vet we currently use is supposed to be one of the best. Since we are busy at work I was unable to join DH yesterday when he took Sis in. The results were what I expected but not necessarily what anyone wants to hear.
Sis has a pulled muscle but worse yet due to all of our pissing around this muscle is starting to ossify. If she doesn’t respond well to his treatment it could require surgery. The muscles affected are the popliteus muscle & gracilis muscles on the inside of the stifle. He injected the muscles with several different injections and did shockwave therapy on the leg. He also had his chiropractor look at her while she was there and he did find that she had popped her shoulder back out.
This was the good news. The bad news was that he thinks she has EPM again. This didn’t come as too much of a shock to me but it still wasn’t something I wanted to hear as I know treatment is very expensive. Unfortunately the meds he used on her leg will make it worse if it is EPM so I can’t try the Karbo Combo on her so DH is picking up the treatment today so we can get her started.
What I’m finding out about EPM is that it seems a lot of horses have it but it is so mild that it can/does go unnoticed and that stress, injury or an illness can cause the protozoa to become active (assuming this is the case with Sis). It sounds like cancer – everyone has the cells that make cancer but not everyone gets cancer and those who do get cancer don’t get it to the same degree (different stages). The chiro that was out said that a lot of the reiners/cutters were finding that when their horses were “off” they had EPM and after treatment they were better. With EPM the only 100% way to diagnose is through a necropsy. All a serum test does is show that the horse has built up antibodies to the protozoa. This doesn’t mean they are infected. A spinal tap can be done but it is expensive and those results aren’t 100% either so most diagnosis are based off of a clinical examination.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Off to the rodeo
With MIL gone and Sis out of commission I’ve been taking Abby to drill practice in MIL’s spot. I think it has been very good for Abby. For one thing she’s had to run & we all know how much lazy Abby likes to run. But it has also helped her get used to having horses next to her, behind her, in front of her and coming at her from all directions (this was the one thing I did like about drill).
We have been practicing in the arena that Chase shows in (the only arena Abby has been in) so I asked if we could go to a different arena last night. The team will be performing next Thursday & Friday at the rodeo so I wanted to try to get in that arena to see what Abby would do. When we first got there she was a bit nervous but not too bad. We’ve been working on vertical flexion so she had her head almost between her knees (she’s an over achiever). One of Abby’s biggest issues is that she is very aware of her footing & if she doesn’t like something on the ground she won’t move. I’ve been working on that through groundwork but there is still room for improvement.
She was very aware of her footing last night and refused to move a few times. When she did she was quickly greeted w/Mr. Crop. After that she decided it wasn’t so scary. In the arena she got tense. I wasn’t sure what she was nervous about but quickly discovered it was the stands and the noise from them. I asked a gal in the stands to make some noise while I did rollbacks on the fence and she finally decided they weren’t very scary when she had to work so we proceeded to move around the arena.
She was fine with everything else in the arena including the chutes but it will be interesting to see what she’s like next week when the stands are full, there are little kids running up and down the sides of the arena and there are bulls in the chutes. This is another reason I like drill, it gets them exposed to lots of different places/experiences that I wouldn’t be able to expose her to by myself.
One thing that keeps surprising everyone on the team is how fast little Miss Abby can go. Just because she’s a pony doesn’t mean she can’t run! She can keep up with the best of them (although the crop does help with that). MIL gets to practice with her next week prior to the rodeo so the boys and I will be making lots of noise in the stands!
We have been practicing in the arena that Chase shows in (the only arena Abby has been in) so I asked if we could go to a different arena last night. The team will be performing next Thursday & Friday at the rodeo so I wanted to try to get in that arena to see what Abby would do. When we first got there she was a bit nervous but not too bad. We’ve been working on vertical flexion so she had her head almost between her knees (she’s an over achiever). One of Abby’s biggest issues is that she is very aware of her footing & if she doesn’t like something on the ground she won’t move. I’ve been working on that through groundwork but there is still room for improvement.
She was very aware of her footing last night and refused to move a few times. When she did she was quickly greeted w/Mr. Crop. After that she decided it wasn’t so scary. In the arena she got tense. I wasn’t sure what she was nervous about but quickly discovered it was the stands and the noise from them. I asked a gal in the stands to make some noise while I did rollbacks on the fence and she finally decided they weren’t very scary when she had to work so we proceeded to move around the arena.
She was fine with everything else in the arena including the chutes but it will be interesting to see what she’s like next week when the stands are full, there are little kids running up and down the sides of the arena and there are bulls in the chutes. This is another reason I like drill, it gets them exposed to lots of different places/experiences that I wouldn’t be able to expose her to by myself.
One thing that keeps surprising everyone on the team is how fast little Miss Abby can go. Just because she’s a pony doesn’t mean she can’t run! She can keep up with the best of them (although the crop does help with that). MIL gets to practice with her next week prior to the rodeo so the boys and I will be making lots of noise in the stands!
Thursday, July 2, 2009
My ass!
I've been wanting to do this for a long time but I either don't always have all of the horses here or something else gets in the way. Last night DH was gone but I decided to try anways and here are the results!
The line up!
Sis
Black
Lucy (can you tell she was hot?)
Abby
Cat (I promise her back leg isn't that messed up, she was kicking flies on her belly)
Nikki
The gang!
The End(s)
The end!
The line up!
Sis
Black
Lucy (can you tell she was hot?)
Abby
Cat (I promise her back leg isn't that messed up, she was kicking flies on her belly)
Nikki
The gang!
The End(s)
The end!
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