The Xtra Scoop

Just in case you've missed it, I've gone live with my site!

http://www.thextrascoop.com/

I'm so excited to be offering these product! Not only am I able to offer all of the Karbo Products but I now have Skode's Horse Treats available as well!

Check it out and join the mailing list today!

Great Labor Day Weekend!

I know, I’m only a week late on this post but better late then never right?

Labor Day weekend we packed up the ponies and headed for Elk Rock State Park. It is a small park but it has nice facilities. The trails are fairly easy so I don’t have to worry about Chase being out on difficult terrain.

Friday night we spent most of the night unpacking and setting up the trailer. Man I love my trailer! It makes it so nice when we do stuff like this. DH had to work Saturday so we had Abby, Lucy and Sis and he was to bring Black down Sunday when he came down.

Saturday MIL started off riding Abby. This was only her second trail ride and if you remember, our first one last year left me with a sore bum. Chase was on Sis and I was finally on Lu! We headed out on our first trail with Lucy in the lead. Abby does not like to be in the back so MIL did a lot of ORS and circles with her. It was nice to be on a quiet horse for once! Sis of course was wonderful with Chase.

It didn’t take long for Chase to tire but we met up with another group and told him to buck it up, we were going on another ride. They rode a bit faster then we do so it gave me an opportunity to work on collecting Lu at the trot. When we got back we had ridden all 8 miles of trail & all of us were tired! We took a short rest and then headed into town and to the lake.

Sunday DH met us down there with Black. This was her first “known” trail ride since we’ve owned her & she was wonderful! Abby was being a bit more of a handful for MIL so I told her to get on Lu while Abby and I had a meeting. Needless to say, after 6 miles of trail and one hot, sweaty pony, Abby still wasn’t ready to come to an agreement with me.

Later MIL, DH and Chase went out and I stayed back at the trailer to work on supper. I sent Chase out on Lu so MIL could ride Sis and Abby could throw a fit at the hitching post. I was told Lu did very well with Chase, this made me very happy.

My parents showed up with Ty and we had a lovely dinner. After dinner MIL and I took Ty on a short ride. He had Black’s reins the entire time and giggled up every hill. He was so cute telling Black “easy Black! Whoa Black!” and moving her over on the trails.

The following day we noticed that 3 of the 4 horses had swollen legs. Upon further inspection it seemed that most of the horses at the park had swollen legs. I think there may have been some sort of weed that irritated them but we decided they had done well enough and headed home.

1 down – 3 to go

Show season is slowly dwindling down. It feels as though we haven’t really had much of a season with all of the rain we got at the beginning of the year but it has still been a good year. This past Sat. MIL, DH and Chase showed. I opted not to take Lucy because Ty was going with and I know how that usually works. Plus she really isn’t ready and it isn’t fair for her when I have high expectations but haven’t put forth the work. We’ll be ready next year.

Due to a lack of volunteers I had to help the judge so a few good friends helped out with Ty while MIL and DH were showing (thank you Brenda and Terry). Chase got to use Sis in w/t and while she was a bit fast from all of her long trotting during her rehab he still had the quietest horse out there so he placed first. I know MIL placed in w/t and WP but I honestly don’t remember what her results were. She didn’t do as well as she normally does (again Sis is strung out and fast) but she was still in the top 5.

DH didn’t place (not that we expected him to). Black was a bit gimpy in the back end. I almost asked him to come to the center but I didn’t want to call him out. He put her up after the class and that was the only thing she went in for the day.

Chase had a GREAT pole pattern and took first. He got a little “big for his britches” in barrels and while they gave him a 2nd place placing, I told him he wasn’t getting his ribbon because he broke patter. I know, I’m a mean mom but he’s moving up w/the “big boys” next year so he’ll get knocked off of his pedestal quickly anyways. He needs to practice more and quite blaming it all on the pony.

Abby was being a bit of a handful for him though so I popped my saddle on and signed MIL and I up for barrels. It was a good crowd so I knew I’d get the opportunity to “fix” some of her issues. At the end of the pattern she likes to crow hop so as we ran for home I prepared. As soon as I felt her head go down I turned her in and nailed her w/Mr. Crop and asked her to continue running in a circle. I think I caught her by surprise.

After that MIL hopped on. She had a nice run (no crow hopping at the end) and I do think she placed 5th.

I took Carmella back and MIL took Sis and Cat back to her place so I’m back down to 4 horses at home. It is kind of a nice break since DH will be leaving to help with harvest soon.

When we got home, as I was picking out Black’s feet (assuming the gimping was from thrush), I noticed some liquid. She has an abscess on her back left foot. It looks like she bruised her foot on one of our road rides last week. While I’m not thrilled about it, I’m happy that is what the problem was and that it wasn’t another laminitic episode (I was starting to question that too). So for now I’m soaking her foot once a day in Epson salt, ACV and water and I have her in an icthamol wrap. I bought some of the new Easy Care Glove boots for her back feet and so far I LOVE them! I’ve got one over the wrap and she seems to be feeling a lot better now that the abscess is draining.

This means that Lu is going to have to temporarily fill in at drill. I think this will be good for her but we’ll see what she thinks.

Where do race horses go?

Click on the link for a good video.

Where do race horses go?

It’s been a while

It’s been a while since I’ve updated my blog, but it seems like a lot of stuff has been going on (not all horse related). The horses got some much needed time off after the Carson Rodeo and MIL has been keeping me (and Black) busy with parades. They aren’t my favorite thing in the world but I can’t let her go alone. I have decided that this is Black’s calling. She just loves the parades! Walk, stop, yawn, and repeat.

This was taken at the Sweet Corn Festival:



Abby was a bit of a handful for MIL but the more she does the better she gets.

These were taken at the State Fair Parade in Des Moines. I love that you can see our gorgeous Capital behind us.



Notice Black’s tongue?


Last week the boys were gone for a week so I was actually able to get some ride time in on MY horse. I’ve been lunging Lucy on the 22’ line and watching her move. She seems to be improving and her cross-firing is becoming very minimal now. If I give her a minute to go into the lope, she has more time to think and set her self up and go into it correctly. Clockwise is still her worst direction but at least I’m seeing improvements.

On one of the nights MIL, DH and I all went for a road ride. Lu was perfect. Her alignment issues seem to be getting resolved and I barely had to move my hand at all. She is also moving out more willingly as well. If finances are available I’d like to board her this winter so I can actually work with her.

On a positive note: Sis is improving and the vet no longer feels that surgery is in her future. MIL has been able to kick her up into a trot and was even able to use her for the State Fair Parade. It is still going to be a long recovery but it looks like it will be a promising one.

In addition to the above I’ve decided to become a distributor for Gomers Inc., the manufacturer of Karbo Combo. This has been very nerve wracking and exciting at the same time. I feel this is a wonderful product and that it does sell itself but at the same time, I’m not a born entrepreneur so it will take some time to get off of the ground.

Chase started school on Monday and I have about a month and a half before DH leaves for his vacation up at the farm for 1 ½ months so things will be dwindling down and I have a feeling my horse time will become less and less.

Blast from the past

Sat. night we headed up to Carson for the rodeo. It was a long 2 hour drive and we had to be there early to practice (the drill team was performing). Abby is getting better and better with each run. This is just what she needed & MIL is enjoying her more and more all of the time.

Black was a bit off when we arrived so I booted her all of the way around. When we hit the arena she was off and running so I’m not sure if adrenaline took over or what. We ran our run during the middle of the rodeo and all-in-all they had a good run.



We decided to stick around and watch a bit of the rodeo after the performance and to my surprise one of my old college professors was running. I knew she ran barrels but she was a little ways from home. She had a nice horse and a nice run but I don’t think she was in the money. Seeing her face brought back a lot of memories. Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to talk to her as we wanted to try to leave so we didn’t get caught in the traffic. It was nearly midnight before we pulled in the drive to unload the horses so I’m glad we left when we did.

Sunday was kind of a lazy day for all. MIL loaded up Sis and Cat and headed home and DH and I started to lay out the fence for the drylot. Luckily the tractor was broken so we couldn’t actually work on the fence like planned.

I got Lucy out and worked her on the long line for a while to watch her movement. She seems to move better on the 22’ line vs. the 14’ line. I did a lot of long trotting with her in both directions until she was fairly warm and then took her out to the hot walker & tied her up (using it as a patience pole). Around and around she went. She kept it moving (who needs a motor).

Mom had fixed supper so we headed in. I looked out and notice the walker wasn’t moving anymore. Woo hoo! She’d finally decided to stand still! I looked out again about 5 minutes later. It was in the same spot so I started looking to see where she was and guess what? She wasn’t on the walker anymore! I walked down and found her in the barn happily munching hay. Little snot!

I grabbed a cross tie and took her back out to the walker and tied her up. I sat and watched her. When she gets mad, she reaches for the middle of the rope, bites and pulls down. This is exactly where the quick release snap on the chain was.

While she was throwing her fit Chase hopped on Abby. We’ve been working bareback in the round pen to get Chase’s balance. He did much better this time sitting Abby’s trot. She’s not very easy to sit. He says he wants to ride her every day this week. I guess we’ll see if he holds true to that.

Road to Recovery

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.

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. :-)

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!

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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!

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!

What’s Red & Blue?

The inside of our trailer! Why? Because MIL and Chase had a great show on Saturday! Chase started off with walk/trot. He looked great (yes I am biased)! He’s still having a hard time knowing what to do with his “free” hand but he kept it off of the reins so I was proud of him. He did a fabulous job and came out with a 1st place blue.

Next it was MIL’s turn. She looked great as well and had a nice ride. Sis was a bit fast for my liking but the judge must have liked her as she placed 2nd (1st place horse was very nice & would have been my choice as well).

Then MIL moved on to WP (Chase is still to young for that). I didn’t get to watch because I was in the class with her (on Abby lol) but they ended up winning the class so she must have had a nice ride. Abby didn’t do too badly. I figured at the beginning we’d be sitting in the middle of the ring before the class was over but the most she did was chomp at the bit. She got both leads well and while I had to push her to keep a trot she was more then happy to lope.

Next it was time for the games! Chase didn’t want to do poles because he always forgets the pattern. I told him to do them anyways and he did and won! He did the pattern perfectly and did most of it at a lope!

MIL and I took Abby in for shit and giggles and that little pony can turn! I ended up getting 5th on her which is sad because she wasn’t even trying (hmmmmm the wheels are turning – just kidding).

Next it was time for barrels. Chase got 2nd in this class but he did great! MIL and I didn’t place but we had a blast. Abby wasn’t as thrilled with it but it was good for her.

Here are a few pictures of “the man”. Doesn’t he look sharp?

Man is it hot!

I’m sure it isn’t as hot here as it is other places but it is what you are used to and for me it is hot out!

Saturday Redfield had their “Old Settler’s Days” and the saddle club was giving pony rides. Since Sis is out for the count at the moment MIL decided to use Abby in the parade. I was a bit nervous since this was Abby’s first parade and I wasn’t going to be riding to see how she did.

For the most part MIL said she did very well. She is having issues focusing on her footing. For example: It took me 5 min. to get her from the grass to the street. Once on the street any pavement that was a shade darker/lighter was an issue. Same for the grass, if there was an area that was darker/lighter she didn’t want to cross it. This is something that I’ve known we needed to work on so I guess it’s time for me to get with the program.

I thought that she looked very nice in the parade though. Here are a few pics.

She’s the very last horse/pony



Next to Anna (the youngest drill rider)



Pretty little pony



The end!

Lean on me

At night I typically put the feed for the am feeding in each horse’s stall. This way I know that they get fed what they are supposed to get fed and so that if I am feeding I don’t get dirty (I have to feed on the days DH works and I’m in my work clothes). Today was a work day for DH so I really wanted to make sure I had the feed ready to go last night.

We had to go set up a round pen for the “Old Settler’s Days” so I wasn’t able to get my am feeding put in like normal. After we were done setting up I decided to go out and get the feed put in each stall for the morning so I wouldn’t be late for work. When I arrived Lucy and Sis were head to butt stomping off the bugs. A storm was moving in and it seems the bugs are always worse before a storm. The horses were miserable so I decided to get some spray and put it on them.

My pasture is split and I have an alley that goes behind the barn and opens up into the pasture I want them to come into. When they are in the “back” pasture they know to go down the alley to come to the barn. When they are in the “front” pasture they don’t like backtracking to the alley to come to the barn so they sit and look at me with sad eyes. As I walked into the barn to get the fly spray Black started to head towards the back of the pasture so she could get to the alley (smart old gal) while the others sat there and looked at me with those big pathetic eyes.

As I come out of the barn I notice that Black has stopped by one of our little trees we planted in the pasture (there are 2) and she’s looking at me. The next thing I know she barrels her shoulder into the tree causing it to bend and then positions herself directly over the tree and rocks back and forth over the top of it to scratch her privates! OMG I was laughing so hard until I realized she was going to uproot my tree!

She finally stopped and stepped off of it so I sprayed down the three horses that were close to me and then headed towards her. I no more then start in her direction and she gets the tree down into position again and “goes to town”. This can’t be the first time she’s done this. Seems she has it down to a science by now. I drag her off of the tree and as I go to spray her she runs off. Little fart!

Movin on up!

After Thursday nights ride MIL decided that Sis was still “off” so she called the chiro. Friday the chiro came and now Sis is on a month of rest. Needless to say the poor gal had more things wrong w/her then mine combined. Her shoulder was dropped down and pushed back (hmmm, drill fall maybe) and her hip was dropped (probably from falling in the hole which was the reason for the call), multiple ribs out, back out, etc. Sis looked like she was in a coma by the time Jen got done with her. She still has heat in her butt muscle so Jen suggested a month off and then for her to come back after that time (this is the first time Jen has ever suggested coming back).

MIL was pretty upset. She is gone for 2 weeks this month so I told her to just use Abby for drill. She was very nervous about this (ummm not sure why, she is Chase’s pony) so last night I went with her to practice. If Abby was going to do anything she would try to kick. We started the pattern and LMAO ¼ of the way through I thought that poor fat pony was going to die. I could tell she was thinking about kicking so I kicked her up a notch and the thought disappeared.

When we got ½ way through she was fuddling out on me so I popped her w/the over/under and she kicked up so I popped her again. Finally she went and when we ended I think she thought she was going to die. I hopped off and let MIL jump on. Their “run” was much better but you could tell poor Abbs was tired. I think this will be good for her.

Oh and yes, the show got cancelled. At this rate we won’t have to worry about showing at all this year.

First Show of the Year

Well if it doesn’t get rained out that is. Saturday is our first show of the year so we headed over to the arena to practice last night. I want Chase to use Sis for w/t instead of Abby (he doesn’t have a chance w/Abby) so I wanted him to practice on her. With him being gone and Ty being sick he hasn’t been on Abby much either so I knew she was going to need ridden before he “ran” her barrels and poles on Sat.

It was a beautiful night. DH’s back was still bothering him so he watched Ty and I took Lu. When we got there I did some LFR w/Abby and then put Chase on and he started off w/his flexing and his ORS. After some ORS at the w/t I had him do the passenger lesson at the trot. Chase really needs to work on his balance so doing the passenger lesson is just as good for him as it is for Abby.

By this time I’d gotten Lu saddled up and into the ring to do some LFR. OMG was she full of P & V! She was trying to crow hop & buck and fart. She was really feeling good until we hit a few good hard turns and then she decided to mellow out. I bridled her up and jumped on.

I told Chase go to ahead and do some ORS at the lope and after about 5 min. of that I let him do the passenger lesson at the lope. Abby hates that. She’s becoming so slow at the lope that it isn’t even funny. She almost goes up more then she goes forward. When she finally stopped trying to be close to Sis or Lu I let him stop her and rest her. By now I was trying to do the passenger lesson w/Lu at the trot but she decided she wanted to lope instead.

Since loping is one of Lu’s issues I decided to let her lope until she was tired enough to trot. To my surprise she went for quite a while. Chase and MIL swapped horses (what a sight) and Chase practiced his w/t with Sis. We worked on passing and only using one hand on the reins.

Lucy still didn’t want to trot so we loped some more. Chase and MIL finished up and I worked on a few more things with Lu & then got off and tied her up. While she was cooling out I jumped on Abby and loped her around a bit. She’s changing so much and it is a nice change. She’s going to be a really nice pony.

Tomorrow MIL will be doing w/t and wp with Sis. Chase will be doing w/t with Sis and poles and barrels w/Abby. I won’t be showing. Lu isn’t ready and I’m afraid if I do then I will want her to do things that I haven’t asked her to do yet which isn’t fair to her.

Pretty Pony

Not much to report here but I took some pictures of Abby this weekend so I thought I’d share.





Can you see her blanket?



Does her belly look like it has the brindle lines to you?





Her little jug head is growing on me (or maybe it’s just growing)

Not enough time

It seems that as we creep further and further into summer I lose more and more time.

Last Sat. DH and MIL rode in the Van Meter parade. I was very shocked and surprised that DH wanted to ride but I was happy to give up the spot. I had planned on riding w/MIL so she didn’t have to ride alone but parades aren’t really my thing. Black was a bit nervous when we got there. I wasn’t sure if she’d ever been in a parade before but she did fine. As soon as they started moving she settled right down.

Last night was drill practice. MIL was late getting there so I rode Sis around to warm her up for her and ended up riding her the first run. One of the members who is new this year said “Are you riding Sis?” I replied telling her yes I was and asked why. She replied with “she looks like a totally different horse with you riding her”. lol Sis did look nice. She had her head tucked and was moving very well. She still needs to work on her breaks and she’s still leaning on the bit a lot but she’s not my horse to fix. ;)

After MIL showed up I hopped on Lu and rode around with them while they cooled down between runs. My saddle was on Sis so I rode bareback. Lucy will teach me balance! She is so small that she is harder to stay on bareback. She was very good though & after some time I felt my body relax and we were moving more in sync. Not much else is going on. The weather has been on/off raining and it seems like when it rains it pours.

Goofy Lucy

Not much to report. Ty has been sick so I haven’t really had a chance to do much with the horses.

Saturday I did meet up w/a friend from the JL board. We road the gravel road (we were supposed to go on a trail ride but they were too muddy) and had a nice chat. It was nice meeting her. We learned that Black has a bit of a “hitch” in her giddy up. We knew she had a stifle issue (it pops) but never gave it much of a second thought since we hadn’t had any issues. Well she has some issues with it going down hills. I’m glad we learned about it on the road vs. on a steep trail hill. I think she’ll be fine once we get muscle on her and we can strengthen that joint.

After the ride I decided to see if I could give Black a bath. I was preparing myself for a long battle. To my surprise she was wonderful! Stood perfectly still even to do her mane and tail. God only knows she needed it.

While giving Black her bath I heard a funny noise. I couldn’t figure out what it was until I looked up and this is what I saw.



I think it started out as her trying to “mouth” the water that was coming out of the hose but even after I shut the water off she continued to do it.





Check out that tongue! Lol



She absolutely cracks me up!