Fowl Talk

Ty was generous enough to share his cold with me so I haven’t been feeling the best this week. Monday I was lucky to get through work and crashed as soon as I got home. Tuesday I still wasn’t feeling the best & it had rained all day so I sent DH out to chore. Wednesday night I had to get some pony time in.

I wanted to finish moving the round pen panels to the other side of the pasture to give me more room in the “arena” to ride and then work Carmella. Black, Sis and Carmella were out front and Black was “helping” me move panels. She wanted her belly itched and she wasn’t taking no for an answer. She followed me back and forth across the pasture waiting for me to get the panel set in place freeing up my hands to scratch her belly. That old girl sure does make me chuckle some days.

It didn’t take long and the pressure on my chest from my cold became overwhelming so I decided to take a break. About a week ago I got 5 new ducks. They’d been left in a box at the ARL (animal rescue league). I’ve had them penned up with Oliver, Me and Mini-me along with the guineas and a young mallard so I decided while I was out to watch them I would let them out.

It didn’t take them long to find the backyard. Dad and I just sat and watched them. I don’t know what it is about the ducks/geese but for me, they are very relaxing.



These are the 5 new ducks I got last week ago and one of the guineas. I’m guessing the 5 new ducks are hatchery mallards.



Can we do from left to right? Nah! Oliver is the Canadian goose. He is my “baby” of the bunch. Next to him is Me, she is a Rouen hen. Next to her is the baby mallard – “it” has no name along with the 5 new ones and the guineas. He’s kind of taken to Me and she’s taken to him. I'm missing one (of my smaller ducks) from this picture. I have one male mallard that has just started to take flight. He's a beautiful sight to watch too.



The newbies out for their first stroll.



They are enjoying this!



Bugs! Bugs! There everywhere!



My guineas are really good bug catchers! It is comical watching them run across the backyard after a bug and run into something because they are so fixated on the bug.

One happy bunch!



I tried to get Thanksgiving “talking” on this one. I wasn’t as close and then I ran out of memory card. There was a flock of Canadian geese flying over and Thanksgiving wanted to join them. Peaches and Goosezilla have not desire to leave the nest even though they are clearly capable of flying.



I did end up getting the round pen moved but by the time I got it completely set up between all of my mini breaks it was too dark to do anything.

Great friends, great food & a great time!

This weekend we met up with some good friends to hit the trails. We had a bit of a rocky start Saturday morning so we didn’t get to the park until around noon. The kids were hungry so we went ahead and started lunch.

Ty and I stayed back the first ride so I took him to the arena to ride Lucy. She was very good with him and he was pretty proud to be riding Lucy all by himself.



Back at camp we learned she likes chips. She was going nuts for the BBQ chips!



The group getting ready to go out on their first ride –



Nate, Josie, Bobbie



Danny



Chase



Brandon

Ty was not happy he wasn’t going with on Lucy.



When they got back I got to hear about their “adventures”. Apparently DH and Bell were the leaders of the pack. I was told a deer jumped one way, Bell jumped another way and DH became a certified “tree hugger”. He was proudly displaying his “war scars” to everyone.



With the crew back and preparing supper I took Ty out on a ride. The trails were lovely but we had one problem – we don’t both fit in my saddle and he let me know it!

Sunday morning camp cook Danny had breakfast going with the dutch ovens.



We had a great breakfast and then headed out on the trails.



Ty is in front of me on the saddle



Now where did he learn to ride like that?



It looked like rain was moving in so we headed back to camp and packed up to head home. The ride home was very quite.

The scores have been posted

And Chase beat me! lol

Our total score was 105 with 1+  The winner scored 114
Chase's total score was 107 with 2+

Mailbox -
Lucy - 10
Me - 10

Sis - 10
Chase - 10

Dismount/Wounded Animal -
Lucy - 9
Me - 7 (yep, I need to work on my dismount per ACTHA rules)

Sis - 9
Chase - 10

Drag -
Lucy - 10
Me - 10

Sis - 8
Chase - 10

L Back -
Lucy - 8
Me - 8 +

Sis - 9
Chase - 9+

Vine Simulator -
Lucy - 10
Me - 10

Sis - 9
Chase - 10

Jump -
Lucy - 6
Me - 7

Sis - 6
Chase - 7+

What’s blue and green?

Our ribbons from this weekend! I decided to take Chase on an ACHTA ride. We were in need of some quality time together and since the first 5 kids to register ride free I decided to sign us up.

Chase & Sis after their win.

Did I hear someone say treats?

I picked the horses up from MIL’s Thursday night. Friday night we were supposed to “practice” but it looked like it was going to down pour so we went out to dinner instead. Saturday we didn’t get out to the barn until later in the afternoon and then I found myself giving Carmella an unplanned workout. Chase took the initiative to catch Sis and jump on bareback.

After I took a short break we saddled both horses and headed out to ride. Lu was super duper lazy. I think I could have taken her in a w/t class an easily won. I grabbed the sled so Chase could try to drag something with Sis. Sis was having NOTHING to do with dragging anything so Lu and I drug the sled around while Chase followed. It didn’t take long before Ty hopped in the sled. Lu and I drug him everywhere. We were trotting and cantering and Ty’s laugh was echoing through the pasture.

Sunday morning we woke up early and headed out to the farm to load up. We got to the ride location around 7:30, unloaded and started to clean up the horses. After a short riders briefing we saddled up and headed to the arena to warm up. Getting Lu out of a snails pace was not an easy task. She has apparently learned how to conserve her energy very well. Chase and I rode out with our group around 9:30.

Getting reedy to head out.

We had 6 people in our group. Chase and I went last so he could watch the others do the obstacles. Chase went before I did and this seemed to work out well. He had Lu on one side so Sis didn’t feel like she was being left and he had the rest of the group on the other side to help encourage her to continue forward if need be.

Obstacle #1 – Mailbox
This was pretty easy. We rode up to the mailbox, took out a stuffed animal and showed it to the judge.

Obstacle #2 – Injured animal
We had to ride into an area (marked w/cones), dismount and walk up to a stuffed animal, place it on our saddle and walk back to the judge. This wouldn’t have been so bad for most of the pleasure riders since our stuffed animal wasn’t very large however they left the larger stuffed animal for the open riders lying on the ground and this freaked out a lot of horses. Sis and Lucy weren’t even fazed.

Obstacle #3 – Drag
Oh I was so worried after our drag attempt from the night before but Chase did great! He did let the rope get behind him a bit and Sis did get a little fidgety at the end but he was past the marker so he was fine.

On the way to our next obstacle

Obstacle #4 – Back up
Instead of doing the full “L” we had to walk into the l part and back straight out. Chase couldn’t have had a more perfect backup. My back up on the other hand…………..well let’s just say it was rider error. I didn’t hit the rails but she did get crooked and when I went to correct her she gave me her opinion about my decision to wear spurs by laying her ears on her neck.

Obstacle #5 – Vine Simulator
They took a vinyl shower curtain (reddish orange in color), cut it in strips and hung it up. Sis looked off but I don’t think she was shying from the curtain as much as I think something in the distance caught her attention. It was only for a brief moment and then she went through.

Lucy paused at the curtain, put her head down as if she was going to duck under it and then went through. I got a chuckle out of that.

Obstacle #6 – Log jump
LMAO I knew how this one was going to go before even attempting it. They brought a large log into the middle of the arena. You trotted to the log, jumped the log and then continued to trot afterwards to the barrel.

Sis trotted to the log but then tried to go around it. Chase backed her up and made her go over it but she was very cautious and went over one leg at a time…………..very…………..slowly. The crowd cheered as he finally made is way over the log.

Lucy trotted to the log and to my surprise she stopped and went over it. She was quicker and more agile about it then I expected too but we were still a long ways from a “jump”.

After lunch they had the awards. Chase got first in his division (Junior) and I got 6th in mine (Pleasure). There were 17 people in my division so I have no complaints. I think we could do better if I actually practiced. I know where my weak spots are.

I couldn’t be happier with Chase. For the first time I can actually say he deserved his blue. He rocked! I think he enjoyed himself too. He’s already asking me when we can go again.

Lucy was ready to go home.

Do you see what I see?

Last night before heading to the arena I got some video of Cat walking. It isn't the best but it will have to do for now. I know what *I* see but would love to hear what others see.





The injury happened approx. a month ago. She was on stall rest at ISU for a week. Then home on stall rest for a week followed by 2 weeks of stall rest with 15 min. of hand walking a day.

Now, for grins, here is my new goose. She came in Wed. night. It appears she has a broken leg that healed poorly. So far she seems to be very happy w/the abundance of food and water.

Update on Cat

Saturday before we left for out trail ride I took Cat out to hand walk her.  I could tell she wanted to roll so after our 15 min. walk I turned her loose in the dry lot.  The other horses were in the barn so I wasn’t too worried about her getting too stupid.  I watched her for a while.  She went right to the dirt pile and rolled.

As I was inside the barn cleaning her stall and preparing her feed for the weekend my dad commented “well she looks like she’s feeling pretty good. She’s bucking and farting anyways.”  WHAT!  NO!  She’s NOT supposed to be doing that.  I ran out to get her and noticed a HUGE flock of Canadian Geese in the pasture.  So that’s what got her moving!  We have NEVER in the 20 something years we’ve lived out there had Canadian’s in the pasture.  I quickly put a halter on her and put her back in her stall.

Our focus now had changed as we tried to coax Goosezilla and Peaches to join the flock and leave with them.  They did fly out to the flock and semi greeted them but then flew back to the barn.  Darn!

Yesterday I needed to change her bandage so after removing the old one I gave her an EzAll bath to remove the dirt from her roll the day before.  After she was clean I asked Shari to hand walk her for me.  As soon as she hit the arena down she went.  I ran out to get her up but it was too late so we headed back to get hosed off again.  After she was clean for a second time we headed down the road for our walk to help deter her from rolling again.

I had snapped a few pictures of her leg.  This was to be my last wrap but I’m not sure if I’m doing more harm then good w/my wrapping skills so I consulted a friend.

In this picture you can see the peeling skin and two of the sutures.  It almost looks like parchment paper that has lifted of the skin but is still stuck.

This is the actual wound site.  It isn’t swollen it is just the angle of the photo but you can see all of the “gunk” around the area.

Her leg actually looks pretty good.  Most of the swelling is in the hock area where they did all of the injections for the perfusions. 

I decided instead of wrapping her leg I would just cover the wound to keep the dirt/dust out of it.  She was still wet so I thought I’d pick some of the dead skin off the front of her leg.  BIG MISTAKE!  She’s apparently a lot tenderer there then I had anticipated and as soon as I touched this area she nailed me.  I’ve NEVER had her kick before so I’m sure it was just a reaction to the pain.  Never the less I wasn’t happy about it and I was very lucky.  She nicked my knee and the back of my hand but had I been in a different position it could have been much worse.

I worked with her to make sure I could touch the area w/o her kicking and then put my wrap on.  Tomorrow is her last day of bute so this could get interesting.

Time to hit the trails!

Saturday morning the boys left to spend a week at Great Grandma’s & Grandpa’s so DH and I loaded up the ponies and headed to Brushy Creek. We decided to try to take a new route to the park to shave some time/miles off only to find out my cell phone includes narrow, curvy gravel roads in its “fastest route possible” directions. I'm not sure how much quicker it was but we made it safely, unloaded the horses and set up camp.

Out on the trail, Black seemed pretty happy to be out and about. Her ears were perked forward and she was moving out pretty well. I was a bit worried when we first started because she took the long, steep hill really slow. I mean REALLY slow!



Even with her new shoes she was still a bit “ouchy” on the trails so I let her pick her pace. We headed to the West river trail. These trails were closed for quite some time due to the flooding and you could tell. They were overgrown and there were tons of wild grapes growing in the trees. Bell got her tail caught in one while we were stopped for a break.



The one thing we encounter I had not anticipated was the mosquitoes! They were horrible. They thought Bell and I were tasty but they left Black and DH alone. At times DH would stop Bell as her entire jowl and neck were covered with masses of mosquitoes. The horses were getting tired and the mosquitoes were making it miserable so we headed back to camp.

Back at camp we started up the grill and sat down to relax with a cold one. As we were relaxing a gentleman pulled up to back into the site two sites down from us. He was having a difficult time backing (I think I could have done better) so I told DH to go help him. Right about then he finally got his rig backed into the camp spot.

Once he was backed in he opened the back doors of his truck and unloaded a little boy. He couldn’t have been more then 3 or 4 and he was in his pj’s with his Jack Russell Terrier following right behind him. Brandon and I got a chuckle out of the little boy and his dog. The poor kid’s pj’s were hanging off of his butt so his cartoon character undies were showing. That didn’t stop him though!

The gentleman walked around to the other side and unloaded another young boy. This boy couldn’t have been more then 1 ½ or 2 (he was walking but didn’t seem to talk much). No one else was with him so DH and I speculated someone else would be meeting up with him later. He unloaded his horses (2), unhooked his truck and they headed off.

We enjoyed our dinner, took care of the ponies and then headed off to bed. The next morning we took out time getting around. The gentleman next door came out of his trailer with the two boys to feed the horses and eat their breakfast. He was still alone so our speculations changed to him being a single father. He looked like the rodeo type so it wouldn’t be that uncommon. Either way we both gave him kudos for taking two children anywhere with no help let alone camping with two horses.

Again DH and I got a huge chuckle out of the eldest boy as he couldn’t keep his wranglers up over his butt. His red/blue undies were showing as the back of his pants were down under his butt. He had that JR on a lead and was dragging it everywhere. After our morning entertainment we decided to hit the trails. The weather was lovely and we didn’t want to miss out.

As I led Black from the hitching rail to the trailer I noticed she was pretty sore. I was very disappointed. I decided to try to boot her backs to see if that would help. She moved a bit better but still not great so DH and I agreed if she didn’t do well after we got out on the trail we would turn around and head back.

The first part of the trail didn’t go so well.  She was moving slow and was taking quite a few bad steps.  As we started to head up a hill I stopped Black to tell DH I didn’t think she could go any further. Right about then Black spazzed since Bell was at the top of the hill and she hauled butt up the hill. I decided if she could do that she could walk some more. The more she walked out the better she seemed to move so we continued on our way.



We decided this time we’d go down the East River trail hoping it would be less rocky. It was and it was beautiful. There was a small stream crossing (I love water crossings) so DH and I let the ponies take a short break to play in the water.





The trails on this side were equally as overgrown as the ones on the West side but it was still beautiful riding.



DH grabbed a tree branch to help keep the mosquitoes off of Bell but it ended up turning into a “persuasion” stick.



When the mosquitoes got bad we headed back to camp. A large group was coming up behind us and it was making Black a bit uneasy so she moved into a trot. I didn’t think she’d stay in it because of her feet so I just let her go. To my surprise she went quite a ways before I shut her down. We stopped and let them pass us but then she wanted to keep up with them. She might be old but she's a long ways from dead and I had my hands full!

After 3 stops to adjust boots I was at my wits end. The last stop came after we almost tumbled down a hill. She tripped, the boot came off and the gator ripped but didn’t tear completely off. How she regained her balance I have no idea! I’m just glad she did. She twists her back feet as she walks so no matter what I do I can't keep boots on for too long (hence why I wanted shoes on them). 

Both ponies were exhausted and ready to be back at the trailer.



Once we were back at camp we took the horses down to the wash rack for a nice hose down. We weren’t in any hurry to pack up and leave so DH and I relaxed a bit. The little boy next door & his jeans were making for some good comical relief. I noticed the dad put the youngest one up on his horse and then he mounted up behind the boy. He started to ride off and I was worried he was going to leave the oldest. I was a bit surprised because he had been so good with the boys the entire time I’d seen him with them. Then, I noticed him side pass his horse over to the picnic table so the oldest could get on behind him.

It was quite the site to see 1 adult, two children AND a dog on a small horse.



They really did help make the weekend that much more entertaining.

New Shoes!

FINALLY after many attempts Black has a new pair of shoes. Yes, you read that right – shoes! Barefoot is great and I will continue to keep the rest of my horses bare for as long as I can however looking at what I have to work with I decided shoes were the better option for “us”. If Black was younger I would have probably pursued the barefoot path a little more but like I told Randy, “with my luck by the time we get a good hoof on her she’ll be dead”.

I did opt to stay away from the metal shoes and had Randy put on Ground Control Shoes. They are a lightweight polyurethane shoe with a rolled toe and frog support. He also added pads with a bit of dental impression in them to help give support to her hoof.

We loaded up the trailers (yes trailers) last night and headed to the arena. I took the kids so they could ride Black. Chase and Shari ran her all over the place and she looked as though she was moving very well.

MIL and DH went along as well. I’m not sure why but MIL and DH switched horses mid ride. MIL looked like she was having a pretty tough time w/Bell. I tried to ignore things as much as possible.

When we got home I took Black out to the road – the “real” test. I was a bit discouraged when she started short striding but then she started moving out. I think she anticipated pain but then decided “hey, this doesn’t hurt”. I still think I’ll need to boot her backs on the road but if this works the way I anticipate it to then I will be having Randy shoe her backs next time as well.

I did change Cat's bandage last night and she finally got to be hand-walked. It looked like the bandage had rubbed her leg a bit (I'm no expert at wrapping legs) but the leg looked good for the most part. MIL thought she looked like she was moving well but I still think she's favoring her leg. I guess it is to be expected and hopefully with increased movement she'll do better.

Crack Head!

Yesterday DH and I went up to get Cat from ISU. The vet told me she was doing well and went through a list of things I needed to do with her when I got home. He pulled her out and went to change her bandage/wrap so I could be refreshed on how to do it correctly (I’m happy to say I’m not a pro at wrapping legs). As he pulled the wrap off Cat threatened to kick. Not wanting to interfere I just stood back. She offered a second time and I could feel my blood pressure starting to rise. The vet informed me they had been sedating her to do her leg but he wanted to see how she would do without being sedated. I got up next to her to look at something and she raised her leg again. I immediately whacked her on the butt and got a look from her like “oh shit”. She stood still for the rest of the leg to be bandaged.

On the way out to the trailer she was pushy. I stopped her and made her take one step backwards (I’d just got done paying my vet bill and didn’t figure I needed to take her back in so one step was good enough). The vet chuckled and said “Cat, I think you are in for some tough love”. She loaded into the trailer well but then decided to kick the trailer wall (she’s never done that before). We hit the road trying to miss rush hour traffic.

Loaded and ready to go

Get me outta here!

Once we got home I decided to let her graze for a few minutes before going into her stall. We had picked up a big fan (no, not a big ass fan, just a big fan) and a corner feeder for her hay and DH wanted to try to install them before putting her in. She was snorting at the grass. She was getting upset about things she normally didn’t even notice existed and I was starting to wonder if they had been feeding her crack up at ISU.

Trying to graze.

I’m not sure if her behavior was caused by some of the sedation drugs, being in isolation for a week or what but it was very frustrating for me since I couldn’t put her feet to work. I can’t move her feet without risking injury again and I’m not going to go there. In her stall she was very pushy. I did nail her once and of course it sent her flying backwards. It is a good thing the stall isn’t very big. This morning when I went out to clean her stall and feed her she was pushing the stall door again. I tied her up while I cleaned her stall and she pushed into me and raised her leg. Her belly was immediately greeted with the end of my manure fork. I can tell this is going to be a LONG 4 weeks!

Vistiting Cat

Saturday morning DH, Ty and I headed up to ISU to see Cat. We got there around 8:30 and met the vet. I could tell Cat had been pacing her stall by the big shavings circle she had formed. As soon as I opened her stall door she tried to escape. I had a lot of questions for the vet and he did a good job answering them for me.

I couldn’t figure out why the local vet had fluid come out if it wasn’t the tendon sheath. He said if she didn’t put the needle in right it could have gone directly through the fetlock joint. He showed me where the tendon sheath was compared to her injury and the approximate angle of the hole. He said the hole was about the size of a penny. He said we were pretty lucky about how it went in as it missed a lot of things.

The entire time we were talking Cat was trying to weasel her way out of the stall. She seemed to be doing a good job of putting weight on her leg. He had it wrapped pretty high and said it was due to the swelling going up. Once we left the stall she went over to the corner where the feed was I had taken up to her and she was trying to figure out how to get it. I’d say she’s feeling better.

I was surprised to hear she was only on 2 grams of bute. They will be weaning her down before she comes home. Once at home, the first week to two weeks is complete stall rest. After that I can hand walk her 10 min. 2 x a day and then I can move to light riding. Ummm, I don’t see that happening.

I got the impression he felt she was going to make a full recovery.

Update on Cat –

The vet called last night and said Cat came out of surgery and was doing well. He said the tendon sheath was not involved. He said they were all very surprised. Of course I'm confused as to what the vet here saw when she tapped it but what's new? Instead she has a fetlock joint injury. He said the joint looked good minus the irritation. Our prognosis is the same had it been a tendon sheath issue.

He said they will do another regional limb perfusion today & the next 72 hrs. are critical. He said splint bone was ok, they were able to check it internally while she was down so they didn’t need to take x-rays. He said a bunch of other stuff too but between his accent (a Canadian that just moved here from Texas), the cell phone reception and everything else I didn't catch all of it. I’m going to try to go up and visit on Saturday but told him he didn’t need to call as long as all was going well.

I’ve had quite a few people ask me if I know how this happened. While I can’t be 100% sure I do have my own theory.

Wed. since it was so hot DH went out to top off water tanks mid day. He let Bell in the front pasture w/the others (she'd been in w/Sis but MIL took Sis home Tues. night) and then opened up the dry lot gate so they could get into the 3 sided and out of the sun.

Our 3 sided has 2 gates - one small 3 ft walkthrough gate and one bigger 12 ft? one to get the tractor in (see picture below). The only time *I* open the big gate is if I'm in there w/the bobcat or if I've opened it up to the "herd" so no one gets trapped.



DH didn't open the large gate and I think Bell got Cat trapped in there and then went to town on her (hence why Bell was in the back pasture and not with Cat in the first place). I noticed last night my hay feeder was partially pulled out of the wall and one bar was dented with little white hairs on it (would explain the scrapes on her side/back). I'm guessing she either got her leg on the concrete wall or Bell got it with her hoof.

But of course this is only a theory. DH is bound and determined to find a place in the pasture where there is a pile of blood to prove Bell didn't do it. I’m not blaming him but I think he feels bad. I noticed last night both of Bell's back legs were swollen (the left worse then the right) and she had a few minor scrapes on her legs. I've seen her try to kick Cat in the pasture and she double barrel kicks. I wonder if she missed and got the wall, serves her right. I was nice and gave her some bute since DH was at work but that's about as much as I'm gonna do.

And you wonder

And you wonder why in 2 years I only have 30 rides on Cat?

Last night turned into a horrible night! I went out to ride Cat to find her back leg cut & bleeding. It looked pretty superficial. No big deal. I'll just cold hose it and see what if that helps.

I cold hosed it but noticed she didn't want to bare weight on it so I decided to call a vet. Vet finally calls back and says "no big deal, call tomorrow to schedule an appointment & we'll stitch it then".

I had a pretty uneasy feeling in about things so I consulted a friend who suggested taking her to another vet. I called another vet & decided to haul her over to the clinic vs. having her out for a farm call. I could barely get her in the trailer.

Disclaimer: I may not have all the facts right - I was a bit overwhelmed.

The vet looked at her and finally decided to tap her. The fluid immediately came out of the cut and I knew by the look the vet gave me it wasn't a good thing. Cat has a cut tendon sheath so she referred me to ISU.

When we finally got up to ISU I learned the quote was twice as much as what my vet thought it would be (of course, why wouldn't it be). It wasn't an easy decision but we (DH & I) decided to move ahead. I sure hope that was a good idea.

They did a bunch of stuff last night to stabilize her. She was in so much pain I think they could have done all of the work without a sedative.

They put a tourniquet on her leg and then injected her leg/veins with antibiotics and cleaned the wound. The game plan for today is to put her on the table, scope the leg to find out the extent of the damage and debride the wound. Possibly a few x-rays to make sure she didn’t do any damage to her splint bone.

I have absolutely NO clue how she did this. We have gone through the pasture and picked up everything except for the tree limbs that are in a pile and I’m 99.9999% sure she didn’t do it on the tree limbs. She has other cuts/scrapes that make it look like she got caught up in something but again – I’m not sure what.

I told DH I honestly think it would have been easier on me to find her dead in the pasture vs. putting a price limit on her life. Anyone need a kidney?

Sweat

When riding a horse sweat is a wonderful thing. It somehow seems to be connected to their brains. The more they sweat, the more they seem to start using their brains.

The weather here has been so miserable the horses are sweating without a rider and for some reason this type of sweat doesn’t seem to engage their brains – if anything, it seems to make them use their brains less.

I took these around 9:00 last night. Cat was just miserable.


The heat doesn’t seem to be affecting the flies at all.  I couldn't get a shot of her where she wasn't stomping flies.



Our heat index today is supposed to reach 116*. I think I’ll pass on riding for now.

On a side note – since it was too hot to ride I went to see the documentary Buck with a few friends.  If you haven’t seen it I recommend going.

Saddle Woes

No riding updates for me because there hasn’t been any riding. My saddle doesn’t fit Cat and it is causing her bad dry spots. I’ve tried a few different things to make it fit better but nothing seems to be working. I’m hoping this weekend I can try MIL’s CA saddle to see how it fits on her. My saddle has regular QH bars and the CA has full QH bars.

I LOVE my saddle but I have no desire to get rid of Cat or Lu anytime soon so I’m going to have to find a new one. I hate saddle shopping just about as much as I hate regular shopping. I’m not comfortable buying saddles online. I prefer to sit in one before buying so my options are a bit limited.

Project Horses

To make it easier for me to find things when I want to in re: to my own horses, I'm moving the information/posts about Carmella to a new blog:  http://tuffenuffquarterhorses-projecthorses.blogspot.com/

You guys are welcome to follow/comment but don't feel like you have to.

HOT! HOT! HOT!

It was hot this weekend! Saturday DH decided to plow up part of the pasture to make a makeshift “arena” for me to work the horses in. The footing was so hard the horses would slip and slide and I wasn’t too keen on starting a horse on bad footing. After plowing up a large section we went over it with the disc. There are still quite a few chunks of hard dirt but it was a starting point.

The overcast look is from all the humidity.

I did a little bit of LFR w/Carmella in the newly plowed dirt. She was able to move 100x better and was a little more receptive. She still wants to anticipate me vs. coming off the feel of the halter. So far she is doing very well with the desensitizing so I will be stepping it up a notch later this week with plastic bags, etc. I also started on the flexing w/the halter. I got my exercise! Once she figured it out though she was pretty soft and responsive. She was hot and tired so I tied her up.

I like a sweaty pony!

Sunday DH headed out to the farm early to re-disc the arena (I’m going to call it that for a lack of better wording). Then we headed over to MIL’s to get her round pen. DH wasn’t too happy w/me when we learned it wouldn’t all fit in MIL’s trailer so we looked for a second option. We were going to borrow a trailer from a friend but after thinking about it decided we were going to have to make two trips anyways so we would just go back home and get our big trailer. Instead I trimmed Lu’s feet and Abby’s feet and then went for a short bb halter ride on Lu. I miss my pony! She might have to come home.

I was out in the hot sun too long and got a bit overheated so we decided dh would get the rest of the RP today. Back at the farm we unloaded what panels we did get loaded and made a small (very small) pen. I rested up a bit and then took Carmella out to work her. She did very well on her inside turns. There were a few times she turn into me and then instead of changing directions she went the original direction. I chalked that up to the pen size and backed off a bit. Turning to go clockwise she does better vs. turning to go counterclockwise. Her turn is tighter but there is a bit of an attitude.

Her ears are forward but she's too tired to open her eyes.

DH got the rest of the round pen for me today and got it set up. I plan to work her again tonight and then give her a few days off before trying to saddle her. Its supposed to be in the 90’s this week and I don’t need to get overheated again nor do I need to get any of the horses too hot either.

Post Workout

I'm posting from my phone so I'm not sure how this will turnout.

I was surprised with how much Carmella remembered from having her last year. I took her to the timber to work on LFR after having footing issues in the pasture. That was when I was reminded what a b*tch she is.
Anytime she is asked to give more then she wants her reaction is to pin her ears & rear. My reaction is to whack! HARD! After working her into a sweat I backed her (tap the air & wwww) all the way back to the barn.

At the barn she was happy to be desensitized & then given a bath. She was also a lot more receptive to standing still.

Meet Carmella

She's not the prettiest thing (I'm not a big perlino fan) but as some say - you don't ride pretty.
This was pre-workout. She would not stand still. She was stomping flies and pacing.

Pull Up!!!!!

After a lot of thinking, I made the decision to put shoes on Black. Randy agreed to put Ground Control shoes on her Wednesday when he came out. I was very excited to see how she was going to do once she had them on.

To my disappointment he called me and told me they weren’t going to work. He put one shoe on, walked her off and said she was lame. He thinks there might be permanent damage in the left front foot (the one that had the tipped coffin bone) and the shoe put too much pressure on her sole. We discussed glue on boots, equicast, etc but I opted to leave her bare and boot when needed like I have been.

Last night MIL had drill and I had to fill in for a member that is gone this week. I didn’t warm Black up because she doesn’t have too much energy to spare. During our short warm up she felt a little off. The whistle blew and we were off. She felt ok, a little slower then last week but not bad.

Part of the pattern starts out as one large circle. When the whistle blows ½ of the group does a rollback (well that’s what it is supposed to be) and starts a new circle going in the opposite direction around the original circle. MIL and Sis turn back but the position I was in (right behind MIL) doesn’t. When the whistle blew I saw Sis turn but MIL didn’t. She hit the ground hard! Sis had anticipated the turn. MIL landed on her tailbone and the ground was hard. She climbed back in the saddle (she probably shouldn’t have) and we stated over.

We weren’t 3 minutes into the run and I had to pull Black up. Randy had trimmed her shorter since he anticipated shoes and it was too short. Even thought she was booted it was too much for her & I wasn’t going to risk hurting her to run the pattern. Amazingly they were able to finish with a ‘ghost’ rider.

The second run (which MIL again shouldn’t have done) I borrowed a horse from another member. It was interesting. Her saddle was way too small for me and it was a slick seat. I HATE slick seats. Jazz was a little out of gas and not too thrilled to be carrying my fat arse but we made it through just fine.

On the way home we picked up Carmella. She jumped right in the trailer. I joked and took the credit for being such a wonderful trainer. At home she got her first lesson. Well not really her first – I have worked with her before. It didn’t take her long to realize she wasn’t in Kansas anymore. It was late and MIL was sore so I put Carmella up and headed home. The real work will start this weekend.

Woo Hoo!

I finally have 30 rides on Cat!  It has only taken me a year an a half but I can officially say she has had 30 rides.  Now onto our new goal - 60 rides!  Then I can "officially" do a clinic on her.

Last night I took her with me to drill.  It was pretty muggy out and she was sweating before I even unloaded her from the trailer.  I opted not to do any groundwork with her this time.  She was moving out quickly but wasn't uncontrollable.  I *tried* to work on the bending again.  She does ok to the left - not so well to the right.  She likes to snatch her head back as soon as I release.

I also worked on our "Whoa" off of voice commands.  An empty arena would have helped but I have to use what I have.  There was once she got testy with me but after meeting Mr. Popper she settled right down.  I know she's going to be a stopper once she figures out my cues.

Black got to run the performance twice.  I had to ask her to slow down a few times.  I think she's enjoying being out again.  She was scheduled to get shoes this morning but it didn't happen.  Randy put on one Ground Control shoe and said it put too much pressure on her sole.  I don't want to do glue on boots so we left her bare for now.

Black and I have drill again tomorrow night.  I don't think I'll be taking Cat with me this time.  I'm supposed to be picking up a filly to put 30 - 60 days on (calendar days, not all training days).  She belongs to a friend who knows how slow I work.  It will be interesting.

She's still got it!

Tuesday night I was asked to fill in on the drill team so I pulled Black out pasture, booted her up & away we went.

To my surprise she was very energetic when we arrived. Heck for the most part her ears even stayed forward the majority of the time. There were a "few" times she pinned them but it was a lot less then it normally is.

When it was our turn we ran the pattern. She kept up great & almost had energy to spare.

Almost.....

Silly Rabbit, Trix are for Kids!

No, it isn't a rabbit and no, it isn't a kid!

Saturday after the rain went away the CIDH hosted a horse and pony ride after the parade in Redfield.  One of the team members purchased this bear and it spooked Sis.  It wasn't a bad spook but enough that MIL took care of the problem!  I'm not sure what it is but that horse turns her into a kid!

Rain, rain, go away!

The rain here has been nonstop lately. Originally the bwp (bad weather peeps) forecasted a beautiful weekend. I knew they lied when I woke up Saturday morning to thunder and lightening. It dried out around 10 but still looked gloomy. Throughout the day the sun would peek out here and there as if to taunt me but it never stayed long. Later that night after threats all day of more rain but no rain I decided to hit the road (ride 29).

Before hitting the road I thought I’d try some bending with Cat in the drive. Have I mentioned how much I hate this exercise? I apparently need to revisit some videos.

There is something on the neighbor’s property that freaks Cat out every time we go on a road ride (cause you know we’ve been on so many). I worked her in circles and finally got her past it. Right off the bat I started off doing ORS at the trot. I honestly think Cat counts because when I do my ORS I will trot 6 – 8 strides and then sit, sit, sit before doing a ORS. It doesn’t take very many repetitions before she’s starting to suck back on stride 8. When she does that then I ask her to keep moving and do a ORS when she’s not sucking back. I don’t think she has the “sit” part down yet.

On down the road I decided to switch from ORS to working on “whoa”. I think a fence line would work much better because Cat wasn’t “gettin it” and I know she’s not that dumb. We made it all the way to rollercoaster road without any issues. Most of the horses get a bit nervous on this road due to the trees lining the road and the cattle. This time it was the laughter of children that got Cat’s attention.

The neighbors must have been throwing a party. Cat could hear the commotion but she couldn’t see it and that made her nervous. What a perfect opportunity to do some bending! Once we made it to the bottom of the hill I kicked Cat into “high gear” and loped her to the top of the hill. Normally I let her stop on the top of the first hill but she was still pretty fast so this time I pushed her up to the top of the second hill. She was happy to stop when I sat an asked. I reached down to grab my phone to find out what time it was and………………..yep…………………I lost my phone………………..again!

I decided to forge on anyways so with a squeeze Cat and I were off again. The rest of the ride we worked on ORS from the trot and a little bit of cantering. She was nervous passing the big barking dog but not as bad as last time. The horses in the field running got her attention but she quickly lowered her head. It is amazing what a 7 mile ride will do! It was 8:45 when I returned to the farm. I quickly tied her up & jumped on the 4 wheeler to go find my phone. Of course it was on vibrate so I had to actually look for it. This is the one time when I think one of those ugly pink cases would come in handy!

I finally found it about 20 feet from where I realized I’d lost it (bangs head). Now if the weather will clear up a bit maybe I can finally get that 30th ride in on her!

Duck, duck, duck oh and another duck!

The boys and I have been incubating duck eggs for the last two months.  Now it normally only takes 4 weeks to hatch duck eggs but our first batch didn't go so well.  Somehow (*cough* Ty) my thermostat got turned up to 104* and fried my eggs.

The second batch went into a new incubator into my closet so the little hands couldn't turn it up/down.  This is what the boys and I got to hatch out.

We got four little adorable ducklings!  My hatch rate wasn't very good but I think I know why.  We have a few more hatches to go and momma duck has her own eggs under her so we'll see what happens.  These cute little fellows go to their new home tomorrow.

Changing colors

Last night I decided to join MIL at drill practice.  When we got there I quickly saddled up and headed to the arena to do some groundwork.  Cat decided she was going to kick up her heels and protest a little bit so we shifted gears from LFR Stage I to LFR Stage II quickly!  I think she got the point rather quickly that it wasn't a good idea.

I hopped on and away we went.  I didn't work a whole lot on ORS.  Instead I just walked her around a little bit and then did some trotting.  I've decided she knows she needs to stay in a trot so now it's time to start learning how to follow the fence.  I could see Anna getting the flag out so I asked her if she would please just walk around and let me follow her.  Cat was curious but cautious at the same time.  I told Anna to go ahead and do what she needed to do.  She took off loping and Cat didn't seem to be too worried about the flag. 

It was warm and Cat got pretty hot and sweaty.  I love the color she turns when she is hot.  I wish she was that color all year round.  The team met in at the side of the arena for a quick meeting so Cat and I loped around.  She's starting to suck back at the arena gate but she didn't break gait.  A few times I loped her down the fence line, sat, said WHOA and then tipped her nose into the fence.  I really think she's going to be a stopper.  She was doing a good job of getting her butt into the ground.

I helped the team out by pretending to be the flag person.  It was good for her and she did a good job of playing follow the leader.  After that I gave the poor girl break.  A couple of the guys were joking with me about how much her color had changed.

After practice was over I jumped back on.  One of the girls is going to be carrying the American flag at a rodeo next month and was having issues getting her horse to stop so she asked me for some advice.  I showed her (and a large group watching - you know how much I enjoy that) how *I* would do it.  Cat was pretty responsive and got her butt in the ground so I was pretty happy with her.

After that the arena cleared some so Cat and I worked on the clover leaf pattern.  I really need to work on the bending exercise.  She does the pattern but she's stiff in her rib cage so she pulls on my hands a bit.  Not much but enough that I don't like it and don't want it to continue.  She couldn't wait for me to say "whoa" in the center of the leaf.  I did the pattern once each direction and then once going in the opposite direction of which ever direction she wanted to go. After that I worked on a bit of backing up CC style, let her rest and then dismounted.  She was one tired little girl.