Saturday
Now I can finally tell you my exciting news! Ray is leaving!!! Yep, he is no longer training for our barn and we're getting a new trainer hopefully soon. I can't wait to see who is coming up. This might not seem very exciting, but trust me when I tell you I'm overjoyed.
Since it was super cold today, no one wanted to ride for very long, so I just got Harry to walk calmly around with Brie by his side and got off after about a half hour. We finally got two more coolers, so everyone was nice and toasty after their rides, and by everyone I mean the horses, because after I stopped moving around, I started to turn into a popsicle! Jane came by as we were getting ready to leave, so we stuck around while she started to ride Taco. She put his bit under his tongue unknowingly and he started backing up and starting to hop when she got scared and jumped off. I fixed the bit for her and my mom offered to teach her how to longe, but she got dizzy, so my mom longed Taco for her. He had a ton of energy, but calmed down after his little burst and then I rode him around twice to show her that he was better now and she didn't have to be scared, so she got back on and was happy with her ride. I love helping other people ride. =]
Sunday
It was so great seeing Ray pack up.
I rode Brie today thinking it'd be a break. As usual, I was wrong! She wasn't bad, just wanted to go really fast. She was really tight on her turns and it made me think if she could be a good barrel racer...my mom thinks that she's getting sore in her hock again, so when the vet comes out to float teeth in May we're going to have another steroid injection in her leg. We rode for a little longer than yesterday, but not by much. In the end, Nina and Brie had a largo race. I'm surprised how little Nina is getting faster! She was beating Brie up until the end when she ran out of steam. Until yesterday, I hadn't known another horse who could keep up with Brie's largo!
I'm so excited for this weekend. Now that Ray is gone, we can turn out the horses in the arena and not have to worry about turning them out in the snow and possibly ice. We're also going to have a huge feast! I'm in charge of baking the desserts!
Showing posts with label leg concerns. Show all posts
Showing posts with label leg concerns. Show all posts
Monday, January 16, 2012
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Day 151
Well, we haven't heard back from the vet yet on those X Rays, so hopefully no news is good news.
Today we found out that Brie is just a magnet for bad things lately! She had a small gash on her hock, looking fresh, and low and behold one of her boards in the stall was split and she must've rubbed on it and cut herself on the part that was pointing out. We told Paco and he'll have it fixed. We cleaned the wound with some warm water on a rag, then put some iodine on it and finally put this blue paste for cuts my mom found in some vet magazine. It works fantastically! I'll have to get the name of it for you all.
Harry...well, he wasn't exactly bad today, but he wasn't good either. He was having an off day in the most literal sense of the word. He couldn't find his rhythm in his gait, no matter what we tried. Circles, different hand positions, different seats, but nope, he just never really settled into a nice clean gait. Always pacing. I hope that this was just a one day thing, because tomorrow is our last practice before we go to the Michigan show next weekend, and I want to keep up placing highly with him!
I would like to be somewhat productive this summer, so I'm signing up for this Parelli Connect thing online. I'm not sure if I told you all, but last summer I could've had an internship with Parelli in Colorado! I kind of wish I would've taken it, even if it was unpaid. But then again, if I had, I wouldn't have made it so far with Harry! Remember the wild beast he used to be? I'm so glad he's turned out to be so sweet. I'd rather have him be a sweet, not so great show horse, than an uncontrollable blue-ribbon winner! And I like to think I did a good job of taming him, thank you very much.
Oh, so remember when I was on the Equestrian Team? I quit back in October basically because of the facilities not being up to my own personal standards. I just found out that they've decided to move locations to a WAY better stable (one that I suggested way back when) and I'm joining again when school starts. I'm so excited! I missed jumping, and now that I know for sure I have to stop with Brie, it'll be nice to get it somewhere. I plan on starting lessons by the end of the month again, if not sooner!
Today we found out that Brie is just a magnet for bad things lately! She had a small gash on her hock, looking fresh, and low and behold one of her boards in the stall was split and she must've rubbed on it and cut herself on the part that was pointing out. We told Paco and he'll have it fixed. We cleaned the wound with some warm water on a rag, then put some iodine on it and finally put this blue paste for cuts my mom found in some vet magazine. It works fantastically! I'll have to get the name of it for you all.
Harry...well, he wasn't exactly bad today, but he wasn't good either. He was having an off day in the most literal sense of the word. He couldn't find his rhythm in his gait, no matter what we tried. Circles, different hand positions, different seats, but nope, he just never really settled into a nice clean gait. Always pacing. I hope that this was just a one day thing, because tomorrow is our last practice before we go to the Michigan show next weekend, and I want to keep up placing highly with him!
I would like to be somewhat productive this summer, so I'm signing up for this Parelli Connect thing online. I'm not sure if I told you all, but last summer I could've had an internship with Parelli in Colorado! I kind of wish I would've taken it, even if it was unpaid. But then again, if I had, I wouldn't have made it so far with Harry! Remember the wild beast he used to be? I'm so glad he's turned out to be so sweet. I'd rather have him be a sweet, not so great show horse, than an uncontrollable blue-ribbon winner! And I like to think I did a good job of taming him, thank you very much.
Oh, so remember when I was on the Equestrian Team? I quit back in October basically because of the facilities not being up to my own personal standards. I just found out that they've decided to move locations to a WAY better stable (one that I suggested way back when) and I'm joining again when school starts. I'm so excited! I missed jumping, and now that I know for sure I have to stop with Brie, it'll be nice to get it somewhere. I plan on starting lessons by the end of the month again, if not sooner!
Monday, June 6, 2011
Brie's Vet Update
Hey everyone,
Just wanted to let you all know that the vet called today. From what he can tell, Brie has arthritis in her hock, but he's sent on the X-Rays for a second opinion in a neighboring county's animal hospital to see if there's anything wrong with the stifle. The vet tech said that so far, we shouldn't ride her until we get those results back (which we can't anyways, we're not out there during the week) and that riding now really depends on her stifle's condition. Her blood sugar was also slightly high for a horse that was fasting until the vet got there to draw blood, so once we find out what's going on with her stifle, we're going to make up a plan to attack both her blood sugar and how to deal with whatever problems she may have coming down the road.
Just wanted to let you all know that the vet called today. From what he can tell, Brie has arthritis in her hock, but he's sent on the X-Rays for a second opinion in a neighboring county's animal hospital to see if there's anything wrong with the stifle. The vet tech said that so far, we shouldn't ride her until we get those results back (which we can't anyways, we're not out there during the week) and that riding now really depends on her stifle's condition. Her blood sugar was also slightly high for a horse that was fasting until the vet got there to draw blood, so once we find out what's going on with her stifle, we're going to make up a plan to attack both her blood sugar and how to deal with whatever problems she may have coming down the road.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Day 149
I have some good news and some bad news.
Good news is that Harry and I had a very successful ride today. We worked for about 2 hours! I never get him to myself for that long. I was super happy with his behavior at the start -- he walked! He's usually like a little freight train and just goes goes goes, but he was very relaxed at the start. We walked around and flexed for a while in the indoor then ventured to the outdoor where his attention started to get away from me, but was still pretty good. We kept our walking.
Then we traversed through the inside of the indoor and went out back in the huge pasture. That's where he lost his attention to me, instead too freaked out about everything going on outside. He got a little spooky and started spinning and trying to run back to the barn at one point, but we stopped, stood for a while and then headed towards the big hill and went up it, looked around, then went back into the barn.
Then we started to really work. The entire time I was focusing on keeping my hands quiet and properly positioned...I have a really bad habit of having piano hands, because, surprise, I play the piano. It's just natural. But I really focused on that and sitting deep and back today and rather than relaxing he seemed to want to go more and more until I started sitting more forward. Once I was a bit more forward he definitely settled into his gait better. After working on his gait, we started doing a little bit of transition work on the wall where it wasn't too successful, so we did in a circle. When he got transitions down in a circle, I started walking him to cool him down. I dropped my stirrups because my ankles were killing me today for some reason, probably from sickle-ing, and we walked pretty calmly. He was still super hot when I got off so I hand walked him for a good chunk of time before I gave him a nice bath, after which he was still hot, so I walked him some more until he was completely cool before I put him in his stall.
Now for the not so good news. The vet came out for Brie today. If you don't remember, she's been having some lameness in her back right leg for a while now. It kept going and coming, but even though we had her on stall rest for a while, she was still kind of limping when I rode her last week. Now, the vet came out and looked at her lunge (she was limping), gave her a full exam, noted a bit of warmth in her leg, and took lots of X-Rays. He said that seemingly at best she has arthritis and we can manage that with steroids. It's either in her hock or her stifle, and he kind of said that if it's in the stifle, it's not too good.
He basically told us that her show career is over. Depending on what's actually wrong with her, we'll know whether we can still ride her or not. If this is all from kicking her stall, I'm going to be so mad! I just hope she's okay. At first I was sad because I have to stop trying to do dressage and jumping with her now, and then I was sad because I wouldn't be able to really fulfill the goal of this blog: to blog until I won a 1st place in a class of at least 10.
But then, I realized that all of that has lost its value. As long as she's okay and healthy, even if she can't be ridden very much, it won't change how much I love her. She means the world to me, she's taught me everything I know about handling horses. She's given me a tough skin for the show ring. She's taught me patience and responsibility. Even if she can't be ridden, it doesn't mean I'll stop showering her with love.
And if she can be ridden, then I'll just have to work out being a great trail horse and I might still have costume classes to look forward to. Who knows -- maybe she'll win Nationals for costume. She's always been a looker =]
Good news is that Harry and I had a very successful ride today. We worked for about 2 hours! I never get him to myself for that long. I was super happy with his behavior at the start -- he walked! He's usually like a little freight train and just goes goes goes, but he was very relaxed at the start. We walked around and flexed for a while in the indoor then ventured to the outdoor where his attention started to get away from me, but was still pretty good. We kept our walking.
Then we traversed through the inside of the indoor and went out back in the huge pasture. That's where he lost his attention to me, instead too freaked out about everything going on outside. He got a little spooky and started spinning and trying to run back to the barn at one point, but we stopped, stood for a while and then headed towards the big hill and went up it, looked around, then went back into the barn.
Then we started to really work. The entire time I was focusing on keeping my hands quiet and properly positioned...I have a really bad habit of having piano hands, because, surprise, I play the piano. It's just natural. But I really focused on that and sitting deep and back today and rather than relaxing he seemed to want to go more and more until I started sitting more forward. Once I was a bit more forward he definitely settled into his gait better. After working on his gait, we started doing a little bit of transition work on the wall where it wasn't too successful, so we did in a circle. When he got transitions down in a circle, I started walking him to cool him down. I dropped my stirrups because my ankles were killing me today for some reason, probably from sickle-ing, and we walked pretty calmly. He was still super hot when I got off so I hand walked him for a good chunk of time before I gave him a nice bath, after which he was still hot, so I walked him some more until he was completely cool before I put him in his stall.
Now for the not so good news. The vet came out for Brie today. If you don't remember, she's been having some lameness in her back right leg for a while now. It kept going and coming, but even though we had her on stall rest for a while, she was still kind of limping when I rode her last week. Now, the vet came out and looked at her lunge (she was limping), gave her a full exam, noted a bit of warmth in her leg, and took lots of X-Rays. He said that seemingly at best she has arthritis and we can manage that with steroids. It's either in her hock or her stifle, and he kind of said that if it's in the stifle, it's not too good.
He basically told us that her show career is over. Depending on what's actually wrong with her, we'll know whether we can still ride her or not. If this is all from kicking her stall, I'm going to be so mad! I just hope she's okay. At first I was sad because I have to stop trying to do dressage and jumping with her now, and then I was sad because I wouldn't be able to really fulfill the goal of this blog: to blog until I won a 1st place in a class of at least 10.
But then, I realized that all of that has lost its value. As long as she's okay and healthy, even if she can't be ridden very much, it won't change how much I love her. She means the world to me, she's taught me everything I know about handling horses. She's given me a tough skin for the show ring. She's taught me patience and responsibility. Even if she can't be ridden, it doesn't mean I'll stop showering her with love.
And if she can be ridden, then I'll just have to work out being a great trail horse and I might still have costume classes to look forward to. Who knows -- maybe she'll win Nationals for costume. She's always been a looker =]
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Day 148
To my fellow Americans, Happy Memorial Day!
I was planning on enjoying this long weekend at the stables, but our basement flooded tonight from a storm, so it doesn't look like I'll be getting out to ride tomorrow =[
I rode Brie today. We've decided that we're going to call out the vet for her leg, because it's really not getting much better. My mom thinks that she might even have a hairline fracture from kicking her stall, which I really hope she doesn't! I'm just really worried, because she doesn't seem reluctant to work, but she keeps limping. Poor thing. I hope we figure out what's wrong soon.
Harry was a little worked up today -- it was because of the storm. But he gave a good ride, at least when I got on him. I'm not too sure about how he treated my mom.
I even got to ride Nina today! We walked and I figured she was bored because my brother ALWAYS walks her for at least 3/4 of the ride, so we did some cantering. She's so cute! If you could just picture a cartoon fat little pony cantering along, that's how I picture her when she canters...even though she's not fat anymore =]
One thing that really bothered me today was people putting their two cents into what we do with our horses. It's really starting to bother me -- everyone has their own opinions and they're so completely different from each other, I just wish that they would stop trying to tell us what to do! And can you believe that someone even suggested putting Nina in a pleasure class from now on? This was the horse who took 2nd place in a fino class! That's like the most coveted kind of Paso! To say that she's a pleasure horse is an insult -- those are so common. I just have to keep up my strength to not want to bite these people's heads off when they say things like that.
I was planning on enjoying this long weekend at the stables, but our basement flooded tonight from a storm, so it doesn't look like I'll be getting out to ride tomorrow =[
I rode Brie today. We've decided that we're going to call out the vet for her leg, because it's really not getting much better. My mom thinks that she might even have a hairline fracture from kicking her stall, which I really hope she doesn't! I'm just really worried, because she doesn't seem reluctant to work, but she keeps limping. Poor thing. I hope we figure out what's wrong soon.
Harry was a little worked up today -- it was because of the storm. But he gave a good ride, at least when I got on him. I'm not too sure about how he treated my mom.
I even got to ride Nina today! We walked and I figured she was bored because my brother ALWAYS walks her for at least 3/4 of the ride, so we did some cantering. She's so cute! If you could just picture a cartoon fat little pony cantering along, that's how I picture her when she canters...even though she's not fat anymore =]
One thing that really bothered me today was people putting their two cents into what we do with our horses. It's really starting to bother me -- everyone has their own opinions and they're so completely different from each other, I just wish that they would stop trying to tell us what to do! And can you believe that someone even suggested putting Nina in a pleasure class from now on? This was the horse who took 2nd place in a fino class! That's like the most coveted kind of Paso! To say that she's a pleasure horse is an insult -- those are so common. I just have to keep up my strength to not want to bite these people's heads off when they say things like that.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Day 132
Sunday
I had my camera today but it was super low on battery and only let me take a few pictures =[
We let them out to play again. We're waiting for the big paddock to dry out that way they can really run around!
And what angers me the most about low camera battery is that I thought I got this great video of my brother freaking out and jumping off of Nina, but it just got the end and beginning shots.
After he got on, we were like "Okay! Make her walk!" so off she went, but then Harry saw her walking away and got crazy and started bucking, so Nina got excited and bolted around the paddock. My brother got freaked and jumped off and onto the fence border next to Brie's paddock. It was hilarious (and pretty dangerous) and I wish I had gotten it on camera! All I got was this.
While we were outside, we also went by the trailer. Everyone went in and out except for Harry, of course. But we played the YoYo game until he got super close to the ramp (after about a half hour) and decided to call it quits.
I also have a picture of the baby for you. He's getting so big!
He loves to come up to the bars and rub his head on your hand. So cute!!
Now here's my mystery. I wrote about this last week, but got pictures of it. These are the weird things on his back legs.
This is his left foot. Those spots are kind of raw and get kind of icky like these next pictures.
This is his right foot. That little gunky on the bigger spot comes off when you rub it, and he gets kind of bothered when you do that. We don't really know what they are. We think they might be scars from when he fell through the hay trailer. The little gunks kind of look like plantar warts, but I don't know, can horses get warts??
Onto training, I rode Harry today. Colin was there for a while, and I was so embarrassed that by the time he was leaving I still hadn't gotten Harry to stand still next to the mounting block. Even though he's tiny enough that I don't need one, it's still a good habit to have, and it took forever for him to do it! He started off in a circle very relaxed and gaiting nicely, it's just that when I tried to go on the wall he kept pulling me towards the sound board and rushing forward. It wasn't the greatest ride, so I decided that we'll stay away from the sound board for a while. Manners are more important than having a great board, at least they are for me! And I believe that once the wall-calmness comes, so will the relaxed gait, so we won't need to keep practicing over the sound board. It really bothers me when people make a big deal over the board instead of actually riding anyways.
After we rode, we hosed them all down and had some of Brie's birthday cake! I can't believe she turns 10 on Tuesday! 7 years has gone by so fast. We like to describe her as "growing up to be one of those old ladies on their porch with a shotgun."
So we sang her Happy Birthday and tried to feed her a little bit of frosting, which of course she ate. Harry and Nina both spit it out and made faces once they tasted it. It must've reminded them of wormer!
My mom's car is acting kind of funny, but hopefully she fixes it soon that way I can drive it out sometime during these next two weeks while I'm home! It's supposed to be 60 during this week and I would love nothing more than driving out and giving them all a good scrubbing one afternoon.
I had my camera today but it was super low on battery and only let me take a few pictures =[
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| Harry running in the paddock |
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| Brie in mid-buck |
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| Winner of cutest picture! Don't they look like they're kissing? |
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| We dared him to get on Nina bareback in the paddock. |
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| Great picture, right? |
I also have a picture of the baby for you. He's getting so big!
Now here's my mystery. I wrote about this last week, but got pictures of it. These are the weird things on his back legs.
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Onto training, I rode Harry today. Colin was there for a while, and I was so embarrassed that by the time he was leaving I still hadn't gotten Harry to stand still next to the mounting block. Even though he's tiny enough that I don't need one, it's still a good habit to have, and it took forever for him to do it! He started off in a circle very relaxed and gaiting nicely, it's just that when I tried to go on the wall he kept pulling me towards the sound board and rushing forward. It wasn't the greatest ride, so I decided that we'll stay away from the sound board for a while. Manners are more important than having a great board, at least they are for me! And I believe that once the wall-calmness comes, so will the relaxed gait, so we won't need to keep practicing over the sound board. It really bothers me when people make a big deal over the board instead of actually riding anyways.
After we rode, we hosed them all down and had some of Brie's birthday cake! I can't believe she turns 10 on Tuesday! 7 years has gone by so fast. We like to describe her as "growing up to be one of those old ladies on their porch with a shotgun."
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| Post bath with her carrot cake! |
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