90% is where I'd say Bonnie's health is. She's now on her normal diet of three flakes of hay, and normal pellets softened not mashed or souped.
While her flanks are still really sunken, she had good capillary refill on the guns so I'm just going to take a deep breath and assume it will take some time for her to fully rebound.
120% is what my PBO "S" gave during all of this ordeal with Bonnie. I can't even begin to express my great appreciation for her level of attentiveness and care she provides my horses. The constant communication, checking on Bonnie late nights, providing four or five "feedings" a day. I know at one point, when Bonnie was having issues swallowing, she fed her a hand full at a time making sure Bonnie swallowed each one before moving on. I know she reads this so "S" - Jim and I would like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all you have done.
My Adventures with Bonnie and Rosie
Monday, February 27, 2012
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Healing Powers of Grass Soup
Thursday I put a bucket full of "grass soup". Literally. I put 1 pound of grass hay pellets in a water bucket and filled the bucket with warm water. I set it in her stall next to her dinner of pellets and grass hay pellets soaked to a mush.
I assume she drank it because her stall was not wet, except for the urine spot, like it would be if she dumped an entire bucket over.
Yesterday afternoon for her "lunch" when everyone else was getting hay, I put another bucket of grass soup in her stall. I watched as she slurped it all gone. I gave her a flake of hay and her daily dose of Banamine (she get's one more) and she happily munched hay with little difficulty.
Her urine spot wasn't as large as normal, but her manure is looking better, and there was the normal amount of piles.
This morning she'd eaten all her hay over night and drank about 1/2 inch or so of water from her stall bucket, and this morning is finally eating hay in turn out.
She still has some slight swelling around the nerve, and she's pretty "head shy" on that side.
I'm hoping, I'm praying we are well on our way out of this mess.
I assume she drank it because her stall was not wet, except for the urine spot, like it would be if she dumped an entire bucket over.
Yesterday afternoon for her "lunch" when everyone else was getting hay, I put another bucket of grass soup in her stall. I watched as she slurped it all gone. I gave her a flake of hay and her daily dose of Banamine (she get's one more) and she happily munched hay with little difficulty.
Her urine spot wasn't as large as normal, but her manure is looking better, and there was the normal amount of piles.
This morning she'd eaten all her hay over night and drank about 1/2 inch or so of water from her stall bucket, and this morning is finally eating hay in turn out.
She still has some slight swelling around the nerve, and she's pretty "head shy" on that side.
I'm hoping, I'm praying we are well on our way out of this mess.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
The Day That Was Not Worse Than Yesterday
Today Miss Bonnie is sassy and vibrant, not wanting to lead politely, spooky and snorting coming in from pasture.
Also showing early signs of mild dehydration. Her urine spot in her stall was a bit smaller, but still significant. Her manure while same amounts is dryer in consistency. She is VERY sunken in the flanks.
She did eat the entire flake of hay, there were quid balls but I'd say 98% of the flake from last night was eaten.
Now if only she'd drink. I started electrolytes yesterday evening. She drank a very small amount from her buckets over night. No idea of she drank in the field.
I'm open to ANY idea's to get her drinking. Already tried the gatoraid straight in a bucket - she showed no interest.
I'm also not entirely sure the swelling in her chest is a from a kick. It wasn't localized to one area - her entire midline from throat latch to chest was swollen. I also had started exactly 4 feedings before the quiding started was topping her pellets with Tribute's Essential K. It's a feed dressing of minerals and protein. I stopped the EK with this past Monday's evening feed and Tuesday the swelling in her neck had gone down and is completely gone today.
If anyone had kicked her it would have been Rosie. They are turned out together and no one else is with them.
Thanks to everyone for your well wishes, thoughts, prayers and advice, it is greatly appreciated!
Also showing early signs of mild dehydration. Her urine spot in her stall was a bit smaller, but still significant. Her manure while same amounts is dryer in consistency. She is VERY sunken in the flanks.
She did eat the entire flake of hay, there were quid balls but I'd say 98% of the flake from last night was eaten.
Now if only she'd drink. I started electrolytes yesterday evening. She drank a very small amount from her buckets over night. No idea of she drank in the field.
I'm open to ANY idea's to get her drinking. Already tried the gatoraid straight in a bucket - she showed no interest.
I'm also not entirely sure the swelling in her chest is a from a kick. It wasn't localized to one area - her entire midline from throat latch to chest was swollen. I also had started exactly 4 feedings before the quiding started was topping her pellets with Tribute's Essential K. It's a feed dressing of minerals and protein. I stopped the EK with this past Monday's evening feed and Tuesday the swelling in her neck had gone down and is completely gone today.
If anyone had kicked her it would have been Rosie. They are turned out together and no one else is with them.
Thanks to everyone for your well wishes, thoughts, prayers and advice, it is greatly appreciated!
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Answers
PBO "S" sent me an update on Bonnie after morning feeding. Bonnie was still not swallowing normally, but was swallowing better than last night. This was at least a "nothing worse".
Vet gets there and I show her pictures of last nights swelling. She grabs a flashlight, gloves and stethoscope. She prefers to exam the horse in their stall so long as they are quiet, so we walked into Bonnie's stall and put her halter and lead rope on her.
First check is teeth and interior of mouth. After realizing that Bonnie wasn't going to be stupid she had me toss the lead rope of Bonnie's withers and hold the flash light and looked all the way to the back of her throat. She felt all her teeth etc. Her only comments is that there were no waves to surfaces of her teeth. She explained that waves are important on the surface to move hay from front to back.
Other than that, nothing wrong with her teeth or mouth.
She moved on to the swelling on her nose. It is very swollen on the right side, the left I believe is just "spread" from the right side.
She pushed lightly on the spot itself and Bonnie did a bit of head tossing. She's not a head tossing type of horse so it obviously bothered her. She pushed in certain spot in the bump and Bonnie reacted very violently from pain. She then pushed on the same spot on the opposite side and there was no reaction from Bonnie.
M. in the diagram below is the root of her pain...
 |
| Source |
M is the Infra-Orbital Nerve.
This nerve controls sensation not motor function. It is also the culprit in neurotic head shakers.
Vet believes that she bumped her face or, more likely, was on the receiving end of at least one hoof, probably a pair of hooves. The other probably hit her in the neck causing the swelling there yesterday. Just took a few days for it to come out.
Treatment is a couple of days of Banamine.
She ate her mash much better tonight. No strange swallow thing going on at all.
At this point I will completely relax once she starts drinking water normally. She's not dehydrated by capillary refill rate on the gums, but her flanks are sunk in.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Bonnie - New Symptoms
This is Bonnie tonight...
Left side of face - little swelling
Right side of face - a lot of swelling. Follow the line of white and you can really see it.
She is now having difficulty swallowing, makes like a gag choking face even when sucking water up into her mouth. She is NOT choked.
She has not drank any water from her buckets in days- all her fluid is coming from her soaked feed, which is really soaked to a mush and getting four times a day.
She has urinated at least twice today, normal amount both times. It is dark though.
She has left her normal amount of manure in her stall, and it is not dry. If anything it's soft enough to just be formed.
Her temp was 99.2 - normal
Her attitude is normal - perky self. Nickering, fishing in pockets for treats, curious, demanding food.
Gave her 1 gram of bute paste and took away everything she could possible try to consume. I did leave her water buckets.
YES I've called a vet. I called 4 different vets until I found one who could come see her tomorrow. I then called that vet back this evening after noticing this swelling. After explaining what I saw, and what we did, she said I did all the things she would suggest. She also said that if she changes for the worse to call her and page as an emergency and she'd juggle her to the top of her rounds tomorrow.
S will be looking in on her tonight before she goes to bed. I can't enough good about my PBO "S". In my opinion she's gone above and beyond helping me make sure my little mare is ok. Constant communication, giving her personal "If this was my horse..." opinions. I truly appreciate this.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Update and a Need For Bubble Wrap
Update on Bonnie- Dentist was incredibly thorough with his exam today. Before sedation he moved Bonnie's top and lower jaws together to ensure there was good grinding on both sides and note any reaction at all. She lifted her head and backed up but had good grinding.
He watched her try to eat hay. At first she wasn't real interested but started biting at the flake like a dog bites \ gulps at meat. Once she got a mouth full she gave a half hearted effort at chewing then spit it out.
She has slight swelling on the right side of her nose about three fingers up from the nostrils, just below the nostril bone. It's tender but she didn't object violently when we palpitated it.
After that he sedated her per my request. It's not needed to do normal floats with her but with this I wanted no reason for him to look at everything.
He put the speculum in, opened her mouth and took a good long look. Then he checked every tooth from the back forwards. There was one spot he filed on the inside of her left upper teeth. He checked inside each cheek, top of her mouth all the way back to her throat. No ulcers, cuts or abnormalities.
In short he couldn't find anything wrong, so he called his vet and explained what he observed, gave age and normal behavior background. His vet said that if she's running a temperature, which she hasn't yet - I'm checking daily, then most likely she smacked her nose on something hard enough to cause chewing to be sore. To give 1 gram of bute next couple of days. If she starts to run a temperature to do a course of penicillin.
Sedated she ate an entire flake of hay without issues, this tells me it is most definitely pain in or around the jaw related.
I put another flake in a hay net (she doesn't have shoes or halter on) and hung it in her stall. I bought Orchard Grass pellets and will use those instead of alfalfa cubes. We are soaking her grain to make it easier for her and giving the bute. If by Tuesday evening there is no change I will call my vet out. I'm looking to use a different vet and develop a good relationship with her so this will be a great time do so.
Then there is Rosie.
Yesterday Boyfriends mother invited me to go watch her show at Moorehead University. It was long drive, I was introduce to the world of Intercollegiate Horse Shows - namely Hunt Seat Equitation. Very interesting process. She got a first place ribbon and a decent bag for the effort and we headed back home.
I had to go check on Bonnie so invited her to ride Rosie of which she readily agreed. She brought her own Dressage Saddle, girth, and Dressage whip.
She tacked up Rosie while I picked out Bonnie's stall so I could count manure piles and density of the wet spot.
The PBO came out to give me an update on Bonnie and decided to stick around to watch L ride Rosie. As we were walking out to the arena L comments that the silver tip of her whip is gone, it was about that time that Rosie took a three legged lame step. Lame on right hind.
Guess what she stepped on.... you got it. The dressage tip landed slot up, and Rosie stepped square on it so it didn't crumple or tip. Instead in embedded. It was stuck about half the length of the slot into her hoof where the point of the frog meets the sole.
I held her hoof up while PBO used vice grips to pry it out. It was in deep enough that it bled. We squirted a whole bunch of Betadine Scrub on it, hosed it thoroughly, packed it with Furazone, taped with vet wrap and duct tape.
This morning the puncture site is warm, not alarming, but warmer than her other hoof in the same spot so did the above all over again. Considering epson salts soak tomorrow evening if still warm.
He watched her try to eat hay. At first she wasn't real interested but started biting at the flake like a dog bites \ gulps at meat. Once she got a mouth full she gave a half hearted effort at chewing then spit it out.
She has slight swelling on the right side of her nose about three fingers up from the nostrils, just below the nostril bone. It's tender but she didn't object violently when we palpitated it.
After that he sedated her per my request. It's not needed to do normal floats with her but with this I wanted no reason for him to look at everything.
He put the speculum in, opened her mouth and took a good long look. Then he checked every tooth from the back forwards. There was one spot he filed on the inside of her left upper teeth. He checked inside each cheek, top of her mouth all the way back to her throat. No ulcers, cuts or abnormalities.
In short he couldn't find anything wrong, so he called his vet and explained what he observed, gave age and normal behavior background. His vet said that if she's running a temperature, which she hasn't yet - I'm checking daily, then most likely she smacked her nose on something hard enough to cause chewing to be sore. To give 1 gram of bute next couple of days. If she starts to run a temperature to do a course of penicillin.
Sedated she ate an entire flake of hay without issues, this tells me it is most definitely pain in or around the jaw related.
I put another flake in a hay net (she doesn't have shoes or halter on) and hung it in her stall. I bought Orchard Grass pellets and will use those instead of alfalfa cubes. We are soaking her grain to make it easier for her and giving the bute. If by Tuesday evening there is no change I will call my vet out. I'm looking to use a different vet and develop a good relationship with her so this will be a great time do so.
Then there is Rosie.
Yesterday Boyfriends mother invited me to go watch her show at Moorehead University. It was long drive, I was introduce to the world of Intercollegiate Horse Shows - namely Hunt Seat Equitation. Very interesting process. She got a first place ribbon and a decent bag for the effort and we headed back home.
I had to go check on Bonnie so invited her to ride Rosie of which she readily agreed. She brought her own Dressage Saddle, girth, and Dressage whip.
She tacked up Rosie while I picked out Bonnie's stall so I could count manure piles and density of the wet spot.
The PBO came out to give me an update on Bonnie and decided to stick around to watch L ride Rosie. As we were walking out to the arena L comments that the silver tip of her whip is gone, it was about that time that Rosie took a three legged lame step. Lame on right hind.
Guess what she stepped on.... you got it. The dressage tip landed slot up, and Rosie stepped square on it so it didn't crumple or tip. Instead in embedded. It was stuck about half the length of the slot into her hoof where the point of the frog meets the sole.
I held her hoof up while PBO used vice grips to pry it out. It was in deep enough that it bled. We squirted a whole bunch of Betadine Scrub on it, hosed it thoroughly, packed it with Furazone, taped with vet wrap and duct tape.
This morning the puncture site is warm, not alarming, but warmer than her other hoof in the same spot so did the above all over again. Considering epson salts soak tomorrow evening if still warm.
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Bonnie and Quidding
Quidding is a habit which some horses form due to mouth pain or other health problems. When a horse quids, it stores a bolus of food in the side of its mouth, or it drops food after a few bites. Sometimes horses will form balls of material while quidding and then spit them out.
The last two days I've found those gross balls off chewed and saliva soaked hay in Bonnie's stall. Not just one or two, but many. She's rooting her hay all over her stall, and she also hasn't finished her three flakes of hay in her stall from WEDNESDAY morning! She IS eating her pellets (soaked).
First thing one thinks of is teeth. Her teeth were floated on February 4. He took his time, showed me the points, let me feel after wards. I felt nothing and looked good to me, but I'm no expert.
Dentist was first call I made yesterday morning. He has a couple of idea's to check, said he would also discuss with his mentor (I LOVE he still has relationship with his mentor) and will see her first thing Sunday morning.
Second call I made was vet. Vet said I was doing the right things and if she's still quidding after the dentist, or if he couldn't find anything, she could fit her in early to mid week.
Until then I doubled her complete pellet, added another pound of Essential K, and alfalfa cubes for last night and this morning. She's not a horse that does well with alfalfa so last night I picked up Orchard Grass pellets and will switch her to that.
I also, being the neurotic horse mom that I am, took scissors and "chopped up" about 1 flake of hay and put into a feed bucket in her stall. If anything we can monitor how much of it she's consuming.
I've never experienced a horse that wouldn't or couldn't eat hay before so I'm pretty worried, and will admit I kind of panicked calling every horsey friend I have looking for advice. Not to mention she's only 18, a bit too young to be quidding due to age.
Any advice here will be appreciated as well, even if it's worse case, it gives me things to throw at my vet and dentist.
The last two days I've found those gross balls off chewed and saliva soaked hay in Bonnie's stall. Not just one or two, but many. She's rooting her hay all over her stall, and she also hasn't finished her three flakes of hay in her stall from WEDNESDAY morning! She IS eating her pellets (soaked).
First thing one thinks of is teeth. Her teeth were floated on February 4. He took his time, showed me the points, let me feel after wards. I felt nothing and looked good to me, but I'm no expert.
Dentist was first call I made yesterday morning. He has a couple of idea's to check, said he would also discuss with his mentor (I LOVE he still has relationship with his mentor) and will see her first thing Sunday morning.
Second call I made was vet. Vet said I was doing the right things and if she's still quidding after the dentist, or if he couldn't find anything, she could fit her in early to mid week.
Until then I doubled her complete pellet, added another pound of Essential K, and alfalfa cubes for last night and this morning. She's not a horse that does well with alfalfa so last night I picked up Orchard Grass pellets and will switch her to that.
I also, being the neurotic horse mom that I am, took scissors and "chopped up" about 1 flake of hay and put into a feed bucket in her stall. If anything we can monitor how much of it she's consuming.
I've never experienced a horse that wouldn't or couldn't eat hay before so I'm pretty worried, and will admit I kind of panicked calling every horsey friend I have looking for advice. Not to mention she's only 18, a bit too young to be quidding due to age.
Any advice here will be appreciated as well, even if it's worse case, it gives me things to throw at my vet and dentist.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Status Quo, New Sales Item, and Planned Rides
With our weather we are kind of in a holding pattern with riding. It's consistently too wet for us to ride consistently.
My PBO and I measured out a small dressage arena yesterday, then we both hopped.. well ok - she hopped, I crawled, onto our ponies bareback and just had fun. Loosy goosy meandering around the arena kinda fun.
Strange thing though, and I've noticed it before. Rosie doesn't like me sitting on her back without a saddle. Her ears are almost always pinned. She's ok walking around, but ask to trot and I get attitude head tossing and sudden stops. I'm not certain if she's ever been consistently ridden bareback before, or could this be something different? I'm looking into getting a basic bareback pad so maybe that will help.
I added a Harmohan Kraft Hunt Bridle to my "Virtual Barn Sale" tab. It's in excellent condition and does include the snaffle bit. This bridle would fit from cob to average horse size. I didn't measure the bit - but I believe it to be a 5 to 5.5 in size. I can measure if anyone would like.
Now for the fun part. It's February and I am ready to RIDE! I'm investigating lots of new and challenging things for Rosie and I. The most awesome part is my PBO said "I'm game for anything!" when asked if she'd like to do some of these things...
Fox Hunt
Hunter Pace
Gymkhana
Ride for A Cure (new button on my side bar)
ACTHA
Definitely doing the Ride for a Cure so will be buying all sorts of pink stuff for Rosie and I!
What do you guys have planned for fun rides this riding season?
My PBO and I measured out a small dressage arena yesterday, then we both hopped.. well ok - she hopped, I crawled, onto our ponies bareback and just had fun. Loosy goosy meandering around the arena kinda fun.
Strange thing though, and I've noticed it before. Rosie doesn't like me sitting on her back without a saddle. Her ears are almost always pinned. She's ok walking around, but ask to trot and I get attitude head tossing and sudden stops. I'm not certain if she's ever been consistently ridden bareback before, or could this be something different? I'm looking into getting a basic bareback pad so maybe that will help.
I added a Harmohan Kraft Hunt Bridle to my "Virtual Barn Sale" tab. It's in excellent condition and does include the snaffle bit. This bridle would fit from cob to average horse size. I didn't measure the bit - but I believe it to be a 5 to 5.5 in size. I can measure if anyone would like.
Now for the fun part. It's February and I am ready to RIDE! I'm investigating lots of new and challenging things for Rosie and I. The most awesome part is my PBO said "I'm game for anything!" when asked if she'd like to do some of these things...
Fox Hunt
Hunter Pace
Gymkhana
Ride for A Cure (new button on my side bar)
ACTHA
Definitely doing the Ride for a Cure so will be buying all sorts of pink stuff for Rosie and I!
What do you guys have planned for fun rides this riding season?
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Prayers for Olivia
Ashley over at The Process of Learning's mare Ella foaled yesterday to a beautiful filly, perfect in every way.
EXCEPT... She's premature, foaled on the 313th day of gestation. 320 days is the "safe" area.
Please go read and pray that this beautiful little filly pulls through and is normal.
EXCEPT... She's premature, foaled on the 313th day of gestation. 320 days is the "safe" area.
Please go read and pray that this beautiful little filly pulls through and is normal.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Friday, February 10, 2012
Confessions of a Horse Owner - Fear
Hi, my name is Jeni and I'm afraid to canter my horse.
STILL
Clearly, I do canter Rosie. I can tell you there is nothing enjoyable for either of us. I'm a tense, frustrated, angry canter rider. I'm always waiting for that moment when she drops out from under me.
Just sitting here thinking about it my breathing shallows a little, my heart rate goes up, all the classic signs of anxiety.
I can canter any other horse without these feelings. I can sit and relax and enjoy canter on Bitsy, a strange horse to me. I canter, even gallop Bonnie and she's bucked me off numerous times without feeling the vice grip of fear.
It's just Rosie... It's embarrassing. It's frustrating, and makes me angry with myself. I've never been afraid to do something on a horse, ever, until now.
Now I've said it, I've written it. It's down for the whole world to see. So what's next, how do I solve this? I've been "pushing through the fear" for months now. It's not getting better. If anything it's worse.
The logical thinker that I am says "Break the problem down into it's elements"
Rosie is learning canter under saddle. This means the transition isn't crisp and smooth. It's during those few seconds between asking and her thinking 'yes' or 'no' that I first tense. Tense I can't demand the transition so she gets off balance and on the forehand. This means that if she does pick it up she's off balance and often on the wrong lead.
Once in canter, I have weight in my stirrups, my core is tight as a rock, and my seat is concrete. Rosie halts off seat immediately. I'm demanding with my legs and whip (showing it to her), but my entire body is screaming at her "Stop now!". So now I've just confused my poor mare, and the more I persist the grumpier she gets. She never does anything naughty or mean. Just pinned ears and a little attitude shown in tail wringing.
Can't say I'd be that patient with my rider... I love this horse!
So problem is - I need to be precise in asking for transition, and I need to relax. Easy right?!? So how do I get to that point?
First off, Rosie will be getting once a week training ride with Jodie. Focusing on canter. End of training ride I will get a schooling on what to work on the next week.
Second - I'm going to do a lot of bareback riding. Just hacking around - having fun. Loose rein kind of stuff. Learn my balance again and gain more leg and core strength so I can handle the down transition from canter.
Third - Canter as much as possible but make it targeted like canter down center line from A through X - working trot at G track right or left depending on which ever lead we were on. The idea is to give myself something to focus on so it's not "Oh crap I have to get her into canter, keep her in canter for x amount of times around the 20 meter circle". Smaller chunks should naturally lead to larger chunks. Also the transitions in and out should help make them more crisp and natural.
Now I just have to get brave enough to execute my plan...
STILL
Clearly, I do canter Rosie. I can tell you there is nothing enjoyable for either of us. I'm a tense, frustrated, angry canter rider. I'm always waiting for that moment when she drops out from under me.
Just sitting here thinking about it my breathing shallows a little, my heart rate goes up, all the classic signs of anxiety.
I can canter any other horse without these feelings. I can sit and relax and enjoy canter on Bitsy, a strange horse to me. I canter, even gallop Bonnie and she's bucked me off numerous times without feeling the vice grip of fear.
It's just Rosie... It's embarrassing. It's frustrating, and makes me angry with myself. I've never been afraid to do something on a horse, ever, until now.
Now I've said it, I've written it. It's down for the whole world to see. So what's next, how do I solve this? I've been "pushing through the fear" for months now. It's not getting better. If anything it's worse.
The logical thinker that I am says "Break the problem down into it's elements"
Rosie is learning canter under saddle. This means the transition isn't crisp and smooth. It's during those few seconds between asking and her thinking 'yes' or 'no' that I first tense. Tense I can't demand the transition so she gets off balance and on the forehand. This means that if she does pick it up she's off balance and often on the wrong lead.
Once in canter, I have weight in my stirrups, my core is tight as a rock, and my seat is concrete. Rosie halts off seat immediately. I'm demanding with my legs and whip (showing it to her), but my entire body is screaming at her "Stop now!". So now I've just confused my poor mare, and the more I persist the grumpier she gets. She never does anything naughty or mean. Just pinned ears and a little attitude shown in tail wringing.
Can't say I'd be that patient with my rider... I love this horse!
So problem is - I need to be precise in asking for transition, and I need to relax. Easy right?!? So how do I get to that point?
First off, Rosie will be getting once a week training ride with Jodie. Focusing on canter. End of training ride I will get a schooling on what to work on the next week.
Second - I'm going to do a lot of bareback riding. Just hacking around - having fun. Loose rein kind of stuff. Learn my balance again and gain more leg and core strength so I can handle the down transition from canter.
Third - Canter as much as possible but make it targeted like canter down center line from A through X - working trot at G track right or left depending on which ever lead we were on. The idea is to give myself something to focus on so it's not "Oh crap I have to get her into canter, keep her in canter for x amount of times around the 20 meter circle". Smaller chunks should naturally lead to larger chunks. Also the transitions in and out should help make them more crisp and natural.
Now I just have to get brave enough to execute my plan...
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
New Pages and A Successful Trail Ride
You may, or may not have, noticed that I removed the field study tab, and added Sales Items, and Training Video tabs.
If you were to walk up to my horse trailer two days ago and open the door the very first thing(s) you would see is an Aussie Saddle, a brand spanking new western saddle I just bought within the last year, a Billy Cook western saddle, various saddle pads, a tack box, and some things I've just thrown in there to get out of the way. I've become a "Tack Horder". It's time to let go, which really means I want something but have to earn some cash to buy it, so the virtual garage sale begins.
I will be adding stuff to this as time goes on I'm sure. When sales are "pending" I'll note that and when sales are final I will be deleting the item off the page. All prices are negotiable unless noted and I prefer PayPal but may consider other payment methods.
Now the Trail Ride!! Wow what a heck of a lot of fun! S and I rode two hours of the Little Miami Scenic Bike Trail. Starting in Loveland, Ohio. This is a shared paved trail that used to be an old rail road. While it's flat and kind of boring that way - there was still a lot of things to challenge our youngsters.
As I said the trail is shared. It is shared with bicyclests, joggers, joggers with baby strollers, folks walking their dogs, folks walking their children, dogs walking their folks, roller bladers. There is a dirt path along side the trail to ride on but no real escape from horse eating dangers.
Both mares were "Up" but neither was crazy or unmanageable. This was S and Whispers second time on the bike trail so they already had an initial meeting with all the above dangers. Rosie had never seen a bicycle, let alone a baby stroller or a roller skater.
Rosie gave everything she found alarming a good hard look but nothing more and moved on when asked. We walked and trotted. Had to trot quite a bit to keep up with Whispers power walk but that was ok by me. Rosie was doing this cute, comfortable, balanced and light trot that I could ride all day long.
The only real hard spook out of Rosie is when a bicyclist didn't announce he was coming up behind and around us. He even startled me when he appeared out of no where whizzed on past. Didn't realize drafts could teleport but she did, not far though, only about half a step. Settled right down and continued on.
If you were to walk up to my horse trailer two days ago and open the door the very first thing(s) you would see is an Aussie Saddle, a brand spanking new western saddle I just bought within the last year, a Billy Cook western saddle, various saddle pads, a tack box, and some things I've just thrown in there to get out of the way. I've become a "Tack Horder". It's time to let go, which really means I want something but have to earn some cash to buy it, so the virtual garage sale begins.
I will be adding stuff to this as time goes on I'm sure. When sales are "pending" I'll note that and when sales are final I will be deleting the item off the page. All prices are negotiable unless noted and I prefer PayPal but may consider other payment methods.
Now the Trail Ride!! Wow what a heck of a lot of fun! S and I rode two hours of the Little Miami Scenic Bike Trail. Starting in Loveland, Ohio. This is a shared paved trail that used to be an old rail road. While it's flat and kind of boring that way - there was still a lot of things to challenge our youngsters.
As I said the trail is shared. It is shared with bicyclests, joggers, joggers with baby strollers, folks walking their dogs, folks walking their children, dogs walking their folks, roller bladers. There is a dirt path along side the trail to ride on but no real escape from horse eating dangers.
Both mares were "Up" but neither was crazy or unmanageable. This was S and Whispers second time on the bike trail so they already had an initial meeting with all the above dangers. Rosie had never seen a bicycle, let alone a baby stroller or a roller skater.
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| S and Whisper |
Rosie gave everything she found alarming a good hard look but nothing more and moved on when asked. We walked and trotted. Had to trot quite a bit to keep up with Whispers power walk but that was ok by me. Rosie was doing this cute, comfortable, balanced and light trot that I could ride all day long.
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| Rosie and I |
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Dentist, Clinics, and Unedited Lesson Video
Today was equine dental care day. I arranged for a highly recommended Equine Dentist to come to the barn. I have to say I was very impressed him. He has this calm, quiet way about him. He was not reactive to any of the normal horse behaviors. He listened to the problems each horse was experiencing and after examining provided some possible causes of the issues.
Rosie had some sharp hooks where her bit was pressing against and was dropping a good amount of pellets while eating.
Bonnie's issue is that when eating her pellets she is lifting her nose up and out until it's past horizontal with the ground. She's also dropping 80% of her mouth full so we've been soaking her pellets until this appointment. She had a decent amount of unevenness and hooks.
I really liked that he did all work in their stalls, was firm when needed but always fair, giving them a moment to work it out. He never once got "big" or loud with them.
Equine Affair is coming up in April and I'm applying to ride in at least one of Mark Rashid's clinics. You have to be chosen by the clinician so there is no guarantee. He's hosting four different clinics: Achieving Effortless Transitions: Developing Invisible Aids During Transitions, Low Stress Round Pen Work: Easy Methods for Catching the Uncatchable Horse, Developing & Understanding the Role of Collection in Everyday Training, and Troubleshooting: Pinpointing & Solving Problem Behaviors.
I'm interested in the Transitions and Collections clinics so am applying to both.
It's suggested that you supply a video with your application so yesterday I called my "pit crew" to help. "Mother" from the blog "I Am Boyfriend" came to be my videographer. Jodi, my trainer, came and "coached" .. well ok really kicked my butt for an hour long lesson.
I'm not real happy about my ride yesterday. Both Rosie and I are out of shape. I felt like a fish flopping around in the saddle. Canter transitions sucked - keeping her in canter sucked. Riding the canter sucked...
However in an effort to be honest to my blog here is an unedited video from the lesson yesterday.
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