Leaving a barn where you've been for over 10 years is just like leaving a job, or other major life change, in terms of stress. Although I wish everyone there well, I'm happy to be done with that chapter of my horse life. I'm glad I was able to move Dawn to the new barn more than two weeks ago - I got that part of the change over with before the rest, so it wasn't as overwhelming. Today the boys - Pie and Drifter - made the trip up to Wisconsin to start their month of training. I spent the morning cleaning my stuff out of the tack room and barn, and loading the trailer with all that (and with three horses there's plenty) as well as hay for transition - they'll be staying on their balancer pellets while they're there. Then at about noon, I loaded them up and off we set. I was very pleased with how well Drifter loaded - it's been several months since we've practiced loading. It took less than a minute - he did back out once but came right back on and stood for me when I asked so I could close the partition, although he was clearly nervous. Pie loaded as he always does, which is perfectly. I have a four horse slant load, so Drifter was in the first slot, which is separated from the second slot by a stud barrier going all the way to the floor - I didn't want to take any chances of him getting into it with Pie. Pie was in the third slot. Both boys had hay nets to occupy them.
The trip was about 2 hours, mostly on the interstate - about 80 miles in total - and everything went smoothly and both boys traveled well - a much more pleasant trip than the much shorter ride with Dawn. I should have taken pictures but didn't - they were very cute on arrival as we got ready to unload with their heads sticking out the windows. They'll be outside 24/7 except in very inclement weather, and Pie's paddock adjoins that of two other geldings - he immediately went up and introduced himself and really seemed to be enjoying the interaction - he's missed socializing with other horses a lot.
Heather will be working with them over the next week or 10 days to see where they are and what they need, and then she'll update me and we'll make plans for me to come up and work with her and them on a regular basis. She'll take into account that Pie still seems to be recovering from his bout with EPM - although his balance and gaits are normal, he's got some muscle and skin soreness and may not be able to use his left hind as effectively as he should yet. We'll have his chiropractor visit to do more work on him in about two weeks.
After I got home, I made a quick trip over to visit Dawn and give her a grooming. It's hard to believe, but we actually managed 11 rides in February - it's amazing what an indoor will do for your ability to ride in the winter! Dawn's weight isn't picking up as quickly as I'd like, so I'm going to be starting her on some supplemental feed - probably beet pulp, rice bran or Ultimate Finish. Her weight is between a 3 and 4 on the scale - all of her ribs are visible and she doesn't have much subcutaneous fat. I'm making sure she's blanketed well for turnout to make up for the lack of body fat. She has access to good-quality grass hay outside - although I think she's too active and busy to eat much - and also gets plentiful hay in the afternoon and evening in her stall. She's already getting supplemental flaxseed, so I'll increase that as well. I know she'll plump right up in June when the horses go out to pasture, but she needs more weight now, particularly since she's getting worked most days now.
I'm tired, but very happy - things are in motion and all three horses will be getting what they need right now, which wasn't possible before. I'm glad to have the boys' move over with, as I hate driving the trailer - I've driven thousands of miles, including two round trips to Colorado (about 20 hours of driving each way), but I'll never enjoy driving a large horse trailer. Fortunately, all went very well on this trip. I see a lot of good horse time in my future, and true spring will be here before we know it . . .
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Chiropractor Visit - One Good, One Naughty
Both boys had a visit from the chiropractor today, and both boys got blood drawn for their final EPM titers for the clinical trial. Pie had numerous areas where he was very, very sore - particularly his neck and shoulders, and some spots on his back. She worked on him for a long time, and although he warned her when she was about to touch an area that was sore by pinning his ears or pawing, he was very good about it and by the end he felt so much better. I've never seen a horse yawn so much - he was very demonstrative about how good the chiro work felt. We've discontinued using his haynets, since the sideways twisting motion he has to use to get the hay out wasn't helping his neck - he'll be eating his hay off the ground. I'm hoping that his digestive difficulties are far enough in the past that he'll be OK with that. His extreme soreness goes a long way towards explaining his very grouchy behavior lately - poor boy was hurting.
Drifter, on the other hand, was not on his best behavior. He'd been kept waiting a long time in his stall, and then he was alone in the barn while the work was being done (and Pie was outside next to the mares), and he really wasn't feeling too bad to begin with so he wasn't convinced the whole thing was necessary. His timer had gone off and his patience wasn't there. When he's outside his comfort zone or loses patience, he still tends to revert to the "bully" behavior that's worked for him in the past. To keep him from running over/through me - completely unacceptable behavior and the rope halter wasn't making the slightest impression on him - I put a chain, wrapped around the halter noseband, on the regular halter. I didn't hang on him, just made it clear when he tried that running over me wasn't an option. He was able to stand on a loose lead at that point and got a treat for (finally) good behavior. When I turned him out in his paddock, he made quite a display - "look how powerful I am!" - bolting and running, bucking, prancing with his tail flagged - he had to put on a show for us. He's really a beautiful, athletic horse - now if we can just get that energy and enthusiasm working for us . . .
Drifter, on the other hand, was not on his best behavior. He'd been kept waiting a long time in his stall, and then he was alone in the barn while the work was being done (and Pie was outside next to the mares), and he really wasn't feeling too bad to begin with so he wasn't convinced the whole thing was necessary. His timer had gone off and his patience wasn't there. When he's outside his comfort zone or loses patience, he still tends to revert to the "bully" behavior that's worked for him in the past. To keep him from running over/through me - completely unacceptable behavior and the rope halter wasn't making the slightest impression on him - I put a chain, wrapped around the halter noseband, on the regular halter. I didn't hang on him, just made it clear when he tried that running over me wasn't an option. He was able to stand on a loose lead at that point and got a treat for (finally) good behavior. When I turned him out in his paddock, he made quite a display - "look how powerful I am!" - bolting and running, bucking, prancing with his tail flagged - he had to put on a show for us. He's really a beautiful, athletic horse - now if we can just get that energy and enthusiasm working for us . . .
Monday, February 27, 2012
Nine Rides and Counting, and Plans for the Move
Dawn and I have now had nine wonderful rides at the new barn. Things aren't always perfect - sometimes the indoor is crowded - it isn't all that big - but Dawn has been dealing well with whatever happens. I've met a number of boarders - still having trouble with names - and everyone has been very nice. It's wonderful to be riding again on a regular basis, and Dawn has been a peach - today there was ice and snow creaking on the barn roof - she would look up from time to time - and a number of horses in the ring and open doors with wind blowing in, but we got some very nice trot work done. Dawn is in many ways my most difficult/challenging/sensitive horse to ride, and working with her successfully is always a big confidence booster. Before I rode, we did some lunge work in both directions and she did very well with her walk and trot and canter with verbal cues - we did lots of transitions - although there was a bit of hopping at the canter, she settled well and did some nice canter work in both directions - I think her left stifle is still slightly sore.
I had a nice phone conversation with Heather at Black Star about Pie and Drifter's move on Thursday. They'll stay on their regular vitamin/mineral balancer pellets and supplements, and I'll be bringing up some of their hay to help them transition. She says they're likely to lose some weight - they're both fairly plump right now - with the work they'll be doing, and if need be, we can add some additional calories. She's planning to spend a week to 10 days getting them back to work and getting to know them, and then we'll see how many days a week I go up there to work together with them and her. I'm pretty excited about the whole thing - I think we'll have a clear path to follow, now. Tomorrow our vet/chiropractor will be coming to do some work on both Pie and Drifter before their trip. Pie is very stiff and sore, partly due to his unfortunately encounters with gates. I think that will set them both up for the work they're going to be doing in March.
Spring is coming . . .
I had a nice phone conversation with Heather at Black Star about Pie and Drifter's move on Thursday. They'll stay on their regular vitamin/mineral balancer pellets and supplements, and I'll be bringing up some of their hay to help them transition. She says they're likely to lose some weight - they're both fairly plump right now - with the work they'll be doing, and if need be, we can add some additional calories. She's planning to spend a week to 10 days getting them back to work and getting to know them, and then we'll see how many days a week I go up there to work together with them and her. I'm pretty excited about the whole thing - I think we'll have a clear path to follow, now. Tomorrow our vet/chiropractor will be coming to do some work on both Pie and Drifter before their trip. Pie is very stiff and sore, partly due to his unfortunately encounters with gates. I think that will set them both up for the work they're going to be doing in March.
Spring is coming . . .
Friday, February 24, 2012
Big Snow and Pie Gets in Trouble
We had a substantial snow last night - one of the few snows we've had this winter - I think we got 7 or 8 inches, and it was the heavy wet stuff. But very pretty - it was clinging to the bushes and trees and when it was coming down it was falling in enormous fluffy clumps.
For some reason, Pie has become very nervous and even herd-bound lately. If there's a sign the other horses are going in, or a horse leaves the pasture, he gets frantic and starts running. This really isn't (wasn't) like him at all - he worries a lot now. Part of this is that he has no turnout buddies and no really good place to get turned out other than his paddock - it's decent sized, about 50x100 feet, but not the same as a real turnout with buddies to play with. Sometime this morning while he was in his paddock, something either scared or upset him and he began to run - his paddock was all torn up. At some point he ran into his gate, lifting it off the hinges (most of the gates at this barn are hung wrong with both prongs pointing up, which allows gates to come off the hinges too easily, and the type of gate is perfect for trapping equine legs and feet - just plain unsafe). When I stopped by the barn in the late morning, the gate was sideways, hanging from the latch, and Pie was staying well away from it. He clearly had gotten his left front leg through the gate bars and in fighting to get free had gotten several cuts on his leg, including about a 4-inch one on the outside of his lower leg. Thankfully, he's sound and no critical structures seem to be damaged, although I expect he's sore and there's a bit of swelling. Poor, poor fellow - he must have been very scared, and he was plenty afraid of the gate area when I led him down to the barn, blowing and snorting as he passed through.
I put him in his stall for a bit to calm down - he was all sweated up under his blanket so I took that off. Later I moved him to a lower paddock opposite Drifter so at least he'll be as close as possible to the other horses.
I'm counting the days until Drifter and Pie are out of here and off to Wisconsin . . .
For some reason, Pie has become very nervous and even herd-bound lately. If there's a sign the other horses are going in, or a horse leaves the pasture, he gets frantic and starts running. This really isn't (wasn't) like him at all - he worries a lot now. Part of this is that he has no turnout buddies and no really good place to get turned out other than his paddock - it's decent sized, about 50x100 feet, but not the same as a real turnout with buddies to play with. Sometime this morning while he was in his paddock, something either scared or upset him and he began to run - his paddock was all torn up. At some point he ran into his gate, lifting it off the hinges (most of the gates at this barn are hung wrong with both prongs pointing up, which allows gates to come off the hinges too easily, and the type of gate is perfect for trapping equine legs and feet - just plain unsafe). When I stopped by the barn in the late morning, the gate was sideways, hanging from the latch, and Pie was staying well away from it. He clearly had gotten his left front leg through the gate bars and in fighting to get free had gotten several cuts on his leg, including about a 4-inch one on the outside of his lower leg. Thankfully, he's sound and no critical structures seem to be damaged, although I expect he's sore and there's a bit of swelling. Poor, poor fellow - he must have been very scared, and he was plenty afraid of the gate area when I led him down to the barn, blowing and snorting as he passed through.
I put him in his stall for a bit to calm down - he was all sweated up under his blanket so I took that off. Later I moved him to a lower paddock opposite Drifter so at least he'll be as close as possible to the other horses.
I'm counting the days until Drifter and Pie are out of here and off to Wisconsin . . .
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Dawn is Even Better, and March is Almost Here
After five days of riding, I gave Dawn a day off yesterday and just groomed her. She had a long cut on her hip - looks like a bite - although she was wearing her heavy Rambo turnout blanket. And sure enough, when I inspected the blanket, it was torn at that spot - that must have been some bite as those blankets are tough. So it's another blanket off for mending . . . Fortunately, I have another heavy blanket she can wear on cold days. She's also still looking very thin. If her weight doesn't start to improve by next week, I'll be adding some supplemental high fat feed.
Today we had a very nice ride. We did a bit of lungeing first - I use this to check her energy level and(begin to get her attention, although I suspect we won't have to be doing lungeing first for much longer. This was Dawn's sixth ride since being brought back into work (at the new barn) after a several months layoff. Her lungeing work was very good - to the left her trot was relaxed and she was doing some stretching down, and we even did some very nice canter work on the lunge, and her transitions were good. To the right, she's a bit stiff - it looks like the left hind needs to warm up more than the right - and she tends to want to carry her head to the outside. I moved the line to attach it to the side of the noseband, instead of below the chin (she was in the fuzzy nose halter) to help her keep her head slightly bent to the inside.
Our mounted work was really good - there was some real relaxation at the walk, and her trot work is improving. There were some glimpses of relaxation, mixed in with lots of circles and serpentines and a few straight lines when she relaxed. There was a young girl lessoning on a very forward pony, and at one point the pony was really careening around - almost out of control - but the girl managed to get him back and Dawn coped really well with it. I was delighted with how well she's doing.
Pie and Drifter are scheduled to make the trip up to Wisconsin for their month of training next Thursday, weather permitting. I'm pretty excited about that, too. Heather is all ready for them, and they (and pretty soon I) will be going to boot camp - improvements are likely all around . . .
Today we had a very nice ride. We did a bit of lungeing first - I use this to check her energy level and(begin to get her attention, although I suspect we won't have to be doing lungeing first for much longer. This was Dawn's sixth ride since being brought back into work (at the new barn) after a several months layoff. Her lungeing work was very good - to the left her trot was relaxed and she was doing some stretching down, and we even did some very nice canter work on the lunge, and her transitions were good. To the right, she's a bit stiff - it looks like the left hind needs to warm up more than the right - and she tends to want to carry her head to the outside. I moved the line to attach it to the side of the noseband, instead of below the chin (she was in the fuzzy nose halter) to help her keep her head slightly bent to the inside.
Our mounted work was really good - there was some real relaxation at the walk, and her trot work is improving. There were some glimpses of relaxation, mixed in with lots of circles and serpentines and a few straight lines when she relaxed. There was a young girl lessoning on a very forward pony, and at one point the pony was really careening around - almost out of control - but the girl managed to get him back and Dawn coped really well with it. I was delighted with how well she's doing.
Pie and Drifter are scheduled to make the trip up to Wisconsin for their month of training next Thursday, weather permitting. I'm pretty excited about that, too. Heather is all ready for them, and they (and pretty soon I) will be going to boot camp - improvements are likely all around . . .
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
In Which Pie is Visited by a Space Alien . . .
I had a strange encounter with Pie today. When I went to move him from one paddock to another - this is a usual noontime event, he started snorting and blowing as I put his halter on. As I led him out of the paddock, he gave a little grunt - this for him is a sign of excitement. I led him up to the far end of the new paddock to hang his hay bag, and as I turned him back around towards the gate, he started snorting and blowing again, and backing away from me, and then he launched himself into the air and bucked, twice, still snorting. It was pretty clear he was spooked by something about me. When I would approach, he would snort and arch his neck and back away. Now this was very odd - I wasn't wearing my barn coat, but was wearing a coat he's seen many times before, and there was nothing odd about any of my clothing that I could see. The only thing at all different was a pale brown scarf that I'm not sure he's seen before. When I held it out to him, he arched his neck at it and snorted some more. I was able to reassure him somewhat that it was in fact me and not a creature from outer space holding his lead.
Now, to be fair, it was quite chilly and very windy and the mares were acting up - Sugar was running and bucking and striking at the fence - she may be coming into heat. When I left the paddock, Pie did a run and buck. Poor fellow has no herd right now and nowhere to run as all the big pastures are too muddy - he's been stuck in paddocks that aren't tiny but he can't really get a good run in.
After all the shenanigans by the mares and Pie, Drifter was pretty excited when I went to get him. But he managed to be a very good boy on the lead - he stayed behind me on a loose lead and there were no aerial maneuvers. I was proud of him - it was clear he was also full of energy as he got up from a nice roll with a short gallop and buck.
I'm still not sure what was up with Pie - he wasn't his usual crabby self but just spooked by me as if I were someone pretty darn scary. I was glad I was able to reassure him - silly boy!
Now, to be fair, it was quite chilly and very windy and the mares were acting up - Sugar was running and bucking and striking at the fence - she may be coming into heat. When I left the paddock, Pie did a run and buck. Poor fellow has no herd right now and nowhere to run as all the big pastures are too muddy - he's been stuck in paddocks that aren't tiny but he can't really get a good run in.
After all the shenanigans by the mares and Pie, Drifter was pretty excited when I went to get him. But he managed to be a very good boy on the lead - he stayed behind me on a loose lead and there were no aerial maneuvers. I was proud of him - it was clear he was also full of energy as he got up from a nice roll with a short gallop and buck.
I'm still not sure what was up with Pie - he wasn't his usual crabby self but just spooked by me as if I were someone pretty darn scary. I was glad I was able to reassure him - silly boy!
Getting Rid of New Word Verification Nonsense
Funder just did a post with links to simple descriptions of how to get rid of the new double, distorted word verification that may be plaguing people who are trying to leave comments on your blog - you may not even know this is happening since it won't affect you when you comment on your own blog.
If you're using the new Blogger interface, it doesn't allow you to change this - but follow the directions in the posts to go back to the old interface, which will allow you to check whether or not you have word verification turned on and then turn it off if you so wish. Then back to the new interface, and you're done - it took me only a few seconds.
Once you don't have word verification anymore, you may wish to enable comment moderation - this can be done with the new interface - to prevent various types of spam. Thanks, Funder!
If you're using the new Blogger interface, it doesn't allow you to change this - but follow the directions in the posts to go back to the old interface, which will allow you to check whether or not you have word verification turned on and then turn it off if you so wish. Then back to the new interface, and you're done - it took me only a few seconds.
Once you don't have word verification anymore, you may wish to enable comment moderation - this can be done with the new interface - to prevent various types of spam. Thanks, Funder!
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