Diagnosis

"Are you going to find out why my leg hurts?"

"Can you interpret that for me?"

"I'm afraid you're not going to like what it says, Lance. You're going to be stuck in your stall for awhile; you've torn your high suspensory AND inferior check ligaments – and in an odd location, too. Rick says it looks acute rather than chronic and thinks we caught it early, so hopefully it will respond well to treatment. But dude, how DO you keep hurting your ligaments? This is the third injury in two years! Rick says we need to take a look at your neck and back to see if you've got something going on there that's setting you up for these injuries."

I'm rather numb. This latest set-back raises big questions about Lance's long-term soundness prospects, at least as a dressage horse. But I like the big red goober so much. Keeping him as a trail horse is fine with me, but what do I ride while I wait? At my age, it is not good to take much time off from any active pursuit; the road back is harder and more risky.

In a very interesting twist of timing, on Sunday I got an email out of the blue. It was Larry's breeder (if you don't know who Larry is, you can click on the label at right), wondering if I'd be interested in another training prospect to show and sell for her. This one is a green three-year-old half-Holsteiner mare.

Yes, I'm intrigued. No, we really don't have room. Stay tuned.

Sleuthing

I got back from Texas Monday in time to help with evening chores. I said Lance's name and his beautiful head shot up and he came right to his stall door. Yep, I like him every bit as much as I remembered. :-)

Yesterday I turned him out in the arena for a couple hours to roll and run and play. Today I tacked him up with lunging surcingle and worked him in side reins. At first he had a lot of energy (for him), but by the end I was having to remind him that it's his responsibility to maintain whatever gait I have asked for.

When I pulled his tack off, there was a slight bump on the right side of his backbone in the same ol' place. Rick says he's going to ultrasound Lance's back to investigate further, but I don't know when he'll get around to that. I've called and left a message for the saddle maker/fitter I've used, but still don't anticipate him making a trip north anytime soon. Laura has offered to bring me her saddle with the interchangeable gullet to try, and Theresa just sent me photos of an Ortho-Flex dressage saddle she has for sale. The latter sent me searching through old emails to see if I still had any info on an Ortho-Flex saddle I tried on Russell years ago . . . and I found something very interesting. Almost nine years ago I sent the inventor of the Corrector (AND Ortho-Flex) the photos below, showing a swelling I was seeing on Russell's back after every ride when using the Corrector.

Wow, that is eerily similar to what I am seeing on Lance's back after riding!

In his email response, Len said, "I know what the problem is, thanks for the pictures. Give me a call and keep riding with whichever combo balances you best concerning shims or not. Keep riding with the Corrector and expect the lump. I'll explain when you call, it's easier that way." I do not remember what he said when I called; I do know that I eventually discontinued using the Corrector on Russell because he seemed happier without it.

Last year I used the Corrector for every ride on both Larry and Horton for months, and neither of them ever got a bump or showed any other adverse reactions to the Corrector. How very strange that both Russell and Lance, two very different horses with very different back conformations, have reacted to it in the same way years apart!

To be continued....

Now we are so happy, we do the dance of joy!

(Did anyone else love that show?)

Rick checked out Lance today, ultrasounding the area of the suspensory tear in his right front and performing flexion tests on his right front and both hind legs. Everything checked out fine, and we are cleared for regular work – commensurate with Lance's level of fitness, of course. I confess to some excited hopping around, and I might have hugged and kissed my vet. ;-)

Tomorrow I will mail in our show entry, and we will continue to work on the basics of walk-trot, trot-walk, and walk-halt transitions, as well as going truly forward. Since Lance is greener than Horton was and less fit than Larry started out, this show will be a lot more about giving Lance some exposure to a show environment and very little of seeing how well we can do. There will also be the fun of having people try to figure out what breed he is. ;-)

And Lance is all about having fun; I've fished his Jolly Ball out of the stock tank and from the other side of his paddock fence numerous times.

Official stall plate notwithstanding, he really is just a great big red lovable goober!

Baby steps, giant strides

When I awoke to rain this morning, I was a little bummed. Getting out nearly every day has helped Lance's behavior so much, I didn't want to get sidelined by the weather. But the drizzle quit this afternoon, so I headed out to exercise him, grabbing my mailbox key on the way out so we could ride down the gravel lane to get the mail.

It's hard to explain why I thought this was an okay thing to do. I mean, I've spent very little time with this horse, and he's young and green as grass. I've only ridden him a handful of times and only once outside of an arena; that was with a group and while he was in regular training. But I feel like I know and can trust Lance more than I ever did either Larry or Cohort. "His" song – our song – comes to mind. He is definitely a "heart horse"....

Not that I was a complete fool about it, mind you. I wore my helmet, had my cell phone zipped into my vest pocket, and dismounted to retrieve our mail from our locked mailbox. We encountered lots of scary things on the ride down – black plastic caught in the trees, a real estate sign, a big green trash bin blown over on its side – and he held it together pretty well. After I had the mail in hand he spooked at something, slipped in the mud and actually went down on one knee, reinforcing my earlier decision to lead him the quarter of a mile back home. Once there, I mounted again and rode him in the arena another 15 minutes or so, where he was a good boy.

An interesting tidbit: Lance tends to lean on my right leg a bit, and his mane lays to the left – both of which are opposite of Horton.

Once upon a time...

. . . don't all fairy tales start that way? Yes, once upon a time, I attended the Oregon State Fair with my toddler and husband. Rick was the horse show vet for the day, so we spent a fair amount of our time at that venue.

Just outside the warm-up arena, I noticed a handsome horse . . . a strikingly handsome stallion. He was standing there saddled but riderless, calm and quiet, while many of the horses being warmed up acted less than well trained. I wandered over to get a closer look, and struck up a conversation with the horse's owner. He introduced me to Dino, his adopted Kiger mustang who was rounded up by the BLM as a four-year-old (a fact that made his gentlemanly demeanor even more impressive). After watching Dino move, I was so enamored that I wished out loud for a good mare he could service in order to see what he could produce for a dressage mount – he was that nice!

Riddle Me Dino

But I didn't have a mare; I had Russell, and I was very happy with him. He was progressing nicely in dressage and taking excellent care of my little boy:

Brian scaling "Mt. Russell" just days after that fateful State Fair

The horse my dad called "one in 20,000"

Fast forward seven years to this summer. I was leasing Larry and wishing for a horse to call my own. Having given Russell away to the perfect semi-retirement home, I had no budget to speak of. I had looked at a couple horses owned by clients of Rick's who owed him money, but we either couldn't work out a trade or the horses weren't what I was interested in. Then two different friends almost simultaneously suggested I look into adopting a horse from the BLM. So look into it I did, and in the process, learned: 1) "mustangs" can be a mixture of TB remount, ranch horse and draft blood, which could result in a very nice dressage-type horse; 2) a friend of a friend could get me into the closest holding facility to get a good look at prospects; 3) I could afford the adoption fee of $125 and even get it gentled for free through the Trainer Incentive Program; and 4) Kevin Sink, that stunning Kiger stallion's owner, is an approved T.I.P. trainer. (THAT was a blast from the past; I hadn't thought much about them nor could I have recalled the names of horse or owner without this development.) I started getting excited about a road trip to potentially choose my new partner.

But that plan was derailed – or at least moved onto a sidetrack – by two things. First, the BLM's holding facility in Burns, OR was closed to visitors due to a big influx of newly rounded up horses thanks to huge range fires in their herd management areas. And second, just as I was wrapping up Larry's month of training for his new owner, my friend Sylvia called, urging me to take Horton in for training. Seeing as we needed the additional income, I put thoughts of getting my own horse on the back burner and agreed.

In August, while my son was visiting my folks in Texas, Rick invited me to ride with him to a vet appointment over at the coast. He figured we could take advantage of the rare opportunity to have a date after he finished his call. So off we went. In the course of visiting with the client, she mentioned breeding for buckskins or duns because she and her daughter show on that circuit. With a newly refreshed memory, I piped up, "I know which stallion I'd use in that case!" When she asked which one, I said, "Kevin Sink's Kiger stallion." The client laughed out loud and pointed to the horse in the corner stall – a tall, good-looking colt who had already caught my eye – and said, "That's his daddy!" She had bred her short palomino mustang mare to Dino in hopes of getting a short Western-type filly, but instead got Lancelot, a tall, English-type gelding. The only part of her wishes that was fulfilled was the red dun packaging! I rued aloud that I didn't have space or budget to take him off her hands, and Rick and I bid her and her lovely colt good-bye.

On September 7 my phone rang. It was Rick's client, asking if I would be interested in Lance. She had put him in training at a barn here in the valley for the month of September in order to see what he was best suited for in order to market him. After the first ride or two the trainer said "dressage," and suggested the owner call me. I reiterated that I had no space or money; she offered to keep Lance for the cost of hay until I had space available, and trade out his purchase price on her vet bill. Then she suggested I go try him out, and the rest is history . . . most of it still waiting to be written – and ridden.

"Well, look who's coming through the door
I think we've met somewhere beforeHello love, hello love
Where in the world have you been so long?I've missed you so since you've been goneHello love, hello love
Make yourself feel right at homeI'll hope you plan on staying longCome in love, come in love
I must say I was sure surprisedYou're the last thing I expected byHello love, hello love
I've heard it said time and againYou'll often go back where you've beenI really didn't believe it was trueBut I left the door unlocked for you
I'll try to please you in every wayAssure you of a pleasant stayThis time love, this time love...."

Good-bye, good guy

We said good-bye to Larry today.

Don't worry, she remembered her helmet and put it on right away.

His new owner is looking forward to riding him more than twice a week three hours from home.

There's an empty stall in our barn tonight, and it's gonna take some getting used to.

Summer days

It's been cloudy and cooler the past week, but we haven't seen any of the rain much of the rest of the state has gotten. The pastures are dormant, and we are feeding full hay rations. Still, cooler is good, especially for riding.

Speaking of riding, Larry (front and center) leaves early next week for his new home in Washington. I'll miss working with him; he's been the perfect project horse. So what will my next project be? I'm not sure. I'd certainly be open to taking in another horse to board and train/school/condition. I've also been encouraged to look into adopting a BLM horse, so look into it I have. There's much to learn about the different HMAs and the kind of horses that typically come from each one; fortunately, I have a couple of very knowledgeable connections. I have spent a lot of time looking at the photos of horses posted online, but the horses pictured are only a fraction of what is available. Besides, choosing a horse from a photo is like getting a mail-order bride – not my idea of the best way to enter into a lifelong commitment! Still, there's some very nice eye-candy, like this yearling with the "quote bubble" on his forehead:

Stay tuned!

Speaking of that time of year...

See that? Larry is shedding. When he came in February, Larry was shedding his winter coat, and now he's shedding his summer coat. You can't fool animals; they know when the day length is getting shorter.

Larry's owner is coming down for lessons on him each week, and I school him in between. He's doing great; I'd love to get some current photos of him but the arena is too dusty to turn my camera on. There's a chance of thunderstorms in the forecast; I'm hoping for a good shower to settle the dust before Tina comes tomorrow.

School resumes after a short recess

Larry got a week off while we went horse-camping; "school" resumed last night and he was a star pupil.

Even though I didn't have my own horse to take on our trip, I did get in some saddle time. My friend Laura brought her horse Tang and camped with us, so my husband and I (on Brian's pony) joined her for a trail ride. The next day Laura and I rode again, this time with me on Rick's horse Oliver.

My nickname for Oliver (aka Smart Chocolate) is Oliver Twit, because he has a reputation for being, um, less than sane and sensible. But this year at Cowboy Campmeeting Mark Bolender (below) was there for a free clinic one afternoon in which my husband participated. Afterwards, Oliver behaved better than he ever has, and I actually enjoyed my ride with him!

 

Laura also had me ride her horse for awhile to see what I thought of Tang's knowledge base. I think this big, blond beauty is going to make a nice dressage/trail mount for my friend!

A favorite thing

"Bright copper . . ." horses! There is nothing like the metallic sheen of a bright chestnut (sorrel) horse. I used to think sorrel was boring, because it's so common (at least among quarter horses). But when summer comes, there's not a prettier color in the pasture.

Larry is doing great. His ability to "sit" and collect in the canter and trot has really come along in the last couple weeks, indicating much greater strength.

After today's ride, he's going to have at least five days off while we're gone, the longest "vacation" he's had since arriving here. But he'll be out on pasture every day, and I'm sure he'll be ready to go back to work upon my return.

Day to day

I think Larry would come all the way into the tack room if I invited him.

 Play time after work today.

Larry got two weather-enforced rest days after Sunday's show, but I was able to ride today when the forecast showers didn't materialize. It was a lovely ride, too; with no upcoming shows planned we worked on more advanced exercises and Larry did very well. Hopefully the weather will hold so I can school him tomorrow, too. We're planning to go horse-camping this holiday weekend (without Larry*), so he may get Friday through Monday off as well.

*We're going to a campsite without permanent pole corrals, and I'm not willing to risk high-lining someone else's horse or containing him in a single strand of battery-powered hot wire in a wilderness area.

I got an email this evening from the trainer who looked at Larry last Sunday, and she wants to bring her client down to meet Larry and try him out. Mixed feelings here; I don't want to lose my ride but it sounds like a wonderful place for Larry to land. I really like Larry and would love to own him myself, but since that's not financially possible, I want an excellent home for him.

My easy-in, easy-out braiding method

After Larry's and my first show three weeks ago, Shula asked me to post a tutorial on the way I braid. So as I braided Larry for today's show (a report on the show at bottom), I took step-by-step photos to show the process I've come up with. It really is quick and easy both to do and undo, perfect for one-day shows.

First I assemble my tools:

That's a cheap plastic hair clip, a broken comb, and a bag of inexpensive elastic braid binders resting on the lid of the grooming box I store them in, which doubles as a solid stool to stand on. Then I put as many binders as comfortably possible on my left little finger so they are handy.

Today Larry's mane was still wet from his bath; otherwise I use Quic Braid spray to dampen the mane without making it slick (it actually adds a nice amount of grip).

Starting next to the bridle path, eyeball a reasonable section of mane, using your comb to make a straight part and the clip to keep the rest of the mane out of your way. The width of your section will depend on the thickness of your horse's mane; you don't want real thick braids or the finishing step is harder and the results less pleasing.

Make two quick parts in the section so you have three relatively equal strands to braid, and –

braid! At the end, secure with a binder. Tip: if you always start with the same strand, your braids will look and lay the same.

Repeat down the neck, trying to keep your sections equal in width, until the mane is all braided.

I like to finish my braids in the order I started, but you can do them in whatever order you want. All you do is fold a braid in half –

and then in half again –

followed by quickly securing your fat little beauty with another binder. Note: this step may take a little practice to get results you are happy with. If you don't like the way a braid looks, it's easy to pop off that last binder (see below) and try again. You'll soon get the hang of folding, holding and securing consistently.

 Ta-daaa!

For a long, silky forelock like Larry's, my preferred method is to braid off to one side and tuck it under the browband and cheekpiece of the bridle to secure it.

To me, at least half the beauty of this method is the ease of removal. Just reach under and grab the end of the braid closest to the crest –

and the second binder you applied just pops off. (I save and reuse them.) Pull the binder off the end –

and you're ready to run your fingers through the strands and set the mane free!

So, how did that beautifully coiffed boy and I do at our second show together? Well, Larry and I had a long, tiring day – too tiring for Larry, I think. This morning the Arab trainer shopping for horses for her clients came to see Larry. The meteorologist got the weather wrong, and it was raining. Still, I saddled and lunged him for the lady, leaving my saddle cover on to try and keep my saddle drier. When the cover billowed, Larry acted like a predator was on his back, tucking his tail and kicking up at it with his outside hind leg. He wasn't too crazy about getting rain in his face, either. But I got on and put him through his paces, followed by the trainer doing the same. She seemed to like him; we will see what happens.

Larry got a short break before I bathed him and braided his mane, and another short break while I took a shower. Then we took off for the show venue nearly an hour and a half away. We had plenty of time to get ready once we arrived, so he got a long, slow warm-up before our first test, which didn't go as well as I expected. He had a hitch in his get-along, popping up and switching leads in the back. It got worse during his second warm-up, and he had some major resistance and threw in a couple of bucks in the second test. There were still some lovely moments (I had the rides recorded on DVD and watched them when I got home), but overall I was disappointed. I have a strong suspicion that all the strange hitches and misbehavior were from fatigue, because he wasn't 'off' at any time and he didn't show any tenderness when I groomed him at the end. He did get far more time under saddle (with nearly six hours in the trailer on top of it) than I've ever put him through in the three months I've had him; what could I expect? Poor guy!

If Larry doesn't sell and I have another chance to show him, I'm going to try a very short warm-up, mostly letting him walk and stretch on a loose rein, then gather up the reins and head into the show arena. Every horse is different; I'm still figuring out the right routine for Larry.

Butterflies

No, not about the show. I just got off the phone with a lady who is interested in Larry. She has been training and showing horses and clients on the Arabian and Half-Arabian circuit for years, and is looking for the right horse for several different clients. Larry sounds like he could be just what she is looking for. She's coming to see him here Sunday morning before traveling on to Salem to look at a couple more horses. Guess it's a good thing I haven't entered any more shows yet!

Making hay while the sun shines

We are on the tail end of an early summer-in-spring cycle, and farmers have been dropping hay all over the area. I'm hoping this means hay will be in plentiful supply this year, making it more reasonable. If so, I'd love to stuff our barn as full as possible while we can. Unfortunately there is still some old hay in the way; we ran out of horse hay and had to buy some more in early spring, there's some certified weed-free hay from last year we've saved for horse-camping trips where it is required, and there is still some third-cutting orchard grass for the sheep.

I've been able to take full advantage of the good weather in schooling Larry, too. We've made notable progress in the last week, especially in counter canter and transitions within gaits, which indicates he's getting stronger. He's also not testing me like he was; I'm thinking he's figured out that I've got his number, and none of his spooking, bucking behaviors work with me.

Or maybe it's because with all this warm weather, the horses are finally getting out on pasture for a few hours every day! Photo taken from my bedroom window.

Our next show is this coming Sunday, at a new-to-me venue. Unless the weather is "very inclement," the show will be held in an outdoor arena. Hopefully this will be less scary to Larry than the covered arena at our first show. Speaking of our first show, my new laptop is able to communicate with my husband's memory card, so below are some photos he took there.

 Blurry, but I like Larry's outline.

 Cropped, but I like my shoulder-hip-heel alignment.

Candid conversation shot during warm-up.