Home, home on the hill (catch-up, part 1)

Since my last post I've been taking photos as usual – of what we do around and riding out from home, and of the two excursions away. All told the photos add up to a lot, so I've decided to create three posts from them. You can tell from the title what the subject is for this post. 😉

I think this was after Stella got rinsed off; SO shiny!

Continuing to enjoy someone's mowing efforts

I was pretty sure bow season had started, and prepared accordingly.

Poison oak along the lane; pretty  but....

Fall is litter-al. The Bigleaf maples on the south side of the arena start dropping their leaves, which must be blown off so the organic matter doesn't eventually clog the drain tiles. We used to have to rake, until Rick bought a big, powerful, gas-powered backpack blower. I think I wo-manned the blower six times to keep the leaves from getting too thick and so I could occasionally turn the horses out to burn off steam and school Stella before 'fall' was done.

The final clean-up was this week; such a relief when the trees are finally bare!

With no pasture access, much-reduced turn-out, and fewer riding opportunities, Stella becomes more challenging again. You can see from the foam on her face how much she flips her head. She is still better in this bit; I no longer ride with a running martingale to keep from head-banging with her. 

Riding up and down our gravel lane is sometimes our only outlet.

Our shadow on the winery wall concerned her at first.

I do enjoy the views!

Compared to Stella, Lance is lazy and food-focused, not tense and combustible. But that's not to say that the lack of turn-out doesn't affect him. He eats until every stalk of hay is consumed, and then goes to work on his surroundings – trying to unlatch his door, dumping the stock tank, pulling off the tongue-and-groove boards from the inner wall of his stall, etc. I went down to the barn the other night to find he'd dismantled them ALL. Only the chainlink divider I'd put in the middle stall for sheep kept him contained and our hay supply safe.

Last night he pulled the top board off (even though Rick had NAILED it into place after the 'pick-up-and-drop-sticks' episode), then went to work on the stall door. I could hear banging from the house; by the time I arrived he had done a lot of damage and almost released himself. I put him in the arena and was prepared to leave him out there all night in the rain and wind, but when Rick got home late from a meeting he graciously went down with me to fix the door, replace a board, and run a hot wire along the top of the stall wall. But not before I had texted with the lady who gave Russell a retirement home and offered her another horse. She's considering it. Lance would have daily pasture turn-out there and would probably enjoy an occasional easy trail ride. It would leave Stella an only horse here, but since she doesn't ever act herd-bound, I think she'd handle it better than most. I could be assured that we have hay enough until next season's harvest, and the empty stall might prove useful in a variety of ways. Another horse? Taking in a training project for someone else? A hospital stall for a client's horse? (Rick's clinic lease ends on February 28, so he might be practicing from home soon.) Stay tuned.

Waiting for eruptions

No, not behavioral ones; Stella continues to be reliably sane. If she doesn't get regular turn-out for some reason, she is definitely more energetic and tense, but never out of control. The eruptions I am waiting on, before scheduling another lesson, are the rest of her canine teeth. Suzan advised riding her bitless or on a loose rein until those come in and her mouth is more comfortable. Since I don't have a bitless bridle (my German hackamore doesn't qualify), I am riding Stella as carefully as I can to not aggravate her sore mouth. Stella is letting me know that I am mostly successful, and we continue to make steady progress, especially at the canter, riding 4-5 days a week. In our last four rides, she has picked up the correct lead and maintained the canter for several 20M circles with my verbal encouragement to keep going. Can you see my smile from there??? 😁

We got over two inches of glorious rain Friday night and Saturday, so for right now we get to ride in a dust-free arena. Sunday I turned her loose in it first to let off steam, as the pasture was still muddy and slick.

Hopefully I can record a dust-free ride with Pivo before the arena dries out again; I want to see us canter!

The farrier was here Monday. When he started trimming Lance, he noticed that Lance's right hock was really swollen:

By later that day, the swelling had progressed down the rest of the leg:

I had been gone Thursday through Sunday and Rick had cleaned stalls that morning, so I hadn't been in with Lance, but I still felt bad that I hadn't noticed. I kept the horses in a couple days to keep Lance from aggravating whatever he had done to it, but it wasn't until I turned him and Stella out Wednesday that the swelling finally went down. All that running....

But the next day it was swollen again – and Lance was lame. 😒

So we added SMZs (antibiotic) to his Bute (anti-inflammatory) on top of his meds for 'asthma' and 'diabetes,' and although he thinks we're horrid for ruining his mealtimes, the lameness has abated though some swelling remains.

Telltale signs that you're doctoring a horse

An apple for an A+ student!

This morning during our schooling session, I trotted Stella through the cavalletti from the short approach twice, and both times she picked up the canter and maintained it to the end of the arena! Of course I told her how well she did and immediately let her cool out on a loose rein, then we walked up the driveway and into the upper pasture. I had seen some color on the apple tree closest to our garden and wanted to check it out up close. I have no idea what kind this is but they sure are tasty. Lance and Stella agree; they have pruned the lower leaves and fruit, but I was able to reach this beauty and another one from Stella's back. We rode back to the barn, where I untacked her and rewarded her with some apple. Then I led her out to the horse trailer, where she loaded up twice without hesitation, and got more apple for her efforts. I've been smiling all day....

Rick gave Lance a shot of Pentosan tonight to see if it will help his itchiness and hives. It might help his neck arthritis as well. I met up with an old horse friend this afternoon, and she suggested an explanation for Lance's one-off 'seizure' that makes sense. When he lifted his head as I started wiping fly repellent on his face, he may have experienced a nerve impingement that caused sudden, sharp pain. That certainly could have caused the seizure-like reaction, and would explain why I haven't seen anything before or since. I'm still hesitant to ride him again, because that impingement could happen under saddle, too. But he's still my big, red goober, and he's being a great companion for Stella.

When a door closes, try a window

Ha!

Or open the closed door. That's how doors work.

Stella and I have been schooling at home in the cooler mornings or evenings. The weather has been hot and dry, so the arena is really dusty, preventing us doing anything more with the Pivo (watering the arena is not an option with our low-output well), but I believe we're making progress. She started objecting to the hackamore (I think the noseband was the issue) and chews on the soft Duo bit, so I switched her back to the double-jointed snaffle I originally bought for her. Her fussiness with this bit has gotten much better with better riding on my part; funny how that always works. 😏 I was being rather loosey-goosey trying to cater to a baby horse instead of riding her like a dressage horse, forgetting that dressage IS training which is what I'm doing with this green bean! So now I'm riding with inside leg to outside rein and she is starting to explore connection; I've added leg yields and shoulder-fore to our repertoire, too. Like I said; progress.

I talked to Rick's secretary about hauling over to use their round pen to start canter work, but it is temporarily home to a friend's wild BLM filly. I've been dreaming of hauling Stella to the beach and Perrydale Trails to ride this summer, but haven't had any luck finding some calm companions. Several of my friends no longer ride so my options are limited.

Yesterday started out cool and cloudy, perfect for a ride at Perrydale Trails. I had nothing else preventing me from going, so I started texting and emailing to see if anyone I knew could go. No luck. But in my communication with the facility owner, she offered to ride awhile with me today if I couldn't find anyone else; she wasn't available yesterday.

With that plan in place, I rode Stella at home as usual yesterday morning, and then moved on to work on trailer-loading. After all, our truck and trailer have been parked on the driveway since Rick put Oliver down, so we had easy access.

Stella is a slow loader; I've always been able to get her on eventually, but never know how long it will take. I think I just out-wait her and she finally gives in, because she doesn't act scared or clueless, and if I have a support person on the ground she loads right up. This is NOT how my horses load and would be a real problem in a must-load-NOW situation, so it was high time to fix that.

After trying once with the usual response (front feet in at most, then backing out), I pondered my options. I tried using the groundwork methods Lisa taught us; no go. Stella probably thought I'd given up when I led her back to the barn, but I selected a long whip with a short lash (propped against the open trailer door in the photo above) and we went back to the trailer. With the ability to walk in the trailer ahead of her and reach back and touch her on the butt, Stella's loading reluctance was quickly erased. We loaded and unloaded several times; by the end the presence of the whip was enough to convince her that I was no longer going to play the waiting game. Smart girl.

This morning we hauled over to Perrydale Trails and went on Stella's first trail ride! She wasn't as brave as she was in-hand last year, but was really very good. Rebecca takes photos of all her guests, but since she was riding with us (on her quiet, young Quarter Horse), she wasn't able to do that this time. So at the end of our ride I took a few photos of Stella near the trailer to prove we were there. 😉

See the skeleton sitting in a chair by the tree?

Oh, and she loaded right up to go home without even needing to SEE the whip!

Update on Lance: he has been fine since that scary seizure, and his blood work shows he doesn't have Cushings. It did show that his metabolic syndrome wasn't as well controlled by his medication as one would hope, so we've increased it some. After their fence-jumping escape, he and Stella are back to turn-out in separate pastures, and Lance is getting some needed exercise running around and hollering when he loses sight of her.

Misadventures in horse-keeping

A not-so-funny thing happened on the way to turn-out last week. I had opened Stella's paddock to the lower pasture and haltered Lance to lead him out to the middle pasture, but decided to give him some fly relief first. I sprayed repellent on a tissue in the tackroom, then started wiping his face where he stood in the aisleway. He lifted his head a bit – and then went into what I can only describe as a seizure. He kind of sat backwards and crashed to the floor, lurched up and forward onto his knees, tried to get up and crashed on his side, thrashed a bit, lurched up and forward again . . . and then stood there. I was terrified, both for him and for me, thinking he was going to die right there in front of me and also fully aware that getting pinned against the concrete floor or a wall by my 1200 lb. horse would be a Very. Bad. Thing. I carefully guided him outside, watching him like a hawk. He tried to snatch a bite of weeds like normal, so I turned him loose in the pasture. I kept an eye on him throughout the afternoon and never saw anything amiss; other than some scrapes on all four fetlocks and over one eye plus a bloody nose he seemed fine (and has been ever since). Of course I told Rick about it when he got home. He said he's seen one other metabolic horse do that, did some testing, and found out the horse had developed Cushings on top of metabolic syndrome. So he drew blood on Lance and has sent it in; we're waiting on results and I'm not riding him at all in the meantime.

They were turned out in their respective pastures again Friday afternoon when I happened to see an unusual amount of activity (I was still keeping a closer-than-usual eye on Lance). I stepped out on the deck to see what they were reacting to, and saw this:

"Is that a pterodactyl? I think it's a pterodactyl!"

On Sunday evening, we decided it was time to try turning Lance and Stella out together. We led them to the upper pasture, and after a momentary "yahoo," they settled down to eat. Lance showed no animosity towards Stella like he has in the arena; it seemed that without Oliver in the mix, everything was fine.

After an hour or so, I decided I'd better check on them. When I stepped outside, I could hear hooves on gravel. I hollered at Rick and ran down the driveway, grabbing the halters on my way. I could see that the horses weren't in the pasture but could no longer hear them on the gravel, so I headed SW, calling both their names, and Rick headed NW. As I neared a neighbor's, they confirmed they'd seen the horses, and directed me to the field next to them. After a short game of "catch me if you can," good boy Lance came to me, and we led him home with Stella following. Neither of them had a scratch and the fence is intact, so apparently they both jumped it! That's very uncharacteristic of Lance if not Stella, and a shame since that's the one pasture that still has some decent forage. Sigh; it's always something when you own horses!

Hold onto your hats helmets...

...it's going to be a wild ride just documenting the last week, not to mention what's coming!

So after I wrote my last post, I got to thinking (thinking; always thinking). There is no rule against showing in an ancient, battered saddle; people who see us before we go into the ring would surely raise their eyebrows but the judge will likely have her attention on other things while we're in the ring. Check one showing obstacle off the list to address before the entry deadline of June 1st(!).

A second obstacle was Stella's teeth. When I sent Suzan a photo of the damaged Nathe bit weeks ago, she stated that Stella is teething and to switch to a bitless bridle for most of her rides in order to avoid causing 'issues.' Rick did a quick manual check and confirmed she needed a dental – sometime ("the cobbler's children have no shoes"). I didn't want to ride her in a bit as I would need to in a show without that dental, so I finally asked him Monday if he could do it. Bless his heart, he did – even though it was HOT and he and I had moved over four tons of hay that day.

She has big wolf teeth, but he didn't want to give her the additional anesthesia needed to remove them. So he did the necessary floating and said we'd wait and see if the wolf teeth give her any trouble.

While the anesthesia was wearing off, I decided to take advantage of modern pharmacology and clip her bridle path and fetlocks for the very first time. Then I sprayed Show Sheen in her tail, trimmed the end and brushed it out. That felt like removing a couple obstacles. (Lance got some spa treatment, too.)

Tidy fetlocks!

But the big question/obstacle remained. Not "Are we ready?" I have no illusions about Stella being ready to show; she's not. She's still a hot, reactive mare that's greener-than-Intro Level-grass. No, my concern is that the whole experience could overface her rather than give her positive exposure, and I didn't want to risk that. So on my way to work Tuesday (June 1st), I called the person who knows her best second to me: Lisa.

Lisa had already expressed enthusiasm for my entering the show when we rode at the fairgrounds, and she reiterated how impressed she was with how well Stella did there. She thought I should go for it, with the caveat that I would know if she wasn't ready, and could scratch.

Ha; Lisa apparently doesn't know me as well as she knows Stella! I know people do that, but the thought of paying all the (non-refundable) fees, going through all the prep work, and getting up at o'dark thirty to get to the grounds in time to tack up, lead Stella around for a lengthy looky-loo, and warm up before entering the ring shortly after 8:00 a.m. only to decide "Nope; not a good idea!" was anathema. BUT. If my main purpose for entering this show is to give Stella more life experience, why not go? Even if I end up scratching our Intro tests, she would get new experiences in spades. Besides, it is fun to go hang out with other breed enthusiasts. At a regular dressage show she would be something of an oddity; at a Morgan show, she would be enthused over.

So I scrambled after work on Tuesday in order to get our entry form filled out and postmarked in time. We're going to the Oregon Morgan Classic two weeks from today!

But wait; there's more!

Since I would be slightly self-conscious showing up at OMC with the old navy Wintec, I have been investigating saddle options online. Having another grippy synthetic saddle has a lot of appeal when you're an 'old lady' riding a fresh filly, so I looked at newer used and brand new Wintec saddles. SmartPak has test ride saddles with free shipping both ways, and this morning I realized that if I ordered one today, I would have the saddle in time to try it before the show – and could show in it if Stella and I like it! So I ordered this.

Then I went to the barn to ride. I swapped out the damaged Nathe for the double-jointed snaffle; she has worn it while being ponied but I don't think I've ridden with it. Better see how she goes in it, right?

The only positive to this is that she got foamy – on one side.

Ugh. Stella was NOT happy. Lots of mouthing and gaping and tongue contortions; she was so busy fussing with the bit that she couldn't really listen to me. Remembering how well she went in the Nathe at the fairgrounds, I promptly ordered another when I got back to the house (actually, I ordered this, which Suzan says is identical).

So in for a penny, in for a pound whole pile of cash. 😆 Now if I can just find someone willing to come along as a groom of sorts, since I will be showing out of my trailer....

The Black Swan and the Velveteen Rabbit

I know; it's been a month and a half! It's not for lack of blog fodder that I've been silent here; more that I'm doing a lot with my horses (Stella, mostly) to help keep me sane and centered but not finding time for some other things, like blogging. There has been lots of family drama and resulting stress, but when I am working horses (or in agility class with my pup) I can put that out of mind completely and focus on something else.

Not that life with horses is stress-free. It has been a rough spring for Lance. I mentioned his breathing problems in my last post, and that has continued to various degrees. His weight is good but his energy is low, and he's rubbing out his mane, tail, and hair on various parts of his itchy hide. The other day when I was riding my poor, mangy-looking mustang, The Velveteen Rabbit came to mind; Lance is as much loved, and threadbare, as that character. In complete contrast, Stella is my lovely black swan, even though I never can quite capture her elegance, IMO. I keep trying, though!

Then there's Oliver, the kinda crazy quarter horse Rick and Brian have shared since the loss of Rick's cutting horse and Brian's pony. His front legs are shot, and it has been plain to Brian and me for months that he is miserable. Rick finally came to the same conclusion after taking the time to examine him more closely, but is still procrastinating on putting him down. It is sad, but Ollie's had 20 more years of life than he would have had with his breeder, and 21 more years than it appeared he'd have when he almost died of sepsis as a foal.

Back to happier things. Awhile back I wrote on my farm blog, "I feel like I'm now reaping the results of the long, slow work of relationship-building with my beautiful Morgan mare Stella. I am now riding her regularly at walk and trot, which just thrills me, and there is much promise of greatness to come." That's right; we've added a gait to our under-saddle repertoire! After my last post, Lisa came out to assist us in taking the next step by ponying us at the walk and trot. Stella did pretty well (I've ponied her at the trot lots of times), but she was just squirrelly enough that I didn't feel comfortable proceeding at home alone. Lisa and I had talked about hauling our young horses to a facility with a round pen, where we could both work our skittish mounts in a more controlled environment, so on March 30 we did just that. And with one excellent session under her girth, it's been onward and forward at home!

First solo trot work; what a good girl!

As I was untacking her in mid-April, I noticed something on the mouthpiece of Stella's Nathe bit. On closer examination, it is clear she had caused significant damage:

Alarmed, especially since we hadn't had this bit all that long, I texted Suzan. She told me to switch to a bitless bridle immediately, because Stella was teething and working her in a bit while teething can cause all kinds of problems. Okay then. At some point Rick is going to do a dental on her, but in the meantime I cobbled together this so we could keep working:

I purchased the 'hackamore' part (noseband/chin strap/metal wheel) on eBay from Germany years ago for Lance, to use when he got little pinpoint sores in his mouth. I had it on the bridle I bought for my Swedish Warmblood mare La Prix, but that was way too big on Stella. So I took the headstall and reins off the cob bridle we got with Brian's pony Breezy. The browband is too tight and the reins are a bit short, so I should do some more cobbling and trade out La Prix's headband and reins for those parts of the cob bridle, but it's working for now.

Oh, another interesting tidbit in the tack department. I've been riding Stella in an ancient Wintec saddle but eventually plan to switch to the newer Wintec saddle I use on Lance, with the appropriate gullet. To that end I bought a Wintec gullet gauge. Incredibly, my little black swan of a Morgan and my big red goober of a mustang both require an XL gullet! That seemed so unlikely that I had a friend come over and help me measure again; she got the same results. So strange, because there is no question that Lance is far broader than Stella, but hey, I don't have to buy a different gullet!

Stella is still a reactive girl, but when she spooks at something under saddle, she doesn't lose her mind. She may jump once, but then goes right back to what we were doing; what a blessing. So far we're staying in the arena, but on a warm day when she's really mellow (that's happened once, okay?), I plan to stretch her horizons. I've been sitting (carefully) the trot because she got anxious the first time I tried posting, but last night I tried again and she was fine with it. I'm really impressed with how she's responding to my leg, seat, and voice, too. I've been wanting video to document where we are now; on Mothers Day my son gave me the gift of some time to do that (this is pre-posting):

I think we've come a long way, baby. 😊

P.S. Ugh; you can clearly see the Lance-hoof-shaped scar tissue on the back of my right thigh in the video. Oh well, no 'body' is perfect....