Horton's wonky haircut

Yesterday Sylvia came out to ride her horse again. I lunged him first – not to "take the edge off" which seems to be the reason most people lunge, but as the quickest and easiest way to get him thinking forward. Horton's no longer a "balky-butt," but we still have to work through "stickiness" – his reluctance to move freely forward – on a regular basis. When I finally get him moving forward he is lovely, but it can take awhile to get him there.

Getting his gears moving on the lunge line seemed to work; Sylvia had her best ride on him yet, at least here. As you can see, it was a beautiful day!

After his schooling session, Horton got a haircut. No, not a body clip or trace clip; more like a "hip clip."

When Sylvia was out Tuesday, Rick happened to come down to the barn and watched us ride Horton for awhile. He asked, "Does he always carry his tail to the left like that?" Sylvia answered, "Always. It gets better for awhile after he has bodywork done on him, but eventually he returns to carrying it to the left; never to the right." Rick pondered out loud whether or not Horton might have something going on in his pelvis; if he does, it could explain not only the tail carriage but perhaps the behavioral issues he's had. Sylvia gave Rick the go-ahead to investigate, so he did that yesterday morning after our ride.

Sleepy Horton held by Sylvia

Rick performing the external ultrasound exam

Shaving the area to be ultrasounded gives a better image; hence the haircut. (Rick also ultrasounded the pelvic area from the inside, but I didn't figure anyone really needed to see a photo of the vet with his arm up the rectum!)

The verdict? Horton's lumbosacral and sarcoiliac joints both look "wonky." Yeah, a real technical term, but since Rick has never seen joints that look quite like Horton's, it fits. No way to know the cause, since Horton's early history is veiled; could be the result of injury or even congenital. Rick is going to inject the joint areas with steroid to see if that makes a difference in his behavior and movement (he didn't have the incredibly long needles with him yesterday).

Once again all involved were reminded that horses always have a reason for their actions, be it pain or past experiences. They don't spend their time thinking about how to get out of work just because, and many horses put up with an amazing amount of discomfort and continue to try their best for us until we finally figure out there's a problem and do our best to make it better. It is also a good reminder that all the bodywork/chiropractic/essential oils or whathaveyou cannot fix damaged tissue. It might make our horses feel better for a bit, but the underlying problem needs proper diagnosis to be properly addressed, whether with rest, drugs, therapies like extracorporeal shock wave, a change in usage or all of these combined.

As for usage, Rick said it was fine to go ahead and ride Horton; he'll need a couple days off after the injection but that's it. So I rode this morning . . . obviously with a different mindset about the task at hand. I didn't lunge Horton first; I did spend a lot of time warming up at the walk on the buckle. Horton loves to go on the buckle, reaching his head down for a good stretch over the back. Makes me wonder if that stretch feels particularly good for his wonky joints. Anyway, I tried to fix any stickiness through a "back door approach," and eventually got lovely walk/trot/canter work both directions. I would love to be able to keep building on this, but next week is forecast to be very wet, starting this weekend, and we will be gone over Thanksgiving. I'll be looking for breaks in the weather whenever I can catch them!

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I have been thwarted in my plans to drive over and walk Lance this week, so I was so relieved to get a phone call from his breeder yesterday. She's been very faithful in getting him out nearly every day this week, and he is behaving himself much better now. I'm hoping to get over there on Sunday, and then Rick is scheduled to ultrasound his injured ligament on Tuesday to see how it's healed.

A good day for all concerned

Horton's owner came out for another ride today. Horton was in a mellow mood, Sylvia was in a more confident mood, and their walk/trot ride went much better than the last one. Then I got on and asked for canter and got all the departs without altercations. Hooray for Horton!

Behold, Horton and his lady:

Horton had to heed

He hesitated. He hemmed and hawed. I had to get hard-nosed.

He got hot post-haste, and had to hang out for awhile to cool off afterwards.

We'll see how well he heeds next time....

Besides a rather challenging ride on Horton yesterday, I also handled a hot young horse-kite.

Lance has been cooped up for more than six weeks now, and isn't getting hand-walked as often as would be ideal because of his previous owner's work schedule. Yesterday I drove to Lincoln City to deliver more Horse Guard and get him out of his stall.

Lance looked so sweet, hanging out with his little buddy. But once I lead him out of his stall, he was all sass – the stud chain our saving grace. For the first 15-20 minutes, he jigged and bucked and reared, explosive with pent-up energy. Thankfully, he minded his manners and never directed any of that energy towards me, but I am worried that his more timid former owner may stop hand-walking him altogether because of it. How I wish he were close enough for me to walk him every day....

Transitions

I've been working on Horton's transitions, getting them smoother, rounder, less-fuss-more-forward. Lots of inside leg to outside rein always improves things, and he's making good progress . . . because I expect him to. After all, he's not a kindergartener any more; he's been to a show and scored over 70% in both his tests!

Another kind of transition that needs to happen is from me riding Horton to his owner riding Horton. She cooled him out at the show, the first time in quite awhile she'd been on him. Now it's time for her to start riding him again. She came out yesterday to do just that.

Even though I warmed him up and he was being a good boy, Sylvia was obviously apprehensive at the beginning. After all, Horton had thrown her hard – as he did her trainer and a tall, lanky young-but-experienced hunter/jumper Mexican cowboy. Then he went to the cowboy's hunter/jumper barn to learn to do this

Horton says, "That's my daddy!"

and was doing it quite well. But he missed his first scheduled shows due to a stone bruise, and he's a little on the short side according to most h/j riders, and Larry sold . . . and the rest is history on this blog. Now we're making new history, that of a successful partnership between Sylvia and her handsome young Horton. It's going to take some time for her to feel confident on him, so she plans to come out a couple times a week if the weather and our schedules permit. Based on the progress she made with him yesterday, I feel good about their future together. Maybe next time I'll get pictures!

Seasonal adaptations

It has been a grey, wet week since Monday's unexpected break. There have been some short dry spells here and there, but never when I could sprint to the barn and get Horton out for some exercise.

Since I don't like to let a horse sit for more than two days at a time unless I'm out of town, yesterday was a "must exercise" day. The dry spells came and went while I worked hard at other obligations until I got down to the wire on time (I had an evening meeting) and daylight. So I put on a waterproof jacket, fitted Horton with lunging surcingle and side reins, and worked him in the drizzle at the far end of the arena. Rick had cleared it of leaves earlier in the day so I had at least a 20m circle in which to work. It got quite windy Wednesday night and a lot of leaves came down, but there are many more to fall before we can do our annual arena "deleafing." Keeping the organic matter to a minimum keeps drainage at a maximum – a necessity for our long, wet winters.

This morning was forecast to be dry, so "riding Horton" was right after "chores" on today's to-do list. But chores took a bit more time than usual. When I opened the barn door, the aisleway was a MESS. My husband apparently neglected to latch Horton's stall door when he did chores last night, and Horton had helped himself to the hay. (By design, that is ALL that is accessible; our grain is kept in barrels on an upper level.) Horton must have eaten his fill, because even though his stall door was wide open, he was standing in his paddock. Oh well, at least he had a nice, full tummy! He was a very good boy during our ride (just like he was yesterday on the lunge line), maintaining consistent contact and taking his canter departs quite nicely from aids alone, no vocal cues.