Weekend Photo Update

Sorry that I’ve been so inactive- the weather here has been total garbage so I haven’t been able to get much riding done. However, I have managed to get a couple rides in and this weekend the weather was beautiful, so I packed up Cool and went to a horse show with Dee!

Last week, Ki helping me make feed!

Cool’s ride on Friday before the show - the ground finally thawed a bit!

Coolie takes first in Western equitation!

English equitation!

Western equitation!

I got this hunt coat on consignment for $40...I love the color on Cool!

Dee and Coolie took 3rd, 3rd and 2nd in Halter!

Peace.Love.Ponies.

Hacking Out!

We had a blizzard of snowfall this past Saturday (which made me die a little bit inside) but also *sort of* cleaned up some of the mud from last week...that was, until it went back to 40* Monday/Tuesday and the majority of it melted back into standing water and mud again.

Monday morning though ended up being a fairly lovely morning for riding. The temp had not warmed up yet so the ground was still solid, and the 5” of snow that we got over the weekend made our long, gravel driveway back into the woods passable for horses again. Normally I don’t really ride down our back driveway - hubs put it in years ago as an access road for the site where he has been building his HUGE new garage/ag building all summer. The drive is only half topped with small stone and mainly consists of huge rock/brick/concrete chunks that were trucked to us courtesy of an old brick school house that was locally torn down. I worry way too much about my poor horses bare feet to ride down it during the summer months (although I probably should to toughen up those hooves!) but once a few inches of snow have fallen, my horses can safely don their equine tennis shoes (aka=Cavallo boots) and go for a stroll.

Monday I managed to hack both Johnny and Cool down the drive and around the back field. Cool doesn’t trail ride much...actually Cool doesn’t generally get ridden in the winter really. Mainly because I’m too afraid of getting dumped off as he spins around and peels back for home. Ever since we began keeping horses at our house year round, Cool has turned into a raging psycho any time the temp drops below 50*. Last year after Ki was born, I think I had a Cool on like three different calming supplements at once just to be able to safely turn him out and play around with him in hand.. He’s the poster child for SmartCalm Ultra (no seriously, he’s in the Smartpak catalogue all the time lol) but this winter, with me being a stay-at-home mom, the amount of money that my (now three) horses consume has to be drastically cut back, and there will be no excessive calming anything for Cool this year.

Instead, I’ve decided that I’ve HAD IT with wintering a horse over and over again that I can only ride for four months out of the year. I’m pulling up my big girl panties and MAKING IT HAPPEN. And that means getting on Cool every chance that I have, taking him out and DOING things with him. Emmy and Johnny did not become good horses by standing in a field. They became good horses because I was a kid who wanted to ride and therefore rode wherever and whenever I could. It’s hard as an adult to put yourself back in a child’s perspective, but sometimes I think that, with horse, a child’s perspective can be invaluable.

So Monday morning, while Ki napped, I saddled the big red dragon, strapped on my helmet, turned on my Smartpak Ride With Me app, and hit the trails.

Ok, it was one trail. But I hit it. And not with my face!

Cool was...confused I think more than anything. He was snorting along in the new fallen snow...trucking forward like a curious child but also feeling like a tense coil of springs that could explode at any time. Adult Katie really wanted to have more bit in his mouth, but Child Katie said no, warmed up the eggbutt snaffle and bridle him. While we trucked along walking faster then Cool has EVER walked in his life, I kept forcing myself to breathe, to untense my thighs, to leave the reins loose and keep rubbing his neck. We made it all the way down the driveway with Cool only trying to turn around once and quickly righting himself when I closed my leg on his side and insisted that we go forward. At this point, he caught sight of the enormous garage, covered in white Tyvek wrap and I could literally feel the conflict inside him. Cool is naturally a VERY curious horse. I could tell that half of him wanted to run away from the big scary white monster and the other half really wanted to go see what the heck it was. I made a quick decision to side with Curious Cool, closed my leg again and clucked, sending him up towards the garage. We made a full lap around the entire building safely before Cool tried to drag me inside one of the bays to see what treasures might be hiding in there. At that point, he deemed the whole ordeal acceptable and took a big deep breath. After exploring he building, we meandered our way along the creek for a bit, before turning back for home. Cool pranced his way back to the barn, but never threatened to be bad so I was extremely pleased!

My next ride of the day was Johnny, who was incredibly nervous starting out. It took a lot of concentration to keep him walking along straight down the drive as he was snoring and I could feel that he wanted so badly to turn back for home. I tried to envision my legs and reins like soft channels sending his energy forward instead of sideways, which really seemed to help! After a few minute he also took a deep breathe and relaxed. We rode the same track as Cool but then came up through the back field instead - John was so happy!

Two weeks until my next horse show, but in the meantime, I’ll be trail ricing!

Peace.Love.Ponies.
✌🏼❤️🐴

Mid-week Update

I have to say that apparently it’s just going straight to winter in Ohio this year. The last two days we’ve had 20-40 mph wind gusts almost non-stop and the temperature has been hanging in the low 40’s during the day. Not really “winter” by Ohio standards but the fact that we seem to have completely skipped over the season of fall this year has left me a little salty to be quite honest. The only good thing I can say about the wind is that it DID help tremendously in drying out the ground, in fact, today my sand ring was dry enough to take Cool for a little spin. We didn’t do much, as chilly windy weather tends to make Cool significantly more “spookable” that usual, but I did get him saddle up, out on the lunge line for a bit, and then worked on some much needed ground work followed by lateral work in the saddle, which he was really good for. I’ve been trying very hard to improve my position and overall horsemanship with Cool. It’s amazing the difference in his responses under saddle when I’ve appropriately done my homework.
 I was planning to take Johnny for a walk initially, but decided against it because a) he was COVERED in mud and I didn’t have that kind of time, and b) the farrier is coming tomorrow to trim and re-evaluate where we are with his feet, so I figured what’s one more day of waiting?

In the end, I spent Ki’s nap time riding instead of doing barn work (which meant that I was cleaning stalls at 10pm) but it was worth it!

Ki is an extra good barn helper (most days)

Emmy (she’s 31 now!) and Cool - that one time the sun came out

Coolie today before our ride, looking skeptically at the bushes blowing in the wind

More after tomorrow’s farrier visit!

Peace.Love.Ponies 

✌🏼❤️🐴

Fall, who?

Fall is my favorite season. By far. In fact, it really should be most horse people’s favorite season because with its beautiful colors, comes some of the best riding weather you can ask for...at least, that’s how fall is SUPPOSED to be.

This year, Ohio laughed, gave us horse people the big middle finger, and went from 86 to 46 degrees overnight in the third week of October. After that, the sky started spitting rain, and it hasn’t stopped since.

Seriously. It’s been raining for TWO WEEKS.

Everything here is WET. Saturated wet. The kind of wet where solid ground doesn’t even exist anymore and you just walk through endless slop anywhere you go. It is not conducive to horseback riding. Or turnout. Or stall cleaning....shit it’s just not good for ANYTHING honestly.

I did manage to take Johnny for a few walks in Cool’s hoof boots/pads. It’s the same “navicular” set up that I used to get Cool sound, and “navicular” is on the list of Johnny Woes, so I figured that it wouldn’t hurt. We did carrot stretches and then walked for 12 minutes up and down the road.

And then it started raining again. And Johnny, after finally not being lame in the right front, came up sore in his LEFT front a couple days later so really I’m just giving up for right now.

That’s actually a lie...I’m poulticing his tendons and wrapping his leg because it’s hot and inflamed and I fear that he may have actually hurt himself for real in all this MUD. 

I did get a short ride in on Cool yesterday and after bucking around a bit on the lunge line he was a very well behaved so I was super happy about that! 

And then it rained again last night. And no, I can’t make this crap up.

So until it dries out, I’ll just keep greasing heels,  cursing and sloshing through mud over here. 

Peace.Love.Ponies.

Champion Coolie!

Sorry I’ve been MIA for a couple weeks - life has been hectic and I just haven’t felt like I’ve had the time to really sit down and write out everything that has been going on. Tonight, I’m avoiding washing my dishes (for...like...not the first day in a row...oops) and starting to type.

The Johnny update is a quick one because he’s been totally broken since blowing a big abscess out of the side of his frog. I’m not actually convinced that it’s finished exploding yet, and my wonderful farrier lives quite far away and isn’t headed out my way for another couple weeks, unfortunately. In the meantime, Johnny is certainly significantly less lame then he was during the abscess ordeal, but he’s more lame now than he was before it. His current regiment includes all day turnout, carrot stretches, and either handwalking/ground work or tack walking whenever I get a chance. Last week I think I walked him undersaddle twice and did ground work one day. I’ve been riding him without a bridle lately, just in a halter and lead rope and he seems to like that. I also bought him a dirt cheap, moldy, 5-point breast collar off a girl on FB. It cleaned up ok and seems to be helping A LOT to keep the saddle from sliding so far back on his muscle-less body. I’m in the process of working up a “rehab” schedule for him based on what the farrier finds in that foot when he finally comes.

Cool on the other hand, is AWESOME. This past Sunday,  Mo, Dee, and I packed up Cool and Mo’s mini Buck and headed to the first show in a local winter series. Mo and I have been planning on attending the series for the past few months, just as a way to stay in practice over the winter. The facility is indoors (although it’s always FREEZING in there), it’s not too far away, the food is good, and the classes are cheap. It seemed like the perfect idea for keeping our horses heads “in the game” over the winter. In typical Katie fashion, I decided the night before the show that I was also going g to show western (side note: western is NOT my jam. Also, although I have all the fun tack, Cool has never shown in a western class.)

See? I told you this was fun.

Anyway, so we packed up a zillion things, two horses and my kid, and headed off to the horse show for the day.

Dee showed Cool first in three different morning halter classes...her first time back in the show ring in 10 years! Cool is, of course, bred for halter and pretty much instinctively shows himself in the ring, so I figured it was a good place for Dee to get her feet wet again. And wet she got them because Cool was 3rd in the jackpot halter, 2nd in AQHA halter and 1st in the Open W/T halter, which was enough to qualify him and Dee for the grand champion class! He moved up a placing in that class and actually beat the horse that he had previously lost to, clinching the Reserve Grand Champion halter horse ribbon! To see us all there you would have thought we had just won Quarter Horse Congress or something LOL! But in reality, it was Cool’s best halter showing to date and Dee was SO EXCITED.

Next I rode him and completely blew our first English rail class as Cool slammed on the breaks right in front of the judge to sneeze and itch his face on his leg (really Cool? REALLY???) but he redeemed himself by winning our English equitation class so I let it go 😝

Next was western, and after piddling around at the stall for a while I suddenly realized that I hadn’t really been keeping track of the classes and we were UP NEXT so I threw his saddle and bridle on, passed my kid to Mo and Dee gave me a running leg up heading down the barn aisle. Ten steps of jog down to the ingate and we were suddenly showing.

Cool kept it together for the western pleasure class, which was a little surprising to me consider the small details of not really knowing how to jog or NECK REIN for that matter. I sat up as straight and tall and I could and tried not to brace against him. When the class finally lined up, I gave him a big pat, sat back, and waiting for them to finish calling places so that I could actually go warm up...that is, until I realized that the announcer was calling my number in SECOND PLACE, at which point in time I almost fell off Cool from shock. He went on to WIN the next class (western equitation) and placed 4th in showmanship after completely blowing his 270 pivot (oh well, better luck next time!)
I’m SO PROUD of him!!!

Dee and Cool in the show ring

  

Reserve Grand Champion!

Showing off all but the Jackpot ribbon (because we didn’t have it yet!)

I have to upload the pictures of my from my phone still...next time!

Peace.Love.Ponies.

Massage Day!

Johnny and Cool both got a visit today from their favorite masseuse Laur today!

Laur was the one who initially sorted out Cool for me, and she’s remained a close friend ever since. She’s worked on Johnny several times throughout the course of his many homes, but never with me. I was both excited and terrified to see what she would find. Dee made her weekly visit today as well, and the two of them finally got a chance to meet. Dee also brought with her a borrowed dressage saddle so that we could try it on John. We are both at a little bit of a loss on what type of saddle (if any) to use on his back right now. He’s so UNGODLY weak. We have been doing in hand walking with him but my gut tells me that he really needs someone to ride walk him up and down gentle slopes (like our back pasture) but I can’t find a SINGLE saddle that even comes close to fitting him right now. The one that Dee brought still sat on his huge-@ss withers...and it was a medium-narrow tree!

Anyway, Laur found Johnny to be sensitive and sore EVERYWHERE. Surprising? No. Disheartening to watch him nearly sit down in the crossties a couple times? Yes. Frustrating...infuriating...disappointing...I could go on and on about how upset it makes me to see this happy, resentment-free horse feel the way that he feels. It hurts my heart in so many ways. 

Afterwards, John seemed to have lost his earlier “spunk” and he just looked very blah and ouchy. Laur warned that he would, and asked Dee and me to make sure he spent the afternoon in turnout just relaxing.

Cool was actually a bit of a mess too...I hadn’t originally called Laur out to work on him, but with her long history with him, she insisted that she couldn’t leave without rubbing on him too. Cool was appreciative, as always, and Laur worked out some junk on his left side, which he apparently desperately needed.

So, it’s another day off for everyone tomorrow and HOPEFULLY I can get back to work with these horses next week!!!

As Always,

Peace.Love.Ponies

✌🏼 ❤️🐴

Some Updates

This last week has been so busy I really haven’t had a chance to sit down and update...I’ll try to give the highlights here (also, STILL can’t get all my pictures to upload on here wtf.)

I didn’t get much horse working in during the week...maybe one little ride on Johnny but he was totally lame so I didn’t do anything other than walk. On Friday Dee came out for the afternoon. We started our horse mania with Johnny, who seemed to be feeling better, but saddle fit issues and no babysitter for me, kept Dee from riding (still trying to sort that out) so we took tacked up Johnny out into the pasture and worked him up and down the hill in the field for a little. I took video of him (WHICH I CANT UPLOAD) and he actually looked pretty damn sound. The video turned out to be extra helpful because the more I watched it the more I realized that Johnny’s lameness, although manifesting in the right front, actually seems to be caused by the left hind. More on that in a minute.

After Johnny, I tacked up Cool and took him for a little walk/trot hack, for which he felt FABULOUS so I didn’t even attempted canter because I knew that it would ruin the little vibe that we had going. My little monster son rode him after him and that was adorable so yeah.

Emmy got a good grooming session and then everyone went back out in the field for the night.

Saturday one of my best friends Mo got married and that was fun. I left the horses out in the pasture with their delicious round bale while we went to the reception and everyone was fine when I left. On our way home from the reception we hit torrential storms and so the poor horses got rained on also. I brought them all in to dry stalls when we got home and noticed that John was pretty lame on the front right (he had not been when I left). A quick check of the foot and leg didn’t really yield anything so I tucked him in for the night, as it was quite late, and crossed my fingers that he’d just over done it and would feel better in the morning.

That turned out to not be the case though, and Sunday morning (my birthday no less!) he was toe-touching the right front on and off while eating breakfast. I checked him again and then stood him in ice from knee to hoof just to be safe and packed/wrapped his foot. After 4 days of treatment he finally seems to be moving significantly more comfortable. Aside from a small crack that has opened up on the medial side of his sole (white line-ish area) which nothing ever came out of - he seems to have mysteriously gotten better. I’m hoping that it was just an abscess that has worked it’s way out somehow.

In other news, I’ve definitely decided that the main source if Johnny’s lameness is his left hind leg, specifically somewhere in the stifle/hip area. Once his right front was useless, it was blazingly  aparent hoe much weight he’s been dumping into the right front to compensate for the left hind. There were a couple times over the last few days that he actually almost sat down in his stall because the left hind gave out so badly when he tried to shift weight onto it. The massuese is coming out Friday to give him a good once over and try to sort out some of his muscular issues and hopefully make him a little more comfortable so we can start to unravel this physical mess that he’s in.

I’m also hoping to get some riding done with Cool this weekend but we will have to see about that since my poor human child is sick 🤒

More on Friday after the masseuse comes.

Peace.Love.Ponies.

Making Strides

Today was a significantly better day on the horse home front in comparison to yesterday. My mother in law took Kiki to the park for a walk in the late morning (something that I very much welcomed because, generally speaking, I get pretty much zero help on the baby front on a regular basis.) During which time Sonj came over and gave me an equitation lesson on Cool.

By “equitation lesson” I mean that I asked her to sit in the middle of my ring and yell at me to do all the things that I don’t have the motivation to do on my own, such as no stirrup work, which she made me do in abundance while Cool and I both complained quietly to ourselves about it. In all seriousness though, she was actually really helpful and I’m almost 98% certain that I won’t be able to walk tomorrow.

I didn’t have plans to ride Johnny today, but I was finished with Cool and the baby-toting party still wasnt back yet so I pulled him out of the field for Sonj to look at. I figured that I had the time and the help, so I might as well use it!

I was very careful to tack Johnny up using ALL his old stuff. It took a little while to find it all, but almost everything of his I had held on to *just in case.* My goal was to make him feel as much “at home” and mentally comfortable as I could....and it did seem to help. After practicing standing at the mounting block, I had Sonj lead him around for a bit with me on his back until he took a big deep breathe and relaxed, then I took the reins and she slowly wandered away from him. After several laps of walk and changing directions, I quietly closed my leg and asked him to trot. Instead of giving me fireworks like yesterday, he stepped off into a quiet trot. Of course, he’s still lame, but he was WAY less lame today than yesterday! We did a few laps each direction and then called it a day.

I was glad to have an extra set of eyes on the ground because I’m feeling more optimistic today about his recovery outcome than I was yesterday. He actually felt pretty good,  considering.

I have tons of pictures to add to these posts but I must be mentally challenged because I’m having a really hard trying to figure out how to upload them here.....🤷🏻‍♀️ Any help would be appreciated!!!

Peace.Love.Ponies.

Struggling

Despite the reoccurring shit show that has been my life the past couple weeks, I FINALLY managed to get some saddle time this week. Monday I rode Cool, who has officially begun his “winter spooking.” Despite him feeling really good and sound undersaddle (yay!) his brain was being stupid and he was completely convinced that the horse trailer next to the pasture WAS GOING TO KILL HIM. You know, since he walks past it every single day for turnout and it hasn’t moved since Johnny came home a week ago. Because of the nonsense (and I was riding alone) I decided that it was best not to canter and instead did some really good, forward trot work.

On Wednesday I had plans to ride Johnny around back behind the barn for a “trail ride,” but instead spent 20 minutes standing the arena (in the misting rain I might add) at the mounting block petting him and repeatedly getting on and off in an attempt to convince him that I was actually NOT planning to kill him when I got on. I’m not really sure what’s happened to him over the last two years, but based on his reactions to many simple things, I can tell you that at least some of it, wasn’t good.

Friday I saddle Cool up again for a quick hack while the baby slept. I’ve been tying to the horse trailer lately and tacking up out by the pasture since the weather has been so nice this week that the horses have spent almost all their time outside. Of course, I already had the bridle on by the time that I realized I had left Cools hoof boots in the barn. We went sans hoof boot for the first time in almost two months and I’m happy to say that he was *almost* sound. Sound enough to ride, but not 100% his usual self. We cantered a couple courses of poles and worked on moving his shoulder and the trot to free us his body movement more. He only tried to dump me off once so all in all, it was a good ride.

Today was Johnny day since my friend Dee (who was INSTRUMENTAL in Johnny, well you know, living last week) drove up to see him/work with him. As far as I’m concerned, with everything Dee has done for us the last couple weeks, Johnny is just as much hers as mine. (In fact, I made his stall name tags today since we FINALLY got a real stall put up for him. I listed her name along with mine as his owner.). We wanted to play around with saddle fit with him today and had plans to ride him a little but those quickly changed once we got him going. Poor Johnny is a basket case to ride now...I have no idea what’s happened to him but my guess is that he’s been yanked around in too strong a bit and ridden in an ill fitting saddle. His back muscle is non-existent, leaving his spine and a huge pair of shark fin withers vulnerable. I have a feeling that whatever saddle he was ridden in, it was sitting in his withers. In the end, we nixed riding him all together for the next few weeks, save for possible taking him out in the pasture to walk up and down some hills because holy loose stifles. I feel like I’m starting all over again with him...except that he’s significantly older now and phenomenally more lame. It makes me both frustrated, sad and guilty all at the same time that I’ve let so much terrible shit happen to him. Today we ended up just letting him trot around on the lunge line with the saddle on and then added a very loose pair of side reins. He’s quite lame tracking left, especially with pressure on his face. I have the massuse scheduled to come see him on the 10th of this month, and while I know it won’t magically make him better, I’m sure that it will help at least a little. I can’t bring myself to just throw up my hands and retire him...when I look at him, I see a horse that very badly wants to still have a job. It hurts my soul.

For now, he’s tucked into his stall after spending some time in Cool’s back on track hock wraps, with two grams of bute and four standing wraps. Tomorrow I’m (hopefully) having a little eq lesson on Cool with my friend Sonj.

Until next time,

Peace.Love.Ponies.

For The Love of a Horse

I’m sorry that I’ve been MIA this past week but shit, what a week it’s been.

Last Tuesday, I got a call from my neighbor who has Johnny up the road. She was calling to tell me that Johnny had been choking since breakfast that morning (it was now 6:00 in the evening) and that he wasn’t doing well. I suggested that it was time to call the vet, to which she simply stated that she could not afford.

The rest is a phenomenally long story, that at this point, I’m just tired of telling and don’t feel right relaying over the internet, but I will say this: through the help and generosity of some AMAZING friends of mine, Johnny was able to receive medical treatment the following morning, and by that evening he was back at my house, safe and sound and ready to start his long road to recovery.

Over the years, my husband has asked me time and time again why I go out of my way to help people who don’t always seem like they might reciprocate. My answer to him has always been the same; someday I hope, that when I need it most, those people will come through for me.

And they did. Every single one of them.

Keep spreading your goodness throughout this world my friends, karma is a thing. Those people that you helped will be there for you. And I thank God every day that they were, because without them, Johnny would not be here today.

Peace.Love.Ponies.

Progress

Back to back rides on Coolie yesterday and today. Hubs was home early which gave me an opportunity to ride today that I probably wouldn’t have had otherwise. The forecast is also calling for rain the next few days as Hurricane Florence makes its way to our state (which is crazy in itself because I live in OHIO) so I figured that I had better take any chance that I had to get some ride time in on Coolie. Not only does my sanity require adequate horse time, but I’m also working really hard at getting his mind and body healthy. The only way to fix his feet is to ride in his pads and stimulate the parts of his feet that he normally wouldn’t use. The only way to fix his brain for him to realize that riding doesn’t cause pain. And the only way to fix his body is for his brain to stop going into overload and shutting down when he thinks he can’t do something because he’s sore. So really, it all comes back to riding. The more pain free, positive riding experiences we can have, the sooner he can begin to heal.

It was already starting to sprinkle rain drops so I quickly got Cool saddled and booted and headed out to the arena. My plan today was to give Cool a break from going ‘round and ‘round in circles and scatter some poles around the arena to ride like a “jump course.” I really am trying to get better about not boring him to death with “arena work” because it seems like he really gets sour of flatting all the time. Since he’s a pain in the ass about walking with me while I set poles, I tied the reins of his hackamore up over his head and let him trim the grass on the edge of the ring while I went to work setting. I used my four freshly (spray)painted jumper poles and set up a single on the quarter line, a diagonal one stride and a diagonal single. My ring is fairly small, so it’s pretty hard to set poles at much more than three/four strides or so in any given direction. I figured that today I would keep the poles all fairly close towards the center of the ring and give Cool lots of room to turn and make his approach since I was just planning on trotting this “course” today anyway.

We warmed up fairly quickly since Cool had just come in from turnout and therefore was already pretty loose at the walk. He was a little behind my leg to start but felt sound, and once he realized that we were doing pole work he brightened right up and off he went! We trotted a few single poles to start off and then I put together a little course both directions. As soon as he realized that we were turning these single poles into something that resembled a jump course, Cool was READY to go! He ended up rushing at a couple of the poles and taking a little jump over them to land in canter on the backside. Some people might think that undesirable in a horse but I was pleased as hell that Cool was feeling good enough and happy enough that he WANTED to jump and canter. I worked very hard on keeping with the rhythm of his trot on approach and just going with whatever decision he made, whether it be trot or canter on the backside. This required that I kept my leg soft and that I stayed down in my heel - something that I’ve really been sucking with as of late. Today was better though, so I’m pleased with that! I also made sure to keep my hand low and forward during our ride. I have a terrible habit of raising my hand and pulling a couple strides out. It’s a habit that’s literlly plagued me my whole life but seems exponentially worse when I ride Cool. Overall though, I was really pleased with our ride and after a couple little “courses” and a nice stretchy trot I called it a day and took Cool for a walk over to the apple tree to pick out his post-workout treat 😂 Stupid I know, but it gets him out of the arena and keeps him happy so I’m ok with it. I like to think of it as our little bonding time after working.

So far, the rain has held off so I’ll be headed back outside shortly (the baby is napping YAY) to let the ponies back outside to stretch and walk and enjoy the (MUCH) cooler temps today.

The Coolie today after his rockstar ride 

Until next time!

Peace.Love.Ponies.

Simplicity

After trying several times without success yesterday, I FINALLY got both horses ridden today.

Cool came out of his stall still somewhat sour looking, but seemed to have a much better attitude once he realized that I was going to put his hoof boots on him. I really do think that he likes his special Dr. Schols!
Killian sat ringside in the Pack-N-Play while I rode Cool. He cried for a little while but finally just gave up and sat there playing with some toys and occasionally standing up to watch me. As far as riding goes with Killian awake, I would say it went pretty well!

I had set some trot poles earlier in the morning for my rides - a single pole on the quarter line on one long side of the ring and three trot poles (spaced about 4ft apart) on the other long side quarter line. My plan was to work both horses over them but in reality, I didn't do any thing more then walk over them.

Cool felt good coming out of his stall and he trotted off pretty dang sound in his boots. He was quite lazy at first, which sometimes can be an indication of pain for him, so I warmed up nice and slow with him and was careful not to pull on his face or clamp my legs on his sides (both things he hates and things that I'm working on!) I've been riding him in the hackamore lately and I really think that its been a good thing for him. I will probably continue to ride in it for most of the fall/winter, especially for jumping. We just did a very easy ride today; walk and trot with a few canters each direction (mainly just down the long sides.) To the left today, he did throw the wrong lead then first time I asked him to canter, but then did not give me any trouble again. His canter to the right however was GLORIOUS. Reading back through this blog has really inspired me to re-connect with my equitation roots and be a better, more effective and less obstructive, rider. Lately, I've been working really hard at keeping my leg down and soft around Cool's side. He's so often behind the leg that I've gotten in a terrible habit or raking my heel up against his side and turning my toe out way to far. Its a problem that I've been working in earnest to remedy and I think that Cool is appreciative because he's been much happier under saddle. For the first time in a very long time today I was able to really sit and stay with his canter to the right. It was uphill and energetic! The left lead will require more work since its Cool's bad direction, but I have no doubt that it will iron itself out.

My hoof pad combination is still a solid win as far as Coolie is concerned. He seems pretty happy in his boots and pads! The farrier is coming Thursday to see everyone again for a trim.

After my ride on Cool I took Emmy for a quick spin. She was a little wild for an old lady and most DEFINITELY HATES the hackamore. Guess its just the plain ol' bit for Emmy these days!

Everyone is spending tonight out in the pasture. The daytime temps have been in the upper eightys/low nineties (PLUS mega humidity) this past week - its been miserable for my poor ponies and not conducive to much riding for me. I've decided that I am for sure scratching Sweetwater's Combined Test off our schedule for the end of this month. Cool hasn't jumped in forever and with his recent lameness issues I'd rather not push it. Instead, we are taking this month and half of next month to get back to the simple basics of riding. And I'll tell you what, I really feel good doing it.

Peace.Love.Ponies.

Magic "Shoes"

Yesterday I dragged Killian and Cool over to a local boarding barn to give Cool a proper test ride in his new "shoes." My childhood best friend C met me at the barn. She was going to put a ride on another horse in the stable while I rode Cool. We rolled out of our farm ahead of schedule for once, jumped on the highway and made the 25 minute drive (I know, right? Yes that's "local" around here) over to the barn that I boarded Johnny and Emmy at while I was in college.

Cool unloaded surprisingly well. He lived at this barn for a couple years when we first bought him and I periodically haul him there for indoor riding or wash stall use when the weather is bad, but Coolie being Coolie...you just never know what kind of horse is going to unload of the trailer. Hes that horse at horse shows. You know, the one that gets of the trailer screaming and come blowing into the arena to hand walk like he just got shot out of a cannon. The one that's practicing his levade while other horses are quietly loping around on lunge lines. It never fails that at least one person (usually whoever dares to come near him) either makes some type of comment ("Really feeling his oats this morning, eh?") or asks me if I'd like to borrow a lunge line. I just shake my head and laugh and keep levading around the arena. After about 15 minutes of stupid, the Lipizzaner tires himself out and Cool goes back to the trailer for his mid-morning snooze. Its been like this since the beginning of time with him - its just who he is.

Needless to say, I was both pleased and surprised to un-load a lazy horse at the barn yesterday. I turned him out in the arena while I unloaded Killian and my tack, and Cool promptly hung his head over the fence and went to sleep. C arrived shortly after and got a friend's horse ready to ride.

In general one-year-old fashion, Killian refused to sit quietly for anyone but me, so in the end, with daylight fading fast, I took the reins from C's horse and just had her jump on Cool. It seemed like a good idea for me to watch him go anyway, and to have a fresh set of eyes on his back to tell me how it felt in the saddle.

C put him through his paces at the trot both directions of the ring, making a couple nice wide circles and sweeping turns. Cool took a couple bad steps here and there, but overall...dare I say it...he looked pretty damn sound. I was beyond pleased! After a few laps of trot in each direction and darkness creeping over the outdoor arena, I waved C back over to the gate and told her that it was fine to get off. I'm so thrilled with the fact that Cool is sound! And yet terrified to ask too much of him and push him too hard at the same time.

Today, Cool had the day off to rest, but tomorrow my other friend S and I are having a "pony date," and shes offered to video Cool for me. I will try to get some before and after videos posted!

As for me, I'm exhausted and off to bed.

Peace.Love.Ponies.

Getting Back His Dancing Feet

I've been meaning all day to sit down and write this post - it's now 11pm and everyone is asleep, so I finally have time to do it!

Cool's new Easy Boot hoof pads arrived yesterday! If you've read any of my last couple posts, you've probably heard me mention Pete Ramey before. If you have a foundered or navicular horse and are considering trying the barefoot route, Pete is your man. He maintains a website (www.hoofrehab.com) that is so jammed-packed with priceless information you'll be lost for days reading about all of what he does. After which, you will promptly feel like the WORLDS WORST HORSE OWNER because my god it all makes sense and why were you not smart enough to figure this out before?

I could go into detail about "Pete's way" but it would literally take me hours to write and days for you to read, so let me give you my very fancy (not) abridged version of what Mr. Ramey has come up with and applied to (literally) hundreds of "hopelessly lame" horses with success.

In Pete's philosophy (we're gonna call that PP for the sake of me not having to keep spelling 'philosophy') all of the problems with the horses foot start long before he ever takes a lame step. The biggest disservice that we ever do to our horses is to not allow the hoof to develop properly from the time the horse is young. We shoe young horses too early, we keep them on soft footing, and we never allow the hoof capsule and all of the internal structures to be exposed to the pressures necessary for developing a structurally sound foot. Because of this, the horse becomes sore, so we further protect the foot with pads, etc. and the vicious cycle continues. The internal structures of the foot never properly develop for the type of work that we ask the horse to do. We leave our horses heels too long, and their feet too stood up, forcing them to land "toe first" (from the perspective of the internal structures of the foot, the bones, ligaments, etc.) The back part of the foot (the heels) fall out of use and become even more sore, so we add wedges and more pads to make the horse comfortable, even further damaging the internal structures (I could go on, but you get the idea).

Sometimes though, the horse stops using the back of the foot due to conformation, mechanical issues, or even a soft tissue injury that goes unnoticed. Whatever it is that makes the horse "heel sore" starts the process of the toe first landing. The more we try to raise the heels of the horse though "corrective shoeing" the more we actual damage the internal structures of the foot, After a while, the horse can no longer be made comfortable and is put down. (Click HERE to read the full article, I really don't do it justice)

In PP, Mr. Ramey works to bring the horses heels (and sometimes the frogs) BACK into their proper function through a combination of hoof boots and pads while the horse is ridden  (read more about this by clicking HERE) The idea of the pad is to gently stimulate the "damage" areas of the foot through a system of pressure/release as the horse walks, not just constant pressure as with a wedge shoe. In Pete's mind, the reason that horses become "pasture sound" but are lame with a rider up, is because the horse's hoof gets a chance to heal in when the horse is left alone in the pasture. The problem is that the concussion put on the foot in the arena (or when ridden) is totally different then the concussion and vibration that the foot receives as the horse meanders around all day. PP is that, if you want the horse sound for riding, you have to heal the horse while its being ridden.

(There are also a whole slew of articles on this site regarding feeding practices and how they affect the health of the horse's foot - do yourself a favor and read those too. Actually, just read the whole site and thank me later)

So, I did as my guru Petey said, and I ordered two sets of hoof boot pads from Easy Boot Inc. Cool does not have Easy Boots, he wears Cavallo boots, but I figured that a pad was a pad so I took a chance for $14.99.

Next came the daunting process of figuring out just what pad combination he needed. Since I am no Pete Ramey, just a young adult fumbling through this on her own with the help of an iPad and a website, I wasn't really sure how to go about this, and I wasnt 100% sure what I was supposed to even be looking for. Was my horse supposed to magically become sound? (P.S. he's been lame for the last month)Was he supposed to just look better? Would nothing actually change except the mechanics of his stride?

I started with a soft density full pad. I duct taped the entire thing inside his hoof boot, put it on him, and held my breath. We jogged off across the grass, me dragging a reluctant Cool behind me....still lame.

My next idea was to try just a frog pad. Using the extra material from trimming the full pad down to size, I cut two frog shaped pads, took a roll of duct tape, and taped them to Cool's feet over his frog. (Good ol' Petey says that some horses need more frog stimulation/cushion depending on how their feet are shaped)
Cool tripped walking back out of the barn. Great.... I thought to myself, this is already a lost cause. 

Except that then I asked Cool to trot. And he about RAN ME OVER. All of the sudden, my horse was plowing past me and I found myself digging my heels into the ground and calling for him to PLEASE SLOW DOWN. Actually, come to think of it, he didnt look half bad running past me either.

I took him back to the barn and stopped to think. Untaping the frog pads from his feet, I retaped them ON TOP of the full pads that were already in his boots, slid the boots on, and went back into the grass for a trot.

The second I clucked to Cool he EXPLODED. And I mean exploded. Neck arched, prancing, blowing and all but leaping on the end of the lead. My god horse...two hoof pads ago I had to DRAG you out of the barn! I took him into the arena and jogged him on the sand.

Could it be? Was it true? Did he actually look sound????

This was precisely the point where Killian woke up from his nap and started crying. So the experimenting was done for one day. That night, I took a chance. Cut two more frog pads, taped them to his feet followed by wrapping his hoof with vet wrap, and turned him out.

This morning, he came in for breakfast and looked great walking! I undid his feet to let them breathe and got ready to ride during Killian's nap.

Our "ride" consisted of a nice long walk up and down the hills in the pasture (varied terrain to promote lots of foot twisting and movement) followed by a short walk down the road (frog stimulation) and then two long sides of trot each direction in the sand ring (working the foot). All the while Cool wore his boots with a full and frog pad. He never took a bad step. I would have called that horse 98% cured.

We called it a day after our short "boot session." I have plans tomorrow to haul Cool to a local indoor riding ring with a friend and try these boots out on some "real" footing. I'm also hoping for some video! After our ride, I did remove the boots and turn him out naked...the difference in the way he walked to the pasture was astounding. He looked terrible! Its been so long since I've actually seen him comfortable that I think I've actually forgotten what it looks like! Yikes!

More on this tomorrow....for now, sleep time!

As always,

Peace.Love.Ponies.

New Beginnings

Rock bottom will teach you lessons that mountain tops never will.
[Word  Porn]

Two days ago, I sat quietly in the barn, late at night, sobbing silently into the neck of my oldest, most cherished friend Emmy.

It had been a week from hell. Between lame horses, a non-stop crabbing, crying baby, and feeling like a single mother in the face of my husband working long, late hours, I'd had enough.

Yep, you read that right. I said "baby."
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Three years ago I sat down and wrote my last post regarding my barefoot journey with both Cool and Johnny. Since then, both horses have come back to fairly successful soundness. Its been a never ending journey with its fair share of ups and downs. Some days are better than others for Cool, but somehow, I do still manage to ride a little.

Two years ago Johnny moved 1.5 miles down the road to my neighbors house. She's loved and trail ridden him ever since then, but just last week, her world came crashing down a little, and there is now a very distinct possibility that Johnny will be coming back to our farm in the next several months. When/if he does, it will be for good this time. I'm never letting him leave again <3 p="">
Two years ago, my husband and I also found out that we were expecting our first child. Killian was born in June 2017 and just celebrated his first birthday a few months ago.
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Anyway, there I was, crying into the neck of thirty-one year old Emmy just like I had done so many times before in our relationship. Cool was in the stall next to her, he stuck his head over the divider wall and lipped at my hair, breathing warm muffled breaths into my ear. It was like being surrounded by the arms of my best friends. And in that moment, I suddenly thought about Johnny and I suddenly thought about this blog.

After a while, I wiped the tears away, fed my horses cookies and went back into the house. Killian was sleeping peacefully in his crib and I crept into his room, sat down in the arm chair in the corner and pulled out my phone. I found this blog on the internet and started at the beginning.

It took me two days to read the blog from start to finish. Part of me can't believe that its been almost TEN years since I first put finger tips to computer keys and began documenting my horse journey. I sat up late into the night and read about Johnny, about my college days, my horse shows and IHSA, I laughed. I cried. I cringed a couple times at my own childish stupidity.

But it was exactly what I needed. A trip down memory lane...a reconnection to my past...I'm not exactly sure, but it healed my heart in a way that I can't quiet explain.

Tonight, I put my baby to bed, went out into the barn and hugged and kissed both of my horses. This past year has been all about getting back to the simplicity of what brought me to this point in my life to begin with: my love of horses, but what I really needed, I think, was a swift kick in the pants. I needed my own words to steer me out of the darkness and back into the light.

Sometimes, life gets us down. And that's okay. The most important thing is getting back up. So here I am, picking myself back up off the ground, and looking to the sky. And part of that, is getting back to writing again. So I'm cracking my fingers, shaking off the dust, and getting back at it.

As always,

Peace.Love.Ponies.