Looking Back: A Year in Photographs

Can you believe it? Its actually been almost exactly a year since my last post...what a crazy, unthinkable, awful thing for me to have walked away from this blog for such a long time.

I was thinking about this blog today while cleaning my horses stalls, which is what made me come back to it to begin with. Scrolling through my hundreds of old posts, I realized something; there is history here. Not just mine, but the history of my horses, my life, my thoughts and my adventures. Its a timeline that I truly cherish.

Looking back through the hundreds of posts and photographs made me a little sad. Its like looking back through vacation pictures and wishing that you had spent more time appreciating the beach that you were sitting on, and yet all the while knowing that those moments are long gone and all that you have left of them are the memories, words and photographs that you used to document that time. I miss having no responsibilities really, living the "college" life that we all thought was so hard, until we hit the "real" world that actually was! The past year has been a whirl-wind, with my wedding and a few horse shows...trying to adjust to a new type of life being an adult and a wife!

There is far too much to document in words, therefore, sit back and enjoy as I sum up my year in photographs. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words, right?

Peace.Love.Ponies.

Summer Plans

This summer has started off so crappy and I'm hoping that it will finally turn around soon instead of getting worse. There seem to be some promising signs...

For starters, it finally stopped raining this week, but wouldn't you know that Johnny threw a shoe? Of course he did, because last week when the weather sucked, he kept them on, and now that it's sunny and 85 degrees he throws them off! He lost it over the weekend (Sunday I believe) and my farrier finally came out tonight to tack it back on :) Tomorrow, we are going riding!

I did get on him today and walk him around a bit. I wrapped his foot up and kept him on the grass as much as I could. Yesterday I went to the tack shop and bought him a big pair of bell boots and a mechanical hackamore. I've heard that sometimes STBs go well in them because they can't lean on the bit (since there isn't one!) lol. That's the main reason why I got on him today...I wanted to try it out! I think it will work just fine, although I do like his neck stretcher the best I think. I've got 3 bridles for him now that we can rotate through to target specific problems...I feel like his training equipment is finally complete!

And speaking of training, I am attempting to put together a summer show schedule for him (and potentially Emmy but I'm not making any real plans for her...getting my hopes up would just upset me more). I'm still waiting on the dates for a couple of shows but here's what it's looking like so far (unfortunately I can only show on Saturdays because of work!)


JUNE
    12 - SCSHA Open Show - Tallmadge, OH
    26 - Chagrin Valley Farms Hunter Schooling Show - Chagrin Falls, OH

JULY
    9 - Chagrin Valley Hunter Jumper Classic (Opening Weekend - Friday) - Chagrin Falls, OH
   17 - SCSHA Open Show - Tallmadge, OH

AUGUST
    1 - Brecksville Kiwanis Horse Show (Sunday) - Brecksville, OH
   14 - SCSHA Open Show - Tallmadge, OH

There may be some mini trials and/or hunter paces to add to this, but for the most part I plan on picking around 2 shows a month to try and get to...budget permitting! The nice thing about all of these shows is that (aside from the Classic) they are relatively inexpensive to attend...especially the SCSHA ones, those are quite reasonable! The Classic is kind of our "big bang" of the year...hopefully Johnny will be ready for it!

Here are our show goals for each month:
JUNE - To stand quietly and obediently for showmanship at SCSHA, to complete a trail class and enter our first three gait flat class! Our goal at the Chagrin Schooling show is to compete in the Adult 2' class and canter the jumps on both leads! If all went well at the SCSHA show, then we will enter the flat classes and complete our first hunter division.
JULY -  The goal for the CVHJC is to compete in an entire division at three gaits (maybe even win a ribbon?) It doesn't matter what division to me...probably something low, but I just want him to do the whole thing! The goal for SCSHA this month is to compete in the Hunter Hack and brush up some more on our flat classes.
AUGUST - This is a big one...by August I would LOVE for him to be coarsing 2'6" in time for the Lows at the Kiwanis show. Of course, I'm not going to push him if he isn't ready, but as long as he's jumping well of the right lead it shouldn't be a problem! If not, we will compete (illegally lol) in the Children's Hunters (it's not a rated show...no one knows or cares lol). The goal for SCSHA is to win a ribbon in a three gait flat class and maybe a year end award? That would be great! Also to place well in showmanship!

Hopefully it will all work out!

In Emmy news...well, there really isn't. She's been on SMZs now for 5 days (tomorrow will be day 6) and there really has been no change in her. My farrier took a peek at her today and he thinks it might be soft tissue damage (tendon, ligament, etc...) I'm hoping for a minor, minor bone problem if anything...those heal faster than soft tissues! The vet is coming Thursday at 2:00pm...I will definitely update you all after! Until then, keep your fingers crossed PLEASE.

Peace.Love.Ponies.

  

Some News...

So Thursday I finally broke down and called the vet.

Tuesday Emmy's leg had looked so good after her long walk...it was actually starting to almost look slightly normal again, but the next morning it was blown up like a balloon, literally back to what it had looked like when she first came in with it from the field on day one. We were 5 days into the healing process and nothing was making any real progress.

My first step was to just talk to the vet. I called the vet office and left a message with the secretary for our vet to give me a call when she had a chance. She finally called that evening as I was driving home from work. I told her, in great detail, all of the symptoms and what I had done with her thus far. She gave me 4 possibilities based on what I could tell her, without her actually seeing the leg. They were 1) a localized infection from a minuscule puncture that you can't even see, 2) a really bad bone bruise, 3) although it's uncommon in older horses, a popped splint or 4) a broken or fractured splint bone. Oh dear.

We discussed, for a long time, the possibilities, how to treat them, the financial aspects of the injury and what to do next. I like this vet a lot because she's very down to earth with the whole thing...she never tries to push you into getting something you don't need and she is very conscious about the costs of things. Not that I'm a cheap person, but I am a college student with two horses which I pay for myself, a bank account which is running low, and a hefty paycheck which I haven't yet received. As much as I would like to, I can't just start x-raying and ultra sounding everything to find the problem. If it comes down to it, then yes, I will do all of those things, but first I want to eliminate what I can on my own.

Here is the plan: We started Emmy on 10 SMZ's morning and night for 7 days. Our first attempt is to fight a possible infection that could be brewing in the leg. I started the antibiotics Thursday and scheduled an actual vet appointment for the following Thursday (7 days from the SMZ start.) I told the office that I wanted a physical examination and possibly x-rays if the vet thinks it's necessary when she looks at the leg. This seems to work out the best for everyone. The vet gave me to go ahead to start the antibiotics myself, and so the idea is that I can eliminate a possibility and only pay for one farm call. Rather than having the vet come, prescribe antibiotics, wait 7 days and have it not work, then come again to x-ray, I started the meds myself and made one vet appointment for further investigative work. If the antibiotics work, and the leg gets better, then she most likely had a localized infection and I can cancel the vet appointment. If nothing changes with the meds, then the appointment is set up for the vet to come and do a physical exam and take x-rays.

My biggest fear is that Emmy may have broken/fractured her splint bone, something that a horse can do and still be totally sound (trust me, I asked the vet all about this one...) My understanding of it is that the splint bone, in an adult horse, is a non-weight bearing structure because it fuses as the horse ages (this is why older horses don't generally "pop" splints.) Because of this, a horse can fracture or break it and (especially if it doesn't interfere with the suspensory ligament) still be totally sound when trotted in a straight line (which is all we've done thus far.) Lameness in a "sound" horse with a broken splint bone sometimes won't show up until the horse is worked or lunged on a circle, neither of which I can do right now because all we have had for the past two weeks is thunderstorm after thunderstorm and the ground is totally saturated and sloppy. If the break is in the distal end of the bone and interferes with the suspensory ligament, surgery is required to actually remove the bottom part of the bone. Horses usually recover from this in about 30 days. If the break/fracture is higher up in the proximal end of the bone, surgery usually isn't require unless there is a chance of damaging the suspensory with bone fragments. If the bone has shifted though, the break is more complicated and surgery is required to put screws in the leg, again, so the bone won't damage the suspensory. Hopefully, this is not the case with Emmy. She's far too old to even undergo a simple surgical procedure and to be quite frank, I don't have the money to do it. We got her when she was already 16 so we never insured her because my dad didn't think it was worth it at her age, so anything we pay would have to come out of pocket. If this is the case, I have no idea what I would do...probably have no choice but to retire her as a riding horse :( I'm trying not to think too far into it thought. I'm taking this one day at a time, focusing on one potential possibility at a time, hoping for the best but yet starting to prep myself for the worst.

What concerns me about the whole thing is that, in all of my dealings with Emmy (and trust me...this horse is like a walking accident. I should have just gone to vet school because she hurts herself so much that I'm practically half way there already) I've never NOT been able to control swelling. I can't even tell you how many times she's done dumb things like kicked her leg through a wall, ran into a fence, tear her entire shoulder open, get her head stuck in a hay manger, strain her suspensory...I mean seriously, I've treated so many different injuries that it's practically routine (although in the past few years she's mellowed out and only had maybe 2 or 3) and yet I have never encountered something that I couldn't fix. Despite all of the trouble she has gotten herself into, I've always been able to fix it...and I can't fix it this time. No matter what I've done thus far, her leg hasn't really gotten any better. It has been one week today since she did it and the swelling has BARELY gone down. A whole week and despite the cold hosing, hand walking, bute, poultice, wraps...everything I've tried hasn't made a difference at all.

That's what worries me. The thought that maybe this isn't working because it's something I've never dealt with before...and out of the list that the vet gave me, the only things I've never had her do is break a bone and get an infection.

Let's hope these SMZ's work.

Peace.Love.Ponies.

P.S. Keep and eye out for an update about Johnny soon. I have to say I've been neglecting him a bit (as far as riding and training goes, not general care!) between the rain and Emmy being hurt :(

A Long Week...and a LONG Post!

(This is a SUPER long post...but bear with me...it's a good one)

I started back up at work this week and it's been an overall long week. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my job, but there is no real easy way to ease back into the hype of a national level hunter show barn...it's like a river, you just have to jump back in and hope that the current doesn't sweep you away!

This morning I was up at 4:00am to head over Chagrin for the horse show. We've had 10 horses gone all week, but yesterday we shipped out 8 more ponies to add to those ten which were already at the show and so an extra hand was needed! Last year, I spent the entire summer on the road grooming, but this year I've stayed behind to help out at home. There are pros and cons to all of this really, I LOVE having set hours to my work day at home, and I get to ride more, but I really also love the atmosphere of horse shows! I love watching everyone, I love getting the horses ready, I love setting fences and polishing boots...when people ask me why on earth I would want to be a show groom (its so much work!) I tell them that a) it pays well, b) I get to meet all sorts of amazing people and professionals in the industry and c) I just really love horse shows! Most of the time it doesn't feel like a job!

Today was just a tiring end to a long week. By the days end, I had cleaned 22 stalls, groomed/unwrapped 17 horses, ridden two ponies, set feed and fed dinner. Whew! The stalls was what really got me, I don't mind cleaning them at all, but at Chagrin, the manure pit is allllllll the way outside the other end of the barn (and it's a BIG barn) The worst part (and the most time consuming) was just walking there! Not to mention the fact that it was POURING rain and horribly windy (up to 70 mile and hour gusts at times!) Chagrin is usually all indoors (like I said, its a MASSIVE facility) but for the rated shows the fill up the indoor warm up and arena with stalls and show in three big outdoor rings, which are fabulous on a nice sunny spring day. Unfortunately, today was not that day. The show rings themselves weren't too bad, but the hunter warm up ring was under water and we almost scratched all of our entries until we got clearance to school with the jumpers. The jumper warm up is on higher ground and isn't nearly as wet. Because of the winds though, the entire show became a little bit about "survival of the fittest" or in other terms, who can get around the jumps without their horse freaking out as the flower boxes blow over. All of the pony classes got canceled and moved to tomorrow. As wise decision really...our ponies are great but we really didn't want any of our short stirrup riders dying!

In other news, Emmy and Johnny have both been really good this week! Johnny was HORRIBLE the first time I rode him after we got home from school and I layed into him pretty bad. It wasn't even that he was bad to be ridden...he was just FREAKING out about everything (not in a scared way...in an I-don't-want-to-leave-my-friends kind of way). I brought him in from the pasture to ride him and he was screaming his head off and trying to spin around in the cross ties (to go where, I don't know...) I don't mind him whinnying and I tried to be nice at first and soothe his frazzled nerves, but the situation eventually went from ruffled feathers to down right rude and dangerous. When I went to lay his baby pad on his back he REARED in the cross ties while whinnying to Emmy (who wasn't helping because she was whinnying back) and then tried to spin in circles again. When he couldn't because of the cross ties, he reared again! WHAT THE HECK? He's never EVER been like this before! I barely got him saddled before he CHARGED out of the barn, nearly knocking me down, and then I had to practically do a running mount onto his back because he was rearing at the mounting block. I took him on trail and thought that he might calm down once he was away from everyone, and he did stop whinnying, but he was jigging something awful so I let him trot almost immediately and before I knew it we were full out running down the back drive. I let him do it, thinking that we would run once and be done, but nooooo way....I held on while that horse for half an hour back and forth until he was quiet, brought him back to the barn dripping with sweat, only to have him start the same stuff once we were back by the other horses. Trying to hose him off was a nightmare...he was trampling me and spinning in circles some more. He was completely ignoring me...he could have cared less that I was mad at him. I finally just gave up and took him for a walk out on the trails. When we got into the field behind the woods he practically ripped the lead rope out of my hand diving for grass. I yanked his head back up, shanked him and backed him up and then made him stand until I let him go, and then I just sat down and cried.

I've got all the patience in the world for horses...I'm never mean or aggressive unless I have to be, but never in all my 12 years of riding have I ever felt as frustrated and angry as I was that night. I cried until Johnny was dry and the sky was turning dark, then I took him back to the barn, fed him a cookie and groomed him until his coat was glossy, told him he was rotten, but apologized anyway for being mad at him, put him away and went home, deflated, dejected and in a terrible mood. What do I do? Make both of our lives easier and just not ride him when the other horses are out? What is that teaching him though? That he can get away with being bad, right? But trying to work him when he's in a tizzy gets us no where either...what a double edged sword this one is, huh?

The next day the weather-man was calling for storms. The rain held off all day, but by the time I got home from work, the dark clouds were gathering and thunder was starting to rumble off in the distance. M was in the barn mixing feed for dinner and I told her to hold Johnny's because we had some unfinished business. I brushed him down as quick as I could, wrapped his legs and put on his surcingle. We went up to the top part of the field where the ground is flattest and the footing is the best. The air was thick and heavy with the approaching rain but I Johnny and I had to work this out. He took off trotting before I even had my lunge line organize. After a few warm up laps in each direction, I stopped him, attached his side reins and sent him off again. I've always kept his side reins pretty loose to avoid making him feel trapped (I knew a girl who put side reins on her horse for the first time and didn't adjust them properly. Her horse hit the end of them, freaked out, reared and flipped over into the arena wall (which was cinder block) hit his head and was instantly neurological. He lived for three days.) since working on the contact is still fairly new to him. For the first time ever, he got mad when he felt the side reins, he took off bucking and leaping for a lap before stretching into them. We lunged both directions for almost 30 minutes (wayyy longer then I ever do) until the first streaks of lightning shot across the sky. When he wanted to stop I drove him on...it was essentially round-penning on a lunge line. When I dropped the line he turned to face me, ears pricked, nostrils blowing.

He's been a perfect angel ever since.

The next day I rode him again and this time set up a jump to work some more of his energy out and to let him do something he really enjoys. The second he saw it he wanted to charge at it, but I made him wait when he wanted to go long the first time. I set the warm up fence as a small cross rail, but finally got off and made it a vertical, probably around 2'3". He jumped it perfect every time! (See my previous post titled "When In Doubt") It seems that our problems are behind us for the moment. I gave him yesterday off and the rain has unfortunately kept up all day today, so he might be super fresh tomorrow...we will see!

Yesterday I did the same exercise with Emmy. She was also raring to go and was FLYING over the jumps! I love riding her because she and I have had so much time to build a relationship that we are just so in tune with one another...I can get whatever distance I want on that horse; short, long, perfect...whatever I tell her she will do. It's such an amazing feeling! The thing people have trouble with on her, is the fact that you HAVE to tell her where the distance is, otherwise she makes up her own (especially when she's fresh like she was yesterday) and it's not always very pretty. I'm sure that, if she were jumping loose without a rider, her distance would look beautiful and her form would be perfect no matter where she chose to leave the ground from, but it's us riders that screw her up. We make our horses jobs harder!

Tomorrow is Mother's Day and I've got the day off work...but not really. Lol. I still have to get up and change my horses blankets before they go out in the morning, then come back later and clean stalls and hopefully take Johnny for a hack if it's not too muddy? For now though, it's time for bed!

Peace.Love.Ponies.

Dopping a line...

Sorry for the lack of updates. I've been having a bit of a personal catastrophe lately but I just wanted to stop by to say that Emmy AND Johnny are both shipping back to college after winter break. Dad, who has been cleaning her stall and taking care of her, majorly threw his back out last night and therefore can't clean the stall for a while so we decided to send her with me for a few months until he's back on his feet. The vet is coming tomorrow to pull a new coggins for her and the stall is already arranged and set up at the barn!

Johnny, in other news, has been thoroughly enjoying his time off! I think he is going to come back to school with a much fresher attitude after a month in the field!

More later.

Peace.Love.Ponies.

IHSA Show - Saturday

"Cuz the party don't start 'til I walk in..."

The IHSA show this weekend went really great! Our team rode EXCELLENT and M picked all of the right point riders because Saturday we ended with almost a perfect team score...49 points, over 15 points ahead of any of the other teams. I just so happened to draw a gelding that is part of my Hunter class ride string, so I was really familiar with how to ride him and (as my friend N told me) I "look really good on Cruz." He can be a bit of a spook and because of that, we've never used him before in IHSA, so I wasn't sure how he was going to be. During his first class (with another rider) one of the team banners fell, which sent him leaping sideways and his unsuspecting rider ended up in the dirt. My best friend C and I were running the barn, so I didn't get to see it, but it made me worry a little because I was the next rider on him. As we walked through the ingate, I used my forefinger to scratch his neck. He eyed the wall once (where the banner had fallen from) and then proceeded to be absolutly perfect for the rest of the class! Some of our downward transitions were a little abrupt, so going into the line up, I wasn't really sure how the placings were going to fall. There were 7 girls in the class and 6 ribbons to be had. I held my breath all the way until there were three riders and just two ribbons left. Second place was called. My heart was seriously beating in my ears. Had we really ridden that badly? The announcer came on and called first place...my number! My good little chestnut Throughbred pulled through and we won our Intermediate flat class!

More about Sunday to come!

Peace.Love.Ponies.

Lazy Week

Johnny and I have been taking it easy since the horse show. Monday and Tuesday he had off to just play and relax and then Wednesday I took him out for a little ride. He didn't quite seem himself...happy to be groomed and such, but he didn't really seem to want to be ridden. I didn't do much with him, just a little trotting and cantering to loosen him up. He wouldn't throw his right lead that day, which only furthered my suspicision that he was either a) still tired b) sore or c) a little bored and maybe sour from ring work. I took him for a little walk around the property to finish up.

Yesterday was a little bit of the same thing. T came up to ride Emmy and we decided to just forget ring work and take the horses for a nice long trail ride. We crossed the road and rode down a bit ot catch the trail up into the woods. It's my favorite ride...a nice wide trail that winds up the hill through the trees and comes out in an old corn field, which is now quite over grown. The path then winds back down the field to the road again where it catches a gravel path up the east side of the field and along the tree line. The whole thing makes one big loop and the majority of the trail is quite flat and grassy, with good footing. There are even a few logs set like in-and-outs to canter over. T and I just walked the horses for the most part, but we let then trot back through the grassy path, which excited both of them! Emmy was reliving her event horse days and was pretty convinced (despite the western saddle and bridle) that any moment now a coop would appear over the ridge. I could tell what she was thinking by the "big horse trot" that she was giving T. Johnny seemed to be thinking the same thing, and I had to frame him up considerably to keep him from getting too full of himself. I think that he definetly has a weakness either in his back, stifles, or hocks, because when he came onto the bit in his big trail trot he started to feel a little funny behind. After a walk break back to the barn, I trotted him up the grass in the side yard and he felt just fine. He threw both leads as well.

Just to see, I iced both his front legs (which I often do anyway) and then slapped a little poultice on all four, concentrating on his back ankles. I know all of his "normal" lumps and bumps from racing, but his left hind ankle seemed a little puffier to me after our ride. We'll see today if anything changes. I like to weed out problems, so that at least I might know whats NOT bothering him in order to find what is.

I also forgot to mention that I went to the doctor on wednesday and had my back FINALLY looked at (a year and a half after the fact...) I definetly have a vertibre that is sliding out of place and I have an order for at least 6 sessions of physical therapy before I go back to school (which is in 2 weeks...) They took 8 x-rays of my mid and lower back also...I should have the results of those by today. I will let you all know what I find out.

Peace.Love.Ponies.