A Weekend full of Horses

Friday Mort and I lunged in the field!  It was mentally and physically really hard for him.  Staying with me and focused on me was tough for him sometimes.  He really tried his best and I loved watching him trot and canter powerfully over the little hills (dat ass).  We had a few minor spooks and one major one (because the deer at the barn are the horse-eating variety).  He never left the premises completely and came back to work for me every time which was wonderful. 

Saturday a group of us barn folks got up early and drove to St. Louis to support/watch/shop for the Show Me Summit.  We had one horse and rider combo going in the Western Pleasure clinic.  Western is definitely the predominate discipline in this area, but I have never attended a western clinic.  The clinics are run a lot differently (like two hour slots with six to ten other riders and a lot of ‘down’ time listening to the clinician instruct others).  I wouldn’t have been a huge fan of waiting around on my horse, but watching it was fine as I was just there to watch and listen anyway.      

I am glad to see that western pleasure is really trying to get away from the ‘trope’ and get true canter strides again.  I don’t think that it’s enough yet—I still saw a bunch of horses see-sawing to keep their bodies moving—but I do think it’s a good start.  I doubt western pleasure will ever be my favorite to watch—I just can’t wrap my head around it being fun.  I guess that’s why it’s not what I ride and show. 

Some ponies will be slow, others will be fast, some will jump and others will prance.  Western isn’t my favorite, but I know plenty of people who don’t appreciate dressage.  I am a firm believer in thinking that every instructor can teach you something.  Maybe one of them had a cool exercise or pattern.  Maybe one had a new way to word the same old stuff that makes more sense to me.  Maybe one had an interesting insight on horse confirmation.  Maybe one is a great example of what I never want to do.  Overall it was fun to go and hang out and shop some. 

When we got back to the barn I just lightly lunged Mort.  Both because he had a hard day Friday and because Steven wanted to go hiking that afternoon (and I almost never say no to hiking).  He was particularly lazy, so it was short and sweet. 

Sunday the barn had 6 horse and rider pairs heading to a local show.  I stayed out of the way in the morning by sleeping in (or that’s my excuse).  I rode Mort and he was a good, steady boy.  Nothing particularly spectacular, but attentive and easy to adjust.  That made for a short-ish ride.  I decided to pull his mane with that ‘extra’ time.  I also broke my bridle (just the throatlatch keeper).  After that I headed to the show to help and play ‘horse show mom’ as needed—lots of holding horses and fixing braids.  Team ACS did really well and I think everyone had good aspects of their day—always good for early in the show season. 

Tonight Mort will get an easy ride or lunge.  We’re heading to a clinic tomorrow, so I’ll be packing the trailer and cleaning him to an acceptable level.  This will be my first overnight with Mort which is exciting.  I’m sure he’ll be a good boy and settle well like his normal self.

Back to the Grind

     On Monday Mort and I started in the field.  The field has rolling hills and a lot of open space—both great for mental and physical exercise.  We started with some big, forward walking around the perimeter (got to make sure all the scary things aren’t actually scary).  I played with some free-swinging trot around some of the perimeter after that.  That’s honestly about all I usually do out there since it’s hard to get him to focus.  But instead of heading back to the arena so soon I decided to try and play with some ‘real’ work. 

     We went to a fairly flat area that was big enough to get in an 18-meter circle.  I started with just a simple trot circle to the right (our better direction).  It was really tough to get him to focus and listen to me balance him on the slight incline and not to drift toward the way home.  We did a lot of half-halting and a couple of canter transitions (because leg=forward in the field).  He finally started to focus and let me balance him for the downhill portion while letting me help him maintain an even circle.  We even got a bit of canter (on purpose this time).  We then switched directions and had to do it all over again.  After all of that I played with some trot lengthenings.  He’s really starting to use those shoulders of his, but I’m not sure yet how it will translate to a dressage arena. 

     It rained Monday night into Tuesday so Mort was a muddy mess when I got him from turn-out last night (Tuesday).  I decided to give him a full scrubbing since he hasn’t had a good bath in a while due to it being winter (don’t tell the weather).  After he was sparkly and clean I lunged him.  At first he was for sure lunging me.  He does the same thing Emma (my pup) does after a bath which is bolt and bounce around.  There were moments where his hind legs were pogo-sticking together.  Ridiculous boy.  After he decided that was over he worked well for me on the lunge and we got to work on w/t/c over a pole. 

     After all of that he got brushed again (because the hair is really coming out) and I fed him.  My heart is sad that I know he’s probably already rolled today in turn-out (because he’s Mort), but I’m glad I got a go at all that winter scuzz.  

A Weekend With No Pony

     Ugh, it was a rough week last week.  I was battling being sick last week and Mort had a lot of time off. 

     I made it out to the barn on Friday evening and we did a short trail ride then worked in the arena.  He was OK.  I shouldn’t complain after so much time off, but he was reactive and inconsistent.  I’m sure I was riding like someone who felt sick so that probably wasn’t helping.  I had to drop a ton of his forward momentum more than once to really drive in that he did have to move off of my leg.  I noticed that more and more often his canter transitions are better; they are generally prompt and not too sassy these days.  That’s definitely a win and shows me that he’s getting stronger in his hind end. 

     This weekend had wonderful weather that Mort got to enjoy all on his own.  Steven and I drove to Indiana on Saturday to visit with my family’s old lab, Amy, as it was her time.  She had been a part of the family for 14.5 years and was a great dog.  I am glad that I got to see her one last time.

     We left Sunday morning and got to Missouri around noon.  We had lunch with the in-laws then went and picked up Emma from her weekend home.  We dropped her off at our home then drove to the hospital to visit with Steven’s grandpa (who had been admitted Saturday).  All-in-all we didn’t get back home until 5:30 or so.  We’re now very behind on house cleaning, laundry, groceries, etc.  Hopefully this week with its good weather will bring some needed horse time (and probably catching up on these other things).  In happier news, one of my sisters had her baby so I’m an aunt x2 now!  

Weekend Update

Tuesday when I went out to see Mort his heat was just a whisper.  (Quite frankly it’s something I may not have noticed if I hadn’t been looking for it.)  I decided to put him on the lunge to see how he moved and to see if it got more heat or wasn’t affected.  I started him off tracking right so that it would be less pressure on the left hind.  At the walk and trot that direction I didn’t notice any unsoundness.  I asked for canter and he went into it willingly but kept swapping his hind legs—not wanting to load the left hind all of the time.  I stopped him and switched directions and noticed that his left hind just didn’t want to track up.  So no more lunging.  I hopped on him bareback and took a wander. 

After that exercise there was a little bit more heat so it was clearly not healed completely.  Wednesdays are his day off anyway, so I figured I'd re-assess on Thursday.  Except that Wednesday  Mort decided running around like a turd in turn-out was a good idea.  The minor heat stuck around.  Thursday I just brushed him. 

Friday I went out and his heat was the same in both legs and his hooves felt a bit warmer than I liked.  He was dehydrated and didn’t want to drink.  He had been dewormed the day before, so I think he had a tummy ache.  After he drank some water (two hours later) I went home.  I ran back out to check on him around 10:00 pm and he had drank even more water and all of his hooves were back to a happy temperature.  Tummy ache plus a sharp rise in temps added up to some minor issues, but he seemed back to normal.  (We checked vitals a few times and everything was normal.  His behavior was normal as well.)

BM and I discussed turning him out in the “carport”, which is a really small paddock, to limit some of his movement until all of the heat is gone.  He went out in that Saturday and BM said that she didn’t think he had heat.  Two other gals from the barn were showing in a fun show, so I went to that to be barn support and help out as needed.  Mort got the day off. 

Sunday marked two days with no heat so I decided to try and lunge him to see how he went.  We did a very light lunge w/t/c both directions and I didn’t notice anything amiss.  No heat after that either.  I brushed him, clipped the fuzzies off of his fetlocks, and hand grazed him for a while.  Today’s plan is to lightly ride him.  If he still has no heat, I think he’ll be cleared to go back to full work and his regular turnout paddock.  Here’s to hoping there’s no heat! 

Mini Ride Recaps

Thursday’s ride was an experiment.  Since we struggled so much on Tuesday with getting that fun, forward driving from behind feeling that was going to be a focus Thursday.  I wanted to see if he really didn’t want to go forward or we had something else going on (mainly I was thinking about his soundness at this point).  I jumped on and pushed him out in the walk immediately.  I got a couple of angry tail swishes, but he did lengthen his stride.  We had pretty much the same responses in both trot and canter. 

So why did we (and why do we on a regular basis) struggle so much with forward on Tuesday?  Well he’s happy to go forward, but when we’re tracking left I have some serious problems with getting him supple and moving off of my leg.  I lose the outside shoulder and he becomes dull to my aids.  My response is to half-halt, but I don’t push him forward enough again after that.  Moral of the story is that it’s a training problem and not a pain problem.

Tracking right he does really well with being forward and lateral, so that’s good.  I just need to work more on him tracking left—really get that inside leg to outside hand feeling.  Get him quicker off my aids for turning that outside shoulder.  Get that left hind to really push AND go underneath him.  All of this with my stupid left hand who wants to hold Mort up every stride. 

Friday Mort had a little swelling and heat on the inside of his left hind pastern.  He was sound, but I gave him the day off.  I also was going to a tack auction with a few folks from the barn, so it was moderately ok with me.  Saturday the swelling was down a touch, but there was still a little bit of heat.  I hopped on him and felt maybe one or two bobbles tracking left so we took it easy and wandered around in the field.  I lunged him Sunday so that I could watch how he went.  He looked 100% sound, but still had that touch of heat on the inside (no swelling at least).  Monday he had off because by the time the vet looked at him it was 6:00 and I wanted to get home to cook dinner and relax.

It's hung on a bit more than I expected.  He seems sound, but I’ll re-assess this evening and maybe cold hose if it’s still there.  My plan is to just take it easy until all of the heat is gone.  Annoying horse. 

Vet Evaluation

It’s been almost a week since I last wrote anything.  Mort had a very positive flex test Wednesday morning.  I’ll make this post about his soundness and the advice of my vets (and other horse friends).  Originally the vet at MU (lameness specialist and who did Mort’s ultrasound) said that injections could help Mort someday and that we should have our regular vet check his soundness level every 6 months to a year.  She also said a lot of other things that just make decisions more complicated.  Why can’t horses just talk to us? 

I spoke with our regular vet and MU vet and both said that if Mort isn’t showing unsoundness in our regular work injections may not make a big difference in our day-to-day (which makes sense but obviously I’m a bit paranoid about his fetlocks).  They both still also recommended that my regular vet take a look at him and do a lameness exam so that she can monitor him over time for changes.  The regular vet was coming out Monday to inject two other horses at the barn, so it was perfect timing. 

The results were what I was expecting—nothing showing at w/t without flexion.  After flexion he showed positive on both sides slightly, but more so on the left.  Our vet did mention that next time we do it we should flex to a point where Mort just starts getting tense and keep it there instead of flexing him the way you would a ‘normal’ horse.  When she did this he had much less of a dramatic result then when BM and I did it last Wednesday.

Her opinion was unchanged—injections probably won’t help him much yet as he’s still going sound in our regular work.  She further encouraged me to push him more physically as he will show obvious signs when he starts having pain.  So the plan for now is simply to continue along our path with more of a focus on forward (just because that’s where we are in our training).  

Fetlock Update

Since we all know that Mort has lameness issues, (or more accurately stated he will have future lameness issues) I thought I’d give an update.  Back in early fall we had x-rays taken of his front left fetlock area.  They were ugly, so we went in for ultrasounds.  The ultrasounds were less ugly.  The vet at MU recommended that we simply do a flex test and lameness exam every six months to monitor his progression.  She also mentioned that he may benefit from injections as he gets worse over time. 

Six months ago he had a very, very minor positive response to the flex test.  Visible, but only to the trained eye looking for it.  This morning his left front had a very noticeable head bob and the right was about the same as six months ago (very, very minor).  Luckily he hasn’t been unsound for me at all in our regular work, so hopefully we’re catching it early enough to get ahead of major additional damage. 

I think we will just start with the left front fetlock for this round of injections, but I’ll also talk with the two vets who I’ve worked with on his legs and see what they recommend.  A few dollar signs from now hopefully Mort will be more comfortable and we’ll get to see some positive changes in his way of going. 

We played in the field some yesterday.  I got a few good moments of him feeling fairly free in his shoulders when we worked on extending (when he wasn’t spooking at random things).  I went to the indoor to finish our ride which ended up being frustrating.  I kept losing his shoulder and couldn’t get a good thrust from behind.  For now, I’ll chalk it up to maybe fetlock pain, maybe a poopy ride, maybe I’ve let him get away with being lazy for too long (and I’m noticing it more because of clinic magic).  Hopefully we can get him in for an injection within the next week or so.