We Are Walking Beasts

That's right. I rode my horse.

Earlier in the week I got on a couple times after some serious lunging and we moseyed around the indoor on a loose rein. Cara acted like we hadn't missed a day of riding, let alone 7 months. She jigged away from the mounting block as soon as I had a foot in the stirrup (I really should get on fixing that) and continued to test me throughout, forcing me to get out of lazy moseying mode. Despite the fact that we are currently condemned to just walking, I'm quickly remembering how much the mare has to be occupied, otherwise she will occupy herself. Thankfully, when I picked up the reins she came onto the bit and held a light, steady contact. Despite not having the same muscle tone as last year, she feels strong and bold, and she seems very comfortable relaxing over her back. The fact that the mare feels so good is a major victory, but absolutely nothing feels as sweet as being able to ride again, for both of us.

Today I thought we'd haul our walking party outside. We made our way past some very adorable, but very scary demon calves (apparently babies of all shapes and sizes are frightening) and headed to one of the back fields. The field itself has nice even footing since it's rarely used for anything (it has a gravel pit in the far corner) and contains some baby hills. We came out with the plan of attacking the hills at a seriously intimidating walk to help rebuild some sexy bum muscles. Cara switched into adventure mode and powered up the ol' Oprah Winfrey power walk. She looked fierce, while I sat there looking like a couch potato, wishing I had my leg muscles back. After one lap of the field Cara got her jog on, which quickly morphed into pre-race prancing. I think she was showing support for all her TB buddies running in the Preakness. Of course, the real culprit is the TB "field time = fun time = run time" gene that rears its head in any open space. As a result we broke a few rehabbing rules, despite my best efforts to rein the mare in. In the end, Cara ended up making awkward impressions of other animals while I tried to channel a peaceful calm in order to avoid a rocket launch.

A prancing doe.

Gazelle

Llama

Donkey

Eventually we returned to the ring to simmer her brain. It's funny how fencing and walls make her automatically resume her regularly (or irregularly, in our case) scheduled work behaviour. Cara proved that she's still got it, and put in some nice shoulders in/haunches in and some leg yielding AND she did it without trying to kill the other mares in the ring. Miraculous, i'd say. A genuinely good day.

Gosh I've missed this. 

The Best News

The SuperVet came back out today for another chiropractic adjustment. She was lovely, as usual, and answered all my crazy paranoid questions, ensuring me that my horse isn't on the path to complete self-destruction. After watching Cara move and doing some bodywork she concluded that she's the best she's ever seen (considering she's only seen her as a marginal cripple). Her leg stretches were impressive, she was loose and relaxed through the back and neck, her stifles weren't sore and she was able to stand comfortably for most of the adjustment. SuperVet came to the conclusion that overall, the mare is much better. We've been given the okay to start doing some bounces on the lunge, since she was jumping the trot poles anyways, AND....I can start doing light riding in a week or two! At this point, it will be mainly after a lunge session, but we'll take what we can get. Despite being restuffed at the beginning of the year our dressage saddle still fits well and has great clearance, so it looks as though we've eliminated anything that could cause a problem (touch wood). After a week of walking and leg yielding we are permitted to go on walk hacks! I've never been so pumped to walk up hills in my life.

I am over the moon that the mare is reaching the end of her recovery. Our summer of fun is finally in sight!

I can't wait to get back to this...

Oozapalooza

Okay, I thought my allergies were bad. Little did I know that I have it easy. Runny nose? I can solve that problem with tissues and antihistamine. Never, ever, have I had giant hives that eventually swell to balloon sizes and then burst, releasing funky ooze through my pores. (Note: I never want to personally experience this.)

The vet came out and confirmed that she was having a bad allergic reaction. Her description went something along the lines of "It's like she came in contact with a normal allergen, then over reacted". Funny, that describes her so well. She then gave her a shot of stronger antihistamine, some banamine, and left me with some dex and some more antihistamine. She's now on 2 weeks of antihistamine and one week of dex (which is making her feel a little too invincible). The vet finished with some comforting words, saying that what ever it is that got to her must've blown by, so we don't really have to go searching through the fields for the culprit. Turns out a barn up the road woke up monday morning to find all 27 horses covered in hives. That, my friends, is a lot of ooze.

As for that tiny patch on the mare's neck? It grew. A lot. When the hive burst (which apparently can happen, who knew?) her entire neck was covered in disgusting, greasy, crusty ooze. It looked like it ran down her neck, but it actually burst in a line as if it was running down her neck internally, which meant that it was ooze mixed with blood and other serum. Ofcourse, she laid down in her stall and covered said oozy spot with shavings. Perfecto. She also had some smaller spots (about the size of my fist) on her bum and shoulders, but they were far less swollen. She let me clean and sterilize the smaller areas, but if I even looked at her neck she screamed and ran backwards. DIVA. As a result, your eyes are spared from photos of the monstrosity. I ended up spraying some wound dust on it since I was at my wits end, and even this action required cornering the mare in her stall.

Yesterday the dex had taken down most of the swelling, so I was able to actually wash off her neck. It was like decrusting hair that had a weeks worth of hair gel. Once the hair was softened up, it pretty much all came out, revealing some very sore looking proud flesh. I slathered the area with dermagel and stuffed Cara's face with treats in thanks for not murdering me. She gets to go back outside today, so hopefully she doesn't come back in looking like a pickle. I think I've cleaned enough ooze for quite some time now.

P.S. Thanks to all those who went to rolex and took tonnes of photos. Your photodiary of your good times have provided a good distraction. Hope everyone had fun down there!

Just Add It To The List

It appears the spring showers bring more than just pretty flowers: they also bring nasty weeds and pesky, biting bugs.

Now i'm not sure if Cara was just jealous of my ridiculous allergies, or if she felt like she should complete the "I'm an idiot, self destructive horse" trifecta by getting a new ailment, but regardless, she's found herself an allergy.

It started out innocently enough. I was greeted by a suspicious looking, filthy horse.

I pulled the mare out of her stall and started to attempt to decrust her. It was then that I discovered that my horse was lumpy, really lumpy. A full body inspection revealed some fierce hives.

She just wants to look like a pickle...

The fun doesn't stop there. There is some nice, brownish, oily ooze coming out of the mare's neck. At first, the BO and I just though it was oil from her grain bucket, but 12 hours later it was still being produced.

The hives don't seem to bother her, but obviously aren't something i'm okay with just sticking around. I gave her some antihistamine last night in hopes that that might do the trick, but this morning I got a text from the BO saying that the hives were still there and the oozy goop was worse. The BO called the vet out to get Cara something stronger, so hopefully that can resolve the problem. I have no idea what the mare ate/rolled in/got stung by but it's nasty.

Neck ooze...

Sore Stifles All Around

Recently it seems that my poor puppy has been feeling a little left out. Here's Cara (his super duper hacking buddy) getting pampered with massages and chiropractic adjustments and not sharing any of the spa time. Things had to change. To remedy this situation, he went and tore his cruciate ligament. Ow.

This was a really big blow to a large, fit, active dog like him. It was also very unexpected for us, considering he is well conformed, has never been overweight and does not have a family history of hip displasia or other joint weaknesses. However, as my WonderVet pointed out, running back and forth, making lots of sharp turns chasing a ball, a squirrel etc. can take its toll on a dogs stifles, and it is suspected that in Fletcher's case, his left stifle was naturally too loose. Thankfully, the WonderVet was able to assess and diagnose Fletcher and give him an adjustment when she was out to do Cara, so we were able to schedule him for surgery to avoid him being in prolonged pain.

The puppy had a ligament replacement surgery done, which involves drilling holes in either side of the joint and stitching it back together using high tension fishing line. According to the vets it is a less invasive surgery than the alternative option and allows the dog to return to about 80-90% compared to where they were before. It's expected to take around 1 year for Fletcher to reach that point, but even now (about 2 months post surgery) his movement is much improved compared to when he was unsound.

It's funny, the doggy rehabilitation that is recommended is almost in line with Cara's. In about a month Fletcher is to start doing small raised poles, or doggy cavalettis. Hill work is also recommended, as is aquatherapy. This is all well and good, but as he begins to feel progressively better his energy levels are amping up. It's beginning to get difficult to handle him, especially since he is not yet allowed to roam free around the yard (too many tempting squirrel situations). Any dog owners out there have great exercises or tricks to keep rambunctious dogs occupied? I'm a bit worried that his silly self will go and reinjure his cruciate during a fit of exuberance.

The A-Frame turned ramp contraption...

Modelling his bare, chicken leg. It's all the rage.

I can't wait to get back to hacking together

Catching Up

First off, I'd like to say that 3 days ago I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt and today...it's snowing. Really?

Spring did happen, temporarily.

Truthfully, I've been a very disorganized horse mum. I knew i'd missed the mare's birthday, however I thought it was about 3 days belated. Wrong. Miss Cara turned 16 on April 5th and I completely missed it. Thankfully she's even worse with keeping track of these things and has assured me her forgiveness if I provide enough treats. I also made up for it by gifting her a new lunge surcingle, but that impressed her less.

Happy Birthday my Tiny Perfect Mare!

In other news, I put a saddle on my horse for the first time in months. Unfortunately, I didn't quite get the privilege of sitting in said saddle, but after all this time I'll take what I can get. The fact that she can comfortably bear that weight and pressure is a good sign, so hopefully riding isn't far off. I've been pushing Cara harder gradually in an attempt to really bring her fitness back. She's been doing really well for the most part, although is really starting to protest doing any form of trot pole work. I take it the exercise has lost all its novelty. For the last week we've been doing a lot of transition work, really trying to engage the hind quarters in an attempt to rebuild her bum to a more voluptuous state. Cara seems happy to be back in slightly more serious work, albeit still on a lunge, although I'm worried that we overdid it yesterday. The two of us both seem to forget that despite her mega cardiovascular fitness, she doesn't have the muscle tone she used to, so we both sometimes push the limits in her workouts. Today her back seemed a little tender, as did her bum, and she was really lacking any sort of 'go' or impulsion. Her movement was a little hesitant on the lunge, and it didn't help that it was miserably cold and damp. I plan on giving her 2 days off (read: my schedule doesn't allow me time to do anything for 2 days) so hopefully some downtime plus sunnier weather will help her recuperate. 

I'm also considering making the investment in a BoT blanket to put on after rides/overnight, to give her back a little extra help. Does anyone have experiences with them? I love BoT products, but I want to be extra sure before making such a huge purchase.

Hope all is well with everyone and that this menacing weather goes away so we can resume springtime loveliness. 

T-Shirt Weather

Okay, maybe i'm getting ahead of myself, but today it was 11˚C (52 F)!!! The sun even made an appearance so despite the gail force winds it was quite a pleasant day to be outside.

OMG...it's NICE OUT

In other news, my favourite super chiro/vet came back out and declared the mare, and I quote, "Quite SOUND" (!!!). The hock swelling is gone and whatever the problem was it seems to have resolved itself. Her back is also quite improved so I'm hoping its only a matter of weeks before I get the OK to throw a saddle back on. The more important news, atleast according to the mare, is that she is now back on turnout. We gave her a 30-day tranq just to be on the safe side (she was rearing in her stall she was so jazzed) although it doesn't seem to have dampened any of her spunk. Apparently, every morning she and her buddy take off at 90 miles an hour, finding the muckiest part of the field to play around in. I suppose the tranq is keeping her from going 100 mph?

Her exuberance was pretty consequence free for about 2 days, before she managed to hurt herself (AGAIN). Thankfully this time it was nothing that a little wrapping and refreshmint couldn't solve.

Unfortunately, there is not cure for the mud monster that Cara has become. Every day she heads to the corner of the field that sits beside the creek and throws herself on the ground. I find myself coming home from the barn with a layer of dirt coating every part of me. Now, i've never actually seen a horse vacuum in use, but I'll admit its getting more and more tempting on a daily basis.

Why stand on high ground when there is MUD?

On a clean day...

Mud aside, we're beginning to get back on track with lunging. I want to get her as fit as possible before we get back under saddle so that we can avoid losing too much of our summer season. The arena seems to be the only time the tranquilizer actually has any affect, as she is beyond lazy. I'm not sure if the western pleasure horses have been talking with her, but she has zero impulsion. I keep trying to make things interesting, but she sort of just shrugs her way through it, with me chasing her wildly behind. If anyone has some really fun, attention grabbing exercises, throw them at me!  

She's so lackadaisical!