R Lil Bit of Cash

Much Needed Haircut

2012-02-10T17:03:00.000-05:00

I went to the barn today with the intention of riding, but when I got there, the groom JenJ hired for me was there trying to figure out what to do with Lilly's mop...

Exhibit A from yesterday:

Sad, neglected pony...

Okay, so she didn't really hire me a groom, but she said Lilly looks neglected, and it's true. Poor Lilly...

So instead of riding, I spent some time trying to trim up her mane. It's super thick up at the top of her neck, and she has that darn cowlick right in the middle of her neck, so making it look nice when it's short is tough without banding. I still think I might try the Nair method to see if I can remove little pieces of mane without having to yank it out. It needs a good bath before that can happen, though.

So here's what I ended up with when I was done:

I love a short mane... it really shows off her pretty neck!

Not bad, right? By tomorrow it'll be sticking straight up and look more like a mohawk, but it's better than having it long and scruffy.

Next I got out the clippers and worked on her bridle path and the area around her ears. She always get "super fuzz" around her forelock too, so I removed that as well. Goat hairs were removed from under her face, so was the permanently stained yak hair around her fetlocks, and the whiskers around her chin. She looks like a new mare!!

By the way, I have a pair of Wahl Stable Pro clippers that an ex-boyfriend got me for my 16th birthday. I'll be celebrating number 32 this year, so these clippers have been around for a while! Each new year I figure will be the year they die and I have to have a memorial service, but they just keep on trucking. I won't know what to do when they finally stop working.

New Toys!

2012-02-09T14:23:00.007-05:00

I have new toys!

I've been getting ready for the trim clinic coming up on the 19th and I desperately needed some new tools. My Hoofjack won't be arriving until Monday, but yesterday the stuff I ordered from NC Tool showed up. They have a lot of supplies to choose from and they shipped to me really quickly. I also like how they color coordinated my stuff. LOL

Toys!!

I decided to upgrade my cheap-o hoof knife to Hall brand knives, and I ordered a left handed one and a right handed one. I went back and forth about just getting a loop knife, but in the end I decided I wanted the regular style hoof knife instead. Add in a knife sharpener, a new rasp, and a nice rasp handle and you've got a poser who thinks she can trim hooves!! :)

I also received my new wool pad this morning from FedEx. It was nice of them to deliver before I went out to the barn. I had a tough time deciding on a pad because I wanted wool, but I didn't want something that was 32x32. I have a horse with a really short back and a saddle with a 26" skirt... I don't need 6" of extra pad hanging out everywhere. Classic Equine and 5 Star pads were out because of size, but I found a square "barrel pad" from Smith Brothers that was 28x30 so I went ahead and ordered it. I was worried it might be a little too small, but I think it fits her just right. The saddle fits on the pad and she's not running into it with her hips.

No more ugly, black, giant saddle pad!

I did move up the saddle and pad a bit after I took these pictures, but I'm always worried about having the saddle on her shoulders. I'll need to ride in it some more before I can find the sweet spot. I also ordered her a new bit so I don't have to keep riding in my english d-ring. Smith Brothers had a nice sweet iron, loose ring on super sale, so I snatched one up. I've never ridden her in a sweet iron mouth before, but maybe she'll really like it once it starts to oxidize and all that.

Someone needs to fix that mane... she looks like an orphan!

We had a really nice ride today. We did a lot of cantering, but I tried to keep it interesting so she didn't start anticipating what I was going to ask her next. We worked on our circles and rollbacks, we worked on figure eights with simple changes in between, and we did some cantering around the ring on the rail. She got a little hot and bothered at one point, so I slowed it down and we did some long trotting.

She did really well with all the cantering, but she's not quite ready for self-carriage. If I hold her together and keep her shoulders up, she'll give me a really pretty lope, but if I let her go to canter as she likes, she gets strung out and speeds it up. The circles help out quite a bit, though, and she's doing fantastic. I'm so proud of my girl!

Our gate work was outstanding today, too. She's learning to be more patient and to wait for me to tell her where to put her feet next... it's a miracle! I think this might help with our other issue regarding pushing objects too. At first she didn't want to get close to the gate and no matter how much I asked her to step sideways, she'd only get so close before stopping. Now she nearly smashes my leg into the gate when I ask her to move closer! It seems to be teaching her that objects that appear stationary can actually move. :)

Why Am I Cantering?

2012-02-08T21:19:00.000-05:00

I wouldn't say the arena was good, but it was decent enough to actually get in a good ride. There are still a couple soupy areas I had to avoid, but at least we were able to canter! It was supposed to be sunny all day to help dry it out some more, but instead it rained on me during my ride...

I opened the gate from Lilly's back again today and I've decided to do it that way every time we ride. It can't hurt, Lilly seems to like it, and eventually, we'll look like professionals out there!

I worked on all the usual stuff and then hopped over the jump a couple times to break things up. She wasn't so sure it was a good idea, but went ahead and did it anyway, but without quite as much effort as she had on Saturday.

As I mentioned, I was able to work on our canter. Since she's been giving me some really good periods of actual western loping, I've started to incorporate some canter stops into our routine. Alex and I worked on them Saturday, but I haven't had a chance to work on them since because of the mud. Today we practiced loping circles at one end of the arena until she was calm and settled in. Then I would leave the circle, lope her up the long side of the arena, choose a spot to stop, and then back her up. In order to combat the anticipation of cantering again, we're doing rollbacks and loping the circle in the other direction, up the long side, stopping, and backing. She's doing pretty good with the rollbacks, and they're a good tool to keep her focused on me when I ask for the canter transition. I'm also going to start loping figure eights, with the stop and back in the middle of the circles, but I need the arena to dry up a bit more before we start working on that.

Also, regarding the cantering, you may or may not recall that when Lilly had her UFP appointment last month, my vet recommended that I not canter for at least two months to give Lilly some time to build up her muscles. Obviously I'm not following her recommendation. She also suggested that I put Lilly in a pair of side reins and work her on the longe line, and I'm not going to do that either. I'm not a big fan of side reins, and using them on Lilly is out of the question. I don't fault anyone who like them and uses them, but they're not for my horse.

I gave it all a lot of thought, discussed it with some people I trust, and decided that if fitness is the biggest issue my horse is having, building muscle by cantering is the best way to build muscle for cantering. She's on the Cosequin ASU as of Saturday and I've been monitoring her very closely, watching for any signs that she might be getting worse. I've noticed the opposite, though... she's been getting better. She's switching her lead behind a lot less and she's not as reluctant to pick up the right lead. She feels less stiff and I haven't felt an increase in her "tripping". She just feels a lot stronger overall and I think the extra cantering has been the best thing for her.

I like my vet and I respect her opinion, so it's nothing against her, but if I've learned anything in the past couple years, it's to take in as many opinions as I can, weigh them, and then decide what's best for me and Lilly. In other words, follow my gut and listen to what my horse tells me.

Another benefit to all this riding, and perhaps part of it is because I've been riding her 100% barefoot for about a week and a half, is I'm seeing quite a bit of concavity in her hooves! I noticed it a few days ago, but I really looked at her hooves today and it's quite impressive! A week from Sunday is the trim clinic, so I'll have to get some updated pictures of her hooves to post before then.

Gate Work

2012-02-07T14:38:00.001-05:00

It rained all day Sunday, which meant riding my horse was out of the question. It also meant the arena was going to be too soggy to ride yesterday, so we just played around a bit in the grass. I hadn't worked on showmanship in quite a while, but she did really well.

I thought for sure the arena would be decent enough to ride in today, but it was still quite soggy. We made the best of it, though, and did some walking and trotting and I decided to try some gate work. Alex suggested I work on opening and closing the arena gate from Lilly's back instead of leading her around and opening the gate that way.

She actually did really well! I'm so used to riding her with two hands that it was a bit of a challenge for me too, but we managed to open and close it without much of an issue at all. She struggled a bit at first because she didn't want to sidepass with the gate... I think she thought it wasn't going to move, but then when it moved with her, I saw the light bulb go off. She didn't get frustrated or upset and each time we did it, she got better. We went in twice and out twice.

With any luck, the arena will be nicer tomorrow... with even more luck, someone will drag it to help it dry!

After we were done riding, I took her back out to the pasture. I always give her a flake of hay and we've started doing carrot stretches again. I've been doing them for less than a week, but Lilly already knows where her next carrot can be found. I always stretch her left side, then her right side, and then I stretch her between her legs. After I was done stretching her right side, she went ahead and put her head down between her legs looking for her next carrot! I guess I'm going to have to switch it up and bit next time...

Switching Things Up A Bit

2012-02-04T20:11:00.002-05:00

Alex came out for another visit today. I really appreciate her coming out to give me pointers even though she makes me work really hard and do things outside of my comfort zone. She always says that she's afraid she'll never see me again, but I just keep emailing her anyway! I guess I'm a glutton for punishment. :)

She rode Lilly first and worked on some of the things I was having questions about. I don't get to see Lilly ridden very often, so it really helps me when I'm able to watch Alex ride. I'm a visual learner, so being able to see what Lilly is doing and the differences in her when Alex does different things helps me understand what I need to do.

Alex commented on how much stronger Lilly feels compared to the last time she was out... we've been working hard since then! She's really starting to develop some muscle tone as well, but it never comes through in the pictures. She's looking and feeling really good, though!

We worked on a lot of the usual stuff, like cantering, jogging, keeping her shoulders up, and stopping.

Jogging... and getting yelled at for my riding skillz.

Stopping...

Cantering...

Then, as she tends to do, Alex got a little creative and sacrificed her sweet puppy dog, Pepper. Pepper had to play the part of a cow, and Lilly turned into a cutting horse. We WERE riding in a cutting saddle after all! So we chased Pepper around for a while and Lilly seemed to really get into it! She's not a big fan of dogs as it is, so being allowed to chase one around was something she was all for.

Our little, black cow.

It was a lot of fun and gave Lilly a purpose for moving her shoulders. It's unfortunate that I don't have a dog, and the two dogs that belong to the barn owner don't usually follow us out into the arena, or we would try to do that more often.

Once we were done with cutting practice, I was instructed to take Lilly over the small jumps that were set up in the arena. I'm not a jumper, nor do I pretend to be one or know anything about it, but we did the best we could!

Getting ready!

A nice, low cavaletti, but look at that reach!

Now it's a little bit higher...

Then Alex got sneaky and raised the height of the cavaletti when I wasn't looking. Lilly had to actually "jump" over it. I wasn't exactly prepared, but my face seems to be saying I had fun trying!

A big, cheesy grin! :)

I know all you hunter jumper people are laughing at me, but our goal has always been to keep most of our hooves on the ground at all times! I do want to try a few hunter hack classes this year, though, so I guess there's no time like the present to start working on it.

I think Lilly had as much fun today as I did. I'm sure she gets tired of staring at the dirt the whole time we ride, so I'm going to try and keep it interesting for her. Like Alex said, I don't need to keep drilling the same thing over and over, I just need to work on having a soft, obedient horse who puts her feet where I ask her to. I'm going to have a bumper sticker made up that says, "If you control the feet, you control the horse." :)

Managing Expectations

2012-02-03T14:04:00.000-05:00

I'm guilty.

I'm guilty of getting caught up in the excitement of having a new saddle and, in a way, having a new horse. I've ridden more in the past couple weeks than I have ridden in a long time and I look forward to every ride. A ride every other day? Nope, I'm riding every day and I'm working on things that matter. I'm motivated, I'm focused, and I'm excited about what's to come for us this year.

My horse has been making tremendous progress and I finally feel like a competent teacher. When Lilly does A, I know exactly what to do to help her understand and when she does B, I know how to counter it, using her over-active brain against her.

I think I let things get a little out of control, including my expectations for each ride. I was anticipating a measurable amount of improvement each and every time we stepped into the arena, and at the very least, we would pick up where we left off the day before. I mean, why wouldn't we? We've been making so much progress!

Our ride yesterday proved me wrong.

After giving the ride a lot of thought, and after feeling guilty about the way our ride went and how I handled the challenges, I realized I had set expectations too high. Has Lilly been doing great? Yes. Is it fair of me to expect her to be great every time I put a saddle on her back? No.

My frustrations yesterday were more with myself than they were with Lilly. I had been feeling so good about everything that when things weren't going as I expected, I became frustrated... frustrated because I didn't know what to do to help the situation. I felt a little lost.

This morning I debated about whether I should go to the barn or just stay home. I came up with a number of reasons to stay home, but in the end I decided to go ride my horse. So we had a bad day... big deal. Today was an opportunity to start over and try again.

I apologized to Lilly today for the way I handled things yesterday and she graciously accepted the peace offering. (A carrot, of course!) We decided we were going to have a great ride no matter what, and I promised no expectations.

So was it a great ride? Not really, but we worked through it and when we struggled I slowed it down and we started over. She was a little speedy today, so I took the opportunity to do a lot of long trotting to build up some muscle and work her stifles. We worked on circles and bending and eventually moved on to our canter circles. If I could choose one thing to get excited about, it's her canter transitions. They were like butter today... absolutely beautiful.

Even though she's a little passive-aggressive at times, and a bit of an over-achiever, I know deep down she's trying, and she wants to please. I won't forget that from now on.

A Mediocre Ride

2012-02-02T14:06:00.002-05:00

My new stirrups came yesterday, so the saddle is officially done! I wish I could somehow re-wrap the horn because the rawhide has come off the top, but I can't seem to find out how to do it and I'd probably have to take the saddle apart to make that happen anyway. The leather still needs more conditioning, but that will need to happen over time. I think it cleans up pretty nice!

Oooh, pretty!!

Lilly and I went for another barefoot ride today. I rode in the snaffle and we worked on the usual stuff... lots of trot circles, lots of cantering, and lots of stopping. She's been doing quite well with the cantering so I decided to incorporate a few canter stops into the routine today. She does really well with the transitions, but the goal of the canter stops is to get her anticipating the stop. She was starting to anticipate the stop, but she was also anticipating the canter cue as well, so I'm not sure what to do about that. We'd canter along, I'd ask for the stop, back her up, and then before I could ask for something else, she's trying to canter again.

After the canter work she kept doing this thing where she would walk super fast with her head down. It was like she was tuning me out and speed walking... to accomplish what, I'm not sure. I'd ask her to stop and sometimes she ignored me completely, sometimes she'd be a little startled but stop, and then she'd go back to speed walking. I had to do a lot of walk stop, walk stop, walk stop in very quick succession before she was finally paying attention.

I think she enjoys making my life difficult.

She was also being silly during our trot circles... I was trying to get a nice, steady trot and she wanted to be lazy, so I'd ask for a little more umph, and she'd start "cantering". The canter was strange, though, because it wasn't a true canter and she just kept popping herself up over and over in this super slow, strange canter transition. Granted, I liked how she was picking up her front end, but it wasn't even close to what I was asking.

While we didn't have a "bad" ride, I felt a little defeated and frustrated when we were done. I know we're working on quite a bit of stuff, but it felt like nothing went right and I had to fight with her on everything we worked on to get just a tiny bit of cooperation. I had to stop and take some deep breaths a couple times to get back my composure and it felt like I was in her mouth way too much. I don't like having to be that demanding with her but it just felt like she kept me tuned out for nearly the entire ride. Luckily Alex is going to rescue me on Saturday and come work with us, so hopefully she'll get me back on track in no time.

I took a couple body shots of her today just to track progress, so here she is before our ride.

Looking less pudgy all the time!

She's the cleanest horse on the farm! :)

Snaffles and Western Dressage

2012-01-31T19:31:00.002-05:00

Because of the issues I was having with Lilly yesterday, I switched her over to the snaffle bit today. It seemed like she was evading the bit, which is something she doesn't do nearly as much with the snaffle. When she evades in the snaffle, I don't feel as bad about working her to get her soft again, so I think we'll stick with the snaffle for the next few rides.

Initially we had a few moments where she wanted to push her own agenda, but then she decided it just wasn't worth it. After that, we had an outstanding ride.

We did a lot of trot circles and serpentines today. I used the two jumps in the arena to make my 8 and used nothing but leg to keep her in the circle. At first she wanted to speed up rather than just circle, but I was able to keep the circles small enough that she could only go so fast. Once she figured out the leg wasn't telling her to speed up, she settled in to a nice jog and worked the circles like a pro. I had to keep bumping the inside rein to keep her shoulder up and keep her bending, but that should improve with time. The exercise seemed to be a good one for her.

As always, we worked on canter circles too. Just like yesterday I worked her on circles to the right and then worked on something else before going back and working the circles again. Then we switched and did the same thing going to the left. I'm seeing a lot of progress with her canter and she's being much more consistent and staying off her forehand. Like with the circles, I have to help keep her shoulder up, but it's just a bump here and there.

She switched behind once going to the right today, but I've really been paying attention and I can feel when she's going to switch. So today when we were cantering, once I felt her start thinking about switching, I pushed her forward and she stayed correct.

We rode barefoot again today and she was fabulous. :)

In other news, I'm finally getting around to reading Cross Train Your Horse by Jan Savoie. There's a western dressage clinic not far from me in May that I'm thinking about auditing, so it inspired me to take the book off the shelf and get to reading.

So far, so good!

There are some pretty cool western dressage videos online, but comments in the forums about it aren't so nice. I guess a lot of the dressage riders think it's icky to see dressage done in a western saddle. Anyone have any experience with it?

There are quite a few shows in the area with western dressage classes, but apparently there's usually only one rider in the class. It has already been defined by the USEF as a discipline for Morgans, and they even have their own rules and tests. The parent organization, the Western Dressage Association of America, will recognize shows and offer awards with the goal of USEF recognition. I think it might be something fun to try!

More Barefoot Riding

2012-01-30T14:16:00.000-05:00

I've been oiling the heck out of my new saddle, and I got the conchos all cleaned up the other day. I also had to replace the Blevins buckles (what a nightmare that was), but I think once my stirrups and pad come, I'll be "done" with the saddle, except for oiling and cleaning it quite frequently. It's still pretty thirsty, but we're making progress, and I love it very much! :)

JenJ asked about cleaning the saddle in a previous post so I wanted to mention what I used. I started out cleaning it with Lexol Leather Cleaner because that's the only cleaner I can seem to get sudsy for some reason. After I cleaned it really well, I oiled it with Pessoa brand oil, which isn't supposed to darken the leather at all. The fenders are so dark, though, that I decided to switch over to regular old neatsfoot oil for the rest of the saddle. I figure if the leather gets a bit darker, that's ok. Plus, I want the leather on my new bridle to get darker so it matches the saddle a bit better.

As far as cleaning the suede seat, mine doesn't have much suede left, but the best way I've found is just with a really mild soap and water. Use a stiff bristle brush to go over the suede with the soapy water and then pat it dry with a clean towel. To rinse it, do the same with clean water and a clean towel. It usually does a pretty good job. Supposedly a pencil eraser works well on small stains, but I've never tried it.

When I was saddle shopping, I purchased a bit just like the one Alex let me borrow and I've been riding Lilly in that each time I ride in the western saddle. I'm thinking I might need to switch her over to a snaffle for a while, though, or maybe alternate bits, because she is just SO sensitive in this bit that it's driving me crazy. I'm having a difficult time communicating certain things to her because the second I touch the reins, she overreacts.

She's such an overachiever...

I pretty much steer with my legs and rate her speed with my seat, but every now and then I have to communicate to her using the reins. I can't even ask for the desired command because she reacts so quickly, usually by turning one way or the other. Because, you know, I couldn't possibly want anything other than a turn... Also, she seems to really like this whole loose rein concept because she can drag her nose in the dirt and look all over the place. Despite the new challenges, we had another great ride in our "new" western saddle today. I rode her for the second time in the arena without boots and she did really well. The arena is really sandy, and quite soft, but she felt the same as she does when she wears her boots, if not better. I think the boots get in her way sometimes when we ride, so I'm very pleased that we've made it to this point!!

Does she look ready to star in the Paint Horse Journal?

I might just be making excuses for my mare again, but she acts like she can't feel me quite as well as she can in the english saddle. There's a bit more leather between me and my horse, and it takes her a bit longer to react to my cue. I'm sure it feels a bit different in this saddle, but the cue is the same. Like stopping from a walk... sounds easy enough, but even when I exaggerate my cue, she just keeps on walking. I've really been working on that a lot these past couple days and she finally did really well with it today. I only had to grab her a couple times.

Steering takes a bit more effort too and I really have to make sure I'm specific, and I have to squeeze a bit with my bum to keep her from going faster as she's turning. Bless her little heart, though, she's trying. :)

I set up some ground poles for her to walk over and they're quite colorful. She snorted at them at first and then decided everything was okay. It took a while to get the spacing right and I'm surprised at how closely I had to put them together! I think some of the TBs at the barn could walk over them two at a time.

We did our usual trotting exercises and she's doing much better with my leg steering at the trot. Normally she has a tendency to speed up, especially in the circles because it requires a lot of leg, but she's getting the hang of it. We alternate between jogging and long trotting so she can feel the difference in the cues. One means turn and the other means move out!

We also worked on canter circles. One of the boarders has set up jumps in the arena so I had to adjust my circle, but we made it work. It's a bit bigger than usual, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing as this point in her training. I started her to the right, her bad way, and she did pretty darn well. She wasn't slow and collected, but she wasn't running away with me either. She did switch her lead behind a couple times, but she's getting better at staying in the canter and switching back to the correct lead. I was surprised that she did that twice... the other times we just did a simple change back to the correct lead and kept going with our circles. I worked her on a bunch of circles, then worked on trotting exercises, and then went back and cantered her to the right again. The second time I also asked for a couple canter stops and she struggled to pick up the right lead. I think she was mostly just tired, but she got it.

The canter circles to the left were amazing. I had to help her out a couple times because she really wanted to drop her shoulder, but she cantered at a wonderful pace on a lovely loose rein. She had moments where she sped up a bit, but she came back down and was really with me. It felt amazing. She switched leads in the back going to the left today, which is a first, but I did work her pretty hard today.

Have you seen a sweeter face?

I did have a small moment of panic when I was walking her back to the barn. I was closing the arena gate and when Lilly stepped onto the concrete, she took a really short step and started limping. I thought she might have stepped on a stone, but why was she still limping?! When I checked her hoof, she had a tiny little stone wedged in right near the bar of her hoof and once evicted, she was good to go. So she's still quite sensitive, but she's sound in her pasture and sound enough to ride in the arena, so we're definitely making progress.

I worked her way too hard today!

I have four of the old SmartPaks left, so Saturday she'll switch over to the supplement with the Cosequin ASU. I'm hoping to see a difference once it starts!

Riding In The New Saddle

2012-01-28T10:31:00.000-05:00

I rode Lilly in her new saddle on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, but I haven't have a lot of time to blog about our rides. When I actually have time off work, I'm so busy I can hardly stand it.

The good news is that she seems completely happy with her new saddle. I haven't noticed any signs of her being uncomfortable and she was a bit of a booger on Wednesday so I've worked her pretty hard in the saddle already.

So what's the bad news? Absolutely nothing!! :) I'm so excited to have a western saddle to ride in that fits my horse and I can't wait to show her in some western classes at the show in March!

We've had a ton of rain lately so yesterday I was only able to work on walk/trot stuff, which is fine because there's plenty that needs work even at the walk. I took advantage of the squishy, soggy arena and rode Lilly without her hoof boots and she did amazing. I didn't feel her taking short strides or ouchy steps at all, and this is the first time I've ridden her without boots since her shoes came off back in August.

I snapped a couple pictures of Lilly in her new saddle on Wednesday:

Look what I got yesterday!

Does it make my butt look big?

The saddle still needs some work and I want to get new stirrups and a new saddle pad. I bought some stirrups on Thursday but after riding in them I decided I didn't like them. They're too dirty to return, so I'll have to put them up on eBay and look for something else.

Life is good in the world of Lilly and I hope all is well with all of you!

A New Saddle!

2012-01-25T18:11:00.004-05:00

Alex and I had quite an adventure yesterday! She's horse shopping for a friend, so I rode along so I could ride a couple horses and try to learn a thing or two. I haven't been horse shopping in about 10 years, and I don't get an opportunity very often to ride horses other than Lilly, so I thought it would be fun. We tried a couple different horses and then looked around the tack shop

I found a sweet little buckskin mare that I wanted to bring home with me, but Alex wouldn't let me... she was a bit underweight and Alex said she was only sweet because she was hungry. So I didn't buy any new horses... :(

We did, however, find a saddle for me to buy!! We went to a saddle shop, and after looking all over the store finding nothing, Alex spotted a cutting saddle in the back. It belonged to the owner of the store and wasn't for sale, but it was the EXACT same saddle that Alex has and I had to have it! What are the odds of finding the exact same saddle?? The only thing different about it was the height of the horn, but everything else matched up exactly. So after a little bit of begging, the girl at the store called the owner and he said he'd let me have it for $250. SOLD!!

It needs some TLC and a lot of oil, but I finally have a western saddle to ride in, that I know is going to fit my picky mare. Here it is before I went to work cleaning it up:

Dirty and thirsty!

I worked on it all night and got it looking pretty good, but I'm going to have to oil it a lot to get the leather nice and soft. I'm going to get some new stirrups for it and I think it'll be perfect.

Here it is this morning after some elbow grease and lots of oil:

Making progress!!

It's definitely not a show saddle, and I won't be able to show in it at an APHA show, but it'll work perfectly at the local shows we're showing at this year. I'm super excited to have a western saddle for my newly western-ized pony, and you can't beat that price!!

UFP Vet Appointment

2012-01-22T14:59:00.004-05:00

I had an interesting visit from my vet (we'll call her L) on Saturday. She was out to evaluate the possibility of Lilly having upward fixation of the patella, a condition where one of the patellar ligaments used to allow the horse to lock its hind legs remains in the hooked position.

She started with a physical examination of Lilly's legs and hooves and after some basic questions decided she wanted to use the hoof testers. I told her there would be none of that on the front hooves, but she could go to town on the rears. She said Lilly showed discomfort when she tested the soles, but I haven't noticed her being uncomfortable on her hind feet at all. Even as I walked her over the sharp rocks to the round pen for the second part of the evaluation, she never took a short step. She also noted a bit of effusion in both hocks, but nothing serious.

We went to the round pen so L could watch Lilly move at the walk, trot, and canter. It was pretty swampy in there from all the rain we've had, so instead of free-longing her like I usually do, I grabbed the longe line. That way I could keep her out of the really wet spots by keeping her in a smaller circle. I just have to say that she was EXCELLENT and made me look really good. :)

As is typical for Lilly, she had a difficult time cantering to the right and that's one of the first things L noticed. Lilly even started off on the wrong lead behind, but otherwise, she thought Lilly looked pretty good and didn't see any signs of lameness or UFP. She doesn't think Lilly reaches up under herself well, and while I can get her to do so, she doesn't want to willingly.

Next, we took her to the driveway for some flexion tests. She tested slightly positive on her left hock, and slightly less than that on her right hock. Nothing to be too concerned about, but definitely something to make a note of.

L wanted to see me ride Lilly a bit, hoping to catch her doing the "trip" thing she does, and I had also mentioned to her about Lilly switching her lead behind at random times during our ride. She tripped a couple times, but it wasn't clear whether it was because of the footing or if it was the trip I've been complaining about. She didn't switch her lead behind at all either, but she did protest picking up the right lead a couple times when I asked her to canter to the right.

When we got back to the barn, L said she didn't think there was a need for x-rays. She said if I was curious and really wanted them, she'd do it for me because she brought the machine, but she wasn't going to recommend it. She thinks Lilly's main issue is hock pain.

Lilly has more issues on her right side than her left side, and even though she flexed more positive on her left side, hock pain would explain most of the issues, or could be used to justify them:

Lilly tends to drag her rear hooves... it's quite evident near trimming time because they're pretty squared off. Her toes are nice and short, so she's not dragging them because they're too long, she's possibly doing it because she's having hock pain and just doesn't want to pick up her feet.
She could be switching leads behind because it's easier for her when she's on the left lead.
The tripping could be simply because if she's dragging her toes, she's going to trip. I've seen her trip on concrete, though, so I still think there might be something to my stifle hypothesis.
The increased tripping at the horse show in November could be related to the fact that we had been there all day and she was being worked fairly hard. Since she was fatigued, she tripped more.

L recommended that I ride her as much as I possibly can, and work on strengthening her hindquarters. I've been going out every other day to ride, but she thinks riding every day would be beneficial. When I ride, she wants me to do a lot of walk/trot transitions and a lot of "correct walking". She thinks longing in side reins would also help convince Lilly to step up underneath herself, but I'm not a big side reins girl. I'll have to investigate that a bit. Hills and trail work would be beneficial as well, but we don't have any trails around for me to ride on. I'd have to trailer her off the property for that.

She also said she doesn't think I should canter for the next two months or so... not until I've got her muscles built up.

We also talked about adding a joint supplement to her SmartPak and there's some potential for some Adequan shots. Lilly is already on MSM but I'm thinking of adding something more potent, like Cosequin. My vet recommended Cosequin ASU, but I'd love to hear your opinions as well.

I didn't end up getting the x-rays. I'm going to research all of this a bit, and I can always have her come back out if I'm not convinced, or if I don't see any improvement after a reasonable amount of time.

After the lameness evaluation, it was time to float Lilly's teeth. She had a few little ulcers in her mouth, so I was happy when everything was done.

She was a really good girl!

L also showed me a few rub spots where Lilly's bit must be rubbing, so I'm going to have to investigate that as well. There's nothing on either of her bits that could be pinching her, and I don't see anything that could be rubbing, so I'm not sure what's causing it. Even L was a bit puzzled when I showed her Lilly's bits...

Lilly taking a snooze...

Before she left, I asked L about Lilly's weight. The BO thinks Lilly is getting too thin and was thrilled when I told her it was okay to start her on half a scoop of beet pulp. L confirmed that Lilly is at a really good weight, and she wouldn't want to see her any heavier than she is now. She thinks she's still a tad on the high side, but with more work, she'll thin down a bit more, and gain more muscle.

Liebster Blog Award!

2012-01-21T17:13:00.000-05:00

Leibster in German means "Dearest". Thank you to SillyPony at Diary of the Overanxious Horseowner, Our Beautiful Life over at For the Love of My Horse, and Sand at Manitoba MoonSox and Me, for the honor of this blog award!

The rules of the award are as follows:
1. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
2. Link back to the blogger who gave you the award
3. Pick your five favorite blogs with less than 200 followers, and leave a comment on their blog to let them know they have received the award.
4. Hope that the five blogs chosen will keep spreading the love and pass it on to five more blogs!

I would like to give this award to the following blogs:
1. Barefoot Hoof Blog- My new favorite barefoot hoof blog!
2. Just Horses - I love reading about Sebastian and Oberon, and the photos are amazing!
3. Spazfilly - Halo is a beautiful palomino and I enjoy reading about their adventures!
4. The Alex and Apple Show - A fun blog filled with horse stories, recipes, and life on her farm.
5. Wyvern Oaks - One word; jousting!! Check it out!

I Have My Horse Back!

2012-01-17T18:25:00.001-05:00

The Lilly I know and love is back!

I wasn't able to ride for long before it started pouring rain, but I got in a really good ride while the weather was cooperative. It was overcast, WINDY, and it kept sprinkling on and off before the rain poured down on us. Lilly was really good even with the wind we were having today, but she's not one to get spooky on windy days.

Here's Lilly before our ride... she wanted to show off the saddle pad my BO got us for Christmas. It's black and has her name written on it in gold letters. :)

She's so stylish!

It's bigger than my other pads, but I really like the way it fits... and it matches Lilly's boots too!

As I mentioned, our ride went really well. I had to undo some of the damage I did on Sunday by asking for a lot of trot, stop, back, trot exercises. She had a bit of a hair trigger today and I wasn't able to steer with my legs like I usually do. She kept assuming I wanted her to trot. After a bit of effort, she was back to being really light and responsive. We had some excellent moments at the jog and she's really learning to keep a level headset. It's getting to the point where all I have to do is pick up slightly on the reins and she puts her head down. I've been riding with her d-ring, so I think she's feeling the reins on her neck more than she is in her mouth. She's such a smart pony!

I have the blessing from my vet to continue to work Lilly as we normally would until she can do the exam on Saturday. She said, as always, just be mindful if anything new happens or something starts to get worse. So we worked some canter circles in both directions and I started her to the right, which is her "bad" way. She was excellent. For the most part, she stayed relatively balanced, found a nice rhythm, and all I had to do was keep her on the circle. As the rain started pouring down on us she got a little upset and started going faster, so I worked her in one more circle, asking her to slow down and relax, and then we headed for the safety of the barn.

Since my ride was cut short, I decided it was a good time to clean and oil my tack. Speaking of tack, I want to get a western saddle in the worst kind of way. Alex and I are going shopping on Tuesday, so maybe I'll be able to find something that will work... even if it's just a used saddle to ride in for now. I can always upgrade later on down the road. I just need it to fit!

I've got my eye on one I found on eBay, but I'm afraid to share the link for fear that someone will come in and ninja the saddle. So more details on that will follow if the saddle happens to become mine. I'm still keeping some other saddles in mind as well. There are just TOO MANY different kinds!

We've Been Rescheduled

2012-01-16T19:08:00.000-05:00

Wow, my abs are sore from yesterday! At this rate I won't have to start my wedding workout anytime soon!!

Lilly's vet appointment was rescheduled until Saturday. My vet was on call today and was running about 2 hours behind when she called me early this morning. It seems there are a lot of horses having issues with colic around here... my vet's horse included. It's been crazy.

She said she could probably have squeezed me in, but wanted to make sure we had enough time to do a really thorough evaluation, so we decided to go ahead and reschedule. I was really looking forward to having some more information about what's plaguing my sweet pony, but I don't want to be rushed.

Now we wait for Saturday!

My barn friend, S, borrowed Lilly to do some ground work with a young girl who's leasing a horse at the barn. Lilly is SO good with that stuff that we thought she'd be the perfect horse for the job. I wasn't there to watch, but S said Lilly was really good and the little girl just loved her. :)

A Bunch of Updates

2012-01-15T19:43:00.000-05:00

Today's post is a twofer! I rode Lilly Friday afternoon but never had the chance to post about it, and then I rode her again this morning, so I'll talk about them both in this post. First, though, a picture of Lilly sun bathing yesterday, courtesy of the BO.

Awww!

Friday's ride was interesting. We worked on our usual exercises, although I rode her in the western headstall and pretended we were in a western saddle. She did very well and seems to be getting the hang of things. I think she looks so cute jogging around like a western pleasure pony. It's getting more and more difficult to get her to move out, though, so the huntseat classes might be a bit more challenging this year as she seems to be happy just plodding along.

Things got interesting when we started working on our canter circles. She did very well to the left, but when we started working on them to the right, she started changing her lead in the back at certain spots on the circle. She was picking up her leads just fine, but then after cantering the circle for a bit, she'd switch behind, go about 3 strides, and then have to break down to a trot. I had my friend S video us in case I was missing something, but she was simply switching behind.

This isn't something new, because it has caught my attention before. I did a post on it back in July of 2008, which is when I think it first started. I was concerned enough about it to have the vet and chiropractor out, but nothing ever became of it because there weren't any issues found. Sometimes she does it when we ride, and sometimes she doesn't, but for as many times as she did it Friday, she didn't do it a single time when I rode her today.

So what's different on the days that she does it? I have no idea... when she was doing it back in 2008, we weren't even working on circles, we were simply cantering on the rail in a fairly large arena. As usual, there's no pattern. The thing that keeps popping into my head is the UFP, but why would she switch to the lead on the side with the issue? From what I know of UFP, that would be backwards, unless for whatever reason it's more comfortable for her on her left lead? I've noted quite a few times that she is much happier and more smooth going to the left. Cantering to the right is always more of a challenge for her. Always a puzzle, this horse of mine...

The ride I had this morning did not go very well. The BO and my friend S had their horses in the arena and were finishing up their rides when Lilly and I got to the arena. They left shortly after we were warmed up, and Lilly just didn't handle being left alone well at all. It was really cold and windy this morning, so I think that had something to do with her mood, but she never really settled after her BFFs left the arena.

I was able to get some really nice jogging and trotting exercises done, but I could tell that one ear was always on the barn in case she saw her friends again. When we were working on some of the trotting exercises, I kept feeling her drift toward the arena gate, so I concentrated my work down at the far end of the arena. I think I made more work for myself that way in the end.

There were some times where she was chomping on the bit, which is something she hasn't done in quite some time. I had to do a lot of trot, stop, back, trot exercises and she was only half listening most of the time so our stops just weren't that good.

Since she had so much energy, I decided we'd move on to the canter circles. Since the arena was dry for a change, I was able to work her on those at the far end as well. She did fairly well to the left (as usual) and we did 15 circles before she started to settle. I took her around 5 more times before we went back to the walk.

She was briefly a bit more relaxed after that, but it was short lived, so we moved on to more canter circles, this time to the right. Her circles were NOT good. Every time she came around the circle to the point where she was heading toward the gate, she'd floor it, and drift as far across the arena and out of her circle as she could, trying to make her escape. I made the circles smaller, I shortened my reins, I used tons of leg, but she kept drifting. A couple times she got a little hoppy and I had to use the emergency brakes, the good 'ol one rein stop, to get control of her. I lost count of how many circles we did and she never really did settle. I even tried some canter, stop, back, canter to see if I could get her to focus and come back to me, but they didn't work either. She was a sweaty mess by this point.

It was one of those rides where it felt like all hope was lost and my best bet was to just stop before things got worse, because they certainly weren't improving. I did a bit more jogging so we could end on a good note and then started our really long cool down. Normally I would wonder if she's just not comfortable going to the right because of the UFP issue, but I've been told I make a lot of excuses for my mare... ;)

I'm just going to pretend today never happened and hope for a better ride next time.

Speaking of UFP, I made an appointment with my vet for tomorrow so we can take an x-ray of Lilly's left stifle. I checked with her again about x-ray vs ultrasound and she thinks the x-ray is the best place to start. She said she'll bring both machines with her and we can discuss it more in detail tomorrow after she's watched her move. Lilly is also going to get her teeth floated since that's been on my list for a while now.

I've also decided to add a bit of beet pulp to Lilly's diet. I think she's at a good weight now, but it's going to be challenging to keep her there. If I keep working her this hard, I think she'll continue to lose weight and I don't want her getting thin. The other horses are getting a whole scoop twice per day, so I've asked the BO to give Lilly half a scoop twice per day. She's going to weigh it for me so I know how much that is in pounds.

Cross your fingers for good news tomorrow!

Five Months Barefoot

2012-01-13T12:31:00.002-05:00

My trimmer was out yesterday for what amounted to Lilly's three and a half week trim. I just trimmed Lilly back on December 18th, but I really wanted her to get a professional trim and it was my trimmer's day to be in town. Her first appointment wasn't home and the appointment after me cancelled, so I took full advantage of the extra time!

She graciously showed me how to sharpen my hoof knife and it became clear rather quickly that I need a new sharpener and a hoof knife upgrade. Save Edge has a really nice diamond sharpener that worked wonders on my cheap-o hoof knife and I must have one! She also gave me a left handed knife and another rasp. Thank you, thank you!!

We chatted a bit about the hoof clinic coming up on February 19th. I'm taking Lilly and really looking forward to it! I've got a list of things I need to buy before then and one item on that list is a hoof stand. I think I'm just going to bite the bullet and get the Hoofjack hoof stand.

Isn't it dreamy?

I need to get it in plenty of time for the clinic because my horse was an ass yesterday and we need to practice... yep, my horse was an ass! She took no pity on the fact that I had an expert trimmer with me who was willing to show me how to trim. She was rather impatient and you could set your stopwatch to her poor behavior.

"Ok, mom... you've got 30 second until I yank my foot away. I hope you can get those bars done in time! Ready? GO!"

She was even worse when I tried to put her foot on the stand to work on the walls and give her a nice roll. She kept doing doing her best impression of a downward dog yoga pose. To be fair, we did work on her for quite a while (because I'm slow), but she just needs to deal with it. The clinic will last ALL DAY, so today was nothing compared to what's coming up. We eventually took her out of the cross ties and put her in the barn aisle with just the lead rope and halter. That way, when she decided to yank her hoof off the stand and go backward, we could help her become an overachiever and back her all the way down the aisle. She decided after one trip down the aisle that she was cool with the hoof stand. She hung her head down and stood completely still, sulking. We finished up her hooves without another incident!

She's definitely not a good demo horse, but hopefully I can work with her between now and then so she learns to stand. I don't want to be the girl with the poorly behaved horse. I'm going to have an amazing opportunity to learn and I don't want it hindered by Miss Impatient. She is always so good! I know she can be better than she was yesterday!

The plan was for me to watch my trimmer do a front and rear hoof, then I was going to do a front and rear hoof. Because Lilly was such a turd, I only did the right front hoof, and I received a lot of help. Technique is key, and I learned a lot about that, which will help me out so much in the future.

We decided against the EasyBoot Glue-Ons we had been talking about for a number of reasons. Mostly it's because she is doing great as is, so there isn't a need to change things. Plus, I want to be able to see her hooves and ride her in the boots, and she hasn't been sore or gimpy on her right front in a long time. My trimmer said she can tell Lilly's soles have thickened since we started this adventure and her heels look better every time she comes out.

Here are the before and after photos from yesterday...

Left Front Hoof:

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Right Front Hoof (this is the hoof I trimmed, along with lots of help from my trimmer):

Before

After

Before

After

Before

And to put everything in perspective, here is Lilly's left front hoof on September 8th of last year, and January 12th of this year... 4 months later.

Amazing!!

More Patella Fixation Stuff

2012-01-12T19:39:00.000-05:00

Today was hoof trim day, but I ran out of time and didn't get to edit my photos. So that post will have to wait. For now, I shall talk about stifles, UFP, and effusion...

My vet's horse is boarded at the same barn as Lilly. Convenient, right? I try not to bug her for "free" advice, but I couldn't help myself today. She was checking in on her horse because he coliced yesterday and I thought it would be the perfect time to ask her about UFP. As you may recall, I have been pondering whether UFP is something Lilly might have. I posted about it here, and have been watching for signs and symptoms ever since.

What's UFP? If one of the patellar ligaments used to allow the horse to lock its hind legs remains in the hooked position, the horse is unable to bend its leg. This condition can range from a slight delay in a leg's forward motion (what Lilly has) to completely locking which freezes a leg for long periods of time. My vet told me a horror story about a horse she worked on who was locked for FOUR DAYS and they ended up cutting the horse's ligament. Yikes...

I gave her the rundown of Lilly's symptoms and history and I was basically picking her brain about whether we would be able to diagnose the UFP with an x-ray or ultrasound. She thinks an x-ray would be a good place to start because that would show us if she has arthritis. She offered to palpate her stifle and noted that there's quite a bit of effusion (fluid) on the left side, which is the side with the issue. She was glad to see that Lilly is very symmetrical, because a lot of horses with UFP have disproportionate muscles.

We're planning to do an x-ray in the near future (maybe Monday) and then depending on what we find, we'll go from there. The reason I want to do the x-rays sooner rather than later is because she mentioned that circles are really bad for UFP horses... since circles are our main focus going forward, I want to make sure I don't make something worse. With an x-ray at least I'll know what I'm up against.

If she does have UFP, it is thankfully a mild case and there are quite a few options available. A strict fitness routine is one option, which would work toward strengthening the quadriceps muscles and help to put more tension on the ligaments. That would involve hills, hills, hills, and poles, poles, poles, but circles are a giant no-no. We could look at some different trimming methods too and see how she's wearing her hind hooves. Trimming the inside hoof wall more than the outside has been helpful for some horses. Injecting the stifle is another option, as well as blistering (which I am not going to do), and finally surgery, which is also not on the table. Accupuncture isn't an accepted treatment method, but it's being done with great results.

Interestingly, heavier horses have fewer issues with UFP because the fat pad behind the patella enlarges, thus reducing the likelihood of the ligament catching on the bone. And here I've got her on a diet...

Oh, and hard footing is also helpful, which is completely opposite of the hoof care plan I have her on now...

Going It Solo

2012-01-10T14:22:00.002-05:00

Since Sunday was our mini obstacle course and yesterday we were rained out, today was the first chance we had to practice everything we learned when Alex was out on Saturday.

Things didn't start off all that well because Lilly was in a mood. What mood was that? A looky-loo, snorty-snort kind of mood. Even in the cross ties she seemed a little on edge, which is unusual. On our way to the arena she snorted at the giant, brown, horse eating monster (trash can) and was blowing at everything. I ended up taking her to the trash can so she could sniff it, but she wasn't convinced that it wasn't going to breathe fire and kill us both. After our walk around the arena and our stifle exercises, though, she seemed to settle in, and by the time I was in the saddle she was ready to work!

I rode her in our usual english tack. My only other option is english saddle and western bridle, but I don't want to overdo the new western bit because I'm still learning myself. Perhaps I'll alternate bridles when I ride so she gets a taste of both as we work more on our cantering.

We did our usual warm-up and then I went right into some trotting and jogging exercises. As was suggested by Alex, every time there was a transition, I exaggerated the "head set" (I hate that term...) to encourage her to really keep her head level throughout the entire transition. She did really well!

We did a bunch of serpentines in and out of a line of cones, and worked on our extended trot to slow jog exercises. I tried getting her to slow her extended trot by slowing the rate at which I was posting. She seemed to understand exactly what I was asking. Now that I'm riding more with my body and less with my reins, I'm amazed at how little it takes on my part to get a response from her. She's such a smart girl!

After we were done trotting, I moved on to the canter circles. The arena was quite wet from the rain so I had to find an area that was fairly dry. The end where Alex and I worked was too soggy, so I moved some stuff around and worked her in the center of the arena. I think my circles were bigger than the ones we did on Saturday, but after I walked it a couple times to give myself a pattern to follow, they seemed to be just about right.

Lilly did amazingly well in both directions! She wasn't rushy at all and stayed very consistent throughout the entire thing. It was still quick, but she didn't seem upset or worried, and it felt a lot better than it did on Saturday. I don't know if it's because the circles were bigger, or if she'll just have some good and some bad days? I decided to do 10 circles in each direction, and I'll increase the number each time we ride, assuming the circles stay nice like they were today. If she's rushy and super quick, we'll just canter until she's more relaxed. I want to build a level of fitness before we start the canter-stop-back-canter exercises that are in our future.

Here's what we left in the arena after our canter circles:

A nice circle!

My boarder friend (we'll give her a name and call her S since she's been mentioned here quite a few times) called me when she was riding to complain about the tracks we left in the arena. :)

It was a great ride! I cooled her down, cleaned her hiney, turned her out, stuffed her hay net, and she was a happy girl! I hope this weather keeps up too... it's fantastic!

Looking thinner by the day! No more giant hay belly!

They're calling for more rain tomorrow and then Thursday my trimmer comes out, but I'm looking forward to our next ride! They're so much more fun than they used to be. I think Lilly agrees!

Playing With Obstacles

2012-01-09T17:51:00.002-05:00

I never mentioned what I did with Lilly on Sunday... I didn't want to work her after the tough ride she had with Alex, but I still wanted to go spend some time with her. A fellow boarder had the idea to gather up some scary objects and work with our horses to get them used to new things.

Both of our horses have a fear of things coming at their faces, so we selected a giant Parelli ball, an umbrella, and a big flag. Her horse is used to the Parelli ball, but I knew it would probably terrify Lilly. She's afraid of her Jolly Ball, so I didn't hold much hope that she'd be okay with a giant, green, bouncing ball either. It didn't take long until she was ok with it being bounced next to her and being rolled underneath her, but it took a bit longer to get her ok with the ball rolling right at her front legs. She never tried to run away and never pulled back, though, so I was quite proud of how brave she was.

The boarder's horse was playing "soccer" with the Parelli ball, but I couldn't get Lilly to push it unless it was by mistake. A couple times she hit the ball with her foot if I managed to be sneaky enough, but she wouldn't do it on her own by walking into the ball. I've tried to get her to squeeze through or knock over barrels with her shoulders in the past and I just can't seem to convince her that she can go forward. It's like she thinks the objects are stationary and I'm an idiot for asking her to run into things. Any ideas on how to get her to push things?

She was totally ok with the giant flag (parade pony, here we come!), and didn't mind the umbrella until I spun it like a top in front of her. That got the stink eye for quite some time, but then she got bored with it and tried to eat the handle.

We want to get a hula hoop, some pool noodles, and a plastic kiddie pool for our next adventure!

Another Alex Visit!

2012-01-08T21:04:00.001-05:00

I have been sick, sick, sick... it's been over a week since it started and I'm still not back to feeling normal. It was so bad last week that I took some time off work to rest and try to get rid of this ick, and I never take sick days at work! I'm feeling well enough to do things normal, not sick people do, but I sure hope it doesn't last too much longer.

I went to the barn Friday and had a really nice ride on Lilly. Alex was coming out on Saturday so I didn't want to work her too hard... we just had a nice ride together. She was fantastic, and I've noticed a difference in her since I started using that gel half pad. I think it gives just enough padding on her back to make the saddle a bit more comfortable for her.

Saturday was gorgeous... 70 degrees and sunny! We're having some unseasonably warm weather, and I am not complaining. I had given up on the idea of clipping Lilly for the winter, but if it keeps this up, I might end up having her clipped.

So as I mentioned, Alex came out to visit on Saturday. I love having her come out because I get so much out of each visit... if she didn't live so far away I'd beg her to come out more often. She has at least 150 different bits to choose from (right, Alex?), a variety of headstalls and reins to use, and a western saddle that fits Lilly like a dream!

I've been wanting to outfit Lilly in a "big girl bit" so she can start learning how to be a western horse in something other than a d-ring snaffle. We have to show in something with shanks, so Alex brought some bits she thought would work and we selected what we thought would be the best bit for Lilly. I couldn't find the exact bit online, but it looks something like this:

Billy Allen mouth bit...

I like that each side of the bit works independently, so I can still communicate with her in a way that is similar to how her snaffle works. She seemed to really respond well and figured out fairly quickly how everything was going to work. Alex is letting me keep the headstall and bit for a while, so we'll be able to practice with it some more and make sure it's what I want to use before I purchase my own.

Alex rode Lilly first so I could watch how she worked Lilly and handled the new bit. I was also anxious to "show off" how much progress we have made since the last time she was out. I think she was pretty impressed with how much more relaxed Lilly is and how she really stays with her rider now. The progress is just huge and I owe it all to Alex and her now infamous "trot-stop-back-trot" exercises. For the kind of mind that Lilly has, those exercises are gold!

Then it was my turn!

Let's do this!

I really didn't have to do a whole lot to get the perfect western walk. Every now and then she would bring her head up and a little pull upwards on the inside rein would get her head back down. Alex kept saying, "more rein, more rein" and I'd let out some more slack. I couldn't wrap my mind around the fact that Lilly was walking slowly, consistently, and with her head down on such a loose rein!

Whose horse is this, anyway?

It was the same at the jog (heh, I said jog!). I kept her on a loose rein and she just plodded around as happy as can be. The jog was nice, too. It wasn't a pitter patter, she's barely moving jog... it was slow, consistent, and simply amazing.

La-de-da... this is fun!

After I was able to get the hang of things, we changed it up and went from a jog to a trot, back to a jog, and so on. I was amazed at how well she would speed up and extend the trot and then come back to a jog simply because I would sit deep and exhale.

Speeding it up...

Slowing it down...

I had to take a minute during my ride... the progress we have made together over the past year just suddenly came at me all at once and I got very emotional. I couldn't stop the tears. I had to hug Lilly and I had to hug Alex. Between the training help she's given us and the new pony I found when I chose to try Lilly barefoot, I finally have a happy horse and it means the absolute world to me.

After gathering my composure, we decided to move on and work Lilly at the canter. Alex hopped on and I told her about the progress we've made with our transitions, but that we really don't canter a whole lot. I've been cantering her enough to work on transitions and leads, but for a variety of reasons, I just don't work her much at the canter. It definitely needs a lot of work...

She does well enough at the canter to appease me and I don't worry about cantering at horse shows, but Lilly does not have a nice canter. Her canter is essentially what her trot used to be. Alex describes it as "running away"... Lilly isn't cantering with me, she's cantering to get away from me. We aren't together. Lilly is cantering and I'm sitting there on her back.

Alex decided that from now on, we canter circles at the end of the arena. All I'm supposed to do is keep her on the circle. She can carry her head however she pleases and she can go as fast as the circle will allow, but we need to canter, canter, canter.

I hopped on and gave it a try...

Cantering...

Still cantering... remember to breathe!

What I found particularly interesting was how on the circle, her bad way became her good way and her good way became her bad way. When I canter her around the arena, she is much better when we're going counter-clockwise. On the circle, she was much better going clockwise. Strange!

A happy me and a sleepy Lilly!

Alex gave us some great homework and some great pointers! I'm anxious to get started with Lilly so our canter can improve as much as our trot/jog has. We're also going to plan a trip to a western saddle shop not far from us. Because Alex's saddle fits Lilly so well, we want to take it with us to the saddle shop and see what they have that's similar. Alex thinks that because her saddle is old as dirt that it is made different than today's saddles... it's made for the old school, bulldog style QH, which is similar to what Lilly is. I would love to find a "normal" saddle that fits Lilly so I don't have to spend a fortune to have a happy western pony. :)

Still More On Western Saddles

2012-01-03T18:17:00.000-05:00

I've lost count of the number of saddle posts I've done, but let's just say there have been quite a few. The saddle issues started back in 2008 when we really started doing a lot of riding. Prior to 2008, we were mostly just trail riding and playing around without any serious goals. Once I decided to start showing again, the rides became more demanding and more frequent and I really started to notice issues.

I mentioned briefly in another post that I borrowed a friend's western saddle. I've been wanting to ride Lilly western because of all the progress we've made and the saddle looked like it would fit so I gave it a try. It wasn't too narrow and had a nice, short skirt, but after a few minutes into our test ride I could tell Lilly was uncomfortable. She hadn't quite made it to the point where she was really displaying her usual symptoms because I could tell very early on that the saddle wasn't going to work and I took it off.

In my very popular Crates saddle post, I was wondering if I would have an easier time finding a saddle that Lilly was happy with because a lot of her issues dissolved when we tool those shoes off. Our experience with my friend's western saddle says otherwise, though, and I'm back to being a bit pessimistic about the whole situation.

My friend Alex rides Lilly in her western saddle when she comes out to work with us and I haven't seen a problem with that one at all, but Lilly doesn't always show discomfort right away. I'm not sure if Alex's saddle really does fit Lilly or if it just hasn't been used enough for Lilly to decide she doesn't like it. I suppose there really could be a saddle out there that fits as is, and maybe Alex has it, but she's not selling! Trust me, I asked. It's all a crap shoot really, and that's why all of this gets so frustrating.

But moving on to the actual purpose of this post... a new brand of saddle to consider! My trimmer recommends these saddles and I've never heard of them before until now. They're made by TW Saddlery and are quite unique to any saddle I've ever seen before. This from their website:

The traditional western saddle often is too tight due to substantial padding. The tradition of using both a blanket and pad, combined with the popularity of today's thicker pads, often creates bridging. Complicating the issue is the use of bulky, thick leather, double-thick skirting encasing the tree, and extending two to three inches in front of the bars of the tree. This often pinches the shoulders and interferes with the tree fitting in the manner it was designed to.

As a result of the saddle either being too narrow or too much padding, all pressure is on withers/shoulders. This failure of saddle to fit properly results in it being lifted off back, in center, and some remaining pressure is on loins where contact resumes. Horses experiencing this bridging will be reluctant to extend their gaits and this much pressure will cause pain, tissue damage and associated white hairs.

I wonder if Lilly would have white hairs on her withers if the hair there wasn't already white...

With these TW saddles, they have eliminated the unnecessary leather in front of bars and also shortened the bars slightly so shoulder movement isn't as compromised as it tends to be on a traditional western saddle. The saddles also do not have any fleece lining the bottom because it makes evaluating saddle fit much more difficult and just creates extra, unnecessary padding. The saddles come with neoprene pads and shims, and that's what is used to create a truly custom saddle.

The neoprene pads.

Think about it... you could have one saddle for four different horses. The pads are all removable, so you ride one horse with his pads, and then when you switch to another horse, ride him with his pads. Perhaps your horse has uneven shoulders... the pad on the left side can be thicker than the pad on the right side. Or, as the shape of your horse changes with work, you can get different pads for that too! Plus, the need for a special saddle pad goes out the window because that's what your saddle is doing for you with the neoprene pads.

There is a dealer who is pretty local to me, so I could load up Lilly and haul her out there for a consult. They use the Equi-Mapping technology when doing their saddle fitting so you can truly see how the saddle fits. I'm skeered to see the outcome with my new, expensive, of course it fits her! english saddle...

They also have a demo program so you can try the saddle before you make the purchase. Considering the saddle I'm interested in is $2700, a demo makes me feel much more at ease about the purchase.

There are a few different styles and I like the Ranch Versatility saddle the best. Without knowing the specifics about each one I might need something different, but if I were to buy one right now, that's the one I'd choose. They have a lot of different options too as far as color, tooling, and conchos go. Square skirts, round skirts, different riggings, and you can even get a matching breastcollar!

*drool

It's not super showy, but I think it would do okay in the show ring. I've also seen some of their show type saddles on different websites, so there's a good chance I could get some silver put on mine. So for now, this is the saddle I'm researching. I'm going to get in touch with the local dealer and discuss some of our issues with her to see what she thinks. This might be the answer!

More Thoughts For 2012

2012-01-02T21:12:00.000-05:00

As is typical this time of year, I get bitten by the show bug pretty hard. I start thinking about all the shows I want to go to, the clothes I need to buy, the PAC points we might get, the things we need to work on... All the different circuits start putting out their show dates and their class list and I go through each one, bolding the classes Lilly and I would do well in. It borders on obsession...

This year, one of my favorite show circuits has kicked off a new hunter circuit. There are only a couple shows but I noticed they have a few beginner classes with 18" cross rails. I've been looking for hunter hack classes with 18" cross rails and haven't been able to find them. All the hunter hack classes have jumps with a minimum of 2', and we don't do 2'. We don't do anything over 18", actually. I'm not big into jumping (never have been) and neither is Lilly. I've tried a bit of free jumping here and there with her and it's obvious she'd rather go around the jump.

In a traditional hunter hack class, there are only two jumps, and I assume an actual hunter class would be made up of multiple jumps, maybe five of them, and a specified order that we'd have to jump them. (See how little I know about hunters?) Not that three more jumps makes a huge difference, but I'm not sure how Lilly would feel about jumping that many jumps in three different classes...

It's been easy to ignore jumping because of Lilly's history of tendon issues. When her ICLs were cut back in the day the vet said she'd be perfectly sound and usable, but he didn't recommend a jumping career. As time went on, I spoke to numerous vets and many of them commented that she would be just fine for jumping as long as we stayed under 2'6"... After her most recent tendon injury, the vet asked if we did any jumping and I explained that we never had and the reasons why. She commented that small jumps might actually be beneficial for Lilly's tendons and that we should include them in our rehab. I chose not to because I didn't feel I was experienced enough to do that type of exercise with her and ensure she wasn't injured.

There's a whole other world of thinking regarding tendon injuries that seems to be making it's way into the mainstream. Studies have recommended not resting tendon injuries, but rather working the horse to keep the ligament and muscles in shape because it produces a better outcome. Small jumps and hills were mentioned because of the different ways they would stretch the tendons and keep them from getting tight... My vet seemed really excited about the research and I can see the benefit of both methods, but I don't know enough about the research to have formed an opinion. I do find it interesting, though.

With all the research I've been doing about back issues in horses, jumping, raised poles, and other ground pole exercises come up often as a way to strengthen and stretch the topline. I do want to include some poles into our workouts, and it doesn't seem like most hunter folks consider 18" a "real jump", but I worry about her tendons and ligaments.

Now that I've found a few classes we could try, I'm starting to consider going to one of the shows and taking Lilly in the classes. 18" is our absolute limit but it might be something else fun to do with her. My vet is completely okay with it (although a professional opinion doesn't mean what it used to in my eyes), Lilly's torn ligament is completely "healed", and assuming Lilly doesn't seem to hate the small cross rails, is there a reason to hold back and not trot over something 18" high? We've been doing a bit of cavaletti work already and she seems to enjoy trotting over those. Unfortunately I have no idea how high they are... maybe 12"?

She does way worse to herself in the pasture, but the difference is that she's doing it on her own terms. If we did some cross rails, I would be asking her to do it and wouldn't necessarily know if it was bothering her. She might tell me, but she might not.

Any thoughts on 18" cross rails and my very fragile little mare?

2012 Goals

2012-01-01T09:14:00.001-05:00

I didn't set any goals for myself in 2011... well, I had one goal and that was to have a sound horse by the end of the year. Even though we're still having a few issues here and there, my horse is sound and happy and I am so grateful for that! We're riding on a consistent basis and even ended the year with a successful show. I hope 2012 brings us more happy memories!

Basic Goals

Hooves, hooves, hooves! I want to continue to work on Lilly's hooves and the thickness of her soles. X-rays will be in order again later in the year to see how much they've grown since the x-rays in 2011.

I want to stay consistent in my riding and work Lilly at a minimum of three days per week, although four is preferred. It's good for her hooves, great for her conditioning, and if we intend to show (which we do!) we need to work on a number of things to be competitive. I'm excited to see how she progresses with such consistent work.

For those three and four day work weeks, I want to go into the arena with a plan. Too often I find myself "just riding" without any goals in mind and without a purpose. Sometimes it's fun to just enjoy my horse, but Lilly needs direction and in order to keep us both focused, I want to have exercises to work on and goals to work toward.

I would love to take some lessons. This might not be the year to start having regular lessons because of wedding costs, but maybe I can take a lesson here and there. Ideally, I would prefer to take lessons on someone else's horse so I can get a better gauge of my riding skills. After riding my friend's horse a couple times over the past month I've realized that I can ride Lilly pretty darn well, but stick me on a different horse and things tend to fall apart. It's a bit embarrassing...

I really want to get a western saddle. Again, there's the whole wedding-gotta-save-money thing, but I'm hoping I can find something suitable for us to use even if it isn't the saddle I really want. That can always come later on.

My main goal for 2012 is to keep Lilly healthy and happy! I want her to see a chiropractor early this year and also investigate the possible UFP. She's already lost some weight (had to use the next hole up on the girth!) and I think she's looking good!

Show Goals

If this was a normal year (i.e. not the year I get married!) I would probably set a few more show related goals for us to work toward. Because of time constraints and a need to save money for the wedding, the actual 2012 show season will be scaled down a bit.

We won't be able to show at the State Fair since I'll be on my honeymoon, which would normally be a goal, but I want to attend at least one show every other month. September would be one of those months, but I'll be getting married on the 29th, so September is out. Right now I only have 4 shows lined up, but some of the possible show circuits don't have their dates out yet, so that could change. I added a gadget on the side to keep track.

I'm hoping our show in July will be a Paint show because I would love to get another more novice/amateur point this year with Lilly! I won't make the novice/amateur point a goal, though... PAC points are much more realistic for us at this point and I hope to get at least five more showmanship points and three performance points.

I'm very excited about what 2012 holds! May it be a great year for all of us and our horses! :)

2011 In Review

2011-12-31T10:09:00.000-05:00

Because of all the issues we had in 2010, we were glad to welcome 2011. It was an interesting year, full of ups and downs, and even a few surprises. Before we welcome 2012 and all it has to offer, here's a review of what happened in 2011.

January
We started 2011 at the barn from hell. Lilly was on stall rest because she was in the middle of a series of three shock wave treatments to try and repair the damage from her inferior check ligament tear back in October 2009. We were also keeping an eye on her hoof, which had abscessed back in August and was now growing out with a giant hole in the hoof wall. At the end of the month, Lilly had one final ultrasound to see how successful the SWT had been. She was given two thumbs up and I breathed a huge sigh of relief!

She's cute, but she sure is high maintenance!

February
We started February at a new barn with a cautiously optimistic outlook on our new beginning. I was happy to be in a new place, my mare was happy to be turned out like a normal horse, and I was able to ride again for the first time in months. Things went well for the first week or so, but then we started having a variety of issues. Lilly was wearing special shoes for her abscessed hoof and low heels and constantly needed to be seen by my farrier because she kept ripping them off her hooves. I was having feed issues with the barn owner regarding Lilly and my gelding AJ, and if that wasn't enough, I was having issues with all of my saddles not fitting Lilly properly. To resolve the saddle issues, I took Lilly to a saddle fitter and purchased a new Pessoa saddle after selling all four of my other saddles.

Here's Lilly at the saddle fitting barn.

March
After a few sleepless nights and a lot of consideration, I decided it was in AJ's best interests to retire him in Michigan at my parent's place. I knew my parents would take excellent care of him and my dad's horse would be great company. On March 1st he left North Carolina for the long trip to Michigan. It was really hard to see him go, but I knew he would love where he was going.

I miss you, Boo Bear!

Lilly and I were feeling adventurous and decided to try a couple shows. Both of them were a disaster, with her screaming and calling to her pasture mate during the entire show. She was really attached and I tried a variety of tactics to squash the unhealthy obsession she had, but they all failed. Because it was so out of character for her and I was having food issues anyway, I decided to make a big change and take her off grain completely hoping it would help her relax.

April
Despite all my efforts, Lilly was still obsessed with her pasture mate and I decided to call in the big guns. My friend Alex came out to spend a day with us to work on some of our issues and it was a huge success. She showed me how to use Lilly's overactive brain against her and throughout the month of April we had some great moments together. We showed again and Alex came along with me for moral support and to provide her services. It was a fantastic day!

Using those haunches!

We did a lot of riding in April and Lilly celebrated her 11th birthday. I took a vacation to the beach... boy did I need one!

May
After I was unable to work out some significant differences with the barn owner, I decided it was time to move Lilly once again. We moved to a barn that was only three minutes down the road, but it felt like a whole different world. Lilly seemed to love it as much as I did, and we spent most of the month settling in. She has a lovely stall, her very own pasture for turnout, and I have peace of mind. We are very happy here.

Breaking in the new pasture!

June
June was a pretty uneventful and quiet month. Alex came out to visit us again, which is always wonderful, I obsessed over saddle fitting (as usual), and we did quite a bit of riding.

Ready for a ride!

July
July is the month were I began to ponder what it would be like to have a barefoot horse. My farrier shot down the idea, but I decided to investigate on my own. I posted pictures of my mare's feet and you were all horrified by her underrun heels and tiny shoe size. An outstanding education came shortly after that post by 3 barefoot trimmers, as well as all of you.

I can't bear to look at these...

August
August was definitely a memorable month. I was able to fly to Michigan for a nice vacation with my family and a great visit with AJ. Shortly after I came back to North Carolina he was diagnosed with Potomac Horse Fever and I was terribly worried about him. Thanks to quick action by my parents, my vet, and a friend of my father's, AJ was able to pull through and was back to his happy self in no time. August was also the month that changed Lilly's life... we took off her shoes! The first couple days were tough for her, but she rapidly made progress and I started to see all the wonderful changes that being barefoot would bring.

A happy barefoot girl!

September
September brought more saddle woes and a sore right front hoof for Lilly. She was more sore on her right front than her left front and I was worried she had something going on in there that might need attention. The left leg is the one with the repaired ICL tear, so we thought perhaps it had an impact on the right hoof. X-rays were scheduled, but thanks to a pair of hoof boots, we were able to enjoy some wonderful rides together.

Enjoying a nice ride together.

October
We received the results of the x-rays and it was determined that the cause of Lilly's discomfort was simply thin soles (5-6mm). Thin soles were definitely to be expected, so we made plans to work toward getting them thicker. Hoof casts were applied at her second trim and she seemed much more comfortable. Lilly also found herself on a diet. Everything was cut out of her diet except hay and vitamin supplements.

Ride, rides, and more rides!

I started noticing a huge change in my horse around this time. It was as if I had a new horse. It was the horse I always wanted, and the horse I knew I had, but I was never able to figure out how to get her past certain issues that were always a problem for us. It absolutely must have been hoof pain/heel pain/back pain... the shoes are off and now she is SO happy and SO relaxed.

November
We decided to try another show this month and had a wonderful time together. We won our showmanship class and placed in a few riding classes, but we were most proud of how much progress we made since the earlier shows. She was calm, happy, relaxed and I couldn't have been happier with her. We have a lot of work to do for next year's shows, but we are certainly off to a great start!

A much happier show mare!

I started investigating the possibility that Lilly has Upward Fixation of the Patella (UFP) after feeling her "get stuck" numerous times at the show. It is something I'm still investigating and will be looking at closely next year.

December
Lilly needed a trim and due to some scheduling conflicts, my trimmer was unable to come out so I decided to try my hand at hoof trimming! It went rather well and is quite addicting... it's a great feeling to be a part of your horse's hoof care routine, especially after all my horse's hooves have been through. We had some more great rides this month and look forward to many more!

Such a sweet girl...

Lilly and I hope you had a great 2011 and hope you have an even better 2012. She and I are excited about all the possibilities and hope you are too!

A Happy Pony

2011-12-30T18:55:00.000-05:00

Because of the unhappy horse I had with my friend's western saddle the other day, I guess Lilly is still having some issues with saddle fit. She hasn't shown any discomfort with the hunt seat saddle, so I'm thrilled about that, but the western saddle search might turn into quite an adventure.

During today's ride I had my friend ride Lilly a bit so I could watch how she's moving and how the saddle looks on her back. The back of the saddle was rising up off her back a bit when she posted so I think I'm going to remove the extra wide gullet and replace it with the wide and see how the saddle looks then. I only used the extra wide because she was still showing some discomfort and I thought it was because it still wasn't quite wide enough. It might be a tad too wide now, though. I also got Lilly a gel half pad to try and cushion her back a smidge more.

The arena is still really wet and I didn't feel safe cantering, but the walking and trotting we did was outstanding. I rode her both with the half pad and without, and when she was wearing it she was extra lazy. Without it, she was a bit more forward... I'm not sure what that means, but there was a distinct difference.

She is being such a good girl these days... just a happy girl, happy to do whatever I ask, and without fuss. She is also getting the hang of rating her speed at the trot/jog and I often have a difficult time getting her to move out. I'm loving every minute of it!

After our ride, my friend and I let our horses stand together and they were like two lovebirds. Her horse, Music, was grooming Lilly and giving her kisses and she looked to be in heaven. I think she misses having a buddy in her pasture but none of the boys at the farm can control themselves around her and things get wild. She has to be happy with friends over the fence for now.

Some Good Rides

2011-12-29T18:06:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Our Christmas was great, and Lilly and I got some really nice gifts that I can't wait to use! Now that Christmas is over, though, I'm ready for spring!

Despite my lack of posting, I've actually been quite busy with Lilly! I rode on Monday and then again yesterday and we had a great ride both times. I was able to ride with two other riders both days, which was a nice change. Usually we ride alone! There's also another boarder coming to the barn today, assuming her horse arrives from Canada on time. She's a veterinarian, so I'm thinking that could have some perks!

Our ride on Monday was great. Lilly is doing really well on the things we've been concentrating on, which include staying round, getting off her forehand, and rating her speed. We worked on some transitions and I've been working her off the rail quite a bit. She gets a little drunk when she doesn't have the rail to follow, but she's been improving a lot.

A boarder friend of mine let me borrow a western saddle she's had for quite a while. I decided I'd try the saddle on Lilly and see how she does, hoping it would fit so I'd have something western to ride in until I find a saddle I want to purchase. When I put it on, it looked like it fit, but I knew I'd have to ride in it to know for sure.

Tuesday it poured rain for most of the day and half the arena was under water, so Wednesday we moved one of the horses into the barn and rode in his pasture. The pasture is a pretty good size, but it's also a bit sloped, so I thought the hills might be a bit tiring for Lilly. I tacked up with the western saddle and off we went.

At first, Lilly was quite fast. There were two other horses with us and I think she thought we were going on a trail ride, so she was working hard to get in front. Both of these horses are Thoroughbreds and one of them raced, so she's outgunned no matter how you slice it. You can't tell her that, though! Once we started working and doing circles, she settled right in and was PERFECT.

If you're new-ish to the blog, you might not have read all the stories about what a challenge Lilly can be when we're with a group of horses. She gets very attached and must go where they go, for fear she'll be left behind. If she doesn't get to go, she will lose her mind. I've been working on this A LOT, but haven't had much of an opportunity at this new barn because we always end up riding by ourselves.

The western saddle started out okay, but the more I worked her, the more I started noticing little things here and there. She didn't want to bend at all and she started getting really stiff and heavy on her forehand. I decided the saddle just didn't fit her properly and took it off about half way through our ride. We rode bareback the rest of the time and I was so proud of how well she did.

I was riding her in a western bridle and I was using a dog bone snaffle with shanks. I've ridden her in it before, but it's been a while. She seemed to like it and happily went around on a loose rein and actually jogged around the pasture. We cantered a bit too, and she was such a good girl!

At the end of the ride, the three of us stood down by the water chatting, and when we were done, the two other girls turned their horses to head back up to the barn. I had Lilly's reins draped over her shoulders and I never touched them while the other horses left her. She stood completely still, quite calm, and relaxed until I asked her to walk back up to the barn. I can't tell you how excited I was about that! :)

Hopefully we're back into our routine now that all the craziness is over. She's still pretty out of shape and I want to get back to the exercises we were doing before December came along. She's making so much progress that I'm excited to see how well she does with more consistent work. I wish we had a western saddle, but that will have to wait for now.

In other news, I'm getting information about a trimming clinic in February. If all goes as planned, I'll be taking Lilly with me to the clinic and I am SUPER excited.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T16:16:00.002-05:00

Monday marks the start of the "time to get Lilly back into shape and work her consistently" marathon. Her hooves are doing great, she's happy, and the 2012 show season will be here before I know it. We have quite a few goals for next year, but those will have to wait for another post.

I have been extremely busy trying to get everything ready for Christmas this year. I have to work today, but I'm off Christmas day and the next three days after that and I'm really looking forward to some down time to enjoy the family and friends I am so blessed to share my life with.

Lilly and I want to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a happy, healthy, prosperous 2012!

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” — Luke 2:8-14

The Great Trim of 2011 - Part 3

2011-12-20T12:09:00.000-05:00

I worked on her hooves some more, so here are some updated pictures. This was only heel work for the most part because of my hoof knife. I think it's sharp now, so there will most likely be a part 4 with some frog and bar work. Sorry to bombard you with more and more hoof pictures!

Left Hoof:

Right Hoof:

The Great Trim of 2011 - Part 2

2011-12-18T17:30:00.001-05:00

The Great Trim was originally planned for last Friday, but my hoof knife was so dull it was like trying to cut a tire with a butter knife... needless to say, I had to find a way to sharpen it. I made due with it today after buying a sharpener that wasn't really the right tool for the job, so now the search is on for the appropriate sharpener. I think I just need one of those old fashion knife sharpening V thingies...

Anyways, back to the Great Trim... I learned a lot today:

I have never used "hoof trimming muscles" in my life and I dread how my arms are going to feel tomorrow.
Even though the temperature says 45 degrees, dressing like it's actually 35 degrees and then trimming hooves is a bad idea. It got a little toasty under all those layers!!
Just because I can see that it needs to be trimmed, and I understand how and why I need to trim it, doesn't mean I'll actually be able to figure out how to get my hoof knife in there and make it happen.
If I'm going to do this sort of thing with any amount of frequency, I desperately need a hoof stand!

I think things went fairly well this morning, considering. Lilly was in rare form today and definitely not in the mood to have her hooves trimmed. She wasn't "bad" necessarily, but she didn't make it easy on me at all. I begged her to show a little compassion, but she doesn't seem to be in the Christmas spirit yet. I try to be as easy with her as I can, and I give her breaks often... I even boot the hoof I'm not trimming to try and make her as comfortable as possible. When I tried to use my knee as a hoof stand, she couldn't comprehend the concept that I was NOT there to support her entire body weight and I ended up using a small bucket instead. So let's just say I was limited as far as hoof wall rasping is concerned.

Of course I took "after" pictures of her hooves, and now that I'm looking at them, I can see some areas that need more work. It's amazing what you can see in pictures that you can't see with your naked eye. I tried to take a "less is more" approach today, though, because I would much rather have to go back and take more off, rather than have her sore. So without further adieu, here is my handy work! Normally I would ask that you go easy on me, but that's no way to learn!

Left Front Hoof:

Right Front Hoof:

I can see that I left more heel on her right front than I did on her left front. With both hooves, I was trying to keep the heels just above frog level, but I think I need to take more heel off... or did I take too much off the left hoof? I'm also curious about the heel buttress area of her hoof because it seems so BIG. Here's a closeup of her right hoof:

There's that whole flat area that I figured is considered part of her heel, but in the typical horse, is there that much of a platform, or will all of that "migrate" back as her new hoof capsule grows in and we get her heels underneath her?

I also notice that I didn't do a very good job rolling the toe on her right hoof, and I wish I could have backed up the toe a bit. The bucket hoof stand just wasn't cutting the mustard. I didn't touch any part of her sole that I didn't think was bar, and I did nothing with her toe callus. Hopefully the hoof walls are at an acceptable height too... After the trim, I took her outside and walked her around on the concrete. She was very comfortable and not short at all, so I'm hoping this is considered a partial success, with more work to do in the near future.

It took me over 2 hours and I didn't even do a whole lot on her rear hooves! I only trimmed the bars and did a little bit of heel and hoof wall rasping. I guess I'm not ready for prime time yet. :)

I'm looking forward to your comments!

Thoughts On Crates Saddles?

2011-12-17T09:55:00.001-05:00

As always, I'm shopping...

I still want to get a western saddle that I can use for work and show, and I'm having a tough time finding exactly what I want. The biggest issue for me is going to be skirt size. Lilly is short backed and I'm trying to find something with a skirt shorter than 27". 26" would be ideal, but those saddles seem to be few and far between. If I could get a barrel racing saddle or a saddle with a round skirt, my life would be much easier but I just can't... they would laugh me out of the show ring.

I have only been searching specific brands that I thought I wanted to purchase, but it just so happens that Crates has a line of ladies reining saddles. After seeing this one, I think I'm smitten.

YUMMY!

The description is as follows:

Crates Hand Tooled Reining Saddle
We're proud to introduce Crates' Hand Tooled Ladies Reiner--a saddle especially made for a woman. It is a light-weight reining saddle made on the Equi-Fit reining tree, with a balanced center pocket and a very narrow ground seat. Carefully hand tooled basket. Bench made one-at-a-time. Soft grain-out chap leather padded seat.

Tree: Crates exclusive Equifit Reiner, Quarterhorse bars
Gullet: Med: 6 5/8"; Wide: 7"; 8" High
Horn: Reiner 2 1/2" High, 2 1/2" Cap
Seat: 15 1/2" or 16", 3 1/2" Cantle
Rigging: In-skirt Stainless Steel
Skirt: 26" X 13", Saddlefleece lined
Fender: 16 1/2" X 7", 2 1/2" leathers, belvins buckles
Finish: Natural
Weight: Approximately 28 lbs

It fits the bill in nearly every department I was shopping for. I would prefer a 15" seat, but I think the 15 1/2" would work just fine. It's not really a "show saddle" either, but I think it's fancy enough to show in. This saddle runs about $1900, which is more than I was hoping to spend, but it is what it is. It's not like I'm saving for a wedding or anything... oh, wait!!

Crates saddles are still hand-made, one at a time, in a plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee which I love! I've never seen a Crates saddle in person, though, nor have I put my tookis in one. Does anyone have a Crates saddle, or an opinion of them?

Less Pudgy?

2011-12-16T15:26:00.001-05:00

I hurried to the barn today to try and beat the rain. The clouds threatened the whole time I was there, but we never got rained on. The weather was fantastic otherwise... 68 degrees!

I wanted to do some round pen work but it became clear pretty quickly that I needed to wash my pony's hind end. The supplements don't appear to be working and neither is the hay net. I just don't know what else to do other than continue to scrub and slather on Desitin.

After she was clean, we headed out to the round pen. She was a bit full of herself, so it took a while to convince her that this was serious business and not play time. She always does much better when we're working to the left and there were some really nice moments going in that direction. I'm always amazed at how closely she pays attention to my body, and when I'm not giving her my full attention, she does what she wants to do. I gave up trying to take pictures because as soon as I raise my camera, she comes in from the rail... booger!

I love her color in the winter!

After our workout, I took a couple pictures to compare with pictures I have of her before she went on her "diet". The weight tape I've been using seems worthless, so I figured the pictures might tell a better story.

October 19, 2011

December 16, 2011

October 19, 2011

December 16, 2011

Since I haven't been exercising her much this month, the majority of the weight loss (if any) would have come from calorie cutting... no more alfalfa pellets and no more Ultium mixed with breakfast supplements.

I think she looks pretty good! :) (but I'm biased...)

The Great Trim of 2011 - Part 1

2011-12-13T18:45:00.001-05:00

Part 1 is the before, and part 2 will be the after...

If you had told me a year ago that Lilly would now be barefoot and I'd be trimming her hooves, I would have laughed hysterically! Then I would have said something silly like, "she can't go barefoot... duh!" In fact, I probably would have had a similar reaction as Lilly did today when I told her I'd be trimming her hooves this week:

Um, you can't be serious! You do know I'm a princess, right? Not just anyone can trim my hooves!

I went to the barn today to take some pictures of her hooves. I want to study them, compare them to other hoof pictures I have, decide what I need to do for her trim, and also solicit opinions from all of you, along with my trimmer. I'm not as nervous about it as I was when I first thought about doing the trimming myself, but I'm still worried a bit because her hooves aren't exactly "easy keepers." The last thing I want to do is make her sore.

She's had quite a bit of growth since her last trim. Tomorrow will be 7 weeks and she grew more hoof this time than she did in the 7 weeks prior to this trim.

Left Front Hoof:

Right Front Hoof:

When I look at her hooves as a "trimmer", I like to look at each part of the hoof and evaluate it by itself first. I ask myself how each piece looks overall, and then how does it work with the rest of her hoof? What do I need to do with each piece to make this a properly functioning hoof... I usually start with her heels (because I'm obsessed with them and I think they require the most care), then move on from there. She has a fair amount of heel that needs to come off, and I would take them down to where they're slightly lower than her frog. I try to keep in mind that the goal is to encourage her to use the structures on the back of her hoof rather than her toes, so I don't want her to be walking around on hoof wall, but I also don't want her too short because she's still in the process of transitioning and all those structures are still developing. I want to give her a nice heel buttress platform so she's bearing weight on the buttress and the frog. Think heel first, Lilly!

Looking at her bars, I would definitely trim them. From what I understand, the bar corium ends midpoint down the frog, so any bar past that area is considered overgrowth. The bars help make up the nice buttress platform I'm trying to achieve, so they need to be trimmed down to sole level too. I would also clean out the collateral groove a bit, mostly near the back of the hoof.

It's hard to see in the pictures, but she has a pretty good toe callus going on. I wouldn't touch the toe callus, nor would I touch the sole of the hoof except to level off any high spots that could cause pressure points. I wouldn't touch the frog either, unless it was flaking off as it did last time. It looks pretty good to me.

She has some hoof wall separation going on, mostly on the medial side of her left front, so I would definitely do some rasping to remove as much of the flare as possible, and also help shape the hoof. After rounding the toe, I'd call it a day! My trimmer might suggest otherwise, but I'm not sure I feel comfortable backing up her toe. I think her toes are still a bit long, but I'm not sure how much more needs to come off, and I worry about taking off too much.

The hind hooves aren't nearly as complicated. Usually all it takes back there is a rasp here and there, along with some bar trimming, so I only took a couple pictures of those to show.

Hind Hooves:

Left rear hoof...

Right rear hoof...

I only have a hoof knife and a rasp (thanks again, Spazfilly!), so those are the tools I'll be working with. I'm skeered of nippers and I ain't afraid to admit it! I should be able to do everything with my rasp and hoof knife, but maybe eventually I'll buy a pair of nippers.

Maybe I'm seeing things, but I think the casts distorted her hooves a bit. If you look at the areas I circled on her hooves in these pictures, you can see the "dent" that I think showed up after the casts came off. Perhaps it's just coincidence, but I'm curious about opinions on that as well.

Left front hoof...

Right front hoof...

I think it's most noticeable on her left hoof, but I see something similar on the right hoof as well.

And in other news, does it look like she's lost any weight since going on her diet? She's on 24/7 turnout, getting 2 flakes of hay twice per day (about 18 lbs), a vitamin supplement, MSM, and Pro Balance, which is a high potency probiotic supplement. If I'm there during the day I'll sneak her an extra flake of hay too.

Nom, nom, nom...

I'm using the hay net to hopefully help with her diarrhea. Slowing her down and allowing her to have food throughout the day seems to minimize the amount of icky that drips down her hind legs.

I'm looking forward to any and all comments!!

Back, With AJ Spam!

2011-12-12T14:16:00.000-05:00

I made it back from Michigan safe and sound. The weather actually wasn't too bad, considering... when I arrived, there wasn't even any snow! Tuesday night it snowed a bit, and then it snowed again on Friday, but I saw the sun and managed not to freeze too much. :)

I have some hoof related stuff to post, and I'll have even more when I give Lilly her trim. For now, I want to post some pictures of AJ and get caught up on all of your blogs!

The pictures speak for themselves... AJ looks fantastic and he is a happy boy up there in Michigan. He and Justus get along better than any horses I've seen, and it makes me so happy. They're like two peas in a pod.

Off To The Great White North

2011-12-04T15:47:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow I head to Michigan... where I will be greeted by four inches of snow. Visiting family during the Michigan winters always makes me appreciate my North Carolina weather, even if it does reach triple digits here in the summer. :)

I should have some good posts for you when I get back. I've been promoted to Lilly's primary trimmer until sometime in January, so I plan on working on her hooves at least once per week. Unless I accidentally chop off her entire hoof with the hoof knife, I'll be posting before and after pictures of my trims so you can all ridicule my work.

I'll also be helping my dad trim AJ and his horse, Justus while I'm home. Lots of hoof related posts coming your way. Hopefully I'll have some cute pictures of AJ to share too. :)

Until then, have a great week!

Contest Winner!

2011-12-02T17:04:00.000-05:00

I was contacted a few weeks ago by a company called My Memories. They have an award winning digital scrapbooking software program that is rated #1 by Amazon and Top Ten Reviews. With this software, you can create digital scrapbooks, photobooks, cards, calendars, and anything else your creative mind can come up with, without having to buy more expensive (and complicated) software programs. I checked it out and it's very cool!

My Memories gave me a copy of their software to try for free, and they gave me another free copy to give away here, hence the whole giveaway contest! I had a whopping three entries (thanks, ladies) and Lilly helped me pick the winner by choosing one of three carrots. One could complain that the contest is rigged because she always chooses the carrot closest to her mouth, but I made sure to mix them up before I let her choose.

She chose the carrot with the #3 on it, which was Sand's carrot! So congratulations, Sand! Send me an email (rlilbitofcash(at)gmail.com) and I'll email you the information for your free copy of the My Memories Digital Scrapbook Suite!

My Memories has also given me my very own Share the Memories code that provides a $10 discount off the purchase of the My Memories Suite Scrapbook software and a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.com store! Just enter the code STMMMS29874 during checkout. So fear not if you didn't win, you can still get this great software at a great price. Feel free to share the code with your family and friends!

Oh, and for those of you wondering what happened to the other two carrots, she at those too. :)

A Busy Month and Shifting to Plan B

2011-12-01T14:25:00.015-05:00

It has been a crazy week, and it's not even over yet! I've had so much to do to prepare for Christmas that it has eaten up my whole week! I'm having Christmas with my family in Michigan next week, and then when I get back I have to prepare for Christmas number two, and then finally the real thing comes on the 25th. When I'm not doing Christmas things, I'm doing wedding related things, and then I wonder why I never get to ride during the month of December... it's just so busy!

Speaking of riding, I haven't ridden my horse since the show. That's sad... the time I could have ridden, I was having that shoulder issue (which is all better now!), and now that I'm feeling better I just don't have enough time during the day.

I've been out to the barn pretty frequently, though. Her highness expects love and carrots on a regular basis, so I'm always going out to check on her, hug her, feed her, put blankets on, and that sort of thing. She finally lost her other hoof cast, but she seems just fine without it in the pasture. She ran to see me today and I didn't notice any signs of soreness at all. My trimmer and I have decided to try the glue-on EasyBoots next time because I really didn't like the casts. Despite the epic fail JenJ had with her experience, I'm willing to give it a try. We'll probably plan on trying those the first of February.

Since I can't find the time to ride, I've decided to switch over to plan B, which is round pen work. It is just as beneficial and it takes less time since I don't need to saddle her. The riding ring has been pretty wet lately because of all the rain and there have been a few days I couldn't get in there anyway, so we'll just forget about it for now and work in the round pen. I'm still exploring her stifle issues, so the round pen work will also enable me to watch how she travels and hopefully I can see what I've been feeling.

I changed Lilly's supplements again too... she used to only get a vitamin supplement because she's not getting anything other than hay, but I think now that the grass is pretty much gone, she's having tummy troubles, which is causing the diarrhea. She was a mess today and has been fairly messy since before our show. The probiotics weren't helping, so after asking around and chatting with my vet, I'm going to try a product called Pro Balance. I've tried digestive supplements in the past with no luck, but I'm willing to give this a try. I'm also going to speak with the BO about giving her more hay to eat. She's not getting grain or beet pulp like the other horses, so I think she should be fed more hay. We'll see if the BO agrees. My vet also recommended that I start Lilly on MSM. She's getting "older" and with everything going on with her, it might be beneficial. SmartPak has a pellet, which in Lilly's world is a must, so I added that as well.

I sure hope it helps!

My Turn!

2011-11-27T17:42:00.001-05:00

It has been a busy weekend! First, I enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends, then we found the perfect Christmas tree and decorated for Christmas! It's always one of my favorite weekends of the year. I hope everyone had a great weekend too!

We've been having spectacular fall weather, but unfortunately I've been unable to ride. For once it isn't because Lilly is injured either! This past Monday I was making preparations to winterize my horse trailer and I ended up doing something to my shoulder when I tried to drain the hot water tank. Because of some built up pressure, the giant bolt shot out like a rocket when I started to remove it, which sent my socket wrench flying, which caused my arm to go flying backwards. And for the cherry on top, I was soaked with water.

I've winterized that trailer three other times and never had that happen... note to self for next year, though!

My shoulder is feeling better today finally... I never did go to the doctor because I figure they'll just give me a prescription for muscle relaxers and send me on my way. I already have some of those from the last time I managed to hurt myself, so I'll save myself the 4 hours.

Hopefully tomorrow I can head out to the barn for a nice ride. I need to get some riding in before this weekend because I'll be heading to Michigan for an early Christmas next Monday.

Also, don't forget to enter our giveaway! I must not have a lot of scrapbook followers, but the software is really neat and can be used for so many other projects! The best part is, it's free!

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T07:14:00.000-05:00

"You know, the Statue of Liberty and this wonderful holiday we call Thanksgiving go together naturally because although as Americans we have many things for which to be thankful, none is more important than our liberty. Liberty: that quality of government, that brightness of mind and spirit for which the Pilgrim Fathers braved the seas and Americans for two centuries have laid down their lives.

“Today, while religion is suppressed in perhaps one third of the world, we Americans are free to worship the Almighty as we choose. While entire nations must endure the yoke of tyranny, we are free to speak our minds, to enjoy an unfettered and vigorous press, and to make government abide by the limits we deem just. While millions live behind walls, we remain free to travel throughout the land to share this precious day with those we love most deeply – the members of our families.

“My fellow Americans, let us keep this Thanksgiving Day sacred. Let us thank God for the bounty and goodness of our nation. And as a measure of our gratitude, let us rededicate ourselves to the preservation of this: the land of the free and the home of the brave."

President Ronald Reagan
-November 1985-

Does Lilly Have UFP?

2011-11-22T09:15:00.001-05:00

After reading all the comments on my last post, I think everyone is right with their diagnosis of Upward Fixation of the Patella (UFP). I had the same suspicions, and after doing some more research and watching a lot of videos on YouTube, I'm even more sure.

If you're not familiar with UFP, here's an explanation from SmartPak that describes it very well:

The patella is the small, bony plate (the kneecap) that protects the knee joint in people, where the femur and tibia meet. In horses, this joint is known as the stifle. A unique hooking of the patellar ligaments over a notch on the femur allows the horse to lock its hind legs in the standing position. Unfortunately, if one of these ligaments remains in the hooked position, the horse is unable to bend its hind legs. This condition is known as Upward Fixation of the Patella and can range from a slight delay in a leg's forward motion to completely locking that freezes a leg for long periods of time.

From what I read, this condition can have quite a few causes:

Conformation-excessively straight hind legs
Lack of fitness
Negative plantar angles
Excessive ligament length

Conformation
You know, people ask me all the time if I've ever thought about breeding Lilly... here's just one more reason why I might laugh out loud when they ask! She's built pretty downhill, which seems to be a factor with UFP, and she's also sporting hind legs that are slightly straight. I've definitely seen worse, but it's there.

Legs a little too straight...

Lack of Fitness
She's been on 24/7 turnout since the middle of August when her shoes came off, but she hadn't been in consistent work until the middle of October when we started an exercise plan. With her thin soles and sore feet, I'm not sure she's getting much exercise on her own, though. Part of our exercise plan incorporates backing over poles, backing up small inclines, and leg lifts, all which are supposed to help strengthen the stifle. The Equine Fitness book I have includes some great exercises for this specific purpose, and we're doing them every time we ride.

Negative Plantar Angles
I'll have to inspect her hind hooves more closely, but nothing has changed on her hind hooves. There's all kinds of things going on with the front hooves, but we barely touch the hind hooves when my trimmer comes out.

Excessive Ligament Length
I'm still trying to find out more information about this one, but I'm assuming it means just what it says... and it makes me think back to Lilly's stall door accident. Is it possible that her injury stretched the ligament, making it more difficult to release? I mentioned a while back that I noticed Lilly was resting her hind legs more than she used to. I attributed it to removal of her shoes, thinking she was just more comfortable, but maybe it has something to do with this instead.

The Atlanta Equine Clinic (thanks, Terry!) has a fantastic article on UFP and you can find that article here. After reading it several times, a few of the UFP clinical signs caught my eye:

- The horse will frequently drag the toe of the affected limb(s) during exercise - Every time my trimmer comes out, she makes the comment, "She really drags her toes, doesn't she?"

- The horse will resist the canter. Resistance may be most noticeable during the transition between the trot and canter, when the horse is forced to extend the pelvic limb for a prolonged period - How many posts have I done on this? I've lost track!

- The canter is very rough or "bouncy". This occurs as a result of consistent delay in pelvic limb flexion from the extended position - I was just commenting in the last post how her clockwise canter feels very rough. Almost like she's cross-cantering.

- As with many cases of pelvic limb lameness, secondary abnormalities such as thoracolumbar ebaxial (back) and proximal thoracic suspensory ligament soreness are also present - Back soreness? Ligament soreness? Those are two main themes with this blog.

Assuming UFP is what she has, I'm really curious as to why it has suddenly become so much worse. I've been seeing this in her for years but it was such a rare occurrence I didn't investigate too thoroughly other than having the vet/chiropractor out. Lately, it's been happening once every 2 weeks-ish and at the show on Saturday it was happening over and over again. Perhaps she was a bit fatigued, thus making it worse, but she really wasn't ridden very hard at all. Each class lasted about 5 minutes and only one of them involved cantering. I was really bothered by how often it was occurring.

If it's simply a strength issue, and exercise is the usual treatment, why does it seem like the more I strengthen, the worse she gets? Looks like another call to the vet is in order.

And you know, on top of this issue, we're back to the diarrhea again... she was covered in it when I went to visit her today. Way more information than you want to know can be found in this post, if you're curious about the history.

Show Pictures and More Questions

2011-11-21T18:47:00.001-05:00

There was a professional photographer taking pictures at the show on Saturday and I decided to order a couple since I didn't have any of my own. It's a lot cheaper when you take them yourself!

I thought this showmanship picture turned out really nice.

All smiles!

I thought this riding picture was a good example of how happy and content she seemed. I have no idea which class it is, but she looks pretty relaxed.

A happy pony!

I told everyone at the barn how she won her showmanship class and now they're referring to her as "the champion". The BO sent me a text this morning saying he was bringing in the champion because it was supposed to rain today. :)

There has been a slightly disturbing development in the Lilly department and I didn't want to ruin my happy show post yesterday by including this information, but I'm really puzzled. If you're a long time reader of Lilly's blog, you may recall how sometimes she seems to get "stuck" when she's walking. I've done posts on it here and here, but basically what happens is her left leg seems to get stuck, or hung up somehow. It happens mostly when I ride, and I've only seen it once myself, so I don't know exactly what's going on. The one time I witnessed it, it looked like she tried to take a step, and her leg didn't go forward properly, which caused her to drag her foot a little bit. Her head shot up and she stopped for a minute, then tried to take the step again, and was able to walk forward. It seemed like it was something in her stifle that caused her to get stuck. Locking stifle, maybe? I can't say for sure.

She had some trauma to that area a long time ago. When Lilly was about a year and a half old, she lived in a stall during the day. The doors were only half doors and one evening when I came home from work, I found her half in and half out. She was hanging over the stall door... front feet out, hind feet in. I was able to get her back in the stall but she had really done a number on her left hind flank. The vet came out to take a look and said it looked fine, but she had an enormous hematoma that was there for a while and she was very sore.

I've had my vet examine her a couple times since then, but she doesn't do the sticking thing often and the vet has never actually seen it happen. She's been adjusted multiple times and did have a small issue with her pelvis, but the vet didn't think that would be causing the issue. I've been doing some exercises with her to help strengthen the muscles in that area, and we've been doing a lot of riding lately, which I thought would definitely help.

In the past, the issue showed up once in a while... maybe once every two weeks or so, and only when I'm riding her, usually at the walk. What's bothering me is that at the show on Saturday this happened no less than a dozen times. That's the most it has happened by far and I'm concerned about why it has increased so much, especially since I've been working on exercises designed to help her. It doesn't seem to hurt her, but there's something going on and I really want to find out what.

I've also recently noticed (and mentioned) that her clockwise canter is rough and fast. She always picks up the correct lead in front and behind, although it feels a bit like she's cross-cantering. Since this is new-ish too, I'm wondering if it has to do with the stifle issue as well. She seems to break more going clockwise, so perhaps when she breaks from the canter she's actually getting stuck and I just don't notice because we're cantering?

I know it's difficult to give ideas and opinions without actually seeing it for yourself, but does anyone have any ideas? I would really appreciate them!

Show Recap!

2011-11-20T20:37:00.001-05:00

It's cruel to put up a picture of Lilly sporting a blue ribbon and then not share the details, isn't it? Okay, so here are the details, and I'm not reluctant to share them this time around!

The evening before the show went pretty well... Lilly was happy to see me, but it was COLD. It was in the upper 30's when I left the barn and over night we got our first frost. Banding manes with frozen fingers isn't very much fun! I clipped her at bit, but mostly just to take off the long hairs on her legs, face, and ears. I washed her tail and used the hair dryer to make sure it was nice and dry before putting her to bed for the night.

Saturday morning didn't start out very well, though... I was having technical difficulties with my trailer and it was causing me to run late. Long story short, I have to replace my marine battery and without it, the carbon monoxide sensor in the trailer thinks I might die, so it SCREAMS when I plug in the lights. It has a mute button, and you'd think that would mute it, right? Not so much. I briefly considered hauling without the lights, but knew that wouldn't work on our way back when it's dark, plus it's just not safe. I didn't want to haul Lilly with a screaming alarm either because I could just imagine what she'd be like after 45 minutes of that! I finally got it to shut up, but not before I was 30 minutes behind schedule.

Fighting off the anxiety, I told myself that it wasn't a big deal if we missed the showmanship classes... when we get there, we get there. Let's just have fun.

I got Lilly out of the stall and she jumped right into the trailer. The BO's hubby was out doing chores and he was very impressed at how well she self loads. Psh... that's the easy part!! I didn't rush on the way there and I pissed off a lot of people in the process, but I didn't care.

After we arrived and it was time to unload, Lilly was in a huge hurry to get out. I thought she might bust out the back because she kept ramming her butt into the door. That's one bad thing about only having a 2 horse trailer... I keep the hay up in the front stall and she rides in the back. There's not a whole lot I can do when it comes time to unload, but I might need to do a little switcharoo... Anyway, she backed out ok, surprisingly, and I tied her to the trailer while I unpacked a few things, observing her the whole time.

No whinnies, no pawing, and she wanted her hay! I hung her hay bag and went up to the office to sign up for classes. When I got back, she was still standing there, eating happily, and when I brought her some water, she actually took a drink. Progress so far!

So I won't say that she was a perfect lady during the hours she spent tied to the trailer. There were quite a few times during the day when she pawed, but we didn't have a giant hole at the end of the day, and it wasn't the obsessive pawing where she just can't seem to stop herself. She also whinnied a couple times, but they were "happy horse" whinnies instead of "OMG I'M GOING TO DIE" whinnies. I think she called maybe 4 times, but the fact that she was eating and drinking and standing calmly for most of the day was a huge plus.

We had plenty of time to get ready for showmanship. There were only 4 of us in the class, but it was a really nice group of horses. The pattern looked strangely familiar (I've done it once before this year) and it looked like this:

One of our favorite patterns!

I practiced a bit of showmanship the other day, but it isn't something we work on a lot. She knows the maneuvers and I don't like to make her do them over and over and over again. Once we saw the pattern, we practiced a few times in the make-up ring at the show and then waited for our class. As usual, no one wanted to go first, so Lilly and I walked over to the cone and waited for the judge. She squared right up at the first cone while we waited and then walked right off to the second cone. We started our trot right at the second cone so we were trotting around it as we headed to the third cone. We stopped, I turned to her to set her feet up and she instantly squared up. I didn't even have to ask! She's been doing that a lot lately... I turn toward her and she squares her feet. We did our inspection, executed the best 270 degree pivot ever, and walked into line. The girl is a machine!! The other patterns were also quite good, but I had a really good feeling about ours. We placed first!

Yay! Another PAC point!

After showmanship, we had about 4 hours to kill while the western riders showed. I cleaned my tack, grabbed a chili dog, watched some classes, and Lilly snacked on hay. I wanted to make sure we were ready for the 20 minute schooling break, so we tacked up a bit early and headed off to the make-up area. She actually stood while I got on and wasn't off to the races as soon as my butt hit the saddle... more progress!

After walking her around a bit, it was clear she was having some anxiety issues. She started chomping on the bit and any pressure I applied with my legs sent her scooting forward. After taking a second to evaluate myself and make sure I was actually breathing, I started working on steering with my legs. We did turns, turns, turns and eventually she was steering off my legs instead of trying to run off. I could feel her relax and she stopped chomping. From there, we did some trot, stop, trot exercises and we worked on stopping without the reins. I tried to do as many exercises as I could think of and they seemed to be quite effective.

Once it was time to warm up in the arena, I had to start all over. She started chomping again and was back to having a hair trigger. We went back to the exercises and before we were asked to leave the arena, I had a relaxed mare again.

While we waited for our first class, she snoozed outside the arena. She kept trying to rest her back foot, but I don't think it worked out very well for her. She didn't whinny once when she was with me, and she had no temper tantrums. :)

Our first class was an equitation class and there were 14 horses showing with us. We were having a few issues (bit chomping) and with that many horses in the ring, there was only so much I could do to school her without disrupting the class. Her anxiety seemed minor, she was listening to me, and didn't try to trot before I asked her to. We didn't place, but I didn't expect to as I'm pretty sure it was obvious I was doing a bit of schooling.

Our next class was an English walk/trot class for adult riders and there were 8 of us in there. Lilly seemed a bit more calm this time, maybe because there were fewer horses, or maybe the schooling helped, but no matter what I did, I couldn't get her to give to me for an extended period of time. I asked, she gave, and then she went back to being above the bit. We haven't been working on this a whole lot, but because she went back to being above the bit so quickly, I felt she still wasn't quite comfortable in the ring. We ended up placing 6th in that class.

We went in two huntseat walk/trot classes, both with 14 or 15 riders and we didn't place. I felt we had a pretty good ride in the second one, but I wasn't always "showing" because this was more about Lilly than it was about ribbons. She was starting to relax, but still wanted to travel above the bit.

The next class was a huntseat pleasure class and our only canter class for the day. Again, there were 15 horses in the class and I wondered how it was going to go when we were asked to canter. We were asked to canter from the trot, and it took us a while to actually make the transitions because I wanted her to do it right, but she picked up the correct lead in both directions. Her canter to the left was beautiful (!) but when we had to canter to the right, it felt like I was riding a freight train. There were too many horses to circle, so we did the best we could, but she canters similarly at home unless we're doing circles. I was very surprised to hear our number called for 6th place. :)

The last class was a stock type walk trot class and we placed 5th out of 8. I thought we had a pretty good ride, considering. We have some things to work on, which I already know, but we had a much better show this time around and I was VERY proud of her. She didn't get fired up in the line-up when the other horses were leaving to get their ribbons, she was able to work through her issues, and most importantly, she listened to me! I was crossing my fingers that we wouldn't have any saddle issues either and we didn't, so there's another bonus! She's always been pretty good at shows if we go by ourselves, so I've decided horse trailer pooling is probably not for us. I like having my own trailer there anyway.

I also noticed that by the end of the day my shoulders were REALLY sore. They shouldn't have been, so I'm thinking I'm holding a lot of tension in my upper body. Maybe that's what I do when we're in the ring, and that's where a lot of her issues are coming from too.

I'm super proud of my super pony, and that was a great way to end the 2011 show season! :)

Today's Show

2011-11-19T22:39:00.000-05:00

A preview... more after I sleep. :)

Our First Giveaway!

2011-11-18T13:59:00.001-05:00

I am beyond excited about this! This is the R Lil Bit of Cash blog's first giveaway! We've officially made it to the big time. :)

I was contacted a few days ago by a company called My Memories. They have an award winning digital scrapbooking software program that is rated #1 by Amazon and Top Ten Reviews. Using this software, you can create digital scrapbooks, photobooks, cards, calendars, and anything else your creative mind can come up with, without having to buy more expensive (and complicated) software programs.

Ummm, hold on... did someone say scrapbooking software? I am a huge scrapbooker!! I have roughly 10 books that I've done over the years, but I always did things the old fashioned way... with paper, scissors, glue, and stickers. I really enjoy going through my papers and choosing what I want to go on my page, but I could easily spend over 4 hours on one page. To say I'm behind is the understatement of the year.

Even if you're not into scrapbooking (what?!), there are some other amazing things you can do with this software. For example, you can use this software to create the most amazing design, including pictures of your horse, save it as a jpg image, and use it as the header for your blog! The library of embellishments, paper, word art, monogrammed letters, and templates make the process super easy, and super fast.

To show you just how cool this software is, I created this page for Lilly.

Please click to enlarge this image... the detail of these embellishments is absolutely amazing!

I had a lot of fun playing around with the photos and page elements and found the software to be really intuitive. Also, anything I wanted to do with my page, I could. All the paper, all the embellishments, everything, is high quality and digital. You can resize, flip, rotate, change, manipulate... and it doesn't pixelate or distort in any way.

Aside from the huge library My Memories Suite already has, they have an even bigger library of kits available for purchase. If you can imagine it, it's there in the store... it's like having your very own scrapbook store, except the best part is that you can use the same paper, same embellishments, and the same page elements over and over again. No more running out of your favorite paper! There are also quick pages that come pre-done and all you have to do is place your pictures in the spaces provided. In like 5 minutes, you have a fabulous page!

I could go on an on about how great this software is, but I want you to have an opportunity to experience it for yourself! My Memories gave me a copy of their software to try for free, and they're giving me another free copy to give away here, hence the whole giveaway contest! So, to enter the contest for a chance to win your very own copy of the My Memories Suite, I would like you to do the following:

Think of your favorite memory... one you would love to recreate with photos, paper, and embellishments
Visit MyMemories.com and browse their huge library of kits and choose the one that best fits your favorite memory
Then post in the comments a bit about your favorite memory and which kit you chose to go along with it

Lilly will help decide the winner on December 2nd, so make sure to get your entry in before midnight on December 1st. You can gain a second chance to enter by promoting this blog/contest through your own blogs! Just link your post along with your comment.

And, as if that wasn't enough, My Memories has also given me my very own Share the Memories code that provides a $10 discount off the purchase of the My Memories Suite Scrapbook software and a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.com store! Just enter the code STMMMS29874 during checkout. So fear not if you don't win, you can still get this great software at a great price. Feel free to share the code with your family and friends!

It's Showtime!

2011-11-16T17:45:00.000-05:00

I checked with this weekend's show manager about Lilly's hoof boots and she said she has no problem with me showing in them. She said they're just like shoes, so if anyone has a problem with me, I can send them to her. :)

Which means... we're going to the show this weekend! The forecast says sunny and 60, which is a bit chilly, but it's November, so I'll take it!

We've been to three shows so far this year, but only two of them were with this particular circuit. One of them was the nightmare show, and the other was for schooling because of the nightmare show. Somehow, though, we managed to get 20 points for the circuit and even a couple PAC points. We won't be winning any awards (although this show is double pointed), but it goes to show that all hope is not lost.

All expectations for this show are off the table. I'm hoping we can go, have a wonderful day, show in our classes, and come home with smiles on our faces. If things go really well, maybe we'll bring home a ribbon or two. If things happen to go sour, I'll use the opportunity to school and hopefully still come home with a smile on my face.

We will be showing alone, which might be the key to ending all the nonsense that happened at the last show. I'm definitely anxious to see if her behavior differs this time, both because she's barefoot and because her BFF is not going to be there.

We'll probably enter the following classes:
Showmanship
English Equitation with Pattern (maybe... depends on how she's doing)
Huntseat Equitation without Pattern
English GAYP (essentially a walk/trot class because no one ever canters)
Huntseat GAYP
Huntseat Walk/Trot
Huntseat Pleasure
English Walk/Trot Stock Type

Send good vibes our way on Saturday!

Textless Tuesday #2

2011-11-15T14:36:00.000-05:00

New Winter Sheet

2011-11-13T12:06:00.001-05:00

I've been shopping for a new turnout sheet for Lilly. She has her black one, but it isn't waterproof, it's a bit too small, and the way the front closes makes me want to set it on fire. After much shopping, I decided on the StormShield Euro Turnout from Schneiders. I wasn't sure about the Euro style, but I liked everything else about the sheet so I figured I'd give it a try. Lilly's medium weight blanket is from Schneiders too and I love it. I ordered it on Thursday and it came on Saturday morning... I couldn't believe it! Lilly couldn't wait to try it on and show you how perfectly it fits her!

Look how perfectly it fits me!

It's actually a smidge too big for her, but the 74" is usually too small... I just can't win. It's super adjustable, though, so the 74 would probably have worked in this case but I wasn't about to send it back. The Euro style fits her really well and I'm definitely happy with it. Usually her blankets rub on her withers, but because of how far up it sits on her neck, there should be no rubbing.

After playing dress-up, we went for a ride. She was excellent, and I think she's actually starting to get lazy! I've been dreaming of having a lazy pony for years, so it would be a dream come true for me. :) Because we've been practicing a nice slow jog so much, that's all she wants to do, and when I ask for a bit more speed, she tries to canter. It's been really nice! We worked on cantering a lot today because she does really well to the left, but when we canter to the right, she has a tough time maintaining herself and we end up doing a lot of circles. She has improved quite a bit, but we still have a lot of work ahead of us.

When we were doing our cool down, a red fox ran into the arena right behind Lilly and booked it into the pasture. As strange as it sounds, I've never had to ride one of Lilly's spooks... she's been afraid of things, and she's spooked in place at something that startled her, but she's never had a big spook during any of our rides. So lucky me, I was able to experience it today! When that fox ran behind her, she scooted forward, ran about 30 feet, and then did a 180 degree turn to see what in the world that thing was! She was standing in perfect "dog stretch" form just in case she needed to make a quick exit. Good to know she'll stop running!

I've decided to go ahead and have Lilly clipped for the winter. I think we're going to go with the low trace clip, but I wussed out and got the number of a lady that clips for one of the big show barns here. She's very reasonable, has professional quality clippers, and I figure it's probably the best thing to do for Lilly's first clip. Maybe I can get some pointers and then try it on my own next year.

A Perfect Pony and More On Clipping

2011-11-09T22:00:00.000-05:00

It was another beautiful day in central North Carolina. Soggy arena or not, I was riding!

Today was "let's pretend we're western pleasure" day even though I don't own a western saddle anymore. Actually, I don't own a proper western bit either, but who cares? We totally pulled it off in our hunt seat bridle, complete with d-ring snaffle, hunt seat saddle, and half chaps. The trot-stop-back-trot exercises are fantastic for getting her really light and we accomplished many pitter-patter jogs in between the stops.

Overall, Lilly was excellent, although she was on high alert for emergency stop requests, so we had a few accidental stops (or ten). The "stop" part of the exercises is a great time to practice, though, and she will stop on a dime without any contact at all. A slight wiggle of my hips will send her backwards, and a light tap-tap of my leg will send her back into a jog.

I've really been working on finessing her cues and she is doing great. Now that she isn't anticipating my every request, I actually have time to ask her and have her respond properly and without any anxiety. She's even been picking up the correct lead 99% of the time, which is something we struggled with for a long time.

I'm telling you, the turn around since those shoes came off has been amazing.

Speaking of gorgeous weather, it was about 70 degrees today, so Lilly worked up quite a sweat. I'm still contemplating a clip of some sort, but I'm trying to decide what to do. I was originally thinking of doing a bib clip, but after seeing her sweat pattern today, I don't think that would be quite enough.

So I'm thinking about either a neck and belly clip:

Neck and belly...

Or maybe an apron clip:

Apron...

Or if I get brave enough, a low trace clip:

Low trace...

I think I'm more worried about screwing up the clip and making her look like a ragamuffin than I am about anything else. We have a variety of blankets to choose from, along with a cooler, she has shelter in her pasture, and she has a stall in the barn if things get really cold, so temperature wise, the clip shouldn't make her uncomfortable. If we're going to be working this winter like I hope we are, (pretty please!!) she'll need a clip of some sort or I'll be cooling her out and drying her off for hours.

I borrowed those clip images from Peasridge. I had no idea there were so many styles!

Textless Tuesday

2011-11-08T13:45:00.000-05:00

Too Early (Or Late) For A Show?

2011-11-07T20:19:00.000-05:00

It's been impossible to ride the past few days. We've had quite a bit of rain and the arena doesn't drain very well, so about half of it is under water. Today was beautiful and I couldn't wait to ride, so we found the driest spots and made due.

Even though Lilly is wearing casts, I still use her boots when I ride. Hopefully that will help the casts last a bit longer, especially since I'm starting to see some wear on the toes. I assume that means she's still doing quite a bit of toe first landing.

We had another really nice ride today. We did some basic trot work and quite a bit of cantering, along with some transitions and it all went really well. She had a brief moment of panic when she couldn't quite switch gears into the canter, but I didn't make a big deal of it and we went back to the walk. When she still seemed on edge, anticipating the canter transition, we took a "time out" (a long and low circle) and she was back to being focused. She's made so much progress with that and I'm thrilled with how quickly she can let it go and settle. I also put a few poles out and worked her over those a bit... let's just say we need to work on poles a lot.

I'm also happy to report that my "emergency break" has finally been installed. It was taking her a while to pick up on my not-so-subtle cue, but now she'll stop without any help from the reins or my voice... and when I say stop, I mean instant WHOA. (Alex, you'd be proud! She's really tucking her caboose!) Today she flawlessly executed it numerous times at each gait. Hopefully I can refine the cue a bit, but I'm just thrilled she's got it.

I'm really considering a trace clip this year. Hopefully we'll be doing a lot of work this winter and I think it would be a huge benefit for us. I'm still pondering...

Enjoying the sunshine.

There's a show on the 19th that I'm seriously considering. If the weather looks nice and I'm allowed to show Lilly in her boots (unless the casts make it until then) I'll probably haul down there. I would do showmanship (of course) and some hunt seat classes. It's the last show of the season, so maybe we could win a ribbon or two. :)

Hoof Casts and More On Hoof Wall Rasping

2011-11-04T12:28:00.001-04:00

So far, the results of Lilly's hoof casts have been amazing. She's been wearing them for just over a week and they're still holding on tight, despite a little bit of wear on the sole area of Lilly's hoof. I've been keeping up with the cast maintenance by cutting off any little pieces that have come loose in order to eliminate them being snagged or torn. I want them to last as long as possible!

Lilly seems very comfortable in them. She has to walk across a gravel drive to get to her pasture, and although I used a shovel to create a walkway for her and eliminate as many stones as I could, she would still take a number of short, ouchie steps. Now that she's wearing the casts, she confidently walks across the drive with no obvious discomfort. While I haven't seen her running around in her pasture, she isn't spending her days standing in the sandy corner sleeping. I'm hoping that since she's more comfortable, she is also walking in a more proper, heel first manner... grow soles, grow!

Speaking of hooves, in my post about Lilly's most recent trim, there was some discussion about rasping hoof walls vs not rasping hoof walls. Just like with anything else horse related, there are a lot of different opinions on the subject. I think everyone has such a varied opinion because our horses are all so different. They're all on different terrain, have different nutritional requirements, and live in different environments. All of these variables can lead to different problems and the hooves can show different results even when the same techniques are used. Since each horse is different, what works for one horse might be completely wrong for another.

What works for my horse is rasping her hoof walls and this post is about my horse and her specific problem. I've seen the results first hand, and there are a number of reasons why it works for her. I went straight to the source (my trimmer and my trimmer's mentor) to get the details, specifics, and reasons. Their direct quotes are in italics.

First, the most important thing to keep in mind where my horse is concerned, is that she is in a period of "hoof rehab". If she was a normal horse, one who is lucky enough to have nearly perfect hooves, there would be no reason to touch the hoof wall with a rasp, except maybe to round the toes.

Looking at the big picture, we need to rasp her hoof wall to bring the hooves back into symmetry and establish a good pastern angle. In order to do that, we have to pull back her toes, which are way too long and way too forward. By bringing back the toes, we help bring the breakover back over the coffin bone, eliminating how hard the coffin bone has to work against her inner sole, and placing Lilly's weight back in the center of her hoof where it belongs. There is an ideal center pivot point in every foot. Working the outer wall will help to re-establish that balance point.

Generally speaking, most farriers and trimmers will rasp the hoof wall to remove flares. Flares are, of course, a sign of hoof imbalance, but they're removed so the new hoof growth doesn't follow the same deviated path, also becoming flared.

And what is a long toe, really? A flare...

Following the same logic, rasping the hoof wall will remove "growth road blocks" (the growth rings) which jam the hairline, potentially slow down the growth of the hoof, and make it easier for the new growth to deviate from the ideal path of growth.

Relieving stress from the hairline is important because that's one of the main arteries, which feeds the foot its nutrients. If the hairline is jammed, the artery is constricted, thus slowing down the blood flow. We try to relieve that when and where it's necessary; plus, doing so also allows the jammed hoof wall to 'drop out' of the hairline, thus helping to re-establish that good blood flow.

Keeping in mind that the lamina grows from the hairline and the hoof wall grows from the lamina (from the inside out), then rasping the hoof wall is not a dangerous thing to do. If for some reason the hoof wall is thinned too much, the lamina will replace the wall from the inside out.

Once Lilly has established the kind of hooves I dream about (similar to her back hooves!), there won't be a need to do much work on her hoof wall. Until that time, for all the benefits mentioned above, it is absolutely necessary for her, and is producing noticeable results.

I am interested in opinions, ideas, comments, or accusations that I recently busted out of the crazy house. Hooves continue to fascinate me and I enjoy learning from all of you.

The Drama Queen

2011-11-03T14:10:00.004-04:00

It's a beautiful, fall day in North Carolina... a perfect day to get some pictures of the horses at the barn. Some of the residents were quite uncooperative, but I managed to snap a few good ones of three of the five geldings.

Music, an OTTB loved very much by his mom.

Trudeau, a PMU gelding with an interesting sense of humor.

Quill, a very accomplished Dressage horse, now enjoying his retirement.

Oh, and remember how I said some of the horses were not cooperative? Yeah, mine was one of them. Cameras can't feed or scratch her, so she has no use for them.

"Hey, mom! Is it time for carrots or scratches?"

"No carrots until after the pictures? I am NOT happy!"

"How's this? One ear up and as enthusiastic as I get about stupid pictures..."

"Extra carrots if I put BOTH ears up and pretend to enjoy this?

"I hope you brought lots of carrots!"

Pedicure Day!

2011-10-26T21:17:00.000-04:00

My trimmer was out this morning to give Lilly her second trim since going barefoot. It has been roughly ten weeks since the shoes came off and things are going better than I expected. Lilly's soles are still quite thin (5-6mm) but the soreness on her right front is less noticeable than it was only a few weeks ago. I don't have radiographs from when the shoes first came off, so it's possible that her soles were even more thin then and they actually are growing... I won't know for sure unless I periodically have the radiographs done but I've been so happy lately that I'm going to think positive for once and tell myself they're thicker now than they were before.

Having the radiographs this time around was quite helpful. My trimmer, Rebecca, is fantastic and I always learn so much from her when she comes to the barn... and even when she doesn't come to the barn because I harass her via email quite frequently. We discussed what she saw on the radiographs and how she was going to correct the rotation on Lilly's right front. She actually doesn't like to use the word rotation because it's such a negative term. As horse owners, when we hear the word rotation, it brings images of doom to our minds... So she thinks it's more correct, at least in Lilly's case, to think of it in terms of weakened lamina. This all happened in Lilly's hoof because her toes are way too long. As the hoof grows and grows, and the toe is never taken back (because it seems most people are afraid to bring back the toe or even rasp the hoof wall), the entire hoof structure is pulled forward (hello underrun heels...). In that situation, the coffin bone has no choice but to "rotate", as it can't possibly remain connected properly.

Also, if we look back at the radiographs of her RF, sure the coffin bone looks rotated, but if we remove the excess toe, magically the angle of the coffin bone and the hoof wall match:

Chop, chop...

Your opinion of the many different barefoot methods and lines of thinking might differ from mine, but I think the coffin bone should not be parallel to the ground, but rather have a palmar angle of 3-8 degrees. When these radiographs were taken, her palmar angle was 6 degrees. Her hoof wall had an angle of 48 and a coffin bone angle of 52. To compare, in her LF the palmar angle is only 2, her hoof wall angle was 47 degrees and her coffin bone angle was 48 degrees.

Ok, I feel I'm rambling a bit, but this is as much for my benefit as it is for someone reading who might actually be interested in what I'm babbling about. It all makes sense in my head, I just hope I was able to put it into words that are actually correct and make sense to someone other than me.

So, here we go with our before and after pictures!

Left Hoof

Left lateral - before

Left lateral - after

No major changes in these lateral photos. Some toe was removed, the toe was rolled, and the hoof was was rasped. We're trying to get rid of the old growth rings because they can be painful, and we want to "train" the new growth to grow properly. If we leave the hoof shape as is, which isn't a healthy shape, the new growth will begin to grow in the old growth patterns.

Left heel - before

Left heel - after

An example of why this trim method is called "Proper Balance Horse Trim". The goal is to balance the horse’s feet and body as best as possible, and I can see a difference already in the medial loading issue that she has on this left leg. She still leans a bit to the medial side, but the shape of the hoof is much more balanced.

Left sole - before

Left sole - after

I love sole pictures. The bars were trimmed along with any high spots on her sole that could cause pressure points. The heels were also trimmed and cleaned up, along with parts of the frog to encourage more stimulation to the back part of her hoof. I watched very closely when she was trimming these front feet so I could do a bit of this in between visits. I rasped a little bit a week or so ago, but just barely.

Right Hoof

Right lateral - before

Right lateral - after

Quite a bit of toe removed on this one and I think it looks fabulous! Same thing on this one too in regards to the toe rolling and hoof wall rasping. Lilly was pretty good about all the trimming, although she can't (or won't) hold her hooves up very long, so we used the boots a lot during the trim and she was much happier. I wish the wash stall had a rubber mat on the floor...

Right heel - before

Right heel - after

A much more balanced heel, although the right leg is much less crooked looking than her left one. Her heels are still pretty contracted, but the central sulcus is much less deep than it was and I can easily keep it treated for thrush. Her hairline is looking a lot less wonky too.

Right sole - before

Right sole - after

More sole pictures! Pretty, pretty... and just to compare, this is a picture of her right sole right after the shoes came off back in August:

Squished heels!

Not the best great picture, but WOW... the shape is completely different! And those heels!

Rebecca and I had discussed hoof casts and their possible benefits for Lilly. We thought she looked pretty good when we walked her up and down the barn aisle, but Rebecca decided we should go ahead and cast. Hopefully they'll help her grow stronger, healthier hoof walls and soles. There's an excellent article written by Pete Ramey for anyone interested in reading about the possible benefits. The article states the following:

I believe that the most important reducer of hoof flexion and circulation is lameness; a lack of movement or worse: Compensative movement. No doubt the presence of the cast robs some of the flexion of the hoof capsule, but the casts tend to make compromised horses so comfortable, the increase in correct movement seems to create an excellent “circulatory trade-off”. In the real world the foot is healthier overall when you remove a cast. Well connected wall growth and healthy laminae will have been produced and the sole will be thicker (from what I’ve seen, every time).

I'm looking forward to seeing how they work for her in the pasture and if we notice a difference in her after the casts come off. Lilly did trot to me in the pasture today, which is a first for her in quite a while, but she is still ginger in certain areas of the field.

Here are her hooves with the casting material on them:

Too bad we couldn't have green ones...

Protection for tender tootsies!

Our next trim will be in 5-6 weeks, depending on what happens with Rebecca's schedule. I wonder if the casts will last that long?

I Can't Stop Bragging!

2011-10-25T19:11:00.000-04:00

For all of you discriminating against my pudgy pony, I'm happy to report that she is officially off alfalfa pellets. It's funny, though, because the day I asked the BO to stop the alfalfa pellets, they started the beet pulp. According to my research, beet pulp is higher in calories (by about 300 calories per pound) than alfalfa pellets, so we had to stop that too. Now she just eats coastal hay, pasture, and vitamins. There's not enough grass in the pasture to justify a muzzle, so that's where this diet stops... plus, we do have a history of on and off issues with diarrhea, so I'm not trying to cut that much food from her diet. She needs it to keep her digestive tract happy, and so far things in that department are looking good.

Speaking of looking good... I am head over heels in love with my horse's heels! (Heh... get it?) I took a bunch of pictures in preparation for tomorrow's visit from my trimmer. I'm a 'before and after' freak, so I wanted to have some from right before her trim. I decided not to post them because the trim itself is what I'm most excited about (I'll post those tomorrow), but check this out:

Butt crack free!

You'll notice that the deep "butt crack" is missing! She also seems to be shedding some of her frog... that's a first for us, but everything looks really healthy! For anyone needing a reminder, just look back at this post from when the shoes first came off. I am absolutely amazed at how much her hooves have changed in the past 10 weeks. And it isn't just the physical changes in her hooves that are obvious... the changes in her attitude under saddle are nothing short of spectacular.

It's as if I have a new horse. It's the horse I always wanted, and the horse I knew I had, but I just couldn't figure out how to get her past certain issues that were always a problem for us. It absolutely must have been hoof pain/heel pain/back pain... the shoes are off and now she is SO happy and SO relaxed. I wish I had started with the hooves instead of seeing them as a last resort when all else failed. :(

I've been sticking to my riding routine and we've been working every other day. I modify things as necessary, but I really enjoy the routine because it gives me a plan and goals to work toward during our ride. This picture is from a few weeks ago, but I wanted to include a picture of my happy girl.

Happy!

I rode her yesterday and she was amazing. I had to use a lot of leg to keep her going at the trot (unheard of) and we did all of our cantering on a loose rein (unheard of). No bit chomping, no tail wringing, no snarly faces or ear pinning... just a willing, responsive, relaxed, happy girl. I was so happy and so excited that I broke down in tears. This is an amazing time for me and my horse.

At the risk of sounding like someone from the barefoot nazi club, HOLY CRAP! In 2 short months, I have completely changed my way of thinking about shoes and how they can impact a horse. Sometimes what we think is best for our horses is not really what's best for them, and I will do everything in my power to avoid putting shoes back on her hooves, even if it means never showing again. I've caused her to endure painful hooves long enough.

Radiographs - DP

2011-10-24T14:49:00.002-04:00

I finally got the DP radiographs from the vet today.

The image of her right hoof.

Image of her left hoof.

You can see that the right hoof looks pretty good, but she is definitely loading the medial side of the left hoof. It doesn't look to be an issue of conformation, which is what I was afraid of, so I'm happy about that. I'll be anxious to see what my trimmer thinks about the radiographs.

A Darn Good Ride

2011-10-21T17:47:00.000-04:00

I must admit, it's really fun to be making posts about riding my horse!

We had some torrential downpours this week and today I found the arena closely resembled a swamp. Instead of having a wonderful, large oval to work my horse, we ended up having to ride in a kind of strange circle shape to avoid all the water and squishy spots. Regardless, I set up a bunch of cones to help me with the exercises I chose for Lilly and we did the best we could with what we had to work with.

We tried hard to stick with the routine, but I couldn't find my dressage whip so I had to skip the leg lifts. Boo... And since we didn't have a long side, all my exercises were modified.

Warm-Up Exercises:

On the long sides of the arena, ride a ground-covering trot and on the corners, slow the trot - 3 laps in each direction. Since we didn't have a long side, I just worked on speeding her up and slowing her down in different areas on the circle. She was quite lazy today (yay!) so it was a bit challenging to get her to extend the trot. She wanted to go slow, and when I asked for more speed she wanted to canter.

At one end, ride a 20m circle, after leaving the circle, increase speed the length of the long side, and resume working trot at opposite end - 3 laps in each direction. This was a challenge too because of the water so we ended up doing the same exercise as before, but included the 20m circle. She likes to drift when we make circles, especially at the trot, so I set up 4 cones to shape my circle and tried to keep her inside them. It didn't work... but we're just starting! :)

Canter a 20m circle, after leaving the circle, increase speed the length of the long side, and resume a working canter at opposite end - 3 laps in each direction. Again, no long side, but we did speed up in the areas I thought were safe. She actually enjoyed the speeding up part a little too much at times and the footing had me worried, so we just did some nice cantering instead.

Exercises:

Spiraling In and Out: Rising trot on a 20m circle for a few circles and then spiral in until the circle is about 10m. On the way out, nudge with the inside leg when rising up and take about 3 circles to get back to 20m - Repeat twice in each direction. I totally forgot to go clockwise on this exercise and I have no idea why, so note to self for next time. This exercise played out similar to the warm up exercise, though, and instead of taking 3 circles to get back to 20m, it took us about 3 strides. Definitely have a lot of work to do where circles are concerned. I was impressed with her consistency, though. She trotted nicely on a loose rein and I didn't need to ask her to slow down. This will also be a good exercise for me because it forces me to concentrate on the circle and where we're going. I don't have time to look down and fuss over Lilly.

Sprint Lines: Space a number of cones throughout the arena using varying distances. Get into a nice canter and when you reach the first cone, sprint to the second cone. At the second cone, slow down to a working canter - 3 laps cantering, 3 laps walking; repeat the pattern three times in each direction. I tried this, but the footing just wasn't where it needs to be. So instead of speeding up and slowing down, we just cantered. She is doing excellent picking up her leads and all our transitions have been from the walk. Talk about progress!

Cool-Down:

10 laps of loose rein walking cool down. While we were cooling down, I started practicing the reinless whoa. She'll stop if I say "whoa", but she doesn't do it off my body, so we've been working on that a bit.

Rein backs over a pole. I really need to find my dressage whip because she has a difficult time picking up her hind legs to step over the poles. Those muscles need strengthening. With this exercise you can also back them up a hill, but at the old barn I didn't have a hill so I've been using the poles. In this arena, though, I have a hill, but it's pretty steep. We'll work toward being able to back up that hill!

All in all, we had a great ride. She's come a long way since I started this blog, and she's so quiet lately that I have to attribute it, at least in part, to her hooves and the fact that she's barefoot. I really noticed the change in the last couple months and the biggest change is that her shoes came off. She's so relaxed and calm and I love that about her now. She seems a lot happier and that's what it's all about.

Pudgy?

2011-10-19T11:38:00.001-04:00

I mentioned in my x-ray post that my new vet (Dr V) thinks Lilly is about 100 pounds overweight. The great thing about her mentioning that, was that she promptly went to her truck, got a weight tape, came back, weighed her, told me how far off the tape was, and then showed me all the "fat pockets" on my horse. She said Lilly was an easy 7 on the body score chart, and quickly approaching an 8.

Here we have exhibit a...

"This is embarrassing, mom!"

"Focus on my dapples and not my belly..."

Because of her white coat, the fat pockets are hard to see, but they're up around her withers and down along her shoulders. Dr V also commented that she couldn't feel Lilly's ribs. Okay, so she's a little fat. I've never denied that she's a bit overweight, but I'm not at the point where I want to make her wear a grazing muzzle. She mentioned about possible IR issues, but Lilly hasn't always been an air fern. I don't know much about IR so I'll have to do some reading.

She's on 24/7 turnout to help her hooves, she has hay but barely eats it because she prefers to eat the grass (what there is of it), and she gets 2 lbs of alfalfa pellets. Alfalfa pellets have roughly 1000 calories per pound... so she's not getting a whole lot to eat. I suppose I could cut out the pellets completely and give her a handful of something at breakfast for the vitamins. It's actually nearing beet pulp season, so I'll look into cutting the alfalfa and replacing it with beet pulp. I'm hoping the new exercise program will take some weight off her.

Speaking of which, after the x-rays I took Lilly for a ride. I set off with the intention of sticking to the new routine, but an opportunity for some training in another area presented itself.

She was a little on edge already because an old "flame" of hers came back to the barn. He has medical issues and sometimes stays with us because his veterinarian lives very close by to the barn, so it's easy for her to come over often and take care of him. He was screaming for Lilly all afternoon and all the horses were riled up. She wasn't very focused when we were working in the arena and two of the pastured geldings decided to come up and watch. Their pasture shares a fence line with the arena, although they usually keep their distance.

My sweet girl is also in heat, but she never misbehaves because of it... she might be a little more excited about visitors, though, which was the case yesterday. Every time we went past the boys, she nickered and wanted to stop and make kissy faces. So we did a lot of work down at that end of the arena until she decided the boys weren't worth all the hassle.

I was able to get in some planned exercises too and she was excellent. She's really learning to rate her speed and I can ask for a slower trot and she'll give me a nice jog. We can get about four or five strides in before I have to put her back together, but she's really starting to figure it out. She also has three gears at the canter now too instead of one really fast one! First gear is still a little fast but nothing to complain about, second gear is what happens when she gets unbalanced, and third gear is what I pushed her into when we were doing our warm-ups. I was really impressed!

She's a bit more out of shape than I thought, which I figured might be the case. This is also a strange time of year because we had 85 degree weather this weekend, but Lilly's coat has thickened quite a bit because of the 40 degree nights. She was sweating shortly after we started working and I had to hose her down when we were done. I wanted to err on the side of caution so as not to overheat her.

She's doing so well after such a short amount of time that I'm excited about how she'll progress over the next few months once we're really able to start working.

Radiograph Results

2011-10-18T17:09:00.005-04:00

I'm late posting these because of some technical difficulties. It appears that the eFilm Lite program used to view the x-rays doesn't play nice with Vista or Windows 7. My fiance and I had to get creative last night, but we got them to work. The vet gave me two CDs, one was supposed to have lateral views, and the other was supposed to have the DP (Dorsal Palmar/Plantar) views. As it turns out they both had the same images and I'm missing the DP views. Once I get them, I'll post those too.

The new vet and her crew were super nice. Lilly was an excellent patient and stood completely still on two blocks with her hooves spread apart quite a bit... I was surprised, especially since her long lost boyfriend is back at the farm and he was screaming for her throughout the entire process. Good girl, Lilly! :)

So that you can form your own opinion first, I'll tell you what she said about the x-rays after the images. She took a bunch of notes while doing the x-rays, which were only coherent to her, so she's going to write them up so they make sense and send them to me. For now, I'm going off memory...

Left

The left hoof looks good, except for the thin soles. She didn't see any arthritis or bone spurs, although she did see a hint of sidebone in there. When I asked her what the cause of that could be she said, "because she's a horse." Good enough for me!

Right

Hopefully no one gasped when they saw this one! This is our problem hoof and now I think it's clear why. She has an obvious rotation, about 4 degrees, although the vet said that's not enough to be concerned about. She said the thin soles are most likely the issue, but the soles on her left hoof are thin also, and she's a lot more comfortable on that hoof. There's a bit of sidebone in this hoof also, but it is free of arthritis and bone spurs like the left hoof.

So, in general, she said the x-rays looked good... thin soles, yes, but she was happy with everything else. If you'll recall the heel shots I've been taking, Lilly was loading the medial sides of her hooves and her pastern bones leaned to the inside. The DP x-rays were taken to evaluate that issue, but those only showed slight issues as well.

After chatting for a while about the hooves and the rotation, we think this probably showed up at some point during Lilly's rehab. It could have been when she first tore her ligament, or it could have happened during one of the abscesses she had. Either from removing the wedge pads or when she ripped her shoe off (and half of her hoof).

She did comment that she thinks Lilly is about 100 pounds overweight and that certainly won't help matters. The problem there is that she isn't eating anything as it is. She gets minimal amounts of hay because she wastes it, preferring pasture to hay, and she's only getting about 2 lbs of alfalfa pellets per day. That's fed mostly for the protein benefits, but also as a means of getting the vitamin supplement into her belly. She suggested a grazing muzzle, but I'm not sure I'm ready to go there yet.

These images are on their way to my trimmer, so I'm looking forward to what she has to say about them. Hopefully I can get the other images soon to send as well. She'll be out next Wednesday to trim.

The Exercise Plan!

2011-10-15T21:49:00.002-04:00

I hope I'm not getting ahead of myself by putting this plan together, considering we haven't done Lilly's x-rays yet (come on, Monday!), but I don't see any reason why I can't put Lilly back to work. The x-rays are mostly for my own curiosity, although they might tell us why she's a bit sore on her right front hoof without boots, and they'll also help my trimmer make better decisions with Lilly's hooves. I'm hoping that's all they show us and that everything else is normal in her hooves.

Thanks to the EasyBoots, I've been able to ride Lilly like a normal horse several times and she was fabulous... no soreness in her hooves and no issues with the saddle. She seems happy and I'm definitely happy! Because she's been out of work for so long, she's really out of shape, and I want to make sure I take it easy bringing her back into real work. I feel like her body is still adjusting to the new hooves and I want to make sure we have a good plan that makes sure she's comfortable and not pushed too hard.

I work best when things are written down and right there for me to see, so I put together a routine of sorts, with different exercises from two different books. The first is by far my favorite and I know a few of my readers have this book also: Equine Fitness: A Program of Exercises and Routines for Your Horse by Jec Aristotle Ballou. It's my favorite because not only does it list the different exercises, but it lists what part of the horse's body they work. There are a number of different exercises available for each target area and predetermined routines based on your specific goals. It got me off to a great start with Lilly's routine. The other book I used is an old favorite that a lot of us probably have in our library: 101 Arena Exercises: A Ringside Guide for Horse and Rider by Cherry Hill. I enjoy this book because the exercises listed are more like patterns, and they range from the most simple to way too complex for me!

I'm hoping to ride Lilly four times per week. I know that won't always happen but I'm going to try to stick to it. I'm also going to try to ride every other day rather than two or three days in a row. That way she can have a break in between rides. I'm sure this plan will change once I get going because I'll have to gauge her level of fitness once we start working and make adjustments as I go along. Days one and three will be for increasing suppleness and building strength. Day two will be for increasing her fitness level, and day three will be for us to work on the "normal" things we need to work on. I'm hoping to stick to this schedule for 2-3 months, rotating different exercises in here and there to keep it interesting and increasing the number of laps as I notice her fitness level increase. So here's the plan!

Day 1 - cardiovascular fitness, strength training, and suppleness

Prep:
Leg Lifts: Ask her to lift her hind legs using the dressage whip - exercise #39 (Equine Fitness)
2 Laps: Loose rein walking on the rail and over ground poles

Warm-Up:
Warm-up 1 (trot): On the long sides of the arena ride a ground-covering trot and on the corners, slow the trot. 3 laps in each direction - exercise #26 (Equine Fitness)
Warm-up 2 (trot): At one end, ride a 20m circle, after leaving the circle, increase speed the length of the long side, and resume working trot at opposite end. 3 laps in each direction - exercise #27 (Equine Fitness)
Warm-up 3 (canter): At one end, ride a 20m circle, after leaving the circle, increase speed the length of the long side, and resume a working canter at opposite end. 3 laps in each direction - exercise #27 (Equine Fitness)

Exercises:
Spiraling In and Out (trot): Rising trot on a 20m circle for a few circles and then spiral in until the circle is about 10m. On the way out, nudge with the inside leg when rising up and take about 3 circles to get back to 20m. Repeat twice in each direction - exercise #1 (Equine Fitness)
Sprint Lines (canter): Space a number of cones throughout the arena using varying distances. Get into a nice canter and when you reach the first cone, sprint to the second cone. At the second cone, slow down to a working canter. 3 laps cantering, 3 laps walking; repeat the pattern three times in each direction. Exercise #2 (Equine Fitness)

Cool-Down:
10 Laps: Loose rein walking cool down
Rein Backs: Over a pole, varying the heights of the pole - exercise #10 (Equine Fitness)

*****

Day 2 - cardiovascular fitness

Prep:
Leg Lifts: Ask her to lift her hind legs using the dressage whip - exercise #39 (Equine Fitness)
2 Laps: Loose rein walking on the rail and over ground poles

Warm-Up:
Walk: Briskly for 5 laps

Exercises:
Arena Interval Training: Canter for 3 laps, then transition down to a working trot for 3 laps. Reverse at the trot and canter in the opposite direction for 3 laps, and working trot for 3 laps. Continue this sequence 4 times. Exercise #19 (Equine Fitness)

Cool-Down:
10 Laps: Loose rein walking cool down
Rein Backs: Over a pole, varying the heights of the pole - exercise #10 (Equine Fitness)

*****

Day 3 - the basics Lilly and I need to work on

Prep:
Leg Lifts: Ask her to lift her hind legs using the dressage whip - exercise #39 (Equine Fitness)
2 Laps: Loose rein walking on the rail and over ground poles

Warm-Up:
Warm-up 1(trot): On the long sides of the arena ride a ground-covering trot and on the corners, slow the trot. 3 laps in each direction - exercise #26 (Equine Fitness)
Warm-up 2(trot): At one end, ride a 20m circle, after leaving the circle, increase speed the length of the long side, and resume working trot at opposite end. 3 laps in each direction - exercise #27 (Equine Fitness)
Warm-up 3(canter): At one end, ride a 20m circle, after leaving the circle, increase speed the length of the long side, and resume a working canter at opposite end. 3 laps in each direction - exercise #27 (Equine Fitness)

Exercises:
Long Serpentine: Jog up the long side of the arena and jog a 30-foot half circle to the right. Jog down to the opposite end of the arena 30 feet from the original track and jog a 30-foot half circle to the left. Repeat the entire width of the arena and back four times - exercise #49 (101 Arena Exercises)
Trot, Halt, Back, Trot: In sequence until I start to feel the hesitation and her trot is slower. - exercise #23 (101 Arena Exercises)
Guess What: Using a five-loop serpentine, begin by walking the first loop and stopping in the center. Trot the second loop and stop in the center. Trot the third loop and stop in the center. Walk the fourth loop and stop in the center. Trot the fifth loop and then walk. Practice three times varying the placement of the halt - exercise #81 (101 Arena Exercises)
Change of Lead Through Trot: Lope down the long side, into the corner, and on the second corner, lope a 40-foot circle. Head across the diagonal after the circle and perform a simple change in the middle. Perform this 2 times on each lead - exercise #27 (101 Arena Exercises)

Cool-Down:
10 Laps: Loose rein walking cool down
Rein Backs: Over a pole, varying the heights of the pole - exercise #10 (Equine Fitness)

*****

Day 4 - same as day 1

*****

With any luck, we'll kick this off on Monday after the x-rays! :)

We're Lovely!

2011-10-14T20:01:00.000-04:00

Carol from the Dressage Training Journal has nominated me for the One Lovely Blog Award! I also found myself nominated on Simply Horse Crazy and It's Quarters For Me. Thank you all so much for thinking of us! Lilly and I are flattered. :)

We're lovely!

As the proud recipient of this award, I have two very specific duties to fulfil. I have to share seven things about myself and pass this award along to 15 newly discovered blogs!

I'll start by sharing seven things about myself... hmmm...

I finally received my Bachelor's Degree in Information Technology early this year. I've been working toward this degree for over seven years and I am extremely proud of myself for sticking to the plan and achieving this goal.
Nothing gets under my skin more than people who constantly whine and complain about something but make no effort to remedy the problem. Either do something about it, or quit whining!
When I was in high school, I worked at a Standarbred breeding farm not far from home. It was a great experience for me and I learned a lot about the horse business... racing, breeding, weaning, and so much more. I also learned that I was not going to make it as a veterinarian as I had hoped. That was discovered after I passed out for the third time while helping the vet with minor surgeries.
I hate being the center of attention. When I was growing up I tried my hand at school sports... softball, soccer, and volleyball. I was quite good, but I hated playing because at some point during the game, I'd end up with the ball. Volleyball was the worst because I knew I'd have to serve. I was the only girl on the team who could serve overhand and the coach made me do it every time. It felt like all eyes were on me and it made me terribly nervous. Oh, and you can forget about seeing me dance in public!
I despise leftovers. Unless it's something really good (spaghetti from Carrabba's), I never take leftovers home because I can't stand how they smell after they're cold. Thanksgiving is the absolute worst for me... we always have leftovers but someone has to fix me a plate and warm it up while I stay far away from the kitchen. If leftovers do make it to the fridge, they have to be in sealed containers so the smell cannot escape. No doggie bags or styrofoam containers!
I absolutely love the beach. Fresh water, salt water... I don't care as long as it has sun and sand! I recently became engaged and my fiance and I are planning a beach wedding.
I am a very light sleeper and I can't sleep without some form of white noise. If I'm traveling somewhere and they don't have some sort of white noise generator (like a fan), I have to sleep with earplugs or I'll be up all night.

Now we're on to nominations! I don't have 15 new-to-me blogs to nominate, so I'm going to have to break the rules and include a few I've been reading for a while who hopefully haven't been nominated for this award yet.

Thanks again for the award and for thinking of my blog! :)

Back To Real Riding

2011-10-13T20:03:00.002-04:00

Things have been busy around here... not so much on the horse side of things, but in my other life. My parents came down from Michigan for a few days and we had a really nice visit despite a couple days of less than stellar weather. They went back home this morning so life has officially gone back to the usual routine...

On the positive side of things, though, the weather is much more pleasant for my horse and she even has two functioning boots for riding. She's perfectly sound when wearing the boots and I haven't had any further issues with my saddle. All that good news means I can actually ride my horse! And when I say ride, I mean ride! No more taking it easy... it's time to get back to work! She's definitely out of shape, so I'm putting together a fitness routine that I'll be using next week to get her going again.

I rode her a bit yesterday so my parents could see how absolutely adorable she is (albeit a little pudgy). Here are a couple pictures:

Always perfect for mounting and ride preparation. :)

Happy hooves = happy horse!

Yesterday we just had a short ride, but today we actually worked on some "serious" stuff. I'm thrilled with how wonderful she is under saddle considering how little I've been able to ride her. A strange "calm" has come over her since the shoes came off and I don't know if it's a coincidence or not, but I didn't see any of the anxious Lilly I'm used to from recent times. We did walk, trot, and canter work and she was responsive, patient, and GOOD! She wasn't chomping on the bit at all during our ride, and when we did a little bit of cantering each way, she stepped right into both transitions without fuss (from the walk!) and had the correct lead both times.

It all sounds like fairly simple stuff for most, I'm sure, but for me and Lilly, those are all things we've struggled with. She's really smart, very sensitive, and I really struggle keeping her focused on doing only what I ask. She anticipates like crazy and when I don't let her do what she thinks we should be doing, she gets frustrated... the frustration turns into things like chomping on the bit and shooting like a rocket into the canter. Once she's worked up, she has a "hair trigger" for most of the ride and even the slightest bit of leg pressure must mean canter!

Today, though, she was amazing. She was calm, easy to get along with, and we had a great ride. She even did her stifle exercises without getting all huffy! (I back her over slightly raised poles...)

Even though over the past couple weeks/months she hasn't really been able to be ridden with any real work in mind, I've been taking her to the arena to walk around. During that time we did a lot of playing. I would drop my reins and ride by steering her with my legs only... I taught her to back up without the reins, side pass without the reins, pivot without the reins, and essentially be completely functional without reins. I think that has made a huge difference with her sensitivity because now she knows that pressure doesn't always mean go faster. When I was riding today, I had to be very specific with my cues because she wasn't sure if we were turning or if I was asking for the trot. And she didn't get frustrated with me when she wanted to turn and I wanted to trot. It was more like, "oh, okay mom..." instead of her usual frustrated attitude.

We're starting in a great place!

Also, Lilly's x-rays have been moved up from Thursday to Monday. The veterinary office that I was hoping could do the xrays finally got back with me, so I'm looking forward to Monday! I also ordered a product called Farrier's Fix that is supposed to draw out hoof soreness and help tender feet (among other things). It came highly recommended by a few people, and for $20 I figured I should give it a shot. I've spent way more on way less, so why not?! For sore hooves it should be applied daily and yesterday was our first application, so there haven't been any noticeable results yet, but it's still early and I'm hopeful!

As I was out enjoying a wonderful day with Lilly, I couldn't help but think about Andrea and Gogo. I gave Lilly an extra hug and spent a quiet moment with her in honor of all they have been through. May Gogo rest in peace, and may the memories they shared never fade.

Soliciting Hoof Advice

2011-10-06T17:12:00.000-04:00

Because you are all so smart and I value your opinions, I wanted to get some advice about an issue my dad is having with his horse's hoof.

Justus has a history of hoof cracks on his right front hoof, but if he's shod long enough, they can get the crack to grow out. Once the shoe comes off, though, the crack slowly comes back. Justus is retired and my dad would prefer to keep him without shoes. I figure there must be a way to keep cracks at bay without shoes.

The crack has gotten a bit worse over the past few weeks and now Justus is uncomfortable on that foot. We're looking into getting a pair of boots for him to wear to keep him comfortable until we can get the crack under control, but how to do that is where I'm hoping I can solicit some advice.

My personal opinion is that there's most likely some bacteria in the crack that is keeping it from growing out. I suggested he start spraying the crack with apple cider vinegar to try and kill the bacteria that's growing in there. Soaking would definitely be better, so I'm going to suggest that as well.

I'm also thinking that since he's barefoot, a mustang roll might help alleviate some of the pressure that's being put on the hoof wall. I think that's why it's cracking, but that's just my very unprofessional opinion.

Here are a few pictures of the hoof and the crack. He actually has two cracks, but the bigger crack is the one I think is causing the issues.

Any suggestions or ideas you might have would be much appreciated!!

Haiku For A Saddle Pad!

2011-10-05T21:03:00.003-04:00

Kate from The Adventures of Lucy is giving away a beautiful painted saddle pad and all you have to do to enter the contest is write a haiku! Since I want to win in the worst kind of way, I'm plugging the contest here so I get an extra chance at winning. The pads are beautiful and I want one for myself!

Gorgeous!

Here's my desperate attempt at a haiku:

New tack is awesome
Lilly loves to show it off
Wonder if we'll win

Heh... good luck everyone!

A Few More Updates

2011-10-04T17:32:00.000-04:00

I've been thinking about the x-rays Lilly needs for her front hooves, and rather than using my regular veterinarian, I've decided to try someone different. Rebecca has suggested I try a vet she trims for, so I put in call to the office today. I haven't heard back yet, but with any luck they'll call me soon.

I also received my new EasyCare Trail boots in the mail yesterday. I was surprised that they sent me a replacement for each boot instead of just the one I was having the most trouble with. Now I have a spare, though, so I'm very grateful. So the good news is, I can go back to riding without having to worry about her boot falling off!

I've also not had another issue with Lilly's saddle. I had a feeling she was going to do this to me... she'll be great for a while and just when I think we're good to go, she'll surprise me and start acting uncomfortable again. I've been planning ahead, though, and when she does it again (because I know she will) I'm going to try her with a half pad. The boarder I've become pretty good friends with is super nice and always offering her tack for me to try. She's got a really nice half pad that I'm going to try when the time comes.

She's so nice, in fact, that she let me ride her boy Music the other night. She felt sorry for me, so we traded horses. He is huge, and super sweet! I had a lot of fun riding him. :)

The other night at the barn I took advantage of the pretty sunset and set up my camera on the arena gate. Using my remote control, I snapped a few shots of me and my sweet girl.

I gave up trying to get her ears up for the picture...

Oh wait! Ears are up in this one! :)

I'm loving the dirty nose she has from playing in the dirt! LOL

Happy Fall!

2011-10-01T17:56:00.000-04:00

I haven't had a lot to write about lately... everything is pretty much status quo. Lilly's hooves are looking good, and I've been riding her quite a bit at the walk. I'm still waiting on a new boot from EasyCare and I'm hoping I hear from them soon so we can start doing trot work again. I might just break down and buy another one, that way I'll have a spare if I need it when the EasyCare boot comes.

She's still sore on her right front hoof without boots and I've decided to go ahead and get x-rays done. I'm trying to work out something with the other ladies at the barn so we can all split the farm call charge. Hopefully we can get that scheduled soon so I can start to rule out certain things as being the cause of the pain.

I also decided to put her back in the stall during the day. It's just to rule out sugary grass as a cause of her soreness... she's never shown any lameness due to grasses before, but she was always wearing shoes and it definitely would have masked any discomfort she had. She's been in the stall since the 26th and I haven't noticed a change yet, but I want to give her some more time. I've got plenty of that...

We're starting to see some beautiful fall weather around here, and I hope everyone else is too!

Making The Best

2011-09-26T17:36:00.000-04:00

I dragged my fiance to the barn with me today, armed with two recording devices. The plan was to catch Lilly doing her "thing" under saddle, record it, and then post it on the Internet for the whole world to see! I've never even seen it myself... I've only felt it.

Well, do you think she would do it?

OF COURSE NOT!

So we made the best of the situation and he took some pictures of me walking her around. I'm still waiting to hear back from EasyCare, but her boots seem to work out okay as long as we just walk. We got drenched this weekend with rain, so there was just a little bit of water in the arena...

She loves the water... she drank for a while, and then started splashing muddy water all over everything. At least she was having a good time.

Yummy!

Trying to cover us both in mud water...

She was really relaxed, which is usually unlike her in this saddle.

We just wandered around the arena...

Okay, so maybe we did a little bit of trotting...

Say cheese, Lilly!

Because of all the rain we've had, I was worried about her hooves and the progress we had made so far with the vinegar. I was pleasantly surprised, though, to actually see they continue to improve! So, because I'm obsessed with her heels, I couldn't resist doing a little before and after picture... on the left is the day after her shoes came off, and on the right is today.

Left heel.

Right heel.

I can almost hear the heels sighing in relief... "Ahhh..."

Five And A Half Weeks

2011-09-20T17:58:00.000-04:00

It's been a while since I posted hoof pictures, and since I can't ride until I get my new boot, I figured I might as well! Speaking of which, EasyBoot has a 90 day replacement guarantee on all their boots, so they will be replacing mine for free. Big kudos to jenj for letting me know!

Lilly seems to be doing better on her right front than she was previously, so I'm optimistic that progress is being made. I mentioned before that I've been using apple cider vinegar on her feet to treat any possible thrush that might be hidden in there, and since I started that, the central sulcus in each foot is looking better and better. I can actually see the skin on the other side of the crack whereas before it was still too deep to see. I think it's pretty evident in the pictures too.

Now that she's got some new, visible growth, I think the changes in her feet are even more obvious. Everything is growing in at a new angle and looks a lot more healthy. Yay!!

Left Front

Left hoof - dorsal view.

Left hoof - lateral view.

Left hoof - medial view.

Left hoof - heel view.

Left hoof - my best attempt at a caudal view.

Left hoof - solar view.

Right Front

Right hoof - dorsal view.

Right hoof - lateral view.

RIght hoof - medial view.

Right hoof - heel view.

Right hoof - caudal view.

Right hoof - solar view.

After taking hoof pictures, I gave her a much needed bath. She was really dusty and in a "please scratch me anywhere and I'll love you forever" kind of mood. She LOVED her bath... and now she's beautiful again.

Boot Fail

2011-09-18T18:46:00.000-04:00

*Sigh

Could the stars align just for a few weeks? Heck, even a few days? That's not asking too much, is it?

I went to the barn every excited to try out the dressage saddle idea. Both the BO and a fellow boarder had offered up their saddles so I had about 4 to choose from.

When I got Lilly from the pasture, she walked up to me with a flopping left boot. At first glance, the boot looked completely trashed and my heart sank. It was still on, but her hoof was sticking out and it looked like she had ripped a hole in it. When I took it off and walked her into the barn to get a closer look, it didn't look quite so bad... it was all mushed down and mangled looking, but nothing was ripped and I was able to put it back on. I was temporarily very excited.

I tried on 2 saddles before finally deciding on one of the boarder's dressage saddles. It fit the best, I think. I have zero experience with dressage saddles, but it looked less narrow than the others. Here's my cute dressage pony:

Dressage pony for the win!

The pad didn't work out so well, but I didn't want to use a pad that's not Lilly's, so we made it work.

I've never sat in a dressage saddle, so it felt a little strange to me. It was really comfortable, but it felt almost western-y. The high pommel and cantle made it feel a lot different than my hunt seat saddle, although my legs felt really good.

I ended up riding for about 20 minutes and Lilly was doing great! No head shaking or signs of discomfort, even while we were trotting. I had to do a sitting trot for most of the ride, though, because it just felt funny to post... it felt like I really couldn't get my butt up out of the saddle enough to make it worth my while, so I gave up trying.

We were having a great time until I heard this hollow flop sound and Lilly started limping... I looked down and there was my boot, barely hanging on. I got off, removed the boot and looked more closely at the Velcro, only to find nearly all of the loops ripped open. So the Velcro is pretty much shot and the boot is a goner. :(

I just got done telling everyone how much I love those boots... now I hate them. I don't know if I should get her another one to replace this one or try a different style. They're probably not meant to be worn 24 hours a day, but I don't have much choice.

I'm just trying to ride my horse... sometimes I can't because my saddle makes her angry. Sometimes I can't because she's hurt for one reason or another. Sometimes I can't because she doesn't have boots. The list goes on and on. I JUST WANT TO RIDE!

Today's Riddle

2011-09-15T20:49:00.047-04:00

What's brown, extra wide, and leather all over?

If you guessed "saddle", you are the winner! I don't have any prizes to give, but you can feel good that you answered today's riddle correctly. :)

Happy to be saddled? Nope!

That's right, my saddle made a cameo appearance on Lilly's back today. I haven't ridden in my saddle since June 18th and decided it was time to see if I noticed anything different with Lilly in regards to the saddle. I put the XL gullet in months ago but hadn't ridden her with it yet.

When I was tacking her up she seemed fine until it came time to start tightening things up. I do one hole at a time as I get everything else ready for the ride and once I got to hole #3, I got a nasty face from my normally sweet girl. I'd describe it as a bit of a snarl, but I went about my business anyway and she seemed fine after that.

We headed out to the arena and I was able to ride for about 10 minutes before I started feeling some stiff movements, saw some head shaking, and felt her getting a little "stuck" in her forward momentum. Knowing what this means, I went ahead and got off... I pulled the saddle and we finished our ride "mareback".

Frustrated isn't even the word I would use to describe how I feel about all of this. It's beyond frustrating because I don't know WHY she's doing this. I thought it was the saddle at first, so I spent a fortune getting her a new saddle fitted just for her. I thought it was her back, her shoulders, so she's seen chiropractors and massage therapists, and when that didn't work, I thought maybe it was her feet. Her hooves needed to be addressed either way, but what if this whole thing has nothing to do with any of that? What if this is because of something completely different?? Because of her little snarl earlier during he girthing process, I wonder if it's maybe a tummy thing like ulcers... or... or... I don't know but I'm going crazy!!

I asked my BO if I could borrow her saddle next time I ride, so while I'm clueless about dressage saddles and hope I can figure out how to properly strap it to my horse, I'm going to try using that and see if I notice a difference.

Lilly doesn't show any signs of back discomfort. I can run my fingers along her spine from her withers to her rump and I don't get any scooting or avoidance to the pressure at all. She loves to have her back scratched, even with my curry, so I'm not seeing any soreness there at all. The saddle absolutely fits her and I thought perhaps with the 3 month saddle break, she might be fine with the saddle. Wrong again. :(

The purpose of riding today was to get her moving so we can get her feet engaged to hopefully get this hoof rehab moving too. If she's just wandering around the pasture all day in her boots, she's really not working those important structures in the hooves that have been nearly dormant for the past 8 years. I'm sure that has a lot to do with her discomfort, so my new plan is to ride her at least 4 times per week and ask her to do a lot of trotting and really get her moving around.

She feels really good in the boots and when we were trotting she took a few off steps (like if she stepped on something in the arena) but in a few strides she was back to feeling good. I let her choose the pace, which resembled something you might see at Churchill Downs, but I want her to be able to move how she's most comfortable. We did about 10 minutes of trotting each way and a lot of walking in between. She's pretty out of shape, so 45 minutes was about the limit for her.

During the cool down period, I like to drop my reins and drive her around with just my legs. She's getting really good at this and I can point her to any area in the arena and steer her to it. I also decided to try getting her to side pass without the reins, although I didn't expect her to do it. She surprised me when she absolutely side passed in both directions without any help from the reins! Such a good girl!

Sweet mare face.

Bombers and Boots

2011-09-14T20:00:00.000-04:00

I went out to the barn today for boot maintenance and when I drove past Lilly in the pasture, I saw she was being accosted by one of those giant biting flies (you all know the ones I'm talking about)! So I parked as quickly as I could and ran out to the pasture to try and save my sweet girl. As soon as she saw me, she took off at a dead run from the other end of the pasture towards the gate and very desperately tried to point me in the right direction by throwing her hind end in my general direction. I missed the darn thing the first time, but they don't give up that easily, so when it landed again I smacked it hard and then squished it into the ground when it fell.

Those things are awful!!

After the whole incident was over, though, I wondered if it hurt her feet to run at a gallop like that...

Otherwise, not much new on the Lilly front. I'm cleaning the boots, cleaning her feet, treating for thrush, and then back out she goes. The boots are doing really well, though, and I don't see any rub marks on her feet at all. If you're looking for a new boot, or perhaps want to have one on hand if your horse loses a shoe at some point, I very highly recommend the EasyBoot Trail. I just love them!!

Sore Hoof and Hind Hooves

2011-09-12T17:32:00.005-04:00

Lilly has been wearing her boots since Cat came out on Thursday. I had to change out her Happy Hoof Pads on Saturday, but she's been doing really well in the boots. The problem is, she's still pretty sore on that right front when the boots are off. I'm hoping that means the issue is somewhere in the hoof and not in her leg (also known as tendon/ligament issues), or up in her shoulder or back.

I realize this whole process takes time, but I just hate to see her sore if there's something I can do to help her. She's so much better on the left front that I'm worried there's something else going on with her right foot. She showed a little bit of discomfort there before we even took the shoes off, so I don't think it's entirely because she's barefoot.

I'm torn about what I should do, though. If it is in her hoof, it could be something as "simple" as an abscess, or it could be that she has a thin sole. Maybe she just has heel pain because she's not wearing shoes and for other obvious reasons. The boots and the Happy Hoof Pads should help with the sole and the heel pain, but I'm not sure she can wear the boots 24/7. So far, no rub marks on her feet but I worry about them getting damp and leading to other issues.

We think she might have another abscess brewing, but I checked her digital pulse today and everything seemed normal. I actually felt a stronger pulse on her hind feet...

I'm treating her as though she does have thrush. That could be part of the soreness if she does have any and since it can't hurt, I've been squirting apple cider vinegar in there. She's got a pretty deep central sulcus crack in each foot still, and even though I don't really see anything in there, we're taking precautions. I'm looking at a couple other options too, but for now it's the ACV.

I've been keeping her boots as clean as humanly possible, and I pour a bunch of Gold Bond powder in the boots before I put them on to help with any moisture that might get in there.

I may end up getting a lameness exam done on her, and depending on what the vet says, we could end up with x-rays or some nerve blocking to try and figure out where the pain is coming from. If it's just heel pain, I prefer not to go overboard with the vet visit, but the x-rays would be nice to see just to make sure there aren't any signs of navicular. We would also be able to see how thick/thin her soles are.

So I continue to ponder...

When I had her in the barn today, I decided to take some pictures of her hind feet. I think they look really good, but I'm curious if there are any other comments about her feet. :)

Left hind...

Right hind...

I wanted to show this next picture simply because I find it really interesting! I need to shave her legs a bit so the hairline is more visible, but it has really started to even out since the shoes came off. It doesn't plunge to the ground like it did before. Also, the angle of the new hoof growth coming in has me intrigued also. There is a very clear bump where the new growth meets the old hoof. I find myself staring at this picture a lot. I just can't help myself...

Medial side of left front

The towel gets in the way a bit, but I get tired of crawling around on the wet, dirty floor, so I put some towels down today. It's much easier on my old knees. :)

Finally, I tried to get a video of Lilly walking around her pasture in her boots. The boys were occupying the round pen area, so I tried to do this in the pasture instead, and I failed miserably. She wants me to scratch her, not record her!

10 Years Later

2011-09-11T17:25:00.000-04:00

In you I trust, O my God. Do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me. No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame, but they will be put to shame who are treacherous without excuse. ~Psalm 25:2-3

First Trim - And Pictures!

2011-09-08T18:37:00.001-04:00

Cat came out today for Lilly's first trim since her shoes came off. It has been 3 weeks and 5 days since we started our barefoot adventure. All in all, things have been going very well. Lilly was sore for the first two days, but it was nothing a little bute and a pair of Easyboot Trails couldn't fix. Since then she's been in and out of the boots but has been doing really well. I've ridden her a couple times and she is quite happy and sound in her pasture. Most importantly, the changes in her feet in just 3 weeks has been amazing.

There has been one nagging issue with her right front, though. Cat noticed it when we walked Lilly on the rocks before we even took the shoes off, so we're pretty sure it wasn't caused by removing the shoes, but it is definitely more noticeable now. She is much more comfortable when the boots are on, so I think it is in her foot and not in her leg, shoulder, or back, but it's definitely possible. It could be a combination of all things just finally getting to her and she just needs some time.

I've got the boots back on her now (since they fit again, and filled with Gold Bond powder) and I'm going to leave her in them for a couple days and see how she does. X-rays are possible in the future, as well as a lameness exam by my vet who would probably do some nerve blocking to locate the source of the discomfort. I'm not terribly worried about it yet since I know her body is going through a lot of changes, but I'll keep my eye on it. I'm worried that my vet might simply tell me to put shoes back on...

But back to the trimming, Cat and I chatted for a while about her feet, what's been going on with the chipping, the abscess, the boots, and how I wanted to learn how to use the rasp in between trims. She was more than happy to show me how to use the rasp and what to take off between trims. After briefly looking at her feet, she started trimming and I was pretty much in her face the whole time asking questions and being as annoying as possible. Cat's super nice, though, and she spent quite a bit of time showing me what she was doing and why.

She started by trimming the bars. She pointed out where the bars should end, and used her hoof knife to cut them down to sole level beyond where she said they should stop, but the parts of the bar in the correct area weren't touched. She said Lilly was growing bars to protect her sole, but pointed out where Lilly had some calluses on her sole around the toe, so she said we were making progress there. She didn't touch the frogs or the sole at all but ran her hoof knife over both areas briskly to see if there was any flaking which she said might indicate an issue.

I was asking her about thrush and she said she saw what she thought was a teeny bit of infection in Lilly's central sulcus. She dug around a bit with her "pokey tool" but Lilly didn't show any discomfort. In all four feet, though, she squirted her anti-infection concoction in the sulcus just in case.

Next she used her nippers to trim away the hoof wall, flat to the sole, pointing out how the insensitive laminae was nice and tight in her hooves (especially the back ones) and noted how she didn't see much flaring at all. She also nipped the heels, which I was concerned about, but she said was necessary to make sure that the heel grows down like it should rather than forward like it had been in the past.

After the nippers, she busted out the rasp and went to town cleaning everything up and rolling the toe. She didn't touch the outside of the hoof with the rasp at all. Overall, she thought Lilly's feet looked pretty good. She said the heel bulbs are still quite squishy and they really need to firm up (which might be what's causing her to be a bit off) but that will take more time.

I didn't take photos of her back feet because those are already good to go, but Cat said they looked really nice. She had some serious bars, though, and it was a bit of work to get those trimmed to where they needed to be. I was pretty impressed with how concave her back feet are compared to her front feet. Perhaps I'll snag some pictures of them next time I'm out just to have.

I took the following pictures outside, which I thought was a grand idea, but they didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped. Too many shadows and dark spots, so I really had to manipulate the contrast, brightness levels, and exposure, which made the colors a little funky. I was trying to make all the shaded areas visible, so hopefully these pictures show enough detail.

Front of the fronts... Cat said she thought she saw a little bruising here.

Left front, lateral view.

Left front, medial view.

Left front heel.

Left front, sole view.

Left front heel, view 1.

Left front heel, view 2.

Right front, lateral view.

Right front, medial view.

Right front heel.

Right front, sole view.

Right front heel, view 1.

Right front heel, view 2.

We set up another appointment in 4 weeks. Originally we had talked about every 2 weeks, but she thought Lilly would be fine if we waited 4, especially since I was going to be keeping the hooves rasped. (uh oh...)

I'm very curious to hear everyone's opinions and comments. Also, please correct me if I'm using the wrong terminology because I want to be a hoof nerd too! :)

Her Milkshake Brings All The Boys To The Yard

2011-09-06T19:06:00.001-04:00

I was really looking forward to visiting Lilly at the barn today. I wanted to see how she was doing with Jack and how everyone was getting along. As I drove past her old pasture, though, I saw her back in it, and the pasture she was moved to the other day held 3 geldings. Hmmm... I wondered if it was something Lilly did (maybe she went swimming in the pond) or if it was something else.

I moseyed into the barn, checked the communications board, and found this:

"Moved Lilly back. The other horses always tried to eat her food because she comes and goes. The guys go "crazy" with her so she's by herself for now."

I wondered if food was going to be an issue, but I wasn't sure how they were feeding the horses these days. Lilly definitely takes her sweet time and seems to snack on her breakfast all day long.

I saw the new horse's owner too, and she was telling me her horse Music was going completely crazy over Lilly. He was pacing the fence and screaming for her constantly, which is why they put him in a different paddock. When he was still going nuts, they decided to put Lilly across the road to make it even more difficult for him to see her. Music's mom said even Jack was starting to act crazy with her, so they decided to put Lilly back in a paddock by herself. That horse of mine is always causing trouble. :)

After I took pictures of Lilly's feet the other day, I noticed something in one of them that had me a bit worried. I was upset that I hadn't see it when I was at the barn, so I quickly emailed it to Rebecca to see what she thought about it. Basically there was an area by Lilly's frog that had a hole in it. Since it was by her frog, I was worried that Lilly might have some thrush in her foot. Because of my vacation, it had been over a week since I had been able to pick her feet so I was pretty worried. Rebecca said it was difficult for her to diagnose since she couldn't actually look at her foot, but she thought it looked more like an abscess than thrush.

Frog crater...

She told me to take a closer look and dig around with my hoof pick and I should be able to tell whether it's thrush or not. On my way to the barn today I bought some ACV just in case I needed to soak her hoof, but after cleaning it out and digging around in there, I think it's most likely an abscess hole. This is also on the hoof that she's been "off" on, so I wonder if she's got another abscess in there too?

I also took some pictures of the chipping on her feet. I just find it interesting because the chips are coming off on their own (except for a few of the bigger ones).

Left foot...

Right foot...

I decided I wanted to take her out to the round pen to play a bit, so we suited up and made our way out there. As soon as she stepped outside the barn, the horses in the pasture closest to us RAN over to the fence whinnying to her. We had to walk past them to get to the round pen and they both stood there nickering to her. Once we got in the round pen, the horses in the pasture across the driveway saw her and RAN over to the fence whinnying to her. She kept looking back and forth between each pasture of geldings not sure what to do with herself!

We did just a little bit of in halter work and then I took the halter off and worked on getting her to pay attention to me, which was extra difficult because of all the cat calls from the boys. When I finally got her attention, I did what I call the "pull", where I turn toward her hip and walk to the opposite end of the round pen, my back to her. She usually walks into the middle of the ring, follows me to where I've stopped, and stands there waiting for what's to come next. Today, though, she walked up behind me and rested her chin on my shoulder. My heart melted... I turned my head and gave her a big smooch. I do love that mare.

While I had her out, I thought I would get a few videos on my iPhone of her trotting and cantering. If you look closely along the fence lines, you can see all her admirers. :)

3 Weeks Post Shoes - Trotting Left

3 Weeks Post Shoes - Cantering Left

She seemed better to the left, and she really didn't want to trot to the right, so I didn't push her. I think you can see pretty well how she's a bit off...

3 Weeks Post Shoes - Trotting Right

If I continue to see that she's off on that right foot, and depending on what Cat says on Thursday, I may end up getting xrays just to be safe.

Three Weeks In

2011-09-04T18:53:00.002-04:00

One of the first things I did after arriving home from the cruise was drive out to the barn to check on Lilly. I was curious to see how she was doing and how her feet looked. She was doing really well and seemed happy to see me when I went out to the pasture to get her.

Since we hit the three week mark on Saturday, I decided to take some pictures and do a little side by side comparison. The picture on the left is the day after the shoes came off and the picture on the right is the picture I took Saturday. She's due for a trim and the trimmer comes out Thursday, so try to ignore the chipping, and I'll take some more pictures after the trim on Thursday.

Left hoof...

Left heel...

Right hoof...

Right heel...

In other news, because of the new horse at the barn, the BO wanted to do some reorganizing. She has three pastures with run-ins and one pasture without. Since Lilly was in a pasture all by herself, one pair of horses had to be without shelter and she wanted to make sure all the horses had a run-in. The new horse either really loves Lilly or really hates her so they wanted to put a physical barrier between him and her. She asked if it was ok to put one of the geldings with Lilly and move her to a new pasture. So Lilly was moved to the pasture across the driveway and since it's probably the best pasture on the farm, I'm quite ok with that.

The BO chose her horse Jack to be Lilly's pasture buddy and I think they're pretty happy together...

Could they graze any closer together?

The cruise was great! We had a fantastic time both on and off the ship even though the weather was a little wet. It takes a lot more than a little rain to ruin my vacation, though! While we were in Nassau we went to Atlantis for an opportunity to swim with dolphins. That's something I've wanted to do for a long time and it was amazing... I even got to give one of them a kiss! We went parasailing in Key West which is something else I've wanted to do for a long time. And if that wasn't enough, the boyfriend proposed too!

It's SO pretty! :)

A trip to remember, that's for sure!

Hurricanes and Vacations

2011-08-27T18:00:00.000-04:00

Hurricane Irene "ripped" through my area early this morning and we're still getting a lot of wind and some rain but we didn't suffer any major damage here. We never lost power but a lot of residents in this area did. I checked on Lilly and she is happy as a clam inside the barn. We decided that was the best place for the horses but the BO promised to put her back outside as soon as she thought it was safe.

I've been walking Lilly up and down the driveway at least 3 times per week for 20 minutes to harden the soles of her feet. I haven't had her boots on since we went for a ride and she seems to be doing really well. The BO said she saw Lilly running around out in the pasture on Thursday, so that's a good sign. I spoke to Rebecca about the chipping and the fact that her boots weren't fitting very well because of it. She had me send some pictures to her so she could see what type of chipping Lilly was having. She reassured me that it's all around the nail holes and it's to be expected. She also poked at me again about learning how to smooth out chips and rough edges between trimmings. She said it'll help keep the hooves from being damaged and it'll ensure her boots fit like they should. She said she might even be able to get me a used rasp so I don't have to purchase one. Cat is next on the list to come out so I'll see if she's willing to show me (I know she'll say yes) so I might be learning how to keep things looking nice here shortly. GULP

Rebecca also said that walking on the driveway will harden the sole, but walking in sand and even in her boots with the Happy Hoof pads will help increase blood flow and encourage the sole to grow. I was thinking the boots were more for helping her if she was sore, but I'm going to start rotating then into the rehab program as well so she can grow lots of hard sole!

In other news, tomorrow the BF and I are heading down to Miami so we can catch a ride on Majesty of the Seas for a 4 night cruise to the Bahamas (assuming they're still there when we get there). We're very excited and can't wait, even though it'll be the last real vacation of the summer.

I hope everyone has a great week and stay safe if you're in Irene's path!