Note the First: Pentosan. Should we do a round in the spring, and see if he responds? Is it available again?
Legend injection in late fall made zip, zero difference that I could tell. Had a marvelous ride the day after, and then two days later, nothing. Taking him off Previcox has not resulted in a gimpier horse. I am not necessarily addressing a specific issue, but rather hoping I can improve the overall picture.
Note the Second: Gut issues. He remains the gassiest horse in the barn by yards and yards. Do I want to worry about this? Do I think harder about a hindgut treatment of some kind? Do I make some attempts at ulcer treatment?
He's already on a pre & probiotic and doesn't seem bothered by his gassiness.
Note the Third: General supplementation for weight/energy/hydration. Will try hay cubes/pellets, soaked, or beet pulp, soaked, as a snack/meal when out and hauling, or as something to give him as a treat after riding in the summer.
Bel Joeor: Life + Horses
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Polar Vortex Part Eight Million
I am hoping beyond hope that this morning's -15 nastiness is the last gasp of the bitter cold this winter. I haven't ridden since Sunday: every afternoon, I monitor the temperatures and every evening, by the time I could get to the barn (5pm or so) it's into the single digits and dropping fast. This is March, people. We're supposed to be high teens and reaching for spring, not this awful stuff.
Tonight, it should be in the low 20s by the time I get to the barn, and then the lows stay in the teens for a solid week, per the current forecasts. Double digits! All day, and all night! I could swoon.
Progress on March goals: have emailed the vet, and if I can peel away from work today I'll hit up the DMV to get registrations processed and begin the process of getting my rig back on the road.
Tonight, it should be in the low 20s by the time I get to the barn, and then the lows stay in the teens for a solid week, per the current forecasts. Double digits! All day, and all night! I could swoon.
Progress on March goals: have emailed the vet, and if I can peel away from work today I'll hit up the DMV to get registrations processed and begin the process of getting my rig back on the road.
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
March Goals
For reference: 2014 Outline & 2014 Goals
We're just about capable of that 60 minute lesson already, but we have some more fitness work to do. I'll also add to this: get my saddles fit at the end of the month. Which means I am in for some expenses - sigh.
So, March!
March
Spring shots & teeth. Get the trailer registered and potentially taken out to get inspected/repaired. Re-up my US Rider
Continue topline & fitness, but we should be well on our way by now: capable of a full 60 minute lesson without too much exhaustion on either part.
We're just about capable of that 60 minute lesson already, but we have some more fitness work to do. I'll also add to this: get my saddles fit at the end of the month. Which means I am in for some expenses - sigh.
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Fail again, fail faster, fail better
The theme of this week might be something like I get knocked down - but I get up again. (Sorry for the ear worm...)
Sunday was good! Quiet afternoon chores, in the middle of which I did a really nice longe session with Tristan. Then I hopped on bareback with a quarter sheet and we attempted to go for a bit of a hack through the snow, which he was having none of. The snow was well over his knees and he took about three steps and decided it was way too much work, eff you, lady and spun right back around for the road. I tried again at a different entry point and we didn't even get three steps, so I relented and we walked up and down the road for a bit.
Monday was not easy. I stepped up to do morning chores, though my hand was not quite up to physical labor, and it was a solid, exhausting six hours in temperatures that never went above 5, and whenever the wind picked up were easily double digits below zero. Most of the paths were too icy to get to regular turnouts, so we rotated the horses for shorter periods through the accessible turnouts, and cleaned stalls as best we could. Every piece of manure made a clinking sound as it hit the wheelbarrow, and every water bucket was so frozen it took me three, four, five stomps of my boot to break through the top, pour what little water was remaining onto the manure pile, and then tip the buckets over in the sun to help dislodge the icy rims. Most of the buckets had an inch or more of ice all through the insides, clinging to the bucket walls.
Needless to say, too cold for riding or working, and on top of that Tristan had once again - somehow - irritated his eye. I flushed it with saline, which was an adventure, and gave him a gram of bute and another gram with dinner. It was dripping clear thin tears, he was acting totally normally, and there wasn't a hint of anything different about the eye itself. Plus, it was clearing up slowly through the day. So I worried, of course, but held off on the vet. Will check in later this afternoon and see what he looks like, and vet out tomorrow if it hasn't cleared up.
Today has gone downhill: after a plan to get my truck inspected and ready for summer, I have discovered that a) the battery died during the recent cold snaps, and b) I somehow lost the freaking registration after renewing it in January. Why why whyyyyy can't I keep on top of things this winter? So, back to the drawing board: new copy of the registration tomorrow, will get the trailer updated while I'm there, and hopefully back on track in general. It'll be my daily driver for the summer, and I hope to do quite a bit more hauling in general, so it needs to be in top shape.
My hand has been alternately aching and stinging all day, as I almost certainly opened the cut up doing chores yesterday. It is supposed to get up to a high of 18 today, but considering at noon it had just edged above zero, I find that unlikely. So I am stuck inside, cleaning and making lists of things to get ready before we have a house full of weekend ski guests and oh man, the apartment is something else after three weeks of me not able to do a whole lot of intensive cleaning.
Sigh. Chop wood, carry water, etc. /whine
Sunday was good! Quiet afternoon chores, in the middle of which I did a really nice longe session with Tristan. Then I hopped on bareback with a quarter sheet and we attempted to go for a bit of a hack through the snow, which he was having none of. The snow was well over his knees and he took about three steps and decided it was way too much work, eff you, lady and spun right back around for the road. I tried again at a different entry point and we didn't even get three steps, so I relented and we walked up and down the road for a bit.
Monday was not easy. I stepped up to do morning chores, though my hand was not quite up to physical labor, and it was a solid, exhausting six hours in temperatures that never went above 5, and whenever the wind picked up were easily double digits below zero. Most of the paths were too icy to get to regular turnouts, so we rotated the horses for shorter periods through the accessible turnouts, and cleaned stalls as best we could. Every piece of manure made a clinking sound as it hit the wheelbarrow, and every water bucket was so frozen it took me three, four, five stomps of my boot to break through the top, pour what little water was remaining onto the manure pile, and then tip the buckets over in the sun to help dislodge the icy rims. Most of the buckets had an inch or more of ice all through the insides, clinging to the bucket walls.
Needless to say, too cold for riding or working, and on top of that Tristan had once again - somehow - irritated his eye. I flushed it with saline, which was an adventure, and gave him a gram of bute and another gram with dinner. It was dripping clear thin tears, he was acting totally normally, and there wasn't a hint of anything different about the eye itself. Plus, it was clearing up slowly through the day. So I worried, of course, but held off on the vet. Will check in later this afternoon and see what he looks like, and vet out tomorrow if it hasn't cleared up.
Today has gone downhill: after a plan to get my truck inspected and ready for summer, I have discovered that a) the battery died during the recent cold snaps, and b) I somehow lost the freaking registration after renewing it in January. Why why whyyyyy can't I keep on top of things this winter? So, back to the drawing board: new copy of the registration tomorrow, will get the trailer updated while I'm there, and hopefully back on track in general. It'll be my daily driver for the summer, and I hope to do quite a bit more hauling in general, so it needs to be in top shape.
My hand has been alternately aching and stinging all day, as I almost certainly opened the cut up doing chores yesterday. It is supposed to get up to a high of 18 today, but considering at noon it had just edged above zero, I find that unlikely. So I am stuck inside, cleaning and making lists of things to get ready before we have a house full of weekend ski guests and oh man, the apartment is something else after three weeks of me not able to do a whole lot of intensive cleaning.
Sigh. Chop wood, carry water, etc. /whine
What are your barn rules?
A few nights ago, I had to grab something quickly from inside the barn that I'd forgotten. I was in a hurry, and frustrated that I'd been forgetful, and I had a length of barn aisle to go get it. I sped up and jogged one, two steps.
And then I stopped and went back to a fast walk. I realized in that moment that "no running in the barn" is a rule that has been physically ingrained into me. I cannot take more than one step of jog anywhere near the barn - not even out near turnout, not even on the driveway. Can't do it. At some impressionable point in my past, an instructor imprinted that rule deeply into my brain.
Then I got to thinking: what other unconscious rules do people have for the barn? What is so anathema to you that you can't even imagine doing it?
Many of these are rooted in safety and common sense, I'm sure, but there are plenty of other rules I break without thinking about it, especially around Tristan. So why did these stick so firmly?
Here are a few more of mine.
Wearing sandals in the barn. Can't do it. No way, no how. I get nervous just thinking about it. Tender toes and horse hooves do not mix.
Wear a helmet every time, every ride. I have mounted exactly twice without a helmet in my life and both times within a few strides felt a strange disorientation, like I'd never been on a horse before, or like Tristan had suddenly changed size or shape. It was the absent weight and feel on my head.
Always use gloves to handle horses. I can remember the precise moment I learned this one, and the incredible pain from all the rope burn blisters. Now, I never, ever, ever, EVER hold a rope or a rein that's attached to a horse bare-handed. NEVER.
And then I stopped and went back to a fast walk. I realized in that moment that "no running in the barn" is a rule that has been physically ingrained into me. I cannot take more than one step of jog anywhere near the barn - not even out near turnout, not even on the driveway. Can't do it. At some impressionable point in my past, an instructor imprinted that rule deeply into my brain.
Then I got to thinking: what other unconscious rules do people have for the barn? What is so anathema to you that you can't even imagine doing it?
Many of these are rooted in safety and common sense, I'm sure, but there are plenty of other rules I break without thinking about it, especially around Tristan. So why did these stick so firmly?
Here are a few more of mine.
Wearing sandals in the barn. Can't do it. No way, no how. I get nervous just thinking about it. Tender toes and horse hooves do not mix.
Wear a helmet every time, every ride. I have mounted exactly twice without a helmet in my life and both times within a few strides felt a strange disorientation, like I'd never been on a horse before, or like Tristan had suddenly changed size or shape. It was the absent weight and feel on my head.
Always use gloves to handle horses. I can remember the precise moment I learned this one, and the incredible pain from all the rope burn blisters. Now, I never, ever, ever, EVER hold a rope or a rein that's attached to a horse bare-handed. NEVER.
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