Now They're Both Shedding

Stop by on Friday on the way out of town to the farm. Axel's belly seemed a bit more swollen than normal.

Tonight my car said it was 45F so a trip to the barn was in order. After brushing off at least another horse's worth I took Axel for another walk down the road. He was being a little bit of a pill. I think he was hearing Cody calling or something but he'd toss his head, ended up hitting me once. Of course I'm paranoid so I'm thinking it's some sort of neurological issue. But I think he was just being Axel. Spring + no work all winter + horses calling = slightly misbehaving Axel. As soon as we get the x-rays or he starts feeling better then he's going to have to do a lot of ground work to get some manners back before riding. I'm hoping he just has some steam he hasn't had a chance to blow off yet.

Cody started shedding now too so when I removed a miniature horse's worth of hair from him I saddled him up to ride in the arena. We did some figure 8s, some corner circles, trotted a circle in the middle, and he offered some canter. I ended up only riding for about 10-15 minutes after lunging for 5-10 minutes but he was just starting to sweat so it was a good time to stop if I didn't want to stand around all night cooling him off. I thought maybe he'd roll but he wasn't interested. I did some leg stretches, neck stretches, and tail pulls with him before bringing him back outside.

Two (too) Hairy Visits

I try to not put two posts in one but I'm approaching a week behind so too bad. I had Friday off work so we were heading to the farm on Thursday evening but Jeff had some stuff to finish at work first so I ran out to the barn. Axel got his MSM and I opted to not groom since he was shedding in full force and I didn't want to be covered in hair. I did however find a very itchy spot on his back and we stood in the arena while I scratched him. I ended up getting covered in hair anyway. I thought maybe he was going to roll but in the end he didn't. He thinks hard about it though.

So last night I went out to the barn while Jeff was rock climbing. I thought he would be busy for a while and I'd get a chance to get on Cody. I grabbed Axel first and got him groomed up. He's shedding like mad. I've noticed this both last night and the week prior, but he's stopped picking up the wrong back foot. For a while there when you'd ask for his hind left he'd pick up his hind right. My guess was that it was a balance thing so he didn't have to put weight on that sore front knee. But the last two times he's picked up the correct foot without an issue. And he's seemed mildly perkier/less sore. His knee is still puffy though. I walked him around the arena a bit and he was slightly less lame. It's all very subtle still at this point. On our way out of the barn I decided we'd take a little walk down the road since it was very melty. He walks really well on the flat harder surface so I thought this was a nice change and a chance to move a little. We only went down to the first mailbox and back. He was a little hyper on the walk back and nearly trotted over me going into the driveway. Needless to say you couldn't tell he was lame at that point. He hasn't been on stall rest but he's pretty much done nothing all winter so I can see where he'd be a little wound up on some footing that seemed safe. We might have to go for some more walks down the road before we start lunging or anything like that.

Cody isn't shedding nearly as much as Axel but he's getting there. His neck and his face have started pretty decently. I brought him in the arena to move around as well. I had originally thought maybe we'd go for a ride down the road but it gets pretty chilly quick and with no ditch traffic could be an issue so I figured he'd be just fine stretching his legs inside. Jeff was already on his way home so I scrapped the plan to ride and just free lunged Cody for a while. I need to bring out the Flip and get a real video of how good Cody looks these days. The cell phone videos leave a bit to be desired. We did a little more work in hand than we've been doing lately which took him a while to settle into. I really have to work more on the turns on the forehand and haunches he tends to ignore me on those which could be why we don't do them under saddle. I'll have to brush up on some techniques online or something.

Ponies in the Snow

So a quick run out to the barn to check on the boys before heading to the farm for the weekend. Kind of sad there wasn't more time, it was a gorgeous Friday. It felt warm and the snow was really pretty. But there was only time for some MSM and a few minutes of taking photos. There's really not much to update, Axel is still swollen and his knee still hurts. Kind of the status quo around here. Cody is still looking mighty fine and visiting regularly with the girls on the other side of the fence.

Manicure Time

Last night was farrier night. I was a bit early as usual so I fed Axel his MSM while we waited. He was already in the crossties so he had his feet done first. He's been doing a new thing lately where you ask for his hind left and he picks up his hind right instead. I'm not sure if he's just trying to avoid putting more weight on his front right or what. He was not terribly pleased to have that front right knee bent and the farrier only bent it the bare minimum. He seemed pretty sore when he was done so I tied him in the arena while I tried to thaw out some paste bute. I'm ready to give up on the powder. I think I'll just get a dosing syringe from Fleet Farm and mix the powdered bute with water and dose him that way. He actually doses really easily, at least the last two times I've buted him.

So I got Cody and groomed both of them while we waited for Cody's turn to have his feet done. His front left has a bit of notch/chip in the toe. Not sure how he got a chip walking through 2 feet of snow but he managed. It's not too serious, hopefully it'll grow out. And other than hanging out while everyone else got their feet done that was about it for the trip to the barn. They've got a lot of snow out there and I guess Cody was running around playing in it a bit. But for the most part they all confine themselves to the round bale.

The plans for spring are to move Vinnie into the big pasture and Cody and Axel will go in the paddock until their pasture has a chance to revive itself. Assuming they stop the round bales near that time, it might be a good diet for fat Axel. We're working on getting an appointment in March for shots and coggins and I'll get Axel's knees xrayed and then figure out what the next step is. It might be easier/cheaper to go with something like Adequan instead of the daily supplements (which haven't started working yet as far as I can tell).

Cody's Girls

Sunday was another quick trip to the barn. It had started snowing and a movie and a nap was calling my name so I just ran out quick to feed Axel his MSM. He was walking about the same, maybe a bit better but any changes lately have been minuscule. Mainly he hasn't gotten worse. I'm still really hoping the MSM kicks in, I don't want to have to bute him all the time. I was hoping to not have to add that joint supplement back in but that might be the case. I'll give him a little more time before I decide. He's getting around, seems happy as usual, and even rolls. From what I remember he was lame through March the last time his knees were bothering him.

I just checked on Cody in the pasture. He was standing guard for his new neighbor girls. I guess Stitch loves the girls as well and they knicker for him when S brings him into the barn. Silly boys.

Quick Trip

I only stopped out at the barn on Saturday morning for a few quick minutes to give Axel his MSM and check on him since his oh so fun practical joke. He was walking pretty decently. He wasn't horribly worse at all but wasn't a whole lot better, he must not have gotten much bute in after all. I didn't even bring him in the arena for fear he'd lay down again and I'd have to convince him to get up and get home in time for house guests. He's still swollen of course no better, no worse.

Out to get me

I swear Axel thinks this is some big joke. I brought him into the barn for his usual snack of MSM. I'm just about out of senior feed, I might have to pick up some more. He certainly doesn't need any additional sweet feed. I put him in the arena since he seemed a bit peppier than on Tuesday. He was a little less lame so I didn't think he needed any bute. He hasn't rolled in the arena since all this started though he's clearly laid down outside and sometimes had even went down on his knee evident by how dirty it was. Last night he sniffed around right away, looking for a spot to roll. He went down slowly, stopping midway through as his sore knee was half bent, almost trying to decide if it was worth the pain to lay down. He made it all the way down and rolled several times and then he just laid there staring at me. He hadn't tried to get up and he wasn't struggling, he rolled just fine. He laid there for quite a while before I started trying to encourage him to get up. He'd sit up slightly one or two times but never bent his legs under himself to get up. I was getting mildly scared, he wasn't struggling or thrashing but it just seemed weird that he'd lay down and not get up or even try. I started to walk toward the gate, I can't recall what I was going to do, but I turned around and Axel was standing. He must not have struggled nor grunted at all so the best I can tell he was trying to play a funny joke?

Anyway when he got up his knee was pretty sore so I thought maybe I would give him some bute just so he could get around a bit better for the next couple days. I mixed the unflavored bute with applesauce and sweet feed but he turned up his nose. I gave in and grabbed the paste bute which didn't seem frozen. Unfortunately it was colder than normal and I don't think a whole lot got in his mouth. Hopefully he got at least a gram.

I brought Cody in as well just to groom and let him move around the arena a bit. He wasn't ready to run but he wanted to walk around, I thought maybe he was going to roll too but he was just exploring. I grabbed the lunge whip and asked him to move a bit. I had him move around for a while and just stretch his legs. He let me stretch his front legs but he wasn't thrilled with standing still, he was just not into it. He's looking really good these days. I'm excited for him to shed out this spring. Axel is well on his way to shedding as well. It's almost spring!

Still Icy

Okay leave it to Axel to make me a liar. He was pretty sore last night when I went out to the barn. He ate his MSM with gusto but when I tried to give him some bute he turned his nose up at it. I added some slightly frozen applesauce but that did not inspire him. So he went without. Though it did seem like maybe the swelling on his knee was down a bit.

So I grabbed Cody and groomed him up. He must be laying down more often now because he looks a complete mess. He is also spending a lot of time visiting across the fence with his temporary neighbor girls. After I took the huge snowballs out of his feet and got him cleaned up we went into the arena. He seemed a little energetic so I just turned him loose but he wasn't in the mood to kick up his heels on his own so I got out the lunge whip and he free lunged for a while. He's really lifting up his back these days which is nice to see. After he stretched his legs a bit we did a few change of direction on the lead line. It took a few tries to get him to stand still at the mounting block again but I jumped on bareback for a while. We spent some time working on the rail and staying on the rail and going deep in the corners. Cody thinks he knows me and wanted to do corner circles but that was not my plan, silly boy. He picks up on repetitive things very quickly.

We played around with some leg yielding and still didn't get quite it. We had a few tries of turn on the forehand which went just okay. There was some decent rein-back, he's a lot more willing to do that when I'm just riding in the rope halter and no bridle. And overall we worked on seat and leg cues and neck reining. I even attempted some sitting trot for a little bit. We ended the night by standing next to the mounting block, getting a treat, and me getting off. I also did some of Cody's stretches and massaged his hips a bit. He's got these new weird indents on his hips which I assume is just from weight gain but they are odd.

I made the mistake of taking him out the side barn door since S had just come in with her boys and had the door open still. Cody just about pulled a Bambi and did the splits on the ice. He held it together but we won't be using that path again any time soon. I'm glad I didn't go that way with Axel, yikes.

New URL

Well well it seems as if blogger is getting rid of FTP which means this blog is going to have to move. Which in the end is fine since it's just in a sub folder on one of my existing domains. It could use a domain of it's own. I assume blogger will assist in the redirects so hopefully if there's anyone actually reading this blog they will be forwarded. I'm not sure how it'll work for RSS feeds. Sounds like this will start happening the week of Feb. 22 so keep an eye out if I go missing and you wonder where I am.

In other news, I still think Axel's knee is ever so slowly feeling better. The collage is from the past few photos I've taken, most recent on the left. He's not sound by any means but he's peppier and he just about ran me over on his way up to the barn last night. He's still gimpy in the arena but maybe just a little less gimpy? It's hard to tell for sure. He was actually in kind of an obnoxious mood last night. He booked it up to the barn nearly leaving me in the dust and he was trying to bite me in the arena. Not sure what that's about. I'm hoping when this knee thing gets better we can start working off some of his energy and hay belly.

Cody Pushes the Green Ball

Another sunny but cold day at the barn. It seemed a little chillier today than yesterday actually. Cody was nappping when I drove up so I took some photos of him and grabbed Axel first. B was in the arena playing with Diva and the green ball. Axel ate up his MSM as usual. He seemed very slightly less lame today so I brought him into the arena for a bit to move around. He's still much more lame in the arena footing than he is on the cement or even the ice in the drive way. But, we might be getting closer to the light at the end of the tunnel because I swear he seemed a little less lame.

I put him out side and Cody was up from his nap so I brought him in to ride a bit. I saddled him up this time in case he was feeling frisky with Diva in the arena or in case I wanted to trot or canter a bit. Diva was pushing around the green ball with her legs so Cody and I tried several times before we finally pushed the ball. We made a big fuss telling Cody he was a good boy when he pushed it. He's still not going to run in there and play with the ball by himself but at least he finally trusted me enough to do what I said.

B and I swapped horses for a few minutes and I got to try out Diva. She's got the big big big arab trot, that's for sure. She does have a WP trot but it's still got a lot of action and would be tough to sit for too long. We even cantered a bit but it took me a couple tries to get to it. She's so little, it's like my feet touch each other. B got Cody to trot and canter a bit as well, he was being pretty cooperative. It got cold pretty fast when we stopped working so I untacked Cody and took him back out side. I couldn't stand around too long without freezing so that was the end of hanging out at the barn. Can't wait til it's a bit warmer.

Axel's Puffy Knee

Poor boy. When I drove up to the barn today I thought for sure Axel was going to be 3 legged lame. It seemed like I could see his swollen knee from the driveway and he looked like he was standing kind of funny. When I haltered him up and walked him toward the gate he didn't seem much different than usual. I think he is a bit more swollen than Tuesday but his knee was also dirty so he must have went down on it at some point maybe to roll or sleep. I gave him his MSM which he greedily ate up. His other swelling seems about the same from what I can tell, no major change there at least.

I put him in the arena to see how he walked in there to determine if I should give him some bute or not. He seems to walk better on the cement than he does in the arena for some reason. Maybe the uneven ground and deeper footing is harder to deal with. He was maybe a tiny bit more lame but not nearly as lame as I expected when I drove up so I decided not to give him bute this time. I'd rather he feel a bit of the pain and not overdo it than to feel nothing and hurt himself worse. I'll probably give him some this weekend so he can move around a bit easier as it's supposed to get warmer.

Ice Skating Horses

So since it melted and rained all weekend and now it's super cold again, the driveway at the barn is an ice rink. Axel and I skated up to the barn and went in through the tack room to avoid more ice. He gobbled up his MSM as usual and I groomed him a bit. His right knee is a bit swollen in the front, you can't really see it in the photos I had taken. It's very mildly puffier than his other knee and he was pretty sore today even. I put him in the arena to see if he wanted to roll or anything. He mostly just stood around until J drove by outside with the skid loader. Then he decided he'd rather be on the other side of the arena as fast as possible. He cantered around sound and then broke to a very lame walk. So I still have my fingers crossed that the MSM will kick in soon but I'm guessing this super cold weather isn't going to help anything.

Cody get his hair dried

So here's a photo of Axel's knees from tonight. Pretty much exactly the same as the previous photos. With a bit of additional winter hair of course.

He was still pretty gimpy today and trying to walk across the ice rink to the barn didn't help of course. He loves his MSM though and I think he's much happier getting his treats now that they don't taste bad. He walked around the arena a bit but he didn't want to roll so we went back outside.

Cody was waiting his turn when I brought Axel out. He was a bit more snowy so I groomed him up pretty good. He had some nice platform snow shoes on his front feet so I bet he was glad to have them picked out. I free lunged him for a while at the trot and canter, not too much so he didn't get sweaty. We worked on some ground work after that. I think I need a refersher course on some of the ground work stuff I feel like we're stuck and not quite getting to where we want to be with moving parts of Cody's body and eventually lateral movements. He still wants to always look at the gate when we're in there.

When we were done playing in the arena I put Cody back in the aisle to see how he'd react to the hair dryer. He was actually still a little wet from the snow so I figured it was a good time to try. He wasn't too sure of the whole deal. He behaved really well but he was pretty concerned with what was going on. I managed to dry a spot on his withers but the hair dryer on low seemed really cool. When I tried it at home the high setting seemed really hot but now low seems too low. Who knows, it did dry him off in that spot pretty well. I'll keep working with him on that so when we really need it he isn't surprised.

Axel just might be arthritic afterall

So here we are thinking Axel's knee is kind of swollen. But it's not soft and it's not hot and it doesn't look a whole lot different to me. J says it's big. So being the OCD type I am I go and look at my Flickr photos and search for "Axel" and "leg" and I find this picture I took in May of 2009. If you'll note his right knee, it's kind of bigger near the bottom than his left. A little more pointy and this is what J is seeing.

Follow that up with a photo from May of 2008 (I guess I take leg photos in May oddly enough) where you can clearly see his knees are generally big. The right a bit bigger than the left. I'll have to take another photo of what he looks like right now but I don't think there's any change.

So I cross check the dates with entries in my blog and I find out that he was sore and stiff in his left knee nearly the whole winter '07-'08. May 2008 we start him on the 4-in-1 HA that has a variety of joint supplements. There's no mention of lameness for the whole winter of '08-'09 while he was on the supplement. I took him off the supplement in Nov. 2009 with the thoughts that joint stuff wasn't going to help ringbone at all. Forgetting that maybe I had him on there for his other joints. And now he's sore in his right knee. So even though he's not working out of his pain in the arena i wondering if this is just arthritis acting up.

I'm going to load him with MSM and keep him on that for the rest of the winter and see what happens. I'll get some X-rays this spring (if it doesn't get worse before then) and we'll see where we're at, if it's indeed arthritis. If so we'll probably keep up with the MSM if it's working and maybe add DMSO or Surpass or something for times when it flares up. I can't believe I didn't remember that he has a sore knee a couple years ago. Especially since it was sore all winter just like now. The MSM is supposedly an anti-inflammatory so maybe it'll also help his sheath swelling.