You Have Got to Be Kidding Me

Friday I walked Axel down the road again, he was a little more feisty than normal, started the head tossing right away. I groomed him for quite a while and tried to clean his sheath a bit and put some MTG on his bald spots and his ankles. I did some massage and put him in the arena and he walked around in there for a while. After all that his sheath actually seemed like the swelling had started going down.

Saturday I met up with S and B and we tacked up and went down the road. Cody was evil. Plain and simple. He danced around, wanted to turn around or face the barn, and snorted and huffed and puffed the whole ride. When S wanted to canter he freaked out and danced around and never got into a real canter, it was mostly crow hopping and snorting. He wouldn't walk and even with a completely loose rein he curled his neck and stuck out his tongue. S kept telling me to give him more rein at the canter but I had all but thrown him away at that point, there was no more rein to give, he was just pissed. 1. we need a chiro visit 2. it's spring 3. we have ridden only a handful of times this winter and 4. this was the first time out in 4 months. Sooooo... I hope it goes better next time (understatement).

So he was a ball of sweat when we got back so I put some blankets on him and walked him around the arena while everyone else was cooling their horses out. He rolled a few times but wasn't really drying off. The arena cleared out so I went and got Axel as well. He and Cody rolled a few more times and wandered around the arena. I finally went to bring Cody out and the instant I left Axel started in on the gate. I'm not sure what happened then either someone in the aisle chased him off or Vinnie chased him off but when I got back from putting Cody away (2 minutes max) he was dead lame. He was hopping around putting no weight at all on his back left. Seriously? I assume he kicked himself and chipped another piece of ringbone off. I had 2g of paste bute left which went in his mouth and then on the floor. 2 more grams of powdered bute in his feed which he picked at for a while and maybe got half in his mouth. J came out and mixed up some bute in a syringe for me and gave him 2 more grams. So between our three attempts he at least got 3-4g in his system. It wasn't kicking in very quick though. Stalling him would have just meant more trouble so we limped back out to the pasture where he stood in the hay.

So I ran out there yesterday armed with some bute mixed with water in a syringe and tried to bute him again. Most of that went on the ground. Guess we try karo next time instead of water. He was putting his sore foot flat on the ground at least. Not putting full weight on it but an improvement from Saturday. Looks like last time this happened he was out of commission for about a month in September-October. Sadly I won't make it out there tonight to check on him so hopefully he's feeling a bit better or J&J give him a bit of bute.

I plan to talk to the vet about some sort of IM injection to help the arthritis. I don't think there's anything out there that will help the ringbone but perhaps if I get some Surpass I can use that whenever I ride or work him. Assuming the Xrays don't show anything unusual my thought is that he can still work even when he's a bit sore and the Surpass would maybe take away the "bit sore" part.

So if you're keeping score on Axel's ailments that's: arthritis in right front knee, ringbone back left pastern, swollen belly, and swollen sheath.

Disuniting Again

Axel got back on the road last night. S and Stitch were out so I grabbed Axel and cleaned him up the quickest I could, gave him some MSM, and gave Cody his extra snack (which he's getting quite used to and knickers at me when I arrive). Lately Axel has decided he just really can't walk with those bell boots on. I put them on like normal and he picks his back left leg up all the way to his belly and then jumps around on three feet. Last night he did this while still cross tied. Really?

It was slow going as we made our way between the corn fields, Axel dove for the grass every chance he got. We trotted a bit to get his head out of the grass and he moved soundly even on the squishy ground. We ended up heading down the road next to the cows and went for a canter. Unfortunately I couldn't get Axel to pick up the lead correctly. He kept cross cantering even after I'd bring him back to a trot and try again.

On the way back we tried another canter and this time I think he managed to get the front and the back end to cooperate. I was busy keeping him moving to really check what lead we were on and all that. There was no bucking either time. He was a little off for the rest of the walk home but it was very minuscule. We'll see how he feels today. It shouldn't have been any more work than normal so maybe he was just tired and lazy at that point.

I picked up a bunch of little cones from Northern Tool Outlet so I'll mark some dressage letters on them and leave them at the barn to work on patterns and weaving and all that. Axel used to really like weaving so we'll see how he feels about that now. There's a clover leaf pattern that I want to try and another basic trotting pattern. Gotta come up with some interesting stuff for the winter.

Cantering Cody

Groomed Cody and gave him his extra food. This time I put some water in it to see if that would make it easier for him to keep it all in his mouth. Instead it just made a sloppier mess. Back to the drawing board I guess. It has nothing to do with his ability to chew but rather his ability to keep his mouth shut while doing it. I think the next attempt should be a wide shallow pan where the food has to be spread out. I hate grooming this time of year, everything is staticy. I should probably put some dryer sheets in my grooming back to rub on the horse before brushing so I'm not zapping them all the time!

So I lunged Cody a few times with the shorter rope just to get his attention. A had brought out a couple barrels to the arena so I set those up on either end to do some figure 8s and maybe get slightly more circular circles. Cody was pretty amped when I got on. If I didn't know better I'd have thought he was a barrel horse and the sight of the barrels got him worked up. We walked for a while and trotted quite a bit. I had to make constant adjustments as Cody kept "surging" forward and speeding up his trot. Which in the end is a nice change from the past few months of him only moving if I was carrying a whip. He was very willing to canter so we managed to make it around the arena at a canter about a time and a half before breaking stride going to the right. To the left there were some issues getting that lead but that's been our MO lately.

I kind of threw away the circles and figure 8s and worked more on the cantering just because it was more fun and he was so willing to keep moving. I attempted some rollbacks on the rail and then moved into rollbacks and cantering half the arena, rinse, repeat. It wasn't great, Cody wasn't sitting down or turning on his haunches, but he was moving out so I decided our lesson was more on doing what I asked. Speed up when asked, calm down and slow or stop when asked. He was doing really well even when he got worked up. We ended the lesson with some calm trotting and then worked on some backing up both mounted and unmounted. He doesn't get a great grade for the rein back but we'll keep working. I did some stretches when we were done. He stands really well for the front leg stretches so I can only assume he doesn't mind doing them. I noticed he's full of little scabs everywhere. They're mostly grown out but the bugs must have kicked in at the end of summer or something.

A came in and worked with Vinnie jumping over the barrels while I groomed Axel. He's been kind of a pill lately, grabbing at everything and chewing on stuff. He puts the cross tie in his mouth and pulls on it. He's not wind sucking that I can tell but the chewing on stuff is getting to be a really annoying habit. A finished up with Vinnie as I was ready to go back in the arena. I just wanted to let Axel move a bit since it had been pretty muddy all week. So I just sent him off without a lunge line and he trotted and cantered and really didn't buck a whole heck of a lot. He had a nice big extended (for him) trot, nice canters on both leads, even a flying change. Why can't he do that when I'm riding? I thought maybe he'd jump the barrels that were still set up but he went around them every time, I wasn't going to force him into jumping them with his sore foot but if he chose to do it on his own I'd be excited to see it. That was pretty much all for the night for Axel.

Back in the Saddle Part 4

Axel shows off my new favorite place to ride. Even after Cody dumped me out of the saddle on Friday.

I ended up having more time on my hands on Sunday and the sun came out and it wasn't completely freezing so I ran off to the barn for a quick ride. I gave Cody his extra food in the feeder and Axel had a snack and his MSM in the barn aisle. I did my best to get the mud and dirt off but a black horse this time of year just gets dirtier the more you groom. On top of that he was getting quite fed up with standing in the cross ties. So he fidgeted himself into a little big of lunging before our ride. He actually trotted out pretty sound, he was a little cranky about going to the left but that was the extent of it.

So it was Axel's first ride out since his last bout of lameness. He spent most of the time trying to rip the reins out of my hands to eat grass. We did end up trotting for a while, then walking, then some more trotting, followed by some cantering until we hit a pretty wet spot. We walked pretty slow on the way home but sound. We didn't go far into the field as I didn't want to push it too far with Axel's sore foot. Though he has been babied for quite some time now he might be as good as he's going to get until the next big lameness.

Back in the Saddle Part 3

Finally a sunny day but after all the rain I didn't want to risk the ground being really soft or slippery in the corn field so I stuck with the arena. Plus Wednesdays I don't have a whole lot of time and it's easy to loose track. Axel was surprisingly not that muddy considering. I suppose laying down in the mud while it rains for 4 days isn't exactly on the top of his list. I ended up scraping off what I thought was dried mud but turned out to be a scab/dried skin/scar tissue. So I had to tend to a bleeding coronary band for a bit. Luckily it was pretty minor and didn't bleed for more than a minute.

He didn't seem terribly glad to be saddled but into the arena we went. J had taken Amigo out on the road so I had some room and lunged Axel for a bit. He was pretty calm about life, really just wanted to look at the horses in the pasture. There were some minor head flips but no bucking when he was asked to trot. He moved pretty well, a little off now and then but pretty good. I stopped with the trotting, still trying to take it a little easy.

We rode at the walk for quite a while, he was kind of cranky, nothing major just a little fidgety. I finally asked for a trot and it was slow going at first, lots of stopping but he eventually picked it up and trotted pretty well. We did a lot of walking between trotting and we stuck mostly to going to the right. For obvious reasons he doesn't like when I post the correct diagonal to the left. We walked around for quite a while and even had some nice rein back before calling it a day.

I'm still hesitant to really start working. He's had 1 week off completely and 2 weeks of real mellow hand walking or easy riding in the arena. I really want to go for a canter down the field but I should probably hold off a bit longer. Even though when he trots he walks out of it sound and he tends to choose the canter over trotting when he is sore. We'll see, I could give him some bute before we go I suppose to take off the edge. It's Cody's turn next anyway so perhaps I'll just get my cantering fix with him.

A Quick Ride

I spent most of the day at the U Equine Center helping out with a big Girl and Boy Scout Badge earning day. But my evening plans were canceled so I was able to make it down to see the boys afterall. Once again I didn't suspect the crowd that was at the barn. A was just getting back from her trail ride as were the new borders and B was just coming down the road after riding Diva. I grabbed Axel to see how he'd do two days in a row and B hung out in the arena waiting for us. She watched us trot out a little and said that Axel looked pretty good. He was still a little bouncy and wanted to canter more than normal but over all he felt okay. We stood at the fence and tacked to J for a while and Axel got antsy and forgot he was wearing the boots. So when we moved a bit he hopped around avoiding the boots and nearly fell over. When we walked a bit after that he was a tiny bit off but when I dismounted he walked find on the cement. When I turned him out in the pasture he seemed careful but not sore.

Back in the Saddle Part 2

Late on a raining Saturday I didn't expect to see many people at the barn. J was out catching Steele when I got there, then the new folks arrived, then A arrived with some family in tow. It was grand central station. I rode Cody in the arena with Steele for a while. We even (to my surprise) picked up both canter leads without running into them. After the canter Cody was a little wound up but after standing for a bit he calmed down. We visited with A's family and let the kids pet and look at the fuzzy ponies. Cody went back out to his pasture, Steele spent some time grazing the yard, and I grabbed Axel to see how he was feeling.

Axel went pretty well in the arena with one of the new horses. We didn't get close enough for him to act like a bully. I decided to try a bit of a trot to see where he was at. He was feeling a little bouncy but not too bad and trotted okay for a bit. Perhaps a little off but he returned the walk and was sound. So that's pretty much all we did for the day. Lots of chatting with all the people around since it's a rare occurrence to see so many people at once. Cody got his extra food and some MSM and Axel got some MSM and he wore his boots while riding.

Windy Monday

Too windy to enjoy a ride down the road today but I want to keep a sort of close eye on Axel so I went to the barn anyway. The wind must have gotten everyone all riled up, both horses were kind of weird and trying to climb in my pockets. I brought Cody in and gave him some extra food while I groomed him quick. He's so fuzzy already. I lunged him a little with the 12' line. He's been so slow and lazy lately so it was time to get him responding. He did pretty well actually. I worked on some of our regular ground work. I need to get a little more precise with the turns on the haunches and forehand. Cody remembers stuff once he learns it so I just need to get it right.

I hopped on bareback and rode around a little while, mostly at the walk and a tiny bit of trot. We mostly worked on the left turns. I also tried a bit of what was supposed to be sidepassing but was more of a lesson in turn on the haunches, or just moving the specific parts of the body when asked. Something I probably should have kept on working on but I didn't. When I was done riding I did a few stretches with Cody and we went back outside.

Axel had his turn inside. I mostly just hand walked him around the arena, I thought the good footing and a little moving would be helpful for his foot. He was sound at the walk and wasn't shortening his stride at all so that was good. I tried to lunge him a little at the walk but he kept speeding up going to the right. To the left he kept pawing, almost spanish walk, and eventually a little buck and a kick. I kept telling him to walk and "easy" but he got it in his head that I wanted more so we had to stop so he didn't hurt himself. I ended up giving him some grain to see if he'd eat the MSM I bought. He licked the bucket clean so that's a good sign. I'll probably just give him the extra MSM when I'm out there instead of adding it to his regular feeding, at least for now.

Getting Rained On

I have some good timing. It was sunny most of the day and it's sunny now but when I pulled into the barn it was cloudy and getting pretty dismal. Axel was hiding from the wind in the lean to and Cody was out grazing by himself. I thought Axel was still sore but he came out of the shelter and was walking on all 4 feet. He was a little off but way better than the 3 legged gimp.

As I was grooming and tacking Cody the wind started really whipping around. Cody stayed calm in the barn aisle. I gave back the low back pad I was trying, I'll have to order one for myself sometime when I have extra cash, they aren't cheap. So I thought I'd try and add a gel pad. It's not meant for western saddle but I thought it would maybe fill in some of the gap in Cody's back. Cody walked across the driveway without limping too much so I thought we'd limp across the road to the ditch and forego the boots for today. Things were slow going as they usually are when we leave the barn (time for another chiropractor visit maybe?). I thought we could make it down to the drainage ditch between the two corn fields and have a canter but we only made it along the first section of beans. Between Cody's slow moving and diving for grass and spontaneous stopping and backing up we just didn't make it very far. Perhaps he was trying to tell me that it was going to start raining and we should turn back. So I went with his last bout of backing up and we kept going for a while before turning around. We cantered a bit, sort of his idea, but he slowed to a walk when asked.

As we came up the grass next to the pasture we trotted for a bit since the rain had started. Axel was running and bucking and cantering. After the first few bucks I guess his foot hurt so he was literally cantering on 3 legs. At least 3 strides of canter without putting that hind left on the ground.

Cody didn't really want to go back outside in the rain and the wind but it died down after I untacked him and gave him a treat so I put him out and grabbed Axel. He walked soundly to the barn even over the gravel. He didn't want to stand on that hind left for me to clean hooves but he eventually did and he walked out sound even on the cement. I don't think he had any more bute since Tuesday so I think he's on the mend, just steps wrong once in a while. I think I might have to break down and get him some magnetic bell boots and a cold wrap. The magnets seem kind of fishy to me but supposedly they help, at least they would block him from kicking himself more. The cold wrap I might start using after I ride in addition to if he comes up lame. Unfortunately the bell boots are kind of spendy, the cold wraps are not.

Gimp Again

Stopped by the barn on the way out of town to check on the boys. It had rained for part of the day and it was a little muddy in the pasture. Axel was standing kind of funny when we pulled up. He was back to gimping around again. We didn't talk with J at all so I'm not sure if it was just the mud or if his drugs were still working on Wednesday when he was sound and they wore off. Either way he's just going to have to muddle along until he feels better. Poor boy, not sure what else we can do that isn't terribly invasive, require stall rest, and be super expensive.

Back in the saddle?

Okay so Axel is not back in the saddle yet, but he is sound in the pasture at the walk at the very least. And he's as obnoxious as he ever is. He had 2g of bute on Monday noon and Monday around 4pm, 2g on Tuesday morning, and nothing on Wednesday. And when I saw him in the pasture on Wednesday he was feeling good. I don't think the bute sticks around quite that long to be masking pain but I'm letting him have some time off anyway. Then we'll ease back into it, with boots on for sure!

So poor Cody has to do some work while Axel is on vacation. I wish I could figure out what Cody loves to do besides be with other horses. But until then I guess we just keep trying things. So I wanted to try the low back pad again since all I did was walk last time. Cody was calm for tacking and didn't even yawn. And I'm sure it was a fluke but as soon as I put his bridle on, he walked over to the mounting block. Albeit a little too far away for me to use but it was like he was saying, "fine, we do this everytime, just get it over with already." He lunged lazily but sound so we walked and trotted in the arena. The low back pad seems to make a huge difference in how the ride feels. It seems a lot more lateral or "wobbly" for a lack of better words. The trot was still "sit-able" and after a bit of prodding Cody would maintain until told otherwise. He wasn't happy about the left turn in the middle of our figure-8s though. I had a few minutes left before I had to leave so I decided to grab his hoof boots and head out on the road. One of the bad things I noticed about the low back pad is that it pretty much takes away Cody's withers which means spinning saddle when mounting. So that was a bit frustrating.

It was, as usual, a painfully slow departure from the barn. I really wanted to trot or canter and just let Cody go for a while. So when we got to the first little drainage ditch between fields we went that way. I haven't ridden in them yet and don't have permission to but I went for it anyways. I really really really love those ditches. The corn is high on both sides so it's a perfect place for a canter with the safety of "walls" so discourage any runoffs. The grass was probably a little too long to see the footing but when we got to a spot that looked like it had been mowed we went for it. Cody took a little while to get into the canter and was kind of weaving all over but he was calm and had brakes and I think he enjoyed it a bit. I would have kept going but I didn't want to be late for ballet so we had to turn back. But you can bet we'll go back before they get the corn down. I have to call the tack shop in town and find out if they have any of the pads that go inside the hoof boots. I'm a little afraid his boots are a bit too big for cantering.

On the way back I wanted to make Cody do some work but we weren't in a good spot for it so we trotted then walked then trotted then walked. I don't typically like to "run" home but Cody likes to trot so his reward for walking when asked is to trot again. Maybe that lesson is "if I listen to the rider I get home sooner." When we hit the drive way Cody wanted to go in but after realizing we don't do that he kept going. We stopped and did a little reluctant backing up and then went back to the barn.

I've been doing some of the massage techniques to get Cody to stretch his back, namely the one where you run your hands on either side of his tail. He stands well for it and it seems to get him to lift a bit. I also did some tail circles. I saw something once where they said if it's hard to do a tail circle to one side that is also the side the horse doesn't bend to as well. So I was testing that theory since Cody didn't want to turn left. My results are inconclusive.

Murphy's Law

Did J not just say that Axel looked like he was trotting well? Did I not just say it was time that Axel started working more? Got a call this afternoon from J that Axel was 3-legged lame. Limping around with that back left foot in the air. I thought we were doing pretty good. I hadn't gotten a call from this barn at all yet and Axel had been pretty sound for a year or so. My assumption is that he either kicked himself while I was riding or sometime in the pasture. Either way he was hurting pretty bad. J gave him some bute at noon and I gave him some more at 3:30 and when I came back at 6 he was still sore. So hopefully after a couple days of bute he'll start to feel better. There's not a lot we can do for him except for bute. That's all the vet would suggest save for some serious surgical alternatives. So we'll just keep up with the pain killers til the inflammation dies down. After limping across the drive way yet still trying to eat grass the whole way I hosed off his foot for a while, trying to help with the pain and any swelling with cold water. Axel wasn't terribly happy about that though. I might have to get an ice wrap for occasions such as this. I can't make it out to the barn tomorrow I don't think so hopefully he only improves between now and Wednesday.

Axel is Sore Again

So I lunged Axel for a while hoping he'd work out of his soreness. He didn't really. He's not too bad off but since it's kind of a fight to get him to cooperate I was hoping for one less thing to deal with. I rode for a while anyway, just some easy trotting. I might have to ride him a bit more often, or at least lunge him to keep him moving around. The farrier is due out on Monday so I'm sure long hooves isn't helping matters much. And I might get some liniment to see if that helps at all. Otherwise we might be back to bute before riding. We'll see how he does after a good trim.

New Friends

I dislike not getting out to the barn more often. I miss out on all the excitement. Vinnie is now in with Cody and Axel. Looks like he got beat up quite a bit. It must not have been as bad as Danny beating him up since he's still in there with the boys. But Axel isn't very nice to him and keeps chasing him around. They have a separate feeding area set up behind the lean-to.

I was going to ride Axel a bit so I brought him in and groomed him, got him tacked up, and went to do some lunging first. And he was pretty lame at the walk. Nothing earth shattering but clearly off. He wasn't working out of it so we just did some walking in both directions on the lunge and worked on actually stopping when I asked (we'll keep working on that one).

So I grabbed Cody and planned to just groom, lunge, and turn out. But another boarder came in and asked if I was riding so I decided, sure why not. We rode around in the arena for a while, no whip this time. Cody wasn't a ball of fire but he was alright. Did some trotting and I was going to stop there but the other boarder wanted to take a ride down the road. My laziness caused me to not get off and get Cody's boots and that will be the last time we go down the road without them. Cody was not pleased with what little gravel was actually on the road. So much that he didn't even speed up when we turned back for home. And I'm starting to think I might have to get some boots for Axel as well, he's getting kind of gimpy on the road. Additionally I think I need to pick up one of those rider's rasps. Cody's hooves are pretty chipped up, there must be a lot more flies out there. The farrier isn't due until Aug. 31.

A Much Quieter Day

Yesterday I went back out to the barn hoping for a quieter day than the previous and my wish was granted. Cody and Danny were standing at the very back fence looking over at the airport as if waiting for an incoming airplane. Axel was hanging in the sun by the corn crib and made a run for it when he saw me coming (I guess he wasn't impressed by Saturday's events).

I brought Axel in and crosstied him while he ate 1g of bute and some snacks. he only lasts a few minutes in the crossties before he starts flinging his head and getting impatient, it's very obnoxious. I tied him in the arena on the wall so I could groom and give him time for the bute to kick in. He wasn't willing to stand still from the moment I clipped the lead rope. I'm not sure where this new found hatred for being tied up is from. He's never had a problem before so I'm hoping it's just a phase from moving to a new barn.

I lunged him for a few minutes with the lunge line trot and canter. He won't quite walk, if I get him down to something that would come close to a walk he just stops instead. But he picked up both leads at the canter and didn't throw a hissy fit on the lunge so that was good. Even after lunging he still hated being tied, he's taken to bucking while tied up. After I fought through tacking and mounting we were finally on our way.

We did quite a bit of trotting that went well. He was moving out and willing to go with very little encouragement. He's still a bit off when I post to the left since that puts me sitting on that back left foot which is his sore foot. Ironically he should be balking at the right lead canter because of that same reason but it's the left lead he hates. We picked up only one little canter to the left but it was too short lived to tell if it was the correct lead or not. My camera was having some issues so that didn't get on video either. We'll have to try again next time. We didn't ride for too long since he was getting damp. Luckily he's still a fan of rolling when I untack him and it was sunny outside so I didn't have to dink around waiting for him to dry under a blanket. I can't wait until he sheds out and it's warmer.

So overall a much better day than Saturday but the impatience while tied is annoying and if that doesn't get better Axel will have a date with the hitching post this spring.

Elise and Axel Make a Movie Part 2 from Elise Ferguson on Vimeo.

Nice Day and Nowhere to Ride

I finally get around to getting out to the barn after what seems like ages. It was super sunny, warm, and just a really nice day. Unfortunately everything was an ice skating rink. The road was icy, the yard to get to the road was icy, the pasture was icy, the side pasture was icy frozen snow as well as the round pen. Cody was walking very tender again but I'm pretty sure it's just the ice and not laminitis. He's always been very wobbly on the ice. Axel seemed to be walking fine but I guess he's been on bute again for the past few days. I foresee a lot of trips to the barn when I move them closer, when I have to do the bute myself.

Since I couldn't ride I just groomed. I tried to give some Christmas treats but all Cody and Axel wanted out of my mixture was the apples. They weren't fond of the peppermints, just spit them out. And the trail mix I added they just didn't eat at all. I did start ground driving Cody again. I've only tried once with him and didn't get very far. The plan is to start working on ground driving to build his confidence when he can't see me. He was a bit confused by what I was doing but seemed to get the hang of it after a while. I spent a lot of time a little off to his side instead of directly behind him. But since he was confused he needed me in that spot to push him forward. We'll work up to me being directly behind him. I'm not sure if I should work in verbal "gee" and "haw" type commands or just stick with the reins on that.

Axel just got a good grooming and some apples when he came inside. I thought maybe he'd have a nice roll in the dirt but he just wanted to explore and see if he could find more hay. Free choice hay is going to leave me with some fat fat horses I think. At least I will have a chance to ride more with an indoor arena. Though it's a shame to ride inside on such a nice day, I couldn't ride at all where they live now.

Updates from the Barn

I haven't been out to the barn in a week, it's been too snowy or cold or whatever to drive out there (can't wait until the horses are closer). Of course Saturday when it's gorgeous and nearly 40F I'm out in South Dakota. I did get an update from Patti:

"Must be a really nice afternoon - there have been pairs of horses playing with the ball or the tire, rearing, biting - and just now, Axel moving his way around and around the fenceline, in a beautiful, slow right lead canter."

Of course shortly after that email I got a phone call that said Axel was lame again and she had to give him some Bute. I guess he over did it on the playing. Way to go Axel.

In sadder news Koko has passed on. He had disappeared in the middle of November mysteriously. Tiggr found a new home this past weekend and shortly after he left Patti got a call from the neighbors saying they found Koko. He had fallen in their egress window and couldn't get out. So they brought him home but he seemed a bit under the weather and spent all day sleeping in the tack room. The plan was to bring him to the vet on Monday to get him checked out. Unfortunately he passed on that very night.

"Well, our happiness that Koko was found has turned to sadness, as he didn't live through the night. At least he didn't die out there, somewhere, alone and cold, but rather, back home where he was supposed to be, feeling warm and loved."

Mud and snow and darkness

Well it is quite evident after a few recent rides that Axel has settled nicely into his life as an invalid. I've only tried to school in a few times since his big ringbone lameness issue and I don't think he's too jazzed about it. Per my new regimen I grabbed Axel from the muddy paddock and gave him his snack of an apple, bute, and a bit of grain. I groomed him and then since Cody was waiting at the door I let him in and groomed him. I didn't want to waste too much time but I was partly waiting for Steph and partly waiting for the bute to kick in. I turned Cody back out after inspecting his shoes and tacked up Axel.

The road was pretty wet so that's where we went to ride. Really it's the only place left to ride this time of year. The fields are a muddy mess and the trail requires traversing a bunch of hills which don't fair well when there's snow or wet. So down the road it was. After a little warm up at the walk we went for a trot. I just wanted Axel to get out and move a bit. I think he wanted to nap. I got a decent trot but when I asked for more I got some head tossing. We did some walking between trotting since he's not been worked all summer really. When we got to the wide grassy ditch I asked for a trot, asked for a right lead canter, trot again, then left lead canter. Yay Axel! I would have gotten off there as a reward but then I would have had to walk back to the barn. So we kept going down the road. I asked for a bit more trot, tried to get more canter but only got one really heavy right lead canter on the road. We turned around and trotted some more but I think the road is really hard on his legs or else he's just a wimp. We had a few more right lead canters in the grassy ditch and then I asked for more cantering on the road. That time I ended up with something that probably resembled a Capriole. Think: leap then buck. By this time it was starting to get pretty dark. Steph had texted that she was on her way and we'd get some dinner. She came up the road and had she not known I was out there she said she would have been really confused as to what we were, it was really hard to see the black horse at dusk. Guess I better get my blinky red light and maybe some nice orange accents if I'm going to ride on the road.

Long Time No See

It's only been over a week since I've been out to see Cody and Axel and in that time Axel has turned black once again as his winter coat is starting to grow in. Cody is getting all the white fuzz on his belly and between his back legs. Winter is almost here! When I was in Maine last week I got an email from Patti stating that Axel was sore again and lumpy. He's always been lumpy from what I can tell so I wasn't too concerned. Last night he was still a bit sore but in retrospect I think he was stiff from not moving. And he was lumpy or his existing lumps were swollen. I cold hosed his foot for awhile to see if I could get the swelling down any. Axel enjoyed a snack in the lawn while holding his left rear foot high in the air to try and avoid the hose. When I was done he actually walked pretty well. I chose not to ride him and we're giving him 1g of bute for the next week to try and get the swelling down. Hopefully he'll be back to himself next week (and hopefully the beans will be out of the field so we can go for a canter).

Much to Cody's dismay I chose to ride him. I don't think Andrea has been out to ride in a while so I think he thinks he's on vacation. I decided I wasn't ready for a fight on the road if he was feeling ornery and I wasn't in the mood to mount and dismount a million times to move manure since one nasty neighbor has decided that manure doesn't belong on country dirt roads. So we went down the back hill instead. I mounted at the middle of the hill by the first stretchy gate. We got to where the trees start on the sandy part of the hill and began our circles. Cody didn't want to go in my direction and I didn't want to go back to the barn. After several circles and a couple failed attempts to go down the other hill we finally made it down to the bridge (all in the rope hackamore). We crossed the bridge and only had to do one or two circles on that side to get the right momentum to go up the hill. We trotted part way up the hill and then walked the rest. We had what was supposed to be a trot but turned into a canter in the meadow on the top of the hill. He wasn't totally with me as far as downward transitions up there so we did another loop and tried again and got a nice trot.

We did a few more various loops around that area and worked on "stand" near the hill to go home. That might have been a futile lesson. Down the hill went fine, crossed the bridge, went in the other direction back to the barn. But as soon as we got to the first part of the hill between the trees there was no walking to be had. We did one circle but it didn't really make a difference, Cody was in his "you think I'm walking but really it's a trot" gait. When we got to the last stretch of hill and he still wouldn't walk I thought "fine we'll trot up and then turn around and do it over and over until he walks." Well he thought "I'll canter gallop and buck and maybe she'll get off." (First time he's ever bucked with me on I might add). I did get off, and we did more circles at the top of the hill and changed directions over and over. Then we walked back down the hill where I remounted (shoulda done it at the top I suppose) and then we walked back up the hill.

At that point I decided the barn needed to be not such a nice place so we went out to the side pasture next to the barn and next to the rest of the herd and we rode out there. We trotted for a while, did some serpentines at the walk, tried at the trot but it was a little spastic. We even had some slightly faster than collected canters (no bucking). One of the canters he might have been disuniting which we noticed on the lunge last time so I stopped that. I dismounted away from the barn, led him around for a while to cool off, loosened his girth away from the barn, did some backing up through two bushes, and finally brought him back to the barn.

Will any of that stick? Probably not, but oh well. He was pretty good in the rope hack. He's very responsive to neck reining just also very stubborn to get back to the barn in the process. I don't think the ride would have been any better (or worse) with a bit and I don't think he would have listened to me any more with a bit. I think maybe the benefit of the rope hack with Cody is that now he doesn't have that bit or shank to pay attention to or try to eat constantly. So I'm hoping now he will listen to his rider more. Wishful thinking right?