TC gets so frustrated when I head straight to the computer each morning when I get up. First I make coffee, then I sit down and go straight to blogging.
I finally explained it to him like this.
"You like to read the paper with your coffee in the morning. For me it is just like that only it is only about the things I care about, Horses. I don't have to read about the crime rate or about Obama, or about what some shady politician is up to now. I do not care about the state of world affairs, they are things out of my control. I read about what people around the world are doing with their horses, what they learned yesterday, or are going to do today. It is interactive, so I can ask questions and make comments. And best of all, I get to tell my own stories and discuss my own issues with smart horsey people."
He still doesn't get it, but complains a little less. Also I think he might be jealous because he doesn't get his morning paper anymore. It would be pointless for him to read the local paper here, for some reason his favorite section was the obituary. OH! I just came up with the best idea. I didn't get him anything for his birthday. I should buy him a subscription to "his" paper and have it mailed here. It would be late, but he would still get to read about his home and which of his friends have passed away.
The mornings are gorgeous here in AZ right now, and I hate the usually miss the sunrises now. However I do love having time before I have to leave for work to spend with my herd.
I am looking into taking a course for thermal imaging for horses. I would become certified, but then would have to buy a very expensive camera so that I could work in that field. I am still evaluating the effectiveness of it as a diagnostic tool. However, my Equine chiro, does thermal imaging, and we discussed it a little and will discuss it more when she is here on Tues. One thing she told me is that although for initial diagnosis it only tells you where you need to xray or do and MRI, it is very helpful for follow up to see how the injured area is progressing. Anyway, I'm still deciding what I want to do. I really would like to find a way to work in a field that I love rather than one I tolerate but am good at.
On Thursday TC headed home with the semi truck and trailer. It was the biggest thing parked at our place and was the main reason I lost so much of my arena. So before he left I mentioned moving the fence back a little further in order to reclaim some of my space. My goal is to have ALL of my arena back, but I have a feeling he isn't on the same page with me regarding that. But my actual arena is 300 feet long at least so even if I lose 50 feet of it, I will still have a decent sized arena to ride in.
The shop (which is obscene in size-but adds a wonderful shaded area for me to tack up in) is almost done, which means the tack room can go back where it belongs. The construction crew still has some stuff here, but a lot of it is gone now and vehicles are parked inside of the shop now which really opens up some space around the place.
Today I've got to get out there and get some weed control going, and trim a few trees back. I still have not trimmed my roses since I moved in. I keep saying I'm going to but they keep blooming, so I always end up leaving them alone. I noticed that a couple of the bushes are not blooming now though so I guess the time is ripe for trimming those back.
Sometime today I need to get at least 2 horses ridden, and I had really hoped to get over to the neighbors house with the cows, and do a little cow work. Next weekend, I will be busy trying to super scrub my house for guests. The guests are deathly allergic to cats and horses, so when ever they are coming I do all I can to make their stay less "allergy ruined".
Now it is time to head out and feed those ponies.
Hope everyone has a great Sunday!
Sunday, March 16, 2014
Saturday, March 15, 2014
More on the Mare
As I continue down this incredibly rocky road with Sassy, I question everyday, my own sanity. Why am I still pumping time, money and heart ache, into this horse?
She seems better, then worse, then better, and then worse again.
I'm not 100% positive but I think my barefoot trimmer gave up on me the day I told her I was working on my own horse in between visits. She sent a text asking how she was doing, I told her she was sore and I was headed out to work on her, she asked what I was doing and I told her. She had so much toe callus she was parking out in front and hobbled even on soft dirt. I took off what ever toe callus was able to slough off easily and then took the advice of someone who I trust, and took her heels and bars down a little as well.
When I was done she was yawning and licking and chewing and generally much happier. So I took that as good sign. I told the trimmer what I had done, and I have not heard back since. I don't know if that means she is done with us, or if she has just been busy. I guess time will tell. Somewhere out there, there has to be a barefoot trimmer, who not only understands what I am trying to accomplish, but one who promotes owners having hands on experience with their own horses.
Every so often I go back and file off a little more. The problem is that she is walking on live sole 24/7. I don't know how to fix that. Yesterday I had the new farrier come and put Killian's new shoes on, and had him go ahead and trim Sassy up a little more. I'm not unhappy with the job he did, I'm totally indifferent. The reason being, that it doesn't appear to be much different than what I have already been doing. I suspect that is because her feet are so jacked up there isn't much too be done. I think he did take the heel down just a tad more and it seems as though her frogs are making more contact. Unfortunately I was not able to be here when he came to talk with him about what he did, and didn't do with her, so I don't know. He does promote the hands on work by owners, but I am not 100% sure if we are on the same page with what I am trying to accomplish with her. Of course the one thing I keep saying is that you can't cripple a cripple horse, so I know for a fact that nothing he did made her any worse. Which is the same for me. I haven't hurt her in any way, hopefully I am helping her.
I don't have any pictures right now. I keep trying to take some but I never ever have any help and so they turn out like crap. I cannot hold the camera, hold the hoof, make sure there are not shadows, and make sure we are at a good angle all by myself.
On a side note, I do like the way Killian's shoes look. They are not all squeezed in on the heels, but they are set back far enough to give him good support. He seems to be moving well in them. I will ride him this weekend and that will be the true test.
Anyway, I took Sassy out yesterday and worked her. I was going to ride her, but she did not want to be caught. So we spent half of our "work out" time with me driving her around her pen while she did her cute little cow horse moves. (Bitch!) By time she was done she was already sweating pretty well. However by time she let me catch her, she was not limping. She did get 2 grams of bute that morning, but still, the bute didn't used to make much difference so clearly blood flow is helpful. (duh)
Since our time was cut short I just took her to the freshly worked arena and we did ground work. I noticed something yesterday. All my horses are one sided. She was more than happy to WTL in circles to the left. I figured since her left foot is worse, then it would be more difficult, but no...she was fine. When I asked for her to go to the right, she forgot what forward was, and fell apart. Strangely reminiscent of a certain paint horse I know. She kept wanting to run backwards, and get stuck.
So I pushed her over to the fence, moved her front end across (that part she does great) and then drove her forward, She had no choice but to go the direction I asked. but of course once she got off the fence she tried to fall apart again. So we started again. After the 3rd try she was trotting forward in a circle and eventually was able to kick it up to a less than proper lope. It was very much like Trax's, "I'm staying as far and as hard on the end of this lead rope as I can." So we stopped and started again. We stopped and started over and over again until she simply loped forward with out yanking on the rope. One time around and I let her rest.
She was shaking. (insert sad face here) And then I was wondering if we over did it.
So we just walked. I lead and she followed. We walked over poles and obstacles and she acted like she was afraid of the bridge.
When we were in WY the arena we often used had a bridge that required a horse to step up about 1.5 feet in order to get on it. Her favorite thing was to climb up there for fun. She is part goat. So for her to act like she couldn't walk across my bridge, was her being stubborn. It took a few tries but finally she got up there.
Then she wouldn't come off.
(really Sassy?)
This horse cracks me up, and I guess that is why I keep doing what I am doing.
Anyway, we just dinked around after that and pretty soon instead of leading her in straight lines I was one rein driving her in straight lines...over the bridge and the poles. It was kind of cool.
After we were done and she was breathing normal, and had not been shaking for a long time, I hosed her off. She loves a bath and then a nice roll in the dirt.
She is kind of sore today, not sure if it is from the trim or the work, but I gave her the last of my bute today and the last of her BL solution. I'm actually out of a lot of my supplements so a trip to the feed store is in order.
Oh and speaking of supplements, I almost forgot the most important thing I was going to say.
Sassy is FAT! Not all over, but I noticed the other day that the little cresty patch on her neck is now a huge cresty line of fat. Which got me to wondering if maybe this is the reason her progress is so intermittent. Even though the vets and farriers have all said she isn't laminitic, is it possible that some of the lameness is diet related?
(DD if you are reading this, I'm sure you are thinking- "Didn't I bring that up a year ago?" And you did, and all I can say is that I am really really SLOW to grasp things.)
So, since it can't hurt to try, I have taken her off the alfalfa/Bermuda blend pellets. She is strictly on the Purina Well-solve supplement (for IR horses) and her Bermuda hay. She is also getting ADM Gro-strong, for vitamins, to boost her cooper and zinc and hopefully help her grow more hoof. I just started this change this week, so it is too soon to see if there is a difference, but I will keep you posted. (because I know you are all on the edge of your seats)
She does get out to the pasture 3 or 4 times a week. The pasture is planted with Bermuda as well.
Lets face it folks. I am grasping at straws and totally taking stabs in the dark with this mare. I am in way over my head with her. I guess I am learning a lot because of her, but some days I feel like I am just beating my head against the wall. I have no idea what is going to work or what isn't. I just keep trying things until something seems to give steady improvement.
I need to know, is it this way for everyone?
She seems better, then worse, then better, and then worse again.
I'm not 100% positive but I think my barefoot trimmer gave up on me the day I told her I was working on my own horse in between visits. She sent a text asking how she was doing, I told her she was sore and I was headed out to work on her, she asked what I was doing and I told her. She had so much toe callus she was parking out in front and hobbled even on soft dirt. I took off what ever toe callus was able to slough off easily and then took the advice of someone who I trust, and took her heels and bars down a little as well.
When I was done she was yawning and licking and chewing and generally much happier. So I took that as good sign. I told the trimmer what I had done, and I have not heard back since. I don't know if that means she is done with us, or if she has just been busy. I guess time will tell. Somewhere out there, there has to be a barefoot trimmer, who not only understands what I am trying to accomplish, but one who promotes owners having hands on experience with their own horses.
Every so often I go back and file off a little more. The problem is that she is walking on live sole 24/7. I don't know how to fix that. Yesterday I had the new farrier come and put Killian's new shoes on, and had him go ahead and trim Sassy up a little more. I'm not unhappy with the job he did, I'm totally indifferent. The reason being, that it doesn't appear to be much different than what I have already been doing. I suspect that is because her feet are so jacked up there isn't much too be done. I think he did take the heel down just a tad more and it seems as though her frogs are making more contact. Unfortunately I was not able to be here when he came to talk with him about what he did, and didn't do with her, so I don't know. He does promote the hands on work by owners, but I am not 100% sure if we are on the same page with what I am trying to accomplish with her. Of course the one thing I keep saying is that you can't cripple a cripple horse, so I know for a fact that nothing he did made her any worse. Which is the same for me. I haven't hurt her in any way, hopefully I am helping her.
I don't have any pictures right now. I keep trying to take some but I never ever have any help and so they turn out like crap. I cannot hold the camera, hold the hoof, make sure there are not shadows, and make sure we are at a good angle all by myself.
On a side note, I do like the way Killian's shoes look. They are not all squeezed in on the heels, but they are set back far enough to give him good support. He seems to be moving well in them. I will ride him this weekend and that will be the true test.
Anyway, I took Sassy out yesterday and worked her. I was going to ride her, but she did not want to be caught. So we spent half of our "work out" time with me driving her around her pen while she did her cute little cow horse moves. (Bitch!) By time she was done she was already sweating pretty well. However by time she let me catch her, she was not limping. She did get 2 grams of bute that morning, but still, the bute didn't used to make much difference so clearly blood flow is helpful. (duh)
Since our time was cut short I just took her to the freshly worked arena and we did ground work. I noticed something yesterday. All my horses are one sided. She was more than happy to WTL in circles to the left. I figured since her left foot is worse, then it would be more difficult, but no...she was fine. When I asked for her to go to the right, she forgot what forward was, and fell apart. Strangely reminiscent of a certain paint horse I know. She kept wanting to run backwards, and get stuck.
So I pushed her over to the fence, moved her front end across (that part she does great) and then drove her forward, She had no choice but to go the direction I asked. but of course once she got off the fence she tried to fall apart again. So we started again. After the 3rd try she was trotting forward in a circle and eventually was able to kick it up to a less than proper lope. It was very much like Trax's, "I'm staying as far and as hard on the end of this lead rope as I can." So we stopped and started again. We stopped and started over and over again until she simply loped forward with out yanking on the rope. One time around and I let her rest.
She was shaking. (insert sad face here) And then I was wondering if we over did it.
So we just walked. I lead and she followed. We walked over poles and obstacles and she acted like she was afraid of the bridge.
When we were in WY the arena we often used had a bridge that required a horse to step up about 1.5 feet in order to get on it. Her favorite thing was to climb up there for fun. She is part goat. So for her to act like she couldn't walk across my bridge, was her being stubborn. It took a few tries but finally she got up there.
Then she wouldn't come off.
(really Sassy?)
This horse cracks me up, and I guess that is why I keep doing what I am doing.
Anyway, we just dinked around after that and pretty soon instead of leading her in straight lines I was one rein driving her in straight lines...over the bridge and the poles. It was kind of cool.
After we were done and she was breathing normal, and had not been shaking for a long time, I hosed her off. She loves a bath and then a nice roll in the dirt.
She is kind of sore today, not sure if it is from the trim or the work, but I gave her the last of my bute today and the last of her BL solution. I'm actually out of a lot of my supplements so a trip to the feed store is in order.
Oh and speaking of supplements, I almost forgot the most important thing I was going to say.
Sassy is FAT! Not all over, but I noticed the other day that the little cresty patch on her neck is now a huge cresty line of fat. Which got me to wondering if maybe this is the reason her progress is so intermittent. Even though the vets and farriers have all said she isn't laminitic, is it possible that some of the lameness is diet related?
(DD if you are reading this, I'm sure you are thinking- "Didn't I bring that up a year ago?" And you did, and all I can say is that I am really really SLOW to grasp things.)
So, since it can't hurt to try, I have taken her off the alfalfa/Bermuda blend pellets. She is strictly on the Purina Well-solve supplement (for IR horses) and her Bermuda hay. She is also getting ADM Gro-strong, for vitamins, to boost her cooper and zinc and hopefully help her grow more hoof. I just started this change this week, so it is too soon to see if there is a difference, but I will keep you posted. (because I know you are all on the edge of your seats)
She does get out to the pasture 3 or 4 times a week. The pasture is planted with Bermuda as well.
Lets face it folks. I am grasping at straws and totally taking stabs in the dark with this mare. I am in way over my head with her. I guess I am learning a lot because of her, but some days I feel like I am just beating my head against the wall. I have no idea what is going to work or what isn't. I just keep trying things until something seems to give steady improvement.
I need to know, is it this way for everyone?
Friday, March 14, 2014
Some are Sicker Than Others...
I've been ill.
Nothing serious, just a flu like thing, but it has caused one of my lymphnodes to swell up at the back of my head. Sort of makes it hard to do much when you can't really turn your head. My neck is already all jacked up from that day I drove my pick up off a cliff. (Another story, for another day) But I'm used to that, I live with it every day. This is different, it feels funny and I don't like it.
But real cowgirls never let a small thing like golf ball sized lumps slow them down so I am up and at 'em today, regardless.
I really needed to get my arena worked up again after the last rain we had, so since I was up early after sleeping all day yesterday I hooked up the arena master and got to work.
I am willing to admit that there is still a little bit of the trailer park gal in me. I was still in my "lounge around the house" clothes. My favorite "Boobies Rock" tank top, no bra, cut off's and flip flops. No worries, its my yard I'll dress how I wanna.
I'm out there, bouncing (literally) along at cruising speed on my little John Deere, kicking up dust as I go, making sure that every single dirt clod has been annilated. I have a lovely dirt tan, my teeth are full of dirt, and I hear a "HEY THERE!"
I look up and it is my new neighbors out working in their yard.
What could I do?
I smiled and waved, yelled hello back, and kept on bouncing away.
Thinking to myself....
"Welcome to the neighborhood."
Now I'm dressed and off to work the mare. I have more to tell about her but will save it for the weekend I think.
Nothing serious, just a flu like thing, but it has caused one of my lymphnodes to swell up at the back of my head. Sort of makes it hard to do much when you can't really turn your head. My neck is already all jacked up from that day I drove my pick up off a cliff. (Another story, for another day) But I'm used to that, I live with it every day. This is different, it feels funny and I don't like it.
But real cowgirls never let a small thing like golf ball sized lumps slow them down so I am up and at 'em today, regardless.
I really needed to get my arena worked up again after the last rain we had, so since I was up early after sleeping all day yesterday I hooked up the arena master and got to work.
I am willing to admit that there is still a little bit of the trailer park gal in me. I was still in my "lounge around the house" clothes. My favorite "Boobies Rock" tank top, no bra, cut off's and flip flops. No worries, its my yard I'll dress how I wanna.
I'm out there, bouncing (literally) along at cruising speed on my little John Deere, kicking up dust as I go, making sure that every single dirt clod has been annilated. I have a lovely dirt tan, my teeth are full of dirt, and I hear a "HEY THERE!"
I look up and it is my new neighbors out working in their yard.
What could I do?
I smiled and waved, yelled hello back, and kept on bouncing away.
Thinking to myself....
"Welcome to the neighborhood."
Now I'm dressed and off to work the mare. I have more to tell about her but will save it for the weekend I think.
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Wheeeeeee!
When I took Trax out for his ride today, I had some plans in mind. We did not necessarily adhere to them, but we did not totally throw them by the way side either.
I planned on dragging some barrels out and do some figure 8's. We did them sans barrels, because once I got up there and started riding, it just seemed like so much work to get back down and drag them out there. But we used imaginary barrels and did some lovely figure eights while I asked him to follow his shoulder instead of flipping the hip.
He is still really having a lot of trouble with being soft on the left hand side of his face. He weighs nothing on the right and weighs a lot on the left. It didn't used to be that way. It used to be the opposite. So I don't know what changed exactly, but some where along the line something did. The Chrio/dental lady did say that his teeth are worse on the left than the right and he is scheduled to get that done next tues (bye bye paycheck) so hopefully that will help.
We did some lovely leg yields and some trotting and just lots of different little things to warm up. When I asked for the lope he went into race mode. Not like "Holy crap I gotta get outta here" but more like "Wheeeeeeeeeee!"
So I just rode it out and let him go. Although after a long while I finally had to ask if he remembered that I was back there. I didn't ask with my hands or my seat, I just verbally asked, "Hey Trax, you do know I'm still here right?"
Ear flick (Yes I hear you- almost done)
I sighed.
He sighed
His feet slowed down.
I asked him to slow down.
We loped.
Then we stopped and went the other direction. This time there was not so much run as just a nice easy lope.
He tried pretty hard on his roll backs and spins, executed his gates with text book precision and only tried to duck out the end of the arena once as we did more trotting.
The part today that made me the most proud though was when we worked the imaginary flag.
He gets it.
Whether we did it at a walk, a trot or even a lope, he nailed those stops like nobodies business, was backing up before I even asked and turned with purpose and immediately moved out again. His head was not down was soft in the face for it all and although he still struggles with the one direction, I really think it is physical and not mental.
Of course I realize he was getting right because he was anticipating my cues, but I'm okay with that today. He is trying and if anticipating helps him feel successful, who am I to complain? Also I think it is time to help things make sense for him. I'm going to show him (again) the reasons why we are learning to do these moves.
One day this weekend we will go move some cows at the neighbors. It is my hope that it will click for him. It might not, but I think it will.
I also planned on doing a complete reining pattern, so I chose the one I remember which is the same one we did at the RC show last year. It took us a few tries, our circles were not round, and of course our spins are lacking. But all in it all it wasn't horrid. I find If I know I am going to compete I need to do some patterns so that I can get used to remembering the course, and also so I remember how to keep the circles round and things like that. We kind of failed on the lead changes but finally I got one good one out of him, so I let it go at that. I tried to use the fence to help with out stops. I won't make that mistake again. If he doesn't think we are going to stop he starts looking to turn left or right and ends up weaving back and forth. Stopping about 10 ft from the fence...he did pretty good as long as I cued and sat it right. One time I didn't and jammed my neck pretty good.
We did some log dragging too. I have got to start remembering to do it every time we ride. It was a fight to keep him under control today at first and it wasn't pretty. This is something that only gets better with practice practice practice.
After that we worked on our trail stuff and we were having trouble backing through the L. I know he can do this but we struggled so I finally just took him out to the middle and moved hips and shoulders and side passed.
This is where I found his big hole and I have some theories behind it.
This horse can side pass for fifty feet from right to left. But he cannot make it 3 steps from left to right without falling apart. I literally measured how far we side passed and it was 1/6 the length of the arena which is 300 ft. He could have gone further I think, but I figured it was enough.
So I put him back on the fence and we tried the "bad" side some more. I finally got to where I could get four steps. So I turned him around and put his butt to the fence, I got 2 steps. Turned him back to the fence and got 4 again. But even the four I got were sticky and awkward.
So when asking to go from left to right he has to bend left and push his shoulder right. He can't bend left. There has to be a reason. Is it the dental, his sore shoulders, or his mismatched feet? I'm on a mission now to figure it out.
One thing I did notice, is that when I ask for the pass I tend to look down at where we are coming from. Once I realized that I switched up and started looking where we were going, and he really smoothed out on his good side, and I think it helped with his bad side but he is still hanging up there and I have got to figure it out.
I ended on a good note although I cannot tell you what it was now, and we moseyed over to the tack room. I worked on his tall foot and was able to go in and trim the bars and heels down quite a bit and so he should be getting a little more frog contact on that side now. I have to take it kind of slow though because I don't know what effect all of these changes on his feet will have on his shoulders.
He is my riding horse and I don't want to make him lame by going all crazy.
After that he got a nice hose down and roll in the dirt. When I left he looked like a bay horse.
I'm excited to go find cows this weekend!
I planned on dragging some barrels out and do some figure 8's. We did them sans barrels, because once I got up there and started riding, it just seemed like so much work to get back down and drag them out there. But we used imaginary barrels and did some lovely figure eights while I asked him to follow his shoulder instead of flipping the hip.
He is still really having a lot of trouble with being soft on the left hand side of his face. He weighs nothing on the right and weighs a lot on the left. It didn't used to be that way. It used to be the opposite. So I don't know what changed exactly, but some where along the line something did. The Chrio/dental lady did say that his teeth are worse on the left than the right and he is scheduled to get that done next tues (bye bye paycheck) so hopefully that will help.
We did some lovely leg yields and some trotting and just lots of different little things to warm up. When I asked for the lope he went into race mode. Not like "Holy crap I gotta get outta here" but more like "Wheeeeeeeeeee!"
So I just rode it out and let him go. Although after a long while I finally had to ask if he remembered that I was back there. I didn't ask with my hands or my seat, I just verbally asked, "Hey Trax, you do know I'm still here right?"
Ear flick (Yes I hear you- almost done)
I sighed.
He sighed
His feet slowed down.
I asked him to slow down.
We loped.
Then we stopped and went the other direction. This time there was not so much run as just a nice easy lope.
He tried pretty hard on his roll backs and spins, executed his gates with text book precision and only tried to duck out the end of the arena once as we did more trotting.
The part today that made me the most proud though was when we worked the imaginary flag.
He gets it.
Whether we did it at a walk, a trot or even a lope, he nailed those stops like nobodies business, was backing up before I even asked and turned with purpose and immediately moved out again. His head was not down was soft in the face for it all and although he still struggles with the one direction, I really think it is physical and not mental.
Of course I realize he was getting right because he was anticipating my cues, but I'm okay with that today. He is trying and if anticipating helps him feel successful, who am I to complain? Also I think it is time to help things make sense for him. I'm going to show him (again) the reasons why we are learning to do these moves.
One day this weekend we will go move some cows at the neighbors. It is my hope that it will click for him. It might not, but I think it will.
I also planned on doing a complete reining pattern, so I chose the one I remember which is the same one we did at the RC show last year. It took us a few tries, our circles were not round, and of course our spins are lacking. But all in it all it wasn't horrid. I find If I know I am going to compete I need to do some patterns so that I can get used to remembering the course, and also so I remember how to keep the circles round and things like that. We kind of failed on the lead changes but finally I got one good one out of him, so I let it go at that. I tried to use the fence to help with out stops. I won't make that mistake again. If he doesn't think we are going to stop he starts looking to turn left or right and ends up weaving back and forth. Stopping about 10 ft from the fence...he did pretty good as long as I cued and sat it right. One time I didn't and jammed my neck pretty good.
We did some log dragging too. I have got to start remembering to do it every time we ride. It was a fight to keep him under control today at first and it wasn't pretty. This is something that only gets better with practice practice practice.
After that we worked on our trail stuff and we were having trouble backing through the L. I know he can do this but we struggled so I finally just took him out to the middle and moved hips and shoulders and side passed.
This is where I found his big hole and I have some theories behind it.
This horse can side pass for fifty feet from right to left. But he cannot make it 3 steps from left to right without falling apart. I literally measured how far we side passed and it was 1/6 the length of the arena which is 300 ft. He could have gone further I think, but I figured it was enough.
So I put him back on the fence and we tried the "bad" side some more. I finally got to where I could get four steps. So I turned him around and put his butt to the fence, I got 2 steps. Turned him back to the fence and got 4 again. But even the four I got were sticky and awkward.
So when asking to go from left to right he has to bend left and push his shoulder right. He can't bend left. There has to be a reason. Is it the dental, his sore shoulders, or his mismatched feet? I'm on a mission now to figure it out.
One thing I did notice, is that when I ask for the pass I tend to look down at where we are coming from. Once I realized that I switched up and started looking where we were going, and he really smoothed out on his good side, and I think it helped with his bad side but he is still hanging up there and I have got to figure it out.
I ended on a good note although I cannot tell you what it was now, and we moseyed over to the tack room. I worked on his tall foot and was able to go in and trim the bars and heels down quite a bit and so he should be getting a little more frog contact on that side now. I have to take it kind of slow though because I don't know what effect all of these changes on his feet will have on his shoulders.
He is my riding horse and I don't want to make him lame by going all crazy.
After that he got a nice hose down and roll in the dirt. When I left he looked like a bay horse.
I'm excited to go find cows this weekend!
Monday, March 10, 2014
If I should die tomorrow
I know it is a terrible thought, and I am certainly not planning my death by any means. In fact I suspect I am much to ornery to die young. But with all that being said, the topic of conversation came up between TC and I just the other day.
If I should die tomorrow what would happen to my horses.
Obviously there is Simon and my dogs to consider too, but I took care of Simon a long time ago, and any dogs that couldn't stay with TC would go to my moms. There is no doubt about that. She would either find them really good homes or keep them herself. She is a breeder, it is what she does.
As far as the horses go I think they could be sold easily, but since I am still alive I worry about that. I worry that they would end up in a good home, and I worry that Trax, with all his baggage, could easily revert back to his old self under the wrong care. Then he could end up in a string of bad homes or even worse. The likely hood of that is very real for him.
Killian I don't worry about so much, he can pretty much handle anything that is thrown at him, and he is easy to get a long with. Anyone with any riding skill at all would do fine with him. Although I would love to see him to go to my sister in California. She really wants a horse she can ride and Killian would be good for her.
But the point of this post is not even really about where my horses would go, of course that is something I want to have worked out but there is more on my mind that that. It is about citizenship.
How many times do you see on craigs list or some other website an ad that goes something like this.
"Must have gone asap, two quarter horses. I have had Bucky and his mother, Bella, since she was in foal with him. would like to see them go together. Bucky has had a halter on, but other than that has not been handled. He is a stud colt and I think would make pretty babies. Bella is a good brood mare and is very sweet. She loves when you bring her food. Her momma was registered but she is not and neither is Bucky. I just cannot afford to feed these horses any more."
Or...
"Must sell, 10 year old gelding, was broke to ride when he was 3 but has been sitting ever since, will need "tuned up". Cannot afford to feed anymore."
These are animals that are pretty much doomed because no one ever bothered to do anything with them. They have lost their "citizenship" status, and their owners have failed them. Big time!
My biggest fear in the whole wide world is not whether or not my horses are use-able for me, but that they are they good enough citizens to make in the world if I am not around to protect them. I believe that it is my responsibility to make sure that they can survive in the human world that they were born or brought into. I want them to have the best life imaginable, whether it is with me or with someone else, and it is up to me to help them be well socialized easy to handle, easy to get along with horses.
That is my job as their owner and when I made the decision to bring them home and care for them, it was part of the deal.
Oddly enough, I didn't always feel this way...or at least I did not always realize that this is, in fact, "part of the deal."
I recently ran across some pictures on facebook of some of Sassy's first training sessions with Jay. We were out there in the cold teaching this mare who had been pretty much standing in a pasture her whole life (3 years) some of the most basic things a horse needs to know in order to survive in the human world. Every single time we worked with her we found at least 10 different things that scared the crap out of her.
Things like....
The sound of a water bottle
Things touching her butt
The opening of car door
The closing of a car door
a piece of trash blowing across the yard (from 10 miles away-remember wyoming)
A dog bark
The ding ding ding if the door of my truck was left open
a piece of metal banging on the roof of the lean-to
Chinks flapping around her
a plastic bag on the end of the stick
The list goes on and on.
This was the day that Jay taught me about Equine citizenship.
We were working with her and Simon opened the pick up door and Sassy bolted to the other side of area where we were working her. I yelled at him to not do that anymore.
Jay said to me, "So are you never going to take her somewhere where people might open and close a door?"
"Um...I don't know."
"Well if that is the case then it means she is never going to leave the pasture and if that is the case then my work here is done." He then proceeded to pick up his stuff to leave and handed me my horse.
"No wait! I mean yes she will be leaving the pasture."
"Then it is your job to show her that these things won't hurt and that you will keep her safe. You are teaching her to be a good citizen. You are teaching her the basic rules of interacting with humans, respecting space, and following direction. You will also build her confidence and teach her that she can react without over reacting."
Bling, the light went on. It was the beginning of the change in me as to what it means to own a horse, and to be a horsewoman. From that day forward, if she acted afraid of anything, I made a point of exposing her to it as often as I could. She still has her moments, she still acts like a car driving by is going to eat her, but I just laugh and tell her to keep walking.
So now here I am today, my horses are all pretty good citizens. Yes I do let them get away with some stuff, and they have some holes in their training. Sometimes I get lazy or hyper focused on one thing (Trax) and the other two get pushed aside. But I can honestly say that if it had not been for Jay being in my life at that time Sassy would probably be one of those horses that is doomed, and I would have had no idea that I had failed her.
But I believe that God wants us to do right and so he put Jay into my life at that exact moment when I needed him most, and also at a time in my life where I was the most receptive to new information.
Trax still has his fears, he has several in fact. He has some of them with good reason, and some without, but they are all unfounded. I am not going to let those things hurt him. On Saturday when we were trail riding I became aware of the fact that sometimes I let him get away with stuff rather acting like the broke horse that he is.
For example, he had a big piece of brush stuck in his tail. BEC was just going to reach down and grab it out. I said no, and dismounted removed it myself and then got back on. Why? Because Trax is still weird about his hind end. I knew that if she grabbed his tail he would have tried to butt scoot away. It is not okay. In fact it was kind of embarrassing. It is time for me to get to work on that, because I want him to be a good citizen for his sake....not mine. Because I may not always be here to protect him.
So the next time I start feeling lazy about working on all the horses, or lazy about working on Trax's fears instead of his reining, I think I know just what to say to myself to pull me out of it.
If I should die tomorrow....
If I should die tomorrow what would happen to my horses.
Obviously there is Simon and my dogs to consider too, but I took care of Simon a long time ago, and any dogs that couldn't stay with TC would go to my moms. There is no doubt about that. She would either find them really good homes or keep them herself. She is a breeder, it is what she does.
As far as the horses go I think they could be sold easily, but since I am still alive I worry about that. I worry that they would end up in a good home, and I worry that Trax, with all his baggage, could easily revert back to his old self under the wrong care. Then he could end up in a string of bad homes or even worse. The likely hood of that is very real for him.
Killian I don't worry about so much, he can pretty much handle anything that is thrown at him, and he is easy to get a long with. Anyone with any riding skill at all would do fine with him. Although I would love to see him to go to my sister in California. She really wants a horse she can ride and Killian would be good for her.
But the point of this post is not even really about where my horses would go, of course that is something I want to have worked out but there is more on my mind that that. It is about citizenship.
How many times do you see on craigs list or some other website an ad that goes something like this.
"Must have gone asap, two quarter horses. I have had Bucky and his mother, Bella, since she was in foal with him. would like to see them go together. Bucky has had a halter on, but other than that has not been handled. He is a stud colt and I think would make pretty babies. Bella is a good brood mare and is very sweet. She loves when you bring her food. Her momma was registered but she is not and neither is Bucky. I just cannot afford to feed these horses any more."
Or...
"Must sell, 10 year old gelding, was broke to ride when he was 3 but has been sitting ever since, will need "tuned up". Cannot afford to feed anymore."
These are animals that are pretty much doomed because no one ever bothered to do anything with them. They have lost their "citizenship" status, and their owners have failed them. Big time!
My biggest fear in the whole wide world is not whether or not my horses are use-able for me, but that they are they good enough citizens to make in the world if I am not around to protect them. I believe that it is my responsibility to make sure that they can survive in the human world that they were born or brought into. I want them to have the best life imaginable, whether it is with me or with someone else, and it is up to me to help them be well socialized easy to handle, easy to get along with horses.
That is my job as their owner and when I made the decision to bring them home and care for them, it was part of the deal.
Oddly enough, I didn't always feel this way...or at least I did not always realize that this is, in fact, "part of the deal."
I recently ran across some pictures on facebook of some of Sassy's first training sessions with Jay. We were out there in the cold teaching this mare who had been pretty much standing in a pasture her whole life (3 years) some of the most basic things a horse needs to know in order to survive in the human world. Every single time we worked with her we found at least 10 different things that scared the crap out of her.
Things like....
The sound of a water bottle
Things touching her butt
The opening of car door
The closing of a car door
a piece of trash blowing across the yard (from 10 miles away-remember wyoming)
A dog bark
The ding ding ding if the door of my truck was left open
a piece of metal banging on the roof of the lean-to
Chinks flapping around her
a plastic bag on the end of the stick
The list goes on and on.
This was the day that Jay taught me about Equine citizenship.
We were working with her and Simon opened the pick up door and Sassy bolted to the other side of area where we were working her. I yelled at him to not do that anymore.
Jay said to me, "So are you never going to take her somewhere where people might open and close a door?"
"Um...I don't know."
"Well if that is the case then it means she is never going to leave the pasture and if that is the case then my work here is done." He then proceeded to pick up his stuff to leave and handed me my horse.
"No wait! I mean yes she will be leaving the pasture."
"Then it is your job to show her that these things won't hurt and that you will keep her safe. You are teaching her to be a good citizen. You are teaching her the basic rules of interacting with humans, respecting space, and following direction. You will also build her confidence and teach her that she can react without over reacting."
Bling, the light went on. It was the beginning of the change in me as to what it means to own a horse, and to be a horsewoman. From that day forward, if she acted afraid of anything, I made a point of exposing her to it as often as I could. She still has her moments, she still acts like a car driving by is going to eat her, but I just laugh and tell her to keep walking.
So now here I am today, my horses are all pretty good citizens. Yes I do let them get away with some stuff, and they have some holes in their training. Sometimes I get lazy or hyper focused on one thing (Trax) and the other two get pushed aside. But I can honestly say that if it had not been for Jay being in my life at that time Sassy would probably be one of those horses that is doomed, and I would have had no idea that I had failed her.
But I believe that God wants us to do right and so he put Jay into my life at that exact moment when I needed him most, and also at a time in my life where I was the most receptive to new information.
Trax still has his fears, he has several in fact. He has some of them with good reason, and some without, but they are all unfounded. I am not going to let those things hurt him. On Saturday when we were trail riding I became aware of the fact that sometimes I let him get away with stuff rather acting like the broke horse that he is.
For example, he had a big piece of brush stuck in his tail. BEC was just going to reach down and grab it out. I said no, and dismounted removed it myself and then got back on. Why? Because Trax is still weird about his hind end. I knew that if she grabbed his tail he would have tried to butt scoot away. It is not okay. In fact it was kind of embarrassing. It is time for me to get to work on that, because I want him to be a good citizen for his sake....not mine. Because I may not always be here to protect him.
So the next time I start feeling lazy about working on all the horses, or lazy about working on Trax's fears instead of his reining, I think I know just what to say to myself to pull me out of it.
If I should die tomorrow....
Mini-Road Trip
I suppose that is not the most accurate title as it sounds like I took a road trip with Mini's. I don't have mini's, but Simon and I did take a short trip to the other side of the valley for a ride.
I had my two driving lessons with the new rig, but I have to say it is slightly more nerve wracking with ponies in the back. But then anytime I haul ponies it is more nerve wracking for me. I seriously want a sign for the back of my trailer that says, "My horses are in here and they mean more to me than you do- so I drive with their safety in mind. I would appreciate it if you would too." TC says I just need one that says "Student Driver" That would sure back some people off! LOL
Actually once I got rolling it was pretty nice. That exhaust brake really slows the whole thing down so nice and smoothly and I actually only have to use the foot brake if I am coming to a full stop. You can hardly even feel the trailer back there I managed not to run anyone over, drive anyone off the road, or hit a single curb the entire trip.....yay me!
We drove over to the West side of the valley and met up with BEC and just went for a trail ride. It was good fun, and without a doubt the most gorgeous scenery. I thought about putting the Old Mac's on Trax but he has been doing fabulously barefoot so I left them off. There were a couple of time where it was really rocky and he slowed his stride down to pick his way through, but other than that he did fabulous!
Of course being on a trail ride in his mind means that he doesn't have to do things like....stop....back up....move off my leg...turn the shoulders, so we did a little of that along the way. We rode down some washes with nice deep sand for a ways, which is fantastic for building muscle tone.
As always Killian took the best care of Simon. There were a couple of times where Simon was dinking around and Killian thought he was going to get left behind so he took off with Simon to get caught up. Simon wasn't ready for it and thought he was being run away with...well he kind of was, but just at a trot, and only till he caught up with us.
Killian loves water, Simon took him through some great big puddles, and we decided that we need to find a place to take him swimming some time. I'm willing to bet money that he will love it. Trax is not a huge fan, but I made him walk through a couple and all the ponies had a big long drink out of one of them.
There are a lot of saguaros in that area and we had a great time deciding what some of the older ones looked like.
We went down one wash that kept getting deeper and narrow as we went. Pretty soon the walls were taller than us and then there was a big tree blocking out path. Simon was in front I was in the back and BEC was in the middle on Frosty. So we turned around to head back and for some reason unknown to anyone but the voices in Trax's head, he suddenly decided to be bothered by have a horse behind him...and just for the record, Frosty was not that close at all. But Trax butt scooted forward, pushing my face into a little dead tree hanging over and a stick went right into my eye socket. It literally went about 1/2 an inch down in around my eyeball and then broke off. Luckily there was enough stick out for me to just pull it out, while trying to get my horse under control.
With one eye, I managed to find a place to ride up the side of the wash into open ground and then stopped my idiot horse to assess the damage. I looked down and saw a drop of blood on my arm- started to freak out (internally of course- I had to keep my cool in front of Simon and BEC) and then realized that it was not from my eye, but just a spot where I had been poked by a thorn on my arm. My eye was fine, just a little irritated and I spent the rest of the day a little teary on that side while my body produced its own eye flush.
I asked Trax WTH his problem was...."I heard a noise and it scared me."
"Trax, you are a seasoned trail horse. Noises aren't supposed to scare you."
"I'm in a strange desert, Lady, I thought it was a mountain lion."
"Trax have you ever seen a mountain lion?"
"Well no, but my mother told me to always be on the look out for them because they will eat me. I was just trying to keep you safe...and me too. I figured it I ran fast that maybe the lion would catch Killian and eat him and the kid instead."
"Trax, Killian is part of your herd and the kid is part of my herd."
"Lady, Killian is mean to me and the boy makes you yell a lot, so I thought it would be okay,"
Anyway, so we rode on and laughed about the whole ordeal. We saw some cows, and found some more cool cacti.
After the ride we put Trax and Killian in the round pen with a snack and went and had some lunch ourselves. At the bar and grill there were a bunch of ropers, some of whom were really drunk and had horses tied to trailers out side.
At one point we all saw one horse go galloping past the door and someone yelled, "loose horse!" You would think that anyone with a horse would have jumped up to see if was theirs. Some did, but not all.
Someone came in and said, "Hey Bob (or bill or joe or whatever) your horse is loose." Bob was particularly drunk, in fact Bob was unable to even walk.
His response was, "Ahhhh Bullshit! My horse ain't loose."
'Yes Bob, your horse is loose."
Bob never moved, let someone else catch his horse and use their own halter to secure the pony back to the trailer.
I have no doubt that the poor horse knew that Bob was in there drunk off his ass, and had no intentions of letting Bob drive him home. He was trying desperately to just get away. I can't blame him one bit.
Bob is one of those dicks that gives ropers a bad name.
Anyway, then it was time to beat feet home, and we made it home just after dark. I don't see so well at night so I was glad to not have to drive too much in the dark. The hardest part...getting in my own driveway. There are no streetlights and my trailer does not have running lights on the fenders so I cannot see where my tires are. I guess I made it in okay though because I didn't hear any clunks.
We had a great great time, and like I told BEC, I am willing to admit that I may have moved to the wrong side of town!
I had my two driving lessons with the new rig, but I have to say it is slightly more nerve wracking with ponies in the back. But then anytime I haul ponies it is more nerve wracking for me. I seriously want a sign for the back of my trailer that says, "My horses are in here and they mean more to me than you do- so I drive with their safety in mind. I would appreciate it if you would too." TC says I just need one that says "Student Driver" That would sure back some people off! LOL
Actually once I got rolling it was pretty nice. That exhaust brake really slows the whole thing down so nice and smoothly and I actually only have to use the foot brake if I am coming to a full stop. You can hardly even feel the trailer back there I managed not to run anyone over, drive anyone off the road, or hit a single curb the entire trip.....yay me!
We drove over to the West side of the valley and met up with BEC and just went for a trail ride. It was good fun, and without a doubt the most gorgeous scenery. I thought about putting the Old Mac's on Trax but he has been doing fabulously barefoot so I left them off. There were a couple of time where it was really rocky and he slowed his stride down to pick his way through, but other than that he did fabulous!
Of course being on a trail ride in his mind means that he doesn't have to do things like....stop....back up....move off my leg...turn the shoulders, so we did a little of that along the way. We rode down some washes with nice deep sand for a ways, which is fantastic for building muscle tone.
As always Killian took the best care of Simon. There were a couple of times where Simon was dinking around and Killian thought he was going to get left behind so he took off with Simon to get caught up. Simon wasn't ready for it and thought he was being run away with...well he kind of was, but just at a trot, and only till he caught up with us.
Killian loves water, Simon took him through some great big puddles, and we decided that we need to find a place to take him swimming some time. I'm willing to bet money that he will love it. Trax is not a huge fan, but I made him walk through a couple and all the ponies had a big long drink out of one of them.
There are a lot of saguaros in that area and we had a great time deciding what some of the older ones looked like.
 |
| This one isn't all that cool but was a nice photo op |
We went down one wash that kept getting deeper and narrow as we went. Pretty soon the walls were taller than us and then there was a big tree blocking out path. Simon was in front I was in the back and BEC was in the middle on Frosty. So we turned around to head back and for some reason unknown to anyone but the voices in Trax's head, he suddenly decided to be bothered by have a horse behind him...and just for the record, Frosty was not that close at all. But Trax butt scooted forward, pushing my face into a little dead tree hanging over and a stick went right into my eye socket. It literally went about 1/2 an inch down in around my eyeball and then broke off. Luckily there was enough stick out for me to just pull it out, while trying to get my horse under control.
With one eye, I managed to find a place to ride up the side of the wash into open ground and then stopped my idiot horse to assess the damage. I looked down and saw a drop of blood on my arm- started to freak out (internally of course- I had to keep my cool in front of Simon and BEC) and then realized that it was not from my eye, but just a spot where I had been poked by a thorn on my arm. My eye was fine, just a little irritated and I spent the rest of the day a little teary on that side while my body produced its own eye flush.
I asked Trax WTH his problem was...."I heard a noise and it scared me."
"Trax, you are a seasoned trail horse. Noises aren't supposed to scare you."
"I'm in a strange desert, Lady, I thought it was a mountain lion."
"Trax have you ever seen a mountain lion?"
"Well no, but my mother told me to always be on the look out for them because they will eat me. I was just trying to keep you safe...and me too. I figured it I ran fast that maybe the lion would catch Killian and eat him and the kid instead."
"Trax, Killian is part of your herd and the kid is part of my herd."
"Lady, Killian is mean to me and the boy makes you yell a lot, so I thought it would be okay,"
Anyway, so we rode on and laughed about the whole ordeal. We saw some cows, and found some more cool cacti.
 |
| This one is especially cool. |
At one point we all saw one horse go galloping past the door and someone yelled, "loose horse!" You would think that anyone with a horse would have jumped up to see if was theirs. Some did, but not all.
Someone came in and said, "Hey Bob (or bill or joe or whatever) your horse is loose." Bob was particularly drunk, in fact Bob was unable to even walk.
His response was, "Ahhhh Bullshit! My horse ain't loose."
'Yes Bob, your horse is loose."
Bob never moved, let someone else catch his horse and use their own halter to secure the pony back to the trailer.
I have no doubt that the poor horse knew that Bob was in there drunk off his ass, and had no intentions of letting Bob drive him home. He was trying desperately to just get away. I can't blame him one bit.
Bob is one of those dicks that gives ropers a bad name.
Anyway, then it was time to beat feet home, and we made it home just after dark. I don't see so well at night so I was glad to not have to drive too much in the dark. The hardest part...getting in my own driveway. There are no streetlights and my trailer does not have running lights on the fenders so I cannot see where my tires are. I guess I made it in okay though because I didn't hear any clunks.
We had a great great time, and like I told BEC, I am willing to admit that I may have moved to the wrong side of town!
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Pulling in Style, and Meeting a Farrier
One nice thing about being married to a trucker is that he likes trucks. Not pick ups, although he likes those too, but big trucks.
He likes the way they pull stuff. When we moved to AZ we used his old 1 ton pick up to pull our trailer. He loved the engine brake on his new Dodge, but he didn't love the truck and we couldn't pull the trailer level without crunching the bed.
So TC, being TC started shopping and found a deal and traded his pick up straight across for something new. (new to us)
I teased him about the decals all over it when he brought it home. It is pretty darn flashy, but after a bit it kind of grew on me. Nothin like rolling in big and loud! I wish I could say he bought it for me, but he goes back and forth between AZ and WY a lot with his other trailers, and this will pull those as well as my horse trailer.
Hooked to the trailer it is like a freaking train and I am having to learn how to drive it. Today was my first lesson, and I drove it around town without the trailer. Tomorrow I will pull the trailer around for practice, but then Sat I have some place I want to go with Trax, and I want to be sure I can handle it before I put my horse in there.
Ya know what sucks though....I rarely haul more than one horse at a time though so really it is a lot of truck and trailer to haul around one little old paint....but I'm not gonna complain. There is a couch in that sleeper that folds down to a bed, plus a fridge and a microwave. No potty, but I can get around that.
In other news, I needed to find someone to come and redo Killians shoes. I noticed that his last set seem to be contracting his heels in and I'm not liking it at all. I decided to call the guy that is putting on the trim clinic that I will be going to in April.
It was kind of funny when we talked on the phone because we almost got into an argument about Sassy. I'm not even sure except that the subject came up and he made the mistake of saying he could fix her with shoes.....Um...WRONG ANSWER DUDE! However, since I knew that I wasn't asking him to work on her I didn't have too much to worry about.
He was in the area and so stopped by to assess Big K, and pretty much confirmed what I thought I was seeing. He felt like Killian was wearing a full size smaller than he should have been in. However, he doesn't have much hoof yet and neither of us had time to do the work today so next week he will come and work on him. One thing he did that I have only seen one other farrier do (in Colorado) was look at the whole horse. He looked at his hips, his shoulders, checked for back pain and touchy spots.
He asked if he could look at Sassy. I said sure but made sure he understood that I was not changing my treatment plan at this time. I expected an argument but instead got, "I wouldn't ask you too." He took a peek, pointed out a few things that could use a little change, pointed out some things that looked good, and told me that all in all I was doing a great job with her. Most of what he pointed out was what I suspected but lacked the confidence to do. Some of it I didn't even realize, but he showed me what he was saying, why it was what it was, and showed me how to see it. I wanted to take credit for all the work, but I couldn't because someone else had done a lot of it. But I have been filing on her pretty regular too, and really working on those frogs. The frog changes are all me. If I had left it up to anyone else, they would have just left it. Very soon I will post some pictures of the cracks. You will not believe how much they have changed.
He also looked at Trax and gave me some pointers, all free of charge. I really loved that he encourages owners to get comfortable with maintaining and even doing the work on their own horses. He said, "I'm about the horse. I'd rather see the owner do their own work and do it right than to see them at the mercy of a bad farrier and not even know it."
The last thing he said to me was that by time the clinic comes I won't need to learn too much. I disagree because although I am beginning to understand what it needs to look like, I don't know how to handle the tools (other than the file) to make it happen.
I walked away from our free consult feeling pretty good about things.
He likes the way they pull stuff. When we moved to AZ we used his old 1 ton pick up to pull our trailer. He loved the engine brake on his new Dodge, but he didn't love the truck and we couldn't pull the trailer level without crunching the bed.
So TC, being TC started shopping and found a deal and traded his pick up straight across for something new. (new to us)
I teased him about the decals all over it when he brought it home. It is pretty darn flashy, but after a bit it kind of grew on me. Nothin like rolling in big and loud! I wish I could say he bought it for me, but he goes back and forth between AZ and WY a lot with his other trailers, and this will pull those as well as my horse trailer.
Hooked to the trailer it is like a freaking train and I am having to learn how to drive it. Today was my first lesson, and I drove it around town without the trailer. Tomorrow I will pull the trailer around for practice, but then Sat I have some place I want to go with Trax, and I want to be sure I can handle it before I put my horse in there.
Ya know what sucks though....I rarely haul more than one horse at a time though so really it is a lot of truck and trailer to haul around one little old paint....but I'm not gonna complain. There is a couch in that sleeper that folds down to a bed, plus a fridge and a microwave. No potty, but I can get around that.
In other news, I needed to find someone to come and redo Killians shoes. I noticed that his last set seem to be contracting his heels in and I'm not liking it at all. I decided to call the guy that is putting on the trim clinic that I will be going to in April.
It was kind of funny when we talked on the phone because we almost got into an argument about Sassy. I'm not even sure except that the subject came up and he made the mistake of saying he could fix her with shoes.....Um...WRONG ANSWER DUDE! However, since I knew that I wasn't asking him to work on her I didn't have too much to worry about.
He was in the area and so stopped by to assess Big K, and pretty much confirmed what I thought I was seeing. He felt like Killian was wearing a full size smaller than he should have been in. However, he doesn't have much hoof yet and neither of us had time to do the work today so next week he will come and work on him. One thing he did that I have only seen one other farrier do (in Colorado) was look at the whole horse. He looked at his hips, his shoulders, checked for back pain and touchy spots.
He asked if he could look at Sassy. I said sure but made sure he understood that I was not changing my treatment plan at this time. I expected an argument but instead got, "I wouldn't ask you too." He took a peek, pointed out a few things that could use a little change, pointed out some things that looked good, and told me that all in all I was doing a great job with her. Most of what he pointed out was what I suspected but lacked the confidence to do. Some of it I didn't even realize, but he showed me what he was saying, why it was what it was, and showed me how to see it. I wanted to take credit for all the work, but I couldn't because someone else had done a lot of it. But I have been filing on her pretty regular too, and really working on those frogs. The frog changes are all me. If I had left it up to anyone else, they would have just left it. Very soon I will post some pictures of the cracks. You will not believe how much they have changed.
He also looked at Trax and gave me some pointers, all free of charge. I really loved that he encourages owners to get comfortable with maintaining and even doing the work on their own horses. He said, "I'm about the horse. I'd rather see the owner do their own work and do it right than to see them at the mercy of a bad farrier and not even know it."
The last thing he said to me was that by time the clinic comes I won't need to learn too much. I disagree because although I am beginning to understand what it needs to look like, I don't know how to handle the tools (other than the file) to make it happen.
I walked away from our free consult feeling pretty good about things.
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