Because Horses

I was so optimistic two posts ago that Stitch was looking great and we'd be able to start doing all the things again.

But, we all know how horses go. 

Stitch was looking great that weekend. Legit. 

Then things got busy. I did nothing with him on the Tuesday, we went to the obstacle day on the Wednesday, nothing with him on Thursday. On Friday, I popped him in the arena for a loose run. 

And he was wonky in the hind again. 

Cue death spiral on my part. 

That was like two weeks ago? Seems so much longer. 

Stitch is kind of obsessed with the Heel-o-matic cow.

I went back to the strengthening work. Hand walking, backing up a slope, walking over poles, belly lifts. I grabbed my Equicore saddle pad and band but haven't used it yet.

I popped him on the lunge again this weekend, and don't know what I see. He looks good, he's off on the left, he's off on the right, he's off on both, he's head bobbing (after I lunged him I found a spot on a front fetlock where he had skinned himself, so I'm hoping that he had whacked himself because I haven't seen the head bobbing since). His right hind is consistently not tracking up quite as much as the left.

Stitch can apparently read my phone because, like the first time that I messaged the osteopath to set up an appointment and said there was nothing wrong with my horse only to have him lame for the appointment, I had messaged her with a follow-up and said he was looking great and that I wasn't going to bring her back right away but would wait until I had him going for a bit first, and that's when he went lame again. I apparently need to encrypt my texts. 

October is an expensive month with a couple of biggish bills coming up, so he's going to have to wait to see a vet. By which I mean that he'll see a vet for fall vaccinations (one of the upcoming bills) but the lameness check will have to wait. 

I'm going to start tack walking him though. I am a firm believer in movement, and think that there are very few things that do not benefit from walking. 

Tuesday was his first ride in 5 or 6 weeks. The kid was a rock star. He stood rock solid at the mounting block while I faffed about for quite a while. First the mounting block was tippy so I had to move it, then I realized I had put my stirrups on backwards - well, one stirrrup, which I pulled off and then couldn't easily get back on while the saddle was on. Then I jammed too much of my foot into said stirrup which I did not like the feel of, and finally, I got my shit together and hopped aboard. He didn't move a foot the whole time. 

My daily dilemma of which bay horse is mine? Funkey and Stitch have consistently been hanging together. They are both very similar in colour and markings, but have a much different head shape - not easy to see from across the field when they are grazing!

I stayed in the outdoor arena. The downside to tack walking green horses is that getting out of the arena can be a bit, um, worrisome, when they haven't been ridden in ages. I'm really hoping to be brave enough to get out of the arena, as the evenings are getting dark quickly and although the weather has been lovely so far this month, winter is coming very quickly, and we'll be stuck inside again for another six months. 

I did trot one long side to see how it felt. The right front diagonal felt fine, the left front diagonal didn't. Not real bad, but we only did a few steps. That was what I expected to feel.

I might give it through October, and if I don't see improvement then Stitch might just get turned out for a couple of months. The only thing I am wary of about this thought is that we are entering the time of year when the round bale buffet is open 24/7 and the horses don't tend to move around as much. If I have to walk him, I might as well do it from atop.

Working on propane tank status.

Otherwise, the kid has grown and filled out this summer. I measured him at 15.2 1/2, and when I plunked my saddle on the day before I planned to ride him I thought it was looking narrow and sitting high in front. So he is now in the 5U headplate, which is what Mr Propane Tank Cisco generally went in. I believe the 5U is about equivalent to a XXXwide. So yeah, he's filled out.

Obstacle Day

Stitch and I made it out to the newly opened county agricultural facility last Wednesday to take advantage of their open ride obstacles course. The kid got a gold star for his field trip!

When we arrived, the only trailer that was there before us was leaving and I thought we were going to end up there by ourselves. But a couple of ladies arrived while I was inside paying, so Stitch had some buddies to look at. Not that I think he would have been terrible by himself. They went into the arena before we did, and he was by himself in a very open, very large parking area, and he wasn't overly concerned. Mind you, he is a mommy's boy, so if I had tied him to the trailer and walked away it might have been a different story, but I didn't test that theory on the day.

It was a little tough to get a picture that showed most of the obstacles.

He came off the trailer sweaty from head to toe. It wasn't that hot of a day, so it was all nerves. Thus, I didn't get too worried about grooming before we went inside. There are wash racks that I could have used, but I didn't want to wash him and then head into the sand ring - that could be asking for trouble. I don't know what the footing is made up of and didn't want him to roll. He did get hosed off before we left for home though.

I really liked this giant green snake. 

Stitch led quietly through the barn, hesitated for just a moment when presented with the mat covered ramp to get into the holding pen, and walked politely around our first lap of the arena, looking at everything with quiet curiosity. There was definitely lots to look at with all of the obstacles set up!

The first obstacle I chose to do with him was one that he was familiar with - walk over a tarp on the ground. He's done it before (though I don't think recently) so I figured it would be the safest one. To my surprise, about halfway across the tarp he scooted a wee bit into a trot. We just circled around and went back across it, and then once more, and then he was fine with it. 

The second thing we did was also a familiar one - a flag. We have done that recently, so I didn't anticipate any problems, but he was a little concerned about it when I showed it to him. I moved it to his left side and tried to rub him with it and he did a circle around me. Once he stopped I removed the flag, and then he was fine with it all over him.

I'm keeping these reactions in the back of my mind. They were things that were familar to him, but maybe he was a bit overwhelmed at this point, and thus had a worried reaction. It was a very minor reaction, and he got over it very quickly and didn't hold a grudge, so I think it's just something to tuck away in my mind that I might need to give him a bit more time at a new place before asking something difficult for him. 

But really, that was it for big reactions. Which I am very aware were not at all big.

The thing that I thought might be a hard no for him was the box of snakes/water bottles/feed bags as he typically is wary of when the footing is different. He skirted past it on the first approach, and this was the second approach.

We did the squeaky dog toys (which were quite interesting when another rider was doing them across the arena, but were not interesting when in front of Stitch), hula hoops, a giant plush snake, dragged a sled, stood with front feet on a low podium, crossed a wood bridge, wound a maypole, went through a rope gate, hopped over flower boxes, sniffed a giant stuffed bear, walked through the box of water bottles/feed bags/snakes, threw a ball in the air, moved a plastic raincoat, and dragged a parachute. All in-hand only.

One of the other riders had picked up the parachute and had trotted her horse which resulted in a bit of air time for the parachute. I really wanted to make that happen. Unfortunately, my short little legs could not run fast enough for the parachute to lift off the ground, and trotting next to me was when Stitch decided to show a bit of sass and flipped his head a couple of times. I didn't need to end up with another injury this summer so I put it back. We'll try it again next time. 

The riding area is surrounded by pipe corral fencing, and has metal bleachers along one long side. The front walkway of the bleachers is raised, so anyone standing there is about 3' higher than ground level, which also puts them well above the horse's heads. Not to mention that metal bleachers are loud when someone is walking on them. This can be quite disconcerting for some horses. 

Dragging a sled. I did similar earlier this summer with a tarp, so this wasn't Stitch's first exposure to something dragging next to him. 

My mom had come along with me (someone has to video) so she became my desensitizer for Stitch. He was initially a little concerned about a human being above him, but that quickly changed when said human issued treats. I had her progressively increase her stompiness across the metal walkway, away and towards the horse, and Stitch decided that noisy humans were awesome because they would stuff cookies into his mouth through the fence.

This skinny bridge will be my nemesis.

The only obstacles that I couldn't get him to do were the raised podium and the narrow bridge. I just couldn't keep him straight enough, and Stitch couldn't figure out that he needed to take a small step onto them, not the giant step that took him across them. I'll have to find some ways to practice them at home. He was being such a good boy for everything else that it wasn't worth picking a fight to make those happen.

This is fairly typical as to how Stitch reacts when presented with something new. He stops close to it, gives it the hairy eyeball, gives in and sniffs it, and then it's all good. 

The footing in the arena felt really good under my feet, and according to the other two riders it felt amazing to ride on. The staff were very friendly and welcoming, and open to other ideas for themed open rides. They currently also have jumping and barrel racing days scheduled. The facility is set up to be able to do some activities with livestock (cattle), but it would probably require someone else to provide them. Free rides cost $21 per horse, and you can stay all day if you want, though we were only there for a little over an hour.

It was a very positive day. I was very happy with how Stitch handled himself, and I am very happy with how his brain works. We will definitely be going back, hopefully with the chance to ride some of the obstacles next time!

Experiment 626

When I got Stitch last year, I had no intention of changing his name. I love horses with big personalities, and hoped that Stitch would be lovable and chaotic like his animated namesake. 

He's definitely lovable.

And chaotic.

I was dragging him around while trying to set up some raised poles to walk him over. Every single block had to be knocked over and tasted. Multiple times. When I was adjusting the width of the poles he picked one up in his mouth and moved it to the other block.

This happens every time I set up pylons, rail risers or the blocks. I haven't had a need to use jump standards yet, so I don't know if they are safe, but I'm pretty sure they'll be checked for tastiness.

Looks like I got just what I wanted.

Getting Better

I haven't really been able to do much with Stitch since his osteopath appointment last week. That appointment came in the middle of a heat wave (our only one of the summer this year) which was immediately followed by air quality warnings.

I bought the nebulizer knowing that it would get use every summer due to forest fire smoke. 

What I have been doing has been focusing on strengthening work at a walk. Raised poles and backing up have been happening on the regular. I even found a slope that works perfectly for backing up a hill - not an easy exercise to make work out here on the flat prairies. 

Stitch loves the poles, as I knew he would, but isn't as happy with the backing up a hill, although when cookies are presented he seems much more willing to march backwards.

I've popped him in the arena a couple of times to see him do a quick trot and thought he was looking better, but still not where I wanted him to be. 

On Saturday I put him on the lunge for the first time. He started out moving evenly behind, but kind of tight and not pushing from behind. Someone else was in the arena and agreed with my assessment of how he was moving. 

I didn't plan to do much with him, but I wanted to see if he got better with a bit of movement. After some transitions he started moving forward more and loosened up behind . He picked up both canter leads easily and had a relaxed canter. 

And then he big time stumbled behind on the last canter to trot transition. I admit I sucked in my breath.

Stitch typically has one hind end stumble every time I lunge him, so I'm trying not to read too much into this one. He hasn't been doing it under saddle, so I'm chalking it up to loose unfit young horse issues. But I cringe inside every time I see it. 

The plan for the next week is to continue with the hand walking/poles/backing up, hopefully mostly outside, and lunge every second day. I'm also thinking of bringing out the Equibands and adding at least the abdominal band for our hand walks. If he continues to look better I'll hop on him in another week or so and see how he feels.

We're also set to be able to attend the obstacles day at the new county-run facility in the middle of the week. I'll just do them in-hand, but it will be a good experience for Stitch. I may or may not have a friend meeting me there with her horses - she won't know if she is working until the day of. So there is a possibility that I arrive with Stitch and he is the only horse there, and I don't know how he'll deal with that. I guess we'll find out!