Stitch the Explorer

I kind of had an extension to last week's vacation with Monday and Tuesday off. I had taken Monday off due to a medical appointment in the morning that I was unsure as to how long it would be. Welp, it was cancelled that morning as the person I was to see wasn't able to come in that morning. Unfortunately, I didn't find out until I arrived for the appointment at 10:30. They had called me and left a voicemail, but my phone was still on vacation mode and was on Do Not Disturb so I didn't get the message. No worries, it was rescheduled for next Monday, and it got me out and about for the day.

After making a stop to get the rock chip on my windshield that I picked up last Friday sealed, I arrived at the barn around noon to get a ride in. 

The night before, I finally had a free arena to let Stitch have a run in. I really thought he would want to be silly, but no, he really didn't. Not sure if it was because he was looking a bit uncomfortable behind again. I didn't push it, and instead worked on teaching him to pick up a jolly ball in his mouth. He's very mouthy and I think being rewarded for picking things up will be something he enjoys.

So on Monday's ride, we just walked. But I had put my big girl panties on, and after we spent about 15 minutes in the outdoor ring, we left it to explore. 

There are open fields that the horses (and cows) have been moved from. I have only been out for a walk in them once with Stitch, with a small group of riders, where he power walked and led the whole way around. 

At the moment, there are two open small fields and a large field at the back. I want to go out with someone else into the large field when we first go out, it's the furthest away from the barn and has lots of trees for things to jump out of bordering it. 

Of the two smaller fields, one is Stitch's winter field that the geldings will be moving back to shortly, and the other one borders the field where he currently lives. 

The geldings have a habit of following us along the fenceline when I take Stitch to do his uphill back-up's, so I was concerned that they might run the fence if we walked in that field, which would probably cause Stitch to do something silly. And you never know how your horse will react to being ridden in their turnout field, which is the place that they get to run and play freely.

On Monday, we tackled the field next to his friends. Stitch was super. He stayed at the walk, with his nose stuck out on a long rein. I don't trust him enough to let him have a loose rein, but he's almost at the end of my cob-sized reins and on a light contact. 

I was debating going into the winter field, but then realized that there was a combine harvester working in the field on the other side of the trees, and I probably shouldn't push my luck.

But on Tuesday, that is where we went. We did only one lap of the outdoor arena before heading out. He perked up as soon as we entered the field, but responded really well to my reminders that I was on his back and he was just to walk. 

He's been getting much braver in our walks around the yard. We had to pass the paddle boards and boat that are next to the pond, which he hasn't seen for a few weeks, and he was wary of them, but kept walking forward and just moved a bit more to the side to give them some space. When we passed them again from the other direction he barely gave them the side-eye.

On Tuesday we did about 20 minutes of exploring and then I took him back into the outdoor arena to try a trot. On the lap at a walk we did before trotting he kept stopping and actually standing still, neither of which is normal for him. I couldn't figure out if he was wanting to pee or if he thought he was done. But we got to the long side, and he picked up a very big and bouncy trot - that felt pretty good. Well, it felt even. It did not feel good getting bounced up high with every stride! But I was happy for the forward - he seems to want to suck back when the wonkiness is present.

We just did two long sides of those big bouncy trots and called it a day. 

So now I'm hoping that I'm on the right track and the walking is being beneficial. Maybe the longer warmup and the bigger walk that he does walking outside the ring is helping loosen him up. 

Or maybe it's because I made another appointment with the osteopath for two weeks from now. 

It's probably because of that. 

A Little Bluster

Stitch's second walk ride of the week was on a rather blustery Friday. I'd much rather ride outside than inside, partly because the outdoor ring is much larger, mostly because we will very quickly be stuck inside for six months. If I head out straight from work for the next couple of weeks I should be able to ride outside before it gets too dark, but not for much longer.

I had to decide if I wanted to take the safe option and ride inside, or put my big girl panties on and ride outside. Someone else was riding outside so I sucked it up and went out.

And again, Stitch was perfect. 

I've wanted a real sheepskin seat saver for ages. A local place that sells sheepskin of all types had these fancy seat savers on sale so I had to grab one. I love the pattern! angusoliversheepskins.com

He had done a couple of tiny spooks when I brought him in so I was a little worried that he would find something in either the trees next to the ring or the leaves blowing across the sand to be silly about. But he was solid. 

He was so good that we did 25 minutes in the ring and then went for a walk outside it. I wasn't brave enough to head out into the back fields by ourselves, but figured there would be enough to spook at just walking to the front of the barn and down the tree-lined driveway. 

He didn't spook at the flapping crazy carpet on the fence used to prevent a mare from nosing all her hay through it, didn't spook at any of the trees, and seemingly would have been happy to continue down the road when we got to the end of the driveway. I didn't want to push my luck.

I guess it's time to tackle the mane again.

This ride was all walk except four long sides at trot, mostly because he was getting a bit stuck in the walk and needed a bit of forward. I did the first two to the right, which is the diagonal that felt wonky last ride, but felt fine on this ride. The two long sides to the left were the posting diagonal that felt nqr on this day. Not sure if that one felt worse because I went the other way first or if it was actually the worse direction.

So, no change from what I was seeing on the lunge. 

Sigh.

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!

Caught

When I picked up Stitch in April of 2024, his previous owner told me that he can sometimes be silly about being caught. Sure enough, when I took him home he was very wary of strangers - which included me - and did the thing where they walk just enough ahead of you that you can't get the rope over the neck. When he would stop and let me approach, I always had to go to his shoulder first and put the rope over his neck before putting the halter over his nose or he would leave again.

I always had a treat with me, that he would get once the halter was on. When I had time, I'd go back out a second or third time that day, put the halter on, give him his treat, walk a couple of steps and then remove the halter and release him. 

About 6 weeks in he started coming towards me when I went out to get him. 

Then he started to come to the gate when I called him.

All winter, he would meet me at the gate when he saw my headlight in the dark.

We had a few weeks this spring when I was apparently in Stitch's bad book after catching and leading him to the vet who rudely jabbed him while in the sanctity of his field, and he was back to the walking just a bit ahead of me, so I started to give him a treat again once haltered. I hadn't been doing that consistently since the fall.

I was forgiven after a few weeks and he went back to reliably walking across the field to me when I called him.

This summer, I added another element to our routine. As Stitch is walking to me, I turn around and put my back to him, hold the halter open to the side of me, and he comes up,  reaches his head through my arms and places his nose into his halter.

It only took about 4 or 5 days for him to figure it out, with a cookie reward as an incentive.

I have tried multiple times this summer to get it on video, and something always seemed to go wrong with my phone. But I finally got it yesterday, by propping my phone up on the ground under the gate. It's not the best video, but better than nothing.

Well Adjusted

Stitch had his osteopath appointment yesterday. Overall, he was pretty good, although he was losing patience by the end. The kid has the attention span of a gnat these days when he isn't getting worked.

I told her that I had jinxed myself when I made the appointment and said there was nothing wrong with my horse. He heard she was  coming and has been lame behind for the last two weeks. Initially, I was sure it was the right hind, but the last couple of times I've popped him quickly on the lunge I've been thinking the left hind was also looking wonky. He doesn't look as bad on a straight line as he does on a circle. 

She got right to work and found that his sacrum wasn't even. I'm sure I'm going to get this wrong, but I believe it was that his left side was tilted up and his right was tilted down, and the illium was jammed the opposite way that it should have been, and that his L6 was stuck in extension because of it. 

Or something like that. 

She found him to be stiffer on the left, which ties in with me seeing him off on the left the last few days. I asked if this all would tie-in with a slip and she said it's the kind of injury she sees after a trauma.

Everywhere else in his body was great though. Some good news at least!

She worked some hopeful magic and is optimistic that his sacrum area is no big deal. Stitch is to have 3 to 5 days off with handwalking and then see what he looks like. She said she usually schedules a follow-up appointment for 30 days later, but if he comes round in the next couple of weeks she doesn't need to come back.

So fingers crossed that she is a miracle worker!

If he isn't looking significantly better by mid-September I'll get him booked in at the vet clinic. Based on how long my knee has been taking to heal, I'm comfortable giving him time for a soft tissue injury to feel better. 

He went back into the field right after his appointment, only to be hauled back in a couple of hours later for a training opportunity I couldn't pass up.

Stitch got to meet the mechanical cow.

For those horse people who have never been around horses trained on cattle, this stuffed cow is attached to a wire system that is stretched along a side of the arena. At a previous barn, it was permanently along a long side and was controlled by a human on something similar to an exercise bike that was pedalled forward or backwards to control the direction of the cow. That cow was red and called Buford.

This barn has a fancy version that is operated wirelessly by a button held in the human's hand. It's not up all the time- this was the first time I have seen it set up in the arena, and it's sized to be set up along a short side of the ring. Thus it has to be pulled down and put away when not in use so that no one clotheslines themself or their horse. I don't know if the cow has a name.

Whenever I saw it used in the past it was for cutting horses to practice with. The barn owner today was planning on just getting her horse used to the motion - she has plans to do some sorting or penning, not cutting. 

I could not turn down the opportunity to torture expose my horse to something new. I didn't think he'd lose his shit over it - he loves the cow roping dummy that gets pulled behind the quad. But this one moves faster, the clips jingle, it bounces when it stops, and the wire make a whirring noise when it moves, so who knows how he would react. Especially after I spent 20 minutes leading another horse around the arena who went into full dragon mode as soon as she set foot in the arena and spotted the cow. I didn't even get to the move the cow part with her, we ended when she could walk about 20 feet past it and not threaten to run me over.

Stitch walked into the arena, straight towards it, and stopped about 4 feet away with a "that's different" look on his face. When he got a cookie for taking another step forward he was all "I like this game". 

He never got close enough to it to put his nose on it - I probably could have got him there pretty easily, but he didn't need to be that close to it or the wires.  I thinked we walked past it once each direction and then I started moving it. 

Stitch kept his eye on it, but more in a "hey, that's neat" kind of way. He had no problem standing and watching the cow or walking behind or past it while it was moving. We were in and out within 15 minutes.

I was very glad that I went back out into what is possibly the hottest day of the year to drag my horse in from the field to see his reaction (or lack thereof) to the mechanical cow. Next time, maybe I'll try to ride him past it. 

Photo Dump

I've been having problems with Blogger wanting to add pictures to my blog posts recently, so here's a post with all the pics for the last few weeks.

The county next to the major city I live in has one of the highest horse densities in all of Canada (it used to be the highest, don't know if it still is). For years, and I'm talking like two decades, there has been talk of the county building an arena to support the agricultural part of the community. After some design changes and budget increases due to Covid, it has finally come to fruition. The grand opening was this weekend and they had an open house that seemed to be very well attended. When not booked for events, it's open for riding at the reasonable price of $20. They have some open ride days scheduled for specific activities like barrel racing or jumping, and two days of obstacles scheduled for September. I'd really like to take Stitch for one of those days, just to do in-hand obstacles if he's still a bit off behind.

I took one of my students to a schooling show on Sunday. I picked my trailer up at my barn on Saturday night so that I wouldn't have to go there first before heading to my old barn where she rides. I checked my lights before leaving, as one should, and the left signal light on the trailer wasn't working. I spent 40 minutes trying to get it to work, cleaning the connections, plugging and unplugging, looking for the dielectric grease I know I own but couldn't find. I decided to remove the plate and make sure the light bulbs seemed ok as a last ditch effort. When I pulled them out, they looked pretty good, but maybe a wee bit dusty, so figured I might as well clean the connecting end off before reseating them. To my complete surprise, that did the trick and they worked! 

I finally had a Saturday afternoon free and was able to take a free introduction to leather stitching class at Tandy leather. I've wanted to for a long time but the class is always either full or running at a time that doesn't work for me. We made a leather keychain using a saddle stitch, and I asked to be shown how to do this cross stitch so that I can repair the sleeves that go over the buckles on my webber style stirrup leathers. I now have to decide if I want to bite the bullet and spend a couple of hundred dollars on tools to do some stuff at home.

Stitch still loves to stare at himself in the arena mirrors.

The barn got hit hard last weekend with a two nights in a row of intense rain. This was the second night. I had Stitch in, and a barnmate had just taken her horse out and said that a storm was coming. I asked if I'd have 15 minutes before it hit and she didn't think so, so I rushed to get Stitch out. There was a continuous roll of thunder while I was outside, but the rain held off until I made it back to the barn. It poured, it hailed, it was a constant light show of lightning across the sky. I was going to driving into it if I went home, so I just waited it out for a bit before heading out. A week later and the outdoor arenas are still not open due to wetness.

I don't know how many times I've tried to video something recently, only to discover after the thing that the video didn't actually record. I finally got my Pivo X mostly figured out, and managed to actually record my ride and not just the roof rafters. 

A couple of weeks ago I perused the local consignment tack stores website. They moved a few years ago to a location that is very inconvenient for me to get to and are only open a couple days a week, so I seldom bother to check out their offerings. They had a Neue Schule bit on their website for a ridiculous cheap price, so I checked out the rest of the site and made the effort to get there. Unfortunately, they didn't actually have the bit, but I picked up this new with a sticker label still on it Curvon Baker sheet for only $33. Do I already have the exact same sheet in the exact same size? Yep. And have any of my horses actually worn a sheet in the last 15 years? Nope. But I could not pass up a $33 Baker. Luv that classic plaid!

It was a couple of weeks late, but Stitch finally got his birthday pony popsicle. Which he promptly dumped out of the dish because he couldn't chew into the frozen chunk fast enough. The floor was a wee bit juicy afterwards, mostly due to apple juice slobber. But he very much enjoyed it.

 Right around the same time that Stitch went lame behind, a splint appeared on his right front. Coincidence?

Whomp Whomp

There hasn't been too much happening out here on the western Canadian prairies since my last post. 

I've been managing a couple of rides per week, at a walk and trot. The good news is that my leg has been feeling pretty good during and after a ride - other than consistently twinging it while pushing off that leg from the mounting block while getting on. The bad news is that more often than not it's still a bit achy at the end of the day after putting 20,000 steps on it most days (well, 10,000 on each leg to be accurate). Not nearly as bad as it was through June and July, but enough to make me just not want to ride. The progress is slower than I would like, but it is still progress.

Stitch has been a good boy with the intermittent rides. One of the things that I wanted to work on during these slow rides was being able to get some flexion but not falling in onto the shoulder just because his nose was a couple of inches to the inside. The left is more of a struggle than the right, but at a walk it's been coming along nicely. The trot, not so much. 

We've also been working on keeping a bit of shape through the walk/trot transition. He's so close to getting it consistently, but still loses his balance in the last bit before picking up the trot. I generally get a couple of good efforts per ride though, and I know it'll get better and better.

Not for a couple of weeks though - Stitch came up a bit off a few days ago.

When I brought him in, I noticed that every time we stopped he rested his right hind. I popped him on the lunge and he was definitely off on that hind when it was on the outside of the circle. Not crazy off, but for sure was not right. 

With him wanting to always keep that heel off the ground, I thought that maybe an abscess was brewing. I made sure to bring out the pack of diapers I have for this occasion the next day, and he hasn't held that leg up since. Go figure.  

I also found out that the day he came in lame some of the geldings had been playing Black Stallion, on a day that was very wet and rainy. The person who told me that wasn't sure what horse she saw rearing with her horse across the field, so I'm not certain that it was Stitch, but I'm sure he would have been involved at some point. 

Today (which was actually Sunday) on the lunge I couldn't decide if he still looked off or not. So it is getting better. The plan was to give him a few more days off and hop on mid-week to see how he feels, but I realized today that Thursday through Sunday are all booked up with stuff and I won't be able to ride until the Monday after that weekend, so I might as well just give him the extra few days off. Other than some exercise on Wednesday to make sure his brain is settled for Thursday's farrier appointment. The young horse still needs that. 

We're still toodling along, slowly but surely. 

(Sorry about no pictures - Blogger has been difficult to work with lately and I don't feel like fighting with it. This post already sat for 4 days, so it's now with no pics or never.)

Walkabout

It's been a tough couple of weeks - the perimenopausal hormones have been hitting hard of late. I've been very tired and full of just don't wanna feelings. Stitch only got ridden once last week, despite me being out almost every other day. I just had zero energy to get tacked up, and my leg was still hurting just enough that I had little incentive.

But so far this week, I've ridden two days - and we're only two days into the week! Much to Stitch's dismay. 

I've discovered that Stitch loves to eat the tops off of the flowering plants.

That'll probably be it until the end of the week though. The main reason I rode back-to-back days is because it's supposed to get rather warm during the middle of the week, and this way I wouldn't have to ride during the heat. 

For these two rides we rode outside. The indoor is under some construction - the kick walls are being replaced along one short end and one long side, so the riding space is smaller than usual due to being blocked off for the construction. We've had a little bit of rain so the footing is just perfect outside.

I hadn't ridden Stitch in the outdoor since the end of April, which veered on being a bit more exciting than desired. He has been in there multiple time since, but is definitely more up out there than when he is inside. 

Dexter seems to spend most of his summer hunting in the tall grass, and scared the crap out of Stitch when we were hand grazing.

I am still wanting to keep my rides very boring for my knee's sake, so I was a little unsure about getting out there again, but decided it was time to bite the bullet and just do it.

And, to no surprise, Stitch was wonderful.

Sunday's ride was pretty boring - lots of walking and about a lap and half of trot each way. He threatened a couple of times to spook at blowing branches but it was mostly just a startle. 

Monday's ride in the outdoor ring was much the same - but then I put my big girl panties on and we left the ring to walk around the property.

All was forgiven though.

Stitch has been led around the property multiple times. He's quite brave when I'm in front of him, but not nearly as brave when I'm on top of him. He's quite observant and sees everything. His go-to when worried is to stop and give it the hairy eyeball, but if it doesn't jump at him he'll probably walk past it. 

The things that he noted on tonight's ride that he had a good look at but walked past while keeping an eye on it were: the round bale with a moisture tester sticking out of the top of it, the open side of the wood mounting block in the grass arena that we'd never been in before, and the large patch of some sort of purple flower left intact for the pollinators in one end of the mown grass arena.

I got really brave and decided to try the wood bridges, which he has been led over many times without a care in the world, but never been ridden over. He stopped for a milli-second at the first bridge, then took a tentative step, and then was confident to the end. The second bridge was even better. (I didn't try the third bridge, which is where he always gets spooked by ducks suddenly taking off.)

This was really good for him. I didn't intend for it to take this long to get him out and about, but with my knee injury this summer hasn't gone to plan at all. Hopefully, he'll start to relax and stop holding his breath out there!

Let's Try This Again

 Last week was the first week in a month that my leg wasn't super achy at the end of the day. It wasn't just the sprained knee, but the calf and ankle that just ached. It just wasn't comfortable enough to consider getting back in the saddle until last week, but since I'm off this week I decided to wait until now to get back on just in case my leg wasn't happy about it and I would need to recoup afterwards.

For the last month, Stitch has been enjoying being out in the summer pasture with his friends and not really having to do much. The grass has apparently been of benefit to him as I think he's growing yet again. I took his fly sheet off for the farrier last week and had to take a double look at his butt to wither height. I know he was level for a while because people had commented on it; it wasn't a figment of my imagination!

The mirror doesn't lie.

Otherwise, I put him in the arena for a run or a lunge weekly, do a little bit of groundwork, and try to find something easy but useful to work on with him. This included getting hosed off (not his favourite thing), getting his tail washed for the first time, and getting his fetlocks clipped for the first time. I'm regretting the fetlocks. When he is a twit about getting his feet picked up, the fallback way of doing it is to pull on the fetlock hair (which I suspect is how his previous owner trained him). When he does the cha-cha or straight legs it when asked to pick up his foot, I don't have that fetlock to grab onto anymore. I might let that grow back in.

Definitely not Stitch and I! The Lord Strathcona's Horse of the Canadian Military, which are based in my city, are currently in London, England, and standing guard over Buckingham Palace. They have a musical ride that performs at various events including Spruce Meadows, so are used to be on horseback. This soldier is Sam, the boyfriend of a lady who used to ride at my barn. I asked her if they were riding Canadian or British horses while over there, and her response: "They are on the King's Guard horses. I'm told they are "bigger and spicier" than the QH crosses they are used to here in Canada, haha." Pretty cool!

Last Thursday I put him in the outdoor arena for a free lunge. When I had arrived, someone was lamenting to me about how one of the mares from the pasture next to the geldings had been moved to another paddock and how her gelding had had feelings about that that he expressed in the way of equine interpretative dance.

Stitch didn't seem to have any cares about the missing lady horse. In the outdoor, I chased him out of the first grassy corner, then the second corner. As he approached the third corner, which has tall upright slats to mostly close it off from the horses on the other side, he gave the studdy low whicker to the horse on the other side of the fence. That's interesting, I thought. 

That horse was apparently the missing mare. And she played the damsel in distress card. 

Stitch didn't go full on macho mode, but he did put out the most energy I've seen him put out so far. Laps and laps and laps of canter. Not frantic or anything, just enthusiastic. And vocal.

Sound up to hear his very not-macho whinneys.

This totally surprised me - this is the horse who canters half of the arena when free and is all "I'm good, thanks". Guess I don't have to feel bad for him and can start putting him to work!

Thus, when I hopped on him for the first time in a while on Monday, he had zero desire to be silly and was a total gentleman.

The "why aren't cookies being shoved in my face?" look.

I did a whole 15 minutes of walk with one longside trot. When my right leg was the dominant leg asking for inside bend, I felt it. The trot was just to test my leg out - it was fine for the rising trot, although I was smart and went to the left so that I wouldn't have to use it for much steering.

I was worried about getting off more than getting on, but it was actually getting on that twinged it a bit. The action of the hop/push up with my right leg off of the mounting block was what hurt the most. 

Fifteen minutes was definitely enough. It was a bit achy afterwards, and I put an ice pack and tens machine on it when I got home. The good news is that it felt fine the morning afterwards, so I didn't do any damage to it.

I'm going to stick with 15 minutes every second day for a bit. And I guess I need to start doing some squats. Blech.

Field Trip

My knee has been slowly getting better. It still isn't so much the knee that is the problem but the calf muscle. It's been very achy from below my knee to my ankle, with the aches changing through the day. I am, of course, probably putting too many miles on it, but I promise I am trying to take it easy whenever I can.

Cows showed up the day before the horses were moved into the new pasture. I made sure Stitch remembered that he had previously lived with cows and knew that they weren't going to eat him so that he behaved when someone else led him past them to the pasture.

I am hoping to be back in the saddle during my next week off in mid-July, even if it's just for a few minutes at a walk for the first bit. I'm not too worried about getting on - it will be the getting off that's tricky. I'm not very good at lining myself up with the mounting block when getting off, and always seem to only get part of my foot on the step and end up stumbling to the ground.

Moo cows.

Stitch has been enjoying his time off. His group moved to a summer pasture with grass to graze. It's a further trek out from the barn, which has kinda sucked with an achy leg at the end of the day, but I've been lucky so far in that I've only once had to traipse across the field to catch him. Every other time the horses have been up by the gate when I arrived.

He's back to walking up to me - I may have been showing up with treats for the last few weeks. He is now sporting the circus tent fly sheet, partly because of bugs in the grass, but mostly so that I can spot him easier in the group of bay horses.  

We haven't really done much of value (except getting used to the wash rack - he got his tail washed for the first time today). But we did get away for our first field trip - a visit to the vet clinic for teeth floating.

What's going on?

Stitch loaded up pretty nicely - he stalled at the end of the ramp and I had to pick up the whip, but it just took a couple of taps and he was on. It was about an hours drive to the clinic. When we arrived he was worried and a little bit sweaty, but stood quietly while I sat in the doorway waiting for our turn. The clinic prefers that the horses stay loaded until they are ready for them. 

He unloaded very nicely, led into the clinic with his eyes bugging, and was good to sedate and put into the stock. He is way more of a lightweight than Phantom ever was, so it only took the initial dose of sedative, and a few minutes later he was done! No need to walk the sedation off in the parking lot for an hour before trailering home! Amazing! (I also got to watch a bit of surgery on a horse that looked like it was getting something done on its fetlock. Sadly, Stitch was too well behaved and I didn't get to see much more than the first few cuts and a lot of blood before he was ready to go outside.)

Eyes not quite all the way open.

So sleepy.

Stitch loaded up even better for the trip home (the drugs might have helped). We arrived home and unloaded and he was very happy to realize that he was going back out to the pasture with his friends. I suspect that the last few times he's been trailered were times that he moved to new homes, so it was good for him to leave and come home on the same day.

He had a few sharp points so he should be looked at again in another 6 months. No other concerns were noted - his adult teeth in the back have all erupted, his lower canines are just below the surface, and he still has his little baby teefs in the front - all normal for his age. The vet said that at his age his teeth are changing so much that needing to be done every 6 months is pretty common. 

I was super happy with him, he was very easy to handle away from home. I wasn't anticipating problems based on how he stepped off the trailer when I got him and when we moved earlier this year, but you never know how it will go as they get bigger and stronger. 

 

Stall Rest

I am on stall rest this week. 

I hate stall rest. For me and for the horses.

I made it out to the barn on Sunday with my mom helping me by doing all the horse leading. My leg wasn't feeling too bad, the knee was mostly fine and the cramp in my calf felt better with some movement. I was out there for at most 1.5 hours, and otherwise spent the day sitting on my butt. 

Stitch is looking mighty fine at the moment.

Come Monday morning, the cramp was fully back, and maybe even a little worse, so I took myself to a walk-in clinic to see a doctor.

I got my hand slapped. 

Basically, I sprained both my knee and my calf. The knee doesn't appear to have suffered any significant damage, there is no pain in it, just weakness. He was much more concerned about potential compartment syndrome in my calf. 

So I am to do as little walking as possible for three days, keep my leg up, ice it a whole bunch, and take a stronger anti-inflammatory for 5 days (with a refill if needed). When I go back to work next week I need to try to ice it every hour, and I'm not supposed to add additional walking until the following week. Then, I can decide about physio.

So yeah, not going to be riding for a bit.

Oh well, fall is always my favorite time to ride.

I'll come up with a plan for Stitch next week. I'm not sure how long it's going to take to get some strength back that I would feel comfortable doing much while attached to him (like lunging or long lining). His group goes out on grass in July and I'd like to find something I can do to keep him moving.

In Which Stitch Gets Another Vacation

 Everything worked out this week and I managed to get a few rides on Stitch. 

After his little vacation his balance isn't feeling as good. Not sure if it is because of his growth (which wasn't really that much, though he's starting to fill out now), or lack of strength, but I figure our 2-3 days a week of walk/trot won't be any issue.  The plan was to be able to start cantering in June, but there's been a bit of a curveball thrown into my plans.

I kinda, sorta, had my first fall off of Stitch. 

Really, it was more of an unplanned bail. 

But, it kinda messed up my leg. I definitely won't be riding for a bit. 

The ride itself was fine - his balance at the trot was getting better through the ride with lots of easy changes of direction.

Someone had left the exercise ball on the arena surface before I entered the arena, and I was letting Stitch kick it during our walk breaks. He's done it lots of times when I was on the ground; this was the first time we were doing it under saddle. He seemed to enjoy it, there were lots of good kicks.

I presented him to the ball on what was going to legitimately be the last time before hopping off.  Instead of kicking the ball, he decided to kneel on it. With both front legs. In a very unbalanced fashion.

Stitch's front end disappeared in front of me. There was a moment of is he going to go down all the way, at which point the possibility of me getting chucked over his head and getting badly hurt became likely, so I opted to quickly bail off the left side of him.

Because he was basically standing still, for a moment I thought I was going to stick the landing - until I felt my right knee pop while still in the air. Out of the corner of my eye that leg seemed to bend from the knee at an angle it isn't supposed to bend. 

I think I hit the ground first with my left leg and then fell back mostly on my butt and immediately said "I've hurt my knee".

Much thanks to the multiple people who were at the barn that night and took care of my horse (who may have been slightly traumatised by this) and helped me through my body's involuntary reaction of wanting to pass out or vomit that always happens when I have a sudden sharp pain. Once that cleared I hobbled around the barn with an ice boot wrapped around my leg until my parents came to drive me and my car home. I probably could have driven, but I knew it would stiffen up by the time I made it back into the city and didn't want to risk not being able to move it quickly to brake if needed.

I'm quite certain it's just a sprained knee, and honestly don't even think it's that bad. There's actually very little pain in the knee for the most part - unless I take a wonky step on an uneven surface. The biggest problem today (Saturday, it happened Thursday evening) is that everything else in my leg has tightened up, and I have a giant knot in my calf that tightens up every time I sit down and makes walking very uncomfortable. 

I had to work on Friday, and honestly spent too much time on my feet, which is probably part of the reason it's so tight today, but now I'm off for the next week so can rest it - though I have many things I need to get done. I was planning on trailering Stitch over to the vet clinic on Wednesday to get his teeth floated, but if there isn't significant improvement by Monday I might have to delay it. He's not a perfect loader yet so if I have no strength in my leg I might get into some trouble. Not to mention the drive, which would mean sitting for about 2.5 hours and stiffening up each time. 

The last time I sprained my knee, about 12-15 years ago from falling off Phantom twice over the same jump at a clinic, I was back in the saddle a week later - and realized right away it was the wrong decision. I think I tried again another week later, and then ended up having a bit of a forced break when my dad ended up in hospital for a week, so it was really at least three weeks before I was able to ride - on a reliable, broke horse. Which does not describe Stitch. (Reliable, yes - he's been good, but nowhere near steady enough at the moment.)

So far, I don't think this sprain is as bad as that one was, but the next few days will tell. In the meantime, my massage gun, and the tens machine and diclofenac that I had gotten for last year's torn rotator cuff will be getting lots of use. 

And Stitch will be getting fat.

It Didn't Happen

In what should be no surprise at all, I did not manage to get my horse ridden this weekend. 

I legitimately tried - I was dressed, had grabbed half of my tack with my grooming kit, brought Stitch in and inspected his sides for the new bites that showed up overnight - and initially missed the one on his back. Right where the saddle would end. Which was tender to pressure.

I found it as I was grooming, thankfully well before I threw a saddle on. 

Instead, we worked on lining up at the mounting block as a refresher, went for a walk around the pond (during which I almost died when he spooked at ducks that flew off right next to us), and then I needed to stay inside because the sun came out and it got hot which I wasn't dressed for so Stitch got his mane tidied up.

Stitch recovered quickly from the duck incident. My foot, not so much.

The hope is that 48 hours will be enough time for Stitch to become non-reactive to the scrape so that I can try again on Monday. If he happens to come in with more marks on his back, his suit of armor will have to go on. I try to keep the fly sheet off until the flies actually get bad, which is usually more like July, but am willing to make him wear it earlier if needed.

The Last Month

Yet again, I've fallen off the blog-wagon. Not that there is much to blog about. 

Stitch has been, for the most part, on vacation for almost a month. The first couple weeks weren't planned as such - he got his vaccinations and had a bit of a lump on his neck, then the next week I think my body was fighting off something because I was absolutely exhausted all week and ended up with a hoarse voice at the end.

Turns out my horse doesn't mind getting his feet wet if it's his idea and not mine.

That weekend I noticed the swoop that his back gets when he's in a growth spurt. When I went out to catch him the next day and saw a horse across the field and thought to myself  "whose horse has such a pointy butt" and realized it was mine I decided he could have a couple more weeks off. 

I swear his back changed shape every day over a couple of weeks.

His butt is looking a bit less swoopy, but now his shoulders are looking like they're jammed up against his withers. Last week, on the lunge, his canter was the chest down quarter horse version, a couple of days later it was much better balanced. One thing that has changed of late is that he has been a bit tougher to get the right lead on the lunge, which has always been his stronger side. I'm trying very hard to not go all "my baby horse is permanently broken" about it. 

I got myself a 3d printer for Christmas. This magnet, which started as a picture of Stitch that I had Chat GPT make into a Pixar movie scene, is on the white board of my tack locker.

Do you see the resemblance?

Good news is that as of this week his balance has gotten better and he can quite capably gallop a balanced circle on the wrong lead on the lunge. He even threw in a couple of changes to get on the right one, before tucking his butt underneath him and showing that he might actually have some athletic moves in him. Oh yay.

In an effort to work on Stitch's posture I've been working with the Surefoot pads with him. They aren't new to him, I've introduced them to him many times over the last year, but he's never wanted to have anything to do with them. You would think his feet have eyes in them based on how adept he is on not actually placing his foot on the pad when I put his foot down.

For some reason though, the last couple of weeks he's changed and is enjoying them. Not to the extent that Phantom and Cisco did, but he's letting me place his foot on a pad and has a few moments per session of allowing himself to have all the feels. I've noticed that he is much more comfortable standing with the left front on a pad than the right, and has a hard time staying on the right front if I pick up any other foot. Don't know what it means, just something to note.

Feeling very zen. Maybe the lines in the sand are helping?

Something else we've been working on is standing untied in the crosstie area. At the beginning of winter, my goal for the season was to work on ground tying with him. But then we moved to the new barn, and he had that period of barging out of the crossties, so that kind of got put aside. But Stitch has been much better of late - still paws, but much less, and has been quite good about standing in the area and waiting when I unclip the ties. 

This will be a process. I've discovered that he initially is good, but then he looks for something to do. I'm having the same problem under saddle with him when practicing parking. He'll stand nicely for a few seconds, then starts looking back at me like he's saying "helloooo - why aren't we doing something? We should be doing something." Very ADHD brain. 

The horses will move onto grass in July. I'm starting to do some hand grazing in preparation. I hate hand grazing - it's one of my least favourite horse things to do. 

The crossties have a rubber mat in the stall area, then a small gap of cement, then there's another mat in the aisle in front. The plan is that he has to keep his toes on the mat in the stall. He's kind of got the idea, and is now sometimes self-correcting with a voice aid from me if his toe steps off the mat, but it's hard for a busy brain to not let the feet move. I'm not expecting miracles and thinking I'll be able to leave him untied while I run to the washroom or anything, I just want to be able to turn my back for a few seconds to grab something across the aisle and not have to go running after my horse. 

I'm hoping to hop back on him this weekend and do a few more weeks of slow work until the next growth spurt hits. He's currently 15.1 1/2 in front and 15.2 behind, but doesn't turn four until the end of July, so I fully expect he'll get to his string test height of 15.3hh - I very much hope he stops there!