Evening Toodles

I had planned a crazy Friday night for once - meeting a friend at the barn for a ride. I actually got out to the barn really early as I was having a bit of a "woe is me" day where nothing was going right for me. By which I mean that there was a line-up outside at 3 different registry offices (had to renew my car registration), the bulk food store didn't have something I wanted so I tried to order it on Amazon and 2 day shipping turned into 4 week shipping when I went to pay (why even bother with Prime right now?), and then I couldn't find the cord for something that needs this specific cord to recharge it.

A crappy day is a good excuse to eat a horse.

I had plans to hop on Phantom for her first ride in a while so when I arrived at the barn I took a small dish with her Ventipulmin in it out to the field. In her previous paddock, she would generally come to me at the gate and would eat the small amount of food in the dish before the other horses realized that she was eating. I knew that this would not be the case in her current turnout with Cisco and Pete.

I left the dish outside the gate and entered the paddock. Sure enough, Cisco saw me and left where they were all eating to come to me. I met him about halfway, gave him a pat on the nose, and continued on to grab Phantom. Cisco followed me, because, obviously, I was out there to grab him.

And then he walked right next to me when I led Phantom up to the gate. And put himself in the spot to go through the gate.

He was quite put out when I pushed him back to let Phantom go through. And even more put out when she got to eat food right in front of him. Cisco decided his day was sucking too.

My friend texted that she still had to do a couple of work things before coming out so I figured I had time to ride Phantom first. I scraped off a ton of hair which just let all the dirt come to the surface. Whatevs. She's already pooped all over her tail so it needs to be washed again.

It wasn't an exciting ride, which was perfectly fine. It was a bit of an evaluative ride to see how she felt - not too bad. I should be able to get a couple more rides in on her before her required time off after her vaccinations later this week.

My riding companion finally showed up and tacked up Cisco. I proposed that we do a short ride in the arena and then head outside to ride around. She was on her new horse that she's only had for about a month and she doesn't know him all that well yet so she needed a buddy to ride out with. For once the wind had died down and it was an absolutely beautiful April evening - the bugs haven't come out yet.

My only goal for the ride inside was to canter over a couple of poles that I had set up in 2 point. I had put a neck strap on Cisco to help me find my balance.

We only did it a couple of times. To the right, we nailed it. To the left - well, we had a shitty turn out of the scary end of the arena (which he had a good spook at because the wall was on fire ie. sunlight was shining on it) and then he likes to get quick heading towards the gate. The good thing was that I saw my distances, the bad thing was that I knew they were going to be crap and did nothing to fix it. But my 2 point felt slightly better than the previous ride, so that was a positive.

Way behind, didn't care.

Then we went outside. We started off walking around the big field, then down one driveway, along the road in front of the paddocks, and down the second driveway to the neighbors and back. Friend's horse was a perfect gentleman and happy to do it all on a loose rein. Cisco was a bit concerned in the beginning, had a slight scoot when passing the paddocks on the road and a couple of young mares rushed the fence (then one of them took a header and slid on her shoulder in the mud for about 8 feet), and then was perfectly content on a loose rein, walking well behind the other horse. His short legs and relaxed walk couldn't keep up with the tall, forward TB, but he didn't care.

Beautiful sky before the sunset.

It was a lovely evening with us having the barn to ourselves. I only wish that we had stayed out about another 20 minutes to see the sunset - when I took Cisco out there was a lovely lavender coloured tinge to the skyline. Also I wished I had my phone with me. I had forgotten the running belt I wear when I ride to keep my phone in, and other than my bra I didn't have anywhere to keep it on me while riding.  I guess we'll have to do it again to get pictures!

A Better Ride

The second ride this week went much better than the first ride.

Cisco's brain was back in his head. My stirrups were back where they belonged (and now felt too long). The Pixio was all charged up.

The return of Cisco's brain was helped by the presence of other horses in the arena. That always makes a difference for him.

He started out pretty fussy at a trot but I didn't worry about it and just kept riding. We did some work on walk/transitions, and had some decent ones. They were definitely better when I asked for the trot from my seat instead of my legs - I must remember to ask for it that way.

I had set up poles down the centerline of the arena in a zigzag pattern with a couple of exercises in mind.

The first was a simple canter pattern, looping back over in figure 8 style with simple changes. I wanted to do lots of transitions since he's been getting sticky lately with them, and I wanted to work on an approach to the poles in 2 point.

My 2 point is not strong these days. I haven't done very much of it. And Cisco is bouncy - possibly the bounciest canter I've ever ridden. I don't feel it when I'm sitting in the saddle, but in 2 point I feel like I go straight up and down. I haven't figured out if he gets bouncier when I'm in 2 point because of my lack of balance or if that's just his canter.

Thankfully, the video didn't look nearly as bad as it felt. Because it felt like a hot mess. Correction - I felt like a hot mess. Cisco wasn't terrible - he even gave me a flying change. I felt like I was bouncing all over the place at a canter, and flopping all over in the downward transition.

So, yeah. Need to work on that.

The other exercise I wanted to do was one that I found on a Facebook group called Equestrian Pole Club, which has a purpose of posting ideas on pole/jump exercises. There are some good ideas on there, but far too many posts these days since every rider in England seems to be a member of the group and they have a lot of time on their hands at the moment. I totally recommend joining, but you might want to unfollow right away so that you don't end up with your wall full of posts you don't really want to see.

Anyhoo, the exercise uses the same zigzag configuration of poles. At a walk, you step over the first pole, halt, do a turn on the forehand towards the next pole, walk over it, halt, and repeat. Not a tough exercise, but a slow and steady one.

I found it worked really well to emphasize the half halt with the outside rein. You only take about 3 steps of walk before halting again, ideally with the outside rein. Then I'd sit on my inside seat bone to ask for the turn (from a dressage lesson last summer), and Cisco would fill out the outside rein, I'd ask for the halt again, and walk forward.

This is the kind of exercise that I'd return to multi-times through the ride I think. It was a good reminder of the half-halt for the horse and made everything slow down.

The video has one of our canter courses, the turn on the forehand exercise, and some trot towards the end of the ride when it got better. These were about the only highlights of the ride - but it was way better than the day before!

It Was A Ride

Well, I survived the first ride on Cisco after a month off. That's about the only positive thing I've got to say about it.

I hoped that because it was the first warm day of the year that it would've taken some of the wind out of his sails. Most definitely did not happen.

For some reason, he started to do the idiot dance after grooming when I went to grab my saddle. His dinner dish magically appears from the same location, so I'm not sure if he was actually doing the dinner version of the idiot dance. When dinner didn't arrive he continued his dance. I had to make a flying leap towards him at one point to keep my saddle on his back while trying to get the girth attached.

Cisco had a playdate with Blue the day before. I hoped that it would get rid of some excess energy.

When we got into the arena, Cisco had forgotten how to breathe. I dragged him around the ring while I set up my Pixio in the hopes that he would start to take some deep, slow breaths instead of the short quick ones he was taking, but even when I dragged him back around the ring to take the Pixio down since I hadn't charged it in 6 weeks and the robot was dead, he still wasn't. That didn't bode well.

He actually stood really well when I got on. At which point I discovered that I had put my stirrups on the wrong stirrup bar when I had made some adjustments to the Flair panels and they were now jockey length.  And once I was on, Cisco wasn't going to stand still so that I could adjust them.

I had been overly optimistic and set up a pole exercise down the centerline of the arena. I used that as my warmup to keep Cisco's brain doing useful things with lots of turning and changing direction. The hamster still managed to hop on the wheel, and there were a couple of bigs spooks/splats/scoots because of pigeons, and every time we went over a pole in the direction of the open overhead door it was taken with more enthusiasm than required and an attempt to take off.

Not nearly as filthy as I expected her to be after 24 hours of nekkidness.

I knew that the first 10 minutes of trot were going to be a disaster - there was no way that I was going to head down to the scary end. Again, there were lots of changes of direction to keep his brain occupied. There was also lots of tranter whenever we turned towards the door.

But I also know that I just need to wait him out. He usually tires pretty quickly, and the warmth of the day was probably going to help.

Sure enough, after about 8 minutes of trot he was able to come back to walk on a loose rein. We did another 10 minutes or so of trot and he started listening to my leg and improving his turns. Since my ankles were screaming at me from being jammed into too short stirrups, I called it a win and finished the ride.

It was a ride. That was about all I was able to say about it.

More Signs of Spring

Up in the Great White North, spring has been taking its time in arriving.

One of the farmer's fields on my way out to the barn on Thursday - still covered in snow.

I think it's finally happening though.

Thursday was a beautiful, sunny day. I arrived at the barn mid-afternoon and had to traverse a row of mud to get to the ponies paddock. Every time that I had to go through the mud again it seemed to have gotten wider and wetter as the snow piles on the other side were melting and draining that direction. I've got to remember to put my Muck Boots that don't have holes in them into the car next time (I left them in the garage - oops).

New barn kitty! She's a feral kitten and absolutely adorable. She won't let us touch her yet, but she's come a long way over the last few weeks - she lets me get within a meter or so before darting away. I might take a couple of cat toys out to see if I can lure her closer. 

It was just another day of scraping hair off the horses. This time we stood out in the sun to do it. Surprisingly, Cisco actually stands really well outside with the lead mostly draped over his neck. Phantom is the pain in the ass one who keeps testing to see if I really mean stay in one place when I tell her to stand. She's pretty sure that "stand" means "go find snacks yourself".

I'm hoping to be able to turn the kids out without blankets as of Sunday. They are currently just wearing rain sheets since we might get a bit of moisture on Friday. 

If you walked past them in their paddock. you might notice two more signs that warm weather is on its way.

First - white tails got let down from their winter braids.

It's not clean yet though.

Well, one tail. Phantom's tail is a bit too poopy to want to touch it at the moment. Hers will get done on either Sunday or Monday when I can wash it.

And the second sign of spring - Phantom is sporting her sunglasses.

That means sunny days are here and warm has to be just around the corner!

Spring Sillies and Hair. So Much Hair.

I made it out to the barn a couple of times last week and on Easter Sunday. No riding, just scraping copious amounts of hair off them, changing blankets to suit whatever stupid weather we're getting (cold. Still really cold.) and trying to give them a chance to have a play in the arena.

A wee bit of a sassy hind end.

Phantom prefers left. I was trying to get her to spend some time to the right. She cheated.

I got a Kitchenaid stand mixer for my birthday last week. I've made 3 batches of human cookies and one batch of horse cookies so far. This was my attempt at making a bunny face with the horse cookies in their feed dishes.

Not worried about Cushings now!

The weather is finally looking up - supposed to be double digits by the end of the week - positive double digits! That's almost bath weather!  Well, maybe not full-on body bath, but definitely poopy bum baths (Phantom!).

I was scheduled to take next week off for vacation. I've been back and forth as to whether I take it as scheduled or delay it. I think I'm going to take it. The weather is looking like it's going to be nice (still time to change though) and if I delay it will only be by a couple of weeks. It's not like if I wait a couple of weeks I'll suddenly have options on things to do. So hopefully we don't get put into a full-on lockdown and I can get some saddle time in.

Throwback Thursday - Where It All Started

I went over to my parent's house for birthday cake yesterday and my mom presented me with an old photo album of mine that she had found. In it were pictures of me on the first horse I ever rode!

Way back in 1983, my brother and I went to a week-long, away from home, summer riding camp. I don't remember very much of it, except the horse's names (of course). My pony for the week was Dolly, who was adorable. My brother rode Danny, who was blind in one eye and had a best friend Vinnie who looked out for him by always standing next to him on his bad side.

Although we went back the next year (when I rode a palomino named Pharoah) my brother did not enjoy it. I don't know if he ever touched a horse again after camp. Being quite allergic to everything associated with horses probably didn't help!

This started my horse bug, which my parents finally gave in to in 1986, when I started with weekly lessons and was leasing a pony about 8 months later.

Current me is horrified at the length of the chin strap on my helmet.

I don't remember riding bareback. But I do remember that the next year we went out on a trailride bareback, and I had my first canter (unintentionally), and I fell off and sprained my wrist.

I'm sure that this camp instructor's name was Karen Briggs, and I've always wondered if she is the same Karen Briggs who has written tons of horse articles that have been in many magazines. Also, I would love to have a pony this colour - that flaxen mane is amazing!

My brother on Danny

Each pony had two kids assigned to it for the week. I'm on the left with Dolly, and my brother is on the right with Danny.

Turn On to Turn Off

I didn't manage to get out to the barn at all last week. I finished my self-isolation on Wednesday and was back to work on Thursday, to work the next 5 days straight. I've got a crappy 1pm - 9pm shift for a bit, which doesn't leave me much time to do much out of the house in the mornings. I can make it out to the barn if I need to for a farrier or vet appointment, but I generally have to head straight to work and pick up lunch on the way - it makes for a very long day. Thus I tend not to head out to the barn on these days if I don't need to.

I'm off Tuesday and Wednesday this week so I plan to head out on both days. Not sure if I'm going to ride or not - Tuesday's plans include scraping off copious amounts of hair and letting the ponies loose in the arena to have a play. I'm not sure what I'll do on Wednesday with them.

Since I know I'm not going to be getting much saddle time, I decided to clear off my clothes hanger treadmill and start running again. And by running I mean many short slow runs with lots of walking in between. But hey, you gotta start somewhere.

The current temperature as of mid-morning on Monday. I'm staying inside for my exercise.

It's apparently still winter here so I'm staying inside. I bought a new tv that sits on the bookcase in front of the treadmill so that I can watch virtual running Youtube videos while I'm huffing and puffing. I totally got into it on my first attempt, to the point that when a maintenance vehicle came around the corner on the park path I was "running" on I moved my body on the treadmill to dodge it and shouted out. Can't wait to try a run through London!

I've tried to be a runner before. My brain loves it, my body hates it. My lower back gets tight, my right knee gets sore, and omg my IT bands. All similar problems that I get after riding, and ones that certainly don't help in the saddle.

I'm trying to be better about stretching and working out some of the sore bits on a regular basis. I've (mostly) embraced the foam roller and can now just whisper my curses instead of shouting them out.

I came across this video last week which made a big difference in my next run. It's got a couple of things to work on biomechanically to help reduce injuries while running. One thing was cadence - the amount of steps that you take per minute. I discovered that I was running way under speed - he started the guy on the treadmill at 8mph and he was still under the desired 180 cadence. I was generally running at just under 5mph. So on my next run I bumped it up to 6mph and as a result I didn't hurt at all afterwards. My back wasn't very tight, my knee started sore on my first couple of slower runs, but it disappeared at the faster speed. So I think that that's going to make a big difference. I'll just work slowly to increase the duration - it was hard!

The best thing I got from this video was a way to stretch your hip flexors. Tight hip flexors are a common complaint amongst riders so this one might have some application to equestrians.

I'm sure we've all done this stretch - you put one knee on the ground, the other foot on the floor in front of you with your knee at 90 degrees, and you try to stretch your hip. When your flexors are tight you feel the burn, right?

This stretch starts the same way. But instead of trying to actively stretch the hip flexor, you engage your glutes for 3 seconds on the side that the knee is on the ground. Then release, then repeat for 10 sets.

The video should be cued up to start at the part about the hip flexors.

Holy crap, it works. You will start to feel your hip flexors release, and every time you finish squeezing your glute the front of your hips will just sink forward. It was amazing.

I think the idea is that you have to turn one on to turn one off. To turn off your hip flexors, you have to turn on your glutes. Because this is being used in a running application the idea is teach your glutes to fire so that they do the work instead of your hamstrings.

For riding, we probably don't want to engage our glutes all that much - tight butts pop you out of the saddle. However, as a way to stretch out those oh so tight hips, I would totally recommend it.

I'm also thinking about how these theories can be applied to horses. Is there an ideal cadence that the horse should be moving at? Is a slow trot harder on joints and muscles? How can I encourage something to turn on to allow something to turn off? Time for some research!

Life This Week

So, how's Coronavirus treating you?

I woke up Monday morning with a slightly sore throat. At any other time, I would have thought maybe I'm getting a cold, and then forgotten about it and gone on with my day.

Not now.

I had to call my boss, say I have a minor sore throat (doesn't hurt to swallow), and I didn't know what I should do. Long story short, I had to call the 811 number, which led to me staying home for 10 days on short term disability.

I felt perfectly fine by the end of day two with no more twinges in my throat. It's going to be a long 10 days.



Thankfully I had stocked up my freezer. That's not how I normally shop for groceries - I'm much more of the buy enough for only two days type of shopper. I was trying to eliminate the amount of shopping trips I was making so I bought extra. Not crazy hoarding extra, just enough for a week or so. I guess I'll find out this week if I bought enough!

I hadn't gone out to the barn much the previous week. Both horses were ridden on Tuesday, then I didn't get back out until Saturday evening. It was partly because of my work hours, which are going to be a sucky 11-7 a few days a week (but hey, I'm still working! Well, not this week, but I'm getting paid), and also because I feel kind of guilty for heading out.

My province hasn't locked everything down as of yet, though I fully anticipate it happening shortly. The national and provincial equestrian federations, as well as the major insurance companies, have recommended that equestrian facilities close down to everyone but essential workers.

Locally, there is a bit of a mix as to how barns are handling this. I think that the majority have stopped lessons with the non-horse owning students. Some barns are open to boarders, some have to schedule times so that there are no more than two people out at a time, and some are completely closed to everyone but workers. Should we end up in a lockdown situation this will likely change.

My barn is still open. I think that some lessons are still happening, though there is a very small lesson program. It tends to be fairly quiet except on two lesson nights. The majority of the horses live outside 24/7 so they are always able to move around, although we still have lots of snow and frozen poop everywhere.

I don't know what the right option is. I think everyone has a duty to do their part and sacrifice some activities that bring them joy. We all know what horse people are like - do I trust that everyone at the barn would stay away for 10 - 14 days if they just have a sore throat or a sniffly nose? Nope. Nor do I trust that commonly touched items are getting sanitized properly. A bit of spray on a paper towel is probably not enough to kill any virus that may have been transmitted to a surface.

My fellow Canadians will understand why this is so fantastic.

Once I get out of my self-isolation next week, I'll see what I decide to do. I'm pretty sure that I'll be limiting my time at the barn to maybe two or three days a week, which may end up just being days of letting the ponies going for a run in the arena. Of course, there is a very good chance that my decision will be made for me by that time and I'll be stuck at home.

As for the next week of my exile - I'm trying to do a beginner yoga Youtube video every day. I have more than enough things in the house to keep me busy - if I feel like doing them. I've been enjoying having the time to cook for once (I don't think I've ever made my meals for a full week before). I've spent far too much time on the computer/tablet/phone and watching Youtube/Netflix/Acorn/Amazon.

Tomorrow I might just go for a drive-by and look at my ponies from the road. I want to get out of the house, but can't go anywhere where there are people, so might as well go look at the kids from a distance like a creeper.

Aye Corona!

What a difference a week makes in the world.

I'm talking about the coronavirus, of course. It's all anyone is talking about.

The number of confirmed cases rose overnight by almost 50% (from 39 cases to 56). Still not that many overall, but it's just starting.

Mother Nature went off the wagon again this weekend and the temperatures plummeted back down to the -20's. The kids had to wear their puffy snowsuits again.

Some of these new cases are not due to travel, as all of the other cases have been. So, as I'm writing this, the province has new restrictions in place.

All school classes are canceled until further notice. Also daycares and out of school care are to be closed. That's going to cause some problems.

No gatherings of over 250 people. This now includes places of worship, though shopping centres are still exempt.

I do not have a job that I can do from home. So I'll still have to be dealing with people face to face on a daily basis.

Horsewise, how it has already affected me:

The restriction on gatherings went into effect on Thursday. I was supposed to attend a tack sale on Saturday to try to sell some stuff - that was canceled. No extra income for me.

I had picked up a weekend of teaching when the regular instructor took some clients to a horseshow next weekend. The show has just been canceled. No extra income for me.

I'm pretty sure that the Mane Event at the end of April will also be cancelled. This was my only planned "vacation" away from home this year (a whole 1 day) and I was going to be substitute teaching again. No extra income or extra fun for me.

I bought a bridle online, sight unseen. Retail therapy. Extra expense for me.

Cisco may regret his decision to molt this early.

Haha.

I can justify that one (in my mind, at least). It's at the local consignment store, which is moving at the end of the month. So there was an additional 15% off sale.

The bridle is a Bobby's English Tack black double bridle, new with tags. I so don't need the double bridle aspect of it, but I've been keeping an eye out for a spare bridle in black as all my other spare tack is brown. It has a normal cavesson noseband which I like, but it doesn't have a monocrown, which I would prefer. However, I really liked the price - $78 with tax.

I'll just remove the bradoon hanger and find some different reins to put on it and it will be good to go.

I sure hope all these restrictions don't last too long. My inner introvert is loving this whole social distancing thing, but I must not let my inner tack ho take control!

We've Found Stuff to Work On

14 hour days are not conducive to getting the house cleaned, groceries shopped for, or blogs about horses written. Add in having to get up at 5am for work some days of the week (it would be easier if it was every day instead of only some days) and not much has been getting done. It feels like I'm either at work, the barn, or sleeping.

But the ponies have been getting ridden! At least a couple of rides a week. In theory, the days that I work at 6 am would leave me lots of time to get horses ridden in the afternoon. In reality, I don't get to bed early enough, and end up going home and having a nap, which may or may not leave me with energy to do anything afterwards.

The super long days have been affecting my body. I spend most of my work day on my feet - I get anywhere from 13,000 to 18,000 steps in during a regular shift. Add going to the barn afterwards, where I am either on my feet or on a horse for the 3 to 5 hours that I'm there, and my step count hits 23,000 to 29,000 steps (I let the riding count as steps as I work far harder when I ride than when I walk).

My body occasionally needs a break. One where I barely get off the couch for the day. That was Thursday this week.

We have a barn cat who is very vocal and demanding. She is older and constantly seeks warmth. People have taken to putting her on their horses back while they are tacking up to keep her quiet and happy. This is her perched on her favorite horse, Khan. She comes running when his owner brings him in.

Cisco was ridden on Monday and Tuesday this week, Phantom only went on Tuesday. Weather and work didn't allow for me to get into the saddle in the later part of the week.

I was quite happy with my ride on Cisco on Monday. I really want to start jumping him this year (I know, I've been saying that for a while). However, I haven't really done a lot of flatwork geared towards jumping. Specifically, I haven't done a lot of cantering over poles, and I haven't done much any 2 point.

On that night I broke down a few jumps and set some of the poles into random spots. I didn't realize until I got on that I did a crap job of it though. I set one pole on a diagonal with nowhere to go on the landing side, and there was only a single pole on one long side because I didn't want to move the 6 poles on the other side out of my way (I'd have to put them back after my ride). Thus I only had 5 poles to work with.

Cisco has cantered a single pole a few times, but not often, and not in a while. The goal for the evening was to put together a mini course of 4 or 5 poles in a somewhat decent manner.

We managed it. With a whole lot to work on.

He actually surprised me by very quickly looking for the next pole. The turn might be a bit ugly, but once he saw the pole he locked onto it. To the point that he dragged me over the pole on the long side when we were supposed to go past it and turn afterwards across the diagonal.

His pace wasn't terrible, and he mostly listened and we had a lot of good distances. There were a couple of courses when he settled partway through into a nice canter that made the turns easy and I was able to ride forward out of the turn.

Phantom's back is just as comfortable.

But he was oh so wiggly. Which I think was mostly due to me being up in a 2 point. My position isn't super strong (it's been years since I've done it for more than a few strides at a time). I tried really hard to make sure that I wasn't using the reins for balance. Cisco had to find his balance with me in this position, so I think that was what mostly contributed to the wiggliness.

Our corners need some work. I mean, they need work at a canter on a normal flat ride, so I wasn't expecting miracles on this night. But my expectations when jumping are to use the whole space and ride a straight line after the jump/pole and deep into the turn. It's not like he was ducking sideways right after the pole or anything, but our turns were a bit more scrambly and disorganized than I would like. Being able to ride deep into the ends will help this significantly.

Since his time off due to his puncture injury, Cisco seems to have lost his canter transitions. The couple of rides before his holiday we were having lovely step into the canter transitions. Since, they have been atrocious. I plan to make sure I school these every ride with many transitions through the ride.

I was a bit worried that I was going to have problems getting over the pole on the center line at A, which is the scary end of the arena, and has been especially scary as of late. I was also worried that he would slam on the brakes after the pole on the quarter line as we headed in that direction. But he was good about it. The poles may have given him something to focus on.

Overall, I was really happy with him. There's lots to work on, but nothing that I didn't expect. I'm hoping that the "jumping" canter will help him find his balance and his forward in our regular flatwork. And most importantly, he really seemed to like it.

Now, I just need to put my big girl pants on and raise those speed bumps!

Annual Signs of Spring

Spring is coming.

Cisco says so.

Cisco hair pre-ride.

More Cisco hair post-ride.

This is also time for my annual panic that Phantom has Cushing's. She gets very fluffy during the winter and I swear that she's the last horse on the property to start shedding every spring. Thus, every spring, I fret that this is the year she'll be diagnosed with Cushing's. She'll be 17 this year, stuff is going to start to pop up.

This is where Phantom was groomed. If you zoom in really, really close, you  might manage to count the 50 or so hairs that came off her body.

Inevitably she starts shedding in earnest sometime in April. And emerges with a normal summer coat. And I can forget about Cushing's until the next year.

His Leg Hasn't Fallen Off Yet

I was a bit worried that Cisco's leg may indeed have fallen off as I couldn't get out to the barn on Tuesday due to a snowstorm that made driving rather treacherous. I counted seven collisions/cars in the ditch on my way home from work - and that was on a city freeway. I wasn't going to try the county highways.

I made sure I dashed out on Wednesday morning before my doctor's appointment and work. The leg was still fat, with some fill moving into his lower leg. But it didn't seem to be any fatter than it had been on Monday. I hand walked him for about 10 minutes, then squirted a couple of syringes of Betadine water into the hole. It was -20 outside, so I had to use minimal water because I didn't have time to let it dry.

Wednesday legs that I almost forgot to take a picture of. You can see a bit of fill around the knee.

I had more time to spend on him on Thursday, with the main goal being more exercise to see if I could get the swelling in his leg to come down. After a few minutes of hand walking I popped him on the lunge line.

He started off pretty poky at the trot. I figured that maybe he needed a chance to stretch that leg a bit so I let him jog for a few laps. Eventually he started trotting more forward. To the left he looked pretty good - this is the side that he seemed to look worse on last week when he was lame before he got poked.

To the right - I think the main problem is the leg with the hole in it. There was a slight head bob at the beginning. but it went away once he loosened up. I asked him to canter to the right and tried but didn't want to get the right lead (left lead looked great). So I'm pretty sure he doesn't want to stretch that leg forward too much.

Thursday after cleaning.

He was a bit of a turd about cleaning it - he did not want me to touch it. It's in an awkward place on the inside of a leg, so it's easier to see what I'm doing if I stand on the other side. But then he gets pissy and takes a step and pushes my hand that is reaching across his other leg away from the cut. So I had to work on the same side and go in blind.

Because he doesn't really know how to be really bad, he lifted that leg up to paw, which allowed me to hook my arm under it and easily slide the syringe into the hole for a flush. We did that three times in a row. I appreciated the easy access he unintentionally gave me.

Overall, I think the wound looks pretty good. It's clean, not oozing anything odd coloured, and the hole is staying open easily. The swelling did seem to go down after his exercise. I'm not concerned about infection at this point. I need to pick up some Dermagel though and see if I can get it to start scabbing over.

She was sleeping when I went out to give her the Ventipulmin. Thus brunch in bed.

And then Phantom got a quick ride, with a quick canter each way, which she wanted to get silly about but managed not to. And then I dashed home through yet another snowstorm to get changed and headed out to see Dear Even Hansen (which was fantastic and I totally recommend).