Tuesday, September 30, 2014

The Trials and Tribulations of Keeping a Senior Horse Sound.

Two months ago I took my trusty steed Nick to his first show ever. At age19 he was probably the oldest newbie in the crowd, but beyond a few green moments I could not have been more proud of him.
  Fast forward  two months and I've only been able to ride him a handful of times. For one reason or another the pony has been lame.  First, about a week after our event I came out to find both of his front extensor tendons blown up like balloons, this luckily only lasted a day, and was the result of a hyper active Lymphatic System, which according to my vet isn't that unusual in older horses that have had a few days off after a strenuous event. A couple tabs of Bute and he was good to go a few days later. Then he got kicked in the Butt, which he probably deserved, and was ouchie for a few days, and then right back to work we went. Then the Farrier cut him a bit short behind and we lost a couple of days there, and then finally after a really great lesson, he came in three legged lame from the pasture and appeared to have hyper-extended his hind right stifle.
  So that brings us to present day, the stifle injury was about a month and a half ago, he's now feeling pretty sound, or he was on Thursday anyway... I've been reading pretty much every article on conditioning the senior horse as well as exercises to strengthen stifles.(Shout out to www.myvirtualeventingcoach.com for a million helpful articles!) and I'm contemplating designing a custom Nick sized bubble wrap body suit for him to be turned out in.
  Luckily the competition season is pretty much over, so I think slow and steady, and a bit more concentration on Dressage will be the key to keeping my guy in top form. Hopefully come spring he'll be ready to go out and have some fun.

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Credit Where Credit is Due.


  This cartoon pretty much embodies how I feel about my horse Nick at his very first show...and probably how he felt too. :-) We came in 11th out of 19 with a clear XC round and LOTS to work on in Dressage. :-)  I'm sure Nick never thought when we first met on a rainy morning in March about 5 years ago, that his life of being a leisurely pasture horse was coming to an end.
  He has come a super long way since then, and really most of that progress had taken place in the last 6 months. His health has made a tremendous turn around thanks to the help of my Veterinarian Dr. Wilson from Oregon Equine (http://www.orequine.com/index.pml) who helped me find the right supplements and grain to balance out his system. The improvements were almost immediately noticeable, from the condition of his coat and weight right down to the tips of his toes.
   I also need to give a shout out to my Trainer, Anne Carr (http:\\www.annecarreventing.com) who assured me at my very first lesson that my horse was not a P.O.S. Horse (Piece of Shit) just because he wasn't super fancy and fell into the Senior category in life. She also in no uncertain terms told me to stop making excuses because of the unhealthy horse he used to be, and start riding the healthy horse that he now is, and this alone has changed my thinking about our training. You can't move forward if you're always looking back.
  And last but far from least I need to give a shout out to my barn buddies who cheered me on, My mom who came from PA to watch, and to my husband, Darren, who had no idea what he was in for, but supports me anyway.

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Kind of Nervous Beginner Novice.

  So it's the eve of the eve of my first event in almost 13 years, and I'm nervous. I'm nervous to jump 2'6". My 18 year old self is aghast and ashamed of me. Back then I would've jumped a car if you put it in front of me and said "go", and I had a horse crazy enough to do it.(and clear it)
  I'm also not the nervous type...at least I wasn't the nervous type..then...Now I'm a little nervous. Will I forget my dressage test? Will I remember my XC course(I wasn't that great at remembering this even back then.) Will Nick pick his legs up for stadium? I'm hoping this is passing nervousness so I can go back to being my calm and cool self. I'll keep you posted.

   I know whoever is reading this is probably thinking this is a strange maiden entry to this riding journal but the explanation of the title should be demonstrated by the images below.

                                         My feet Without Shoes (good thing I'm not a horse)


                                                               Nick's feet without shoes

                                                           Amy the Calfless wonder.

                                                       Nick's always bashful lower legs

'Nuff Said.