another horse dies on x-country

I couldn't bring myself to write about this after Rolex last month, and I'm not going to write much now after Jersey Fresh, except to say that I am APPALLED at what is happening in eventing. I have been appalled for several years now, and I'm not seeing anything change for the better. And if I hear one more person say "the horse died doing what he/she loved to do" I think I will scream.

The day I see a horse die while free-jumping an advanced course with no bit, no rider, no spurs, and no whip, I'll concede that point.

oh, dear, I forgot the best part!!

I was so caught up in replaying the vet visit I forgot what happened BEFORE.

We were out in the barn trying to get everything straightened up and ready so that horses could relax after their shot, etc.

We're fortunate in that our barn is set up so that on one side the geldings can go in and out of stalls to shelter to paddock, and on the other, the donkeys and Salina can go in and out of one stall to another paddock. There's one stall that doesn't have a back door, and we use that one as a dental stall for floating, and today it was a great place for the pony to "wake up" from his sedation.

We close the gates to the field and the horses are close but still able to move around, munch on hay, etc. while awaiting their turn with the vet.

So, I had asked my daughter to put halters on so it would be quick and easy to get them one by one when the vet arrived. She had that done in short order.

A little bit later I was heading out to the round bale to get a barrow full of hay, and I saw Redford running out the back door of the stall, bare-headed, with Rafer Johnson's halter in his mouth, chasing Rafer Johnson, also bare-headed!

Those donkeys managed to get both their halters off and then Redford was trying to put Rafer's back on!

That got me laughing and I feel sure was a big step in my not having anxiety today.

Thank you, donkey boys!

vet day

I successfully managed to keep my negative medical procedure energy out of the way for today's vet visit, which I think is pretty good considering I have my own dental cleaning with valium set for tomorrow morning!

The pony had to be sedated to get his ear cleaned out and checked. He was a little booger, but when she got the last bit of gunk out, he lowered his head and leaned into her hand, which seemed to mean it felt good to get that stuff out of there! He got his Coggins' pulled and we didn't do the spring shot, but will do it later in the month. We also discussed the possibility of doing titers on him instead of vaccinating, given his sensitivity to the shots.

Our female vet now has a tech assistant who travels with her, and she was wonderful. She uses tapping to distract the horses from the needles, and although the pony was sedated, he still needed the tapping, which was a wonderful tool to keep him quiet.

His teeth are thankfully fine!

Everyone else got Coggins' pulled, the E/WEE/West Nile/Tetanus combo, which I had originally opted not to do, but the vet didn't have just EEE - so on we went, and had teeth checked. And they all got their homeopathic remedy to help with reactions to the shots.

Salina went next so she wouldn't work up any intensity fretting over the donkeys' getting their stuff done. She was a goddess of composure and it was REALLY good for me to hold her and realize that the two of us together can be calm. (for readers who haven't been here long, we had a sort of debacle with Salina last spring after Rafer's gelding, involving triple sedation, a twitch, knee injections, and me getting bowled over, which we hope never to experience again - and after all that, it was an abscess in her hoof, not her knee at all!)

Vet said Salina looks marvelous and the best she's ever seen her, and her teeth are great. We went over her new diet and discussed Equioxx as a possibility for later years if she becomes less comfortable. For now I use Bute the night before trims and that's it. For now, that is enough.

The donkeys were quite amazing, although Redford decided the clippers were directly from Hell Itself and we decided to pull blood without them. He and Rafer handled everything perfectly and were quite happy when all was done and they were able to rejoin Salina, who of course had watched every moment of the process over the stall door.

Cody needs to gain a little weight, which I'm sure I can facilitate, and we're going to get his teeth floated sometime soon just to keep on top of some ramping on his back teeth. Updated about his PSSM genetic test and the treatment protocol I'm using. Vet said she would NOT do the muscle biopsy if the protocol is so clearly working, so we're on the same page with that.

Keil Bay was his usual kingly self, arching his neck to strike his most handsome pose, but being incredibly easy and quiet about his needles and his teeth. His teeth look great as well, so that was that for today's visit!

The vet and I discussed de-worming protocol and some new info, plus some NC specific info, and we came up with a good plan. I mentioned wanting to learn to do our own fecal counts and she was overjoyed - so starting this month, I'll be doing fecals before and after the de-worming. This will allow me to only worm horses that actually need it, as well as test to see what drugs are working well on our farm and which, if any, are not working due to parasite resistance.

I'm excited, if you can believe it, about the prospect of putting horse manure in baggies, labeling with their names, and using the cool McMasters chambered slides with grids for counting worm eggs.

All I can say is this: I need never worry about running out of things to do and learn when it comes to horsekeeping!

plethora

Over the weekend, I watched an episode of MacLeod's Daughters, an Australian TV show I've been getting on Netflix. When one of the horses foundered, Stevie, one of the main characters, refused to take the vet's advice to put the horse down. She set up a forge and made a set of shoes to take the pressure off. In the middle of the night, during a terrible wind storm, she stood in a barn and shaped white hot metal. It worked, and the horse lived.

I loved that episode. I wish I were that skilled and innovative, although my method would likely be hoof boots with foam pads instead of metal.

We thankfully haven't had founder here, but lately it's been an alphabet soup of littler things: tick bites, an odd ear full of wax on the pony, thunderstorms and tornado watches, and slightly muggy, jungle-like weather that makes it necessary to take showers between each round of barn chores.

Thus far my standby, calendula tincture and warm water, has been the remedy of choice for almost everything.

On the good side, Keil Bay is losing the tan-colored hair on the backs of his front legs, the pony is no longer in need of the grazing muzzle, Salina's annual rain rot during shedding seems to be resolved, and Cody's flaxen mane and tail are shifting to a deep copper color. Donkeys are healthy but not overweight, Keil Bay's hooves are looking good, and my sense is all of this has to do with balancing the diets of these equines.

I've completed Eleanor Kellon's NRC Plus class and received my certificate, which I hung proudly in the feed room, where it serves as a reminder that I am constantly learning new things and new ways to keep the equines healthy and fit. Next week I start the next course, Nutrition As A Therapy. A bunch of us from this last NRC Plus class are taking it, so it will be fun to have familiar names on the discussion list.

Tomorrow we have the vet over for EEE shots, Coggins' tests, and teeth checks. She'll also be taking a peek inside a pony's ear just to make sure we're on the right track with that.

Otherwise, there are cicada shells everywhere, the sun is shining for the moment, and Keil Bay just blasted one of his hyena sounds through the neighborhood. Which likely means the pony is annoying him, and what that means is this: we're having a normal spring afternoon at November Hill.

finding the joyful moments with Keil Bay

The Big Bay and I got back to work on Thursday, after another few week hiatus from riding. Fortunately for me, Keil tends to come back quickly after a break and more often than not, we've built on what went before, even with the time in between.

We're having a bit of a puzzle with the mounting block. Keil Bay has never had an issue with it, until I forgot to tighten the girth that one day and slid underneath when I tried to mount. Interestingly, he didn't move during that debacle, but since then about half the time he will take a step back when I get on the block.

I realized yesterday that part of what happens when he does move is that I've expected him to step back, and I hesitate. The moment I hesitate he starts to step back. So I slide the block to where he's stepped and start again, but if I hesitate, he takes yet another step back. I can work through the issue pretty quickly by breaking it down into pieces, but what I'd like to do is stop my own moment of hesitation. Which gets back to my middle-aged obsession with the mounting block being at the exact right spot for mounting, something that never used to matter when I rode as a girl/young woman.

Yesterday, we did the mounting block thing two times and the third time I just visualized EASE and vaulted myself up without allowing myself to think about it. That worked well.

I have become slightly obsessed with reins lately. I think it's mostly because that's the part of my riding I'm working on most diligently right now. I feel secure in the saddle, my legs mostly do what I want w/o my having to hyper-focus on them, and Keil Bay is in front of my leg and moving with light aids. So the hands/reins are the primary focus.

I've adjusted my wrist position enough that it's happening naturally now, and that alone has made a big positive change. I'm on to two things: connecting my "hand" all the way up to my shoulder, so that there's a continuous line of "energy" that doesn't get blocked at the wrists, and practicing being able to constantly adjust rein length without it being clumsy - which is, I guess, learning to maintain a soft but steady contact with Keil Bay's mouth.

It's one of those things that is immediately gratifying - when I get all the pieces to happen at the same time, he gets very round and soft and that "circular" energy of a horse moving completely through is obvious.

The hard part, as always, is not giving up when any of those pieces fall apart, which they do, regularly at this point.

I've been thinking for awhile that the beautiful web reins that are on Keil's bridle are too wide for my small hands. They are also a bit stiff, and taking them up and loosening them is awkward. When I ride Cody, whose reins are leather and much thinner and more supple, I find the motion of gathering up/loosening reins a more organic process.

So Thursday I switched an extra set of rubber reins from the pony's spare bridle onto Keil's bridle. Although really long on the pony, they were a bit too short for the Big Bay, but even so, they had a different feel, and my hands were more comfortable. I've been attached to Keil Bay's "gear" - all of which belonged to him when I got him, but it's time to make some changes. I'm hoping on my next trip to S. Pines I can find a pair of used leather reins in the right color that are already broken in. Meanwhile, I'm going to try another spare set we have that are longer.

I've also realized recently as I go through Jane Savoie's Happy Horse DVDs, and continue studying Walter Zettl's Dressage in Harmony, that I'm not utilizing the outside rein as effectively as I should be. I am using the inside rein for too many things, the outside not enough, and I've got to focus in on this for a few rides to try and balance the two.

Otherwise, we had a good ride. We did mostly walking, a bit of trot work, and ended with some really soft and beautiful walk/trot/walk transitions around the arena in both directions. I became completely attuned to the feel of the transition moment itself, and how wonderful it feels when the two of us are in sync and the transition comes from that deep place where our positions are good, and there's almost no need for the actual aids. It's more like I think the aid and he does it.

These pure, single moments when things are so finely tuned and working perfectly are what bring me the greatest joy in riding. That I'm getting tuned in enough to feel them makes me as happy as winning blue ribbons would.

I was reading a blog the other day where a group of posters keep a sort of journal of their riding and work with horses. There are a few posters who continually refer to their horses as idiots, and talk about them "being stupid." There's almost a derisive tone to their descriptions of every ride, and it makes me wonder what brings them back to the saddle.

I can't imagine ever calling any of our horses idiots. I can't imagine blaming my horse for things that don't work. For the most part, I figure everything that happens under saddle is ultimately my responsibility, since the horse wasn't born with a human being sitting on its back, and since I know without question that even though my horses are trained to carry a rider, I am far from perfect at being in balance, giving clear and consistent cues, and rewarding them properly when they do the exact right thing I've asked.

Each time I get on my horses, I do the same thing I do when I open a new book. I allow myself to be willing to be amazed. I never get out of the saddle without expressing gratitude for the ride.

Just as in day to day life, where looking for the joyous moments brings grace and satisfaction and fulfillment, seeking the same when riding can be a path to transformation with a horse. If we seek the pitch-perfect places, however fleeting they may be, and build on them, we find softness and willingness and connection.