T-5 days and some random babbling

I have a whole bunch of stuff bouncing in my brain, so be prepared for a rambling, disjointed post! lol

1. Please go check out my friend RuckusButt's blog - she has her handsome gelding back after dealing with some scary headshaking issues.  It turns out he had some severe TMJ problems and chiro has really helped him.  Go read all about it!

2.  We are entering the home stretch on this whole moving business!  We packed the kitchen yesterday and a bunch of other stuff.  We threw out/donated several bags and boxes of things, but still the mountain of packed boxes grows and grows!

Charlie taking a nap on one of the many boxes.

3.  I have arranged Dolly's ride over to the new barn - that is happening on May 31st  and I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to that.  And my friends that are trailering her have offered to store all of my extra horse junk tack in their trailer for a couple of days so I don't have to put it all in the moving truck on Friday!  Yeah!

4. There are chipmunks in the barn! They are extremely cute. And not destructive like mice and racoons... Of course, if you leave bags and bags of grain out in the open, the mice and racoons will chew it open and spill it everywhere. And it will sit that like in the feed area for days and just be a mess.  (Have a mentioned that  I am looking forward to moving???)

Cute!

5. Dolly... It turns out she hasn't been getting her grain regularly, so I often have to feed her when I'm there. (Have I mentioned that I can't wait to move???)

This is kind of how feeding time with her goes:

Look at how cute I am.  I can barely see over my stall door...

What do you mean the beet pulp has to soak? Are you kidding me?

She is very polite when the grain is coming in the stall though - she backs up and waits patiently, so I don't mind the occasional grumpy face from her.

6. I am still checking local ads for horses and haven't come up with much.  I'll do a post on that sometime after I move, when I have more time to devote to it.  Horse shopping is alternately fun and extremely frustrating at the same time!

7. I need to wrap this up and head to the barn. Today will probably be my last chance for a ride!

T-12 days and counting

We are coming down the wire with our move -  I am so freakin' excited that I can hardly wait. Luckily there is lots for me to do, so I don't have to sit idly and wait.  :-)

We had a walkthrough of the house on Friday night and met one of the sellers. She gave us a quick run-down on how things worked - the pool, the hot tub and most importantly, the electric fence.

Random cat pic - Mr. P just turned 15and is not as amused by the boxes as the younger cats.

It looks like the fencing will need some repairs and maintenance. She hasn't had a horse on the property in over a year, so there are a few things to do. They have let the grass grow up and it touches the bottom strand of fencing and I will have to go around and check all of the grounding wires.  I'm not a huge fan of electrical things, so it will be important to me to make sure the electric fence is in good order.  There is also about 20 feet of fence that was taken down on the front paddock to put the swimming pool in. I'll just have to have some posts put in and re-connect the electric rope.  There is a nice amount of grass - which is really great - so few boarding barns around here have any grass in the paddocks, so Dolly (if she hangs around long enough, lol) will be very lucky!

I'm still keeping an eye on horse sale ads, but I just don't have the time to drive all over the place looking at horses. I emailed the girl with the arab gelding and told her I'd have to wait until early June to come back for another visit.  Dolly is hopefully moving on May 31st, so that is coming up quickly.  She has her last spring vet appt. this Friday, so it will be nice to have all of that taken care of before moving.

We spent a good part of the day yesterday doing some packing. I have been picking away at it, but it was time to start getting serious about it.  We cleaned out closets and packed away alot of seasonal clothes and sports equipment. We also make a first crack at cleaning out the kitchen cupboards - it is amazing how much stuff you can collect in 13 years!  The younger cats have been hilarious lately - they must think that all of the boxes and packing paper are toys we brought home just for their amusement. I have to be really careful when I tape boxes and stack things, as one of them is always inside a box or trying to climb something.

Packing boxes or cat yoga room?

 We are trying to keep the finished boxes contained in one room, but sometimes the volume of stuff just gets away from us.  I have to re-arrange this corner of the room today, because I can't get out the patio door!

Messy! Need to organize this side of the room today...

Ok - enough blogging, pack to do some more packing, then some overtime work this afternoon.

Horse shopping and visiting the (new) neighbours

I spent the day on Friday visiting new horses and new friends.

Last Friday morning I went to look at a potential new gelding. I have been looking for the past couple of months for an older gelding that is small and might work better for me out on the trails. There are very few older, small (under 15.1hh) well trained geldings (of any breed) around here. I guess people hold on to them like crazy when they find a good one!

The guy I went to see is a 13yr old arab gelding that is owned and ridden by a teenager, so he has lots of mileage. He has been to shows and pony club events, hacked out in fields and trails and can jump 2'3" without much trouble. I was pleasantly surprised to meet his owner, who is about 20 now and heading off to college. She is smart, funny and knows alot about her horse.

I spent about 2 hours with her and the gelding, Liam. He is a cute little guy and was very well behaved. He is a bit plain for an arab, which is ok by me. I rode him in the arena and we then went out for a 20 min hack. He was fine and didn't put a foot wrong. I have to say that I'm super hesitant to even consider getting another horse, since I haven't made the best decisions in the past...

Liam and his girl

I may go back in a week or so and go for another ride, before I decide anything. The owner is willing to let me take him on a 2 month trial for the summer, or even a 1 year lease, so that is good. I was very upfront with her about my hesitations and she was very accepting of everything.

After my ride, I rushed home, had a quick lunch and then went out to Dolly's soon-to-be new home to visit my friend E, who has 3 horses there. E is an older rider and started riding later in life. We saddled up her mare and went out to the sand ring. Poor E has pretty low confidence and a bad case of nerves. She isn't connecting so well with her mare, so I was trying to give her some pointers, seeing as how I struggle with similar issues sometimes.

I was willing to get on her mare and see if I could figure her out a bit. E wasn't comfortable with that in the end, as she was worried I might get bucked off. So, we just groomed her horses and hung out with some the other barn people for a couple of hours. It was a beautiful sunny day and in addition to meeting some nice people and horses, I have also found the perfect hay source!

This new barn (I'll have to think up a nickname) has more hay than they use, so they are willing to sell me as much as I need. They will even deliver it each month or two as I require it...all for $4.00/bale. Some quotes I've had have been up to $4.50/bale, so that isn't too bad at all!
 
I'm getting down to the wire for the big move.  We move on June 1st and Dolly will be going to the new barn on May 31st!  Packing is going well, but I think I need to pick up the pace a bit for the final 2 weeks.  I have also been working a lot of overtime, so I will be looking forward to the move and the 1 week vacation I have booked for the week after!

SI (pelvis) issues and a Chiro visit

I went out to the barn Monday after work because I had booked a chiro appointment for Dolly. I was feeling better about the whole situation with her. I was no longer fire-breathing angry, but had just decided to try and ride her in the ring and then decide about putting her up for sale at some point this summer if nothing improved.

Dolly has been quite stiff under saddle – mostly in her back end. I was seeing some fairly random issues with her that pointed in a bunch of different directions. She wasn’t lame, but she wasn’t moving comfortably either. She would toss her head when you applied leg, her walk and trot were stiff and choppy, her canter in the round pen was disunited and hard for her to maintain. She was also a bit tender in different spots on her back. I decided to try my endurance saddle instead of the western saddle to see if that was the problem. I rode her twice in the endurance saddle and didn’t notice any drastic changes.

I gave Dolly a week of bute and 2 weeks off from riding and there was still no change. She also had what we thought was a hunter’s bump… I thought of trying chiro, but I had Dolly adjusted twice in the fall by a different chiro and saw absolutely no change. I didn’t really know what other options I had at this point. I was worried that Dolly was in pain, or at least quite uncomfortable, but the way she was reacting under saddle. (Note: I think the bucking on the trail was still attitude at being held back)

I was talking to RuckusButt about Dolly’s issues and she told me that she had been researching another chiro in the area. There aren’t a lot of alternative treatment options in our area, so having a new chiro in town was a bit of a big deal. I sat on the info for a bit and then decided to call for an appointment. I figured that it would be the last thing I could try with Dolly to help her out.

I have to admit that I had pretty low expectations from this chiro visit. Fortunately, I was proven wrong! The new chiro was friendly, knowledgeable and spent an hour with Dolly and I! She did chiropractic adjustments as well as some soft tissue work and stretching. She told me that Dolly’s pelvis was very stiff and it would be quite uncomfortable for her. She did several adjustments and stretches and felt that she was able to loosen things up. She also did adjustments to Dolly’s back and neck. Dolly was an ideal chiro patient and spent the whole hour trying to snuggle with me (rotten horse!) and licking and chewing during the adjustments.

I gave her 24 hours off and rode for the first time last night. The first interesting thing was that when I whistled for Dolly, she cantered to the gate! Normally I have to go get her and drag her in… lol. The second interesting thing was that Dolly’s walk was more forward and I could feel her back end working better. I was content to just walk around the riding ring, but Endurance Lady told me to try a trot and see how she did. I trotted a few circles in each direction and I had a normal trot! No head jerking up, no aggressive chomping on the bit and no choppy strides! I’m pretty surprised and I think Dolly was too. Our trotting still needs lots of work, but I at least feel that she is comfortable and willing to work, instead of fighting me every step of the way.

I haven’t tried her out on the trails yet, I’m not going to rush that. I want to build up some confidence in the ring and then go from there. John Lyons always says “ride where you can, not where you can’t”. This seems to be a fairly good sentiment for me right now.

Some SI/Pelvis info:

Behind the Bit has an older post on SI issues

Understanding Sacroiliac pain

Sacroiliac Injury – Merck Veterinary Manual

The Ups and Downs (literally) of riding

As you may have guessed by the title, I took my first dive in a while this past weekend.

Yep, Laura the lawn dart. Luckily for me, I took most of the impact in my amply padded derrière, with shoulder and head hitting second and third (yeah for helmets!). I also landed in a nice soft hay field, so that softened the blow a bit.  I'm just a bit stiff today, but luckily I don't even have a bruise or any other injuries.

What happened, you ask? Well, Dolly had a hissy fit at being held back to a trot while out riding with 3 other people (who were all trotting nicely) and within about 20 seconds decided she wanted me off her back NOW! and did some pretty mean bucks to accomplish her task.

To add insult to injury, Dolly was also kind enough to run off after she succeeded in dumping me. I have to admit a not-so-nice thought crossed my mind as I sat on my knees in the hay, watching her cavort around the hay field...

My thoughts were something along the line of:

"If you had a half a brain, you little *****, you would keep running and not come back!"

We were able to catch her without much trouble and headed back to the barn. I had a total and complete meltdown, as this latest event is just another in a string of bad experiences with this horse. I know alot of the issues are mine - confidence being the big thing that keeps coming up, but she is also a horse that has some anxiety/attitude issues that are maybe suited to a more advanced, confident rider.

At one point, I was ready to just give her away and quit riding forever. After I was talked down from that ledge, some other, more sensible options were proposed.

My friend and I are going to start looking for a nice older gelding (Rusty! I miss you!) and see if we can find something that will work for me. I don't want to stop riding and there must be a horse out there that isn't a total idiot.

I feel comfortable riding her in the ring, so I will continue to do that and see if that helps her at all. I'm also going to proceed with moving Dolly to the new barn at the end of May and maybe put her up for sale then. I don't hate her by any stretch, but sometimes the partnership just doesn't click and you have to make the call to move on.  
 
That is where I am right now.  *sigh*

And so it starts...

Now that the intial excitement of getting our new house has worn off, I've been getting down into the nitty gritty details that moving entails...

I've decided to move Dolly to the farm down the road from the new place for the month of June. I think it will be a good move for us. I've already met several of the people there and they all seem friendly and happy to show me around.

This move will see me have a new barn, a new vet and a new farrier. My current vet doesn't travel to the new area, so I have to go back to using a vet I had used with Rusty. Luckily this vet is quite good, so I'm comfortable making the switch. I still haven't sorted out the farrier thing yet - there are a couple that work in the area, so hopefully one is good and willing to trim Dolly.

We also had a bit of a financial fiasco this week. I think I have it sorted out, but it involved us picking a new mortgage company and switching all of our finances to a different bank one month before closing! As result of this, I now have to switch all of our direct deposits and direct payments, on top of changing our address and setting up new utilities! Good thing I like lists, because there is no way on earth I could remember all of this stuff!

And poor Dolly has sat pretty much neglected for the past two weeks, as she had one week off on the vet's recommendation and another week off since I've been swamped with house issues!

I had the vet out a couple of weeks ago for her spring shots and I also had him check her back. She has been acting 'off' the past few times I was riding. She was tense, her head would shoot up every time you put leg on (even gently) and she was just "weird" while riding. She wasn't visibly lame, just off somehow. He felt that her right side, between her last rib and the point of her hip were a bit tender.

She had a week off, with bute and I checked her on Saturday and she didn't seem to be tender in the back anymore. I am wondering if she was either having some issues with coming back into heat or if my western saddle skirt was digging into her right side every time she did one of her 180 spins.

I'll be trying her in my endurance saddle for the next few rides, as it is adjustable, with shims and wedges that can be added and removed to customize the fit. I also have a new chiro coming out on Monday, so hopefully she has some insight to whether Dolly is truly sore or if I need to further investigate ulcer and/or lady part problems!

Horses are such puzzles sometimes - you have to chip away at eliminating issues and hope that you can discover the real problem and give them some pain relief/comfort!