Winter Riding Woes

This was what my riding arena looked like on Christmas day. The weekend before Christmas we it snowed for 3 days, with a total of 2 feet of beautiful, fluffy snow. Of course, the two days after the snow stopped it was bitter cold--single digits with wind chills well below 0. I wimped out and didn't ride. Then, Christmas Eve day it rained. And, this is what the rain did to all that beautiful snow. Sigh.

Even though he has his winter shoes on, I wasn't going to ride him on that ice. But, I DID get on! Finally. It had been almost 2 months since I got on and I was darn well going to ride on Christmas! All I did was walk around my property, picked our way over some downed limbs. We half passed up and down my driveway. We went a little way up the road, but I was worried about kids with their dirt bikes and ATVs. So, we didn't go too far. But, I got him marching forward with a nice swing through his back. He stretched his head and neck out nicely. When turned him back to the barn, he didn't want to go. He enjoyed our little outing. He's the only horse I've ever ridden that doesn't try to turn around to go home. OK, he does prefer hacking out to the ring work, but he enjoys the ring work, also.

It was so nice to get back on him, even though all we did was walk. I miss riding him. I hope I can get back into a routine of riding. Sunday the temps got near 60 and all that ice melted. Today, we're getting 6-8" of snow, so that will be perfect for riding. Tomorrow is supposed to be pretty cold, but maybe I can bundle up and get a ride in. It will be a good way to start the new year.

Storm Wrapup

The rest of the week was pretty uneventful. With the generator, I was as stressed as I had been. There was some extra work involved in doing the chores, but nothing that couldn't be handled. I continued trying to clear away the broken branches, but we got 2 feet of snow last weekend so there is still alot out there now buried under snow.

I got fairly good at cooking basic on the wood stove. One morning, I made bacon and eggs. with my cast iron skillet. I heated up soups for evening meals. The last morning without power I used up some shallots, gruyere cheese and eggs by making on omelet with my cast iron skillet. So, I really didn't do badly as far as that goes. I'm not sure how much gas for generator would have been used if I had used the cooktop or the oven for cooking. I preferred to make do and conserve.

Lessons learned--be prepared. I need to get an evacuation plan in order. I have 4 horses and just a two-horse trailer. What would I do if I had to evacuate?! Another one of those "it will never happen to me" things, that I now realize COULD happen. Just because I don't live in CA where wild fires and mud slides are common or in the southeast where there are much more devastating hurricanes, doesn't mean something dire couldn't happen here.

Also, I need to get a supply of sturdy rope. I was lucky that only a few top boards on the equine fencing were broken. If I had lost complete sections of fencing, the horses could have been wandering around the neighborhood. Actually, I'm pretty sure the boys would hang around--they know those dangerous dirt bikes are out there. But, the girls definately have the "oh, let's go visiting" personality. On Saturday morning there were 3 cows wandering around on the main road at the end of my street. No one knew where they came from. It sends shivers down my spine thinking that that could have been the horses.

I also need supplies for mending the electric fence. Not as important as the wooden fence, as that's mostly to keep certain equines from eating the boards, but still, that needs to be repaired and if I lose parts of the wooden fence, a few strands of the electric wire will help to safely contain the horses. I need the wire, the connectors, etc. I just have to figure out where to get all these things.

And, keep as much food on hand as I can for humans and animals. The grain storage is a problem here as I can only keep 2 weeks worth at a time. I am considering getting more bags and just piling them up, but I worry about the rodents getting in them if they're not in barrels. I used to have squirrels living in the barn, before I got the horses. Now that I have the horses here and I spend a fair amount of time in and out of the barn, I don't notice the squirrels that much. I did have a raccoon in there one summer--he killed the last of my chickens. :-( I just worry about attracting nuisance animals. I think I will devise a way to be able to store more horse grain and try not to ever get below 2 week's worth of grain. I never get that low on hay. I start to worry about getting more hay in when I get down to about a month's worth.

And, of course, first aid supplies. I was very fortunate that none of the horses were injured by falling limbs. I'm making sure I have a supply of sheet cotton, betadine, standing wraps, etc. The horses were all good about the sounds of all the chain saws, but I think I'm going to get some calming herbs. Especially since I suspect this spring there's going to be alot of brush pile burning and Jeeves does NOT like fires. I'm not sure how the girls will be about that. But, better to be prepared with some calming herbs rather than risk colic from anxiety.

Last--emergency contacts. Make sure people know who lives close by who can take care of the animals so that in case something happens to me, others can be called to step in. I've got a list of emergency contacts in the barn, which I will be updating. I'm going to tell my neighbors about this list, so that if they see that something has happened to me, they can contact someone to take care of the animals.

If anyone can think of anything else, please let me know.

Saved by the Generator

Dave got the generator hooked up and working by mid-afternoon on Sunday. The first thing we did was start scrubbing out the stock tanks and refilling them. Who knew that it would be so exciting to do such a mundane chore?! Unfortunately, the water stopped when Jeeves's tank was only about 1/2 filled. :-( Dave was still here, so I grabbed him and told him what had happened. He looked at things, scratched his head, looked at things, and decided to move the circuit breakers to a different slot in the panel. That seemed to work as the pump started working again and we had water. Dave left. Shortly after, the pump stopped working again. Eeek! I checked the circuit breakers in the barn and in the main panel in the basement. All looked alright. Lights were working. But, not the water pump. I jiggled things. I kicked the generator, I cursed. The pump wouldn't work.

This is when I had my little temper tantrum. I threw myself on the couch and pulled the afghan over my head and tried to escape from life. Unfortunately, life has to go on, the horses need water, and I had to figure out what was going on.

Long story, not so short, the generator is 5000 watts. Which sounds like a lot and should be enough to power the water pump, along with the fridge, etc. George and I checked the few things that were plugged in and they didn't add up to 5000 watts. That is, until we looked at the water heater. The electric water heater. That little monster uses 4500 watts! Aha! The light bulb started to dawn over my head. I have a mixer valve in my basement that mixes hot water with cold for the line going out to the frost free hydrant by the barn. Soooo, as we were filling up the stock tanks it worked fine until the water in the heater cooled off enough that the water heater had to turn on to heat up. Then, that would overload the generator. Dave and Jenn actually drove all the way back out here to look at the generator again. It turns out there is a circuit actually on the generator that had to be reset. Once we did that, restarted the generator, turned the mixing valve so that no hot water was going to the barn AND turned off the circuit breaker for the water heater, it worked fine!! I got all the stock tanks filled up and never had any problems again.

Because the generator sucks up gas, I turned it off over night. In the morning, the first thing I did was throw on some clothes, run outside, and tried to see if I could start the generator myself from a cold-start. The day before didn't really count since it was already warmed up when I started it. The generator is started with one of those pull cords, which I usually fail miserably at. It takes me forever to get the weed wackers started up. But, miraculously, the generator started right up!! I ran back into the house and used the toiled...and flushed!! Brushed my teeth with the lights on!! Oh, the simple pleasures in life. :-)

I then turned OFF the circuit breaker for the pump and turned ON the circuit breaker for the water heater. I let the generator run for a bit over an hour, then I reversed the circuit breakers--pump ON, heater OFF. Then, I took my first shower since Wednesday morning! Oh, the joy! Those cold water sponge baths just weren't doing it for me.

It was a pain having to play with the circuit breakers, but it worked. The biggest thing for me was the water for the horses--everything else was a bonus. After that, I only ran the generator for a few hours a day. Usually an hour or so in the morning, so that I had water for the horses meal, quick clean up and toilets and to cool off the fridge. Then again late afternoon for the same. I would turn the water heater on in the morning and, except for when I showered, it would give me enough hot water to make it through the day with frugal use. Everything in my freezer had already been tossed since it had gotten too warm before the generator got working. But, I put a couple of 1/2 bottles of water in the freezer to see how cool it stayed and running it like that, a couple of hours in the morning and a couple of hours in the late afternoon, kept the fridge and freezer cool enough. So, now I know for the next time, how to keep the food good. I could have run the generator longer, but I wanted to conserve the gas. It took too long to go out and get more gas--the nearest gas station that was operational was over an hour away. Normally, it only takes 20 minutes to get to that station but with the condition of the roads (trees down, hanging over the roads, roads closed, etc.) it took over an hour to get there. It also gets pretty expensive refilling that thing. I didn't use it enough to really figure out how long it would run on a tank (6 gallons) but I'm pretty sure it would go at least 8 hours with the kind of use I was doing. The more watts you use, the more gas it takes. I now have 2 5-gallon containers of gasoline out in the barn (not where the horses are stabled, it's more an equipment barn). So, I am prepared.

My friends have a whole house generator. They have 3 large propane tanks that they use to fuel the generator. I think they can go weeks without power on the tanks they have. There are diesel generators that probably use less gas and therefore would run longer on a tank of gas. I didn't have any choice, I just took what showed up. But, it is good enough for my needs. If I had a lot more horses, I might want to upgrade to a bigger generator. I don't mind some sacrifices. The neighbors across the street have a generator and even when we just lose power for a few hours, they start that thing right up. I swear they can't go an evening without TV. :-( Now, the neighbor down the street is a disabled woman. She's on an oxygen tank and has to have electricity, so she ran her generator all the time. But, for her, it's a matter of life and death, not a convenience.

So, do some research--figure out what you want to have powered if you ever have an extended power outage. Check to see how many amps those things use. That will help you figure out what size generator you need to get. But, definately do some planning ahead of time and be prepared. I'm 50 yo and have never experienced a power outage like this. I didn't think I ever would. Surprise, surprise. I hope I never do again. When we have horses, we need to be ready. I've learned my lesson, fortunately, without any stress to the horses. They didn't have a clue all this "drama" was going on. They were getting fed and had water and were turned out as normal during the whole power outage. That's all they cared about.

Continuing the Cleanup

Saturday dawned bright and clear and very cold. This was good because the refrigerator and freezer were starting to warm up. So, I packed the meats from my freezer into coolers and put those outside, hoping to save them. The fridge contents were, at first, a bit more problematic. I didn't want to put the milk, cheese, and fresh veggies outside as they would quickly freeze. Then, I remembered the closet that is off my mudroom. It's a walk in closet---actually used to be the closet for the master bedroom when the house was first built. Long before I bought the house, the wall for the bedroom had been torn down creating a large front-to-back livingroom. Last year, I remodeled and turned the back half, what used to be the master bedroom, into a new kitchen. At that time, I made egress to the closet through the mudroom. The closet has no heat, no windows and, as far as I can tell, not alot of insulation. It was perfect for keeping fridge items cool. :-) It became my walk-in refrigerator for the rest of the power outage. By the time the power came back on Thursday, everything was still good, including the milk.

I spent the day trying to clear more debris. The going was slow with only a hand saw, but I made some progress. I still worried about the water for the horses. Neighbors with a generator told me that I could get water from them, but I don't think they realized HOW much water I needed. Jeeves will easily drink 15-20 gallons/day. Lance about 10, and the girls will empty their 100 gallon stock tank in about 4 days. That's 50-55 gallons/day. A lot of buckets to fill up and truck back.

Terri showed up in the afternoon and helped with clearing branches and making sure the fence was secure. The roads were terrible--it took her over an hour to get here, normally it's 20 minutes. She took a couple of muck buckets home so that she could fill them with water and bring some water back the next day. That eased my mind a bit, but it was still a worry.

Later in the afternoon, my dear friend, George, showed up--with batteries and drinking water! :-) Not enough for the horses, but enough for me and the house critters.

At the end of the day, we took the dogs for a walk. People had done more clearing along the road, so we were able to go all the way to the end of the road. The damage was incredible, though. Trees down every where you look. The trails are totally impassable. Beautiful to look at with the ice glistening in the late day sunshine, but such destruction. As we were heading back, a truck came along--surprising since we were at the farthest end of the road, past any houses. Turns out the truck was one of the guys who helped build the run-in shed this summer. He had gone in to Boston to pick up a couple of generators: one for himself and one for a buddy. By the time he got back, his buddy had already found one, so he had an extra one. Did I want it? YES!! :-) The Universe came through for me, once again, and supplied me with what I needed.

On Sunday, Jenn (owner of the fillies) and her boyfriend came out and hooked up the generator for me. Since two of the horses here are hers, she has an interest in making sure they can get water. Dave also brought his chain saw and cut up a few of the bigger trees that had come down. George, Jenn, and I loaded the branches into the truck and took everything out to the growing brush pile at the back of my property. By the end of the day, I was exhausted--physically and emotionally. But, for the first time since Thursday evening, I wasn't worried about how I was going to manage. With the help of friends and neighbors, my animals and I were going to be just fine.

Cleaning Up the Mess

I only cried for about a minute. I just needed the emotional release and it was over as quickly and unexpectedly as it started. With a deep breath, I looked around to figure out how I could get my morning cup of tea. The woodstove was the likely method of heating up the water, but would it really get it boiling? Well, I would find out soon enough. I opened up the flu, added some more smaller logs to get the stove burning hot and put some water into a small pot. I didn't want to use my regular kettle as the handle has a rubbery covering on it and I was worried the heat from the wood stove would melt it. It wasn't long before the water reached a rolling boil--perfect for tea. :-) I was set! If I can have my morning cup of tea, I can face whatever the day brings.

I dug a ginger scone out of the freezer, wrapped that up in aluminum foil and placed it on top of the stove to heat it up. That didn't go as well as the tea--the bottom of the scone burned pretty quickly. Oops! It was still good enough to be a go-with for the cup of tea, though. Playing with cooking on the wood stove during this power outage, I figured out that to heat up scones or muffins, it was best to get a rack out of the oven, put that on top of the wood stove, then put the foil wrapped treat on the rack. That way it warmed up but didn't burn...as long as I remembered to turn it and keep an eye on it.

After the tea and scone, I went back outside. I noticed a few of the neighbors out in the street, so I walked back out there to see what was going on. The men were getting their chain saws out and started cutting up the trees and limbs that were blocking the street. I grabbed the cut up pieces and dragged them off to the side of the road. Some of the older kids came out and helped me with the debris removal while the men handled the chain saws. We had to be careful, as there were still limbs crashing down. But, it wasn't long before the road was cleared enough for a car to get through. There was still an obstacle course for the cars to weave around, but it was passable. I didn't even consider venturing out, though. If I went out and something happened to prevent me getting back, who would take care of all the animals?!

I spent the rest of that first day cleaning stalls, and starting to remove the debris from the paddocks. Mostly what I did was get as much off the fence as I could. I used a hand saw to cut up what I could and tried to clean up what I could. I also took the dogs for a walk as far as I dared to go up the street, trying to find a spot where I could get signal on my cell phone. No luck with that.

The most heartbreaking loss is my little Hawthorne tree. :-( I planted that little tree the first year after I moved here, 7 years ago. It's spring flowers aren't much, but the berries in winter are so beautiful. And, in January,when the berries completely ripen, the birds come and eat them in one day. It has such a pretty shape. In the pic, it looks like it's a weeping variety but that's just because of the weight of the ice. The branches are supposed to be arching upwards, not drooping down. I will get a new one in the spring. For now, I just pruned off the branches that have snapped and will leave the rest there for the berries to ripen for the birds.

The worst thing that first day was that after dark, there wasn't anything to do. I had no batteries for the radio. Candles did not provide enough light to read and I didn't want to drain the batteries by using the flashlight. I needed that flashlight to be able to go out to give the horses their bed check hay. No phone. The dogs and cats, while cute and good company are not very good at holding their end of a conversation. So, I took the opportunity to do some meditation and some yoga...in the dark. :-) I have gotten out of the habit of meditation and this was a good reminder for me. I have promised myself that I will make the time to meditate even if only for 5 minutes day. Just a few minutes sitting in the quiet, focusing on my breathing and nothing else. A good way to center myself and focus my energy for the day. Some good comes out of the disaster.

Out of the Darkness

I have just lived through one of my worst nightmares. I live out in the country and am on a well. When power goes out, I can't get water. I heat the house with the woodstove, so heat is not a concern, water is. Especially with 4 horses who consume roughly 50 gallons per day. I have always worried about how I would get water for the horses in an extended power outage.

Last Thursday, the 11th, we had an ice storm. There really wasn't any warning that it was going to be as bad as it was until the evening forecast. The forecast was for a wintry mix, but on the evening news I heard the meteoroligist say that the Boston area and south was going to get 5" of rain. As he said that, it occurred to me that if Boston was going to get 5" of rain, did that mean that my area was going to get FIVE INCHES of ICE?!?! EEEEK!! I knew that would be a disaster! But, at that point, it was already icing up outside, so it was too late to make a run to the store for things like batteries and canned soup. :-(

Sure enough, a little after 8:00 pm the power went out. I discovered that I only had 4 batteries in the house, 2 of which went into the flashlight so that I could maneuver around the house and out to the barn to check on the horses. My radio takes 6 batteries so I couldn't even listen to the radio. Sigh...

I didn't sleep at all last night. It sounded like a war zone outside. There would be a loud CRACK, then a crashing sound as a tree crashed to the ground. I am surrounded by woods, so I was hearing cracks close by and farther off in the woods. A few times the whole house shook. I'm very fortunate that there are no large trees near the house, but I worried about the horse stalls? Did something hit the shed? Were the horses ok? I kept getting up and trying to look out the window but it was too dark and the ice was coming down much too heavily to see anything. I could hear Jeeves outside, he preferred to be outside rather than in his stall and I can't really blame him, although I did worry about how wet he was getting. He had his winter blanket on, but still, he would be drenched.

Morning and daylight finally came. I was greatly relieved to see all 4 horses were fine. No cuts, no one was colicking due to stress. Lance was unnerved and jumpy as a cat, but that's normal for him. I had a couple of boards broken and one section of electric wire had broken, but I was very, very lucky that was all the damage I had. Alot of big limbs and sections of trees in the paddocks, or outside the paddock leaning against the fence. But, not much damage at all.

The worst of it was over, but every once in a while the top of a tree or a large limb would suddenly snap and come tumbling down. I made my way down my driveway to the street and couldn't believe what I saw. Tree limbs all over the road. Trees down. Limbs and trees balancing precariously on power lines. Power lines down. I had to pick my way slowly through all the debris just to get to my neighbor across the street. He had a tree through his living room window. Another one had hit his roof. The power lines had been ripped off the side of his house and siding had also been pulled off.

We couldn't believe what we were seeing. I was completely dismayed at what I was seeing. I knew it was going to be a while before the power was back on. The stock tanks were pretty full, so I knew the horses were good for water until Sunday probably even Monday morning. But, then what was I going to do? I made my way back to the house, sat down on the couch and burst into tears. I have never felt so alone and so isolated. And, I hope never to feel that way again.

To be continued...

Dutch's New Home

In July of 2007, I got an e-mail about a male Malinois in the RISPCA shelter. I went down there to check him out and found a scrawny but sweet dog. I pulled him from the shelter and brought him home. He was depressed, confused...can't blame him. You live with someone for 4 years and then get dumped in a shelter--I'ld be depressed and confused, too. However, his sweet nature became apparent pretty quickly. I fell in love with him, although the last thing I needed was a third dog. And, I would have kept him, but Riley, my 12 yo male, hated him. I had to keep a close eye on the two of them to make sure Riley didn't attack him. Plus, his energy clashed with Riley's energy and they fed into each other's hysteria. So, I kept him listed for adoption.

It took a long time, but the right home finally came along. A young couple who had lost their last Mal to cancer a little over a year ago applied to adopt him. They have no children, which is a good thing with him. I think he would be OK with kids, but he gets excited and would knock them over. Plus, he gets excited and barks and might scare friends of the kids. So, he needed to go to a home with no children. They don't mind that he's middle-aged and they weren't concerned about all his medical issues. While he was with me he was diagnosed with hypo-thyroid and allergies to all sorts of things. Easily managed, but alot of people didn't want to deal with it. Which is fine. It has to be the right home for the right dog. I brought him down to to meet them and they loved him. Last Thursday, Rebecca came and picked him up and took him home.

Apparently, he's settling in well. I miss him terribly, but it's much better for him to be in a home where he can be King. And not have to worry about Riley attacking him. He can play with his toys inside the house, something that I couldn't allow here because Riley will try to hoard the toys and would attack Dutch if he tried to play with any. :-( Things are alot quieter here, which I do appreciate. I am enjoying the calm. Lyca misses playing with him. But, I do miss that handsome face that was always there whenever I turned around.

This is the hardest part of working with animal rescue. Letting them go. But, if you don't let them go, you can't help the next one that comes along. It will take me a while to recover from Dutch--he was a special one. I will take in another foster...eventually. Hopefully, a female that Riley will tolerate better. :-) For now, Lyca and Riley are getting extra hugs and lots of treats.

Cold Morning Fright

Yesterday morning was the coldest day of the year so far. It was a very brisk 8F when I bundled up to head out for my morning walk with the dogs. Brrrr! I'm glad I had dug up my fleece lined jeans from LL Bean. Those things are great, but I could have also used some thermals under them.

After walking the dogs, I fed the horses. Lance was there, whinnying to me as I walked from the barn to the boy's stalls with their grain. I dumped his grain, then went in to Jeeves's stall and dumped the grain in his bucket....then I froze. Jeeves didn't move. He didn't come over mug me for any carrots or mints that I might have in my pants. He didn't come over to eat his grain. He just stood there up against the center partition. Then, he swung his head around and nipped at his flank. Eeeek!

I will admit to a brief, self-indulgent thought about how much I wanted to go in to the warm house and sit down by the wood stove with my morning cup of tea instead of deal with a sick horse. But, one look into Jeeves's worried eyes and all selfish thoughts quickly left my mind. He pawed a bit, then swung his head around to nip at his flank again. There was plenty of manure in the stall and he had eaten most of the hay that I had given him the night before. Knowing that there was not an immediate emergency, I went ahead and fed the girls, then brought hay back to soak for Lance to eat while I took care of Jeeves. By the time I came back in to Jeeves's stall with his halter and lead, he was over by his feed tub. I offered him a piece of carrot, which he half-heartedly nibbled.

On went the halter and I led him up to the frozen arena to hand walk him. Did I mention how cold it was yesterday morning? Did I mention there was a stiff breeze and the wind chill was well below 0F? I pulled my hat down lower over my forehead, pulled the gator up higher over my cheeks, leaving just enough room for my now teary eyes. Soon, I had little icicles on my eye lashes to match the little icicles on Jeeves's whiskers. :-) The sun was just poking up over the horizon and there were enough clouds to make for a beautiful, bright orange sun rise. At least it was beautiful, despite the cold.

By the time we made one lap around the arena, Jeeves was gently nudging my shoulder. Another couple of laps and he was nipping at my coat sleeve. I changed directions (hey, have to be symetrical, even when handwalking!) and after a couple of laps he was bouncing around at the end of the lead, calling to Lance, who was quite put out about NOT being put out. The girls started screaming in their paddock because the boys weren't out and they couldn't flirt with them over the fence. I'm glad it was a weekday so my neighbors were awake and heading out to work.

So, with Jeeves obviously feeling better, I brought him back to his stall where he started eating a flake of hay I brought him. I decided to leave him in (with access to his in/out paddock) until I saw that he passed manure, just to be safe. Then, I went in the house, stripped off all my layers, fed the dogs and cats and curled up next to the wood stove with my very delicious cup of tea. It tasted so good, especially knowing that Jeeves was feeling better and being able to look out the window and see him munching his hay in front of his stall. He passed manure about an hour later, at which point I put the boys out with more hay and he's been perfectly fine since then.

It's time like this that I both hate and love having him in my backyard. I hate being the only one to find a sick horse, to be the sole person responsible for figuring out what to do. But, I am also glad that I am able to care for him myself, much easier than if he were somewhere else. I've been at barns where the owners will get a call to come down and take care of their own horse. Unless the horse is in a crisis mode, no one will do anything until the owner gets there. So a mildly colicy horse will be left in a stall where he might get worse. A little handwalking immediately, as I did yesterday with Jeeves, might resolve the situation without the need for any further intervention.

This little incident was also a reminder to me to check my emergency supplies. I wasn't sure if I had Milk of Magnesia handy. I do have one syringe of banamine, which I would not give unless my vet told me to. I do need to get some banamine paste, just to have on hand.

I was nervous about going to be last night. But, their stalls are not far from my bedroom window. Despite the cold, I always at least crack my window at night, so I hoped I would hear something if he took ill. But, I awoke this morning, threw on my fleece lined jeans and trotted right out there to see that he was standing outside in the snow flurries, looking peaceful and relaxed. Phew. It was still bitterly cold this morning, but it was a much better start to the day.

Still Alive...

Here I am. I'm still among the living. Here's a pic of Jeeves looking rather moose-like with his winter coat coming in.

Today is the first time in several weeks that I feel human. Work was crazy. I was putting in 70 hour weeks, which, on top of basic animal care, doesn't leave time for much of anything else...including sleep. I was supposed to be on vacation Thanksgiving week, but had to work. It was even looking like I was going to have to work on Thanksgiving day, but fortunately, we got a break with the project and not only did I get to take the Thanksgiving weekend, but I got to take my vacation last week.

However, just as I was starting to recover from being overworked for so long, I came down with a nasty head cold. Ack! So, instead of catching up with a lot of my chores around here and getting back on my poor neglected horse, I spent far too much time on the couch. Today, I still have a stuffy nose and some sniffles, but I'm feeling relatively human again. And, of course, today I'm back at work. But, I should be able to work a more normal schedule of 50 or so hours/week instead of the intense schedule I did through November. And, no, I am not paid hourly, I am salaried, so I earn the same no matter how much time I put in,

I hate to complain, since I am grateful to have a job when so many have lost so much. But, I do hate it when I have to put so much extra time in to it. While I don't hate my job, I wouldn't say I love it. I work to support my animals, as I'm sure many of you can relate to. I don't mind working hard, but I also want to spend time doing the things I love to do in life--ride, play/train with my dogs, garden, and sometimes just relax on the couch. A few months ago, someone I know on one of the online forums I frequent obnoxiously called me an "underachiever" because I'm not in the top 15% of wage earners in the country. That did make me think for a bit. I know that if I had applied myself a bit more throughout my life, I could easily be making much more money. But, would I be happier? Not a chance. My happiness and my sense of success comes from so much more than just how much money I make and how well I do my job. A wonderful ride on my horse gives me so much more satisfaction and elation than the completion of a project at work. The soft nickering of my horse as I trudge through the snow with his bed check hay brings me so much more contentment than a happy customer at work does.

The backside of this is that, while I do earn a good living, I spend most of it maintaining this little farmette for the critters. I have a small pool of savings. I've been scared to look at my 401k balance since the market took the dive in September, so I don't know what I have left in there. If I lose my job, in this economy and at my age in this high-paced, youth oriented industry it would likely take me quite some time to find another job. I could lose all that I have worked so hard for. But, if that happens, I will deal with it. I will still have the satisfaction of knowing that I did achieve my dream and lived it for a few years. How many people never even get that? How many people don't even dare to dream?

So for now, I turn my attention back to my job. But, I hope to catch up with the horsey blogs that I've been neglecting as well as get back on Jeeves as soon as the mercury rises above the 20 degree mark. Maybe tomorrow will warm up enough.

Still Here

I actually got to ride my poor neglected horse yesterday. It was the first ride in 2 weeks. :-( This work stuff really gets in the way of my life. Sigh. He was good. I just did some basic suppling work, w/t/c, trying to stay focused on response to my leg aids and keeping him light in the reins. We did some walk half-pass down the long side--track to quarter line back to track repeat as many times as we can fit in on the long side. Then, I let him stretch through the short side. It's so nice to have him follow the bit all the way down when I let the reins slide through my fingers. His stride lengthens and I can feel the swing in his back. Those little details show me that he was truly connected to the bit, not just faking a pose. He was really taking shorter steps in collection, not just being lazy. I like doing work like this at the walk. It's so much easier to feel these little details. And, it's paying attention to these little details that keep us going in the right direction.

The short stretches through the short side are a really good part of the exercise. He used to get stiff in the collected work. Letting him stretch out after brief periods of work let him know that he doesn't have to stiffen. It helps him realize that I'm not cramming him into a "frame". It's helped so much with his longitudinal suppleness. He still gets a bit fussy with his face when I pick up the reins, but he no longer shortens his stride and hollows his back. He keeps marching forward.

No ride today. The work calls started at 8:00 am and the last one finished just before 6:00 pm and no time to squeeze in a ride in between all the calls. I don't have lights in my ring, so another day without a ride passes by. Tomorrow will be stormy--they're actually talking about SNOW! It's not going to stick, just enough to make things messy...and keep me from riding again. Grumble, complain, whine.

Winter's Coming

We've had a real weather change the last few days. Hard frosts up here. This morning it was 26 degrees when I got up. Brrrr! I actually like this. I much prefer the cooler weather to the oppressive heat and humidity of summer. The horses like it, too. They've been running around their paddocks, kicking up their heels and just having a grand ol' time! No bugs to bother them.

The only thing I don't like about the cooler weather is the shorter daylight hours. :-( My alarm goes off before 5:00 am every day and it's sooo dark now. It makes it harder to get out of bed in the mornings. And, it's very hard to walk three dogs in the pitch black. When it was just 2, I could carry a flashlight, but with the 3 of them, it's too hard. So, I've taken to checking my e-mail and doing a little bit of work before I head out to walk the dogs. Then, when I get back from walking, I feed and turn out the horses. By that time, the sun is just dragging itself over the horizon.

I haven't started blanketing, yet. I go through this every year--to blanket or not to blanket? The last two winters we've had more ice than snow, so my riding has been limited to mostly walking. Had I known that, I could have NOT clipped Jeeves and not blanketed. But, you just don't know. I start out the winter with hopes of being able to ride. If there's enough snow cover that gives me decent footing in the ring and I can do trot and canter work. Can't do alot--have to keep his strides shorter and more collected. He sweats alot, so if I do much work, he needs to be clipped. Decisions, decisions.

Of course, the way work has been, I haven't ridden in over a week now. I'm very upset about that, but i've just had conference calls and deadlines and just haven't been able to eek out a block of time long enough for a ride. I even worked over the weekend--and it was a glorious autumn weekend. Oh, well. There's always next weekend. And, in this declining economy, I'm just happy that I have a job.

Annoyed

I'm so annoyed, about several things, but mostly because I'm out here in California all week in training for work. After my fabulous lesson last Monday, I was only able to ride Jeeves two more times. I hacked him out on Tuesday--he had been working so hard, he needed a light ride to just stretch out. Then, Thursday, we did an easy ring work day. It started pouring rain on Friday and it was still raining Monday when I left. So, we're getting another week without riding. Sigh. Oh, well, I keep reminding myself that I need the job to pay for this hobby.

The other annoyance is the farrier. He was supposed to be out Monday at 8:30. Since I wasn't going to be there, I arranged for Terri to be there and, also, Jenn came out to hold the babies, since they're still a bit anxious about the farrier handling them. He NEVER showed up!! Terri called him left him 2 v-mails on Sunday just to confirm that he was coming out. She called him several times on Monday. Argh! I'm not sure if anyone has even heard from him, yet. I've been so busy with the training and then catching up with my projects when not in training I haven't had a chance to call anyone.

What is is with farriers?! He's a good farrier. It's hard to find a good farrier out in the boonies where I am. But, he does have a reliability problem. Usually, he will call, but sometimes he'll just show up hours late. He's never just not shown up at all, so I am a little worried that something happened to him.

Oh, well, hopefully, he'll get out there....soon. Grumble.

Awesome Lesson!!

We had such a great ride today. Kathy got here early and she watched our long rein warmup. Basically, just forward, stretchy, round, big loopy figures like broken lines and serpentines. At the canter we even did a lead change on the long rein. He was so loose, round through his back, powerful, thrusting from behind. I remember working hard just to get gaits 1/2 that good by the end of an hour, forget about starting out like that. :-) (I have to figure out how to insert emoticons.)

I mentioned to Kathy about playing with the haunches in on the 5m circle to get the canter transition and she upped the ante some. On the open side of a 20m circle, do a turn on the haunches (walk pirouette) 180 degrees and pick up the canter. Canter the circle, then walk as we get back to the open side. Turn on the haunches and pick up the other lead, canter the circle. Repeat. Each time we did it, the canter transition just got better and better. I could really feel him lifting up through the withers. After doing that, we did some canter 1/2-passes and those went really well. We did one that felt really good, no loss of rythm, no stickiness, just slid right over. Kathy said it would have been a 7 in a test.

Then, we did the "squat" exercise that she us do the last time she was out and again she upped the ante on us. This time, we stayed on the long side (last time she had us do it on the 1/4 line), three strides canter, walk. Maintain the activity in the walk, pick up the other lead, 3 strides, walk, etc. We did that down the long side, through the short side and down the next long side. As we approached the end of the long side, doing the 3 strides of canter, she asked me to do a lead change without the walk. He did it, though!! Woohoo!! Walk, drop the reins for a break, then we changed direction and did it in the other direction, including the flying change at the end. Tempi changes, here we come!! :-)

After doing those, just a long stretchy trot to make sure he stretched out all his muscles after that collected work.

It's amazing how a good ride can just make my day. I was on cloud nine for the rest of the day, despite having to go back to work and deal with some difficulties there. I just thought of that ride and a big grin would steal across my face. Who cares if my system isn't working, I had an awesome ride on my awesome horse! Nothing else matters.

Back to Normal

Jeeves's legs are back to normal. Yesterday morning he had a small bit of fluid in his hind. I wouldn't have noticed it if I hadn't been looking for it. This morning, nothing. Soooo, I don't know what it was. Maybe it was something in the flax seed? Maybe the weather change, as Victoria mentioned? Perhaps with the cooler weather and all the rain we've had, there are some new things growing out there in the paddock? Who knows. I'm just glad he's back to normal.

The weather this morning was quite fall-like. Temp was 38F when I got up. :-) I love it. I love the cooler weather. It makes me feel energized. I greatly dislike summer heat and humidity and when this time of year comes along, I'm always grateful that I survived another summer.

It was back to work with Jeeves today. Trot 1/2pass was really good. Nice bend, hind end not trailing, maintained the rhythm nicely. Canter 1/2pass not quite so nice. He lost the rhythm at times. So, I kept it short and accepted what he could give me.

I did an exercise that Kathy gave us last year. It's been a while since we've done it and I thought it would be good to use that today, since he needed more engagement. Walk a 20m circle, then go on a 5m circle inside the 20m. Do this in haunches in and pick up the canter while still in the haunches in on the 5m, but continue on the 20m. One circle, walk, repeat.

Jeeves's reaction the first time Kathy had us do this last year was "You want me to do WHAT?!". When I asked again his reaction was "You can't possibly be serious." Third request, a big, long suffering sigh from him and he did it. :-) Today wasn't quite so dramatic, his first reaction was "Oh, darn, I remember this exercise." Second request and he picked up the canter. He's such a good boy.

This exercise is really good for engaging the inside hind and collecting the horse. In the canter transition, I could really feel him lift up through the withers. The transitions to the walk were balanced and light and the last one was awesome. It was up, forward, prompt and still engaged. It reminded me of what a clinician once told me about a good down transition -- it shouldn't be like a rock plummeting to the ground, it should be like a snowflake floating gracefully to ground. I just dropped the reins, patted him, and gave him a walk break. It was a great ride.

We have a lesson scheduled for Monday afternoon. Hopefully, the weather and everything will cooperate and we'll actually get to have our lesson.

Jeeves's Relatives

Billie mentioned that she has been checking out Cleveland Bays and I thought I would write about Jeeves's siblings that I have met.

Shortly after I brought Jeeves home, my neighbor and her daughter came over to admire the horses and they asked if Jeeves was a Cleveland Bay. I was surprised because Cleveland Bays are rather rare. Turns out the daughter used to ride and there was a Cleveland Bay, High Five, at the barn she rode at and they said Jeeves looked just like him.

A few months later a woman I didn't know drove up my driveway. She got out of the car, introduced herself as a student of my then-instructor and said that she owned Jeeves's 1/2-brother! She had pics of him and he and Jeeves really did look alot alike--especially the head. They're the same size, also. About 17.1-17.2h.

Then, winter before last, a friend and I accompanied another friend on a horse trying trip to Vermont. Another friend (our former instructor who abandoned us when she moved to Vermont a few years ago, sniff) met us at the barn where this potential horse was. As we were standing around talking with the owner of the horse, waiting for her to get tacked up, etc., another boarder walked past us leading a horse to the indoor. All 4 of us looked at the horse and at about the same time said "It's Jeeves!". Of course, this was a mare, so it wasn't, but again, the head looked just like him! Turns out she was his 1/2-sister.

All three were by Fryup Marvel, Penelope De Payer's stallion. Jeeves was bred by her, out of one her mares. High Five was bred by his owner and I'm not sure if the mare was Penelope's or if someone just used Marvel for stud. Conformationally the three are very similar, but Jeeves, if I do say so myself, is the better of the three. Jeeves also got the best attitude of the three. High apparently has quite the buck in him, something that Jeeves does NOT do and would never dream of doing under saddle. The mare, while sweet to people, had an attitude towards other horses. I watched her being ridden and every time another horse approached her or she approached another horse, she tried (or thought about) kicking it. Another thing Jeeves has never and would never do! We've been out on trail rides and had other horses run right into his butt and he never even switches his tail.

Jeeves's little quirk is that if all is not exactly "right" in his world then he gets very upset and can be very difficult, if not impossible, to handle from the ground. And, "right" is hard to define. One spring, there was a wood duck in the big tree in the paddock, quacking...as wood ducks are apt to do. Jeeves was convinced this was not really a duck but must be some alien and he absolutely could NOT possibly come in for dinner. He had to stand watch and make sure this 4 pound duck didn't sneak up on him and the other horse in their stalls. I got the other horse in for dinner, but there was no way I could catch Jeeves. So, he spent the night outside, standing watch. I brought him hay out there. This kind of thing doesn't happen that often. Last time it happened was last October when the next door neighbor was burning brush.

The odd thing is that when he's like that, if I can manage to keep him still long enough to tack him up and mount, he will behave like the perfect gentleman he always is under saddle. He might look at the smoke from the brush fire and he'll look towards the tree where the wood duck is, but he won't bolt, won't buck, won't misbehave at all. Which is fine by me. I can deal with this one idiosyncrasy.

Apparently, his siblings have similar quirks and attitudes about what their world is supposed to be like, although they're not as well behaved under saddle.

From what I understand, Cleveland Bays do have these little personality quirks. But, over all they're great horses, a very versatile breed. Jeeves was actually bred to be a hunter, but I don't think jumping is his thing. He's good at dressage and I think that is his forte. High is currently doing hunters and loving it. He never enjoyed dressage.

All three horses are also very good out on trails and love the trails, at least as far as I could tell in talking to the owners of the other two. I can trailer Jeeves somewhere he's never been, hop on, point him towards a trail and he'll march off like he knows where he's going. I've never had a horse like that before! He'll go through mud and water up to his chest. I know, I know, you western riders are wondering what the big deal is, but for a DQ, having a horse that will even go through a puddle is a Big Thing! ;-)

So, it's not much, but that's what I know about the Cleveland Bay.

Update on Jeeves, his stocking up seems better. I gave him 2 bute last night, and hand walked him at dinner and again at bed check for about 20 minutes each time. This morning he was stocked up again but not nearly as bad as yesteday. I gave him 1 bute with breakfast. I rode him in the ring today (oh, my instructor had to cancel our lesson today) but kept it fairly easy. We did a long walk warm up, with some walk 1/2 passes. Then, some trot and canter work, focusing on transitions, bending and straightness. Nothing too strenuous and his legs looked fine after the ride. When he came in at dinner, there was a little bit of puffiness in his hind legs but only noticeable because I was on my knees looking at and feeling his legs to see if I could find anything! LOL!

Stocked Up

Last night, I noticed Jeeves's hind legs were a bit stocked up. I was somewhat surprised, but figured with the weather and I haven't ridden for several days it's probably not a big deal. This morning, his hind legs were QUITE stocked up and the fronts were stocked up about halfway up his cannon bones. Sigh.

I rode him lightly in the ring--just long and low, walk, trot and canter, to see if he was sound. He started off a bit stiff, but if my legs were that swollen, I'ld be a bit stiff, too. He warmed up out of it, then I decided to just go for a hack. He enjoyed that. I wish we had better/safer trails here. Alot of the trails have been flooded by beaver dams and are impassable. The ones that are left are frequently used by dirt bikers and ATVs, usually going at very high speeds. So, I keep my trail riding to a minimum. If I had someone to hack out with, I would do more. But, living alone and working from home, if something happened out there, it could be days before my absence was noticed. So, I figure it's better safe than sorry. We stick to walking trails, usually about 30-45 minutes. It's a nice change from the ring, relaxing, and we both enjoy it.

Anyway, the swelling his legs came down after the ride, so I was encouraged by that. By dinner time, they were stocking up again, so I added a couple of bute to his grain.

I had started him on a flax seed supplement over the weekend, to help move any sand out of his gut. The girls are getting that, and have been since late July. They have been fine. I wonder, though, if that could be causing this? I'm taking him off it, just in case. Nothing else is different.

Always something to worry about, eh? We're having a lesson tomorrow, so we'll see how he is then.

Meet The Pack

I've introduced you to the herd, I figure it's high time you meet the pack. First up, is Riley. He's my old man. He'll be 12 sometime this winter. I'll have had him 10 years this coming October. I can't believe it's been 10 years already. He was my first dog and my first Belgian Malinois. I adopted him from the ABMC Rescue. At that time I was giving up on horses. The horse I had then was the one that broke my back and my confidence. I lost the joy of riding. I decided enough was enough. Riding is such an expensive and time consuming hobby that I'ld darn well better be enjoying it. And, I wasn't enjoying it.

So, enter the dogs. Riley had been bounced around to 3 homes before I got him. Poor guy. He's a good dog, tries to please, which is typical of a Mal. Within 24 hours he had figured out that I was the best thing to ever happen to him and he's been stuck to me like glue since then. He's kept me company on long weekends to Virginia. He was with me the day I first saw this property. He gave it his stamp of approval before I bought it. He's put up with my mistakes as I learned how to train dogs instead of horses. Similar theories but different in practice.

When I first got him, he was very "interested" in the cats. I was really scared he was going to kill them. He spent the first 3 months with me either in the crate or attached to me via leash. But, by the end of the 3 months, he stopped trying to chase them every time one of them moved. He has protected them from visiting dogs who want to chase them. They've become "his" cats. I can't say that the cats feel that way about him, but they've adjusted.

I did some agility with him--never competitions but lots of training. He taught me alot and I just hope I've given him half the happiness he's brought me over the last 10 years. He keeps up with the two young 'uns. Still goes for 4-6 miles of walks every day. Plays ball. Runs around with the other two. He just had his annual physical last week and he's doing great.

Next, is sweet little Lyca. She'll be 5 this fall. Another rescue. She was supposed to be a temporary foster, but she's just so darn cute! Actually, she was supposed to be my ex's dog, but like most things with him, I'm the one that took care of her and he left her when he moved out. She supposedly had been living outside before she came into Rescue, but she quickly figured out the joys of living in a house.


She is a bundle of energy, always running around at top speed, ready to play. Mals are supposed to be aloof (not shy, not aggressive, just aloof) to strangers but she didn't get that gene. Everyone is her Best Friend. The worst she will do to someone is lick them to death. Very un-Mal like. But, her enthusiasm for life is typical of the breed. During the summer, we take our morning walk over at the pond. Every morning I throw sticks into the pond. Every day, she chases each stick as though it's the first one she's ever gotten! Leaps into the pond with the biggest leap she can get, swims at top speed out to it. When she gets to shore, she runs full tilt to me just so that I can toss it back into the pond for her to chase again. :-) She has taught me about enjoying the simple things, remembering to get as much joy and laughter out of each day as I can.


I did some agility training with her, but she doesn't the focus that Mals usually do. Indoors she would do well, but outdoors, when we were running a course she would get distracted and go off chasing a bug or a toad or whatever happened to catch her eye. It was too bad, as she has the speed to be competitive. Not that I have the time for that anyway.

Finally, we have Dutch. Technically, he's a foster dog, but since I've had him for over a year now, I think I'm stuck with him. He's about 6 yo, a product of divorce. I can understand people's lives change and they might not be able to keep their animals, but after 5 years, they just dumped him in a kill shelter. :-( He was very depressed when I got him, very thin. I had a heck of a time getting weight on him. Did all sorts of medical tests, tried different foods. Long story short, it turns out he had very atypical clinical symptoms of a low thyroid. Normally, hypo-thyroid dogs gain weight and are lethargic. He was so thin I winced when I looked at him. It took 6 months to figure that out, then another couple of months for his weight to adjust. He's still thinner than I would ideally like, but at least I can't count his ribs and vertebrae anymore.

He is very much the typical, high drive Mal. Always on the go, always wants to play. He would play ball 24 hours/day if he could. In the hot weather I have to be careful not to let him get overheated. In the winter I have to be careful he doesn't slip on the ice and break a leg! Last winter he would cut his paws on the ice--there would be blood all over, but he still wanted me to throw the ball for him.

He's been a challenge. He's very reactive, barks at most anything that moves. He didn't have much concept of self-control when I first got him and that's still a bit of a challenge for him. I used to have to walk him separately from Lyca and Riley because he would bark and leap and lunge about uncontrollably on the leash at other dogs or people or cars. He has pulled me over on more than one occasion and at 5'11" I'm not exactly a lightweight. Now, after a year, I can usually just tell him "No" when he sees something while we're walking and he'll behave. Sometimes, I'll still have to put him into Sit to make sure he'll behave. Small, slow progress.

I feel guilty because I don't have the time to put into him that he deserves. He learns things very quickly, wants to please, and is very quick. He would be awesome at agility and probably fly ball--his reactivity isn't a problem when he's "working". With the horses and the farm and the job, I just don't have the time or energy to do anything with him. But, he doesn't seem to mind. Like Lyca, he enjoys every minute and chases each ball that I throw as though it's the first time he's seen something so fun! His tail is always wagging and he's always sure we're going to do something fun.

So, that's my pack. They all sleep on the bed with me, spoiled rotten as they are. Sometimes, there's not enough room for me in the bed!

Stormy Weekend

We got the remnants of Hurricane Hanna up here Saturday evening into Sunday morning. Fortunately, the wind wasn't very strong, but we got a good 6" of rain in 12 hours! Fortunately, I had additional drainage put into my basement last spring, so I did NOT have to spend any time wet vaccing water out of the basement. :-) I opened the door to basement this morning with great trepidation and peered down the stairs, afraid I would see water pooled at the bottom of the stairs. But, all I could see was dry basement floor! Water did get in, but the French drain handled it. Phew!


However, when the dogs and I headed out for our morning walk, I discovered the driveway did not fare as well. I had just filled in the end of the driveway with the left over graded base from the shed flooring project. I thought I was all set to get through the winter. Sigh. Mother Nature does like to remind me that she is a force to be reckoned with.

Fortunately, Jenn (owner of the fillies) and her boyfriend Dave came over this morning to borrow my trailer. Dave is great with a tractor and enjoys doing site work. When they pulled in to the driveway, Jenn said he asked her if she thought I would "mind if he fixed the end of the driveway". Mind?! Ha! Immensely grateful is more like it!

So, Dave hopped on my wonderful little Baby 'bota and smoothed out the end of the driveway. :-) It looks much better, but I do have to figure out a more permanent solution as this does happen far too often.

There's always something to deal with. I never seem to get caught up with the To-Do list around here and more things just keep getting added.

In the meantime, Jeeves and I had a great ride this morning. It was still rather humid and the sun came out and it got uncomfortable so I only schooled him for about 20-25 minutes. But, we did trot and canter 1/2-passes, counter canter (3-loop serpentines) and lead changes and he did everything really well, so he deserved a break. The "squat" exercise seems to be really building him up. I just wish my riding was improving as quickly as my horse is.

There's a beautiful, bright half-moon out there now. I think I'm going to wander out there by moonlight and give my buddy a good night snuggle.

Moving Along

I had a lesson the other day--first one since the last one I posted about several weeks ago. It was really good. It's nice to get the feedback and to realize that even though I'm riding so much on my own, we're making progress! His topline muscling is coming back, he's really bulking up in his neck. I don't know if his hind end is muscling up as much, but Kathy said it's looking good. And, she started us on an exercise that should bulk up his hind quarters pretty quick. :-)

We started out the lesson on a loose connection, just letting him stretch out, but asking for energetic strides. We basically did Training 1, without the walk. It was a nice way to start out the ride. Then we did some trot and then canter 1/2 passes, all the way to the centerline from the track. He's really doing well with those--maintaining the bend, not trailing his hind end. He loses energy, but it's getting better. Some of the canter 1/2-passes felt so cool--like he was just sliding right over to the center line. During a break, Kathy commented on how much the 1/2 passes had improved from when she first started working with us almost 2 years ago. I mentioned that I still had echos in my head from a previous instructor about not losing the quality of the gait for the exercise. If he had lost the energy in the gait while doing the 1/2 pass, she would have me stop the 1/2 pass and get the energy back. Kathy believes that it's the exercise that helps improve the quality of the gait and I have to say, I do like this way better. It works for Jeeves and that's what matters. Perhaps a different horse it wouldn't work so well with, but that's what's so challenging about riding. Every horse is different.

When we tried some lead changes, she had me turn him straight across the arena, from E to B and ask for the change there, instead of on the diagonal. I tend to let him get too strung out heading across the long diagonal and then he has trouble with the change. This really set us up so that he wasn't anticipating the change and I didn't let him fall on his face. It worked and we had clean changes on both directions. :-)

Anyway, towards the end of the lesson, she had me pick up the canter and turn down 1/4line. Then, 3 strides canter and walk. Make sure the walk is established, no jigging, then pick up the other lead, 3 strides and walk. Continue this down the to the end and forward canter back up the long side and repeat. We did this twice in each direction, then gave him a good long stretchy trot to get the kinks out. This is a really collecting exercise--it's the equine equivalent of doing squats.

This is an exercise we had started last June, just before everything fell apart with his tumors and surgeries. It was fun to try it again and nice to know that we're finally back to where we were last year! He fell on his face a few times in the walk transition, but that was me paying more attention to counting the strides and not setting him up. When I played with this on my own yesterday, I paid more attention to sitting him back and he stayed more balanced.

After doing those, the big canter down the long side felt sooooo coooool! He was forward, he was up, he was round. My seat felt molded with his back, I really had that feeling of being part of the horse, not a rider on top of a horse. It's been a long time since I had that feeling, since my first horse, almost 20 years ago.

The really exciting thing for me is that this exercise is a lead up to tempi changes. It helps build the horse's hind end and helps me get a feel for the timing and rhythm and the aids I'll need to ask for the tempis. Cool!! Who ever would have thought I'ld be working up to tempi changes?! Certainly not me!! I don't know if we'll get far enough along this fall before frozen footing and snow stalls us for the winter, but, we'll have fun playing with this until then. After all, this IS supposed to be fun for both of us. It's hard work, but as long we're having fun, it's worth it.

The Shed Dilemma

Thanks for the comments everyone. My original intent was to have dirt floors, but my property is on a hill and the guys who built the shed didn't level the site first. :-( So, some sort of fill had to be brought in. That's where things went awry. I'm thinking that this stone dust was a mistake. The urine isn't draining through it. I can't keep digging the stone dust out, plus I don't want that in the manure pile. It's not very organic, since I do use the manure in my gardens. Argh! If I get mats, that's going to cost another small fortune. Plus, if I get mats,then I'll have to bed it, which I really didn't want to do. Argh.

What to do? What to do? I hate making decisions. Especially when I've already made bad ones and have to fix them.

There's always something, eh?

Oh, and Linda--hands off my baby 'Bota! ;-) I love my little Kabota tractor. I couldn't live without it. Every time I use it, I feel like a little kid. It's so much fun! :-)

Busy Weekend

Again, I disappear for the weekend. The weather was fantastic up here in New England--no humidity, cool (temps in the mid-70s), and enough of a breeze to keep the bugs away. Just delightful!

On Friday, I had 10 yards of graded base and 14 yards of stone dust delivered.

Earlier this summer, I had a run-in shed built. Originally, I had decided to build the shed so I could have Jeeves and Lance go out overnight and stay in their stalls during the day. Jeeves is especially bothered by the heat and bugs. So, this was ideal for him. He was much happier being in his stall during the day, with minimal bugs, and out in the cooler temps overnight with his buddy. They both did really well this summer and I'm very happy about that.

Then, my friend needed a place to keep her fillies, so we figured they could come here and spend days outside while the boys were in and then spend the nights in the Jeeves's stall while he was out. This was working fine until Cara coliced. :-( Best guess we came up with was sand colic from the base I used in the shed. I had what's called "gravel" put in, but it's really a very sandy soil and on days we had t-storms forecast, i would put the hay inside the shed. So, Cara was probably getting alot of sand nibbling all the hay. Since the girls are going to be living out there and eating hay and grain out there, this needed to be fixed.

I did some checking and asking around, and the best I came up with was to put down 3" of graded bases, topped with 3" of stone dust. My vet has stone dust in her run-in shed, so I figure if she thinks it's safe, then it should be safe.

All I can say is I'm very glad that I have this tractor. It's a life saver around the farm. But, even with the tractor to move the materials, I still had to rake and shovel to even it out. Then, there was the compacting. Ugh!

Last night, I could barely walk up right. Everything from my feet to my hands hurt. But, hopefully, the shed is now a safe place for the girls to live. Just in case, we're still going to feed them psyllium, to keep any sand moving through their gut.

What do any of you with horses in run-in sheds have for footing? Do you bed the shed? I wasn't planning on it, but now I'm wondering what do I do about the wet spots? I'll be digging up all this stone dust and will have to replace it every week. :-( Why aren't things simpler? Sigh.

Oh, and does anyone need any stone dust? I bought waaay too much stone dust. I think I have over half of it left and now will be spending a day moving it from the driveway to the behind the riding ring where it will be out of the way. At least I have plenty left for patches. :-)

I'm Back

I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted. Bad blogger. I've been fairly sick--bad reaction to some medication I was taking, then coming off the medication made things worse until it all worked it's way out of my system. It was all I could do to get through the days taking care of the animals and work. Blogging was not on my radar. I'm feeling much better now and my energy levels seem to back.

Jeeves is doing well. The bump on his pastern seems to be getting slightly smaller. The vet was out on Monday and she thought it felt smaller, as well as "different". Not as hard and she was able to isolate an area that was a definate "bump" and the surrounding area felt more like soft tissue edema, or something like that. So, the thought now is that he just banged himself somehow. She gave me some Dexamethasone and DMSO to put on for a couple of week to see if that helps.

Riding took a bit of a back seat when I was feeling the worst, but I've been trying to get back in to a routine of riding. I've been throwing in some lead changes in our rides. He does right to left perfectly. He gets so proud of himself afterwards. :-) Left to right results in much bouncing around and he switches late behind, but it will come.

At Long Last

I had a lesson!! Tuesday morning, Kathy, my instructor, made it up here, it wasn't raining, Jeeves had all four shoes on and we actually had a lesson!! Yippee!! We hadn't had one since April, so this was long overdue.

The good news is, we're not as bad off as I had feared. He is indeed as supple as I thought he was feeling. :-) And, while he is moving forward, he needs to be more energetic with shorter, quicker strides. Kathy had me kick him with my heels in rapid succession--kick-kick-kick. Or, use the whip, but not just one or two hard taps. Again, a series of quick taps--rat-a-tat-tat. This helped give him the idea that I didn't just want forward, I want quicker. This worked wonders and he was moving in a nice, medium trot in no time.

We worked on some trot 1/2-pass, she upped the ante and had us go from the rail all the way to the center line. This helped with the collection that we're going for. After the 1/2-passes in both directions, she had me ask him to cover less ground but keep the legs active--short, quick strides. Lots of ab work for me--I was sore the next morning! But, it worked. He maintained the rhythm, the energy, and stayed light and soft in my hand and round in his back. We didn't do much of this, since he needs strength, so about a 1/2 circle, then forward into a medium trot, then slow again for 1/2 a circle, and forward into a stretchy circle, then repeat in the other direction.

Then, we worked on canter. Same thing--forward with active, quick steps. This is what I've been missing in the canter work--he's been feeling sticky on me. The quick steps un-stuck him! He was round and balanced and forward! He tends to hang, so I did a lot of giving with one rein, then the other, being careful to use leg as I gave with the rein. That reminded him to step up into the bridle, even though I was relaxing the connection.

Then, she pulled a fast one on me. Sent us down the long side, 10m circle in the center, walk on the 10m circle, change the bend and pick up the counter-lead and continue down the long side and through the short side. Hey! We're not ready for the counter-canter, yet!! Ack! Counter-canter is the bane of my riding life. We just fall apart at counter canter. But, he did very well on the right lead counter canter. Made it through that short side in balance. She was kind and let us go across the diagonal to get back on the true canter. The left lead, we kept falling flat and he'ld break to trot. After a couple of attempts, we did manage to get it together and got through a short side and then across the diagonal. Far from pretty, but we did it. We'll work on pretty later.

She even had us try some changes, but those didn't work very well. We ended up doing lots of bouncing around as he kept throwing his hind end in the air trying to figure out what to do with his legs. :-) We'll have to work on those.

All in all, it was an excellent lesson. I hope to have another in a couple of weeks. Because of the uncertainty about his mystery lump and craziness at my work, I didn't ride him again until this morning. I did everything except for the counter canter and changes. I'll try the counter canter tomorrow...maybe. ;-)

The Mystery Continues

Thanks everyone for your comments and well wishes! The vet came out Tuesday afternoon. She looked at the bump. Palpated it. Scratched her head. Her first inclination is side bone, which is pretty common in drafts and Cleveland Bays are considered light drafts. He's certainly big enough to be prone to ailments of draft horses.

For those who don't know, sidebone is the calcification of the collateral ligament. But, she was able to feel the collateral ligament under the bump,which if it were side bone, the ligament should just feel bony and hard, not springy like a ligament should.

She did an ultrasound which didn't show anything. It's a tough area to get an ultra sound of, since there's not much flat area for the probe to be on. So, she also took some xrays. Called me back Wed. evening. The xrays did not show any calcification of that ligament. She said that perhaps we are seeing this at the very beginning of the process??? She also mentioned that the coffin bone (which is what the collateral ligament attaches to) had a very slight "bulge" on that side. She said it probably would not be noticeable if she weren't looking for something in that area. She also thought that he should be showing some signs of lameness and that she was remiss in not having me trot him for her on the hard ground.

When she said this, I remembered that back in late May/early June, Jeeves was showing very slight signs of lameness. One of those agonizing "is he lame or isn't he lame" subtle unevenness in the gait. It was never very bad and if I pushed him more forward, he would always work out of it. This is when I hate being here on the farm alone. There's never anyone else around who can watch me ride to see if he IS lame or not. And, if he is slightly off, it would be nice to have someone to discuss it with--how bad did it look? Should I keep riding him since he works through it or give him some time off? Call the vet or wait and see? As you can see, I drive myself crazy with doubt, especially when it concerns the health of one of my animals.

Anyway, I chalked it up to stiffness because of all the time off he keeps getting because of rain, pulled shoes, or my crazy work schedule. By the end of June it was gone and he felt good at the start of our rides.

So, now, the guilt rushed in! I shouldn't have kept riding him through that, that...whatever it was! I made it worse! I've ruined him! Of course, I had a wonderful lesson on Tuesday before the vet came and my trainer agreed he looked perfectly sound.

My vet asked me to see if he is lame when circling on hard ground, instead of on the softer footing in the riding arena. Yesterday morning, I lunged him on a small circle in my driveway, both directions and he looked pretty sound to me. I'm not sure if that's good news or bad news.

So, my vet doesn't know. She says I should go ahead and ride him and just watch it. If it continues to get bigger, call her. Otherwise, wait and see.

I hate these ambiguous, undefinable things. :-( Sigh.

I'm debating whether I should send the xrays off to a lameness specialist??? But, he's not lame. He just has this bump.

Strange Bump

Jeeves has a strange bump on the inside of his left front pastern. You can sort of make it out in the attach pictures. The good news is that he's not lame on it. It's not hot. It's not tender. So, that eliminates some sort of tendon (are there tendons in that area?) or abcess. It's been there for almost 2 weeks and it's slowly getting bigger. The diameter is larger than a golf ball.

Now, since he's not lame, I know alot of people wouldn't worry about something like this, but given what happened last year, I am more than a bit paranoid.

Last year, some time in mid-June, I noticed that a bump on his right haunch had started to grow. That bump had been there for a couple of years, not causing any trouble. My vet had looked at it when she'ld been out for his annual vaccinations and said that as long as it didn't change, don't worry about it. At first, I wasn't sure if it was growing or not. You know how when you look at something every day, it's hard to notice tiny changes. So, I asked Terri to look at it. Since she didn't look at it 5 or 6 times a day, she noticed right away that it had grown in the 2 days that she had not been out here. So, I had the vet out. She poked and prodded and decided to do a biopsy. It turned out to be a mastocytoma. Cancer. Eeek! I made the mistake of googline mastocytoma. Mistake because this cancer is highly malignant in canines. My vet calmed me down and explained that cancers act very differently between species and it's a pretty rare cancer in equines and when it does show up, it is not usually malignant. Big sigh of relief.

When she had been out to take the tissue sample of the lump on his haunch, I also pointed out a new lump under his jaw. This one felt very different from the mastocytoma. The mastocytoma felt soft and spongy. And, when she took the tissue sample for the biopsy, it looked rather spongey--the tissue sort of flaked and fell apart easily. The lump under his jaw was firm and hard, very well defined in shape. It has appeared rather quickly and my initial thought was that it was a bug bite. He has very bad reactions to bug bites and often has huge welts from them. So, between the time of the tissue sample for the biopsy on the mastocytoma and when my vet came out to remove it, the lump under his jaw had increased in size quite a bite. So, along with removing the mastocytoma, my vet also took a tissue sample of the jaw lump for biopsy.

That one came back as a fibroid sarcoma. ANOTHER CANCER! EEEEK! This one had a "guarded" prognosis. While it's slow to metastasize, there can be alot of tissue damage because it's very invasive locally. In the week between taking the sample and getting the results, the thing had grown so much that it had split through the stitches and was dripping blood. I was a wreck worrying about my buddy, trying to keep the flies off it and keep it clean. Because this one was situated right over the major artery that runs along the jaw line, my vet didn't dare try to touch it. So, I called New England Equine Hospital in Dover, NH, explained the situation to them and they managed to squeeze him in for surgery the very next week.

Long story a little shorter, he also had 2 other growths removed, both non-cancerous. But, he does have a melanoma on the dock of his tail. We left that alone and it doesn't seem to be doing much. Phew. I ended up having to bring him back up for another surgery because he developed a massive abcess in the incision under his jaw. We decided he was allergic to the internal stitches they use. This took up all of July and August and most of September.

Anyway, back to his new bump. I called my vet and she's coming out tomorrow to look at it. She said that there are many innocuous things that this could be and a tumor, especially in this area, is way down at the bottom of the list.

But, having 3 different types of cancerous and 2 non-cancerous growths show up on his body all within a couple of months was pretty much at the bottom of the list, too. So, I'm trying not to worry....but, I'm worried. Please say some prayers, send out some good thoughts for Jeeves.