I Needed That

Trail Ride in the Assunpink

NJ has its share of open space and the Assunpink Preserve, just outside of the Hightstown/Allentown area is part of it. That's where the NJ Horse Park is located--in a small corner of the park--and where the Monmouth County Hunt rides.  The Preserve is laced with horse trails.

Some 20 years ago, I boarded across from the park and used to ride there regularly. Yesterday, I would have been lost on the complex of trails. Things have changed SO much.

Jean and JJ at the end of the ride. 

Regardless, Christine invited me to go riding with her husband Larry and her again. I would ride JJ.  I did have some house cleaning to do, but I made short order of the bulk of it and joined them.  The weather was perfect, the horses were wonderful and we had a great time. JJ and I seem to get along quite well, although he does like to take advantage of me now and then. Nothing serious, but he figures he knows a lot more about trail riding, seasoned endurance horse that he is, than I do as a prissy dressage princess.

I must admit, I do tend to be a little more tolerant of things than some riders might be, but I do "know my way around a saddle. "  But JJ is not my horse so I'm a little reluctant to make my point when he, for instance, refuses to turn around in a sticky situation so we can go back up the trail we've just gone down only to find it blocked with a tree. Instead of being sympathetic to his problem in tight quarters with brush and briers on both sides, I had to listen to Chris's instructions to just kind of haul him around and give him a kick to tell him he had to do it.  So I did, and he did, and we were fine. Not sure my more tempestuous TB's would have so graciously accepted my demands.

Other than that, all three horses seemed to have a good time along with us. Nordisk, Chris's youngster continues to prove a brave and promising endurance horse, although he does some cute little "spooks in place," at unexpected things along the trail--he's not too keen on coop jumps at the moment. Larry's Juan is a bold "let's go" kind of fellow, and JJ varies from "I want to be in front," to "Hey, let me go last, that way the monsters will eat everyone else first. I'll just mosey along back here until there's a reason to trot to catch up."
Needless to say, the "order of go," varies depending on which horse thinks being in the lead is his turn.

I needed the ride. My week was a bunch of stops and starts. Flat tire on the truck--one I had "repaired" back in August, that still wasn't. A broken front strut--part of the suspension--on the car, so I have to drive the truck. Have to wait on the car repair so I can get it done at school since commercial garage fees will cost me more money than I have. Scale purchased that didn't work---had to return it. Weather radio that didn't work--had to return it. New TV missing a part--had to return it. Cat toy that did not work--had to return it. And then brand new contact lenses that didn't work right. Called doctor to find out they had accidentally ordered the wrong prescription--have to return them

Truck tire is fixed. I will soon order parts for car. TV is now fine. Didn't try the new radio yet.

But best news is that the lawn tractor is back--the spindle on the mowing deck had completely broken off--and it cost less than half of what I expected to repair it.

Silver linings in the clouds.  And the trail ride was the shining moment.

Not Sure What's Going On

Ouchy or Not?

I took Chance out on a trail ride today. Along the back field, I asked him to trot. He was reluctant, and felt a bit short strided to start off. Then he felt fine, then he took a bad step and pulled up with a limp. Then he walked out of it.

We were at the point of no return, so I just decided to stay on and walk the rest of the way back home. Twice, in the woods, he decided to trot on his own and felt just fine. There was one point where he even cantered up a hill and again felt fine.

I cannot feel any heat in his feet or anything out of the ordinary in his legs. I took his temperature and it was normal.

I am suspicious he may be footsore for some reason. Could be a bruise that only bothers him on hard ground, or it might be an abscess brewing.

Then again, there is always the worry about something like Lyme disease. We haven't had many ticks lately, but that doesn't mean anything.

Right now, it's not even noticeable enough to call the vet, as it's more of a "not quite right" feeling.

My plan is to watch him for a few days, ride a little now and then to see how he feels and hope that either something more clear shows up, or he just gets better. He was trimmed about three weeks ago and is still barefoot. I've never noticed a problem like this before, but you never know.

For the time being, it's just wait and see.

Short Scare

Off on a Limp

I rode Chance in the arena yesterday. I would have liked to have taken a nice long trail ride but there was the sound of ATV's in the woods and I opted to take the safer choice.

We had some really nice work.  After some circling at the walk to supple him up he offered some of the best on the bit effort he's ever given me.  He stayed round through transitions from one rein to the other and in between gaits.

I asked for quite a bit of trot within about a half hour schooling session and at the end did some nice round canter on the right lead.

Suddenly, something happened and Chance pulled up totally lame on his left front.  My heart caught in my throat as I jumped off to see him holding the left front up, reluctant to even put it down again. I checked his foot in case he'd picked up a stone and found nothing, so I led him back, limping, into the barn.

There, cleaned his hoof, again finding nothing. I felt his leg. Nothing. I did some flexions, nothing.  The only conclusion was that he had taken a bad step, perhaps hitting a stone, or twisting something. Since there were no other symptoms, I called it a night and put him in his stall for dinner--with turnout at his option.  Later last night he appeared to be walking sound, but I still was a little worried.

Today, I put him on the lunge line and trotted him in both directions. Nothing. No sign of any lameness. I guess he had just dinged himself and the pain was only temporary.

After I lunged Chance, I saddled up Tucker for a workout.

While he continues his lazy ways and still resists my first leg aid to go into trot--something we clearly need to work on AGAIN.  He did give me some relatively nice work.

After a long rein warmup at the trot with some canter, I began some suppling exercises.  These consisted mostly of some turns on the forehand to loosen his poll and jaw.

Well, I guess turns on the forehand were not part of my basic schooling, because, at first, he had no idea at all about what I wanted. He wasn't naughty, just confused. First he tried a turn on the haunches, then a side pass, then reinback.  I was very patient since he was trying various options and as long as he was doing something in response to my aids,  it was positive.

We finally managed a few almost good ones, so I quit that and began to ask him to do some up and down transitions keeping his jaw soft. Eventually we graduated to shoulder in on each rein.  While the trot was not totally engaged or dramatically forward, it was soft, and for now, that was all I wanted.

We ended up the school with some more work on the half pass. He is ever improving although I would like my seat and aids to be better.  I'm still pushing him too much with my outside aids instead of "sitting into the half pass" in the direction we are going.

Ah well, at least I know what I'm doing wrong. That gives me at least a 50/50 shot at fixing it.

That finished up the ride on a good note.

The rest of the day was spent driving about taking back things I'd bought that didn't work, including a weather radio and a scale. I've had a rash of things to take back lately.  For some reason I've managed to buy defective items more than once now.

Then to top it all off, my car started making a "clunking" sound in the front. I eventually drove it to the shop only to find out the front struts need to be replaced.  That would be fine except that the total repair bill is way over the amount of money I currently can afford to spend.

Fortunately, I have the truck to drive in the meantime, and the option, I hope, of taking the car to school to have it repaired at cost. I just have to wait until I can get in touch with the auto shop there to take it in.

Someone suggested that with my current run of upside down luck, it might be a good time to buy a lottery ticket.

Think I will.

More Trail Pics

Endurance Ride in Horseshoe Bend

Once again, I offer pictures of a trail ride through the beautiful New Jersey countryside.

This time it was a Horseshoe Bend Park in Kingwood Township, near Frenchtown, NJ.

Chris is on Nordisk, her young Arabian with the narrow blaze. I am riding JJ her seasoned endurance horse with the wide blaze, and Chris's husband, Larry, is on Juan, the seasoned gray endurance Arabian.

Never underestimate the beauty of our trails and forests. There were many fields too and trails through lesser vegetation. But the photographer caught us in the woods, having a wonderful time!

One of these days, I'll get some pictures of me riding my own horses, but it's hard when there is no photographer around. 

By the by, this ride was over 10 miles and it took us about 3 hours to complete. While we did trot a lot and did some cantering, the hills were very challenging and required a lot more walking and careful negotiation. 

I've not ridden many Arabians before, so I must say, these three horses really impress me. JJ is very surefooted and willing. They are also quite fit, unlike my Boys are now. I think Chance would have run out of steam halfway along. Guess I need to work on that. *G*

This was the day I forgot my half chaps. My legs were fine, though, so all was well. I still would have liked to look more polished for the photographer. 

JJ's hind legs were bandaged because he had apparently caught himself under the fence earlier in the week and he still had some scrapes that needed protection. It didn't seem to slow him down at all. 

Maybe next time. 

Lost Count

Knee Injections

How many injections did I have in each knee?  Even counting the little magic marker dots on my legs, I lost count somewhere around 38-40.  

Don't be too impressed. The injections are pretty superficial and all I feel is a tiny pinprick when the needle goes in. Either I am rather oblivious to discomfort, or they really don't hurt much. 

So, what's all this for?  Neural therapy.

Found this on a website that explains it pretty well:

"Neural Prolotherapy is an injection therapy with 5% dextrose (sugar) that focuses on treating the nerves in the skin that have become injured and entrapped due to inflammation.   Although the nerves are superficial, the pain they create is often felt in the deeper tissues.  The injection of low-dose dextrose changes the pain signaling and stops neurogenic inflammation (what your doctor may have called neuropathic pain).  The dextrose solution also has a regenerative effect on the entrapped nerves helping them to heal and preventing recurrence." http://www.drberghamer.com/neural-prolotherapy/

The fascinating thing is that there is immediate pain relief from the initial injections. Hopefully, each time I am treated it will last longer until the pain is gone altogether. 

While my knee replacements have fixed the instability problems in my joints and overall made things much better, I have still had both soreness and pain in the surrounding muscles, particularly in my right leg. that have made some things difficult. I cannot pull myself up the pool ladder with my right leg, for instance. And going up stairs is a bit slower than I'd like. I can't really run, either. Not that I want to run, but it would be nice to be able to jog out to the barn on a rainy day to get my chores done. 

Speaking of rain, the East Coast is under watch for a Nor'easter. This is a typical winter kind of storm that comes in from the ocean. The wind circulates as it does in a hurricane or cyclone and blows in from the north east, bringing both colder air and lots of precipitation from the ocean.  I don't think this one is expected to be too powerful, so hopefully the shore areas devastated by Hurricane Sandy will be just fine.  There is likely to be a lot of rain, though through the next several days. 

Times like this I am glad I have plenty of shelter for the Boys. They have the run-in roofs on both sides of the barn--east and west--access to their box stalls, and the run in shed in the arena area. 

Still I will probably find them standing out in the rain, heads down, backs to the wind, looking quite drippy and miserable. 

Nothing like horse sense. 

Tuesday Two

What a Beautiful Day!

The promised heavy storm did not hit here although other parts of New Jersey were hit with high winds and heavy rain. What did "hit" was a cool front bringing in some delicious autumn weather.

After I fed the Boys in the morning, I spent some time poo picking the arena.

Then I came in, had breakfast, did a few little chores and eventually headed to the eye doctor to pick up my new contact lenses.

Back home again, I headed out to the barn to actually ride!

I saddled Tucker first. Three false starts later--on then off to move a rail out of the arena path, on then off again to make sure Toby didn't get into the arena when he knocked down a fence rail, on then and finally off on the ride--I started a bit of work.

Nothing too fancy as Tucker is not really in shape to be a truly proper dressage horse.  We did some trotting and cantering to warm up.  He tends to warm up better if I canter a little to get the trot going--very TB.  Then I focused a little on lateral work.  I started off with some leg yield and then worked on transforming that into half pass.

Tucker is not the most flexible horse I've owned and his short back makes it a little harder to get him to bend through his body.  I broke it all down into small steps starting at the walk and by the end of by about five minutes of schooling, he gave me the best half pass to the left at the trot that he's ever done.

We finished up with some canter lead changes through the trot on a figure eight, and then some trot work really on the bit before finishing up to cool him off at the walk.

Once done with Tuck, I saddled up Chance.  We worked just about five-ten minutes in the arena before heading out on the trail.  He gave me some nice, round stretchy trot and, in the canter, some more round work.  The transitions down were not so good, but again, it's something to work on.  I've not concentrated on his schooling as we all know, so I am really quite pleased that he seems to be progressing despite the minimal education.

Then we went out on a nice trail ride along the field and through the woods via the middle road. Good thing I had decided not to to all the way out to the back as there were a bunch of trucks parked along the cornfield. I'm not sure what was going on, but I suspect it was the power company tending to the high tension lines. Could have been something else, but Chance's reaction to seeing the trucks made it clear he didn't particularly want to investigate.

Back home, it was carrots for everyone.

Lovely day, lovely horses and some good riding.

Back Out

Ouchers

My ride in the hills cost my back a rather painful few days. My pelvis tends to go "out" of alignment now and then and either it, or an issue in my lower back started a flareup.

No biggie. I've done this to myself dozens of times before. Usually some heat will loosen up the muscle and, in this case, I took some Valerian to also help the stressed muscles relax.

But, I went to the chiropractor for a much needed adjustment anyhow. I'd had a good swim in the morning, so I was feeling a lot better when I got to the doctor, but it was clear things were not right.

I had issues with my pelvis, my lumbar vertebrae and some neck vertebrae out of alignment as well.

The adjustment was Monday afternoon and I was still sore in the evening. I was much better on Tuesday, but still opted out of any serious exercise--especially riding--hoping to keep everything in place.

This morning, I went for an hour's swim along with my leg lift water exercises. They stretch my back, build up my abdominals and core muscles, and work my legs. Once again I felt even better after my time in the water.

I still may wait until tomorrow to ride again. The weather seems to have taken a turn back to summer around here with temperatures in the mid 80's F.

I do need to get into some kind of riding routine, but another day or so won't matter too much.

And the Boys don't seem to care. They are happy just hanging out being horses.

WARNNG: Political Rant

The impasse in Congress over funding the government is intolerable.

I do not disguise the fact that I am a Liberal, so the Right Wing's agenda is far from mine. I am totally disgusted with their insistence that somehow gutting the Affordable Care Act has to be part of a budget deal to pay the United States's bills and keep our government running. Frankly, they have acted like spoiled children being denied a piece of candy at the checkout counter. Healthcare for our citizens and the budget should not even be on the same menu.

The Democrats in the Senate are standing firm, but to my eyes, their position is much more solid. It's not  a matter of bargaining away something this country has needed for years to accommodate the desires of the political opposition. Nor should the President back down.

A clean, simple funding bill, with no strings attached would keep our government running and solve the problem. I actually think that if Mr. Boehner had the political courage to put that bill before the House of Representatives, there's s good chance it would pass. Instead, he's catering to a radical wing of his party in order to curry their favor and look like a Tea Party hero.

Enough already. The security of the country is more important than a petty agenda. The security of thousands of Federal workers lives, now at risk due to losses in pay, is more important than a petty agenda. The security of our economic stability is more important than a petty agenda.

And besides, why shouldn't thousands of Americans be able to buy health insurance when they could not before?

RANT OVER: For now.

Out on the Arabians Again

Can She Ride Without Tall Boots or Half Chaps? 

Well, yes, of course she can. She does it all the time at home...but not for three hours!

Christina and her husband graciously added me to the clan for a trail ride up in the hills of western New Jersey--actually only about an hour from here.

First, in defense of my State. Many people think New Jersey is just Turnpike and industry. Not so. We have many beautiful, preserved acres of farms, woodlands, and amazingly beautiful land. Many of these places are" horse friendly" as Tewksbury was two weeks ago.

The above are pictures from the Tewksbury ride. The first is at the water complex at the end of the ride. I'm in front on JJ and Chris is behind on Nordisk, her 4 yo Arabian on his very first away from home event. The second shows the three of us, I'm on JJ to the left, Chris is on Nordisk to the right, and Larry, her husband is behind on Juan--a gray Arabian. This just gives a hint of some of the beautiful acres we have to ride here in NJ.

Today's ride at Horseshoe Park in Kingwood Township was no exception. Fields and wooded trails with some pretty formidable hills to challenge fitness and work ethic. It was about a mile longer than the Tewksbury ride and the terrain was much more difficult.

JJ, Nordisk, and Juan, all Arabians were definitely up to the challenge, although I'm pretty sure they were all tired at the end of the 10.2 mile ride.  We did a ton of trotting today and Christine actually cantered Nordisk for the first time and several times thereafter. I was so proud of her, and she should be proud of the training she's given Nordisk and his wonderful attitude. He is a solid young horse with a super temperament and a brave attitude about facing new things on the trail.

There were many, many natural obstacles to overcome. Creek crossings with rocks and steep banks, and hill after hill. Some of these hills were really steep. We had to go both up and down, of course. I hate down, but JJ is very surefooted and confident in himself, so he was a great ride.

As noted, I'd left my half chaps in my car after we left the barn, so I rode just in breeches and my paddock boots. It was just fine although at first I felt a little less secure in my leg. But once I'd been in the saddle for a half hour or so, I was just fine.

I have to admit, I got a really good workout. But it's a lot of fun when you are on an experienced endurance horse who knows how to take care of himself and his rider.

By the by, the Ansur Excel is still a great trail saddle. Hill and dale, it just moves with the horse and allows me to ride in good balance.

I'll need a nice soak in a hot tub tonight, but it was worth it.

What fun!!

Who Woulda Thunk???

Peppercorn and Squarly

I just witnessed the strangest encounter outside my window.  There is a maple tree a squirrel regularly visits. I put peanuts out there for him/her every day. Lately, I've been able to go out when the squirrel is there and it stays to wait for me to throw and handful of peanuts.

Today, I saw Peppercorn, my barn kitty suddenly leap up onto the tree. The Squirrel--I call him/her "Squarly" stayed clinging to the opposite side of the tree trunk, not at all upset by the cat. When Pepper climbed up into the tree fork, Squarly went up too. Showing no sign of being afraid of Pepper, the squirrel almost looked as if he/she was following the cat. Pepper climbed a little higher, and Squarly climbed too.

Part of the drama played out on the opposite side of the tree so I could not see all the interaction. It was hard to tell if Pepper was running away from the squirrel or if the two of them actually touched each other. At one point it looked as if they might.

I would have expected the squirrel to be wary of the cat. Not so. I tried to get a picture of the two of them, but when I went out, Pepper saw me and climbed down to run over to me and the squirrel got a bit shy and climbed up the tree.

Prey and predator? Prey chasing predator from territory? Or pals?

Horses? Could not ride today or yesterday as I had my knees injected again. The new therapy is "neuraltherapy" of a new sort. The doctor explained they inject a dextrose solution around the nerves to irritate them and stimulate them to react normally. Apparently what happens in many surgeries is that the nerves are damaged or trapped by scar tissue and cause pain. My doctor says it's very common after joint replacements.

I was able to swim, however, and today I did about a mile. I am feeling it a bit, but that's OK. Lots of exercise is good for me, especially since I am still trying to lose weight. So far, as of Tuesday, I'd lost about 23 pounds. Not bad.

The only trouble is that I've gone down a size in clothes, and may have even started to drop down to the next size. I just bought a bunch of new jeans to wear when I teach--colored ones that are really pants. They fit now, but I have to wonder how long that will last.

Good thing I love to shop. The trick is what to do with the too big ones. Last year I donated a lot to charity, so I'll probably do that again. It's a nice tax break and may actually pay off in the end.

I  should be fine to ride tomorrow, so I'll report back then.

Meantime, I need to spend some time clothes sorting.

Arabians Ride Again

JJ Works Out

I woke up feeling a little "undercharged," and suspect it might have been a reaction to the flu shot. It left my tummy and my breakfast at odds, so I was not well fed for the morning.

I did go over to Christina's barn as we'd planned to take JJ and her youngster, Nordisk on a trail ride. Christina wasn't feeling 100% either. She's been taking a boot camp exercise class and worked out really hard this morning, so she too was a bit out of sorts.

But that never stopped the intrepid duo.  JJ almost did, however. During the week he had banged up his left hind leg pretty dramatically and later in the week had banged his eye or irritated it with rubbing on something. Today, though, his eye looked pretty good and by the time I'd gotten there, Chris had bandaged both of his hind legs with working wraps, so he was ready to go after a nice grooming.

We both decided to just take it easy with no trotting.  We went along the cornfield that surrounds the Van Dyke Farm--the farm we worked so hard to preserve. Then we rode under the power lines, did a hairpin turn and came back along the back of the cornfield to the dirt road where we'd started.

With a good number of breaks to let the horses nibble grass and for Nordisk to play in the mud puddles, the ride took about an hour and a half.

On the way back, as we edged along the road, a car came rushing along towards us. Christina waved her arm trying to slow it down, but all the driver did was move over into the other lane and not slow at all. Chris yelled, and to my surprise, the car stopped.

Now, please note: In New Jersey, motor vehicles are supposed to slow down to 25 mph when horses are present and to obey any signals from the rider.

A car just before this one had stopped for us and then passed really slowly.  Chris and JJ had been hit by a car last year, so she is really sensitive about it.  The car's driver, a woman, got out and tried to make nice with Nordisk while Chris continued to berate her. She made it clear the woman had broken the law and threatened to call the police.

It was not a pretty scene, but I suspect that woman will think twice about flying past horses and riders next time. At least I hope she does.

Fact is, most drivers do not know the law. There are road signs which can be posted about the regulations, but when we approached out Township government about putting some up on these "horsey" roads of ours, there was no money in the budget.

I suppose we could start a fundraiser to buy a few, but I still think there are regulations about posting them.

In the meantime, we just may make our own sign and post it on the lawn in front of the farm.(I don't need one here at my house because I would NEVER risk riding my horse on my road, and there really is no place to ride on the other side, so I don't need to cross the road when I go out on trails. )

One more idea to ponder.

Chance Again

But In the Arena First

I did my hour's plus swim this morning. The pool is indoors, of course and it felt wonderful to get in the water. Outside the temperature was in the mid 60'sF--another beautiful day.

I did a bit of shopping on the way home. I need to do something about my back porch door. Last night--and not for the first time--a little skunk was inside eating the cat food. When he tried to get out, he could not fit under the door--the way he had apparently come in. I've had trouble with this before and there was an extra wooden sill attached to the outside concrete step.  I need to replace that, so I picked up some special adhesive from Home Depot.

Of course, once home, I did not work on the door. I'm not sure where the old wooden sill is, or if I still have it. If not, I am going to have to make something suitable. I may need to buy some wood, but better yet, I may be able to go to the school and have them fabricate something from some scrap wood there. Either way, it's a job that's going to have to wait until I have all the supplies at hand.

After lunch and a bit of computer time, I headed out to ride.

It was Chance's turn, of course. This time, however, I decided to work him in the arena for a while before heading out on a short trail ride.

I must say, Chance has managed to understand the concept of stretching down into the bit, but he is not yet at all soft about it.  Again, if I were to work him steadily on it for a week or two he'd improve considerably. I guess that's on the agenda for the riding season. I think too that some long lining would really be a benefit.

As they say, I'll get around to it.

After I'd done about 15 minutes of arena riding, I headed out to take the "middle" woods trail.

No more need be said. My neat little trail horse--only "little" in comparison to 17h Tucker and 16.2h Toby since he stands at 15.3 or so--was nearly perfect out there. "Nearly" only because he did take a second look at cornstalk that had fallen at the edge of the woods near a mud puddle.

When we got back home, Toby was in the arena. I'd locked the gate but at one end, where the fence it totally fallen down, I'd blocked the way in with the blue barrels. Since three of them were lying down to make a "discouraging " fence to keep the Boys out of the arena, I can only presume that Toby jumped the barrels to get in. He frets and frets when one of his herdmates is off on an adventure, so he wanted to get to the woods gate to call for Chance.

Tucker, meanwhile, had not caught on to the barrel jumping technique, so he was stuck in the adjacent paddock, not at all happy to be separated from his buddy Toby.  He was galloping madly about, bucking and making quite a fuss.

When I did open the gate to let him in the arena, he put on a grand show.  It would have been the moment to have my camera and get some good action shots.

But, as usual, the camera was in the house.

Just use your imagination. 17h bay bucking bronco TB.

Cute??? Or not.

Tucker's Turn

Beautiful Day

Despite a forecast for rain, the day turned out to be lovely. It was nearly a match to last Sunday at the pace.

I had church/choir in the morning and then needed to go back to Tractor Supply to get the bran I'd forgotten to buy yesterday. Since my church is partway there, it was a shorter drive out.

On the way back I stopped at the market to get some eggs, orange juice, and sausages since I had depleted my breakfast supply.  The store had a sign out front, "Flu Shots."  I'd waited too long last year and had a hard time finding some place that still had the vaccine, so I decided to take care of that today as well.  The nice young pharmacist injected me and after I sat for a few minutes to make sure I was not going to have an adverse reaction, I headed back home.

I planned on riding Tucker in the arena, but had to do some work first. There was a fence post down and the arena needed be poo picked.   Fortunately, the post was not broken, but just pulled out. I'm not too sure how that happened, but I did need to dig a new hole and reset the post. I did have a bit of "help" from the Boys if you consider sticking a horse nose into the hole "help."  Or tipping the wheelbarrow over, "help." Or getting in the way as I tried to put the fence boards back in place, "help."

After I finished the fence, I spent another half hour or so poo picking.

Then, at last, I saddled Tucker up for a ride.

We had a good session with just a couple of "almost explosions."  The first came when I decided to give him a kick to get him to trot on since he was really behind my leg.  He resented that one big time and threatened a buck.  My trainer always used to say, "Kick him!" when we had forward issues. Clearly Tucker does not take well to kick.

The second little mini almost meltdown came when my adorable barn kitty, Peppercorn, decided to gallop across in front of us in one of those mad kitty dashes.  Tucker focused on the cat instead of me and tried to join him for a stride or two.

Otherwise, aside from my not demanding too much because he is not in shape for really serious work, we managed to do some walk, trot, and canter exercises for about a half hour.  I finished with canter figure eights, trotting the change of lead in the middle.

Two goals there. One to get him more responsive to my leg, and the second, to prepare for the flying changes somewhere down the line.

Once again, it was a good day at Follywoods. Nothing spectacular, but things accomplished.

Looking forward to this autumn weather.

I Ride in Jeans

Out on the Trail

Scott came to shoe today, kind of confusing my plans for the day.

Not to worry. I managed to get everything done anyhow.  I was going to go to Tractor Supply in the morning to get some bird seed and alfalfa cubes. This is a bit of an undertaking because the store is perhaps 40 minutes away.  But the price on the bird seed is so good, it's worth the drive. And the alfalfa cubes are a dollar or more cheaper than the closer feed store.

Scott finished up around 1:30 or so and I was out of here soon after.

Did my shopping, drove home, had some lunch and it was time to go out to take care of the Boys for evening feed.

Now to the jeans. I had several pairs in the closet that had gotten too tight for me as I'd gained weight. Lo and behold, so far the two pairs I tried on now fit--with some room to spare. I was too lazy to swap over to riding breeches, so I put on my paddock boots and headed out with the intention of taking Chance on a short trail ride.

Actually, the jeans didn't feel too bad once I was in the saddle. I wouldn't want to ride for a long time in them, even though I used to do that all the time, but they were fine.

The only mistake I made was not working Chance in the arena for a little while before I headed out. That would have taken the edge off him. He was decidedly frisky on the way out. Not bad, but ever ready to jog off at the most inopportune moments--such as when I needed to duck under a branch to keep from getting my head knocked off.

We rode all the way out to the back field through the woods trails and found out that it was still possible, though a bit messy to get back out to the road along the field through the partially cut brush under the power lines. Not the best terrain, but navigable. Then we went along the other powerline road where it's usually flooded.  Despite the rain we've had, the roadway was dry so that was good.

We made the hairpin turn back along the cornfield and there I set Chance into a trot.  He was a good boy and it took the last little bit of silly out of him. Then we walked along the edge of the woods to the trail back home.  We were out for 35 minutes or more all told with that nice stretch of trot.

It was rather windy on the way back, making me think some kind of weather front was coming through. I suspect it's some cooler air as it's been back up in the 80's during the day.  That felt good and the wind kept any hungry flies from bothering us.

All in all, a nice day with much accomplished.

Knees in the News

I Am a Pincushion!

I went to my orthopedic pain specialist today with the intention of having prolotherapy to tighten the ligaments around my new knees. As regular readers know, despite a double total knee replacement, I am still having some pain after 2 years.

I did some research on this and discovered that indeed it can be common and that often during surgery or prior to, the remaining ligaments can be stretched and that creates an instability in the new joint which then can cause pain. I knew my ligaments were bad to start off with, so all this made sense.

Off I trundled to my doctor, ready to get some injections and be all fixed up. I had to take some money out of an IRA account to cover the cost because health insurance considers these treatments "experimental" and will not pay for them. Rubbish, but so it goes. Darn expensive but worth it if it all works.

Well, to my wallet shock, my doctor determined that part of the problem was that the nerves in my knees were also compromised--another very common consequence of knee replacement--and  I would benefit from neural therapy as well. This meant another series of injections of a painkiller along the nerve sheaths to take away the pain and nerve inflammation to help them heal as well.

Now, despite the mucho dollars this will all cost, I am somewhat relieved to discover that what I was feeling was not my imagination, that my suspicions were pretty much on target, and that there is a way to treat it. Ever since the surgery, despite the pain, there was this kind of almost numb, weird feeling in my knees that exercise and massage did nothing to help. The instability of the loose ligaments was one thing, but this other feeling was just strange. I kept thinking it might be nerve issues, but....

My doctor showed me a picture of where the nerves run in the knee area, and sure enough that matched my pain and strange feeling.

I have to go back at least three more times at some pretty hefty expense, but we did work out a payment plan so I can manage to cover it all.  I guess I will actually have some good medical deductions on my income taxes this time out, so there is a bit of a light at the end of the tunnel.

I hate to spend the money, but at this point I really want my knees to feel better.

I do have to say this doctor--Dr. Edward Magaziner--is on the cutting edge of new therapies to treat injuries and pain.

At the same time, I do tease him a bit as most of the therapies he uses were pioneered in veterinary medicine, notably with horses. He was proud to tell me he was using a new stem cell treatment with great success.  The stem cells were derived from the patient's own fatty tissue and it worked much better to help heal and restore damaged joint tissues.

I laughed a bit at that one. Several years ago, I had given him an article about stem cell therapy being used in horses--deriving the stem cells from fatty tissue. At that point, he was still using blood serum stem cells. He remembered and grinned about it.

Bless the vets!

Now I have to find out the next medical breakthrough in equine medicine that will benefit man.

We talked about the new surgery for kissing spines in horses, but realized that it would not likely help humans. Very interesting conformational difference there. We want our horses to release their backs and round them. Humans need to have their backs straight or a bit inverted to stand upright. If those ligaments were cut, we'd bend over instead.

How does the phrase go from Animal Farm?  As far as that surgery goes:  "Four legs good, two legs bad!"

No riding today. I was told to "take it easy" as far as exercise goes. I may  swim tomorrow and ride out with Christina on Thursday.

Hope to be on the mend in short order. So does my bank account.

We Pace!!

And We Had a Great Time!

What can I say?  The weather was absolutely beautiful to start off.  We met the barn around 7AM and were on our way by a bit after 8.

The drive up to Tewksbury was a bit over an hour, so we arrived somewhat after 9AM.  We signed in to get number 13 on our pinny.  Not to worry. It was good luck for us.

Christine had a little trouble loading Nordisk on the trailer to leave so more about that later.

The best part was the ride itself. According to the organizers, it was 8-9 miles long. We had decided not to try to be competitive as Nordisk had never been away from home before and he's only been under saddle for four months.  Both JJ and Juan--Christina's husband's horse--are seasoned endurance horses, so it was an ideal team for a youngster's first outing.

The trails were gorgeous!! Beautiful scenery, excellent footing and truly varied terrain. We had woodland paths, open fields, streams, hills, road crossings, backyards, and just about everything you could imagine.

Nordisk was a little nervous at first, but Christina rode him really well and after a few other faster teams passed us, we all began to gain confidence that he would be just fine.  We walked for the first half of the ride, just taking it all in and enjoying ourselves.

After the mandatory water stop for the riders, we got a bit bolder and started some trotting sessions. By then Nordisk was nicely settled.  JJ was an angel and let me pace him to keep Nordisk close to us at all times as we moved out on some of the really wonderful paths along the edges of the fields. There were a number of nice small hunt jumps out there and I had to admit I felt a twinge of nostalgia for the old days when I hunter paced Russell, PJ and even Toby.  Those fences looked really inviting, but it was not the day to lark over any of them.

JJ's endurance experience was proven time and time again as the terrain got challenging, or there were potentially spooky things along the trail. What a super horse he is to ride. My Ansur dressage saddle seems to suit him perfectly and I must admit it certainly was comfortable to ride in.

All told, we were out for nearly three hours. We found out after crossing the finish line that it was actually a "trail pace," not a "hunter pace."  I am positive we were still too slow, but I have a feeling a lot of the riders who galloped past us will have come in well under time.  I will be interested to see what the ideal time was. I suspect the way we rode the second half, with all the trotting, would have been a good time.

JJ was cool and relaxed the whole ride and came in with a good heart rate and minimal sweating. He was evenly sweated under the saddle and not lathered up at all.  He's certainly fitter than I am!!

We hung out for a while to let everyone recuperate and then decided to load up to head for home.

Nordisk would have none of it. He balked over and over about getting into the trailer.  Christine worked hard to get him in, but did not lose her temper.  Larry tried to load him, I tried to load him...no luck.  I'd guess we spent well over an hour trying to get him in. Then, we put a rump rope on him with Larry at one end and me at the other, and he finally decided to get on.

Whew! Christina has her work cut out for the next couple weeks practicing loading, that's for sure.  It's currently a hole in Nordisk's training, but she's done such a good job with everything else, I'm certain she'll fix it in short order.  He's a really good boy, so I don't think it will be much of a problem in the long run.

The other training step to face is actually cantering Nordisk under saddle. He offered a few strides of canter today, but Christina stopped him as she has never tried it and it's still a little scary for her. I fully understand and plan on riding a bit with her to help her take the next step.  Nordisk is very naturally balanced, so I don't think it's going to be a problem either. We'll just take it as it comes.

After we got back home and settled the horses in with their dinner, we went to a nearby restaurant and had a nice dinner ourselves.

I got home just over an hour ago to feed my boys and now, to blog!

I had an absolutely wonderful day, on a wonderful horse, on some wonderful trails, with some wonderful friends.

How much better could the day be?

Thunder Overhead

Out on the Trails

Christina and I went out for a long--at least 2 1/2 hour--ride today.  We covered a lot of varied terrain crossing several streams on the way. Nordisk, the young fellow, led most of the way. He had a few stops at some of the water crossings, but patience and, in one case, a lead from the more experienced JJ--even with me on his back--got him through just fine.

There is a long, winding woodland trail behind Christina's barn that we followed. Apparently, it has several more miles we did not even cover on the ride with options to go to some local parks and other interesting places.

On the way home, however, we heard a rumble of thunder overhead. Sure enough, another crash and  a bit of rush of wind brought in a strong downpour. Nordisk got a little upset and even JJ, who is fairly immune to weather started to react.  We dismounted and led the boys home for the last 15 minutes of the trail, getting soaked ourselves in the process. Since it had been pretty hot and humid yesterday and not a whole lot better this morning, I have to say, the rain did actually feel good.

However, soggy clothes, soggy tack and soggy horses were ultimately not all that pleasant.

I was upset to discover when we got back that my girth had rubbed JJ at his right elbow. Hopefully he will be fine for Sunday's ride. I will use one of Christina's girths instead then. I feel bad about it, but what's done is done. It's not a horrible rub, but the hair is gone and the skin is irritated. Poor kid.

The sun is out again now, but there are still storms in the forecast. Nothing like what hit Colorado over the last two days--hope my blogger pals out that way are all OK!!  Here, the blessing is that the stormy weather is bringing back the cooler, drier weather. It should be super on Sunday for the pace.

I swam for over an hour yesterday in the college indoor pool. It would have been a perfect day to swim outside, but this time of year, most of the outdoor pools are closed for the season. I'm lucky I have a place to swim and it's a super nice facility.

I'll swim again tomorrow, keeping up my exercise program. I am about a half pound short of losing 20 pounds since I started with my nutritionist. I'd like to lose at the least another 10 pounds before I reach a maintenance weight. If I lose 15, I'll be back to the weight I was in college and that might be even better.

Onward and downward!!

So Far It Was Fun!

I Ride Two Days in a Row

I, as planned, took Chance out to the pumpkin patch for a ride yesterday. We were out for about 45 minutes with two short, but nice sessions of trotting. Chance was a star on all accounts, except for two spooks.

First, however, was his absolute non-spook at birds suddenly flying up out of the cornfield on either side of the trail. The corn is too tall to see over at this point, and the birds flew up in a rush and noisy flutter. Chance only flicked his ear at them. I was honestly amazed.

Once we were out at the tree farm, all was well until we reached a spot where a bright white cultivator was parked. It really did look strange and the sunlight bouncing off it accented the sudden whiteness. Chance froze, then spun around to escape the "monster."  I collected him back up, tried to go past it and again he spun. But I turned him back towards it, let him stand and stare at it for a moment, reassuring him as he did. Then, although quite tense an prancing, he did manage to pass by. The cultivator was about 50 feet off the trail, but still it was a big scary thing.

Then, partway into the pumpkin field, we had to pass by some beehives. These were gray boxes. Unfortunately, Chance was still a little unsettled from the cultivator, so he spooked and spun again. This time, I simply turned him up one of the other little roads through the pumpkin patch and we circled the field in the opposite direction. When we reached the beehives again, from the opposite side, we did end up taking a wide berth into the patch itself--a spot where there were no pumpkins, fortunately and some sparsely planted ground--and managed to get by just fine. On the way home, past the cultivator again, he hardly batted an eye, so I suspect the next time, even the beehives will not be too upsetting.

He started a tiny bit at a bicyclist riding up the road behind us on the way back, but that was nothing at all of concern.  All in all I was delighted with him.

Today, I went over to Christina's barn to ride her Arabian, JJ.  I took my Ansur dressage saddle and I'm really glad I did. It fit JJ just fine and really made me feel quite comfortable on a strange horse.

We rode in the grass arena for perhaps a half hour as I got used to JJ.  He is nicely balanced and has a super good attitude. I did need to work at getting him to drop down on the bit for me. He had some tension, perhaps worrying about me and even being a little perplexed by the totally flexible saddle on his back. I got him going pretty nicely in fairly short order while Christina rode her young horse as well.

Then we headed out for about an hour trail ride. JJ was a nice solid ride under me. He as a bit lazy, which was fine, mostly because he was so relaxed. I'd like to think my riding had something to do with that, but I won't take much credit for it. He's a nice horse, and that's all there is to it.

And Nordisk, Christina's baby boy whose only been under saddle for a few months, was a superstar!  He actually lead the ride for nearly the whole way. We just walked, but he was sensible and good about everything. He has an inch or two on JJ and his walk seemed to easily outpace us. He really is a lovely horse and Christina's done a fine job of training him so far.

I plan to go over to ride again Thursday morning. I'm sure my muscles will feel some of the riding tomorrow, but so far, so good. I certainly am physically fit enough with all the swimming I've done, but as we all know, riding does require its own set of muscles.

At this point, I am really looking forward to the pace on Sunday. We will not be competing for time as it's far too important to give Nordisk a good experience on his first time out.

Thought about going for a swim, but I decided to stick to my original plan for the week which was to swim on Wednesday and Friday instead.

Wish the indoor pool were closer. I miss the water.

Stepping Out

Hope It Will Be Fun!

My endurance rider friend has three horses--Arabians. Two are seasoned veterans of many endurance rides. One is her youngster just "learning the ropes."  (Side note here:  she won the youngster in a raffle!)

Anyhow, there is a hunter pace on Sunday and she decided it was time to get the young horse out. Her husband rides one of the seasoned horses, but there was no one to ride the other fellow. 

In I step. 

Christina emailed me and asked if I'd like to join them in the pace. 

Talk about jumping back into riding mode full force. I agreed. I will be going over to her barn tomorrow to do some test rides on her horse. Obviously, more reports on this enterprise will follow.

Meantime, I am just about to go out to take Chance out for a ride. It's another lovely day and I found a new trail to ride. Well, it's not actually a new trail, exactly. The farmer up the road has a pumpkin patch for pick your own pumpkins set in the much larger cornfield. The road into the patch opens onto the tree farm which is an nice trail ride from here. Then, the path goes all around the pumpkin patch and comes back out to the tree farm. It makes a nice little loop with good footing and will be a perfect ride for us. I will not have to ride along the NJ Turnpike to get in a full trail circle. 

I walked the trail yesterday to get some exercise and it added nearly 20 minutes to my hike. I know Chance walks faster than I do--at least I hope he does--so I figure the whole ride will take, at most, about 40 minutes since we have to take the long way out through the woods instead of walking along the paved road as I do to get out there. 

Now, all we have to content with are the bugs. I guess I'll put on his fly gear. 

See you tomorrow with news of a new day.

Oh, Chance!

Silly Boy

I guess somebody needs some work to keep him out of trouble.

I went for my first indoor swim of the new season this morning. I managed to get in a hour's worth of swimming and water exercises before the pool hours closed for the midday. They were open from 11AM to 12:15 today. They have both earlier and later sessions, so I have ample opportunity to fit in m workout during the day.

Afterwards, I did a bit of shopping on the way home. Land's End swimsuit pieces on close out for 70% off the already reduced prices!! Since the reduced prices were at about 50% of regular, that was a steal. Needless to say, I stocked up...I have a vast collection of swim separates to mix and match so I hardly every have to wear the same suit unless I want to.

I am a bit of a "swimsuit junkie," I fear. But it's OK. It motivates me to get to the pool as often as I can.

I got back home with about an hour to spare before I needed to head off to the nutritionist. I am still working on losing weight and doing quite well. The only downside is that it's quite possible a lot of the new clothes I've bought will be too big.

Darn. That just means I will have to go shopping again.

Anyhow, back to Chance. As I was about to pull out of the driveway, I looked over to the barn and there was Chance with his head stuck out over the gate across the door to the inside aisle of the barn. Note here, he was on the inside, not outside where he was supposed to be.

The gate pushes in from outside and has to be pulled open from inside. Mr. Iamacleverboy apparently has figured out how to push his way in and cannot comprehend how to pull the gate open again to get back out, so he was stuck in the barn aisle.

Chance in the barn aisle is a wrecking machine. I must admit, today he was a little off his game. There were several horse sheets dragged about. The garbage can was dumped. The wheelbarrow lay on its side. A halter was dragged across the aisle into a pile of poo. A wash bucket was dumped, and various items from inside the feed room--which was fortunately blocked off--were scattered about on the floor. Aside from a plastic bottle of hoof treatment that spilled, nothing else was damaged beyond rescue.

I ushered Chance back out to the paddock, did a small cleanup job, and then headed off for my appointment.

As I left, I saw Chance eagerly drinking from the water trough. I guess his demolition job had left him rather thirsty.

Either I am going to have to be even more careful to latch that gate or teach Chance how to open if from the inside as well.

Nothing New For Now

Just Thought I'd Post

As summer winds down here in New Jersey the temperatures are starting to moderate. They've been up and down most of August with cloudy days and rain. I have no real excuse for not riding the Boys, except that the flies--the big B52's--have been pretty annoying. The Boys go out to the pasture and gallop back in, even with their fly sheets on.

But, I still could have ridden. Motivation seems to be lacking again at the moment.

Silly. All I ever wanted was to have a horse in the back yard and now that I do, I don't ride.  Of course, I am no longer competing, so I don't "have" to ride unless I want to.

But, fall is coming with cooler weather and I will soon need a replacement for my 6-7 day a week swimming routine. I've been working out in the pool nearly every day for up to an hour at a time. I am slowly losing weight, according to plan and feeling rather fit.

Once the pool closes for the summer, my swimming option is 15 miles away at the college pool. If I follow my plan, I'll drive over twice a week unless I am substitute teaching, in which case I will swim after school anyhow. That will leave me five days a week in need of alternate exercise.

Walking is ever an option and I was really good at that prior to swimming season. So I will continue my walking and add riding to the agenda. No plans as to what to do specifically with the Boys, however.

Tucker and I will just pretend to be serious dressage masters. A lot will depend on how he feels physically as he gets more fit. I would like to teach him flying changes, but that's going to take a bit of work and I don't want his hocks to get sore on the process, so we'll just have to see how it all goes.

Chance and I will most like spend most of our time on the trails since we both enjoy it so much. But I do want to get him to a solid first level as that serves as a good foundation for just about everything else I might decide to do with him. I could ride in a show or two with him if I ever feel the urge, so I want him to be able to put in a good test.

Toby will be master of his own schedule. If he wants to go for a ride now and then, so be it. If not, that's just fine too. Either way, he's up for some coddling and cuddling, regardless.

At least I have a plan. It may not be the best, but now that I've written it down, I have to follow  it!

Motivation? Here it is, in print.

I Have Been to a "Happening!"

Somebody's Lucky!

We have a multi State lottery here in the US called "Powerball."  Last night was the drawing for a $480 million prize.

Please note: I did not buy a ticket.

There were two winners from my State of New Jersey. One of them bought the ticket at the local Stop and Shop Supermarket where I shop all the time. It's only about 3 miles from my house.

On the way home from picking up my CSA share I stopped at the market to get some eggs. I was a bit puzzled to see all kinds of TV trucks in the parking lot. Then, on the way in, I met our local newspaper reporter who told me there was going to be a press conference with the lottery people there at the store in about a half hour.

Well, how could I pass up an opportunity to be part of a "happening" like that?

I shopped slowly and then made my way to the cluster of cameras and reporters to witness the event.

The lottery winner has not yet stepped forward, so there was no name on the big check yet. $86 million dollars, cash. After taxes, the winner would end up with about $62 million dollars unless they decided to take the winnings in an annuity over 26 years. The lottery rep who spoke to the press said they advised all winners to talk to financial advisors and making plans before collecting the winnings, so whoever won may not claim the prize for a few days yet.

I'm not sure what I would do after I picked myself up off the floor if I'd won.

The store itself got a check for $30,000 for selling the winning ticket. They are going to donate the money to a local charity.

It was kind of cool watching the whole press conference. I'll have to watch the evening news to see the reports.

The store bakery had made a huge sheet cake to celebrate the win and afterwards, we all got a piece.

I took a nice slice of chocolate cake as my share of the winnings.

I broke my diet, but it was worth it. My "happening" cake was delicious.

Not Much New Here

Weather's Been A Mixed Blessing

It's been off and on hot here, making the riding a question for me. We did have two nice days. I was tied up for one. But on Tuesday, I went for my swim and decided to ride when I got back home.

No sooner had I pulled into the driveway when I heard a truck outside. Sure enough, it was Scott coming to shoe the Boys.  Tucker, as you may recall, had lost his shoe and stepped on the clinch. I had him inside with his hoof wrapped with an iodine pack because he'd suddenly pulled up really lame on Sunday after I turned him out for a bit with a protective boot on.

Scott checked him out before trimming and shoeing and found no soreness, so I'm not at all sure what happened. At any rate, he was able to put a shoe on Tuck's foot anyhow since the spot where he'd stepped on the clinch would still be open if I needed to soak or treat him. So far, though, he's really sound and if it hadn't decided to rain today, I would have ridden him for a bit.

Toby's eye is still healing, I hope. I've been treating it every day and my vet is scheduled to come again tomorrow to examine him. He is so good and patient for the medications and the exams. What a good boy he is.

Chance is just being Chance which means I have to keep an eye on him to make sure there's no place he can get into mischief. I was going to take him out on a trail the day Scott showed up, but that never happened. Scott's cell phone crashed and he was not able to call me ahead of time, but since he can easily do my Boys without my being here, he decided he'd just drop by regardless. Apparently the dead phone messed up the bulk of his day anyhow, so I lucked out.

Yesterday, after a very long swim--I apparently swam a mile (35 laps of 50 meters each)--I came home and mowed the lawn. With the rain we've had this year, it just keeps growing. Normally, by now it waould be dried up and not need much tending. I bless my garden tractor every time I need to mow as it makes the job a lot easier.

But a lot of areas needed trimming where the big mower could not go. So this morning, at around 7 AM, I got up and took out the DR Trimmer to do the tricky spots. The trimmer does not have drive wheels so I have to push the darn thing. Some of the places that need mowing have little hills and bumps, making some of the job extra hard. (Buying a self propelled model is really extra expensive.)  As a result, in the end, I got a really good workout of about 90 minutes or so.

That proved to be a good thing. As I finished and went out to feed the Boys it started to rain, and it's been raining all day. The swimming pool was closed for the day, so the mowing job had to replace my water exercise. Any exercise is good for burning calories, and I think the mowing was just fine.

I just picked up my CSA (community supported agriculture) share from the farm market today. I  share meant for one person, I got: an eggplant, four ears of corn, two large tomatoes and a bunch of grape tomatoes, a green pepper, a cucumber, a green squash, and several potatoes. It is honestly way more than enough to feed me for the week. As a matter of fact, I may make eggplant parmesan again--did that last week--but this time make a bigger one to share with some friends. I still have last week's cucumber, so
I could also make a nice dish of pickled cucumbers for a salad and we'd have a meal.

The CSA was a fabulous idea and I am certainly going to sign up again next year.

Oh, What A Beautiful Morning

Oh, What a Beautiful Day!

Gorgeous weather. Too chilly to swim, actually, although I suspect the water would have felt nice and warm. Since I've been swimming every day, I opted out, using today as my rest from swimming day. 

That did not stop me from other pursuits, or events beyond my control. 

Yesterday, I rode Tucker. As we circled the arena, I heard the dreadful "clink" of loose horseshoe hitting the little pebbles.  I managed to finish the ride with no consequences. We did the usual exercises at the walk and trot. His left pirouette is definitely improving, but after riding Chance today, I think I may have discovered part of the problem--more later. Half pass at the trot in both directions was OK, but not spectacular. Since I was worrying about the shoe, I didn't press the point, nor did I try any half pass at canter. Since it was pretty hot, I only worked for about 25-30 minutes with much of it at the walk. 

When we came in, I inspected the loose shoe and made an attempt to wrap it with some very good duct tape to see if I could keep it on until my farrier could get here. 

Fast forward to today. Morning brought absolutely glorious, cool weather.  My vet was coming at 9 AM to examine Toby's eye again, so the morning was occupied. We are a bit disappointed to report that while his eye is better, it's still not completely healed. So I will continue to put in the three medications to keep it from developing any kind of secondary infection, I just be patient. Toby is 23 and has Cushings, so either factor could be part of the slow healing. 

As the vet was leaving, I saw Tucker--I'd locked him in his stall while we worked on Toby--take a really lame step. I went into his stall to see the loose shoe totally askew on his hoof so he was actually standing on the clinch. Thinking the shoe was still attached, I rushed out to stop the vet before she left. She has studied horse shoeing and has a set of tools, so odds were she could get the shoe off far better than I. 

We brought Tucker into the aisle--very painfully--and as I lifted his foot, the shoe fell off into my hand. Lucky that. But the clinch had cut the sole of his foot. Dr. Parisio cleaning it out, trimmed a little hoof away from the cut and told me to soak and wrap it for a few days until Scott, my farrier could get here. 

More doctoring, and now, no way of riding Tucker in the lovely cool air. 

After I wrapped Tuck's foot, I headed to the feed store to get some more shavings for his stall, a super deal on the feed I get for Toby--a free bag--and some fly spray on super sale. 

Back home, I spent some time poo picking the riding arena, and then I saddled up Chance.  

We had a good school. Slowly but surely, Chance is getting more consistent about stretching into the bit as a matter of choice. 

But the lightbulb moment hit when I had trouble getting him to do a left turn on the haunches--the same direction I'm having trouble with Tucker's walk pirouette. I suddenly realized that when I turned to the right, I was dropping my right knee and sinking into my right seat bone.  On the left, I was shortening my leg and trying to push him over to the left with my right seatbone. Duh.

As soon as I dropped my left knee and sank my weight into the left seat bone, around he went, as nice as you please. Now this is a horse with minimal training compared to Tucker. Of course, with the missing shoe there was no way to test my corrected riding on Tuck, but for know I will presume it will work the charm the next time I ride him. 

It's supposed to warm up again tomorrow, but the break was an absolute delight. 

Short Ride on a Hot Day

Taking On Chance

I rode Chance for about 20 minutes or so today. This time we stayed in the arena. I didn't need to face any bugs out on the trail.

Nothing too exciting to report except that despite the fact that I've been trail riding him for the bulk of the season, he is actually acting more schooled in the arena. Somewhere along the way I must be unconsciously doing something right out on our hacks.

He wanted to reach down for the bit at the trot, even though I did have to remind him now and then.  He was in a nice, long training level frame.  His walk was easy to keep forward, which was another nice change.

I tried a few turns on the haunches. He was very good going to the right, but the left was a little sticky. Again, considering that I haven't really schooled him much on these, he was quite good at it.

We tried some leg yield at the walk as well. The right was very good, the left a little sticky again. Normally, I've found left leg yield easier than right, but he's the opposite. I think his right hind is a little weaker than the left, so stepping over with it may be more difficult for him. But, he certainly tried, did not get upset at minimal correction and was a good boy. I did not try at the trot yet, so we'll see how that goes.

We did some canter as well. Again, left lead was better than the right as he tended to break on the right lead. But, in the past, his right lead has always been faster as he was not at well balanced on that side. Not today. Right lead was slow and easy--too easy.  I'm sure a bit of schooling and some better fitness on his part would fix it easily.

If it weren't so hot, I would have entered him in the schooling show--local horse rescue benefit--but I simply cannot face all the effort of prepping for, trailering to, and riding in a show. There was a time the heat would not have bothered me at a competition, but no more. And, it doesn't help that I haven't been able to ride much during the heat wave--10 degrees F hotter than today. I'll hope there will be an opportunity to compete at least once on him at a better time.

I also swam and did water aerobics for an hour today. I have a routine I've set up that exercises most of me pretty well. I've been averaging an hour nearly every day. After my swim, I ride down the water slide a couple times and then take a circuit or three of the Lazy River, depending on how hot the sun is.  I have to be careful that I don't burn. I use sunscreen, but that only protects so far.

Dinner out with my friends from church finished up the day on a good note.

Heat or not, summer is still fun at Follywoods.

Hot, Hotter, Hottest

And The Heat Goes On

Most everyone knows the US East Coast has been suffering from a heat wave since the beginning of the week. It's supposed to break later on tomorrow.

Today, there were a few clouds obscuring the sun off and on. Every time they did, the temperature eased significantly. And, there was an on and off breeze making the heat a little more tolerable. Yesterday was total misery. Today? Moments of relief. Temperatures are in the upper 90's with times where it has felt well over 100F. And, of course, there is the famous NJ humidity to make it even more uncomfortable.

The Boys are faring pretty well, considering. They mover from the shaded barn with fans to outside in sun or shade, depending on what feels better. They have plenty of water as I keep the trough filled.

I also just bought a new salt block, but so far I haven't noticed anyone licking it. It has been an "object of curiosity" so perhaps someone will test it with his tongue.

I hosed Toby off yesterday after filling his eye with three different medications. As noted, all the lab tests came back negative for fungi or bacteria, so all the meds are primarily precautionary. He is an exceedingly good patient and very easy to handle with all the treatments. Aside from closing his eye when the meds draw near, he is perfect to medicate. I'm still giving him a gram of Bute every day as well and with the orange flavored powder mixed into some apple sauce he takes that quite nicely too.

I've been giving all three Boys a wet morning feed and I've added a wet evening feed as well just to make sure they are getting some water into them. The water trough goes down every day, but I don't know who's drinking what, so the wet feed is another precaution. The woman in my vet's office said the vets have been treating a number of colics due to dehydration over the last hot week. Soaked meals may help me avoid that problem here.

My friend Chris, whose young horse was running a fever a day or so ago, had the vet out to look at her horse's hock. Sure enough, it was cellulitis. That explains the fever. He may have had an old cut or scrape...or something new...that blew up into a really big swelling. Apparently, cellulitis is another problem that's been plaguing area horses as well. When my vet was here she mentioned that as a cause for several emergency calls over the weekend.

I'm not sure if eye problems are cropping up as well. I will have to ask.

It is continuing to be a bad year for animal health all around. I'm beginning to wonder if the "13" at the end of the year has cursed us all.

Another Vet Check

Toby's Eye is Slowly Improving

I'm still waiting for some test results on the cultures the eye vet took from Toby's eye to see if we need to change medications. But in the meantime, I am medicating him 3-4 times every day with two medications. I found Terrymycin on EBay, as noted, and it's a good thing because I will probably need the extra tubes.

The regular vet, Dr. Parisio, was here today to check on him. She said it is healing slowly. It it quite possible his Cushings disease has impacted his immune system which is why the healing process is slower than it could be. But there are definite signs of improvement.

He no longer needs a patch over that eye which is really good as I'm sure being one eyed was frustrating to him. But he is still wearing his fly mask and a halter to help keep it on.  Normally my Boys are on halterless turnout.  The halter Toby is wearing is leather, so in case of emergency, it will break.

Meantime, we are suffering another horrendous heat wave. Temperatures are in the upper 90's F and will be until Sunday. The thermometer on my garage that sits in full sunlight registers well over 100F during the day. It only goes up to 120F and I fear I'm going to see it soar up that way by the end of the week.

The Boys are spending most of their time in the barn with the fans blowing on them. There's not much else I can do except perhaps hose them to cool them off. The only trouble with that is with the high humidity, the water will not help too much.

Needless to say, I am not even trying to ride. No sense in torturing everyone, including me. It's just too darn hot.

Meantime, I can at least keep up my swimming even if the pool water is starting to heat up as well. I swam for nearly an hour today. Part of that was going down the water slide. But the sidewalks around the waterpark were super hot under my feet, so I cut that short to do a few more laps. I did not ride the Lazy River because there was a line waiting for the tubes and I didn't want to stand on the hot pavement waiting.

I headed for Target on the way home to buy a pair of water shoes so I could walk around the park and go from one water area to another without burning my feet off. I'm such a wimp!

Ironically, Target had only one pair left and they were in my size!! Talk about luck. I had another store as an option but didn't need it. Now I'm set for the next hot day at the pool--tomorrow.

A blessing indeed that I have air conditioning in the house.

I also had to buy a new refrigerator because my old one--long overdue for replacement--seemed to have sprung a leak. I say "seemed" because I am not at all sure where the water was coming from, but I suspect it was something giving up the ghost.

I got a really good deal on a floor model at the local appliance store on Sunday, and they delivered the refrigerator this morning.  It will take a while to get used to it as it has the freezer on the bottom and I've had a top freezer all my life. If it lasts half as long as the old one did, I will be delighted.  It's a big bigger than the old one, but I did have to be careful of the size as my cabinets above and the door to the side limit space.

It really looks nice and I think I'm going to like not having to bend down to see what's in the veggie bins at the bottom.  The freezer pulls out like a drawer so that's pretty convenient too.

Now I have a nice place to store the Boys's carrots.

Tucker Actually Works

On a Moderately Cool Day

Yesterday, Friday, it cooled down for a change. Rain was in the forecast, but did not start until later in the day.

So before I headed over to the pool for a swim, I saddled up Tucker for a schooling session in the arena.

Not much to report of real interest here. He was generally a good boy. The main issues are his giving to the bit when  ask him to go round in a slightly elevated frame. He will set his jaw and refuse to move forward for a short time before giving in.

And he is having a bit of trouble keeping cadence on a walk pirouette to the left. The right one is pretty good as he keeps marching with his right hind leg, but to the left, the left hind gets stuck in place and the pirouette stalls. This happens even if I make the circle larger. I'm not sure if it's something I'm doing wrong or if he is really having trouble getting the hang of it. Sometimes, if a rider holds back the forward too much in order to get the sideways movements, it can restrict the hind leg. I worked on it for a bit and finally, when he gave me a moving one, I praised him mightily and quit that exercise for the day.

The only other issue is his tendency to break from canter on the right lead. Again, I am not asking him to canter in a frame, collected, and on the bit, so he has to find his own balance and energy. Since he's not really super fit, the lack of impulsion is not a surprise, but he does not lose the canter on the left lead. I'm not planning on competing him, nor doing more than just basic training, so it's not really a big issue, rather just an observation about his way of going at the moment. I did not push that point at all since he's not fit enough to worry about it.

This is "no pressure" riding I'm doing at the moment. We spent most of the ride in walk and trot, varying the intensity by loose rein, long rein (rounded back), and a little toward collection. The half passes are progressing, the shoulder in is good, and essentially, all is well.

One of my goals is to eventually get the flying changes. Tucker really doesn't care which lead he's on, so most of the more common methods don't work too well with him. Right now, I am doing figure eights with a trot change in the middle and I might be able to teach the change from that. If not, I have a few other approaches to try, but nothing to work at until he gets fitter.

After the ride and grooming...all of which took well over an hour....I went for a 45 minute swim and then a 40 minute walk when I got back home. By then it was raining, so I walked with my umbrella.

I finished the walk by cutting home through the woods to the arena gate.

Well, oh my! When I and the umbrella emerged from the trees, Chance must have seen me. Suddenly all three horses erupted from the barn where they'd been sheltering and they took off in a panicked gallop out to the pasture. That umbrella was terrifying!!

I went into the house, changed into a long raincoat instead and went back out to feed.

It took all kinds of coaxing to get the Boys back into the barn to eat dinner. Trauma 101.

This morning, there are roofers working on the garage at my Aunt's house next door. The garage is the building nearest the pasture.

The Boys were out in the far side of the pasture grazing.

Once again, it took all kinds of coaxing to get them in to eat as they had to go within 100 feet or so of the scary roofing guys making noise.

Trauma 102.

Horses have vivid imaginations.

Out on the Buggy Trail

We Ride

It was warm and muggy, but my endurance friend from across the way convinced me to ride out with her. She'd taken a tumble from her young horse the other day and bruised as she was, she really wanted to get into the saddle for a ride. I think company was important to her as well.

We met at around 8 AM.  I was five minutes later than I meant to be because on the way out, a certain Chance decided to spook at a new tree branch sticking out of the woods. Someone had sawed off some of the branches so maybe it was sticking out across the dirt road. Anyhow, Chance thought it was some kind of "attack tree."

Now, mind you, this is the same trail horse that had nonchalantly watched three deer leap across the trail in front of us just tree minutes before.

I would have ridden out the spook and spin, but right behind me was another big tree that does stick out into the little narrow go around into the cornfield. And it has a rather ugly branch precariously positioned right at rider head/neck level.  Since Chance's spin spook threatened to carry us back past that branch, I opted to dismount, lead him up to the "attack tree" and then remount later from a fallen tree in the woods.  With me in the lead, the "attack tree" suddenly became a "so what?" tree.

I led him on a bit further to the next woods road where there was a nice sized fallen tree to climb on so I could remount since I am no longer really able to mount from the ground.

Back in the saddle, I rode him to the meeting place and a bit beyond because Christine was a little late herself.

Chance was absolutely delighted to see JJ, his trail buddy.  We rode around the farm along the dirt road by the Turnpike, through the tree farm, and completed the circle in about 45 minutes or so.  When Christine agreed with me that it was enough for the day, we parted ways. JJ headed willingly towards his barn, while Chance balked at heading home.

He didn't want to go back, so it took a bit of persuasion to get his feet moving.

About the bugs? Chance was wearing the new riding flysheet from Horseware/Amigo that I got at Rick's tent sale. It worked well except that the bugs were so bad they still managed to find the few places the flysheet and flymask did not cover.  And in some places, the 747 mosquitoes still managed to bite through the mesh.

All in all, Chance was pretty good about the insect assault, but he was fussy and I was frustrated with the whole thing as a few of them even bit me.

With all the rain we've had and are still having, the biting critters are breeding in force.  My barn area is not too bad with the flies, but the mosquitoes are  really having a good season. There's no way to dry up the water and wet places they breed in, so every puddle and drop of water is a perfect nursery.

Today it's cool so I will go out to ride Tucker for a bit. Afterwards, he can go stand back in his stall with the fan blowing on him to keep the bitey bugs out.

Meanwhile, I am now treating Toby's eye with two medications. I drove down to the NorthStar vet clinic yesterday to pick up some Terramycin ointment to use in addition to the medication the eye vet left here. It seems most of the suppliers are out of Terramycin for some reason, so the vets are having trouble getting it.  NorthStar, where the eye vet works, had a tube, so I got it--for a dear price. I only say that because I found lots of tubes listed on EBay for tons less.

Now, the EBay stuff is made by Pfizer,  the US manufacturer, but most of them seem to have labeling in foreign languages--Turkish for one. A lot of the tubes were being sold out of Asia but there were a number of  US sellers as well.  I ordered some, just to have it.

Gee, maybe I can sell a tube or so to my vets....for the dear price.

Toby's Eye, Part 2

Multiple Vets

My regular vet came out to check Toby's eye, and, although it was a bit better, she was not satisfied with his progress.

So she suggested a specialist come out.  That was Monday. Amazingly the eye doctor was able to get here today, Tuesday.  She examined Toby's injury and took a scraping to see if there was any infection we needed to address with specific antibiotics. And, she gave me some eye drops to put in 4 X a day.

It is a corneal ulcer, and not a pretty one. That does not mean it will not heal well, but it's definitely a concern. He had a spot on that eye already, and this may be connected.

At any rate, he will require a lot of doctoring. He's getting Bute as well. The complications of all of this are that I have to put the Bute in a syringe with applesauce to be sure he will eat it. Then, every morning, I have to hide his Pergolide--for Cushings--in a piece of carrot---sh-h-h-h-h-h don't tell!!. And I have to make a little mash to assure that he eats his Bug Check.  Talk about high maintenance.

Glad he's in the back yard.

Meantime, this morning, when I went out to feed, I found Chance in the center aisle of the barn. I'd managed to leave Tucker's gate unlocked and a certain horse took advantage.  The barn was trashed!

I fed and started clean up.  I was hotter than I expected, even with the fan blowing on me. I was dripping with sweat as I swept and moved things back into place.

Tucker's fan was all bent and useless and blankets and sheets were strewn about. The wheel barrow with some manure in it was tipped over and the wheelbarrow with no wheel was dragged into the center of the aisle.

I was just about to finish up when I suddenly felt dizzy and sick. My stomach had been bothering me before I went out, so it's possible I had some kind of intestinal bug or something, but the dizziness was scary.

I just left the rest of the work and headed back into the house. I did throw up a little, so it's possible I was suffering from heat exhaustion.

Or not.

Anyway, I took a cool shower, and then had a drink of some fruit juice in water to rehydrate.

My stomach has been queasy all day even after some rest, but I am feeling a little better now. I have some stuff my metabolic doctor prescribed to me years ago that I keep refreshed.  It's called Oxegenic D+ and it tastes terrible. But when I was sick a few years ago with a long term fever--some kind of virus--my doctor told me to take it and I felt really, really better. So now, whenever I am feeling weak or sick, it's one of the remedies I try. I took two doses so far and feel quite a bit better.

I'm not sure what I want to or can eat, but I will find something. So far a banana, blueberry, strawberry, pear juice smoothie has been all that's on the menu.

Not eating. Potential diet technique.

Not the best.

Looking Good

And the Heat is On

Heat advisory for today and yesterday.  We are talking well into the 90's F. With it much hotter in the sun. While that is nothing compared to what parts of the USA are experiencing, here in New Jersey we have to add the humidity to the heat, making it miserable in its own special way.

The Boys are spending a lot of time in the barn with the fans blowing some air on them.

Toby continues to be a model patient for his eye treatments. Although he does try to keep his eye closed when I am putting in the meds, he does not pull away and stands graciously for it all. In fact, one night I treated him in his stall with just a lead rope draped over my shoulder attached to his halter. What an angel.

Riding? No. It doesn't even cool off at night so the mornings are just as oppressive as the day itself.

A nice shaded indoor would be a blessing, although I'm not sure it would inspire me much more.

My friend, Christina, wants me to ride Chance over to her barn so we can go out with her young horse one day next week.  It looks as if the heat may moderate a bit, so perhaps we can set something up.

My vet will be out on Monday--emergencies notwithstanding--to recheck Toby's eye.  She was on duty over this holiday weekend--Independence Day--and had one emergency after another.  I don't know if this only happens when she is on duty or whether it's the common thing with the practice. So, while I do expect here to get here on Monday, I will not be surprised if something interferes. It's OK. Toby's eye looks so much better.  The only thing is that I will probably need more antibiotic ointment by then.

I did get my swims in. I am up to 50 minutes of laps. I figure if I can discipline myself to an hour, that will be fine. The water was warm, though, which makes it not always the most cool experience. I have been going in the morning when they open to avoid the holiday crowds.

The problem with that is by the time I am finished with my laps, the sun is full force. I did ride the Lazy River for a few turns yesterday, but I think I got a little too much sun.  I'm not too sunburned, but I hate to over do.

Guess I will just swim today and leave the River for an evening visit when it's less busy during the week.

Ouchers

Toby's Eye

When I went out last night to feed, Toby's left eye was closed and watering. When I looked at it there was definite sign of an injury. He already had, from some time ago, a white spot in his eye, but now it was enlarged and there was the sign of a scratch or rough patch on his lens.

I had some eye wash in the house, but no medication, so I flushed his eye and then called the vet.

Why not? After hours, right before a holiday? Sure.

About an hour and a half later--after she restocked her truck, Dr. Parisio arrived.

She examined his eye and decided it needed some aggressive treatment. The used a nerve block so she could examine it without his blinking, tranquilized him so he would not get fractious, flushed it, stained it, and eventually medicated it.

Now he is on oral Banamine for two days. Then he will go on Bute. I will be putting his own blood serum in his eye until Sunday. Then there is Atropine to dilate his pupil, and some antibiotic. The serum and antibiotic are 4 X a day. The Bute 2X and the Atropine will be done tomorrow.

Then, Toby is wearing a fly mask with a duct tape patch over the eye to protect it from dirt, flies, and the light.

It's a bit amusing to note that when Toby went out with the other two Boys in his fly mask, they did not recognize him. There was some "new horse" squealing going on for a minute or two before they settled back down.

Talk about silly.

Anyhow. Toby's eye looks a lot better today and he is a model patient for his medications. Thank goodness. With all the doctoring I have to do, I'd hate to have to wrestle him every time.

Too hot to ride, although today was almost nice.