Teamwork and Partnership - On the Ground to Down the Trail

For the next several months, any work I do with Arabee is going to be done from the ground. At this point, I am not concerned about fitness. Baby's not due until the very end of October, maybe first part of November, and then I'll have another 6-8 weeks before I'll really be ready to get back in the saddle. So, we're looking at not starting riding again until mid-late December. If I make Chicken Chase 2010 my first LD completion goal (which should be sometime in April) I'll have enough time to get her ready for a slow LD even if I don't start riding again until January. I have a much better idea of what it will take to do this now than I did before. I have most of the equipment I need, saddle, pad, saddle pack, hoof boots, rump rug, sheets, etc - I should be good to go to jump back into training mode when the time comes.

I don't want to just sit around this summer though and wait. I'm still scouting out good deals on water tubs, rain gear, horse camping equipment, winter riding wear. I'm really working hard on keeping Arabee's feet perfectly trimmed. We're taking walks around the farm - I have several routes figured out: the hive, the river, to the red barn, down to the Polly field, the mound...each ranging from 1/2 mile to hopefully 2 miles (I have yet to actually measure distance). These are the places I'll be training at for the first couple of months until baby is old enough to be away from me. I won't haul out for any training rides until baby is at least 12 weeks old, and then I don't want to miss more than one feeding, so it's important I set up a good network of riding places around home. So far, these walks have been good for us, and have actually improved bonding somewhat, but I want to do more.

Arabee wears her rope halter, I clip on one of the leather split reins, tie a knot in the end and stick it in my waistband - I am hands-free and she sticks to my side without interference from me whatsoever if she behaves well (which 97% of the time she does). If I turn my shoulders towards her, she stops. If I turn my shoulders to face her, she backs. She keeps her head at my shoulder always, if she lags, I give her a tug on the rope, if she gets too far ahead, we stop abruptly and she has to back several steps. I want to be able to have the same "feel" under saddle - traveling along on a loose rein unless she needs correction, otherwise moving from my body and voice cues. I don't want to have to mess with her head unless she spooks, or decides she doesn't need to listen to my seat and legs.

I put the surcingle and long lines on her a couple of weeks ago, and we did some long-lining around the barn lot. She did well, was very responsive, framed up really fast and stayed that way most of the time. But, basically the whole time the lines were "in contact" - she never got a release unless she rooted down with her head to pull the lines loose - this is not behavior I want to reinforce! Since it's important to me to be able to ride with basically no rein contact, I think I will have to nix long-lining. We don't have a round pen or arena, and I really don't want to just chase her around the paddock since I'm not really concerned with improving fitness at this time. What I really want to do is some sort of ground exercise beyond just going on walks to improve our communication, improve the bond, improve our teamwork so that when I am ready to get back on and ride things go more smoothly.

I'm drawn to the idea of using TTEAM this summer. It pretty much sounds like a low-stress, hands-on way to work with my horse, that could have helpful meaning for vet checks later when the time comes. Has anyone out there used any TTEAM ideas/methods with their horses, or heard of someone else who has??

I'd love to hear your input on not only TTEAM, but if you know of other similar ideas that I could try out this summer, with the focus on building a better partnership with the horse. Thanks in advance!!

Top of the Rock Crewing Story (with pictures!)

As I mentioned on Saturday, I went down to help crew for Michelle Detmer and Laura (and Michelle's horses - Jazz and Stormy) for the LD at Top of the Rock at Clark State Forest. Left a little later than I'd hoped, and had to get gas (and a gas station cappuccino!) but was still there right at 6am. I asked management (Lois) if they had checked in yet, and some other kind person asked if I was looking for anyone in particular, when Lois spotted Michelle's truck, right up close.


They were grooming, working with the hoof boots (Jazz had easyboot epics on front, Stormy was going to wear renegades on front - both bare in back) and we talked - Michelle introduced me to Laura. It's hard to go anywhere without talking about babies (for me, anyway!) so we talked about each other's kids, and also the horses - what a great combination!!! :-) L & M went to check in, while I stayed with the horses. The 50 was to start at 7:00am, and the LD at 7:10, so we had plenty of time to get ready.











So we went up and they vetted in the horses, grazed the horses, and electrolyted the horses, tacked the horses, and other last-minute things, and headed up to the start. Both Stormy and Jazz were quite calm - if Arabee is that calm at the start of a ride jext season I will be VERY happy! I think there were 28 horses (or so) in the LD, Michelle and Laura were BB and AA, the last two rider numbers (letters??) to have checked in. The start was controlled, since they had to follow the road to get to the trail, so they all stayed behind letter "O" until the last horse was off the pavement.







At that point, I just hung around at the start for a while, got my chair and lunch out of the car and brought it back to the trailer, and waited. The first loop was 15 miles, and I was glad I got back to the in-timers when I did, because I was surprised to see the first group of 5 horses coming in! I am not sure of the exact time, but it was somewhere between 1 - 1 1/2 hours for the first loop. Michelle and Laura were in 2nd and 3rd, and Jazz pulsed down in first place, but Stormy took a little longer (I think 3rd or so), but still just fine.




Both mares drank, then they were vetted in, but both needed improved gut sounds, so the main thing we worked on was getting them to eat. They got hay, beet pulp and grain, water, and as much grass as they would eat for the whole hold. It was pretty muddy, so some tack got washed off at the hose, and parts of the horses too. I know I'm forgetting some things, but at the end they headed back to the out-timer a few minutes past time, and had a slower second loop of 10 miles. Michelle said that they were pretty much just running the whole time for the first loop except for they'd trot if there was a "cliff"! Must have been pretty exhilirating! There won't be much chance of me Top 5-ing for a looong time, I like to walk and trot too much!




After M and L left, I saw several other riders coming in. Some 50 milers, some LD riders. I saw Chris E. and her gelding, Toby, and talked with her, and her riding buddy, whose horse's name was Strider, I didn't get her name though! After Toby and Strider left, the first place LD horse had just come in, and I knew it was possible that Michelle and Laura wouldn't be far behind, so I stayed up front with the sponge and a lead rope so I wouldn't miss them. Turned out they were somewhere between 30 and 40 minutes behind the first place horse, Laura in 4th, Michelle in 5th. Only the Top 5 can show for Best Condition judging, and they decided to go for it.




So they took the horses back after a good, long drink at the trough, and untacked, then had to weigh in while the horses ate hay. Then Jazz and Stormy got the mud hosed off, and we offered more grain and beet pulp and hand grazed them. I held one horse or the other so Laura and Michelle took turns eating lunch. Then the 1 hour was up and it was time to vet back in for BC. I'm not sure who actually won BC - I left right when Laura and Michelle did, before the results were in.





So, crewing was a good experience. I felt like I didn't do very much, but both Michelle and Laura were very appreciative! I hope I didn't spoil them for the next ride when they don't have someone to hold a horse or take a jacket back, but it wasn't a very hard job for me, but it was so great to be at the ride and get more experience! It really was just right amount of exertion for me though. It was a lot different than volunteering for the actual ride like I did at Chicken Chase - many more people talked to me at Chicken Chase than this weekend, which made sense, because when I was scribing I came in contact with a lot more people, especially the vets! So, I missed a lot of interaction this time, but it was definitely a very good experience to see a different side of a ride. Big thanks to Michelle for agreeing to let me come down and hang around her and Laura on Saturday!! (and Michelle, if I left anything out that's important, feel free to correct me!!)

Crewing Today

Well, here I am, eating breakfast, getting ready to head down to Clark State Forest to crew for Michelle Detmer (who comments on here pretty often) and her riding buddy Laura at the Top of the Rock. It's about 4:30am. I have packed my lunch, my rain gear, a change of clothes, plenty of water, and a chair. I think crewing will be just the right amount of exertion for this prego!

I hope to be there about 6am, when Michelle plans on arriving, and helping them leave camp for the LD. Then, I will sit and rest! Not sure if the vet check is away or in camp, but I will help during that. And then, I will sit and rest. :-) I'll help them at the finish, then drive home and take a nap! Are you noticing a trend here? Things that normally wouldn't bother me much have been tiring me out big time, but I should have no trouble recovering while the girls are riding. I think it will be just right.

I hope some of the people I met from the Chicken Chase are there today, and if they are, that I actually remember their names! I am soooo bad at remembering names. Pretty fair at remembering faces....just not names.

Hope to take pictures, maybe you all will get a ride report later on (but probably not today!).

Hoof Trimming - Front Feet

I actually did this trim a week ago, and am just now getting to posting the pictures. Memorial Weekend was very busy with farming, and I just did not get the time to post them before now!


Left Front "Before" picture, from the side:

Left "After" picture, from the side (Any red you see on this mare's feet is a result of the red paint wearing off from the jack stand I use to rest her feet on!!):

Right Front, Sole View. This was after I rasped the heels down to sole level, and after I rasped the outside hoof wall sole level. The inside hoof wall is untouched, other than the heels. Again, the red marks are worn off paint from the jack stand.

Left Front Solar View, "Before":

Left Front Solar View, after I rasped both heels to sole level:

Left Front Sole View, "After" - This is the finished trim.



I need to work on being more even side to side for each trim. I also have noticed that I need to rasp a bigger breakover on Arabee's hind feet in the toe. Slowly getting better all the time. Comments/Suggestions will be appreciated!

Hoof Trimming Pictures - Arabee's Hind Feet

Okay, so I trimmed Arabee's hind feet yesterday.

Took before, after, and during pictures!

This picture is of her left hind - The first thing I did was rasp both of the heels level with the sole from the bottom of the hoof. Then I turned her leg around (instead of out behind her so I can see the bottom, I pulled her leg in front and propped it up on the jack) and rasped from top. I rasped starting where I had stopped at the heel from underneath, then worked my way around to the toe. Here I have only done half of the hoof (except the heels have already been done on both sides). The scrapy lines you see around the frog on the sole are just from the hoof pick...I did not rasp her sole at all.


This is the "before" shot of the right hind sole, after I cleaned it out with the hoof pick.


Here is the after shot of the right hind sole. I followed the same procedure: heels level with sole, trim from the top one side, trim from the top the other side, make sure the mustang roll is smooth. (pardon the tail hairs in the way....it was windy!)

Here's the before shot of her left hind foot resting on the ground from the front. Arabee toes out in the back quite a bit.

And here is the after shot, of both her left hind from the front, and the right hind from the side angle view, makes it easier to see the way her conformation makes her toes point. I'm pretty pleased with the way this trim came out.

I've re-started walking with Arabee up and down the road, which has really helped give her work on hard ground, and has improved the concavity in her hooves. (I had stopped this practice when the pasture was finally dry enough and tall enough to allow turnout for Arabee but am glad to start it again) It's also going to keep me from gaining a bunch of weight!!! I want to measure out exactly how far I am going...my estimate is that Saturday we walked a little under 1.5 miles....but that's just a guess. We started at the barn, headed North to the 90 degree turn, came back, rounded the corner, passed the mailbox, and turned around at the bottom of the hill where the ditch goes under the road, then back down to the end of the barn lot, and back to the pasture for Arabee. I know that the barn lot is 1/10th of a mile one way...so we for sure did at least .2 miles on gravel, which I think will help with Arabee's feet wearing better on their own.

Shoo Fly!

So I want to know:

What do you all use for fly spray???

My experience with fly spray has been poor - usually horse flies ignore it, but it does help with the smaller flies that swarm around the face somewhat. I just have not been satisfied with any products I've used - do any of you guys have fly sprays that just always seem to work well??

My horses don't enjoy wearing fly masks. Jack ran through an electric fence wearing one (I guess he just didn't see it!), and Arabee just seems VERY spooky when she's wearing hers out on pasture. Seems as though wearing the mask diminishes the eye sight enough to put her "on edge" and I think she'd prefer shaking her head free of flies than being nervous about the stuff she thinks she can't see.

So I'm curious - does anyone have specific products they use that they swear by??

Today's Ride

Here are some pictures of the ride we had today. I decided that today will be my last ride for this pregnancy. Over the last week my belly has really "popped" out there big time, and I felt pretty off-balance. It's not often you see pictures of pregnant women riding horses, I thought they were funny!

I just wanted to get the pictures up...I'll write more tomorrow about what we actually did....and how Arabee was trotting off...kind of lame, actually. So bottom line is that it's a good thing for Arabee that tonight will be my last right until after Baby is born.

**Update**
Well, it was really no biggie what we did - I caught her, saddled up, and Matt and I were just going to go for a quiet walk down the road. Right away after I settled into the saddle I was just like, "Whoa! This big belly has got me off-balance!" and I already told Matt that this was going to have to be my last ride...I was just too much "off" to be well-balanced and safe much longer.

Arabee was super-super looky. So I told Matt I needed to trot her a bit to get her "fresh" off before we tried walking down the road again. There were calves now turned out in the pasture I'd used to ride in, so we had to keep to the barn lot driveway (gravel). After about 5 minutes of trotting, I started noticing her feeling "off" and then it was just obvious she was having problems when her head was gently bobbing (or was that just her mane flopping?.....it was pretty discreet, but it was still there) at the trot. Not good. So I asked Matt and his dad to tell me which leg it was. I suspected it was her injured RF, but they were having a REALLY hard time being able to tell me for sure. But that was the leg they settled on. Shoot!

It could've just been the gravel and she may have stepped wrong, since she was fine for the first 5 minutes or so. Since this was going to be our last ride though until probably December or January, I decided we'd go ahead and try the nice quiet walk down the road originally planned. She really wasn't any calmer, and was just really hooking her neck and blowing and looking all around and essentially "forgetting" all about me...so I hopped off and we called it quits.

Riding horses you really just have to forget about the risk of falling off and just RIDE.....but being as I am carrying a precious baby, my mind was pretty in-tune with the idea that falling off was not an option. So rather than ride all wishy-washy on a spooky horse, I felt that the best thing was to just hop off and play it safe. Kind of a disappointing way to "go out" for the year, with a spooky, inattentive mount and a lame horse, but that's the way it was!

I still have all kinds of plans for doing in-hand work with her for the rest of the summer, this won't be the last you hear from me by any means, but I just won't be riding! I'm actually pretty glad it working out this way, I should be able to allow her plenty of rest to allow that coronet band injury to grow out before I try serious riding again, she should become super-familiar with the local area I plan to handwalk her in this summer, and I should be able to perfect her barefoot trim, hopefully.

Tuesday's Ride

Okay, so I have to admit I have a great big grin on my face as I just typed the title to today's post. :-) I hadn't ridden since the 18th of April, and it was really good to ride yesterday.

It wasn't a great ride - Arabee was being sort of a turd. "What's that, you want me to pay attention to you?!" She has an independent mind, that's for sure! Walked for a few laps in the barn lot, trotted a few laps there as well, then wandered across the road to walk some calm laps in the pasture. Or, that was MY plan, anyway. It looked vastly different than the last time we'd ridden there - grass was knee-high, and once we stirred up a young rabbit! She kept breaking into a trot, and single-rein-stops weren't really changing her tune any. So I started circling her each time she tried trotting, focusing on keeping my seat deep and at a walking rhythm. I'd circle her until she slowed down, then we'd walk on, circle some more, walk on....finally she gave me one pretty much full lap of walking.

Headed back to the barn lot for some more trotting. I focused on being able to quickly get her to flick an ear to me, which meant we did some "fancy" work, since she was pretty well ignoring me. Trot, halt, back, 180, trot off.....various little exercises to remind her to pay attention to me! It payed off, she was relaxing and paying attention to me instead of looking out for herself, so we went back across the road into the pasture again, and got one nice lap of walking in. At this point we'd been riding for 35 minutes, and I had been aiming for 30, so I quit. If I get to ride again this week, I expect she'll be much more responsive after last night's session, since really I didn't work her hard, except that she made it hard for herself by trying to trot and then having to circle, or ignoring my polite requests for attention and having to do backing and turning.

I was surprised how sweaty she was when I hopped off! I put some water in a bucket and sponged her off, and wiped the tack down - She was wet and lathered! Also I discovered part of why she might have been fussing me in the pasture - the grass had been rubbing the cut on her RF leg, and it had fresh blood on it. I felt pretty awful for asking her to turn so much, since I'm sure that was what caused the fresh bleeding - she walks around all day on her own in the pasture, but not a lot of turning, so next ride I will avoid the grass until she is fully healed. But I'm glad I worked on the respect issues in the pasture, not the road, since if I can't ride in the grass, I'll have to ride on the road a bit more.

Can't wait to get back on and ride again! The end of May I will be 18 weeks pregnant, and the doctor only OK'd me to ride until 18-20 weeks, so I better get some riding in while I can!

Hoof Trimming

So this week's task was updating the barefoot trims on Jack and Arabee.

((WARNING: at the very bottom of this post is a picture of Arabee's injured hoof. So, if you don't want to see it, don't scroll down too far! There are 2 pictures of Jack, and 3 pictures of Arabee before the injured hoof shows up.))

Here is Jack's "Before" shot of his fronts from his right side taken on Thursday evening:

And shown here are his "after" shot taken on Sunday afternoon:
I've had Jack since he was 15 years old, he is now 29. He has ALWAYS had front feet that quite resemble a ski slope - long and flared toes. When we still lived with my parents, we went through quite a many farrier. He usually wore shoes during the summer show season, and went barefoot through the winter. He's not been ridden regularly since 2002, not been ridden at all since 2005, and although he always enjoyed going for a ride, just 5 minutes at a walk was all he could handle due to arthritis. Jack has been known to look long right after being trimmed, and was doing okay hoof-wise with the same farrier since 2005, but I've seen great improvement in his hoof shape since I started taking the rasp and doing his trimming last August.

This last time I really worked on backing up the toe, and hope to continue bringing his toes back gradually until he no longer has that "ski slope" look. I am also working on a long-time battle with thrush with him, which I think will improve now that we're able to have the horses on pasture and not in the "dry" (usually muddy all winter) lot. Improving his frog health should probably help his overall hoof shape gradually. I'm currently using a chemical that I bought at the local Tractor Supply Co., green, and I am interested in trying a more "natural" thrush remedy. Any suggestions??

I only have "after" photos of Arabee. I did her fronts on Saturday morning, and her rear feet Saturday afternoon. All pictures were taken on Sunday afternoon, after I hosed off her muddy feet, which is why her legs are wet looking.

This is her front feet taken from her left side:

I need to try to wait a week between trimming Jack and Arabee, since their feet are so different. I feel like I got way too carried away with the left front hoof at the toe, almost like I was still in the mindset of trimming Jack the Ski Slope. I felt awful after the trim with the LF, since I actually rasped so much wall away at the toe that she's almost totally walking on her sole for the front 1/4 to 1/3 of her hoof. But the longer I look at the pictures, the more I start to think that the LF is the more correct trim, perhaps not quite enough of a roll on the RF hoof. Maybe I didn't rasp quite enough on the RF because of over-doing it on the LF. She is sound, I longed her a bit right after the trim and I could not see any "off" movement. Any input on this??

The bottom of her right hind hoof:

Another shot of her front feet, showing the difference between the RF and LF:

The LF is resting on the sole for the front 1/4 to 1/3 of the hoof. The RF has some wall touching all the way around the hoof. Which is more correct? I am thinking perhaps somewhere in the middle.

She's lost some concavity in her hooves since her stall-rest and not being ridden. I hope to get on and ride some this week if the weather cooperates, and I might have found someone who will ride her a little this summer, Matt's cousin who's in high school, but I know she might get busy. Anyway, I hope her concavity returns with some work, either under saddle or in hand.


Okay, last warning! Next picture is of Arabee's injured RF hoof.

It shows me holding it up. At the top of the leg you can see some scabbing, that has nothing to do with the actual injury. I suspect it is scratches, unfortunately. Below the scabbing is the actual cut on her pastern, which went through the coronet band, and into the hoof about an inch. You can see the ring around the top of the hoof where it has started to grow out. At one point, her leg was so swollen and puffy that her hoof started to curl away from the coronet band, so it looks like it's starting to grow back well. I am still concerned about the part of the coronet band that actually got sliced through - I hope that hoof growth returns to normal there.

For now I have been trimming as usual, just restoring the mustang roll around the wall to the level of the sole. While her hoof is healing, is there any sort of trimming I should be doing differently?? Especially as the injured part grows down and out.

1st Saturday in May

Well, my two horses apparantly know what day it is today.

Usually when I open the gate to the pasture, they gallop out to the middle then give me a few strides of that big floating, tail over the back Arab trot, then stop to quite calmly eat grass after the initial burst of speed.

Not this morning!

They made not one, not two, but Three big, all-out galloping laps around the pasture, plus some of that pretty trotting, and plenty of snorting. Jack somehow managed to get out of the gate before Arabee, and I have never seen her run so fast, but she caught up with him, then lapped him.

I love getting to watch them move at liberty so freely like that! Such natural-born athletes, so talented and graceful!