Announcement

So I still plan on going to the Chicken Chase this coming weekend, although not as a competitor. I’ll be volunteering and learning as much as I can by “absorption.” It should be a good experience for me, and Arabee is well on the mend, although her wound is not closed well enough for me to allow her to get muddy, so still no riding at this point.

Even if Arabee’s cut would have healed before the ride (it's healing well, though) she would not have been fit enough to try to tackle the 25 miles with so much time off, so there won’t be any competing for me and Arabee this year, although I will continue to work with her. My goal is to start logging competitive miles in 2010.

Why the long wait??

I’m so excited to announce that my husband and I are expecting our second child around the end of October, first of November. While it can be safe to ride while pregnant, it is certainly risky to do so, so I won’t be doing any competing with Arabee, just pleasure riding until my belly gets too big to make it comfortable, and after Arabee's cut is healed.

Hope to jump back onto the conditioning trail by the first of January, 2010, and perhaps Chicken Chase 2010 will be our first competition. In the mean time, my family and I have lots of exciting things to be looking forward to!

Stall Bound . . . Mostly

Arabee has been in her stall mostly all day and all night since Friday when she got her cut. At first she was pretty tense, and I could sense she was seriously considering rushing over top of me when I opened the stall door to get out. Thankfully she didn't do that, and has calmed down. She gets at least (usually much more) 10 minutes of hand walking and jogging every day, and I'm changing her bandage every 2 days as recommended.

I'll change her wrap again this morning very shortly. I'll first hose it clean, and I plan to trim the long hairs around the edge of the cut this time. Before it seemed much too tender for her to allow me to do this, but I am hoping now she'll allow me to do that. It looked much improved already on Monday morning, so I am hoping for even more improvement today.

Last night my husband set up a temporary fence in a grassy area for Arabee. I wanted to give her the chance at some unrestricted movement (Freedom!) after being stalled for so long, but the pastures are not yet ready for hoof traffic. It's much too soft and any large animal (horse or cow) moving over it would just tear up the grass, and pasture management is important now - the better you take care of your grass the less hay you end up having to feed in winter. So we set up the temporary fence in a section of a field entrance that is close to 1 acre that has well established, never been grazed (since no real fencing) grass. It is sturdy enough that her hoofprints wouldn't have hurt it, and at the same time, all we'd been doing was mowing that section anyway, so any grazing we get out of it would be good.

You can see the lane at the right, and there's woven wire fence along the tree line, and a good section of woven wire along the road, and a gate at the lane. We put up a single strand of 1" wide electric tape (which you probably can't see in the picture) with a few step-in posts and made a triangle. I stayed out w/ Arabee for about 20 minutes (it was COLD and WINDY last night!) and if I wouldn't have chased her around I do believe she would have stood in one spot and ate all the grass there.

She was pretty greedy - huge mouthfuls of grass, and when she'd lift her head up to stop to chew (it's a wonder she ever did!) I'd ask her to trot out a bit. Then I'd say "easy" and she'd immediately drop down to a halt and stuff as much grass into her mouth as possible. She wound up getting decent exercise - more freely than if she'd been on the end of a lead rope, and I think she greatly enjoyed the grass!

Off to go dress the wound!

Friday's Story

My original plan was to ride at daylight Friday AM, but with it having been pouring down rain all night, and winds gusting to 40+ mph, I decided to postpone since the forecast showed the winds laying down a bit later in the afternoon. When I finally decided I couldn't wait any more, at 4:30pm, it was still plenty windy, but not as bad.

I decided I needed to use the rump rug since I'd planned on putting a good hour of trotting in on her, which would've gotten Arabee nice and sweaty, and I didn't want her to chill with that wind. She acted as though she'd never seen it before! I always flap it around her while she walks a circle around me to make sure she hasn't forgotten what it looks like when the wind catches it, and she finally was okay with that, but on the walk to where I'd planned on mounting up (about 100 ft) she spooked 6 or 7 times from the wind catching the rug! This mare if she's spooky on the ground, you can count on her not paying a LICK of attention under saddle.

So, rather than risking my neck, I decided to free longe her for about 20 minutes in the paddock with all her tack on, getting the fresh off since she was so jumpy in the wind and hadn't been ridden in about a week. She was nice and calm - obeying perfectly my walk, trot, canter, whoa commands - calmly and without rushing. We'd been going this way for about 15 minutes, and I was about to call it quits and hop on, when out of the blue she just took off - tucked tail, ears flat back and she RAN away. I have no clue what it was that caused her to do that.

When she got to the end of the paddock at the full out run, she slid into the fence panel, then I kept her going a round or two at a canter. All that running had caused the stirrup to fall off the saddle, so I stopped her to put it back on, and when I did that the bright red mud down by her foot caught my eye. So she'd been cut, but I couldn't tell at all how badly, since she had mud up to her fetlock, so I brought her out to hose down the leg, and it was pretty nasty. (I decided not to post the pictures up, but if anyone really wants to see, put your email in my comments and I"ll send the pic to you. it's ouchy looking).

At the same time I discovered the "red mud" my husband called me and said there was a heifer that needed help calving - he and his dad were able to get her in, but it was obvious she needed help with the calf. Since Arabee's wasn't life threatening, after I hosed her leg and took her tack off I put her in her stall until we were able to pull the calf (he was BIG!) and then we took a better look at her. The last post said we planned to take her to the vet Saturday AM, which we did.

I felt silly, since all he actually did was pretty much what I would have done: nitrofurazone on gauze, wrapped with cotton, then held on with vetrap (only I would've used my washable quilts and a leg wrap). I just have never dealt with a hoof injury before, so I was unsure of myself. He did also give her tetanus and penicillin, and we brought Jack along and they both got their annual vaccines, so it was good we went. He did also mix something (dexamethasone??) with the nitrofurazin ointment.

She's been in her stall since then, and has NOT been a happy camper about it, either. I just can't let her in the lot with that fetlock deep mud at this point. I'm supposed to change her bandage every 2 days, so right after I post this I'm going to go unwrap, hose down, hand walk her for at least 10 minutes for exercise, then re-wrap her leg.

Fortunately, she has not been favoring that leg, but I just can't see trying to get on the trail since I know there will be spots with really deep mud that would just grind into her cut. So conditioning is on hold for now. The ride on April 18th is absolutely out for me bringing Arabee, but I am going to see if ride management needs any volunteers so I can still go and learn that way.

Do you see that huge divot that goes almost 6 inches on the other side of the fence? Also, do you see that little tiny edge of rod that sticks out below the rest of the fence panel?

The divot was made by my dear Arabee's right front hoof. The tiny rod that pokes out below the rest of the fence left a nasty divot in Arabee. Left a 1/4" deep x 1/4" wide drag mark that starts 2-3 inches above her hoof, through the coronet band, then even cut into her hoof about an inch.

I hosed it clean, and called the vet's office after hours and left a message. While waiting for them to call back, I hobbled Arabee to graze, while we ate dinner and watched her out the window. The Dr. called back and suggested I just wrap the leg with a cotton pillow wrap and we plan to bring her in for an appointment at 8am. He won't stitch it, but I wanted tips on how best to care for it since I've neve dealt with a hoof injury, and she'll get some shots (penicillin and tetanus). Both horses are due for their annual booster in April sometime anyway, so I'll take both Jack and Arabee for that too and save a trip.

She doesn't favor that leg, but I don't want to take any chances for proud flesh or some other complication, so we're taking her in.

Here she is waiting while we cleaned out all of the sawdust from her stall. I wanted straw in there instead so she would less chance of getting her wound dirty. I'd already wrapped her leg, and Jack is standing by.

Since I didn't even get to ride tonight, and definitely won't get to tomorrow, it is strongly looking as though our first 25 mile ride will be postponed. I'd hoped to ride in the Chicken Chase at Clark State Forest in Indiana on April 18th, but thats really not an option anymore - it'll be quite a while before this wound heals well enough for me to be comfortable with allowing mud anywhere near it, which means she'll be off the training trail for who knows how long.

Disappointing, but there's always next year. (more on that to come next week!)

Girth Photos

This is the new girth. Didn't actually ride due to time constraints being closer than I thought they'd be - will try it tomorrow, rain or shine. I tried something a little different with the billets, and now it is placed well back of even the farthest back rub spot, so I am hopeful!

Any comments on the breastcollar adjustment? I am unsure of the proper adjustment of that piece of tack. The girth doesn't have any D-rings, but the breastcollar I am using was designed w/ enough length to use the breastcollar itself to go around the girth instead of a girth loop. The strap that goes between her legs to the girth is at is longest setting, it can go shorter, and it probably needs to - it seems long to me, but I am not sure?

New Stuff/Hobbled Grazing

UPS left Arabee's new girth on my front porch today. Can't wait to try it out.

I hope riding tonight won't push her too fast. There are little tiny hairs beginning to grow back on her bare patches, and the skin looks pretty normal. It doesn't look like it's "peeling" anymore, like a sunburn the way it used to - now it looks just sort of flaky, but mostly normal. I'll at least go out and try the saddle and girth on to see how it looks, adjust the breastcollar since the girth doesn't have a D-ring, and what have you. Whether I actually ride or not will depend on both the mare's skin and the weather - rain is forecasted.

Those of you who've dealt with girth chafing problems before - how do you know when it's safe to try riding again??

I also ordered a helmet - a Tipperary. The helmet I'd been wearing was near 10 years old, and had never been very comfortable. It always dug into my forehead, and had started to give me headaches if I wore it for very long (like more than 2 hours). I decided that if distance is the sport of choice, then a comfier helmet was necessary. I really like the Tipperary - I wore it while making macaroni and cheese right after it arrived! Hopefully I get to ride in it today. I had my husband try it on - and he said it didn't feel like he was wearing a helmet, more like wearing a hat. Pretty accurate. But then, my old helmet may have just been that poor of a fit!

_____

Yesterday, 29 year old Jack (my first horse) learned a new trick. I taught him how to stand hobbled, and he acted as if he'd done it all his life. First I used the lead rope around one foreleg at a time to move it around, then used the rope as hobbles, and when he'd proven that didn't phase him and that he understood giving to the pressure - I hobbled him up in the grassy yard. He GREATLY enjoyed this, and will likely begin having grazing sessions like this much more frequently.

Arabee is sure she got the raw end of that deal. Not only did she have to stay in the paddock by herself, but she also had to endure watching that gelding eat grass and get groomed while she whinnied and bucked and snorted to no avail! After Jack had proven he was comfortable with the hobbles, she got some exercise. What I'd hoped was to sort of free-longe her in the paddock, what I got was a tail-over-the-back prancey trot, occassional leaps over muddy spots, and a way way too out-of-breath horse. I should have known better since she was so indignant that Jack got priveledges she didn't, but I think she quite enjoyed herself (and I enjoyed watching her!).

More In-hand Work

Yesterday I walked Arabee in hand about 2 miles. Really easy for her, but good to help keep (get) me in shape since I haven't been riding since Thursday due to the girthing/chafing issues. Also good for her to familiarize with the area around that I'd like to be riding for training rides once we both get comfortable. I am just such a big chicken when it comes to riding, I want to know it's going to be as safe as possible, even though I'm sure I could've saddled her up and got her around the same 2 miles that way, I'm hoping preparing her this way will prevent some spooking under saddle.

Towards the end of the walk we worked on crossing this ditch - typically she jumps over these things the first couple of times, then will walk through them. Well, this ditch was a lot softer and muddier than I realized, Arabee just would NOT calmly walk all 4 feet across. She'd walk her front legs in, then leap across, and actually as I continued working with her on it, she began doing spectacular standing leaps across the whole width (easily 10, maybe 15 feet!). She was sinking in pretty deep, so I decided to let that one rest, and I was able to get her to walk through a more shallow section of it that didn't have quite the hoof-sucking mud that the other section did. This was actually a good workout for her! She started to sweat, and was certainly breathing hard. Unfortunately, I'm thinking it was a strength training (anaerobic) workout rather than aerobic conditioning, but it couldn't have hurt anything to build some strength.

We finished up and I hosed her muddy legs off, and paid special attention to her girth/elbow area. I applied some aloe, hopefully that will help some. All the swelling is gone now, and the chafed areas do not seem to bother her as much when I touch them.

My new girth will be here on Thursday. I really can't afford to wait until then to get some good riding time in - I'd like to put in a good hour or two on her tonight, and I could try the fleece backed girth. BUT, if I try that and it rubs her raw, then I'm back to hand-walking. I can't afford to let this problem get worse, but at this point with such little time left, I have only 2 weekends left of training time before her first 25 competition miles, so I need all the ride time I can squeeze in. I hope I make the right decision.

In Hand Work on Friday

Just below is a picture of Arabee's girth area - hairless and swollen. Which, is the reason that rather than riding for 2 hours around the farm expanding our territory, I decided to walk her (with some jogging) in hand to accomplish some of the same goal. It was NOT a workout for Arabee, she never even got her breath up, and certainly didn't break a sweat. (but I did...and had a stitch in my side starting about 1/3 of the way into the mile and a half walk~it was good for rider fitness, anyway) I just hated the idea of trying to ride her, even with the too-big, fleecy girth and making things worse, or raw - and then it would have probably taken even longer to heal. Playing it safe and hopefully can get back on the trail early next week. I will phone order a girth today, it should surely be here by mid-week, and I think if the swelling goes down (which it hadn't yesterday, but looks much better this morning) I could try the fleecy girth for short rides until the new and improved material girth arrives.

Hard-to-see photo of daffodils and honeysuckle in the fenceline along the road. (I didn't take pictures of the beer cans and wine bottles lining the sides of the road.....and judging by the number of Bud Lite cans, that is the beer of choice for "booze cruises" in my neck of the woods....I hate that people do that - I don't mind drinking, and I don't mind driving - but PLEASE, please, don't combine the two, ESPECIALLY at the same time!!!)

This shows a 1/4 mile flat farm lane that goes straight towards the river (river follows the tree line) - good opportunity for wind-building gallops after Arabee is familiar with the area!

We hiked across the soybean stubble and you can see the rows of the harvested corn in the background. The fields follow the river and we stayed close to the cow pasture fenceline. Arabee's looking straight at the barn - Jack didn't appreciate being left behind and was letting her know!

The green field is filled with wild onions sprouting, and we're at the top of the hill, the camera is looking down at a deep ditch we crossed, and the gray field is the same bean field the previous picture was taken in. This hill is pretty hefty and long! We stirred up several deer in the woods on our way up, too. You can't really see it since Arabee's in the way, but just to the left of Arabee's mane in the photo is an old Indian mound - some of the tribes in our area used to build hills, or mounds for burial. I guess people used to find a lot of arrow heads and such here.

It was fun, and nice to be able to show her some of the areas I hope to be riding on soon. I'm working on getting her more and more confident going farther and farther from the barn. She was upheaded and observant, but quite content to stay by my side.

Girth Issues

Arabee has just RECENTLY developed some pretty serious girth problems. Or, it might be the girth, or the breastcollar strap.

I first noticed some small bare patches on Tuesday March 17 that could only be found by her putting one front leg forward, then me gently pulling the skin at the elbow towards the front, so, I'm calling that her armpit. Basically, it was bare of hair there - but the skin didn't seem too bad - slightly tender, but not raw.

The thing is - nothing really changed! Same saddle, same pad, same breastcollar, same girth, same rider......the only difference I could come up with was that it was getting consistently in the 50s and 60s when we ride, and she's been really shedding out alot.

So I have been keeping a close eye on that spot, and I emailed The Distance Depot and they called me back to ask about the mohair girths they have. We talked about it alot, and decided it was probably just her rubbing and shedding in the sweaty areas. I mentioned I might try Desitin, or vaseline, or body glide, to lube her up if she was producing the friction herself. She thought that was a great idea, the Desitin, since then I'd be able to see whether it was the girth or not since it would be white everywhere.

I went ahead and tried the Desitin for our training ride on Tuesday, even though her armpit stayed the same after our 15 mile ride at Versailles (I'd have thought it would have gotten worse at that distance if it was the tack!) so I was pretty convinced it was just the way she was moving (or the extra layer of fat she has!). She even had similar issues between her hind legs. I put a not-so-thin layer of Desitin on the bare spot, and while I tried to keep it just there, I ended up basically just smearing it all over her....not pretty, but I figured it would be soothing.

Sadly, I think that since I was inept at staying in the lines, I will not be able to tell if it was from the tack or not - after Tuesday's ride I had white, smeary goo all over that horse from her shoulder, across her chest, all over the breastcollar strap, on the girth, on the billet strap. So was it the tack?? Maybe, but since I didn't keep the Desitin "in the lines" I feel I can't be sure. (I never was good at even coloring in the lines...) I checked her closely after riding on Tuesday, and other than the Desitin mixed with sweat and dirt ALL OVER HER she didn't appear any worse at all.

She had Wednesday off, and all day Thursday until I went up at 5:45 to tack up. Whoa! Big swelling, both just in front of her girth on her barrel, up between her legs, and it was warm and firm to the touch. Not good! The only thing I can think of is that trying the Desitin on Tuesday and leaving it on (I thought to soothe her skin!) just made things worse. She didn't seem worse after the ride Tuesday, but right away when I pulled her out of the paddock today to ride, it was obvious. I had checked her on Wednesday at the morning feeding, and didn't see anything unusual. What's going on here?

So Thursday I debated whether I should even ride. I groomed her very well, and checked her swollen and hairless areas carefully - she didn't seem affected when I touched, scratched the mud off, or palpated the area - so I decided it wasn't too uncomfortable, and I'd see if I could get the girth farther back to stay off that spot. No problem. I also loosened the breastcollar strap that goes between her legs to the girth so it would hang loose. So I rode for an hour, counting warmup and cooldown. I got off and checked her once about halfway, the girth had stayed in place, and the swelling had gone down slightly, so I kept going. Somewhere between when I checked her and when I quit riding she must have found a new way to rub hair - this time directly underneath the girth. Shoot! So I untacked her and hosed her down between the legs and made sure to get that area really really clean, (as opposed to really clean as usual) but the swelling had already decreased when I'd checked her, and had stayed down.

Again, she didn't seem uncomfortable, but I know it could very easily get much worse. The girth I've been riding in for a month now has been a 22" nylon cloth dressage girth with elastic ends. The breastcollar is a beta biothane from Running Bear (I love it!). After Thursday's ride I put everything but the saddle in the washing machine, including the much too big 30" fleecy backed dressage girth I have. If the swelling stays down tonight, I'll ride her with the fleecy girth, and put a bit of vaseline on the new bare spot. Hopefully she hasn't lost so much weight that her girth is useless (it was too long 2 months ago, and she's really trimmed up since then). But, if the swelling has increased, I definitely won't try and ride. Instead, I'll hose the area down again, and hand-walk/jog along the farm lanes. This won't be completely lost time, since she needs to become familiar with them anyway, but I'm really not fit enough to go as far as she needs to!

Any suggestions? Do I need to switch girths or was it just a freak bad reaction to the Desitin??

*****
It's weird that with all that going on, we still had a GREAT ride. Arabee didn't show any signs of discomfort, and I started off in the barn lot. Matt opened the green gate for me to the pasture where I normally train, and I had him wire it OPEN. This allowed me to work in the barn lot, then trot across into the pasture, work in there on the hills and creeks and mud, then trot back. When I'd get her good and blowing, I'd head North to the new territory that we explored in hand on Tuesday at a nice walk to let her catch her breath. We experienced having to wait on a lot of traffic, from cars, trucks, SUVs, joggers, a horse trailer (with a horse!) and she handled it all very well. Fortunately the only vehicles we met while actually riding on the road (as opposed to waiting in the gate for the traffic to go by) was my husband in his little truck, so he was nice and slow, and she did fine.

I'll probably boot her tonight, all around, if I end up riding. Funny, on training rides that we've hauled out for, she moves right out on the gravel, but at home (w/ no other horses to pull her along!) she is short strided and choppy. I'm still learning my horse, but it's amazing that she'd perform SO differently on the same type of surfaces just because of the presence of other horses. I guess they aren't kidding when they say "ride your own ride" but it looks like it's going to be tough to do that since Arabee does seem to be so "magnetized" to the other horses on the trail - either slowing down if she's in front, or speeding up if she's behind.

Plan A for this weekend was to ride 20 miles w/ Jacke at Versailles, but with the forecast calling for THUNDERSTORMS on Saturday, we were going to do Plan B and try to ride together at her place on Friday, to work the horses together at a faster pace on hills, either 15 or 20 miles. But I wasn't able to find a sitter early enough so rather than haul 2 hours roundtrip to get to ride probably an hour and a half, I decided to stay here and work at home (Plan C!). But, if her girth is worse or the same, I may have to resort to Plan D and work her in hand. Man, oh man - what's next?? Sometimes it seems like it's always something!

Tuesday's Ride

Rode yesterday.

Not much to say about it, trotted alot. I had Arabee's attention better, even when out of sight of the barn, which is a definite improvement. Before when we'd get on the other side of the hill she'd get all worked up and forget I was up. This time she only flicked her ears to the barn area occasionally!

We worked on crossing the ditch in some steeper places, a foot or two step down into a 3-4 foot wide ditch, w/ a 1-2 ft. step back up out of it. She didn't just leap across, either! We quit on a good note after that, and to make the point I just hopped off right there at the bottom of the hill by the creek, which I won't do anymore - I had to walk up the stinking hill on foot! Next time she gets to carry me :-)

We really hadn't worked for very long, so I took her in hand down the road a bit and up one of the farm lanes that runs next to the neighbor's house who has close to 5 small yappy dogs. Practiced that until she'd stay at my shoulder (no more spinning in circles!) and then quit for the night.

If the weather is fit (it's raining sideways now against the house, I can hear it slap the window) we'll do more tonight, hopefully expanding the under-saddle territory further. I need to get out on those lanes and trot out. They're flat as a pancake, but at least I'll be able to maintain speed better than I can where I've been riding.