Where We’ve Been

It’s been slow riding for the last two months for several reasons. We spent half of May and most of June without a properly fitting saddle. I rode bareback maybe once a week while we waited for the new one to arrive. Then when it finally did (and boy is it wonderful!), I spent most of the next month traveling.

Now I’m home for a while, and ready to get back in the swing of things. My rides over the last two months have been nice, relaxing, and largely aimless. Since Ace has been out of work, they’ve mostly been geared towards maintaining the basics and keeping his muscles going. He has fallen a bit out of condition, and that right stifle is a little weak.

His feet have been looking the best they’ve ever been. His frogs are thick and healthy, and bear no more signs of the thrush of the last year or the abscess that blew out in the spring. They are ugly and misshapen at the moment, as they decided they couldn’t wait six weeks until the next trim (which is tonight) and started chipping at the toes. They’ve grown really fast and the ground has been very hard, so they really just wore naturally albeit unevenly.

It’s nothing that won’t be fixed with one trimming, but his feet are all uneven and goofy looking, so I’ve had to take it easy over the last week. I’ll try to get some pictures for you pre-trim tonight so you can see what these silly feet did. It made me realize that if left without hoofcare (which won’t happen under my ownership), Ace would never have those crazy-long-elf-toed feet I’ve seen only in pictures.

Where We’re Going

I’ve been feeling rather aimless in our training for the past months. And have enjoyed just going for pleasure rides and doing whatever we felt like doing for the moment.

But now that I’m staying home for the rest of the summer and Ace gets his feet fixed tonight, I’m finding myself feeling motivated to set some goals and make an actual training plan.

Maybe it’s finally hitting up a local show this fall for some flat classes. Maybe it’s what we want to accomplish in training. Maybe it’s both. Here’s what I’m thinking …

I’d like to set three days a week (can always be more) as riding and training days. One would be for dressage/lateral work (which we really need to start but that has been intimidating me). One would be for pole work and jumping. One would be for conditioning and hill work outside in the large field. Then any other rides we fit in during the week could be for whatever we feel like doing … extra jumping, a hack out with friends, an easy 3o minute walk/trot session.

By the end of August, I’d like to have solid leg yields and be jumping small verticals again.

Sound like a good plan? What would you add or subtract? And how on earth do I start teaching him leg yields?

I’ve been a little busy lately with house projects and committee meetings, and not riding a lot since I’m still sans saddle. I’ve been visiting Ace, brushing him, playing on the ground in bits, and riding bareback some. But no serious work. And I spent two days painting and cleaning my house last week … and then my in-laws came to visit.

So I’d spent all of about 5 minutes with Ace over three days.

Sunday night I went out with my mom-in-law and nephew to visit Ace and let my nephew play with him a bit. The horses had been turned out for the night, and were happily munching the lush green grass in their ample pastures. They hadn’t been out of their stalls in 36 hours due to storms, and had been outside for less than an hour that evening.

Ace was in the far back pasture. I got a leadrope and some cookies, and headed out to catch him.

I walked around the corner of the storage shed and stepped into the lane that went back to the pasture. As soon as I rounded the corner, I saw Ace’s head shoot up in the distance and look at me. I yelled a hello to him. He stood there staring at me; I could almost see him squinting to make sure that tiny figure in the distance was in fact his mom.

He nodded his head once. Then he took off marching determinedly through the pasture.

And met me at the gate.

If you would have been there, you would have been impressed. Even from a distance, you could see the moment he recognized that it really was me. And he never took his eyes off me as he ran to meet me.

It was by far the sweetest moment I’ve ever had with a horse. And one that still gets to me just a little. I had a gut feeling the day I met Ace that he was the one for me, and he just continues to prove me right!

We’ve also been doing some fun ground work – including jumping on the longe and going for trail walks.

On Monday, we went for a short trail hand-walk around the property and through the woods. The bugs, deer flies particularly, were horrible, so we didn’t stay long. But Ace was very brave as we wove between the trees by ourselves without his trail buddy Nikki to protect him.

I decided that since I was on the ground (which makes Ace braver), and happened to be wearing my lovely Dav rain boots, we would go check out the stream and do some schooling through water. It was all of 2 and a half feet wide with a few inches of water, with 2 foot banks on either side. I led Ace up to it, and I walked down and stood in the middle of the water. He took some time to stare at the stream, nibble some grass, and blow at the bank. When I decided he’d checked it out long enough, I gave a few gentle tugs on the lead rope – expecting compliance but prepared for Ace to either resist or go charging through.

I tugged once. Ace looked at me and blinked a few times. I tugged again. He looked at me again. And then proceeded to march calmly down the bank, through the water, and up the other side.

I was impressed, and praised and patted him like crazy (and thanked God he didn’t run me over!). We proceeded to walk  back and forth through the stream several times, stopping once to play in it a bit. He didn’t hesitate at all after his first march through.

And then we left because the deer flies were getting very nasty and I didn’t want my big Thoroughbred baby to have a chance to throw a tantrum.

I was absolutely thrilled with how brave Ace was about the stream, as he tends to get nervous when we try new things. It gave me a huge boost of confidence in his ability to trust me in new situations as well. I’m sure it would have been more of an issue with me on his back, as he is much more confident still when I’m on the ground. Now to get that same trust under saddle…

And on another note, we haven’t had a recurrence of the hives. It definitely wasn’t something he ate in the pasture or my fly spray, as both have been tested and used multiple times now without adverse reaction. My best guess is that it was a reaction to the bugs … as he got the hives the first time they got bad this year. Hopefully it was just an initial reaction and his resistance is building to them.

All in all, we are happy and healthy and having fun together – but getting super anxious for the new saddle to come!

Most of the time it’s “Hello! Do you have cookies?”

Sometimes it’s “I’m tired. You aren’t really going to make me work are you?”

More often than not, it’s “Hey mom! Good to see you! Do you have cookies?”

When Dave his trimmer comes, it’s “Oh no, YOU again?”

When I hose him off in the wash stall, it’s “I feel claustrophobic AND I’m getting wet! One wrong move and I’m outta here!”

When he was getting measured for the custom saddle coming our way, it was a combination of”I’m not sure what you are doing and I’m still deciding whether or not I’m OK with it” as the rubber bendy thingy was shaped to his back, to “What are doing? That sure looks interesting. Is that ME?” as he watched the fitter drawing the shape of his back on a large pad of paper. Then as the fitter moved around him, it was “Mmm. Those mints you gave me sure were good. May I have another?”

At least most of the time he’s polite in what he saying.

And yes, we were getting measured for a custom-made saddle that will accommodate his high withers and my long legs. I felt vindicated when the first thing the fitter said to me was, “you weren’t kidding about those withers!”. Really, I’m not exaggerating when I say they are the highest I’ve ever seen. And the fitter, who has obviously seen lots of horse backs, said he’d never seen any that high either! On a good note, he did say that Ace didn’t have any points in his back where my saddle had pinched. So while it didn’t have the clearance for his withers, at least it fit well everywhere else.

1. my saddle doesn’t fit any more
2. he’s allergic to … well … something

I swear, with everything our horses put us through, it’s gotta be like raising kids sometimes.

Saddle Selling and Buying

Ace is a tough on saddle fit, because he’s got such a high, long wither. I was so fortunate that the saddle I had fit him, as a new one wasn’t really in the cards. It was narrow enough to fit his back well and sit up off of his withers just enough. But with a few white hairs starting to show up on the slope of his withers, my lovely saddle isn’t working any more. The second those showed up, I stopped using it. The hairs are the only indication the saddle was an issue, as he’s been behaving and moving just fine, and to eye it up it looked good. Unfortunately, it looks like my weight added to the saddle drove the twist right down onto that bony back.

Fortunately, I do have enough in my new saddle fund that if I can get my current saddle sold, I’ll be able to get a new one. My plan is get a Stubben jumping or all purpose saddle (with a jumping flap). I talked to one of their reps at Equine Affaire and learned that they will come and do a complete saddle fitting for free if I purchase a new saddle through them. So, not only are their saddles good, long-lasting, and in my budget, I’ll be able to ride in various models and get an experts opinion on which style and size will best fit Ace. They’ll even adjust the flocking if needed.

So I’m excited, but super anxious to get this saddle sold. Fortunately, my mom had one I could borrow in the meantime that is a decent fit and definitely sits plenty high off Ace’s back and withers. It’s kind of old and starting to fall apart, but it will work well for the short term.

Treating and Preventing Hives

On Friday, I pulled Ace from his paddock and the poor boy was surrounding by bugs – and covered in bumps. They were small hard knots; a few on his face and spread out across his neck and sides. I’m used to the sensitive Thoroughbred skin, so I figured they were bug bites.

Saturday morning I went out early to put on his fly mask and cover him in fly spray. By Saturday evening, he had a full-fledged case of hives.

Our best guess is that he had a reaction to the bugs (or a slight possibility something he ate in the pasture as they are starting to get some grass turnout), and that the fly spray aggravated it. I doubt it’s a reaction to the fly spray, as it’s an all-natural kind I used all last year without any problems.

Ace got a nice cool bath with a gentle shampoo to wash off his skin and sooth any itch or pain he may have had.

Sunday the hives were down by about half, and this morning while still present they’re down by about half again. Fortunately they didn’t seem to bother him at all, but he looked absolutely terrible. At their worst, his whole body, including his legs were covered. He was his normal happy self throughout – and probably enjoyed the time off over the weekend.

I’ve kept him stalled until the hives are gone, and then he’ll get to go back on turnout with the new fly sheet I’m going to go buy for him tonight.

Feel free to share any thoughts, tips or tricks, on either the saddle fit or hives issue. I’m always interested in hearing your experiences!

Oh, and mom and hubby, I didn’t really mean it about not needing kids. Just wanted a catchy title.

Oh, and anybody want to buy a nice used close contact jumping saddle in excellent condition?

Ace was on high alert as we rode late Saturday morning, spooking and dancing and generally feeling good. I had actually taken the time to set up three whole jumps in the arena, a small crossrail and two small verticals that were barely 18 inches. Nothing he hasn’t done  many times before with no problem.

We started with the crossrail. He got a little squirrely in front of it at first, making me work to keep him straight, and then he’d take off crowhopping afterwards because he was having fun. Once he settled down a bit, we trotted for one of the straight rails, and he decided to try to run out. He’s a bit nasty about too, and can really pull out to the side hard at the last minute. Fortunately, I stuck with him and got his nose back over the jump, eventually just stepping over it. We didn’t have to circle or come back to it, so at least that was good.

When he did it again a second time, I had my awesome jump crew (aka my lesson student Hannah), put one side down.  The next time he went right over but jumped as if it was 2 feet high instead of just sitting on the ground. We spent the next 45 minutes trotting the fences in both directions until Ace settled down enough to just trot over the fences in a relaxed state. And he eventually did.

The funny thing is, Ace seemed like he enjoyed the whole thing. Besides being on high-alert with everything going on outside the ring, he was happy to be working and jumping.

I’m not a fan of him trying to run out, because he is really quite adamant about it and even when I’m ready and being proactive there’s not a lot I can do to stop it other than getting him back in front of the jump after he’s gone to the side. I don’t want him to learn that anything but “over” is even an option. My plan is just to keep putting him over the little stuff until he hardly notices it and just goes over like it’s the oldest news in the world.

I so badly want to start putting the heights up and really jumping, but I know that Ace needs a whole lot more schooling over the tiny ones to get his confidence up before he’s ready to handle anything bigger. He’s a smart horse, and he genuinely likes to jump, but he gets worried easily and it is just going to take longer with him than with other horses. I just hope that putting in whatever amount of time it takes to build his confidence will eliminate his worrying so that eventually we don’t have issues with runouts. I don’t want to him learn that not going over is even an option and start making a habit of it.

It really was a fun ride, despite the things I worry about afterward. And I must admit, I do really like it when Ace has his thoroughbred days! The energy and the forward are so nice. And to top it off, we went for an easy ride yesterday to stretch his muscles after the hard work, and it was one of the best rides we’ve ever had. It was certainly the nicest he’s ever moved!

Horses have the most amazing radars for trouble. We’re always hearing of them sensing a big storm hours before it arrives, knowing when something is wrong with a herdmate, and reacting appropriately to our moods.

Ace is certainly no different.

Yesterday there was small carnival complete with marching band just on the other side of the treeline from my barn. It started with a parade with said marching band, and a whole bunch of firetruck and police car sirens leading the way. I rode Ace for a good 20 minutes with all that sound going on. He didn’t bat an eye, and his threat level alert status remained Green=Low.

We walked around the farm a bit to cool out, and ended up in the yard in front of the barn where he could now see the carnival rides and flashing lights.

With the crazy sounds now in view, Ace’s alert status went up to Blue: Guarded. His head was up, ears pricked, and full attention on the distant carnival. But he wasn’t worried, just attentive.

Then something down the long driveway caught his attention and his alert level immediately jumped to Orange=High. He started dancing around and pitching a minor fit without taking his eyes off the driveway.

One of his herdmates was dancing around down there almost out of view. And she was missing her rider.

Apparently they were out for a ride when the task at hand and the carnival noises got the best of the mare, and she dumped her rider and high-tailed it back across the road toward the barn. She had nearly gotten hit by a truck before being caught by the neighbors.

Ace’s reaction to seeing her 200 yards away was the first indication we had back at the barn that anything had happened.

Fortunately, all involved were OK, and hopefully learned a good lesson about riding alone across a road with a carnival going on.

Ace didn’t settle down until the mare was back in the barn, untacked, and in her stall either. Alert status back to Green (getting dinner makes the threat level status go down quicker as well).

I don’t do anything big for horsey birthdays, but I will of course stop out to clean out his foot (abscess is clear and healing nicely, by the way) and spoil him with a few extra cookies than normal.

I’ll also give him some birthday hugs and rubs and boost his confidence by telling him how wonderful the muscles in his neck and topline are looking. All boys like when you admire their muscles, right? Ace may never be a bodybuilder in the horse world, but he’s really developed some lovely lean, strong muscles lately.

With blowing an abscess and me being gone at Equine Affaire last weekend and to a wedding in Florida this weekend (rough, I know), we’ve been getting in very little riding time lately.

I rode Ace on Tuesday for the first time in nearly two weeks, and was pleasantly surprised with how good he was. Well, not so much that he was good because he’s always well behaved, but that he was still rounding up and offering to carry himself nicely. That was a big deal for two reasons:

1. He had nearly two weeks off, and he starts to lose his hindend strength if he goes more than 2 days without being ridden.

2. I was trying him in a new bit, a simple Myler loose ring jointed snaffle.

Ace is a little weak in his right stifle and he needs consistent work to maintain his strength. While he certainly wasn’t moving his best and his stifle was clicking from time to time on the turns, he was still offering to use his hind end and round up. I’m sure a lot of this is because his overall strength and muscle memory has been developing. Jeremy Steinberg talked a lot about this in his dressage clinics at Equine Affaire last weekend. He said that horses can actually get in shape cardiovascularly very quickly – within a week or two – but that it can take them 6 months or a year to build up muscle. And we are just hitting the 6 month mark since we moved to Shooting Star and started riding more and focusing on conditioning and carriage.

I think the Myler loose ring is going to be a good bit change as well. While Ace listened to the old French link eggbutt pretty well, he was a little reluctant to come on the bit and would frequently grind his jaw side to side.

I took it easy with the new bit on Tuesday, doing lots of transitions and turning to see how he’d respond. I know Ace needs some time to get used to it, but he was already seeking the contact more and jawing less. Might just work out well!

I’m very much looking forward to this weekend in Florida, but boy am I going to be ready for some time at home with my horse!

His foot was looking good prior to my long weekend away at Equine Affaire (check out the main site for my review of the clinics and shopping at Equine Affaire 2010). It was so good to see Ace (after I saw my hubby, of course) after a few days away. I got him all groomed, checked out his feet and legs, which were cool and hard, and lunged him a bit to see how he was moving.

Ace looked good walk and trot. A tad lazy, but most definitely moving sound again.

Then I asked for a canter and KNEW he was feeling completely better. He took off crow-hopping, farting, blowing, and galloping circles around me with his tail flagged up in the air. He’d stop and face me with his head up and nostrils flaring and take off again.

I just laughed at him.

Since Ace tends to be on the laid-back (read: lazy) side, I have no problem with him showing some energy sometimes. And he stayed on the circle around me, didn’t get out of control or dangerous, just acted quite full of himself.

You should have seen his hock action and loose shoulders when I finally got him back to trot.

It was so encouraging to see that he’s feeling better. He’ll have another week to keep healing that hoof and take a mental break, as I’m headed to Florida this weekend and will only have one day to ride this week. I plan to keep it easy and try out the new loose ring Myler bit I got at Equine Affaire.

After that, it’s off for lots of flatwork and dressage exercise to improve his straightness and balance. Lots of fun for us in store over the next few weeks!

If that sounds weird that I’m happy my horse blew an abscess, here’s what happened:

Ace has had some heat in his back left foot off and on for the last month. It was never accompanied by any unsoundness, indication of discomfort, swelling, etc. He’s also been tripping over that foot frequently, which tells me he’s landing too much on his toe and avoiding his heel.

Then on Saturday, I got him out of the pasture to discover he had a swollen hot area extending from his hoof to just above the fetlock. And while he wasn’t three-legged lame or anything, he was definitely off on that foot. Cold-hosed, poulticed, wrapped, and went home and worried.

Last night I went out to the barn. Couldn’t tell if the leg was still swollen because he was stocked up from being in his stall, despite the standing wraps. He was, however, moving better. Then I picked up his foot to clean it out and discovered this:

You can see the lovely dark spot on the side of his frog that was without a doubt oozing abscess gunk. I knew it wasn’t a spot of thrush; he’d had his feet trimmed a week ago and they were perfectly clear the day before and it wasn’t black or smelly.

Talked the vet, who was to my great relief supremely unworried. He agreed completely that it was an abscess and said that since it’s already blown I just needed to soak it in Epsom salts for a couple days while it finished draining. He also said I didn’t have to wrap it, but I could if I wanted to – which I did because it made me feel better.

So, I’m perfectly happy that my horse had a little abscess because it means there’s nothing seriously wrong. And for any of you fans of Ace who have been reading for a while, this abscess blew directly over the spot of his frog that had that nasty infection last summer. Makes sense that a little bit was trapped as it healed or that it’s still a weak spot.

I am not, however, at all happy with Ace’s antics while I try to soak his abscessed hoof. He’s perfectly happy to behave and stand in the empty rubber tub. He  is NOT however the least bit compliant about standing in the tub with warm water in it. He jerks his foot up and threatens to kick me when I try to make his stand in it. I was patient and firm, and eventually got him to rest his foot in the tub.

Until he stepped back on the edge of the tub, effectively spilling the water all over the barn aisle and refusing to budge until the tub was completely empty.

At that point, it was morning feed time, which certainly wasn’t going to help my efforts. So I put him in his stall, gave him his breakfast, and finally got a good 10 minute soak.

So, that’s where Ace and are right now. Other than this slight setback, which isn’t such a big deal because I’m leaving for Equine Affaire this week and will be in Florida the following week so I wasn’t planning to ride much anyway, we’ve been doing very well. Hillwork, collection work, pole work, little bits of jumping, trail riding, and generally enjoying each other and the spring weather.

And if you have any tips on making my bad boy (not so winsome at the moment!) stand for his hoof soaking, feel free to share!