Well, it's been an interesting week. We had the vet out on Monday to look at Shae's hind right hock - it was very swollen and she was really hurting (didn't want to put weight on it, etc...). The diagnosis was pastern dermatitis (scratches) that allowed an infection called lymphangitis to set in. Luckily, we caught it VERY early and she's on a course of antibiotics which really seem to be helping. Swellings pretty much gone - and we clipped her feathers off the affected foot. Still doing the topical treatment, but I'm really glad I had the vet come out. I went online and researched the conditions. Boy, they can turn into some nasty looking infections! Nothing Shae has even comes close to the online examples I found. Luckily, she's in a nice, clean field without any standing water. However, the Maryland humidity, high temperatures, and night-time dew make it easy for mild cases of scratches to be a summertime problem for feathered horses and their owners. I'll have to take the camera out and take some pictures of her.
Ren's sidebones are flaring up a bit as well.... luckily, I have a little gaited horse that we moved over to the farm for me to start, so I've had a horse to play with despite my girls' limitations at the moment.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Back to Working with the Girls...
A gal with an arab gelding came by the farm yesterday. He just had to say hi to the big beautiful Ren. Ren pinned her ears and let him know that being fresh is NOT tolerated.
Since it's been pretty warm here, Ren sports ever so fashionable braids. Not only does this help with keeping her cooler, but it also assists me with not getting my hands tangled all up in her massive amounts of hair. I guess I COULD cut off most of her mane, but her long curls really are cute. It's taken forever for her to grow out a chunk of mane that was missing that I'd hate to see it all cut off.
Ren really does have a massively large head.
I realized that Ren is really toning up. Just look at this before/after picture of her. The picture on the right is her the day after she came off the trailer from auction, while the second picture was taken yesterday. I'll have to get a picture of her standing in a similar position to the first one to really get a feel for how she's changed.
You know, I just realized that most of the pictures are of Shae lately. I'll have to make sure we give Ren equal time.
Today Shae worked on change of direction...
...her very distinct and separate trots...
... extending out...
... and high steppin' Friesian style!
... trying to find some relaxation at the trot (not always easy for a breed that typically carries their head high...)
... and bending WITHOUT collapsing the shoulder in! (Susan, that picture's just for you!)
Then we did a couple canter circles at the end of the arena that Shae was acting goofy about two days ago. Apparently there was some kind of monster at this end of the arena that Shae wanted to turn and bolt away from. We spent quite a bit of time approaching and retreating from this end of the arena yesterday. (Note: I am still trying to figure out where this horse eating monster is hiding... perhaps it is behind the car? Lurking somewhere in the sand? Behind one of the posts?) Whatever it was, obviously it wasn't there today. Shae was great!
The only thing I can think of is that two days ago I was doing a bit of isolation exercises with Shae. For example, we did some one rein riding, then riding with me just giving her a leg cue I wanted her to respond with lightness from (no rein). During these exercises I really didn't care what direction she wanted to go in, I was just asking for forward (either walk or trot). However, when I applied the leg cue - I wanted her to respond with lightness to it without needing a rein to support. Transitioning from this exercise to a more collected style where I was using all of Shae's leg and rein cues to tell her where we were going might have given Shae the idea that she could be dominant. In any case, two days ago we spent a good 20 minutes down at the far end of the arena schooling through Shae's issue. It involved a lot of approach/retreat backing up, sideways, and (finally) relaxation on Shae's part. Yesterday, I started off riding more collected and Shae didn't seem to have any issues. Silly horse.
Since it's been pretty warm here, Ren sports ever so fashionable braids. Not only does this help with keeping her cooler, but it also assists me with not getting my hands tangled all up in her massive amounts of hair. I guess I COULD cut off most of her mane, but her long curls really are cute. It's taken forever for her to grow out a chunk of mane that was missing that I'd hate to see it all cut off.
Ren really does have a massively large head.
I realized that Ren is really toning up. Just look at this before/after picture of her. The picture on the right is her the day after she came off the trailer from auction, while the second picture was taken yesterday. I'll have to get a picture of her standing in a similar position to the first one to really get a feel for how she's changed.
You know, I just realized that most of the pictures are of Shae lately. I'll have to make sure we give Ren equal time.Today Shae worked on change of direction...
...her very distinct and separate trots...... extending out...
... and high steppin' Friesian style!
... trying to find some relaxation at the trot (not always easy for a breed that typically carries their head high...)
... and bending WITHOUT collapsing the shoulder in! (Susan, that picture's just for you!)
Then we did a couple canter circles at the end of the arena that Shae was acting goofy about two days ago. Apparently there was some kind of monster at this end of the arena that Shae wanted to turn and bolt away from. We spent quite a bit of time approaching and retreating from this end of the arena yesterday. (Note: I am still trying to figure out where this horse eating monster is hiding... perhaps it is behind the car? Lurking somewhere in the sand? Behind one of the posts?) Whatever it was, obviously it wasn't there today. Shae was great!
The only thing I can think of is that two days ago I was doing a bit of isolation exercises with Shae. For example, we did some one rein riding, then riding with me just giving her a leg cue I wanted her to respond with lightness from (no rein). During these exercises I really didn't care what direction she wanted to go in, I was just asking for forward (either walk or trot). However, when I applied the leg cue - I wanted her to respond with lightness to it without needing a rein to support. Transitioning from this exercise to a more collected style where I was using all of Shae's leg and rein cues to tell her where we were going might have given Shae the idea that she could be dominant. In any case, two days ago we spent a good 20 minutes down at the far end of the arena schooling through Shae's issue. It involved a lot of approach/retreat backing up, sideways, and (finally) relaxation on Shae's part. Yesterday, I started off riding more collected and Shae didn't seem to have any issues. Silly horse.What did we do today?
Well, George and I did some groundwork and then hit the trails early this morning. He rode Shae and I rode Ren. Ren and I did a lot of canter work out on the trails today. Ren is SO much slower then Shae that anytime Shae breaks into a trot, Ren can work on her canter. It's really hilarious. Ren tries so hard! At one point, we startled some deer out of the corn field. Shae and the deer were running beside each other while Ren and I brought up the rear. No way were we ever going to catch them! As an aside, neither of our horses spooked at all when the deer came out running. I was very impressed with both of our girls. Ren just cast an eye in the deers' direction and kept cantering.
A case of the Scratches....
While we were away over the Fourth of July weekend, Maryland humidity, nighttime dew, and the heat took a toll on Shae's rear right foot. I came back to find a nasty case of scratches right below her pastern and above the back of her hoof. Very icky. This time of year is always a challenge to keep scratches away 100% - both my girls have feathering and in Maryland it rarely dries out in July and August. When I left, both Shae and Ren had some small itchy areas on their rear feet. I just didn't realize how effective my once a day spraying of anti-microbial spray was being at keeping fungal skin infections at bay. Well, 4 days of not having their back feet sprayed certainly showed me how bad fungus can take hold! Ren's feet looked fine - just a little scab here and there (actually, her feet looked better then when I left, go figure), but Shae's one foot was NOT a happy sight.
Shae was definitely bothered by it - she wanted my foot as far away from me as possible and was contorting herself in all sorts of bizarre ways to keep her foot from being prodded at (she's too well behaved to jerk her feet away from you, but she stretched this way and that. It was a real challenge to clean it up.)
After giving Shae's back foot a soak, a betadine scrub, and then a thorough drying, I figured the topical anti-fungal spray I was using last week just wasn't going to clear this up quickly enough for my liking. So.... I headed out to the friendly CVS where I proceeded to purchase Monistat cream, Desitin, Lotrimin (Clotrimazole) cream, and one other anti-fungal athlete's foot cream that I can't remember off the top of my head. As I was purchasing it at the counter, I really did wonder what the cashier thought of my anti-fungal purchases!! Bet he didn't think it was to treat a horse!
Anyway, I mixed up the creams together and smeared it on. The back of her foot looked 70% better the very next morning and is 90% better today. No more oozing icky-ness. Just some scabs that are flaking off to show happy healthy skin underneath. Shae is no longer trying to keep me from poking and prodding at the back of her hoof. I figure three days of treatment should be enough. I think I can go back to the Eqyss Micro-Tek Anti-Microbial Spray to clear up the last bit of it. I'm not going to keep using the creams as I've heard that some fungus's develop a resistance to them. Hmmm.... Something to ask my doctor sister when I see her...
Shae was definitely bothered by it - she wanted my foot as far away from me as possible and was contorting herself in all sorts of bizarre ways to keep her foot from being prodded at (she's too well behaved to jerk her feet away from you, but she stretched this way and that. It was a real challenge to clean it up.)
That's one shaved hock. Poor Shae! In this picture, the swelling is almost gone. Thank goodness!
Anyway, I mixed up the creams together and smeared it on. The back of her foot looked 70% better the very next morning and is 90% better today. No more oozing icky-ness. Just some scabs that are flaking off to show happy healthy skin underneath. Shae is no longer trying to keep me from poking and prodding at the back of her hoof. I figure three days of treatment should be enough. I think I can go back to the Eqyss Micro-Tek Anti-Microbial Spray to clear up the last bit of it. I'm not going to keep using the creams as I've heard that some fungus's develop a resistance to them. Hmmm.... Something to ask my doctor sister when I see her...
Fourth of July Weekend In WV
This past weekend, we left our girls at home to go visit our friends on their farm out in West Virginia. I don't think Ren or Shae minded the break, and I KNOW George didn't mind taking a break from studying for the bar.
Click on any picture to view full size.
We spent the weekend riding my friend's 3 horses through the mountains (their farm butts up against a huge 17000 acre state park), relaxing, and catching up with Susan and Frank.
Here are some pictures we took of the land we traversed by horseback.
Yup, we rode up to the top of that mountain...
Someone on the river caught one BIG catfish.
The weather was lovely - in the 70s and (best of all) few bugs!
I was actually really surprised at how much ground you can cover on horseback. I'm sorry we didn't take the camera with us on the trail rides, but it was big & bulky. We need to take a digital pocket camera with us.
Here are Susan's horses parked under a gigantic tree in their pasture.
Up close and personal! Meet (left to right) Susan's three geldings: Gabe, Boogie (my mount for the weekend) and Othello (George's mount for the weekend).
This is the VERY SCARY HAY BALER. When we put the boys away this machine (which was obviously something that eats innocent horses for lunch) produced some interesting antics from our three steeds.
They went from one end of their pasture to the other.
For Othello, that's a LOT of effort. His favorite gate is the "mosey."
Boogie also felt the need to investigate the tractor.
... and of course, after investigation, they all felt the need to run away to the other end of their pasture again.
Like me and George, Susan leans towards drafts. Both Boogie and Othello are 1/2 Shire.
Here is the barn and Susan's trailer which we tacked out of. Susan and Frank are splitting time between Maryland and West Virgina, and are in the process of getting their WV farm up and running.
George and I had a blast and are planning to visit again after George takes the bar. Now if we could only get our two horses down there... I think Ren would just love some "hill therapy" in the form of WV mountains, don't you?
Click on any picture to view full size.
We spent the weekend riding my friend's 3 horses through the mountains (their farm butts up against a huge 17000 acre state park), relaxing, and catching up with Susan and Frank.
Here are some pictures we took of the land we traversed by horseback.
Yup, we rode up to the top of that mountain...
Someone on the river caught one BIG catfish.
The weather was lovely - in the 70s and (best of all) few bugs!
I was actually really surprised at how much ground you can cover on horseback. I'm sorry we didn't take the camera with us on the trail rides, but it was big & bulky. We need to take a digital pocket camera with us.
Here are Susan's horses parked under a gigantic tree in their pasture.
Up close and personal! Meet (left to right) Susan's three geldings: Gabe, Boogie (my mount for the weekend) and Othello (George's mount for the weekend).
This is the VERY SCARY HAY BALER. When we put the boys away this machine (which was obviously something that eats innocent horses for lunch) produced some interesting antics from our three steeds.
They went from one end of their pasture to the other.
For Othello, that's a LOT of effort. His favorite gate is the "mosey."
Boogie also felt the need to investigate the tractor.
... and of course, after investigation, they all felt the need to run away to the other end of their pasture again.
Like me and George, Susan leans towards drafts. Both Boogie and Othello are 1/2 Shire.
Here is the barn and Susan's trailer which we tacked out of. Susan and Frank are splitting time between Maryland and West Virgina, and are in the process of getting their WV farm up and running.
George and I had a blast and are planning to visit again after George takes the bar. Now if we could only get our two horses down there... I think Ren would just love some "hill therapy" in the form of WV mountains, don't you?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)