Trottin' on

We plan to go on a trail ride tomorrow with another boarder! How fun! If I don't post about it tomorrow, then MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!! MAY YOU GET ALL YOU ASKED FOR AND MORE!!!!!

Yesterday I rode, and I got some video. This is just video from the beginning of our hour long ride (we had ample walking breaks, so no worries, but it is good for building up Miss Greta's fitness!) and we didn't look so hot. I didn't realize I had let my leg slip back, so I looked like a bad hunt seat rider, and Greta probably didn't like that much either. But if you will notice at the very, very end, we look really nice.

Today when we rode, we looked awesome. Greta was "on the bit" for a good 75% of the time, with a hammer and a dremmel going in the background, also a horse vacuum. I've learned, and I've been told and read, that if you try and think nothing of the tractor rolling nearby or the hammer in the background or the tarp flying on the other side of the property, just to give a few examples, then your horse will read that and not think much of it either. Unless, of course, you didn't see the horse-eating dragon in the corner, because it wasn't there to begin with :)



Also, pictures!!!

Martingales In Dressage?

Perhaps it is just me, but I see quite a bit of people do dressage schooling with a martingale or something of the like. Like about 50%. Something like that.

Anyway, my thoughts are:

If they are not allowed in competition, why would one school in them?

I'm not just talking about those seriously misinformed people who have their horse's chin to their chest in an outrageously tight martingale. Yes, that is bad. I'm really just talking about martingales in dressage schooling general. I honestly think that if you rely on one in schooling it's almost a bit like cheating your way to getting "on the bit". And then you get into the show ring and both you and horse are like "er... what do we do from here?"

If you school in them a lot or all of the time, how would that help you in competition when you can't have one on? Your horse might not know what to do (if you've been using the martingale improperly) or they might just think "YUSH HAY DAY!" and throw their head up in the air when you tighten your reins and look more like a bad jumper than a dressage horse. I understand they are quite practical in and allowed in anything that involves jumping. They are also allowed in almost all of the western speed events. But dressage is not a speed event, so....

Is it just the people who use martingales improperly that should worry, or what? What do y'all think?

I've stayed away from martingales for this reason, not like we need them anyway. I would be afraid of becoming dependent on them. Also because I have no idea on earth how to use one properly. I use polo wraps. Those aren't allowed in competition. I use a dressage whip on occasion (I usually never had to tap Greta though, all she needs is just to see it in my hand and know that I really mean business). And those aren't allowed in most competitions either. So I guess I am a bit guilty of my own argument.

But it was just a thought. Does it seem fair for one to use a martingale in schooling, when used properly? Does one only use them when a horse is acting up, or to get a green horse/rider used to feeling of contact and being on the bit? Enlighten me.

Back on Track

Yesterday:

Today was like a confirmation to me that things are back on track, horse-wise. Greta's tendons are back to beautiful, I got in the last of all our registration and membership papers for whatever showing we do next year (USDF and SWANA) and it was just overall a lovely day (in the low 60s, warm enough I didn't need a jacket and definitely warm enough to not need a blanket).

I hand walked and trotted Greta around the indoor arena to warm her up, and she did wonderfully, no gimp, no swelling, nothing! She has been like this for the past two days, so I felt comfortable to let her do a bit more than walk and trot. Warmed-up, I turned her out into the round pen, which was thankfully dry.

Now, Greta has been very polite this entire time. So polite, in fact, that I was almost dragging her about the arena when we were walking and trotting. I would think that a horse that has been in for two days (but thank goodness there's no mud!) would be quite rambunctious and excited to be out and about. Nope. Not Greta.

I turned her out in the round pen, unclipped the lead rope, and shut the gate and watched from the edge. She walked to the center and back, and looked at me. I shrugged. She came up to me, as if to say "You're supposed to be in here. Making me do stuff. Right?"

I told her (because she can totally understand me) that she can romp around for a bit. She walked back into the pen a bit, turned and looked at me, and then proceeded to roll and nice hearty roll. She got up, shook herself off, and looked at me again. "You still not gonna make me do anything?"

Nope.

At this point she proceeded to kick loose, trot around the pen and whinny at the other horses, mockingly, before continuing on to little leap in the air and nice buck. I had my camera with me. It was just in my car. Why didn't I catch this moment of cuteness?

After bouncing around like a two-year-old on caffeine, she stood in the center, shook herself off, and cooly walked back up to me. "Okay, I'm done!"

I waited for a few seconds to see if she would do anything else, but she continued to stay with me by the gate. I took her, curried some of the dirt off her and picked out her hooves, and we grazed.

That felt wonderful for me and must have felt wonderful to her after those pathetic looks she gave me watching the other girls do lessons last night. At least I think she appreciates having a job. I've told her when she acts like it's just so hard to trot a twenty meter circle for the third time that it could be a lot worse: I could be making her do eventing. How's that for hard work, Miss Nibbs?



Today:

I rode her today, and yup, we are back on track!!! Our riding was atrocious (it's always been pretty atrocious, even for noobs) but she wasn't lame! I did shorten my stirrup holes by two, and my seat felt more secure and my aids more efficient. Also, the new half pad is awesome, now that I've finally had a chance to try it. $20, fleece (washable!), super soft and cushioning, on SmartPak. Go look at it.

I will work with Miss Greta again tomorrow and of course for the rest of next week (not Christmas. That would be just wrong. But she will get a special souper delicious bran mash.)

And 14 followers! That's almost 20! How exciting! I need to get some more interesting posts up!

Thanks, really. You guys have helped a lot in sharing ideas on this blog. Go you.

Greta loves Coldplay

And Tayor Swift. And Regina Spektor. And all of the others singers that I like. Perhaps because I like them and so that's the only thing she can really listen to when my iPod's playing :)

That will be explained later....

The Absorbine Liniment Gel (love it, always have) has worked great on her back right tendons. The swelling is almost gone, but not like there was much there before, you had to feel it to see it. I'll still be applying the liniment until she is walking and trotting normally again. Mostly now, we believe, her hoof sole is tender from the mud (if you feel the white line below her cornet - forgive me for my lack of knowledge of hoof terminology, I'm learning - it's squishy. Yikes! But her sole is still quite hard, so that's good to see) and the trim from two weeks ago is still sore from the mud as well. So the combination of those three things, mostly just soft soles at this point, are our woes. Things could be far worse, so I am quite thankful! It's just a little bump in the road. She goes into a stall tomorrow, so hopefully the dry ground and some hand walking and trotting on hard ground will help a lot. Anything else anyone recommends to toughen soles?

Now, to explain Greta and Coldplay. A new YouTube video that I had been messing around with for months while I was bored. Just to entertain y'all!

Bumpy Road

We're still here! It's just been a bumpy road that's all these past two weeks. So that mystery lameness I was talking about last post? That showed up two weeks ago, and we thought it was just some stiffness due to mud. Well, it hasn't worsened, but it has not been better.

I'd been taking her out every day since that Thursday two weeks ago and letting her stretch her legs put, walk around, and graze. Then I would bring her in, hose her legs off, clean out her hooves, and hand walk her and trot her up and down the concrete barn aisle (yay concrete barn aisles!) which made it a lot easier to hear any oddities of the hoofbeats. There was some slight hesitation on the front left, which corresponded to what I saw. Monday I and my instructor took another look at Miss Greta, and confirmed that there was definitely something wrong with the front left. We believed it could be beginnings of an abcess. Had the farrier look at her hoof, and he said that there was definitely no abcess, no softness, nothing. She was not worsening nor was she three-legged lame, so we did not feel the need to call the vet yet.

So the same routine of taking her out continued up to today. She seemed much better these past two days, so I decided to do some walking under saddle. Today, I took her out, cleaned her off, and hand walked and trotted her, both on the concrete aisle and in the arena. She seemed stiff in the arena, but not lame. So we saddled up and started our walk work. Then she got significantly lamer, but not three legged, but I could feel a stiff jar beneath me and I could see it in the mirror. I got off and hand walked her several times around to see if I could work it off. When I got back on, she felt much better. We got a final opinion from a vet tech out there and the hunter trainer (you guys must be going "why don't you call a vet?" but like I said, she is not in any immediate pain, and just let me continue....)

Both immediately noticed something off on her back right, not just her front left. They felt her back right and it there was some swelling in the tendons below the hock. I felt both bac legs and there was definitely some swelling on the back right. As you can imagine, I felt bad, because I had been focusing on the front so much... then I remembered: I am no expert when it comes to lameness!

She has been compensatiing for the stressed tendon on the back right by applying more pressure on the diagonally opposite hoof, the front left, which left it sore. She will put a significant amount of pressure on her back right, but she tries to not put too much weight on.

It was not visible swelling, but you could feel it, so it was pretty minor. We believe we have it solved: the combination of the new trim (which was also corrective for the conformational fault in her front right where she walks on the outside of the hoof instead of putting even pressure upon it), hoof softness caused by the mud, and the stressed tendon on her back right all mounted up to create some wonky walking!

Wednesday we made arrangements for a stall this coming week, once another horse has moved. Greta will end up next to my friend's lease horse and one of Greta's many favorite geldings out there, a young barrel-racing Quarter horse (ooh, a cowboy!) She will probably be in there for the rest of the winter, until it finally dries up enough that we can put some gravel down in her paddock to hopefully eliminate the mud and keep this from happening again! We well have a few days of no rain, but clouds, and then some days-long drizzle. Mmm, winters in Texas.

Until then, her legs will be cleaned off (I was also complimented how clean I kept her legs, because she should have had scratches by this point!) and hooves cleaned out, and then Absorbine gel put all along the tendons from hock to hoof. And just to quell some of you guys, if things get worse, then out will come the vet! But for now, everything seems to have finally been solved!

The Finger-Flavored Cookie Caper!

Firstly, all is well in Gretalund (I think that's what I'm going to call my clinic or stables or whatever when I'm older and Greta's an old grannie and I am too and then we'll be matching! Same age spots and everything!). We had a little glitch this week from her being trimmed Tuesday: when I went to go ride her for her lesson Thursday, she was gimpy on her front left! As you can imagine, I got this queasy feeling in my stomach and mentally flipped through all of these things that could've happened and what I should do and if she'll get worse or if she'll get better... and failed to consider that perhaps she was still a little ouchy from the trim Tuesday. Of course, a boarder friend and my parents told me that's probably what it was. Friday morning (no school because we had a flurry of snow!) I walked her around and she was still iffy, gave her a gram of bute, let her graze, and crossed my fingers. Come out this morning, and she's fine. No bute, nothing, just let her graze for a good twenty minutes, gave her an apple, cookies, and said adieu.

All of the horses have been kept in for the past few days because the temperatures are dangling above 40 at midday and as you can imagine, none of us Texans are used to this. We were all so excited to see snow Friday (and by snow I mean a really nice flurry and it all melted when it hit the ground, but that was what made it kind of cool!) and Greta was the only horse that seemed unfazed. Of course, she lived in Colorado and Iowa and Idado for the good majority of her life, so that might explain it.

And lastly, just a fun story to share. Yesterday I apparently forgot all of my basic horse handling skills for a split second. I fed Greta an Apple and Oat treat (she is obsessed with those delectable goodies and it's hilarious how she checks my pockets and scans me up and down with that camel lip of hers so she can see if she find any trace of one of those cookies on me!) and held it with my fingers, not on my palm. So Greta takes it... and my fingers too. She starts this sawwing motion with her teeth after she couldn't chomp down, probably thinking "Wow, this is a hard treat!" and meanwhile I'm trying to pry my fingers out from her cookie-obsessed vice grip, and when that failed I tried to pry her jaws open. I was desperate. My fingers were cold, so it felt very painful. Then Greta has a stroke of genius: she tastes with her tongue, realizes "WTH? This isn't apple flavored!" and releases my fingers. Immediately she proceeds with eating her real treat.

Now to clarify things, no bodily harm was done, not even a bruise on my thumb and forefinger, and it all happened over the course of a few seconds. The only reason the pain didn't subside quickly was because my fingers were freezing. So children, have you learned your lesson? I sure did. Serves me right :)

I have a goober horsey <3

WHOA PICTURES!

I did ride this weekend! And we did very well, I felt. Tonight is a jumping lesson, and it rained, so only the covered arena is open and there's a lesson going on in there so: no riding! Anyway, these are all from Saturday, November 27. Enjoy, and polite critque is appreciated!!


Walking a 10 meter circle to the left


More walking. See what I mean how I can't keep my heel down when I push her on?


I love this picture! Walking a 10 meter circle to the right.


Trotting a 20 meter circle to the left. I'm posting the trot.


Trotting a 20 meter circle to the right. I'm posting.


Pushing her into a more energetic walk before I let her out on a free rein to cool down.


I LOVE MUH GIRLIE! <3 <3 <3

Brooke Animal Hospital

Firstly, visit the Brooke Animal Hospital website in English. Great cause!

Secondly, how do you like the new design? Once I get some newer pictures those will be included too!

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Now, the last posting went on to be a mini-discussion of modern dressage, because sadly Mythilus was deeply submerged in those methods. I am dissapointed. But now that I think about it, also with help of Jolanda Adelaar, in the broad spectrum of equine abuse and neglect, these $20K horses subject to such training methods have it better off than most other abused and neglected horses. My comment from the last post, edited:

My theory behind all of this is "Time is money." If it takes longer for a horse to be properly trained that means the owners of the horse will be spending more money getting the horse to where he should be before he can compete, whereas it's cheaper for the horse to be shoddily trained because it's quicker and thus cheaper.

But hey, it looks flashier to the uneducated eye (which is a lot of eyes)! It's quicker to teach the horse to look flashy than it is learn how to properly use its body and become a better and more beautiful athlete.

But I have to agree with the Behind the Bit author: though the practices seen in modern dressage are not usually correct nor good for the horse, in comparison to horse cruelty in general, these horses have it much better off than say, and overworked and neglected pack horse in Peru or a emaciated horse living in a junk yard in the back of somebody's trailer lot in Bodunkville, USA.

Almost all of these dressage horses are 20K+ horses who live in very lovely facilities and thousands of dollars poured into their care. They compete internationally and live in absolutely stunning conditions. (Heated barns and misting fans and padded stalls on air trips, to name a few.) True, they are usually subject to performance enhancing drugs and abusive training methods (WHICH ARE WRONG!) but at the end of the day they get fed with the finest quality grain and hay. Oh, and again in the morning and at noon. Oh, and they are groomed spotless. Most abused horses are far from "not as fortunate."

Rollkur and some other practices in modern dressage (a lot of upper level riders I've seen, almost always the ones not making bukoo$ of money and being shown on TV, actually ride pretty nice but that is ALL another blog post for another day folks) are wrong, very wrong, and give the sport a bad name. But in the broad spectrum of horse abuse, sadly, it doesn't top my list. But because I'm no longer involved heavily in the horse rehab world, then I can devote my attention to people who call themselves "equestrians" and their "modern methods". Yeah, here's to you, fakers :)

I still love dressage. I won't be shaken off yet, if ever. When I become a vet and have a professional career of treating messed-up horses backing me up, I will become the horse right advocate from hell and hopefully help to stop some of this mayhem and foolishness. Needless shoeing, rollkur, slaughter, the lot of it!

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Once again, let's look at it this way: at least Mythilus was well-fed for his entire life, not underfed and worked to death by poor and/or misinformed owners (well, that's subject to view hehe). Here is a wonderful group endorsed by a favorite equestrian of mine, Jolanda Adelaar, called Brooke Animal Hospital who help owners care for their animals in some of the most poverty-stricken areas of the world. Great cause, and something I would love to help out with as a vet in the future. The video is all in Dutch (I'm learning :D ) but you can get the idea. GRAPHIC IMAGES // I WAS ON THE VERGE OF TEARS!