I succeeded in working two horses tonight!

I didn't actually ride him... just lunged. I let him out to charge and buck in the arena, then called him over and lunged him. Perfectly relaxed and controlled walk-trot-canter. He's so funny. He'd just been galloping around calling for Lola, but the moment I put him to work he's Mr. Manners. I love my boy.

So then I lunged him over some trot poles since we now have an arena that I can leave trot poles in! YEAH! (I haven't seen a western saddle yet.) Then I lunged him over a little bitty cross bar, maybe six 10 inches, maybe more like 8 actually. He was nice and relaxed and cantered over it right in stride. So we did it three times and called it a day! A good start. Then I had to get going with Lola, but at least he got out. I'm determined to get him going again so that I can launch into his training full swing the moment I find Lola a home or at least a rider to lease to. I'll be deciding on a price (tricky thing that is) and listing her this week. The longer I keep her the harder it will be to let her go, so its gotta happen soon.

Rain is coming in again tonight... so it will be a couple days before I can be out in the big arena again. I'm looking forward to having poles to work him through some low gymnastics. This summer we'll be focusing on dressage, with hopes of competing next fall. So as far as jumping goes, we'll just be doing poles and gymnastics to get him to learn to put his feet where they need to go and develop some muscle from picking up his feet. I am so excited to have a big arena to do it in, with lots of cavelettis, blocks, and short jump standards.

So far I LOVE the new barn!

Officially moved...

I am feeling so much better. I found an awesome place to board just 5 minutes from work. Its quite a bit more expensive, but I will actually be saving a ton in gas.

They've got a dressage arena, a big outdoor arena with jumps, a round pen that is big enough that I can have something small and safe for beginner riders, and in indoor arena that is at least big enough to lunge in and keep working through the bad weather. They'll be in a large pen. So no more grazing out in pasture, but that pasture was going to turn to dry weeds soon anyway.

So I am looking forward to the new place! I am only 4 miles from the staging area for some of the most amazing trails in northern California. Literally access to 100 miles of awesome trails, I'm so excited.

I guess thats the first good news on the spotty appy front for awhile! Should be back to work soon.

The straw that broke the camel's back...

Bear is hurt again. Now this is just getting ridiculous! Pretty much I haven't been on him since mid February for one thing or another. Its not any one serious thing, but a bunch of little things that I'd rather give him a few days off for, but they're back to back. What an insane spring. He's had soft heels so wet and squishy I was afraid he'd bruise or split them, a cough, a banged up front leg bump and cut, and a heel bulb ripped open (partly due to being too wet again). I wasn't out there for a week solid. Lots of overtime at work, then a few days get away to recover from a crazy four months at the office. I got out on Sunday to take Lola to a little show only to find she had some cuts on her left hind leg and swelling from mid cannon bone down. Not terrible, and not lame, but not going to a horse show! So I clean her up, baby her, and I head out to get Bear to ride instead. Guess what, he's even worse off!

His hock over all was the size of a small melon, with lots of swelling down to his hoof. Once I cleaned it up I found a puncture wound on the side of his hock. Since I haven't been out there all week I don't know how long they had been injured. Could have been a week, could have been two days... long enough to be infected! I was SO frustrated. He also has a pretty big cut on his front forearm and lots of bite marks across his back. After cold hosing the leg for a while, the scab came away and it started to drain some, which is probably good. Bear is now on anti-biotics and cold hosing for the week. The two horses are in a large pen for the time being, and I'm spending this week figuring out a game plan.

I'm guessing its not just a coincidence they are both hurt at the same time. Something happened. I don't know what, and I never get a straight story from anyone out there. No one noticed that my horses we're hurt, even with what I think is obvious swelling. They're being flexible about allowing me to have the horses in a small private pasture while I deal with this, but I can't ask them to help feed the meds because I don't trust it will happen. So I'm going out at 5am to do it before work! I love having Bear out where he can run, but he's managing to hurt himself pretty regularly out there, plus they don't check the pasture horses for wounds, plus they keep changing the herd and stirring up trouble, plus I just plain don't trust them anymore. Its time to move.

Bear has never lost his slight rib showing rangy look out there, and he's been mildly hurt for ages. So I'll be telling them the situation is not working out for my horse, and that's that. No point in telling them I think they're horse care sucks, I don't want to make enemies in a small vengeful horse community, and I've got a feeling they'll figure it out themselves as people start fleeing with their horses.

I felt like the situation was too good to be true when I moved there, and it was. I've found another place that seems like it has what I need. He'll be in a paddock, which I'm not sure about, but with pasture turnout every other day. I have May and June, then I'll be gone for 6 weeks and I think it would be best for him to be back in my parents' pasture then. So I guess if I don't like the place after two months, I'll just take him home for the summer, and figure out a new place from there.

I'll be going out a second time to the new potential place after the rain to see how the property handled it, and to ask all the questions I forgot to ask the first time. I'm trying to be thorough with my questions without seeming like I'm badgering them or subjecting them to a job interview, but thats what it is. Wish me luck!

I'm a drama mama...

Ok, so maybe his foot wasn't as bad as all that. I scrubbed it up again yesterday and it was already all dry and scabbed over. It doesn't seem to bother him a lick. I'm still waiting to work him until I'm absolutely sure that I won't be busting open a scab or anthing like that. Ugh... I hate blood. If its bleeding I'm pretty convinced its dire! Guess I was over reacting a bit. It still ruined my Sunday trail ride plans... :(

Rain, rain, and more rain. I don't remember California ever having this much rain. I guess its good since I want the spring grass to last as long as possible, and its normally dried up by the end of April! So I'll put up with it. It does mean I may not see the out doors again for a week. It sounds like its back to the indoor for me! That's alright for Bear though since it does have the softest footing, and once his heel looks good, that's were we'll be working until its 100%.

Ho hum has now become RAARRRR!!!!

So I hauled the project mare out for a lesson today, and had the afternoon all planned for Bear. I had chatted with one of the girls at the barn that has a huge thoroughbred that she jumps, and we agreed to take them out for a trail ride on Sunday afternoon.

I get Lola back, feed her a sloppy, pull Bear out of the pasture, tie him up, walk away to get the grooming kit, and when I get back I notice he has some very black mud on his left front heel. I was hoping it was just very black mud. But no, it was blood mud. He has completely shredded his heel bulb! Now the banged up shin was really nothing. He wasn't lame, just hot and swollen. This is something. Still he's not lame, and its nothing that can get stiched up or bandaged, so I just have to wait it out, but shoot, if I didn't have a project horse I would never ride!

So I at least put the time to good use. I recruited the help of the barn owner's nephew who works around there, and we got all the poles in the arena so now I have something to use at trot poles and make some little cross bars out of. Then we got really creative and started hauling poles and logs out in the pasture for a bit of a cross country course! Yeah! So we have a little cross rail, a brush jump, two huge logs, and a skinny wall (one that about half as wide as a regular jump). So now at least we have some fun to look forward to. But Bear and I have a lot of homework to do before then, and his beat up legs are helping the situation!

Ho hum...

So the vet visit went fine, he got his sheath cleaned and the vet pointed out two spots on his pink skin that I need to watch. Darn pink skin. She didn't think much of the lumps, and they've gone down since. We talked about his feet and skin, and he got his shots. Totally uneventful.

So I got back into the swing of things this last week. We had a great ride in the indoor arena on Monday, on Tuesday I through on his western saddle, rigged up a sort of draw rein fixture to lunge in, but then put on running shoes and took him for a run out in the pasture. Creativity is the only way I get things done these days. I need to get back into running which I can't do at lunch break if I don't have time to TAKE a lunch break! So I got a workout and he got the equivalent of trotting with side reins, just on a straight line and with a little more give than regular side reins would allow for if he tripped on the uneven surface... which he did. Then I hopped on and rode back in. He felt great.

Now we get to the "Ho hum..." part! Wednesday I was off doing my thing as usual. Thursday I pull him out of the pasture and his front leg is hot and swollen! You've gotta be kidding me! He seems to have caught his leg on something. He's all scabbed up there, but not lame. I have been hosing it and medicating and watching it. So he's not done a thing. What a silly beast.

Seriously I think I need to keep him in a bubble from now on!

Taking action

Last night I said another offhand remark to my boyfriend about the pasture horses being fed last and the blankets not being put on. He tends to take a "Let me fix it" approach when I'm more looking for a "Let me whine and complain" reception. But last night his fix it approach got me realizing that I want things to be better magically. I want them to get better because I'm unhappy. I express my unhappiness to all the people that can't make the situation better. I need to take action. I need to step up and say something each time I'm not happy, and either the problem gets fixed or I move my horses. Simple as that. I jokingly told him that if I told the barn owners that I was moving the horses it would be because my boyfriend just can't handle any more of my complaining about the place!

I also realized I can regret and feel guilt until the cows come home, but until I took action and actually got back into the swing of things with Bear nothing would change. So I did. He has an appointment with the vet on Saturday. Check the neck swelling, check his teeth, clean his sheath. The second two are working towards making sure that other stuff is not working against us in the effort to get him in good show condition. The teeth are obvious thing to check since he's still showing just the slightest ribs despite spring grass. The sheath cleaning is the less obvious. It seems to be the solution to his tail rubbing! Being an appy he is pink down yonder, and the pink skin tends to have more issues. So despite my best efforts to keep up with it, I think he's in need of some cleaning up higher in his nether regions, because the tail started to go bare again a few weeks back.

I will also take full advantage of my $150-$300 visit to ask every question I've ever wondered about him. Itchy skin, supplements, feet, sleep patterns, you name it, I've got concerns about it!

Other part of taking action. I spent time with him first tonight! Not as much time as with Lola, but he got the precious outdoors daylight hour. I lunged him out in his pasture for 5 minutes solid trotting or cantering each way. I was trying to get him out of breath. It didn't work, he just got lazy. No coughing though, so that is great news. Then I climbed up on the gate so that I could get on him bareback and we walked all around, and even jogged a bit. He felt great. It never ceases to amaze me how cautious he is to just barely jog every so slowly for me when I'm on bareback, but under saddle he launches into a speed that could challenge a trotter! He is a fantastic horse. My goal with him is to make sure he's back into shape before I sell Lola so that I can launch straight into a training regimen with him. Nothing relieves the absence of a sold horse better than a steady training schedule with another.