That time of year, Laminitis edition

~ Riding at Equestrian Park, amongst the cross country jumps ~

 I don’t know if you can even say that this blog will revive again, as it seems I manage about an average of one post a year currently…

However, I have been missing writing down my horsey adventures and guess what? I have been riding, like, a lot. A-lot-a-lot!

Since moving to Illoura a year and a half ago, Copper and I have really settled in. We’ve had some hiccups along the way, the first winter was really rough on Copper as a lot of paddocks were still recovering from the drought and there was hardly any feed. His arthritis hit him pretty badly and he was loosing weight like crazy until I figured out that he is actually pretty old now and needs a cozy warm rug on throughout the coldest months of the season (as of 2021, he's 20 years old!).

But thanks to some adjustments I made to his diet the following spring (2020 still) he’s really bounced back in terms of physical wellness. I added Mitavite Performa 3 oil, as well as MSM and Glucosamine powder to his daily (or almost daily) hard feed and that’s knocked years off his joint aging and those additives together have made his joints supple and flexible again, as well as reducing all the swelling. He wasn’t stiff this winter (2021), can move freely and isn’t in so much pain anymore when he has to be yarded or does some hard work.

Oh yeah – yarding. That’s a whole thing.

We had a too close a brush with laminitis previous spring of 2020 ~ the grass and clover was absolutely bonkers with non-stop rain. Copper got very, very well padded so quickly, I really hadn’t noticed how much weight he was gaining. It was SO even all over, but you could still feel rib!

But I realized belatedly that he was suffering from sub-clincial laminitis – all the symptoms where there:

- He had non-stop abscesses in all his feet for months

- His white line was starting to stretch out in his forefeet particularly, but the hinds where also experiencing that as well.

- He was foot sore, even on soft ground (Although he wasn’t lame)

- He had digital pulses on and off for ages

So I discovered even into the summer, he needs a lot of management in these paddocks as pretty much all the paddocks but two have been re-seeded in the past which means they are no longer native grass. The land used to be farmland for dairy cows – aka, the grass is EXTREMELY rich, designed for making fat! It really could have been a total disaster if I hadn’t caught it in time.

~ Mr. Very Not Impressed With Being On A Diet ~

Copper also had to get used to a muzzle for the first time in his life – two words from him – NOT IMPRESSED – but we are using the Green Guard muzzle, which is miles better than any other muzzle on the market. It's breathable, yet tough, with a nice open design that doesn't make him sweat too much, while also doing an excellent job of restricting his grazing.

However, this spring I’ve had to take him off the grass as much as possible – even with the muzzle. The sugar content is very high again, probably worse than last year simply because this winter, the grass never died but just. kept. growing. and. growing.andgrowingandgrowingandgrowing….

Copper started showing heat and swelling in his digital pulses very early this year – it was the end of winter before spring really even started. I just went – it’s not worth the risk. So he’s in a diet yard with low sugar teff, soaked lucerne and daily hard feeds except for either one day a week out in the paddock with a muzzle on, or if it’s raining and cold he’ll be in the paddock without the muzzle.

He’s also been on Kohncke’s Trim for a good six months or longer, which has turned out to be another crucial component to his diet as I think that’s helped him metabolize the rich grasses a lot better. Having him on that supplement has helped us to keep the paddock as option when necessary.

It’s not ideal to turn out on grass when dealing with sub-clinical laminitis, but being in a basic agistment situation like this, you have to work with what you’ve got. The yards get extremely muddy and slippery in the wet and Copper injures himself every time he’s left in there during the rain so out he goes.

He thankfully hasn't reached the sub-clinical laminitis stage this year. So far, the extra yarding and management has worked well – his pulses have stayed right down, he’s been much sounder than last year, and his hooves are far healthier – indicating good things. He also quite trim and not really as fat - he would tell you he's simply withering away to a skeleton of course, but I think he's at a good weight right now and I aim to keep him there if possible.  

But now that he’s in the yard, he needs daily exercise or he gets stiff and sore which means I have been riding A LOT! I’ve also been learning a ton of new things and I can’t wait to write about all of that which is why I’m back again.

Until next time – see ya,

bonita  

It’s 2020 and everything’s strange..

I’ll try and keep to the tldr version. A lot has happened since I last posted on the blog, but then again, not much has happened at the same time – ya know?

Let’s see…

2019: we move back to Australia in the middle of winter – we arrive at the end of June and we are back for good.

August: the property Copper is being kept at goes up for sale, and I can’t find anywhere to move him to as Australia is still in a really bad drought.

October: we are told we have two weeks to move him out by, but I still can’t find any place to put him in; EVERYTHING and I do mean EVERYTHING is closed to new clients. Thankfully a listing pops up on Gumtree – it’s for a paddock with a dam and fence and that’s literally it, besides being HALF an HOUR away from our city. At this point, I don't care at all. We are taking the spot.

Nov-Dec: I get a bad kidney infection that lands me in hospital for two weeks. We also buy a house, and have to move our house, plus my in-laws are also moving while I'm in hospital.

January: Still getting back on my feet from the kidney infection. Copper is chased over a fence by his paddock mate – a brat of a pony that bullies him around and bites him all over.

His leg is injured; he’s got a chunk out of his offhind – the outside of his cannon half way between his hock and fetlock.

It’s not terrible, but he’s lame as and needs a vet. Then he ends up on penicillin twice a day for six days – which is an HOUR drive there and back again each time.

It’s a LOT. I don't even have a HOSE to clean his wound down - I have to carry enough water out with me to wash down his leg every time.

February: finally the rains start coming down. Copper and his paddock mate have been living in a dust bowl since the end of November – there is ZERO grass in the paddock, so they’ve been on hay rounds, but we finally have some real grass popping up.

March: Copper is already growing in his winter coat, it's going to be a cold winter. Although he's been doing better than before as his leg is finally healing, I can see that having a brat for his only paddock companion is really getting to him. He's starting to become very withdrawn and depressed. I am seriously stressed and worried - not just about his state of mind, but also with the burden of winter coming - feeding and rugging will be an expensive nightmare. It's costing us $12.00 just in the petrol to drive out there!

In desperation I start reaching out to equestrian complexes again trying to find him a new paddock. Unbelievably, I manage to catch a popular complex in the ACT at just the right time, and we get offered a spot in a group agistment set up.

It's run by the same people when we were at Rose Cottage, so there's nothing super grand, but it's seven minutes from our house and as basic as the facilities are, it's a huge step up from what we currently have available.

April: We are settling into our new paddock and it's great. We have yards, a common area for tacking/feeding, a wash bay, a very small sand arena that's 40x20 and tons of trails to go out on!

He's finally fat again after loosing way too much weight and muscle over summer, and is much, much happier. I'm also so ecstatic to have him so close - I'm able to feed him his supplements everyday/every other day without too much stress. It's easy to take care of his leg as it's still healing. I'm having fun exploring the new trails with Copper, and everything is finally going so well.

It's been a journey to get him back into a good situation for us both, but it's so worth it to have him back with me. I've missed my pony like crazy the years I was away, and I'm just soaking up every moment with him.

And yes, through it all COVID-19 has been a thing. We social distance at the yards - it's very busy as there are a lot of invested owners. Pretty much everyone who has a horse or horses there is out everyday to feed/change rugs/ride so it's like grand central station sometimes.

It's also in the middle all these suburbs and has a lot of public access and I don't know about you, but EVERYONE in our city is out walking/bike riding/taking the dog(s) and kids for walks all day, every day just about! So there are also a LOT of random people walking into and through our yards and trails.

I gotta say, it does make it a bit tricky when you are trying to avoid people like they have the plague (which, they might!!) but we are all doing our best I think, and so far it seems to be working.

I'm so grateful to have Copper - he helps me get out, and makes me laugh everyday. He's such a goof, but I love it.

Next post will have to just be about all the funny things he's done lately!

See ya,

bonita

It’s been a Year

….And this is the next instalment of why my pony is still the bestest pony ever...

- Hanging with his best buddy -

The last time I posted on this blog, we had gone on an amazing trail ride, and had the best fun. So what did we get up to the rest of the year of 2017?

Well, I packed up the family and we moved overseas to Thailand.

Yeah, you did read that correctly!

We left on the 24th of April 2017, and I was going to write more about it while we were over there, but I got pretty sick due to not being able to access my treatments for my hypothyroidism - oh hey, I haven't written about that either! - so it never really happened.

The short story is: I didn't want to sell Copper. I've tried to do that before, when I had both Joey and Copper. (remember Joey? He broke my elbow in four places... But he was smart and cute when he wasn't being a brat)

Back then I had had a lot of interest in Copper, and on paper he sounds like an ammy rider's dream. The problem is, he is in every way except under saddle.

He's got impeccable ground manners, he is an excellent doer, he's got rock solid feet, he travels like a dream, and he's quiet and reliable. He is brilliant no matter how long you throw him out in the paddock for, he will come back to you and try whatever you ask of him. He doesn't break himself very often, and rarely needs a vet.

But he's not an easy ride. He is gentle, and can't buck, won't rear. But he is sensitive. He will take off on you if you ride hanging on to his mouth.

 

It's funny how many people get on him and can't ride him for nuts. And yes, there was this one time that a lady tried him out and he came so close to bolting on her. She was literally balancing herself on his mouth right from the beginning. He hadn’t even gone two steps before he started to panic. I had to teach her how to do an emergency one rein stop right then and there.

The downside is he is also nowhere near educated enough for an experienced rider to take him on. He'd need a super special home and to be honest, I really just couldn't bear the thought of him going somewhere that wouldn't love him for what he is - an honest horse, who is willing to show up do whatever you ask (within reason of course!).

So that left me with a huge dilemma! What to do with Copper while we spend two years or so in South East Asia?

Thankfully after a lot of agonizing, I found an amazing agistment/spelling place that would take him under unusual circumstances, i.e. - his owner is going away overseas and won't be able to check up on him at all!

So we moved him out Yass way. It's an hour out of Canberra, in the middle of nowhere, but it's cheap, and he has taken to the change like a total champ!

I finally got to go out and see him on the weekend, and I was sooooo happy when I saw how good he was looking.

- Just look at those muscles tho!! He looks so, so good! -

He has been a bit weak and untoned since his bout of stringhalt in 2016 - he lost so much muscle on his hind quarters, particularly around his gaskins. They literally withered away with muscle atrophy.

But I swear he looks better than he ever has - except for the time I was riding him regularly and we had a great lesson program, his topline was perfect then... But anyway, right now, despite not being touched for a year, he looks so good.

He doesn't have that lovely topline, but he doesn't look like a pregnant land whale, so I am incredibly chuffed to see how well he has done.

And of course, I had to ride him!

I started first with a little bit of groundwork to see what he remembered (all of it – clever boy!) and to gauge what kind of mood he was in - willing to try!

So I hopped on bareback and toodled around the arena. He felt strong and well shaped underneath me, but stiff. Oh, so very stiff! We had to remember that yes sideways *IS* possible and you can move one foot over at a time. Hah!

- Best Pony. Happy Face. -

That's to be expected, and even though he wasn't anywhere as responsive as he normally is, I couldn't stop grinning. Man, I love that horse.

We even did a bit of trotting on a 20m circle, and finished the ride off after about twenty or so minutes. Not a long ride, but so satisfactory.

I can't tell you how good it's been to be home, but it’s been made even better seeing Copper again.

If it was any other horse I wouldn’t be able to do this with him. I just wouldn’t. There’d be no point as the horse would either break themselves in the paddock, or need extra feed, or go mental being left to run wild for that long. But it’s Copper. There’s no way around it, he’s special.

He takes it all in his stride and is still a brilliant horse!

- The difficulties of taking selfies with your horse’s giant mug. Still smiling though!! -

I hope to visit him at least once more before we fly back to Thailand. It's a long way out to see him, but it's so worth it.

I also have to make sure his teeth and feet checked over before I leave so that gives me a good reason to get out there, and you better believe I can't wait to ride him again.

- It surprised me to see Copper bossing about the ponies! He is usually the lowest man in the herd, so this was interesting to me. Guess he figured out that he’s bigger then they are! -

See ya,

Bonita

My horse is AwesomeSauce

I know, I know… Everyone thinks that! And maybe you don’t think that we have accomplished anything to epic from this story but for reals, he’s the best.

What did we do?

- Running braided his mane as it was hot and sunny and I’m glad I did; he was sooooo sweaty by the end! -

Oh, just go on a trail ride.

Only – here’s the thing…

Copper has been chilling in his paddock for the last six months – I’ve been riding every once in a while when I can, but honestly, at this stage that’s happening once every two to three weeks – sometimes even longer than that between rides because I’ve been so ill with my Hypothyroidism.

But as we have never had the chance to ride together (we were going to a Working Eq. clinic together but that’s when Copper got stringhalt… TT ^ TT!! ) my friend K and I decided to go out on chill trail ride, just walking around for a while at the National Arboretum. We decided that we needed to float out so that it wouldn’t take so long and the ride wouldn’t go for hours. So on New Years Eve, we went riding!

I pulled Copper out of the paddock at 8:00am and he just walks right on to the float. (He’s such a good floater - last time he floated out it was our move over a year ago to our current facility.)

Then we get there an find a spot to park and saddle up. He was just  standing there, chilling at the float. He’s just soooo good.

  
- Selfies with the unimpressed poneh -

I did need my friend to hold him so I could get on… That’s his worst re-occurring fault – if I don’t ride him in a while, he can never stand still for me to mount the first time.

But he let me get up okay and then we where walking! We crossed a road and where walking along the fence line of the Zoo & Aquarium. We had to cross a small rain drain that had a cage on top of it. It was on a really steep bit at the bottom of gully with blackberry brambles trailing everywhere – scary stuff! Haha!

Copper stood and looked at in for a minute or two and then was all like – “Charrrge!” He just put his thinking cap on and walked right across. I did my usual defensive mode which is slip the reins and grab a hunk of mane! (Never going to cut his mane – haha! It’s my Ohcr*pstrap)

We have an understanding - I let him negotiate the tricky bits and even if he gets a bit of momentum and has bit of a run after, or jumps a puddle, my job is just to stay with him and keep my balance so I can help him if I need too, and he takes me with him! Haha! It works for us.  :P

As we were going up the side of the gully, a golf cart came trundling down the hill on the other side of the fence, and Copper scooted past it. We almost were able to stop and wait, but then another, nosier –flappity, flappity – golf cart came past and Copper scooted up the hill away from that one too.

While I was struggling to get Copper to stop, the others were struggling to get past the rain drain; both their horses where like “Nope!” but I think when they finally figured out Copper was on the other side they both crossed in a hurry.

Then we had a super low underpass to go under, and the other girls with me decided to hop off and lead their horses because they had had trouble with that rain drain. I decided to stay on – I knew I’d be safer as Copper is brave enough to go through, but I was not at all sure I’d be able to get back on him okay!

Again, I let the reins droop a little, twisted my fingers into a hunk of mane, and he took a moment to stare, then marched right through. He did have a little spook on the other side when we got out into the sunlight, but I think that was a “just in case there are scary monsters hiding that I couldn’t see” spook – rather than one where he was actually scared!

Then we where in the grounds of the Arboretum, with wide fire trails to ride on, lovely smooth dirt roads with a light dusting of small gravel that cut between the swathes of tree plantations.

Copper started out really well, with his happy trail walk which is relaxed and forwards – but then, he started to feel – off…

I was worried it was his saddle – he’d gotten so fat that there was every chance the gullet could be pinching him. I was worried it was his boots – his feet needed doing and I had to really jam them on, so maybe they were rubbing?

I just couldn’t figure it out – he was trying to turn around and go back which he NEVER does unless it’s been like 3 hours! Copper loves trail riding, and I knew something was up, but I couldn’t figure out what.

It got so bad as we were riding up the hill that I hopped off, checked his saddle and took off his boots.

I gave them to my friend as she had places on her tack she could strap them too, and walked up the hill most of the way. Then I had to get back on Copper ‘coz I was dying! … So unfit!

We rode up to the “Wide Brown Land” statue, and hopped off for bathroom break. Then we decided to go around the holding pens on the other side of the hill so that we could leave the horses there while I ran and got us some cold cokes from the café! (It was really hot!)

    
- Up on the top of the “Wide Brown Land” hill. That view between those ears…! The best! -

I decided to lead Copper to the pens (which were much further away than I had thought… Urgh! Unfit!), and I took off his saddle and bridle when we got there, but left his halter on. (I was riding with his halter and lead rope just in case)

Then two of us went to get drinks and one of us stayed with the horses. Apparently, when I left, Copper started spazzing out and being a real hoon! He was racing around the pen, cantering, bucking, farting and being a total silly boy… He also pooped four times.

My conclusion?  He had a tummy ache… 

Horses.

Because when I tacked up to go again, he was perfectly fine after that!!

I was so glad he got that all out, because then we could actually settle in and enjoy the rest of the ride.

 
- Friends on horseback are the best kind of friends for a day out exploring! -

Of course, he still walks too fast for the other horses, so I end up in the lead on my own again. I always ask myself why I bother going with other people when I end up walking by myself for the whole ride! But no; there are lots of other fun moments and times to chat, so it was good. It’s just a little bit annoying that Copper just can’t keep his stride in check so that we can be with everyone else.

We went through a super hilly bit next where it was tons of steep slopes up and down ~ of course, that’s always fun, so I let him trot up those pretty quick, and the others would chase us up at a canter.

Copper figured out that his fast trot is just as fast a canter, so he mostly stuck with that, and I just stuck with him!

 
- Go pony, goooo!! -

Then we where on the stretch home, and by this stage, we were both pretty pooped. For the first time ever, Copper volunteered to drop from a trot to a walk all of his own violation! Haha!

I was pretty happy when we made it back around to the underpass, and I think he was too. We were miles ahead of my friends, when I realised they’d stoped to take photos of the tigers at the zoo.

As we where passing by, the tigers had smelt our sweaty horses and were trying to jump the fence and get at us! Of course, they couldn’t, but they were pretty riled up about us just standing a few feet away from them and smelling delicious apparently.

It took a little bit of convincing Copper to turn around up the hill to be with the others, but he suddenly realised they were up there, and he did it. Then we continued on past the storm drain back to the floats.

When we had made it past the drain, Copper stopped at the top of the hill and his head was hanging, and his legs were shaking. Poor boy was so tired!

I said – Right, I don’t care what the others think of me, I’m walking him back! So I jumped off him and loosened his girth. And he perked right up again after a couple of mouthfuls of grass.

Haha, always thinking of his tummy…

We had a bit of a ways to go, but they did think I was doing the right thing, so I was happy leading him back to the floats.

Then we all sat around eating chips, grooming the horses and trying to convince them to drink the water.

 
- Chilling with the mates after the fun; chips for the human beanz, pine cones and grass for the ponies –

 
- When he literally wants to go home and stuff his face…. -

Copper ate pine needles, hoovered up the grass and tried to eat a pine cone!! It was absolutely the funniest thing I have ever seen him do!!

He was standing there with the dopiest look on his face, the pine cone hanging from his teeth, flapping his top lip like he was trying to figure out how he could actually get it into his mouth!

I cracked up, but of course he dropped it before I could get a picture…  :/

When they were well rested and completely cooled off, we loaded them back up and took them all back home.

Copper was very happy to see his girl friend, who was neighing a greeting to him, then he got down to the serious business of putting back on all the weight he’d lost from that exercise.

Horse, you are all stomach at this point – you could stand to loose some! 

And that is the long and somewhat boring story of why my horse is awesome and I love him the bestest.

See ya,

bonita

Our FIRST Clinic – An Introduction to Working Equitation

- Concentrating very hard on circling through the triple barrels -

This happened on the 28th of February, 2016… Wowee, that was too long ago! We had a fantastic time at the very first clinic either Copper or I have ever attended!

It was a one day clinic - Introduction to Working Equitation. We started out by learning the history of W.E. and how it came about, and then we moved into the practicalities of how W.E. competitions work – the levels (Introductory, Preliminary, Novice, Medium, Advanced, International: Debutante, ?, Masters), the structure of the trials (4 stages to the competition – Dressage, Ease of Handling*, Speed*, and Team Cattle Trial) etc.**

Next it was time to mount up for the “dressage-ing” portion. We started out as one big group, walking around the arena and halting, moving on, crossing over the diagonal to stretch and release the horses backs.

Then we moved into 5 meter circles on the outside track, and loosened the horses up even more. The whole group started to look really rhythmical and unified turning our circles in synchronization – it was actually really cool! Then we started trotting, and we did 20 meter circles at each end of the arena.

Copper started out super stiff over his back, so much so I was wondering if he was lame(!!) but by the end of this session he was so soft and light. It was so fantastic!! He felt great and I was really enjoying the workout. Then we stopped and did individual sessions for 10 minutes where we ran through an entry level W.E. dressage test.

Unfortunately, by the time Copper and I had our turn, Copper had cooled down and was definitely “done” for the day. One of the side effects of  always working in 20-45 minute sessions – he’s convinced his legs stop working after that length of time unless we are out on the trail!

The meant we spent the better part of our session just loosening up again – we didn’t really get a good run through. I was a bit concerned about how he’d go in the afternoon session because of this, but as it turned out, he was fine.

We broke for lunch, and ran out to pick up Subway, scarfing it down in the car as we rushed back to tack up….. Lol! I’m never prepared food-wise, but oh well.  We made it back in time, ready to get stuck into the fun stuff – the W.E. obstacles!

- Not melting down juuussttt yet… Wait for it! -

Copper took it all in his stride and I was really proud of him! He did so well with everything – even the bull and the garrocha pole. The only one he had a bit of a melt down with was the gate. We’d get two thirds of the way through the obstacle, but after I had maneuvered him up, unlatched it, turned-on-the-forehand through the opening, he just didn’t want to back up the final three steps so that I could close it again. Gah.

Anyway, I ended up having to turn him in a circle up to, and away from the gate, come back along side it, pick up the rope (yeah, it was two jump standards with a rope – not an actual swinging gate) and back him up to latch it. You are not supposed to let go of the rope, so that’s the one obstacle we “failed” and couldn’t complete, but you know what? That’s really not bad at all!!

We did the bell, the side pass pole, the L corridor, the stock pen, the double and triple barrels, the slalom, and the bridge, as well as the gorracha and bull. 

After we had all had a chance to play with the different obstacles there, and have some instruction on how to do them, we then got to do little individual run throughs where we strung some of the obstacles together.

This time I learned my lesson though – I spent five minutes or so warming Copper up before we ran through it, and he did brilliantly! We did the bridge, the slalom, the bell, the L corridor, the triple barrels and finished with the bull. We got told we had a “score” of seven (out of ten – “reasonably good”) *fist pump* and this made me really grin…

It was smooth, easy, Copper was having fun, and we were concentrating and oh – it was brilliant! I reallllly enjoyed it, and I could tell Copper did too – even if he was pooped by then (hehe, I was too!).

- Picking up the ring from the bull with the garrocha pole – it takes a lot of concentration! -

By end of it all, we were both utterly out of energy and all the moves, but it was. so. good.

Copper really calmed down with the work, I could feel his brain settle and really start to work. All of the horses were really listening at the end of the day, and I could feel that Copper could see the “point” to what we where doing. He really enjoyed the thinking aspect of tackling the obstacles – he loved the work I was giving him.

I loved it too – the fact that this combines the best of dressage training (lightness, harmony between horse and rider, feel and more!) plus, fun stuff in the sandbox?? I’m all for it!

I’ve toyed with the idea of eventing before, trying to combine dressage with other kinds of fun, but Copper can’t jump sticks tbh, and doesn’t really enjoy it either. He races because he’s uncertain and scared, and so I get uncertain and scared, and…. We’d never jump anything higher than beginner/Intro level.

But W.E.? I can see us doing a lot more with this. We might even learn how to chase cows!!  Haha!

Plus, I personally believe that W.E. marries the work and principles of dressage far more deeply into the fun side than eventing does.  You can’t do W.E. without the classical dressage training, it just wouldn’t work. The obstacles are specifically designed to test a horse’s balance, collection, lightness in hand, and ease of handling - which I’m not saying that eventing doesn’t do - just not in the same way, or to the same extent. :D

Basically, I’m a fan and I can’t wait to do more WE.

See ya,

bonita 

? I missed that level’s name, but there is one. (-__-)’

*The obstacle course is run twice – once, you and your mount are judged on how precisely and easily you do the course (which can be any variation of any of the 19 WE obstacles, taken in a certain order), and the second time is the speed trial – where you want to get through the course as swiftly as possible.

** For more information please see http://www.workingequitationaustralia.org.au/

Take Time

Woosh! 2016 is here! That went by too fast! 

I’m going to do a short update because although quite a bit has been happening, it’s been all in tiny chunks; nothing huge or noteworthy.

Since moving to his new home, these things have happened:

• All the riding: 3-4 days a week, trail rides, training, you name it
• And then none of the riding: Christmas + January holidays = three weeks off
• Those minor legs wounds from the moving in party: taking longer to heal than first expected, but almost there now
• Developing a trait of stocking up when turned out 24/7 (!! Who does this??) because of too much time standing at the fence watching other horses eat. Yup. Copper thinks he’s Forever. Alone.
• Me freaking out over puffy legs even though he’s not lame and the swelling is not hot, but still trying different things like: rest, no rest, exercise on hard ground, exercise in the arena, poulticing, not poulticing, etc..
• Discovering that rest is bad, straight lines and gentling exercise, thumbs up!!
• Feeding horse almost everyday because said horse is spending too much time watching everyone else eat… I just …..(-_-)
• But on that note, enjoying the less fat pony! He’s really at a better weight right now, and he looks GOOD.
• Oh yeah, and this happened: a special photoshoot together. Enjoy!

See ya,

bonita

One step at a time

Slowly we are pulling it together.

Our downwards transitions still suck. I need to half-halt more and keep my elbows soft and tucked by my side.

My legs are getting better, but I’m still struggling with keeping them underneath my hips.

While my core is stronger than it was, it needs to be even more stronger still. That helps me balance, and when I keep my abs switched on, so does Copper!

All that said – I’m so obsessed with this recent schooling video.

Our canter transition is awful because this is halfway through our ride, and he was tired from cantering twice before so he’s slopping along here, but it was still quiet which is a good improvement.

He’s bobbing his head about like a duck looking for food, but the connection is getting there and he’s definitely starting to look more uphill than before, and rounded too!

I love it!

I know I’m not just seeing his improvement, I am also feeling it too. For the first time ever, the other day he actually stepped under himself properly for a downwards transition from trot to walk. I felt him reach underneath himself with his right hind, and step into the walk from behind. He’s never done that before, and it felt sooo awesome! 

Just one step, but one step forwards, and we will get there one step at a time.

See ya,

bonita

All the Excitement!!

I seriously can’t believe how great the rides Copper and I have had recently have been.

I’ve been riding around the arena with the biggest, goofiest grin on my face – I’d look like a madcap to anyone watching, but we are all by ourselves so…  

It started two weeks or so ago – I can’t really remember how many rides I’ve done since the last update, but it’s been a few. I’ve ridden during the week (we’re hiring a babysitter every Wednesday so I can ride – yay!) and the weekend, so we are actually clocking up some decent saddle time.

And to make it even better, we’ve had a ton of new AHA! moments – three to be exact!

All this excitement makes for an uber long post – so here’s the TLDR:

1. Your shoulders influence your horse’s shoulders. Keep them dropped down and back, and don’t forget to turn them from your tummy when when you are bending. 
2. Your belly button is important. Think relaxed, loose back, and supported/pulled in core. Draw your belly button back and up towards your spin to active your core and allow your horse to step more deeply underneath himself.
3. The canter aid can be confusing, but you need to use your inside hip AND your outside leg to signal the aid correctly.

 

Copper’s really struggled with circles for a while, maintaining the bend from nose, through his rib cage, to his tail.  He’d lose it through his shoulders a lot – particularly on the left rein – and I thought it might have been because he wasn’t strong enough to hold it. 

Turns out, not so much – it was me! 

One ride we were gong around on the left rein and it just clicked with me that my right shoulder was hunched up and forwards – really quite tense.  Now whether that has something to do with the fact that my right ankle was twisted a while ago and my body is still trying to protect it, or that my right ankle doesn’t stretch and flex to let my heel down as far as the left one – I’m not sure.  The point is: I was unbalanced, and that had come up through my seat into my shoulder. 

As soon as I felt that, I dropped my shoulder down and back and it was like I had poked a finger in the middle of Copper’s whither and unravelled a huge knot! 

He was twisting himself up, trying to bend the way I was insisting that he should, all the while I was all crooked – blocking his shoulders from moving freely.

I started playing with my shoulders, keeping them dropped and back when I was turning, swivelling them from my tummy – and wow! A fun new button to play with!  Copper is so much more responsive through turns, and I can really feel that connection like I couldn’t before – his shoulder mirror my shoulders and vice versa.  It was a real eye opening moment for sure. Especially when I can turn him without using my reins at all - as in, he’s on a completely looped rein, and we are doing half volte turns!

We’ve actually managed to get a few steps of a true shoulder-in because of this AHA moment.  We are working on it – it’s still quite hard for Copper, but he gets it!  So that’s been really fun too.

Then the next button I discovered was my belly button.  No joke.  :P

Okay, so I knew it always existed, but then I found out that it can influence your horse’s back and belly too!

I tried a core activation trick I had learned in Pilates – relax your back entirely, including the small of your back and your glutes.  Then, slowly draw your belly button back towards your spine and slightly up, almost like a string is pulling at the front of your pelvis.

This “tucks” the front of your core, activating it.  Funnily enough, it has the same effect on your horse!

When I did this, I felt Copper instantly lift his back and engage his abs, and not only that, step further underneath himself. It was like lifting a dam gate and the power just flowed from his hind quarters through his back, neck and then into my hands.

It was an incredible sensation – not one we could hold on to for very long unfortunately – neither of us are toned/fit enough to keep our cores so active for any length of time yet. I’ll definitely keep visiting this one often though, it’s excellent toning for the both of us.

Last but not least - a canter aid breakthrough! 

So recently I read (on the Facebook Dressage group I’m apart of) a question about the canter aid.  It basically ran along the lines of “What’s the correct aid for canter? Outside leg or inside leg?”

The answers where many and varied, but it got me thinking.  It seemed to me that using the outside leg to ask for canter was less than desirable, as some people mentioned it could cause crookedness.  But it also seemed that a LOT of people also mentioned that they’d been taught the outside leg transition technique in multiple different times and places from many different instructors.

Basically, it’s one of those tricky ones where there’s a lot of conflicting information.  I’ve personally always gone for the inside aid – lifting and scoping the inside hip – what I considered the ‘correct’ classical way to give the aid.

This has worked really well for me in the past – particularly on Copper’s good side – his right lead.  He will just lift and pop into the canter if he is balanced well to begin with.

This is not the case with his left rein – I’ve really had a lot of struggle getting him to canter properly on this rein.  He will literally run himself into the ground to pick up the left lead canter. It’s so messy that motorcycles have nothing on him!  It’s also impossible to bring this canter back into balance, so obviously it’s all kinds of wrong. 

I couldn’t figure out how to fix this canter depart. I toyed with the idea of ground poles or trying to train him to walk-canter depart which I’ve read can be easier for the horse to pick up, but really I wasn’t sure if these ideas were the best…

Spoiler: walk-canter depart when the rider doesn’t know how to ride a walk-canter depart, let alone train one, doesn’t work. I tried and we failed miserably, so I didn’t push it at all.

On a whim, I decided to try the outside leg ask with Copper today.  OH.  So THAT’S how he’s been trained to pick up canter!  It was not as neat as the inside hip scoop, but that doesn’t surprise me in the least.  Those canter transitions only happen when he is super balanced, on the aids, soft through his back and listening.

…So the inside hip scoop aid is something I have to work towards –not something I have right now.

This is a BIG game changer….

I was thrilled at how easy the canter transition was. It can be so hard to get him to canter if everything’s not already perfect, and he had been rush-y and spooky our whole ride.  When he’s like that a canter transition is a disaster – no matter which rein you are on. It’s like picking between an earthquake or a tsunami.  Six of one, half a dozen of the other and completely catastrophic!  So we literally never canter unless the ‘conditions’ of horse’s mood, schooling session, and weather are all in order.

This canter aid felt so ‘right’ for us, however, that I even switched reins and put the game face on to try it on the left rein.  AND IT WORKED!!  I was so shocked, but we got it without any scrambling and held it!  Of course, he was still leaning in a little, but it wasn’t too bad and I influenced him into balance with my seat. 

Then I was all “Is he really on the left lead??”  (That’s how rarely we canter this lead – I couldn’t even tell… (>_>)”…)   So I went to change rein and he freakin’ did a freakin’ flying change!!  A full-on bouncy, complete with back legs, freakin’ flying change!!  We even had, like, a whole right lead canter stride after it before we fell apart like a hot mess!!!! 

Of course I praised him like mad, because even though that was not what I was expecting and I was so not ready for it, he did it cleanly, and he was trying really hard to do the right thing for me.  *squeee*   I even have that little bubble of joy and pride welling up in my chest as I think about it.

My horse is a champ.

- I iz champine! -

AND THEN (if you are not already dying at the length of this post already!) we went on to do some awesome trot work!  His stride was really free and relaxed, his back was up and soft and we had some great walk-trot and trot-walk transitions off my seat. 

I was really impressed by this because he’s usually so worked up after cantering that it’s really hard to get him back into a ‘soft’ frame of mind for any trot work. He is usually all “WHHHEEEE!! I wants to rhun forevah naow!!!”

And noted, he still did have that, but the fact that I was able to get him to find his marbles (brain) again was pretty dang cool.  That’s also something we’ve been really struggling with  - also adding very much to my reluctance to canter, because once we did I felt like the chance for any quality work afterwards would fly out the window and we’d be struggling to regain rhythm and relaxation for the rest of the ride.

Not so anymore!  We are FINALLY at the stage where I feel we can start working on the canter and not just the walk/trot. 

It’s only taken – oh, about a year….  Wait, nope – a lot longer than that!  Ever since I first started riding Copper I’ve been waiting to get to the stage where we could finally work on his canter!  And that would be over ten years now…  However, since I seriously started to pull apart my riding and try and figure out how my seat/body influenced Copper – that’s been about a year, and now I feel like that’s the point when I really started to ride.

The rest of the time – that’s just been sitting on top of a horse.

I can’t tell you how epic it feels to finally reach this stage I’ve been waiting for.  It’s like sunshine and cotton candy, and all the stars in the night sky wrapped up inside of me, waiting to burst out. 

It took a long time to get here, and I know there are mountains more to conquer, but right now I’m so thrilled that we’ve got so far.  Copper’s not a dressage horse, but we are riding dressage together anyway, and it’s a good thing. 

See ya,

bonita

P.S. – Jane Savoie breaks the canter aid down in the beginning of this video, and really it’s both – inside seat bone/leg AND the outside leg.  I guess in the end it’s really about how you look at it, and what clicks for your head.

3rd Ride

What the what?? Yup, make that a total of three rides this week, which is the most for one week since I don’t know when – January probably!

Celebration!

- Copper with his new matching breastplate and saddle cloth. All the matchys! -

Actually, I was sort of wondering what I’d do with myself and how we’d go with yet another ride this week, but I did formulate a plan, and it worked.

So my idea was to really try and listen to Copper to see which exercise would benefit him the most and build on that for our session.

I start off by bringing him in from the paddock and before I even touched him with a brush, I started to palpitate his back to see if I could find any knots in his muscle.

Sure enough I found a few around the top of his shoulder blade/base of his withers, and started to work on them with the heel of my palm.

Copper gave me an immediate reaction of pulling a face, and twitching his top lip while leaning heavily into my hands.  I used a circular motion and he would move around and lean in saying quite clearly “Here please, a little bit up, ooooh that’s the spot! Harder!” 

It was quite cute and funny, and he was happily licking and chewing. I think I did the one side for five-ten minutes, then swapped sides.  The reaction wasn’t as obvious on the right side, but that doesn’t surprise me as his left side isn’t as supple as his right.

He was quite relaxed and dozy for the rest of the grooming and tacking up which I thought was a really good start!

As he told me quite clearly his shoulders where stiff, I made sure to work on them first thing in the warm up.

We warmed up with lots of swing and forwards from his walk; I didn’t just let him pick his own pace. He’s got quite a good walk I think, so I tend to just go with him rather than asking for more energy.

I think I need to change this habit, as his walk work and lateral warm up was a lot better with the more active pace. (Duh…. As I write that, it sounds sooo obvious. :P )

I tickled his ribs with my heels, one side at a time as his barrel swung back and forth, to encourage him to lift his back and that worked really well too.

I didn’t do any no stirrups work this time in the warm up and I think that helped him, though maybe not me. I have to figure out some way to use the no stirrup work without having that problem.  But that’s by the by.

We shoulder-fore’d down the long side, and had some lovely quarter-line to outside track leg yielding, resulting with a supple, bouncy, freely moving horse. Yay!

Next we went into the trot work and straight away I focused on relaxing my seat and blowing out (details here). Then I discover yet another posture fault – I pinch with my inner thighs when Copper starts trotting to fast.

I also swing my calves away from his sides. Another bad no-no. Ugh.

So I relaxed my inner thighs, and draped my lower leg around his barrel. Et voilà!  Achievement Get - Soft Relaxed Lifted-Back Trot Award!!

It was good.

So good I finished our ride after only 20 minutes – 15 of warm up and 5 of trotting!

I could’ve just been done then, but being a little bit greedy I decided to take him on a trail ride instead. That was a whole ‘nother ball game, and yes, we most definitely need to work on our relaxed trot when hacking out!

Suffice to say, I had to work really hard to keep from getting tense, and his energy was really up. I think I succeeded in not getting into a war with him over going slow, but it was hard and boy, oh boy, did he ever have impulsion and forwards!

I was happy with our trail ride in the end though, and it is definitely good practice to be working with him when his energy is so high. It was basically like at a show, expect maybe not as tense. So yeah, good practice. I’ll keep chipping away at it.

I am so thrilled about our arena work today though. Yes, I do think it was in part because it was the third ride of the week, but I think it was mostly due to me figuring out some more keys to Copper’s relaxation. It’s a long list!

• Soft shoulders. Rolling my shoulders back and down keeps the muscles between my shoulder blades soft and giving.
• Elbows bent and close to my ribs.
• Hands up.
• Core tucked in and supportive for the front of my pelvis so my seat doesn’t roll backwards/pitch forwards thereby closing my hip angle.
• Soft inner thighs. Sit IN to Copper’s soft spot behind his withers. Find that cradle in his back and plug your seat in.
• Draping contact with lower leg – this is actually really hard for me to do due to the shape of his barrel. He is really, really round and it’s hard to keep your lower leg on. But I MUST because if I don’t, I pinch. And I’ll never be able to use effective lower leg aids for lateral movements if I don’t.
  
  
• BIG ONE: Never, ever, ever skimp on a thorough warm up.
  I think I was far too blasé about his warm up last ride and hurried through the leg yields – not to mention completely forgetting about suppling his shoulders. It cost me. Copper needs to be loose and supple before he can even think about a faster gait. Quality walk equals quality trot equals quality canter. I mustn’t ever forget that.

So yes, pretty much it’s – ride correctly or your horse will be tense every step of the way.

He sure doesn’t make it easy. He is not a giving horse to ride at all. Forgiving – yes. He’ll do it right if you do and he certainly doesn’t hold grudges, but a giving ride? 

Nope, nope, nope, nope…. 

I guess it’s worth it if it helps me to improve. :)

And no, I’m not going to complain if I can’t ride him the same amount next week. It’s just a goal, and it’s one I have to continually work towards.

I am super glad I did have the chance for this much riding this week though, it gave me an encouraging boost to find that we can improve. I also loved the chance to solidify what we were working towards.

It might not be as good again, but for this week, it’s been really, really good.

See ya,

bonita

Take It Easy

Like the famous Aussie anthem; “Take it ea-sy, take it eeeeeasy…” I have been doing exactly that with m’boy Copper.

Between the two of us, we sure have managed to rough ourselves up. *sigh* I severely twisted my ankle three weeks ago, and my physio banned me from riding for six weeks. Hah!

Copper’s been off work for more than four months and I have been dying. DYING I TELL YOU!

So I’m doing the *smart* thing and riding my not-ridden-in-forever horse bareback. I know, I know, but I just can’t help it.

Besides, we are only walking! Well, supposed to be walking anyways. I stuck to the plan for the first ride, we did a lot of lateral work. Interestingly enough, right after I hopped on he kept swinging his head around to nip at my toes. He was not happy! I knew he wouldn’t be, which was why my plan was to loosen his muscles up.

(I had lunged him first, but stopped after a few rounds, he wasn’t flexing well, he was counter-bent, and he just wasn’t softening up so I knew that continuing to lunge would be counter-productive.)

Actually, for the first fifteen minutes of our ride every time I stopped he would swing his head around and snap. I was glad that communicative, but negative behavior stopped half way through - my plan totally worked. He felt better!

Second ride, not so according to plan though… Copper was super happy to see me, he was hanging out at the paddock gate and nickering as I walked up to fetch him. He even stood like a rock for me to hop on; which is something we have to sporadically work because often his mind will leave before I’m fully mounted, and he’s walking off. But that’s by the by, because for all the sweet behavior, this time I was met with fire and brimstone pony!

He was tossing his head and snorting, and it makes me giggle so much. Copper wanted to run!

I would ask for a leg yield and he’d start trotting. So I was all, “Welp, you can do that, but you’ll have to work for it.” 

I sat back and lifted my hands to try to hold him to together so that he didn’t take off. Bareback trotting is hard at the best of times when you haven’t practiced in ages, let alone done any actual riding! Add a ex-trotter Standardbred jackhammer trot on top of that. Words can’t describe the ouchie.

I worked hard to try and actually lift my seat in time to his bounce to encourage him to work through his back. I didn’t always get it right, but we actually had a half-decent trot. I would have loved to see footage or photos to see if it looked half as good as it felt. It felt up hill and powerful, not soft or elastic, but that can hardly be expected given his complete and utter lack of muscle tone. Seriously, for a horse so fat, he looks like skin and bone! He’s an absolute pudding at the moment. : P

Best of all, I felt quite secure, even when he was trying to put his head down and buck while trotting. So there’s that.

And that’s it for the rambling, I really shouldn’t go over too much more boring detail.  (￫ ▽ ￩)

See ya,

bonita

Getting there

After much careful watching and prodding, I am hopefully declaring Copper to be abscess free. I hope.  I can’t tell for certain, and I think that’s partly why I am so stressed over this wound. 

Wither wounds are quite serious due the nature of their placement.  There is no easy way to tell externally (without x-rays or scans) whether there is any infection or crud pooling down below the surface.

So far we have had no temperatures, tenderness, lameness, redness/puffiness around the wound, or general “off-ness”. The wound flesh is pink and healthy looking, as well as closing over quite rapidly. I am 85% sure everything is healing as it should be, but there is 15% of me that seems to be convinced that something insidious is brewing under the surface where I can’t see it, or feel it. 

I don’t know why I am so paranoid about it? Usually I can just do the whole ‘wait and see’ thing quite well, but maybe it’s due to the sudden appearance of the wound without any particularly satisfactory reason that I know of.

Anyway, I’m still keeping a weather eye out for any further trouble… In the mean time, the pon-pon is enjoying the spoiling, so I guess that’s something! :P

See ya,

bonita

Wither Abscess or Fistulous Withers?

Uh-oh, we’re in trouble. So that theoretical “kick”- definite blunt trauma of some variety - that Copper received on his withers about a week and a half ago has burst into a large open sore. It may be some sort of bacterial infection, a parasite, or possibly Fistulous Withers – a chronic inflammatory disease of the supraspinous bursa¹ caused by either infection, parasites, or physical factors. Swelling of the withers, drainage of pus from an open lesion resulting from inflammation, and infection that spreads from the infected bursa to surrounding tissues are common characteristics of the disease. Actinomyces bovis and Brucella abortus are the most common organisms responsible for this disease.*

The stages of this injury went like so:

Sunday, 13th of April: Discovered Copper has localized swelling around the side and top of his withers. Extremely painful to the touch, little to no heat in it, and does not appear to effect soundness. Palpitation of shoulder, and flexion tests reveal no soreness anywhere else besides the swelling. 

Wednesday, 16th of April: Swelling appears to have gone down, but I think that Copper’s rug is not helping with the healing so I remove it.

Saturday, 19th of April: There are two strange, yelllow-ish crusty patches on his wither. One on the top and one on the left side – off the side to the base of his wither and above his shoulder. The top one is about the width of my pointer finger and around an inch – inch and a half long. The other patch on the right side is smaller, about half the size.

I think that these are odd – they look like some sort of infection. The hair is not disturbed, or scraped off, like bite marks usually look. It looks more to me like the event has occurred underneath the skin and some sort of infection has broken through the skin and crusted up.

I decide that if it is an infection – perhaps it is an abscess due to the blunt trauma, something needs to draw it out. So I apply some poultice – good old Tuff Rock.

Thursday, 24th of April: I come out to find this -

I immediately call the vet, something strange is going on.

His withers are now swollen on both sides, but there still isn’t much heat in the area - although Copper is still extremely sensitive to any pressure. The vet gives him a mild sedative so that we can take a good look. After washing and inspecting the wounds, the vet suspects either a parasite or bacterial infection – but there is no mention of Fistulous Withers.  Copper is given a jab of antibiotics for systemic treatment and the vet advises me to wash the wound down daily with Betadine and the apply Savlon - which is topical anti-bacterial cream used for humans, but it works great for horses as well.

Friday, 25th of April: So that brings us to today. All the regional swelling seems to have subsided, and Copper is a bit less sensitive around the wound areas. The Salvon has scabbed over, and I didn’t wash it all off, but plan to do that tomorrow to check out the flesh underneath.

One of the girls down at the paddocks today mentioned Fistulous Withers, and of course, I wondered if that was going to be a problem. I jumped on the internet and did some research. Originally, Fistulous Withers is a very nasty condition that used be quite difficult to eradicate back in time, and quite often would render the infected horse useless or dead!

After further study, I don’t think we have to worry about the infectious Fistulous Wither condition – yet.

Causes of the disease may be the result of infectious, parasitic, or physical factors. Actinomyces bovis and Brucella abortus are the common organisms responsible for fistulous withers, blunt trauma to the withers caused by tack or sharp contact with a fence or another horse or object can lead to infection and inflammation resulting in fistulous withers. The hair-like parasite Onchocerca cervicalis has also been implicated in the early stages of the disease.*

As we know that Copper was subjected to some kind of blunt trauma, and so far hasn’t shown any symptoms of an actual bursa infection which are:

• Swollen withers – this has dissipated
• Signs of fever and pain – some localized sensitivity, but no other pain symptoms
• Open drainage fistulas – these are described as long, narrow tubes², which his wounds are not.
• Lameness – no signs
• Systemic illness – no signs
• Swelling at other areas – no signs

I am assuming that he has not yet been deeply infected in that region. However, in saying that, he obviously has had some kind of abscess in the region of his withers, and whether or not that has fully drained when it burst, or is still causing problems which may lead to a full-on case of Fistulous Withers still remains to be seen.

Unfortunately, my vet did not mention this AT ALL so I have no idea if Fistulous Withers is even on the radar, and it’s public holiday, so I can’t contact them to find out. :/ Plus, tomorrow is Saturday and I don’t know if I’ll be able to get a hold of her then either.

She did take a slid of the infection so I will ask her to test it for any nasty bugs when I contact them.

I will also wash the wound out thoroughly and keep a very close eye on it. The antibiotic jab the vet gave Copper was good for four days, so hopefully that will keep things under control internally and stem any infection until I can get a hold of her again.

So stressful, but I think we have the situation under control for now…

See ya,

bonita

^{1 The Bursa: A closed fluid-filled sac or sac-like cavity. The bursa provides a sliding surface between tissues of the body. Poll Evil and Fistulous Withers are two inflammatory conditions that are closely related and differ essentially only in their location in the respective supraspinous (withers) or supra-atlantal (poll) bursae.
The Merck Veterinary Manual}

^{2 Fistulas are narrow mouthed ulcers or abscesses that can can run a long way under the skin like pipes.
Fistulous Withers}

^{*Information from EquiMed.com}