It's always something!

I have the worst luck when it comes to riding!!!

Ya'll know if you've read this blog that I spent some time out of the saddle this past spring due to a really bad episode of sciatica. After much physical therapy I was finally able to get back in the saddle...then my mom fell and broke her hip, so I spent the better part of the summer going back and forth to Central Oregon. Didn't get one trail ride in all summer long.

Well, I'm back now. Went out and rode twice last week. Friday's ride was divine so I figured I'd give Boo a spa day on Saturday since he's been rather neglected this summer. I headed out to the barn Saturday afternoon. I knew something was wrong as soon as I tried to give him his carrot. He turned his head sideways and took the carrot out of one side of his mouth. Then he proceeded to mouth it, but couldn't seem to chew it. I looked him over and the underside of his chin where that little fat pad is seemed sort of hard compared to how it usually feels. I thought maybe he'd been stung, but I couldn't find a point of entry. He also appeared to be tender on his left cheek up high and I detected some bad breath which this boy never has. DH and I managed to get the slobbery carrot out of his mouth so he wouldn't choke on it.

I went ahead and took him into the barn and proceeded with his bath. He didn't like it much, but I promised him he would be really happy about what came next. That would be getting to free graze on the grass outside the barn. Boo is a real chow hound and he loves nothing better than eating. I turned him out to graze and dry off in the sun while I cleaned up the shower stall. I kept an eye on him, however, and I did not like what I was seeing. He appeared to try to graze but would then move on to another spot, then another, then another. That is so not like this horse. Once his head is down it stays down and wandering is kept to a minimum. After a few minutes of this he managed to tear loose a big clump of something green, but 5 minutes later he was still standing there mouthing it and saliva was flowing out of his mouth. Once again, between the two of us DH and I managed to remove the offending food from his mouth. Boo was not chewing and he was not swallowing.

Enough of that!!! I called the vet. Turns out they were in the vicinity and after a 3 hour wait they turned up at the barn to check Boo out. The vet explained to me what it could be. It could be a cracked tooth, it could be he had something stuck up there in his mouth, it could be he'd been kicked in the jaw and had soft tissue damage or worst case scenario a fracture. Boo didn't have any evidence of trauma, so I thought it more likely he had something stuck in there or a cracked tooth. After some sedation, and some checking, the doc said "he has remarkably good teeth for a 20-year-old horse, and he doesn't appear to have anything stuck in there...so that leaves soft tissue damage from some kind of trauma or a fracture.

He left us with instructions to give him bute for pain morning and night, to feed him a senior feed mash along with grass hay cubes that have been soaked in water, to monitor how much water he was drinking, and to call on Monday. If he's no better they will do a radiograph. Thank God I have a great barn owner who has been through similar feeding rituals before. She jumped right in and has been keeping me posted ever since. He's eating the mash and cubes. This morning she even said he seemed to be chewing it and that was a good sign. DH and I went out this afternoon and I saw for myself that he is working that jaw much more than yesterday.

I have no idea what happened to my horse or if this is going to get better all on it's own or not. I guess a little more time will tell. I plan to go out tomorrow and check out the eating and chewing situation again. Monitor that he's been pooping and check out that tender jaw and the funky smell. Then I'll decide if I'm going to go for x-rays or just wait until Wednesday when our regular vet (not the one on call) is scheduled to be out for shots. Dr. S is pretty good about things having to do with the mouth, so I'll feel a lot better once he has looked him over. No offense meant to the younger/newer vet, but this is my baby were talking about here.

It may mean I'm not going to be able to ride Boo for awhile. We'll see. If it does it looks like Bay and I will be getting much better acquainted than we have been in the past. Maybe it will be a good thing to ride another horse for awhile :(

Pendleton Round-up's 100th birthday

Went to the 100th Pendleton Round-up last week!!! It was a blast and well worth the effort. Saw fellow blogger Karen from Life At The Rough String while in the Let'er Buck Room and got to meet her "man." If you read this Karen, I hope we get to see you both at the Columbia circuit finals in November!

The Round-up is my favorite rodeo. It has a mystique all its own. The shopping is pretty good too ;) I'll share some of the goodies I found with you in later blogs.

Now it's time to get back to real life. I haven't seen the boys (Boo and Baythoven) in over a week. I'm planning on spending most of the day at the barn tomorrow so I can ride, plus the farrier is coming. I picked up the girls (Poko and Miley) from the kennel earlier this afternoon, and they were very excited to be coming home.

Can't believe that summer has come to an end...

Summer's Ending

Had my first ride in 2 weeks on "my little pony" yesterday. I gotta tell ya he was a bit of a butt. He wanted to run around with his head in the air the majority of the ride. I had only planned a short ride...say 30 minutes. Figured it would be a good way to work back into riding and not be so sore. Unfortunately, I had to spend more than an hour in the saddle just to finally get him consistently on the bit and listening to me. Please tell me everybody has days like this?

I'm sure things will get better as I get back into riding consistently. Wanted to find time to give him a bath, but looks like that won't happen right away. Still playing catch up from the crazy summer I had. All I really want to do today is crawl back into bed, pull the covers up over my head, and sleep for 24 hours straight. Instead I have the puppies in for their annual check-up and I have an appointment to wash away the gray hairs on my aging head.

I enjoyed my visits with my sister and niece this past couple of weeks. Wish we could see one another more often. Plan to head out to Cheyenne next summer, but most likely won't see them again before that. I have a camping trip and a rodeo on the agenda for September. Looking forward to the rodeo. Camping trip...not so much...it's getting cold now and I don't like to be cold.

I took some great shots of the sunset in Central Oregon when I was there. There were wildfires and they always leave the horizon smokey. That makes the color beautiful.

Family dynamics

I had a long talk with Boo yesterday. I needed to apologize for neglecting him this summer. I normally ride much more often then I've been, he usually gets more baths and grooming sessions, and we usually get out on a couple of trail rides. Family issues have been keeping me away from the barn a lot this summer, and we are about to have another 2-week session due to my sister arriving from Wyoming for her annual visit. I'll be spending quite a bit of time with her and my mom, and once again not so much time with Boo. This time, however, I have made arrangements for Sarah to ride and give him some time and attention. She'll work him but she will love on him too.

I also needed to apologize to him for the family dynamic that has cropped up between the animals in the family. Now, I don't take the dogs out to the barn much. Quite frankly, they live with me full time and when I'm out there I want the horses to have my attention without the distraction of the dogs...but Baythoven is out there 24/7 and sometimes he sucks up all the attention in the vicinity. You all recognize that dynamic right? The kid who is always into something whether it's trouble or illness or just a lot of time consuming activities? The one who sucks up all the energy in the house? The often times problem child that everyone obsesses over leaving the quiet, self-reliant, competent kids to fend for themselves? Well, that's what Baythoven is like, and sometimes that leaves Boo on his own while we try to deal with Baythoven's next crisis, illness, or show...

So, I needed to give Boo some undivided attention and yesterday he got it. I didn't even look at Baythoven. Boo and I had the barn to ourselves and it was all about our partnership. I must say even without my doting attention Boo is looking good. We groomed and tacked up and headed to the indoor to start our warm up. He was a little to snorty for the outdoor if no one else was going to be around. Somebody needs to remind him that he's 21.

We did our usual warm up, and I already knew that the work out was going to be about lateral movement. We started in the walk and worked up to the trot. At first he was a bit lazy so I gave him more leg...then he started to speed up. He'd give me a nice working trot down the center line and when I'd ask for the leg yield he would get FASTER and FASTER and FASTER not listening to anything I had to say on the subject.

I don't know his motivation because he can't tell me, but I suspect it could be
1. He is ticked off at me.
2. He is trying to get the leg yield over with as quickly as possible.
3. It is easier for him to do at a faster pace.

Whatever!!!! I immediately changed the focus of the lesson to one of listening to my cues. We headed down the center line at a working trot, and then I would tighten my tummy muscles and slow my seat to get the slowest trot I could get without him stopping completely. We would go a few strides and I would push him forward into a lengthening then bring him back to working and push to lengthening then bring him back to jog, etc. Once I established that he was listening I sent him down the center line and started to leg yield. I used the same cues to adjust to the tempo I wanted and he was much better.

Our canter work was short but sweet. No hesitation, just stepped into a nice smooth canter and kept the pace. I suspect he was actually happy to finish with the lateral work and do a nice easy canter ;)

All in all I spent a good 2 hours with Boo giving him my undivided attention. I talked to him the entire time, and I don't know if he feels better but I sure do.

Wordless Wednesday

To hot for a flysheet

I got out to the barn early this morning. After listening to the weather forecast before I went to bed last night I knew it would be ride early or not at all. Bay was in the middle of having his hocks and front hooves injected when I got there. Apparently he was not happy about being kept in this morning when all the other horses went out. When the vet finished up she put him into a stall in the big barn with a view of the pastures and all the horses. He seemed to be content with snacking on some extra flakes of hay and watching his buddies. He will go back to his regular stall tonight when everyone comes in for dinner ;)

He'll get a little time off now and then Tuesday Sarah will ride him in her lesson. That will tell a lot. He'll be on nsaids for a couple of weeks...then we'll see how he does on his own. If he's still having problems then I'll try the Adequan. In the meantime Sarah was able to ride another horse at the barn. A very nice half Arab mare who knows much more than Bay does. She's retired from showing, but could be a nice school master for Sarah. I'm also going to have her exercise Boo for me while my family is here from Wyoming. Won't be able to get out like I want to, but I don't want him to just stand in the pasture either.

Our ride this morning went well. It was windy and I started out in the sand arena. He handled that well. He does make me work harder there. After our warm up we moved to the indoor where he is much more relaxed. Today I was just asking him to listen to my cues and try to transition while still on the bit. My next ride will be more lateral work. After the ride I let him graze for a bit while I watched Sarah's lesson. He was a very happy horse when I took him back to the pasture.

Decisions

Although the weather has been weird this summer, it does FINALLY feel like summer to me. After we painted my mom's living room for her I got to come home, and I've been here ever since. Mom seems to be getting around well with a cane and my stepdad has his wheelchair.

I've been riding Boo regularly. We're still working on transitions while staying on the bit. I get them about 5 out of 10 tries, so there is still work to be done. He's looking really good weight-wise and staying sound (knock on wood). I am planning on going on a trail ride with him next week! I'm really excited about it. I'm a little aprehensive too. Boo can be a bit of a fraidy cat.

The hubby and I went out to Mollala Saturday night to the Ross Coleman invitational. It is a fundraiser for the Make A Wish Foundation. We got to see some great bull rides. Ross was there (of course) and Mike Lee, Chris Shivers, JP Mauney, Austin Meier...just to name a few. Those names probably won't mean anything to you unless your a PBR fan, but it was a fun night and there were some rank bulls there. There was a silent auction and in between the long and short rounds they had a live auction. PBR tickets in Las Vegas this coming year with VIP treatment were my favorite items. They went for about 2200 dollars. I don't know how much money was ultimately raised for Make A Wish but I think the event was a success.

Yesterday was a looonnng day and a bit overwhelming. Bay has been showing signs of unhappiness for a while now. We've had the chiropractor out because we thought he was back sore. We've had the saddle fitter out. Nothing seemed to be fixing the problem, so we had the vet do a lameness exam on him yesterday. He has some positive results in both front feet and the right and left hock. Looks like arthritic changes. Looks like hock injections are in his future. The front feet showed slight navicular changes that the vet is managing with shoeing. We are having the hocks injected on Friday. That along with some nsaid management should help the inflammation response and keep him more comfortable. It's extremely important that he gets exercise, however, not with any collection until about 5 days after the injections. Going back to normal riding will tell us a lot about how the injections are going to work...and then we will see how often they will have to be done. We talked about putting him on Adequan too. Anyone out there with experience with that? If he continues to show he may get Legend as well, but only if he shows. Same question as above...anyone have experience using Legend? All of this is overwhelming to even contemplate right now. It seems like a lot for a 13-year-old horse to endure for a few blue ribbons.

If we retire him from showing and just use him as hubby does...for a trail horse and an occasional cow sorting we might not have to do anything but give him some bute before hand to help out with pain management. It's kind of like me actually. I take ibuprofen right before I ride ;) Then again we could still end up doing the hock injections. Who knows?

He's only 13-years-old so we weren't to happy to hear this. Now we've got some decisions to make. It's devastating for Sarah because she had finally gotten to the point with Bay where she was not only comfortable showing but looking forward to it. She had to vet out of our Arabian sporthorse regionals last weekend. Something she had been working towards all season.

Ultimately what we care most about is keeping him comfortable, sound, and fit.