There's a light...

Here's an updated photo of Gwen's leg:

compare that to two weeks ago:

 

 

Now that's progress you can see!  Finally it's looking like she's going to heal in the near future.  Don't let all that grey stuff bother you, that's just the Equaide.  The hock joint was even less swollen than that, but the weather here has been nasty for the last week and a half and they've been stuck inside a lot -- so it's been filling with fluid.  Grrr. 

You may have noticed that Gwenevere is skinny, well I'm working on that.  She was on antibiotics for a long time and was getting probiotics to offset their affect on her stomach, but she didn't like the taste of the probiotics so she was really picky about eating her feed.  Then the vet suggested I give her some rice bran oil to pack some calories in and she hates the taste of that.  She'd just get mad and paw all the grain out of her pan.  So now I'm onto my Father-in-law's special Cornell Mix (he sells grain for a living, it's legit).  He said it's guaranteed to pack the weight on.  We'll have to see about that, but at least she likes it.  She actually licks the pan out now.  So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she's going to start filling out now.  With winter coming on strong she's going to need a bit of fat!

In Loving Memory

Radal El Wadi

1981-2003

 

 

It was six years ago and here I am crying just posting these pictures.  He was my best friend and I miss him dearly.

I learned how to pull manes today

But I thought that I had left my camera at home so I didn't take any pictures.  Of course I actually had it with me, sigh.

I actually expected them to not like it, but they didn't mind.  Horse hair pulls out a lot easier than human hair, so I guess it doesn't hurt that much.

Why am I learning how to pull manes now?  My horse growing up was an arabian.  I feel that arabians look silly with their manes pulled.  With their delicate heads and graceful necks, they really need a long, flowing mane.  Plus it's style, people with arabians generally don't pull their manes.

Quarter horses are different, unless they're used for reining, they get their manes pulled. 

So now my fingers hurt, but the quarters are looking stylish!

Happy Thanksgiving

I know what the quarters are thankful for... a day nice enough for them to be turned out.

 

 

I turned Coriander out first and then brought Gwen out.  After I brought her through the gate and was turning around to close it, Coriander slipped out.  He says the grass in the lawn is much better than the grass in the pasture, crafty thing.  He'll be happy Tuesday, their pasture rotates on the first of the month.  Which is genius, I'm so doing that when we get our own place.

What am I thankful for?  The horsies of coursies!

Eeking out some progress

Now that it's getting dark at 4:30 (blurg) I have to start spending some training time in the mini-indoor arena.  Last night I put a pole down in the middle and we worked on walking circles and figure 8s.  While it's great to have a space to work where there is light, it's really dusty, the footing isn't so great, and it's mini.  Trotting in there is out, my green gelding doesn't have a handle on being balanced trotting in the outdoor arena, in the mini-indoor he's a disaster.  I think until it gets light enough for me to ride outside after work, I'm going to do ground work and lunging with Coriander in the indoor during the week and only ride on the weekends when we can work outside.  So by February he should be a pro at doing those showmanship maneuvers.

Speaking of those, I got a new book in the mail last night that's full of some great groundwork exercises I'm going to do with both of the quarters, "Right from the Start: Create a Sane, Soft, Well-Balanced Horse" by Michael Schaffer.  We're going to work on leading exercises, ground tying, and introducing them to the bit from the ground.
 
After I put Coriander up, I got Gwen out and worked on picking up those hind feet.  I was telling a coworker of mine about how I haven't been able to pick them up -- she'll pick the foot up but slams it back down before I can hold it, if I do manage to get it she jerks it away while hopping around on three leg -- and she suggested looping a rope around her fetlock and holding her leg up with that.  Then I ran across this article, "My horse won’t lift his back feet to clean. Help!," suggesting the same thing and a link to a video of someone doing it (the filly in that video is so much calmer than Gwen).  So I gave it a try last night and got some improvement!  She still jerks that leg around but she wasn't able to slam it back down immediately and she didn't get as upset as she usually does.  So I'm going to keep it up.  We'll get there yet!

So what am I going to do with these horses?

I'd like to show.

I know almost nothing about showing: I have only the vaguest notion of what the different classes are, what the judges are looking for and how to have an appropriate turnout.  But I have always wanted to show, so, dang it, I'm going to do it.

So here's the tentative plan for Coriander:

• Halter, just for shits and giggles.  He's a well made boy but he does have a clubbed left forefoot and he's sickle hocked.  I think for our first show or two halter may be all we'll do until I know he's comfortable in that atmosphere and I can trust him to listen to me under saddle.  
• Showmanship at halter, cause why not?  If he can do halter he can do showmanship.  All we have to do is learn how to turn on the hindquarters, trot to a mark, back and square up.  We can do that.
• Hunter under saddle, because I think he might be suited for it.  He's got a long, flat stride and that seems to be what the judges are looking for.  He also naturally holds his neck parallel to the ground, which also seems to be the ideal for that class.  I worry that he may be a bit bulkier than most judges prefer, but we'll have to see.
• Trail, because it seems like fun.  

As of right now I have no plans for showing in western pleasure classes.  For one thing I ride english and for another I refuse to train him the way you have to to do well in that class.  I mean look at this crap: AQHA World Show Western Pleasure 2009.  Once you train a horse for that what else can they do?  Where's the versatility?  Why is it pleasant to ride/watch horses that look lame?  I won't do it.  But apparently change is afoot.  So maybe we'll try western pleasure in a few years when they actually decide they want the horses to go forward.

So hopefully he'll be ready next spring.  Of course I'll have to figure out how to get him to a show since I don't have a trailer, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

I saw this halter in an add this morning, I'd like two please.  But seriously, they're $38 each, that's a lot of money for a novelty holiday halter.

We had a lovely trot

Since Gwen has a little residual swelling in her hock from her last infection, the vet suggested that I walk her between bandage changes to try to get the fluids moving.  So yesterday, since it wasn't dark yet, I decided to try a bit of trotting in hand to see if I could get her blood flowing a little.

I'll interject a little background here: this mare had zero halter training prior to last May and when I got her in August it was still very difficult to halter her in her stall.  She's also extremely herdbound and still throws a fit every time I take her brother out of the barn without her.  Plus, because she's been injured, I haven't been able to do much with her other than groom her.  So given that, I was hoping she'd be good but was expecting a nervous, spooky, crazy horse (but thought, "at least that'll get the blood moving").

She was lovely.  As soon as we got off the concrete heading away from the barn (and away from her brother), I asked her to trot and she stepped right up next to me pretty as you please.  She didn't try to run in front of me, or drag behind me, or even pull on the lead rope.  Nor did she spook or throw a fit, and we were heading AWAY from the barn.  I stopped and let her graze at the end of the driveway (about 300 yards from the barn) and then trotted back and she was still a total doll.  I think she even thought it was fun, her stride was completely relaxed and her ears were pricked forward.

I think that's a great improvement for four months!  Now if only she'd let me clean out those hind feet...