Tiny Terror Rises again

So, I think Roscoe is going through another phase. The "Its always rough house play time" phase is not great for humans. My sister fed the horses for us last night and ran into the same issue I did. Roscoe refused to let her leave and tried to play with her by rearing. She did get away with the help of canine distraction.
Today mom and I decided he needed work. I put the bareback pad on DaVinci and mom brought the Brat out to the arena. Ponying lesson #2.
He decided that DaVinci and I made really good moving targets. I had to multitask: ride DaVinci, direct them both, and beat off the baby. Have I mentioned that DaVinci is worth his weight in gold? All during the Roscoe attacks he just kept walking and listening to me. Occasionally he would give a good swish of his tail and tell Roscoe to behave.
After Roscoe nearly pulled me off, we tied the leadline around DaVinci's neck. I also picked up a short whip to keep him off of us both. That worked great for a while. Then Roscoe would hang back and try to rear up onto DaVinci. Thank goodness I do a lot of riding bareback, because he tested all my skills. We did get some peaceful moments and ended the lesson there.
Then he tried to pull the rotten pony routine on mom as she was leading him. Ha, jokes on him. Mom chased his butt around. All the way back to the barn, mom had to move him around. I swear that sweet face hides a devious mind.
DaVinci got a big carrot for his patience and cooperation. Roscoe not worried at all over his activities, cocked a leg in his stall and went to sleep.
We are hoping this behavior is just 8 month old testing us and not hormones starting to show. Any ideas?

Tiny Terror and Groundwork

Yesterday I was grounded due to high winds, so none of the horses worked. I was originally going to feed them and toss them out allowing me to get home early. Best laid plans. Then my dad calls saying he was on his way to paint the feed room. There no way I can leave while he is working.
While he did the small wall, I went out to talk to the boys. I started playing with Winston, doing stretches and him following me around. Next thing I know there is a spoiled baby pushing between us. I ignored him as best I could. Eventually Winston went off to eat hay and I let Roscoe come up to me. We did some stretches and worked on our halts. It was all good until I was heading back to the barn. Roscoe had gone to check out the Appies running around, but then he saw me leaving. Soon I had a cantering pony headed my way. Not normally a problem, but today he decided that he would play with me like he plays with DaVinci. Hmm...600lbs of rearing colt vs me, not good. The worst part was he would not back off and let me leave. I literally took off my glove and was fending him off. I learned to move into him, crazy right but it worked. That boy puts his head up and looks down with trouble in his eyes. Some how, some way I escaped. I immediately went and got his halter and the dressage whip. Time to put the Tiny Terror in his place. He only tried once on the lead and I put a stop to it at once. We so want to establish manners before he is bigger. The last time he pulled these stunts, he was 6-8 weeks old and a lot smaller. Hopefully he just got the wind up his butt.
Today the weather was much better. Comrade and I extended the work we did last week by adding a bigger jump. His trot work is really coming along, but his canter is still weak due to lack of fitness. Using the small cavaletti, we worked on picking up leads. Then I added a small "X" after the cavaletti. He is starting to get the idea of push. Then I added the large vertical. I was happy that he was able to push over the fence and maintain the canter after. With time and work impulsion will come, but the glimmers I see now give me hope.
At my barn I decided on ground work for Rosemary and Winston. I started by lunging Rosemary, then I put her in the balancing system.

Not my pony, but shows the system

The system allows the horse to connect the front the the back while figuring it out for themselves.There are three settings so you can change the difficulty level. Perfect for Rosemary who needs to learn connection. She looked great, better than that picture above. If I can get that while under saddle I will be thrilled. After working her both ways, I took the system off and used the surcingle with the lunge line to long line her just at the walk. She stomped her feet some, but she moved on well. I can't wait for her to start driving training.
Next was Winston. He was a bit of a tourist during the warm up lunging. Once in the system, he focused on the work. He knows about connection and I was more interested in burning some calories off the big boy. We ended with transitions. Winston was a happy pony.
As the sun started setting, I hopped on DaVinci. Surprise, Surprise my pony was cruising today. He felt great. Every ride I have on him is a blessing considering his knee infection could have been the end of his working career. Also, mom and I have noticed he is calmer and quieter. He has been on the natural herbs, Heavens Peace for a couple weeks now and really seems to be working.  We have even started Winston on the herbs to see if they help him as well.
As for the Tiny Terror, he enjoyed a long nap while everyone was working. Tomorrow I will sic mom on Roscoe. She won't be distracted by those cute ears.

New Camera

My poor little red Kodak has been retired, replaced by a new purple Fuji film Z90. The best part is that I got it on sale and had a gift card that covered half the price. Now I have to figure out how to use all the bells and whistles.
Only had time today to take a few pictures. Maybe tomorrow I will play with the video.

My Counting Sheep collection at work

Rosemary and Dottie

DaVinci and Winston's butt

Roscoe found the cat

Roscoe at attention and Griffyn

Look at how long his tail is getting

Winston

Dottie gazing at her kingdom

Great Long Weekend

Well I already told about how well Saturday went, so I will move on to Sunday. Weather forcasted rain and/or snow all day on Sunday. When I left the house it was grey but no precipitation. I went to Peggy's barn first and did a bareback ride on Comrade. The great feeling from Saturday's ride was still there. Also still there, the German Shepherd nipping at his hocks. In the end we all survived, especially the dog.

Then it was on to my barn. I chose to ride the opinionated young girl first. She is very good at stomping her feet when she does not understand a concept.

Hmm, anything in the bucket?

Bending and softening while traveling straight is tough for her. Mom and I are still working through methods. On Sunday she was in a fighting mood. Eventually, I put my outside hand on the grab strap then using my inside hand I lead her head in and then used inside leg plus indirect rein to push her back into the outside. We did this at the walk. I stayed the same and let her figure things out. Light bulb moment. She softened so nicely and at one point she picked up a trot maintaining the contact. She had a nice soft, floppy neck when I got off her. Why are moments like this so satisfying with a green horse? It felt really good to break through.

Ooh, a camera.

Up next, DaVinci. I decided to put a saddle on him for the first time since his injury. As soon as I sat in the saddle I realized it was sitting too close to his withers. Well, he normally picks his back up after some warm up, so we headed out. DaVinci wanted  to go for a stroll around the fields which worked with the saddle situation. We had a great walk past the woodpile and the deer stands. He wanted to walk around the pond, but I had to say no because the grass was long and no way was I taking a chance with him. DaVinci was a happy pony when we got back to the barn.

My Polar Bear Pony :)

If you read Saturdays post, you will remember the crazy teenagers. They were back on Sunday. At least they came after I was done riding. After I fed the horses their dinner and was getting ready to turn them out, 2 of the girls came over. "Are you leaving soon?" "Can we ride?"
Cricket, Cricket, hmm.
I took a chance and said they could ride Dottie, but I had to get on her first. Dottie was lame for a while and we gave her time off. She has been looking frisky lately so I felt safe to work her. I only rode her a short time, but she felt good. Then the girls got on one at a time. In one of her prior homes she did therapy work, so she followed me around the yard. I stopped, she stopped. Such a good girl. She even followed one of the girls around while her friend rode. I don't know which of the three was happier. I love when my horses are happy. Sugar cubes and carrots made up for being used as a pony ride horse.  A lovely end to the day... with no snow.

Today revealed 3in of snow at home, but it melted quickly. To save on gas I took a miss on riding Comrade. Mom and Dad had plans to start painting the feed room, so I went to play with Roscoe. Armed with the camera and a lunge whip I was going to get a 8 month video of him moving. I got the video, but the camera did not end up sharing it. This was not the end of the technical difficulties. Later I tacked up DaVinci and Mom led Roscoe out to the field for a lesson in ponying. He was so quick to figure out about following. Mom took a video, but the camera again rejected it. So here is the one surviving image of the ride.

So my long weekend consisted of great rides, break throughs, happy ponies and a lot of work completed. I hope everyone else had as great a weekend.

Mid Fifties February Day

This has been a weird winter so  far. I ended up dressing too warm for the day. At least I wear layers and could strip down.
Luckily for me there was a light wind, so I could put sheets on the horses and keep them somewhat clean. I thought about trying to ride, but I really needed to trim DaVinci and Winston's feet. Not long after I decided to be good and get my trims done, the kids that live on the property started racing the golf cart around and goofing off.  Nothing like crazy teenagers.
Since I had my tools out I decided to round up Rosemary's feet to stay ahead of her toes. Then I put the girls out and started on the boys. DaVinci was a perfect gentleman. His feet are new to me because he normally wears shoes on the front. For the winter we pull them so he does not get snowballs. Ha snowballs. Maybe tomorrow. Anyway he basically grows lots of toe, so I trim the bottom and file back from the front. Winston feet I have trimmed since we have owned him so he only needed a few touch ups. Of course as I start his trim the teenagers start screaming and running around. Winston had to see what was happening, which meant moving around in the cross ties. Eventually we both finished the job. DaVinci and Winston went out to watch the golf cart and crazy teenagers running after it. Just as I bring Roscoe out to round up his feet, some of the teenagers come to pet the horses. Roscoe was all for it and Winston was ready to check to see if they had any treats. "Watch you fingers and your feet" was my warning especially since one of them had on flip flops. They have short attention spans and left quickly. Unfortunately all the activity had Roscoe wound up. He did not want to stand still or leave his foot on the stand. Persistence and patience on my part paid off with four rounded feet.
After I tucked the boys out in the field with their flakes of hay, I left to go to Peggy's. Comrade was a mud puppy. No blankets to keep him clean :( As I was chipping him out, Peggy came out to tell me she was out of commission. A downed horse sprained Peggy's knee trying to get up. The things we do for the animals we love. Peggy is hobbling around, but her friends horse was lost. Such a tough situation.
Peggy was soon escorted back to the house by her concerned husband. Comrade and I headed off to the arena. Almost two weeks of no work and Comrade was ready to go. He had the best walk I have ever felt on him. At the walk we did some shallow serpentines, lead him in then leg yield him out. Then we moved on to the trot doing the same exercise. He was distracted by the dogs running through the leaves at the side of the arena. I was determined to work him through his "the dogs are going to eat me phase." My reward was a really great trot with push from behind and when I got his attention, connection. The best part was that it did not fizzle when the dogs stopped running. I just rode and enjoyed.  Onward to the canter. With the canter I ask for the depart then ask him to move on. We did well considering we had to avoid running over Peggy's German Shepherd. Then I added a challenge for Comrade, picking up the lead over a small fence or cavaletti. About 90% of the time he picked up the correct lead. Good enough for the first time. We ended out on trail jumping a few jumps. He waited for me and did not try to charge after the jumps so I hopped off and we walked back to the barn. Peggy sent her husband out for the after report :)
It was still in the fifties when I finished for the day. And tomorrow the forecast is 90% chance of rain in the morning and snow in the afternoon. Maybe tomorrows post will be Mid thirties February day. We shall see.

Does This Make My Butt Look Big???

Pretty Girl

Mom decided that she wanted a side by side picture of Rosemary and Roscoe. Since he was weaned we have not done a pair shot. So even though it was only the two of us be took on the challenge.

Posing Boy blocking Mom

Take 1

Take 2 Good Ponies

Always looking for cookies

Ugh, Rosemary says this is a bad angle

 Only standing next to Roscoe does Rosemary look so stout. By herself or by the others she looks Cobby, but elegant. And yes Rosemary this makes your butt look big :)

Back view

 Finally got a good side view that shows how close in size they are.

Side view

Handsome boy, with Griffyn in the background

Her mane is getting long, Yay

We worked them both in hand for a little while after the photo shoot. Rosemary stopped to watch Roscoe work. I tried to get pictures while I worked her, but the lead line was not long enough.

Rosemary's eyelid today

Last week we pulled Rosemary's stitches. Thank God she was a good girl and stayed still while I used cuticle scissors to cut the stitches. I had visions of poking her in the eye. Her lid looks really good. We are still waiting for the biopsy results though.

I also took pictures of the dirty DaVinci. He excels at face painting with mud as his media. Someone sure named him well.

Only a light mud job today

His poor forelock gets sanded off

"If I were a rich man"

Okay, I just got home from watching Fiddler on the Roof at our local dinner theater. Great show, great food and the best part great conversation. Watching the play has me itching to ride with music. It is always fun to see how the horses respond to different songs. Of course the 40mph+ winds need to stop before I try.
Now for fun. What would I do if I became a rich (wo) man? In no particular order:

1. Pay off Rosemary. Her breeder very kindly allows me to make payments, very small payments. I can't wait until my name is announced as her and Roscoe's owner at a Welsh Show.
2. Take lessons. I sorely miss lessons and with the horses I have now they would be greatly appreciated. I remember when I was younger, 4 lessons cost as much as 1 now a days.
3. Pay off vet bills. Colic surgery, cremation, standing levage, pins in broken back legs (Griffyn), mystery tumors. It is amazing how the bills add up.
4. Take a working student position. I live in an area ripe with eventers and dressage riders with working student positions. If money was no worry, I would jump at the chance to learn.
5. Get a house with land. I would love to have our horses on the same property that I live on. Cutting out the hour drive to the barn would free up so much time to ride.
6. Go to shows and clinics. Gas is so expensive right now that I have to limit the shows I do.

So thats what I would do if I had money. What would you do?



Pardon my model :{

 But for now this shirt I got my mom sums up life right now. "EQUUS KEEPUS BROKUS"

Romping Roscoe

The first possible Welsh breed show is in April. Whether we go or not will depend on money, but we still want Roscoe ready. At his age he can only do the in hand breed standard classes. Toddlers and Tiaras for ponies. Basically, you lead the horse into the arena going to the right at  a trot. Thats right the person gets the long track so the horse is not blocked. A lap around then stand in the middle so the judges can examine. Most times the judge will ask to see the horse walk and trot.  Sounds simple right?
Well we took Roscoe last year when he was 12 weeks old. He spent most of the time trotting while trying to bite me. Out of 4 cobs, including Rosemary, he placed 2nd.

This year the goal is to have him trot on a loose leadline. We played with him yesterday and he was a star. Today we brought the camera and took him out to the big field where we ride. He acted like a tourist, but eventually he worked some. He decided that canter was more fun than trot today. The only problem is that I am 5'2" with short legs. In the end we got some nice square halts and two canters leads. Well we have time.
So have a nice laugh at our impressive boy and me trying to keep up :)

Okay lets see if this video works :{

Intro to my Headliners

Some of you may wonder who are the two horses in my headline. They have the honor of being our first and second horses we owned. I will start with the bay, Sherman.
Sherman, a bay 15.2h Morgan gelding was the first horse my family owned. He was mom's in truth. My dad was stationed at Quantico, VA and they had a stable for military families. Mom worked for the stable. She and I both took care of boarders' horses to make extra money. While doing this she met Sherman. He was a high strung and stressed out horse at the time and would dash out the stall door given the chance. As mom cared for him, a bond grew. Mom has always had a great ability to understand horses. Eventually his owners offered to sell him to my parents. Mom was torn. He was not a family horse and had loads of baggage to work through. Plus his price of $2000 was tough for a military family of six.

Dad worked it out and was able to do a payment plan. So 7yr old Sherman was ours. Years of holistic, chiropractic and good care combined with correct work made Sherman into a horse worth 5x what we paid. We had our challenges. He was allergic to fly bites, so we became the barn crazies that had fly sheets and boots on our horses. He also was what we called a "Stelding" meaning he acted like a stallion sometimes around the mares. Some questioned whether he had parts left behind.
Sherman always had presence. That shined through in his work. Since he was so smart, you had to be careful he did not get bored because that's when he would find something more interesting. When he became a teenager he did start to settle down. Mom was able to teach lessons on him, which we never thought would happen. His main training was in dressage, but he did compete with me in eventing and some schooling hunter shows. When my pony was injured, Sherman became my jumper. He was a blast to jump. After an unauthorized stroll with Dottie, he injured a tendon and was put on stall rest. We had to be creative to keep his mind satisfied.
In July of 2010, just over two weeks after my moms birthday, we found Sherman having violent colic. My heart just dropped. I had never seen a horse in so much pain. He looked like he had aged a decade. Our great vet rushed over and decided surgery was the only option. Colic surgery has come a long way and even though Sherman was 22 they still believed it was worth a try.
Due to the violence of his colic they believed he had a strangulation colic and chance for recovery depended on how much intestine died and whether a bypass was needed. He ended up having over 8 fatty lypomas. Where the lypomas had wrapped around his intestine was not in a good spot. His chance for recovery went down to 50%. At that time we had to make the decision to let him go.

When we said goodbye to him, he looked young again. That helped to know he was not in pain anymore. We kept a part of his tail hair and settled on cremation. After 15 wonderful years Sherman was gone.
I may put up some more pictures of him when I get them scanned. It broke my heart to find I had no pictures of me riding him. We were blessed to have Sherman as a first horse. Most people do not get that lucky the first time.
Sherman proves that a horse that seems unlikely can later enrich your life beyond what you could ever imagine.

Mindset

Well the weather actually cooperated. I did about an hours worth of work at my barn and then headed to Peggy's. When I pull up to the barn I noticed that the horses were in early. Normally they are turned out till about 3pm. The question was answered by Peggy when she came and told me that Comrade may be lame. What?
Turns out that Comrade had a big head and decided to take on Addie. He backed up to her three times bucking. I could see ruffled fur all over his butt. I decided to use the bareback pad so I could feel if he was anyway off. No lameness. He actually was ready to work. We did some lateral work, mostly to avoid the dog, and some transitions. The only problem I had was that I put on my Cuddle duds and they are a little slippery when you are bareback. So I just tried to stay centered and ride through my slips. Comrade gave me some really good canter transitions and I let him be done. I am sure he is more sore today.
We found out after the ride that he nailed Addie on the inside of her back leg. Poor girl was dripping blood. Cleaned her up and put a layer of Alu Spray on.
It was still early when I got back to my barn. The ever present question arose; Who do I ride? The easy choice is to ride DaVinci. Rosemary always needs work. Dottie is coming off a lameness so she needs better footing. And Winston has not been ridden in... oh who knows. I made the hard choice to ride Winston.
Winston is a sweetheart, but a very complicated one. When we first got him, he would take off for unknown reasons. The result was me falling hard twice. He rattled my confidence badly. After a lot of groundwork mom started riding him and eventually I did too. I signed up for a dressage show and the Tuesday before the show he took off again. At the show I was a wreck. Surprisingly once we got in the show ring we were some what able to do the test. After that I said that I would not ride him until he and I were both in a better mindset.
In 2009, I found a trainer to come and ride him. She did great work with him. He was more balanced and settled into working. He still has the "take off" in him, but it takes more to trigger it. Due to finances I could not longer afford training. My mom is his main rider, but I am more confident now and will get on him. I have to really focus on keeping a positive mindset and staying relaxed.

Winston (left) and DaVinci

I crawled on and put my feet in the stirrups only to realize that they were set for my mom. Short stirrups are not the best when riding Winston. I like to feel around him. Unfortunately, by myself there was no way I was going to try and change the stirrups. "Just breathe" was my mantra.
I started by checking the brakes, then moved on to some lateral work to get his mind focused. I had to be aware and ignore the cat pouncing on mystery mice by the bushes. Then Rosemary figured out that the boys were in the barn and she was missing out. Therefore she starts doing laps and calling. Did I mention that I was still on the sensitive horse that had not been worked in ages with short stirrups? Bless him he took care of me. We even did a some trot circles where we leg yielded out to make the circle bigger. Then we halted and I took a deep breath. When he answered with a big sigh and chewed, I gave him a piece of sugar and hopped off. I may never ride him like the trainer does, but I can at least make sure he feels involved. Winston reads people well and so when he offers more when I ride him, I feel complimented that he thinks I can handle what he does.
Riding Comrade, who does spook, take off and buck at times has definitely helped when I ride Winston. That being said though, I won't even consider getting on him if I am stressed or worried about anything. Mindset is a very powerful tool.

Weather 1 vs Me 0

Okay we go from nearly 60 degree days to a forecast of snow preceded by rain. I decided to stick to my schedule. The day was gray and cool, but I stayed positive.
Once the horses were fed, I pulled out my farrier stuff. Rosemary was up first. She has great feet, but they tend to get long in the toes.  We had our normal battle over her keeping her foot on the stand. She has gotten much better though. I could barely get her to pick her feet up when we got her. So with her toes nicely rounded, Rosemary went out with Dottie.
Next I decided to try and trim Roscoe. Normally I wait for mom to be there to hold him, but she has been working weekends. I put Roscoe in the cross ties and started with his front foot. I needed to trim his toe and a little heel. He has great feet too. After a tug a war over him keeping his foot in the cradle, I did manage to get the work done. His other 3 feet just needed toe trimmed. What helped is Roscoe has been clicker trained. When he relaxed and stayed on the stand, I clicked. By the end he figured out what I wanted him to do.

Good boy standing after his trim

As I put the boys out I noticed rain drops. Just a few. I grabbed the bareback pad and headed to Peggy's. There was no rain at her place so I thought I would squeeze a ride in. Between the two of us we got Comrade ready. When I went to get my helmet, I saw rain falling outside. My time had run out. So there was Comrade dressed with a running braid and no place to go. I tried leaving him dressed to see if the rain would stop but no luck. Off came the bareback pad. Peggy and I then tackled trimming chestnuts and ergots. I finally remembered to bring my nippers. Addie has ergots that resemble tree roots. I have never seen them get so big. Her feathers tend to hide them. These cobs have tough chestnuts and ergots. The dogs were happy cleaning up after me. When we finished Comrade, Peggy took out the braid. Of course the rain stopped. I did not bite though. I knew by time I got him ready again it would be raining.
Sure enough as I was loading the dogs it started sleeting.
Tomorrow shows more rain. Score will probably be Weather 2 vs Me 0.
Hope everyone else is having better weather.

Holistic Advice

Surprisingly my mom was able to get a phone consult with our holistic vet, Joyce Harman yesterday. The main conversation point was about Rosemary's eyelid. Because of the location she does not recommend using any healing ointments. So instead we will only treat her by feeding Thuja. Luckily this can be found at the Vitamin Shoppe. We have used Thuja before for a sarcoid and had good results. If the tumor does not reappear in a couple months, Rosemary may be good to go. Only time will tell. Now we wait to make sure the biopsy does not come back with anything crazy.
Mom also talked to her about Roscoe. Basically about overall foal care. She gave us tips for when we geld him, like don't do it on a full moon. They will bleed more. She has a way of putting things that makes you go "Duh." Roscoe has been getting two feeding a day of Legends Mare and Foal food. All our other horses live on air and were only fed once a day before Roscoe came. When mom asked about feeding Roscoe, Joyce put it like this: In the wild mares have foals and those foals do not magically get to eat better or more than the other horses in the herd, so why do it in a domestic situation. See what I mean? Especially since Roscoe is a pony breed, he will be okay with only a vitamin supplement and the forage we feed once a day. We will probably finish the food we have and then reevaluate feeding for all the horses.
Next she told Joyce about Winston's carcinoma on his face. This tumor would pop up in late summer and then fade in the winter. It got really big last year and we had it biopsied. We ended up treating it with a cancer treatment cream. Now only the surgery scar is left. Joyce said she had dealt with a seasonal tumor before, so if his reoccurs she can help. Holistic treatments can take longer but be less invasive.
Finally she talked about DaVinci. The end of September DaVinci got loose and tripped and fell on his knees.

The next day he was so swollen and nearly three legged. My poor boy was miserable. A long wait for the vet revealed that it could be a possible puncture to the joint. Later we had to trailer him to the vet's for evaluation. He did have an infected joint. My lacking finances only allowed for a standing lavage, basically they stuck 12 gauge needles in his knee joint and pumped 3 liters of saline through the joint. Then they injected the knee with antibiotics. He ended up spending the night at the vets, which completely stressed him out. After we took him home he would not settle or eat. Our vet had to tube him and put in electrolytes. Ace became our friend and we reworked the aisle way so that he had a whole end of the barn for his "stall" rest. Two months later we survived and DaVinci can be ridden. The only problem is DaVinci is not quite back to normal. He has moments of hyper vigilance and gets tense. This is one of those times I am glad for my lack of finances. If I had the money he could have spent nearly 10 days at the vets. I can only imagine what his mind frame would be after that. So Joyce is sending us a Chinese herb remedy to try and help him find balance again. She also recommended that we keep Hepar Sulphur (I think this is right) on hand for future puncture wounds to help ward off infection. I would feel really bad since I think we have this in our holistic kit, but she said since it was his knee nothing would have helped.
It was an expensive call, but worth every minute. Afterwards Mom took a few pictures of the boys playing. Now I know why DaVinci comes in tired.

Mom was spotted by Roscoe

Hmm, Can you find Roscoe?

Trouble

Roscoe and DaVinci

Boy whats he going to do when Roscoe is bigger?



DaVinci keeps him in line