Brain Surgery

I got Ember a Ball...

Today was the day, despite all the rain dances he did while we were in Florida. Ember underwent brain surgery today, aka he was gelded. We planned this date to be during our vacation, after the worst of the flies, not during the full moon and before the muddy winter hit.
This was a first experience for us and we had a front row seat. Poor Ember had to have no food after midnight. Peggy was nice and pulled his hay net at 1158. He was STARVING by time we came in this morning. He could not understand why he could not have breakfast. We told all the other horses they had to wait too.

In exchange for 2

The vets, yeah we got two for this procedure, showed up at 900. They decided the 20x20 run in shed would work well for the surgery. First they had to prep him. Surprisingly, they got the first sedation needle into him okay. Then things got tricky when they went to put the IV in. Ember said hell no to the big needle. The spot developed a hematoma, so they had to go to the other side of the neck. Eventually with a struggle they got it in. Now we had to move him to the shed. On the way they were going to flush his mouth to make sure his esophagi stayed clear, but Ember was not having it. Mom slipped food to everyone else.

"Feed Me!!!"

Once in the shed, he got the first of his cocktail. When he was under enough, they gave the one to drop him. Ember did not sit like they wanted. He did his normal thing of going forward and landed in an awkward spot. Luckily, they could shift him on the pea gravel. Then we put him on his back. I ended up riding his chest for the whole procedure, holding him up and watching his front feet. One vet managed the anaesthesia and the other did the gelding. The tech was a bit green, so the scrub took a little long. They had to top off his drugs after the first crunch. Baby boy started to sweat. The vet got the second one while the other was doing it's five minutes clamped. He got topped off again as the second one was clamped. The first side clotted well and did not need additional attention. Ember felt the hole being stretched and shot up his left legs. And yep, he got more drugs. The second had oozing which required a ligature. That unfortunately was not easy with the tension Ember had on the muscle. More drugs. Ember was sweating up a storm, I was roasting and my legs were shaking. I was thrilled when they finished. Ember decided to sleep awhile.

Searching for food

But boy when he woke somewhat up, he was ready to go. The vet made him stay down for a bit longer. Ember still had his tongue sticking out. Even with his tongue wagging, he was determined to sit up. He did not linger long on his chest. Up he went and then he promptly peed. He could barely stand, but he was ready to run. Or wobble his way back to the barn.  Once they removed the IV and jabbed him with a tetanus, he was free. Poor bugger went right to looking for food. He looked like a foal trying to stand for the first time. Plus he peed like four more times.
We had to wait for him to wake up a bit more before feeding him. Then he ate like he had not seen food in years. We had a moment of panic when a stream of blood came. That was way more than a drop a second. I watched and thankfully it slowed. He had relaxed his arched back and probably had a pocket release. He is on stall rest today and separated from the boys for a week. We will have to work him twice a day for 15min as he heals. Bute and cold hosing are on the schedule too. He and I are both walking stiff legged. Ember will take a couple of weeks to heal completely.
The deed is done and after 7yrs we finally have our Cob gelding. It cost as much as Roscoe's phantom training, but long term it will be cheaper. Overall the experience was tough and I am glad they only go through it once. Our vets did great with the details and Ember seemed to forgive us when dinner arrived. Gotta love Cobs :)

"Make My Pony Appreciate Me"

In all the craziness that is life right now, I have not really been able to talk about the new trainer. Lauren (not Sprieser, can't afford her) has come out for a few lessons. She uses similar techniques to what Natasha did, so the transition has been pretty smooth.

Lauren on Comrade

Natasha had said that we needed to start asking Roscoe to pick himself up. Roscoe says that is too much work and please keep carrying him. So when Lauren came, she brought a quiet firmness that pushed his buttons. During her part of the ride, he threw a fit. Stomping feet, head throwing, biting and rearing included. Roscoe will definitely test the boundaries. 2nd ride


Her second ride, Roscoe was less combative. He still thinks picking up his back and stepping into canter is overrated, but at least his work ethic was improved. Lauren said she felt a difference from the previous month. The best part for me is being able to get on after her and reap the benefits. The biggest being my pony appreciates me. Before the show I had her ride and "make my pony appreciate me." Considering the show, my evil plan worked.

3rd ride
Lauren has her ways to reach the people to. Prepping for the show, she told me to ride my straight lines in a shoulder fore. Which basically straightens my crooked little man. Then she told me to use "Beyonce Hips" during my free walk. Roscoe has almost too much forward in his walk, so I had to activate using a side to side hip swing vs a forward hip roll. With help from her, I am starting to feel my green bean sprout some leaves.

Now if only he and the others would magically appear with clips by time I get back from Florida. This heat and humidity is horrible. The last show of the summer series is the 28th. And crazy me, I am already looking at the winter series. I could not resist when I found out the shows would be at the same farm where the inspection took place only 30 minutes away.

VA MidAtlantic Welsh Show

I am still playing catch up, but here are some photos from the Welsh show 9/7/17. The boys were the only Cobs, so no big surprise wins. People remembered Roscoe when he was little at this show years ago. They have watched him grow up. Now they get to see Ember.

Ember's Opinion of this show stuff

Tail monster always makes an appearance

Training Level Debut

We made it to the show with no other issues and immediately got Mom and Rosemary ready to go. Rosemary did a bit of cob trot, but quickly remembered how tough it was and went to work. She took over the calling since Comrade was at home. Then she decided to spice the show up with some bucking due to giant horse flies. Luckily we keep Vicks in the trailer for this problem. A few racing stripes on her butt, and Mom was set. I wish I looked a good my first show back in years. She did have me call her test, just in case. They did Intro B and scored a 66.8% earning them 5th in a competitive class of 8 pairs.

Considering my muscle soreness, I was glad I only had my ride at this show. I was pretty stressed and told them both I would not settle until I sat on Roscoe. Only then would I know we could do this. After four dressage shows, the jump chute clinic, the inspection and going to Sprieser, he finally figured out he could chill away from home. He was the most professional and mature he has been all year.

He could have used more warm up. His transitions could have been sharper. I did not have it in me to push for more though. What he did give me was peace of mind. We could do this. It is already icing on the cake to even be at this point, so  I just decided to go with it.

As my turn arrived, I started to go around the arena. But there was already someone going around, so I stopped and went back toward the judge to make sure it was my turn. It was and lucky me the judge rang the bell as soon as the other rider cleared the way.

Needless to say the entry and first halt were not great.

 Roscoe fought the halt surprising me. The tension stayed around for the first half of the test. I thought he felt better than some of his tests previously.

My small canter circle problem reared up on the left, but the canter felt pretty good.

Then I got the best free walk to date out of Roscoe. Of course at my lesson on Wednesday, Lauren said to watch his walk. She said it could be said he was "running." That was a new one for me. Well guess what comment we got on our medium walk?

 To the right Roscoe settled into the trot.

His canter was good once he picked it up.

 He went deeper into the corner than I though he would, so we had a bobble on the straight.

Our last trot was great and we ended almost straight at the halt. I was thrilled.

 

We walked back to the trailer relieved to have made our Training level debut. The Training 1 class originally had 9 people, but 2 actually did different tests. As we waited for scores, we loaded the trailer. A girl at the next trailer asked "How did your boy do?" At first we did not know she was talking to us, but soon we realized she was talking about Roscoe. Turns out she looks for him at these shows when she comes. My pony is getting a following and not just on the world wide web.

I walked back to get my test. As I predicted the person who has been winning the last shows, won again. I was amazed when she handed me a red ribbon. All I could figure was that she split the class. When the results came out a couple days later, I saw that was not the case. Turns out we tied for 2nd with a 63.26%. I'm okay with that score. It says we have work to do, but we are in the right place.

How Not To Prepare For A Show

First off, thank you everyone for the response to my last post. My sister in law, after 7 days in a hospital bed, 5 surgeries and receiving her clam shell body support, was able to walk a step to a chair and then later walk back to her bed. We sent a little stuffed corgi with my brother so she would have her therapy dog, since her real corgi can't visit.

So on Thursday, I headed into work and traffic just before the highway was bad. This area is tough because people are merging from the highway, going onto the highway and jumping into the right lane from the middle. Well on this day someone did something to cause brakes to slam. I quickly hit my breaks and breathed a sigh of relief as I avoided the person in front of me. Then I was rear ended. Luckily it did not push me into the car in front. Everyone involved was uninjured, but two out of three cars had damage. Unfortunately the one who was at the rear left before the police came, so it is being treated as a hit and run. Shaking, I dealt with the police and insurance and my family. I did not go to work so I could start the claim process.

This was stressful since my car is 15yrs old with over 300,000 miles. I started cleaning my car right away to help with it's value. I think I found another corgi in the back seat. During that process, the adjuster called to say it was not totaled yet. Now I had to stress until it went into the shop for the final assessment. Of course with the great timing of fate, the drop off was on Saturday. I did feel better when the shop said they thought my car had some wiggle room from the estimate and total. Tuesday evening I finally got the call that though they found more damage, the work was approved by the insurance.

The same Saturday I needed to do show prep. Needless to say, I did not have my normal amount of time to bath and load the trailer. Roscoe did not appreciate his 9pm bath, especially after getting one last week. Plus my bridles did not get cleaned. A car accident is definitely not the best way to prepare for a show.

When they fit on one side of the trailer

Their first show ever :)

Show day dawned and my show nerves were raging in addition to the tension of sore muscles. Rosemary had mud on her face which required touch up. As I worked on her, I saw Roscoe take off out his door and start racing around. Oh boy, the last show he did not work for 4 days before a show, he took an hour to warm up. I took some hope from the fact that he loaded himself on the trailer after I told him he was going to get to work. We ended up having to drive back to the barn when I realized I forgot my whip. At this point I was hoping the old saying of bad before means a good show...