I posted a teaser photo of Zippy a little while ago. I guess it's time for me to explain who HE is. No, I'm not taking on new clients before I can walk/ride again, but I did end up taking on a sort-of-new horse.

Shortly after I got hurt, Wink's owners started emailing about new changes in the cob's behavior, and not in a good way. He took to nipping at them, pinning his ears, and acting jumping in general. None of  this fits with his puppy-dog personality at all. At first, I chalked it up to user error and promised to address it during the next training session, but when I went back after a few weeks 'off', the change was disconcerting.

Wink was making nasty faces in the cross ties and threatening to bite any time his girth area was handled. He also seemed shy about having his hindquarters approached. He was suddenly flinchy and even broke the cross ties when his owner approached with a saddle pad. Yikes! Despite all the crabby behavior, however, Wink didn't seem angry, just miserable.

I immediately told his owners that the behavior screamed 'medical problem!' at me and suggested they call the vet. The only thing I could rule out was back soreness. My gut said 'maybe ulcers', but aside from sensitivity at the girth, he didn't seem to display any of the classical symptoms. He leads a very low stress life, has a gleaming coat, and hasn't lost any weight. Because of their location in the Pine Barrens, I suspected Lyme. If he'd been my horse, I would have gotten a Lyme titer, a CBC panel, and a general exam. If none of that turned anything up, I'd have him scoped.

Thankfully, Wink's owners are very invested in their horse's care and scheduled a vet for the following week. The vet looked Wink over and didn't find anything alarming. He floated his teeth, which seemed to be fine. While he was sedated, he took the time to clean Wink's sheath... something which he hasn't had done, possibly ever. He did find a massive bean, and even though he was tranquilized, Wink lashed out and tried to kick while it was removed. Because of the amount of irritation Wink displayed at the sheath cleaning, the vet advised against getting blood work done. I sort of groaned internally at a vet advising against pulling blood (seriously, doesn't that seem strange?) but it's not my horse.

Wink was still crabby a few days after the sheath cleaning and we skipped another training session just to be safe (especially since the area was visibly pink). On Friday, however, Wink seemed to be back to his usual self. He stood pleasantly on cross ties, kept his ears up to be groomed and tacked up, and had a decent ride when you consider how much time he's had off.

In the meantime, however, I got to meet Zippy. Zippy is a four year old paint that Wink's owners are leasing from their barn owner. He was brought to the farm as a weanling and was raised there. The BO did all his upbringing and training, and I have to say she seems to have done a really good job. The horse has a solid foundation under saddle.

Zippy is also the type of paint that I would actually consider owning. I know I got off on a rant on my opinion of paints and APHA/AQHA, and probably accidentally insulted a lot of my readers (some of whom have some really nice examples of spotty horses). I don't hate paints/pintos. I just hate what has become of color breeding.

Anyway, Zippy is from good quarter horse lines, has lovely conformation and a sound mind, and is sound barefoot with naturally nice feet. His coloring, in my opinion, compliments his build, and despite one eye that is dark blue, he doesn't have that 'freaky face' going on. He's also a lovely mover with a smooth trot and a nice canter. I am itching to get on him when this bum leg is better.

The 'problem' with Zippy is that he was training and ridden by experienced riders with good balance and subtle cues. While the training is clearly there, Wink's owners are beginners and don't know how to access a lot of it. They noticed that he bucks at the canter and wanted me to tell them why. I had my suspicions from the get-go, but we ran through all the physical stuff first, just to be safe.

Part of the problem seems to be tack fit. Zippy's former saddle bridged across his withers and he was a touch sore when I started working 'with' him. Thankfully, he's in a different saddle now, and that one seems to fit him much better. The back soreness has resolved a great deal in the last month. He is also in a bit that I suspect he's had since he started training. It's a loose ring snaffle (good) but it's not wide enough for his mouth (bad) and was cranked too tight on the bridle (also bad). Just dropping it two holes stopped him from gaping his mouth and fussing with his head. We're going to switch him to one that fits better.

The other part of the problem, as I suspected, is that Wink's owners aren't helping Zippy balance at all. I'm guessing that having a rider put him together in the jog before asking for the canter would alleviate a lot of the issues with bucking.

So that's what we've been working on... the importance of 'nice trot to nice canter' and 'crazy trot will make a crazy canter'. We've been working on quiet hands, steady seat, and better equitation in general. Now that they're riding a less forgiving horse, Wink's owners are starting to understand the importance of all the nitpicky stuff I've been going on about since day one.

The husband noted on Friday, "Horseback riding is a lot more like learning to play piano than I ever imagined."

Yes, yes it is.

We've slowed the lessons on Wink down and they seem less impatient now that the point sank in. I think they're finally realizing how much they don't know. It has definitely been harder to teach beginners who have been around horses than it is to teach someone who has never been on a horse before. Now I just need to convince them to come take lessons on Art and JR so we can work on them on nice, quiet, dead-broke horses that know what they're doing already.

The good news is that Zippy is a good egg and tries really hard to do the right thing. I don't know that I would have leased a four year old to beginners, but it's gone well so far. He also balances Wink out really well. Where Wink has the carriage horse trot, Zippy has a lovely western jog. Where Zippy has a rocking canter that can be hard to sit, Wink canters along while hardly moving his back at all. Zippy is also a lot less opinionated than Wink.

But enough rambling, here are some photos of my new spotty client.

The slouching is going away and the heels are starting to drop. We'll work on having elbows now that he doesn't haul on the horse's mouth.

Team Unruly post about the satos.

Kristin and Arrow have continued their weekly lessons, my leg be damned. They are both making progress at a good rate and I love seeing someone enjoy her horse so much.

There are still days when Arrow tests her. He could really use a schooling once in a while, but I won't be getting on him til May or so. Instead of letting that get her down, Kristin has taken the opportunity to buck up and put her foot down. Her seat has gotten really solid and when he threw a buck the other day, she wasn't even fazed.

We have started playing with all sorts of steering exercises at the walk and jog, focusing on proper neck reining and maintaining speed through the turns. Kristin even acquired some barrels and we've started playing with those (no pictures of that yet). She wants to learn to run barrels in the future, but just at home, not in competition. I suspect Arrow has worked with barrels before and he LOVES to play with them during our lessons.

The big goal is to get Kristin doing judged trail rides. We downloaded the list of ACTHA approved trail obstacles last night and are picking a few to start with. We're going to throw in a few of our own (like a teeter totter) once my leg heals. She is extremely excited.

On top of that, my trimmer is going around planting ideas in my clients' heads. Haha. He went to do Arrow's feet the day before a lesson and she texted me all excited:
"Do you think we could try bareback at the end of our lesson tomorrow? I've never ridden bareback before!"

I'm all for no-stirrup work and I think bareback helps you build balance and seat, so I agreed. Arrow's a little narrow and pointy for my bareback taste, but that's her problem, not mine, haha.

Kristin told me that she just wanted to sit on him without a saddle, and didn't need to do more than that if I didn't think she was ready, but I told her that there was no reason she couldn't walk him around bareback. Her husband gave her a leg-up and her whole face lit up. We took it easy that day, but I'm willing to bet that she'll be jogging that horse around bareback  in no time flat.

I am very proud of Kristin through all of this. She has always wanted a horse and she is determined to just build a good relationship and have fun with him. She sets realistic goals and works hard to achieve them. In just a few short months she has gone from unable to ride her horse without him running off on her (and her getting intimidated) to jogging quietly around barrels on a loose rein and itching to get out of the arena (and not being intimidated even on his sassy days). We are all having so much fun. Talk about a rewarding client to have :)

No more giraffe horse.

Christine J (the one who got me up on that Belgian mare last year, not JR's usual Christine) came by yesterday afternoon to ride JR. I was excited to have him schooled and she was excited to come play with a pony.

Now that's a walk :)

JR is an air fern. He's been eating nothing but hay all winter and he's fat. JR is also going to be the horse I get on when I'm cleared to ride.

I've had Tor come down to kick the pony's butt a few times since I got hurt. She did a jump school with him one day in the outdoor and a dressage school one day in the indoor. He worked his butt off. Still, I need him to be working more regularly than that. Besides, he seems like he misses the attention.

So I taught Mike to lunge.He already had a pretty good idea of how to do it from watching me all the time, but seeing and doing are two very different things. Not very surprisingly, Mike picked it up right away. He lunged JR twice this week and has it down to an art. Walk, trot, canter, direction changes, halting, the whole nine yards. He even tacks the horse up all by himself, bridle and side reins included.

JR, for his part, has been his usual, patient self.  I swear that pony is worth his weight in gold. He also seems happy to have some kind of job again.

Have some pictures of Mike lunging the pony :)

JR DOES have a real horse canter in there.

I promise to actually blog again some day.

This lovely photo taken by Mike :)

Carolyn went on vacation to Puerto Rico again. As you can all probably guess by now, that means she came home with sato puppies again. She was only able to bring two on carry on, but we're hoping to arrange transport for more dogs-in-need in the near future.

The two pups were very sick when Carolyn got them, but they are making a come back. They still need some fattening up and some skin treatment, but they should be just fine. There were two others she tried to save while she was down there, but they died within 12 hours of getting to the vet hospital. Being a Puerto Rican street dog is definitely not a good life.

The black and white puppy with the ears (from my sneak preview yesterday) is a little boy. They were calling him Spock. I don't know if that's going to stick, but there ya go. He's a little shy, but very sweet. More than anything in the world, he just wants to be snuggled.

The brown pup is a girl. She is Spock's polar opposite... fierce, fearless, and so so so playful. She definitely needs some boundaries, but she's a sweetheart and totally charming.

I don't really have any more info than that since I haven't exactly been hands-on in the clinic lately, but I did get a chance to go out and take pictures today. I haven't really done any photography since I busted my leg and it felt good to sit on the ground with the camera out for a while.

(As an aside, I had my follow up x-rays on Tuesday, five and a half weeks post-op. Everything looks good and  is healing well. It's still not fast enough for my liking, but I'm right on schedule. I still can't bear weight for another month, but I did get permission to drive and got behind the wheel on the way home from the barn. One step at a time, right?)

The other thing you'll notice in these photos is the big, black standard poodle running around. That's Paulie. I don't think I ever said anything about him. He's been at the farm/clinic for a few months now. He's part of a program that pairs therapy dogs with autistic children, sort of like Seeing Eye (but much less structured). He is currently Herbie's favorite play mate.

And of course, you guys already know Iko and Herbie.

Can we talk about the fact that I NEED these ears in my life?

Aurorapedia continues to do awesome in her new home. Christy adores her and gushes about her constantly. Her training is progressing and she's a doll all around. Christy sent me an email the other day:
"Hello!
Here is an update on Aurora! We are working on walking and trotting in a nice, balanced rhythmic way. She went on the bit for a few moments today while lifting her back up and reaching under her belly!
It was tough for her so we only did it for a few moments. But Aurora is doing lovely! She is such a sweet heart and she is loved by many at the barn!

Thank you again for introducing me to my new love.

Sincerely

Christy"

Attached were the following photos:

Even with the belly band and Mike taking him out every two hours, Lucky continued to pee all over the house. We couldn't lock him up because he would just scream and scream for hours. Mike wound up driving him to the clinic at 5am and putting him in one of the holding cages so we could get some sleep. When we came back a few hours later, he was sleeping quietly in the corner.

With heavy hearts, we dropped Lucky back off at the shelter about an hour ago. I feel like we failed him and he started to cry as soon as they took him to the kennels, but we just can't right now. Mike is over loaded with everything as it is, and I am completely no use right now. I'm having a lot of guilt, but I keep telling myself that I can't be responsible for every animal that someone else doesn't take care of.

It's a good shelter with good people. They don't kill anything unless they absolutely 100% have to. I've been assured that the small, fluffy lap dogs go to homes quickly. They were very gracious and understanding about the whole thing and I'll know when he gets a home.

It was still hard for me, and even harder to see the cages full of pit mixes that I would just love to take home with me. There was a cane corso going home with a man who was practically dancing he was so excited and it gave me some hope for Lucky's future.

I would have liked to hold on to the little guy until he went to a forever home. I know he won't be happy in the kennels without a person to snuggle up to, but he's better off than he was at his last home or on the streets where we found him.

I just hope there's nothing medically wrong with him. I've never seen a dog pee so much.

Ugh. Just ugh.

I got a message earlier this week from EASEL. Apparently, Lucky ran away again. This time, Animal Control was able to pick him up. The owner has run out of chances and the ACO decided not to give him back like they usually do. Instead, Lucky was dropped off at the shelter. Today, Sandra texted to ask if I was interested in fostering.

Legally, the state has to hold him for seven days before he can be re-homed. Because of my connections to the shelter/rescue, we were able to bring him home right away, instead of having him sit in a cage at the shelter by himself. Monday is one week. If the owner calls to look for him before then, we are required to send him back. However, the owner is going to have to jump through hoops and pay thousands of dollars in fines to get the dog back. Judging by the fact that they don't care in the first place and didn't notice that I had the dog neutered last time, I don't think they'll be stepping up to re-claim him.

On Monday, he'll officially be listed as adoptable. Mike and I will take him to local adoption days and meet with pre-screened people until he finds an approved home. The shelter is covering the cost of food, etc.

Lucky was beyond excited to see us and has been sound asleep next to Mike since we got home. Herbie seems resigned to having him back. Haha.

I'm furious that bad owners like this exist, but relieved that Lucky has been confiscated, so to speak. I just don't understand getting an animal if you don't actually want one. Wouldn't it be easier to just... not?

I mentioned the other day that Ozzy has a head down cue. I got a few questions about how I taught it to him.

The process is very simple:
1. Apply pressure at the poll while saying, "Head down." For most horses the pressure of a regular halter is fine, but if you get a particularly stubborn one, a rope halter or lead rope may work better.
2. Wait until the horse puts his head down and release immediately. The first time the horse gives, it may only be an inch or two. That's ok. Start small and work your way up.
3. As soon as the horse lifts his head again, re-apply pressure. Over time, the horse will learn to put his head down and leave it there.
4. Gradually work up to putting the head lower, leaving it down longer, and doing the cue to less and less pressure. Eventually, just the verbal cue should be enough.

The idea is that a child could bridle a seventeen hand horse with minimal effort. For extra points, practice bridling your horse while in kneeling position.

I make all my horses drop their heads to put bridles and halters on and off. Nobody gets turned out unless they drop their head. For endurance/trail riding, the head down cue can also be used to tell the horse to eat/drink on trail.

I will do a how-to video with a green horse some day when I can walk and move safely out of the way, but for now you guys can have a video of me playing the head down game with Ozzy last night. Poor Oz saw me sit down on the bucket and immediately went into head down position. I had to shoo him away to get his head up. Haha. Poor guy was very confused about why I was making him do 'head down' a million times in the dark for no reason, and not amused by the cold bit.

Any fumbling in the video is due to my clumsiness and his abundance of hair. He is better at being bridled by a cripple than I am about bridling while crippled. Haha.

Tor sent me photos of Cola's feet, following a COTH thread about 'typical TB feet'. This is the horse who 'needed' front shoes when she got him. :)

Henrietta is spending her first night back in the chicken coop tonight. She stands a little crooked, but she's walking sound. Herbie, who normally ignores the barn fowl, but who was the one who found Henrietta in distress in the first place, seemed very concerned. Haha.

It was fifty-nine degrees and sunny, sunny, sunny today. Mike and I drove out to the barn and I sat on an over turned bucket in the sunshine while he threw hay, scrubbed the water trough, and checked the horses.

He brought Dancer in to feed and I sat on my tack trunk to supervise. We were finally able to pull Dancer's blanket off for an extended period of time and he's really filling out.

Mike spent a long time grooming Dancer from head to toe, brushing the caked mud from his legs and smoothing his short, pulled mane. Dancer dozed on the cross ties, occasionally quivering his lips when Mike hit an itchy spot. Mike even banged his tail and cut his bridle path before giving him a handful of cookies.

I smiled broadly, just watching him work with the horse. The tall thoroughbred really respects Mike and the two of them are really starting to trust each other. Dancer gets a little panicky when JR creeps up behind him with his ears pinned, but Mike just murmurs, "Easy," and Dancer relaxes. All  mike has to do is walk across the driveway and Dancer waits at the gate for him. He drops his head for the halter and follows my man around like a puppy dog.

I sat for a while longer, just watching JR and Ozzy take turns ripping hay from the rack by the barn, quietly crunching, munching, chewing. Both are fat and fuzzy and happy. I just renewed JR's lease this morning. I tried hard not to remember that this is my favorite trail riding weather and that it will be hot, hot, hot by the time I'm back on a horse.

Herbie ran back and forth across the farm, chasing her ball and getting completely filthy, just glad to be outside. She brings a smile to my face every time.

We ran to Tractor Supply and picked up hinges before running out to lunch and back to the barn again. Mike finished the gorgeous oak feed trunk he built me last month and screwed Ozzy's new nameplate onto his 'nice' halter.

I can't even tell you how good it was for me just to sit in the sun and watch the horses. It made it easy to forget days like yesterday, when I barely wanted to get out of bed and when I couldn't stop bursting into tears for no reason at all. I really hope spring is here to stay.

I've had a few people ask what's going to happen to Tap Dance now that I'm laid up. My original plan was to sell him in May. Now I won't even be walking until then.

I did have a brief thought about giving him away. A friend of mine offered to take him, train him, and sell him on, and even offered to split the profits with me. It was a super generous offer and a good back up plan. She is an incredible rider (far better than I am) and takes excellent care of her horses. However, she has much nicer horses that she can focus on. Besides, I'm really excited about working with this horse. He sort of gives me something to get better for, y'know?

There's also the fact that Mike is super attached to him already.

So we've decided to keep him. He eats more than my other two combined, but he's sweet and not high maintenance. He's also the one chance I have at recouping some of my massive financial losses this year (so much for a horse trailer this summer). I suspect that some time off and a slow reintroduction into training are probably the best thing for him. Everything happens for a reason, right?

That brings me to what's been up with Dancer. The last time I talked about him, I had just brought him home and showed him off.

I had his shoes pulled right away.

I wasn't thrilled with his shoeing to begin with, and I wanted him to start rehabbing as soon as possible. The previous trainer told that the horse needs shoes all around... that his feet chip and that he gets tender on his sole, blah blah blah. I just sort of smiled and nodded because I make it my life mission not to discuss hoof care with strangers. In my mind I thought, "Yeah, with toes that long, I'd be sore and chipping too."

I had my trimmer come out and evaluate. He had some concerns about how far gone Dancer's feet were, but liked the way he moved and seemed to think he could go barefoot. We discussed the possibility of doing boots or glue-on shoes if he needed them through the transition. He told me the pros and cons of pulling the shoes right away v. waiting a couple weeks. My instinct said to pull them and get the rehab started, but I was in no hurry and, with the frozen ground, I had some concerns.

Finally, I took a deep breath and asked, "If this was your horse, at your house, and you could do whatever you had to do, and money was no issue...?"
"I would pull the shoes now, trim him frequently over the next two weeks, and re-assess."
"Let's do that then."

While my trimmer pulled the shoes, I took photos.

What's the first thing you notice?

One of these things is not like the others.

Dancer's two front feet are completely different shapes and sizes. This is partly conformation and partly lack of maintenance. His front feet will always vary slightly, and we're not in the habit of trimming for shape or symmetry. However, better balance and hoof structure are definitely lacking all around.

Atrophy in the wall and frog. Contracted heels. Frog displaced.

I like what I see so far.

The chicken with the broken leg (who I should probably pose for a picture with) is doing very well. She is walking around now, but she still has a pronounced limp so she's an indoor chicken in the clinic currently. She has a recovery cage set up as a nest and she comes and goes as she pleases outside of clinic hours. Paulie, the poodle puppy Carolyn is bringing up for a therapy program for autistic children, has really taken a liking to the chicken and climbs into the cage to snuggle her. I'm not sure Henrietta returns his affections.

Alcatraz went home yesterday. His owner really wanted to leave him with me and begged for me to consider non-training board. I love the horse and he's no trouble to have around, but I really can't have the stress of taking care of a client horse right now. It's bad enough that poor Mike has to take care of my three horses while I'm lame.

I'm going to miss this silly face in my barn.

In the days following my accident, I woke repeatedly from nightmares, not about falling, getting hurt, or anything pertaining to my leg, but about things happening to client horses. I dreamed that I showed up and the fence was down and so-and-so had run off. I dreamed that another one had an injury. I dreamed they all lost weight. I dreamed that clients showed up and were unhappy with their training progress or their level of care. The reality is far more peaceful than that, but I really need to just not worry about it right now.

Traz went back to the barn he was originally at. His owner is still looking at other facilities, but that's her only option right now.

The good news is that his owner is much more informed about his care now. In the two months he lived with me, we got him up to a good weight and sustained him on a hay-only diet. We got his rain rot totally healed with no daily treatment to keep it that way. We got him barefoot and SOUND that way. Lisa and her dad, who is the barn manager at the original barn, asked a ton of questions, took my advice on feed, and are going to try to get my trimmer to continue doing Traz's feet. (I put in a good word with the trimmer so I'm hoping he'll take them on full time.)

The other good news is that the old trainer at the facility is stepping down. Regardless, Lisa had told her that she is not to ride Traz any more. In fact, she doesn't want anyone but me or herself riding the horse. She understands the magnitude of his transformation and wants him to stay happy, quiet, and fun-to-ride. The trainer stepping down also means that Lisa's dad will have a lot more say in the actual management of the barn. Being barn manager will be much more than a title. The man has a good head on his shoulder and a kind heart. I think he's going to completely turn that barn around and I look forward to working with him from here out.

Lisa and Traz, reunited.

But perhaps the best news of all is that Lisa got to come out and take a lesson on her own horse the week before I got hurt. She hadn't ridden him or seen him go since he moved in at the start of the year, and the transformation was incredible. She was already excited after watching me warm him up, and when she climbed on board (after almost two months of not riding herself) she positively beamed. She rode around at the walk and trot for about half an hour with a little bit of coaching from me and she gushed over Traz. He was a perfect gentleman, forgiving of her rustiness, totally responsive, and just soft and soft can be. She turned to me grinning from ear to ear and said, "It's like riding a new horse. He doesn't even feel like the horse I dropped off here. This is amazing. Thank you so much!"

Lisa plans to continue taking lessons with me at her old barn (and there are some other exciting opportunities related to the old trainer stepping down, but shhh... no spoilers). I will go back to riding him when my leg heals, and may have Tor go work with him in the interim. As usual, I'm feeling some bitterness about my injury because I was on the cusp of taking Traz back over fences, and I was really looking forward to jumping him. O well... extra time off from jumping may be the best thing for him.

Traz moving out is very bittersweet for me. I hope he'll be back in full training for a month or two after I recover, and I'm excited about the relationships I've built through having him in my barn. Lisa was tearful as she told me to heal quickly, and her dad gave me a peck on the cheek and a warm thank you hug before he hopped in the truck and pulled out of the driveway. Dancer stood in the background, whinnying for his friend**, a subtle reminder that good things came out of this business arrangement.

**Don't worry. I moved Ozzy and JR over with Dancer yesterday afternoon. He and Ozzy are besties already.

...or something. I don't even know.

As I mentioned, CP has been doing really well in his lessons. We've hit a glitch (as of 20 minutes ago) and I won't be able to keep teaching at Watchung (we knew this was inevitable, but our time was up sooner than we hoped). But we're all working together to figure out how I can keep my training horses without stepping on anyone's toes.

In the meantime, have some visuals on my favorite sassy pony.

Cross rails are no big deal.

Neither are baby verticals.

Lazy pony!

Bad!

With Nicole on board.