First Farrier Appointment!

Ok so technically calling this a "first" farrier appointment is a misnomer because obviously Zoebird is four and well taken care of, so obviously she has had her feet done before. I mean. Her former owner, a farrier, picked her feet up and hammered on them for me to show me that she was fine. 

O HAI ITS U

Buuuuuut.

You know. You take a baby horse from the forested mountains that she grew up in and drop her in the desert with a bunch of strangers and completely change the expectations for her life, and it's a bit stupid to expect everything to stay the same.

So anyways. Zozobird has fabulous Percheron feet. She's four. She's never worn shoes. She was definitely due for a trim.

It's stupidly hot (still) and the flies are TERRIBLE (don't get me started on dumping pig manure on fields right now) and work has been exhausting, so when I showed up at the barn and my friend was having the farrier out, I begged us an appointment so we wouldn't have to roast in the sun-toasted arena.

IT BURNS US PRECIOUS

Anywhoodle. I'm that weird dork that asks a million questions of qualified professionals so I watched him work on a couple other horses and tried not to be too annoying, then we pulled out Zoe. 

#adultammystrong yes those are heels at the barn

I'd told him about the draft cross thing and when I said "momma was a paint" he started on like "paints tend to have trouble with their digital cushion like the one we just looked at" and then I said daddy was a Percheron and he was immediately "PERCHERONS HAVE AMAZING FEET" and then he looked at her and was like "omg yay percheron feet!" (my interpretation after a long hot day. not his actual words). 

I warned him Zoe was a baby with a baby attention span and baby issues. 

I didn't really need to. 

SMOOSHY NOSE

Zoe was all "o hai" and then a total superstar. We talked about transitioning from a mountain environment to the desert a little and we talked about her changing from teenage feet to adult horse feet--he commented that baby feet tend to be more spongy whereas adult hooves are harder. You can actually see the growth line of the grown up feet coming in on Zoe, which is pretty cool. 

He raved about her big, solid feet with excellent concavity. He also said that if at all possible, he likes to leave shoes off of babies so that they can keep growing and developing--apparently if the shoe helps them compensate for structural weakness while they're growing, then the foot kinda stops developing in the younger horses. I've never had a proper baby before so that was a fascinating insight. Good news is that Zoe is doing great barefoot, so we're greenlighted to continue on. 

unrelated photo of farrier and vet consult over a mobile xray for a different horse

I mean. It's probably silly to write up like "my horse got a trim and it was a total non-event", but it's just so weird to me to have the horse that's non-dramatic, well-behaved, and has awesome feet. Like. Awesome.

<3 Ms Zoebird

The Great Pet Detective

OR

"If You Have Good Instincts, Trust Them"

OR

"How I Got My Horse Back"

I haven't said a whole lot about it on here I don't think and you may or may not have picked it up from social media, but Courage has been Terrible. Yes capitialized. I'd go all caps too, but y'all might just think I was being dramatic when it's him.

Regardless. Despite everything about his life being tailored to suit him, Courage lately is the worst Courage has ever been and I'm including times like when he reared and knocked Lindsey down and got loose at a trail head or any and all of his show disasters or even the dramatic bolting y'all are getting a little too used to.

I kinda want a silhouette of this as my blog logo 

I mean. I had a lesson last Tuesday that Alyssa came out to document. Last time she came out, he was so naughty that my trainer told me to get off and lunge "lest ye die". Maybe not quite her words. Anyways, this time was sort of better--I lunged first and C was a ball of anxiety but not bolt-y or naughty.

Well. Not until I got on, at which point trotting in a straight line prompted a flail into the fence. We finished with some walking, but he was getting more and more amped and tense and nothing we could do would get through to him.

Alyssa used her voodoo arts to make us look good, which we were not

I canceled his trainer ride for later in the week because there was no goddamn point. I was getting lots of recommendations from lots of people for draw reins and cowboys and "just kick him through it", but look. I'm an ammy. I like being an ammy. I'm not interested in riding through that sort of bullshit and frankly, even if I can (maybe), I know it will pile on so much baggage that I'll have an even harder time being calm and straightforward with him.

pass. no thank you.

And while cowboys are DEFINITELY on the table, I also know that once I go down that path, I can't undo it and Courage is really, really sensitive and yeah... I just don't want to cause more problems than I would solve. And frankly, I'm a little bit appalled how many educated, progressive-type people are inclined to say "just rough him up a little" in regards to a problem I'm having trouble solving. I guess yay living in the west?

Anyways. It was completely terrible.

His magical bodywork lady came out and brought his beloved magnawave thingy. Long story short, it took her multiple sessions with the magnawave to even let her tough him, but when she got to the bottom of it, he had a pinched nerve in the base of his neck that was excruciatingly painful. She's pretty sure he's ok now, but said he might need another session depending.

And see, I like patterns. I like things to make sense. I'm willing to accept a hearty dose of "that's horses" most of the time, but I like to have an inciting incident. The little piece of information that makes it all make fit together.

I have a pretty good read on Courage most of the time. I know that while he's an asshole, he also likes me and generally goes well for me. I think he's quite good at dressage and he likes this barn and this trainer and it's weird that it all went to shit. Super weird.

My trainer has pointed out more than once that this all started after our little open show. He was fine, and then he wasn't. Lots of people have tried to tell me it was the atmosphere or the arena or that it was too much too soon or the other horses scared him, but here's the thing. He gave no shits about the atmosphere or the arena. He was FINE with the other horses. I honestly think he liked them. Remember, he freaking WON his first class out there.

killin' it

And then it got terrible fast.

every canter.

I remember that show so well--the w/t class was FABULOUS. I had every expectation of the next class being the same way, but I remember coming towards the corners of the arena by the mirror and the announcer calling for a canter. I asked for it, and Courage bolted SO HARD and out of nowhere. I wasn't tense or mad or expecting it and there was zero warning. Which is weird. My drama queen loves to bluster and make threats. 

And see, the day before the show, I had one of my best rides ever on him. My friend from out of town was visiting and Courage was freaking perfect. Except. I mean, I thought it was weird on the lunge line because he didn't really want to move forward and held himself in this little frame. 

fanceh

But it was hard to be mad because he took a contact and looked kickass. 

Admittedly, the day before that, I'd tried to school for the show and I had to get off because his canter was solid dolphin leaping and I couldn't get him to level out. 

jump jump C

But he'd looked ok on the lunge? 

And if you scroll further back, earlier in the week, he looked like this and I was SO PROUD of him and so excited for us.:

the base of his neck tho omg

I remember riding in this lesson and being SO THRILLED that he was so rideable and I was actually getting to work on me instead of him. 

So clearly he was fine then. But what changed? What made him go from brilliant to dolphin leaping canter, then brilliant, then horrific and then spiraling downward? 

Cough. 

That's when I remembered. 

The farrier. See, good horsemanship tells us that wisdom is to pull shoes and let horses be horses for a while in the winter. My last farrier and I tried that with Courage a couple times and found out 100% that is a TERRIBLE idea for him. His feet fall apart, he gets crippled, he doesn't get better. The horse needs shoes. So the farrier and I made a pact to NEVER do that again.

But then that farrier moved away and I got a new farrier who's great, but who doesn't have the history with C. So when I get all woo woo hippie status on him and go "maybe we should pull his hind shoes for a cycle", he said "sure" instead of straight up bitch slapping me and screaming WTF NO ARE YOU TRYING TO DIE. 

haha maybe?

So we pulled his hind shoes. Then I tried to ride him and while he was sound, he was short strided at the walk and trot, and was only capable of dolphin leaping at the canter. I rode the next day and he was good, but unwilling to push forward off his hind end. Think holding his body in a frame to compensate for ouchy feet. But good, so I didn't overthink it.

Then he was ok at the show until I asked him to lift his withers and canter, and I think by then the damage was done. He tried to do it, but he'd pinched the nerve by compensating for his feet. He was as surprised as I was and we bolted sideways. Repeatedly.

Back at home, Trainer said he felt ouchy and stiff, but she couldn't pin it on a specific leg, so she did a course of bute. I had a family emergency and wasn't really at the barn for a couple weeks.

Once I was back, we started asking him to work harder and Courage got worse quickly. I thought he was naughty.

And the whole time, he was screaming at me that he hurt. 

A barn friend kept pointing out that when C is unrideable, it's usually pain and I kept telling her "but it's never presented like this before", which it hadn't. Usually he quits turning right, not just freaks out and blows forward. 

But you know. Never before have I pulled only his hind shoes and so the pain was different this time. 

You guys.

I swear.

This horse.

the hat detective

The things I learn from him aren't always fun, but the skills he's teaching me apply so many other places. Things like learning to trust my instincts even when everyone tells me differently or taking the long view when the present is crappy. Standing up for myself and my belief even when it's hard.

And always obsessively documenting everything so you can look back at it later and see the larger patterns.

Oh, and great outfits make everything better. 

Farrier Insurance

soft eyes=win

Whew. I can positively affirm that Courage now has his dancing shoes back on and his feet feel about 1000% better. (Those of you who have horses who can go barefoot: SO JEALOUS). Anywhoodle. After a certain infamous incident, I have adopted what I call "farrier insurance". It is both to keep said farrier safe and to keep me from getting fired as a client.

Here it is:

WHEE

Exactly what it looks like.

Despite being turned out for hours and playing like an idiot and refusing to be caught, Courage just had this look in his eye when I went to get him before our appointment.

Sooooo despite my dislike of lunging in general, I just let the little man spin around (and around and around and around) until his brain went back into his head and his eyes looked big and soft again.

OMG SO ATTRACTIVE

Oh, and there was this:

Hands off, ladies. This sexy beast is all mine. 

WELCOME TO HELL

never been so excited to be here

At the recommendation of my farrier, we pulled Courage's shoes for a cycle this winter. There are lots of advantages to doing that--letting the nail holes grow out and the hoof wall get stronger and the heels expand out and yadda yadda yadda.

What it came down to is that Courage has been on and off for six weeks because his poor tender OTTB feet were not so happy about the frozen ground in winter. Oh, and then it thawed and he started soaking them 24/7 in his muddy run. Guess how that went???

it helps a little when they sparkle

Exactly like you'd think. Someone doesn't have a run anymore.

Anyways. Farrier comes back tomorrow to put shoes on (YAY AND HOORAY I CAN'T EVEN WAIT OMG), and I just realized what that means for us:

A one way ticket back to bell boot hell.

Dammit.

fleecy bell boots

Don't get me wrong: as a confirmed tack ho, I have lots of bell boots in many different shapes, styles, and colors. It's a great collection.

It's just that it's a lot less fun when you're under strict instructions to use them at all times.

snowflakes and sparkles

I'm trying to tell myself it won't be all bad, but the truth is I probably can't use pull ons and just leave them alone until the mud dries up (June?) and until then, it's that same stupid drill, over and over and over.

Bell boots to ride.

Bell boots to turn out.

Bell boots to travel.

Bell boots to eat.

Bell boots to pee.

I can't be the only one. Who else has a permanent residence here?

Wherein Courage Almost Gets Sold

What farrier day normally looks like

I know you're all like "WTF SB, you tried to sell your horse?" 

The answer is no. 

But I seriously considered it. 

What I expected

You remember how Courage threw his shoe a week ago? Well, my life is an ongoing shit show (cross your fingers it gets better in two weeks!) and the farrier was booked up, so we just kept our normal scheduled appointment for this past Monday. No big deal, right? The little man is probably a bit body sore and five days off wasn't going to make or break us. 

I wrapped his foot in highly attractive duct tape with flying pigs on it (Thanks J!) and let him live his normal life while I dealt with other things. 

Then came Monday. I pulled Courage out of his stall for the farrier and was surprised to see that my little bay horse was showing the whites of his eyes. 

Huh. Never seen that before.

It pretty much went downhill from there. Despite neither the farrier nor I doing anything offensive or crazy or weird, Courage just progressively lost it. We were trying to keep things calm in hopes of his brain returning to orbit. I even took him back into a stall to eat hay and chill out for a good 20-30 minutes to see if that would help, and nope.

How bad was it?

Well. 

sorry

At the end of two hours, he had one shoe on and I legitimately thought I was going down under him on cement. Oh, and he was rearing/leaping straight up in the air every time the farrier picked up his foot. And kicking. 

We had to abandon the entire idea. We scheduled another appointment for Wednesday and I was given strict instructions to work that ****** down. 

But here's the thing: 

I'm an ammy. I absolutely 100% refuse to own an animal that behaves like this. Yes, I understand that I could just drug him every time he needs shoes, but I am not willing to go that route. A horse like that gets his ass sold down the road with full disclosure. I realize other people are willing to deal with that, but I'm not. 

It's dangerous. I'm not interested in dangerous. I don't care how talented Courage is and how much fun we've had. If this is a thing for him, or if he learned from the experience how to get out of a shoeing, then we're done. 

Plain and simple. I don't play games with this stuff. 

Now known as "riding weather"

The next two days, I worked the shit out of Courage. In one shoe. In a wet arena. Til he foamed. I don't really think I've ever just intentionally worked a horse down for the hell of it before, but it was very productive. I'd actually venture to that my pent-up rage made it very easy to be clear and directive and not take no for an answer from him. 

I rode like a total badass. "OH YOU WANT TO SPOOK AT THAT ******** WELL I'LL GIVE YOU SOMETHING TO SPOOK AT". I felt totally secure in the saddle and Courage was bloody brilliant. We had prompt, crisp transitions and correct bend and counter bend and leg yields both directions on and off the rail and lots of ring figures. I kept changing the questions which kept his brain engaged.

Correct work is exhausting

Honestly, those are probably the top two best flat rides I've ever had on him. He was light and connected and responsive and forward and even floaty. It was pretty great. 

And then the farrier came out again on Wednesday right after our ride. I had just enough time to curry the foam off and take some deep breaths so I wouldn't be channeling any extra nerves to him. 

And Courage dozed on a loose rope and was perfect. I probably could have ground tied him and walked away, but I still want my farrier to like me. 

So. Little bay horse. Not getting turned into hamburgers or sold. Definitely is going to step his flatwork up to the next level, though. 

How to Not Have a Lesson on Your Greenie

I'm supposed to be getting ready for my first lesson since June right now. Literally. I should be just finishing tacking up and then climbing on to warm up.

But I'm not.

Why?

It stated with this:

Or maybe he wants a long nose fly mask to match Prisoner

I'm not really sure what he's got going on here.It looks a bit like sunburn, but that's a really random place to sunburn after going two full summers at the same facility on the same feed and never sunburning at all before.

Also he has created a fun new game that my BO just LOOOOOOOVES in which he tries to take all the T post caps off in his field.

Really. It's her favorite thing ever.

Anyways. Perhaps he just scraped himself playing the T post game.

At least it's not painful?

So I can sort of explain that, but then there was this:

What is that? I have no idea. It looks like a peeling sunburn, but again, it's on a horse that has never sunburned and who peels the black skin on the side of their face? It made no sense.

Annnnnd then a friend asked if I'd used any new products on him....

Guess who is somewhat reactive to his new fly spray?

Dammit.

ouch

Still. Neither of those conditions seemed to cause undue pain or distress and I really, really want a lesson. I lead Courage out of his stall for turnout...

And he can hardly put weight on his right front foot.

I immediately grab a hoof pick and find this:

Yes, he got new shoes on Monday. No, it wasn't loose enough to come off. And yes, his shoe is just sitting on his sole. I'm touchy about sole pressure.

In a crazy stoke of luck, two journeymen farriers and their intern showed up like ten minutes later and got the shoe reset correctly, but a certain little bay horse must have done a very impressive spin move in his stall over night and he was pretty sore from standing on his sole since then.

And that's the story of why I'm not having a lesson today. Cross your fingers for Saturday. I have bell-booted, hoof-painted, and un-fly-sprayed the little man.

What will he come up with next?

PS Don't forget to enter our contest!! It's open through Sunday night and all you have to do to enter is leave a comment!!

Long Term Plans (or "How to Make my Brain Explode")

The best at being cute with a mask on

I gave Courage a couple days off this week while I thought about the big picture--what we're doing and where we're going. (I am NOT a big picture person in general, so yes, I do have to set aside time to figure that sort of thing out.)

First things first: we adjusted our goals. My nervous riding+Courage being green was not helping anyone out in the XC field. I made an executive decision to just be ok with not doing that anymore this year. I'm not ruling out chucking redheadlins up in the tack and sending them off, but it doesn't need to be me at this point in time.

We are also not sort of hoping to scrape it together and do the little hunter derby in August. If all went according to plan this year, it wasn't out of reach, but nothing has worked out the way I meant it to. If Courage goes to the jumper shows in August, he'll do the 2' division and a flat class or something. And again, not ruling out trainer rides for that. I need calm, positive experiences just as much as he does.

Of course I wish it was a dee

We're also mixing up the tack front a little bit. I dropped us down to an even softer bit and am taking a couple rides to just solidify the things we worked on for cowpony day. Great takeaways there, really happy with what our western fling did for my little man.

Wednesday we just did w/t/c both directions on the buckle and let everything flow forward. I think it's good confidence building for me and it relaxes him because I'm not picking at all. It was a surprisingly great ride. Maybe next time we'll try using the new bit? Hard to say.

Not gonna lie, totally want a stock saddle right now. I need to get other financial ducks in a row first, but how cute would C-rage be as a pony horse? Team penner?

Too cute.

What can I say? Sometimes I stress buy. Ebay loves me.

So that's where I'm at. I'm an ammy. It's summer. My horse is cute. At the end of the day, I want a calm, all-around horse who I can have fun on, whether that's doing an XC clinic or winning a belt buckle at some crazy western event*. I'm not going to keep freaking out that I'm overfacing my horse and ruining him or that I'm not challenging him enough and he'll never amount to anything.

You know what? I'm having fun with him right now, and that is the whole entire point.

Mission.

F******

Accomplished.

*Hey, I can dream. Belt buckles are possibly cooler than ribbons because it's socially appropriate to wear them around and show off.

PS I know I keep editing my swears. I go back and forth between "HAHA BITCHES I'M A GROWN UP" and "oh my god, kids read this blog". That is a big picture question for another day.

2013 Year in Review!!

Probably my favorite aspect of having a blog is just the ability it gives me to look back over my life and see where I've been and where I'm headed. I love this time of year--I look through my posts from the past year and pick out one per month that really summarized what that month was about. I usually try to do a goals wrap up, but that was an epic fail this year for reasons completely out of my control. Instead of worrying about that, let's look at what happened in 2013!

I hate winter

January: 

This goes down as the second most miserable month of my life and I was I was being hyperbolic. I was laid off from my office job and picked up full time hours at the barn just in time for Idaho to experience three weeks of record breaking cold. Highs in the single digits, lows below zero, and I was struggling just to put gas in my car. Did I mention the barn had no power and the hydrants all froze and I was hand-carrying buckets to all 17 horses? Here's a post I wrote just before the cold really got bad: Winter Sets In.

Best Valentines

February: 

Basically I just appreciated what Cuna and I had going. I wrote One Year and One Day to celebrate our first anniversary. The real take away from February was just reflecting on what great things Cuna had been able to do for me.

From the day we met <3

I realized the value of a schoolmaster and overcame some lingering mental blocks about what I perceived as failures on my part with the mare I sold last year. Here's the post that sums up my feelings on the matter: Honesty and Horsemanship

handwalking is not his favorite

March: 

Cuna and I were taking some dressage lessons and advancing quickly. In Fancy Pants Dressage, I talk about the progress we were making. My blogging was down that month--Cuna was having some odd problems that didn't make sense. Little things here and there were popping up. None of them were concerning on their own, but putting the pieces together wasn't making a lot of sense. Cuna tied up on a trail ride in March, summed up in the post: A Scare

flicky toes

April: 

More changes. Cuna and I kept working hard at the dressage with an occasional jump lesson. Elbows on Fire is a post where I talk about our breakthroughs. I got his hocks injected again and he was in fine form. His body looked like a proper dressage horse and his neck was incredible.

hacking out

We were also getting pretty burned out on arena work. He and I started hacking down the roads around the barn to visit friends and meet new people. I could trust him in the worst of conditions and one of our friends took pictures of him in her field, chronicled in Coversation Starter.

more handwalking

May: 

The shit hit the fan in May. Cuna was brilliant in our jumping clinic and exceptional at our dressage show. That was the last time he was sound. Again, little things weren't adding up and I blogged about it in Stuck.

His team at work

After his public successes, Cuna continued to get progressively more lame despite all the management changes that were made. We made a joint appointment with his vet and farrier and took him in. It wasn't all smooth sailing. I summarized the appointment in Cuna Update.

a moment in time

June: 

There was nothing easy about June. Cuna was trying to get better, but it was a very long process. He made strides at first and we took his picture in Happy. Shortly after that, he regressed. I kept away from the show barn as much as possible, because it was just too hard to watch everyone else doing what I knew Cuna couldn't.

still together

I spent in a new part of the horse industry: the racetrack. It went from a fun night out with friends to showing up to help out several times a week and get my horsey fix as noted in At the Track. At the end of the month, I made the decision to retire Cuna instead of torturing both of us over something we couldn't change in the post Towards Healing.

after a bath

July: 

It started out slow. We hit record high temperatures while Cuna hung out in the shade at his new home. In The New Normal, I talk about the dealing with the emotions of letting go of a career for the horse I love the most. His shoes got pulled and he just got to be a horse with no plans or goals.

meet Courage!

I spent increasingly more time at the track. I was having fun out of the saddle and things were going along just swimmingly until I accidentally ended up bringing a second horse home. It was the beginning of a more hopeful era summed up in The Road Goes Ever On and On.

important Cuna stuff to do

August: 

Courage came to join us, but Cuna was still my main man. He was taking it slow in the field, which I talk about in Can't Forget Cuna.

bay ears!

Courage came straight off the track and started under saddle. He continued to prove that he was the second most awesome horse on the planet by going on field trips to group lessons and getting his first set of real horse shoes which he tried to eat in Taking Off the Gym Shoes. He learned important skills like eating cookies and lunging and was the first bright spot for me all summer, which I talk about in One Month of Awesome.

first show!

September: 

I was dealing with the emotions of letting Cuna retire. In Honesty, I talk about how hard it was for me when our relationship changed. Courage was helping me stay focused and upbeat. He demonstrated his road-warrior brain when he didn't even flinch about going to his first horse show in Showtime for Courage.

artsy fun!

Based on our success there, I took him to his first ever XC clinic and wrote the Wrapup here. As long as we were out and about, I also took him to a big group lesson so we could practice having horses go by and jumps fall down. He rocked my world in Only the Best Idea Ever.

love them

October: 

In keeping with our up tempo pace, Courage and I participated in the two point challenge. I talked about the year for Cuna and why I decided to retire him.

SEE ALL THE THINGS

Courage continued to impress as he went on his first ever trail ride and acted like a total pro. Ellie came out to visit with us. She got to be in the Cuna photoshoot and she did the first ever proper pictures of Courage.




Courage got his own micklem bridle and he finally started to figure out this whole jumping thing.

November: 

We carried on, full speed ahead! We went on another trail ride with an exciting adventure. Courage started to really get this jumping thing down. He got clipped for the first time as a sporthorse and rocked out with his stars. We also had to work through some residual groundwork issues.

the best at lessons

We hit the lesson circuit hard at the end of the month.

legit cold lesson

December: It's been really quiet this month. We did get to ride one time. I talked about my past and why I make some of the choices I do in Amateur Hour. The boys are taking some well-deserved time off due to absolutely miserable weather that refuses to end.

love this

It's been a wild ride! This year went absolutely nothing like I planned or expected it to. Let's face it: I started the year working full time at a show barn with Cuna all set to move up and ended the year sans barn job but with two horses.