Horses, Life, A Touch of Geek

Archive for the ‘Horse Care’ Category

New Equipment: Rodney Tests The Vest

Vests for our CDE debut.

Greg gets the short vest since he sits. I get the longer since I stand. Plus I might, someday, possibly, in a fantasy world, use it on cross-country.

Overall, Rodney has done little this summer. Once his ankle was almost deswollen [Dubious Future], he got a small scuff right under the saddle. Thanks Milton. Once that was healed and growing hair, I took him for a brief walk, pictured here.

Afterwards, I found a cut on the inside of this lip. Although small and nowhere near the bit, for a horse who is already hyper-sensitive, it is enough of a pea under the mattress to warrant yet more days off. [Images here, if you want the not very gory details.]

None of this has been serious. All of it has kept Rodney out of work. Do they plan it this way?

As for his trailer issues [Trailer Training], Precious Prince Snowflake Cupcake will load and stand, but is clearly miserable and panics at the first hint of confinement. I’m pondering our next step.

Sigh. Or is the sigh implied when dealing with Rodney?

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Category:

Combined Driving, Eventing, Horse Care, Horses, Tack

QR

I’ve mentioned it passing [CAA Repercussions]. I want to state it outright. We have solved Milton’s NQR. (Greg modifies this with – to the extent one ever can with a horse. He doesn’t want Milton to feel the need to rise to a challenge.)

For years we’ve been wondering if Milton is Not Quite Right. The problem is the “quite”. Not right is easy. Lame. Losing weight. Radical behavior change. These are easy to spot. Diagnosis might be problematic, but you know you are looking for the root of a problem. We didn’t even know if there was a problem to find the root of.

The answer is Alabama.

But seriously folks. Current thinking is that something in our grass/soil/whatever either caused or aggravated a hind gut ulcer. Was it a serious problem? No. Is he a drama queen? Yes. It was just enough to make him a little bit cranky, degrade his movement, make him a little bit touchy.

Would he have been 100% way back when if we’d gone straight to this [Sand Colic]? Who knows. Perhaps some of the other stumbles of our drunkard’s walk took care of other issues. I know Fairy Godmother has been wondering what we did to the nice horse she sent down. Well, we finally found that horse.

Now – cross fingers – Milton’s only problems will come as a result of being a green racehorse owned by amateurs. That was also the case with Previous Horse, and he didn’t have a bad life.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Category:

health, Horse Behavior, Horse Care, Horses

Cookie Ball!

Nose-It! Equine Ball Flat Fill Treat Dispenser
via Amazon (not available direct)

I don’t usually buy cat/dog/horse toys. I am concerned they will become unused, decorative lumps of plastic. We bought what we call the “Cookie Ball” after watching Bliss and Jewel play with theirs at CAA [Show Report]. At one point, Bliss heard Jewel playing with the ball – the rattling treats make a distinctive sound – and got offended that someone else had HER ball.

Our guys love it. No ramp-up time. We presented the cookie ball. They each say, ‘Ah ha! Treats!’ and began to whack it around. Any horse who has ever flipped over a feed pan knows how to do this. I think humans underestimate the power of smell. Note, we have to fill it with “good” treats. They did not feel it is worth the effort for mediocre treats.

Rodney gets the cookie ball with a baker’s dozen of horse cookies as a stall toy when Milton goes to Stepping Stone. He empties all but one or two. In his defense, that last one is hard to fish out.

Comments: There is a small drainage hole on the bottom, opposite the treat hole, for cleaning. It is a clever design but I find I still have to mop out the last bit of water. Our area is bad for fire ants and mice, so I clean the ball each time and keep it in the house. YMMV.

Disclosure: no contact with company other than as a customer.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Category:

Horse Behavior, Horse Care, Horses

Tagged with:

Rodney’s Feet

Right hind – still has remnants of puffiness above his fetlock from the trailer kerfuffle two weeks ago [Dubious Future]. Rodney’s tell for pain is acting scared of people, for example getting more headshy. In this case, the front end never registered a problem in the back end. So, I never worried unduly. (Worrying about getting him on a trailer again, that’s a whole different anxiety attack. But I digress.)

Left front – Lost shoe Friday. Shod Monday. Barefoot for Three. Whole. Days. Oh noes! Soaking foot, coating sole with turpentine, and crossing fingers against an abscess. In the photo, the schmutz on his leg is sweat from a hard day’s grazing. After this, I rinsed him off & hosed his other leg.

BTW, Milton lost the same shoe for the same time frame. He’s fine. He also ships.

I am hereby changing Rodney’s name to Precious Prince Snowflake Cupcake.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Category:

Horse Care, Horses, Photography

Cindy Sez

… that I am done with my computer work for the evening.
… that I should have finished my post before the storm blew in.
… that it’s a good thing I have a wireless iPad.

But seriously folks, tropical storm Cindy is headed our way. We’ve been having rain for daaaaays. Fortunately, we had enough break in the rain that I could pick up feed (yay!) and Greg’s driving apron from the dry cleaners (the apron, not the feed) this morning. As soon as I got home, boom. Given the rate that trees drop onto power lines around here, I’m staying off my desktop, which is where my images are, where my drafts are, and where I upload from. But enough about me.

To those suffering bad weather &/or flash floods, stay safe.

BTW, horses fine. Pasture a soupy mess. Barn not as bad as it could be. Cross fingers.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Category:

Blogging, Horse Care, Pasture, Weather

Time Out for Routine Maintenance

Last week was weirdly full of appointments for horse & human. All routine. Dentist. Farrier. Eye doc. Vet. Everyone’s fine. Between house rules (day off for shoes), travel time (dentist & eye doc) and recovery time (eye doc & vet), not much got done.

That’s okay.

Rodney’s one tiny jump [!] will carry me for a while. The Coggins tests [Names] means that now, finally, we have all the pieces to move forward with Milton.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Category:

Horse Care, Horses

Show Names

Vet has come. Blood has been drawn. Names have been chosen.

Registered Name: Major Conn [Real Name]
Stable Name: Milton
Show Name: Monochrome Rainbow

Registered Name: none
Stable Name: Rodney
Show Name: Double Solitaire

Despite my love of data, I am not doing a retrospective of Rodney’s aborted show names over the years. I am looking forward. This is will be the one that matters, the one that gets used. Onwards.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Category:

Horse Care, Horse Shows, Horses