Say Ahh, Visit By An Equine Dentist

Horsekeeping

 

 
Rodney and Milton recently had their teeth done by an equine dentist. While the individual was all for a post on the importance of dental health for horses, they requested anonymity.

When I showed up at Stepping Stone Farm for my lesson, I found the dentist working their way through the barn. I was immediately excited. I’ve been impressed with equine dentists. Although my horses are checked yearly by their vet, a specialist will always do a better job than a generalist.

After they agreed to stop at my house on their way home, I watched the rest of the SSF horses.

For those of you who don’t speak horse (Hi Mom!), the horse’s lower jaw is narrower than the upper. This means that the outside of the upper and the inside of the lower jaws grow sharp points that need to be filed. Nature handles this by keeping wild horses on a constant diet of low-grade, high-chew forage. Unfortunately this equips horses for a life of wandering about eating low-grade forage, rather than showing and jumping and racing and all those other things humans find for horses to do. So we feed them hi-test that requires less grinding, and more dentistry. End sidebar.

The process is a model of speed & efficiency. Put a soft, worn leather halter on the horse. File – I assume – the front teeth. Switch to a gadget that holds the horse’s jaw open. File – I assume – the back teeth. Done.


 
Among the tools of the trade was a extra long float, i.e. tooth rasp, to reach the back molars.

Sedatives where not used. I did not ask why. They were so busy that chatting was not really an option. I assume, again, that they don’t want to wait around for the sedative to take effect and then wait further for the horse to come out of it safely. By the time a sedative would have taken effect, they were done and moved to the next patient.

If the horse objected at any point, the dentist would grab a handful of halter. Then they would stand quiet and immobile, preventing the horse from flinging about until the horse saw things their way. The horse always did. There was no violence, no reprimanding, just imperturbable, immovable patience. It was an amazing display of horse handling.

The dentist used hearing along with sight and touch. They would turn an ear to the horse while rasping, listening – assume again – for the correct sound. Afterward, they would grab the horse’s head, lean in, and move the lower jaw back and forth, checking that the grinding surfaces were behaving correctly.

You don’t always have to know a job to know that it is being done well. The assistant did the preliminary round on a few horses. Looked fine. Doing about the same job my vet does. Then the dentist stepped in. You could see the power and smoothness in each stroke. More efficient strokes, faster job.

One of the SSF horses had a tooth pulled. No sedative. Photos after the jump [here]. Gory, but interesting.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Show Horse Soliloquy

Adventures in Saddle Seat

 

“If it is not written down, it does not exist.”
Philippe Kruchten

Not sure the purpose of this as a blog post. However, I’ve had the formulation in my head for a while and wanted to get it written down.
~~~
I am in the extremely fortunate position of having a superabundance of horse shows arrayed in front of me. At the moment, my shekels and my Saturdays are being put aside for Milton, and maybe Rodney if the obstacle idea pans out. It would take a special Saddlebred to convince me to break out the show jods.

Three criteria
1) Simpatico. A horse with whom I can do more than steer around the ring and stagger into line-up. A chance to practice the nuances of showing.
2) Flashy. Silk togs on a cotton budget. A chance to learn suit horse maneuvers.
3) Academy.

The current barn occupants are hitting two out of three. (I recognize there is an element of high-handedness in pronouncing on the utility of horses who don’t even belong to me. My blog, my arrangement of the universe.)

Simpatico & Academy: Sam. Second only to Previous Horse in horses who speak a language that I understand. Backbone of the Academy program. Alas, Sam has hung up his show bridle and informed people that he is over the fancy prancing, thank you very much. Take him as he is or move on.

Flashy & Academy: Whiskey. Since he’s been at Stepping Stone Farm, Whiskey has showed in suit as often as in Academy. He was Reserve National Champion at National Academy last year. Alas, we are in the ‘I’m sorry, did I step on your foot?’ phase of our dancing relationship. What I can learn from Whiskey, I can learn at home.

Simpatico & Flashy: Dottie. Awesome horse. Awesome ride. Alas, no longer in the SSF Academy program. Sad face.

While I plan to continue with lessons, I don’t foresee a lot of saddle seat shows this year. Of course, I’ve been wrong before.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Rodney Continues To Be A Saga, A Bout Of Blog As Therapy

Rodney had a bad day [Evil Twin]. Which means I had a bad week, or more. It’s been a while since I’ve indulged in a good, solid Rodney whinge. Shall we begin?

In general, as my horse goes, so goes my attitude. Good day at the barn? Happy me. Bad day? Bad me. Have you seen the meme where the man is praying, “Sweet Baby Jesus, please let my wife have a great ride.”? Yeah, like that.

In specific, Rodney puts an extra spin on the generalized angst. He is my chance at a fancy horse. My chance to dance on a carpet of stars. Milton is nice: good mover, athletic, pretty, and so on. In the grand pool of OTTBs, he’s average, maybe a bit above average. Rodney is the nicest horse I’ve ever sat on: the movement, the ability, yes, even the attitude. Milton is upper middle class, Rodney is aristocracy. I may be hitting my head against a brick wall, but the bricks in that wall are made of gold. When I feel that chance slip out of my reach, I give in to despair.

OPTIONS:

Get Over Myself
Cry me a river. Of the litany of problems facing the world, this doesn’t make the list, not even the extra-long, extended version.

Accurate. Not helpful. Just adds guilt. Now, in addition to being in a funk, I am whacking myself with the gratitude hammer [A Look Inside My Head]. WHAM!

Or to put on a positive spin, I can’t predict the future. An opportunity wearing silver horseshoes might be cantering toward me at this very moment.

Also accurate, in that no one knows the future. Also not helpful, living on the thin air of might & maybe.

Least successful method.

Bloom Where I am Planted
So I never have that dream ride. I ride a lot of nice horses. Long may it continue.

For example, Dottie is most competitive-minded horse I’ve ever shown. Riding her taught me how a true performer thinks. Would I have liked to ride her 10 years ago? Sure. Is it a honor to ride her now? Also, sure.

Moderately successful method.

Expect It To Happen Again
With this horse, hope will flicker until either we hit the big time or I call the backhoe. Therefore, this cycle will continue. We’ll get back on track. We’ll have something I can call progress. We’ll have a set-back. I’ll go into a tailspin. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

Be gentle with myself. I wish I was tougher, I’m not. Accept it. Go behind the barn. Kick rocks. Be upset. Come back and try again. Give myself time.

Hardest method.

Onwards!

Thank you for listening,
Katherine Walcott

Banishing Rodney’s Evil Twin

tldr: Horse acting up, possible reasons for, rider response tomorrow.

Rodney had a Bad Day last month. This is not the nervous, tight horse who used to shut us out and go to his happy place. This is an arrogant, egotistical horse who is quite aware of what you are asking and doesn’t like it very much.

“A wood animal is confident, active and athletic. They can be superstar performers but are sensitive to stress and are easily angered and tend to be crabby and impatient.” Dr. Wendy Ying: Behavior Therapy

He’s been tossing me the hoof for a while now. Usually about 20 minutes into a ride, he gets tired, I lose focus, he decides he’s over this. He registers his complaint. I tell him to get over himself. We move on. When he was first working regularly in the cart, Milton used to do something similar, at about the same time frame.

We’ve been working on trotting more. The first trot is great. Then Rodney gets anxious. ‘We trotted at this spot in the ring. We’re gonna trot again. I know we’re going to trot.’ Each trot deteriorates further. We’ve been walking in between to give him time to calm down, with varying success.

On this particular day, We trotted. Smooth as always. Walked around. He pitched a minor objection. Unusual that he did so at a walk. Physically, the fit is negligible. His front feet come a few inches off the ground. He slings his head back back and forth. The problem is mental. You feel as if you are riding a horse whose brain is about to go into free fall.

I sucked it up and kept going. We trotted. He was on edge. I thought, ‘Great, this is an opportunity to keep calm, to show him that he can relax at the trot, yadda, yadda.’ I thought it was going well, or at least okay. Three-quarters of the way into the short pattern, he disagreed. Prop, head sling. Pause. Prop, head sling. Pause. At which point, he gave me the mental side-eye as if to say, ‘We gonna throw down?’ I got off.

Since you can’t end on that note, he got remedial long-lining. It was lovely to watch the horse jump off the ground and have the dude in the center of the ring say, ‘Yeah, yeah, thats nice, keep going.’ After about 10 minutes, you could see Rodney say, ‘Well, that didn’t work.’ and go back to trotting like a civilized horse.

We ran out of time for me to get back on, particularly if it did not go well. We declared victory and went home.

So What Happened?
Ground crew changed the rein attached to the bit. I didn’t agree, but there is no point to having ground crew if you are not willing to listen to them. Rein changed back.

His teeth were done recently. That should be a good thing.

We changed feed the preceding month [Feed Scoop]. It could be affecting his composure. More likely affecting his size. In case the grain was contributory, we adjusted him to 50/50 grain/pellets from all grain. He’s not happy about the increased salad in his dinner bucket. I told him he stops acting like a twit he can have more meat & potatoes.

The main cause, we think, is saddle fit. Actually, the main cause is a horse with an attitude. The proximate cause is the saddle. Wintec saddles [Equipment] come with an interchangeable internal bar. The measuring widget indicated that he needed to upgrade from a blue bar to a wider red bar. OTOH, Milton has changed from blue to a narrower black, although the red-bar version doesn’t look terrible on him, which doesn’t make sense. But I was talking about Rodney.

Of course, it is always possible that Rodney is basically unrideable, which is a rant for tomorrow.

Since Then
The day after the incident, I got on. He walked badly, which he had been doing well up to that point. Afterwards, we discovered the possible saddle issues. Since I was using the same saddle on Milton, we left any changes until after the dressage show.

Wait a week. Show. Redo saddle. Trial ride. Walked great. Calm & relaxed. Didn’t push it.

The red-bar Wintec fits great along Rodney’s back. However, it clears his withers but not by much, particularly if the saddle is too far forward. It works but it’s not ideal. There’s just too little margin for error.

As I said [Rungs], I am coping with this problem by freezing like terrified rabbit.

It has not escaped my attention that both of my horses have expressed opinions lately. In both cases, the press of events kept me moving forward. Rodney acted up right before my lesson with Kory [Boost], hence the lack of time. Milton’s episode [Hop] was the same day as a saddle seat lesson. Not sure what I would have done without those pre-made plans.

So that’s where we are. I need to get back on, I need wait for weekend to have oversight/encouragement. I need to saddle shop for a second horse, factoring in Rodney’s possible aversion to leather [Finding One That Fits].

Onwards!

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

Anxiety Dreams, A Sure Sign That Show Season Has Started

On My Mind, Miscellaneous Thoughts

 

Why can’t dreams be happy, pleasant, bunny-filled romps in fields of clover?

Dreamscape. Checking scores/test sheet after an Intro A ride. I was second out of 2. Wasn’t terribly upset, so must have been a decent ride. One of the scores on the sheet is a 3. For a canter circle. In a walk-trot test. Not clear how this was managed.

I walk over to politely point this out to the secretary/scorers. Misplace the test. Rifle through sheets of paper to find it. Scoring booth is manned by small children. Clamber out of their way. Misplace test. Rifle. Personnel at the secretary’s desk changes several times. Repeatedly find and lose test. Never have test and secretary to hand at the same time.

I finally tell a representative of the management what happened. Doesn’t believe me. Who would? She thinks I’m a loon. A whiny loon taking up her time with nonsense. I get a condescending lecture on accepting and learning from low scores. Others chime in. I know about low scores. I’ve gotten low scores. I’m talking about a MISTAKE, you idiots.

Now I have to find the stupid test to show them I am not making it up. Being a dream, of course I can’t.

I realize I ought to get ready for my next test. I asked the woman at the desk for my ride time. She informs me, smugly, that I ride at 12:38. It is 12:35. I have four minutes. Apparently I don’t math in my dreams either.

I go flying out of the scoring trailer over to my stall. The tack is lined up on the side wall of the stall. I undress rapidly while I yelling for my ground person to tack up. I’m shedding clothes in public for all to see; at this point I don’t care. My ring is *right* over there, and I *might* have just enough time to make this happen.

This – naturally – is at a show where my mother – who lives several states away – decides to come watch as a surprise.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaggggggggggggggg!

I was so happy to wake up.

What happens in your horse show anxiety dreams? You have these? Tell me I’m not the only one.

[Horse Dreams]
[Horse Dreams, Follow-Up]

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott

The Next Rungs On Milton’s Ladder Of Success

With Milton, the hard stuff is easy; the easy stuff is hard,

Dressage test? No problem. Showgrounds? Trailers? Other horses? Not so much.

Cross-Country. Solid fences? Jumping? Sure. Being ALL ALONE way, way out in the BIG, WIDE WORLD? Not so much.

Show Practice
I had thought to take a break until we are ready to canter in public. How many walk-trot Intro tests can one person do? Looks like I shall find out.

Hard things being easy, Milton is great with his own trailer. Loads well. Ships well. Stands tied next to it.

Easy things being hard, he has come-aparts watching trailers arrive at showgrounds. His trailer-related meltdowns are worse at ASB shows. The geometry at the local saddle seat barns is such that a handful of large trailers are wedged into a small space. Does he not like the big trailers? Not like being packed in? Who knows. He does better at Full Circle Horse Park , where the trailers are smaller, mostly two-horse with the occasional four-horse stock, and the parking is spread out over a wider space. Last weekend, he only startled once at a horse unloading nearby.

He gets stellar marks for his work in the ring [Show Report]. The rest of it is still a work in progress. Minus, we had to break out the nose chain to get him to pay attention when we arrived. Plus, he warmed-up beautifully in the ground driving. He both settled with it and worked well. Minus, mounted warm-up was still edgy.

Therefore, Milton and I will be going to all the walk-trot dressage and non-compete hunter/jumper shows we can reach. When we can canter, we’ll move up to endless iterations of Training Level Test 1. When we can jump 2′, we’ll add Hopeful Hunter.

I would rather do exciting things. Apparently simply being at a showgrounds is exciting for Milton.

Rider Nerves
While Milton is getting over his show nerves, I need to get over my show nerves, which are not helped by my horse having show nerves. Being nervous the day before is bad enough. Being nervous the entire week before a simple walk-trot test at a small, local schooling show is a ridiculous way to live one’s life.

While we are on the subject of the rider improvement, a few pointers gleaned from the photos. Lose the trainer’s hunch. Get a hairnet. I must remember that at non-ASB competitions I don’t have Reagan to turn me out beautifully. If I insist on hunching, don’t wear a loud, black& white stripped sweater that underscores my bad posture. For that matter, I am no longer allowed to wear black with a gray horse.

Canter
On the long-lines, Milton has canters quietly on voice commands. Under saddle, he canters well, once we get it. The transitions, not so much. OTOH, that is a hard thing being hard.

On the Thurs before the show, we practiced at Stepping Stone Farm. I didn’t ask well. When I don’t ask well, he gets confused. When he gets confused, he gets upset. When he gets upset, he hops. It was a little hop, nothing like the grand extravagance of last month, but it didn’t help my mental state at the show.

I was hoping to wait to show again until we could canter well. I think horse and rider will be both happier with the canter as tool for motivation and learning. This is not unusual for Thoroughbreds. Canter is their gait. With Previous Horse, also an OTTB, we warmed-up at canter, and I was best able to explain new things to him at a canter.

Riding Outside
Practice at home. Practice at SSF. Practice at FHF. Practice at FCHP.

Then practice at show when leaving the other horses. Maybe an XC school with other horses for company, even if all we do is watch the others.

And finally, before all of this …

Saddle
The time has come. We had to widen the Wintec [New Equipment] for Rodney. That means it no longer fits Milton. Really we’ve been lucky that one saddle fit two horses for this long. I have been dreading this for years [Saddle Shopping written in 2016]. Add in two horses with sensitive backs who are no shy about expressing their displeasure.

Driving
Have cart. Ready to start back at square one to recapitulate the process. Milton popped an abscess. It looks like a heel grab but on the back foot. Sigh.

He has recently lunged in his harness. He accepted it so well that I have a good feeling about driving at home (for driving, SSF is home). I am less sanguine about going anywhere else/showing.

All of the above will be good schooling for driving – dressage test, show exposure, riding in the open. The only element not relevant to driving it is the actual air-time over the jumps.

In Sum
Milton needs a saddle.
We need to get our shit together.
I need to get my shit together.

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott