Green snot

Yesterday was E's last official 4-H ride. She decided a while back that she didn't want to continue in the club once she started high school - a reasonable choice given the number of extracurricular activities and amount of just plain school work she has. Last night the club hosted its yearly potluck/awards ride night. E wanted to take Zoe since Monte is still plagued with a sore back (we have a call in to the chiropractor).

As she was loading up her tack, E heard Zoe coughing in the trailer. Being a little concerned we all peered in the windows and saw what appeared to be coughs caused by choking. E had hung a hay bag up in the trailer to give Zoe something to munch on while we drove out to the ride...and it seemed that Ms. Zoe gobbled down her treat too fast, causing her to choke on some.

We quickly unloaded the horse and watched anxiously as she coughed so much that green yuck came out of her nose. E ran to ask a visiting vet/instructor who happened to be in the arena just what the heck we should do. She was told to get Zoe's head down if possible and try to get her to drink some water to help with any obstruction in her throat.

Zoe was distressed and a bit panicky at this point - and still coughing green slime out her nose. I found a syringe and forced her to drink some water (about 180 cc's worth). About then her coughing subsided and she seemed to be okay. We put her into her stall to keep her from eating anything for a while....and then loaded up Monte and headed off to the ride night. All of this took about 30 to 40 minutes.

Upon return from the 4-H ride, we checked on Zoe and decided that she was just fine. I might have a new gray hair or two, but the horse is going to be okay. :)

Zoe has been used quite a bit lately by our foreign exchange student friend, Catherine. Catherine is a very good rider and has been schooling Zoe in jumping. I have noticed a change in Zoe, however. Her responses to my cues aren't as quick or as easy as they used to be; she just seems less reactive/responsive than before. I knew that this would probably happen to some extent, but it does make me a little sad. In hopes of stopping this change in Zoe, I have decided to ask Catherine to use a gentler bit while riding her(a french link); since Catherine is tighter with the reins than I am, perhaps this will help me regain some of that soft feeling that's been lost.

Headset

E and Monte had a 4-H lesson with Anita last night. E didn't want to ride at all, but I forced her to go. Monte's outburst on Sunday is definite proof that she needs to work him several times a week.....

And by the end of the evening, E was so very glad she had gone to the ride night. They really worked on Monte's headset and Anita also instructed her on how to help him learn to use his hind quarters more since he was so heavy on the front-end for much of the night.

Plus, she just plain had fun. And that's what riding should be!

Road trip for Zoe

The horses had all their shots on Monday, so when we pulled Monte out for 4-H last night I wasn't too terribly surprised that he wasn't feeling so hot. When E took him into the round pen prior to loading him in the trailer, he was practically dragging his head on the ground. Kinda scary actually - I'm so used to his high energy! There are several horses that have had varying degrees of adverse reactions to the shots, however, so I understood why he was feeling the way he was.

Zoe, on the other hand, did not have any noticeable reaction to the shots, so E and I made a quick decision to take her to 4-H instead. E had to pull her out of her stall and away from her dinner and Zoe made her displeasure over this disruption apparent by kicking out at E. Not a great way to begin an adventure! But the horse settled down in the round pen (E wanted to make sure Zoe had a brain before making the final commitment to riding her!) and loaded into the trailer fairly well. Of course, a manger of hay in there helped considerably. :)

Neither of us had high expectations for this ride night. Zoe has led an easy life these last few months, with little being asked of her. We were also taking her to a new arena, with new horses and people. All of these factors combined did not build a solid foundation for the promise of a smooth ride. But Zoe surprised us! She only had one incident of spooking (the traffic cone in the arena was going to eat her and caused her to back up several feet, snorting the whole way) and really gave E a nice ride. Being that she is so out of shape, E did have to finish up a lot sooner than she would of on Monte, but that ended up being okay too since our trailer buddy was riding a young horse who also pooped out after an hour of work.

I'm so glad that Zoe proved to be adaptable enough for E to use in a pinch!

Getting jiggy with it...

E and her 4-H club went out to a local trail last Monday to change things up a bit. I had planned to join them, but another member needed a ride so I gave up the trailer space to her horse - the ride really was for the kids, not me. :)

Monte was a wild-eyed pony from the moment E backed him out of the trailer to pretty much the end of the ride. She had to deal with his constant jigging and trotting the entire ride....although he did finally give her a calm walk once the trailer was back in sight.

I asked her how it went, thinking she must have hated the ride, and was surprised to hear her say that she actually had fun. The child (seems strange to call my 6' daughter a child now!) has come to love the energy her pony has. She likes having to actually ride and work as opposed to just sitting on her horse, and enjoys the challenge Monte poses. In her own words: "I like that I can ride a horse that most people can't."

Horse camp in June is an eventing rally - which is a form of terror for Monte. Go out in the woods, by myself???!!! He's not the bravest of creatures. There are several other riders at our barn who regularly trailer to various locations - and they have offered to take E and Monte along. He needs the practice and exposure.

By the time E decides to sell him, Monte is going to be a wonderful, all-around horse...

Aching backs

Yesterday included a visit from the chiropractor for both horses. And it appears that this may have been Zoe's first manipulation ever - or at least she acted like that! My little girl was very tense and unsure of what this person was trying to do with her and was not the most cooperative pony. Stephanie commented several times on the horse's tenseness and on how she was holding her breath for long stretches of time. At any rate, Zoe had a hip out and was extremely stiff in the shoulders - there may have been a rib or two out as well, I don't remember.

Monte had a session with Stephanie as well. His problems were less severe (2 ribs out and some other minor adjustments) and totally in line with his current job as jumping pony.

After a chiro visit, we usually give the horses a day or two off, which made the timing of this particular visit unfortunate. Last night was our annual Halloween ride with E's 4-H group. Since E couldn't ride, she ended up leading all of the games for the other club members. The riders discovered that jousting with swim noodles, spoon & ball relay races, and flag races are much harder than they first appear! I think they all had fun, though.

Pre-purchase vet exam...

Curly was so good today! He calmly waited for Dr. Kress, the vet, to examine him and then continued to stay calm as he was poked, stretched and prodded. Dr. Kress concluded the exam by saying, "Go ahead and write a check for this guy!" He didn't have one negative thing to say about Curly's soundness or general health.

Now we wait for Emily's decision...

I've been learning all kinds of horse stuff this week. Like the fact that you can use baby sunblock on them to prevent sunburn on their tender noses (Curly's is susceptible to this because of his markings). Today I learned that to maintain weight the general rule of thumb is 1 lb. of hay per 100 lb. of horse. So Curly should be getting approximately 10 to 12 lbs. a day.

Later in the day....

Emily had another riding lesson this afternoon. She said it was really good - he even smoothly reversed directions while trotting. Curly is beginning to understand her leg cues. He's so smart!

Before she took him into the round pen the farrier showed up to trim his hooves. He's seen Curly before and was quite happy to find him at the horse barn being ridden. The farrier said that with a regular trim schedule, Curly's feet would be in top shape again. Especially since he is now being ridden regularly and is beginning to drop some excess weight. The horse was wonderful yet again, standing calmly while the farrier clipped and filed away at his feet.

On the ride home tonight I asked Emily her thoughts about the horse and she really wants to work with him now. Yes, he has a lot to learn and will be challenging but she can see that he is a truly good animal with a big heart. There's lots of reasons to love this guy!

All looks wonderful....

Note from Emily...
I think that Curly is getting better every day. yesterday I had to kick him hard just to get him to walk, but today I barly had to touch him. Smart horse! It's easier to ride him with other horses in the areana because then he knows which direction we're going! Although it's not as easy, mom says that I should ride him alone sometimes. That way he'll learn to follow my signals.

I'm starting to wonder if we'll be ready to ride at a 4-H meeting? there's a lot of horses there, but it's always fun. I'll find out on Tuesday!