Ocala visit, Part 1 -- Setting My Ego Aside

I saved this quote a few months ago after doing some hard thinking about the way we support one another both publicly and privately. There's been some conversation going on around the blogosphere about this very topic but I think it's important to highlight. I think we're all guilty of passing judgment behind the scenes, and the risk of putting ourselves out there on a blog is that our readers are going to have opinions (both good and bad) -- so we prepare for them every time we hit "Publish". Mostly though, I hope that the people who read my blog try to understand me and my journey and respect and support that even if it doesn't align with their goals.

So when I came back from Florida, I found myself a little tentative about sharing the details of my trip in fear of being scrutinized. Mainly because... Did I ride: YES -- Did I ride my horse: NO.

We came up with a plan before I flew down: to flat Monday, take him to a jumper show Tuesday and XC school Wednesday before I flew back. I drove straight from the airport Monday morning (4am wake up!) to go see Scout who did a bit of a double take when he saw me.

O HAI MOM!!!!

I had planned to flat him also Monday but after watching him go around with Nora, I decided that I'd perhaps hack him later on Monday or have a lesson Tuesday. She's JUST started to really unlock him on the flat and to be 100% truthful, I didn't want to hamper the progress they were making... she never pressured me in either direction, but it was clear that she was at a very crucial part of his training -- additionally, I think she wanted to show off what they've been working on:) And given the amount of time and money I am investing, I need things to go very, very well. She's finally got him really soft off the leg and allowing more pressure laterally. He's really working nicely over his back and coming through.

This step, this softness, this frame -- all of it. <3

His transitions are sharp and focused, his leads are confirmed and balanced and his frame is much different. He's really lifting at his wither and as a result, his neck looks amazing! I was most impressed by the difference in his walk which has this intense freedom in his shoulder and push from behind. She's getting control of those long legs and he's getting a little better at listening and waiting for instruction vs. I GOT DIS.


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The thing he's struggling most with right now is learning to use his hind end properly. He's finally got a good half halt installed but he still blows past it at times thinking he knows best, which usually ends in poles flying everywhere. Increasing his education on the flat and learning how to utilize his hind end is completely changing his jump style too. When he decides to wait and sit, he jumps like a freak. He's always been a good jumper but holy cow...


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When he gets it wrong, he just jumps bigger. To be fair, this exercise was REALLY hard for him -- but he never stopped trying. She's adding lots of tricky exercises like this to really get him to learn to wait and sit. There were lots of poles before and after single fences to get his brain and feet thinking too.

Finding that 5th leg:)

I was really pleased to see him locking on to fences and being so keen. He's really loving jumping right now, maybe even TOO much as he gets pretty bold and wants to do it his way.

But he's learning to halfhalt and rebalance and when he does, his jump is really spectacular! She does an incredible job of supporting him and also staying out of his way without letting him feel abandoned. It's that kind of fine tuning that makes me feel so good about having him under the tuteladge of someone so experienced and intuitive. She's been schooling him at 3'-3'6" to get him going confidently higher than what he'll compete at (for awhile).

He was completely hilarious after she finished up while we stood there chatting he kept inching closer and closer to me so he could be touching me at all times. He definitely knows his mama! I got to spend some time with him cleaning him up after his ride and stuffing him full of treats.

The kid is maturing = stands on crossties perfectly now

And while I felt a little conflicted about not being in the irons myself, it was fabulous to see what he's learned so far and where he still needs work. She admitted that it took 4-6 weeks just to unlock him on the flat, and I believe it! It's clear that she's taken a methodical approach to figuring him out while always providing a way for him to find the answer. He's extremely happy with her program and it shows.

Stay tuned for the next part of our Ocala trip where the weather does not cooperate with us, I go on conditioning rides at the Davidson's and Scout goes XC schooling and blows me away! Thanks for riding along with us:)

One foot in front of the other

Scout says HI

It's been four days since Scout got cast and we're continuing to improve! His fever is gone -- we've switched him from Banamine to Bute and tomorrow he'll scale back to Bute just once a day, so hopefully the fever stays away and he remains comfortable. I started to get pretty concerned yesterday as the limb itself was still warm and VERY swollen.

Fat hock

Cankle

More fat hock

And while he was walking comfortably on it and not favoring it anymore we needed to try something additional to reduce the swelling. After chatting with my regular vet and the clinic we thought that it would be worth trying to sweat the leg to see if it would respond.

Time to gather supplies.

I'm pretty sure the CVS near the barn thinks I'm a serial killer at this point because I am always buying the weirdest stuff. I chose a traditional sweat with Furacin and saran wrap, standing wrap on that and a stacked hock wrap with a figure eight bandage.

Turns out I learned something when I was a working student:)

I added some elasticon to the top and bottom of the stacked wrap to help it from slipping/moving too much. He didn't seem to care much at all about being wrapped up to his neck and I threw a supportive standing wrap on the other hind as a precaution.

In the meantime I got Boredy-McBoredpants some stalls treats that he couldn't figure out how to use

I came back a few hours later to make sure the wrap hadn't moved around too much (it hadn't, but I still re-did the top wrap to be extra careful) and I tucked him in for the night while me and the rest of the East Coast braced for Bomb Cyclone (WTF is with that name?).

For reference, I live in Philly and the farm is in Medford

The snow was scheduled to start overnight and be at it's worst during rush hour traffic. I got up and 6 to look outside and there was just a light dusting so I thought maybe the storm had veered off the coast more than anticipated. At 8, I jumped out of bed and the wind was whipping (gusts of 50mph) and the snow was really coming down. At this point they predicted it would snow until 1pm, so I though I might fare a little better if I made a run for it early to get back before there were several inches on the ground.

Untouched roads everywhere

My neighborhood is always a shitshow after snow, but I figured the main arterial roads would be better. NOPE. Nothing was touched, not even I-95! Major roads that are usually 3 lanes were mayhem with one lane of undefined boundaries and people driving all over the place. I had driven my truck home the night before as a precaution and I am SO glad I did. Having 4wd and a heavy vehicle was the only way you'd be getting around safely. By the time I got into New Jersey it was pretty much blizzard conditions. Visibility was down to about 1/8th of a mile and the blowing snow was making booby traps of snow drifts.

When I got to the farm I was happy to see one other set of tracks on the driveway (phew, the barn staff made it out there!) -- My goal was to get in and get out, as I was unsure of how hair raising my drive home would be!

All the ponies were staying in (much to their dismay), but Scout seemed happy for the company. I took his temp and mixed up his bute and took a peek at his legs. Hooray! The wraps stayed on perfectly all night (I'm not kidding when I say I was worried all night about them!)

OMG, a leg!

I've never been so happy to see bony protrusions 

The heat was greatly reduced and the swelling was down dramatically! I cleaned off the Furacin and cooled his leg off with a wet washcloth (winter's version of cold hosing). I'm thrilled with the effects of the wrap, so I'm going to leave him unwrapped for the night to see if it blows back up. If so, I'll start a protocol like I went through with his fetlock (wrapping until it goes cold and tight and weaning him off the wrap). Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to hand walk him and assess his soundness a little more. I'm feeling much more positive about his recovery at this point. Well worth the hellish drive this morning to see his improvement!

Another thing to check off my skillz list! Parallel parking this beast!

Thank you to everyone who sent good vibes our way, I think they're working! Fingers crossed we can maintain and upward trajectory. For now, stay warm all my East Coast friends, we're bracing for a couple of rough days ahead!

Every day with him is a gift OR how cellulitis sucks

There's nothing quite like your horse getting injured or sick to help jolt you back into reality. I had been studying the fall calendar, looking for first events to take Scout to when I got a message (while I was on vacation) that Scout came in from turnout with a hot fat leg. I didn't panic, but I hated that I wasn't nearby and it was bad enough that a call to vet was placed.

He was initially very lame, sensitive to palpation and barely walking. My vet pulled a SAA on him and he was positive for an infection. So we deemed it most likely a case of cellulitis, he was ordered stall rest, bute for a few days and a regime of antiobiotics (IM/IV). He weaned off the bute and was significantly more comfortable after a few days. Things were looking up. Vet check a few days later and another SAA, improved results. My vet radiographed the leg to rule out any sort of fracture or chip and we decided to plan an ultrasound in a few days. He finished the course of mega antibiotics and was put on Naquazone to reduce the inflammation. The leg was still swollen and very, very hot.

Broken pony is good at dramatic posing

Three days later, the swelling was down, the heat was reduced and the infection was no longer present. My vet ultrasounded the soft tissue around the fetlock and found nothing of note, he was cleared for regular turnout and we opted to keep in a smaller paddock with a quiet buddy vs. his youngster gelding crew. We were scheduled to start under saddle the next day. The following morning not only was his leg fat and hot again, but he also managed to cut/scrape the skin off the front of his cannon on the bad leg #becauseofcoursehedid. UGH.

Luckily, this horse is an absolute saint

After checking in with my vet, we decided to cold hose, sweat it, jog and ride him to see how he was feeling. I spent the whole day feeling like I was going to throw up, I had such a terrible feeling that he was just broken and now, 12 days into stall rest and treatment I was mentally just spent.

So happy...

So we tacked up and headed up the hill (after a quick in hand jog to make sure he was sound) to the ring. I could have cried swinging my leg over. This 4 year old, on almost 2 weeks of stall rest was perfect. We walked around and he felt good, I was grinning ear to ear. Then I picked up a little trot, and he was LAME. Like, crippled, 3-legged lame. WTF?

We took some video of him under saddle and in hand and sent it to my vet. Puzzled, I took his polos off only to discover that he was significantly more sound without any pressure on the swelling. Now I was completely convinced he had a soft tissue injury. Devastated, I made another appt with my vet to re-check him. Another course of Naquazone started, a negative SAA and another ultrasound scheduled.

Meanwhile, I creep on my horse while he's in a makeshift small paddock

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't losing my mind a little bit. I trust my vet 100%, but my gut was telling me to look further. I felt like we were out of diagnostics at the farm so I scheduled a visit to New Bolton (it's just a few miles down the road) for a more thorough ultrasound just to completely rule out ANY soft tissue lesions/tears.

And, wouldn't you know it... my horse arrived at New Bolton and was SOUND. Palpated negatively, jogged sound, and they sent me home with a long term anti-inflammatory and told me that basically the cellulitis must have resurfaced again a few days prior, and that when he has an infection/swelling/pressure around that joint he's going to be lame. I was under strict instructions to wean him off stall rest while keeping the problem leg wrapped. I could begin taking the wrap off an hour a day until the swelling completely stayed down.

Oh Hai... Yes, I'm totally drinking the BOT kool-aid now

And with his prognosis up in the air and his short term care being pretty high-maintenance, I made the decision to move him close to home (more about this in another blog post). I needed to be able to wrap/re-wrap his leg at least once a day and monitor his progress more closely. Scout, while going through all of this was foot perfect. His only objection to stall rest could be detected by occasional teeth grinding. He was otherwise a gentleman for all of his poking and prodding and constant care.

Settling in, day one

The new barn made him a small paddock with a shed in a spot where he could see everything, but stay quiet. Day after day, he improved and I started leaving the wraps off for longer and longer. After about 10 days I switched him to wearing Back on Track wraps just overnight. His leg has stayed cold and tight and he's been sound. We started legging back up and he feels terrific.

Feeling good again!

And, as of a few days ago, he started big boy turnout. He's got a 15 acre field and 5 geldings to play with.

27 days after the initial injury/cellulitis 

He galloped for like 5 strides and realized he was surrounded by acres and acres of lush grass!

This whole experience made me realize something very special about this horse. I've never had that "heart horse" feeling before, but I think I understand what it is now. He seemed to understand that I was trying to help him and he tried so hard to be on his best behavior. While being on stall rest, we bonded more than ever, logging lots and lots of hours just being around each other. No riding, no agenda. Somehow, having riding taken out of the picture helped me to appreciate who he is even more. When I made the tough decision to move him I realized that even if he needed long term rehab, or couldn't be sound beyond a walk that this horse owed me nothing and that I would move heaven and earth to make him happy. healthy and comfortable.

I truly feel like every day with him is a gift. The future feels bright for us.