The saddest puffer fish

I was getting caught up on some blog reading today and was reminded once again just how fragile horses are. Maybe it's just the fact that I have so many horse friends and read so many blogs, but it just seems like they are always doing something to hurt themselves and beyond that, it seems like the smallest thing can bring them down. So it's no surprise that eventually I'd get some sort of negative update about Scout.

He's apparently not afraid of fire ants... and I don't know if he's been laying in patches of them or snacking on them, but his body has a very poor reaction to them. He was scheduled to go for his first xc schooling with Nora when she sent me this:

Oh dear.

We opted to have the vet out and they gave him some Dex and within a day he was looking much better. One thing that's great about Ocala is that there are vets bopping around all day so it's easy enough for them to swing by and look at something non-emergent. By the next day, it was pretty much normal and he was back to feeling like himself.

She finally got him out XC and I'm so grateful that she spent 6 weeks getting to know him on the flat and working with him over stadium jumps to sort out some the balance and strength issues and getting him really forward off the leg. Clearly, it's paying off because he's a different horse this year out on XC!

This was the out portion of a half coffin complex

SO cute!

UMMMM. Beast mode.

But the following week, he had basically the same reaction though this time it was much more severe. So what was going on? Well after having the vet out again, they think he must have originally received a bug bite that created a severe reaction and developed into cellulitis on his face.

That's a sad puffer fish. 

His whole face and neck were swollen this time so it was a bit of a worry. Given that he's so prone to cellulitis they treated it accordingly, this time with more aggressive antihistamines and a dose of antibiotics to clear out any possible infection brewing. He got some Banamine on top of that to help him feel a little more comfortable. The face is such a tricky place for something like cellulitis because the swelling doesn't have anywhere to go when they are grazing and eating. Thankfully, it didn't take more than a day for him to completely bounce back. And better yet, Nora said he was thrilled to be ridden the next day!

Happy kid, post-ride

And while it would be easy to be disappointed about these little setbacks and having to reconfigure plans, I don't really get too worked up about this kind of stuff anymore. If there's one thing I've learned with horses is that everything planned needs to be in pencil and setback are just part of the joy of horse ownership (insert sarcasm here). The problem with having a horse that has had cellulitis is that they are just always prone to it -- any little nick or cut bears the risk of it developing into cellulitis. So I'm extra happy he's not sitting knee-deep in the mud like the rest of the horses at my barn in PA, clean/dry legs are definitely half the battle with a cellulitis prone horse!

The trouble with horses

My god, I've been a shitty blogger... my last post was May 10th? 

And I'm sure that after my last post everyone thought maybe I sent Scout to the Amish. Not to worry though, he's still eating $$$ like it's his job.

The truth is, we've had a couple months of bad luck. After my last post, we took Scout to Plantation for a schooling, which he really stepped up like a big boy and took in the terrain and sights and sounds like a champ.

View from the top of the hill (not for the faint of heart)

 

I guess he likes getting to the base!

Enthusiastic horse is enthusiastic

And he even conquered the water without a single issue:)

We had been scheduled for Scout to make his eventing debut just two weeks later at Fairhill but unfortunately he contracted Anaplasmosis a few days after this xc school. The poor guy spiked a 103.5 temp with hot front feet and legs and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't completely freaked out. We treated him very aggressively, and he responded wonderfully, but we lost 2 weeks of riding while he recovered.

Not long after this I decided to move him (yes, again) to a great facility with an indoor that had a few spots open up. For an additional $25 than what I was already paying, having access to three rings and an indoor seemed like a no brainer.

Day one at the new barn, looking fly

<3

I think he's growing again and I can't even...

Awesome indoor

View of the outdoor -- there are so many cool jumps!

The new place is (again) mostly a hunter/jumper barn with great facilities. It's a family farm that's been in the area for a long time so while it has terrific amenities it's not snooty at all. Bonus is that Valley Forge Park is just a short hack away with 100s of miles of trails! The barn has it's own jumper series that they run and they have clinics and events throughout the year... despite all of that, it never feels busy or crowded.

And since we've moved, he's had a touch of cellulitis (the day before I went out of town for 4 days) and then had a bout of choking the day I returned from a 10 day vacation! The cellulitis doesn't even get me worked up anymore, we just treat it and it resolves very quickly. The choking was alarming because he's never had any issues like that before, but we're going to do an endoscopy to see if he's ever had a tie-back. He doesn't roar or anything, but he does make a little noise when he tense under saddle, so if he did have an old tie back I'd just like to know for the future.

Since the last time I posted, I've had some medical issues including herniating a disk in my back. To further add insult to injury, the entire brake system in my truck failed and needed to be replaced (that happened the day before I left for vacation) -- but we're back on the road again.

In some better news, we have started taking lessons with an eventer nearby and Scout's been going very well under her guidance. She rides him for the first 15 mins of our lessons (to save my back some pain) and LOVES him. He's been jumping out of his skin and looking quite fancy on the flat.

His canter is getting SO cool under saddle. Now if only I could actually sit it!

That hind step<3

Trot isn't too shabby either

He can get heavier in the eggbutt french link, but it also makes me ride more correctly

So fingers crossed we've gotten all the bad luck out and we can get back to the fun stuff! I hope after all this time I still have a reader or two left! I'll try to do better!

On being proactive

<----------This?

This is the face of a horse who would never worry his owner.
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.
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.
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Which would be true if he were a cartoon character, or a stuffed animal, but he is not. He's a living, breathing, money eating machine that seems to thrive on giving me grey hairs and high blood pressure. But I love him all the same, mostly.

But this is the curse of horse ownership right? That constant balance between the high you feel after a great ride or the feeling you get when your horse nickers at you and the lowest of lows when your horse is so desperately trying to tell you something hurts and you can't figure out where or why.

If only you could talk!

But the thing is... owning a horse is more about the grey area. The days of mediocre rides and small break throughs, pulled shoes and mystery lamenesses that leave us scratching our heads. And our role in all of that is to be the very best advocate we can for them.

I realize that this varies, WILDLY amongst horse people. There are the "wait and see" types, the "bubble wrap the horse" types, the "let's call the vet every-single-time" types, the "I'm going to post this on OTTB connect and get advice" types, and everything in between. If I had to describe myself I'd say that I'm a bit old school about some things but I'm also very cautious.

I take what I know about my horse and try to apply my knowledge base around that horse's particular issues. Some horses are stoic (mine is not), some are prone to certain types of issues (cough, cellulitis, cough), some never tell you anything but you have a gut feeling that they are not quite right (I find those the most frustrating).

And when I say I'm cautious I mean that I probably build more recovery time into my treatment protocol than some. For example, after Scout got cast and developed a nasty vasculitis I kept him on stall rest judiciously, and turned him out slowly. And while he seemed sound, I did not push his training schedule because he was not completely 100%. I gave him a little more time (an additional week of turnout and no riding) and it was worth it to see him moving like this:

Strong and stepping evenly (and happy!)

And so when he came in from turnout with a big fat leg two days after these photos, my proactive protocol kicked in once again. Vet worthy? No. Needs immediate treatment and care? Yes.

Who me?

What I thought was just mud is actually a gross scab + fat leg

Once I got under all the mud and scrubbed the leg I saw what appeared to be a gross scrape. No biggie, BUT since I didn't know how long it had been there (I had been away from the farm for two days) and given the mud, I opted the best course of treatment was a 5 day cycle of smzs, a day of stall rest, and overnight wrapping. The antibiotics are to keep any sort of cellulitis from developing hopefully. He did have a slightly elevated temp (but like a half a degree), and given his history it's better to treat this judiciously. And while he was sound on it, there was no reason for me to push him to work on it.

Cleaned up but gross

And he'll be fine. The cut will heal, he will hopefully not develop a cellulitis, and he'll be sound and happy again. And that's the end goal for me... keeping him happy (first) and sound (second). But they go hand in hand I think.

I think at the end of the day it's hard to trust that we are always doing the best by our horses. What happens when you don't trust yourself to make a decision? Do you have a good support system to bounce your ideas/worries off of? What happens when you don't agree with or worse, you don't trust your vet? How do you know where to start or stop with treatment? How closely do you listen to what your horses needs?

Maybe I listen a bit too much (to my horse, to others), but that's my prerogative. Your protocol is yours. While some might find me too cautious, I might find others too cavalier. But it's all a learning experience in the end. 

And God he's worth the worry. <3

#NOBADDAYS

People that know me closely understand that I have a pretty sarcastic wit about me, I'm much more serious than my online persona may reveal, and that I am unabashedly optimistic and idealist.  I don't know how the last part developed because I've had enough strife and heartache in my life to turn me into a hateful, negative person... but what remains is someone who is constantly looking for silver linings even in the face of defeat. I try very hard to keep a positive attitude about things (and yes, I struggle and fall apart sometimes too) and I try to lift people up around me. I've spent the last several years culling the fat of toxic, negative people out of my life because to me, it's just not worth having people in your life that don't want to see you happy, or that try to bring you down into their negativity.

So, maybe it's just a result of getting older (hell, I'm pushing 40 this year YIKES) or wiser (doubtful) but lately, I've been feeling less stressed and more certain about the future.

<3

This feeling relates directly to Scout because since I've owned him, I think my whole outlook towards riding and horse ownership has changed. I have goals yes, but they are small... all I truly care about is having FUN. Hence the hashtag #NOBADDAYS. He makes me smile and laugh and is constantly worming his way closer into my heart. He's easy on the eyes and kind. He's a good mover, has a nice jump and good work ethic. What more could I want?

So this weekend even though I had ridden him ONCE since he got cast (if you're counting it was a solid month) the day before being invited, I jumped at the chance to take him on a fun hack with blog friends on Saturday.

And he was a perfect gentleman. It was the first really nice day we've had in weeks and it seemed foolish to stay at home. The two horses we were meeting up with are also rehabbing/coming back into work, so it was going to be a quiet ride (perfect!).

I went into the ride thinking we were going to have a great time and lo and behold, we did. The ponies were terrific, the sun was shining and everyone left with smiles. #nobaddays

Love these perfectly manicured trails

Love that my horse doesn't care where he is in the group

Love that he doesn't care about riding next to the road

They were all looking around quite a bit when we first arrived, but since it was a nice day the park had lots of families rolling in to enjoy the weather too which the horses found very interesting. Scout responded with his telltale teeth-grinding (that's primarily how he communicates tension) but was flat footed once I got on (really need to get that ironed out).

The loop around the park takes about an hour, so it was plenty of time for all of them to settle in and cruise along at a nice pace. We chatted about horses and life and everything in between. Laughed at our horse's individual personalities. I made a new friend and Scout fell in love.

Lovers

Mocha's side eye is REAL

Just a couple of handsome fellows

Sebastian slobbered all over Scout's neck and was whispering sweet nothings into his ear!

Something as simple as an hour long trail ride on my wonderful horse was enough to remind me that sometimes the best days are spent in the sun, with a couple of horse crazy women and their horses just walking around a park. And I was reminded again just why I love my horse SO much.

LOVE HIM

YAY NEW FRIENDS AND OLD FRIENDS AND HORSE FRIENDS!

I'm looking forward to continuing this trend of #nobaddays and I hope I'll see some of you out there in the bright future that lies ahead.

Ice, Ice, Baby

Good answer, good answer!!!

Hooray, my horse got turned out and he's behaving himself. After helicopter parenting everyday for 15 straight days (twice a day) I decided to take a day off to give us both a break. He's not longer on meds or needing any hand-holding so he such be fine right? Word from the farm was that he behaved himself without my supervision and all is well. So imagine my surprise when I showed up Monday to access his soundness post illness and he came head-bobbing across his 12 acre field.

#FFS

I immediately assumed the leg was hot and swollen again, I mean it's not like mud helps with horses that are cellulitis prone right? But to my surprise (and secret delight), he was ONLY missing a front shoe. And because I'm turning into a total maniac, I was furious. I turned him out Saturday myself and now it's Monday afternoon and HOWLONGHASHEBEENWITHOUTASHOE. So he got to spend another day in detention while he waited for the farrier to come out. It was far to muddy and icy to even try to wrap up the foot. I couldn't be there to talk to my new farrier about Scout's feet but I did mention that he's never lost shoes before and my old farrier always hot fit him. New farrier did not hot fit him, so we'll see how long these stay on.

The next day I planned to let him trot around a little so I could finally see how he was moving since he got cast. We had gotten a few inches of snow and slightly warmer temps so the ground was at least a little cushioned, but unfortunately I had to test out his free movement in a ring where one 1/5th of it hasn't thawed since temps first dropped below freezing.

You're going to let him loose where?

He was super quiet and he generally stays away from that end of the ring anyway (it's where the puddle of doom is) so I figured he'd just trot around me and come back looking for cookies.

Wrong answer

This dumb dumb trotted off squealing, and trotted right over to the snow-covered ice rink. FUCK.

SASS for DAYS

See those arrows? ICE, ICE, BABY...

But, in the end he adjusted his footwork while cracking through the ice and stayed upright. Maybe he'll make a good fox hunter after all? And guys, outside of a few sketchy steps that I'll chalk up to the world's worst footing, he looked damn good.

Looking confident on that right hind

Don't mind me, I'll just be over here practicing my extended trot on ice:/

All four, off the floor!

Weeeeee!

Uphill much? Damn, son!

My favorite of all... "I did a good job Mommy?"

Watching the videos I can see a little residual stickiness in the hock, but it could just be a little leftover soreness or stiffness from being stall rested for 2 weeks, or from the footing or trotting around in his blanket. Hopefully the warmer temps this week will help get rid of the rest of the ice and snow and I can start him back under tack this week. Hopefully he can keep a lid on his enthusiasm:)