Friday, April 29, 2011

Injured reserve

Dixie has been on the IR list. I rode Wednesday, to vast (but not unexpected) amounts of drama, and she whacked her front right heel bulb pretty good. Discretion > valor and all that, so I elected to lay her off for a while. I think perhaps it's unnecessary.

Wednesday was a lovely day, so I went out to do some hills. Dixie was forward and moderately obedient going away from home, but as soon as we turned toward home (whether we were actually going home or not) she got really hot and wanted to zoom home as fast as possible. I was riding in the snaffle and part of me deeply regretted it, but mostly I realized it was a good teachable moment, and she can't just run through the snaffle. (And I do realize I bring this on myself, letting her canter home some of the time. I absolutely deserve the horse I ride.)

I let her make her mistakes - for HALF A MILE, every time she'd break above a walk I one rein stopped her, had her walk away from home, did circles, etc. It did no good at all. Finally we got back to this one road that goes up a hill for about a half a mile before it goes private. So we did hill sets. HARD hill sets.

We cantered (then racked, then halfass trotted) to the top of the hill. We turned and walked partway down, then she broke to a pace and wouldn't slow back to a walk, so I wheeled her dumb ass around and cantered her back up the hill. Rinse and repeat at least ten times. She's not the kind of horse who ever hunts the woah, but I tried. I got some really snappy canter departs, halts, walks up the hill toward the end of our fight, and I did, eventually, get her to walk home on a loose rein. It was a very snappy animated speedy running walk, but by god it was a four-beat head-nodding walk.

Anyway, in the midst of all the wheeling around, she slammed her right heel bulb with a back hoof and split it open. Not a bad injury, but I thought I should let it heal and watch her for a couple of days.

Thursday was trim day. We've been using the same absolutely amazing saint of a trimmer for nineteen months now, and Dixie has gone from being a horrible yanking falling-over stomping bitch to, finally, on Thursday, yawning a lot and nodding off. Must be time to leave, move to California, and find a new trimmer for her to yank stomp and be a bitch to, now that she's finally used to Jim. :)

In between horse stuff, I've been demolishing where the pool used to be and painting the Dr. Seuss room. The room is tan now; it just needs one more coat cutting in and it'll be finished. The pool area is almost transformed - I posted a "free" ad on CL and a guy should be coming tomorrow to get the materials I ripped off of the upper deck.

So here is a video of my poor injured pony. The heel is not swollen, not hot, and clearly not bothering her, so I think after the guy clears out the deck boards tomorrow I should ride her. A long way. A really long way.


What set this off? Banders, mighty hunter, snuck up on the chickens and they eventually noticed him and started squawking. Yes. Chickens squawking caused this fine display of wild mustang behavior.

Note: I'm trying out uploading the video straight to Blogger instead of posting it on Vimeo. Vimeo takes forever to process, so we'll see how awful the Blogger quality is...

13 comments:

  1. The goat sure the heck wants to know what the big deal is?!? How much Ay-Rab did you say Miss Dixie has? (I know she doesn't--Even my sedate Paint girls seem to mimic RT from time to time.) She certainly doesn't seem to be hurting!
    I trained for a while with a gal in Montana who kept chickens around, just to help young horses get over fussing about a little commotion.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nice video.:) Blogger's really slow too. I was going to ask you about Vimeo lol.

    Hope Dixie's heel heals quickly! ;) Do you ever put her in bell boots? My guy tears up his fronts with his hinds if he doesn't wear his...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks, yall :) I think her tail is the extent of her Arab-ness - I love watching her float around with it flagged up.

    CFS - she demolished her last pair of bell boots in two rides. Not worth it really. Her Renegade hoof boots cover her heel bulbs, but I don't like to ride in them all the time. If it's closer to a competition, I'm more careful.

    ReplyDelete
  4. What is it with everyone getting injured lately? Hope the heel heals fast. She certainly is gorgeous.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sounds like a productive ride! Good for you! Sorry she is injured though! I hope it heals fast!

    I like to use iodine ointment/goop on injuries that low. I think it really helps keep them clean since you can't bandage the area. :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Blast it...came to the phone to read..but my phone won't show videos...bet she is stunning..will have to go to my computer later! All the videos I upload from picasa, no one is able to see..but you tube or blogger ones work fine for me. Haven't tried the"V"one you mentioned.

    Well, yea I've got to stick with a working trot " only" if I try speed towards home. And never any speed with anyone else-towards home! Dixie girl must feel great after her 50! Fit as a fiddle ~

    Bore em' with the"details"...usually works for us too...turns, stops, walk backs, head down...but sometimes not. Last night, I "accidentally" found one, a new diverting measure for the mind and escalating energies. We've a long hill home. Its the end of the ride, it's towards home, and it is slick right now. All this adds up to- wanting to trot or canter up-.

    I am bareback, so not wanting to grip, I raise my knees foreward to keep my seat, and hold onto the mane or breast collar, while letting her choosethe path with hands on withers...well, as she ramped up to just about trot...I'd raise my hands as if to take contact, and then quickly lower them to withers. IT WORKED! She walked up the whole hill! I did it 5 times, it working each time.

    Some times what works is posting as she tries to trot, then she walks. Rarely does amy measure work twice in a row...so I've got to mix it up...rewire the current of my mares brain, by disturbing the flow!

    Ouch! Dixie..glad she got trimmed, and was Spotty ANGEL! Ever use bell boots, for the longer last 2 weeks before? Or, just snub the rears, with your rasp.

    Hope you wrapped it up and rode!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Haha! Just now read the comments to see Christian thought BBoots too!

    ReplyDelete
  8. omgosh i had this exact same day with baasha in november 1998. turning around every time he broke into a jig did not work, and i did this for hours. but i did not have the option to let him trot home for several years because the barn was at the bottom of a steep mountain - so steep a horse must walk (or else fall).

    ReplyDelete
  9. Kacy - love your bareback story!

    Lytha, all endurance barns should be located at the TOPS of hills. Never at the bottom. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Aww, I loved watching her come up to investigate you. Probably searching for goodies if she's anything like mine but still sweet. Rose gets like this sometimes though but she has the excuse of being an arab. I love going down to the pasture and watching her before I call for her. She tries so hard to get all the other horses to run and play with her.

    ReplyDelete
  11. She's obviously dead lame from her injury and needs weeks and weeks off from work. Poor thing was just hobbling around ;)

    What does Jim do differently that she likes while he's trimming? A crib sheet might be helpful for the next trimmer.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Sounds like you finally got through to Dixie getting her to walk home. Even if it was fast, it was a walk and she got the picture. Good for you. Finding was works for your horse whatever it might be, is a good thing.


    Dixie looks pretty fancy snorting and blowing like that. LOL

    ReplyDelete

Feel free to comment!