The ugly

One of the things I try hard to do is share the fuckups, disappointments, accidents, etc. in my horse life. When my shit goes wrong and I think "god maybe I shouldn't blog this," that's when I make sure to blog it. So, first, please click through (if you're looking at this in Reader) and watch this video.


Dixie trotting, Sept 2012 from Funder on Vimeo.

Man, that is a fine moving horse. Unfortunately she's, like, the polar opposite of how a gaited horse should move! No flashy high action, just a real businesslike smooth easy trot. So already I'm kinda cringing - look, look at my amazing TWH endurance horse's super efficient trot. You're doin' it wrong, Funder.

(She's still so skinny. Gotta get those ribs covered - but it's only been a week of the Fat Camp plan.)

So I've watched the clip over and over, in slow motion even, and that mare is absolutely landing flat/heel-first. She's not toeing it at all. She's just flowing along perfectly.

And look at this hoof! It's a little long, yeah, and a little underrun at the heels, but that's a fine looking hoof.


Earlier this week, Tuesday or Wednesday, I checked on Miss D and that sole was looking like it was maybe ready to come out. Then I was laid very low indeed by some minor food poisoning and I wasn't able to get back out til this weekend. On Saturday I arose from my deathbed and went and shot that video - plus picked up Dixie's feet and had a look-see.

The packed-in sole was definitely ready to come out, and her frogs were absolutely eaten up by thrush. I don't know how much you can see from these shots, but here goes...





That was midway through the prying session. I got some more sole and bar out of all four feet, but I only took those shots. Then I scrubbed purple thrush stuff all up in her feet. This is a terrible photograph, but I think you can see how deep the crevices are.



Today I went back and packed those crevices with tea tree oil gauze.



Now that the sole is coming out, her heels are hugely long.



This is the bit where you might disagree with me: I'm leaving the walls alone for a couple days. My first instinct was to scrape out the crumbly sole, treat the thrush, and trim to live sole as normal, but I'm going to wait. I kinda think that the walls are protecting her poor frogs. I know they need to get back to ground contact and start doing their job, but I also think it's a good idea to let them heal up for a short time first.

Also, I think that my horse has no nerves in her feet or something.

***

You remember my sweet tack trunk I made out of a vertical tool chest from Home Depot? Yeah, it didn't work out so well. I mean, it worked fine on perfectly flat indoor surfaces, but it was almost impossible to accordion open the chest on bumpy outdoor ground. It's been demoted to living in the garage holding "stuff I might one day need," and I'm trying something new for in-trailer storage.

It's another tool chest from Home Depot - this one is like a trunk, with a telescoping handle, wheels, and a lift-off lid. Fits in the back under the saddle rack.


Holds the "I might need this on the road" stuff.


BIG removable top tray comfortably holds all my trimming junk.


Mr. September's a big handsome fellow, but his human appears to have misplaced his clothes!


And finally, I stole a couple of Tahoe Rim ribbons ;)

Video time

Snow! from Funder on Vimeo.

That pretty much sums it up!

The things I do for that horse

My husband and I went up to see Dixie, before the snow started really coming down. He took some videos of us trying to trot out in a straight line. When we got home, I figured out how to use iMovie and pasted all the relevant bits of the clips together, with titles and everything! Enjoy!

Dixie's gait pattern from Funder on Vimeo.

Yes, there's a 1/4" thick layer of cement-mud caked on her hooves. I tried to clean it off and bent my hoofpick on it. I guess when it warms up I'll soak her feet?

Yes, my horse still has issues with moving in a straight line. She's getting better though.

Yes, she trots sometimes and paces sometimes. IDFK how she decides what her legs are going to do. :rolleyes:

She's a good horse, wobbly pacey muddy mess that she is. Let me know what you see in the video!

Eclectic

Today's post will have even less of a unifying theme than normal.

I didn't ride this morning. I got up at 7, to go ride at 8 after Dixie had finished her breakfast, but the wind was already howling. The weather said sustained winds of 40 and gusts up to 65, and I believe it. I was going to study a bit, but I ended up studying with my eyes closed under a warm blanket, if you know what I mean.

I headed into town shortly before noon to get a haircut and do the grocery shopping. The wind was amazing! On the highway, I hit three tumbleweeds and one fairly large chunk of wood, and barely dodged a big piece of hard plastic and a flappy loose sheet of tin. While I was stopped around town, I started recording some videos to try and show yall what it was like. (I have wide ranging tastes in music - you are forewarned.)

You can't take a picture of the wind, not under any normal circumstances. But you CAN take video of large metal poles swaying in the wind, so here's the Dancing Poles at Plumb and Kietzke.

Crazy wind in Reno, NV from Funder on Vimeo.

When I went to get gas at Costco, the wind wasn't howling quite as badly but the storm clouds were coming down the mountain. The trees are whipping, but the whole truck is shaking too.

More crazy wind in Reno from Funder on Vimeo.

When I got out of Costco, it was sort of slush-raining. As I climbed out of the valley back to our home on the mountain, it turned into snow. Please remember that I was born and raised in Mississippi, where it NEVER snows. Any snow at all is cause for panic, school and work closures, and lots of celebration by kids. Our grocery stores sell out of milk and bread. Little old ladies publicly implore Jesus to save us from the white death. Little kids run outside to make 12" snowmen, everybody slides off the road into the ditch, and rednecks do donuts in the empty parking lots. I am fully aware that other parts of the country get so much snow that they're just jaded about the whole thing, but I am not. I get as excited as a little kid when the white stuff appears!

SNOOOOOOW! from Funder on Vimeo.

Cersei, on the other hand, doesn't approve of water falling from the sky. She loves to snuffle snow and wallow in mud puddles, but she doesn't like feeling the snowflakes or raindrops falling on her back. She's kind of torn between snuffling the snow and running back home to get away from the flakes! (I actually talk in this one - a rare video indeed. I probably sound like you think I sound.)

Cersei is not so sure she likes snow from Funder on Vimeo.

And now for the horse stuff. Dixie needed a cooler to help her dry off, but I wasn't sure if I should get fleece or wool. Plus, those things are really expensive, and I can't turn her out in a blanket! The weather here fluctuates too much (see above), and one of the other horses in the field is a master at undressing his friends. So I decided I'd only blanket her to dry her off after rides, and something homemade would do - at least for now. So I bought 2 yards of soft, fairly absorbent fleece and one of those horribly ugly grey wool "emergency blankets." I clicker-introduced her to the fleece, made some markings, and brought the fabric home. I sewed some velcro to the neck and belly of each piece of fabric, and I have homemade coolers.

Would you like to see Dixie's fleece? I thought you would! Here is a rather long video of me and my obviously colorblind horse. This is the fitting, where I just tossed it on her and marked it - tomorrow I will see how well it velcros on.

Dixie must be colorblind from Funder on Vimeo.

I really think everybody should do a bare minimum of clicker training with their horse. It's like teaching a horse a one-rein stop - it doesn't take very long, and you don't have to c/t every interaction, but it's there if you ever need it again. I showed her that fabric, asked "touch it," and she got a treat. You can see she's not too sure about it the first couple times I wave it around, but she clearly knows that standing still will get more Frosted Mini-Wheats. And she was totally unconcerned - after I turned off the camera, I kept fiddling with it and it flapped wildly in the wind and she did. not. care. one. bit. What a good girl! C/T is a really easy way to make Scary Horse Eating Things seem like Good Things Where Food Appears, and it complements classic training quite well.

Another small step

Yesterday a group of us did the Palomino Valley ride again. I took a bunch of pictures, but if you don't love the desert (hi Mel!) they will probably look boring to you. I walked Dixie down the far side of the mountain, where the road was really rocky, and my calves hurt SO BAD today.

Dixie did just fine and led the group most of the way. S asked us to lead, because Dixie moves out faster than the QHs, and we make better time when she's in the lead. I don't mind leading, because it's good for Dixie - she has to be brave, but it's not as hard for her as being totally alone is.

Mainly I was impressed with Cersei! My dog is pretty awesome. Very early on, maybe a quarter mile from S's place, three loose dogs went running across our path baying at the top of their lungs. Cersei quivered like maybe she ought to chase them, and I yelled "No!" and she stayed with me like glue. We encountered a couple more dogs, and each time I told her to stay with me and she did. The trip's about 9.5 miles, so it tired her out but didn't exhaust her.

I took some video too yesterday! This is when we were almost back home, just cruising down the trail at a TWH's medium walk. My friend on her paint was falling farther and farther behind, and the other three horses were waaaay back there.

Walking down the trail from Funder on Vimeo.

Today I left Cersei snoozing on the couch and went out alone with Dixie. And we did it! I kept her busy weaving very precise tight serpentines around the sagebrushes and before she even realized it we were 1/3 of the way down the shortest loop trail. After that she got a little nervous - we had to stop and stare at every bird and jackrabbit, no matter how far away it was - but she didn't lose her cool and freak out on me. We racked down the sandy straight section of trail headed home, and it was just wonderful. She has the BEST gaits.

She can only rack at a decent clip for about a quarter mile, then she either slows down to a fast walk or breaks into a trot. A very dressagey trot. A trot like she's a cross between a Saddlebred and a kangaroo. It is not remotely a jog. I'm not sure how much I should be asking of her, so I usually just ask her to slow back to a walk. I guess I should ask the endurance mailing lists?

I know that horses can rack for longer periods than that, but I'm not sure if it's good for them to rack that long - it's a naturally inverted gait. Should I (gasp) let my gaited horse trot, just so she works some different muscles? Or should I just keep pushing the walk? Her walk is getting faster, and I don't want to confuse her or ruin her muscle memory. Any ideas?

We've got to pace ourselves...

My husband came out and took pictures yesterday! Yay!

I did some c/t to get Dixie to stand still so I could mount. It worked fantastically well. I feel pretty stupid for not having thought of this earlier. (Well, I couldn't have thought of it very much earlier; I just started clicker work with her in February. But I could've tried clickering her last February!) I suppose next I should introduce the mounting block. She is within 1/2" of being too tall for me to mount from the ground, and I know it's not good for her back for me to clamber up on her like I do.

She was less awful about the bit. Not great, not like she was in January and February at Hillside, but she wasn't trying 100% of the time to rip the reins out of my hands. I think, in the absence of any better idea, that I'll just keep ignoring her bad behavior. Don't reward it, don't punish it, and maybe it'll extinguish.

And look! I have video of the rare and wonderful* pace!
*Actually, it's common and uncomfortable.


Dixie, pace and rack (?) from Funder on Vimeo.

I think at the very end of the video she breaks into a rack for just a couple seconds. When she switched out of the pace into something more comfortable I quit urging her forward and let her come back down to a walk.

She doesn't usually pace, but that's all she did yesterday. I have five more little videos... all pacey. Weird. I'm off to read up on the pace and how to help her not do it.