August 2007

I ordered some henna off the internet and have been having some fun doing temporary art on my hands and feet. The henna stays for about two weeks (although the one on the palm of my hand stayed much longer).

It has been hot here, so we've been sleeping with all the doors and windows open. Luckily, however, I shut the front door the other night - but that didn't stop Chili having a barking fit around 1 am. Went to find out what she was fretting about and discovered that "something" had dragged the lidded-box of dog food off the front deck and down the stairs. Went out to see and found this skunk feasting. He was totally oblivious to me and didn't even bother to look at me, even though I clucked and hissed at him. I think he lives (part time?) in the culvert half-way down the driveway.

Right now he's sore but sound. I'm guessing that by tomorrow he's going to be very sore. He flinched when I was smearing Bickmore's on just now. Have to see how much he swells, or get infected, or...? And have to see how he is towards the end of the week with regard to going to Bridgeport... <sigh>

We went out for a nice "12 mile ride", which ended up being 16+ miles, and he was awful for the first 9+ miles.

The last couple of rides he never spooked at all and I was feeling all good about it, thinking he'd gotten over it. This ride he spooked at tree stumps, rocks, slammed on his brakes for some yellow and pink leaves, spooked at a dragonfly that was flying just ahead of him, stopped dead at some elephant-ear plants, did a 180 on me (on a 12" wide trail) because there was a mossy tree across the trail, etc..etc...

Since he broke the buckle on one of his "new" EZ boots, I put him in Zini's matched set of old ones. The old ones are about 1/2" wider and have a different breakover. Needless to say, he won't be wearing those again. He was tripping and tripping from the very start.

Then we were coming down a slight hill on a narrow singletrack with a steep bank drop-off and we tried to go around the corner at the bottom where it dipped down for a dry creek and then surged up again.

Apparently he misjudged the up part and the corner part and went up the bank, falling over and dumping me on the bank and scrabbling around (I thought he was going to go over the edge), before finally getting up and running off down the trail - with me in hot pursuit, still holding his rommel over his butt (never realised how useful that thing could be <g>).

Once we got ourselves sorted out (the trail was too narrow for me to get around him, so I made him "tail" about 20' to a wider spot), I discovered he was leaking blood, but not badly. I walked him on down to the next creek and stood him in it and washed the blood off, then went to the next creek which was too shallow, then the next that was finally above knee height (Ann, the deep part of the creek just before the waterfall trail) and stood him in that for a while.

I figured he was sound, so I might as well continue the ride - thinking if I took him home, he'd just stand and likely swell and get sore. <sigh>

He was pretty sore this morning and a little bit swollen. We had a cold turn overnight and when I checked on him before going to bed, he was shivering so I put a fleece cooler on him.

Strangely, he was still really sweaty in the area behind/below the saddle pad down onto his belly - to the point where I could scrape the wet off. Not sure if that was a reaction to pain or that he didn't cool properly or what? (or just that it was "cold" and he hadn't dried out properly?) (it was 60°F when I checked on him, and down to a "freezing" 52°F this morning - it was foggy out there!! too weird).

I haven't heard of that. Right now he's slathered in Bickmore's as well as "Equaide" which I think has antibiotic properties. He's not keen on my touching the wounds. I hosed him this morning - and even the water was making him sore and hop around. I couldn't find my neosporin, it must be in the trailer.

Fingers crossed. I'm so pissed - the endurance gods *knew* this was the one ride I really wanted to go to... <grrr> Poor sore Roo.

I daren't give him bute in case the residue tests if he is healed enough to go at the weekend.

In a way it's good that it is cool today, since that might help with the swelling. I'll hose him again tonight and walk him a bit. He was stiff legged this morning when I took him around the block, but loosened up, so I think it's mostly superficial stuff - although the one cut on the right leg is deeper and more swollen - I think he trod on himself, since the cut is on the inside of the leg, away from the rocks on the bank.

Some of you may remember my on-going problem with my endurance horse who rubs with everything.

Keep in mind this horse has done the following this year:

March - 50 miler
April - 50 miler
May - 2 x 50 = 100 miles over a weekend
June - 75 miler
August - 50 miler

and I'm a tail-end rider, so we're talking looonnnng hours in the saddle.

Earlier in the year I was battling loin rubs but remedied that by changing the inserts in my Skito pad. Unfortunately, using thinner foam inserts allowed for pressure points under the stirrup "bars" of my Barefoot Cheyenne saddle and resulted in bald spots that became raised lumps after endurance rides. Horse was never sore, but his formerly black skin was now showing up as pink spots.

Step 1 - Try a different saddle - demo-ed a Sensation and did a 50. Bald spots no worse, but lumps raised up (ordered the Sensation anyway, since I loved it so much).

Step 2 - Try thicker, firmer inserts in Skito, plus add a Thinline Ultra pad on top to give more support and did a 75. Bald spots no worse, but lumps still raised up at the end of the ride.

Step 3 - Talked with Chris Martin about his concept of adding plastic shims to the pad - the idea being that they would be flexible, but add enough support to dissipate pressure points.

Bought a sheet of 1/32th" ABS plastic, and per Chris' instructions, cut it up with the tin-snips slightly smaller around than the pad inserts to avoid any sharp edges. Duct-taped it to the felt layer in the pad and did a 50.

Ah, that's better. The lumps weren't raised up, I had a nice dry line along the spine (and didn't have the usual triangular dry areas under the stirrup pressure points extending out either side of his spine).

Skito-pad-with-everything-inside.jpg (53681 bytes)

One problem now is when I pulled the inserts out to photograph them yesterday, I noticed that both plastic shims had 2-3" cracks about mid-way along, going up from the bottom edge of the pad. These seem to be just behind where the pressure from the stirrups is. I'm wondering if I have to perhaps notch that area along the bottom edge, since this seems to be the area being stressed the most (presumably from bending from withers and loin - this is the "hinge" point)?

Either way, I'm pretty happy.

For the first half a mile riding with this set-up, it felt really hard under my butt, but I soon got used to it, and the horse didn't seem to care one-way or the other.

Alas I see signs that the loin rub might be reappearing, so I might have to devise a method to sand down the inserts in the loin area. Anyone tried something like that? How to go about it?

Skunked Again - pft and I rode last night, nice easy ride along the lane. Zini was very cheerful. Roo walked out nicely and seems sound, despite having swollen knees. Chili was bad, bad, bad, and wouldn't listen to us.

Then we came home and within about 20 minutes she chased something outside, barking, and came back in having, apparently been blasted full in the face by a skunk. She ran through the house and I ran after her just as quickly, trying to get her out. Our house smells vaguely fragrant.

Needless to say she spent the night in disgrace shut on the front deck, woofing sadly at regular intervals (we shut the bedroom door) (I'm sure the neighbours were thrilled).

More Roosters - The white frizzle turned into a rooster this morning. (no wonder he was being so mean to those poor grey cochins). So right now we've got four roosters and seven "hens". What's the betting the black non-frizzle is also a rooster?

He's sound, but has a tiny amount of filling in the left leg when standing around which goes away with work. I worry that I'll get down to Bridgeport for the ride this weekend and the vet will look at me like I'm a cruel wicked person for even considering riding a horse all banged up like that...

He's mostly ouchy when we're riding through star thistle that pokes into his sore legs. Can't blame him there.

He seems fine tonight. I gave him a BP slurry with a bunch of salt in it, to make sure he drinks well. It has been cooler here the last few days - only in the 80s, so I doubt he's been guzzling.

Well, problem solved re. the new rooster - he didn't come in last night, so I assume something "got" him. No sign of anything, which makes me suspect a hawk of some kind ("now you see him, now you don't"). White chickens don't camouflage well.

I was worried that Tiny Rooster would get et too, since he goes off on his own to do his thing - but then this morning I watched him chase one of the cats repeatedly (cat would move 20' and sit down with her back to Tiny Rooster, and Tiny Rooster would think about it, then run after the cat again). I suspect Tiny Rooster can hold his own.

Just got a cryptic voicemail from D (I was in a meeting). She said "I'm in the barn, I bet you can't guess why?". I'm trying to get hold of her, but she's not answering the phone right now.

Elly popped first thing this morning and they've been busy playing with the new babby ALL DAY and not telling us anything about it. <mean>

She said she went down to check on Elly at 5:00 this morning, and within a minute of her getting down there, Elly's water broke. Apparently you're supposed to have five minutes until labor starts at that point, so Dennis wandered off to get vet wrap to wrap her tail, and she started within a couple of minutes. D was hollering for Dennis.

The nose poked out and the feet came out all like they are supposed to, so all was well, and the babby popped out within about 30 minutes and they lay in the straw, recovering.

Elly is happily nursing and adores her new babby - but it's debatable who loves her mostest :))

She wouldn't tell me what the babby was, since she is going to send pics either tonight (I whined and whined, so hopefully they will) or first thing tomorrow.

When I arrived at midnight on Thursday, the stars were just *amazing*! No light pollution at all. And we were high - 6600'. I just looked at my GPS - we rode up to 8200'.

Finished the ride at 5:37 pm... ride started at 6:00 am. <gulp> Roo looks *great* and was running around when we got back. I'd say he's definitely a multi-day horse, since he seems much more ready to "go again" than I am the next day. This morning, walking around to let them loosen up, he was totally fidgety and wanting to "do something", rather than stand and graze in the meadow.

I rode about 75% of the ride with Leslie Spitzer and Eagle and we had a great time. Oh boy, can that Eagle trot! I'd wanted to do some cardio work with Roo in the next seven weeks before the next ride, but in the event, we did quite a bit *during* the ride. Eagle's idea of moving out is 10.8 mph... Roo canters at 11 mph, so we spent some of the time cantering to keep up with him :) Leslie said he kept creeping up the speed without her noticing, and then she'd hear us cantering behind.

I couldn't wrap his legs at the end because I couldn't wrap without going onto the scrapes, so I just put poultice on any bit that wasn't scraped and his legs didn't fill anyway (I thought they might, given the faster trotting we did).

He's a bit of a fidget. He's not crazy-excitable - just busy: "need to get on with something". And it makes him a PITB with PnRs, since he can't stand still at all and either fidgets away from them, or when I put a hand on him to keep him still, he fidgets towards the PnR person's feet. I always feel bad. Have to figure out a way to train him to be still.

OH! but I've solved his girth rubbing problem with that new girth! I didn't use desitin or anything and he's fine - no rubs at all.

And gah - having said he's not crazy-excitable - he was SO bad at the start. I opted not to get on for about a quarter mile since he was so wound up. I walked him 20' from the trailer and he was bucking and rearing like a maniac. If I'd been on, I would have fallen off for sure. Erin Klentos was there at the start (she rode the 30 on Tahoe and Paul rode the 50) laughing and saying "you should get on!". I told her: "you can't make me". But after I walked him out that quarter mile, he was absolutely fine and went on a loose rein immediately. Too strange.

It wasn't exactly by design. We did the first loop in five hours, which was OK, since I knew the footing was better on the second - except when we got out there on the second loop. neither pone wanted to go. They were both pouting because they *knew* we were going the wrong way. And when we did get them to move, we'd arrive in a meadow and they'd slam on the brakes to eat grass.

On the way back down the valley the other way, they went like gang-busters - never mind the rocks and the trees.

It really was. I was glad I went down on Thursday night, even if I did get there at midnight - we had a really nice day on Friday, just hanging out - sitting around yakking.

We'd parked in a corral shape with KnR's trailer on one side, Leslie's across the end, and mine on the other, so all the pones could see each other and we moved around with the shade - b'fast at KnR's, lunch at Leslie's and appetizers at mine :)

I put EZ boots on Roo on Friday - newer-style ones that were narrower, but he was still tripping really badly, so in the end I pulled them off and put Hoof-It in his feet instead - and it stayed in! It's still in there now. And he hardly tripped at all, so it seems that his feet aren't EZ boot shaped at the moment. He seems more upright than they are. Not sure why.

He drank and drank and drank - and was almost peeing clear. Mind you, his recoveries were awful - I think because he needed to pee, and because we were going faster than usual.

It was funny. This morning we were walking the pones and Rebecca Jankovich came over with her two Al-Marah horses - another one of Roo's 'uncles' (they're everywhere!). She said "I love these horses - they are so brave and have such great recoveries..."