While we are walking down the lane, I start brain storming.
Being a veterinary techinician, I always look at the clinical signs first.
Inflammation-mild to moderate
No pain
Stiffness-mild
Eating
Drinking
Pooping
Good gut sounds
Normal temp
Strong digital pulse
Feet are cool
After making a mental note of all the signs or lack there of, I moved on to what causes these signs.
Not enough exercise
Too many carbs (grain)
Weather changes
Too long in stall
Not enough turnout
Ok...Well, how about 4 out of 5. Since the kids are on christmas break, we haven't gone on a ride on 5 days. Since winter has fully hit Virginia (weather change, we got snow)I increased his feed. And most importantly, my wonderful Hawaii horse doesn't like snow! He has practically been begging me to put him in his stall. On the flip side, he is turned out every day for the whole day. Either way, it is my fault. I should have seen all the signs adding up.
Next step, after figuring out what he had (stocking up), is what treatment do I apply? My heart is screaming VET, VET, VET! But, my mind is telling me to calm down and handle it. I always have a first aid-ish kit for the horses. bandages, standing wraps, betadine, bute, DMSO...you get the picture. I ran to the tack room to rummage through all the stuff. I dug out the quilts and standing wraps and the bottle of bute and headed back outdoors. I made a mental note of the time (1500) since standing wraps are only suppose to be on 12 hours and attempted to get the bute into my horse. I will be the first to admit that I hate taking medicine. Headaches, sprains, no matter what it is I have to be pretty bad off to take something. A trait my husband LOVES! Note the sarcasm. Well, I found that Olly seems to be the same way. I mixed some bute with applesauce and he wouldn't touch it, adding insult to injury, he curled his lip up at the thought of it. I did take one small scoop and put in the corner of his mouth. Just to make sure he got some of it and turned him out.
At dinner time I skipped the stall and just fed him in his tub(that had the remaining bute in) in the paddock. I also placed his their hay in 5 different spots across the paddock, so he would have to walk throughout the night to eat. Before I went to bed (2200) I made one last trip out to the padock to remove the standing wraps. I didn't want to have to get up at 0300 and brave the icy temperatures to remove them. They were only on for seven hours, but it seemed to help.
I got up early this morning to go out and check and see what my hard work reaped. I made a quick stop in the tack room to grab the standing wraps and quilts(which I had washed the night before) to re-wrap his legs. To my suprise the swelling was almost gone, just a bit of puffiness around the pastern. YEAH!!!! I passed on the bute and gave him his breakfast, NOT in his stall.
I feel really terrible. We worked so hard to find a house that had a barn with stalls for the horses when we moved. Now I am finding that I can hardly use them. Why am I paying all the extra money if I can't use them?!! Oh well. I am NOT moving again!
Later this afternoon I grabbed my dressage saddle and GPS and headed out to go on a nice ride in the freaking cold. I passed on the splint boots and used polos. I thought that the polos would give more to his hind legs than just the fetlock boots. At first he started out stiff and slow, but after a few minutes he was ready to go, just like any other day. I just can't figure him out. I know he wasn't feeling well with his legs inflammed and yet he is still wanting to canter. I made him walk(which is easy going AWAY from the house) for the first 30 minutes. Just to make sure he got all the kinks worked out from yesterday. Then, we started creating the impulsion. Extend the walk and ask for collection by holding the outsde rein and tinkling on the inside rein. He held it for a few strides before he would hollow out again. I praised him with a good boy and we would try it again. He was better at the left than at the right. I guess he is a lefty like me ;). On to trotting! This is where we have the most problem. I find myself getting discouraged every time I ride because of this. Here is a little background before I go on: I don't have an arena. We live on 8.something acres and it is ALL wooded and marshy. The horses have a medium sized paddock that is dry, but no quality for riding. There are, however, open fields and tons of shoulder along the roads. I just pick a field and go with it. Everyone is so nice here, they don't really care, that is as long as there is no corn or beans up. I have one field that I ride around in. It is for sale, I think for developing...maybe and acre or two. Perfect for setting up jumps. I still have to ask the owner about that. Anyway, it is a big grassy field and my ADD TB thinks it is a race track (even thought he has never been on one). Just when you think you are settled into a good working trot, I get "Do ya wanna canter? Do ya wanna canter?" Everyother stride at the trot is a half halt, just to remind him to stay in a trot. It is hard to even think about anything else. After another 25 minutes of trying to focus and getting him to settle I slowly and carefully give him the leg to canter. It always starts off with a nice departute on the correct lead and two strides later I get pulling on the bit and dropping his shoulder into the circle. I can fix the shoulder part easily, but the pulling is getting old. I tried to give him rein and that just makes him go faster. I have tried "whoa boy" and lightening my seat so I am not driving him and I can hardly put my legs on him on a normal day, so I don't even think about laying my legs on him. AND STILL he can't seem to control him self. I know it has got to be something I am doing and don't realize. I just don't know how to realize it. I take lessons, but with out me on him during those lessons it makes it more difficult. Tomorrow I am taking my tripod and camera out there with me so I can video it and maybe make some sense of it. I only cantered him for 5 minutes, since he was a bit under the weather from yesterday, and then we made our way back home. Oh, it wasn't over then. All the way home was a trot-trot nightmare. Every 3-4 strides I had to have him halt, think and then walk on. 3-4 strides later he was trying to trot again. I have changed his food, thinking maybe he was getting too many carbs and inturn making hm a bit hotter than he should be and it even crossed my mind to change his bit. That being last resort, of course. I ride him in a french link loose ring. Pretty mild and he responds well, but in these situations he tucks his head, to evade and slows his pace to a prance. Not gorunds for a stronger bit. Again, back to square one with me not getting the full picture.
So! New goal...go back a few steps and revisit the gaits. Walk means walk, trot means trot and canter means canter. This would be a good time to do some flat work since the ground is frozen from all this crappy snow. Jumping is on hold, at least until the weather gets better and his attitude gets better. Until then, more reading and video watching. I HAVE to figure out what I am doing wrong.
Back at the house I give him a good grooming and lots of hugs, after all he did do alot of work, even though he didn't want to. I grabbed the standing wraps and some DMSO just to cover all the bases. I noted the time (1400, remember standing wraps 101) and turned him out. I think I am going to lay off the stalling until the weather gets better. I know that totally defeats the purpose right now, but I really think he hates the snow and cold. To me, it seems like he wants to hide out in the warmth of the stall and do as little moving as possible, as I would like to do also. I can't really blame him! Unfortunately, I have to give some tough love and keep the blankets on.
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