Wizard Session 83 and 84; JR Session 44: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Just when I thought I was figuring him out…

I tacked Wizard up for a longeing session. I put the saddle on instead of the surcingle. Since we’re getting closer to riding, I figured I should get the saddle back on him. The plan was to work on mounting block manners after we longed. But those plans vaporized within a few minutes of the longeing session.

We did a little work walking in hand before I longed, to get him warmed up and to work on responsiveness. Wizard was a little keyed-up, but nothing out of the ordinary, especially since he had some time off. Then, I asked him to walk on the longe to the left. He was good, but broke into a jog once or twice. I got a nice walk, then asked for a little trot. Thwn we changed directions. He trotted to the right immediately. I asked him to walk and he halted. Then I asked him to walk and he leapt into a speedy trot. I asked him again to walk and he faced me. He was getting sticky about going forward so I asked for a trot. He refused, first facing/crowding me, then spinning in the other direction. I ran my hands over him, checking for soreness, stones in his hooves, or poorly-adjusted tack. I could not find anything.

My requests became demands, but Wizard would not go to the right. I asked verbally and also cued with the longe whip (not touching him, but using the whip as a guide). Wizard continued to crowd me, getting closer and closer. My cues got stronger, popping the whip as an additional cue sound, moving his shoulders, and guiding the longe line with my hands. Wizard still faced me.

I got him going forward to the right about two times, each time only for half a rotation before he spun in the other direction. The second time he got to the spot where he was spinning, he became more insistent about his refusal, this time rearing before he spun around, pulling HARD on the longe line.

Because it was clear that Wizard’s evasion was to crowd me and not move, my goal was to keep his feet moving. I reverted to a tactic that I don’t really like, which is backing the horse up. I did this to keep him moving and as a way to correct his evasion. In my experience, horses do not like to back up so it is negative reinforcement to force them to do it.

It was a long and frustrating dance. Try to send him forward, get crowded, back him up, try to send him forward, etc. It was both physically and mentally taxing. Wizard never looked panicky- he was deliberate but a little unresponsive, which I assume was detatchment from the situation and possibly a form of mentally “checking out”.

It has been a very long time since I have had any sort of struggle with a horse, and I felt terrible. Any situations like this with Alibar had been resolved over a decade ago and we spent most of his 20s in harmony. I was still not yelling or hitting Wizard or anything nearly that harsh, but the idea of a conflict was foreign to me. I have not had to assert myself as the boss of a horse in a long, long time.

Eventually, I wore Wizard down and he went to the right, but when he did, he took off at a very fast canter and took about 10 laps around the longe line. I let him keep moving, since we worked so hard to go forward for such a long time. It felt like a small success, but I knew that I needed to get him to go forward another time or two.

As Wizard cantered around on the longe, he had a hump in his back and he was a little bronc-y. The saddle had shifted forward a little bit, so I wondered if that was the issue. I asked him to halt and I fixed the saddle. Sent him off again (this time it took about 3 requests) and he was less bronc-y but still bronc-y. And he was trotting instead of cantering (I don’t like to canter horses on the longe very much). I took the saddle off and sent him around one last time. He pulled HARD and was resistant but did not have the same hump in his back. All the while, Wizard looked sound. No tail-swishing, no unevenness, no head tossing.

The last thing I did was put him in a round pen. I’ve never used a round pen before. I have some serious issues with the idea of the round pen since I feel like it takes away all of a horse’s defenses. BUT… I wanted to nip any bad habits in the bud. So I put the saddle back on and sent him to the right. He spun, but it was very easy to catch him and get him going back in the right direction. No funny business with the saddle, he looked fine. I quickly ended the session. I was not trying to tax him physically, but I needed to make sure that the spinning and rearing behavior was extinguished.

I carefully cooled him off. The time spent actually longeing was far less than the time spent getting him to go forward. It was a true struggle, one like I have not had in a very, very long time. I felt like the meanest horsewoman in the world. After he was cooled out, I grazed him for a while. He seemed fine, physically and mentally.

I was stumped and pretty amazed by the whole chain of events. Wizard has longed with a saddle on his back DOZENS of times. Nothing new was added to the equation. The most logical reason would be that something was physically bothering him. I always do my best to respond to any discomfort, but I decided that rearing is too dangerous to allow. I never like to push a horse too hard, but Wizard might hurt himself or another person if he learns dangerous behaviors.

I hope I did the right thing.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

So I thought and thought and thought about what to do with Wizard for the next session. Make it easier? Use the surcingle instead of the saddle? Since longeing in a saddle was in no way a new behavior for him, I went with the saddle. I used the best saddle pad I have. Interestingly, he was not reactive at all during the saddling process.

Then we longed. And he was FINE! No resisting, no rearing, nothing. Nice as you please. But then he got gimpy in the hind end. I longed him to the left and did some spiral work- something about the smaller circle torqued something and he was suddenly uneven. His hip was hitching when weight was loading on the right hind leg.

If it’s not one thing, it’s another.

I also did a little ground work at the mounting block with Wizard. He was great.

I longed JR indoors. He was energetic but fabulous. He is muscling up really nicely. His work by the mounting block is getting better. Maybe I’ll actually be able to get on one of these buggers one of these days…

I Wanna Be Sedated: Wizard’s Veterinary Appointment

After a relaxing and enjoyable long weekend in Georgia, it was time to get back to business with Wizard. Yesterday, the veterinarian did a lameness exam and floated his teeth.

The exam began by watching Wizard trot on a longe line. I probably should have anticipated that Wizard would be a little fresh since he is fit and has had so much time off, but instead I was surprised when he came close to pulling me off my feet as soon as we began longeing! The halter with the longe line snapped to the chin ring is normally just fine for control but he was feeling his oats yesterday. The vet pronounced him sound in both directions. I asked her about his high action and she said it’s likely a combination of animation and a loose, flexible way of going.

She performed flexion tests on all four legs and the prognosis was good. She heard a little creakiness in the right front knee when she folded it, but it is probably a touch of arthritis and nothing that should keep him from the level of work we’re doing. His left hip is dropped a bit, which is in line with what the chiropractor mentioned about the tight muscle tissue in his hamstring and pelvis. I’ve known horses whose hips are dropped far more than his and they have gone on to perform well with correct strengthening work. The vet recommended more work with ground poles to help Wizard’s topline and hind end strength. His right hind leg also showed a little stiffness with one of the flex tests, but nothing that caused concern for his current workload. Wizard quite enjoyed the jogs on the dirt road and was arching his neck and throwing his head playfully.

The vet examined his back and carefully went over his acupressure points. No back pain and just a little tightness in his pelvis. She evaluated my saddle fit and said it looks good.

The veterinarian’s advice? Get back on Wizard and try riding again. If he still is showing signs of distress under saddle, treat or test for Lyme Disease. She also suggested doing another 4-day bute test (as a diagnostic tool, not as a treatment). If both fail, further evaluations will be needed, like x-rays or blood tests. But so far, everything looks good.

Wizard also had his teeth floated. All of the hooks have been fixed and more corrections were done to his wave mouth. She was pleased with the way his mouth looks and said he can have his teeth floated next in a year- hooray!

While Wizard was under sedation, I cleaned his sheath, clipped his bridle path, and pulled his mane. I LOVE how he looks with the pulled mane- it does my hunter/jumper heart good :^) I did a combination of traditional mane pulling and a little thinning with scissors by teasing the mane up and cutting the excess vertically with scissors. I did not want to subject the poor guy to an entire mane pulling- he had almost a foot of hair and now it’s the length of a pulling comb.

Thursday, Wizard has a farrier appointment. I hope to be back in the saddle very soon.

Wizard Session 74; JR Session 29: The Easter Parade

Sunday, 4/13/09

A sunny, brisk Easter morning at the barn :^)

My barn buddies prettied up their mares Miss Tuesday and Mary and we had a short photo session. Both owners were looking for nice headshots so I worked my magic with my popular black background doorway portraits, as well as a few other pretty headshots on the property. In the morning, the lighting is backwards from the usual evening light so I had to get a little creative. Fortunately, the property has a lot of pretty scenes so it’s not too hard to find a good spot.

Here’s Miss Tuesday, a Thoroughbred mare who is a granddaughter of the mighty Storm Bird:

And Mary, a 7 year old Morgan mare:

Just a day or two ago, Mary’s owner received her order from Simple Change Browbands and Mary modelled it for the camera. Isn’t it lovely? The browbands are strung together on a strong chain with clips on both ends so a rider can change the beads- you can have a different browband for every day of the week ;^)

Wizard and JR (barely) stood for some basic conformation photos, which I’ll post tonight or tomorrow. Both boys were a little wiggly, Wizard wigglier than JR, but I got the photos I needed to monitor their progress.

I longed both horses. JR was good in the indoor arena, and he was way better than he was just a few days ago. He did a few little loopy circles, but nothing bad. Wizard was FULL of run! He broke into a canter immediately and went around several times this way- I think he was feeling pretty silly because he was locked in his stall the day before due to the rain.

After longeing, I dosed Wizard with bute as an experiment and as a diagnostic tool. I’m going to see how he reacts to grooming and work Monday night when he has bute in his system. If nothing changes in his behavior, then I can narrow down a few possibilities.