On May 5, Kentucky Derby Day, I attended the Garden State Horse Show and photographed the $4,000 Thoroughbred Jumper Classic. You can click here for my photos and writeup of this fantastic class and all the classy competitors.
Wizard Ride 360: Grinding Halt
Thursday, 5/3/12
I tacked up Wizard and rode him in the outdoor arena. He’s still lame. It’s subtle, but it’s there. It’s the right front, and it’s worse around turns. He’s not upset by it, actually, he rides really nicely. We just took a quick spin at a walk, trot, and canter, and Mom took pictures. He was willing, forward, and happy. He picked up both leads comfortably, and was happy to travel in the wet footing. No ear pinning or anything like that. I’m wondering if the pre-ride Maalox is helping neutralize the ulcers temporarily before rides. The farrier is due on Monday morning, and I’ll talk to him about putting pads on him and see if he has any ideas about the lameness.
His quarantine period is almost over, and we’re going to start his UlcerGard treatment. He will be transitioning to 24/7 pasture, and not a moment too soon; he dropped weight from the move, and is cribbing as much as he did at the old barn.
So in the meantime, I’ll just keep visiting him and pouring money into him.
Wizard Ride 350: Change is Now
(pictured: Wizard and his birdy friend)
Monday, 4/9/12
First, the veterinary report, and then a bit of good news…
The first part of the vet appointment was another under-saddle evaluation. First, I rode him for a few minutes. He did his usual thing with the kicking and ear pinning. Then, the vet blocked his front feet. Then, I rode him again. He was more on his forehand, and stumbled more. At the canter, he nearly went to his knees. The vet did not see any notable changes other than the stumbling (some horses move out better if their feet hurt before they are blocked). Because he was so grouchy about having no food for his scoping, I decided to longe him to see if there was any change in his gait. The vet and I both did see some more freedom in his shoulder and more reach when he feet were blocked. She recommended talking to my farrier about experimenting with pads.
After 10 hours of no feed and 6 hours of no water, Wizard was properly prepped for his endoscopy. He was sedated, and then they put the tube up his nose so we could see what was going on in his stomach. The diagnosis? Grade 1 – 1.5 gastric ulcers (on a 0-3 scale). On this page, they sort of looked like the Grade 2 ulcers.
The vet recommended treating him for a month with UlcerGard.
We decided to hold off on the SI joint injections for now, since we won’t know what helped and what did not if we treat him with too many things at once.
And now…. drum roll… The Good News. After 3 1/2 years, I am officially a horse owner again. I signed the paperwork and Wizard is officially my horse! After working with him for so long (and for over 300 rides!), it seemed like the right time. I am so appreciative to Wizard’s previous owner for letting me work with Wizard after I lost Alibar (back when I started this blog!).
And the rest of the good news…
In order to strengthen his hind end, I made the difficult decision to move Wizard to another barn with more hilly trails. Several barns said that they could not board Wizard because he is a cribber. After doing extensive barn hunting, I decided upon a barn that is next to Assunpink Wildlife Management Area. With over 6,000 acres of trails, we will have more hills than we know what to do with. I will miss my friends at Handy Acres very much. I have close to 5 years of very happy memories there.
And so, a new chapter begins.
Wizard Rides 343, 344, & 345: A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You
Wednesday, 3/13/12
After work, I rode Wizard in the indoor arena. I set up a “course” of trot poles: line, diagonal, line, diagonal. We worked in bending, with shallow serpentines, and incorporated the trot poles into the ride. He was responsive and less swishy with his tail. He only pinned his ears once during the ride. It seems like the Springtime Wizard is back.
Saturday, 3/17/12
Wizard and I took a quick trail ride with Sunny and Lily. We took the short loop around, and then returned to the indoor arena for ring work. Wizard did not pin his ears at all when I got into the saddle, which was a first in months. Hooray! His hind foot slipped once while we were working on transitions from our little trot to our big trot. I also think he felt a tiny bit uneven. My friend could see it when he went around corners, too. Hmmm.
Curiosity got the best of me, and we tried a little canter work at the end of the ride. Zero improvement. Swishing tail, pulling on the bit, uneven in the hind end. Oh well.
We took the short loop again at the end of the ride, and then I sponged him off. The weather is incredibly warm, and Wizard is basically living outdoors these days, which seems to be very good for him.
Sunday, 3/18/12
My local tack shop was having a 20% off sale, so I finally picked up the Tory Leather Jumping Hackamore that I’ve always wanted to try. It is basically a piece of rolled leather with rings for the bridle and the reins. There is no criss-cross, and there are no shanks. It’s really basic.
I rode Wizard in the indoor arena, and he rode pretty well in it. He was very relaxed, but we did lose a lot of our refinement/bending/etc without a bit. I couldn’t really create any impulsion, so he was sort of dinking around the ring without using himself. Brakes and steering were fine. I did a lot of work on serpentines to keep him listening to me and to work on getting him bending around my leg. We were able to do transitions within the trot. The hackamore was a great tool for my equitation, too. It enabled me to keep a steadier contact with the reins, because Wizard was not fiddling with the bit. I was able to get him to stretch down, too. Wizard just likes the fact that he can eat bigger carrots with his hackamore than he can with his bit :^)
Like Saturday, I felt a little unevenness in his gait- it was super subtle, but I felt something. And we have about 2 weeks left of Lyme Disease treatment- woo-hoo! Then, I’ll have the vet come back out and evaluate him and decide our next step.
Wizard Ride 340: Let’s Go Back to Work
Saturday, 3/10/12
I fell into a bit of a funk when my back started feeling funny, and I was only heading out to the barn to groom Wizard and prepare his medicine. I also was pretty wrapped up in some photo projects. But today, I hopped on and had a REALLY great ride!
We rode in the dressage arena, where the footing was shallow and pretty firm. There was actually a little crust over the sand, but when we walked over it, we broke the crust. Right when I got on, Wizard did his unhappy dance, pinning his ears and kicking a few times. But it was a pretty mild version of the dance. As we walked toward the arena, he did a few more kicks. But the ONLY resistance I felt during the entire ride was right at the beginning. He swished his tail when I picked up the reins, but all of his transitions were perfectly willing. I was as subtle as possible with my leg aids, and just kept my hands quiet and “there” for him. We only did trot work, but I tested him with a leg yield each way and a little shoulder in. No fussing, no fighting.
It the Lyme treatment finally working? Is his annual springtime awesomeness showing up and his annual wintertime funk ending? Was it a fluke? Only time will tell. I hope this means we can get back to work. He’s such a fun horse.
From the TDN Blog: The OTHER Horse of the Year…
Havre de Grace and Neville Bardos. Click here to see photos and read my TDN blog entry about both superstars.
Wizard Session 328: Medicine
Saturday, 1/14/12
Wizard began his doxycycline treatment for Lyme Disease on Tuesday night. In acute cases, I’ve heard of horses showing signs of improvement in 3 days to a week. Since Wizard’s test readings showed chronic and acute levels, I’m guessing that it will take longer. He’s a little quieter than usual, but I don’t see much more than that.
He was just as sensitive about grooming and blanketing as he was before starting his meds, and he is trotting out the same as he did before treatment. He was FULL of energy, but that could be the lack of work and the cold air- we got a blast of below-freezing temps for the weekend.
Getting Wizard to eat the doxycycline is a challenge. My vet said that the simplest way to get him to eat the 45-pill dose (twice daily) is to see if he will eat the whole pills. Some horses do, apparently. Wizard does not. The first time he bit into one, he made a range of awful faces and sulked in a corner.
Things I tried:
What did not work
Cherry Kool-aid powder
Whole pills mixed with molasses
Peppermint oil
Powder mixed with feed
What worked (so far)
I fill a plastic container with 2-3 handfuls of grain. Then, I dribble a little oil to make it sticky. Then, I put the doxy powder on top. Then, I put a blob of molasses on top of that. Then, I add warm water. Put the lid on and shake the whole thing up. Once it soaks, it’s the consistency of runny oatmeal, and it gets poured on Wizard’s grain like salad dressing. He leaves a little grain behind, but eats almost all of it. Because it’s wet, there is very little leftover powder.
The other thing that helped me was to cover my face with a bandanna while grinding the pills. I get an awful taste in my mouth when I inhale the powder. Blech.
I know Wizard is getting the meds into his system because his manure is soft and has a very odd smell. At night, I’m feeding him a probiotic, since it is not supposed to be fed at the same time as the doxy.
On Saturday, I took Wizard outside for a little hand grazing. He was in fine fettle, and was leaping around, playfully arching his neck and misbehaving on the lead line. Once we had a leadline refresher course, I took him into the indoor arena for a longeing session. I longed him mostly for exercise, since I’m letting him rest while he’s on the Lyme medicine. He mostly longed without side reins, and I put them on for just a few minutes in each direction. As an experiment, I asked him to canter just 2-3 rotations in each direction. He picked up each lead perfectly, and his canter looked pretty nice. He did, however, stumble pretty badly going from the walk to a trot. He also acted up and spun from right to left twice. It could have been that he was distracted, though, since we could hear hunters in the woods and the horses were on high alert.
From the TDN Blog… It Takes a Village: One Mare’s Journey Back to the Bluegrass
Many times, I’ve been asked if I was ever tempted to buy a horse from Camelot Auction, especially after photographing over 2,000 of them. Well, there was this one time… sort of… Click here: http://thetdnblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/it-takes-village-one-mares-journey-back.html
From the TDN Blog…Zodiac: King of Maryland
Remember Zodiac? Here’s an update on the mighty chestnut… http://thetdnblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/zodiac-king-of-maryland.html
Wizard Sessions 311, 312, Ride 313, and Chiropractic Report: Through the Dirt and the Gravel
Wednesday, 11/16/11 and Thursday, 11/17/11
I’m lumping these two days together as one since I basically just turned Wizard loose in the indoor arena and let him go bananas on Thursday. On Wednesday, we had a little more of a planned routine, with some clicker work and free longeing. It rained for two days, so the horses were pretty stir-crazy in their stalls. Wizard was so cute when he was turned out in the arena- the footing was perfectly groomed, and by the time he was done, it looked like I had ridden him for an hour with all the hoofprints in all directions.
Friday, 11/18/11
Wizard had a VERY busy day on Friday. One of his paddock buddies was swapped out for Gatsby, a handsome Camelot Auction graduate. Wizard and Gatsby have very similar personalities, and got along like peas and carrots. They played all afternoon with no excessive biting or rowdiness. With JR, they played hide and seek, tag, and “who can rear up the highest”. After romping all afternoon, Wizard was pleasantly tired for the chiropractor- she was not my regular chiropractor, but she did a nice job and Wizard loved her. He really enjoyed the body work, and was quite receptive to her. She said his atlas was the worst area on him- worse than his back, pelvis, neck, etc. All the crookedness she felt in his pelvis felt old and fused, so she was actually not too worried about it. She said he had a decent amount of flexibility in his pelvis, spine, etc. She was amazed at his Gumby-like ability to stretch his legs, and asked if he had any ligament issues (knock on wood). She also asked if he was definitely 15 and definitely a Thoroughbred. I think she was wondering if he was older due to his teeth and maybe gaited due to his limber movement :^P She looked at the saddle fit and thought it was reasonable fit. She did not think it was too wide or narrow, but recommended shims for his wither pockets. After his adjustment, I lightly longed him to help him hold his adjustment. I put his sheet on him, since it was COLD out, and put him to bed.
Saturday, 11/19/11
The weather was milder on Saturday. I longed Wizard for just a few minutes to loosen him up. Then, I saddled him up… AND RODE! Hooray! Wizard went out with Zeke and Lily on the trails. For the first half of the ride, he was doing his same ear pinning, belly kicking, tail swishing routine. But about halfway through the ride, shuffling through the dirt and leaves, it subsided. We even rode to the hot dog truck, and he was very good. The only thing that caused concern is that he’s still tripping/stumbling on occasion- he did it maybe 4 times during the trail ride. When we got back to the barn, I brought him into the indoor arena for a little ride. There were trailers and people bustling around the arena, preparing for barrel racing. All the activity was PERFECT- it distracted Wizard enough to forget about his ear pinning and fussing :^) We rode for about 15 minutes at a nice, swingy trot, across the diagonals. He was perfect, he stretched into the bit, and I tested him with a good amount of leg. He was responsive and happy.
So was it the three weeks off from riding? The new saddle? The longeing? The new shoes? The chiropractor?
And, more importantly, will it be the same tomorrow?
Rock and Racehorses: Sarah K. Andrew 