Vet checkups

Today was our annual dental, vaccinations, exam appt.  It started in the middle of a snow storm!  We were able to use the barn, the last stall on the right and a few tie spots for sleepy horses to wake up.  Sky was first, he was shaking...all the horses had spooked at something and he was not sure about this idea.  He did stand still only moving once during his exam.  His melanomas were fine...not growing.  He had some kind of bug bites...possibly ticks on his stomach that Dr Morgan wasn't worried about.  His weight was fine 912lbs.  The opaque spots on his eyes hadn't changed....no vision problems.  His teeth just needed a normal dental, and he didn't need to be re-sedated.   Zoe was next and she was spooky too, a bit shakey.  Both Sky and Zoe's sedation lasted for the appt. but they woke up pretty fast afterwards....must have blown thru it pretty fast.  Anyway, Zoe is 970lbs and needs to loose about 50 lbs.  The itchy spots on her belly are just something to keep an eye on.  Dr. Morgan was okay with my idea to try ivermectin every month this spring and summer to try to avoid the super itchiness that makes her rub out her mane during 2 weeks in July.  Otherwise I could try Doxepin.  I may do that or decide to just try to keep her comfortable and roach her mane in the summer.  Next year I may decide that issue.  Her teeth were fine- just 1 small infundibuli, like a cavity to us.  Only 3mm deep, something to keep an eye on.  Skippy was last...and she needs to loose about 50 lbs too, she weighed about 1010 lbs.   Good thing Zoe and Skippy live together and I can manage their diet pretty well.  Skippy has an opaque spot on her eye too, but it isn't growing...nothing to worry about.  She was her usual opinionated self when it came to the cold stethoscope listening to her belly....she squealed, but that was it.  Her teeth are another matter.  She has a total of 8 infundibuli in her upper teeth.  Last year she had small ones, but they have grown now.  The vet could stick a 2 cm probe into them...all the way.  Food can pack in them, ferment and cause infections and affect the roots, maybe causing a tooth to die.  But their teeth grow all the time too so it doesn't mean that the holes will always go to infections.  In a younger horse these things have time to grow and cause a problem, but in an older horse, Skippy is considered older at 17, these things may not be a problem because by the time they are a problem the horse won't be around.  The only thing I need to consider is the very back teeth...and 2 of these are in tooth # 9.  #9, #10, #11 are the very back teeth.  These teeth have roots that grow into the sinus areas and an infection in one of those teeth can cause a sinus infection.  Treating a sinus infection in a horse can be simple or complicated.  I might have to bring her to the clinic and have Dr. Carlson take xrays to figure out how deep these holes are and figure out a plan.   So that was our vet check up.  I think I will try out my weight tape on the horses....see if I come up with the same measurements.   All in all the horses did pretty well.  I know this blog is about me and Zoe, but if I don't write this one down I may forget.  So today was about all 3 horses.

2 mid week rides & back to work

So I took Zoe out by herself on Wednesday.  She did her usual calling on the way out, but her feet we calm, and her head was in a good position--not raised-so she wasn't nervous.  I usually say, just get back to work, we are moving on-and we move on just fine.  We went on a shorter ride because I wanted to take another horse out on the trail and had many other things to do with my day.  We did see 2 deer by alligator rock...she stopped to look, they moved on and so did we.....back to work.  She had a little too much "go" on the way home so we stopped, circled, sidepassed.  She did good and we went...back to work.  There was alot of water on the trail and many mucky spots to negotiate.  She did walk thru some of the puddles just fine.  We met 2 other horses going out on the trail as we were coming into the smaller pasture towards the green gate.  Zoe did fine passing them and staying calm.  On Lomida we met another horse and passed him just fine.  There was a motorcycle that passed us on Lomida that she didn't like....not sure why because it wasn't a loud one and she has been doing so well with motorcycles.  When she was younger she did NOT like them at all...always stopped, spun around, danced a bit.  But now they don't seem to bother her until today.  Not sure why...she did want to see what the noise was before it got to her so she spun around, but then was calm afterwards.  Back to work.   4.19 miles, max 8.95 avg 3.30

Thursday a storm was blowing in and I wanted to go out on the trial.  I kept checking my doppler to see where the rain was and decided to go out.  A friend wanted to join me so I said okay as long as we could WORK on some things.  It was nice to have the company as the wind was up and a storm was coming in...a friend would take the "scarey" out of the ride.   My friend was up to doing some separation work so we did...a shorter ride, Zoe in the lead most of the time.  We worked on small separations at first, both horses did fine.  Towards the end we tried something different....one went forward and one turned around and went away from home.  The forward one was to stop and wait for the other one to turn around and come back.  Then switch places.  Zoe did okay....a little bit of questioning, hesitating, but still went where I asked her to.  When we were stopped and waiting for the other horse to return to us, she wanted to turn around and watch for him, but I wouldn't let her.  She was just a bit uncomfortable, but waited.  Working while you wait...who would have "thunk" it.   I would like to do that one again-a few times-I think she could do better--push the edge of her envelope some more.  Then the bigger separation was to come.  My friend went from the bottom of beginners hill down to the cross roads in the cow pasture, I went forward towards the road with the sewer caps, turned left and met her at the cross roads in the cow pasture.   In this separation there is a section that the horses can't see each other.  The other horse called out, but Zoe did not return the call.  I was hoping she wouldn't...I told her not to....I guess she understood??? Anyway she looked around for him, but listened to me, walked calmly and then noticed that we were going to the same place...the cross roads in the cow pasture.   She did better with this separation than the previous one.   I guess it was more work for the other horse...pushed the edge of his envelope.   Any way we had a calm ride home....good timing as it was just starting to sprinkle.  4.84 miles, max 8.39 avg 3.15

Cars and horses

I was thinking.....I was in a car accident earlier this month-hit by a rude uninsured, unlicensed driver - and even ruder passenger in his car.  After calling 911 because my personal safety was in a questionable situation, the 3 police cars coming, finding out that I was not at fault, dealing with my insurance people....I think horses are much simpler.  When Zoe does something stupid...at least she is honest about it.  If she has an "attitude" one day, she shows it....sometimes she makes a conscious decision to curb her "attitude", but at least I know what I'm dealing with...if I'm paying attention.  I really like my honest horse.

Just one of those days

Today's ride was okay.  Skippy and Zoe left the barn with 2 other horses following.  Zoe in front.  There was someone working behind one of the fences on Lomida, making strange noises but Zoe managed to listen to me, stay on the trail and kept going forward.   The 2 riders following us took a different trail.  Skippy took the lead and we were moving out.  Good experience for Zoe to follow a faster horse and have good trail manners.  She did pretty good.  We looped around some trails and found the 2 riders a few more times during our ride.  At one point we spooked a deer (our horses were fine), the deer bounded off towards the other 2 riders coming down a different trail that intersected our trail.  I called out "deer coming".....Lucky decided it would be a good time to lope and the rider said no, so the horse loped in place then calmed down.  We split up again, Skippy and Zoe going towards the rocks where the 4-wheelers climb and the other 2 riders headed towards the lake.  We stopped at the top to take some pictures.  (I need to figure out how to put more pictures on this blog.)  Now we put Zoe in the lead.  Took some big trails and small trails.  We were disappointed that 4-wheelers have played in the mud so much that the bigger trails are getting mushy.  We took the smaller trails towards home.  Now Zoe decided that trotting was a good idea, which was fine with me, but not the head tossing and not listening to my leg.  So we slowed down and when we got to a big road again, we got to practice circles, backing, sidepassing, stopping.  Soon her brains started coming back into her head and the reactive side was slipping away.  Back to a peaceful ride home.  Skippy took the lead on the way home...doing her usual Skippy fast walk.  Zoe got to practice walking fast...sometimes she was anxious that Skippy was fast so when we got back to KK we practiced some in the arena-practiced sidepassing, backing, trotting collected-weaving in and out of concentric circles.  Brain back in head again.  I'm glad we can get back to that point.
Back at KK we found out that all the other riders out on the trail had experienced their horses misbehaving to some degree.    Must be one of those days.  As one of my friends put it "tomorrow's another day".  No GPS on this ride.

Spa Day

It's been raining now for 3 days....so instead of riding in the brief break in the rain at 5:30am, I chose to bring all 3 horses in the barn for a spa day.  I do this some mornings, usually when it's raining...but today just to do something different.  Zoe seemed very interested in doing something different.  Everyone got a good curry and brush.  Got to look at all the bumps and spots on the horses.  Manes, tails, face rubs, feet really clean....only to go back out in the mud.  Everyone had their favorite spots scratched. The barn cat decided to crawl inside of an empty shavings bag, it made the bag wiggle.  Zoe and Sky didn't care, but Skippy kept an eye on that bag.  Just about a month ago the cat crawled into a shavings bag when it was outside sitting in the sun--a nice warm place to take a nap.  We made sure the bag had a big opening.  But the bag was not in the sun this morning in the barn..so the cat was out of it pretty quick.   Then we did deworming.....oh well, had to throw in something that had to be done.   Then "bucket time"-treats for having to eat that dewormer.   Zoe is usually the first one in the barn when I do this and the last one out.  She has learned to stand and calmly wait her turn.  I remember many times in the past that she was not as patient...pawing the ground, neighing, sometimes even pulling back.  It's nice to see the change.      

Between the rain and hail

Today I managed to get a ride in...after the rain and before the rain/hail.  I took my brother  out on a very short ride.  I took Zoe and he took Sky.  We walked the whole time, didn't want to scare my brother away from riding.   Zoe did good, stopped to look at 3 deer bounding across our path just as we crested the top of the hill.  We went to one of the look outs where you can see Sacramento and on a very clear day the coastal mountain.  Today we couldn't see the coastal mountains, we could see part of the Butes...but Sacramento was very visible.  The clouds looked nice in the sky, the wind was gently blowing, and there were birds riding the winds above our heads.  A good day.  3.32 miles, max speed 5.16, avg speed 2.75

Canal Trail

Today Zoe and Skippy went on the canal trail.  My intent was to have Zoe lead to the canal, have Skippy do 1/2 of the canal, then finish with Zoe doing the rest.  But today I kept Zoe in the lead the whole way.  There were times that she was not happy about this.  There were a few scary places, horse eating rocks I guess, that we had to stop and not go forward.  In fact in one place she did the backup, but then she had to go to work sidepassing.  Usually this gets her going forward again....too much work sidepassing the whole trail, forward is much easier.  We have not been down on the canal trail in a while so I expected her to be wary in some spots.  She went past her usual stopping places but found a few new ones.  All in all, the interruptions in our ride were not very long.  I remember in the past that we would be spending quite a few minutes trying to go forward.  Today, each time was not that long.  It only happened 3 times.  It was an improvement over last year and I'm hoping to go on that trail alot more this year before the water gets too high.  It is one of my favorite trails.
Today was such a beautiful day...we met many people on the trail.  We counted 21 other riders.  Only 3 were going in our direction.  We stopped many times to let people pass and in one of the spots we had some excitement.  As we got on the canal trail from the pasture trails there is a spot where the trail dips down and it's usually muddy/watery this time of the year.  It was a nice gushy spot today.  We stopped to let some riders coming towards us pass before we got down to that spot.  Above us there were 3 riders going up and down the gullies.  So one of the horses coming towards us didn't like the watery/gushy place and almost fell down and the rider almost came off.  The horse ran towards us panicky and Zoe started to jig a bit.  I got her calmed down pretty quick and the now muddy horse was rushing by us.   At  the same time that was happening one of the riders on the trail above us fell off, there was yelling.  They caught the horse and I guess the rider was okay...he was up and he had friends with him.   Zoe and Skippy sure got to watch some excitement and they didn't do to bad....they were pretty much controllable.  I'm glad Zoe was listening to me and was able to calm down.  The rest of the riders we met today seemed to have things under control.
All in all I think it was a good ride....Zoe got to work on some leading in uncomfortable places, the horses did good with all the other horses we met-even in excitable situations, and Zoe did what I asked her to do...even if she had to stop and think about it.  7.29 miles, max speed 9.51, avg speed 3.68

Inspiration Point

Today we went to Inspiration Point.  It was a good ride.  Zoe was relaxed... for the most part.  We saw deer 2 different times.  We went up Beginners Hill, over the rocks the 4-wheelers go over, along the fence line with the loose horses, turned left to Inspiration Point.  Sometimes going up there Zoe is nervous, but today she was good.  The ears on our new picture are funny.  She just couldn't decide where to focus her attention and eventually stopped twisting her ears around.  The ride back was good....of course we didn't go back the same way we came.  We got down to the bottom and took the high road back and at the bottom of that turned left and wound our way back to the cow pasture on small trails.  As we were coming up the last hill out of the cow pasture we met 2 friends from the barn going out on a ride.  We stopped and talked for a while.  Zoe wanted to leave right away, but we stayed to talk for a while and eventually she relaxed.  Then it was off for home.  At the top of the hill there is a choice of going around the rocks or take the path thru the rocks.  I always choose thru and Zoe always wishes I would choose around.  She usually slows down as she goes thru the rocks....but she has improved over time.  I remember when we had to stop, look at the rocks, snort, and charge thru them as if they were going to eat her.   Now she is just slow and wary.  Go figure.  Then we stopped to take another picture.  Zoe was unhappy with that suggestion.  She did stand still when I took the picture, but then decided to call out...."is anyone out there?"  Of course no one answered.  So I decided that side passing as we were going home was in order.  Something to get her mind off the home direction....I didn't have a whole lot of time left to ride so to turn around and go in the opposite direction was not an option today...so side passing would have to do.  She walked home just fine and calling while out on the trail didn't happen again.  It sometimes happens as we walk the road home.  The calling on the road doesn't bother me anymore.  She used to call alot on the road and in the early stages she was "rushy".  I would get on her case and make her back up or turn around, I'd make life miserable for her, but that didn't seem to help the problem.  So I took some advice I read about from an old cowboy...just ignore it.  If I make a big deal about it, then it's a big deal.  But if I ignored it...she ended up calming down.   I wouldn't recommend that advice for every horse challenge but it seemed to work in this one.   But now she just walks beside me calmly always adjusting to my walking speed as I speed up or slow down...and every once in a while she might call out once on the way home.  It's a big difference from when we first started...so I will take it, it's an improvement.  4.99 miles, max speed 8.68, avg speed 3.20

Early Morning Rides

Three days a week I get up at 4:30, get to the barn by 5:30, tack up by 5:45 to 6 (depending on how muddy...excuse me-how dirty is my horse) and ride for 45 to 30 minutes.  I have yet to convince anyone to join me.  There was 1 person who came out early but that did not last very long.  I have been doing this for at least 6 years.  Now many people think I'm crazy but I don't think so.  It's so quiet in the morning....easy to concentrate on what Zoe and I need to do.  I've taught her many things in 30 minute segments over the years.  I usually just pick 1 or 2 things to work on and over time there is usually some improvement in Zoe and/or me.  I get a chance to practice things I have learned in lessons.  In the heat of summer it is the best time to ride...nice and cool.  In the winter I turn on the arena  lights so the arena is lit but outside the arena it's still dark and hard to see out there.  I find that Zoe doesn't focus so much on the area outside the arena especially since she can't see it.  I find that the more time I spend working with my horse, the better Zoe and I both get.  Since I work full time that "time" can sometimes be hard to find.  So I'm not just content to settle for riding her on my days off...that would not be enough time-hence another reason I ride so early in the morning before I go to work.   I guess for me and my horse we need to spend this much time to get things accomplished.  I'm glad I have a job that I can show up in "horsey" clothes and it doesn't matter if I slightly smell like a horse.  The only drawback:  things that I want to practice in a group just don't happen.....unless I can convince some people to.............
Anyway, today's early morning ride was good.  I was gone for the weekend and Zoe was a good girl.  In the past she would have missed being out and would have been jumpy or squirrely or not listening or just a handful.  But not today, I really think age is working in my favor.  We practiced walk/trot transitions-collected.  Did some side passing on and off the rail, collected.  Practiced trotting over poles without hitting them.  We did some trotting in and out of circles  collected, then switching in the middle of the circle (when we had a nice bend) and going in the opposite direction.  We loped some and practiced some backing thru obstacles.  I know that is more than 1 or 2 things but I've been able to add to what I do so most of it is regular workout stuff.  Today we found that we needed to work more on the side passing, especially to the right.  We also needed to work on trotting collected to the right with as much impulsion as we do when we go to the left.  I guess tomorrow's another day...starting at 4:30 in the morning.

Working on relaxing

Today's ride was great.  The last time I was on this particular trail, a loop @ the KBB Hills,  Zoe was nervous.  So today we headed straight for that trail.  We traveled on that loop 2 times...the second time she was definitely more relaxed.  We even saw 2 mountain bicyclists on the trail.  We saw them first, stopped at the "t" in the road for them to go by us, and went on.  Zoe was not bothered by the bikes.  They did not see us at first, so I called out "hello".  They were very courteous, stopped and asked if the horse was bothered by the bikes.  It is nice to find considerate people out on the trail.
As usual on the way home Zoe started "humming"...I like to call it humming, but it really sounds like groaning.  She only does it on the way home and when she is relaxed.  Sometimes I "hum" back or  sing a few tunes...hopefully no one is listening...and she seems to like it.  5.13 mi, max speed 9.22, avg speed 3.85    

New ride

On Wednesday Zoe and I went on a ride with some friends that lead us on some new trails.  It was really fun.  Zoe probably thought it was really fun because most of the time she did not have to lead.  There was one point where we lead and she did it because I asked, but I could tell she really didn't like it.  Then we fell in behind another horse and she relaxed (Whew said Zoe).  When we got on trails that Zoe recognized, she was very relaxed.  We will be working on that trail some more.  6.62 mi, max speed 10.07, avg speed 4.10