Abscess watch

Monday has come and gone. I had Zoe's shoe pulled on Thursday because she was getting worse not better after having the nail pulled. I was soaking with warm water & epsom salt. Once on Thursday, twice on Friday, twice on Saturday. But there was no change. Finally I talked to a vet at work and starting using a poultice pad on Saturday evening. Poultice pad, diaper, elasticon, ductape. Keep it on until Monday when the farrier can come out and take a look. Sunday she was moving better, but Monday wasn't moving better.

Monday came and so did the farrier. We took off the bandage...a bit stinky by now. But still no abscess has broken thru. Farrier even dug some but no abscess. We did discover that the heel area on the inside of her foot is tender to the hoof testers.

Now it's rebandaged with the poultice pad for 3 more days.  Hopefully we will see some results.

Lameness and waiting

So my horse is lame. I'm not sure why. It's her left front. Hope I didn't break my horse. I have a few theories.

She's been somewhat off since her last shoeing but nothing definite. Off for a few days, okay for a few days, off for a few days...etc. But now she's off all the time. So maybe she's too short or maybe it's a nail in the wrong place. I had my farrier look at her a few days ago. He put the hoof testers on her and she did flinch at one nail. Not a major flinch but it was obvious that it bothered her. So he pulled that nail and said give her 4-5 days. If she's not better he will remove her front shoes. We'll see. So on Monday we hopefully see some improvement.

Could be an abcess. So I started soaking her foot. I've never soaked her foot before. She let me put the medicine boot on her and put the epsom salt water in it. She only moved once to test out what was on her foot but she didn't panic and stood still the rest of the time. So I guess I'll soak her foot for a while and see if an abcess shows up.

She has a new habit. She has started putting her front feet, usually her left front foot, in her feeder. She just started this earlier this year. In order to get the foot out of the feeder, she drags her leg out of it. I suppose after a while it would start to bother her. Must be the Foxtrotter in her-they tend to put their feet in everything. So I'm having our barn handyman lower the feeder. I know that won't stop her from putting her feet in the feeder, but at least she'll be able to get it out with greater ease. She also has a habit of scratching her belly on the corner of the feeder and she rubs all the hair off her belly. Then she's bother by the flys even more. Then she scratches more...then...well it's a vicious cycle. So even if the lameness problem turns out to have nothing to do with the feeder, it will be nice to get rid of the belly scratcher.

So my horse has some time off. I do have another horse to ride. Her mom, Skippy. Skippy is so different from Zoe. She has more "go" and is really sensitive to a rider's legs on her. I haven't ridden her consistently for many years, just off an on over the years. My husband or a friend rides her only on the trail. She gets ridden maybe 8 times a month at the most. She is 20 years old and you'd never know it by the way she loves to go. So I rode Skippy and I noticed something. Years ago when I rode both Skippy and Zoe, I remembered Skippy as being the better of the two. She was more responsive and I felt like she had more experience so I could trust her more. Memories are good for then, but I found out that things are different now. I tried to ride Skippy like I ride Zoe in my lessons and it wasn't working out so well. Zoe understands more than Skippy! Sure Skippy is still responsive but it only goes so far. Zoe responds to far more commands than Skippy. Sure Zoe is still slower than Skippy, but speed isn't everything. So I was proud of my little Zoe coming so far along. And I decided to ride Skippy like I used to ride-I wasn't going to change her in one ride so I might has well make it pleasurable for both of us.

Now to just wait and see what's up with Zoe.

Zoe's got another rider

Zeke is now big enough to ride a horse by himself. He can keep his balance and follow directions. So I asked him if he wanted to ride a horse and he said yes. We kept it short the first time and we forgot his helmet. The second time was a little bit longer and we remembered the helmet. He didn't mind having the helmet on his head. Each time he wants to stay on longer. He also gets so excited that he will talk to anyone out at the barn about riding his horse. He just rambles on and on. Usually he is on the quiet side but he's so excited that all the words just bubble out. So now he calls Zoe is his horse and the old saddle that I use he says is his saddle. I wonder what Zoe thinks of all of this. She probably likes it since it doesn't involve work.

 

Plants everywhere

On horseback I get to see the lupine-beautiful this time of the year 

Grandma's helper with the plants 

At the barn they are growing 

Artichoke flower 

Last years coleus 

My Red Tassel Flower did great last year.  Alas this year this plant didn't grow. 

This year's Bleeding Heart 

Maybe with a break

Apparently Zoe has forgotten how to pick up her right lead. Or maybe her rider, me, is giving some confusing cues. Or maybe she's protesting having to work harder trying to pick it up while collected. Or maybe it's a combination of all of the above. Or maybe I'm obsessing about something that is really no big deal. Last summer while doing serpentines, we could change leads with just a trot step between...working towards flying lead changes. Apparently things are different now. We did manage to get the right lead with much work involved.
So to give us a break we went on the trail with a friend from work. She and her husband trailered to our staging area and off we went toward the lake. Jim and I went with this couple about a month ago and they were really excited about the area that we ride. They were so excited that they tried to find the lake on their own a few weeks after that and ended up on the rocky trail. Not good news for them. They didn't like it, got off and walked for about a mile, a bit too hard for their horses. So I took them on a ride and showed them how to get to the lake without using the rocky trail. They really liked it. It ended up being a long ride tho...2 hours to go 5 miles. They were ponying a horse and they don't trot much. And when they trot, it's pretty slow. I thought Zoe and I were slow. It ended up being a great ride tho, nice company and it was nice to show the place to riders that appreciated it. Zoe did pretty good too. The slower horses she adapted to. They had a dog that liked to walk/run behind the last horse-and sometimes we were the last horse. Zoe didn't mind the dog. Zoe liked to be in the lead or last. The middle was the challenging place for her. I think she didn't like how close the horses rode behind her. Anyway it was a good break from trying to get the right lead.

Lessons better/ankle better

Today was another dressage lesson, the 4th one. I was so happy-I got a complement!  He said my hands and feet were doing better! And my horse and I were doing better with different gaits. Progress. We didn't work on anything new, did more work on the leg yields. Zoe seems to do better at them at a trot because we have some forward momentum going. At the walk she seems so slow but he says that's okay. So we will work more on "form". I'm enjoying these lessons, there is so much precision, careful thought, physical demands on my horse and me-it's challenging.
On another note my ankle is now normal colored, but not normal in function. I'm convinced that nothing is broken but the muscles, tendons and ligaments are still sore.  Not as sore as the beginning, the swelling is down, not as painful but there is still a stiffness. I expect it will take more time to get full function back. But it is getting better.

Lesson and ankle update

My ankle still hurts. I'm totally weight bearing, the bones seem fine but the tendons and ligaments are protesting. And my foot is a rainbow of colors. However, I can still ride my horse. Stubborn I am. It doesn't bother me to ride at all. So with that in mind I went out for a short trail ride on Wednesday. Zoe and I did fine. It was nice to get out on the trail. The past 2 weeks have been rainy or I have been recuperating from my ankle injury, so I have only been riding in the arena.
I had my third dressage lesson on Thursday. We worked on my feet staying still-again.  I must be doing a bit better because we didn't focus on it as much as before.  I have some ideas to help me with that.  My hands must be doing better because we didn't get reminded about them as much.  We cantered again and I really like her at the canter in my lessons.  She reminds me of a rocking horse.  We also worked on leg yields, inside leg to outside rein.  Lots to remember.  I have an extra week to practice this month as my next lesson is at the end of the month.  Hopefully I will make more progress.