The Duck has Landed!!!

Well, a week later and Secret was still not able to turn to the right. She was actually trotting pretty well on the straight and looked almost sound. But, turning to the right there was still head-bobbing. So, I called the vet and gave her the run down. She decided that we’d better do x-rays just to be sure. She warned me that usually, you don’t see much on x-rays. If that’s the case, then its hard to tell what it is and to be absolutely certain you have to do a lot of really expensive tests at UGA. OR you can just kinda assume that if it’s not bone, it’s soft tissue and treat accordingly (and hope for the best).

Today was the day! I went ahead and took the day off work because I figured Secret would pitch a fit about the whole operation and it would take awhile. It turns out, it was lucky I took the day off because the vet was incredibly late due to an emergency. But, in what seems to be an endless quest to make a liar out of me, Secret was a perfect angel. We took all kinds of X-rays! And they showed…. Nothing. Absolutely nothing! It all looked great. So, the vet suggested that the next step was to add pour-in pads UNDER the natural balance shoes and put her on stall rest for about six months to allow any soft tissue injury to heal.

I took the advice and did what she suggested. The shoes with pour-in pads cost me $150 and I was not looking forward to paying that every six weeks, but what choice did I have? I was now down almost $800, my horse was still lame, and now wasn’t to come out of her stall for SIX MONTHS! I don’t have to tell fellow horse owners how frustrating and depressing this is. I decided that I would give her the time she needed and in the meantime I would post and ad on craigslist for a horse to play with.

 I was just looking for someone that had a horse that maybe was barn sour or just needed some work and some miles. I didn’t want them to pay me, and I didn’t want to pay a lease. I got several responses to this ad. The first was about 50miles away on the other side of the city… too far. The second was still a good bit away, but at least on this side of town and I used to drive down there all the time for my trainer so I figured, why not? When I pulled up the lady went and brought her horse out. I looked down at her feet, which is now at the top of my list for judging a good horse owner, and the first words out of my mouth were, “Her feet look AMAZING!!!” She calmly responded, “Oh thanks! That’s my farrier right over there.” I looked at the man and blurted out, “Do you travel as far as Powder Springs?!?” And this whole conversation started about Secret’s lameness, horse’s feet, and horse shoes. I got a real education.

This was the first time I had met someone who was a “barefoot farrier”. I had heard about them in the past, and always thought they were a bit off. I’m admitting now, I was wrong. This guy spent a good 2 hours talking to me, explaining his point of view, and then ended by saying, “Look it up… see if it makes sense to you. If it does, I don’t charge anything to come out and do an evaluation.” Well, I believe that all things happen for a reason. I went home, read all I could on “barefoot horses” and asked him to do an evaluation on Secret. He came out and spent another two hours (1) Looking at her standing square (2) Watching her move and (3) Explaining to me what he thought the problem was, this included showing me pictures in a text book, and how he would go about fixing it. He pointed out to me (and the barn owner who was there and I asked to listen in and give his opinion) that the whole left side of Secret’s body was ½” higher than her right side. He said, “I bet this horse is a dream to turn to the left, but you can’t make her go right.” Wow! Nailed that one. Then he said, “Probably when you ride her bareback she seems sound, but she’s really lame when you put a saddle on.” Right again! Evidently that’s because her spine is twisted to the right and the saddle bars would press down on it, but this wasn’t a problem with the bareback pad. I was impressed.

He told me his plan to fix her: (1) Pull her shoes off (2) Trim only the left side until she was balanced (3) Give her an all-around, balanced, barefoot trim for 5-10 weeks and then re-evaluate. I thought about it, talked it over with the barn owner (made sense to him), and thought, “what would I do if it was my foot?” I felt kind of guilty like I was experimenting with my horse. Afterall, the vet had told me to put the shoes on. But, by the same token, if this was my foot, I would try it and why should I do less for Secret? I agreed.

We pulled the shoes off and trimmed her left side. He said to watch for any head bobbing, any body soreness should be treated with Devil’s Claw, abscesses were not unexpected after having shoes on for a year, and her feet were going to get really ugly… he’d be back in a week. This is going to sound unbelievable, but the improvement she made in that week was unbelievable! Her attitude made a major turnaround… she’s the darling of the barn now. AND, she was lunging with no head-bobbing and no limping…. Just a little stiffness.

A week later, he trimmed just the left side again and said that she was now balanced. He’d be back in a week to trim her all around. Now in week two, with no sign of limping or discomfort, I started riding her. It was like a different horse. She would walk and trot with no hesitation and turn in both directions without a fuss. We even did a trail ride and a couple of canter laps. She was still stiff in the right front shoulder and didn’t want to pick up her right lead, but she did great to the left and on the trail. I had hope again!

Just the past Saturday, he came and trimmed her all around. I want to add here that every time he’s been out he’s spent at least an hour looking her over, evaluating her stance and movement, and then deciding on a plan of how to trim her. He decided that since she was still stiff and unsure in that right front shoulder he would change the breakover on that foot and force her to extend it. It’s amazing how a little change to the foot can cause such big changes in her movement. After just a little rasping, she was no longer short stepping on that shoulder and her footfall pattern had evened out. He told me to expect her to be a bumpy ride for awhile, but that it should aid in her rehabbing those shoulder muscles.

Yesterday (Sunday), I had planned to trailer to Cochran Mill Park for a trail ride. I was a little worried because she hasn’t been on such a long ride in several months and I was worried that she would give out about half way. She, once again, made a liar out of me. She went the whole three hours with energy to spare and was totally sound when we got back to the barn last night. I think maybe this duck has landed… I’m hoping its permanent. I’ve been converted, I’m a believer. Long live the barefoot horse!

Lame as a Duck

I’ve always wondered what the expression “lame as a duck” meant. Turns out it’s a political term that refers to a politician who no longer wields any political power as they are about to be voted out or have come to the end of their term. Nonetheless, I will still use it to refer to my horse, who is currently lame as a duck. Not that she’s lost her power… she’s plenty willing, just unable.

Probably a year after I got her I noticed that she had a small limp that appeared to be in the right hind leg. It was a really wet and cold February that year and I figured maybe it was just some stiffness from standing in a cold, muddy pasture. After the summer came, the limp would come and go and it was so subtle that unless you were really looking for it, you couldn’t see it. When I noticed it I would rub her down in liniment and it would go away for awhile. By the next winter we had moved to a new barn and she was to be stalled at night and the pasture was on high ground so it wasn’t going to get very muddy. I thought that would solve the problem, but it didn’t. By the following spring it was noticing enough and happening often enough for me to call the vet out.

When the vet showed up, I lunged Secret at a trot for almost ten minutes before she could see what limp I was talking about. She did a few flexions and determined that Secret, indeed, had a limp, but the cause was unclear. She suggested putting front shoes on. So a week later the farrier was out. Secret was a perfect angel for her first shoeing (and hot shoes at that!).

The limp seemed to get a little better, so I kept the shoes coming. By the fourth shoeing she had started misbehaving whenever the nails were driven. It was about this time that we again moved to yet a new barn. About two weeks after moving, just in time for Secret to be due for shoes again, my farrier had a stroke. A week later Tom Biewlawski, a fabulous farrier and an equally wonderful person, passed away… I know Secret and I both miss him and I’m sure he will always be fondly remembered by us and many other people and their horses.

Secret and I have since been through a string of farriers, with questionable results. So, I finally had the vet out again last week. This time we did more lunging and more flexions. She came to the conclusion that it was the right front foot that was the problem. Now, Secret WAS actually lame in the right front that day. Both the barn manager and myself stressed to the vet that she had always been lame on the BACK. But there was no arguing with what was before us. We did a nerve block on the front right foot and within minutes she was trotting around well. So, the suggestion was to put corrective “natural balance” shoes on the front to relieve any heel pain that she might have. That was Tuesday, on Friday the new farrier she had recommended came and put the shoes on. I should mention that she had also left me a sedative to use when the farrier comes because Secret has actually started rearing during the nailing on of the shoes. The sedative worked… she was so stoned the cross ties were holding her upright… the farrier was very happy.

The following Tuesday evening I went out to ride and… OMG she was lamer than ever! In the FRONT! She was actually doing the whole head-bob thing (ie. REALLY LAME) and could not turn to the right at all. I was devastated. I was frustrated. It’s gotten to the point that I feel like everything that I do just makes her worse! Would it have been better if I’d left her barefoot? Is she ever going to be sound again? How much money am I willing to spend to make her better? What if I can’t make her better? What will I do then? All of these questions ran through my mind in about 4 seconds. Then I pushed them aside because I had my board exam to study for and didn’t have time to dwell on it until afterwards. Nonetheless, I called the vet the next morning and she wanted to give the shoes at least a week before making a judgment on them.

My board exam was yesterday, so I went out today to check on her (this past Friday was a week… so it’s been 9 days of the shoes). I started by free lunging her in our new round pen (SO excited about that!). She looked better! I think there is still a little limp in the right front, but the head-bobbing is gone. BUT, I think the right hind looks off again. My trainer used the term, “dead lame in the back”. UGH UGH UGH! So, then I threw the bareback pad on to see if she would look worse with weight on her back. After trotting a few laps the back leg seemed to warm up and not look so stiff. So, I’m thinking that she’s better?? My trainer recommended calling the vet and letting her know exactly what we’re seeing and letting her make the call. So, the journey continues. I hope this duck can learn to fly again…

Mechanical Hackmore: tool or torture?

When I first got Secret she was being ridden in a plain O-ring snaffle bit. After I started riding her, I noticed A LOT of head tossing and bracing against the bit. She was only three at the time and I knew that she might be having some teething issues, so I went to a nylon Indian bosal. She rode really well in that for two years but then I decided that I wasn’t super happy with the release it gave and, therefore, its usefulness as a teaching tool. So, I switched to a cross under bitless bridle. For us, this was totally useless. She ignored it, ran through it, and was just generally a witch! At that point, about three months ago, my trainer suggested going back to a snaffle bit. Secret took the bit fine and didn’t brace against it like she used to. She was responsive to it, but she was still running through it.

So, my problem was getting her stopped once she decided she was going. I didn’t have a problem with steering and I really want her to learn to neck-rein because its easier on the trail. I did some research and decided to try a Jim Warner Hackamore.

The Jim Warner is a mechanical hackamore that looks more like a medieval torture device than anything else.  I talked to a lot of people at the tack shop about it before purchasing it and they had all positive things to say. But, afterwards I started reading about it on horse forums. The general consensus seemed to be that all mechanical hackamores are harsh and cruel and would only be used by the most inexperienced, insensitive, and inhumane horse person. Well, I’ve always subscribed to the theory that the bit is only as harsh (or as soft) as the hands, so I decided to give the evil mechanical hack a try.

My horse is so responsive and well-behaved in this hack that its mind-boggling!!! My goal is to eventually have her drop her head and travel down the trail pretty independently on a loose rein and when I do want to make a change I want her to listen to my body and seat BEFORE my hands. So, when I ride her in this hack I’m focusing on giving “steering” signals with (1) opposite rein against the neck, ie. neck reining, (2) body and legs, ie. turning my upper body, moving my outside leg back, and bending her around the inside leg, and (3) lastly very light pull and release, almost like a wiggle, on the direct rein.  She’s starting to pick up on the neck reining very well actually. I’m debating getting a horsehair mecate rein as I’ve heard that the tickle of it against the neck encourages them to move away from it… not sure if it will really help that much?

Secondly, when I want to transition down a gait or stop I’m focusing on changing my body language and even the vocal cue to get her to drop down and I only reinforce with the rein if she’s not responding. Even then it’s a very light pick up of the rein, not a jerk or strong pull. She has only gotten a really sharp yank on this hack twice and both of them were when she spooked and jumped forward into my hands. The good side of this was that the pressure from the hack immediately shut her down as opposed to her running through it as she used to do with the bit and the cross-under.

I had thought that shutting her down in a “spook” situation would only scare her more, I mean horses like to move their feet when they’re scared right? But, much to my surprise, it actually seemed to keep her calmer. Instead of being able to take off and work herself up into a frenzy she was forced to stop and realize that nothing was about to eat her (she is actually smart enough to figure this out pretty quickly if you can get her stopped and turned around!).

So, overall I’ve been VERY satisfied with this medieval torture device. We’ve made a lot of progress in our schooling since I’ve started using it. Best of all, Secret doesn’t appear to mind it… in fact, she seems positively fond of the thing! I have a hard time getting it on her, not because she’s shying away from it, but because she is forcibly shoving her head into it and getting her lip caught on the curb chain! I’ve never seen a horse so eager to get their bridle put on :D

Back in the (English) Saddle!

I haven’t been out to the barn much at all lately. In fact, I don’t think I’ve actually laid eyes on my horse in about two weeks before today. My board exam is coming up on July 23^rd and I’ve been using any spare moment to study. But, I felt as though I had made good progress this week and deserved a reward for being so diligent. So, I set up a trail ride with a friend for this morning at 9am.

Now, two weekends ago I had finally decided to get my western saddle restored. It’s currently in the possession of a very nice cowboy who’s working on it. That leaves me with my close contact M. Tolouse, which I LOVE and it’s very comfortable. But, I haven’t used it in awhile because Secret’s canter had been SO bouncy and I like the security of having something to grab onto on the western saddle. I was gonna HAVE to use it today, I’d left myself no choice.

I arrived at the barn and fortunately, as I hadn’t been out in awhile, everyone wanted to chit-chat, which bought me some time to psych myself out about the saddle and work up my nerve. Then it was time to groom. WOW… Secret was really dirty! It was like that sweaty, matted on dirt. Gross! I brushed out as much as could since she was still sweating and threw the blanket on, then the concussion pad, then the saddle (after wiping the mildew off), tightened the girth and climbed aboard.

I have to say I felt kind of silly. I had a definitely western-esque hackamore bridle with an English saddle. But I was somewhat comforted when my friend emerged with a dressage saddle and bridle, draw reins, and saddle bags!

We had a wonderful ride. It was all pretty much at a walk with a bit of trotting as my friend’s horse is still somewhat lame in the stifle. But, it was a great time. It was nice to go out on Secret and not feel like she could blow up at any moment. She was back to her old pokey self and I love it!

 After arriving back at the barn we entered the large outdoor arena so that my friend could work her horse over some cavelleti (gotta build up those muscles to help the stifle!) I trotted Secret around and it was SO hot that she was very calm about the whole thing. So, I made up my mind and told my friend, “I just want to try a canter down the long side. Just to try to start conquering my fear.” She moved to the center of the arena and I set off. She picked up the correct lead on cue and went right into her nice, slow, smooth canter. It’s hard to tell if it’s partially because it was so hot and she just didn’t want to expend extra effort or if it’s because her atrophied muscles are rebuilding post-chiropractor and she’s better able to use her back end. But, either way it’s wonderful!

About half-way down the long side she did get kind of squirrely. But, even at the trot she likes to jump off the rail right in that spot so I was kind of expecting it and since she was in such a nice canter that I didn’t slide even the slightest bit in the saddle. Then I turned around and cued in the other direction. Again she picked up to correct lead and we cantered a whole circle with a very nice bend! She has made such improvement in the last few months that I am absolutely astounded! At that moment, for the first time in a long time, I felt as though I was truly borrowing freedom, instead of fear.

Training Tips from Today's Lesson

Today was another "in-between" ride. I decided to do a lesson since I'm off work for the next two weeks to study and this would be a good motivator to get me out of bed early!!!

We started out in the large outdoor arena again and got a little break from circles. Instead we were working on getting her to stay on the rail in a relaxed working trot. For the first three years that I owned Secret, we didn't have an arena at either of the two barns where I boarded -- I was a grad student, ie. poor. So, she's really not used to be asked to stay on a rail or even stay straight, so we're having to re-teach that. She also tends to get really anxious in the outdoor arena for reasons that escape me because she's usually perfectly fine on the trail; sometimes I wonder if it's just boredom.

She started off acting pretty silly along the rail, just randomly tossing her head and making militant 90 degree turns to the middle of the arena. My trainers advice was instead of trying to pull her head back to the rail, because that messes up our pretty bend to the inside, OPEN the outside rein keeping the outside hand up, wiggle (multiple half halts) on the inside rein, and LOTS of inside leg. It's amazing how well this works, but you have to approach it with alot of patience. I have to tell myself that I have the WHOLE arena to get her back on the rail and then just keep harrasing her with the above maneuver until she gets back over there, however long it takes. At first it sometimes took the whole long side, but as the lesson went on she got better and better.

The next component was getting her to consistently stay in a relaxed working trot. This has always been a struggle with Secret, especially in bigger areas. She always tends to get excited and wants to get fast and choppy as opposed to lengthening her stride. So today we were working on making sure that I stayed relaxed and then controlled the cadence of my posting. The more I can do that, the more it will encourage her to relax and to lengthen her stride in time with my posting. Keeping a certain cadence to your posting sounds really easy, but its hard to do. I always want to match her pace and it's hard for me to set my own when I can feel her pushing me out of the saddle. The good news is that when I'm able to do it, she comes back to me really quickly.

When she was really going around on the rail consistently and relaxed we started to do some large serpentines. For these I would half-circle into it, then walk a few strides to straighten, start the opposite bend and ask for the trot. Once my trainer felt as though we were both doing this well (for our first time anyway). We decided to move back into the smaller indoor arena for canter work. During our trot work earlier she had gotten excited and done a bit of canter (almost one full long side at one point) and it had seemed less scary to me than before. So, we had thought about doing some canter work outside, but I was worried that I would get scared again and set us backwards, so we went in.

In retrospect, I'm kind of disappointed that I didn't have the courage to try to canter in the larger arena, but I'm always VERY happy that we went in because our canter work was AWESOME today. She did great in both directions, staying on the rail and not breaking to a trot in the corners. She also did well with the canter-trot tansition and actually continuing to trot instead of abruptly just dropping to a walk. Both my trainer and I were thrilled!

I have to say that I think it's really beneficial that my trainer has ridden her a few times. Its given her a chance to learn all of Secret's little tricks that she likes to pull on me so that she can help me work through them. It's definitely helped to lessen my frustration and its made our communication better because we've both experienced it and I don't have to describe what's going on in exquisite detail to get help. Totally, TOTALLY worth every penny.

Do horses get dizzy???

I was out of town this past weekend; had to go to St. Louis for a professional conference and got home at midnight on Saturday! So I had arranged with my trainer to ride Secret on Saturday so she wouldn't just sit. The report was: "Had a really productive ride. She was a little stiff in the beginning, but was noticeably better at the end. I rode her in the outdoor arena, did canter-trot and trot-canter transitions, and worked on a circle almost the whole time."

The agreement that I had with my trainer is that she will ride her for the next three Saturdays (while I'm out of town) and I will ride at least once (preferably twice) throughout the week. Thus today was my "in-between" ride. We started out in the big outdoor arena just warming up, walk-trot transitions, and some circles near the gate. Then we moved into the indoor arena, this is my security blanket, and worked on more trot circles -- I'm surprised she's not dizzy! While still not perfect, they are MUCH better. She is still kinda stiff and doesn't want to bend, but is much more responsive to leg... especially the inside leg. This is really useful because she has the attention span of a gnat in the arena and now whenever she's looking at what's going on in the pasture instead of paying attention to me the "half-halt and inside leg" philosophy is WAY more effective than it used to be.

We ended working on trot-canter transitions. I don't know if its all the circles or maybe my trainer made a major breakthrough when I was gone, but SHE was SO much better!!! We started on her bad side, the left. She was still very much on the front end and bouncy but started to relax and calm down after the first few transitions. Then we went to her good side, the right, and it was amazing!!! There was very little bounce, it was like she collected and got her fabulous slow canter back. AND the "whoa" off of the seat was also fabulous.

To top it all off, I actually got her to stand up on the "elephant box" with me in the saddle!!!

It was the best way to end the day and I am ECSTATIC with the progress that we've made. The best decision I've made in the last year was to just relax and stop trying to push myself and Secret to do something fancy. I'm back to having fun and looking forward to my rides. I also REALLY REALLY LOVE my horse again.

Follow-Up Lesson

I was really hoping to follow-up the success of bareback riding last night with a great lesson. I have to say I was not disappointed! It was super hot, even though we waited until 7pm, and Secret was feeling super lazy. But we started with (surprise, surprise) more circles!

First we were doing them in the corners... trotting the long side, walking, and circling in the corner. This was to work on trying to get her to do a nice, deep, 90o corner. After a few of these we started working on the bigger circles again trying to get her to bend around the inside leg. She is still having difficulty doing it perfectly, but I could feel that she was getting more responsive with less effort from me... my trainer commented on it as well! So we are definitely making good progress there.

We ended, as usual, with some canter work. This took awhile because it was so hot that Secret got tired pretty quickly. So, we cantered a few laps to the left. Then had to stop and rest before going to the right. I've known for awhile that I ride heavy on the left. To compensate for it, I tend to drop my right shoulder and lean my upper body slightly to the right. It's not so obvious when we're cantering to the left, but that is Secret's bad side (she doesn't like picking up that lead). So tonight, when we started going  to the right, my trainer stopped me and started giving me tips on how to be more even. Of all the things she told me I found that the most effective was to really try to turn not just my upper body but my hips as well when I was looking through the turn. A few of the other tips that she gave me were: stretch the right heel way down, lengthen from the waist to the top of the rib cage on the right. I found that when I was focusing on looking through my turns, turning my upper body AND hips, and bending my horse with my legs I had NO time to focus on being scared of panicked of actually cantering! What a difference that made! Here's another shocker: when I wasn't panicking, my horse didn't get fast!

It's also very comforting to know that if I sit really deep and say "whoa", my horse will immediately transition down. I find that knowing that relaxes me and encourages me to sit down in the saddle rather than get tense.

We didn't have any "perfect" canters tonight, but we did have several really good ones. We started to Secret's bad side (the left), then went to the right, then back to the left. On the last few passes to the left, Secret was getting really tired and was having a hard time picking up the correct lead. So I kept cueing in, breaking to the trot, and cueing in again until she got the correct lead and then let her stop and walked her out.

So, to summarize the progress we made this lesson:
(1) More responsive to leg and bending better.
(2) Responding nicely to seat for downward transitions. Not so much from walk to stop, but definitely from canter to trot and trot to walk.
(3) My seat at the canter is getting much better.