Back to school

Full disclosure:  I drafted this post a couple of weeks ago and forgot to polish it up.  So here's a bit of time-travel back to late August.  It's been 6 months since Essa moved in, and I promise a real-time update and pictures tomorrow!

I finally decided I'd had it with Essa's issues being in her stall by herself, and with a few end-of-summer days off in a row, it was time to do something about it.  Back to "Essa goes in, Essa goes out".  The game goes like this:  I take her from her paddock, do a little groundwork in another paddock to make sure she's listening to me, then take her to her stall.  After a few minutes I put her in cross ties for a teeny bit of grooming, then back out to the paddock for a few more exercises, and finally back to the others.  The idea is to teach her that-

1. I'm a perfectly good leader and she doesn't need to panic away from the others.  Apparently, asking her to back up/trot/whoa etc demonstrates my leadership skillz,

2.  I won't abandon her in her stall, and there's a pattern to coming in for some work, and

3. Hollering away doesn't get her on the express lane back to the herd.

It's not nearly as fun as actual riding, but it's gotta be done.  After a few days I can say that she's definitely improved.  She no longer leans on her stall guard until it gives way, the hollering is diminished and less deafening, and she doesn't start a tornado in her stall that I can barely escape!

I didn't expect much from the worming - it's just one of those horse maintenance things I take for granted.  But I really think it's made a big difference in her progress.  She's not nearly as fussy in cross ties for grooming and the cow-kicks have disappeared.  And I swear her stall is less destroyed overnight...

I had her out with side reins for the first time in a few weeks and she was a total peach.  She responded to walk/trot/whoa and went just fine in both directions.  I changed her to Cody's bit and I think that's what I'll keep her in.  I don't have a vast bit box (yet) so I started with a loose ring French link (too wibbly wobbly), then a single joint full cheek then this one - just right, I hope!

It's the first time I've seen her in a state that I'd consider getting on her.

Sad to say that "winter is coming" and her summer coat is shedding out.  She's now on 1/2 cup of whole flax daily, which I hope will be rewarded with a soft fluffy winter coat.

Farrier is out tomorrow!

All together now!

After yet another incident of Honey pushing through the gate into Essa's paddock, I put them all together on Monday. They went into the lushest paddock we have, with a couple of hay feeders for good measure.  Food makes everything better!

They have been fine together since.  I caught Honey and Essa squealing and running around a little today, which has probably been going on all week without incident.  Cody doesn't seem to have much to do with any hilarity, but I think he likes having his harem together.

They seem very happy together, and make for a lovely view!

What people think I do. What I really do...

I think this sums it up nicely!

A (bio) hazard to herself and others

I'm a bad blogger.  I have no new pictures or video to share, but I thought it was time for an update anyway.  There was video a couple of weeks ago, but getting the camera out seems to be the kiss of death for Essa's behaviour.  It was her introduction to the surcingle.  She got away from me and went careening around the ring, lunge line streaming behind her.  Really not YouTube material.  It's a miracle she didn't step on it and hurt herself.  All digitally immortalized.  I could have just deleted it but I tell myself I'll treasure these moments in our journey together.  We've been lunging inside since then...

She's doing better with the surcingle, although she gets a bit girthy and fussy about it.  I've also brought side reins to the party.  She goes about the same in either direction, and I'm working on solidly installing walk/trot/whoa commands.   She does pick things up quite quickly.

So about that bio-hazard...I'm being all responsible about worming and sent off samples for the three of them.  My vet makes it easy by picking up the samples when she's in the area, and charging only $15 each (which is what I'd spend on wormer anyway).  Cody and Honey are low - yay!  But Essa is "loaded" with strongyles.

She'd had some treatment back in March, but she was so underweight I was reluctant to risk overdoing it.  She will get the full 5-day Powerpac this time, and hopefully be on track after that.  She's still in her own paddock but Honey REALLY wants to be her friend now and pushed through the gate the other night.  Thankfully injuries were limited to Honey's boo-boo's and the new gate (replacing the one that Honey kicked out when she wanted to kill Essa) is still intact.  But I think we'll try putting all three together when Essa's treatment is done.  That will be another experiment...

Speaking of experiments - the alfalfa!  It's still going for Cody and Essa, although Cody's had to go on full-scale ulcer treatment.  Just a coincidence, I think.

I trimmed her unicorn mane to a more Thoroughbred-like length, but now it reminds me of Jim Carrey in Dumb and Dumber.

So it's always something.  Despite the lunge-line hilarity I've been really pleased with how Essa is doing.  I'm taking things very slowly and hoping that my patience will be rewarded.

Going Slow is Not for Sissies

My progress is slow to the point of being taken advantage of by the horse, but I really like the spirit of this article.



Going Slow is Not for Sissies | Eventing Nation - Three-Day Eventing News, Results, Videos, and Commentary

Just an update

My, it has been a while!  Nothing really new in the routine - it's been too hot and humid for much activity.

The"alfalfa experiment"  has had mixed success.  Essa and Cody are happily eating up 1/2 pound of soaked alfalfa cubes at supper, and Cody is eating more hay.  Unfortunately his cribbing has gotten worse, so I've started a course of ranitidine for ulcers.  I have to dose him two or three times a day, and Essa is most interested in the extra snacks Cody is getting.  I'd like to treat her too eventually but 40 pills a day for 4 weeks adds up, even for the "economical" ranitidine.

I tried a "labyrinth" pole exercise, which Essa handled like a pro.

Essa was treated to her first massage on Sunday.  I wasn't sure how she'd handle it, being so sensitive to grooming, but my friend the massage therapist was quite pleased with her.  She said Essa has a lot of tension all over, just accumulated from racing and stress.  Essa clearly didn't know what was going on, but she had moments of relaxation and will likely "get into it" more readily next time.

We discovered that Essa likes huffing lavender.  Kara rubbed a few drops of lavender oil between her palms and let Essa sniff it to help her relax.  Essa started by trying to eat the bottle - she REALLY likes this stuff!

The alfalfa experiment

Not her most photogenic pose, but I'm lovin' that shine!

I found a great article from New Vocations on "What your newly adopted Thoroughbred wants you to know".  There's a lot of how-to-train-your-ex-racehorse articles out there, but this one is humorous, to-the-point, and has some tips that I haven't seen elsewhere.

Like grooming (#12-"Beauticians Take Note").  When I started grooming Essa she would just about jump out of her skin - hypersensitive, cow-kicking, dancing around in cross-ties.  I don't use hard brushes since Cody is kind of sensitive, but he mostly just gives you the Mr. Crabby-pants look.  Honey, on the other hand, you can have at with just about any implement you want and she's happy for the attention.

Essa's reaction to grooming, especially on her flanks, has made me think of ulcers.  Since Cody is ulcer-prone I think everything is ulcers, but it has been on my to-do list for Essa.  Then I came across some reasonable-looking research on alfalfa improving ulcers.  

Controlling Horse Gastric Ulcers

The scientific version

The suggested pound of alfalfa cubes with their feeds seems do-able.  And CHEAP!  At $13 for a 50-lb bag, that's my kind of ulcer treatment!  I'm perfectly happy to try an alternative to the insanely expensive omeprazole.  Plus, alfalfa was recommended for Essa to gain weight but at the time I just worked with what I had.  So it would be like a two-fer for her.

The cubes have to be soaked, so I do that in the morning to let them break up.  It turns into a big grassy mess that looks even worse when I add the beet pulp etc.  No matter, they are gobbling it up.  I'm hoping that improvement will look like less cribbing from Cody and more weight on Essa.  Results will not be very scientific, and likely qualified by "I could swear..." or "I'm positive/pretty sure..."

The test subjects

And lunging (#14-"Translation required").  I backed WAAAAY off after I did the video, and I'm following this process instead.  It's going great!  We are just doing walk and whoa on a lead line, and really working on installing voice cues.  The other day I tried her to the right, without the nose chain.  No drama at all!  So I will continue that for a while before I reintroduce the actual lunge line.  Forgetting the lunge whip in the barn has also made a BIG difference.  She's much calmer and it's easier for me not juggling the line and the whip in one hand!