Experimentation

Let me out or feed me treats!
Jane and partner spent the past few weekends installing new
bars on the stall doors in the main barn and they look soooo good!

A while ago, before I was derailed by farrier drama and sending my saddle away, I was going to share a bit about a supplement update. In the meantime I’ve had something else come up so I figured I could share both now.

Back when I “self” diagnosed Katai with Ulcers I did a round of treatment with UlcerGuard and started Katai on G.U.T. for maintenance. After the treatment with UlcerGuard all of Katai’s ulcer-like symptoms went away and stayed away but I wasn’t sure if they stayed away because of or despite the G.U.T. since I started that at the same time. My plan in the first place with starting her on the maintenance supplement was to wean her off going into winter (when I felt like there would be less stress) and then put her back on in the spring.

 

Little tough to tell past the cute pony tongue
but this is what they looked like before.

So, the supplement ran out and I didn’t immediately replace it despite it still sort of being summer. I figured I’d experiment and see if her symptoms came back or stayed away. Like a lot of those things they sort of crept back slowly so I wasn’t aware right away but just prior to the show Katai was back to being girthy, sensitive to touch, and just seemed less like her normal self. Once I realized the pattern (when she almost nipped me as I fastened her girth) I felt so bad! Here I’d found something that worked and then took her off it just to see if it stopped working which made poor Katai uncomfortable.

The good thing is that I know now that I need to keep her on it. I just felt bad that I’d given her the chance to feel icky in the meantime.

The other thing I’ve been experimenting with is my lunging set up.

For a long time I’d used just plain side reins with a stretchy insert. After moving to my previous barn I started to experiment with a neck stretcher since everyone there used one. With normal side reins Katai would always get above the contact and get hollow. She was also clearly tight just in front of the withers and the neck stretcher did WONDERS for that. However, once I started working with Jane she was very against the neck stretcher (and I don’t disagree) so I started looking for something that would provide similar benefit and stumbled upon Vienna reins. They’re said to be really good for horses, like Katai, that get tight in front of their withers. Plus, it didn’t have the poll pressure that Jane disliked.

I loved how they worked with Katai and have used them exclusively for lunging for almost the past year. Just about two months ago I decided to try out side reins again and it didn’t work. Katai went right back to getting above the contact and got really hollow through her back. I put them away and went back to the Vienna reins.

Not sure if I've shown this before but this magnet lives on Katai's stall :)

 Then, fast forward to a couple of weekends ago. Since I don’t have a saddle I decided to lunge. Recently (as many of you have probably noticed) Katai has started to duck slightly behind the contact a bit in tense situations. She isn’t doing this at home but the lack of forward combined with the extra tension at a show or when I'm at the neighbor's arena causes her to go btv which we're actively working to "fix". In the Vienna reins she can go behind the vertical because of the way the action works, however, she really hasn't done that at all. It's something I've watched for because I knew it was a risk but so far she hadn't ever gone btv when I lunged. However, with her tendency to do so under saddle recently increasing I wanted to cut out any chance of that happening when I lunge so I went back to the side reins. 

Low and behold they worked! She was PERFECT and never got tight or above the side reins. She also pushed forward into them, unless I let her get lazy, and just worked so so so well. Really, it's just crazy how quickly they can change and learn things after years of having pretty consistent behaviors.

New Home

I don't know what it is but I feel at home here, at the new barn, already. Everyone has been so nice and open. It's a warm inviting atmosphere so far even if it's extremely cold out.

Yesterday the son of the owner showed up to transport Katai to the new barn. I really wondered how she would be because I haven't had a chance to load her even once since I moved her last time. Amazingly enough, especially for a horse that was almost impossible to load initially, she was really good! She flew out backwards once but then loaded in quietly and stood while he hooked her up and closed the slant. 

She also rode well and was just a sweetheart when she unloaded. I the past she's been quite a handful but all this work and consistency is obviously paying off because she walked on a loose lead through the new barn, back out and down a Lane between new horses to her new home. 

Tonight I went out to work with her for the first time in the new arena. I almost skipped it because of how cold it was and the fact that it's supposed to be much nicer tomorrow but I knew I'd feel guilty all night and I missed my pony. My car said it was -1 when I got to the barn but it is considerably warmer in the barn. Of course in this cold that means it was close to 10-15 degrees so still far too cold to be comfortable. 

Katai was a little uppity in her stall and was certainly happy to see me. I got a few huge nickers and could tell that she's stressing out. Tonight was her second time with her new stall schedule so it's still pretty new. I was happy to see that her stall was clean except for two small normal poops, she had a nice clean bucket of water and had been chewing on her mineral block. All good signs that it's already starting to feel at home. 

I was also pleased with how calmly and politely she stepped out of her stall as I led her out and I know it speaks to the handling she's been receiving. Right now she's still in a paddock by herself so handled morning and evening. Soon she'll be on pasture turnout so will have to figure out how to find her stall when the let the horses into the barn in the evening. 

One of the best things about the stall I have her in is the attached tack locker. You can see the door open up above. It means that I can tie her right to the front of her stall to groom and tack up and didn't have to schlep equipment which is nice. Especially since I forget things.

The stalls are old and quite used but maintained well and they bed them quite deep. I was pleased to see that so far her feet look better which doesn't surprise me since there's less time standing around in poop between her nice clean, dry stall and the paddock. I'm interested to see what will happen in the pasture turnout.

She was nice and quiet for grooming and just moved a bit when I went to put the saddle on. She also was a complete sweetheart about the new arena and after a nice 15 minute walk with me around the arena in both directions I lunged her both ways mainly at trot. She was stiff and slightly off. I kind of suspected that she'd pulled something yesterday after trailering either by slipping in the pen while introducing herself to her neighbors or on the trailer. She didn't head bob at all but was a little short behind. I'll see how she's doing tomorrow and hopefully ride!