Days of Our Rasps

Well, we're sort of sidelined over here because Katai hasn't had her feet done over the past couple of weeks. It all started with a scheduled appointment on August 18th (a Friday). It was scheduled just like normal (over text), normal date range etc. I left a check on the bulletin for my farrier who is a very professional sort.

When I showed up at the barn the next morning I was surprised to see the check still on the bulletin board and that Katai's feet clearly hadn't been done. I figured he was running a bit behind and that he'd reschedule which I think he's done once in the past. However, after a couple of days when I still hadn't heard from him I went ahead and sent a text.

I gave that a few days and then texted and emailed. Still nothing...

I talked to Jane and tried giving him a call and leaving a message. I also checked his Facebook profile and there hasn't been any activity since the end of July.

At this point I'm still concerned that something happened to him. I would hope that at some point, if that's the case, that someone would follow up with his customers but he's such a professional that I just can't quite imagine that he just gave up on me and stopped showing up. I also just don't think anything has changed on my end. If Katai was misbehaving (he typically schedules time when I can't be there) I would hope that he would have said something so that I could work with her and/or let me know that he wants me to be there so that we could find a time when I can typically be there.

At any rate I'm really disappointed and frustrated that it's now been almost three weeks since Katai should have had her feet done. This weekend I finally called someone else, Jane's typical farrier, but he's out of town for the holiday :(

If I don't hear back from him by tomorrow I may actually try to contact another farrier. Fingers crossed that I have some luck soon because she's definitely getting long and I'm starting to worry.

The Breakup

With Katai's trimmer

It wasn’t something that I’ve wanted to do but when all the evidence started pointing in the same direction it was time to make a change.

I want to start off by saying that I have nothing against my trimmer. I know that she has had only the best interests of me and my pony in mind and is seriously the sweetest and most amazing person. However, it’s time to try something else with her feet.

 

When I first started working with the trimmer she was doing great things for Katai’s feet. Katai went from having some pretty severe hoof issues to starting to develop much more normal feet. However, for some reason around the time we moved to our current barn her feet started to have some issues. 

First she was sore after every trim. Normally for a few days but sometimes up to five or six. Her upright front right hoof also started to be more and more upright and even her front left hoof started to become more upright.

Then after her sore back feet and month off, which I’m still convinced wasn’t solely on my trimmer, people started to grumble. I heard from one of my trimmer’s other clients at the barn that she was thinking of changing farriers because she was starting to be concerned about her horse’s feet. I found out that many of my trimmer’s other clients’ horses had been sore after every trim so it wasn’t just Katai.

I was getting close to trying to find a different trimmer but wanted to give my trimmer one more chance. I’d been asking questions and sharing some feedback but I’m no expert so when I asked if my pony should still be sore after every trim she said that sometimes that happens or made an excuse based on the wet or hard ground and suggested that I give Katai bute. After buying the boots I was all set to give her another trim to see what happened but then, as I mentioned previously, Susanne said something when I rode with her.

 

Actually the very first thing Susanne did was call me over to look at Katai’s hooves. She commented that all four of her feet, but especially the fronts, were too upright and poorly trimmed she suggested that I speak with my trimmer, and also that I shoe her but that’s not a change I’m ready to make at this point. After my ride my BM came over and mentioned that she’d heard that Susanne had said something. I asked if she had any suggestions and she said to find a new trimmer and that was the last push I needed.

Yesterday I “broke up with” my trimmer. I’m going to use a different farrier at the barn who L’s other students also use. I’m sad but it really needed to be done. She was understandably upset and asked why I hadn’t given her any feedback. That upset me a little because I had been texting her after almost every trim letting her know that Katai was sore and either asking for her advice or if she had any ideas for how to make it better. I’m not a trimmer or a farrier, I can’t tell what’s going on, I can’t tell her to change an angle or make Katai’s heels shorter or longer, or anything. That’s why I have a trimmer. Without being able to tell her to trim “different” there wasn’t anything I could do so that’s why it’s time for a change.

Katai is sound and her feet aren’t wonky enough that I can’t ride, according to L and my BM, so the plan is to have the new farrier trim her next time and take some photos of her feet so that I can see the progress.

Grounded

I went to the barn Wednesday last week all happy and excited thinking that Katai would finally be comfortable and ready for a nice stretchy workout. Unfortunately that was not the case. Based on the timeline I constructed in my head, after a major internal freak out that my pony was never going to be sound, I think that this is what happened.  

January 22^nd – Pony gets a massage where someone pokes at her back and makes it angry (which will eventually be a good thing)

February 2^nd – Pony gets her hooves trimmed and chiropractic. More poking at her back, plus her right shoulder, plus her left hind so now lots of angry (will also eventually be a good thing)

February 3^rd – Hand walking day, pony is footsore on concrete from her trim (normal) and stiff

February 4^th – Hand walking day, pony is footsore on concrete from her trim (normal) and stiff

February 5^th – Hand walking day, pony is footsore on concrete from her trim (normal) – Five ladies from the barn are watching Katai be footsore on concrete which makes me feel like a bad horse owner. I go to the local farm supply store and buy Magic cushion, put diaper/duct tape booties on all four feet and feel better because I did something about it. Still stiff

February 6^th – I don’t go to the barn to give Katai a chance to heal

February 7^th – Pony looks pretty dang sound. Barn worker had removed the remainders of booties (thank goodness for amazing barn workers) so I rode her at a walk for 15-20 minutes. Less stiff!!

February 8^th – Pony had the day off

February 9^th – Pony is dead lame on concrete (not normal). I feel like a bad horse owner and wrap both front feet in booties (her normal sore feet). On the drive home I remember that on the 7^th barn worker told me that Katai was doing a lot of bucking and bouncing in turnout. On the hard, frozen ground it doesn’t surprise me that she bruised her feet. Less stiff and her back feels great!

February 10^th – Hoping that the magic cushion worked again I drove out to the barn hopeful that I’d be able to ride at a walk again. Nope, pony is dead lame on concrete again. I checked to make sure that it’s her feet (it is, as soon as she’s in the cushy arena footing she’s fine and on the more firm arena footing she’s tender) and feel like an idiot because it’s clearly her back feet. I wrap her back feet this time in magic cushion booties and cross my fingers.

Fast forward to today and unfortunately although she's been getting better she's still been sore. Yesterday I hauled ass to get to the barn by 4:00, leaving work early and dealing with rush hour traffic, to meet my trimmer to look her over. After agreeing with my prognosis (she was as surprised as me that it was Katai's back feet) the trimmer fitted her for boots. I'm going to go ahead and just get her boots for all four so that I don't have to deal with this again, hopefully, anytime soon.

It sounds like the boots should be here next week sometime while I'm out of town and I'm not holding out much hope that Katai will be ride-able this week before I leave. Depending on how she is feeling on Friday and Saturday I may still see if L can ride her but if not, I'll just have to hope that one week of consistent riding will be enough before I ride in the clinic on 3/7 and 3/8.

I Have My Pony Back!

I have a whole post typed up about drill team and my amazing day at the Janet Foy clinic today but first of all I need to catch everyone up on what I've been doing recently. 

Two Wednesdays ago, more than a week and a half now, Katai had her feet trimmed and was abnormally sore afterwards. She is often a little tender, especially on concrete, after her feet are trimmed but normally it goes away in a few days and she is still very comfortable on footing.

Unfortunatly that wasn't the case this time and it took her really until today to feel comfortable. I had planned on giving her Wednesday evening off and then riding in drill team that thursday since it's really mostly walk/trot. Unfortunatly that clearly wasn't going to happen so instead I just went out on Saturday and buted her. I also canceled my lesson on Sunday but lunged and she seemed pretty good, just a little short on the front right.

On Monday I tried a ride and attempted to keep it to mostly walk/trot but pony was bursting with energy so we ended up with a little canter. She still felt slightly off but was never at the point where I felt like she was lame or uncomfortable at any gait. 

On Tuesday I had a rescheduled lesson and she was clearly more off then she had been on Monday which made me feel like a bad horse owner. Because of that we just kept it to a walk and worked on flexions at the halt as well as her neck position and balance at the halt and on transitions from halt to walk. This was something that we really needed to work on anyway so it was actually a great lesson! I gave her Wednesday off and then rode in drill team on Thursday and she finally felt pretty good. 

I decided to be cautious and gave her Friday off as well and then rode tonight and she felt great! Again, she was bursting with energy and had forgoten a few things like how to not freak out with contact from my legs so I'm going to post this again just in case she decides to read this blog ;-)

I have a lesson scheduled tomorrow and can't wait to ride!! I'm pretty sure that the pony will be like a stick of dynamite but I'm hoping that my ride tonight took the edge off. Next week I plan to get back to my regular schedule since the only thing I have planned in the evening coincides with her normal day off (Monday). It will be so good to be back at the barn, spending time with my girl on a regular basis :-)

Slow Progress

Unfortunately I had car issues this week so I was unable to make it out to the barn until today. In this span of cold weather in the single digits and lower teens my car window decided to fail and I just couldn't make myself drive 40 minutes out to the barn with the frigid wind whipping in my window only to work out in the cold. Luckily I had dressed Katai up in her nice warm blanket so I wasn't concerned about her. It's times like this when I especially love full board :-)

I finally got my car fixed and got to see my pony tonight. I had decided that based on the recent lack of consistent work and the chance that her feet might still be a little tender it would be a good idea to lunge instead of riding. I ended up being happy that I had! She, for the first time since I've got her, threw out a HUGE buck. I'm not sure that she would have bucked with me riding but it certainly showed that she was feeling better. She seemed stiff but not nearly as tender and was moving out really well. I did decide that I'm going to do mainly lunge work this week to continue to give her feet some time and to get her body loosened up and her muscles working again before I ask her to carry me again.

My plan for the week is;

Saturday - Lunge the pony, using the whole arena, at walk trot and canter in full tack. Work more with the clipper, bring extra stuff from locker and start to organize for move.

Sunday - Lunge pony in full tack and maybe introduce some cavaletti. Work more with clipper. Wash saddle pads and blankets.

Monday - Day off

Tuesday - Possibly ride. Work more with clippers.

Wednesday - Lunge in full tack with cavaletti. Work with clipper

Thursday - Ride or day off - Clipper work if I ride.

Friday - Ride or day off - Clipper work if I ride.

Saturday - Ride but also would like to clip pony! I think she's almost ready now and after about a week of clipper desensitization I'm sure she'll be ready. Now that I'm moving to a barn with a heated arena, she'll be back in a more steady work schedule, and it's getting warmer outside. My plan is something like this,

 

only without the neck clip since I don't have a hood. I'll also leave most of her belly covered. Then as it gets warmer I could clip a bit more off.

I'm so excited to get more pony time this week!

#I'dratherbewatchingrolex - January Analysis

So many exciting things have happened so where to start!

After some soul searching I realized that the reason I've made most of the decisions in my life is ultimately because of my desire to have horses in my life. It has been and will continue to be one of the most important things in my life so that made my decision(s) easier. Once I broke it down to that point I realized that as awesome as it would be to do more traveling what I needed to move to a new place, or stay here, would be the promise of a great barn, fun place to ride, great trails and most importantly a wonderful instructor that I could respect and trust. Of course all of this would have to be in my budget or within the budget over the next couple of years. 

Unfortunately the more I looked into it the more I realized that without being a member of the local horse community and without being able to visit the area a few times to tour barns and sit in on lessons, which just isn't in my current budget, I just don't have the information I need. I could end up finding some place amazing or I could end up in an area where I'd have to drive over an hour to find a good barn. 

Meanwhile I was looking around here for the same type of opportunity and was able to set up a time to check out a few lessons with a local dressage trainer that follows a more classical methodology. Those lessons were amazing and right in line with what I'm looking for :-) So the same day I went to check out two of the barns that she teaches at. Both were incredible but one is further away and she mainly uses it for horses in full training which I'm just not interested in. The other was probably the closest to heaven on earth that I'll ever find. It's a completely private facility - the tour felt sort of like a tour of FBI headquarters - with no website or public info to speak of. It came HIGHLY recommended from several horse people who know the owner, and previous owners, incredibly well. 

The indoor, heated, arena looks regulation sized. I felt like I was in a sports stadium or something when I walked into it. Great dust free footing, incredible stalling arrangement with so much personalized care. I was so impressed but having the trainer, that I would now do just about anything to study with, available was the truly important thing. So I'm all set up to move, again...

I really didn't want to leave the last barn that I took dressage lessons at and if it hadn't been for J I'd still be there. This current barn was always sort of a temporary answer until I could find a better Dressage instructor but I was feeling so lost over the past month that caused me to find this place and now that I have and they have an opening I'm moving in. They only just recently started to accept pasture boarders and the spots have filled up within a couple of weeks. If I'd waited, I'd very likely have ended up on a long waiting list. As it is I'm in and moving her March 1st. 

Squeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

I'm also still seriously applying for jobs closer to the cities. This barn is closer there than to where I'm living now but it's still only about five minutes further from my current barn so I'll easily be able to continue to spend lots of time at the barn while I find a different place to work and move myself.

I did learn a couple of things that I'll need. The new instructor is incredibly traditional and expects more of her students, turnout wise, than what I've riden in for lesson in the past. Not like she's picky about expense or brands or something, just well fitted appropriate equipment. That means that my brown paddock boots and corduroy half chaps that are both falling apart are just not going to cut it anymore so I picked up these. 

Tall boots have been on the list for awhile however, since I've been wearing my winter boots it just hasn't been a priority but now they are. I chose Ariat Contours based on reviews and the price point. I waited until they were on sale at the local tack shop and got them at a pretty good discount. I'm wearing them around now with my feet slowly going numb but I'm totally in love. I've never had properly fitted tall boots so I'm feeling kind of like its Christmas. One more thing off the list :-)

Meanwhile Katai has been doing great. I finally found a great, barefoot trimmer in this area that is willing to travel to me and so her hooves are starting to truly look good. I've still been topically treating thrush in her central sulcus that just hasn't ever really gone away. Some incredible soul finally mentioned to me that her heels were just too long and unless I could get her frogs to make more contact with the ground they would never really get any better. Now after two good trims they are already looking better than they have since I got her.

The bad side of that is that she's been sensitive. I've been shopping for boots that would fit her but unfortunately I haven't been able to find any that would fit quite right. I spent almost a month making ductape hoof boots with gel liners but even those barely stay on because of the shape of her hooves which makes me even less convinced that the real thing would stay on especially since I'm like a ductape boot guru.

Luckily she seems to be feeling about 80% better but I've given her the time off riding of course to let her heal. Instead I've been working with the clippers and on our relationship. Just lots of grooming and of course hoof boot making. We're doing good, better than we've ever been together and now there is trust that goes both ways :-) Unfortunatly as far as goals about the only things that's really been accomplished is changing the name of this blog but February should be much more productive!

I just can't wait to see what we can accomplish this year!