Worst Weekend Ever

This has been the weekend from hell.  And also the reason I haven't posted in so long.  To make a long story short, my law school had an event on Friday that I helped organize as a member of the law students society. I spent the entire day preparing for this thing only to have the law students pretty much trash the venue.  I mean, they broke a toilet.  Actually cracked a porcelain toilet.  Ripped the soap dispenser off the wall.  Tore down signs. Made an utter mess.  And I mean, these are future lawyers.  Now, we are liable for the cost of the repairs (somewhere in the vicinity of $500), and because the event was a charity, we can't take the money from the profits so we are simply going to have to take it from the society's discretionary fund (of which I'm the treasurer).  I didn't get home until 1 AM even though I was there from 1 PM in the afternoon, and I was less than impressed.

Then I wake up on Saturday to go apartment shopping with my mother for a new place that I need in a few months time.  We searched all day and found nothing.  This is extremely disappointing because 1) I had about 3 hours sleep before we left, and 2) I could've been writing my paper instead of wasting my time looking at apartments that were either too small, very old, or simply looked like crackheads lived next door.

Trying to bring the swelling down under his face

So after 3 horrible days off from my pony, out I go to the barn.  And he is stocked up.  And when I say stocked up, I don't even really think that is an adequate term for the amount of swelling in his legs.  And now just his legs, but his chest, and his neck, and his chin, and his face.  At which point I panic because he looks like a giant oompaloompa, and we call the vet.

While we wait, I cold hose his legs for 40 minutes and then walk him around the arena.  I also vetrap an icepack to his chin to try to bring the swelling down there.  Ingenious, I might add.  After hand walking (and hand jogging) him around the arena for 30 minutes, I feel like the swelling in his legs at least seems to be going down so I return him to his stall while I help bring in the other horses for supper.  Literally 10 minutes later, I return to find that all the swelling is back.

The vet arrives and at this point there are quite a few people around all trying to tell their version of the story.  In some ways, this was helpful because my instructor showed up at one point and mentioned that Walker was doing some weird stretching after we rode in the lesson that she thought was odd, and to be truthful, I didn't notice it.  D was also there and was able to give her account of events over the March break, which would've been immediately before he got sick with the cold and probably when he was starting to get sick.  And of course, my barn owner was there to explain what she's noticed throughout the day.  I made sure to do my best impression of a crazy delusional horse owner and tell him absolutely everything I noticed, which in some ways, I really think is helpful.  I mean, no one knows this horse like I do.  I can easily confirm that he has never in the whole time I've owned him ever stocked up, even a little bit.  And I can easily explain that although everyone thinks it's great that he's still eating, his appetite is still diminished.  Because Walker is a gorby guts, and if he doesn't try to devour his food in 10 seconds flat, there is something wrong.

Also notice that he has only 1 fuzzy left on his halter.
I'm going to have to buy those things in bulk.

So the vet prescribed overnight turnout in the indoor arena so that he could stretch his legs until he got the results from the tests tomorrow around noon.  And because the indoor arena isn't heated, I finally got to use that winter blanket that I have been holding onto all winter.  I just wish it was under better circumstances.

The only good that came out of this weekend is that I went shopping at Greenhawk during the sale and got Walker lots of great loot.  I wanted to buy him a first aid kit but I was rather disappointed at the selection they had.  I could barely find gauze and vetrap, let alone the more complex stuff.  However, if you spent $150 (which was easy to do), you got a saddle pad half off so I got Walker a green one to try something new.  And my mother spoiled him with a lovely half pad with memory foam that I think is really going to do wonders for his back.  I was going to try it out today but, well, you know, other things got in the way.  :(

Walker's loot... and there may be some stuff in there for me

Chester is not impressed that we got him nothing

Tried on the new saddle pad and half pad just to see how it looks.
I think I'm going to like green on him

Anniversary

Today is my one year anniversary with Walker, and I'm happy to say that he is finally starting to feel better.  He ate all his grain, and he was playful and alert when I arrived. His legs were a little stocked up though from all that lethargic standing around in one place in his stall.

I'm happy to say that I actually got to ride my own horse in my lesson on our anniversary which didn't look too promising earlier in the week.  Although he was still coughing a bit and not 100%, he managed to give me his all - at one point, he was coughing while we were cantering, and although I was perfectly content to stop and let him cough it out, he just kept cantering until he coughed so hard he tripped himself.  Then we rested in the middle for awhile!

Looking back on our first year together, it has been quite the ride.  Walker helped get my confidence back (ironically by being bad some of the time!), and we spent much of the first year just getting to know each other and our capabilities together.  We showed Western, and we started jumping.  I was going to make a list of goals I want to accomplish over the next year, but to be perfectly honest, I do not have a set discipline and I like the flexibility of my all-around horse who is willing to try everything (even if he's only mostly talented in Western Pleasure).  I can have a short attention span at times, and I like that Walker will pull out all the stops to be my Western darling and the next day he will make a conscientious effort to pick it up and move out if I want to jump instead.

My number one goal with Walker is simply to keep him happy and healthy.  Even though I sometimes look at other horses online, I realized especially when he was sick that he is my number one man.  If tomorrow the vet told me I couldn't ride him again, I can guarantee that he would continue to live a wonderful life under my immediate care because it matters more that I'm with him than that we accomplish a bunch of amazing things.  In terms of his health and fitness, I really want to concentrate on getting him to use his body correctly, to really collect when I ask him, to stretch out, to strengthen those muscles of his.  This past year wasn't so much about strengthening and posture as it was perhaps about cardio.  That needs to change.  I want to do right by him and now that we are fully acquainted, there's no excuses for not taking that fitness to the next level.

Things don't always go the way we expect them to.  I will be the first person to tell you that Walker wasn't what I intended for my first horse, and the level that we're at is perhaps not as far as I had hoped it to be.  But Walker has been a learning experience that I simply would not have gotten if I had bought some old school horse who never puts up a fuss and simply does everything perfectly the first time around.  Because I work hard for every single step, I feel like we earn our accomplishments, regardless of how mundane they may seem to others.

And I love him of course.  He is an absolute goofball, a mare-magnet, and a social butterfly.  What can I say?  That cute face is just too hard to resist!

And whenever I'm having trouble of any kind, I simply remind myself: shoulders back, heels down, chin up.

Attempt 1 of the Anniversary shot

I can't wait to celebrate more anniversaries with him

Dinosaur Bump

Since I was occupied with the first aid clinic on Saturday and deciding to give Walker Sunday off as well, I went out to the barn today just to check on my sick pony, knowing full well that I'd have no time to ride.  But since he's still sick, I thought he might enjoy a thorough grooming and some of those new stretches I've learned.

Apparently two days off was too much in terms of shedding.  He was a shedding machine and I'm pretty sure that I didn't get it all out.  :S  While I really like the back tension massages (I could visibly see some muscle twitching), I had a hard time stretching out his hind legs.  I think it's a combination of his not being overly flexible and also being untrusting of what exactly I want to do with his back legs.  He was holding onto them pretty tightly and pretty much refused to let me pull them out.  Oh well.  We will work on that.

After I finally decide that my pony is still sick but at least somewhat more stretched out and clean, I notice this lovely bump on his nose, which, for the record, I did not notice when I first arrived and which looks exactly like a dinosaur's snout.

Needless to say, I dove into a panic assuming that he was having some sort of allergic reaction to god knows what.  While my barn owner assured me that it could very easily be the case, it was more likely just a bump.  She reassured me (and I confirmed) that there was no fluid in the bump, and it wasn't stopping him from munching on his hay.  I know that my barn owner is very knowledgeable and I know that she is honest with me, but sometimes I worry that she under-reacts to things, whereas I, of course, over-react to everything.

After I put some ice on it to little effect, I convinced myself to just leave it and go home.  My barn owner said she would come down to the barn later in the night and check it out.  If it was still swollen, she would call the vet and get his permission to give Walker something for it.  

The pony can't catch a break!

If Walker were scaley and green, he would look like this now

Stretches Part 3

After stretching the front legs, it's important to stretch the back legs. These exercises seem to be the hardest for Walker. I don't know if its a matter of him not being flexible back there or if he simply doesn't trust what I'm asking him to do!

Step 3: Back Legs

Stretch: Back Leg Back

Take a hold of the back leg and gently stretch it straight back and down diagonally. Be careful not to drop the foot. Hold for 20-30 seconds.

Stretch: Hoof to Hock

Move the leg forward so that the hoof touches the other leg's hock. Hold for 20-30 seconds.

Stretch: Queen's Wave

Put yourself in a sitting position with your back up against the belly of the horse. Taking the back leg, hook it over one of your own like it was sitting on your knee. The clinician called this one the when's wave because once you hook the leg over your own, your hands are free (so she did the queen's wave). Hold for 20-30 seconds.

Stretch: Back Leg Forward

Finally, take the back leg and stretch it forward and down diagonally. Don't force the horse's leg, but a horse should be able to stretch their back leg to reach their front legs. After all, a horse can scratch his ears with their back legs!

Walker and I share the same level of flexibility: zilch

Stretches Part 2

After you relieve muscle tension in the back, you move on to stretch the legs.

Step 2: Front Legs

Stretch: Hoof to Chest

Ask the horse to lift his front leg and collapse the leg so that hoof is touching the top of the leg or the chest.  The leg will almost look like it is folded in half.  Hold for 20 - 30 seconds.  Do not drop the leg at any point. Simply move from this stretch into the next stretch.

Stretch: Hoof to Chestnut

After stretching the leg hoof to chest, gently bring the hoof down and out laterally so that the hoof is now touching the chestnut.  This will mean the horse's leg will be stretched inwards to the side.  Hold for 20 - 30 seconds, and as with the other stretches, never simply drop the leg when you are done with it.  This stretch is especially useful if a horse has cast himself as you will need to be able to grab the lower leg and swing it towards the inside to help uncast the horse.

Foreleg Forward

Stretch: Foreleg Forward

After stretching hoof to chestnut, gently bring the hoof down and out in front of the horse so that you are pulling the leg forward.  Don't ever pull farther than the horse will allow, but a flexible horse should be able to stretch their front legs out almost perpendicular to the ground. This will particularly help loosen up the shoulder area as well.  Hold for 20 - 30 seconds and then gently put the horse's leg back down on the ground.

Stretches Part 1

Since Walker is still sick and even light riding does not seem to have a good effect on him, I decided to give him yesterday and today (and probably tomorrow and unfortunately Tuesday off!). At first, my instructor and barn owner thought light exercise would help but he has held onto the virus longer than some of the other horses at the barn so I've decided that like with a human virus, he needs more rest than anything else.

Instead, I decided to explain some of the cool exercises I learned during the first aid clinic. I was really impressed with a lot of the exercises because I believe they will really help with aspects of our riding as well. After all, how can you expect a horse to stretch forward in an extended trot if you can't even stretch your horses leg forward?

Get your stretching on

The whole routine involves massage and stretching.  I've decided to break it up into three posts, since I won't have many Walker updates anyway

Step 1: Massage Tension

Body Part: Back

First you run your hands along the spine slowly to feel for any heat.  Using the plastic end of a hoof pick, slowly press into the muscle along a line from withers to butt about an inch to the side of the spine.  If you do it slowly enough and push hard enough (obviously don't push too hard!), you will see the muscle twitch, especially in the area where there was heat.  Going around to the other side of the horse, dig your fingers into the muscle along the spine on the first side and press in, using a technique our clinician called "piano fingers" where you simply press into the muscle like you are playing the piano (alternating different fingers).  Do this especially in any spot where there was heat and twitching.  Then pull the muscle towards you (and the spine).  Repeat on both sides of the back.

Body Part: Belly

Identify the belly button of the horse.  Starting several inches from the belly button, press into the muscle from this spot in a line towards the groin.  Be careful not to push too hard as there are organs in the belly.  The horse should physically arch their back up away from the pressure, thus stretching the back.  You only do this once because you are going down the middle of the belly, not to either side.

Body Part: Tail

Grabbing a firm hold of the tail, pull back to stretch the back.  You can put all your weight into the pull, but make sure that the angle of the tail to the ground is no higher than which the horse normally holds his tail.

Fact of the day: a horse's tail can support twice it's body weight.

Boots and First Aid Clinic

Walker's ankle boots.  Yes.  I know these are on incorrectly.
Or at least I know this now!

My friend, A, came to visit Walker and me this weekend, and she also brought Walker's new jump boots with her!  We placed an order together, and so she has had them now for a few weeks.  It was pretty hilarious having the two of us - both used to Western horses with no boots, let alone open-front jump boots - try to figure out how to put them on.  Let me just say they are not as intuitive as you might think!  At least the back ones.  Our biggest indication that they were on incorrectly besides them looking absolutely stupid was Walker who adorably held his back leg up in the air and out to the side in an aggravated but surprisingly willing to put up with us kind of way.  Luckily, we were smart enough to know that we had them on wrong, so we took them off before we rode him!  Now that I'm pretty sure I know how they actually go on, I just need to check with my instructor that they fit him well because they felt a little tight, but what do I know!

Checking out his  "jump gear", i.e. English saddle and boots

After that we rode him for about an hour, which was longer than I would've liked since he still had the cold, but it was the first time that A has seen him in months.  We only cantered him a few circles in each direction, but he's still pretty sick.  A also got some pictures of us which are probably the first pictures of us riding since we showed.  Unfortunately, I pretty much let him go and didn't bother with any collection so he doesn't look too good in them.  A and I did spend the evening discussing collection and rounded backs and everything that the video I posted the other day mentioned about toplines.  I've been wanting to work on that more and more, so I think I have a good project for the summer!

Today, A and I participated in a First Aid Clinic at our barn, and that was also pretty interesting.  We learned how to do a lot of stretches and massages, as well as how to wrap and treat different types of wounds.  I was most interested by all the "cowboy remedies" that the clinician (and my barn owner and some of the older people in the clinic) had for treating remedies.  I'm a firm believer in old wives tales when they work.

Western Pleasure Walker - the sicker, less collected version (in English tack, of course).

We also tried Walker out in A's horse's hackamore

Thank God this horse is so good-natured