Posts Tagged ‘This Old Horse’
Horse Butts
The two photos I have for today are the reason for the title of this post, but the vet visit was about much more than just Mix’s butt. It’s just that I happened to snap the image while Tom was taking Mix’s rectal temperature.
Tom, from This Old Horse, has worked with Dr. Magnusson for many years, and their cooperative attention to Mix was an interesting thing to witness. There was a lot of pressure point analysis to detect where Mix was most sensitive. Dr. Magnusson also drew blood samples to be analyzed.
Mix clearly revealed she was experiencing pain in reaction to certain probing, and showed she wasn’t bothered by others. However, they weren’t able to make a definitive diagnosis of the root cause of her discomfort. After seeing the results of the bloodwork, the vet hopes to be able to rule out some possibilities.
You know how doctors can be about naming symptom causes that haven’t been confirmed, but he did whisper a couple of things that could be happening. Could be an ulcer. May be a chance of Lyme Disease. Might simply be arthritis from old age.
We have a new regimen of pain relief meds to give Mix for now.
Luckily, she is not being incapacitated by pain. When we finally released her from being fenced in, she took off running to get back with the other three horses who had wandered out to graze in the hay field.
After being gone for a few days, there was a lot of manure to clean up in the paddocks, so I rolled the wheelbarrow out to tidy things up. Mia likes it when I bring the wheelbarrow out, where she can back up into it for some reason.
I tried asking nicely for her not to knock over the wheelbarrow, but she didn’t listen, so I reached out with the manure scoop to push her in the butt.
I found out Mia likes it when I push on her butt, so I turned it over and gave her a combing massage with the tines. I half expected her to startle when I poked her with it, but Cyndie was watching and reported blissful expressions from Mia.
It made me think of the Svjetiq multi-tined head massager and how good it felt the first time someone demonstrated it on me. I raked Mia’s butt long enough that I got tired of it before she did. I eventually talked Cyndie into using the rake I had with me to keep Mia happy while I moved the wheelbarrow away so I could get on with my paddock cleaning duties.
Thus ends this episode of “These Old Horse Butts.”
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Silly Horses
We give them this fabulous sail that casts a large shadow and filters 95% of the UV rays, dropping the temperature by an easy 10 degrees F, but they can’t give up their affinity for that damned willow tree.
Gotta love ‘em.
Maddy, from This Old Horse, came by yesterday because we reported Mix was looking like she was hurting again in her back end. The consensus is that it isn’t one leg or the other, and it isn’t either foot. It’s possible her issue is arthritis, but Maddy felt it seemed more muscle-related. She massaged Mix around her hips and butt and lifted her hooves to do some stretching while I held a lead rope attached to a halter.
We decided to start giving Mix the same pain management dose that Light has been getting each morning to see if it will provide some relief. All we can do is watch to see if she appears to start moving a little easier. They’re all old horses, though Mix is the youngest of the bunch at 21. They all tend to move like old creatures at this point. The fact that they can behave so spry most of the time lulls me into forgetting they are justified in having age-related aches and pains.
I should probably say, spry when they aren’t napping, since that is how they like to spend most of their time.
Yesterday, I had a wonderful exchange with our friend, Patty, who astutely observed a curious sight in the photo of Cyndie and Mix between the fence boards. I noticed it, too, upon seeing the image on my computer. How many of you other horse-savvy readers spotted something? If you did, can you identify what it is?
Patty guessed correctly.
Here is the image, again, for your reference:
If you have no idea, click here for a clue.
What could that be?
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New Volunteers
Last night we found ourselves on something of a little home vacation. On the cusp of Labor Day weekend, we have successfully enlisted full coverage for the horses with volunteers from This Old Horse (TOH). Also, Asher is on an extended visit to the facility of one of our favorite trainers.
We were home but didn’t have any animal responsibilities. Of course, that didn’t stop Cyndie from checking on the barn after dinner so she could drop off some freshly-baked cookies as treats for the different volunteers who will be stopping by over the next few days.
After an extended period of time had passed before her return, I turned on the surveillance camera to see what was up. How long does it take to drop off some treats? I got my answer.
There she was in her dress and sandals, doing some additional housekeeping around the overhang.
This morning, the feeding will be done by a first-timer whom I just provided an orientation session to on Wednesday. Cyndie didn’t want the person to find the place looking less than its very best.
We provided orientation sessions to two new volunteers recently, and both of them asked if they needed to wash the feed buckets after collecting them. Of all the things we are considerably fastidious about, on that one, not so much. However, since they both asked, I got the impression that is how it is done at other TOH barns.
I washed out the buckets after the horses finished eating yesterday morning.
Tomorrow, I head out for a week of biking in South Dakota, and Cyndie heads up to the lake place. There will be four different people covering the morning and afternoon feedings through Labor Day. It will be interesting for us to see how things go, since we haven’t had TOH volunteer support for this many days in a row before.
Personally, I’ll be surprised if any of them tidy up to the degree we like to maintain. Both Cyndie and I can be a little compulsive about it. I’ll be the first to admit it. I like the way a well-kept place looks.
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Barn Afternoon
We recently learned that the new liaison to This Old Horse was only fulfilling the role temporarily, and yesterday he showed up to introduce us to the person taking on the job in his place. While waiting for her to arrive, we puttered around the barn and talked about horses and my new shade sail project. I’m planning to put up a short temporary barrier to keep the horses away while work is underway, and Jeremy offered some good ideas on how to achieve that.
We put out a water trough as an alternative to their usual automatic waterer because that will be blocked by the temporary fence.
The horses were briefly disturbed when I brought it out, but quickly went back to their feed buckets and ignored me while I held the hose to fill the tub. Mix was a little jumpy about investigating it closer, but she soon dipped her snout and got a little drink. Later, I watched as Mia was eyeing the new feature in their space, and Mix walked right up to it and took another drink. That was fun to witness.
While Cyndie was introducing our newest liaison, Maddy, to the horses, I puttered about with changing my kludged rigging of the shade sail inside the barn. I’ve been trying to more closely position the anchor points to simulate the way we hope to mount it on new posts in the paddock.
I finally got frustrated as dinnertime approached and decided to stop and sleep on it. I’ll take another look today and see if a good solution materializes for my fresh eyes.
In the middle of moving around in the barn, I found that Asher was sitting on the cool dirt he had dug up without proper authorization. It’s hard to get upset with him when he is looking so damn regal and self-satisfied.
Cyndie had filled in the hole already once before I found him like this. Before I called it a day, I filled it in again, knowing full well he will likely dig it again next time he gets a chance.
Cyndie spent time installing new mesh curtains with magnetic closures in the frames of the barn doors so we will be able to leave doors open for air circulation without worrying about hordes of pigeons coming in.
With an enormous number of projects currently deserving springtime attention, it felt nice to get away with neglecting them for one afternoon while we busied ourselves in and around the barn.
All things in due time.
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Find Both
This morning, we built a fire in the fireplace to ward off the chill of the dampness we awoke to after an overnight thunderstorm. The temperature is in the 30s (F). Above freezing, at least. Yesterday, the high nearly reached 80 degrees. The bouncing of spring, I guess.
We met Jeremy! He is the new person who will be our primary contact with This Old Horse. As such, he will be the person delivering bags of grain for the mares.
On his first visit, he came bearing seven new bags. Literally, new bags. They are paper bags instead of the woven plastic previously in use. I didn’t handle them, but Cyndie reported they seem like they will rip easily. One had torn when Jeremy loaded it in his car.
He drives a Subaru and is a big lover of cats. Interesting seeing the enhanced logo he added to his car since the car brand markets itself so very strongly as a dog-friendly automobile. Meow.
How about a puzzle exercise for your Saturday morning or whenever you happen to read this? There are two things to be noticed in each of the following photos. Try your eyes and see if you can figure out what my crazy mind is thinking.
One is easier to spot than the other.
Click the thumbnail below for solutions…
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Bathing Again
Yesterday morning, I took a picture of Paddock Lake because I liked the patterns on the frozen surface that were glistening in the sun.
In the afternoon, when I stopped by for a visit with the lovely beasts, I noticed Swings’ coat was wavy to a degree that would trigger jealousy in a lot of women I know.
It was pretty obvious to me that Swings and Light had recently been swimming and the only logical place to do that would be down at the lake. I walked down to check it out.
Sure enough, there was a lot less water in the crater, and there were enough fresh hoof prints that my suspicion was confirmed. There had been some splish splashin’ goin’ on!
It seems to me that splashing around in the water would be more likely to occur on a hot summer day, but I’m not gonna argue with the grooming choices these horses make. It occurred to me that there are probably horses whose owners would never let them get this muddy. Our mares have a lot of autonomy when it comes to grooming.
We offer to clean the mud off of them with a brush, but it is rare for them to accept. What amazes me is how often I show up and discover their coats looking clean and smooth without any help from us. They obviously know how to take care of themselves.
One thing that I have found to require an assist from us is detangling the “fairy knots” that show up in their manes. Or, more accurately, Mia’s mane. She is the one most prone to developing them.
The person who has been our handler from This Old Horse ever since the herd arrived has shared that she will be leaving the organization. This afternoon, she is bringing her replacement over to meet me and the horses. Cyndie will have already departed for the airport by the time they are planning to get here.
I’m sure the horses will have themselves looking their very best for the occasion.
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Light Dusting
We received a light dusting of snow overnight that presented an opportunity to test out my thinking of using Cyndie’s battery-powered blower to clear the front steps and stone-covered walkway. Other than needing to endure the god-awful noise of the appliance, it proved to be a nice solution in place of the simple broom I would otherwise have used.
Today, we are looking forward to meeting a new volunteer for This Old Horse who could become an added resource for us to call upon if we are away from home during feeding times.
Other than that, things are pretty quiet around the ranch. Yesterday, while walking Asher around the hay field, the horses made a friendly gesture of approaching us and resuming their grazing close to the fence.
This morning, after the dusting of snow, I came upon fresh evidence that hydrostatic pressure is still pushing water to the surface in places.
I don’t know what to make of the fact we haven’t seen any new wetness in the basement since we cleaned up all the rugs that got soaked. Not that I’m seeking another bout of wet floor down there. That event still bothers me for the lack of clarity about what really occurred.
Our current premise is all conjecture. That doesn’t matter if we don’t experience another occasion of wet basement but it doesn’t give me a warm fuzzy feeling about the integrity of our foundation.
A professional assessment is included on our list of home maintenance issues to be addressed.
Are home inspections something that can be done any season of the year? When I answer that, I’ll better know what level of procrastination I can allow myself on the concern.
I’ve still got plenty of trimmed tree branches to remove from beneath the grove of pines in the north loop of our property. The hinted possibility of accumulating snow in our future puts a fresh priority on completing that task.
Pondering issues such as these is a luxury of things being pretty quiet around here. No complaint from me on that!
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Horse Smart
This coming April will mark two years since the four retired/rescued Thoroughbred brood mares from This Old Horse arrived at Wintervale. How well have I described the horses in my posts over the years they’ve been with us? Test your knowledge with the following 8 questions (Answer key at the bottom of this post):
- Which horse is able to move Swings off her food?
A) Mix
B) Light
C) Mia
D) All the above
E) None of the above
2. Which horse puts her nostril up to my face to breathe my scent almost every time we meet?
A) Swings
B) Mix
C) Light
D) Mia
E) All the above
F) None of the above
3. Which horse is the most skittish?
A) Swings
B) Mix
C) Light
D) Mia
E) All the above
F) None of the above
4. Which horse always stays dry under the overhang when it rains or snows?
A) Swings
B) Mix
C) Light
D) Mia
E) All the above
F) None of the above
5. When we separate the horses into two pairs, what is the most common arrangement?
A) Swings/Mix; Light/Mia
B) Mix/Mia; Swings/Light
C) Light/Mix; Swings/Mia
D) All the above
E) We never separate the horses
6. Which horse is the slowest at finishing all the feed in her pan?
A) Swings
B) Mix
C) Light
D) Mia
E) All the above
F) None of the above
7. Which two horses are currently supposed to receive an extra serving of feed at noon?
A) Swings and Mix
B) Light and Mia
C) Mix and Mia
D) Swings and Light
E) Non of the above
8. Which horse is the least likely to stand patiently for the farrier to get a complete trim of all four hooves?
A) Swings
B) Mix
C) Light
D) Mia
E) All the above
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Last night I struggled over choosing to close gates to minimize shenanigans again because it is still dangerously slippery on the slopes beyond the overhang but in the end left things open for them to move between paddocks. I’ve been watching them often enough to recognize the posturing that looks a lot like bullying tends to fade after a few spats and all four settle into a zen-like chill. My trust that it stays that way after I’m gone is about 50/50.
I witnessed Light using one of the hay-paths I created to get down to the waterer, although, once she got down there she just turned around without drinking and came right back up. At least it proves they are able to take advantage of it if they choose.
Do you feel like you have a sense of the four horse personalities?
If you scored less than 50%, I should do a better job of describing each member of the herd. Just because I know all the answers to this test doesn’t mean I can leave out these details about the four equine stars of our show.
Test answer key: 1)B 2)B 3)D 4)A 5)A 6)B 7)C 8)C
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Some Facts
- The Associated Press offers a weekly roundup of some of the most popular but untrue stories and visuals that are shared widely on social media called, “NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn’t happen this week.” It is both entertaining and informative.
- Yesterday, handlers from This Old Horse deduced that the problems Light presents in her resistance to picking a leg up for the farrier seem more likely to be arthritis than a possible PTSD we wondered about.
- Surgery for Cyndie’s broken bones is scheduled for tomorrow. We met the surgeon yesterday and like him a lot.
- Cyndie’s bone breaks just above her ankle are not clean but they are not as bad as what is commonly seen in a fall from a roof or an automobile accident.
- Cyndie had a CT scan yesterday to confirm there is no damage to the ankle joint. The joint looks good in the X-rays. The surgeon is confident it won’t be a problem to stretch the tendons and ligaments enough to straighten her foot from the odd angle it has acquired since the bones broke.
- It takes 180 times longer to drop off a patient on crutches, park the car, ride the elevator, roll a wheelchair to and from the imaging center, retrieve the car and pick up said patient than it does to have an ankle CT scan done.
- John will be required to cover for Cyndie in walking the dog and tending to the horses for a minimum of 8 weeks. The surgeon said she will be able to do therapy exercises and flex the ankle sooner than that, but he doesn’t want her to put any weight on it until after the 8 weeks.
- It is unclear how long Cyndie will be unable to drive, but John has every confidence she will find a way before 8 weeks. Until then, John will be her full-time chauffeur.
- John has not been 100% successful in keeping her out of the kitchen, especially since she figured out that using a walker in the house is easier than hobbling around on crutches.
- Visiting hospitals and clinics, John has needed to wear a mask more in the last few days than he has for over a year.
- It is election day in the U.S. today. To those of you who are eligible, please vote. Hopefully, with a healthy understanding of what is NOT REAL NEWS before you do.
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Confidently Incorrect
It was a simple mistake. It could happen to anyone. They look so much alike.
The farrier appointment was scheduled for 1:15 yesterday afternoon and I had gates closed and halters on all the horses by 1:08. She showed up on time and I was ready to hold horses while she trims and files hooves.
However, at the very same time, a very large pickup pulled up, and a person from the cable installation company hopped out with flags in his hand to mark the route for burying fiber cable up to our house.
I excused myself briefly from the barn and talked fiber route as I walked the guy up to our house, pointing out the buried hazards that must be taken into account.
As soon as I could, I returned to the paddocks to find the farrier trying to deal with Mix, who had allowed only one hoof to be trimmed before deciding the flies were too annoying for her to remain standing still. A little fly spray on the legs and my hands on the lead rope allowed Heather to get on with trimming Mix’s other three hooves.
Next was Swings and everything went flawlessly for her turn. Meanwhile, two staff from This Old Horse arrived to provide additional support. While holding horses, I noticed one car was coming up our driveway as the cable guy was driving his truck out and they each decided to drop one wheel over the steep edges to pass one another. Not the way I’d have solved it, but it avoided either one needing to back up. (Backing up is what I would have done.)
I’m feeling increasing pressure to have the driveway shoulders sloped by the excavating company that raised the base so high in the first place. But that’s another issue.
As the trimming progressed, I was still holding horses for the farrier, now working on number three of four. That’s where I screwed up. Somehow I mistook Mia for Light. They are both very similar-looking chestnuts with the main difference being their blaze.
I thought I was holding Light, who usually stresses out over the trimming process. Heather and I were so impressed it was going as well as it was. Of course, she had no clue who she was working on and was relying on me to identify them. Then came time for me to get the last horse, who I mistaking still thought was Mia.
She did not want to come up under the overhang. Sometimes Mia can be like that so the behavior supported my confusion. But it was Light and she really did not want to stand and have her hooves worked on. I got subbed out to let Tom from This Old Horse hold Light and I went to calm Mia (still thinking it was Light) who had been removed from the workspace and was temporarily trapped between paddocks.
Are you following all this?
At this point of the increasing panicking by Light, I figured out my mistake. It’s funny, I first noticed the name on a halter and assumed I put the wrong halters on each of the two. Then I took a closer look and realized the halters were correct, I was completely convinced which horse was which for the longest time, but I had been confidently incorrect.
I blame the distraction of simultaneous demands on my attention from the fiber cable installation guy and horse duty. Oh, and the fact my lovely wife wasn’t present to catch my goof and correct the identifications.
We eventually gave up on trimming Light this session. I feel bad because we probably would have handled it better if we all knew precisely which of the two chestnuts were being trimmed at the time.
My mistake. A rather humbling misidentification.
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Relative Something 