Winter coats

The temps have finally fallen to below freezing around here. It is expected to be around 18 degrees tonight, even colder this weekend.

So far this fall I have not used the horse blankets (except for one really wet, cold day - and it was the damp and wind that prompted me to put them on the boys) but tonight I decided that Curly really needed his.

The poor boy appears to have a cold or some other bug. He's off his feed a bit and pretty lethargic. I hear that this has been going around our barn and that the other horses that have had it recovered without incident within a day or two - so I'm hoping Curly will be back to normal by tomorrow.

At any rate, I figured he didn't need to work to stay warm while also trying to fight off some virus. Plus his coat just doesn't seem as thick as it has gotten in past winters. I hope that either I'm not remembering correctly and it really is the same, or that it's still a bit early and will thicken more as the winter goes on.

Monte, on the other hand, is a little teddy bear! I went ahead and put his blanket on as well, but he probably would be fine without. I'm glad that I bought only a lightweight one for the little man - I don't think he's going to ever need more than something light to help keep the wind off and just a bit of body heat in.

A Trip to the Vet

E and I have been talking quite a bit about when we think the bucking and head tossing started and we decided it might have been around the time they both fell and E broke her ankle (Sept. 2007). But I'm not completely sure about that - we were relying on my often faulty memory! (I'll have to go back and read through this blog to see if I can tell from my postings. I know he came to us with some head tossing issues - but they were different than his current head shaking.) It is possible that he may have injured himself but we didn't notice right away because not long after the fall, he had his first (of three!) hoof abscesses and then the shoulder inflammation that required even more time off.

I had a lengthy visit with the vet today and as he examined Curly I gave him all this information and we talked about possible causes for the obvious pain the horse is in. So, he agreed it could be from an injury or it may even be something called "kissing spine" syndrome. It also could be caused by a saddle rubbing on the area just behind Curly's withers. (The connection between his withers and the rest of his back is a rather dramatic drop off instead of the more normal slope. Consequently, the saddle may be putting too much pressure on this spot.) The vet does not see any problems with Curly's legs/other joints, so he doesn't think the back pain is a symptom of some other issue.

Dr. Kress uses a lot of common sense in his practice, so his first suggestion is to use several cut-away pads that will elevate the saddle off of the area just behind the withers to see if this alleviates Curly's pain. He also suggested moving the saddle back an inch or so, putting more of the weight farther back as well. And thirdly, he'd like me to take Curly on a longish ride, but being ponied rather than ridden. This might help me see if he reacts at that magic 20 minute mark only when he's saddled up and being ridden or if he starts the head shaking/bucking routine even without the rider.

Since there is no way to x-ray Curly's spine here in Walla Walla (and I'm not ready to make the commitment of driving to Pullman) we really have no way of knowing if there are some vertebrae rubbing together or some other injury to the spine. We went ahead and administered a steroid shot to help with any possible inflammation (second shot to be given on Wednesday) and Dr. Kress wants me to continue with the joint supplement we started last week. Both things could possibly help and neither will hurt him.

It's so hard to know how much of all this is truly originating from back pain and how much might be originating from his brain/personality. As I've spent more time with the big guy over this past month, though, I've begun to believe that he isn't all that naughty and it breaks my heart to think he may have been in immense pain for a long time.

Learning To Jump

E and Monte had their first Pony Club mounted meeting today. E was so excited, she was determined to go no matter what. And I probably shouldn't have let her....

Last Wednesday, she (possibly) fractured her right ankle. The pediatrician didn't see anything on the x-ray but he said the location and amount of pain indicated more than a sprain. He thinks we'll be able to see the (healed) fracture on the follow-up x-ray later this month. He asked her to wear her walking boot for as long as she thought was necessary and then to move on to a brace until it was all better.

Anyway, like I said, E was excited so I let her decide if she could ride or not. I truly didn't think she would last more than 20, maybe 30, minutes of the lesson but she didn't decide the pain was too much until the last 5 minutes of the ride. She even managed to post while trotting for much of the time!

The instructor, Marla Foreman, was working on jumping with the kids. The other 2 riders have jumped previously, but this was E and Monte's first go at it. They started with trotting over poles placed on the ground and worked up to going over two crossed poles (approx. 12" high). Monte really wasn't sure what was supposed to happen and managed to trot over the crossed poles instead of jumping. So they actually only "jumped" once during the whole lesson. But they'll eventually get it.

Daily walks

I started Curly on a joint supplement this week, hoping to relieve some of his back pain. How long until the stuff starts doing its job, though?

I also made an appointment with the vet to begin looking for the cause of these troubles. My internet "research" is making me worry too much so I need to begin eliminating some of the more horrible possibilities. Today I convinced myself that he has some sort of degenerative arthritis in his spine and will just continue to go downhill, quickly. Of course, I have nothing to base that on, just a web site that may or may not be accurate. Gotta love the internet!

I have been hand-walking Curly several times a week as well. I don't know if it is helping at all, but I do know that I am enjoying the time with him. Plus the boy needs to drop a few pounds so the exercise has to be doing some good in that department. The walking and jogging can't be hurting me any either!

Today I took him into a pasture that has a few dirt hills in it - along with 2 other horses and a donkey. Curly wasn't too sure about the little donkey and kept an eye out for the him the whole time we were going up, over and around the dirt piles.

Catch up

Life has been busy around our house (nothing unusual there!) so I've been ignoring the blog for a while. We've actually been spending a fair bit of time doing horsey things lately so I thought I'd write a quick entry and record some the recent events.

Curly is still receiving weekly visits from the acupuncturist. After 4 visits, the poor boy appears to be in the same amount of pain as before. And both Dr. Norris and I are stumped as to what may be causing him so much pain. He has never had an animal not respond at this point, and the doctor has said he will discontinue treatment after one last visit. Curly, bless his heart, patiently stands through each treatment even when we can see that it is quite painful for him. Makes me love the big guy even more....and as I've already said before, it helps explain some of the bad behavior he has dished out over the past year.

Electrical currents have been added to the acupuncture treatments - Ouch!

The next step is a trip to the vet. It is possible that the back pain is secondary to another problem - like arthritis in a joint somewhere. So we'll begin the process of testing for bunches of other things as soon as I have a penny or two in my pocket to pay for all of this. I'm crossing my fingers that we discover the cause quickly and easily.

E has been working with Monte on a consistent basis and things just keep getting better and better for them. At her 4-H Halloween ride she was able to ask for, and get, a counter-canter for the first time. Their costume, by the way was very cute. Monte was very patient with the whole mermaid tail thing. (I'll post a picture of them as soon as I remember to download from the camera!)

She joined Pony Club this week and will begin riding with that club very soon. I'll be curious to learn which she likes better in the long run - Pony Club or 4-H. For now, I'll be taking her to both (Tuesdays - 4-H, Sundays - PC).

A roll in the mud....

Fun times at the barn yesterday. The weather is wonderful (60+ degrees and sunny, sunny, sunny!) so we pulled out both horses for a couple of hours.

I spent my time with Curly working on leading. Simple stuff, I know, but the boy tends to turn into an anchor at the end of his lead rope whenever we walk off and I wanted to correct that behavior. We practiced in the round pen, with me walking on both sides. He wasn't too sure about me being on his off-side since this isn't something a person usually does, but I think it is important for him to learn this.

E had to work to get Monte clean enough to saddle up but once they were out in the arena they had lots of fun together. She said that he really wanted to go, go, go but he's really out of shape and couldn't maintain the pace he was setting for himself.

Monte was dripping sweat (and mud!) when they finished. E spent 10 to 15 minutes washing him down, really getting all the dirt off his coat before releasing him back to the pasture. As she walked back around the barn (100 steps?) another rider walked past us smiling and saying, "You missed a spot." Huh?

And then we saw him.....in the short amount of time it took E to walk around the barn, Monte had rolled and completely covered his nice white coat in mud! It was amazing, really. Only his the spots on his head and the insides of his legs were anything near white.



E will be brushing him out again today......

:-)

Pincushion

We had the acupuncturist come out to do some work on Curly this afternoon.

The other day when I was brushing our boy I noticed that he has quite a bit of back pain and since no one has been riding him, that had me concerned. I've already written about how I think some of his behavioral issues may be related to pain and poor saddle fit; seeing that he's in pain even when a saddle hasn't been on his back for a while has me thinking that there may be some other underlying problem beyond just the saddle.

Anyway, I thought we would try something a little different to take care of this.

The doctor placed several needles along his spine and one at the base of his mane. Curly did not really resist during the process, but I won't say he enjoyed it either. I'm just happy that he didn't try to kick or bite!

If you look real closely, you can see a couple of needles along his back...

The needles were left in for about 15 minutes and when they were pulled, many were bent into a "c" shape. The doctor briefly tried to manipulate some of Curly's vertebra back into alignment, but the horse wouldn't relax into the process.

On his next visit electrical currents will be added to the needles. And hopefully after the third visit Curly will no longer be in pain and his back will be healthier.

All of this doesn't give us the cause of the pain, though. I need to remember to ask the doctor about that next week....