Horses equal wound care

Horses can be like giant toddlers sometimes, always popping up with some new boo-boo that needs tending. This is Calabar's most recent. Do I know how he got it? No. There are see hoof prints right under the bottom rail of his pipe panel--you know, as if a front leg was positioned in such a way to help a nose get a little further through the fencing for a few extra bites of tasty grass.There are hoof prints but no sharp edges to scrape off skin, so the mystery remains and Calabar did not volunteer any explanation, reasonable or otherwise.

The leg was a little swollen, but he is sound on it and the swelling went down with a little work and cold water. Calabar denied injury, bounded around in the round pen as if nothing whatsoever had happened, actually. Of course, he also stood like an angel in the wash rack while we cold hosed it, so it probably was bothering him at least a little. He's a pretty good patient, though, so I was able to get  him cleaned up and slathered with antibiotic cream without any drama whatsoever.

At least it's not too bad and he should heal quickly. Just another day in the life of a horse owner, I guess.

Aches and pains

I can't decide if I'm getting old or just finally using my body hard enough to notice it. Or maybe just using my body harder than it's used to?

Calabar and I had a great lesson yesterday. Lots of hard work at the trot and canter, still in the round pen to work on position and balance.

There is much work to be done, but an inkling of progress was made.

Towards the end, as we were working on the canter, my rib cage kinda started to hurt. Like a charlie horse, but maybe a little worse. Later, as I gasped with every movement, Steve asked if perhaps I could have mentioned the pain and suggested we try something different for awhile. Well of course we could have. Only other things were hurting, too, and it didn't seem so bad at the time.

Later it was bad. It's not so bad now, but it is definitely still there. At least breathing isn't painful at this point, so we are improving.

My guess is I tore some scar tissue loose from when I broke my rib(s) last year. Pain was in the same place, only felt a little different and nothing was moving this time (big PHEW there).

On the plus side, if the scar tissue is looser, it should help improve my flexibility, which--according to Peter--needs a lot of work. "Roll with the horse!" he says. My back does not comply with verbal commands, it appears, and I continue to bounce more than we'd all like. Bar especially, though he's the most tolerant all things considered. (Particular considering it's his back I'm bouncing upon.)

The lesson? Sometimes it pays to only look at the plus side. I also gave myself a break (not a painful one) today, which seemed prudent for a couple reasons: a) it hurts to move, let alone ride and b) I'm on vacation next week and would like to enjoy it.

Calabar didn't mind in any case, and we should be able to regroup later in the week for some work before Steve and I take of Saturday for our horse-less camping adventures in the Northwest.

Best to get some ridin' in before we go, eh?

Update

The pen seems to be holding together, though a bit more road base will be added before we (we meaning Steve in this case) lays down the mats tomorrow morning. Hopefully before it starts raining, which it's supposed to do all weekend.

The ribs are getting a little better every day, though not nearly as quickly as I think they should. I heard bruised takes 4-6 weeks, cracked 6-8. My goal is 4 weeks, but I'll take somewhere in the middle.

I took both horses out Tuesday night for some ground work--still not quite ready for the saddle, yet. Lena got to work on where the personal space boundary was. A lot. I'm not actually sure it would have helped the other day--since she was running sideways away from Bar, not looking at me at all, when she slammed into me--but it's good to work on with her in any case.

Bar was wonderful, and seemed to know I was hurting. I was cleaning out his feet and sometimes he gets a little antsy--grooming has never been his thing. Not this time. He held his feet up for me and stood absolutely still while I worked, even though it was taking longer so I could apply iodine to the delicate tootsies. Granted, he should do this all the time, but I'm normally correcting him and didn't have to.

Hoping to get back to a somewhat normal routine soon. You know. Just in time for winter, rain, and mud.

Winterizing Bar's pen and another painful lesson

Bar doesn't really like mud, and worse yet, standing in mud is really hard on his feet. He has fairly typical Thoroughbred feet--thin walled and flaky hooves. After last year's wet winter, our farrier was pretty insistent that it would help keep shoes on if we could get the big, brown horse out of the mud. It's either that or invest in a lot of iodine.


So, one of the projects Steve and I knew had to get done before the rain really got started was to fix Bar's pen, help it drain better, and add more mats. Peter improved things a couple years ago by adding mats in the front, but they were a little too angled and the water coagulated at the bottom and some of the less graceful among us found them challenging to negotiate when wet and slippery.

The goal is to get away from the swamp his pen becomes and give him a good place to stand and eat. Here is another before shot, sorry it's so dark. That puddle is at the bottom of the existing mats and in front of his water; the other big puddle tends to form on the other side where he eats.


We started with drain rock, which we worked under the edge of the mats to lift up the angle there, then start to fill in the gully in front as well.




Then some road base on top of that out about four feet to bring the front of the paddock up several inches. The road base should pack down pretty well under the mats, too.


More spreading and evening out lumps under the mats, and we have a nice base upon which new mats will go.


Unfortunately, we didn't realize the mat store closed at 2 p.m. that day and won't open again until Monday. While we're both at work. Originally, Steve had planned to do the gravel on Thursday and Friday after we got back, and the mats on Saturday, but we didn't have the tractor help until yesterday, so things got a little pushed.

Bar should be okay, though we'll probably have to add a little more and smooth it all out again before slapping down the mats and anchoring it all together.

Of course, it also rained today, so Steve got to see how well it would hold up even without the mats when he went out to check on everything today. Where was I? Oh, that's the last bit of the story.

While we were working on his pen, we put Bar in with Lena. We'd had such a good experience at Slide and knew this wouldn't be a long stretch, so thought it would be fine. And it was. For them. The difference this time is that Lena was in season, but even with that, they were both mostly calm with only minor chasing and squealing. Still, small space for a little over a ton of horse, let alone 125 pounds of puny human.


Katie suggested we move Bar in with Sammy since Lena was being so, um, clingy, but we didn't. As usual, Katie was right.

I had actually gone into Lena's pen to get Bar and put him back, but stopped to help Steve fill in a hole at the front of Lena's paddock. I was leaning the left side of my body up against the pipe panel, moving gravel and packing it down with my feet, when I heard a squeal and looked up to see 1,200 pounds of spotty horse being chased by 1,200 pounds of Thoroughbred--both headed right into my corner of the universe.

I became a human cushion between her chest spot and the pipe panel, before she pulled back and I dropped unceremoniously to the ground trying to catch my breath.

Ow.

I am so done with injuries! And so mad at myself for getting into that predicament. Katie blustered at me, covering up worry with being mad. Steve told me it would hurt worse today than it did yesterday, and it does. Nothing appears broken, just very, very bruised and sore. Not as sore as my ego, but oh well.

So until I can turn my body without it sucking air out of me, we'll be doing ground work. Poor Bar. He really prefers that I ride, but I think this time I'll try to heal a little more first.

At least it happened after we got back from Slide, and I suppose I can chalk this up to another "learning experience."

I think I need to try for less-painful lessons.

Back in the saddle again

Back in the saddle again
Originally uploaded by spottyhorse67

Proverbial saddle in this case as I'm actually riding bareback, but am up nonetheless and happier for it.

I rode a little longer than I normally do when riding bareback and Bar started to get grumpy. Initially, I attributed it to his short attention span and the sound of the grain cart, but after I got off and rubbed his back--where my rear end had previously rested--I decided it may have been something else.

Bar says I need more padding, or a saddle, please.

Saddle is next. Maybe even a bridle!

Bar starts back to work

Unlike my arm, Bar's knee (well, carpus if one wants to be technical about it) has been cooperating and healing slowly but surely. It's not completely flat and it may never be pretty again, but there is no longer any heat in in it. He has been moving pretty comfortably on it for a couple weeks now, too, so we are gently returning to work.

Well, Bar is. One of us is still in a cast with a bone that appears unwilling to hold still and heal properly without surgical intervention. Dave over at A Tale of Two Buckskins has counseled patience. I know he's right, I'm just not sure I have any left at the moment.

But I don't have any cheese to go with that whine, so let's go back to Bar, shall we?

Prior to the carpus blowing up like a balloon, we had been working a lot on getting him to use his hind end to push instead of pulling himself along with his massive Thoroughbred shoulders. Progress was being made and he had started extending nicely through the shoulder and leading with his heel instead of catching and dragging his toes. This photo is from back in March and the position is lovely, as is the softness in his face. (That's his "ugly" bowed tendon in front, by the way.)


His convalescence has brought back some of his old habits, but watching him yesterday showed me he is paying attention to his body in a relatively new way. He caught a toe a couple times and then (on his own) shifted his weight back into his hindquarters, bringing the weight up off his front end and giving himself more control, more freedom, in front. It was so amazing to watch that subtle re-balancing--both because it means he is teaching himself that distinction, and because I could actually see the change in movement.

We have to work on his extension in front again, but it will come back. Two more weeks of ground work (my surgery is on the 11th) should help, and then we need to get out of the arena and back on the trails! Enough of circles, already!

Brief moment of freedom

Today was supposed to be the day my cast came off for good and I marched into Kaiser full of relief and expectations of a quiet trail ride this weekend.

I was sorely disappointed.

Emphasis on sorely.

Now I've had some pain and discomfort over the last couple of weeks, but having never broken a bone, didn't think too much about it. Of course it's sore, dummy, you broke it.

Well, it turns out that fractures can shift and mine has. Not only has it shifted, but the bone isn't reforming as well as they would like. When I asked if I should have come in sooner, the answer was that likely it wouldn't have changed anything.

Nearly everyone who heard this had an immediate response along the lines of, "Well, that's because you did too much." To which I say, no, I did less than I normally do which should have been little enough to have me fully healed at least a week ago.

The upshot is that I will likely have to have a plate put in to help my wandering bones reattach. The good thing is that--barring complications--the post-op healing should be relatively fast. Having watched Steve's rapid recovery after his clavicle was stuck back together, I am very hopeful.

I am also annoyed, but I keep reminding myself it could have been much (much) worse.

Dubious milestone

I have now crossed one more thing off my list of horse-related (and life, actually) experiences--I broke my arm yesterday, mostly because I forgot just how fast Lena Rey can move sideways.

Steve and I had run some errands in Santa Rosa, had lunch, and he dropped me off at the barn to tend horses and ride Lena. The truck was still there from the other day when Katie went out (though she had left the keys on and completely--and I mean two-sets-of-jumper-cables-needed completely--drained the battery) so Steve didn't have to hang around and I could spend all the time I wanted with the horses.

It didn't quite work out that way.

I really wanted to use the English saddle on Lena and work on her long trot, canter circles, and my seat. We were going along really well, and I was even getting some nice side-pass work out of her at the trot. She seems very responsive to the close contact of the English saddle, too.

Lena is very strong and athletic, and can move sideways and spin in a dime. Since I hadn't ridden her in awhile it might have been better to put the Western saddle on her, since I am still working on my seat and balance in the English, but you know what they say about hindsight.

She did a couple of spins I managed to ride through and a sideways I didn't. I slid off her right side, tucked, landed on my right hip (okay, right butt cheek), rolled to my left and must have smacked the ground hard with my forearm.

Lena bounced off to the other end of the arena to eat the grass I had previously denied her. At first, cradling my sore arm against my stomach, I was determined to get back on--which I told her in no uncertain terms. We even made it back to the mounting block before I felt something shift in my forearm--one of the odder sensations I've ever had, thank you very much. Then came the shockiness and nausea and I decided I would have to teach her a lesson another time. She did have the grace to act solicitous at that point, nuzzling me as the cold sweat broke out on my forehead.

My friend Lisa was just getting back in her truck to go home, but helped me untack Lena, take my fancy riding boots off, and hung out until Steve got there to take me to Kaiser. I was not very talkative, since lunch was trying to revisit, but I was sure glad someone was there with me.

Kaiser had me in, x-rayed, and splinted in about 2-1/2 hours, which for a non-life-threatening injury seems pretty good. The staff was great, too.

The x-rays show a pretty clean fracture of the ulna (yes, I'll be getting copies). The orthopedic doctor will be calling after they decide whether to put in a plate (surgery) or just a more substantial cast.

Oh, and I'm supposed to stay off the horses for six weeks. Katie (who is still mad at me for falling off) seems skeptical that I will manage that.

I admit to being vaguely amused by all of this, though I'm sure my amusement will fade as the novelty of my first "real" broken bone wears off. It occurred to me that Bar and I match, though I hope he heals much faster than I do.

And, yes, I typed this whole post with one hand tied. Or splinted anyway.

No pictures, either, until I can engineer a shower of some kind.

Mutual injury inspection

Mutual injury inspection
Originally uploaded by spottyhorse67

Steve's first excursion to the barn since "the incident" went well and both horses were glad to see him. They also think the sling would bean excellent way to carry a sufficient number of carrots.

Back in the saddle again!

Despite the expression on Lena's face, we are all excited that Steve is back riding again.

Here is Steve riding, yay!


We rode in the arena yesterday and then went out today for a short trail ride. (Only two hours instead of our normal three.) Unfortunately, I left the camera at the barn so didn't document Steve's successful return to the trail.

Actually, it may be better that I didn't because Lena was not on her best behavior today. She was in one of her flighty moods and took off on Steve twice - once we think because his sweatshirt came loose and slid over her butt and once because he picked up his sweatshirt from where someone had nicely hung it on the sign by the parking area. I think it goes back to the blanket trauma, but it was unacceptable nonetheless. I guess we have more horse therapy in the near future.

Doc was on his best behavior, however, so that helped some. It's definitely better to have another horse there, particularly one who is generally calmer and more steady than Lena.

Steve thinks that she also just wanted to run, but of course that's still no excuse for bad behavior.

Luckily, Steve was able to stay with her and didn't re-injure himself. I think she looked a little embarrassed when I put the sweatshirt on Doc, then on me, and neither one of us got eaten, but I'm probably reading too much into her expression. Ha!

People injuries

The other day, Lena got my foot really good. It's still black and blue. Dancing with horses means you always have two left feet and it's best to stay out of their way because they have four.

Then this morning, I managed to sprain my knee in a most unglorious way - I slipped getting into the tub. My left foot slid, my right ankle caught the edge of the tub and what appears to have given is a ligament on the inside of my right knee.

So not only do I feel like a dork, it's not even a particularly good story!

It does hurt a lot, though, and of course my real concern is whether or not it will affect my riding. I don't have to mount with my right leg, so that's good. It only really hurts with lateral pressure, so if I don't move it side to side, I should be okay.

I'm not a particularly good patient in any case - ask Steve and Katie - but if this interferes with my Lena time, I am going to be one grumpy buckaroo.