Is it Spring yet?

The wind is howling and I'm missing the warmth we had the other day.

:)

I had a nice ride on Chance today. It was the 1st time I have ridden him since Sept at Libby's clinic. A couple of days ago I put a saddle on him and did a little bit of ground work with him. The fear I was feeling in him is gone. His mouthiness is still an issue but I'm working on that. I am working on having control of his head, there is an invisible line and his mouth is not allowed to cross it unless I ask him to. If it does I become a mother mare and without putting any emotion into it I make him bring his mouth back across the line. He may bump into my elbow or my hand, and if I feel it is necessary he gets whacked. And when his mouth is back to an acceptable place it's business as usual like nothing happened. His mouthiness is totally unacceptable and I can't risk getting bit or letting him bite somebody else. If he did that to another horse the punishment would be way worse so I don't feel bad about whacking him when I see his teeth coming towards me!
Enough of that, the rest was great. I saddled him up, he does need to move his feet when the saddle is coming on but I think that will stop soon. So for now I let him move. When the saddle is on he stops after a couple of circles around me and sometimes I'll take it off and start over. He isn't holding his breath anymore, infact he'll give me a big sigh and lick his lips. The saddling went so well and I felt very safe about getting on. Jaye was here and riding Pilot which gave me more confidence. Not that she could have done a thing to stop Chance from bucking me off but having her here keeps me calm and when I'm calm the fear can't take over. And I can be a much more effective leader for Chance when I can think clearly without the fear! So I got on and we rode for about 1/2 an hour in the paddock, we went up and down the hill a couple of times and stood and watched traffic go by in one of the horses favorite places. I did make one emergency dismount but I probably didn't need to. A neighbor was jogging by and Chance got a glimpse of her head then it disappeared behind some trees. His head and ears went up and he got very tall. My survival instinct took over and I decided to jump off before Chance forgot I was there. We walked in the joggers direction and he watched her continue down the road. Then I got back on. It was good practice and as far as I'm concerned better to be safe than sorry!
It was a great ride, I have new hope for us. I never really lost hope but I was pretty discouraged at times. It's nice to see that Chance is feeling better, and it felt so good to ride him again!

Scruffy - Our new Christmas Elf

Autumn, Boca, Scruffy, Lexie - Our 4 dogs (tolerating me and my Christmas fun) :)

Trims and good stuff

I would have to say Chance's trim was done at record speed...for him. He did very well, not perfect but good and with a new farrier. I really like the farrier, he brings his daughter along and they are genuinely nice people. He is a wealth of knowledge and understands horses. He explained how Chance's build (broad chest and narrow footed) would create discomfort while being trimmed and add lyme disease to the mix and there could be quite a bit of pain. He also showed me Chances range of motion in his leg, which isn't very big. I don't think I have been pulling his leg out too far while working with him, but now that I am aware of this I will make sure to hold his foot under him. I also don't think it is all physical discomfort, I really believe some of it is behavior, but I think the discomfort came 1st which created the behavior.
Tomorrow will make 4 weeks on the doxy and I am continuing to see positive changes in him. He no longer snorts and blows at the fence when walking threw an open gate. He was doing that even with the electricity off. Jaye came over the other day and rode Pilot while I put a saddle on Chance for the 1st time in a very long time. Putting his saddle on was a little bit of a project but I didn't feel the fear in him that I had been feeling. He is moving so much better, and can now back up for me much easier than he ever has. He is not shutting down in fact he is full of energy and more engaged than I think I want! :) He was giving me some attitude but that I can work with. He has become unbelievably mouthy. Picture this, Jaye had a saddle on Pilot's back and was riding him while Chance put his saddle in his mouth, picked it up and held it until it was too heavy to hold anymore. On the lighter side, this was pretty funny to see, Pilot the well behaved horse working very hard for Jaye and then there's my horse holding his saddle in his mouth. On a more serious side we have some work to do. This mouthy issue must be dealt with because I don't want him to pick me up like he did my saddle. He is also constantly trying to bump me with his head and wants to be in my pocket. I'll be trying to come up with some positive ways to channel his new energy and also work on being the leader of the our herd of two. :)

Trim tomorrow

The farrier comes tomorrow to trim Chance's feet. This will be a good test to see if his feet issues are related to the Lyme and if the doxy is working. I asked him for both front feet today and like a perfect gentleman he picked them both up and let me hold them until I gave them back. (one at a time of course :) It was uneventful, unemotional and easy...Perfect. If I had to guess I would say the doxy is working.

worked with feet

Well no OMG moments, but there was improvement. I started with his back feet which are not usually a problem and today was the same. Then I gave his right front shoulder and leg a little massage to relax the muscles and went to the other side and asked for his left front. He picked it up nicely and was able to hold it until I gave it back. I'm only talking about 1 minute, but it's an improvement. I then gave his left shoulder and leg a massage and went to the right and asked for that foot. This side was harder, after a few seconds he needed it back. I gave it to him and asked again this time I decided to hold it even though he was pulling. He almost came down on his knees. Then we walked around a little and I started with the back again and then went to the front right. We worked for about 10 minutes, there was improvement each time I asked for the right front and then after he was able to hold it up for about 20 seconds I released and took the halter off.

I'm so glad I got out, what a beautiful day! I sat on the mounting block, closed my eyes and went to the beach. If you try really hard you can imagine that the traffic sounds like waves. It didn't quite smell like the beach but I think the beach would be a better place if it smelled like a barn! The seagulls were missing, but do clucking chickens count? They did today!

After 1 week of Doxy

Life is busy as usual (especially in December) which has made it easier to allow Chance to take the meds for the lyme and hopefully get better without me adding any extra stress to his life. And I want to see if there are any noticeable changes in him by just watching. I have heard that improvements can happen quickly, I don't know a lot about lyme disease or treating it, I'm doing research on my own and did get some info from the vet. Giving him the meds has been easy. He gets 45 tablets 2x a day. I have a small coffee grinder (vet recommended) I put the 45 tablets in along with 2 peppermint candies and grind away. After Pilots choking episode I soak all grain now and I mix the ground meds & peppermints with the mash of grain. At first Chance ate v-e-r-y slowly, but being the kind of horse who loves to eat, he didn't waste an ounce. He reminds me of somebody from the depression era who had to ration food, it doesn't matter what it is or how it tastes, it can't be wasted! I had started with just 1 peppermint candy but increase to 2 which helped. Now he is eating normally which is great, I didn't want to stick a syringe in his mouth twice a day! He also gets probiotics to help his stomach. I had actually put him on the probiotics over a year ago, while he is on the meds I have doubled up on them. And he gets his joint supplements.
So, as far as any changes in Chance after the 1st week, I have noticed 2. The other evening he was running around like a fool. Not because he had been scared by anything, he was having fun. Whats the big deal about that? He was cantering and not cross-cantering. I can't remember very many times when he has cantered correctly, even on his own. I've asked many people about this and the consensus was that some horses are more comfortable cross-cantering. And because it really doesn't matter to me how he canters I was okay with that answer. The other thing he did was gallop...really fast! He would canter down the hill, go to the end of the paddock, around the round bale feeder and gallop as fast as he could back up the hill. I have never seen him move that fast, and I'm not sure if he knew he could move that fast. It was so much fun to watch.
The weather is gorgeous today and it is going to change tonight, it would be a crime if I didn't get out there even for 1/2 an hour. I'm going to put a halter on him and work with his feet. It has been a week and 5 days today on the meds, more positive changes would be wonderful, if not, he just needs more time and thats okay.