Ringing in a New Year

So I know that people are sort of split over the issue of this year... either the world will end or there will just be excessive hype like in 2000 ("Holy Christ, the Y2K bug will infect us all!") but Dec. 23, 2012 will dawn and it will turn out to have been just another yesterday.  But here in VA it's been strangely mild for a majority of the time thus far this winter.  Blame global warming, blame the upcoming apocolypse, blame whoever you want, but I'm thanking Mother Nature or God, whoever's taking care of the temperature these days because I got to ride my horses on New Years Eve and it was almost 60 degrees!

Chatting and warming up

We decided to go ahead and take Boo and Reily over to the equestrian park again since we really don't know how many more of these nice days we're going to get.  I invited one of my old 4-H friends to come ride Boo so we could exercise them in the ring together at the same time and see how Reily would take it.  He always wanted to drift towards wherever Boo was in the ring but if I put my leg on him he listened and kept straight like an old pro.

Just going for a trot

Of course, it was nice when we got there but shortly after we had warmed up the wind started to pick up and the sun disappeard behind the clouds so it started to get a little more chilly.  We were lucky because we were riding but my poor boyfriend definitely got cold standing there playing camera man.   Up to this point I'd only done about 90% walking and hill climbing with Reily and about 10% trot work, but he stayed perfectly calm and listening to me even when the wind really picked up.  What a good baby!  He wasn't rushing at all so just for kicks I asked him for a canter to see how he'd respond.  He picked up his right lead right off the bat, he was fast, but not running away just fast.  That doesn't bother me one bit though, it was just his first time, he's got no substantial top line, and he's not totally balanced in his new job, so going a little fast probably helped him feel more stablized at first.  Lucky me, my boyfriend got a video of it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7cz2DAfeXA&context=C329ad3bADOEgsToPDskKIhWJOPIZWjgVv6EZm-lrw. I just love his trot, it's big and forward, and one of these days I'll think to take a picture of his hoof prints, because his over reach (hence why he's only wearing 1 bell boot, he ripped the other one right off and we were waiting to receive the replacement still) is at least a whole hoof length in front of his front foot fall!  I can't wait to start building his top line and teaching him to go on contact.  He has great extension when you ask for it!

Horses vs. Mountain Goats

Yep, it's official my Thoroughbreds are actually mountain goats disguised as horses.  One of my very good friends, who coincidentally owned Scotty back when he was a young'en, was in town for the holidays and I was lucky enough to have the day off of work because of the holidays, so she came over to meet Reily and go for a trail ride.  Now I've always really admired that she's gotten out there and done a lot of really cool things in her life, one of which includes being a TB exercise rider at tracks both here in the States and over in France for a time.  So she was looking forward to meeting Reily and I was really excited to get her opinion of him in person.  We chatted while we groomed and tacked up Boo and Reily then we headed out for a nice long trail ride.  We didn't want to take Reily on the road yet and we had her dog with us too and it was her pup's first time around horses in general and therefore her very first time running along on a trail ride so we didn't want her near the road either.  So instead of heading down the driveway we headed up the back of the property to the mountains that our farm butts up against.  There are plenty of old logging trails up there and they range from nearly flat to VERY steep.  The longest trail you can follow goes over the mountain and comes out the other side at a house owned by an old family friend who has always allowed me to come out at her house and then zig zag back down the side of the mountain on her driveway which eventually comes back out on the road that leads to our driveway.  However to get across the very top of the mountain there's only one choice of trail... and you guessed it, that trail is about a quarter mile climb up a 60 or so degree incline, then a nice resting spot before another slightly shorter, less steep climb. No joke.  Boo and I use this mountain on a somewhat regular basis to keep him fit and do conditioning for Horse Trials but I was pessimistic about whether Reily was going to be able to handle this, or if it was fair to ask it of him.  In the end we decided we'd just make as many stops as we needed to on the way up and concluded that it would be good for his butt muscles to make the climb, so up we went!

And wouldn't you know it, those two scrambled right up that path like they'd been doing it all their lives.  Well, Boo has for a long time, but I was impressed that Reily only needed one short breather on the first climb and went right through the second just fine.  He was a total champ about the experience all together!  There are a few tight paths where you have to squeeze through single file, including one spot where a vine hangs down right at the horses' chest level and you have to walk them up far enough to grab hold of it and hold it up out of the way for them while you walk under it.  Now that's something he's definitely never done before but it was all just no big deal with him.  He's so laid back and he thinks things through before tackling the issue.  I love him and I love his very good brain!

We got over the mountain and started down the driveway.  When we were still a little ways off the road we cut off into the woods again, avoiding the road as mentioned, coming out on our driveway and walked them back home that way.  We had a great time and when we got home my friend and I played musical horses so she could ride Reily for a minute and feel how me moved.  I was glad to hear that she felt he has a lot of potential.  Afterwards we finished cooling them out, untacked and groomed them down.  The boys were happy to get end of ride treats, and we were happy to hand them out liberally after such a good ride!

Road trip anyone?!

Two things: 1) I bought a new horse trailer... one dubbed "Reily sized" by my hysterical boyfriend, 2) It's a new toy so I had to play with it!



At the horse park for the first time, acting like an old pro



So Boo and Reily went for their first (mini) road trip today.  Here in VA it was an unseasonal, but splendid 55 degrees in December, no better way to spend such a beautiful day then take your fellas over to play at the horse park, so that's exactly what we did!  There was only one other person there taking a lesson so we walked the boys all around the park first so Reily could check it all out.  Boo was bored and tried to eat as much free grass as he could possibly consume because this place was all old news to him.  Once we'd sniffed everything just for kicks we headed back to the trailer and I tacked up and rode Boo first.  He was a very good boy and I switched his saddle but left him partially tacked, then we walked them both down to a ring to play lead Reily over some poles on the ground and over some tiny, tiny, tiny cross rails to see how he'd react.  Unfazed, he trotted right over everything, picking up his feet and licking and chewing (a sign that horses display when they're thinking and processing information, so a good sign!) after each "question".  We went back and tacked him up and I rode him a bit in the ring where he was a super star!  When we were done we put a bridle on Boo and my boyfriend rode Boo and I rode Reily and we took them for a mini trail ride through the cross country jump field at the equestrian park.  They were both absolute dolls, walking through creeks, up and down hills, and sniffing all kinds of cross country fences.  I have to say, I really think I hit the jackpot with this horse.  What a champ and at only 3 years old he's got so much more to give!

The big move

Poor Reily, he most think we're crazy.  It was dusk when we brought him home from Maryland, now it was completely DARK and we moved him again.  Truth be told it was all perfectly planned.  But as they say, the best laid plans always go to sh**.  Or at least they say something close to that.  Well we had been planning this move for a while, part of the reason I allowed myself to get Reily was because I knew we were going to be moving so I'd only have one month to have to pay extra board.

Wondering why I'm packing up all their junk. Little did they
know they were moving that day night.

The original plan was to move us humans (plus dog and cat) to the new house on Saturday, then drive back across town Sunday afternoon and meet my friends who were kindly helping me move the three big boys in their large 3 horse slant load and the little fella would ride in one stall of my very small 2 horse trailer and the other stall and the back of my truck would be used to haul all of their stuff, gear, etc.  But then something came up and we had to bump up the horse hauling to Saturday.  So at 11:30 I left the big strong men at the house to finish packing the moving fan and headed out to load up all the ponies' gear and supplies so I'd be ready to put said ponies on trailers at 1pm sharp, drive the hour to the new place and unload in the daylight, give them plenty of time to look around before setting Reily loose in the new feild because, unlike the others, he'd never experienced electric fence before and horses tend not to learn to mind it well in the dark.  Unfortunately, when my friends arrived at 1 they're trailer had a flat and the spare was at their house... trip #1: 35 mins to go get the spare, 1.5 hours looking for but can't find the spare nor any spare with the correct number of lug nuts on the rim, 35 mins back to the farm... trip #2 take flat off trailer, 35 mins back to their house to change tire and put good tire on correct rim, 35 mins back to farm with new tire, put on trailer.  That makes it almost 5pm... in December... in Virginia... the sun is well into setting and there's already very low light.  Well we had no choice but to go ahead and move them.  Sadly that means that by the time we reached the new place the horses were unloading after 6pm and it was pitch black.  We turned on all the flood lights that we could but it was pointless.

At this point it would be best if I explained that the other 3 had lived here before.  It's actually my parents old farm but they don't live there anymore so we're renting it until we can buy it, so the other 3 had all lived there for at least 8 years prior to this.  We tried letting Reily loose with the others hoping they'd guide him and keep him out of trouble... we're such optimists.  He promptly walked straight over a t-post (snapping it in half, talk about thank goodness for faulty materials!) and through the gate which wasnt' yet hooked so there was luckily no electric current, but then the other horses started running so he ran back (through mind you) the fence again, breaking it a second time, undoubtedly getting shocked and then they were all just going crazy.  So we went out and caught Reily and Napoleon (poor pony always get stuck babysitting) and banished them to the run in for the night.  After fixing the fence we had planned to leave Boo and Scotty out in the feild but then Boo, for no reason what so ever, ran through one of the gates himself so he and Scotty got banished to solitary confinement each in a dog kennel for the night.  It was outrageous.  Luckily the next morning brought a nice, sunny day with it and they were all freed into the big field together.  Reily learned the fence in no time and now their just happy little munchers!

His recovery is going well also.  He's on anitbiotics for a few more days but luckily he's not a picky eater (at least relatively speaking) so he hasn't been too irritated that there's some weird white powdery stuff covering his food and it's not confectioners sugar, he knows that much.  And lord knows I've kept every inch of him slathered in antibiotic ointment every second of the day to keep out bacteria, promote his hair to grow back, and deter any excessive scar tissue so his skins probably as soft as a baby's bottom oily enough that he could pass as an otter.  The only particularly bad thing about his injury is that because of the location of the wound he has some minor "subcutaneous hematoma" meaning that air bubbles are entering through the wound and being forced up into his body in the layer between his skin and muscles.  The body can break down some of this on it's own but the air can carry batceria so the vet wants there to be as little in there as possible, so 3-4 times a day I have to "deflate" him by pushing all the air bubbles back towards the wound and essentially forcing it back out the way it came in.  The only way I can explain it is that you can hear the bubbles moving around in there and it feels like rubbing your hand across bubble wrap.  Unfortunately every time he moves he's potentially letting more air in the cut, but locking him a stall wasn't an option yet.  Luckily since he's living right out the back door I can deflate him as many times as need be each day.

SMASH!

This is the sound that I imagine the four board fence made when Reily went straight through it.  We don't know what caused it (Scotty being an dictatorial ass, everyone running and Reily slipping in the mud and falling through it, anything Murphy's law related with horses) but Reily managed to obliterate all four boards in one panel of fence dividing the upper and lower fields.  In the process he managed to skewer his left foreleg with a piece of board right inside his "armpit" area.  When I got to the barn after work tonight to feed he had bald spots and blood all over his front legs.  I hadn't needed a vet since I'd moved the horses so this wasn't a fun way to meet the vet in the area.  Luckily she came right out, sedated him (lightweight again! see "If only we could all be lightweights" for explanation), cleaned it up, put 12 stitches in it (6 in the muscle, 6 in the skin), and put him on antibiotics for a week.  Hopefully this isn't setting any sort of pattern!  Horses, you've gotta love them or else they'd drive you mad!