Update on the boys

Haven’t really talked about my rides lately, mostly because they either weren’t exciting or weren’t good.

Phoenix is doing well. I’m loving the Antares on him and he is having a great time doing flat lessons with my friend Jessica on Saturdays. When I was filling out my new 2014 planner I keep for the horses, it was crazy to look back at how few issues he had throughout 2013 (knock on wood) compared to 2012. In 2012 he was plagued by hoof related lameness. I pulled his shoes in August of 2012 and I really credit that change for his soundness in 2013. Now if we could have no chokes (twice in 2013, now getting grain soaked because he’s too piggy to chew) or colics (once in 2013 then I put him on smartdigest ultra) in 2014 that would be great.

P grazing today, it’s been overly warm the last few days so the snow is almost all melted

Stampede on the other hand seems to be continuing his bad luck in 2013. He hadn’t felt great in my lesson Saturday before last, but this past Saturday it was just horrible. When his back bothers him he does what I call balling up. He just kind of moves in place instead of going forward to the jumps. It’s only been three and a half months since his last back injections, which is really disappointing when I consider his riding future. My trainer really thinks that since he hasn’t been on Adequan his injections aren’t lasting as well. Since Adequan still seems to be aloof, I need to talk to my vet again to try to get him on something she will let me give IM or my trainer give IV.

Yum, grass

In the meantime, I am giving him a few days of Robaxin (muscle relaxer) to see if I can settle his back down a bit. We did our lunge today and he was plenty happy to do that. Almost more disappointing to have a horse that’s sound and happy as long as you don’t sit on him!

Either way, this issue is nothing new, and I will continue trying to plan financially for the time when Stampede retires and I need to finance him living at home and purchase another horse. Hopefully we can find a way to make him comfortable for another year or so though, I’m not ready to move on yet.

Cooling out in the field Saturday

I brought my Butet home today and tried out my Higher Standards Leather Care Fox’s Vanilla Lavender soap and handmade leather balm. I bought a sampler set before Christmas and gave away the other two soaps to some friends.  This soap made me feel like I’ve been doing a bad job! So much dirt came off, I swear I’m not that bad of a tack cleaner although I admit I’m not a weekly cleaner by any means. Gross!

Dirty water from cleaning just one saddle! Ewww!

I was pretty impressed with the cleaning power obviously. I liked how the leather balm went on, although putting it on with a cloth was a bit weird. It was hard to keep the cloth from twisting when I was putting balm on the saddle, so my hand was getting sore from trying to hold it in place and scoop out more balm. Might just try a dry sponge next time. I’m interested to ride in the saddle and see how it feels and whether the balm attracts dirt as much as what I’ve been using. Nothing like an indoor arena to cover your saddle in dust.

Reilly was exhausted from saddle cleaning

The weather is cooling down here tonight, so there’s going to be some cold riding with lows in the teens all week. I’m jealous of those of you who are nice and warm this time of year!