Horses of my Christmas past - Part 1 : Mr. Chips

Mr. Chips was the horse that my mom had before I was born.  He was a 14 something hand bay QH. My mom mainly showed him in the small 4-H type hunter ring, but he was a pretty good baby sitter also.  He was the first horse that I ever rode by myself (and also in utero).  At that time we had a few acres, so he lived in our backyard with a few boarder horses (and eventually my pony).  Looking back at the pictures of him, I'm always taken aback for a minute at how almost pony-like he looks, because in my memories, he was always a big horse.  It's funny how time and perspective changes things like that. He was part of my life till I was about 6 or 7 when he crossed the rainbow bridge.

I'm pretty sure that I get my love of horses from Mr. Chips, because when I remember him, I can only remember how sweet and patient he was with me - from my attempts to grooming to the daily rides I demanded.  

Cautiously optimistic

Otter seems to be doing pretty well with his mister fan.  He was a lot cooler when I went out today, and when I took him out of his stall, I think I felt a little bit of sweat starting on his neck and chest.  Baby steps, ya’ll!  I gave him a bath and let him chill in front of the big fan again, then put him back in his stall, since I had to head home to get to work on time. 

 I’m definitely excited, but yet cautious, to think that he might be regaining his normal sweating capabilities again.  Hopefully just being in the cooler air is what he needs.  Still going to continue with our riding ban for a while until it looks like he can handle the weather again.  I would like to see him be okay without the mister before putting the extra stress on his body. 

 One of the other boarders has invited me to ride her second horse, R, while Otter is sidelined.  I’m excited to ride another horse, because I know Otter and I have a sort of codependency thing going on with our various faults, and I’m hoping that riding a different horse will help me correct some of my bad habits.  I’m also glad that at least one of us will still be in shape when Otter is able to be worked again.

 Since I know that ya’ll will get bored reading (and I’ll get bored writing) the repetitiveness of “I went to the barn, bathed Otter, he chilled in front of the fan, then I headed home” that is sure to happen over the next few weeks, I’ve decided to start a series entitled “Horses of Christmas Past” where I will introduce ya’ll to the significant horses that have been in my life.  Part 1 will debut sometime this weekend… So stay tuned!

Not quite A/C, but close

I went out to the barn this afternoon to give Otter another bath and let him chill in front of the big fan for a while, and when I got there, the barn owner said she wanted to try putting a fan mister in front of his window.  The mister was bought by another boarder for her horse when he was having some issues earlier in the summer due to some meds he was on, but since he is off of them now he has been fine with the heat.  Since Otter is still struggling so much, the other boarder approached the BO and said that Otter could use the mister instead.  So I helped the boarder set it up in front of his stall and it is amazing the difference it makes - easily cools down his stall by 10-20 degrees.

I let him get used to that for a while, then turned it off and gave him the bath I had planned on and let him sit in front of the big fan.  When I returned him to his stall, his skin was nice and cool.  I turned the mister back on in hopes to keep his body temp down during the afternoon.

I definitely hope this keeps him cool enough that his body can de-stress and he can start sweating again.

Rough times ahead

I had a hard time writing this post, because there isn’t  much going on with Otter – other than his lack of sweat.  Every time I went out last week, I took a different type of beer (amber, light, hard cider, Guinness), and he doesn’t like any of them.  With the Guinness I actually ended up syringing half of it into his mouth just to get it in his system.  I love him to death, but I hate how picky he is at times.  He’s getting the One A.C. in his grain AM and PM, and thank god he’s eating that.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be making much of a difference.

Beer for my horse

 The sweating that he was doing after rides last week has stopped, and now he will just barely sweat around his mane, and just a hint of sweat under his tack - nothing on his neck or chest.  Even hosing him off before the ride and not doing much doesn’t keep him cool for long.  On Wednesday the barn staff pulled him out of his stall multiple times to be hosed down and placed in front of a fan (since he will rarely stand in front of the one in his stall – preferring to stand against the wall dividing him and his buddy).  After hearing that, I’ve decided that until he starts sweating a decent amount again, we aren’t going to do any more rides.  I had been hoping that the exercise would induce his cooling system to kick back in, but it does not seem to be the case. 

Not a fan of Mich Ultra

 So Thursday morning, I just gave him a good shampooing to see if that would help, and then hung around the barn for a while so I could hose him off again after he had starting getting too warm again.

So not interested in beer

 I am so grateful to my barn staff, whom has been checking on him constantly this week and every time he looks like he is feeling uncomfortable or starts breathing heavier, pulls him out of the stall, hoses him, and lets him sit in front of the high power fan.  I don’t know what I would do without them right now.  I just hope we don’t have to go through months of this.

So please, think sweaty thoughts for Otter.

The sweats, or lack thereof

The past couple of rides I have noticed that Otter hasn't been sweating quite as much as is normal for him - but other than noticing it, I had just attributed it to us not working as much.

Today, however, we warmed up and I noticed he was breathing pretty heavily for the amount we had done.  A quick check showed me that he had not sweated at all yet, so we walked and hung out in the shade a bit, and he started to get a sweat going on his neck and between his legs, and had caught his breath again.  Figuring he was just a little slow to start sweating, we did a little bit more work (and I'm talking 5ish minutes top here), but this time when I took a walk break, he was breathing hard again, veins popping out and was bone dry.  So I immediately hopped off, and looked him over - dry on neck, between front legs, hind legs and minimal sweat under his tack.  *I* was sweating more than he was.

I loosened his girth and noseband and we headed back to the barn.  On the walk back to the barn, he got a bit of a sweat going again, but still not enough to make me comfortable.  I hosed him off to cool him off and then talked to my trainer about it.  We are going to start him on a beer a day (lucky him) and see how that goes and try some One A.C if needed.

So with that in mine - anybody have any tips, tricks or suggestions for horses with anhidrosis issues?  Or for the best way to get the beer into the horse?  Especially for a picky prima donna.. From what I've been reading it's not all that unusual for horses who make such a big climate change to have issues.

Anyways, I'll be stealing one of the hubby's Shiner Bocks on Friday and keeping my fingers crossed that he likes it and it helps him sweat more.

Back in the swing of things

I was able to get out to the barn again on Thursday to ride.  Otter’s leg looked much better than it had on Tuesday, which I was relieved about.  I ended up grooming and tacking up in his stall because of the camp kids getting ready and running around the rest of the barn.  I then headed outside to get away from the crowd in the indoor.

I’m really glad that I stuck around and watched some of the lessons on Tuesday, because it reminded me what some of my positional issues are when riding, and how I *should* be riding and how Otter needs to be responsible for himself at times.   Our last couple of dressage rides have been okay – but definitely not what they should be.  I went into this ride wanting to get a 100% out of me and Otter, and not end it feeling like we just weren’t connecting as in our past few rides. 

So with that in mind, from the beginning, I asked him to be more supple (without playing with my hands too much – using more of my seat and legs to ask him to bend his body) and more forward.  He resisted a bit in the beginning, but then relaxed into a nice walk.  We did the same at the trot and canter.  In the end, we had a much better ride than we have had – He was forward and bendy.  Could have been a bit more relaxed, but maybe next time. 

Cooled him out, cleaned my tack and hung out with the campers for a bit before I had to leave to get my hair cut.  I loved my long hair, but it is way too hot and humid to be dealing with all of that down here.  So now I have a short-ish do. 

Had to work all this weekend, but I’ll be back out at the barn again tomorrow!

Just jump it

On Tuesday I headed out to the barn with the intention of doing a little bit of jumping, however I got a little bit of a pause when I pulled Otter out and saw his hind legs.

 A little bit of stocking up is normal for him, especially with the heat and humidity that we have here, but this was a bit much for his norm.  I didn't feel any heat in them that made me concerned, so I took him to the arena for a quick jog to see how he was moving.  A spin on the lunge in both directions showed me that he was feeling and moving fine - even if he had the excess fluid in his legs, so I decided I would go ahead with my plan to jump if he felt fine under tack.

I tacked up and headed out to the ring, where I had to lower all the jumps, because after 5ish weeks off from jumping I just wasn't ready to jump at the height they were set at.

Novice-ish height

With his legs, and the heat, I kept our warm up pretty short and sweet - just enough to loosen up - before I started over the cross-rail.  Over all, I was happy with how our ride went.  It definitely could have been worse after having such a long period away.  We were able to canter most of the jumps, only having to revert back to trotting one once after a  bad spot that I just didn't want to chance an even worse jump on the next attempt.  Remembering to sit tall on the approach helped a lot.  I only ended up jumping about 15 total jumps (with lots of walking in between) due to both of us still adjusting to the heat.  

After Otter was cooled out, I hung out at the barn for a while watching a few of the lessons and chatting with some of the other people at the barn.  It was good to catch up with everybody after being away!

I'm a Mrs. now....

Hey ya'll!

  So I totally had the best intentions of leaving the blog with scheduled posts while I was off getting married and honeymooning, but with the normal wedding craziness beforehand, I just didn't get around to getting them finished and scheduled - so they will be saved for another time.

  Not too much to update with Otter - he's gotten a few rides since we got back, but I've mostly been playing catch up with our house, mail, thank yous, etc, so haven't really gotten back on a consistent schedule yet.  I've spent this weekend trying to get everything caught up, so hopefully will be back to a normal schedule going forward.

  Until then, enjoy some pictures from the wedding and our honeymoon in Italy!

The view from our hotel