Exploding Horses

Cal, when he's not exploding.

I recently inherited Big Cal as a training project as he seems to have regressed in recent years.  He has always had a problem with jumping, but that is not a particular concern as he doesn't have to jump in ceremonies--in fact, we'd prefer he didn't.  However, he has developed a problem with setting back while tied up. 

 

I'm not really sure what has happened to him, but he seems to develop a panic attack while at the hitching post.  He starts out okay, but gradually becomes more and more nervous until he decides to pull back on the lead rope until something breaks and he can get free.  If we loose-tie him, he quickly recovers once he realizes he isn't tied, but you can't leave him unattended for any length of time as he will just wander off. 

 

Today, I tried to cross tie him between two poles to see if that would hold him.  It didn't.  He just put all his weight against one cross-tie strap until it gave out.  He fell backward and will probably turn up  lame tomorrow.  He ran off, but I enticed him back with a carrot.

 

I think the only answer is to not tie him, but not leave him unattended.  The rider will have to pre-stage all the grooming tools and tack so Cal isn't left alone for any length of time.  I will continue to work with him to see if there is some specific issue that causes him to panic and blow up at the post.  He doesn't seem to have the problem when tied up in the trailer or on the side of the trailer.  That may be because there are other horses there.  It may be a problem with being separated from other horses. 

 

I may try to tie him up next to another horse to see what he does.  Another horse mystery to solve.   

Beginning a New Year

So far we have had a mild winter here in southeast Arizona.  The temperatures were in the mid 30s this morning, which was tolerable.  The sun didn't come up until about 0730, but since the stables are in the shadow of a ridge line, the whole valley was lit up with sunlight before the sun hit me while I was feeding the horses.  

The Wonder Horse helping me with one of the frame poles.  

After feeding the horses I went downtown to pick up some hardware for a pen renovation project I'm working on.  A bad storm had destroyed four of our horse shelters last summer, making the pens unusable, and restricting where I can put horses.  I decided to rebuild one of the shelters with materials I had on hand, but was running out of metal screws.  I need to get the shelter finished so I can bring in the new horses, Khyber and Boone, who are living at my house at the moment.  Unfortunately, I couldn't finish the project today as the wind kicked up and was blowing the sheet metal around as I was trying to screw it to the shelter frame.  

The rebuilt shelter frame.  

Instead, I spent the afternoon spreading manure.  I'm  making some progress in reducing the size of the manure pile, but it is so old that it is like an archaeological dig.  I may find some mastodon bones in there.  

We brought all the horses in from pasture tonight, even though it is Thursday and they will be going out again tomorrow for the weekend.  They have been out for two weeks and they were more than ready to come in.  My two, Blade and Duke, stood at the pasture gate and watched me the whole time I was spreading manure.  I bought them and the Wonder Beast in and they happily dove into their feeders.  There will be no leftover hay in the morning, I'm certain.  

Manure Removal and Flat Tires

Today was my first day back to work after being off last week for Thanksgiving.  I figured the email inbox would be full of nonsense tasks, but it wasn't too bad.  I had a chance to plan riding for the week and take care of some maintenance around the stable area. 

 

One on-going task I have, is getting rid of all the manure that we produce each week.  I spread it in the riding arena to mix into the sand and help keep the footing soft.  I compost the manure first, so I'm not spreading fresh manure and the parasites and weeds that go with it.  The manure pile generates its own heat, so it breaks down and kills all the nasty stuff hidden in the manure, if you leave it alone for a month or so. 

 

I have a small manure spreader that is just big enough to take one bucket full from the front end loader on the tractor.  I pull the spreader around the arena with the Gator which does a pretty good job.  If I have some help, the job goes pretty quickly, but if I'm alone, I have to jump back and forth between the tractor and the Gator.  I can get about a dozen loads of manure spread in about an hour by myself, not counting equipment prep and clean up after. 

 

I knew I needed to get the manure spread today as we are forecast to have bad weather the next couple of days.  You can't really spread wet manure, so it was today or not at all.  Of course, both the Gator and the tractor had flat tires.  Fortunately, the tires could be aired up so I didn't have to get them replaced.  It seems that I'm always dealing with some sort of tire problem. 

 

The composted manure was mostly broken down into dust, so every time I turned the tractor into the wind, I got a manure shower.  I wear sunglasses, hat, and bandanna over my face to keep it out of my eyes and lungs, but it is still nasty.  It spreads nicely though, and when I drag the arena, it will essentially disappear.  It's a lot of work though, and ends up killing a couple hours of the day even when you don't have flat tires. 

 

Garbage Detail

I spent the morning today fussing with financial stuff.  Somebody came up with this new system for making purchase requests.  Must have been the same people who did the new national health care site.  It is a nightmare and kills countless hours that could be spent doing something productive.  Nevertheless, I managed to straighten out all our monthly purchases and reconcile our accounts. 

 

After that, I went to see the doctor who looked in my ear and said my head was infected.  He gave me a sack of pills to take.  Some of the pills make me happy, some make me sad.  Better living through random pill popping. Hopefully, this sack of pills will relieve the pressure in my head. 

 

I then spent the afternoon repairing garbage cans.  We use them as water troughs for the horses.  These cans are ancient, but made of really sturdy metal.  The new ones I bought are made of tin foil and don't last.  Plus, the wind blows them around.  I threw them all away.  I don't have money for new water troughs, so I got out a tube of Liquid Nails and resealed all the old cans.  Lots of fun trying to squeeze this stuff out of a tube.  My forearms are twice the size they were yesterday.  I look like Popeye the Sailor. 

 

I was able to spend a few minutes at the end of the day working with horses.  Pretty much the highlight of the day.  I spent a few minutes working on putting a bridle on Duke, who has always had a problem with his ears.  He doesn't like it when you pull the bridle over his ears, so I let the check straps out as far as they go and kind of toss it over his ears.  Today, we worked on that and made some progress.  I also was able to help Martina a little as she worked with Big Cal, who doesn't like jumps.  He had a bad accident years ago and has never really gotten over it.  Martina was real patient with him and managed to get him to relax and go through a course with ground poles.  He is teachable, but it takes a lot of patience.  Working with horses is much more rewarding than working with financial systems and garbage cans. 

Still Kicking

Okay, so it has been a little while since I posted anything, but what's a couple months?  I don't have much to write about as far as riding horses goes as I haven't done any riding since coming down with pneumonia in September.  The doctors cured the pneumonia, but I keep coming up with other illnesses.  I briefly considered giving myself bute today--just to end it all. 

Most of my time each day is spent coordinating something, fixing something, or complying with some bureaucratic requirement.  I'm continually asked to comply with regulatory requirements that are meant to be handled by a fully manned company, not a one-man horse operation.  I have to focus on keeping the horse detachment functioning first, after that I can worry about filling out logistics paperwork and completing training in sexual harassment (is it okay to pat my horse on the butt?). 

 

Yesterday, I caught a couple of environmental people checking out our manure pile.  They were responding to a work order to have the manure pile moved that was issued over a year ago.  Obviously, it was not a priority for them.  They seemed to think the placement of our manure pile was okay, but I'm almost certain someone above them will insist that it be moved or modified in some way to make managing it more difficult.  The funny thing is that no matter where you put it, it all ends up being washed downstream eventually. 

 

Today, in addition to taking a riding lawn mower in for maintenance (the maintenance guys didn't want to take it, but I whined until they did) and taking a truck in to get the plastic cap on the tailgate replaced, I spent about ninety minutes raking the arena for the riding practice tonight.  The barrel racers had been practicing in the arena and had left big divots in the footing.  Not good when troopers are trying to practice charges at a full gallop.  I wanted to wet the arena down before I dragged it, but only two of the sprinklers were working.  Thus, the footing is like brown talcum powder now.  I hope everyone rode with their bandannas over their faces. 

 

Return of Bob

We drove back up to Phoenix today to retrieve Bob from the veterinary clinic.  His surgery went well, but he will be on pen rest for at least three weeks.  He won't be able to do any work until sometime in October. 

Bob checking things out in his room at the spa.

 

 

 

 

Bob jumped out of the trailer without effort, when we got home.  It is nice to see him sound for a change. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, he gets to stay here at the horsey spa before his eventual return to the Army.  Bob is okay with that. 

 

Room with a view. 

 

Navicular Treatment for Bob

Bob is one of our slow, ponderous horses who cam to the troop about five years ago.  He had been used in cowboy mounted shooting before coming to us, so he was considered a good find as he was already gun trained. Although he was slow, I considered that an asset as many of our horses turn out to be too fast when charging up the parade field.  I was wanting a horse that a beginner could ride.  I thought I'd found that in Bob, but it turned out that in a charge all that slow, ponderous behavior disappeared.  He is also obstinate and difficult to ride, if you don't have a lot of confidence in yourself.  Despite all that, he was a decent horse when paired up with the right rider.  Basically, the same situation as we have with every other horse. 

 

Waiting for the effects of the first nerve block to take effect.

 

Unfortunately, he turned out to be bi-lateral navicular and had to have a neurectomy to correct his lameness.  All attempts at pen rest, corrective shoeing, shoe removal, etc. had not helped him. The surgery went well and he was pain-free for a couple of years.  However, earlier this year he began to show signs of lameness again.  We thought it was the navicular reappearing as the surgery typically only lasts a couple years before the nerves regrow.  We had him evaluated but it seemed that the lameness was caused by a bad bone bruise on one of his fetlocks.  We put him in pen rest for several months to see if he would come out of it, but once the bruise was healed, he was still lame. 

 

The vet blocking the second hoof. 

 

Thus, we took him back to the veterinarian for another evaluation and a possible neurectomy.  The veterinarian blocked him out (numbed his heels) and the lameness disappeared, so it was clear that he had gone navicular again.  You can only do a neurectomy twice on the same horse, so this will be Bob's last surgery before he has to be retired.  Hopefully, he will be able to perform for a couple more years before the nerves regenerate and lameness sets in again. 

 

Meanwhile, he will be in pen rest for a couple weeks, before we begin the process of reconditioning him.  He will have to be paired with an experienced rider who can recognize lameness and can deal with any stumbling, should it occur.  After a year of so of additional service to the Army, we will start looking to retire him so he can go shoeless and not have to work anymore.  He will never be completely pain free, once the nerves regenerate, but we can hopefully find a home with nice, soft ground, where his discomfort will be minimized. 

 

Bob wishing he could have a coke. 

I don't really like giving a neurectomy to a horse, but sometimes it is the only option for extending the useful life of a horse.  In this economy, no one wants a lame horse, so it is in his best interests to keep him working as long as possible and then hope we can find a nice home for him where he can just be a pasture pet.  Once he's free of shoes and having to work under saddle, he might enjoy a decent retirement with minimal pain. 

 

Navicular disease cannot be cured and no one really knows what causes it.  It is disheartening to see a young horse, with so much promise, become navicular.   Bob is getting the best treatment available in Arizona and hopefully we can keep him going a bit longer.