Stepping it Up

Our first show of 2026 is a month away, and Cinder and mine's first clinic together is two weeks away, so we're officially stepping things up. The tentative plan is for Trainer M to take Cin in the 3' Green Hunters and she's been jumping her bigger once a week or so and hot damn if Cin isn't rising to the occasion. 

They make it look so easy

We've also been in flying change boot camp which seems to finally be paying off. She's at the point now where she 100% knows what we're asking, she's just lazy and doesn't want to. And she get pissy, mostly on the flat, when you try to set her up too much before asking for them. She's better about getting them while coursing, and Trainer M even put us on a flying change ban on the flat for now, as to not anger the beast too much. 

I'm hoping to do the 2'6" with her at the show, but my main goal is go and have fun. We're heading south to Thermal for a week, and Indio/Thermal has been a dream show of mine for about *cough* 25 years so I know nerves and the intimidation factor will play a roll. I do think we have a better plan for Cinder's nerves (vet recommended big dose of ulcergard and some perfect prep the first few days) so hopefully her being more chill will help me be more chill. 

The countdown is on and final prep is being done and I can't wait! 

 

Peebs' Takes a Turn

 Despite the two atmospheric rivers the PNW got in December, it's been a dry year for us. We had about a 10 day streak at the end of January where it was dry and sunny, but cold at night. Temps in the low 20s overnight but warming up to the 40s during the day. Peebs, who has turned slightly feral in retirement and prefers to be outside as much as possible, was left out in the bigger paddock with the run in shed during this time.

I pulled into the barn one Friday night to feed dinner and could see him walking around in his paddock. He took a few off steps, then was fine, then took another funky step. I pulled him out and he was reluctant to walk across the gravel and into the barn. Definitely lame on his right front. I was thinking abscess so I wrapped him up and left him inside. He was slightly better Saturday, slightly worse Sunday, and by Monday was lame on both fronts. So I called the vet. 

On Wednesdays Tuesdays we wear pink

I kept wrapping both fronts as if he had abscess, and while he was more comfortable moving around with the wraps on, I didn't really think we were dealing with abscess. He's very stoic, and has had abscess before without showing any symptoms. He was also lamer during this time than he's ever been in the 10yrs that I've owned him. I did briefly think he might have been foundering. 

Thankfully all he has is some bruising on both front feet more than likely due to the hard freezes we had and his feet being a bit soft from the atmospheric river last month. He got a set of shoes and pads put on (he was very offended when the farrier started nailing shoes on after being barefoot for 4yrs) the day after our vet visit and walked away perfectly sound. Both my vet and farrier think he'll only need the shoes and pad for a cycle, maybe two and will be back to barefoot after that. 

AAAAAHHHHH

 I think most of us can agree that the end of 2025 and the beginning of 2026 can best be described as The Horrors. I've felt like that last month has gone by in both a blink of an eye and that its lasted an entire year. Living in the US sucks, work sucks, the professional organization I'm on the board of directors of sucks, and my dad had major surgery so I've been helping my mom take care of him (thankfully he's doing great and recovery hasn't been as bad as we were expecting). But thank god and *knocks on wood* the ponies have been wonderful. 

We did start 2026 by lunging just to cover our asses

Cinder's massive abscess thankfully blew two days after it made itself known. It did take about 10 days to fully drain, but she felt better pretty much immediately. She did get cleared to slowly get back to work while it was still draining, mainly because she was bit of monster in her stall and for her hand walks. The abscess blew during the two atmospheric rivers we got in the PNW so for part of her stall rest no horses got turned out and then it was too muddy to turn her out with a still draining hole in her foot, even with a wrap and a boot. She was only a monster for about a week, and most of her energy was handled with a pre-ride lunge and the pelham. 

Peebs and I celebrated 10 years together this week

Since she's been fully back to work, and regular turnout, Cinder's been great. The contrast between last winter and this is amazing. Last winter she got lunged before every ride and even then she felt explosive. This year, minus the week or so after her abscess, I don't need to lunge and we've been riding mostly in the d-ring mullen mouth. And I even jumped for the first time in six weeks in the d-ring. I think she had had ulcers for much longer than we thought and treating them has really, really helped. She just feels so much more settled mentally and physically. 

A little pre-lesson marinade in her BOT quarter sheet

Trainer M has sent out the proposed show schedule for the year and we have our yearly show team goals meeting next weekend to start planning out our season, which may or may not involve escaping to the desert in two months. What better way to survive The Horrors and the winter weather than to plan a trip south? 

The Biggest Drama Queen to Ever Drama Queen

 I do have a fair bit of catching up to do on the blog, including both Trainer M and I falling off of Cinder 8 days apart from each other, but let's jump to the new and fun traumatizing way Cinder decided to spend a Saturday. 

I have a 10am lesson on Saturdays. Cinder is usually finishing up eating breakfast when I get to the barn, so I tend to groom her in her stall. I had taken her blanket off and noticed she was a bit warm, but it had been warmer overnight than was expected and she was in a medium so I figured she was just a bit hot from being over-blanketed. As I was grooming I noticed her right front was a bit swollen, on the outside of fetlock. I took her out to the crossties for better lighting and yep, a nice swollen leg and she was 1/5 lame at the walk. Her hoof was a bit warm, and she had some lovely protruding veins popping on that leg. I took her temp just because and she was at 102.3.

Hard to see, but the back of the fetlock and a little bit up the cannon bone towards the back of the leg

Assistant Trainer I and Trainer M arrived right after and we started discussing. AT had ridden her the day before and said she was fantastic. Horses hadn't been turned out that day due to sideways rain and wind, and when M left around 7:30 Friday night, Cinder had been fine. We were all pretty much in agreement that we were dealing with an abscess so we soaked and put a poultice pad on and wrapped the hoof. Cinder went back into her stall and I hung out watching lessons for a few hours. 

a few hours later

When I was getting ready to leave, I went back to check on Cin and put her blanket back on. She was standing in the middle of her stall, shaking and her leg had absolutely blown up. I took her temp again and it had gone up to 103.9. AT was standing a few feet away and I called her over and we both agreed this had turned into call the vet territory. Vet advised to cold hose her hind legs to try and get her temp down, and that she would be on her way to us. Cinder was now 4/5 lame, but was happy to weight the leg, just not lift it up. In fact while we were cold hosing her, she would lift a hind leg to show her displeasure with us. 

Her leg looked so weird

AT noticed that Cinder had swelling on the inside of her upper leg while we were waiting for Doc to get to the barn. It was so weird. We had started thinking cellulitis, but her swelling was patchy, not the typical stovepipe leg that's common with cellulitis.

Doc finally arrived and after a quick vitals check, temp now 104.2, gave banamine and watched Cin walk from the wash rack to the crossties. She had been at the barn and watched Cinder go on Friday and kept commenting that Cin looked great not even 24hr previous. Blood was pulled for a stall side analysis, and she had us start shaving the whole leg to see if we could see any cut/scrape/puncture and in prep for ultrasound. We found nothing in terms of a wound, so Doc started ultrasounding the upper leg. All we found was swelling outside the muscle, but no tears or abscess there. We moved onto x-rays, both of her upper leg and cannon bone. Nothing remarkable. Doc even said those joints looked great. We finally put hoof testers on and got a big reaction to those. 

Probably overkill but I don't care at this point

The bloodwork showed that Cin's inflammation markers were extremely elevated, normal is below 50 and she was 671. I don't remember what other values were off, but basically it said she was also extremely stressed. Me too Cinder, me too. Doc theorized that Cinder was probably laying down overnight, started hurting from the abscess, and then was having difficulty standing up and kicked herself in the upper leg. Then the pain from the abscess and kick sent her into something similar to a panic attack and caused her temp to spike. Since an abscess is an infection, that could cause a small fever but not to the extent that Cinder had. There's still a small possibility that she has a stress fracture that won't show on x-ray for a week, but Doc doesn't think that's very likely. Basically my drama queen of a mare had a panic attack and made it everyone's problem. 

By the time we were done and the sedation had worn off, Cin's temp was back down to 100, she was back to 1/5 lame at the walk, and was very hungry for dinner. Doc put the above bandage on and gave her a shot of Excede to try and prevent cellulitis. Cin will get another Excede shot Wednesday and Doc will take off the bandage and recheck the leg. She did say this was the most she's ever done for an abscess but this wasn't presenting as a normal abscess; this was presenting as nothing she's ever seen before. Leave it to Cinder to be that special. 

Thursday Things

 We're almost three weeks in on Cinder's ulcer treatment, and it really seems to be helping. She felt and looked better after just a week, and has continued to put on weight and been great under saddle. She starts a step down dosage this weekend, so hopefully progress continues. 

Hello

We've made a bit change since coming back from Canada. For the most part she went fine in the French link and the Dr. Bristol, but we never quite got that nice hunter frame that she had years ago in the mullen mouth. The only reason we switched out of the mullen mouth was that she could get a bit heavy in it, and had no brakes when she got wound up. I suggested that maybe we should try a mullen mouth pelham. Trainer M was bit skeptical (I do like that most horses in her program go in French links, but she can be wary of trying different bits) but Assistant Trainer I agreed with me. Cinder was very taken aback by the pelham for the first few rides, but has learned to accept it. She's so much lighter in it, and I can find that hack winning trot in her, and don't have to fight to get it. I also bought the same bit in a d-ring, so our plan is flat her in the D and jump/show her in the pelham. 

The barn held a little show for the lesson kids, complete with scary Halloween decorations and Cinder didn't give a single shit. 

Peebs continues to be the bestest old man. I took him out to the arena last week to play around and part of me really wants to ride him again, but he deserves his retirement and I absolutely do not have time for two riding horses. 

Cinder and I jumped our first 3' fence together in our lesson last week and it felt awesome. It was the second fence of a one stride, so I didn't feel too intimidated coming up to. Cinder actually jumped it much better than the smaller fences we had warmed up over. She was like "Bitch finally pointed me at something worth my effort."

Post Season Slump

 With summer show season over, and Oregon hitting our hottest part of the year in late August-mid September, we had a bit of a summer slump. While at Tbird Cinder lost some weight, but Trainer M was on it and we upped her feed at the show and at home. She did gain some of the weight back, but then we had a week or so of ungodly (for Oregon, I know it was nothing compared to the east coast) hot and humid weather and she dropped weight again. She's always been a horse who doesn't handle the heat very well, so I wasn't too worried about it. 

I rode one of the lesson horses on a hot and humid day to give Cin a break and almost fell off laughing at how different 15hand grade pinto Delta is from Cinder. I did have a lot of fun though.

But Cinder never seemed to put the weight back on, and started looking a bit too thin, even when the weather sorted itself out and fall started to make it's appearance. She did have a minor gas colic three weeks ago when we had a string of a few days with lows in the high 40s/low 50s and daytime highs in the high 80s/low 90s. While Doc was at the barn treating her, we were talking about Cin's weight and general body condition. I told Doc I didn't want to be that person, but I was suspecting she had ulcers. With how wound up she was at Tbird, the weight loss and poor condition, and how she seemed to be struggling a bit after we got back made me suspicious. Doc agreed with me and we scheduled Cin for a scope. 

We did have one fabulous lesson mixed in there where we jumped the triple

And what do you know, we have ulcers! There were grade 3 and 4 gastric ulcers and suspected pyloric ulcers, but we weren't able to get a good look at them because Cinder still had some water in her stomach. We're starting with omeprazole, and might add some sulcralfate in at the end of the omeprazole treatment. 

I dogsat for my parents last month and their new dog Rosie was absolutely enchanted by the horses. Peebs was a Very Good Boy about her yipping and squealing as she tried to get near him

Cinder started her treatment over the weekend and I got a report that she was lovely for her trainer ride yesterday. Finger's crossed we continue on an upward trend and can get these ulcers under control before we hit the depths of winter and cold weather Cinder makes her appearance. 

Tbird Summer Fort Welcome 2025: Actually Showing

 The original plan for Wednesday, the first day of showing for Cinder, was for trainer M to do a couple 2'9" rounds. There was only one 2'6" schooling round that Cin was qualified for; the other 2'6" classes were for young horses and it's really weird to think that she's aged out of those. Of course they switched the ring schedule Tuesday night and moved the 2'9" division to one of the other hunter rings, so we scratched those and put her in the 2'6". Trainer M wanted to keep her in the ring I'd be showing in, so hopefully she'd settle in by the time I'd be showing her. 

Wednesday dawned with a lovely summer storm and a power outage at the show. I was to hand walk Cinder in our ring before the show started at 8, while Trainer M rode her mare, and then one of the other amateurs was in the first two classes in one of the jumper rings. Cinder was very offended that I took her out in the rain, too offended to care about spooking which was nice. I then headed off to jumper land and held a horse while Trainer M and the other ammy walked the course. They quickly warmed up and went in and had some decent rounds, despite the weather. By this time everyone was so thoroughly soaked that I used the hour and a half before I needed to tack Cin up for M to run back to the Airbnb to get dry clothes for myself, M, and the working student.  I was just going to buy a raincoat, and coffee, at the vendor village but everything was closed due to the power outage. 

Tbird doesn't have an official show photographer, you have to pay for private client photography and that starts at $850/week, so enjoy these lovely video screenshots

Thankfully it stopped raining and dried out pretty well by the time M got on Cinder. Cin was more up than she had been on our morning walk, but held it together. She did have a big spook coming down the one outside line when she saw the jump crew and their tent which led to the very crooked moment above. Unbeknownst to us, the 2'6" rounds were judged red/blue, any score over 80 got a red ribbon and anything below got a blue (red being first in Canada) and they announced at the end of the round if it was a red ribbon round. We didn't hear anything announced, and after checking with the back gate lady, we picked up our blue ribbon. 
 

Thursday was my first day of showing. Trainer M took Cin in the 2'6" schooling round early in the day and Cin was on fire. They left a stride out of all the lines and earned another blue ribbon. Cin got about an hour break before I got on for two rounds in the 2' jr/am division. Unfortunately there was a horrific accident in one of the other hunter rings, and they had to stop all the rings while the ambulance came and picked up the rider. That threw all the timelines out the window and we ended up getting pushed to the back of the order, all while the gate lady kept telling us just 15 more mins. I was on for just under 2hrs. Most of that time was spent walking, but by the time I showed my blood sugar was low and my anxiety high. Cinder had spooks in both of my rounds, leading to us circling and getting excused in the first, and then circling and trotting in the second. I did manage to take care of Cinder and take myself off to the food truck for a much needed cheeseburger before the tears started but I was really beating myself up about our rounds. 

walking around waiting to go

I came much more prepared for Friday, arming myself with snacks and a smoothie and having them available on the golf cart so in case my rounds got delayed I could have something to eat. Which of course meant the show was running smoothly and I was able to warm up and go right in the ring.  I was determined that we would get around the whole course on the first try and not trot any fences. Our first round was really nice. Cinder wanted to be bold, but I was able to hold her together and we earned a 3rd(which is white in Canada, not yellow and I keep thinking I got a fourth). In our second round I saw the move up distance to the in of the first outside line and Cinder took that as permission to bolt down the line. We left a stride out, took down the rail on the out of the line, and then she tried to bolt in the corner. I circled and was planning on trotting into the diagonal line when one of the jump crew ran out to reset the rail we took down and I had to circle again to avoid hitting him. The announcer did call out for jump crew to wait and that I could continue. We did trot the rest of the course as both Cinder and I were pretty frazzled. 

I was pretty much done mentally and physically by Saturday, but we moved up to the 2'3" long stirrup division. I don't really remember how the first round went, other than Cinder was anxious and spooky, I just know that we didn't place. I retired in our second round because as we were coming around the far side two kids on electric scooters came flying down the path and Cinder stopped dead. I could feel her body quaking, and when I put my leg on she squealed and jumped straight up. I was just done at that point. We did go and jump a few things in the warm up ring, but I was beating myself up a lot. The imposter syndrome was hitting hard. 

Grazing with Trainer M and her mare Carolina, who Cinder fell in love with

The other ammies also had a rough week and none of us wanted to show on Sunday. Our plan was to hand walk the ponies first thing, then pack up and head home. We managed to get everything loaded and were on the road by 11:30. Crossing the border back to the US was a breeze, and thankfully we didn't have any blown tires heading home. It was the first day of a heat wave, with temps reaching 98* so we stopped three times on the way home to let the ponies have water. Despite having all the windows open, Cinder arrived back home a little sweaty so she got a shower before getting tucked into her stall.