Best of Intentions

After having a couple good rides last Thursday and Friday just asking McKenna to go forward and relax I gave the mare the weekend off.  My mom was flying in and we were having a girls weekend in the city.  Our equine massage therapist was going to be out Sunday so I had scheduled a massage for McKenna. I got a message Sunday night that the mare was a wild child and when I got to the barn Monday McKenna was covered in dried sweat.  She was also extremely back sore; so bad I could barley brush her.

Enjoy these cute pic from the Oregon Zoo as I have no new pony pics

Our massage therapist has been having massage classes for the past 4-5 months at our barn and I've been learning how to do my own massage.  The past few classes have turned more towards Mediterranean Horsemanship which I'm not sure I completely understand or want to learn.  Basically as I see it, it's another form of natural horsemanship that focuses on free movement, in hand work, and connecting with the horse. A lot of it is very much opposite of what I've been taught. I see how a lot of it could be helpful, but again, I'm not super convinced and it's very hard for me to wrap my head around it. But to each their own.

Here kitty kitty

In the past, when we've worked on our horses in the massage class (it's all ground work and learning the different massage techniques) I've been the only one working with McKenna.  Our MT feels (and I agree) that because she's a young, hot, OTTB mare she's a little too advanced for the others in the class.  I was under the assumption that by scheduling McKenna for a massage this weekend that our MT would be working on her alone, that she wouldn't be used in the class unless the MT was demonstrating something.  My mistake.  Apparently McKenna was used for some "communication with wands" with one of the other students.

In the email the MT sent me today, she said the McKenna and the other student S ended up having some great moments and that she was really proud of them.  She said they worked for an hour and a half, and that when McKenna was done, she was DONE. There was one brief line about how in the massage part of it that the mare's hips felt better, but her back and barrel weren't "she she would have wanted them".  Yeah, no shit.  If I can't even brush my horse's back, there's a problem. 

We might have also gone to the Garth Brooks concert.  Trying really hard to take this motto to heart

I haven't replied to the MT yet, because I don't know if I can without losing it.  I'm pissed that my horse was used in training without me there and without my permission and that it caused her to be even more sore than she was before. I'm also not happy that I paid for a professional massage when in fact I got a "training session" by someone I don't know super well and a horse with a super sore back. I would have been ok if the MT had demonstrated with her, but having someone I don't know, and have never seen work a horse, practice on her is not ok.  I'll take the blame by not explicitly stating that to the MT, but I would have thought she knew that.  There's very few people I trust to work with McKenna and that list jut got shorter.  If it had been Phoenix or Buddy?  Not a problem; they're both super well trained and can't really be screwed up too much.  But not with my green bean of a mare.

Feeling a little too good

Anna has a lesson on Thursday with Jen.  I was only able to watch the first ten minutes before I had to leave and from what I saw, Phoenix looked good but excitable.  They had just started trotting an x and he was offering lead changes on the off side which is something he hasn't really done since he started work again.  When I was showing him, his changes were almost automatic but he hasn't done that for Anna.

I had assumed it was because A) she wasn't doing much with him in terms of jumping and he didn't have to and B) his arthritis was hurting him and it was hard.  I have schooled changes on him during the few times I've ridden him and they've been good.  We have changed his herbs around, and he's on two strong anti-inflammatory/arthritis herbs, turmeric root and celery seed.  I've noticed that he's moving better and is off daily bute. We've also added dried nettle leaf which is a vitamin/mineral/all around good herb.  I've also started taking it myself to see if it helps my general health.  The caveat with the nettle is that it makes them feel a little too good sometimes and unfortunately Phoenix hit that point.

I had told Anna this, and suggested that she lunge him a bit if he had a couple days off.  Well she didn't ride him Tuesday or Wednesday and didn't lunge before her lesson on Thursday.  He bucked her off twice.  Naughty, naughty boy.  The second time she landed on her hip and ended up going to the ER. Nothing broken, just badly bruised. 

My initial reaction was to ride the snot out of him, but then thought that maybe he was sore and that's why he was bucking.  Checked him out Friday, and he seemed fine so I got on.  He was moving great and really worked up a head of steam at the canter.  We had to do lots of lateral work at the trot and walk to calm down, but we ended on a good note.  Today the massage therapist was out and I had him checked just in case.  She said he felt fine, just his normal level of soreness and suggested another herb that tends to work well on TBs, skullcap.  It tends to level them out and focus them a bit.  I'm going to order some and hope it works.  And on Jen's orders I'm going to ride Phoenix during lessons tomorrow and school him over fences under supervision.

Herbs for Horses

And plants for ponies!  On Saturday we had an herb clinic at the barn; learning about how herbs can help the overall health of our horses and replace most of their supplements.  There's a horse rescue/rehab place, Three Treasures Farm, about an hour south of us and the woman/trainer who runs it has been friends with a couple of our boarders for years.  Ferronato is also an equine massage therapist and has been out to our barn many times over the years to do massages.  In the pat year she has started doing the herbal clinics as a fundraiser for her rescue.

We went over some general herbs and discussed each of our horses' problems.  Ferronato has all of her horses off processed grain and on alfalfa pellets and the herbs.  I've started the boys on timothy pellets as Phoenix and alfalfa don't go well together.  I'll slowly wean the down/off their Strategy if I can, but I'm not sure how well Phoenix will keep weight on without it.

To start the boys on herbs, Ferronato suggest doing a 30 day cleanse while weaning them off their grain.  The cleanse uses dandelion root, dandelion leaf and marshmallow root.  I don't remember exactly what each of them do, but I know one of them cleanses out their intestines and the other helps heal their mucosal membranes.

After the 30 days, I have a list (which of course I've left at the barn) for what each boy should get.  I know each will get dried nettles (good source of vitamins and minerals) and turmeric (antinflammatory). Phoenix will get celery seed (good for bony arthritis) and Buddy would get cinnamon (don't remember why).  The good thing is that they only get like a tea or tablespoon of each of herbs and the herbs cost around $11/pound.  If they work, it should save me a lot of money. The supplier Ferronato uses is local (about 10mins from where I work) and all organic. 

If anyone around the Corvallis area is interested there will be another herb clinic Jan 12 at our barn.  Hopefully I'll have the boys done with their 30 day cleanse by that point.