Peebs vs The Fence

Peebs is normally pretty respectful of pasture fences. He hates hitting the hot wire and is generally too lazy to try and run through a fence or jump over one. So our theory for what he did Saturday is that he tried to kick at another horse on the other side of the fence, in the other pasture. Because Peebs is an asshole sometimes and would try to do something like that.

Peebs was in the pasture on the left while the others have moved to the pasture on the right.

As I drove up to ride around 11:30 on Saturday I saw the fence was down from the driveway. A had snapped me a pic at 7 when she fed of the ponies taking naps so sometime in the 4.5 hours between, this had happened. All four ponies were up by their respective gates when I went to assess the damage and at first I wasn’t too worried. But then I saw the blood against Peebs’ hind stocking and started getting worried. His left hind was pretty badly torn up and he had the leg cocked. I called A and left her a message then called the vet and left another one. I did a quick check on the other three but thankfully they were all fine.

I grabbed Peebs and prayed he could make it into the barn. Thankfully he took one lame step then walked perfectly fine into a stall. My vet returned my call and said he was en route to another emergency and I should call the vet school. A came down as I was talking to the on call vet who advised me to bring him into the hospital. Peebs had one laceration/puncture on his fetlock and I was worried about joint involvement.

(Side note: my former mare McKenna was put down last fall due to a severe laceration on her fetlock involving the joint. She would have required surgery and a long recovery with a poor prognosis so her owners decided to put her down. I was having visions of this in my head all day.)

On the right side of his barrel while everything else is on the left

I ran home and grabbed the truck then ran back to the barn and hooked up the trailer. Never have I been more thankful that I live 9 minutes away from the barn. Peebs jumped right in the trailer and we set off for the clinic. When I got there they told me due to Covid I wasn’t allowed in the clinic and that I had to unload Peebs and tie him to the trailer and then they would come and get him. Watching them walk him into the clinic killed me and I lost it in the front seat of the truck.

I then spent the next two hours waiting, alternating between telling myself he was going to be fine (he was sound, if he was dying/permanently injured he would be at least a little lame right?!) and trying to figure out what I would do if he was dying/needed to be retired. I mean technically Cinder is capable of being ridden, but this would definitely not be the best circumstances in which to start her. A, her mom, my mom, and my trainer were all texting me so I didn’t have too much time to spiral and look at sales ads.

Back home and wrapped up tight

When the vet finally called me it was mostly good news. Most of the lacerations were fairly superficial and the one on the fetlock didn’t seem to have any joint involvement. They had done a joint tap and flushed it  and everything looked fine. He got a couple of stitches but she did warn me that some of the skin is going to die off and she couldn’t reattach it. They were bandaging him up and wanted to send him home with instructions to have my vet check him Sunday or Monday and then have him decide how to handle things from there. They also gave Peebs some Bute and sent me home with antibiotics and instructions to keep him on the Bute until my vet looked at him.

 And that was the extent of the instructions. No “keep him on stall rest”, no “you can hand walk for 10mins”, nothing except have your vet look at him and go from there. So on the way home I called my vet and left another message asking for an appointment either day. When we got back to the barn Peebs unloaded fine and immediately tried to eat the weeds at the edge of the driveway. I put him back in a stall and threw him hay then went and grabbed a beer from the tack room fridge.

Matchy matchy with the vet school’s vet wrap

After I decompressed a bit I did pull Peebs back out to put a standing wrap on the other hind leg. He has a few scrapes on it and he went from being out 24/7 to stall rest and I knew he’d stock up. Also it makes me feel better to have both hinds wrapped instead of just one. I also put a fly sheet on him to help protect the cut on his barrel. I did slather it with cream and will get my vet’s take on what to protect it with. Peebs seemed totally fine if a bit confused as to why he was stalled and not going outside. He happily ate his Bute and antibiotic laced grain, mixed with copious cookies, and when A did night check she said he was perfectly fine.

My vet’s coming out tonight to change the bandage and give me more instructions. Fingers crossed everything looks ok and we can get a better idea of what his recovery will look like. I’m hoping we can do some hand walking and he gets the ok to have one of the stalls with an attached paddock.

Got it From Her Momma

Last week Cinder was going through a growth spurt and looked super skinny and awkward. I was going to take conformation pics of her for the HQC study group but since she looked like an emaciated wiener dog that wasn't happening. Yesterday when I pulled her out she looked more normal, so I figured we'd take some pics during our ground work session.

I think her growth spurt went into her head and her back length

A friend who used to own Cinder's mom and half sister commented on the pic that Cin's looking a lot like her mom. So I did some FB snooping and found a pic of both Abby (mom) and Izy (half sis) to compare and contrast.

Abby on top (pic is flipped so they'd be the same direction) Cinder on bottom left and Izy on bottom right

Holy cow is there a family resemblance!! I admit that I'm not the best with conformation, but Abby sure does pass along her genetics. To me, the three of them have the same hind end. I also think Cin got Abby's neck.  It's hard to tell in the pics, but Abby was around 16.3, Cinder currently clocks in at just over 16.1 and Izy is 15.3.  I want to take an updated pic of Cin later in the summer when she's shed out and has a shinier coat to match the other two.  I did see Izy go at a show a couple of years ago and was able to watch her hang our before her rounds. You can't tell from this pic, but she has a big blaze so while her head doesn't look that much like Cinder's her expressions where spot on with Cin's. It was super weird to see my horse in another horse like that.

She was super cuddly yesterday and when I was grooming her she wanted to groom me back. While she has her "chestnut mare" moments, she's one of the sweetest and cuddliest horses I've known. Also, if you curry her you'll be her friend for life. She'd rather have curries that cookies. She is not one of those delicate flower chestnuts that need the softest of brushes, bring on the hard stiff curries and body brushes!

Reflections: SIP April 2020

 I'm stealing this idea from L and doing my own mini bloghop version.



 

This is from last year, but the same thing is going on this year. The ponies, except Peebs, are transitioning onto the summer pasture while Peebs hangs out in the grazed down winter paddock till the summer pasture gets grazed down a bit.

Loving: The fact that work is empty and my boss is working from home now and I'm all alone at work. My introvert soul is so happy!
Smelling: Cow shit from the dairy down the road.
Learning: Working on the HQC course material (join L and I if you want to get your H/J knowledge on!)
Writing: Blogs

Reading: The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

Watching: Never Have I Ever

Craving: Chicken Alfredo and Garlic Bread from one of the bars in town that's closed due to the virus. Also, just going out to eat with friends!

Obsessing: Over what to do with Cinder

Wishing: I could be with my parents

Needing: Something I'm not quite ready to talk about yet

Wanting: A new horse trailer. The trailer I really want hasn't dropped in price, even though a lot of others have.

Trying:  FitOn workout app

Eating: Takeout to support my local restaurants. Bonus, I've found a new Italian place that's amazing

Drinking:  Water and Coffee and Lemonade

Feeling: Slightly worried. My dad got some (not virus) medical news and I really, really wish I was physically closer to my parents. Being 1,000 miles (an in a different country) from them really sucks sometimes.

Hoping: Things fall into place soon

Listening: Lots of happy/upbeat songs on Spotify. Bonus to work being a ghost town, no one to see me get my dance on!

Clicking: Watching webinars on compassion fatigue, technology in the vivarium, and new and novel ways to deal with work-related issues during a pandemic. I'm lucky that my professional organization has been making a bunch of these free and that my work will let me watch on company time.

Quarantine Birthday

My birthday was last Friday, and leading up to it I was a bit depressed. We were supposed to be at a show last weekend, hauling up Friday to school and settle in. My parents were paying my entry fees as my birthday present. Instead I had a three day weekend with nothing to do, nowhere to go, and to rub salt in the wound, Peebs had been a total twit all week. He was full of himself, jigging with his head in the air, throwing his shoulders around, and generally ignoring me.

I did get take out tacos from my favorite taco place for my birthday lunch

After talking to A and my trainer, everyone agreed they were fine with trainer coming out and doing lessons. So I scheduled one for my birthday. Not only did we desperately need help (our last lesson was 5wks ago) it gave me something to look forward to and to get out of my own head. As I was getting ready to leave for the barn, A's mom texted me asking what my favorite pizza was from one of the local places as she was getting pizza for after our ride. She's the type that loves a party and to socialize, so quarantine has been super hard on her. I shouldn't have been surprised she'd throw a little party for me.

Ponies are transitioning to the summer pasture, and while it's hard to see, Cinder had her first rider two nights ago. A little birdie on her back

Our lesson was 45 mins of mostly trotting and it kicked both Peebs' and my butt but it was so worth it. We started with circles, loops, and transitions trying to get his brain installed back in his head. Once we had warmed up, our biggest issue (as always) was him throwing his right shoulder out tracking left. Trainer described it as him dislocating his shoulder into the next county. Tracking right she had me establish a nice bend, and a slightly slower than normal rhythm, but keeping the impulsion, then trot across the diagonal and make Peebs hold the counter bend. Our first few attempts were pretty awful; Peebs was very confused and not too happy that he couldn't fling his shoulder lean on me. We did get a couple good circles before slowly bringing him back to straightness before asking for the left bend. We quit on that note since Peebs finally felt normal and was listening to me.

best barn fam

My trainer had gotten me a little birthday cake so after A's lesson we had pizza, watermelon and cake in the barn aisle with A and her parents. It was super fun and so nice to be around people again. While it wasn't the birthday I had envisioned, it turned out pretty well in the end!

The Blind driving the Blind

I've ground driven horses a few times, and only with horses that had known how to ground drive. So I've been a bit hesitant to ground drive Cinder since it would be a bit of the blind driving the blind. But A has a ton of experience ground driving, and cart driving. Her best friend in elementary/middle school's family breeds and shows minis and has multiple national and world champion driving wins. A knew how to drive a horse before she knew how to ride.

Our trainer had given her set of long lines to A a while ago and I asked if I could borrow them and have A give me and Cinder a ground driving lesson. We started with the lines attached, and A up at Cinder's head just giving guidance before she set me free.  It took me a minute to figure out how to hold the lines and not get too tangled up, but Cinder was good about me fumbling around back there.

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We only slightly resemble a drunken sailor. Thanks @anna__kathryn for your help and video skills #goodgirlcinder #grounddriving #babywarmblood

A post shared by Molly Basney (@mollybasney) on Apr 18, 2020 at 9:54am PDT

Our first attempt was pretty good (see above video) but when I tried by myself earlier this week we were much more all over the place. Part of it was Cinder was more confident and cocky, wanting to prove she knew what to do and didn't need to listen to me as much. And I think I was a little nervous not having another person there to help if things went south. Turning left is harder than turning right, but that might be me messing it up rather than Cinder. We did do a little trotting and she didn't try to take off with me like I thought she would, so yay! I'm hoping to ground drive her twice a week, and start doing it with a bridle instead of her halter.

Fail Friday: Free Jumping

 Obviously this is only Cinder's third time free jumping and I wasn't expecting her to nail it. She seemed quite game and went blasting down the line, but she hasn't learned how to find her distance yet. There were a couple mishaps but she figured it out, never got flustered or upset, and kept going. All qualities I hope she'll have under saddle.

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She is beauty, she is grace, I don’t know how she didn’t fall on her face #goodgirlcinder #failfriday #whatarelegs

A post shared by Molly Basney (@mollybasney) on Apr 17, 2020 at 6:47am PDT

Wordless Wednesday: Free Jump

A and I finally got around to free jumping the ponies this weekend. We did my two, as Scottie had conveniently twisted a hind shoe and was ouchy. We started with Cinder and she very clearly remembered  her free jump lesson from last summer. Once I turned her loose in the arena she walked right up to the first fence in the chute, walked over it, and calmed walked down the line (we started with a crossrail and ground poles) and then turned and looked at me. Definitely too smart for her own good.

We finished with a 2'3" oxer that clearly was too small in her opinion

Peebs went after her and I added a bit more height for him. He was not nearly as extra as Cin.

I have some hilarious fails of Cinder that I'll share on Friday, so I can stretch content out. She might have been bred for dressage, and will hopefully want to be hunter, but she's got the eventer fifth leg gene in her!