Riders On The Storm

       This weeks Blog title doesn't exactly fit, but the name came to mind when I was looking at this post and realized it is mostly about our horses and riding, with a few "storms" thrown in as well.  No where in the song does it mention riding horses, however I loved the Doors back in the college days so their songs often come to mind.

Courtney and Mike in waiting room at clinic.

   There has been a storm of questions and concern in regards to Zorro and his lameness.  We (Joe, Courtney, Mike and I) went to the U of I Vet Hospital in Champaign to pick up Zorro Tuesday night, not getting home until 9:30.  Dr. Carlson was very informative and helpful while we were there. Courtney and Mike had gone to Champaign on Saturday to visit Zorro and take him a tub of his grain.   Here  Zorro is in his stall.

   Courtney reported: "The students there were very helpful and sympathetic. They gave me a few minutes to groom Zorro and hang out with him. I petted him, cuddled him, and even played Jolly Ball with him :-)

He seems bored, but otherwise content. I don’t know how much pain he’s in, but he doesn’t seem angry like he usually is when he’s hurting. I was impressed to see that the students check his temperature and heart rate about once every hour or so! He’s definitely in good hands. Dr. Carlson has been really awesome about keeping in touch. He called me Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to check in with me." 

     The vets had worked on some nerve blocking with Zorro on Friday, but then they had a few emergency cases on Friday and Saturday, so they did not have as much time for Zorro as they wanted. And then on Monday they had an emergency surgery.  Tuesday they finally did more nerve blocking to pinpoint the lameness and also did ultra sound to help with the diagnosis.

      These photo's were taken with
Courtney's phone because my camera battery died. They aren't great, but it gives you an idea of the hospital.  Each stall had a cart and chart.  Courtney is leading Zorro down the hall.  Dr Carlson can be seen below.

     As it turns out, Zorro has suspensory ligament injuries in two legs. Right front and left hind. Both are pretty significant but with a pretty good prognosis. He needs stall rest for a few months.  Courtney might have the U of I try something called shock wave therapy. One thing we are worried about is Zorro pacing while he is stalled. He does that if Amiga is too far away from him. We wonder if he needs a set-up where he has some sort of buddy in the stall next to him or something. The vet suggested putting a run in one of the pastures and seeing how he does there.  It’s going to be a long few months, but we are just glad he’s going to be ok!  Courtney is sad that she can’t ride him until 2011, but grateful this happened at the beginning of winter instead of the beginning of summer.

     Amiga was very glad to have Zorro home.  Here you can see Zorro confined to his stall and Amiga in the paddock free to run.  She stays near Zorro when she isn't grazing.  They groom each other over the gate like this all the time. 

     The school week went fast because I took the day off Friday for the Larry Whitesell Riding Clinic.  Although Wednesday was a long day since I had to be at school by 6:45am for a School Improvement Meeting and then be back there until 8:30pm that night for an Open House. The extra "free time" spent at school allowed me to get caught up and even ahead just a bit which was necessary since I would be busy all day Friday - Sunday "horsing around". 

     Thursday felt like a Friday and I came home from school ready to unwind and enjoy farm life, especially after the long day Wed.  The barn kitties always seem to be relaxing somewhere during the day....but they do their work at night.  Look how much larger Brother is than Sister.

     Since Zorro is on stall rest I decided to let him "quietly" graze in a halter on a lead rope.  I also let Amiga into the side pasture with us, where all the alfalfa is. Zorro was exuberant, kind of like I felt.  He was free from his stall and I was free from school for three days.  But he was actually almost unmanageable, a bit pushy and really wanting to trot off.  At one point he was having a hissy fit (horsey fit) and managed to knock me over and kick me in the calf while he was spinning, bucking and kicking. It didn't help that Amiga kept cantering by as if to tease him because he is not allowed to run.  It was back into the stall for Zorro at that point.  I iced my leg right away so the bruise didn't look too bad, even though it hurt quite a bit.  I guess I was lucky....it could have been my head or a harder kick.   

     While Courtney and I had three days of the Larry Whitesill ridding clinic, Joe, Dan and Britney had a weekend of painting.  Joe rented a lift and power painter and he and Daniel started painting the barn with primmer late Friday afternoon. 

     Britney joined in on Saturday, with a roller and brush, working on the picnic shelter.  The "boys" also painted the corn crib, except the West side which was too hard to get to and they were running low on time, paint and energy.  These photos capture parts of the weekend painting project.

    

     The clinic started out a little slow Friday....in terms of riding.  We didn't even get on our horses the first day.  But we did a bunch of ground work learning how to get our horses to relax; no easy task with a prey animal and especially my high strung Amiga.  There was tension all through her neck. 
The idea is if you get the horse to relax
through it's neck and back, and thus its whole body, it is easier for it to get collected so it can gait better.  We discovered some things we need to do differently and learned a lot of new stuff.

   









Having lunch with Larry.
Our trainer Marj to the right.

     We took Zorro to the clinic with us Saturday and Sunday since Larry wanted to look at him.  This was great because there was to be a LOT of commotion around our barn which was sure to scare Zorro.  Instead of being cooped up in the barn with the doors closed, loud noises outside with the paint sprayer, all by him self.... Zorro could watch the action at the clinic from a near-by stall and not be so lonely.  Plus we got some advice on what to do to help Zorro out.

   


     As soon as we arrived at the clinic Sat. Larry took a look at Zorro. 

 
     Like Amiga, and all the other horses at the clinic, Zorro was very stiff necked and tight all along his spine.   We were shown how to walk the horses while getting them to flex and relax their necks.  Larry got Zorro to stretch all his joints even along his
back so that Zorro wasn't even hardly limping any more.      

     Larry feels that horses shouldn't be driven into gaiting at too young of an age and with too strong of a bit.  They end up hyper-extending their back and driving from the front quarters while holding their heads up. They look pretty, (What the show people and judges like to see), are gaiting well, but it causes stiffness, tension, and can create leg problems.  Hum. 

     Larry taught us to work the horses on each side with a snaffle bit and not vertically with the rope halter and lead rope under the chin.  He said we should ride in a snaffle and teach the horse to take the bit.  I have a tendency to throw my reigns away (ride with very little touch on Amiga's mouth) which actually makes her uneasy.  She doesn't know if I am steering or not.  So, I need to be firmer in holding the reigns.  But he also taught to never pull on the reigns,  just to add pressure and teach the horse how to move away from the pressure but still hold the bit.
 

      We worked a lot on riding position and how to carry ourselves in the saddle and use our legs for communication.  We learned a lot more maneuvers, only this time from the saddle. 
     Lots of fun riding!


      Larry used different horses to show us different concepts.  When he was on Amiga his feet were too big and his legs too long for the stir ups.

     Larry worked with Zorro again during our lunch break and also at the end of the day.  We got home to a partially white
and pretty wet
(painted) barn.  Zorro managed to get some white paint on his neck and left ear over night.

     We got quite a bit of rain during Saturday night.   It was perfect for getting our 6 acres of seed to germinate and hay to start growing.....but it dampen the barn painting.  Luckily it cleared off by early morning.  We took Zorro back to the clinic with us for more "therapy" and to get him out of our barn.  We started out riding (after loosening up the horses necks) and learned a few more maneuvers (turning left and right).  We then practiced everything we had learned over the three days with a "drill".  I was getting everything mixed up and ended up going the wrong way several times.  Once I was the only one to completely reverse and go the other direction, and even though I was actually the only one that had done it correctly, I thought I was wrong. LOL  It was fun to ride with and maneuver around the other horses and riders. 

    


     Our afternoon ended with a demo on lunging, that Amiga was used for, while we all watched. 

     Larry Showed us how to do it with the reigns in a snaffle bit attaching the lead rope to the side and not under the chin, and once again getting the horse to drive from the hind quarters and step across and under with the inside back leg.

     Exhaustion hit me by the time we had unloaded and fed the horses late Sunday afternoon.  
     The barn painting crew had finished at about the same time and were equally exhausted.

    
     I was up early Monday to try to get ready for the teaching day.  I worked fast and furious and was able to pull it off.  Monday night however I really struggled.  I was so tired from the clinic and my head was spinning with all the new info, so it was very difficult to get much school work done. I had been trying to make a power point with the new soft ware we have at school, and it was driving me crazy because it is different than what I am used to. I stayed late at school for a class on Smart Boards.  Because I had missed the first session, and there were only two of us, I was playing "catch up" and trying to absorb more than I was ready for.  I was about ready to shut down from information over load, but there was still this big pile of grading I had to attend to because Progress Reports were due.