Golden Girl

Pangea says, welcome to Hell Texas summer!



Having always had stalled-with-turnout horses up until I turned Gogo out last year, I think I somewhat underestimated how much work it is to try and keep a pastured horse clean. Basically, it is a completely impossible and totally futile task that causes me daily agony and misery. Gogo was always so clean, so sparkly, so brilliantly shiny and colorful, and with SUCH A BEAUTIFUL THICK GLOSSY TAIL ZOMG MY EYES I'M BLIND. This was largely due to the fact that she lived inside in the shade with a fan, and wore a flysheet in the summer whenever she was out.

As for Pangea, with that beautiful, rich, dappled coat? It has vanished with the temperature spike, replaced by a horribly dull, pale, burnt-looking sunbleached mess of washed-out color, crispy and dry as can be. Why? Because when the temperature spiked, she spent every day of her life soaked in sweat, standing out in the blazing sunlight (she chooses not to stand in the shade of her shed or her shady trees), letting the salty grime give her streaky blonde highlights in the areas that she sweats the most. The result? Patches of gold on her neck and back, along with a nice golden stripe down each front leg where the path of sweat runs. And it isn't a nice gold either... it is faded and crispy. No amount of rinsing her sweaty self managed to help prevent the issue. As for her poor tail, she spends so much of her time swatting at flies that it gets coated in sweat as well, and of course snags on everything that it comes in contact with. As a result, it is grimy, tangled, and half torn out. She is also very itchy due to all the sweat, so she grinds dirt into her coat every time she gets too hot - which also tears out more of her tail. Also ALSO, she pees in her tail. I CAN'T WIN.

Basically, my beautifully dappled bay has turned into some sort of weird dun/buckskin hybrid with a rump still full of butt dapples and a front end that doesn't match the rear. She looks horrible... I am truly embarrassed. There's not much that I can do until her coat sheds out and she grows a new one... arghhh!

I have a fly sheet on her for the moment, but it is just as an experiment - I am pretty sure that even the lightest one that I have will be too hot for her. It's a bit too late anyway.... sigh!




Yeesh, how embarrassing. If anyone has tips on keeping a sweaty horse who lives outside from sunbleaching, PLEASE do share! Same goes for keeping a decent tail on a pastured horse as well! Gogo had the same issue last year with her tail and the sunbleaching.... it was awful!


Check it out, I caught her doing a naughty when she was at the pool barn yesterday - I never net hay and elevate it as a rule (not good for TMJs to eat anywhere but off the ground) but when she is there for the day, I net it to keep it from blowing away in the nonstop gale force winds we have going. She, as you can see, was NOT amused by the slow feeder and made several attempts to tear it down (only succeeded once).




Naughty girl.

Sigh... but really, this horrible bleaching-in-sweaty-areas-only issue. Tips?? I'm not suspecting a nutritional issue at this point since it seems so perfectly connected with the sweat and heat and blazing sun, and she was so gleaming and dapply up until two weeks ago, but I'll keep it in mind as a possibility.

The health benefits of 24/7 turnout are obviously massively greater than keeping her stalled and inside, but it is a truthful PITA, and I never realized just how messy it could be - or remembered, I guess... Quincy used to live outside, after all!


EDITED TO ADD: Please, please keep my sweet Mimi in your thoughts... she is in kitty ICU right now with a blazing fever of unknown origin, no appetite for food or water, and strange jerky eye movements. It might be a simple infection that will clear with antibiotics, or it might be something so sinister that we could lose her. Please send good positive vibes our way... I'll just die if something happens to my precious Mimer.

Pangea in the Pool, and BAY GIRL!

Loading horses onto the AquaTread is quick and easy. It only takes a training session or two, and most horses will readily just walk right in. Pangea is no exception, and was an especially quick study, walking in completely on her own by her second swim (uncommon, as we usually need two handlers to get them in on their second try). Here is she loading up and beginning her workout:







Mare all done swimming, tied out to dry. In most circumstances I think hayracks are the ultimate evil, but in this case, they keep a wet mare in a strong wind distracted long enough to not roll and/or see all of her hay blown rapidly away.



For those of you who didn't know, I finally have made contact with Bay Girl's actual owners, and was told that all of their surrogates are up for sale for a grand each. Everyone's immediate response to this was "put up a donate button on your blog!!" I did, and within two days we already have earned over $400!! If you're interested, head over to Bay Girl's blog to check it out! Where would I be without my readers, seriously! You guys are amazing!

Despooking and the Chiro Man

I've been a bad blogger this week because I've been out having too much fun with my horse and not enough time sitting behind a computer! You would too if you were enjoying the magnificent Texas springtime... I'm enjoying it while I can before summer comes and we all retreat to our air-conditioned buildings!


Last weekend our facility hosted a despook clinic and subsequent playday for those people wanting to go through our obstacle course on a timed and judged basis. This is the ultimate terrifying insanely crazy hard 4-acre obstacle course:



A few of the obstacles included: flapping tarps hanging from the side of the shed that you had to walk through, a carwash made of construction tape, flapping flags, a waterbox with neon colored floating balls in it, a teeter totter, boxes you had to get up and off of, tires you had to negotiate, a squeeze chute made of upright tarps that had pieces of hose scattered on the ground as footing, things tied to ropes that you had to drag, a carwash made of pool noodles, a bump gate that your horse had to push through, another push-through made of pool noodles, pinwheels, and a whole lot more. During the clinic, they even set off firecrackers and smoke bombs as part of the despooking process! (Don't worry, everyone did great!)

I brought Pangea over to check out the course on Sunday evening, and finally as the sun was setting, we had our chance to get on the course and see what she'd make of it. I didn't bother running it with the other folks in a timed way, just in case something freaked her out and she tried to kill me. (I truthfully had NO IDEA what she was going to do when she saw everything!) She gave me a nice prelude when I walked her up to the gigantic ball that was used during the clinic, and she didn't even bother to sniff it because it was so boring:



Once on the course, she did AMAZING. AMAAAAAAZING. Flags smacking her in the face in the strong winds? No big deal. Tarps flapping on her head? Whatever. Teeter-totter bridge... at a trot? Psh, I've seen scarier. Squeeze chute made of tarps that was touching her on both sides? That's cool. Pool noodle bump gate and carwash? I'll halt and stand immobile so you can snap a picture for all your friends to see:





What is the ONE thing she WOULD NOT under ANY circumstances do?

The water. The most benign thing out there. Of course. Wade through a 4' river the weekend before? Piece of cake! Puddle of muddy water in a small box? LAKE LOCH NESS. Won't go near it.

The ONE thing I was sure she wouldn't give a dang about... and she would. Not. Do it.
We tried until it was dark, to no avail. She just said no, and I didn't have enough time or light to finish pushing the issue. Instead, we trotted through the rest of the entire course. That's right, trotted! Just ran around 4 acres over teeter-totters, boxes, bridges, squeeze chutes, and a million flapping and rustling things flying around in the air. Dang, I shoulda done the playday! We woulda beat 95% of the people there! I think she went through it better than most everyone else!

Seriously, what a gem. I can't believe how "whatev" she was about everyone. She seriously did NOT care!



Sunday evening, I left Pangea to stay over at the work farm, and on Monday morning she got her customary AquaTread session and Theraplate. She is working now for 3 minutes as a power walk, 9 minutes at a maxed out trot, and 3 more minutes at a power walk to finish, plus her warmup and cooldown. She works out strong in the pool, and is only getting stronger and better. I think I'll stick with this routine for awhile, seeing as I like how the powerwalk pushes her out of her typical speedy little walk and encourages her to really stretch out and lengthen her stride more. Gogo had a huge rolling walk, but was lazy, and Pangea is the opposite: she has a HUGE motor on her but her stride length is shorter and less rolling than Gogo's. It's a nice pure 4-beat walk, to be sure, but the more we stretch out into it and let it roll, the better she does.

Pangea spent another night over at the work farm on Monday night, and on Tuesday, the chiropractor was out to work on her and a number of other horses. I have no idea when the last time she ever saw a chiropractor was, but if it was ever, it was years ago. What kinds of horrible things was he going to find on her?

Nothing. Pretty much nothing of interest was to be found on her. She had some minor lumber issues, some small stuff freed up in her neck and withers, and her right hip was a bit out. And.... that's about it.

Every single other horse adjusted got follow-up appointments, ultrasound and pool prescriptions, and instructions for rest. As for my girl? Give her a few days of just bareback hacking, and then get back to work. Easy!


How about that huh. Simple, simple, and simple.


Oh, and then a whole crapload of tornados came.




That was the view from the pool barn where I was swimming horses. We thought it wasn't going to hit us... and mostly it didn't, it passed over us and dropped about a minute's worth of scary hail on us, and then was gone. We didn't bring the horses in because we thought it was going to pass, and from the pool barn window I saw Pangea get nailed by a rouge hailstone and rear STRAIGHT up in air.... poor baby! I felt awful, but it was over in about 30 seconds, and she was back to eating her hay.

The storm that went over us went on to produce a tornado and completely destroy a large area right in the middle of the Metroplex (the area between Dallas and Fort Worth, a hugely populated area), decimating houses and tossing tractor trailers in the air like they were toys. There were over a dozen tornados in all, and hundreds of homes in the DFW area were completely leveled. Amazingly - no, miraculously - no one was killed or seriously injured. Thankfully these storms happened in the middle of the day on a weekday, so most of the inhabitants of the homes destroyed were at work or school. It's just awful that this had to happen in one of the most populated areas in the state of Texas.... you just don't hear of this kind of damage happening in the middle of a major city very often.


But we're all safe and sound, thankfully! We survived a terrifying obstacle course, a chiro adjustment, and some crazy tornados.... go us!!

Torture Day!

Yesterday was Pangea's weekly pool day, a few days later than usual given the fact that I did not wake up to my SIX alarms on Wednesday and was therefore late to work instead of early to the barn to pick her up on time. (Not my usual... I was totally thrown off all day long. Hate that.) Yesterday was also our first trot day in the pool, which I am very excited about - this should give her the strength and flexibility she needs to prevent Pogo Trot when she begins her warmups under saddle. The AquaTread puts a mean topline on everything it sees, I can attest to that!



She did a power walk for 8 minutes, trotted for 3, then power walked again for 4. Absolutely no need to do more than 3 minutes of trot... fitness will come in time. Soundness, strength and flexibility are all products of smart choices when it comes to fitness and there isn't any need to rush. We're not exactly training for Medal Finals or anything.

In terms of her conditioning, while I have started to very lightly play around with other speeds (mostly to just get an assessment of how she is feeling under saddle), mostly I am still doing all of my work at the walk. I believe in walking for fitness - those of you who read the Eventing-A-Gogo blog will remember our weekly 2 hour walk hacks to Dunkin Donuts - and did most of exclusively as roadwork in an effort to turn her tendons into iron. Of course, that did absolutely nothing for her as she blew both hind SDFTs out at the end of the season... so much for that idea. At least my mind was in the right place? Maybe? I try not to think about it too much anymore because it makes me too sad.


Aside from all that, I am super happy to report that her manners have vastly improved over the course of the past few weeks. She only needs to be scolded for naughty behavior once (at most, twice), and then she understands and doesn't try it again. Last week she was a pawing maniac in the barn, completely ignoring every reprimand I gave her in her persistence. This week, I tried a different tactic: completely ignoring her when she paws. This seemed to have a profound effect on her mind. I noticed that when she was pawing and I scolded her, she perked her ears towards me and occasionally nickered while still continuing to paw. Basically, any sort of noisy attention I was giving her was good fun, and she in her own way felt as though she was being rewarded for it. D'oh! How about we take two on that one. Her brain finally wrapped around this idea of "pawing = no attention" when we pulled up in the trailer for our swim date at the barn. She wanted to get OFF the trailer RIGHT NOW, so she started to paw as I went for the side door. And I walked away. I made it all the way into the barn before she realized I was no longer there, and stopped. I walked back. When she saw me coming out the window, she started to paw again. I turned around, and walked away. She stopped. I turned back around, and walked towards her. She started to paw again. I walked away. And so on until the wheels turned in her head and she stopped pawing the moment I started to walk away. "Crap, she is leaving when I do that... maybe I should stop it" would be what was floating above her head had she been able to produce a visible thought bubble. She eventually stopped entirely, and I unloaded her. The effect lasted on into the barn, where she refused to paw even once when I was walking around to and away from her. She did paw every time a horse got in or out of the treadmill, but with a verbal "quit!" from me, she stopped immediately. (Yes!!)


Following her pool session, she got a full on bubble bath completely with salon-style tail care, spritzed down with conditioner and fly spray as a finisher. Yep, our flies are out in full force... we've had spring weather for weeks and weeks and the bugs are mad crazy already! (Oh, and the black widows too... the black widows are EVERYWHERE. I'm amazed I haven't been bitten yet... I'm sure that time is coming, and you'll get to hear about a lovely story like this one.)


And as a final torture session, Pangea got to enjoy the Theraplate for 30 minutes while drying!






She was a good girl and walked right into the stocks with no issue. We keep the Theraplate there in the stocks because a) it fits perfectly and b) we can tie up a quiet horse and leave it to cook there for 30 minutes while we do other things without worrying about it moving/leaving/wigging/etc. If you've never seen a Theraplate, it's essentially one big humming, vibrating metal plate that you stand on for vibration therapy. Like hyberbaric chambers, Theraplates are being toted as the next big fix-everything miracle machine... only time will tell if that is true or not.

She was mostly a very good girl around standing quietly on her own little personal earthquake pad, save for a moment of uncertainty when it first begain. It feels incredibly weird at first, so I can't blame her! I think I will also start standing on it whenever I get a moment.... my back has been killing me and I need some relief!

What a good girl. Well, almost...



I was going to trail ride today but had a new client to attend to with several horses, so I spent most of my time doing that instead. We'll see tomorrow how she feels under saddle!

Catch-Up Part I: So many updates, I have to split them up!

I have so many things to catch up on, I can't possibly put them into one blog update alone!

We last left off with me having a broken computer, and prior to that, I hadn't blogged since Pangea's first AquaTread session. Let's begin this entry with a schedule de-briefing, shall we? I'm treating Pangea's reconditioning essentially as a rehab, taking it extra slow and methodical. I see absolutely no reason to rush anything, and want to put a solid base on her before I get out and start yahooing around. (Which I desperately want to do.... but that will come in time!) We're starting all our work at the walk, with varying amounts of on the bit work, stretching, lateral work, hillwork, and work on the trail. I'd throw cavalettis in there too if I could find a few.... unfortunately, they are a bit hard to come by at a barn primarily boarded at by barrel racers. Texas problems.
The schedule for the past two weeks has been three rides and one AquaTread session each week, all at the walk. The first week we only walked for 30 minutes each ride, half on the bit/stretching and half on a loose rein, and a 15 minute walk session in the AquaTread. This week, that has been increased to 40 minutes a ride at the walk, with 25 of it on the bit/stretching and 15 on a long rein. We do lots of changes of direction, varying circles, suppling, and have just started going sideways a bit. Next week, we'll ride four days a week instead of three, as well as go on the AquaTread once. I MAY start trotting her on the AquaTread this week, but may wait until I start getting ready to trot under saddle.

Pangea's second AquaTread session went wonderfully, with her walking right in of her own accord without any hesitation. Having trained all types of horses to get into the water, I can safely say that this is not the norm! It usually takes three or so sessions until a horse normally walks in without any sort of extra assistance on our part, but not in Pangea's case! She just wanted to show all of her counterparts up. It took us a half hour today to get a horse into the water on his second try... it took a second one an eternity to even load into the chute for his second try.... it took her about 3 seconds to walk right in of her own accord. Excellent mare.







From the top of the AquaTread, you also get a very interesting and clear view of your horse's back:



No glaring abnormalities here! Sometimes you can really see when a horse is out of alignment chiropractically. She could use an adjustment (and will receive one shortly), but she doesn't have anything serious going on. Gogo, on the other hand, was ridiculously crooked and it was glaringly obvious when she was in the pool.


However, she wasn't completely perfect for this entire AquaTread ordeal. In fact, things took quite a turn for the worse afterwards..... but you'll have to wait for Part II to find out why!

AquaTreadmizzle!

The more time I spend with Pangea, the more I think that I really have found a little diamond in the rough. Despite her little stubborn streak, she is quiet, tractable, easy, and entirely too smart for her own good. Oh, and sound and fine and amazingly well trained to boot. Bonus after bonus. She has her little issues, that's for sure, but for the most part she's a total peach.

Wednesday morning, I got up very early in order to be at the barn hooking up my trailer and loading miss Pangea. Our destination: my workplace, so that Pangea could have her first AquaTread experience! I've been lucky enough in the past to have access to a dry treadmill when rehabbing Gogo, and am now lucky enough to have access to any number of therapies that I need for Pangea should she ever need them. The AquaTread is also a perfect tool for conditioning, which is what I intend to use it for in this case.


A little bit more about our AquaTread, from the HydroHorse website:

"The HydroHorse LLC Submerged Treadmill Systems are a high tech engineering combination of a treadmill, whirlpool, and swimming pool. They are designed to aid in the therapeutic healing, strengthening, conditioning, and training of all types of horses. In essence, the horse is partially buoyant in a specially designed water filled tank, which at the same time allows contact with the treadmill.

Unlike traditional swimming pool therapy, the horse can exercise in a controlled environment, using its normal gait and the same muscles as in use while exercising on the track without undue stress or trauma.
This form of exercise in temperature controlled water with the powerful therapeutic effects derived from the system’s Jacuzzi jets ensures proper and controlled conditioning for virtually every facet of the animal’s body while reducing concussion and thus rendering the equine athlete to be better equipped to withstand the rigors of performance and to remain competitive for longer periods of time. Equine treadmills are also known as Aquatreds, or Aquacisers but the function remains the same.

How Treadmills Help Horses Recover From Injuries:
Our aquatred systems may be used for treating injuries such as bowed tendons, pulled suspensory ligaments, bucked shins, and saucer fractures, quarter cracks or foot problems and generally for the rehabilitation of the animal after any injury or surgery. The lungs and heart of the animal receive maximum conditioning, which increases their capacity thus minimizing possibility of bleeding while performing. Bones become denser and more compact and the tendency of the perisoteum of the cannon bones becoming inflamed is greatly reduced and can be virtually eliminated with the aid of a treadmill.

Properly controlled exercise in the treadmill adds significant tone and conditioning to the back and stifle muscles and would make ‘tying up’ during the early stages of training less apt to occur. There are known cases, where a horse was badly injured but after treatment on a treadmill system, came back to be a winner!

Why Treadmills are Better for Horses:
HydroHorse LLC Systems are designed to relieve stress. They have been proven to be powerful tools for rehabilitation, training and conditioning of horses as the animals are less traumatized because they remain in contact with a solid surface beneath them, under controlled conditions.
Our systems allow a horse to exercise basically the same muscles, tendons, and ligaments used when working out on the track without the constant unyielding concussion of the surface track. The buoyancy of the water displaces approximately 40% to 45% of the body weight – while contact with the treadmill and thrust of working against the water still affords sufficient concussion to promote bone density and encourage muscle development, while minimizing injury. This cannot be achieved in a conventional swimming pool where movement involves "up-hill" thrusts and an unnatural ‘all-out’ type of flexation, which could be harmful and could cause ‘stress’ and ‘trauma’ for the animal.

How HydroHorse LLC Treadmill Systems Help in Conditioning:
Early conditioning on treadmill systems helps tendons, ligaments and joint capsules to tighten and increase in tensile strength and thus prepares a horse for the heavier training required to prepare the animal for the race track or equestrian shows. Additionally, this form of hydrotherapy involves a massaging action produced by air and water jets, which create a whirlpool effect smoother and more constant than can be done by hand.

Horses love this relaxing and invigorating form of training and both vets & trainers agree that this hydrotherapy system is physically and psychologically beneficial to the animal."


When Gogo went on the AquaTread for the first time, she walked right in like she couldn't care less. We NEVER see that the first time... it takes some persuasion and positive reinforcement on almost every case. We use any combination of tools - buttrope, crop, voice, chain over the nose - but we NEVER force them, drag them, hit them, drug them, or pull them in. We let them take one tiny step at a time if they need to, and for however long it takes. With this approach, and positive reinforcement, we always get the horse in within a few minutes, and we don't have one single seasoned horse who doesn't walk right in.


(Pangea says, uhhhhh what the heck??)

As for Pangea, she walked into the chute and gave it a good hard look. She had seen two "role model" horses walk in before her, so she had a basic idea that this thing was not a horse-eating monster, but she paused to think about it for a moment. With a little encouragement (me lightly pulling her lead rope, my other handler standing near her hind end clucking and twirling her crop), she hunkered down, snorted a time or two, and then walked herself right in. Seeing as we get some that launch and leap in, some that slide in on their hind legs, and some that flail and resist the entire time, this was so easy!! It didn't take her more than a minute or two to get in. Once on the treadmill, she figured her legs our pretty quickly, and we settled for a nice power walk for 15 minutes. A 15 minute session in the pool at the trot is equivalent to trotting for an hour in an arena in terms of muscle work... so there is so much less wear and tear and pounding on legs! They build the muscles they need without experiencing the same level of hard concussion that they would on solid ground. (There is undoubtedly a need for concussion in order to strengthen bones and tendon/ligs, but not so much that you risk fatiguing the muscles and, in turn, stressing these structures. It's all about walking a fine line.)

At the end of her 15 minute walk, Pangea was pooped. It's hard work, walking against the resistance of water! Her heartrate was up, and she was breathing rather heavily. Her vitals returned to normal quickly, but the fact that a simple walk caused her to be that tired shows how seriously out of shape she is. (Under saddle, she has broken a sweat every time... at a walk. So out of shape. Seriously.)






Good mare! Aside from pawing in the barn (urrrrrrrg), she was lovely. We'll be back for the AquaTread again next week!