photo weekend extravaganza

I had a very busy, but very fun weekend driving around Massachusetts doing photoshoots. Here are some of the photos!

Product Review: SmartPak Deluxe Fly Boots

SmartPak Deluxe Fly Boots
Retail Cost: $39.95
Price I paid: $20.66 (I had a $15.00 coupon, got 10% off for being a SmartPak customer, and an additional 5% off for being a USEF member)

Summer is a tough time for Lucy's already kind of crappy feet. We have extremely humid weather and this year we have also gotten a lot of rain. On top of that, the bugs are horrendous and she stands in the paddock all day stomping at flies. The flies started to come out in early April and by mid-May, her front feet were already crumbling. I had to have the farrier out to reset her shoes after less than four weeks last cycle, and he was alarmed at how poorly her hooves held up. She's already on an oral hoof supplement but she obviously needed additional support to maintain her hoof health.

I ordered the SmartPak Deluxe Fly Boots from SP and they arrived a day or so later. Out of the box, they were thicker than I thought they'd be, but they looked nice and were easy to put on and take off. She's been wearing them for just over a week now. She ripped one of the hind boots pretty badly within 24 hours of wearing it, and Maddy said that when she tried putting the hind boots on, Lucy kicked her legs so she just left them off. She's wearing the front boots every day in turnout and I take them off when I bring her in for the night. Besides her destroying one of the hind boots, they are holding up well. I was worried they would be too hot on her legs, but each day when I take them off her legs seem cool and dry. On days when they get really muddy, I spray them with the hose and hang them to dry overnight but beyond that have not put them through a wash cycle.

I was also a little concerned about them rubbing her legs, but they are very soft and have fleece lining on all the seams.

My farrier was at the barn to do Charlie's feet today, and he checked on Lucy's to make sure the nails were still tight. She's had her new shoes on for about a week and a half and he was very happy with how her feet are looking. I've spent some time just watching her in the paddock and she isn't stomping hardly at all compared to how bad it was before she started wearing the boots.

she's back to her old ghetto fabulous fly mask with the holes in the ears
 because the nice new embroidered one I bought her keeps falling off her face.

oh well, I tried!

on pins and needles

Lucy had her weekly acupuncture appointment on Wednesday and kind of had a breakthrough: she actually stood there and let the vet put the needles in without any meltdowns. We did the session in her stall, instead of out in the barn driveway/yard area where we usually do it. She tends to take advantage of the space out there and run in circles, acting like a total fool. I had her in her stall with her butt backed up into a corner and her whole demeanour was different; she realised she really couldn't get out of it this time! HA.

Anyway, the needles all went in great and without much fanfare as I said. Three needles in all; we didn't want to push our luck too much. Two went in her neck on either side where the shoulder slope meets the side of the neck, and the third went in her SI area. She stood there and looked chill, tried to groom me a bit, ate some hay, and the vet and I chatted about how much of a PITA refinancing your house is. Then I looked at Lucy and realised one of the needles had fallen out of her neck. I had no idea at what point this happened, but we had been chatting as she ate her hay, right below her neck area, for at least 20 minutes. This teeny tiny acupuncture needle had fallen into a haystack that my horse had been eating from. INSTANT panic rose in my chest though I kept it calm on the outside. I pulled all of her uneaten hay out of her stall and shook it out, piece by piece, hoping that the needle would materialize. The needles had little plastic handles on them, but they were a golden orange/yellow colour and of course that would blend in perfectly with the hay. I didn't find it in the hay so I pulled her out of her stall and sifted through the bedding really well. No needle. I threw out a bunch of hay that had been below where the needle presumably fell.

Ironically I had gotten the vet a gift of a big magnet on a stick designed to pick up screws and nails at construction sites, because he had commented that he really needed one to find needles that fell more easily. We got the magnet and started passing it over the hay in the stall and it didn't come up with anything. It turns out the needles are magnetic, but only very slightly, so they won't be pulled through bedding or hay that's covering them. Maybe a metal detector would have been a better idea...sigh.

I looked at her and she looked back at me with her lovely soft eyes and I decided this was not a horse who was in any distress caused by eating a needle. I went home for a while, tried to eat some dinner, then went back to the barn around 11 to check on her. She seemed fine; had cleaned up a good amount of hay and eaten all of her dinner. The next morning I checked on her bright and early and once again she seemed totally normal.

I decided not to call my emergency vet unless she started showing symptoms of distress, because what were they really going to do? Come out and charge me an arm and a leg to tell me that the horse is normal? No thanks. I could have had them x-ray the entire length of her body, but again that seemed pretty outrageous since I didn't even know if she had eaten the needle.

It's been two days since the needle went missing and though I never found it, she also never showed any sign of pain or distress.

I guess for next week's appointment, we will do it in the stall again but I am going to take all of the hay out and also sweep her bedding back against the back wall so that we can find the needle if one falls again.

I am my horse's slave

This is Lucy's classic look. She has the softest eyes and tilts her head just enough to look so sweet and lovely, and though she's not the world's most snuggly horse, you'd never know it looking at her. It's almost like she's saying, "Oh please come snuggle with me!"

What she's really saying is "Soooo how about that treat in your pocket?"

:)

Abraxas Equine Winners!

And the randomly chosen winners of the Abraxas Equine giveaway are...


*drumroll*


TRACY from Fly on Over wins the shampoo!

MONICA from Chasing the Dream wins the liniment!!

I've emailed you both - if you don't receive it, let me know!

Thanks again to Abraxas Equine for sponsoring this giveaway, and if you didn't win, don't fret - you can still request free samples on their website (click here).

Just call *yourself* Martha

Ok kids, here's how to make your own knock-off Pessoa Training Device.

Total cost for today's project was $7 for the rope from WalMart, $4 for the clips at Walmart, and $3 for the towel. I found that buying the rope in bulk at WalMart (or even Home Depot) was cheaper than buying it by the foot.

I tried to take a photo of each step but if anyone needs clarification, let me know.

All of the supplies, minus the towel

Step 1: measure about 40' of rope and cut off any excess. This particular package of rope was 50' long so I cut 10' off. Then I used a lighter to melt the end of the rope where I had cut it. The heat melted the nylon material and that will prevent unraveling in the future.

Find the middle of the rope and slide the spring clip on there.

Step 2: Tie a simple knot behind the spring clip to prevent it from moving in either direction.

Step 3: lay a blanket out on the floor and arrange the rope out on the blanket so you can get a good idea of proportions and sizing. The spring clip that you just tied a knot behind will go on the top of the surcingle just behind the horse's withers. Then the rope should go straight back to just above the horse's hocks, and then straight up to the horse's head. It should look like a backwards "C".

Step 3: Make the padded sleeve to go behind the horse's hocks. Now, there are a million ways you could do this. I found out that just a simple sleeve made from fleece will bunch up. For round 2, I used a towel with rolled-up fleece inside to give it a bit more rigidness.  Make sure to leave an opening that you can thread the rope through.

Step 4: thread the rope through the padded sleeve that you just made. Each end of the rope should pass through in opposite directions from the other end, if that makes sense. You should essentially make a figure 8 with the rope.

Here, one side of the rope has been threaded through, but the other side has not:

Step 5: After you get both ends threaded through the pad, lay everything out neatly so you can see where it's all at. The padded sleeve goes at the back of the horse.

Step 6: Thread the two swivel clips through the front ends, like this:

Step 7: Tie a sliding knot so that the length of the front pieces can be shortened or lengthened.

Close-up of sliding knots:

And that is it!

Now, go get your horse. Put a saddle pad and the surcingle on the horse like so:

That spring clip gets attached to the top of the surcingle:

The rope coming off of the spring clip goes around the horse's hips and then the padded sleeve rests on the tops of the hocks:

Lucy is endlessly patient with me.

You're almost done! Now the front end of the ropes come up the sides of the horse, and you thread the clips through the horse's halter or bit, and then clip them to the sides of the surcingle like this:

If your clips are too big to fit through the halter or bit, you can get two double-ended snaps and do this:

Top spring clip and the other end of the device, the swivel clip, attached to the side of the surcingle:

Again, showing how it all looks in the end

The shorter you make the front part of the device, the more "contact" it will have with your horse's face. You can also rig it in different ways to encourage the horse to stretch/collect/lower or raise the head carriage.

So due to Lauren and Maddy's interest in this gizmo, I am going to leave this one at the barn for them to use, but maybe in the future we will do another giveaway.

Day 3 of the "Pessoa"

Day 1 was better than I expected. Lucy tried her very best to understand how she had to carry herself. She stretched down a couple of times but immediately seemed to lose her balance, and had to catch herself.

Day 2 was an improvement, but she wasn't quite sure enough of herself to really go forward. I also tweaked the rigging a bit so it supported her more.

Day 3, today, was so much better!! I used a lunge whip to encourage her to go a bit more forward and that seemed to help a lot.

Maddy took some photos for me, thanks Maddy!!!

I do need a better solution for this, and I don't particularly want to buy a
girth cover for $30. I know I can make something better, just have to figure
out how to do it! I'm considering using a quilt batting liner to give the tube
some structure so it doesn't get crumpled like this.

I am working on a "how to" post to make one of these. Unfortunately I deleted the photos I had of making the original one, so I will make another one so that I can get photos of it, and then probably do a giveaway. Sound good? ;)

Just Call Me Martha

Lucy's vet wanted her to start lunging in the Pessoa Training System five minutes per day. I don't own one and don't have the budget to go out and spend $200 on one. My barn owner has one and was happy to lend it to me but I figured if I'm going to have to use this thing every single day for the foreseeable future, I should try to get my own.

I had a good look at them online and thought, "you know, these things really aren't that complicated".

I decided to try and make my own. I found some plans online and adapted them slightly, went to Home Depot and WalMart for supplies, and spent about an hour sewing the fleece sleeve to go around her bum, and laying the rig out on the floor against a spare fleece cooler I had at home for sizing. I finished it and stepped back to admire my handiwork. It looked good, and my total cost was about $25! If anyone is interested, I will do a step-by-step post to show you how I made it, but here is the finished result:

This is a video still, hence the bad quality. I hope Kenny can take some photos of her going in it today in the outdoor. But doesn't she look cute? She got the hang of it quickly. I left it fairly loose since this was her first time going in it and I was impressed by her willing attitude! I think she's so happy to have something to DO! :)

Contest Time!

Now that Lucy is back in work-ish, my priorities are to keep her feeling good, and not leave room for any reinjury. This means a careful warm-up each time I take her out to work on the lunge line, and a careful cool-down. I am also using liniment to treat her muscles with, to ensure she does not feel sore.

of course when a big honkin' bomber fly lands on her butt and makes her
 take off like a rocket and pull stunts like this, I can't help but sigh...

My usual go-to product for anything muscle-related is SoreNoMore, but I recently heard about Abraxas Equine (website), a small business specializing in all-natural herb-based horse care products. You can sign up for a free sample on their website, and I love trying out new products. They sent me some of their Hydra-Luxe Liniment, and also some of their Supra Daily Shampoo to try on Lucy. The shampoo is awesome because it is a low-sudsing formula, so it rinses out really easily. A lot of us equate bubbles with cleansing, but honestly, whenever I give Lucy a bath I spend more time getting all of the suds out of her than anything else, and it's frustrating! I don't want to leave any in there, because that would cause skin issues, and I do wish the shampoo rinsed out easier.

The Supra shampoo does just that: cleanses thoroughly and rinses out easily. It is very concentrated, and they recommend putting some in a bucket, adding water, and bathing the horse with the soapy water instead of putting soap directly on the sponge.

As for the liniment, it is Arnica-based and safe to use as a normal liniment, brace, or under wraps. It is the consistency of water, and spreads easily. A little bit seems to go a long way. I have a huge bruise on my wrist and hand that is very sore. I put some of the liniment on there and while it didn't have the immediate effect I usually get when using a liniment, it really soaked in and helped the discomfort, lasting for quite a long time. Today, the area is much less sore. The Hydra-Luxe formula doesn't use any alcohol or menthol to create that cooling effect, but instead focuses on long-term soothing and deep healing. You can read more about the formula on their website here.

Today I tested the shampoo and the liniment out on Lucy. After I lunged her, I cooled her out and then put her in the wash rack.

looking kind of clean, but really very dirty

I followed the directions of the shampoo and put some in a bucket, along with water. I sponged the soapy water onto Lucy and washed her normally. I thought the suds were quite bubbly.

after soap

I rinsed her off and I could immediately tell a difference between this soap and Gallop Shampoo, which is what I normally use. This rinsed right out of her coat and tail, and didn't leave any residue. When I used the sweat scraper to dry her off, the water ran out of her coat clear, without any additional soap that I missed.

I put her out in a grass paddock and let her dry in the sun. I didn't brush her at all and this is how she looked:

When I put her away to eat dinner, I applied the liniment down her spine and to her knees, suspensories, and hocks. She was busy eating dinner and didn't seem bothered by any of it. It smelled nice and felt light and slightly oily on my hands, but not gross. I hope it helps her muscles tonight.

Anyway, I am pretty impressed with this stuff, and no, I didn't get paid to say any of this! If you want to try out samples, check out their website, and if you'd like to win a bottle of liniment or a bottle of shampoo (I have one of each to give away), leave a comment here with your name, email, and which product you'd most like to try! Winners will be chosen randomly on Friday 7/5. Thanks to Abraxas Equine for sponsoring this giveaway!

Progress Check

Today was Lucy's appointment with the vet to check the progress of her healing. I have had many dreams of riding her on the beach and through the woods leading up to today, and I felt very nervous about this appointment. I could have done shockwave or other therapies and I chose not to, mostly for financial reasons. What if I made the wrong choice? What if I should have kept her on stall rest? I just hoped she had improved and that maybe I could ride her soon.

I called the vet at 8:30am to see when they would be out, and the receptionist said that she didn't have the schedule finalized yet, and needed to call me back. Ok, no problem! I went back to work and waited for the call. Two hours passed, which is an exceptionally long time, and then she finally called back. She said that the ultrasound machine was not working correctly, and they couldn't come out today. I was so gutted, I cannot even tell you. I had persuaded my boss to let me work from home today, I had gotten up at the crack of dawn to start work early in case they had to come out first thing this morning, and I had waited three months and spent over $4,000 to get to this point. Not to mention I made this appointment almost a month ago, and the only piece of equipment they needed was the one thing that wasn't working! I was so overwhelmed and upset, but I remained totally polite and said I understood, and agreed to reschedule the appointment. The first date that worked for both of us was two weeks away. I hung up the phone and felt sorry for myself. Did I really have to wait another two weeks? Ugh!

A few minutes later they called back, and said they had been able to swap the machine out with another vet's machine, and they could come out that day! What a relief! After that, I felt shaky and even more nervous for the appointment.

When the vet called to say he was on his way, I rushed over to the barn, brushed her off, and then waited. He first sedated her, and since she was in lala land and he had the ultrasound machine, he checked her ovaries. They are both 100% normal; the one on the right has a huge follicle (so she is in heat right now) and I am pretty sure that we can put that entire thing to rest. Then he clipped her along her spine (bummer) and his assistant cleaned her off really well with alcohol pads so that no dirt got into the ultrasound probe.

getting clipped

They applied gel and then started the ultrasound. As he went along the spine I could see the tissue between the spinus processes: normal, normal, normal, not normal.....ahhh crap, she wasn't healed. He confirmed that he could see the injury, but from the report from Tuft's, it seemed to have healed significantly. It had originally spanned across three vertebra, and now barely stretched along one. So that is great news. However, she will need more time off before I can ride. She is allowed to start lunging, 5 minutes a day and working up from there. She cannot be silly or kick out on the lunge line, and he advised using a Pessoa system or side reins. If she is too hot or crazy, I can give her Ace.

I took her out today on the lunge line, even though I didn't have a Pessoa system, and had her trot around. I didn't give her any Ace because she seemed very chill. She was awesome, and behaved perfectly. She stretched down and trotted out nicely, not getting riled up in the least.

So I am happy she's progressing, but sad that we still have a long time ahead of us before I can ride.

Appropriately, I got the reimbursement cheque back from the insurance today. They covered $3700 of the bill, so yes, insurance is totally worth it. :)