Think I'm high maintenance? You should see my horse...

I got to thinking today about Digby's odd affection while I was grooming his neck and shoulders with the curry (usually he's not a fan of the curry at all) and decided that it might be his blanket. He just started wearing it. Now, this is the ONLY blanket I've found that fits him without giving him rubs on his withers or his shoulders. He wore a shoulder guard the first winter I had him and was fine but last winter, it rubbed him! Isn't the point of it to not get rubs? I took it off and he was fine with his one medium weight blanket on. I always put blankets on after he got clipped so I figured he was just itchy the first few weeks but he didn't get clipped this year. He's only getting the blanket on when it gets cold (into the 20s at night) enough to warrant him having clothing so he doesn't lose weight. Which brings me to my next point... what if Digby wasn't completely spoiled? He must be totally nuts. I suppose when he lived at the college he wasn't spoiled and we all see how well that worked out. I'm sure there are horses out there that are as high maintenance as him. Let's list several things Digby thinks he should get special treatment for:

• Saddles. He's a tricky saddle fit. It needs to be a good fitting saddle, in the proper position on his back, with a half pad and a wither relief saddle pad. If one of these is not correct, he gets cranky. Think tail swishing, grinding of teeth, resistance to move forward cranky.
• Flies. Any and all flies MUST. BE. KILLED! If a fly lands on him at any point in the ride, Digby feels he was full right to completely ignore any and all requests until aforementioned pest is removed from him. He will resort to any means necessary.
• Flat work. He gets bored with flat work at best but tends to flat like a champ, no martingale, simple happy mouth d ring like a total short stirrup pony requiring a crop and the occasional spur. But if you ask him to flat in a grass field or on a trail ride? He's calling the union on you because clearly, this is not in his job description. I can usually coax him into doing it but he's very good at telling me "mom, I'll do it because you want me to... but I really hate it. Can we get this over with?"
• Jumping. Some days he lopes around and you could probably but a kid on him. Other days if it's above or below a certain temperature, he worked semi hard the day before or the wind is blowing just right, watch out. He turns into a nut case, needs a martingale, absolutely no crop or spurs, front and back boots (because if he hits himself while jumping you may die. It's apparently your fault that he's overzealous), and under no circumstance are you to tell him what to do in the last two strides before the fence. He will suck behind the vertical, jump, land and attempt to kill you in a very nonchalant way. Though I suppose this part no longer applies because we will no longer be jumping. :( Sigh...
• Sweating and drinking. He's not a big drinker and he's not a big sweater either. This worries me in the cold, cold months of winter (he tends to colic in the winter I've noticed) and in the heat of the summer where he sweats but really not a lot. This is easily fixed thankfully by electrolytes.
• Feeding. Summer he's FAT, winter he's SKINNY. If you feed too much grain in the winter, he gets wild! Beet pulp usually helps with this or grain-free feed like most senior feeds but it's still a serious process. In the summer, you literally can't feed him anything because he's a chunky chunky thing.
• Turnout. He requires at least one friend at all times. More is better. If you remove this friend, he will be very displeased. He also requires at least 8+ hours a day. None of this "4 hours" nonsense. This required 8 hours does not depend on weather in the least. He wants to be out. Like 5 minutes ago, what are you waiting for?
• Blankets. Oh god, just about every blanket I try on him, gives him either shoulder rubs (which has previously been fixed by a shoulder guard... that then also started rubbing him??) or wither rubs. The one that doesn't, as I mentioned above, apparently makes his neck and shoulders itchy and/or sore. Oh it also rubs away a tiny 1 inch section of his mane every year.
• Farriers. They are his personal chew toy. End of story.

I'm sure there's more but that's all I can think of at the moment! Is anyone else's horse as opinionated or high maintenance as mine? It's a good thing I pay attention enough to pick up on these things or else he would be a very unhappy camper. Someone should remind him that life could be far worse next time they see him! :) I guess I love him anyway.

Progress?

So, update on Mr. Digs himself! Due to the hurricane and the following storms featuring more flooding, massive road and fence damage, and some other fun bad weather activities, Digby just hasn't been going out. None of the horses at the barn have. They don't have sheds in the majority of the fields and it just isn't safe for a horse to be out in severe thunderstorms with wind and potential (and sometimes definite) flooding. He has gotten his feet done. The vet gave free x-rays (a big thank you!) to our farrier so she could properly address Digby's freakish hoof issue and make sure the angles are correct so we are doing the most we can to help prevent the issue again. The angles were basically correct already so we're just going to continue to leave him as is. We don't want to increase the heel angle like you would with a normal navicular horse because we're not sure what exactly is causing him to go lame. It might not be his congenital bipartite navicular bone. It might be something entirely different and in order to be certain, we need to do several more vet visits with MRIs, more x-rays, etc. I just can't afford to do that on a free horse when he's comfortable. If we can't get him comfortable after he goes back into work, we'll have to think about things. He got shod again with the pads and the EquiPak just for extra "comfiness." Yes, I did just make that into a word! His weird right hind swelling that lasted way too long for my comfort has gone down and is back to his normal size.

With winter quickly approaching, Digby needs to get back into regular work... NOW. Winter and Digs don't mix so well. I'm not sure if it's the cold, or the lack of turnout, or the fact that he needs lots of food to keep from losing weight but he tends to get wild in the winter. Always has. I'd like to avoid having to walk for half an hour with only 2 minutes of trotting when he's going to want to be leaping around like an idiot. He's had off since June and needs to be brought back slooowly. Think walking for twenty minutes and trotting half way around the ring. Then walking for thirty minutes and trotting one way around the ring. Then walking for thirty minutes and trotting one way around the ring and one way the other direction. Yes, that slowly. I haven't made an "official" plan yet but it will include a LOT of what I call "busy work." Since we'll be doing a lot of walking, far more than either of us is going to enjoy, I need to keep his little brain busy. This means I'm going to be constantly riding but without the addition of other gaits. I'll be asking for changes of bend, transitions within the gait, transitions between gaits (aka halt and walk), doing lots of schooling figures and hopefully playing with some lateral movements. I'm also going to incorporate ground poles into the plan as long as Digby behaves and doesn't try to jump them and land in a bucking frenzy. That's happened before. If anyone has any awesome ideas for me, let me know! Digby isn't the type of horse you can just throw the reins at and walk around for hours at a time. Trail rides are an option but he's 1) not very well behaved on them and 2) winter is coming. Either way, they are definitely going out tonight because the entire barn is going stir crazy. So tomorrow, I will definitely be sitting on the wild hony beast in an attempt to get back into "regular" work. Hopefully by the beginning of winter, I'll be able to move him around enough to be safe for riding.

The farrier said something totally perfect when I was holding him so she could shoe him the other day. "Digby isn't mean, definitely not. He's never even remotely aggressive. He's just kind of a playful weasel. He has an opinion on EVERYTHING. From how he wants to stand, to where he wants to walk, how he wants to be touched, how much hay he gets, everything, right down to what color his freaking shavings are! I've never met a horse with so many opinions!" <3 I love my opinionated, high maintenance pony.

PS - Still no name for my "grooming mini series" but I'm tossing around some ideas... hopefully the first installment will come soon! :)