Ideas. (Aka the post in which I decide it's too hot)

Ok fellow bloggers!

How Digby's topline used to look... (FYI - not me holding him)

I need some help. I'm a giant baby in the heat (I chalk some of this up to the fact that I work outside and I literally sweat all. day. long.) and PA is warm in the summer. Not 100+ degrees all the time Texas hot, but it's toasty. And humid. Ugh, the humidity! Anyway, no use in complaining because it's a fact of life in this state. That being said, the vet told me to give it a few days for the Previcox/Adequan combo to start working and then get back to work, especially in building his topline.  I have been working on building it previously but I'm wondering if anyone had a good idea for how to build topline when it's roughly 1029 degrees out. Doing a lot of trot/canter work is out of the question. I know pole work can help but honestly, Digby doesn't tend to lift his back when going over poles. This defeats the purpose. We do have a few hills but they are out on the trails, which I'm not comfortable going on unless I have a friend. Lunging (with or without a chambon, or vienna reins, or whatever gadget you'd like) on a regular basis is out given his lameness issues. I really can only lunge once a week maximum and for a short period of time. This leaves us with transitions and correct work. I feel like transitions in the walk only, maybe with snippets of trot, isn't going to be super helpful. Maybe I'm wrong?

I could ride in the morning when it's cooler but I need to be at work by 7 am so I'd need to arrive at the barn around... 5:30? AM. Not ideal since no one will be at the barn until 7-7:30, leaving an awful long time period if I fall off and get hurt. Gah! So what do you do in the "extreme" heat to keep your horses fit? Deal with it? Try lighter work loads? Drink cold beers instead?

The vet news

This is what happens when I try to take photos of my horse:

Yeah. So that's why there are rarely any new photos of Digby on the blog. He's photography challenged. As you may remember, the vet came out on Monday. Basically, she just thinks it's his usual navicular issue acting up.

We are testing for Lyme and for metabolic issues, as he's been drinking a TON of water lately. We're talking like 3 buckets in 12 hours. We also started him on Previcox for 10 days just to help with inflammation and another round of Adequan. Spending alllllll the monies. He's looking a bit better after his time off and he's probably a .5 on the lameness scale so she told me to ride him if I want to. Unfortunately, we are having a heat wave this week so my schedule of being able to ride in the early afternoons is not working well when the temps are all 90 degrees or up. 

I should get the test results back in a week so fingers crossed there's no lyme or metabolic issues and it's just his usual lameness!

Feeling better?

2010. Do I even have new photos of the hony?! (Answer: no.)

After texts, comments on FB and on here, and some in person conversations, I'm feeling a bit more positive than I was yesterday and earlier in the week. I think I just needed to get the whining out of my system! The vet will be coming out on Monday. We're planning on checking out the hony, getting some flexion tests, probably pulling blood for Lyme, and most likely starting another course of Adequan. That always seems to help. I'm sure she'll come out and we'll figure out what else we should do.

In other vet related news, I am CRUSHED to find out that my vet practice said my new barn is too far away to regularly work with Digby!!! (Cue panic.) The vet is located pretty far away in all honesty, I can't fault them there, and the vet I typically use was super polite when telling me. She is mostly worried about emergencies. They are based out of the county next to mine so it is quite a drive to do shots for one horse, although they service large barns within 15 minutes of mine. In a dire emergency, they might not be able to get there in time and I totally get it. I appreciate being told that they won't just take my money and then not be able to get there when I really need them. She did say she'd come out on Monday but that I need to plan to use someone else for vaccinations and emergencies in the future.

That being said, what in the ever loving heck do I do now? The barn I'm at does not require any one vet so there are two vets (besides mine) that are used. One vet is, how can I put this, an idiot. I will not use him for anything. I suppose I'd be ok with him giving shots but that's where the buck ends. So he's out of the question, especially given Digby's opinionated nature and lameness issues. The other vet practice is much more reputable. I was planning on giving them a call today but life happened and now here we are, after normal business hours. I will call tomorrow just to feel them out and let them know I might be using them in the future. Ideally, someone in the barn will be having them out (not for an emergency, I hope!) so I can meet them before Digby has something else wrong. I thought about calling them out for this lameness but I love my current/soon to be old vet and she was the one who took the images of Digby's feet originally so she knows years of history.

Thanks again everyone for the lovely comments. I really appreciate them! I'm a bit more optimistic now that the vet is coming out. I figure it's either going to be ok or it's not and there's peace in knowing that.

Woe is me.

Be warned, this post gets a little bit a lot whiney but it ends up ok in the end. Maybe.

Dig My Size, 2012

Do you ever have one of those days when nothing, and I do mean nothing, seems to go right?

The kind where no matter what, you're grumpy. The kind where stereotypical, sad country music songs all seem to fit. The kind that make you wonder if you need to drink several adult beverages or just sleep for 3 days. The kind where even (multiple) chocolate cupcakes and hugs don't help.

Yeah, we've all been there once or twice.

In all actuality, there are plenty of things that go right, or at least things that don't go wrong. The day could be worse and you know it. Nevertheless, there's a giant ball of "EVERYTHING SUCKS" that you can't seem to deflate, or a heavy weight on your shoulders, or a giant monster sucking out all the joy in life stuck to you, whichever metaphor you prefer. You punch, kick, scratch and claw your way into a better frame of mind. You fall down, you get back up. Wash, rinse, repeat.

"I am a wild steed!" (2010)

I'm a goal oriented person. I thrive on continuous process analysis and improvement. I struggle with people who say things like "well, we do it this way because we always have" and "no we can't do that because I said so." I feel like most (can I make that generalization?) riders, especially bloggers and ones who compete, have similar feelings. We are consistently analyzing, trying new things, trying old things, seeking feedback. While we can lack patience, we know it's necessary. We are willing to sit chilly and wait it out. "It" could be the distance to a jump, the days of stall rest, the time it takes to build up fitness, or anything in between.

Sitting chilly and waiting "it" out has its limits though. There are situations that will bring that "EVERYTHING SUCKS" ball/weight/monster around like kryptonite. You fight it and try to stay buoyant. You have to, for your own sake and the sake of those around you.

I can't really pretend that Digby is sound anymore. His lameness is my kryptonite. It's just happened too many times, for too long, for me to ever be ok with it. My first reaction has become "fuck this." I immediately get irrationally angry. I'm angry because I spend all the monies on board bills, feed bills, vet bills, farrier bills so I can't do other things I'd like to and I can't even ride. I'm angry because I had my hopes up that maybe we'd start lessoning in the fall with a local trainer. I'm angry because I can't enjoy my horse like I'd like to. I'm angry because I'm not asking him to jump or do Grand Prix dressage and he still won't stay sound. I'm angry because I've owned him for 5 years who has been lame for at least half of it. I'm angry that EVERYONE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD (lolz) gets to ride their horse. I'm just angry in the "it-doesn't-matter-how-many-cupcakes-you-eat-you're-still-mad" way.

Digby's been on/off sore/borderline lame for a while now. There's always a progression to his lameness. He gets not quite right behind, sore in the back, and then lame up front. We tried a different set of shoes but those have not helped curb this progression. He was back sore earlier in the week. He didn't look bad but didn't look great on the lunge line on Monday. I rode on Tuesday and he was definitely more ouchy, enough for me to not work him, sigh heavily, admit that he wasn't reaaaally sound and brace myself for my impending mood drop. He was about a 1.5 out of 5 lame trotting in the field yesterday. Although he's been sound for several years, in similar workload, whatever we're currently doing is causing him to be lame. Again. The worst part of Digby's lamenesses is that there's never any heat. There's no swelling. There's no physical "thing" that I can look at and say "oh, that's worse than it was yesterday" or "yay it's gone down!" He's just either sound or he's on the lameness scale of 1-5.

2014

I may be melodramatic. This is certainly a first world problem to be this bummed about a horse's lameness. He's just a horse, right? I wrote a post the other week about how he's not my heart horse. If he is, I don't know it yet. Why do I care so much that it ruins my whole day, week, month? I suppose it's because I'm emotionally and financially invested. Relationships, even of the equine/human nature, are hard. You stay with something long enough, you end up having hopes and dreams and goals. Digby, in his own charming way, keeps crushing them. I need to remind myself that life is not over, you're fine, you'll figure it out, he'll get sound again, he always does.

If you'd like, cross your fingers, throw in a little prayer, give advice, make a wish for me. Digby needs to tell me what in the hell I'm supposed to do with him.

And I need to find a few cupcakes. They may not help my mood, or my waistline, but they sure are tasty.

A photo update (well, and some words, obviously)

Much has been happening in the world of Digby. I fell off last Monday as you may remember so I took it easy last week, both as far as working and riding goes. I generally pick up a few extra jobs during the week, since my "full time" job has made me part time until the middle of August, but I either said I couldn't do it (like walking a very cute, very bad lab) or tried to do less (like helping at Digby's barn). 

Digby's new shoes

Digby got some new kicks on Thursday. He was in a set of steel shoes with a wedge pad but as you can (maybe) tell from the photo, the wedge pad hasn't been doing great things for his heels. My farrier changed him into an aluminum (ahhhh! MONEY! *cries*) wedge bar shoe, which is supposed to help with that issue. We shall see and more on that later! 

Ghost and Digby

Digby has completely settled into his routine of going out with his friend Ghost, coming in, breakfast, hanging out in his stall all day, he eats dinner, I show up, we sometimes work, then he goes back outside. I wouldn't say Ghost is his BFF but they get along well.

I hadn't ridden Digby since I was nursing my back but wanted to try out his new shoes. Sadly, I had the busiest days on Friday and Saturday so I wasn't able to do anything except work and work some more. Sunday had a high of 93 (or 95, depending on where you look) degrees with a horrid heat index so I made the adult decision to not work my horse.

The joys of trying to get a conformation shot by myself

Monday had similar weather but I was dying to see what Digby thought of the new shoes. I put his rope halter on just so I could see what he was going to think. He was honestly a bit of a jerk. There was some head tossing, grumpy faces, even a leap or two. I couldn't quite decide if he was expressing his opinion on the shoes or if he was a bit miffed at working. I'm not too concerned as it was still pretty hot at 8 PM when I was "lunging." That's used reaaal loosely, as it was about 6 minutes on the line with no gear to make him actually use himself. Maybe he was just being a grump about having to "work."

Lots of tries later and this is the best one...

I think I overdid it a bit yesterday as my back had been feeling a lot better (aka perfect) but it's sore again. I may try to ride later or I might wait it out until tomorrow. Waaah!

ZBH Blog Hop: Everyday Fail

I LOVE this blog hop! I like the reasoning behind it. Nicole over at Zen and the Art of Baby Horse Management had such good points based off of Emma's post over at Fraidy Cat Eventing, which I also LOVED. I encourage you to read Emma's post if you haven't yet. Basically, the internet sucks sometimes and people can be way too judgey-judgey. No one is perfect, even professionals, and it is very disheartening to have people assume and judge you when they don't know the whole story. This is true in real life, like in a business setting, not just in the equine world. So I'm going to join in posting some of my terrible, not perfect photos of Digby. While I don't have a ton of media of Digby and I, and even less of him truly misbehaving, here's some good silly ones:

What Digby thinks of horse shows.

I call this "how much like a giraffe can Digby look?"

Derp derp.

Oh, so that's how you ask for a lead change?

I sits.

Cannot stand still, all photos are blurry.

How is this... anything remotely like good riding? 

"DO NOT PUT THAT HAT ON ME! NO! DON'T DO IT!"

Teach Me Thursday: Sweat marks

I've been paying attention to Digby's sweat lately. He's not the best drinker in the world. I give him electrolytes year round to encourage him to drink more. Horses are actually supposed to get 1-2 oz of salt a day, when they're not in work. Typically grains do not provide even close to this amount and often horses can't lick enough on salt licks to get this daily. In the winter, if I don't give him an electrolyte, he doesn't drink a lot and then is prone to colic. In the summer, he doesn't sweat well. Every summer I just keep an eye to make sure he's sweating well. This summer, however, I've been keeping a closer eye. I've been trying to look and make sure the sweat marks, both under his saddle and otherwise, are symmetrical. I'm not 100% sure what I should be looking for. For example, he seems to sweat more in the middle of his neck and at the base near his withers. Does this mean this muscle is working harder? I suspect yes.

"Give me cookies NOWWW" face!

Let's hear it! What do sweat marks mean to you? Do you pay attention to them? Do you look at the marks on your horses body or just where the saddle goes? Any tips?