Woooohooo!

Just a quick post to report that Salem is feeling better. He's still starting off a bit stiff, but he loosens up and works through it eventually. I've been massaging the muscles in his left hind with liniment and doing lots of stretches, so hopefully we'll get all that scar tissue worked out soon.

Monday was the first "real" ride we did since the whole saddle-fitting debacle. I had done a few light walk/trots, but Monday I put him through a full hack and he was an absolute peach -- quiet, responsive, and perfectly happy. He picked up the right lead on the first try and cantered both directions just as quiet as you please. Progress!

Today, we met Heather and Gigi for an afternoon ride. It was blustery but sunny, and Salem was a bit "up" since he had Tuesday off. He was also a little bit riled up by having other horses out there with us, since I usually ride him alone -- but he certainly needs to learn to mind his manners even when in company. We had a few bratty moments where he did some minor testing (moving sideways with ears pinned at the trot, leaping and bucking at the canter), but it was pretty minor and we worked through it. He was very forward, so I just worked on staying quiet and trying to slow my seatbones.

Of course, since we rode with Heather, I obviously couldn't ride in her saddle. Lucky for me, another boarder had offered to let me ride in hers if I needed to. Her saddle is a Devoucoux. An $8000 Devoucoux, I might add. And, let me just say, I absolutely loff that saddle! It is comfy and squishy and my leg felt like it had finally found its home. Even when Salem went leaping and cavorting around, I felt like I was superglued to that saddle. *sigh* How can I ever go back to a craptastic saddle when I have ridden in the Golden La-Z-Boy of saddles? (Seriously, does anyone need to buy a kidney? I have an extra one just layin' around...just sayin')

Gigi snapped some pics of the beginning of our ride, so hopefully I will have those to post soon. In the meantime, I am off to look for spare change under the sofa cushions.

Thank Goodness They're So Forgiving

Yes, our lovely equine buddies certainly do forgive us for so much. We're lucky that they live in the moment and don't hold a grudge -- because if it was any different, a lot of us would be screwed, quite frankly. :-)

Last Monday, Salem had an appointment for his second natural barefoot trim. The good news is that his hooves are coming along very nicely. His White Line Disease is completely cleared (yay!), his bars are straightening out, and he has a very tight connection in all four hooves. And, they're so tough that Candy had to sharpen her knife twice during the trim! Woohoo! Tough, rock-crunching super hooves!

These pics were taken about 9 days post-trim (because I am a procrastinator!)

So, if there's good news, of course there's some...well, let's just say not-so-good news. As Candy was working on Salem, she placed her hand on his back and he flinched and pinned his ears. She said, "Hhhmmm, he's very sore here," and started giving him a mini-massage (she's also a certified equine massage therapist and a saddle-fitter). Salem let out a big sigh and relaxed after a few minutes. Candy stepped back and looked at him for a moment and then told me, "His muscling is uneven, and he has no muscle on his topline. Let me see your saddle on him."

Well, of course, the Pessoa that I've been using on him does not fit him. In fact, it is extremely narrow and way too small, and it has been making him sore. When I heard that, I turned into a little Jewish mother and started getting major guilt pangs. I've been hurting Salem with every ride! Cruelty against ponies -- somebody call the ASPCA! I was even making things worse by adding a big thick sheepskin pad. I thought it would make things all comfy for Salem, but it was actually just making the saddle fit even tighter.

At this point, I was feeling horrible. I asked Candy to look at my Collegiate to see if it was a better fit. Nope. Of course not! It's equally narrow and has probably been making every horse that I've ridden for the past however-many years sore. Super. My stomach acid at that point was so high that I probably should have given myself half a tube of GastroGuard. There might have been some mild hyperventilating involved. This was just getting worse and worse.

As a last resort, I asked Candy to look at Heather's saddle. She had let me ride in it during our last lesson, and it seemed to fit Salem very well. I figured, what the hell? Let's give it a shot. I placed it on Salem's back and, after a few minutes, Candy announced that it's a "near-perfect fit" that could be made perfect by some minor flocking adjustments. Of course it is. It's a $36000 saddle.

(Anyone have some Xanax?)

The Beautiful Magical Uber-Expensive Saddle

So, I have started saving up for a new saddle, as I realize that my saddle is far too narrow for any horse that I would ever ride or own. In the meantime, Heather has been gracious enough to let me borrow hers, as long as I clean it and put the stirrups back to her setting. Fair enough! I also ordered a Thinline saddle pad and booked an appointment for Salem to get a full-body massage.

Since he was so sore, I gave Salem a week off from under-saddle work and just did a lot of longeing, ground work, grazing, grooming, back massages, liniment rub-downs, and of course treat-giving and major apologizing.

Yesterday morning, Candy came down for Salem's massage. He loooooooooved it! He kept yawning and rolling his eyes back, and he even did this really weird/cool back stretch that I have never seen a horse do before. And it was interesting that Candy could tell so much from his muscles -- she said his right side needs to be developed more and he's stiffer on that side (so true!) and that he has sore muscles in his left hind (which is why he rests his left hind all the time).

Maaaahhhsaaaaadjjjjzzzzz

That is one relaxed pony

Chunky Monkey!

This was meant to show Salem's stripey, sun-bleached tail

After his week-long vacay and hour-long professional massage, I'm pretty sure Salem has forgiven me. I think all the extra treats helped, too!

Thank goodness for Candy -- if it wasn't for her, I would have never found out about the saddle fit issue. Hindsight's 20/20, and looking back it all seems so obvious. On the longe, Salem was all stretchy and floaty, but he was always a bit short under saddle. All of my barn-mates thought his feet were sore and I should put shoes on him, but I knew that he would be short on the longe if he was foot-sore. I'm just grateful to Candy for getting to the bottom of the issue. How many farriers would have noticed a back-sore horse? Not many!

OK, I am off to the barn. We'll see how the lad does now that he's all loosened up and comfy. Fingers and hooves crossed for a big, swingy trot!

A Good End To A Bad Week

Yes, the clouds have finally parted and let the sun break through (metaphorically -- it's actually rainy and gross right now). I have gradually regained Salem's sanity, thank goodness; and I have had no more tragedies. This was not my week, but the past few days have been brighter.

First and foremost, the Salem Ponykins -- where did I last leave off in our tale? I told you about his sanity "breaking" last weekend and the extraordinary acrobatics that it entailed. Unfortunately, Salem is sharp as a tack and, even though I did not get off right away when Salem misbehaved last Saturday, he still got it into his head that Naughtiness = Less Work. It took several days, lots of leg, and enough growling to intimidate a Rottweiler to show him that his shenanigans will get him nothing but more work. He gradually got less and less resistant and finally threw in the towel on Wednesday.

Friday, Heather rode Salem in the morning. I warned her that he was having a Greenie, Boundaries-Testing Week, so she needed to keep her guard up. Her exact words when I asked her how it went were, "Well, it ended well." Apparently, he had been very good at the trot (which is what I had fought for all week), but when asked to canter he went "leaping around the field." Poor Heather, she got a wild ride! But I know that she is a very determined and capable rider and she worked him through it with a bit of help from Elaine.

Saturday, Heather and I did a one-two tag team ride in the morning and he was a very good boy. He still had to throw in a little bit of naughtiness every now and then, but went very well overall. Since Heather was on first, she actually worked all of his kinks out. I got to just get on and have a nice quiet hack. It's nice to have someone else do all the hard stuff every once in a while!

That afternoon, I had to leave early because I had tickets for Cavalia -- yes, this is the second time that I've gone in the past three weeks, but it's very good! This time, I was in the eight row, as opposed to last time when I was literally in the last row. Needless to say, it was just as breathtaking and mesmerizing as the first time.

My absolute favorite part is the Grand Liberte', where Sylvia Zerbini comes on stage with her eight horses (a mix of white/grey Arab and Andalusion stallions/geldings). Zerbini has nothing but a dressage whip, and all of the horses are completely free and loose -- no halters, no nothing. She holds the attention of those eight horses far better than I can command the attention of one. The Grand Liberte' is indescribably beautiful -- the relationship that Zerbini has with those horses is touching and inspiring. She'll make a little circle with the dressage whip and four horses will spin one way and four will spin the other way. I've never seen anything like it. Zerbini is definitely one of my new horsey idols!


In other good news, Salem's lip is completely healed. In fact, Dr. F could have been a plastic surgeon because you would never know that he ever had any stitches. Yay!

And last but not least, today Heather gave Jennie and me an hour-long flat lesson. For the most part, Salem was a very well-behaved little pony. We had some cantering "issues," where he would leap around like a gazelle, kick, buck, and crowhop. Really, it sounds worse than it was. We worked through it, and he eventually settled down and cantered quietly. He didn't spook once -- not at the horses in the pasture, the growling lawnmower next door, the 4-wheelers tearing down the street, the horses being longed in the arena, or the various sounds created by the brisk wind. We even got the right lead on the first try -- victory! :-) Overall, it was definitely the perfect, bright end to a very dark week.

Another Sad Day

This has turned into quite a tough week. The cat in the pic above is Zamboni, a feral cat who had been hanging around our barn for months and months. At first he wouldn't let anyone come near him, but I slowly gained his trust through lots of gentle talking and quite a few cat treats. I had gotten within half an inch of him, but hadn't actually pet him.

About two weeks ago, I noticed that his ear was hurt very badly -- there was a large flap and a lot of blood and pus. I knew he needed to get to the vet. Long story short, Heather is a cat whisperer and we got him into a crate last Wednesday night. I took him to the vet, who cut the flap off, thoroughly cleaned the wound, gave him a two-week antibiotic shot, and started him on Revolution for ear mites. He told me to clean the wound and put Neosporin on it every day and I made an appointment for this morning for Zamboni to come back and get shots and a "ball-ectomy."

The first night, I put him in the bathroom,

opened the crate, and stepped out. When I

came back, I couldn't find him anywhere.

He was hiding on the top shelf

of the linen closet!

The week that he spent at my house, Zamboni turned from terrified of people to total love bug. I would sit in the bathroom with him (he stayed in there to keep away from my kitty Phoebe in case he was sick) and pet him and pet him and peeeeet him. If I stopped, he would meow and rub against me and roll over on his back to have his belly rubbed. He was such a little lover and a huge goofball.



This morning when I took him in, I had this nagging feeling that Z-man's feline leukemia or feline AIDS test would come back positive and he would have to be put to sleep. I told myself I was just being paranoid. When I took him in to the office everyone made a huge fuss over him and commented on what a striking and handsome kitty he was. I said goodbye to him and headed home.

A few hours passed and I didn't get that phone call. I figured everything was good and I would be able to pick up Zamboni and take him home, for good this time. That's when the phone rang. It was my vet and he said that Zamboni had done great during surgery and had been recovering well. Then he suddenly had a seizure and died.

Of course, I went in to say goodbye to Z. I told him I'm sorry that this happened but I'm so glad that I got the chance to spend time with him. I told him I was sorry that I wasn't with him 'til the end. Even though I only spent a solid week with him, losing him was heartbreaking. It's just never easy -- animals find their way so deeply into our hearts so quickly. It's both the greatest joy and the heaviest weight.

Unfortunately, I only have crappy cell phone pics of him. I know this has nothing to do with Salem, but I felt that Zamboni deserved to have his story told. He was the most gorgeous, wild-looking snow-leopard kitty I've ever seen, a big tough tom cat that was the sweetest little guy once he trusted me. Z-man, I'm sure you'll have lots of good company over there on the other side. I'll miss you.

Lounging on his little bed in the linen closet. The first

few days, he had to be up high

(since he was a wild kitty and height = safety).

Eventually, he started coming down more

often and I made him a little bed on the floor, as well.

*Thanks to Ruby for helping me with the pics!*

Always With Me

One year ago today, I lost my sweet boy Mac. Miss ya, buddy.

I Need A Young Priest and An Old Priest...

...because Salem has clearly been possessed by demonic spirits and is in need of an immediate exorcism. Anybody have some holy water? Sage? A protective crystal amulet? I'll take anything.

To be honest, I knew yesterday that Salem would be high as a kite; he had Thursday off because I had to take an injured barn cat to the vet, and then Friday off because we had The Thunderstorm of The Century. Add to the mix the fact that it was very brisk and chilly, and you've got the perfect recipe for a Very Naughty Pony.

We started off pretty well -- we did about 15 minutes of fairly calm walking to warm up. Salem was a bit of a lookie-loo, but that's not unusual as of late. He's going through a bit of a "testing" phase, where he tries reeeaally hard to find something to spook at. It's just your typical greenie behavior and nothing major. We did lots of circles and serpentines and ground rails to keep Salem occupied and focused.

After the walk, I took him into the arena and picked up a trot tracking left. I could feel a bit of a hump in his back and he was doing the up-and-down bouncey trot as opposed to a forward trot but, again, I was not surprised given the circumstances. We probably trotted about ten minutes and I could feel Salem starting to loosen up.

We reversed and did a few walk/halt transitions, and Salem was listening well. Unfortunately, Luis then decided to turn out the evening-shift horses, even though it was still early. He started with Lafitte, who took off bucking and galloping like a bat out of hell. Salem grew about two feet and started snorting like a velocaraptor. Awesome.

I figured I needed to get Salem occupied, so I asked for a trot. Apparently, there is a new definition for trot, because Salem started flinging his head around, crow-hopping, and bouncing around in a jarring, pogo-stick trot. He wanted to go up instead of forward and he was throwing his head around like crazy. So, I sat deeper, squeezed with my calves, and touched the spur to his sides in order to get him forward. It just was not happening. I tried a few more times, but by then all of the evening horses were turned out and running around like idiots. I decided to simplify the equation and ask for a quiet walk. I got a somewhat-quiet walk twice around the arena and then decided to jump off.

Now, I am usually all for riding through stupidity, and 99% of the time I do. But I know when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em and, given all of the factors, this was definitely a time to fold. I got out the longe line and worked Salem for about 45 minutes, and I'm glad I did because he was full of spit and vinegar.

So today -- I figured, okay, we got all that extra energy out of his system. He'll be fine. Again, we started off well. I asked for the trot. He side-passed, bucked, kicked out, pogo-sticked, and started throwing his head up and back. I actually thought he might rear. Again, I figured, it was stupid to keep fighting, so I got off and decided to longe the tar out of him.

We did a half hour on the longe, just enough to get out all of his extra energy. I made him do a lot of cantering and he was sweaty when I finally let him stop. Problem solved, right? I got back on and asked for the trot. Salem started up his antics again, at which point I started to get a bit ticked. He was certainly not just full of energy -- he thought he had my number.

HA! Little does Salem know that I have ridden more than my fair share of super bratty horses. I can growl with the best of them! And, since I knew that Salem was really testing me, I needed to show him that I am The One Who Wears The Pants In This Relationship and he must do what I ask of him. I certainly didn't beat him into submission or anything -- I just kept my leg ON, with a bit of spur, and yelled and growled at him like a rabid mountain lion. He kept testing and testing and then finally gave up. We got about five minutes of nice trotting in each direction and I decided to call it a day. I had made my point -- being a Head-Flinging Demonic Pogo-Stick Pony does not get you out of work. In fact, it gets you way more work and NO peppermints.

Now, I just want to point out that Salem is usually a very good boy. He has a great attitude and I think he actually enjoys working. But he's a young, athletic, green-as-grass Thoroughbred, so of course he's going to have some "moments." Thankfully, these are few and far between -- although, I realize that it might seem like he's always naughty because I always write about his bratty episodes. There aren't a whole lot of "we had a good, boring ride today" because, let's face it, that's not as exciting to read! Sprinklerbandit made that same point recently, and it's true -- the antics always make for a more entertaining blog!

So, we'll see if he remembers this lesson tomorrow. Fingers crossed, I will have the regular old Sane Salem back. For now, I am off in search of some much-needed medicinal chocolate.

No Rollkur!!

I'm showing my solidarity for the anti-rollkur movement. If you agree, please copy/past this graphic and the underlying text to your blog. We need to end this cruel practice once and for all!



The FEI is holding a closed-door round table meeting on Feb. 9th to discuss the training method known as rollkur, or hyperflexion, which involves pulling and holding the horse's muzzle to his chest. This practice is known to have many negative effects on the horse, both physically and psychologically. Gerd Heuschmann, the lone voice for the horse at this meeting, has my support and appreciation as he presents his case "for the good of the horse" along with petitions and letters saying NO TO ROLLKUR.

UPDATED:
FEI PRESS RELEASELausanne (SUI), 9 February 2010FEI ROUND TABLE CONFERENCE RESOLVES ROLLKUR CONTROVERSY Following constructive debate at the FEI round-table conference at the IOC Headquarters in Lausanne today (9 February), the consensus of the group was that any head and neck position achieved through aggressive force is not acceptable. The group redefined hyperflexion/Rollkur as flexion of the horse’s neck achieved through aggressive force, which is therefore unacceptable. The technique known as Low, Deep and Round (LDR), which achieves flexion without undue force, is acceptable.The group unanimously agreed that any form of aggressive riding must be sanctioned. The FEI will establish a working group, headed by Dressage Committee Chair Frank Kemperman, to expand the current guidelines for stewards to facilitate the implementation of this policy. The group agreed that no changes are required to the current FEI Rules. The FEI Management is currently studying a range of additional measures, including the use of closed circuit television for warm-up arenas at selected shows.The group also emphasised that the main responsibility for the welfare of the horse rests with the rider. The FEI President HRH Princess Haya accepted a petition of 41,000 signatories against Rollkur presented by Dr Gerd Heuschman.The participants in the FEI round-table conference were: HRH Princess Haya, FEI PresidentAlex McLin, FEI Secretary GeneralMargit Otto-Crépin, International Dressage Riders Club RepresentativeLinda Keenan, International Dressage Trainers Club RepresentativeSjef Janssen, Dressage RepresentativeFrank Kemperman, Chairman, FEI Dressage Committee (by conference call)François Mathy, International Jumping Riders Club RepresentativeDavid Broome, Jumping RepresentativeJonathan Chapman, Eventing Representative Roly Owers, World Horse Welfare RepresentativeTony Tyler, World Horse Welfare RepresentativeUlf Helgstrand, President, Danish Equestrian FederationJohn McEwen, Chairman, FEI Veterinary CommitteeDr Sue Dyson, Veterinary RepresentativeDr Gerd Heuschman, Veterinary RepresentativeProf. René van Weeren, Veterinary RepresentativeJacques van Daele, FEI Honorary Steward General DressageGraeme Cooke, FEI Veterinary DirectorTrond Asmyr, FEI Director Dressage and Para-Equestrian DressageJohn Roche, FEI Director Jumping and StewardingCatrin Norinder, FEI Director EventingCarsten Couchouron, FEI Executive Director CommercialRichard Johnson, FEI Communications Director