Is it working yet?

I've had the BoT knee wrap for a little while now. I'm still not 100% sure what I think. Although I will admit he hasn't been able to wear them everyday so far. Sometimes I just can't get out to the barn to put them on and I don't want to hassle the BO with putting them on and taking them off every day. She's does enough extra for him as it is.

Only more time will tell I suppose. Although I will note that now you can see another knot on his knee where the bone growth is...ahhhh his knee just looks so yucky.

Poncho's way of making up for my knee problems.

He decided to mess his up too!

It looks much, much better in the picture. When I got out there Wednesday evening to assess the damage it was about 2x that size and oozing like crazy! Luckily it looked worse than it was. Nothing major was affected. It was just pricey to fix up.

So now I don't need to feel too bad about not riding because Pony's out of commission for  a little while now anyways. Go figure!

Where Poncho narrowly escapes the vet.

Most people don't really know the extent of Poncho's hatred for anything vet related. In the 8 years I've had him 6 1/2 of those years he's been unbelievably violent with anything pertaining to vet work. Previously the vet couldn't even take his temperature! However he really turned a corner when I took a temporary position working for my vet a couple years ago and he's pretty much been golden ever since. We can now give him shots without the help of at least 3 people PLUS food.

So on Wednesday the vet was coming out to do Midnite's teeth and give the horses their PHF booster due to the sudden outburst of cases in our area, eeeeeek. Poncho saw them coming and pull out the all the dental stuff....naturally he hid in the corner where no one would ever find him! Luckily he quickly realized all he got was one poke and a peppermint. Life went back to being fantastic for him! What a goober...

We're finally back on track and ready to G-O!

After having such a hard time getting an appointment for Poncho's teeth we finally got them done!!!! Score!

sleepy pony

Then the rain came. Of course such is out luck. After all was said and done there was standing water everywhere. Needless to say that majorly cut into our riding time. I did manage to have a couple of schools in the ring. One attempted hack on the trails (where we almost got swallowed by a pond, that wasn't supposed to be there).

Today he got his shoes put back on so I had a quick ride to see how he felt. Holy moly! Pony feels good now. With the teeth and shoes he's definitely feeling like working again. He's been much foamier since the teeth too! Drool everywhere. And today with his shoes he was moving out dramatically better, especially at the canter. It was to die for!

The day that just won't happen! TWICE

On Wednesday (2/27) the vet was supposed to come out to do Poncho's teeth and finish up him and Midnites shots.

Being a relatively good pony, waiting in the stall.

Well we get a call at 12:30ish that there was an emergency call that just came in, she'd keep us posted. So that emergency got resolved with-in an hour. Then we get a call about another emergency which would mean that our appointment needed to be changed. Fine I suppose. We settle on the next day at about 2:00.

Poncho and Midnite standing around confused as to why they had to just stand in a stall for a half hour.

 So to accommodate for the new Thursday appointment time I need to get off of work early (only by an hour though). I get off work and everything seems to be going according to plan. Thank goodness. However I spoke too soon. Right as I was leaving work and heading to the barn I got a text saying that right as she left to come to me that there was yet another emergency!!!!!!

"I just don't know what's happening anymore!!!!"

As of now were are planning for sometime Monday afternoon (after work they might not be too happy about me leaving early again!) Third time's a charm right?

We'll pick up where I left off.

Saturday was even windier than Friday was so I kept to the ring just in case he had another meltdown. Thankfully he did not. I must say though we had a lovely ride. I never attempted the right lead canter just because I didn't want to ruin it. We had some a-m-a-z-i-n-g trot work, just to die for! He was quite lazy at first with the canter but after I grabbed a whip he was more willing to co-operate. His lateral work was superb. He wasn't overly spooky, he even held it together enough for me to do some no-stirrup work.

Sunday he had off because of a meeting at work, although I still went out there (I am now having to go out and soak his hay EVERYDAY) to see him. Monday he had off to0 (I like giving him Mondays off).

Tuesday we just hacked out in the field. It was less than stellar he was a bit obstinate about stepping in mud. Apparently he's too good for that. Goober. He was a bit resistant to the contact too. I just chalked it up to an unmotivated day.

Wednesday it was raining and kept picking up the longer I was there. Since the temps. were dropping I figured I'd be nice and give him a break. So I kind of fell apart on the 5 days a week for sure. Ohwell.

Yesterday it was goopy so I went to the ring. His teeth are definitely bothering him it was no fluke on Tuesday. He did not want accept the right rein for anything. Anytime I took a feel of his mouth instant brace. So I'll be putting his hackamore on him today. Anywho we had a great left canter again. To the right I could not get it at ALL. His teeth, his feet, or both could be contributing I don't know at this point. However we can start ruling them out soon, in 2 weeks he gets his teeth done and then the following his feet. Hurray!

Hopefully a solution?

Well with the craptastic last week we had with all the rain and snow, we were under about 2 in. of water by the end of it. There is now a line of ice cutting the ponies field in half from where the puddles froze before they dried up. Because of course now that the precipitation has stopped we now have temperatures in the high 20's - low 30's lucky us. Needless to say the footing has been less than desirable.

However I was still determined to ride. Sunday rolled around and I managed to get off of work a little early - SCORE. Then I got to the barn and poor Poncho was starting to have another coughing attack. I gave him some Banamine and Dex again, then in about 20 minutes he was a okay. Obviously though I was not going to ride! So I figured hopefully Monday he'll still be good and I can have a nice hack. Nope that didn't happen. He was okay though, I just found out that if I wanted to get my hair done I had to be there at 4:30 so I had no time to ride. Boo.

Finally yesterday I got to "ride" I use the term ride loosely. It was mega, mega windy and cold! Poncho was being a gentleman so I figured okay I'll give it a go. I was just going to hack around the field a little he was being good until all the horses moved towards the front. Then he started to bunny hop. Soon after I aborted my plan.

Today we had the vet out for shots and to figure out what the heck is going on with my boy. It's definitely a hay allergy. At the rate he's going if we don't get it under control he's going to get heaves! Needless to say I'm pretty much freaking out about that. SO now I have to get the BO to soak his hay instead of her idea of just rinsing it. Hopefully that will go as planned and he'll be 100% in no time. Also Poncho was a super star for his shots (he's notoriously crazy, killer, crazy) the vet was so proud of him! I was so proud he's come such a long, long way!

I even got the chance to have a quick hack today. Unfortunately the ring was so frozen it didn't last long and we never went above a walk - boo hoo. But atleast he's gotten ridden 2x this week he's happy. He gets wayy to cranky these days when he's not in work.

A couple rides and an emergency call!

I had a couple of nice rides on Poncho Man. We worked in the ring to get his confidence up in the ALONE! It did in fact yield some positive results. We got some very nice trot and canter work, after a little bit of persuasion.

Then he had the farrier on Tuesday which apparently led to a string of unfortunate events. It turns out that the BO's horse had some sort of respiratory issue and was put on SMZ's. I don't know if that is the connection but when I got out there on Wednesday Poncho started to have a fit. It appeared to be choke - even the vet thought so and came out for an emergency call. Once she got there though we determined it was actually pretty much an extreme asthma attack. He literally was struggling to catch his breath for a half hour! It was quite intense!!!!! Luckily we got him back under control and on some medicine. AND thank goodness that since he's been on the med's he seems so, so, so much better. Although I am beyond tired. To get out to the barn before work (he of course needs something 2x/day) I have to get up at 4:00 to get myself ready and head to the barn.

Poncho this morning.

Pony Problems!

Ohno! Mr. Poncho has a bit of a cough. Since he has not been exposed to any new horses or anything of the like in 3 months. We are all leaning toward hay allergies. Since the barn has just started giving hay in the evening. And the cough is identical to the last time he had hay problems.

So as of now we are soaking hay and for the next week I am stuffing "cough free" muffins down his throat. (He loathes the cough free supplement.) If things to do not improve dramatically with this new protocol by the end of the week a call will be placed into the vet.

Fingers Crossed!

Mini-Vaction and we're Moving On.

Since my lat post I left off as if I was going to ride and try to work through our issue. Well at the last minute I decided to give the Pony-O a vacation. I had looked at all my ride logs and noted that since the year started he has never had more than 4 days off in a row the whole year! Man has been working it! So I thought maybe his baby brain is just a little frazzled.

During his week off he was quite confused as to why he wasn't doing anything. Pampering didn't seem to cut it with the boy. He wanted more. He did end up getting his shots done-which I'd like to add he was the best he's ever been for. He's normally a demon pony trying to kill us all. But not that day.

After his week off full of pampering and such that Saturday I tacked up hoping for the best. While I was tacking up I got the notion in my head that I was just going to hop on there and walk around the barn (his notoriously scary spot). After a week of nothing it probably wasn't the best idea but I went for it anyways. He was perfect. We never went above a walk and we just moseyed around for a while. Sunday we upped the anti. I still hacked around the barn first. Then we warmed up in the ring he was about 80% with me on his bad direction. So I thought what the hey let's jump some. Oh my. After his first refusal, he always refuses the gate the first try no matter what, he was brilliant. We did have a couple of run-outs. But I'm not quite sure I would really call them that. He just wants to be on the rail and just go's for it, which makes us miss the jump. However everytime the next time around he always jumps it. Not the point though. He was just a jumping machine I was sooooo happy.

Monday and Tuesday he had off. Wednesday he got some shoes and ended up having off. Thursday we hacked in the gelding field where his eye turned up swollen and squinty afterwards. Which then led to weepy. I doctored the best I could and came back out later with help. Friday he had off his eye was better not 100%. Yesterday his eye was still a little swollen - needs to go down I can't afford a vet visit. :( However it was not bothering him in the slightest so I went forward with a plan to hack around the barn and then the gelding field.

He ofcourse spooked some at the honey suckle- they're out to get him. And he was going on the bit so nicely. We had a mostly controlled trot out there.

Basically I'm just keeping it really light since he's so sour about riding around the ring these days. I'm not super worried because in a week we're moving to a new barn!!!!!!!!! So excited.

Squeezing in a few more rides.

On Saturday, after our wonderful hack out in the gelding field, I went out wayyy late to ride so I could ride with my Mom. We ended up going in the ring due to all the other ponies being turned out. Poncho was definitely less than pleased but was a gentleman nonetheless. He did have a nice pouty face going on however. We walked and trotted around for awhile sorting out his bolting issue from the last time we rode in there. Don't know what it is with that one spot in the ring but ohwell. After he got over that little issue, before we wrapped up the ride I wanted to try a quick canter with the hackamore in there. It wasn't horrible but the hackamore didn't cure his issues. I didn't really think it would though.

On Sunday Mom wanted to hack out in the gelding field with us. So we meandered around for awhile enjoying the nice weather.

Yesterday, Wednesday, it was so humid out I felt like I couldn't breathe. But I really wanted to ride. So I planned on doing a quick-ish conditioning ride out in the gelding field. We walked a lap, trotted a lap, changed directions, trotted a little more, then walked some more. When we turned for "home" I decided on a whim to let him open up a bit. We started off at a nice brisk canter - then I asked for a smidge more. He readily complied then about 6 or 7 strides in to our slow gallop he went full on bucking bronco on me. He was feeling GOOD! It was kind of adorable. I got him back under control in a matter of seconds and we trotted off to regain our balance. Then we picked our canter back up and finished going down the long stretch in the field. He felt wonderful! He was even straight! Ohmy! It was sooooo nice!

We also had the vet out for Midnite's recheck from her adequan. She passed with flying colors. Score now I can start really diving into her conditioning work. However the visit did yield some more expensive results with both ponies. Farriers Formula Double Strength - both ponies. Accel - both ponies. Four shoes - Midnite. Front shoes - Poncho. Joint supplement - Poncho. Wow they went from easy keepers to high maintenance in one short visit. HAHA.

A visit from the Farrier and the Vet!

Poor ponies had such an eventful day yesterday. And to top it off it was super windy and cold! Just the perfect equation for success - not. Luckily they were both very good for the farrier. We did end up not planning things out perfectly for time so the ponies had to wait for awhile in the paddock behind the barn for the vet to get there.



Poncho did not appreciate that he was in the same paddock that the friesian was in last week. He thought he was quite smelly. Anyways once the vet got there the wind was HOWLING! And of course the first thing they wanted to do was watch Poncho go undersaddle. I think overall he held it together fairly well. He was ouchy walking over the gravel going to the ring but he did just have his feet trimmed a half hour ago, roughly. So I get on we walk a lap then I pick up the trot - then the next thing you know we're cantering down the ring and he slams me into the fence as we're turning. Nice way to start off. Silly, silly pony. So from then on we stayed in a 20m ,give or take because Poncho was not really paying attention, circle at the trot. Until it came time to actually canter. He did not want to pick up his left lead and on his right lead we had the same issue as always. He still did offer to round up several times so he wasn't totally checked out. But because of the weather it was hard to determine if his issues are physical or training. The good news is that he is in fact sound which is what the whole point of his re-check was. So the adequan is most definitely working! Our current plan of action is to see how he progresses when put into a mini traing boot camp to "fix" his canter and re-evaluate if there is no improvement. Simple enough I suppose.

Moving onto Midnite, our initial goal was to continue on with her chiro work but after watching her on the longe and doing some flexions we have determined that her issues are not all fitness related. We weren't quite sure last time due to her lack of work. But after being in some fairly consistent work for the last few weeks we can rule out that it's all fitness related. So Miss Midnite will be started on some adequan too. Luckily with her though we can shop around for a better price since I no longer have my employee discount (I worked at my vet for a temp. position) we can browse. Also luckily she is not bad enough that we have to stop working her in the meantime.

All in all not the best work-ups ever but not the worst by far. I just wish the weather had been more conducive I don't know if things would have gone a different way if everyone wasn't so distracted. Oh well we'll see how things look in another month or so.

It started with so much promise.

Last Sunday I couldn't decide what I wanted to do with Poncho, so we tried some longeing. He was much better than the last time. I like to think we are making progress with it. Since I do really love to see him go.

Then Monday and Tuesday passed with no time left for the barn.

SO I didn't get to see the ponies again until the vet visit I scheduled for Wednesday. We started with Midnite on the longe because of how she had looked on Sunday. Ultimately we ended up re-testing her for EPM on the spot. Luckily it came back fine. Which led us to decided to hold off for the day on her chiro work for fear of doing to much too soon.

Onto Poncho we decided it would be best to see him go undersaddle. I am so glad we did that. It was the first time I got some real feedback on what has been feeling "off" to me. It turns out he is in fact sore in his hocks. So I am not crazy. I feel horrible that it took so long to get to the bottom of. But after watching him go we decided we wanted to do flexions. However we wanted to see him flex cold, not warmed up. Which meant on Thursday we had to go out again. He ended up flexing slightly positive in his hocks - no big surprise though. So he's now on adequan and in 3 weeks we will re-evaluate. Luckily Poncho decided it's okay for me to give him shots, just not the vet. So as long as this thinking continues the adequan is a-go.

In other news I had to have a discussion with the Barn Manager about our horses weights. Apparently only she, because my vet says they are perfect, thinks that they need a major diet and grazing muzzles. GAHH. So poor Poncho is so depressed stuck in the diet field during the day longingly looking at "his" field and friends. I feel so bad for him. He even whinnied and met me at the gate today. That n-e-v-e-r happens.

Today we ended up just walking and minimally trotting around the ring - it was mega soupy. Too much darn rain. He is still mega stiff and resistant to bending and stretching at first. He does improve somewhat through out the ride. Hopefully with a few more shots of adequan he'll be a new horse.  Only time will tell...

The day Poncho lost his mind, and then he got his teeth done.

What an interesting last two days we've had. Tuesday I got off work early which equals barn time! So I got out there as quickly as I could to grab Poncho and get a quick ride in. The weather has gone sporadic again and it was quite warm out. Being as it had warmed up Poncho lost his mind. Yepp. He broke out of the cross ties twice. He snorted and jumped at the gate to the ring. The white barrels (that are always in the same spot I may add) were going to eat him. And there was a monster behind the run-in shed. But while all this was happening we were able to get some decent work put in. We got some spectacular trot work. Our canter was a bit iffy. When he was on he was on. Nice forward momentum and nice and supple. However when he wasn't it got yucky, he would rush and try to buck. His little bratty moments even caused him to slip once. But on the other hand he successfully completed his first simple change! Proud moment.We did a little bit of polework too. It's been awhile since he's done consecutive trot poles so at first he was funky. Ha. Very back and forth. BUT after a go around he was a pro. There is just nothing better than the feel of his trot when he really gets going over those trot poles.

Today we were scheduled to get the ponies teeth floated. At work one day we were talking about riding horses before their teeth got done. So I decided to try and ride Mr. Ponch Man beforehand. There we other people riding so it was a good test for Poncho's concentration. We did some trot poles again. His trot was even better than yesterday. Luckily I was able to get one great canter in on the left lead. He was superb compared to yesterday. It was just a bit tricky to work around everyone in the ring (not everyone looks out for others GAHHH.) I digress he was awesome today. His mind was once again recovered. (Minus a few more blips at the cross ties.)

Then on to the teeth floating, I still can't believe I get paid for working on my own horses, the ponies weren't to happy to be put in the stalls. But once things got rolling they settled. We started off with Midnite - good thing too she was sleeeepy afterwards. Poncho was much better getting his sedation (we still needed a grain bucket though). The riding beforehand did wonders he was a perfect gentleman. He did however do a couple of his snorts at us. Goof-ball. Everyone woke up fairly quickly, in comparison to previous times. Midnite went back to her field while Poncho munched on his dinner. When we left everyone was happily munching in their fields.