Tuesday I decided to scan and red-light Fly as I hadn't done that in a while. She didn't have very many areas to treat, which surprised me. She got so relaxed with the cap on, she quit eating, which never happens with Miss Bottomless Pit! She also had a couple of good stretches. I didn't get to work with her after due to time constraints. Since then, I've seen her bucking and kicking and generally acting like she's feeling GOOD! The next day, she actually ran out of her stall, which I need to address, but didn't expect because she's never done that before. Keeping my fingers crossed that she's getting sounder.
Update: I didn't have to address the rushing out of the stall issue, she hasn't done it again.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Grooming Revisited
Monday the 10th I put Fly in the stall to groom her and she was nippy/anxious again, though not as bad. I stepped back and just looked at her, wondering what was up. She showed me where she was itchy on her belly and I scratched it for her then proceeded to experiment with where her favorite places to be scratched were. I felt that was a productive use of our time. The I went and got the saddle and blanket and put them on the stall door. She didn't look too pleased about that, sniffed the saddle but no big reaction. I decided to start with the pad and put that on her then took her out for a walk/lesson. She did fine, wasn't bothered by the pad sliding around and me flopping it back on her. We walked up and down the driveway a couple of times and she was great about staying back and walking slowly and controlled downhill. We went and got the mail and finished for the day.
Monday, November 10, 2008
New Kittens
After we lost our Fancy cat, the girls asked to get kittens. Amber has wanted a kitten for a long, long time. I decided to get two cats, so they'd have company. The local horse supply store had found some kittens a few weeks ago who's mother had been killed by a car. They had asked if we wanted one, but they had to be bottle-fed and we still had Fancy, so I said no. We decided to ask if they had any that still needed home, but they were all spoken for. As I was asking about kittens, were we offered some by another employee. She brought two kittens to work with her a couple of days later. I took the girls over to see them after school. On the way, Amber said she wanted a fluffy black and white kitten, and I said we'd have to take what there was. When we got there, she had brought two kittens, a male short-haired gray and white and a long haired dark tiger. A man at the barn had fallen in love with the tiger and wouldn't let us have him. I told the girl we had really wanted two kittens and she said there was one other one, the runt who she didn't think was big enough to bring in. It had goopy eyes and needed to be fed seperately as she was so small. It was a little fluffy black and white female. Of course we said we'd take her and we got her the next day. So now we have Mittens, the gray male, and Mini-kitty (or Bella) the black and white runt. I used the red light on her eyes and she cleared up in TWO days! When we got her, her eyes had to be wiped clean 4-6 times a day, whenever she napped. Next day it was better, about 3-4 times, after that, just once in a while and they were never sealed shut like before. They have worked out really well, everyone loves the new additions. Although Alan really hates cats!
Fancy
After the death of a good friend in a car accident, I decided to get a cat, a female so I would no longer be the only one. I went to the pound and fell in love with Fancy, a 1 yo gray and white cat who'd been returned due to bad litter box habits. She turned out to be a fabulous hunter and spent most of the time in the summer outside. As the years went by, she started using the carpets or towels to pee on in the winter. At first it was just once in a while, but it got worse. We ended up replacing almost all the carpets in the house because of her. Last year was the worst, and I was not looking forward to another winter of wondering where she was going. I told her she had better die before winter because I couldn't deal with her another year. On September 19th, she was hit and killed by a car, which was so weird because the neighbors didn't even know we had a cat as she was never near the road. It was a shock to me, and I miss the sweet girl. She was 15 years old and still very healthy. We believe she had cleared out all the the prey on this side and was busy hunting something on the other side when she died. That would have made her happy. RIP, Fancy cat.
Playing with FlyAway
A few weeks ago, I started playing with FlyAway on a more consistant basis. The first day, I took her into the round pen and while brushing her, she began threatening to nip. I stayed out of range and kept on with what I was doing while trying to figure out if it was just certain spots that bothered her or the whole idea. She then started taking the lead rope in her mouth and chewing it, so I used it to ask her to back a bit. After a couple of times of this, she gave up the rope idea and started doing the yawning, mouthing thing my first mare, Jade, used to do when anxious. If a horse is going to show anxiety, I prefer this method of communication versus nipping, kicking or leaving! So I was pretty sure at this point that her objection to being groomed was more an emotional response than a physical one. We have done our two rides in the round pen, and riding is preceded by grooming, so I decided to associate the grooming with getting prepared to do something fun.
Fly doesn't have the greatest ground manners. She doesn't stop walking when you do and will pull to get grass, etc. I started working on this a bit before she had her injuries, but all training etc. was put on hold while she recovered. So I took her out on the driveway and we practised stopping when person stops, with her stopping the way I asked, placing a front foot down when I stopped and faced her and not bringing the other front any further than parallel to the first foot. She's very smart, and picked it up quite quickly. We quit for the day.
Next day we played with asking her to also give me her attention. She "leaves" by looking around a lot. Not in an excited way, just hmmm, think I'll look over here, oh, what's over THERE, I'm avoiding looking at YOU! So whenever she looked at me with both eyes and ears forward, I let her graze, using an eat and pointing to the ground cue. Didn't take too long for her to make the connection there either. Next was the kiss to cue her to stop eating and come with me. Not a problem. After this was solid, we stopped for the day.
Next day played with a new problem, I'm not so smart and couldn't figure out how come she ended up so close to me even though I started an arm's length away and she stopped when I did. I finally realized that she started walking forward as soon as I turned around and with her big stride, closed the distance between us quickly. If I kept walking, she would stay behind far enough, but if I stopped after a short distance, she was too close. So we then asked her to stay put until I took a step, then she came too. That has solved the problem and we also have been practising walking veeeerrrrryyyyy slowly. She's learned to stop walking to keep the distance when I'm babystepping, smart girl!
One day I decided to put her in the round pen to move her around a bit and see how she's going. She walks with no worry and asks to come join up quite quickly, but that's not what I was looking for that day. I asked her to trot and she immediately tenses up and trots with her head in the air. She looks MUCH better gait wise, just a slight hitch in front and I thought if I could get her to relax and lower her head, that may disappear. So I kept asking her to trot, change direction, trot. She bucked and kicked up her heels and cantered a couple of times, but still had the giraffe trot. Finally, she'd had enough and as she came around to the one strand "gate" of the round pen, sailed right over it! She has great form and cleared it by 3'! I pushed her too hard and feel bad about that, but that's how you learn. Next round pen work will be easy peasy no pressure sessions until she trusts me again.
I've noticed a big difference in her attitude and demeanor. She seems to be enjoying this so far (at least the leading lessons!) and I've had no anxiousness about grooming since the first day. We actually took our first walk in the woods with Macy and Angel yesterday and Fly did great. She blew softly a bit, but stayed with me and was steady. I love that about her. I flip the lead rope around when walking and she got tapped on the nose a couple of times when she got too close, but it didn't freak her out and she was staying where she should be by the end of the walk, even down the slippery hill. Macy had the great idea of bringing carrots in a lunch bag, she always comes prepared, even on a 10 minute trail ride, LOL! We had water for us and carrots for the horses, so Fly would "find" a carrot laying on the trail as we walked along.
Next step will be practising while Fly wears a saddle. I'm not in any hurry to ride her, I want her to be really ready emotionally and physically before we take that next step.
Fly doesn't have the greatest ground manners. She doesn't stop walking when you do and will pull to get grass, etc. I started working on this a bit before she had her injuries, but all training etc. was put on hold while she recovered. So I took her out on the driveway and we practised stopping when person stops, with her stopping the way I asked, placing a front foot down when I stopped and faced her and not bringing the other front any further than parallel to the first foot. She's very smart, and picked it up quite quickly. We quit for the day.
Next day we played with asking her to also give me her attention. She "leaves" by looking around a lot. Not in an excited way, just hmmm, think I'll look over here, oh, what's over THERE, I'm avoiding looking at YOU! So whenever she looked at me with both eyes and ears forward, I let her graze, using an eat and pointing to the ground cue. Didn't take too long for her to make the connection there either. Next was the kiss to cue her to stop eating and come with me. Not a problem. After this was solid, we stopped for the day.
Next day played with a new problem, I'm not so smart and couldn't figure out how come she ended up so close to me even though I started an arm's length away and she stopped when I did. I finally realized that she started walking forward as soon as I turned around and with her big stride, closed the distance between us quickly. If I kept walking, she would stay behind far enough, but if I stopped after a short distance, she was too close. So we then asked her to stay put until I took a step, then she came too. That has solved the problem and we also have been practising walking veeeerrrrryyyyy slowly. She's learned to stop walking to keep the distance when I'm babystepping, smart girl!
One day I decided to put her in the round pen to move her around a bit and see how she's going. She walks with no worry and asks to come join up quite quickly, but that's not what I was looking for that day. I asked her to trot and she immediately tenses up and trots with her head in the air. She looks MUCH better gait wise, just a slight hitch in front and I thought if I could get her to relax and lower her head, that may disappear. So I kept asking her to trot, change direction, trot. She bucked and kicked up her heels and cantered a couple of times, but still had the giraffe trot. Finally, she'd had enough and as she came around to the one strand "gate" of the round pen, sailed right over it! She has great form and cleared it by 3'! I pushed her too hard and feel bad about that, but that's how you learn. Next round pen work will be easy peasy no pressure sessions until she trusts me again.
I've noticed a big difference in her attitude and demeanor. She seems to be enjoying this so far (at least the leading lessons!) and I've had no anxiousness about grooming since the first day. We actually took our first walk in the woods with Macy and Angel yesterday and Fly did great. She blew softly a bit, but stayed with me and was steady. I love that about her. I flip the lead rope around when walking and she got tapped on the nose a couple of times when she got too close, but it didn't freak her out and she was staying where she should be by the end of the walk, even down the slippery hill. Macy had the great idea of bringing carrots in a lunch bag, she always comes prepared, even on a 10 minute trail ride, LOL! We had water for us and carrots for the horses, so Fly would "find" a carrot laying on the trail as we walked along.
Next step will be practising while Fly wears a saddle. I'm not in any hurry to ride her, I want her to be really ready emotionally and physically before we take that next step.
Update on FlyAway
She has had a rough transition to our farm, but has stayed steady and upbeat during most of it. Funnily enough, through all of the physical issues, she stayed quite bright eyed and involved, but since feeling better and not having anything done with her, has gotten more and more withdrawn.
She, of course, came with feet issues that are getting resolved with each trim. I will have to post pictures of the progress we've made, she no longer looks like she's walking in a high heel and sneaker, but does still have a slight hitch in front.
A few weeks after coming here, she got trapped in a stall and kicked through the wall, and ended up with a hematoma on the left stifle and an abscess in her right hind foot. I used the red light therapy on all the injuries and the abscess, which got better enough that she could put weight on the foot, but didn't break through. So I stopped treatment and it flared up again and did breakout in the heel bulbs. I resumed treatment and the infection cleared right up. The vet had said the hematoma may take many months to clear up because it was a firm lump filled with serum, but it was gone in about 8 weeks. Fly was easy to work with when soaking (love the hoof soaking boots!) and treating the injuries.
I was convinced my mare Molly was the one who kicked her, and she may have been that time. I made the decision to take our leased mare, Riverdance, back home, and Molly became herd leader. I noticed her standing with Fly a lot, even sharing a run in with her, but I would still find kick or bite marks on Fly. I decided to keep them separated and put Molly in a stall while I went shopping one day. When I came back, I discovered that Fly had been attacked and kicked even worse than before, and realized it was Angel who was the culprit. I was so upset, Molly had probably been protecting Fly. This time Fly abscessed on the right front while recovering and I just used the light therapy after the abscess broke and on her kick injuries. So all run-ins and stalls are closed off during the day and Fly stays in a stall at night and we've had no further incidents. I think she's finally learned to stay clear of Angel too. She has recovered from the injuries and abscesses and gained weight and muscle and is looking like a "real" horse now.
She, of course, came with feet issues that are getting resolved with each trim. I will have to post pictures of the progress we've made, she no longer looks like she's walking in a high heel and sneaker, but does still have a slight hitch in front.
A few weeks after coming here, she got trapped in a stall and kicked through the wall, and ended up with a hematoma on the left stifle and an abscess in her right hind foot. I used the red light therapy on all the injuries and the abscess, which got better enough that she could put weight on the foot, but didn't break through. So I stopped treatment and it flared up again and did breakout in the heel bulbs. I resumed treatment and the infection cleared right up. The vet had said the hematoma may take many months to clear up because it was a firm lump filled with serum, but it was gone in about 8 weeks. Fly was easy to work with when soaking (love the hoof soaking boots!) and treating the injuries.
I was convinced my mare Molly was the one who kicked her, and she may have been that time. I made the decision to take our leased mare, Riverdance, back home, and Molly became herd leader. I noticed her standing with Fly a lot, even sharing a run in with her, but I would still find kick or bite marks on Fly. I decided to keep them separated and put Molly in a stall while I went shopping one day. When I came back, I discovered that Fly had been attacked and kicked even worse than before, and realized it was Angel who was the culprit. I was so upset, Molly had probably been protecting Fly. This time Fly abscessed on the right front while recovering and I just used the light therapy after the abscess broke and on her kick injuries. So all run-ins and stalls are closed off during the day and Fly stays in a stall at night and we've had no further incidents. I think she's finally learned to stay clear of Angel too. She has recovered from the injuries and abscesses and gained weight and muscle and is looking like a "real" horse now.
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