Better but not really better

I was so happy when I revoked my membership to the Fat Leg Club last week. Woohoo!!  Just in time to ride in the BRAND NEW FOOTING the barn put in the indoor!  *Swoon*  I marched my happy ass out to the barn Thursday night and grabbed my mare all ready to throw down an awesome dressage ride.  The new footing was going to make her suddenly perform upper level movements and it would be amazing, I knew it.  As we walked into the barn, and thus the light because it is totally dark at 630p, I was crestfallen.  Mia's hind legs were fat again.  UGH!!!  Not super fat like they have been, but swollen none the less.  Sigh.

She wasn't lame so I tacked her up and we rode a quick walk/trot/canter (no stirrups!).  This showed she was okay enough, but NQR.  Maybe a little stiff, a little hesitant and certainly not the rocket ship I had the day prior.  Chalking it up to overdoing it the day prior, when she went craycray, I rode only about 20 minutes and hopped off.  Her legs weren't warm, her hooves are still kind of warm, but not really warm, and her legs were still semi-sensitive.  On the plus side, her scratches on her hind heels seemed about gone.

On Saturday the farrier was out and I let him go, I am going to try someone else.  He is a really nice guy, but I have to have him "fix" every single hoof.  He is better about not taking all toe and nothing else, but the hoof should be level, heels the same height and walls should be typically the same height.  Unless you are fixing something...and he is not.  I get that he hasn't been doing this long, and I thought I would be ok with "growing my own" farrier, but I might as well do this myself if I am telling him exactly how to trim every hoof, every single time.  So in about 4.5 weeks they will be done again by the new farrier, we will see how it goes.  I really like the feet of the other horse that he does, so I am very hopeful.

Monday night I went out to the barn and Mia's legs were nice and tight again, woo hoo!  I put more stuff on her scratches and felt around, the only real issue is that her hooves are still slightly warm.  Not abscess warm, and she is still sound, but just a little warmer than I would expect.  And then last night her legs were slightly swollen, again.  Not much, just some fill.  I talked with the vet and without a fever, being lame or showing any other symptoms, there isn't much else she recommends but time.  I may have her draw blood and see what it says, maybe Lyme or something?  I have no idea.

Bareback and in a halter for No Stirrup November/Broken Pony Month

So Mia is getting some non-training time until she is no longer NQR.  It's not like we have shows coming up and besides, I saw how quickly her training progressed when I actually had time to ride every week lol.  App is doing better on a full tablet of Equioxx and is doing great in the weight department.  I expect by the end of the month he will be where he needs to be, that makes me very happy.  It may have taken 3 years, but now I have a handle on how to fix his weight loss issues.  As soon as the days get shorter, start pumping him full of at least 2 weight gain products and put him on a round bale in the middle of a pasture.  Why?  Vets don't know.  But now I know how to fix it.

Fat Leg Club Membership revoked

There has been little going on in the horse world this past week, Mia's legs were nice and fat and slowly got better.  They are currently 90% back to normal and her fever didn't come back after the first day when the vet was out.  I gave her the entire week off last week, which meant it was closer to 2 weeks since I have ridden her, and did a bunch of housekeeping at the barn to take up my time.  Oh yes, and I also had to travel back to MI for a wedding which took up a good 4 days.

I now have 3 blankets for App and 1 for Mia at the barn, all in a cubby and neatly labeled.  The barn is more than willing to blanket App at their discretion, so App will likely be blanketed in some form until probably April.  My challenges with his weight are getting better, as I have stated before, he loses weight every year when he starts to grow his winter coat (Aug/Sept/Oct).  He lost close to 100 pounds this fall, despite being on Cool Calories and full pasture, so we threw him on a round bale, added a 2nd weight builder, upped his grain again and separated him from Mia at feeding time so she doesn't help herself.  It seems to have worked, he is not where I want him, weight wise, but he is pretty dang close.  You can now feel his ribs but they aren't obvious and he doesn't look thin anymore.  Win!  The horses were also moved to a dry lot to keep them out of mud and I think that has been helping as well.

I have had to increase App's Previcox to a full tablet, he had been on a half tablet since we got his official diagnosis.  I bumped it up to 3/4 of a tablet about a month ago and now he is on a full tablet starting this week.  Our vet says he should be on a full tab anyway, but the ortho vet who diagnosed him said to keep him on a 1/2 tab and increase as necessary.  Vets never really agree anyway but he is now on a full tab.  He is now also moved over to the new Equioxx, the FDA approved version of Previcox for horses.  Wooo.  Thankfully the cost is exactly the same and now apparently I have recourse against the manufacturer if there is an issue.  So there is that.

Last night I rode Mia for the first time in almost 2 weeks and had grand plans to stay nice and slow and low.  Some stretchy walk/trot, keep it about 20-30 minutes and call it a night.  The indoor was getting new footing while she was down and I was away, and it is ready today and not last night, so I had to ride outside.  Which wouldn't be so bad except the barn on the top of a fricken mountain and it gets really windy.  And it was 41 degrees.  And drizzly.  Ugh.  I brought 2 windbreakers and was thankful for both.  We started out with a walk and Mia had to look at all of the shadows from the outdoor arena lights and then didn't care.  She was, however, wired and ready to just go already.  Apparently having her in a smaller dry lot plus no riding for 2 weeks makes Mia almost unridable!  Good to know....  You can stop now.

I tried letting her just trot it out of her system but she just could not.  My only requests for the ride were to not cut corners, keep your head out of my face and to just trot.  She could not agree with those terms.  After breaking into a canter for a 2nd time, and giving a little buck/kick, she was thrown on a lunge line and I let her go until she wanted to stop.  And that took a little while.  After she had herself a little damp from sweat (despite cold/wind/mist) she finally settled down and could now go through trot poles without jumping all 3 at once.  Finally.  I hopped on and she was much more agreeable to my 3 requests so after 1.5 laps, I hopped off and called it a night.

Tonight we are going to try some actual work, apparently my plan of bringing her back slowly does not jive with her plan of needing more exercise.  Well, if nothing else I am glad to have my membership revoked to the Fat Leg Club, I did not enjoy its benefits.

The Fat Leg Club

Things have been going along nicely for me.  This is the last weekend of the Month of Busy, the next month of weekends is pretty open and relaxing.  Last week was also the last of 2pointober and I have been SO good at doing this challenge regularly!  I have always done the challenge, but not publicly and not in a contest, so this is a first.  Before the challenge, my personal record for two point was 6:10.  Yeah, I know, big wannabe eventer fail, but it was my record.  Last month, however, I got my new (to me) saddle .  And two point is SO much easier to maintain in it.  Not that my Stubben makes two point hard, it is just easier in the County.  It is like the County whispers "Be here" and I just do.

So last weekend was running around getting the vehicles legal (stupid safety inspections, registrations and what not) and then clearing out the garage for what should be the final time.  The garage is now 95% organized and officially "moved in".  Woohoo!  The only things left are SO's side of the garage with his tools/fluids/etc for the racecar and car parts, not of my concern to organize.  On Sunday, I was getting ready to go to the barn to finish out my LAST two point time of the month when I got a text, Mia has a cough and her legs are stocked up.  Ugh, that sucks.

Big fat legs

I made it out to the barn and Mia was fairly lethargic and yes, she had fat legs.  Four fat legs to be exact.  I curried the legs and found no injuries or heat.  They weren't super sensitive but she would prefer I didn't brush them.  She had a high, but within normal temp of 100.2.  Well damn.  I free lunged her for about 5 minutes and thankfully she is sound, but the fill did not go away.  I wanted to wrap her but it was going to rain all night long and I didn't want her standing in wet wraps so I poulticed her and gave her the day off.

Fat leg fail

Yesterday the barn called and said she developed a temp of 101.4 and her legs were even bigger so I had the vet out.  The other gelding she goes out with is currently sick(er than Mia), he had a temp of 103 and is moving in almost a stringhalt-ing fashion with his left hind.  If he was sick and Mia now has a temp, I wasn't going to mess around.  The vet didn't find anything definitive.  She is suspecting anaplasma, a bacterial issue which causes lethargy and fill in legs.  She got a shot of oxytet and is now on doxy for 2 weeks and bute for a few days.  The vet did say her lungs and trachea sound good and the cough issue didn't present itself but the doxy should resolve anything there.  Fun times.

Last night Mia seemed back to normal, personality wise and the fever was gone, she was down to 99.4.  I curried her legs off and while they are still big and fat, they aren't AS big and fat.  Did I remember to take a pic when they were really big and fat?  No.

No lady like ankles here

So with Mia on rest, last night I bopped around on App with a halter and saddle pad.  He seemed pretty content and not as lame as normal so I let him trot since he wanted to.  Well, let's say my App was thrilled to FINALLY be allowed to go more than a walk.  I had visions of him breaking into a gallop as I am riding with just a halter, saddle pad and my phone in my hand before he settled down into a reasonable, if quite gimpy trot.  OMG horse, you are supposed to be broken and retired!  Ha!  I let him trot around for a few laps before asking him to walk.  I had him do a little lateral work, which he willing gave, and gave him a good grooming.  I may have 2 broken horses but they are both acting totally normal, if not bored.  I guess I will take that over lethargic, sad horses.  So the conclusion of the story is that I didn't best my new personal best of two point.  What did I close the 2pointober competition with?  

Yeah.  This is a new personal record :D