Assembling flat-packed furniture

Third Week in July:

Traffic jam on Andy Wolf, Wednesday morning

It's very red. Roop races the dogs on the powerline road

Monday: Sorted out baby chooks - two new ones while we were gone, plus two dead ones (I was afraid of this, since there were multiple hens in the same nest, meaning the babies were cooking at different times, so would hatch at different times and would require a diligent mother. She wasn't.)

Tuesday: Trimmed Roo ready for riding (no longer curly elf-toes after five weeks)

Wednesday: Rode Roo to the bottom of the powerlines where we were thwarted by blackberry bushes that had sprung up since I was last down there. Next time, I go armed with snippers. The ride didn't start well with Spike disappearing on a jaunt before we were even out of the gate, but after five minutes yelling, he reappeared at top speed and we were able to get going. Roo felt pretty good and more or less trotted the entire way to the top of the powerlines (hill n' all). He was predictably hopeless going down the steep hill (toe dragging, unable to get underneath himself - nothing has changed really in six years) so I got off and speed-walked him down. He felt really good coming back up - smooth and strong, which surprised me - this is only the second time I've ridden him since his seven week hiatus. And we made it back home again in record time.


Thursday: Adjusted boots:

(Disclaimer: the rest of this post is about fiddling with Renegade hoof boots and probably offers little interest to anyone who doesn't use them).

This morning's chore was swapping out Renegade captivators with the Viper ones on Small Things's front boots, as well as switching out the long wires for some shorter ones - all part of fine-tuning the boots - they more or less fit, it's just a case of getting them "just right".

Before I started, I adjusted Roo's front boots. That went very smoothly and I was congratulating myself on my new-adjustment skills...

And then I started on ST's boots.

It was like assembling IKEA flat-packed furniture. Insert Tab A into Slot B - only Tab A is the wrong shape... huh... these Viper Caps don't have the black doofah that the wire goes around - I'll just take it off this Ren Cap... uh, they are a different design.. OK, I'll just take it off this other Viper Cap... wait, why do I have this extra Viper Cap? Is it a different size? what size is it? how do I tell what size it is?

And predictably, I got distracted just as I was unscrewing the tiny screw and it dropped onto the rubber mat under my feet - to disappear and never be seen again. pft brought me the magnet-onna-stick and I eventually found it.

Went to put it on ST's foot, only to discover that because the Viper Caps are deeper, the sides protruded further forwards - which meant they were now butting up against the back sides of the boots and I couldn't tighten them enough to be snug on his foot. That won't work.

Back to the barn, remove the Viper Caps, inspect extra Viper Caps in case they are actually smaller, decide they aren't... decide in any case, I think I tried the smaller Viper caps on his front feet and they were *too* small... put the Ren Caps back on...

In the middle of all this, the banties decided to do a drive-by - five roosters came rushing through in pursuit of a single, uninterested hen. All my carefully laid out straps and bits flung.

At least I was clever enough to put Spike on the shorter length of his baling string (the one I use when I'm trimming so he can't get tangled in a horse-being-trimmed's feet) - thereby making sure that he too didn't "help".

Mid-June - of cochins, crows, and chores

Latest addition - a tiny cochin

From FB:

The latest addition. Against my better judgement, I let the red and black Cochins (who share a nest box, never mind there are two empty ones) hatch a single egg (I gathered any extra eggs until they stopped laying... Then stopped checking and if course she laid three more while I wasn't watching. Current cooked status on those three eggs unknown).

Heard peeping yesterday morning and went to investigate. Two large hens squashed in the box... Single babby on the ground, thankfully not being attacked by the rest of the chooks - and thankfully a warm morning, so not chilled.

Put the babby back. Red hen pecked at it, so black hen was declared "mother" and accordingly moved to the chook crêche.

Lookit's lil feathered feet!

* * * 

Crows:

This morning while I was in the barn feeding, I could hear a crow outside in the tree. We don't get many crows around here, so I was curious what he was doing hanging around - was he eyeing Spike who was tied on his long string? (are crows that predatory?) Was it thinking that the banty chooklets might make a nice meal?

Then when I went to put the hay bags out, it flew overhead with something red and pulpy in it's mouth. Was it from a dead chicken that a raccoon had gotten and I didn't know about?

And then I realised it was plum pulp. Ah.

(The plum tree in orchard is full of ripening fruit).

Which brings me to Monday morning when I was picking out Fergus' foot ready for trimming and dug a big red pulpy mess out of his frog. For a moment I freaked, thinking "what form of disease is this that I didn't realise he had [that will now lame him for life]?".

And then I realised it was plum pulp (the pit gave it away). Fergus and Roo spent a happy hour in the orchard on Sunday "grazing down the weeds" (= ignoring the weeds and eating ripening fruit off the trees instead).

* * *

Activities for this week:
(predictably, none of which were "riding my pony")

Monday morning: Trimmed Fergus. Hooves of rock, muscles straining to try and nip that stuff. Lots of dripping but got it done. It'll soon be time to ride again, but I may give him that extra time off and wait until we're back from our trip.

Tuesday morning: 
Trimmed Small Thing - mostly to get his back toes less pointy, so the boots would fit better, but when I started looking at his front feet, I realised they were totally out of balance, so needed work too. I think because he's so narrow in front, the lateral edges of his front feet tend to lengthen, while the medial ones stay short - the result is feet that don't end on a flat platform and he must have to stand knock-kneed. This is one of those things that I wish I'd keep on top of better. I've no idea if balancing the feet (artificially shortening one side) will ever correct the problem, but at least it should give his legs some relief from the torquing this must cause.

Small Thing's Wonky Feet

Wednesday Evening:
Didn't manage to get anything done in the morning due to needing to be at work, so instead did my "activity of the day" in the evening when I got home... which meant I didn't eat supper until 11:45 pm. I claim low blood sugar:

Delicious Viper Green - Small Things new back feet togs

The activity involved adjusting the wires on ST's new boots for the perfect fit (to take up the slack in the cables that attach the "captivators")(the black part which cups his heel bulbs). To do this:

• first prise out the "button" on the toe of the boot [check]
• remove the two tiny screws from said button without dropping or losing them [check]
  (well, ish... I dropped one, but thankfully saw where it fell) 
• push the button back in [check]
• adjust the wires to the desired length [check]
• put the boot on the pony foot and admire your work....

...except you do actually need to reinsert the tiny screws to make the cables stay where you put them - otherwise the cables just unravel out again as soon as you tighten the toe strap.

Apparently adjusting boots late at night isn't a great idea. At least I only messed up the one boot. And it's not even Thursday yet, which is my usual "stupid-mode" day.

Small Thing is apparently tired of my ministrations on feet, as he sidled off when I went to catch him for this latest foot work. He, no doubt, would be more enthusiastic if I did something more exciting, like ride him.

I agree.

Small Thing showing off his blubber that needs to be worked off.
His back currently resembles a table top.

Small Things in Disgrace

The intention was to ride this morning - as it is many mornings, but almost never happens. But this time I was motivated - Ash sent me a care package of various boots and captivators to try out on Small Thing and I was gung ho to get out there.

That is, until pft let me know late yesterday afternoon that Spike had gotten into a drawstring bag left over from our camping trip* last weekend that contained my knitting (not one, but three 450 yrds balls of fine, expensive yarn) despite the bag being drawn tightly closed.

(* write up to follow)

Thus ensued a stressful evening, running late into the night, detangling yarn. This is about the sixth time this has happened and we are well into double digits of hours spent at this task. Managed to get the worst of the three balls untangled and put the other two "piles" into a zipped bag he can't get into.

And so that I couldn't see them.

At least for a few hours.

I'm not sure what the appeal is, but Spike worked quite hard to get this last batch of yarn out. I used to think it was the ziploc bags the yarn lived in that was the appeal but these weren't in a ziploc. Wondering if it it's the smell...?

So because of the late night and general crunchiness, instead of riding this morning, I spent an hour or so putting boots on and taking them off. On the front, Small Thing has strange wide, round feet that are very upright with not terribly well-defined heel bulbs, while on the back his feet are heart-shaped - wide in the back, pointy in the front, so it was a judgement call as to what would fit best.

First fitting: Toe wire needs loosening so the toe strap isn't pulled so short,
and the small captivator around his heel is either just going to work,
or just not going to work. Time will tell.

I was fiddling with the last foot – the right rear – and trying to maneuver him so his foot was in the shade to take a photo when he kicked out at me.

Now I assume he was irritated, trying to eat his breakfast and I kept messing with him. And if he'd intended to connect, then he would have. Still, it was a very active kick in my direction and immediately resulted in me screaming like a banshee at him and firmly enforcing the "Three Second Rule" (although in this case, it was more like a "Nanosecond Rule").

I am still hoarse.

Small Thing shot out of the shelter into the paddock at high speed, dislodging that RR boot as he went and then proceeded to run around anxiously avoiding me (advancing on him in a threatening manner). The lost RR boot was still fastened around his ankle and it flapped enthusiastically the entire time without him having a the slightest interest in it. So at least that's good.

Finally got him back in the shelter and got the boot off. A good test of what isn't going to work - think I needed to snug up the pastern strap slightly, but more importantly, need to whack off some of that pointy toe to get the foot to seat better in the boot. No surprises there.

(Renegades are more forgiving of trim length than Gloves... but still not that forgiving.)

So both my favorite small things are in disgrace, and unfortunately, the thing that draws me to them is precisely the thing that causes most trouble - independent and active personalities.

Fergus Visits the Vet, Following His Lameness Pull

Fergus' Lameness

To recap, back in February at 20 Mule Team 100 – after letting Fergus go a little too fast on the first section – the vet spotted "something" at the first vet check. After that, we rode a much saner pace, and nothing more was noticed for the rest of the 100 miles.

Then at the beginning of April we did NV Derby 50 and I let him move out - and again, at the finish, the vet saw "something" on the left front.

So why would May be any different? Sure enough, 60 miles into NASTR 75, we were pulled for left front lameness. Slap that girl.

By Tuesday following the ride we were in Auburn being looked at by Dr Larry Goss DVM of Auburn Animal Medical Center. Larry's been vetting for over 35 years, is a regular Tevis vet, and was the vet who did Roo's initial check in at Tevis in 2009. That year he watched Roo trot out and said "I see something in the back end". Not what you want to hear, but we chatted about it for a bit and concluded it might be Roo moving funny because we'd only glued his boots on 30 minutes prior.

65 miles later, Roo got pulled for rear-end lameness at Chicken Hawk.

In short, I trust Larry to spot what's going on.

And spot it he did. He barely had us trot (not that Fergus had much intention of trotting anyway), felt his digital pulses (which were pulsing away)(and gave me a quick education on digital pulses and what they should and shouldn't be doing), and got out his hoof testers.

Fergus was reactive on both feet - slightly more on the left (not really surprising, since that's my preferred side for posting and I need to be a lot more diligent about switching diagonals) in the areas shown in red on the diagram. <sad face>

(Because of my disbelief that Fergus' lameness could be caused by something so mundane, Larry also checked his tendons, his two pronounced splints, and his joint motion. None of which caused any suspicion whatsoever).

We discussed various ideas at length and Larry's take on it was that the sikaflex padding in the bottom of the glue-ons (that which I always felt helped him, since he moved out so well at Tevis when glued-up) was probably creating too much pressure.

The more I think on this, the less I'm convinced, since the areas he was most reactive on had the least amount of glue under them. Not to mention that, at my direction, pft put a lot more sikaflex in the second boot we glued - the RIGHT front - than the left.

My personal thought is more that he's a heavy, BIG-moving horse and the EZ Boot Gloves/Glue-ons just aren't giving him enough support; enough protection again pokies; or enough protection against concussion when I let him move out BIG. And we certainly moved BIG at NASTR 75 - a ride known for its rocks and crappy footing.

(And frankly, I'm surprised he got through Tevis last summer, given that – yup – we moved BIG then too. Maybe that trail is just more forgiving on the way he moves? )

Overachieving during vet-in at Robie Park, pre-Tevis 2014
(photo: Ashley Wingert)

Overachieving just outside Michigan Bluff when I finally let him go, Tevis 2014
(photo: Dominique Cognée)

Overachieving at NV Derby 50, April 2015
(photo: Rene Baylor)

Overachieving at NASTR 75, May 2015
(photo: Bill Gore)

Overachieving at NASTR 75, May 2015
(photo: Rene Baylor)

Either way, we need to do something more gooder for his feet, and we need to do it NOW.

So on Sunday, Aurora very kindly came over to my place and we spent a happy hour or two grubbing about in the dirt, fitting Fergus for a pair of Renegade boots. I'm hoping that the more rigid sole, and the thickness of the sole will offer the protection and anti-concussion features that Gloves aren't able to provide him on his overachievey front end.

I wasn't super familiar with Renegade's new Viper boots, other than being peripherally aware that it was a slightly different design to the original Renegade boot. The Vipers are a rounder boot - and as it turned out, not the best fit for Fergus' fronts. However the Viper captivator probably is. And you can mix and match. As Aurora and I concluded - the Viper captivator is shaped more like an underwired bra, while the Renegade captivator  is more like a sports bra. And being well-endowed, Fergus appears to fit a Viper captivator better (although hard to tell, since Aurora didn't have one big enough to accommodate his largeness, so awaiting further try-out on that). ;)

But we'll see. A care package of "things to try" should be with us in the next week or so, to figure out what shape/size boot and captivator is going to work best for him. At this point, he appears to be a 2WW in the original Renegade boot.

And he still gets to keep his back Gloves, which are a better option for our local terrain/footing anyway.

Future Plans:

Although I could probably cobble something together for him to get us through Big Horn 100 in a month, I opted to abandon the idea of driving 4000 miles with an iffy horse to go to the ride. Much bummedness abounds, but that's what I get for not paying proper attention to the signs my big horse has been giving me for so long. He deserves better.

And not fair to Fergus anyway - he needs time to heal up properly and be healthy. And I want to get his front feet dialled in properly, not rushed into a half-tried out option.

He's getting the rest of this month off while I fiddle with boot-fit, we'll putz-ride during July. Ashley will be here for Tevis in late July, so she can fiddle with any other fit-niggles he has, and towards the end of August we'll go and do Eastern High Sierra Classic in Bridgeport. It's long been time to go back to EHSC and the timing is perfect. I can make sure his boots are going to work, and then if all goes well, we can aim for Virginia City 100 four weeks later in September.

Most of all, I'm excited at trying something new for him - and I hope that it makes him feel good.