An Hour of Excitement - in which Hopi doesn't completely lose it

Written Wednesday:

This morning pft had an appt with his sleep apnea Dr (looks like we may be headed in the right direction there, so we'll see how it turns out) and Tom Mayes was supposed to see Fergus this afternoon, so I booked a day "working at home" in between all that stuff. Then Tom postponed until Friday and I didn't have any work, so thought I was going to have to have a day of enforced vacation (and get done all the stuff that I failed to get done over the three day weekend)("the stuff" = anything).

As it turns out, there were fires to fight from work, so I did end up working six hours and once again didn't get anything done - until I looked up and realised it was 7:30 and sunset is 7:30. I'd promised myself – if nothing else – at least I'd trim a "pair of feet" today (either Hopi - needs all four done desperately - or Uno - needs front toes done desperately).

Out on the back deck, struggling into my shoes, I immediately got distracted by small chickens flying onto the roof - was admiring their cleverness in figuring out the safest way up into the roosting tree (the current chook roosting-tree is at the corner of the house, at the end of the dog run). They usually sit on the fence and fly up into it at dusk. And hopefully avoid any interest by the dogs in the process.

Current roosting-tree. If you squint, you can see two chooks in the top left area.

Chooks in roosting mode

But not this time. I went around the corner and discovered both dogs "playing" with one of the teenage chooks. He wasn't looking too hot - down on the ground with Spike looking cheerfully on.   I don't think they like to be "played with". 

Rescued him and took him (stunned and lolling) down to the barn for a night safely tucked up in the chinchilla cage* to recover. I couldn't find any obvious damage - just more dog drool than a chook needs - and thankfully it seems that he was just stunned by his ordeal and appears to have recovered - was walking around within the hour and looking much perkier, so I'm guessing he just got rough-housed. Of course it was my favorite red roosterlet of that bunch. I don't know why I bother having favorites - it's the kiss of death on them.

(* aka chook crêche).

Back in the bosom of his family the following morning,
no worse for wear. He's the red one in the back.

So.

On to trimming.

We got hay delivered today, so everything that normally lives in the barn aisle is being stored temporarily in my trimming space (an open-sided stall closest to the entrance), meaning no space to trim, so I opted to trim in the aisle. Which would have worked fine (probably) if I hadn't picked Hopi to trim.*

(* There was methodic reasoning to this - I figured if I did two of his feet tonight, I'd get the other two done another day, since he can't usually tolerate four feet being done in the same session).

Because I'm too pauperish to buy mats to cover the dirt aisle floor, instead I put down some boards -against mud (winter) or dust (summer), and to drag bales of hay across when the hay truck is too loaded up to fit into the low-roofed barn so has to pull up to the far entrance to unload.

Hopi was a little concerned about standing on the big, heavy 4x8 plywood board, but got used to it soon enough, happily eating out of the hay bag I'd provided, standing with the lead rope looped around the panel a few times (I never tie him when I trim since he can become "excitable").

I trimmed one foot totally without incident, then decided I needed a piece of string to tie the hay bag (on the ground) to the panel, since both he and Uno (inside the stall) were eating out of it and it was moving around too much.

At one end of the aisle is my hay shed - and area that is 8' x 12' with two sliding doors. The door closest to the center was slid open, and the hay area was half-full of 30 bales of hay (they are bringing the rest tomorrow)... and I had one of those "what if" thoughts about how, if Hopi had a meltdown, I could dash in there to get out of his way (one side of the aisle is lined with panels, the other with chook crêche cages, so no escape route for Lucy if she's stupid enough to get trapped at that end). 

I turned to get the piece of string and ... yup... Hopi had a minor meltdown.

 Unsure what set him off but he scootled, tucked his rear end, his back feet slipped on the board, and then he was scrambling around and practically falling down, trying to rear and scootle and panic all at the same time. As designed, the rope came unwoven and - as planned, I dived into the hay shed to get out of his way.

What I wasn't expecting, however, was him diving in after me.

WHAT WAS HE THINKING??? I don't know if he saw me as a safe place, so followed me for protection, or if he was just facing that way and ran forwards, but now there I was, stuck in the hay shed - an area of about 4' x 8' - with a panicking horse who's facing me and threatening to climb up the wall of hay or over the top of me (he's done it before). His back end was covering my exit route - the open sliding door - and behind him in the rear of our 4' x 8' space are two feed bins - the closest one being a metal trash can (for maximum banginess) and I knew if I tried to back him into that gap between the bins and the hay (about 2' x 3') to get him turned around, he'd miss, hit the bin with his back end, panic even more and leap forwards on top of me. Ack.

The space he had me cornered in

The space I needed to back him into (not going to happen) to make space to get out.

Finally opted to grab his lead rope and make a speed dash for the door while turning him to follow me. Not exactly space for him to turn, but better he's turning towards me and the exit than cornering me furthest away from the door.

It worked! He scrambled a bit on the slippery wooden floor of the hay area, but popped out behind me - no damage done, except for a skinned knee (him) and a minor cardiac arrest (me). I shook for about three minutes afterwards but managed to talk nicely to him and praise him for being so clever and not completely losing it.

And got the second foot done. Not well, since I couldn't turn him to face the light without putting him back on the board and that wasn't happening with me underneath him - but got it done in the dark, mostly by feel. He wasn't cooperative, no doubt still in a mild state of alarm, and that was the side he skinned his knee on, so maybe it was sore, but by then pft came down to help me and held him for me while I finished up.

Hum. At least I got something done. Sorta.

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.

Pre-NASTR 75 - In Which I Fret About the Ride

NASTR 75 is next weekend and although I'm feeling good about how Roo feels after last weekend's 30 mile training ride, I'm stressing about the ride a little more than I'd realised.

There are several things going on:

Early Rising and Getting Out There:

Last week I read that the ride starts at 5 a.m. Visions of trying to get pft, me, Fergus, and Roo ready in time (not to mention sorting Finn out) makes me nervous, as does the concept of probably having to get up at 3:30 a.m. I just don't do well at 'organizing' that early in the morning and the thought of it gives me a bad tummy. ('course I know that, once on the horse and going along, I'll be fine - but I've got to get there first).

Horse Footwear

I thought I had a plan for this, but the more I thought about it, the less good a plan it seemed to be. Here's the basics:

Fergus does fine in strap-on boots (provided I put him in boots that hadn't reached their sell-by date several months ago and are super-stretched and baggy) - has no problems with gaiter-rubbing, but he *really* does well with cushioning. He trots along fine on hard-packed terrain, but just *flies* as soon as you put him in soft footing. So my plan was to put him in Easyboot Gloves and cushion the underside with sikaflex sole pack.

Roo, OTOH, tends to get gaiter rubs on the front of his pasterns where the two edges overlap, so I figured I'd use the set of glue-ons that I ordered for him for 20 Mule Team 100 (which we didn't go to), and also cushion him with sikaflex.

The problem with this plan was when exactly was I going to glue the two separate horses? I had vague ideas of doing Roo one evening during the week prior to the ride, then popping Fergus in his boots on Saturday afternoon and pumping them full of sikaflex through holes in the underside. And then I thought about the reality of this plan. About how, despite other people's experiences, mine were that, as soon as you opened the tube of sikaflex you had to use it all up because next time you tried to extract the screwdriver you'd jammed in the opening, it will have set up solid.

After a txt-discussion with a friend on Friday morning, she suggested that if I wanted pft to have a hassle-free ride and wanted to reduce my angst, I should probably glue both horses.

Yesterday I checked and found I have shells for Fergus, but knew that a single tube of Adhere was not going to be enough to glue eight feet - especially when four of them are Fergus' (he wears size 2.5s on front and 1.5 or 2s on the back). So off we went on Saturday to the farrier supply in Auburn and picked up a second tube of Adhere.

I'll still have to glue the eight feet one evening next week, but will trim them up today (Sunday) and make sure everything fits well.

Update since writing the above:

This afternoon I trimmed Fergus and discovered that, whilst I can fit 2.5s on his front feet and that's what he'd wear in Gloves, in reality, trying to glue on 2.5s is going to end in tears. They need to be whacked carefully to get them to seat properly and are really tight. Not going to work well with the extra space glue takes up. Urk. I have shells in 2.5 and 2... but no 3s. Hence will be calling around Monday morning to find somewhere that can guarantee to get a pair of 3s to me by Thursday.

The extra expense of needing to buy things that I thought I had covered is not great. But let's face it, any expense right now is not great. To do this thing right I'm digging deep into my "ride slush fund". Guilt R us.

Update since writing the above (I can't write this stuff as fast as things change):

Poked around online and it looks like Long Rider's Gear have two remaining size 3 glue-ons in stock, so I just ordered them in the hope that they'll send them out first thing Monday. I've had good luck ordering from this store in the past and they were very speedy. Which probably means this time around my package will get send to Grass Valley instead of Garden Valley (yes, this has happened in the past) and will take an extra three days to get here.

Pft's First 75:

This will be pft's first foray into anything over 50 miles and I so want him to have a good experience. I'm not him, so I can't make it work for him, but I can offer support and suggestions.

One thing we discovered at NV Derby is that although Roo can match Fergus' "easy trot" pace, it's not something I particularly felt he ought to be doing, so I was often asking pft to ease up a bit. This meant that he got more beaten up than usual trying to keep Fergus off Roo's red line.

Which leaves me with the dilemma. Do I send them off on their own? Or do I ride with them?

Plan A 

was to send pft and Fergus off on their own so he could pace appropriately for them. That's not to say that overall they'd get there any faster than us - but when they were moving out, they'd be moving a lot faster than me and Roo (who does much better in the long run if I can get him to a steady slow continuous trot). That was my plan when I had KT, Funder, Angela or Aurora as potential riding buddies. Unfortunately, all four of them are now out for various reasons - which would mean finding someone else who's style is slow and steady. Not that many of them around.

Whilst I've met some lovely people and spent a fun day riding with complete strangers, I've also had some really awful experiences when you get in that weird situation where you end up riding with someone who doesn't really want you there, but you're stuck riding with them the entire day because they're going the same speed as you. They usually have their own riding buddy (so, again, don't want you around) and end up ignoring you, or making it generally crunchy at water troughs, etc. Have no desire to do that for 75 miles.

Roo doesn't like riding alone and needs a buddy, so I'd either have to find a willing partner pre-ride, or not go that route at all.

Plan B

I think Roo can actually keep up with Fergus fine, so right now I'm aiming for Plan B which is to just ride with pft and Fergus and it'll all work out. Roo may go a little faster than perhaps I'm comfortable with towards the end of the first loop when you can move out, but he's been training with Fergus all year, so it won't be unreasonable for him to go F's speed. Plus Fergus should be nicely settled by Loop 2.

Unfortunately I then started thinking about the very end - the last few miles of the ride when you generally walk in, lit by the streetlights of Dayton in the distance. Roo and I did the ride in 2007 and he got pretty crunchy in those last miles - even had some strange rear end muscle spasm thing in the last half mile which *really* freaked me out. But come on Lucy, that was *seven* years ago...

But I still got to thinking about how nice and big Fergus can walk - particularly at the end being lured in by the promise of the trailer. I don't think I want Roo jog-trotting the last three miles of the ride, which is what he'll have to do to keep up. Hum. Maybe I'll be speed-hand-walking the last three miles in. Awk. That's going to be a hard end to a long day.

Triple Crown:

Some things are fun. Some things are hard. And some things are fun because they are hard. If you manage to achieve a goal you set yourself, there's no better high. Unfortunately, before the high (even if things look good), you still have to suffer nerves and worry - precisely because your goal is harder than the average activity.

This year I've set myself two goals - finish Triple Crown with Roo and finish Tevis with Fergus. Both, I think, are attainable. But both could equally go the way of the toilet if things don't go as planned and hoped.

If NASTR 75 was just another ride, I'd start it and just see where it took us - and if it didn't work out, then, oh well, it didn't work out (but I probably learned a ton in the process). But because of wanting the Triple Crown goal to work with Roo, I really want to finish this 75 - and I want to finish it in good shape - not finish it by the skin of our teeth. I want my worries about Roo not being "up for longer distances" (based on past performances of over five years ago) to prove unfounded and for him to take it in his stride as I suspect he actually can. But only by trying will I find out.

And I really want pft and Fergus to finish - pft because he could really use a bright spot in his life right now, and Fergus because doing the 75 is an integral part of his (what right now isn't quite where I want it) Tevis training.

So I guess I made this bed for myself, and now I get to sleep in it :)

Management:

NASTR isn't a super-hard ride in terms of climbing, but it's got a lot of fiddly stuff on it and a lot of varied terrain to figure out how best to get through - and it's still 75 miles. You have to manage the horse sensibly and balance not going too fast with moving out as much as possible on the trottable sections.

The coolest thing about this ride is discovering that horses can actually trot over rocks without falling over or laming themselves - particularly in the dark. You start the ride tip-toeing over every rocky stretch (of which there are many for miles on the first and last loops as you work your way through the riverbeds in the bottom of El Dorado and Illinois canyons), and by then end you just let them get on with it and are astonished to find that - huh - they're actually quite good at it.

Having finished the ride three times before (and had one pull with Uno in 2010), I know the ups and downs pretty well, so can coach pft appropriately (get him to eat pick-me-up items when things start to lag).

Loop 1: cheery
Loop 2: start cheery, enjoy the fun parts, and then gradually slide into the bleahs before disappearing into them completely on the last miles and miles slog into the vet check ("it'll be just over the next rise!... Ok, it'll be just over the *next* rise.... well, allright then, the *next* one...")
Loop 3: wish you could take an afternoon nap and feel generally unmotivated to do more than trudge
Loop 4: horses perk up, it cools off, you are sucked towards the finish by a mysterious forcefield only felt by horses heading towards their trailers.

The trick is to get through those middle two loops.

And the trick will be getting Roop to the finish without him pooping out or getting crunchy. This will only be the fourth time he's gone over 50 miles, and although he finished the 75 and a 100 (got pulled at Tevis at 65 miles), he's not a super-horse and I wouldn't say finished those longer distance rides "seamlessly". That said, I've finished many more miles in the interim, am more experienced and wiser than I was for those previous times, so in theory can manage him better, right Lucy?

p.s. My fingers look like hell from continuously chewing on them.

Uno's Problem Feet - Cont.

Uno has always had great big platter feet - unfortunately consisting almost entirely of toe and overgrown bar. Two trims ago I decided it was time to really get on top of things with regard to the bar which had totally overtaken the back of his feet. Some aggressive hacking later revealed sole in the heel area, and I think we were on the road to recovery.

Since that post (16 August), I trimmed him again two weeks later (2 September – just before we went on vacation) and then again as soon as I could - four weeks later (29 September). Four weeks is too long for him as his toes overtake everything.

On Sunday after his trim, I rode him 18 miles - mostly slow, consistent trotting. Although he never took a lame step, he doesn't seem terribly motivated right now. This could be lack of fitness, but he seems flat...I'm wondering if his feet are generally uncomfortable?

Although the overgrown bar around the heel area is much more under control than in August, it occurred to me as I pared away at the stuff next to his frog that I actually have no idea what I'm doing.

I know bar should not overlay the sole (something that has caused Uno to abscess in the past), but as far as how far forward the structures should stretch alongside the frog towards the toe...? I'm thinking only about half way along the frog? ...<blank>.

Freshly washed left front the day after trimming and an 18 mile trot-on-hard-pack ride.

• Note the bruising on the left heel. No idea how to fix that.
• He has flaky sole, but it's not flaky enough to pare away without getting aggressive (admittedly his feet were dry and hard - but even when soggy, his feet are super-hard and not interested in exfoliating). Removing this flaky stuff seems more cosmetic than necessary?
• He has a deep central sulcuus groove which needs thrush treatment (although it isn't thrushy - just a deep groove). Hopefully treating that would help him grow more heel.
• I like how the bar around the left heel is shaping up (compared to August). The right side is still somewhat overlaid, though.
• It looks like I was even more aggressive with his toe length in August (see below). 
• The flare/separation at 2-3 o'clock isn't as bad as it looks on the photo
• He's currently wearing size 2 Gloves, but has been in size 1.5s at times (when his toes were much shorter)

Left front on 16 August, six weeks ago

I don't love the side view of this left front foot. This is his "backwards foot" - ie. the one he places back when grazing - which is what is going on in both of these pics - he was eating off the ground and placing this foot back.

Looks like the back quarters are pushing up into the coronet band, but yet there's nothing to be trimmed from that area - it's already very flush. His heels look high, but they aren't.
And the toe is pulled forward.

I'm wondering if the overlaid bar from the past caused the back part of his foot to impact and that's why it looks like everything's jammed in that area? But the right front foot had more overlaid bar, and it looks much better than the left:

Right front–admittedly placed forwards while eating–but a better profile.

Crapola photo of right front, but pretty similar to the left.
Bars were originally more overlaid, but improving.

But back to my main concern - what to pare away and what to concentrate on. Here's my thoughts:

• How far towards the toe should bar material be present? I'm thinking only about half way along the frog? Currently the bar material extends all the way to the tip of his frog on the right side and most of the way on the left side (turquoise lines). 
• Should I continue to pare away slithers from this area? How deep can I go? 
• The bar alongside his frogs (turquoise lines) is shallower than at the collateral grooves. Does this mean I can pare more away? 
• The red line shows where the bar is still overlaid. Again, how deep can I pare down to remove this excess? The sole underneath needs room to grow in, but I don't want to thin the sole too much (even if it is made up of mostly bar material) and cause him to get sore.
• 
  

* * *

And lastly, totally unrelated, but I noticed this "hang nail" area on his right front foot in his coronet band back in August. It is now growing down his foot. It isn't a crack per se, more like where the hoof has peeled away vertically from the top to the bottom about 1/8".

What would cause this and is there anything I should do to treat it? Or just pretend I never saw it?

Caveat: All the above was written when I wasn't 100%, so if something makes no sense, let me know and I'll try to rewrite.