Back to work

And just in time because someone got FAT being parked in front of his hay net doing zero work for nearly three weeks. 

I started him back under saddle just over a week ago. Lots of walking and a few laps of trot. The first ride he felt fine if crooked and drunk AF as he always does when he gets any time off. The ride after that however I thought he felt maybe lame in the trot? I couldn't tell if it was because he was splatted on his forehand and being lazy, or if he was actually unsound. Fortunately his PEMF worker had finally recovered from her sickness and was able to work on him. Next ride? Definitely sound!

While he's a big fat fatty, he is trained and all the hacking out and stretching work we did before he put a hole in his leg means he's ready to go. Taking it slow and building the fitness back, but step right back where we left off to be sure.

That meant that yesterday I asked for his first flying change. Farrier's German Shepherd was being annoying and weaving in front of us left and ride, but I think it ended up helping us out in the end because as we came across the diagonal Opie was distracted trying to avoid the dog and didn't get the chance to get worked up. I asked for the change and he grunted and hefted his ass over clean as could be first try. I gave him mega praise and didn't touch the canter again.

Today I put him in the double. As we've been doing for warm up, lots and lots of lateral work all over the place. Hit the half passes in trot today as well and he remembered that he does know how to do them easy peasy. Good w/t work done, into the canter.

We started left to right since that's his easier direction until he decides it's not. Bam, clean change first ask. 

Right to left he kept trying to skip through with a trot step until I made sure to keep him coming, and then he was late behind the first ask. No problem, turn right back around and do it again. Bam, clean change.

For the first time I feel like he actually knows what the question is and what the answer is supposed to be. Is he going to be lazy and kind of a rage monster still? Probably. But it really is like he's understanding a flying change. GOD FUCKING BLESS.

After a nice long strechy break we did a bunch of trot work--circles and serpentines while doing transitions within the gait. From there I asked him back into the canter, made a 20m circle, and then across the diagonal right to left. He didn't change behind and when I stopped him to turn around he got his tongue flapping and thought about getting upset, but I talked him off the ledge and sent him right back across. Aaaand bam, clean change!

The best part is he's not losing his shit with them. No bolting, no launching skyward, no refusing to move. I don't know if it's because he's feeling more confident with them, or if we're just taking a break from those dramatics, but hopefully it's the former not the latter. 

Two Weeks Recovery

It's crazy to think that it's only been two weeks between when Opie first injured himself--likely with a stick while in turnout creating a nice deep puncture hole in his RF just above the ankle--and today when I finally let him go outside without a bandage or direct supervision from myself first. Kinda felt like it was never going to get there a couple times, and it's definitely felt more like two months at this point.

Other than the wound, the big thing I was concerned about was how he was going to handle stall rest. Attempting it absolutely broke his brain when he hurt his LH last fall, and I was not looking forward to trying to manage a horse climbing the walls and screaming his brain off 24/7 when he simply could not go outside anywhere because of the mud. Fortunately this turned out to not be a thing. He was on a low dose of trazadone the first few days, and then over the first weekend there were horses in for one reason or another to keep him company. And then on Monday the ground had dried enough and the weather was so beautiful that he got to go out with a light bandage Monday through Wednesday--up to his recheck.

The wound looked okay up to the recheck. It was healing puckering out and draining nonstop which I didn't love, but he'd been completely sound and zero signs of fever or discomfort. The vet was alright with the progress, but agreed she didn't like to see how much it was still draining. Our date for looking better was Monday, and if it hadn't stopped draining at that point the vet would need to come back out again.

So we went from holding steady to wtf is going on in one day. Thursday night the feeder let me know he wasn't touching his grain but was eating his hay. Eventually he did get the grain eaten that night. I figured ulcers because he'd been on so much banamine so I grabbed a tube on my way to the barn Friday morning where the feeder told me he'd taken forever to eat his grain again and was just generally acting weird.

He was back on stall rest thanks to more nonstop rain, but he wasn't even worried about being alone which by itself was weird. Saturday he was the same--eating his hay great, but checked out of his surroundings and not interested in his grain or even treats.

Sunday the feeder texted me that he had a big lump on one side of his neck.

sunday morning

monday morning

I pulled a tick off on the opposite side, but I didn't see anything that would cause the swelling on the left side. His wound was also looking super oozy and gross and there was some swelling down the back of his pastern again. Those two things weren't great, but the most concerning was his attitude. There was no Opie in there. You could have set a bomb off next to his head and he wouldn't have flinched. His attitude along with the swelling in his leg made me call the emergency vet out.

She did an ultrasound to check for something going on in the tendon sheath and found one spot along the back of a suspensory where she couldn't decide if it had anything to do with the injury or if it was an old injury from when he was on the track. Since he's 100% sound she felt like it was probably the latter but noted it for future reference. 

She had no idea what was going on with his neck, and recommended upping the ulcergard so we could restart him on some banamine. She pulled blood in case those two things didn't change his attitude by the next morning.

She left and I got him all squared away and headed home to thaw out. As soon as I got home my phone starting blowing up. BM's horse was down with colic, BM was out of town, and they couldn't get him up. I turned back around and did what I could to help get her horse comfortable and squared away with someone. Unfortunately that evening the vet had to come back out to euthanize. Worst Sunday ever? Yeah, for sure.

Monday Opie was back to being his angry self. His leg really liked getting some Tri-Care love, and while his neck lump had doubled in size it was no longer painful.

Tuesday I got on him for the first time--bareback and walking only for thirty minutes.

And on Wednesday the leg was finally scabby and crusty enough that I left it naked, gave it a good spritz of Alushield, and let him go outside even with the mud. Terrifying!!!! But he was so happy.

I brought him back in around three so I could make sure being out hadn't caused anything to explode, but even in the deepest mud it didn't even reach the wound.

I scrubbed his legs clean anyway, gave him another smear of Tri-Care, and left the Alushield out for the morning feeder to give him a refresher spritz before he went out. He has a fresh box of Ulcergard to work his way through and finished off his fourteenth day of SMZs yesterday. Hopefully everything is smooth sailing from here on out!

On Pause

I planned on giving Opie a longe in the sliding reins after he got his feet done Wednesday morning, but while Farrier was working on another horse I went in to pick Opie's feet and saw that his RF was super swollen. He seemed unconcerned about the whole thing, but since his leg was covered in dried mud I took him to the wash stall to scrub everything clean figuring I'd find a cut that had blown up. 

Yep.

Since it was so small but so swollen, I went and got a syringe to see if we were dealing with a puncture wound and therefore needed to call the vet. 

Yep. 

He was just finishing up getting new feet when the vet pulled in so from one bill to the next.

Between the swelling and the location, the vet was obviously concerned about it puncturing something important inside so we took x-rays. Fortunately everything looked good by the skin of his teeth. We opted to do....some fancy term for a direct line of antibiotics into the leg. Basically his leg got a tourniquet, the vet fed a giant syringe of meds directly into the vein, and then it marinated for half an hour while she cleaned and bandaged the wound. 

He got more meds IM, a stout dose of banamine, and tucked into his stall. 

Opie metabolizes sedatives like no other, and no matter how many times I tell the vet that they're always surprised when he goes from droopy lipped chill to wide fucking awake, bright and perky at the snap of your fingers. After his first sedation that he blew through in fifteen minutes while she did the initial exam and took images and he then proceeded to start shaking everyone down for candy, she put it to him and he was swaying on his feet while his leg was treated. As soon as he was in his stall though he was tucking into his hay and watching us like, "Hi, guys! If you have snacks, just let me know!" The vet stared at him for a minute and was like, "Yeah, he's definitely good to be eating now. He handles sedation really well, doesn't he?"

it took a lot of drugs to get to this point, and they lasted
thirty minutes on the dot lol

Daily bandage changes, lots of meds, yada yada. Obviously the major thing is not letting it get infected because that will go bad in a hurry with its location. The other worry is how he's going to handle stall rest as that has not been a good outcome in the past. She did leave me with a bottle of trazadone we're hoping will have some effect on him since sedation and Opie aren't a thing. 

He seemed pretty settled this morning at least, nickering to BM and I as he hung out with his head in the aisle and tucked into his hay net when I left. Fingers crossed that holds at least through the weekend. 

This morning the swelling had gone way down, but still some localized to the wound. 

The vet did a shitty job wrapping it as it was way too loose and had slid down overnight. I am a total wrapping snob though so it was snug and beautiful when I got done. He was a champ and let me flush it twice with great big doses of wound wash so hopefully we stay on the right track.

Redemption

Well the good news is that the marathon battle between brains and brawn the other day did seem to have an impact on Opie. 

I've been off and on longeing him in the sliding reins first thing to let him just go around and move without having to use his brain. I let him pick the pace and he goes around and around at whichever gait he's chosen until he done. We switch directions, repeat, and get on with our ride. He's not anxious during this, but it does seem to give him some time to get his body going without having to get himself worked up over some imagined transgression.

When we don't warm up that way, we do a good twenty minutes of walk work first focusing on getting his body moving laterally. I did finally pick up on the TOH that when I ask him to move his shoulders one way to make the turn, he immediately blows them out the opposite direction as he starts turning. Which, you know, makes crossing the front legs over not possible and the hind legs crossing the solution. Nailing him on that magically made things so much easier.

The trot work quality has been good. I've been trying to get myself more comfortable with a more forward pace instead of shutting him down to make it easier on myself.

And then the canter--and by the canter I mostly mean the changes. Although the canter, too, has been getting worked on. Making sure the quality is good and not being completely wrecked by the anticipation of the coming changes. 

The changes themselves have been earthbound since his ridiculous launch party--and I mean that in the best way. He starts off late behind still, but within a try or two going L-R they're golden, but usually a couple more times to get them R-L. They're sane though. He's not launching. He's not getting wound up about them, before or after. When they are clean, they're very good.

So we carry on with the every single ride we do them. Make sure there's lots of stretching. Keep on with the lateral work. Get myself better with riding the lateral work forward. And start work on increasing the collection.

Let's Not

After Opie gave me his perfect, quiet, clean, non-anticipatory change the day after the Janet Foy clinic, we did a couple rides over fences to prepare for the weekend's show, and then got back to dressage work yesterday. I'd been working on the changes every single ride before then so it wouldn't become A Thing, and that did seem to be working. I didn't think taking a week off from that nonstop exposure would be a big deal. I mean, this horse KNOWS what a fucking change is. Despite his best attempts to convince the world otherwise, he KNOWS how to do them. 

Obviously I was very wrong though.

I've very rarely been scared on that back of a horse. I get show nerves, I get in my own head, but I'm not like, "Oh shit, that was fucking scary."

Wow, thanks, Opie. That changed yesterday when I literally yelled out loud, "Holy shit, you're going to KILL US."

Warm up was a little all over the place as he forgot he knew how to half pass and we had to reintroduce that for whatever reason. Fortunately all I had to do was keep patiently asking with the same kindergarten aids and he eventually realized he knew what to do. That out of the way, on to the canter.

The "changes" right away were complete nutter shit. Launching into the air or sucking back so I couldn't ask because I had to focus on getting him straight again or just going forward period. Then the launching turned completely excessive, to the point where he was jumping so high into the air he was losing his balance and landing in a giant heap with no care to where his body parts were.

At one point he flung himself into the air with no thought to a change, so I did what I always do and opened up my rein to pull him onto a circle to stay on the lead he didn't change from, but he ducked out and launched again which almost put us into the wall--well, my head into the wall/metal support beam and his front end behind the kickboard. I managed to yank him around at the last second and instead we both almost went down on our sides because he was so busy being in A RAGE that he didn't care what his body was doing or where it was landing. 

That's when I got scared, and I got off. Jumping through the changes--while extra and needs to be corrected--is not the same as flinging yourself blindly through the air.

I went and got the draw reins as those do seem to keep him earthbound. Then we proceeded to stay on a circle for the rest of the ride. True canter to walk to counter canter to change--that worked best, and I made sure to reward the shit out of him every time he changed (and they were clean, quiet, on the ground changes). But the second we deviated from the circle, no matter what the intent, he went feral again. 

We ended up spending almost an hour in the canter working through this bullshit while I doubted every single move I made. BM couldn't get a clean change on him, and she could barely walk me through them over multiple lessons. Maybe this horse just won't be able to do Third because this one movement is out of reach for him.

EXCEPT IT'S NOT.

GOD FUCKING DAMN IT, HE KNOWS THEM. HE CAN DO THEM. THEY'RE WITHIN HIS WHEELHOUSE.

I just don't know how to get it through his head that they're not a big deal. Do the change correctly, you get candies and stretchies and petties and told you're the best boy ever. Don't do them and we keep going until you do no matter how many insane evasions you try. 

Right now I guess I go back to the every single ride we do them. From now until eternity if that's what it takes to get them to stick in his head. 

Today was freezing rain/ice pellets and I was soaked to the bone after taking care of the barn, so I put him in the sliding reins for the first time and we had a really good w/t/c longe that he did a lot of stretching for which I'm sure felt good after yesterday's work out. 

Tomorrow we go back to work. 

TNEC and CP Barn Schooling Show

I forced Hubby to drag his ass out at dawn to come take pictures for everyone in the morning so there's actually Dopie Does Hunters media for once!

i do love hunters for getting to do whatever the fuck you
want in the ring and over the fences you're jumping before the
show even starts. such silliness. 

We pulled in with the trailer just in time to see one of Opie's bff's rear up on top of K and knock her to the ground. Have you ever had one of those moments where you were like, "Wow that's so awful.....told you so tho."? Because yeah. I kept Opie on the trailer while BFF ran around the ring tormenting the other horses walking in there until they caught him, and then brought him out to graze for a bit until everyone had their shit together again.

I'm never such which Opie I'm going to get off property especially when it comes with jumping--and with a bunch of horses in turnout next to the ring running around like idiots because it's 35* outside. Fortunately I got #childgenius and he went around easy peasy all morning long.

As per usual for me, I was hesitant to start jumping and was like, "Meh, maybe I won't even bother doing the 2'3" and just do the hack division." He was being so good though that we waited for BFF to be escorted back home and then got to work.

He did nothing wrong and loped around while I stayed in half seat with zero input. Okay, fine, I guess we might as well do the 2'3" lol.

Hack division first: a hunter class, equitation, then another hunter.

He was fine for the first and last hunter classes getting a 2nd in the first and a 4th in the other one:

For whatever reason the second flat class always turns him into a barely controllable rage monster that just wants to canter the entire time. I kept a lid on it, but he did gets antsy at the halt right in front of the judge from which she asked us to pick up the canter. He was too busy fidgeting to focus and struck off on the wrong lead and then got pissy when I asked him to stop and correct it.

The judge had apparently moved on from us by that point because we got a second in that class as well.

The 2'3 division started off with a hunter round:

Opie spooked hard at the half barrels at the first jump, but he did go over albeit with a mighty launch that threw me forward.

"da fuq are those things"

I came in with not enough pace to the first line which left getting out of it on the correct striding not super pretty, but I asked for the long spot needed and he delivered. Everything else was fine. 

The eq round was also fine. He had to trot the barrel jump which he scooted to a stop in front of, but jumped without going backwards or sideways.

And then the final jump was a diagonal that we were supposed to halt after. As we came around the corner I half halted when I didn't need to at all and he almost broke to the trot and then had a shit jump out because I wrecked the rhythm--and then I almost forgot to halt. 

He got a 3rd for the first round and a 4th for the second. The flat felt super, but honestly I'm not ever sure what this rando judge is looking for at this "show". Every single class seems to be placed kind of however she feels like and not based on any logic. We got a third for the flat. 

Overall it was a perfect off property trip on our end. 

Four Years of Dopie

Today marks four years since I bought Opie off the backside of Finger Lakes!

From his very first ride:

To his first Third Level test at the end of the show season:

Not too bad, sir. Not too bad at all.