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Last night I went to feed everybody, and noticed Sketch standing funny. I walked over to the fence, and he stood there looking at me, a sign that something is really wrong if he won't walk over to dinner. I hopped in the pen he shares with Never (corral panels in a shed with a door to their pasture), and he pivoted on his front end to look at me. I checked him out, and discovered his near front leg was swollen really bad around the knee joint (where the leg connects to the shoulder).
Crap.
I have no pain meds left, and no liniments. Double crap. So I halter him up and slowly lead him out to the round pen (we had to push him after half way), give him hay, some treats with Rescue Remedy for the stress, and some topical Arnica spray for bruising (it was all I could think of). I decided to wait until morning to call the vet, as they're 45 minutes away and I might not get the doctor I want. I spent half the night trying to search for similar injuries on the Net, and came up with nada.
The vet came early this morning, and after the exam he gave me the news. Sketch managed to break his humerus up by the top of the joint.
We decided it was for the best to put him out of his pain. It was the type of injury that, even if you had thousands of dollars to toss at it, it may never heal. What amazes me is that, even with all the pain he was in, he still ate like a pig and just favored the leg. He didn't whine or complain, just whinnied for his food and company.
So, now he's in a better place, with no pain and all-you-can-eat unfenced grassy pastures, and he'll have a burial place on the hill in the pasture next to Tiara. And a little black humor: he was always trying to get out of work, he just took it a little far this time. (morbid, I know, but it's how I deal sometimes)
Etched n Stone aka Sketch 1993-2008 RIP
Cora's evaluation has been ongoing, more observation than anything else. The trainer that gave her to me warned that she was buddy bound to Zora, so I've let her just settle into the herd, only handling her when she needs it (worming, hoof trimming, etc...). She seems calmer now than when she first arrived, but is still nervous when taken away from Zora. Her ground manners are pretty good, she leads, stands for the farrier, takes her wormer well, and likes getting fly-sprayed. When she's with the herd she's calm and friendly and stands like a statue when you pet her all over, but take her away from Zora, her head is high and she has a slightly tense look to her.
Today, though, I though I would try something a bit more, so I when out to pasture to get her. Well, the whole herd decided to greet me, swirling around begging for scratching, Alex the baby most of all! I have to say this: I may have one or two fuglies (I didn't breed them, they needed a home) out there, but everyone is fat and shiny! I was almost blinded by all the glossy, almost metallic, coats!
I approached Cora, and she walked off. I persisted, she sort of sighed and then stopped. I haltered her and started back to the barn, Cora in tow and the others wondering what they should do. About halfway to the barn, Zora starts up with her wussy high pitched whinny, and Cora starts dragging her feet and trying to look behind her. Then the herd makes up it's collective mind to follow along too, with Alex walking alongside Cora. He is going to be something to train!
When we got to the barn, Zora stopped to flirt with Bahim again and seemed to put Cora from her mind for a bit. I got Cora into the barn and cross-tied her, which she didn't fight, just tried to turn around a few times and settled with standing a little sideways to look back at the gate to the pasture. She was quiet with very little dancing, but tense.
After grooming (and a treat for being quiet), we went to the round pen to see what she knew. She started off with cantering halfway, then trotting halfway, for a couple of rounds. Then I sent her around the other way, and she did the same. I was okay with all of this as I wanted her to get it out of her system. Then we started getting more serious. I had her trot around, and every time she called out in response to someone in the pasture, I clucked to her and asked her to move out more. After a while, she got the idea. Then she tried to test me by changing direction on her own, but I wasn't having any of that. After a few good rounds in each direction, her head came down a little and she seemed to relax, so I asked her to whoa. She stopped, then walked right past me to look over the fence. So I asked her to move out again, had her circle a round or two, then told her to whoa. When after a few repeats of this I said whoa and she stopped and looked at me, I decided to take it. I took her out for some grass, then brought her back in the barn for a quick brushing and treat, then turned her out. She was calmer, and didn't take off after the herd like I thought she might, just walked over, joined the herd and her buddy, and wandered off for more grazing.
All in all, she's not to bad a mare, she just needs more time and patience. I should probably try and work with her at least 3 times a week. I also think that I won't get on her until she's a bit calmer in the pen, though I probably could have tried her today and she would have been like Zora: wired, tense, worried, but no bucking or bolting. I just didn't feel like risking anything today. I'm just glad I ended up with these two, because while the person who gave them to me said they were broke, a beginner or someone timid could not handle them when they're separate, unless they had a trainer working with them. They need a refresher on what their job is and how to focus on it, and that's going to take time, patience, and work. I'll probably focus more on Cora, as she's younger and has better conformation than Zora. Zora will still be ridden, just not hard.
Today was such a beautiful day that I decided, after general housework and lawn care, that I would try working with Zora. Zora is a 20 something sorrel Quarter Horse mare, supposedly a veteran show horse with lots of training, so I didn't think it would be much of an ordeal. Live and learn, I guess.
Zora and her buddy Cora came to me in December from a trainer I used to work for. She had bought them from a friend to help her out, with the intention to use them as lesson horses. She ran out of time and room at her barn, so she boarded them out at another place while she tried to sell them. When she couldn't find a buyer, she tried to donate them to a local horse rescue, but they were full so she came to me. I took them in, fed them and cleaned them up, and pretty much left them alone until now.
The trainer had warned me that Cora was really buddy bound to Zora, and I kept that in mind when I went to the pasture. Zora walked willingly up to the barn, followed closely by Cora, and then veered over to say hi to Bahim, my aged stallion in an adjacent pasture.
That's when she started acting like a brazen harlot. Great, she's in heat.
I got the halter on her, brought her into the barn and cross-tied her. She danced a little, but not to bad. Cora was at the gate calling and tap dancing around, but Zora didn't say a word, just stood like a statue and took in what was going on.
I groomed her, put a topical ointment on the worst of her sarcoids, and sprayed on the fly spray. She seemed to enjoy it all, but was still alert and a little tense. Cora was still carrying on outside. You would think I was taking her best buddy ever away to do horrible things to.
*A word about Zora's sarcoids: she's got large patches of raised bumps on both sides of her neck, a bump on her leg, and some bare skin and bumps around her ears and poll. There aren't any in a spot that tack would cover and rub, they just look bad and sometimes she rubs the bumps open and they bleed a little. Before she came to me, the people taking care of her put some sort of paste on the bumps to try and get rid of them. It sort of worked, it burned off the bumps but also ate away the hair and skin too, leaving huge raw patches for the flies to get into (yeah, they did it over the summer). I left them alone, just focused on healing the raw skin, and everything looks better for the most part. I'm looking into a couple of treatments, as I can't remove them like I had done with Sketch.
After the grooming session, we went to the round pen to see what she knew. I started her going left, and she did pretty well at the walk and trot. She came to the center when I said whoa, but that's not a big deal with me. All seemed to be going well, so I sent her to the right. She tried to go left again. I turned her back to the right and she stopped. I coaxed her into moving again, she cut across the pen, hugged the fence close to the barn, cut across the pen again, turned to the left, got to the gate and stopped. All this time Cora is fussing and calling out of sight behind the barn. So Zora starts to think there's something to worry about. She starts calling and hugging the rail and fussing. So I keep her moving, hoping to burn some of that energy and get her focused on me. Right.
After fussing and arguing with her, I decided to see if my saddle fit her. So I tied her to the rail and went to get it and the pad. She was not happy. Dance, dance, dance, call, paw, paw, dance, call. I finally got her saddled (yay, it fit!), which was an entertaining experience, and sent her around again. A few more rounds each way and I put on the bridle with a loose ring comfort snaffle. The bridle was a little big, so I'm going to have to get her her own. Again, I worked her for a couple of rounds each way, and then decided to be bold and get on, even though she was acting like a pretty big butt-head. I was betting she wouldn't do anything more than hug the rail and walk a little fast. And that is pretty much what she did. She seems to neck rein, and backs up pretty well, and has a nice walk and not too bad of a trot. We did a few rounds, and I dismounted.
Again I tied her to the rail, and started to untack her. I had just gotten the cinches unbuckled and was starting to take it off, when a grain truck went by and blew it's horn. Zora had been dancing from the minute I tied her, and the horn startled us both. I'm just glad the jerk hadn't driven by earlier or else I may have had bigger problems.
I turned her loose in the pen, put all the tack away and got the hose ready for her bath. She was a little better, but still danced and called. After she was rinsed we went for a walk to dry off. She kept wanting to walk ahead of me, but I would change direction and get ahead of her. We went to the recently baled hay field so she could graze and see Cora and her antics from afar. Cora was running and calling and bucking, and the funny part is that 3 month old Alex was following her around, racing and bucking and having a great time! Willow didn't seem to mind that her baby was 'playing' with Cora. I think Alex is going to be easy to wean (fingers crossed). When Zora was dry, we went back to the barn, used the last of the fly spray on her, dosed her sarcoids again and turned her out to pasture. Cora became glued to her side.
I think Zora will be fine, she's just been left alone for a while and needs to be reminded of her job. Under saddle she's fine, but instead of the snaffle I may try a mild curb instead, as she seems to prefer to neck rein over direct rein. Given time (and maybe when she's not in heat!), I think she'll make a pretty nice trail horse.
I've been looking at this blog, and it seems to have taken a turn off the original path. That tells me that I need to change something, and so I've changed the title of the blog from 'Sketch and Me' to 'All My Horses'. I have more than just Sketch that need work, and by posting their progress here as well I should be able to get more accomplished. We'll see how it goes.
I'll update this evening, right now it's time to get back to baling.
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