2013 ~ Reviewed

Well then...  who'd have ever thought we'd have come as far as we have in a single year?

Who'd have ever thought I'd get to take a starlight ride on Christmas Eve with Diego this year? Galloping recklessly through a field to burn off excess energy... freezing our noses off simultaneously!
Who'd have thought I'd be able to point him at a fence (a small one of course) and have him leap it like a champ, with plenty of room to spare?
Who'd have thought I'd be able to go more than a week without hoof issues and a lethargic horse?
Amazing, really.


The beginning of the year really started out horribly. On New Years day I was at the barn in the pouring rain calming an upset horse who kept running through the fence, while my boyfriend helped fix said fence. :/ Not great memories.

February brought a new barn, new acquaintances and all-around new experiences. I hate moving, I hate leaving people I know for situations and people I don't know. I hate starting over. The good news was that Diego made friends quickly and 'settled down" into a happy horse, promptly surpassing my expectations.                                     

March and April brought some struggles with weight and metabolic management - usually involving hay and hay tests. We battled hoof inflammation and pain, along with plenty of rain rot (despite a great diet) and the effects of warming temps. And clippers that refused to work...
                                                              
                                                                

May and June really settled down and for the first time in a long time I had real hope. We were riding again!                                                        
                                                                   

July was the turning point when I started to see my old horse come back. He was FIT and FIESTY! And I was horribly UNfit and desperately needed to workout!
                                                                       

August got bumpy right before vacation. I delayed too long in raising his medication for PPID and the hormonal seasonal rise started to undo our hard work: he got ulcers and his muscle began wasting again. September I played 'clean up crew' for that little mess.

October and November came out well, despite a 2 week hiccup due to a laminitis bout. We worked our collective rear off! I saw little muscular improvement in comparison with my expectations, but I kept at it despite.                                       

December wrapped everything up so nicely. Despite record cold temps, D stayed stable health-wise and we kept working. Muscle FINALLY has started filling in his topline and rump. I was told that random visitors to the barn who are often looking for a horse to buy, stopped at his stall asking about him. Even the DQ wife of our vet took an interest...

                                                                   

Yay! Christmas horsie! (or Krampus, your choice ;p )

I can't even begin to say how relieved I am to see him happy and healthy again. It really is incredible...  Here's to hoping 2014 is just as good for us!

Happy New Year, All

I'm shocked and thrilled at what we've been able to accomplish, but I'm also chafing under the burden of new responsibilities. Riding again means fitness goals, and fitness goals means finding time and space to ride when I'd really rather do something else - rain - shine - wind - sleet - even sick.
    It also means Diego tends to resent me more, there are many days he doesn't want to work anymore than I do. This is something I really wish I could fix.. I can't say I blame him. This is the one disconnect between horses and humans that I really hate: the ability to look forward into the future: to plan and to guesstimate. I know what will happen if he loses the condition we've worked so hard to build - he doesn't. I know he will be more stiff and his arthritis will get worse if we don't move enough - he doesn't. If he had his way he'd prefer his face stuck in a high-sugar roundbale of hay 24/7 in a small crew of mixed-sex horses that he could boss around any way that he saw fit. Hmmm... yeah. Not gonna happen hun, sorry.
Still though - I wish I could find a nicer kinder way to bring him around on those days when we have to work.

I've been thinking about moving forward this next year - what do I ultimately want for us both? I can come up with a lot of things *I* want, but I really need to sit down and think about some goals for bettering Diego - not just for me, but for himself, to make him happier.

One idea I've been punting around in my head for the last week is his insecurity and herd-bound issues. It occurs to me that this has been a problem for a long time, and a very serious one. Now I will continue to do what I can to be a trustworthy partner, in hopes that he might relax into my guardianship (we really should have eachother's backs when we're out alone so much), but I'd like to find some way to build his own confidence so that he's able to trust himself a little more too. In short: I think his world has grown too small. Experience, although sometimes stressful is the only way to really test yourself in the 'alone' department. I'd really like to concentrate on enlarging his world this next year...  this means getting out and seeing the world: going places, doing things together.

Some ideas:

• Visit horsey-friends places!
  So far this has been difficult because it relies on other people's time and resources too (I have no trailer), but I'll keep trying. A short day visit I think would help him greatly.
• Trails! Trails! Trails!
  A definite goal. We need to test our meddle out on the open trails to better assess fitness and emotional stability (Does he have any? Can he handle being left behind without throwing me? etc.). From there we'll know what we have to work on.
• Social gatherings
  Whether it be a small schooling show, a big group trail ride or even signing up for a hunter pace (something remotely long-ish as prep for LD rides). Anything to expose him to the good 'ol hustle and bustle of other horses and humans again.

Getting Back to the Beginning

It’s Fall, and I’m having a day in introspection.

Despite the fact that Diego’s health struggles have been linked to this blog’s original subject matter (in the way that it’s suppressing his innate fire, spunk and opinions) – I feel like my thoughts and posts have drifted too far away from said subject.

I started this blog as a supplement to my diary on AND, where I waded through the new waters of self-introspection in my journey with Diego in an entirely NEW way of relating to each other. The entries complimented and added to the other. I haven’t been active on AND much during Diego’s sickness, being exhausted mentally – my creativity sapped. I need to get back to these roots though, that’s what this is all about.

Our relationship.
Discovery.
Who is he? Not the horse I knew and controlled for so many years, but who is the horse underneath?
What are his thoughts and desires free of past abuse and shoulder chips?

 I want to dig and find this. I still believe in empowering him to be everything he can be in his golden years, mentally, physically.

So I’m diving head first into an assessment of where we are right now, relationally:

Firstly, I’m a perfectionist, so everything I write about our encounters tends to be pushed through an unreasonable filter that forgets the good pieces and focuses on the bad. Writing this helps me though, as the blank space begs to be filled with words, I think of more good and the bad can’t possibly fill the whole void.

I don’t think we are where I wanted us to be.
That frustrates me immensely.  My obsession with linear progress says we should be super-tight buddies now, inseparable, trusting each other endlessly, except after particularly bad fights. This isn’t reality though.

Interestingly though, reality shows that I have a fairly confident social horse now. He has taken the whole arc from Self-confident Young Bully to Old Broken & Insecure to where he is now (which is somewhere in between). On a bad day he’s a terror that walks into his paddock and immediately starts chasing and biting anyone in his way – on a good day he plays and makes jokes with everyone. Bold and mischievous, he waltzes up to stall doors to whuffle, squeal, posture and play the ‘nipping game’ for minutes on end. In the pasture he sees the herd and willingly goes toward them instead of carefully and fearfully avoiding them. Sometimes I have to be a bit forceful keeping him from ‘investigating’ the pasture mares a bit too thoroughly (IE: nose up the butt & kicked in the face syndrome).

This is all good news. I wanted this. I wanted him to feel good in his own skin again. 

I wish this had transferred into a more trusting and confident role in his partnership with me, but it hasn’t and that leads me to my next topic...

I wanted a stronger bond with him at this point. There are too many times I feel that he would really rather leave me in the dust, that he’d rather be free of my hindrance or restraint or pressure. My pride falters at that, and that’s really what it boils down to. My Pride wants that result. Over Entitled Ego is such a HARD thing to kill! It feels like a blow to my humanity every time he wants to leave me. 

Wow… could it be that I’m becoming codependent with my horse?   

O.o   Ouch. What a revelation.

   I truly believe in the philosophy of training that frees and enables the horse to be and assert himself in healthy ways, but the downside and ‘in between the lines’ social rules of some of those communities can make one feel terrible about themselves at times. Especially if their horse wants to be away from them. In all technicality, if you’re doing everything right and the horse has had a chance to heal – he should want to be with you, so says the philosophy. I’m starting to think maybe this isn’t a comprehensive rule though. Maybe he is more complicated than I think, maybe he has issues I don’t understand and needs for independence that I don’t get. To acknowledge human needs for independence and autonomy and yet deny Diego and all horses that same thing seems… well… stupid, now that I think about it.

The small victories really shouldn’t be forgotten. Just yesterday we both had to confront some serious fears – and me both made it through unscathed:

   We were riding in the pasture when a semi truck pulled down the gravel road to the chicken houses, just outside the fence. Not a big deal really, I thought it’d be gone by the time we were done as that path also leads back to the barn! It wasn’t done…  (I am personally very sensitive and fearful of sudden loud noises and I’ve seen this truck there before. The engine stays running the whole time and I never know when it’s going to make those horrible hissing blasts that tractor trailers are known for. Not to mention all the other mechanical noises attached to it’s tasks). I REALLY did not want to go past this thing, but with it nearing dark – traipsing up the other gravel road to the actual ROAD seemed like a bad idea. People drive fast on our road and it’s a curve to boot.

Deep breath… let's try this.

So after checking to make sure the driver was nowhere NEAR the seat in the truck (I also have an instinctual fear the driver will drive off or back up at the most inopportune time and squash us), I slowly led Diego forward. He wasn’t anymore keen on the truck than I was, as he slowly and purposefully set each foot on the path, silently telling me he was ready to dance and/or bolt at any moment. I think his head resembled a Giraffe at that point (which is hilarious for a horse with such a low-set neck). He was wide eyed and snorty, but kept glancing past me at the path ahead of us. We had maybe 6 feet of space between us and the truck that we had to squeeze by in order to access the upper path. 

   Naturally as soon as I started this endeavor – leading the way with my brave self (sarcasm if you can’t tell), I came upon some blocks to my momentary bravery: there were metal foot steps leading up to the passenger door that stuck out, and an air compressor box on the side of the tank was MUCH louder than I’d anticipated. We were already 3-4 feet past the nose of the truck and I was suddenly having visions of Diego slicing legs open on those metal parts and of him trampling me in an effort to get away from the noise. The compressor noise really was painful, I couldn’t get past it without putting my fingers in my ears, which meant reins looped over my arm. Not entirely safe. I looked back at Diego, silently pleading with him to just trust me and follow me past without bolting. I ended up going by sideways, keeping an eye on him as we went. When it was Diego’s turn to pass the compressor, he took one long snort at it, lowered and arched his neck, kept his eyes on it and literally ‘stalked’ past it like a horsey equivalent to a big cat.

    I could not have been more proud or relieved once we got to the upper trail and headed away from the monstrous thing! There was a sense of partnership though, borne out of going through that, and I begin to realize it’s not just ‘doing everything right so he’ll always trust me” but just ‘going through things together’ and building that bond of life experience. I think I sheltered both of us for a time from these uncomfortable and sometimes terrifying experiences, robbing us of the knowledge that we can get through it together. 

Whew.

Writing about all this is extremely helpful. It helps me remember what I keep forgetting in life, relationships etc. It helps me keep hope and purpose in the midst of the angst and fights.

Always remember.

Dusk and the Setting Sun

Diego and I took a short ride last night. It was the first in almost 2 weeks... he was doing really well - no inflammation, enjoying the sudden cool snap (50's at night have now turned to 39! ) so I figured what the heck, let's try it.

I slapped on the boots, the bareback pad and clipped my reins to his flat-banded nylon halter. At first he looked at me suspiciously and made a move to walk away (then quickly got distracted by a bucket of food placed dumbly in the middle of the barn aisle.) but once we stepped outside he was clearly on his toes. By the time we got to the pasture I could feel he was pretty wired throughout his entire body. He stood still for me to mount (barely, tensely) from the trailer wheel-well  (great place to mount - will have to remember that) and enthusiastically took off at a FAST walk.

We made a loop around the edge of the pasture and back, a total of about 15 minutes, start to end. His back has such poor muscling that I just can't bring myself to stress his spine with my weight too much right now. I was surprised however in the ease at which he carried me for the most part.. then again I am trying my best nowdays to be a model of near perfect balance for him. This includes the ever careful alignment of my spine in proper orientation with his and keeping our center of gravities 'together' - one very good example is riding downhill: I do a mini 2-point seat. I tried this experiment several years back when I was still exploring riding before he got sick, turns out once I moved my center of gravity forwards, but in a balanced way D responded by moving down hills more freely and happily. Traditional riding logic would think that strange, but it kind of makes sense considering through out all my jump and huntseat training how I was taught to be balanced and light in all situations, even downhill. It was dressage training later that ruined part of my seat, ironically.

ANYWAYS! (tangents, tangents)

Back to the ride. D was feeling quite full of himself an opinionated - there was much head shaking, some impressive 90-degree turns (O.O did I mention I was bareback?), and on the way back to the gate a jig or two. Actually on the way back I afforded myself a treat, and when I see him today we will see if it was too much... but... I kept just enough contact to keep his head up, while letting him prance his way into a bouncy, collected trot. Normally I would strongly encourage him to walk again, fearing my merciless bouncing on his poor spine and his delicate hooves - but this time I said 'forget it. I'm just gonna sit here and stay balanced and hope he doesn't decide to buck me off in the end." (as he was still 100% wired). What came out of it was one of those events that really stick with you - those moments where you're in perfect harmony with your horse and both of you are enjoying whatever gait you're going along at, in relative easy and happiness. His head was up, neck tall fully extended, his poll flexed only slightly and although I bounced alittle, his back felt like a springy suspension bridge. If I tried I could almost imagine that I felt his front hooves hitting the ground independently - correctly. For those few strides he felt balanced, excited, powerful and truly perfect to ride.

Had dusk not been creeping in over the fields I think I would have wanted another round of the pasture, but as it was the cold air and impending darkness (along with wayyy too many strange horses trying to sniff his butt) was making D alittle jumpy/insecure. I am still trying to ride the fine line between our workouts and keeping him from feeling forced, alone and scared. It will come with time, but part of that comes from me respecting his feelings on any given issue. I was disappointed to note though that after 15 minutes of excitedly lugging me up and down pasture hills - he was not even WARM. It was like it had been no exertion at all!

Note to self: 30 minute ride/walks are DEFINITELY in order now!

I'm excited to see what today tells about lastnight's excursion. Was this too much? Will he be sore? Stiff? Depressed?
Or will I walk up to a bright eyed and bushy tailed horse?
Ahh that's the story of his entire recovery: you never know what tomorrow brings.

So I've decided to enjoy 'today' as it were when we can...

Small Victories

It seems like only yesterday when I read through my horse diaries (online and offline), I was complaining about the disconnect between myself and Diego. Then on the other hand it seems like a thousand years ago...

I haven't had to go out and "catch" Diego this whole week. Despite my conversations with another boarder over the horses general clingyness in winter, changing to disinterest in humans by spring/summer with the coming of fresh grass and lots of sunlight: Diego is still meeting me at the gate. There are times he actually trots even... especially if he's alert already. All I have to do is call and emphatically prance in place and he breaks into a trot to meet me at the gate. Our extensive, repetitive work on haltering (using clicker training) has made the "catching" process and ritual he looks forward to. I usually open the gate and let him through without the halter, into the catch pen and then close the gate behind him. He's so entrenched in our routine that he goes through and turns around to wait for me, then starts reaching for the halter. He knows as soon as the halter goes on = click + treat and he arches his neck and poses accordingly.

I find it rather amusing actually... considering the barn owner tends to think my giving of treats equals a bribe or poor training. I know that's a common belief...

My goal last year was to make the greeting & haltering process more enjoyable for Diego. Plain and simple. He has never been hard to catch, but the disinterest and half hearted mental connection with me due to a forced haltering usually carried on in our work together during the course of a training day. I felt discouraged. I made the decision to make haltering rewarding and pleasant instead of demanding and "Ok hurry up, I have stuff to do." It has paid off beyond belief... He's happy to greet me and eager to be haltered and begin our interaction, and for me it caused me to shift mentally from "Uhg let me halter you and drag you back to the barn" to "Oh hello! Look how pretty and happy you are! Glad to see me?" he loves to impress with his neck arching and whuffling.

I'm sure plenty of horses will respond similarly to haltering without clicker training or even a treat - but this is what it took to bring a shut-down, formerly man-handled, cynical 20+ year old gelding out of his shell. It changed him thoroughly. I wish the barn owner, and accordingly others who judge this sort of thing, could look deeper and see the small victories achieved. This is a big milestone for us.


Likewise training has been good this week. I'm not asking alot right now because he had a chiropractor adjustment Sunday, so he had a few days off at the beginning of the week. I think the lack of heavy-impact work (riding) and the abundance of in-hand work at the walk without pressuring him into a stiff, uncomfortable trot have caused him to feel really good, and it shows in his attitude. This can be annoying sometimes - when he's feeling good he often forgets manners and tries to crowd, nip (for play), and snatch objects out of my hands (whip, lead, bag etc.). Some people may question my sanity on allowing some of this, but it is a gradual process for us. I know my horse, we've been together 15 years. I had to invite him out of his shell in his entirety (the good, the bad and the ugly), before I begin to teach and shape what he shows me.
He had to know "It's ok, just be yourself."


I've neglected to update after all the recent events we've been through: vets, chiropractors, feed changes & dentists. I am most definitely broke! I'm paying for mistakes made earlier in his ownership though, through ignorance. He's gone a long time with some injuries and health issues I didn't know about because I never bothered to check. Look for an update soon... as well as an update on my treeless saddle I've been fitting to him!