Ridin’ High

November 7, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

The Tipped Z Ranch books feature fictional stories but real horsemanship.

We were out of town Thursday thru Monday. We went to the Chicago area to audit a Martin Black clinic, which was great. The setting was small and intimate, only eight riders and a handful of auditors. Martin gave all the riders a lot of one on one attention, and we learned a whole lot by watching. Tuesday was an ohmygodihavesomuchworktodo day for me. I had asked Marissa to apply the spray to Steen's leg while we were out of town, and I hadn't heard anything from her, so I was reasonably certain things were fine. Still, I was more than ready to get out to the barn when Brian got home from work today. I was hopeful heading out that the leg would have healed a lot during my absence, so at first I was pretty disappointed when a very grubby Steen greeted me with a scab on his leg that seemed just as big as the last time I saw it. I brought him in and looked more closely, though, and s...

Some Steen Time

Robin

November 1, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

The Tipped Z Ranch books feature fictional stories but real horsemanship.

Learn More

This leg injury has had so many complications I'm hesitant to say it is healing for fear of bringing some change for the worse down upon us. But I'm going to say it anyway. Steen is getting better. The end is finally in sight. The large swollen ridge below the cut has started to go down, which is good except it is draining into the ankle, so that is getting puffy. I thought some light work might help break up the inflammation, so instead of riding Laredo I spent yesterday doing groundwork with Steen. He was pretty filthy when I got him out, but he seemed happy about the long grooming session. And when I took him to the strip he was eager to head out. We did a lot of really light groundwork, starting with leading and progressing to other things. Steen was unbelievably good. He put effort and energy into everything I asked, but wasn't spazzy at all.

Looking for Life

Robin

October 30, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

The Tipped Z Ranch books feature fictional stories but real horsemanship.

Learn More

Laredo's shoulder appears to be healed, so I've had two long rides on him.

Although at first it seemed like the weeks off didn't have much of an impact on his training, after a few rides we've seen some backsliding. Our biggest challenge with Laredo is lack of energy. I don't think it's physical energy. It's more emotional energy. Laredo is soooo laid back, which is awesome in a lot of ways. But the trade off for the great ground manners and ability to encounter new things without even batting an eye is a sort of laconic attitude towards stimuli of all kinds, including training cues.

I've been spending a lot of time the last month or two livening Laredo on a lead rope. He has a tendency to drag his heels when he's being led. He's been making good progress since I've been focusing on it, so I thought this week was a good time to work on it under sad...

Vet Visit #3

Robin

October 25, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

The Tipped Z Ranch books feature fictional stories but real horsemanship.

Learn More

Although I am by no means an expert in managing leg wounds, it has seemed to me the last five days or so Steen's wound has not been healing. It hasn't been getting any worse, but it hasn't been getting visibly better either.

On Monday temps swung upwards and we've had unseasonable warmth. I also noticed increased swelling and heat in Steen's leg under the cut. Telling myself it might just be the weather, I gave it a thorough washing and hosed it down with cold water, which seemed to help. But by Tuesday evening it was hot enough that the sponge I used to clean it was coming away warm, even though it was wet and full of cold water. I had Cathi take a look at it, and she agreed there was likely another small infection taking place. She speculated that another round of Uniprim would likely be ineffective if the two he's already had did so little, and offered to give ...

Catchup: Steen

Robin

October 21, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

The Tipped Z Ranch books feature fictional stories but real horsemanship.

Learn More

We've fallen a bit off the blogging habit lately. It's been one of those stretches where everything seems to be going wrong at every opportunity, and every time we have had to make a choice in response to things going wrong, we've chosen poorly. It's been very stressful trying to juggle work and getting out to doctor Steen every day, and since the barn is my primary source of stress relief, turning it from a stress reliever to a stress creator does not do good things for my overall emotional state. I've been a bit too bummed to blog about all the gory details. We've had so many changes in weather and setbacks in the healing process. It feels like it's been ages since we just had a normal trip to the barn. However, I do think Steen is on the mend again. He's off his second round of antibiotics and happily installed in the outdoor arena with Bear and Litefoot. In spite of all the rain, ...

A Photoshoot

Robin

October 21, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

The Tipped Z Ranch books feature fictional stories but real horsemanship.

Learn More

Today we went out to shoot some photos of our friend Jean and her new horse. He's a Lusitano gelding, imported from Portugal. I was happy for the opportunity to expand my horse portraits collection.

Catch-up: Laredo

Robin

October 21, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

The Tipped Z Ranch books feature fictional stories but real horsemanship.

Learn More

One of the downsides of the whole Steen saga is my little sprint to and from the pasture appears to have gotten my old foot injury reaggravated, so I've been a bit laid up just like my horse has. Yesterday Brian very kindly went out in the rain to catch Laredo for me, to save me from a hike out into the pasture. Since Bear's been staying in the outdoor arena with Steen and we've been trying to give Laredo plenty of rest to let his shoulder recover, we haven't seen much of our three-year-old lately. I was actually a bit surprised at how happy I was to see him when a dripping Brian led him into the indoor arena. He's as goofy and teenaged as ever, but Brian told me how he left the running herd to come to Brian, deftly maneuvering himself through traffic to walk up and accept the halter. Maybe he missed us too. On Friday I rode him in the indoor arena. I was expecting a bit of b...

Catch-up: Bear

Robin

October 18, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

The Tipped Z Ranch books feature fictional stories but real horsemanship.

Learn More

During Steen's convalescence, I've been riding Bear a bit more. And this is good because I do think Bear and I are getting to know each other better. He's more and more Brian's horse as time goes on, but it's nice to feel our last few rides that he's capable of leaving Brian for a while and getting with me.

Bear's in good shape right now, and he's very very soft to the hackamore, but his back does still get tight at times. Our first ride he was good until we tried loping, and then got pretty agitated, so I think he was sort of sore. We had a lot of good walking and trotting on the stirp, though, and although he got a bit antsy after loping to the right we recovered and went on to do more relaxed work at the trot....

Catch-up: Rowdy

Robin

October 17, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

The Tipped Z Ranch books feature fictional stories but real horsemanship.

Learn More

With Laredo's sore shoulder and Steen's cut leg, I've found myself a bit horseless. Of course Brian is more than happy to share Bear, but Bear is just so much Brian's horse. And of course me riding Bear means Brian doesn't ride him. It feels like stealing. But one day when I went out to clean Steen's leg I ended up chatting with Marissa, who is Cathi's daughter and the barn manager. She has a horse named Rowdy, who she inherited due to a death in the family. Rowdy is a 12 year old Quarter Horse gelding, and he's a little out of shape at the moment. And by out of shape I mean fat. Marissa has been riding him some, but when I lamented my lack of horse to ride she said, "Oh. You should ride Rowdy. He could really use the exercise." I'm not always up for riding other people's horses, but Marissa is casual in how she rides, and knows me well enough to be comfortable being 100% han...

Still Not Better

Robin

October 16, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

The Tipped Z Ranch books feature fictional stories but real horsemanship.

Learn More

I wish I could say I haven't been blogging because I've been riding. Such is not the case. I haven't been blogging because Steen's injury just isn't making progress and it seems depressing to post negative updates all the time. The antibiotics and bute seemed to help a lot for a few days, and I thought we were almost out of the woods. Then we had a big storm roll through. The side pen was not sheltered enough, so we had to decide to either put Steen back in the herd or put him a stall. Steen HATES stalls. He doesn't kick or call or do anything bad, he just stresses and drops weight on a daily basis. We opted to put him back with the herd, which was a mistake. The next day he'd torn the wound that looked almost healed into something larger than it was when it was brand new, and it was back to being hot to the touch and gaping open and closed with each step. So at that point we had n...