Back in the Side Pen

October 9, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

On Sunday when we put Bear back in the pasture, I noticed Steen was favoring his wounded leg for the first time since the day of the injury. This didn't make me happy, but I told myself he could have just tweaked the scab or something. In the last two days, however, things have gone from looking like they are healing fine to looking not so good. There is a lot of granulated tissue growing over the one deep spot, and every time I wash it lately it seems this area is larger. Today I rode Bear (more about that in a minute) and after my ride I brought Steen in. His favoring of the leg was considerably more pronounced, and the inside of his leg was very hot to the touch. He was flinching away from my hand in a way he never has before. Needless to say this had me pretty worried. In an utterly wonderful coincidence of timing, it just so happened our vet arrived for another horse about ...

Two Laid Up Horses

Robin

October 7, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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It hasn't been the greatest little stretch with the guys. We headed out for a ride on Friday, only to discover once we got to the strip that Bear's back was sore and Laredo was showing signs of lameness. Brian had been going to ride Laredo, and he noticed the problem during groundwork. I watched for a while and we agreed the issue seemed to be in the left shoulder. We're not sure when exactly this started, but looking back we think it might have been sore on and off for a while, and perhaps might have been the cause of some of the little behaviors we've encountered with him lately (like not wanting to walk down hills, or kicking out when asked to lope in the indoor). So, Brian didn't even get on. I rode Bear around for about fifteen minutes, but it was cold and his back was clearly bothering him, so we called it quits quite soon. I brought Steen in and washed his leg and we headed ...

Loping Circles on Laredo

Robin

October 4, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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Between Laredo's fatigue and Bear's tight back (and Steen's ripped up leg), we thought it would be best to give everyone a couple days off. Monday I went out on my own to clean Steen's leg. All three of our horses came to me as soon as they saw me at the gate, leaving the bale just to say hello. Then when I put Steen back later both Bear and Laredo came to me again for a little more attention. On Wednesday I rode Laredo again, and while it was still warm and he still wasn't exactly bursting with energy, he was much much better. We had one of those rides that leaves you smiling for hours afterwards. He was just great. It felt like a number of things we've been working on clicked into place while he had his mini vacation. He was great about bringing his front around his hind, finally figuring out that if he rolls his weight back onto his haunch to do this, he can take multiple consec...

Bear Time

Robin

October 1, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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Steen Update: The sunburn is much better. The leg is making progress. Slow progress, but progress nonetheless. Today, I rode Bear. I don't ride Bear very often. When we first got him, I only rode him when Brian was having some kind of trouble with him. Since that has stopped happening, I've more less stopped riding him. It's not that I don't like Bear, it's just that, well, I ride Steen. But having Laredo has helped me become more flexible about switching horses. And although Brian has been very gracious about letting me hog our youngster while Steen heals, I thought it might be fun to change things up a bit. So today I suggested we do a swap. The last time I rode Bear, things didn't go great. They weren't bad, Bear was just super duper focused on Brian, and wanting to be near Brian, and not so inclined to give me much movement that wasn't getting him closer to Brian. ...

The Kid is Pooped

Robin

September 30, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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We've had a warm fall, and of our three horses Laredo seems the most inclined to put on a long, thick winter coat the fastest. That means with the sun out and the days warm, he's been a little hot.

Even in the best of times, Laredo isn't a horse with energy to spare. This was one of the reasons we picked him. A nice quiet three year old for our first real training project seemed a good bet.

But the last couple of days, Laredo's energy levels have hit an all time low. Both today and yesterday we spent the bulk of our ride in the bean field. We mostly walked, trotting or loping up the odd hill.

For the most part, Laredo was really good. He's starting to be able to pick up and hold the soft feel for several steps in a row. He steers off the legs really well, even when out and about.

The only things that's not ideal is the pace. This guy can plo...

On the Mend

Robin

September 28, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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This morning I went out to rescue Steen from the sun before it could do any damage to his new skin. It was a cool morning, but not cold. I went into the pasture armed with two feed pans and a halter. I reached Laredo first, and gave him his snack. Then I continued down into the pasture to where Bear was. Laredo came along.

I gave Bear his snack as well, then took Steen inside. For the first time, he didn't try to move away while I cleaned his side. And for the first time I didn't have to clean a bunch of drainage off his leg. He's in much better spirits as well.

Two Rides on Laredo

Robin

September 27, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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On Monday we went out thinking we might ride, but ended up mostly just hanging out with Steen. Cleaning his side and leg take a long time, and then he has to dry off a good deal before we can put the Thuja Zinc on again. Since he can't be in the sun, that limits our options of what we can do with him while he's drying. By the time we were all done with him, we were pretty ready to head home. On Tuesday, though, Brian brought Bear and Laredo in, and got them groomed and tacked while I got Steen cleaned up. Then I stashed Steen in a stall for about an hour while I rode Laredo on the strip. We had a pretty good ride. We've been working our way through our new Buck DVDs, and I had a lot of those ideas in my head from the start. With Laredo, my biggest challenge is keeping his energy up. Particularly with exercises like whirligigs, he just peters out before he can really bring the fr...

So Much Pink

Robin

September 23, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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It's been a busy week. Lots of barn time, no riding. On Thursday I basically only went out long enough to bring Steen in and apply more Thuja-Zinc to his burns. I felt bad doing so little as he was clearly very bummed out and not at all happy to be put back into his pen. On Friday, Brian's parents were in town. We'd been planning on saddling up all three guys and taking a turn through the trees, but obviously that wasn't going to happen. It was a cool, cloudy day. I pulled Steen's fly sheet and we cleaned up his oozing side as best we could. Then we brought Bear and Laredo up from the pasture. Brian and his mom had a pretty good ride in the tree lot.

I took Steen out there as well, just to get him out of his...

Hanging In There

Robin

September 20, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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Today Steen's new fly sheet arrived just before Brian got home from work at 2:00. So we pretty much headed straight out to the barn. We found Steen more mobile than I expected, and kinda nervous and restless. He nickered when he saw us. We hosed his burns off, put more thuja-zinc on, and brought him inside to put the fly sheet on. (It was super windy.) He took the new fly sheet without comment. It's much, much nicer than the other one was. The fabric is nice and stretchy, it's easier to get on and off and it claims to block 60% of UV rays, and it has a neck cover. Hopefully between the new sheet and the zinc, his side can start healing. It's still in very bad shape. We then put Steen back out in his side pen with the baby. I had planned to ride one of our other horses, but after I took his halter off Steen just stood with his head up against my arm, seeming sad and uncomfortable...

High Tensile Wire, We Meet Again

Robin

September 18, 2012

Novels for Horse-Lovers

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

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I'm afraid this post is going to be long and dramatic. Today was a very bad day for me and Steen. And since I keep this blog to record everything we go through with our horses, I'm going to go ahead and tell the whole story. Just to preface this: we are all ok. Steen should recover. He's in a leg wrap for five days and after that it will hopefully just be a few weeks of healing before he's back to normal. I am uninjured. All the other horses are fine. So, to start at the beginning. Yesterday morning I went out and gave Steen another bath. It was supposed to rain, but it was sunny while I was out there. I hosed him off, put more Thuja-Zinc on his burns, put his sheet back on, and went home. It did rain later, and it was a cool, damp evening. Brian was kind enough to drive out and take the sheet off because we thought Steen would be more comfortable without it overnight. Thi...