Part time weather girl

Anyone else feel like since owning horses; you become OBSESSED with weather?
Will it rain? What are the wind speeds? How much will it dip tonight?

I think when you have your horse out 24/7 and try to leave them be as natural as possible, having correct weather information is super important.

I have two weather apps on my phone that I check several times daily in the town that I board Laz in.  I love to know what he's experiencing and I try to cater things to that.

Throw more hay today? Offer a rain sheet? Allowing extra grooming time. 

That sort of thinking....any of you do the same?

This winter has been especially odd.

Warmer than normal but it's starting to change over...

I've allowed Laz's coat to grow in with NO clipping it.

It's been so great for those days 20 degrees-40.

Above 40 and he's been hot, poor guy. On Monday, he was actually wet on spots on his neck and armpits.  It was around 43 and after our 25 minute hand walk, he worked up a little sweat. I cooled him down and towel dried him. Now I KNOW why so many of you clip when you are able to RIDE RIDE RIDE your horses. I couldn't ride Laz in an hour of real work, with this teddy bear coat. He'd be sweaty like crazy.
Luckily for us our timing is OK, allowing him to regenerate his hoof with minimal work means I can keep his natural fur coat in tact. It also means, I haven't had to throw on a sheet more than a couple of times.

Except a couple times this week

Winds were supposed to be around 23 mph and with the wet snow, I figured he'd be ok with his waterproof uninsulated sheet on.

He was WET when I got there, so it took a good 20 minutes to towel dry him off.
But, he was WARM

"Rubz me"

I still second guessed myself...I really think I could have left him without a sheet on and he'd be fine, but I figured since I'd be in the area, to yank it off the following morning; that I'd put it on.

It's a delicate balance of making them TOO warm vs leaving them vulnerable.

I think below shows me what he thinks of me sheeting him

And for us "Hoof Nerds" some new shots of his right hind.

 You can see the bar (dirt line) showing where it WANTS to fold over onto sole.

That is what my trimmer wants to prevent and we'll assess at our next appointment.

There is better concavity showing at the white line seems to S.L.O.W.L.Y look better, as does bruising

Any hoof thoughts, suggestions, advice or questions?

Lastly, I had a great ride (walk mostly with some trotting) this past week.
What stuck out the most, was Laz was distracted and slightly giraffe like over to the corner of the riding pasture over by the woods. Then I felt his heart BOOM BOOM BOOM and we turned to face what he was so intently wanting to look at. Over in the woods, were about seven deer about 50 ft away.

As we stopped, five of them flagged their white tails and took off running

I thought this would send Laz into a spook or bolt, but he stood still, watched while his heart pounded away. Brave boy! I patted him and he instantly took a sigh of breath.  It's in his instinct to run, as he saw the other flight animals do, but he chose to think it through and listened to me instead.  I've found with Laz, if I allow him to look, it makes for a better result. If I push him to ignore ignore, he gets frustrated and won't listen.  One look, one pause and he accepts it and goes back to work.

I was VERY proud of him for keeping his wits.

 Can you see the two Does?

 Such beautiful animals

Tonight I also threw his sheet on.

High winds of around 30 mph and temps in the low 30's that feel like 20's.

Tomorrow evening, it's supposed to drop into the low teens with even higher winds and I may opt to put on his winter insulated blanket for the night.

Day by day the blanket dance continues, Ha!

Making connections

I feel our Chiro visit was a bit of a "YES" moment. I've been obsessed over Laz's club recently and more so the way he moved that leg; chipped, stumbled, short strided, etc. My trimmer and I have trimmed and trimmed and tried to adjust it the best we could, but something was missing. Perhaps, that puzzle piece was just given to us by my Chiro. 

Dr. W mentioning that Laz suffered quite a hard fall (possibly) on his right shoulder by all the scar tissue he felt and how Laz was tense all through his right side, too tight even with his laminitis past history, would cause him to use that leg differently.

Doing our new stretches says something too. Laz strongly reacts to it. He stiffens a bit for the first few stretches and then totally relaxes and shows huge signs of release.

Ahhhhh. 

Hmmmm

At any rate; here is a video of his trot (still off  of course) from yesterday

to compare with this past November, right before I had vet out to examine his Right Hind sole, etc

It seems something is working. His sole is hardening, growing (visually I can tell) and I think the adjustment really helped loosen his shoulder.

Chiro is coming back Feb 9th and I can't wait :)

I'm over the moon to see Laz moving better and feeling better

And below, thanks to one of our dear friends who is a talented photographer;

Our Holiday Christmas Family Ecard that we sent out

I can't tell you how special this photo is to me.

Hope your Holidays were great and filled with fur :)

Chiro/Acupuncture visit #1

For Laz's Xmas present, I decided to give him his Chiro appointment with our new DVM Chiropractor. 

It was our first time using Dr. W and WOW, we were both super happy and impressed.

In general, he was a very kind man, asked me questions about Laz/his history, made sure I understood what he was doing, answered my questions and then showed me what I could do with Laz after our treatment to keep him moving, supple.

Dr. W thought that in Laz's past he had a hard fall on his right shoulder.
Back in his racing days, he thought, by the old build up of scar tissue.  He should me the difference in range of motion between the two shoulders, before and after. Wow. The right was SO locked up and then after could move quite a bit better, although not as great as left. In time it will and with the exercises he wants me to do to both of his shoulders.

He wants me to take his leg, hold his pastern and ankle with my arms and use my body/legs/arms to slowly lift his shoulder up into his withers. Do that a few times before our ride and after, each side to help his should range and muscle release.

He really felt this was an injury older and unrelated to his laminitis.  

Interesting.

He also adjusted his back/pelvic area. He said his whole right side, from TMJ jawline down his body to his back hip was off.  After a few, pop POP pops and gentle torques, Laz was a total noodle.

Dr. W asked if Laz ever tries to buck me off.  I laughed and said "NEVER!" and he laughed and said "Well, then he's being nice to you." based on how bad his back was. I told him I ride bareback and he figured that was better for now and probably why he wasn't trying to buck me off. Ha! Can you imagine. I asked if I shouldn't be riding and he said "No..ride away and the best thing to keep a back supple and in good shape is TROT TROT TROT." So, when we get that RH feeling better, we will put that back in our game plan. I miss trotting, but for now he just too off to trot around.

The last Chiro visit he had with a different Chiro did NOT go well.  He kicked and humped out in pain. 

This time he did not. Dr. W also just used his hands, no tools, which seemed to be much more comfortable to Laz as well.

Laz's heart was POUNDING while he worked on his back and then he let out a HUGE siiiiiigh. 

It was crazy cool.  Dr. W also showed me how flexible and bouncy the back/spine was after the adjustment.  Laz just held himself differently.

I'm wondering so much now; his right side/shoulder being held in so tight, could be why his club foot won't quite drop down. Hmmmmmmm, maybe.

After the adjustment, I mentioned "I read that you do acupuncture..." and he replied "Yep and we'll do some today!" Eeks, YES!

So, he twisted in a few needles at his neck/should area, and along his lower back/pelvic area and asked me if I knew why. It was cool. I said to allow the energy out? 

He basically stated it was like re-setting the body. Releases the pain, like unblocking a locked pain to allow to flow through and out.

After that, through the needles he gave Laz shots of B12 which I knew can help 'hold' the adjustments.

It was WAY cool and great to watch.

He asked if I was happy with what he did, etc. I told him if I based it off my droopy, yawing, releasing horse, then YES!!!

We talked a lot about the holistic things I do for Laz, his past history, etc and he seemed to think this will really help Laz out quickly. 

We have our next appointment in early Feb and I may have him work on Mason too!

Overall, I think a great present for Laz who seemed soooo comfortable throughout and especially afterwards. I'm going back in the morning to check on him to make sure he's still acting ok.

When I was pulling out of driveway, he was chasing his buddy around the pasture.

A pretty great sign.

LoverFaces

"You smellz nice"

"Kiss it"

"mmm....k"

SLURP!

"Heeey! Too muchs!"

 These boys have been PLAYING so much!

Such mouthy geldings.

Grab, nip, pull, tug, tag

It's amazing they have any fur on their faces left

But it's sweet

Lots of tender touches followed by romper room play

Below is my new fave move of Laz.

He doesn't kick at Justin, he just kicks it in reverse and tries to SIT on Justin!

It's hilarious to see him back him up by pushing him with his rear

 Justin is a lover and player!

Red gets in on the action

They all rub their teeth on each others teeth.

It makes the WORST sound!

 Rub rub rub rub rub

" STEEENKS!"

Spring in December

This December has had some FUNKEE weather patterns!

Tuesday and Wednesday were warm, like high 40's to 50's.

Then it rained, and poured.

I came out check on my delicate OTTB to make sure he was ok..

"HI MOMMMMMMM MOM MOM MOM, I has bezt furnds!!"

When I was pulling up to the barn, I saw Laz and Justin rearing and playing and zip zipping around.  It literally made my heart swell with happiness!

 These two were having such fun playing, it was SO fun to watch and snap photos of

 "Iz u wachin???"

 "I do's my fancee leg muves"

 Tag!

This was so great to see. Just the day before I was freaking myself out that I hadn't seen Laz trot on his own in a while.

Well this day made up for it

 Chasing each other back and forth in the two pastures

 "Whur'da go?"

 "I luvs u..."

 "I luvs to eats yo face!"

 "Ohhhh Heeeeeei LazMommMom"

 "Ery buddy OUTS!"

I actually LOVE this picture despite the filth.
I love Laz's tiny floaty trot as he hovers over the puddle unmuddling his reflection in the mud

 Red, the other OTTB makes me laugh in photo below.
Look at him ZOOOOM

 The spring air in December made for a fun day for these 3 boys

 One (of many) great characteristic of Laz is how he's come into his own the last 3 yrs.

He shows independent thoughts frequently and it rocks.

 He decided he had enough play time and came to me for our groom session (oh, and maybe because I had his bucket of beet pulp especial waiting for him!)

"Whew...iz tirud"

And when I was done with Laz..he went off into the mist with his best friend.

Ha! It's so great how happy he is

 Today, after CRAZY 25 mph winds yesterday (which dried up all the mud thankfully) it's back to normal December weather of mid 30 to low 30's.  Laz is still naked and doing great with it.

I also snapped a quick image of his RH

It shows less bruising (hoorah) and hopefully is healing and getting thicker by the day.

I treat at least 5 days a week with Keratex Hoof hardener and it seems to be doing a great job.

Below is from a few weeks ago which shows how his bruising is clearing up