Head banger's ball

I'm still clueless at how Laz hurt himself, although thanks to a possible 'maybe' by  Jenj I am now wondering if he did indeed walk under a low branch and whacked himself.

Or got kicked?
Or 10,00000000 other possibilities. ;)

The last couple of days, I've checked on him and treated the area

 THIS was huge. 

He allowed me to touch it, lightly, but allowed. He still is telling me it hurts and is sensitive around the star and oddly, around his left ear he seems to pull away.
I can touch his ear, in and all around, with no adverse reactions. It's when I approach his star from the left ear that he jerks away.

 So strange isn't it?

No HUGE gaping wound, but you can see the scrape to the right of his moonstar and where the blood trickled down towards his left eye.

A wound like this, I wouldn't even think twice about HOWEVER, it was HIS reaction to it that told me it HURT. 

There is no swelling, everything looks symmetrical and no new sensitive parts.

So, hopefully in a few days, it'll  be a none issue.

He allows me to halter him, he just is sensitive about touching around star/treating it.

 I typically use my favorite salve by Zephyrs Garden, which amazingly stays soft even in bitter cold weather and heals wounds super fast.  However, being Laz wouldn't allow me to touch it, I needed something spray-able to treat quick, AND safe for around his eyes in case it dripped.

So, I went to my feed store and bought the $$$ holy water. I figured it was less expensive that a vet visit and I don't really think my vet could do anything different than what I'm doing (hopefully I'm right with this thought)

With feeding some of his 'grain' I was able to spray the dickens out of his forehead for the last two days. I think it's helping.

And in fun award news, Laz and I got this;

Liebster means “dearest” in German, and the award is intended to help up-and-coming blogs get the attention they deserve. Here are the rules:

1. Copy and paste the award on our blog.

2. Link back to the blogger who gave us the award----Thank you to Allison and Shy!!!!  If you haven't been reading about Shy, do it; so often I found myself laughing at how adorable and mischievous she is. 

Guess what, she's a dollface Haffie who knows how to DRIVE..fun! I'm thinking skijoring is in their future! 

3. Pick our five favorite blogs with less than 200 followers, and leave a comment on their blog to let them know they have received the award.

Hope that the five blogs chosen will keep spreading the love and pass it on to five more blogs

My 5 blogs that I would TOTALLY recommend for both awesome horse owners/do-er's and for their adorable horses:

1.  http://milesonmiles.blogspot.com/

2.  http://dressagewannabes.blogspot.com/

3.  http://enzo-janine.blogspot.com/

4.  http://quartersforme.blogspot.com/

5.  http://honeysucklefaire.blogspot.com/  

Horsei

Dear Laz

What is cutting your sweet, beautiful face?
You have had 3 cuts all around the same section of your face approximately 4 inches from your star.

Today, when I visited you, and groomed you, you were dramatically head shy.

You are NEVER head/ear/anything shy.

My stomach instantly sank.

I lifted your fuzzy fragglerock bangs and found dried blood on your normally white star.

 Ohhhh Babykins, I cooed...

When I tried to wipe away the dried blood with a wet cloth to clean and treat, you told me "PLEASE...PLEASE do not touch." and lifted your normally pressing nose into my jacket, way up in the air out of any 7 ft reach.

Ugh, my stoic boy who let's me touch and treat anything...how bad does it hurt?

How did you do this?

Where you rough housing with your friends? 

Did you bang it on something?
Were you kicked?

Do I call the vet (it's after 6 pm)

What would they do anyway? No open wound, nothing to stitch...sedate?? For what?

Ok, breathe...

You don't want me touching it yet. 

Ok.

You ate your BP just fine and are nibbling your hay

Good signs.

You are warm.

I will come back tomorrow to try and treat it again and figure out how this happens as I don't see anything sticking out, anything with tufts of fur on it..and I've been looking.

BO's too can't figure it out and haven't seen anything that Laz is doing to cause harm.

Both are kind people and one is a small animal Vet so there is no foul play (just wanted to rule that out as a culprit)

If only, I had my "Horsei" prototype, I could view online the last 24 hours to try and see what caused this.

What is the "Horsei?"

To view and vote for my invention, click HERE

I can't tell you how many times I wished for this product to be real

Patent pending...

For reals.

Winter Workouts Part 2

This past Sunday it was low 20's and just beautifully sunny!

I had actually blanketed Laz the night before. The temps had dropped to around 13 degrees with high winds so I figured he would appreciate his winter blanket. 

In all actuality, he would have been fine without it. 

I'm S.L.O.W.L.Y trying to be 100% natural vs my knee jerk reaction of knitting Laz a head to toe pajama set with matching hoof mittens.

At any rate; I decided to work him out a bit. His energy level was up so he seemed game.

The cut on his back still showed some signs of 'ouch' so still no riding.

I brought Laz out to one of the Spring pastures where the grass was left long so it's nice and cushy for footing. Not icy or slick.

We started with BIG circles of walking...

 

Allowing him to warm up and stretch out

 And moved into a nice little trot
Lots of snorts, head lowering and neck stretching...

 He gave some great fluid moments of very sound looking trots!

HOORAH!

 Using his back..

 Mixed it up with walk, slow trot... 

extending his trot a bit..

Then, he started to get really fired up.

Not in a "I'm having FUN way" but more of a frantic mixed with pushy OTTB way

 He got a little rude and unruly

Started to blow up and yank away at the lunge line, buck and gallop around.
PS I HATE my lunge line..I want a heavier rope one. This one is so flimsy, craptastic and just blows in the wind.

"LEEEMMMMEEEE GOOOOOOOO"

 

Bucking around

Then trying to evade my 'reverse' request which promptly got him yanked back down to a WHOA and we started over.

Mental check; HI, put your brain back in your head.

 and right back to a CALM trot

 Which when he went to canter a bit by choice instead of the harder gait of a trot...I wondered "maybe he's trying to tell me, ENOUGH trotting"  

With rehabbing, it's so important to listen to your horse.
Laz is pretty smart and has a great work ethic, so I think I may have missed his ask of "OK, enough." It may have been enough mentally, it may have been enough physically. He is NOT a lazy boy, so if he seems like it's enough, it's because he's already given me 110%

It was just a vibe I got.

 So, we switched to walking on the lunge for 10 minutes of good behavior, and then back to hand walking and my sweet boy returned.

Due to the fact, that even after 35 minutes of walking, Laz was still a tiny bit damp, I sheeted him. The temps were to drop back in the teens with some high winds so I wanted to shield him a bit.  I yanked the sheet off the next morning and he still remains...NUDE!
Weather currently is low 20's...I may opt to blanket him Thursday when weather will drop down to 10 with winds. 

We had a trim Monday evening with our awesome farrier and all hoof things are looking great!

Winter Workouts part 1

Despite not riding (I'll get to that in a minute) Laz and I have been VERY busy.

I don't know how, but I've been making it to the barn 6-7 days a week.

It's GLORIOUS!

Some days, when I'm on the road for work, my day ends with an appointment just 15 minutes away from the barn, so off I go!

Sunset pulling into barn, just peaceful

The deer that hide along the far end of the pasture.

I have been enjoying this mild winter SO much!

Sunny and blue skies in January? WHAT?
Yes, please!

Who needs an indoor??? Not us

Unfortunately, Laz has a bit or a cut on his back. It's not a bad cut by any means, but it IS directly where one's bottom would sit when riding. 

So...being he was showing me he was tender around it, I figured it was also bruised a bit.
Ok, no problem. 

Ground work only for a good few days as it heals

My Pops giving Laz (who is too busy stuffing his face to pose) some love

One this day, it was so warm out, I didn't worry that naked Laz was getting rained on. It was almost 40 degrees with no wind. 

 Shiny boy all dressed for winter with no winter weather...yet.

 Another day, we did some of our Parelli games and 'touch it's'

Laz LOVES touch it.

"I touch dis"

"I touch dat"

"Halo?!! Anyones???"

Good boys get to munch on grass nibs after our mental work

***

On this day, the weather was low 30's, high 20's with little wind.

Laz still sans blanket and TOASTY warm

We worked on some games with him loose, or at Liberty

 We had some nice moments of him listening and relaxed...

But more moments of him ambling around and ignoring me, lol!

It's ok. It's honest and tells me we have a long way to go and we are not at that level.

I think it's fun to let go of expectations and see what your horse knows and doesn't.

"I donseee u"

 But a good boy comes back, AND we are working on our very own "War Horse" whistle

Move over Joey.....

Laz's coat has really turned into something great.

Thick, shiny with great oils

It almost seems waterproof at times

 Eating his BP mix and remaining naked

When I worry he'll be chilled, I stuff the hay bag which carries him over to dinner time.

No shortage of food here

 And Mason has been enjoying hitting the barn more often...zzzzzzz

Horse Insurance?

I thought I would ask this question to you all out in the horse blog'o'sphere;

"Can I and should I get Horse Insurance?"

Is it too late for us? Was I to buy it as soon as I purchased/rescued Laz? I know that would have been best, but I didn't so I'm trying to think for our future.
Can he be insured to help alleviate some of the typical vet bills and any future issues, such as scoping for ulcers, surgery, etc (knocking on wood!)

Do you have your horse insured and what company did you choose and why?
What is a typical plan to look for?
What are typical cost/deductibles/rates?
I've called a few companies and they seem to really vary.

Thanks!!

2012 goals

Riding on New Year's Eve 2011...what is more perfect than that?!

Um, nothing.

Last year our 2011 goals are listed HERE

I'm SO happy to report, we accomplished A LOT on our list just organically 

A brief over view of goals from 2011:

1. Take Laz on a fun, stress free, successful Trail ride

**MEGA CHECK**

2. Take Laz swimming

 **MEGA CHECK**

He and I, SO enjoyed this fun day, thanks again to my fabulous trimmer for this special trail riding day!

3. Learn more about hoof health-CHECK (still checking/learning)

And I'm getting little more comfortable doing in between trims, with my rasp MYSELF.

Now I need a set of knives...beware!!!! ;)

4. Continuing with giving Laz all he can take in terms of healing-CHECK

I am always revamping this

5.  Work on OUR confidence issues-CHECK

Always in work with this and communication is key!

6. To road ride alone-CHECK

7. To speak up for my horse's health when my gut says something is off-CHECK

8. This wasn't on my list, but I taught Laz how to "SMILE" on cue-CHECK

***I also had 3 dream goals that I did not achieve; show with Laz-NOT YET, have xrays that showed a perfect hoof-NOT YET, work on our canter and lead changes, correct leads-NOT YET, jump an X rail-NOT YET

 2012 GOALS list!

#1-Continue to keep Laz healthy, happy and healing 

#2-Strive to get Laz more sound 

(duh) and when so; develop a mean muscle machine

(these 2 goals alone have MANY layers to them)

#3-Ride in Kensington Park frequently, on all three horse trails (19 miles worth) at separate times, either with groups or just Laz and I. 

This will entail us hand walking a mile to the park (I dont own a trailer and riding him down the narrow dirt road where people LOVE to speed may be a no-no plus crossing  a major 2 lane)

#4-Teach Laz to come to me at a whistle 

(War Horse inspired..must do this!) 

Trick training is fun when your horse has lame days (weeks/months-grrr) and challenges their brains in different ways. In general I want to do more ground work, mental games with him as it's TOTALLY helped him develop some major confidence and that translates beautifully in our riding.

#5-Work on my fitness so I'm a stronger rider 

(Yoga, Cardio, Strength training) ugh..but now I'm holding myself accountable.

#6. Keeping learning more about barefoot trimming. 

I'm a visual learner, so when I do something like rasping, etc it helps me understand SO much better. I'm thankful that my trimmer is so patient with me and encourages me to play with Laz's hooves.

**Dream goals from 2011 will carry over to 2012**

Here's to another FUN year of goals!

Yikes-Pale face alert!!!

Gorgeous gelding alert!

HAPPY 2012 TO YOU ALL!!!