Chrome Ride 149 - 100 Ride Challenge Ride 35 - Rocky Ride 16 (with us)

Today was uncharacteristically cool for July (the high was only 90F and humidity was around 67%) so I asked hubby to go ride with me.  Chrome and Rocky were both spooky as heck at first (more on that in tomorrow's post), but settled quickly once we got on the road.  We went 1.48 mile and rode for 38 minutes.  It was a quiet, walk only ride with only one big spook on Rocky's part and eyeballing from both of them.  I finally bought me a new riding bat (the kind with the loop on the end to go over the saddle horn or around my wrist, that has a popper) because I'm so sick of Chrome's balking, but I don't want to carry my dressage whip all the time, since I only need it a couple of times.  It took maybe two gentle taps to get his attention.  It was so funny though because when I had it in my hand he had his head cocked to the side and that ear back, eyeballing it.  It was hilarious.  I promise I wasn't hurting him though, just using it as a gentle aid to get his attention so I don't have to keep kicking him. Anyway, here are the pictures.

Sorry they are unedited cell phones pictures... I was being lazy so I didn't even crop them.

 Where did my horse's head go??

He was sniffing the pavement.

 Rocky and Hubby went off the road for some fun since our neighbor recently mowed the ditches.

Chrome and I walked in the grass for a while, but his stifles kept giving out on the uneven ground so I got him back on the road.  Even this short of a break is enough to mess up his stifles again ugh!

Their reward for being good boys.

I also noticed Chrome was rubbing his tail like mad, so I decided to do some investigating.  There are three things that I've heard can cause tail rubbing.... worms, needing to have the sheath cleaned or ticks.  I knew it wasn't worms because they were done recently (and that might be a myth, not sure).  So I decided to check the other two.  This might be gross to some people, but I have to brag because this is one of the reasons I love this horse!  I brushed his belly until he dropped (he almost always drops when I'm grooming him because he likes his itchy belly brushed).  Then I cleaned him up.  He wasn't dirty at all and I was able to wipe or peel off the dry, crusty stuff that was there.  I'm so glad he stays fairly clean in that area.  There are a LOT of horses who won't let you touch their sheath at all, so the fact that I can completely clean him without drugs (or even a halter.. yes he was loose in the pasture) is so awesome!

So the last thing to check (because as soon as I finished that he started frantically rubbing his butt on the fence again) was his tail bone.  Found the culprit!!  There were four ticks in his tail.  Hubby pulled them off for me because they gross me out, then I washed his tail with my anti-itch shampoo.  He LOVED having me rub his tail because it was so itchy.  After his tail dried I sprayed and rubbed my fly spray (that kills ticks) all through it and into the dock as best I could.  What do you guys use for keeping ticks out of their tails?  It's difficult getting fly spray all the way to the skin...

Well that's all I have for this post I guess.  After cleaning his tail I put medicine on his sweet itch sores and covered him in his neem oil.  Oh we did go to the store and I got them a sulphur block just to see if it makes a difference at all.  It's mostly salt so even if it doesn't, I don't care.  It's worth a shot.  Chrome seemed to like it.  I guess that's all.  Check this blog and my other one for exciting news tomorrow!

Rocky's 1st clicker session+Chrome's ear+Rocky lameness update+lots of videos!

 So handsome!!  His dapples seem to disappear sometimes lol.

Chrome first.  I had to braid his forelock because the hair kept getting stuck in his wound and then I'd rip it back open pulling the hair out.  I hope he doesn't rub his forelock braid out....  The wound is gaping open again, but it's not swollen and it's a lot less red.  We cleaned it today and put more powder on (the rain has made using the powder very difficult grr).

Here is a cute video of Chrome being a goofball.  It also shows a closeup of the wound.  The pictures didn't turn out very good, so the video will have to be good enough.

Direct link here.

Now Rocky.  First of all this is only his third Oxine soak and the improvement is amazing.  I'm a believer in this stuff.

He should dress up as the tin man for Halloween...

he already has the boots!!

Aren't we done with this yet??

Check out these pictures I got of the bottles that I mix the Oxine and vinegar in...

See the gas inside of it?

How about now?

That's the chemical reaction taking place.  That's what happens inside of his boots.  I can't imagine how it must feel, but it does not damage live tissue.  He's a saint to put up with all of this.

It's making a big difference too!  I'll let you see for yourself.  First up is a walking video showing him walking after his trim last weekend and then today.

Direct link.

Then here's a trotting video.  The before clip is short, because it never crossed my mind to get a video of him trotting when he was lame.  He had a huge head bob!  I'm talking he bobbed his head a foot easily.  So the after video is awesome!!

Direct link.

Can you believe that's just from his thrush treatments??  The before clip was taken after his trim.  He was way worse than that before his trim.

He stands under himself.  We're going to start soaking his rear hooves this week too, now that he's so good with his fronts.  I'm going to practice with an empty plastic bag and then a plastic bag with water in it before I use the Oxine.  I have no clue how he's going to react to having something on his rear hooves... I'll update when that happens (and I might get video haha).

Next up is a video of Rocky's introduction to clicker training!  He's never done any clicker training before so this is all new for him.  Sorry the video is kind of long (about 6 minutes I think), but I didn't want to cut anything out.  I had to trim out a couple of sections where I was walking around them (would have made you motion sick) and where I was talking about someone I know by name.

Direct link.

He did such a great job!!!!!!!  Hubby did too hehe.  I don't think it will take long before Rocky moves on to other things.  We are going to do short target training sessions for a few days and introduce following it.  Then we will do the grownups are talking game to keep him from mugging.  After that we will finally be able to work on his hooves.  He's been in so much pain that we can barely clean his feet, much less rasp them.  I'm hoping in another week he will be comfortable enough to at least let us clean them out, do some clicker training to reinforce holding his feet up nicely (and not jerking them away violently like he does now) and then we can start rasping his toe and flares between trims.  :)

I hope everyone had a fantastic fourth of July!  I spent it helping repair a toilet and sink that broke and cabinets that were sagging.  Didn't see a single firework!  We were invited to go see a show, but when we walked outside our tire was flat and it was the only vehicle we would drive that far.  We didn't feel comfortable driving that far on the spare so we didn't go.  Oh well.  We got a lot done around the house and the weather was crappy anyway.  Why did the rain have to come back?????

Sorry, I'll stop whining.  I hope you enjoy the videos.  I'm so excited because hubby is so excited about clicker training Rocky.  I think I'm going to get back into it with Chrome too.  He loves it and I miss it.  :)  I'll update again soon (hopefully tomorrow, but if not it will probably be next week because I just don't have time during the work week).

Ride 107

More beautiful weather meant I had to ride again.  :D  Hubby wanted to try riding again too.  I was telling him about the success Karen has had riding with a bad back and how riding has strengthened her back to where she can ride without pain now.  That gave him hope that he can get back to riding like he used to.  He's always loved riding, but his back was too painful to even sit on a horse for more than a minute.  Now that it's doing better he wants to get back in the saddle!

I let him ride first because I wanted to do some cantering so I figured he could warm Chrome up for me.

He rode for about fifteen minutes and I rode for about fifteen minutes, so it wasn't a long ride, but I don't want to overdo it because Chrome's stifle did give out once.

Jackal likes when we ride in the yard.

He even trotted a little!

Chrome was such a good boy!

This is my all time new favorite picture of them!

I hopped on and walked around for a bit before I started working on the canter (up and down the driveway).  He did better going up the driveway because the neighbor horses were up by our gate and he could see them.  He cantered toward the house too, but not as eagerly.  :)  Here are some pictures.

 Look at how he uses his back!  Love it!

 Eager boy.  

 Yes I was holding onto the saddle horn with my left hand like a big chicken.

I never used to told the saddle horn...

 What I love about these stretched out pictures is his mane flying up!!

He has a mane!!  I hope he doesn't rub it out this year.  :)

 I let him graze a little while after the ride, then when it was time to put him up I didn't even bother with a halter or rope...

If you can't see the video click here.

For those who can't see videos here is a screenshot showing how I lead him by the chin.  :D  I normally lead horses by their manes and even had a mare that would lead by her forelock, but with Chrome's mane roached and his obvious dislike of me pulling on his forelock I resorted to the chin and it works great.  :)