Diary of a Mad Horse Woman

Glomski reunion

The reunion is over and the cleanup is complete. It was a success due to all the help from my sister, Angie, my kids, my Mom and especially my husband.

The food was great and there was lots of it. Feeding the horses became an event in the arena. We let folks give them carrots and pet them. Now I can turn my attention back to riding.

Labels: Glomski reunion

No trail ride tonight

We were supposed to ride our trail for the first time tonight with Vicki and Craig, but I had to cancel. We are working on several projects around the farm to get ready for our Glomski family reunion here on August 2. We are so stressed. We are expecting 50, so in case of rain we want to use the hay mow in the barn. That has taken every spare moment. We are clearing out over a foot of hay, replacing rotten boards and patching holes.

Time for a trim

I was relieved to have Kate come by for hoof trimming. Banjo seems to have gotten over the pain from wearing down his hooves during a long trail ride. A quick nip was all he needed. He checked out fine, except there seems to be some thrush yet in just the front feet. Sparkler and Gilly did fine as well despite some surface cracking. Kate suggests using anything with pine tar as a topical treatment for the cracking.

Princess or pain?

Dan came tonight for our neighborhood lesson. He warmed up Gilly while I saddled Sparkler. She started with her kicking just as she had on Sunday. But instead of getting better, it turned into bigger kicks. I said, "Dan......" and he said, "Sure." We switched.

When she kicked, he made her go faster. When she got to the side of the arena, she whacked the wall with her hind leg. Around the other side, she whacked it again. Then the third time I think it was both feet. He just laughed and kept going and eventually it stopped. However, each time during the evening, starting up after a rest, she would whack the wall once or twice, then settle down. She was perfect once she got over whatever it is this is.

So, I have this dilemma. Is this physical or is she being marish--a princess, as Dan puts it?

Princess theory

Last month, when she was left outside alone while the rest of the horses were inside the arena, she ran around the outside of the arena, whinnying and kicking the walls, mad because she couldn't get in. This kicking started last fall, so it isn't leftover pain from ehrlichiosis this spring.

Pain theory

The farrier says her left rear leg is sometimes more difficult than the others, though not substantially.

Sally says there is an old cowboy test for this. Hold the leg up uncomfortably high for about a minute, then let go and make her trot out. If it's an injury, it will show in her movement. I'll have to give that a try.

What a kicker

I wanted to ride her on the trail, but Sparkler was a bit spooky, so I opted for the arena instead. After saddling her, she seemed pretty calm and was perfect for mounting. She started out beautifully, but when we got to the end of the arena, she started the kicking routine with her left rear leg. So I stopped moving and thought about what to do. Back up? OK, she liked that. But asking her to move forward again produced a kick with her front right leg. I flexed her head to my foot. At first she did circles, but soon stopped and just gave me her head. I got more kicking when asking her to go forward. So I tried a circle before moving forward a few steps. But then she'd stop. I clucked, squeezed, kicked. Nothing. My kicking produced a bigger kick from her. The chicken in me had visions of getting bucked off, but I wasn't going to let her win.

A quick circle via pressure on the front quarters and we were moving. After that, as soon as she would stop moving, I turned her head, put pressure on the front shoulder with my foot, squeezed as we came out of the circle, and moved forward. Pretty soon, there was no more kicking.

Happy trails ahead!

At long last we have a riding trail!!! We started it last week but it was too muddy for the tractor. It was dry enough today so out we went - Bob and I in his p-p-p-p-plower. We went all the way to Art and Vicki's back gate and widened the path on the way back.