Day 79





On Christmas Eve, I planned to try my hand at ponying again, but time sure can get away from you during the holidays.  It takes a lot of time to load Cohasset in the trailer, drive up the road, then tack up and get two horses ready to go.  Instead, I put the halter on Doc and we went for a nice long walking adventure into the woods behind Alicia's house.  We tromped up and down some very steep hills, and he was so brave about going wherever I led him.  The only hesitation he had was some steep creek crossings that we had to jump over.  But after some coaxing, he took a big leap of faith and came on over to me.  We sure have come a long way since trailer loading lessons!

Jumping the creek

(Sorry, it's not easy to take jumping pictures when you are holding the lead rope!)



It was so much fun to go exploring with him, and we gained a new level of trust between us. 

I am constantly amazed at the bond that develops between us humans and these amazing creatures.  Every day is a new lesson, and a new depth to be discovered.

My 6-month old puppy, Kaia, came along too.  It was her first adventure out into the wild, and what fun she had!  I can see that we have many years of exploring ahead of us. 

Kaia



As for Doc, I hope to make our walks a daily event, but where we go will have to depend on the weather.  Tonight we just strolled on down the road since it was dark and rainy.  We walked through as many puddles as we could find, and worked on leading softly.  He is such a willing partner; our lessons are always a pleasure... and good therapy too.  :)



Happy Trails to all!


~Jackie

Day 70

My wish came true, and the rain held off just enough for me to ride Cohasset up the hill to visit Doc again.  It sprinkled off and on, but the rain waited until daylight was fading to start really coming down.  I decided to take as much advantage of the weather as I could, and bring my mare, Dixie, along for the ride.  She needed exercise very badly since she is also neglected lately due to Doc.

This turned out to not be the brightest idea I have ever had.  Dixie decided to spontaneously come into season as soon as she got a look at our handsome man, Doc.  Of course, I didn't let them anywhere near each other, but I did have to pass behind her at a distance.  This was close enough for Dixie's liking, so she would swing her backside around and give Doc a good look at her business.  She even squirted at him a few times!  (Gross!)  The good news is that Doc didn't give her a second glance.

As for our ponying lesson for the day, it ended up being short and semi-sweet.  Like some of our lessons in the past, it was time to hit the brakes and go all the way back to the beginning.  There were plenty of other distractions in this environment, so Doc was a little more anxious than he was yesterday.  We started off well enough going down the driveway, but both Doc and Cohasset resisted leaving home and Dixie behind.  I decided that it wasn't worth fighting two horses to leave home, so we settled for making circles around the house.  Since it was obvious that we weren't in the best situation to try and make a productive lesson out of it, I decided to be happy with a good straight line with both horses in perfect position with no resistance.  We stopped at that.  Now lets all just hope for a break in the rain, and I will do it all again without one ingredient: Dixie.   :)

Stay dry and safe out there...

~Jackie

Day 69 - Ponying Lesson Day

Today was a beautiful, sunny day, and I felt like the luckiest girl in the world to be spending it with Gail, Amy, and some of my favorite horses ever! 

Amy and I started taking lessons from Gail in the same ground class almost 2 years ago, and have been together in just about every class since.  Today felt like a new beginning with both of us having a young horse to start off fresh with.  When I think back to our first lessons and see all of our progress, I can't wait to see what happens with Doc, and Amy's colt,  Archie.

The lesson started out with some groundwork, just to let Gail see how far along we were.  It felt a little bit like a test, which I liked because I was excited to hear Gail's opinion of how we were progressing.  I got a giant thrill when she told me that we were doing very well.  Thanks Gail!  :)

Once she had a good idea of what she was dealing with, Gail took the lead rope and started Doc's first ponying lesson.  She was very clear about the rules: 

1.  You stay behind my knee at all times.
2.  No socializing or butt sniffing while ponying (you can do this in the pasture later).
3.  Follow me.

If any of these rules were broken, the correction was immediate and fair. 

It didn't take long for Doc to understand what she was asking of him.  She had a bit of resistance when trying to move into a faster pace, but by turning Win into Doc and making a few circles, she had things under control.  When I think back to the groundwork test, I see that our biggest problems were in moving from a walk to a trot.  It is interesting how this translates directly into ponying.  I can also see how it could follow right through to the saddle unless we get it under control now.  Who ever said lessons didn't pay off?!




A little resistance




Follow me!



In short order, Gail turned Doc over to Cohasset and I with an explanation of the rules...



A little resistance of my own



Off we go!



It was hard work for me to manage both horses, and not forget my own focus and technique!



Lock-step feels good

...but we figured it out in the end.

Amy's little guy did a great job too.  Her horses are always so willing to try anything.

Gail and Win with Archie



 When Gail felt that we were competent enough to venture out into the world, we went for a little ride around the property.

Amy and Bozo with Archie

Aren't they cute??!

 

Check out the mirror images!

 

Learning about puddles

Wet feet!

"Hassie will protect you.."

All in all, we had a very successful day.  I am hoping that the rain will hold off for one more day so I can practice our new skills here at home tomorrow.

Doc was mentally and physically exhausted today, but he was also very content to just be with me.  That is the best part of all.  :)

Goodnight everyone!
~Jackie

Day 67

Did I tell you that Doc has his very first lesson at Cottonwood Creek Equestrian Center coming up on Thursday?!!!

I am so excited, I can't contain myself!!  We are going to have a ponying lesson with Gail at 1:00.  I am bringing my horse, Cohasset to learn how to pony a green horse in a safe environment.  Gail is going to saddle up her horse and get him started, and once Doc gets the hang of it with Gail, she will turn him over to Cohasset and I.  I am really looking forward to this lesson because it will be a big milestone for Doc.  Once he gets the hang of following behind another horse on a ride, the options are limitless.  We will be able to go on some great adventures, and he will get a lot more exercise this way.  The added benefit is that I will be able to spend more time riding and exercising my own horses who have been neglected severely since Doc arrived on the scene.  Double bonus!  :)


Cohasset and I


Of course, I will post pictures and details as soon as possible...

Until then, wish us luck!

~Jackie

Day 65?!

It is impossible for me to believe that we have only had Doc for 2 months now.  How can this be?  The time has flown by, but it seems like so much longer when you look back at the horse we started with.  Alicia and I were talking again this evening about how Doc is just like one of the guys now.  Handling him is just as natural and comfortable as any other friendly, domesticated horse.  This is amazing since we couldn't even get near him, much less put a hand on him, two months ago.  He is such a smart guy; at this rate, I can't wait to see him a year from now!

Winter is a difficult and frustrating time for me in regards to horses.  I leave for work in the dark every morning, and get home just as the sun is setting in the evening.  This gives me a short twilight hour to work with horses.  Not to mention the feeding rituals that take about 2 hours every evening.  Needless to say, most of Doc's treatments and exercise are getting done in the dark.  Every evening I tend to his wounds and take him for a walk as time allows.  On Friday we walked quite a distance down the road.  He had never been that far away from home, but as long as I remained confident ((I can fake it pretty well!)), he followed willingly.  He is getting much more confident about changing terrains.  We played "follow the leader" over and around several obstacles, including splashing through the mud puddles in the road.  I felt like I was 5 years old again skipping down the road in my muck boots splashing in the mud puddles!  Let me tell you, it is so much more fun as an adult with a pony in tow!  I am just glad nobody was looking   :)

This is how his wounds look now:

Left

There was a little more blood on the left side because SOMEBODY managed to get himself into the next pen over where Rudy, Mac, and the girls live.  Thankfully, the girls would have nothing to do with him, and he wasn't interested anyway.  All he wanted was to stand close to Rudy and make baby faces at him. 

Right

He managed to scrape some of the scabs off of the left leg, but no other harm was done.  Now we have a pretty good idea of how those injuries happened in the first place! 

Remember what they looked like way back when the meat bees and flies were eating them?

Day 2 at Alicia's house

 Goodnight for now everybody,
~Jackie

Day 58

Doc is doing great in his new paddock with Rolex.  The two of them have been inseparable, and Rolex is the ultimate "father figure" to Doc.  It is really fun to watch them eating and playing together.

I have been continuing to treat his wounds every day, and mix in a little training with each session.  His wounds still look like they are shrinking to me.  I will take some recent photos and see if you can tell a difference.  It is hard for me to tell when I look at them every day.  His castration wounds look almost completely healed now.  Nice job Dr. Jen!

Doc is now better than most adult horses when it comes to standing tied.  We have been working constantly and consistently on holding still for wound treatments, so, as with anything that you focus on every day, it has gotten drastically better.  I am always amazed at how quickly horses can grasp a concept that we are trying to teach them.  It is almost as if it comes to a point when they say, "OK, I get what you want, just give me a minute to process it".  And if we give them enough patience and support for positive moves, they really start doing it!  I love it!!   :)

I think it is time for me to answer the question that is in every one's mind, but only a few close friends have asked.  That question is:  "So...(long pause)... is Doc YOUR horse, or Alicia's?"  Ha ha!  The answer is, Doc belongs to Alicia, or should I say, he belongs to the world right now.  Alicia saw a helpless animal that needed help ASAP.  She immediately offered to take the horse off of it's previous owner's hands... without even having a plan as to how she was going to accomplish this!  She told me about it, and instantly had my support.  I told her I would help out in any way possible.  The plan was formed, and we got him to her house (with a lot of help from others, thank you!).  We had no idea what we were getting in to, but just wanted to get this animal out of pain.  We weren't even sure if he would be able to survive with the wounds he had.  If that meant that we would have to euthanize him, well, we figured that it was better than living with those wounds all of the time.  He had flies and meat bees constantly chewing at his exposed flesh.  Can you imagine?  It just couldn't go on.  That is all we knew.  Once he was safely at her home, the training began, and the rest is history.  As you know, life happens at the most difficult times, and Alicia has been very busy with her daily life lately.  It has just worked out that I have had more free time to devote to Doc's training than she has had.  She still gets to do all of his feeding, etc., and now that he is halter trained, we have both been able to do a lot more with him.

The following photo has nothing to do with Doc, but I just wanted to send you all a holiday smile.  This is Alicia with Rolex (on the left), and our good friend Jen riding my boy Cohasset.  That is me on the ground beside him.  Happy holidays! 
:)

~Jackie

Day 55

Despite the mud and drizzle today, we decided it was a good day to let Doc out with the big boys:  Rolex and Rudy.  We prepared for it by blocking off any tight corners where he could possibly get trapped, then placed ourselves strategically with our carrot sticks at the ready in case we needed to direct traffic at all.  After all of the preparation, we opened the gate to his round pen and out he came... 



"Hi Guys!"

  ... and it was extremely uneventful!  He came out and mingled right in with the boys, but nobody really thought twice about it.  It was so natural to all of them, that it was really quite boring!  I decided that this was a success.  It was much better than having to separate them, or fight someone off of someone else!  

Doc earned himself a new name, yet again:  "Curious George".  This is because he wants to inspect everything.  Alicia did a great job of showing him how to put his nose on scary things because now he wants to touch everything that is new to him with his nose! 

Mmmm... yummy salt block

Once their breakfast arrived, we expected some action, but Rolex and Rudy were so good to him.  They let him eat as much as he wanted from the same bags that they ate from...

Papa Rolex

Patient Rudy

 So, the day has come when we can finally release him from his small pen and let him roam around with the big boys.  Hooray!!  We still can't put him with the mares for another 1 1/2 months, but it sure is nice to give him more room to wander around. 

Can you believe we have only had him for two months now??

Until next time,
Jackie

Day 52

Doc has been pretty frisky lately.  I took him out to trot yesterday, and before we started, we played our 7 games.  I felt like I had a wild mustang on my hands.  He was one of those horses with a lot more "go" than "whoa".  When we circled, I would ask for a trot, and I would get a gallop.  Then, when I tried to disengage his rear end, I got a rearing horse!  We definitely had a few lessons in who was boss.  Needless to say, we didn't go very far from home on our trot. 

Today, he was a completely different horse.  Doc was energetic, but attentive.  He was willing to try anything I asked, as long as I went slow.  I tied him to a tree while I treated his wounds, and we had lots of lessons in standing still and softness.  I was patient with him, and rewarded him for the slightest try.  We built our partnership today by being respectful of each other.  On our trot down the road,  he was much more respectful, and we did lots of "follow me" exercises.  He was so soft when he followed me that I couldn't even feel him on the rope. 

Alicia tells me that Doc is now best friends with her horse, "Rolex".  The two of them spend their days mutually grooming over the round pen fence.  We are thinking of letting the two of them out in a pen together.  We won't be able to release Doc into the general population of horses (with mares) for two months, but it sure will be good for him to have a horse buddy.

We'll post photos when (and if) the introduction happens!

~Jackie

Day 49

Doc seems to be healing very well.  With the couple of days of sunshine, we were able to get a good look at his incision.  It is still draining pretty well, and the swelling looks like it is going down.  We are still trotting him, but yesterday he trotted himself for a very long time in his own pen.  Alicia let down some lines so that her horses could run around and get some exercise.  Doc got excited with all of the activity, and he was frolicing all over his pen.  Several of the horses came to meet him over his fence.  He enjoyed that.

The plan for today was to try ponying Doc with my horse, Cohasset... 

The boys meet

 When we first started out, everything was going very well.  Doc just latched onto Cohasset's side, and off we went!  We went straight, then we turned around, and even went off road a little.  I decided to go ahead and try to go down the road for a while to see how far we could get.  We did fine until Alicia's property ended, and so did the horse fence.  Neither horse wanted to go any further away from home.  I was able to convince Cohasset, but Doc was having none of it.  He put on some excellent breaks, which forced me to give up some line to him (thankfully I had the 22' line).  After that, we just started making a tangled mess trying to negotiate around trees, away from fence line, etc.  Nothing terrible happened (whew!), but I decided that we needed to stop before we had a wreck.  I would really like to take Doc down to the arena and try that again though!

Our first attempt at ponying

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

~Jackie

Day 45 (really, already!) Trotting, trotting, and more trotting...

In order to keep things healing (and draining) nicely there in Doc's nether regions, we must trot a minimum of 20 minutes twice a day, which is easier said than done! I guess we should be grateful that it's not 115 degrees outside!
We're working on the circling game, but he likes to run out of steam about the time he makes it behind you, and so we ask again, and he'll putter out, and again we ask, and well you can see the pattern now. I decided to take trotting out of circles and into a journey.
Yesterday our adventure took us to the back yard. We played stick your nose on the weird object, with much success (he's so brave), while we trot here and there. After a while he decided he did not want to play my games anymore, it was much more fun to rear up and then lope in circles, occasionally throwing in a buck or crow hop for good measure. Once I was able to get one circle without any silliness we moved on to the road out front...and here we had a great time.
I've only had the experience of really playing with one horse, our mini horse, Foozball, LOVES to play hide and seek! I hide behind a tree, he runs and finds me, I chase him until he hides behind a tree and then we start again. Doc was matching my steps foot for foot, I'd jog, he'd trot, I'd jump, he'd jump, I'd swing my head, he'd swing his head, we had a blast! He was my mirror!!! Afterwards we shared a special moment when he just placed his face into my chest and let out a long sigh, I told him how glad I was that we'd met, how special he was to us all, how much he was loved, he licked and chewed and sighed again. I smiled until my cheeks hurt.
This morning we adventured all over the place, up and down the roads, through the woods, past the scary donkeys, into the unknown. His send is oh so nice. We worked on following my speed, walk, walk faster, trot, walk, walk even slower, trot, stop, back up, with him standing by my side, following my footsteps yet again. A couple cars drove by, one stopped (it was my daughter's friend) he stuck his nose in her window to say hi. I remember when a car would drive by his pen and he'd flip out! Now he's practically climbing in the driver's seat!
I tried to take a couple pictures...but it's hard to catch the action shots while holding a 22 foot rope and a stick n' string!

Swelling before exercise....

Journey down Dead Critter Rd.

Look he can eat grass now!!!

Less swelling after exercise....Hooray!

Phew.... home at last.

Thank you to everyone for all your support!
((hugs)) and more ((hugs))
- Alicia

Day 42 - Gelding Day!

We did it!!  The rain held off long enough for Dr. Jen to successfully complete Doc's "brain" surgery.  Of course, the first thing that she said when she saw his legs was, "Oh WOW".  Yet again, the pictures don't do the wounds justice.  She has some concern about the damage to the tendons and veins underneath all of the proud flesh and scar tissue, but seems optimistic that we can get him fixed up.  She doesn't want to start cutting on the wounds until they have shrunk down more, and some good old-fashioned exercise helps to start re-building the structures underneath.  She wants me to continue with the ointments, and gave me some guidance on which ointments to apply at what time.  She also wants to wait until spring to do any surgery because of the improved healing time during the warmer months.  She says that if we were to cut on them now, going into winter, we would have a much longer recovery time.  In essence, we would be swimming upstream.  It sounds like a good plan to me because I wasn't looking forward to daily bandage changes in the frigid rain and muck.

She and her team were so gentle and kind to him, and she allowed Alicia and I to stay with him to help comfort him.  I am very grateful for that.  It was important to me to not make this a horrific experience for him, and it certainly wasn't.  In fact, I think he enjoyed all of the attention!  He got a little skittish when she inserted the needle in his neck, but after a second or two, he allowed her to hit the vein and sedate him.  The surgery went very well, and after a day of rest today, he needs to be exercised for 20 minutes twice daily to encourage drainage.  Alicia has the first shift in the morning (in the rain!).

Here are photos... if you are squeamish, you may not want to look...    :)



"You are getting veerrry sleeeeepy"




Go team go!




Snip snip!




Throw them behind the horse please!

 Dr. Jen educated Alicia and I on the proper etiquette with horse testicles after they have been removed:  If it is a racehorse and you want it to go fast, you throw them in front of him - that way he will always be racing to catch up to them....   Needless to say, I preferred to throw them behind the horse, thank you very much!

Huh???  What happened??



My tongue doesn't fit in my mouth anymore!



"Would you like a blankie?"

Poor baby was shivering a lot after waking up, so he got a crash course on blanket wearing, and we stopped to buy one for him on the way home. 
His new halter also arrived today!  Hooray!!   Doesn't it look great??   http://www.horsenheart.com/  Thanks Maryann!

Sporting his new clothes!

In addition to all of this, he also got his vaccines today.  It was a big day for our boy!  Oh, and a new name to consider popped up today:  "Drifter".  What do you think?

I just want to tell you how grateful we are to those of you who have donated to his cause - in whatever form.  The money you have sent all went towards his surgery and vaccines.  If it hadn't been for you, we wouldn't have been able to give him the excellent care that he got today.  Thank you!  Also, thank you to everyone who has been reading this and giving us your emotional support.  I can't tell you how much it means to have you all rooting for us.

He is going to need a lot more care by Dr. Jen, so I am just going to put this out there again:  If any of you can help us out financially, we really do appreciate it.  We are not a formal rescue group, we just saw this horse in need, and Alicia's big heart brought him home.  When you see a helpless animal in pain, you don't think about the money, you just do what you have to do to help.  He is going to need a lot of help.  We set up a rescue fund at Dr. Jen's clinic for him, and any donations (cash or checks) can be sent directly to her:

Dr. Jen Powers
Above and Beyond Animal Care
22294 Spyder Lane
Palo Cedro, CA  96073
(530)524-7044

Just tell them to put it towards Huckleberry Diamond (aka: Doc) under Alicia Mosher's account.

Thank you!
~Jackie

Day 41

Making baby faces at Mac

Everyone please pray for sunshine tomorrow!  If it rains, Doc's surgery will have to be postponed.  I guess they have to do it out on the lawn, so it can't be raining in his surgery "suite".

We have to start loading up at 7am tomorrow, but can't find out if the surgery is a "go" or not until 8:00.  His appointment is at 8:30, and we are supposed to leave at 7:30.  Is this adding up??  Nope, not for me either.  I will watch the weather forecast, and look at the sky in the morning to get a better idea of how the day is going to go.

Wish us luck!
~Jackie

Day 39

Our field trip to Cottonwood Creek Equestrian Center was lots of fun!  He rode in the trailer like a champ, and we spent about 2 hours playing at the arena.

Gail got to meet Doc, and her first words when she saw the wounds were, "Oh my God!!".  (I guess they are a little worse to look at in person?)  I am so used to seeing them that they actually look pretty good to me now!

Doc was again a very brave boy for our adventure.  He took right to the idea of the playground, and went over the wooden bridge without any problem.  He also thought the tire jungle gym was interesting, and without much coaxing, he even went through the cowboy curtain!

Thanks to Gail, our photographer  :)

Inside the arena, we explored everything:  the nice new dirt, the flag, the sweet smell of other horses' urine.... 

I let him go free in the arena for a while, and he mostly stuck to me like glue.  I had fun running the length of the arena with him trotting happily right beside me.  We did a little bit of the circling game, and also got a great start on going sideways at the rail.

Outside the arena, we played with the squeeze game some more:  in between buildings and rails, under the giant fallen tree, and under the barn overhang.  I think it will be important to be really good at that for Friday in case we have to get into stocks or something.

We also played some freestyle games in the round pen.  Doc got pretty frisky in there, and started to show me a little bit of attitude, so I made him run a little more than I planned on.  Because of his wounds, he has a bit of a bunny-hop on his hind end.  I hope that improves once the wounds are healed.

 

Standing tied without pulling anymore!

Thank you, Melissa and Robin for the information on how to predict his final height.  I still have to do the string test, but according to the test from the elbow, it looks like our boy might top out close to 17 hands.  Wow!  It's a good thing we like big horses!

~Jackie

Day 38

Friday is the big day!!!

Doc has his appointment on the 19th at 8:30am to be gelded, and see what we can do with those wounds.  Dr. Jen is generously going to allow Alicia and I to hang around and watch the procedure.  It will be a first for both of us, so personally, I am a very nervous mama right now!  I have seen hundreds of surgical procedures on animals (I am a registered veterinary technician), but never on a horse.  All of my years of experience have been on small animals.  I know what to expect, but seeing it in person is always exciting the first time.

I am working on increasing the distance that we drive with the trailer loading lessons.  Today Doc loaded in the trailer like a pro, so after a couple of ins and outs, we closed the door and took off for a drive.  I decided to take him somewhere different to unload this time, so we drove the two miles along the dirt roads to my house.  I unloaded him in my driveway and we wandered around exploring the yard for a while.  I was really impressed at how calm he was.  I made sure to close the gates because I wasn't sure what kind of horse I would have once I got him out of the trailer.  Amazingly, even though he was nervous and sweaty from the drive, he simply stayed alert while we wandered around and checked out the sights.  He sniffed at my two horses, but they were more worked up than he was about the visit.  He likes the taste of my lawn, but not enough to stop for very long.  We played some of our Parelli games for a few minutes, then I decided it was time to see if he would load again...  Ha ha!!  Not so easy once he has ridden in the trailer for a while!  I had to go back to basics, and it took about 1/2 an hour to get him loaded again.  Of course, I couldn't just slam the door as soon as he was inside either.  I had to let him get in and out 3 or 4 times before I could shut him in.  Sometimes these things are really a test of a person's patience, but it is sure worth it in the end! 

Did I tell you that I was able to measure him?  Our boy is 15 hands tall, and about 1000lbs.  That is a big horse for only 15 months old!  Does anyone know how to predict their ultimate height?  Please e-mail me if you have any tips:  CalifJackie@aol.com

Tomorrow I plan to take Doc down to Gail's equestrian center and play for a while in the arena and round pen.  It will be good to give him a few different experiences in the trailer before we do the "deed" on Friday... 

Wish us luck!
~Jackie

Day 35

Gail was right (of course)!  We loaded up a couple of times, then closed the door, and off we went!

Loading up



Here we go!

  We went down to the end of the road and back twice.  The first time we got home, he was pretty nervous, but still under control.  The second time, I rode in the opposite hay manger (just to see what it was like) while Alicia drove.  Do you know how noisy trailers are on dirt roads?  Wow!  I am amazed that any horse tolerates that, but besides being a little jittery, he did just fine.  Our next trip will be to a neighbor's house, just to give him a little exposure to new environments.  We will play in her round pen a little, then head home.

The view from my perch inside as we go down the road

 Of course, we took little breaks from trailering to play some other games:

Turning a tangled leg into a game:  follow the feel of the pressure
aka:  Leading by the legs

I had requests for side shots of his legs, so here you go:

Left side

Right side

I got a lot of goo off of the legs today - look how nice and pink they are underneath:

And the tying lessons are going well too.  He pulled back once today when I was picking out his feet, but quickly recovered and walked forward to relieve the pressure.  He is really getting the hang of this stuff!

Until next time...

~Jackie