Happiness is my baby horse

Just a regular update I suppose. I've been working really hard on riding better, and I'm pleased so far. Sitting up better, using my "dressage seat" (belly button to knees) more effectively, starting to get Apollo to lift his back and drop his head. He can't do it consistently for the entire ride yet, but he's doing it easier and easier with each ride. He does get pretty tired toward the end of our rides though, so we practice neck reining and backing up.

Kissing his friend Benny

We're practicing setting up

Wow. WOW!!!!

Why couldn't I be born a hard keeper?

So in the last few weeks, Apollo dropped some weight. Nothing catastrophic, nothing Animal Cops-esque, but enough to make his already worrisome mother well....worry. We figured "it's bitter cold, lets up his TC Senior and see how he does." Then the feed store was out of alfalfa pellets, so he was missing his tummy-soothing third meal for nearly a week and a half. Then about a week ago, he stopped eating all of his hay. He would eat some, but for a horse his size and condition he wasn't eating nearly enough. He wasn't cleaning up his grain too well either (he's now up to 12lbs of TC senior per day plus 4 lbs of alfalfa pellets with one cup of canola oil.)

His weight on Sunday 3/16/14

View from the top with a random back bump that's going away (doesn't seem to cause him any problems)

I had a fecal run, and it came back great (it came back with the lowest reading possible that isn't 0.) The dreaded word came up.

Ulcers.

I treated him in January for them, but I used Gastromax3 for the last two weeks of treatment, and I'm not 100% sold on whether or not it works. I ordered a 6lb container of Rite Trac to see if it helped sooth his tummy--it would help hind gut ulcers as well (although he doesn't show any symptoms of that except for the weight loss.) It was taking forever and a half to arrive, and I almost had a meltdown last Sunday about his weight. I drove to Walmart and bought six bottles of generic human omeprazole. I had to do something. SOMETHING. Even if it didn't work. I had to do something right there right that second. I was too upset to even wait until the next day. Each bottle has 14 pills, and six days of treatment cost about $33 (as opposed to about $30/day with Ulcergard.) I also talked to my mother about what parasites might not show up in a fecal test, and it turns out tapeworms and pinworms don't show up? So I bought a tube of Equimax. For $13 I made myself feel better.

Wednesday rolls around, and I head to the barn, dewormer in hand. Our barn manager and trainer comes into the barn shortly after I deworm Apollo. She says to me, "He cleaned up all his hay last night! ALL of it!" She didn't have to take ANY out the next morning when she cleaned stalls. He had also inhaled his breakfast that morning. I was over the moon excited! He had been getting the omep. pills for three days, and he hadn't been dewormed until after he vacuumed his stall clean. Somehow these cheap-o general omep. pills from Walmart, which are at a much lower dose than a tube of Ulcergard, are working. I don't know how. I really don't. There is less medication in what I'm giving him. It's not designed for horses. It's totally affordable to treat him for as long as he needs it. He eats the pills in his "first dinner" with no issue. HOW IS IT WORKING???

I'm not sure, but I'm just going with it right now. He's oinking down all his meals and his hay, and he seems to be in good spirits (although he's always in a good mood.) Things are looking up, and the brutal winter finally broke. It's by no means warm out, but hey....it's above freezing.....

Inside leg to outside hand

I had a lesson yesterday, and it was the most productive half hour we've had! We're working on getting him to balance and not just point his shoulders anywhere he wants while he hollows his body and points his nose where I'm asking him to. It feels like his legs are actually under him now, and he's moving "within a box" instead of just throwing his legs out and hoping for the best. We did W/T, and he worked  up a good sweat and was quite tired as he's not muscled to really carry himself like that or work that hard.

Part of the video is tilted--sorry :(

He's not strong enough to hold it consistently, lifting his back and really reaching over his topline, but he tried his hardest. We were back at it today, and our ride started out frazzled because he decided he can't stand still to be mounted. He was close to a meltdown, pacing back and forth while facing the wall, snorting and scrambling. After a minute of that, wouldn't you know it, he was able to stand still! So it didn't start great, and looking back I didn't really give him a warmup to just stretch and relax his back before asking him to truly work, so he'll be getting a good warmup for ~5 minutes before I ask him to collect and reach. My half halts with my outside rein aren't consistent with when I'm using my legs, but I'm getting better. I also sometimes forget to release the half halt--I just hang on there and wonder why he's getting so frustrated......then I realize what I'm doing and feel bad. 

It's nice to finally have an "outer wall" with my outside rein and outside leg. It's really helping to control where his body (mainly his shoulders) go. I'm able to push him on top of his legs instead of motorcycling around (not necessarily the speed, he's been super quiet, but he's unbalanced so he banks like a plane sometimes.) We're getting there!

Pennsylvania Horse World Expo

I spent yesterday at Expo browsing the shops and watching a few demos. There really isn't much in the way of shopping--it's very western heavy, and the English stuff they DO have is mostly lower end. I looked at a few saddles, but the leather felt like cardboard so I didn't even bother sitting in them. I did get some good basics though. I got a cheap-o whip for XC, which is good because Apollo isn't the type to really need it. I bought it because I'm "supposed to have a whip" so for $5 I figured it was a good deal. I got a jelly scrubber with magnetic massage balls on one side (in purple of course.) Even if Apollo doesn't like it, I like it! Everyone in the shop was giving massages with them. I stopped by the Thornhill booth and got a pair of nice rubber reins with rein stops. Not too expensive, felt good in my hands, done deal!

I got my New Vocations shirt as well--I'd been waiting forever to get it. The one thing I really wanted (another bit) was nowhere to be found. I'll have to order it later on--just ordered feed plus vet bills are on the way. What we did see that we REALLY wanted....was this beauty....

A Kiefer 2+1 with an ENORMOUS dressing room. It's a gooseneck, a bonus because that's what I prefer. It was so big and roomy, and the floor mats were AMAZING. The reps recommended at least a 2500 to haul this bad boy, so when I find my rich husband.....