Monday Memories - American River

My my how things has changed.

 

This picture was taken in the parking lot at the start of my very first endurance ride.

 

I didn't have a mentor that was active in endurance although my aunt had some some rides in the past, so I chose my apparel based on what had worked for me during conditioning rides and during weekends of doing civil war reenacting on horse back. I'm wearing my trusty cavalry boots, that to date remain the most comfortable pair of boots I own. Half way through the ride I did switch to a different pair of tall boots that I used to use for polo. I didn't realize that the soles were glued and not sewn, and so when I stumbled my way through several full ditches of muddy water, my soles tore off - but I hardly noticed at that point, being oh so very done and my horse being done and me being incapable of doing anything beyond trudging forward with one foot in front of the other regardless of what was in front of me.

 

I didn't own a pair of riding tights. A vet I had worked for in college had given me a sack of older breeches (mostly cotton naturals but some other brands too) and that's what I settled on to ride. I chose a singlet from my marathoning days, and then put a long sleeve shirt over it, which is probably the smartest thing I did - that might be the only time I rode the american river trail and DIDN'T get poison oak.

 

Ironically, although my rider apparal changed drastically in my next couple of rides and seasons, my tack on Minx did not. This is a 1860's repro McClellen saddle, which I used for all my rides up until Minx's death. Farley started her conditioning in it, but I moved to a different saddle quickly because of her back shape.
That isn't to say that the saddle worked perfectly - I remember having to reset the also-period blanket mutliple times during a ride - it constantly slipped backwards. But in general that saddle was perfect for me and Minx. I eventually replaced some of the leather peices out with biothane, but that is a story for future posts, and during this first ride, nothing broke.

 

Mom packed me a bag full of homemade cliff bars which melted and congealed in my grain bag that I was using as my "food bag".

 

That year, we had an usually hot April and it was near, if not at 100 degrees the day of the ride. I didn't have my electrolytes figured out and I remember my aunt making me eat pieces of sourdough bread with horse electrolytes poured over it.

 

My poor horse. We came into the 35 mile vet check and I was leaning towards pulling. It was hot. It was a hard ride, and Minx looked done. However, I headed out. A combination of my ignorance, some advice that was given (although, especially that early in my career) I tended to not hear advice that I didn't halfway want anyways - so it was definitely my full responsiblity.

 

Things weren't going too badly until I hit training hill (I think that's what it's called). LONG STEEP. Irish horse posted about it a week or so ago. I had been riding with a guy and his stud. He swore at me because his stud got attached to minx and wouldn't leave her, but he finally convinced his horse to go on. I got off and tried to lead up it. I puked every 3 steps. I turned around and Minx was bleeding out her nose.

 

We sat on the side of that hill for a long time.

 

I used up my water cooling Minx down.

 

I remember trying to call my aunt (who was crewing for me) but I can't remember if I got through or not.
Finally. After literally hours, Minx and I crawled our way up that hill.

 

I mounted up and met a volunteer at a cross roads.

 

I tried to tell him out done we were. How hurting we were. How she had been bleeding, but he didn't seem to hear.

 

"She looks pretty good now!" he said brightly. "You can still get this done!"

 

I had my doubts but since more experienced people than me were seeing the same thing I was and had a different opinion and knew more?

 

Minx and I continued down the trail for another hour (2 hours? more?). One plodding step after another. I hadn't had water on a very hot day for a while now. Minx did feel better now, thanks to my hand walking and my cooling efforts.

 

The drag rider finally caught up to me a couple of miles before Cool. He ordered me off my horse ("what are you doing????? She has done enough for you! Get off her Damn back!"). I didn't have the energy to argue. She HAD done a lot of me. And who was I to talk to back at someone with vastly more knowledge? (who apparently didn't realize I had just gotten back ON my horse after I decided I wasn't going to survive the experience if I couldn't catch a bit of a rest).

 

I walked blindly on behind the drag rider. I remember going through ditches that had water up to my waist in them and neither me nor Minx blinked as we stumbled through.

 

It was dusk by the time we came into Cool. My aunt was there, where she had been trying to convince the volunteers out there that they still had a rider out there. I remember the vet check being completely out of liquids and drinking something my aunt found for me somewhere.

 

I didn't buy the ride picture because I figured that a picture was only worth it if I had finished. I have very very few rides of my first season, and I think this may be the only one I have of that first ride.

 

That's not to say that everything was a disaster. By complete accident I camped next to who I consider the best person in the endurance world who welcomed me into the sport with opened arms. I fell in love with single track. I fell in love with the sport. And I never ever again doubted what Minx what would do for me and I realized that tremendous gift that the horse gives humankind and I learned to never ever take that for granted.

 

That guy who was riding the stud? I met him again at 20 mule team a couple of years later and I apologized for the incident and told him that I felt badly about it (I don't know exactly for what, but when you are a new rider you don't know what is your fault and what isn't) and we had a good laugh and we both agreed that it felt good to erase that sour note from that ride and clear the air. I saw the drag rider again too, at tevis one year. And thus I learned another important lesson at this ride that I didn't realize until many years later. The endurance world is a small one and you are not invisible - this is a note of caution (in a good way!) to the newbie and the experienced.

 

And that folks, is the story behind the picture

 

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#besthorseever

I'm going to give you a hint about life.  No matter what you do in life, no matter how much you love doing something, at some point, there will be a sort of fatigue.

 The excitement of what you once loved will escape you between the chores and the bills and the stark not-so-pretty reality that is present in any industry.

 Do you want to know the cure?  How to remember your first love?

 Today I searched #besthorseever on instagram and was greeted with pages of the "best".

 I'm not sure what I expected to find.  I think I had a vague idea of cute ponies and horses doing awesome things. 

  But that's not what I saw.  Do you know what I did notice in the pages and pages of the #besthorseever?

The love that exists between the horse and their person. Everything else in the picture is completely overshadowed by the since of partnership.

 Every single one of these pictures somehow manages to visually represent a feeling I think each one of us has when we think of our equine partner.

 Just looking through these pictures and picking out my favorites to share with you here has left me with an incredible sense of peace and happiness.

These pictures remind me of my #besthorseever who is currently waiting in her paddock for me to arrive and will greet me with nickers and whinnies today.

We all have the #besthorseever.

Martin got a facelift

My cousin Eleanor, budding artist extraordinaire, recently gave Martin (my walking treaddesk) a much needed face lift.

Perhaps you remember the random white board that I grabbed from one of the lumber piles on the property?  it was the right length and width.  There wasn't much beyond that when it came to my inclusion/exclusion criteria. 

Over spring break I handed it over to Eleanor with the instructions to paint it "something endurance themed". 

I got it back this week and Wow. 

 Yes, Martin has to live indoors in the winter :(

 An improvement don't you think?

 She captured Tess perfectly as she appears on our trail rides

 Eleanor managed to capture both the essence of Minx AND Farley in this horse.  It's neither of them AND both of them at once.

 Do you see the endurance trail ribbon in the tree?  I love how you can still tell that this was some random board - old nail holes, a notch from a knot in the wood near the edge. :) 

CC - Farley! (and answer)

So I'm cheating.  This week it was a CC and I was the winner.  :).

I learned several important lessons this evening.
1. Just like it is ALWAYS neoplasia in small animal medicine, it is ALWAYS thrush in horses.
2. The horse is always right.

Over the last couple of weeks Farley has been NQR on her right hind.  This is the same one as the old wire injury, that I had problems with over the winter.  It was really subtle.  The kind of NQR-ness that you only catch out of the corner of your eye and lightly sits on your gut.  I couldn't put my finger on it.  A bit of a toe first landing when walking her out of her pen.  A bit more stabby at the trot than I remembered.  Relunctance to sit down on that hind end during dressage work.

But it was so subtle, I wasn't sure whether I was making it up.  That's how subtle it was.  Finally, last week I chalked it up to her hocks decided to have them re-radiographed and possibly injected prior to starting our ride season.  That, combined with our conditioning would sort the issue out.  If there even WAS an issue.

Today the plan was to fit some new boots (I'm trying out a pair of "vipers" from Renegade!) and go out for a quick trail ride.  The boots are going on the hinds so I started with them, picking them in preperation for a quick rasp to get a balanced foot.

Her frog on the right hind has been trying to shed for a while, but it has been taking longer than usual.  I haven't been worried about thrush since her sole is hard, her frog doesn't have a central deep sulcus, and the bars are flat.  There's more sole in her foot than I would like, but I don't get too aggressive with a knife, so I've just been keeping a nice roll on the foot and keeping the heels and wall down and seeing what the foot has to offer.  The walls of her foot look "tall" from the outside, but from the bottom there was nothing to cut off.

Today, I dug in with the pick and bottom of her foot fell off.

What the......

That "bar" of sole separated from the inside of the wall of the hoof, from the toe, to the heel, continuing right down to the bars.  Literally the entire bottom of her hoof fell off, exposing at least 3/8" of wall above the true sole, all the way around, including her heel and bars.

I was so fascinated I didn't even go and grab the camera.  I stood there and poked and prodded.

There was stinky black tar stuff EVERYWHERE.  Especially at the seat of the corn at the heels (that little triangle area where the hoof wall takes a right turn and forms the heel.  No WONDER she was subtly landing toe first!!!!!

Of course, it was a thrush problem.

I immediately abandoned my thoughts of a ride and set to work on the foot.  I grabbed the rasp and took down the walls, especially at the heel, until I could get to the bottom of where the black stuff was at the white line.  I didn't do a full "trim" and didn't take the walls down to the sole - just enough that my hoof pick was no longer disappearing and the "canyons" had become "canals".

My options at the barn were diluted bleach and copper tox.  I chose the bleach and after rinsing did a spray.

I'll be bringing some tea tree oil or apple cider vinegar with me (and cotton balls) tomorrow.

I turned her out and she galloped off perfectly sound.  None of the subtle, out of the corner of my eye toe stabby thing.  I couldn't believe how fast her foot looked better and how much better she moved with the little I did.

I think I remember something about thrush being made up of mostly anaerobic bacteria and organisms and exposing them to air is half the battle.  After taking the walls down a bit, spraying with the diluted bleach and letting her run around in the dry arena, the foot looked better than I would have thought possible, knowing that 30 minutes ago it looked like a tar pit.

As long as everything continues to look good and she's moving good, I'll do my rides in the next week or so in boots.  Otherwise her feet are in good shape and I suspect that the deep wire injury crevice probably was a starting point for the bacteria in that foot.  I wonder whether the thrush was actually the lameness issue from the winter and it wasn't the injury "shifting"?  We've had really dry weather....and then BAM - a couple of days where it POURED - perhaps the recent wet spell allowed it to "bloom" again and the foot had softened enough that I could get access to it through the sole.  Mmmm.....

Let's review the lessons learned (which is ironic since lessons 1-3 I've taught countless other people...)

1.  If it's a slight lameness, it could be thrush
2. If it's a major lameness, it could be thrush
3.  If there's no lamaness, it could be thrush.
4. Farley is the best.  Doesn't become a drama queen about "wrongness", but also doesn't hide it.  I just need to get better at listening. 
5.  I love feet.  There is nothing better than horse feet and the fact I was so facinating and engrossed in this pathology process that I was unable to document it for my dear Readers has to tell be some indication of that :)

Of widows and boots

I have a problem.

There's a black widow in my Ariat terrains.

I know this because like any good country girl, I don't put my hands (or feet) in places that I can't see.  And I saw it.  It's fat shiny body.  Before it crawled back into the toe.

Even in the absence of webs (and black widow webs are very distinctive), if it looks like a likely habitat for widows (ie wood piles and unused equipment) I assume that there is a widow until proven otherwise.

In equipment that IS used regularly, I don't generally worry about the widows....except if I see or feel a web.  Then I go hunting.....

I decided to do some dressage.  There was visible webs on my dressage saddle (wintec) so I did an check.  Didn't find anything.  I felt I got a good look in all the nooks and crannies and was able to get sunshine into most dark places....so I felt comfortable using the saddle. 

I checked my boots like I always do for wasps or other critters that have decided to take up residence and saw....webs. 

Crap.

Have you ever tried to see all the way into the toe of a boot?

I shook the dead wasp out of the bottom.

Maybe there wasn't actually a widow in there, and like the saddle it was just webs?

I turned the boot towards the light and SAW IT - fat shiny body!!!!

AAAKKKKK!!!!!!

BAM! BAM! BAM!  I slammed the boot against the ground.

To no one's suprise, including my own, no black widow fell onto the ground.

But know I knew it was there.

My barn owner came over.  She declared that there was no black widow (but I saw it!!!!)

My boyfriend unlaced my boot (which BTW cannot be laced up again because the laces are frayed) and stuck his hand in....quickly....and declared it widow free (but I saw it.....). 

It's been 2 weeks. I haven't worn the boot since.  My options are not good. 

1. the widow is still in there and when I stick my (usually sock-less) foot into the boot it bites me and seriously freaks me out.

2.  I some how squish the widow in the boot and my food comes into contact with squished widow.  And seriously freaks me out.

3. I take apart my boot, find the widow, remove it with a stick and squish it.  I then have pieces of leather that used to resemble a boot laying on the ground.

I cannot think of a way to GUARANTEE that there isn't a widow, dead or otherwise in the toe of that boot.  And I saw it.  I'm not making it up.

I am NOT sticking my foot into that boot without a guarantee of a widow-less environment in that toe.

I *might* be willing to stick a shop vac into the boot tomorrow and then declare it safe for toes.  We shall see.

Anyone want to buy a pair of size 8 (or 7.5?) ariat terrains?  One boot missing a lace.....

Trail ride and odds & ends

On Friday for some random reason I didn't have school, so I decided to go up to Auburn and do a bit of Tevis trail riding on the last section. The original plan was to go to the river crossing and back.

I had a brief regret on the way to the trail head that everything was going to plan, that nothing unexpected would occur, and thus I would have nothing to blog about.

Ha!!!

Seems like whenever I start thinking that direction I am quickly corrected.

Thinking I would have nothing to write about, I took pictures of various details in order to write up a typical "odds and ends post".

Like this one: my new trimming tool (only complaint? Battery barely lasts through a full set of 4 hooves)

Or this one: New lead rope I constructed. I love these types of fasteners, and will only use cotton for safety reasons, but also don't want to pay a fortune for the lead rope, so I've been making my own for years. When tension is applied to the rope, it pulls tighter on itself and the end doesn't slip through. Eventually the tape wears off (there from purchasing the rope), the end will fray and become "bigger" and the rope will even better lock itself into place. I do a knot at the end so that I have something to hold onto or step on. I've never had an issue with my leadropes, and for some reason buying the rope by itself, it's coiled tighter than the typical cotton leads that you buy, so it's less flimsy and has some life to it.

Here's another good one: Haven't gotten poison oak since remembering to put this stuff on. It's GREAT. I'm in love. I think I've been using it 3 years and haven't gotten a serious reaction since. And I know I've been exposed. For example, on a backpacking trip, I got some mild exposure on my legs underneath my pants, where I hadn't applied it.

The trail ride started well - boots started on breast collar, but a couple miles into the ride I stopped, dismounted and put the front boots on without any fuss. I was working hard at staying exactly in Farley's center of balance and not putting excess pressure on her back by coming down from the posting trot too soon.

And so....I missed a turn. The turn I ALWAYS miss. I miss it so often that Farley didn't even blink at it.

I was at the point that I usually get to before realizing my mistake when I saw it.....a sign that pointed to a little single track that said "river trail to WST 1.3 miles). Perfect!!!! I was really appreciating the increased signage since the last time I rode here. And here was a perfect example! I didn't know that there was a pretty little single track "alternative".

Farley, slightly unmotivated up to this point, took off. Holy crap I love this horse. It was a very technical single track and she just floated over it. And then.....things got sketchy. LOW overhanging branches that made me glad that Farley and I were small, STEEP ups an downs combined with low branches and sharp turns. And then I started to get nervous.

It was a VERY narrow single track with a STEEP drop off. Mind you, I'm saying this from the perspective of having ridden Tevis and not having a problem with drop offs, pucker point, whatever. I have a fabulous,, trustworthy horse on these types of trails and as a result tend a giggle bit when people talk about how nervous parts of the trail make them.

The single track disappeared around a curve, around a cliff, and I, for the first time on any trail, decided that I would be getting off and walking a particular portion on my own two feet (Holy crap I love this horse point 2: she stays behind me and doesn't try to pass or step on my heels when I'm leading. This is an absolute must for me in my training).

Once around the don't-look-down curve the drop off was less frightening and so I mounted back up.

I knew I was close to the WST, and even with the technical nature of the trail behind me, I was still glad I came this way. A bit different from the boring wide jeep roads that make up a lot of this section of the WST trail.

And then I saw this.

The picture doesn't make it look nearly as bad as it is. That gulch is deep....and goes straight down the mountain.

No more than 12-14" of board across a very deep gully that is cutting through the mountain side with no way around.

Oh, no way.

In fact, I verbalized this sentiment several time while looking at it.

Hell no.

Absolutely not.

I didn't realize until later - but here's a map of my track. Do you see how close I am to meeting up with the WST? Do you know how much I hate backtracking?

Didn't even cross my mind to attempt it, and even now, when I think about trying it, my head spins and I get nauseous.

I got off, spun Farley around (Holy crap I love this horse point 3: She can pivot 180 degrees on pretty much any single track without stepping off trail).

I wasn't THRILLED to be going back the way we came. Sure it was pretty and fun......but it was more fun knowing that I wasn't going to have to come back this direction and do it again. There were some portions where, I'll admit, my heart was in my throat, even though Farley was an angel and these sort of trails are as natural as a duck swimming for her.

I got off at the same spot as last time - it was so steep and narrow and switchback like on an open cliff face that even faced with it a second time it didn't look any better.

And then.....my luck ran out.

BAM - my knee cap bashed against a particularly close tree, going down hill at a semi trot. The tree grabbed my knee cap and attempted to wrench it off.

I swore. Loudly. Continually. I was hurt, I was scared. I really thought my knee cap had displaced. Some experimental trot steps told me that it wasn't too serious, even though it felt like my IT band had been made very unhappy.

The only other time anything similar had happened was during Tevis 2009 when I was doing the cougar rock bypass and I bashed my knee against the rock wall going around. That sucked too. Not nearly as much as yesterday sucked.

Yes, when I stopped to get gas, I pulled down my tights in the gas station bathroom so you guys could get a look at the knee.

Considering the multitude of bad things that could have happened on the trail, I guess this is realitively minor - afterall things like this happen even on nice trails. However, knowing how good Farley is on really really tough trail, that something like this happened also tells me that I was cutting it really really close yesterday. My hatred of backtracking and williness to check out new trail is not always helpful. I was pleased that I have apparently matured enough to get off the horse when the trail gets sketchy enough, and be flexible enough that I didn't do something stupid like insist that I maintain my original plan of going to the river crossing.

We got back to the right trail, continued to no-hands-bridge and then turned around. My body wanted to compensate for that knee by leaning to the left (something I already have a tendancy to do anyways) even though there was no more discomfort to ride correctly than compensate for it.

Today it's stiff and sore. I have a hike planned with friends. Mechanically it seems OK, but it does NOT want to be touched or bumped. We shall see.

Update: did 9.5 miles yesterday on it and it seems to be fine. As long as nothing touches it (I wanted to die when I slammed it against my dash last night) I seems to be cooperating. It's absolutely pouring today so I got my ride and hike it just in time.

Self check for Tevis

What went well:

- Farley was volunteering to trot up very long hills, even going away from the trailer, and didn't try to stop on me when the going got tough (in our book that equals logging roads going away from the trailer that go up forever). She felt very sound on the trail. No tack issues, stood well for mounting and dismounting on the trail and for putting boots on. No filling in her legs today. Pace was OK.

What needs to improve:

- Didn't drink on the trail or after the ride. Took longer to pulse down than usual - could be because I did the ride in the late afternoon and she still has her winter coat, but something I need to monitor. I can tell her hocks are stiff going down hill. I probably need to look at injecting her hocks again this year. Didn't want to get back into the trailer to go home (green grass at the trail head!). Need to do lots and lots and lots more hills between now and the end of June.

CC- Chester answer

horsetech was spot on! (leave your email address in the comments or email me at mnfaubel@gmail.com and I'll get your mailing address and I'll send you a little something for playing!)

If you compare the right hock to the left hock, you will see diminished joint space, which is indicative of "arthritis" and is a common finding. I'm told that it is fairly common to see changes in one hock and not the other in ropers, and the side they show the changes on, is related to whether they are headers or heelers. If you are heeler you always turn out of the box on the same side, and if you are a header, you are turning out of the box the other way - thus one hock will experience more wear and tear than the other.

Obviously I made up this case and found the images off the internet.....let's assume that Chester's affected hock has fused and he isn't actually in any discomfort......but he's not moving symmetrically between the left and right hock because one is fused and the other is not. This now is a "mechanical" lameness, meaning that Chester is not in any discomfort or pain, but there is something in his body that is not allowing him to move symmetrically, thus giving the appearance of unsoundness.

Should a horse that is mechanically lame be allowed to do endurance?

I know several horses that have letters from their vets stating that the horse has a mechanical lameness, is not in discomfort and should be considered "sound",even if the asymmetrical gait for endurance purposes.

How not sure how endurance vets handle this situation. Do they look for changes throughout the ride that indicate that the horse is unsound beyond the initial mechanical lameness? What if the vet who evaluates the horse at the vetcheck is different from the one that evaluated the horse at the beginning of the ride?

Theoretically, I think that mechanically lame horses shouldn't be excluded from endurance - after all the point of the vet check is for the welfare of the horse, and if a horse is not suffering or in pain and just happens to move a bit differently, then we are operating within the intention of the rules.

Practically speaking it gets a bit messy. Leaving aside the issue of possible increased wear and tear that could occur with a mechanical lameness after 50 or a 100 miles (notice all the modifiers in that sentence - it's pure conjunction since wear and tear happens with a perfectly sound horse over 50 or a 100 miles - but from the standpoint of physics it makes sense that the biological system is going to end up compensating some how.....) there is the problem of making sure the horse isn't becoming unsound as the race goes on, consistency between vets, and the "appearance" of an unsound horse being allowed to go on. Do we then allow a mechanically lame horse that wins a ride to show for BC? Does quality of the gait matter in that exam but not for completions?

On the flip side, in this case we are dealing with a fused hock.....an issue MANY horses in endurance have bilaterally and thus isn't apparent....So do we exclude a horse that has a common issue, but only on one side, while allowing horses with the same bilateral issue that are "mechanically lame" on both sides (and thus inapparent) to compete? If there is solid evidence that continuing to ride a horse with arthritic hocks that eventually fuse does not harm (and as far as I have researched, this is the case) does it change this issue? Is it an unsoundness?

I think one thing to keep in mind, is that in no sport are the issues completely black and white, and if you can't see the grey, you probably haven't considered the issue deeply enough. That goes for drug rules, the definition of soundness, and practically every other major issue you can think of. Often rules and decisions made by the "authorities" is the attempt to be as consistent and fair to all participants as possible. I'm not sure what I would do with an obviously mechanically lame horse that otherwise should be able to do endurance. As a participant or as a ride vet. It's not a simple issue and having a declaration from that animal's vet is just part of the equation.

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Sorry

There's something wrong with my iPad blog publishing app and it's not letting me post anything right now with pictures so my cc and my conditioning story, which are done are going to have to wait until animals are fed(in the rain) so I have time to figure it out.

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CC - "Chester"

Today we have Wednesday's CC presented on....Thursday!  Like last time the CC was late, you have until SATURDAY to post your answer in the comments section for a chance to win a cheap (but awesome) prize. 

Today's we get to meet Chester.

Chester, a 15 year old quarter horse arab cross is starting his second career as an endurance horse, after retiring from roping.  He retired apparantly sound and has been in pasture for the last year. 

His teenage owner has been conditioning him for their first LD ride, which occurred last weekend. 

She was extremely disapointed when they weren't even allowed to start the race, as the ride vet declared Chester unsound, possibly in the right hind.  

You remember from vet school that flexion tests can be variable and so decide to skip that part of the lameness exam.  Your teenage client begs you to do this as cheaply as possible, as she is saving for a new saddle.  Thus you skip blocking and go straight to the xray machine. 
 
The following radiographs were taken - both in the right and left hind legs.  You labeled one view of the left leg radiograph as a teaching tool for your teenage client who hopes to become a vet, just like you someday. 

What is Chester's problem, and what is the impact, if any on his potential endurance career?

Left side

Right side

Today's post is over on Tess's blog!

Say YES to Tess - check it out!

Happiness

This weekend I was reminded of a very important concept and I wanted to share with you.

I am responsible for my happiness.  On the flip side, I am not responsible for anyone else's happiness. 

This sounds very simple and on the basic, theoretical level is.  It's applying it to the real world where it becomes complicated.

If I am miserable and unhappy than it is important to evaluate why.  And those answers should reside in myself, NOT someone else.  Similarly, if someone else is miserable, the answer resides in them, not in me.

Note the shirt I'm wearing today - it very much matches my mood

(BTW - quick diversion back to my "soundness and balance post": based on this picture can you tell which is my convex and which is my concave side?  ie, which side is over stretched and which is contracted in the saddle?  One shoulder is dropped and behind the other even though I feel like I'm sitting in my chair square and straight.  This does translate into the saddle.)

One thing that helps me find happiness is to remind myself of the following truths:

1. Life does not change.  If you aren't happy now, you won't be happy later when you (insert the promotion, job, life change, money amount, goal, achievement here).  You can be happy with a crappy job.  You can be happy even if the specifics of your life (marital status, specific career, school, absence or presence of kids etc.) aren't how you would have chosen it.

2. Happiness if more a state of being than a result of anything concrete.  Concrete things and events can bring me a specific joy, but they won't make a long term impact on my happiness.

Hopefully by the time you are an adult you can put together a list of things that make you happy.  I think that this list is important because, at least in my life, those things that make me the happiness are although those things that are the most easily pushed to the margins of life.  When I'm feeling unhappy I refer to this list and ask myself when was the last time that I did these activities, AND how can I incorporate the activities more heavily into my daily routine in the short term.

Things that make my list are:
-Practicing a musical instrument
-Running
-Riding
-Writing
-Knitting
-Quilting

Music? Yesterday I took 2 of my fiddles and hung them on the walls in different areas of the house.  It's super easy to pluck one off the wall for just a minute or two and then replace it.  Waiting for something to heat up in the microwave?  Pick it up and run through a song a few times.

Writing?  I have designated Sunday's as my creative writing time - I won't do any content blogging, but will work on my novel, whether that's actually writing a chapter and posting it, or working on the plot outline (which is what I did this week).

Knitting?  Stash a project somewhere convenient and buy sock yarn I'm excited about.

Running?  Take a duffel bag with running clothes and shower stuff with me every day and find 45 minutes on the drive home or drive to school and just do it.  If I didn't run yesterday, than today is a run day.

Riding?   Put some rides on the calendar - example: I don't have school on Friday.  This will be a perfect opportunity to go up to the Auburn overlook and do a bit of riding.  Because riding involves another creature, it's important that I don't try to shove my goals, frustrations, and expectations into a riding opportunity.  My rule of thumb is that if I feel rushed and stressed about trying to get a ride in, I don't do it.  I violated that rule on this weekend Saturday morning and I regretted it.  Also, because I considered riding in many ways my part time job for many years, I even hesitated putting it on my "happiness" list along with the other activities because although it makes me happy, it's in a different way and of all the activities on the list, it is the one that can actually make my mood and state of mind WORSE if I'm not in the proper mindset when getting on the horse. I'm better off doing the other activities to increase happiness, and make sure the horse is regularly incorporated than to use the horse to improve my mood in the first place.

End of the week catch up

I'm using today to catch up on any little things that didn't make it into last weeks posts, and respond to comments that are too involved to be constrained to one little box!  (you can tell I'm a vet student when I had to double check the last 2 words of that sentence to make sure it didn't say "litter box").

Rode Farley in the arena this morning and did a bit of dressage.....OMG it was awful.  We have so much to work on.  Wouldn't even get on the bit and come over the top in the canter, which is my secret weapon when she is sucking back in the trot.  I got the point where it was slightly less awful and stopped.  I am NOT going to be able to do Tevis this summer without some serious dressage work.  More on Farley when I talk about Jonna's question.

In response to "Figure" (comment on "supplement" post): 
Hay, because it is dried is by definition lacking in some nutrients such as vitamin E.  Aside from that, depending on how/where it's grown and when it's harvested the hay may or may not be balanced.  There are generalities that can be made about certain types of hay, which is what all these "ration balancers" tend to work off of.  For example, the Ca:P ratio in alfalfa is often skewed, something the alfalfa specific ration balancers try to correct.  There are other trace mineral imbalances (both in quantity and ratios).  It's important to note that what is the "typical" hay profile varies by region and thus I got a recommendation from a local equine nutritionist that I trust on a commercial ration balancer that does a good job for California grown grass hay. I think for most people it is impractical to test their hay and get custom ration balancers mixed, so this is the next best thing IMO.  In a horse without access to pasture, I think aside from a ration balancer and vitamin E, the rest of the supplements are on a demonstrated-need basis only.  For example, if I'm going to continue to compete Farley, she has a demonstrated need for selenium supplementation.  Fine.  Oil is something that I feed because of what I consider overwhelming evidence that is supports endurance horse performance, and it's something I would recommend if someone told me they were looking for something in the supplement category to feed and already did a ration balancer and vit E.  All horses need access to salt, so whether you feed loose or in blocks is your choice. 

The senior thing threw me too.  Farley is one year away from being a senior!!!!!!!  I think that no matter what the breed and how they look (ponies probably the exception) that 15 is a good age to consider a "senior".  It's not as much about whether they are still able to perform adequately and more about statistics of when you start seeing syndromes and diseases like Cushings.  True, these don't usually show up clinically until the early 20's, but can be affecting the horse's physiology for years before that.  Things like immune response, elasticity of tissues, water content in the blood, and teeth (and thus digestion) tend to march onward according to calendar age, even if the horse on the outside looks much younger. 

Regarding the ulcers.......I think it's really individual.  Horses produce acid all the time, not just in anticipation of a meal which makes them prone to ulcers, and is why keeping food in front of them most of the day prevents it.  I'm not worrying about it in part due to the infrequent trailering I do, and low number of events that I'm doing.  There's the added complication that medications that are proven to work against ulcers, such as gastroguard are not legal in AERC competition, so you must take the horse off of them before a ride (paying attention to the appropriate withdrawal times).  However, I was told that it was better to put them on medication and then take them off for rides, than not treat at all.  I think that Farley is probably low risk for ulcers, which is why I'm doing the wait and see and cross my fingers approach.  I'm not sure what I would do if I thought she had them.  I would probably approach it using a 3 step approach: 1.  Keep feed in front of her at all times.  Recheck.  If that didn't do the trick......2. Feed a supplement, as long as it was a reasonable cost.  If I couldn't find anything that had some research behind it, go directly to step 3.  Recheck......and if that didn't work 3. Put her on medication.  I like to change stuff through management first, only then consider supplements/medications.  Whether I chose to try and manage something nutritionally depends on the individual condition, the medications available etc.

Anyone else have any advice for Figure?

Jonna (wants to know what my conditioning plan is for Farley.....): 
So......in some ways I'm starting over, and in other ways I'm ahead.  Farley knows the trail, and she knows that it's a 100 miles.  Mentally she haven't lost much conditioning.  Physically she has!  I can mitigate some of it by being a good partner: by being super fit myself and getting off a lot, and by riding exceptionally well and balanced throughout the ride (ride balance and timing is a HUGE factor is how a horse looks at the end of a ride).  The most important thing I can do for her physical conditioning is lots and lots of correct dressage work between now and then.  The second most important thing is interval training.  Rides of about 10 miles where I do some short high intensity intervals followed by complete recovery periods (and then repeat).  And of course the third leg in the stool is long rides - which I will do on the actual Tevis trail (which is about 1 hour away from me), and on a handful of 50's. 

You are right, that her being an arab makes a HUGE difference.  It was easier to get Farley through 100's than it was to get my standardbred through a 50.  The line between "fit enough to do a 50" and "overriden and hurt" was so very very very very thin with my standardbred.  You could have driven a semi-truck through the width of the line between "fit enough for a 100" and "overridden and hurt" with Farley.  It took far less miles to get Farley fit and to keep her fit than it did with Minx (the standardbred).  Not every animal in a breed follows the stereotype of course, but so far my horses have. 

Preparing myself for the event will involve a very similar "tripod stool" of training".  Weight training, interval runs, and a few double digit long runs (in the 10-20 mile range).  I have some ride and ties between now and Tevis that will provide me with some EXCELLENT hill workouts.

On the actual ride day, I will ride more slowly and a bit smarter (you can do that when it's your third time through the race.....).  I finished mid pack (45/~90) in 2010 (and that was with absolutely no trotting, just walking the last 6 miles from the last vet check to the finish) and was on schedule to do the same in 2009 before pulling at mile 65.  I can take more time during the gate and gos in the afternoon especially.  And if Farley says "no-go" we don't go.  Which brings me to my last, and most important point.  Farley is a very honest horse.  She doesn't hide anything.  She doesn't exaggerate it either, but if something is going on she tells me.  and that is the number one reason that I'm willing to try this.  She's not going to lie to me like Minx and tell me everything is fine, only to find out that I have a SERIOUS problem. 

I'm also considering a legend/adequan/IA routine.  Not something I was willing to do the first time around (she did have IA injections at the beginning of the year because of the dressage) but now, knowing that this is my one race of the year, and knowing that I won't have the conditioning behind me like I did before, I'm considering it.  It's technically legal, but I'm a little hesitant because of some personal convictions - which I regularly reevaluate and usually discuss here on the blog.  (But I'm not to the point yet I can write the post - must gather thoughts).

Liz Stout (who wants a video for the toe tapping exercise):
I'm going to make a valiant effort to explain more clearly, and if that doesn't work, than comment and I WILL post a video :).  Stand up.  Tap your toes and ball of your foot.  What happened?  Your weight went into your heels.  This is what you are going to do in the stirrup, except there's nothing under your heels.  You are simply going to tap the ball of your foot on the footbed of the stirrup while trotting.  On both sides at the same time.  Your weight has no choice but to go to your heels, AND (here's the beauty of the exercise), you won't be able to lock your ankle joint in order to "force" your foot into that position.  Weight in heels + a flexible ankle (and knees and hips) = beautiful rising trot. 

Was this more clear?

Buttercup CC Answer!

Good job anonymous! You guessed EHV-1, which was the correct answer.

CJ - EEE was a good guess - that's one reason I put a month and location - fever + neuro are very vague signs, however outbreaks that are occuring near you should be taken into consideration when trying to think of likely causes. EEE in Feb (mosquito bourn) with no outbreaks.......Or EHV-1 (direct horse to horse or through shared equipment) with known cases in the state you are?

Hannah - I left the city vague on purpose because although if the horse was in Gurnee, IL it would be a HUGE red flag for the vet and the owner, It should be a redflag even if you AREN'T in Gurnee. For those of you that haven't been following the EHV-1 cases, there were some cases of horses with EHV-1 specifically located in Gurnee IL.

EHV-1 is diagnosed all over the country all the time - it just isn't always associated with an outbreak. Thus, even when EHV-1 isn't at the forefront of our minds, it's still a reasonable differential diagnosis in a horse with a history of show travel, or use of facilities where many horses are coming and going. I was suprised to see on the CDFA website the number of CA cases over the last couple of years, most of which are not related to each other.

This week cases in California and Montana were announced that are related to the current outbreak. According to my source (Promed) affected states currently include Utah, Colorado, Tennessee, New Jersey, Florida, Minnisota and Illinois. Because of horse/livestock travel, non-vector bourn disease such as this one can make odd leaps and won't necessarily have a predictable march through the states. Don't assume that just because a particular disease has been isolated to the midwest, that it won't appear suddently on the west coast.

I've been keeping an close eye on the EHV-1 situation because although the vaccine isn't completely protective against this varient, I will pop Farley with a 4 way influenza combo if it get close since it may be partially protective. So far cases have popped up in LA and San Diego counties, which are so far away it's basically in another state, so I'm not worried yet. A single case in each county.

A bit about the disease

EHV-1 stands or "equine herpesvirus type 1". Transmission is usually via aerosols, when horses cough and sneeze, however it can also be spread through sharing equipment like bits and buckets.

The presentation of the disease an vary. A "rhinopneumonitis" (persistant cough, snotty nose) typically in young horses, abortion in broodmares, and the "neuro" form (incontininance, ataxia, incoordination, paralysis of hind limbs, fever, death). There is a vaccine available for the first two forms, however the vaccine does NOT seem to be effective against the neuro form.

The terminology can be a little confusing. The "neuropathogenic" strain/mutation is a form of the EHV-1 that can cause the neuro signs and death and is the one that we most worry about in the outbreaks. Sometimes you might see it referred to as "nEHV-1" to try and differentiate the neurotrophic form from the other type. The other EHV-1 "just" causes the typical rhino and abortion issues, however in a very small percentage of cases it can also cause neuro signs!

A confirmed case of EHV-1 is one of two scenerios:

1. A horse has compatible clinical signs (one or more: fever, recumbancy, snotty nose, ataxia, hind end weakness, diminished tail tone) AND a lab test positive for the neuropathogenic strain of EHV-1.

OR

2. A horse has neuro signs AND a lab test positive for any strain of EHV-1

For example, the CA San Diego case is a stallion that displayed mild neuro signs AND has a positive test for EHV-1 (a NON-neuropathogenic strain). Even though it was not the neuropathogenic type, in CA EHV-1 with neuro signs regardless of strain is still a "reportable" disease. The LA CA case was a more typical nEHV-1 that showed the typical clinical signs, and had a positive nEHV-1 test.

The current recommendation by state vets in states affected is to start temping horses that are going to an equine event 3 days prior to travel, and continue to temp daily until 3 days after the event. Horses with a temperature over 103*F should be isolated and not allowed to mingle with other horses (CA's cdfa website says 102*F and it wants you to contact a vet). Keep in mind that temperature can elevate in a horse that is being exercise, no you are looking for an increased temperature that is NOT related to working the horse.

The disease is edemic to the US, with the federal government becoming in involved when outbreaks involve multiple states.

This disease is an important example of why I do not allow other people's horses to say "hello" to mine at events. It's high contagiousand there's no effective vaccine. Horses aren't offended if their neighbor doesnt say hello and it might save her life and me a lot of grief.

Check in next Wednesday for the case of "Chester".

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Supplements

According to Smart Pak, using their Supplement Wizard Farley should be getting:

"Comprehensive support" = $5.78/day

Gastric ulcer prevention supplement ($1.39/day)

Joint supplements ($2.11/day)

Multivitamin ($0.68/day)

Insect control ($0.71/day)

Essential fatty acids ($0.98/day)

 

"Enhanced support" = $4.17/day

Gastric ulcer prevention, joint supplement, multivitamin

 

"Basic Support" = $3.50/day

Gastric ulcer prevention, joint supplement

 

So how does my routine stack up?

Joint supplement: Not fed

Gastric supplement: Not fed

Ration balancer (multivitamin): $0.61/day

Oil (fatty acids): $0.31/day

Vit E (not suggested): $0.36/day

Selenium (not suggested): $.08/day

Electrolytes - Not suggested, but would have been because as part of the survey to determine Farley's needs I answered that I did feed electrolytes, which is why they didn't add to the recommendations above - cheap feedstore elytes or salt adds pennies a day to my supplement costs.

My current Total: $1.36/day

What I don't feed: Joint and gut/gastric supplements. This is interesting because (aside from the feed through insect control) I cover all the other bases suggested in the more "comprehensive" package, but ignore these 2 which are considered "basic" by smartpak. Why?

- the joint supplements that work usually test positive in the drug testing done by the organization that I compete within (AERC endurance). I would use Legend or Adequan if I was concerned, both of which are legal to give prior to rides and validated to work in horses.

- Although Farley is only fed 2x a day (which according to smarkpak is a risk factor) she doesn't often have absolutely no food in front of her, and she has no other significant risk factors (besides being a horse!).

How about the vit E and Selenium?: Smarkpak probably thinks that feeding their multivitamin will provide sufficient levels of vit E. However, because handling (exposure to heat and light is no bueno) matters so much on whether the vit E in a product is available to the body, I prefer to feed it seperately. Especially to a horse that isn't getting any natural vit E in it's diet (Farley isn't on pasture). Selenium supplementation is controversial and without absolute confirmation that the horse is low, AND considering that the multivitamin probably contains the maximum allowed selenium content in it (which is not enough to elevate Farley's blood levels to what I consider adequate for endurance) smartpak probably errors on the side of NOT recommending it.

How does smartpak stack up?

I was pleasantly suprised that smartpak, in general, seemed to be recommending an appropriate level of supplementation. I got the idea for the post after reading another blogger comment on how smartpak's supplement wizard recommended a ton of potentially unnecessary supplements for their horse, something that would not suprise me based on a SUPPLEMENT company's recommendation. However, for Farley, who is still in work (not retired) the recommendations seemed appropriate.

According to Smartpak I'm covering most of the bases, including a ration balancer/multivitamin, essential fatty acids, and electrolytes. What I am NOT covering is joints and ulcers. However while I think these are important issues in my horse management plan, I just choose to manage them in some other way than supplementation.

Have you used SP's Supplement wizard? What did you think of their recommendations?

 

 

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CC #2: Buttercup

Get your answers in by Friday, before I post the answer and if you guess correctly you could be drawn for a (small) prize!

Buttercup is a slightly pudgy bay arab who is being conditioned for endurance. He's boarded at a public stable and often uses the public arena across the street, which is also the location of the local trail head.

He's going across the state line and needs a health certificate in order to do his first spring endurance endurance ride.

Buttercup's coat is shiny and in good condition with no ectoparasites. He pooped during the exam and has well formed poop with a good consistency.

He has a temperature of 103.2*F (elevated), heart rate of 36/min, respiration of 12/min.

Mentation: Quiet, alert, and responsive

Eyes clear, no nasal or ocular discharge.

As the vet, you explain to the client that you are concerned about the elevated temperature. She replies that because it is a hot day, he probably just overheated in the trailer on the way here.

She's upset that you won't issue the health certificate and as she loads Buttercup back into the trailer, he seems to have trouble navigating the step up with his hind legs and then once in the trailer, almost falls down.

What is your top differential diagnosis considering you are located in Illinois and it is February 2013?

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Balance and soundness

Today is another convention post.

Funder (visit her blog on the side bar) did a great job of writing up my overall convention experience on her blog.....she thought she was writing about HER experience, but in reality it was all about me. I too ended up sitting in a booth and visiting with people more than doing any actual shopping.

And.....you all wont believe this but i actually stuck to my "must buy" list and didn't buy anything that wasn't on it. Ice-tight poultice? 5 bucks at the used sale. Sunglasses? 2 bucks at the same place. Found a saddle pad that fixes the potential wither clearance issue with my saddle, and picked up a bucket of electrolytes. Lastly i swung by evelyn's tight booth and picked up a pair if incredibly beautiful, glittery tights for my upcoming ride season......and like funder I'm wasn't quite ready to publicize my 2013 schedule (although I have since posted that the plan is Tevis. :).

So, with all the blah blah past, let's get on with another seminar post!

Donna Snyder-smith (I think - correction anyone?) presented a hodgepodge collection of advice, products etc in a seminar that was designed as an opportunity for her to share some tidbits based on a long history of both riding endurance and mentoring the sport.

She read an excerpt from (as close as I could hear) Mike Beasley's (?) "A study in Balance" that supposidly looked at horse "sideness" and how it related to endurance riders changing their diagnols etc. at an endurance ride. The caveat to this is that I have not been able to find the reference with some google searching, which was dissapointing. Apparently this guy evaluated 228 endurance horses 12 miles into an endurance ride and either told (or didn't tell) endurance riders that their horse was exhibiting stiffness or "sideness" at that point, at which point the rider, if aware could be more careful about switching diagnols etc. His conclusion was that these "lesions" were temporal and adopted by the horse based on the posture of the rider. According to this seminar speaker (again, haven't been able to find the paper she was reading from) he actually isolated the muscles that are affected by the imbalance in rider posture etc.

At the 12 mile point, the "sidedness" was showing up in the forequarters, not the hindquarters, but the hindquarters was where the most stress was actually being felt by the horse - medial hamstring, internal obliques/flank, gluteals, gracilias etc. were common muscles that the horse was using in a one sided manner to compensate for the "sideness" in rider posture.


I apologize if the above isn't totally clear. Without the original paper in front of me I have a hard time verifying the details and can only share what was presented in the seminar - the bottom line was that because we as riders have a dominant side (most of us are right handed), this will show up in our riding, and it will affect our horses.

Weight changes everything about the horses balance. A large point of "good riding" and how we condition our horses is trying to mitigate the "handicap" of placing a saddle and our weight on the horse's back and asking it to go 100 miles, something that it was certaintly capable of doing before being tacked up, but may be less able to now.....

The horses' back is a bridge and the weakest part of the bridge is exactly where we place that saddle! She did a lot of visuals with the point being that the horse's body (back and legs and locomotion etc.) works together best if the back can come up, so that the hind leg can swing freely under the belly. If the stifle can come freely forward, the foot comes forward and the butt can come down.


Lifting the horses back is done by stimulating the belly muscles....or at least this is how she put it. In dressage I've heard a lot of other terms used and there's a lot of different ways to think about it and visualize it - however you can manage to wrap your head around this concept and translate it to your riding......then good for you. Think of how when you properly ride how much stress that puts on your CORE. That's also how your horse should be running along - by using it's core. And however you chose to think about "back up", the corresponding part of the equation is HEAD DOWN. You cannot get the back up if the head is up. If you are unfamiliar or uncomfortable with getting your horse to work and motor along the trail with the head down and the back up, I would suggest you take a couple of lessons or attend a seminar that focusing on some dressage basics.

My take home was that during conditioning I'm going to be encouraging Farley to travel down the trail more "correctly" meaning I'm going to ask her to get her back up and not hollow her back. My philosophy used to be to work her correctly in the arena, and let her go her own way out of the trail - she travels fairly neutrally, and doesn't have any weird muscling from having a high head - but if taking the opportunity to build some of that back muscle gives us a bit of an edge for Tevis, I'm willing to do it. Notice I'm not talking about a "frame". The goal is to have her travel nice and easy with her head down, not all strung out. One thing I notice is that she can't go into that crazy extended trot that makes me feel like my teeth are going to get jarred out of my mouth if I don't let her get all strung out - she has to go into a canter if she wants to up the speed past a certain point. Farley has a longer back and a weak tie into the hip and so I feel this will be very beneficial for her, especially since we aren't doing as much dressage as in the past. Some horses that travel very naturally balanced (I'm thinking of the ride and tie horse I ride, Stashi) may not need as much work in this area as Farley.
The presentor said that a weak back can present as stifle problems, eventually hock problems --> all resulting from a tight, hollowed back. I know referred pain is huge in horses and I do feel like a lot of the "hockiness" I see in horses is due to problems in the back.

OK - so the point is that you want to have this nice moving horse underneath of you that has an elevated back and a freely moving hindquarters.......how are we as riders minimizing or maximizing this?

Every rider has a convex and a concave side. This doesn't go away until it's trained to go away. I happen to know through intensive dressage training that my left side likes to fall behind my right side. This is reinforced by many day to day activities including driving and using a mouse at the computer. Can you stand in front of a mirror and make your two shoulders completely level? The presenter claimed that 60-70% of people who try this exercise can't!

Here's the point. That sideness translates into your seat bones. One of your seat bones is diagonally in front of the other in the saddle. One seat bone will be resting on your horse's back in a more comfortable place than the other one. The side of the back that is the more comfortable will tend to stretch more and the side that is not as comfy will contract. Thus you have set up your horse to have one concave and one convex side just like you! The hind leg that is on the side where the seatbone is more "comfy" will travel forward more under the belly, setting up a "short stride, normal stride" scenerio that eventually manifests itself as stress in the horse's hindquarter muscles from compensating/reacting to the posture imbalance in the rider.

Thus it is paramount we get the seatbones straight!!!!!!! One thing that can help is to do exercises that loosen up the groin area. Nothing in "real" life opens up this area like sitting on the horse. As the presenter put it, you need to acquire groin flexibility --> you can either use your horse as a gym, or go to the gym to accomplish this.....The exercises were very pilates/yoga centered and I'm not going to try and go into them here. If you want to see them, stop me at a ride and I will gladly demonstrate!
So, maybe you were just confused by all this and want the bottom line?

bottom line: A muscle under pressure contracts. If one side of the horse's back contracts because of your riding and seat (and unless you have actively trained to get rid of your onesidedness, mostly likely you ARE doing this), you are causing the horse to travel crookedly down the trail, setting up uneven stresses on his muscles. A uncomfy back will hollow, the hind legs won't come underneath and the horse may or may not be stepping evenly underneath of himself. This affects the horse negatively over endurance distances.

Other points:

1. Dead last is a greater than Did Not Finish. Did Not Finish trumps Did Not Start.

2. Remember that endurance is a partnership. WE (the rider) are HALF the partnership. We cannot neglet our half of the deal. No matter what food we stuff down our horse, conditioning plans, tack we use etc, we cannot neglet the rider portion of the partnership. I agree. I think that dressage lessons was part of my obligation to Farley as her rider, just like not starting Tevis unless I'm as fit as she is part of the deal (no more riding 100 miles with me unable to get off and help her out on the hills!).

3. She spent a lot of time discussing grip versus balance. We should not be gripping our horses to stay on - it can be totally unconsious, especially if you have very strong thighs (I do.....), and you are greatly hindering your ability to condition your horse if your lower body has tension in it, and you are causing stiffness to occur in the horse that will definitely show up at 100 miles if it doesn't show up at 50 miles.

4. "No pain no gain" is bullshit. If you push your body (or your horse) past it's "fail safe point" than the body will protect itself by resetting that fail safe "backwards". However, if instead you honor that fail safe point and always stop shy of it, the body will respond by gradually moving that fail safe further and further along the path you want to go.

5. Stirrups are not for standing in. What's funny is that this is what they taught us in calvary school, which was the first formal riding education I got - stirrups were to be used as a aid for mounting, nothing else. The posting motion comes from the core, the horse's movement and by unlocking the hinge points of the body. You allow the horse to toss you in the air, lift your pelvis........and during both the down and up phase of the posting trot you should be able to tap your foot in the stirrup, NOT because you are gripping and bracing with your thighs and knees, but because your ankle is relaxed and the horse's momentum and your core is controlling the movement. I know this sounds like voodoo. Let me assure you it is practical and doable. Am I perfect? Nope. It's a constant cycle of me doing it correctly, and then getting all stiff - what I love about the tapping exercise is that for me, it immediately unlocks whatever tension I had and causes me to start doing it correctly - I don't have to analyze what's going wrong and then try to force myself to relax, all I have to do is tap! The seminar speaker said that 1/3 of your weight should be in your stirrup, and 1/3 of your weight should be on the inner thigh without muscle tension, which sounds correct to me - this can change depending on what manuevers you are trying to do, but in general, just motoring along and moving normally, this sounds right.

She made the point that the length of the thigh bone dictates the movement of the up phase of the posting trot. Teh longer thigh bone will equal a longer and higher up phase......these people match well with long strided horses. People with short thigh bones riding a long strided horse need to be careful not to come down too soon and put an extra pause/hang time at the top of their posting up phase - this pause comes from your core and position, not by extra pressure in the stirrup. What happens if you come down in your posting trot too soon? That leg, which was extending forward gets pressure from your seatbones, which causes it to reflexisively shorten which cause all those things we already talked about.

Take home point/exercise that I will do within 7 days:

1. tap my feet in the stirrups during long rides - this has already made a huge difference when I'm starting to accumulate tension in my ankles and hips but don't know how to release it. Just tapping my foot in the stirrup makes everything fall into place and makes me so much more comfy in the saddle.

2. ask farley to travel with her back up during trail rides. Bonus - she's less reactive.

3. Continue to critically evaluate my everyday activities (like driving) and do as much as I can not to exacerbate my one sideness any more than it's already a problem (my left side likes to fall behind, so driving with my right arm/right leg forward and my left arm in my lap and left food back doesn't do anything to try and eliminate that sideness!).

4. Make really really sure I'm not sitting down too soon in the trot. I have a really long femur (the thigh bone) which is good because Farley has a really long stride.......but I still need to be careful that I don't let sloppy posting create tension in her back. I've been putting a bit more hang time into my post and I think she really appreciates it - she seems so much more "swingy" and "relaxed" on the trail now that she knows with certainty that my seat bones are NOT going to interfere with her stride and seems a bit more forgiving when a miscommunication results in my sitting down a bit soon or hard. Combining this with making sure I can tap my feet in the stirrups I think has already made a difference in our conditioning rides - we seem to really be working together instead of against eachother. We have a great base in dressage, but these little tricks make sure that I'm not falling into bad habits.

That's it for this one folks! There's one more seminar post to go and I've saved the best for last - Endurance 101.

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