Learning about the "Half-halt"... and the dangers of too much bravado.

As the title suggests, this is about a recent (a.k.a. last night) adventure I had while attempting to ride Gracie.

Let's start by admitting that I do not ride frequently and it has been some time since I was last in the saddle.  However, I felt that all was right with the world and my horse and I were ready to do whatever Amanda threw at us for our lesson... First mistake in the books.

Gracie felt fresh in the moderately chill fall air. She wouldn't stand for mounting and she was very eager to do more than walk. Amanda was kind enough to start our lesson promptly and started telling me to post slower in an attempt to slow Gracie's run-away trot.  She also suggested I relax A LOT and try a half-halt to get Gracie to listen.

So here I go, already trying to implement these words of wisdom to try and rein my wild horse back to a nice soft medium trot.  I am sitting tall, sitting down, leg back, core engaged, heels down, looking where I want to go and, trying to be relaxed all at the same time. Then Amanda says, "Now, half-halt and, release. Now, Half-halt and, release. ARE YOU HALF-HALTING?!?! YOU ARE JUST HOLDING HER FACE." Mistake number two comes with my response... " I am half-halting, and I am trying NOT to hold her face..."

Never make excuses with your instructor.  If she says you are not half-halting then, you are certainly NOT half-halting.  So, I got a lesson in trotting with no reins (essentially). I was told to loosen my reins SIGNIFICANTLY and, ask for the trot. Again, ask for the trot while, sitting tall, sitting down, leg back, core engaged, heels down, looking where I want to go and, trying to be relaxed all at the same time. (yes that is copy and pasted from above.)

The First Attempt:  I loosen my reins and get nice and set at the walk. I calmly ask Gracie for a nice slow transition to the trot and.... BOOM!   she runs away with me.  She takes a huge departure, rocking me back in the saddle, throwing my leg forward and, causing me to rebalance with the reins and pull her face...  Not anywhere close to the desired result.

The Second Attempt: Everybody resets, the trainer, the horse, the rider.  Amanda says, "I want you to stay balanced. Don't kick her to the trot, just cluck at her."  Loose rein, sitting tall, feeling balanced, ect. ect. ect.  So, I cluck at her. BOOM! off to the races... Amanda is insisting I sit heavy. Define the rhythm. HALF-HALT!  This one went better but as I was trying to sit heavy and define a rhythm Gracie took that to mean Canter...  hmm, now I have officially ben run away with.  Collect the reins, stop the horse and reset again.

Amanda is flustered, I am embarrassed and frustrated, Gracie is having a hell of a time understanding me and is quite done with me screwing with her face. Amanda decides it is time to step in and show me what to do. Thank God!

Surprisingly enough, when done correctly it is damn near impossible to see someone half-halt.  She took Gracie around the arena and asked me, "do you see what my hands are doing?" I looked and thought, maybe they twitched? But, unsure I said "They didn't do ANYTHING!"  Hmmm. "That's right! They didn't and, they shouldn't."  Got one right... mark the time.

After Amanda was convinced Gracie knew what a half-halt was she decided it was my turn to actually learn to half-halt.  Back in the saddle I went.

Step one: Amanda put her hand between my leg and the saddle and asked me to half-halt. I pulled on the reins lightly to simulate my half-halt.  "You didn't squeeze here?"  "Nope, am I supposed to?" "Yes! You half-halt with your body and reinforce with the reins. NOt the other way around." "oh..."
(yeah, that exchange happened)

Step two: Now that I am half-halting with my body first and reins as a back-up, let's try this again.  Reset at the walk, see above. loose rein and cluck for the trot. NO KICKING. Ahhhhhh, nice easy trot departure.  Now we are trotting and everyone is happy.

Step three: Squeeze with the thighs and relax you seat... what?!?!  why did the horse stop?  OH!  THAT is a half-halt.

Step Four: Repeat step three but without bringing the horse out of the trot.  oooooooooh... she slowed down!  this is nice!  "Good job, Robert."

Repeat steps two-four for the rest of your riding life. (adding this in at the canter eventually)

Lots of valuable lessons were learned in the arena last night.  One, half-halt with your body. Two, communicate when you think you are doing something and not getting the result your instructor wants. Three, Gracie really does want to work. Four, my balance and seat has improved dramatically over the past year. The wild Gracie cantering would have had me on the ground back then.

All said, half-halting and transitions will be my new warm-up plan when I ride. It will help Gracie start off right and will allow me to warm up my riding muscles as well.

Buck Davidson Clinic Recap

This past weekend was a fun one, I got to audit a Buck Davidson clinic at Pine Hill! Jeannette signed up to ride, and I ended up driving down to watch all of the stadium day on Saturday with one of my students. We left town before dark and arrived just before the first group started riding.

Each group started by discussing their current state and goals before they warmed up with some general w/t/c. The first exercise was then presented: Buck told them to ride in a straight line, with their eyes locked on a light pole beside the arena. Then they were supposed to turn left or right before the fence. He discussed perfectly straight at the trot. The horses were ready to go, but the riders made improvements at the trot before moving to the canter. Buck was particular about where and which lead and continuing to ride with eyes locked on the light pole. The hoof prints made a very long flat figure eight. He made clear suggestions for improvement to each rider.

After warming up on the flat, the riders were instructed to trot into a gymnastic exercise. There was a placing pole, then a cross rail. Buck instructed riders to trot in, balance with a half halt approximately two strides from the placing pole, then gallop for one stride after the cross rail before making a sharp turn alternatively left and right. The next step was to add an oxer one long stride from the cross rail followed by five ten-foot canter poles and another oxer, then 3 1/2 strides to a narrow brick filler/wall.

There were additional complications added to make an entire course! I didn't get a photo, but the riders would turn right and balance in the turn, then jump an oxer, then six strides to a one stride. After this line, they would turn right and come back through the grid or turn very sharply left and reapproach. After the second time through the grid, they would turn left and jump a vertical then a four stride bending line to an eight stride bending line to the one stride. Ok. This is crazy to explain, so I made you a diagram with the potential lines:

Don't I make beautiful diagrams? Anyways. He added different lines to modify the difficulty. Different rider levels jumped different heights, but all groups jumped the same combinations.

Jeannette and Panda appeared in the second to last group. They looked pretty good, Panda is such a great sport. They chipped in a couple of times when they had a miscommunication, but for the most part it looked effortless (Youtube videos)! Jeannette got to log some more experience points adjusting Panda's stride, especially longer, aka almost galloping!

As the day progressed, some themes jumped out from the riders. First, straightness was paramount. The half halt before the gymnastic was key, as the course required a forward canter (the canter poles were set at 10 feet). Buck really hit hard on directing the horse with your body through half halfs and moving one's hips to indicate direction. Having a plan was a bigger problem as the levels progressed downward.

Buck also discussed training horses and how it was important to ask the question clearly so the horse would get the correct answer.  Several riders rode the course differently in each repetition, Buck pointed out the horse would have difficulty knowing how to go through the grid correctly if the rider lacked consistency. Some of the riders had problems with horses being too excitable; the solution was still forward. Buck stressed the importance of riding up into the bridle. He explained very clearly how each rider could improve their round, and he was especially good at watching a round while discussing with the previous rider.

All in all, I'd say it was fantastic way to spend a Saturday. I got to learn a lot from watching the different challenges different riders had, and I was inspired by the exercises. I definitely feel like I have a renewed appreciation for the importance of body control. Now I just need to get my body under control...

Jellybean's Christmas List

So the humans tell me there is some sort of holiday around this cold dark time where some baby was born or something. I don't really understand, but I notice the people coming out to the barn with new things. And! Amanda pulled all my beautiful hair out. Now I have this ridiculous boxy look that makes my neck look fat.

During the extra time between round bales, I have been thinking about what I want for this cold holiday, and I made you a list so Amanda can read this and get shopping.

1. More hay
2. Tastier grain
3. A treat ball (look! a link)
4. Grass to eat
5. Sparkly Hoof Polish (look! a link)

Cross your fingers that the humans will stop slacking and get on the program. Maybe I won't buck Amanda off next time she rides.

Christmas Party Fun

We had a fantastic Christmas party last night. We have over 20 people participate in the Dirty Santa gift exchange and lots more attend. We had lots of food and fun! We were really grateful, because the Christmas party really shows how much we have expanded our barn family in the last year. Last Christmas we had five people participate in the gift exchange, and we all fit very comfortably in the living room at Maggie's house. We couldn't even fit in the clubhouse this year! We are so thankful for this wonderful barn family :)

Robert almost got to take home a cute "I ❤ HORSES" bracelet, but at the conclusion of the game, a cute little girl approached him for a trade for her pocket clippers. Robert happily accepted, but was then approached by another cute little girl who wanted the clippers for a sign she won. I managed to get some Horseman's One Step, which thankfully, no one tried to take from me, since you can never have too much leather cleaner.

There were a lot of fun and interesting gifts at the party. Lots of horse mugs, cups, and water bottles. Lots of horse treats and ornaments and even a halter and lead rope. There were a few practical gifts, including a dry erase dressage board, clippers, and leather care. I think the most interesting gift was a handmade hoof pick from a horse shoe. Everyone was generous and friendly and all the kids had a fantastic time. I definitely think this was a great year :)

My Welcome Back Story

How have you been?!?!?

As you can probably tell from Amanda's posts, Prelims are over, Thanksgiving vacation was a success and, Riding goes on forever.

On a not so happy note. There was a derby scheduled for just before thanksgiving but, as most horse people know, mother nature can be finicky and we were rained out. :(  that's not all bad news, This gives Gracie and I a solid chance to work on our Dressage.... something we have severely been slacking on.  The D-Day is now early January and as you can imagine finding ride time is becoming difficult with the sun setting so early.

This is the time of year that I tend to over extend myself the most.  This year seems to be exceptionally bad.  On top of christmas parties and riding lessons there is also the push to finish my research, start writing a dissertation and, keep my life in some semblance of order.

Wish me luck in all that we do.  Horses, science, martial arts, social obligations and, general craziness that is the Christmas season.

Just to emphasize the upside-down nature of the world right now, I present to you a current picture of Byron.... laying on HIS dog bed.


Enjoy and thanks for reading.

Still trucking along, and more balance

When I come back from vacation I am always so excited about making my life even better than it was before. Normally because something that was consuming my life before vacation is usually going to the background. I generally set ambitious goals when I get home, and work at keeping the enthusiasm up. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. 

I'm happy to report that thus far I have maintained my enthusiasm. I have ridden Knots twice in the last few days and I rode another horse last night. Thursday evening I rode with Robert during his lesson and worked on two-point. We made it ten laps of the cutting pen before I melted and couldn't hold it any longer. Still, progress. 

Saturday I rode with the kids in the jump field and went over some small cross rails and verticals. We had a nice pace, but we got in a tiff about moving off my leg which made Knots kind of frustrated. When he's frustrated he starts running and throws his head way up in the air. So we could have had more harmonious work, but we have to remember to move off the leg. I also didn't wear spurs, which I think was a contributing factor. 

Monday night I schooled one of our western horses a bit and worked on her stops and canter departs. She is such fun to ride, and just a bit of a workout when she does what she is supposed to do. 

Jellybean and Gracie are a bit lonelier in their paddock; Knots moved back out into Maggie's pasture, since he has put on a little bit too much weight. Hopefully working and eating less will get him feeling in better shape soon. 

We have a dressage lesson on Thursday afternoon and a jumping lesson next Tuesday. Hopefully this will help me feel the progress so I can confidently go out on the BN course in January. So excited :)

Thank goodness Knots is looking less hairy bear and more show pony! Jellybean got a haircut and clean up also, she looks almost grown up.

First Night Back

After spending all day at the airport, I was really feeling like I wanted to get out and do something. Prelims were so exhausting, I didn't really allow myself to even think about anything else. So over the break I have been planning world domination and how to clean the house. This leads to the lofty goal I set for myself: Novice.

Step one of this goal is running the BN Derby at High Point Farm on Jan 11th. I think further steps will be running BN at Meadow Creek in June and Pine Hill in... sometime. Then planning on Novice in the fall, maybe November or December. 

Back to step one. So as part of my return to the real world, I wrote out a schedule with my riding plan. Weekly lessons in dressage and jumping. Conditioning rides. But the rest of this week is about evaluating our progress. So I went to the barn almost as soon as we got home. I pulled Knots out....

Wow. He was so unkempt. Like rained on, scraggly long mane. And sooooo fat. Like monster size. Just a quick aside about the feeding situation... He is on a round bale. And gets about 3 quarts of grain twice a day. Which is what is needed to keep Jellybean and especially Gracie looking good. He needs exercise badddddd. I don't know if keeping the three of them in the paddock will be good for his size long term, it will depend on how his workload increases and how his size goes.

So I tacked him up (yes I needed a longer girth) after brushing out his crazy messiness. We hopped on in the cutting pen and walked around. Then we trotted for about five-ten minutes. He was out of breath. We walked around and worked on accepting the bridle and contact, which he happily remembered just a bit. Then we walked around on a long rein and called it the first ride. (Full disclosure, I also had to catch up with the barn owner after being gone for a week.)

So I think its fair to say we are starting from square one. Although, I am very excited because I think rebuilding muscles from fat will be easier than skinny, and I think we have less 'wrong' muscles (ie from tie downs). The hill for the snowball seems to be getting shorter each time we roll on up. 

Sorry there are no pictures, left my phone in the car. I want to find a conditioning app for Knots and I, or at least some sort of activity tracker. We also need to do a fitness assessment this week...

Monday Funday

or no news is good news? Looks like vacation is just about over and we're getting to spend our last relaxing day before heading back to Texas. The ponies are enjoying another chilly day. Or so I hear :)

Bonus picture of Rob jumping Gracie a few weeks ago. More fun things to come :)

There. I said it.

This whole prelim thing has been pretty enlightening in several ways. One of the things I have learned from this is I can accomplish goals. I used to think I would just quit when the going got tough, but it seems like I can indeed stick out and finish. So I am going to write down a seemingly impossible goal for myself:

I want to run novice with Knots in 2015.

These are some novice jumps the internet gave me:








The height is up to 2'11" and 3'7" with brush. Lets do this thing. God help us.

Brrrr: First really cold front

Not too much to report here... just really cold for November in Texas. Normal highs in the low 70s. Currently 50s with some wind chill. The ponies of course decided to eat all their round bale right before the cold snap (supposed to be a low of 27 on Sunday, idk about wind). So we are blanketing AND buying square bales until the next rounds come in. I think we will have to start buying the rounds two at a time, so we don't keep running out. I just hate being low on hay when its cold. I don't care if the ponies are fat or not, I don't want them to be cold...

cold ponies are cold

WW: Farm shots

Unfortunately the farm doesn't look this good after all the rain...

Monday Funday: Knots leads the escape

Mondays are always harder after a great horsey filled weekend. Nothing like going back to work to realize its more fun to be outside enjoying the perfect weather this time of year. Although, apparently there is a major cold front coming through, and the temps are supposed to be mid 30s overnight...frigid for BCS in November.

Luckily, we picked up a blanket for Jellybean during the tack swap in August (only 9 more months until 2015 tack swap!!). That saved us some dollars for sure. However, Gracie is a little bit bigger and she needs a blanket more then Jellybean will. Her new blanket should be here Wednesday or Thursday, so stay tuned for pictures.

Ahhh Knots. The escape artist. So when we moved into the paddock, everything was cool as we finished off the leftover round bale. Then the hay was gone, and the ponies got bored sniffing the dirt. Knots is exceptionally talented at escape, and Jellybean has pulled off some impressive feats herself.

When the paddock was "finished" there was one section with no fence... Just a diagonal support for the fence with a brace that was not securely attached. So Knots (although it could have been Jellybean too) knocked the brace off and walked over the diagonal wire. Grass, extra grain in the bucket... it was a solid escape. I imagine Jellybean followed him out. I eventually got a call that Jellybean had escaped and been found, Knots was MIA, and Gracie was calling for her friends in the paddock. Knots had ventured further to the grass then Jellybean, and he was eventually apprehended.

Onto part II. In this second image, you may notice a few things right away. First, there are boards on the ground. Knots is standing in the fence. There are some lead ropes tangled (haphazardly) around Knots. What you may not be able to see is the way his legs are inserted between the diagonal support and the lead ropes. He managed to get right in the middle. When I walked up to him I realized I needed to help him escape, and we needed to reimagine the fence solution.

The end of this story is that no ponies were injured in this adventure, the fence was fixed, and everyone is still trapped in their paddock :) muhahaha.

Planning and Reviewing

Whew. The end of my school struggles (at least the big pressing ones) will be over November 24th. I will be finished with my preliminary exams, and I can mentally rest easy. The basal level of stress the last couple of months has been high. I initially decided to be finished by October 22nd, but some procrastination/miscommunication pushed the date back a month. Anyways, I try not to blow up my horse blog with too many work struggles, and so back onto the horse things. The end of some major stressors means I can get really excited about some competitions coming up.

So lets recap 2014 for Knots and I. I know, I know, 2014 isn't really over yet.

High Point Derby was close, cheap, and simple. So we decided to school their xc course a few weeks before then go to the event. Well the schooling didn't pan out due to repeated rain, but we showed up for a cold windy event with our game faces on. Jellybean live tweeted the event, which was summarized here.

As you may recall, we were eliminated at this show after dressage, since I jumped out of the arena. So we tucked that disappointment away and started focusing on our dressage skillz. More lessons.

Topsider Dressage Show
So we decided to go to a specific show to focus on our dressage and practice not jumping out of the arena. It went well! We won a first and third place, and posted some good starting point scores. We recapped the show here.

Pine Hill July
Our next and last show was Pine Hill! This was a real schooling horse trials and very exciting. We ran goldilocks, and managed to win second in our division. We mostly finished on our dressage score, adding just a few time penalties on cross country. A full recap is here. It looks like we never actually posted any pictures... but  can link some videos: Stadium and Dressage.

And that really wrapped up our intro year. Basically only three shows, due to money and time. I feel good moving up to BN (with some extensive conditioning) and I am pumped about what we are going to do next. I think I'll add an addendum with the plans, because I am out of time!

Wordless Wednesday: Random Shots

Back on Track... or at least I found another candy

Too long, didn't read(tldr): D-Day for my semester work and Jellybean tries to buck me off

I think my last couple of posts have complained a bit about how busy life has been recently. Luckily, the end is now in sight. I will be done with my major exams right before Thanksgiving, just in time for vacation and the holiday craziness! Then I will probably start setting some kind of goals or something. In the mean time, I have started riding during one of the lessons I teach during the week so I can at least sit on a horse. Jellybean drew the short straw on Thursday.

First, her leg looks awesome. There isn't any major swelling, she is just healing along. She will have a cool scar to talk about at some point.

So I saddled her up and reminded her that she can't back away from the bridle. (Literally we backed around the entire tack up area until she bumped into a fence and she stopped). Clearly we have some lack of continuity. Its only been about 8 weeks since I last sat on her back... and lets be honest, I got bucked off. 

So we go into the big arena during lesson chaos and I get on. Normally she has been pretty eager to move off and start checking things out, but this time she just walked around. I think something about being cooped up in a stall for a month... with no turnout at all. Definitely some muscle atrophy. We eventually pick up a trot and I realize we have no steering. Maybe I general direction... but there is no stopping on a dime. Glad I left in the full check instead of switching to the regular O ring dressage bridle like I considered... 

Anyways, right when I first asked her to trot, she decided she didn't want to, and tried to throw some bucks! I guess she remembered that bucking got her out of work before, and she wanted to rehash. It was pretty half hearted, she was definitely just trying things out. I used the dressage whip and my legs to encourage forward movement, and she remembered she was supposed to move forward. 

So this steering thing is a problem. We will keep working on it as we go along, she is just really out of practice. I have been feeling sad for not working her at all, especially since she will be four in June, and that is high time to start her on her eventing career :)

Jellybean's early release and yet another new home

Welcome back for another installment of fun and adventures concerning three horses we hold so dear.

The good news is that Jellybean has received the news from the parole board that she will be released into the wild again!  Her release from stall life was executed on Sunday Oct. 26, 2014. Her stall door was opened and she was allowed to run into the cutting pen where the rest of her herd, Gracie and Knots, were eager to greet her with bucking and whinnying and lots of running around.  it was a joyous horsey reunion.

It quickly got old though and Amanda and I felt the need to be home. This begs the question of how you convince three crazy horses to cram into one tiny paddock....  FOOD TIME!!!!!

One bucket of food is the magic to getting a horse to behave.  As I carried the grain through the cutting pen they all fell into line behind me.  I felt like the pied piper of horses leading my little troupe to their home.  Dump some grain and horses begin chomping away merrily.  No lock the gate and get out!   Everyone ended the night comfy in their own beds...

Now the fun part.  We had a boarder leave the barn and a paddock not attached to the arena opened up.  So, we uprooted our little family AGAIN!   we are such a military family with all this moving.  Now the ponies live amidst the whinnies and neighs of other horses and get all the love and attention they could ever hope for.


Thanks for reading,

More pictures soonish...   there is a costume contest for halloween.

Cabin fever

Its been well over two weeks now since Jellybean tried to slice her foot off. She's been trapped in the stall, bickering with Panda and doing that weird thing she does with her teeth. She literally opens her mouth and runs her teeth back and forth on the metal bar. So odd. She has only really gotten released when she escaped one morning, and again when she goes to the cross ties for bandage changes.

Speaking of bandage changes, that last bandage was a bear. It would not stay on or up, so we finally just left everything open for the last day or so before the vet came back out to cut the stitches. Unfortunately I didn't really get to talk to the vet, but Jellybean was knocked out when I got there, and I was instructed to "hydro" the wounds until they healed. I thought that word was funny, because I have always called it cold hosing. The more you know...

Anyway. I know you are all here for the pictures, so wait no longer:

 Now we just need to wait until the sores heal so she can return to her friends!

Some more bandage changes and pictures

Its almost time to take out the stitches! Jellybean just has to make it to the end of the week and she will be on her way to the great outdoors (and some turnout) again. Lots more pictures for the next bandage change. The rub was healing, but pretty ugly in the meantime :/ We used less vet wrap with the green horse shoes and much more padding, so as to have less pressure points.

Stitches look good

Another bandage rub :(

The skin is literally falling off here...

That little flap makes everything look worse

And bandaged up

Unfortunately the bandage was not tight enough to prevent it from falling down, which is how I found it one night. Cue another bandage change (3 days later).

The stitches are continuing the improve

This looks better too, albeit still yucky.

 So when we rebandaged this next time, we wanted to leave the back of her knee pretty open. It looks very wet and gross, so we decided to air it out. We were considering limited wrapping at all, but we decided to protect the stitches until the vet comes out at the end of the week. Whew. This is all a lot of work. But this last change happened without sedation, which was good and bad. Good because I know she's not in too much pain, disappointing because it wasn't an option (btw... at $25/go, its not a cost effective solution).

I'm very excited to hear from Dr. Lee on Friday and determine what he thinks about the wounds and how he thinks they are healing. And then Jellybean just has one-two more weeks in the stall before being turned back out in the paddock.

You can stop holding your breath now

I know, you have all been waiting to hear if Jellybean is surviving this nightmare. I finally have a couple of spare minutes to update her adoring fans. The first couple of days were pretty boring, mostly spent in anxious anticipation of the upcoming bandage change. You may not have been reading between the lines very well, so I'll just say it. Jellybean is a sassy red mare. And she doesn't like to tolerate what she doesn't like. You see where I'm going.

The vet school initially said the bandage needed to be changed on Sunday (2 days post stitching). I asked about pushing it back a couple of days until my normal vet (the wonderful Dr. Lee of South 40 Equine) could help/supervise the bandage change, and the attending said sooner, and that it would be best to do it Sunday. Now I'm not made of money. I want my horse to be healthy, but I'm not really willing to pay for a weekend farm call for a bandage. I talked to Dr. Lee, and he suggested if the bandage was in the same place, I should make an appointment early Monday morning. Whew. That was a lot of stress that fell away.

So Monday morning comes, and Dr. Lee starts taking the bandage off. Opinionated mare is very unhappy with this setup, and proceeds to be naughty. Cue the good drugs. Jellybean relaxed in the cross ties and Dr. Lee does his business. I forgot to take pictures the first time we changed the bandage :(. So Dr. Lee gave (haha sold) me a bunch of bandage supplies and most importantly, a sedation drug, Dormosedan. He finished the bandage and remounted the splint, and Jellybean went back to her stall to sleep it off.

The next time the bandage was changed, there were flies sitting on the outside of the vet wrap, indicating extra drainage. So we tried to cut off the bandage. Jellybean was really really really upset about this procedure, even through the fuzz of sedation. As it turns out, we were pushing the scissors into a bandage sore from the splint. Nothing worse then forcing a horse to stand while you are causing them pain :'( We made the executive decision to leave the splint off one bandage change early, in the hope that the rubs could start healing.

I took some pictures:

This is the rub on the back side of the knee

The actual wound is healing really good

Bandage shot!

Stay tuned for another post on further care of this wound!

Suicide attempts are never funny... but they are more expensive when horses try it.

Weekends seem to be a great time for certain sorrel mares to think they want some time off from their overly stressful brooding teenage life.

 Here is the story of how our precious little Jellybean tried (unsuccessfully) to kill herself, again.

On a crisp, bright fall morning in Bryan, Tx a young couple wakes up to a friday morning full of potential.  Breakfast is hot and delicious and coffee seems to waft through the air ass they prepare to trundle off to the university to continue slogging away on their dissertation research.  everything is grand!  Off they go, driving to work, and wouldn't you know... a phone rings.

"Hello?" says Amanda.
"murmur... murmur... murmur" from the cryptic voice on the phone.
"She did WHAT?!?!"  exclaims Amanda.
"murmur.... murmur... MURMUR" from the phone.
"OK (sigh), we are on our way..." says a resigned Amanda.

Never ask what happened after a call like that.  Just turn the steering wheel and point the car toward the stable.

As it turns out the barn owner was on the other end of the line and she had some wonderful news!  Jellybean had attempted to end her poor, miserable, angst ridden, mistreated life by..... sticking her leg through a fence.... Yes folks, the horse could not come up with a better attempt than simply sticking her leg through a hole in the fence.  This pony is dumb by the way.

********BE WARNED GRAPHIC VET PICTURES FOLLOW THIS BREAK*****



We got to the stable with very little expectation of the damage she had done to herself.  Thankfully it appeared to be only the removal of several square inches of her skin.

Jellybean hair on the ground

Bent fence

So, we loaded her up in a trailer and ran her of to the horsey hospital at Texas A&M.  Woooo!  I can already feel the money flying out of the bank account! Once we arrive the show really begins.  First they take Jellybean's vitals.  Just to make sure the horse that walked in is not, in fact, dead yet.  Then we got our own little, semi-private exam room.

Jellybean in the stocks...  yes she is ashamed.

After they made sure she was still alive and worth saving the vet got REAL intimate with the injury.  She said it was to check the joint and make sure everything was still intact.  Even my vet skills tell me that if a horse WALKS in under its own power, not sedated, and puts full weight on the leg everything should be fine. But, here is the vet feeling Jelly''s knee from the inside.

Yes, finger IN the skin down onto the knee.  EWWW!!!

After a lot of poking and prodding the vet finally let the students have their day.  The students shaved her leg and began vigorously scrubbing with betadiene to clean up the wound.  I think they went through 4-5 stacks of gauze and a gallon of betadiene solution but, here you have it a nice clean jellybean leg ready for some sutures.

Look at those legs!  Dang sexy! Glad she shaved for this one.

Now we get to the fun stuff!  Stitches time Jellybean!   Oh, and for those of you that don't read often, she is HEAVILY sedated here.  there is no way she would stand for this crap otherwise.

Student stitches

Vet Stitches

Almost done

All Sewn up!

Now we get to see how well Texas A&M packages a horse for shipment :)  They don't want her to rip her stitches out so we begin the long and laborious process of wrapping up a Jelly leg.

First Protect the wound

Then protect the protection

Then protect the protection used to protect the wound

Add a splint (a.k.a. 2x4) to protect her from moving her knee

Hold it right there. I need to DUCT TAPE that sucker on!

BOOM!!!! perfectly safe, perfectly sutured, perfectly unhappy pony.

Just so you don't think i am completely heartless, here is a video of Jellybean learning to walk with her new peg leg.

And finally, one of her happily eating grass in the sun outside the vet school while waiting for her limo to take her home.