This is Lame!

Yeah. He's lame.

So last week, I went out to torture inconvenience ride the Big Grey Horse. I got to the barn, and it was noted by a couple people that Altivo had been running around like a nut in his paddock, since a new horse got put into the enclosure next to his, and there was playing and running and general merrymaking going on across the fence. My horse decided to join in, and all that witnessed this were in awe that such a big lazy lug could run and play like the teeny arabian that was performing Olympic style backflips and perfect 10 landings. Ok, so I'm exaggerating, but you know what I mean.

I listened to these tales, and wished I could've seen him, but then soon forgot about it when I started pulling a dozen cats worth of hair off my beast. I took him into the arena to poke about on him, and poof!! A limp, just for a step or two. Not prolonged at all.  I hopped on him, thinking it was nothing, and he refused to go forward. Altivo, as lazy as he is, has NEVER once refused to go forward. In fact, he's been doing so well these past couple months, and had yet to refuse anything I have asked of him.
Yet here he was, flatly refusing to walk. I got off, and started to lunge him, wondering if that one limp had anything to do with it. At the trot- limping like crazy!!

I assumed his merriment from that day had perhaps bruised his hoof....I put him away and returned two days later, to a limp all the time pony who didn't want to bear weight on his hoof. No signs of abscessing, no signs of obvious trauma, no signs of anything, except a very sad horse who didn't want to walk.

For those of you who may be concerned, have no fear- he was still eating and his appetite was normal. (Remember, if he's still eating, he's not in danger- this is Altivo we're talking about here.)

So, the vet came out, did a bunch of diagnostic observation, and didn't find anything wrong with the hoof. He couldn't feel any bone injuries or obvious muscle issues. He then did a nerve block, which is where they numb certain parts of the leg, starting at the ground level and work their way up, to see at which point the pain or limping stops. This then tells the vet what part of the leg is having problems, and allows them to figure out which tendon or ligament is hurt.
I know nothing about this subject, so my friend, Google, came to my aid.
I found a really helpful article from UC Davis about Suspensory Ligament issues...if you're interested, here it is:
Suspensory Ligament Brochure

And here's a picture from The Horse.com showing the ligament in question:

So the vet prescribed what is called "Bute" or Phenylbutazone, which an anti-inflammatory medication for horses, twice a day for a week, and then once a day for a week.

And stall rest. 30 days. I broke the news to him with an orange. He didn't listen to me, he was too busy chewing, but he'll figure it out soon enough. The vet said after 3 weeks or so he can start to be hand walked, so I'm going to get him a couple stall toys, like the JollyBall or something to try to keep him occupied. He's going to go crazy. Or break the barn down. Or both.

This is going to be interesting.....

Altivo in the arena

Lesson recap!


 Actually, I've had 2 since my last post, but I'll lump them in together, since they were quite similar, just with different horses. Why am I not riding my big baby? No, he's fine, I'll get to that in a second. Both of these lessons involved trotting, and learning to post the trot. Posting is where you let the horse's gait raise you out of the saddle, in a timed and controlled manner to make the trot comfortable for both of you. It's a TON worse if you just sit and jiggle about for the trot, and I don't think the horse appreciates it too much either.


 So you have to time your muscles to "catch" yourself and lower your butt in time to have it thrown out of the saddle again. It's all about finding the rhythm of the horse and going with it. The first horse I rode while trying to post the trot was Casper- remember, he was the very first horse I rode at lessons?? He is a Quarter Horse, so his trot is very quick, meaning lots of little posts, rather than lots of time to find the rhythm. His advantage, though, is that he's small, very wise, and is sort of a "babysitter" for newbies.

Next, Chinook. He's a big Tennessee Walker, around the same height as Altivo, so I was familiar with that, and his trot is quite similar to my horse's. A very slow, even trot that is easy to follow, however, he's very eager to go, and may offer to gait for you, instead of trot.


I have to say, Chinook was more comfortable, however, it was good that I rode Casper first. I had that tripping issue with Altivo- remember?  I have to admit that it made me just a teensy bit fearful of trotting...afraid that the horse I'm on is going to trip and fall and I'm going down with him. This, I recognize, is not good. I seem to be more comfortable controlling the horse on my own, and I think that it's because on the lunge line, it's a tighter circle, there's the element of turning fairly sharply thrown in there, whereas if I'm controlling the horse, it's in a larger area, no rope connecting us, and I have more balance. I talked to myself (don't we all?) and tried to tell me it wasn't a big deal, I need to relax, but I'll need to keep talking.





Ok, so the big guy is stumbling occasionally while under saddle at a trot. Y'all remember the blog post about the tripping episode....right? Well, here's a video of him, and it's not until the veeeeerrry end that he trips.....so if you don't watch it all I can't blame you...it's a giant white horse running in circles. I am unsure what to do since he doesn't have anything wrong with him that anyone can find....but that's why I'm not riding him in lessons. I need to be able to learn on a dependable horse who doesn't trip all over the place, and until we know what causes his fumble-footedness, I can't ride him in lessons. I know every horse is dangerous, inherently, but I'm not sure what to do for him, short of taking him to UC Davis for a full workup. BLARGH.

Do horses get ADD???

Ok, so I wrote about my experience at the AFatGirlAFatHorse forums, but I'll re-post it here:

Well, the other night, Altivo was all saddled up, my teacher checked the saddle to be sure I'd cinched him up properly, and we started my lesson- all went normally, until she put him on the lunge line to trot him, so that I could work on my seat and balance.

All of a sudden, while he was trotting, he stumbled in the sand arena, and fell down on his front end, and I got lurched forward. My instructor quickly got him up, and I had put my hand out forward to stop myself from tumbling over him, and ended up gripping with my legs, holding onto the saddle horn with one hand and pushing against his neck with the other.

As soon as he got up, I dismounted so that she could lunge him and check him for any issues (there were none), and she chalked it up to his being out of shape, and I hopped back on. She trotted him with me up on him without incident after that.

Holy crud, that was scary!!! I was scared, but at the same time, dang proud of myself that I managed to stay on. It happened so fast that I have a hard time replaying it in my mind, and I know a fall is bound to happen eventually, but never having had one, it's unsettling to be reminded about it.

Ok, so, my amazingly awesome teacher and I talked about what could potentially be wrong....and I made a vet appointment. We still used him for my lessons, and I still rode him, but we only asked him to walk, no more than that.

 Then, a couple days later, the vet showed up, and she spent almost 2 hours with him. She had me trot him in various directions, she did flexion tests, where she held a foot in a specific way and then had me take off trotting with him, then she touched all of his legs, walking him up hills and over curbs, and then there were 10 essay questions. Ok, so I made that last one up.

But she really looked him over, and figured out.....

He's lazy, bored, and has a short attention span.

Really? Well, as far as anyone can tell, yes. That, and he's out of shape, which could be a small part of it.
Unless he gets worse or this becomes a more prominent issue, then that's the diagnosis at the moment.

So I'm continuing to ride him, and we've noticed that he trips less and pays more attention when he's outside....I suppose I'd get bored turning in circles in an arena all day, but I will still continue to monitor his progress.

So BGG got curious....What is Giant Inattentive Horse like bareback??

I'll tell you...but first, I will tell you that as of last night, I had no clue. Let's rewind to yesterday, shall we??

I went to the barn alone yesterday. When I arrived, I realized, no one else was in the barn either. I'm pretty self sufficient nowadays, what with a very patient horse and all. So I tacked him up, and we went for a short walk around the property. He did well, though he tried to eat some yummy looking grass a couple of times...if only I'd thought to bring Mr. Spanker with me!!! I managed to yank him away with a sharp kick, and we finished our ride.
Then, I thought, I shall get on him bareback!! I removed saddle, saddle pad, breast collar, and put them away. I walked him out to the arena with his bridle, and I parked him next to the tallest mounting block there.
I took a handful of mane along with the reins, and looked at his huge back. I swung my leg up, and....

Stood there.
With one foot on the mounting block. One on the horse.
The horse stood there, calmly, waiting for the half mounted idiot on his back to either get on or fall off. It was surreal, how quietly he stood.

I hopped with my left foot. Nothing.
I used my right foot to try to heave myself over the rest of the way. Nothing.
I grabbed at mane and pulled at air. Nothing.

Then, something.
Altivo took one step backwards. One. With that one step, he dragged my foot off the mounting block and I was hanging on to his neck, in a sort of weird performance art-type pose. I'll call it, "Girl, unfinished".
I slid down the rest of the way, thanked Altivo for being as quiet as he was, and put him away for the night.

Now, tonight, I asked told BigGreenHusband that he was coming with me to be a stepstool. I bridled him, led him to the arena, and grabbed the tallest mounting block. I swung my leg over, and BigGreenHusband shoved my butt up, and poof!!

I was on my horse, without saddle or stirrups!!! He was comfortable, and wide like a recliner. His skin didn't shift alot, so I didn't feel like I was going to slide to either side easily. I had to grab on to his mane to steady myself about 3 or 4 times, usually when he was turning, but for the most part, I felt balanced and solid.
Granted, we only walked, since I'm not solid at a trot yet in a saddle, let alone bareback, so walking was as fast as we went.
AND....since this was the first time I'd ever been on him bareback, we stayed in the boring ole arena, because even though I wear a helmet, I didn't want my first fall off a bareback horse to be too ouchy. (ok, so I didn't fall off, but I like to be prepared...)

Photos or it didn't happen, right?

There me are!!!

It felt so free, to just hop on and go....but it seems to me until I have a ton more experience under my belt, in order to work on my posture and seat, I need to use my saddle more than not....but maybe a treeless saddle will be in my future???