Teeth Floating and the Old Grey Mare

Why is the process of grinding hooks off teeth and grinding high spots off the horses bite called 'Floating?' If anyone knows, fill me in.

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, Diez quit eating her daily ration. She is an easy keeper but not eating her food is NOT like her. Because I knew she was overdue for tooth care, I hoped that floating would bring back her appetite. Since she is 27-years old, I worried that something else could be amiss. I had a ridiculous work schedule with no room for vet appointments during office hours. So, I called Mika Ford who has a small animal clinic in BA but I had heard has a passion for horse dental care. Mika agreed to let me bring Diez to his place north of Collinsville last Tuesday night. He has mobil stocks and a driveway to work in as well as a headlamp attached to his forhead. I brought TC as well because I thought he could use a float too. Mika was wonderful! After Diez was sedated, he showed me some ulcers on the inside of her checks, described the condition of her teeth and explained what he would do. Then, he floated, telling me all the while what he was doing and why. Very educational. Then, the same drill with TC. Although not rainy, it was blustery and Mika took his time and did a great job. Then, the acid test. Would Diez eat again or was there a bigger problem. I am happy to say that Diez started eating immediately and has regained her normal appetite. So, if your horse needs tooth care, Mika is Great!

www.indianspringsanimal.com
918-455-4144
405-612-7223

4 Days in a Row

Splash says he is really tired after working 4 days in a row. Thursday night - Ride Night and 4 little girls took turns riding him; Friday afternoon and Ivy took a ride; Sat. and I rode Splash in the lesson at Patty's; and Sun. Ivy rode again. Splash says "enough already!"
Really, Splash is slowly (very slowly) making progress. He also was worked at Patty's Monday night while Ivy and Alaina had a lesson. His steering is much improved and I think I will ride him next year for ODS schooling shows.

The lesson yesterday was shorter than normal because Marsha and I worked so hard as did our mounts. After warm up for horses and People, Marsha and I worked on a large circle together spiraling in and out trying to stay on opposite sides of the circle. Not as easy as it sounds. Splash moves off my leg fairly well, but slows to slug-speed whenever he can and a circle gives him his big chance to fizzle all energy. After the circles, we tried for extension along the long side and collection along the short. Although not really extended, Splash did give me some lovely trot work and was more consistant than he has been. We are getting more moments with give to the bit but still need a bit more work there - haha. Then, canter work which went without a buck and only a couple of dropped gaits. After that, we both got tired and the impulsion left the building with Elvis.

Today, Mallory and Roxanne come over with Raffles and Trouper. My arena is a little small for 5 riders working at once, so we took turns cantering. Mallory and Raffles looked lovely together and all 3 junior riders were looking good too. Ivy worked Splash and Alaina rode Diez in Jaime's old saddle (so her feet don't fit the stirrups yet). I worked Sunny and all I can say is Yikkes - rough canter especially since Sunny would like to express himself with bucks or crowhops at the canter. But he settled down and we ended with a very nice trail ride around the Wild Orban Ranch. The day was beautiful - cool but no wind. I would like to order up weekend days just like this one until spring springs. YaYa for now. c

Fall Colors

I took off a little early today so that I could get home before dark and work Sister in the round pen. The girls 'helped' from the sidelines trying to distract Sister from her work. Considering her long break since real work, I was happy with the round pen work. After we were finished with a brief session of lounging with reins tied to the stirrups, each girl sat in the saddle while I lead them around the pen twice. Then we stopped so we could end on several good notes. I don't know when I will have the courage to get on myself. Elizabeth worked with her some last summer... but....

Anyway, when we had let Sister graze a little, the girls wanted to ride Sunny and Splash. We took Splash to ride night this week and several girls rode him - Zoe, Ivy, Lara and Abby. All did very well with direction and walk/trot. All even managed to canter both ways briefly. Splash got a workout and the kids enjoyed him. So, i was hopeful when Ivy mounted this afternoon. Alaina and Sunny had some good work - particularly with jog work. They will be quite a pair someday. Ivy and Splash did well too. Ivy took Splash over cavaletti and a v. small x-bar at the trot and had very short canters both directions. I guess we will have to get them to a lesson or two very soon. Then, we ended with a little trail ride in the evening light. Lovely.

Book Tag - Borrowed from Nuzzling Muzzels

*Here are the rules:
1) Grab the nearest book.
2) Open the book to page 56.
3) Find the fifth sentence.
4) Post the text of the next two to five sentences.
5) Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book or the intellectual one --
pick the closest.
6) Comment with your book info. and
7) Optional Tag five more none yaya people to do the same.

So, by virtue of my blogsend feature (emails to YaYa's when I post) I have sent this to more than 5 people.

Here is my Tag Results - kind of in line with my Galloping Gourmet persona:

OK, Steve made Pancakes from scratch this morning (we are out of bisquick) and left the Betty Crocker's Cookbook (1979 Edition) by my computer. Soooo, Page 56 has Curried Bratwurst at the top/left. 5th 'sentence' is: Place each bratwurst on 1 slice bread. spoon about 2 Tablespoons sauce onto each bratwurst..... (Sauce is: 3/4 c catsup, 1 T Worcestershire sauce, 1 1/4 t curry powder, 3/4 t paprika). Sounds yummy and supposed to be "hearty and homestyle with chilled Potato Salad or (yuck!) Hot Fried Hominy.... Very Interesting and fun game... c

Shiloh at Show

Shiloh had a great start going as a four-year old, and then came an injury. It's taken quite a while to recover from the physical and emotional aspects of that. He was convinced it would hurt!

We were ready to go this year. First he banged a back leg and added a puncture wound to the mix a month later. Our plans to make most of the schooling shows this year were out the window as we went back into recovery and rehab mode. On October 25, we made our first show of the season! My guy did really well, even in the costume class. It occurred to me after the fact that I might not ought to have done that with a relatively green horse [grin]. We did an Intro class. He was cooperative, forward and listening to my seat. I couldn't have asked for a better day or a better horse!

Costume Class Montage

The day dawned bright and beautiful. Combine that with time with your horse and horsey friends and you have a nearly perfect day.

The costume class had many great entries; I've included a montage of shots of these. I think everyone is in this group except the chef. Cathy posted a shot of her and Splash in costume earlier.

Splash of Fall

We have had a fun weekend with beautiful weather. Trick or treating on a warm October evening. The girls and their cousins went house to house in a nearby subdivision and made a haul of candy - I went along dressed in my chef outfit without the horse but with a mouse in my necktie. Sunday we had company from far away - David and Jetta stopped by with Jan this afternoon and Steve smoked some ribs... yummmy.
We had an early lesson on Sat. with Splash, Krystal and Breezy, and Kathy and Caspar. Carol was gracious enough to let us crash her lesson but Shiloh was off on his front right. Hopefully, he will be on the mend and Carol back in the saddle soon.
Splash was sluggish during the lesson and Patty used the lunge whip to help his impulsion so that I could work on getting some give to the bit. He is so difficult to move-out and it is hard to make progress. He is getting a little better with taking direction but still dips his head to the inside to avoid the bit. I love him on the ground but he is very hard to ride. He sure is pretty though....
I am about to commit to riding Pico in the Schooling Show Championships. He is camping at Elizabeth Eaton's pasture and she is planning to ride him at the SSCs also. I am a little worried about the big indoor arena but it might be fun.
So, yaya for now....