It Takes A Long Time Sometimes To Make A Friend

Who Is Alpha?

Well, Scout and I have been on one heck of a journey.  He seems to like his corner stall that he has been in for nearly five years.  He has a lake and park view.  And we are at an intersection that other riders with their horses stop often.

Two years ago I was "lunging" Scout in a rectangular "turn out," when on his last run he fell down on the sand.  It seemed like time stood still.  He got up without hesitation and looked over at me as twenty "boarders" came to his rescue.  We walked him gingerly over to the first "cross ties," and checked him out.  Nothing seemed broken.  He had a small cut.  

I called his vet

who came out and took x-rays.  It seems that Scout has bone on bone in his right knee.  Like some of us with a similiar situation doctors would have options from a series of injections over several months to total replacement surgery.  These options are not available to horses.  Although, there are some options to help equine joints stay lubricated there is nothing to guarantee regrowth of cartilage.

Scout was initially placed on stall rest.  So this big old horse had to stay in his stall and rest his knee.

Although I told him that he was like a three year old kid that wanted to go out and play.  Eventually, we started we started lessons again and concluded that he was good for 20 miniutes after that he would go lame. 

My ferrier was wonderful and has been treating him for the past four years but has really tried to keep Scout's hoofs and legs comfortable.  It's been my job to get him the correct meds and food.  I think we have done a pretty good job.  Because Scout finally seems happy.

He takes previcox everyday, legend once a month and adequain twice monthly.  Plus an assortment of supplements that we mix with timothy pellets and a few other items to get him to eat his vitamins.

He is definitely a foodie and is always looking for the next meal.

Tuesdays are his favorite day because that is the first vendor delivery down our asile after a three days.  The delivery man often parks his huge truck loaded with various hays next to Scout's stall and does Scout have a time.  Every hay in the universe is in front of him and he is like a kid at a candy counter.  Not sure which one to take a bite of and how much can he get before the truck moves.  I should take a video because it is pretty funny to watch.  But what he likes even better is walk the aisles.  It's like a equine cafeteria to Scout.  He sees all the bales of hays and doesn't understand why I am yanking his halter and don't want him to eat other horses food.  And so begins our tug a war march through the barn.  When we finally get home I am relived that we are both in one piece and we have not stolen too much hay.

Last Friday I put him into a round pen in the back of the barn area.  He does not like them. I have not figured out why but he starts to pace and winnie.   A friend suggested I walk around the pen with him and he followed me closely.  We were separated by a pipe rail.  I started to run and he started to run.  Then I would stop and turn and go the other direction.  This is the first time either of us had run in two years.  He was so happy.  We were playing a make believe game of tag.  Sometimes I would go side to side and he sort of figured that out but the double time standing still he never got.  It was the walking, running, stopping and going another direction that I saw my horse thrive for the first time in a long time.  He bucked and snorted and played the drama king to the top.  He loves an audience and he got one.  And I was exhausted and a sweaty mess.  But what fun.

Sometimes, now at 64 I think I am too old but I look at my girlfriend who is 72 and say stop complaining.  It's a wonderful experience.  Except for each and everyday from the moment I arrive it is an on going decision who is "Alpha," for the day.  We are still working on that.

Still learning how use the blog tools will post some great photos of Scout and me from last year soon.

Cheers,

Pam

MY FIRST HORSE AT SIXTY: OUR THIRD ANNIVERSARY (2015)

Our Third Anniversary

April 12, 2015

I promised myself I would keep this blog going but like all good ideas the lack of time has a way of getting in the way.

So here I am with so many things to do, patch ceiling leaks, cut back rose bushes, 

work on taxes, pay bills, take a shower and make the bed but I wanted to work

on my blog about Scout and me.

The vet was out last week to give Scout his vaccinations.  He gets three in the spring and three in the fall.  There are five hundred horses at the facility and the vet

that started the vaccination clinics was smart.  No we don't line up with our horses rather the vet comes to the stall.  Usually there is something else going on with a horse at least Scout that the vet takes time to go over it.

Scout has a bad knee.  After two and half years of sometimes having very bad riding days I had his left and right knees x-rayed.  You might think it is a big deal but it is actually very cool.  I meet the vet at the  "cross ties" this is a small area half the size of a parking space and it has metal chains on each side with clips that attach to the horses halter.  This helps to keep the horse confined with out any concern for his well being or yours.  When I was interning I would take the horses from their stalls by halter and lead rope to the cross ties.  There they are groomed, tacked up (means all their gear is put on, saddle pad, correct fitting saddle, bridle (many different types), sometimes muzzle to prevent them from stopping and eating on the trail, and some times rubber boots that go over their hoofs (if a horse is not shoed).  One might also add some fly spray to make the horse comfortable during the trail ride.

Okay, so I took Scout over to the cross ties where we met the vet and his assistant.

The assistant put a 3 foot by 3 foot black board behind Scout's leg.  The vet started snapping pics that came up on his computer.  Almost instantly I could see Scout's left knee.  It was not good.  Scout does not have any pad or cartilage between his knee joint.  So going down hills seems impossible for him at this time if ever.  He could fall and if I am on him I would go down too.  He also has arthritis and bone spurs.

The right knee wasn't as bad but does have arthritis and bone spurs.

It was a sad moment......

Scout loves to run up and down hills and his running days except for a brief moment are over.  This is hard because somedays he probably feels fine because of the medicine I give him but if he runs across a turnout (a fenced in area of  varying sizes for a horse to get out and stretch his legs, walk around, run around, etc) the next day he will probably be still.

Since September I have probably ridden Scout once a month.  Mostly with a bare back pad.  I use a bit but the saddle pad although lighter and more comfortable for the both of us sometimes gives Scout the wrong message.  Liked "oh boy, she doesn't have

stirrups and can't control like she might....."  But I immediately quash that thinking

digging my things into his sides.  He gets the message eventually.

Scout has a big personality and loves horses and people.

He was owned by a man that fell on hard times and sold him to the couple I purchased him from.  He was fast like the wind and very little frightens him.  So he was a good extreme adventure cowboy race horse.  He was a great trail hors and a good lesson horse.  He was the "go to horse" for several years for a trial and lesson business.  But the wear and tear on his legs, not getting the supplements and food and personal attention a private owner would give their horse broke down Scout's legs. I try to get Scout good supplements, medications and good hay but it's hard and expensive.

I have been using chinese herb oil that a friend shared with me when my knee hurt.

I have been putting it on Scout for about four months every day and it seems to be making a difference.  So I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Exercise:  So I can't ride Scout we walk.  He gets walked in the morning and in the late afternoon.  A friend walks him for 20 minutes in the morning and I walk him in the late afternoon.  We walk and walk and walk.  I am always thinking of different routes that we can take without going down a hill.  I have figured out a couple.  He loves to be out on the trail.  He is very bright when he wants to be so it's important I get him out of his stall.  So at 63 I am walking this 1111 lb...... horse for at least twenty to thirty minutes or more in the evening.  He loves to eat the fresh grass on the trail or different flowers and plants.  It's like a feeding "frenzy...." He gets so excited.

Like me at an ice cream store.....

Besides walking Scout, I walk with my neighbor early in the morning, swim, walk my doggies and walk Scout.  Sometimes I walk alone.  In California the weather is

beautiful so it's fun to be outside.

Next bathing Scout.  This is not a job for the lazy or sloths. It's like bathing an elephant.  And Scout's favorite thing to do after his bath looking beautiful?

Roll in his shavings in his stall.  Ouch!!!!!

THE COWGIRL CREED

(I made up two months ago for my grandniece, Indy).

I see my horse everyday.
We are partners.
He lives in a comfortable place where he is safe.
Every day I muck his stall, clean his water buckets and give him
fresh food.
I groom and bathe my own horse.

I tack up my horse.

I travel my own trail.

No one comes between me and my horse.

I am a cowgirl.

MY FIRST HORSE AT SIXTY: WAS THIS A GOOD IDEA?

September 20, 2014
Greetings.  I promised myself when Scout became mine that I would start a blog.  Well, delay, delay and now almost two and half years later I am finally starting...but let me start at the beginning.

In October 2010 I stared at the closed front door that my ex-fiance had just locked.
We had been together for over ten years and one morning around ten he said, "I'm going..."  I said, "Going where, we don't need anything, do we?"  He said, "I m leaving us."
Okay, enough dialogue!  The short story is he left and it took me months if not years to move forward.  But that's another story.  This is the story of Scout and Me.

After my fiancé left I was sitting in a psychologist's office and was told,  "You need to do three (3) things you have never done before or that you always wanted to do."  Not sure why three or the reasoning behind it other then to distract me from the pain I wore not only on my shoulder but my entire self.  So my first choice was horse back riding.

I contacted a few people I knew rode or new about local stables and finally someone said, "Go over to Huntington Beach there is a huge stable there."  And so I did and thus begins my relationship with my horse, Scout.

I called the stables and made an appointment for a riding lesson (February 1, 2011).  When I arrived, after signing waivers: like should I fall and die they were not to blame, I met my first trainer, Amy and a horse named Scout.

The lesson horses were a mix group of adopted horses and all had various backgrounds from abused and abandoned to privately owned and donated when their owners tired of them or could not afford them.  As luck would have it Scout was pre-selected for me.  After my first lesson,  I never wanted to ride another horse but there were times when Scout was busy or had an injury and another horse was mine for an hour.

I loved the stables, the horses and wanted to spend as much time there as I could.

While taking lessons I heard about an internship program set up mostly for teens and college students.  I asked what qualifications were needed to be part of the program? There was only one: you had to be over sixteen years old!  Well, at fifty-nine I qualified several times over. :-).  So I signed up and started the eight week internship program.  There were four of us in the group, two teenagers and a gal in her mid thirties.  Our instructor was a beautiful and very talented rider, Stephanie.  She took us through the basics of what I call Horse 101.  Everything you needed to know about horses including hands on experiences.  I remember the first time I picked up a horse hoof and was told not to be nervous because the horse would know...what an experience.  Scared to death but pretending to be calm the horse I was working with turned his head and looked at me.  He seemed to know how "green" I was and probably took pity on me because he was very cooperative.   Thank goodness!  And so begins my blog of Scout and  Me and my first horse at Sixty.

I will write more later but I need to get chores done and then out to the stables to take care of Scout who became mine in April of 2012 (he was purchased as a gift for me by a wonderful person).  Below is a photo of Scout and me during one of our "Barn Walks..."