Happy 5-Year Anniversary to Gogo and I!

Thursday, Gogo and I celebrated our five-year anniversary together, and I can hardly believe how much time has gone by. FIVE years has passed since I plunked down a check for my little monster... FIVE! It has been one hell of a journey, full of ups and down and everything inbetween. Despite it all, I wouldn't change a thing. I wouldn't be where I am today without her.

I have some hilarious picture tributes that I put up for her last year...

Gogo's Famous Picture Pose
Gogo Strikes a Pose!
Uhm.... 'Special' Moments


.... and of course, I must add another year's worth of Picture Poses, Striking a Pose, and 'Special' Moments:

















Happy Anniversary my little Mami! Here's to another five - or ten, or fifteen, or twenty! - years of laughter, tears, ups, downs, happiness, and GOGO!

Duh, winning!

I have nothing but fun things to report today. Firstly, I'd like to ask if anyone else has a 65+ pound lapdog. I am currently being squished.

Secondly, Gogo's soundness is continuing to improve by tiny little increments. If you remember me stating last week, Gogo's lameness is most apparent at the canter, where she can maintain the left lead for as long as she wants but can only canter on the right lead up front - she crossfires behind and stays on the left lead. But the other morning, when Gogo saw me arriving for breakfast, she cantered to me from where she had been grazing across the front part of the field. And she cantered ALL the way to me... on her right lead!! Not that she should be cantering, but it was a good 10 or 11 strides, and it was fully maintained on the right lead... not one switch or crossfire! The legs both look great every morning (or well, at great as they ever will). They still have fill by the end of the day, but that's the way they get when she's warm. The fronts do it a little bit too, like they always have, so it doesn't bother me. That's just her new norm, I guess. They've been that way since she first injured herself nearly a year and a half ago. Yikes.... I can't believe it's been that long. This coming week will be a year since the original injury to the right too. Again, it's hard to believe it's been that long.

Thirdly, I have two stupid (or should I say AWESOME?) new polls on the side of my blog just begging for your votes. I am too computer-illiterate to get polls to post in an actual post (believe me, I tried), so they're in the sidebar after much failed cutting, pasting, and grumbling on my part. They both need a little explaination:

1) In discussing some of Gogo's, erm... quirky habits, I had someone comment to me that she was nearly as crazy as Charlie Sheen. All I could think was... NEARLY? I couldn't decide who is nuttier. Charlie Sheen might be great at spitting out nonstop word-vomit, but can he spin, rear and leap at the most inopportune moments? That's a tough call. Definitely want to hear feedback on this one.
(Edited to add: As if to add to her side of the argument, this morning when I gave Gogo a bath, she very definitively sat back and broke her halter for no reason at all when I was washing her face. I've only been washing her face for four years.... apparently, I was not allowed to do it today!)



2) Gogo's mane is OUT OF CONTROL. It's always been ridiculously impossible to maintain, but now that her head is down and grazing for most of the day and night, her completely awful mane is now growing both forward and straight up. No more falling nicely on the right side of her neck.... oh no. When showing, it takes endless pulling, fussing, and braiding over to get her mane to even vaguely stay on one side of her neck. It's a right pain. Part of me wants to just let it grow and grow and grow, and just see how long it gets by the end of the year. Nicole, who has had horses with long manes before, has warned me against this, citing how much of a pain it is. I figure it can't be more of a pain than trying to maintain it at a nice pulled length while she's in a field. The other option is to roach it - just shave it all off. I can't decide which would be a better option - without a mane, the flies might bother her, but with a mane, she might get too hot in the summer. What does everyone think?



Lots of little other things are happening, but they're all small. Fecals, feed-through bug-off supplements, and tail maintenance are all on the list to be written about, but for right now I have chores to do for my fattie. Go vote!

The Waterhorse

I would like to know when November decided to cut the rest of October off and just jump right in the game. It's been freezing and cloudy all week! Also, WHAT is going on with my "posted at" times? Pretty sure I am not writing some of these posts at 3:45am. Maybe I have it on the wrong timesetting, but I don't think I am techno-savvy enough to figure out how to switch that.

Anyway. I've been a bit of a slacker when it comes to writing this week... I've been very busy and a bit mopey due to the cold weather. I seem to be making my yearly transition from violently active warm-weather athlete to cuddled-in-warm-armchair cold-weather hibernator. I did manage to squeeze in five great rides on the woman this week, and gave her two days off, despite wanting to do nothing more than ride and sleep (mmmm.... warm bed). Starting with last Sunday, I hopped back on Gogo bareback for a 45 minute jaunt around the property, just to start her moving again after two weeks of being off. I tried her in something new, a rope indian bosal from the same lady who makes Tamara's tack, just to try something for light trail riding that doesn't involve a bit. I thought for sure she'd love it, given her history with contact issues, but I was wrong. Apparently, and thankfully, those days are long gone. I can honestly say that she really just seems to do better in a bit. She was responsive to the turning aids in the same sensitive way that she always is, and stopped with a verbal "whoa", but as for actually stopping from a rein aid? Nope. Didn't get it. In her usual way, when we got to trotting up the far hill, she broke into the canter and frisked about. However, with the hackamore, she had enough the ability to put her head between her knees and get halfway up the hill before I managed to slow her down. I thought they had a little more sting in them... apparently I was wrong. Oh well, it will be good for trail riding at least...



((Gogo says, uhhhhh....))


After work on Monday, I tacked Gogo up for our weekly road hack, and set out to try and beat the sun before it went down (so early these days!). The best way for me to really assess Gogo's soundness is by sitting on her and trotting her on a hard, flat surface, and I take advantage of my time on the tarmac by spending a minute or two trotting on a loose rein on both diagonals. Even though she was doing her typical look-around-side-to-side-nonstop while trotting, which makes it a bit awkward for steering, she felt exactly the same going from one diagonal to the next. Sweet! I kept the trotting to less than a minute or two, and spent the rest of the time cruising around on the buckle, admiring the fall foliage. Gogo was a crazy half-saint as always: at some point, she and I walked around the corner near a house that was flush with the road, and in the yard was a GIANT blow-up ghost, RIGHT there, hissing with air and waving its giant arms around. It couldn't have been more than three feet away from us. Did she even bother to cast it a passing glance? Nope. What DID she spook at? The yellow mailbox, a few feet down the way. Mares. The whole ride totalled an hour, and it was perfect.

Tuesday we had an excellent work on the flat. Warming up in the early morning chill, we walked around the hills of the property for 15 minutes, and then moved into the outdoor to do some walk/trot work. It wasn't complicated, and I didn't canter due to her level of fresh (didn't want her to go galloping and leaping off after two weeks off), but we did some basic lateral work and some bending and stretching. She also gave me some amazing moments of suspension and lightness when I asked her to move out in the trot down the long side. Every lengthening prior to her injury always had a bit of a rushed, groundbound feel to it - not bad per se, but more covering ground without cadence. These were UP and forward, with power. I think there's a lot to be developed here!

Wednesday, I had the best day of all. Despite the fact that I was off and had every right to sleep in as late as I wanted, I bounced out of bed at 4:30am for no reason at all and woke up a sleeping Chris with, "I am going to go take Gogo to the beach for a sunrise ride!!" (I am lucky to be dating someone who takes my totally random early morning whims in stride) Somehow, I managed to get myself, my trailer, and my horse ready and out the barn door by 6:30am, when it was still dark. When I showed up to the barn, I fed Gogo, and then collected all her tack outside of her stall. She saw me coming in with the halter and had OTHER ideas, promptly turning her butt to me and slowly backing in my direction, which is exactly what she did the morning I went to take her to see Dr. C. This brings the grand total of times she's done this behavior in her life to two. Both times, she got the snot beat out of her in response, so hopefully this will be the last... bad, bad mare. Not tolerated. She was on her best behavior after it though!

Unlike the last two times we went to the beach, this time she was totally relaxed, and she plowed right in to the water like she had plans to swim across the Sound to NYC. Running dogs, people casting fishing lines, drydocked catamarans... nothing phases this mare!








If you turn the sound waaaaaaaaaaaaay up on this video, you can hear me yelping when she went in deeper than I expected and soaked my feet through my boots. Salty wet fail!





Just look at that sunrise. It was amazing! And yes, I MAY have been wearing a scarf at the beach.... it was not quite 40 degrees.

Two days off, another light 45 minute bareback hack yesterday, and one final day off today in order to get us back on track, and we are back to our regular schedule. Stay tuned for more adventures, there are some BIG ones coming up!

A Lovely Day for a Hack

WE DID IT!

We went on a real trail ride!

I know it doesn't really sound like it's that big of a deal, but this is a huge victory for me. This morning, after a year's worth of trailer rides to nowhere but the vet clinic, I loaded up the Mother Marester and ventured into NY to the Baxster Land Preserve, known around here as "the Racetrack," where the locals condition their field hunters. Over a hundred acres of seemingly endless rolling green fields awaited us there, filled with stone walls, coups, ditches, and even a water complex. We obviously weren't going to be jumping any of those things, but when we are ready, they are there and open for public use. I've been salivating over this place for nearly a year now, and it was worth the wait. I can't wait to come back here and condition, I think you could gallop forever!






Gogo has a hack day on the actual pavement on Monday of this week, and I am delighted to report that not only did she (mostly) behave herself, but I also trotted her for all of 10 seconds and posted on both diagonals, checking her soundness. She felt exactly the same left to right - perfect!! When she broke so seriously in March, the day before it happened was the day I felt she wasn't quite right on the road. It was nice to feel how amazingly sound she is on a firm surface. She followed up this lovely performance with a 'meh' sort of dressage ride yesterday, giving me some serious snark in our canterwork and doing two outrageous reining spins whilest spooking at imaginary beings. It doesn't bother me when she spins that fast - shows she's catty! - but I'd really rather she didn't do that to her legs, and I told her so. She told me to go fall off a cliff, in fewer and less pleasant words. In the end, I got a pretty nice canter left and right out of her, but it wasn't without tension. She may have been a little tired from the day before, but she felt as sound as ever, so I figured that a nice walk in a field was probably the best medicine I could offer. Much to my delight, this morning under her wraps her legs were actually tighter than I ever remember them being since the injury and ICE cold, so all systems were go on our end. She was cheery and happy to hop on the trailer and see where we were off to.

Her behavior could not have been better. Once she got past the baying hounds in the kennel across the road (her first encounter with them, and certainly not her last!), she stepped out and really relaxed. She cried only once, and as if by magic a man conditioning his hunter came cantering over the hill and past us, so I think that settled her too. After he disappeared, we saw no one else, but even so she stretched down into the bridle and picked up her pace from a small, hesitant walk to a rolling, marching one. Really, after the first 10 minutes of being a little unsure (XC jumps! Wind! Chilly weather! Roundbales! Squirrel!), she melted into the most relaxed trail animal you could ever have wanted. That's my girl.

We were out for a little under an hour, just walked with about a minute of trotting on a flat patch of grass just because. For her first real trail ride in a year, I could not have asked for better behavior, and could not have asked for a nicer day.

I can see that this is going to become a common autumn event pretty quickly.




Staffing Crisis 2010 is slightly less of a crisis than it has been for the past three weeks, so I MAY have a little time to breathe (and blog) now, hooray!

Funnies, and a Picture of the Day

Just a quickie funny find over at Green n Green = Black n Blue. Denali seems to have landed herself some jailtime in a stall, and she, like Gogo, is a bit opinionated about such things. Gogo is actually super good in her stall day in and day out (as long as she has food and a soft spot to nap she is good to go) but this funny list really hit home for me and cracked me up.
101 Things To Do With Your Stallbound Horse!




And now, for the Picture of the Day...



XC schooling at Bath Pony Club in Ohio. I think the caption for this photo should be "OOPS!" Gogo has since learned to step nicely off banks versus LAUNCH off of them like her 6 year-old self was doing in this picture.

Some Interesting Facts, From Me, Gogo!

Hi, this is Gogo, ruling Queen of the barn and Supreme Deity, coming to tell you a few things about the past two months of stall rest, because I have had a lot of time to think about these things. It is Very Boring, being in a stall, and I told my mother that I just HAD to start writing for her because she is being Too Boring in her blogging. WHO wants to hear about OTHER HORSES, I mean HONESTLY? James is a smelly smelly gelding who uses his own POOP for a PILLOW. He DOES this, I saw him when we were neighbors. And every day he has a brown FACE. WHO wants to ride a Poop Head. Honestly.


Here are 10 Things I Think You Really Need To Know About Me That Have Happened In The Past Two Months.

1) I made it safely through vaccination season. Remember last fall when I had that Very Bad Reaction? My mommy this spring decided that there should be no more of this nonsense, so she split up everything and gave the vaccines one at a time, once a week, with Banamine. Now, I don't normally mind these things, because I am above such things and getting worried about needles, but that was a lot of needles, for a lot of weeks. And she had just finished giving me seven doses of Adequan. Now really mommy, that is enough with the needles forever, okay?
2) My mommy says I am very fat. I DO NOT WANT TO HEAR THESE THINGS. She lets me eat grass two times a day for only TEN minutes at a time. When I should be eating grass for ten HOURS. But she says I am so fat she should tie string to me and float me in the Macy's Day Parade, and I am Very Angry when I hear these things. I just like FOOD, okay? And when I don't do anything, even though I don't even get any real grain, I gain weight because I am a HEALTHY BIG WOMAN. THERE. I said it.
3) No matter what my mommy had done for the past two months (or the past three years), my mane just won't lay down. My mommy keeps braiding the hair, and it keeps coming out and falling all over the place. And I say HA, you can control my feet but you can't control my HAIR.
4) Speaking of hair, I am also REFUSING to fully shed out. I have fluffy fuzz clinging to me everywhere and I say HA! You cannot rule my hair mommy. You can curry me until your arms fall off every single day, but these hairs are not going anywhere. Wait, why do you have a pair of clippers in your hand?
5) Mommy says my legs look really pretty good. When there is fill in them, she just walks me out of my stall and it always goes away. She seems to be very happy about this, I honestly don't care as long as we are walking out to get the grass. Mmm... grass.
6) I have Dirty Rotten Fungus Legs. Well not really, but since I had been soaking in the tub and my legs were hairy, even though my mother would towel my legs off every day, they were still sometimes damp when they got wrapped. So I got some fungus, and I have wavy hair on the front of my back legs. My mommy thinks this looks very silly and says she can't wait for me to shed it out, and then grow back some normal hair. She also stopped putting me in the tubba and opted for ice boots every day instead, which is easier and drier. So now my fungus is going away and I can't say I have Dirty Rotten Fungus Legs anymore.
7) Secretly, I am in love with my neighbor Ellie. She is sooooo pretty, even when she squeals at me and I attack the stall bars back at her. After that happens, she usually goes outside and I scream for her until she comes back. But that's our secret, don't tell Athos, he is always watching us because he has a fantasy about two mares.
8) My mommy tells me that now that I'm in a central stall, I am an Attention Whore. I do not know what this means, but I shall keep rattling my door until one of you comes over to bring me something to eat and explains it to me.
9) I go back to the vet next Thursday! They will put the Cold Drippy Gel on my legs again and see what they look like through the Picture Box, and then maybe my mommy will be able to get on me again and ride. And then, she will get to tell you lots of interesting bloggy stories because I intend to make her life very, very interesting.
10) Everybody loves me. But you all knew this, because YOU all love me. Because I am the Queen.


OK that is all I will say for now. Until then, think about ME, GOGO, and NOT smelly horses like smelly James or any other smelly thing my mommy writes about, because let's not forget who this is REALLY all about, ME, GOGO. OK bye.

Bummin'.

Want to know what started today? Rolex. The ultimate destination, as spectator or rider, for all those who love our great sport of eventing. Year after year, Rolex devotees make their annual pilgrimage to this holiest of grounds to cheer, walk 89 miles a day, rack up enormous amounts of debt at the trade fair, gulp down corndogs, meet up with dozens of friends we only see once a year, have heartattacks at every jump, and scream ourselves hoarse as we watch our favorite riders, horses and heroes conquer the most grueling event North America could possibly ever offer up. Rolex. Just the word gives me the good chills. Rolex, where I go year after year without fail, no matter how impossible it is to get there. Rolex... where I will not be this year, and it's driving me nuts. Hurting me, even. I gave up my Rolex this year because I have very limited vacation days and thought I was going to need them all for showing. Now, I don't need any of them for anything, and could have easily taken a few days to go. Sigh.

And yet, life goes on. Thinking about missing Rolex has made me sharply aware of missing my entire show season, and it hurts. I am doing my best to enjoy all the little things I love about my mare - how rich and glossy her coat is even with the last remnants of winter fuzz, how one section of her mane always falls to the wrong side of her neck no matter what I do, how her feet still remain rock hard and gorgeous despite rest and her perpetually sloppy stall (she is the worst hay dunker and she drags that water ALL over the front of her stall every day), how she always manages to look happy whenever I come around in the morning to say hi - but I'm still wanting to ride, to gallop, to just sit on her even. In due time, I suppose. Right now we are celebrating the victory of starting to treadmill again, of tight and cool legs that stay down and cool from the first cold-tubbing of the morning all the way to nightly wraps, and of a freshly trimmed set of feet that make me smile every time I look at them. I might be dreaming of Rolex right now, but I know that next year it will come. I might be wishing for a full and hearty season of eventing for myself and for my mare right now, but I know that even though we can't this year, with patience and time we can do just about anything.







I keep catching Gogo snoozing every morning after she gets a fresh clean stall. (Hence the terrible cameraphone pictures.) She's always covered in shavings, filthy, drooling, and peaceful. I think I know what she might be dreaming about.

The Fresh Leaps of Go-Mare

(I do apologize for the temporary silence since my past post, but as you know, it is BIRTHDAY MADNESS WEEK so I've been out every single night raising a little hell. I finally had a rest night last night and spend it catching up on some oh-so-needed sleep. Tonight, we head into NYC for a big party and then I get to spend tomorrow sightseeing around the City. How is it that I've been in CT a year but haven't been??)






Spring is doing its very best to come to CT. It was nearly 60 degrees yesterday, and it will be today and tomorrow too. All the horses are feeling serious spring fever, and so am I. Not only has this week been fantastic for birthday celebrations, but it's been an amazing one on the Gogo front as well. She's done more and worked harder this week than she has since the accident, and those legs and her soundness are holding up. Since it's been so warm, the legs do tend to fill in funny, lumpy ways, but they're never unusually warm or big, and they're always variations on the same level of fill - AKA giant, ugly Windpuffs of Doom. Every day my favorite boarder and I run our hands down those legs, and every day find pretty much the same thing. Quite honestly, I think I just have to relearn what is normal for her. The legs will never, ever look normal again. They just won't. It's just a matter now of determining what the new normal is.

I hadn't been on Gogo in three days when I finally got back in the saddle on Thursday. I hadn't wanted to be off of her for that long, but that was just how things worked out last week, so I accepted it as such and moved on. I had a really fantastic dressage-y ride on Friday - finally, we are really approaching "real" dressage work versus just walk trot canter on the bit for X amounts of time. She was a bit fussy and a bit bouncy, but once she settled in, she gave me some really nice moments, including three broken canter circles to the right (she kept breaking at the same spot), and three CONSECUTIVE canter circles to the left! That's way more canter than she's been able to do, and she actually took a contact for part of it and maintained it. And she felt physically capable of it, stronger - like she could have kept going without a problem. I left it as that, did some more trotwork, and let her cruise around on the buckle for awhile. I've not really been able to do that much in the indoor since there are door monsters and a loose rein usually means it takes that much longer to stop her when she flees from the door monster. She's actually been quite good down there, but much like last year in March, she's just done with the indoor. Just... done. Remember when she did this last year? Very similar situation here, except we weren't really backsliding mentally, just physically. (Not anymore!) So my solution to that since it's been so gorgeous outside? RIDE OUTSIDE!
Saturday we hacked. We hacked way further off the property than we'd ever been - hell, it was the first time hacking off the property at all. I've been limiting her to the small hills and trails around our property, but since the grass has been so soft and went, I was unable to ride on it at all. Instead, I decided to challenge her a little with the lower-grade hillwork and try something a little more intense. We hacked for the same period of time plus 5 minutes, same as we always do, but went allll the way up the road on a small but steady incline to the first four-way stop, and back again. She was SO HAPPY! Ears pricked, big march in her step, loop in the reins. It was early - maybe 8:30am - and the sun was glittering through the trees, the weather still chilly. It felt just like old times, and it was beautiful. And I'll be doing it again today. :D

These past two days, I've continued to push, just a little, without actually pushing, if I can explain that. Our enormous and gorgeous outdoor has FINALLY thawed and dried enough for it to be ridden on, but is still a little wet and squashy - think giant turfy sponge - but I've been letting the boarders out there for some limited riding. I also got to ride out, much to my joy (and to Gogo's too), but instead of putting on dressage tack and continuing in that way, I decided to have a little fun. Out came the jump saddle, jacked up stirrups and all! Since the footing is still soft up there - by no means turf-able, just softer than the stuff in the indoor and much wetter - I decided to let her get used to it and buzz around with me in my half-seat versus stress her body our trying to compensate for correctness in new footing while the tendon is still in the final stages healing. And WHEEEEEEE! She was FRESH, but SO good. She had a huge park trot going - you knew she would! - and was shaking her head all over the place, something she never does. She also, of course, had to throw in a little Gogo flavor, and did what the other rider in the ring affectionately called a handstand: a backcracking vertical bronc buck with her head between her knees! She NEVER bucks unless she's feeling ridiculously good and fresh, so I was smiling as she went plunging down the long side from there, striking out with both front legs every canter stride. The other boarder's comment? "That was cute." Oh Gogo. She also displayed her more studdish side, spooking away from something and doing this (which I know because I saw a flash of pastel blue bell boot in front of me!), then did the Execute Stallion Rear Program and bounced up and down, shaking her head and waving her front legs like any colt at play might. She then came down and stood totally immobile with her ears pricked, as if to say, "Sorry mom... just, man! I feel like a woman." Oh Gogo...

Yesterday I continued on the theme of doing-something-productive-without-feeling-like-being-productive, and used my jump tack again, letting her have a looser rein and moving at fair speed around the ring. No smaller circles, no complicated movements, just power and speed. She offered a canter at some point, and I got up in my half seat and let her. And she felt GOOD. She felt SO good. Our outdoor is enormous and she went once, twice, three times around with no problem before I pulled her up. We went the other way and same thing - a big, powerful canter, bigger and stronger than ever, no hesitations anywhere. I know we weren't actually going that fast but to me, it felt like flying. It felt like nothing in the world. She even started to consider breaking a sweat, and so did I, the first time that's happened since September. We finished the ride with a hack on the buckle up the driveway... I haven't been able to let her have such a loose rein outside yet.

Truly a good week. Truly, truly.

As for today, we hack again, and then Gogo get her Rabies and Coggins pulled. I am feeling really paranoid about spring shots this year - who wouldn't after all that reaction nonsense - but we are going to seriously space everything about and take every precaution we can. Yeesh though... not looking forward to it, not at all.




You won't hear from me for a few days since I am off to NYC, and then Friday is my actual BIRTHDAY! Who's excited I'm excited!

The first clovers are coming up, birds are chirping, sun is shining... spring is almost here!!

An Exercise in New Year's Resolutions

I did in fact go back and delete my last post after having second thoughts about it. I know it's been requested of me to write about my awesome job but that's not what this blog is about, and shouldn't be. I certainly did not mean to gossip about my boarders by sharing that last story.... it really just was too funny and I wanted to spread a little joking cheer. In retrospect, not particularly appropriate of me! Won't happen again. If you want to know about the hijinks that ensure while trying to keep 31 horses, 23 owners, 2 cats, 4 trainers, and 4 staff members happy all at the same time, well... you'll just have to get to know me personally!




In other news, I've been doing my best to integrate my New Year's resolutions into my daily life. These are all, for the most part, life changes versus one-time events, so I've been playing with them and doing my best to make my life and my world a better place. As a refresher, here are my 2010 resolutions/goals:

Travel as much as I can – Madagascar/Egypt/? At the end of the year
Complete the 100 Pushups/200 Situps/25 Pullups/200 Squats challenges
Learn how to run barefoot and compete in a 5k barefoot (maybe!)
Do yoga once (or twice) every week
Eat healthier – buy fresh food every week and learn to MAKE IT
Save money for other things than the necessary – shows, and breeding next year
During the winter, ski every Wednesday that weather allows
Complete Metro's scrapbook
Have a poem published
Finish Patrick painting


Well, so far I've done my very best to ski every week, but it's quite a bit harder than expected. Unfortunately for me, Connecticut is on the temperate end of New England, so while my sister is up skiing in Vermont and Maine all weekend every weekend, I struggle on my one day off to get out to our tiny local hills. I went skiing two Wednesdays ago and the hill I went to SUCKED! The snow was terrible, there were only two chairlifts open, and I got SCREAMED at by some maniac chairlift operator when I didn't put the bar on the chairlift down. (Seriously? Is that a rule now? I thought it was a suggestion.) Last week I wanted to go on Wednesday, but I didn't actually have a day off last week, so that didn't work. This week, I've had to contend with the fact that it's been 40+ degrees all week, so ALL the snow is gone. Can't exactly ski with no snow! I HAVE done yoga every week though, which is great. We have a very nice small studio in town that has classes every evening, and while I was doing a very intense hotroom Vinyasa class, I also tried a few Naam classes with my roommate, just because it's always more fun to exercise with a friend. Our Naam class is.... not like any Naam yoga I've ever known. We do lots of chanting, obviously, but we don't really do much in the way of actual yoga poses. Lots of fitness stuff, but it's just not... yoga. It's a bit weird, but actually quite tiring, so that's good. On the barefoot running front, I've been researching a bit and I do agree that I want to get a pair of Vibram Five Fingers. A lot of barefoot enthusiasts say that getting a transition shoe is not ideal if you're going to run fully barefoot, but I'm not quite sure that I DO want to get to that point just yet. It's the same idea as getting hoof boots in my mind. Movement is critical to creating the bare foot that you want, and if you have a hoof in transition, forcing the horse to hobble painfully over rocks just isn't fair. That foot will come in time, but you need to help it get there. Same with barefoot running. If I'm hobbling over rocks with my pathetic feet that have been wearing shoes since I could first walk, I'm not going to get very far am I? My feet need to strengthen, and I need help getting there.

An interesting comparison: here are some healthy bare human feet versus unhealthy "shod" human feet, and healthy bare hooves versus unhealthy shod hooves.

And:

Don't be fooled by the width of the shod foot. That is a hoof plagued with paper-thin, pancake-flat soles, serious flares, and a very contracted heel. Nothing at all like the rock-cruncher on the left.
As you can see by both the human and horse examples, the foot will adapt to compensate for improper footwear, and will also adapt to a more natural lifestyle if given the opportunity. To what extent it will adapt is dependent on everything - environment, exercise, diet, proper trim, genetics, etc. But every foot can change in some way, shape or form.

EDIT: I forgot to add in one more thing, and it's very important, maybe the most important part of the whole post. It is quite clear to me that if you were to take the unhealthy "shod" foot in that picture and set it to walking around barefoot, aside from the obvious pain factor from those weak, uncalloused soles, that foot will never turn into the big wide one pictured. Why? Because more likely than not, that unhealthy foot has been crammed into shoes ever since it was young. It's similar to the very outdated foot binding custom: a young, growing foot will become permanently deformed if forced into something unnatural. Countless doctors agree that improper footwear for children can be exceptionally damaging and unhealthy. And now here's a thought: what about that idea of the tiny, boxy Quarter Horse foot? The eternally crappy Thoroughbred foot? Quite obviously, genetics DOES play a part in this, but you don't see crappy feet in ALL QHs or TBs. You DO see a lot of crappy feet in OTTBs and QHs who come from young sport backgrounds. Those TBs get shod for the track when they are long yearlings. Those halter, western pleasure and other young western sport type QHs get shod when they are weanlings, and I've heard it's desirable to encourage a horse to put out the tiny, upright boxes that seem to plague our QHs today. I certainly hope that's not the real case. Regardless, those young feet are not done growing, and do they get the chance to develop a thick digital cushion, a dinosaur hide frog, thick walls, and a tough sole callous? No they do not. If you have a completely outstanding farrier, the damage probably won't be huge. But unless your farrier is God, it's quite possible that the fast growth of young hooves will quickly outgrow their shoes - but be unable to adjust for their size. They'll be stuck the way they are. Actually, Bowker did a study on this, dissecting hooves that had been kept bare and hooves that had been shod at a young age, and he found that the internal structures of the feet shod at a young age were essentially "frozen" in a state of immaturity - they were permanently stunted. (If anyone has a link to that study, let me know so I can put it up here.) This is why I think a lot of people won't - or even just can't - take their horses barefoot and expect them to be able to perform. Those feet were deformed when they were still growing, and never had the chance to develop what they needed to make it in the natural world. A majorly "deformed" foot taken bare will change for the better if given the opportunity, I assure you. But will it ever really be fully barefoot and sound and comfortable on all types of terrain in all situations? Maybe! But, maybe not. I wish we could take two cloned TBs, put them in the exact same diet, exercise, and turnout program, and shoe the one and leave the second barefoot, just to see what would happen. THAT would be an interesting study.

I digress. Anyway.



In this miserable, crappy Connecticut winter weather, I am really looking forward to trying on a pair of VFFs and am dreaming of a warmer, drier springtime.

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As for Gogo, it's becoming quite clear that I've likely bitten off way more than I can chew financially for the upcoming season! Sure I want to do Holsteiner approvals in the fall and all the bigger events and the AECs and some dressage shows and some jumper shows and a competitive trail ride and hunter trials and hunter paces and OH MAN! that is a lot of stuff. Toooooo much stuff. WAY too much stuff. If I really want to breed her next year, I need to budget for it, and that means not being ridiculously extravagant this year. I certainly am bringing in three times the money that I was (not that that's a ton, but hey, it's a start), but that doesn't mean I can throw money wherever I want it. So, I'm going through my show schedule and scaling back to just include the most important things. The schedule is not complete yet - this is just events and a couple possible schooling dressage shows - but I am not planning to do any competitive trail rides, jumper shows or too many other things. Holsteiner approvals may not happen this year either... it's so many hundreds and hundreds of dollars.


April 18: Mount Holyoke Schooling Dressage Show (CT) First 4, Second 1
May 1: Once Again Farm Schooling Dressage Show (CT) First 4, Second 1
May 29: Mystic Valley Hunt Club HT (CT) (Novice)
June 25 - 27: Groton House II HT (MA) (Training)
July 10 - 11: ENDYCTA/Old Chatham (NY) (Training)
July 24 - 25: Fitch's Corner HT (NY) (Training)
August 5 - 8: Millbrook HT (NY) (Training)
August 14 - 15: GMHA HT (VT) (Training)
September 09 – 12: American Eventing Championships (GA) (Training)
October 2 - 3: University of New Hampshire HT (NH)
October/November: Cap in with Wentworth/Tanheath
October: New England Hunter Trials (Novice)
November 12-14: 2010 Equine Affaire Versatile Horse & Rider Competition

Italicised are the possibilities that I haven't decided on yet. Not included here are any potential hunter paces I want to do. There are TONS to choose from, so I haven't decided yet which I'd like to do. I am happy to report I have a whole slew of eager boarders who would love to join me in these endeavors, so I will have riding buddies, partners and support! Hooray!

As for the events - the real meat of the season - I am planning on starting the season with Mystic's very easy Novice, just as a pipe opener. If all goes according to plan, I do want to make Groton House our first Training. I considered doing the spring GMHA at Training, but it's in early June, and I just don't think we'll be ready by then. So we'll do what we did last year with Groton House - cross our fingers and hope that we'll get in!

Really what I'd like to do is one of those schooling dressage shows just to get her off the property, then go into the eventing season strong. Whether or not I will do Old Chatham entirly depends on how she feels, and how she does at Groton House. Once again, my brain has exploded seeing that every other level has their Area Championships in the fall.... but the level I want to show at? Yep, gotta be held at a spooky venue in JULY! So quite possibly, I will not be attending Areas this year. It just depends on, well, everything.


Gogo is feeling good, strong, and sound under saddle. One of our boarders commented yesterday on how perfectly even she looks behind, much to my happiness. She also mentioned while watching her from behind that she could also tell her evenness from just how evenly her tail waved back and forth while she was trotting. Love that!


Gogo would also like to say that she is REALLY looking forward to springtime and galloping again:

That's a "PLEASE!" face if I ever saw one!

It's Gonna Be a Happy New Year

Yes, indeed it is! 2010 is here and we can finally let the last decade die in peace. How weird is it that ten years ago I was still in middle school, standing around at Epcot in Disney World waiting for Y2K to shut off all the fireworks and lights? Aaaah, ten years come and come. We've learned many things in the past decade, answered many burning questions such as... how does one unfreeze an iPod? Should I shake it like a salt shaker or a Polaroid picture? Should I vote for Kerry just so Bush won't win? A decade where somebody finally realized that skinny shirts were out, skinny jeans were in, and skinny models should finally eat some more sandwiches. A decade where buildings got attacked, space shuttles fell out of the sky, and long wars started. A decade that gave us Facebook, Twitter, the iPhone, publicly available hybrid cars, and the pinnacle of human achivement, the Snuggie. A decade where I entered and finished both high school and college, owned all three of my horses, and saw many pets, family members, and friends come and go. It's quite remarkable to look back on it all and realize just what a huge amount of time a decade really is, especially for someone like me who is not quite two and a half decades old. That's practically half my life right there. That's crazy.


As is tradition, it's time to go over all the 2009 goals I set for myself and for Gogo, and to come up with new 2010 goals. 2009 was sort of a hazy year for me - started out SO strong (winning three events in a row!) and then ending on such a crappy note (a RF, a last place finish, a 5th after a rail, and a tendon injury!), so it wasn't quite what I had hoped for. Most of these goals didn't get accomplished at all.

2009 Goals:

1) Qualify for and attend the AECs at Novice – place top 10
Well, we easily qualified for them, and we attended them, and we WOULD have finished 4th out of 40 people. I suppose I consider this goal not totally a failed completion. Freak things can and do happen, things we would have never guessed could have. The fact that she kept going through that challenging course while being seriously injured unbeknownst to me and never questioned a thing or hesitated anywhere means more to me than any placing could, because of the heart and guts she showed. She just kept going. That takes a special horse to just keep going.

2) Break 70% (at First Level or Novice/Training)
We did in fact do that! But only once, which was a little dissapointing. While the average of our overall scores went down - and was VERY consistant - our lowest score was still only a 29.5. That's not as low as I want it. We'll work harder at that this year,

3) Show First Level 1-4
Nope. I just didn't have the finances.

4) Hopefully show Second Level 1-2 (not an official goal, due to money constraints)
See above. Hopefully this year.

5) Show Training Level eventing
Again, we WOULD have done this had she not injured herself at the AECs. She was mentally ready and she was definitely fit enough. So not a TOTALLY failed goal, just an uncompleted one due to circumstances beyond my control.

The goals I set for myself last year are also for the most part incompletions, or total failures. My problem ended up being this: I spent too much time focusing on my horse, and not enough time on myself. Which you know, certainly could be worse, but I am a firm believers that all people should have other things they love and enjoy to do away from their careers and career-like things. If I had a desk job somewhere, then of course my horse would be the perfect outlet away from that, but she's a large part of my daily career work, as are all her horsey comrades. I think it's very healthy to maintain other fun pastimes too, because of focused I get on just her. For most of this past year, she's been my entire life. Everything I've done from waking in the morning to sleeping at night has revolved totally around her. And that's great when things are going swimmingly, but extra devastating when things aren't - I had nothing else to turn to that I was putting any sort of emotion into. One of the (very) few good things about her lay-up has been that I've had so much extra time to do all the stuff I enjoy but don't have time to do when she's in heavy training. I focused a lot on myself. I go to go on small vacations. I traveled a bit, I spent more time with friends, I painted and wrote, and I did a lot of yoga and reading. It was nice, just getting to go for a stroll in the woods and not think about my next upcoming show. So this upcoming show season, while I won't be any less driven in the slightest, I fully intend on letting myself be a multifacited person. Sometimes I get so focused on one thing, I forget all the other aspects of my being. I'm crazy about skiing. I love to exercise. I love getting my hair done and a new pair of shoes. I adore sailing, travel, and walking up to total strangers to strike up a conversation. I have to allow myself time for these things this coming year. That way, if something else happens that's not in my favor (but it WON'T because I SAID SO), my whole life won't feel totally ruined.

The other problem with last year's list? It wasn't specific enough. It was very vague, and so therefore I had nothing concrete to hang on to or to focus on. Things never got done because I didn't have enough of an idea of what I really wanted to do in the first place. I'm starting over this year with a more difinitive list, both for myself and for Gogo. And for both of us, there will be a bigger list of things that are NOT just sport.

So, without further ado, our yearly goals.

2010 Goals:

Gogo:
Qualify for and attend the AECs at Training Level, top 10 finish
Break 70% at First Level or Training Level (Score in 20’s)
Show 1st level 1-4 (Schooling or recognized)
Show 2nd Level 1-2 (Schooling or recognized)
If finances are available, show in GMHA’s N3DE (do the T3DE next year!) – or at least attend/support/volunteer/donate to it
Take her to Holsteiner approvals and get into the MMB
Do some fun competition type things: the 2010 Equine Affaire Versatily Horse & Rider Competition, a competitive trail ride, hunter trials/hunter paces
Go foxhunting!

Me:
Travel as much as I can – Madagascar/Egypt/? At the end of the year
Complete the 100 Pushups/200 Situps/25 Pullups/200 Squats challenges
Learn how to run barefoot and compete in a 5k barefoot
Do yoga once (or twice) every week
Eat healthier – buy fresh food every week and learn to MAKE IT
Save money for other things than the necessary – shows, and breeding next year
During the winter, ski every Wednesday that weather allows
Complete Metro's scrapbook
Have a poem published
Finish Patrick painting

Now there's two or three things in there that might have caught your eye. First, it's true - GMHA is running a Novice 3-Day this year. THAT IS AMAZING. If I am still point-chasing, it's unlikely that I'd be able to do this, as they're running it a couple of days before their regular event. But if I can't ride in it, I still fully intend to support it, either through volunteer work or financially. With the time we've lost and my inability to really find someone out here that I'd really like to train with (any suggestions?), doing the T3DE is not a viable option this year, sadly. I don't have the qualifications or the knowledge to do that alone. I need a teacher and a guide. But you never know, maybe someone amazing will come along and we'll try for it!

Secondly, did you say breeding? Yes, that's the plan - finally, I'm in a situation where I will be financially strong enough, as well as be in a stable living/job situation, where I will be able to breed her in the summer of 2011. The goal all along has been to breed her before the age of 11, then go back and compete for several more years before retiring her as a broodmare. It is infinitely easier to get a younger maiden mare pregnant and mainain it to term rather than an older maiden mare, and it's actually quite common in Europe for a mare owner to breed the mare at the age of 3, foal out and see what's she's capable of producing, then break and train the mare until she's older and ready to be retired to be a full-time mom. Young bodies are good at these kinds of things, and old bodies are more concerned with keeping just themselves healthy and going. So for mid-late summer 2011, I am finally setting it all down in stone. Two and a half years from now, expect to be introduced to a bouncing, rearing bundle of joy. I can't WAIT already!! BUT, clearly that is a long way away, and I need to start planning and saving now if that's what I really want to do. All the pieces are ready to fall into place - I even have an inexpensive place to keep the wee one when he/she is weaned for very cheap... right here in my backyard! Turnout all day and an arena and everything! If that's not a great situation, I don't know what is.

Thirdly, did you say... running barefoot? In all the commotion in the past few posts about barefoot horses and barefoot human athletes, I got to thinking about it. Here's the thing: I LOVE to run. But I've essentially stopped every time I've really gotten into it because of the horrible pain it caused me. Knee pain, back pain, shin splints, cramps in my feet, and let's not even get me started on my bad hip. I was running in crappy shoes at the time and attributed it to that. I went out and got myself a fancy pair of running shoes and tried again, and strangely enough, the pains in my feet got way, way worse. I would have to stop mid-run sometimes because of the shooting cramps I'd get in my arches. It was weird, it didn't make sense. So now here I am, getting fat on the couch while my horse gets fat in her stall. I'm not running because my feet and my body hurt when I do it regularly. I have pretty good form... so what's the problem?
And then I had a lightbulb moment when everyone was bickering about it. Why not try running barefoot myself? It sounds ridiculous really, when I write it down, but I'm serious. If it worked so well for my horse, maybe it could work for me too. It's quite the same set of principles - nature gave us these feet and intended us to use them unfettered, and it's quite a growing movement. The human evolved as a bipedal walking/running machine, meant to be on their feet and going all day long. If I want to try this, I need to do some serious research and ask some very real questions. If it hurts me too much to run in shoes, maybe I should just try without them, and see what happens. Who knows? I might come back swearing with glass in my foot and write the whole thing off. But maybe, just maybe, it'll change me as an athlete for all time. I'm a novice runner - a very novice runner - but I want to do it and I want to do it a lot. I love it. I am no Stacey but I do want to try, late in the year, a 5k road race. Maybe I'll end up back in running shoes - who knows? But maybe not. It'll be an interesting experiment, and a sweet way to run a little bit of a parallel to the nekked hooves movement. I know what it's like to be an athlete limited by my shoes! So stay tuned to see what happens on that front.


Happy New Year, everyone!

TALLY HO!

First of all, I'd like to announce that today is National Do Something Totally Random With Your Best Friend Day! This was a picture of Nicole, erm, dumping me into Niagara Falls. Sweet.

Also, the Eventing-A-Gogo blog has reached a new milestone - our 100th official follower! We're not even a year old yet, and this offical following doesn't count all the people who follow anonymously, or just read on their own. I never had any intention to ever create something like this - I had no idea in the slightest that it would ever take off in the way that it did. People have really responded to this wild ride Gogo and I have been on, and it's been awesome to get to meet and talk to so many interesting people over the course of this past year. I get a lot of e-mails filled with encouragement, stories, and thanks for writing about all the things that we do from day to day. So really, thanks to all of you, because you're all a part of my life now. I have so much fun with this, and I'm glad you're all a part of it, from those of you there with me in the very beginning to those of you just reading now.



And now for something completely different.





Two weeks ago, I headed up to the Great North (Connecticut is pretty much the Deep South of New England, at least longitudinally) to go foxhunting with Daun. However, due to Mother Nature's bipolarity, we had to settle for other fun things instead. I must have been a decent enough houseguest because Daun insisted I come back up again in two weeks for the meet at Tamworth, this time on a guest horse so we all could ride. I had one hell of a whirlwind weekend, and after this first hunting experience, all I can say is I hope Gogo's legs are good enough to give it a go next fall - it was serious fun.

My Friday started out on a happy note - Thursday was my last day of work at this job ever, and it had been my 9th day in a row of working, so I got to sleep in that next day. Let me tell you, not worrying about an alarm is THE BEST FEELING EVER. I woke up feeling refreshed and happy, and spent a large chunk of my day happily packing away. That evening, Shan and I were invited to go over to Judy's house, who is one our fabulous boarders, for a delicious homemade dinner and a haunted hayride. The company was excellent, the spiked cider even better, the hayride totally enjoyable (and freezing), and the ice cream that followed THE BEST. But needless to say, I still had to depart for Daun's that evening, and after Judy insisted I shove even MORE food into my mouth (she gave me a bag of cookies for the road too), I finally headed out at around 10pm. Now, my ETA at this point was midnight. Very late, but I had warned Daun that my arrival was going to be either very early or very late. Not ideal, of course, but I was assured that it was all right, and since Judy has been staving off my starvation and attending almost all my horseshows this year, I certainly was not about to turn down her dinner invitation. Anyway, so I'm on the road. I'm cruising steadily up I-84 when suddenly there are a million brake lights. Oh, for REAL? What is going ON? Apparently some sort of accident had happened, so then we sat. And sat. And sat. FOR TWO HOURS. Finally, after what seemed like a very long eternity, we started to move, and eventually crawled up to the scene of the crash. As it turns out, the crash was on the OTHER side of the highway... and that side of the highway was moving along JUST fine. It was just our side who weren't being shooed away by police that all wanted to stop and gawk at the carnage. WHY.
So now, it's past midnight and I still have at least 2.5 hours to go. I'm utterly exhausted, so I take a break and doze. I don't feel better after this, so another hour down the road I have to take another break and doze. Caffeine isn't helping either. Even though I was in contact with Daun during all this, I'm sure she was probably peeing her pants wondering if I had crashed and died by this point. 3am rolls around and I am STILL not there. By this time, I just couldn't physically drive anymore without slipping into unconsciousness behind the wheel and crashing and dying, so I just gave up and pulled over, snuggled into my coat, and PASSED OUT. I managed to very woozily rouse myself a couple of hours later, continuing on to Daun's farm and arriving a little after 6. As I stumbled out of the car, I was met by a totally incredulous Daun - "You're CRAZY! You have to hang onto a galloping horse today!" - and of course, with a little breakfast in my system, once we were on the road with the horses I was OUT again. We pulled up to Red Horse Farm in Tamworth a little early, and I opened my eyes to a full-fledged New England autumn morning glittering before me with the remnants of frost, our breath steaming as we shivered our way down to the main farm, our bellies filled with hot cider and rum once we got down to the main farmhouse. After dressing (in many, many layers... it was DAMN COLD!), we located Dana, the woman whose huband's horse Media Luna was to be my mount for the day, and I helped finish tacking and hopped up. Media Luna was once upon a time an Argentinian polo pony, and came complete with some seriously ragged hair, an ill-fitting and horribly slippery saddle (one of those generic ones that you get out of a Western catalogue with the label "English saddle"), and a totally sweet disposition. After a brief speech by our fieldmaster, we hacked down the road to the field where we would be releasing the hounds, and I had a chance to socialize a little bit with the other members of the hunt in the first field with us. What a hack - we traversed backcountry roads beneath great overhangs of golden leaves, flirted with the flanks of a crumbling stone wall, blinked and smiled as the dazzling morning sunlight flashed through the swaying leaves overhead. And suddenly, we were in the field, and the hounds were bounding about the feet of the staff horses, leaping straight up into the air to catch cookies tossed to them by Sue. She rallied them about her, calling each by name, and then we made to sort into our fields and move on.

Now at this point I had a moment of, wait a second now. You're on a horse you know nothing about and have never even seen before, are about to participate in a sport you've never done before, and are going in the first field - i.e. keep up with the hounds at whatever speed they're going, no matter what the terrain. Am I nuts? Well, yes, by mere mortal standards I guess I am; then again, I've done things like this before. For instance, when I drove across the country for three weeks with a friend in 2006, he insisted we go white water rafting on the Arkensas river in Colorado. Sure, why not, I thought. I don't like to get wet but we'll be fine in the raft, it's just like the Lazy River at Cedar Point right? Wait a minute... these are Category 5 rapids? As in, kill you rapids? Well.... okay, sure, why not! And we neither died nor captized the raft, so I am here to tell the tale today. Such was the case with Media Luna... I neither died nor fell off. Quite the contrary - I had some SERIOUS fun. Off we loped, the sparkling green of the fields a sharp contrast against the red and gold on the mountain overhead. We swung round the edges of the fields, trotted single-file through the woods, and followed the occasional direction from a voice behind us ("ware hound left!" as one of the hounds would come bounding up behind us). It felt like a step back in time, watching the huntsmen ahead of us working, and whenever we stopped (and hit the flask, which Daun and I merrily polished off), we were treated incredible views of what every perfect northern New England fall morning should look like. It was gorgeous. At the stirrup cup, we watched the hounds play in the water (and some of the horses too), chatted merrily with old and new friends, and looked out over the pond at the great view of the mountain behind us. And then, it was off again, re-negotiating some risky terrain (which, on the way to the stirrup cup, was the only thing Media Luna had a problem with - a very scary, yawning ditch, and I had to give her some big pony kicks to get her ungracefully over) and doubling back once in the woods when we lost the path. Media Luna was a charm - she trotted when the horse in front of me trotted, cantered when the horse in front of me cantered, and stopped on a dime when the horse in front of me did the same. The second half of the journey, I managed to squeeze my way back behind Brego (got stuck behind some morons capping in from Myopia.. they talked the WHOLE TIME and had a pony that wouldn't stop jigging and rearing), and we crossed some increasingly rough terrain, including a very rocky river and some shoe-sucking mud. When the hounds finally gave cry near the end of the hunt (only the second time they had done this during the whole hunt, lol), we had just unbogged ourselves from a particularly thick section of muddy trail. The staff, hounds, Daun, her SO, and myself were OFF! Unbeknownst to us at the time, however, the horse and rider behind me were mired in mud up to the horse's hocks, and the rest of the fields all piled up behind them. But the chase WE had was WILD! Ducking under treebranches at speed, negotiating all sort of wild terrain, exploding out from the forest, tearing up a grassy hill into the big field, and watching Brego boink around in front of me for a few moments, clearly enjoying the thrill of the chase. (He was on his best behavior for this hunt - only one little dolphin-buck going up the hill, and a brief moment when the war-horse in him prompted him to bounce forward on his hind legs when the staff took off in front of him. That's drive baby!) The hunt ended on his note, once we had rounded up all the muddy stragglers. It happens!

It was OUTSTANDING. I really, really hope Gogo's legs heal well enough to consider maybe going out in the second field next fall. Given the kind of terrain we negotiated, I doubt I'd want her to go in the first field unless it was at an exceptional venue, but still. If you're a good jock with some guts and you ever have the chance to give it a try, DO IT. You'll love it just like I did.

Awesome. Just... awesome. AND I got to see my baby sister that night for the first time in almost a year (baby = 21). Couldn't have been a better weekend.

Seasons of Love

How do you measure a year in the life?







Measure in love.
Hard to believe the Eventing-A-Gogo blog is approaching a year old. I started it last year in November... that is wild.

In the winter, she was freshly clipped and a little too hot for her own good with the addition of Ultium to her diet. Springtime rolled around, and she was FAT! Mid-summer came, and you can see by her dull expression in the third photo that this was when she was lyme-y and miserable. And the fall picture was taken today, even though she wasn't in the mood to cooperate much. That picture isn't great, but you can at least see that her topline hasn't totally melted off yet. But it already looks worse than it did. I worked SO HARD for that topline!

And wow. A lot can change in a year.






The seasons are turning right now as we speak. Gogo is suddenly turning dark bay again, quite a change from her recent summer bleach. She's starting to get a little peach fuzz, just enough to give her a little fluff against the autumn chill. Fall is my favorite season. Ethel Walkers was today... it was supposed to be her first Training. She was ready.


This is my favorite picture of the day:




She was not a cooperative picture poser today. But at the same time, I'm glad she's still being a snot, because it means that even though she's bored and unhappy with life in general, she's still got her fighting spirit.


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On an unrelated note, I now have way more followers with blogs than I can possilby even begin to keep up with! I periodically ask my readers to leave a comment with a link to their blogs, just so I can go and check them all out, and I'm doing it again now. So if you have something you'd like me to read, click on add a comment and fire away!

Some Very Good News, and Good Times

Well I have some very good news! After reviewing the ultrasounds taken two weeks ago, and the ultrasounds taken three days ago, the vets have concluded that the lesion in her LH is resolving so well on its own that they felt the PRP was unnecessary - she is rapidly healing on her own! Sweet!

On Monday, I tidied Gogo all up (it was too cold for a bath, but she got a serious grooming and her face all clipped so as to not look too skanky for the vet... I believe I am the only one in the world who makes my horse look nearly show-presentable for the vet), and I packed all my stuff in order to head right from Tufts up to New Hampshire, where Daun and a fantastic foxhunt awaited me. Early Tuesday, I cleaned her up, threw on her nice sheet, put her shipping boots on over her bandages (this is a nifty little trick I just figured out... thin no-bows and bandages apparently fit nicely under shipping boots, which is great because she pulls down bandages in the trailer unless you offer some other kind of protection), and off we went by 7am in order to make it in time for our 9am appointment. We were a little early, so Gogo had to hang out in the little holding stall for awhile:



She was like ummmmm what's this about? But of course, she's perfect for things like this, so she stood quietly and peed a lot when another gelding came in (perpetually in heat, of course).
Dr. Provost and Dr. Chope came in to meet me after a well meaning but sort of confused 4th year vet student took our info (although I admit, the story is pretty complicated), and we did a lameness evaluation after discussing the case. She trotted out still fairly lame in both hinds, moreso in the left (they gave it a 1.5 to 2 at the trot on a straight line, and didn't rate the right hind), but it's a definite improvement. We moved on into the room with the treadmill and ultrasound, and Dr. Chope ultrasounded both hinds extremely thoroughly - we did both hinds pretty much from right below the point of the hock all the way down to her hooves, and it took at least an hour. Again, nothing of interest was found on the RH, except for some tenosynovitis in the digital shealth of the superficial digital flexor tendon (SDFT). Essentially, she has some inflammation of the tendon sheath, which is filled with synovial fluid (which is really fascinating... the body is so efficient and fabulous when it works normally!). On the LH, she still has the small lesion in her SFDT, and some tendonitis and tenosynovitis, same as the RH, except the RH has a little more swelling than the LH. However, the lesion looked remarkably improved for just a week and a half out from the previous ultrasound - essentially, it's healing itself quite rapidly. We scanned the entirety of both legs, and it really is just localized to that one little area, which is great. The vets expect it to resolve itself just fine, and for the tendonitis/tenosynovitis to resolve with some more anti-inflammatories (namely Surpass). When flexed, her fetlock on the LH was painful, which was a little weird. We took some x-rays of it just to be safe, and found nothing remarkable, so it's possible that she either strained the fetlock, or that the way the leg was being tweaked was painful due to the ouchy tendon. The last thing of concern was her back. They were a little worried that her lameness level was a little more than it should have been for this type of injury, but it's possible that the tendons just hurt like hell, which wouldn't surprise me, but the other thing it could be is her back. She was pretty sore, not in a muscular way though... right over her spine, mid-back. It's possible that she either was overcompensating for the legs and stressed it, or perhaps torqued it while out on XC... or maybe she was sore from her recent vaccine reaction? Who knows. We didn't explore it further at this time, but I will have Dr. A the chiropractor look at her on Tuesday and see what he thinks about it. Whatever it is, it's pretty much a given that it's probably going to require stall rest, and we're already on stall rest, so there you are. We're going to put her on some methocarbamol and see if that helps.


This was the basic write-up:

"Upon presentation, Gogo was bright and alter. A physical examination was preformed and revealed that her vital signs were all within normal limits. A lamaness examination was performed which showed a 1.5 out of 5 lamaness (0=sound and 5=non weight bearing lameness) in her left hind and a 1.5 to 2 out of 5 lameness when she was trotted on a straight line. She was sensitive to palmation of the superficial digital flexor tendon distrally and resented fetlock flexion in the left hind. Digital tendon shealth effusuion was palpated in both distal hind limbs, with more effusion in the right limb than the left limb (you report this is an abnormal amount for her). She was also sensitive to back palpation in the caudal thoracis region.
Ultrasound of both hind metacarpal and pastern regions revealed a local lesion in the lateral aspect of the left hinmd superficial digital flexor tendon, between 38 to 41 cm from the point of the hock (proximal extent of the digital sheath). Enlargement was present. The margins of the tendon appear intact. Increased fluid and synovial thickening was observed in the digital tendon shealth in both hinds legs, indicating tenosynovitis of the tendon shealth bilaterally. All other structures were within normal limits. Her deep digital flexor tendons were measured and evaluated bilaterally and were nonremarkable at this time. Thus, Gogo has a focal subacute superficial digital flexor tendonitis and digital sheath tenosynovitis. In compasion to her previous ultrasounds, her superficial flexor tendon appears improved. The treatment for tendon injuries is rest and constrolled exercise, followed by a gradual increasing return to work with periodic sonographic monitering. Other therapies such as intralesional medication (PRP, stem cell, etc) or shock wave therapy may be beneficial. At this time, however, with the focal nature of the lesion and its apparent improvement, we do not feel that intralesional injection is likely to significantlyimrpove her prognosis over rest and controlled exercise. Accordingly a program is outlined below. Her digital shealth tenosynovitis is likely due to her tendon lesion in the left hind and/or strain. It should refuce with anti-inflammatory therapy. Radiographs of her left hind metacarpal phalangeal joint (fetlock) were taken and were nonremarkable.
Her degree of lameness is of some concern, as it is bilateral and possibly more severe than one mightg expet for her tendon lesion. However, as discussed she may also have a component of muscle or back soreless due to her slipping/competing/shipping and more recent possible vaccine reaction. Local nerve block may help rule oin or out a lower limb versus upper limb component. We recommend that we rest her for the tendon lesion and re-evaluate her lameness (possibly with nerve blocks) and tendon in 6-8 weeks. Additionally, re-evaluation by her regular chiropractor to assess her back comfort is recommended."


The program from here? Two more weeks of handwalking, 10 minutes twice daily, and ice boots for 30 minutes a day (this last part is just because I can, mostly). She'll also have 10 days of Surpass, followed by a week within, then possibly more Surpass depending on the swelling. She'll increase by 5 minutes a week for the following two weeks, getting 15 minutes of handwalking twice daily and then moving up to 20 twice daily. Then, I can sit on her again (yay!!), walking slowly for 15 minutes daily, and eventually building to 30 minutes daily over the course of four weeks. About two weeks into that, I can start to put her together again, and do some minor stuff at a medium walk. So in about 8 weeks, we'll re-evaluate her sonographically to see where she is. If she's looking like it's healing appropriately, she can start to trot for 5 minutes a day, and building by 5 minutes every two weeks until we reach 20 minutes. Then we can add canter in 5 minute increments. We'll recheck her regularly via ultrasound during her re-legging up. And this is all very tentative, of course, and it just depends on her, so it might change.


And the rest of my two-day adventure was AWESOME! Not only did I get to see my fabulous friend Ali, who is my very good friend from college and who is currently attending Tufts for vet school, but I also went from Tufts up to visit Daun and see the big Brego, and go on what we expected to be a totally fantastic foxhunt. Well, of course it being the perfect New England fall, the hunt got called because of rain. D'oh! However, that evening she and I took Brego and her mare Hobby over to the gallop track in the woods, and let them rip. Or well, we let Brego rip! Daun had me get on him (that's so freaking sweet!) and take him for a spin around the track. He tested me a little bit ("now do we REALLY need to go faster than a canter? I'd really rather not leave the mare thanks") but after some encouragement (whack whack!) he really opened up for me. Man that dude can FLY! I really would have NEVER expected such a big guy to be capable of speeds like that, but it's clear he's no ordinary Perch. It was getting dark so I didn't get the chance to take him over any jumps, but perhaps that day will come! He looks so cute and fuzzy from the outside, but he's got a big ego and an attitude to match. He is a seriously cool horse. It was pouring the next day, as expected, but she and I still got to squeak in a ride at the fairgrounds, which was great fun. Plus, they stuffed me full of super delicious farm food, what could be better? Daun has been a fantastic big sister-type to me all this past spring and summer, really and truly. She encourages me, challenges me to think outside the box, gives me fantastic advice, and cheers me on through thick and thin. Daun, you're awesome. AWESOME. Seriously awesome. And thank you.


And now, it's back to the grindstone of daily work, until it all ends on the 15th. Now that I've realized I really AM leaving, suddenly I'm very sad about it. I mean, this place has been my life and home for the past 10 months, and these people my family. I know I can't even begin to afford to stay at a low-salary position like this any more, but moving on is always sad. I actually already have a potential job lined up in Michigan, one that sort of fell into my lap and might turn into something special, but then again it might turn into nothing at all at this point. We'll play it by ear, and I'll have some more details about it when I know them. We shall see.


Good news, good news, good news.