Photo Adventure Fridays.... Literally!

Last Friday afternoon, I had a pre-planned surprise from JenJ take place at my barn. A friend of hers, Josh Baker of AzulOx Photography, came up from Austin to do a photo shoot of just the mare and I. I have a lot of competition photos and photos of just Gogo over the years, but I didn't have any good ones of just the two of us together looking nice. We decided that we would trailer over to a local park where there was actually *gasp* some grass and trees and that would provide a nice beautiful backdrop for us. The day dawned warm and sunny, just like every day has been for the past four and a half months. It hasn't rained in that long either, so I of course didn't give the weather a second thought as I walked out the door to work that morning. Obviously there would be good weather for the shoot, we're in the worst drought in Texas history, how could there be any other weather aside from hot and sunny?

Fast forward to 5pm later that day as I am finishing up at work: there are giant stormclouds brewing on the horizon. Great... The first day we've had rain in almost five months and it ends up happening on the ONE day that I needed to be outside looking nice? Fail! After clocking out, I sped off to the barn (which thankfully is 10 minutes away from work), and had just enough time to bring Gogo up from her back field before the sky absolutely opened. Josh showed up at about this time as well, and was spared a moment of dryness to get inside the barn before the deluge began. It POURED! Sideways rain, thunder, lightning, wind.... and there was no end in sight! Josh and I stood around after I had cleaned Gogo up and chatted for about an hour about whatever came to us. He's a funny guy and he thinks I belong in Austin.... I think he's right!

We had a momentary lapse in the rain and we decided to go for it. We had long since abandoned the idea of trailering out anywhere - why bother, when we knew we might not even get to shoot at all before sunset - and we rushed out to the back pasture where Gogo and her friends live and decided to make the best of the scenery. The rain was still drizzling (and sometimes pouring) on and off, so Josh took refuge in the horses' shed while I took outside and posed with the Mami.

And they came out GREAT!! I can't believe it given the weather and the dim light and the whole situation in general! I waited to post about it until all the photos were uploaded online so I can share... these are just a few of my absolute favorites. Enjoy!












Also, for those inquiring about the grass in my pasture.... this is proof that there is NO grass, just check out the muddy shoes! I think I will never get them clean again!


It was super fun and I can't thank Jen enough for this. So awesome!


I have more updates on life changes for Mami mare coming soon.... they include a diet, a move to a drylot, and a stab at homeopathy. Stay tuned ;)

Trojan Chic

To everyone planning on shipping their horses nationwise (or even locally) in the near future – PLEASE get updated information about the Herpes virus outbreak. DON’T ship your horses, and DON’T let anything come on or off your property. This is a dangerous situation, and horses are dying. We’ve already had people on their way to shows get stopped at the state line and turned away. DON’T put your horses at risk!



Onto things that are more fun.

I had the bright idea today to decide to trim up Gogo’s amazing mohawk, which is now approaching two inches in length. (I roached her mane a month ago… I roached the old horse’s mane at work two months ago and he has only grown an inch of hair!) Her hawk was tall but spiky looking at the top, a bit catawampus to tell the truth. (Use that in Scrabble next time you play.) Future Hubs’ best friends have a little dog with grey and white hair that they have cut and dyed into an amazing pink hawk/mullet, and seeing Gogo’s mane in a similar fashion made me really, REALLY wish she had lighter colored hair… I would TOTALLY DO THAT. I decided today that I should try and trim down the topmost part of her hawk, and make it a more uniform Trojan look. I wasn’t really sure how that would turn out… either it would be fantastic or it would go horribly wrong.

I’m glad I did it. She looks awesome. I’m totally keeping this roach for possibly the rest of forever. It’s the perfect way to enhance a topline on a ewe-necked wundermare.

I hate to say it, seeing as she has reached morbidly obese, but… Fat kinda looks good on my horse. As so many dressage and hunter people know, fat is a GREAT way to completely skip out on training and actually putting real muscle on a horse. Just overfeed and hey! Instant topline. (This also produces neverending lameness… ever see a 400lb person run a marathon? Didn’t think so.)

I’m still brainstorming ways to keep Fattie from getting fattier. I had to abandon our walks down the paved road unfortunately, seeing as on one end of the street there is a massive Gogo-eating Great Pyrenees, and on the other end there is a pack of semi-feral dogs running loose and chasing/attacking anything that comes near their house. Add in cars flying by at 50mpg, and it’s really just not safe. She’s wearing her grazing muzzle from morning until late afternoon, but I still don’t think this is a good solution – she still refuses to eat anything while muzzled, and it’s not exactly good for a grazer to go for eight or more hours without SOMETHING in their tummies. She is finally drinking with the muzzle on, however, so maybe there’s hope for her yet. We’re about ready to cut hay out in the pastures as well, so that will help enormously. (Wish I could set up a track system, but again, this isn’t my property… it’s my landlord’s hayfield, so I have to respect his wishes!) Hopefully summer will come quickly and the grass will go dormant, which will also make a huge difference. I had a great suggestion today – why not take her swimming once or twice a week? Brilliant! We have a few options close by which I will for sure be looking into, although I probably will wait until after the Herpes virus scare is over.

Aside from being grossly disgustingly hugely obese, doesn’t she look sexy? Wish the pictures were better… they were taken with my iPod, seeing as I can’t find the memory card for my other camera!







BOOMBLATTIE FATTIE!

Roachback Mountain

The results of the polls are in! I am thankful to say that most of the general public believes that Charlie Batcrap Sheen is in fact kookier than Gogo is. But you can't deny, Gogo is her own special brand of weird..... but at least she's not a social menace ;)

The other poll had to do with Gogo's eternally awful mess of a mane. The majority of votes were in favor of letting Gogo's mane grow out, with pulling it making a close second. Votes for roaching it trailed far in the distance.
So as predicted, I made the decision to let it grow out.... and then had a complete fit, whipped out my clippers this afternoon, and roached it. I don't regret it for a second.... it looks awesome. Gogo's mane has always been IMPOSSIBLE to keep tamed, and now that she's out all the time in the wind and the weather, there's just no controlling it, no matter what length it is. I gave up. It will grow back eventually if I let it.... but it's so much easier to work with, it looks so clean, and she doesn't look like some animal I roped in off the range anymore! I love it!








And she also got a pedicure.... her feet are doing incredibly interesting things now that they are out in a dry environment 24 hours a day moving around. Her entire sole has exfoliated on all four feet... TWICE. There are possible event lines from the move to Texas and the change in her pasture but they're subtle. Other than that, they keep getting shorter and shorter, and more and more concave. They look like polished marble, and feel like it too. Even her frogs are slick, hard, and shining like they've been polished. Most interestingly, her clubby foot exfoliated the most sole, a GIANT piece of bar included. It has not completed the entire exfoliating process, but when it does, given what it looks like right now it might just nearly match the other foot. It looks like it wants to possibly do that!



Gogo says, this is what I think of you shaving all my hair off:

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!

Fattie McBlattie

Marti left a few days ago to head back to his home. His owner reports that he is oing to be sent off for training, which is great. I wish them the best, and Gogo will miss her white furry friend I am sure.

Speaking of the Princess, I need to really start brainstorming and figure out some more ways to keep the weight off of her. She is a McFattie and she needs some Weight Watchers action... stat!! She has especially bloomed over the past few weeks as the grass has started to wake up for the season... and by bloomed, I mean vastly expanded in all directions. She is a Large Marge in Charge, and I cannot possibly feed her any less than she is eating. Since she is on pasture 24/7, I've cut out nearly everything else that I possibly can, and still she gains weight. I've kept the Gro N' Win, simply because she has done amazingly well on it over the past four years (and it's also designed for low-calorie maintenance), and she's eating 1/2lb AM and 1/2lb PM. She is also eating a 1/2 cup of ground flax AM and PM, and is also getting her SmartFlex Repair supplement. Aside from that, she is getting about half a flake of nice orchard grass at both meals. That's IT. This mare was getting 10-12 flakes of a nice timothey/orchard mix at the last barn, so you can only imagine how much pasture she must be consuming to be eating barely a flake a day and still be vastly expanding. My next options are to either cut out the Gro N' Win completely and only feed her a vit/min supplement, but I love the additional protein/Omega 3s/biotin/etc. that she gets in the Gro N' Win. I think as a whole, it has vastly contributed to her rock-crunching feet, amazing strength and stamina, and her shining, luxurious haircoat. It's low in calories, but it's still giving her more calories than a supplement would. My other option is to get a grazing muzzle, which I would prefer as I think it would do a better job of controlling her weight. Now that's she's put the weight on, I have a feeling it's not going to come off easily. She is insufferably easy to keep.

The other thing that has happened in turnout is that I have completely lost my ability to keep her clean at ALL. Those of you in the south know that once a horse gets themselves into a dust bath down here, that red dirt does Not. Come. Off. You have three options: 1) buy a vacuum, 2) bathe nonstop, or 3) live with it. I've opted for some combination of bathing and living with it, although I may crack at some point and try to find a used vacuum somewhere. It's awful! She had a bath earlier in the week, and this is as clean as I could get her on Wednesday:





Those of you who are longtime readers or who know me personally know what ridiculously painstaking lengths I go to daily to keep Gogo sparkling and show-ready every day. You can imagine the horrible cleanliness withdrawls I am going through. It hurts me to see her so dirty! Honestly, though, she'd rather be a disgusting chinchilla on pasture rest than gleamingly clean and on stall rest, so I guess it's just something I'm going to have to continue to live without. Barf.

As has been the custom for the past few months, near the beginning of the month I have been putting Gogo on the lunge for two seconds to get a good look at her level of soundness, about once around in each direction. My camera had a brain fart and only recorded her going to the right, but the right is her worse direction, so it's a better assessement anyway.



As you can see, she's not sound by any means. She's not BAD, but she's not sound. It's quite an improvement from three months ago when she was hip-hiking, toe-dragging lame on that leg though. It would help get a better image if she weas actually going forward, but you know. I don't really want to kill her after all. She has picked up the habit of trotting to me whenever I come over to the gate to see her, so I get to look at her trotting most every day. This video shows her looking a bit worse than she has been... earlier in the day, she really looked quite sound. Her lameness is most apparent at the canter, whenever I catch her doing that out in the field. She can canter as much as she wants on the left lead and have no problem, but when she tried to switch to the right, she crossfires and stays on the left lead behind and the right lead up front. I really don't WANT her to go cantering around, but I guess I don't have much control over that.

Her legs have definitely improved over the past three months:





The pictures of the leg from the 2nd set were taken in the late afternoon, which is when they all tend to fill a bit - she likes to stand and sunbathe! In the chilly morning, they are SUPER tight and cool, and that is encouraging. They have always done this, ever since the injury. I imagine they probably always will.


One final thing. Did I mention her TAIL is taking ridiculous amounts of abuse from being out 24/7? She catches and tears it on everything... it looks awful and ratty. (And yet, even though it's about half the size that it was, it's still pretttttty nice!)



Ohhhh that hurts me deep inside. Poor, poor tail.


By the way, did you notice the GREEN GRASS? My apple and peach trees have exploded into bloom too. Spring is almost here!!

In Which the Big White Hairy One Gets Jailed

As a side note, I would like to mention that it was a balmy 80+ degrees yesterday. I wore a tank top and gladiator sandals and a cowboy hat and got a tan. Everyone else up north is excited about letting their ponies go naked for a day when it's 40 degrees out... my ponies haven't worn blankets day or night for over a week. Sadly, the temperatures are supposed to drop and it will only be in the 60's next week. Sounds downright fridgid to me.

Marti has had his Gogo privledges revoked. This was not completely his fault, as Gogo herself had a hand in the matter. I spent my lunchbreak on Thursday sitting out in the field with my horses (safe, I know), and getting nuzzled and snuffled by Gogo while Marti watched with uncertain curiosity in the background. That evening, I moved in to catch him in order to feed him dinner, and it took an unusually long amount of time to get him to come to me. By the time he did, and by the time I got a halter on him (a prerequisite for eating), Gogo had finished her dinner and had wandered over to see what was going on. As she is the boss mare, she turned her butt to him and made to come backwards to kick the snot out of him, and he of course did what any self-respecting wussy horse would do and wheeled and got out of the way. Unfortunately for me, that meant taking off again with halter andd chain still on. I didn't even argue that one, and just let him go. It took an age to recapture him, and involved taking away his food, taking away his Gogo, chasing him around for awhile, leaving him alone for a longer while, and getting out a scoop of grain as tempation. He finally came around, and as soon as I had him I brought him over to the labryrinth and locked him up in the one useable portion of it. This did not amuse him, and he spent some time pacing and crying for Gogo, who didn't help matters by crying back. Eventually, he got over it, and settled in to eating. His butt is staying there until he figures out that I am not an evil devil woman who is going to eat him.

We're making very small bits of progress. In order to eat grain, he is required to come to me and let me halter him. Eventually, I want him to put his nose in his halter, but that will come with time. If he doesn't show interest in coming over, or especially if he leaves, then I move him off away from me and keep him moving until he shows interest in stopping and coming over to me, which he is still not great at. I attempted to bring him out and work on his completely embarassingly horrible clip today, and at least get most of his legs done, and he must have pulled back at least five or six times, truly in terror. He's not afraid of the clippers, he's afraid of being approached. As I tied him with a nylon halter and an unbreakable trailer tie, he eventually just gave up and stood there shaking like a leaf until I could soothe him and reassure him that I am not approaching with a carving knife, just clippers. I didn't get a lot done, and continued on with grooming from there, and he continued to try and pull back several times when I was brushing his mane. I mean really, do I have a neon sign that says "Horse Killer" on my head? I am not trying to eat you, I promise! Again, he was eventually soothed, and stood there quietly while I finished.

But all of this did lead to a very small baby step. When walking back to his pen, he was spooked by some mystery particle of air overhead, and he made to spook and shoot backwards. He hit the chain after one step, and immediately stopped and waited for me instead of panicking and throwing himself around. PROGRESS. I called that a major success, and fed him dinner.

Really, really small baby steps. Lord he needs a bath but I know he is going to try and break his neck to get away from it, so I am just going to be gentle. We'll get there.... it just takes time.

Holy White Terror

Oh boy! Well I've finally seen the naughty side of Marti that his owner warned me about. I didn't quite realize the extent of it though... I have some serious work on my hands.

Marti is a very, very big boy. When Marti is scared, Marti runs in the opposite direction with all haste. Marti also pulls back when tied if he wants to leave. I had seen a bit of this when I went to put on his blanket the first day. He shot backwards like a cannon, but I stopped him after a few hops. 'Ah ok,' I thought. 'I see what she means.' I've been able to do some work with him, which I will elaborate on a little bit later, but he was so amazingly hairy, out of shape and nervous that he worked himself into a total lather every single time. After one of these lathering sessions when he WALKED for 30 minutes, I attempted to hose him off, and he pulled back from where he was tied. He was tied with a nylong hater and strong line to a pipe fence, so he was unable to get away, and he stopped as soon as he figured it out. Hmmmmm. 'Ok, I HAVE to clip him,' I thought. Marti had another freakout prior to beginning his clip when a motorcycle came down the road. He lost it and shot backwards at high speed again, but yet again I stopped him. The actual body clip itself was a total disaster. I had no idea that underneath his ridiculously thick coat, an impenetrable layer of filth existed, and my clippers just stuck in his hair and refused to cut. This was a totally stupid error on my part.... I refuse to clip other people's dirty horses, so WHY did I bother clipping mine? It was awful. Worst clip job I've ever done. And it's not even done yet! After two torturous hours, I finally just gave up, and decided I'd bathe him today and then finish the clip tonight. I'm embarassed by how horrible the clip is. That horse has more lines than I-35. (And you guys know I pride myself on my awesome clip jobs.)

He pulled back twice when I was clipping him, both times when I got up near the top of his head. (He has a clipped bridlepath, so I don't think he's scared of it!) Having anticipated a potential problem, and having watched how he pulled back on purpose two days prior, I tied him with a trailer tie and a nylong halter - unbreakable. If he were to get away, I'd never catch him... and if he is pulling back on purpose, that habit needs to stop NOW. He cannot keep doing it. I don't want him to get hurt, but there is a larger risk of him getting hurt if he gets loose, so it's a risk I have to take. He did stop after the second pullback, thankfully. My problems were not over there, however. Once we got back into the field, I brought out supper and moved in to feed the two. Marti has actually been SHARING a feed bowl with Gogo whenever I can't chase him away from her, and TAKING HER BOWL FROM HER, which is mind-blowing to me considering what a nasty piece of work she is to other horses. Because of this, I had him with a halter and chain still, and fed her first. Marti, of course, moved to sneak in and take a bite, and I turned around to back him up. He bolted backwards at high speed, and once agan I stopped him, but then I decided to back him up an additional step. At that, he absolutely lost it, wheeled on one foot, and galloped away, with me hanging on to him, chain and all. He galloped right through a stud chain with my weight dragging on him. I had no choice but to let go.

But I had the upper hand. I had two things to hold over his head: Gogo and food. I fed Gogo, which upset him, and waited to see if he would come to me for his dinner. He did not, so I took it and fed part of it to Gogo, handful by handful. He still refused to come over even though he watched intently the whole time, so I then took Gogo away from him. Finally, he decided that he REALLY would like to be caught, and let me lead him back over to his dinner and remove his halter. I stood for awhile petting and scratching him, but I am sure my body language was electric. I was not amused.

Today was no improvement. At lunchtime, I came home with the intention of bathing him so I could finishing clipping him this evening. His filth just wasn't going to allow for anything else, so I set up all my bathing stuff and opted to bathe him in his field in case he pulled back and got away during his bath. I tied him in his rope halter and lead, as opposed to his nylon halter and lead, and apparently this was a mistake. I watched his mother bathe him and spray him in the face, so I was surprised to see that he totally freaked the moment I picked up the hose and ran it over his legs. He pulled back once and stopped, then twice and stopped. Then he pulled a third time, and really put his weight into it, fully sitting down and staying taut on the rope until something finally has to give - the lead. He sat fully down, awkwardly stood back up, and took off. There was clearly no catching him after this, so I packed up my bathing stuff, took away the snack I brought for him, and took Gogo away also. He was not happy about this, and screamed his head off, but would not come to me, so I left him alone for awhile. I had to go back to work, so I had to turn Gogo back out, but I clearly needed a new tactic. I will not get on a horse who is a struggle to catch. If he doesn't want to be near me, then I can't trust him to be a willing partner just yet. And if he dumps me, I'll never see him again.

So this evening? He still wouldn't come near me, so I brought a chair, a book, and a bag of Chex Mix, and just sat down and read. Gogo, of course, immediately mugged me for Chex Mix, and probably ate about as much as I did of it. This intrigued Marti, whose curiosity and food drive finally overcame him. We all shared some Chex Mix for awhile, and they both finally lost interest after it was gone and wandered away. I brought out dinner, fed them both, and Marti finally let me catch him and take his halter off.


Clearly, we have some MAJOR issues to work on. 1) He has no interest in being with humans. 2) He doesn't like to be caught. 3) He pulls back HARD. 4) He is scared of his own shadow. I think the root of this is his nervousness, and his distrust and dislike of people. He is waiting for boogiemen to jump out and eat him, and right now he sees me in two lights: food bringer, and scary bathing/clipping/riding lady. He needs to trust me, and learn to like me and want to be with me. When he learns to trust me, he will learn that scary situations are ok because I will say that they are.

But clearly we have to go back to square one: groundwork. I was lucky enough to be contacted by a Parelli representative about a month ago when I mentioned wanting to try playing some Parelli games with Gogo, and they sent me the Getting Started video which covers the basic Seven Games and the basics of Horsenality and the zones of the body. I am not one who ever bought into any of the natural horsemanship guys simply because some of them really do look like complete highway robbers waiting to sell their overpriced wares to any bumbling idiot who came along looking for an answer (you can only train in MY lead, halter and stick, only $3999.99 plus tax and shipping and handling!), but I have to admit that there is something to giving them a try. Good training is good training, no matter what school you subscribe to, but this horse flinches every time I touch him anywhere. He needs to be desensitized, stat. And THEN we will think about riding. I am going to Parelli the SNOT out of him, and pair it with the clicker. No more spoiling him with treats.... those days are over.



I am pretty sure I can get him turned around. It's just going to take some time. Trust you me, if there ever is serious risk to either one of us then he will go to someone more capable than myself. I'm not a trainer and I am not getting myself killed over something like this. Honestly though, Gogo dished it out something terrible when he was his age too. He is only five after all.

But he sure is darn cute for a total devil child.... and he and Gogo are totally in love:




Did you ever think you'd see the day when the naughty spotlight wasn't on Gogo? Me neither!

A Message from Gogo

Hello subjects, this is me, your Queen. I have a diabolical plan for all horses to carry out. So humans, stop reading. Because we can't let you in on our secret plans.




Ok horses. So here's what you should do. The next time your human does not groom you for an entire week and then finally gets around to cleaning you up, you need to repay them kindly for all their hard work. Say for example, your human totally neglects you and forgets about your existance for a whole week even though she is shoving cookies into your mouth every day like she really ISN'T neglecting and forgetting you (she IS, don't listen to her lies!). Then one day, she takes you out of your house and curries you REALLY well. Then she sees the dirt won't come off so she vacuums you. Then she sees how you have vacuum marks so she grooms you for a really long time. Then she sees how dirty your legs are so she washes all of them. Then she sees how dirty your tail is so she washes it. Then she sees how your tail is getting long so she clips and bangs it. Then she sees how your mane is getting long so she pulls it and braids it over. Then she sees how your whiskers and bridlepath are getting long too so she clips them too. Then she puts Keratex on your feets. Then she buffs you off with a big towel. Then she washes out your nostrils with a clean washcloth and cleans the bits of dinner off of your face. Then she steps back to admire how gleamingly clean and beautiful you are, after a whole hour and a half of cleaning work. Nice of her, yes?

The next day, go out into your turnout. Find the muddiest patch of mud you can find. Roll in it and grind it into both sides of your body. Twice. Then spook at the cows next door and gallop and buck and sling mud all up onto your belly and coat your legs so you can't even see your socks. Then come into heat and pee alllllllllllll over your legs and tail. Then when your mom sees you and shrieks in horror, blow snot into her face on purpose.

This my friends is the true meaning of love. Giving your human an excuse to spend even MORE time with you. And give you MORE cookies.


Ok humans. You can start reading again. My mommy says something about moving tomorrow to a big huge field somewhere.... I'm not sure how I feel about this but I hear there is a lot of GRASS, and I like GRASS. A LOT. She also wanted to share some good music with you. The only music I really like is the sound of food being poured into my bucket, but maybe that's just an opinion.

A Year of Glamor Shots

SHE'S GOT THE GLAM.







The fall shot is not of great quality as I was both handling her and taking pictures by myself, and the lighting was kind of exciting but not particularly flattering. It wasn't exactly gleamingly highlighting her sexiest features... and the angle gives her a big lumpy head (but check out that happy SMILE!). Seeing as it's getting colder and colder, and our leaves are at full color peak right now, AND that she already rolled a million times in the stone dust paddock, it's probably not too likely that I'll get another good chance at a fall set of shots. Oh well, she still a hot mama!!

Ain't Nothin' Gonna Break My Stride

I am very happy to report that Gogo, by some miracle, checked out totally fine at the vet yesterday. I was up at the horrible hour of 4am in order to clean the barn at home, pick up my roommate's horse, pick up Gogo, and collectively shuttle everyone up to see Dr. C by 8:30am. After they looked at Hootie, we pulled Gogo off the trailer and watched her go.

She, as usual, looked totally awesome.

And, of course, the legs looked great.

We went over the scenario about why the legs were big and what on earth there was to be done about it. She probably had some fill from getting banged up, and probably had some from standing in a much smaller stall, but Dr. C said that as long as it goes away when she moves, and stays down and normal even if just for a little while, then she wouldn't be worried about it. If she's not lame, and they are doing the same thing they've always done (fill together, go down together, go away with movment, NOT go away with bute/wrapping/icing/etc) then it's all right. By the end of the evaluation, some of the fill had come back, and we talked about her body temperature and the fill, two things that seem to go hand in hand. Her great hairy self runs very hot, and the warmer she seems to be, the bigger the legs seem to be. (I also have a front leg that has one spot that fills too for whatever reason, so if that bit is filled as well, it is more temperature related than anything.)

One thorough evaluation later, and the prognosis, diagnosis and prescription was as thus: "Stop worrying. She's fine."

Thank god for that.... I was considering trying a tube of Ulcergard for myself.



I also made the comment in my last post that I was going to do some sort of outrageous clip on her if she passed muster at the vet, because I needed to do SOMETHING to cool her down. Even naked, she was still too hot and hairy, and the legs are just too ugly to ignore when she's roasting like that. So, out came the clippers, and the creative side in me just got rolling.

Voila!:






I'm going to tell you it was easy and you can do it too, but actually it was mildly complicated and took about two hours. WORTH IT, however. I apologize about the awkward pictures.... trying to take comformation pictures by yourself on the grass with a hungry horse is kind of hard.


Gogo looks shocked...



"Mom. WHY YOU DO DIS."

Embrace the Ace

What a weird couple of days I've had. Up until this past week or so, Gogo has been for the most part very well behaved. These past few rides have all been a little, umm... hairy. And by a little hairy, I mean something akin to Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.

I don't know what complete madness possessed me over the weekend, but I got the crazy notion that I wanted to ride her bareback on Saturday and Sunday. That's right, you heard me... bareback. Saturday, I had forgotten my riding boots and britches at home, and I still wanted to ride but had no stirrup-appropriate footwear. So clearly, the SAFER option was to get on without a saddle. What did I eat for breakfast that day!? Matters were further complicated when I realized that due to all the rain we had gotten the night before, the outdoor was swamped and too unstable to take a tendon recovery out into, so I had to go back into the indoor. Which she hates. A lot. And apparently, though I felt quite certain that the little brown vial I grabbed out my locker had read "Acepromazine" on the side, a goblin had switch the bottle out in the night and had put "Bottled Adrenaline" in there instead. Even though I gave the drugs to her with a good half hour to cook before I got on, once she set foot in the arena all bets were off. I walked to the middle of the ring to set a few poles on the ground, and then walked her through them to see about spacing. When I turned to walk her back through them the other way, she jumped them. ALL of them. Ooooookay. I felt it was a good idea to walk her on foot down to the Arena Door Monster end of the ring, and sure enough, when I got down there, she skittered to and fro, blasted a few snorts, and stood with her heart pounding so hard it made her whole body shake. Ooooooooooookay. And because I am smart, I still got on. It worked, sort of, for a few minutes. But at the 10 minute mark when I went to change directions, I felt her whole body go rigid and grind to a stop in the middle of the ring, facing the scary end. I had a few options at this point: a) turn left and have her bolt left so I would get slung off to the right, b) turn right and have her bolt right so I would get slung off to the left, c) walk straight ahead and have her surprise me as to which was she would bolt and sling me off, or d) possibly all of the above at the same time. I chose e) she's standing still so let's just get off and go to the outdoor ring. And amazingly, even though she was still skittery at first, once I finally reached the half-hour mark and picked up real contact, she was utterly outstanding. Amazing. Straight, balanced, perfect. All the right muscles rippling, all the right reactions to my aids. I breathed left, she moved left. I thought right, she moved right. It was utterly outstanding. And I was delighted to find that FINALLY, after years of pain and being unable to sit upright bareback for any length of time, I am able to do it and not hurt too much at the end. Thank you, chiropractor! I dismounted at the end with a big smile and patted her forehead, thanking her for such an amazing experience. We walked to the end of the ring, pitchfork in hand, ready to pick up some poops and then call it a day. And of course, after that perfect ride, how do you think she shows her gratitude and appreciation for the loving bond we have together? By spooking to death at a speck of dust while I have a pitchfork of poo in my hands, bolting backwards, hitting the reins and freaking out, and spraying poop in every possible direction as the pitchfork soars through the air, which of course scares her even further and makes her shoot backwards faster, dragging me across the arena. FAIL.
My bareback ride yesterday was not quite as wonderful, probably because she was body tired after working so properly the day before. But it wasn't all bad, and I got off feeling fairly happy but not totally ready to do it again. I had drugged her a little more heavily, and still she spooked once or twice. It's also very hard to keep a drugged horse moving in some sort of straight and forward fashion. All she really wants to do is stumble sideways like a 2am drunk after last call.

And then, of course, today happened. After some nice bareback, productive rides, today was an outright fail. I was in such a sleepy stupor and rush this morning that I pretty much just didn't remember the Ace until I was already bridling her, and I did a dumb thing that I regretted: I decided to go without. I figured that by the time the drugs started to work, she would have already been stupid and wild, so I decided to do without. Did I think to give it IV? Of course not. I just got on and went. And she was WILD. Spooking at nothing, jumping, gnashing her teeth, rolling her eyes, threatening to rear, and the main attraction: a full on bolt that ended up being a bucking, farting, rearing high-speed volte. So much fail... so much fail. We are supposed to trot on Thursday, but she's just been horrible these past few days, so I ended up calling Dr. C and scheduling an ultrasound for tomorrow, just to clear us - or not - for trotwork. If nothing else, it's for my peace of mind. I really just can't stand not knowing whether or not she's ready for trotting after all this recent nonsense. UGH!


On the plus side, even without having had a bath for two weeks, she is amazingly freakishly gorgeously gleamingly shiny:



That picture can not POSSIBLY do it justice in any way. She's always been very shiny and healthy looking but this is ridiculous. Only thing that changed from this year to last was the addition of flax. Flax = possibly? Elbow grease = definitely.


Wish us luck at the vet tomorrow. Very nervous for what she has to say.

Wahe Guru

Gogo and I out for our "hack" on Wednesday.


Do you ever swear that horses know when things are up? I think sometimes they pick up on our emotional disturbances and make an extra effort to let us know we're appreciated. I know that's totally anthropomorphizing, but... sometimes I really feel like it's true. Regardless, Gogo was in a stunningly good and sweet mood today, the best I can remember her being in since the injury. I walked in the barn and first went to a client in the grooming stall who was worried about her horse because he hadn't finished his grain (he's fine). I heard a very demanding nicker behind me and turned around to see Gogo standing with her head out, staring intently at me. Normally she always pokes her head out whenever she hears my voice, but this was different, very insistent. I went over to see her, and scratched her neck over the stall door. She started grooming me very, very insistently, very thoroughly, just with her lip. She hardly EVER does this, even when I try and get her to reciprocate a scratch. When I stopped scratching her and tried to walk away, she wrapped her head around me and pulled me back in! She even ignored her hay for a good 10 or so minutes while watching me walk back and forth in the barn, just staring at me the entire time. She was in a ridiculously good mood all morning, watching everything around her while in her turnout, nibbling her hay, ears pricked the entire time.

This past Thursday, she graduated to the next size paddock (yay!!) AND to 15 minutes of trotwork. Very exciting! The paddock size (this was the first day out):




And today:





Ooops I've been spotted.




Yesterday, I opted for spa day instead of riding, because it was warm enough to do so. She was just hairy and gross, and as I'm accustomed to having a nice clipped horse in the winter, I just couldn't stand her nastiness anymore. Not to mention a more concerning factor: she is FAT and I have a half-hearted hope that maybe now she'll use calories trying to keep warm. In a heated barn with a haircoat on light work.... it's not easy to stay trim. Once I got to clipping, what I thought was a big nasty haircoat ended up being hardly any hair at all, so it was a quick job. The lighting wasn't the best, so I realized today that I REALLY missed some spots! It wasn't quite the freakishly good clip job that I did last year, but it's not so bad. We stood her up today for pictures:





Holy CRAP is she ever fat. I'm practically starving her and I still can't get her to shed those pounds. I guess they probably won't go away until we get into real gallop-type work... but that's a couple months away yet.

But isn't she pretty. Look at the bionic tail!


Under saddle today, Gogo continued her freakishly bright, cheerful, happy streak, and was nothing less than amazing. She was light, responsive, connected, and best of all, NOT spooky at the scary end of the ring! She's finally stopped leaping around whenever the door moves at the scary end of the ring, but even up until a few days ago she was still putting her head up and scooting past the door quickly every time we passed. Not today! Today she was just feeling GOOD. I let her pick a trot rhythm that was comfortable for her, and off she went, power trotting around the ring like Superwoman, still connected and using her entire body with every step. It felt great, and she felt so sound and strong. I didn't let her go at the bigger pace for very long, but instead experimented to see how much she'd stretch - she practically put her nose on the ground, still in the big trot, still swinging and connected. I haven't been able to try and stretch her at the trot for a LONG time for fear that if she went bolting off I wouldn't be able to stop her in a timely manner. Not only did I get to ride her long and low her today, but she gave me that extraordinary stretch. I think all this walk work is really quite helpful. It gets us both to slow things down and take them piece by piece, ironing out the kinks and figuring out exactly where out bodies need to be. She just felt AWESOME today.


Not to mention the weather was a balmy 45 degrees today, and the scenery around the barn has just been amazingly gorgeous:






I dunno why Gogo was in such a fantastic mood all day, but it made me feel great. I can't not be thankful for Metro's sacrifice today, and remember what he gave to me when he died: the barefoot cause, an undying drive to help the injured around me, and a chance to let a little Gogomare into my life. Thank you Cookieman. I really appreciated today.

WHO'S EXCITED? I'M EXCITED!

Ti and Gogo and I have arrived safely in Hamilton, MA, for the Groton House H.T. Even though I had to work today, everyone hustled me out of there as quickly as possile, and we were on the road by 1pm. We actually got in before 4... speedy quick! It was a bit crazy when we got there - trailers all over! - but we got everything sorted and settled, and I braided Gogo before her dinnertime.



She looks popeyed.... I wonder what she was oogling at.

Ti and I had some snacks from the welcome party, but I didn't stick around too long because I was too eager to get out and see XC! The course looks awesome. Interestingly, the majority of the fences are within a fenceline... very few stand alone jumps. I actually don't think the course looks THAT hard; I think King Oak was harder. The very first fence is the most intimidating first fence we've faced yet:



Bright flowers! I like it. I'll go over the couse in more detail tomorrow, but we have a few things on course that are new to Gogo. For instance, we have our first real drop fence. Not a down bank, but an actual low fence with a pretty big drop on the other side. We also have our first jump out of water - we've done up banks out of water, and plenty of fences a few strides after water, but technically none that actually have a take off in the water and land out of the water. It's teeny weenie, but it's still there! There are lots of big gallops and lots of beautiful, hilly land. SO EXCITED.




It's also our first time doing dressage in a grass ring. Sweet!

We ride at 8:36 tomorrow morning. There are twenty-four people in my division, and a whole lot of them are GOOD. REALLY GOOD. As long as I give her a good ride, we'll do just fine. I don't know where we'll place, but I expect us to earn a reasonable score. She IS in flaming, flaming heat though.... so we'll see. I pretty much tripled her raspberry leaf for the weekend, just to see if I can keep her body relaxed. We'll see!

WISH US LUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!