Focus please

So many things in the works at the moment. Looking at a show schedule for the upcoming months. A lot of options and a lot of it do-able. A show here, a couple shows there, here a show, there a show, everywhere a horse show.... 

Realistically Mazy could do a lot of them. Dressage, hunters and now with driving as an option, a lot of different doors are opening up for her and for us both really. Discussing the plans with a friend of mine over the past few weeks, we agreed that showing is how to get her sold. People seeing her out and about doing things, doing Her thing- she will Not go unnoticed. With her coloring, presence and her attitude for commanding your attention- Mazy will not be ignored. 

Would I like to show up and sweep everything? Sure. But if we are going to be competitive, we have work to do. We have to get serious about What we are doing, Which ring we will be doing it In and Where we will be doing it. 

One show in particular would be a good place to display her talents as my friend L knows a Lot of people involved in the organization of the show. She has competed with them, shown under some of them before and discussed course design and hazards with them. What to look for, tips on your overall appearances, what judges like to see, what they don't like to see. 

The funny thing about it all is the diversity of the Different backgrounds from everyone. Different people cross over from different events and become hooked on something they may have always wanted to try or maybe it never crossed their mind before. Just as they come into our sport of choice, others leave to explore other options too. One of the beautiful things about horses- there is always so much more to learn. 

Mended

With Mazy's shoulder almost all healed up, I have been wanting to try my new bareback pad on her and see how much of her training she has retained. I would like to say All of it, but there was a few  small things missing. Mazy now gives Zero shits about the 'corner of Doom' and 'scary shit over the fence'. She can't be bothered. I'm not upset by this. Quite the opposite actually. 

I found a good deal on a bareback pad- $15 online. It has the rings for stirrup attachment, but no stirrups.  NBD- I can ride with or without stirrups and I have some I can always put on it -either way works. It fit and I hopped on to push some buttons and assess the damage. I planned on nothing more than a walk. 

The arena is a bit soupy in areas, soft and deep in another and slick in other places too. I would have liked to ask for a trot and possibly a canter but not in that footing and not until she's for sure toned up a little to be sure she didn't lose too much muscle with all this down time. We can both wait. We've waited this long.... 

Healing

Right after publishing the last post about Mazy's vaccine reaction- it opened up. I will spare you the pics and the gory details for those who may have a weak stomach- as I sit here eating my dinner... Lol There is still some swelling and plenty of drainage, but remarkably there is no detectable smell coming from it. Normally an abscess stinks enough to make some of us gag. It just does and there's no nice way of putting it. So now comes flushing it out to keep it clean and hope it doesn't get infected. 

Even with the nozzle on Shower which is the 'lightest' setting I can find on it- she is not happy with me hosing it. I rinse it and all around the open area and she fidgets and moves and protests in a number of ways. One thing she will do once she feels I have hosed it enough- Mazy will turn her head and use it to block her shoulder. I can't spray it if her head is in the way, right? Then she starts spinning circles around me to get away. When I put her up against a fence or wall where thats no longer an option- she cow kicks! But.... When I go to sticking a syringe up in there to flush it out with antiseptic mouthwash- that doesn't seem to bother her. She stands nicely for that for whatever reason. Maybe she knows she's almost done with this round of torture? I dunno. 

I get it. It hurts and since everything opened up I no longer give her IV shots of pain meds (she hated that too) so while I try to be gentle and understanding, so far she gets a verbal correction for the cow kicks. So far she hasn't connected and has only tried it a couple times. 

We went back to the vet for a checkup and first thing he does- jams his finger into the hole and starts feeling around. Heifer stood like a rock and didn't budge. I told Dr. K that I figured there was room enough to stick a finger in there but I wasn't going to. You just had to go there... I also figured he would have to sedate her to do it and there she stands all Miss Manners. 

We got a bottle of antiseptic spray and a container of antibiotic powder to put on her feed and a bill for our records. No need to come back unless it gets infected and there's complications. This may be a while, but everything looks good so far. Get some petroleum jelly and smear it under the holes so the drainage doesn't burn her skin, and hope for the best. Keep cold hosing until all swelling is gone, he slathered on a decent amount of furazone and sent us on our way. 

Two days later and it has really started to heal rapidly.  To read it looks almost all closed up at times going from the size of a silver dollar to the size of a quarter. Still has the hole the depth of a middle finger, but that is slowly healing from inside out. Still hosing/rinsing, flushing with antiseptic, spraying with flyspray, smearing on furazone and trying to find a way to get the powder antibiotics In her. Miss Mazy doesn't like it even though it smells good (sweet) and is supposed to be apple flavor. Wasted 2 doses so far. Ugh! I'll skip this for now and keep hosing, flushing, spraying it and thinking of a way to get the antibiotics in her and hope it doesn't get infected in the meanwhile. 

When I turn her out she runs and jumps around having a blast and tearing it up. Sometimes when she comes in- everything is oozing. That's a good sign since it is flushing out any stuff I couldn't get to. We're getting there and hopefully there is minimal scaring and all of her hair comes back. Time will tell. 

On the mend

Last week we went to the vet. He said it should/could abscess and once popped open, there will be relief and smelly goo drainage, but will still require watching it and treating it to keep it clean to prevent infection. Take the wraps off and let everything drain down the leg- so what if it swells -> cold hose it, cold hose it, cold hose it some more. Two to three times a day if possible. Easy on the banamine and watch for ulcers. Watch the right front for heat & swelling like you're doing and bring her back in 10 days. If her shoulder hasn't popped open we will look at helping it. I asked about shots of antibiotics to help reduce the size of the abscess? Nope, this one will be a wait and see. Only if it gets infected once open. There will be a soft spot and that's where it should open up.

Sunday there was a spot on Mazy's shoulder where what shoukd be an abscess is starting to come thru. There's a small area about the size of a quarter that about 2 layers of skin has opened up. Of course the flies are on it like white on rice. After hosing her shoulder and getting the skin to soften more, I tried to feel for the soft spot and help open it up more. Mazy was not thrilled about this and kept turning circles around me in protest. She doesn't like anything even touching her shoulder.

After a good soaking I sprayed it with some antiseptic mouthwash and a light mist of fly spray. I also enlisted the help of another boarder to spray it in the mornings to help keep the area clean and fly free. Payment of shavings in her stall was well received and super appreciated.  

Her lower leg swelling has gone way down and right front no longer swells. She has started to move on it more and last night was actually loping around in the arena. She seemed glad to finally be able to run again, one of her favorite things to do. While she may have been running around on it, she still showed some degree of lameness so not totally out of the woods yet but her spirits are definitely up. 

I'm relieved she shouldn't have any long term effects from this. The vet told me that had it happened in the back end, sometimes after the abscess the muscle can atrophy and scar tissue sets in. This will limit the range of motion in that limb and they are pretty much done as a performance horse. Whew! So glad we dodged That bullet! 

Sidelined

Taking lessons has proven to be a difficult thing to schedule for us.  The facility has a lesson horse, but the horse now has an ulcerrated cornea and needs to have some time off. I offered to haul Mazy in for a lesson and all things set for Go. She has all her shots and her Coggins is clean but the barn owner is insisting on a strangles vaccine. That is one I know she has not had. Lesson gets pushed back another week. 

I got the shots and gave them on Thursday before the holiday weekend. I figured she might be off for a few days and then we could get back to work.... Wrong! Two weeks later and I'm still dealing with it. Mazy had a bad reaction to the vaccine. 

This pic shows the swelling in front of her shoulderblade at the top up by her withers as well as down to just above the white on her leg. This was Monday- Memorial Day. She had a fever and was off her feed as well as not consuming much water. This pic she had gotten a healthy dose of banamine a full body rinse and cold hosing to bring everything down as much as possible which is why she was actually putting weight on it. Otherwise she was 3 legged lame and pretty reluctant to move at all. 

As you can see in the photo above- the next day both front lower legs were swollen. According to everything I found online- this is one of the symptoms of a bad reaction... The bonus here- she wasn't dead. Well isn't that helpful?!?! 

Mazy has gotten a bit anxious about getting her IV banamine shots since getting them once a day. Once she realizes it helps subdue the pain, she's ok with it. I was concerned she might develop ulcers but since the dose is low enough and spread out as well as getting time to free graze and then getting fed, we've passed the mark of this being a huge concern. The other thing I'm still concerned with is compensatory laminitis in the right front as well as soreness in her back and hind end. 

Thankfully I was also able to borrow a pair of Back On Track boots. These helped take the lower leg swelling down too. They're a bit big for her but still worked.  

At first I wrapped all four legs with her pillow wraps and stall bandages. Mazy was not happy about the wraps on her back legs and not only did she get one off, she tore two holes in the other one and destroyed her stall. She dug a couple Big holes in the shavings, down to bare dirt. Shavings and dirt in her water tub.... So now the front legs still get wrapped but not the back. 

Every day her knee is swollen and she still has a huge lump on her shoulder. One of the things I read about reactions- they can cause an abscess at the injection site. 

Yes that left shoulder is huge. The swelling has also come around to the front of her chest. We may be headed to the vet to see if it is in fact an abscess and if they can drain it. If that's the case, I'm sure she won't like it but once it is opened up and drained- it should feel much better. I'm really hoping this isn't what's going on, but if it is and can bring her some almost instant relief then who am I to argue? 

Breakthru's

While Mazy is on the market I have still been working her and riding her. My friend has made a makeshift bareback pad in the meantime.  It has worked nicely. No details since somebody somewhere might try it and get hurt and blame me. Don't try this at home(!) sounds fitting. 

We have worked on a lot of things and one of them has been getting me to look UP and watch where we're going. Another thing we are working on is me letting go of the reins and giving her the freedom to move and do what I'm asking her to do. 

Over the weekend I spoke with another trainer about Mazy and lessons and all the things. My friend that has been doing a lot of the work is not offended by this and in fact encourages it so that's helpful and reassuring. In fact she helped me to find this trainer and set up a meet & greet. 

The new trainer is a lovely little lady with a lot of talent and ability. She has done well for herself and is slowly expanding her string of students and horses. While I'm not sure where or how Mazy and I will fit into this picture, I like her on a personal level, she has connections on a much more broad scale and she really likes Mazy and thinks "She's BEAUTIFUL!" after seeing a couple of pics of her. She would like me to get some video of her and will put it out there for her contacts. She's surprised I want to sell her, but understands I've gotten her this far and can't afford to get her the rest of the way there. I let her know I would also be open to the option of leasing her for one of her other students to show. This is definitely on the table.  

Mazy is a talented pony and should go far. While it would be a little sad to see her go, if she moves on and does well in the world, it will be exciting for both of us. 

On the market

After a lot of thought and a Lot of discussion with different friends and people in the know, I have decided to sell Mazy. I mean she was a project pony from the start and the whole idea of starting her under saddle, bringing her along and showing her was the whole idea from the beginning.  My friends don't think I should sell her. They're convinced that somehow I'm going to come into a windfall of money that will allow me to buy all the things and go to all of the big shows and turn some heads, shake things up and really get noticed. While I'm certainly not opposed to any of that happening, I have a pretty firm grasp on reality and unless the lotto Gods smile on me.... Which is tough to do when I seldom buy tickets. 

If I were to move Mazy on to another home where they have the funding for all the things and the means to take her to all the shows, then I would be able to pick up a few things- like a proper carriage and another pony to drive and compete.  As I have been told by many- "She certainly has the talent to go far" I realize that I have gotten her as far as I could to the best of my abilities. 

For a dressage pony she has 3 lovely, forward gaits and beautiful uphill movenent. 

As a hunter pony, again she has lovely movement and has been started over fences which she enjoys. 

As a driving pony- she has had limited time between the shafts but has really taken to it and loves it. That's just going around the arena as in simple pleasure driving. I think once she gets to really competing- she's going to slay it in a big way. She already has the dressage foundation and I think in hazards and cones- she's going to hit her stride and blow peoples minds. 

I'll just be happy to see her go on and advance in whatever direction life takes her.