Crazy, Flaming, Happy Mare

I haven't forgotten about the mare.  But blogger has been making it hard to share that fact.

Frankly, the recent "downtime" from bloggerland has made me painfully aware how often I distract myself with everyone's updates and stories.  Facebook I can take or leave in a second... but apparently I go through severe withdrawals if blogger goes down for more than 12 hours. :)

Anyway, back to Mare:

Mare is fine.  She's still shedding - I informed her days are about to start getting shorter again, so she might as well stop, but she was too focused on the new gelding in the barn to even pretend that she even knew I was there.

I kept track of her first two cycles since going off the Regu-Mate, but lost track after that.  However, I can confidently report that the mare is in full on heat, and cycling with the best of them.  The BO's new gelding (who is a total hottie-patottie) really had no interest in Miss P, but she was not to be deterred.  She damn near ripped the cross ties off trying to reverse until she was in front of his stall again.  (hussy)

Anyway, I groomed the shedding beast up, took her to the ring and let her rip.  She about bounced OUT of her halter as I was taking it off and proceeded to hop, buck, fart, squeal, and shriek for a full twenty minutes before even noticing that I was still in the ring.  I'm serious.  She actually stopped, turned, spooked at me, then walked over and nuzzled my arm like "oh hi, didn't see you"

Weird horse.

I threw her on the lunge for a few transitions, did a little bit of ground work (for posterity) and called it a day.

mare is clearly more interesting in ANYTHING but me.

Space-Time Continuum

Good god, not too sure where time is going, but it's FLYING.

Good news? I got an offer on my condo, and I'm in contract (YAAAAY)

Bad news? They want to close in 20 days (boooo)

Roll that on top of moving the mare, moving $$, trying to tackle a lawsuit, one wedding in Colorado, one Birthday in Canada, a trip to Kansas, trying to get the brakes redone on the trailer and you've got one wigging out lady over here.

Also? in theory I should have had a grossly overdue pedicure, some serious waxing and a haircut before showing up to see good friends from days gone by, but frankly none of those things are going to be accomplished.

Things that are going to be accomplished? Seeing the mare, making her lunchboxes for the weekend, running around with her for a bit and (hopefully) packing my carry-on.

Sometimes the length of my to-do list depresses me, but carving out some time with the mare never does!

Oh and on a totally unrelated note, I have a totally adorable dress that's a little bit country to wear for this wedding, except for the fact that it's possible it might suffocate me (apparently I am not the same size I was last year).  However, I've had my heart set on wearing it, so I'll struggle through.  Nothing a fantastic belt, and some serious heels can't help..

CUTE dress. The Boy however was less than thrilled about the square dancing we were attempting at the time...

Those who can, Ride. Those who can't.... Target??

Thank you to everyone for their comments.  This has been a whirlwind of a few days (sick, crazy work, horsey decisions..trying to sell the condo..) but I think I'm getting a handle on all of it.  :)

I'm 99% certain that P is going to Summer Camp.  I still have a few questions to ask and logistics to figure out, but I'm feeling like we haven't made any progress recently (maybe even back tracked a tad) and nothing we've tried thus far has seemed to be the change that P is trying to ask for.  SO, unless something huge and big and scary happens, (or is revealed), Summer Camp is our plan.

I've fished around in my (little) horsey circle, and everyone who's worked with Dr. Finn has either found some benefit, learned a lot, or had a horse changing experience.  Frankly, I'm up for any of those options, so we're good to go on that front.  Also, what's to lose? (aside from more money..)

Which brings me to my second rambling thought process:  $$$$

In theory, Summer Camp was supposed to be cheaper than our current situation.  Which didn't really make sense to me, but I figured I'd roll with it.  Of course, upon further inspection, it is certainly not.  Right now we pay a well deserved $675 for our board.  Full care.  Full, impeccable, wonderfully attentive care.  Board at Summer Camp is $500 a month.  I still can't quite figure out what the care level is.  I guess it varies depending on whether or not the mare is in a stall or out running with the herd... Of course, the "training" component is $800 a month.

OH HEY EIGHT HUNDRED DOLLARS! you tried to sneak up on me!

Realistically, for P getting attention/groundwork/eventually under saddle work, I know this is a bargain.  After her immersion with the herd, she'll start "school" 6 days a week... So realistically, that takes the cost per session down to a totally reasonable $33.  That I can swallow, but still.. the grand total of $1300 is definitely more than the initial $500 number..

Oh, and then there's the body/vet work.  Anything that P needs from Dr Finn in terms of treatments will be on top of that.  All I can say is that it's a DAMN good thing we got an offer on the condo yesterday.. because it looks like I know exactly where my old mortgage payment will be going...

The BO knows that we're figuring out logistics and that we'll likely be leaving.  Of course, there are still decisions to make there as well.  She made it pretty clear that she's holding me to 30 days notice, which pays our board for the month... which is fair. And she also mentioned that if I want my spot held at the barn, it'll be $150 a month.  I love my barn, I really do.  And I love that none of the boarders are crazy, and no one steals things, and that the BO pours her time and energy into keeping everything top notch.  I don't know that I'll be able to find another barn like that so easily, but I also don't know that I can just watch $150 roll off the bankroll each month for "nothing."  I know that my peace of mind isn't worth "nothing,"  but with the bigger bills from summer camp, I can't be certain if it's a good use of my resources.

Also, I guess there's always the possibility that after Summer Camp, we may need something that my current barn doesn't offer.. more turnout, more trails? but who knows.  What would you do? pay the reservation fee? let it go and risk it?

I'm a little nervous because right now we have exactly ONE spot open.  But, the BO is bringing in a new horse probably in the next week, one of the riders who leases a horse there is bringing a new horse to try, and one of the three year olds who left to be started is due back in two months.  Of course, the mare and the baby might leave soon for bigger pastures, and one horse is up for sale... but............ Arrrrggghhh 

So, in an attempt to ignore all that crap, I opted to play with the mare.  We ran around the ring for a bit, ate some grass, then I started some of our homework from Dr. Finn.  Ladies and Gentlemen... Pia is learning how to target.  

Well, kinda.  I mean, at least it's giving us something to do while we aren't riding and before we go away to camp...

Shaping behavior is right up my alley, since I spent WAAAAAY too long in a lab teaching pigeons how to "use tools" and replicating studies with chimps.  Somehow, I totally allow myself to check out of that mode with horses (sometimes) and I end up personifying them and not holding myself to the same strict standards of "science."

Long story short, I had a bag of carrots.  And Pia got one every time to touched the end of the whip with her nose.  We started with 2 minutes in the arena while she was still running loose and she got the concept right quick.  I gave her a break while we hand grazed, but then I did a few more minutes back in the barn and got some "video" on my phone.  Bear in mind this is the first day, so I'm not being too picky about how she touches the whip, or where... rather trying to associate her seeking it out with a reward, and slowly asking her to move around a little more in order to reach the end of the whip.

Of course, the cross ties made life a little difficult since P just wanted to keep moving forward, pull them tight and then she'd get annoyed that she didn't have any leeway to move her head and touch the whip.... brilliant.

Anyway, here's our cute videos.  So far I think the only lesson she's learned is "PUT EVERYTHING IN YOUR MOUTH,"  but a few more sessions and she'll figure out what the specific goal is....



She's damn adorable.  I managed to sneak in one more handful of carrot bits.. so we worked for about one more minute and called it a day.  This mare learns fast.  What a gem.

Second (3rd, 10th, 400th?..) Opinions

Sunday was our appointment with Dr. Finn, and I had been greatly looking forward to it.  In addition to wanting to see her approach with P and listen to her analysis of another horse in the barn, Sunday was forecast to be 66 degrees and sunny - which we haven't seen the likes of in Seattle for going on nine months

The weather didn't disappoint, and frankly neither did Dr. Finn.  I got to the barn just as she was finishing up with the other horse (an adorable older Dutch guy who's been cranky but not "off").  While she was interested in working on a couple different parts on the old guy, she was primarily focused on his feet and how they were likely contributing to his increased crankiness.

She led a very informative and interesting discussion on her philosophy with feet (basically following Pete Ramey's principles) that I really enjoyed.  Most interesting was listening to her difficulties with sharing her observations and theories with local farriers as well as other vets.  While she trims her own horses, she tries to leave clients with instructions and goals to pass along to their own farriers for implementation.  I've had my own struggles with diplomatically guiding a farrier's trim, but I was somewhat shocked at how often her opinions were entirely discarded.  Regardless, I was really curious what she would have to say about Pia's shoe-throwing-bull-nosed-newly shod toes.  :)

She started her exam of Miss P with an in depth history of my time with her.  I tried to fill in as many details about her childhood with Supermom  (her preemie birth, slow and steady start, ground work, etc) to which Dr. Finn immediately filled me in on the Chinese medicine implications of an early birth.  Of course, just when I started to think that maybe she was going to head a little farther out to left field than I was comfortable with, Dr. Finn came right back and starting giving me her observations of P's physical condition.

Right off the bat she focused on an overdeveloped muscle where P's neck ties into her shoulder.  This is a large lump of a muscle that's decidedly below her topline, but remains prominent regardless of how much work the mare is doing.  Apparently it's not normal (I guess I knew this) and the rigid tone of it suggests that it's formed as a compensating factor for other inadequacies.

What's the downside? Apparently it's restricting her shoulder's range of motion rather severely and would explain why she sort of hurls herself over cavaletti (especially at the canter), instead of reaching up and out with her shoulders.  It might be somewhat due to her feet, but who knows.  Oh, and also, it would apparently make "moving forward" a bit of a tricky question for the mare.  (interesting)

This pic is from last summer when P had already had 2 months off... topline melted away, but weird neck muscle remains!

 
Next up we addressed her mouth and jaw, which P was NOT excited to have handled.  We got an "excellent mouth!" comment from the dentist last week, so I was surprised to see Dr. Finn so intrigued by the level of discomfort that P had around that area.

I want to clarify that P is not head shy in the slightest.  I can clip anywhere, shove my hands down her ears, in her mouth, up her nose... but in terms of being palpated, or massaged, there were all sorts of unhappy trigger points going off.  I asked if this could have anything to do with Pia's weirdo stretch (head to side, neck totally extended), and she thought they were probably associated.  Dr. Finn asked if Pia yawned (I said yes), and then asked if she did it normally.

....

Apparently that means "straight" and not always with a crossed jaw.  I honestly couldn't answer the question, but P's 10 consecutive crossed jaw yawns answered the question for me.  Apparently she does not yawn normally.  Apparently that is also an indication of something being somewhat misaligned in her poll/head area.

P demonstrating her weirdo stretch in Sept 2010

We moved on to P's stomach and ribs, which were ok, until we got to her last few ribs which, apparently are not only "slab sided" (not normal) but very, very ouchie for Miss P.  Mind you I curry the crap out of the mare and she doesn't flinch, but I think Dr. Finn was poking her in a different manner.

Finally she noted P's lumbar area which has her distinctive hump, which she pointed to as being another locked up, self inflicted issue. 

Essentially she was seeing a bottled up, locked up, unhappy mare incapable of moving freely even if she wanted to...

That's when we moved outside to walk/jog for Dr. Finn, but Pia was being a pistol - so she asked if Pia would be happier to free lunge for a bit.  Pia is always happier to be free lunged for a bit, so we moved to the ring and let the mare loose.

By this point, a majority of the barn (BO, boarders, sig others, my dad..) had collected in the corner all just waiting for the Pia show and what insights from on high Dr. Finn would be sharing with us.

I didn't get to hear Dr. Finn's comments while I was chasing the mare in circles, but my heart sorta stopped when after only two minutes Dr. Finn called out "ok, that's good, come on over here..." and waited away from the group to talk to me.

In my head this was the equivalent of being taken into the "little room" at the dr's office to hear the results of a routine test.  No good news is ever delivered away from public ears, and I was pretty sure that since P had only been motoring around for a few minutes, that she couldn't have been deliberating that hard over what she was seeing - or what she wanted to talk to me about.

I stopped, called P (who came right into me) and we walked over to where Dr. Finn was waiting...

She opened the conversation by asking me what my game plan was.

Ummmm, well, I was hoping to get an easy diagnosis that everyone else has missed- give my horse two weeks off, and be home in time to make a tuna fish sandwich then go enjoy the rare emergence of the sun...

What I actually said was a very eloquent "uhhh, what do you mean by gameplan?"

I quickly realized that she was trying to ascertain what my commitment to the horse was, and what my priorities were in terms of treatment options.  OHHHH, you mean am I going to take her out back and shoot her if you tell me I need to spend $$$$ to make her better?

No.  No, I'm not.  In fact I'd probably move into her cute little shed and save on rent if that helped me afford whatever crazy option you're about to suggest.

I reminded Dr. Finn that I was all set to drop $15k on spinal surgery a year ago, and I remained pretty damn open to nearly any option if it had a snowballs chance in hell of making the mare more comfortable and hopefully a little happier under saddle.

Dr. Finn went on to discuss that while P was by no means the most "drastic" case that she had seen, she was confident that in order to begin to unlock all of her weird muscle issues and make some real progress - that we needed to hit a Big 'ol Reset Button.

Reset Button.  I like reset buttons.  I hit them all the time.  On my computer, on my wii, on myself... but I wasn't totally sure where exactly Pia's reset button was located, or how exactly to "hit it."

Dr Finn gave me a quick rundown of how she would approach rebooting Miss P if she had full access to her.  She also made it very clear that she didn't think she could be much help without full access to her....  Which consequently, brought up the rather obvious point of how to give Dr. Finn an all access pass to the Pia Show.

Summer Camp.

Apparently Miss Pia will be going to sleep away camp this summer.

Dr. Finn has big 'ol ranch in the banana belt of Washington just on the other side of Puget Sound.  Apparently for the first 30 days, new horses are slowly introduced to her roaming herd of horses, who eventually P would end up being turned out with 24/7.  The idea is to give new horses as natural a lifestyle as possible.  Letting them socialize, run, and squabble as god intended.  They gallop, they fight, they cross ponds, they sleep, they roll and they get really, really dirty.  (Not too different from Caesar Milan's whole "pack" theory for problem dogs.)

After however long it takes to get the horse thinking and acting like a real horse, Dr. Finn and her cowboy friend work to slowly bring them back to work. They do lots and lots of groundwork, including targeting and some parelli(ish) games before broaching undersaddle work again.  All of this happens hand in hand with consistent bodywork, hoof rehab, and any other necessary treatments from Dr. Finn.

Eventually, cowboy man starts really riding, with the intent to keep the horse moving as naturally as possible as they reacquaint themselves to work again.  Apparently this means full gallops in nothing but a rope halter, which I can safely say is a strategy that I have not tried on my own. :)

Ideally, Dr. Finn wants full owner participation but in considering the 2+ hour drive (and a ferry ride) to get to the ranch.. it's not very realistic for me to be involved more than twice a week..

However, that phase a long ways off and I'm still sorting through things.  Right now I am feeling pretty confident about my decision to jump all in to the process -  Give P time to reset her horsey button, re-muscle and reenter the working world with a few things adjusted from the bottom up.

So again, to recap we spend 30-60 days with the herd, 30 days with ground games, then back to work.  Dr. Finn says ideally horses spend 3-6 months with her before they are ready to go home and maintain their changes.  She's worked with a number of sport horses, and right now her herd has a number of warmbloods all enjoying their little sojourn away from their normal lives.  She's successfully rehabbed jumpers, FEI dressage horses, eventers and even a few reiners.

When I was talking with her it sounded brilliant.  When I regurgitated it to The Boy, I couldn't quite capture the magic, and even as I'm typing this I feel like I"m not connecting the dots as clearly or concisely as I should be.   Maybe it's my RAGING cold, but I doubt it.


Regardless, there are still details to be figured out before P packs her bags for the summer, but I'm really liking the idea of trying something completely different and hoping it helps.


Plus, I really loved going away to summer camp and I'm sure P would too...