Quoth the Raven

Nevermore.

One of the reasons that I have been so quiet lately is Raven. For the past two months she has been fighting a losing battle with DSLD, and last week it became clear that she could struggle no longer. Kerstin euthanized her on Saturday morning, and she died peacefully eating an apple out of my hand. I got one one last kiss between her double whorls before her knees buckled.

Raven got to know Kerstin well during her treatment for that stupid (fucking) puncture wound, so she was completely relaxed for the final injections. Such a good girlie, as I told her many times. There is a big black hole out in the paddock now, but some friends have loaned us their two horses for a while to keep Tonka company. I have to admit that I find their presence comforting too.

The first picture was taken on September 11th 2008, two months before the stupid (fucking) puncture wound. Raven was at her healthiest and we were getting ready for some galloping along the dikes. The second picture was taken on April 2nd 2008, a week after she arrived at Farcical Farm. Back then she was skinny and scared, rarely looking directly at me and never approaching of her own free will. The last picture was taken on May 3rd 2009, at the beginning of what turned out to be the end. I am not a spiritual person, but as of July 4th 2009 I like to think that she on the moors and beneath the stars in her king's wild company.

Get In Line

David and I got the harrow untangled without too much trouble and I ran it around the paddock like a mad woman this morning, watching those annoying tufts of grass tremble in Georange's wake. It appears immensely improved after one go round, so I hope that weekly dragging will keep it looking more fresh and tidy. Here's a picture of some lines:

Things are starting to happen in the garden now. Radishes are coming up in earnest, as are salad greens, spinach, potatoes, peas and onions. Although we amended the sandy top soil we bought last summer with lots of composted horse manure, we weren't sure whether it was nutritious enough to sustain such life. These lines are very heartening:

Finally, the Powers That Be are replacing the water line along our street. This involves a lot of heavy equipment (or doozers as David and I refer to them, in honour of Fraggle Rock), much to Titan's distress. On the night they delivered the equipment he was inconsolably afraid, jumping any old fence that got between him and perceived safety in our shed. Given that this work will be ongoing for several days we conceded by cutting a hole in the side of the shed so that he can use it for shelter. He looks very miserable in the following picture, but it is not because of the road work...it is because Raven is holding him hostage inside. He is afraid of her (smart dog) and she enjoys tormenting him. Tonka enjoys eating.

Carbon Hoofprint

British Columbians voted (or at least they should have!) in a provincial election today. Our riding is deeply conservative and my left-leaning voice holds no sway, but I threw my vote at the environmental party in hopes of helping them to secure more funding in future. I did the same in our last federal election. Maybe one day the province and the country will adopt electoral reforms that allow my vote to count. The referendum on switching BC from its antiquated first-past-the-post system to a single-transferable-vote system is not going to pass, so I'm not holding my breath.

Earlier today I met Dan at Farmer Dave's to load our second batch of hay. We talked about the election as we worked, focusing on its environmental repercussions. Then we started talking about the environmental impact of owning recreational horses, which is a concern that I have never been able to reconcile. Over the course of one year my two giant pets eat about 8 metric tons of local hay, another ton of alfalfa cubes, 260 kg of oats, 260 kg of beet pulp, 100 kg flax meal, 80 kg of sunflower seeds, and some other incidentals. I would love to know how much fossil fuel goes into growing, harvesting, preparing and transporting all that feed for them. When you multiply that mystery number against all the people with a couple of backyard horses the carbon hoofprint must be huge.

At work I am an avid environmentalist and I have committed my career to working on environmental problems, but the dichotomy between my professional beliefs and my personal lifestyle is uncomfortable. We have made a lot of environmentally conscious decisions at Farcical Farm (recognizing that we have a much larger carbon footprint as rural dwellers than we had as urban dwellers) , but horse ownership was not amongst them. Regardless of how carefully we run the operation, my own carbon footprint is MUCH bigger with Tonka and Raven in tow than it would be without them. It's a hard pill to swallow, so it is still lodged in my throat.

Two Steps Forward, Ten Steps Back

Followed by another eight steps forward. On Sunday morning I woke up to the sight of Raven dragging her hind right leg past our bedroom window. The whole thing was puffed up from hock to fetlock, but without any heat or sign of trauma. If not for the swelling I would have assumed it was bad abscess, but it looked just like the pictures of a bowed hind tendon in my encyclopedia of equine veterinary medicine. I was heart broken...after such a long, slow recovery from that puncture wound (to the same hock) it came as big a blow.

With hosing and bute the swelling went down considerably over the course of the day, and Raven spent most of it lying flat out. She looked better on Monday morning, but continued to limp dramatically. By Tuesday night only the fetlock was puffy, the limp was almost gone. This morning she is totally back to normal. There is no evidence of an abscess so I have no clue what happened here. My best working theory is that the hock may be extra sensitive now and she whacked on something. Kerstin is coming this afternoon to do teeth and x-rays on Tonka, but I fear that she will be as stumped as we are.

Summer Rain

We've had beautiful weather at Farcical Farm for the past two weeks...sunny, warm and unseasonably dry. Sometime this afternoon the familiar west coast clouds rolled in (for which we may be able to blame AareneX) and the rain started in earnest while I was doing the evening chores.
When temperatures are mild I don't worry much about the horses in the rain. They have shelter, good coats and enough fat over their ribs to survive without blankets. And when temperatures are mild Tonka doesn't worry much about the rain, either...he will happily stand out in a downpour to munch at one of the feeders (that is not Tonka in the picture -- just a sad shot of a very wet horse). Raven, on the other hand, is a princess. She does not like to get wet and she likes me to acknowledge as much. Tonight she was running circles in her feed stall after dinner so I did the usual routine -- haltered her and made her work for while instead of letting her burst through the gate. When I took off the halter she stood stock still until I said "OK" (the release word I use for horses and dogs), at which point she squealed and bolted for the shelter. Drama queen.

Indian Bosal

Back when I thought I might be riding Raven over Easter weekend I bought her a new bridle, and it arrived today. Although I was very happy with the Dr. Cook's for her transition from a bit, I do have a few concerns about the product. First, the cross-under straps tend to twist when Raven gets busy with her head, which generally means that I am not in a position to reach forward and untwist them. Second, the nose band is too tight for my liking -- it seems like a source of constant pressure from which the animal cannot escape. And third, I would never use it as a halter as suggested by the manufacturers.

When reading about alternatives I stumbled across the Indian bosal. Instead of using cross-under straps to put pressure on the nose and poll it wraps around the nose and applies pressure under the chin when the reins are taught, but otherwise is hangs loose. And there is a secondary knot under the chin so that it can be used as a regular rope halter without any action from the reins. It is an elegant-looking contraption and I think that it will suit Raven well, but I will have to be satisfied with trying it out on Tonka.

Tempus Fugit

Loosely translated from the Latin as "time flies". It is a very appropriate name for the height dog on our flyball team, and a succinct description of my weekend. Today Willow and I played in our first tournament since November and our team placed first in the S2 U-Fli division.

I have been captaining this team for three years now, and I suck at the job in some important ways. Beyond forgetting to set my alarm this morning (unprofessional at worst and embarrassing at best) I have never, ever cared about winning. What makes me happy is seeing our dogs running cleanly and our humans having fun -- end of story. I understand that winning is important to the rest of the team so I force myself to take an interest, but I can't bring myself to believe that it matters if we ran our best and had a good time.

Several horse bloggers have been posting answers to an enormous meme over the past week. In considering my own responses I have been forced to acknowledge how much I have changed since I was riding competitively in my teenage years. Winning was everything back then -- in school, in sports, in social life. I was never an unkind person or driven to cut-throat tactics, but beating others was my quiet motivation right through university. I can't say whether my attitude changed as a function of age, experience or relationships (probably all three), but sometime over the past decade my benchmark became entirely internal. While I love reading eventing and dressage blogs, the thought of doing anything competitive with my horses is completely abhorrent to me now. As with my flyball team, I just want them to be happy, healthy and doing their level best. Given the skinny, neurotic mare who showed up at Farcical Farm one year ago, I'm as happy as a clam.

Springing into Spring

For the past week Raven has been downright bouncy. She has lost about 50lbs since the beginning of the Five Pillar Plan, and we finally started the SmartFlex Repair last week. On Saturday she threw a hissy fit about something in the paddock and started pronging around like a gazelle followed by a rearing episode worthy of being Black Stallion cover art. Today David reported that she had a similar temper tantrum when he locked her out on the pasture for couple of hours (so that the goats could have some time in the big paddock without getting the chance to chow down on the horse tails). I have always hoped to be back on her in April, and it looks like we are right on schedule.

The Host with The Most

Or maybe the hostess. It could be Raven or it could be Tonka, but one of my horses is producing piles of manure that are, in turn, producing piles of tiny red worms. Of course I have them on a regular worming rotation, but it looks like we need some bigger guns this month. Over the past three days I have collected samples from both horses so that Kerstin can give me the go-ahead to hit them both with five days of Panacur (fendendazole). Here's a picture of some encysted red worm larvae just to gross you out.

Renegades

There are many different kinds of hoof boots available, but Renegades are relative newcomers. Christina Cline tried them on her trail riding vacation this summer and she was very impressed. As a barefoot hoof care professional she has some clout in securing orders of this popular product (I believe that production is several weeks behind demand right now) and has offered to get me a pair for Raven. So far I have been holding off due to the expense (well over $200 CDN) but now that the vet bills are almost paid off I have been considering them more seriously.

Until her injury I had been riding Raven in EasyBoot Epics, but not without hitches like buckles popping open on trails and gators ripping off at a gallop. She is a challenging enough horse to ride without having to worry about her boots, and something more secure would ease my mind in the saddle. The Renegades have a unique design with a rigid, heel-cupping section instead of a soft gator. They look easy to use and they come in colours like "Arizona copper" and "dragon fire red" -- what else is there to know?

Tails of Woe

This post has been a long time brewing, but it has been brought to the forefront by Andrea's recent link to a news story about horse tail theft. We also have tail thieves at Farcical Farm -- their names are Timbit, Morsel and Roland McNugget.

Last month we noticed that Tonka's tail was unmistakably shorter than it had been, and several days later we caught the goats in the act of eating it. Raven's was normal at first, and we thought she was safe because she is so mean to the goats, but once they harvested Tonka's low-hanging fruit they started sneaking up on her from behind. Now both horses look silly at best (thank goodness I don't show), and their ability to protect themselves from insects has been compromised at worst. I guess we should be thankful that the goats are so short.

We could stop turning the goats out with the horses, but that would be boring for all parties. The goats love their big buddies, and Tonka loves the goats right back. He and Timbit spend a lot of time eating and playing together -- you will often see Tonka knocking Timbit with his nose to get a head butting in return. The better solution is to protect the horse's tails when the goats are around, but how?

Last week I put grommets in the tail flaps of all the horse blankets so that we can tie tail bags onto them, but even that doesn't provide Tonka with enough protection. He lets the goats stand with their hooves on his hocks to reach the hairs around his dock (he also lets them chew on his chestnuts, by the way -- we think he lacks some gene for equine dignity). I hope that I can find a full-tail wrap that will withstand their...er...attentions. Yesterday all three were playing tug-o-war with his tail cover while he had a nap in the sun.

What Do You Say?

What are the first words that come out of your mouth when asking a horse to settle? For me they are "ho, son" for a gelding or "ho, mum" for a mare. These are the words my coach always used and they have stuck with me over the years. Does everyone say the same thing? If not, does it vary by geographic location? Discipline? Training barn?

When I went out to feed the horses tonight they were standing on the front lawn and I practically ran into Raven as I rounded the corner of the house. Pepper was hot on my heels and understandably startled by this irregularity, so he started to bark. This was not the wild jail break we had last month -- David admits to having left the gate unlatched, and the horses obviously wandered out when it blew open. Not wanting them to panic I issued a general "ho son" while ushering Pep back into the house, then stopped to consider where those words come from. In the meantime David lured Tonka and Raven back into the paddock with the promise of alfalfa cubes. And I definitely latched the gate after my chores were finished. Definitely.

Work Horses

The horses didn't get worked yesterday afternoon because wet snow made the footing too dicey. When I took the dogs out around 16:00 Tonka and Raven came to the pasture gate to watch us play, and after I put the dogs away they were both waiting expectantly at the main gate. As I approached Raven gave the low nicker she reserves for those times when she's especially happy to see me, and when I stood by the gate she put her lip on my forehead and nuzzled it back and forth like crazy on my face and in my hair. That moment of tenderness left me breathless, and I was very sorry to disappoint her by breaking our routine. The weather is supposed to be wet and warm over the coming days, so I will try ponying Raven around the paddock (good footing) on a lead line. Wish us luck!

Ponying Progress

It was greyer and colder this afternoon when we repeated Thursday's exercise, but Raven was MUCH better. She threw a couple of half-hearted temper tantrums, but mostly walked along beside Tonka and I, or slightly ahead of us. After 30 minutes I felt that she was relaxed enough to try some trotting, and that went well for both horses. Then Tonka walked over a tarp that was on the ground near to our burn pile without a moment of hesitation. What a good boy! David came out when we were done to get some pictures.

No stirrups, one hand on the buckle, slumped in the saddle -- now that's my kind of riding!



I sense a hissy fit coming on. Tonka either doesn't notice or doesn't care.



I was feeding her treats off of Tonka when she was behaving sanely. Here she is checking to see if I have any more and Tonka is wondering why she gets all the treats when he's doing all the work. David took pity on him and I know that you will too.



I often call Raven "muleface" or "donkeydonk" because she has such long ears for a thoroughbred. She has turned a dark brown in the sun over the past week and now she looks more like a moose. A good-looking moose, but a moose all the same.

Three for One

Yesterday was another beauty in Deroche. I gave Tonka a cursory grooming, saddled him up and rode him at a walk in the pasture with Raven at liberty so that all three of us could get our workout for the day. Raven was stressed about the whole thing, but between bouts of bucking and farting and kicking and rearing she did manage to walk calmly alongside us for several 200+ foot stretches. This is my very first step towards ponying Raven off of Tonka, and he was absolutely fantastic. Raven's biggest problem was that she couldn't push him around with me on his back, and every single time she tried to dominate his movement he listened calmly to me, always trusting my judgment.

Beyond racing I doubt that Tonka has ever been more than a recreational trail horse, so we worked on straightness at the walk and bending a little through the corners. He kept his mind on his job and mostly ignored Raven's antics. My workout came from keeping my leg on Tonka, who rides like some of the warmbloods I used to know -- capable of huge movement, but not without huge input. Under normal circumstances I would have a dressage whip at the ready, but I didn't want to introduce that into the general chaos. No pictures from yesterday, but I was wearing exactly the same outfit as shown in the one above (taken last March, obviously before I had adjusted my right stirrup) if that gives you the idea. We'll do it again tomorrow to see whether Miss Thing can settle down faster than yesterday.

Terra Incognita

Yesterday before I put Tonka and Raven through their paces I grabbed a tarp from the garage. Getting horses to walk over tarps seems to be a common training goal so I thought we should give it a try. First I folded it down to 1/8 of its size and gave Raven a treat every time she touched it. Within a few minutes she had both front feet on it, but she was avoiding it with the hinds. Within 10 minutes I had completely unfolded it (12X16) and she was all over the darned thing mugging me for treats. After that I walked her with very short trot intervals (a few of them over the tarp) for about 20 minutes. Before Tonka had his longing session he walked all over the already-unfolded tarp without seeming to notice that it was there -- show that horse a treat and he becomes admirably tunnel-visioned.

Five Pillar Plan

On Sunday I very carefully watched and heard Raven moving. When she fully articulates the right hock joint it clicks, but she is not articulating it as much as the left. As a result she is pushing herself up high on the left fetlock to accommodate the slightly straighter right leg. This might explain why she looks sore on both hinds. I previously thought that the hock injury had somehow precipitated further degradation of the suspensory ligaments, but now I wonder if it is simply mechanical exacerbation of that weakness. Based on these observations I have formulated a plan.

Pillar 1: Joint Maintenance
This needs to happen with support from Kerstin, but I would like to try nutritional supplementation with MSM or glucosamine before jumping straight to something like Adequan or Legend. Any recommendations on good supplements are welcome -- there are about a million to choose from.

Pillar 2: Consistent Work
Joints are supported by the muscles around them, so we need to work on building up her legs and her quarters. On days when the footing in the pasture is good I will probably lunge her (she was fine after Sunday's session) to encourage more flexing of the joint by working in a circle. On days when it's wet I will hand walk her through some of the uneven parts of the pasture to encourage use of the leg under more varied conditions than she gets in the paddock. We'll do something every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday (when I am not in the office).

Pillar 3: Weight Loss
Thanks to everyone who commented on how good Raven looks. Because she came to me in such poor condition I take pride in keeping weight on her, but this isn't about my ego. Leaner is always better when it comes to joint injuries, and it wouldn't be unhealthy for Raven to lose 50lbs. I have started by dropping the high-fat pelleted feed from her diet, which accounts for about 1000 calories daily.

Pillar 4: Pain Management
No pain, no gain? More work might mean more pain for Raven, and I need to accept that using bute might be a short-term evil necessary for achieving our long term goal. Bute is dangerous because it can mask a real problem, but half a gram after a lunging session can also offer real relief.

Pillar 5: Attitude Adjustment
Mine, not Raven's. When I'm honest with myself I can admit that I have been pessismistic about Raven's recovery, which is unusual because I am hopelessly optimistic about most things. Am I just lazy? Or looking for a reason to feel sorry for myself? Or an excuse to avoid ever riding my crazy horse again because I'm skeered? Whatever. It ends here and now.

Superlative Sunday

0730 - 1030: Making money
Although I enjoy sleeping in on occasion, my brain works best in the morning and I hate to let it slip away. Most days (weekdays and weekends alike) start with me grabbing Obsidian (my laptop, a black MacBook) out of his bedside holster and remotely logging onto Pyxidis (my desktop, quad core blah blah RAM out the ying yang blah blah) who lives in my office on campus. Pyxidis runs all kinds of models for me at night, and I like to see what he's accomplished while I've been sleeping. This morning I started tinkering with some troublesome code, and it was 10:30 by the time I got it sorted out. A professionally productive start to a warm and sunny January Sunday.

1030 - 1100: Food machine
David often refers to me as "the food machine" because he thinks that's how the animals see me. Each of the dogs got half a cow's knee, the goats got their flake of alfalfa and the horses got their morning rations. Still lots of hay in the feeders from Saturday.

1100 - 1200: Late breakfast
Thick plain yogurt with crunchy sunflower granola, into which I mixed tiny and potent chocolate chips. Yummy! And one of David's magnificent mochas, care of Mr. Giotto. Enjoyed at the sun-flooded kitchen table with David, chatting about nothing in particular.

1200 - 1430: Moving muck
I mucked out the paddock and then David helped me to move all that manure lying in the pasture (where it got dumped on the snow days) up into the compost bin. We worked slowly in t-shirts, chatting and goofing around with the dogs between bouts of shoveling. Probably more fun than having a front-end loader.

1430 - 1530: Grooming
The horses have been naked for the past week of sunshine, and they have been rolling around in the muddy parts of the paddock. I groomed them both while they stood and ate at one of the feeders and then I turned my attention on Titan. With daily practice he is becoming more tolerant of brushing, and yesterday he lay quiet on his side for 10 minutes while I work on his undercoat with The FURminator.

1530 - 1600: Late lunch
David makes the best grilled cheese sandwiches ever, and I was lucky enough to get one for lunch. Enjoyed with a Vietnamese coffee and David's good company.

1600 - 1630: Working Raven
While I know that hand walking and trotting are the best exercises for Raven right now, I can't actually watch her move when I am moving alongside her. With some trepidation I put her on the 25 foot longe line to take a better look. Trepidation because (1) moving in a circle can be hard on an already-painful joint and (2) longing thoughtfully can be hard for Raven. It's obvious that people have used longing as a method of tiring her out in the past, and she tends to start cantering in mindless circles when she hits the end of the line. I found long ago that she is more comfortable without a whip, which is fine because her upward voice transitions are instantaneous and sustained. The downward transitions only work smoothly if I keep my voice and my body as quiet as possible. Today I managed to get her from a frantic canter into a walk within three circles, which is a record. We did lots of walking and a bit of trotting in both directions, followed by some hand walking up and down the pasture. Based on what I saw and heard I formulated a plan for moving forward, which will be the subject of another post.

1630 - 1700: Working Tonka
Where Raven hits the end of the longe at a canter, Tonka sees no reason to do anything other than stand around unless there is a whip actively involved. Once he got moving he was great with a big steady trot that makes my heart glad. Like many standardbreds Tonka doesn't canter too good, so we just did lots of walking and trotting. His downward transitions are instantaneous, which I attribute to sheer laziness rather than good training (though he does hold his pace admirably when he gets going). After that I took him down to the end of the pasture for some hand grazing. Raven does not like being separated from Tonka, and I need to start working on this if I want to ride him out and leave her behind. Every time she settled down and stood quietly I would bring him 50 feet closer to her. Hopefully with time and patience she will get the message that he only comes home when she keeps her head.

1700 - 1830: Phoning mom
A long conversation with my mother in Toronto. We talked about books, politics, family, pets, airplanes, travel plans.

1830 - 2000: Crazy casserole
I enjoy cooking when I have the time for it. A few weeks ago Roger gave me the recipe for a tasty caserole he made, and I have been wanting to try it ever since. We didn't have a lot of the ingredients in the house, but I substituted liberally (my modus operandi for all cooking). Scallions instead of yellow onion, some carrots to make up for the lack of crunch, some squishy tomotoes from the fridge instead canned, the ends of three different types of salsa instead of tomato sauce, and some really old Kraft Parmesan cheese I found in the cupboard a few weeks ago. It turned out great!

2000 - 2100: Chores
Another round of feeding followed by a shower. Our water was off all day and I was wrapping my head around the reality of showering at work before my morning meeting (sitting on the commuter train after a day like this would not make me any friends) when it came back on. Delightful!

2100 - 2400: Strict machine
You know that Goldfrapp song? I make my living using computers and sometimes I feel like a slave to Obsidian and Pyxidis. One of the best things about Farcical Farm is that it forces me to spend a lot of time away from my machines each and every day (have you guessed that I am a workaholic?). And on sunny days it gives me a good excuse to delay computer-dependent work until the sun goes down. Today was productive and pleasurable both personally and professionally. Who could ask for a better Sunday?

False Spring

It is analogous to false labour in my mind, and it has been happening in Deroche over the past four days. We have had sun (while most of the Lower Mainland is shrouded in fog), blue skies and daytime temperatures of 10 °C. I have been working outside in a t-shirt, Raven appears to be coming into her first heat and the trees are covered in tiny buds. I suspect that it will come to a tragic end quite soon, but we are all enjoying it while it lasts. Unfortunately I didn't bring the camera out with me today, but here's a shot from last year's false spring, which occurred in early February.

Feet for Funder

The last time that Christina Cline came to trim the horses I promised Funder that I would post some pictures. I finally got around to snapping them today while Christina was working away. The angles aren't ideal (I didn't want to neglect my horse-holding duties entirely) but the pictures below show (left) Tonka's front right in January of last year just after being trimmed by a local farrier and (right) the same hoof just after Christina finished trimming it today (click on it to see a larger version). This foot was more affected by the founder, with greater rotation and more remodeling of the coffin bone.

Sure his toes are shorter and his heels (naturally a bit high on this side) are under, but what I like most is the quality of the new growth. The ridges on the left indicate periods of disrupted growth, probably due to acute laminitic episodes, but the smoothness on the right is indicative of a more metabolically balanced horse. Now the front left:

Here you can clearly see how the plane of hoof growth used to break about halfway down with the angle (as measured with respect to the ground) getting smaller. This occurs due to weak laminar connection between the hoof and coffin bone, and you can see how stretched the white line (connection between hoof and sole) was in this picture:

Unfortunately I didn't take the matching pictures for this today, but the white lines on both fronts had tightened completely after six months of care. Also unfortunately I cannot find the pictures I took of Raven's hooves after Christina pulled her shoes, but the two pictures below show them today (you can see how a scar on her right coronet causes a seam to grow down the quarter).

Being a thoroughbred Raven doesn't have the toughest hooves, but we are very pleased by how much they have improved in shape and substance. All four used to flare like crazy between 4-week trims and the soles were like pancakes, but now they stay compact and there is real concavity around the frogs. She will probably never ride out comfortably without boots (assuming that she will be sound enough to ride out at all) but overall I feel that she is a much healthier horse without shoes.