Thursday, April 16, 2009

Sunscreen on A Sarcoid?

Before I brought my horse out today, the first thing I did was take a load of stuff (helmet, longe line, carrot stick) up to the arena. I didn't want to have to carry everything while I led my horse up later (the arena is not near the house.) I also wanted to snap some photos of my horse in the pasture. As I walked to the back of the property, my horse was watching me intently from his tree. I love that look.

He has a way of nickering softly at me as I walk by. I could barely hear him, but I could see his nostrils wiggling back and forth.

He watches me and starts to follow me down to the gate as I walk past him back to the garage. By the time I return with his lead rope to catch him, he's already at the gate. He's been really, really good about wanting to be caught lately. He's still wearing the halter. Not ready to go without that quite yet.

After I groom him, I put a little bit of sunscreen on his sarcoid. The vet told not to put anything on it while it was oozing from the Xxterra. Recently, I have put some aloe vera wound cream on the dry healed skin, but nothing on the scab. I didn't want to irritate his skin. But I am afraid that that exposed pink flesh might be getting sunburned. Holy cow, I don't want him to get skin cancer there in five years!

I said I was going to ride My Boy today, and I did. On the way to the arena, My Boy is always a major staller. He loves to stop at the mares' water trough to drink. Maybe the water is better than his own? He drinks like he hasn't had water in days. After he takes a big slurp, he holds his tongue sticking out like this for several seconds.

Then he looks at me as if I'm holding him up. From drinking water? Never mind that we are trying to get to the arena to do some work! I always let him drink, of course, but I know he gets plenty of water from his own trough, I see him drink out of it, too. He is just putting off the inevitable. I'm tellin' ya, it's true! He'll also stop to relieve himself somewhere along the way. Or just look at something in the woods. Or try to snatch a bite of grass. Major, major, staller. He thinks I'm clueless, but I've got his number.

I always keep a good eye on Paint Girl's mares when I am up to see my horse and she and her other half are at work for the day. Look them over for oddities, wounds, or any abnormal behavior. The day after they had their vaccinations, I saw Fritzy laying in the corner of the barn, completely still. I watched her for a long time and began to panic because she was not moving. I was imagining making the call to my sister at work, telling her something was wrong with her horse. Luckily, I saw the mare's tail flip up and over her back. And a few minutes later, her head came up, then she got up and wandered out of the barn.

As my boy is stocking up on H20 like a camel, Fritzy and the goats are standing in the sun. But where is Brandy?

Oh, there she is! Whew. Smart little camouflage mare, hanging out in the shade!

I longed My Boy before I rode. He played the "I'm an old, tired, lazy 40 year old nag and it's hot out" and clomped around the arena. It took some persuasion to get him to move out. I love that when I cluck, he trots. And when I kiss, he knows he needs to lope.

When he first started loping, he put his head down and hopped up and down halfway around the circle. I yelled at him to cut it out. He did that last year under saddle on the longe line, when wearing a built-up saddle pad. It's not a typical "I'm feeling good" buck. It's a discomfort or "something feels funny" hop. I've since switched saddle pads and it hasn't been a problem. I'm not sure what his problem was today. I finally had him loping both directions without the hopping, so I bridled him and rode.

I just walked and jogged on him. Despite a lot of chomping on the bit (I forgot my cavesson) he responded well and was responsive and soft in turns. Not bad for not getting ridden much over the winter! He was a little stiff at bending though. I can barely get his head round to my boot when flexing. We need to work on that. The chiropractor that worked him last year wanted me to do bending exercises with him from the ground.

Nobody was there to take my picture, so I set my point and shoot on the timer and hung it on the panel gate. Still wearing the bowling ball helmet, obviously!

After our ride, my horse dozed in the sun while I snapped some pictures. When it is warm, My Boy typically has a low energy level. Let me correct that. He typically has a low energy level- most of the time! He is not a raring-to-go kind of horse. I don't mind that, actually. It wouldn't be good if I wanted him to be a performance horse of some sort. But he's not. And on the trail, he walks out well and is enthusiastic.

I was bummed that Paint Girl wasn't there. This picnic table was looking pretty lonely. She would have enjoyed working with her horse on this warm sunny day. Or at least hanging out to watch, drinking a Dr. Pepper and the dogs panting at her side. Oh well. Plenty of time to horse around together. Hopefully, as soon as this weekend!

I couldn't resist snapping a picture of my horse eating grass before I put him away. He was chomping down that spring green like there was no tomorrow!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

P.S. I realize I've totally gone off my blog schedule this week....but I'm on vacation. So I figured my blog schedule is on vacation, too!

23 comments:

  1. What a great sunny day you had with your boy! I wish I could do ground work...but alas I would be barfing all over your blog!!! LOL I felt sad for your empty picnic table and hope that you and Paint Girl have many happy sunny days ahead of you!

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  2. Glad to hear that you were able to get in a ride on your boy! Too bad Paint Girl wasn't there with you, but I'm sure you guys will have lots of rides together soon.

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  3. It looks like a beautiful day. I think the entire USA is ready for spring this year!

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  4. I looooove that second picture with MB looking at you with a sweet soft expression...he is such a handsome devil! I think Daisy might be smitten :) She likes spots on a pony...who doesn't? I can't believe you had such a beautiful warm day and got to ride! How fun! Too bad PaintGirl wasn't around to enjoy it with you, but the rest of the gang looks happy and healthy!

    Enjoy your vacation!! Squishes to everyone over at the Painted Creek!

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  5. Every time you get a shot of Riley with his tongue hanging out it cracks me up. It looked so nice out. It has since reverted back to rain. I'm hearing it's supposed to revert back just in time for the weekend, YEAH!

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  6. Love the photo of him with the tongue barely sticking out -- I have a cat that does that and it is just too damn cute!!! Nice to be able to get outside and do some riding, isn't it?? Looks like you had a great day. I also just love Paint Girl's goats -- we have a LaMancha, but the people who raised him removed his horn buds...I wish he had nice horns like those goats!!

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  7. i love to see what other horsey folks are doing on the farm...thank you for sharing! your photos are so good. your pony reminds me of my first lesson horse 'oscar', he too was an app.

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  8. Looks like you have a lovely area there. I like how the horses have their trees and special spots to tuck themselves into the shade.

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  9. Hey PG! The first picture on this post is just gorgeous...they others are great too but that one is stellar! I used to have to put suntan lotion on my old Arab gelding because he had a huge white blaze that would get sun burned in the summer.

    It is funny because I must have been commenting on BECG and Melanie's blog at the same time as you were b/c when I first when to comment there were no other comments but when I finished there were yours! lol

    Are you going to buy season two of McLeods? They are expensive but there is a lot of hours of Aussie Soap bliss in there too, right? *wink* (if you need another excuse just give me a shout! I'll come up with something...)

    As for My Boy's little hopping thingy- dont forget that a horses back changes A LOT when they have had a good chunk of time off...the muscles and shape changes so everything might not be fitting as well as it did when you first switched pads. That is a problem I have had when I first bought Shaunti and Ellie, they were either skinny or out of shape so their backs changed (what seemed like) every ride I had tweek the pads a little.

    Hope you are enjoying your new toy!

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  10. {ACHM}~ Thanks for the compliment. I like that first photo too, it's a classic My Boy look, except I hadn't groomed him yet so he looked a little raggedy, LOL! I can't wait until the spring shed is over and I can get some nice shots without all of the hair sticking to me and my camera! And I'm still thinking about MD Season 2....hopefully by this summer, I'll have it! ;)

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  11. I am definitely seeing a difference in the quality of your pictures with the new toy! Looks like you had a nice realizing day. Nothing better than spending it with our equine friends!

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  12. Sounds like such a good day with your horse!

    I generally really, really, really, REALLY don't like to hand out advice to people when it comes to horses, but I do just want to say this... I've heard of some tragic stories of people leaving their halters on their horses and the horses getting them caught on a fence post or something else really random and dying.

    I know how much you obviously love him and I would have felt bad if I didn't mention it. If you want to know the technique that I use for getting my horses to be good about being caught, shoot me an email and I'll share it with you!

    Again, I really don't want to tell you what to do... Just a word of caution. ;)

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  13. Hey sis, your new camera is taking great pix! Thanks for catching my lazy animals sunbathing!
    It is supposed to be nice this weekend so we should be able to get some horse time in this weekend!

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  14. I just caught up on your blog, and have to admit that when I saw the picture of the rock (down below), my first thought was "OMG, it's the sarcoid!!!" LOL!!!!

    I love the pictures that your new camera takes, and Fritzy looks just like Lisa's BD in that one picture...so pretty. :)

    Glad you were able to get some riding in. We went out for a nice long one today, and met up with a hail storm at the very end.

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  15. As always, enjoyed your pictures & commentary! Funny about the water trough! My Blue has fake itches on his leg when he is avoiding work. "Oh, wait, I have a big itch first!"

    My friend and I were just talking about the virtues of ground work - something I don't do often enough. Plan to blog about it later today.

    PS: The pics of Paint Girls horse and goat was a great shot. Those goats are huge!

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  16. You sure do know how to paint a picture of a pleasant day. Cracks me up about his stall tactics! I have kids who will do the same thing.

    The green there amazes me. All we have on our ground is dirt!

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  17. {The Wades}~ Everything is getting really green here. I have to tell you though, I get tired of the green! Sometimes I want to live somewhere that has desert, brown, dry dirt, and yellow! ;) Isn't that funny?

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  18. I love your day with My boy and all those fantastic photo's! The goats truly gave me a hearty laugh...all looking goaty-intent!
    Have a lovley time off.

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  19. It's lovely to read about your day and what you got up to. My gelding Toffee is very laid back and quit lazy. I think this is why he enjoys the Parelli system, because it makes him think and isn't monotonous.

    I've posted a link on Merlin's blog of him playing ball. It's not Parelli by any stretch of the imagination!!!

    Kim x

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  20. {Kim}~ Okay, that has to be the coolest video of a horse playing ball I've ever seen! He was little a star stallion soccer player! Can you imagine him moving a cow? With those moves....goodness! I laughed every time it rolled under the fence and you had to run get it....he'd just stop there and wait. And interesting that he kept laying on top of and rubbing his head on it, and almost sat down on it! Thanks for sharing. p.s. I loved listening to your accents, hee! ;)

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  21. Wish you lived around here so we could ride with you. My guy likes to relax, too. Hope the weather holds for you so you can get some more rides in!

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  22. That first picture is AWESOME!! I love it!! great placement and focus, very nice!! And the one shot of the goats with the paint mare, LOL, that is great!! It made me smile!!

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  23. So nice a day you had with your MyBoy. I too will watch intently when my horses lie and seem to be so still for a long time. Now that the weather is so nice, it seems my youngster lays for longer times. He even lays still while I approach him. He is such a cutie.

    I am so glad to hear that the sarcoid is healing well.

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I love hearing from my readers!! I truly enjoy all of your feedback, advice, helpful tips, and stories. You all make me laugh and I learn so much from you, too. I will try to post replies to your comments as often as I can.

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