Lady and Wayne

Lady girl got some cute new polos recently, blue and purple flowers, so cute for my sweet Lady.  Finally got a chance to use them today, so had to take a couple pictures!  She looks oh so thrilled!

But we had a nice ride today.  The weather was just perfect!  73 in October?!?  I'll take it!  Didn't work her too hard though, considering she's pretty fuzzy already and I didn't want her soaked with sweat.  But we had a nice ride together alone in the outdoor arena.  Well, almost alone, Cody was tied outside the arena waiting while we rode.....moral support.....pinning her ears at Lady every time we rode past.....some moral support there Cody!

But we worked on some more of the Clinton Anderson exercises.  She's finally starting to trot the clover leaf pattern fairly decent, starting to wait for me to tell her which direction to turn rather than always trying to pick the direction she wants to turn.  Worked on more vertical flexion at the walk and staying flexed at the walk a little longer.  She even walked some complete 10 meter circles while collected!  Major accomplishment for Lady girl!  And worked on the canter a little bit.  Finally got a nice slow canter both directions again, even if it was only for a short bit before she wanted to rush again.  But that's an improvement over our last ride that we worked on the canter!  Good girl Lady girl!  She'll play lesson horse tomorrow night, then hopefully I can ride her again Tuesday or Wednesday.

As for Wayne, he had a major set back yesterday.  He spent Friday night outside, but I guess even the small area I had roped off for him wasn't small enough.  When my husband and I went down to take care of him in the morning, he was very sore and not moving very well.  His leg was hot and very sore when palpalted.  He'd obviously reinjured his leg.  So we ice and buted him, got him settled in a stall, and I'd be back later to check on him. 

But I got a phone call from Jesse, the vet student at the barn, that Wayne had been laying down most of the morning.  He'd get up for short periods, then lay right back down, and didn't have much interest in his haycubes.  So I headed back down to the barn, and pulled Wayne's wraps off so Jesse could take a look at his leg.  He came to the same conclusion I had, that Wayne had reinjured that leg.  And we decided it was probably best to just keep him on stall rest for now, since even though his area outside is small, he's too busy worrying about everything going on around him and keeping an eye on the place to pay attention to the fact that his leg hurts.

So I spent most of the day in tears yesterday, just sitting in Wayne's stall with him, just spending time with my little man, holding his head in my lap when he laid down, just sitting with him when he did get up to nibble at something to eat or to see what was going on in the barn.  He laid down most of the day, and was laying down when I came back last night to check on him, but he did get up and eat his grain and let me ice and rewrap his legs. 


Wayne having a peek outside the barn today.

I was affraid I was going to have to make that decision today when I went down to check on him this morning.  But he was on his feet and bright eyed when I walked in, and had finished all of his evening haycubes and the afternoon ones from the day before.  He'd obviously been moving around during the night, since his bedding was all pushed around the edges of his stall.  And he was walking much better this morning.  No heat in his leg when I unwrapped it and no pain reaction when palpated.  And he dug right into his breakfast. 

When I went back this afternoon, he'd been laying down once before I got there, but he was on his feet the rest of the day in his stall.  Since my husband went hunting, I spent most of the day at the barn, fussing with the furkids and keeping an eye on Wayne.  He seemed happy and back to his normal self today.  A complete turn around from the day before.  So I guess we'll just continue with stall rest and see how it goes day by day.  Thankfully our barn is a pretty busy place anymore, so at least there will be lots of activity going on in the barn to help keep his mind busy.


When you don't have no bows, improvise! 



And keep up with the icing and wrapping.  Since I rarely have to wrap Wayne's legs, I don't have very many pony sized leg quilts, and the horse size ones I use on my mares are just way too big for him.  So to keep from having to go do horse laundry every couple days, and since foam no bows work so much better than quilts, I made a trip to JoAnn Fabrics and bought a 2 1/2 yard roll of 1/2 foam, and cut out a set of no bows for him!  So far, they've worked pretty well!