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Ana's thread - Adventures in Morgan Horse Ownership

220K views 3K replies 49 participants last post by  frlsgirl 
#1 · (Edited)
I thought I'd start a thread about little Ana. We've had her for 5 days now. I go see her every night after work to check on her.

She's quite the little busy body. I noticed that her halter is laying in the dirt every time I stop by. I hung it back up last night and stood there talking to the BO for a minute when I saw her pick it up and throw it back in the dirt. "So that's what's been happening to my halters" said the BO :lol:

She's very interested in people. When others show up to do whatever she runs up to the fence and tries to get their attention.

I snuck into her paddock last night to check her water and she came running out of her stall like a bat out of hell to say hello.

The BO really likes her "she's the most jovial horse I've ever met" he said. I would have to agree.
 
#2,567 ·
@knightrider - thank you; it probably will happen again; I do faint about once every 5 years or so, most of the time I don't even go to the doctor but because it happened in such a public place, they called an ambulance before I had regained awareness.



On a brighter note, I felt well enough to go riding this morning and of course everyone is really worried saying "be careful" and "are you sure you are ok to ride by yourself?" I'm fine!!!!!!!! Just a dumb thing that happens to me. I'm probably safest on a horse because I'm at least wearing a helmet. I fainted at home once and hit my head on the washing machine on the way down and ended up with a concussion. I drove myself to the hospital with a bag of frozen peas on my head.


So I was really eager to recreate our ride from Friday and get a great canter on video; which we did. I was a little tired so the up trans is not quite as pretty and the down trans was very bad but I just wanted to make a video to illustrate what I'm doing so that I can show you all. The second time I come by the camera at the canter you can see how I'm giving with my inside rein.





You can also see that the walk to trot trans is a lot better as I'm not allowing her to disconnect. Also excuse my messy get-up; I usually try to dress nicer when I'm filming but didn't have time to do laundry as yesterday's adventures threw a wrench in my system.
 
#2,568 ·
Sorry to hear about your ER trip. Looking lovely on Ana, though! :) You look very supple and relaxed as a rider, and only you can tell me whether it feels like that from where you were sitting!

Did you ever have tachycardia as a teenager? I did sometimes - it's common in girls - and it freaked me out the first time it happened, at 15. I was sitting at a desk doing homework when suddenly my heart missed a beat and then went hammering at about 160bpm until I felt dizzy. It literally felt like my heart was going to jump out of my chest. The doctor reassured me that it wasn't dangerous. The occurrence became less common in adulthood for me; maybe once every two to three years. Sometimes I can trick it back into normal rhythm by inflating my lungs and holding my breath while bearing down, rinse and repeat so you don't run out of oxygen. When you do that during normal heartbeat, you can actually slow your heartbeat down if you're wired like me; lots of people apparently can do this. And sometimes that can help stop a hiccup too.

Freakier though: About 8 years back, I was lying propped on my elbows reading a book when a tachycardia episode started, and I thought, "Here we go again!" and waited for it to return to normal. Suddenly my heart missed several beats, and I was going, "Beat, dammit, beat!" And when it started beating again, it was beating at a mere 30bpm, half my normal resting rate (i.e. bradycardia). Not something I'd ever experienced before, or have since. Unlike tachycardia, it didn't feel unpleasant and I didn't go dizzy, but it was disconcerting. THUMP. Long pause. THUMP. Long pause. These were massive thumps and long pauses, and I was joking to my husband, "I now have an endurance horse's resting rate. But I'm not a horse. So weird." And I didn't dare move or get up, in case I wasn't getting enough oxygen with that heart rate. Four minutes later, end of episode. Never had it again since.

But when you think about it, it's pretty amazing that our heart doesn't make more mistakes! :)

Best wishes! :cool:
 
#2,569 ·
OMG @SueC that would scare right into a panic attack! It sounds like you are dealing with this condition very well though.

I’ve had fainting problems all my life so I’ve had lots of testing done. The doc in Colorado diagnosed me with “idiopathic tachycardia” which is a fancy we of saying “we don’t know what’s wrong” lol. Frustrated, I asked the doc what this diagnosis means and he said “that’s just the way God made you” - most amusing explanation ever!
 
#2,571 ·
OMG @SueC that would scare right into a panic attack! It sounds like you are dealing with this condition very well though.

I’ve had fainting problems all my life so I’ve had lots of testing done. The doc in Colorado diagnosed me with “idiopathic tachycardia” which is a fancy we of saying “we don’t know what’s wrong” lol. Frustrated, I asked the doc what this diagnosis means and he said “that’s just the way God made you” - most amusing explanation ever!
That's such a good word, idiopathic, and it's fun to apply it! Idiopathic memory loss relating to medical textbooks. ;-) Intermittent idiopathic stupidity. Permanent idiopathic stupidity. That idiopathic banana in my refrigerator.

When you faint, are you out for long? Do you have much notice that it's going to happen, so you can lie down perhaps, or no such luck?

I've never fainted, that's why I ask, I've just gone black before the eyes, and typically when getting up quickly from a recumbent position. Orthostatic hypotension. Thinking about it, I've not had that in a long time and dehydration is supposed to be a factor. Maybe it's that we now drink our green tea out of the biggest soup mugs we can find, and have lots of repeats. Which also means lots of loo trips, but I do actually feel better overall with all these fluids despite the inconvenience...

Great photos you posted again. You and Ana are such a great combination! :runninghorse2:
 
#2,570 ·
Some still shots from our ride. Really happy with how she’s opening the throat latch at the stretchy trot following the canter. That’s the hardest part about stretching correctly; not just down but out. Usually she goes just down.
 

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#2,572 ·
@SueC - i do get a about a 5 Second window before I completely black out but it usually happens when I’m doing something active and can’t always lie down, like when I was at the end of a riding lesson 5 years ago; there was just enough time to dismount and then I just dropped into the arena dirt. I’m not completely knocked out as I can hear people talking but they seem very far away and I think my eyes are open but everything is black. The whole thing takes about a minute and then I start to wake up again and after about 5 minutes I’m back on my feet like nothing happened.

Off Topic:

My sister is traveling in Europe particularly the Tirol region which is where the Haflinger breed originated. I’ve been begging her for pictures and she sent me these today. Doesn’t it look like horse heaven? Also can’t believe how many cattle and horses they have together and yet they all seem to get along just fine. I always thought the rule was 4 acres per horse? But then I’ve also heard 1 acre per horse. I guess this doesn’t apply in Europe as there just isn’t enough space for that.
 

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#2,573 ·
It's to do with the differences in pasture productivity. Different soils & climates = different production rates. The spring flush in the European alpine region is legendary!


They're also probably crash grazing then rotating before it gets damaged, and letting it regrow.


Beautiful photos, I need a TARDIS so I can go too! :)
 
#2,574 ·
Thanks for the feedback @SueC I know very little about grazing, herd management in regards to climate, space, etc. I feel like I need to take a class on agriculture before I bring Ana home so I don't mess anything up.

I made a better version of my canter video with slow-motion:



I rode yesterday and couldn't get the right lead, so I got brave and tried the left on purpose lol and I was able to get her round and connected just in time to run into the orange cones that BO had set up for lessons; I thought we are solid enough to where I could just wing it instead of setting up proper space and time; I guess it's too soon, we still need to prepare and plan.

Also having some technical issues with my whip; I'm having to open my inside hand quite a bit to show Ana the release and I end up accidentally touching her with my uber long Dressage whip; seriously it's so long I could whip the horse behind me; I'm kidding, it just feels like it's miles long relative to my little horse. I've tried pony crops but those are too short. I wish someone would invent a retractable whip; kind of like an umbrella, where you press the button and it expands and then you press the button and it collapses again. Even better, a hologram whip.

But overall it was still a good ride, I totally hadn't planned on cantering left since that's her sticky side anyway so it's good to know that it can be done I just need to plan it better. She also backed up a solid 10 steps; that was pretty hard for her but she pulled through. We really need to practice the change in bend that's required for center lines, the loop and going across the diagonal; you see i'm able to keep her nice and round by having a clear inside leg to outside rein connection which is super easy on a circle where the bend stays even but with the loop the bend switches, with the diagonal there isn't a super clear bend one way or the other, so I need to figure out how to keep her on the aids without a bend and then the same problem or even more so on the center lines.

We also figured out a better morning routine; I put her in her stall after our ride and give her just hay; that way she thinks she's getting breakfast, well at least the first course, and the other horses don't go insane thinking it's feeding time. By the time Ana is through with her hay and wondering when the 2nd course will arrive, the BO is up and about dispensing feed. So everyone is happy or at least not totally mad.

Hoping to go riding in the morning. DH left for a 9 day trip so I'm in charge of the farm - yikes! Who will kill spiders for me? :)
 
#2,575 ·
Thanks for the feedback @SueC I know very little about grazing, herd management in regards to climate, space, etc. I feel like I need to take a class on agriculture before I bring Ana home so I don't mess anything up.
You'll do fine, I'm sure! :) Information is readily available online through various agriculture departments / smallholder associations. Have you finally found a place where you can live and keep Ana as well? I remember some photos on your journal of fences going up and some talk about bringing Ana home, but have missed the particulars. And in your last post you talked about being in charge of the farm, so clearly I missed something about your last house-moving!

That slow-motion is looking great. I personally am sided in such a way that I always prefer cantering circles to the left (my easy side) and have to work harder on the right. I realise horses are often sided too, but I know that much of that sidedness is actually me, for my case. Because it's the same for me on a bicycle, haha! :) Want to do the "bicycle test" and ride Figure-8s and see how that goes? ;-)

Retractable and hologram whips sound uber-futuristic - you could be the inventor raking in the royalties if you play your cards right! ;-) It is possible to shorten the fibreglass part of the dressage whip while leaving a little "remainder" of braided covering so you can fashion another braided tip. Maybe your whip was made for 17hh Warmbloods... And maybe there would be creative uses for the excised bit of fibreglass... particularly in relation to unpleasant people! :D

Good that you actually have some warning for your fainting. I gather though that you're not planning on adding free-climbing to your list of sports pursuits anytime soon?
 
#2,576 · (Edited)
And a nice song for you about spiders and being eaten by them! ;-) Robert Smith, the singer, was afraid of spiders and had recurrent nightmares about them as a young child, and was channelling this beautifully in this song. I actually love everything about this song. The first version is deliberately audio only and HQ. Hope you're hooked up to good speakers; you really need the bass right for this one.




Click directly on "Watch on YouTube" for this clip while HF problems are getting patched up...


Good live version with wonderful spidery theatrics here:





And just as an aside, the intro to this would be superb for a medley for Freestyle to Music... do you ever work Ana with music?

PS: I have some Australian spider stories here involving hairy huntsmen! ;-) https://www.horseforum.com/member-j...ys-other-people-479466/page38/#post1970515647
 
#2,577 ·
@SueC oh yes I remember “the cure” takes me back to late 80s early 90s. No, I will not be taking on any extreme sports anytime soon. Yes we built a house in the country last year; moved in last November. So far we only got the house plus perimeter fencing so it’s not quite ready for Ana yet. We are located 3 minutes from Ana’s current boarding place so I’m not in a hurry to move her.

On second thought the retractable whip might spook horses but I’m still looking into hologram whip ;)

Had a good ride on Ana yesterday except BO had the same idea and on the inside I was like “noooo, my arena!” but on the outside I was like “oh ok” we never got around to cantering as I needed my full circle and just as I set her up BO came into “my” space. But we got some really good trot work done.

I noticed at the end of our ride that Ana has white snot coming from her nose and I had just wiped a bit of white goop from her eyes when I had groomed her. Prince also had white discharge from his eyes and Troopers discharge was clear but he could barely open his right eye. BO said it’s just allergies but I always thought allergies is clear discharge whereas white points to a virus or infection. I hope we don’t have a virus going through the barn! I haven’t seen her yet today; might stop by tonight to check on her before I ride her this weekend. If there’s more white goop I will also take her temp.
 
#2,578 ·
#2,579 ·
Lol @SueC

Stopped by the barn after work to check on Ana and both eyes were gunky again. Cleaned them, put some eye ointment in them, brushed her and covered her in a fresh coat of fly spray. Checked her temp; normal. Checked her nasal discharge; also normal. By the time I turned her back out the gunk had already re-formed. Oh well. Went home to take a nap when I get a text. Barn mate told BO my concerns (geez, why?) so they apparently pulled Ana back out of the pasture to check her temp to inform me that it was normal, which of course I already knew.

We got storms rolling in tonight but as soon as they pass, I'm headed to the barn first opportunity I get tomorrow to ride her; hopefully I'll have the place to myself; I've gotten so spoiled with my early morning solo rides. I will double check her nose then to see if she got white discharge again. Last time it didn't turn white until after our ride. She had just gotten the rhino booster vaccine so I'm concerned that maybe she's got a touch of the rhino virus from the vaccine. Can that happen? I know it can happen to people if they get the flu vaccine. if it was just eye discharge I wouldn't worry but the fact that it was both eye and nasal shortly after getting the vaccine made me think otherwise.
 

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#2,580 ·
I wouldn't worry. In order for a vaccination to "take" the immune system has to mount a response to the antigen - in this case the vaccine, which is usually attenuated virus, so she won't get sick as such from it - a very mild variation of the full-blown thing. People can sometimes get that with the flu shot as well, just noticing the immune response.

Allergies versus infections, yes, late stage bacterial infections often give us lots of opaque and even yellowy-greeny mucus. Allergies, and early stage infections of everything, tend to just result in runny, clear stuff as the tissues try to wash away the allergen or "bug". The actual combat between the white cells and the offending invaders like bacteria, and the localised increased death of the body's epithelial cells when viruses rupture them, creates a lot of "muck" that gets clumped up and you know what that looks like...

Happy riding! Hope you get the place to yourself. :)
 
#2,581 ·
My thing wont let me like posts but I'm glad you and Ana are coming together so well and are getting the canter. It looks alot more regular in rhythm and with a more consistent 3 beat, so that's great!

I think she'll be fine after the vaccine. A lot of horses react to vaccines, Wonder has a pretty bad reaction vaccines. Sensitive horses usually do.
 
#2,582 ·
Thank you for your feedback @DanteDressageNerd - glad you're back!


As of this morning, Ana is back to normal; no discharge anywhere and no coughing (she coughed a bit yesterday during our ride). We did have a storm roll through overnight so maybe the climate change has helped her feel better? It's certainly helped with the flies.


Yesterday, for the first time since discovering this new way of riding, we did both a canter circle right and a canter circle left. She wasn't as willing to take the rein down on the left but her back stayed up and soft and her transitions were nice.


This whole time I've been concerned with my position, making tweaks here and there thinking that it's the key to making Ana go better for me. It turns out capturing and recycling the energy is what sets Ana up to go well and then I can make little tweaks like shifting my weight back; I had been working especially hard on my canter seat; turns out I don't need to do anything fancy; when her back is up, it's so pleasant to sit on, that I'm automatically sitting better.


Yesterday, after our ride, I went to the HofC to shop the sale bins; I got 5 shirts for $5 each! And they are not cheap shirts; one is Pikeur that was originally priced at $95! So I made out like a bandit. I also got new gloves but I paid full price; Roeckls are just not cheap but I love them, they are so pretty and have that extra reinforcement where needed.


Wore my gloves and one of the shirts for filming today; I was so determined to go to the barn that I found little window in between the rain and storms. Poor Ana had been kept up for 2 nights in a row due to weather so she was extra hot yesterday and today she full on spooked and nearly stopped by heart. Sometimes I can't tell that a spook is coming and that always freaks me out, she'll be like "la, la, la, going for a walk, WTF!!!!!!" (back drops out from under me). And then she'll walk on like nothing happened whereas I'm still trying to get my heart beat back to normal.



Even though it was a bit cooler, the humidity was miserable. We ended up not cantering and doing less trotting than usual and focused more on walking and lateral stuff. At the end of our ride I remembered thinking "well this was a waste" and that moment I asked her to halt from my seat with no rein contact whatsoever and she halted like a pro and I was like "that was AWESOME!" - so sometimes I set out to accomplish XYZ during our ride and accidentally stumble across something awesome like that. So it wasn't a waste.



To be honest I'm still a little freaked out about last week's fainting spell so I'm being a bit more careful than usual; I joined a support group for others who have the same condition and I think reading their posts is only causing me to be more concerned about this than maybe I need to be. After today's spook, it took an hour for my heart rate to get back to normal or at least it felt like that. DH is also concerned about me and has enlisted the neighbors to check on me. I was doing a 3 mile walk yesterday, and the neighbor's drove by 3 times and waved at me; I just had this feeling that DH phoned them and asked them to look in on me. It kind of made me feel like I'm on the Truman show, you know how they wave at Truman and he thinks they are just being friendly when they are paid actors? I need to get my independence and confidence back; I was looking into a heart monitor watch you can wear that will beep if your heart rate gets too out of control, but that might spook Ana so that's something to consider.
 

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#2,583 ·
I can't like posts :-(

But I'm glad Ana is back to normal and you're accomplishing so much together in your riding! I'm really happy for you two, you look like a completely new team from last year! And that you're focusing more on feel rather than finding the perfect position. Sometimes I think thoughts get in our way and we just have to feel what we can and gradually work it out. Sometimes the right answer is counter intuitive from what we think it should be but just part of the fun :)
 
#2,584 ·
Agreed @DanteDressageNerd ! My left brain wants to be in charge too much and that hinders our progress.

We rode yesterday and today. I got a fitness tracker that monitors not just steps but also heart rate.

Interesting observations so far: it takes me 1800 steps to get Ana ready/arena ready for riding. Ana took about 4000 steps this morning in 25 minutes. My max heart rate while riding today appears to be 120ish.

Speaking of riding, yesterday we added change in bend and more straight lines as well as a left canter circle after the right canter circle with only a short break in between.

Today we did more changes in bend including the trot loop. After messing up the right lead canter we gathered ourselves into a nice trot, changed direction and picked up the left lead and today for the first time she was showing signs of wanting to stretch to the hand at the left canter. Her back was kind of up but head in the air but then with each stride as I asked for stretch she gave me an inch and another inch and another inch so I was super happy with that and had her come back to a trot then stretchy trot and then walk and cool down on loose rein. Also the halt from Seat alone button appears firmly installed now :)

I did start to feel a bit sick after the last canter but by the time I checked the heart rate it was 120ish so I’m guessing it was actually higher than that. It was already 80 degrees when I left the barn with humidity so high that my fireplace glass is fogged over. :eek_color:

The cool down is more of a “get horses respiration and heart rate back to normal” as it’s impossible to cool down under those conditions.

I don’t know how anyone gets any serious riding done during summer without putting themselves and their horses health at risk unless they all ride at “oh God o clock” like I do.

No riding tomorrow as DH is finally coming back from Florida but we’ll be back at it this weekend.
 

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#2,587 ·
No riding this morning. DH came back from Florida late last night so I decided to stay home this morning to have breakfast with him.

Yesterday was the hottest day of the year so far with a high of 103F. So I stopped by the barn last night to drop off carrots and check on her. I hadn’t planned on staying but she was so sweaty that I decided to give her a good rinse followed by some hand grazing in the shade. She finished with a nice roll in the grass before being led to her stall for dinner.

Planning on riding Saturday and Sunday and filming both rides.

What’s everyone doing for the 4th? What do you do to keep your horses and other critters calm ?
 

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#2,589 ·
I don't know what to expect at our new place as far as fireworks, but at the old barn it was a big problem every year. The people who lived across the street (a narrow, rural dirt road, so basically their house is on the other side of the turnout fences) would do huge booming cannon type fireworks (legal in New Hampshire) and it was very hard for a lot of the horses. BO would actually bring all the stall boarded horses in really early and put black-out paper over the windows and doors.


The funny thing though is that Izzy's first boarding barn was across the woods from a military gun manufacturing facility. They would be testing literal cannons and automatic weapons all year long, so the horses there got a pretty quick desensitization to gun fire and loud banging! Izzy never really minded the fireworks.
 
#2,590 ·
@DanteDressageNerd and @egrogan - how far away are the nearest neighbors? Are all types of fireworks legal in Missouri and Vermont?

Rode Ana today after a two day break; I made a little video. Today the right lead was not good; it went lateral; tried to fix it by riding her more forward but it seemed like her legs were just getting jumbled so I brought her back to a trot. The left lead though is looking and feeling better. I'm also really happy with the trot across the diagonal. That was always a sticky one for us. Can you just tell that toward the end of w/t/c on the left Ana was just so tired and asking "mother may I be excused yet" and I'm like 'no you may not" lol. I do give her plenty of stretch breaks each ride.



I did have her in a different girth today and I felt like that was maybe making her uncomfortable. So tomorrow we will try the right lead again with her regular girth. We also didn't do backing up exercise before asking for the right lead, so that's another thing I'll be sure today for tomorrow.

My heart rate went up quite high today but I just now figured out that I need to push a special button if I want to do a special recording of my heart rate during our ride so I'll be sure to do that. I manually checked it during our last walk across the diagonal and by then it was down to 148 which makes me think it was at least 150 during canter work which is rather high.

Overall she seemed a bit behind the vertical today, like I couldn't get her forward enough. I will try to do a better job tomorrow of pushing her towards a longer outside rein. We will see.

For a fun comparison, here is where we were 10 months ago (no true outside rein connection, and a very bouncy canter):

 
#2,591 ·
I'm not really sure what is legal in Missouri but it seems a good variety. I just don't buy or fire off fireworks, so I don't care because I can't control what other people do nor do I want the responsibility. Plus fireworks are really expensive.

I hope your heart starts feeling better, it's scary when something feels off. My heart has done weird things too that scares me but then it regulates.

Overall she looks a lot better, sometimes when they're figuring out how to carry in a different posture they play around trying to figure out ways to be more "comfortable" but going back and forth like an accordion, shortening the frame getting their best for a few minutes to lengthening to long and low and gather back up and laterals in canter leg yielding in to a 10m circle off the outside aids and leg yield out to a 20m and back can help with rhythm and tempo too. Good luck!
 
#2,592 ·
My daughter and I will be riding in our town's 4th of July parade at 6:00 p.m., which is always fun. At the parade there are usually a few people setting off little firecrackers and fireworks, but not much. Of all the parades we do, this one is the most challenging because of the fire engines and fireworks . . . but even so, it is an easy parade.

My daughter will take her filly, who has ridden in about 5 parades now and handles them well. I will take Acicate, who rode in his very first parade on June 2 of this year, so this will be his second parade. I think they will both be fine. My daughter is going to paint red and blue stars on her white horse. We have a stencil that comes out pretty nice.

In the evening, we live so far away from everybody that the horses don't have to worry about fireworks. Hope it's not too HOT!!!
 
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