Big Boy Saddle

I never wrote about my lesson weekend on 3/10-11, which is the precursor to this whole new saddle episode, lol.

Who's a happy rider? ME! Because I did my homework SO DILIGENTLY that Penn progressed more than GP Trainer anticipated in the 3 weeks between our February lessons and March lessons!

Overall, GP Trainer was thrilled with the progress I had made in just 3 weeks on my own at the end of winter. She rode him first like she did when I visited in Feb 2018, and commented, "This is a completely different horse!" He was holding himself up more consistently, he was lifting his shoulders, all was awesome and we had a great weekend of learning, and I started getting quiet clean changes without a lot of fuss. The ability to shake him off the bit (aka not leaning and Penn has to hold his own head up), completely disrupted his ability to bolt or leap through the change. Go figure right?

Everything was awesome until we got home that is. I noticed Penn was exceedingly touchy. He didn't want to be brushed ANYWHERE. His neck, arms, girth, back, hindquarters, gaskins. He was extremely grouchy. I was sure he was bodily sore, but I opted to call the saddle fitter that helped us in January to make sure his Stubben still fit well enough... because it looked sketchy to me.

We had decided in January that she could get his Stubben 1894 to limp along, but it wasn't an ideal fit for either of us. Luckily, the Fitter was coming the following weekend (3/17) and had time to see Penn.

She immediately confirmed what I feared- Penn had packed on a lot of muscle between January and March, mostly the lifting of the neck, shoulder, and back kind. The fit wasn't terrible when he was standing, but as soon as he lifted his back, the saddle needed to be the next tree size up and pinched him. She couldn't shuffle the flocking in the front panels either- if she removed some, the front of the saddle would sit on his whithers.

I hadn't asked the fitter to bring any saddles with her because I was hoping we could still salvage my Stubben. We talked about options and budget, and she wanted to see him go in a Concept Tree. She happened to have a 17.5" Hastilow Concept Elevation dressage saddle (with royal blue patent piping and other royal blue patent) in her car for another client to try, so we popped that on Penn just to get an idea of how he felt about it.

The darn horse LOVED it. He was freer in his shoulder, happily lifted his neck and back, and maintained his self carriage. He gave clean quiet changes left to right, and early behind changes right to left with some exuberance. He went easily forward at the canter, and came back beautifully. He had a clear 3 beat rhythm at the canter, something he struggles with.

I also loved it. We talked about how seat size doesn't necessarily go off of how big your butt is, but rather how wide set your hips are (seatbone to seatbone). Femur length plays a small role, but the blocks you need are based more on that. I didn't find the 17.5" saddle uncomfortable at all. It has a deep seat, which allowed it to also have the narrow twist I like. The way the seat is shaped also made me really sit. It didn't tip me forward or drop me back, just encouraged me to sit way up and down. It also let my thighs and legs hang down, and I easily put my entire leg on Penn, thigh to ankle. I can only describe it like sitting in a bucket that supports you in front and behind your seat, encouraging you to sit up in the shoulder and down in the seat. The leg just hangs nicely right out of the bucket, falling against the horse's side with ease.

Unfortunately I couldn't have the 17.5" (the fitter did think I'd find the 18" more comfortable, plus the 17.5 was in the car for another client to try), so I had to make another appointment with the office. There was a lot of stress with that- huge travel fees for me, dodging lessons and weather (uh, hello 8" of snow that week), but we had an appointment the following Friday (3/23).

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I rode exactly once between that wonderful ride and the next saddle fitting. Penn wasn't as happy, I struggled to sit up, and we fought each other. The only good thing that came out of the ride was this pretty video clip (courtesy of my SoloShot3, which has been having issues since I updated it... sigh.)

Link to YouTube

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She brought 3 saddles:

• a Hastilow Concept Elevation Monoflap with red piping
• a Hastilow Concept Elevation with custom ordered styling: patent touches, white piping, and Nubuck leather seat and thigh blocks, with an extra deep seat
• a plain new Hastilow Concept Elevation (same as I tried the week before, just an 18")

I was terrified at first- what if none of these worked out?! A side note, all of these saddles have adjustable trees and are wool flocked. Best. Combo. EVER. Probably the closest I can get to custom without actually doing custom.

She took new measurements of his back before we got rolling. I compared the tracings from this visit to the visit in January. While the whithers themselves hadn't gotten wider, his back did. She takes two tracings further down his back (I'm not sure where exactly) but they were both bigger than they were in January by a half inch or so on each side.

Of course I have no pictures of the saddles. Sigh. Bad blogger.

I rode in the monoflap first, and hated it the minute I got on. The thigh blocks didn't hit me right (because of the monoflap design). They pushed my thigh out, which took my knee off the saddle, and I rode around like a beginner rider with my knees straight out and heels on. She had to change the tree in the second one, so she said keep warming up and we'll switch when the tree was swapped. I just walked and trotted, but I fought the saddle. In spite of that, Penn floated along, happy as can be. The fitter said that the Fairfax Monoflap she wanted to bring rides in a very similar way, so I'm not missing anything (they didn't have an 18" seat in stock that I could try).

I rode in the custom styled regular flap one next. That went slightly better, but I hated the Nubuck leather. I already had full seat breeches on, and nubuck is very similar to suede. It was grippy in all the wrong ways. This saddle was also supposed to have a deeper seat, but it felt flatter and I felt more prone to left/right rolling. I struggled in the canter, and Penn had a very low quality to the canter and 4-beated most of the time. It didn't give me the same ability to sit that the one I tried the weekend before did. I did ask for one change, but it was difficult to set up and perform, and Penn struggled with it too even though he seemed happy with the saddle.

Finally, I tried the plain unadorned new Elevation. Ahhhhhhh. I was super worried it wouldn't work out, because then I'd be saddle-less. I sat down in it and was like, "ohhhh this is better." I had the same bucket feeling, and we went on to do a bunch of quiet changes and his first canter zig zag! Left lead half pass, change, right lead half pass. It was far from perfect, and I had trouble starting the left half pass, but in the final try, he did an ok left half pass, to an ok change, to a nice right half pass.

Hastilow Elevation

We talked prices and fit and trial period, etc. She adding flocking to it and told me in 30 hours of riding time, she'd have to come out and check the fit and probably add more flocking since all of this fresh new flocking will compress.

Since getting the saddle, I noticed Penn is easier to maneuver laterally and is more uphill. I've found it's easier to sit the medium trot when the saddle is helping me sit up and absorb it, and it reminds me to sit the heck up with my shoulder and sit my butt down and back, which helps lift Penn up. He's much happier to do his changes.

Link to YouTube

Of course all of his schooling is on hold while Penn is rehabbing, but he finally got his big boy saddle!

Now with a prolite concussion pad! And new Ideal leathers... the first new leathers I've purchased in... 8 years?

Turnout Boots

I have a few posts in the queue, but I mostly need time to edit the media, so you get an update on Penn's turnout boot situation instead of riding situation.

Back in 2016, I started Penn's bubble wrap journey:

Project Bubblewrap

Penn goes through periods of severe interference as he progresses through training. If I start working on something new, or a new degree of difficulty, he tends to go outside and fancy prance by himself, forgetting where his feet go. This results in bumps and scuffs. Thankfully, none of the injuries have been too bad. He's also getting to a point in his training where I can't have him sidelined by weird bumps and scrapes. He plays too hard with his "friends" and he's a bit of an ass. His friends have been chosen specifically because he can harass them and they give limited flack back, but I'm not taking any chances!

I ordered him Majyk Equipe dressage boots in summer 016, and they have been wonderful.

I don't think you can get this particular version anymore. This is an old photo from earlier in my blog.

I was EXTREMELY happy with them. It annoyed me that they lost their white color so quickly, but they did the job. They held up to 11-16 hours of turnout at a time, worn almost every day, for the last year and a half. They never lead to fungus or crud, they were easy to wash, and dried very quickly. He was never hot and sweaty under them, even in summer.

Unfortunately, in the last few months I noticed they were on their last legs. Not only were they falling apart (the strike plate and padding under it started to give, but the velcro remained perfect), but the fronts rubbed Penn behind the knee as the nylon edging aged. He developed little lumps, which scabbed and peeled. Months after they appeared, they're finally smooth again. I stopped using the fronts as soon as I noticed the bumps and put him in old fleece DSB, but it was too late.

He has matching white lines on his front legs now. Sigh.

If you remember, a few months ago, Penn stepped all over himself while in turnout.

He ripped a hole in the coronary band on his right front.

Which resulted in bell boots.

A side note about the hole in his hoof...

There is a huge hollow hole in the hoof wall. I've been trying to clean it out as best I can (thanks JenJ for the suggestion of diluted betadine through an old needle and syringe to flush it!), and then putting some anti-bacterial stuff in it (the purple stuff, I have no idea what it is, but a farrier told me to use it). At the front edge of the crack, you can see a vertical crack going down- the wall is going to crack away under the main hole soon (the dark area under the hole on the white hoof wall).
I have him on 40mg of biotin a day, trying to get that to grow out as fast as possible, and it is. We never made it to a 7 or 8 week shoeing cycle this winter, the best we did was 6 weeks.

Penn has a bump on the left pastern that was rubbed raw by the bell boots. I've used other bell boots before, to the same results. He can't wear them all the time, and I'm not asking the barn staff to take them on and off every night (or wash them, because mud), which lead me to search for a new turnout boot.

LeMieux Turnout Boots

I eventually settled on these- I found them in the UK on sale for $45ish a pair, so I ordered 2 pairs of medium boots. I was hoping they would be long enough to cover his coronary band, but at least they'll cover the fetlock and pastern (another one of Penn's favorite places to scratch up)!

Trying them on when they arrived.

They are a neoprene-like material, which I am not happy about, but they have a very fine mesh over what LeMieux calls "airprene", so it's not in complete direct contact with the leg. The airprene is perforated in the same way the ME boots were. The velcro is very strong, but I have trouble keeping the bottom strap's hook velcro clean enough to hold.

Penn has been wearing them for about 2 months now. They're easy to apply and they do keep the leg clean and dry under the boot. We had a winter monsoon season recently (I'm sure it's going to keep happening), and they have kept his legs dry and clean from the mud. They are fairly easy to clean off, hose power will wash off the bulk of the dirt, and a stiff brush with a rinse removes the rest.

He loves the mud. Facepalm.

Penn did develop scratches under one of the hinds- I don't think it's related to the boots themselves. I was MIA for 5 days or so due to illness and weather, so I wasn't out to clean anything. He was wearing all 4 in the mud and only 1 leg developed horrible scratches, the other 3 legs were pristine (a point towards it's not the boots). I put his ME hind boots on so that his leg could breathe, and swapped out pairs of these up front each day.

All clean... except for that blanket!

The only problem is that they take a while to dry, which is why I was swapping out the fronts when he was wearing his ME hinds. I would come out in the evening, put the clean boots by his stall for the next day's turnout, and rinse and hang the current day's boots. I think this is a "temporary" problem, seeing as how it's mud season and cold (45F in the barn), which doesn't encourage the boots to dry fully while he's in his stall. It was 50 and sunny the other day, so I hung the boots outside and they were dry by the time I went home (about 3 hours after washing).

The boots are quite good at keeping his legs clean and dry... where they cover them, lol!

They don't come down low enough to cover his coronary band, which makes me wonder if I should order a bigger size, or if there was another version available before. Some of the pictures show the boots stretching from knee to mid hoof, but I don't get the feeling that these will. I'm debating ordering a pair of larges, just to see if they'll cover the coronary band. We'll always have mud here in PA, so extra sets won't be bad to have on hand anyway!

I'll keep you posted on how they do with summer turnout and heat (I'm excited for the full fly protection that goes with full leg protection!), but so far, I like them. Penn hates the hind ones, he spends a bit of time trying to kick them off each morning. I still like the ME boots for turnout- if these bite the dust, I'll reorder ME dressage boots. I'll just have to put a time limit on their usage- maybe a year?

Battle of the Neue Schule Bits

NS Thoroughbred vs NS Transform

I took two weeks to trial the Transform from the Saddle Fitter vs the Thoroughbred that Austen so generously lent me.

They are both 5.25" wide mouths with 12mm mouthpieces with 7cm shanks (mouthpiece to middle of the curb ring). They both have 45 degree angles... but in different directions. That's the only difference between the two, which apparently makes a big difference.

NS Thoroughbred
Screenshot from the website.

NS Thoroughbred: (from the Neue Schule website) "Does your horse suffer from bar sensitivity? This mouthpiece traces out a subtle convex arc angled forwards at 45° to the cheek shanks resulting in gentle even pressure over the tongue and a reduction in bar pressure. Promoting comfort for breeds such as Thoroughbreds and Arabs who usually possess thinner skinned, more sensitive, angular bars. If a horse is not taking the contact forwards, a thicker bradoon may be employed in order to encourage the horse to stretch into the contact lengthening the neck."

NS Transform
Screenshot from the website.

NS Transform: (from the Neue Schule website) "Is your horse overactive in the mouth? Is he inwardly fixated on the presence of the doubles and not focusing fully on the rein aids? This design is often beneficial for the “short smile” (small distance from the corner of the lip to the muzzle), the busy mouth, tongue evasions or horse’s that experience difficulty in breathing and swallowing when in an advanced outline. The NS Transform depresses the whole of the tongue, much further back, creating larger airway enhancing the horse’s ability to breathe and swallow. An indication of a restricted airway may be a tense horse that is over salivating or even making a gurgling sound. Also beneficial if tongue evasions are habitual as there is a lot less room for the horse to successfully draw the tongue back, push down on the mouthpiece or get it over the top."

It's hard to tell from those two pics, but they are each tilted 45 degrees. The 360 view wouldn't work on my computer, and was a hair difficult to use from my phone. The Thoroughbred is tilted forward, the Transform tilted back.

Transform on the left, Thoroughbred on the right, both viewed from directly above.
The horse's nose would be to the right.

I'd been using the Thoroughbred exclusively until I met with the saddle fitter. I was happy with how Penn felt, and he seemed happy too. The mouth fussiness he had originally had gone away, and he was happy to go to the bridle and work.

I tried the Transform, and immediately liked the sense of 'up' it gave Penn. I had read somewhere that the transform was good for horses who like to lean, only I can't seem to find it now. Either way, Penn was not going to lean on my hand whatsoever. He became very fussy in the mouth, but I wasn't sure if he was frustrated by not being able to lean, or unhappy with the bit. More time was needed.

Penn on a cool morning before heading to a show in summer 2017.

The next thing I decided was to ride twice with the double, once starting out with the Transform and switching halfway through to the Thoroughbred, then again starting with the Thoroughbred and switching halfway to the Transform. This seemed like the best way to test the bits since Penn isn't always the same horse every day and I had limited time to test the bits. This way, both bits got a shot at the "good Penn" (Penn before we take a break) and the "bad Penn" (Penn after our mid-ride break), but they both saw him on the same day.

Test Ride 1: Transform First, Thoroughbred Second
I started out thinking ugh, I don't like the Transform at all! He's so fussy. He wanted to curl a bit in the walk and then a hair in the canter. I loved the trot work though. Overall, everything was more "up". I swapped it out to the Thoroughbred, and he was definitely happier, but he curled more and didn't want to come up in the canter. I thought this was a 'second half of the ride' problem, so I decided to do test ride 2 for an even playing field.

(Between Test Ride 1 and Test Ride 2, I implemented Charlotte Dujardin's "yeehaw" method at the canter, and applied some rein fluffing that GP Trainer mentioned to another student whose horse curled. Both methods applied together made the canter infinitely better in the snaffle.)


Test Ride 2: Thoroughbred First, Transform Second
We started out and I had to work to get Penn 'up' while keeping him focused and on the bit. He fought me a bit in the TOH work, but was happy enough to do all of his work. We had some great canter-walks, some nice lateral work, and in general, everything was good. I had to work to get Penn up, but I figured that was because he had a lovely school in his snaffle the day before. I swapped out the bits and hopped back on. Penn was NOT HAPPY. He wouldn't lean on the bit, if anything he didn't want to be on the bit at all. I pushed him forward to meet the bridle and gave him some half halts, and he eventually went on the bit in walk. I had eyes on the ground, and I had her confirm my curb rein wasn't too short, and she commented that he was much more up in the shoulder than with the first bit, and he mostly looked pissed about having to work properly. I was able to do both TOH, with less struggle about bend. I went off to trot and WOW. He was way up in the shoulder, very light, and was very hard to sit (yay suspension!). The canter was good- I used the yeehaw to get more sit, and did a few of GP Trainer's collection exercises. I even asked for a half pass, straighten, position the new direction, and then cued for a flying change. He stayed up, listened, and did a change where I could actually feel him step up with the new inside hind and skip into the new lead.


Verdict? We're going to keep the Transform as Penn's weymouth. He's pissed about it yes, but we'll keep working on strength and it should get easier.

A side note, in my trial of the Thoroughbred vs Transform, I realized in the TOH right (and left), I need to really sit on my inside seatbone... like, a counter intuitive amount. When I do that and keep my inside leg timed with the inside hind, he steps wonderfully in the TOH.

The setup! Now to buy a new double bridle because Mikey's is way too big for Penn's face!

I'll be traveling to GP Trainer's barn this weekend coming up, I'm just trying to decide if I have the guts to bring the double to lesson! It's just we've never talked about when to switch to a double bridle, and I don't know her "rules" for switching to one. It seems all of her own horses go in a double at 3rd, but I noticed not all of her students go in doubles at 3rd/4th. I'm sure she won't be mad, as she's said, this isn't a dictatorship!

Blankets, Clipping, and Training

First off, I am selling this beautiful Smart Pak Ultimate Turnout. Size 78", heavy weight (360g). Still waterproof, freshly cleaned (it doesn't even smell horsey). $100 negotiable (money vs no money is great, so make me an offer), email codexdressage at gmail if you're interested. I even have the right size shipping box available right now!

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the blanket. It is really super tough and has seen 2 winters with zero exterior damage from a pair of unforgiving baby horses. There is some staining on the outer shell- I promise when it's rinsed, the water runs off clear. There are some rips in the lining, but they're small things as you can see. New, this blanket is $209. Take advantage of my loss!

I wanted the combo version of the blanket because Penn seems to have trouble staying warm when it's truly cold. You all know the lengths I went to to try to fix the shoulder gap issue (plus chewy friends). This one won't gap at the shoulder, and won't drive my BO crazy switching the medium weight hood back and forth between med and heavy blankets. I'll admit, the second reason was a large part of getting it... because it made me crazy too. I did price buying a heavy hood (which seems to be available now!), except for a hair more money, I could buy the combo blanket and not deal with the detachable hood. With the recent sale, (20% + USEF 5%), I was able to nab the blanket for much less than list price, so I jumped on it.

"Mama, why did you wrap me up in a heavy weight blanket when it's 65 degrees out?"

He's so thrilled that he basically has a turtleneck sweater.

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Penn got full body clipped this past weekend. With the unseasonably warm fall we're having, I was hosing him down after every ride. He would sweat everywhere like he does an 80 degree day, except it's been in the 60s (with some 70s). I promise I am not working him for hours- that's after 45 min of walk/halt/walk/trot/walk hell. Minimal cantering because we just can't do more or we don't get to it.

Being bathed is exhausting.

I ordered new blades then shaved him last Saturday. I kept him in after breakfast, bathed him (like scrubbed him squeaky clean- I have NEVER done this to clip before), then kept him in while I cleaned stalls. By the time I was done working, he was dry, and I got straight to work on his legs and face, finishing with the body.

It's a mini Penn, made from his own hair!

I was so proud of him! He was antsy about his legs (resulting in me having to touch them up the next day when I saw the wide swaths of hair I missed), but he stood without freaking out about the clippers! I couldn't cross tie him, but he stood ground tied. I was able to cross tie him the next day to do touch ups, which is VERY exciting!

I've always clipped my horse "dirty." Mostly because it's time consuming to wash them and then wait for winter hair to dry, and because I'm not used to having hot water to bathe with, or a warm barn to keep him in while he dries. It worked out perfectly for me to help feed and turnout, bathe, clean stalls while he's drying, then clip. I think I'll be scrubbing Penn down every time from now on to clip. It was soooo easy to clip him. I shampooed and conditioned him with suave that I got on sale from the grocery store, and then sprayed him with an old coat spray that I don't like much anymore. It was a shame to shave off all his beautiful fluffy brown hair- I really love his coat.

His shaved coat turned out MUCH better this year!
Plus fewer lines since he was clean when I shaved him.

It seems the feed combination plus vitamin supplement is really working for him, because his shaved coat this year isn't an ugly mousy color like previous years. We took some new coggins pictures while he was spiffy clean (hence the pretty shot above).

Since I had to clip him so early this year, I'll probably have to touch him up in mid-Dec and then again sometime in early Feb. I won't do his legs or face again, I got most of the hair off those, so they'll grow in more controlled now. Plus I hate shaving the face and legs, it's annoying to get in all the crevices!

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We continue to plug away at Megan's homework. We're nearing the end of the 3rd week of walk/halt/walk/trot/walk hell, 3-6 weeks to go before we can start adding in normal work? There were some pretty frustrating days in there, that's for sure. But, we're nearing the end of the first 3 weeks, which according to GP Trainer, is when changes start to settle and things get better... I sure hope so!

Let's ogle the pretty bling on the bright orange hunter safety bonnet, haha.

Things actually are looking up- we've had a couple really good days, and they're starting to happen more than the bad.

Penn started to not want to be on the bit, and I absolutely could not figure out why. "He doesn't want to be on the bit." "Let me get more handsy." "Wait, I'm doing to much. I shouldn't be doing this much." "Wait a second, I'm letting him go from halt to walk by coming off the bit. I'm teaching him that that's acceptable." "Fffffffffffff."

I spent some time redoing the halt/walks. As soon as I set the tone of, "No, coming off the bit is not acceptable" and "No, I will not be helping you stay on the bit," he started being on the bit extremely reliably, and holding it when I released in the walk and trot.

I also started giving him antacid before riding. 5000mg of calcium carbonate. $0.31 a dose
Not pictured: the vitamin E pills I also started giving him (2000 IU to go with the 500 IU in his vitamin)
$0.19 a dose vs $1.07 in Smartpak's vit e supplement.
I just feed him a handful of minty pills with the two vit e pills, and everything gets gobbled down!

Something else Megan helped me with was getting him bendy again- sometimes he comes out one direction like a 2x4 and no amount of inside leg helps move his ribcage. She had me put the outside leg on enough to hold his haunches from stepping out, but then use the inside leg to activate the inside hind. The rib cage has to swing out to allow the stifle to come up. Voila, it's magic. This idea has been particularly helpful when he comes out like a 2x4 or when he wants to look to the outside or when he wants to throw his haunches in. I vary the outside leg with the situation (umm we don't need more when the hips are in, it just needs watched), but thinking about making the inside hind step up instead of moving him around has been soooo helpful.

Last night's ride was great, I never got to the canter, and it took a half hour to get the trot I wanted, but we got there. And I was able to leave my circle and keep my trot! I started with a long slow torturous walk/halt/walk warm up. It sets the tone for the ride. By the end of the half hour, I had a horse who was absolutely through, light in the hand with elastic contact, and was pushing through his whole topline- I watched the muscles from his poll to his shoulder all bulging evenly. I do a lot of staring at his neck these days. It's really helpful when I don't have mirrors or eyes on the ground to double check me- if I can get the muscle right in front of the shoulder working, I know I'm on the right track.

Overall, super super happy, now to just put the time in to cement that feeling as Penn's default setting. Megan was hopeful on 2-3 months of work, so I'm hoping for that! But if he needs more, then oh well. Plus we'll be constantly revisiting this for the rest of his dressage life anyway. I'm so excited to see what he's like next year, after 6 or more months of building on this base!

Look! Cute floofs in their natural habitat.

This weekend we're going to a clinic at DT's barn. Everyone likes the clinician coming in, so I figured I'd give her a whirl. I signed up at the end of September, before lessons with Megan. I almost wish I hadn't now, because I don't want to mess up the work I've done, but apparently the clinician had M do something similar in her last lesson, so I'm hopeful that it'll mesh well.

The Meds & Supplements

As a side trip from our recaps, I'm writing about the various things Penn gets to supplement his training. I've tried a lot, but finally found a mix that I'm actually really happy with.

Is this a dressage move I don't know about? Kicking pirouette into medium trot?

Penn had been on the following for most of the time I've had him: a feed through joint supplement and some kind of calmer to try and combat his stall walking (he walks a ring into his stall that would mean his stall gets stripped almost daily), and also to combat his trailering nerves. I tried a lot of things: Quiessence, Total Calm and Focus, Mare Magic (purchased as a generic, aka a bag of organic raspberry leaves from smile.Amazon.com), Zylkene.

I kept him on Total Calm and Focus the longest because it worked the best on his "stable nerves" (stall walking, nervousness in the cross ties that resulted in diarrhea, etc), but didn't really negate his trailer nerves. I bought the 180 supply from smile.Amazon.com because it was the best price per day I could find.


Chiropractor:
I should also state that Penn sees a non-local chiropractor every 8-9 weeks. He started seeing this guy in Nov/Dec 2017. He's the only one that has made Penn's hips level at the end of an adjustment. Chiro's adjustments actually hold until the next adjustment now, it's so nice. This guy does adjustments and then vit-B acupuncture type injections into the areas that get adjustments (it helps the adjustments hold).

Hips so even. They're still even now too!

Joint:
I started Penn on Adequan twice a year starting last year. I buy the 10 dose bottle and give him 5 injections 4 days apart in spring, and then repeat that 6 months later. It's not the 7 doses the company recommends, but Penn is young and relatively undamaged, so I think we can get away with this for now. It make me feel better that I'm doing something to support his joints, and it's cheaper per year than my favorite feed through, Doc's OCD.


Muscle and Gut and Calming: (because they've become intertwined in this narrative)
Upon starting training with GP Trainer, I found Penn had trouble building the strength to do the work. I gave him 4-5 months to build new strength before deciding to see if I could help him out.

SmartMuscle Recovery

He stopped feeling funny up front when I got on. Sometimes he would come out very stiff up front and it took a lap to work out, but with this, no more. I am happy with it. I opted to get it in Smartpaks because there wasn't any price difference to having them scoop it (at least for the first 2 months- I ordered AM and PM doses since they were half off).

I mentioned in passing about Penn's trailering problems- diarrhea and then he goes off his feed while he's away too. GP Trainer is sponsored by Uckele, so she recommended one of their products (with her personal reusable coupon code!)


G.U.T Paste

Love it, love it, love it. I can't express the amount I love this stuff. It stopped 90% of his diarrhea. He still has a little bit, but it's SO MUCH BETTER. He gets a half tube the day before travel, and then a half tube each day of travel. He started eating better while he was away too, yay! The bright side: I use GP Trainer's code to get a discount, and then I bulk order it at one of their bulk order discount rates.

G.U.T. Powder

I loved that paste so much that I decided to put him on their daily gut supplement since he has sporadic diarrhea at home too. I added that to his Smartpaks, only because the Recovery didn't meet their $40 for free shipping once I knocked him down to one dose a day. Paying shipping negated any gain in scooping it myself, so I opted to have them scoop it.

Omeprazole/Ranitidine
Penn carried on with the above supplements for a while. He was pretty grouchy, he still stall walked despite the Total Calm (though it did help some), and he wasn't holding weight. He has a very strenuous training and travel life.

At this point, I ponied up and got him a round of Omeprazole. Abba Vet Supply compounds their own product at a really fabulous price (I got 45-10mL doses for $224 in 15-30mL tubes). You need a vet RX to get it, and they don't offer it on their website (you have to call), but they're easy to deal with and fast. Before anyone goes high and mighty on me for using a compounded generic, I've heard from numerous human medical professionals that we overdose horses on omeprazole (but of course not enough that it hurts the horse). Abba's product is supposed to have the same 2.28g of omeprazole as brand name, but it also has ranitidine. There was also a study that said horses had the same healing from a full dose, half dose, and quarter dose. This means that even if the full dose of the compounded generic didn't have the full 2.28g, it should still be effective. Plus, if that didn't work, I'd chalk it up to lost money on a failed experiment and just pony up for the real thing. It's not the first time I've used this particular compound, so I anticipated it working. I opted to do 21 days of 10mL (full dose), followed by 21 days of 5mL.

The results: It did work. Very well. Penn started eating all of his hay. He ate his grain better too. 99% of his stable nerves vanished. His stall walking was reduced by day 10, and by the end, it had vanished majority of the time. He still gets worked up every now and then and trashes his stall, but he's so much better. He had a softer look in his eye by day 7. People who didn't know he was being treated said, "Wow, he looks really relaxed now. What'd you do?" He's still grouchy about having his belly brushed, and the saddle/girth, but I think that might just be him.

So this will probably be a yearly thing I do for him, or maybe just when his stall walking dramatically increases. I give 5mL doses the day before travel and each day of travel. Another plus? I dropped his Total Calm and Focus and he stayed relatively the same in personality. He's a little more unfocused under saddle, but that's no problem. He's still considered a green baby, and I can to work through that.


Total Blood Fluids Muscle
Penn continued to just have trouble with strength and stamina. He'd wear out quickly. Not unusual for the amount of work he's doing, but it still bothered me that 6 months in, he wasn't feeling fully better. I decided to try another muscle supplement and really liked the overall idea of this one (muscle-blood builder-electrolytes), and since I just stopped the Total Calm, I could get this instead (since they're both stupid expensive).

I got it from smile.Amazon.com (I am not having Smartpak scoop it- it's WAY too expensive for that). But sadly, Penn would not eat it. In fact, he stopped eating altogether. He eventually started eating again, but then he wouldn't touch ANY powder in his feed, including his GUT powder. Sigh. Back to the drawing board.

Smartlytes Pellets & Grand Vite
This is where I got mathy. Smartpak has this awesome comparison tool that breaks down everything in the products so you can compare what has what and how much of it. I put the breakdown for Total BFM into Excel and got cracking on how to "make it myself" using other (preferably pelleted) supplements. I put Total Calm and Focus into the comparison as well to see if I could help Penn's focus a bit too.

Adding these two supplements got me super close. Of the 75 various vitamins/minerals/compounds in his original supplement group, I was able to replicate 64 of them at the same or greater value, and only one was missing entirely:

New to the left, old to the right. Not really concerned that the six B vitamins are at a lower value. I'm guessing Total Calm has obscene values for their calming effects. Grand Vite was the best way to put some more of each back into his diet, as well as many other vitamins/minerals.

The one missing entirely, Creatine, is in his Manna Pro Ration Balancer, so I'm not concerned about that. The best part is that the electrolyte and vitamin together are cheaper than Total BFM, and he'll eat both of them! I did put both of them in his Smartpak because the Smartlytes are cheapest in that form, and I didn't want to have to scoop his Grand Vite and G.U.T. powder into baggies (and I loathe powder in baggies). I figured this is already cheaper than what I was doing before, so I'll suck it up and keep the Smartpaks which also let me stagger the cost throughout the year and save time.

He's been feeling full of energy since I made the switch- he's got a lot more stamina, even in the heat. I'm sure that's due to the electrolyte, but he feels physically good too. I'm very pleased with the new combination.

__________________________________________________

So there you have it.

• G.U.T. Paste (when traveling)
• Omeprazole/Ranitidine (when traveling, possibly a yearly treatment)
• Adequan (10 doses per year)
• SmartMuscle Recovery Pellets (daily)
• G.U.T. Powder (daily)
• Smartlytes Pellets (daily)
• Grand Vite (daily)

And this is the closest I will get to adding all of that up in a cost per year. Ack!

Funny baby horse gets all the things since I ask a ton of him.

I'm sure some of you are looking at this list going, "OMG she's fucking crazy." So what all do you guys do?

Blanket Sewing Adventures

A few weeks ago in my "shopping spree" I had mentioned that I ordered stuff to make some changes to Penn's SmartPak Ultimate Turnout Hoods because he has a new best friend who undresses him.

2" by 10yd roll of Nylon $16.20

1 pack of 10 Rubber keepers - $1.95

2 sets of Surcingle Clips, $2.50 each

4 Replacement Clips, $1.69 each (PLUS $7.95 shipping...)

Basically, the hoods are great. They're super indestructible (I'm sure Penn's hoods will now rip and die). What they are not is discouraging to extreme tactile nosed horses.

A simple velcro closure is nothing for Penn's new friend Teddy. Teddy has Penn's hood off in minutes each morning and it only stays off the ground because of a single metal clip attaching it to the body blanket at the whithers.

Super long ELASTIC and velcro straps for 2 of the 3 hood-to-body connections.
The dirt is from where I tied knots in the elastic to shorten the damn straps, which ended up not being short enough to prevent gaping between the hood and body blanket. We would pull the knot through the D-ring, then shove the velcro through the D-ring AGAIN and velcro it to itself around the knot.

I got most of the pieces in the mail just before I left for my last set of lessons with GP Trainer, so I was off to the sewing races!

This poor machine was suffering greatly by the end.

I started with the light weight hood because it was cold outside and Penn didn't need it.

First thing I did was tape off everything to about where I wanted it. The goal was to convert the existing velcro straps into surcingle hook straps with a small amount of velcro leftover. I suppose I could have sewn an inch wide strip of nylon to the velcro, then sewn a D-ring onto the hood to do a snap clip instead, but I still like the look of this better. The clip and D-ring would have allowed the hood to still be opened because I think Teddy would still be able to tug on the velcro and separate it... even if the clip held the hood wrapped around Penn's neck.

Cut 6 to 8" lengths of nylon from the 10yd roll and tape it together. Well planned sewing.

Mixed with VERY rusty sewing skills that are very obvious because I couldn't get gray heavy duty thread from the local craft store (and I was unwilling to switch brands of thread when I knew this brand would hold up to heavy pony use).

Sewing the existing velcro to itself proved to be quite difficult. This sewing machine has managed vinyl layers for my trailer's new butt and chest bar padding, but it had a tough time with these because it was so thick when folded over.

No X's for these- I wasn't even able to get a second row of stitching on one- so I ran the machine forward and back many many times, and then sewed the tape right in where I couldn't pull it out.

It was easy to sew the new straps to the hood.

OMG the poor sewing skills. I was having trouble maneuvering the hood under the machine and making straight lines, and getting the right speed... sigh.

But the end result was very securely fastened, if a little ugly. So... success?

Light hood = mostly done. (still had the hood-to-body attachments left)

I did the medium weight hood later in the week (I traded hoods at the barn)... which is where things took a turn for the worse for my sewing machine. I got the new nylon pieces sewn up nicely this time (yay!), opting to skip the X in favor of sewing the square twice because it made for a cluttered final look (or it could be my poor sewing skills, one or the other).

I had the hardest time getting the surcingle buckles sewn onto the existing velcro. The machine did one doubled over strap, but towards the end was making terrible clunking noises and stitches started missing. It just wouldn't for the second. On try 4 or 5, I ended up getting about a centimeter's worth of good solid stitches, and then a couple random stitches further across the strap, so I called that good enough. I tied the ends of the thread to each other and around the velcro to make it work. I could tug on it pretty hard and it still felt quite solid. I resolved to make this work and have a blanket repair shop put in some solid stitches for me later.

I had a small bit of trouble getting the new nylon pieces attached to the hood, but I got it done and it looked much better than the first time around!

The new straps look better! But you can see where I had to give up on the old one. It was just like having Tim Gunn telling me, "Make it work!" in the final hour on Project Runway... Except this is Project Pony?

Of course the actual snap clips I ordered from Dover took FOREVER to get to me, arriving the day I left for GP Trainer's, so I couldn't have the project complete before our warm spell was over. I got home around 10pm Sunday night after lessoning and driving all weekend, had Husband help me take out the knots in the elastic with pliers, sat down at the sewing machine, and tried to sew the clips on to the hood-to-body straps (because Penn needed both hoods back the next day because we were due for another "cold" snap).

I say "tried" because the machine had hit the point of, "I just can't even." Something as simple as mid-weight elastic was outside this poor machine's abilities. It's a heavy duty machine, it should be able to do this with ease. Husband asked if we had ever changed the needle since we bought the machine, because if we hadn't, it's been through many very tough projects. I didn't know, so we popped the needle out and lo and behold, the darn thing was not the strongest one in the sewing box, nor was it straight anymore. It had a nice solid curve to it, which is probably why it was missing stitches on the velcro and just couldn't even on the elastic.

I popped in a new, very heavy duty needle, and the machine flew through sewing the last 4 clips to the hoods. Success!

Ready for playtime!

This project was actually really quick- I think I spent 2-3 hours over the course of a 3 nights working on it? Most of that time was spent getting the machine set up properly, figuring out how to wind bobbins, and trouble shooting. It wasn't hard, but this heavy duty machine is probably the weakest one you'd want to use to do it. It did cost a moderate amount to do, around $45 after shipping costs (and I have a ton of gray nylon leftover that I don't know what to do with, so I factored in the entire $16 roll). I think if I had asked a blanket repair service to do it, it would have cost more though- they'd charge me to wash the hoods (if I didn't do it myself), at least $5 a strap, but probably more since each one needed metal, so maybe $10 a strap? I needed 6 straps on each hood to be adjusted/created. I also bet the turnaround time would not have been a few days, which is how long it took me to do. Overall, I feel pretty good about doing it myself, even if it the stitching looks a little shoddy.

A clean hood attached to a very dirty blanket.

So far my skills have held up to Teddy's abuse! With the shorter velcro, it's actually a little difficult for human hands to unhook the surcingle buckles (which makes me even more pleased with my decision to do it this way rather than sew snap clips to the end of the velcro). I've made the BO happy too because the wrapped-up-knot process in the hood-to-body attachment made it very difficult to swap out hoods. Now it's just unclip and go!