RUTABAGAS!!!

Rutabaga.
SOURCE:
http://shizuokagourmet.wordpress.com/

  I have really important advice for horse owners, lovers, leasers.. anyone really..! Give your horse rutabagas!!!!!! Seriously; I said rutabagas. My extremely picky eater goes wild over them!! If Udex eats them, I think its safe to say anyone else horse will too! Here in Germany we have the big one pound things! They are super cheap, just 99 cents per pound! Today we picked up about six HUGE rutabagas for only around five bucks.
 Just rinse theme, and plop them in your horses food dish or on the ground. Your equine will take little bites and roll it around with his nose a bit! It's almost like a game for them!!! I can not express how much the horses love them!!
 So if you haven't already experienced the joy of feeding your horse a rutabaga, then it's about time you head out to the store and buy one for your horse!!

"Rollkur opponents care for horses. Rollkur proponents care more for success."

A good reminder..

  The most crazy amazing thing happened last night.. A horse was choking! It's a really long story and I would rather not get into it here... But it was an amazingly helpful reminder that you should love like there is no tomorrow. With horses, well anything really, you can loose it in just minutes. One day you have a perfectly healthy horse, the next minute, even hay can become life threatening! Of course, the horse is fine. It's a lovely stable with lovely helping people where you can be sure your horse is safe, even in scary situations. Crazy though. I'm happy with Udex and every time I leave the barn, I always say goodbye like it's my last. I'm lucky to have a sound horse. Even though there are a lot of scary problems that are ahead with him and I, he's alive, we have a bond, and we're both happy... and thats what matters.
  Also I gave Udex a rutabaga!! Guess who totally adores them!? That's right!! Loves it!! The boy cracks me up with his awkward appetite!
 

                 OSTEOPATH WOMAN COMES NOVEMBER 3rd 5:30
FARRIER COMES OCTOBER 24th 3:30

"Rollkur opponents care for horses. Rollkur proponents care more for success."

STALLS!

  As I last wrote about, I'm not to ride Udex until the osteopath woman comes and has a look at him. It's been equally hard on us both. Udex is being hot, hot, HOT (they were moved to a really small paddock and are in stalls now, so that adds to the heat. More on that in a second..) and he has all the go in the world! Also for me, stress is building up. I'm always all for him though, and I know that riding him wouldn't do any good. at all. Today after I let him play in the arena a bit, I had a friend hold him and had a seat on him for just a few seconds. My friend, mom and I were giggling. As soon as I got on his back he instantly perked up and wanted to go!! He was looking like "why aren't we going!? Come on Mama, it's been so long since we have rode!!" It was really cute!! I only did spend maybe four minutes on his back today, but it was nice to feel that skinny thing underneath me again!! Even though it hasn't even been a week, it feels like years!!!

  The weather has gotten chilly!! I heard it is supposed to drop below freezing tonight- yikes! With weather like that all the barn buddies are coming inside at night! Woo-hoo!! Tonight will be their third night in!!! I love when Udex comes in at night. I get him away from all the others without his nerves acting up. It's nice. He gets cuddly, calm, and easier to work with when he is in his box. Of course, in the day they are out in their new smaller paddock now!! Not really much of a paddock, just concrete with some straw and hay outside, with a bit of grassy area. It's really nice though that they can be outside socializing like that though! Since now they are inside, they get silo and grain!! He gets his norm; half a kilo of power feed. Silo now.. I have no idea what it is, or even translates to in english. It is cow hay. Sour, fermented cow hay. It keeps weight on the horses, gives them lots of energy, fiber, and well surprisingly, they like the stuff. Only downside to it is to pay extra attention for the mould! I thought no way will my picky eater like this stuff! It smells rotten and is so moist! Well, I was wrong. He likes it! Not his favorite food, but sure not his worse either!! I watched him carefully eat a bite of silo, and a bite of normal hay, bite of silo, normal hay, silo, normal hay. It was rather cute in a strange kind of way.

  Also a quick funny story. Yesterday I was hand walking Udex around trying to walk out some of his energy since the arena was full. I kept his rug on him, no point in taking it off. Anyways while walking alongside the barn he accidentally brushed his butt up against the wall. I guess it made an extremely terrifying sound, because next thing you know Udex is a spanish horse doing a high flying levade through the air, lifting me up with him!! In a few seconds I calmed him down. His eyes were huge, and he kept staring at that wall like it was going to grow arms and a mouth and eat him any second! So cute seeing my big boy get scared at something sooo silly!!

"Rollkur opponents care for horses. Rollkur proponents care more for success."

Used and Abused.

  That's how I think of Udex. He was used, used, used some more, and the whole time abused. To be honest, I don't care who's using hyperflexion on a horse. Wether it be a beginner thinking that's the right way to round a horse, or a top grand prix rider of the sport; abuse is abuse. The ill effects rollkur has had on my horse are unbelievable. Times like yesterday I think is it even fair to let him live on? All this pain he has.. Is it right to try to recover him, or would he be better off free from this painful, challenging world... Then I think that that's only letting the terrible rollkur riders win. That's letting them destroy him. Udex has the drive to fight to be a normal horse again; you can see the fire in his eyes now. I know that he was saved so I could expose the truth about hyperflexion. As you know, he was a horse that was started with it from day one, all the way until it became too much. Not just for minutes at a time, but tens of minutes, possibly even hours. If there was damage to be done by rollkur, you can see it with Udex. He is living proof that rollkur does damage, and not any good.... at all.
 The other day my Dutch trainer came out to have a look. She being such an experienced horsewoman brought to light a lot of problems I was refusing to see the full extent of. Example; the excessive yawning. If you don't know (I didn't up until yesterday) horses usually only yawn once, twice, or maybe even three times if they are tired.. Anything over three times and you should be concerned. There could be a skeletal problem, stress, anxiety, dental problems.. The list goes on. In Udexs' case it is due to a probable skeletal problem and stress due to the pain. As I have said numerous times in my previous posts, Udex has a very bad back due to none other then the "wonderful" hyperflexion. His lumbar spine is locked in place, which causes him to trot in two pieces, much like a rocking horse. Beyond that, it also causes his vertebrae's and ligaments to rub wrong and cause even more pain. Some of his vertebraes' may even be fused together. You could say he has spavin and osteoarthritis in these places. When a horse is ridden so long behind the verticle, eventually those vertebraes do start to form a bone like growth; fusing them together. Also, his nuchal ligaments are very sore and may have damage as well.
 Tying Udex up. Thats another story. Whenever he is tied up he starts to think of what happens next. Horses remember the bad things that happen to them. Unfortunately for Udex he knows that when he was tied up, he was forced to work in a very, very uncomfortable position and worked extremely hard to show off his flashy movements. Every time he is tied, even if I only want to feed him or groom him he starts to pace and go wild. That has been one of the hardest things to work with him at. Having a 17.2 hand horse pacing side to side pulling and breaking lead ropes isn't exactly the easiest thing to work with. When he sees the saddle he starts to become even more tense, stressed, and fearful. He registers the saddle with his back pain. He knows saddle = a lot of pain. The bridle isn't any better. He knows the bit is a sharp, painful tool that will yank him behind the verticle, causing him pain as well.
  My trainer had the perfect description of Udexs' head throwing. When he is behind the bit he is thinking "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh..." then he throws it and while doing so thinks "HELP ME!" You can imagine how that goes..."Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh... HELP ME.! Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh... HELP ME.!" I did get a chuckle in while watching her reenact that.
 I am not going to ride Udex until the osteopathic comes out and takes a look at him and works on making his pain go away. She will be coming within two weeks! I'm a little nervous about all this. I hope she will be able to find a way to make his pain go away!! I don't want him to life life with pain in every step. Oh well! Positive out looks! For now looks like I will just be working on ground work, respect, and cuddling with Udex!

"Rollkur opponents care for horses. Rollkur proponents care more for success."

Not always friends.

  Honestly I would be lying if I said that me and Udex had a perfectly happy relationship all the time.. Because we don't. Some days it goes so great I can hop on him tackless and ride.. and others? Well Udex and I don't seem to be friends on those days. I usually choose to right only about the good things and times I have with him, but as with all horses with bad past experiences, there are just as much bad moments as good. In about a two month time span we go through a few days, to even two weeks where we just don't get along.. at all. Of course we both still love each other, but our connection with each other just isn't as strong as it should be.
  It's been about a week where Udex and I haven't been best friends now. Yesterday he crossed the line, although I'm not innocent either. I should start from the beginning before I get too jumbled up in words!
 Yesterday I rode Udex. He was okay, but not as okay as I would have liked him to be. Lately he has been fighting against the bit big time, running like a lama under saddle, and refusing canter. I think I'm going to pick the crop, if that fails then spurs, back up and try them again before I officially decide he is being a bit stubborn. Usually when you ride with a crop he gets his head in with you and knows that your not playing around and what you are asking for is real. Okay- to get back on track here! After our ride I put Udex's sweat blanket on, cooled him off for a bit then took him back outside to groom him and put his winter rug on. He was okay during grooming, not too much pacing. When I put blankets on Udex, or anything by has back end, he gets a little sensitive by the skin by his back legs. The part by the hip and back legs? The name for it escapes me at the moment. Usually he picks his leg up like he is going to kick be he never does it. Some days he may kick out an eency bit but he is so kind hearted he never actually hits anyone. Yesterday he proved me wrong. I was going to strap the parts on his blanket by his legs and he picked his leg up a bit. I took a little step back and was going to give him a second to put it down. Like predicted, he did. So I went back over to strap it again. He was quiet one second and the next... BOOM! Ouchhh!!! He got me right in the leg above the knee. I have been kicked numerous times by horses.. Just never from such a big, tall, powerful one.
 I don't know what hurt worse.. The pain from the kick, or the pain in my heart from feeling so lost with my horse at this time. Right now I just feel so defeated against him. It feels as if he doesn't love me and I do so much hard work and make so many sacrifices for him, and he in return offers nothing. I know that isn't true, it's just that it sure doesn't feel that way right now. I hope we come out of this stubborn, gloomy time frame soon. I can't stand it! I have no drive at all to do anything with him right now. Something as simple as grooming him takes all my energy away and usually ends up with me sustaining a large amount of bruises, and him getting a not too happy vibe from me.
 On the bright side however I will be buying several new items for him. I am picking up on friday my nice new gel wedge for underneath the saddle. It offers great support for a weak back, protects the back muscles, makes the saddle fit like it should, forms to his shape, and should make him a bit more relaxed. As for me, I hope Udex does feel better from the new pad!! Saturday, maybe even Friday I am looking so forward to giving it a try!! Also, I think I will be supplying Udex with new vitamins. His newfound attitude could be from lack of minerals! I took him off his feed, and starting tomorrow I'm giving it back to him, PLUS more mineral bricks. He will be getting his usual power feed with oil (slowly weaning him back on the oil again.) Am I crazy for giving me already hot horse power feed? That very well could be the case. It's a crazy chance I'm going to take. With his power feed mix he will get the right amount of nutrients, and that could change a bit of his attitude. Besides, I can ride a hot horse, no problem.. It's only the bridling of Udex that gets me!!!! Hee-hee.
 Tomorrow I'm going to try to be strong and do my best to handle the mighty Udex right and not let him get the best of me again!!! I love him so much, and I don't like the feel that neither of us is offering our best. So I'm going to change that tomorrow.. <3

"Rollkur opponents care for horses. Rollkur proponents care more for success."

There's only three things...

 There is only three [discovered] things that seem to scare Udex. They are.

1. Flying balls
2. Clear bags and bottles
3. Tractors

 I find it normal flying balls scare him. I'm a human and scared of them, I can only imagine how a horse must feel about them. No arms to throw in front of their faces! Clear bags and bottles? Well thats a little interesting, but I can understand that too. Stuff that you can see inside something, the way the light reflects.. Understandable. Tractors... Seriously, little green tractors!?! No, I can not find any logical reason as to why tractors scare him. You can start a motorcycle off right in front of his face, you can halt him right by a car and talk to the driver... but tractors a good 50 feet away from him? Now thats a total different story. Udex confuses me greatly.
  I was looking for a spot to tie him up today and about 45 feet away there was a tractor. Of course, it wasn't really a tractor. It was actually a huge horse hungry monster that was headed STRAIGHT towards Udex!! In "how to be a horse school," when something that scary is on the run towards you, you are supposed to take off, totally trampling over your owner who is leading you. Thats exactly what Udex did. All I can say is OWIE!! That hurt! I do feel a bit accomplished that I didn't let 750 kilos of wild, spookish beast get out of my grip. I held on tight to him even as his crow hopping lifted me in the air as well. I didn't know if I should be more mad at the tractors, or my horse, or myself!! Lately Udex has been frustrating me on all ends. If it isn't this, it's that. If it isn't that, then it's this. He's been a nut ball lately! At least today I managed to put his bridle on outside, and not having him in the arena or stall. That was really nerve wrecking for me because I knew that if he managed to run away.. he would be gone. There is no fences in that part of the barn, he could have gone straight down the hill and far, far away. I get nervous just thinking about that!!! I hope he starts to be a bit more submissive during tack up time!!!
  I rode Udex today. No head throwing at all!!! I think thats because he isn't bored. He has so much to do here now. Thats really awesome he has been feeling so great to the point he's almost too hot to handle!! (-: He needs this!!!!

"Rollkur opponents care for horses. Rollkur proponents care more for success."