The Struggle with Strangles

Well our training has been thwarted for the last few weeks by an outbreak of strangles at the barn. I had never even heard of it until it started getting past around the barn and I didn't really care about it until the horse next to mine had it, but first let's get caught up on how things are going.

Fiona's riding was going pretty well before she got sick. We had about half a dozen successful rides and one time where she bolted on me. Good news though! I stayed on, I got her stopped (got good reviews on my one-rein stop), and I kept riding. I was a wreck!, but I kept going.

Fiona did go to the obstacle clinic, but it was kind of short lived. She lunged over the stuff on the ground just fine after she circled a few times. I have never seen a horse avoid stepping on something and still look as "refined" as she does. She is SUCH a girl! I knew the white curtain obstacle would get her before we even started. It is basically a white shower curtain liner cut into strips that flaps in the wind. She did ok in the arena...just checking stuff out and stood their calmly. I handed her off to Sam, my trainer, and she walked her up pretty close to the evil shower curtain of death. Fiona tried SO HARD to not be scared. She started shifting her back end around just a bit. Then she bolted. Sam tried to step in and stop her, but Fiona ran her over. :(

We caught her and Sam took her to a roundpen. I lunged her in there for about 45 mins. She was FIRED UP! when she got in there, but she settled down after a bit. That's when Sam cleared the arena so she could work with "That Arabian" as one person put it. She got her to do some good things like walking over stuff.

Another VERY interesting development; Fiona LOVES cows!!...and they love her! Go friggin' figure?!?!! Cows are the only thing I have ever seen her sniff and step into, instead of shying away from. It was great!. Sam taught me to lung Fiona in circles and move the cows with her. It was really fun.

Oh and I started riding in the drill team at the stable! I am riding a different horse, an arabian names Zach! He is cute and friendly. I am grateful for his assistance while I am still getting Fiona ready. I am really hoping to ride her in the final show in the fall, but we shall see.

Now onto the bad news....ugh..

I told Sam, a few weeks ago that Fiona seemed depressed. She was also starting to toss her head during bridling, which she hadn't done in a very long time. About a week after I said that, strangles!

For those of you that do not know what strangles is, here's an interesting run-down on it: Strangles

It sort of like strep throat for horses, but it looks way worse. Fiona didn't abscess in the nodes you have to lance and drain...thank goodness. However, she drained through her nose and that can call something called chrondroids. I have to call the vet today and find out if she has to go into the vet (yay trailering! NOT) to get scoped and flushed.

The vet put her on antibiotics for 5 days and that has DEFINITELY helped. She got the lightest case of any horse in the barn that I have seen. She's been back to normal with the exception of her weight which is back down again. :(

If there is an up-side, this downtime has given me plenty of extra hours to read and watch horse training videos. I found a guy named Rick Gore. I watched a few of the videos on his youtube channel. He had some interesting stuff on herd dynamics and he clearly loves his horses. His language is colorful and I am sure a lot of people listen to him and think "This guy is a complete jerk!". If you can get past the language and the goofy laugh, he actually has some really good advice.

I find the herd dynamics interesting. There's definitely stuff to be learned by watching and knowing a herd of horses. They completely rely on order and hierarchy. The leader is always tested, and is required to remain vigilant. There's one video that talks about her dynamics that I found fascinating. Watch what happens when Rick leaves the herd without a leader. This is a strong indicator of how important a strong leader is to a horse.

That's all for now!