In late October, Clay Evans, a first year graduate student at Marquette University studying mass communications, came out to shoot a story for a graduate class he is taking. Clay did a wonderful job taking photos, as it was his first time shooting horses. I was able to retrieve the photos from Clay and thought I would share them with you.
The photos show what a typical riding lesson is like with Kristin. We warm up on the flat doing lateral work and working on position for 30 minutes before we jump. This particular lesson we did grid work. Grid work consists of several jumps in a row, going smaller to larger. Doing this is a way to make your horse not only stronger as they have to use their hind end but it also makes them more cleaver to the jumps.
It was a good time Clay came out when he did as I have not been able to jump Rudolf since these photos were taken. Rudolf has had a rough seven months. In May, Rudolf and I went to a horse show at Ledges, a show facility in northern Illinois, and it was a total disaster. Normally Rudolf is great at shows but this time he was acting very strange and stopping at jumps, which he rarely does. Needless to say my mom and I knew something was up and we had the vets look at him once we got home. He needed his knees injected which is why he was stopping. Poor Rudolf was hurting and I know that the only reason he stopped at the in-and-outs was that he knew he was not strong enough to get us through them and we had the possibility of getting hurt.
A week after Rudolf got his knees injected; the horse dentist came out to float all the horses’ at Wild Woods teeth. In order to float a horse’s teeth the horses are put under a heavy level of sedation. The sedation, although necessary, can have some negative side effects on horses such as slowing their digestive systems down thus causing colic or tying up. Having those two things done to Rudolf in such a close period of time put Rudolf’s body into shock and he tied up very badly. (Tying up is when a horses muscles become so tense they often are unable to walk. It is very uncomfortable and they can tear muscles if they are trying to move. IV fluids and time off are the best remedies.)
When I was standing with Rudolf as he was tying up, I felt terrible. I did not know that his body would react so negatively to having his knees and teeth done so close together. I thought I was helping my horse when I was really over loading his system until his body had to tell me it was too much. At that point I decided I was not going to show the rest of the summer and I would not jump him until fall. We took the summer off and just did flat work. It was actually very nice having the summer to spend with my family and friends with out being gone all the time at horse shows. This was the first summer I had taking off in 6 years. It was the best thing for both Rudolf and myself.
In September I started to up Rudolf’s work and slowly brought him back to jumping small fences once a week for over a month. In late October, when Clay came out, was the first time I had jumped Rudolf 3’9 since May. It was the best feeling and I was so happy he was back to his old self again. This did not last very long as the next week when I got on him he was lame.
Rudolf’s knees are starting to go. They are not to the point where he can’t jump any more but he is getting older and needs to be injected every 3 months. After what had happened last time having him injected I was very scared to have his knees done again, so I decided to put him on bute therapy and gave him more time off. He was doing fine until the first week in November when he had a very bad case of colic and had to spend two nights in the ICU at Wisconsin Equine Clinic. Having a sick horse is the worst feeling in the world. He is my child and I want to make sure he is always comfortable and healthy.
I gave Rudolf two weeks off once he was able to come home. I think he enjoyed the time off. Tomorrow my vet is going to come out and look at injecting his knees which will make him more comfortable but I am still worried. I know he needs them done but I still worry. I miss jumping him so much. And I know he misses being in work. I hope tomorrow is good news.
The photos show what a typical riding lesson is like with Kristin. We warm up on the flat doing lateral work and working on position for 30 minutes before we jump. This particular lesson we did grid work. Grid work consists of several jumps in a row, going smaller to larger. Doing this is a way to make your horse not only stronger as they have to use their hind end but it also makes them more cleaver to the jumps.
It was a good time Clay came out when he did as I have not been able to jump Rudolf since these photos were taken. Rudolf has had a rough seven months. In May, Rudolf and I went to a horse show at Ledges, a show facility in northern Illinois, and it was a total disaster. Normally Rudolf is great at shows but this time he was acting very strange and stopping at jumps, which he rarely does. Needless to say my mom and I knew something was up and we had the vets look at him once we got home. He needed his knees injected which is why he was stopping. Poor Rudolf was hurting and I know that the only reason he stopped at the in-and-outs was that he knew he was not strong enough to get us through them and we had the possibility of getting hurt.
A week after Rudolf got his knees injected; the horse dentist came out to float all the horses’ at Wild Woods teeth. In order to float a horse’s teeth the horses are put under a heavy level of sedation. The sedation, although necessary, can have some negative side effects on horses such as slowing their digestive systems down thus causing colic or tying up. Having those two things done to Rudolf in such a close period of time put Rudolf’s body into shock and he tied up very badly. (Tying up is when a horses muscles become so tense they often are unable to walk. It is very uncomfortable and they can tear muscles if they are trying to move. IV fluids and time off are the best remedies.)
When I was standing with Rudolf as he was tying up, I felt terrible. I did not know that his body would react so negatively to having his knees and teeth done so close together. I thought I was helping my horse when I was really over loading his system until his body had to tell me it was too much. At that point I decided I was not going to show the rest of the summer and I would not jump him until fall. We took the summer off and just did flat work. It was actually very nice having the summer to spend with my family and friends with out being gone all the time at horse shows. This was the first summer I had taking off in 6 years. It was the best thing for both Rudolf and myself.
In September I started to up Rudolf’s work and slowly brought him back to jumping small fences once a week for over a month. In late October, when Clay came out, was the first time I had jumped Rudolf 3’9 since May. It was the best feeling and I was so happy he was back to his old self again. This did not last very long as the next week when I got on him he was lame.
Rudolf’s knees are starting to go. They are not to the point where he can’t jump any more but he is getting older and needs to be injected every 3 months. After what had happened last time having him injected I was very scared to have his knees done again, so I decided to put him on bute therapy and gave him more time off. He was doing fine until the first week in November when he had a very bad case of colic and had to spend two nights in the ICU at Wisconsin Equine Clinic. Having a sick horse is the worst feeling in the world. He is my child and I want to make sure he is always comfortable and healthy.
I gave Rudolf two weeks off once he was able to come home. I think he enjoyed the time off. Tomorrow my vet is going to come out and look at injecting his knees which will make him more comfortable but I am still worried. I know he needs them done but I still worry. I miss jumping him so much. And I know he misses being in work. I hope tomorrow is good news.
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