Padame's turn

Here I am, typing from the Equine Hospital. Waiting to find out what is going on with Padame. She has been experiencing on again/off again lameness. Most recently at her second show of the season, in Minnesota. Padame came up lame the night before we were heading up to watch. She did not show.

We were here for Koda's lameness MRI, less than a year ago. Now it's Padame's turn. The hospital folks are very nice, but I reeeally do not want to become a regular!! Cost aside it is hard on the horses, and us. It takes an entire day. 

The MRI will reveal key information, including the possibility there are no injuries. Lameness yo-yo-ing is anybodies best guess otherwise. Obviously I hope there is nothing "wrong" with Padame. An MRI may seem extreme, but we know others in the show circuit who have spent years patching the unknown. In the end, it is more cost and more so a frustrating loss of time. Something you can't get back. We hope to target the care Padame needs and keep her sound.

wondering where she is

Padame is so dark & shiny

Our daughter (Harmony's mom) took a half day off work to cover animal care at home for us. 

We tried to distract ourselves on this beautiful 72+F sunny day. After lunch we walked the boardwalk and enjoyed lake views. Frequently checking the time.

Now we sit. We read. We pace. We check. It is hard not to worry as closing time approaches and Padame is still not back in her temporary stall. Similar to what we experienced with Koda.

She was finally returned to her stall! We met with the MRI vet, and at first glance nothing appeared to be wrong. Good news. After the MRI scans get reviewed by a specialist, the MRI vet and our vet will discuss findings and come up with a plan of action.

another loop and attempt at loading

Padame was less than willing to load up in our trailer. She has ridden in it before, but is used to a large slant load and having company. Poor girl. We all made it home without incident. I bet Padame slept good last night.

return to winter

Wisconsin decided to return to Winter, so I did too. Sharing photos from earlier this snow season. As always, click to enlarge and see detail.

January 2024

Our recent weather event lasted 2.5 days. By this afternoon we were already melting-n-soaking up the much needed moisture. Sunnier days are coming!

Hope wants everyone to know she really dislikes being wet. Dontchaknow, water drops tickle. She would really like it if we let her rub herself dry on us. She might enjoy being towel dried. Or even blow dried. With a hair drier. It was required during my lesson years at the place Harmony came from. Way back in the day. You got in trouble if you put your horse away wet. Those were some late nights! Wishing Winter coats would hurry up and dry.

We haven't given Hope a bath, yet. We aren't big on baths, but if you are going to be a show horse bath days are guaranteed. Mother Nature has done a good job with "feeling wet" training!

Hope at 9 months

more than photos

We do more with Hope than take photos of her. Throughout the months, we have continued working on daily handling and desensitizing. For various reasons, in various ways. Safety is at the top of our list. For her, for us and for those who help with her care. 

We felt Hope needed some fine tuning on putting her rear legs down nicer etc. Our Farrier recently had back surgery. We want all our horses to be really easy for him to trim. Not just pretty good. Because we asked, he suggested using a rope to lift and desensitize her legs further. Not just our hands. He mentioned we are probably lifting/picking her legs the same way every time, and he does it different. Good point. Leg placement/adjustment is also part of showing conformation. Everything should be done with ease.

We never did end up using the rope lifting suggestion. We do (still) make sure to change up how and where we lift her feet. Ropes of course are wonderful and useful for a lot of different training. Hope doesn't seem to take issue with wiggly ropes. In fact she likes some ropes a little too much. As with most youngsters, she frequently tries to put lead ropes in her mouth. This is something we continue working on. 

Our vet was out for Spring shots and said "she is still looking fancy". He was really impressed with Hope, more so with how she acted. In preparation for shots, Brad worked on desensitizing. He started using prickly brushes and progressed to poking her with a small screw driver that was sharp, but not too sharp. It worked! She didn't even move when the vet did a blood draw. Hope taped at 574 lbs.

3/19/24

If interested, here are some clips of Hope learning (day one):

moving hip away from pressure
2/13/24 (11 secs)

other direction (11 secs)


rope desensitizing (6 secs)



start to lunging (22 secs)

My skilled hubby recently whipped up a bridge. A good first step to upcoming trailer training. The very next day a swinging gate appeared in our arena. It will be useful for his show practice. They no longer allow rope gates in Ranch classes. 

I watched him walk Hope through the gate the first time with little to no resistance. She briefly paused, then walked through both directions. I don't have any visuals. I think I was holding my breath in anticipation of what might happen. I told Brad that Hope is going to make him look like a world class trainer lol. He is doing a really good job with little Miss Hope!

new arena obstacles
3/26/24

second evening session
3/25/24 (20 secs)

other direction (17 secs)

All the training continues. Including morning walk-a-bouts. Walking off bridge, paying attention, standing still, me leading etc. The following day Hope met the dreaded tarp. I walked into the arena in the morning to find Tank helping out. Apparently, this was a big improvement over her first reaction (backing up) to the tarp.

3/26/24 am

On the other hand, Brad's cat Purr was not as helpful. She decided to play with the tarp, diving under it etc. Great for unexpected trail training, but it was a little too much to start off with lol.

3/26/24 pm

I kicked the animals out of the arena and helped. We ended the first day with Hope putting her two front feet on the tarp, standing still. She willingly walks across the tarp for both of us now, and stands on it. I can tell she is not 100% sure about the weird slippery crunchy randomly lit thing that moves.

We can't leave the tarp out, because my other horse likes to pick it up and shake it all over. Hence the white patch of tape. Some peoples horses never grow up. Sigh. I wonder what Hope would think about Koda and a flying tarp. We will leave that lesson for another day.

springy thoughts

Spring is such an interesting time in the world of nature. In more ways than one. We never really know what weather will show up. It seems most of us are getting a mixed bag. In our respective corners of the world. 

We had spotty snow for a couple days. A bit of on again/off again snowflakes. I enjoy snow more during Winter months. Rainy weather is the name of this weeks weather game. Making it harder to enjoy the woods with four legged friends. Nothing a towels can't mend. So far we've been walking between the raindrops. 

3 amigos wanting to sniff around the woods
3/18/24

Grand dogs Jameson, Remi, and our guy who always has a full Tank of energy.

sharing a good smell

a common start to our walks (8 secs)

tic, tac, toe, three dogs in a row

same trail as above, a couple days later

Tank was pouting and had to catch up lol.

Tank has large stick challenges (10 secs)

 and small pieces of prized wood, that are never eaten

(Tank places, stares and dares to move)

On the plant frontier, my garlic has been up for weeks. I am growing four varieties this year! From cloves shared and traded among friends. Raised bed gardening was a game changer.

the promise of flower seedlings

It won't be long and I will also start veggie seeds indoors. Some seeds saved from last years prized plants, others purchased. We like to try growing a new thing or two each year. This year we are trying to grow potatoes again. They will do better in our sandy soil, than they did in our clay. They will be grown in the ground.

hanging on

Nature offers so many things to ponder. Messages? Like the leaf above. It landed in a pine tree and even the strongest winds have not knocked it down. After passing it day after day, I stopped to snap a photo and think about it. Haa ha! My 4 year old granddaughter (a 5th generation Aurora!!) current favorite saying is "let me think about it". She is wise beyond her years.

3/23/24

My old metal wire frog used to sit on a large rock, watching over our pond. Now he sits on a stump all year and watches over my mom's memorial area. It might get a water feature. Someday. 

Remembrance Crocus in the photo foreground are starting to bloom. Although closed up that day, due to cooler weather. Brown ground will give way to green. My moms crabapple tree will blossom. The trio of lit Winter trees that flank her bench will go into storage, and be replaced with planters. Plants I started from seed will flourish in them, and be butterfly approved.

The promise of Spring.