Havoc canters under saddle...

Not really voluntarily, I have to say, more of a scooty thing. Alas, I was not there, I was in Montreal where I have been for three weeks.

At any rate, my trainer had another trainer out who we sometimes put on the new kids because his balance is perfect and he gives them confidence... plus, he doesn't care what they do and he sticks like glue... must be the long legs. For Havoc, he needs to know the people that are doing things with him, so we decided Jen on the ground was more comforting to him than some guy he doesn't know!! He doesn't think that trotting under saddle is really necessary, could be dangerous, but he'll figure it out. They changed direction close to the wall, and that must have scared the little dude, he clamped his tail and sat his bum down and scooted at the canter for a few strides. The gentleman on him wondered what the living hell the horse was doing, but, like I say, was completely still and went with him. The horse can sit!

Another session this coming week and he's an under saddle kid. Positively terrifying!

Since I've been gone and it's been very cold, little Mo didn't get worked this week. So, I took her for a walkabout last night. Will ride her properly today. She's a good kid. Just nothing phases her. My trainer was longing another horse while I was in there, who takes off sometimes, barely registered an ear flicker on Mo. I hope I get to show her, she's a cool horse, but it may not be her destiny.

The other day I was thinking that perhaps a part of the Maggie death mystery might be that she was on depo-provera for about 4 years. In humans it can cause osteoporosis (I've had a bone scan because I'm on it... I'm in no danger), and I wonder if that was a contributing factor to her canon breaking. I put Mo on it a couple months ago, and am now thinking I shall take her off, just in case. I hadn't thought of it, if you can imagine, until my trainer was giving Mo her shot this month... If you have a horse on it, food for thought. I haven't talked to my vet yet on it. It doesn't make me feel better about Maggie in the slightest, makes me feel guilty.

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Comment by MagsNMe on February 10, 2014 at 10:02am: The depo doesn't actually seem to be helping Mo, so she's had her last shot of it. She's a crazy horse, that one, but tons of fun. When I was taking her to the new facility, I got part way up the driveway and it started to slide back, so I ended up with my truck against the snow on the left side, trailer angled across but still on the road (ravine on the other side). Mo, being Miss BeenThereDoneThat, waited. I got out into snow over my knee, around to the off side, where, because it's a 2+1, there's a ramp. So, she marches out the ramp, takes a sharp left (to avoid ravine), and I head up the driveway with her. The barn manager meets me part way with her bomb proof horse to pony her. Mo is like I do this ten times a day, no problem. Pop her in a paddock, thanks for the hay... That, is a cool horse.

Maggie broke the cannon that her foot was most turned in on, which was no doubt contributing as well. There's just no way to know what caused it in the end. I'll never block a horse without an x-ray now either, but we don't know if we'd have seen anything.

It sure colours what you do and look for. Havoc's Mom has 28 degrees rotation of her coffin bone after a freak intense acute laminitis attack at 4. I now have a foot fetish, can't stop looking at Havoc's feet. She also grew too fast as a yearling and had surgery to cut her superior check ligaments... Havoc didn't get anything resembling grain until he was at least 2. I check backs religiously because I'm paranoid. Havoc won't show at the local facility until he's probably 6 because we had a young horse blow a splint there (footing is a bit sticky)... and the list goes on...

Comment by Jackie Cochran on February 10, 2014 at 9:26am: Maggie's bone breaking may have had other contributing causes. I remember reading long ago in a book by Dr. Rooney that too much alfalfa with young horses can cause bone cysts when the bone grows too rapidly, thus weakening the bone enough so it can break. Too much wheat bran (check the ingredient list on your feed) can also weaken bone because the phytic acid in the wheat prevents the calcium uptake in the bones. The years of depo-provera probably did not help but I doubt that it was the only cause of the break.

Plus there is just bad luck, I've had plenty of that. None of this will make you feel less guilty, hey I still feel guilty about my horses decades after they died.

If Mo does not NEED the depo-provera I personally would not give it to her. If she NEEDS it, do the lowest dose possible!