The Vet & Max

Yesterday I took the afternoon off from work so that I could be at the stables when the vet showed up to look at Max. As stated previously, Max appears to have sustained some minor injuries/muscle strain and he appeared to be stiff on his hind end so I decided it was time to have Max checked out and to get him his yearly vaccinations.

The vet exam consisted of trotting and cantering Max on a lunge line as well as testing each hoof with the hoof tester. The vet then would use flexion on each leg for about three minutes and I'd then trot Max after each instance.

The verdict was, no surprise, some stiffness most likely due to his arthritis. Also, the vet believes that Max has a bit of stiffness in the front right leg and that he should have his front shoes set back so there's not such a long toe and better support for the heels. The vet also injected Max with Adequan and left a second injection to be given in two weeks.

Hopefully, this will help Max. If not, then the next step are x-rays and nerve blocks to try and pinpoint if something more serious is going on. I hope not- I dread what the vet bill is going to be from this current round of treatment. But, the was optimistic and there's nothing obviously wrong with Max so there's hope.

Max has the next two days off so I'm looking at riding him this weekend. Also I'll have to restrict his riding to flat surfaces so mountains are out for awhile.

Ah, the joys of horse ownership!

Monday Night

The rains have gone away and it's warmed up a bit. Last night I went out to the stables to see how Max was doing. Although some of the footing in the arena and other areas are a bit waterlogged, there was definite improvement. Interestingly enough, the weather was fairly warm with warm thermals alternating with some cold pockets- definately better than just chilly.

Since Max looked allright, I decided to ride him and given him a light workout. We walked around the track for several laps and then did some trotting and cantering in the driven dressage arena. Max seemed to do allright and I gave him a long warm-up period. I also did some side-passes and other exercised.

Besides a little trouble with the wet footing, Max seemed to move well and he seemed to be his usual self (although I had to remind him on occassion that he's not on WInter vacation). Naturally Max was rewarded with his usual bucket of A&M and Omolene 200.

Columbus, New Mexico Redux

Well, it's getting close to that time in March when we make our way down to Columbus, New Mexico to commemorate March 9, 1916, the day that Pancho Villa organized and executed a raid on Columbus.

This year it looks like there will be three of us (a bit of a smaller crew than last year) and we'll be piling into my compadre Chris' truck for the journey. Another compadre is driving separately and will be joining us there. It ought to be fun and I'm hoping to hook up with Pablo again to ride. Hopefully there won't be any high winds or storms like there was when we went down in 2006.

Also, if we wind up going accross the border to Palomas, we're ready with passport in hand (due to changes in Federal regulations in regard to border crossing into Mexico, you are now required to have either a passport or a dirver's license and birth certificate).

I'll be posting more on this in the future.

The Rain & More Rain

It seems that the lack of rain we've been experiencing here in Southern California has pretty much been erased by the various rainstorms we've been hit with since the New Years. With the rain and cold comes limited riding opportunities and swampy stalls and riding arenas and it's been a real pain of late.

I've taking easy with Max and I hadn't been riding him since last weekend when he experienced some muscle soreness on the hind end. Basically, Max has been moving pretty stiffly in the rear and it's no doubt time to give him another Adequan injection. No doubt, things have been aggravated by the cold and damp.

The weather cleared a bit by the end of last week so I decided to ride Max a bit and see how he was doing. On the ground, Max seemed to me moving allright with no issues so I decided to saddle him and do some riding around the stables. I figured that the footing on the trails wasn't so good and I didn't want him to strain himself like he had the week before.

Riding with a friend, we walked our horses around the Quarter-mile track for about half a mile in each direction. The footing was somewhat slippery but that seemed to be the only issue. Fortunately, the sun decided to really come out in force and I'm sure the increasing warmth helped Max loosen up a bit. We then decided to trot our horses on the straightaways for awhile- which worked out to about five minutes or so. Finally, in the driven dressage area, we alternated cantering and trotting for maybe another five minutes. Overall, Max seemed to move out allright and having another horse present was a great motivator, especially since the other horse is a Thoroughbred and a lot faster than Max (use the herd mentality to your advantage).

Everything ended on a positive note and Max actually looked like he was enjoying himself.

Unfortuantely, a storm blew in Saturday night and dumped quite a lot of rain and on into Sunday morning. By the time I made it out to the stables, it was a swamp but the clouds had begun to clear a bit. It was too wet to ride (given Max's prior condition) so I contented myself walking Max around the track and letting him graze on all the fresh grass.

The vet will be coming out on Thursday to take a look at Max and to give him his Adequan and his annual vaccinations so hopefully I can get a more definitive opinion.

Hitting the Beach - Roman Style

This looked pretty cool so I thought I'd put it up here. It supposedly depicts the Roman invasion of Britain in AD 43. It might not have happened quite this way but the subject has always been fascinating to me. For more, go HERE.

More Pictures from Ozena Valley

Here's some more pictures from the Ozena Valley WWI event:


Aerial view of the Allied positions.

The French sector.

Now from the German side.

The Canadian sector.

Construction on the Allied side.

Aerial view of the German positions.

Ozena Event - Some Pictures

I finally got some pictures from our WWI event at Ozena Valley from a friend of mine (as usual, I brought a camera but never got around to using it). Here's me taking a break to check out the US ordnance stores.


Here's me taking a break from digging trenches. Actually, a backhoe did the major work and all we had to do was to finish things and fill sandbags...lots of sandbags.

It's Been Awhile...

I have to admit that it's been over a month since I've updated my blog but there's been all sorts of stuff going on in my life (not to mention my monitor dying on me) so things have gotten a tad backed up.

Anyway, this past weekend I helped to organize a WWI reenactment event- the first in close to four years at a place called Ozena Valley Ranch (it's way out in the boonies). Naturally with these sorts of things, it took a lot of work and especially in preparing the site. We hired a backhoe to come in and do the large-scale excavation but there was still all the work of finishing off the trenches and filling sadbags. It also didn't help that the site is at an elevation of roughly 4,000 feet so I was stopping often to catch my wind and drink water. I'm really creaking today!

Although there had been problems with snow storms and roads put out of commission the week before, the weather this last weekend was excellent- clear and sunny. During the day, temperatures were in the 80s but at night they dropped to the low 40s- it was COLD! Fortunately, I came prepared and brought extra blankets and the like. As usual, even though I brought a camera, I failed to get any pictures so I'll have to once again depend on the kindness of others- I'll put some up here once I get them.

We wound up finishing a bit early (many of the membership wound up leaving Saturday night) so I actually left at about 11 AM. I decided that the day was too beautiful to not see Max so I stopped off at the stables on the way home. Max was definately happy to see me but not when it looked like he was going to have to work. Of course I can understand this since he still has his winter coat and it was 80 degrees out.

We went for a ride around following out normal route that ultimately put us at the Orcas Arena. I worked him through the walk/trot/canter and by the time we were done, Max had worked up a little bit of a sweat. After returning to the stables, I decided to give him a bath (the first in a long time) and by the time he got his bucket, he was a very happy horse. I hope the weather holds up for next weekend.

It's Back To The Beach...

I've just found out that our equestrian group has locked in a reservation to go to Montana Del Oro for August 14-18, 2008! This, of course, assumes that the Governor will not follow through on his threat to close down 48 locations in the State of California's park system.

For more on that, go to: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-parks11jan11,0,2577733.story

So until I hear otherwise, it's back to the beach in August for Max and I!