Finally a ride with Seli and another vet call

Seli, after 6? weeks asked if she could ride Mag, with me on Momo. Of course, I'd waited so long!

We had a great, but short ride of 1.5 hours. This time the puppy stayed at home, thankfully.

Mag was on his worst behavior today. Agh! I could only watch, as he pawed and tossed his head and even jigged a bit. "Let's go!" the entire time, while Momo and the dog Lupo were content at a normal pace.

I think this is interesting because when I ride with Ani and Mira, Mag settles into follow mode or relaxed mode regardless of where the mare is on the trail. I can only remember a couple times when Mag was so desperately forward while riding with Mira - it was just a few moments, not the entire ride. And Momo and Mira are about the same age, equally dull to their surroundings. (Which I appreciate!)

I admit it was cooler today, with just enough breeze to make it bearable out there.

I don't wish to burden Seli with management nor micromanagement. I bit my tongue when several times I wanted to say:

"Make it your command to finally move forward when he resists standing still." 

I think when  horse is pressing forward and we stop a while, when we're ready to move we need to give a clear forward command which shows sharply, "NOW, you may. It's my decision, not yours."

I'm not sure Seli is doing it, but I admit, I was never so talented with Baasha all those years. Most of the time, I see Seli give no command to Mag, which is not good. (To be clear, she's just sitting on him and he takes off on his own, with no "permission".)

But a few times I said to her today, "Hey Seli, can you just stop him for a a moment (for no reason) and just stand a bit with Momo?" She's happy to oblige, she understands. I'm just so grateful to have people willing to help me with Mag, I don't want to manage them and turn them off. I think asking for "stopping with no reason" a time or two is OK, but I get the feeling it upsets Ani cuz her horse will not comply, and she is over-challenged by the exercise.

I asked her if she'd been out riding Momo these last 6 weeks and she said not much, she doesn't like to ride alone and doesn't want to ride in this heat, and not just cuz Momo is older, but because she's like me. OK then.

Momo did stop from time to time, telling me how he feels about this weather. I just sat there laughing at him until he decided to go again. I'm melting too, Momo.

Mag, in the distance, "Good grief, he's not just slow, he keeps stopping for no good reason!" *lol*

Seli, "Your horse could go all day in this heat!" Out of all of us, he's the only one.

I patted Momo on the neck and talked to him almost the entire time (cuz Seli was too far ahead to talk to). "You're a good boy, everything's fine, no worries." (Half in German, half in English.)

It's fascinating to me to see how Mag reacts under Seli, in comparison to how he carries me.

I love how Seli notices nature around her. She said, "Look at that!" and pulled Mag up. There were dozens of tiny frogs leaping about in the leaf litter. It took me a while to see them, cuz they were so tiny and fast, almost like insects. Momo appreciated the nature break. Mag just about had a melt down, "OMG now we're looking at FROGS!" *lol* Poor Mag.

***

The next day she came out and trimmed both animals.

Today the vet came out, the senior one, not his apprentice. The one who saved Baasha at the bridge. He took Mag's respiration and laughed, "Horse, don't hold your breath just cuz I'm watching you, go ahead and breathe."

Mag, "But he's STARING!"

Then he auscultated, then we went to the street and I did another trot out, and as far and as fast as I ran, Mag did not cough. First day in 2 weeks he has not coughed on movement!

The vet listened and found nothing. Hrm! He said it's just particularly dusty this year, and he's reacting to that. I told him his apprentice said it was an allergy to something blooming. Well, no answers for us today I guess.

I'd called my man out to observe/keep the vet company and they joked around and Mag kept nosing the vet and nuzzling and even chewing on his shorts. I admit, I think it's cute that Mag is always thinking about what he can put in his mouth next. I had my horse magazine in my hand for the vet to see about sleeping problems and the horse had the magazine fully in his mouth, not chewing, gnawing on it gently. Then the vet looked at the article and admitted he didn't know about that med for sleep problems and wrote it down. I handed the horse to my man and in lack of anything else, Mag reached down and nipped my man right in the crotch, to which my man reacted painfully. Both the vet and I smacked Mag in the nose for that. OK not so cute afterall. Mag needs to learn to just stand there and space out, rather than chew on everything around him. *shame*

The good news, sort of, is the vet did not condemn me for my horse-keeping. I was almost certain he would said, "Your horse lacks the comfort of living in a large herd, that is why he crashes."

Instead, he said REM sleep deficiency is just beginning to be understood, and there's not much out there. I know, I've tried. He said the only thing we can do is provide a soft place for Mag to crash. *sigh*

That's both good and bad news. I'd expected it, I've been shopping for more rubber mats to cover our geotiles. Mag has not been on geotiles since April, and since then, his pastern wounds have mostly recovered (but will always have tiny scars, I'm afraid).

The vet says that some horses can learn to achieve REM sleep while standing, although it's not the norm. That contradicts the article, which says my horse will eventually forget to ever lie down, and will suffer neurological issues and eventually die from lack of sleep.

I'm not sure Mag's not lying down at night, cuz I'm not there. I haven't seen him start to collapse since May. (Often during hoof trims he starts to go down, or prolonged grooming.) Maybe he's better. Or maybe it's not as worrisome as I thought, as long as we keep him on soft ground, he'll be OK.

I'd love to hear your experiences with this condition - or any sleep issue with horses!

Tomorrow I get to ride Momo again and see what Mag does with Seli up. Then I have one week until I travel to Dortmund for the next course in my medic training.

If the weather breaks while I'm gone, I'm gonna cry.



Mag, the drinkingest horse I've ever known. Stopping at someone's dog dish on the side of the road...




...sorry doggies, Mag's got a thirst. Love this about my horse. Any puddle, stream, Tupperware container, he'll ask me to go in for a drink. He's like a particular mare in this way (Princess Buttercup may she live forever.)