1 Month Later...

What an improvement a little exercise makes!  Nox is happier, calmer, and much easier to handle these days.  He still has a few moments of defiance while free lunging, but not the aggressive behavior from a month ago.  Now that I'm not afraid that he's going to strike me or run me over, we can do this:

In another month, the vet will return to evaluate his progress.

I took another photo of Nox a few days ago.  I had just finished grooming him (he is shedding like crazy!) and he knew he looked good!  

As Hayley says, "He is the Clooney of horses".

Handsome guy

So far, Nox is behaving much better now that he's getting a little exercise and training time.  Today we free lunged at the walk, with a little bit of trotting, for 15 minutes with minimal drama!  He also stood quietly enough during the grooming session for me to pull his mane (make it shorter).  I've been letting his mane grow out this winter, mostly because I imagined that it helped keep his neck warm - his hair is very thick - but I really prefer to keep his mane short in the hunter style.  After an hour of currying, brushing, and mane pulling, I snapped this picture of him:

    Isn't he handsome?

Peace and Hope

Today I went to the barn full of hope.  Nox was calm and greeted me with a nicker when he saw me.  I slipped his blanket off while he stood quietly in his stall.  Before turning him out in the ring, I went in to put the ground poles out in the cross pattern that I use when I'm free lunging Nox.  I heard him nicker happily when he heard the first pole hit the dirt with a clomp.  I smiled.  He loves to work.

I turned Nox out in the ring while I cleaned his stall.  He rolled a few times and then stood by the gate and waited for me.  I picked up the lunge whip, entered the ring, and took my place in the center.  I asked Nox to walk to the left.  He turned to the left and started walking - fast.  He wanted to trot, so I told him to trot.  He leaped forward and cantered a few strides, let out one buck, and then settled into a nice trot.  That was all.  No more drama.  We free lunged for 15 minutes... calmly... working as a team.  Afterwards, I groomed him and he was so good!  He chewed on the lead rope a few times, but never once went for my hand.  His eyes were soft and his expression sweet, just like my Nox.

I am relieved and hopeful that we are back on track.  I'm sure there will be more days when I will need to remind him that he's second in our herd of two, and I'm prepared to do so, but hopefully the daily exercise will make everything easier.

I just love him so much.

The Battle

I hesitated to write this post for two reasons:
1. I don't enjoy this part of horsemanship and I don't want to glorify it.  I certainly don't want to make myself out to be a horse whisperer or the equine equivalent of Cesar Milan.  I'm not.
2. I don't want to alarm my friends and family, who are the bulk of my blog readers. 

In the end, I decided to write this post because:
1. Working with horses is not all about great rides, soft muzzles, and pretty ponies.  Sometimes it is an explosive clash of wills between a 1200 lb animal and a measly human.  I think it's only fair to be honest and write about the bad times as much as the good.  If other horse people ever read this blog, and they have bad days with their beloved horses, I wouldn't want them to feel alone.
2. There are many ways people can get hurt in this world (car accidents, falls on ice, etc.).  If something ever happens to me at the barn, you can all take comfort in the fact that I went out with my boots on and doing what I loved. 

By the time last Tuesday rolled around, Nox was officially unmanageable.  For two weeks, he had been kicking the walls and rearing in his stall.  I hurt my neck last week (see my comment about falling on ice) and so Best Husband Ever took care of Nox on Sunday.  Nox bit him on the arm and left a huge bruise.  On Monday, Nox bit the stable owner as he brought hay into his stall.  On Tuesday, when I led him out into the indoor ring to groom him, he reared up and struck out at me with his front hoof.  I ducked and quickly unclasped the lead rope from his halter.  Nox spun around and tried to kick me with both hind legs as I scrambled out of the ring.  I stood on the other side of the fence, trying to calm myself, as the horse I loved stomped, snorted, and kicked out in my direction.  For the first time, I was afraid of my horse.

"Have you LOST your mind?", I asked him.  I quickly came to realization that I would rather have a lame horse that was respectful and sweet, than a sound horse that was aggressive and terrifying.  Torn ligament and stall rest be damned, I had to put a stop to this RIGHT NOW.

I grabbed one of the long lunge whips, entered the arena with as much confidence and composure as I could muster, and took my place in the center of the ring.  I held up the whip, pointed in the direction I wanted Nox to move, and told him to "TROT!".  He reared, struck out, and bucked.  The battle was on.  We were going to fight this out until one of us lost, and it was NOT going to be me.  If I lost this battle, I would lose my horse.

For 20 minutes we went round and round - Nox trying to go where he wanted, and I trying to make him move where I wanted.  He kicked, jumped, swerved, reared, bucked, and did everything he could to intimidate me.  Twice, he faced me, muscles tensed and head cocked, seriously considering running me over.  Twice, I roared at him to "MOVE" and charged at him with the whip slashing in front of me.  Twice, he turned and ran.  Those were the scariest moments, but instinct took over and I knew I had to scarier and more aggressive than him.

20 minutes... he was sweating and blowing hard through his flared nostrils.  My heart was pounding, but I tried to maintain a confident and calm facade, forcing myself to speak calmly when he was running in the direction I asked him to, ramping it up only when he spun around and lashed out.

20 minutes... and then Nox conceded.  He started to listen to my commands and run in a circle around me.  I told him to trot and he slowed to a trot, free lunging like we did before he went on stall rest.  A few laps later I told him to walk, and he slowed to a walk.  I kept him walking for a while, occasionally telling him to stop, and then walk again, to test his obedience.  He had a calmer demeanor and his focus was on me in a positive way, not an aggressive way.  I asked him to "whoa" and he stopped.  We stood there for a few minutes.  I put the whip down and walked to him.  His eye was soft and I patted his wet, dripping shoulder, talking softly but firmly.

I turned and walked toward the gate to get his lead rope, thinking Nox would stay where he was, but he followed me quietly, head down and a few steps behind.  I hooked his lead rope to his halter and spent the next hour grooming him.  Nox was behaving as he was before he went on stall rest.  I won back his respect and obedience in that 20 minutes.  I was worried about his ligament and afraid that I may have undone 4 months of stall rest in that battle, but the vet was coming the next day, and I knew that she would understand.  Above all, Nox must be a safe horse.

Wednesday, the vet came to re-evaluate Nox.  I explained to Dr. Meg how the last two weeks had been, and how it all came to head the day before.  She listened and nodded.  Nox was better behaved than usual during the exam, but he did try to nip a few times.  Dr. Meg declared him to be 80% improved.  For his sanity and everyone's safety, she ordered him to be on modified rest for 2 more months.  I could turn him out in the indoor ring, and I could do 15 minutes of free lunging with him at the walk and trot to the left.  Dr. Meg suggested I do some long-rein ground work with him, if he is calm enough.  He needs to be exercised and I need to be able to exert this kind of control over him to remain "in charge".  The light exercise might slow down his healing, but it is necessary, and hopefully it will stop him from kicking and rearing in his stall, which I'm sure isn't helping.

I am pleased with this plan.  Dr. Meg will come back in the beginning of May to re-evaluate him, and we'll see what we can do from there.                                  

Hooves on Concrete

There hasn't been much to report these days.  Nox is still on stall rest and still unhappy about it.  The weather has been brutally cold and snowy, so I'm thankful again that this is happening during the winter.  Since I can't work Nox's body, I'm focusing on his brain.  Nox currently lives in an attached part of the barn closest to the indoor ring.  The floor in that part of the barn is dirt and straw.  When Nox first came to NY, I tried to walk him into the main barn, which has a concrete floor.  Nox was either surprised by the sound of the concrete under his hooves, or intimidated by the narrow aisle, and he threw his head up and smacked it on the low beam in the ceiling.  I've never been able to walk him onto the concrete since.

This isn't usually a problem, since the stall he lives in is nice and big with a high ceiling, so it stays cool in the summer.  I can walk him right out of the stall and into the indoor ring or outside to the pastures.  Every once in while, however, it would be nice to walk him into the main barn.  The farrier could work easier and be closer to his tools, and the vet prefers to do some procedures on the concrete rather than in the dust and dirt.  Plus, it's pretty silly that Nox is afraid of the concrete.  So, I've made it our mission to learn to walk on it.

Here is a photo of the situation:

Nox is in his stall (right side of photo).  The aisle into the main barn is on the left.
Behind me, is the indoor ring.

This is the aisle I want Nox to walk into.

I started out by walking Nox casually toward the main barn aisle.  As soon as I walked through the entryway into the aisle, Nox would plant his feet and refuse to step any closer. Here's a photo: 

Nox says, "Nope".

We'd stand like this for 20 minutes, every day.  I had a handful of cookies and carrots to tempt him in, but Nox didn't care.  He was not stepping on the concrete.  If I tried to pull on the lead rope, he'd throw his head up and nearly hit it on the ceiling again, so I had to figure out a way to make him WANT to step on the concrete. 

So I started giving his cookies and carrots to the horses that live in the stalls along the aisle.  That got his attention!  I appealed to his competitive side - I was giving his cookies away!  To other horses!  He stomped his feet in the dirt and snorted in frustration.  A cookie to Tessa, the sweet little pony next to me.  Snort!  A cookie to Deuce.  Stomp!  After two days, I gave enough of his cookies away that he did this:     

Two feet on the concrete!  He's glaring at Deuce for eating his cookies.

I was so proud of him!  I gave him lots of cookies, carrots, and praise and we stood like this for a while.  Every day for the next week or so, Nox would put two hooves in the barn aisle and happily munch on the cookies and revel in my praise.  I backed up a little each day to get him to step forward, and he stretched as far as possible without moving his front feet any further.  One time, he was stretching so far forward that he actually put his two back feet onto the very edge of the concrete, but since he wouldn't move the front feet forward, he was standing on the equivalent space of a beach ball and he couldn't hold that stance for long.  I quickly backed him up into the dirt before he fell over.

So I gave his cookie away again.  Once was all it took.  This week, we achieved this:    

Four feet squarely on the concrete!!

Success!  Nox will officially walk confidently into the aisle with all four feet.  I'm too cautious to walk him all the way into the main barn because I don't want him to panic, slip, and re-injure himself when we are so close to recovery.  I'll save that for when he has healed completely.  For now, getting Nox over his fear of the concrete aisle is enough!  Now I want a cookie.


 

If Nox kept a journal...

Day 63 of forced confinement.

I am still locked in my stall for most of the day.  I'm let out briefly in the morning while my stall is cleaned, but if I get too rowdy, I'm immediately put back.  I find this very frustrating.  My quality of care has not declined, and my food ration continues to be generous, so my initial theory that this imprisonment is a punishment seems to be incorrect.  I can now only conclude that this is a mind control tactic and I will double my efforts to resist complying with any orders.

My visitation rights have not been revoked and Star comes every afternoon, as usual.  Her demeanor seems apologetic but she is unwilling to change my situation.  I really want to get back into training with her - I have so much to teach her and she desperately needs the practice.  I communicate my impatience to her with nips, hoof stomps, and head tosses.  She does not understand and only gets mad when I bite, but I will continue to attempt to get my message across.

My treat ration has been increased.  Today, I received three carrots and an apple.  I ate the carrots, but left half the apple in my bucket in protest of my imprisonment.  She noticed.

On an unrelated note: my leg is starting to feel better.

A New Year and a 2 Month Sentence

Happy New Year!  2014 came in freezing, icy, and snowy, but at least it came in!  I spent New Year's Day with Best Husband Ever, Moose, and Nox, so I think it was a pretty good start, even if the wind chill was -15.

Starting off 2014 at the barn!

Nox has been on stall rest for seven weeks for a torn ligament in his right hind leg, and it's been a bumpy seven weeks.  He's regressed back into some of his old bad habits, like chewing on the lead rope and nipping at me.  I've learned that the best way to eradicate this bad behavior is to back him up quickly and forcefully across the ring - he responds well to aggressive and dominant behavior.  If I'm dominant, he acts like a puppy.  Unfortunately, I can't do that to him with this injury, so I have to try to distract him from the bad habits.  The poor horse is just bored out of his mind.  He loves having a job to do and challenges to face.  He's going crazy just hanging out in his stall.  

Today Dr. Meg, the lameness specialist, came back to evaluate Nox's progress.  I hoped that she would clear him for some light work - even some slow hand-walking would be great.  She watched him free lunge and did a flexion test, and even I could see that he was still lame.  There was some improvement, Dr. Meg estimated a 65% improvement, but not enough to be cleared for any work.  He's got 2 more months of what she called "modified stall rest".  I can take him out of his stall for 15 minutes, 5 days a week, for a few slow walking laps around the ring and some brain training.  She gave me a few ideas to engage his mind and continue our training without having to move too much.  Hopefully, this will help his boredom and his behavior!

So, two more months of rest and then another evaluation.  I'm just glad that this is happening in winter, when it's too cold and icy to go outside anyway.  I'll keep everyone posted on our progress!

Nox, hoping for a "get out of jail free" card.  Not today, buddy!