5 years, 6 months

Time for pictures again. Crispin was in no mood to smile, who knows why, so they aren't all that pretty. The last time I took some confo shots was on his 5th birthday 6 months ago. I do see some changes but they are again subtle. A little more muscle along his topline (though, not a much as I would like to) and a little more belly after a good summer...

Ever since he's back at work things have been progressing quite nicely. I started long lining him and started with some ground work on the long rein. And, with the help of Jenny (and with her approval), we took the next step with our ring work: Contact!

I do not have any video footage of that yet, but just a couple of days before Jenny decided that we were indeed ready for more, Meike took this video of us. It shows what we have done so far. I know it really doesn't look like much, but I decided to stick with Jenny's approach of taking it very, VERY slow and so far it has not lead us wrong!

So far, it has basically been about rhythm, balance and straighness and relaxation, all the while staying out of his face...

A Lovely Trail Ride

Today, we went on a lovely and long trail ride. My very good friend Daniela trailered over and we went out together. We've wanted to to this for a long time and today it finally happened. We went over the Autobahn across the Kanal and explored some new trails and even the weather played nice for most of the ride. What more can you wish for.

Farewell Zorro!

Yesterday, I had to let Zorro go. It was no surprise. I'd seen it coming. Her teeth were very bad again and she couldn't eat anymore. I had to hand feed her. She was always a fighter so hand feeding was no problem she even gained some weight. But not being able to eat by herself is no life for a guinea pig.

I took her to the vet to get her jaw x-rayed. Sadly, it turned out that there was no hope for her of ever getting better. Due to arthritic changes in her jaw there was a lot of bone growth. Amazing that she was able to eat with it as long as she did, little fighter, and so I let her go.

Good bye, Zorro, I'm going to miss you.

Shoes

Not for me, obviously, but for Crispin. Like most horse owners I much prefer a barefoot horse if possible, but after the coffin bone incident I decided to give up and try shoeing him for a while. Just in the front. The footing at the new barn is just a little too much for his feet and I do want to go out with him more. But even after 8 weeks of just turnout there wasn't much hoof left to trim, so I decided to give shoeing him a go.

I picked a farrier who might not excell at shoeing (though, I do think he did a decent job!) but seemed to be willing to take his time with Crispin. And he did! I have to say Crispin wasn't half as bad as I had expected. I knew that fitting the hot shoes would be an issue, but even that wasn't too bad. He's not quite comfortable with the shoes jet, no pain or anything, but they seem to have thrown him off balance a little again (like that wasn't an issue anyway!).

We are a Zero again!

It's been a while. I was a very good girl about not doing anything with Crispin for the 6 weeks and then needed another week to get the vet out again. But everything is fine, vet said there's no lameness at all so back to work we go.

Of course, what little back muscle he had is gone again. So back to square one again. I started working him from the ground. We introduced the long rein to make things a little more interesting for both of us. By now (about 2 weeks into work again) we're doing 30-40 min mostly walk (starting with 15 min groundwork) and a bit of trot work under saddle thrown in at the end.

Lame.

Just when I had scheduled the appointment for the final fitting of the new saddle, Crispin came up lame. Really lame. About a 3-4 on the scale. *sigh*

He was already better the day I got the vet out (about two days after). Maybe a solid 3. Unfortunately the vet I would have liked to come out was on vacation, so I had to make do with another one. She couldn't really find anything, but thought that maybe his left pastern seemed a little warm. She gave us some bute and said he had to be 100% in 5 days or I would have to call her back for a more thorough exam and  x-rays.

I though the pain was in the hoof. I though I felt a pulse and had hoped for an abscess but she said no, no sensitvity of the sole. Hmm, like I said, not my favourite vet.

Of course he was still off 5 days later. Down to a 1-2 maybe, with apparent lameness turning left. So, I called the vet out for x-rays (this time the "good" vet).

We did a lameness exam with flexions (no reaction there), next to nothing on soft ground, a little lameness on pavement and obvious lameness in turns to the left (he's off on the left front). So, we're back to the hoof again.

The vet took x-rays of the hoof and came up with a concussion of the coffin bone. He'd expected a fissure but thankfully it seems to be neither a fissure nor fracture but still it's 6-8 weeks of no riding. Crispin is allowed to go out on single turn on a smaller pasture, but other than that it's stall rest on soft footing for at least 6 weeks.

 The scale:

• 0) Lameness not perceptible under any circumstances.
• 1) Lameness is difficult to observe and is not consistently apparent, regardless of circumstances.
• 2) Lameness is difficult to observe at a walk or when trotting in a straight line but consistently apparent under certain circumstances.
• 3) Lameness is consistently observable at a trot under all circumstances.
• 4) Lameness is obvious at a walk.
• 5) Lameness produces minimal weightbearing in motion and/or at rest or a complete inability to move.

Trail riding

Apart from all the guinea pig drama, I had some of the best moments yet with Crispin during those last two or three weeks. We finally hit the trails for real and he has been nothing but great! I'm totally thrilled with his trail qualities.

We have some really nice trails here but none of them are easy to get to. There is always the Autobahn to cross *scarry*



and the the Canal.



Plus there is usually a lot going on (Boats, Biker, Dogs, Cars... you name it). Unfortunately, in the past Crispin was already super excited just to leave the property as it was, without needing any more distractions or scarry stuff to wind him up even more. I guess that's basically why it took me so long to really go out there.

But after being quite excited at the start of every single trail ride it seems that all he really needed was just a few more real trail rides to figure out this whole trial riding thing. By now he's mostly relaxed from the start. He walks, trots and canters without any problems and is happy and relaxed no matter where he goes (the middle, the end or even the front). On our last ride he even lead over the Autobahn!

Guinea Pig Drama!!!

Here it is, one more guinea pig post. And oh my, what a drama it was finding Zorro a new partner. There even was bloodshed! Poor old girl got bitten by a nasty stranger:

But let's start from the beginning. After Bob died, I pretty much started looking for a new partner for Zorro right away. Guinea pigs are just so unhappy being alone and they feel unsafe without one or more other guinea pig(s) around.

Since Zorro has lived with a neutered male for years and isn't the youngest piggy anymore, I though the most sensible choice would be to get her another older neutered male for company.

Not an easy thing to find. But I did find a rescue that had a few older males to adopt in Unna (a 70 km drive). So, I packed up Zorro and drove to Unna. She was supposed to chose a partner herself. She did find one she seemed to like, so I packed up both piggies and drove home.

Couple of hours latter I was on my way back to Unna again. Turns out the male (about twice Zorro's size) was scared of her and quite agressive towards my little girl. Not cool! So he had to go.

The next pig I got from the rescue was an older neutered male used to living with a group of girls. Very confident fella. He started to chase and mount Zorro right away (to show his dominance) but she wasn't having any of that. They started fighting and Zorro got bitten in the nose. Maybe I should not have seperated the two after that, but I was so shocked by the nasty cut that I did. The male went into an extra cage over night and back to Unna the next day. (Thankfully the bite healed quickly.)

Thinking about it, I realized that Zorro simply wasn't used to not being the boss. With Bob she'd always been the boss and honestly, I never even realized that this wasn't the way it's supposed to be with guinea Pigs. Bob and Zorro were always so harmonious with each other.

Back in Unna the rescue lady and I decided to forget about the old males and try two young females as new partners for Zorro instead. So, I packed those up and went back home. Determined to make things work out this time.

During the following week I tried to get the three girls to play nice with each other. The two new ones lived in a seperate cage and I only let them meet zorro on neutral ground. Unfortunately, Zorro was in no mood to meet any more strangers. And to make matters worse, one of the little ones was quite a dominante little thing herself. Whenever they met, she simply chased Zorro for a bit and Zorro was just terrified by her, running and hiding. Another deal breaker. And even though I really, really like that little pig, she too had to go back to Unna.

Thankfully, the other little one was a perfect fit and she gets to stay! I call her Io.

Io:

Io is about 4-5 months old and very shy. She was a little scared of Zorro at first but at the same time interested in her. At first Zorro was also a little scared of little Io, but only for a day or two.

Zorro and Io day two:

They have been living together for two weeks now and everything seems to be working out just fine. There was no fighting or chasing at all, only some gestures of dominance from Zorro here an there. Perfect. 

Amidst all that piggy drama I also extended the cage.

Before:

And now:

Notice, there is now room for three piggies...

...to be continued!

Goodbye Bob

This is about something else for once. Or someone else. Today was a sad day because Bob, one of my two guinea pigs died today.

He wasn't the one I was worried about. I did realize that he seemed to develop some breathing issues during the last one or two weeks, but he seemed fine otherwise eating well and going about his guinea pig business. Yesterday he wasn't eating well and this morning he didn't want to eat at all and his breathing was very labored.

I took him to the emergency vet, he got a couple of injections but it was too late already. I think the visit to the vet was already too much for him. An hour later he died. It looked like a stroke or heart attack. It was quick.

He was old, almost 7 years but still, I'm very sad. It's always very hard when one of my guinea pigs dies and there never seems to be anyone around who can really relate. After all, it's just a guinea pig. People are always nice about it but still. They just don't really get it.

But I live with them, I interact with them daily, morning and night, I teach them little tricks and they are always, always there, every day for 6, 7 or more years until the end of their short little lifes. Of course I know that they are short-lived little creatures. But still I am devastated whenever I loose one...

So, goodbye Bob. It has been my pleasure having you and may the grass indeed be greener on the other side...

Happy 5th Birthday

It's been busy and even though I've been pretty much mia I did not of course forgot Crispin's 5th birthday.

Here are the pics to proof it:

...here they are...

...the pictures of the new saddle on Crispin. I'm not 100% sold yet but I also don't know if what I see is actually such a big deal or if there even is a better option out there (after all, I have been looking for a year now).

I 've had a lesson today, took off the saddle pad after that and put the saddle back on without it. The girth is tight but not "ready-to-ride-tight".

 

As you can see, the fit isn't bad at all. The panels are nice and short, the iron is wide enough (could be widened if needed). It sits nicely behind his shoulder and there is no slipping at all. BUT, I think the deepest point of the seat is juuuust a tad to far to the back. It should be in the middle of the seat or even better just a tad in front of that. Big deal or not?! I don't know...

Tarp Games

Since yesterday was a little more stressful for Crispin than the average day, being ridden twice to check the fit of the new saddle and free lunged before that just in case, I decided that Crispin deserved a fun day today.

We did some groundwork, playing around with some of the exercises from the "Gelassenheitsprüfung", his favourite being the tarp. Here's a little video from today: 

At the end he decides that he isn't quite finished with the tarp yet.

The Saddle

Yesterday was the big day. My saddle arrived (or better, the fitter was in the area, came by and brought/fitted the saddle).

He arrived late in the afternoon and once he was done fitting it was too dark to take any good pictures.

Since we're all girls, here's most important thing: The color is gorgeous! Not as orange as I though but a very, very lovely dark brown.

Even though the fitter had ordered the saddle with a 33 iron (the trial saddle was a 31.5) he had to widen it two more times (half a cm each time) and ended up with a 34 iron. He also did some changes on the flocking after the first test ride. So far it looks good, but I will not let my hopes get up too high before I haven't ridden in it a couple more times, though I really, really hope this is the saddle.

Pictures from now, taken in my living room:

The saddle is a Sommer "Diplomat" with "Espritkissen". 18"Seat, 33 gullet (widened to 34 already). The color is called "moro".

 ...looks like it'd fit a draft!

 It's almost level on my barrel shaped footstool!

...groundwork "free dressage"

Well, not so much dressage as just playing around with some yielding and and other tricks during cooldown. For cooling down after lunging we usually go for a short walk or, if it's dark outside or raining, play a little around. Crispin likes that a lot because it means plenty of cookies.

It's nothing fancy. Just a little leg yield (basically just making him step under). Turn on the haunches (me trying to controll his forehand). And his favourite "real" trick, backing up towards me.

It was raining all day and he decided to take a good roll in the mud just before I took him out. I didn't even try to get him cleaned up. Sorry for that...

January Pictures

It's time again. Another 3 months have gone by and it's picture time again. The weather was lovely and I've given Crispin a new haircut a few days ago (sorry to all the long mane lovers out there, it's not going to happen! ;-) )

 

He's almost 5 years old now (4 years, 9 months) and I think the changes are getting more and more subtle. More a question of season than growth and developement.  

And as always, last year, same time:

 

 

Other than the pictures, there isn't much to report. I was busy studying for my final (oral) exams. The last exam was on thursday and I am now (still inofficially) a Magistra Artium in communications. *yay for me*

I do have a little video of crispin and I playing around with some "freedressage" groundwork and I think I'll have to revisite the Lammfellsattel.

...say "yes" to the saddle...

...oh my, I did. I talked to the fitter again on the phone and decided to go for it. I'll still have a 14 days trial periode once the saddle is here (which will be in another 6-8 weeks) but the fitter was very confident that the saddle will work out for Crispin. I ordered the saddle in brown. The color is actually called "moro", it's a reddish brown. I'm sure it will look odd at the beginning but I just love brown tack.

Speaking of brown "tack". Did I show you what I got Crispin for christmas this year?!

A halter. But just not any old boring halter, this one is called "Waldfreunde" and he looks so cute in it! Like a 3 y/o again and not the old man he is now at the age of 5!

I couldn't get a better picture than this. It was a little too dark for pictures plus most of them looked like this: