Back In The Saddle

Scottie's Abscess

Last night we went on our first trail ride in six weeks, and it felt awfully good.  I’ve been going to the barn but just not riding much. Between the awful heat and humidity we’ve been having and then Scottie’s lump issue, I haven’t ridden in almost a month. 

Three weeks ago, Scottie developed a lump on the lower edge of his jaw that sprouted almost overnight. It was hard and as large as my fist, and I suspected a tooth abscess, especially since he’d had a lump in the same spot a year ago that wasn’t nearly as big. The vet was called, and she concurred. We arranged for an equine dentist to come out this past Friday to do something about the tooth and see what else may be going on. 

In the meantime, I went to the barn twice daily to apply hot compresses to his cheek, and Scottie was put on antibiotics. The vet had tried to lance the abscess with an 18 gauge needle, but it only drained a llittle bit and then closed up. The following night, I brought along my husband the human dentist. With a small scalpel, he cut into the cheek tissue and got it to drain a little more. To our amazement, Scottie stood perfectly still for this procedure and only gave a small flinch at the first cut. After that the lump began to go down ever so slightly and has continued to drain. 

Scottie had not been seen by an equine dentist in over ten years. I depended on the clinic vet who does the Spring checkups and shots to let me know if he needed anything more than a routine float and she hadn’t. Up here in the hinterlands of Michigan, we don’t have a lot of equine specialists and no equine dentists, so we had to call one to come from downstate. As luck would have it, he was here for the week, so we got him to squeeze Scottie into his schedule. 

I was very impressed with Steve Shaver of Equine Dental Services. He espouses a natural horsemanship approach to equine dentistry and doesn’t have horses sedated unless they’re particularly afraid and unruly. Scottie was neither, even though the vet came along just in case. 

An examination of Scottie’s mouth revealed that he had no abscessed tooth. In fact, his teeth are in excellent condition for his age (26), but the molars did have sharp points on them from uneven wear, and they had worn a sore on the other cheek. Working quietly and gently, Steve floated Scottie’s teeth, removed a hook on a front incisor and removed tartar from his canines.  Scottie was an excellent patient and even seemed to appreciate the treatment to alleviate his mouth problems. 

Another view. I clipped him a few weeks ago to make him cooler so he looks a little wierd

My husband came along, and the two dentists chatted and compared equine to human treatments and kept the vet and I entertained. My husband was especially interested in the  oversized equine dental tools and remarked that Scottie was a far better patient than some of his own and that his mouth smelled a lot better, too. We got to stick our arms in Scottie's mouth to feel his teeth which was kind of awesome. 

In the end, the dentist’s assessment was that Scottie may have bitten his cheek which caused a piece of hay to be imbedded into the cheek tissue which led to the abscess.  It seems to be resolving now, and we are resuming normal activities. 

While Scottie had that lump and a possible abscessed tooth, I didn’t have the heart to put a bridle on his cheek and a bit in his mouth. But last night I decided it was time to get back to riding. Ann, Kathy and I went out on a lovely trail ride on an evening that was very comfortable. Since we stayed in the woods, the flies weren’t bad at all.  In order to stay in the woods we had to go down the steep hill, and although I could tell Scottie was stiff and sore in the hind end, he trucked down that hill with relative enthusiasm, only stopping now and then to grab a mouthful of leaves. He was obviously enjoying the trail ride as much as I was. We stayed out until almost dark, coming back up that steep hill to the barn, resting every so often, and Scottie was in good shape when we got back. 

Ahh, it’s good to be back in the saddle again!

PS Be sure to watch Steve's video!

Fall Trail Ride and A Finished Painting

                           "Winter Scotch" 8x10 oil on canvas board

Last Saturday was our second annual birthday ride at the barn, and we had a really good time, with one small glitch. We gathered in the morning for donuts and coffee and then saddled up and rode for over an hour. When we got back, we ate a potluck lunch and gabbed some more for a while before going our separate ways.

The weather was perfect; sunny and relatively warm although the wind was chilly. There was still enough color left in the trees to make for a very pretty ride which even the horses seemed to enjoy.

Unfortunately for Shelley, one of her horses suddenly came up lame after a roll in the dirt, and she stayed  behind for a while to make sure he was going to be all right. He has an arthritic knee and had once before gotten a “floater” stuck in the wrong place, causing him much pain until he managed to dislodge it again.  Before we left he seemed fine, and Shelley promised to saddle up shortly and catch up to us. Our ride was almost over by the time she did on her exhausted mare.

I’m posting some of the many photos I took here. 

On Monday I finished the painting, “Winter Scotch” which I did almost two years ago. It’s a painting of my horse, Scottie, in his winter woolies. My goal was to capture that plush look that horses have in their winter coats, and the painting turned out really well after the revisions. Unfortunately, this photo doesn’t do it justice, and I’m going to have to find a better way to photograph it.

That’s all for today. Enjoy the photos.

                               The road where the bear was spotted last summer

                     This is a definite candidate for a future painting!

                                                                     Calling Shelley

                Colorful leaves making a pretty pattern on the ground

                                            Back at the barn

                                      Lunch buffet in the tack room

Tea Anyone?

“Morning Tea” setup for still life

No sooner did we get Scottie’s leg problem under control than he showed up with a swollen eye last week! Panic time and another call to the vet (after hours, of course). Fortunately, cold compresses and some bute took away much of the swellling, and he was then able to open his eye. Neither Shelley nor I could see any damage to the cornea, the eye wasn’t weeping, he wasn’t shaking his head or rubbing it, so we decided that either he was stung by something or he poked the eye lid with a twig. Now he is fine and another bullet has been dodged.

On the art front, I attended a gala gathering of artist members of Parkside Arts Council on Saturday night. We were invited to bring along some art, but the space was not conducive to good viewing. Hermit that I am, I didn’t know very many people at the gathering. But, I managed to chat with a few people for an hour before they all moved off and I became my usual wall flower self. Since the smoke from the fire was bothering me by then, I packed up and left. Hopefully, a few people saw my art and now know who I am and what I can do.

One thing I learned is to be careful where you take your art. The venue was an old ski lodge with an open pit type fire place. Since the lodge is really quite small, smoke filled the room, and I’m still airing out my portfolios and hoping the smokey smell will eventually fade from my artwork. Clothes I can wash, but not artwork!

I’ve been struggling to set up my still life for over a week now and have an arrangement that is promising. But now I’m second guessing myself and wondering if I bit off more than I can chew for this simple exercise. It might be time to consult with my mentor and see what he thinks.

Good! Another excuse to put off doing the  painting! I’ve included a photo of the setup above.

Back at the barn, three of us gals went on a glorious trail ride last night. It was even better than the last one since we were able to do some trotting and cantering  and ended up with a big gallop up the long hill to the barn. Scottie was winded but recovered fast, and there was very little heat in his injured tendon after the ride. We poulticed his legs anyway and turned him out.

Partway through the ride, I was thinking about how lush the vegetation was and that it was like riding through a primordial forest. I even wondered if we might meet a dinosaur (hey, I'm an artist; we have lively imaginations!). Not long after that we were going along a two track when the sound of a rattle trap vehicle approaching at high speed reached us. Quickly, we moved the horses off the road into the trees and waited for the beat up old pickup truck to pass us by. Fortunately, he slowed down, and only Elle, the novice trail horse, was at all concerned.

That was certainly a rude return to reality!

When I left the barn, there was a glorious sunset of orange, peach, gold and lavender which I enjoyed in bits between the trees all the way home, wondering how I could possibly capture such beauty in paint.

A Most Excellent Day

Last Fall's Trail Ride
Yesterday morning I met with my new art mentor/instructor, and we got right into learning new things. He reviewed with me how the Renaissance Masters began their paintings, showed me examples of drawings in some old books he has and also showed me some of his own paintings. He paints not only large but HUGE! Floor to ceiling sized paintings. One is a copy of a Velasquez which he did during his student days in Florence, and he urged me to do copies of my own if I wanted to.

I left with a homework assignment of creating a still life in the underpainting stage and a hunk of beeswax which he gave me. I’m to study the still lifes of Cezanne and Constable’s landscapes. Firstly, I have to find some white birch to make into panels.

Later in the day, I headed for the barn and ended up going on a nice trail ride with riding buddies, Ann and Shelley since Shelley had seen Scottie running around in the turnout just fine. We were out for a little over an hour, going up hill and down dale, and Scottie did very well with no hint of a limp. Coming up the big hill on the way back we had to stop a couple of times to let the horses rest, and Scottie was visibly tired but still not limping when we got back to the barn.

Scottie seemed to enjoy the ride as much as I did. Whenever we came to a two track offshoot he would stop and look up it and head for it as if to say, “I wonder where this goes”. He likes to be last on the way out, and no matter how many times you get him to catch up with the others, he always manages to dawdle enough to end up behind again. But, as soon as we turn for home, his pace quickens and he heads for the lead. At that point he can even out pace the almost seventeen hand Mellissa (aka The Tank).

The other thing Scottie likes to do on trail rides is eat leaves. He’s very persistent and bullish about this. Well, last night there were no leaves on the branches yet, so he ate twigs instead. Silly horse!

We had to come back by way of the long up hill because one of the neighbors now has chickens which are frequently in the road, and our horses are not chicken proofed yet. Shelley once told a hilarious story of how the horses reacted when a flock of wild turkeys wandered into the paddock one day. Pandemonium ensued. Apparently the horses thought they might be wolves in turkey suits.

On the other hand, these chickens are an opportunity for a photo shoot! I hear chicken paintings are quite popular.

I am so relieved that I can ride again and that my horse isn’t in danger of being permanently lame! I’m also looking forward to lots of trail rides this year. After my health crisis of last Fall, I’m not feeling nervous about trail riding any more. Not even Bryan’s Squirrel Trail Adventure Rides!