Jezebel Update

So Dr. R came out yesterday afternoon and ultrasounded Jez's right hind. They found some minor disturbance at the origin of her suspensory ligament. The general consensus is that she must've been slightly sore on Monday, and that's what caused her to buck. How she worsened it is anyone's guess-maybe during the bucking? The vet said it's minor enough that it's something she could have even done in her stall. So the little girl is on stall rest for a month, and then we can start riding her at a walk for the second month. Sally was given a bottle of ace for when Jez starts to become a handful. With OTTBs, it's not a matter of "if", but a matter of "when", and in the past Jez has proven to follow the norm.

For now, she is allowed 15 minute walks on hard surfaces, and she can be walked a couple of times a day. She can be hand-grazed as often as we have time for; Dr. R said she can be hand-grazed all day if we want.

Since Sally is out of commission with her hand, I'm taking care of the walking and hand grazing during the week when I'm off work, and Heather is going to do some of the hand walking on the weekends.

Today when I got to the barn, I took Jezebel out first. She was hanging out in her stall, watching the goings-on in the aisle. She gave a small nicker when she saw me, which made me smile. I got my rope halter, which is an extra-stiff one with extra knots on the nose and poll that I had custom made for my crazy gelding way back when. Sally had warned me that Jez can get very bratty when on stall rest, and I've seen her yank her mom around when she REALLY wants to go to that one patch of grass. So I gave the rope halter a whirl.

"You mean I can't haz grasses whenever I wantz? You're no fun!"

Jez was more than happy to leave her stall, and we went for a walk around the property, going all the way up the barn driveway, then along the other driveway to BQ's parents' house, which goes past the big field, then turned around, walked around the barn, and repeated one more time. Jez was a very good girl. Only once did she try to nosedive for grass, but I checked her quickly, and she obeyed, continuing to walk next to me without any more attempts. She startled at the tractor, but it was only a startle-no prancing or bolting.

I then took her past Lily's paddock to the nice patch of grass at the end. Lily and her new paddock buddy, Clarence, who is another OTTB and a barn favorite, both came over to the corner of their paddock to stare at Jez. "Why are you out there?" Clarence is another bay, with a star and stripe similar to Lily's, and they looked adorable, like big brother and little sister, standing at the fence side by side. He was part of Lily's and Jez's little circle of friends in the big field.

I decided to add something to Jez's training: a command to graze. I made her wait, then gave a pull down on the lead rope at the same time as I said, "Down." I want her to associate this with getting permission to graze. When I wanted to move her to a different spot, I pulled upwards on the lead rope, "Up", and she had to walk next to me until I gave her the "Down" command again. She was really good for this-I just hope it's something that sticks for later. It will be awesome if we can install a grazing button so she doesn't rip Sally's fixed-up hand off being a brat later on!

"Nom nom nom..."

After about 40 minutes of grazing, I took Jez back into the barn, where she got a good grooming. She behaved very well for that-no crankiness whatsoever, and she was a saint about me picking her feet (apparently she kicked the vet yesterday when she was trying to ultrasound her!) I applied some of Sally's Durasole to make sure her soles stay nice and hard despite stall rest, and to prevent thrush from forming in her frogs, which happened last time she had to be locked in for an extended period of time.

Jezebel got to go out for another walk after I rode Lily, and we basically repeated the same routine. After hand grazing and once back in her stall, I gave her a flake of hay to keep her busy, and a couple of treats in her feeder. I got more nickers from her. My mare needs to take lessons from Jez on greeting the people that love her! ;)

"I'z sexy and I know it!"
Sally took the horse personality quiz. Of course Jez came out a Goddess! *lol*