Leg Injury
Nilla’s wound continues to heal well. However, I’ve discovered that her leg has changed color. I think it was just the Alluspray, but I’ve scrubbed the leg clean and it’s not the spray. The hair has just turned white. WTF. I am not pleased.
This picture is actually from before I scrubbed the leg hoping to wash the color away so there is a little Alluspray here. But the hair is truly white. The inside is white too where the cuts were.
Mud
The rain is making it nearly impossible to ride. Even when it’s not raining, everything is mud. The upper arena has been closed for almost 2 weeks. It’s likely to stay closed all winter. The lower arena is open, but sometimes resembles a swamp. I’ve been riding out to the fire road and then down a paved road to a picnic ground and back. There’s a stretch through the barn property that’s very muddy, but the rest stays pretty manageable.
The picture doesn’t do a great job of showing the incline this section is on and all the hoof slide marks from horses skidding down it. I go wide to the left and through the grass to avoid the worst section.
Rain
All the rain has created another problem: moisture. When there’s enough moisture in the air it rises to the metal ceiling of our tack room, condenses, and then “rains” down. So even though we have a roof, the tack room isn’t remotely waterproof. Do you know what moisture does to leather?
Oddly enough Dijon’s bridle in particular tends to grow mold sooner and more frequently than the others. One other bridle had a bit of mold, but not this bad. I’ll have to take them all home and clean and condition them. The saddles are covered and seem to be okay so far. I should probably get bridle bags, but I know I’m unlikely to put the bridles in them as I’m lazy.
#goalbreeches
I joined Nicku’s goalbreeches group on Facebook back at the beginning of January. It’s a great group. If anyone wants to join, they can request membership. With Nilla injured, I lost my only form of exercise outside of fencing (which is only once a week). So I needed to get back in shape. I started Whole30 on January 2nd. I meant to start on the 1st, but had to wait to have birthday cake with a friend that day. I despise Whole30. It just makes me incredibly miserable. However, I lost 20 pounds the last time I did it (2 years ago) so I figured I could make it through another 30 days. I’ve lost 15 pounds so far and I’m hoping to make it to my goal of 20 pounds by the end of the month. In February I plan to start exercising. I despise exercise as well, so I’d like to test and see if exercise + eating things I actually like is better or worse than not exercising, but being miserable so far as food goes. And no, I do not want to do both. I know the real answer is exercise and eating healthy, but honestly I hate both of those things so much, I just cannot combine them.
Stay tuned for more horse shopping news to come.
RE mold on tack, be careful what you clean and condition with. I found out the hard way that standard Glycerin soap encourages mold growth. Ack! Leather Therapy products have some sort of mold inhibitor in them (and it seems to work), so I highly recommend those.
hey, you're almost done with Whole30!! I have found that my diet affects my weight more than exercise does; when I took up jogging last fall, I lost pretty much zero weight in three months, but I didn't make an effort to eat any differently. (I was like "omg I just jogged 2.5 miles, I NEED A CHEESEBURGER".) so we've semi-reluctantly decided to stick to a whole30-ish diet during the week (although I'm ready to stop looking for hidden sugars in my hot sauce) and allow ourselves to indulge once on the weekend. good luck finding a balance that works for you!
re: the mold, Jen from Cob Jockey wrote once about an ammonia mixture for keeping the mold at bay (here: http://www.cobjockey.com/2014/09/eah-blog-hop-keep-it-clean.html).
bummer about the crappy riding conditions (i'm right there with ya, boo, except our ground is frozen mud rather than just plain mud ugh) and Nilla's white hairs. tho i guess a leg with white splotches > no leg at all?
I've used higher standards before and had good luck. But I'll keep the leather therapy in mind if it continues.
The first time I did it, I stuck to the rules 100%. This time I'm not. If I want sausages, I don't look to see if they have some hidden not allowed ingredient. When I'm out and can't cook at home, I'll pick up a turkey burger in a lettuce wrap and not worry if the burger was made with some not allowed preservative.
Don't you have an indoor? I thought you could ride inside. This winter sucks. Yes, a white leg is better than no leg, but her leg looks like crap, it's all lumpy and weird and now it's white, which I'm sure will draw attention to the lumpy weirdness.
We have the opposite problem with our tack where I live, it dries out! The wound looks like it's healing up nicely 🙂
The hair may fall out and come back her regular colour. But if not it will get better in terms of the lumps and stuff.
Oh, yes. Bobby is the king of white hair growth over any cut or scrape he gets. It's a great look for a solid bay horse. >:( I hope you guys get a break in the weather and ca get some good riding in soon!
I think I'd rather deal with that.
I keep hoping.
El nino says no. It will rain forever and ever.