Very little to write because very little is going on here. But, I’m alive, the boys are alive. And everyone is occasionally sound.

Right now Cairo is dealing with crap feet and abscesses. After a wet spring/early summer followed by a super dry rest of summer, he’s had several terrible abscesses that have taken weeks to recover from. We get a ride in, a lesson in, and then abscess. He had an awful abscess in his left hind and another in his front left. Hopefully he’ll be on the mend soon.

Nay Nay is fat and happy. He was slightly ulcery (he stresses when Cai leaves the property), but hopefully we have him back on track. Nay doesn’t have a poker face and you can immediately tell when he’s uncomfortable (he’s hard to handle, mean, and goes off his hay). Now that he’s doing well, I’ll get him working again. I’m also going to give him some preventative ulcer meds when taking Cai off the property. Eventually, he’ll get used to him leaving and returning, but the inconsistent schedule doesn’t help anyone.

Long time no post, but honestly? what else is new. I’ve done very little with the horses since I’ve been home because… trailer problems. But hopefully I can start moving forward. Or I can if the weather decides to not be 1041293484012480192 degrees with 1021384092348% humidity.

I had plans to get a ramp added to my trailer. This should have been a short process. The ramp was ordered at the end of April. And arrived at the end of May. Except we waited. And waited. And waited. I could go into details, but I’ll save you the saga. The long and the short of it is that any delay that you can think of happened. Births. Deaths. Floods. Farming. And everything in between. I’m not actually exaggerating. Maybe not the flooding, but I saw floods so… But everything else did happen.

I finally dropped my trailer off 2 weeks ago. And picked it back up Friday. So the actually work didn’t take very long, but the wait? Forever. But it’s done, it’s here, it’s over budget, but whatever.

What they did was add the ramp to the outside of the swing door. It was basically a ramp kit directly from the manufacturer, though the welder made some modification as he saw fit. Primarily, he added some extra stabilization so that the ramp doesn’t make any noise when closed and I’m driving (you’ll see in the photos that the closures on both sides don’t match — the kit only had one side, he added the second, simpler side and modified the first to make it more secure). I can also adjust the height of the ramp in the future if I find it’s too steep with an easy modification though I likely won’t. The step from the ramp to the inside of the trailer is flat and the welder did a great job.

And a better view of the closures:

So the big question, does Cairo load? And for that matter, what does Nay Nay think?

Nay Nay loaded fine. He was a touch sticky, but he got on with encouragement the first day several times. Second time? Loaded without hesitation. I’ll start self loading soon. As for Cairo, he immediately stuck his front feet on and then refused to go further and would step back and pull to the left. I was fine with backing up, I was not fine pulling left. Once we had a rather major discussion about pulling left, he proceeded to walk on the trailer 5 times in a row. Fully on. He had zero issues backing off (this was all in 25 minutes). Second session? Immediately walked on. He loaded with the divider all the way open (so he almost had a full box stall), with it closed, and on both sides. No issues. He will also learn to self load next.

I’d say this modification was a huge success!

After 2+ months away, the boys came back home last night. For so many reasons (primarily access to an indoor and outdoor arena, people to ride with, and a way to manage Nay Nay’s anxiety), it was nice to have them boarded, but, on the other hand, I’m so happy to have them back home. With the exception of the 5 days I was on vacation, I think I was out at least 1x day all but twice? And I won’t miss bagging their grain at all.

Cairo:

Lots of updates on this boy. He’s been doing so well and really adjusted to boarding life. If funds were unlimited, I’d have a third (retired) horse/pony and keep Cai boarded. But, that’s not in the cards. So he can deal with what I can provide.

Trailer Loading:

Cairo had 3 (?) sessions with a local trainer who specializes in trailer loading. She’s fabulous. Cai has a few issues. 1. He doesn’t understand my step up AT ALL (he had loaded in it several times before but I can’t say he ever truly understood it) and 2. He’s got a very strong stubborn streak. If he doesn’t want to do something, he is determined he doesn’t have to. So, combine his confusion over the step with a “I don’t want to” and… Yep. Anyway, after a lot of initial frustration (on my part, not hers. She did not get frustrated with him at all), we worked with some other trailers and Cairo started (he still fought the issue) loading with a ramp. By the 3rd session, he was loading on every ramp at which he was presented. At that point, we took him back to my trainer and he was a lot better, putting his feet on to the trainer and all that. We didn’t push the issue, just took the win. But, so many times he tried to put his feet on and… missed.

Anyway, the plan is to get a ramp added to my trainer. I’m working with the place I bought my trailer. We have one on order (a ramp “kit” for my trailer) and the ramp should be delivered with the next shipment of trailers in a few weeks (save on freight please!). At that point, they will arrange installation with a local welder they work with regularly and the installation process should be pretty quick (hinges and springs are already installed on the ramp side). Anyway, fingers crossed.

To get the boys home, our trailer trainer hauled us and both boys loaded well. Cai hesitated once he had to load into the smaller stall vs the open trainer, but was on in minutes once he realized the ask. Nay walked right on which bodes well for the ramp. Nay was a touch confused unloaded as he kept looking for the step and faced a ramp instead. He’s so trained to the step and kept stretching his leg out looking for the drop.

Riding:

Riding, Cai’s been great. He continues to be quiet and well behaved with a touch of a stubborn streak. Nothing bad, just that “I don’t want to” that comes in if we sit too long. It turns out a crop really helps and takes out most of the argument. Ask, then demand. After a couple of rides, most of the time I just need to ask.

His right lead has also massively improved. We went from not being able to pick it up to picking it up with playing to picking it up with lots of theatrics (bucks, lots of playing, drama, kicking out), to mostly being a good boy. To aid in the lead, my trainer had me put on a left spur. It worked, we got the lead. But, Cai eventually was over the spur. Once I pulled the spur and replaced it with a crop? Everything changed. Anyway, his leads are now solid. He’s slow, but solid.

We started working over a little 12″ brick box. He struggled with the concept of this for weeks. Just didn’t get how to pick up his feet. I did walk him over it though I can’t say it helped. One evening I set up a cross rail and walked him over that and he was way more willing. We trotted that a few times each way before he spotted a small gate on the landing (4 strides out). Since he carried me to it, I decided he could walk over it. It was 18 inches, nothing major. Next time? Something clicked and he landed the cross rail, locked into the gate, and jumped the damn thing landing in the canter. We did it a few times. But, the brick box hasn’t been an issue since.

He does has some on and off soundness issues. He’s fine most of the time and even better if I do a super long walk warmup. Some days he’s 100%, sometimes 90%, some days he has a stabby trot, some days he’s just off, and some days he’s off and works out of it. But, because it was all intermittent, I wanted to get a baseline to figure out what was actually going on.

Maintenance/Oil Change:

Cai had a soundness check. Nothing fancy. Just walking, trotting, and flexions. There wasn’t anything notable. We’re dealing with arthritis. And he’s “racehorse sound.” He looks like a horse that’s been on the track a long time…which he has. And he’s still recovering a touch from his injury. Having said that, the more we went, the better he looked. Not exactly surprising as he gets better with movement and stretching. But, watching him go, watching his videos, and based on discussion, my vet felt we had some options. The first was to do…NOTHING. Continue with the status quo. This option was recommended if we planned an easy summer, lots of long warm ups, and plans to focus on trail riding. The second? Injections. Both hocks and left fetlock. Anything in-between would be a waste.

In the end, we went with the injections. He’s too nice and too willing to be uncomfortable. So inject we did. He’s to have a light couple of weeks and then build back. All of this is fine since we’re back home and I’m not 100% sure he’s going to load in my trailer without the ramp (OK, I’d be shocked if he does).

I was going to update on Nay Nay too, but this post is long enough.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been eying a clinic with Sally Cousins at MidAtlantic on Easter. It was a thoroughbred only clinic and free for MAHR grads. Perfect. I thought this would be a great first outing for Cairo. So, I signed us up.

Cairo had other plans. He has had some issues with the trailer (I mean, I’m not exactly surprised after his injury). But, he was loading. Backing out was the issue. Still, when we removed the divider, he could turn around and walk off. It was fine. And then it wasn’t. It escalated and I decided that we need professional help with the process. The thing is, my trailer could be too small, but the same no-loading issue also exists with a large gooseneck with ramp so it’s a loading/trailer issue in general. Stay tuned.

Anyway, Friday, in a fit of frustration, I decided I didn’t want to scratch the clinic. Enter Nay Nay. I decided to sub him in and see what I had. I told my trainer, she was on board (thought he’d be OK as long as he didn’t have an anxiety day —me too me too), and the goal was just to plan for a positive experience.

Keep in mind, this was all after he was an anxious nut on Thursday. Lol

So I rode Friday and Saturday and made sure he was a prepped as possible. He was. He was tired. Then Sunday morning we lunged while he screamed for Cairo because Cairo screamed for him first. And then off we went.

We got there and… nothing.

Tacked up with the plan to hand walk for 20-30 minutes but I ended up getting on after 10 and just walking. He was calm and fine even with a super green OTTB in the ring having very green bean moments. Nay Nay was the picture of maturity.

When Sally joined us, we all shared a bit about our horses. Nay was a bit out of place (he was taking Cai’s spot), but I think it worked. No expectations and I shared that he was either wonderful or an anxious mess. Plus he was coming off 18 months off.

We just started easy. Walking poles, then trotting them. Nay was lovely. He loved the approach of just easy and simple and building on exercises. Plus not crazy flatwork. Then we worked on poles in a figure eight adding some bending. Finally, cross rails. To the right? Half circle approach? No issue. To the left, we stopped the first time so we just talked a bit about under power vs overpower (he had zero issue the second or third time). I did mention that Nay loves the long spot so finding that happy medium is tricky. Extra power sometimes gives him a bit of encouragement to go for the long.

From here we did a line of cross rails on each side, working on approach/turn into the line. Nay was fantastic for each and impressed his audience and fans (right, Nay Nay also had a fan club who remembered him from his time at MAHR lol). He trotted in/cantered out a crazy even 5 every time on both lines/both leads. Even woahing for the add when I asked. Could not be more impressed with him.

We did a couple courses combining the poles with the cross rails. No issues.

We ended with some cross rails to vertical lines. Nothing hard. No issue for Nay. We did in a couple of times and I called it a day. One of the horses had been excused and I could feel Nay’s quarter expiring so after he was so perfect, I chose to end. Putting the jump up another hole or so wouldn’t change anything. He could jump it. Not the issue. He was tired and over it at that point.

I’ve been really bad about updating but what else is new? Somehow there just aren’t enough hours in a day/week/month.

Since I last wrote, Cairo has had his sutures out, his stall rest has ended, AND he’s started his life as a riding horse. It’s been a busy couple of weeks!

And, at the same time, completely uneventful. He was thrilled to get off of stall rest (he was a total gentleman about it), but other than some playing in the indoor for his first “turnout,” there was no actual drama about anything. He’s been going out with Nay Nay ever since and loving life.

He also had his first training ride last week where my trainer lunged him (or tried, he’s yet to 100% acquire the skill), realized he doesn’t care, and determined he’s the quietest thoroughbred ever. I decided to hop on Friday and he had me a tough concerned when someone was jumping around (he’s still processing what jumping is) but once I got on to walk around? I decided to trot. Then canter. Because he was quieter than Nay Nay.

When asked if I wanted a lesson on Saturday, I said yes and decided I’d ride Cai. Why not hop on the horse with 2 rides this year? Turns out we were riding in a wind tunnel. He was looks and jumpy and I wasn’t sure. He was very unsure about the horse jumping big sticks. But he was fine. And when we started moving? I needed leg. More leg. More pace. More trot. We ended up cantering too. In 30+mph winds and he never put one foot wrong.

So I rode Sunday. And he was even better. We couldn’t get the right lead (that will be our issue and why we’re on training) and he got tired. But he was so fantastic. And I decided to just walk him around the property. Because that’s what you do on your green horse riding solo when no one else is around. He loved it and would have crossed the road to further explore if I let him.

But I adore him. Everyone does. He’s just so special. I had a chance to chat with once of his old trainers/owners and they had such nice things to say about him too. Including his love for sweet potatoes.

Nay Nay has been pretty good. I’m accepting his limits. They’re not all me. He comes out some days just not able or willing and it’s just not worth it. During my lesson he had a training ride and he just was a mess. Wanted his rider off. Day before and day after? Perfect. But his anxiety surfaces? Hellion. It’s just not worth it those days. He’s been good 90% of the time but when he isn’t? Yeah. I’m realizing it’s not me either. And he’s never going to be the horse I can take all over the place. And that’s ok. He’s not going anywhere. So we’ll just work within his limits. And I’ll be ok with that.

Anyway, beyond his anxiety, things have been good. We’ve had some great rides. Been popping over some small fences. Canter has improved too. So things are good. I’m just enjoying what we have and not wishing for more.

We’re going to stay for another month and then head home. Hopefully we’ll have a decent amount of progress over the next month. Fingers crossed!

If you’re on social media, you’ve seen these, but here are the beautiful photos of Cairo’s leg from Saturday through Friday. Vet is super happy with his progress. He would like turnout thank you very much.

It’s healing nicely. He’s still sound. He’s eating his SMZs whole in his feed. He’s an all-around good boy.

Next bandage change is tomorrow (Sunday). Hopefully stitches come out on Friday.

The boys are starting to settle in at sleepaway camp.

Cairo has actually settled in immediately. Nay Nay? It’s been a much harder transition. He was fine initially but Sunday morning he was a mess and due to a bunch of stuff, he didn’t actually get turned out until Monday. He was also scheduled to go out with Cairo so he had to adjust to solo turnout (he had horses in neighboring paddocks so life wasn’t that bad).

Because he wasn’t out on Sunday, I tried to play with him in the indoor but he was an emotional train wreck. I did get some response from him on the lunge line where I could better direct his attention vs him just trying to barrel me over (yes, it was that bad), but it wasn’t pretty. Once we were back in the barn, he did relax for some grooming. I also added a hay net to his stall and he immediately started eating (vs mixing his hay with his straw — this horse cannot be trusted to have loose hay).

But Monday? He got outside. Was he happy solo? No. But he was out. He ran around. He bucked. He paced. But he also grazed when no humans were watching. When he came in he was better. The guys describe him as a little anxious but full of personality and well behaved to lead. OK. I’ll take it.

Tuesday the update I received was that he seemed much more relaxed and my trainer told me that she’d ride him the next day. I ended up bringing him in the indoor for a quick lunge and he was very good. He screamed once or twice (its his anxiety response) but otherwise he was happy to work.

As for his training ride? He was great. They did toss him on the line first. And he was very vocal (not surprising, it was pouring and he was not thrilled with it), but he was very good. Keep in mind it’s been a good 18 months since he’s really worked.

Regardless, I’m just thrilled that he’s back and able to BE ridden after everything that he’s been through recently.

And, I went back in the evening to toss his sheet back on and he just looked 1000% more relaxed. So, he’s definitely settling.

I have some Cairo leg updates, but I’ll save those for another post. I’m doing another bandage change tomorrow so I’ll just include all photos in one post.

Cairo tried to die upon arrival at camp.

He panicked unloading, sliced his leg, started gushing blood, had an emergency vet call, and landed himself on 10-14 days stall rest vs training.

Horses. Wtf.

On call vet was initially headed to a colic so she had me wrap until she could get there.

Anyway, we this stopped the bleeding until we pulled off the wrap which stuck to it and… yeah.

Thankfully, despite the vets concern because it’s gnarly looking, he went out of his way to avoid ligaments or do real damage. After a few ugly steps, he’s been walking sound and so far (even hours later), pretty much no swelling.

Because of the size of the skin flap, the vet did throw in some stitches but left some drainage spots as well. And now we wait. Depending on how he’s going, he’ll get re-wrapped by me or the vet on Monday depending on if he needs a follow up.

Now he gets lots of antibiotics just in case. 2 kinds. Not taking any chances.

Will post more later but the boys head to camp for a month(ish) starting today!

I’m absolutely terrified as I haven’t boarded in…too long.

But Cairo will get some training and Nay will get some rides and maybe some training rides as needed. Wish us luck!

We made it into 2025. 2024 was such a cluster personally and I’m not overly optimistic about 2025, but I’m just disconnecting and trying to live in my little bubble. We’re here and doing our best, right?

Horse-wise, we’re doing OK. I really need to ramp up the separation training. Nay does decently in the round pen as long as he has some ace on board. Do I love using drugs? No, but for whatever reason, he doesn’t seem to blow through it and I can connect to his brain. We’ve been following the Warwick Schiller method and it’s been decent. Perfect? No, but he doesn’t meltdown and actively try and hurt himself like he has all other ways. This way he’s learning to break from needing his friend and that he can eat or look at other things. I use the bag to break his focus on where Cairo is and then that’s it.

Above video shows him the progression of pawing/ fence walking to grazing, grazing below something he doesn’t always do.

Even when he’s upset in the round pen. He rarely does more than fence walk and trot and call. No cantering/galloping. In his stall or tied, he kicked everything in sight (I have bent welded steel).

Cairo occasionally calls but isn’t that upset alone. Plus a flake of alfalfa usually shuts him up. LOL

On the Cairo front, he’s settling. I did a feed switch because he wasn’t thriving on the first feed. He’s gaining weight though it’s taking time. Lots of soaked cubes and more concentrate than I’d like. Hopefully I’ll be able to cut back eventually. I did sit on him once, but he really needs some good ground work. Plus, my saddle does NOT fit. Great. I’ll try everything else I have hanging around to see if I can find something that will work short term. We’re in a bitter cold snap, but I did talk to my trainer about bringing him over once it warms up. I should be able to do some free lunging too before I hop on if necessary. And a ground work day.

He’s definitely a sweet boy who has started to figure out the routine. He knows I’m the lady who feeds and who gives kisses (not a fan of that one). He LOVES any kind of chewy molasses treat (aunt angi’s are his favorite right now) and it turns out, he likes puff peppermints, but he now also will eat regular peppermints (he turned them down for the first month he was here) happily. But, he is a big fan of carrots and will murder you for carrots. He also loves his hay and his naps and naps daily in the hay. But, he’ll get up from his naps for carrots. He’s also not letting Nay push him out of the hay as much and has realized that the round bale is big enough for 2 horses (especially now that it’s in the feeder). I think he also realizes that Nay doesn’t actually do anything other than bite towards him.

Nay Nay has been super well behaved lately. Scary well behaved. To the point that my husband has been leading him in. He generally is decent, but goes through phases. Lately? He’s a gentleman. A toddler could lead him inside. Going out? Eh. It depends. The second it gets warm/soft? He has to roll. HAS TO. While I’m leading him. Every year. We walk, he goes down. If he starts pawing, I can stop him. So what does he do? He stops pawing and just collapses without warning. He’s got a bag of tricks that one. You think you’re a step ahead and he’ll just outsmart you. I will say, Cairo’s face the first time Nay Nay rolled on our walk to turnout was priceless…

Beyond that, not much else to report. We are dealing with some frigid temps. I like the cold but it’s COLD. And had some snow. Possibly some more snow this weekend. I might not complain about that. I’ll take snow over rain. It’s nice to actually have winter. Boys are bundled. I finally got my Jeffer’s refund that’s to PayPal. And got Cairo a bunch of blankets from other places so we’re all set.

In non-horse news, Dulcy is growing like a weed. She’s 7 months old now and mostly well behaved. Mostly. She’s still a terror and still terrified of the world. But we adore her. Most of the time. Marble is still with us, but we know our time is limited. Just letting her tell us how she’s doing. So we’ll have that to look forward to this year. But we just want to enjoy whatever time he have left. Hope everyone had a good holiday and a happy new year.