Weight Loss Wednesday: Accountability

I have been slacking in the weight loss area. First it got hot and was hard to exercise, and then I was always out at the barn and working with Corrie, and of course work picked up and I was doing a lot there. So ya know, things fall by the way side.

Unfortunately in this area of my life "things" are always popping up. I think I posted once before about Jillian Micheal book, in it she talks about three people you need to make changes in your life. One of which is an accountability partner. Just someone you are responsible to talk to to make sure that you are on track. I have not had anyone like that in my life for weight loss. So I found someone. So things should start getting back on track. It is really helpful to have that push from someone else. Knowing that I actually do have to tell another person if I screw up also helps.

I do have an accountability partner on the horse front, Sensei. On that note, I got a little lecture from Sensei when he came out for my lesson because I have not been working Corrie at home. Ya know I did do ground work for a few days and I rode her once. She has not even been here a week, but I was at the barn faithfully every day working her. Now I am slacking because she is here. I need to clean the barn and fix the fence and the ever popular, well I'll do work with her later. So I am going to be making more of an effort to work with Corrie too. If not I'll disappoint Sensei and he give me that disappointed father look. I really hate that look.

So if you are struggling to make a change in your life, my advice is to find that accountability partner. It can be a friend, trainer, partner, someone who is struggling with the same issues or not. Just find someone that you have to report to if you start to slack. Someone you can trust, someone that can give you that look or added guilt for not meeting your goals. It helps, it really does.

Pictures of the harness tomorrow, I was running late . . . more disappoint Sensei looks. So I didn't get them today.

Mind Been Else Where . . .

Well Corrie is settling in really nice.

I did take her for a ride the other day, just around a paddock and she was really good. She seemed to be short striding a bit but I am not sure if that was in my imagination, the terrain, or if she really was. She has not been on bute for the last few days as she seems to be doing really really well. I hate to bute just to do it.

I have been doing my ground work with her and with the other ponies here and there. Yesterday was the first day that I didn't really do anything with her. I am going to try really hard to not make that a habit. It was so easy when she was at Sensei's because I had to make an effort to go out and see her so I always made sure I did something. Now that she is home it is easy to do the slacking thing. Yesterday I was just emotionally tired.

Tomorrow Sensei will be coming out for a lesson and we are going to drive. Yippy! I will have to get pictures of the whole set up; Corrie in her harness and with the wagon. Sensei, as part of the trade, gave me a harness that he had laying around. Trust me it has just been laying around and it took me about 6 hours to clean the whole thing up. It was a mess. Well it turns out that it is a very nice looking harness and is all brass.

Now for those of you who drive you know how nice all the brass looks, and why so many people don't go the brass route. Brass is a pain to take care of. It needs to be shined. I use Brasso. It smells like ammonia and has to be highly toxic, but if you have brass it is what you need. So I love my harness, but it is going to be a pain to take care of.

Anyway, I'll have pictures and an update on the lesson tomorrow.

Corrie out with the herd

PICTURES!

Corrie was really cute today. I thought she would be totally trying to be alpha mare. Instead she is acting like the new kid at school. If I got out to the pasture she is right there with me. Otherwise she looks a little lost. I think she wants to make friends, especially with Ike and Rocky ( she is in heat). It will be interesting to see how she fits into the herd.

I want Corrie to become comfortable with the pasture areas as that is where I will ride and drive her at first. I already did some ground work out there with her and she was fairly focused. She looked around, but mainly stayed with her attention on me.

Then she went out with Ike, Sophie, and Madison.









But she has to wear a grazing muzzle and the flies are awful so she wears a fly mask too. Looks like she is into bondage or something doesn't it?





She had a good roll.









And looks at how much weight she has lost! Looks pretty good huh?!



Pretty good second day I'd say.

Too Excited . . . Corrie is home

"To many, the words love, hope, and dreams are synonymous with horses."
~Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

I got up at 4 am this morning. I just could not sleep. You would think this was my first horse and I was getting her new today! I am just so excited to have Corrie home.

Corrie is truly a special little horse. I felt an instant bond to her the first time I drove her. It is amazing just how you can click or not with a horse. Kinsey never felt like my horse. From the moment I wrote out the check for her I felt like I bought her for someone else, and maybe I did. But even before I wrote a check I knew Corrie was my horse. Never during the time that I was trying her out did I feel she belonged to anyone but me.

Now she is on my property. She is getting along with the minis. Well minus Rocky, stallion ya know. I keep him separate, but they see each other over the fence. She is not as found of Sophie, but Corrie used to be kept with young jack colts to teach them some manners. Apparently she was enthusiastic about her job, too enthusiastic. So she does not like donkeys, but I am hoping that she will warm up Sophie. Madison is still alpha mare so far. Kind of funny that little Madison tells big ol' Corrie to get out of the way.

Sensei gave me a mini ground lesson before he left. Corrie was very up, more up than I think I have ever seen her actually. Her feet definately were not hurting her at all. At one point she leapt and pulled away from me. I was a bit shocked, she has never done anything like that before. The girl has some spirit after all.

Now she is just chilling out. I wanted to do more with her today, but as soon as I got home from work the the thunder started. Damn it! Tomorrow a bath!

Picture to come soon.

Corrie is coming home!

During the past few weeks I have been mentally preparing for Corrie to come home. I have also been trying a few more things at the barn. I wanted to iron out few more things before I could not just call out and have Sensei come running to help.

*I rode her in the pasture by herself, while everyone else went back in after group riding activity. I passed with flying colors, she sucked.

*Took her for a quick drive down the road which ended with Sensei trying to grab the reins for the first time ever. So we had to work through that and I am not planning on driving outside my pasture until we are totally comfortable with that.

*I took her for another drive a few days later and both of us did much better. Still going to wait to drive her outside the pasture here.

Those last few test, particularly keeping her in the pasture as the rest of the people I was with went in really gave me a lot of confidence. Corrie really wanted to spin and take off for the barn. Although she never got above a trot the intent to run off was there. I handled it and was not afraid. Woo Hoo for me!

Last thing we need to do before she comes come is get her feet taken care of. Corrie doesn't have her shoes on yet, well actually now she might. She is getting them on tonight. Tomorrow Sensei is going to watch her and see how she is. Just to make sure that she is adjusting to her shoes fine. He also happens to be her farrier. Then Friday morning she is coming home! Yippy!!!

Good bye round pen, indoor arena, and on site trainer/ farrier. Hello trails, instant access, and riding and driving as much as I want. I think it is a good trade off this time of the year. When the snow flies she will go back to Sensei's. In winter "indoor area" kicks "instant access" butt. Besides the trail by my house is tended by a snowmobile club and it is closed to everyone else when the trail is covered in snow. Right now, she will be here so I can enjoy her as much as I want.

Counting the hours.

How to tie a rope halter.

I thought I knew how to tie a rope halter until I tied it in front Sensei.
I thought I would share what I learned.

There is a right and a wrong why to tie a rope halter. The wrong way and the halter will loosen as we work, right way it doesn't. I know that I often had to tighten my rope halter when I was doing ground work, this way I don't.

Bring the end though the loop and bring it up tightly.
This is actually a little lose on Corrie, but taking pictures while tying is difficult. This next picture shows the the right way to tie. We are going to tie our knot ON the loop. See how I have brought the part I am going to tie below the where the end comes through the loop

Here I have just made the knot tight. I hope that this is easy to see. I guess I should have done one wrong so you could see that too. The key is that the knot is on the loop, below where the tie come through the loop. That is what holds the loop tight.

Insulin Resistance and Horses

Corrie has been doing a better job on her weight loss program than I have. Maybe I need to have someone lock me in a dry lot and control how much food I got. Okay maybe not but it is sure working for her. Like in humans there are several reason why it is important to keep horses fit and trim. Health issues pop up more readily in unfit animals. Insulin resistance, or Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS), is a one of them and is comparable to type II diabetes in humans.

Insulin is a hormone produced by the of Islets of Langerhans. I just wanted to type Islets of Langerhans. Makes me think of a series of little islands near the pancreas, but I digress. Simply put, the purpose of insulin is to help break down carbohydrates (sugar and starches), fats and proteins and get it out of the blood system. When the horse has eaten a lot of carbohydrates the body need to produce more insulin. On the other hand when working the body produces less.

The problem happens when the horse's cells become less sensitive to the effects of insulin. The pancreas in turn produces more insulin than is needed. The body just doesn't seem to know how many carbohydrates are in the body. So what, right? Well that in turn leads to bad things like reduced body weight due to losing muscle mass, fatty deposits over the tail head, behind the shoulder or over the loins, cresty neck, and the worst of all, chronic laminitis. It is that last one that often pushes people to see their vet's help. My worry over Corrie's recent lameness issues is what prompted me to think twice about this condition.

When I talked to my vet about having Corrie tested, he assured me that they could do that, but he was not positive that it was necessary. Plus every thing I have found says that is not the most reliable test. Horse should be tested more than once due to normal fluctuations. After we found that she did not have laminitis it seems that she probably is not insulin resistant. He suggested that I just feed Corrie as if she were insulin resistant since she already as so many precursors already. She

Feeding a EMS horse is not really all that tricky, especially with all the information out there now. Most important in feeding a EMS horse is to keep sugars and starches to a minimum. This means no lush pasture. No sugary treats like apples or carrots. Feeding grassy hay and having it tested for sugars. Soaking the have for 30 -60 minutes is also an option to get rid of extra sugars in the hay. Adding supplements can help too. There are supplements out there now jut for the EMS horse. Often they contain such things as cinnamon, fenugreek, and magnesium.
These are the most basic of guidelines.

In almost every article I read about EMS horses, exercises was always listed too. Exercise helps reduce the amount of insulin in the body, as well as helps keep the horse at a good weight. Riding, driving, lunging, ponying, even hand walking help the EMS horse, as long as she is not laminitic. For the Laminitic horse, one should consult with their vet for an exercise program that won't aggravate their conditions.

This as been a very very basic overview of EMS. I have over simplified some parts just to get the basic gist down. Also, I have not brought up Cushings, but it is closely related to EMS. My intent was just to give basic overview. I listed some more articles below that you can visit for more information.


Balanced Equine Nutrition
Need to sign in to The Horse:
No Sugarcoating: Diagnosing and Managing the Insulin-Resistant Horse
GetSmart Series: Managing Insulin Resistance
Obesity and Cushing's Disease