Training

Roll has been off for several months during the Christmas season and then during inclement weather throughout the winter and early spring. His physique has maintained its core muscle strength and his good posture continues to be strong. He has maintained this good posture and musculature over these five months on turnout alone. When an animal’s posture is truly changed and improved, he should reach a point where this becomes the norm and his way of standing and moving will reflect that. He no longer requires formal lessons to strengthen the muscles in good posture because he can now do it himself as long as he is given the room to move on a daily basis.

One of the most important things we did with Roll was to shoe his two hind feet. Back when he was first beginning the round pen work, I noticed he was twisting the rear feet, particularly on the right hind foot. He began wearing his hooves unevenly which was compromising his ability to balance in good posture consistently. We theorized that if we could keep the foot flat when it hit the ground with no give, he would be able to track forward without twisting.

This proved to be true and Roll has done well with frequent resets and new shoes at critical intervals. The founder he once had in his hooves is practically undetectable and his new-found health is exhilarating for him. He welcomes the farrier visits as it makes him feels good. This would not have been possible without the right kinds of exercises and shoes.

Roll stands stock still while he is being worked on and always seeks the four-square balanced position. He doesn’t ever have to lean on the farrier because his good posture and balance is so strong.

His feet are much improved and look fantastic compared to what we started with.

After his farrier work, Roll is asked to do some stretches after having to stand still for quite awhile. This feels good, too and he is happy to comply. First from side to side…

…and then to stretch downward.

All of these exercises allow him to learn to cope with a multitude of distractions and to handle them in a calm and thoughtful way, so that he learns to pay attention to all that is happening around him without becoming unduly nervous. All this helps to make him a comfortable, happy, reliable and a safe equine to be around!

 

 

Over the summer of 2012, Roll was doing better than ever. All the lead line work, lunging and ground driving in good posture solidified Roll’s core muscle strength and coordination and he began to hold his good equine posture automatically. What was once difficult and awkward for him has become his normal way of standing and moving, so we finally moved from the round pen work and into the open arena. Roll was happy to be working in a new place. We first walked the hourglass pattern around the cones which was familiar for Roll and he was able to see everything he would encounter on the perimeter of the arena. He stayed smartly in step just as he had done in previous lessons.

Roll wore his elbow pull to continue to remind him of his good posture. Repetition and having the elbow pull to lean on further solidified his way of standing and moving. If he did make a misstep or stumble, he was able to regain his balance easily with the help of the elbow pull. The elbow pull is for an equine what a balance bar is for a ballet dancer.

At first, Roll had to perfect and strengthen his own balance in good posture and now he will need to retrain and balance with a rider on board. Once the initial balance is corrected over a period of about two years with the elbow pull, it will only need to be used occasionally for tune-ups. Learning to measure his steps and maintain good rhythm and cadence on the lead line will help Roll when he finally does have a rider on board.

All the work Roll has done for the past two years is finally paying off. Though Roll has substantial side bones and ring bone in all four feet, it is a wonder he stays sound. The reason for his soundness is that his good posture is keeping his joints in line and the ligaments and musculature around them solid and supportive. His gaits are regular and his halts square.

Roll’s attitude has changed dramatically and the once spooky and twice shy Roll is now exhibiting confidence and overt affection. At twenty years old, this is quite a change to make for an equine. His face reflects a calmness and serenity he has never before experienced. He’s a very happy mule!

Roll stood quietly while this old gal crawled up onto his back for the first time in the open arena. Steve stood by for safety, but wasn’t really needed as the entire routine was done exactly the same way we had done in the round pen…no surprises here!

There was a feeling of elation as I sat on his back for the first time in the open arena. I gave him his oats on both sides before asking him to move to make sure he was fully aware that I was on his back and to make sure he was comfortable about it.

After a couple of steps backward, we were on our way through the hourglass pattern with no incidence of nervousness or negativity at all. He was more than happy to comply!

Roll was so comfortable in his new-found posture that he never missed a step and the elbow pull stayed loose throughout the pattern.

By the time we had reversed the pattern, his balance had shifted upwards and he was actively engaging his hindquarters and raised his shoulders with no trouble at all.

His halt was perfectly square and relaxed.

And his reinback was straight and true.

A handful of oats was my show of appreciation for a job well done before dismounting.

Roll stood patiently waiting for my somewhat awkward dismount…it was a LONG WAY down! The routine and repetition during all of his lessons made it easy and comfortable for him to comply.

By the time I put him away, Roll was already looking forward to the next time!!!!

 

Everyone who has followed the story of Rock and Roll knows it has been an uphill battle, especially with Rock. With great sadness, but continued inspiration, we regretfully announce that this will be the last update to include our gentle giant, Rock.

Goodbye to our dear friend, Rock

After some down time in Rock’s exercise regiment due to some swelling, I decided to resume his physical therapy the day after Christmas and did just two rounds of his therapy pattern. Trooper that he was, he tried with all his might, but his hips were listing terribly to the left and he knocked every one of the three ground poles as he went over them the first time. The second time over the ground rails, he only hit two and cleared one. The third time over, he just grazed one. Afterwards, when I put him back in his pen, he lay down immediately and just went flat out for a few seconds before rolling back onto his chest again. It was then we noticed the bulging in the coronet band of his left hind foot. He was “sinking!” We called the vet immediately and he confirmed my fear. The lamina was pulling away from the hoof wall and allowing the bones to “sink” into his hoof. It wouldn’t be long before the other feet would follow suit. It was clear he was in agony and would have to be put down. Of course, it was Monday, a holiday, and no businesses were open, not even the renderer. I suggested to the vet that I would like to do a necropsy to find out just what we were up against and to salvage his skeleton for teaching purposes. My vet said he would check with CSU, but that they would be on vacation until January 17th. I knew Rock couldn’t make it much longer and just resolved myself to the fact that it would have to be the renderer. So, my vet loaded him up with anti-inflammatory medicine and said he would be back the next afternoon.

The next day, my vet called and said the president of CSU had agreed to pull in a team for the necropsy and preservation of the skeleton. He thought perhaps the assembly of the skeleton could be done this summer as a project for the veterinary interns. Then, after saying our goodbyes, it was time for us to let Rock move on. He took his last steps surrounded by his Lucky Three family that afternoon.

When the necropsy came back, it didn’t show a fracture of Rock’s pelvis, as we had thought, but instead, multiple fractures in the ball joint of the hip. The better part of the socket of the joint was almost completely gone on the bottom, with a hole the size of a dime on the top part. The head of the femur had no cartilage left and there was fibrosis and cysts the entire length of the stem of the femur. It was an incredible amount of injuries for a single mule.

Every day for the entire year, I had prayed for a miracle for Rock, and each time I prayed, he got better for awhile. I wondered why God hadn’t given us yet another miracle and let him live. But I realized that I HAD gotten a miracle. The miracle was that our courageous and noble Rock had been able to live a quality life for one more year…that he had proven our therapy can work… and that he lived long enough so his half-brother of 20 years, Roll, was able to bond with people who would love and care for him the rest of his life!

God bless you, Rock! We will all miss you and are thankful for all you have taught us.

 

Rock and Roll did relatively well for the better part of the summer, but as they got to feeling better, they became more rambunctious and began sparring with each other. One evening several weeks ago, Rock came in a little sore in front, but we thought nothing of it as this had been the case before. The next morning however, we went out and found Rock standing hunched over and shaking on all four legs! We immediately called the chiropractor because it was clear that he had done something to his left hind leg, which was the only sound leg left on his body. The chiropractor couldn’t make it until later that evening, but Rock did get a massage that day. It didn’t seem to help much. When the chiropractor finally arrived, he did manage to get the stifle area on the left hind somewhat straightened out, but it didn’t really fix it. The next morning he came back and suggested that we call a pow-wow with the equine chiropractor/D.V.M. from Colorado State University. We called everyone involved with Rock as well: his vet, his equine masseuse, her husband (also a D.V.M.), our ranch manager and me.

I suspect that Rock’s injury occurred because he and Roll were probably playing and got too rough with each other. Rock probably tripped himself on the temporary boots he was wearing that were fitted for a draft horse foot (round and not oblong like a mule foot). The prognosis was agreed upon that Rock’s laminitis was causing most of his discomfort and he was trying to carry all the weight on an inflamed area between and hip joint and the stifle joint. Rock wore huge sores on his fetlocks, knees and hocks that needed to be wrapped to prevent further damage. Since Rock had spent much of his time prior to coming here on rest and Bute, I did not feel this to be the best course of action for him since motion seemed to improve his condition when he first arrived.

The Bute he had been on prior to coming here had caused problems in his digestive tract. I felt it was risky to have him on Bute again so soon after the 9-day dosage we had just done. Bute can also mask any other problems that he might have. As long as he wasn’t severely painful, I decided to modify his regimen to include integrating his workout with the walk to and from the “ice ditch” my ranch manager created for him. He walked through the sandy dressage arena over his four 1” PVC poles and then we opened two gates with a circle to the right at each gate. Then his gear was loosened and he proceeded into the ice ditch for twenty minutes on his front feet and 10 minutes on his rear and fronts. He was antsy about leaving the back feet in for very long. Why? Probably because he has shoes behind and they got pretty darn cold pretty quickly and I imagine the nails holding them on weren’t at all comfortable either! Then he returned to turnout via the same course, only this time going the through the gates with turns to the left.

The moderate exercise and icing has really helped and Rock is once more on the road to recovery. When he gets sore and doesn’t want to weight the front feet, we ice him to cool the laminitis down and it is working very well. He has ceased lying down a lot and is acting much more normal. The sores both under the wraps and on his body in areas we could not wrap are finally beginning to heal. I will need to continue wrapping these areas until we can be sure that he is strong again on 3 of his legs and moderately strong on the right hind leg with the old fracture at the pelvis. Rock and Roll had to be separated to keep Rock safe, but they still enjoy each other’s company in adjoining stalls and runs and in adjoining turnout pens. When you are tending to rescue animals it is always one step forward and several steps back, but with faith, hope and a little help from knowledgeable friends and professionals, miracles can happen! You just have to BELIEVE!

 

Rock and Roll, a 17 and 16-year-old draft mule team came to us on December 5, 2010. They had been rescued from an auction in Kiowa, Colorado, roughly a year before that by some friends of mine. They offered the mules to me as a last resort when their efforts to rehabilitate them failed.

Rock had an old fracture on the face of his pelvis opposite the ball joint in the right hip and had severe founder and rotation in his hind feet. Getting those shod was a real challenge since he could not stand on the bad leg. Roll had side bones in his right hind foot and it is a constant challenge to keep that foot balanced. Both mules had been seriously foundered and had muscle atrophy throughout their bodies. As therapy progressed, even more problems surfaced so we were making progress with one step forward and two steps backwards, but nevertheless, we have been gaining ground with their health.

Both mules began to develop better eating habits and better hair coats almost immediately with their change in diet. Atrophied muscles and calcified joints began to move again. Rock went through several superficial issues that were problematic. The founder began to grow out and he became three-legged lame just about the time a horsefly bit him in the sheath and caused intense swelling. Because he couldn’t move, it wouldn’t go down. We got boots for his front feet since we could not nail shoes to his foundered front feet that enabled the swelling to move from the sheath to his abdomen. We hot packed his abdomen for two weeks and it went down, but he developed a sebaceous cyst that we thought was a sarcoid on front of the withers and a wart on his chin. We got the cyst removed and treated the cyst as a sarcoid which caused the wart to drop off. Rock is now able to resume his exercises and is doing much better.

We are happy to say that both mules are doing well after 10 months of physical therapy with the core muscle leading training exercises that we do here. Roll was able to graduate to moderate round pen work in the elbow pull after about four months of leading exercises. It will be another year of groundwork before the founder is completely grown out. Their respective uses will be determined as their health improves.

 

On December 5, 2010 we welcomed Rock and Roll, two draft mules to Lucky Three Ranch.  Rock is 17 years old, 18 hands and Roll is 16 years old and 17 1/2 hands.  Both of our new residents have various physical issues and have begun an intensive rehabilitation program including massage, chiropractics, proper nutrition exercise. Check back and follow the progress of these two beautiful gentle giants!