A Smoky Weekend

Welp, our last ride was on Wednesday of last week. TC got his teeth done that afternoon, then he had Thursday off, and then on Friday, the smoke came in and stayed through the weekend. What a bummer! I didn't even get to see how TC felt after his teeth. The vet said that he was definitely due and had a couple of mouth ulcers so hopefully he is feeling much better!

I spent time with him on Friday and Saturday and then gave him Sunday off. By Monday, our air was in the 70s but with basically the whole weekend kind of iffy, I opted to do his PT exercises and then walk him down the road bareback but with his bands on. He coughed twice, once as we were going out and then once about half way down the road. They were just one off coughs, not like the coughing fit he had last year when I immediately stopped riding him and called the vet, but enough for me to think that he definitely wasn't ready to work Monday and probably today as well. 

Happy bareback wandering pony

A friend who I bonded with after the fires last year posted on Facebook about the things she'd learned from having a horse with asthma in the fires and one point sat with me so heavily. Here's what she said: 

3) Its actually heartbreaking to watch a prey animal lose its ability to flee. I’m part of airway groups on social media and horses get put down with some frequency because they are not able to be physically or mentally comfortable with the loss of complete airway function.

The idea of TC living the rest of his life terrified because he doesn't think he can flee from danger because of my selfish decision to ride him in the smoke... that's really horrible. She also emphasized that airway disease is cumulative over time, so I could probably ride him through the smoke, just like a lot of people did at a local rated dressage show when the AQI was 350, and not see severe symptoms for years. But by the time we see those severe symptoms, well, apparently some horses need to be put down because they cannot cope with having limited airway function. I want TC to be a happy, healthy horse into his 20s and hopefully 30s! 

So as much as things are going so well right now and I want to keep riding him, I also want to make sure that I'm setting him up for a good life. I already know he's sensitive to the smoke so we'll be playing it insanely safe. I'd rather pay to have him at a boarding stable this winter than try to keep riding in the fall knowing that winter will be a light season for us. As I've said before, I'm starting to realize that his light season is going to be fall from now on. 

The SO and I have at least been enjoying the
amusement park up the road from us in the bad air

There are also tons of things we can still do together that will help us in the future even when it's smoky though! On days where we can't even walk (150+ AQI), I do his PT exercises, have him stand on the balance pads, and do belly lifts. On days where we can walk (under 150 AQI), he's now quiet enough to walk down the road and back in the bands after doing all of our exercises. And I'm happy to have the nebulizer now living at the barn and he's now on his breathing supplement for the rest of the fall. 

I'm hoping the smoke stays cleared for the next few days and then later this week, we'll try some light trot work and see if he coughs at all. With the new fire closer to us (still far, Lake Tahoe, but closer than the other fire), I don't think it's worth getting the vet out to ultrasound lungs just yet given that we probably haven't even scratched the surface of fire season. I may text her to see what she's recommending for these shorter but intense times of bad air in between decent air days. 

It was a pretty clear day, phew

Hopefully with this kind of work, he thinks he's doing his job and therefore won't run around in the pasture too much. I don't think it's fair to lock him up just to keep him from running around on his own. Like, I don't want to damage his lungs by riding him for my benefit but if he damages his own lungs playing with Rico, that sits better with me. I won't prevent him from being a horse but I won't put him under additional stress while the air is bad. If his lungs feel iffy in the pasture, he'll stop playing but if they feel iffy undersaddle, he'll probably try to push through it because he's been reinforced for it. 

I'm thinking good thoughts for those being affected by the fires. And also thinking good thoughts that we get early rain this year! We could really use some summer rains in general to keep the kindling down and cool us down too. 

Not Again

The air quality has been borderline recently. We've been spending a lot of time in the 40 to 80 AQI range with it being really bad on occasion. Not enough to warrant the recommended six weeks off to recover lungs, but enough where I won't ride that day and I do a light day or another day off the day after. 

Honestly, nothing has made me want to leave this area more. The traffic sucks but with the SO's job, we are stuck near a large city anyway so the traffic will always suck. The boarding situation in the bay area blows but the ranch has been working out really well so far and I'm exploring other options that are closer as well. Living here without working in tech is annoying at best, but I'm interviewing and should move into tech soon. 

Highly recommend getting an air
quality monitor, I'm going to order one
specifically for the ranch so I can obsess
over TC's air quality

But now, with *fire season* fucking up my fall every year??? I immediately was like fuck this place. I up and told the SO the other day that I was ready to move to Canada (we are planning to move to Vancouver at some point in our lives, at least by retirement age, no rush) because of fire season. But then I found out that Vancouver was on fire too. Great. 

I normally have winter be our lightest season. It's not that shows stop or anything, the only month you can't show up here is December actually. Our last shows of the year are in mid November and they start again in January. 

But I don't love riding in the winter, our barns are really not all that well set up for it. We don't have indoor arenas, just covered arenas, or not covered arenas like at the ranch. Paddocks get super muddy (and omg don't get me started on the pastures in the area, they are not set up for rain!), it rains but it's not horribly cold so figuring out blanketing is tricky, bleh. I like staying at home in the winter. I do ride through the winter but I like taking the pressure off. If there's a bad storm or if I'm like "ew no," I'll let him have extra time off. 

Things have been so good, I am so eager to continue

But it works out that the horses get kind of a break over the winter and then we come back into more serious work in March and then start showing in May and we show through the fall. May to November is a good amount of showing that we can do without the weather being terrible (although I tend to try to show on the coast if we are showing in June or July due to the heat). 

The first year we had really bad air that took us out of riding was 2018. That didn't start until the end of October and then it went away in the first storm in late November. So a month. I was moving TC then so I gave him extra time off and all was well. We didn't lose any months in 2019 so that was nice. 

2020 though, wow what a shit year! For everyone, not just fire-wise. Everything was shit. But the fires started in AUGUST. TC was not back in full work until December due to the fires! First because the fires were much closer and much worse, but also because it didn't rain until November again. It just doesn't rain here from like April through November. 

See the lightest colored mountains behind me?
Those are my air quality mountains, if I can't see
them, I have to check the AQI stat!

This year, the fires are further away (so far, everything is so dry it's just kindling out there) but we are still starting to see the effects. It's raining ash, although as I've said before, thus far the air quality has been okay because the smoke is so high up in the air. But we are facing what at best will be a stop in riding for the fall. And then with TC being at the ranch, I won't be able to ride when it's raining or at least a few days afterwards. So we might be looking at being off of real work until March. And that's what sucks. I can handle on season off, either fall or winter, but not two! 

So I guess I have to be a winter rider and TC and I might need to find a place to go for the winter where we can keep training. Luckily there are three barns that are options (one being local trainer's barn, which would honestly be amazing but they'd have to have a paddock available and there aren't a ton) so if I find that I can't ride much this fall, I will move him for a few months. But if I can ride through the fall, I might just take a light winter and leave him at the ranch! 

He's doing so well right now, fingers crossed that
the air stays good!

Selflessly, but also selfishly, I hope that the fires die down immediately and don't return. I want to stop seeing people have to evacuate from their homes at the very least. And I also want to be able to ride my horse! 

Either way, the nebulizer is at the barn now and I've ordered his breathing supplement that he'll be on for probably the rest of this year. Ugh.