Jimmy Dean was standing calmly at the hitching post on the morning of August 29, waiting for his feed while farrier Jim Keip was trimming Cody and the usual Saturday morning bustle was going on at ‘Oak Mountain’, when something scared him awfully. He pulled back at his halter, panicked, tried to rear and got his front feet caught on the hitching post while his hind feet slipped from under him. He landed on his right hind. After the worst scary moment was over, he seemed OK, in spite of lightly swollen and bruised hocks. The next few days he had a grapefruit sized hematoma on his right hind which was closely monitored and cold hosed. [A hematoma, from Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary, is defined as "a tumor containing effused blood" (tumor meaning a benign swelling or mass). Hematomas usually result from bleeding within the body which, as the blood clots, the swelling or hematoma results. Most hematomas are just an indicator of prior hemorrhage and do not need treatment. However, there are other types that indicate severe hemorrhage...(TheHorse.com)]
Jimmy Dean's hematoma
One week later Jimmy Dean’s hematoma had swollen to watermelon size. It was a scary situation and Jimmy – now confined alone in the barn – started wondering why these things always seemed to happen to him. Why can’t things for once go smoothly and uneventful, Jimmy Dean thought. All the other horses were outside frolicking in the pasture and even his best friend Yankee now had a new playmate, a mare named Athena.
Coldhosing the Hematoma
Doctor Ketover recommended continued confinement and cold-hosing for 30-45 days. Jimmy Dean couldn’t believe his ears. This would be really, really boring. Stefanie came out every day and cold hosed his hematoma. This felt pretty good and the swelling went down a bit, but she kept calling him ‘Mr. Bumpy Butt’, he didn’t really care for that. Stefanie bought Jimmy Dean a toy, a light blue horse ball, which disappeared mysteriously within only 24 hours. Jimmy Dean thought it was a rather silly looking thing, like a big pacifier. All I want is out of here!!!
Yesterday, after over a month of cold hosing, confinement and controlled walking the ‘bump’ finally seemed to have shrunk very noticeably. There was even talk of maybe being able to go back into the pasture soon. Yeah!
Now that it’s almost over, this time of confinement and boredom, Jimmy Dean is starting to think about it a little differently. Actually, it wasn’t all that bad. Everyone was so concerned about him. People stopped in the barn to pet him and say kind words to him, give him hay or water or carrots.
Stefanie brought him out every day and tied him next to Yankee, his best buddy. Even Yankee seemed real concerned and nuzzled him a lot, displaying his affection and empathy. Yankee helped keep Jimmy Dean steady when at first he did not want to stand still for the
Hematoma, 3 weeks later
cold hosing and was there every time Stefanie got Jimmy Dean out. A real friend in need. Lots of different people kept looking at his hind end, which was a little bit embarrassing. And Stefanie used the time to practice being nice and patient about volunteering the feet when picking hooves, learning to tolerate the scary feeling of being tied up and possibly getting a rope caught over your poll.
Jimmy Dean really bonded with Yank and Stefanie during that time, several people learned a lot about hematomas and Jimmy Dean learned that it’s not that scary to be tied. So in the end it was an accident with benefits. But still, Jimmy Dean will be glad when it’s over and he can jump about the pasture with Yankee again.
Yankee keeping JD company
During recent equine massage adventures I had the opportunity to work on an animal of a different kind: the historic FARM OXEN! Having gotten a ‘taste’ of Angus bull in May in Iowa, when Jim Masterson worked on a young bull and the Masterson Method(TM) students of that class got a chance to explore the bull’s anatomy through the reassuring bars of a chute, I was interested in getting a closer feel of these wonderful, big-eyed animals.
Releasing Tension in an Oxen Shoulder
This opportunity came along when I went to Old World Wisconsin, the wonderfully reconstructed historic site in Eagle, WI, for a second time to work on historic farm draft horses Nelly and Lady. Historic farmer Bryan Zaeske thought that farm oxen team Teddy and Bear could benefit from some bodywork as well. So after working on the two very well behaved senior mares and going for a hearty lunch (with second thoughts about the burger I was eating in view of the upcoming ox massage), we headed for the historic farm that is home to Teddy and Bear.
Bryan and two young helpers, clad in historically correct pants with suspenders and very interesting hats, helped get Teddy and Bear out of their pasture and into the barn yard, where I started working on Teddy. Not knowing what to expect, I was soon fascinated by these gentle horned animals. Besides several obvious differences in anatomy, there are a few key differences between an ox and a horse, from the bodyworker perspective:
a) When a horse doesn’t want to pick up his foot, he can be convinced. When an ox does not want to pick up his foot, he does not want to pick up his foot.
b) An ox SMELLS very different from a horse!
c) A horse’s hair grows from front to back, an ox’s hair grows from top down. This might not sound important, but when using massage strokes it gives you something to think about. After all you’d like to go with the hair.
d) An Ox has a bumpy, odd looking musculature around the base of his tail. Both oxen loooved to have these bumpy muscles massaged.
e) Performing bodywork on an oxen leaves your hands oily and moisturized. I was unable to wash the oily substance off with water alone. My hands were instantly rejuvenated by at least 10 years. Lanolin?
Very Cooperative Oxen!
Oxen clearly let you know whether they enjoy something or not and can be quite the comedians. Stretching out their necks, closing their eyes, quivering with their very soft, velvety noses, these are all very clear signs of enjoyment. Their noses are always moist and their muzzles velvety and soft. Teddy and Bear have very different personalities. Teddy is a bit more stoic, he is the ‘muscle’ of the team. When he lost interest in what I was doing, he simply bulldozered over to the next good looking patch of grass and had to be led back to our spot. Bear was a much more social animal. He really interacted with me, checked me out, sniffed on my quite a bit and showed more interest. He had a greater range of facial expression and was very responsive. Bear is the ‘brain’ of the team and the one who interacts with the handler and takes the commands, while Teddy just follows Bear along. According to historic farmer Bryan Zaeske, the determination who will be the ‘brain’ and who the ‘muscle’ of a team is made according to the animals personality when they are only a few days old and then they receive the respective training from that day on.
I am very much looking forward to my next trip to Old World Wisconsin and to working with Nelly and Lady and hopefully the oxen team again. Bryan gave me some encouraging feedback about my work on draft horses Nelly and Lady: “You really did something to those horses. [After the first bodywork]… they moved as they had not done in 5 or 6 years. … They thought it was the Kentucky Derby!”
I learned a lot that day from Teddy and Bear and cannot wait to work on my next oxen, bull or dairy cow. I have cut down a lot on eating red meat. It just doesn’t look the same to me now…
The Old World Wisconsin Oxen Team
Today was another unusual day for Jimmy Dean. Lots of things have been happening lately, that he knows nothing about. First Stefanie asked him to swing his hind end around – that was on Thursday – and that was kind of a scary affair at first. Who knows what she was going to do with that twirling lead rope… But then it turned out she just wanted Jimmy Dean to take a step or two to the side with his hind feet and that was easy enough to master. Then Stefanie put this odd saddle on Jimmy. It didn’t even have a horn! She called it ‘English’. That felt strange enough and just in case, Jimmy decided to do a little bucking in the canter. Soon enough, however, he was convinced that his strange saddle was not any more dangerous than the usual and moved nicely and undisturbed in a circle in all three gaits.
Today then, a man with a baseball hat and unusual pants (dog training pants) showed up at the barn and introduced himself as “Doc McKann”. Jimmy was in a good mood and greeted the stranger with friendly indifference. Soon Doc McKann won Jimmy’s trust by patting him gently all over and then he went to work. A Chiropractor he is, Jimmy thought. That’s something new! Doc McKann squeezed, pushed and contorted Jimmy around a little bit and Jimmy soon started to feel that this was all good stuff. Closing his eyes he silently thought “That’s the spot, Doc!” when Doc McKann hit just the right spot on the left lumbar section.
Jimmy Dean: "That's the spot, Doc!" Hm, Hm
Animal Chiropractor Dr. Mark McCann works on JD
Doc McKann took notes on his special pad and noted that Jimmy has some restriction in his cervical/thoracic junction on the left, something stuck in the neck on the left, something in the withers on the left and some restrictions in the spine in the area of the last ribs/lumbar that he released.
Feeling like a new horse, Jimmy took the rest of the afternoon off after eating a wholesome meal of ADM Moreglo, Patriot Feed and Equishine. Oh, and a yummy carrot, of course, for desert.
Let’s see how Jimmy moves tomorrow. Will he be a ‘new horse’ indeed?
Stefanie with Bryan, Lady, Nelly
Nelly (27) and Lady (28) are a senior draft horse team – Morgan/Percheron crosses and full sisters – that have been working the farms at Old World Wisconsin in Eagle, WI, for the past 17 years. Owner, care taker and historic farmer Bryan Zaeske calls them ‘the best team I ever worked with’. Nelly is the the slightly smaller, but also livelier of the two. According to Bryan, Nelly gets her kicks, if she is allowed to really step out and be a little frisky. Lady is a bit more reserved and the calmer one during team work. Their lives resemble the lives of a typical farm horse only a little more over 100 years ago. They are used to plough, thresh grain, make hay, pull a carriage and for logging. Nelly and Lady – the two senior draft horse girls – are Old World Wisconsin’s best logging team.
Nelly, a flexible old gal
A few years ago Lady dislocated her hip. The hip sprang back into place but Lady has been having a bit of difficulty ever since. Bryan thought it would be a good idea to have Stefanie come out and give Nelly and Lady a massage and do some Masterson Method (TM) bodywork with them. Nelly was accepting and happy to comply immediately. Lady had to be convinced that the strange lady asking her to do weird things with her limbs was really to be trusted. But soon she also enjoyed her bodywork session and showed good releases. Due to the gentle nature of the Masterson Method (TM) both horses were able to release a lot of tension without feeling overwhelmed or intimidated.
Both horses, especially Lady, will benefit from more bodywork and I will return to work on them and the Old World Wisconsin oxen team when I return to Eagle next month.
I am looking forward to my next visit to OWW and to taking and posting more pictures of the wonderful animals that help make this historic site so special and authentic.
After successfully braving the horrors of a baling twine around his girth (day 3, crow hopping, running backwards) and a saddle during vet examination (day 3, crow hopping, running backwards) Jimmy had progressed through longeing with a rope around his girth and wearing a bareback pad without any reactions. Now that he was so comfortable with pressure around the girth, it was time to put a saddle to the test. Jimmy looked quite handsome with Yank’s Western saddle and was unworried until…
Handsome Jimmy Dean under Saddle
Well, it wasn’t all that dramatic. He trotted over the ground pole with the saddle a few rounds. I retightened the cinch three times, then we went on to canter on the longe line. (We remember, that Jimmy’s patella locks up so that his stifle locks and he is forced to take a little ‘hop’ to unlock it while cantering, especially on the left lead.) Dr. Ketover confirmed that this a problem that’s likely to disappear with increasing fitness, but right now Jimmy is still battling the locking stifle. When this happens, and it only happens in the canter, Jimmy is fine without a saddle and ‘resets’ his leg without a worry. With saddle: different story. Jimmy gets anxious when his patella locks and starts crow hopping. We went through this a few times and other than nudging him to go on I did not show any particular reaction to his crow hopping. Soon he became assured that there was nothing to worry about and we ended on a very good note, after Jimmy had shown some spunky, energetic forward movement without crow hopping.
Here excerpts from a brief interview I conducted with Jimmy right after the longing session:
SR: “Jimmy Dean, can you comment on your odd reactions to your locking patella when you are wearing a saddle? You don’t do this when you don’t wear a saddle. What’s the reason?”
JD: “Well, I don’t quite remember the details, but it seems to have happened quite a while ago. Every time I wore a saddle, some dude was sitting in it. And every time I wore the saddle and some dude was sitting in it, I felt a stinging pain in my sides whenever my hind leg locked up. Almost as if someone was kicking me with something sharp. I also heard yelling and unrepeatable words. This happened quite a few times and – since I wasn’t born yesterday – I figured it’s not safe to be wearing that saddle. But today – to be honest – it wasn’t that bad. I expected the stinging and yelling, as usual, but nothing happened. If that stays like that, I guess wearing that saddle isn’t all that bad. But I gotta go now. My sweetie is waiting for me across the street…”
[This is a fictional interview. Please don't draw conclusions in regard to my mental state. Thank you.]
Stay tuned for Jimmy Dean’s next adventure: [topic is top secret, it will be surprising and suspenseful]
Yesterday it was Friday again… time for a massage and some Masterson Method Bodywork. This time Jimmy was even more accepting and cooperative. His poll, neck and cervical/thoracic junction, however, still feel uncomfortable enough to threaten a nip or shake the head assertively. Jimmy’s poll is very tight, soft tissue around the Atlas very hard and sensitive during massage and C3-C5 (neck vertebrae) seem stuck and unrelenting. After the third time working up and down the neck, nipping attempts stopped and Jimmy showed signs of release (licking and chewing, snorting) and I let him just digest the bodywork for a moment.
Sweat Spots Left Side
While I took notes and pictures, Jimmy stood still like a statue, as if in a ‘zone’. I noticed distinct sweat spots in the same areas he sweated during the last bodywork session.
Sweatspots Left Side
(For an in depth explanation go to Jim Masterson’s blog and search for ’sweat barrier’.) At the end of his bodywork session he really enjoyed a good rub of his left hindquarters which elicited several non-stop yawns.
Back in the pasture he merrily trotted towards the herd and was greeted by his new ‘main squeeze’, the white pretty little mare, who came running to greet him.
Jimmy Dean, you’ve got ‘the life’!!!
Stay tuned for the next episode: Jimmy Dean under saddle (without rider)
Jimmy Dean is looking better every day. Farrier Jim Keip trimmed his feet last Saturday, his formerly very round belly is getting a bit more toned and a big lump of tangled hair was removed from his tail. These newly acquired good looks prompted Jimmy Dean to become more daring than usual and make a pass at the new cute white mare in the pasture. He could soon be seen in mutual grooming delight with the pretty miss.
But Jimmy Dean is not only changing on the outside. Something seems to shift on the inside as well. We remember how he crow hopped and ran backwards when vet Dr. Ketover tightened a simple baling twine around his girth line on day 3. Since then he has been longed with a rope running around his girth line and into my hand, bravely trotting his circles while the rope is tightened and released over and over again. Initial worry about the contraption soon gave way to indifference. 
Yesterday Jimmy comfortably longed over a ground pole, having to lift his legs and tighten his tummy, while wearing a bareback pad, girth pulled tight. No worries here either. Still, fast movements and assertive bodylanguage can still make him fearful at times. A sign that his handling might have been rough at some point in his life.
Jimmy has nearly perfect feet. A crack in the front right looks like it will grow out. According to farrier Jim Keip, his feet are tough and his frogs are good. A perfect candidate for barefoot riding without problems.
crack growing out
Jimmy's nice hind feet
Go, Jimmy, go!!
Jimmy Dean hasn’t been up to much these past few days. Too hot and humid in this state of Wisconsin… But yesterday, after a few good rounds of improved forward movement in the round pen, Jimmy Dean insisted on an ice cold shower and: A PUBLIC FLOGGING!! Oh, my, this boy is crazy!
But first Stefanie had to get under the cold hose as well, just to be sure to make our little video as ridiculous as possible. Witness JIMMY DEAN’S PUBLIC FLOGGING and be AMAZED at his collected demeanour! As the whip cracks around his body, he doesn’t even flinch an eye lash. What a guy…
It’s sizzling hot in Wisconsin and Jimmy Dean (nicknamed ‘the sausage’), stays cool as a cucumber in 100 degree weather! With a registered name ‘Good Lord I’m Sizzlin’ I guess 100 degrees does not feel all that hot to Jimmy.
This morning – on his way to an early morning cold shower – Jimmy patiently followed me and Yank out of the pasture and across the street to the farm, when a vicious B-52 bomber (also called the Midwestern Horse Fly, a black, gigantic monster with fangs!!!) kept landing on Yankee’s back again and again, determined to take a good chunk out of him! I panicked and started slapping Yankee on the back to try and hit the monster fly, while Yankee kept snapping and nipping his sides and starting to circle a bit, not due to worry about the fly but because I kept slapping the bejeezus out of him to ‘rescue’ him from the biting insect… There was a bit of commotion in the drive way for a while when the three of us danced around the attacker. JIMMY DEAN – cool as a cucumber – stayed a calm onlooker and just went with the flow the entire time! He never once flinched, hopped or showed any other sign of unease. Jimmy, what a guy you are!! (and Yank, you are the man…, of course!)
That’s all for today, folks. Too hot to trot for any of us. Stay cool!
This is what Jimmy Dean thinks of the hot sizzling weather
