Cowboys and cowgirls!

 Dan's western anatomic bridle came! And it ALMOST fits. I mean.. it fits.. but barely. I kind of wish I had gotten the oversize, because the crown and browband are a hair snug. But not bad. But then the cheek pieces in full are almost too long as it is. Which is soooo weird, because... it seems like Dan has a long narrow head, so.. I'm not sure why people make the cheek pieces so dang long all the time. And it's super dark brown.. almost black. But it is pretty. Although I kind of wish I had gotten the lighter brown. I'm so tempted to order another since it was such a huge discount... But.. then the stupid tariff. But... tempting. I don't know. 

 

Anyways... I put it on him tonight to check the fit and then... couldn't help myself. I hopped on! I only rode him for 9 minutes but we walked around and he steers better. We also trotted a tiny bit and he didn't curl or anything. But it wasn't a real assessment as we were just farting around in the pasture. And.. he keeps trying to eat the shanks and the reins. Ha ha! Which.. he does in everything. But... now that I'm thinking about it.. I don't think he did in the bosal. So... maybe I need to keep him in the bosal and see if I can learn how to ride better in it. I don't know if the chewing at the bit/reins is just him being a goober and wanting to put things in his mouth... like the leadrope, his blankets, my clothes, etc... or if it's an anxiety/pain thing related to a bit. You'd think he'd grab at the bosal too... and maybe he did in the beginning... but I don't really think so. So.. I don't know. We'll play around and see. Luckily I have friends willing to loan me things to try!

 

Hoping that I can get things done tomorrow and take him to Ashland for a nice long hack with Sharon!

 

bareback

 so cold, but.. did in hand work. alternating raised poles. single raised pole. pillar work. zero tolerance on eating reins.

then got on with bitless bareback. no pad. wasn't expecting to get on. no helmet either. walked around and did poles again. played with steering. better than with bosal. Or just better in general today? trotted but sluggish and not really wanting to stay in trot. sore feet? ground hard and semi frozen. sore left hind? got better at the end and did some figure 8 serpentines down whole arena.. definitely easier to change directions than in bosal. but seemed maybe like he wanted to duck behind the vertical. lack of release? or just.. coincidence. pain from left hind or stifle?

tried to side pass in hand after. decent going to the left but much unhappier going to the right. did get it and reward.

removed bandage and shockwaved. Won't ktape yet because of lube. will try thursday

I wanna play!!

 Or... I just want snacks! 

 

I was lunging Lyric in the arena today and Dan was mooching for snackies at the arena fence. He really wanted to come play. Afterwards I decided to ride Funny but told Dan that after that, we could play. 

 

Except I had to finish storm prepping. But I did manage to do a tiny bit of work with him. I grabbed the fanny pack full of hay pellets and opened the gate to the roundpen. He came in with me. I didn't even have the halter. We walked over the v poles and the two alternating poles a few times. I clicked and rewarded. We did it a few times and then we did some turn on the forehand. And then the poles a few more times. And then we were done. Because I didn't know what else to do. And technically he's still on rest after his injection. 

 

Plus I still had to drag the arena and spread the manure before this ice storm hits! But at least he got to work his brain and play. And most importantly, get snacks!

Sassy but good news

 started truck and they all ran off

let me catch him. got 3/4 the way to truck and reared up and spun and tried to run. tried a few times while i yelled at him and hung on. lifted me up a tiny bit. NO SIR! managed to hold him. shocked him! got him to trailer. 

vet visit: sound and looking fantastic right hind! Barely flexed positive and worked out of it quickly. then vet student did left hind and he looked crippled. Like.. could barely trot.. toe touching crippled. worked up the limb and got slightly better the higher we went. ultrasounded fetlock... tendon sheath effusion, mild adhesion. but suspensory looks good. phew! Injected with steroids and HA, rest 5 days, then shockwave. 

back to work after, slowly build him back up, base more on how he feels left hind vs the stifle. 

xrayed stifle - looks so much better. 

foot films - great shape. can stay barefoot behind, but left hind is slightly negative. likely from compensating for right hind. will k tape after bandage comes off to help support and support the tendon sheath too. 

yay! Left naked because... last "warm" day for a bit. And.. bad idea. sooooo filthy!

photos: filthy

video: brushing off mud/dirt

Bored Boy

 photos; Bored boy

Homeboy needs a job. ran out of time so opted to go to pasture and toss on bosal and bareback pad. climbed on auto water trough to get on and did NOT fall in. rode in pasture and he tried to sling his head and buck a few times. then went to arena. tried to work gate but just don't have the steering in the bosal. trotted a little and did some figure 8's but really not thinking the bosal will work. darn. then went down the driveway. had a minivan fly into the culdesac and then fly around and back out. Rude. then opted to hack to the lake since dan was being so good. tom's dogs (3) came out and barked and growled at us and dan was like "whatever" and carried on. GOOD BOY! Seriously good boy... like that could have been awful. then hacked past lake to tennis courts. Trotted a bit and got a nice fancy trot. then he tried to run off. did a few more circles and then headed home. got to the lake and had a car come up behind us, very slow (it was brooke!) and had two neighbors walking towards us. said hi and took him down to the lake edge to avoid the car and he went to "jump" the little dam section and turned it into a bucking spree. ha ha. mild. but still. I was pulling his head up and telling him he was a twit and trying to stay on in front of Brooke and the two neighbors! Fool! But I did. ha ha.. they were like "he's beautiful".. i was like "He's a twit!" . ha ha..  no more drama the rest of the way home. 

hopefully he gets cleared for real "work" on friday because boy needs a job!

video: jogging in arena

Charlie Elliott

 trail ride with sharon and baylor.  cantered on right lead on his own

Another "cheat" ride!

 Making lemonade out of lemons! I had scheduled a farm today and blocked off the whole day... and then, this morning, they texted and said they only had 2 horses for me. Ugh... really guys? I could have filled that slot! Or slept in. Of course in retrospect, I should have asked my first appt on Wednesday if I could have come today, but.. .I didn't think about it until after dark. Darn... because that would have made it easier to get my truck dropped off. Oh well. 

So... I went and saw the two horses. And then dropped some drugs (medications people.. medications) off at another farm. Then headed home and had lunch. And then... I took Dan to Ashland. Because I didn't get to ride him Sunday and probably won't have time tomorrow. And it's supposed to get miserable cold again. So... we enjoyed the day today. 

We had the whole farm to ourselves. I put the bareback pad on and the hackamore and off we went. It was chilly but not too bad. We tried to get some hills in. He tried to snack. I let him. We did some trotting in the fields and even in the woods and he was pretty sound and fairly forward. A few times he hit the breaks but was forward while he was trotting. 

We finished in the cross country field so we did three laps each way in the water treadmill at the trot. :) Brrr, but.. it was nice. At least the sun was still out and the wind had died down. 

Good boy! Fun day!