Ahhhh, but not really

 Snuck in a quick ride... really rough week.... needed this... but sadly... tongue out with the lateral work. a LOT.

still glad to be on him though

Snowy Rehab Ride

 Nothings going to stop us from rehabbing!! ha ha. Well, some things will. But, not snow! Although, I suppose snow would have stopped us because of the snowball feet. That's not conducive to rehabbing. But, luckily the arena had cleared itself of the snow. Now it was just a soggy wet mess. But ridable! 

 

I tacked Dan up after a quick groom and we hacked up to the arena. He was super and we did our stretchy walk... all the lateral work... more stretchy walks... and I even put up alternating ground poles for him to walk through. He walked through them fine and didn't seem to have the struggles he did the other day at Ashland. He did all his lateral work and we even managed most of it with a nice soft forward neck. I didn't see his tongue come out but he did get a little chompy. 

 

I did a tiny bit of trot (like 8 steps worth) to see if the arena was too wet to bother with riding Lyric. He still feels lame. Sadness. I couldn't tell which limb but didn't want to push it to find out. I suspect it's still that left front. Sigh... But... I'm trying my best to leave it up to God and not worry. Which means, I just can't think about it. Move on to something else brain!

 

We hacked back and walked to the the stop sign but it was getting later and I wanted time to ride Lyric. Plus his 30 minutes were up and I wasn't sure how slick the asphalt would be. And I definitely didn't want to risk a slip! 

 

He was a good boy and got lots of cookies! Then he got his jammies back on and out he went. 

 

Life goal... kind of accomplished

 sledding

snow day

Not enough warm hours with daylight!

 Okay, I will complain about winter. Although yesterday I was contemplating on the fact that there were no flies and I was quite happy about it! And I still hold with my stance that I can wear appropriate clothing and be fairly comfortable outside. (Except for my fingers when working or doing barn chores, but otherwise!). BUT.... there just isn't enough time in the day to ride 3 horses! Not if I take anyone to Ashland. It's too chilly in the morning to get up early and ride. And then it gets dark and cold again quickly, so... I've been only riding two on my days off, which.. .means no one is getting ridden "enough". And I would say they all deserve a break and it's fine, but... Dan's been on a break forever and is finally back! (Although, he still isn't sound at the trot). And Lyric had two months off and is back in work again (although, she's still not sound either.... sigh... dammit!). 

 

Anyways...Today was pleasant! Tomorrow will NOT be! In fact, it will be so bad that I've cancelled all three farms I'm supposed to go work at. So I had to spend some time prepping today too. BUT, I did manage to get in a ride on Dan. It was a 26 minute walk and at home, but we did it. 

 

I basically took the bridle and my helmet out to the pasture, caught him, bridled him up and hopped on. We walked up to the arena and then did a nice long pillar 1 walk around the arena. Then I picked up the reins (ha, still had them super long) and we did our lateral work. We did leg yield each way, then haunches in, then shoulder in, then half pass, then turn on the forehand and turn on the haunches. And between each thing, we did our peanut roll stretchy walk. And... no tongue! I was tempted to do more, but I had told him we were done and would go hack, so... we did. I knew I didn't have much time left (technically) so I turned left and we rode to the culdesac. We took a photo of Mr. Tim's sailboat... but then he saw a neighbor on her porch.... far away... and got curious. And then he saw the geese on the lake and freaked out! His little heart rate was pounding out of his chest but he held his ground. And I talked to him and told him he was being silly and it was just geese. And he realized it and his heart slowed and then we walked home. However, he started to get a little jiggy and even through in one little bucky thing. So we headed back home before he got too rowdy. It's WAY too cold to hit the ground, or concrete. Plus I didn't have the benefit of my back on track bareback pad. 

 

But it was nice to sit on him again and play with the lateral work. He even stayed nice and soft in the connection and relaxed through most of it! The turn on the forehand and haunches are much harder for him and he tends to brace a little. But we had moments without bracing too!

 

Ahhhhhh

 Good ride today!!

 

After a traumatizing morning.... I needed to breathe and relax! I woke up at 4:30 this am and then tossed and turned until 8:30 am. I finally got out of bed and picked up my phone. I had 4 missed calls and 12 texts. Apparently the interns next door noticed Fleck was stuck in the fence and couldn't get up. Apparently it wasn't the fence, but the electric cord that runs up top that isn't hot anymore that Dan keeps pulling down. I guess Fleck got his hind foot through it. I don't know how. He wasn't that stuck it didn't look like, but... apparently it was tight enough or he fought that he gave himself rope burn on his hock. I guess they pulled the rope off but he was still laying there for awhile. So I panicked because all I saw was the text saying he was still down and then photos of him. I grabbed my glasses, all the clothing layers... then Cody was anxious to go out so I had to dance around him and then put his jacket on and then took him out. I forgot the barn door was down so I couldn't take him through the barn. I tried to open it but it wasn't budging so I panicked and dragged poor Cody back into the house and took him out the side door. Then ran and grabbed the wire cutters and then snuck out through the garage gate to the pasture..... and no Fleck... So I run to the other pasture, no Fleck. Looked behind the tree.. no Fleck. Okay... where is he?!? It had to have been on Jean's side of the pasture. So I walk back to the barn and there's Fleck... in front of the barn waiting on breakfast. Oh thank you God!!! He was sore and tender and had some rope burn that is gonna smart, but.. he was okay. I closed the gate to that field for now. 

 

So... after that... I needed a nice chill ride. I did go back inside after feeding and did some paperwork letting it warm up a hair first. But it was still pretty darn chilly! The parking lot still had some frozen patches! But I was bundled up and rode bareback so we stayed warm. We headed out to XC first and walked a few of the smaller logs. He did fine with them. No weirdness. Although it wasn't maybe as smooth as it should have been. Then we did the water treadmill. It had a thin sheet of ice on the one side and as we walked through it was tinkling! It was cool. And apparently we created bubbles. Dan had a few sips to drink and then he wanted to paw. I was a little afraid he was going to roll for some reason... he just felt like he might be wanting to buckle and roll. No sir! It is WAY too cold for that. So then we walked back out and snacked a little. We walked another two logs and then did the baby up bank. And then we had a nice snack and hack around. It was a pretty day and not too terrible in the sun. 

 

Oh, and when I got to Ashland, I did a tiny bit of masterson method/nerve release/fascial work on his shoulder and got some good releases. So then I thought... why not K tape it? So I just did a bandaid style taping over the atrophied area. I figured maybe it would help. So he wore that during our walk. And hopefully it'll stay put at least a few days!