Rainbow Dino's paving the way

Today was an interesting day! We had a jump lesson with Kelly as prep before Full Gallop. He was shod this morning and he was a bit off in our lesson. But he was happy enough to work and it felt like his usual funkyness, just worse. And he didn't seem unhappy to jump or anything and if I rode him a little shoulder in, I could cover it up. So.. we decided to do our lesson and we would stop if anything got worse.

We started jumping and it was just fine. We were going and doing and I wasn't holding. Kelly helped me get forward and reminded me again how important it is for him to be forward. So the plan was to get him in gear.. check to make sure I had forward and I had settle, and if not, fix it. Then come around the corner in cruise/settle mode... and then as we started towards the fence, I was to think of increasing the speed by one mph each stride to the jump. This helped me not shut him down and get backwards in my thinking. And it worked! Until Kelly added a slightly bigger swedish oxer on the line. We got over it, but I held to it and shut him down. Argh!! So we took a minute to talk and Kelly wanted me to stop over thinking and just count. Only instead of counting, she wanting me to say the colors of the rainbow and as I was saying each color, picture that color. We tried it and... my brain took over and I was saying it but still overthinking a thousand other things at the same time. So then she was talking about how it might be crazy, but she wanted me to think of something that would help propel me forward over the fence and distract me from over thinking. So... I thought, okay.. how about little rainbow hot air balloons... and then Kelly said I needed to get my "roar" back, or something to that effect, so I thought "oooohh, little rainbow dinosaurs.... going into attack mode... RAWRRRRRR to the fence"!. Hee hee.. Leave it to me to go overboard. But... the next time we did it, I tried very hard to count "red dinosaur..... orange t-rex..... yellow brontosaur.... "... and it kind of worked. I overthought, but not as bad. And the dinosaurs gave me some bravado and got me some of my fierce back. :) So... we did a few more lines and it got better and we were about to quit. But I asked to do the swedish again. For my mental status, I needed to conquer it. And we did. It took two tries, but even the first try wasn't even half as bad as the first attempt. And on the second try, we nailed it! #RAWRRRRR. The rainbow dinosaurs helped me think of adding a tiny bit more speed (which really, isn't actually adding speed or lengthening the stride, but maintaining forward) which helped me ride positively and helped Dan be able to lock on and go. :)

It was great!! Not perfect.. and not where I want to be, but a step in the right direction!!

Cindy Lesson

It was a good ride!!

Worked on the counter canter again... some shoulder in and haunches in (renver, travers.. I don't know...).

Stupid Rain

Again with the rain! Sigh.... Dan and I were trying to show at Chatt hills a second time.... We didn't ride til 1 something, so I got up and got him fed. It started to sprinkle and the forecast showed rain for the entire day. But... I persevered... I gave him a bath.. in the sprinkling rain. And then there was a thunder boom or two. I put him in his stall and went to the house, changed my clothes and got ready to go. I went out to the barn and was debating on what to do. People were posting about how it was raining at Chatt and how sloppy it was. And then while I was debating it started to POUR!!! Like... it was raining so hard I couldn't even go back to the house. And I was still debating. Cindy eventually talked me into coming. She said it had stopped raining there. Although to be honest, I wasn't sure it was worth hauling in this nonsense, but... I decided she was right. I would be annoyed if I went and didn't get to ride, but I'd be more annoyed if I had stayed home (yet again) and it ended up not being bad. So.... I went. We hauled in a downpour the entire way. It was so bad that I was only going 45 mph on 285!!! Just when I got to the turn off by the McDonalds, like 15 minutes from Chatt, Cindy called and told me to turn around and go home. UGHH!!!! She said that it had started raining there and hadn't stopped and the footing was getting worse and that everyone was miserable. Sigh... At that point, all of the traffic lights were out too. So yep.. I turned around. Poor Dan. It was a good choice though. I passed two cars that had slid off the road and another wreck. And it pretty much rained the whole way home although once we got home, it had stopped. But once I got home, I got a call that they had cancelled the rest of the show at Chatt. Sigh... darnit!!! At some point, I would like to show!!!

I ended up tossing the boys out and went inside and did paperwork for a little bit. Then I was looking at the radar and it kept saying it was supposed to pour. But it didn't. Sigh.. so I didn't ride.

I did sneak in a hack on Sunday. It was nothing too exciting... but it was pretty out considering how wet it was the day before. And Mike and I had a blast at the lake. I just rode afterwards, which was when it was finally slightly cool enough.

Oh Dan.....

What a day!!! Poor Daniel. He was scheduled for his second scoping today so he get stalled last night. I came in the next morning and he was hangry and had a bloody fetlock and 4 lumps on him. I'm guessing they were welts from horse flies, and also the blood. It was just a superficial scrape. But since he was hangry, I let it all be and we headed to our appointment.

He scoped clean!!! Yay!! No more ulcer!!! However, it took forever! We joked about how many vets it took to get to his pylorus... And I also joked that the chances of the bloody welt filled horse belonging to a vet were pretty high. ;)

We also talked about his muscling again. He still just doesn't look quite as beefy as he should. So, I'll start him back on the renew gold asap and see if that helps. But yay for no more ulcers!!!

We couldn't quite help ourselves so we decided to stop at Ashland and go for a hack. He was a good boy. We just did a short dressage school and then hacked to the lake and back. The heron was out and flying around a lot! He was handsome. And Dan was a super good boy for our dressage ride. We played a teeny bit with the flying change again. We almost got one!!

Then, since it was a FULL DAY OFF!!!! I let him rest and relax for a bit while I did some paperwork (okay, not a full day off then I guess) and then I went out to work on him. So yeah... really not a day off I guess. ;) We did an adjustment and some acupuncture too. The plan is to see if his "lameness" is a strength issue so I'll do some cavaletti work, put him on equiox, and recheck and see if it's improved or not. I'm still just so unsure what is going on. Whether it's muscle scarring and biomechanical or a true subtle lameness. I would think, that after 2 years, even a subtle lameness would have gotten worse. But.... ???  Anyways, Dan was a good boy and enjoyed his acupuncture and adjustment. :)

Ugh...

Today ... was a bust. :(

Had to ride at home... missed my lesson with Cindy because my truck is still in the shop. Tried to ride at home.... after a second night of not sleeping.... was already irritated. I tried very hard to not get mad at Dan, and I didn't! But I got very mad at myself. Sigh... I either don't know how to measure lines... or I don't know how to ride my horse.. or both. We kept getting 4.5 strides in the 4 stride... then when I decided to go for 4 strides... we got 4.5 .... so then I tried for 5 strides... we got 5.5. Sigh.. WTH?!? Ugh... we got a few good single jumps, but.. I just can't get the right canter in the field.. full of hills and bumps and angled...  and I'm rushed... sigh.. so I rewarded Dan for trying... and he was. He kept trying and he was going, but.. it was just awful.

I just wanted to cry...and my day didn't get much better after that...

Trading a ride for babysitting

So.. Danimal IS growing up!!! He was such a good pony today. Well.... after he wasn't. He actually got in BIG trouble initially...

I didn't get to talk to the truck shop before they closed Friday, so... I know that they found the problem, but I don't know what the problem is... how much it's going to cost, and how long it's going to take. Sigh... And I don't have a truck now for the weekend. Which, is okay. It was Mike's Saturday and we went to the lake. And then Kelli had offered to come get me for a hack Sunday, so yay! Well, turns out Kelli couldn't make it, but Liz had joined in and was fine with coming to get me, so.. I had her stop at the top of the driveway and we loaded Dan and my stuff up and off we went. He was good getting in her slant load and getting out of her slant load. Liz had a new horse on trial. A 9 year old thoroughbred. We tied them up next to each other and they were good buddies. And then I leaned down to undo Dan's hind fly boot... like I have literally at least once a day for the entire fly season so far (which has been at least a month).... and I don't know if he was on edge from the new horse or thought I was a fly or I just surprised him, but he kicked out. He nailed me right at the edge of my arm, right at the point of my elbow. Holy Moly it hurt! I'm super lucky that he just got a glancing blow, but it still hurt bad!! And it still hurts... When I make a fist or try to lift something with my right hind, my elbow hurts. And it's achy. Ugh...  I thanked God profusely that it wasn't my face... and that he didn't break it, but... seriously horse?!?

So... we tacked up and headed out. And... Liz's horse was a good boy but didn't quite understand the creeks, so we had to hang out and wait and be a lead sometimes. And Danny was sooooo good and patient. He just hung out and didn't get upset. However, after the creek, we let Liz's horse lead and Dan jumped straight up in the air a few times. But even still, it didn't escalate and he just... bounced. :) So we let him back in the front again some.




 (So... this horse is supposedly 16.2. Dan is HUGE!!!!)

Then we did another creek and had to sit and wait again. And then we went to the XC field and let her horse play in the water there and then we left him and then we hung out while she left us. And Dan was super!! He was just a good influence. :)

So then we headed home. It was a nice long walk.