Hope restored

 So.... I was a little bit in a dark place the other day. I was so bummed about Dan's hitch still being present and I was so bummed because all of everyone on facebook is showing and jumping and cross country schooling... and we're still broken. And don't get me wrong. I do adore trail riding and Dan and I are having a blast. BUT... I finally have an arena of my own... and it's been so long, I just wanted to do things... dressage things! And think about going to a show... and I still really want my bronze! So.. I was struggling. Then you add in the fact that the first shockwave didn't help. And while I know it's not an immediate thing... I was still hoping it would have helped more. And then I started second guessing the lameness... and feeling like I needed to do an MRI because maybe it is in the foot. And... so yeah. I was just sad. But... today!!! Today I have hope again! And funny enough, today was a rainy miserable wet cold day. :) But it was a good day.

I met Kelli and Marvin at a friends for a lesson. Luckily said friend has a covered arena. And I hopped on Dan and warmed him up and then when we were ready... she asked me what was going on. So I told her. She watched us go and he was lame. Not much better when I put him together, but maybe a little bit. So, she got on. And she started riding him and feeling him and....  she nailed it. And I'm a little ashamed because it's the same damn thing every one has been saying for years... but I just couldn't figure out what they were saying. She was able to explain it in a way that made it make enough sense in my head, that I'm able to over-ride my brain and body and do it right. Some of the time. Which is a start! But as she rode him longer and longer, he got sounder and sounder and holy moly if he didn't start floating and swinging and lofting! She did some leg yielding that looked amazing!! 

So... she basically explained that he is dumping onto his right shoulder, which is not going to help keep him sound. Right... got that... But she explained how to fix it, and again, not any differently than what anyone else has said, but my brain kept fighting it. Until she said... he has to move his barrel. She then basically got on all fours and showed me what his body was doing. He's constantly got his head to the right, his body is tipped to the right, thus dumping onto his right shoulder, BUT... his barrel is shoved left. He's bent in a Right C shape in his body. His right barrel and body can't elongate. Okay, so THAT makes me brain understand and cooperate with the fix. Which is... getting his left shoulder stronger so that he can carry himself evenly and getting his left barrel over. 

Tracking Right:

• Ride him very straight out of his neck and withers
• Almost (or actually) counter flex him to keep him straight and stand him up onto that left shoulder
• leg yield on the rail with slight flexion to the rail
• progress to shoulder fore/in to the rail (so counter shoulder in)
• haunches in (travers)
• Ride him into the left rein
• square turns

Tracking Left:

• leg yield him on the circle (almost leg yield him out the entire way)
• push his hind quarters out
• hold the outside with the outside leg, but softly, using my thigh to keep his shoulder from flinging out
• ride him straight out of his neck and withers

Hopefully I haven't already confused myself. :) She was very complimentary of him and said that he had all the buttons... I just needed to not get sucked in and ride him straight! *DAY MADE*.... because I made him. :) With help... but I did that. :) :) And he was a good boy for her. He tried. He said no at first... but then he tried. :) So.... when I got back on, it was a struggle, but.. it was cool to feel the difference and the fact that because I finally understood the mechanics of it... I could argue my brain and body out of the bad habits to try to fix it which were unsuccessful. 

So yep.. hope restored! Hopefully we can fix this and get my boy feeling good in his body again! Hopefully his stifle will hold up. :) 

And we gallop!

 Today was a fun day. Mike and I spent the morning moving some of the jumps out of the way of the arena and dragging it. Then Mike hung out in the shade and watched me and Dan ride. Sigh.. he's still lame though. Poo. We did some trotting and some leg yielding. And then I decided we could canter. It's been long enough and we've basically done a week of 12 minutes of trotting, which was the prerequisite. So.. we did. Just a little bit. And it was awesome!! He picked up the canter from the walk both ways very nicely! Not perfect, but quite nice considering it's been... oh, since April!

After I took Dan on the loop around the neighborhood. I forgot to time it exactly but I think the loop around the 1080 house of Jean's is almost a mile. So we walked there.. then trotted the loop. Only Dan turned it into a power trot and I had to duck and weave around some of the lower hanging branches and such. We stopped for a few photo ops. :) Then, we hit the last little section so I let him canter. Except he took off like a bullet and squirted off! Which was fun! But we came to the end a LOT quicker than either of us expected and turned quick.... but slid out a little behind in those slide plates! eeeks! I managed to get him back and then we walked back home. :) 

Sunflowers!! on a rainy day

 Today we went to Fausset Farms to ride in the sunflowers!! Only, it didn't quite pan out like that. ;) We tried to go on a weekday but today (Saturday) was the only day Cindy and I could coordinate. So... I picked up Indi and Missy, much to Dan's delight, and we met Cindy and Sally there. Our timing was epic! We all arrived pretty much within 3 minutes of each other. :) HA! Unfortunately, so did most of Georgia... so many people showed up to tour the sunflowers on foot. And add in the massive amounts of rain.... it wasn't the best trip. Let me rephrase that... it was still a great time! Just not exactly what we had thought it would be. We managed to get parked amongst all the people without getting caught in the mud. I was soooo glad to have four wheel drive! YAY! So we started off and all of the horses were so good! There was a lot of people, a lot of kids, and a lot of stuff. So we crossed the creek and started down the path. It was the only path I saw.... and it said loop 1, so.. that's where I went. I didn't want to cross that highway because it was SOOOOO busy with all the people coming and going. So... that's where we went. And it was pretty much straight up! Very very steep. Which was totally fine, except.. it was super slippery. And the other ponies were a little less fit than Dan, so.... we decided to try to loop back down and do that flat loop around the sunflowers rather than continuing into the mountain. So back down we went... and we tried to strike a pose with the sunflowers but they were all facing the opposite direction and there were so many people... so we kept going after snapping a few shots. 

Unfortunately even the flatter trails were still on a bit of an incline and Dan kept slipping and sliding. But we managed to get in 4 miles and there was more flat ground once we got past the big sunflower field. And we managed to get a few sunflower shots. :) Overall... it was a super fun day. It was great to hang out with Missy and Cindy and Sally. Dan had a blast with his bestie and his other new friends and he even managed to behave himself not being in front. :) 

Frustrating Ride

ARGH!!!!

I've head a headache for days it seems and I can't get my neck to stop aching. So that's adding to my stress. Today I got up early to ride before Logan came to shockwave Dan and do their coggins. Which was great, as it's going to rain. It was a pretty morning, so I fed the horses. And then the dogs didn't cooperate and they are still escaping. So I'll have to figure out how to fix their pen soon. So I got on Dan and rode him in the pasture up to the arena. I figured that Fleck would follow us and then he wouldn't be screaming and then Mike wouldn't be annoyed. Except... they are doing work at Jeans... and the boys were distracted by that. So Dan was on edge and Fleck was on edge. So I finally get on and get up to the arena and now... they have this schreeching beeping annoying noise that is driving us all bananas.. and they are chainsawing down tree limbs and moving them. So Dan is freaking out! Like heart pounding out of his chest freaking out. And Fleck leaves us and heads back to his stall. Sigh... I managed to get back on Dan but we then spent the next 15 minutes spinning in circles, threatening to bolt, backing up, etc. All things that are not conducive to keeping him sound. Especially as that corner of the arena is deep. I got so frustrated. Fleck abandoned us and is probably screaming down at the barn, which is probably pissing Mike off. So... the guys finally quit with the chainsaw and the dumpster truck left, which stopped that terrible beep. And Jean's horses came up, so Dan finally settled enough to walk and trot. And... really, I just wanted to see if he was sound with the saddle BEFORE we did the shockwave to make sure that I could differentiate between saddle and shockwave. So... argh!! Finally I managed to get him breathing enough that we could trot and I could tell. And... still hitchy. :( Sadness.... so much sadness. So we beebopped around and trotted and did some serpentines. Then Jean showed up and we chatted a bit. So then I was finally able to get the last little bit of trotting in and then I headed back to the barn. Meanwhile I can hear Fleck screaming and the dogs barking. Sigh... I finally get Dan hosed off and Mike is talking to Jean and Jeremy in the drive... then Logan shows up. So... we got Coggins done and got Dan shocked....  and Logan is loud, so I'm worrying about Mike then too. Meanwhile Cindy is texting me and Kelli is messaging me and I'm trying to talk to Logan. So finally... Cindy shows up and Logan leaves... so then I'm talking to Cindy and gave her the tour. Good grief! Meanwhile, my head is still killing me and the whole time Emma is barking and being annoying. Which is not helping my crankyness. BUT.... what did help my crankyness was Cindy coming by.... being a good friend... getting to see Logan again and chat with him... and getting Dan treated. And now... getting to take a head pill. And now it's raining too so maybe that will help my head. 

All the Feelings....

 But mostly good ones!!!! Oh, so many good ones :) :) :)

I met Jean this morning and she took me on a tour. And Cindy had brought me an innovation to try to see if the different head plate helped Dan's hitchyness. (That hideous orange one, but I'm grateful for the option to try it!). Anyways... it's comfy! We rode down the road, past the lake and then to her A frame house. She showed me the path around it. It's a nice little stretch around the 16 acres and it goes along the lake some too. It's soooo pretty! She told me I could ride it anytime. :) It'll be a great little conditioning track. Dan was fired up and bouncy because she was in the lead but he mostly held it together. Towards the end she wanted to trot and that meant that Dan bucked/bounced/cantered/leapt... but... oh well. We also trotted over a small log that he jumped! YAY!!!! Man it felt good. Technically we're still at 9 minutes, but quite frankly... the last 3 rides have been 11 minutes, so.. oh well. So then we got back to the farm and she went to go work so I took Dan up to the arena to play a little. Clearly he had some steam he had to let off!

We got up to the arena and of course he wasn't nearly as bouncy but that's ok. We walked around a bit. The footing is a bit deep, but not too bad. So we walked a bit and then trotted and... he felt great. Like... really great! Like.. no lame steps.. no hitchyness. We even did some serpentines and smaller circles to test it out!! I even cheated and cantered a circle or two each way. It was amazing! Ahhhh.... I'm so excited about his comeback. He felt soooo good!! Yay!

So then I get back to the house and Mike is cranky because the internet sucks and Fleck was screaming the whole time we were gone and he was trying to work and his employees suck. Sigh... And the appraisal came back on the farm.... under asking price. Why does this keep happening to us??? Luckily not by a ton, so maybe they'll come down or we can figure something out. Because I really do love it here. So I unpacked the barn storage room a bit and got it a little bit more organized and then Mike was in a better mood and then we went to the tennis courts and played tennis. It was really fun. I really enjoyed it. So hopefully that will help him like this place more. And.. did I mention the weather was PERFECT!!! Chilly and cool but with warm sun and beautiful blue skies and fluffy white clouds. We were warm playing tennis but didn't sweat and just a teeny bit chilly on the walk back. So overall, an amazing day!! Which finished with a lovely view before sunset.