Today was a good day. I slept in a little and then had breakfast and then went on a bike ride with Mike. It was beautiful out. We hit the country roads and it was lovely! Then I had some lunch and then took Dan to Ashland. I looked at the calendar and there was a bunch of people there riding, so I decided it was probably not the smartest of days to take Lyric. Of course by the time I got there, most everyone was gone, but... I figured maybe a week day would be best. Plus then I could do some of my Cookbook homework videos with Dan.
Kelli decided to come join us, but that ended up making things complicated. HA! Not her fault... She was a little later getting there, but not so late that I had time to do anything before she got there. I took advantage of her being willing to video for me, so... I got on and warmed up. I did my pillar work on the ground (very briefly cause I knew time was short) and then got on and did it. Then I trotted. UGH. He felt AWFUL. Like... not lame.. but definitely not right. He just felt loose and sloppy and... almost like he had EPM. Ugh. So anyways, shortly after that Kelli came in the arena having gotten tacked up. She videoed us doing our pillar work and some trotting so I could see. And.. the trotting felt better the longer he went. She agreed...he didn't look super, but she couldn't see any lameness. She thought he was just weak. She said (politely) that his hiney looked weak and he looked like he was just being lazy and dragging his hind legs rather than articulating his hocks. Okay... I can live with that. We decided that if I was still feeling this crappiness more than on occasion a month from now, then I can worry. But for now... cut him some slack... let him get his strength back and then decide. Don't panic yet. Okay... I actually felt better after that. So then we did our pillar homework and good gravy he was awful! Like yanking on the reins, braced, wouldn't soften.... wouldn't back up. Sigh. I tried for a bit but just gave up. I know, I should send the bad too, but he was just awful. So then Kelli rode a tiny bit to make sure Marvin wasn't going to dump her or be too naughty because he was being a bit rude on the ground. So I did a bit more pillar homework and of course it went much better. And then I trotted again and actually slowed his tempo down and thought about rocking him back into his body, and it was MUCH better. Phew! Oh, and.... I had put him in his PS of Sweden bridle because I figured that would be a better bridle to splash in the lake in. And I put him back in the bit Kelli let me borrow but just the regular dressage cavesson. No flash. And... he was definitely more stressed today... more distracted... more fussy. But he did NOT stick his tongue out. Even without the flash. Interesting... okay... hmmmm.
So then Kelli and I went for a short hack. We basically took the woods to the lake. Dan got a sip but didn't really splash around and then we headed back through the XC field. Unfortunately Kelli didn't have much time to begin with and I took up more time than I expected in the arena. Whooops. But it was still nice.
When we got back to the trailer, I gave Kelli back her bit and decided to put his old fager bit back in and go back in the arena briefly. I took the pivo thinking maybe I could get some homework video. Plus I wanted to see if he had any tongue issues in that bit vs her bit. Although I suspect it has nothing to do with which bit and more so to do with either ulcers (being treated), pain from his stifle (in theory resolved) or just.. habit. Anyways... we went back in and he was MUCH better for our pillar homework. I did a tiny bit more trotting too, practicing pillar 1 in the trot. And we did pillar 3. Towards the very end his tongue did come out, when we were working on pillar 3. And then at the very end. I probably should have quit but I asked again and then I had to fix it. And I think I stressed him. And his tongue came out again. So twice, but... only at the very end and that was with him getting fairly stressed. So... sigh. I'm not sure what the means. I was hoping "ulcers" was the answer because... I can treat those. Sigh. Oh well. I'll keep playing with it and see. I just hate if I have to use a flash on him because... he's not usually been one to need one. And I hate "tieing his mouth shut". Sigh. I mean, his flash is never tight and it usually does the job, but... still. I'd like to be able to just ride in a regular cavesson.
Oh well. We quit on that and headed back home.
No comments:
Post a Comment