More Canter Work

 rode at home before Mom came to visit

lovely weather

lovely ride

tried very hard. either just weak at cantering without bracing, or something is wrong as he still keeps falling out of the canter, but... making some progress. Equitracks had a bug so sadly no idea, but suspect 5ish minutes of canter at least. 

got happy at the end and a bit animated, so played with some more cadenced slower trot... wanted to show off

good pony. 

rode in the new wow girth. i like it. no pressure. but not sure i saw a big difference under saddle yet. so w'ell see

Working on our fitness

 Well, despite really wanting to go to Ashland and do a long fitness hack... where we can do trot sets and canter sets without having him doing endless circles... we had to ride at home today. Oh well. But... we CAN ride at home!!! Even after all that rain. I have an arena!!! And it's lovely!!! So.. hard to complain. 

We walked up to the arena and did a lap each way of pillar work. Then I put out some ground poles and got on. We did our warm up and focused on our long stretched forward and out neck. Then we trotted and got some nice work. Then we cantered, a bit earlier on in the ride than I would have. And it was... acceptable. It's not a lovely canter yet... and he can't hold it for long. It's almost seems like he can't hold it unless he's bracing and since I'm focusing so hard on not letting him brace, he can only hold it for so long. But that's okay. I tried to help him enough without holding him or letting him hang... and then when he falls out of it, it's okay. I don't get after him. I just tell him he's a good boy and give him a minute and ask again. Or at least I tried to. Maybe once or twice I subconsciously got after him to keep the canter as he was falling out, but I tried hard not to. And at least he's getting the right lead still and he's holding it and it doesn't feel like he's 4 beating anymore. It just feels weak, but it doesn't feel awful. So then we went back to trotting and then back to canter... and then back to trot and then walk and then back to canter. Basically, I tried to do more canter. Even if he can't hold it for very long, hopefully he can do it more often. We also played with some lateral work. Just a tiny bit. Haunches in is so easy but shoulders in is much harder. Probably because it's harder for my body. But he was a super good boy and trying very hard. And we walked and trotted the 3 poles on the ground with very little bracing. Yahoo!! Poor guy was puffing a little when we finished! But it's also pretty warm out and he's not freshly clipped and... yeah, basically he's out of shape! 

It was a good ride though. We hacked back home through the pasture and I thought about trying to do a canter in the field but it had rained so much I figured it wasn't a good idea. And, we ended up getting 5 minutes of canter total, which is about twice what we had been getting, so yay!

He also got adjusted, acupunctured, k-taped and played with surefoot pads Sunday. The awesome part was that he was not sore on scan anymore! But he did have some reactivity in his hock points and there was a lot to adjust. I got a ton of releases though and especially with electroacupuncture and K-taping. He was yawning up a storm. Hopefully we'll get the bemer back soon and then maybe I can get Peri back out to pemf him. 

Snuck it in!!!

 Thank you God for hearing my prayers and showing me you love me by letting me get my horse fix in. :) 

 

After this week of not riding and my rides I got not going great, I just desperately wanted to ride! And was looking forward to today. A day to ride! But then on Friday the forecast changed to show rain ALL DAY today. Like... all day. And storms. Potentially hail and lightning. Ugh. On Friday I worked in the mountains, which was glorious! And in theory I made it home with enough time to sneak a ride in but Mike's friends were visiting, so... I was good and fed ponies and then went to dinner with Mike and them. Sigh. And then Saturday was a day with them. I sort of hoped I could sneak a ride in but wasn't sure. And of course they opted to go to the racetrack. The car racetrack. Soooooo not my idea of fun. Loud, fumes, and... watching cars drive in circles. Yeah... so not my idea of a good time. And Mike sort of hinted that maybe I didn't have to go. BUT... I dug in and went. I was a good wife. Especially since Mike had spent the whole day cleaning the house and was irritated. And, I'm actually glad I went. It was kind of fun. Sure, not as fun as something horsey, but... for a non-horsey thing, it was kind of fun. Once I got earplugs, cause holy moly was that loud! But it was kind of neat. Then we stopped for ice cream on the way home. I was itching to get home too. Ha ha. Oh well. We finally did and it was like 5 pm and since we had just gotten ice cream..... we weren't ready for dinner. So I asked if I could go ride and Mike said I could. YAY!!!!

 

I grabbed Danny and man was he dirty! Covered in red clay. But yay.. because for a day or two he had stayed so clean I thought he may be too sore to roll or something. He just never stays clean. So phew! We tacked up and headed up to the arena on foot. I made him do his psoas stretch and then we did a lap of pillars. Then we backed up a little. Then I got on. Oh, but I did put his right hind bell boot on for proprioception. 

 

He started out a bit bracey. Partly because he was sluggish and I was trying to not nag him but consequentially I had to bop him a few times so he would hollow every time I bopped him. But within 10 minutes he was relaxing and reaching for the bit and carrying himself without me nagging. Yay! We did our homework and then we trotted and did our homework trotting. He actually felt pretty good! He was nice and forward and felt pretty swingy. Whoo hooo! So then we cantered. And it was better already. The left lead felt a bit worse but not bad at all and the right lead felt better from the start. I made sure that my body was moving and my hips weren't locking up or blocking him. And he felt a bit stuck in his ribcage or lower back, so I made sure that he was yielding his barrel and changed my position a little to give his right hind room to go somewhere and it got better! We also went back to the trot and did some shoulder fore and haunches in to help. And then I tried Cindy's trick of trotting with one foot in the stirrup and one foot out of the stirrup. I made it the short side and half of the long side, then switched legs and made it about that same distance. Then I did half a long side of no stirrups. Dang that's hard. Then we went back to the canter and it was almost normal! Yay! Still weak and he still can't hold it long. I really feel like I need to start asking for more than 3 minutes of canter per ride, but it's hard to do. I don't want to overdo it. But baby steps. 

 

So then we did a bit more trotting and at this point, Mike and his friends were flying the drone. And it was high up but Dan was starting to notice it so... we were losing our softness, so I called it quits. We really didn't need to accomplish anything else anyways. Because... ahhhhhh, I felt so much better!

 

So now.. it's okay if it does rain ALL day. Maybe I can get them adjusted and acupunctured?? Or maybe they'll just be soaking wet all day and I can sit on the couch and get some work done on his book! 

 

 

T-Rex hilarity

 GVS

Celeste's post

Ariats surfboard ad

Dan's famous as his T-rex ridden self

Frustrations... and redemption.... also... SPRINKLER ATTACK

 This week has been frustrating! I've been trying to be a good wife and make wise life choices and balance better. So on Monday I had the morning off but it was SOOOOO cold and Jonathan was here doing tree work so the giant bulldozer was moving trees and there was a fire going in the pasture to burn them all. And... I was two weeks behind on invoices so... I opted to just do paperwork and chores. Then I had to work. And when I was finishing and heading home, Mike texted that he was getting his hair cut in Loganville and we could meet for dinner at Ruby Tuesdays if I wanted. And.. I was in Oxford, so... seemed like a good choice. Although I was tempted to go home for the last bit of sunlight to practice trailering with Lyric or do pillars with Dan. But I opted to be a good wife. By the time we got home it was dark. Then Tuesday I had Logan come at 8:30 to shockwave Dan's shoulders and neck base. So we got that done. Hopefully that will help the canter stickiness. And then as soon as he was done, Sara showed up to do their feet. Which was sort of nice that Dan was still sedated from his shockwave for. She said his feet looked good so we pulled his pads off. By the time Sara finished with all four of them it was almost 4 pm. And I had planned to take Lyric to Turnip Ranch to do our first trailering outing so... no time for Dan. Because it was pretty much dark by the time we got back. Then on Wednesday, I only had to work in the morning, but then Dr. Febles came to do their teeth. I probably could have snuck in a quick ride had I known exactly when she was coming, but I didn't. But oh well. Luckily she was SUPER and used her knee pads so we didn't have to crank on his neck. Phew! She said his teeth looked good and that his slant in his incisors was dramatically improved since the last visit which means we're getting a handle on his hind end lameness! Yay! So then.. she finished right at 5ish and Mike wanted to go get ice cream and maybe dinner on the bike, so.... since they were all drunk I figured I'd be a good wife and do that. So... no riding again today. 

 

 

So then today... today I thought my mom was coming to visit, but it's not til next week! Whooo hooo! And it was a glorious day! Hot actually. And I had the whole day free!!! My plan was to trailer Lyric to Ashland to ride with Kelli and then come back and get Funny and Danny and pony Funny for a long hack and then let her sit in the trailer while I rode Dan in the arena to check his canter. Kelli originally said she had to leave by 1:30 to clip a horse, so the plan was going to work. Well then the horse cancelled so she said she'd prefer after lunch. Sigh... which meant I sort of had to flip flop my plans. And then she called so we could talk and we ended up talking about Marvin for awhile so... I realized suddenly I needed to get a move on if I wanted to hack the ponies and still meet her after lunch so she could get home for dinner! 

 

So... I got to Ashland a little after 11 and when I dropped the ramp Dan was leaning hard on the butt bar and was acting a little pushy. I thought he was just being a turd so I spanked him and unloaded him. Then I realized he was freaking out. The other trailer mentioned that there was going to be loud noises from the jump arena and I turned and saw the sprinklers. OOOOHHHHHHHH.... By that point Dan had too and was pulling his lead line through the blocker tie. Jeesh. I managed to get Funny off and her tied up and tried to retie him. And he was so upset. So I thought, well maybe if he can see it... because he was acting like he wanted to go investigate. So I took them both up there. He was rushing past me and snorting at the same time. We got up there and he stopped and stared and we just sat there. Then he got all jumpy and started trying to run in circles. Sigh. Lucy walked over and offered to hold one, but.. Funny was being a bit silly too and I was afraid she would be rude to Lucy. So I declined. But then they got worse.. and then somehow Dan got enough lead rope that he got momentum and I couldn't hold him and he got loose. Argh! He went galloping down in front of the backside of the arenas towards XC, then looked like he turned to go back toward the trailers, but then we lost him. Lucy went to her car and I was handling Funny, who was spinning and calling and dancing. I had to smack her in the face a few times to get her to stop running me over. We headed back towards the trailers thinking he was going there. Nope. Sigh... I headed to the gray barn and texted Lucy to see if she had seen him. Luckily Funny settled pretty quickly although she was on high alert. We got to the gray barn and Angela came out and told me she had Dan. Phew! I texted Lucy and told her. Angela said he came galloping up and stopped. She walked towards him and he thought about turning and running but she was like "Dann" and he was like "oh thank goodness you know me.. yes, you can save me". Ha ha. So she put him in a stall and came to find me. Lucy walked back up then and I apologized profusely. She said that she had made a note on the calendar and noticed that of course I was the only one who signed up shortly after to come at that time. She said she should have called me but I told her no.. it wasn't her responsibility! She should be able to do her farm maintenance without worrying about me! I felt so bad. She said that the sprinklers were off and were staying off. I felt soooo bad. So we hiked back to the trailer and Dan was still quite jumpy. 

I debated going home but figured since I was here, maybe he would settle once we left the general area. He was pouring sweat. Literally pouring sweat! It was dripping down his armpits, down his face and down his butt cheeks. So I just... brushed off the top of him and tacked him up. I did groom Funny though and check all their feet. 

We headed off and Dan was jiggy and on his tippy toes! But I managed to keep him at a walk most of the time. He settled into a fast tense walk, but at least he stopped jigging. Meanwhile Funny was bee bopping along like it was no big deal. hee hee. We power walked all around and Dan really never took a breath. Finally.. in the XC field he softened his neck a little bit and relaxed a tiny bit but was still never really at ease. Oh well. Sigh... 

   

 

We managed to get back to the trailer and untacked. He was still convinced they were up there, just waiting to ambush him. Somehow I managed to get them both hosed off and not entirely soak myself. Then I managed to get them both loaded and we headed home. Poor guy was STILL upset at home and still on edge. I turned them out and went in to make a sandwich. After I decided that I would still go meet Kelli although now it would be 3 pm instead of 1:30 pm, but... she was kind about it. When I went out to grab Lyric Dan was watching me with his ears pricked and then even trotted to me and was all snuggly and sweet. I hugged his face and told him that I knew he was sorry he was a twit and that I was sorry I scared him and wasn't more empathatic about the terrible sprinkler monsters.   

Then after I rode Lyric. Which, went well with loading and being there but she was lame.... so.. I was just so sad. Like... this has been a tough week. I can't ride tomorrow because of work and I can't ride Saturday because Mike's friends are coming to visit and I just wanted to ride my horse! And I did. And I'm grateful, but... today was just WAY harder than it needed to be. And I just wanted a nice happy productive ride. So... screw it... let's ride again Dan. I really wanted to see how his canter felt after the shockwave too. 

So... I grabbed him and tacked him up and we hacked up through the pasture to the arena. We did our homework - the long neck on light contact, keeping him moving, shock and awe so you carry yourself, and our figure 8's. He took a minute or two but he settled into it and we got a nice walk. Then we trotted, while working on our transitions which are much improved! And he was good in the trot too. He felt quite nice. So then we cantered. The right lead still feels kind of icky and stuck. Ugh. I played with it a bit and it got a hair better but still not great. So then we went back to the trot and did some shoulder in, some haunches in, and some leg yield... trying to unlock his hind end and back. And we backed up a little bit. And I think it helped. We cantered again and.. it was slightly better. So we did a little bit more and got an even better canter and then called it quits. I did let him "lengthen" down centerline as his reward but he's definitely not pushing. Darn.. maybe he does need his hocks done? But.. why!? Maybe I need to adjust him again or get more fascial work or... ?? 

    

Good pony though. Thank you for humoring me. I feel immensely better now!