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!
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