Western Pleasure Day

 

 Ugh.. today was frustrating. I probably shouldn't have ridden.. I wasn't in the best brain space. But I tried to be smart about it. I groomed Dan and he was pretty good. Then I put the bareback pad on and the western shanked bridle and decided to try to ride around the neighborhood. Maybe do some work in the tennis court field. So that's what we did. Except Tim's dogs chased us again. And Dan didn't care, but... they get so close to his heels I worry they'll start nipping and Dan will kick one. Plus the one keeps barking and it's just really annoying. Especially because the non-barky one ended up following us for a decent way. We made it to the tennis courts and I picked up the trot and Dan was pretty good. Although he still suddenly hits the brakes sometimes. I don't know if it's because I'm bareback and bouncing... because he fatigues... because he just hits his stifle wrong???? But it gets annoying. And I'm trying not to get after him, but... freakin' go!! And keep going!! Well, then he got all hollow and alert and I realized that stupid dog was lurking up by the tennis courts and Dan was all freaked out. Not enough that he was doing anything naughty but enough that I felt like if I kept trotting, he'd be hollow and bouncing me and it might escalate to shenanigans. Which... arghh!! Come on... I just want to ride my freakin' horse. I can't take him on the trails because I don't have my truck. I can't ride in my arena because he's a slug in there. Now I can't ride at the tennis court fields because of some dog who is WAY past his property.... Sooooo aggravating! And apparently I'm PMSing too I guess. So then I got mad and thought... what if we chase the dog?? Maybe we'll scare it off. Or maybe Dan will feel brave and not be "scared" anymore. Or maybe we'll just have fun practicing our "cow work" in anticipation of maybe getting to go to Aiken in two weeks for the intro to cow clinic. (sigh... that might honestly be what's bothering me... deep down, I'm frustrated because Dan has been rehabbing for... well, freakin ever... and I'm finally accepting that we'll just do this western stuff and yet, I can't even do that yet because he doesn't even feel good enough for that, and that makes me super sad...for him.... for me....). So we trot off towards the dog and the dog turns and runs, then spins back and barks, then turns and runs...  And then Dan got more freaked out and stuck his tongue over the bit. Sigh... okay... fine... I give up. Let's just go home. 

 

So we walked home and essentially "chased" the dog home. It barked at us a bunch more, and the other dog barked at us. And they got close to his hind end and I yelled at them. And Dan put his tongue back in his mouth and aside from jigging once, settled down. We got back home and headed up to the arena. 

 

Once we got to the arena I did some trotting. And he was okay. Just very behind my leg feeling and I had to keep clucking and kicking. And a few times I had to pony club kick him practically. And he felt like he was a western pleasure horse. He felt like he was  barely moving and dragging his hind end. And it's just... not fun. I tried to be positive. We practiced one handed riding and neck reining and he's actually pretty good at it for the most part. We did some shallow serpentines, some figure 8s overlapped, some circles, and some stops. Not too bad. Then I decided to see what happened if I asked for a left lead canter. And he hopped right into it and gave me a fairly respectable left lead for about 7 strides.. and then fell out of it. Okay.. no big deal. Thanks buddy. So then we did some more walking, then back to trot. Still sound! Phew! Well, "sound"... I mean he feels symmetrical but I wonder if he's just bilaterally lame. We did some leg  yield one handed, which was actaully quite decent too. Then we did some trot to walk to trot transitions. And then we trotted the alternating raised poles about 3 times. Then I trotted him to the small cross rail because he kept acting like he wanted to go towards it when we were leg yielding. And he perked up and might have even cantered the last stride to it and jumped it. He kind of landed in a heap and very quickly came back to the walk. We trotted a tiny bit more and then I got off to fix my exercises for Lyric that we had moved for the lessons. I put everything back and Dan just hung out where I left him. He did push one of my blocks around a tiny bit, but still... it's just not like Dan to be so... sane. :( It makes my heart sad because I think he really just hurts. And I've tried soooo hard and for soooo long to heal all his things... 

 

Once I got it all set back up, and I had set the three ground poles for serpentining to a raised ground pole, we tried that. And... he knocked if off a few times. And once he even rolled his foot on it and stumbled. And I'm ashamed but I got frustated. PICK UP YOUR FEET. PAY ATTENTION! It's really not that hard buddy. Just... walk! With purpose. Sigh... I got mad at him and then he got a little better with it. So then we did the side pass over the ground pole. It took him a minute but then once he got it, he did quite well. I rewarded him and didn't make him repeat it. Except, then I got back on and we trotted the alternating raised poles again and then we backed between the two blocks that I made an alley/gateway with. Then I took him over the groundpole and we sidepassed both ways. And it was only about 4 steps each way because we started in the middle of the pole instead of on the end. But he was good. GOOD BOY! All the pets and the last of the cookies. Then we headed home. 

 

I apologized to him but I don't know that it matters. I feel awful because I think he knows I'm frustrated for him... not with him.. not at him... but for him. Sigh... And then after I turned him loose, he didn't even roll. And he was pretty sweaty. So now I'm really worried. 

Spa Day (edit)

 Opted to adjust, then red light sternum and massage/red light scapula and brachial plexus. k taped trigeminal nerve and stifle sling

Energetic

 Groundwork and then rode bareback in western bit

photos: energetic

Shenanigans

 Snuck in a hack with Sharon at CE. took the truck, drove fine, but has 14 recalls!!!!

rode in bosal. good boy. kind of. started out more marchy but fell back after a bit. baylor was amped though. good ride. trotted a fair amount. was a bit rushy and on the forehand because baylor was in front and she was letting him go. in the beginning suddenly super lame behind... stopped and then he walked off. hope he just hit a rock or something. cantered a little bit on his own and even jumped the mud puddle. i have very little control in the bosal ;) then trotting and let out a HUGE Buck... feral beasty, but.. maybe he's feeling good??? 

finished with a nice soft and balanced on the hind end trot. (or at least not on the forehand). he was sweaty and had LOTS of butt foam! but warm today considering.

shockwaved his tendon sheath tonight. licks and chews. used the 35 mm probe instead of the xtrode. 

photos: 2-26 shenanigans

Zero tolerance

 in hand work

did jec's exercises for those who brace/invert

mostly a good boy. zero tolerance for chewing the lunge line. a little surprised and jumpy at times, but settled and is learning the new rules. did the head wiggle, the butt circles, the pole exercises. then opted to lunge a teeny bit... lame on left hind tracking left... walked and trotted fan but scrambled a few times because he wasn't in the right distance on the fan. whoops. grabbed the lunge line once where I missed him and took off... tried to stop him but ended up pulling the cavesson off his head. Whoops. cantered around. then let me walk up and catch him. sounder after. ??? 

then wouldn't leave the arena.. had to bribe him out. ;) after tongue selfies

sunset

photos: fire horse, motivated, happy dan

now Snow

 snow day

SUNSHINE!

 Trail ride with Sharon and Baylor

Truck mishaps... hazards... scary. BUT I'm RIDING!!! DANGIT

lovely hack with baylor, minus baylor kicking dan. 

then did a little arena work. felt good. happy in the western bridle it seems. no tongue, no fussy, no curling, but a bit more up in his posture/slightly inverted. Mostly cause he was looking for baylor. softened nicely when he was soft. did leg yield, 15 and 20 meter circles, serpentines, and a halt. 

good pony

Cowboys and cowgirls!

 Dan's western anatomic bridle came! And it ALMOST fits. I mean.. it fits.. but barely. I kind of wish I had gotten the oversize, because the crown and browband are a hair snug. But not bad. But then the cheek pieces in full are almost too long as it is. Which is soooo weird, because... it seems like Dan has a long narrow head, so.. I'm not sure why people make the cheek pieces so dang long all the time. And it's super dark brown.. almost black. But it is pretty. Although I kind of wish I had gotten the lighter brown. I'm so tempted to order another since it was such a huge discount... But.. then the stupid tariff. But... tempting. I don't know. 

 

Anyways... I put it on him tonight to check the fit and then... couldn't help myself. I hopped on! I only rode him for 9 minutes but we walked around and he steers better. We also trotted a tiny bit and he didn't curl or anything. But it wasn't a real assessment as we were just farting around in the pasture. And.. he keeps trying to eat the shanks and the reins. Ha ha! Which.. he does in everything. But... now that I'm thinking about it.. I don't think he did in the bosal. So... maybe I need to keep him in the bosal and see if I can learn how to ride better in it. I don't know if the chewing at the bit/reins is just him being a goober and wanting to put things in his mouth... like the leadrope, his blankets, my clothes, etc... or if it's an anxiety/pain thing related to a bit. You'd think he'd grab at the bosal too... and maybe he did in the beginning... but I don't really think so. So.. I don't know. We'll play around and see. Luckily I have friends willing to loan me things to try!

 

Hoping that I can get things done tomorrow and take him to Ashland for a nice long hack with Sharon!

 

bareback

 so cold, but.. did in hand work. alternating raised poles. single raised pole. pillar work. zero tolerance on eating reins.

then got on with bitless bareback. no pad. wasn't expecting to get on. no helmet either. walked around and did poles again. played with steering. better than with bosal. Or just better in general today? trotted but sluggish and not really wanting to stay in trot. sore feet? ground hard and semi frozen. sore left hind? got better at the end and did some figure 8 serpentines down whole arena.. definitely easier to change directions than in bosal. but seemed maybe like he wanted to duck behind the vertical. lack of release? or just.. coincidence. pain from left hind or stifle?

tried to side pass in hand after. decent going to the left but much unhappier going to the right. did get it and reward.

removed bandage and shockwaved. Won't ktape yet because of lube. will try thursday

I wanna play!!

 Or... I just want snacks! 

 

I was lunging Lyric in the arena today and Dan was mooching for snackies at the arena fence. He really wanted to come play. Afterwards I decided to ride Funny but told Dan that after that, we could play. 

 

Except I had to finish storm prepping. But I did manage to do a tiny bit of work with him. I grabbed the fanny pack full of hay pellets and opened the gate to the roundpen. He came in with me. I didn't even have the halter. We walked over the v poles and the two alternating poles a few times. I clicked and rewarded. We did it a few times and then we did some turn on the forehand. And then the poles a few more times. And then we were done. Because I didn't know what else to do. And technically he's still on rest after his injection. 

 

Plus I still had to drag the arena and spread the manure before this ice storm hits! But at least he got to work his brain and play. And most importantly, get snacks!

Sassy but good news

 started truck and they all ran off

let me catch him. got 3/4 the way to truck and reared up and spun and tried to run. tried a few times while i yelled at him and hung on. lifted me up a tiny bit. NO SIR! managed to hold him. shocked him! got him to trailer. 

vet visit: sound and looking fantastic right hind! Barely flexed positive and worked out of it quickly. then vet student did left hind and he looked crippled. Like.. could barely trot.. toe touching crippled. worked up the limb and got slightly better the higher we went. ultrasounded fetlock... tendon sheath effusion, mild adhesion. but suspensory looks good. phew! Injected with steroids and HA, rest 5 days, then shockwave. 

back to work after, slowly build him back up, base more on how he feels left hind vs the stifle. 

xrayed stifle - looks so much better. 

foot films - great shape. can stay barefoot behind, but left hind is slightly negative. likely from compensating for right hind. will k tape after bandage comes off to help support and support the tendon sheath too. 

yay! Left naked because... last "warm" day for a bit. And.. bad idea. sooooo filthy!

photos: filthy

video: brushing off mud/dirt

Bored Boy

 photos; Bored boy

Homeboy needs a job. ran out of time so opted to go to pasture and toss on bosal and bareback pad. climbed on auto water trough to get on and did NOT fall in. rode in pasture and he tried to sling his head and buck a few times. then went to arena. tried to work gate but just don't have the steering in the bosal. trotted a little and did some figure 8's but really not thinking the bosal will work. darn. then went down the driveway. had a minivan fly into the culdesac and then fly around and back out. Rude. then opted to hack to the lake since dan was being so good. tom's dogs (3) came out and barked and growled at us and dan was like "whatever" and carried on. GOOD BOY! Seriously good boy... like that could have been awful. then hacked past lake to tennis courts. Trotted a bit and got a nice fancy trot. then he tried to run off. did a few more circles and then headed home. got to the lake and had a car come up behind us, very slow (it was brooke!) and had two neighbors walking towards us. said hi and took him down to the lake edge to avoid the car and he went to "jump" the little dam section and turned it into a bucking spree. ha ha. mild. but still. I was pulling his head up and telling him he was a twit and trying to stay on in front of Brooke and the two neighbors! Fool! But I did. ha ha.. they were like "he's beautiful".. i was like "He's a twit!" . ha ha..  no more drama the rest of the way home. 

hopefully he gets cleared for real "work" on friday because boy needs a job!

video: jogging in arena

Charlie Elliott

 trail ride with sharon and baylor.  cantered on right lead on his own

Another "cheat" ride!

 Making lemonade out of lemons! I had scheduled a farm today and blocked off the whole day... and then, this morning, they texted and said they only had 2 horses for me. Ugh... really guys? I could have filled that slot! Or slept in. Of course in retrospect, I should have asked my first appt on Wednesday if I could have come today, but.. .I didn't think about it until after dark. Darn... because that would have made it easier to get my truck dropped off. Oh well. 

So... I went and saw the two horses. And then dropped some drugs (medications people.. medications) off at another farm. Then headed home and had lunch. And then... I took Dan to Ashland. Because I didn't get to ride him Sunday and probably won't have time tomorrow. And it's supposed to get miserable cold again. So... we enjoyed the day today. 

We had the whole farm to ourselves. I put the bareback pad on and the hackamore and off we went. It was chilly but not too bad. We tried to get some hills in. He tried to snack. I let him. We did some trotting in the fields and even in the woods and he was pretty sound and fairly forward. A few times he hit the breaks but was forward while he was trotting. 

We finished in the cross country field so we did three laps each way in the water treadmill at the trot. :) Brrr, but.. it was nice. At least the sun was still out and the wind had died down. 

Good boy! Fun day!