Well today was fun. But man, apparently I am really exhausted... like... REALLY exhausted! I chugged too much sweet tea at dinner last night so I did not sleep well at all. I did try to sleep in a bit but I still probably only managed 6 hours. I think with this heat and humidity, I'm just... so depleted. I wanted to ride one of the girls before I had to take Dan to Ashland for our show but I just couldn't make myself get up early enough.
I did get the ponies fed and ate breakfast and then got everything ready. Then I caught Dan and gave him a bath. The poor guy is going bald! I don't know if it's sunburn... but there's no peeling. It's not scurfy like rain rot. But he's losing hair in patches and chucks and his poor little butt cheek is all bald and pink now. But at least he's clean now! That baby shampoo seems to work as well as anything else in getting him clean!
We got to Ashland and I checked in and then I tacked up. Ooof, it's hot. So hot and humid. I hopped on and was about 10 minutes earlier than I had planned so we did a lap around the parking lot. It was Dan's "tour". Ha ha. He's so famous! Everyone said hi to him and told him how pretty he was. All day long he heard "Is that Dan?"! He loves it! "Yes my minions.... it is I, behold!". ha ha. Then we headed to the warm up arena and warmed up. He felt pretty darn good. I did give him 2 grams of bute this morning. We did some leg yields and some canters. He felt pretty decent but I didn't push the canter. I also purposely didn't do the turn on the forehands because I didn't want to over do it. It was hot and humid too, although there was a storm brewing so there was at least some cloud cover and an occasional breeze. We took a few breaks to let him catch his breath better.
We went in and did our first test and it was really good. Honestly, I was quite pleased with it. There were some things we could have tweaked a tiny bit but overall I was quite proud of him. Except for our final down centerline and salute. Why oh why does he insist on running down centerline for the final salute!? His entry halt and salute were so good. Goober! He was getting fatigued though because in our last canter, to the right, he lost his hind end hard and then snagged his stifle a time or two in the trot.
So since we only had two riders before our last test, I pretty much just let him stand. He was definitely hurting. He did that thing where he didn't want to walk even. Like he does when I go on the trails after a hard dressage ride. So, okay, definitely not the lack of shoes, and very likely stifle fatigue. So, we sat. I did make him walk a little bit and get out of the way. And then we sat. And then I asked him to do two turn on the forehands and then we sat. And then we walked back up to the arena. I told him that we would try but if he said Nope, then I'd just retire.
So we started around the arena and he felt pretty decent. She blew the whistle and we went in. And nailed our centerline and halt! Like.. it was great! I think we scored an 8 on it. Which we should have. And then he was really good. He tried really hard but he was sore/fatigued. Not in a noticeable way but in a flat and not loading the hind end way. He wasn't really running, but he definitely wasn't sitting and pushing and being round. But that's okay. I wasn't going to push it. He picked up both leads and held the right lead the whole long side. But he fell out of the left lead pretty quickly once we hit the straight line. We made the turn... we did our "cheat" and he was okay but then he just fell out behind. I just let him trot way too early. I didn't bother correcting it. So we scored a 4 on that movement, but I didn't care. He tried and couldn't. Our centerline was pretty rough to finish but the halt, reinback, and then trot and rehalt helped. The second halt was much better.
GOOD BOY!! Thank you for trying your heart out even when it hurt. I'm sorry I asked you to do it, and really hope that if you really didn't want to, you would have told me no. I told him he was amazing and then we chatted with Karen and Kirsten a bit. We headed back and got him untacked and then when I was hosing him some kids Dad came up and was snuggling with him. Awwww.. he really does like his cowboy job! And as much as I hate that he had to work with a sore stifle.. I think he enjoys this job. I think he likes showing and having people ooh and ahhh over him. Maybe I just only do one test from now on? Or, maybe as the osphos kicks in and he gets more support from the shoes and can get stronger, we'll be okay to do two tests?? I don't know. But it doesn't matter. I do think it's worth continuing to do the fun little local shows. Because he really does enjoy it. He's such a show off. And we can find fun hunter paces and obstacle challenges and do fun clinics. And we can still do the working eq shows too. I'll just be mindful of his stifle. And who knows... maybe at our vet visit we'll come up with another plan of something to try that will help.
He ended up scoring 65 in both tests! Good pony! Our comments were that he got a little too quick at times for his balance and that I needed to balance him better in our turns and transitions. Yep.
We headed home and I took photos and turned him out. It started raining on us when we were leaving so I kind of left in a hurry. I was also a bit fried and dehydrated and trying to wrangle him, food, my score sheets, etc. And on the drive home I was just.. not functioning well. I could hardly eat my wrap without it falling apart, which was likely because the wrap was loose, but... still. I felt very much like I was not functioning at full capacity. And then when I got home I was just exhausted. So I ended up taking a nap. And I actually slept. So yeah... I think I'm just depleted. But we had fun and I didn't feel bad until after I got off. So yay for that. Dan gets tomorrow and Monday off! And then hopefully we'll ride Tuesday and then he gets Wednesday through Monday off for sure as we'll be at the beach. Hopefully by the time we get back, he'll be fully previcoxed up again and the osphos will start making a difference.
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