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!

 

 

 

Sunday Lesson

Awesome lesson with kelly eaton

good job with neck and connection, but maybe need to start getting slightly more connected (by closing my fingers around the reins, not taking up rein length). Work on dan carrying himself. Quiet legs. no nagging. Shock and awe and then legs off. nice forward cadence with some bounce! nice soft back and topline. good job with his neck. remember, not going for feeling good yet, but reward any tendency towards good. move the shoulders with my upper body and reins (don't use my leg aids because I need to save the leg aids for other aids. keep it black and white). Can move the shoulders with a wrist turn and moving both hands inside then release back to f,d,o. 

transitions sucked, so work on those.. keep the connection through them but don't pull him back. can follow.  canter transitions especially. when cantering, in downward immediately do a 15 meter trot circle then change direction. helps balance him upright. right lead still a struggle. he looked stuck to kelli. Be empathatic. Shockwave, increase meds to treatment vs maintenance doses, and add gluc/pent/adequan. use long sides when he's stuck, and avoid circling forever. get up in two point and move out.

yay! 

then went for a 45 miute hack. also did a little bold canter in the field on right lead. Swapped to left at end - may have been terrain or may have been fatigue (but also has always preferred left lead). saw a red headed woodpecker. did some hills. picked the best path.

good boy

Ashland Random Ride

 Amy Skinner convo: Details

Trailer training with Lyric

Ashland to meet Kelli: went for hack to lake and back with kelli, then went into arnea and did immediate canter for video.. meh still, but not as bad.

then she left... i went for another random hack, then back to arena to practice homework then home

Troublemaker!

 So... I talked to Juli, Dr. Kate's rehab girl, about Dan's icky canter. She said that it's sometimes normal, especially if he was stupid in the field or we over did it. And... ha! He was potentially stupid in the field because they were running around like fools because of the tree work Friday and then Saturday when I let them out in that field. So that made me feel better. She said to see how he felt and he may need a few light days. But if he kept feeling icky to let them know and he may need a recheck. 

So on Monday I managed to sneak in a quick lunge since daylight savings time had kicked in. I took him to the arena because the footing was better after all the rain Friday and Sunday. And I took his blanket off (it was a COLD WINDY day) and just had the halter and the lunge line. We did a few minutes of pillar work and then I asked him to trot. I even put out some ground poles and we walked over those too. But the second I put him on the lunge, he grabbed it and started trotting. I managed to keep him the first time or two and just had to trot with him around the arena but the third time or so he got loose. And then he just went rogue! He started galloping around the arena like a fool! But both right and left lead canter and they looked fairly normal. But he ran so long and so hard that when I finally did catch him (like.. I don't know, at least 6 minutes or so) he was blowing!! You sir, are a brat! I decided that it was not conducive to work and so I gathered his stuff up and marched his butt down to the roundpen. Worse footing be darned, you are going to have to work properly! By the time we got down there he had stopped blowing and puffing so we went to work. He managed to trot like a normal boy. He did grab the lead rope a few times but because he was contained, it didn't really matter. And then he got bored with it. ha ha. Yep, it's not fun when you can't act the fool! He was a bit tipped/leaning but we managed to get him more upright again. We did a canter both ways and ... it's not lovely, but it doesn't look quite as bad as it felt, so.. maybe?! I didn't do much since he had worn himself out! 

  

So then Tuesday I snuck in a ride at home. We had trailer training with Lyric and by the time we finished I wanted some lunch and by then.. it was late enough that despite desperately wanting to go to Ashland for a nice long hack, I decided I should ride at home. I still had to go pick up hay 30 minutes away and load/unload it. So I rode at home. 

I opted to try the thorowgood on him. He seemed okay with it. But yeah, he also needs a shorter girth. The 56 is doable but it's super high and the teeniest bit loose still. We did a long warm up with our 10 meter figure 8.. then we did some figure 8 serpentines/riddling. Then we did our Kelly Eaton homework with getting him reaching forward, down and out, but on the bit. He was good. Then we trotted and same thing. We did our homework. Then we cantered. And.. the first right lead canter felt awful again but the second and third one wasn't as bad. It even got almost normal by the end. The left lead felt pretty good. And we got some good stretching too. It was a short ride but I figured given the fact that he was a fool yesterday and the canter was still a bit icky, a lighter ride was better. Plus I wanted to do the neighborhood hack because.. I feel like his fitness is lacking (obviously ... puffy mypuffandpantface). And I feel like some good 2 hour long walks would be good for him too. Which, we can't do 2 hours in the neighborhood, but we can do the 1.6 miles. So we did. We hacked to the tennis courts and said hi to Jean and her crew. They were heading in and invited us, but Dan and I wanted to keep going. We turned left and as we were heading the curve by the 1080 house Dan saw some dogs and then Brookes horses and got all snorty and scared. And pooped right smack in the middle of the road. Dude... So I had to get off and I kicked it all over to the side. It was messy but at least it wasn't a huge poop pile. Luckily there was a little bit of a ditch that I could park him in so I could get back on. He was still nervous until we got to Brookes house and then he settled a bit again. We hacked back and I tried to keep him in pillar 1, on contact, and reaching forward, down and out the whole way. It didn't work, as he was tense, but we tried. 

 

 

Then today I managed to have a short quick few minutes between work so I took him to the arena and we did pillar work. No lunging! ha ha! Not falling for that again sir! We also did the poles again. I probably only did about 15 minutes max of pillar work, but I felt like that needed to be done. And then tonight he got the bemer!

ha ha.. Remember I said it was cold? Well, apparently it wasn't that cold and Dan felt the need to roll. Why he's mad at me??? I have no idea. I didn't make you get filthy buddy! ha ha. 

Oh no!

 MANNNNN...... this has just not been a great week. Today the weather was quite nice so I met Kelli at Ashland for a ride. Dan got to get a "happy meal" as we stopped and got hay on the way to Ashland. ;)

 

I decided to just ride in the PH saddle instead of the thorowgood because I didn't want to deal with putting the stirrups on and making sure it fit. Which, I'm glad I didn't because then I might have blamed the saddle. Anyways, we got on and did our walk warm up. He was kind of sluggish. But we got some good work and we did our Kelly homework. Then we did our trots. Same thing. Good boy but a bit lazy. Not as good of a ride as recently though. Which... sigh. Oh well. 

 

So then we picked up the left lead canter and he was so lazy so I "galloped" him down the long side. He did it and we had an okay canter. He's not wanting to reach as much but.. fair. But then I went right. Sigh. NOOOOOOOO!!! It wasn't terrible, but it was disunited feeling again. And felt like he was kicking me with his hind leg, but not in a good way. But at least he was on the right lead on all four legs. Sigh. He also kept falling out of it. Noooooo... I was so enjoying having him feel good and being happy again. Kelli watched and had me turn my belly button to the inside (which I sort of feel like that's how it's already facing, but.. my hips aren't, so I turned both my hips and my belly button in to the inside). It helped a little. It still feels icky but not quite as bad. Sigh.. So then we did a tiny bit more walk work. Then I backed him up (Like Kim had) and tried again. Better still, but still not lovely. Sigh. I got a nice trot and then quit. 

 

Kelli and I chatted for a bit. She said she thought Dan just looked weak and perhaps he was just sore from being ridden after having so much time off. Even though he's been lunging for a month, it's still different. Maybe. She said he just looked weak and out of shape. I hope. He did seem unhappy when I was messing with the cranial portion of his scapula, so maybe he really needs the shockwave again. 

 

So then we went for a hack. And he was a total slug on the trails. Like dragging slow! And kept stopping to stare and listen. (which, there was a lot going on at Ashland with lots of people out on the trails). We went to the lake and he had a little splash. But he did splash with both feet, so yay. Then we meandered back home and headed home. 

So yeah... a little depressing again. But.. a beautiful day and I was on my pony! We did enjoy each others company!

Good Ride!

 I love this horse! And I'm oh so grateful to be back on him again, and have him feeling so good!! He's just so much fun to ride. 

We hacked up to the arena and headed in. We did a long bit of walk warm up, working on our forward, down and out but not cheating by bracing. He didn't get as low as Kelly wanted or even as low as I got him in my lesson, but he was staying soft and straight for most of the time. We went both ways and even did a little bit of serpentines. I also did some of my Equitopia riding - ride to the loose, soften the heavy rein and their exercises for helping creating even contact. Then we did some trotting and he was pretty good. He was much less likely to go behind the vertical today! He stayed more out in front. Yay! And we got a soft quiet mouth with a little bit of nice chewing. No chomping. 

 

We did our canters too and they were actually pretty nice. The right lead was harder to get him to stretch down into it but I did. I had to ask with the outside rein. But he was great! We got a lot of really nice steps. We did two canters each way I think and I only asked a hair longer than he was giving me and then I let him fall out of it. Then we went back to our trotting and he was so forward! But, I don't think it was forward as an evasion, because it was a nice forward! Not a running forward. And he even broke into the trot or canter on his own a time or two. He just genuinely seemed happy and wanting to do things. We got a nice trot and then I asked him to bring it down a notch or two to make sure that he wasn't evading. We went back to our more slow and controlled trot and then we went do our controlled walk. Not our western pleasure walk or trot.. because he was not having that today! And really, not even our economy trot, but.. still a better more balanced slower trot. And then we got a good walk and then we called it quits!

Good job buddy! We rode back through the pasture! I was tempted to take him in the neighborhood, but... with the weather rolling in I decided I'd rather make sure I had time to ride Lyric too. So he got to go back out. After cookies of course!

 

And look how handsome he looks in his new green jump pad! I've been eying it since before Christmas and it finally went on sale for $40. :) Worth it!