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!

Not lazy today!!

 Today was supposed to be a rainy stormy day. But.. it really wasn't. It didn't know what it wanted to do. Like me. ;) But, it did look like the rain wasn't supposed to start til around noon or 1ish, so... I took a chance and grabbed Dan after breakfast and we headed out. It was warm enough that I wore a sunshirt but there was a little breeze so I added a vest. (But then I got hot on our ride and took the vest off. Again... in January!!). 

   

We got to Ashland and I got him "tacked" up - although I did put him in the bridle today vs the bosal or the hackamore. We saw Judy and Teller so I mentioned to her that I was going to hack over to say hi to Aubrey (who I thought was already teaching in the XC field) but that would love company if she wanted to join me. She had just pulled in as I was hopping on. So I chatted with Jenn and her crew for a minute before we went to the XC field. Sadly Aubrey wasn't out that. Ha! I let Dan snack for a few minutes and then Judy showed up. The boys played a short game of bitey face. Teller likes to play as much as Dan so they were a good match. Hee hee. We hacked over to the bridge and then went up the steep hill and then down idlewhile. Dan was happy enough to be behind Teller. He's not as fast now that his stifle was broken. But then coming down the hill he kept getting rowdy. He would sling his head in the air and then bounce up or buck. Which.. fine, but when he slings his head first he knocks himself off balance. And pulls the reins out of my hands. So... no sir! Judy let me get in front but that didn't really help. I wonder if the downhill was bothering him or if he was just being rowdy? 

 

He let Teller lead again on flat ground although he would randomly toss his head and bounce the entire ride. Goober! We then went along the creek beside 138 and crossed the big creek crossing. They had another round of bitey face and then Dan was pawing and splashing in the lake and Teller was threatening to go down and roll. Hee hee, Tweedle dee and Tweedle dum! We got them moving and carried on. We headed up the nice gradual up hill stretch and I mentioned doing a little trot in twix and tween... Judy agreed so I went to pick up the trot and.. I don't know what happened.. it was like his stifle either got stuck or he stepped on a stick and rolled, but his hind end gave out, then his front end slipped and then he slung his head... I pulled him up because honestly I didn't know what was happening. We decided to not trot on the wet leaves anymore. Then Judy's husband called and said that we were about to get wet! Sure enough it did look a bit menacing off to the .... west? east? Ha! Darned if I know. So we did trot in the hay field and he felt pretty good. He was quite forward and quick but then would slam on the breaks to wait for Teller or if I tried to get him to slow down. Goober! Unfortunately Teller couldn't keep up so it was a bit of haphazard trotting. We managed to make it mostly back to the woods before it started sprinkling. Oh well. At least it's warm. And luckily it didn't do much more than sprinkle even though it sure looked like it was going to be a heavy rain. 

 

  

We untacked and loaded up pretty quick because we thought it might get bad. But then Aubrey came over to say hi, so her and I chatted for a few. It was good to see her. 

 

We got home and it was still only sprinkling. It maybe rained a little harder later on, but not terribly. And was dry for quite a good bit of the day. (well, the ground was wet but it wasn't actively raining a good chunk of the day). But I didn't ride the others. I did get my business taxes mostly done. So yay for that. And hung up my watercolor of Lyric. And took the Christmas tree out. So... I accomplished things at least. 

Lazy day

I rode the rugrat at home today, because I was running low on time. And didn't feel like hauling to Ashland. So I put the bosal on again to see if I could get better results with it. I still haven't researched it more. Doh! 

 

We hacked up to the arena and did a little bit of trotting after some warm up work. He is still tougher to turn to the right at times, but we did manage some good circles and serpentines. We also walked and trotted some poles. But man he was a slug today! I don't know if it's because it was so hot and humid and he's got his full winter coat, or if he was sore today or just bored in the arena or what. But I had to basically keep kicking to keep him trotting and even his walk was sluggish and slow. Of course Funny wasn't her usual hyper self either when I lunged her aftewards, so maybe it really was just the weather? It isn't supposed to be 70 degrees in January!! 

   

We didn't do a ton because it was hot and... there's only so much I can do until I get his vet appt done and make sure I'm not going to make him worse. But, he was pretty good overall, for a slug. :) 

 

 

  

 

Good boy sir

 Thank you for behaving like a (mostly) proper horse today and not a feral child sir! 

It was still a bit chilly but since it's lesson day, Dan had to get ridden first and at home or not at all. So, I grabbed him and we tacked up. I put the bosal on him that a client had loaned me. I was hoping it would fit. She had it on the 3rd hole so I moved it up to the 6th... Not even close. I had to go to the last hole, like 9th. ha ha! And I think it might still be too small for him. But honestly, I probably should have researched a bit more on fit before I just got on, but... whatevs! Ain't nobody got time for that! I put the bareback pad on and we headed to the pasture. I was at least smart enough to get on in the pasture and ride in the arena vs the open field at Ashland or the neighborhood until I knew how he reacted to it. 

 

I got on in the pasture and he was good. We meandered up to the arena and I had brakes. Nice brakes. So then we walked around and practiced steering in it. I did watch a video and it showed the bump and lift and release method so that's what I tried. He was tougher to turn right for whatever reason. And I did have to resort to pulling a few times. But then i played a little with a bit of neck raining and it felt like if I did a combo of neck reining and lift and release, he was pretty good. So I don't know. Hopefully I can watch some videos tomorrow. (Blogging tonight!). 

 

We picked up the trot and he felt a bit stiff, especially starting out. But yeah.. I bet you do, you big o' twit! After your shenanigans Sunday you quite honestly deserve to feel a little stiff. But we did a decent amount of trotting so I could figure out if I could steer and stop at the trot. I can. :) I really kind of think I like him in this and he seemed happy. He was licking softly a good bit. I'm not sure if it's going to work for him though because of sizing but I'll investigate more. I may still try playing with a western shank bit too because... I think he likes the "touch me then leave me alone" technique better than the constant slight feel. But ....we'll have to educate ourselves (me) more on this. 

 

Anyways... we didn't ride too long because he was a little stiff and I knew we didn't have a ton of time. He was quite good overall and even wanted to trot the raised poles once, so I let him. I managed to mostly get the hang of the bosal so.. we'll keep playing. 

 

Good pony! And Pretty sunset last night!

 

 

Well 2026... not making a good first impression

 Ooof. I'm struggling this year. Stupid hormones. I KNOW that it's mostly hormones, but I am in a funk. I'm cranky, moody, sad, and just... probably should go back to bed. But alas, I tried to work all 3 ponies today. I should have just taken Funny to Athens for Beth's grid day, but... I was trying to save money and a little worried about my truck. And parking at Beths. And honestly, I'm just cranky. I had another get together this afternoon at 2 in Athens, which was actually fun, but still.. put a damper on trying to get all the horses ridden. So I opted to sleep in, which I desperately needed, and not go to Beths. And.. it bit me in the ass. or the face.... literally. Sigh...

I got up and headed out to the arena to set up some more poles for pole work and Dan came trotting up to me all happy and chipper. So, okay, bud... you can go first. Let's go play! I know you're bored. I let him wander around the arena while I set up the Christmas tree poles and fixed the alternating raised poles I had set up before. I don't know why I cannot measure out walk and trot poles... Jeesh. So then he let me catch him and I put the equicore and cavesson on him. And then we walked the poles. And I still had to tweak them a little. Good gravy! Or maybe my horses just don't have normal strides?? ha! Anyways... then we played a little over the Christmas tree pole design. And then he wanted to trot so I tried to trot him on the lead line. And he immediately grabbed it in his mouth and took off. Twice. Sigh... so then I thought, okay, maybe I can try to lunge him without the lunge line. And when I "sent" him, he tried to eat the lunge line that wasn't there... Ridiculous creature. So then he trotted a little bit and I can't remember exactly how it all went down but maybe it was when we went the other direction, he snaked his head in to bite the lead rope that wasn't there and managed to freakin' bite me in the cheek!! The same cheek that Lyric bit. Okay... seriously guys... WHAT IS HAPPENING?!? Luckily he realized it, just like Lyric, and didn't even hurt me. I guess it was more of a lipping. ?? But grrrr. And then when I yelled at him and swung at him, he turned and bucked and kicked me in the hand. OWWW! Luckily it just spasmed my two middle fingers for a few seconds and then it was fine. It hurt but not that bad. And my hand is fine. Not even bruised or swollen. Just a little tendon in specific spots. So then... I was PISSED. Like... not cool Dan.. not cool. I understand you think this is a fun game but biting and kicking is not allowed! So then I calmly walked over and got the lunge line and the driving whip. He came right back up to me and let me clip the lunge line to him. And then he went to lunge for it with his teeth and I whopped him right in the nose! NO SIR!! You have lost those priveledges! So then he was shocked and when I asked him to lunge, he took off at the canter. Sigh... dude... not only are you cantering a tight circle, you are in the equiband. And not supposed to be cantering really too. I tried to get him to come down to a trot and he finally did. Good news though is that he looked pretty decent cantering right. So... ??? Then we tried left and same thing... cantering. Finally got a nice trot both ways and he got quite nice and even rounded himself up. Unfortunately I don't know if he actually felt good or if it was just adrenaline. We got a few nice circles and then we quit. And then I made him walk by my side and if he didn't stop when I stop he got backed up a step. And he did soften when I asked. 

Asshole!

Sigh... seriously though....like, WHY does it have to be this hard??? Ugh... So hopefully I didn't break him. Although to be honest... the effer did it to himself. Once I turned him loose from the arena, he added insult to injury and dropped and rolled in the red clay.  Because of course he did. But he did trot and canter off and was cantering on both leads. And swapping, although he was cross cantering some. But he was on the right and left leads. So... I don't know. Guess we'll see what happens at his vet visit. 

 

Good Riddance, I mean Bye to 2025

 The last sunset hack of the year