#ireallyneededtofly

So... I've been super blue lately... Fleck is still lame and not improving. Danny was on and off lame and now I'm worried it's not an abscess. Roany's not eating well. I've been so busy working and don't get to see Mike. I don't have time to ride, and even if I did... no pony. And life was just getting me down. 

 

 
My lesson was supposed to be this morning but I cancelled and then it was supposed to storm. I thought about riding anyways, but ended up moving my appointments around to avoid the rain mostly. And it worked. But.. it also meant that the stars aligned. I think God took pity on me. I finished my appointments and the rain stopped and the skies cleared. It was beautiful out. So I loaded Dan up and off we went. 

AHHHHHHH.... I so so so needed that. Thank you God! I'm feeling much more like my normal self again. We had a blast!!

I put on the dressage saddle and we had a nice flat session. He was really quite nice. I worked on keeping a better connection and he was pretty forward and happy. :) So then we went for a quick hack to enjoy the gorgeousness of the day. We had a nice little canter to the lake and played for a minute in the lake. :)
Happy Canter 
It was unreal how pretty it was today!! Seriously!
 


So then we headed back up to the field and Danny had lots of snacks. :) I decided to trot down the bank and felt the shenanigans welling up. So I walked him down the bank. And then he landed in a canter, put his head down and bolted up the hill. Hee hee.. Keep in mind, I'm in my dressage saddle with long stirrups, I had slipped the reins, and... just giggling up a storm! hee hee. I couldn't even get mad. It did take me to the top of the hill to get him stopped. So then we tried a polite trot and canter again and... of course, while it started polite, we ended up going for another gallop. Wheeeee!!! It's bad because I want to be as naughty as he does. So then we finally did trot nicely up the hill and then we had a nice little trot at the top of the hill and then we headed back home. It was so hard to go in. It was so pretty out and Danny felt great. It was hard not to go for another few laps. But... duty calls.
 
Then he was a goof back at the trailer. Man... I love the Danimal and his shenanigans. :) 


Thanks to God for blessing me with such a beautiful day, such a beautiful punky soul, and giving me back my optimism and hope. :) 

Goofy Boy... nom nom nom 

 

Abscess??

 So.... I've been super stressed with work and super busy. On Saturday I had to adjust two dogs at the house and then was able to go ride. But it was a little rainy out so I was debating. Kelli had already left so I decided to go before the rain hit really hard and rushed to meet Kelli. When I loaded Dan up I thought he looked iffy in the right hind and he was cocking it up. But... we loaded up anyways and headed to Ashland. Right as I got there it started raining heavily so we sat in the trailer for a minute. It passed quickly and we were able to get on and only deal with a damp mist. I got a few minutes of walking in and then picked up the trot. And Danny was dead lame!! Like seriously flat tire lame. What?!?! I got off and checked. It seemed like an abscess. So.... all that effort and getting wet for nothing. I'm not going to lie... I went home and pouted and took a nap. Sigh....

So then Monday night I tried lunging him quickly and he was still pretty funky looking, so I didn't do my lesson Tuesday. I was supposed to have a lesson with Kelly on Thursday, but... decided to cancel it too. Because, he hadn't blown an abscess so I figured he'd either be lame still, be sound and go lame halfway through, or it's not an abscess and I shouldn't be riding til I figured it out. And it was supposed to storm. 

So after I told Kelly I was cancelling.... I ended up getting a few minutes to sneak in a ride between patients, so I hopped at the chance. Peri and Kelli were just finishing their ride when I got there, so I hopped on. Peri watched me for a few minutes and he was sound at the trot, even in a circle. So yay!! Maybe he did blow an abscess! It smelt a little funky Monday night. 

We had a good ride. We hacked out and did some walking and trotting. Then we got up to the twix and tween trails and after crossing the creek, we picked up the trot again. And he was lame again!! What?!?! Not nearly as bad as Sat, but still pretty blatantly obvious. Sigh. So we walked back to the dam. And I tried trotting again to see if I could figure out for sure if it was the right hind. And.. .he was sound. ??? So we splashed in the lake a bit and then hit the woods. He was still sound and wanted to canter so we did. And then when we trotted again he was still sound. :) I cut my ride fairly short, for his sake and times sake, but did take him to the ring and lunged him so I could see. He was sound and even both directions but it looked like his pelvis was canted to the right. So... maybe he was protecting something. ???

Growing up

We had a great lesson with Cindy today. I had some aha moments...

He's still a youngster but he's not a baby horse anymore, so it's time to start riding him like an adult. Which means... he can bend and go on the bit. And I accomplish this by getting bend, which I accomplish by laterally suppling him. And it works. And it's easier than with Fleck.

We had fun! We had some lovely lovely work. Now I just need to order him a new dressage saddle that fits him better!

St Patricks Day Snuggles

Awww... Danny was so cute tonight! I had a long day and came home just as it was getting dark. I fed the ponies and then went to turn them back out. Fleck went to his hay but Danny hung out at the gate for a second. I scratched his ears and he just sat there for a good 15 minutes hanging out with me. He pressed his head on my chest, let me rub his ears, and we snuggled. Then he got a little cheeky and grabbed my sleeve so we played for a bit. 

It was nice! We heard an owl or two, saw the first few lightning bugs of the season, and... enjoyed each others company. :) Love this guy. 

There's a part of me that feels a little guilty about not giving him my whole heart, because Flecky has occupied so much of it. So it was nice to be able to snuggle with him today. I love him, I really do. But it's a bit different because it's not Fleck. But I know we'll continue to grow in our relationship and I have a feeling he'll be as special as Fleck, maybe in his own way, but... as special. 

 

more Sunday full days

This was from last sunday...or the one before last, but.  The pictures are cute.

Larking Fun

Today was a fun day. I managed to get out to Ashland around 5 pm and now that the time has changed, we had plenty of time to ride. We went for a hack first and Danny was super polite. There were no shenanigans. We even let Kelli get in front and trotted and cantered. Of course, once we did that Danny had a few moments of porpoising and cavorting. But it was all in good fun. :)

Then we headed up to the cross country field and played around. I wasn't going to do too much, but once I started, I was having too much fun. :) I trotted him straight to the drop into the water and he slowed to a walk but didn't stop and went right in. Then I turned around and came back and he trotted straight in. So then we did the other drop and he trotted straight in on that side so I continued around and let him canter the log two strides from the drop, planning to come back to the trot and let him trot down. Well... he had other ideas. He cantered in so nicely and over the log and then he just kept the canter and very smartly settled his feet and cantered right on down the bank and out over the log. :) SMART BABY! 

So then we hopped over a few more fences, including both hanging logs. He jumped them great. I got a little bit ambitious and thought about taking him over the little trakehner. In retrospect, I shouldn't have tried. And I almost didn't, but Kelli was there and she egged me on a little. In her defense, she forgot I had ditch issues. So I let him look at it and sniff it and he was a little bit more looky than usual. So we came up to it at a trot and I sort of chickened out so he stopped. Well, then I couldn't get him over it. I tried a few tries. And he kept running out. So... oh well. I hope I didn't create a big thing. I'm hoping that if I lunge him over it a time or two, he'll be fine and then we can come again. I really shouldn't have attempted it yet. Argh. Oh well. 

I finished with a small little course and he happily did those, so... Fair enough. :) 

Dressage Fancy Pants