Bringing up Baby

Thursday, February 23, 2023

HOPE!! Glorious Hope!!!

Lesson and evaluation ride with Kim. So proud of the Danimal. I made that! And he was lovely. And so good. And tried.

She got him to unlock his pelvis and lift his sternum and wow, he's freaking nice!!!

no photos cause... just the aftermath. He worked hard and actually got a rinse. and then rolled. ;)

Wednesday, February 22, 2023

Fun and Games

Got home "early" so was able to sneak in a sunset lunge session.

Did our pillar walks and worked on pillar 2 more. Good boy

Then lunged. Grabbed the lead rope about 7 times but I only lost him twice. Although once it did get wrapped around my ankle which was kind of scary! Luckily he was just trotting and I was able to run and keep up with him and get him stopped.

lunged beautifully once he settled. canter looks a little better.

trot looked decent but still shots look downhill/on the forehand. Sigh..

snuggles in the sunset

Tuesday, February 21, 2023

The best of the gang today

Today I wondered if I'm cut out to be a chestnut mare person. Sigh. Dan was the good one. And he grabbed the lunge line about 7 times today. He only got loose once, but... still. (photos of him and one naughty chestnut mare flirting this morning).

We lunged today. I set up 4 poles on the ground and had my blocks out too so I could do the alternating raised poles. And I put the one cavaletti up on the middle setting. We started out with our pillar walks, walking over the poles and the cavaletti. We focused on pillar 2 a bit more today too. He's really quite good at it now! He had to reach a little bit with the poles set at 3 feet for the walk, but it was good for him. We walked over them alternating raised too.

Then we put the cavesson on and went to do our lunging. I did drop the poles back to regular poles on the ground, instead of raised. Because I wasn't sure if they could be trot poles too. (I know, shame on me, I should know this). Turns out, yes.. they can. And he was a turd ball starting out. Like I said, he grabbed the lead rope about 7 times but I was able to keep up with him and then when he spit it out, I just made him keep going. He eventually (kind of) gave up. We got some nice trot work today though. We aimed on a bit more of a peppy trot and he was getting some good action. Then we did our canters. Just short little stints. I did make him do one full circle going left at least because he kept breaking before doing a full circle. After we went right, we went left again and it got better. The right lead actually looks a little better than the left today still. He just looks softer and more willing to stretch down in the right lead. But the left got better. We did some more trotting and he trotted the poles and the cavaletti a few times. We ended with some nice trot and called it quits. With his walking, it was about 40 minutes of work. And while he wasn't blowing hard... he was working as his nostrils were slightly flared and he worked up a little bit of a sweat. Granted it's February and it's been so warm. Today was like...70 degrees! And not super sunny but a little humid, so.. good boy! Working on your fitness!

This morning he was being silly and playing with Emma.

Sunday, February 19, 2023

Like Mother, Like Son

Or... Holly makes bad life choices too. :) Or... Dan makes it abundantly clear what he wants and he gets it too!

Sigh... today was a rough day. It shouldn't have been. It was fine. But my hormones are kicking in and I got so frustrated with the mare. I just wanted to cry. So I took a deep breathe and took Dan up to the arena for his rehab.

I decided to just lunge with the cavesson today. I'm a little afraid that the long lining sometimes makes him curl and undoes my hard work at keeping him soft, forward, down and out. So we did our psoas stretch at the arena gate. Then we went in and did our two laps of pillar walking. We also adding in a bit more pillar 2 today. He's getting the hang of the shift back without the step back, but I'm not so sure he's lifting as well as he could be. It's hard to tell. But we also did pillar 3. He was quite chewy today.... he kept grabbing my shirt. But politely. :)

So then we went to lunging. And other than grabbing the lead rope once or twice and half-heartedly trotting off... I didn't even lose him, I just jogged with him until he spit it out and then I sent him on his way.... he was a good boy. Actually too good. Like... "what's wrong? are you sick? good. Ack! I mean.. not really. He just did all the things he was supposed to politely and correctly. And his trot was a little on the sluggish side perhaps. He was dragging his toes a little bit, but it's hard to say if that's because of the glue ons.. because he was being lazy... or because his pred wore off and it's just the NSAIDS now?? We did some walk to trot transtions and he was super good. We did a little over 20 minutes so I decided that was enough. He wasn't puffing or anything and didn't look stressed, but he just didn't seem super thrilled to work, so.. we didn't push it.

After I pulled his cavesson off and gave him a cookie I left him naked. But he wouldn't follow me out of the gate. He just stood there staring at me. Okay, I get it... you're bored. Me too buddy, me too! So then... I walked back in and he was still sitting on the fence line. Hmmmm.... "Are you thinking what I'm thinking bud?!". So... I climbed up the fence and hopped on. At first I had a moment of panic... no halter... no helmet... and he pinned his ears at me! But then he walked off and put his ears forward. We walked to the gate at Jean's side and stood there. I could not steer him with my seat and legs to save my life. Doh. But I did manage to get him moving and we walked back towards my side and got almost to the gate. Then we stopped and I did a little bit of fascial work on his withers, which made him very happy. Then he turned around and walked back to Jean's gate. And then stood there. And then kicked it hard!! He was screaming at me "I WANT TO GO OUT AND PLAY AND DO THINGS"!. Fine, buddy, fine. You win! BUT... you must at least wear a halter and lead line! So I got off and put the halter on and made reins with it and then walked him outside of her fence. I hopped on bareback and we walked down her driveway and into the culdesac. And I let him graze. And then it was getting chilly and later in the day so we walked back to the house. I hopped off at the driveway and let him grab another snack before we headed in.