Dan to the rescue

 I was a cranky pants today. Well, maybe not cranky, but not a happy camper. Last night when I fed I realized Lyric was missing a shoe. Luckily I found it. Then this morning when I fed, Funny came hopping in on three legs!! No!!!! Luckily (I guess, considering...) she had twisted her shoe half off and stepped on the clip. And I think a nail too. Because when I pulled if off she flinched and stepped down and then flinched again. So either I created the nail hole in her sole by twisting the shoe more, or it was already stuck in there and I just aggravated it. It may have been the first one because she was bleeding when I got the shoe off. Sigh... Hopefully she won't abscess. So then I was a little late to work, but... I only had 5 horses so I was done by 12:30.  Which... is great!!! Except it's a gabillion degrees out and a gabillion and one percent humidity, so I was hot and sweaty and cranky. And then I got a migraine and was exhausted. I stopped for lunch on the way home and got a Dr. Pepper but that didn't help. So once I got home I took a pill and laid down and tried to nap. I was down til almost 3 pm, so I guess I did sleep some. But then I was cranky because my migraine was gone but I still felt not great. And pissed off that I had this lovely free half day of work and didn't get anything accomplished. And it was too hot to ride and two of my horses were missing shoes. Ugh. So I ended up getting my oil changed and going to the grocery store and made it back in time to meet Russel, who luckily was able to come put shoes back on. Unfortunately we decided to leave Funny's off until Patrick comes next week because of the hole. He was afraid it would just pack stuff in it. Sigh... So then I was annoyed that now I won't be able to ride her for a week. And it's fine.. it's hot... it's just.. they just had a week off from the beach... and then next weekend I may not want to ride because of my biopsy... And I'm just mad. Mad at circumstances currently. But also aware that I'm being silly. So... Mike convinced me to go ride. But the radar showed rain. Sigh... Finally though I decided that enough was enough and even though it was hot and humid and I was cranky, I probably needed to ride. I decided to ride Dan because even though I wanted to ride Lyric more (mostly cause I'm worried about Dan), I figured it maybe wasn't fair to ride her right after her shoe got put back on and while I might get to ride Dan tomorrow before his vet appointment, I'm guessing I won't get to ride him all weekend because I'm assuming he'll get his stifle injected again. Which means... Lyric is going to be my only ride all weekend, so might as well ride Dan while I can. 

 

So I did. And I'm glad. Because he was good and I feel sooooo much better now. Ahhhh. Smart husband. :) 

 

I put Jenny's bosal on him with the side ear headstall. Suprisingly it fits! Not even on the last hole. No wonder it doesn't fit any of her horses. I'm not entirely sure I like the headstall. It's awfully close to his eyeballs and definitely needs to be darkened, but it fit decently and he seemed happy in it. I definitely need to make my reins longer though. Although I do like them. I don't think they are horse hair but they might be alpaca or mohair. And while I wish the bosal itself was darker, at least it's neutral enough. And it fits him well. And he worked well in it. So.. very kind of her because it's definitely a good quality one!

 

We had a good ride. We walked up to the arena and did a long walk warm up. Then we did the gate and the reverse gate. He's quite good at the reverse gate. Actually, he's being quite good at the gate both directions. I think he "gets it" now. I'm still telling him to "shut it... close it.. get it" at the arena gate but also telling him "leave it" at the obstacle gates, so I think he's smart enough to figure it out. We did some trotting and cantering. He felt sounder again. And he felt pretty round today. He's also good at neck reining because those reins were barely long enough to do anything but. His canter was pretty decent today though he fell out if the left lead once. But it felt good. We also practiced some circles and then some centerlines and staying straight! Because straight is hard. But he definitely isn't as runny today down centerline so that's good. Overall, a decent ride. He was a little braced at times and didn't soften quite as much as I wanted but he also, at the same time, seemed softer in his neck, if that's possible. Like... he wasn't as round but he didn't seem as braced while not being as round. So... I don't know. 

 

I'm just grateful he was willing and we had fun. Because I definitely feel better now! And... no rain. :) Except now it's supposed to rain tomorrow, so we'll see if we can sneak in a ride before his vet visit. If we do, it'll just be a nice fun trail ride. I originally wasn't going to have time. I was going to be pushing it to get to my vet appointment on time after working on Marvin for Kelli, but she cancelled on me today. Which, is fine, and probably better. I just wish she had cancelled on me yesterday instead of today, because... I could have potentially moved Liz to today too. But oh well. It worked out fine in the long run. I was able to meet Russel and get my oil changed and nap off the migraine. And Liz may have had plans for today too anyways, so... all good. And maybe now I can get home and give Dan a bath and then take him for a hack at Ashland before our vet visit. And eat lunch too. :) 

Numero Uno

 Ooof... emotional ride today. 

did my lesson with liz and it was cool enough and we finished early enough that we did dan too. He was up at the arena with lyric when I took funny down so I called him a few times. Liz went to do some energy work with him and he basically told her to eff off... and came at her aggressively (with energy i'm assuming) so she sent him away. He (and Lyric) came galloping/trotting down to me. But I wasn't done hosing funny off yet, so he went back to Liz. She said he "challenged her again"... and she sent him away again. So he came trotting back again and I was done so I caught him (easily) and tacked him up. But he was in a mood and calling for the girls and a little anxious. They are in heat. Again.

walked up to the arena and chatted. did a short walk and then a loose stretchy trot to let him cough and loosen up. then picked him up and did some walk work. Tracking right... ride haunches out. Tracking left, ride shoulder fore. It helps him "cheat" his bum stifle and stay more balanced and share the load with the left hind. 

then decided to canter because... we both know that stifle isn't going to get "stronger". So liz suggested I work him hard and ride but then the week before the show.. take it super easy and maybe don't even canter. And we started with the canter today because we wanted to do it before he fatigued.

started with the hard lead.. left lead. He was okay. Did a 10 meter walk to canter and he picked it right up and had actually a really kind of lovely canter. She wanted me to sit up tall and help support him and it was quite nice. We tried to avoid lots of circles so did the long side. At the end, I was trying to "shorten/collect" him more and he did.. but then felt a little bit hoppy... i couldn't tell if it was a a "omg... I'm about to lose it and swap behind" or "oooh, this is a lovely balanced sitting canter that is just really fancy". And probably.. both! ha! Liz saw it and told me to trot now! Get out before he falls out. And then I lost my balance and fell forward and his trot sucked and we fell into a walk very quickly. 

then went right and did another few canters because he got anticipatory and silly. Then went to go left again and I tried to get him to circle and he basically said no and ignored my aid. Like... I was literally hanging on the left rein and pulling with all my might and he woudl NOT turn left. I got mad. I got frustrated. Liz told me that she felt like he was just being an ass and challenging me. Just like Funny does. And i usually laugh him off. But today I was getting pissed. Like.. .just effing turn!! So we tried again and same thing. I got mad. She told me that I was pulling and then he finally turned and I kept pulling and didn't release. She's right. cause I was mad. Then I started crying and told her that I was mad, but... more mad that he's broken and I can't fix him. I'm mad that we can't find a job for him that doens't hurt his stifle. I'm mad that his stifle is broken and I can't fix it. I'm mad that he's so talented and loves to work and I can't find a job that he can comfortably do. I'm mad that even standing in the pasture all day he hurts and is resting his right hind. I'm mad that he's feeling bad enough that he's rarely shenaniganing in the field. So I had a little cry. And she did too. We talked about how he's my "first born child" and it's a different relationship. And how it's okay for me to be proud of him and all he can and is doing but also sad that he isn't doing more. But that he feels that. He's emotional and has emotional baggage that he has to work through. She said that he is jealous a bit and needs to feel like my "number one". Sigh... 

So then I walked around and asked him to bend left, using my leg and body more. And he was good. So we tried one more canter and he turned... when I used my body and my leg too. I rewarded him and then we called it quits. Liz said that because he was a jerk, he worked harder and more than she meant to. But... then there's me... "but we barely did anything"!. So we did the gate and he was pretty good. Then I hacked him down to the barn. I trotted a little but my spurs fell off (on my horn because I goosed him in the canter so liz took them off) so I got off. I wanted to do more... so after liz left I got back on and we hacked back up to the arena. we trotted a bit and just worked on a nice soft round trot and my small post. (another thing liz mentioned during the little bit of trot we did.. keep my post small to keep him balanced). I did some halts, some downward transitions, and then a tiny bit of leg yield. We trotted the ground poles. And then we did the reverse gate. And he NAILED it. Like... it was amazing! Then we did the regular gate and it was okay. I hope we get a reverse gate at the august show. Then we hacked home. 

I'm sorry buddy. I just.... sigh. You're my numero uno. A wierdo but.. numero uno. 

photos: 7-26 numero uno, and silly and silly goober

Foiled again!!

 I'm a little annoyed today. Or.. I was. But, really.. it's not such a big deal. Just a few minor inconveniences. So I'll vent, but... I think I'm already over it. And there was good too in today. 

 

I slept in. I slept decently. My back doesn't hurt today, so it must have been my period, which is great because it really felt like I had twinged it good! I did some adult things while I waited on the weather to decide what to do. I decided to ride Funny. I went out to get her and apparently while I slept well last night, Dan did not. He was snoozing or just resting when I went to grab Funny. He just... looked a little odd. Not his usual passed out cold. He doesn't usually just lay sternal. So... okay. But then once I got close he got up and shook and came right up for cookies. So yay. So then I rode Funny... the weather didn't cooperate and drizzled on us, but at least it was just a drizzle and the temperature was much more bearable than lately. It was not a good ride though. And then shortly after we got into the meat of our ride (not just the warm up), the vet called and said they were 15 minutes away. Wait.. You're not supposed to be here for another 1.5 hours at least. Ugh... So that made me cranky. But then after a few minutes they said they could do something else first and be at my place between 12 and 12:30, so that meant I had time to finish my ride with Funny. But then we noticed that Dan was laying back down again. In the same spot too. So.... that had me worried. Maybe I had just interrupted his earlier nap.. and with all the rain, maybe he wasn't sleeping as much overnight, but... still a little concerning. So between the irritation at the vet scheduling conflict and concerns on him, my ride with Funny did not get any better. It was a not so fun ride. Sigh... 

     

After that, the vet came and got the dogs and cats checked and they all good good reports. Well, we're waiting on bloodwork for Cody but his heart and lungs sound good and his abdomen palpated fine. And Magnum probably has squamous cell tumors, but I kind of knew it wasn't good. So, we'll let him eat canned food and help him pass when he's feeling worse on too many days. And Toby got his boosters and his wound looked good to them. So then I ate lunch with Mike and then... debated on what to do about riding. The stupid weather kept threatening bad storms but then.. nothing ever happened. Except it was looking like it might in the skies on the periphery, so.... I wasn't sure what to do. Finally I decided to ride Lyric at home so I'd be close if it did storm. Also, because our lesson got cancelled for tonight because the arena footing was too yucky. So... I grabbed her and by now Dan was up and eating and seemed just fine. Phew. But then she had a twisted shoe. Ugh... So I pulled it and turned her back out. 

 

And then checked the weather again. And debated again. I debated going out around 5:30 with Judy but then the radar showed bad storms around 5:30/6 at Ashland so... argh. I finally decided that the radar showed light rain until then and just because that's what the radar said, didn't mean that's what it would actually do. And even if it was just a light rain, it would make my heart happy to take Dan in the woods. I did NOT want to dressage him again. I'm still worried about his stifle and he worked hard this weekend, so he deserved a nice hack. So I grabbed him and we headed to Ashland. The skies were actually looking pretty good too! 

 

I groomed him and put the bareback pad on and off we went. So far, so good. There were some dark clouds on one side of us, but bright gorgeous skies on the other. And then, as we were passing the arenas on our way out... Patrick texted. "ETA 4:30". Umm... okay... great!! Except... dangit. It was 3:30 now. Sigh... It takes me 30 minutes to get home. Sigh... I probably should have just gotten off, but dangit... I just got on. We hauled all the way here. It's NOT raining. So we decided to just hack to the lake and back. And that's what we did. We hacked to the lake... back via racoon loop and the XC field. We trotted some to make up some time and give me a tiny bit more leeway. He felt pretty good. He seemed less slow on the trails and was happy enough to trot. But he definitely doesn't feel his best. 

 

We got back to the trailer parking and I hopped off at the hose, pulled off his bareback pad and hosed him and it off and carried them back to the trailer. I pulled off his hackamore and put his halter on and loaded him up and we headed home. I managed to get home, turn Dan out, grab Lyric (who conveniently was right there by the round pen) and put her in the aisleway just as Patrick was backing in. Phew! I'm super glad I had ridden Dan bareback because otherwise we wouldn't have made it. And I'm so grateful that Patrick got Lyrics shoe back on literally 4 hours after I texted him, but... dang. Another ride on Dan foiled by Patrick. ;) Ha ha. 

 

It ended up sprinkling some more and the radar still showed a bad storm at Ashland but later Judy texted me saying that she managed to get a whole ride in without any rain. Doh! I briefly debating going back out after dinner, on either Dan or Lyric, but decided to just call it for the day. It just sucks extra more because I'm working tomorrow and then going to the beach Thursday til Monday. BUT... at least we'll be back Monday and I still have Tuesday off to ride before I work Wed, Thurs, and Fri. And Friday is Dan's vet appointment, so.. maybe it is not the end of the world that he only got a 30 minute walk today. Maybe he needs some rest. 

  

He ate dinner just fine and seems to be back to his non-sleepy self, so hopefully it was just him needing a longer nap today since I interrupted him. 

Western Dressage Show

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. 

 Level 1 Test 2

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. 

Dang he's pretty!!

Pivot!

 Well... today Dan got his hind shoes! Patrick is awesome. It meant we had to change our plans of riding in the covered and practicing our test for the show tomorrow, but... we got hind shoes! Which, is awesome because now I'll know how much of a difference the shoes make vs not knowing if it was the shoes or the osphos kicking in. And that means that for our lameness exam on the 24th, we'll have shoes so we can decide if he still needs additional therapies or not. Yay! Thanks Patrick! We didn't do any pads this time, but will in 3 weeks if we feel like he needs them. 

 

So, instead of riding in the covered, we stayed home. We had to make sure we were done in time for the saddle fitter coming for Lyric. We started to get tacked up and then it got dark and thunder started rumbling. I debated getting on anyways... but then I saw about 8 streaks of lightning at once, so.. nope. Out you go! Please God keep them all safe! Fortunately the storm rolled around us and it didn't rain. I hung out with Mike in the garage for about 10 minutes and then it had cleared up enough that I went and moved the grid out of the middle of the arena so we could sort of practice our test. Then I caught Dan and then we got tacked up. 

 

We headed to the arena and did some warm up. He felt better in his shoes! We had a pretty decent ride. He was quite good and his canters seem improved! He did swap behind a few times on the right lead (not the left) but only the first time we cantered. His leg yields felt better and steeper and he was good for the trot serpentines. We ran through the tests once or twice. Well.. the first one we ran through parts of it like 9 times because I coudn't remember the darn thing to save my life. And then he was a bit naughty. He got a little strung out a few times and didn't respond to my half halts. So we had to practice some trot halt trot transitions, which helped. But overall, a decent ride. Hopefully it won't bite me in the butt tomorrow. 

 

But he's on bute for now and I did some more surpass, so.. fingers crossed. I tried to give him a power wash as he was FILTHY as a prebath for tomorrow, but... figured it wasn't worth trying too hard. And it rained again after I finished our ride. It came down pretty hard too. Yay! We needed some rain. Luckily I had them all in and eating dinner in an attempts to be ready for the saddle fitter. But I'm sure he'll be filthy again in the morning! Luckily we have time to bathe!

  

Uncranking the crankies

Me and him! Ha! I was cranky because it's hot and I'm tired of being hot and sweaty. And I'm tired. I got off work super early today and it was a light day, but I'm just... so tired. I caught up on paperwork instead of riding because.. it's hot. Did I mention it's hot and I'm over it? And Dan is cranky because his stifle hurts. He's been off previcox for 5 days now and he's over it. But... tomorrow morning he can have some bute. I decided to do bute because we're showing Saturday. I know.. not the best timing with the osphos but... I wanted to get it on board quick. I'm also awaiting to see if Patrick can put hind shoes on him. But, I also told Patrick that if he wants to wait til our next scheduled appointment, I would be patient. It's hot... I don't want to work any more than I need to either, so I will respectfully wait. :) 

 

But anyways... I did bemer Dan tonight and noticed when I put the bemer on that his crotch was all sweaty. Me too buddy, sigh.. me too. So after they ate, I shockwaved Funny's stifles (because I decided I might as well do her afterall quarterly too) and then hosed her off. I figured Dan would come out and get hosed too since he was sweaty. And he usually loves it. But he was cranky and just stood in his stall. I finally coaxed him out and then I turned his frown upside down. 

There's my silly boy!! I promise you'll get bute tomorrow. I promise I'm doing this to try to help you feel better! And I do think the hosing helps you feel better too! It helps me. 

I love him. He cracks me up. Even when he's cranky. Thanks for making me smile too buddy! You're more and more like your big brother every day. And for that, I'm incredibly grateful. Even his nicker sounds like Fleck. So much that now i'm wondering if it's been him nickering all along and wasn't ever Fleck... but I know it was Fleck too. I miss him. 

 
Of course he had to go roll and get filthy! But oh well... enjoy it!