Shenanigans

 Snuck in a hack with Sharon at CE. took the truck, drove fine, but has 14 recalls!!!!

rode in bosal. good boy. kind of. started out more marchy but fell back after a bit. baylor was amped though. good ride. trotted a fair amount. was a bit rushy and on the forehand because baylor was in front and she was letting him go. in the beginning suddenly super lame behind... stopped and then he walked off. hope he just hit a rock or something. cantered a little bit on his own and even jumped the mud puddle. i have very little control in the bosal ;) then trotting and let out a HUGE Buck... feral beasty, but.. maybe he's feeling good??? 

finished with a nice soft and balanced on the hind end trot. (or at least not on the forehand). he was sweaty and had LOTS of butt foam! but warm today considering.

shockwaved his tendon sheath tonight. licks and chews. used the 35 mm probe instead of the xtrode. 

photos: 2-26 shenanigans

Zero tolerance

 in hand work

did jec's exercises for those who brace/invert

mostly a good boy. zero tolerance for chewing the lunge line. a little surprised and jumpy at times, but settled and is learning the new rules. did the head wiggle, the butt circles, the pole exercises. then opted to lunge a teeny bit... lame on left hind tracking left... walked and trotted fan but scrambled a few times because he wasn't in the right distance on the fan. whoops. grabbed the lunge line once where I missed him and took off... tried to stop him but ended up pulling the cavesson off his head. Whoops. cantered around. then let me walk up and catch him. sounder after. ??? 

then wouldn't leave the arena.. had to bribe him out. ;) after tongue selfies

sunset

photos: fire horse, motivated, happy dan

now Snow

 snow day

SUNSHINE!

 Trail ride with Sharon and Baylor

Truck mishaps... hazards... scary. BUT I'm RIDING!!! DANGIT

lovely hack with baylor, minus baylor kicking dan. 

then did a little arena work. felt good. happy in the western bridle it seems. no tongue, no fussy, no curling, but a bit more up in his posture/slightly inverted. Mostly cause he was looking for baylor. softened nicely when he was soft. did leg yield, 15 and 20 meter circles, serpentines, and a halt. 

good pony

Cowboys and cowgirls!

 Dan's western anatomic bridle came! And it ALMOST fits. I mean.. it fits.. but barely. I kind of wish I had gotten the oversize, because the crown and browband are a hair snug. But not bad. But then the cheek pieces in full are almost too long as it is. Which is soooo weird, because... it seems like Dan has a long narrow head, so.. I'm not sure why people make the cheek pieces so dang long all the time. And it's super dark brown.. almost black. But it is pretty. Although I kind of wish I had gotten the lighter brown. I'm so tempted to order another since it was such a huge discount... But.. then the stupid tariff. But... tempting. I don't know. 

 

Anyways... I put it on him tonight to check the fit and then... couldn't help myself. I hopped on! I only rode him for 9 minutes but we walked around and he steers better. We also trotted a tiny bit and he didn't curl or anything. But it wasn't a real assessment as we were just farting around in the pasture. And.. he keeps trying to eat the shanks and the reins. Ha ha! Which.. he does in everything. But... now that I'm thinking about it.. I don't think he did in the bosal. So... maybe I need to keep him in the bosal and see if I can learn how to ride better in it. I don't know if the chewing at the bit/reins is just him being a goober and wanting to put things in his mouth... like the leadrope, his blankets, my clothes, etc... or if it's an anxiety/pain thing related to a bit. You'd think he'd grab at the bosal too... and maybe he did in the beginning... but I don't really think so. So.. I don't know. We'll play around and see. Luckily I have friends willing to loan me things to try!

 

Hoping that I can get things done tomorrow and take him to Ashland for a nice long hack with Sharon!

 

bareback

 so cold, but.. did in hand work. alternating raised poles. single raised pole. pillar work. zero tolerance on eating reins.

then got on with bitless bareback. no pad. wasn't expecting to get on. no helmet either. walked around and did poles again. played with steering. better than with bosal. Or just better in general today? trotted but sluggish and not really wanting to stay in trot. sore feet? ground hard and semi frozen. sore left hind? got better at the end and did some figure 8 serpentines down whole arena.. definitely easier to change directions than in bosal. but seemed maybe like he wanted to duck behind the vertical. lack of release? or just.. coincidence. pain from left hind or stifle?

tried to side pass in hand after. decent going to the left but much unhappier going to the right. did get it and reward.

removed bandage and shockwaved. Won't ktape yet because of lube. will try thursday

I wanna play!!

 Or... I just want snacks! 

 

I was lunging Lyric in the arena today and Dan was mooching for snackies at the arena fence. He really wanted to come play. Afterwards I decided to ride Funny but told Dan that after that, we could play. 

 

Except I had to finish storm prepping. But I did manage to do a tiny bit of work with him. I grabbed the fanny pack full of hay pellets and opened the gate to the roundpen. He came in with me. I didn't even have the halter. We walked over the v poles and the two alternating poles a few times. I clicked and rewarded. We did it a few times and then we did some turn on the forehand. And then the poles a few more times. And then we were done. Because I didn't know what else to do. And technically he's still on rest after his injection. 

 

Plus I still had to drag the arena and spread the manure before this ice storm hits! But at least he got to work his brain and play. And most importantly, get snacks!