You can't get naked in other peoples cars!

Happy Valentines Day!!!

  

I have amazing friends!! We've been stuck at home because my truck is in the shop, and hasn't been cooperative lately. Add in the fact that the weather has sucked and work has been busy, we've been riding at home a whole lot more than usual, and riding in general a whole lot less. And today and yesterday were glorious weather! Although today was supposed to get cloudy and cooler in the afternoon. Since Dan was so good yesterday I was contemplating giving him the day off. Because, honestly.. I'm tired of arena riding him and  it's just not worth the stupid dogs harassing us in the neighborhood and... he cantered yesterday and maybe we shouldn't have... so I was just gonna give him the day off. Which would also mean that he would get Sunday off because it was supposed to rain ALL day, and then Monday off because I have to work. But... meh. But then... but then!!!! Sharon messaged just before lunch and asked if I was free to ride that afternoon if she came and got me! YES PLEASE!!!! So she did.

She had to do a few things first, which was great because it gave me time to eat lunch, hop on Funny real quick and then speed drag the arena. I had everything waiting on the street and Dan and I were ready! WHOO HOOO!! Oh, and while we were waiting I noticed his K-tape over his stifle was peeling, so I went ahead and pulled it off. It looks like a skinned animal! BUT IT HAS SPOTS!! Ha ha... Oh my! It's kinda horrifying!

She picked us up and Dan was a good boy and pretty much loaded right up. He's soooo much bigger than Baylor! Ha! I didn't realize how much bigger. They behaved and I don't think there were any shenanigans on the way there. Except that I missed a turn and we had to take a slight detour which included one of the dreaded mansfield speed humps. Hang on boys! 

We got to Charlie Elliot and by now the skies were a bit cloudy and it was a hair chillier, but... no rain and it wasn't too bad! YAY! We had a great ride. Dan led some of the way but then fatigued or just... I don't know.. Baylors' faster?? So we followed behind for most of the ride. Because we were running a hair short on daylight we trotted a bit more, but Sharon was nice and didn't let Baylor super power trot. Plus he wasn't cracked out on alfalfa pellets apparently ;) So Dan didn't have to get super strung out. We had a much more proper trot today. He wasn't exactly super soft and lifted in his back, but he wasn't on the forehand and running either. We even cantered a tiny bit. Although at one point Baylor was cantering and Dan was trotting like a darn standardbred before he finally rolled into the canter. We didn't canter for very long though, mostly because of terrain. 

 

We did more trotting and then later we picked up the canter again. And Dan got all pissy and took off and made a bid to beat Baylor! Like.. he sprinted! And then Baylor squirted off and then the boys were both making faces at each other and Dan went slightly to the edge of the path and we hit some terrain and.. it was all fine but luckily we were able to get both boys back to the walk without any real shenanigans. It just got rowdy for a minute ;) So then we had to have a polite trot to end on, and we did. 

   

Ahhhhh, I so needed that!! Dan did too. I did put him in the western bit and bridle today which was smarter than the bosal, although I still didn't have a ton of brakes. Not without a saddle and my core. Dan had plenty of butt foam when we finished. And he was a bit sweaty too. It's fairly warm for February and he's hairy! They both loaded right up to go home and were cooperative. But then Sharon didn't quite realize how quick my neighborhood turn came up and so she passed it so we went to the roundabout to turn around. But then she needed gas, so we got gas. I heard a bit of a thunk but didn't think anything of it... But then when we got to my house to unload Dan, it was getting dark. Luckily I didn't drop the butt bar without checking because I knew she had tied him so he didn't chew on Baylor. And.. he was naked!! Daniel.. you can't get naked in other peoples cars! KEEP YOUR CLOTHES ON BOY! ha ha... 

Super fun adventure and we both desperately needed that. I'm so grateful Sharon came to get me. :) It was a fun ride. 

 

 

Embracing the Western Pleasure

 bosal, jog and LOPE!!!

practiced some movements and some obstacles

quick ride

photos: 2-26 cantered

Western Pleasure Day

 

 Ugh.. today was frustrating. I probably shouldn't have ridden.. I wasn't in the best brain space. But I tried to be smart about it. I groomed Dan and he was pretty good. Then I put the bareback pad on and the western shanked bridle and decided to try to ride around the neighborhood. Maybe do some work in the tennis court field. So that's what we did. Except Tim's dogs chased us again. And Dan didn't care, but... they get so close to his heels I worry they'll start nipping and Dan will kick one. Plus the one keeps barking and it's just really annoying. Especially because the non-barky one ended up following us for a decent way. We made it to the tennis courts and I picked up the trot and Dan was pretty good. Although he still suddenly hits the brakes sometimes. I don't know if it's because I'm bareback and bouncing... because he fatigues... because he just hits his stifle wrong???? But it gets annoying. And I'm trying not to get after him, but... freakin' go!! And keep going!! Well, then he got all hollow and alert and I realized that stupid dog was lurking up by the tennis courts and Dan was all freaked out. Not enough that he was doing anything naughty but enough that I felt like if I kept trotting, he'd be hollow and bouncing me and it might escalate to shenanigans. Which... arghh!! Come on... I just want to ride my freakin' horse. I can't take him on the trails because I don't have my truck. I can't ride in my arena because he's a slug in there. Now I can't ride at the tennis court fields because of some dog who is WAY past his property.... Sooooo aggravating! And apparently I'm PMSing too I guess. So then I got mad and thought... what if we chase the dog?? Maybe we'll scare it off. Or maybe Dan will feel brave and not be "scared" anymore. Or maybe we'll just have fun practicing our "cow work" in anticipation of maybe getting to go to Aiken in two weeks for the intro to cow clinic. (sigh... that might honestly be what's bothering me... deep down, I'm frustrated because Dan has been rehabbing for... well, freakin ever... and I'm finally accepting that we'll just do this western stuff and yet, I can't even do that yet because he doesn't even feel good enough for that, and that makes me super sad...for him.... for me....). So we trot off towards the dog and the dog turns and runs, then spins back and barks, then turns and runs...  And then Dan got more freaked out and stuck his tongue over the bit. Sigh... okay... fine... I give up. Let's just go home. 

 

So we walked home and essentially "chased" the dog home. It barked at us a bunch more, and the other dog barked at us. And they got close to his hind end and I yelled at them. And Dan put his tongue back in his mouth and aside from jigging once, settled down. We got back home and headed up to the arena. 

 

Once we got to the arena I did some trotting. And he was okay. Just very behind my leg feeling and I had to keep clucking and kicking. And a few times I had to pony club kick him practically. And he felt like he was a western pleasure horse. He felt like he was  barely moving and dragging his hind end. And it's just... not fun. I tried to be positive. We practiced one handed riding and neck reining and he's actually pretty good at it for the most part. We did some shallow serpentines, some figure 8s overlapped, some circles, and some stops. Not too bad. Then I decided to see what happened if I asked for a left lead canter. And he hopped right into it and gave me a fairly respectable left lead for about 7 strides.. and then fell out of it. Okay.. no big deal. Thanks buddy. So then we did some more walking, then back to trot. Still sound! Phew! Well, "sound"... I mean he feels symmetrical but I wonder if he's just bilaterally lame. We did some leg  yield one handed, which was actaully quite decent too. Then we did some trot to walk to trot transitions. And then we trotted the alternating raised poles about 3 times. Then I trotted him to the small cross rail because he kept acting like he wanted to go towards it when we were leg yielding. And he perked up and might have even cantered the last stride to it and jumped it. He kind of landed in a heap and very quickly came back to the walk. We trotted a tiny bit more and then I got off to fix my exercises for Lyric that we had moved for the lessons. I put everything back and Dan just hung out where I left him. He did push one of my blocks around a tiny bit, but still... it's just not like Dan to be so... sane. :( It makes my heart sad because I think he really just hurts. And I've tried soooo hard and for soooo long to heal all his things... 

 

Once I got it all set back up, and I had set the three ground poles for serpentining to a raised ground pole, we tried that. And... he knocked if off a few times. And once he even rolled his foot on it and stumbled. And I'm ashamed but I got frustated. PICK UP YOUR FEET. PAY ATTENTION! It's really not that hard buddy. Just... walk! With purpose. Sigh... I got mad at him and then he got a little better with it. So then we did the side pass over the ground pole. It took him a minute but then once he got it, he did quite well. I rewarded him and didn't make him repeat it. Except, then I got back on and we trotted the alternating raised poles again and then we backed between the two blocks that I made an alley/gateway with. Then I took him over the groundpole and we sidepassed both ways. And it was only about 4 steps each way because we started in the middle of the pole instead of on the end. But he was good. GOOD BOY! All the pets and the last of the cookies. Then we headed home. 

 

I apologized to him but I don't know that it matters. I feel awful because I think he knows I'm frustrated for him... not with him.. not at him... but for him. Sigh... And then after I turned him loose, he didn't even roll. And he was pretty sweaty. So now I'm really worried. 

Spa Day (edit)

 Opted to adjust, then red light sternum and massage/red light scapula and brachial plexus. k taped trigeminal nerve and stifle sling

Energetic

 Groundwork and then rode bareback in western bit

photos: energetic

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