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!

Test Prep

 Poor Danimal. My timing isn't great, but... stupid osphos being on back order.. and me being stupid and not putting two and two together... Anyways... I should have had Dr. Connolly take rads of Dan's feet when he came out to do their coggins. I should have had him pull blood for his chemistry too to check his kidneys. But of course, osphos was on backorder anyways. So maybe it's good that we ended up going back over there for rads, because then I got osphos. Dr. Connolly was out on emergency so it was up to us to get foot rads. :) I added stifle rads just because. And then mentioned trying osphos but it was on backorder... and they offered it to me. I told them I was grateful but I could get it at cost and I was poor. So she was super generous and reduced the price to low enough that I was willing to pay extra for it to not have to wait. But then I still had to wait, because I had to take Dan off previcox for 3 days before I could give it. Sigh... now my timing sucks because we had a lesson with Liz today. And the show this weekend. But, I didn't want to wait til after the show because then it puts us that much farther down the calendar and it takes a month to kick in. So I sucked it up and pulled his meds and gave him the osphos. And then finally got around to texting Patrick and he did say it might be worth putting back shoes on him again, but... hasn't told me when yet. And of course... I did offer to wait til our next scheduled appointment because.. it's freakin' hot and miserable and I wouldn't want that pressure either. 

So... anyways... poor Dan hasn't had previcox since Friday and he's feeling it. But I did shockwave him Saturday and then I acupuncured him last night. And then I broke down and gave him one gram of bute this morning before our lesson. Because I felt so bad for him. Who knows if it's even kicked in yet because it was only 1.5 hours before my ride. We were gonna ride in the covered but then it wasn't quite as hot as I expected and Liz mentioned it might be fine, and then I got to thinking that it would be nice to use the arena before they closed it for the show (though I forgot the covered is essentially a proper arena too). So last minute we changed my lesson to the regular arena. We could have done it at home but I had told Kelli I'd meet her to do a hack after, so... I just left it at Ashland. 

We met up and I told Liz all the things. She said that she tried to check him and he put up a huge wall and was like "I am FINE... leave me be". She thinks that he wants to work and doesn't want Liz to tell me that he's sore. So... we walked a few laps to loosen him up and did some stretchy trotting. Then we went to work. Soft light work, but work. Liz had me trot him and she told me to slow it down. She reminded me that the dressage test says "working JOG"... ha ha. I laughed because I was going to tell her that the other night I saw a post of three horses doing an "extended jog" and they wanted us to say who we thought scored the best for western dressage. And my brain I was like "that's an extended jog?... looks like a nice working jog to me". ha ha. Noted... Doubly noted. :) So I kept him slow. And like everyone keeps saying... the slower tempo helps him rock back and carry himself. I did mean to ask her about his head carriage and if I needed him more round, but we kept getting distracted and then ran out of time. 

We played a little bit with the trot and getting good bend and then I cantered both ways and then we decided to run through the second test, since I hadn't ever actually ridden it and wanted to practice. Liz said she would give me pointers on eeking out a few more points in addition to our regular lesson. So we did. And he was pretty darn good. I'm glad we did it too because I didn't quite realize some things.. like how steep that leg yield was.. and how awkward the turn on the forehands were on the rail. So very helpful. 

The pointers were.. keep him slow... when tracking left, turn my shoulders and belly button left to help him bend, always open my left rein... keep opening my left rein (whether tracking right or left, it helps his balance and straightness when I open the left rein)... sit to the outside slightly.... keep my elbows bent... I can half halt pretty hard with bent elbows and it works better than with straight elbows and half halting downward. In the canter, he's still struggling a little, so I have to make sure that I start my 15 meter circle on time so I'm already bending as we go into it, and then on the left lead, he struggles to hold it on the straight line, so I have to cut my corner off and almost drift back to the rail. Leg yield but not too much leg yield and then sort of allow him to rush a little bit and counter flex a little bit to keep the lead. Going to the right, I can't allow him to counter flex or he swaps behind. So.. slight cheats. Then in the turn on the forehand, don't tip forward! Keep my eyes up and my chest up. And make sure that my halt is square first. Today he's wanting to dive right with his shoulder all the time, so in my halts, block the right shoulder with my right leg a tiny bit. Then don't shut him down too much in the turn on the forehands... get him marching with it. In my upward walk transitions.. from the halt, to the free walk and to the working walk, march. MARCH! Almost think trot! And in the leg yields, I'm over shotting centerline and then starting my leg yields before I finish my turn. I'm not necessarily drifting but it appears that I'm falling in on that shoulder. So... don't overshoot centerline... then get one or two strides of straight, then leg yield. And it's more shallow than I think, so I need to practice that some more and get him crossing over. It's harder going left but duh. 

So very helpful lesson. We tried to keep it easy and not drill and after we gave him a breather, we did one more of the leg yield to canter to make sure I had the aids timed right and he was super! He was definitely fatiguing but the little break gave him one more good one. So then we headed back to the trailers and Liz was able to touch him and do a little bit of work. She said he was tight in his fascia on the right side so I should do some bemer for him. So I did. (I forgot tonight, but did the following night). 

Then we went for a hack with Kelli and Liz and Grace joined us half way to the lake. Dan actually felt much better for his hack then he did the other few days, so maybe some of it was the fresh trim and being thin soled. Or maybe Liz worked some magic. Or maybe I didn't ride him quite as hard today. Or maybe all of the above. He played in the lake a tiny bit but he was definitely super slow on the way home. Marvin even passed us. And Dan didn't mind. Which makes me so sad. But, considering he had just the one gram of bute in the last few days I was kind of pleased. He didn't feel that much different than when he is on previcox. So... yay for that! I do think he'll feel better once it's back on board and it might make our canters better and our leg yields better. So we'll see. Hopefully he will feel better for the show. 

I'm hoping to get to use the covered arena on Friday and practice again and he'll have bute starting Thursday morning. I figured bute would kick in better and quicker and then I can swap back to previcox after the show. And then he could have two grams the morning of the show. It just sucks that I'll have to ride him Friday before the show instead of Thursday, but... work... unless I happen to get off early enough. So we'll see. 

But hopefully the osphos will help a lot... Patrick can get hind shoes on him and maybe that will help a lot.. and then we'll see what Dr. Barrow thinks on our 24th appointment. 

Thanks for being a trooper bubs and working hard for me. I appreciate it!

New Friends!

 Today was a good day! My friends Jenny and Anna, the endurance riders, asked if I wanted to ride and I suggested Ashland, so I could show them around and they could decide if they wanted to join. I felt like it would be a good place for them to do some conditioning rides. So we made plans to meet up at 2 pm. And we got lucky. It was cooler at 2 pm then it was at 9 am this morning. We got sprinkled on a little bit in the woods and there were some thunder rumbles, but it helped cool it down. And no storms, so yay!

 

I brought Dan because Jenny brought Fiona, who is not her endurance horse and then Anna said she didn't mind going slow and not doing a lot of work. We mostly walked but did some trotting. I tried to show them the edges and point out the paths. But I do think I showed them the majority of the farm. It was fun. But poor Dan... he hasn't had previcox in two days... he got shockwaved yesterday... He was a bit sore. So yes, the previcox is definitely helping him. (But he got osphos tonight so he can't have his previcox for a few more days). Hopefully they didn't mind not trotting a ton. 

 

We ended up at the lake and because the storm was threatening we ended up just keeping our saddles on. Well, except for Anna. She pulled hers off and hopped on bareback and then retacked, but... Jenny and I just left ours on. And of course... Dan went swimming! Oh well, maybe my saddle won't squeak anymore. :) We had fun and their ponies enjoying splashing in the lake. And Jenny's mare almost swam! Fun.

  

Now I've got everything airing out and drying. Or trying to dry. It's hard when it's this humid. I also need to order that leather conditioner Mark recommended for my saddle. :) 

 

Good pony! Thanks for being brave and leading the pack and not complaining about your stifle. I know it doesn't feel great today. Especially since you were running a little last night with the fireworks. (and Jean's interns with their flashlights!). I love you and appreciate you bubs!

 

Fun random day

 Today was a weird day. But a good one. Steaming hot though!! Ugh. I woke up super early and fed ponies and took Funny to the cavaletti clinic. Then when I got home, I turned her out, made a hot dog and then grabbed Dan. 

We headed to Ashland to meet Kelli for a quick ride before our vet appt. It was so hot, but we knew we weren't going to be riding long. I almost went bareback, but... wanted to check my saddle fit again and the fit of my new breastcollar. I got there a hair earlier than Kelli and put my saddle on. It's definitely a hair too wide but otherwise it fits well. And with the shim pad, it seems to fit pretty darn good. I also made sure I was placing it properly again. I watched a video yesterday and it was saying to make sure that the conchos (tree points) were just behind the edge of the scapula. So, that's what I did today. It's definitely a hair farther back than what I had been doing more recently, but he seemed happy and with the shims, it seemed to fit well. But the breastcollar is way too tight. I mean.. it fits, but it's super snug. And on the last holes. I might be able to figure out how to make it work if I swap out the tugs, but I'm not sure that the chest piece is going to be long enough even with longer tugs. Ugh... why is it so hard to get western tack to fit him??? And match?!! 

Anyways... we went for a short hack. We just walked to the lake and back. He didn't spend too much time in the lake because Anna was there walking her dogs and he was intrigued. But it was fine because we were short on time anyways. We walked back and then headed to the arena for Kelli to do her two minutes of trot (rehabbing). I figured I'd play a little bit too. Plus I wanted to practice the turn on the forehand for the show next weekend. And he was pretty good. He felt nice at the trot and our turn on the forehands were decent! Especially since you do it with their nose on the rail. His leg yields sucked today though. He was bracing. And my hands are apparently very high, which.. might be why he's bracing!?? We didn't have much time, so we didn't do a ton. But we did get in some canter too. I tried a lengthen on the right lead and he swapped behind. So... nope, not ready for 1-3 in Western Dressage yet. But we got some nice canters otherwise. 

He got hosed off and then we loaded up and headed to our vet appointment. He was just getting his feet x-rayed to see how his angles were and how much sole he had. Because, while I do think the reluctance to walk on the trails and feeling icky are more related to stifle fatigue... I do also know he is tender on the rocks, so... I wanted to see. I also wondered if his angles were off or good, because maybe if we helped his angles, we could help his stifle. So... off we went. Kelli called after we left Ashland to chat more and then another friend called and then texted that she was behind me and my trailer latch wasn't shut properly. I know.. it's bent! But thanks for letting me know just in case. :) And the photo of Dan's butt! 

We got there and the girls told me that Dr. Connolly got called out on an emergency but they would happily take the foot rads. No problem. It meant *I* kind of got to play vet. Ha ha. They did a great job and they good got rads. And... His front feet aren't bad, but... he's a bit broken back at his fetlock angle. I'm not sure if he needs wedges?? He's got enough sole that we could maybe trim it up better. It's not bad, but.. not perfect. And then his hinds look pretty decent except he doesn't have much sole depth. BUT... Kim just posted about using shock wave to increase sole depth and funny enough... she was behind me today when Funny and I left High Point and called me and told me to pull over. She had a 20 mm trode with her she was going to let me use for a bit. And, he conveniently gets his shockwave tomorrow, so.. I might as well go ahead and shockwave his coronary bands too tomorrow to see if it helps his sole depth. Anyways... I ended up having the girls take stifle rads too. Because we had only x-rayed his left one last visit, and... the noltrex really didn't seem to help his right stifle this go round. And.. they aren't great. I mean, they took good rads but his stifle isn't great. There's definitely less joint space and more arthritic edges. Bummer. But, they did have a bottle of osphos handy that they sold me. She was super nice and gave it to me almost at cost. So I'll skip his previcox for the next 6 days and give him the osphos in 3 days. And maybe, that will kick in before we see Dr. Barrow on the 24th and get reassessed. 

Anyways.. after that we headed out to the trailer and then Mary Stuart asked me a question and we ended up talking for a good 15 minutes and Dan was just grazing and then just standing there hanging out quietly. Like.. he wouldn't even load up, he was just happy to stand there and chill. Good pony. Weird.. but good pony. :) I do adore him and his weird little self. 

So... then I forgot to shockwave him tonight and ended up riding Lyric after the storm, so.. shockwave tomorrow!