Brrrrrrr!!

 

 It was cold today!! Granted I started off my day with the farrier! It was about 41 degrees and Patrick showed up at 7:45 am. The ponies were fed and I was in fleece leggings, a fleece lined shirt, a thick fleecey things and my jacket, and my hat. And I was soooo cold by the time he finished! My fingers and toes weren't numb but getting there. I had to sit in front of the space heater and warm up before I could make myself go back outside and get Dan to go ride. But I couldn't sit there long because time was a wastin!'

 

We headed to Ashland and met Sharon and Baylor. It was sunny, but cold and the breeze was pretty substantial today. I sort of wondered if I was going to get hot, riding in all my fleece stuff, but since we were just walking I figured probably not. (maybe later with Funny!). And I was quite glad I didn't shed a layer. It was chilly. Not unbearable, and maybe I would have been toasty warm had I not still been recovering from the morning. ;) 

 

We had a lovely hack though. We went behind the stadium ring, down to the bridge, then up to hoot and holler, down sideways, then crossed the creek. Then we went acorss the field to the canoe launch area and then snuck down towards the beaver pond and then back up to the hay fields and then back down to Green lake and then around the little lake. It was a little hillier than I meant to make it! Whooops. Dan seemed fine though. He didn't seem fatigued and even briefly thought about letting out a few little bucks here and there. Luckily he didn't do it. And I didn't trot him to see if he was sound, but... that's okay. It's not going to matter until February I guess. Truly. Although I'm going to have to keep putting my trust back in God on that one because I still am slightly panicking that I need to re-evaluate to make sure it's not his stifle or something worse that will require more "treatment" vs benign neglect and time. 

 

It was a pretty day too although the leaves are really starting to be more and more brown and be more on the ground than on the trees. I think that we're at the tail end of the beautiful Fall season we actually got this year! Thank goodness I was able to embrace it! Oh, and speaking of leaves.. Dan found a HUGE yellow yummy leaf and was quite happy to snarf it up. :) 

 

 

 

Long Trail ride

 Maybe i'm a terrible mom... he should be resting and rehabbing.. and maybe this is why he doesn't ever heal. But he's also out cantering around in the field and acting very much like he wants to work. But... maybe this was too long. he got tired 3/4 of the way through. 

but still a lovely ride. went to dauset trails with linda and sharon. Quite nice. really good parking. easy to get to. only 45 min away. lovely trails. a bit slick after the rain because of the clay base but not deep. dan slid some but he's also not the most surefooted especially with all his issues. lots of zigzag spaghetti noodles ;) but not much terrain. one or two tiny short hills and mostly flat with occasional very gradual uphill or dowhill. Great views. And apparently the Georgia groundhog who predicts spring lives here. We passed his farm. But didn't see him.

They were nice and let Dan lead most of the way. Baylor was starting to creep up at the end, since dan was getting tired, so we let him lead. And about 3 or 4 times Dan did the briefest of shenanigans. Never more than a step or two and very subtle for him, but he is still trying. Guess he still hurts enough to not try harder. Darn... kinda makes me feel worse, but... also... he freakin' wants to be out on the trails doing things. He never said no and never tried to stop. he just... slowed down up the small hills and at the end. But yeah, maybe 5.2 miles was a bit much. Even walk only. But I think he was glad he did it. We both had fun. hopefully it won't bite us in the butt. 

photos: 11-26 dauset trails

Short Trail ride

 short hack at Charlie Elliott

aramadillo, drunken walking out, still lame, straight and happy way back.

photos: 10-26 ce ride

videos

Good Aim! Bad Boy!

 Daniel Floyd Breaux! You were so naughty today! And it hurt!!!

 

Unfortunately I ran out of time to ride him today. Well, technically I guess I could have. But I opted to take a bike ride with Mike instead and not have a 9pm dinner. And I had the saddle fitter come, so that took up some of the day. But it was okay. Except for the fact that Dan took offense. Sigh...

I was expecting the saddle fitter at 4 pm and was about to fetch ponies when she texted that she would be there at 4:30. No problem. Except I got distracted by working on Funny's halloween costume and she was a hair early. They were right outside their stalls eating hay around 4:10, but... by 4:30 they were up by Fleck's grave. Ooops, I'm so sorry!!! I caught them easily and then I put Funny in a stall so we could do Dan first. Because heaven forbid he has to stay in a stall for more than a minute if it doesn't suit him! 

I put him in the cross ties and told the fitter that I wanted to double check his western saddle. Just to make sure. I figured the neck atrophy was highly likely secondary to his stifles or neck issues vs the saddle, but.. you never know. Plus, when Mark fitted the saddle, Dan was such a twit and wouldn't stand still and was being even more ridiculous than usual, so we didn't really get a good read on it. So anyways, the fitter does western too so she could check his. So while I was telling her all these things, Dan was making ugly faces and being his usual awful self in the cross ties. And then he grabbed the tie in his mouth and yanked on it. A few times. And the last time, it broke the hay string and ricocheted off the wall, right onto my skull! OUCH! That seriously hurt dude! I had a big knot forming as soon as it happened. I was so pissed I just apologized to the fitter and slapped him hard across the face with the lead rope. Twice. Because dammit Dan just effing stand still for ten minutes. That's all I'm asking. Just stop being so dang awful and rude. I'm over it! I felt bad for being so upset with him but for the love... just act like a normal horse that knows how to stand tied and stop being so distructive. Ugh... 

Anyways... after that he mostly behaved himself but he was still making ugly faces. He quit chewing on the cross ties though. For now at least. We put the saddle on and I showed her where I was placing it. She said it was too far back. Okay... maybe that's my problem. And that might explain why my stirrups feel so far back. She did also show me that I could pull my stirrups more forward. Ahhh!! Magical. I had sort of tried but never really accomplished it. But when we set the saddle on the ground it opened the area up enough that I was able to slide them forward a good half inch. Nice! So anyways... she suggested that I slide it forward a good bit. Instead of having the back of his scapula hit the concho, I should have the back of his scapula hit the tree point. Which is where the screw is. And my buckroll incidentally. So, I may have misheard Mark. He did say the tree point but I thought he said the concho was my tree point location. So... anyways... she felt like it fit great once I slid it more forward. 

Then we looked at my pads. She was not a fan of the toklat ones and said she felt like the hard rigid western saddle trees sort of need the thicker wool pads. So we put my western thick pad on and she pulled it more forward. (So the flaps of the front of the saddle are overlapping the shoulder a little bit) and said that the wither cutout should in fact be at the wither. Ha ha. I KNEW IT! Ha ha. Doh. And I should have the same amount of space in front of the saddle as behind the saddle, on the pad. But she liked how it fit him.

So yay! I'll just try using the western pad only for a bit, which is nice now that it's not so hot and humid and it won't get so gross. (especially since we'll be walking only for a bit). And I'll pull my saddle more forward and now my stirrups should be more forward too, so we'll see how that feels. Hopefully I can sneak in a ride tomorrow. It's the Ashland show but I don't ride til 3:30 with Funny, so I may see if I can sneak him over there for a quick trail ride tomorrow. Or maybe I"ll just go to Charlie Elliot. Even if we don't do the whole 6 miles, we can go 1.5 miles in and 1.5 miles back out or something. I may actually do just that. Because if we go to Ashland, he'll need a costume! And if I had planned ahead enough, I'd totally do just that... take him for the costume contest. But, I didn't plan ahead and it's too late now to come up with something, so.. maybe we'll do CE. 

Anyways... my head still hurts and the lump is still there and my cross tie is still broken, but... I've mostly forgiven him. I do think I'm going to have to go back to zero tolerance again. It's just exhausting. 

A magical day

 Dan and I headed out to Ashland today to enjoy this gorgeous weather and the woods. It was a glorious day. Deliciously chilly enough that I had on long sleeves and a thin fleece pullover. But it was sunny and the sun warmed my soul (instead of scorching me!). And we were only walking, so no sweating. Well, Dan sweated a tiny bit. 

   

We tacked up and just headed out. I let him choose mostly. We ended up going across the small dam and then down into Down Under. It's so pretty there. Except he almost lost it before we hit down under. He was snacking on some grass just before we hit Down Under and they have the big stack of wood ready to replace the bridge in the corner of the pasture. I guess he didn't notice it and when I finally got his head out of the grass to move along, he saw it and spun and almost bolted. Whoa dude!!! Ha ha. Luckily he stopped and turned and stared and let me talk him down. And then he felt silly for being so spooky. ;) 

   

Then we headed up to the cowpens. Sadly, they chopped down or moved the awesome jump. Not that Dan and I would have jumped it, but... it made me glad that I had done it on Funny already! Then we went past the hay fields and into the fire swamp. Then from there we headed across the dam. And we scared up the pterydactyl. Twice. But Dan didn't mind. He didn't want to swim or splash today. Which wasn't a bad thing. Especially because pawing in the water probably isn't good for his shoulder at the moment. We headed back up alongside cross country and headed in. 

 

He felt pretty good. At the end he maybe got a little fatigued and just felt... a little neuro almost. Maybe a little weak in the right hind.. maybe a combination of all the things. But it makes sense if his left front is sore and his right hind is sore.. that he'd feel a little wonky. And it was only briefly at the end but then he worked out of it again. I was tempted to trot and see how he felt, but I didn't. 

  

When we untacked I did feel like his saddle was smooshing down on his traps. I wonder if I should switch to riding in the big felt pad for a bit and see if that makes a difference. I did also put in a text to Nancy to have her come check Funny's saddles and was hoping she could check Dan's too. I think I remember her saying she did western saddles too. His neck just looks so awful sometimes. And his topline is definitely getting worse again. 

   

But we had a good ride and enjoyed each others company and the lovely weather and lovely views. 

Tonight at dinner I got mad at him though because he was just slamming his teeth on the bars again. I think I hurt his feelings because later when I went to blankets on the girls, I didn't bring any treats because I was tired of getting mobbed. And it's kind of dangerous when I'm trying to blanket them and he keeps coming over and butting in thinking I have treats and trying to chase them off. He kept his distance but then once they were blanketed and I was snuggling with Funny and taking full moon photos, he came up and started "smiling" for me in an attempt to get a cookie! Awwww... smart boy. And you're super cute. But I don't have any cookies. But we snuggled a little bit. He's still Dan though and grumped a little bit. But enjoyed his ear rub.