Sunday Funday

 Today was a good day. We met Kelli at Ashland and did some dressage and then went for a hack. It was a decent dressage ride. We worked on the lateral work and Kelli actually knew we were trying to do a trot half pass. :) She said it wasn't too bad. Yay. We did some nice canter work too and at one point, I switched my seat bone weight aids and he either swapped or partially swapped! GOOD BOY!!! Totally not what I meant to ask, but... yay for hearing me. Then we played with asking for different leads with less walk steps. I think that's going to be the way to get the change with him. Just keep asking for the simple with less and less walk steps until he is so annoyed, he just swaps. Ha ha. We finished with a canter down centerline to medium trot to halt and it was stunning! He was legit medium trotting and maintainting his balance and then his halt was square, perfectly still, and started from the hind end!!! It wasn't a sliding reining stop or a screeching halt. Yahoo!

We had a fun hack too with a tiny bit of trot thrown in. :) 

Then Kelli did his hair since his mane was a mess!

Trying Something New

Working Equitation clinic

stuck his head in the barrel

stood tied to the trailer, even when everyone left him

didn't seem fazed by anything, other than horses in the pasture

did buck a bit, but not on course... just warming up

super amazing and did all the things!

Danny's first attempt at Working Equitation

Because.... Dan

 Or..... Have you met Dan?!

Sigh... So, luckily... God had mercy and made me feel much less pessismistic and gloom and doomy today. And it was another glorious sunshiney day. Apparently a great day for a nap. Right by the fence. And then a roll.... and if you've met Dan you know exactly where this is going.... So yep. I missed two calls and had two texts when I finished my third patient. "Please Call! Emergency... Dan is stuck in the fence!". Sigh... So I called Jean. Luckily Joel, her awesome farm guy, went to drag the arena and noticed that Dan was stuck in the fence. He had picked the one section of fencing that wasn't horse wire. And apparently the one remaining hot section too. Apparently the wire was on his thigh, shocking and sparking.... and he had both hind feet in the fence. Joel was super and cut him free and called the vet. By the time I got the message and sped home (with my poor Pilot shaking and rattling as we did 90 down I-20!) he had already walked him to the roundpen and met the vet. They said he had wrapped his leg in a towel and was being so sweet to him. I got there and Dan was drunk and they had cleaned his wounds. It was mostly superficial stuff but one was a little deeper than he was comfortable with so he threw in two stitches. I went ahead and vaccinated him too, so his tetanus was current. ;) They wrapped the one leg with the stitch and suggested I put him on SMZ's and bute. Oh, and he ripped his shoe off too. The one Freddie put on just yesterday. Sigh. Daniel...... Daniel.... Daniel... (The vet did say that Funny followed them all into the round pen and was all like "Who are you please? What is happening to my brother? Is he going to be okay?" and they had to chase her out because she was nosy. hee hee). 

So... I'm so incredibly grateful that Joel was there and was able to safely get him out before he did anything worse. I'm incredibly grateful that nothing worse happened. But I'm a little annoyed that I can't ride tomorrow because it's going to be even more glorious of a day today and then... rain.... for like a week and half straight. :( (Well, maybe not Sat and Sun but it will be cloudy and icky). ARGHHHHH.. But it's okay.... It's fine.... I'm trying to focus on the positives. And luckily, because God had mercy... I can. This should have sent me into another panic attack... but nope. I survived. Even when I finished my day and came home to find Dan's unwrapped leg hot and puffy. So we cold hosed it... and he got his SMZ's and bute... and we'll pout tomorrow and hope that he's good to go by Saturday so we can do the Working Equitation clinic.

 

FINALLY!

 It seems like it's been forever since we've ridden in nice weather. Or ridden. ;) We finally got to ride today after all of our hock injection time off and work. Freddie came first thing this morning and did all 3 ponies. Dan got the same shoes up front and we went back to just regular shoes behind. I guess we'll see how he does with that. Then the plumber came to fix the leak. And of course we had to let the glue dry... twice! So finally... finally, I was free! We loaded up and off we went! 

I wanted to try the pivo at Ashland so we didn't do our warm up hack. We went straight to the arena. We did our walk work though to warm up and he was good. Our rein back is getting better. But dang if that stupid pivo didn't drive me bananas. It wasn't cooperating and kept getting stuck staring off into the woods. And somehow Dan moved when I was holding the tripod so we broke a leg off the tripod. Luckily we didn't break it break it until we got back to the trailer, so I was able to keep using it while we rode. So yeah.. it got some of us, but... not as helpful as I wanted. Oh well. 

We had a decent ride. I probably shouldn't have done as much lateral work as I did, but we didn't drill the canter to walks, so... hopefully I didn't aggravate his hocks. We got some good attempts at the canter half pass though! Definitely not enough bend in his body at the half pass in either the trot or the canter, but... he is going sideways. It's more of a counter leg yield than a half pass, but... at least we're going sideways some. We also played with the canter down centerline and 10 meter circle right to walk to 10 meter circle left to walk to 10 meter circle canter right, etc. That was kind of fun. And went way better than I expected. We also got a decent half serpentine counter canter both ways. So overall, nothing too exciting, but not a bad days work. 

Then we went for a hack. Ahhhhh... We mostly walked but did a tiny bit of trot and canter. We aimed for hills. We saw two of the herons fly off over the lake as we approached! I'm bummed my camera wasn't ready. We also came up on a herd of deer who just sat and watched us go by. And of course the geese and squirrels. And then Debbie and her greyhounds. ;) It was a lovely hack. 

The deer

But..... sigh. Stupid hormones. I'm a hot mess right now. I know it's a hormone surge, but I'm about to cry over everything and am feeling incredibly overwhelmed. I'm proud of myself for not getting upset with Dan and riding him nicely and politely and praising him for his try. And I was actually proud of him, not just pretending to be proud. But then I watched the video and... pick apart every little thing. He's not through... he's not connected.... I'm not getting enough sit and reach. I'm not getting that 3rd level, or heck, even that 2nd level outline I want. My posture sucks. My hands suck, my arms are doing random things that are totally wrong. And I'm just bummed. I know I shouldn't compare, but it's hard... when I feel like I work so flipping hard at everything... and still fail. It was so bad that when I got out of the shower, I had a legit panic attack. I had to breathe and focus on all the things I was grateful for and basically force myself out of it. So, I'm just praying that God helps me. That He shows me the way to let go of the things I'm holding on to.... my desire to be in charge... to fix it all... to not accept any help... to do it myself.... to be responsible/take responsibility.... to not burden anyone else.... to also fix their problems... to be a good wife/friend/sister/daughter/neighbor/vet/rider/chiropractor/human being....  And while I'm calm and chill on the outside..... my insides are whirling out of control like a roller coaster gone rogue. And I couldn't even get completely at peace while out hacking today. And that's not fair to my horse. It's not his fault I'm a complete disaster and he shouldn't feel like he failed because I feel like I failed. 

Sigh.... freakin' pre-menopause... or menopause... I'm old now, so... who knows. 

Vet Recheck

 Good thing I rode! Thursday morning was rainy and icky and the arena was a swamp! Plus I had the migraine from heck on Wed. I took 3 prescription meds, two ibuprofen, and finally nightquil! I ended up puking twice at my last farm, despite having to adjust 4 horses. So I was not feeling very good Thursday morning anyways. So... I just did things around the house until it was time to go. Which was fairly early anyways. I was going to hose Dan's legs off so they wouldn't be nasty for Keelin, but... when I tried to turn on the water, the pipes sprayed me in the face. And it was COLD!!! So dangit. Oh well. We went and picked up Atlas first and then headed to Aiken. 

Keelin watched him trot and canter briefly because the footing was sloppy and it was drizzling. She thought he looked great. She did an acupuncture scan and thought he was still a little sore over his LS and sacroiliac joints and lumbar area, so she suggested that I acupuncture and adjust the tar out of him. We also x-rayed his feet and basically... 

Front Left: Perfect, even at 4 weeks

Front Right: the bony alignment of P1, P2, and P3 is just off...like broken back. It's not even that his angles are negative in the coffin bone... but the whole column is off. Which is how it has been. And his medial/lateral balance was slightly off too. BUT... Keelin suggested leaving it alone since he was doing well and the last time we added wedges, we made him worse!

Right and Left Hind: Not terrible but slightly negative angles. Long toe. Keelin said that she thought that if we fix the negative angles, we'll help his stifle, but worsen his suspensories. She was not a fan of the slide plate with studs that Freddie had done and said to either put him back in the Denoix, and if we can't get those, to either try him barefoot or just in a regular keg shoe. That way we could shorten the toe and hopefully that will help his suspensories and stifles. So we

'll see what Freddie says. 

So then we let Atlas go. And I asked about how I would know when to address the hocks and stifles again. So she said that since the rain had stopped we should flex him and see. So we did. And UGH. She started with the left hind, just a whole limb flexion. He was lame lame lame! Like 6/4 lame! Like almost 3 legged lame. :( What the heck?! Neither of us were expecting that! So then she flexed just the distal limb and he was still positive. Same for the other leg, although in my opinion the left hind was worse. So then she palpated the suspensories and he was still a little reactive. We ended up going ahead  and injected his hocks, because... I'd worry otherwise! She said there was reason to do it, although we could certainly try and hold off. But nope.. just do it! I'll also bemer his suspensories as soon as my leg wraps come in. Hopefully soon! 

So she sedated him and scrubbed him and then got her sterile gloves on. Dan decided then that he needed to see what the noise was. He picked his head up, perked his ears, and stared into the woods. Like a non-sedated horse. Like a normal horse. Like... how we wish he would be instead of being busy, but definitely not drunk enough for hock injections! Dangit! So he got more drugs. And then he was lovely!

So then we let him wake up and hauled home and we finally got home. It was a long day. He had to stay in his stall. Oh man. He hasn't been ridden since Tuesday... he was in a trailer all day today... This was not going to go well. But he was pretty darn perfect! He only kicked maybe once or twice in the morning. yay!

Good boy. So now we can hopefully ride Monday, although I doubt it. It'll probably be Tuesday after Freddie comes. But he was running amuck today and looked pretty sound. I also acupunctured him today too, so... fingers crossed! Oh, and the other plan is to start the adequan again. We'll also do Map-5 once a week for 3 weeks again and then every other week. I'll probably discontinue the pentosan and just do the Map 5 instead. 

Dedicated!!! Or maybe just plain dumb!

 Guess what!?!? NO RAIN!!!! But... it's like... literally 34 degrees out and with the wind chill it felt like 25. So, I had cancelled my jump lesson because there were no jumps in the arena at Ashland and my arena has those deep spots, so... I decided I would see if Rana could teach since she has the covered and that might be the only place open to ride other than trail riding. She said yes. Bless her!!! It's bad enough to be working your tail off on your horse, but to be standing there in the cold..... bless her! I was actually fairly warm in my winter boots, winter breeches, long john, fleecey lined shirt, heated (on) vest and gloves. My face was cold though! But not quite so numb that I couldn't talk. But before I got to riding.... when I stopped for gas, BRRRR!!!! I was thinking perhaps Dedicated wasn't the right D word for what I was doing today. But... I'm so glad I did. :) 

We did our warm up with walking and did a little trotting and a teeny bit of canter before we started our lesson. We decided to work on the half passes today. Oh, and the rein back, because I broke it. Good call because... Rana fixed it!

 
So... the rein back. I was asking softly, but when I wasn't getting the response I wanted, I was adding more rein.... not more leg. Duh! So the correct way to rein back... is to get the halt. Slightly tip forward with my shoulders (and for now, it's more obvious but we are building the cues) and close my hands and then put my leg on. The leg drives him forward and creates the motion. The hands create a wall, saying, nope not forward, go somewhere else. They don't pull back to get the reinback....  They just create the wall saying nope. OHHHHHHH.... It makes so much sense. When I closed my leg more, Dan said "Oh, backwards, got it Mum". And it's not perfect, but it's better! And it's "on the bit" because duh... that's what happens when you ride back to front. Sigh. So then she gave us a great exercise to do. Ride on the rail into the halt. Rein back a few steps. Then leg yield sideways off the rail a few steps. Then rein back a few steps. Then leg yield back to the rail a few steps. Not going forward at all. Oh! That really makes me think of my seat aids! Because I'm closing my leg into my hand but depending on where my seat is... determines where he goes! Aha!!! Cool! That's a fun exercise and it'll help us!! (And I think it'll help us for other things too, as it'll help define my seat aids, so surely it'll help me with the leg yields and half passes and such). 

Speaking of half passes! I did mention that our half passes were getting better because of our walk homework so we tried them at the trot. It's always nerve wracking when I'm like "hey, this is better" and then she's like... "cool, prove it". ha ha.. Doh! But she did agree it was better! He's not quite bent enough and not crossing over enough, but... BUT.... he's maintaining the connection and throughness (mostly) and maintaining the tempo! So yay for that! And I think it'll get better as we get fitter and I get more correct in my body. I just have to remember to not cross the blasted left hand or let it drop down and straight! It's such a bloody bad habit! 

So then we moved onto the canter. Ha! I haven't even attempted these other than one teeny little one that didn't necessarily happen. BUT... Dan made an effort! I mean, he did try and we did go diagonally across. It was probably more of a canter counter leg yield than a half pass... ha ha... but still. He attempted something! And the exciting part was that, because of my cluelessness with my body and aids... we got one clean change and almost got a few other changes/partial changes. So, in theory, *IF* I can ever figure out myself... I can probably get the changes. :) The tricky part is that I keep wanting to do the opposite of what I'm supposed to do. So... for example, we are cantering to the right.... want to half pass to the right... I'm supposed to turn my upper body to the left.. bringing my right shoulder forward. Rana said it's what the horse is doing. Um... is it though? I mean... I thought they were making a C shape and bringing their shoulders into a shoulder fore and their haunches in, so.. wouldn't that mean the left shoulder is coming forward??? See, this is why I suck? I don't even know the correct movements. So I was doing the opposite of what I'm supposed to be doing, because of course I am! Sigh... so then I tried to bring my right shoulder forward and instead of being normal... I'm me... and I don't know what I did. Neither did Rana. It was like some bizarre twist with my arm going over my head practically! So then she had me just sit there... and turn my shoulders to the left (bringing my right shoulder forward). She asked me what happened to my seat. If I recall correctly, I think it put my weight onto my right seat bone... but maybe that's wrong... maybe it was my left seat bone, lifting my right seat bone, which would ask the horse to come to the right.... See, this is why I can't be left to my own devices! Now I'm confused again. So... wait... My weight needs to be to the right, to encourage the horse to come to the right. This is where I get confused... just because my weight is to the right, doesn't mean I'm sitting on my right seat bone hard enough to block him. I'm sitting on that right seat bone to encourage the bend. And oh wait... DUH! It's just like at the trot Holly!! Start in the shoulder in.... with inside leg to outside rein, and right shoulder back... then as we transition to half pass, bring the left shoulder back and put the right shoulder forward!! But keep the inside bend. And try not to use the inside spur so much as it creeps me into a crunch and makes my upper body not cooperate. So... Duh! Now I want to try it again! Poor Rana. Remedial dressage today! So anyways... we did it both ways and kind of sort of suceeded in a very beginner canter half pass. Hee hee. We quit with that. :) 

Poor Dan! He does love it though! Once we start doing those things... he gets hot off my leg and I don't have to keep him in the canter! Which, I need to remember and work on because I can't keep spurring him to keep him moving!

Such a good pony for his efforts. Rana was laughing as he was blowing big bubbles too! I know!! He's SOOOO SLOBBERY! Good boy got to munch on some grass for a bit after as his reward!

And more rain.....

 So... the rain came Thursday... and it kept raining for a good bit of yesterday.... and today....  Sigh. It is nasty! It was a great day to sleep in and stay in the wary dry house in your pj's. Except... Dan had a massage appointment. So I hooked up the trailer in the rain... caught the horse in the farthest corner of the pasture... and drove to another barn... for his massage. Ha! Yeah.... he's kind of spoiled. ;) But I'm glad we did. It was helpful to see what Kathleen felt as comparison. All good news. :) 

And then by the time she had finished... it had actually stopped raining. So... since I was already hitched and loaded and had conveniently put on my riding clothes... we decided to hit up Ashland on our way home. I was almost tempted to not go... it was later than I had thought it would be... it was cold... it was damp.... BUT... I'm jump judging tomorrow so not sure I'll get to ride... then Monday I'm working... so... we did. And I'm so glad we did. It was actually quite warm with my winter boots, fleecey breeches, and long jacket. We had a good ride! We did a tiny bit of canter and some trotting, but mostly just walked and did hills. We needed a good fitness ride. And it was only an hour, but we did manage 4 miles, so we at least got some fitness in. :) And I feel much better! Not so cranky or irritated with life anymore. Ahhhhhh.... 

Beating the rain... mostly

Yuck!! This weather has been awful. At least it didn't start raining yesterday like they originally predicted, but... sometime today it will. And then who knows when it will stop! They were originally predicting 11ish, so I got up fairly early and decided to go ride before it hit. I opted not to lunge since the round pen was still pretty wet and I didn't know when the rain would hit, and... I sort of thought maybe we'd take it a little easy til our vet visit just in case. BUT.... sigh, I should have lunged. I got up to the arena and Jean was riding and her helper was setting up a grid. But... she said she only had 20 minutes before she had to go do a phone call and she didn't mind, so I walked around the arena and did my walk work. But we ended up chatting and Dan was super distracted, so we didn't accomplish much. And unfortunately for her, she never fully got her grid set up nor did she get to ride it.... and now there's just more jumps in my dressage area. Oh well. After she left Dan and I had a pretty good ride. We worked on some stuff and our trot half passes are getting fairly decent. We did manage a few changes over the cavaletti once I got him to it not on a flyer. We also got some pretty nice canter to walk transitions more often than not. Yay! We worked on backing some too. For some reason that has just become so awful. But we made progress. And of course it starting misting on us as soon as Jean left, so basically the beginning of our ride. Which meant that my Pivo freaked out and recorded the pasture fence literally the entire time. So yeah....  But hey.. we got a ride in! Annoyingly, it didn't rain til about 1 pm, so I could have taken a bit more time getting out there to ride, but oh well. We got it done and I was able to come inside and dry off so yay!

 

 Slept in FINALLY (well, a little bit)

helped mike with his garage, burned some boxes, planted two dogwoods

lunged and rode dan - meh... feels sticky behind starting out... had some decent work once we got moving. Struggled horrendously with the change over the cavaletti but finally got it 4 times in a row, so quit. Practiced the three loop simples... got some good canter to walks.... got a nice lengthen from cantering down centerline.... also practiced the reinback and made progress.