Stinker

 Dan was a cute heathen today. We did our homework and aside from him grabbing the leadrope and pulling me twice.. he was super!

God is good... feeling accomplished

 So, after my bad moment the other day, I was about to go to bed and stepped outside to let Emma out. I stood out there watching the heat lightning and looking at the stars and praying. I told God that I knew He was going to make everything be okay, even if it wasn't what I wanted. And I knew I was being silly, but that I was upset and sad and trying my best to stay positive and have faith. I prayed that he would help my unbelief, even though I believe. And I thought.. you know, a shooting star would make me feel better... make me feel heard, and know that You're going to make it all right. And then I thought, nope... You don't need to do that God. I know better. I trust you. I'm just having a moment. And I took one last scan of the skies... and saw a shooting star. Awww man... thank you God! Thank you for making it blatantly obvious and "loud" for me. Thank you for allowing me to be upset and unhappy and frustrated, even while I know that it's ultimately going to be okay. And thank you for sending me a sign. I know that this doesn't mean He is going to fix Dan and let us do all the things we want to do, but... I do know that it will be okay. Eventually. 

And today was a better day! I'm sleeping again. And I'm still sweating. Ha! 12 hour work day yesterday but it's okay. Today we accomplished things. I had a horsey day. And man, did I need that. I fed ponies and then gave Dan a quick bath so we could go to our lesson. I let him sit with the bemer while I groomed Funny cause she got to come too. Then, much to Fleck's dismay, I loaded them both up. We headed to Rana's. It was actually a fairly comfortable day earlier in the day today, so I left Dan on the trailer with the fans on and we worked Funny first. She was a terror! Ha. Rana asked "are you sure she's not Danny's child?!" ha ha. They are freaky alike! 

 

ha ha... Tweedle dee and tweedle dum.... heathen 1 and Heathen 2....  two peas in a pod!

Then it was Dan's turn. He came off the trailer and we went to the arena and he was ALL FIRED UP! He was freaking out about where Funny was. Like giraffe mode, screaming. Sigh. So frustrating. I had to yank on him and smack him with the lead rope some to get him to realize I was even there and give me any attention. I managed to get him to lower his head some and do pillar 1 very briefly. So then I handed him off to Rana. She worked him and basically was trying to get him to soften his neck and relax and walk in a circle around her. She was laughing because she said that he did it, but he did just the bare minimum to not get in trouble was multitasking because while he was doing what she was asking, he was still 75% focused on where his sister was and not on Rana. Finally after about 8-10 minutes, he gave up and started to pay attention to Rana. He kept eating the lead rope though and she had to get onto him for that too. We ended up putting him in the lunging cavesson. So frustrating because the one I bought is wonky. No wonder it was cheap. Dang. The chin strap was so high up... almost as high as the throatlatch part, so.. that meant that it allowed the noseband to twist and the straps were then almost poking his eyeball. So.. ugh. We ended up putting hers back on him and it was great. He actually was a pretty good boy once he started to pay attention. But he was a little rowdy too. Kelli had come to watch and she made the comment that she saw what I meant about him being bored. She said "he clearly wants to just go gallop!". So there was a little bit of squirting off. At one point he almost got loose but Rana held him and the look he gave her was hilarous... like "How'd you do that"!? So the goal was the relax his head and neck, soften his brachiocephalic, and basically... pillar 3 on the circle. Tracking to the right, he had to bend his neck to the inside (his whole head and neck, not just tip his nose, which is why the cavesson is helpful) and step out with his outside front, thus keeping his withers upright and not tipping. Going to the right it was best accomplished by pushing his right shoulder out. And you could clearly see the difference of when he was correct, vs just tipping and leaning. When he was straight and upright, he could lower and stretch his neck out and he could use his back. You could see his back almost bouncing and he got "jaunty". Going to the left was the same but different. He was overbent in the neck and throwing his hind end around. So instead of aiming at the shoulder/elbow, she was aiming at his barrel/rib cage. When he goes to the left, he needs to really soften that whole barrel in order to avoid tipping. This way is much harder for him. But he did get it. He was so amped up he did most of it in the trot, but Rana tried her best to keep his trot very small and short to minimize the shear forces on him in general, but especially since he's still healing from his surgery. So we quit pretty early on with him since he did well. In the beginning, he almost looked lame, but once he started using himself correctly, he was very sound and looked so much better all over. 

Then I took his lunging cavesson off and put his dino halter back on. I ended up dropping his lead rope so that I could take a picture of both lunging cavessons' next to each other so I can take mine to a leather person and have them fix it. Hopefully. Of course at that point, he ambled off and then went running around the covered arena calling for Funny. After I got the photo I called him and he sort of came but was mostly just making another big circle. And then went back to the far end of the arena again. I called him again and started walking towards him. At this point, he caught my eye and looked at me, ears pricked, so I turned and started walking back. And he came cantering up to me! I turned to look at him and thought for a second.... darn, is he going to smoosh me or stop!?! Eeeks! Luckily he stopped and was like "hey mom"! Awwwwww... it made my heart swoon! He's NEVER (well, not true... he did it twice but that was when Funny was on stall rest and I think he thought I had her) done that. Maybe he does love me! :) 

So I rinsed him off and turned him out with Funny and Kelli and I went and got lunch. Then we loaded back up and headed home. Kelli was behind me and called me giggling saying that Dan was getting his comeuppance. He always terrorizes Marvin in the trailer and Marvin spends most of the ride hiding his face in the corner while Dan steals his hay. Apparently Funny was doing that to him. Ha ha. He was in the corner and she was messing with him. Of course that didn't last very long and eventually he started fussing back and they took turns messing with each other. :) Hee hee. He does love her so much!

So yep... I'm still a little concerned, but glad that he looked so sound once he started moving correctly. And I'm feeling much happier now that we've "accomplished" something and I have a plan. I talked to Rana and the plan is to keep doing this to strengthen him. But if he gets cleared on Thursday, to also do some walk hacks and focus on straightness and soft necks. 

We've got another lesson on Tuesday to make sure I don't screw things up in the meantime. :) 

ughhhhh

 Today is not my day. I'm aware that it is only one day.... one moment... and I'm sure I'll be fine tomorrow. I think today... I'm so tired (despite 10 mg of melatonin, I haven't slept well at all in 3 days) and I am so tired of being hot and sweaty... and I'm bored.... and annoyed that I'm not doing things, but it's too hot to do things that aren't fun horsey things... so yeah. I'm just cranky. And my shoulder hurts, but apparently it's just an inflamed rotator cuff, so yay for that. And that makes me sad. And depressed. And despondent. But maybe tomorrow will be better. Or maybe Saturday will. And maybe we will get good news Thursday. Sigh. 

So yeah, I got up early for Freddie to come shoe and trim. They were all super! Dan and I did some positive reinforcement (except I forgot to click... sigh) with him standing still and cooperating for Freddie. He's been good lately, but... still. I also made him do soft neck/pillar 1 while we were doing it. Then I took a nap because... I just was exhausted. And it was so humid. And then I went to the bank and the ortho for me. Then I came home. 

And I was torn between working the ponies or spraying weedkiller. It was hot... I didn't have a ton of time... but they needed to be worked... and then it was thundering way off in the distance and the skies were looking dark far away. So I finally decided to work the ponies since a nice breeze had picked up. I grabbed Dan first. And... he was a bit sassy. Funny was cavorting on the other side of the round pen and it was setting him off. We got a few good walks in and then he just got sassy and goofy. Then his lead line came off, so I tried some liberty stuff. And Funny was sassy and scooted, so then he was scooting and trying to bite her over the fence. So he was cantering and not a nice happy hunter canter, the squirty bolty sassy canter. Which meant that he was cross firing and swapping and... honestly, he looked lame. Even when he went down to the trot, he looked shorter on the right hind. Sigh. And then, I started spiraling. I suck. I can't even work him in pillar 1 properly. We're never going to get anywhere. He's lame again. And then, because he was being sassy, he was biting at the air and snaking his face, and then he went to pummel the earth with his front feel before a roll but didn't roll... so my brain went down the wormhole (not even a rabbit hole anymore.. now it's wormholes) that he knows he's not right and he's freakin' pissed about it. He hurts. He's mad because he too is bored and wants to do things but he hurts. Sigh... So I tried to get my crap together and got one or two good pillars 1, 2, and 3 out of him and let him loose. Then I tried to go snuggle and cry with him in the stall and he let me for a minute, but it was so hot in there he decided to leave and go hang with Funny. 

And then I had to get ready for dinner with Aunt Becky and Uncle Wes so I couldn't do much more. And now, after dinner.. I'm still tired, but at least I'm not hot and sweaty. But I'm sad. I'm just... sad. I'm losing hope that God will fix him and let us get back to doing all the things he wants to do, and I want to do. I'm afraid that I got greedy, and instead of just being grateful that I was able to ride and do low level stuff with my guy after the first injury, and then all the others, I got greedy and pushed him. And I'm sad because.... I'm not sure I'm going to be okay with it if that's all he can still do. I've poured 11 years of my heart and soul into him. I adore him. We have so much fun together. And he's freakin' nice! He's a lovely horse. Why can't he get to show the world (ha ha... okay, you know what I mean) how awesome he is?! Why can't we get to do and play and check off those things we want to do? Sigh... It's extra hard because not only is Funny a year out from being ridden, but she's also a hot mess already too. And yes, I could go buy an OTTB and just give Dan more time. Which may be what he needs, but... I've poured so much into him. It's hard to see it all go to waste. And I love him. I love riding him. He's a blast! I just want to get back to playing with him. And I feel like he's bored and he wants to get back to playing and doing things. 

anyways... just sad. I'm hoping our field trip on Saturday will be encouraging and not depressing, and then I'm hoping Thursday next week won't make me go buy another horse out of depression. 

Pics of Dan being adorable this morning. He still pinned his ears and snarked at me when I said hello. Twit! But I know he loves me. 

Distracted Dan

 So... Dan went from a cocky bastard to obsessed with his sister pretty quickly. ;) He LOVES her so much. Except at dinner time. Then he's ruthless! ha ha. 

Anyways, I worked her first today and he hung out at the gate or in the corner the whole time. Then when it was his turn, she had the nerve to go hang out with Fleck in the shade by the hay feeder. Horrors! Dan was super distracted by this, and then some gunshot went off so he was extra distracted. So it wasn't our best session today. I managed to get a little bit of work done, and we got some good releases, but it wasn't our best work. Oh well. We at least got some releases and some pillar work. 

 

 

And it was sneaky hot today. There was a nice cloud cover and a lovely breeze and the humidity was a little less, but... it was still super hot. I think at one point my barn was 96 degrees. Ugh! After we worked I did give him a rinse off. 

 

Then I went and had a lesson with Aubrey. It's so helpful! I'm hoping to fix some of my bad habits before I get back on Dan. And... today I got to ride Lottie! It's a good think she isn't for sale because I would probably end up buying her. I really liked her. Poor girl was panting and sweating before I even got her out of the pasture. And then I was brushing her like a normal horse, not like a delicate thoroughbred! Oops. Aubrey corrected me. We had a group lesson with two other TB's, one who was only his 4th ride in. They were great and we had fun. I worked on my arms again and it was better. Slightly. ;) But still better. Aubrey stopped me and showed me what crossing the neck with my right hand does. AHA!!! It's sad how my brain is convinced my trainers are wrong until they show me and my body feels it. But I'm so glad she did. Basically when I cross the neck all I'm doing it twisting them at the poll. The nose tips in, but the head twists and nothing else happens in the body. BUT, when I pull back with my elbow and pull back and with an opening rein.... the nose tips in, but the poll stays straight, the neck bends, the ribcage bends and the whole horse bends. AHA!!! Duh. I know this... but now that I've felt it... hopefully my brain will be convinced and remember. I also had to remember to turn my shoulders and my head to steer. We got a pretty nice trot and walk. She's self propelled. Ahhhh.... that's the part of the thoroughbred that I love. A nice marching walk and trot. And Lottie is super good for me because she's long backed and likes to tip onto her forehand. So if I sit up and tall I can help lift her back up and rock her back onto her haunches. It also helps if I slowed my post and slowed her trot a little, so she's not just running. Forward and running onto the forehand are not the same thing. We also cantered. Eeeks! She got a little quick and a little squirrely. BUT once I turned my shoulders, softened on her mouth, and gave her something to do, she focused and got soft through her back again. I told Aubrey that I heard her saying to unlock my elbows and quit pulling and I knew she was right, but my brain was going "but she's running away with you... hold... stop!". But sure enough, once I convinced my brain to tell my body to soften and held with my core (which is so weak) she slowed down and it got better. I had a hard time sitting more because my core is weak, my stirrups were a hair too long and I've turned into a DQ and can't seem to sit in a jump saddle, so that wasn't helping. When I did "sit" I felt like I was slamming her back. So I half seated, but I had to keep my body back and my core strong. That's hard. But we did manage a nice canter and while she was squirrely she didn't do anything more than a few porpoises. It was fun. I really do like her. And she is helping me fix my issues. Good girl!

Field Trip!

 Today was a good day! Dan woke me up again twirling the chain around. Argh! But I'm glad he's having fun. I guess. ;) I got them fed and then Mike and I went for a bike ride and breakfast. Then I dragged the arena and then spread manure. Then I had lunch. Then I went to Walmart. (Ugh.. that was not fun, but groceries had to be gotten). Then I finished the last of the rosemary spray. (Becky had given me a ton of fresh rosemary. Supposedly, if you cook it in water in the crock pot for 4 hours and then put it in the fridge and spray their tail base daily, it'll help them grow a nice luscious tail. So, we're gonna try it. I got 4 spray bottles full!). Then I planted one more lantana plant I bought at Walmart. Then I grabbed Dan and we headed for a field trip. :) We've been so bored I decided that we would go to Ashland and walk to the lake. So we did!

 

He was soooo dirty, so excuse the dirty pony pictures. But he was super! We walked all the way to the lake, and even jogged a little bit. Like... less than 20 steps cause I've got NO cardio! We worked on our pillar work while we walked and he was super. It helps that he is a bloodhound and was sniffing the ground most of the way too. But we halted and then I asked him to rock back too and he did. It was a nice break from the arena. We had fun. Then we got to the lake and I let him splash. I told him to not drown himself because... the obvious, but also, his insurance has lapsed! hee hee. But I did start to panic about him getting tangled in the rope vs me taking the rope off and having him go running amuck! Luckily he decided that splashing was enough and he didn't need to swim. Which, would have been therapeutic, but oh well. He splashed and I got in with him, up to my crotch. It was hot! 

Then we hiked back and took the long way home, around the other lake. Then he got a rinse. Good gravy he was filthy!!!! I couldn't even get him clean he was so dirty. But yay! Fun day and it was nice to do something different. :) And it was nice to have good pillar work too.

SOOOOOO bored!

 So, Danny really needs to go back to work soon! He's getting chubby and bored! ha!

This morning I was woken up at 6ish to a weird clanking noise. I figured it had to be him but I couldn't figure out how he was making the noise. I tried to just go back to sleep, but... nope. I finally got up to go investigate. Of course as soon as he saw me he stopped, so no video or photo proof, but... He had found the stall chain and was twirling it, causing the clip to smack against the wall repeatedly. Ugh... Dan! 

Between that and the drag racing he and Funny are doing... he's so ready to go back to work. We did a tiny bit of pillar work this morning. He's gotten a little naughty about it. I think my peppermint treats are super addictive because he's been mugging me when we do the pillar work now. So... no more clicker work for a hot minute. Or at least not with the peppermint mega treats! I'll save those for really good work. We did manage to get some good pillar work done. Even pillar 3/leads on the lunge. Although he was fresh and kept trotting and cantering. I did manage to get him to stop straight a few times too. Then I rinsed him off and turned him loose. They are all so sweaty and slimy and nasty because it's been so hot!

I'm thinking tomorrow I might load him up and take him to Ashland and just walk him in hand to the lake and let him splash and swim and play. We shall see. We'll do pillar work first too. 

Fingers crossed that he gets the all clear for saddle work on August 4th!

Making lemonade

 Today was supposed to be a super fun day. I was so excited because I had in hand lessons scheduled with Rana for both ponies. And I was going to work on Marvin, since he's at Camp Rana at the moment. I hitched up the trailer last night and got up early this am and packed my lunch, filled hay nets, moved all my stuff for work to the truck, and then after feeding... I pulled Dan out and gave him a bath. He was nasty and I was too embarassed to take him to Rana's looking like that! And then Rana called and said it was storming there and the radar looked rough for the rest of the day too. Sigh.. I knew it was coming, but... it made me sad. And I pouted. Because to make it worse, she and I couldn't coordinate until (not this) but next Saturday. Sigh. I was mad. Not at her. Not at anything in particular, just mad. I was so looking forward to some sort of adventure and doing SOMETHING. Any sort of progress. And then I started obsessing and thinking that this will set me back a month...  Yeah, I spiraled a little. Sigh. And then Dan was being a wiggle butt and since I was already annoyed, this highly annoyed me. Then when I walked away for a minute he somehow managed to step into my little shelf and pull it over... spewing all of my shampoos and such into the wash rack. Grrr.. I managed to get him rinsed and moved to the aisle and then bemered him. Then I decided since I had to pick up the washrack anyways, now was my chance to try to scrape out the pile up of debris on the sides and from under the mats. So I did that. I let Dan go and eat and then later the morning I pulled him back in and acupunctured him. He was a tiny bit sore over his SI again but it adjusted out and that was all that needed to be redone. So yay! The fact that he's holding most of his adjustment (all but the pelvis) was pretty cool. He was a good boy for his acupuncture and we did a tiny bit of pillar work. Then I turned him out again. 

hen later after dinner I decided to take him to the arena for a bit more pillar work. He was a good boy. A little greedy because I gave him two of those new peppermint treats when I haltered him. He was cracking me up. He was doing pillar one with his mouth open and his lips wiggling. Hee hee. Like a little pirahna. But he never bit... just lipped me and waved his lips around. ha ha. Goofy. I wish I had thought to get video of that. 

After our session, which wasn't very long, I put him on the hill outside the arena for one last pillar 1 session. I should have known better! He was trying to be good but Sissy came up and interupted. Then it was a game. I released Dan and they went to playing! He was trying to roll and of course he picked the red clay. But he only got one side and hopped up, while going uphill, and then took off with Funny. Goobers! 

Stripping Party?

 Hee hee... I went to feed this morning and noticed Dan had pulled off both front fly boots and Funny was missing 1 hind fly boot. Then after breakfast, I turned them back out for a bit. Gail was coming to massage Funny so I went out shortly after to get her and noticed Dan was now missing his fly mask. I walked into the middle field to get them and noticed all 3 fly boots and the fly mask laying there, strewn about the pasture. The fly mask was even over the fence. Ha ha. It looked like they had a strip show last night. Silly goobers.

I did some more pillar work with Dan and he was good. I made the mistake of putting a few peppermint treats in my pockets so he was a little greedy but once we got through all of them and he realized there weren't anymore, he went back to work. We didn't work super hard because it was so hot and humid, but he was good. 

And despite his RBF, he was happy to play and didn't immediately run off to find Sissy when I turned him back out. :) I think he's enjoying the "boring ol' groundwork that's beneath him" to a certain degree. :) 

His new lunging cavesson came! It's a bit too big, and was supposed to be brown, but.. it'll work. Hopefully! Just gotta punch a hole in the nose band I think. 

Good homework day!

 So today was a good day! I left the treats and clicker at the barn as I felt like he was getting a little greedy. (Which is why Meg likes hay instead of alfalfa pellets, but I don't have a hay bag yet!). We got some pretty good work right from the get go. He thought about rolling a few times but didn't. We got some yawns and some processing. I even got some good pillar 2 work. Then he did go down and roll and just laid there. For about 4 minutes. I almost thought I broke him. But then he hopped up and picked up the carrot stick on his own. Ha ha. Guess you're ready buddy. We did a tiny bit more, but he went to processing mode again. So then after a bit, I pulled him into the shade and let him think some more. Then we finished with a nice strong pillar 1 in walk all the walk back to the gate and then a few pillar 2 adn 3's and we were done. He was so good!

Then later I tried to hose them off since it was so hot. Ha ha. It wasn't quite as effective as it could have been. ;) 

Then again tonight, him and Funny were running while I was bush hogging. ACKKKKK. It makes me nervous, but at the same time, I am NOT about to do stall rest any longer. And the surgeon said "turn out for 2 months and then back to work", so... he didn't say "turn out as long as he's not running". But then the other surgeon said don't canter for 8 months... although I'm not sure if he meant under saddle or what. But... oh well. It's in Gods hands. I've got to do what works best for me and the pony and if it takes longer or doesn't work... well, honestly, I'll regret it, but... how does one know?!?! 

But he looked good and happy. There were a few moments of bunny hopping/both legs together, but he was also squirting off. The rest of the canters looked normal and appropriate. So... I'll just keep praying!