Smiles!

 Ahhh, I needed today. Yesterday was such an emotional day. Plus I was on my period so my hormones were raging! And today was still a hard day. I still cried this morning. But... Lyric had a good vet visit. I do love Dr. Barrow and her crew! I got home and had a quick salad for lunch and then changed into breeches and grabbed Dan and we headed to Ashland. I had to work on one horse tonight so I had a small window, but it was enough.

 

Unfortunately Kelli wanted to do arena work, which was understandable because Marvin hadn't been ridden much, it was super windy and cold, and she had the new loaner saddle to try out. We talked about plans, but decided to just show up and do our own thing and if we got to hack together a little bit great! Except... I was ready to go because I was bareback and she was still tacking up and talking. And then she sounded a little worried so I offered to come up to the arena with her to start and figured I could do some lateral work and a bit of trotting before I hit the trails. She almost told me no as she didn't want to ruin my ride but then as I was like "cool, see yah" and started to head out, she changed her mind. Ha ha. Okay.. no big deal. Dan and I can do that. 

 

We got to the jump arena (the dressage arena's were closed) and I did my walk work. We did all the lateral things. He stuck his tongue out once when we did a half pass left at the walk. But only once. Of course his walk half-passes suck currently. At this point I had been on him for 20 minutes (although probably 10 of that was sitting around waiting) so we picked up the trot for a bit and did some leg yields and a tiny bit of the babiest of half-passes. He felt pretty good and actually seemed to be using his hind end and pushing and getting lofty today instead of his usual flat western jog type bareback trot. Yeah boy! Kelli said he looked good. We trotted over some poles and then... I was like "I hate to do this, but... do you care if I go hack now?". Because... it was almost 2 pm and I had to be finishing my ride at 2:30 to get back home in time to go work... and I could have done arena work at home. I spent the extra hour of drive time and gas so that we could hit the trails. I felt bad, but... She was cool with it and I told her if Marvin freaked out to just call me and I would come back. But apparently he didn't so yay!

 

Dan and I moseyed down to the water complex, snacking as we went. I did one walk circle and then two trot circles each way. Then we trotted a few logs and up the bank and then went down Raccoon loop. The bridge is almost done!! Yay! Then we went up the hill to the lake, skipped the lake and trotted from the lake head, across the dam and all the way through the field with the gallop track, and around the lake to the log, which we trotted over. I did post some of it because Dan's trot got big and bouncy! But he felt really good and lofty today! So then we walked up and down the hills in the woods. We came to the beaver dam and there was a little "creek" and I knew he was going to hop over it. But I didn't expect him to bascule over it! He popped me out of the "tack" a bit. Hee hee. Fun! We trotted a bit more alongside XC and then noticed as we hit the top that Kelli and Marvin had headed out in hand to come find us. We trotted towards them and jumped two or three logs. He mostly trotted them. Good pony. Then we meanded back to the trailers because it was time to go. 

 

Ahhhhh.. I needed that. I was already feeling better but.. it was so nice to get out and enjoy the sunshine and my pony. Turns out trotting is good for the soul too! Not just galloping, but... I can't wait til we can gallop again!

Quickie at home

Dan and I snuck in a quick ride today. I had to work today because the saddle fitter is coming tomorrow, but I moved 2 of my stops to today and the last stop to Thursday, so... I adjusted 7 horses today and was still home by 2ish. Whoo hooo! I lunged Lyric first and then grabbed Danimal. I opted for the bareback pad because it was quicker and I wanted time to drag the arena too. And I had already lunged and shockwaved Lyric, so time was running a hair tight.

 

(hims was cranky til I mentioned the word cookie.... )

He was happy enough to oblige and we wandered around the pasture and did some hills. We did some trotting and even some leg yielding in the pasture. Then we went in the arena for a little bit more lateral work. We even did some shoulder in and half pass and leg yield at the trot. He was good! We even got a nice springy trot instead of his western pleasure jog trot. He was a good kid!

 

We meandered back just as the water trough was full so I hopped off to turn the water off and figured that was a good time to quit. It was a short ride but we accomplished our goals. And no tongue! He did trip a few times when we first started and got a little anxious about it but... no tongue. He was chomping though. But only for a minute.

 

Tonight there is the severe storm warning so they got turned back out in the main field. They were glad. They were getting bored in the dog pen pasture. But I'm trying to gross grass kiddos!

 

 

 I do LOVE my farm!!

Leg Day

I'm so grateful for days like today. I am blessed. I got to work all 3 of my ponies, in lovely weather, on my beautiful farm. I got to sleep in and had dinner with Mike. It was a good day. 

  

I decided to do Dan last today and clearly he was bored! That pasture is fun at first but it gets small and boring quick. ;) 

We went to the trailer and I groomed him. Then I put the saddle on. I used the Peter Horrobin dressage saddle. I also put the bright green paisley pad on him. ha ha. Not the best choice for him, but whatever. 

 

We hacked up to the arena through the pasture and he was a bit of a slug. We did a long walk warm up and did all the lateral work... shoulder in, haunches in, leg yield, half pass, turn on the forehand and turn on the haunches. I think that he stuck his tongue out in the beginning... when we did leg yield to the left. Which... hasn't bothered him before. And I was not on the buckle, but literally on the first stop from the buckle. So.... maybe just anxiety? Verse actual pain? I opted to ignore it and carried on. We did a stretchy walk and then we picked up the trot. We trotted around and then took a break. Then we did some more trotting and added in some light lateral work... leg yielding. And.. no tongue. So... interesting. We did some transitions. Then we walked again. Then we did a bit more trotting and we were bored so we did a tiny bit of shoulder in and haunches in and a tiny bit of halt pass. And no tongue. I kept his neck as long as I could. We even did a nice medium down the centerline. He asked! 

 

So then I looked and we had done 11 minutes of trot. Oops! Ha.. 11 seems to be the magic number lately. 

   

So then we hacked home. I debated going to the lake but decided to just head back. 

   

Hack and Snack and Water Therapy

 

 Danny and I had fun today. We went to Ashland and enjoyed a mostly quiet hack and snack. We dropped off some meds at the gray barn and hung out and grazed while we talked to Laura and Smarty. Then we headed to the woods and to the fields. We did our ten minutes of trot. I didn't set a timer.. just watched equilab. We ended up doing 11 minutes, so oops. I tried to do some longer sections of trot, but... man, 10 minutes of trot bareback isn't easy. Especially when Dan has his big boy trot on. :) But yay for big boy trots! 

 

We also walked the ditches and trotted up the bank (Okay, he cantered up the baby bank). We did the water treadmill and got some good work done. I think we did 3 circles each way and then another circle of transitions each way. We also trotted quite a few logs and he was so happy he actually picked up the canter and cantered two or three of them. Oops. #sorrynotsorry. ;) 

 

I also acupunctured his shoulder when we got home. He was a good boy. Hopefully we can make some more progress with that. 

 

We had a beautiful sunset too!

 

Ten Minutes!

 Farrier Day

Dan pulled a knife on Patrick. Ha ha... "I'll cut biotch!". 

Hematoma almost gone

back to normal with the herdbound and guarding of Lyric. Or at least much better

Went to vet for recheck. "Soundest he's looked". I didn't mention his back injections. ultraounds look good. did mention that atrophy looks worse but only because the rest of his muscling looks good. He mentioned how remarkably well he's done compensating but then mentioned that those muscles aren't really responsible for extension of the limb... so need to investigate whether it's due to something else. Already had that thought... waiting to inject his scapula/shoulder girdle to see if that helps. Got cleared to trot for 10 minutes and can also start some lateral work in the trot.

went to ashland and met Sharon. Had a lovely hack. did our 10 minutes of trot... did some in the water complex. then trotted a few logs which turned into jumps and canters! WHEEEEE!! I restrained myself for a big canter though. He felt good and was happy. Aimed to splash sharon and baylor in the creek and in the water complex. 

ahhh, my soul needed that.