Big brother Duties

Oh today was fun!!! I was by  myself and there was no one scheduled at Ashland, so I opted to take Dan and Lyric together. Lyric needs to remember how to load and we're tired and bored with lunging and I figured ponying her would be a better alternative and help get her stronger and fitter. So we did! 

 

Dan seemed happy enough to have her along for the ride. Although he looks small next to her big ol' butt! I know some of it is that she likes to sit on the ramp whereas he stays more forward, but good grief she is a tank! 

 (the pollen is out of control!!!)

I groomed them both and tacked Dan up (with his saddle because... you never know!) and we headed out to XC. I did walk them both through the water complex and over the ditch and up the bank. We didn't do our "treadmill" therapy because... too complicated with Lyric, but we did walk through it once. Then we headed to the lake for some splashing. They both had fun! Dan was trying to grab Lyrics lead rope... and he splashed her in the face a few times. And then... I almost fell off I was laughing at him. He got all tangled up or something or stepped on a bellboot or who knows... but he somehow faceplanted in the water and his whole head went under! He came up quick and was spitting and slinging water out of his ears. Hee hee. Then he took it out on Lyric and was trying to twirl her leadrope. Hee hee. Silly kids.

 

We headed out and went on a walk. Except.. I couldn't help it, so we trotted in field with the gallop track. They were both motoring and Lyric was trotting like a dang standardbred. Dan was trying to canter and stay in front so I had sort of a tight hold on him to try to keep him from getting too quick but also was trying to wrangle her... and his tongue came out. I'm not sure if I was making him shorten his neck... or he was just stressed because she was "winning" the race... But I couldn't do much about it and then once I was able to get them settled and everyone was trotting normally, he was fine. Although he did sneak in a canter and it actually felt quite nice. :) I was also able to get a nice soft trot with a softer rein and happier neck. I think he even lifted his back some! 

 

We headed back to the cross country field and trotted over a few logs together. They were great! So I let them snack a bit before we headed home. Overall, they were quite good together. I did have to giggle because Lyric went into "racehorse mode" and was trying to win and then kept reaching over to chew on Dan. Payback buddy!! Payback! Ha ha. Remember, her and Flecky are besties, so she was just paying you back for all the chewing on Fleck you did. 

 

We took some selfies when we got back to the trailer and I got off. And... HOW ON EARTH is Dan the normal one?? ha ha... 

  

 

 

 

 

 

15 Minutes

We had another vet Visit this morning. I was almost late because Dan was soooo dirty! Dan was good though and everything looks great except for some slight edema in the right hind suspensory. It's not alarming and supposedly is related to healing and fiber alignment. So we were cleared for 15 minutes of trotting and we'll come back again in another month. Hopefully at that point we'll be cleared to go back to full work, no restrictions! We also x-rayed his neck for fun because they had gotten a new fancy x-ray that was supposed to be amazing. There was a weird spur on the lateral wing of C3 that I don't think was there a few years ago. It appears to not be in the joint space but as he goes to flex, it'll cause a little bit of a biomechanical block/limit motion. And then his C7-T1 looks a bit weird and concerning but it's also the surgical site so it's hard to say. He was going to send the films to the surgeon who did Dan's surgery and see what he thought. I guess I'll find out at our recheck. We also talked about his tongue and the consensus was that it's likely due to the neck still. We did talk about injections but that it would be best to wait til the next visit. I figured I'd try the DeClue shoulder girdle and neck injection technique (with very minimal steroids and mostly sarrapin) in the meantime and see if it makes a difference or not. 

 

So after we left there, we headed to Ashland to do our 15 minutes of trot! We had the place to ourselves and we had a lovely ride! I warmed up in the jump arena and we did some lateral work at the walk and then the trot. Then we hacked out to the XC field and did the water treadmill. Then we splashed in the lake. Then we trotted in the gallop track and got some nice trot work! He was round and lifting his back and had a soft neck! Whoo hooo. We finished up in the arena with some shallow baby trot half passes and a lengthen down centerline. He was  a good boy. And go figure.. no tongue today. When he got home, he rolled and got even dirtier!!

 

Good pony

 Quick ride because of helping a friend and life

Tacked up with the saddle. Hacked up to arena. Got off and set trot poles 3' apart. Only 3. Will need more next time. Did turn on the haunches in hand and it was actually quite lovely today. Not a correct dressage turn on the haunches but a move your shoulders one using your core. :) Got cookies. Then got on and rode. Did 10 minutes of trotting with some leg yields, some shoulder in, and the trot poles. Plus a few times over the single raised pole. Did a tiny bit of halfpass, sucked to the left. Right hind weak? 

Did canter both ways.. actually not too bad today. Didn't feel as disconnected or awful. .just weak. Also, couldn't resist and jumped a cross rail. :) 

hacked back home.

Got his dino gear last night so he got to wear it today! Rawr!! Staying somewhat snuggly and happy overall

Rough Day, shining star

 Rough day... 

Dan was good for our ride. Bareback arena ride. Did in hand stuff to start. Upset with turn on the forehand in hand even. sidepassed over pole well though. Got on and did our trot homework. Felt good. Decent baby halfpass. good shoulder ins. cantered once each way. Felt icky in the canter. Just not put together, four beat... front and hind disconnected. Did some poles... baby baby crossrails. Did stand on the surefoot pad for about 1 minute post ride!!!

untacked and put bridle on lyric since she was right there. When I was done with her, untacked her in the pasture and dan came up... I ws upset and crying and Dan... bless him.. was trying to console me in ways only a dino can. didn't quite let me hug him but... was comforting me. bless him. Lyric's in heat. So she was distracting him too. 

So grateful to God for him.