SOOOO Good to be back

 Ha! It's only been a week. But... I have missed him. I think he's missed me too. Or he's jealous that the girls are getting ridden (or not, ahem Lyric!) and not him. I did adjust him yesterday and he was enjoying it. 

So today Kelli came over and we walked up the driveway and rode in the arena. I'm a little bummed because it turned out to be such a pretty day and I didn't get any photos other than one at the very end when Dan was making angry ears towards marvin. Doh! This morning was chilly and overcast and the skies were super cool too but then the sun came out and the big fluffy white clouds showed up along with a nice cool breeze. It got hot, but that breeze was divine! Fall is coming!!! The lighting is different... Dan's growing a coat already... there's a chill in the mornings.. yes!!!!

Anyways... great ride! Dan hacked up there fine and when we got in the arena he was a bit short feeling. I started to panic. Noooooo!!! But, after a few laps he worked out of it and we had a great ride. Lovely lengthens/bordering on mediums. he stayed soft and the same tempo, just bigger. not hugely bigger but bigger. lots of moments of a nice canter with self ccarriage. a few good downward transitions but not canter to walk yet. but smoother canter to trot to walk real quicks. decent counter canter, lovely trot half pass

good boy!

messing with the tractor. pulled towel off, twirled, then put back on the tractor. pulled PTO know out so couldn't start tractor. silly.

rode funny, she backed into him and wouldn't leave. then peed on him at dinner. 

 

Back to Steel

 So, I caved! I just felt like Dan was not doing as well in the glue ons. There were times when he felt fantastic and I loved a lot of things about them.. and I'm sure I'll have some regrets, but... I just wasn't as happy with his angles and his sole depth and lately, we've been having more and more lameness issues that seem related to his feet. So... we hauled to Dr. Barrow and had Patrick shoe him. We decided to do bar shoes up front for more stability and pour in pads to help him grow some sole. Then in the backs, we just did regular flat shoes. At the next cycle we'll radiograph him again and check his angles. I love the fact that we all agree that we'll do what we need to do to get him back in alignment and change his growth pattern so that we can get him in the most minimal shoe package long term. (And maybe even barefoot later, though that's just me thinking, not necessarily them talking). 

Dan was cracking me up while we were there. He looked like a pumpkin because he got rained on and was orange. Nice...  He's so silly. But he was pretty good. A little fussy and snatchy but I do think that perhaps he's a little tender. Or maybe, like Dr. Barrow said, because he's been compensating, he is tight in his shoulders/neck base. So we'll see. I need to adjust him this weekend too now that he's all realigned. I pray that I heard God right and did the right thing. Guess we'll find out when I ride and we do more rads next cycle. 

I do hope to ride tomorrow. Today, we came home early from the show because Lyric is lame. :( Sigh.. that's another saga and also shoe related. But it's been raining on and off all day and apparently I gave myself an eye ulcer, which hurts so freaking bad! So today is a sit on the couch and close my eyes and medicate them with lube. Hopefully we can ride tomorrow.

Oh, and... his preliminary path report came back.. very few eosinophils, so.. unlikely allergic. He did have rods and cocci and some fungi. SO.... I was right... lake pneumonia most likely. Jeesh... I feel terrible. But.. yay! Because that's (in theory) WAY easier to treat!!! And hopefully we can resolve it and not have to manage him for life. 

Dannniiiiieeellllll

 Ugh..... 

This morning I got up and fed ponies. And noticed that Dan still had all four shoes on. Then I came inside, ate breakfast and changed into breeches and went back out to catch him to ride. We had our vet appointment later but I was hoping to sneak in a ride first. They were still eating hay but... Dan was missing his front right shoe. What?!? Dude.. it was JUST on!! And there it was.. sitting with his hay. Really dude? I really wanted to do our homework from our lesson. Sigh... 

But, then I had to laugh. God has a sense of humor. I have been agonizing over whether I should put him back in steel shoes (or aluminum or whatever) because he just has been having these intermittent soundness issues... and I think it's his feet... but I don't know. I mentioned to Erin that I needed God to be blatantly clear... like leave a steel shoe with a business card for a farrier or a glue on shoe on my front porch the next morning. And... maybe Dan flinging his shoe off right in front of me is a sign. Of course now I'm just hoping I interpreted it correctly and it wasn't meant to stick with the glue ons. 

So... guess we're not riding. sigh. I really was excited about doing our homework again, before I forget it. Oh well. I lunged Funny and messed with the garden and then it was time to leave for our vet appt. Dan was filthy so I hosed him off and we headed to see Dr. Barrow. 

He was so cute when we got there. Some of her workers asked about him. Turns out they had shown Waps Scandalous (or something like that) back in the day and knew Dan had to be a Wap horse. :) Super cool! 

Anyways, I explained to Dr Barrow about his soundness issues and we watched him walk and jog a bit. The poor tech was so good with him despite him trying to chew on her and the lead rope. Dr Barrow thought that it was feet based on what she saw. She hoof tested the one barefoot foot and said he was a little tender but... basically... she thought, as did I, that the soundness issues were related to his feet and thought that perhaps the glue on package just wasn't working for him. So... he's going to go back in steel shoes on Friday. And then I guess we'll go from there and see. I'm hoping that we can get his angles back better and his axis improved. And that he will be as happy in the steel shoes again as he was before and on the days he was happy in the glue ons. 

So then we went back to the original reason for the visit... his cough. She heard him while we were assessing the lameness so that was good. We did a rebreathing bag on him and basically.. just harsh lung sounds. No wheezes though. We sedated him and passed the scope and nothing exciting but just irritated airways. He did have a pocket of fluid that was quite... mucousy and turbulent looking. So we got a sample and will send it out for a culture. But she suspects that it's likely inflammatory and he's got mild COPD/heaves. sigh...  She said treatment would be inhaled steroids and management. Which, for us, given that he's already out 24/7.. would be steaming his hay. Ugh... That's a pain and expensive. But I mentioned that to Erin and she said they made their own steamer for $300, so... might try that! So.. we'll see. I may try the chinese herbs first before I try inhalers and steamers. But we'll see what the culture and pathology say. 

So we headed home and he got a rinse and got to be turned back out to be a horse again. Guess we'll get shoes on Friday but not sure I'll have time to ride before having to head out to Poplar with Lyric. And then I won't get to ride Saturday, so... sigh. Guess he gets a whole week off. Again. 

Obsess over the neck length/contact

 Kelly Eaton lesson

wore Caroline's ribbon on hack to covered to deliver it. 

felt a hair short again on the hack over there. Told Kelly E about it all. she also agrees it sounds like feet. and with all his stuff going on, it makes sense that his feet need to be perfect.

watched me warm up and told me to obsess about his stretch. He can't half ass it. He has to be reaching for the contact and steady. When he is really in the contact, his back lifts, he gets swingy, and his head stops moving but his neck gets wiggly. So.. make sure I don't settle for less than that. Walk and trot. 

progressed to a more forward marching walk. she had to use the whip in the middle of the arena. Marching!! Almost jigging march.. or breaking to trot march. that much energy but connection. Then went to trot. must keep his shoulders from swinging out or in. trot must be marching and reaching too. then played with slowing it down but keeping it big and forward. When he changes within the gait, watch for the ducking behind the vertical or diving down. That's how he cheats. If he does, send him forward again. When he can stay consistent in the back and forwards within the gaits, that's when we know we're getting it. So.. use it as a test for me. And don't fix it by fiddling with his face... widen my hands, keep a connection but giving and soft and elastic, but don't throw away too much. Only give half, not all. move my hands both right or both left to correct his shoulders. as soon as he starts to correct go back to neutral. 

Quite nice. Works at the canter too. Same thing.

Good boy!! Basics, but... I had let them sneak away subtly. Dan felt pretty good for most of the lesson. Occasionally a subtle funky step when changing directions. Kelly agreed about his topline looking worse again and the not quite rightness, but... also didn't think he was lame. suggested checking foot rads and reassessing. also, stay pure! Don't let him suck me into letting him cheat. 

And.. remember... neck out and forward!! That's most important. his tongue did come out once. It was when he was sucking back behind the vertical. I pushed him forward and gave him a minute to sort it out and then he was fine again. Chomping on the bit in the beginning but... was more trying to avoid work/contact vs stressing. The tongue was stress, but he totally twisted up his own neck, so... I told him that was on him. But still worrisome... is it feet? Stifle? neck? lower back? Arghhhhh

had a nice hack home... rain moved out so didn't have to hurry to finish unloading hay. Had a nice walk and then a few short canters. didn't want to play in the lake today all by himself.

good pony! I did tell Kelly that I wanted to event AND dressage him because... "he's my favorite and he's fun to ride". So.. maybe we focus on Training 3 day and training AEC's and then after next year... we go to dressage. 

Still not quite right, but a fabulous boy

 Flatted at home. Super good boy but once we cantered left lead he felt funky again. This time more hind end... like maybe left hind? 

Not blatant.. just not quite right and not every stride.. just intermittent. kind of worked out of it... kind of...

but good ride. nailed some walk to canter to walks. collected canter was good. 3 loop serpentines. leg yields and half passes decent. turn on the forehand and haunches pretty good. had some good trot mediums too!

quick hack to lake and back. happy boy

Jump Lesson

 Oops.. didn't get to ride before today and did a lesson. opted to jump because... bored of dressaging. 

warmed up on the buckle and sound. Picked him up and did a small bounce twice then went lame. Short stepping left front. Weird. seemed to be worse when picking up contact. Gave him a minute and sat and then tried again and much much better. So... ??? Opted to canter a bit and see how he did. And then suddenly he was sound again. Weird. Stayed sound too. Even after our lesson we hacked to the lake with Laura and while he was lazy, he was stepping evently. WEIRD!!!

worked on tight turns, and revving the engine through the turn, vs at the last minute approach. Inside leg to outside rein BUT ALSO outside leg to keep the engine coming. It made a huge difference in how he jumped. way cool. Also, still floating my hands a tiny bit the last two strides but keeping my shoulders up. ended with some course work and he was great! Not super high fences but about half were 3'3" and he jumped them all with ease, even when coming in on a cross canter or wonky because of a tight turn. good pony

hacked to the lake and splashed a bit but tired and long stressful day and week so didn't stay out too long.