Saturday
I actually only rode Taco today. Jane was there and Paco joked that I should ride Taco again since he didn't see me last time I rode him, and Jane was all for it! I was kind of just looking forward to relaxing on one of my horses, but I rode Taco anyways. She was all excited because she bought a new bit for Taco, so Jane wanted to hear how I thought of the bit but she ended up having to leave.
I think the new bit works fabulously with Taco. It has kind of a high port, so it's further back in his mouth, and he is super responsive to it. On his old bit, I had to pull a little harder (which would make him angry) to get him to slow down, but on this one it was just a mild touch and he slowed to a walk. He has a fabulous walk too! Way more calm than the previous times I've ridden him. But as a wise old horse at the age of 16, I really need to be on my toes because I'm sure he knows every trick in the book, that old coot!
I only cooled Harry, who was super hot because Paco rode him very hard. He was still putting up a fight from last week about flexing, but who knows? He could've slept funny and been stiff...I like to give my horses the benefit of the doubt and everyone always makes fun of me for it, but really, if you slept weirdly, you wouldn't want to be throwing your neck around!
Sunday
So. Hot.
I went with the intention of just giving them all a nice bath and deworming them, but when we got there I somehow got roped into riding. After I had already rinsed Brie because she was icky and sweaty from just standing in her stall, my mom insisted that I at least just walk her because her leg was looking a little swollen so I just waited for her to dry, brushed her hair, and threw on a bit for a bareback ride.
Without a saddle, I could really feel her limping at the warm up and felt it go away when she was all warmed up. We really only walked and it was great! I thought for sure she'd try to take off because she wasn't wearing a saddle, but either she was super hot too or she was actually complying! Now THAT was the nice relaxing ride I was looking for yesterday -- although, it wasn't too fun having horse sweat and hair on my breeches!
Paco decided to ride Nina today too, since my brother was getting super aggravated with her because she kept going into a little canter. He rode her for a lonnng time, I felt bad because it was so hot out, she was almost black with sweat when he finished (and she's light brown!). He said that we should maybe change her bit, but I don't know, I think she's doing really well, especially since I never ride her and got second place. I don't put too much worth into people's words like that when I know that they're doing well. Like yesterday, Paco said something about them not performing as well as they did when they didn't have shoes on -- uh, yeah. The shoes aren't the ultralite ones, they're normal, they haven't had shoes on in over a year so they probably need a little bit more muscle to build up, and it's 100 degrees out pretty much every weekend since then! *shakes head*
Anyways, I don't know if I'll be out for the next two weekends...we may or may not be going on vacation. I'd rather stay here and ride!
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Day 159
I worked with Harry today. What a little punk, he tried to rear when I was going to flex him on the right side! At first, I got off and started to flex him from the ground, then I got back on and of course while everyone was watching he started to act up again. He started spinning me around until I kicked him to go forward instead of backwards. Then he stood still and slowly gave me his head on the right side. We did flexing for a few minutes until he wasn't giving me any problems anymore and then we worked on walking. He has a nice walk when he isn't all riled up, but after that it's kind of hard to get him to walk again.
His corto was kind of all over the place because Ray was in the arena cowboying another horse, so Harry was nervous. He settled down only when Ray left into a nice corto. After working a corto for a while, we tried to largo. He had a good largo for a while and then started to break into a canter. By that time his little brain was fried from the heat, so we all decided to go for a walk outside around the property. After walking up to Gary's house and talking to his dad for a while, Harry seemed to have the walking-outside-thing pretty much down pat and we walked very calmly while Brie was the one acting up with my mom. She just wanted to charge everything! She's so goofy, I swear. One day she's walking with a super loose rein outside, confronting deer and the next she's this insane little dinosaur!
Afterwards, we gave them all nice baths and my mom did a little talking to Gary about Brie's leg since it looked kind of swollen today. He suggested that if it keeps up even after we had the steroid injection in her hock that we should bring her down to the University's animal hospital so that they could study her and have more of a cutting edge team working to find out another solution. He made a good point: the vet won't think about it for very long, but she might serve as a good couple of class sessions for a whole swarm of new-thinking vet students! So we'll just have to keep an eye out for any more leg problems.
His corto was kind of all over the place because Ray was in the arena cowboying another horse, so Harry was nervous. He settled down only when Ray left into a nice corto. After working a corto for a while, we tried to largo. He had a good largo for a while and then started to break into a canter. By that time his little brain was fried from the heat, so we all decided to go for a walk outside around the property. After walking up to Gary's house and talking to his dad for a while, Harry seemed to have the walking-outside-thing pretty much down pat and we walked very calmly while Brie was the one acting up with my mom. She just wanted to charge everything! She's so goofy, I swear. One day she's walking with a super loose rein outside, confronting deer and the next she's this insane little dinosaur!
Afterwards, we gave them all nice baths and my mom did a little talking to Gary about Brie's leg since it looked kind of swollen today. He suggested that if it keeps up even after we had the steroid injection in her hock that we should bring her down to the University's animal hospital so that they could study her and have more of a cutting edge team working to find out another solution. He made a good point: the vet won't think about it for very long, but she might serve as a good couple of class sessions for a whole swarm of new-thinking vet students! So we'll just have to keep an eye out for any more leg problems.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Day 158
Hopefully, I can smell some changes afoot at the stable =] But I won't jinx myself by telling you my hopes now, I can only wait and see that they happen!
It was sooo hot today and it's only gonna be hotter tomorrow. Great. Things started off quite scarily with Nina. My brother was lunging her while I was lunging Brie and I look over and just see Nina start bucking like a mad woman and yell over "What are you doing to her???" and he's like "Nothing, I don't know what's wrong!" and she starts spinning and yanks my brother with her, wrapping the pisador all around her legs and violently shaking her head. He's trying to run around her fast enough to untangle the pisador and I just yell to him to drop the rope because she'll be able to get out of it (it's pretty short) so he drops it and runs screaming for my mom to come see what's wrong while Nina is just spinning around and falling over herself in the sand, not really trying to run anywhere but throwing her head all over the place. She had the rear end collector (fruit basket) on and that had fallen off to the side and now I was just worried that she would step in the net part of it and get stuck. I couldn't really do anything with Brie so I just get close enough to try to see what's wrong when my mom gets there with my dad and they both hold her head down long enough to untangle her and for me to spot the problem: there's a HUGE bee in her forelock! I tell them and my brother runs for a brush and my mom tries to take it out with that, but it's stuck in there so she just mashes it and my brother runs back with a comb so she can comb the squished bee out of Nina's hair. I don't know if it bit her or if she just got scared from the buzzing or could feel it stuck under her hair, but the poor baby was so shaken up she was sweating and huffing and puffing! Everyone took her back into the aisle and patted her off with a cool towel until she stopped breathing so hard. Poor thing. I'm glad my brother dropped the rope when I told him otherwise he would've been trampled underneath her if he had still been hanging on two seconds later!
After all the commotion and another huge round of bug spray, we all started riding. Nina seemed pretty relaxed afterwards and it was Harry who was giving my mom a hard time. That sucker doesn't want to flex to the right again! He kept trying to rear on her. I can't wait to get a hold of his punky butt tomorrow if he tries to pull that with me!
Brie was a little canter machine today. She turned everything she could into a canter step! Sometimes I regret teaching her that, but then I forget when we have great romps outside like we did today. On our first trip outside, we saw a deer. That freaked her out. I said that it's pretty great that she didn't bolt while I was on her, but I doubt that freezing in place would help her in the wild if she was faced with a mountain lion or something! All circumstantial I guess, since she'll never be out in the wild as long as I have her! She'd probably die from a lack of carrots.
On our second trip outside with everyone else, she was a total doll. I had a completely loose rein, I was literally holding it with only three fingers and she was walking beautifully! Her favorite thing is to charge up the little hill that's on the property and look over everything like a watch-tower.
Now that Brie is getting better at walking (keyword: WALKING) outside, Harry needs to get over himself. He's such a ball of nerves whenever we go outside and if Nina walks 10 feet a head of him or decides to stop and turn the other way to look at something, it's like the world is crashing down around him! He's such a follower and Nina's his leader. He needs to get a little independence. =]
It was sooo hot today and it's only gonna be hotter tomorrow. Great. Things started off quite scarily with Nina. My brother was lunging her while I was lunging Brie and I look over and just see Nina start bucking like a mad woman and yell over "What are you doing to her???" and he's like "Nothing, I don't know what's wrong!" and she starts spinning and yanks my brother with her, wrapping the pisador all around her legs and violently shaking her head. He's trying to run around her fast enough to untangle the pisador and I just yell to him to drop the rope because she'll be able to get out of it (it's pretty short) so he drops it and runs screaming for my mom to come see what's wrong while Nina is just spinning around and falling over herself in the sand, not really trying to run anywhere but throwing her head all over the place. She had the rear end collector (fruit basket) on and that had fallen off to the side and now I was just worried that she would step in the net part of it and get stuck. I couldn't really do anything with Brie so I just get close enough to try to see what's wrong when my mom gets there with my dad and they both hold her head down long enough to untangle her and for me to spot the problem: there's a HUGE bee in her forelock! I tell them and my brother runs for a brush and my mom tries to take it out with that, but it's stuck in there so she just mashes it and my brother runs back with a comb so she can comb the squished bee out of Nina's hair. I don't know if it bit her or if she just got scared from the buzzing or could feel it stuck under her hair, but the poor baby was so shaken up she was sweating and huffing and puffing! Everyone took her back into the aisle and patted her off with a cool towel until she stopped breathing so hard. Poor thing. I'm glad my brother dropped the rope when I told him otherwise he would've been trampled underneath her if he had still been hanging on two seconds later!
After all the commotion and another huge round of bug spray, we all started riding. Nina seemed pretty relaxed afterwards and it was Harry who was giving my mom a hard time. That sucker doesn't want to flex to the right again! He kept trying to rear on her. I can't wait to get a hold of his punky butt tomorrow if he tries to pull that with me!
Brie was a little canter machine today. She turned everything she could into a canter step! Sometimes I regret teaching her that, but then I forget when we have great romps outside like we did today. On our first trip outside, we saw a deer. That freaked her out. I said that it's pretty great that she didn't bolt while I was on her, but I doubt that freezing in place would help her in the wild if she was faced with a mountain lion or something! All circumstantial I guess, since she'll never be out in the wild as long as I have her! She'd probably die from a lack of carrots.
On our second trip outside with everyone else, she was a total doll. I had a completely loose rein, I was literally holding it with only three fingers and she was walking beautifully! Her favorite thing is to charge up the little hill that's on the property and look over everything like a watch-tower.
Now that Brie is getting better at walking (keyword: WALKING) outside, Harry needs to get over himself. He's such a ball of nerves whenever we go outside and if Nina walks 10 feet a head of him or decides to stop and turn the other way to look at something, it's like the world is crashing down around him! He's such a follower and Nina's his leader. He needs to get a little independence. =]
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Equestrian Team Summer Day 1
That's right, I'm back on the team. I wasn't going to post this, but I felt like I should since I posted a lot of other past things already today. This wasn't written up before, so I'll just write it past tense.
I had my first lesson at the new barn today. I'm sooooo happy the team switched to this barn, it was the one that I was pushing for before I left. It's absolutely to die for. Without giving away the name of the barn, here are a few snapshots from their site.
It just gorgeous inside. I wish they had some pictures of the stall area. But anyways, enough about how gorgeous the barn is. The new trainer, Stacy, is great, she's so much better than Nell. She actually teaches and talked me through the entire lesson. I have to give all of you who have to trot on a regular basis some real credit, because after not having to do that for close to a year, my legs were on fire afterwards!
Stacy said that I have "an exquisite upper body posture, but my legs are everywhere". Ha, yeah, I have to get used to trotting again. Also, not so big news, I have to work on looking for the diagonals once more. I hate those! Almost every time I think I'm right, I'm wrong! She told me that if I work hard enough over the summer and have a great enough improvement, she'll override my current non-jumping status so that I'll be able to jump in competitions come the fall! I will definitely work my butt off for that one!
I had my first lesson at the new barn today. I'm sooooo happy the team switched to this barn, it was the one that I was pushing for before I left. It's absolutely to die for. Without giving away the name of the barn, here are a few snapshots from their site.
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| This isn't even the entire property. |
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| The big indoor arena |
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| Another shot of the big indoor |
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| One of the outdoor arenas set up for a hunter jumper show |
Stacy said that I have "an exquisite upper body posture, but my legs are everywhere". Ha, yeah, I have to get used to trotting again. Also, not so big news, I have to work on looking for the diagonals once more. I hate those! Almost every time I think I'm right, I'm wrong! She told me that if I work hard enough over the summer and have a great enough improvement, she'll override my current non-jumping status so that I'll be able to jump in competitions come the fall! I will definitely work my butt off for that one!
Days 155, 156 & 157 - Fourth of July Weekend
(In advance, sorry for the huge amount of posting! I've had them all saved and never got around to posting this weekend!)
Saturday
I rode Brie today and she was such a good girl. An absolute angel in the indoor and her gait was sounding perfect on the board. Then we go in the outdoor for a little pass in there before we go out marching around on our own. Being outside on her own is what I think makes her antsy. Even though she loves to be leader, I guess it's no fun without anyone to lead! After a struggling-to-keep-calm pass around the front entrance, we headed back to the outdoor arena where my mom and brother join us and then she acts like a total doll walking around the property while Harry tap dances the entire way and Nina, as usual, is as cool as a cucumber.
When Paco was at the last show (we didn't go), he picked us up a rear-end-collector (which we charmingly call "the fruit basket"). We wanted two, one for Harry and one for Nina, but the vendor only had one, so that's what we took.
The basket part goes over the tail and is meant to kind of make them put their butts underneath themselves a little more instead of being so lengthy. We put it on Nina today and she looked entirely different! Once again, I wish I had a working camera =[ You could tell she was definitely thinking and responding very well to it. I think that together with the new shoes, she'll be ready to really compete at Nationals!
Sunday
I started Brie today, hopped on Harry, then finished on Brie. We did a lot of riding in the outdoor arena because it was so gorgeous out today! Once again, Nina had the fruit basket on, so she was like a little train. My mom worked on Harry's largo and he was going so fast that he was keeping up with Brie at her largo! I just hope he stays like that for when he shows!
When I got on Harry, he was feeling a bit tired because of working out in the sun and didn't feel as excited and animated as he usually is, so my mom got back on him and she and I went on a ride around the property. Both of them were better than yesterday, but Harry was a little bit freaked. As long as we keep bringing him out and about, he'll be fine, I know it.
Monday
To my fellow Americans, Happy Independence Day! To everyone else, Happy Monday!
We went out to ride as a kind of spur of the moment thing instead of staying home and deciding to clean our pool. Only my mom and brother came out with me, my dad stayed home. We got out there and no one was around, it was kind of nice. Then Jane showed up and we talked for a little bit, she showed us a bit she wanted to try on Taco and I offered to try it on him for her.
After we fished out some fly masks, cleaned out the water bucket, and stuck Brie outside to enjoy the grass, my mom put the fruit basket on Harry and I went over to the other side of the stable to help Jane put together her only-used-once jaquima with a new bosal, hung the new bit and took Taco out in the ring to lunge him. She told me that no one ever lunges him before they get on, they just go! I found that kind of weird and said that since he doesn't get ridden a lot and she comes out to feed him carrots often, she should just lunge him for a couple of minutes that way when she wants to ride him he'll be less energetic from daily exercise (she drives out just to give him carrots every day).
I got on him and soon discovered that he doesn't like flexing to the right, so I got off and worked that on the ground, trying first with the rein over the saddle, then on the right side just pulling it back, then finally just grabbing his head and pulling it over like a hug. He likes hugs =] So she said she'd start doing that too. As an older horse who gets ridden very seldomly, I'd sure not want to flex either!
After all of that, I started to ride. He was very calm at a walk, but as soon as I went into a corto he wanted to take off like a freight train and when I pulled back for more than a second he only went faster! Now I can understand what she and Annie mean when they say that their arms hurt when they're done riding him. They have to be pulling and then pulling harder when he keeps going faster, ignoring the bit and the rider. He absolutely HATES people hanging on his mouth.
We did some walk-corto-stop transitions and he got better at the end. His gait on the sound board is kind of icky, but it also got better at the end. He wanted to charge the board too, but I made him walk it and then speed up a tiny bit. When he sped up that tiny bit, he sounded phenomenal, but then he charged again and it was just plop-plop-plop from then out. He could use a lot of exercise and I hope that she remembers to lunge him often because I think he would definitely benefit from it.
It was nice getting back on Taco after not riding him for a long time and being able to help Jane with a couple of tips. I only hope she follows them!
Saturday
I rode Brie today and she was such a good girl. An absolute angel in the indoor and her gait was sounding perfect on the board. Then we go in the outdoor for a little pass in there before we go out marching around on our own. Being outside on her own is what I think makes her antsy. Even though she loves to be leader, I guess it's no fun without anyone to lead! After a struggling-to-keep-calm pass around the front entrance, we headed back to the outdoor arena where my mom and brother join us and then she acts like a total doll walking around the property while Harry tap dances the entire way and Nina, as usual, is as cool as a cucumber.
When Paco was at the last show (we didn't go), he picked us up a rear-end-collector (which we charmingly call "the fruit basket"). We wanted two, one for Harry and one for Nina, but the vendor only had one, so that's what we took.
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| Rear end collector |
Sunday
I started Brie today, hopped on Harry, then finished on Brie. We did a lot of riding in the outdoor arena because it was so gorgeous out today! Once again, Nina had the fruit basket on, so she was like a little train. My mom worked on Harry's largo and he was going so fast that he was keeping up with Brie at her largo! I just hope he stays like that for when he shows!
When I got on Harry, he was feeling a bit tired because of working out in the sun and didn't feel as excited and animated as he usually is, so my mom got back on him and she and I went on a ride around the property. Both of them were better than yesterday, but Harry was a little bit freaked. As long as we keep bringing him out and about, he'll be fine, I know it.
Monday
To my fellow Americans, Happy Independence Day! To everyone else, Happy Monday!
We went out to ride as a kind of spur of the moment thing instead of staying home and deciding to clean our pool. Only my mom and brother came out with me, my dad stayed home. We got out there and no one was around, it was kind of nice. Then Jane showed up and we talked for a little bit, she showed us a bit she wanted to try on Taco and I offered to try it on him for her.
After we fished out some fly masks, cleaned out the water bucket, and stuck Brie outside to enjoy the grass, my mom put the fruit basket on Harry and I went over to the other side of the stable to help Jane put together her only-used-once jaquima with a new bosal, hung the new bit and took Taco out in the ring to lunge him. She told me that no one ever lunges him before they get on, they just go! I found that kind of weird and said that since he doesn't get ridden a lot and she comes out to feed him carrots often, she should just lunge him for a couple of minutes that way when she wants to ride him he'll be less energetic from daily exercise (she drives out just to give him carrots every day).
I got on him and soon discovered that he doesn't like flexing to the right, so I got off and worked that on the ground, trying first with the rein over the saddle, then on the right side just pulling it back, then finally just grabbing his head and pulling it over like a hug. He likes hugs =] So she said she'd start doing that too. As an older horse who gets ridden very seldomly, I'd sure not want to flex either!
After all of that, I started to ride. He was very calm at a walk, but as soon as I went into a corto he wanted to take off like a freight train and when I pulled back for more than a second he only went faster! Now I can understand what she and Annie mean when they say that their arms hurt when they're done riding him. They have to be pulling and then pulling harder when he keeps going faster, ignoring the bit and the rider. He absolutely HATES people hanging on his mouth.
We did some walk-corto-stop transitions and he got better at the end. His gait on the sound board is kind of icky, but it also got better at the end. He wanted to charge the board too, but I made him walk it and then speed up a tiny bit. When he sped up that tiny bit, he sounded phenomenal, but then he charged again and it was just plop-plop-plop from then out. He could use a lot of exercise and I hope that she remembers to lunge him often because I think he would definitely benefit from it.
It was nice getting back on Taco after not riding him for a long time and being able to help Jane with a couple of tips. I only hope she follows them!
Farrier Update pt. 2
Thursday
The farrier came out today to finish what he started last Saturday. We had the tranquilizer from our vet, it's this really nice paste kind that kind of looks like dewormer and is as good as an injection. We gave it to Harry and Nina at the same time and then got started with Harry. He was bouncing around a little bit but then the tranq kicked in and he was so sleepy looking and he was drooling! I wish I could've had pictures, but my camera broke =[ So I'm in the market for a new one if you have suggestions. But anyways, Harry got done without a problem and off to Dreamland he went.
Nina, on the other hand, had probably worn off of her tranq by the time we got to her (bad decision to give it to her at the same time as Harry and then leave her for last) so she was putting up a bit of a fight. We called the vet and were cleared to give her another half of a tube, making her dosage for an 1800 lb horse! She's only 800 lbs! But even with that amount, the adrenaline was overriding a lot of it. She ended up calming down a little bit and it took all of us around her, petting her, for her to be calm enough for him to finish nailing the shoes on. It took a total of 2 hours even with a tranq! Hopefully she gets better at this. My brother's been messing with her legs and feet a lot now so that she gets a little more used to a farrier yanking her leg out to the side to rasp it.
So now all of our horses have shoes on and we'll see how they start to perform =] At least their little hooves are protected from chipping now on those awful rocks out front!
The farrier came out today to finish what he started last Saturday. We had the tranquilizer from our vet, it's this really nice paste kind that kind of looks like dewormer and is as good as an injection. We gave it to Harry and Nina at the same time and then got started with Harry. He was bouncing around a little bit but then the tranq kicked in and he was so sleepy looking and he was drooling! I wish I could've had pictures, but my camera broke =[ So I'm in the market for a new one if you have suggestions. But anyways, Harry got done without a problem and off to Dreamland he went.
Nina, on the other hand, had probably worn off of her tranq by the time we got to her (bad decision to give it to her at the same time as Harry and then leave her for last) so she was putting up a bit of a fight. We called the vet and were cleared to give her another half of a tube, making her dosage for an 1800 lb horse! She's only 800 lbs! But even with that amount, the adrenaline was overriding a lot of it. She ended up calming down a little bit and it took all of us around her, petting her, for her to be calm enough for him to finish nailing the shoes on. It took a total of 2 hours even with a tranq! Hopefully she gets better at this. My brother's been messing with her legs and feet a lot now so that she gets a little more used to a farrier yanking her leg out to the side to rasp it.
So now all of our horses have shoes on and we'll see how they start to perform =] At least their little hooves are protected from chipping now on those awful rocks out front!
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