I haven't been out for over a week =[ Last weekend we were all very sick. Yesterday we went to see the dog show that was in town. So today was the first day that I saw my babies in a long time!
Of course, something always has to go wrong.
We get in and Harry is sleeping on the floor. No big deal. He gets up and stretches. Seems okay. But then he stays like that, with his feet spread and keeps looking at his stomach and I know something is wrong. I bring him out in the arena to walk him around and he keeps pawing the ground. Yep, he's colicking. I longe him around and then my mom takes over, making him longe and walk and move around. We give him Bute and Banamine and keep him moving.
Meanwhile, I groom up Brie and get ready to ride her. She was like a firecracker when I longed her! After she settled down and after a couple of tries standing still by the mounting block, I got on and went to ride. Because I was so preoccupied with Harry, I didn't have time to do my little program with Brie. She was fine, but her head could have been set better. She had a largo race with Nina and afterwards, I got to cool Nina. =] I've said it before and I'll say it again: if only every horse could be like Nina.
We were getting ready to go, waiting around trying to see if Harry would poop, when, just as we were packing up, he finally did! Hopefully he feels better and that's the last of his colic. I felt much better knowing that happened before I left instead of having to go home and worry about whether he'd be okay or not. Next week sure will be interesting for him after not riding for 2 weeks! Especially if the farrier knocks out one day!
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Days 279 & 280
Saturday
Today, my goal was to get Brie on the makeshift Pessoa system that my mom created for Harry. In getting her to move her backend away from me, crossing her legs over each other, I've noticed that she is not as good going counterclockwise as she is going clockwise, but she is making great progress. She knows what I want her to do with that now and she is working to do it.
She was very confused when I put the makeshift Pessoa on her and only walked, but that was all I wanted from her. We did that only for a short while before I got on her. She is getting better at not cantering the corners, so I'm glad for that. Hopefully, I will be able to bring her to show this year. I'm also working on not letting her canter her reverses, since she has a tendency to do that.
Sunday
Spent a longer time with Brie on the makeshift Pessoa. She is also better going clockwise on that than going counterclockwise. She only walked counterclockwise, but was moving out going clockwise, so that was exciting! She collected her head today, but I didn't feel that same whole-body collection while riding like I did a couple of weeks ago. I took her off of two reins today and went back to using one rein. I'd been using two reins for a while now, I forgot when I started, probably late last year, but she responded very well to one rein again. It was also a lot easier to control her speed, probably because there was only pressure on the bit instead of split pressure between the bit and her jaquima.
I didn't get to ride Harry, but my brother did. He had a bit of trouble at the start, but came around. It's good that he got to ride Harry, he always only rides Nina and none of the rest of us ever get to ride her, so that was a nice change.
I wish I was able to go out and ride every day. We can only stay a couple of hours now on the weekends when we go out because my dad's work schedule changed and we have to come back home really early. It'll probably be really hard to be able to ride more than one horse now, because we all like to each ride for over a half and hour and we only have about an hour to ride if this weekend is any example. I'll have to alternate horses each weekend.
Today, my goal was to get Brie on the makeshift Pessoa system that my mom created for Harry. In getting her to move her backend away from me, crossing her legs over each other, I've noticed that she is not as good going counterclockwise as she is going clockwise, but she is making great progress. She knows what I want her to do with that now and she is working to do it.
She was very confused when I put the makeshift Pessoa on her and only walked, but that was all I wanted from her. We did that only for a short while before I got on her. She is getting better at not cantering the corners, so I'm glad for that. Hopefully, I will be able to bring her to show this year. I'm also working on not letting her canter her reverses, since she has a tendency to do that.
Sunday
Spent a longer time with Brie on the makeshift Pessoa. She is also better going clockwise on that than going counterclockwise. She only walked counterclockwise, but was moving out going clockwise, so that was exciting! She collected her head today, but I didn't feel that same whole-body collection while riding like I did a couple of weeks ago. I took her off of two reins today and went back to using one rein. I'd been using two reins for a while now, I forgot when I started, probably late last year, but she responded very well to one rein again. It was also a lot easier to control her speed, probably because there was only pressure on the bit instead of split pressure between the bit and her jaquima.
I didn't get to ride Harry, but my brother did. He had a bit of trouble at the start, but came around. It's good that he got to ride Harry, he always only rides Nina and none of the rest of us ever get to ride her, so that was a nice change.
I wish I was able to go out and ride every day. We can only stay a couple of hours now on the weekends when we go out because my dad's work schedule changed and we have to come back home really early. It'll probably be really hard to be able to ride more than one horse now, because we all like to each ride for over a half and hour and we only have about an hour to ride if this weekend is any example. I'll have to alternate horses each weekend.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Day 278
Happy Super Bowl, America!
I worked again with Brie today. I repeated the flexibility program and she is getting the hang of what I want from her. I think next week I will use the make-shift Pessoa system we have going with her. She was very calm today and, once again, no problems mounting today!! So we're making progress. She wasn't collecting like yesterday, only for a couple of strides near the end, so we need to work more on that. I'm also working on not letting her break into a canter on reverses in general and corners when she's at a largo. It will take time, but I'm sure we can get there!
Harry looked kind of sore today. He got a woodchip stuck in his hoof yesterday and I think it made his hoof tender. I put lineament on him anyways, just in case, and by next weekend he should be fine. He did the strangest thing today. He was standing on the cross ties and my mom went to put the saddle on him but he kind of sank back into his back legs like he was bowing, stretching out his front legs. What a goof! We all thought he was just going to lay down or something!
Nina is just a little powerhouse. We're aiming to bring her to Extravaganza in Jacksonville this year. We were going to last year, but things came up, plus I think our car had to go into the shop. Hopefully this year is our year!
I worked again with Brie today. I repeated the flexibility program and she is getting the hang of what I want from her. I think next week I will use the make-shift Pessoa system we have going with her. She was very calm today and, once again, no problems mounting today!! So we're making progress. She wasn't collecting like yesterday, only for a couple of strides near the end, so we need to work more on that. I'm also working on not letting her break into a canter on reverses in general and corners when she's at a largo. It will take time, but I'm sure we can get there!
Harry looked kind of sore today. He got a woodchip stuck in his hoof yesterday and I think it made his hoof tender. I put lineament on him anyways, just in case, and by next weekend he should be fine. He did the strangest thing today. He was standing on the cross ties and my mom went to put the saddle on him but he kind of sank back into his back legs like he was bowing, stretching out his front legs. What a goof! We all thought he was just going to lay down or something!
Nina is just a little powerhouse. We're aiming to bring her to Extravaganza in Jacksonville this year. We were going to last year, but things came up, plus I think our car had to go into the shop. Hopefully this year is our year!
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Day 277
Finally, getting the chance to write on the day that I ride.
Didn't go out last weekend. I was in a car accident =[ So I was told not to ride for a week or so. Thankfully, I think I'm okay. Unfortunately, my car is not. For now it's back to hitching a ride with my parents back and forth to school.
I was beyond happy to finally see the horses after such a long time. They're all in different stalls now! The rows used to be:
Sadie Nina Harry Dora
Entrance way
Brie Tobacco Taco
Now it's:
Brie Nina Sadie
Entrance way
? Tobacco Harry Taco
The Question Mark is a new horse. We have new boarders!
But first, let me go over the change. Apparently, unbeknownst to us, Sadie and Nina didn't get along. Sadie has issues getting along with people in the arena, but I didn't think that she wouldn't be friends with Nina. Everyone is friends with Nina. But sometime this past week they must have gone at it and Sadie actually managed to get her leg caught above the wall, between the solid wall of the stall divider and the first slot for boards. The stall dividers are half wall and then every other slot is filled in with a board so that the horses could see each other. So that's where Sadie got her leg caught and cut a huge gash in her leg down to the bone. The vet came out and did his thing and now she's by herself, hopefully on her way to a full recovery.
I wanted to work on Brie today. She was already in a good mood because we brought her a banana, but I decided that before I rode, I wanted to start implementing the program that my mom made up for Harry. I want Brie to get more collected that way I could bring her back to show if I ever find a spot for her in someone's trailer, since ours only holds 2 horses. So I took her out with the longe line and my carrot stick and she cantered away for quite some time. She would be going steady and then just snorted and speed up to a gallop and then slow back down. She had a beautiful trot going once she calmed down a bit. At that point, my mom took my longe spot so I moved, took her of the longe line and onto a shorter line and had her move out on that for a bit before I started working on her moving her back end away from me, so that she was more turning on her front end. This works to round her out and stretch her back and neck, which she hates doing, without me pulling her to flex while mounted. She always cheats when she does that by bringing her head really low, not directly to the sides, but during this exercise she either had to keep her head up for balance or didn't realize that she wasn't cheating, but it worked! We did that for a while, stretched out, and then I went back to tack her up.
I was so proud of her! I've been working on getting her used to the mounting block again for quite some time and today I just walked up to it, pulled it out and put it next to her and got on and she didn't move! It usually takes a couple of tries because she walks away from it or swings her butt away so that I can't get on. So I knew this ride was off to a good start.
It took a while for me to figure out my seat again with her, I don't know why I was having trouble with that today but I just couldn't get in the saddle and work. So while I was trying to figure myself out, Samantha started riding Tobacco....and then he started bucking, and she started screaming, and eventually she fell off...she's okay, thankfully, and that's really weird for Tobacco to do that, but she got back on and rode him, so good for her.
After that, I somehow managed to figure out what I was doing and set off working. My goal: looser rein, Brie not pulling out, and maintaining a steady gait without speeding up without me asking or cantering. Mission accomplished! I never understood what riders were talking about when they said they wanted the back end engaged, but I could feel Brie engage her back end. She set her head perfectly, pulled her butt underneath her and really worked from her core. I felt like I was floating! She had wonderful boards, better than usual! She was responsive, we worked on transitions, and my reins were lose. I only had to check her every now and then, but she never pulled out and never tried to speed up. It was absolutely amazing. I can't wait to ride her tomorrow and try to recreate today's ride.
Didn't go out last weekend. I was in a car accident =[ So I was told not to ride for a week or so. Thankfully, I think I'm okay. Unfortunately, my car is not. For now it's back to hitching a ride with my parents back and forth to school.
I was beyond happy to finally see the horses after such a long time. They're all in different stalls now! The rows used to be:
Sadie Nina Harry Dora
Entrance way
Brie Tobacco Taco
Now it's:
Brie Nina Sadie
Entrance way
? Tobacco Harry Taco
The Question Mark is a new horse. We have new boarders!
But first, let me go over the change. Apparently, unbeknownst to us, Sadie and Nina didn't get along. Sadie has issues getting along with people in the arena, but I didn't think that she wouldn't be friends with Nina. Everyone is friends with Nina. But sometime this past week they must have gone at it and Sadie actually managed to get her leg caught above the wall, between the solid wall of the stall divider and the first slot for boards. The stall dividers are half wall and then every other slot is filled in with a board so that the horses could see each other. So that's where Sadie got her leg caught and cut a huge gash in her leg down to the bone. The vet came out and did his thing and now she's by herself, hopefully on her way to a full recovery.
I wanted to work on Brie today. She was already in a good mood because we brought her a banana, but I decided that before I rode, I wanted to start implementing the program that my mom made up for Harry. I want Brie to get more collected that way I could bring her back to show if I ever find a spot for her in someone's trailer, since ours only holds 2 horses. So I took her out with the longe line and my carrot stick and she cantered away for quite some time. She would be going steady and then just snorted and speed up to a gallop and then slow back down. She had a beautiful trot going once she calmed down a bit. At that point, my mom took my longe spot so I moved, took her of the longe line and onto a shorter line and had her move out on that for a bit before I started working on her moving her back end away from me, so that she was more turning on her front end. This works to round her out and stretch her back and neck, which she hates doing, without me pulling her to flex while mounted. She always cheats when she does that by bringing her head really low, not directly to the sides, but during this exercise she either had to keep her head up for balance or didn't realize that she wasn't cheating, but it worked! We did that for a while, stretched out, and then I went back to tack her up.
I was so proud of her! I've been working on getting her used to the mounting block again for quite some time and today I just walked up to it, pulled it out and put it next to her and got on and she didn't move! It usually takes a couple of tries because she walks away from it or swings her butt away so that I can't get on. So I knew this ride was off to a good start.
It took a while for me to figure out my seat again with her, I don't know why I was having trouble with that today but I just couldn't get in the saddle and work. So while I was trying to figure myself out, Samantha started riding Tobacco....and then he started bucking, and she started screaming, and eventually she fell off...she's okay, thankfully, and that's really weird for Tobacco to do that, but she got back on and rode him, so good for her.
After that, I somehow managed to figure out what I was doing and set off working. My goal: looser rein, Brie not pulling out, and maintaining a steady gait without speeding up without me asking or cantering. Mission accomplished! I never understood what riders were talking about when they said they wanted the back end engaged, but I could feel Brie engage her back end. She set her head perfectly, pulled her butt underneath her and really worked from her core. I felt like I was floating! She had wonderful boards, better than usual! She was responsive, we worked on transitions, and my reins were lose. I only had to check her every now and then, but she never pulled out and never tried to speed up. It was absolutely amazing. I can't wait to ride her tomorrow and try to recreate today's ride.
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