Days 236 & 237

Saturday
Unfortunately, we've decided not to go to the Florida show. On Thursday, my dog got injured and after going to the vet, we've learned that he tore his CCL. The common response to this is to undergo surgery, but since he is so old (He's 11, maybe older, since we adopted him) and he has an existing liver problem, we can't put him through surgery, so all we can do is manage his pain with medication. We've been looking into braces, but haven't gotten far with it yet. We might not even go to State Fair now, because how could we put him in a kennel? He would be so freaked out. The only place he might be able to stay is at the vet's office where it's quiet and he's being watched for his problems all the time, but that's only if the vet says that it's okay for him to move out of the house for that time. It just kills me, because I was finally getting him out on walks since I was home over the summer and he was having such a great time, and now he can't go on a walk again, as far as we know =[

With that said, Harry was pretty okay today. He wasn't bad, but he wasn't super awesome. It's kind of what should be expected on a Saturday, since he hasn't been worked all week. His gait was nice, but now we're working on the largo again since he is back to pacing. He'll get there, I know he will. The calming supplement also arrived this week, so he will be going back on that again as well.

I rode Taco today. Jane bought this calming paste, B Kalm, and wanted to try it to see if it would help Taco and give her an easy ride. She said that he was still pulling tricks, but he listened to the corrections quicker than usual. I got on and saw that he was responding quicker. He is still having trouble breaking into a canter, but I know that as we work at it, it will get better. Near the end of the ride, he settled into an extremely smooth corto, which was great because I was able to get him to slow down for this corto and really make his default speed his largo. His board was phenomenal! But we will have to see if it was this paste or if he is really starting to listen to us.

Sunday
 I am so proud of Harry! He got over one fear today (although it wasn't the tarp). I took a leaf out of my brother's book today when I warmed Harry up by walking in a circle and flexing instead of just walking or just flexing. I followed my mom and Brie outside as opposed to working a lot in the indoor before going outside and I was pleased that Harry only had a couple of bumps getting out to where Brie was and then he settled down wonderfully. He didn't jump or spook or pace at all, just this adorable little gait, and he kept it up when we went back inside. He had a great board, and my last goal for the day was going to the outdoor arena and around the serpentine posts then over the board and coming back inside. He did the serpentines nicely and got on the board nicely, but then we got to the huge concrete pad that they decided to put smack in the middle of the board and he got scared. He jumped off the board and walked around the concrete, snorting. I went on the other end of the board and asked him to go across again and he just did the same thing.

Instead of sitting there and continuing to bother him to go over the concrete, I got off and tried to get him to walk over it on foot. At this point, everyone saw me trying to get him to follow me over it, and my brother and Nina came outside to show Harry that it wasn't so scary. Nina stood on the concrete and after Harry walked around it a couple of times, I lead him on to the board and kind of zig zagged over to the concrete and he walked on it with no problem! After a couple more times of doing this, I was able to walk and approach it on the straight without him bawking at it, so I got back on and after we went all the way across the board and concrete and back again, I got off and told him how good he was. I'm so proud of him!

I also rode Taco again today. I can't tell if the paste helped or if he really is turning over a new leaf in his book of life, but he was great today! The cantering is still a problem, but he is getting better. His board was great and as long as we get the canter out of him, if we go to State Fair, he will definitely do well.