What's Up Wednesday

 

Okay, so I shouldn't complain because upstate NY (and north from there too) got actual snow yesterday. But I'm still gonna complain because last night was in the 20's. What kind of BS is that in April? And that meant it was barely above freezing when I got to the barn this morning. Stupid. Needless to say, we've been riding inside a lot. Thank goodness I don't do silly things like bring my horses home before May so I have access to an indoor. 

ANYWAY, you're not here for a weather report. I don't think. Are you? It is an important part of horsing that is for sure. How many times a day do you check the weather so you know how to dress your horses? Easily 10 times for me. Sorry. I derailed again. Let's talk about horses!

Shiny is still struggling to find her motivation. I think she's having some allergies (me too, girl, me too) which doesn't help matters. But also, she got bit by a tick at the end of last week, so that has me concerned. She has chronic lyme, so I worry this might invite a flare up. We're doing round one of spring shots a week from tomorrow though, so I'm going to pull Lyme titers on all of them just to check in. I figure another obstacle to her wanting to put in real work is that her saddle for sure needs some adjustments after her weight loss journey. Fortunately, one of the other boarders has a Custom Saddlery rep coming out to check her saddle on Monday and we tagged on to that appointment. I've been doing more rides with the bareback pad in the meantime to try and see if that makes any difference in how she's moving. Now that she's so svelte though, I am definitely working harder in the bareback pad, so I haven't made that an everyday thing. My legs would would probably fall right off. Our body worker will be back from Florida once we're home too, so I bet that will also be helpful. When Shiny had her feet trimmed a couple weeks ago she was trying to get the farrier to adjust her. He did not know how. Lol. Despite all of the above, she's not unwell or anything scary like that. She just doesn't want to work. She's still bright, eating well, and annoyed by the very existence of all the other horses on earth. And honestly with the crazy weather, I don't really want to work either. So there's that.

Eros has been putting in some WORK with his equibands lately. Now that we're using both the belly and the bum band, I'm really feeling a difference in how he carries himself. We haven't built up to a full ride in both yet. He does a full ride with the belly band now, and we are up to ten minutes with the bum band on as well. But once I remove the one band, he still keeps the posture the rest of the ride, and usually for the next few days too. It's amazing how much it helps him. He feels significantly more sound when he's carrying himself properly too which is an added bonus for sure. I'm getting excited for summer with him! I was hoping to have our Butet rep out today to figure out how to fix this saddle properly and/or get it replaced with something else, but unfortunately she got hit by the awful flu that's going around. So we're on hold with that for another little bit. 

I just noticed today that Al's little bit of white on his nose has really spread in the last couple of years. When he first arrived that white spot on his nose was just a little square on his nostril, but now it's kind of turning into a legit snip. Kinda funny! I've never seen a marking change like that. I've seen stars kind of spread out as a horse gets old and gray, or a scar grow in white, but a spreading out little bitty snip is a new one for me! 

As you might have guessed the up and down weather and constantly changing rings has been a bit of a challenge for Al. But he's really trying to handle it, and I give him credit for that. Sunday two of the other boarders were planning to jump, and I opted to join them with Al. We were indoors which I knew would be a challenge. But we were up for it! Plus the jumps were all trot-able. Like MAYBE they were 2'. I had walked the line they set and called a three, and it walked exactly in 2... But being indoors and the jumps were so tiny, I wasn't sure how that would actually ride for us. So we trotted in and cantered out of there in a nice easy three. He really was pretty good. We had to avoid the ends,  and never really achieved a flowing canter, but we popped over all the jumps with no major catastrophes so I'm calling it a win. Hopefully next time we can be outdoors. FINGERS CROSSED because there's a lot more rain coming. Sheesh. 

Yesterday when outside with his buddies I heard a rumor that Al was doing a little running around. So today he was a bit tired and we had the nicest ride in the indoor! Probably the most relaxed he's been in there yet. Relaxed, but also FORWARD! Miracles can happen my friends. 

I keep having to remember to keep my brain on, and that sometimes a walk break to reset can make a huge difference. My rides on him are the longest of all my horses, but the more patient I can be, the more he relaxes and the more we can actually accomplish. I always thought I was a pretty patient person, but Al is proving that to be untrue. He's definitely teaching me a lot. Not just about riding, but about myself too. He's a tough one, but he for sure came into my life for a reason. I'm not sure what this summer will bring for us because I'm not sure how much money I'll have to play with. But I would REALLY like to get him to some shows and hopefully get back on track. I miss jumping big jumps on him, but more than that I miss having those confident rides with him. And I know we can get that back. Fingers crossed it happens this summer! (But no pressure if it doesn't.)

I feel like most of these recap posts are just more of the same lately, so hopefully you're not all bored to tears over here. Summer is coming though, so things should get more exciting (in good ways only!) in the next few weeks. 

Truthful Tuesday

 

My confession today is that I'm contemplating calling an animal communicator to see if it might help me figure Al out a little quicker. I've never done this before, but I know people who have, and the communicator knew things that she couldn't possibly have just pulled out of thin air. So while I'm pretty skeptical of it all, there's a part of me that thinks there could be something to it. And I mean, even if it is a load of malarkey, it doesn't hurt anyone or anything (except the wallet). So I'm thinking, why not? Have any of you ever done it? 

I just was talking about Al and his personality the other day and realized there's a big change in who he is now versus the horse he was the first year I had him. And I'm not sure it's a good change. He used to be full on Buddy the Elf. Every day was the best day ever and he was just so happy all the time. But these days? I dunno. I don't see that happy horse so much. He's just so insecure and constantly looking to his humans for reassurance. Which I'm happy to provide, but I would love for him to have some confidence of his own again. And everything I've been doing with him seems to not be providing that for him. So maybe a communicator could help me with that? What do you guys think?

What's Up Wednesday

 

We have lots to catch up on since I forgot to do a recap last week. I feel like when the horses are home things can get a little less consistent. But I'm not sure it's because they're home so much as it's summer and there's just more to do in general. Plus the lack of indoor, occasionally the weather messes with our plans. But we've been pretty lucky lately with well timed rain storms. So that's been nice. I don't have a way to water my ring, so I am dependent on the rain for dust control. We've been getting plenty, and frequently at night or on Mondays so that's been lovely! Our things we had to work around this week was shoes on Friday and chiro on Saturday. Both necessary things, so worth the disruption. I still got to ride both days, but our jump plans were derailed. Not the end of the world. Anyway, let's talk horses!

We'll start with Shiny. She was busy the week before this one! A friend of mine came by with some of her family that is visiting from Colorado. Shiny was wonderful for pony rides for a few of the kiddos, and then there was one who rides, so I let her ride Shiny off the lead. She did a nice job with her, but Shiny thinks it's HILARIOUS to not canter for kids she doesn't know. I didn't realize this was a thing until now. But she did it with my trainer's daughter the first year she came to ride, and now she's also done it with this other child. Both were capable of riding at the canter at the time, but were definitely a little more beginner level than advanced, ya know? And apparently, Shiny doesn't believe kids should canter until they're better riders I guess? I dunno. I don't find it that hard to get canter from her. Her regular kid doesn't struggle anymore either. I am pretty sure it's a test. Mares! Ponies! I'm not sure which to blame it on. Still though, if they're going to be naughty, I'd prefer it happens in a slow and deliberate way like that versus running off or bucking or whatever. Either way, we've been working on transitions a lot. 

I don't share media of other people's children, so enjoy this unrelated photo.

The day after pony rides, Shine's kiddo came to ride, and they did great. They're really getting along great this year. She didn't come last week though. I'll have to reach out and get her back here. Hopefully her mom will be up here soon too! 

She got lazy over the raised cavalletti and got big mad when it fell down.

Otherwise, Shiny's been pretty good. Definitely the most well behaved of the herd lately. I'm still struggling with getting the gas pedal to work though. I just can't seem to get her really moving. And when she's not coming forward, we make mistakes to the jumps because you can't adjust a pony that isn't fully engaged. Despite that, we've jumped around regularly, and she does accept her fate of bad distances when she chooses not to listen to my input. So there's that at least. 

It was kind of raining on and off this day so Pivo had the day off.
Instead I just filmed from the barn aisle, so the quality is what it is.

I think she's ready to start jumping a little higher again, but I don't want to attempt that until we fix the forward off the leg problem. So more flatwork for us! Our chiro was out on Saturday, and she was really happy with how Shiny's looking on her diet. I was hoping the body work might magically unlock our go button, but no such luck. She had a new to us therapy this time using acupuncture needles, but instead of sticking them in pressure points, they went into the muscles to release the fascia. She seemed to really like it.

The needles are hard to see on her, but look close, they're up there in the middle of the photo.

Getting the backside adjusted!

Overall though, I'm happy with Shine. There are always things to work on, but she's feeling pretty good these days. If you have any suggestions for good exercises to light one up a little, please share! I feel like I have to use the whip an awful lot on this pony, and I HATE that. The fact that she continues to keep her ears pricked forward while I smack her suggests I'm more bothered than she is... but still. I prefer not to hit my pony. 

Eros is doing well. BIG things happening for him the last two weeks as we've started cantering some single poles on the ground. 

Next week I think we'll try a little pole course if I move the jumps. I can't make a pole course work with what we have set up unfortunately. And hopefully next week we can start raising some of the poles and maybe add a cross rail. Baby steps. I'm not in a rush to get him jumping after working so hard to get him sound again! 

He's been good generally, but a little spooky at the far end lately. Today he absolutely could NOT horse down there. 

There was a lot of rapid reversing. Finally I took him for a hand walk up there which did not help. And then I just gave up and rode him on the front half of the ring. I was running out of time and some days we have to choose our battles. I'm not really sure what he's so scared of, but I honestly think it's some tall weeds that are growing back there. They've been blowing around in the wind. Which is ridiculous. But horses, right? Al was terrible today (more on that later) but I did him before Eros, so I'm thinking there must be some reason for this behavior if they're both being weird. Maybe the bears are back? Or some deer? I dunno. I didn't see or hear anything. Eros was relatively good for our ride though. So long as I didn't stray from our safe space. Honestly. Horses. Ridiculous. Most of the time when E is spooking it's because he's fresh. But I don't really think he is this time. Could be though. We'll see what we have tomorrow. If he's still acting a fool, I'll have to address it better. 

Today aside, he's generally been giving me good work. He's still really locked up on that right side, but now that we've graduated to full flatwork I'm hoping he'll start to supple up some. If not, I may chat with doc and see if there's something else we need to address. Maybe he has lyme? It would explain the spooking and the stiffness. Probably wouldn't hurt to pull another titer on him. I don't think I've checked him in awhile. 

And then there's Al. This horse is the biggest emotional roller coaster I've dealt with. One week, I feel like we're moving forward. Last week we jumped a couple 3'3" jumps even! And they were so easy! And then this week? Can barely get him around the ring again. I tried jumping him today and couldn't get his focus. At all. None. I even got off and made the fences small, and still couldn't really get to them. The jumps aren't the issue normally, but today, I couldn't get enough canter to even really attempt much. He was on HIGH ALERT. Now again, Eros was feeling the same way, so there could be a reason. But it was really frustrating. He was like that yesterday too, but we were more able to work through it. Today I don't feel like we did really. 

Managed to get over this one!

I still think there's something bothering him physically that I haven't gotten to the bottom of. But like, what's left? We've treated for everything I can think of. He feels sound. He was pretty out of whack when he got adjusted, so much so that he earned that day off and an easy Sunday ride. Then he had Monday off. So I'm not sure if he's just still feeling out of sorts from his adjustment? If I can get him to move forward, he feels pretty great, but achieving any sort of forward anything is nearly impossible the last two days. When he's spooky like this, he just wants to have his head in the air and not move. It's like riding through quicksand. Which, I'm glad he's sticky and not spinning. But still. It's unpleasant. And pretty much unrideable. I've gone back to taking the pressure off and just asking for the minimum. And it helps some. But I really thought we were past this, and I'm incredibly frustrated that we're back here. He's still on both ulcer meds, so I can't imagine that's still in play. I may reach out to our chiro tomorrow and see if she has any reason to believe it could be related to his adjustment. Maybe I need her back out. I have no idea. I still believe in him, and despite me telling him I might need to sell him so he finds a better program, I don't mean that. I want this to work. I want to fix what's bothering him. I really think he's worth it. But like, selfishly, I really wish we could get a few weeks of good rides at a time. I'm not greedy. I don't need a full year or anything. But man. My confidence. This is hard. 

So here's some more photos from last week when things were good.

I think what's so hard, is that I just don't really know how to fix this. I don't feel afraid on him, I just feel stuck. Like my tool box has been emptied and I just need some kind of manual. This is why being home alone is hard sometimes. I generally think I'm pretty capable. But this horse has my scratching my head. And while I do know some trainer I could ship to, I think the problem is here in my arena. And I don't currently have someone who can come out to help me. And obviously, I didn't get any help last winter either. I'm not great asking for help, and it does something deep down when you can't get it. Ya know? 

Anyway, sorry to unload like that. We'll get through this rough patch like we have all the others. Hopefully sooner than later! In the meantime, I'll just be really thankful for the other two for keeping me semi sane. 

In less angsty news, I got to see my older niece in Mary Poppins last week. She played the bank boss (I forget his name) and did a great job. The show was really impressive! They only rehearse for two weeks before putting it on and the kids are all pretty young! I think 10-15 or around there. They did great. This Friday my younger niece is in The Little Mermaid. Same thing, two weeks of rehearsals. This one will probably be chaos since the kids are like 5-9. Most of them can't even read yet. I'm imagining missed cues, flubbed lines, confused children. Should be fabulous. I can't wait! Seriously! I'm sure it will be adorable.

I had a braiding job Saturday night this past week. So glad to be getting some work finally! I had a small panic when I saw the mane at first:

Yep. It was VERY short, uneven, and I'm pretty sure cut with a solo comb. (Please if you are going to hire out for hunter braids, DO NOT USE A SOLO COMB!) But somehow, it actually braided up pretty nicely. And the horse was an angel to work on. The horses at this barn are always really lovely to work with. I'll take questionably cared for manes on a well behaved horse any day! 

I have a pony to do for them in a few weeks and then the week after that I have a new customer to braid for. So yay for jobs! 

And that's it. That's all I've got. Cheers for you if you read through all of this without being like wow this chick is whiny. Please, feel free to share any advice you might have in the comments. You all have had your ups and downs so you might have some tools in your box that I do not. Or some owners manuals maybe! Lol!

Truthful Tuesday

 

Heh heh... Today's confession? My quest for fun jump decor may be my undoing one of these days. So you know the palm trees that I was so ridiculously excited for? (I still am. They're probably one of my most favorite things.) Anyway, you remember them. Eros keeps plucking the fronds out of them when he's turned out. I keep sticking them back in, but I think I need to find a more permanent solution. Because today it was very windy and they kept blowing out. Which would also be fine if I didn't own Al... The flight response is VERY HIGH when those things go flying around! But also, E must have really pulled on the one tree because I didn't realize its base was no longer under the standards. And today was ridiculously windy. Which is a challenge in itself with this ridiculous herd of horses I have. (Not Shiny. She doesn't care about wind. Usually.) I can imagine you see where this is going... THANKFULLY I was on Shiny when it happened. I was cantering down the long side toward the barn and I heard the little skeletons moving around on the standards from the wind as I cantered by. When all of a sudden Shiny just BOLTED down the rest of the long side. I at first thought she was just spooking at the sound the skeletons were making which is unlike her, but we all do weird things sometimes. But no. What she spooked at was the palm tree falling over. (It was behind us so I didn't see.) She hates when stuff falls. That's the one thing she will spook at consistently. Rails falling, the hay tree falling, whatever. She doesn't like that. Thankfully it's Shiny so the bolt was short. And then she went and sniffed the tree and all was fine again.

But that's not all! You know my cute little autumn maple trees? The ones that are starting to look more like winter maple trees thanks to Eros the plucker... Yeah those. Well. I have water bags on them to hold them down because I learn from past mistakes. (To be fair, there is also a water bag on the palm tree but it was shifted thanks to the plucker.) Anyway, despite my water bags, one of the maple trees blew over during my ride today too. Only I wasn't on Shiny for that one. I was on Al! He also bolted away from it, but thankfully went straight and didn't spin. Much like Shiny, Al doesn't bolt and keep running because while a spooky knuckle head, he is also very unmotivated. So it was no big deal. He did have to very slowly go over and sniff the fallen tree, but once we got through that he was over it. The wind was a bit more of a struggle for him, but we actually got a lot done in our ride even if it wasn't quite the ride I had planned. But we'll chat more about that tomorrow. Hopefully. If I don't forget again! Ha! 

So yeah. That's today's confession. My jump decor was trying to kill me, and I have no one to blame but myself. And Mother Nature. I can blame her.

What's Up Wednesday

 

I've been in a fight with Pivo lately, so I don't have great media which is disappointing. But the horses are mostly in great places, so that for sure makes up for the poor media. 

I gave up on Pivo and just used it as a tripod instead.
Stationary video is better than no video at all!

So after my post last week praising the new leaf Al has turned over, we had a bit of setback. It was not his fault though. Have any you ever heard the sound an electric hedge trimmer makes? It's terrifying if you haven't. It kind of clicks loudly while tearing through sticks and leaves... I can imagine you know where this is going. So Friday, we had planned a jump school day. But the neighbor was out there slinking around behind the tree line, and Al was having a little bit of a tough time with it. Not as bad as he could have been, but he wasn't comfortable. We tried very hard to work through it, and started popping over some little jumps. But as we landed off the flamingo jump, the neighbor started hedge trimming in the corner directly where we were headed. I nearly died. So did Al. Thankfully we both survived, but I had to end the ride. The trouble with Al is that he doesn't forget these things. Which is why it is so hard when things scare him. Trying to work him through stuff that he's genuinely scared of tends to escalate things and it takes a lot longer to get him over the fear. So I opted to finish our ride. Here's where it gets... interesting. I have a bit of a mouth on me, but I'm also not a very confrontational person. So I frequently call the guy next door an asshole, and ask rhetorical questions like "are you TRYING to fucking kill me?" Most of the time he's wearing ear muffs (to drown out all the noise he's making of course) so he never hears me. BUT THIS TIME HE DID. I almost died. I was walking away from him when I heard him ask if I was talking to him. So I just kept walking cause you know. He's a scary dude. (Remember the screws in my tenants tires? Or the spray paint on my neighbor's car?) Anyway I continued walking around avoiding that side of the property and got off and went inside. Well. Scary dude WALKS OVER TO MY BARN (effing trespasser) and was all, were you talking to me? And I was like well, I was trying to get you to stop the trimmer for a minute because you nearly got me killed. And he was all, oh I had no idea that would scare the horse. I thought they'd be used to it with all the lawn mowers and everything. I looked him in the eye incredulously and told him, they're not used to any of that. These are prey animals, noises in the woods or that they can't see the source of are TERRIFYING to them. And he was all, oh I didn't know. I wouldn't try to get you hurt. Why would I try to get you hurt? 

Guys. All of that is bullshit. We've had this conversation numerous times. He KNOWS what scares horses (pretty much everything he does.) and honestly, he HAS tried to get me hurt before. So I just looked at him when he asked that and I said, I really wouldn't know. He never said sorry though. Cause he's NOT. So anyway, eventually he went back to his place. And I've been very on edge and on high alert for his retaliation. So far nothing damaged that I can tell. However, when it was time to ride on Saturday he was using a chainsaw next to the ring all day. I was able to ride Eros and Shiny through that drama, but Al had a lunge line day. Fortunately, Sunday was super humid with impending storms on the way, so neighbor stayed inside all day and we were able to work through some stuff. Turns out, now that Al is feeling better, even when he's a little unhinged I can make things better by not playing into it. I just need to pretend like everything is fine and trust him to believe me. It's probably the hardest thing in the world to actually do, but it works. We ended very nicely. Tuesday he came out mostly ready to focus and get some work done. He tested the waters a little in the beginning, but I just did my best to sit chilly and not worry and it worked well. We finished with some lateral work and I was really proud of him. 

Definitely lower quality media, but I'll take it over none!

Yesterday and today I got really lucky in that the neighbor didn't seem to be around and for the first time all summer it wasn't windy! So Al was pretty content. Today he was a little suspicious of the shared tree line, but we worked through that and then started jumping some little jumps. I put a few up to 2'6" before I got on, so we quickly moved on to those little bit bigger fences and he was just so great. We strung a few things together and even did one of the bending lines. I'm trying to keep things easy and positive, so we didn't do a ton and I didn't get off to make anything bigger even though I really wanted to. I think we're ready to get back to 3' and work our way up again now that he's feeling better, but I don't want to rush anything. I know the fence height means nothing to him, but I just want to keep things short and positive right now. Next time we jump I'll probably stick one or two up a little bit, and we'll just keep inching our way up to where we used to be. It doesn't look like our trainer will be back anytime soon, so I need to figure out an alternative. I want to get to some little shows this summer, and it's like half over already. So we need to get moving!

Eros is up to ten minutes of cantering and twenty of trotting this week, so we've started adding in some circles and not quite full lateral work, but starting to exaggerate the bend a little here and there. He's beginning to loosen up and lift his belly and get back to his old self. We did have to have a little discussion yesterday about paying attention and that leg means forward not sideways... But I kind of like when he lets a little naughty slip out once in awhile. He's generally a by the book kind of guy so it's nice to see a little other side of him. As long as he doesn't take it too far. Ha! I'm hoping we can start popping over some little things soon, I'll check in with doc next week and get his thoughts. I think he's pretty bored with all the flatting by now. I know I am! 

Look at that shrinking belly! 

Things are a little weird with Shiny. Nothing is wrong really, but her skin is being very sensitive. It started over the winter when I had to stop wearing spurs. She was getting rubs really easily. Even her saddle pad rubbed her on the edges. I figured it was due to winter since it happens to Eros and Al a little bit too in the winter time. And it seemed to resolve once her summer coat came in. But this past week the little spur rest on my Cavallo boots gave her another rub. And then her D-ring bit rubbed her mouth. So I put her in the side pull and that rubbed her face. That was on Saturday. So Sunday, I snapped some reins on her halter and just rode her in that. I put a full cheek on her this week and so far that seems to be okay. The mouth rubs had healed up by the end of the weekend, and the full cheek sits a little differently than her dee does. So hopefully we'll be okay with that. I lubed her up with some bit butter too. I'm thinking the skin sensitivity might be from the Thyro-L that she's on, but I'm not certain. I had mentioned it to doc at one point and he agreed it could be from that but hard to prove without taking her off, and we can't do that just yet. So I'll just try to be really careful about what I put on her. 

Riding wise she's been good. She's a little unmotivated but once I convince her to actually use herself things go really well. I have absolutely no media of her jumping from either of our last two jump schools because Pivo is on the poop list. But I did get a few trotting screen shots. Better than nothing at all I suppose. 

That's about it from this end. A little excitement, but mostly things are going well. Horses are all finishing up their various meds from our last vet visit (Adequan for Al and Shiny, Relyne for Shiny) so it's nice to be wrapping up the extra stuff. How are you guys doing? Enjoying summer? Doing fun things with your horses?? 

What's Up Wednesday

 

It was a quieter horse week since our day off was later than usual. So we only got in one day of jumpies. I could have jumped again over the weekend, but honestly, doing chores on the weekends leaves me kinda tired and I like to be not excessively tired when we jump. Right now especially since we're still re-acclimating to jumping on our own. My helper caught some kind of bug over the weekend too and had to take Monday off. So I had an extra chore day. Made up for the lack of jumpies! Haha! 

Anyway, we jumped on Thursday so enjoy revisiting my Thursday's Threads outfit from last week. We also planned to jump today, but the horses were zero percent into that endeavor. So we may try again tomorrow. So let's talk ponies!

Things are plugging along with Al. He still has good days and less good days, but those less good days continue to be less tense and angst ridden. So I'm still considering it progress. I can no longer say he hasn't spun since being on the Ulcer Guard... But...

We both got smacked in the face with a pebble-y dust cloud

In his defense, I had the old Pivo set up at that end of the ring, and it blew over as we were walking at it. So it was a justified startle. I would like for these reactions to be a bit smaller... But hey. baby steps. At lease we're having them less! What I was most proud of though, was that once he collected himself, he let me walk him right up to the now tipped over Pivo, and he gave it a good sniff. And then it was over. Even though Pivo looked way scary laying on the ground like that, he went back to work and even jumped around a little. We didn't quite string together courses yet, but we did hop over almost everything in the ring. I was proud of him. 

This was a challenging day in the ring because (as evidenced by Pivo) it was pretty windy which is really something Al struggles with. All those trees blowing around and the shadows that move... Terrifying. But he wanted to be a good boy despite all that. I kept the fences tiny, not because Al cares about height or jumps really at all. But I figured keeping the fences small enough to hop over made it easier for me to feel confident and help us work on refilling our trust bank. I don't even think that little spin incident took anything out of it! So that's a huge thing for Al and me. 

He did give me a giggle though when he jumped up extra high over this little oxer. He didn't seem like he was peaking at it, but mid air he boinged his little knees up extra high. I think he thought the little bees on the ice cream cones were real. 

Scary bees!

But then he came back around and jumped it nicely, so obviously he figured out they wouldn't sting him.

I was reading over my Al notes today and noticed I had a few days this past week where I called our ride wonderful. I haven't been able to say that in a very long time. Yesterday, he was pretty perfect. He moved off my leg when I asked, he did some lateral work, he didn't spook the whole ride I don't think! Unfortunately, today was very windy again and he just wasn't into it. He felt a little funny to me today, not lame, just kind of off his game, so I figured we would chalk today up to being an off day and see what we have tomorrow. But what I want to note, is that while he wasn't great today, he still wasn't a mess. He didn't actually spook while I was on him, though he was throwing stink eye all over. He just was really behind my leg and was a little extra angsty today. But really only at the waving trees. Which I know he struggles with. So no NEW scaries, and he did keep his poo together for the most part. Even bad days can have parts that were good. 

Shiny was great for our jump school last week, though she's been a little extra trippy. We have her on the Rebalance which if it's actually doing something can make them a little extra epm-y for a little bit. My guess is that's what's happening. But last week she jumped around great and did the full course. Some jumps were 2' and some were a little smaller, but it all felt really easy for her. Once we work out the tripping and get her trimmed (they all have grown a ridiculous amount of hoof in the last four weeks!) I think we can start putting the jumps up a little for her. Maybe. We'll see. But look how cute she jumped that day:

This one is my favorite

A little clip montage for your viewing pleasure. I didn't add music. I'm lazy. 

Shiny has officially started her crash diet prescribed by her doc. She hates it. I also kind of hate it, because weighing and soaking hay is annoying. But it's worth it if I can her more healthy. Also, we now have a hay tree. I know it's not ideal to pre-soak hay, but I do the morning portions the night before to make it easier for my helper. He doesn't have an extra 30 minutes to soak hay in the morning, and honestly, the horses expect to eat when we walk in the barn in the morning. So far, it's working fine. Shiny would let me know if it was inedible. Trust me.

As for our attempted jump school today... I think the cut back in calories is affecting her energy levels. I could NOT get her moving off my leg today. FOR THE LIFE OF ME! I tried everything I know and she was like, no mom, this is fast enough. (It was not, in fact, fast enough. At all.) We did pop (chip) over a few little jumps, but I decided to scrap that plan for today and just worked on the flat trying to get her to move along a little more. I imagine it will take her a little time to adjust to the change in diet and also it's possible she's feeling that other med a little bit too. We'll see what tomorrow brings. She didn't seem uncomfortable or like anything was wrong, she just was pokey to the fullest extent. But eh, we all have those days don't we?

Eros is plugging along with his rehab. He's feeling SO MUCH better since getting his neck done. I still think he'll feel even more improved once we work on the hind end too. But I'm happy with where we are at the moment. We are still cantering to start, but I've split off a few of our laps. So we do three laps each way to start, then we do a bunch of trot work (ten minutes) then we do a couple more canter laps each way, but this time it's more of a collected canter, getting him to lift his belly and use his bum. The early canter is on a loose rein and he can be very up and down and hollow. But I don't think it's fair at that point in the ride to try and put him together. So this is working nicely. After our second canter we do another 8 minutes of trot (4 each way) and finish with a nice walk. It ends up being a pretty long ride, and he's starting to feel pretty fit! I, however, am not feeling that fit, so I've started using some of our trot work (on the non windy/spooky days) to do some no stirrup work.

Working on that fitness. But what am I looking down at?

I imagine after our next recheck and maintenance it might be time to start popping over some cavaletti. We shall see! I hope so. I think E misses jumping. He's been a little sassy lately and I think he's bored. 

In other news, it's been busy around here getting the farm in shape. The plumber was here Monday, but he'll be back next week to finish things up. Hopefully my barn bathroom will be functioning again soon! That toilet hasn't worked in like two years. Also on Monday, the pool got opened! 

And this year it cleared up right away which has NEVER EVER happened before. Not ever. 

It's always taken weeks to get it safe for swimming. What a difference it makes to have a really capable team working on it. Now I just need the new heater to get installed so I can actually go in it. The water is currently around 65 degrees in there, and that is not Stacie temperature. Not in the least. Haha!

This is my favorite time of year. It feels like new beginnings. The start of a brand new season. Now I just need our trainer to get home so we can really get to work!