It might not seem like it after yesterday's post, but things have been going quite nicely here for the most part. Up until winter showed back up anyway. Lol. I really just hate cold weather. My horses don't seem to love it either. They were all so silly yesterday. Eros was sure there were horse eating monsters in the woods, Shiny actually spooked, and Al... well you can imagine how Al was feeling if the others were like that. But before we get to yesterday, let's chat about the rest of the week first, when it was lovely out, and the horses were so happy!
Guys. I am terrified to put this in writing because it will definitely jinx things. But Al has been wonderful. Truly. I really make a point to not be in a hurry with him. We hand walk a bit before I get on, and then once on, we walk on a loose rein for awhile each direction before we get to trotting. Once trotting he isn't quite ready to trot around on a loose rein entirely, but here and there he does. He's still more likely than not to be behind the leg, but when I put my leg on, he is responding better than in the past. Lots of work still to do, but I think there's progress. He checks out way less, even with the neighbor banging and clanging away. I'm still staying off the rail on that side with him, but he's using the full ring otherwise. We even jumped a mini course on Friday, and there was no angst from either of us. Just so much more rideable.
Oh I buried the lead there! They all have done a few jumps this week. 4 jumps on Wednesday, and then maybe 10 on Friday? And by jumps, I pretty much mean raised cavalletti, but you have to start somewhere. And I like the slow is fast method for getting fitness back. It was fun, and we all enjoyed it!
Yesterday not so much... It was windy, the neighbor was neighboring, it was COLD, and I was grumpy. But you know what? Even with all that, he still never fully checked out. I put him on a big circle rather than fighting about using more of the ring, and for the most part, we had a halfway decent ride. He was still tense and snorting the whole ride, but he did what I asked, and never went sideways nor spun. So while it was a crap ride overall, it was still a lot better than it could have been. Even if things fall apart completely this week, we actually had nice rides all of last week, which is probably the longest stretch we've had in a couple years
I don't want to pretend some miracle has happened though, and I'm honest on this blog. So I will tell you, he's still on Gabapentin, which absolutely contributes to this change. I don't know what will happen when we start taking him off it. I'm having the sports med vet out next month when we'll be discussing that. But even with the Gaba, I think there's been a shift for Al because it really wasn't helping much in the fall. I don't think it's ALL from the meds. But it certainly could be. Time will tell. Regardless, I'm enjoying my horse a lot more and that's something. I hope very much that's not solely because of the meds, because I still don't believe in medicating to get the horse you want. But it is nice to know that this pleasant, not overly anxious Al exists. I just hope I can keep him around without medication. I still think there must be some kind of nerve pain or something going on because the weather affects his anxiety so much. I know my body felt a million times better when it was warm, so I feel like that's probably true of him too. We shall see!
Shiny has been good too. I think the longer walks at the start of our ride are nice for her too. Which doesn't mean the Shiny shuffle has disappeared, that will always be her preferred warm up. But once she's warmed up, she's working nicely. She was SO excited when I aimed her at some jumps last week. I forgot what a different pony she is when she's jumping. Wednesday the four jumps were at the end of the ride, but Friday I did some flatwork after we jumped, and she was so loose and forward. She felt great.
I've been using a poll cover on Eros' bridle because I really liked how he felt with Al's Back on Track hat, but don't really like sharing those things among horses. I had a poll cover already so figured I'd see if that gave me the same feeling from him, and it does! I didn't use it yesterday because I switched bridles for the day and he was clearly a bit off his rocker. He probably would have been regardless, but I'm going to use it today and see what we have. Not a fair assessment fully, as they're getting shots in about a half hour, but the weather is still gross. So he could be spicy or not today. Time will tell!
He had a great week last week though! He was lovely on the jump days, even Friday when I strung a few together. He didn't even torpedo in the little line. He got a little quick once for a lead change, but came right back without taking the reins away from me. Very proud of him!
In other barn news, we had a wee mouse invasion. I knew there was one making a nest somewhere because it ate a hole in my saddle cover. And then the next day a second hole in the same one. (Not happy, that wasn't cheap! But glad it was the same one and not a second one.)
I couldn't find the nest. Well the next day, I still hadn't found the nest, but I found babies under Eros' saddle.
There was a fourth one still in the cover. So gross. And quite a surprise because the cover mama had been destroying was not on this saddle. I put the babies outside, and set some traps. I've since caught two mice. I'm assuming one was mom. Not sure who the other was. Maybe dad. I'm don't know how mouse families work, and truly I don't care as long as they aren't leaving their children in my stuff. I'm not a nanny!
That was enough excitement for me though. Nothing else to report thus far. How are things with you guys? Have you been gifted baby mice lately? I hope not!
