What's Up Wednesday

 

It was a pretty quiet week around these parts. All the ponies are doing well. I had all three of my lessons (2 with Al and 1 with Eros) and all went pretty well overall. Eros was a little up this week, but I take responsibility. He hadn't had a free lunge in a couple weeks and it's been chilly. That generally equals an excited Eros. Trouble is, I don't realize we've gotten there until we try to jump. He likes to keep his freshness a secret until then. Silly pony! He wasn't terrible though, and we worked with him as best we could. By the end he was landing politely and even waiting for the shorter distances rather than pulling to the long one. I'll call that a win for the week!

Al was a superstar as always for his lesson. We're for sure making progress with our flatwork. We even successfully managed some lateral work in both lessons. Was it perfect? No, definitely not. But much improved from weeks past so I'm happy with it. He's been great to the jumps too. I still have to work a little harder at getting him responsive off my leg. A problem I regularly run into being that I am who I am. We'll get there. 

Shiny is feeling SO MUCH better! She still wants to kick out for the right lead canter depart, but honestly, that isn't totally new. I'm hopeful that will improve again. She's much more sound otherwise though, and starting to get back to real work on the flat. I've also noticed that she's not stocking up behind like she had been. I think she needed her hocks done more badly than she let me know. She's still pretty young, so I'm surprised by that. On the other hand, she is a heavy pony and that adds a lot of strain to the joints. Either way, I'm glad she's feeling better now. I think she'll be ready to start jumping again soon, so that will be fun and exciting!

Pammon is doing well too. He's moved up to ten minutes of trotting this week. Definitely is helping me get stronger with that insanely bouncy yet lazy trot of his. He wears the Equibands everyday per the vets orders. Hopefully they're helping him, but I did notice that he's starting to feel a little back sore again already. He winces a bit when I curry his back, but doesn't react that much when I actually palpate it, so maybe he just doesn't like the curry there? Hard to say for sure. Time will tell. 

In other news, the pups are getting along so much better! I've only Rita snap at P once or twice in the last few weeks, and none in the recent past that I can recall. I've caught them napping together too:

P had a recheck of her liver counts this week and thankfully they've returned to normal, so that's wonderful news! I spoke with the vet about her keeping us up all night, and she said to try an extra Gabapentin before bed. That did seem to help. Hopefully it continues! 

We had a fake spring day on Monday which was lovely. Since the barn is closed on Mondays, I try to use my day for projects around the house (and cleaning, yuck). Since it was so nice I finally went out and fixed the ring fence:

A tree fell on it awhile back and demolished those two sections. Fortunately, I had some extra rails and it was an easy fix. The gate (not pictured) still needs to be repaired, but other than looking a little ugly, it will still serve its purpose fine in the meantime. 

Fake spring is over though, and it's supposed to snow on and off all day today. Ridiculous. March is so fickle! Looking forward to the arrival of real spring. Hopefully it's not too far away!