What's Up Wednesday

 

Not sure where the weeks go these days. But I hope the winter ones keep going quickly! Things are going well in these parts. Getting lots of saddle time in that's for sure! I even got to ride a small pony last week! Which was pretty hilarious and probably the most fun I've had on a horse all year. I've wrapped all the presents and even distributed the vast majority of them already. We had our family Chanukah party on Sunday evening which was a lovely time. My mom made a delicious dinner, and once we ate, we all opened gifts. (My mom, me, my brother, and his family.) 

Oh and I wore this:

I wonder if I'll ever meet anyone as weird as me? 

But you're not here for my antics, you're here for the horses! Let's start with Al. He's the most... interesting. So he's been spooky. He hates the indoor. This isn't new. Wednesday he had a training ride in which he was very spooky and trainer really got after him for it. We were hoping that by the end he might have decided that being afraid of the big doors is silly. Unfortunately, that's not what happened. Instead, he learned that when he's scared and wants to spook, he should also be extra tense and scooty. So not the lesson we'd hoped for. I had a lesson scheduled for Thursday afternoon with him. But he was feeling very electric and spooky during the warm up/flat portion of the lesson, and I opted out of trying to jump him. I just wasn't feeling it. I'd had a long (but super fun) day before that lesson, and I think my tank was just empty. (Lessons on both Shiny and Eros, and rode two additional ponies.) I'm not one to give up though! So we tried again with a lesson on Friday. It started off iffy with him still being a spooky idiot, but once we started jumping he settled into that job nicely and was his usual good boy. I swear he just wants to jump all the time, but that's good for him! I was really relieved to have a good jump school on him though after how the rest of the week had gone. He was pretty good for the rest of the weekend too. Though I'd be lying if I said I used the whole ring on Sunday... hey, some days we have to choose our battles. This week's been going okay with him. Instead of a training ride this week, we decided to try the lunge rig instead. So he did that today. I hopped on later in the day just to see how he'd be. He started out wanting to spook, but after a couple laps he used the full ring nicely. So I let him quit after 15 minutes of just walk/trotting since he'd worked so hard in the rig earlier. Tomorrow we lesson again. I'm hopeful he'll be a good boy!

Shiny's the next most interesting but for entirely different reasons. Her injections a couple of weeks ago did not have miraculous results like I'd hoped, but they did improve her somewhat at least. She was much happier in her jump lesson last week and while still cranky for the first canter depart each ride, she's more willing once we get past that. So I'll take that for now. 
Our body worker was here yesterday, and found Shiny to be improved from the last visit slightly, but still not quite her usual self. She was also concerned because she felt a slight digital pulse in both front feet. She's standing squarely on both, and there's no excessive heat, so we don't think she's foundering, but she's obviously uncomfortable. She was trimmed on Monday, so our current hypothesis is that perhaps she was trimmed just a touch too short this time. She doesn't feel bad to ride, but I opted to skip our lesson tomorrow. She doesn't need to be jumping on sore feet. So, is a small part of me worried that she's foundering from her injections? I'd be lying if I said no. But I really don't think that's what's happening. For now, I'm just keeping a close eye on her and working her lightly as long as she feels okay. I ordered her a new hay pillow with smaller holes to try and slow down her hay consumption more too. I'm sure she'll be just fine, but I'd really like to get her back to feeling like herself. I'm starting to think she just has a tough time during the colder months. We always seem to struggle in the winter time. 

Photo credit to Chelsea Lothrop Photography
Also note: he really is a wide load. 

And then there's Perfect Eros. He's been great. Like really great. He's feeling good and has not been a torpedo in our lessons, despite my asking him not once, but TWICE for a long spot on the diagonal. (His favorite place to torpedo!) Last week, he even jumped a bending line MULTIPLE TIMES without taking out strides. What a star. So proud. Do we free lunge on lesson days? Yep, sure do! But does it help? Also yes. 

He had a fun and busy day yesterday. We are helping out our friends at Pinsnickety with some marketing material. So our favorite photographer friend Chelsea Lothrop came by and we did some modeling. Six or seven outfits later (I lost count) it was a long day, but so fun! Look for us on the Pinsnickety Instagram in the coming weeks and months!

I think that's about it from here. Did you all have a good week/weekend? How are your horses? Looks like some crazy weather happening all over the country in the next couple of days (rain and very high winds here followed by a deep freeze) so stay safe everyone!