What's Up Wednesday

 

Oye. Well. This week has been a week for the horses... Overall, everyone is fine. So nothing major to worry about. Also, I have no new media whatsoever. Sorry. Anyway, let's start with Shiny.

Shine was great for her lesson last week. We jumped right around and she's starting to feel more like her old self again. We kept the jumps small, but I think that's fine. It doesn't really matter how big she jumps. I noticed over the weekend that she was pretty back sore. From the reports I keep hearing about children slipping off her, I'm going out on a limb and assuming her crooked saddle was the culprit. One of my fellow boarders (and good friends!) has a laser though, so she let me use it on Shiny's back and it seemed to help a ton. She's doing much better now in the back department. Unfortunately, when I went to get her ready to ride yesterday her right hind was swollen. The swelling is about mid cannon on the outside. And while I suppose it's possible it's a tendon issue, I don't really think it is. She's pretty sound on it, maybe a hair short on the turns. There is a disruption to the hairs on the very back of the leg in one spot. (Not a cut or even a rub really, just like... a disturbed area? I don't know how to explain further.) And my current theory is that she may have gotten her leg caught on the tail strap of her blanket. The amigo blankets have the tail straps attached really low (I think due to the lack of leg straps maybe), and the new blanket I got her seems especially low. So I mostly just walked and trotted her very lightly yesterday and today, we've iced it, and wrapped it. I decided to cancel her lesson tomorrow, just in case and we'll proceed with caution. I added her to the vet list for the next time he's out, but hopefully it's just a bruise and she'll be fine in a few days. Cross your fingers for us!

Next up is the problem child. Yep. Al. By the end of the weekend, I really thought we were on the right path. I had a few really nice rides on him in which he didn't spook at everything everywhere and he felt pretty sound. I was feeling excited. Too excited too soon unfortunately. I stupidly let him have his Tuesday free lunge, which was a huge mistake. He reopened that dermatitis and was back to being very lame on that leg yesterday. Which okay, my bad. I figured that's all that was going on and gave myself a little slap on the wrist for allowing the free lunge. I figured he'd be feeling better today after having it properly medicated and wrapped over night. So imagine my horror when I went to walk him out of his stall this morning and he was like 5 out of 5 lame on the OTHER HIND LEG! Ugh. I dragged him to the crossties, and inspected him very thoroughly. There's heat in the hoof, but the leg looks okay. It could be something up higher potentially, but I'm leaning toward abscess. The way he wants to stand on his toe and the heat... It all seems abscessy to me. My farrier will be out tomorrow to put some testers on and see what he thinks. On the bright side, the dermatitis seemed much less angry today. Guys this horse. He's really trying me. 

This weeks MVP is Eros. He's plugging right along being his perfect self. He was an ANGEL for his jumping lesson last week. Went right around like a made little hunter. It was like having summer Eros back! He got extra cookies of course. This weeks flat lesson went much better. It was still very challenging, but Eros didn't get so upset this time. I'll call it a win. We worked on lengthening and shortening which he is quite good at when flatting, but it becomes more challenging when obstacles are involved. We were working over some poles on the ground. There were three of them, each set three strides apart. We were able to do three strides then four strides pretty easily. But when we were asked for 5, we were unable to complete the assignment. I was pretty happy with the fours though. Eros' default setting is a 14 foot stride, so compressing it down to 9 is pretty great. I think the 5 was a pretty big ask. 

I have this problem where I'm very protective of Eros, and I kind of hate lessoning on him because I think he and I have a good understanding and I almost don't really want help with him. It is my understanding that this is the definition of mediocrity. And that's certainly not what I want. I always want to be and do better. But with Eros, I feel like sometimes trainers want to stuff him in a box that he doesn't fit in. And honestly, at the end of the day, Eros will never do more than be a 2'6" hunter. He doesn't need to flat like a grand prix dressage horse. I expect him to be responsive and carry himself properly of course. And let me tell you, I've never ridden anything so easy to move laterally. Does he struggle a bit to really sit back on his hocks? Yes. And that's why adding two strides is so hard for him. Do I think we could get it done if we keep trying? Also yes. Do I want to blow his hocks out in the process? Nope. Definitely not that. So whatever. Maybe we're destined for mediocrity. I say all this because it's a me problem. I'm not being told anything like that from the temporary instructor. She's been perfectly nice and listens when I say something isn't right for Eros. We'll keep doing the flat lessons. It's definitely good for the both of us even if it's not 100% what I think I want to be doing with him. I mean, we all know, I'm certainly not always right.

If you're still here, thanks for getting through this wall of media-less text! Hopefully I'll have a better report next week. This one was a little gloomy. Fingers crossed for a more positive week ahead!