What's Up Wednesday

 

Things are actually a little quiet here this week. Most of the boarders at the other barn are away at a horse show so both the head trainer and the assistant are at the show. So this week, Al will only have one lesson (tomorrow) with a guest instructor who we've ridden with a few times over the winter. She give a good lesson so I'm looking forward to it!

We did have both lessons last week with the assistant trainer. So we didn't jump as high as with head trainer, but we worked on some fun things, and Al was great! The second lesson was Friday, and it was hotter than we're used to, (85 degrees, which isn't crazy hot, but it's been in the 60's and low 70's here, so it was a shock to the system) so we actually quit a little early. Al is what I call a delayed sweater. It's not that he doesn't sweat, but he tends to wait until he's finished working to really let it all out. So he gets out of breath, and struggles a bit until the sweating starts. We did jump a few courses though, and he was great. A little lazy and not super excited about going forward.... but he did all the things and wasn't spooky. So I'll take it. Tomorrow should be more comfortable temperature wise, so I imagine it will be an easier time for him. 

I haven't really jumped the horses at home yet. They both were really long in the foot so I wanted to wait for the farrier to come. (He came Sunday morning, phew!) 

Eros just hasn't been feeling the best, ever since his shots. I was hoping getting his feet done would help, but it hasn't really. So I think we're probably going to schedule the vet to come out. I really think the problem is in his neck, not his legs/feet, but who really knows? He's not exactly lame, he's just not feeling his best. I may let him pop over some cavalletti height things this week just to see if that helps. Oddly enough, sometimes jumping makes him feel better. Usually it's when we're stuck in the loop of lame or lazy and the answer is probably lazy. So I'm not sure if that will help here... but cavalletti height isn't going to break him if something is brewing so it might be a good test. We shall see. I'll let him tell me what he wants. 

Shiny's been good though! I have both horses doing a couple tubes of ulcer guard (I like to do that when we move, just in case) and I'm now wondering if all the kicking out all winter was due to tummy trouble. She hasn't kicked out at my leg nor the canter transitions yet since we've been home. Imagine that? She's still lazy and often ignores my leg... but she's not getting mad about it, so that's something. I was actually hoping to jump her today, but we had crazy wind here and everything kept blowing over. Not the best day to jump if we don't have to. I'll probably pop her over some stuff on Friday instead. 

I also want her to see the vet whenever we're able to get him out. That shockwave treatment we did was amazing for her, but two weeks after it she got her shots and she's been locked up ever since on the left side. Next time she's getting vaccines in her bum! I'd like to shockwave her again and see if we can't get her feeling looser. 

I'm going to charge up the Pivo so hopefully I'll have some more fun media soon. This blog is pretty boring without photos and videos! 

Hope you're all having a great week!