Amateur at large: What's Up Wednesday

It's funny how busy the summer can be for an unemployed horse farm owner. You would think it should be all slow days, but they're all pretty full. And I'm not complaining! Summer is my favorite, and I've really enjoyed seeing friends here and there too. Fortunately, despite being busy we've gotten plenty of riding in.

So I was planning to jump Al on Friday but he went and hurt himself in the morning. It was perplexing initially, very swollen and I had a hard time finding any kind of wound. (He's the type to absurdly swell from the tiniest knick.) I did eventually see the booboo which you can see pretty plainly in this photo with the flash on.

But this was it:

It's barely an abrasion. But with that much swelling? My working hypothesis is that Shiny probably kicked him through the fence. It's the same height as the mark she made on the fence post another time. And we all know that Al doesn't read social cues. Based on how the leg behaved through the weekend I think the hypothesis holds up. But because of how ugly it was I decided not to push him too hard this weekend. We flatted very lightly Friday because I wanted to make sure he was sound on it (he was). Saturday we actually got rained out which I think was probably a positive in getting this leg to calm down.

We spent the day pulling manes instead.

Then Sunday we did a short flat ride again. I also washed it everyday, iced it, and wrapped it through the weekend.

Was the hock ice boot necessary? Hard to say.
More is better though right?

It's completely back to normal this week, so whatever it was, it looked worse than it really was. THANK GOODNESS. We finally got a jump school in today, and he was AMAZING. Like was looking for the next jump rather than out at the trees, moved right off my leg when I remembered to use it... The whole thing. He was great. I'm so proud of him!

I'm starting to get itchy to jump a little bigger. This horse, when he's sane, makes me feel like I could jump the moon. He's so special. Just depends on the day which kind of special he is... Currently we're working with the good kind though!

Shiny's kid is back for the summer so she came to ride her on Friday and they did great. It was raining a little, but they just kept on doing their thing. Jumped around and everything! Kiddo's mom isn't back yet which is a bummer for me, but still nice to see kiddo!

Saturday we were rained out (as previously mentioned) but she got her mane done instead. I need at least another session to get it to where it should be, but it's a good start at least. She hates having it pulled, but she's getting better about it.

Sunday was funday so we rode bareback. She's the most fun bareback, even when she decides towards the end that she wants to trot 100 mph. I'm not sure why, but when Shiny gets tired she likes to go faster. Which is what I spend most of the ride trying to achieve generally.... Very confusing. When you're bareback, it's just ridiculous. But also really funny. One of these days I'm going to get trotted right off.

We jumped around today, but again, I'm struggling to get the gears engaged. I think we need to work a little harder on our flatwork in between jump schools. She jumped around, but she was a little on the forehand, and just not very adjustable. Which makes it very difficult to find the fences. It was pretty hot today and VERY humid though. So I imagine that also played a part in her lack of spunk. It's supposed to be less humid through the weekend so we'll see if I get to have more pony when we jump again later in the week. Fingers crossed.

They're all due for body work too. They should get done the end of next week though, so we'll see if that helps too. Regardless, I don't think anything is really wrong other than we need to work a little harder.

I often forget how short I am until I see photos of
me standing next to one of the full sized horses.

Eros is feeling pretty good this week! I've been setting his saddle just a hair further back and his balance feels completely better. Turns out, I think I've been putting it too far forward on him. Those enormous withers are tricky sometimes... But he's starting to engage that hind end better. I'm excited with this new development! I need to check in with doc, but I think we're about ready to start hopping over some tiny things and cantering some rails on the ground. Which is very exciting! I miss jumping this good boy.

Eros also had his mane pulled Saturday. Like Shiny, he needs at least one more session, but he also hates it, so we just do a little at a time. Still looks significantly better than it did before!

We repeated last week's rehab schedule this week since we've been a little inconsistent with holidays and weather. But he's feeling pretty fit so I'm not too worried about the inconsistency.

That's about it on the horse front this week. Rita's been pretty bored because the heat and humidity make it too hot for our regular street walks. She doesn't seem too worked up over it though.