What's Up Wednesday

 

This week was pretty quiet. The weather wasn't nearly as spectacular as those early fake spring days we had the week before. Thankfully, it hasn't been terrible. Just not quite as nice. Such is spring though. You take the great days with the less great ones. I am ready for more warmth, less wind, and dryer days though!

We'll go backwards with the horses this week just to mix things up a little. And if you hadn't noticed, that means we'll start with Shiny. Most of the time I start with Al partially because he's the most interesting but also because his name comes first in the alphabet. And now you know something more about me... I tend to do things alphabetically. 

Shiny has put a little weight back on, which I wanted because she had started losing her top line a bit ago. After consulting with both vets we weaned her Thryo-L down from 1.5 scoops twice a day to 3/4 twice a day. I stepped it down a couple weeks at a time, but I think I need to bump her back to 1 scoop. I think that might be our sweet spot. She's still highly unmotivated and I think she's putting weight on a little too easily. She's feeling quite good soundness wise if and when I can get her to come forward. I kind of lost my patience with her today though, and really got after her. And then she felt pretty amazing. Really supple through her neck and shoulders both directions. Her trot was BOUNCY! Like my core is gonna be sore tomorrow after what she gave me, which felt pretty amazing. So I'm not so sure there's anything actually wrong with her other than a work ethic issue. I hate having to be mean to her, but I swear she enjoys it a little. My pretty little masochist... Hopefully I won't have to keep being so assertive. It's not my nature. But I will do what needs doing to get work like that out of her! We popped over a few little cross rails today too. Hopefully we'll jump again over the weekend when we're expecting some more actual spring weather. 

All of a sudden Eros is starting to feel a lot better. I think it's probably at least somewhat the warmer weather. But also, I think working out in the outdoor with the grade to it and the slightly deeper footing has really put some muscle on him. That and working in the equiband once a week. We've been using both bands now and I can't believe the difference in how he engages his hind end. I still am fighting the saddle, but at least the horse feels fantastic. I let him jump a little today too, and he was significantly better than the last time, but the torpedo did still make an appearance. Hey, he is who he is, ya know? I'm just glad he's having fun. I've noticed the torpedo doesn't really happen on the uphills, just the down hills when he likes a nice victory gallop on landing. I really need to stop laughing when he does it so he doesn't think it's acceptable. But it's REALLY funny. I can't wait for him to get in shape and jump some little courses again. Hopefully he'll get back to the 2'6" but for now we're having fun over itty bitty cross rails. Baby steps. 

And then there's Al! Things are still going mostly well, but having to spend two rides in the indoor has left him just a little less great than the last couple of weeks. I get it, he hates the indoor. But sometimes we have to do things we don't like! That's just life. A lesson that is hard for Al to really grasp. We'll get there though. Some day. 

Fortunately, today we were back outside. And he was significantly better than he was yesterday. I let him have a lunge before we rode, and he appreciated it. He wasn't too spicy but did let out one good buck which I could tell made him feel so much better. Our ride was only so-so and we didn't get around to jumping today. I was pretty disappointed in our ride because I didn't get to do any of what I had planned. I actually got to the barn a little earlier than normal because I wanted to get him worked before it got busy. But then they were dragging the outdoor so by the time I actually got on, it was getting busier. First they were switching turnouts which doesn't really bother Al normally, but he was wanting to watch horses walking back and forth more than he was wanting to work. When that was finally done, they had to hay all the horses they just put out. Once that was done, someone else walked out to bring one of the horses back in. That horse hates being without her pony friend so she proceeded to scream her head off from inside the barn. And then another boarder pulled in with her trailer and spent awhile trying to back it into where she wanted to park it right next to the ring. At which point I just gave up. And honestly, I don't think it was Al that was all that distracted by everything. I mean he WAS, but if we're being honest with ourselves here, I think it was probably me not being able to get my focus where it needed to be to draw Al's back to me. I think a couple of things were in play here. First and mostly that I wasn't focused. But also, I think he was tired from his lunge and he was using the distractions as an excuse to not work very hard. And as a fellow lazy person, I can follow that logic of his. Now that I've had time to simmer on the ride, I think I can do a better job next time and not just give up. To be fair, I was on him a full half hour, and we did all the things in both directions. We just never really found a real rhythm nor got any real work accomplished. Sometimes that's okay though. He also never spooked. A couple stop and stares, but we're getting better at working through those. I still think we're on the right path. Even if we've had a couple less than perfect rides. That's horses. We shall see what tomorrow brings!

And that's really about it from here. Nothing too exciting happening over here at the moment. They all get their feet done tomorrow which is a bit over due, so hopefully I'll have even happier horses by tomorrow afternoon.