What's Up Wednesday

 

We're just plugging right along over here! I still haven't had the chance to pull out my jump fill. But maybe this weekend or Monday. We've kind of been stuck on riding 5 days a week lately instead of 6 and this week was no different. But it was for a fun reason, so I'm not mad about it. We actually didn't get rained out any days this week, with our one and only rain event happening late at night. Just the way it should be, I need rain to keep the footing at it's best, and when it happens at night, it doesn't disrupt riding plans! I'm not sure if we'll get as lucky this week, but we shall see. Fingers crossed. 

This week, or skipped riding day was Sunday. Both of my nieces had voice recitals on Sunday, but of course they weren't in the same one. One was at 2 and one was at 5. So I did morning chores, went to the first one, then took out the stall windows finally, cleaned some bird poo, and finally went to the second one. Then more bird poo cleaning and fed dinner. Productive day, even if riding wasn't on the schedule. The girls both sounded fantastic too. I haven't heard them really sing before. I'm so impressed by them! I can't sing at all. The horses all look at me with disdain when I sing in the barn. 

We only got in one jump school this week. I had hoped for a second one on Saturday, but I made a terrible error Friday night and my body said light rides only Saturday. And it was persistent. I forgot to take my Omeprazole Friday night. (Yes, I know it's best taken in the morning on an empty stomach, but I have to take my thyroid meds the same way and that one is more important to get absorbed. So I take my Omeprazole at night before bed.) Anyway, my tummy was all disgruntled which made my whole body somewhat useless by the time I'd finished chores. So instead we had Sunday Funday on Saturday. The horses weren't sad. 

Of course that meant they had a very light ride followed by two days off... But ya know. Such is life sometimes. They were mostly fine yesterday when I got back on. Al was a little weird, but it was a windy day after all that break time, so I wasn't upset about it. We worked through most of the weird and got a ride in regardless. The other two were as lazy as always so clearly no harm done for them! 

But back to jumping, because that's the fun part anyway. We'll start with Al. The jumps are still small because that's where I'm at. Haha! While Al is definitely in a much better place since the changes we talked about last week. He still can have a weird day here and there. (Like yesterday!) He was a little weird for our jump day too. The neighbor has been working on something that involves what sounds to me like a staple or maybe nail gun so I think perhaps he'd been doing something weird when Al was turned out that morning. That stuff sticks with him. But despite the weird, we still managed to jump a few fences. Our former weekend helper was visiting when I was on him, so she was kind enough to grab some video. Unfortunately the sun was making it hard to see, so just this little jump came out. Better than nothing! He also jumped most of the other things in the ring, but we did skip the outside line by the neighbor that day. I call it an accommodation. We'll try again over there this week if we can.

Eros was so good for his school! He didn't turn the zoomies on until I made a mistake... I mean fair. It seems like he'll stay quiet until I mess up, and then he's like here, I'll do it myself. He probably knows better anyway. But here's what happened when I messed up. I was cantering across the diagonal to our little hurdle jump. And these geese came flying overhead honking away. I could tell his attention was on them and then MY attention was on them. And neither of us was focusing on the task at hand. So I got to the jump at a VERY long distance which he happily took, but I didn't trust and got left behind. I'm not a monster so I let the reins slip to avoid pulling on him too hard. 

Photo evidence. Still pulled on him though clearly.

After that he got a little excited. But we did finish on a nice note after trotting a few fences and then trying again. Next time I feel my attention slipping away, I will work harder to bring it back. Or make a circle. This is how we learn! 

That's better.

Shiny of course has been perfect for her jump schools. I've been using more counter canter in her warm up, and it's really helping to get her more adjustable when we jump. And also straighter. Counter canter is so useful!

She's definitely ready for the jumps to go back to her comfort zone which is still only 2'-2'3". She seems to perk up at the "bigger" ones and gets easier to ride when I point her at those. That height is still easy for the boys too, so if we get to jump twice this week, I'll probably put them up a little for the second one. 

That's about all I have to share today. Hope things are going well for you all and your horses! Are you getting time to ride and enjoy the weather? Any shows on the horizon for you?

What's Up Wednesday

 

Um. You know what? I actually think I might be a reptile. Hear me out. Last week when we had a few days above freezing, I was all, "Let's get these horses fit and ready for some spring shows!!!" But now it's in the twenties again for like ever and ever into the future AND there's snow in the forecast pretty much every two days for the next 10... And I gotta be honest. My motivation is back to zero. Which, thankfully I was raised on guilt by a couple of boomers so I generally disregard my motivation and just do what I gotta do. So the horses are getting worked and hopefully fitter. But I will admit that we still haven't really done any jumping. They all got their feet done Saturday too which kind of messed up our schedule a little. I will admit that I absolutely used that as an excuse to be a little lazy. But it was a valid excuse. I don't really like to jump the day they get their feet done unless I can do it beforehand. And Sundays are for fundays so ya know. Couldn't do it then either! Lol. 

In case you haven't inferred from my rambling I don't have much to write about this week. But I'll give it a go. Al has been consistently inconsistent under saddle which is just who he is as a horse. But after speaking with my vet we decided to put him back on the Misoprostol. His spookiness has kind of ramped up, and while he's still more relaxed for our rides than he was a few months ago, he's spooking a bit more each day and starting to shut down a little too. Not as badly as he has in the past, but it's there. He's also been picky about his feed again. So back on the meds he goes. They arrived last night and he started them today so we'll see what we get in a few days. His canter is much better though, and he is doing some really brave things on all his own which I'm really proud of him for. Tuesday I lunged him before we rode because I had a feeling he needed to get some bucks out. With how the weather has been, they really can't do much playing out in the paddocks. The ground is either rock solid or slippery mud and so they mostly just stand around out there. Anyway, while we were lunging Tuesday, Al actually lunged right up next to the end door that he typically avoids like the plague. He wanted to look out the window while going past, but not in a spooky way so I allowed it. He's never ever done that in this ring before. It's kind of a silly thing to be excited about, but you know what? Anything that brings joy is worth celebrating these days. Even if it's just your horse looking out a window. 

Eros is feeling better and better these days. I think the Robaxin combined with finally getting his feet done are working wonders for him. We rode in the re-paneled saddle today, which... meh. I'm not convinced it fits him but to be fair, I have zero education in such things. He felt pretty willing and sound to ride, but I felt exactly the way I did before in it. I keep sliding back in it and it has me riding towards the back side of the flaps if that makes sense. It was nearly impossible to sit the canter. But if it turns out to be a perfect fit for Eros, then I will just suffer in silence up there. Time will tell. I sent some photos to the rep but she was off today, so we'll see what she has to say tomorrow. I think she's going to want a video so hopefully someone will be around when I ride him tomorrow to take one for me. If I've learned anything from this saddle experience it's to not try and save money on a saddle. I wish I had just spent the extra not that much more money and gotten him a custom one too. Live and learn I guess. Sometimes you get lucky, Shiny's saddle has worked great! But more often than not, I don't think you do. Saddle woes aside, the horse feels good, and that's the most important thing! 

Shiny's doing just fine these days too! I checked in with the vet as our two week trial on the Ventipulmin was coming to a close. I sent him a video of her belly while she was breathing... Vets must get the weirdest videos. Anyway, he was happy with her improvement but recommended we keep her on it for awhile. Which is fine with me since it's making her feel better. But it is a little bit of a pain. He recommends just squirting in her mouth twice a day rather than putting it in feed. It will be not very annoying when the horses are home, but with them not here? It's not the most convenient. I am really happy at the new barn overall, but the staff is a little disorganized and it's a lot of different people on a rotating schedule that I cannot figure out. So I don't really trust to ask them to medicate her for me. Most days I'm there long enough that it's pretty spread out. I give it immediately when I arrive and then last thing before I leave. But on Monday, my non riding day, it means I have to drive up there twice. It's not that far, about 25 minutes. But that's pretty close to two hours of my day off. Two hours less to get all my chores and errands done. But since I don't have a real job, I really can't be too complainy about that. Plus I take Rita at least one of the trips up there and she enjoys that. Boy I can get off topic... Anyway, Shiny is definitely breathing better and she's not holding her breath at the canter so much anymore. She's still bouncing off the contact and doesn't seem to want to really carry herself up into the contact, but we didn't do a shockwave last visit and I think that was a mistake. I'll own it, I said we should wait until after the epm meds have a chance to work to see if that was the culprit. But truthfully I know she responds well to the shockwave and I should have done it anyway. Doc will be back in a couple weeks though, so we'll do it then for sure. She's been much less trippy since being on the Toltrazuril and she's using her hind end a lot better. So I'm not disappointed that we decided to treat her. 

And that's what we're up to here! Just kind of more of the same. Complaining about the weather and trying to push through the dark days of winter (and the collapse of our civilization... but I digress...). Hope you're all staying warm and getting through it too!