Truthful Tuesday

 

Oh man. This is a good one. Remember last week when I was like Eros felt really good for a few days and then not good again? Yeah. there was a good reason for that. And I should have noticed it much sooner than I did. He twisted his shoe! Not a lot, just a tiny bit. Enough to be uncomfortable, but not enough to do any damage thankfully. But my confession is that it took my like three days to realize it. I noticed a little chip in his hoof right away, but didn't think much of it. I should have realized right away the shoe was shifted. But I didn't. 

Eros always has his front shoes set back a bit, so it's normal to be kind of under his toe to some extent. But he should have roughly the same amount of shoe peeping out on either side of his heels. And he clearly does not in the photos. Fortunately, once I did notice, my farrier was out the next day to fix it for us. He's feeling much better now that his shoe is on straight again. Sheesh. I can't believe I missed that! 

So that's today's confession. I'm an unobservant horse mom who owes her perfect boy an extra few cookies.

What's Up Wednesday

Despite my best intentions to have a good hard working week with the horses, we were once again a bit inconsistent. Al worked every day, but Eros and Shiny both had an extra day off on Friday. The farrier came mid day (just as I was finishing tacking up Shiny) and by the time I finished cleaning up from that it was pretty late. 

Farriers are messy. But I got everything cleaned up by the end of the day. 

Eros has been so great lately. I jumped him around today a little bit, and there were no zoomies! He did attack the teeny tiny bounce a little bit... but otherwise he just clocked around like a pleasant little metronome. I haven't yet attempted a line... but I think we may be almost ready for that! I did string together a mini course today though, and he really was lovely. 

I've been feeling extra appreciative of him lately. He's just a solid boy. 

Shiny's been good too, but I can tell she's ready for her hocks to get done. That happens Friday though, so we're almost there! I haven't jumped her in forever because her kiddo has been doing all the jumps with her this summer. I popped her around a little bit today. She was sticky to start, but once she got moving she was great.

I kept everything at or below 2' for today's jump schools with both of them. I think they're both more than fine to jump a hole bigger but I was feeling like I could use a confidence building day. So small jumps were exactly what I needed! 

Then there's Al.... Things are not good with Al. He's back to being terrified of the one long side of the ring, and occasionally other parts as well. Any progress I thought I was making this summer is pretty much all gone. He gets a rescope on Friday, and if there aren't any ulcers in there then I really don't know what's actually wrong with this horse. A few days this week I could only get him to work on the lunge line, and even that was a challenge. 

I tried a new approach with him today. Normally I let him walk the ring on a fairly loose rein and see everything before we start working. But today I put him together right away (just at the walk) and asked him to get right to a working walk. We made figures and focused on bend and going forward. Well. I focused on that. Al focused on the trees he finds so terrifying. I was hoping if I could get his mind on me from the start maybe we would have a more successful ride. It didn't actually help. Mostly because I never really got his full attention. I honestly don't think I know how to. I tried to dig deep and be really brave and just do the things I had planned on doing despite what Al's feelings were. And I did manage to pop over the little oxer on the safe side of the ring and also the little itty bitty bounce I have set up.

But I'm here to be honest with you all and so I have to admit, that I was only able to pick up canter just before the turn to either of the obstacles. I can't get to that far outside of the ring without him panicking. I've tried just doing part of the side and then circling to the safe side so we get in and we get out, and he'll do it half the time, but he's snorting and panicking the entire time I'm near the fence over there. I've tried doing ground work over there. I've tried just hanging out with him over there. I've tried lunging him over there. (And I imagine it goes without saying that I've tried riding him over there at every gait.) I've done lots of figure eights to just try and get some work done without dealing with the scary side, but even when we're not going over there he panics just being asked to go toward it. My ring is not very big, so I really need to be able to use the whole thing to get any sort of work done. 

There's a big part of me that just thinks I'm not brave enough to ride this horse. Like maybe I just need to let him do what he's going to do and work around it. But I do worry about getting tossed. And I don't know how to turn off that worry. I do have extra angst about the bad knee not holding up when he spins, but I don't know if that's really a reason for my being intimidated or if it's just an excuse. 

I do think it's about time I make a hard decision though. I'm not sure how long I can keep trying and failing before I finally just wave the white flag and find him a more appropriate home. It feels like a huge failure to give up. I haven't ridden a horse that makes me feel so brave to the big jumps in a really, really long time. And who knows if I'll find that again? But the reality is, I can't get him to canter around the ring, let alone point him at a big jump these days. 

All I really know for sure is that what I'm doing isn't working. And I don't know what else I can do that might work. Yes putting him in a training barn might help, but there's just not really any options close enough to me for it to be feasible. I haven't had any luck finding another trainer to come out to my place to help me. And while yes, it might be helpful to ship in some place, it doesn't fix the problem that I can't ride him in my ring at home. He's generally pretty good in new places for the first few rides. Probably he would thrive in a show home where he gets to go to new places all the time. But I don't have the budget for that. So I guess it might be time to consider selling him. But man. It breaks my heart. 

Truthful Tuesday

 

Oof. Guys. Today's confession? I think I'm going to have to make a big change, and I HATE change! Here's the story:

I'm having some trouble with my barn helper and I don't think I can fix it. Which is really hard as he's been my reliable helper for close to ten years now. But he's being careless. One day last week I looked outside and he had Shiny loose eating grass in my backyard. Shiny's not supposed to eat grass. And no horses should be loose anywhere outside of the paddocks or ring. And then this morning I went out to get in my truck and I see he's left the gate wide open. Now this is a secondary gate, so he did not let any horses loose (again) but still. That gate is there as a safety measure as my barn is right on a busy state road. It's the last line of defense before a loose horse could run into the street. It's to be kept closed at all times. And when I spoke to him about it he made out like it was no big deal. Mind you, I've had this talk with him MANY times. And what's different this time? He snickered at my reaction. Like it was funny. I felt like I was dealing with a petulant teenager. But this is a 50+ year old man. 

Over the last several weeks I've found stall doors not latched, water buckets empty, manure left in the ring (we turn out in the ring), and hay not picked up. I spent two hours on Sunday picking hay out of the footing because he hasn't been picking it up after turnout. I know these are tedious tasks. But they need to be done. I don't have 50+ grand to redo my arena footing. And that's what will have to happen if they aren't done. I personally clean up Wednesdays (because my helper informed me this summer that he has to leave early on Wednesdays) and on the weekends when I do chores. So it's not like I'm asking for something I don't do myself. 

And not to make it about money, but I'm paying him for a five hour day from when I used to have four horses, but he's only working about 3.5 hours. 2.5 on Wednesdays. I didn't want to cut his pay when I sold Pammon, so that's on me for being a nice person. But I'm feeling taken advantage of now that he's not getting all the tasks done on top of being careless.

I know what needs to be done, but man I hate change. I'm not sure I hate change more than I hate being let down and taken advantage of though. So anyway... if any of you know anyone in CT that would like a job, I'm looking for help!

What's Up Wednesday

 

Thanksgiving didn't really have an effect on my riding schedule this year. We had a small dinner, just my mom, brother, and me and we ate on the later side so I had plenty of time to ride on the holiday! 

Rita came too, dressed appropriately of course.

I opted to have a Sunday Funday kind of riding day in which we kept them all short and very low pressure. It was a holiday after all! Obviously I also dressed appropriately for the day:

The horses weren't sure if they were glad to see me or not.

Just kidding. They're always glad to see me because I am the keeper of the snacks. So it was pretty much business as usual at the new barn even though it was a holiday. It was a rainy day so turnout was a no go. But at this barn, if the horses can't go out, they get hand walked. Like for real, and they actually do it. So despite it being a holiday AND a rain day, all the horses got out. So nice! In the past, most barns I've been at are closed on holidays. Or, if they're open, there's limited staff, so just stalls cleaned and horses fed. And some of the places they don't even do stalls on the holidays, just feed and water. 

I'm trying to get back on our regular work schedule in which we do some jumpies on Wednesdays and Fridays. So far it's going okay, though the "jumps" have been quite tiny. We're pretty much permanently in the indoor now that it's ridiculously cold out. Just prior to the arrival of winter it rained for days on end. So indoors it is! I'm so grateful to have access to an indoor, but I will admit that this particular indoor has it's challenges. It's quite narrow so I am finding it very challenging to get the horses MOVING. They all want to pitter patter around with four beat canters and teeny tiny strides. 

Photo not from today. But does feature our quarter sheet. 

Today I made the mistake of trying to jump Shiny with the quarter sheet on. This shouldn't be a problem... But Shiny needs some encouragement from Mr. Tappy to get the proper canter. And with the quarter sheet on, she cannot feel him. I may or may not have mildly damaged my wrist trying to get her to notice Mr Tappy today. Finally I just took the quarter sheet off. Did we achieve the proper canter? We did not. She was definitely on the double add today. Some days are just like that. Judging by how Eros went today, I'm chalking it up to the weather. Or some kind of outside factor. More on E in a moment.

While Al is a million and one times less angsty in this indoor, he's still not thrilled to be working in it. Currently, our rides start out pretty nicely, but he kind of gets spookier and spookier as we go. My current experiment is to warm him up, then give him a break. Then do something a little harder for a very short time. Then another break. That seems to reset the angst. I dunno guys, this horse is ever changing in his needs. He's still on all the ulcer meds, so I doubt that's what we're dealing with. I think it might just be time to accept that my horse is a little bit of a head case. Which is fine. We'll figure it out. I was a psych major in college, so I should be able to eventually figure him out. Haha. Hopefully. 

For today's "jump" school I set two lines on the long sides and then just put a couple flower boxes, one on each diagonal to change direction over. I set the lines at three strides, figuring we'd trot in and canter out in four. At the previous barn, Al was only apprehensive about the one end of the ring, but here, we have doors with windows at BOTH ends. Lucky me. He's pretty confident jumping away from the doors, but not at all jumping towards them. So jumping into the line is okay, but he starts spinning his tires at the out. I made everything ultra tiny today so we could comfortably trot OR canter as needed to everything. It started out really rough. Not dangerous or scary, but definitely ugly. I just kept trotting him over stuff until he started to relax. Then we tried to canter some. Same thing. Keep at it until it's easier. Wash, rinse, repeat. With walk breaks as needed. We never got to the point that we were cantering courses today, but we got to where things were flowing somewhat smoothly and I'm calling that a win for the day. We're supposed to be getting hit with crazy high winds again the next few days, so we may not jump again this week. This indoor is a wood and it makes some crazy sounds in the wind. I like to limit the drama when I can if you know what I mean! We'll still work of course, but we're going to keep the danger factors as low as we can. This amateur prefers to choose her battles. 

I was excited for my trot in and canter out lines for Eros today! He was less excited. He switched to field turnout starting on Sunday. Well... he's in the process. He's not used to grass, so we're building him up out there, though it should all be killed off soon with the weather. Anyway, he seems very happy down in the field, but I think the extra calories have him a little spicy! Or he might possibly be a little ulcery. I'm not sure yet. Whatever it is, he's been feeling a certain sort of way lately. He's not being bad per se, but very distracted and mildly spooky. Today when I pointed him at jumps, he actually stopped. More than once. Not dirty at all, and only from the trot. Anything I cantered him at he jumped nicely. But it was very odd that he would stop at all. Especially multiple times. So I have some concerns... but I'm not spiraling yet. Because Shiny was a little weird today, and Al was, well Al, I figure there may just be some reason they were all a little out of sorts. We are getting a light storm tonight, and it's pretty cold. The ring could use a drag, and it's a little hard today. So it may just be uncomfortable for Eros in this state. He does have delicate legs. I'm not sure I warmed him up long enough. I was trying to just get right to it, but I think I should have done a little more flat work to get him looser and get his attention on me. 

Is there a small part of me that's worried about all kinds of things (is his eye getting worse, does he have epm, did he get too much grass and he's about to founder)? Of course not, why do you ask?? Ha... Okay yeah, maybe there's some light spiraling going on. But there's not much to do but wait and see right? So that's the plan. We'll see what we have tomorrow. As for the founder concerns, he's not standing like a founder horse, and he's not anymore unsound than normal. So I'm pretty sure that's just my crazy brain finding things to worry about. But like... it is a concern. You never know. ANYTHING COULD HAPPEN. Sorry. I'll calm down now. 

Anyway... we'll see what the rest of the week brings with the weather. I have a feeling we'll just be doing a lot of flatwork the next few days. But that's okay. Clearly we have plenty to work on! Monday they're getting body work which I think is much needed. It's probably their last appointment until spring which is a bummer for them but good for my wallet. Ha! Our chiro heads south for winter and we miss her very much. But we're glad to have her out before she goes! 

That's about it from here. I'm working on some arts and crafts so we can get our holiday cards done. Running a little late on that... Lol.  If you're not on the list and would like one please send me your address! 

Truthful Tuesday

 

Sorry for disappearing last week. Prepping for that sale was WAAAYYY more work than I expected. But got it all done, and sold a BUNCH of stuff. I have a few things left still, which will be going up on Facebook in bits and pieces probably after I get the horses moved for the winter. 

Anyway, today's confession? I very impulsively listed a bunch of blue blankets on Facebook ahead of the sale. Not because I wanted less things to bring with me (though that would have been a nice side effect) but I literally did it as a knee jerk reaction. To what you ask? Something that surprised me not even a little bit, but still irked me. 

So I was asked by a friend of mine to braid her lovely horse for New England Equitation Championships. This horse lives at my previous winter barn. I had a feeling though, that once they knew I wasn't returning, I would probably lose the job. And then I did. Not my friend's decision obviously, and I absolutely knew it would turn out that way. But still it bothered me some. Mostly because I could really use the cash. But also, it's just kind of ick ya know? So my knee jerk reaction was to try and find new homes for everything navy in my collection. I didn't get it all moved yet, but another friend of mine is coming Saturday to hopefully buy a bunch of what's left. I have no idea what to do with all my "team" outerwear though. Donate it I guess? 

What's Up Wednesday

 

I gotta tell you, when I get into the braiding vortex, I don't really store any memories from that timespan... So I have very little recollection of what went on last week. My camera roll is of minimal help either... But we'll see what I can come up with.

Shiny and her kid are KILLING it together! They even jumped a few 2'3" fences which is huge because her kiddo hasn't been feeling that brave prior to coming up here this summer. I'm very proud of them. Shine's been good for me too but I haven't jumped her in awhile. I like to keep jumpies to twice a week, and her kiddo's been doing both days. Which I'm totally happy with, because it's so fun to see them together. 

Eros is doing well. I keep thinking he maybe doesn't feel his best some days, but the more we do, the better he feels, so I think it's partly just strength building. I let him trot some teeny jumps today, and he was great, though if we had cantered them there would have been some torpedoing. But look how cute:

He's too much. I just love this horse. I've been silently thinking about trying some dressage with him, but honestly, I don't think I have the attention span for dressage. And seeing him jump this little fence... I think he still wants to be a hunter horse. At least for now. Plus, we can't use earplugs for dressage. And we are ear plug dependent. 

And then there's the problem child. Al blew that abscess last week, and I had been soaking and wrapping it, but my farrier still hadn't come by the end of the week to clean it up. At that point, the other heel was starting to crack, and there was black stinky abscess material kind of coming out all over the frog area. (Though he still seemed perfectly comfortable on the foot. I'm not sure this horse feels pain appropriately.) My vet actually checked in with me on Friday though. I said I wasn't thrilled with how it looked and sent him a photo. He was nearby so said he could stop by. Yes please! He pulled the shoe and trimmed away all the dead stuff:

It was an interesting enough case that he made a video for his socials. That's our second on there if anyone's keeping track. His one of Shiny's splinter went viral. I may never be famous, but my horses kind of are in veterinary circles. (In fact, they use Rio as a case study at Cornell now.) I'm really not sure I should be proud of this. Ha! Anyway... Doc said to give Al the weekend off, then get the shoe back on and he should be good to go. I also had him palpate on that front leg that had been swollen since he was there, and he wasn't concerned. Phew. 

So the shoe went back on today, and I was excited to get back to work! But of course he was all sorts of angsty due to the lack of work the past week. And it was windy. But still, I just used our safe spaces and stayed calm for him. It was hard to really tell how he felt because when he's spooky like that he doesn't want to come forward. He didn't feel sound enough to me, but honestly, I couldn't really get a good read on what was happening under me. My plan is to lunge him tomorrow so I can actually see what he looks like. And if it's not good, I'll schedule ANOTHER vet appointment. Our chiro comes tomorrow too though, so maybe it's something she can fix. Fingers crossed. I'm a little frustrated because we've just been so inconsistent this past month or so between this foot stuff and the colicky days a few weeks ago. Plus, my trainer is finally here and I STILL can't have a lesson. Thanks Al. She leaves in like three weeks, so maybe we can get a few in later. I hate to be whiny but summer will be over and once again, we've accomplished nada. I'm not going to dwell on that though. If I can get him sound and going, there are still a couple months at home where we can do whatever we want. And there's lots of little one day shows around here in the fall. If I really want to do this stuff, I need to just go do it! We'll see if Al can get his poo together. 

In other news, I braided a total of 13 manes and 14 tails this weekend.

I also slept from Thursday to Sunday a total of 9 hours. Which... isn't very much. I'm no dummy though! I asked our former weekend worker if she had any interest in doing my chores and turnout Saturday. She did which was a huge help! I got home from braiding at 6:30 Saturday morning, just as she was pulling in to start work. I don't know how braiders do this stuff full time. The hours are nuts. 

I did ride Al and Shiny on Saturday. Al just had a nice grooming. But Sunday? Sunday, I got home from braiding at 3 am, and then slept until 7. So chores started a little bit late. My town has an autmn fair every year this weekend, and I really wanted to get over there, so I decided to let the horses have extra turnout time and skip riding that day. So I made it over to the fair in the afternoon and ate myself silly. I started with a baked potato, then took a stroll through some of the buildings to see the arts and crafts submissions. Then I got ice cream and went to watch the horse pulls while I ate it.

These guys were the winners

Took another stroll and saw the baking submissions. Which by the last day of the fair were not looking so good... (It was HOT in that building!) Then I went to see the bunnies. I LOVE bunnies. Like, not enough to have one of my own, but I love seeing them. Especially the loppy eared ones. I have wild bunnies here at the farm, so it's kind of like having my own but better since they feed themselves and I don't have to take them to the vet. 

After the bunnies I strolled over to the moo cows, which were all super cute and content. 

Jersey's are my favorite moos I think. They're just so cute with their huge noses.

I wrapped up my day at the fair with some pulled pork nachos (highly recommend). I wanted to get some thai egg rolls to go for dinner later, but they were all out. So instead I settled for a bag of kettle corn. And that was it for my day at the fair! I'm glad I fit it in, and I think the extra day off was actually great for the horses. Shiny and Eros both felt really great on Tuesday which usually isn't the case after a day off. So it was a great decision all around.

And I think that's really about it from the past week. It's all I can remember anyway. Haha!

What's Up Wednesday

 

I got done early in the barn today because it won't stop raining... And the tropical storm isn't even here yet! Sheesh. 

But this is a nice side effect of the rain

It's been a weird week around here. Monday Al started acting colicky while I was filling Shiny's hay nets. Kept laying down, getting up, laying down. You all know what I mean. I gave him some Banamine paste and took him for a walk and it seemed to resolve in the five minutes I walked him, which is not enough time for the Banamine to even kick in. So that was weird. It was right around noon when this all happened. he seemed fine the rest of the day, though he was napping (quietly and comfortably) when I came out for night check. (And yes, I was in contact with the vet. Even though it seemed under control I always like to touch base, especially when this is NOT normal for this horse.) He got up when I threw hay though and was happy to eat it. Plenty of manure in the stall. All seemed good. Then on Tuesday, same thing! Like same timing even. This time I did not give Banamine and instead just walked him for a few minutes. Again, was fine after the walk. WEIRD. So checked in with vet, and while not terribly concerned they just said to keep an eye on him, but agreed to not give Banamine so we don't cover anything up at this point. So he's been fine since. I hand walked him yesterday for twenty minutes at the end of the day since we didn't ride, but otherwise let him have the extra day off. I was going to tack walk, but it kept raining. Today I decided to tack walk him (despite the stupid rain) and all went fine. So weather permitting and as long as he stays normal we'll do a light flat tomorrow and hopefully be back to normal for the weekend. I'm relieved he's feeling better, but I am still a little concerned as it was so strange. I'm going to schedule a non emergency vet visit just to pull some blood and do an exam. I just don't want to miss something that could be caught early. Ya know? Like with Jamp and his failed kidneys. If we'd caught that sooner I might have been able to help him. Would hate to repeat that mistake. It's entirely possible this was just from gas and/or maybe the weird weather pattern. But I'd rather spend a little money and err on the side of caution. Plus with his weird behaviors in general, there COULD be something brewing inside him. Or not, and I'm just a crazy person. Either way. Haha!

Anyway, prior to all this, the horses all had a nice rest of last week and weekend. We got both or our jump schools in though only used Pivo for one due to inclement weather. 

Al has had better days since I spent an entire blog post whining about him. Maybe that's the key? Out him on the internet and then he gets his poo together? Whatever the reason, I'll take it! We jumped around Friday, but I kept the fences on the smaller side since I wasn't entirely sure how it would go. He was great. Like really great. So that was a relief!

We kept it really basic. I didn't attempt the bending lines, opting instead to just jump a course of singles. I really like to simplify things after a rough patch. Go back to the basics and set us up for success. And that it did! I won't jump him this week but probably will do the same thing next week assuming he stays comfortable. Just keep it simple and positive. 

Shiny has been WORKING lately! We've done a lot of work on the flat and with transitions, and she's starting to move more quickly off my leg (just not in the beginning... haha, she is who she is). She's getting MUCH more supple and starting to get that hind end working better. I think the bodywork session really helped her, but also, I apparently needed to put in a little more effort too. FAIR! You can see the difference in how she's jumping even. She's been kind of just cantering over stuff, not really picking her knees up well. But this last jump school was so much better. Amazing what happens when the power comes from the back end like it's supposed to... Funny how all those things you're taught are actually true. Crazy!
Her kiddo came today to ride her, and kiddo is starting to learn about putting Shiny together. We didn't get there all the way yet, but we did some work on a figure eight, and she's learning about bend, and moving the ponies body left or right. All precursors to getting her packaged up. Kiddo said today Shiny felt much more responsive so that was a pat on the back for me and the work we've been doing. 

I didn't get around to changing the course yet because it started pouring buckets when I was going to do it. But I did find some places to throw rails on the ground so Eros could kind of do a little course. It went... okay. He started out lazy, with his hind end trailing behind him (something we're working on, but I'm STRUGGLING to get it better) and just not really going forward so I couldn't adjust as needed for nice distances. And finished up reminding me about Torpedo Eros which is bad behavior but I couldn't help but laugh at his antics. I reeled him back in and got him to canter one nicely before quitting. Torpedo Eros hurts himself so we have to shut that down asap. 

He's been very spooky at the end of the ring for a the past week, but Tuesday he gave himself a free lunge during turnout (which... is not ideal, but mental health matters too I guess) and was lovely on Friday. I think he was just really wild and needed to get those bucks out. Yesterday, after his frolic, when I was terrified he'd have lamed himself, he actually felt so much better. The hind end was more under him, and he put in some lovely work. Unfortunately, he was the one that got rained out today. It had stopped when it was his turn to ride, but the footing was just too wet at that point. We'll see what happens tomorrow but it's supposed to rain off and on all day again. 

And that's about it from here! We have a quiet weekend coming up and then the next two weekends will be rough. I have a bunch of horses to braid starting Thursday night both weeks. My wallet is very excited though! We'll see how much productive riding gets done those days. I'm assuming very little, but it's okay. They've been working pretty hard this summer. 

Hope you all had a great week! Also, have you had a horse do what Al was doing? What was it??

What's Up Wednesday

 

We have lots to catch up on since I forgot to do a recap last week. I feel like when the horses are home things can get a little less consistent. But I'm not sure it's because they're home so much as it's summer and there's just more to do in general. Plus the lack of indoor, occasionally the weather messes with our plans. But we've been pretty lucky lately with well timed rain storms. So that's been nice. I don't have a way to water my ring, so I am dependent on the rain for dust control. We've been getting plenty, and frequently at night or on Mondays so that's been lovely! Our things we had to work around this week was shoes on Friday and chiro on Saturday. Both necessary things, so worth the disruption. I still got to ride both days, but our jump plans were derailed. Not the end of the world. Anyway, let's talk horses!

We'll start with Shiny. She was busy the week before this one! A friend of mine came by with some of her family that is visiting from Colorado. Shiny was wonderful for pony rides for a few of the kiddos, and then there was one who rides, so I let her ride Shiny off the lead. She did a nice job with her, but Shiny thinks it's HILARIOUS to not canter for kids she doesn't know. I didn't realize this was a thing until now. But she did it with my trainer's daughter the first year she came to ride, and now she's also done it with this other child. Both were capable of riding at the canter at the time, but were definitely a little more beginner level than advanced, ya know? And apparently, Shiny doesn't believe kids should canter until they're better riders I guess? I dunno. I don't find it that hard to get canter from her. Her regular kid doesn't struggle anymore either. I am pretty sure it's a test. Mares! Ponies! I'm not sure which to blame it on. Still though, if they're going to be naughty, I'd prefer it happens in a slow and deliberate way like that versus running off or bucking or whatever. Either way, we've been working on transitions a lot. 

I don't share media of other people's children, so enjoy this unrelated photo.

The day after pony rides, Shine's kiddo came to ride, and they did great. They're really getting along great this year. She didn't come last week though. I'll have to reach out and get her back here. Hopefully her mom will be up here soon too! 

She got lazy over the raised cavalletti and got big mad when it fell down.

Otherwise, Shiny's been pretty good. Definitely the most well behaved of the herd lately. I'm still struggling with getting the gas pedal to work though. I just can't seem to get her really moving. And when she's not coming forward, we make mistakes to the jumps because you can't adjust a pony that isn't fully engaged. Despite that, we've jumped around regularly, and she does accept her fate of bad distances when she chooses not to listen to my input. So there's that at least. 

It was kind of raining on and off this day so Pivo had the day off.
Instead I just filmed from the barn aisle, so the quality is what it is.

I think she's ready to start jumping a little higher again, but I don't want to attempt that until we fix the forward off the leg problem. So more flatwork for us! Our chiro was out on Saturday, and she was really happy with how Shiny's looking on her diet. I was hoping the body work might magically unlock our go button, but no such luck. She had a new to us therapy this time using acupuncture needles, but instead of sticking them in pressure points, they went into the muscles to release the fascia. She seemed to really like it.

The needles are hard to see on her, but look close, they're up there in the middle of the photo.

Getting the backside adjusted!

Overall though, I'm happy with Shine. There are always things to work on, but she's feeling pretty good these days. If you have any suggestions for good exercises to light one up a little, please share! I feel like I have to use the whip an awful lot on this pony, and I HATE that. The fact that she continues to keep her ears pricked forward while I smack her suggests I'm more bothered than she is... but still. I prefer not to hit my pony. 

Eros is doing well. BIG things happening for him the last two weeks as we've started cantering some single poles on the ground. 

Next week I think we'll try a little pole course if I move the jumps. I can't make a pole course work with what we have set up unfortunately. And hopefully next week we can start raising some of the poles and maybe add a cross rail. Baby steps. I'm not in a rush to get him jumping after working so hard to get him sound again! 

He's been good generally, but a little spooky at the far end lately. Today he absolutely could NOT horse down there. 

There was a lot of rapid reversing. Finally I took him for a hand walk up there which did not help. And then I just gave up and rode him on the front half of the ring. I was running out of time and some days we have to choose our battles. I'm not really sure what he's so scared of, but I honestly think it's some tall weeds that are growing back there. They've been blowing around in the wind. Which is ridiculous. But horses, right? Al was terrible today (more on that later) but I did him before Eros, so I'm thinking there must be some reason for this behavior if they're both being weird. Maybe the bears are back? Or some deer? I dunno. I didn't see or hear anything. Eros was relatively good for our ride though. So long as I didn't stray from our safe space. Honestly. Horses. Ridiculous. Most of the time when E is spooking it's because he's fresh. But I don't really think he is this time. Could be though. We'll see what we have tomorrow. If he's still acting a fool, I'll have to address it better. 

Today aside, he's generally been giving me good work. He's still really locked up on that right side, but now that we've graduated to full flatwork I'm hoping he'll start to supple up some. If not, I may chat with doc and see if there's something else we need to address. Maybe he has lyme? It would explain the spooking and the stiffness. Probably wouldn't hurt to pull another titer on him. I don't think I've checked him in awhile. 

And then there's Al. This horse is the biggest emotional roller coaster I've dealt with. One week, I feel like we're moving forward. Last week we jumped a couple 3'3" jumps even! And they were so easy! And then this week? Can barely get him around the ring again. I tried jumping him today and couldn't get his focus. At all. None. I even got off and made the fences small, and still couldn't really get to them. The jumps aren't the issue normally, but today, I couldn't get enough canter to even really attempt much. He was on HIGH ALERT. Now again, Eros was feeling the same way, so there could be a reason. But it was really frustrating. He was like that yesterday too, but we were more able to work through it. Today I don't feel like we did really. 

Managed to get over this one!

I still think there's something bothering him physically that I haven't gotten to the bottom of. But like, what's left? We've treated for everything I can think of. He feels sound. He was pretty out of whack when he got adjusted, so much so that he earned that day off and an easy Sunday ride. Then he had Monday off. So I'm not sure if he's just still feeling out of sorts from his adjustment? If I can get him to move forward, he feels pretty great, but achieving any sort of forward anything is nearly impossible the last two days. When he's spooky like this, he just wants to have his head in the air and not move. It's like riding through quicksand. Which, I'm glad he's sticky and not spinning. But still. It's unpleasant. And pretty much unrideable. I've gone back to taking the pressure off and just asking for the minimum. And it helps some. But I really thought we were past this, and I'm incredibly frustrated that we're back here. He's still on both ulcer meds, so I can't imagine that's still in play. I may reach out to our chiro tomorrow and see if she has any reason to believe it could be related to his adjustment. Maybe I need her back out. I have no idea. I still believe in him, and despite me telling him I might need to sell him so he finds a better program, I don't mean that. I want this to work. I want to fix what's bothering him. I really think he's worth it. But like, selfishly, I really wish we could get a few weeks of good rides at a time. I'm not greedy. I don't need a full year or anything. But man. My confidence. This is hard. 

So here's some more photos from last week when things were good.

I think what's so hard, is that I just don't really know how to fix this. I don't feel afraid on him, I just feel stuck. Like my tool box has been emptied and I just need some kind of manual. This is why being home alone is hard sometimes. I generally think I'm pretty capable. But this horse has my scratching my head. And while I do know some trainer I could ship to, I think the problem is here in my arena. And I don't currently have someone who can come out to help me. And obviously, I didn't get any help last winter either. I'm not great asking for help, and it does something deep down when you can't get it. Ya know? 

Anyway, sorry to unload like that. We'll get through this rough patch like we have all the others. Hopefully sooner than later! In the meantime, I'll just be really thankful for the other two for keeping me semi sane. 

In less angsty news, I got to see my older niece in Mary Poppins last week. She played the bank boss (I forget his name) and did a great job. The show was really impressive! They only rehearse for two weeks before putting it on and the kids are all pretty young! I think 10-15 or around there. They did great. This Friday my younger niece is in The Little Mermaid. Same thing, two weeks of rehearsals. This one will probably be chaos since the kids are like 5-9. Most of them can't even read yet. I'm imagining missed cues, flubbed lines, confused children. Should be fabulous. I can't wait! Seriously! I'm sure it will be adorable.

I had a braiding job Saturday night this past week. So glad to be getting some work finally! I had a small panic when I saw the mane at first:

Yep. It was VERY short, uneven, and I'm pretty sure cut with a solo comb. (Please if you are going to hire out for hunter braids, DO NOT USE A SOLO COMB!) But somehow, it actually braided up pretty nicely. And the horse was an angel to work on. The horses at this barn are always really lovely to work with. I'll take questionably cared for manes on a well behaved horse any day! 

I have a pony to do for them in a few weeks and then the week after that I have a new customer to braid for. So yay for jobs! 

And that's it. That's all I've got. Cheers for you if you read through all of this without being like wow this chick is whiny. Please, feel free to share any advice you might have in the comments. You all have had your ups and downs so you might have some tools in your box that I do not. Or some owners manuals maybe! Lol!