What's Up Wednesday: Mid Summer bumps in the road

 

Oof! Things have been going so wonderfully smoothly of late, that I knew at some point, things might get a little bumpy. (In Eros' case, literally... Lol!) Fortunately, I'm used to the roller coaster that is life with horses, and none of it earth shattering (so far anyway.) 

The horses had a fairly easy two weeks due to my braiding schedule. As I get older, the all nighters are harder to recover from. I just can't power through like I used to. But I accept that, and I just try to adjust things as best I can. That means some shorter easier rides for the horses. It happens. Plus, I think it's not a bad thing for the horses to have some easy days now and then. They've all been working pretty hard for awhile. The heat that has been oppressing much of the country (world?) has finally arrived here in New England this week, so we're back for another week of easy rides. I'm disappointed about how things have played out though because I was hoping to make our horse show debut this coming Saturday. Due to the forecast mostly (and other things that I'll talk about shortly) that will not be happening. Soon though! That's the great thing about horse shows. There's always another one. Anyway, buckle up, let's revisit the past week!

I think I mentioned last week that Al's quarter crack decided to be stupid and bother him last week. He was sound on it even when it started bleeding. But then my farrier sent his assistant (he himself was out of state shoeing) to put a patch on it and for some reason once that was put on, he was very lame. Which makes no sense as it really shouldn't have bothered him any. But it did, I guess. So we tack walked most of the week. I did some trot each day to evaluate, and by Sunday he was feeling quite a bit better, but not perfect. Fortunately, my farrier was back in town Tuesday and was able to come out. He floated the heel and put him in bar shoes. He felt decent the first day in them, but today (day 2) he felt pretty much back to his old self. THANK GOODNESS! So he hasn't jumped in a bit and obviously is also why we're not showing this weekend. We're going to do an easy lesson this weekend and see how that goes before diving back in to bigger fences and prepping for a horse show. I'm optimistic he'll be just fine. No one seems too concerned so that helps my attitude too. 

With Al on the DL I was half considering taking Eros to the horse show instead. He's been going pretty well, and the local shows around here have schooling divisions with small fences that are open to everyone. Lots of pros ride their green horses or school clients horses in these divisions so I don't feel like it's unfair of me to ride in them. But alas, he too wound up with some extra days off this past week. his hives came back with a vengeance. He's currently on 16 Benadryl twice a day and while he's looking better (and thankfully is hive free where the saddle goes) he's still pretty bumpy. Plus I'm not sure you can show on Benadryl... I still haven't figured out what could be causing this. Nothing at all has changed! Must be some bug that's biting him. Only thing I can think!

He did get to have one jump school last week before the hives got bad. He was pretty great and got some cute screen shots even:

I just love him! I hope we can get him bump free soon and maybe actually take him somewhere to do something fun. 

Pammon is mostly doing well. Riding is going great and he feels pretty good. But (there's always a but right?) he's being REAL weird about drinking water all of the sudden. Like really weird. He goes to take a sip, and then yanks his head away like it hurts him. He is getting water (the bucket levels are dropping as normal) and he likes to soak his own hay, so I feel comfortable that he's getting enough water, but still, it's making me anxious. I have a call in to the vet, but he's scheduled on the other side of the river all week. If he wasn't drinking, doc would come out right away, but I think we can wait until his schedule allows for us, at least for now. This is what he's doing, maybe one of you have seen something like this? It's so odd, and of everyone I've shown it to, none have ever seen it. (I was thinking maybe a broken tooth, but there's no obvious swelling anywhere, his breath isn't stinky, and his nose isn't gunky.)

Prior to this drama though, we did jump our first crossrails last week! BIG DAY!

He was sound after which is even better. Not that I was convinced he wouldn't be or anything... (I totally was. I was sure I broke him with those two crossrails.) Since the start of the bucket nonsense I've shortened our rides. It's been in the 90's with feels like over 100. Just in case he's not actually getting enough water, I don't want to push too hard. He still has to work correctly for our shortened rides though. That part is key to keeping his back happy. Such a balancing act with this horse. 

And then there's Shiny... She's the clutch hitter around here for sure. While she took an unplanned break this winter, she tends to step up to the plate when I need her to. For that reason, I did actually consider taking her to the horse show this weekend, until the hot weather arrived. If it was going to be nice, she'd be going! 

She's feeling quite good after her injections. I'm only jumping her once a week for right now as she eases back into it, but she's jumping small courses very happily. I'm excited to get her a little more fit and move the fences back up to 2' ish. The little wall I have is around that height and I let her pop over that this past week, but otherwise I've been keeping things around 18" for now. She seems pretty excited to be doing the thing again!

So that's where we are at the moment. Dealing with some bumps in the road, but I think things will smooth over soon. I'll get to looking for another show to get to. My trainer is only home this coming weekend and the next before heading back to VT for a couple weeks. I'm not sure there's anything too close by the second weekend, so our debut may have to wait a bit longer. But it will happen! Eventually... Lol! 

In other news, I braided 10 manes and 5 tails last week which was exhausting. But also nice to make some extra cash. 

The toilet in my barn is broken. It's one of those up flushing ones like people have in a basement, so it's stupid expensive to repair. My two weeks of braiding will pay for that, so it's nice to at least break even there. Bummer I can't buy anything fun with my hard earned money, but hey, that's adulting amiright?! 

And that's where we are! Bumps, cracks, weirdness, and a broken toilet. Lol! But this shall all pass and then we can get back on track!

What's Up Wednesday

 

Phew. It's been busy around here this past week. I braided a total of 13 manes and 3 tails.

Due to that, I don't remember a whole lot about the week... ha... Not sleeping is rough on the memory!

I only jumped once last week. We normally jump Wed and then again either Fri or Sat. But I was pretty exhausted both days and didn't see the point. So I didn't do it. No regrets. Wednesday went well though! The horses saw the body worker yesterday so this week's schedule will also be skewed. Nothing wrong with that. It's okay to have some light weeks amongst the work. Good for everyone I think.

This past week Shiny jumped some of the real jumps set at about 18".

She was super game and was taking me right to the jumps. She definitely missed jumping these past many months! I think I'll keep her to once a week jump sessions for a bit, but I'm SO excited to be jumping her again.

She had a good report from the body worker too. Just her usual spots, and they all adjusted more easily than in the past. She also thought the SI injections were helping her a lot. So all good news for Shiny!

Pammon stuck with cavalletti again this week, and he's doing great with them.

We'll keep doing this once a week too. It's nice to do something different with him after all this time doing the exact same ride every single day. He's feeling better too. Much less back sore than when the vet was last out. I really think he was just tense from coming off the ace and it took some time for him to relax on his own. The body worker thought his back was pretty good for him, so she's in agreement with what I'm feeling. 

Eros was very good for his jump school and even let me put some courses together without turning into a freight train. He still gets strong in the line, but it's improving each time we jump. 

He broke out in some hives over the weekend, but seems to be doing better now. I think something stung or bit him that he had a reaction to. I haven't changed our fly spray, bedding, hay, nor feed, so it's really the only logical explanation. Whatever it was, I'm sure he'll survive. He didn't seem terribly bothered, but he sure did look itchy:

The body worker was happy with him overall too. His neck was the best it's been, which is awesome! 

Al was great for our school last week. I made a mistake into the line but he just dealt with it, and never got offended or worried. He's just such an understanding guy! I put a couple jumps up to 3'3" and the height is just a non issue with him.

I'm not sure if you all remember, but we've been keeping an eye on that quarter crack he developed shortly after arriving. It's been fine and was growing out, but all of a sudden this week it opened back up and started bleeding when we work.

Our farrier sent his apprentice to put a patch on it on Monday, and I'm just waiting for our actual farrier to come out and float it. Al's been sound on it so we're not freaking out, but I'm not going to jump until the farrier comes out again I don't think. We'll see how he does with the patch anyway. The body worker did note that he had some tightness on that side, very likely due to that crack, so it's probably bugging him a little bit even if he is presenting sound. Nothing wrong with being careful anyway. Hopefully we'll have it back under control asap. 

That's about it from here. This week will also be quiet. I have more braiding to do, Al is on light work, and everyone but Pammon had yesterday off in addition to Monday. I'll probably pop Eros and Shiny over some jumps on Thursday, and Pammon will do his rails that day. Otherwise it's going to be a couple of good flat rides and a few light ones for this week. I get to feeling very guilty when I don't work them hard all the time, but honestly, I think it's good for then to have some easy rides now and then. Especially when I've been up all night braiding! 

Did you all have a good week/weekend? Do anything fun and exciting?

What's Up Wednesday

 

This was a relatively quiet week. The most exciting part was my first lesson with Al! I rode in my old Bellino lesson, but it's grown to a big group. A couple of the kids were less experienced so everything stayed low and easy. Perfect for our first time jumping courses together! I have some pretty terrible quality media to share... But it's media none-the-less! (Winter is tough, what can I say?) 

Guys. I had SO MUCH fun! I absolutely do struggle keeping him going sometimes, and we have a lot to learn about each other. But this horse is game! He takes zero offense if I make a mistake, and seems to be really brave to the jumps too. He popped over all the boxes and some flowers and while I won't say he didn't take a peak, he never offered anything but to do his job. I'm STUPID excited for what might be to come with this horse.

I also had my second lesson on him this past Tuesday. It was a flat lesson which we desperately need. We did do some work through a line of poles. It was set as a four stride line if the jumps were up and we had to do four, five, and six. While we did make some mistakes and didn't nail it every time, we did manage to all three options very nicely (eventually). He's only six after all, so it's understandable that we're not going to be perfect the first time at everything. 

Unfortunately (there's always one of those, isn't there) I discovered he has a quarter crack after my ride today. He's completely sound on it, so I'm hoping VERY hard it won't really be an issue other than my farrier having to make some changes. Unless it bothers him, I'm hoping it's okay to proceed with caution. 

It honestly is less apparent in person. Hopefully this won't be a thing. Ugh.

Eros had his first real lesson too! I have no media though because his lesson was early and there weren't any pony moms around to record for us. He was a good boy, and we only jumped about six fences since he's really just starting back to jumping. I remember now why I dislike doing formal lessons with him. Trainers always want to get the horses moving forward on the flat, which yes, is good practice. But in the case of Eros, once his stride gets bigger than 12' he has very little interest in shortening it back up. And thus, when we trotted in and cantered out of a three stride (cantering in...) line, we were not successful in putting four strides in that line. I wasn't going to fight with him about it right now, as he did stay soft and relaxed and wasn't a freight train. That's a lesson for a fitter day. He has another lesson tomorrow morning, and I'm pretty excited to try again!

Chronic blanket sniffer.

Shiny seems to finally be feeling better. I've been keeping our rides a little short, letting her really warm up before asking for contact. And once she gives me some nice work, I let her stretch again for a bit before trying again. Today was the first day that she felt pretty sound while in the contact tracking left. So that's a big step for her. Hopefully she's on the mend!
Part of her plan right now is to make sure we do our carrot stretches before our ride everyday. Guys. She's turning into a bit of a treat monster due to that! I always give the horses a cookie at the end of the day before I go home (or at night check if they're home with me) but I don't generally treat them on the cross ties or before we work. But since she has to do these stretches, she gets treats. And she looks for them now! So bad. Very annoying. But it's pretty cute when she does the stretches on her own hoping she'll get a reward. Sorry Shiny, the only reward is a well stretched neck...

Nothing has changed. He still eats everything I wear.

Pammon is doing well back in the barn. I was very worried he'd be weaving a lot and upset to be back in the stall, but honestly, I think he's really happy to be back. He's been so relaxed and happy. His body, however, is taking a little longer to acclimate. He stocks up all around right now. I'd be super worried if it was just one leg, but since it's pretty consistent with all of them, I'm not freaking out just yet. The legs look better after our 30 minute walk too, so that's reassuring. It's tough though, because I'm supposed to watch for swelling in the bad leg, and well, yeah it gets swollen... But he's walking nicely and seems happy, so we'll carry on until his next vet visit. It's fun spending real time with him again. I hope he makes a real comeback. 

That's about it from here. How was your week? Do anything fun with your horse(s)?