Tack Sale Fundraiser

I'm just trying to get the word out about our fundraiser. We Can Ride is having a tack sale fundraiser on Saturday, June 9, at 10a.m. in Eden Prairie. We have all sorts of tack from western and english saddles, to breeches, chaps, boots, and horse blankets. You name it, we probably have it! We have great prices and it's for a great cause! Help raise money for therapeutic riding! If you want more information you can email me or go to the We Can Ride website at: www.wecanride.org

Chiropractor for Cody

Cody had his first visit from the Chiropractor on Thursday. Yes, you read that right, the horse chiropractor. In general Cody seems quite unhappy under saddle (spins in circles, herd bound, doesn't stand still, evades the bit). Before I start trying to teach him to tolerate me riding, I figured I better get him all fixed up to make sure none of his behavior is related to pain. His teeth were pretty bad so now that those are all fixed the next step was to make sure his back was feeling okay. Tricia had noticed he tenses up when saddled which is a sign of discomfort.

I snuck out of work a few minutes early and headed out to the barn. It had been raining all day and was raining most of my way there. But as I pulled into Chaska things started clearing up and even showed some blue sky and sun. This was a relief because Cody doesn't do well locked in the barn by himself. I can only imagine how hard it would be to adjust a horse while he's pacing and pawing. I opened up the barn and Beau was there to greet me. He was left in the barn to hide from the rain and hopefully avoid making his rain rot any worse. Tom had opened the bottom pasture so no one else was to be found. I ended up opening up the whole barn and using the stretchy gates to block the entrances. It was pretty muddy in the paddock so I thought we might have to resort to working in the barn. Maybe with the doors wide open Cody would feel better if he could see his herd.

I headed for the pasture to find the horses. I can't whistle so I just started yelling for them. Amazingly enough I saw a few heads pop up from the bottom of the hill. A few seconds later there was a herd of horses standing half way up the hill wondering what all the noise was. With a little more coaxing the stampede started. I managed to get a little video of the running (which I'll post when I get it uploaded). I shut the gate to the pasture once everyone was up by the barn and fetched up Cody.

He wasn't too dirty because he refrains from rolling in the mud, so grooming him was a quick job. He was fine for the most part while in the barn because everyone else was looking through the door at the stretchy gate. But as they got bored and moved off, Cody got more agitated so I turned him out into the paddock with Axel.

When the Chiropractor arrived we decided to work in the paddock under the overhang where it wasn't muddy and was almost level. Cody stood fairly patiently, always keeping his eye on the herd, and only having to turn around once when the horses moved to the other side of the paddock. Axel stayed out of the way most of the time but did drop in a few times to visit and get in the way. I was surprised how well Cody tolerated the adjustments. He's not overly cuddly and I figured being poked and prodded like that might not be his cup of tea. After several adjustments he started licking and relaxing a bit. He even got a little bit of acupuncture. The whole thing took maybe 45 minutes or so. The Dr. said that most horses have 1, maybe 2 ribs out. Cody had 2 on one side (I think), and 4 on the other side. His withers were out, and he did a lot of adjustments on his back as well. He checked out Cody's sore shoulder and discovered it was quite stiff so he stretched that out a bit as well - another surprising sight to see Cody tolerate having his leg swung all around.

He definitely didn't lean into it and savor the adjusting like some horses do, but he stood very nicely considering he was separated from the group. Dr's orders are to not ride for a few days while he recuperates and to have him adjusted again in a month.

Musical Horses

Tuesday Tricia came down with pink eye so she thought it would be better if she didn't come over to teach my riding lesson. Earlier I had taken some volunteer time from work and helped Stephanie clear the trails at the home school. She was going to work with Kiko and Kalani as usual so I decided to ride Cody again. Cody was still kind of ornery with me and he definitely didn't listen to me as good as he did when Tricia was there. I chalk that up to me not doing things properly with out being observed. He kept cutting corners to follow Kiko and really got in her way while we cantered. A crazy counter-canter, which made it impossible for him to make a sharp left instead of barreling up towards the barn. The good news is that we were able to do some bending at the halt better than we had done before. But the ride was kind of a bust overall.

When Steph switched to work with Kalani I decided to ride Corey for a while. The wind was pretty crazy and Kalani didn't know what to do with himself so that ride was a bit trying as well. Top that off with Steph trying to ride the horses in hacks for the first time. Kiko was brilliant in the hack. Kalani, not so much. Corey enjoyed himself, just wandering around in circles watching Kalani freak out at the wind. I tried to trot him around a barrel, he's supposedly a barrel horse, but it didn't go very well. I'm no expert on neck reining and I think I was confusing him. Steph got up when she was done fighting with Kalani and cantered him a bit and tried a barrel at a slow lope but he lost his footing and nearly ended up on his nose. So I guess it's back to basics for Mr. Corey. He was pretty cute though, lots of suspension and a super cute little Arab canter.

Saturday Afternoon

It was supposed to storm today so I sat around the house until 1pm. It just didn't drop an ounce of rain so I went out to the barn. Things were pretty mellow. I was surprised to find everyone up in the paddock just hanging out. I figured they'd all be grazing in the pasture. I groomed Cody and Axel a bit, mostly just to scratch all those itches the stable flies have caused. I decided not to ride but instead take Corey out for a walk. He's maybe going to be a therapy horse this fall so he needs a little practice. Some people walk their dogs down the road, I walked a horse. Corey did really well, he was excited to look around and see all the sights but he didn't spook at all. And he followed directions pretty well. Walk on, walk up, trot, easy, and whoa. He's got a pretty vertical trot so that will be interesting to lead. Shouldn't be anything different than Ruger already at WCR.

After our walk I picked up the tack room. One of the saddle racks fell off the wall again. So I put that stuff away and then I just hung out for a while. I didn't take too many photos, just a couple including this one of Axel. His winter coat is almost gone and he's getting black again. Who knows how long that'll last though.

I've got an appointment for the chiropractor to come out on Thursday and see Cody. He says it'll just take a half hour so hopefully I can get up to WCR in time. I just hope Cody does well with the adjustment. I'm going to have to make sure the rest of the herd is up in the paddock so he doesn't get all worked up. That won't help anything. I hope the adjustment helps him out too, he still tenses up when I saddle him along with his left shoulder being sore.

Cody's First Dressage Lesson

I really need to get the camera or video camera out to the barn soon. This week was Cody's first "dressage" lesson. I suppose technically it wasn't a dressage lesson, it was just a lesson. But the same could go for Axel. We're just trying to teach them to carry themselves correctly and in the end I'd like to do a Dressage Show with Axel. In any case, I decided for the next few weeks I would ride Cody because so far we haven't had much luck together. I had Tricia ride Axel during the lesson so he doesn't get out of shape.

First things first, I could just pay Tricia to ride Axel and watch. He looked so good I could not believe it. He looked like a pro! It was awesome!

Item number two: I am way too timid/wishy-washy. After being told under no certain circumstances (which was still probably too wishy-washy) was he to act like an idiot, Cody shaped up really nicely.

We had our first discussion right out of the gate when he didn't want to go down to the end of the pasture where we intended to ride. But after we got over that he was really well behaved. Stephanie was using my extra D-Ring on Kiko and Kalani so I found a big O-Ring with a curved mouth piece and some small copper inlays. That seemed to work out well for Cody so we might stick with that one for a while. We did the basic walk and trot stuff. Trying to stay on the rail and bend around my leg. Cody's a bit more responsive than Axel but he still needed quite a bit of leg to figure out what it was I wanted him to do. Things were a little more difficult on his left side since his shoulder is sore. I've got to get my fiances in order and see if I have enough to get the chiropractor out for him next month. Unlike Axel in the beginning, Cody will trot around the "arena" almost as many times as you want without having to be prodded to keep going. His trot is a lot smoother and easier to sit though it does pick up a bit when he gets going. We had one very minor issue in the middle of the lesson when he wanted to head back to the barn but it was very minor and we worked through it. The rest of the time he was darn well behaved. I think riding him for several weeks in a row is really going to help. Mostly I think it'll just help me figure out what cues I need to be giving Cody to keep him paying attention. It won't hurt him to get a little exercise and face time with me either.

Saturday Ride

This photo is from several weeks ago but it kind of goes with today anyways.

It was a gorgeous morning so I made my way out to the barn. Tricia was going to meet me there after she finished doing some ground work with her crazy horse. While I waited I groomed Beau for a while and gave him a Betadine bath. He doesn't roll so he was still full of winter hair. I used the shedding blade on him as much as I could and the hair just came off in carpets. He still looks a bit worse for wear even after the bath, but he's better than before. He wasn't terribly excited with the hose, I suppose it was still a bit chilly. But he did keep himself occupied by eating the dandelions out of the yard. In the meantime Tom turned he herd out into the top half of the back pasture. There was a bit of bucking and running by Kalani. Cody trotted along behind and Axel brought up the rear and stopped as soon as he found a blade of grass. In hindsight we should have waited to turn them out until after our trail ride but what was done was done.

Tricia arrived and we went to retrieve Cody and Axel. Cody was all worked up having to be tied in the paddock while the rest of the herd was out grazing. Nothing I wasn't expecting of course. Then he got Axel worked up though, so they were both pawing and pacing and acting like general fools. It made Tricia feel better about her crazy horse though ;) We managed to groom and tack them up and walk them down past the first gate. I switched Cody back to a regular D ring snaffle. I just can't neck rein and if he's not going to listen to me in the first place I want to be able to direct rein and get some action in his mouth with both sides of the snaffle. At least that's the plan. After some discussion on which side of the hill Cody was going to stand on so I could mount, I ended up mounting on the off side just to make everyone's life easier. After we made it up the hill it looked like his saddle had slipped back pretty far, however, it was just at the edge of his shoulders. I reasoned that Cody doesn't even seem to notice that I'm riding him enough to notice his saddle wasn't quite right. Though any further up and it would have probably interfered with his shoulders so who knows, just an observation I made.

We made our way through the woods and managed to walk down the hills (using Axel's rear end as a wall). We did gallop up the one hill to the lookout point. One thing Cody is good at, walk to gallop transition. After a minor discussion on our way out of the woods we made our way back around the meadow at a nice canter. Well nice canter for Tricia and Axel, kind of an uncollected canter for me and Cody. On our way back around it started thundering and then raining. It wouldn't have been such a big deal but Tricia had left her trunk open with her computer and camera in it. We walked across the bridge and shut the gate. Normally we'd make sure to walk back up to the barn but we threw caution to the wind and "let'er buck" as it were. Cody quickly passed up Axel and galloped up the first part of the hill, topping it off with a few little bucks. He evened out and galloped the rest of the way with Axel behind. The next gate was shut so that was the end of our little run.

We dismounted and walked the rest of the way back to the barn being followed quickly by the rest of the herd. We untacked in the barn and gave the boys a couple apples. And by the time we were done with all that the rain had stopped. Tom had shut Tricia's trunk so we didn't have to rush back after all. Oh well. Any longer of a ride and Cody would have been beside him self with anxiety. I'm hoping that riding him for the next several weeks we'll work out a few issues. That will remain to be seen. It'll be fun seeing someone else ride Axel though, he looks so pretty these days.

Ick, Stable Flies, and Dressage Lesson #33

The new fencer did the trick and Axel is safe and sound in the pasture he belongs in. When I drove up last night everyone was standing in the paddock near the barn. The gate to the side pasture was open and no one was grazing. I should have known something was up. "What was up?" you might ask. Stable Flies. That is what was up. And on, and under, and all over the place. Axel was covered in them. Granted flies and gnats are annoying but mostly they just buzz around and mind their own business. Stable flies bite and suck blood. Like giant mosquitoes. And they don't scare easily. You pretty much have to pick them off to get rid of them. Cody's nose was speckled with bloody dots from being bitten. Axel had them on his neck, face, sheath, rear, legs, and girth area. The other horses had them as well. Everyone seemed pretty miserable with it all. I wiped Axel down with the wipe on fly spray I have. I think that did help in the end. Cody had run off and wouldn't stand still so he didn't get the full treatment. Unfortunately after riding Axel had probably sweated most of the fly spray off.

Despite the annoying flies the lesson actually went fairly well. It was a lot warmer than I expected and I tired out easily. My position didn't fall apart nearly as much as it had in the previous lesson. Axel bent around my leg more often and even made it full circles of our "arena" in a fairly proper manner. I managed to not yank the heck of his face and I didn't even have to carry my whip. At the end of the lesson we attempted to get a canter. Naturally this scares me, I can hardly keep him on the circle in the trot, how the heck am I going to hold him in place at the canter! Hurdle number 1 was two-point position in a dressage saddle - not an easy feat. I gave up and just posted and intended to post the canter if it came down to it. We made several attempts to get a canter and most just got confusion and attempts on the wrong lead. At least we think they were attempts, either that or they were really wimpy bucks. We switched sides a few times to try and find his favorite direction but both ways he wanted to pick up the wrong lead. Finally, tracking left, we got a half hearted, wrong lead canter so we stopped him and that was the end of the lesson. Hopefully he'll chew on that and remember that was what we were looking for, well the canter part, not the wrong lead part. Just to round out the lesson, I walked Axel by hand and somehow he stepped on the reins and broke them. Granted they were only like $15 at fleet farm and I do have another set. I'm going to have to be more careful when/if I ever get my dressage bridle!

Latest Adventures

So rumor has it (okay, Tom actually told me) that Axel went on some sight seeing adventures last week. Wednesday night he found Axel across the road, I assume in the ditch of the Nursery, grazing away. Thursday morning Axel was in the yard. Upon further inspection Tom discovered that the fencer wasn't working. Axel must have also made this discovery and made a break for greener pastures. Or well, any pasture as they're still in the "dry" lot. Poor Axel had to be locked in the paddock until he could get a new fencer. Sounds like he got one on Friday and everything has been hunky dory since.

Lesson with Cody

Tricia was busy this week so instead of a dressage lesson I decided it was time to start working with Cody. Stephanie was out working with Kiko and Kalani so I got Cody ready and we went out to follow them around. I haven't figured Cody out yet. One moment he's freaking out, trying to get back to the barn even though we're only 50 feet away from it and his girl friend is right in front of us working. The next minute he's making serpentines at the request of a light neck rein. It kind of went like that for the whole 2 hours. Freak out, behave, freak out, behave. We practiced standing still for a bit while Steph switched out horses. Cody's not the best at just standing when asked, he inches forward. He never really gave into me, would never bend while standing. He was quite responsive to neck rein and leg pressure when he wanted to be. Eventually it seemed as if he almost just gave up and he'd plod along behind Kalani. His left shoulder seemed off and he spent the last several minutes limping around at the trot. It's hard to judge just how well that lesson went, part of it was really good, part of it was really bad. I really need more time to ride him on a regular basis. Maybe I should think about paying Tricia to ride Axel while I follow with Cody for a few lessons. Axel doesn't really need time off and I can't really come up with more than one day a week right now to go out there and riding Cody alone usually just frustrates me.