Bridles and Trailers

Friday I ran out to the barn before leaving town to try Cody's new headstall on. And his new saddle blanket. I also had to grab some stuff for Amanda's birthday. I groomed Cody quickly and put on his new tack so I could take a photo. He looks pretty snazzy in all the new gear even though orange on a chestnut horse is probably not kosher.

Then this weekend we spent starting to fix up the trailer. I bought all new lights, most of which were sealed LEDs and Jeff worked to replace those. So now all the lights work - always a pain in the butt with trailers. We also torched off the old broken jack and took apart the bent axle and broken leaf spring. Hopefully if all the new parts arrive this week we'll get it all put back together next weekend and get it on the road.

While they're working on the hard stuff I'll probably try and scrub the ceiling tiles in the dressing room, they're kind of gross. And I'll try and fix the screens in the windows, they got pushed out and let in bugs. I've gotta pick up at least some trailer ties before the trail ride. After that my list of supplies gets pretty long. But none of it is necessity unless we're camping.

New Tack

I ordered Cody a new saddle blanket in his color. A nice orange Navajo blanket to go over his wool saddle pad. Axel already has a yellow one. Cody's blanket should arrive today and I hope it's decent and actually orange. And while looking for some things for Amanda's birthday I found an inexpensive one-ear headstall that more or less matches Cody's saddle. At the very least it's much less gaudy for his head. I just hope he can keep a one-ear on his head! Now I just have to cut some slobber straps and tie my mecate and the boys will be all spiffed up and matchy matchy for the We Can Ride trail ride fundraiser!

Cody on the Road

Cody and I and Vinnie and A went down the road again tonight. I grabbed the spurs to see if he'd be a little happier with less kicking and more precise cues. Didn't make a huge difference. I think partially since I was pretty mild with my legs, he had a few moments where he'd move out when I think I actually brushed him with the spur. He did manage to walk the whole way home, a little faster than the way out but he wasn't a speed demon.

Axel is Sore Again

So I lunged Axel for a while hoping he'd work out of his soreness. He didn't really. He's not too bad off but since it's kind of a fight to get him to cooperate I was hoping for one less thing to deal with. I rode for a while anyway, just some easy trotting. I might have to ride him a bit more often, or at least lunge him to keep him moving around. The farrier is due out on Monday so I'm sure long hooves isn't helping matters much. And I might get some liniment to see if that helps at all. Otherwise we might be back to bute before riding. We'll see how he does after a good trim.

Rain Rain

It stopped raining long enough to run out to the barn for a quick trip yesterday. Vinnie was in his own pasture now, I wonder if it will stay that way or what. Cody was all wet so I groomed him the best I could. He was exceptionally flinchy when I brushed him, not sure if that has something to do with being wet or what. I wanted to add a pad to Cody's saddle and rearrange things so the therapy pad would be in the right spot. So that took me quite a while, all the time Cody yawning and acting mildly unhappy about life. I free lunged him for a bit to get him moving and then just rode at the walk and trot without a whip. He wasn't a speed demon that's for sure but he did alright. This time I was sure to stop before he got all strung out and I was trying to do my best to not nag - something I really need to pay more attention to. There's got to be a fine line between nagging and correcting but it's hard to find when Cody wants to wander aimlessly and won't stay on the rail. He did manage to trot for a quite a while without offering to stop so that was nice. I think I'm going to stop riding in that AP saddle though. It's just not right or something. Though that might put a damper on our idea to do some little jumps. Of course we need some standards for that still.

I'm trying to do more back stretches for him so he can hopefully build a better topline, he lifts his belly pretty well when I run my hands down next to his tail.

Just a Quick Visit

Since I ended up riding on Tuesday night I decided that Wednesday was just going to be a grooming visit. Mostly I had to get home and mow the lawn before it took over the neighborhood. So Axel came in and got groomed a little better than normal, fly sprayed, photographed, and sent back out side. And the same went for Cody. Axel is still bugging Vinnie it seems. I shooed him away while I was petting Vinnie. Axel seemed torked about that and Vinnie wants to be my bff. I hope I show up one day to them all grooming each other and being happy.

The other day I forgot to mention that I saw Cody standing in the pasture with birds on his back for the first time! Crazy!

New Friends

I dislike not getting out to the barn more often. I miss out on all the excitement. Vinnie is now in with Cody and Axel. Looks like he got beat up quite a bit. It must not have been as bad as Danny beating him up since he's still in there with the boys. But Axel isn't very nice to him and keeps chasing him around. They have a separate feeding area set up behind the lean-to.

I was going to ride Axel a bit so I brought him in and groomed him, got him tacked up, and went to do some lunging first. And he was pretty lame at the walk. Nothing earth shattering but clearly off. He wasn't working out of it so we just did some walking in both directions on the lunge and worked on actually stopping when I asked (we'll keep working on that one).

So I grabbed Cody and planned to just groom, lunge, and turn out. But another boarder came in and asked if I was riding so I decided, sure why not. We rode around in the arena for a while, no whip this time. Cody wasn't a ball of fire but he was alright. Did some trotting and I was going to stop there but the other boarder wanted to take a ride down the road. My laziness caused me to not get off and get Cody's boots and that will be the last time we go down the road without them. Cody was not pleased with what little gravel was actually on the road. So much that he didn't even speed up when we turned back for home. And I'm starting to think I might have to get some boots for Axel as well, he's getting kind of gimpy on the road. Additionally I think I need to pick up one of those rider's rasps. Cody's hooves are pretty chipped up, there must be a lot more flies out there. The farrier isn't due until Aug. 31.

New Toy

Trotting Away

After wearing that fly mask all the time to block the sun, Cody is always very happy to have my scratch his face with the squishy rubber curry. I usually end up taking off a whole lot of hair and dirt in the process. I picked up some baby wipes with aloe to use on his nose if he does get sun burnt. I figured it should feel pretty good on a sore nose. He looked a little pink last night so I gave it a try. He actually didn't mind it and wow did it clean him up a lot. So here's your cheap horse keeping tip of the day - use baby wipes. Lookit that cute pink nose!

So last night's goal was just to trot. Trot trot trot. It went pretty well. Cody was a little mad I wouldn't let him veer off to the gate when we'd pass. But boy does he steer well when there's a whip in his way. You just have to put it in his line of sight and he'll turn away from it real quick. When I pushed my luck and asked for a canter that's when he started to get strung out and angry. I'm not sure what his deal is with that but I might have to just keep working at the trot. Perhaps he's out of shape or balance. Maybe more lunging and long lining. But his rein back has been getting a bit better. I want to come up with a few more things to try and see what keeps his interest. If I can get Jeff to build me some jump standards we'll try some small jumps. Maybe some pole weaving? Maybe some rollbacks on the rail? Still working on some turns/spins.

A New Adventure

I was going to try and see if Axel and I could ride down to the county fairgrounds tonight to snoop in on A's formation practice. Luckily we didn't make it because A wasn't there! Axel was bundle of energy tonight though. He trotted out from the driveway going away from the barn. It took us forever to cross Hwy 3, we had to wait for an opening in the traffic. Things got a little slow after that and especially after we passed a couple horses in a pasture. Once we got sort of out in the middle of nowhere Axel started calling and seemed a bit nervous that we were all alone. We made it out to the train tracks and could see Denmark. I thought about maybe going up along the tracks but it was pretty rocky and I figured it'd be better if we weren't alone so we turned around and headed from home.

Axel really moved out on the way home. He probably walked faster than he ever has. Usually he doesn't change speed when we head towards home. It didn't take quite as long to cross the highway this time and instead of leading him across the road I rode. He was being a little pokey so I squeezed him a bit and we did a nice little parade trot across the highway and down the road.

A had just pulled up when we returned and she was getting Vinnie ready to go so we waited around and went down the road with them. Vinnie is definitely more Axel's pace than the TWHs. We'll have to ride with him more often. One of the other boarders has moved her horse to her trainer's place so that opened up a box in the tack room. J told me I should put my stuff in there since I have so much "crap." At least now I don't have to haul my saddle up above my head. There will be a little bit of rearranging in order to get out my english saddle but it's not all out piled on top of a box any more.