Back to Work, Again

I went to the barn armed with a plan, sort of. The plan is to get Axel riding more. And to maybe put them on small squares for a few weeks to see what happens, or maybe not. I was still deciding at the time. Cody seems to have managed to stay out of the mud lately. Axel, on the other hand, has not. Most of the mud on his legs was dry but near his hoof it was still pretty wet. Since I planned to ride I need to put his bell boots on so I scraped as much mud off as I could.

It's amazing what a mess he leaves behind when I groom him. I was sneezing dirt all night. So much to Axel's dismay when I was done grooming him I tacked him up and brought him into the arena. I started by just lunging him for a while. I was hoping he was feeling as frisky as he was the other day and I wouldn't have to force him to pick up some speed. But he was pretty content just walking. So after he walked along in a circle (which he's getting almost good at) in both directions I clicked a few extra times to see what he'd do. First I got the "WTF" look from him and then he'd hop up in the air like a bronc a few times and then break into a trot for a few strides. I asked him a couple more times, I didn't really want him to trot, cantering seems to be a better gait for his knee but he just was not into it last night. He did manage a few strides of canter in each direction but there was a lot of crow hopping to get there. His trot was actually not terribly lame and I think if he'd bend his knees and pick up his feet it would go a lot better. I had forgotten his second pair of bell boots, I was going to put them on all 4 feet in hopes of inspiring a little less shuffling.

So we wrapped up the lunging after only a few minutes. Probably over 5 but I'm sure less than 10. Axel has not been pleased to wear a bridle lately. Not sure if it's just the year vacation he had or if something is bothering him. But I put his bridle on, convinced him to stand still at the mounting block, and hauled myself up on his back. He actually walked out really nice for the first lap or two around the arena on a loose rein. Then he started chewing on the bit and it seems like when he starts doing that he stops moving well. So the next 20 minutes or so I was after him to keep moving. I tried a few things like backing him up, wiggling the outside rein, holding my hands a little higher, and bending him both directions in attempts to get him to stop chewing on the bit and start paying attention. Didn't really work. He was paying enough attention to me that I was using mostly leg and seat cues to change his direction. He almost seemed like he was going to settle in near the end of the 20 minutes but as soon as we stopped to rest he started up again. If he doesn't settle in after a couple weeks of regular riding I might have to investigate his bridle and bit a little more. He did make it the full 20 minutes without a change in his lameness which was nice and after I got off he seemed the same and moved out fairly well. He wasn't interested in rolling, he wasn't really sweaty at all.

He's definitely low on muscle tone these days. It's hard to tell since he's so beefy to begin with but you can see between his back legs when he walks, normally those muscles rub together. And when I shift my weight to dismount he really braces himself and grunts a little. I should really get the chiropractor out to adjust him. He usually doesn't need it but a year off of riding and moving in general might have taken a toll. I just have to find the money. There so many other things he probably needs first like another knee injection, teeth floating, things like that.

So in the end I talked with J and he has some small squares he kind of wants to get rid of so he has room for the tractor in the barn. I hemmed and hawed over what we should do. On one hand I don't think it really has anything to do with the hay and I hate changing more than one thing at a time. On the other hand if we're going to test that theory we should do it now when it's still warm out. So he's going to put out small squares for a couple weeks and we'll see if that makes a difference. In then end we'll go back to big rounds for the winter because Cody just really needs it. My thought is keep exercising and if he gets better with both small squares and more work we'll see what happens when we add rounds back into the mix. If I wasn't worried about him eating fences posts or Cody losing too much weight, I'd say Axel could stand to drop a few pounds. He's probably better off being on the lighter side of things with his arthritis and ringbone but he's destined to be retired sooner than later and I think he'd rather be fat and happy than thin and mobile!