A Little Catch Up

June 13:

First time for me and Cody down the road with Steele. It went really well! The secret ingredient is Steele. So at least it's nice to know it wasn't me that was the problem! Hah. He was totally perfect, we went down the road to the drainage ditch and then took that up to the tree line and then over to the other gravel road and back. And it was windy. It's just bizarre how good he is with Steele around.

June 19:

Down the road with Steele again. Cody was a little lazy and really wanted to snack the whole way but that would be the extent of my complaints. He did as good as the last time with Steele. Goofy horse and his BFFs.

June 26:

Another calm ride for Cody and Steele up to the cow past the tree and back (how's that for landmarks). I put the old boots on Cody's back feet. They seem a tiny bit big maybe in width so I don't think a smaller boot would work. Maybe if we put the gel pads in there it'll snug them up a bit. But they stayed on and didn't seem to clunk around too much. While he didn't run and frolick on the gravel he did walk out faster than I've seen him go in a while. He stuck to the edge of the road and I think he was just expecting it to hurt on the gravel. So maybe a few more trips and he'll figure it out. After the airport he caught up with Steele and stayed with him pretty good for most the way. We had a big trot up the road toward the tree, it's funny how the horses know tree = snack in the ditch and possibly turning around, that's why we went up to the cow past the tree. Also Cody somehow snuck out of the fly mask without undoing the velcro. Luckily he must have lost it fairly recently, I found it out by where they stand and it wasn't burried in the mud or anything. Heh.

Today:

Lunch with Axel today. He needed some attention. And wow does he look sound. I.will.not.ride.Axel. I keep having to tell myself that. Not riding won't make him worse if he's on the mend. But riding him could make him worse. If he's still coming up sound next spring then I might un-retire him and see how he does. (I'm not holding my breath). Maybe he had an injury and it wasn't just arthritis? Ahh who knows. He definitely has some arthritis in his stifles, he has a heck of a time stretching for the farrier, something we should really be working on.

Where is Cody's Brain

That was the theme of today's ride. J couldn't get done with work in time so I was left to my own devices. Of course they were all the way out at the far end and no amount of yelling or feeble attempts to whistle could get their attention. I tacked Cody up and decided it was too nice out to ride inside and I was too lazy to open all the arena doors and it was hot in there. So we went out to the drive way ... and he balked right off the bat, started backing into the ditch by Cody2's gate. This was not a good sign. I did get him down the drive way and we went back and forth in front of the drive way a few times before I got a wild hair to go ride in the pasture. The way the horses were standing in the pasture I had ended up locking Stitch and Steele up by the water and Solo out in the pasture. So the gate was open so that I could ride through. I couldn't get Cody close enough to the gate for the middle pasture so I did have to dismount. I thought maybe he'd be calm with all his buddies around and we could get some work done but he wasn't. So the name of the game was finding Cody's brain. Kind of a good lesson since we were more or less safe in a nice confined area but he was still all coo-coo like he gets when he's on the road alone. I rode straight out to the other end of the pasture and then he actually trotted pretty nicely back ending with a bit of a canter (right lead) and a decent halt. But then he was done with me, trying to turn around, speeding up, generally mad. So we circled, and figure-8ed, and trotted, and halted, and cantered and halted. Mostly we worked on getting our brain back with a halt after freaking out. There was a canter in there that was a little less than controlled and we got to practice a nice one rein stop. It wasn't great overall but it was nice out and I got to "go fast" for a bit. I rode back up to the barn (cantered up the little hill) and went into the arena for a little try at a left lead. Took us a couple tries but he was worked up about something, kept starting at something in the corner by the gate. Maybe the fan that was running or the fact that Atta Girl and baby were in their stall. Who knows. But we did get a left lead but I think it was more like a spastic gallop than a canter. I kept him going and tried to give him his head and when he almost settled I asked for a halt. He's not too shabby at the halt, no sliding stop but it's ok. I forgot I was going to start counting to 2 before I touched his mouth for a halt, oh well, next time. I did wear the spurs and that seemed to help a bit, he's a lot more responsive but a little over-reactive with them on. But it requires so little leg with them on so maybe I'll do a few times with them and a few without to keep him on his toes.