Quick Visit/Warm Weather

40+ degrees and rainy in February, the horses have so far managed to stay out of the mud but it's a little preview of how spring will be. I'll be sporting the muck boots and borrowing a cordless clippers to trim up Axel's legs, that's for sure. I just hope the melting disperses enough so that when it gets cold again it doesn't make a big ice rink. But yay for indoor arena!

Axel's progress: Axel was a super star tonight which I was not expecting. He was calm and even listening to me when he wasn't on the lead-line. We worked on standing still for a little while both on the lead-line and near the "mounting block" (bucket).

1. Relax in barn/arena - even without Jeff around tonight he was finally calm despite the wind making some evil noises
2. Relax in stall
3. Back off trailer
   
4. Lunge 3 gaits - lunged walk and trot in both directions, free lunged trot and canter in one direction (surprised me that he was listening and actually got into that canter)
   
5. Move out - seems to be moving out really well on the lead and at liberty
6. Use haunches
   
7. Canter both leads - right lead only lunging at liberty
   

Cody's progress: Cody was so nervous, maybe it was the wind but he was just shaking. He was still obedient but beside himself with nerves. He either stepped on his tail in the pasture or he really sat down when I asked him to back up and stepped on his tail. So now I have a huge chunk of tail to add to my horse hair braiding supplies. I might have to braid his tail up if he keeps yanking chunks out.

1. Relax in barn/arena - fairly relaxed in the aisle while I brushed but still a little nervous
2. Relax in Stall
   
3. Pay attention to handler - extremely nervous in the arena, not paying attention at the halt
   
4. Lunge 3 gaits - lunged walk and trot
   
5. Gain confidence with rider - super nervous even with me on the ground
6. Load and Unload
   

Not Quite Spring

Well it's still not quite Spring. I think it was near 40 degrees last night but windy so it was a chilly ride after all. We're still faithfully scraping hair off the horses. Axel looks pretty horrible, dirty and hairy. Cody usually avoids the mud so he isn't quite as bad. Axel's feet are still scabby but I don't think there's any new scabs so hopefully we'll avoid some of the major mud fever this year. Apparently the Farrier was out this morning as well. I had to tell the caretakers to make sure the farrier trimmed both my horses frogs. Not sure why he doesn't do that regularly anyways. So now I'm ready to measure one more time and order some boots for Cody. I did measure last night just to see the growth and he only changes 1/4 of an inch in length from the last time I measured, and that measurement isn't quite as accurate. I might not have measured from the exact same spot each time. Once again we fed from in the barn. I was able to hook Cody's bucket up to a fence insulator that was on the post in the barn but I think we should pick up a few clips to use for feeding inside. Maybe just some cheap carabiners would work, I might actually have some in my saddle bag.

So we groomed and tacked and made sure all the doors and locks and fences and everything was latched appropriately before setting off on the road. Cody was very manageable on the road but wasn't really paying attention to me so we worked on some serpentines. Once again on the way back a car came up behind us. Cody caught the sight of the car in the corner of his eye and decided he wasn't sticking around to find out what it was. It didn't help that it was super windy so we didn't even hear the car ourselves. So that minor spook gave Cody a reason to act like an idiot and try to get back to the barn. Once again Tricia got off Axel to try and hold Cody since he wouldn't move out of the road. Actually right as I was about to just get off myself he started to calm down, but then she dismounted and led him away. The remainder of the trip had no traffic so that was good. He was still a bit uptight but calmed down a lot. I wonder had no cars passed if he would have been better the whole ride.

Axel is still uneven but I'm wondering if he's never been really straight anyway. He tripped numerous times one of which almost landed him on his knee. He must have bent his sore knee too far, after that trip he had several tentative steps. I'm going to have to add some lineament to my shopping list and see if that helps any. When we returned from our ride we tried again to back Axel out of the barn, this time through the big door. Boy was he not interested in backing up. After much fighting he finally started catching on to the whole backing thing so we'll just have to keep it up. I don't think he's going to get it quite as fast as Cody. I also lunged him a tiny bit but he's not quite into the change of direction yet. And I had the swinging end of the rope too long and clocked myself in the head with it - after Cody peed on it of course.

I think this Saturday after barn cleanup for We Can Ride I will stop out at the barn and do more ground work with both horses. I think I want to start lateral work with Cody and basic ground work with Axel. And I might take Cody out on the road to do the ground work so we have more room and less dust.