Flying a Kite

Made it out to the barn on a day when it was warm enough I didn't have to wear 10 layers of clothes, and boy was it nice. N was getting Cody ready and I had Axel in the aisle with him. Of course that didn't stop Cody from sweating just standing there. A showed up and got Danny ready while Cody was warmed up and Axel was long lined for a while. We decided we should all head out on the road for a while and enjoy the weather. I decided it was probably going to be easier to just lead Axel on the road rather than ground drive him but I left his tack on, figured maybe he'd stay in "work" mode that way.

Things started off a bit rocky. Stitch was alone in his paddock and subsequently running the fence line and calling. We were barely out of the driveway when Axel took flight. He went straight up in the air with all four feet, bounced a couple times, and then came down calm as can be. So we walked on. A little while later he did the same thing. When cars would pass we'd stop and wait just to be on the safe side. Cody was very well behaved and even led the pack for most of the ride. Axel repeatedly flew up in the air for no reason. Our goal was to make it the full mile but as we were getting about a 1/4 mile away from our destination Danny decided there was some horse-eating corn stalks in the far ditch and had some moments of trepidation. It eventually led to him backing up til he hit the near side of the ditch. I think he spun around at the change of footing and lept into the ditch. Well most of the snow is melted around here but the ditch has a good 3-4 feet still in it. Basically the top of the snow in the ditch is level with the road. Danny was unable to float on top of this snow and ended up sunk to his belly. A was able to get off and re-situate her reins to use as a lead while Danny laid in the snow patiently waiting the "ok" to work himself out of his predicament. And there I stood not taking photos with my phone. Duh.

In the end he made it out to the field side of the ditch and they walked back toward the nearest driveway so they could get back on the road. Unfortunately the field was very muddy so it wasn't a clean walk for either horse nor leader. We decided that was a good time to head back. Cody was a little wound up on the walk back, when Danny thrashed in the snow, Axel freaked out a bit and Cody tried to head for home. Nice to know when his buddies are in trouble he'll just be getting the heck out of there ;) We did make it back in one piece, Cody using his best Rollkur impression the whole way. Halfway down the driveway Axel decided to rear and jump around like an idiot so he sealed his fate for some lunging.

I haven't been lunging him much because of his knee but in my mind if you are sound enough to leap in the air or rear then you are sound enough to sweat some energy off on the lunge line. So he trotted and cantered a bit and it didn't take long before he came back to earth. Apparently a little adrenaline makes for a nice painkiller for arthritis.

All three horses rolled on their lead lines and we stood around and chatted for quite some time. It's been a while since there's been more than one or two people at the barn at one time and the weather was nice so we didn't freeze standing out there talking. Now if only I could have been working on my favorite part of horse riding: practicing the halt under saddle while chatting with people ;) I should get plenty of practice with that later this summer when I can get back on a horse again, hopefully after wearing Axel out first!

Finally Warm

It was finally warm enough last night that I drug all my various tools out to clean up Axel's legs. (It just struck me as funny thinking of how many hits my photos will get from people searching for "shaved legs"). So after grooming a huge pile of hair off of Axel I set to work on his back legs. I shaved them (as best I could, I don't think the clippers were charged as much as I thought), then I scrubbed them with warm water and a Norwex cloth, then I scrubbed in some Chlorhexidine. So he's looking a little naked on the back end but hopefully it will help kill some leftover mud fever and if I can keep it at bay I will be able to cover him in some Zinc Oxide before the mud hits and try and keep him a little cleaner this year. He was actually being very well behaved while I did all this, barely moved a muscle. Though when I went to put him back outside he held his foot up as high as it would good, that short wet hair must be so heavy you know!

It was still light out and warm so I decided to take Cody down the road a bit. I figured it can't hurt at the very least and it's good exercise for me, right? So we went east at a decent speed, we got almost to the neighbors mailbox (which is about 400 feet according to google maps). He had a few moments where he sped up to try and get in front of me but he reacted beautifully to a verbal command of "easy." He even turned around calmly when I asked. He was definitely on a bit more of a mission going west toward the barn but nothing excessive. A very noisy bus started to approach us at one point and he was mildly concerned with it (pretty sure he was just formulating how he could use the bus as a reason to bolt). I asked him to stop a few times to keep his attention and the bus passed and all was well. He did get a little jiggy at that point so I asked him to circle. Unfortunately he was in a soft spot and slipped so he recovered by bucking and circling as fast as possible. After a couple circles he settled down so we walked on. We went another 400 feet past the driveway to the west with success and turned around and went past the drive way again. I think we went one or two more times past the drive way before I asked him to stop at the drive facing away and then turned him in the opposite direction he preferred before we headed in.

I put him on the lunge line in the barn to work on some cantering and get it in his head that going to the barn isn't always the best option in life. He's still disuniting like N pointed out but it's so hard to see with all those white feet! He's decided that "good boy" means stop so we tried to work through that a bit as well. His chest was a little damp when we finished so I groomed him in the aisle for a bit before putting him out. That reminds me to get out some Velcro and make up some sort of fleece neck cooler for him since that seems to be where he sweats most and it's hard to keep the regular coolers in that spot.

More Rearing

Ug I missed it again. I scrambled for my phone to try and capture Axel rearing and I missed it. Use your imagination, fat black horse up on his back legs.

Anyway I went out to the barn and really should have done a lot more than I did. It wasn't terribly cold tonight and I had a lot of time but as usual I just dinked around for a while. I groomed Axel and put him on the lunge line where he proceeded to trot like crazy several circles without me asking. Lame of course but not too bad in the grand scheme of things. I think he was tracking left/counter clockwise at the time. I can never remember which sides are my horses good sides and bad sides. Anyway, he walked when I asked and it was a really nice forward walk until I told him "good boy" and that's when he slowed down. I'm pretty sure he thinks "good boy" means "whoa." We spent a few minutes working on "whoa" and actually stopping when I said it. I had him switch directions and he set off cantering and bucking (on the right lead thank you). It took a few tries to get him back down to a walk but he's much better at stopping going to the right, he must not like that side as much. He seemed pretty alert on the lunge line so I thought maybe he'd be up for some fun with Cody.

Cody spins and rolls from Elise Ferguson on Vimeo.

I brought Cody in and turned both horses loose and that's when I tried to get to my phone in time. There was some running and bucking and rearing and I pretty much missed it all. I did manage to get a clip of Cody trotting around looking for a place to roll. He would spin and spin and spin before he finally got down to the ground. Why can't I get him to spin like that under saddle?

When the boys were done playing I thought I'd experiment and put Axel out and see if Cody had the same fit he did for N over the weekend. He did call out quite a bit while I turned Axel out and he nearly walked on top of me when I brought him to the center of the arena. I didn't have to encourage him to keep moving on the lunge line either. He was more than willing to get up and go. He was being a bit of a pill and trying to duck behind me so I wasn't in a position to drive him forward but other than that he was pretty decent. I didn't ride of course so I don't know how patient he would have been with tacking and all that. But hopefully we got a point across that it's not the end of the world. He'll probably be fine if he's first in the arena alone. I guess the alternative would be a horse you couldn't get to move.

Really? Again Axel?

Cody was actually fairly mud-less last night. Hairy and dusty, yes, but very little caked on mud. I grabbed him first since I planned to ride a bit. It's hard to get back in the habit once you start slacking. It's just so easy to groom and throw them back into the pasture. Anyway Cody was feeling a bit frisky so we did quite a bit of lunging first. Changing directions and backing up and all that. Once I got on he seemed fairly calm and actually spent a lot of time licking and chewing. We stuck to the walk for the most part and worked on some neck reining, circles, and serpentines. We managed a couple really nice turns on the forehand and almost got a side pass but not quite. I keep trying to work more going to the left since that seems to be his stiff side but it requires a lot of fighting to get both our bodies cooperating. We did manage to make it through all this work with almost no sweating and it was in the 50s so it was nice to not have to blanket after riding quite yet.

Axel was another story. I wasn't going to do anything with him last night until I brought Cody out and noticed his belly was swollen again. Ug. So I brought him in to check it out and see if I could get it to go down by lunging. So he walked in both directions for about 10 minutes total and there was no change. I should have gotten on and ridden but it was getting late at that point. I just keep going back to the round bale. How is the round bale causing this? It's a different hay supplier than last year but it's the same hay field he's been eating off all summer just in big rounds instead of small squares. It's not even first cutting. My first few thoughts are to do a powerpac, take him off the round bale for a couple weeks and see what happens, try antihistimines, and actually ride him and see if any of that works. I actually don't think it'd be allergies, how would that last all winter? Right now I'm thinking we'll pull the round bales for two weeks and I'll try and get him more exercise then add the round bale back in and see if keeping the exercise up helps. Unless the vet comes up with something else. It probably wouldn't hurt to do a powerpac anyway since I don't keep up on deworming too well but they are kind of spendy so we'll see what the vet thinks of that.

Round in Circles

Since the rain and the wind finally stopped I was able to make it out to the barn last week on Thursday. It was still pretty chilly but at least the sun was out. The pasture wasn't as nearly swampy as I thought it would be but the horses were covered in wet mud as usual. I ended up grooming the dry parts and then lunging both horses in the arena. I would prefer to free lunge them but there's a few bales of hay still stored in the arena so that would not be a successful lunging session to say the least.

Axel actually walked out on the line pretty decently but when I asked him to keep walking he kicked up his heels and cantered away throwing in some bucks for good measure. He did manage to get the correct lead in both directions when he did canter. He had a few moments of trotting which weren't completely sound but didn't look too horrible.

Cody had his chance to kick up his heels as well. Any of his lazy summer attitude was definitely gone. It might have been the 3 days of constant wind that had him worked up but he was more alert than he's been in a long time. Hopefully he'll keep some of that energy through the winter so we can get some work done for once.

What's Our Motivation?

Before heading out to the farm for the weekend I only managed to sneak out to the barn on Wednesday. I wasn't feeling overly motivated so I groomed both horses and tried a bit of lunging in the arena. Axel just for a few minutes at the walk. I asked for a trot but he was quite reluctant to go anywhere. Cody was being his lazy self again. I'm going to have to figure out how to get him moving again. The best I can figure is that I need to work with him on the short leadline with some change of direction and then switch to the lunge line after he's for sure paying attention and hopefully more alert. After fighting with him on the lungeline for a while I unclipped and chased him around the arena to get him moving more. At least that way he was able to get into a canter and stretch his legs a bit.

Tired Axel

So I put Axel in the arena and lunged him at the walk on Wednesday. I tried some body wrapping ala TTouch but it didn't seem to inspire him to pick up his feet any more. Still dragging those fronts. He moved around slowly and lazily but sound, just dragging. I tried a little more massage which he seemed to enjoy or at least tolerate well. But as soon as we walked out onto the cement he was sore. I can't quite figure if he's just hot, tired, and out of shape or if this is the knee talking. Especially since the duration of his knee troubles he was always more sound on the cement than he was in the arena footing. Wednesday it was opposite.

And I am ignoring this new lump. Sort of new lump. I think the lump was there before but it's bigger now. More ringbone maybe or just arthritic changes, we do know he's an arthritic boy. It doesn't hurt him nor is it hot and it's hard. Perhaps just a bump and it'll go down. Seems fishy if it's just arthritis that it'd show up nearly over night so for now I'm pretending it's not there. Luckily I've been photographing his legs and feet for a while now so I can keep an eye on changes.

Boy Axel, you sure go through a lot of work to get out of work.

Back on Track

Tuesday I just ran out and gave Axel his shot and some MSM. They were back in the pasture for the night since it was raining and there is no shelter in the small paddock. Cody and Vinnie were out in the rain grazing and Axel was hiding in the back of the lean-to.

Friday the barn was busy. Riley had some people out interested in buying him. Stitch and Cody2 were out riding on the road. I had Cody in the aisle for a few minutes to groom and then had Axel in to work on his back feet a bit. And A brought Vinnie in to get ready to work in the arena.

I hand walked Cody down the road ditch just up to the neighbor's property. He wasn't perfect but he was a million times better than he had been last time I rode him. I might keep that up for a while and see if he makes any progress before trying to ride him down the road alone again.

I wasn't able to get too many more scabs off Axel but the foot that I had cleaned up on Monday was doing good. I got the other foot cleaned up a little bit but it still needs work. If Axel would let me soak it that would help. Maybe this week I can wet a rag and wrap that foot with some vet wrap then he can stand there acting helpless while the scabs soften up. Easier than dealing with a bucket.

When the arena was open I went in and lunged Axel at the walk again for a few minutes with a few stints of trotting mixed in. He was looking sound at the walk but a little gimpy at the trot which was to be expected. He takes a few bad steps at the walk still but perhaps that is due to no exercise for 5 months. I ended up getting on bareback with just the halter and lead rope. Last time Axel was recovering from whatever random lameness he had he was sound at the walk but with a rider he was still lame. We did a few laps in each direction and he was pretty darned sound even with me on his back. He was very interested in looking out the open arena doors and he was a bit hard to control with just the halter but he did really well and didn't offer any unneeded feistiness. Yay Axel!

Saturday bright and early I ran out and gave Axel his 4th Adequan shot before heading up to the We Can Ride tack sale. I ended up buying a few things at the sale: John Lyons rope reins, new riding tights, a foam english saddle pad, and some black saddle bags for Axel's saddle.

Sunday I went out to Murphy with A and rode Danny. Cody just won't fit in A's trailer and riding Danny was like a vacation. It's been a long time since I've had a calm trail ride. It started out a little hairy when the horses thought some hikers were going to eat them but after that everyone settled in and it was a gorgeous day.

I groomed Axel outside when we returned and then worked him a bit in the arena. He was not about to let me lunge him outside where there was grass to eat so we had to go in the arena. He was sound at the walk with the exception of a few wrong steps and he trotted a little on the lunge line. We only worked for a few minutes before I unclipped and sent him out at liberty. He went 1 lap in both directions at the trot (a bit of canter to the right - I think that was the direction). He was a little gimpy which was no surprise. Right now I just want to work him up to doing more trot and getting back into shape. He looked a bit more swollen as well which I hope is just because it's been warm and there's a lot of standing around with the round bale in the small paddock. All things considered, he's not that much off when he trots. The cranky head tossing or pawing seems to have dropped a notch and he'll trot fairly willingly when asked. I'm sure we're dealing with some laziness as well. We'll just keep plugging away.

Only 3.5 Hours

I only spent 3.5 hours at the barn last night. Maybe a little longer than planned but it was farrier day so there was a lot going on and a lot of people to talk to. All the boarders are pretty spread out in the times they are able to ride. I'm usually there week nights, A is there later on weeknights, S is there during the day as well as S&L and J, and B is usually on the weekends. So we don't all run into each other very often unless we plan something.

J was fertilizing the pastures and hoping for rain. There was a note on the white board that Dallas was sold already. S&L are getting out of horses so they can move to FL or something. I was surprised how fast Dallas sold and I guess Riley has some lookers as well. I guess Dallas is going to a 6 year old girl that does breed shows so that should be a really good home for him.

I brought Cody in first and tied him in the arena with Amigo. He was tied near the open barn door but he was still kind of concerned at the happenings going on around him. He calmed down a bit when I brought Axel in and tied him next to him but he managed to dig himself a pretty impressive hole in the arena that I had to fill when we were done. Cody stood for the farrier as well as he usually does. He has a crack in his left front that the farrier marked with a rasp to see if it's getting worse or growing out at all. Axel was a little less than patient and really didn't want to stretch his back left out behind him. I should probably start working on the leg stretches with him too. The farrier looked at his xrays before trimming so maybe he'll be able to get around a little better now.

While we were working on Axel, S suggested we clip Cody's goat beard. I had my doubts that he'd actually tolerate the clippers but she thought her clippers were quiet enough so she gave it a try. Only a few minutes later and Cody is a new man sans beard. He looks so much nicer now. I guess he was just fine with the clippers. S is going to be selling all her equipment when Riley sells so maybe I'll see if I can buy the clippers from her. J might also be interested so we might have to duke it out.

I ended up lunging Axel at the walk for 5 minutes in each direction. He did pretty good for the first 5 minutes but the second 5 minutes he was getting bored and wanted to stop or slow down. He ended up doing a little bit of trotting just to pick up the pace and so I could ask for a walk and hopefully get it. He was moving well at the walk though, more sound than he's been all winter. He was pretty cranky about getting into the trot but would settle in after a few head tosses. I think by the end of the month he'll be trotting fine, I bet most of it is just annoyance at having to work again. Lunging at the walk is really difficult I've found. It's boring and hard to keep the horse moving and out on the circle without wandering away.

I lunged Cody for a few minutes as well and he did finally break into a canter but it wasn't great. I was happy he at least did it considering the last time we tried. I ended up putting both horses back in the pasture before B arrived and wondered if I was going to ride. So I went out and got Cody again and decided to get back into the dressage saddle (note to self, wear breeches next time, jeans + dressage saddle = not fun). B wanted to work on her posting and whatnot for the show she's doing this weekend so we were exchanging tips and tricks. She was trying to find the right stirrup length both for her saddle and for her ability to trot. We ended up swapping horses so she could try and post on Cody and I could try Diva. And we've determined it's not her ability to post it's Diva. She is so bouncy you just can't help but post high out of the saddle. I felt like I was three miles above her. I'll stick with my QA/Paint horses I think. Yikes! Cody and I managed to get a left lead canter after a few tries and B got a right lead canter albeit pretty lazy on Cody's part. So I called it a night at that point and helped video tape B so she could analyze her riding before the show.

My plan next is to keep working on Cody from the ground doing some of Kirsten Nelson's exercises that I have in her first workbook. I'd love it if I could get Cody back to sane without the chiropractor and then just use the adjustment as icing on the cake later on. Cody is going to need some sane as soon as the pastures are open again because Vinnie is going in with the big kids and Jesse is probably going back with Logan and Steele and Cody hates change. We've decided the pasture arrangements are as such "the geldings", "the girls", "the old men", and "the big kids." Cody and Axel are the old men.

Hair Everywhere

They are shedding. A lot. And it's still too cold/dark/covered in snow to groom outside. So I'm covered in hair and the barn aisle is covered in hair and the broom and all my brushes. Ug. Anyway Axel is about the same. Same swelling. Same knee. Thought he might roll in the arena due to the extreme itchiness of shedding hair but he decided against it.

Cody ran around the arena a bit with some encouraging. I need to take some video of him, he's looking good these days. I did end up getting on Cody bareback for a few minutes. We even trotted around for a while. I'm finding it hard to keep my body straight and still ask him for a bend AND not bounce off. One of those pat your head and rub your belly type issues. Cody spooked a super tiny almost nothing spook but I stayed on, yay me. Really it was nothing more than surging forward a stride but I'm a wimp and don't have a good seat so I was happy I was still on his back.

So that was about it for my quick visit. It's hard to find time and to get motivated again after pretty much doing nothing all winter due to Axel's winter long practical joke.

In sad news, Jeff's niece's Buckeye passed away yesterday (the dun in the photo above). From what they can tell he just laid down and that was the end. He was a pretty old guy but he had a really nice retirement and was a great first horse for her.

Cody get his hair dried

So here's a photo of Axel's knees from tonight. Pretty much exactly the same as the previous photos. With a bit of additional winter hair of course.

He was still pretty gimpy today and trying to walk across the ice rink to the barn didn't help of course. He loves his MSM though and I think he's much happier getting his treats now that they don't taste bad. He walked around the arena a bit but he didn't want to roll so we went back outside.

Cody was waiting his turn when I brought Axel out. He was a bit more snowy so I groomed him up pretty good. He had some nice platform snow shoes on his front feet so I bet he was glad to have them picked out. I free lunged him for a while at the trot and canter, not too much so he didn't get sweaty. We worked on some ground work after that. I think I need a refersher course on some of the ground work stuff I feel like we're stuck and not quite getting to where we want to be with moving parts of Cody's body and eventually lateral movements. He still wants to always look at the gate when we're in there.

When we were done playing in the arena I put Cody back in the aisle to see how he'd react to the hair dryer. He was actually still a little wet from the snow so I figured it was a good time to try. He wasn't too sure of the whole deal. He behaved really well but he was pretty concerned with what was going on. I managed to dry a spot on his withers but the hair dryer on low seemed really cool. When I tried it at home the high setting seemed really hot but now low seems too low. Who knows, it did dry him off in that spot pretty well. I'll keep working with him on that so when we really need it he isn't surprised.

Back to Work

Brought Axel into the arena to clean out his feet and see if he wanted to move around. No such luck. He's still looking pretty sad. This time when I picked out his front right and put it down he was lame on it. Seemed like it was his knee. I'm wondering if he's just all over achey from the swelling and not moving around and the billion below zero temperatures. Haven't heard from the vet on the bloodwork yet. I hope it comes back soon so we can get started on some sort of treatment. It's sad seeing Axel so down.

Note to self: work horse in arena first, then bring in other horse while first horse is cooling out. Sure would have saved some time.

So I brought Cody in and cleaned out his hooves and let him loose in the arena. He wasn't going to run around on his own so I started to free lunge him a bit. He hopped and skipped and kicked up his heals quite a bit. I put him on the lunge line to get a little more controlled work out of him. His preferred gait of the evening was canter. It was a lot of work to get him down to a trot and a collected trot was not going to happen. It took even more work to get him down to a walk. In all he probably ran around for 10 minutes at the most. And he was sweaty and wet. Not soaked to the bone but wet enough and steaming that I didn't want to turn him out right away. So for about a half hour we walked, wore a wool blanket, groomed, and waited. He finally stopped steaming and was cool to the touch but he was still a bit damp. I rubbed him down the best I could (which he does not appreciate) and brought him back outside. Luckily there wasn't much wind so I think he'll be okay.

So this would be the reason I haven't ridden since the beginning of December. Only a few minutes of work and we have to spend half the night waiting to dry off. Maybe I can find an old hair dryer. Not sure that Cody would enjoy that any more than being rubbed down. Time to throw some more blankets in the car. I wonder if riding with a quarter sheet would help at all, on second thought Cody was sweaty on his neck and chest so a quarter sheet wouldn't really help for that.

Cantering Cody

Groomed Cody and gave him his extra food. This time I put some water in it to see if that would make it easier for him to keep it all in his mouth. Instead it just made a sloppier mess. Back to the drawing board I guess. It has nothing to do with his ability to chew but rather his ability to keep his mouth shut while doing it. I think the next attempt should be a wide shallow pan where the food has to be spread out. I hate grooming this time of year, everything is staticy. I should probably put some dryer sheets in my grooming back to rub on the horse before brushing so I'm not zapping them all the time!

So I lunged Cody a few times with the shorter rope just to get his attention. A had brought out a couple barrels to the arena so I set those up on either end to do some figure 8s and maybe get slightly more circular circles. Cody was pretty amped when I got on. If I didn't know better I'd have thought he was a barrel horse and the sight of the barrels got him worked up. We walked for a while and trotted quite a bit. I had to make constant adjustments as Cody kept "surging" forward and speeding up his trot. Which in the end is a nice change from the past few months of him only moving if I was carrying a whip. He was very willing to canter so we managed to make it around the arena at a canter about a time and a half before breaking stride going to the right. To the left there were some issues getting that lead but that's been our MO lately.

I kind of threw away the circles and figure 8s and worked more on the cantering just because it was more fun and he was so willing to keep moving. I attempted some rollbacks on the rail and then moved into rollbacks and cantering half the arena, rinse, repeat. It wasn't great, Cody wasn't sitting down or turning on his haunches, but he was moving out so I decided our lesson was more on doing what I asked. Speed up when asked, calm down and slow or stop when asked. He was doing really well even when he got worked up. We ended the lesson with some calm trotting and then worked on some backing up both mounted and unmounted. He doesn't get a great grade for the rein back but we'll keep working. I did some stretches when we were done. He stands really well for the front leg stretches so I can only assume he doesn't mind doing them. I noticed he's full of little scabs everywhere. They're mostly grown out but the bugs must have kicked in at the end of summer or something.

A came in and worked with Vinnie jumping over the barrels while I groomed Axel. He's been kind of a pill lately, grabbing at everything and chewing on stuff. He puts the cross tie in his mouth and pulls on it. He's not wind sucking that I can tell but the chewing on stuff is getting to be a really annoying habit. A finished up with Vinnie as I was ready to go back in the arena. I just wanted to let Axel move a bit since it had been pretty muddy all week. So I just sent him off without a lunge line and he trotted and cantered and really didn't buck a whole heck of a lot. He had a nice big extended (for him) trot, nice canters on both leads, even a flying change. Why can't he do that when I'm riding? I thought maybe he'd jump the barrels that were still set up but he went around them every time, I wasn't going to force him into jumping them with his sore foot but if he chose to do it on his own I'd be excited to see it. That was pretty much all for the night for Axel.

What got into you?

I ran out to the barn quick last night just to check on the horses and make sure no one had done anything stupid over the long weekend. I dropped off a bag of feed for Cody to have a little extra every once in a while. The horses thought I was there for feeding time when they heard me in the feed room.

I gave Cody a scoop of the senior feed as I was grooming him. Boy does he make a mess when he eats. No wonder he's a little thin, food all over the floor. I just did a little lunging in the arena to make sure he was feeling good. He was a little feisty mostly just when asked to move faster than a turtle. I jumped on bareback for a while and just rode around with the halter and lead rope. Cody's a difficult horse to sit on bareback right now. He's thinner so there's less "body" under your legs and you kind of wobble around easier. We did a little trotting and some backing up which went well. Our turns on the forehand and haunches still lack ... a lot.

Axel followed me to the barn limping the whole way when it was his turn. I was hoping it was just a stone in his hoof and thank goodness I was right. When I asked Axel to lunge he started out at a decent walk, sped up, started trotting, then cantering, then completely galloping and bucking and farting and acting like an idiot. Same reaction on the other side. Mind you I only asked for a walk. I un hooked my lunge line and clucked at him once and he was off around the arena like a bat out of hell. It was at this point that my previous thought of giving him some bute so he wouldn't be sore for the cattle clinic left my mind. When he finally stopped he was huffing and puffing. I jumped on him bareback and rode around at the walk. I'm hesitant to ask for a trot bareback since I haven't worked him a lot lately and he mostly likely buck. So we just walked around, tried some bending, backing, turns, checked our brakes. Nothing spectacular.

So everyone seemed in decent condition, hopefully they have remained that way today. Though I could probably borrow one of A's horses if someone turned up lame. Cow clinic tonight!

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.

A Little Huntseat

No photos from last night's ride :( Video might have been interesting, not sure how I would have looked. I got out the huntseat saddle and swapped it with the dressage saddle. I figure if I ever get around to showing I'd be showing WSCA and there's no dressage classes. So I thought it'd be best to start riding in that saddle for a while. J said it looked good on Cody. I felt like a fish out of water. I haven't ridden with my knees that bent in ages. But if I'm going to play around with some jumping as well I guess I need to get used to it!

Cody had a bit of a bump on the outside of his right front pastern so I decided to lunge him before I tacked to make sure he wasn't hurting. He was lazy lazy lazy (gotta remember that stick with the plastic bag) but he didn't seem to hurt at all. After fidgeting with the saddle to get it to feel at least a little normal we were on our way (how in the world do you keep your leg on when your knee is bent so much?). I had the foresight to grab the whip so I didn't have to kick constantly. And actually having my legs up a bit higher seemed to help a bit as well. But with two other horses in the arena there was a lot of temptation to stop and watch them work. We manged to do quite a bit of trotting but Cody is a little confused on posting. He slows down quite a bit making it nearly impossible to post. So before we attempt any jumping we'll have to work on that. J was showing the stuff she was working on with Amigo to get him to calm down in the canter. J3 (heh yes there are 3 Js at the barn) gave it a try with Steele. He gets a little full of himself and speeds up so they were talking about doing some spiral-ins. He's back from the trainer so J3 has been riding him quite a bit it seems. He's still heavy on the front but he seems to go quieter than he did before she sent him away. I attempted some cantering with Cody, wrong lead to the left nearly every time. Finally had to counter bend the heck out of him to get that left lead. J said he had a really nice lope. Right lead he just didn't want to canter at all but when we got it he kept it up for a lap or so and did a nice halt when asked.

After all that work I was sweaty. But Cody was actually barely wet so I guess I didn't work him too hard. I'll probably try and ride him again tonight and if no one is in the arena we'll do some lunging over ground poles and then maybe just work on trotting. I'll see if I can just let him go and do two point or post and let him have his head and just move out. If no one else is around I'll try and video it despite my fear that my riding position will look like crap. Eek!

Cody's Day

I only had an hour or so last night so I just went out to lunge Cody a bit and put his fly mask back on. He was super slow and lazy again as he has been lately. Now even the whip doesn't really inspire him to get moving. Until something clicks and I haven't quite figured out what it is yet. I was trying to get him to trot or move or something. I recall he got pissed off and threw out a buck and after that things were golden. I can't recall what it was I did to make him mad but it worked. Then he trotted out nice and big and switched directions promptly when asked. Still can't get him into a canter and I'm not sure what's up with that. Perhaps I'll grab the carrot stick and plastic bag next time I go out. If I can't get him to canter I can't reward him for doing it correctly right away and he won't want to do it ever. It's a vicious circle.

We worked on some halt from the trot and just trying to get a reaction immediately when I ask. He did alright on that. And then I worked on some of the turns on the forehand and haunches. Turns on the forehand are sort of okay and turns on the haunches are more difficult. Lastly we worked on our backing up issue. He'll back up really well with me standing facing him and doing either the rope wiggle or waving my hands and asking him to "back." He's been not so great at backing while I'm at his neck leading lately, kind of sliding in that area. I also tried asking him to back while standing by his hip, that really confused him. So I think we'll be working more on backing in general from the verbal cue from all sorts of places and then work on some ground driving and backing that way. So I might give up my backing under saddle goal until we can do it on the ground from nearly anywhere. We'll work on the leg yielding under saddle and hopefully some of that will help with the canter.

Long Time No See

I got the best horsey welcome last night when I went to the barn. Cody, of all horses, knickered at me like I was his long lost BFF. And it wasn't even close to dinner time so who knows why he was so excited to see me but it was nice anyway.

I groomed Axel first while the barn owner was riding one of her horses. Axel has a few good sized welts from I assume bug bites. His chin doesn't look too bad but he still has the flap of skin/hair hanging from it (not as bad as it sounds it's mostly just hair). It's too big to pull off and I couldn't bring myself to cut it. Hopefully it'll just fall off soon. Apparently Axel was itchy all over. Usually you can find a spot or two that really makes him happy to have scratched. Yesterday it was nearly every place I brushed; full on lip curling and neck stretching. Goofy horse. When the barn owner was finished in the arena Axel and I went in and worked on some lunging. He was a little excited and trotted out pretty quickly but none of the previous bucking. He put his head down a bit at the canter but nothing major hopefully just stretching. To his bad side he actually lunged without a fight. He was a little jumpy on that side and kept offering canter strides to get out of trotting. We worked a while on getting the canter on the correct lead on that side. He even did a flying change. We did once more on each side, got both correct leads and stopped there. I'm trying to teach him that being nice and lunging correctly means we're done. Of course I don't know what I'll do when he picks up those leads calmly and correctly on the first try! Of course then I suppose my standards move up to collection and using his hind end properly. We backed out of the barn and that was the end of that.

Cody wasn't terribly happy that Axel had left, I suppose now it's been a week or more since I took one of them away and he got used to it. I didn't have too many plans for Cody, just a bit of grooming so we went to the crossties and got that done. His nose still seems sun burn free. It's a little flakey which he wasn't too happy to have me brush. He was, however, pleased to have my curry his head. I put his fly mask back on when I turned him out but I'm seeing now it's not sunny at all today so he probably would have appreciated not wearing it for a change. Oh well. Pink nose horses have to put up with it if they don't let me put sun screen on them.

Getting Warmer

It's definitely starting to get warm and humid. Both horses came up to me in the pasture to see what kind of fun things I had for them. I guess that means Cody isn't holding a grudge after our long trail ride on Sunday. Axel was pretty lazy when I tried to get some circles out of him in the arena before getting on to ride. Then he was pretty lazy under saddle. I can't quite tell if he was hurting or just being lazy. We did trot around for a while but it was a lot of work to get and keep him going. He's getting so fat I figured he needs to get working, I don't think being overweight is good for ringbone. I didn't really attempt any good cantering and he was trotting pretty okay, not really popping up quite as often as he had been.

But it didn't feel like enough work and the pants I was wearing were not cooperating and it was hot. So I got off and got the lunge line and whip. He had a few super crazy bronc moments but settled in (probably tired himself out) and was trotting really nice and then even picking up the canter with little fuss. This of course was tracking right. Tracking left, not so much, it takes a lot of work just to get him to get going in that direction. Once he did it was nearly the same, good trot, pretty good canter on the correct lead, a little bit of fussiness. I probably should have been video taping it since he seemed to be moving pretty darn well.

I think I'll have to just lunge for real before I ride, get him loosened up a bit. Supposedly the canter is a better place to start than the trot as it loosens up their backs better so they'll be ready to do a nice trot.

Axel is starting to learn that as soon as he picks up that correct lead on the canter and does it nice without freaking out, he can stop. I think he knows it. It seems like he'll pick it up nice then whoa and look at me. When he freaks out and does his bronc impression he just keeps going. He's also starting to really get the turn on the forehand from the ground. Still not much on the bending his neck, we worked on a that a bit next to the wall so he couldn't spin. I also did some leg stretches for him since he was warm I thought it would be the perfect opportunity. Though as soon as he got off the arena footing to the cement he walked like a 90 year old man that had been sitting for 10 years. But right back on the grass out side he was fine again. Joints? Ringbone? The stretching? Not sure what that was about.

Lots of Ground Work

I'm getting a little bored of riding alone so much since I get to the barn more often now. To combat that I think I really need to start doing a lot more ground work with the horses. Starting today.

It was Cody's turn today to work on some cantering. But first we worked on some ground work. Axel stayed in the pasture and had a minor conniption about being alone. Cody and I worked on some of the moving away from pressure with turns on the forehand, which he got pretty well, and turns on the haunches - not so well. Worked on the bending exercises and some backing up. We did some circles at the walk and trot. We even worked on a little bit of ground tying which went surprisingly well. After that I rode for a while and tried to get some canters but we mostly ended up just trotting as fast as humanly (or horsely) possible. How did Steph get him to canter so well? We made a couple attempts at the various turns in the corners of the arena and then dismounted and did a couple stretches. I'm going to have to look at my horse massage/stretching books and get some more ideas for Cody to work on lifting his back.

I took Axel's screaming to mean he wanted to be worked with as well. The first thing we did was walk into the barn and then back out twice and he did it both times well. So he came into the arena and did some lunging. He did really well at the trot in the first direction, a little crankier in the other direction, and pretty cranky about cantering but that's pretty normal. I worked a little with the turn on the forehand from the ground, he got it okay but I think we'll have to keep working on that stuff with him a lot, he doesn't catch on and retain like Cody does. We then worked on some backing up, I wanted to back a whole lap of the arena but we made it around maybe 1/4 or more so that was pretty good. I decided I wasn't done yet and I didn't want to ride so I got out the long lines and the surcingle and we drove for a while and then switched to long lining. I think the long lines are too heavy though, despite having as much slack as he wanted he was still pretty frustrated and seemed like he was forced into a frame. Though good for him to stretch like that I don't think he enjoyed it. He was quite ticked when I asked for a trot and kicked out but manged to have a couple nice trots after that but they were very small and vertical. I tried to do some weaving but I didn't set up the cones before I hooked up Axel so I only was able to get out two and well it was just kind of a loss at that point. I did lunge him a bit more after the driving so he could stretch out the opposite way and he had a very nice extended trot. When we were done he backed out of the barn aisle one more time.