Farrier Day

Just got back from the barn. The farrier was out to trim everyone up. The flies make for trimming feet a little more tricky but everyone managed to stand pretty well. When that was all said and done I went to ride Axel in the arena while A worked with Vinnie. It's always a good lesson for Axel to be in the arena when someone else is working since he tends to not like other horses much. He managed to shake his bridle off, luckily I didn't have to reward him by dismounting, A put the bridle back on for me and we trotted off. Of course that just made him mad and he threw out a few bucks in response. When I got a few nice things out of him I dismounted and lunged him for a bit. I'm hoping if I can get him increasingly comfortable on the lunge he'll start feeling better under saddle. He threw a few good bucks and fancy moves on the lunge but leveled out and worked well so we called it a night.

Cody on the Road

Cody's new found slowness is going to have to change I think. I realize he's not a spring chicken but it's not like I'm asking him to run several miles at a time. Just walk at a decent pace. I guess you get what you ask for, previous years he would only trot.

So after grooming and fly spray in the barn aisle we went out to the road. He was armed with boots so there were no excuses. But it was slow as usual, he really wanted to go back to the barn. I worked on just keeping his nose straight and letting up on any pressure when it was. When I asked for a trot he'd keep aiming himself for the ditch, trip because he couldn't see the ground as it was overgrown, and then use that as an excuse to walk slow again. After letting him do that a few times (my bad) I gave him a good thump in the sides on the way out of the ditch and all of a sudden we had a new gear (sure it was only 2nd gear so much for my thoughts to canter). We walked a bit further before I made him stop and stand for a while. I even let him munch on some grass as an incentive to enjoy being away from the barn.

When we turned around to head home it was time to work. I'm not sure if I made him do enough work but we did serpentines most of the way back. Granted he could have bent a lot better. Since he had quite a bit more momentum I also tried asking for some leg-yield (forward and diagonal at the same time), though his bend at times (toward the barn side of the road) made it more like a half-pass. I think we'll work on that every time we head back to the barn, I'm not sure he was crossing his legs over quite yet, hard to tell when you're on the horse.

And as usual when we got back to the barn it was time to try and back up. He refused to back down the driveway and J and J came home so we had to get out of the way. So I asked for a back up in the ditch. I'm not going to settle for the tiny hesitant step any more, I need at least a real full step. I don't like to pull on his mouth but tiny jiggling of the reins wasn't cutting it. When he finally backed up a few steps it was because I picked up the reins and pulled firmly. We'll be back on the ground working on the verbal cues for backing up I think. I'm racking up a big list of things to work on when we can't trail ride (winter, or rain, or groundwork days). Anyway I dismounted when he gave me 3 decent steps.

Of course I put his fly mask back on after having it off all weekend (while it was sunny) and now it's raining. Good timing I have. A had some new treats so she gave me a few to give to the boys, now that they aren't getting the work provided apples. They gobbled up the treats like they were going out of style.

Cody's New Goals

• Back up under saddle


• Move forward


• Halt on a dime


• Execute all commands immediately when asked

On the Road Again

One of the other boarders, henceforth known as A, has decided to buy Vinny from the barn owner, henceforth known as J. So she wanted to go for a ride last night. Unfortunately the hunter girls were having their lesson so A couldn't lunge Vinny before riding so she saddled up Danny instead. J got Jessie ready and I got Axel and we took off down the road. Axel (and Cody) need to put on some serious moves here pretty quick or we won't be able to ride with all these TWHs. They are a fast bunch and even with Axel feeling pretty good lately, we still lag behind. We ended up trotting most of the ride. While that's probably good for Axel's weight, it's probably not good for his foot. In any case he was trotting very nicely. He had a few minor moments of crankiness towards the other horses but didn't do anything about it. It probably helps that they are never behind us. When we got back A and Vinny's new co-owner played around a bit in the arena. He looks a lot like Axel as far as preferring the halt to any other gait. But he's only 3 so it might not be too hard to train him to move out once in a while.

Old Friends

After nearly 4 years we finally got CJ to stop down and visit the horses last night. We rode around a bit in the arena and then headed out down the road for a ways. We didn't go for long since Jeff was back waiting at the barn for us. Luckily I got him to take a few photos (gotta use every trick in the book).

Cody was slow as usual, apparently that's just his new speed. I noticed he was much more willing to back up for CJ than he is for me (seems to always be the case). We trotted a bit and then cantered down the road for a little ways. Axel started to drop his head (in a bad way) right as I was about to ask him to walk anyway so we lucked out there. When we got back to the barn we goofed around a bit more. CJ tried to get Cody to canter. He kept picking up the right lead going left. I asked for Axel's canter from a walk again. He gets it, just doesn't necessarily get the correct lead and he doesn't get more than a stride before he stops. But at least he knows what I'm asking.

I had picked up some more fly spray so when we were done and Axel had his roll in the arena we sprayed the horses and put them back outside. Cody did do some yawning after we were done but not before so I think that's a good sign. CJ thought he looked good weight wise though I'd still like him to put on a bit more. Overall it was a success and neither horse acted like an idiot. I'm still trying to get more information about Axel. Once again I was told he was a twin and CJ swears he has seen a photo somewhere of Rose, the other twin. I'd love to see a baby photo of Axel so hopefully I can get my hands on that sometime. I still don't believe he's a twin but we'll see. I really just need Axel's parentage and maybe I could do some research.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Cody and Axel have switched bodies, that's all I can figure. Cody has been greeting me in the pasture with a knicker lately. The good news is that I groomed and tacked him in the cross ties on Friday and there was no yawning. There was one other person riding so we rode around in the arena with them for a while. Cody was as lazy as Axel usually is. It was all I could do to get/keep him moving. Part of it was that he really just wanted to sit and watch the other horse. I didn't even attempted to get a canter since the trot was so much work. I'll have to see what he does next time he's alone in the arena.

Axel, on the other hand, was all business. He lunged pretty well, big big trot. Took a bit to get that one canter lead but he eventually got it. I'm pretty sure he knows when he gets it right so now we just have to keep working til he gets it right on the first stride. He had a nice big trot under saddle as well. I decided to work on some canter from walk transitions. While he didn't want to pick up the correct lead he definitely knew what I was asking. So that was a cool discovery. He's got a few things other than food on his mind I guess! We finished up with some under saddle work on the bridge which included backing off the bridge. First just his front feet on and off then all four. It took some time standing before he made the attempt with all four but he got it. We'll get this horse backing off the trailer yet!

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.

So Many Flies

Ran out to the barn quick before the Tanbark horse show on Friday. I couldn't really ride as I put my back out on Thursday plus I didn't have much time. So all I did was lug some fly spray, swat, a brush, and some apples into the pasture. Axel apparently found something sharp to scratch on and was looking like he got in a barn fight. Couple gouges out of his rear and a big scratch on his chin. I put some swat on both horses' man bits because the flies had been biting so bad they were full of scabs. Axel was mighty appreciative and thought I was there for a scratch so he obliged by lifting his leg up for me. I guess horses can't scratch their own bellies/inner thighs very easily. I decided they needed their fly masks on again. Who knows if Axel will keep his on but I didn't want Cody's nose getting any more sun burn even if there were some clouds in the weekend forecast.

Funny how now that Jeff is in town I can't seem to get out to the barn as easily. I might run out tonight when Jeff gets home from work (I took a sick day). I'm waiting for his UPS shipment so I'm not able to leave til that or he gets here. We have to run up and drop of his parent's pickup so it probably won't be a long barn trip. I should ride or at least lunge, it's cool out but I'm not sure if my back is ready for a ride yet or not. I should play it safe and just lunge, Axel needs the exercise anyway.

They Love Dinner

It was grand central station at the barn on Friday. Hunter girls were giving their horses a bath and getting ready to go to a show, barn owner was getting ready to go camping, and another boarder was doing some ground work with her horse. I had Cody in to ride a bit in the arena and he had his lazy pants on. We did some lunging (lazy) and then tried some riding (also lazy). After a lot of work we finally got some decent trotting but we could not get a canter to save our lives, just trot trot trot. Not sure what that's about. We did get some backing up under saddle, nothing mind blowing but steps backwards nonetheless. He stood patiently while I chatted with the other boarder and the barn owner.

The barn owner asked if I would feed my horses when I was done since he was leaving to go camping. So when I was done cleaning up and reorganizing my tack I went out to feed. Axel was far off in the pasture and when he saw me with the bucket of grain he came running. And I mean running, all while knickering. It was pretty hilarious. Goofy chubby horse running to dinner.

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.

First Trail Ride of the Season

I'm pretty sure Cody knew something was up after I groomed him and let him stand in the crossties with Amigo in a stall while the barn owner and I loaded saddles into the trailer. Luckily he loaded after about three attempts of "front feet in, fly backwards." He didn't know what to do with his head to make himself fit in the slant load though, so there was a lot of pushing to get the divider shut. Amigo jumped right in and Diva likewise and we were off to Lebanon Hills. Another notch in my belt for Minnesota Horse Trails.

Cody got out of the trailer a sweaty mess, partly because it was pretty warm and partly because he was a nervous basket case. He aimed himself towards "home" despite being 10 miles away and was actually fairly reluctant to follow the other horses down the trail at first. But I'll admit this is our first away from home trail ride that he walked, willingly, most of the time. The only time he trotted was when he'd fall behind and want to catch up. He wouldn't even canter more than a few strides when we all decided to have a go. He stuck next to Danny who was gaiting, and he trotted his heart out to keep up. We didn't go in the water since I wasn't sure how it would work with his hoof boots on so we just watched Danny wade and Diva do her best *not* to get wet. By the end we did almost all of the 9+ miles available and probably more since I there was a little backtracking on some of the trails. Cody was getting pretty tired by the end and my hips were killing me, though I think we were only out for maybe 2-3 hours. Cody jumped right in the trailer to go home, this time we put him in second and he fit a bit better. He got hosed off a bit when we got home and then found himself a couple nice spots to roll in the pasture. Hopefully we didn't undo any of the chiropractic work from Friday and hopefully I'll be able to catch him next time I ride (going to try and alternate days for each horse now instead of riding both every day).



Unfortunately I didn't think to take any photos of my awesome summer riding pants, pink plaid, and you can't really see them in this photo that one of the other boarders took. Oh well, next time. You can see Cody's cute boots and the fact I'm riding on a long rein, I did my best to just stay out of his way and let him be happy.

Warm Ride

Just a quick trip out to the barn today to check on the horses post adjustment. Cody was actually waiting at the gate so I took him in and groomed him and we did some ground work in the arena. He wasn't terribly excited and just wanted to walk on the lunge. I didn't push him but I did ask for a trot just to make sure he was just feeling lazy and not in pain. It's amazing how good he is at backing up from the ground and not under saddle. We didn't work long, it was pretty warm in the arena and I hadn't opened the doors yet since it would mean more distraction. I'll admit that Cody hadn't turned into some genius and super cooperative horse over night, his reactions were the same as they always were but there was a lot more chewing and licking than usual. I hadn't put the saddle on him so I don't know if he'd still yawn at the sight of it. That will remain to be seen I guess.

I brought Axel into the barn to groom and see how he was feeling. He was pretty pokey on the gravel and the cement but he seemed fine in the arena. I decided to jump on bareback and just ride around a bit. I managed to jump up from the mounting block and actually get on. Axel even stood there without moving, it would have been quite the sight had he moved since getting on bareback is not my forte. We just wandered around for a while before my butt was too hot to keep riding.

It was only low 70s today and it was pretty warm. Looks like high 70s for tomorrow and we're planning on going out to Lebanon Hills so it could be a very toasty ride. I think it'll be time to bust out the pink plaid pants.

Chiropractor Day

Got out to the barn about an hour early, I figured that should be enough time to groom both horses and not have to rush. Of course then I get a call that the chiropractor was running late so we spent quite a bit of time in the arena just hanging out. I figured putting them in stalls for too long would mean antsy horses.

Cody went first and as suspected had the most issues. Nothing glaring confined to one spot but lots of issues all over. His jaw, neck, poll, withers, back, ribs, and sacrum all had some issues. It'll be interesting to see if the jaw issues will make him yawn less.

Axel really had no issues to speak of. He had a couple ribs out but that was the extent of it and that is apparently pretty normal of every horse. He had so few issues that the chiropractor only charged me half for his adjustment. So he said I shouldn't expect any changes from Axel at all. This was the same as his first adjustment in 2007. So I don't think I'll get Axel adjusted from now on unless there's an issue. Cody on the other hand will get put on the 2x a year. I think there's couple other girls that have the same vet out so I'll try and get on their schedule so we can split the farm call charge.

He gave Axel the go-ahead to ride on Saturday and said to wait on Cody til Sunday but some in-hand work would be good, they shouldn't stand in a stall or anything after the adjustment.

We Lost Reverse

Out to the barn again to ride with another boarder and possibly the barn owner. I checked out Axel to make sure he was feeling okay after the previous days ride. He decided to trot away from me in the pasture so I took that as a good sign that he was just fine. The one hunter girl was jut finishing up as I groomed Cody. No one else had arrived yet so I did a bit of ground work in the arena while we waited. If no one was going to show up I was going to let Cody have the night off so I didn't tack right away. The other boarder showed up after a bit and we tacked our horses. The barn owner wasn't going to be back in time so we decided on just a quick ride down the road and back.

Cody was slow and reluctant and we had a hard time keeping up with Danny, we had to trot a lot. When we finally got down the block and turned he was a little easier to get into the trot. Eventually that turned into a canter and Danny was gaiting next to us as fast as possible. Eventually he broke into a canter as well. It was a pretty good ride. Cody's canter was pretty big and a little on the out-of-control let's-run-home side of life but he transitioned down pretty easily. He was a little more energetic on the way home, trotting a bit, we had a few minor arguments on if we were going to walk or not but for the most part it was a nice ride back.

Instead of going past the driveway we went right to work on backing up down the driveway. Cody had other ideas. I thought we had backed up enough steps the time before that he'd figure it out, he's usually pretty quick to pick up those things. But he was not playing my game. He'd take just a few hesitant half steps, not enough for me to even stop early. At that point all I wanted was some good purposeful steps backwards and we'd stop since I wasn't going to get him all the way down the driveway. Instead I'd get one tiny shift backwards, head tossing, yawning, and only forward movement. The best I could do was when he wouldn't go backwards we went down the road again. The side effect was that he was much happier leaving the barn than backing home at that point. I even tried using a whip as an extra appendage to tap his chest. I was trying to translate our ground work to saddle but it just wasn't happening. Unfortunately I was getting a lot of head tossing to the point where I'm a little concerned and don't want to make it a new habit. I finally got off after a few sort of okay but crooked steps back. I was able to get him to back a bunch of steps then from the ground. Sometimes that horse makes me wonder. Back to the drawing board on our backing up under saddle I guess.

Riding on the Road

Axel's turn this time to go down the road. He trotted up to me in the pasture so I figured he was feeling better. He was really tender on the driveway but I gave him a little bute in case he was still off. Found another gross tick when I was grooming, yuck, I hate the big ones. I send Axel in a couple circles in the arena just to make sure and he seemed to be feeling fine so off we went. The barn owner, another border, and I. Axel had his work cut out for him because the other two horses were Tennessee Walking Horses. We had to do a bit of trotting to keep up, which wasn't a whole lot more than if we were riding with Oly. The way back we trotted nearly the whole way, the other horses had sped up a bit and Axel just wouldn't walk out so trot it was. He was trotting sound even on the hard dirt road and I don't think the 1g of Bute he got would cover up much pain so that was a good sign. No bucking or jumping or too much general crankiness at all. Would have been a really nice ride if he was able to keep up at a walk. So in the end I had a pretty sweaty horse but he seemed happy and he needs the exercise, he's getting kind of fat.

Might try and tag along and ride with them again tomorrow, probably Cody this time. Then we have the chiropractor on Friday. Then they want to go to Lebanon Hills on Sunday and asked if I wanted to go. We'll see how Cody is feeling after his adjustment. I'd rather take him since he'd keep up better, but I suppose Axel won't be too bad, I think it's a dirt trail and pretty easy terrain, if we have to trot it shouldn't be too bad. We'll see. I'm pretty sure they know I don't have a trailer so hopefully my guy can jump in with the barn owner. I'm glad to ride with other people finally again. It's a nice break from circling in the arena.

No More Circles

We finally broke out of the arena and went for a ride down the road with another boarder. I was early so I was going to groom and lunge and do some stuff with Axel but he had other ideas. I nearly had to carry him across the driveway to the barn, he was slow and sort of lame but I couldn't figure out what was hurting him. I groomed him and then took him into the arena to evaluate what was wrong with him. Actually in the arena he wasn't really lame. He walked on the lunge line and didn't seem lame. He might have been a tiny bit off on one of his front legs but I couldn't pick it out. I only asked him to trot once, he pitched his usual fit and then trotted on as sound as he usually is. So I thought maybe he's not feeling well, of course if he wasn't feeling well it had nothing to do with his appetite. He was more than willing to pig out on the grass. So who knows what is up with him. Probably just sore after his little stunt on Sunday. We'll see how he is tomorrow.

So my little plan to not ride Cody isn't working out too well. We did a bit of ground work first and then went to groom. The ride out away from the barn was painfully slow. When we got to the first turn we trotted quite a ways and that seemed to snap Cody out of his barn sour funk. Of course the trip back was much faster, less fighting, and generally just a better ride. We passed the driveway on the way home and then my next plan was to back down the driveway. We only manged to get a little ways but at that point we had been sitting at the bottom of the drive fighting. He backed a little then would refuse. Finally I got a good 4-5 steps backwards so I called that good. We'll keep working on it, I think he'll get it after a while. Especially when he realizes backing down the driveway means we're done and we're home.

Happy Birthday Cody!

Cody is 19 years old today!

I don't have an actual birth date for Axel but he turns 16 this year, so happy birthday to Axel as well.

Gloomy Day = Frisky Horses

Since it rained all day Saturday I hadn't made it out to the barn since Thursday. Cody was still wearing his fly mask but Axel had figured out how to get his off without un-vecroing it. He kindly put it in the mud and probably stepped on it. Such a nice horse. I hung both of them up on the fence. It's supposed to rain again tomorrow so Cody should be okay as far as the sun goes. Hopefully the rain will clean off the mud a bit.

It was pretty chilly out today and both horses were feeling a little frisky. I just groomed Cody and did some ground work. I'm doing my best to not ride him til after his adjustment on Friday. He was a little uncooperative and didn't want to finish a circle when it meant facing away from the gate. Though he was switching directions with energy today which doesn't happen often lately. There's a few horses in the middle paddock right now to give the pasture a chance to grow so Cody is pretty happy to have new friends to talk to.

Axel was a handful today as well and he's probably going to be feeling it tomorrow. He trotted on the lunge line like a tiger was chasing him. Instead of cantering he put on a good show imitating a saddle bronc. He's doing pretty okay remembering how to do the turns from the ground. Still can't get him to bend, I need to spend a lot more time just spinning around til he gets it but that's a lot of spinning. He did pretty well under saddle considering his bronc impression. We worked on a walk on a loose rein, then some corner circles and some serpentines, and then we worked on some halts. He's been yanking the reins when he halts so we played with that a bit before calling it a day. The good news is that he's been backing out of the big barn door really well lately. We'll have to start working through a smaller area.

New Masks

Just grooming today, it was warm and I had been to the barn every night this week. I just groomed outside but it was hot in the sun so it was a pretty quick groom. Both horses got some fly spray and their new fly masks. Hopefully Cody's will keep some of the sun off his pink nose.

I heard back from the chiropractor and I have an appointment for the boys next Friday so I'm taking the day off of work. Yay. I'll be curious to see how bad Cody is, he's pretty flinchy near his left flank, almost to the sacrum. So I'll be surprised if he's not out there at the very least. But his behavior suggests he's out in more places than just that. When the chiropractic is done then I think it's time to start working on Cody's top line maybe with some lunging and the bitting rig possibly even adding some ground poles for him. There's a nice gradual hill in front of the barn as well that I'd like to get him backing up.

No Clever Title Today

Axel first tonight. He snoozed in the crossties while I groomed and tacked. Right as we were finishing up one of the hunter girls came into ride also. So Axel got a little more experience working with the distraction of another horse in the arena. He was fairly well behaved and didn't try and kick the other horse though we didn't get in each other's way at all so he probably didn't have an opportunity. Some walking, trotting, no real cantering just the "I'm not going to trot" canter. We did a little ground work to round out the evening.

Cody was second and he was pretty stressed out in the crossties but he calmed down in the arena even working on ground tying. I left the chiropractor a message so hopefully I can get that scheduled soon. Once the saddle and bridle were on Cody turned into lead and would not move for me. I managed to get him to the block and get on and he moved fine under saddle but I can tell he's no comfortable with the whole situation. I should probably stop riding him til he can get adjusted (he'll appreciate that for sure). We walked for a while with no reins and then trotted for a while, just a nice little trot. No cantering tonight. We did some minor work on the turns and some trot to halt. Our backing up is still really sluggish and reluctant. I got off and tried to ground tie and walk away but he wasn't too happy to face away from the gate while I went out of his sight, he did alright though, he tried. I backed him to the gate but like I said he's really reluctant so it too quite some escalation to get him to move, even then it was slow.

Cody couldn't see Axel in the pasture when we were done, he was behind the lean-to, and he just about made me deaf screaming in my ear trying to find Axel. Wow do I wish the herdbound thing would go away. I keep thinking all the times I take a horse away and bring him back would start to teach Cody that it's not the end of the world but so far no luck.

Manicure Day

It was farrier day at the barn so I skipped out of work early to get there in time. The barn owner already had Axel in a stall (standing quietly I might add, yay Axel). Cody was having his usual fit in the pasture. The farrier was just about done with Danny so I brought Cody in to get trimmed. He, of course, stood like a champ for the trim, he always does. Cody always gets these purple/pink/red spots on his hooves so I asked about them. Come to find out they are bruises but the farrier said he and his farrier cohorts haven't figured out exactly the cause. Originally they thought they were coming from the coronary band and moving down but evidence suggests that's not the case. So the best they can figure in their discussions is that the bruises come from the sole of the foot and travel out the wall. Interesting stuff. I really like this farrier, he asks what kind of work the horse does and how often and looks at the hooves to decide how to trim. I put Cody in a stall so Axel could get trimmed. It's a good time to practice being in a stall, which they both seem to handle well if there's other horses nearby. Alone in the barn might be a different story but alone in the pasture is difficult already.

Axel behaved fairly well, he gets a little antsy but nothing horrible. I turned him out while Cody had a minor fit. It was too nice out to go home and the barn was now empty so Cody and I worked on some groundwork for a while. He wasn't paying total attention being lunged, he got better with the turns, okay at the bending, and he wasn't thrilled with backing up. I had his attention at this point so I grabbed a lunge whip and tried a bit more lunging and more turns. I wanted to put away the whip so I dropped the lead and told him to "stand." And from there we worked on ground tying for quite a while. He was getting the picture and staying put or correcting himself with just a verbal cue. After some back and forth I was able to get about half the arena length away from him to put away the whip while he stood and watched. He actually stayed almost entirely concentrated on me with only a few glances out the door at the other horses. I let him off the hook, as it were, and went to grab the short lead rope and an apple. Following my unwritten rules I led Cody (at liberty) to the far end of the arena to give him his treat and clip on the leadrope. He got a little pushy after his apple, he really wanted to get back out the pasture and knew the apple must mean the end of our work. So we backed up from the far end of the arena to the gate. There was a little work involved in that but we made it and cody came back down to earth to listen to me. We backed out the barn door as usual and grazed for a while in the yard.

I did a little groundwork with Axel just in the pasture and it was almost as if he remembered some of our previous work, believe it or not! We did our turns pretty okay considering he was really more interested in grazing. That was about all we worked on, I checked for ticks and called it a night. I'm starting to think Axel might be gaining some weight. I hope he's not eating Cody's food, Cody needs to gain weight not Axel!

Nice Evening

The hunter girls were having their lesson when I got to the barn tonight so I groomed Cody in the aisle and then did some ground work outside on the grass. Ground work on nice fluffy grass is not an easy task, let me tell you, someone thought it was snack time not work time. I ended up putting on his saddle and riding out in the pasture. Axel was kind enough to leave us alone and actually give us a little challenge to work on. Cody was pretty calm with life but he was slightly concerned that he was out working and Axel was grazing without him. So we worked on that for a while, also the footing is a little more "iffy" so he had to pay attention and I got a bit more of a riding challenge. Thirdly I thought we'd work on some cantering with all the extra space but Cody wasn't on the same page. We couldn't really get the correct lead but we did have plenty of chances to work on controlling "runaways." After a few pretty bad run offs Cody got the picture and paid attention to where I wanted to turn. He still had some issues with relaxing and collecting but I guess you take what you can get. Still working on the rein back and we spent a little time working on the turn on the haunches. For some reason I am better at turn on the forehand from the ground and turn on the haunches under saddle. We un-tacked in the aisle and backed out of the barn.

The hunter girls finished up so I brought Axel in and groomed him. Found a wood tick in his forelock but that was the only one. He was very patient for grooming and would have probably taken a nap if I had let him. We did a couple circles lunging, there was a lot less fuss over the canter tonight. We spent a few minutes on our turns again and it seemed like perhaps he was finally catching on and we did some backing as well. I rode the walk for a while and then we worked on the trot in two point. I was hoping that two point would help get me off that foot and he could trot out for a while maybe work on stretching his neck and lifting his back. It went alright to the right but he was pretty unhappy to the left even in two point. I didn't fight with him too long, I want him to figure out it's the same to the right and the left especially when we're on a straight-a-way. Rein back under saddle is still reluctant with Axel but I'll keep working. I spent some time trying to get him to do turn on the haunches as well.

After my ride I went and watched one of the other boarders do some drill work with some of her fellow mounted posse members. She let me ride Danny around a bit before they got started working. It was a gorgeous sunset so I had to take some photos. Tomorrow: farrier day.

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.

Axel's Turn

Luckily when I got out to the barn tonight the one hunter girl was just finishing up her ride. I groomed Axel in the crossties while she finished riding. She had some of the big barn doors open so it was pretty nice in the arena. I had been debating between going down the road and riding inside. Since it was seemingly deserted I decided to ride in the arena and do some video taping. I wanted to see if I could get Axel's new found canter departure on film.

Cody decided to have a complete fit while we were in the barn. He's been fairly okay lately but tonight he decided it was the end of the world that he was alone. I lunged Axel a bit, he was good at the trot but had some issues with the canter particularly to the left (I think). Lots of random bucking.

When I mounted we had an okay walk for a while. The trot was also just okay. He offered a couple canters instead of the trot probably just from his leg hurting. It took some work to keep him at a trot. I only asked for the canter a few times but when he offered it I tried to keep him going. That's what is going to kill me tomorrow. I already worked on a bit of trot on Wednesday and am sore from that. Heh oh well.

The barn owner came in to work with one of her horses so while she groomed and tacked Axel and I cooled off by working on square corners and some small circles to try and get to some turns on the haunches and forehand. I should spend more time working on that stuff with Axel since trotting and cantering isn't really our forte. Which means a lot more work on the ground. He's kind of frustrating because he doesn't pick up on that stuff as fast as Cody does. We'd still be spinning in circles if I was trying to get him to bend like Cody does.

Working on the Road

I just went for a quick ride tonight with Cody. Picked up a few things at Fleet Farm on my way. One of which was a thin felt underpad. In the end I want to use it under Axel's yellow blanket but until Cody puts on a bit more weight I'm using it to double up on his pads. I groomed and tacked him up outside and we were off (slowly) down the road. I will be very interested to see if our trips away from the barn will speed up at all after he gets his back done by the chiropractor. Last time it made a world of difference. We only made it a little way down the road. Cody won't walk straight he weaves back and forth so he can try and keep an eye back on the barn/pasture. When I was finally able to get him to walk straight for more than a couple steps that's when we turned around for home. I wanted to make him "work" on the way home but the road is really busy so it's kind of difficult. We did do some circles, we turned around and walked away again, and we passed by the drive way. We also did some trotting in front of the barn and I was going to work on backing up since he did so good the day prior but it didn't really happen. I had bought a fly mask at Fleet Farm that was supposed to cover his nose and help it not get sunburnt but it wasn't even close to covering his nose. So I guess I have to order a Cashel fly mask.

Time for Shots

Stephanie came out yesterday to show me how to do vaccines and we went for a little ride around the arena as well. Groomed both horses in the crossties, they were fairly patient as far as that went, tacked 'em up and we were off. Originally my thought was a trail ride down the road but it was cold and threatening rain so we stuck to the arena. Steph rode Cody and I rode Axel. Axel had his fast pants on and we had to circle frequently so we didn't run over Cody. We did a bit of trotting and experimented with posting diagonals to check out if his crankiness was learned or if it was actually his back left foot. It was his back left, unhappy horse when you sit on that diagonal in both directions. So I might be posting the correct right diagonal and the incorrect left diagonal from now on. We'll see how that works out. We attempted a few canters purely because when I post that one diagonal Axel either bucks or tries to canter. We went with the canter as long as he was offering. Oddly none of the cantering felt good, it was the correct lead (right) and wasn't disunited but it just felt yucky. He kind of leaps into it and puts his head down and I think he's going to buck. Turns out ... he's actually striking off into the canter with his rear end (like he's supposed to) and he's brining up his back and putting his head down a bit to do so. Aka, this is what a real canter from Axel should feel like. Go figure. Sure makes my legs hurt, though he did have a few wonky sort of bucky canters that I had to squeeze him through.

Steph worked on some trotting and cantering with Cody as well as some halt and giving to the bit. She had him backing on a super light rein. She had him working on little bits of turn on the haunches, an 1/8th of a circle at a time. He struck off at the canter on the first request on his good side, it was a little more work on his bad side (left I think) but he managed. His canter doesn't look as speedy and big as it feels. It actually looks kind of "sporty" to me, almost like a reiner. He was doing a nice regular trot for her while she posted - no speeding up. And they worked on a really calm western trot as well.

Axel and I worked on backing off the bridge for a while which worked well 2 times and then he refused to cooperate any longer. After fighting through that 3rd attempt we managed a 4th attempt and called it a night on that. He's so goofy about it, hops right up on the bridge before I'm even ready but backing off it - heck no! We played a little with the bowing and treats but he turns in a big beggar when there's treats or anything that might be a treat so I don't think I'll be treating him by hand any longer. Cody did some stretching for treats with Steph and was very polite about it. She gave him his shots to show me how and I gave Axel his. It went well and was not nearly as scary as I thought it would be.

Cody's little fight of the day came when I saw some wood ticks on his nose. He was displeased and would not keep his head down for us to pull them out. He goes into immediate giraffe impression as soon as something gets near his nose that is not petting. I really have to keep working with him on that but he seems to do well when there aren't ulterior motives, he's too smart that way. I am going to pick him up a fly mask with a nose piece on it to keep away some of the sunburn he's prone too since he won't let me put any cream on his nose.

Jeff and I Ride

Finally got Jeff to come out and ride with me. He might be regretting it now, after hiking for a week he thought riding would be a piece of cake. He forgot the whole connection between how the horse moves and how the rider moves just like they are walking. We groomed and tacked in the cross ties and then set out on the road after some fighting to get the horses to stop grazing every few steps. Once they were told that wasn't the game plan they seemed to manage the rest of the ride without diving for grass.

Cody was the slow poke again on this ride and Axel was just booking it ahead. Of course he'd get too far ahead and start calling back to Cody. By the time we got to the side road Cody caught up mostly. Axel/Jeff took off a few times without warning and Cody lept into the trot to keep up. We had to go over how to pull Axel up out of a buck since he couldn't seem to canter properly. He finally settled down on the way back home. He was still very interested in the two calves and when they took a few steps out of the trees both Cody and Axel jumped. Cody actually spooked at several things on this trip, a log and a plant for example. Of course on the way back Cody got his second wind but maintained a walk the whole way. We managed to walk past the driveway and turn around without a fight before heading back to the barn. Axel had a harder time going past the driveway but he was leading at that point.

Axel always confounds me, he goes from perfect for a 10 year old kid to a real pain in the butt for Jeff in a matter of days. I told Jeff he should come ride more in the arena and get more comfortable on Axel, he looks a little off kilter when he rides and he won't admit it but Axel takes advantage of him every chance he gets. Maybe Jeff and I will take those western riding lessons I keep talking about.

Axel Found Go

I thought Axel kind of looked like a racehorse in this photo. He was all shiny and tall. He must have actually been channeling a bit of racehorse when I got on to ride he was moving out at the walk more than ever before. I decided to stick with the walk since he was so willing and I gave him a long rein. We didn't ride for long, just did some circles and a few sloppy serpentines. I always hope he remembers "hey when I actually step out a bit she gets off right away."

I was going to just hang out in the pasture for a while when I was done riding because no one was around to wonder what in the world I was doing. But they came home so I decided to ride Cody for a few minutes instead. He wasn't thrilled to be in the cross ties but we made do. I was more-so wasting time until Jeff got back to the cities and I had to go pick him up. Cody has been slower and slower these days so hopefully I can get the chiropractor out soon and fix him up a bit. I guess he and Axel traded their walks or something. Since he's been kind of skinny lately too we mostly just walked with a very small amount of trotting. I've added a second thing saddle blanket just to try and pad up his back a bit until he gains some weight back but I don't want to be slamming around on him in any case. He's definitely improved in the arena, he'll now willingly face away from the gate to be dismounted, I guess he figured out that was easier than fighting it. We haven't had too many issues with "inching" in the arena lately, but that'll be put to the test next time we go on a real trail ride or something. We still need work on backing up, maybe that'll go better after the chiro. He sure goes backward fast when he's pissed about being ridden away from the barn!

Way Too Hot

Cody looked a little mopey in the pasture yesterday. I groomed him outside and I nearly passed out from the heat. It was obvious we weren't going to ride so I found a spot in the shade to sit while Cody grazed. I thought maybe it'd be cooler in the arena so I groomed Axel in there but it was still too hot so it was back to the pasture and I went home to cool off. It's supposed to be cooler over the weekend so hopefully I can get some riding in and maybe someone else will be around to ride with.

Axel Has a Calling

Hopefully I can get some photos from tonight but for now all you get is text. My best friend from 6th-8th grade found me on Facebook last year and we always talked about getting together to catch up but today we finally did it. Liz's mom messaged me and said "hey can we come down and meet your horses and hang out?" So Liz, her mom, and Liz's 10 year old son all came down for some horse time. Liz's son is on the Autism spectrum so being a therapeutic riding instructor, horse time sounds good to me. We brought Axel into the crossties and everyone did some grooming which he stood for like a complete expert.

We saddled him up and brought him into the arena. I sent him around a few circles at the trot just to make sure the saddle was in the right place and that his head was in the right place. I led Liz's son around for a while and showed him how to steer and ask for a walk on and whoa. After a while he rode around without me leading. Axel just walked around, went where he was told, and didn't protest one bit. Liz's son got a little over zealous and asked Axel to trot which surprised him but it was only a few strides and everyone survived. He probably rode around for a good 45 minutes, at least it seemed that long just watching. Axel looked really good, he was carrying himself well, he was shiny, and he looked very nice.

Liz took a turn riding for a while and they wanted me to ride a bit and "go fast." Axel actually had a couple nice canters and one disunited canter. But no bucking so yay Axel. Liz's son wanted to get back on one more time and do some trotting so I led and we trotted a few times before we called it a night. Axel took a while but finally showed everyone how he can lay down and roll over. Liz's son decided he really likes the horses and was hugging all over Axel and the same on Cody when we turned Axel out. I knew Axel would be a good therapy horses or heck just a good kid's horse.

Holy Wind, Batman

I didn't realize quite how windy it was until I got on the horse. Groomed Cody outside, tacked him up, added a second thin saddle blanket to his outfit, threw on his hoof boots, and we headed down the driveway. Cody was very indecisive and really wanted to be back at the barn but we plugged along. We made it down the one side of the road in the ditch and crossed over to the other side to go a little further. In addition to the wavering he also spent a lot of time trying to back up. Which just proves that he can back up a lot easier then the lets me think when I ask for it. Luckily he's pretty reluctant to really spazz out so a swift kick to the sides snaps him out of his reverse gear. I'm hoping that he figures out how much nicer it is to just go forward when I want than to fight the whole way. When he was moving forward decently we turned around and went back.

The first few yards he brought out his 2 beat walk, tried a little trot, and then settled in. He sped up again when a car whizzed by us, it was so windy you couldn't hear the cars til they were right up your rear end. About 2 blocks from the barn Cody settled in and walked at a pace slightly faster than on the way out. We went past the driveway, turned around, and then went back to the barn.

I just groomed Axel a bit, still trying to get off some of the red winter hair but it's not all gone yet. He was nice and shiny until I started brushing and that just brought all the dust to the top. Whoops. I managed to get Axel to do some leg stretches which I plan to try and do every time I'm out there. I lunged him a little in the pasture just to get him to move a bit before turning him out and heading home.

The Vet Visits

I'm still contemplating how I feel about the new vet but here's the events of yesterday. I got there about an hour early, figured I'd groom and get the horses ready. Groomed Axel first since I planned to have Cody's work done first, I could turn Axel out alone and didn't think he'd work himself into a tizzy at all. They're both still shedding - when will it end? When I was done grooming Cody we hung out with Steele and his owner, eating grass in the yard. The barn owner came out and brought some beers so we stood around and chatted. The vet pulled up and turned out to be a pretty quietly demeanored man and a little scatter brained perhaps. He took care of Steele first since his owner had to leave right away. Cody was next. I explained he hadn't had his teeth done in 2 years and that was the first time in his life. I told him how he had wavemouth and caudal hooks and sores in his cheeks etc. Concern #1, vet said he didn't know what those things were (wavemouth and caudal hooks). So he said he'd feel around and see what he thought. Cody fought this a lot which I was mildly happy about because I figured that meant there wouldn't be any question that he'd get sedated for the floating. When the vet could finally get his hands in his mouth he said he didn't feel any sharp spots and his teeth were as dull as they could be. Concern #2, he also said when he floats teeth he just sticks the float in and files away, he doesn't do much feeling around. He mentioned he prefers to float in the fall and he would take a peek again at that time and maybe run the float around his mouth at that time. On the sheath cleaning front, he seemed to be of the opinion that if nothing is swollen then there's no reason to clean out their sheaths and that even if there's a bean up there it's not hurting anyone (?). He said he'd sedate and do it if I wanted but at that point I figured there's no reason to put Cody through sedation just for this sheath, I just thought since he'd be sedated for teeth why not get it all done. So in the end both horses just got their Rabies shots.

This leaves me with enough money to get the chiropractor to come out. I think if Cody doesn't put on some weight, and the chiropractor doesn't make him feel better, then I might see if I can get Brad out for a second opinion on the teeth later this year. I think this new vet is not an equine dentist and while I'm not willing to put my horses through a floating if they don't need it, I'm not certain he could really tell what was going on by just a quick feel that didn't involve getting all the way to the back. Perhaps next spring or this fall if one of the other boarders has a different vet out I'll meet them and see what I think. The guy was nice and gentle but he didn't seem overly thorough and maybe a little too laid back. Hey he could be right but can't hurt to have a second opinion.

Two Rides on a Windy Day

Of course yesterday when it was gorgeous outside I spent the evening in the movie theater. Tonight it was windy and threatening to storm so I went out to the barn. Go figure. It wasn't raining yet so I groomed Axel outside where the wind could blow away any hair. He's still shedding a bit but almost back to black again. A couple spots the hair came off in big chunks, slowly but surely he'll be back to his shiny self.

I decided to just put the western saddle on him, I seem to sit better/deeper, I think because the western saddle doesn't have the thick panels. I lunged him a bit, he did really well at the trot and even had what I'd consider a nice extended trot (for Axel at least). He was a bit full of himself and kept trying to buck instead of canter but he wasn't pulling, just kind of being generally humpy. The arena was pretty warm so he was good and warmed up. He still doesn't quite get the bending exercise. We rode at a nice walk for a while where he was actually moving out a bit. The trot to the right went well but to the left he wanted to either stop, canter, or buck. He does not like when I post on the left diagonal. That diagonal leaves me sitting when his left hind is on the ground and that's his sore foot. I should probably just post the wrong diagonal but I'm afraid of unbalancing him. When I got off he followed me around for a bit and when I went to try and get him to do some stretches he immediately thought we were doing the bowing trick. Actually he was looking for his snack that he gets sometimes when we do that trick. He did finally let me stretch his front legs a bit. We'll have to ease into the back legs but those are the ones he needs the most.

I so wish I would have had my video camera on me today. When Axel finally laid down to roll he did his usual routine. Got his left side all nice and dirty and then worked on rolling completely over. Somewhere in the middle of one of his attempts his back legs went straight up in the air and he proceeded to kick them up and down like a little baby for a good 5 seconds before finally making it over to the right side. It was truly one of the funniest things I've ever seen Axel do.

Cody seemed to do alright in the pasture by himself while Axel was in the arena. He has dropped quite a bit of weight though. It's been a while since I've put the weight tape on him but he measured at 952lbs which I think is too light for him. Axel coincidentally taped at 1172lbs and he's actually looking really nice these days. I groomed Cody outside as well, he's still shedding a bit but he's harder to groom since he's a little bonier and more sensitive. He stood calmly in the arena tied to the wall while I tacked him up. Another boarder came in to work with her horse so Cody was less than excited to be lunged, he wanted to watch the other horse but we worked it out. Cody remembered the bending exercise after some work on it.

He was reluctant to walk out because it was in the direction away from the other horse. He finally gave in when I asked him to trot so we trotted in a circle for a bit. The other horse was working on ground tying so we trotted around as a bit of a temptation and Danny just stood there. Wish my horses would ground tie like that! I didn't want to do too much work with Cody. With his weight loss the saddle isn't fitting the greatest and I only had one pad to use. He was probably just distracted but almost seemed out of energy as well. We worked on the halt while I chatted with the other boarder for a while. It was probably the most patient Cody has been in a long time so after standing there for a while I got off. We stood there a little longer while the other boarder and horse left the arena. Cody even stood patiently for that. Of course as soon as we turned away from the gate to take off the saddle he got concerned and we fought for a while over that.

I tried a little bit of work with the whip to get him to stand patiently and look at me while crazy things were happening around him. He was pretty confused, started to understand, and then tuned out. We also worked a bit on some of the turns on the forehand and haunches, trying to get to a point where I don't have to actually push him around.

The vet is supposed to be out around 5 on Friday to do some of the horses shots. The plan is for him to do both Cody and Axel's teeth and sheaths and their rabies shots. From what I'm told the vet doesn't usually sedate for teeth but I don't imagine he's going to get too close to either end of Cody at least without sedation. Seems like a late appointment to do teeth but maybe he's just going to take a peek and set up a time in the future. Luckily I will be around on Friday to be there. Saturday Steph is going to come out and show me how to do injections and get their 5-way and Flu shots done and hopefully go for a ride.

More Work for Cody

Lots of action at the barn tonight, some of the other boarders had their farrier out doing shoes and whatnot and the barn owners were out working on the yard. I groomed Cody outside, he's just about done shedding just a few long hairs left. He stood fairly patiently and was watching the dogs and the barn owners in the yard instead of longing after the horses in the other pasture. I put him in the arena to tack up and as soon as I put the saddle on his back, before I even cinched it up, he started in with the yawning. I'm going to have to have Dr. Westman out to do some chiropractic work on him and see if that helps at all in addition to the dental work and having his sheath cleaned.

I lunged him for a bit at the walk and trot. He wasn't too keen on cantering on the lunge and I didn't have the whip. He remembered the bending exercise really well also so I mounted up and off we went. He was fairly distracted by all the goings on but he was listening pretty well. We did some circles in the corners of the arena at the walk and then we trotted a big circle for quite a while working on the bend and relaxing and then a little bit on making the circle wider.

We moved back onto the rail and when he was trotting calmly I asked for the canter. He actually picked up the first lead pretty well. The other direction took a few tries including one run off into the wall but the bending helped get his attention back where it belonged. It was warm in the arena and we had worked pretty hard. In fact we hadn't even worked on the halt at all because we hadn't stopped moving. Another boarder came in with her horse to do some groundwork so Cody and I worked on the halt at the far end of the arena. He seems to be getting better at it. And I've started asking him to back up when we stop. He's reluctant at first but after I ask-he fights-he gives in, then the next time he gets it right. Slowly but surely.

And just for the sake of it I started with a cue to get Cody to pick up his front foot to work on teaching him to bow as well. I've decided to start with the horses picking up their hoof, then holding their hoof up, then I'll move onto the bowing part. When all was said and done I went to put Cody's saddle down and get his lead rope, Danny was learning what hobbles were, and the other boarder grabbed a pitch fork. Something spooked Cody and he flew backwards, not sure what it was but he stopped and was fine. He backed out of the barn aisle like a champ (hey Axel, take a hint!).

Lots of Riding

Cody went first tonight. I groomed outside and I'm glad I did, the hair was flying. Luckily both horses are starting to get a bit shiny so maybe there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Cody and I started with some of the bending exercises from the previous day. It only took a few spins before he remembered what I wanted. We did a few circles as well and then I tacked up to ride. I was going to try some circling techniques from the Stacy Westfall demo. The point was to keep a bend using the inside rein, keep traveling in the circle, and then work on widening the circle with the outside rein. He's supposed to gain some balance in his movements and then we're supposed to work into a figure 8 where half the 8 is counter bent. We didn't make it to the figure 8 but he did pretty well with trotting in the circle. I worked on some of the bending from in the saddle as well and that took a few more spins than on the ground. I asked for some canter as well. He took several tries to get into the right lead canter and picked up the wrong lead a few times until I counter bent him in a corner. The left lead canter he picked up on the first try but wasn't terribly excited to maintain it for any length of time. We had a few good downward transitions from trot to halt or walk. We even had some fairly decent halts. I need to add more backing up to our halts but I did make sure I never asked him to move forward out of the halt, we only changed directions. He's definitely started to figure out that when I'm going to dismount I want him facing away from the gate in the opposite end of the arena and that I do not want him to try and turn around to look at the gate. The nice thing about Cody is that with consistent work a person can really see his improvements.

Axel only had some minor screaming bouts while we were in the arena. When I took Axel out of the pasture and groomed him at the rail, Cody ran around a bit and made fuss. I took Axel in the arena and we did some lunging before working on the bow. The bow work didn't go quite as well as yesterday but I think it's a slow process. I was huffing and puffing by the end of our session. I picked up his foot and lowered his head over and over again. Every once in a while I'd tempt him with a treat. One instance he bit my finger which still hurts, my own fault but dang. That will just help me not use treats very often for this trick. One time he touched his knee to the ground and I patted him and praised him. Another time he had his head all the way upside down nearly touching the ground so he got praise for that one as well. Of course I tried to video tape both the bow work and riding Cody but my aiming skills are less than stellar so it's back to the drawing board on that one. I'll see what I can piece together and add them later.

The lady that owns Danny came in right as we were finishing so I asked if she wanted to ride down the road. I tacked up and she and I went down the road and then up the next block. She thought the total trip was about 4 miles. The brown western saddle is a lot harder than my butt tends to like. Axel did pretty good and kept up with Danny and I don't think Danny was being held back at all. He didn't even try to kick him until the end of the ride but he was also stomping his foot spontaneously which we later found out was due to a stone stuck in his frog. Cody was having a minor fit when we left and one when we returned but I suppose he just kept up with the fit while we were gone we just couldn't hear him. I think he's at least changed his fits from pacing and screaming to just standing and screaming so he wasn't sweaty at all when we got back.

I will probably run out tomorrow again for a few minutes and just do some groundwork to give each horse a chance to get out of the pasture away from the other horse. I still hope that they will eventually figure out that it isn't the end of the world when one of them leaves.

Spinning in Circles

Axel was first tonight. I put a training surcingle and a bridle on him and got out my new ropes. They are little heavy and that in combination with Axel forgetting what long lining was about made for some awkward driving. I wanted to start with regular long lining/lunging with the long lines but Axel was mighty confused about the situation. We drove a little, he fought with the bit and the lines and assumed an extreme rollkur position with his head. I wasn't pulling on the reins he was doing it all to himself so I just let him work through it, the side effect was that he was still stepping pretty well under himself and stretching through his neck to the poll. So I guess in the end some good will come out of it. We were finally able to trot around in a circle to the right. He did not like going to the left and would cut the circle short and then face me and get confused as to where to go. We'll definitely have to work on that more. He broke in the canter a few times and then startled himself when he'd hit the end of the lines in his mouth. I had him lunge a few times around without the surcingle and bit and just a single line so he could stretch out a bit and get into a canter. After the pseudo collected work he went into the canter really easily comparatively.

The shining point was when I was about to be done I decided to see where we could get with learning how to bow. I had no treats but I figured I'd give it a go anyway. The best I can figure is that it has to be done in parts. I was able to get his head down just by a bit of pressure on the halter. He'd keep his head down (probably just smelling the ground) so I picked up his front foot. I asked him to keep his head down and I pulled back a bit on his front foot. After a few seconds of encouragement he leaned back just enough that his lifted leg touched the ground and I let him up and rewarded him with scratches and praise. We did the same process a second time with the same results so I stopped there. Hopefully if we go gradual like that when he really puts weight on that knee he won't freak himself out. I'm not certain he can really stretch down physically like that but it's worth a try. I should probably teach him on both sides, it's a good stretch.

Cody was freaking out in the pasture while I had Axel in the barn. The other boarder had Danny in the arena at this time so Cody was pretty happy to work in there. He was very unresponsive when asked to circle so when she took Danny out to groom and saddle I started some work I saw at the Stacy Westfall demo. I wanted to be able to bend Cody's neck around and have him stand still while I asked for the bend. When I asked for the bend he'd spin or more commonly he'd back up. So we spun and backed up and spun and backed up over and over again. Ran into the wall, moved back to where there was room, rinse and repeat. I was ready to give up, he just wasn't getting what I wanted and I didn't think he was going to get it. But just as I thought we were going to be done he started to pause his spinning when I bent. So I kept it up and finally he understood. Danny was in the arena now and I think that might have helped as he was a bit calmer with life but I kept it up and I was able to bend him in both directions without him moving his feet. I tried some turns on the forehand after that but he's a bit sticky with that now because of the bending so we'll have to work on both so he can tell the difference. We spent a little time standing still while I chatted with the other boarder and he did pretty good with that.

I have to go over my notes a bit more and make sure I'm keeping up with what needs to be done to teach him to whoa and mean it. I did make sure that after I asked for a whoa I didn't move him forward but turned him instead. Axel screamed a little bit while we were in the barn but he quieted down a lot quicker than Cody did. I really should keep going out there as much as I can even if it's just to walk each horse into the barn for a few minutes while the other one learns that he won't be alone forever.

2009 Horse Expo

The MN Horse Expo was this weekend and I spent Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from open to nearly close at the fairgrounds. I set up and opened the We Can Ride booth on all three days and on Friday and Saturday closed down the booth for the evening. Hit the rodeo on Friday with Steph and her dad, sidewalked for the demo on Saturday, and walked around with Tricia and her dad on Sunday. In between I attended all of the Stacy Westfall presentations and was very impressed. I have quite a few notes on some of the stuff she went over. She had a session on "Teaching Whoa" so I paid close attention to that one since I can't seem to get Cody to stand still for more than a second after I ask for a whoa. She showed some patterns she likes to use while riding and even went over a bit on how to teach the horse to spin. There was another presenter that I watched a few times and got some different riding pattern ideas from him but by far Stacy Westfall's presentations were the most useful. Now of course I just have to go out and get them to work for my horses! Watch out boys, I have new tools in my tool box!

So on top of all the good information I picked up I also did a bit of shopping. Came home with some $175 boots used for $25, two 23' lead ropes to use for lunging as well as long lining and ground driving, this year's vaccinations, and a lint brush. So as far as I'm concerned it was a successful expo!

Movie Star

Keep Trying

It was a better day than yesterday but I still think Cody and Axel should be with a herd. In any case both horses were standing randomly in the pasture snoozing. I grabbed Axel first and groomed at the hitching rail. My thought was that we'd sort of be out of Cody's line of sight but he could see us if he needed to. I thought that would ease him into us being in the arena. He wasn't terribly concerned with our absence. He called a few times but it seemed to be directed towards the other horses and not Axel. Axel was being kind of a pain while tied, he kept chewing on the rope and I couldn't figure out if he was just chewing or if he was actually cribbing. I'm hoping he was just trying to untie himself.

We went into the barn and I tacked him in the crossties where he stood fairly decent. Seems like he starts flinging his head when I put the saddle on him. I just put the western saddle on out of laziness. We did the basic walk and trot. His trot was just okay. He wanted to stop a lot so I tried to just keep him moving. He greatly dislikes me posting on the left diagonal and almost always stops. We had a few rounds with him in a long and low position which was nice. He was shuffling quite a bit for most of our trotting, I couldn't quite get him to pick up his feet. When I asked for more go he'd try to canter for a stride and then back to his trot. I did ask for the canter a few times but only got a few lazy strides, no bucking tonight though. We tried a few turn on the forehand which I think went better than the first time, it felt like he was swinging his rear end around at least for a step. I hadn't set up the camera so I'll just have to keep working until I can see what he's really doing.

When I dismounted I let him roll in the arena and then I put down the fake bridge so he could work on backing off a step. He stepped up easily and even stood there with all four feet waiting for the next request. I asked him to back off and he did what he usual does, took one step off and hopped right back up. I kept urging him on until he finally stepped all the way off. We worked on that a few times. One attempt he had just the tip of his back toes on the bridge balancing there while I did my best to encourage him to step down. He did alright overall but he seems pretty hesitant to step off going backwards. We'll keep working on it. It's almost as if he doesn't bend his knees to get off the bridge both forwards and backwards. He just kind of falls off instead of stepping.

Cody seemed almost okay with being left alone. I heard him calling a few times but he didn't seem as frantic as Axel was the day prior, but it was windy and the radio was on so I couldn't completely hear while in the arena. I tied Cody in the arena and brushed him quickly and tacked him up. He's the only horse I know that can pace while tied to a wall. I was lazy and just used the rope halter instead of a bridle. After this ride we'll be switching to the bit. He was preoccupied with the entrance as usual. We did some circles in the corners in both directions. I like riding Cody at the walk he actually moves. We trotted a bit. Cody speeds up quite a bit when I post. I asked for a canter as well, it took quite a bit of encouraging to get him into it and he pretty much ran into it. Things were kind of getting a little out of control. He wanted to run to the gate and wasn't listening at all so we went back to trotting in circles until he started listening again. I dismounted, untacked in the furthest corner, and lead him back to the gate without a leadline practicing some halts and backing in the process. We spent a few minutes on turn on the forehand and haunches and some sidepassing before backing out of the barn and going back to the pasture. Axel seemed like he was a little calmer than the day before but he was a little concerned. When I put Cody back I took him to the furthest corner to let him go. Today he actually stood there while I walked away from him instead of running off. Of course he started pacing after I left the pasture. They'll both get some time off as I'm booked the rest of the week and the horse expo is all weekend.

Two Herd Bound Horses

I get to the barn tonight and Cody and Axel are in the front pasture by themselves. They're grazing a bit and are pretty calm and not concerned with the other horses in the back pasture. I was early enough that no one else was around, I had forgotten that the hunter girls ride on Monday. I was going to see if I could at least get some grooming done before they got there so Cody and I went into the barn. Cody slipped on the aisle floor because his feet were muddy and that scared him. I was going to crosstie him but he was pretty worked up so I just tied him to one while I grabbed my grooming bag. Actually by that time he had calmed down but I decided to go into the arena with him to do a little groundwork before grooming. While we were in there I could here some really weird noises coming from outside. At first I thought it was from the mares next to the arena but I realized it was Axel. I let Cody go so I could check and make sure Axel wasn't going to knock down a fence or anything. He was in the pasture running around as fast as he could. Unfortunately my video taping did not work out how I had planned so I only ended up with one sort of usable video.

So now I'm thinking "great they move my horses and now I have to deal with two herd bound horses." I brought Cody outside, luckily Axel had taken a break from his heart attack so I wasn't rewarding his behavior. I put Cody on the hitching rail and groomed him out there.

The hunter girls arrived and took their horses out of the pastures. The horses that had been in the front pasture were now in with the grays and Danny. When the girl took her mare out those horses started having a fit. Then Diva the arab mare was having a fit because her pasture mate was in the arena as well. Then Axel was having a fit. And Cody was calling. It was really great, I was getting quite frustrated. When I was done grooming Cody I started walking him back and forth within sight and out of sight of Axel to try and bore Axel of the whole ordeal. The barn owner came out and mentioned that Cody was doing so well. I pointed out that I now had two herd bound horse. Her response was that "they'll get over it." I agree, they will get over it, I want them to get over it so I can have my horses back and maybe have them a little more able to go out alone or stay alone in the pasture. But I wish the "they'll get over it" attitude applied when my horses were having issues in the herd. Instead they just pulled them out of that herd and put them alone to leave me to deal with not being able to handle either of my horses due to herd bound-ness. Ug. Anyway I'll give them the benefit of the doubt for now because all the horses were worked up, it was cold, the wind was blowing like mad, and everyone was running around. We'll reassess when things calm down in general.

Axel had started to calm down quite a bit so I put Cody back in the pasture and took Axel out. At least Axel is calm when he's with even just another person. Cody isn't. Axel stood at the hitching rail while I groomed. He's started shedding again so I was covered in hair by the time I was done. Since it was so windy I cleaned out my grooming bag as well, it was full of hair. I put Axel back and sort of hoped they'd all run around again but they just went on their way grazing.

TGIF

Friday I went out to the barn for a quick check on the boys since I was out of town all weekend. They were still separated (and I assume they'll stay that way :( ) but it seemed like Cody was starting to calm down about the situation. Though it's hard to tell since the other group of horses was up by the feeder. The barn owner thought he had stopped pacing but we'll see.

I grabbed Cody and we went into the arena to work for a little while before I had to head out. We did some circling and backing and worked on some of the turn on the haunches and forehand and even some sidepassing. He wasn't totally understanding the sidepassing but that was because he was a lot calmer and didn't have quite as much "forward" as he had this past week when he was sidepassing up a storm. But I'm glad we started working on it because I think he retain a little of what I want and we'll just keep working. I'm wondering how to transfer that to under saddle. We didn't work for too long because he was doing so good and was so calm. I let him (I think - that was three days ago) off lead for a while and asked him to canter a bit in both directions. He was disuniting for a while but worked out of it.

When we were finished we stood outside for a few minutes chatting with the barn owner and Cody was very patient standing there. I didn't take him down to the same corner of the paddock since I wasn't wearing my boots but we still went to the opposite corner and I let him go there. This time he stood pretty well for me to take off his halter, he did promptly go to see who was at the fence but didn't completely blow me off like he usually does. We'll see how he's doing this week.