Bad blogger strikes again - Update time!

The sad part is that I have lots to talk about but just cannot find the time to write it down in a story.  Thus I am going to make some short and sweet comments about the past couple of weeks.  The week after we hauled out for our lesson, the vet came out for spring shots.  I also had him look at the App and the TWH for a lameness exam, I was pretty certain it was time to inject the App's hocks but wanted to make sure first.  The TWH passed with flying colors as SOUND!  He had no sensitivity to his suspensory ligaments and was moving very well.  Go TWH!  The App, however, was showing full body stiffness and Dr A isolated the majority of it to his hocks and stifles.  His hocks were full of arthritis and his stifles are really loose.  I had his hocks injected and was told I have to work him more to get his stifles tighter and to keep him in shape.  Can do!  The App had 2 days of stall rest, a day of being locked in the arena and then started working on a lunge line.  He is now moving SO much better, it is hard to imagine it is the same horse.  I am very happy I had his hocks done, he looks so much more comfortable.

In a continued effort to fix my position, I rode the TWH to work on my position even though it is really hard to jump multiple jumps in my arena.  I set up a row of 3 bounces and have jumped them twice.  The first time I wasn't great but worked really hard on fixing my position.  The second time, however, really boosted my confidence level as I could feel that I was jumping correctly.  Apparently my issues were just being rusty from having so much time off, while I messed up a couple of times, the majority of the time I am nailing the position.  Go me!  The TWH also did really well, making it up to 3 2'6" bounces.  The first time through at that height he struggled as he knocked some rust off as well, he felt like he was lifting his knees to his ears!  He then started jumping higher and more round and we finished on a really good note.

I also took the opportunity to ride Mia through the bounces, with it being the first time she would have had multiple jumps in a row.  We certainly have our work cut out, she really likes to zoom through the fences and she is jumping them really wide however she never refused, tried each time I asked and really seemed to enjoy herself.  We started at 12" then 18" bounces before ending on 2' bounces.  For her very first time over them, she did really well!

Mia's canter is coming along fabulously, the cantering figure 8's recommended by H are really, really helping Mia find her balance.  She can now canter almost an entire circle to the right and keep her balance while doing it!  This is certainly a trick I am going to have to keep in my bag!  We have started putting together our dressage test and it is coming along well, the canter is still our hardest obstacle but we have a month to fix it.

The dressage work for TWH really makes me happy that I decided to NOT got to the April 13th show.  He is making significant progress in dressage and I am confident we are going to be ready for the May 4th show however he just isn't ready for an April show.  He has needed some really hard work to get his trot back to where it needs to be, it is mostly there again but now his trot/canter transition is sucky?!?  Add it to the list!  In better news, however, his canter/trot transition is FABULOUS!  I am so, so happy that I am not fighting that battle anymore AND he is also giving me 10m circles to the right without fighting this year.  Win!  I rode our dressage test a few times last night and I gotta say, we are getting there!  I think we are going to be really competitive this year, I am excited to see how things go.

So sorry it took so long to update everyone, I will again try to promise to be better.  Hope everyone is having a decent spring doesn't have nearly as much mud as I do :)