Progress and setbacks

SO is living it up at the new job and things are going REALLY well so far.  We have gotten a couple of very nice gifts from them and they are willing to pay for a LOT of stuff that his previous employer didn't.  And not expect a lot of things that his previous employer did.  It is looking very positive so far!  Topping that off with the fact he will actually be coming home for this weekend and next, it makes me a happy girl.

I decided on Monday that I needed to get my butt into gear and start on my fitness again.  I have a clinic mid April and I need to have my two point if I want to be able to jump and not look like a fool, right?  Time to get to work!  It is very obvious that I am not jumping fit, I found my baseline for two point.  After a good, long, cold winter, my base line for two point was 2 minutes and 40 seconds.  Oh pitiful, no way I can get around a course for that length of time!  Mia and I be bopped around the arena working on striding over a pole on the ground at both the trot and canter.  Overall it went really well.  Mia is slowly starting to figure out how to increase/decrease her stride upon request to match the pole.  We are not 100% but we are close to 80% and that is pretty good in my book.  We still have almost 2 months before our first event.

We did, however, have slip.  Mia slipped in a pee spot in the arena with the left hind and came up lame.  Pretty lame, actually and while she has no heat/swelling/sensitivity, she is certainly not right.  In addition to being short strided, she is also stabbing at the ground with her hoof.  Enough that she is sending up a spray of dirt in front of her toe with almost every step.  Grr.  I gave her bute and let her rest and as of this AM she is still off.  I took some video and sent them off to Dr A to see his opinion, hopefully he says just give it some time.  Figures.

Since Mia was lame, I rode App last night and he was a rock star.  He can be such a rock star when he wants to be.  He may be old and out of shape but he put up with all of my fitness antics like he actually cared as to if we accomplished goals.  Such a good horse.  After a bit of work, I timed myself again and was successfully able to make it to 4:30 in two point.  WIN!  That is awesome! I will take that kind of gain any day, but I certainly don't see myself making that kind of a gain again lol.  At the end, the outside of my ankles BURNED.  Fitness started, check.  Fitness obtained, negative.  Additional fitness needed, check.

I am off of riding until Sunday now thanks to giving lessons, if nothing else it gives Mia a chance to figure out how to heal herself.  I wish I could figure out where she hurt but apparently I suck at hind end lameness.  And since even the 10 second video is over 8mb, I can't get it to upload thanks to my slow internet.  Fun times.  That will be one of the highest priorities at our new place, good, fast internet.  Here's to hoping Mia is better fast and fitness goes well!

Some very big news

With things starting to actually warm up, mud season arrived.  With some strong winds over the past few days and no rain, things are finally drying up a little!  Most of the snow we have is just piles and in the shade, the majority of things are snow-free.  YAY!  I even was looking through my flower bed yesterday and saw little tiny green things starting to appear.  Houston, I think we found spring!  

Mia is doing really well under saddle still, lots of boring things that aren't fun to talk about.  Yay, she was soft, yay she stayed in contact, yay she was pushing from behind, yay she seemed to lift her back.  Wash, rinse, repeat, it comes across as quite boring.  M comes back from being gone mid-April so I still have a month to work on dressage and fitness.  Dressage is coming along quite well and I am excited to have her see my progress.  Fitness is not coming along well, however, and I have a lot of work to catch up on.  I did some two point this week at the walk and next week I am going to do some serious training again to get myself back up to par.  K and I are going to a clinic in April and are taking both a dressage and cross country lesson in it so I need to have my two point up to par by then so I don't look like a fool.  

The yearly vet visit was this past weekend and everything went well (and was less expensive than expected, yay!).  I did a lameness eval on both App and TWH and they both passed.  App still has arthritis in his hocks (obviously) but it isn't bad enough for him to need his hocks done again.  He is moving quite soundly for a 22 year old and even more work should make things better.  Now just need more time to get the more work in.  Ha!  TWH is sound as well with no residual suspensory issues after a year of going Novice.  Awesome!!  He was very slightly short in his right hind and Dr A is pretty sure that it is due to mud and his stifle being a little loose.  There is no fill or heat in his stifle, hocks or fetlocks however and he is pretty certain that once we get back to full fitness, the stifle will tighten up and things will be a-ok again.  Poles and jumping will help as well, which is good because that is the plan!

I do have some news, however.  Some really big news.  LogDog Acres is officially closing down.  We are selling our dream property and moving to northeastern PA and I will be going back to a boarding situation.  SO got a really good job offer (obviously, or we wouldn't be moving lol) and starts on Monday.  He will be going through training for 2 months and then will be scouting out the area for horse-friendly areas.  He is going to be in a field position so it is actually pretty flexible as to where we live, which is nice, so if anyone has any suggestions let me know.  I have looked up almost a dozen eventing barns that hold shows and wrote their towns down and hope to be fairly centrally located to several of them.  I won't be moving until the middle to the end of the year.  My expectation is to finish out the show season here in MI to go for points with Mia and hopefully win the Novice division this time.  After the show season is over, we will relocate and hopefully be moved by the end of the year.

With a very heavy heart, I am also selling TWH to K.  She completely adores him and she used the lameness eval as a pre-purchase of sorts so she knew what she would be looking at long-term.  She has been riding him for 6 months and he hasn't taken a lame step in the entire time which is very helpful.  She is going to show him all season and wants to eventually move up to Novice with him after a few years.  Both Dr A and I explained very clearly that Novice is as high as he could ever go and she is ok with that.  She is ok taking on a 12 year old horse that has slight arthritis.  She knows that eventually his hocks will need done and that I give him a monthly shot of Pentosan to help keep hock injections at bay.  Given all that, she agreed to buy him so he will remain the star of someones life and that makes me very happy.

On one hand, I am thrilled that he will have a great home with someone to dote on him daily, that makes him her priority and has no problem paying whatever may be needed to keep him happy and comfortable.  On the other hand, he and I have gone through a lot and he is very important to me.  I helped him sort through his emotional baggage that almost had him put down and he came out of it a very happy, sane horse that will try his heart out for anyone who asks.  Am I going to miss him dearly?  Yes.  She is going to post plenty of pictures and updates so I can watch from afar.  Yes.  He also has a buyback clause in his purchase agreement and she said she has no problem offering him back when she is done with him, if she ever is.  She is going to keep him here and will show with me until I am ready to leave. At that time I will help her find a good boarding barn and help get her set up on her own.  :*(

So this is my news, my life is getting flipped upside down and shaken out.  I have a  LOT of stuff I will be selling.  We won't be moving to another horse farm (unless something weird and strange happens) so the majority of my "stuff" is going to be liquidated.  I have already sold some stuff and I will be selling a lot more.  I am giving a whole tote of stuff to K so she has stuff for TWH from the start.  He will have his blanket, fly mask, some show sheets, a sleezy, a cooler, tail bags, tack hook, wraps, all kind of things.  So if anyone needs something in particular, let me know.  My blog is about to change from a training blog to a training and moving one, I hope you don't mind the journey!

The thaw begins

This week has been an oddity, it has been above 40 degrees.  Every day.  That hasn't happened since, when, November?  It is AWESOME!!  It has allowed me to ride my beasts AND be outside and not hate life!  Here is to hoping it doesn't dip back down, it shouldn't but who knows anymore. WARM!!!   The flip side to that is that everything is very wet.  Very, very wet.  The front eighth of the arena is wet thanks to the water coming in while everything was frozen.  I have that fixed and once it dries out I SHOULD have a dry arena during the spring.  I am much more optimistic than I have been the past 3 springs where 3/4 of the arena has flooded, I think I have the process down now.

I rode App on Saturday because why not.  We started in the arena before finishing on the road.  He was really good in the arena but became a jackhole on the road.  Well, no.  Only on the way back.  Rushing, jigging, refusing to slow down.  Argh I remembered what I hated about App.  The road was 80% ice so we walked in the ditch a lot so he didn't kill us by slipping b/c he was being an ass and once we got back in the driveway I went off on him.  After a good "discussion", I made him walk up and down the driveway until he listened to my seat.  What an ass he can be when he wants to.  He was 100% perfect on the way out.  Grrr.

Mia was much better.  I have been riding her strictly dressage and things are going really well.  I have said it before, but I am excited to ride with M so she can see our progress.  Mia is now stretching down into the bridle most of the time and isn't bracing like she was.  She can even carry herself in the canter both directions pretty well (yay for treats!).  Our ride Sunday was great.  Monday she was pretty good at the trot but obviously had a case of the zoomies and our canter wasn't so great.  It took a good while before I got her to listen and not chug along while ignoring me.  We even lost our steering a few times in the canter as she wasn't paying any attention to my outside leg and almost ran over TWH and K.  I made her do canter quarter circles (canter a quarter circle, trot a quarter/half circle) and that really helped get her brain back in her head and we finished on a good note.

Of course then yesterday I noticed my hip kinda hurt so I didn't ride.  I stretched it out some and went to bed and today it HURTS.  Figures.  I took some drugs and hope to be better for tonight when I have to give a lesson.  My plan is to take it easy tonight and see how it goes.  Figures I am sore right when it warms back up.  Grrr.

The vet is out this coming Saturday for shots/coggins and to see how App is.  I will have a lameness done on him to verify that his hocks are still doing fine.  I think they are but history has proven I suck at identifying hind end lameness.  I also have some big news, some very big news that I will be announcing shortly.  Enjoy the warmer weather and I hope people can find a semi-dry place to ride!

300th post!!!!! A look back at my journey

It is hard to believe I have been doing this for 300 posts.  Three hundred!!  I have 29 followers and have semi-regular comments on most of my posts.  How awesome is that!  I figured in celebration of my 300^th post I would do a recap of my time in blog world.  This is very link heavy :)  Once upon a time, a lady moved to Michigan with her 2 horses and it all began….

In January 2011 I got a donkey to rehab because I wanted a companion for the horses and I felt sorry for her.  I gave her until August and if she wasn’t better I was going to let her go to be pain free. February 2011 I found a riding buddy in RB1 and also decided to give up on showing dressage shows with TWH and focus on eventing.  Stupid politics.  In April TWH and I went XC schooling for the first time and it was a success, in May TWH jumped 3’6” for the first time ever and figured out that refusing isn't an option.  It also made me realize just how hard 3'6" is for TWH.   Appy went XC in super wet conditions and TWH went to our first hunter/jumper show and we won ribbons!  In June TWH had our first ever real eventing show and placed 2^nd!!  He was going to become an eventer and it made me so happy.

We celebrated the donkey's 6 month anniversary and her successful rehab.  In July I met RB3 and in August TWH went to our second ever hunter/jumper show and won ribbons again.  September came around and App and I went to our last eventing show though I didn't know it at the time.  I wish we could go again, maybe at a lower level.  Someday.  

TWH went to his second eventing show and we got our first ever 3 and 4 in dressage (for pacing) but still placed in the ribbons because TWH is a rockstar in jumping.  In October I got my first blogger award and also determined what kind of bedding I really did NOT like.  In November I posted some videos of the App jumping and then I determined the bedding I really DID like.  And still love.

  

February 2012 I met RB4 and she has been an awesome friend ever since, she is my right hand gal at shows and I love it.  Come March my awesome vet alerts me to App’s declining vision and I started training a horse for RB3.  We also get chickens (of which, only 2 are left L) and our farm becomes a real farm now that there are chickens.  In April I pick up a new boarder/training horse and things start going badly, a precursor for the rest of the year.  I tear my calf muscle in May which causes App’s last eventing show  (though I didn't know it at the time) to be done with someone else but he still placed first cause he is awesome.

I get bronchitis and still help sell the horse I had in training for RB3 because breathing is just a minor detail.  In June I have my first fall in Michigan but I don't call it a REAL fall and I am done with the training horse after he re-tore ligaments in my knee which forces me to fire my first customer, which almost severs my friendship with RB4.  I enjoyed my last ride before I went in for surgery and had to wait until August to finally get back in the saddle.  In September I started teaching the donkey to drive which quickly progressed to teaching her to drag poles.  Cause I wanted my ass to pull my ass around in a cart!!

2013 started well with TWH working with COWS and he didn't freak out!  I finally had the dentist out for the first time since late 2010 (cause I am a bad horse mom) but there wasn't any serious problems because of the delay.  March gave me my second jumping session since surgery and in April I shared that I had to rehome the donkey (who is still doing very well!) which was/is sad but then I went to ROLEX and had a great time!!

In May TWH and I had our first show of the year and it was a success as was our second show in June.  TWh and I went to our first ever clinic in July and we also finished the HUGE project of fencing in our property as pasture.   September started off amazingly with a great show and TWH and I started to go Novice level.  That success was immediately tempered with the realization that TWH was hurt and that App was also lame.  2 broken horses in a 2 horse home is not a good balance.  We went to the equine hospital for ultrasounds and that realization was enough for me to realize TWH wouldn't make it through the higher levels.  They say everything happens for a reason, if TWH hadn't been hurt and App hadn't been going blind, I wouldn't have considered Mia.  

Thankfully come October things started going better.  I started Mia from the ground back up and in November started cantering.  December had the Blogger gift exchange hosted by Tracy and I got TWH’s most favorite treat in the mail, he really appreciated it!  

2014 though, 2014 was a whirlwind of activity.  As Mia jumped for the first time, I realized I may have a superstar on my hands and I finally had sound horses again.  In February I had my first bareback ride on Mia which was nerve wracking and finally got the courage to canter outside of an arena (big girl panties!).  It shouldn't have been that hard but I really think I was scarred from the 2nd training horse more than I realized.  Thankfully all better now.

Mia had her first ever cross country schooling and I sprained my finger (which still hasn’t recovered almost a year later) and then went to her first ever clinic where we met our current trainer M.  TWH’s season opener show was in the Novice division and we started rocking the season.  The second show in June went just as well and we were moving up in points.  

Mia’s first ever judged trail ride was in July and I learned she does NOT like bridges but her first real show was in August and she was awesome with a 2^nd place in both classes.  TWH dealt with my stupidity in dressage and again placed at the Novice level in spite of it and ended the season sound.  September had Mia’s eventing debut at the Beginner Novice level and October had results that were good for her experience level and we learned a LOT.  TWH got a new leaseee K and showed in the 18" division.

November had me ordering my first ever new vehicle and it is S-E-X-Y.  We also found out TWH and I won reserve champion in our division for year end awards.  YAY!!  I finally participated in No Stirrup November and was pleased with the results, going to have to keep doing that and not slack off.  SO and I ended 2014 huge and I went on the best vacation ever.  

2015 has been good so far.  I started taking lessons from an actual dressage instructor and am seeing really good changes and Mia and I actually jumped up to 3’9”.  How you ask?  Amazingly enough, if you refuse to look at the jump AT ALL, you can’t see  how big they are!  Who knew, right?  K is riding TWH several times a week and he is looking and acting great. 

Our plans for 2015 so far is to go to a clinic in April and our first show is the first and second weekend of May.  Thanks for joining me on this journey, it has been fun!  I hope that you decide to stick with me even though I don't post a lot of pictures and I don't post a whole lot.  Here is to the next 300 posts!!

Cold here? Yeah, it is cold.

Geez, when was I even able to ride last?  I know I rode on Monday.  I don't think I have been able to ride since.  I have had to cancel giving all of my lessons.  And this morning the tractor refused to even run so I could scoop poo.  Yep, it is cold.  -14 this morning.  Yesterday was a high of 3.  Yep.  3 degrees.  It isn't going to be even decent until at least Saturday.  It might possibly be kind of high enough to do SOMETHING tomorrow but most likely not.

So do I have anything of interest to post about?  Not really.  I rode Mia last week and actually had a good ride.  I rode with K (Sunday??) and Mia started out REALLY well but reverted back to being unable to function in the canter to the right.  Head high, unbalanced, refusing to bend, going super fast, etc.  I broke out the draw reins in an attempt to keep her a tiny bit together and despite a good fight, we did end on a good note.  On Monday I came out with a much better plan.  I KNOW that Mia can do this, she is just refusing for whatever reason.  So let me tip the tables in my favor and make her WANT to do what I want, I brought treats.  We had a really good warmup (our trot is coming along really well!) and then I worked on trot/canter transitions.  As soon as I was able to get her to be balanced I immediately stopped and shoved a treat in her mouth.  That took all of 3 times before she decided she could be balanced.  I repeated the process with her head and after 2 attempts she was cantering around balanced and with her head forward and down.  Yep, that's my mare.  Can't force her!

Since then I haven't been able to do anything.  With single digit or below zero temps at night and single digit highs on the weekends, I am sequestered to the house and the horses get to enjoy some cold time off.  Appy is super happy is his new(er) heavyweight Amigo blanket with hood.  Mia is snug in her Schneiders blanket and I even put TWH's blanket on.  I have bumped everyone's hay up to 15-18lbs per bag, 2x a day from 12-13lbs per bag, 2x a day and so far no one has wasted it.  Win!  Hopefully this Arctic blast decides to go back to the Arctic soon and I can ride my ponies.  Stay warm!

So then this happened, OMG BIG

I haven't had too much ability to ride this past week thanks to the cold, I had to cancel 2 lessons thanks to it not even being 10 degrees out.  Ick. This weekend, however, it went all the way up to 40 degress so some riding needed to be one  Yeah, I know, it isn't that warm to a lot but it is really warm to someone who has been living in single digits for a good long while.  This morning was busy with non-horse stuff but this afternoon K came over with some friends and rode App and TWH.  I made it into a mini lesson so her friends can see some of TWH's fancier movements and they seemed to think it was cool that he could change how he moved so much.  They asked if I would hop on the App to show some of the things Kara has said he can do, no one else can really make him do it and they wanted to see his training.

I hopped on Appy and had a good ride.   It is funny, back when I rode him exclusively there were so many days that we would argue over basic stuff and now on the few times i hop on, he collects right up and tries really hard to do all of the fancy stuff that he can do but doesn't have really have the muscle to do anymore.  They were very impressed with his shoulders in, haunches in, half pass, flying changes, halt/canter transitions and 5-10m canter pirouettes.  Appy certainly tried really hard to do some of the movements but I could tell that he doesn't have the muscle for a lot of it.  One day I will have my fit horse again, ONE DAY!!

K's friends then asked if I would ride Mia, they had heard about my riding (?? nothing that special!) and really wanted to see Mia.  They then asked if I would jump, I mean I haven't jumped since around November so why not haha!  Especiallly after they offered to be my jump crew!?!  Deal sealed.  They set up a simple grid exercise with 3 trot poles to a crossrail to a one stride oxer per my instructions and we warmed up and went throught it.  Mia was a bit excited through the poles the first few times and I had to slow her up a lot until she finally decided that she did not need to canter through the poles and we then progressed pretty quickly.  With our first jump a 2' vertical, we progressed quickly to a 3' ascending vertical for the second jump.  Mia knocked the jump down with her hind toes a couple of times before some leg was added and she started clearning the jump again.

Feeling brave, I had K bump the jump up to 3'3" in an effort to challenge Mia.  With no issues whatsoever, we kept going up.  3'3" was the highest we have ever jumped and we obliterated that today.  What did Mia and I end up doing?  Well, I kept telling myself it was only 3'3" until we were done and I hopped off.  What did Mia easily clear?  Without knocking poles over?  Without a single refusal, run out or hesitation?  3 foot.  9 inches.  O. M.  G.  I have never, ever jumped that high before.  It looked SO big but I refused to look at it and it SO didn't feel huge as Mia just soared over it.  I am so impressed with her!!!!!!  And I am so impressed with myself!!!!!  Not a single pants-peeing occured in our new record-breaking ride!!!

My hope is that within the next few days I will have some pics and/or video of the monumental ride.  K got pics and video but wasn't able to send them to me on the phone.  Hopefully she will be able to transfer them onto a disk and I can post some. I am so excited :)  Happy days!!!!

We gotz no two point

Riding has been at a minimum thanks to a combination of weather and schedule.  The nights it is over 10 degrees, it seems like I have to give a lesson or something else pressing comes up.  The weekends have been so ridiculously busy that they haven't had much riding either.  Stupid winter.

I rode Mia bareback around the pasture last weekend and was very impressed.  There was no crap fit and she plodded along like it was no biggie.  It probably helped that K was riding with TWH, I will need to try to go out alone to see how she acts.  Unfortunately Mia has become pretty damn herdbound over the winter.  I can take her out alone but she does not like being left alone at all anymore. I have been turning her out in the am by herself while the boys finish breakfast and she is no longer galloping in the pasture so I guess that is a start in the right direction, gotta keep at it though.

Everyone was ridden last night, RB4 came over and rode App while K rode TWH and I rode Mia.  It was nice having everyone out and getting a little exercise.  K is now learning dressage so both RB4 and I focused a lot of our ride on K and trying to undo some of the H/J training she has had.  Getting her to relax her hips so her body follows the horse, getting her to keep her back straight instead of hollowing her lower back, riding WITH consistent contact, pointing her toes foward/in instead of out, etc.  It is certainly a learning process for her but she is getting it.

Mia was pretty good as well, the only real issues were her counterflexing to the left overall and being super stiff and fast to the right in the canter.  She was so strung out in the canter that I dropped my stirrups and rode in more of a dressage seat and then did canter figure 8's and that really settled her back down so that we could end on a good note.  Each attempt to get her to bend, relax and carry herself was short circuiting her brain so I am glad that the figure 8's help her so much.

For myself?  Geez I have no two point anymore.  Two Pointober was the last time I did two point and man does it show!  I started with a lot of stretching in my calf and could pretty easily hold two point in the walk but the trot was rusty.  I could hold position but I would teeter-totter in balance, smack my crotch in the pommel of the saddle, slip my lower leg back, not to mention I couldn't hold it for more than a few laps at a time.  Loser I am!   On the plus side, I am not sore today which I actually expected to be so that is a plus.

In a disappointing bit of news, my new instructor M's daughter B is in town this week and can give lessons Weds through Sat before she goes back to Ocala.  The bad part?  I can't go!  I am volunteering with a (car) race with SO and we are leaving on Wednesday and won't be back until Sunday night, the same time frame B will be here giving lessons.  Grrr!  I asked if she would let me know when they come back up to MI for lessons as I want to take one, talk about bad timing.  I guess if I can't do even 2 mins of two point it is probably best that I don't take a jumping lesson, but still.  Frustrating.