Rehabbing

 Cinder has been rehabbing for the last three weeks. We started off with just a few minutes of trot, adding a few minutes each day based on how she felt. The first day Trainer M rode her, and it was a bit of a rodeo. I had a lesson the second trot day, and while Cin didn't play rodeo bronc with me, we did trot around as fast as she possibly could while being horrifically on the forehand. Not the best feeling in the world when rehabbing a horse. 

Her first day back in turnout and she spent 10mins running laps, then slipped and fell down, and then decided grazing was a good idea

Thankfully those first two days were the worst of it, and she was back to her normal lazy, somewhat balanced self after that. I had to start carrying a whip again during our second week of trot. We were in a lesson, supposedly lengthening and shortening the trot, and I was pony kicking the crap out of her and not getting any difference. There's a whip holder on the side of the arena so I grabbed one as we went past, and it made a world of difference. Cinder did remember how to move out, who knew. 

We went on my first trail ride here, just a 10min loop around some of the pastures after our lesson last Saturday.

Last week we got the ok to start cantering, but unfortunately Cinder felt a bit off. A time or two during our trot weeks she would feel a bit uneven up front in the first few minutes of trot. I had mentioned it to our vet, who thought it was mostly likely due to Cinder needing a chiro and generally being weak. Between all the trauma to the left side of her neck, being stuck in an isolation stall at the hospital for 6 days, being stalled with no turnout and just hand/tack walking for six weeks, and falling in turnout, Cin's body is slightly beat up. Doc was on vacation last week, but was able to adjust Cinder yesterday and said she was out pretty much everywhere. We're back to hand walking for five days, and then can get back on and see how she does. I'm really hoping this does the trick and we can move on with the rehab. 

All Checked Out

 I wanted to get a few things about Cinder checked out once she was back home again. Mainly have my farrier look at the shoeing set up training farrier gave her (my farrier isn’t familiar with this type of shoe), have the chiro vet check her out, and have a knowledgeable eye check my saddle fit on her. 

Monday was farrier day for Peebs, and while Cinder was at 3 weeks and not ready to be done, I did have my farrier look at her. He had talked to training farrier a few weeks ago at a seminar, so he had a little more background info on her set up. He still wasn’t 100% sold on the special shoes but we have a plan moving forward. And if we run into trouble I told him I’ll have him and my vet out together to see what we need to do. 

Chiro vet came out on Wednesday and was able to check both Cin and my saddle. I was worried that my medium wide treed saddle wasn’t going to fit, but it’s actually not bad. Maybe a tich wide, but it makes pretty good contact along her back and has plenty of wither and shoulder clearance. With my half pad, it should be good. 

As far as chiropracticly, Cinder felt great as well. Chiro said her back felt strong and she had a nice top line for a lightly worked 3yr old. I had been thinking that Cin was a little under weight, but chiro said she didn’t think so. It’s more that she’s still gawky and gangly, and that she’d rather see her in this shape than overweight especially since she’s still growing. Cin is also just going to a bit of a leaner built horse than I was expecting.  To completely dash my hopes, chiro thinks Cinder is going to top out closer to 17.1 hands, than the 17 I was wishing for. 

Oy vey

I don't know how else to say it, but fuck 2020. The last month has been one thing after another, if not on top of each other. 

 

So three weeks ago, after getting home from work one night, I noticed my 14yr old cat Eddie was weak and wobbly, losing control of his hind end. He was very painful when you tried to pick him up, or touch his hips/tail.  He was also reluctant to eat, which for Ed was a big red flag. He was always up for some wet food. I took him into the emergency vet and his xrays showed no acute injury. He had some arthritis, but nothing out of the ordinary for an older, active cat. His blood work was normal. I was supposed to leave the next day to help my parents drive up from San Diego, and because Ed was so painful, I decided to keep him at the clinic while I was gone. 

I got good reports while I was gone, and picked him up on a Sunday afternoon. He came home with some strong pain meds and was doing ok till the last dose of meds wore off. Then he was worse than he originally was. He was crouched on his front legs, with his hind legs collapsed under him. He could barley move. I called the clinic for his final appointment. KP, Cinder's breeder, is a vet at this clinic and did the euthanasia for me. We sat and talked for a while about Eddie and Cinder and it was nice having a friendly face there. 

Six days later I got a text from the barn that Peebs was colicky. Again. A month after his first colic of 2020. I left work, called my mom, called the vet, and immediately dosed Peebs with banamine once I got to the barn. By the time the vet got there, Peebs was much more normal and was eating the small amount of hay I gave him. Dr. W checked him out and declared this was a gas colic, as opposed to the impaction he had last month. We pulled blood as precaution, and talked a lot about some feeding changes for Peebs. 

The hay TCF feeds is a local grass mix, mostly orchard and fescue. Vet thought the orchard grass might be irritating Peebs since it's a physically rough hay.  I went out and bought Peebs half a ton of timothy hay. Peebs also started getting Purina Outlast. He's not normally what I would think of as an ulcer prone horse, but it couldn't hurt. Finally, he started Assure Guard Gold on my vet's recommendation. I had to order it, so he started on it yesterday. 

We did have the conversation that Pebs could potentially have a lipoma causing issues, but nothing serious enough yet to warrant surgery.  But it's something we need to think about. I was convinced for about a week that Peebs would be on the operating table by the end of 2020, but that's lessened somewhat. 

She's 16.3 at the withers and is currently butt high and dropped weight

And to top it all off, Peebs has been NQR under saddle. We've had some good work to the right, but tracking left he's very stiff and unwilling to bend. I had my trainer out for a lesson/to get eyes on him and she agreed it's nothing I'm doing, or not doing, but he's very stiff. I had the chiropractic vet out last night and she said he feels great and is in good muscle condition following our rehab from the wildfire smoke. I think his issue is that he needs his stifles injected again, as his left stifle is worse and that's the leg he's unwilling to bring under himself. So I'll have our regular vet out again for a lameness exam/injections. 

And in case I haven't had enough vet bills in the last 6wks, my other cat Luna goes in next week to have two teeth extracted. Cinder is my only animal to not have any vet bills and I told her she needs to keep it that way. Despite continuing to grow when I told her not too, she's the current favorite animal in my household.

How to Prepare for a Horse Show

In the six weeks between our July show and our August show I think I jumped Peebs maybe four times, and only had one less than stellar lesson.  That's totally how you should prepare for the last show of the season, and a move up in fence height, right?

 After the July show I had planned to give Peebs about a week off.  It was going to be super hot and I figured he deserved it. I think I rode three or four times the next week before he lost a shoe in the pasture. It was a Friday night and my farrier was out of town that weekend. He said he could stop by the following week and put it back on, but his shoeing trailer blew two tires and he wasn't able to make it. And then it was four days before our regularly scheduled appointment, and I was going out of town, so I told him to not bother and Peebs could wait till our appointment.  So Peebs had another 10 days off for that.

Peebs loves his bestie Scottie

Then we hauled over to A's for a lesson and Peebs lost his shit. Normally he's not super phased by time off, but I should have given him the benefit of the doubt and lunged him. A rode before me and when she and Scottie left the arena, Peebs has a meltdown.  My trainer had to go find A and ask her to bring Scottie back so Peebs could have emotional support. We stuck to trotting cross rails for that lesson. I was pretty sure our planned move up to 2'6" at the August show was going down the drain at that point.

Did get some good work over poles, once the chickens crossed the road arena

Then it got super hot again, and smoke from fires in California, southern Oregon, Washington and British Columbia drifted our way and the air quality was firmly in the unhealthy range. My sinuses were killing me, I was having a hard time breathing, and felt bad about making Peebs work too hard in it. We did get a few nice days here and there and I was able to put some good rides in, but Peebs felt NQR.  Not lame, not off, but funky in the hind end and our left lead canter went to crap. And of course my trainer was on vacation so I couldn't ask her opinion. So I called the chiro who was only available to come out a few days before the show. I'm glad I did because he was dropped left in his hips (explains why he couldn't sit on that hind in the left canter). But I had to cancel our lesson before the show to fit the chiro in.  So when we headed up to the show on Friday last week I a touch nervous about how we'd do. Spoiler alert:  Peebs was amazing and I should worry less

Return to Riding

Well Peebs' summer break is over and it's back to work.  The chiro came out and said his hips were good, but his neck and poll were out again.  Pretty sure his neck will always be wonky; its where he likes to hold tension and his under neck muscles are super developed.  She did complement me on how much his top line has grown but it will always be a battle to keep his neck from being upside down.

Like this, his go to spook is to stick his head straight up in the air.  Here he was freaking out over the misters that were put up in the barn aisle.  It got up to 108 and even then he still hated getting wet.

I also got his hind shoes put on, but I'm thinking that probably wasn't necessary. I haven't noticed a difference in the week or so that he's had them. But we've mostly been doing flat work so we'll see once we start jumping a bit more. If I still don't notice anything we'll pull them.

Our first few rides back were rough.  I wasn't trusting him to not be crazy after almost a month off so I was holding his face too much and was too handsy.  I finally set out a bunch of ground poles one day and just trotted and cantered them while repeating to myself "Don't touch his mouth!!" And what do you know, he was pretty good.  I had set some of the trot poles a bit short and he completely biffed it the first time and even though I wanted to do some major half halting coming in the second time I didn't and let him figure it out.  Which he did fine on his own. He's got a good eye and is smart so I need to trust him to figure out the distance a bit more. Its hard because McKenna just wanted to run and jump ALL THE THINGS while Buddy didn't give a crap about ground poles and would fall all over them.

Wouldn't you want to hold that face?  It's the cutest face ever!!!

The day after our pole extravaganza I added three trot poles before a pile of poles that became a cross rail, then a vertical, then a bigger vertical. I wanted to set a gymnastic but was too lazy. Again, I had set the trot poles short, actually too short, but Peebs made it work. I just focused on getting him in straight (didn't always happen) and my body over the fence. He was great so we quite after a few goes. I'm going to try and set up a gymnastic today or tomorrow to play with.  And hopefully next week we can get back into regular lessons.  I haven't had one since the show 6 weeks ago!

Summer Break

The plan for after the show at the beginning of July was to let Peebs have an easy couple of weeks.  The week right after I lunged him once, and then used him for pony rides for my cousin's kids who were visiting from NorCal.  Peebs was pretty sure his days as a pony ride horse are over and would only walk as long as I was walking with him. He was very happy, however, that the kids stuffed his face before and after the ride with sour gummy worms and cookies.  Like mother, like son; we both have a weakness for sour gummies!

When you drive past a bar with your name on it.... We didn't actually go in because it looked sketchy af

I then went on vacation to New Mexico for five days, so Peebs got even more of a break. On our second day in Santa Fe I saw a local events magazine with a pony on the cover so of course I had to grab one.  We were there for the first of three weeks of Hipico Santa Fe, a h/j and dressage show. We managed to stop by late one of the days, but there was only one dressage ring going and it was 96* so we didn't stay. 

My superpower is fining ponies wherever I go

When I got back home, I started by lunging Peebs for a couple of days before getting on.  He was pretty up on the line but part of that was the stallion was getting lunged as well and they were showing off for each other.  Boys.  Our first ride back was pretty good, I didn't ask for much just let him stretch his legs a bit.  But our second and third ride were pretty crappy.  He's not lame just NQR and spooky.  I lunged him again to see if I can see anything, and his hind end was funky. He fell off the lead cantering both ways and did this weird stabby thing with both hinds.  So I've got a call into the chiro for another adjustment. I also think it's time to put hind shoes on him to give him a little more support.  I've never had hinds on him so I'm curious to see how he is with them. If that and the adjustment don't do anything, our regular vet is coming at the end of the month for teeth and fall shots so I'll sign Peebs up for an exam. Fingers crossed between the shoes and adjustment he can come back from his summer break!

Redemption

I have a lot to catch up on, but first and foremost, we had some serious redemption at our show this past weekend.

Kisses for the best pony

Not only was Peebs back to his normal, happy self, we cantered our first full course at a show and didn't die!!  In fact we did pretty damn well. I honestly don't know why I was scared to do it; cantering him in the big show ring is so much easier than trotting around. For the most part we were able to find a nice rhythm and just lope along.  I found most of my distances, we made the strides easy (actually too easy, homeboy can have a 13ft stride, who knew?!).  I'll put a full show recap up later.

Of course getting here from our last show took some work.  The week after our last show Peebs felt really disconnected and when I lunged him to take a look, it was like his front end and hind end were two different horses. We also had another major spooking incident walking down the road involving a mail truck.  So I called the chiro and poor pony was way out.  When she first started working on him she said his hips were out and his neck was a bit wonky.  But once she started on his neck he was much worse than she thought.  He's very stoic and we think his way of saying he was out was spooking and being super amped. And a couple days after she worked on him, the tension I'd been feeling for the past couple weeks was gone and he stopped spooking at things. At the show we had multiple encounters with the water trucks and tractors and he never once cared about them.  Even when they got close enough that we got sprayed all he did was stick his head in the air and pin his ears.

The week before the show we had our best lesson to date. Trainer put the jumps up a hole and set the lines on an 11ft stride.  Our arena is small and it's hard to set on a 12' stride so we normally do a 10' or 11'.  Since we've mostly been doing baby stuff I tend to set on a 10'. The theme for the lesson was to ride him forward, in prep for  the bigger strides and lines at the show. And what do you know, once I committed to it, it was easy.  Once I'm comfortable with having a bit more pace and bigger stride, Peebs is super easy to find distances on. He's not a super fancy warmblood hunter, but he can have a nice pace and rhythm that makes doing the hunters fun. Now, all we need is a flying change and we'll be set!!

It's a March Miracle

For the past month or so cantering on the right lead has been pretty damn awful.  Turning to go up the long side of the arena by the barn is especially bad.  I know part of the problem is I tense and anticipate, which causes Peebs to tense, but that's only a small part of it.  I knew getting his teeth done would help, and when the vet suggested I call the chiropractor I did.  TS came out last week and Peebs was a mess.  Dropped right in his poll (why it feels like he tilts his nose left), locked in the neck, and dropped right in the hip.  I once again felt like an awful pony mom.  From now on whenever we have major issues going right the chiro will be my first call.

I did an easy ride the day after the chiro appointment then was gone for the weekend. When I got back I was slammed with work and didn't get to ride till Wednesday.  We were stuck in the indoor since it was raining but Peebs felt pretty damn good.  So good that I had to drop my whip. I was trying to focus on what my trainer had said in our last lesson, getting up in front of my leg and lots of changes of bend and direction.

Miracle of miracles we can canter up the long side without being an asshole!! #🦄 #norunningaway #noheadtossing #nocounterbend

A post shared by Molly Basney (@mollybasney) on Mar 30, 2017 at 5:47pm PDT

Yesterday I rode outside and OMG Peebs was amazing.  Absolutely the best canter right in a long time.  He was forward, but listening, didn't get counter bent or twisted, and didn't try to bolt up the long side.  I had on the teens video us, figuring it would jinx us, but nope, he was still great.  Our canter left felt great too; it was so soft and easy.  I can't wait to jump him today and see how he feels. 

After the Show

Peebs got last week off after our show.  He's living outside 24/7 in a big paddock so he can at least move around.  I was planning on doing some light rides with him but between work, getting ready for my parents to visit, and some major horseshow hangover I didn't.  I was gone all weekend with my parents and cousins but I managed to lunge Peebs Sunday night.

And of course he was NQR.  He was crossfiring and wouldn't pick up the correct lead behind tracking right.  I had to force him into it and while he didn't look *lame* he was for sure NQR.  He's never had an issue crossfiring before.  I've called the chiro to see if she can come out this week because I'm going on vacation this weekend and won't be back till next Wednesday.  Looks like the Peebs gets an extended vacation.  At least he waited till after the show to be lame!

Settling In

I'm happy to report that Peebs has seemed to have settled in very easily.  He's quiet in his stall, takes everything in stride (except the neighbor's new boarder's weanling), and I'm still in love.  We had a spa day last weekend and clipped up his legs, face, and bridle path, and washed his legs, tail, and butt (he gets runny manure when switching hay). So far I've learned that he's not a fan of having his ears clipped, likes to walk way as you're mounting, and is completely and utterly distracted by said weanling.  At least with the weanling all he wants to do is stare at it longingly and doesn't loose his shit when it runs around like a certain black TB mare would have.

But mom, it's a BABY!!!

We had our first lesson last weekend as well and as my trainer put it, "Honeymoon's over, time to get to work!"  I've been in a "It's so nice to have a sane trained horse, let's just bop around la, la, la, la, la!" mood. But Peebs needs some polish with his flat work.  He's lazy, and wants to revert to lesson pony mode, and I've learned I need to at least have a crop and sometimes I need to use it. We worked on getting him forward in my lesson, especially in the canter. We also need to work on upward canter transitions, especially to the right, as he likes to trot super fast into them.

I had the chrio look at him yesterday, and while his back and hips were tight his neck was a mess.  His musculature is completely upside down and the base of his neck was way out of whack. But the chiro thought that with consistent, correct riding he should be fine in no time. 

A Little R&R

When TS adjusted McKenna last week not only was she out in her poll, she was way out in her hips. TS hit one spot on her and poor McKenna dropped her back so fast I was afraid she'd fall down. TS said she also has muscle and ligament soreness in her lower back and hips.  She wasn't worried about it and after the adjustment McKenna wasn't reacting when TS was palpating the area. She actually said the muscle soreness was good thing; McKenna's developing a top line and her hunter bump is almost gone. TS recommended some time off and a few days of bute then slowly bringing her back into work.

She also figured out the Lickit

Being the over protective horse mom that I am, McKenna got to go in her BoT sheet for a few days, all the treats she could eat, and some long turnout time in the outdoor paddocks. The outdoor time only last two days before she figured out how to open the gate and let herself out.  Luckily she didn't go to far (found a stack of alfalfa to munch on) and one of the other boarders saw her go trotting out the gate so she was easily caught.

McKenna's view from her stall of the scary loud tractor and trailer.

I lunged her lightly Thursday and Friday in some loose set side reins to see how she'd be, and after getting some impressive bucks out she was quiet and relaxed.  Yesterday I got on after some more lunging, and while she was still not thrilled about going forward to the right, she felt pretty good.  If I tried to pick up the trot tracking right she would sully up and get pissy, but we worked through it. I did a lot of circles, figure 8s, and changes of direction trying not to pick or put too much pressure on her. Our BO was loading a trailer full of manure for a landscape contractor while I was riding and it made McKenna tense (read: lots of noise and scary sounds), but she didn't spook and kept it together.  We only did about 20 minutes of walk-trot with the focus on going forward and relaxation. I'm hoping that she works out of this right side stickyness but luckily TS is coming back in two weeks to recheck/do a makeup lesson.

All Quiet on the Western Front

Not much has been happening in the week since I got back from vacation.  I lunged McKenna in the side reins for a couple days since she had had a week off and was in the middle of her heat cycle.  Silly mare, no need to be in heat in November!

I did have a decent ride on Thanksgiving.  Had the barn to myself, let McKenna and Phoenix hang out in the arena for a while and loved on both of them before getting on.  Tried to not pick on the mare, just some w-t-c working on keeping her head connected to her body.

Love that they love each other

Friday our chiropractor/dressage clinician was out and we talked about scheduling lessons (at the end of December) and working with babies.  She brought up the German martingale so for our ride on Saturday I put it on.  It was nice to not have to worry about her head, I could focus on getting her to go forward, stay sane, and lot of transitions.  The chiro also suggested lot of interval work, 3mins trot, 1min walk, 3mins trot, 1min walk, 2mins canter......so we did that too.  I really liked how it seemed to focus our ride more so we'll keep doing it.

Quiet Week

When we left off last week McKenna was scheduled for her adjustment with our chiropractor.  Luckily her biggest issues were with her poll and neck, her back and hips felt great.  I was slightly worried that her back was wonky, as my saddle doesn't fit her great, but I was happy that's not the case. Of course that makes it harder for me to daydream up ways to justify a new saddle, but oh well. We got complimented on how McKenna's filling out and the chiro agreed with me that she's finally starting to look like a grown up horse, as opposed to a baby still growing.   Some of the other boarders had their horses looked at as well, most for the first time, and everyone loved our chiro as much as I do.  She's also a dressage trainer/clinician and we've had her out before for clinics, and everyone at the barn seemed interested in having her out for another.

Non related pic of the ponies playing together

We didn't do a whole lot else last week, the barn was really busy every evening and I didn't have a lot of time to work the ponies.  Then over the weekend my parents came up for a quick 48hr trip.  This week I did a couple flat rides, starting our No Stirrup November.  I'm comfortable dropping my stirrups for the sitting trot with McKenna, but when I try posting she gets tense and wants to either speed way up or stop completely. Last night we did manage a full lap around the indoor posting without stirrups, so we'll keep chipping away at it.  My goal for the end of the moth is to be able to drop them at the canter for at least a lap.

Loving my new composite stirrups.  So much lighter!

Whole New Pony

About a month ago McKenna had her teeth done, the first time she's had them done while I've had her.  I had gotten her vet records from when she came off the track and J bought her, and they had nothing previous since she came from a feed lot.  She had gotten her teeth done in spring 2013, so at a year and half I figured she was due and luckily another boarder wanted her mares done so we set up an appointment with our dentist.

Dentist said that she had a bunch of small, sharp points but didn't look too bad for 1.5yrs. She did complain (kiddingly) that McKenna has a very narrow jaw (I know, I had to go buy smaller bits) and that most horses have some excess skin around their jaw and McKenna didn't. Her teeth were right against the skin. The only major thing was one of her teeth on the bottom right side of her face was crooked.  Dentist couldn't tell if it was moving (please no, she's too young for dental problem!) or if it came in crooked.  She's leaning towards it coming in crooked, as it didn't seem to move around when she was working on it.  But its something to watch and she'll have to be done at least yearly to check on it.


I like that its hard to tell she's clipped.

Last Monday I gave McKenna her first clip of the season.  It's earlier than I normally clip, like to wait till mid November, but she's been so sweaty and I had time.  She was very good for it, standing still and not caring about the clippers except for around her head.  I still haven't managed to clip her ears but have gotten her bridle path done.  Last year I just did a trace clip along her neck and barrel, but since I hopefully plan to show the winter I gave her a full clip.  There's a few touch up spots I have to go back and get, but it took me just over an hour to do. 

Next week our chiropractor is coming out and McKenna's on her list.  During her trainer ride last week, trainer said she was much stiffer going left than right, but I hadn't felt anything. But during our ride Wednesday I couldn't get her to pick up her left lead without some major head tossing, running forward and general bad ponyness.  I had to dig my heel into her side while growling at her before I got a nice, clean transition.  That's pretty unsuall for her so I agreed with trainer and called for the chiro.

PNW bred ponies don't care bout no puddles

She's also getting her feet done next week, which is good since she's overgrown.  Our farrier was hunting last week when they were due, and had to push them back.  By the end of next week I'll have a whole new, (hopefully) balanced pony!

Adjustments

Both Buddy and McKenna were out of whack and needed adjustments when the chiropractor came yesterday. We started with Bud and the first thing she said was how good his top line is looking.  I had been thinking he was a bit thin, you can see a hint of ribs, but she said he looked fantastic. We talked as she worked on him about how he's been and what my plans for him are (which will be another post soon). He was dropped left in the hip and pretty out in his poll, but a few days of easy walk trot and he'll be better than ever. 

Tina had me take McKenna out and lunge her before working on her so she could see her move. Said she's pretty balanced and put together well. I told her about the bracing in the canter and she said that McKenna's neck was out, but that's a typical OTTB thing.

McKenna was very well behaved for her adjustment and took it like a champ. Tina kept saying how nice she was, and that she's got a good brain. She know my BO, and that our barn has a way of finding nice horses cheap/free, and complimented us on finding McKenna. McKenna will also get a few days of light work, then we'll start lunging in Vienna reins, something that Tina suggested. 

Proving Me Wrong

For the past couple of weeks McKenna and I have had problems cantering.  She either gets hoppy in the trot and tries to canter when I don't want her to, or won't go when I ask.  When I can get her into it, especially to the left, she braces against my inside aids and twists her head to the outside.

Yesterday our ride was one of our worst yet.  I had lunged her for a while, then set out some trot poles.  When I got on she was distracted and antsy.  We started with some walk trot transitions and every time I would ask for the trot she'd flip her head up and jump forward.  So we did many, many transitions.  Once she would go forward nicely we went back to the 10 posting 10 sitting exercise we did in our last lesson. When I went to sit, she'd get hoppy and try to jump into the canter.  I also did lots of circles and changes of direction to keep her guessing but she never really settled.

We took a walk break and as we came around a corner she took off across the diagonal bucking.  She's given me some mini bucks before, but this was way different.  I thought I was coming off, but managed to yank her head up and get her stopped.  I immediately asked her to back and I could tell that she knew she was in trouble.  I walked her forward until she kind of relaxed then got off and lunged her.  She ran, and bucked, and ran some more.  Once she finally was dragging her head I got back on her.  We finished with more trot transitions and some sitting trot.

I sent a somewhat desperate text to my trainer last night asking for a lesson this week as well as making a chiropractic appointment for both McKenna and Buddy for Tuesday.   I want to make sure that she's not acting out because she's in pain.

Today when I rode, after a lot of lunging, I had no expectations.  There was a horse being lunged at one end of the ring and another being ridden.  A lot of activity for the baby horse to deal with, but I figured we would just do some walk trot and keep it low key.  McKenna was a rock star. Almost no fussing in our sitting trot, coming on the bit, bending well, and best of all, not caring about the other horses.  Once the one horse was done lunging I even braved the canter.  She picked it up well, and was almost balanced.  She still wants to brace against me but not nearly as bad as before.  We were even able to canter while the other horse being ridden was cantering!  I think my new plan for our rides is to not have any expectations and assume the worst.

Busy couple of days

Since my mom's been here, I haven't out at the barn as much. I did get a nice ride in on Wednesday. I put the spurs on and we had some great flat work. We warmed up with shoulder in and some lengthening at the trot. He had a couple moments of crankiness at the spurs, but I tried hard to really stretch down thru my heel, and he got over it.

We did a lot of transitions and had some of our best yet. I was trying to keep him nice and soft in the bridle, but still forward in front of my leg. The spurs really helped with that. He was a lot more balanced in the downward transitions, and not plowing on his front end.

Nik rode him on Friday and did her first set of trot poles! Jen lead her thru a couple times, then she did them on her own twice. She was very excited. She also told us that she wants to show him this summer. Look for her in a trot-a-pole class soon!

Today the chiropractor was out to do a couple horses do I had her check Bud. She said he felt great and didn't need an adjustment. Yay for my checkbook and Buddy!! Then mom and I went up to Portland to do some shopping. We stopped at the nice tack store up there for a new mane pulling comb as mine has disappeared. I found $230 Ariat show breeches on sale for $100! Mega score!! Didn't get the mane comb though....