Winter Cinder

 Cinder is very much a cold weather horse. She's so much more animated and forward once the temps drop below 55. The past few weeks have been a bit challenging and anxiety inducing, for me, in how to manage her. It doesn't help that I didn't ride last year from Thanksgiving-early February so I don't have the memory of Winter Cinder to fall back on. 

We were cantering when this lovely sun spot appeared. She tried to jump it and spin sideways at the same time. I had to grab my martingale to hang on. 

Lunging before getting on has become our go to, especially after a day off. She just need to buck and play for a bit, but won't in turnout because the ground is so wet and muddy, so on the line (or for a free lunge if the arenas open) she goes to play. Even Trainer M lunged her one day when Cinder tried to rear and spin as she was tightening her girth after getting on. 

Thankfully the liverpool was no big deal and she jumped it without a second thought

Cinder has been great to ride, post lunging. She's forward without being too forward (for the most part), and I haven't had to wear my spurs or carry a whip. She has had a couple moments of silliness, mainly when another horse spooks and she feeds of of them. We had one lesson with Maya and her leasee, and when we went to canter Maya took off and Cinder took off after her. We then had to canter one at a time. 

Gratuitous pic of Peebs looking adorable

I will give Cinder points in that she might be spicy and needs to play before going to work under saddle, but once you're working she's really good. In the past when she's worked up or spicy she has almost a manic feel to her once you get in the tack, like her brain is zooming at 100mph. She really hasn't had that feeling this winter yet and I'm hoping it doesn't make an appearance. 

Terrible Twos

Cinder officially turned 2 last Thursday.  I had originally planned to do pics for her birthday, but since I got back from Africa life has been beyond crazy.  I caught a cold, then majorly tweaked my back; work has been incredibly busy and unfortunately the ponies kinda got put on the back burner for a bit.

 Right before I left for Africa Cinder's hives that had been off and on for weeks finally decided to stay on.  The vet came out two days before I left and we put her on steroids for 3wks and started the process of trying different bedding.  So far the sawdust the barn gets and one brand of bagged pine shavings don't agree with the princess.  We're trying pellets at the moment, and she comes off another round of steroids tomorrow so fingers crossed!

She was so mad

But there's progress!  Vet wanted me to try and rinse Cin off after each round of failed bedding to clean her up.  Only problem is she absolutely HATES the hose and getting wet.  I was able to sponge her off, but no time like the present to work on getting hosed off.   We had one major come to Jesus moment after she busted the crossties and jumped half way into a wheelbarrow during our first attempt at bath time. But with the help of a stud chain and cookies I've slowly been able to work our way up to a full bath.  She still hates getting her hind legs wet and will kick out (not at me, more stomping angrily) but she hasn't tried to vacate the wash rack or run me over again, so I'll take it.

So grown up!

We also started working on the longe more and revisited wearing tack.  She's totally fine being saddled and having the girth tightened.  She's fine walking with the saddle.  She's very not fine being asked to trot while saddled.  There was much rearing and head snaking involved. At one point she almost went over backwards but caught herself.  I was internally screaming as I had used my saddle instead of the crap Wintec on her.  We'll go back to using the Wintec until she's over her feelings about working under tack. I'm also internally screaming as she fits perfectly into Peeb's 48" girth.  Like, it was on the exact same holes as he uses. Just how big is she going to get?!

Lumps, Jumps, and Lunges

I realized I hadn't had a Cinder update post since the show over a month ago.  But in all honesty, until last week not much had happened with her.  After the show I let her be for a while and didn't mess with her like I did prepping for the show.  Which was maybe not the best idea for a smart young filly.

Apparently Cinder figured out if she wiggled her nose/butt/body against her stall door hard enough, she could get the latch to work its way free and the door would open.  She did it once while I was at the barn, but I had been in her stall earlier and figured I hadn't latched it correctly.  She's done it twice more over night and been loose when the morning feeder came. Both times she didn't appear to have gotten into anything, or done any damage except pulling halters off hooks and chewing a fly mask. She's super people oriented and is easy to catch as she walks right up to you.  She now has a clip on the latch so she can't work it loose.

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Someone’s learning how to lunge like a champ #marecrushmonday #goodgirlcinder #twoyearold #babywarmblood

A post shared by Molly Basney (@mollybasney) on Mar 25, 2019 at 12:12pm PDT

Since she's started displaying bad boredom behaviors, I've started doing more ground work again, including teaching her to lunge. I had used voice commands for our in hand work (trot, walk, whoa) so when I put her on the line she already kinda knew what to do.  What she didn't know was how to stay on a circle.  The first lunge experience was me basically water skiing behind her and Cinder  being confused as to why I was there. A round pen would make it so much easier, but we'll work with what we go. By the second time she was able to make egg shaped circles and mostly going off my voice and by her third session she was pretty darn good.  We only do 5 minutes mostly walk and trot, and only 2 times a week but I'm super happy with her progress so far.

Last week the ponies got their spring vaccines.  Cinder had broken out in hives a couple of day before the appointment, but they had gone away in a day.  So of course she broke out again the day of their appointment. She's not bothered by them at all, but some were pretty big.  The vet wasn't too concerned and vaccinated her anyway.  He did have me give her some banamine that day and the day after.  Since then most of the hives have gone away, but if she breaks out again she'll go on steroids.  The barn got a new shipment of hay the week before she broke out, so we figure there's something in it that's bothering her.  The distribution of the hives is mostly on her barrel and girth area, so she must be rolling/laying down in whatever it is.

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Cinder has her first little free jump session today and rocked it! Look at those knees!! #kneestonose #babywarmblood #freejump #goodgirlcinder

A post shared by Molly Basney (@mollybasney) on Mar 31, 2019 at 3:49pm PDT

On Sunday I convinced A to come out with me and help me free jump Cinder. I don't want to do too much since she's not yet 2, but a couple small fences shouldn't hurt. We made a chute and started sending her over just a ground pole. It then went up to a cross rail, then a small vertical. She did maybe 4 jumps in total. She was pretty darn cute over fence and didn't seem phased by it at all. She even trotted it once on her own after we finished and were taking the chute down. Hopefully she continues to like jumping as she gets older!

Lead Ropes and Lunge Lines

Monday after our ride I gave Peebs a quick rinse and washed his socks.  The wash rack at our barn is at the end of the upper barn aisle and directly across from it one of the large wooden tack trunks our BO had built for us.  I usually set my lead rope down on it when I bathe but when  I was done my lead rope was gone.  I looked around and walked up and down the aisle in case I missed it.  No rope. I know a couple people walked past us while I was bathing and I'm assuming one of them picked it up, but I couldn't find where they put it.

Missing: one blue and grey lead rope

 

We all know things tend to grow legs and walk away in barns, and it's not like I don't have extra lead ropes, but it's still weird.  I put up a note on the white board in the aisle but haven't gotten my rope back yet. The extras I have are an old pink and white one of McKenna's and Phoenix's blue and black one.  I couldn't bring myself to use Phoenix's, just like I can't bring myself to take his halter off my hangers in front of my stall. The pink/white combo clashed pretty badly with poor Peebs, so we've been practicing our "off the line" skills.  He's very willing and so far I can walk him back and forth from his stall to the arena and the cross ties with out a lead rope. We also did a little ground tieing/free tieing in the aisle where the cross ties are, but I didn't clip him in. He's surprisingly willing to stand there. The feed store is having a sale this weekend and a new lead rope, along with grain and cat food, is on the list.

We don't need no crossties

We also had an unplanned free lung yesterday.  I had put the neck stretcher on and was going to put the lunge line on when Peebs took off on me.  Since he wanted to play run away I went to stand like I was lunging him and worked him off the line.  Going to the right he was great; went mostly in a circle around me, cantered and trotted when I asked and stopped off my voice.  Going left wasn't as good which is normal even with a lunge line.  He made some lovely egg shapes and kept trying to turn around and go to the right but we were able to trot a halfway decent circle at the end. I think we'll be doing more of this.

Dramatic pony is dramatic

Turning a Fail into a Win

We've had a pretty mild winter this year, drier, warmer, and sunnier than normal.  The weather was foggy in the morning all last week, but would burn off in the afternoons.  I rode McKenna on Thursday, starting inside because she had had a few days off.  She was good, a little excited but listened to me and offered no baby moments.  It was sunny and I hadn't worked her outside for a few weeks so outside we went.

I had heard the neighbor's lawn mower going, but McKenna has to grow up and deal with distractions at some point.  Right as we walked outside one boarder pulled up and then one of the 4H girls' dad drove up in his work rig, a big excavating truck.  The boarder tends to leaver her border collie in the cab of the truck when she's at the barn and McKenna's spooked pretty hard at him barking and running around the cab before.  Then the neighbors started their tractor and were grateing new gravel for their driveway. 

I decided to hand walk McKenna around the ring a few times till she stopped looking like a deer in the headlights then got on.  She was so tense and obviously distracted but she couldn't decide what was scariest. We did another two laps at the walk then I got off and told her she was good pony for not freaking out or trying to kill me.

She says "I wasn't scared". Don't believe her.

Friday I was able to get off work early and get out to the barn to ride in the sun again.  She seemed to be calm so instead of starting inside then going out, we just headed to the outdoor.  But again, right when we walked down the barn aisle one boarder's horse (the same one with the barking dog) ran out of its stall.  Luckily she was right there and caught the horse but her other horse, in the stall next to the escapee, started rearing and freaking out.  So of course McKenna freaked out and bye, bye cool and calm pony.

I threw her on the lunge and she spent  about five minutes being a complete spaz and running till she was blowing.  Once she came back to reality she was pretty lazy and just loped along so I stopped her, got on, and put her right to work.  Lots of circles, figure 8s, transitions to get her baby brain focused.  She was still tense, but didn't really pull anything naughty.  We finished by trotting over a little pile of poles and a small cavaletti.

I got lucky Saturday and other than my BO doing some spring cleaning of tack and blankets I had the barn to myself.  A quick lunge and I got on outside.  She was much more relaxed and willing so we did a quick walk-trot including the pole piles and cavaletti before cantering.  We did a few circles then added cantering the pile of poles.  This is only the second or third time cantering poles and every time before she would be strong/rushy/nervous/a baby.  But yesterday she was quiet and calm about it.  Even when I couldn't find a distance and sat there like a lump she just quietly figured it out and kept going.  My BO said she was looking great and I was able to convince her to video us with my phone.

She still needs some strengthening in the canter, especially going left, but that will come.  I'm just so happy we went from beyond freaked out baby on Thursday to quiet, calm pony on Saturday.

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.

Black Friday

I am not a die hard shopper, unless it comes to all things horsey.  I wasn't planning on buying much today besides grain and supplements for the ponies.  But this morning I saw that JenJ was selling some tack so I took a look.  I'm taking her 76 fly sheet for McKenna.  I've noticed in our times working the outdoor arena that McKenna really doesn't like bugs flying around her.  She'll shake her head and focuses more on being annoyed than on me. I was thinking that she'll probably be a bit of a diva about bugs in the summer so I was planning on getting her a fly sheet, fly mask, and probably the ear nets for when we ride.  I'm so happy to get a sheet from a fellow blogger and for only $10!

My second unplanned black Friday deal was from SmartPak.  I was looking at fly masks and ear nets and decided to check out their sales, just in case.  They had their Bradley breeches on sale for $27, so I snagged a pair in tan.  I have a pair already in the charcoal and I think they're pretty decent, if a little long for my short legs.

All the ponies got yesterday off, and today I turned them all out in our gravel paddocks for a bit.  I lunged McKenna in the side reins again, and she was good. I shortened the side reins and other than a few head tosses of annoyance she seemed ok with it.  She still has a way to go, but looks so cute when she's round!

Weekend Warrior

Sunday was a busy, busy day. I started by lunging McKenna in the scary part of the outdoor. Normally we don't lunge at that end since the footing is a bit deep but I figured she needed to get over whatever was scary.

There's scary things in the bushes mom, I swear!

She ran and ran, throwing in some good bucks and tried to drag me a time or two. I just let her go till she was tired, switching directions every few minutes. She got very sweaty and was hot so I threw a cooler on her and walked her out. We were able to walk around scary end multiply times with no bad behavior.

My original plan for Sunday was to do a trace clip on Phoenix but since McKenna had gotten so sweaty I decided to add to her clip. I started with Phoenix and he was great. I switched to new blades and it hardly took me any time to do a trace.

Old man's looking a bit pudgy

I pulled McKenna back out and started on extending her clip. She was pretty good, had one little attempted kick the first time I tried to clip her belly. She got a smack and a "Knock it off!" and didn't try again. 

Stage 2 clipping

Leaps and Bounds

Last Saturday I started McKenna on MagRestore, a magnesium supplement that she was on with her old owner.  Magnesium deficient horses tend to be hot, unfocused, nervous, and can't stop moving.  Basically all typical OTTB traits.  When McKenna came to us, she was so calm and relaxed we thought she was drugged.  Since then she's gotten hotter and more ADD when being worked.  They told us that she was on this supplement, but I wanted to see how she was off it.  While she's not "bad", I do think the MagRestore really helped quiet her down.  My barn owner wanted to try it on a couple of her horses so we went in together and bought a big tub of it.

Right now they are on a loading dose, but I can see that McKenna's starting to respond to it.  She doesn't need as much lunging before we work as she did a week ago.  She still tends to be a bit ADD, and isn't as relaxed as she was the first day, but I can see a difference.  Hopefully she'll continue to get better.

And as far as working her, she's been great.  I lunged her in my barn owner's lunging draw reins for the first time this week.  The lunging draw reins are tighter and work them a bit more than the side reins so I was a little nervous at to how she'd react.  She didn't care at all and seemed to figure out what was expected of her pretty quick.  We'll start working them into the weekly routine from here on out.

A bunch of poles had been set up in the outdoor arena so after our work in the lunging draw reins I took her outside and lunged over poles.  A circle of death was set up and we started with that.  Again, McKenna didn't care and while she got a little rushed and wasn't totally straight or in the center of the poles she went around really well.  We then moved on to a set of three poles and she rocked it.  Went over then like she does it every day.  My friend convinced me to set up a little vertical and see how she did, so I did.  She obviously isn't sure what to do with her legs, and got a little nervous and rushy after the jump, but relaxed after a few tries.

I promise she has a head

 

One, Two Punch

Trying to work two horses after work before the daylight's gone is tough!  The past week it's felt like I've been on the go non-stop, at least till yesterday.  I've been batteling a cold that's been going around both the barn and work but I finaly succumbed. Headache, sore throat, sinus pressure...all the fun stuff. 

Following our breakthrough with the martingale, McKenna got a day off while I rode Bud. A couple other girls were out so we set fences and had a pretty decent jump school. Buddy's still out of shape, but was forward and willing! We didn't do too much but I was happy with him. 

Saturday was the first day I started feeling pretty sick so McKenna got lunged in the side reins and Bud got the day off. 

Sunday was evaluation rides for new college team members who ride at our barn. Buddy was being used, and since I felt a little better I got in McKenna. She was pretty good inside so we ventured outside. Fences were being set, and she was fine with that till Jen moved a standard right when we walked past. Cue baby freak out. She spun around then stopped and started shaking. We walked around a bit more but I could feel her still shaking so I got off and we stood in the center of the ring till they were done setting jumps. 

Monday Amy rode Bud and I lunged McKenna. She's fine foing left, but has trouble in the right lead canter. She'll jump around and tends to buck a bit. We will defienetly not be cantering under saddle for a while! 

Brrrr!

It's been freezing here for the past week.  Like the lows in the 20s and the highs in the 30s.  Over the weekend it didn't get above freezing either day.  Way to cold for me to ride!  I turned the ponies out in the indoor so they could at least move around a bit but couldn't convince myself to do much more. 

Monday I lunged both Bud and Zoe, and while Buddy was very good Zoe was very naughty. She took off bucking and spinning and ended up yanking the line out of my hand.  She ran around the arena then took of down the barn aisle before going into an empty stall.  Needless to say, she went back out and worked her little tail off!

Tonight one of the other girls had set up a couple cavalettis and I added a low wide oxer, about 2'3" by 3'.  Buddy was cranky during our flat work but once we started jumping he was great.  I think I'm going to have to work him a bit in the draw reins again to remind him that my left rein isn't evil.  He wants to brace and fight it no matter what.  I have a lesson with Jen next week so hopefully we can get some help. 

The first time over the oxer, I felt him really reach. He wasn't expecting how wide it was (compared to what we normally jump).  The next time thru he sat back on his haunches and powered over it.  Bud tends to have a flat jump; he's never been super scopey but our recent gymnastic work has gotten him to starting rounding over the fences more.  I had the oxer set up on a right to left diagonal (his harder way to get the flying change) and every time he landed on the left lead!  That's pretty rare for us.

Friday we are going to play with cows again and I'm hoping that it warms up so I won't freeze to death waiting for our turn.

Going in Circles

After lunging three horses today I felt a little dizzy.  Unfortunately, I've fallen a little behind this week.  I got the stomach flu on Tuesday, and didn't do anything for a couple days.  I did manage to get out to the barn Thursday and did quick little ride with Buddy.  We just trotted around the outdoor for 15 mins, but at least I got him out. Yesterday I attempted to ride Blue, but after he reared up and spun with me I decided to lunge him instead.

Today I wanted to lunge Blue again, this time in side reins.  He wasn't as hot today, but had a tantrum when I put the side reins on.  At the end of the session, he was relaxing into them and moving really well for him. Since I had them out, I put the side reins on Buddy next. He always acts like he can't go forward with the side reins on, but I go him to move out pretty well.

After those two I took out Pippin, a slightly spastic Arab/QH whose owner is away for a year long internship.  My barn owner has been working with him, but while she's out of town I said I would do some ground work with him.  Pip tends to be scared of his own shadow and needs a calm, but forceful handler.  We lunged for a few minutes until someone else needed the indoor.  I decided to take him for a walk outside to get him out and despook him.  I snapped the picture and sent it to his mommy.