Hello, baby event horse...

I don't know where I get my ideas from, but thank goodness I have a saint of a baby Thoroughbred to always pull through for me.

It was a beautiful evening yesterday, and I had this urge to throw on our "jumping tack" and go for a nice conditioning hack in the cross-country field at SP. Katie agreed because we have been looking for opportunities to school the boys alone and away from each other...she headed to the dressage ring and I headed to the field. We picked up a trot almost immediately and he was being very good...a little tense and look-y, but behaving nonetheless. Did have a major meltdown spook at the round bales (gah), but after walking up to them and snorting at them, we were okay. Trotted all the way to the bank, which has schooling elements for several levels...I pointed him at the section where you can just trot up and down. He hesitated but went...ears pricked, enjoying himself. So I thought, what the heck, let's find something to pop over. There was a small maiden sized fence over by the paddocks, so I headed for it at a trot. He hesitated, again, but then gave me a stellar jump that was much more promising than what he's shown me before in the arena. We landed in a canter, came back to trot and headed towards it the opposite direction. He jumped much better this time, right out of his trot stride and landed smoothly and calmly. At this point the horses in the paddocks were running around snorting like goobwads, so Aidyn started getting distracted and neighing...we popped over this fence again and I got the oh-so-brilliant idea to find a 2'3" fence to jump. About two strides out I panicked and figured my baby TB had no chance...but he surprised me and jumped nice and round over it. He did misjudge the width a bit but it was a MUCH better reaction than I thought I would get! Finished up over a little helsinki and up/down the bank again before we trotted towards the barn..by this point he was worked up a bit and I needed to do some 20-meters around the ditch complex to get him calm and listening. We trotted through the water to cool off (and he loves the water), and despite being brutally attacked by Papa Goose, we headed towards Katie and Jay-R.

Such a good boy. He is so brave and so willing. I feel like we might be able to do this eventing thing after all. :)

Hello, terrible twos!

Well, technically it's the terrible fours, as Aidyn is quickly approaching his fourth birthday on May 30. That combined with the spring sillies, his ever increasing fitness level, the new feed he gets at night, his new (and better fitting) saddle, and the very aggressive deworming schedule he just went through has left me with a new horse..one that runs from me in the field, runs from me under saddle, etc. Not sure who this horse is, but he's not the sluggish baby TB I brought home in August!

We've been doing a lot of riding at the Blue Barn just due to time constraints, and I've noticed Aidyn being a bit more rushy than usual...combined with lots of ducking behind the bridle. Nothing fun about flying around on a horse whose mouth you cannot feel...translate to Friday evening when we trekked over to Stone Place. We usually ride a bit through the cross-country field on our way to the outdoor, and Aidyn has recently decided that everything over there is scary...things that never bothered him before. So, naturally, he decides to take off on me for no apparent reason...he has *no* mouth when he's spooking, so thank goodness we hit a wet patch of ground and he decided it wasn't worth the effort to keep going. From that point on, he whinnied and spooked and ran forward and ducked behind the bridle and basically ignored every aid I gave him. Frustrated, I jumped off and attempted to longe him a bit...not a good idea with a particularly short longe line and an arena full of jumps. Got back on and just concentrated on getting a quiet trot around the arena. Every time I felt him start to relax, he would find something else to scoot away from. When another horse came in the arena, he mentally shut down and it's pointless to fight with him after that. Headed home with Jay-R and Katie, who had a great ride in the dressage arena. We got home, it got dark, I got a longe line (per advice from Katie who has dealt with the terrible twos before when Jay was 6) and proceded to longe him for about 20 minutes. We ended up leaving the barn quite late...but at least he finally paid attention to me and longed well.

After pondering his behavior the entire drive home, we concluded that a flash noseband might help a little bit with the control issue...and the head flipping crap that he has recently started. Longed him BEFORE our ride this time, he was quite laid back and listened to voice commands very well. Was halting quickly, which is really good considering he usually ignores the halt command as long as possible. Rode over to SP with Jay-R and another OTTB gelding named John (and his owner, of course) and things went well...got to the arena and he started neighing. Did my best to ignore it and concentrated on just relaxing my hands and posting nice and slow. Um, hello hunter horse. He stretched down and poked his nose out and trotted around like we were hacking. He was a completely different horse than the day before! Walked and trotted all over the arena, doing changes of directions, half-circles, etc...then began incorporating poles and small cross-rails into our path...just trying to get him used to stepping over things and not getting excited about it...he just trotted over everything without changing his trot rhythm at all. Then he stood and watched Jay-R for a little bit, and walked home like a gentleman.

So, I guess it's a good thing that my horse is not a psycho all of a sudden. He's just feeling good and isn't quite sure how to express himself...so for the time being we will be incorporating longing into every pre-ride ritual, and working a lot less with my hands and more with my seat. Hopefully this will encourage him to seek contact again and not run scared from my hands.

*sigh* He's such a goob.

We've had a lot of "I'm baaack" moments this winter, only to be further delayed by yet another snowstorm. Or frozen mud. Nevertheless, the last two days we have trudged through about 1' of snow (up to our knees) just to get to the indoor and ride. The snow isn't even the worst part (even though it makes your thighs burrrnnn), but the ice on the driveway (which is about a mile long) is terrible and we have a lot of "alternate paths" that we have to find. By the time we actually get to the indoor, I'm physically exhausted but with Katie's encouragement I've been pressing through. Yesterday was a very encouraging ride...have diagnosed my problem with unsteady contact to the fact that my hands are WAY too high and far out in front of me for a green horse seeking contact. This has been my biggest position flaw for a long time...I have a tendency to lean forward and collapse my shoulders, and my elbows are in front of me and not nearly as elastic as they should be. So yesterday, on a 40 meter circle, we did loads of transitions and I gave myself an outloud "lesson" to remind myself of my flaws...and he brought his back up and streeetched...it was beautiful!

Today was a little bit harder on my part...I worked out last night (more on that in a second) and was really sore and stiff today...so naturally my body reverted back to its old standby, what I will refer to as the "tippy rider"...so naturally I panicked when things weren't going right. Well, I keep working at it and Aidyn was patient and we finally got some great stretchy moments at the end of the ride. :)

Got back to the barn and found that his cracked heels situation has gotten worse...now we have crud all over his ankles and heels. Gross. I curried as much off as possible and covered him in Vasoline (which is also on his blanket rubs...all five hundred of them)...went to the tack store and got a jar of cracked heel creme. Should have done that weeks ago before it got this bad...grrr...poor kid.

So that brings me to the workout plan...aka get fit enough to ride racehorses again in a month. And be better for Aidyn. Anyone who knows my track record knows I have a horrible time keeping up with my workout plans....so feel free to drop any motivational tips you have. Basically, it's looking like this:

Monday: Cardio
Tuesday: Weights
Wednesday: Off
Thursday: Cardio and Weights
Friday: Cardio
Saturday: Weights
Sunday: Off

I've started out doing 1.5 miles running on the treadmill and doing 60 reps of 10 lb weights...(30 each arm). Also incorporated reverse crunches today...managed 20...thank you Katie for the idea!

As for Aidyn's "to-do list":
1. Responsiveness to aids. When I ask you for a walk, you don't just kind of shuffle along..you WALK. As forward as I ask you to. When I say halt, you halt. When I ask for a trot, you do it! No slacking off, mister lazy pants!

2. Turning...him likes to bulge his shoulder. ;) Both directions. Must concentrate on not losing the energy in a turn and keeping his body as straight as possible with the outside and leading inside rein.

3. Haunches drift inside both directions...usually on a specific end of the arena. Today it was mainly on the far end of the arena, tracking right. When this happens, ask him to step left into my outside rein, and then go forward.

4. Start incorporating canter work next week (Thursday?).

*Phew*. It's nice to be busy again!
God Bless,
Ry

He's BACK!

Finally, maybe, we're on the right track..again!

We have made an important decision to stay at our current barn instead of moving across the street...for several reasons. First of all, we can't beat the care the boys are receiving right now. Everyone at the barn is completely wonderful, and go out of their way routinely to make sure Aidyn gets all of his feed and supplements, and all of his hay, as well. Plus, if anything is ever amiss we can trust them to call immediately. Secondly, Aidyn is happy. He's like a different horse and to subject him to another move with new horses to meet and a new herd to settle into, plus a new feeding schedule and different hay...just not worth it to me. Besides, the hack isn't really THAT bad. For instance, we did it today in a foot of snow. :D

First things first. Aidyn is now on Chondrogen EQ for joint maintenance. He's a big horse, and his joints have already been stressed on the track...and since I am planning on eventing him, I figured we should start preventing joint problems now. My pocketbook cried about it but he's more important than me eating out. He seems to like it, and I forgot how amazing it smells!

Aidyn got his new shoes on yesterday...K said they looked wonderful and gave me some suggestions for a "sealant" to put on the nail holes to keep his feet nice and dry in this wet weather. I had been concerned about that since he has 4 white feet, so one day this week I will have to make the trip to Stockhoff's to get some sealant.

And...we finally got back in the saddle today! Had to walk through the foot of snow previously mentioned, which was a workout for both us and the boys. Finally got to the indoor and had a nice, if short, ride. Aidyn was quite quick and "rushy" in his trot today...partly due to feeling good, I'm sure. Definitely need to concentrate on finding a rhythm in his trot now that we have established the forward button. He was great to the right and was very flexible...did not canter him as we were sharing the ring with a beginner lesson and a fresh pony...but it was a positive first ride back.

Tried smearing Vaseline on his heels to protect them from the snow and mud that is chapping them a bit...hopefully that will work...if not I may have to get some cracked heel formula from Dr. J!

'Til next time--
--Ry

Kids and Horses

Aidyn has recently started showing clear signs that he is not actually a horse, but rather a bratty 3 y/o child.

Since we started pasture boarding, he is turned out in a huge field with Jay, Helix, Smoke, Stormy, Jamie, and Lady Di. Before what I will call the "transformation", he was happy to see me and always stood for me to catch him. Since the transformation, he has become one of THEM. He now does what the herd tells him to do. Which is, namely, run away from Mommy as fast as you can.

This behavior has persisted for several days now, but today was the worst. Katie and I trudged out to change blankets. Jay was caught fairly easily, led in, and fixed up. On the way back to the pasture to grab Aidyn, we noticed a buffalo-like creature galloping up the huge steep hill in the mud. Well, that buffalo-like creature was, you guessed it, Aidyn.

We walked all the way up the hill. This hill is seriously like a mile long and really, really steep. Even our rain boots couldn't get traction on the slippery mud. When we finally reached the top, halter in hand and peppermint at the ready, we were virtually attacked by Stormy and Helix...Helix because she wanted the candy and Stormy because he rules all creation. We finally got to Aidyn, who was ready to take off AGAIN until he heard the crinkling of the peppermint wrapper. Ah ha, caught! Until he refused to come DOWN the hill so I could fix his blankets.

My horse has become very similar to a child after a few days at school. He has decided that his new "friends" know better than his mother does, and he is going to run from me to gain their approval. Hahaha. Okay, I'm done laughing.

Big Jerk. Maybe he just likes to watch me struggling in the mud.

SADDLE RACKS!!!

So today was a great day for one simple reason: Saddle Racks.

Saddle Racks must be referred to as proper nouns because, well, they are amazing.

We got brand new Saddle Racks installed and our saddles and pads were on them when we got the barn today! We were so excited that we literally screamed and jumped around like psychos. Here they are!



















So along with that incredible excitement, we trudged out to see the boys and give them their peppermints...they were cozy warm despite the 5 degree night we had last night and everything looks good...with the exception of Aidyn's tail, which resembles barbed wire right now. Tomorrow he will meet Mr. Cowboy Magic and have it detangled to resemble a tail again.

If this beautiful sunshine stays out and melts the snow and thaws the ground we should be able to at least hack over tomorrow :) And here is Aidyn's grumpy face, which is how he looks right AFTER a peppermint is eaten...apparently, one is not enough.



















That's Echo in the background, the little Arab that is half Aidyn's size and still manages to push him away from his breakfast each morning :D

God Bless!
-Ry

Stressed OUT.

This has little to do with Aidyn and a lot to do with his rider, moi.

So I did hop on yesterday to take a little ride around the property with Katie and Jay-R. Got to use the new breastplate which doesn't quite fit correctly, or perhaps I just put it on wrong. We shall work that out at a later date. He did look quite handsome and *almost* like a real event horse. Both boys were very good in treading through the never-ending muck and seeing new parts of the farm. It was a lot of fun...beautiful day and we just laughed and acted like kids with no bills, schoolwork or stresses in our lives.

However...wake up this morning trying to recreate previously mentioned mood and failed miserably. As I have been, lately. I get to the barn and the last thing I feel like doing is riding...or getting out of the car at all. I feel thoroughly discouraged about some unknown aspect of my riding and either can't find the energy or can't find the enthusiasm to drag myself out to get him, bring his muddy self in, get him ready, ride to the barn, actually RIDE, come back, etc etc etc. It's cold and miserable almost every day and the mud is getting worse because of the constant rain and snow we're getting. I want to blame it all just on that, but I feel if I were truly dedicated a little mud and rain wouldn't bother me.

Grrrrr.

I love my horse, and I want to event again. I want to get back into this full force, the way I used to be...but how do you do that, with school all day and homework all night and church (which is going GREAT by the way) and housework and keeping up with everything else and everyone else in your life!?!