Wordless Wednesday

And he's mine, all mine. :)

Love love love this boy. :) :)

In Which We Go Public

...sort of.

You can see our YouTube channel here! It's nothing professional, for sure--just some basic stuff for the folks that are working with my project babies when I'm not there. So constructive feedback is welcome, but no snarky comments por favor! Haha, not that I expect that from any of you but y'know... :)

Last week was a zoo but we rode anyway! My new challenge is getting River comfortable in our new schooling area. He is decidedly nervous of the big-open-area-without-rails and is skittery and tense and gnaws and chomps on the bit like nobody's business. To the point where he's literally flinging drool all over. It's crazy.

This slobber is greatly reduced from when we were actually riding...!

It'd be lovely if it was from a really relaxed jaw instead of a nervous one!

So I scrapped my plans of working on walk/halt/back transitions and now we're just walking around up there, round and round and round, till he relaxes. No biggie. I'm flexible--we don't have anything we have to be ready for!

I am so sad Daylight Savings Time is ending this week!

Shaggy pony and late-evening sunbeams

But we are enjoying the time we've got. Today was my evening to feed, so after giving everyone their grain at the barn, I went down to get River and check on the pasture horses. Saw him first, so gave him his carrot and then went off to make sure nobody else was broken or bleeding.

Turned around and Mr. Food-Pony was marching off to the gate on his own! He did stop halfway and deign to give me his most disgusted look...I call it the Moose Look and it's pretty much this:

From earlier in the year...

Saying plain as could be, "Hurry UP, lady, why u so SLOW?!"

He walked all the way up to the gate then without any halter or anything. Ha. Got his yums and then we rode a little bit--walking around in the schooling area--and I did his feet. It was a good evening.

Those Goals

The other afternoon I went down to the local TSC (all we've got for feed store, but better than nothing right?!) to get River some thrush medicine--he had a very minor case going on and making him ouchy. It's much better now! Anyway, while buying many things I didn't initially intend to (oops, lol), I met some folks I used to ride with at the old barn. And that made me lonely for Coach, and for my old riding buddies; even if they weren't my level, they were someone to ride with. And that almost made me sad, so I came up with some goals instead to distract myself. Besides, it's getting toward winter and we need something to keep us going. Winter here is theoretically much easier than in Michigan, but really it sucks because nobody in my immediate area has nice indoor arenas, so you have to ride in the frigidness. Well, nobody has them except the really-expensive-barn-folks, which we are decidedly not.

Anyhow, without further ado, the goals:

Both of Us Goals:

• One or two lessons with Coach over Thanksgiving and/or Christmas breaks (depending on how River's goals go...)
• Dressage video lesson sometime this winter??
• Increase fitness
• Regular riding schedule

River Goals:

• School walk/halt/backing transitions till they're soft and easy(ish)
• Hill work, trot/canter sets, and general conditioning work
• School walk/trot transitions 
• Stretches and massage regularly--loosen up that back and hind end!

Me Goals:

• Finish out the 2-Point Challenge this month!
• No-Stirrup November next month?? (eeks...can't believe I'm actually thinking about that...)
• Figure out just how River likes his feet trimmed so they continue to improve
• Strength training and stretches/yoga--alternate days so I'm doing something 5-6 days a week

We'll see how all that goes, especially my fitness--it's one thing for me to work on getting my pony fit, quite another to commit to my own torture. Haha. And if I can really find the time, especially after the time change!

In Which We Have EARS!!

Well I had been jealous of everyone else's lovely trail photos, especially Saiph who has a whole park across the street from her barn and has been thoroughly enjoying it this fall! So yesterday the expensive trimmer-who-I'm-not-sure-how-much-he-actually-knows was out and I wanted to avoid him--what better way than to go off on a long trail ride!

And I even managed to get a set of ears in my picture!

The really shocking thing is that he stood still long enough for me to take this!

Hah, you can kind of see just how fuzzy he is in this picture. Anytime it gets much above 60, he is sweaty now! His ears look a little "questioning" here but that is because I asked him to stand still while I took the pic. Usually they are straight forward. :)

The really awesome thing is that this whole ride was...wait for it.....BAREBACK. I've historically been a terrible bareback rider--well I can officially say that is now history! We even went across the creek, which is a not-too-bad drop into the creek and then a terrible long, muddy scramble out. It feels like this...

Shamelessly stolen from the Renegade hoof boots website...anybody want to buy River a pair?

.....but muddy. And somewhat shorter. I'll have to get a picture sometime. Anyways we came out the other side of that unscathed too! I may or may not have grabbed mane and left him to figure it out on his own...

And no spooks and no silliness, just a nice forward marching walk the whole time. He tried trotting a couple times but I informed him I didn't want to trot bareback with his bony spine. We were out for about 45 minutes and it was so much fun. I told River maybe we would go into endurance after all--he could probably walk faster than the other horses can trot! ;)

We came back and discovered I had committed the unpardonable sin--I hadn't soaked his beet pulp already, so he had to wait.

MOOMMM I'M DYYYIIIINNGGG......

He was not pleased. He forgave me quickly though once the required foods were in front of him. :)

His feet are so much better from when I first brought him home, it's crazy. That he can do all that, and not be sore afterwards, is just unreal. So happy.

This Is Why I Blog

So yesterday break started! Woot woot!

Now I'm working over break, so y'know...but it's still a huge relief. :) So yesterday, being a slow day at work, I was reading old blog posts. And good grief, have I become chicken lately. Just last year I was running over to the barn as soon as school/work were done, I was riding all kinds of crazy babies, plus Coach's mare, and not a second thought. This year I haven't been riding unless it's convenient, and I've been half frightened that River will spook or something and I will go flying. Not an unreasonable worry, as I usually ride quite alone, but he hasn't given me a big spook yet, so it's something I've got to get over!

So my pep talk yesterday consisted of "Get your big girl britches on and go out and RIDE!"

So I did. :) And it was good. :) I found another schooling spot on the other side of the arena that's reasonably flat and has decent footing, so we rode up there and walked figure-eights and circles in our make-believe arena, and trotted some circles, and worked on keeping a consistent contact and coming off the forehand and actually using ourselves a bit. Well that's what I worked on. River worked on fidgeting the life out of the bit. Haha. I'm riding him in a Waterford now, so it's rather conducive to getting played with. But he was responsive, slowed and stopped when I asked, and didn't get his runaway freight train brain on. Yay! Next time perhaps we'll canter! :)

It's going to help my posture, for sure--if I ever expect him to step up under himself and stop dragging around on his forehand, I'm going to have to sit back, raise my hands, and use all the core and upper-body muscles I [don't] have to keep myself steady.

Trail ride tomorrow--Expensive Trimmer who-did-River's-feet-last-time but who really does no more than my current farrier can do is coming out, and I don't want him doing River's feet "by accident," so I plan to get there early and make us disappear for a good long while. :)

Three Babies

Sooo, promised an update on my new projects! Well I don't have any pictures (I know, shame shame), but here is the back story! 

They belong to a private school for boys with ADD/ADHD and/or behavior problems. I found them by responding to an ad on my college job board for "volunteer horse training and maintenance." Called because I couldn't imagine anyone just posting a random ad for such things, and because I couldn't imagine anyone else picking them up as a project at this time of the semester. Then discovered that there were three babies--and I mean baby babies, the oldest is barely three, the youngest right about a yearling--two of which were (still are, but for a limited time!) stud colts. And there's nobody there who knows anything about horses period, let alone baby horses. Woowweee, fun fun fun.

So a week ago Sunday was my "eval" trip, to see if I thought I could handle this or if it was quite beyond me. Turns out there is one kid at the school that knows a little bit about horses in general and has been working with them. Mostly consisting of giving them treats and petting them and getting them used to halters/picking up feet/etc. Not a bad start, except that now they have NO concept of staying out of one's personal space, or doing anything else in fact except eating. The filly (oldest and most definitely the boss) will tie and lead (sort of, except when she doesn't) and usually deal with having her face pulled into all kinds of contortions with the halter and lead-rope-reins (again, except when she doesn't), but the colts won't do much unless the others are nearby, and don't do a whole lot even then.

But none of them are dangerous, so I said sure, I'll come up once a month or so and help you as long as the boys are gelded and someone's willing to work with them when I'm not there. Will be interesting! I won't be getting anywhere unless this kid, J, and his friend are willing to join in and do the footwork, so we'll see. First day we worked on moving off pressure and handling scary things appropriately. Now we are taking some video of River so they can understand what is supposed to be and to help them remember somewhat of how to get there. Though the Beast isn't perfect, he's pretty good these days, and demonstrates the need for all these skills quite well--nothing like getting run over by a 1200-lb. critter to convince you that your horse does need to learn to move when you tell him to...

He is not impressed by the videoing--thinks it's eternally boring. Lol. I did get his feet trimmed this week, though, and he is sounder than ever before, even on the little (quarter- to half-inch) gravel. Woot! 

Crazy

Crazy crazy week! I rode a grand total of once this week, went out to see the Buddy every night though. His back seems a bit sore so perhaps it's just as well I didn't ride too much. I'm worried the saddle might be making him sore but it's not like he's being ridden a whole lot, so perhaps it's just that he's missing his massages or maybe he tweaked it in the pasture...guess we'll see.

Anyway, rundown of the Week in Horses, bullet-point form (more to come later, I hope!):

• Sunday: Went and did an eval visit on three new project babies (YAY Arab babies!) that I've taken on as a volunteer job
• Monday: Fed pony, not much else as I had an evening appointment. Sent off my Christmas wish list to whoever-wants-to-buy-me-stuff. :D
• Tuesday: Fed pony again, again not much else because of evening appointment.
• Wednesday: Lunged to try out a new riding spot, and rode in the arena. Discovered the footing in said arena is now nearly irreparably nasty. So much for that.
• Thursday: River and I had our film debut!...or something. Groundwork video project begins (more on that later). We discovered River is not the most photogenic beast when it comes to standing still for the video camera, haha. 
• Today: Fed, not much else--another evening appointment!

Did my two-point on Wednesday, obviously no other day though. Next week I definitely don't plan on having one supervisor in the hospital, interviews coming up in my other job, and two presentations--so it should be a bit calmer and hopefully more productive on the horse front!

Sunday Funny

This video is hilarious--see #1 for how River generally eats, wiggly head-nodding and all...oh and don't forget insisting that the feed room door is left open so he can watch...

Cured!

The swelling is gone! Woot woot! Iced for a couple days, didn't ride or do anything but feed the Gigantosaurus, and today the leg was 100% fine. So happy!

I am betting he bruised it, or maybe the cut was sore, I don't know--all the swelling only made him the tiniest, tiniest bit short-strided at the trot at worst, but on Wednesday and Thursday he was very unhappy when I just brushed my hand over it ever so gently. Sounds like a bruise or a sore cut to me, though I guess I'll never know for sure. Either way, he's fine now and I am happy. :) :)

Even though I missed out on the deadline for the two-point challenge...booo but I will participate unofficially. :) Edit: Monday! Deadline extended to Monday! Yay! We will participate anyways! You should too, even if you're not a jumpy jump person it's good for you!

He found his "herd legs" apparently. His girlfriend has been in a separate pasture with an abscess and then another wound, and she just recently got turned out. My guess is that the mystery owie happened then, since he was pretty sweaty that afternoon, and the other young(ish, 10) gelding in the herd, "TJ,"  has since been ostracized to the far corners of the pasture. River, meanwhile, has been hanging out with his girlfriend, the other mare in the pasture, and Mountain, a little therapy gelding that previous to this wasn't allowed near the others. TJ had been throwing his weight around a bit, being bossy, and I guess he probably got too friendly with River's girlfriend and that didn't go down well...just my supposition, either way TJ has the tough end of the deal now!

Owies

So yesterday I went out and got River, brought him in. Thought about lungeing some, doing some groundwork. As I was bringing him in I noticed he seemed just a little bit--not 100%. He wasn't lame or anything, but it looked like he wasn't stretching out and marching along quite as he usually does.

In the barn, I shortly discovered what it was: A nice scrapy cut on the inside right hock. Ugh. It had swollen a bit but not badly, so I sprayed it with disinfectant stuff and gave him his yums and the day off.

Back out today, I thought I would ride a little bit, just walk, get my baseline for the October 2-Point Challenge. Umm, nope. Cut was looking okay, starting to scab over a bit, but the inside of the hock was still all swollen up like nobody's business and it obviously hurt, because he wouldn't let me touch it without kicking up. Sigh...cold hosed (much to his distaste) and went back and forth about leaving him in vs. turning him out, eventually turned out because I can't see it doing him any good to stay inside; the pasture's dry and Mr. Donkey the Troublemaker has an abscessed foot and is in a separate paddock.

Poor buddy. Will ice it tomorrow and see if it's looking any better; if not I might call and talk to the vet...if it's just a cut there's not much they can do as long as it's not infected, I just hope he didn't hurt some ligament or tendon in there...

Yet Another Awesome Contest :)

From SheMovedToTexas!

You could win a Horze winter equestrian-inspired jacket! I am so excited about this! So go look, but don't sign up 'cause I want to win. :P