Ups and Downs

I was having a terrific week horse-wise. I had several really productive flat rides on Lucy, a few nice hacks, and then a really fun jump school yesterday morning. It was the first time we jumped since our last event, so just about three weeks. I chose to focus on flatwork before getting back into the jumping because a friend of mine lent me a Boucher bit, and I think Lucy goes pretty well in that. It's a legal dressage alternative to a regular snaffle, so we'll give the Boucher a shot at Groton House.

In the afternoon, I went back to the barn to go out on a trail ride. A new girl has started riding one of the other horses at the barn, and she wanted to learn the trails. The horses owner asked me if I'd show her around. Lucy and this other horse do not get along so Maddy offered to let me take Brantley. I gladly accepted -- even though he's green, he has been really well-behaved and I thought he'd be perfect for the job.

He really was perfect, and even had to lead most of the time because the other horse decided he was not feeling brave at all. Considering Brantley has about 10 trail rides under his belt, I was so impressed with the way he handled himself. We trotted a bit and overall we had a great time.

We were on our way back to the barn and he was ambling along, totally relaxed and ears flopping happily. I was letting him walk on a loose rein because he hadn't given me any reason not to. He had been a champ the whole ride. Without any warning, though, he jumped straight up into the air, landed, bucked HARD three times, and sent me flying off his right side into a pricker bush. He ran over me and stepped on my leg, jumped over a wall of large boulders into the woods, ran through the woods, back through a field, around a corner where we could no longer see him, and ended up running out to a road where a man had to get out of his vehicle and stop traffic so that the horse didn't get run over.

I sat there convinced I had broken my leg where he stepped on it because I could not seem to get my foot under me to get up. I also had prickers stuck in me everywhere and I somehow ripped half my pinkie finger nail off.

Completely and utterly ridiculous.

As I took stock of myself I got my leg to work again and stood up to go collect the horse from the middle of the road, and realized that my leg must not be broken (phew!). I called poor Maddy, who was at work, and told her what happened and she came and walked Brantley home because though I wasn't broken, it really hurt to walk. I drove her car back to the barn, which was about 2 miles away.

So it's going to be a few days at least before I can ride again. I have quite the goose egg on the outside of my calf, and I cannot stretch my heel down/toes up so I don't think riding will be a good idea until that's feeling better. I am really grateful I didn't break anything as it's just the start of summer and lots of good things are hopefully coming up, and I can't participate if I'm in pieces.

I guess this is just part of riding green horses. I was completely unprepared for what happened and I shouldn't have let my guard down so much. I don't think it's fair to ride a young horse defensively but I should at least have enough rein where I can get the head up if they start bucking, and I should ALWAYS have my heels down, which I am pretty sure was not the case.

You live (hopefully) and learn, so chalk this one up to another terrible story we can tell over tequila shots a few years down the road and laugh at...until then, it's ice and ibuprofen for me!

time for the scale, and back in a bit

Lucy was weighed today and she gained 4 lbs since her last weighing, which was summer of last year. I'm glad she hasn't lost weight, because right when we had a week of super warm weather, she started to look really skinny. She got dewormed and I started feeding her lunch grain in addition to her normal AM and PM feedings, and I am happy with how she's bounced back.

all shined up, and ready for the scale

Then I rode in the KK Ultra bit. I'll let the video speak for itself! :D

hackamore success!

I tried Lucy in a hackamore today for the first time, and here are the results:

So, YEAH, not bad at all!!!

She got a little excited, Lucy style, when we picked up the canter, but I didn't feel out of control and I definitely had brakes. This hackamore was a Western style one that I was able to borrow for the day from a friend, and tomorrow I will be picking up an English hackamore.

brrrrr! and, a "bit" of success?

The temperature has dropped well into the "can't I just stay under the warm covers all day" zone but I have been trying to ride as much as I can. Yesterday I took Lucy and Cairo on a quick trail ride with two other people from the barn. We only walked, but it was just what I needed. Cairo had a good time, too :)

Today I brought the new bit and running martingale that I got Lucy with me to the barn and tried them out. The bit is a happy mouth shaped mullen mouth D ring bit and she actually LOVED it. Could it be, I finally found a bit that she likes and respects? She went well in the running martingale, too.

I will leave you with a photo from our trail ride yesterday!

back in the snaffle

Lu has been going pretty well in the Kimberwicke since I switched her to it earlier this year, but I knew I wanted to eventually put her back in the snaffle. Last night I tried her back in her single-jointed copper mouth D-ring snaffle. I wasn't sure what to expect, but she was actually pretty good! She was quite heavy and she tried to drag me around the ring a lot, but I didn't allow her to hang on my hands (I dropped her several times until she realized that she wasn't going to get away with hauling on me). I got some nice soft moments from her at the walk, trot, and canter. I also did a lot of lateral work with her, like asking her to step sideways off my leg. She did this willingly to the left but she was very stiff and resistant to the right, so we will work on that. We got some nice walk/canter transitions, even though she threw a little buck almost every time I asked. Gotta keep me on my toes! ;)

I started a Facebook page for my saddle pads, artwork, and Kenny's tack trunks. I was getting a lot of friend requests from people for my personal Facebook, and I don't tend to add people there whom I don't actually know. I figured starting a business FB page would be perfect because anyone can "Like" the page and then get updates about the newest pads.

So, please check Polar Square Designs out on Facebook and feel free to share the page! I will do a contest there for a free giveaway pad when it gets 100 fans.

countdown...eek!!

This week has both flown by and crawled slowly along. I have been super busy at work, so in that respect the time seemed to move quickly, but I am also apprehensive about Sunday, so in that respect Friday felt like it took a long time to get here.

Not to mention I have a social thing to do tonight and a wedding to go to tomorrow, so I have no idea if I'll even be able to ride before Sunday's hunter pace. Maybe if I go really early in the morning tomorrow I might be able to get a ride in before I have to get ready for the wedding.

I hand-painted two saddle pads last night, one for me and one for Claire. They came out well:

Claire's is purple and gold, and mine is green and silver.

I used to paint these and sell them back in high school/college but haven't done one for a long time. I had fun designing the artwork and painting them while watching a DVR'd episode of Covert Affairs. The paint had to dry, and then I ironed over it this morning to heat-set the paint so that the pads are washable. I think they'll look great! My friends have already expressed some interest in getting a painted pad for themselves, so who knows, maybe that little business venture can fatten up my (hopeful) horse show fund.

I tried the pelham bit on Lu a few days ago and while she seemed to really like it, she leaned on my hands quite a lot and didn't seem any more stoppable than she is with the snaffle, and in fact I think she had even less brakes. So we will stick with the snaffle for Sunday and maybe play around with some more bits if we decide to go to another pace.

and the scale says...

1197!!!

 

So that means she's gained just under 180lbs since I bought her. That to me is amazing. I am really pleased!

Then I had the most fabulous ride! It started to rain outside, so we used the indoor.

heave-ho!

good girl :)

she was such a sweetheart today

I picked up a straight rubber pelham today...I hope she likes it! Thanks for all your suggestions!

Mary, you asked about a bitless bridle. We have tried that with less than stellar results ;)

Here's the entry where I wrote about that day.

to leg or not to leg

I have been thinking about trying Lucy in a different bit, and many people whom I spoke with suggested a Waterford. I went to Dover after work yesterday and picked one up. I had great plans to go to the barn, let L zoom around the indoor for a bit, then ride. I got there and there no one else was around, and I have a rule not to ride alone, especially on a horse as green as Lucy. It worked out well, though, because I let her run around the indoor a bit and play, and then I spent half an hour telling her about my day and hugging her and stroking her neck. I had a frustrating day at work, and she stood calmly and snuffed my hair and let me get everything off my chest. I noticed that she kept looking around the ring, almost like the herd leader checks the horizon every few minutes, to protect the members from any danger and alert them to predators. It was comforting to think (even if this is not the case) that I am one of her "herd".

Tonight I am going to ride and I have a few plans brewing. Lately Lucy has been getting fast and strong, now that she's feeling like a new woman. The circle circle circle method worked to slow her down before but it's not as effective lately.

As far as I can tell there are two different theories on retraining OTTB's. Well I'm sure there are lots more than two, but these are the two trains of thought I most often hear and read about:

1. When retraining the OTTB, stay off their face and let them learn balance and straightness through the shoulder/hip by riding them on circles, zig-zags, and various other shapes that are curvy. If they get fast, CIRCLE. If they start leaning, CIRCLE. If they bulge, CIRCLE (and pick up that inside rein!).

OR

2. When retraining the OTTB, start off by teaching contact. So far, the horse has learned to lean against the contact, as if it's a wall that needs to be pushed until it gives way. He now needs to learn that contact is supposed to be a method of communication and support, not a challenge. Teach him to give to the pressure, and from there teach him how to bend.

Since Lucy had several body mechanics issues that needed to be worked on by the chiropractor and massage therapist, I adopted thought process #1, not wanting to start demanding things out of her that were physically painful for her to attempt. For instance, with a lateral displacement of her spine that measured almost 20 degrees, it would have been really difficult for her to give to pressure going to the left. She could barely even go in a circle to the left, and that was moving like a piece of cardboard. Both therapists who came out warned me against putting her in side reins, because she is still so sore through her SI joint that cranking her head down would cause more damage through her back and hips. They said they'd rather see her travel straight and level than adopt a false roundness.

Now that she is feeling much better, she is moving totally different than how she did before her various therapies. She is also getting stronger and with that, comes speed. I have tried doing the circle circle circle and circle some more! thing, but I am not sure that is the right choice for us right now.

Instead, I need to mush the two theories together. As someone said to me, "She needs to learn to accept your leg!". So far I've been riding her with zero leg, which makes fixing the leaning around the circle thing difficult. When a normal horse leans around the circle, you're supposed to support with your outside rein and inside leg. The instant I put any kind of leg on Lucy, she is ready to go run the Preakness, and then we have to do ten more circles to get her attention again. Then we come back to the "give to pressure" thing, because if she knew how to give to pressure from the bit, she might better understand what I am asking her to do when I support with my outside rein and inside leg.