Homework

I have hated homework since i was in school i never seemed to make time for it let alone when life got busy, but i finally pulled myself away from my weekend on cloud 9 for a bit of a reality check.

The barn i am boarding at (which may come to an end with the divorce) is a co-op barn so that means quarterly meetings. So sunday was our deworming day and a meeting... I had to walk ALL the way out to the farthest end of the feild to gather my horse because when he saw me he looked away and pretended to eat from every little hay pile and walk away from me as if he had not noticed. Eventually he realised i was just going to continue to follow him until he gave up and with a sigh he let me catch him.

This was my first time deworming G, he has been done before but not since i have owned him, he was pretty good once i had a good grip on his head so he could not toss it around and spit out the dewormer.

I had about an hour to kill so i figured i would tack him up and work on our corners until the meeting. So i put him into the cross ties and he stood great, a lot more calm and relaxed than thursday when he was wide eyed and panicked as if i was about to load him into a meat truck. He was not as nervous about all the people wandering around and horses going behind him. Best part.... with a little fighting he gave up and let me pick up both front feet, after i held and picked them out without him pulling away from me he even lifted his hind legs up for me, hes learning i was so proud of my boy <3

Got him all tacked up and walked to the arena... and lo and behold... someone left  some jumps up in the arena... i had to try to lunge him on a small circle in the scary end of the arena to avoid the jumps. After we lunged we played on some of the smaller jumps and G was great he wasnt scared of them at all... but the blue barrels in the arena... now thats some scary stuff.

I hopped on even with people in the arena took a deep breath and walked on, we pushed into all the corners at a walk, i focused on keeping my core tight to keep his pace slow. We frequently changed directions and did serpentines (i think im spelling that wrong ha ha) trying to work around the jumps as much as possible. When my boy looked like he was getting a little bored we would walk over one of the jumps.

He did great i am so proud of him we are moving forward. Lesson # 2 this weekend and i cannot wait. I had to get a second job due to the divorce so i am hoping to work this weekend and will have to work around that. Im looking to find a second job at a bar or something where i can make tips... because i forsee my ex being vindictive and canceling my board at the barn i am at now.

Anyways the weekend was amazing spent it all with the new crush, amazing thats all i have to say!

xoxox

Lesson #1

First thing i am going to mention is how relaxed i feel, i feel like a HUGE weight has been lifted and i can finally breath again, it is amazing.

I had my first lesson on G last night and it went pretty good there was minimal naughtiness. Catching him was not nearly as hard as i thought it was going to be, he made a little bit of a protest (trying to walk away) then allowed me to halter him. Walking back in he had a bit of a baby moment and decided that he was not going to walk anymore lol after a little pressure he gave that up too. I am not sure if he has ever been in the cross ties but he handled the cross ties fantastically only getting nervous when people went behind him. The barn i board at is build really weird i will take some pictures when i go out tonight. He was great to saddle up as usual and lunging him was a good he just got a little nervous because there were other people in the arena.

After a quick lunge and a few circles at the mounting block finally we were on, it was my first time riding in my new saddle and for a cheap saddle it was super comfy i love it. My trainer T had me walking around at first (it has been about 4 months since i have last ridden and almost 1 yr i think since G has been ridden) just getting used to the feeling of how when i tuck my seat right up and under me and tighten my abs G will walk slower and in a more rythmic pace (major AHA moment i sometimes get carried away by quick walking horses lmao).  We practiced keeping a steady rhythm (no matter how i spell that word it looks wrong sorry....) and keeping my hands stable and making sure that i am giving G the proper aids right from the get go. I also realised how sensitive he is, being a young horse and all, i will feel him tense up and be focusing on another horse or a scarey sound in the arena and all i have to do is talk to him and he relaxes completely as if to say "oh thank goodness i thought you left me alone in this big scary arena" needless to say another AHA moment.

We started some trop work and at first we just trotted around aimlessly with my bouncing around in the saddle like a noodle. I had a really hard time pushing myself into the saddle to get him to stop it was a little crazy but we started doing a few steps at a time and eventually had a fairly nice trot around the arena for a green horse and a green rider it felt fantastic when we found OUR rhythm.

My trainer T is amazing i love her to death she knows what i can do and pushes me to do it and not buy into my excuses. My riding was a thousand times better than four months ago because as i said in the begining my stress is gone... i feel so relaxed... still nervous but i am not nearly as tense. T got on G at the end of my lesson because he hit a bit of a wall and was just exhausted from our lesson it took everything i had to keep him forward at the end. He looked fantastic when she was riding him, T also said he was perfect for me once we get it we will be great.

We finished it off with G just wandering around the arena cooling himself out. Did i mention that my crush was there lol and of course he has to ask me how it is going with picking up G's feet in front of T. So after G was all straight legged for myself and my crush (im going to have to think of a clever name for him later) T walked over picked up his leg and held on while G flailed a little, and pretended he was going to fall, after that he stood still. I hadnt realised how much i was buying into his pretend panic, So we will be working on that too lol.

Homework... well we hate corners... i dont know what it is but every horse i have ever ridden i struggle to get them into the corners..... so clearly it is me and not the horses lol so when i go out (im hoping to tonight) my crush will probably meet me there and will set up cones for me and we will practise getting deep into those corners. oh how i hate corners lol!!

When one door closes...

They say that when one door closes another opens, that is the mentality i am trying to keep right now. *warning* This is a (for the most part) non-horse post and will be filled with little bits of me whining about having to grow up.

I have been with my husband now for almost 3 years and not even married for 1 yet but i feel like my marriage is ending. Neither of us are able to say that we are happy more than 30% of the time. We fight constantly and i have spent so much of my life trying to make everyone else happy and never really spent time figureing out what made me happy. This is the point where i could insert nasty comments about how its all his falt and blah blah blah, but honestly i am way passed all that i just want for us to be happy and it seems going our seperate ways might be for the best. We both have had our faults and made big mistakes in our relationship but we cant get seem to get passed them.

So i am kinda bummed that i am in that 43% of marriages end in divorce. I am kinda bummed that my life is going to get super crazy for a while until i get everything under control. I am hoping that this big change wont affect my son to much, hes 3 and very resiliant for his age. It appears at the moment that my husband and i will be able to work together and seperate things civally.. Its going to suck when we are officially divorced and i have to find a new boarding facility.

So my life will  be starting over again and i will be building myself up from scratch and trying to learn and grow from this experience. I really do think they should make it harder for people to get married because getting a divorce is a pain in the butt.

I have found a second job that seems to be very flexible so riding in between wont be an issue as well as a few perspective room mates. My goal is to make sure that this change DOES NOT affect my son, my cat, my dog, my horse and riding and my life.

Feels good to vent lol, husband will be home on thursday and we will be "talking" then to see what we are going to do and how we will make it all work. I really do hope that we can still be somewhat friends if that is even possible.  Thursday i am going to go out and ride after work to clear my head and start on my riding journey because their is nothing holding me back. No one for me to be home for on the weekends now (except the dog and cat of course) so onwards i suppose without hesitation.

As a friend of mine said to me the other day

"your like a rose stuck in a pile of crap" (at first i was offended.... then i was confused... then once a girlfriend of mine explained it to me it started to make a little more sense.... now it has grown on me)

My First Award!! Exciting!!

I got my first award today i am so excited about it!! I was selected by http://panicandthepony.blogspot.com/ as one of her top 5 favorite "up and coming" blogs. I would definatly recommend to anyone that they should read her blog it is very inspirational. It is a story of a nervous rider overcoming her own obsticles and her horses to become an absolutly amazing pair. I love the updates and the honesty that goes into every post. I look forward to watching them grow together and their progress!


Liebster means “dearest” in German, and the award is intended to help up-and-coming blogs get the attention they deserve. Here are the rules:

1. Copy and paste the award on our blog.
2. Link back to the blogger who gave you the award
3. Pick your five favorite blogs with less than 200 followers, and leave a comment on their blog to let them know they have received the award.
4. Hope that the five blogs chosen will keep spreading the love and pass it on to five more blogs!


I like lists and following rules. It's too bad there aren't more rules about what to blog about. A giant blog list that you just follow items 1-50 and that's your topic. Creativity? What creativity? Imma list maker!! And actually, it's much easier for some of us to get creative if we have some limitations set up. Otherwise we end up WAY too avante garde and our creativity resembles bad performance art involving toilets. But enough about art and toilets, let's give out some Leibster awards!!!

http://slowandsteadysmilerwinstherace.blogspot.com/

I love reading blogs about busy moms trying to fit in their riding careers, it motivates me so much to be better for my family and my horse. I also enjoy the humor in this blog!!

http://freelanceinstructorsdiary.blogspot.com/

Everytime i read a post on this blog i learn something new about horses, extremely education and very well written story of a Rider building her business as a riding instructor.

http://greyhorsematters.blogspot.com/

Another one of my favorites, always puts a smile on my face. Written by an "aging rider" (as she calls herself) and her experiences with riding and horses.

http://www.cobjockey.com/

A blog about a rider trying to get a new breed more recognition in the world of eventing. Tons of photos and video's. I often learn things here that i use myself.

http://fillysbestfriend.blogspot.com/

This is a blog that is always full of photos and happy updates, she is an amazing rider and extremly patient... another blog i get ideas from.


Sorry i dont know how to sum any of these blogs up in a scentence. All of them are fantstic in their own way i love them all.

On the horse front, I put G in his stall last night for the entire night and when i came back this morning he was still in the stall and wasnt having a nervous breakdown so that is good news. I also was able to put him in with the herd today. He caused what could be compared to a prison riot, but seemed to be blissfully happy. I will be out thursday to work with him a bit then Friday will be out first lesson. I cant wait!

 

Crazy, Crazy, Crazy

Well i kept my word from last post I was going out that night and I was going to ride him!!! Well i guess i didnt stick to it 100%.... I went out last night and there were some people out there already when i released the lead rope my horse took off like something out a western movie bucking and kicking like a wild horse. I tried to reassure everyone HE IS NOT CRAZY and is really a friendly horse as he runs towards me then changes direction last minute. Hes a baby... and he has been cooped up in a medical paddock for 21 days he needed to stretch his legs and be a horse for a little bit. It took about an hour for him to relax and come up to me ready to work.

We started off with a little lunging.. he is not used to an audience while we work because he spooked twice on the lunge time attempting to rip my arms off in the process (luckily i have been working out) i help onto that lunge line with a vengance determined not to let him get the better of me, I WAS going to win both time. When he realised i was not going to attack him and neither were the spectators he relaxed and i got him back on a circle but he was still really spooky so after a good circle i unhooked him again and have him a few more minutes to be a horse and a young horse at that. After a few more minutes of snorting kicking and bucking he came up nice and quiet ready to work, i started with brushing him out and the people in the arena helped, he was in horsey heaven 3 people brushing him at once stratching all those hard to hit places, he practically turned to jelly. So we restarted on the lunge line and he did great both directions he even started giving me a little bit of a canter.

I put him back on his lead line and practised some tight turns getting him to engage his hind end and front end seperatly. He did great on that as well so we moved to tacking, which as usual went without a hitch no walking off no nothing. Mounting block is still a little challenging but he is not walking off now he just tried to keep his back end away from it. We had barely done anything at  this point and he was already sweating like he ran a marathon. I was going to call it quits at that point because we had already worked through some issues (smalls ones at that) and i was being a wuss (to be honest).

One of the people who were hanging out in the arena asked if he could ride him, hes not very experienced but wanted to give him a try so i said sure... G did great he was more concerned with where i was going than what was going on on his back. I brought out a pole to get him to walk over and at first he didnt want to but with a little coaxing he was more than happy too. When he couldnt see me he responded well to the leg aids when he could see me he didnt care what the rider was doing lol. Everything was going great... and then.... G let out this big full body shake but then kept  walking forward all was well i was worried for nothing then all of a sudden i saw him drop his head and i couldnt spit out "GET OFF GET OFF GET OFF" fast enough luckily the guy riding had cat like reflexes and got his feet out of the stirrups in time to get off just as G laid down to roll. As soon as the rider was off he got right back up like nothing happened. Great! Gotta love that! Looks like i might be looking to hire someone to put some rides on him. Lucky me!

Anyways after that we did some exercises that i knew he could complete so we did not finish off with him getting aware with what ever he wanted. So I will start again today... I am commiting to riding him today whether i am by myself or not. Even if it is at a walk i am getting on!

No More Slacking

I havnt posted in almost 5 days to be honest there was nothing to post the weather has been terrible and i have been trying to hybernate all week. Good news is that we are out of quarantine on Saturday... the piss off... its suppose to warm up Saturday morning!

Im sitting at my desk at work today motivating myself to get off me butt and start working G tonight, i dont know why i have been taking it so slow with him he is broke completely yes he has had a year off but i do not need to be waiting to ride him there is no reason we cant do some ground work and some work under saddle. I am kinda mad at myself for hiding behind a lame excuse that he has had some time off and we need to redo everything. I dont know why horses scare me so much i am super comfortable around them on the ground but in the saddle i get nervous and that results in tension and the horse being tense and spooky and it turns out to be a bad ride. I dont want that for myself or for G i want to be able to trust him and have him trust me. So regardless of whether there is anyone at the barn tonight or not i am going out and i am going to get on him and at very least do some basics at a walk, and go from there.

I have done great this week at my weightloss goal and have lost 5lbs as of yesterday (i added a little ticker so you can see how i am doing).

Regarless i am going out tonight with helmet in hand and riding. No more Excuses!

Winter is here!

No riding today because it is way to cold. On a good note this morning when i was out at the barn feeding G one of the ladies at the barn noticed that my boy wasnt wearing his blanket so she asked why and as i explained to her the story of his winter Anky Van Gruen (i may have spelt that wrong) blanket and how it now needs repairs, and his other blanket not being suitable in this weather she told me to use one of hers during this cold snap. Today it was -31C!!! So good news is that G had a nice big winter blanket he can wear for his last week in quarantine (which is great the whether is suppose to get to -40C with the windchill!!!)

There are some benefits to being at a co-op barn, mostly to do with the $120 a month board which includes the following; feed (hay, you have to pay for any special feed you want), vaccinations, deworming, and his very own stall.
The downside is that i have to be out there morning and night for turnout if i use the stall, and when there are things to be done your expected to help out. I dont mind helping, today we had to sort through the old hay and keep what was salvagable and throw out what was moldy and garbage... we more or less moved 50 bales of hay weighing 65lbs each from one spot on the hay shed to the other. My body hurts needless to say, but i got to know some of the other people boarding there which is nice! But by the time we were done i could not feel numerous parts of my body!

My body is going into hybernation... its 9PM and i am heading to bed exhausted!

Night everyone!

And.. Progress!!

Today we finally got our winter... everything is frozen and covered in snow. I went out to the barn to find G soaking wet and all worked up for some reason, i took him into the indoor arena to let him warm up and dry off, as soon as i took the lead rope off he bolted kicking and snorting around the arena stopping frequently to roll. Now i am not the most experienced horse person in the world and i am learning a lot as i go, i have had a major fear since putting G in quarantine that he would colic. As soon as i seen how often he was rolling and the clear discomfort he was in i tried to catch him to at least get his wet blanked off of him but he would not come near me as soon as i got close he would run off bucking and snorting again. The only thing i could think of to do is to get some water into him or at least give him the option to drink, if he doesnt drink then its not lack of water its just some Fizzies as Panicandthepony would say in her blog. I ran and grabbed some warm water and he couldnt get it down fast enough, i had to fill the bucket 2x just to quench his thirst, i felt terrible but after the water he started to calm down and allowed me to take his wet blanket off.

We worked on a few different things today;
-first of all i lunged G he seemed to be favoring his right hind leg after all the running, kicking and rolling he was doing. After a few minutes in each direction his strides evened out and he was putting equal amounts of weight on each leg. His lunging is coming along really well, he stops less on his own accord and easily starts moving forward when asked. Finally we have the hang of lunging.. somewhat...
-we worked on a few exercises to encourage G to turn around me in small circles crossing his front legs over each other. He did this exercise really well when he realised what i was asking him to do. (I found this on someones blog and i cant seem to find the post now to link it.. sorry!!)
-worked on no more walking off at the mounting block which with the help of a whip in front to prevent him from moving forward we had PROGRESS!! He finally stood still for a good 3 minutes while i played around with the saddle from the mounting block petting him all over his back pulling on the stirrups and finally when i got on. When i got on he did not move forward at all he stood still for the most part.. minus a few steps back. He was a little uneasy with the dismount but that will come in time.
-I didnt have to halter or tie him to tack him up he stood still and patiently waited for me to tack up and ask something of him.

I dont think i am missing anything.. i am glad he was ok after all... before we left the arena he pooped once then waited until i cleaned it up to poop some more on the otherside of the arena. I am finding that i am not nervous with him, i am calm, i trust him more than i trust most people. Other than his head rubbing he is very gentle around me, when i walk he walks beside me like a partner he does not push just walks shoulder to shoulder with me, i run he runs with me... it is an amazing feeling. I am so lucky.

But i must be off i need to find a way to fix his winter blanket because he will most definatly need it.

I will leave you all with a picture of G eating his beet pulp mixture... i left to much water in it this time, he spent about 10 mins pushing all the beet pulp to one side so he could eat it withought the extra water.

Happy days, Not so great month

Yesterday i checked the weather and saw that for my area it is suppose to get to -30C next week and i panicked. G doesnt have any sort of shelter in the quarantine pen, i cant keep the water from freezing and he is back out of the way were people are not able to regularily check on him, it made me sick to my stomach thinking about all the terrible things that could happen and just the thought of him being cold throughout the night. So i started messaging the barn manager and the lady in charge of the paddocks and placement begging them to let me move G into one of the medical paddocks that are much bigger and have a gorgeous shelter and higher fencing, not only that but it is nice and close to the parking lot so people HAVE to walk passed him to get into the barn.

Long story short WE ARE IN THE MED PEN!! Both ladies figured that since Dr.B had been out and said he had no immediate concerns with G's health and we have had the coggins test done and are just waiting for the response that is would be ok for me to move him into the medical pens just in time for the week of cold weather. I made a nice bed last night for him in the shelter and when we went to feed him this morning you could tell he had been laying in the hay. I slept great last night, i wasnt stressed because he is in a place were people can see him if he is in distress and CANT ignore him on principle. Right behind where i was standing is the feild with the geldings, so this morning G seemed very happy and content with were he is and was very playful with me. He can see the herd now and start to get used to the other horses. I also have less of a distance to go with water buckets lol.

The not so great part is i have not been doing very good with my eating properly and exercising better... but i have a coworker who is trying to lose some weight for her wedding in June so i have someone to help keep me motivated, which should help.

Not much to say on the riding part because my husband is home until saturday afternoon then he is gone for a month so i am spending as much time as i possibly can with him before he leaves. He has been amazing going out during the day for me to break the ice on G's water and cleaning out the quarantine pen for me <3 i am a very lucky girl thats for sure.

xoxo

Grr... Some people kids!

So this morning i went out as i do every morning to feed and check on G. This morning when i pulled up i found him with his blanket half off and one of the straps ripped off and one of the elastic ropes wrapped numerous times around one of his hind legs. He was struggling to get it off of his leg running and kicking standing and kicking as soon i got out there he sighed and stood perfectly still so i could untangle him. I was very frusturated by that i could tell by the marks on his leg from the rope and how sweaty he was he had been fighting with this blanket for some time. I know i am in quarantine but im sorry if i saw someone elses horse wrapped up like that in a blanket i would go out there and try to untangle the horse before it got hurt. Everyone at the barn looked surprised like they had not noticed him out there worries me a little bit.... can i rely on these people if something more serious where to happen? Im sure i can and this is coming out more like a rant than anything... im just upset and concerned for my horses well being. I lunged him today and watched his movement closely and he isnt favoring any of his legs so i am sure he will be ok. When i went out tonight he seemed fine but will have to get through the chilly night with a lighter blanket, i hope he is ok tonight.

Dr. B came out tonight to look at another one of the horses so i got our "get out of jail" vet check done. This is the first time i have met him, he came highly recommended from a bunch of people at the barn and works with all the race horses. Just by looking at my Trakehner he asked if there was Thoroughbred in his blood lines... i was kinda shocked because he does but its not something that you could tell from looking at him (his Dam's Dam Calypso Rose was a Thoroughbred). He completed his exam and didnt see anything he would be concerned about, he did suggest that since i am planning on competing at some point that i should get a coggins test done so we did that as well. I will have the results within a week *fingers crossed* that all is well and we can get the hell out of quarantine!!

The only thing Dr.B said was that he looked a little yellow to him (hes a chestnut horse.... of course he has yellow hues). So i will be doing a little research on that later. But im going to go finish my cleaning i am working 1 room at a time, our lease is up April 1st and we want to move to a house so i have some doggie damage to the walls to fix up and a few paint touch ups so we dont lose our damage deposit... and my hubby is home tomorrow so i would like him to come home to a decently cleaned out.

Night all!

Just another day..

Today i was very lucky to have some help out at the barn as i got G settled in for the night, It is suppose to hit -15 degrees (celcius) for the first time since the begining of December, so we had to get a nice bed made and take out his warm blanket. My 3 year old loves coming out with me to the barn, he loves to feel like he is helping carry 5 gallon buckets of water and 45lb bales of hay. There are days that it drives me crazy but i would love for him to get into horses since as said in my previous post about why parents buy horses for their kids having a horse is a big responsibility and it could possibly keep him out of trouble in the future.

Since there wasnt going on the last 2 days i thought i would post about a christmas present that i got that is absolutly hideous but means the world to me. My extended family doesnt support me riding in any way, which is odd since my family has strong ties to the Rodeo here in Alberta. When i had to put my last horse Indy down (story posted earlier) my dad told me that it was a good thing because horses are a waste of time and a waste of money. This year on christmas eve he said to me "are you still doing that horse thing?" he must have known how upset it made me because he instantly replied with "we wont even get into that because you know how i feel about it" I was heart broken, my entire life i have tried to make my dad be proud of me, I am a very nervous rider but it isnt the horse i am nervous about it is more a fear of failing a fear of my dad being right about me wasting my time. So i struggle to ride some days because i am tense and my head is swimming with random thoughts and reasons why i should just give up, but it is things like the hideous necklace below that changes my mind.

December 27th i got to see my Grandpa who was a rodeo clown for something like 20 years and followed the rodeo all accross Western Canada and the U.S. When i first told my grandpa i was getting back into riding he was so excited for me and wanted all the details about what i wanted to do, and at that time it was Jump. At christmas i was almost brought to tears when he pointed out to me quietly that i hadnt opened all of my presents and when i opened it i found this inside the little box. It is an ugly thing but it means the world to me, it took my feelings of having no support from my extended family to knowing that regardless of what my dad says my Grandpa is excited for me and knows that i will do amazing. Now if only i could get him to talk some sense into my dad...This "revelation" is a big deal to me the last horse i leased i struggled with because i had lost some motivation to ride and couldnt figure out why i was so tense... This year is looking to be a great year... i am learning more and more about myself everyday and growing as a rider, i look forward to seeing what the rest of the year brings.

Tomorrow is back out to the barn to work in the outdoor (the Riding Troop is back from holidays so i no longer get to use the indoor between 9-4).

xoxo



Patience is a virtue not yet learnt

I am not a overly patient person something that is common knowledge to my husband and my best friend T. I try though and am getting much better with it and every day is a step towards being a better person but it doesnt mean that i dont get frusturated and today was just one of those days.

Bad picture quality but this is G before he decided to pull the hook out of the wall for no apparent reason looking all handsome in his tack.

I have been a little concerned about G's water intake because in the quarantine pen there is no electricity to plug in a water heater so it keeps freezing over but even when i put fresh water into the water bin he has no interest in drinking the water. I can see that the water is going down but we have had very strange weather and their is no snow so i purchased a salt lick and some beet pulp and a "multivitamin" that has some electrolytes. T also suggested that i take out a bucket of warm water and see if he will drink that, all of those things helped him and he drank the entire pail of warm water and ate half the beet pulp.

We worked today on him not being pushy with his head, allowing me to pick up his feet, tacking up, not walking off while tacking or from the mounting block. It is going very slow and i know he is young and i keep trying to remind myself of that but its hard to keep focused and stay patient. G is just trying to figure out what it is that i want him to do and is for the most part being patient. I really want to ride him and start working on our riding, but i know if i rush it i could miss a crutial part in our ground work. So it looks like we are stuck on the ground for a little bit.

Its also really hard to ride... there is never anyone else at the barn. I wear a helmet when i am riding(most of the time) but it still worries me a little riding alone at night because if anything where to happen no one would be out until the morning and thats if they come into the arena when they get there so when G is uneasy and we are struggling to get our ground work down i dont feel really comfortable riding.

On a possitive note we have made great progress in our lunging, he easily lunges both directions and is getting better with his transitions. We will get there it will just take time, its nice to see progress but im not going to say i wouldnt like it to be faster, Clearly i am learning just as much as he is.
Im going to bed im just pooped mentally, tomorrow will be better!

Quarantine day 5-6

Today is going to be a two day blog post, quarantine is not very interesting so there isn’t very much to post about. Yesterday I did get my saddle, a black Paris Tack Dressage saddle with cheese grater stirrups and a really nice girth (which I am hoping fits). I am going to take it out tonight when I go get G settled for the night and hopefully there is no one in the arena and we can try it out. Unfortunately during quarantine I am not allowed to take G into the arena if there are any other riders in there which makes it hard to do any work with him. (The saddle is resting on this adorable toy horse my husband bought for his daughter, it neighs, moves its head and eats a carrot, my 3 year old son is terrified of it!)

Day 5 Quarantine; went out and fed and watered him, made sure there was a nice little pile of straw for him to lay down on incase it gets really cold at night. Bought the saddle and sat in on trainer L’s lessons. I arranged for my trainer T to come to the barn on Friday nights and work with me, on the condition (as the EGSC president says) she doesn’t open an umbrella in a horses face….uhh…. wtf… who on earth would do that. I took out a few treats for G tonight as well but when i try to give him some carrots he looks at me like they are poisoned and moves his head... what kind of horse doesnt like carrots!

Day 6 Quarantine; I spent an hour trying to chip horse manure out of the ice in G’s paddock with a snow shovel since I do not have a pitch fork and cannot use one from the barn. I can’t wait until we are out of quarantine. I also found that if I do not tie G he will not let me pick out his feet, but if I tie him up he will reluctantly let me pick them up and pick them out. We have some work to do on that I promised the ferrier  that by next time he is out G will stand like a gentleman.

I will be going back out tonight and like I said hopefully I can saddle him up and walk around the arena… see how much he remembers from his training last year. T gave me a few great ideas to help with the lunging; First of all I apparently need to purchase a new lunge line since mine is a big thick black rope and cannot be used with bridle and bit, secondly I should try to set up some poles on our circle to encourage G to lengthen his stride and pick his feet up a little more.

The barn is usually pretty empty on Sundays so I will be trying the pole idea then, if I can I will try to take a video so I can document his progress a little better. Right now it feels like we are in limbo because he cant interact with any other horses and we are not able to ride consistently every night… our riding schedule is based off of everyone else’s.

A bit of this a bit of that...

I have been a little bit distracted lately so i didnt post the last 2 days so ill quickly get caught up.

Day 3 of quarantine; I went out a little later today and was met by a very antsy horse. I increased his hay because he seemed completely famished when i got out there, he is now getting about half a square bale a day... when i was searching for the right amount online this seemed to be the most common answer for a horse his size. I was worried about the amount of water he had been drinking the first couple days because it didnt seem like the level was going down as much, he seems to have increased his water intake now as well (YAY i can sleep and not worry about him colicing when there is NO ONE at the barn all night). Today i took him into the arena to start some easy work, i figured we would do a few minutes of lunge work, he was great to the left in a walk and trot but i couldnt for the life of me get him into a canter so we tried to the right which was a whole different story, i could get him to walk to the right but it took a lot just to get him into a trot. We stopped on a good note because i could tell from looking at him that if i pushed a little more it would get harder and harder to get him into a trot so after a lap we stopped. We played in the arena, i have never owned a horse that would "play", i would run away from G and say his name while running and he would chase after me and when i stopped he would look at me as if to say.... go go again.

Day 4 of quarantine; He did not seem hungry when i went out, he is also not eating as quickly when i give him his hay which is good. Almost all of his water was gone when i went out as well which helps me sleep a little better. We went back into the arena today to play a little bit and try again at lunging. Today was a little better he was easier to get going to the Right (i think he understood better what i was asking of him and just wanted to try to make me happy). He easily went from walk to trot to a working trot in both directions, i asked for a canter but i got a full out gallop for a few steps which has left my leg and arms very sore. He transitions very well and will slow down when asked... not so much stop but we are working on that.

Today i am back to work so i had to go out at 7 AM to feed him and check his water. I CANNOT wait until he is in the barn out of the wind and i dont have to worry about the water freezing. Only 16 more days of quarantine. I pick up my new saddle tonight as well, im going to sit in on a dressage lesson with the trainer currently coaching out of the barn and see if im going to change trainers...
I will be booking the vet appointment today as well that is the last step that i have to complete within the 21 days of quarantine.

Now to get caught up on all my work that i have missed for the last 2 days!

xoxo

Day 2 of Quarantine

2 days down already only 19 more to go. I went out this morning to check up on G and give him some breakfast and break the ice on his water and as soon as he saw me he perked right up, i got so excited i cant believe he is mine all mine (well and my husbands lol because to him "we" bought a horse ha ha!).

Today was intended just to be a relaxing day letting G get continue to get used to the new facilities but as soon as i found out D the ferrier was coming out i decided to put him on the list to have his feet done since they were a little long. G will let me pick up his feet one time then the next he puts all his weight on the leg i want to lift and tries his hardest to prevent his leg from bending... something we will have to work on, but despite that he was FANTASTIC for the ferrier! D is a excellent ferrier, he answered all of my questions and was very patient with all 15 horses he did today. I was told that G has great feet and will only need a trim every 8 weeks (which is nice on the pocket book). From my non-ferrier opinion i had thought his feet might have been a little flat but D informed me not to worry about it so that is what i am going to try to do. Its my first horse (other than indy) that i have bought for myself so i am a little nervous, he is the professional so i believe him.

The quarantine pen is very small so i wanted to let G stretch his legs, but when i put him in the round pen (i forgot my lunge line and whip) he just stood there and looked at me and anywhere i went he followed. So i figured we would go into the arena. Aparently the arena is a very scary place and it took me about 5 mins to convince him other wise but i am very lucky he was very trusting and when he saw me go completely inside the arena he started to cautiously follow me in. Same as the round pen he wasnt really interested in stretching his legs he was more concerned about where i was at all times.

He is so sweet i am so lucky cant wait until we can start our lessons or at very least he can interact with the herd. Yesterday i mentioned that he cut his eye, when i went out today it was clean and healing over very quickly so i thought i should take a picture because it was his first injury with me owning him! Hopefully there are very few to come!

Us in the big scary arena.

Welcome 2012!!

Today was a great day i finally moved G to the new barn! I got out there to help get him loaded into the trailer, last time it wasnt an issue but i think he knew this time he wouldnt be going home, so it took about 20 mins and a bucket of grain to coax him onto the trailer.

While waiting for one of the executives to come out to the quarantine pen to tell us which one to put him in N (original owners) opened the window for G to put his head out and of course murphys law he has a cut just above his eye. It isnt to bad bleeding has stopped and it scabbing over ill have to keep an eye on it though. My boy did so good he let me clean out his cut, pick up his feet and clean them out as well as put a new heavy winter blanket on him, he is so good.

Today was also the first day of my diet and it is going really well so far, im counting hauling buckets of water and hay bails as my exercise. My starting weight is 151.2 cant wait to be back down in the 130's!

Anyways back to the quarantine pen; my only issue with it is.... its a round metal water trough, there are no plug ins for a water heater and i have to be out there at least 2x a day to break the ice and make sure that he has water. I have been doing some research and aparently if i put a ball in it that should prevent it from freezing over. The weather has been pretty mild so i am hoping that the cut above his eye is the only issue i have to deal with while he is in quarantine. I will have more pictures of the cut up tomorrow.

D (original owner) took a great video of him having a bit of a temper tantrum in the pen, pushing me over with his head. After a few mins he settles right in, ill post the link for the video at the bottem. Im just about to head out to the barn to make sure he is good for the night. I am taking name suggestions by the way, i am keeping his registered name as is of course but he needs a barn name Gjonstone is a little akward.

I am so happy he is such a great horse!! ill post more tomorrow!!

Video of G at his new home