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.