Discretion is the better part of valor

On Thursday I rode Princess Fancy Pants in the arena and it was a nice enough day that I decided to go for a walk out back on our little trails. Pony always wants to go to the back gate of the arena because she'd rather be outside. So at the end of our short ride of walking and trotting and a little canter, we went to the gate and opened it and went to check out the trails. There was still a lot of snow on them and it was the crunchy-on-top snow that you walk on and then sink into. We made it around the loop but I decided I wouldn't be doing any actual work out there just yet.

So yesterday I get the grand idea that it is time to ride outside and since the arena footing is still covered in snow that I'd head out front to the pastures. There is a big-enough workable area without snow on it, and the footing is firm but not too hard. Perfect, right!? We did a little warm up in the covered arena and pony was good for some walk, trot, and a little canter, so I decided to head out to the pasture. We had some nice forward trot and found a path through the trees and with room for some nice straight lines. Everything seemed to be going well and then pony tried to pull some tricks. Squeal! Leap! Sort of buck! Leap again! Twist the body! Nope, Pony, nopenopenope! Put her back to work and a little more squealing and antics. Nope! Shut that down! Back to work! We did some more walk and trot and transitions and circles and when she was relaxed enough I called it a day and decided to not push my luck.

I decided that everyone needed a good run-around so I opened up the pasture that is in front of the barn (horses can access it through the sacrifice area if I open up the gate). So I let Mac out. Put Paddy out. They do not want to leave the paddock. Get them out of the paddock and close the gate. But they don't want to leave the sacrifice area. WTF? I go out into the pasture and stand there calling Mac and he slowly tip-toed his way down there and then he and Paddy went into the pasture. I went back up to the paddocks and let Pony out and she galloped off to join them and then everyone had a grand run-around, just as I'd hoped. I only left them out there for 20-30 minutes while I set up dinner and then brought everyone back in.

Today I thought I might want to ride out front again, but when doing ground work in the covered arena, the wind kicked up, a cold front moved in, and I decided that discretion is the better part of valor so I'd play it safe and ride inside. I did bring out the video camera today and set it up (not a good angle, I realized after viewing the videos) to watch my ride. Of course I don't look as good as I think I do! LOL! I got some MDC stirrups and switched them from my dressage saddle to my jumping saddle, and should have put them up a hole, but I just went with them feeling a little long. It really shows how much my left leg goes out in front of me. This is something that my old eventing trainer would point out to me, especially over jumps, but after my hip-pain issues, I think it is just an unconscious thing I do because that is the most comfortable position for my hip.

We of course did a walk warm-up, but that is boring (and half the time is off-camera) so I cut that out of the video. Here's a video where we do some trot poles:



Then we worked on transitions:



And finally we finished with some canter work - just a little bit in each direction:



I don't often canter in the covered arena because I feel like there's just not that much space in there to work on going as forward as I'd like. But I was happy with this canter work - I'd say it was her best ever in here - she's feeling much more balanced and like she can handle it, so I'll have to do it more often!

I feel like she'll be ready for lessons soon, I'm so looking forward to it!

I had that dream last night . . .

. . . you know the dream. The one where you are at a horse show (or supposed to be going to a horse show) and you are late because you can't (get your hair right under your helmet, find your boots, find your horse, find your bridle, find your saddle, remember what time you ride, remember what ring you are supposed to be in, etc.). I hate those dreams! I was taking Pony to her first show (even though I've already done that) and couldn't get my hair right under my helmet (which isn't too far off because I have a lot of hair!). Then it was somewhere I'd never been before and I didn't know where the arena was. Then I was helping someone else do something. Then it turned out I had Paddy with me, not Pony. Then I figured I had enough time and made it to the arena just as another class was finishing. For some reason I decided to clean everyone's bridles for them (?!) before their next class, but I didn't make a note of which bridle belonged to which person. And it went on and on and on from there - ugh!

When I think about why I had this dream, I'm pretty sure it is because the weather is crappy and I've only done been back to riding for three weeks now, but I'm sick of being stuck inside. And it was so windy yesterday that I opted to not ride (arena is covered but not indoor and the west wind whips right through the arena and makes a lot of dust). My goals are to get Pony out to dressage and h/j shows this year and so I feel like I'm already behind since we just started riding three weeks ago. And I feel like I need to have and keep up with A Plan, even though Pony is only four and we're not going to the Olympics and it really isn't a Big Deal in the grand scheme of things. But I'd like to get going with lessons again in March and that's really just next week so I need to make it happen!

ARGH!

I think I need to take a chill pill!

We rode outside!

Sure, come summertime riding outside will seem like no big deal, but the snow/ice on the ground heretofore has prevented me from even wanting to do any sort of hand walking outside. All I've done riding-wise is 20 minutes or so of mostly walk and trot in the covered arena, with a little canter thrown in for good measure.

Well, yesterday we had intermittent rain, but between the rain it was clear enough to go out. The rain had washed snow away in enough places that I could do a little walk back to the manure pile, a little circle around some trees in the snow, back to the barn, and down the driveway to walk through the puddle that is at the entry to one of the pastures. Pony had fun playing splashy-lips with the puddle before walking through it.

I've been doing some trot poles and yesterday opened up my box of cavaletti blocks to make the middle pole just a little higher. We only did that a couple times, but it was fun nonetheless.

Another thing I've done a couple times is more tarp work. The dreaded tarp!!!! But Pony has been so good! The first time I got her to calmly walk over it going to the left. To the right she'd trot over it, but no balking or explosions or spooking or anything like that. I do bribe her with cookies. Today we did some tarp work again and she calmly walked over it and stopped and stood on it going in each direction so she got Big Cookies for such a job well done.

Of course it snowed this morning so I didn't get to ride outside, but spring is coming - it must be!!!

Back to work!

Well there's still snow on the ground, but the temperatures have warmed enough that I don't freeze my patootie off when I go to the barn. It has been three months that the horses and I have had off from riding and so it is time to swing a leg over again.

I decided Saturday would be the day. While I'm sure Pony would have been her Perfect Princess Self, I decided to be wise and let her stretch her legs in the arena first with some free lunging for a couple minutes. Then I put on the surcingle and bridle and did a bit of ground driving. She seemed to have her brains about her so I tacked her up and did our usual ground work exercises first and then got on.

And, well, she was perfect. We didn't do much, as we haven't ridden much and I want to leg her up carefully (and since there still snow and ice on the ground, I won't be riding her outside for a while), so just a little walk and trot for 15 minutes or so and then called it a day.

I had ordered some MDC stirrups back in the fall. I was willing to try anything to help my hip and since Riding Warehouse has a 1-year free return policy I had nothing to lose. But I haven't put them on my saddle or tried them until Saturday. I rode Saturday and Sunday and they didn't cause me any problems. So fingers crossed that they work for me and allow me to ride pain-free.

I did get a hip injection maybe 6 weeks ago (for the bursa, not intra-articular) and while that hurt a bit at first, I did get some relief from it. I do think part of the problem might be my foot. I'm going to see a different orthopedic surgeon soon. And if he can't come up with any answers, then, well, I'm on my own I guess. But I'm feeling a lot better, so I'm hopeful.

Yesterday's ride was better than Saturday's. Pony was light and responsive and she felt really good. I'm so looking forward to getting back in the groove with lessons again! I'd like to do some showing this year - both dressage and h/j - so I need to get a regular program going again.

Looking forward to spring, that's for sure!

SNOW!

Well, it is snowing here! It started a couple days ago with a light dusting and then didn't really snow yesterday, but this morning it is SNOWING and the horses were covered in a layer of snow when I went out for breakfast.

This picture is from lunch outside on the first day of snow.



Pony's sleazy is now off but the last of the open wound is still closing. It has healed nicely and she's on full turnout (solo, still) and her movement doesn't seem to be affected at all.

Just for giggles, I thought I'd do a first ride - first show video comparison. She sure did come a long way in a year!

Out of jail!

The vet came on Wednesday to take Pony's stitches out and she got the okay for turnout - yay! I'm not turning her out with the other horses, but she does get to go in her own paddock. Since she and Paddy get along well, she can go out when Paddy is out of his paddock. At night, when Mac goes out, she goes back in her stall for lockdown (well, she can put her head out the dutch door).



Princess Fancy Pants has been very good for her turnout. For the first two days, I did it for breakfast only. She never got up to any hijinx (that I could see, anyway) and was very calm and well-behaved. Now she goes out all day and comes in for dinner and overnight.

When the stitches came out, the vet said it looked very good and that it is healing well. It looks gross to me still, but I'm not a vet so I take her word for it. I didn't get a picture of it today, but it looks so much better than just three days ago, so she's continually improving. Part of it just can't be stitched up, so the skin will have to fill in and grow together - this is how it looked on Wednesday.



PFP doesn't seem to be favoring that leg so that's good news. I did buy her another sleazy because the first one got bloody, even though I put a maxi pad over the wound. I think she was fussing with it a lot. For the new sleazy, I bought a roll of non-stick batting (I'm sure it has another name but it escapes me right now) and so I'm cutting a big square of batting and then safety-pinning it under the sleazy. When I took it off to change it this morning it was appropriately bloody and the sleazy was mostly clean, so I think this is a better solution.

I guess the best thing to come of this is that for all the doctoring I'm doing with her in the barn aisle, she's getting much better about standing quietly in the cross ties!

Fresh air!

Poor Pony has been stuck in her stall for almost two weeks now. Even though I clean her stall every day (four times a day), her feet are a mess because she pees so much, and pretty much all over her stall, and of course she poops and she is standing in there all day on stall rest. I take her out once or twice a day and tie her up to clean her stall and groom her and tend to her wound, but her legs are stocked up and her feet are in need of drying out!

Her wound is healing up well. I ended up getting a sleazy to put on her to cover it. I put the sleazy on, then put a maxi-pad over the wound, then I safety-pin the maxi pad to the sleazy so it stays in place. It helps a little bit with the drainage and to also have something soft over the wound. At first I just stuck the maxi-pad there but they kept falling out so I moved on to safety pins.

The vet has come out a couple times to clean it and re-do the stitches a bit. The top part of the stitches healed well and right away - it is just the bottom part (distal) that is taking longer to heal. It looks gross to me, but the vet said it is on track and looking good so I'll take her word for it!

I thought Pony would appreciate some fresh air for a change, so I tied her out with her hay bag for breakfast while I did my morning chores. You can see how beautiful she looks in her sleazy!



I worry about the stocking up in her legs and her getting fat (I pretty much keep hay in front of her all the time so she'll be occupied and won't lick at her wound), but first things first - the wound needs to heal. After that, then we'll start a rehab program and take it from there.