Is it Really Time?

Allie is doing good. We still have a slight discharge from the left nostril and there are normally crusty boogers caught in the fold at the top of her nostril, but we are feeling awesome, eating well and are very bright and perky. And a little bit naughty. Someone needs a job again.

I am thinking, this Sunday, we might just pop a saddle on and go for a wander up the back. After a little "get your bucks out" tour of the round yard, of course.

Oh gosh, I don't want to jinx it but wouldn't that just be superb? To be able to ride your horse at the walk for a half an hour? I can not wait. :)

Ugh

So we were just getting Allie back in work when Linda (who is riding her for me once or twice a week) took her out yesterday, and Allie decided that it would be just awesome to flail her legs around and do this on the arena.

Awesome huh?

As far as injuries go it is a nice clean stitch job (vet call on a Saturday, thank heavens for insurance), no need for penicillin or bute, just keep it bandaged. She now gets two weeks off!

Horses!

Day 13 - Mosy Embarrassing Moment

Oh gosh - in recent memory that has GOT to be the time we took Gracie and Allie for a lesson with my dressage instructor Ann.

We had tied the girls up to the float and started to tack up when a horse in a yard on the other side of the hedge chucked a bit of a spaz. BOTH of our girls pulled back and got loose - they charged down toward the arena and pranced their way around Ann's property while I ran to the front gate to close it and Natalie tried (in vain) to catch them. Allie even ducked under a strand of electric fence! The poor girl who had been having her lesson before us had to get off her horse and we were mortified.

We eventually caught them, tacked up and had our lessons (they went really well!). The girl whose lesson was so rudely interrupted was quite good about it - it turns out her gelding was the one who pulled back and charged up the driveway a few months before as we were driving in for a lesson - I had caught him for her and so she understood why our silly mares acted so stupidly! Ann thought it was funny and commented that they just needed to let some steam off.

Ugh.

Lesson Videos

Had another lesson with Ann today. Gracie and Nat came to have a lesson after mine too. While we were getting ready a horse galloped in his yard and spooked our mares - who then proceeded to pull back, break the twine they were tied to (Gracie has NEVER done that before!) then they pranced off to disturb the lesson before us and ran all over the property causing havoc. Allie even ducked under a temporary one strand fence! Brat

Allie was amazing there as per usual. We worked on proper flexion (she tends to tip her nose to the right to avoid that rein) and transitions within the trot.

It was pretty fun, the exercise we were doing - big trot, then little trot (almost walking) then immediately bog trot again, over and over. She did so well!

Then, out of the blue, Ann said "alright, now canter, don't even think about it" and suddenly she gave me the most beautiful right lead canter depart. I laughed out loud it was just perfect and easy and I can't wait to do that again.

Left canter was pretty funny - the video below shows how hard Allie tries to get it right but she just doesn't have the balance there to canter while being through anf forward into the bridle. IT's geting there though.

Seriously though - watch this video, it's pretty funny.

Photo spam of pretty well behaved ponies:

Pretty mareface!

Ann talked Nat through the whole 'lowering the neck' and 'reaching down' and 'taking control' thing. I think it is some sort of initiation into dressage? :P

Next lesson in a month's time. We certainly have some homework to do!

Where Have I Been?

This afternoon, I fly out of Queenstown New Zealand back home after a 12 day road trip from the Auckland to here with my husband, best friend and her boyfriend. View from my Queenstown hotel below.

It has been awesome, but I am so ready to get home. I miss my pets like crazy - my cat, two kittens, Allie and of course Gracie.

I did something silly though. I entered a couple of tests this Sunday. I repeat, I have TWO tests this Sunday and I have done no riding or schooling to prepare. Nat has been looking after all the pets and has schooled Als a couple of times for me and apparently she has been doing well under saddle (but has been a witch to load on the float).

Wish me luck!

Frustrating Pony-Mare.

My horse has a problem.

While she is generally a pretty calm horse, I think she does actually suffer from anxiety otherwise known as 'being a worry wort'. Her anxiety levels stay fairly low in the grand scheme of things but she worries about tiny things - like weather changes or having to go in the stable at night because it is pissing down with rain or freezing cold, or even something as stupid as swapping to the other night yard when they stay out.

In their little herd of two, Allie is the watcher on the wall. Gracie lies out flat in the sun, Allie watches for danger. Gracie grazes to her heart's content - Allie stares off into the distance on surveillance. The sheep herd across the road are on the move? Allie is the first to charge over to the fence and watch them to make sure they don't somehow escape their paddock, cross the road, leap the high fence and get in with my horses. (On a side note, my horse is a moron. She is from Goulburn for christ sake and she is scared of sheep?!?!).

Exhibit A - worry-wort eye...

But she doesn't stall walk much, she doesn't whinny and cry out, she doesn't stand trembling when she is scared. She is an internaliser. When she is stressed, she gets tucked up, a little figity and most frustrating of all, she goes off her feed. Remember when Natalie took her away to camp and she didn't eat her hard feed ALL FRICKEN WEEK? How am I supposed to take her away to shows if she won't eat?

Even with good weight on she gets tucked up - this was because the neighbors had their motor bikes out.

Again with the herring gut...

The latest saga of refusing to eat is a result of being stabled since lunchtime Thursday, then being taken to the clinic, sedated and clipped on Friday. We were home by 10am however she did not eat her dinner from the night before and refused to be even slightly interested in the lunchtime feed I gave her. Or her dinner Friday night, or breakfast Saturday morning. Treats hand fed? She no want. Hay? Mostly eaten but not finished.

Cue fuming Lisa.

HORSE! You need to eat - you are already light on - I need to fatten you up so you look like a proper dressage horse! So you don't freeze in winter now you are clipped! How do I fatten you up if you won't eat your bloody grain feeds?! How do  you get the energy to be ridden if you won't eat?

In desperation (and because it was pissing down all day. again.) yesterday I went to the feed store and bought vitamin B12 to stab her with and Apetite to shove down her throat. I gave her 10ml B12 and 30ml Apetite at about 4pm I think.

A couple hours later she was definitely calmer in the stable - she wasn't hanging her head over the door watching for horse stealing bandits, or madly ripping at her hay like a kookaburra with a snake. She was chilling in the middle of her stall with a soft eye and one hind resting. Huh.

Dinner was served at about 9.30pm. Her (tiny) dinner last night was stripped down to the bare essentials - one scoop each of oaten and lucerne chaff and two metric cups of whole oats. That is it - no water, no supplements, no copra or hygain or weightlifter.

It took all night, but she ate it - every last bit.


NB. I realise that if this continues I should have her put on a course of ulcerguard or something. Could be ulcers but unlikely.

Oh Daylight Savings, NEVER LEAVE ME

I LOVE LOVE LOVE daylight savings. Ah sunlight, it has been such a long time!

We have done some time in the saddle this past week! Saturday we had an awesome schooling session, and then Monday my friend Casey came and took Allie and I up to Sun Valley reserve in Springwood for a ride.

Allie was a mole to get on the float. Honestly, she has been pretty good about floating but she had been in a mare mood the previous few days (just squirting urine while tied up and being a bit grumpy) but it took us an hour and a half to get her loaded up. She either would rush straight back out after walking in or she refused to walk in at all. She is so tall that she even started putting her head on the roof of the float instead of walking in!! She did end up hitting her head a few times but she didn't seem to care! I was so unimpressed with her. She did end up putting a small split in her poll but it's nothing to worry about. The poor delicate flower has been picky with her feed and not finishing it again since the whole float debacle. She even put up a fight going home, and took about 25 minutes to load. Casey said she was being a bit of a warmblood - not getting into a tizzy about the situation, but just being stubborn. >:(

The actual ride itself was awesome. It is mostly sandy or slightly rocky trail that winds through lovely bush with an awesome hill at the end that we had a big canter up! Allie did very well, was a little nappy but not too bad and she got along really well with Casey's horse Harry (a fit endurance arab who was very patient to be honest about babysitting Allie!). I did get off her to walk back down the hill after the big canter as it was pretty steep and she kept stopping because she was a bit worried about her balance. She was a little looky, mainly at holes or drops (I think she believes that I am going to bury her in any big hole in the ground we go near, she must have fallen in one as a foal!) but overall was very good under saddle. We were out for about 2 hours on the ride I think? She seemed a little pooped but as soon as she got her wind back she was happy to trot on again.


Then another schooling session on Tuesday where I mainly rode Gracie and Nat rode Allie because Gracie was in a mood. I was actually thinking twice about getting on her, she was so agitated from god-knows what, with a swishy tail, pawing the ground, snorting and twitching. She can be a bit of a little dragon to be honest, but once I was on she was happy to settle into the job. So I got to see Allie go over the trot poles and she looks so nice. She pauses almost like she is doing passage, most noticeably in her hocks. I must say, she is one nice horse to look at. Sorry to gush! Gracie did really well over the poles and is really starting to get it, she tries really hard and I love that about her. I'll have to move them soon to another spot, they will get bored with them there soon!

THEN today we did the Chain-o-Ponds loop around the block, walk trot and canter in about 50 minutes. Allie seemed to have gotten bit by the speedy-bug (probably caught from Harry!) and realised that cantering up hills is fun after all! She really enjoyed herself. Gracie was an absolute angel, was the absolute opposite of the mini-dragon that she had been the day before. Sweet, relaxed, happy to be tacked up. Stood still at the tie up, not once pawing the ground. I can't keep up with that horse's moods! I think she might be in season right now, we have noticed that she gets all sweet and easy when she is in season. Go figure.

Sorry, no pictures. My phone was too full and wouldn't let me take any but I promise now that I have deleted a bunch of songs I didn't want and have made room, I will take pictures next time.

That is us all up to date now I think.

*edited to add: Nat wanted me to add the below photo of Gracie after our ride. She was a bit pooped, she kept yawning. Cutie.

Have I finally done it?

 

My horse does not like to eat that much. She is the only horse I have ever met that just doesn't care about food. The first thing she does with her feed bucket is pick it up with her teeth and fling it across the paddock, spreading her feed everywhere and stomping it into the dirt and mud, where she leaves it. What a waste of money.

I have been trying different solutions - heavier feed bucket, big rocks in the feed bucket, pouring the feed onto hay (she just poops in it then), and now I have gone to the bucket wall (fence) brace. For two nights in a row now she has actually settled to eat her entire dinner by the morning, only leaving barely a mouthful. Have I finally won the Allie vs. Lisa great feed standoff?

God I hope so - she is burning a hole in my pocket that leaks straight into the feed store's bank account.

Nothing to report... Again.

Rain, rain and more rain has been the agenda of the week. We rode on Monday after work in the dark and it was nice to be back on my horse agin after the finger injury. Allie has been very fussy in the mouth, so I think a dentist visit is due.

This Friday I am taking both girls to another hoof clinic. I'm trimming Gracie there but I want her to just behave so I am bringing Allie along to keep her sane. I know, that's cheating, but the whole point of the day is for me to trim, and to be safe doing so. So ner.

In all this rain we have been stabling them at night if it storms and my horse will just NOT eat her dinner. She eats all her hay, and now that their feed buckets are wall mounted she doesn't poo in it anymore but she just doesn't eat it. She is too busy hanging her head over the stable door looking into the black nothingness that is my backyard. She will eat it in the morning once she is turned out no problems. :<

Chakra is good. We told the vet that we won't be treating the cancer and just keeping a close eye on her. Right now, she is healthy and happy. I'm ok too. I feel at peace with my decision and I know that it is the right one for us. Keep sending happy puppy thoughts our way though please!

Like I said, not much to report.

Goals, and What Has Been Going On

So I forgot to recap Feb goals and set some March ones... whoops!

Oh well - Feb goals and how we went:

1.Continue to build up fitness and muscle slowly. Hopefully get back on by the end of the month.

Success! We rode HEAPS before we moved, maybe schooled once, but we went out on trails quite a few times. Since moving, we havn't been off property, but that will soon change.

2.Teach her to lower her head, for bridling especially.

Kinda success. She is easier to bridle most of the time. I haven't actually done a proper schooling session on this, she has just kinda gotten better with it.

3.School her to have manners when being trimmed. She was a monster last time!

She is much easier to trim now. She just needs patience and for it to be fairly quiet (i.e. no motorbikes!). She is much more polite about picking up her feet now too, most of the time. She conveniently forgets sometimes!

4.Borrow a float and have a floating lesson or two if possible. I want both of them self loading!

Well, we did do a schooling session, and then we floated them here, on separate occasions. Allie is good to load, goes straight on but is not yet self loading. Gracie still requires a lot of work.

5.Have a lesson myself on a school horse.

Fail. I haven't had a lesson yet.

April goals:

1. Get them on the float and take them somewhere... anywhere!

2. Continue with the canter under saddle. Get that sticky right lead!

3. Have their teeth floated and have them microshipped (vet is booked for Monday, so this is a cheating goal).

Three goals will do. :)

Ok, I have been schooling Allie quite a bit lately because we are on a busy road and I'm just getting her used to traffic before we take them out. On our last trail ride before we moved, she developed a nasty rearing habit! We went on a 45 minute ride and she reared 7 times at least! Unbelievable. I think it was her being bratty, and me being way too strong with my seat and other aids to get her to move on. But then just to confuse me she put in a couple of rears for no apparent reason whatsoever! Bratty mare. Since then I have been fine tuning my aids to be just strong enough to get her to move past her hissy fit without offending her enough to rear. It works. I feel her get sticky, then I am just... there. You know? Not a big 'GET-UP-SHITHEAD' push, which is what the lazy geldings I have ridden have required and put up with from me. She hasn't reared for about the last 4 or 5 rides, and she seemed to forget that was her new thing for those rides except the last one, where she was moody. There were no rears though, but a few skips because she thinks she can't do a slight curve while going down a slight incline. She gets it in her head that she can't do something, and then decides that a push is just me being too rude! Lol.

We have been cantering too. She is sticky with her right lead, only picking it up 2 out of 5 times on average. She is getting better. It's hard when she lost all that muscling. I'll take some pics on Monday when the vet comes to show you how much muscling she has lost, but she looks so much healthier now. Dark shiny coat, bright eyes. She is tucked up a lot of the time though. Thoughts and tips on this would be great!

Anyway, that's us at the moment. :)

Horse, this isn't helping...

I trimmed Allie's fronts on Sunday. She was acting very weird. It's only the second time I have trimmed her, as she trimmed herself on the road when they got out and I haven't had to touch them. Funny how the road trimmed them with better balance than I had!

The first time I trimmed her she was generally well behaved until the motorbikes next door (!!) started up (again) when I got to her last hoof, then she just didn't want to stand still with one hoof caught in case she needed to make a quick get away from those monsters... This was about a week after I first got her home. She was very bad about picking up her feet, which I quickly decided had to change! She is a trimmer's horse now!


So back to Sunday.  She had about a half centimeter of wall growth so it was time for the rasp to come out. I started with her wounded leg (pics of healing wound to be posted soon, it's looking really good today!) and she was good... for about .3 seconds. Then she decided it was a good time to practice airs above the ground! She was leaping forward as if I was a lion and I had her leg in my mouth. So I persisted, and she persisted, until I decided maybe her bandage was cutting into the back of her knee with it bent? So I took it off, hoping for a better reaction... Nope. Same idiotic leaping forward and arguing about the fact I had her leg between my knees (and even when I was just holding it in my hands!).


So we had words, and she copped it (verbally, I don't think she has been growled at much before) and by the time I got to her other front hoof, she would stop struggling if I just said "AH!". It was more of a training exercise than a trim to be honest, but that is the beauty of trimming your own horses. If you need to, you can put the rasp down and try again another day, without having to pay another $50 for a separate trim! So that was Miss A.


Gracie was trimmed one day last week, can't remember when. She was, surprisingly, an angel! She just stood tied up, and she was being so good that I thought I would reward her (and prolong the good behavior) by giving her a hay net while I trimmed. Angel... couldn't have asked her to be better behaved. She has struggled in the past with how I hold her hind leg to sight the heels (holding it by the crook of the hock and looking down the back of the canon bone from above). She normally hates this and slams her hoof on the ground before I can get a proper look. But the other day, she totally ignored me. I trimmed her sitting on my little milk crate for heaven's sake! That is normally reserved for much older, calmer, safer horses. Naw, our little girl is growing up! I think she behaved because:
a. She has been trying to suck up to me ever since she kicked me and I chased her away the other day, and b. She has been wanting some work again! I think she is totally b.o.r.e.d. being a pasture pet at the moment.

Well, that is all about to change because tomorrow is a public holiday (Australia Day) and I intend on starting them both back on the lunge. I think the regime will go like this:


4 days in one week, 25-35 minute walk on lunge, Gracie with 10 minutes trot, Allie 5 minutes trot. Allie to wear chambon and depending on her sensibility, maybe a couple mils of ace. Gracie can go crazy for all I care, she is clever and knows where her feet are at any given time. Allie is a bit dumb and may well trip over her own galumph feet in her excitement at doing something other than eat.


Week two will consist of 5 more minutes trot each, then we should be sensible and ready enough for saddles and riding again by week 3. Hopefully the saddler will have found me a saddle by then, otherwise it is bareback for me!


How fun.