Where are we at?

So Allie has had about 4 rides and one lunge over the past week. The weather has been cooler so I have been able to ride while Evie naps in the pram by the arena in the middle of the day. So far, she's going well. Dressage rides I'm concentrating on her being through and swinging through the back, with nice up and down transitions and not rushing anything. The last two rides in particular she's been awesome.

She's had one jump school/fitness work (half hour all up, only jumped three jumps).

The last ride, today, she started dragging her hind toes a little, but she had the nicest swing in her back going to the left. I'm going to get some body work done, get the dressage saddle refitted too, and just keep doing what we are doing until she either goes properly lame or she doesn't. The dragging is only in the deeper sand in the arena and her toes aren't squaring off as bad as they were last November, so hopefully I can keep her sound.

Breathing wise, she has handled the super dry dusty weather better than I expected. She's not on any meds, and is coughing maybe once per ride, if at all.

I decided against doing the Camden hunter trial this weekend and the SIEC event mid February in case she isn't sound (plus she isn't fit enough to go xc this weekend). If March comes along and she's stayed in enough work, is fit enough, and isn't lame, I might do Berrima in March and almost definitely Equestriad in April. We'll see.

Unfortunately Andrea isn't able to continue the lease due to her new job so I'll be doing most of her riding and Natalie will help out when I can't make it. Luckily we actually have some decent hills at the current agistment so we can do slower fitness work, instead of canter/gallop sets in deep sand like at the last place. I'm hoping to get three rides in a week, sometimes 4.

So that's where we are at right now. I'm a little more optimistic after her time off. Next week it's meant to be stinking hot again so I don;t know how much riding I'll be able to get done but I'll go with the flow for now.

Oh My Heart!

Evie rode Allie yesterday and it was the cutest thing you ever did see.

She "helped" me groom and tack up.

As you can see, she is a pro and doesn't need my supervision, apparently.

First I rode (Allie went lovely, I'll update next post) and then Evie hopped on to cool her out.

Happy pony, happy kid!

It was her third ride on a horse ever. She really really loved it this time, laughing and squealing the whole time. Allie was an angel.

Skip to 50 seconds if you don't have time (or patience) for the whole video.

She's going for Heath Ryan hands.

After the ride, posing for Daddy.

:D

Starting again

I'm finding it really hard to get going with Allie again. She's not lame, but she's also not in work, so I think subconsciously I'm avoiding dealing with it.

She's happy, but looking a bit bleached out after some very hot weather. There's another excuse, because the only appropriate time to ride is early morning or late evening and both those times my husband makes me feel guilty for leaving him with Evie.

It's also been quite dry and the arena is dusty. The dust might be a trigger for her RAO, so avoiding riding in the dust is another excuse.

Despite all this, I did hop on late on Sunday evening. Allie was exactly how you would expect a horse to be after 5 weeks mostly off (I've ridden probably 4 times over the last month and a half). She was rushy, inconsistent in the contact, and she pulled a mole stunt where she decided one part of the arena was impossible to canter over, and would stop, prop and rear. We ended up working on it again and again and it got dark so I was cantering in the dark and still trying to sort that shit out. She was a stubborn bitch about it too. All I wanted was one circle of canter each way, but apparently that's too much. We finished on a good note, but the ride left a sour taste in my mouth.

I arranged for Linda to come give me a hand the next evening (Tuesday) but my husband had a whinge and my nan went into hospital and it was all a bit too much to deal with. I'm definitely letting him get to me.

I scratched from the cross country clinic this weekend. It's not fair on Allie who is maybe-lame and definitely not fit enough. Neither am I to be honest.

The lease is suspended at the moment until we figure out if she really is lame or not, so Andrea hasn't been riding either.

So we are stuck in a bit of a rut. I need to sort it out ASAP because if I don't, We are going to miss out on the eventing season.

What do you do when you're in a rut? How do you find the determination and motivation to get started, and to keep going?

Merry Christmas

Didn't get a chance to take a chrissy photo with Allie so you get cheeky chops over here instead.

Hope you had a good one!

Year in Review

2016 was a BIG year for Allie and I! We finally had more highs than lows, butstill struggled with health issues, as per usual.

Let's recap, shall we?


January

We just tried to get Allie worked as much as possible. I was still on maternity leave at this point so lots of leading Allie out the car window doing trot sets with a baby sleeping in the carseat. I had some drama with another agister that made me cranky, and we did quite a bit of jump schooling. We went off property to the indoor and for a jump lesson.

She looked freaking awesome!

On the very last day in January we had our very first hunter trial!! I LOVED it. The cross country was scarier than I thought it would be.

I think that smile says it all.

February

More of the same this month, schooling and working her best I could. On the 20th was our first event, ever! We were just about second last in the rankings but my dream of eventing finally came true and you couldn't wipe the smile off my face.

So so so happy here.

Looking like we know what we are doing. 

March

I fell off Allie on the racetrack at home. It was my first proper fall from her ever and was totally my fault for not having short reins and a strong leg when she spooked. We went to the indoor and Allie's canter was starting to become phenomenal. Easter Monday we had an 80cm Hunter Trial at Silver Hills. I didn't write about it then but she had a bit of a cough with no discharge at Silver Hills. The cross country course was very intimidating but we did most of the jumps.

Natalie riding Allie at the indoor

Silver Hills.

April

We went to the vet to get Allie's teeth done and to have a scope shoved down her throat to find out why she was coughing more during exercise. They took a sample of some mucous from her trachea and sent it off for culture, and Allie was put on antibiotics in case it was bacterial. The culture came back as bacterial so we continued antibiotics and didn't do any steroids so she could fight off the infection. After finishing antibiotics, she continued coughing, and it got worse the more work we did. Back and forth to the vet 3 times and we still didn't know what was going on.

Trachea

That is a fake smile.

During a test ride I got to use my brand new jump wings I had made. We ended up jumping a metre which is quite high for us!

I had to scratch from Equestriad on my birthday, so that sucked big time. She also had some body work done and felt a lot better afterwards.



May

We had to scratch from Mudgee ODE at the end of May, because she was still coughing and it was getting worse when she was on grass. We moved her to a yard with no grass, started soaking all her hay, and started only working her when the ground was damp (either from rain or from a sprinkler hose). She was finally officially diagnosed with Recurrent Airway Obstructive disease (RAO, the new name for heaves) and she also got two weeks of clenbuterol, a bronchdilator. We also upped her omega 3 intake for the anti-inflammatory properties. I didn't ride much really, maybe only 3 times? I was on the phone to the vet quite a bit too, and I was re-evaluating my goals with Allie.

I did ride Prince a little while his owner was recovering from a fall.

Prince with me up in the saddle.

June and July

We didn't do anything in June and July except a few schooling rides at home. We continued to monitor her coughing and she did really well. We started to get a bit of rain which helped settle the dust and allergens in the air and Allie was fat and happy. Andrea came to try her in July, and the lease was started. No media of June or July though!

August

Allie got her teeth done again (she's on a 3 month cycle for teeth for now). The poor thing had lots of ulcers from the old pack from her surgery trapping food and so that was removed. We had a week worth of bitless work to let it heal. She was a different horse afterward.

She also stabbed herself in the eye somehow and developed a little ulcer. It went away easily with treatment (for once!) and we went to jump club!

September

We started to get busy in September. Early in the month we went for a dressage lesson with Ann and then the stars all aligned and we managed to go eventing at SIEC. Allie was AWFUL in the dressage but she did really well jumping in the very wet footing. We were a bit terrified out on cross country so there were lots of "oh SHIT" moments.

Happy for it all to be OVER.

We came DEAD last. But we finished!

We went schooling at Silver Hills with Debbie, and then we competed at Equestriad in Camden! Big month was September.

Schooling at Silver Hills

Our dressage at Equestriad was significantly better than at SIEC. Lessons learned!

Still lots of holy crap moments on cross country at Equestriad though.

Last fences don't get much clearance though

October

SO MUCH HAPPENED in October. Allie did a dressage clinic and a dressage protocol day with Andrea, then we moved properties, then we had Mudgee eventing clinic, then I had Silver Hills 80cm at the end of the month. PHEW!

We also did some jump schooling. Allie was getting better and better.

Schooling at the new property.

She looked freaking AWESOME at Mudgee.

Mudgee showjumping lesson.

The water at Mudgee.

Silver Hills 80cm 

No Holy Shit moments at Silver Hills after our amazing weekend at Mudgee. We look like we know what we are doing now, because we DID know what we were doing!

I just want to say something about these cross country pics from Silver Hills. Her dressage (while no media except this video) was amazing. The best dressage test we had done to date. But the cross country pics, I think they really show the difference in my riding. I'm more confident, more forward, I'm actually riding instead of being a passenger which is why Allie at previous events was doing giant bloody leaps over the jumps and scaring me from almost jumping me out of the tack. At Silver Hills, I rode like I meant it. And we did our best cross country to date. We almost rode to time (didn't because we slowed down not to overtake a horse who would have gone nuts if we had stormed past). We also finished mid field instead of almost or actually dead last. October finished on a high for me. What a great final event for the year!

November

Andrea had a dressage show with Allie early November and Allie was an absolute mole about it. She reared and carried on in the warm up and in the test. Then, although behaving normally in the second test, Allie started stepping short behind and the judge asked Andrea to retire because of lameness. Poor Andrea took it all in stride because she's so amazingly optimistic but I was a bit gutted.

We gave Allie a week off and her lameness seemed gone after a few rides with me but with Andrea it returned. And went away. And returned again. She kept jumping out of her paddock every time her paddock mate was taken out too. She chucked poor Andrea off and was just a general pain in the arse. She got some body work done and had a few rides but mostly we took it easy until I could take her to the vet.


December

Allie had her teeth done again, and they were looking really good. But the vet wasn't able to diagnose anything with her intermittent lameness because she wasn't lame enough. I took her home and worked her for a week as hard as I could but she didn't pull up lame and so I rescheduled the vet. Then, this past week, I cancelled the vet because the weather has either been stinking hot or pissing down rain so no riding has occurred. I've suspended the lease with Andrea for now until we can figure out what is happening with Allie's hocks.

So that's 2016! Lots of amazing highs and a few shit lows. Lots of vet bills but it wouldn't be Allie without spending over $2000 at the vets.

Hopefully 2017 can have less health issues, please and thank you!

Ballymount Alleycat

Everyone is doing breeding posts and seeing as Allie is off on holiday again I thought I would join in.

Allie is technically an Arab warmblood, but her pedigree looks more like this:

Yes, yes I did make a pie chart of her breeding.

Being mostly thoroughbred, she is often mistaken for an ottb. But there's still a little arab in there, and more than enough various warmblood varieties too.

Her sire is Gwaihir Aubusson, an anglo arab that I think is just the bees knees of all-rounder handy horses.

Isn't he handsome?

He has a temperament to die for, and has done everything from endurance to eventing, with hacking, showjumping, and modelling in between. I got to meet him personally, and even in fat paddock condition he lives up to his name. His owner would hop on him bareback with a halter to ride him up to serve mares, that's how quiet he is.

And he can jump.

San Domingo, Aubusson's sire.

Mecca is San Domingo's sire, who is by the famous Silwan.

Silwan

Allie's dam is a lovely Australian warmblood mare called Jubilee Columbine. I was lucky enough to meet her too when I went to look at Allie the first time. She's just as sweet as Allie is.

She is a bit of a tank actually.

Dat neck tho

 Columbine is by Carbine, a black Hanoverian stallion that was imported into Australia. Her dam line has some holsteiner lines that go back to Contact, through Karinola Close Encounters. They're all jumping and dressage warmblood lines as far as I know.

Carbine

Carbine again. Can't find any confo shots of him online though.

Contact, sire of Karinola Close Encounters, on Columbine's dam's sire line.

Anyway, this is where Allie has come from. I'll leave you with some baby Allie photos, for funsies.

Weanling Allie with friends.

Weanling Allie

One week old.

Pretty baby, pretty dam! One week old.

On the day she was born.

Day old

Day old.

Three months old

Weanling. She's still a grot these days.

4 year old, the first day I met her.

4 year old, the day after I brought her home.

4 yo