Mute Monday's.

No excitement as of late. Just schooling. Had to share our recent trot improvement  :P

- K

Pre Two-Four Week; At a Glance

Portion of our course. First outing of the year folks!
*ignore my girth checking hiney*

Here we are, officially ten and a half work hours from my week off! Wee-hoo. 

Does anyone realize how long it has been since I had vacation time? ....no? Well, I do. 

First week of September 2015.

*sigh*

As far as truly front page news worthy, nothing THAT exciting happened this week but a few things did happen that are a bit more exciting or at least worth sharing.

Without further ado....

Late Monday evening my dearest Mish-mosh texted asking if I wanted to leave work a bit early and come trailer over to a nearby barn with her for a jump school. *insert stupid face* 'Hell yeah I do...!'

After much figuring and bribing, I coerced a coworker into staying late for me by yielding a weeks worth of Tim Horton's coffee.

Totally worth it! 

So as Tuesday evening rolled around we trucked Thunder and Paloma down the road and set up a little course. 

Now, I must add that neither Mish or I have done much jumping since fall but remembering my excitement and attempting to ignore my whimpery we set a full course. Woot!

Exhibit A. Proof it happened.

I totally look much more pleased with the situation than they do.

...Much better!
I later figured out why Paloma kept standing funky. Lady had to pee something serious!

Our course comprised of the 2' cross rail on the quarter line for warming up, around to the outside 2'6- 2'9-3'ish pink/white stripe two stride line (not pictured), to the diagonal 2'6 brown (chameleon as I called it) vertical to the 2'6 gate, outside 2'6 vertical line and finally the bending diagonal 2'6 barrel oxer to cross rail. 

Both horses were great but each had their little quirks. Thunder loves to run! Paloma loves to day dream! 

Pal especially had issues with the brown vertical line. For whatever reason, the simplest line/fence, gave us the most trouble. Initially, I think I surprised her by tossing in the brown vertical on a canter circle. This pole totally blended with the sand/shadows. I asked for too deep, Pal said 'holy ****' and slid to a stop, understandable and mostly my fault. I did a quick turn out and jumped it from a walk, calmly, no drama.

We trotted in the entire brown line to warm up after the crossrail proved to wake up the brain. Paloma decided to nicker her in-season heart out to the stallion in the barn and nearly ran face first into the fence. Hormones! Slight drama appeared. First time, totally my bad, I even had issues seeing the brown fence, second time, 99% your fault. Keep your panties on!

The rest of the course flowed very well! 

The line that gave me the willies, pink/white stripes, felt the BEST every single time, things just clicked and happened. Both horses totally nailed it! Why can't every fence feel like that! Effortless.

We cooled the horses out with a nice long trot and without any qualms both horses loaded up, ready for home.

Wednesday evening was farrier time. 

As a sequeal to my farrier woes, after much convincing from Mish, I had decided to give the new farrier a call to explain the issues I was having and see what he has to say. I highly doubted he could say anything to change my blackened heart.

Somehow, I ended the call feeling as though I had been heartless and that I should have just called him in the first place. I had thought, 'who am I to tell him how I want my horses feet? he will just be super pissed....' Right? 

Wrong.

During the call I explained the clicking etc, and he calmly and almost energetically explained to me that 'he is like a hairstylist. He takes as little off as he needs to and trims the shape he sees currently. If he doesn't hear any feedback, he figures he should continue to do the same'.

The guy was actually happy that I had called!

I felt much more re-assured after this and decided to give him one more chance... feeling like a jack***. Ha.

That being said, he was only out last night but he trimmed her toes exactly how I asked. He even pointed out that I had been correct to be concerned because her toes had some bruising around the 'white line', meaning there was too much pressure on her toes and she was not 'rolling over' quick enough. 

*I nodded like I totally understood .....*

Mish and I did go for a strong trot and gallop in the field afterwards and there was no clicking to be heard and P didn't lose her footing once. 

Give it a week the farrier said, otherwise it is free.

Thursday AM, last but not least. Slightly controversial I am sure.

Spring shots were done at the barn. P was due and sharing the call fee between 11 horses, a'ok with me. Despite my wanting to swap vets based on prior concerns about the quality of equine tooth care.

Shots are simple, yeah?

Well, yes, shots proved uneventful but vet says P should have her teeth done again, despite having just done them late last summer and having experienced issues with P's chewing for months after, (rewind to P's tooth trouble right after floating... hmm, coincidence?). 

Based on recent events I clearly should not be so hasty to judge but seeing as though Paloma is the most comfortable with her mouth now than she has been in months *knocks on wood*, I feel like I really need to get on to swapping vets sooner than later. Never did Paloma require frequent dentistry before I changed to the current vet. Never did I have problems until right after her last floating, which led to said vet thinking problem area should be extracted rather than treated. 

I treated. Lengthy process, yes, but I think it was the best and least invasive decision for my horse. 

Many would probably say I am very conservative when it comes to medications, supplements (unless natural!), treatments etc but I live my life thinking humans are too quick to judge and interfere and most think everything can be best solved by the quickest solution.
(Exhibit B- Bison Calf Euthanized when Man Put Calf Into SUV, Thinking It Was Cold )

I believe no decision should be made in haste, despite how much I want it too be done quickly. All decisions no matter how simple and straight forward seeming should be made with an educated, and I do not mean merely scholarly, mindset.

I found this article to be of the most help. However, I will keep a sharp eye for symptoms of any issues and will continue checking myself to be sure.

http://www.listentoyourhorse.com/do-equine-dentists-interfere-too-much-with-horses-teeth/ 

Horse people, we are all crazy!

Price of Knowledge.

Random cute pic.
'Did you come bearing cookies?'

What is the price of knowledge?

I have had doted most of my late riding attention to improving the way I ride because it actually makes a huge difference in what P is willing to give me and the quality of what I get... duh!
*insert long over due light bulb moment*

Looking back I thought I already knew this but do you ever truly know what you knew?
*yes, that is my yoda reflection moment of today's post* 

I had originally thought I had not learned very much in the one lesson I had taken with the Centered Riding coach a few months prior and I truly thought most of the information gleaned would be in one ear and quickly out the other. It was just too different from everything that has always been drilled into my head.
At the time, I thought, 'well that is just interesting... buuutt I am not sure it is right for me/P' A polite dismissal.
I nearly went as far as thinking that I had just donated my money to yet another coach who just wasn't right for us.

Recently, while I drifted into 'Ride Reflection Time', ie the daily work commute, I tried to pick apart what I have been doing differently in the past couple months as Paloma has slowly become more and more sensitive and responsive to my aids. I toyed with the idea that she is just feeling her oats but I also noted other changes in her.
One being, her muscling. When looking at her from the side I notice a pretty drastic change in the shape of her shoulder and the upper portion of her neck near the base. It appears to almost be a slanted and elongated tear drop pointing towards her poll. Even the depth of her shoulder has changed.
Where before she was more or less a true 'barrel' shape. No definition in her middle area.
Now, her shoulder actually protrudes, in a nice way. Looking more horse, less pony.

So, what is the connection here?

Answer. My riding.


I have been really focusing on being strong and straight in my seat and core. With an emphasis on 'Ski-ing legs'.
The core strength and thinking about being strong in my position is nothing new, just often forgotten.
The 'Ski-ing Legs', however, is new knowledge gained by this one Centered Riding lesson.
At first and for awhile after, it was extremely uncomfortable, even to the point where I thought my once tight hips would fall out of joint for a few days after. But after awhile of setting my legs by hand, lifting my thighs off the saddle one my one, turning my thigh a bit inward so more of my inner thigh was against the tack and my inner calf gently 'fell' against P's barrel, end result, my toe a bit straighter and heal away from P's sides. There, BUT only 'there' when I need them.
When I first heard this theory I thought, 'this is classic knee pinching'. Although, now I see it actually isn't!
Your knees will only pinch with a tight hip and unrelaxed leg. The main goal here is to strengthen your seat via your thigh and core and allow your leg to 'hang' and to only give aids when you mean it. Clarity.

Ah-hah!

These two, among a few others unrealized changes I am sure, have been instrumental in acquiring the softer, sensitive and more forward side of P that I rarely see unless Shelley, my past and sporadically present dressage coach, is riding.

In the end, I am learning to not so hastily judge the value of knowledge and no, you cannot put a price on knowledge.


'Hullo Dressage Queen bub-bye Hunter Princess?   

*cringe*

Filler Friday; Let's Talk Feet.

Hey Carly! I will totally chime in on Filler Friday!

As of late Paloma and I have made some major progress on 'forward', as well as aid sensitivity, woot-woot, but today is not about riding trial's, errors nor bloopers. Today I want to have a chat about feet. More specifically our horses feet.

With so many farriers and theories out there it is difficult to find a farrier with enough experience and enough 'care' to properly trim or shoe our horses.
For me, I don't know a lot about hooves but I know enough about my horse to know what is right, wrong and what I like aesthetically. And by aesthetically I don't mean to say I would compromise or risk soundness by any means but rather I mean I like the look of a good hearty, healthy hoof.

Recently, my heart farrier, who is terrible with making schedules work... (I work too!), but does such a fabulous job I make it work thanks to my fabulously generous BO, announced that he is back in school to change careers and will be retiring as a farrier given time.
To a horse owner, this is like a horrible break-up I swear! Though, I have to understand how difficult this work is on a person's body.
Given that I knew I would need to be finding someone sooner rather than later, I decided to give one of the other barn farriers a shot. He seemed knowledgeable and had been in the business for some time despite his ~30 some years, he has to be decent right?


After many horror stories and seeing many hooves in our area I thought I would know right away if the farrier would work for Paloma and I. What I did not realize is that hooves will take a couple trims to know if this farrier's strategy is working for us or not.

Now, two trims in with said new farrier, I am beginning to hear some things I don't like. Hear you might ask? Yes!
I had noticed that this farrier had not been, apologies for not knowing the terms, 'clipping' off any of the toe for Paloma and was rather using the....rasp? for the entire trim instead. Which resulted in a less than desirable look. Longer toe and lower heal. I asked why he did it this way thinking I surely know nothing of farrier work. He gladly counted off a few reasons which I took as meaning that it results in better soundness and more sure-footed strides. Away we went.

Here we are three weeks after our last trim and I feel like Paloma is constantly 'clacking' her hooves off each other. Now, it is a given, Paloma is known for the occasional 'clack' when she over tracks behind and forgets to lift her shoulders. So, at first I didn't pay all that much attention. Though with me paying attention, I am realizing that she is beginning to fumble with her feet quite a bit. Nothing serious, just the occasional mis-step that most would never notice. But I do. Paloma does not stumble unless her feet are over-due.

After doing some reading I discovered that trimming this way is very common in thoroughbreds, particularly those on the track. Ironically, this guy works at the track...
I am now left feeling very guilty and slightly frantic about getting this issue corrected, like yesterday.
I mentally bash myself for not listening to my inner, slightly vain, commentary which kept repeating with sadness that Paloma's cute little round horse feet are now, well... not round and pretty.

We now have an appointment with my heart farrier next week and I really should be thankful I caught it early-ish.
Just a word of the wise-r. Listen to your inner-commentary. However it may sound horrid, vain or silly, there might just be something worth paying heed to.