Funky to Fearless

Yesterday Olly and I went for a 5 mile hack to the boat launch. It was a bit chilly out, but I can't resist riding my BigRedHorse.I decided to put my dressage saddle on and loose-ring french link since we wouldn't be jumping and my dressage saddle is insanely comfortable. Olly was suprisingly calm. I think he knows the difference between bits.

My spankin' stick, just in case

Aren't the clouds pretty?

On the way back from our ride, we rode in an empty corn field that has wind blown rye growing in it. He somehow worked his lip to grab a few bits...those things are like thumbs! As we cross the road to our Lane, he starts hacking and coughing. FREAK OUT!!! I jumped out of the saddle in the middle of the road and walked him across, while he was still hacking! First thought--my horse is choking! I ripped off his bridle and stood there. What the heck do you do with a choking horse?? The Heimlik?? The only thing I could do is stand there while tears streamed down my cheecks. I can't even explain how helpless I felt. After a few more hacks and nothing coming out (horses can't regergatate), he perked up and stood there looking at me like, "what's the hold up, mom?" I gave him a big hug and walked he rest of the way home (about 1/2 mi) on foot with his bridle in my hand and just the reins around his neck.

 FYI--absolutely NO EATING with a bit!!! I tell you, this horse is like one of my children. I think I cry more with him, than I do with my REAL kids! At least with my kids I can ask what's wrong.

Today our ride was smoother. I left the jumps where  they were and made up patterns, no measuring strides or angles. We would have to adjust on the fly. I could feel that he was wanting to go. The power was in my hands. Sometimes it is like he wouldn't stop even if he had barbed wire in his mouth. Instead of pulling, I decided to just talk to him and see how it goes, it half worked. I wasn't so worried about the speed as I was the collection. It is hard for him to be collected going 50mph over a 2'6" vertical. Then he starts chipping and taking long spots and knocking down rails. We did a few circles to regain composure. I think he can tell when he has the elevator on we aren't doing calm collected circles. He knows we are jumping and he likes it. He likes the speed that he can get away with. Once he started focusing on whatever I put him to, we went back at the funky-strided course that has been sitting in the "arena" for awhile. He nailed the first few jumps and as we continued to the next few he started gaining speed. I let me flatten out a bit because the next jump was a mock water jump. A tarp with ground poles. Then we had a good turn to the left and up comes the mini coop. He did a good job focusing on me, he had no clue what jump was coming next. I think he realized that he had to get his crap together and that was why I was changing my seat and legs. He collected himself and nailed that jump too.  He was listening and focusing! YEAH!! We did the course twice with a walk lap in between and then went out to our little 1/4mi trail (the one with the snake filled creek). He is usually cautious down the hill coming up to the creek, the one side is washed away and I think it just looks scary. Today....I made him trot it and take the creek without thinking first. By the time he was on it he was moving too fast down the hill to stop. He HAD to go over. And he did. It wasn't graceful by any means...but he didn't stutter and did what I asked. Good Boy! I pushed him to continue up the 3 or  4 hills at a hand gallop. At first he was feeling me out. Is she serious? I can just...run? Then I felt the power. I wish I would have had my GPS on, I would have like to see how fast we were going. At the end of the trail there is a HUGE hill.

Ok, so the pic doesn't make it look huge...but it is!

He slowed to a trot and went down. What happened to my insecure BigRedHorse? I now have this fearless and bold BigRedHorse. No complaints here! At the bottom of the hill we walked for a minute to recover and send some texts (lol) and then walked back up. At the top he was asking to run again. Okey-dokey! I let him go. He did slow to a nice canter to take the creek (which is no longer snake filled) and continued to canter up the no longer scary hill. Back at the lane I decided to call it a day. He had conqured alot today.
I am going to try to find time to go to a local show here in the next month or two and then it is on to the horse trials in the area.
Oh and one more thing...These are a pair of breeches that I got from a lady on e-Bay. They are the best! The full seat is deer skin and I even got a star embroidered on the butt...they are now apart of my sassy collection ;)

Don't mind my busted-up fingers!

Bits Galore!

The bitless, see how thrilled he is?

So after the bitless bridle tryout, we decided to make our way back to the bit closet and pick out something that wouldn't encourage bucking and head shaking. Next up on the list a French Link boucher. I know Olly likes the french links, but he seemed to have a bit of a high head and being speedy. I did try him in a kimberwike, which seemed to work out great, but I just don't think he needs that "strong" of a bit right now. The middle ground? A Boucher!

Olly and his Boucher!

Still snaffle-y, but with a little poll pressure to keep the giraffe mode in check. He seemed to like it. I did notice that he was more willing to run off a bit with it though. I think he is just testing it out. We started out with a little flat work, just to get used to it in his mouth and then we tried a few jumps. Nothing complicated. He would have done great if we weren't going 80mph. What is up with the speed? I have changed the food, which seemed to help for a short time and I changed his bit. I decided to go back to the barn where I took lessons before I moved. Brandywine Farms, I love that place, I wish Istill lived only 5 minutes away. The people are great and the learning curve is amazing.I packed up all my stuff at like 1445 in the afternoon and headed out for my 1700 lesson.

Saddling up

The indoor, which was awesome in 38* weather and gail force winds

It took me 1h20min to get there, but it was worth it. After not being in a lesson for a few months and working hard on Olly, I had forgotten all the right things to do for myself. It was a nice change to be able to jump anything and not wonder if the horse I was on was going to go over or not. After only a few laps over the jumps I realized that maybe the speed that I was battling with Olly wasn't due to feed or open grass. It was my too forward seat. Now, I haven't been out to try out my theory yet today, but I have a good feeling that this may solve alot. Since that forward seat increases speed, it also throughs off our strides and the actual jump. I anticipate, he anticipates. Maybe that is why I have such a hard time getting him over those spooky jumps? AND!! If I am riding forward, and he refuses, I am on step away from going over his head. I haven't (knock on wood) lost it over a jump, yet. And I am striving with all my power and pride not to. So lter today if I can get my homework done and the wind DIES down to hurrican force level, I am going to put my theories to work.

Oh, and I would like to take a minute for a ProMo, I got these new sturrips, they have the flex bars on the side, they are AWESOME! My knees thank the makers of these sturrips. When we moved to Hawaii, I started running and the more miles I ran the more my knees started to bother me. Anything over 3 miles would kill me. After going to the doctor, he gave me stretches to do, which fixed the running part. Now I can run my five miles with no problems. BUT riding is another story. After a few times around the "arena" posting they start to ache. I tested a pair out and instantly fell in love. So thank you to my Mommy for getting me a pair!

The twinkle adds a nice touch.

Speed

After feeding yesterday morning I went to turnout the horses and noticed upon opening the stall door that Olly's hind legs were pretty inflammed. I should have taken pictures, but I was so freaked I rushed around to fix the problem with out thinking of it. He has been stocked up before, but this time was the worst. It went from pastern to hock, in both hind legs. There wasn't much heat and definitly no pain. I checked for a pulse, strong in both feet. He was a bit stiff though. I ran and grabbed his halter and started hand walking. There was a slight difference after 30 minutes, but it wasn't good enough for me. I have little patience, but enough understanding to be tolerant. I used this break to check temperature (100.4*) and listen to gut sounds with my stethescope (sufficient). We kept walking. After an hour (total)there was a significant difference. I turned him out into the paddock. Over the next few hours I checked to see if the swelling had returned. And it did, but no where like it was earlier that morning. I went and got his bridle and we went for a 30 minute walk bareback.
While we are walking down the lane, I start brain storming.
Being a veterinary techinician, I always look at the clinical signs first.
Inflammation-mild to moderate
No pain
Stiffness-mild
Eating
Drinking
Pooping
Good gut sounds
Normal temp
Strong digital pulse
Feet are cool
After making a mental note of all the signs or lack there of, I moved on to what causes these signs.
Not enough exercise
Too many carbs (grain)
Weather changes
Too long in stall
Not enough turnout
Ok...Well, how about 4 out of 5. Since the kids are on christmas break, we haven't gone on a ride on 5 days. Since winter has fully hit Virginia (weather change, we got snow)I increased his feed. And most importantly, my wonderful Hawaii horse doesn't like snow! He has practically been begging me to put him in his stall. On the flip side, he is turned out every day for the whole day. Either way, it is my fault. I should have seen all the signs adding up.
Next step, after figuring out what he had (stocking up), is what treatment do I apply? My heart is screaming VET, VET, VET! But, my mind is telling me to calm down and handle it. I always have a first aid-ish kit for the horses. bandages, standing wraps, betadine, bute, DMSO...you get the picture. I ran to the tack room to rummage through all the stuff. I dug out the quilts and standing wraps and the bottle of bute and headed back outdoors. I made a mental note of the time (1500) since standing wraps are only suppose to be on 12 hours and attempted to get the bute into my horse. I will be the first to admit that I hate taking medicine. Headaches, sprains, no matter what it is I have to be pretty bad off to take something. A trait my husband LOVES! Note the sarcasm. Well, I found that Olly seems to be the same way. I mixed some bute with applesauce and he wouldn't touch it, adding insult to injury, he curled his lip up at the thought of it. I did take one small scoop and put in the corner of his mouth. Just to make sure he got some of it and turned him out.
At dinner time I skipped the stall and just fed him in his tub(that had the remaining bute in) in the paddock. I also placed his their hay in 5 different spots across the paddock, so he would have to walk throughout the night to eat. Before I went to bed (2200) I made one last trip out to the padock to remove the standing wraps. I didn't want to have to get up at 0300 and brave the icy temperatures to remove them. They were only on for seven hours, but it seemed to help.
I got up early this morning to go out and check and see what my hard work reaped. I made a quick stop in the tack room to grab the standing wraps and quilts(which I had washed the night before) to re-wrap his legs. To my suprise the swelling was almost gone, just a bit of puffiness around the pastern. YEAH!!!! I passed on the bute and gave him his breakfast, NOT in his stall.
I feel really terrible. We worked so hard to find a house that had a barn with stalls for the horses when we moved. Now I am finding that I can hardly use them. Why am I paying all the extra money if I can't use them?!! Oh well. I am NOT moving again!
Later this afternoon I grabbed my dressage saddle and GPS and headed out to go on a nice ride in the freaking cold. I passed on the splint boots and used polos. I thought that the polos would give more to his hind legs than just the fetlock boots. At first he started out stiff and slow, but after a few minutes he was ready to go, just like any other day. I just can't figure him out. I know he wasn't feeling well with his legs inflammed and yet he is still wanting to canter. I made him walk(which is easy going AWAY from the house) for the first 30 minutes. Just to make sure he got all the kinks worked out from yesterday. Then, we started creating the impulsion. Extend the walk and ask for collection by holding the outsde rein and tinkling on the inside rein. He held it for a few strides before he would hollow out again. I praised him with a good boy and we would try it again. He was better at the left than at the right. I guess he is a lefty like me ;). On to trotting! This is where we have the most problem. I find myself getting discouraged every time I ride because of this. Here is a little background before I go on: I don't have an arena. We live on 8.something acres and it is ALL wooded and marshy. The horses have a medium sized paddock that is dry, but no quality for riding. There are, however, open fields and tons of shoulder along the roads. I just pick a field and go with it. Everyone is so nice here, they don't really care, that is as long as there is no corn or beans up. I have one field that I ride around in. It is for sale, I think for developing...maybe and acre or two. Perfect for setting up jumps. I still have to ask the owner about that. Anyway, it is a big grassy field and my ADD TB thinks it is a race track (even thought he has never been on one). Just when you think you are settled into a good working trot, I get "Do ya wanna canter? Do ya wanna canter?" Everyother stride at the trot is a half halt, just to remind him to stay in a trot. It is hard to even think about anything else. After another 25 minutes of trying to focus and getting him to settle I slowly and carefully give him the leg to canter. It always starts off with a nice departute on the correct lead and two strides later I get pulling on the bit and dropping his shoulder into the circle. I can fix the shoulder part easily, but the pulling is getting old. I tried to give him rein and that just makes him go faster. I have tried "whoa boy" and lightening my seat so I am not driving him and I can hardly put my legs on him on a normal day, so I don't even think about laying my legs on him. AND STILL he can't seem to control him self. I know it has got to be something I am doing and don't realize. I just don't know how to realize it. I take lessons, but with out me on him during those lessons it makes it more difficult. Tomorrow I am taking my tripod and camera out there with me so I can video it and maybe make some sense of it. I only cantered him for 5 minutes, since he was a bit under the weather from yesterday, and then we made our way back home. Oh, it wasn't over then. All the way home was a trot-trot nightmare. Every 3-4 strides I had to have him halt, think and then walk on. 3-4 strides later he was trying to trot again. I have changed his food, thinking maybe he was getting too many carbs and inturn making hm a bit hotter than he should be and it even crossed my mind to change his bit. That being last resort, of course. I ride him in a french link loose ring. Pretty mild and he responds well, but in these situations he tucks his head, to evade and slows his pace to a prance. Not gorunds for a stronger bit. Again, back to square one with me not getting the full picture.
So! New goal...go back a few steps and revisit the gaits. Walk means walk, trot means trot and canter means canter. This would be a good time to do some flat work since the ground is frozen from all this crappy snow. Jumping is on hold, at least until the weather gets better and his attitude gets better. Until then, more reading and video watching. I HAVE to figure out what I am doing wrong.
Back at the house I give him a good grooming and lots of hugs, after all he did do alot of work, even though he didn't want to. I grabbed the standing wraps and some DMSO just to cover all the bases. I noted the time (1400, remember standing wraps 101) and turned him out. I think I am going to lay off the stalling until the weather gets better. I know that totally defeats the purpose right now, but I really think he hates the snow and cold. To me, it seems like he wants to hide out in the warmth of the stall and do as little moving as possible, as I would like to do also. I can't really blame him! Unfortunately, I have to give some tough love and keep the blankets on.